I was listening to Sean Carroll’s Mindscape podcast, episode 301, interviewing Tina Eliassi-Rad. It is an interesting discussion of AI and data, and its relevance to human knowledge and behavior.
Eliassi-Rad commented that Walter Cronkite was the most trusted authority, that anything he said would be believed. Eliassi-Rad asserted that we don’t have anyone like that now.
The thought immediately popped into my mind that we do have someone. It is Donald Trump. Anything he said is taken as Truth, by his acolytes (I’m include the priests of the non-religious faith in Trump as well as the base of believers).
Unfortunate as it is, there are many of these cult followers of Trump, who do not make use of critical thinking or investigate veracity.
You could argue that Cronkite was taken as reliably honest for all Americans. I would have to see how many people categorically rejected whatever Cronkite reported. I’m sure there were many Nixon-supporting supporters of the Vietnam War who despised Cronkite.