By the time you read this, it’s likely that you’ve tired of election coverage, and its dramatic conclusion. We put Message together in advance, and at the time of this writing don’t know the outcome of the 2024 election. That said, one of the most telling events, an unwelcome harbinger of things to come, occurred at the October 1, 2024, vice-presidential debate. That’s where Tim Walz and J.D. Vance sparred under high pressure questions. And this astounding exchange ensued:
“In Springfield, Ohio, and in communities all across this country you’ve got schools that are overwhelmed, you’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed, you’ve got housing that is totally unaffordable because we’ve brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes,” said Vance. Vance was compounding the insult to the Haitian community that Donald Trump leveled a month before. The insult was patently untrue. After Vice-Presidential candidate Walz rebutted, moderator Margaret Brennan interrupted the debate quietly.
“And just to clarify for our viewers, Springfield, Ohio does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status, temporary protected status.”
What occurred next slipped beneath the radar of our collective conscience:
“Margaret,” complained Vance, “the rules were that you were not going to fact check and since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on. . .”
What is actually going on?
None of us is surprised anymore when a politician spins a narrative, unfortunate as that may be. This is deeper than the predilection to deceive, however. The deeper, much more serious problem is the assault on the fact-finding infrastructure, and the discrediting of the fact checker.
The previous Trump administration was known for its varied prevarications. During this campaign season news outlets stretched to keep pace. NPR posted this in an article in August: “A team of NPR reporters and editors reviewed the transcript of [Trump’s] news conference and found at least 162 misstatements, exaggerations and outright lies in 64 minutes. That’s more than two a minute. It’s a stunning number for anyone – and even more problematic for a person running to lead the free world.”
That’s scary, and at the heart of “what’s going on here.”
Now, as a journalist, and a lawyer, “the truth,” — believe it or not — holds critical, foundational value for me personally. As a follower of Christ, and the Word that He is, “the truth” offers transformational existence. “You shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:32).
Side note: when Jesus said those words, He was sparring with Jewish leaders, and they weren’t having it. “We be Abraham’s seed and were never in bondage to any man,” I imagine them scoffing. “How sayest thou, ye shall be made free?”
Funny how, in order to win the point, they kinda overlooked the whole 400 years in Egyptian slavery, and the supernatural Exodus thing. We get so entangled in our selfish agendas we cherry pick “our truths,” like choices ripe for manipulation. We get so caught up in “our truths,” we are in danger of impeding the freedom from our sinful selves that Christ’s truth offers (See Proverbs 16:2, Proverbs 21:2, Jeremiah 17: 9,10).
Imagine having any device needed to indicate your reality in real time, and not using it. Airline pilots would suspend the use of their instruments. Football referees and television networks would do away with instant replay. We would no longer expect to have proof of our purchases, whether from a receipt at the point of sale, or an online confirmation, or even a picture from a Door Dasher. Speedometers, not necessary. Truth in advertising? Forget it. Property boundaries, deeds and titles in the county clerk’s office — don’t bother looking for them.
What a dangerous prospect indeed, and one that has been operational in the history and experience of black people in the U.S., which is probably why this whole fact-checking thing disturbed my peace. In recent years, the fact-finding revolution, as it applies to race in the U.S., as seen in The 1619 Project, sparked the anti-CRT movement, book bans, and curricula reviews to rid the American conscience of those inconvenient, nagging facts. Taken to a logical conclusion was the case of Marcellus Williams. In October, the Missouri Governor and State Supreme Court couldn’t bring themselves to trust evidence that Williams didn’t get a fair shake in a murder trial that upended his life. They couldn’t accept that he should have been cleared though even the prosecutor’s office acknowledged the facts. Williams was executed.
Biblical fact-finding indicts the settled, general consensus, neither is it satisfied with our choosiness, or our conscious denial of the facts.
“Rescue those who are unjustly sentenced to die; save them as they stagger to their death. Don’t excuse yourself by saying, ‘Look, we didn’t know.’ For God understands all hearts, and he sees you. He who guards your soul knows you knew. He will repay all people as their actions deserve” (Proverbs 24:11, 12, NLT, emphasis supplied).
