It’s time to defend democracy
Adam Price – MS for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr
Donald Trump’s return to power represents more than another American election – it marks the triumph of systematic deception over democratic truth.
His victory, driven by a well-oiled machinery of disinformation, ought to be a wake-up call for democracies worldwide.
For Wales, this moment demands immediate action, not only to safeguard the future of our own democracy but to help set a new global standard for truth in politics.
Deception
In this sense the Welsh Government’s proposal to prohibit deliberate deception in politics could not be more timely.
Trump’s campaign didn’t just distort the facts, it constructed an alternate reality – a seductive “parallel truth” that millions embraced.
As cognitive scientist Stephan Lewandowsky explains, this is “participatory propaganda,” where leaders do not merely lie but weave a narrative so emotionally potent that people want to believe it, regardless of the facts.
Falsehoods
Trump’s campaign mastered the art of calculated falsehoods designed to provoke visceral responses.
His claim that American cities were overrun by illegal immigrants eating pets preyed on deep-seated fears yet had no basis in reality.
Similarly, the assertion that schools secretly conducted gender surgery on children without parental consent was a pure fabrication, crafted to inflame and mobilise. Each tale, amplified through social media, overwhelmed fact-checkers and created a world where facts crumbled before the power of manufactured fear.
Lewandowsky describes how authenticity, typically a valued trait, becomes a double-edged sword in modern politics.
Trump’s brash, unfiltered style allowed him to appear “real” even while spreading untruths. Voters cared less about accuracy than about his apparent willingness to “speak his mind,” generating loyalty through emotional resonance rather than factual truth.
Captivated
His supporters were not swayed by evidence; they were captivated by a leader who seemed to challenge elites fearlessly, even as he undermined democracy’s foundations with each calculated lie.
Trump’s victory was not built on policy solutions but on the relentless repetition of emotionally charged lies until they crystallised into perceived truth.
His baseless claim of rampant voter fraud – the most pernicious of his “Big Lies” – struck at democracy’s heart without a shred of evidence. This was not mere political spin; it was a deliberate assault on the credibility of democracy itself.
Wales now faces a pivotal decision that will resonate across democracies worldwide. A law against deliberate deception would draw a line in the sand, declaring that in Wales, at least, truth in politics is not negotiable.
Manipulative
This is not about policing every minor exaggeration or rhetorical flourish – it is about confronting the kind of calculated, manipulative lies that have already brought one democracy to its knees.
Whilst Trump’s victory has shown how easily truth can be crushed beneath the machinery of lies, Wales now has a chance to write a different story.
A small nation taking a stand against political deception might seem futile – but history’s greatest defences of democracy have often come from unexpected places.
Trump’s playbook works because it feeds on inaction, on the quiet hope that truth will somehow defend itself. It will not.
His triumph shows how quickly democratic foundations can crumble when truth becomes a commodity to be traded away rather than a principle to be defended.
Courage
This moment calls for courage, not caution. As Trump’s politics of deception threatens to extend its grip, Wales faces a choice that will define its democratic future.
This is not about safeguarding an abstract ideal; it’s about ensuring that tomorrow’s citizens inherit more than a hollowed-out democracy.
By acting now, Wales can lead the world in declaring that even in an age where lies race through social media and truth gets twisted, honesty still matters.
Let Wales show that a democracy grounded in truth can survive the onslaught of alternative facts and manufactured realities.
Trump’s return is more than a warning – it’s a call to defend democracy from those who would trade integrity for influence and sacrifice truth for power.
The time to act is now, before cynicism and deception become our new reality.
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100 years of lead poisoning on the global population has only just ended…are we seeing the symptoms of it in the USA and the rest of the world for that matter…?
Politics does need to be cleaned up. A law to prevent politicians lying, as hard as that might be to enforce, is desperately needed. Lying has huge consequences. Here we’ve had the lies of Brexit and the economy has stagnated as a result and now in the States the ultimate lier is once again in the White house, with major consequences for climate change and world peace. Cymru has an opportunity to lead the way in stopping the rot now before 2026 and the likes of Farage destroys democracy here too.
That is the face of old man devoid of make-up and pep pills who knows that the grim reaper follows him like a shadow…
‘Dead man walking’ as they say over there…
The success of Trump and Maga is deeply worrying . The extreme right will be fired up by it’s success. Reform will gain seats in the next Senydd election, we must prepare now.
And are you happy with the extreme left Liebour that we have running our country, and our Welsh assembly who ignore the the voters and petitions.. looking forward to 2026 hopefully we can remove Labour from Wales who have done nothing in 25 years.
Your assertion that Labour as Starmer has reshaped it is ‘extreme left’ makes your observation wholly risible.
Though maybe your employment of the puerile pseudo-word ‘Liebour’ would suggest that anyway!
You’re obviously a keen follower of Welsh politics. The National Assembly for Wales became the Senedd in 2020. Try and keep up!
Bit of a dichotomy there. Petitions are not a vote, if we base everything on a petition then why bother voting. 20mph was in the manifesto, it got its vote, if they act on a petition for that and its open to abuse then that would be worse.
None of us here in Wales are citizens of the USA, and we absolutely have to respect the right of US voters, in what appears to be a wholly free and democratic vote, to elect whomsoever they choose.
But we’re under no similar obligation to respect the man that they’ve chosen. That’s altogether a different matter!
Not sure the usa can be called a democracy when its president is elected by electoral college, not directly by popular vote.
That does indeed strike me as an eccentric process aa well as an unnecessary one.
But as someone in the US might respond that our system of appointing and accepting a head of state solely on the basis of heredity is even more eccentric, I hesitate to be too critical!
and here was I, thinking that the big issue was about the tories misrepresenting targetted 20 mph speed limits as a “blanket”. How parochial I can get!
honesty is the best policy.
Biden a hater of Britain…what utter rubbish. Is that why he backed the UK when Argentina invaded the Falklands? Did Trump ever condemn Russia for the Salisbury incident? So much for the special relationship.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3C9hxsRO7pI&ab_channel=CBC
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/05/trump-told-theresa-may-he-doubted-russia-was-behind-skripal-poisoning
“There are two sets of principles. They are the principles of power and privilege and the principles of truth and justice. If you pursue truth and justice it will always mean a diminution of power and privilege. If you pursue power and privilege, it will always be at the expense of truth and justice.”
“MAGA MAGA MAGA: Out Out Out”.
I remember it well, forty years ago – a small crowd shouting across the road from Temple Gardens as Thatcher was going into the Metropole Hotel in Llandrindod. She pretended not to hear. Turned, waved, with not a hair out of place in that elaborate blonde coiffure …
In 2003, a Labour government invaded another country on a tissue of lies, killed millions, and completely screwed up the Middle East, with consequences that endure to this day. I don’t recall any mainstream politicians back then calling for the liars to be prosecuted. But now they’re facing opponents who lie even more shamelessly than they do, suddenly they want the law to step in. In practice, this would be just one more weapon for centrists to use against opinions they don’t like. And it wouldn’t work, because there are no institutions with the credibility to enforce it. Those prosecuted… Read more »
Actually Price was involved in an attempt to have Blair sanctioned for the invasion of Iraq due to the made up allegations about weapons of mass destruction. Sadly he seems to have gone off the boil a bit since then being distracted by other lesser matters.
‘His supporters were not swayed by evidence; they were captivated by a leader who seemed to challenge elites fearlessly, even as he undermined democracy’s foundations with each calculated lie.’
True enough, and that’s why Trump in this campaign has come to be termed a ‘fascist’ by some of his opponents. Because that was also pretty much the way in which Benito Mussolini generated voter support in Italy during the inter-war years.
One of the things that has always struck me in US politics is the amount of money that is spent on the four year cycle. A lot is on social media and advertising. Reminds me too much of a talent show, but relying on the talent to explain what they do without hearing them. As 45 we have on record what he did and it is bad but the recent campaign, I didn’t really see that come out because the reds shouted louder about people eating cats and dogs etc. Also SCOTUS is pretty much stitched up in favour of… Read more »
‘Reminds me too much of a talent show …’
That seems to be a contemporary trend which has developed over recent years in more than one western nation: politicians being elected into office seemingly and primarily as a consequence of their perceived ‘star quality’ or even entertainment value.
That was certainly a major element behind Boris Johnson’s brief political success, and in a less flamboyant way behind Emmanuel Macron’s as well. Though in both those instances ‘the gilt flaked off the gingerbread’ in the voters’ perception after a time, it seems!
“This is not about policing every minor exaggeration or rhetorical flourish”.
But it would be, wouldn’t it? ART Davies just got it in the neck for a standard bit of overblown rhetoric on 20 mph. Yes, he exaggerated, but politicians say similar things every day; they went after him over this one because 20 mph happens to be an issue where the Welsh government is on the defensive.
ART Davies did not exaggerate he deliberately misled therefore a lie;.
‘but politicians say similar things every day’
So they too would be lying every day
Seems like an odd thing to accept never mind defend.
‘Tell me lies tell me sweet sweet little lies.
Tell me lies
Tell me, tell me lies’
As Christine McVie wrote
While honesty in politics would be a nice change the article makes no mention of the extent to which politicians both here and in the US are out of touch with much of the electorate. The concerns of the many are ignored, trivialised or weaponised leaving a political void ripe for exploitation by the rogues among them. Many issues that are having a huge impact on many such as immigration, integration, organised crime, housing etc etc are either not open for discussion or given less attention than they deserve. Maybe a Senedd that respected and listened to the electorate with… Read more »
I don’t think that immigration is a real issue, it’s heavily weaponised, granted, but just who is weaponising it? If there wasn’t the immigrant bogey, how would the likes of Reform weaponise the real issues, those others you rightfully mention? Immigrants have to be part of that mix to legitimise the arguments presented by the likes of Farage, otherwise it would call into question where exactly Farage himself sits in being the cause of the misery experienced by so many. Parties like Reform also provide a very convenient scapegoat for the mainstream parties that have shifted to embracing a similar… Read more »
I agree with much of your post however I think it’s a mistake to suggest immigration is not an issue for many people.
The style of Brexit chosen took away the well-trained Spanish nurses and made keeping a nursing home next to impossible. Now with the changes in the Budget, the best-run most invested nursing homes are struggling for staff. How will acute hospital beds ever be properly used, how will our frail elderly keep their dignity and independence in their own homes, without the extra help that came from migration? Meanwhile, highly skilled and motivated people sit in asylum hotels when they would love to be contributing and making a life for themselves. It’s not the economic migrants who are the problem.
I agree with much of this (and the care sector is in dire need of help). It is worth remembering that every foreign born/foreign trained nurse, or midwife, or dentist, that we benefit from here is leaving someone else across the world with a shortage. It isn’t the role of other countries to train skilled staff, at their expense, in order for them to migrate here and benefit us.
Well said. Political squeamishness on the left has gone on far too long. People who feel demonised, or ridiculed, for wanting to voice their concerns don’t just disappear, even if they go quiet for a bit. Adam Price never gave the impression as Leader that he was willing to listen, and indeed had a reputation within the party for not bothering with the lower ranks. Honesty and a willingness to listen would be a good thing indeed, but someone credible on the left needs to step up.
Well said Adam. History when not learnt has a danger to repeat itself. There is similarities between 1929 and 2008 both led to unstable economies and rise of dictatorships. There was a warning in Jan 2021, when Trump’s supporters stormed the US capital: A exact copy of ‘the storming of the Reichstag’ – that is how Angela Merkel saw it. This is an exact plan from ‘Mein Kampf’ I advise everyone to check the similarities – they are very close to what is happening now. As for ReformUK this is yet another copy of the Original ‘British Fascist Organisation’ of… Read more »
Spot on Ernie, keep reminding people of history. We are the same sad human beings responding to the same Darwinian impulses whatever the so-called advances in technology.
It’s wrong to assume that the majority of voters fell for all the lies and rather weird outbursts from Trump. They voted for him because the average Joe has not seen any of the benefits from the current administration and wanted change. The prices in the grocery store. Most of the loon stuff Trumps comes out with is just to keep media attention.
It suits most politicians to go off chasing Trump’s “loon stuff” as they too are engaged in deflection and diversion. If all these well paid wise guys and girls got on with the job of tackling the cost of living and the quality of life of the ordinary citizen we’d be much happier society. Of course some of the spivs and wide boys out there peddling scams wouldn’t like it, but so what ?
Totally agree, it really is that simple. But I still think that Trump is a dangerous person who should not have been allowed anywhere near the levers of power. Anyone who has read any book by those close to Trump on his first jaunt as president cannot but be extremely worried. There were checks and balances on him at that time. Those are all now gone. It’s not for nothing that the Pentagon is having internal discussions on what to do if and when Trump issues illegal orders where US soldiers are legally bound to refuse to enact them. The… Read more »
Has President-elect Trump succeeded in setting the political agenda in Wales? Is the Senedd election in 2026 already being framed as a struggle between, dark and light, truth and lies? Politician (unless they are particularly chummy with powerful media magnates or have sponsors with deep pockets) should focus on listening to the concerns of people in Wales, formulate credible policies to address those concerns, and state a willingness to cooperate with anyone and everyone to make real visible progress on them within the term of the 7th Senedd.
I believe this article could be talking about the uk elections in 2017 and 2019, if you replace trump with tories supported by the plethora of right-wing print media!
From Adam Price, of all people. Who resigned as Leader of Plaid Cymru (after not increasing their share of the vote during his leadership) after a damning report into sexual harassment and misogyny in his party. Come off it. Price has no idea how to connect with the ‘common people’, and this rhetoric of ‘lies’ versus ‘truth’ is very self dramatising. What is a woman, Adam? Answer us that. While you’re spluttering, consider this. It isn’t true that schools will conduct ‘gender surgery’ on children without their parents’ knowledge. But some schools in Wales will allow them – encourage them… Read more »