The Credibility Gap

My first reaction seeing Lavrov on US TV is why are they platforming his propaganda? But actually it turned out to be pretty useful because Americans get to hear their real position - all the despicably & intransigence - while Trump & Vance are claiming they are being reasonable.

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 24, 2025

Russia has also said that they want veto power over those security guarantees. Why does Vance keep lying about Russia’s position in every point? I listen to him and I listen to the Russians and they are saying opposite things. https://t.co/W5awnAF3Be

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 24, 2025

Vance says today that Russia has made “significant concessions.” Meanwhile, Lavrov says he won’t even meet with the Ukrainians because Zelensky isn’t a legitimate president. What the Admin says to the American people about Russia’s position is far different from what Russia says. https://t.co/P9BcFpQSJK

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 24, 2025

During the Vietnam War, the government told us everything was progressing well, the light was at the end of the tunnel, and most importantly, trust the daily body count. As Dalton Trumbo pointed out, we read that number in the morning paper and, rather than imagining the number of corpses it represented and throwing up, poured another cup of coffee. ☕️ 

One thing we were never allowed to believe, or even think, was that the word coming from the North Vietnamese government was certainly no less reliable than what our own government was saying. That’s where the credibility gap came from. And, 50 years later we know see, the “Deep State” was born, too.

We are always meeting the enemy, and he is always us.

This is spectacularly wrong. What an ignoramus. Most conflicts in human history were resolved through conquest. https://t.co/uoRRTKQNG4

— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) August 24, 2025

Even the leadership during Vietnam never said anything as stupid as that. And I can think of many a ‘60’s era journalist who would have ridiculed the VP to his face for such ignorance. Somewhere along the way we stopped standing on the shoulders of giants, and started licking the boots of far lesser people.