How the Coining of Truthiness Predicted a Revolution Nobody Needed

Stephen Colbert predicted Donald Trump on October 17, 2005. He just didn’t know it yet.

When the Colbert Report made its satirical debut, Stephen Colbert presented the world with a word he created:

Truthiness:

• “Now I’m sure some of the ‘word police,’ the Wordanistas over at Webster’s are gonna say, “Hey, that’s not a word!”
• Well, anybody who knows me knows I’m no fan of dictionaries or reference books — they’re elitist. Constantly telling us what is or isn’t true or what did or didn’t happen. Who’s Britannica to tell me the Panama Canal was finished in 1914? If I want to say it happened in 1941, that’s my right.
• I don’t trust books. They’re all fact, no heart. And that’s exactly what’s pulling our country apart today. ’Cause face it, folks: we are a divided nation. Not between Democrats and Republicans, or Conservatives and liberals, or tops and bottoms. No. We are divided between those who think with their head, and those who know with their heart.
• Consider Harriet Miers. If you think about Harriet Miers, of course her nomination’s absurd. But the president didn’t say he thought about his selection. He said “I know her heart”. Notice how he said nothing about her brain? He didn’t have to. He feels the truth about Harriet Miers.”
• And what about Iraq? If you think about it, maybe there are a few missing pieces to the rationale for war. But doesn’t…