The cognitive war is attacking truth from all angles | Jonathan Rauch

Liberalism Under Pressure

Jonathan Rauch argues that liberalism has faced opposition since its beginnings, and that recurring claims it is in crisis often arise during periods of rapid change. Liberal institutions are decentralized and rule-bound, so they can be slow to respond to shocks.

In Rauch’s view, recent pressures have arrived together and strained public confidence: 9/11, the 2008–09 financial crisis, COVID-19, social media, weakened traditional news gatekeepers, and declining religious affiliation. He argues that liberalism must adapt, even though its authoritarian alternatives are worse.

Illiberalism and Post-Liberal Movements

Rauch describes illiberalism as a broad rejection of the principle that people are born free and equal. Today’s post-liberal movements, he says, take different forms on the right and left. Some oppose liberalism in the name of religion, nationalism, or anti-capitalism; others reject objective truth and treat knowledge as a contest over who controls public discourse.

Threats to Shared Reality

Rauch identifies two major threats to shared reality:

• Cancel culture: Associated mainly with the far left, it can use social pressure, online campaigns, and threats to reputation or employment to make dissent seem dangerous. Rauch calls the creation of an exaggerated impression of consensus “consensus spoofing.” He says it can silence people or lead them to doubt their own judgment. He believes the problem persists but is now more widely recognized, particularly in universities.
• Disinformation campaigns: Rauch sees these as a larger and more global threat. Rather than censoring a particular account, they overwhelm people with falsehoods, contradictions, and conspiracy theories. He describes this as a “fire hose of falsehood,” intended to create confusion and cynicism, leaving people unsure what is true and less inclined to act. He attributes the technique’s origins to Russian propaganda and says it has been adopted elsewhere.

Rauch argues that Donald Trump and his allies have used such tactics in the United States, including repeated false claims, contradictory messages, and political, media, and government channels to circulate them. He says this is especially dangerous when government institutions designed to provide reliable information or constrain abuses of power are turned against that purpose. Undermining those institutions, he warns, risks moving toward a system in which the state imposes its own version of reality.

A “Constitution of Knowledge”

As a defense, Rauch advocates what he calls a “constitution of knowledge”: institutions and shared procedures that test claims through evidence, reason, and comparison with other people’s observations.

He also cautions that intelligence alone does not make people immune to manipulation, since people can rationalize information they want to believe.

Fascist Tendencies and Democratic Safeguards

Rauch says he once avoided calling the MAGA movement fascist, but sees features of what he considers a 21st-century American version emerging during Trump’s second term. Among the signs he cites are the glorification of violence, hostility to deliberation, the use of paramilitary policing, and rhetoric that frames politics as crushing enemies rather than living with disagreement under the rule of law.

He emphasizes that he is not saying the United States is a fascist country: courts, Congress, state governments, media, and citizens retain independence. His concern is that these foundations could be weakened and that fascist modes of thought could become more established within a major political party.

Presenter and Contributor

Jonathan Rauch