Alternate Facts

A member of Trump's staff went on a national news program and discussed what she claimed were alternate facts.  To the host's credit, he challenged her definition of alternate facts.  Trump and others are increasingly mixing things up regarding the definition of a fact or truth.  In this case, it was about the size of the Inauguration  crowd.  Here's my take.  The facts of an event are what really happened.  The event's impact on people may be relative and sometimes even peoples' impact on an event.  And peoples' perception of the events may vary.  But what really happened doesn't have alternatives.  The alternatives are people's interpretations and perceptions of the facts.  A goal is to get the interpretations and perceptions in line with actual facts.  But that doesn't appear to be Trump's goal.

In Trump's case, he wants the facts of things to match his perception of reality. Period.  It doesn't matter what really happened.  His version is the only acceptable version of facts which others can accept.