The Zombie Apocalypse Has Arrived
Welcome to Post-Truth America, where reality goes to die.
They’re called “zombie facts” because, like zombies, they continue to exist long after they have factually died, lumbering through the netherworld of disinformation, feasting on the brittle brains of conspiracy theorists, disinformation addicts, and cult devotees.
In cheap B-movie Hollywood horror films, “zombification” is spread through bites, scratches, or contact with bodily fluids from a zombie, transmitting an infectious virus that turns the living into the “undead.”
In the twisted-reality epidemic of our times, zombie facts are spread by online trolls, bot farms, podcasters, MAGA minions, right-wing politicians… and the President of the United States.
Over the last decade, Donald Trump has spread an endless stream of zombie facts that have helped him rise to political power, win the presidency twice, dominate the Republican Party, and build the MAGA cult.
Barack Obama was born in Kenya.
Ted Cruz's father was involved in the JFK assassination.
Windmills cause cancer.
Bleach injections help treat COVID.
There’s a plan to replace all white Americans with dark-skinned immigrants.
The 2020 election was rigged and stolen.
The January 6 insurrection was peaceful.
President Biden was actually a "robot" or “clone.”
Haitian immigrants in Ohio are eating the dogs and the cats of the people who live there…
… and he barely knew Jeffrey Epstein.
A 1992 video shows the now-president dancing with cheerleaders at Mar-a-Lago, patting one on her backside, and ogling other women with Epstein.
In a 2002 interview, Trump called Jeffrey Epstein a "terrific guy," said he had known him for 15 years, and that Epstein "likes beautiful women as much as I do, and many of them are on the younger side."
In 2019, after Epstein’s arrest for sex trafficking, Trump did a full reversal, asserting that he was "not a fan" of Epstein and had not spoken to him in 15 years (despite the above photo being taken at Mar-a-Lago in 2000).
Then came Epstein’s conviction, incarceration, and death by suicide in his jail cell on August 10, 2019.
For the next several years, MAGA conspiracy theorists claimed the Biden administration was erasing facts about Epstein’s alleged client list that would primarily expose wealthy and powerful liberals, and suggested his death might not have been a suicide.
It would be a bombshell!
When Trump won the presidency in 2024, he hinted that he would release the client list. Zombie conspiracy theorists went berserk, frothing at the mouth about a bombshell about to be dropped.
A few of them even ended up in Trump’s administration, including FBI Director Kash Patel, Deputy Director Dan Bongino, and Attorney General Pam Bondi.
This week, AG Bondi, who had once said the list was on her desk, announced there is no list. Deputy Director Bongino went bonkers and is threatening to resign.
The ultra-MAGA right is now in turmoil and feels betrayed.
Confirmation Bias
This zombie phenomenon is known as “confirmation bias,” the tendency to latch onto information that confirms our prejudices while utterly rejecting contradictory evidence.
We can easily cling to zombie facts so tightly that they stagger through our consciousness long after they have been discredited or debunked, infecting others with the same nonsense.
This is exactly what the purveyors of disinformation want: A public so gripped with suspicion, fear, and hatred that it can be easily misled and exploited for political and financial gain.
Author Thom Hartmann nailed it this week on Substack:
"Is Delusion the Right's New Weapon of Mass Destruction?”
When truth is optional, tyranny becomes inevitable. Autocrats thrive in the fog of misinformation. The more confused and divided a people are, the easier they are to control, thus the daily Trump Reality Show.
Public trust collapses. Scientists, educators, journalists, and public servants all become suspect. That vacuum gets filled by cult leaders, armed militias, and political demagogues.
Democracy becomes unrecognizable. Without a shared sense of reality, debate becomes pointless, compromise becomes impossible, and elections become battlegrounds instead of ways to determine a rational direction for our shared future.
Resources:
Trump Administration Acknowledges Lack of Evidence From Epstein Documents ~ NYT
Pam Bondi’s Botched Handling Of The Epstein Files ~ CNN
Conspiracy Theorists Are Turning on the President ~ The Atlantic
Video Shows Trump Partying with Jeffrey Epstein at Mar-A-Lago In 1992 ~ Washington Post
Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein Partied Together. Then an Oceanfront Palm Beach Mansion Came Between Them ~ Washington Post
The Twenty-Seven Grievances ~ Perspectives
Terrible Things are Happening Outside ~ Perspectives
Making Gulags and Concentration Camps Great Again ~ Perspectives
Who Created the Immigration Crisis? ~ Perspectives
They Are Human Beings ~ Perspectives
Standing Up Against the Strongman ~ Perspectives
I no longer think it is gullibility that has overtaken the 38% of Americans who believe every zombified word this administration and its supporters spew. I now think it is willful. Racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, willful acceptance of lies as truth.