How Populist Leaders Like Trump Use ‘Common Sense’ as an Ideological Weapon to Undermine Info

By Dannagal G. Younger, College of Delaware

It’s “the revolution of common sense,” President Donald Trump introduced in his second inaugural tackle.

And so it’s. The most recent installment of that assertion got here in his Jan. 30, 2025, press convention concerning the Potomac aircraft crash. When requested how he had concluded that range insurance policies have been accountable for a crash that was nonetheless underneath investigation, Trump responded, “Because I have common sense, OK?”

“Common sense” is what’s identified to students as a “lay epistemology,” or how common individuals make sense of the world. We don’t depend on statistical proof or skilled analysis whereas we’re shopping for lettuce or driving in site visitors. As an alternative, we’re guided by direct expertise, feelings and instinct.

As a result of it comes from common individuals and never establishments that some individuals deem to be “corrupt,” champions of frequent sense counsel it results in a purer type of fact.

President Donald Trump is requested how he might conclude that DEI insurance policies brought about the Potomac aircraft crash.

But it’s exactly as a result of it comes from private observations and instinct that analysis exhibits frequent sense is steeped in bias and sometimes leads us astray.

Populist leaders like Trump generally have a good time frequent sense and assault experience and proof. Populism is much less about being liberal or conservative than it’s a approach of interesting to the general public. These appeals are based mostly on an ethical separation between the corrupt, unhealthy individuals with cultural energy and the great, pure individuals who maintain the proper values – like religion in frequent sense over experience and proof.

And with the brand new Trump administration, the elevation of frequent sense as a advantage has been fast and broad.

Dusty boots vs. elite credentials

In his affirmation listening to for the place of secretary of protection, Pete Hegseth pointed to “dust on his boots” as proof of his {qualifications}, in distinction to the elite credentials of previous protection secretaries, who’ve usually been Washington insiders.

Hegseth couldn’t title members of the Affiliation of Southeast Asian Nations, an alliance of nations taking part in an important function in world safety. However he did present that he knew the diameter of the rounds that match within the journal of an M4 rifle.

That was proof that he was, in his phrases, “a change agent. Someone with no vested interest in certain companies or specific programs or approved narratives.”

Even Meta’s announcement that it will roll again skilled fact-checking on its U.S. social media platforms displays a “lay epistemic” shift.

Meta defined that fact-checkers, “like everyone else, have their own biases and perspectives” and that these biases had made fact-checking “a tool to censor.”

As an alternative, the corporate would embrace a neighborhood notes mannequin the place customers might present further info on posts, which Meta argued can be “less prone to bias.”

“We’ve seen this approach work on X,” wrote Meta’s Chief World Affairs Officer Joel Kaplan, “where they empower their community to decide when posts are potentially misleading and need more context, and people across a diverse range of perspectives decide what sort of context is helpful for other users to see.”

This coverage change might be much less of a shift in Fb founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s rules than a change made out of necessity. Given Trump’s penchant for falsehoods, I think about Meta’s earlier coverage would quickly have proved financially and politically inconvenient.

Regardless, the result’s a populist’s dream: the demotion of formal experience in favor of “common sense.”

When requested whether or not he knew the members of a regional safety alliance, protection secretary nominee Pete Hegseth was stumped.
Widespread sense is ideological

For the previous 20 years, the rise in social media, mixed with declining belief in formal information organizations, has democratized data: the sense that nobody individual or establishment has particular entry to fact – not students with many levels, not consultants armed with scientific proof or information, and undoubtedly not journalists.

In a 2020 research of public sentiment throughout 20 nations, Pew Analysis Heart discovered that the overwhelming majority of these surveyed, 66%, reported trusting individuals with “practical experience” to unravel issues over consultants. Solely 28% trusted the consultants to unravel issues.

If establishments and consultants are perceived as corrupt and ideological, the one fact that we will belief is what comes from our personal eyes and our personal minds.

However does frequent sense convey us to fact? Generally, sure. It’s additionally interesting: Since our observations of the world are knowledgeable by our values and beliefs, we regularly see what we wish – reminiscent of diversity-hiring initiatives generally known as “DEI” inflicting a aircraft crash, for instance.

And our instinct hardly ever tells us we’re flawed. This helps account for the existence of affirmation bias, which is our tendency to see and keep in mind issues that inform us we’re proper. That is additionally why, even in these uncommon cases when details change minds, they hardly ever change hearts. If we do replace our data with appropriate info, analysis has proven that our intestine will nonetheless inform us our general view of the world was proper.

Mockingly, research additionally present that the extra an individual trusts frequent sense, the extra possible they’re to be flawed.

My analysis has proven that the individuals almost certainly to imagine misinformation about COVID-19 and the 2020 election have been those that positioned extra belief in instinct and emotion, and fewer belief in proof and information. As well as, the extra individuals appreciated Donald Trump, the extra they valued instinct and emotion – and rejected proof and information.

So, frequent sense is ideological.

When our pathway to data is proscribed by our experiences and instinct, we’re not really on the lookout for fact. We’re proud of no matter solutions can be found, together with conspiracy theories or explanations that make us really feel good and proper.

We blame people – particularly individuals we don’t like or establish with – for their very own misfortune. We are inclined to suppose “those people should be better and try harder” as an alternative of on the lookout for public coverage options to issues reminiscent of poverty or drug habit. With out proof and information summarizing massive traits – reminiscent of most cancers charges tracked by way of Nationwide Institutes of Well being funding or ocean temperatures tracked by Nationwide Science Basis funding – we’re restricted to what we will see by way of our personal eyes and biases.

And our restricted observations merely reinforce our underlying beliefs: “My neighbor probably has breast cancer from taking that medicine I don’t like” or “Today is probably just a randomly hot day.” We’ll both overgeneralize from or downplay these restricted examples relying on what our “common sense” says.

So, when populists elevate frequent sense as a advantage, it’s not simply to have a good time how common individuals perceive the world. It’s to advertise a worldview that rejects verifiable details, exaggerates our biases, and paves the best way for much more propaganda to return.

Dannagal G. Younger, Professor of Communication and Political Science, College of Delaware

This text is republished from The Dialog underneath a Artistic Commons license. Learn the unique article.

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Beforehand Printed on theconversation.com with Artistic Commons License

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