The ground has already shifted quite a bit since we weighed in this weekend about loathsome lothario Roy Moore. A fifth woman has accused Moore of sexual impropriety, alleging that he sexually assaulted her in 1977 when she was 16 years old. There have also been reports that he was banned from an Alabama mall in the 1970‘s due to his habit of propositioning underage females. And several Republican senators, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have called for him to step aside in the Alabama Senate race. Meanwhile, Moore remains defiant, saying he will be suing the Washington Post for running the story with the original allegations against him.

As many of Moore's supporters continue to defend him, Moore is using the Trumpian cudgel of "fake news" to defend against the charges, and the notion that the Washington Post and the media at large have made up these stories appears central to many supporters’ continued backing of his candidacy. In this clash between an extremely well-reported and -documented piece of journalism, and Moore’s baseless accusations that the Post is simply out to get him, we see the right-wing ploy of “fake news” in all its moral bankrupcty and anti-democratic splendor. In disregarding the accusations as part of a larger elite conspiracy, Moore’s supporters have been recruited as accomplices to his immoral and illegal actions. Unable to see outside a framework of propaganda and manipulation, they are made to abet the depredations of a troubled but powerful man. Unable to accept facts over ideology, they are made into dupes and fools. This is what the fake news lie ultimately delivers to the right: a cadre of citizens who cannot separate fact from fiction, and who become the enablers of agendas that foil the common interest and defy basic morality. We see it with Moore, and we see it with Trump. When a politician cries fake news, be assured that he or she has something to hide.