40 Years Ago To The Day, ‘Doctor Who’ Predicted ‘Alternative Facts’

On Sunday, President Trump senior adviser Kellyane Conway joined Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet the Press” to discuss the size of the president’s crowds.

One day prior, White House press secretary Sean Spicer had falsely claimed in his first statements from his new briefing podium that “this was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration, period.” It was not.

Asked to contend with Spicer’s factually inaccurate claim, Conway wiggled her way out with an Orwellian turn of phrase.

“You’re saying it’s a falsehood. And they’re giving ― Sean Spicer, our press secretary ― gave alternative facts,” she said.
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In “The Face of Evil: Part Four,” which premiered on Jan. 22, 1977, the Doctor tries to make peace between the Saveteem and Tesh tribes. In the middle of the episode, the Doctor tells his future companion Leela:

You know, the very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. They don’t alter their views to fit the facts. They alter the facts to fit the views.