Every age coins a phrase to describe itself. As scholars have said, we are living in the Age of Post-Truth. No less an authority than Oxford Dictionary has certified ‘post truth’ as the word of the year in 2016. So it was not ironic in the least, nor coincidental, that barely two months later Donald Trump gave us a masterclass on post-truth politics during his press conference Friday. In a phrase that’s likely to become the leitmotif of his presidency, Trump said, “The leaks are real. The news is fake.”
The US president’s virtuoso tightrope walk on the thin line between fact and fiction was spell-binding and oxymoronic.
Such was Trump’s dexterity with the truth that he left the media personnel feeling moronic. However, we’ll have you know that Trump does not have the patent on post-truth.
He’s only its most arresting performer. Several of his predecessors had a talent for it, and so we have reason to believe post-truth passed by some way stations before evolving into what it is today. Ronald Reagan introduced the twin concepts of plausible deniability and deniable plausibility in truth management.
He once took the “I don’t recall” plea 88 times under oath and even said “I think I don’t remember.” Bill Clinton was capable of nimble truth gymnastics too. He was the president who smoked but did not inhale, and cavorted but did not copulate with That Woman.
Post-truth is fast becoming a popular sport in India too. A Rajput group trashed the set of a film about a princess who may or may not have existed, based on a script that may or may not have dealt with a romance that may or may not have happened.
Similarly, the Rajasthan government is trying to show Maharana Pratap did not lose the battle of Haldighati to Akbar; in fact—or whatever you might call it—he actually won it. Post-truth, they say, is a dog trying to bite its tail. It never makes it. And never making it is the entire purpose. Therefore, if leaks are news and news is fake, leaks are fake.