The combination of fabrication and amplification by biased actors, and widespread public credulity, has produced a feedback loop that has damaged our shared reality.

Kevin Finn | October 12, 2026

In Luke 11:17, Jesus says, "Every kingdom divided against itself will be laid waste, and house will fall against house." This seems like a fairly accurate picture of the U.S. today. What concerns me is the growing division and hostility between the political left and right. We can't even seem to agree on what's real or virtuous anymore. How can our republic persevere if a growing number of our citizens and politicians repeat stories about things that never happened, or are openly advocating for socialism, cheering for terrorists and cartels, and denigrating law enforcement? 

A free society depends on a shared commitment to verifiable reality. Legacy media outlets, an entire political party, and large swaths of the public are systematically spreading or believing outright lies. The result is lost trust and weakened accountability. We've seen these episodes repeat for years, illustrating a recurring pattern: misrepresentations that originate in, and are amplified by, media and partisan actors, then take root among supporters. There are numerous examples: the Charlottesville narrative, the Hunter Biden laptop story, and most recently, the distortion of President Trump's remarks on Iran. During COVID, we saw another threat -- the use of censorship tools that suppressed corrective information. This coordinated circulation and belief in untruths by the legacy media, the Democrat party, and a sizable public fraction is damaging institutional legitimacy and social cohesion. 

Columnist Michael........

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