Simon Johnson warns against Congress Republicans' dismissal of facts, who together with conservative media have created an echo chamber of denial. He fears if their "facts /were/ completely at odds with the actual state of the economy," this could lead to disaster - high inflation - an outcome that would hurt most Americans, especially the "lower income people."

The author points out that "Trump is not alone in his self-serving disregard for reality. Other prominent Republicans, including in the House of Representatives, have been living in their own world for some time." Since Trump has accused mainstream media of bias and denounced their reports as "falsehoods" and "lies," it highlights also Republicans' particular problem with reality and fiction, who have sought to redefine facts to suit their agenda.

The GOP became a party of ideological extremism with the rise of the Tea Party, whose members have fixed worldviews and embrace ideological nostalgia. What appears a paradox is that while Republicans maintain they love freedoms, they also endorse Trump's uniformity and order rhetoric, which evokes the desire for an authoritative leadership.

Not only Trump denies climate change, the GOP is also the only major political party in the world that rejects the need to tackle climate change, because Republicans rely on donations from fossil fuel industry for their campaigns. Conservative media were to blame that only 48% of Americans – and 15% of conservative Republicans – realise that humans are causing global warming. Trump voters take their cues from the GOP and often get their information from conservative media outlets. On climate change, Republican leaders and media sources reject reality and substitute their own denial and misinformation, because it benefits them. Their voters become misinformed as a result, and thus don’t demand change from party leaders.

The Wall Street Journal and Fox News have been terribly inaccurate and biased in their climate change reporting, undermining viewer trust in scientists. There is a risk that Republicans cut funding for the Environmental Protection Agency, and scientific researchers "muzzled" or their activities discontinued, because they can't stomach facts.

The author points out another issue that Trump's cabinet seeks to falsify - the unemployment rate. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) the official unemployment rate "currently stands at 4.7%." Yet Trump begrudges Obama's legacy deeply, and has "repeatedly claimed that true unemployment is 42% – a number based on the assumption that everyone who does not have a job, including retired people and students, would like to work." That Trump wants the public to listen to him instead of reliable agencies, could "have a major effect on monetary policy, like interest rates. If Trump insists on "dispensing with fact-based decision-making.... many of those who voted for him can expect the worst of it."

As Republicans won't put aside their political ideology and accept realities, Democrats need to focus on addressing the economic grievances of working-class Americans, many of whom have been battered by the trends of the past 15 years. Heading into 2018, Democrats might benefit from Republicans' inability to deliver. Scraping the Obama-care wouldn't wreck the Democratic party, while Republicans could risk their own downfall. A poll taken at the end of 2016 found that Trump voters were even less supportive of cuts to Social Security and Medicare than were Clinton voters, and both groups were very hostile to such measures.