Fighting Back Institutionalized Falsehoods

How did America get to a place where false pronouncements, relentless propaganda, and illogical statements are the norm in mainstream and social media? What I read and hear often defies reason, but intentional misinformation is often believed and accepted as fact.

Donald Trump himself proudly stated early in his first term that he “loves the poorly uneducated” because they like and believe him. There’s a real correlation there, and the danger is that it doesn’t just apply to him, but to his circle of influence and the elected leaders who vow their absolute loyalty to him. This president has gaslit the American people since he arrived on the political scene over a decade ago.

Its impact has been devastating to the Latino community, none more evident than the terror that agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) have unleashed in our immigrant neighborhoods. The most recent attacks in Minnesota attest to that.

Watching federal agents effectively occupy Minneapolis over the last few weeks is the perfect example of why the truth matters.

Just a few days ago, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem defended the killing of Alex Pretti, saying that he brandished a gun while attempting to interfere in the “targeted” arrest of a criminal migrant. She then blamed the state’s Democratic leaders for the murder. Noem said a Border Patrol agent, in fear for his life, rattled off “defensive” shots at the 37-year-old ICU nurse.

If you’ve seen the video, you’ll realize that her statements are false. Noem must believe we can’t trust our own eyes, but as Minnesota senator Amy Klobuchar said on NBC’s Meet the Press, “Your eyes don nt lie.” By Tuesday the Trump administration appeared to be backtracking on their initial unfounded claims that Pretti had “committed an act of domestic terrorism,” with President Trump chief of staff Stephen Miller now suggesting federal agents “may not have been following” protocol after it was reported that it was Miller who said — with no evidence — that Pretti was trying to “massacre” the agents. A DHS report has already said that two agents shot at Pretti. Both agents have now been placed on leave.

It’s safe to conclude that what started out as a lie has suddenly changed because the American people actually aren’t ignorant.

Still, Trump and his allies have demonstrated an absolute lack of morals and an uncanny ability to blatantly lie without any accountability. And while the new Minneapolis developments have gone after the lies about Alex Pretti’s death, the push to dumbify the population and forget history is still the standard.

Let me share a personal example.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Trump said that Civil Rights Era protections have caused white people to be ”very badly treated.”

My mother was born in Panama. She soon became a naturalized citizen. She is a proud American. My mother and father met and married while he was serving in the Air Force, stationed in the Panama Canal Zone during the Korean War. 

Upon his return to the U.S., my father was stationed outside of Montgomery, Alabama. It was my mother’s first exposure to this country and, unfortunately, to the Jim Crow South. As a new immigrant and admirer of all things American, she was shocked to see signs labeled “Whites Only” and “Colored” for restaurants, public bathrooms, and drinking fountains. She never forgot how African Americans were routinely humiliated in such a disgraceful and public manner.

You would think such a tragic period of our history would endure the years, but in Trump’s America, this lack of empathy and choice to deny history is a calling card. It has only gotten worse, like when a CNN panel last year examined the topic of slavery and white supremacy. One of the panelists, the fitness guru-turned-MAGA talking head Jillian Michaels, made a supremely ignorant point, stating, "Do you know that only less than two percent of White Americans owned slaves?" and then added, "Do you understand that slavery is thousands of years old?”

It boggles the mind how someone can be that uninformed, or even worse, choose to utter those words knowing full well she was mischaracterizing the truth. Ignorance can be forgiven, but the decision to distort history is sinister. To insinuate that slavery in America was caused by only a few people and that it could be justified by historical precedent is offensive. 

If I had been on the panel, I would have told Michaels the cumulative number of enslaved human beings in the United States from 1619 to 1865 was 10 million, as estimated by historian J. David Hacker.

But why would people like Michaels not change their ways when their Beloved Leader has based presidential campaigns on lies and stupidity? Remember, “They're eating the dogs, the people that came in, they're eating the cats?“ When Trump uttered that ridiculousness at a 2024 debate, it was obviously such an idiotic comment that I thought he would lose the election. American voters showed little concern and voted for him anyway.

In the past, someone might have been embarrassed and apologized for saying something dumb. But in true propaganda fashion, this president and his administration regularly double down and call into question the public’s reality.

There are major consequences for failing to use your own good judgment to form an opinion. The tragic events in Minneapolis are an outcome of the falsehoods and lies this administration routinely tells to mislead the public. 

We must not permit propaganda or ridiculous statements to guide us. Our country’s future, the well-being of our community, and the safety of our families depend on our learning the truth at all times.

Mauro Morales is a retired attorney and civil rights leader who spent 25 years in federal service, most recently as Staff Director of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. He also served in the Obama Administration, including senior roles at the Office of Personnel Management, and previously worked in private practice and on Capitol Hill.

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Nick Valencia and Independent Journalism: Over at Pressing Issues, independent journalist Nick Valencia of Nick Valencia News gave a very emotional and raw interview to Julio Ricardo Varela about his reporting from Minneapolis.

Valencia is a former CNN correspondent who recently took the independent path.

“I’m no longer part of the big myth of traditional media that we’re objective. And the audience has seen through that for a long time, and I never believed it. I think we are all shaped by our personal experience, strength, and hope. Right now, I am taking a stand for undocumented immigrants because I believe our conversation should start at amnesty, and what’s happening right now with Trump’s mass deportation policy is the biggest story of our lifetime,” Valencia said.

Rubio and Venezuela: From the Associated Press, “Secretary of State Marco Rubio gave a full-throated defense Wednesday of President Donald Trump’s military operation to capture then-Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, while explaining to U.S. lawmakers the administration’s approach to Greenland, NATO, Iran and China.”

New Podcast Episode: The video version of our latest episode with ProPublica investigative reporter Nicole Foy is now up on our YouTube channel.

Nuria Net and Julio Ricardo Varela edited and published this edition of The Latino Newsletter.

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