How to Debate Someone Who Lies

[mcar]

How to Debate Someone Who Lies
Truth sandwiches, ridicule and other tactics for Joe Biden when he faces President Trump.

Richard A. Friedman
By Richard A. Friedman
Dr. Friedman, a contributing opinion writer, is a professor of clinical psychiatry and the director of the psychopharmacology clinic at the Weill Cornell Medical College.

Sept. 25, 2020, 5:00 a.m. ET

...As a psychiatrist, I’d like to offer Mr. Biden some advice: Don’t waste your time fact-checking the president. If you attempt to counter every falsehood or distortion that Mr. Trump serves up, you will cede control of the debate. And, by trying to correct him, you will paradoxically strengthen the misinformation rather than undermine it. (Research shows that trying to correct a falsehood with truth can backfire by reinforcing the original lie. )...

Now, imagine a different kind of high-stakes situation — the presidential debate. Mr. Trump, faced with a pandemic and an economic downturn, tells Americans what a great job he’s done. In response, Mr. Biden should smile and say with a bit of laugh: “And just where have you been living? South Korea? Or Fiji? You cannot be in the United States — except maybe on the golf course. We’ve got about 4 percent of the world’s population and 21 percent of all Covid deaths and the highest unemployment since the Great Depression! You must be living on another planet!”...

Ridicule could also neutralize one of Mr. Trump’s favorite racist tropes: that America is being overtaken by violent thugs. So what should Mr. Biden do when the president starts in? He should say something like, “This is like the bad joke about the arsonist who shows up at the bonfire and started posing as a fireman! The guy who calls himself a stable genius seems to have forgotten that he’s been president during all this violence and that he’s been the instigator in chief with his racist rhetoric. The country’s biggest bully thinks he can fool you by playing sheriff.”...

Some of the president’s lies are not served by humor; Mr. Biden will have to confront them head-on, like the president’s disastrous handling of the pandemic. In this case, the best strategy would be to say: “The fact is that more than 200,000 American have died — even if the president falsely suggests that the number is lower. But let’s focus on the grim truth: More than 200,000 of our loved ones died from coronavirus, many because of the president’s deception.”

The cognitive scientist George Lakoff, who studies propaganda, calls this a “truth sandwich” — a lie gets sandwiched between true statements. Research shows it effectively corrects a falsehood, because people tend to remember the beginning and end of a statement, rather than what’s in the middle.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/25/opinion/debate-trump-biden-lie.html

[Sherman A1]

1. I am sure that the Biden team

is doing a fine job in preparing for the coming debates.

[mcar]

2. I'm sure they are too

[maxsolomon]

23. Yet somehow I am quite anxious about it.

I remember screaming at the TV as the Toxic Clown loomed behind HRC. Turn around! Tell that mouth-breathing creep to back the fuck off!

Biden's Team must prepare him for the physical bullying as well. Luckily Joe was in the Senate and dealt with epic GOP assholes for decades.

[lastlib]

3. "Mashed-Potato Malarkey!"

That's the phrase I want to hear from Joe, when Shit-Monkey spews a whopper.

Reference the mashed-potato episode Mary Trump recounted in her book that so upset Little Donny. Bound to get under his skin and force a blow-up.

[Kitchari]

4. A Truth Sandwich

Vs a shit sandwich

[mcar]

6. Love it!

[hlthe2b]

5. Marked for later. I've been waiting for an expert to comment on this.

Most of us have dealt with someone who would lie without hesitation if it were convenient, but I'd dare say NEVER to the extent Trump does. He lies when the truth would be more beneficial. That is just who he is. And his supporters buy every damned lie without question.

It is so nauseating to me, but Biden cannot let it get him rattled. Nor can he fail to call some of it out.

[Tom Rinaldo]

7. This is great, but I offer one addition.

Once and only once during the debate Biden perhaps should say something to the effect that "This President began his run for President with the lie that he would self fund his campaign, after he won the nomination, he lied when he said that he had no business dealings with Russia. On his first day in office he lied about the size of his inaugural crowd. When he said he never paid money to a porn star a check emerges with his signature on it. There isn't enough time left this year, let alone tonight, to debunk all the lies this President tells. The bottom line is, you simply can't trust a word that he says."

After that Biden can dismiss Trump with the equivalent of "There he goes again".

[Caliman73]

14. Agreed. That would be a good frame.

How can you tell when Donald Trump is lying? If he's breathing, he's lying.

The guy cheats on his taxes, cheats at golf, cheats his contractors, and cheats on his wife, but he expects us to believe his campaign promises? I say, Malarkey.

[kairos12]

15. Excellent!

[ancianita]

18. Absolutely. Great points.

It's a smart move for Biden to make the lie case on Trump in advance.

"There he goes again" puts 45 in the mockery zone such that he'll get stupidly flustered and desperate and won't survive the rest of the debate.

When 45 goes into the second debate, the audience of the first debate will already know that he's got nothing.

[blaze]

8. It's gonna be worse than "lies"

I don't know what, but.... you know how many times we've said things like, "I didn't think he could go any lower..."

[Cha]

36. Exactly.

[Takket]

9. Challenge drumpf to do ten pushups. The debate will be over lol

[DeeNice]

33. that would be a kodak moment lol

[sanatanadharma]

10. Were Biden to ask, I would advise...

...take a modified "there you go again" approach.

"My staff will have the full truth refutation of his words soon, but now what can we say about one who can't differentiate between fact and fiction?"

"Apparently he forgot what he learned in kindergarten; folks, do you see the immorality implied in what he said?"

Like that, drive home the 'we all know he is wrong' ethical-ethos. Why do some accept mean-spirit and living lies?

[PatSeg]

11. Actually

Joe is really good at the appropriate facial expressions and body language - fake surprise, a smirk accompanied with a head shake and a chuckle, big disarming smiles, and hands in the air, while looking to the ceiling (God above). He will respond to the absurd with appropriate disdain and ridicule. His debate with Paul Ryan was priceless.

These debates should be very interesting, though unnerving for Trump.

[BlueNProud]

12. I would call him out once, early on in the debate as a "serial liar" and use the word.

[smirkymonkey]

13. K&R

[bucolic_frolic]

16. That's useful for sure

[liberalla]

17. Bookmarking!

Thank you!

[FakeNoose]

19. Great advice - Biden should not allow himself to be provoked

The only thing Chump does with any ability is to provoke arguments. He cannot answer questions, he can't think on his feet or come up with a quick zinger. So he will try to distract Joe with every lie and insult he's got.

Joe Biden on the other hand is far from a one-trick pony. He's got facts at his fingertips, and he's got the empathy of the people. He commands attention and he brings a fight every time. Don't worry about playing defense Joe, go on offense and play your strong game.

Let Chump pout and whine all he wants, just ignore him. You've got this Joe!

[erronis]

21. Even I would join that congregation!

[erronis]

20. Is trumpf going to stalk the stage, standing behind Biden and making orange-utang faces?

If he's somehow restrained (with tie-downs or otherwise), I think interpreting his body language with the speakers turned off will be an important study. I hope the networks give us a full body view of both candidates.

[BlueWavePsych]

24. Hopefully Drumpf literally trips and falls doing so.

“We were on a small stage,” Clinton said about her second debate with Trump, “and no matter where I walked, he followed me closely, staring at me, making faces. It was incredibly uncomfortable. He was literally breathing down my neck. My skin crawled.”

She went on to describe what went through her mind: Should she keep her calm and carry on as if he weren’t repeatedly invading her space, or should she turn to him, look him in the eye, and say, “Back up, you creep. Get away from me. I know you love to intimidate women, but you can’t intimidate me, so back up”? Clinton chose the first option, but in retrospect, she wonders whether she should have chosen the second.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/09/how-debate-bully/616461/

[erronis]

31. Thanks. That's a good piece from The Atlantic. I think their articles are open right now.

Just to add another excerpt:

When it’s his turn to respond to a comment by Trump, the former vice president should confidently name each strategy Trump attempted—“That was a deflection … That was a hoax … That was scapegoating … We’re at the 66th floor again.” By quickly and succinctly answering any question after naming the strategy, Biden will appear controlled, reasonable, and intelligent; Trump will feel dismissed and mocked. This will enrage the president, especially if his attempts to engage in argument are ignored, and Biden refuses to look at him.

Beyond that, as one clinical psychologist I consulted for this piece suggested, Biden should simply name what is true and what most Americans intuit about the president: He is a terribly broken man. Money and privilege spared him from the consequences that might have helped him develop a conscience. He does not show remorse or guilt, because he does not feel it. Decency and honesty yield no reward for Trump; indecency and lying yield no consequences. He doesn’t apologize to others, because he doesn’t feel the pain of others. He does not have the capacity for empathy and authentic relationships; all his relationships are conditional. He knows only pleasure and pity for himself. He perseverates on the wounds to his ego. Telling the truth, when it’s not Trump’s truth, is viewed as a betrayal by the president, because he always places his interests above truth.

[Susan Calvin]

22. After all these years,

I hope the Democrats will finally start listening to Lakoff..

[TommyCelt]

25. THISTHISTHIS

"President Trump will not have a live audience to excite him and satisfy his insatiable need for approval and attention, which means he will be even more vulnerable to a takedown."

Not having the audience will serve Joe. Trump feeds on being "fluffed" by his backers; this will rob him of his juice.

[mcar]

27. Think he'll be "low energy?"

[TommyCelt]

35. Sleepy Don nt

[sarchasm]

26. I think I've had quite enough "lie sandwiches" thank you very much.

Time for some truth sandwiches, and to vote.

[TheBlackAdder]

28. Biden needs to hit Trump as a failure at least 3 times in a row and then Trump will lose his shit.

[mcar]

29. Good point

[TheBlackAdder]

30. If he does it every now and then, Trump will recover. But if he hits him over and over *boom*

[JT45242]

32. That's a lie, Mr Trump. That is not true, Mr Trump. That is a lie, Donald.

One of those should be said every time it lies.

1. NOt calling him President will get under his skin and make him lose his shit.

2. Do not mince words, do not debate lies. The media and everyone else sugar coats it. Call them for what they are.

3. Be armed with the facts to prove it. "There is no difference between a mail in ballot and an absentee ballot" here is a statement signed by the Sec'y of State of XX number of states saying that they are the same. What you said Donald, was both untrue and dangerous to democracy. For years, the Republican party used vote by mail to get large amounts of seniors to vote for them. Why are you afraid of that? Is it because yo have tried to kill social security and medicare by defunding them; Because you are responsible for the deaths of 160,000 seniors in the last 7 months of the pandemic which is more than all the members of that generation who died in the Korean and Vietnam wars together. Because you denigrated the service of those seniors and others in the military as "suckers", Why are you afraid of people voting, Donald?

[TommyCelt]

34. This is stuck in my mind...means nothing but it's itching at me

Anyone think they will shake hands?

[gulliver]

37. Iirc, Aristotle suggested you want to make your opponent repeat their mistakes.

If the opponent says something the audience finds stupid or dishonest, you want to do or say things that cause your opponent to keep repeating the stupidity or lie.