Ask A Genius 985: Gish Gallops Can Work
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2024/06/29
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: Do you have any further opinions on what was called a debate?
Rick Rosner: Some people have calmed down, or the initial reaction that Biden had lost the election, which was a knee-jerk reaction on CNN and MSNBC, has subsided. An hour after the debate, CNN finally fact-checked the debaters, something they did not do during the discussion. In 38 minutes of speaking, Trump lied or said a half-truth 28 times, compared to Biden, who did so less than a quarter of that. I tweeted, “Can a debate have a winner when the winner lied 28 times in 38 minutes of speaking?” There was a flash poll, which we previously discussed, showing that 80 percent of CNN viewers said the debate did not change their minds, leaving 20 percent who did change their minds, which is not insignificant. However, there are still 130 days to go.
Biden appeared energetic immediately after the debate at appearances last night at two in the morning when he arrived in North Carolina and today at a rally in North Carolina. This does not make his debate performance any less poor. Some channels let the video keep rolling after the debate, showing his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, helping him off the stage because there was a step off the stage. It never looks good when someone has to help you down a step. However, the debate showed Trump to be less discombobulated but no less of a dishonest individual. Thus, Biden has time to recover. Some people still suggest he should be replaced as the Democratic candidate, but others, including myself, believe nobody else has as good a chance of defeating Trump, even though the debate reduced his chances.
Today, the Supreme Court released several 6–3 decisions that looked terrible. They eliminated the Chevron rule, which I only know a little, except that it gives expert agencies such as the EPA the authority to issue policies about pollution. The Supreme Court just got rid of that. They also issued a ruling making it illegal for homeless people to be homeless.
Jacobsen: They are making it illegal for people to be homeless. I do not understand.
Rosner: If you are sleeping on the street, a case went to the Supreme Court where someone got arrested for sleeping on the street. He argued that the city provides no facilities for homeless people to find shelter, so you cannot make it illegal for me to sleep where I am sleeping if you give no other place for me to be. The Supreme Court ruled against that.
The 6–3 conservative majority will remain the 6–3 conservative majority. If Trump is reelected, it will likely become a 7–2 conservative majority. Alternatively, it could remain 6–3 if Alito and Thomas retire, but Trump could appoint individuals in their forties with similar policies who will be on the bench for 50 years. The day after the debate, there remained numerous reasons not to vote for Trump and, thus, to vote for Biden.
Jacobsen: But here is a Devil’s Advocate question: what is Trump getting right? What do you think Trump is getting right? He probably understands the sentiments of his audience more than many political commentators with graduate degrees.
Rosner: Yes, but that does not mean he would do anything beneficial for the country.
Jacobsen: Well, that is a different question.
Rosner All right, what he is getting right is that debates favour people who look decisive without fact-checking. Many people would need to realize that he was lying in nearly every answer and question. In 1976, while debating Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford mistakenly insisted that Eastern Europe was not under the domination of the Soviet Union. That cost him the debate. One of the moderators asked if he was sure he wanted to say that, and he said yes, which cost him the debate and probably the election. One misstatement that was fact-checked.
Last night, there was no fact-checking. Trump made 28 misstatements, according to CNN, when they fact-checked him an hour after the debate. So yes, if you ask what Trump got right, he understood the debate format, allowing him to lie with impunity confidently. According to CNN’s post-debate poll, 67% of viewers thought he did a better job. Will there be a follow-up debate, or will he cancel it? If he is smart, he will not participate in September’s debate because he could not perform better.
Biden’s State of the Union address, where he was coherent, well-spoken, and energetic, was only three and a half months ago. Biden did not suffer a precipitous decline in the last 110 days. There was possibly something wrong with him last night. His team said he had a cold, and his voice was raspy, as you heard. His team might have prepped him incorrectly. He was still doing mock debates on the day when he should have been resting to avoid being exhausted from the actual discussion. I would like to see some of his campaign team replaced because all the missteps that went into his performance were not solely his fault. For some reason, they chose the camera’s right podium, making him look off to the right, appearing spaced out. I was unaware that he tends to look right. If he had been on the camera left, to the left of Trump, he would have been looking at Trump. Also, why couldn’t they coach him to look at Trump? I do not know. But not all of that can be blamed on him. He has a whole debate team that did not serve him well. Did you see the very beginning of the debate?
Jacobsen: I missed the very beginning of the discussion.
Rosner: All right. When he walked out and answered the first question, his voice was raspy and soft, but he was talking rapidly. He had many points that needed to get out. He was stating fact after fact. Who told him to do that? Did someone say that there were all these points he had to make? So, part of it was his prep team needing to serve him better. Yes, that is making excuses for him. But there were things that he could have done better, even though he looked terrible doing it. He stated many facts and generally got them right. His worst misstatement or lie of the night was when he said that the Border Guard union, the union of the Border Patrol, endorsed him. That turned out to be false. The fact-checker said the Border Patrol endorsed his border plan, so they rated that a half-truth. If that is his worst misstatement, that is trivial compared to Trump’s endless falsehoods. His sentences could have been more concise, and he got lost a couple of times in the middle of a sentence. He was hesitant, and his facial expressions made him look like a feeble older man, but he appeared to be in command of the facts. He said many things, almost all of which were true.
I learned a new term last night: the Gish Gallop. Have you heard of this guy Gish, a creationist?
Jacobsen: Yes, I am very familiar with the term.
Rosner: Would you like to explain what the Gish Gallop is?
Jacobsen: It is a tactic where a person makes a point about a topic by rapidly delivering falsehoods, half-truths, exaggerations, etc. This overwhelms the opponent, as they cannot respond to each one due to the limited time, resulting in a barrage of misinformation.
Rosner: Gish, a creationist, would argue creationism by rapidly stating a lot of falsehoods, five, six, or eight points, overwhelming his debate opponent. Most of it needed to be more accurate, but the opponent was bowled over. If the audience does not know what is true and what is not, it appears as though the person using the Gish Gallop has dominated the debate. Last night, Trump was allowed to do that. Biden responded, “It’s all nonsense, it’s all lies,” multiple times. Sometimes, he could attack one point for being false, but the debate format allowed Trump to use the Gish Gallop. Before the next debate, I assume they will insist on something better than zero fact-checking, which was last night’s policy. There are still 18 and a half weeks to go — the end.
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Rick Rosner, American Television Writer, http://www.rickrosner.org
Scott Douglas Jacobsen, Independent Journalist, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com
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