I’m writing this as a quarter-part reply, and 3-quarter-part rant, and it’ll probably hang in the middle of somewhere, as I always do when I rant. Forgive me.

Fact checks are important and useful, but can only go so far. Truth, laws, norms, and everything really, has no meaning in Trumpism. They are just tools to drive towards some goal, or are avenues for exploitation.

They’ll say whatever tf they want regardless of facts, because they have enough people that will believe them, and enough people to further spread these disinformation to those who don’t know or care to know about the truth for themselves, and that bolsters their numbers. There’s a quote that goes something like if someone says something false, it’s untrue, but if tens of thousands of people say the same, it becomes ‘true’ to the minds of these people.

They’ll sue whomever their target is over some batshit crazy claim with no care of the outcome, and only to use the legal process to delay or divert, or simply to cripple someone financially, especially individuals with no access to immense wealth.

They don’t believe in any higher power, but will use it to further gather support, which is particularly effective in a world where the religious feel like the world is moving away from religion and thus stripping away their legitimacy.

Trumpism doesn’t play by harmonious social norms. Humans values and emotions are simply tools to them, and they will continue to trample on human dignity as long as it serves their purposes. They’ve learned how to fully utilize the weaknesses and blind spots of our institutions to attack everyone else and keeping themselves safe.

How do we fight and protect ourselves against a force like this? I don’t know. All I can think of is proper education on critical thinking and instilling people with the will and equipped with the knowledge to seek facts, but that would take decades, and will easily be disrupted by those who are on Trump’s side, and there’s also no guarantee that the process would be effective, given how underfunded our education system is, and how there’s also little to no political will to do anything, as they are more incentivized to seek short-term solutions.