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<\/p>\nI skim or glance at so many articles about politics every day, I’m surprised that I haven’t come across this phrase before, considering how this article suggests it’s been around a while. The word, or phrase, is “directionally correct,” and it’s another way to say “lying.”<\/p>\n
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Slate, Ben Mathis-Lilley, 12 Oct 2024<\/strong>: The Wrong-Direction Election<\/a>, subtitled “A brief history of a phrase the right uses to justify Trump\u2019s BS.”<\/p>\n The article begins with an apocryphal story Trump told about a trans weightlifter, which seemed at odds with the facts.<\/p>\n Fortunately Jay Richards, director of the DeVos Center for Life, Religion, and Family at the right-wing Heritage Foundation think tank, was there to square the circle. \u201cClassic Trump hyperbole,\u201d he declared<\/a>. \u201cDirectionally correct but carefully engineered to drive critics crazy over the details.\u201d Problem solved: Trump wasn\u2019t exaggerating, and he definitely wasn\u2019t just getting mad about something that never happened\u2014he was being directionally correct<\/em>.<\/p>\n And being directionally correct\u2014or sometimes directionally accurate<\/em>\u2014is, according to many of Donald Trump\u2019s supporters, something that Donald Trump is very good at. His claims about trans athletes, immigrants, and the 2020 election might not be strictly true<\/em>, these advocates say, but they are directionally<\/em> so, because he\u2019s talking about a real problem, or at least a feeling<\/em> that there\u2019s a real problem.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Trump’s fans defend him.<\/p>\n On Fox News, host Greg Gutfeld said the same thing<\/a>. \u201cTrump doesn\u2019t lie more than Biden,\u201d Gutfeld elaborated. \u201cHe lies better.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The article goes on with more examples of misstating situations in hopes the lies have the proper effect.<\/p>\n This is all absurd, of course, but there’s a slight parallel here between this and the left-wing cancel culture of students or faculty disinviting problematic speakers on the grounds that their speeches might make students feel unsafe, or triggered. (See discussion of that Coddling book here<\/a>.) It’s not about what’s actually true or false, it about the effects of saying it.<\/p>\n \\\\<\/p>\n I need to consolidate many of the items I’ve posted here over the years, since it seems like every day I’m finding new items that make the same points over and over.<\/p>\n Media Matters, Eric Hananoki, 11 Oct 2024<\/strong>: Lara and Eric Trump-backed \u201cprophet\u201d claims God told her the hurricanes were \u201cman-made\u201d and \u201cthey\u201d will also \u201cset off\u201d an earthquake<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cProphet\u201d Julie Green told followers that the Lord told her that the recent hurricanes were \u201call man-made\u201d and that the weather events were deliberately created or manipulated as a form of \u201celection interference.\u201d She added that \u201cthey\u201d will \u201cset off\u201d an earthquake at some point.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n The points here are left as an exercise for the reader.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I skim or glance at so many articles about politics every day, I’m surprised that I haven’t come across this phrase before, considering how this article suggests it’s been around a while. The word, or phrase, is “directionally correct,” and … Continue reading ![](\"https:\/\/cloudfront.mediamatters.org\/styles\/scale_w1024\/s3\/static\/D8Image\/2024\/10\/11\/julie_green_and_lara_trump.jpg?itok=GHEIEryw\")
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