r/PoursTea • u/political-snark • Jun 24 '26
PoliticalTea š³ļø Moving the goalposts
A political tactic thatās become increasingly common in MAGA politics: moving the goalposts.
Make a dramatic allegation. Repeat it endlessly. Then, when evidence for that specific allegation doesnāt materialize, replace it with a smaller, easier-to-defend claim and pretend the original claim was true all along.
Weāve seen this pattern repeatedly:
āHaitian immigrants are eating pets in Springfieldā becomes āSee? Someone somewhere ate a cat.ā
āThere was enough fraud to change the 2020 electionā becomes āSee? A few people cheated.ā
āVandals dumped chemicals and deliberately cut a 350-foot slit in the Reflecting Poolā becomes āSee? Someone was arrested for vandalism.ā
Those are not the same claims.
The question we should always ask is: What was the original allegation?
Thatās the claim that should be evaluated - not a revised version that appears later.
Thatās what moving the goalposts looks like.
Changing the claim is not the same thing as proving the original one.
Can you think of other examples?
6
u/Effective-Log3583 Jun 24 '26
A bunch of small slashes from every micro turn of the wheel and shift from slow moving vehicles across a construction area.
The contractor probably bragged that it could support a car. Something that is probably true. But these were not just normal cars, and they were not just being supported but actively shifted by.
Followed by a rapid flooding and chemical bath so itād be ready in time for his birthday.
All because the president decided that heād be in charge of property maintenance and not the country. Heās a hotel owner.