I have been shocked to find that even among some people I know (at least “know” on Facebook) that there are some who flat out deny that Trump is a racist. I also know people who say the earth is flat and that we never landed on the moon, all with apparent seriousness. Each of these assertions triggers in me a long litany of counter-arguments, which typically go unheard. (Yes, the earth is round, yes, we landed on the moon, and yes, Trump is a racist.) There is something happening at the foundation level of our discourse that is very troubling. It’s like Trump’s claims about everything he disagrees with being “fake news.” Pointing out that the corporate-controlled press distorts the news and creates propaganda that supports the status quo is, or should be, a left critique of the press, but Trump has appropriated that critique and stripped it of its rationality, turning it into a tribalist chant. Finding ways to talk to members of that tribe is a non-trivial problem.