The Republican propaganda machine kicks into high gear

Those of us in the media who worry about misinformation regularly face a dilemma: When some appalling new story emerges of political actors lying to the public, should you confront it? Or will the attempt to debunk the story only draw more attention to it, spreading the lies further?

There’s no perfect answer that fits every situation. But at the very least, it’s important to understand how systems of propaganda operate, so we can try to minimize the damage they do. And never in our history has there been a...