How to Protect yourself from the “Firehose of Lies” at the Presidential Debate

Adapted from Pro Truth: A Practical Plan for Putting Truth Back into Politics, by Dr. Gleb Tsipursky and Tim Ward.

The president’s oratory style has been referred to as a “firehose of lying,” and that’s what we got in the first debate, delivered as a constant gush of heckling, interrupting and badgering. It was exhausting, even punishing to watch. I persisted. I told friends who texted me: “Tie yourself to the mast and force yourself to watch. Bear witness to this.”

For me it is important to listen closely to the kinds of lies Trump tells. I’ve just published a book, Pro Truth: A Practical Plan for Putting Truth Back in Politics. My co-author, Dr. Gleb Tsipursky is a cognitive neuroscientist and an expert on our mental blindspots, and how liars can exploit them. The premise of the book is to push back against the tactics of post-truth politicians like Trump who appeal to emotions at the expense of truth. The problem is, post-event fact checking comes too late to prevent the corrosive damage of lies when we first hear them.

Chapter One of our book provides a typology of political lies. It explains that by identifying the type of a lie, you can better protect yourself from its effect. Here’s our list of the top ten lies politicians tell: