Napoli and Adair complained that corporate media’s fact-checking apparatus failed to prevent the horde of Trump supporters descending on the Capitol last week after being convinced by the president that the election being certified by Congress was stolen and fraudulent. Millions of Americans have come to distrust the nation’s institutions, which failed them, lied to them, and mocked them for decades, making the authors’ mentions of the millions of dollars being poured into fact-checking operations fall on deaf ears. They believed it because they lived in an alternate reality after being alienated by years of fake fact-checks, dubious double-standards ranging from immigration policy to Melania Trump’s wardrobe outfits, and conspiracies being pushed by legacy outlets.