You don't hate MLive enough - by James David Dickson

Have you ever heard of idea laundering? - James David Dickson

• “Americans losing faith in Trump’s economy as company abandons $55B plan for Michigan,” reads a July 17 headline in MLive.

As MLive reporter Ehren Wynder writes:

SanDisk for the past two years had eyed Mundy Township as the home of a new factory that could have created up to 10,000 jobs in the area. State officials, however, announced Wednesday, July 16, that the company would not move forward with the project due to rising national economic uncertainty and concerns about potential federal policy shifts, including Trump’s tariffs...

Wynder never bothered calling SanDisk to ask why it pulled out. 

• So how does he know it was the “Trump tariffs” that caused it to leave?
• Because Gretchen Whitmer said so...

This is called Idea Laundering. 

And once you see it, you won’t be able to miss it in the news you read.

How it works is this:

• Politician A says a thing — Gov. Whitmer says SanDisk pulled out because of the Trump tariffs.
• Reporter B repeats that thing. Whether or not it’s true, whether or not there is a second source.
• Politician A repeats Reporter B repeating the claim. 
• Voila, a narrative spoken by as little as one person is now an Established Fact, which can be used in any coverage going forward.

And it all traces back to three little words: “Was attributed to.”