False Equivalence: Comparing Apples to Cow Pats 0
Colby Hall notes that (some) Trump is trying to blame Democrats’ rhetoric for the recent thwarted assassination attempt. They are equating claims that Trump represents a threat to democracy (he does) with Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen (it wasn’t).
Here’s tiny bit from his article:
The problem is that the comparison makes no sense. It is a brazen false equivalency that flat-out ignores the fact that what caused Jan. 6 — Trump’s false election claims and his continued spouting of them — is precisely the threat to democracy that Hume invokes.
Crucially, the difference between Hume’s examples of inciting claims is simple: one is true, and one is false. The claim that fueled Jan. 6, that the 2020 election was stolen, is false. If it were true, few would criticize Trump for complaining about it. It was not true.
