Presidential gaslighting isn’t a new phenomenon, but on January 20, 2025, something magical happened in America.
Reality became optional.
Not officially, of course. There was no ceremony where the Constitution was replaced with a laminated “Vibes Only” poster. No executive order titled “Facts Are Suggestions.” It was subtler than that. More elegant. More… strategic.
Since taking office, the President and his allies have launched what can only be described as a national CrossFit program for cognitive dissonance. Every day is leg day for the truth. And the truth is exhausted.
First, there was the redefinition phase. Inflation? That’s not inflation. That’s “patriotic price flexibility.” Cuts to social programs? No, those are “efficiency celebrations.” Mass firings of civil servants? “Workforce freedom opportunities.”
If you feel confused, congratulations. The program is working.
Gaslighting, for those lucky enough not to have experienced it personally, is when someone denies your lived reality and insists their version is correct — even when evidence says otherwise. In relationships, it’s toxic. In politics, apparently, it’s a communications strategy. (See: The Gaslighting of America)
The formula is simple:
- Say something outrageous.
- Get called out.
- Claim you never said it.
- Blame the media.
- Repeat.
It’s like political Groundhog Day, except instead of Bill Murray learning to be a better person, we wake up each morning to discover that yesterday has been memory-holed.
When video clips surface contradicting the official narrative, we’re told they’re “taken out of context” or “That’s AI.” When full transcripts are released, we’re told they’re “misinterpreted.” When statistics from nonpartisan agencies contradict talking points, we’re told those agencies are “led by radical Leftists” or corrupt. If economists disagree, they’re “activists.” If judges rule against executive actions, they’re “rogue.”
And if you point out the pattern?
You’re suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” (TDS)
”Don’t Believe Your Lying Eyes.”
The gaslighting isn’t just about policy. It’s about perception. It’s about convincing Americans that what they see with their own eyes isn’t real unless it’s filtered through approved channels.
Immigration raids are “compassionate enforcement.” Book bans are “parental empowerment.” Surveillance expansions are “freedom protection efforts.” You half expect potholes to be rebranded as “highway diversity attributes.”
The genius of it — and yes, it’s strategic genius — is volume. The contradictions come so fast that fact-checkers need IV hydration. By the time one claim is debunked, three new ones have launched. It’s a firehose of alternative facts, and we’re all forced to drink from it without drowning.
But here’s the thing about gaslighting: it only works if people start doubting themselves.
That’s the real target.
Not the policy wonks. Not the opposition party. The average person scrolling their phone thinking, “Wait… didn’t they say the opposite of that last week?” That flicker of doubt? That’s the battlefield.
And let’s talk about the supporting cast. Allies in Congress echo the narrative with synchronized precision. Cable news surrogates repeat phrases as if they’re auditioning for a national slogan contest. Social media influencers package it all in meme form, because nothing says “constitutional crisis” like a dancing Trump infographic.
It’s not chaotic. It’s coordinated.
And yet, there’s something almost darkly comedic about the brazenness. One week we’re told something is the greatest achievement in American history. The next week it never existed. Policies are both wildly successful and sabotaged by invisible enemies at the same time. The administration is simultaneously the most transparent in history and the victim of relentless misunderstanding.
Schrödinger’s theory explained using his cat.
As Jerusalem Demsas wrote in Schrödinger’s democracy, “American democracy is in a state of superposition. Will Trump’s second term be the end of liberal democracy in the U.S., or is it a dark moment the nation can fight its way out of?
Schrödinger’s Presidency: both flawless and persecuted until observed.
If this feels familiar, that’s because gaslighting thrives in environments where power resists accountability. It reframes criticism as persecution. It reframes scrutiny as sabotage. It reframes concern as disloyalty.
But satire only works because reality is still there. Beneath the spin. Beneath the slogans. Beneath the rebranding of potholes.
The truth has an inconvenient habit of existing.
History, too.
You can rename things. You can deny video footage. You can shout down fact-checkers. You can accuse anyone who disagrees of living in a fantasy.
But eventually, people notice patterns.
And when enough people start comparing notes, the fog lifts. We saw an example of this after Renee Nicole Good was shot in Minneapolis. The President, Vice President, Nosferatu, and the DHS Secretary immediately came out and told the American people what happened.
But there was video. Video from every angle. Once we saw what happened with our own eyes and started to talk about that “shared reality,” the federal government looked insane. The gaslighting had officially been exposed in an indisputable way.
The kicker? They did it again after Alex Pretti was shot. Having been caught lying in such a fantastical way once is damning, but the administration has so little respect for us that they did it a second time!
Maybe it’s good that they attempted to act as if it was “business as usual” at the White House and lied about the Pretti shooting. It exposed them once and for all.
While the video of the Good incident left some people feeling slightly unsure about whether the shooting was justified, there was absolutely no question about what happened leading up to the moment when CBP agents shot Pretti in the back multiple times.
Photo: Chad Davis, CC BY 4.0
There was no going back to gaslighting on the regular after that. We were onto them. They could no longer trick us into questioning reality anymore. Our eyes were open.
I guess you could say we’re all woke now. ☺️
Now that we live in a shared reality, the regime doesn’t have the ability to control the narrative.
Gaslighting depends on isolation. Democracy depends on shared reality.
So maybe the real resistance isn’t dramatic. Maybe it’s mundane. It’s saving the receipts. It’s quoting the transcript. It’s asking, calmly, “Isn’t this what you said last month?” It’s refusing to participate in the collective amnesia.
Because here’s the twist: satire isn’t about laughing at power. It’s about reminding power that we’re paying attention.
Reality isn’t a partisan issue. It’s the ground we stand on.
And no executive order can repeal gravity.
