From a recent column by Reuters Global Affairs Columnist Peter Apps —
"There may, of course, be a strategy behind beginning
the Trump administration with an attack on the media
and even reality itself. One of the principles long used
by both unpleasant governments and individuals over
time is to try and assert their will by questioning people’s
sense of reality and morality. If you can’t trust anyone,
the thinking goes, then it becomes more difficult to
question those in authority.
. . . .
There’s even a term for when it happens within intimate
human relationships – 'gaslighting'. It means to try and
drive one’s partner mad – or at least, force them to
question their sanity – in order to exert one’s will.
(The phrase was popularized by the 1944 film Gaslight,
in which a manipulative husband drives his wife mad by
turning gaslighting in a house up and down –
while denying doing so.)"
Earlier in the same column —
"It was bordering on insanity for Trump, his White House
and press secretary to try and maintain the false claim
that Trump’s inauguration had record turnout."
Fact check —
The White House press secretary Sean Spicer last Saturday :
"This was the largest audience to ever witness
an inauguration — period — both in person and
around the globe."
Despite some ambiguity, this is clearly not the same as Apps's
phrase "record turnout," i.e., in-person attendance.
For comparison with another deplorable journalist in the
previous post, here is Apps at Muck Rack :
