The political right wing screamed ‘cancel culture’ in reaction to any attempt to correct their lies and disinformation.
Yet, who is doing most of the cancelling?
The very same people, with the loudest and most powerful voices who are part of Trump’s MAGA movement and his administration.
It appears at every level, from the petty to the lethal …
Trump responding to a reasonable question from a journalist by accusing her of being a nasty woman is revealing his nasty character but projects it on to someone who dares call him out.
Trump claimed that an election was stolen and then gets caught out trying to convince an official to “find” some more votes. His administration’s SAVE Act would disenfranchise millions, yet he continues to blame democrats for undermining fair elections.
He doesn’t want to accept the implications of what climate science has established over 200 years of emerging forensic analysis, so what to do? Easy, just defund it or close it down. Then claim they are producing fake science and justify his actions on the basis of disinformation.
Claim that a protestor who was shot dead by ICE was a terrorist, when it is these masked MAGA acolytes being sent into American cities who are the ones doing the terrorising
The list goes on.
Don’t confuse this with some kind of political playground tactic – “you’re a liar”, “No, you’re a liar” back and forth. It has far more sinister roots than that.
The Nazi’s claimed without evidence that Jews were planning a terror campaign against the German people, and used this as a pretext for their Kristallnacht terror campaign. A campaign of terror that was on the path that ultimately led to the Holocaust.
Hutus were encouraged to accuse the Tutsi of planning what the Hutu militias were already planning. It lead, as planned, to the Rwandan Genocide.
There is a term ‘accusation in a mirror’, coined by French social psychologist Mucchielli, in the context of the 1968 protests, which can be applied to this well rehearsed political strategy:
“Mucchielli described accusation in a mirror as imputing to the adversaries the intentions that one has oneself or the action that you are in the process of enacting. Mucchielli explained how the perpetrator who intends to start a war will proclaim his peaceful intentions and accuse the adversary of warmongering; he who uses terror will accuse the adversary of terrorism.”
I had a debate with someone on social media about a phrase that might work better in an Anglophone and particularly American context. We toyed with Mirror Move, Blame Bluff, Project Play, and several others, but in the end settled on Mirror Politics.
Whatever we call it, this is a central plank of the right wing approach to politics, in the US and in the UK, and we need to recognise it for what it is and call it out, because while it may seem an exaggeration to use examples from Germany and Rwanda, there is a warning from history that over time the accusations and therefore the mirrored intentions can escalate.
This is part of a broader range of malign tactics and strategies that has been termed Dangerous Speech. As Susan Benesch (Executive Director of the Dangerous Speech Project) writes:
“This is a time of fear in the world, and fear is an opportunity for autocrats who use it to consolidate power by using dangerous speech. At the same time, large numbers of people are mobilizing against weaponized fear and violence. We can support them, since the best way to make dangerous speech less powerful is to teach people about it. We are here for that.”
With the mid-terms approaching, American democracy at least is now clearly in the firing line.
When Trump, Vance or any of his MAGA entourage make accusations of bad intentions or plans directed at their opponents – or anyone who exercises their free speech to challenge them – be wary!
The chances are that is exactly what they are doing or planning.
(c) Richard W. Erskine, 2026
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