A Lesson in Moscow About Trump-Style ‘Alternative Truth’

POSTED BY: THGRRI
UPDATED: Sunday, June 14, 2026 00:25
VIEWED: 5903
PAGE 1 of 4

MOSCOW — I wanted to better understand President Trump’s America,
a place where truth is being ripped from its moorings as he brands
those tasked with lashing it back into place — journalists — as dishonest
enemies of the people. So I went to Russia.

It was like a visit to the land of Alternative Truth Yet to Come.
But it also gave me a glimpse into how our new national look
is playing in the global information war, where competing
narratives are clashing along a sliding scale of fact and fiction.



https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/16/business/media/vladimir-putin-mosco
w-press-trump.html?rref=collection%2Fbyline%2Fjim-rutenberg&action=click&contentCollection=undefined®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=collection&_r=0

NOTIFY: Y  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME

Maybe if they stopped lying, they'd stop being called liars.

I have a better title to this article...

Talking To Myself: The Sound of a Tree Falling in a Forest When No One is There to Hear it

NOTIFY: Y  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME

Quote:

---

Originally posted by G:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by THGRRI:
MOSCOW — I wanted to better understand President Trump’s America,
a place where truth is being ripped from its moorings as he brands
those tasked with lashing it back into place — journalists — as dishonest
enemies of the people. So I went to Russia.

It was like a visit to the land of Alternative Truth Yet to Come.
But it also gave me a glimpse into how our new national look
is playing in the global information war, where competing
narratives are clashing along a sliding scale of fact and fiction.

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/16/business/media/vladimir-putin-mosco
w-press-trump.html

---

Great article. It's nothing we haven't suspected, just more detail. The fact that Trump played to the less intelligent during his campaign and won, only vindicated the Russian style approach. "They'll believe anything if it's got the right package," and Trump obviously knows a lot about selling and packaging.
In that election, America showed Lord Voldemort, er, Vladimir, that there were enough hillbillies and gullibles to elect Trump, now he's going to show Trump how to keep the rest in check and keep the party going.

==============================

---

We need not look any farther than the fist responder to this thread to see how that is true. Some say ignorance is bliss. I say it's detrimental to a society.

NOTIFY: Y  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME

1KIKI

Sunday, April 23, 2017 9:51 AM

Quote:

---

Mediator

---

opinion piece

Quote:

---

A Lesson in Moscow About Trump-Style ‘Alternative Truth’

---

Jim Rutenberg

---

holder of THE TRUTH - this btw is from his webpage extolling his own virtuous truthiness

Quote:

---

MOSCOW — I wanted to better understand President Trump’s America, a place where truth is being ripped from its moorings as he brands those tasked with lashing it back into place — journalists — as dishonest enemies of the people.

---

They mostly are dishonest.

Quote:

---

So I went to Russia.

---

because ... RUSSIA!

Quote:

---

It was like a visit to the land of Alternative Truth Yet to Come.

---

Unlike today where the news tells us that sanctions against Russia are so universally seen as righteous and just, every politician in Europe - especially France - is for them.

Quote:

---

But it also gave me a glimpse into how our new national look is playing in the global information war, where competing narratives are clashing along a sliding scale of fact and fiction.

I had picked a ghoulishly perfect week to swing through President Vladimir V. Putin’s Moscow, where spring was struggling to break out over the low-slung, slate-gray cityscape.

Mr. Trump had just ordered a Tomahawk strike against Syria’s Shayrat air base, from which, the United States said, President Bashar al-Assad of Syria had launched the chemical weapons attack that killed more than 80 and sickened hundreds.

As soon as I turned on a television here I wondered if I had arrived through an alt-right wormhole.

Back in the States, the prevailing notion in the news was that Mr. Assad had indeed been responsible for the chemical strike.

---

Because the government said-so. So there.

Quote:

---

There was some “reportage” from sources like the conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones — best known for suggesting that the Sandy Hook school massacre was staged — that the chemical attack was a “false flag” operation by terrorist rebel groups to goad the United States into attacking Mr. Assad. But that was a view from the fringe.

---

And a chemical weapons expert at MIT. Doofus. What does he know.

Quote:

---

Here in Russia, it was the dominant theme throughout the overwhelmingly state-controlled mainstream media.

---

While the US tirelessly flogged its own brand of propaganda.

Quote:

---

On the popular Russian television program “Vesti Nedeli,” the host, Dmitry Kiselyov, questioned how Syria could have been responsible for the attack. After all, he said, the Assad government had destroyed all of its chemical weapons. It was the terrorists who possessed them, said Mr. Kiselyov, who also heads Russia’s main state-run international media arm.

---

The UN has also reported that the terrorists know how to make and deploy chemical weapons. But what do THEY know, either!?

Quote:

---

One of Mr. Kiselyov’s correspondents on the scene mocked “Western propagandists” for believing the Trump line, saying munitions at the air base had “as much to do with chemical weapons as the test tube in the hands of Colin Powell had to do with weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.”

That teed up Mr. Putin to suggest in nationally televised comments a couple of days later that perhaps the attack was an intentional “provocation” by the rebels to goad the United States into attacking Mr. Assad. RT, the Russian-financed English-language news service, initially translated Mr. Putin as calling it a “false flag.” The full Alex Jones was complete.

---

You mean mister Putin's words were accurately reported on a FAKE NEWS site? OH THE HORROR!

Quote:

---

When Trump administration officials tried to counter Russia’s “false narratives” by releasing to reporters a declassified report detailing Syria’s chemical weapons stockpiles — and suggesting to The Associated Press without proof

---

US media stock in trade

Quote:

---

that Russia knew of Mr. Assad’s plans to use chemical weapons in advance — the Russians had a re

NOTIFY: N  | REPLY  | REPLY WITH QUOTE  | PERMALINK  | TOP  | HOME