Belief, most of us like to agree, is grounded in facts. But more often, it is grounded in absolute fear. Think about the boogeyman.
The most persistent and destructive lies in our society aren’t powerful because they’re convincing. They’re powerful because they’re comforting. They offer people a sense of identity, belonging, and emotional safety—even if everything else about them is demonstrably false.
Frauds don’t need to be right. They just need to sound certain.
And for many Americans, certainty feels safer than the truth.
The truth can be messy, ambiguous, and destabilizing. Certainty is clean. It tells you who the good guys are, who to blame, and what to fear. This is why propaganda is so effective. It doesn’t educate, it reassures. It tells people what they already want to believe.
Although I have no political affiliation, I was recruited and served as a G 15/10 under a Republican president.
No political movement has understood and exploited this dynamic more effectively than today’s GOP. The party doesn’t offer practical solutions. It sells fear of immigrants, fear of diversity, fear of social change, and fear of losing status, particularly for white Americans who’ve long sat atop the cultural hierarchy.
And then it packages that fear in slogans and myths.
“Make America Great Again” isn’t a plan, it’s a fantasy. A siren song for those who want to return to a past that never truly existed, except in selective memory.
At the center of it all is a man who built a brand on performances. His appeal doesn’t come from truth-telling. It comes from his unwavering certainty. Even when he’s wrong, repeatedly, dangerously wrong, he doubles down. And for many, that’s all it takes.
Because when people are scared, they don’t seek truth. They seek refuge.
They seek some one who makes them feel safe, seen, and superior. They will cling to lies if those lies validate their identity and protect their sense of control.
Most do not see the organizing principle of this movement is fear of change, fear of the other, fear of falling behind. And fear makes people vulnerable to illusion.
If democracy is to survive, we have to think long and hard about it and thoroughly understand that the fight isn’t just about facts. It’s about fear, identity, and the dangerous comfort of lies.
And the only thing that can truly challenge that comfort isn’t more data,it’s courage.