An Orwellian Poll Question

© 2021 Clifford C. Nichols, Esq.

The morning after President Biden’s inauguration, I was amazed—and yet not entirely too shocked—to receive on my cell phone the following unsolicited photo of former President Trump accompanied by a text message from someone named Belle who asked only a single question:

Hi, I'm Belle from MDC with a quick survey.

Do you think President Trump should be charged with treason?

 1 Yes

2 No

Reply STOP to end these messages.

My first thought was: who wants to know?

Is this a poll being taken by a pro-Trump patriot hoping to somehow impede the second impeachment of the President by showing that people are opposed to it? Not likely. Few would think a poll would persuade people like Pelosi or Schumer to stop their attacks on a man they blindly hate, much less be willing to spend money on a poll based on such an empty hope.

In my view, it was more likely a poll being taken by anti-Trump Republicans or Democrat leftists to achieve one of two purposes. It is to either: (i) identify people in America—like me— who are opposed to the left’s current narrative that the former President is a seditionist: and/or, (2) to determine the popular support for that narrative going forward.

Thus, hoping to find out more, I texted Belle back with the following question:

Hi Belle,

What is the MDC?

Her response was textbook 1984 doublespeak: