Fading demand for the Government's "chosen" winner for transportation - EV's
• General Motors is taking a $6 billion charge to unwind some electric-vehicle investments, to pull back from EVs in response to fading demand, and the Trump administration's policies to stop taxpayer funded subsidies to procure an EV.
• Ford's $19.5 billion write down is tied to a reset of its electric-vehicle business highlights the mounting challenges for legacy automakers as they navigate waning demand, and a changed regulatory backdrop, and the Trump administration's policies to stop taxpayer funded subsidies to procure an EV.
• Mercedes-Benz has halted production of its EQE and EQS electric sedans and SUVs in the United States market starting September 1, 2025. The move aligns with the end of federal EV tax credits of taxpayer funded subsidies on September 30 and reflects what the automaker describes as a response to changing market conditions of fading demand.
Brilliant article. Hits right at the core of the problem that was created long ago that we suffer from now. If those in our current government also would learn critical thinking, we would have far reaching benefits. But our future depends on our children learning critical thinking. Thank you for leading this important issue.
Reading is more than reading. I remember when we studied the origin of words and their roots. It helped one to "deconstruct" a word and be able to make a good educated guess of what a word might mean if you encountered it for the first time and then, analyze the context of it. Also, understanding how languages borrow from one another is a testament to how cultures and languages evolve. This is a beautiful thing that is lost when education is shallow and teaches to the lowest common denominator. Oh, and do teachers make kids use a dictionary to build vocabulary or is that just too difficult? When I read comments on many websites, there are those who I can understand that English was probably not their first language, but then there are those who just didn't "get" spelling.
Kids are naturally curious. Curiosity is what initially triggers creative thinking. Why is the sky blue? Let's find out. This natural curiosity seems to get squashed in school. A little off subject here, but I think it's imperative that we bring back manners, Emily Post style. Civilized behavior. I'm not sure parents are teaching this to their kids anymore. Debate should be taught in all grades, one through twelve. Civilized, mannerly, respectful debate. Science, yes! That was my favorite class in high school, and in college microbiology was an offshoot of that. I never understood the need for all that math until I took organic chemistry, and the lightbulb went off. The universe was revealed. But above all else, kids should be taught to read. Not just reading, but a love of reading. Bring back phonics, give them great books that get them addicted to reading. It's a disgrace that a high school kid can graduate and present a job application form, like so many I looked at over the years, that plainly illustrates that they can't read or write.
In the 60's when I went to college, Evelyn Wood's Speeding Reading courses were the rage. I took a Wood's course and it killed my enjoyment of reading. It took me a long time to break the Wood's method which was supposed to improve comprehension. My grades didn't notice that. I think critical thinking was also a casualty of speed reading. We chased speed reading because President John Kennedy was supposed to have used it and was a voracious reader. I enjoy reading again, especially your column but my wife says I am too critical.;-)
Paul, I had the same experience with the Evelyn Wood method...which was called "threading," I think. I attended two classes, then stopped going. In fact...I realized that I needed to rein in my eyes just moving along a line of text. As a result, I developed the habit (ie, discipline) of underlining what struck me as valuable...as a "take away." When highlighters came out, I burned through them. For me, the lesson was...no point in just taking in a flow of information if you don't linger for a few seconds to absorb what seems worth remembering. The Wood method was good for skimming reports, etc to locate the parts to revisit and read with care. Jud Blakely
Also read Lance Izumi's well-written and small books about education, e.g., "Chaos in the Classroom" and "The Great Classroom Collapse."
"We didn’t get here by accident." No, it was the result of a plan begun by John Dewey when he returned from visiting Stalin's Potemkin Villages in 1928 and set out to "reform" American education in the Soviet model.
More than seventy years ago I was asking myself "how do I learn to think?" I got no instruction, ever. School was intensely boring until I was exposed to Algebra and Geometry by a teacher — who at 93 years of age is still my good friend. School was way too easy. I never learned to study, even as a university student, until I started teaching and decided I ought not to answer "Ummm, I'll get back to you on that" when a student asked a question. I had to understand EVERYTHING in the textbook I was using, in detail, not just superficial principles.
Mathematics teaches critical thinking. Engineering teaches critical thinking. Real science teaches critical thinking: As Physics Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman said "No matter how beautiful your theory, if it disagrees with reality, it's wrong." And software development, real stuff, not just iPhone apps and games, teaches critical thinking. Either it works, or it doesn't. No vague handwaving.
John, An excellent article plus no less excellent comments. I offer my first essay of 2026 with the title "No Trust, No Truth...No Truth, No Trust." Might be of interest. America has been "progressively" reduced to a low-trust society in ever more dire conflict with itself. I remain hopeful but not optimistic. I support Faith, Freedom, and Family...which is the hill so many of us are prepared to die on. Semper Fi...Jud Blakely -- link below to my essay:
Thank you for sharing Jennifer's article. It brings to mind what I'm often up against during counseling sessions with clients. I don't think it an overstatement to say none of those whom I see in my counseling office view their thinking as behavior. To them it just seems to happen. And whatever thoughts - as depression- or anxiety-inducing they may be – are "true". It becomes disorienting to practice critical thinking. And like physical exercise, mental exercise, i.e., critical thinking, is painful in the beginning. And in the long run highly beneficial toward mental health.
Thinking is a behavior one can change. It's a behavior that can be rational or irrational, reasonable or unreasonable. It is a behavior that can be rooted in an objective reality or unhinged & floating through some subjective aether. One, however, has to practice taking an objective stance toward one's thoughts to make these distinctions, to exercise critical thinking. Unfortunately, how we use language to express thoughts is a big obstacle in this process.
Almost everyone begins the sharing of thoughts with phrase "I feel …". Or if asked about an event or circumstance, the question more often than not begins, "How do you feel about …". It may not be an overstatement to say EVERYONE characterizes thoughts as "feelings". Feelings are emotions (angry, afraid, sad, happy, etc) & sensations (pain, tension, comfort, relaxed). Feelings are simply a response or reaction to some input. That input may be external or internal. Imagine stubbing your toe on a chair leg after your spouse moved the chair. You feel pain (sensation), then get angry or irritated (emotions). And then comes the thoughts – 'Why did she leave the chair there!?', 'Why did he get these stupid dining set!?'. A great example of this process is when George Bailey blows up at his family before storming out & wishing he'd never been born.
It may be my mission in life to get people to stop saying "I feel …" when asking about or sharing thoughts, and start saying, "I think …" or asking "What do you think about …". Then one can begin the process of exercising Critical Thinking. Identify the thought. Look at it objectively. Let it go, and be open to change if the thought is irrational, unreasonable, and does not correspond to reality.
The same objective stance can be taken toward emotions & sensations if properly framed. That is, "I feel angry", "I feel depressed", "I feel happy". Not, by the way, "I'm angry!" or "I'm depressed" or even "I'm happy" as this identifies oneself AS the emotion. You are not your emotions. Nor are you your thoughts.
You can practice this exercise: Pay attention to how often media will ask interviewees how they "feel" about a situation, and then listen to the sometimes rational, sometimes irrational thoughts expressed.
So true..."thinking as behavior" ought to stop them in their tracks if they really understood that concept. Thinking wrongly happens all the time. Just because we think something doesn't make it true. Lots to learn about ourselves never ends and helps us to consider others in a more thoughtful way.
John, I see ample evidence of this in the people protesting in the freezing cold shouting the same words and behaving the same way not understanding the why the criminals are being arrested and removed. They are following the talking points from tv or others who have an agenda. They act without thinking of the why, the proper authority, or the consequences of what they are doing
These are Lenin's Useful Idiots. They don't realize they're the first ones up against the firing squad wall when the regime takes power. They are, after all, carefully trained in agitation and resistance, which the regime they desire to install cannot tolerate.
This is an excellent point! The basics of reading comprehension are one key and thankfully schools are beginning to course correct on reading instruction. I’m hearing schools talk about “critical thinking” but they are still missing key components.
Before you can think critically, you need a solid base of knowledge. We are asking kids to “think critically” before they have learned basic skills and facts. A solid foundation of history, a broad reading base and fact memorization are keys to learning to quickly decode ideas, but we continue to skip over these basics.
Christa: Just to be clear, there is no State that is teaching Critical Thinking in K-12. Zero. A large part of Critical Thinking is asking probing questions. Instilling that mindset should be done prior to providing knowledge on a subject. See this commentary <https://criticallythinking.substack.com/p/teaching-children-to-think-critically-dce>.
John i was just thinking about this. I realized a lot of children type with 2 fingers, simply because they never took a typing class like i did. Typing correctly was NOT an emergent property of exposure to a keyboard, like critical thinking it requires instruction. Children are eminently impressible, so of course, in hindsight, they were the targets of evil. And yes the word "we" is appropriate in the titlrle, because "we" were the next generation's stewarts, and for the most part, "we" left it up to the government who then gave the keys to Microsoft and Google. So the kids today, who are anything but alright, will reap our apathy, inaction, and ignorance while we all, together, enter a dystopia of our own making.
On the subject of critical thinking, here is something from @thewisewolf
--------
Ten Ways Billionaires Who Hate You Are Manipulating You Right Now by @thewisewolf
1) The first manipulation is the illusion of choice. You think you have two parties representing different visions for America but both parties are funded by the same billionaires, vote for the same surveillance bills, approve the same defense budgets, and serve the same corporate interests. The choice you are given is which color tie the puppet wears, not who controls the strings.
2) The second manipulation is emotional hijacking. The news does not inform you, it activates you. Every story is framed to trigger fear or anger or disgust because those emotions bypass your rational thinking and make you easier to control. You are not watching journalism. You are being subjected to psychological operations designed to keep you in a constant state of agitation.
3) The third manipulation is tribal sorting. The algorithm learns what makes you angry and feeds you more of it until your entire worldview is shaped by outrage at the other side. You are sorted into a tribe not because you chose it but because keeping you tribal keeps you predictable and profitable.
4) The fourth manipulation is false scarcity. You are told resources are limited and the other tribe is taking what belongs to you. Immigrants are stealing your jobs. Welfare recipients are draining your taxes. The other party is destroying your healthcare. Meanwhile the billionaire class has more wealth than any humans in history and could solve most of these problems tomorrow if they wanted to.
5) The fifth manipulation is memory holing. Stories that threaten powerful interests get buried or forgotten within days. Exposed crimes result in no consequences. Historical context that would help you understand the present is never taught. You are kept in a perpetual present with no past to learn from and no future to plan for.
6) The sixth manipulation is controlled opposition. The voices you think are fighting for you are often funded by the same interests they pretend to oppose. The outrage merchant on your side of the aisle is playing a character designed to keep you engaged and angry and tuned in while nothing ever actually changes.
7) The seventh manipulation is the Overton window. The range of acceptable opinion is artificially narrowed so that anything outside it seems extreme. Ideas that were mainstream fifty years ago are now treated as radical. Ideas that serve elite interests are treated as moderate common sense. You are not choosing your beliefs from the full range of human thought. You are choosing from a menu they wrote.
8) The eighth manipulation is learned helplessness. You are shown so many problems with no solutions that you eventually give up and accept that nothing can change. This is intentional. A population that believes resistance is futile does not resist. They scroll and complain and feel superior for understanding how bad things are while doing absolutely nothing about it.
9) The ninth manipulation is identity capture. Your political affiliation becomes your identity, and any attack on your party feels like an attack on you personally. This makes you defend politicians and policies that harm you because admitting they are wrong would mean admitting you were wrong, and your ego will not allow that.
10) The tenth manipulation is the most insidious of all: you are manipulated into believing you are too smart to be manipulated. Every person reading this thinks the manipulations I described apply to other people, the stupid people, the brainwashed people on the other side. That certainty is itself a manipulation. The moment you believe you are immune is the moment you become most vulnerable
President Obama's Warning: "You just have to flood a country's public square with enough raw sewage, you just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorizing that citizens no longer know what to believe. Once they lose trust in their leaders, in mainstream media, in political institutions, in each other, in the possibility of "truth", the games won."
He called for improving discourse in the country using critical thinking skills- about 55 minutes into his talk. A transcript of his talk is available here-
Fading demand for the Government's "chosen" winner for transportation - EV's
• General Motors is taking a $6 billion charge to unwind some electric-vehicle investments, to pull back from EVs in response to fading demand, and the Trump administration's policies to stop taxpayer funded subsidies to procure an EV.
• Ford's $19.5 billion write down is tied to a reset of its electric-vehicle business highlights the mounting challenges for legacy automakers as they navigate waning demand, and a changed regulatory backdrop, and the Trump administration's policies to stop taxpayer funded subsidies to procure an EV.
• Mercedes-Benz has halted production of its EQE and EQS electric sedans and SUVs in the United States market starting September 1, 2025. The move aligns with the end of federal EV tax credits of taxpayer funded subsidies on September 30 and reflects what the automaker describes as a response to changing market conditions of fading demand.
Ron: This is predictable when politicians choose favorites (EVs, wind energy, etc.) based on virtue signaling, rather than sound Science.
Brilliant article. Hits right at the core of the problem that was created long ago that we suffer from now. If those in our current government also would learn critical thinking, we would have far reaching benefits. But our future depends on our children learning critical thinking. Thank you for leading this important issue.
Terry: I appreciate the support. Yes, our K-12 schools s where this needs to be fixed—yesterday.
Reading is more than reading. I remember when we studied the origin of words and their roots. It helped one to "deconstruct" a word and be able to make a good educated guess of what a word might mean if you encountered it for the first time and then, analyze the context of it. Also, understanding how languages borrow from one another is a testament to how cultures and languages evolve. This is a beautiful thing that is lost when education is shallow and teaches to the lowest common denominator. Oh, and do teachers make kids use a dictionary to build vocabulary or is that just too difficult? When I read comments on many websites, there are those who I can understand that English was probably not their first language, but then there are those who just didn't "get" spelling.
Linda: Yes, every school subject (like reading) would benefit from more critical thinking on the part of students.
Excellent analysis.
Kids are naturally curious. Curiosity is what initially triggers creative thinking. Why is the sky blue? Let's find out. This natural curiosity seems to get squashed in school. A little off subject here, but I think it's imperative that we bring back manners, Emily Post style. Civilized behavior. I'm not sure parents are teaching this to their kids anymore. Debate should be taught in all grades, one through twelve. Civilized, mannerly, respectful debate. Science, yes! That was my favorite class in high school, and in college microbiology was an offshoot of that. I never understood the need for all that math until I took organic chemistry, and the lightbulb went off. The universe was revealed. But above all else, kids should be taught to read. Not just reading, but a love of reading. Bring back phonics, give them great books that get them addicted to reading. It's a disgrace that a high school kid can graduate and present a job application form, like so many I looked at over the years, that plainly illustrates that they can't read or write.
SM: Good insight — combined with some of your memorable education experiences...
Dr. Droz,
In the 60's when I went to college, Evelyn Wood's Speeding Reading courses were the rage. I took a Wood's course and it killed my enjoyment of reading. It took me a long time to break the Wood's method which was supposed to improve comprehension. My grades didn't notice that. I think critical thinking was also a casualty of speed reading. We chased speed reading because President John Kennedy was supposed to have used it and was a voracious reader. I enjoy reading again, especially your column but my wife says I am too critical.;-)
Paul, I had the same experience with the Evelyn Wood method...which was called "threading," I think. I attended two classes, then stopped going. In fact...I realized that I needed to rein in my eyes just moving along a line of text. As a result, I developed the habit (ie, discipline) of underlining what struck me as valuable...as a "take away." When highlighters came out, I burned through them. For me, the lesson was...no point in just taking in a flow of information if you don't linger for a few seconds to absorb what seems worth remembering. The Wood method was good for skimming reports, etc to locate the parts to revisit and read with care. Jud Blakely
Paul & Jud: Two fine observations about superficial vs actual thinking.
Also read Lance Izumi's well-written and small books about education, e.g., "Chaos in the Classroom" and "The Great Classroom Collapse."
"We didn’t get here by accident." No, it was the result of a plan begun by John Dewey when he returned from visiting Stalin's Potemkin Villages in 1928 and set out to "reform" American education in the Soviet model.
More than seventy years ago I was asking myself "how do I learn to think?" I got no instruction, ever. School was intensely boring until I was exposed to Algebra and Geometry by a teacher — who at 93 years of age is still my good friend. School was way too easy. I never learned to study, even as a university student, until I started teaching and decided I ought not to answer "Ummm, I'll get back to you on that" when a student asked a question. I had to understand EVERYTHING in the textbook I was using, in detail, not just superficial principles.
Mathematics teaches critical thinking. Engineering teaches critical thinking. Real science teaches critical thinking: As Physics Nobel Laureate Richard Feynman said "No matter how beautiful your theory, if it disagrees with reality, it's wrong." And software development, real stuff, not just iPhone apps and games, teaches critical thinking. Either it works, or it doesn't. No vague handwaving.
This is a great interest and certainly timely
Dr. Nass: Thank you. Yes and Yes.
John, An excellent article plus no less excellent comments. I offer my first essay of 2026 with the title "No Trust, No Truth...No Truth, No Trust." Might be of interest. America has been "progressively" reduced to a low-trust society in ever more dire conflict with itself. I remain hopeful but not optimistic. I support Faith, Freedom, and Family...which is the hill so many of us are prepared to die on. Semper Fi...Jud Blakely -- link below to my essay:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uIpcL_lztzq-ctkU_sUKEI3aaiJCsBdq/view?usp=sharing
Thank you for sharing Jennifer's article. It brings to mind what I'm often up against during counseling sessions with clients. I don't think it an overstatement to say none of those whom I see in my counseling office view their thinking as behavior. To them it just seems to happen. And whatever thoughts - as depression- or anxiety-inducing they may be – are "true". It becomes disorienting to practice critical thinking. And like physical exercise, mental exercise, i.e., critical thinking, is painful in the beginning. And in the long run highly beneficial toward mental health.
Thinking is a behavior one can change. It's a behavior that can be rational or irrational, reasonable or unreasonable. It is a behavior that can be rooted in an objective reality or unhinged & floating through some subjective aether. One, however, has to practice taking an objective stance toward one's thoughts to make these distinctions, to exercise critical thinking. Unfortunately, how we use language to express thoughts is a big obstacle in this process.
Almost everyone begins the sharing of thoughts with phrase "I feel …". Or if asked about an event or circumstance, the question more often than not begins, "How do you feel about …". It may not be an overstatement to say EVERYONE characterizes thoughts as "feelings". Feelings are emotions (angry, afraid, sad, happy, etc) & sensations (pain, tension, comfort, relaxed). Feelings are simply a response or reaction to some input. That input may be external or internal. Imagine stubbing your toe on a chair leg after your spouse moved the chair. You feel pain (sensation), then get angry or irritated (emotions). And then comes the thoughts – 'Why did she leave the chair there!?', 'Why did he get these stupid dining set!?'. A great example of this process is when George Bailey blows up at his family before storming out & wishing he'd never been born.
It may be my mission in life to get people to stop saying "I feel …" when asking about or sharing thoughts, and start saying, "I think …" or asking "What do you think about …". Then one can begin the process of exercising Critical Thinking. Identify the thought. Look at it objectively. Let it go, and be open to change if the thought is irrational, unreasonable, and does not correspond to reality.
The same objective stance can be taken toward emotions & sensations if properly framed. That is, "I feel angry", "I feel depressed", "I feel happy". Not, by the way, "I'm angry!" or "I'm depressed" or even "I'm happy" as this identifies oneself AS the emotion. You are not your emotions. Nor are you your thoughts.
You can practice this exercise: Pay attention to how often media will ask interviewees how they "feel" about a situation, and then listen to the sometimes rational, sometimes irrational thoughts expressed.
So true..."thinking as behavior" ought to stop them in their tracks if they really understood that concept. Thinking wrongly happens all the time. Just because we think something doesn't make it true. Lots to learn about ourselves never ends and helps us to consider others in a more thoughtful way.
Daniel: I think you would be a good person to write a commentary on this subject, and submit it to me to publicize here...
Thank you. I will work on that.
John, I see ample evidence of this in the people protesting in the freezing cold shouting the same words and behaving the same way not understanding the why the criminals are being arrested and removed. They are following the talking points from tv or others who have an agenda. They act without thinking of the why, the proper authority, or the consequences of what they are doing
These are Lenin's Useful Idiots. They don't realize they're the first ones up against the firing squad wall when the regime takes power. They are, after all, carefully trained in agitation and resistance, which the regime they desire to install cannot tolerate.
John: Yes that is one of many problematic examples now rampant in our society.
This is an excellent point! The basics of reading comprehension are one key and thankfully schools are beginning to course correct on reading instruction. I’m hearing schools talk about “critical thinking” but they are still missing key components.
Before you can think critically, you need a solid base of knowledge. We are asking kids to “think critically” before they have learned basic skills and facts. A solid foundation of history, a broad reading base and fact memorization are keys to learning to quickly decode ideas, but we continue to skip over these basics.
How did Mississippi suddenly become the USA literacy champion>? By replacing ebonics and "look say" with the Science of Reading.
Christa: Just to be clear, there is no State that is teaching Critical Thinking in K-12. Zero. A large part of Critical Thinking is asking probing questions. Instilling that mindset should be done prior to providing knowledge on a subject. See this commentary <https://criticallythinking.substack.com/p/teaching-children-to-think-critically-dce>.
John i was just thinking about this. I realized a lot of children type with 2 fingers, simply because they never took a typing class like i did. Typing correctly was NOT an emergent property of exposure to a keyboard, like critical thinking it requires instruction. Children are eminently impressible, so of course, in hindsight, they were the targets of evil. And yes the word "we" is appropriate in the titlrle, because "we" were the next generation's stewarts, and for the most part, "we" left it up to the government who then gave the keys to Microsoft and Google. So the kids today, who are anything but alright, will reap our apathy, inaction, and ignorance while we all, together, enter a dystopia of our own making.
On the subject of critical thinking, here is something from @thewisewolf
--------
Ten Ways Billionaires Who Hate You Are Manipulating You Right Now by @thewisewolf
1) The first manipulation is the illusion of choice. You think you have two parties representing different visions for America but both parties are funded by the same billionaires, vote for the same surveillance bills, approve the same defense budgets, and serve the same corporate interests. The choice you are given is which color tie the puppet wears, not who controls the strings.
2) The second manipulation is emotional hijacking. The news does not inform you, it activates you. Every story is framed to trigger fear or anger or disgust because those emotions bypass your rational thinking and make you easier to control. You are not watching journalism. You are being subjected to psychological operations designed to keep you in a constant state of agitation.
3) The third manipulation is tribal sorting. The algorithm learns what makes you angry and feeds you more of it until your entire worldview is shaped by outrage at the other side. You are sorted into a tribe not because you chose it but because keeping you tribal keeps you predictable and profitable.
4) The fourth manipulation is false scarcity. You are told resources are limited and the other tribe is taking what belongs to you. Immigrants are stealing your jobs. Welfare recipients are draining your taxes. The other party is destroying your healthcare. Meanwhile the billionaire class has more wealth than any humans in history and could solve most of these problems tomorrow if they wanted to.
5) The fifth manipulation is memory holing. Stories that threaten powerful interests get buried or forgotten within days. Exposed crimes result in no consequences. Historical context that would help you understand the present is never taught. You are kept in a perpetual present with no past to learn from and no future to plan for.
6) The sixth manipulation is controlled opposition. The voices you think are fighting for you are often funded by the same interests they pretend to oppose. The outrage merchant on your side of the aisle is playing a character designed to keep you engaged and angry and tuned in while nothing ever actually changes.
7) The seventh manipulation is the Overton window. The range of acceptable opinion is artificially narrowed so that anything outside it seems extreme. Ideas that were mainstream fifty years ago are now treated as radical. Ideas that serve elite interests are treated as moderate common sense. You are not choosing your beliefs from the full range of human thought. You are choosing from a menu they wrote.
8) The eighth manipulation is learned helplessness. You are shown so many problems with no solutions that you eventually give up and accept that nothing can change. This is intentional. A population that believes resistance is futile does not resist. They scroll and complain and feel superior for understanding how bad things are while doing absolutely nothing about it.
9) The ninth manipulation is identity capture. Your political affiliation becomes your identity, and any attack on your party feels like an attack on you personally. This makes you defend politicians and policies that harm you because admitting they are wrong would mean admitting you were wrong, and your ego will not allow that.
10) The tenth manipulation is the most insidious of all: you are manipulated into believing you are too smart to be manipulated. Every person reading this thinks the manipulations I described apply to other people, the stupid people, the brainwashed people on the other side. That certainty is itself a manipulation. The moment you believe you are immune is the moment you become most vulnerable
--------
Much more must know information on these insidious manipulations here --> https://tritorch.substack.com/p/there-is-something-way-bigger-going <--
President Obama's Warning: "You just have to flood a country's public square with enough raw sewage, you just have to raise enough questions, spread enough dirt, plant enough conspiracy theorizing that citizens no longer know what to believe. Once they lose trust in their leaders, in mainstream media, in political institutions, in each other, in the possibility of "truth", the games won."
Thanks for the Obama quote!
It came from a speech he gave at Stanford that has received a lot of attention-
https://www.reuters.com/article/fact-check/clip-of-obama-criticizing-the-use-of-disinformation-to-threaten-democracies-take-idUSL1N2ZS1GG/
He called for improving discourse in the country using critical thinking skills- about 55 minutes into his talk. A transcript of his talk is available here-
https://barackobama.medium.com/my-remarks-on-disinformation-at-stanford-7d7af7ba28af
Thank you.
You're welcome.