The WEEKLY STANDARD’s Stephen F. Hayes joined Fox News on Wednesday to discuss John Podesta’s claims that “forces within the FBI” wanted Hillary Clinton to lose the 2016 presidential election. But Podesta’s charge, made without evidence, evolved into a discussion about the public having “a fact-free debate” about this and other issues of national interest.
“The problem with our national debate on this and so many other things right now is a lack of evidence, a lack of facts,” Hayes said. “What John Podesta is doing there, I think, is contributing to that debate, exacerbating the problem.”
The problem has gotten to the point, Hayes added, that public has become suspicious of information from a variety of sources.
“The public is skeptical now not only of politicians, as I thnk they ought ot be, but of journalistic institutions. That’s a healthy instinct that I think is now going too far. You want to be skeptical of what you’re getting from the news media, broadly understood. Now we’re at the point where nobody believes anybody on anything anymore, and that’s unhealthy for our republic. I think the more information we can provide that is solid, fact-based, about all of these questions, the better off the public will be in making determinations about what they think,” he said.
Getting to the where individuals can agree on what is “fact-based” to begin with would help, Hayes said.
“Unfortunately we’re getting to the point where people are choosing their news and drawing their opinions based on affirmation, not information. They’re looking for things that just tell them what they want to hear instead of looking for facts, instead of looking for data, instead of looking for evidence,” he said. “Our broader problem, I would argue … is we’re losing a common understanding of what those facts are, of what that evidence is. And we need to restore that. And whatever we can do to restore that is good for the country.”
