Executing a Reversal of Reality

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Chris Wallace interviews White House senior adviser Stephen Miller on the federal whistleblower complaint.

By Tara Jons
10/02/2019 • 12:00 AM EST

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: Click or tap on any technique

- the definition will be displayed here.
that appears in bold to show its definition.

: ad hominem

- attacking the character or motive of your opponent, while not refuting his facts or logic.
: Miller attacks the whistleblower's character and motives, without addressing any of the allegations he or she has made.

: half truth

- a statement that is essentially true, but lacking critical information and presented as the whole truth.
: Miller mentions the IG found the whistleblower to be politically biased, while not mentioning the same IG also found the whistleblower's complaint to be credible.^[1]

: poisoning the well

- discrediting your opponent to an audience in advance, in order to encourage dismissing any future claims they may make against you.
: Miller preemptively dismisses any allegations brought against Trump as nothing more than rogue bureaucrats pursuing their own agendas.

: appeal to ignorance

- raising doubt by suggesting something is true because it has not yet been proven false.
: Miller suggests there may be "corrupt dealings" by the Bidens, because it hasn't yet been proven that there's not corrupt dealings by the Bidens.^[2]

: false equivalency

- implying that two things are essentially the same, when they only have anecdotal similarities.
: Between Trump pressuring a foreign power to intervene in a U.S. election, and Clinton contracting a U.S. firm to do opposition research on a political opponent.^[3]

: baseless claim

- a statement that is presented as accepted or established fact, but is wholly undecided or unsubstantiated.
: The media is uncurious about past corruption in Ukraine.

: reversal of reality

- a statement that is not only verifiably false, but is the exact opposite of the truth.
: What looked like Trump pressuring Ukraine to interfere in a U.S. election was actually Trump trying to expose corruption in Ukraine, making Trump the real whistleblower.^[4]

: adding qualifiers

- adding an extra word or phrase to a response, which makes it ultimately meaningless, but still leaves the desired impression.
: Miller questions the media for not uncovering the "potential" corrupt dealings of the Bidens, which is not saying the Bidens have any corrupt dealings to be uncovered.

Cumulative total of the techniques detected over the 13:26 runtime of this video clip:

PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUES

5 OCCURRENCES

ad hominem:

adding qualifiers:

appeal to ignorance:

false equivalency:

poisoning the well:

FALSEHOODS & DISTORTIONS

3 OCCURRENCES

baseless claim:

half truth:

reversal of reality:

SUMMARY

8 OCCURRENCES

Miller: 100%

References

1. "Trump's Ukraine call, a whistleblower and the Bidens: What we know, what we don't". Politifact. Published: September 23, 2019.

2. "Trump Twists Facts on Biden and Ukraine". FactCheck.org. Published: September 24, 2019.

3. "Dossier Not What 'Started All of This'". FactCheck.org. Published: March 27, 2019.

4. "Fact check: Why Trump's sudden fixation on 'investigating corruption' doesn't add up". CNN Politics. Published: October 06, 2019.

5. "In call to Ukraine's president, Trump revived a favorite conspiracy theory about the DNC hack". The Washington Post. Published: September 25, 2019.