Kellyanne Conway "Alternative Facts" Interview

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Chuck Todd interviews Counselor to the President, Kellyanne Conway about the motive behind litigating inaugural crowd size.

By Jon Wright Fay
02/20/2017 • 05:37 AM EST

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: minimization

- portraying something you don't want to address as trivial or insignificant, to divert attention from it and onto matters deemed more important.
: Conway trivializes the administration’s false claim about inaugural crowd size, given what she describes as Trump's more "quantifiable" achievements. more...

: false equivalence

- implying that two things are essentially the same, despite being significantly different, by focusing on anecdotal or superficial similarities.
: Between TV viewership for Trump’s first inauguration and Obama’s second inauguration, when Obama’s first inauguration would have been the more appropriate comparison. more...

: false equivalence

- implying that two things are essentially the same, despite being significantly different, by focusing on anecdotal or superficial similarities.
: Between the White House Press Secretary’s steadfast false claim about the inaugural crowd size and a reporter’s error, which the reporter corrected and apologized for within minutes. more...

: euphemism

- replacing language that is accurate but may be offensive to the target audience with language that is more palatable or appealing.
: The phrase "alternative facts" can portray false or misleading information as just another valid way of looking at things. more...

: echo response

- repeating key words or phrases from a question or a leading remark to create the illusion of engagement while avoiding a direct or substantive response.
: By repeating "fact", Conway creates the illusion of answering the question while delivering talking points. more...

: red herring

- throwing irrelevant information into an argument to divert attention from the real issue at hand.
: Conway highlights the crowd size at Trump rallies, which may appear relevant but does not address why the administration falsely claimed to have the largest inaugural crowd size in history. more...

: attacking the ratings

- (a form of red herring) the tendency to better remember and give more weight to information presented last attacking a news organization's ratings, circulation, or popularity, while not refuting the substance of its criticism.

: straw man

- misrepresenting an opponent's position or argument to make it easier to attack, usually by exaggerating, distorting, or just completely fabricating it.
: Todd called Spicer's litigation of crowd size ridiculous, but NOT anyone in the Trump campaign ridiculous.

Number of techniques detected in the 13:52 video runtime:

PROPAGANDA TECHNIQUES

6 OCCURRENCES

euphemism:

false equivalence:

minimization:

red herring:

straw man:

DISINFORMATION TACTICS

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SUMMARY

6 OCCURRENCES

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References

1. "Donald Trump had biggest inaugural crowd ever? Metrics don't show it". Politifact. Published: January 21, 2017.

2. "A Note to Our Readers". Time. Published: January 24, 2017.