Farage has proposed sending prisoners abroad \u2013 including to El Salvador, where the Trump administration has sent hundreds of deportees<\/a> and suggested sending US citizens. He also suggested an extensive police recruitment drive and prison-building programme all while cutting health and education spending.<\/p>\n The parroting of Trump\u2019s policies by a UK populist has not gone unnoticed in the US. And for those who have studied the president\u2019s modus operandi, there is one particular tactic the British public should be braced for: the blizzard of lies and false statements that frequently overwhelms his opponents.<\/p>\n The Trump experience, they say, contains sobering lessons for Farage\u2019s critics.<\/p>\n US pro-democracy campaigners says Trump has become even harder to factcheck since his first term, thanks to a combination of factors including looser social media content moderation and a reluctance among some media owners to stand up to his intimidation.<\/p>\n The Washington Post, which tracked more than 30,000 lies or misleading statements from Trump during his presidency, lost subscribers and public trust after its billionaire owner, Jeff Bezos, reportedly vetoed an editorial endorsing the Democratic nominee Kamala Harris for president.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s become more difficult because there\u2019s less commitment from those who are in the best position to do the factchecking,\u201d said Omar Noureldin, a senior vice-president for Common Cause, a non-partisan group. \u201cSeeking the truth here comes with costs and risks.\u201d<\/p>\n Complicating matters is the loss of trust in institutions, with many consumers relying on social media platforms for news.<\/p>\n \u201cEven the best factchecking can be unpersuasive, because we\u2019re not just facing an information crisis here, but also a trust crisis in the American information ecosystem,\u201d Noureldin said.<\/p>\n Media watchers say the political environment has become so deeply polarised that factchecking can even have the counter-productive effect of further entrenching misplaced beliefs.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom a lot of research, we\u2019re reaching the conclusion that factchecking hasn\u2019t been as effective as one would want,\u201d said Julie Millican, the vice-president of Media Matters for America, a media watchdog.<\/p>\n \u201cOne reason is that information and disinformation spreads faster than you can check it. It takes a lot longer to factcheck something than it does for it go viral.<\/p>\n \u201cBut the other thing is factchecking can backfire. People so distrust institutions that factchecking can validate the misinformation in their minds and make them more inclined to believe the lie they believed in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n A 2022 report from Protect Democracy<\/a> suggests this is the result of a deliberate strategy of authoritarian regimes.<\/p>\n \u201cDisinformation is spread through coordinated networks, channels and ecosystems, including politically aligned or state-owned media,\u201d the report said. \u201cThe goal is not always to sell a lie, but instead to undermine the notion that anything in particular is true.\u201d<\/p>\n Further complicating the problem in the US has been Trump\u2019s appointment of allies to key government agencies that have traditionally served as sources of accurate and reliable data for factcheckers.<\/p>\n A case in point is Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has engaged in anti-vaccine theories<\/a>. As Trump\u2019s pick for health and human services secretary, he is in charge of the country\u2019s vast health bureaucracy.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what\u2019s happening and why it matters<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n \u201cFactchecking wasn\u2019t working very well in the first place, but now you can\u2019t even get access to the facts that you need be able to factcheck as well as you used to,\u201d said Millican.<\/p>\n The outlook seems bleak, but campaigners say that does not make the problems insurmountable.<\/p>\n![\"Robert](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/3769.jpg\")
Robert F Kennedy Jr sworn in as Donald Trump’s secretary of health and human services \u2013 video<\/p>\n