If we can’t agree that there are verifiable facts, we can’t agree on anything

I’m getting more emails from MAGAs who just know in their heart of hearts that they’ve got me with the chapter and verse from Fox News or NewsMax about the 2020 election, Jan. 6, the Pelosi attack, whatever stupidity they’re trying to spew today.

What these folks want to do is drag you into an endless debate over the “facts,” as they’ve been brainwashed to see them.

Frankly, I don’t have the time to debate established facts with people who won’t accept anything but the conspiracy theories that they’ve allowed themselves to be sold on.

So, I turn the gaslight back at them.

“You can’t even prove to me that what you say is your name is actually your name.”

I’ve started this conversation with several emailers.

The common response is along the lines of, What do you mean?

I know what my name is.

“So, prove it to me.”

The reaction is disbelief.

“This is like arguing with my teenage son,” one man – I assume he’s a man, but he/she/they never could prove it – responded.

That’s precisely the point.

It got to the point with one person that I requested a copy of their birth certificate – you know where I was going with that one.

Even a copy of an official government birth certificate can be faked, right?

That’s what their side’s been saying for years.

The mouth-breathing knuckle-draggers don’t even seem to realize that all I’m doing is flipping the script on them.

Hey, if you don’t want to accept anything as a fact, you can’t even convince me of what time it is, much less accept whatever crap you’re trying to peddle about the 2020 election, the Trump coup, or what David DePape was doing when he broke into Nancy Pelosi’s house.

Point being, if we want to be able to bridge the divide, we have to be able to agree that there are some things known as accepted facts that we can all agree exist.

Otherwise, you can tell me what you claim your name is, and try to persuade me that it is whatever time you say it is, but you can’t prove it to me, any more than you can prove the lies from the right about the 2020 election, Jan. 6, the Pelosi break-in and the rest.