When Words Stop Working

John Oliver tore into Trump on Last Week Tonight, and the thing that stuck with me was a quote from a journalist covering him: ’It’s pretty difficult to report on Donald Trump because you often don’t know what he means when he says words.’

Because at a certain point it’s not about individual lies—it’s about repetition as a tool. Someone says something false. It gets repeated. More people say it. And somewhere in that cycle it stops being false and becomes what people believe. The source is noise. Facts are irrelevant. It’s just the story.

Watch it happen. Some lie gets posted on Facebook, bounces through the algorithm, picks up believers along the way, and by the time it settles in people’s minds they don’t even remember doubting it. It’s not something they verified—it’s just something they know. It’s furniture. It’s the world.

That’s what the journalist’s quote points to. When language stops meaning anything, you can’t actually argue anymore. You’re just speaking past each other.