Wonderland: Truth, lies, statistics and alternate facts

by PR Coach

Cool HandLuke- Strother Martin

Strother Martin in Cool Hand Luke

“What we’ve got here is [NOT] a failure to communicate” to slightly alter the famous line from the movie Cool Hand Luke.

That line best describes public response to the Trump inauguration, the massive DC and national Women’s March, and the public and social media response to the first six days of the new administration.

The Trump campaign and transition teams, and the new White House advisors all pride themselves on their social media savvy. Led by the newly sworn-in POTUS and Twitter-in-Chief, social media is now alive with the sound of truth, lies, statistics and “alternate facts.”

And the new administration is scrambling to respond.

US Govt department communications muzzled

Rep Steve Lieu calls Steve Bannon Dr Evil

Rep Steve Lieu calls Steve Bannon “Dr Evil”

Newly installed White House surrogates and advisors include “Dr. Evil” Steve Bannon (named by CA Democratic Congressman Steve Lieu), cheerleader-in-chief Kellyanne Conway and “Fake Press Secretary” Sean Spicer (Steve Lieu again).

The new team has tried to censor, muzzle and take control of US government messaging in favor of their own “alternate facts” especially when it comes to climate change, the size of the inauguration and science facts.

A public backlash forced the USDA to back down from an order one day earlier, prohibiting scientists at EPA and USDA from public communications.

Govt employees push back

Government scientists, US government employees, and by extension the public are pushing back. In response, employees at 47 government agencies so far have created new alternate Twitter accounts to ensure real facts and accurate scientific data are shared with the public.

It’s a classic resistance movement that harkens back to the late sixties and early seventies.

The difference now is it not only includes massive protests for TV coverage, it also features the always-on social media.

You might say protesters are countering “fake news” with real news. Tweeting back at the fake Tweeters. That is, if you can sort out the truth and facts from the fakes and the trolls in the White House and online.

Alt-Gov & rogue Twitter accounts blossom

Alt US National Park ServiceThe first four rogue accounts and their number of followers include: the National Parks Service @AltNatParkSer (1.21 million followers), NASA @RogueNASA (577,080), the EPA @altusepa (143,157 followers) and USDA @altusda (75,700 followers).

The number of followers to these Alt-Gov and other rogue accounts are growing at thousands of new followers every hour. The number of followers have already passed 2.5 million on Twitter alone.

The hashtags #resist and #resistance are going viral and trending on Twitter as the public jumps on board to support the government employees advocating for free speech and science facts.

These hashtags are a great place to follow posts from alternate sites, get alerts about new groups and offer information, support and comments on the issues.

47 Twitter protest accounts and growing

Rogue NASA Twitter acount

@RogueNASA Twitter acct

Following is a list of just a few other Alt-Gov Twitter accounts, links and number of followers at time of this post:

Angry National Park @AngryNatlPark (7.63K followers)
Bad Hombres National Park @BadHombresNPS (4.4K)
BadHombres Lands National Park @BadHombreNPS (128.3K)
Badlands National Park @AltBadlandsNPS (7.92)
Badlands National Park Fans @BadIandsNPSFans (103.7K)
Badlands Park @AltBadlandsPark (8.55K)
Center for Disease Control @Alt_CDC (55.8K)
Crater Lake National Park @AltCraterLakeNP (2.26K)
EPA Facts @ActualEPAFacts (135.48K)
US EPA Ungagged @ungaggedEPA (61.3k)
Stuff EPA Would Say @EPAWouldSay
Glacier National Park @AltGlacierNPS (7.97K)
Glacier National Park @GlacierNPSAlt (6.59K)
Herbert Hoover National Historic Site @AltHooverNPS (4.53K)
Lassen Volcanic Park @AltLassenNPS (7.59K)
AltMountRainierNPS (@AltMtRainierNPS) TwitterMount Rainier National Park @AltMtRainierNPS (26.1K)
Muir Woods National Monument @altMuirWoodsNPS (2.85K)
NASA @Alt_NASA (88.1K)
NASA @ResistanceNASA (11.5K)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA @Alt_NASA (91K)
National Institutes of Health @Alt_NIH (44.6K)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration NOAA @RogueNOAA (11.2K)
National Weather Service @AlternativeNWS  (43.5K)
Olympic National Park @olympicRogueNPS (8.26K)
Rocky Mountain National Park @AltRockyNPS (7.7K)
US Arctic Research Commission @AltUS_ARC (17.5K)
US Fish & Wildlife Service @AltUSFWS (23.8K)
US Fish & Wildlife Service Refuge @AltUSFWSRefuge (9.82)
AltYosemiteNPS-@AltYosemiteNPS-Twitter.jpegUS FDA – Food & Drug Administration @alt_fda (78.9K)
US Forest Service @AltForestServ (116.7K)
US Health and Human Services @AltHHS (75.1K)
US Department of Education @Alt_USED (264, new in the past 15 mins)
US Science Service @NatlSciService (19.9K)
Yellowstone National Park @AltYelloNatPark (10.3K)
Yosemite National Park @AltYosemiteNPS (19.4K)

What’s ahead for Gov 2.0? A little swamp draining?

swamp creatures and elected officials The Women’s March drew an estimated half million participants in DC and two million around the world. The 2.5 million-plus new Twitter followers jumped on board the new Alt-Gov Twitter accounts in less than a week.

There’s a mid-term election coming up in two years. If you’re a Senator or Representative in the House of Congress, you’ve got to be nervously looking at these numbers.

The Republican grassroots political movement called the Tea Party was a high school reunion in size by comparison and look what they achieved.

Elected swamp creatures in DC and in every state and city around the US should pay attention.

This swamp will be drained by a movement bigger than anyone can imagine.



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