Tag Archives: Lying

Why the GOP Is Quoting 1984

By Robin Bates | Published: November 30, 2023

American authoritarians appropriating Orwell’s “1984” for their own use is itself an Orwellian move.

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Lord, How This World Is Given to Lying

By Robin Bates | Published: May 4, 2021

Trump’s big lie about winning in 2020, which has become gospel in certain GOP circles, brings to mind Falstaff’s lying.

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What To Make of a Hero That Lies

By Robin Bates | Published: February 23, 2020

A student wants to know what to make of Homer’s apparent approval of Odysseus’s lying. The question doesn’t admit of an easy answer.

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Wycherley Describes Self-Deceiving GOP

By Robin Bates | Published: December 2, 2019

In Wycherley’s “Country Wife,” self deception defines the society. The parallels with Trump’s GOP are startling.

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When Fiction Trumps Truth

By Robin Bates | Published: May 28, 2019

Wednesday Writing last week for the New York Times’ “What Is Power?” series, Israeli historian Yuval Noah Harari argued that fiction is a more powerful force than truth in politics. I extend the discussion to literature (which Harari does not discuss) because of its reliance upon fabrication in the service of a higher understanding. Camus, […]

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Trump Lying, Modern Day Shout-Boasting?

By Robin Bates | Published: September 17, 2018

Mark Twain depicts the verbal art of shout boasting. Maybe Trump operates out of this tradition.

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What Is Truth? Cowper’s Beautiful Answer

By Robin Bates | Published: August 22, 2018

In the face of Trump’s constant lying, we need William Cowper, who reminds us of the sanctity of truth.

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Donald, Who Lied & Was Burned to Death

By Robin Bates | Published: April 6, 2017

Donald Trump has taken political lying to new heights, bringing to mind Hilaire Belloc’s darkly comic poem, “Matilda, Who Told Lies and Was Burned to Death.”

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1984 Explains Why Trump Keeps Lying

By Robin Bates | Published: January 24, 2017

“1984” gives us new insight into Donald Trump’s incessant lying. We are not supposed to apply logic to contentions that Trump’s inauguration crowd was bigger than Obama’s. We are supposed to submit to power. The more outrageous the lie, the more Trump demonstrates his power when people go along.

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