In the contemporary American political landscape, flubs seem to become memes at light speed. Aside from the litany of ridiculous statements our president makes every five minutes, every few years a slip in the lexicon of a politico rises to greatness and solidifies its place in the annals of history – Counselor Kellyanne Conway has given us such a phrase: alternative facts.
Not since Mitt Romney’s “binders full of women” gaff has there been such a memorable piece of political garbage. Just as SenatorRomney proved nothing as to his bona fides in hiring a diverse group of people during 2012’s Second Presidential Debate, Mrs. Conway failed to prove the credentials of the Trump Administration as being more honest than those of journalists. To be fair to Conway, anyone that speaks the language will know that she is questioning the “facts” purported by the media elite. If Donald Trump weren’t the most despised man to ever take the oath of office of President of the United States, this sentiment might have come across better. The same could be said of Romney, who probably would have seemed sincere had he articulated himself a little less like the icy businessman he was known to be. This skew problem is unavoidable on both sides, and these historic blunders often occur over events of no consequence. Does anyone really care how many people were present during the inauguration? Well, Mr. Trump certainly does care.
This term, alternative facts, is distracting the electorate from the most important consequence of the inauguration: Conway has to go in front of the camera and say something so stupid because the United States elected a child as president.
For the next four years, all of us should be cognizant that Conway and others will take political hits to distract from this fact. Only a child would be concerned about the crowd at his coronation. It’s about as far from refreshing as possible and quite reminiscent of Roman emperors or kings concerned with the same nonsense. To emphasize for the cheap seats, the inauguration crowd size is not important! Crowd size and ratings don’t give President Trump a mandate to rule, suggest that he’s making “America Great Again” simply by not being President Obama, and it certainly isn’t an indication of his popularity. What does suggest this last point? How about protests on six continents? 2.6 million men and women around the world spoke out against Donald Trump’s policies. A few days later, the Internet is talking about alternative facts. It’s incredible.
The term “alternative facts” is a meme that should be set aside for the foreseeable future because ultimately it doesn’t matter. There is a serious rift between the White House and the Press; it’s dangerous. President Trump has signed two executive orders to restart both the Keystone XL Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline projects; two of the most rejected infrastructure projects in U.S. history. At this point, the president has frozen hiring in many of the departments of the Executive Branch. These aren’t alternative facts. They are simply facts, and they should be known as facts.