The internet has produced a wealth of fact-checking options so we can all investigate statements from public figures — but politicians being deceptive is nothing new. In fact, says Dr. Matthew McGlone, a cognitive psychologist at the University of Texas in Austin who spoke with Vice, people have bemoaned political dishonesty for centuries:
VICE: Polls indicate that American public trust in institutions is at an all-time historic low. Are institutions actually lying more frequently than they have in the past?MCGLONE: I think it's a new incarnation of what's been going on for a long time. There's a book called The Devil Wins, about a history of the public's perception of deception. He'll point out things that were written in essays read at various royal courts in Europe, things that monks wrote in the medieval era, talking about how deception has become so rampant that God is going to strike us down because we've become so corrupt. [Vice]
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The banned pesticide poisoning Caribbean paradiseMartinique and Guadeloupe have been rocked by soaring cancer rates amid other diagnoses
-
Today's political cartoons - March 23, 2025Cartoons Sunday's cartoons - alphabet censorship, American de-education, and more
-
5 unlawfully funny cartoons about the Executive vs the JudiciaryCartoons Artists take on halting deportations, attacking judges, and more
-
Reports: Musk to get briefed on top secret China war planSpeed Read In a major expansion of Elon Musk's government role, he will be briefed on military plans for potential war with China
-
Trump signs order to end Education DepartmentSpeed Read The move will return education 'back to the states where it belongs,' the president says
-
Trump pauses $175M for Penn over trans athleteSpeed Read The president is withholding federal funds from the University of Pennsylvania because it once allowed a transgender swimmer to compete
-
Trump purports to 'void' Biden pardonsSpeed Read Joe Biden's pardons of Jan. 6 committee members are not valid because they were done by autopen, says Trump
-
White House ignores judicial deportation blocksSpeed Read The Trump administration deports alleged Venezuelan gang members under a wartime law, defying a court order
-
Schumer: Democrats will help pass spending billSpeed Read The Democrats end the threat of government shutdown
-
Trump pulls nomination of anti-vax CDC pickSpeed Read Former Florida congressmen Dr. Dave Weldon was nominated to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
-
Judges tell Trump to rehire fired federal workersSpeed Read Trump and Elon Musk's DOGE team face a big setback in their efforts to shrink the federal workforce
