NBC News anchor Chuck Todd is facing heavy backlash for suggesting that Trump voters “want to be lied to” since they believe in “fairy tales” — like Noah’s Ark.
On Sunday’s installment of “Meet the Press,” Todd spent much of the show focused on the spread of “misinformation” in the media landscape. But, during a panel discussion, he pointed to a letter to the editor of the Lexington Herald Leader from last January, something Todd thought was a “fascinating attempt” to explain why so many Americans support President Trump.
The letter read, “[W]hy do people support Trump? It’s because people have been trained from childhood to believe in fairy tales… This set their minds up to accept things that make them feel good… The more fairy tales and lies he tells the better they feel… Show me a person who believes in Noah’s ark and I will show you a Trump voter.”
Lashing out, @NBCNews political director @chucktodd is now claiming that Trump supporters follow him because they like to believe in “fairy tales” and “want to be lied too.” pic.twitter.com/AbKNaAu9VV
— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) December 29, 2019
“This gets at something, Dean, that my executive producer likes to say, ‘Hey, voters want to be lied to sometimes.’ They don’t always love being told hard truths,” Todd told New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet.
“I’m not quite sure I buy that,” Baquet immediately responded. “I’m not convinced that people want to be lied to. I think people want to be comforted, and I think bad politicians sometimes say comforting things to them.” – READ MORE