In her influential work The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951) and later in Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (1963), Hannah Arendt explored how totalitarian leaders—such as Hitler or Stalin—could command such persuasive power despite promoting ideologies filled with contradictions and falsehoods.
Arendt argued that these leaders weren’t merely skilled liars; rather, they often appeared genuinely to believe their own rhetoric, which made their messages resonate more deeply with followers. This self-conviction stripped away the usual cues of deception that people might detect, allowing their untruths to feel compelling and authentic. She tied this phenomenon to what she called the “banality of evil”—the idea that ordinary people, under certain ideological conditions, can commit or enable horrific acts without fully grasping the moral weight of their actions.
Today Trump announced he is suing the BBC for $10bn for defamation (sic). He expressed astonishment that the BBC had put words into his mouth (‘I never said that’) and pondered whether the offending clip had been a product of AI. He probably believes himself, but he doesn’t even understand the schoolboy error the BBC made. Trump of course did say the words, but they were spliced together from different parts of his speech. A technical point perhaps – but no more technical than the fact that Panorama was not screened in the US and clearly (unfortunately) did not interfere with his election. On what basis defamation?!
GB News ran the story today. Astonishing the number of people who jumped on the bandwagon with real vitriol supporting him. Compared with Venezuela, Ukraine or a host of other highly questionable interventions, the defamation lawsuit might seem trivial… but as Trump’s nose and his profiteering grows, how do we maintain our grasp on facts and truth? The GB News vitriol was probably mostly bot-generated but it doesn’t seem any less real.
BBC I love you dearly – but you haven’t helped the cause here. Get back on your game and help us navigate these tricky times with the calm objectivity you are famous for. Please.
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