I recently heard the Orwellian term of Directional Truth used by MAGA, and I couldn't help but think of when they used Alternative Facts.
This is a hard subject to write about because I understand the pain that rural America has endured over the past few decades, but at the same time I also know that Alternative Facts and Directional Truth are just different ways of saying Lies. Yes, I am aware that all politicians lie, but it's rare that one simply claims that truth doesn't matter.

Truths can be verified, but beliefs cannot. If a truth cannot be verified by some form of empirical analysis, it is almost by definition, not true. In contrast, belief does not demand verification. Beliefs are conjectural because they are abstract.

For reasons of brevity I won't address the culture war topics and instead I want to focus on the economy.
Before I go any further I understand the economic devastation suffered by the working class over the past 50 years or so from globalization. I've written about repeatedly and I've witnessed it personally. If you don't believe me then please don't read the rest of this post.
This being said, there is a difference between objective reality and partisan bullshit.

Their widespread pessimism is reflected in the results of a Redfield & Wilton Strategies poll conducted on behalf of Newsweek on April 11. According to the survey, some 50 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. economy is heading in the wrong direction, while only 25 percent said it is going in the right direction.

That's how people feel, so who am I to question it? Because I remember how we go here in 2017.

The University of Michigan Friday that its preliminary index of sentiment rose to 98, the highest since January 2015, from 93.8 in November. The median projection in a Bloomberg survey called for 94.5. The current conditions index, which measures Americans’ perceptions of their personal finances, increased by 4.8 points to 112.1, the highest since 2005.

Did people's personal finances suddenly improve because of Trump's election? Of course not.

As you can see, both Dems and Repubs do it, but it's become even more extreme on the right. If you go back further in time this partisan divide was much more modest before Trump. Notice how even Dems got more positive about the future in 2017, so yes, the Repubs are more partisan.

Even more interestingly is how Republican sentiment started collapsing before the 2020 election, yet Trump voters would never admit that now.

What's my point? That there such a thing as objective reality, and that listening to MAGA is not how one arrives at it. So when talk about Directional Truth it is what it sounds like - lies. If you want objective reality then listen to independents.