Truth, if rejected, is found to be false.  Facts, if rejected, are said to be incorrect…Truth is determined by the inquirer’s intention; facts by the inquirer’s outcome.

No truth has been changed by applying further knowledge.  Many a fact, however, has been discarded when proven incorrect.

Jon Huer/Tenure for Socrates

Synchronicity is alive and well this Saturday morning.

During an interview on  MSNBC’s “The Weekend,” co-host Michael Steele asked former New Jersey Republican governor Christine Todd Whitman (a Harris supporter) why Donald Trump still holds on to 45 to 47 percent of the American electorate.  Whitman replied, as I believe Huer would have.  Donald Trump has been “their truth” for a decade, and it is hard for people to admit their truth might be wrong.  In the previous segment, Representative Joe Neguse (D-CO), when asked how the new-found enthusiasm and excitement around the Harris/Walz ticket would translate into votes, he talked about the more than 200,000 new volunteers who signed up since Kamala Harris announced her candidacy.  The intersection of those two answers is what triggered today’s post.

Quantity and quality are two different things.  Volunteers talk to family, friends and neighbors.  They also knock on strangers’ doors or engage them at public events.  For many of these individuals, Donald Trump and the MAGA agenda may still be “their truth.”  They will not be swayed by telling them, “You know, Trump has been lying to you about the economy, immigration and crime.”  First, volunteers would be replacing “their truth” with “my truth.”  Second, as Whitman suggested, people do not want to be told “their truth” is wrong.

New truths come not from external sources, but from within.  So, the question is, “How do we get voters to create their own new truth that Harris/Walz would be better, not only for America, but for them personally?”  This explains why Huer provides a more likely path to conversion when he says, “Many a fact, however, has been discarded when proven incorrect.”  What can you say to someone willing to listen that will get them to say to themselves, “Hmm, if that’s a fact, maybe I need to reconsider what I believe, my truth.”

In several recent posts, I have provided examples, largely from Project 2025, that are provable facts.  If Head Start is eliminated, families with young children will face $6,800 a year in childcare expenses.  The two-bracket income tax proposal will reward the wealthy and punish middle class families.  Mass deportation of migrant workers will further increase food prices.  However, these are things that were most apparent to me.  Volunteers must be prepared to respond on issues that are at the top of the list of the people they want to influence.

Let me give you one example how this might play out.

VOLUNTEER:  I can see you’re worried about the future.  Anything in particular?

VOTER:  I’m worried that, if Harris is president, she will take the country deeper and deeper into debt.  Yesterday, I got an email from my congressman who said, “Our national debt officially hit $35 TRILLION. If families across #FL04 are required to live within their means, then the federal government should do the same.” I think he’s right. [NOTE: The quote is an actual post from my favorite MAGA congressman Aaron Bean.]

VOLUNTEER:  We all recognize the need for government to live within its means.  But Project 2025 says that the federal government should be debt-free.  But to suggest families do that is just not correct.  Don’t we have mortgages?  Car loans?  Student loans?  Outstanding medical bills?  When a family budgets each year, they include loan payments in their calculations.  The president and Congress have to do the same thing.

VOTER:  Hmm?  Doesn’t that mean the annual payments increase as the debt goes up?

VOLUNTEER:  You’re referring to what is called “debt service” and you are correct.  Do you think Donald Trump will be better at that than Kamala Harris?

VOTER:  Yes.

VOLUNTEER:  That was not the case when he was president.  In four years, according to U.S. Treasury records, the debt increased by $6.7 trillion, more than any one-term president ever.  And over $4.0 trillion of that is due to the Trump tax cuts which mostly went to the wealthiest Americans and large corporations.  Harris supports making those who have benefited most from doing business in America pay their fair share while Project 2025 proposes even more tax cuts for the same people who got the benefit last time.

VOTER:  Hmm?  I’m not sure I’m convinced.

VOLUNTEER:  That’s okay.  I just appreciate you giving me a chance to tell you why I’m so excited about America’s future under a Harris/Walz administration.  If it’s okay, I’d like to give you this brochure which has some links to confirm what we talked about and how future President Harris proposes to make it better.  Thank you for your time.

Fact-based.  Civil.  Respectful.  The issue is irrelevant.  It’s the VIBE.  Even if the voter still doesn’t like Harris, maybe he or she will still like the volunteer.  Which is one more “Hmm” moment.  Gee, this Harris supporter isn’t the radical socialist they’re painted to be.

It may not help on November 5th, but it will make a difference on January 20th.  I am betting voters who have these kinds of encounters with Harris volunteers are not going to believe the election was stolen or support an unconstitutional or violent effort to overturn the election.

For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP