posted 10th March 2025
In Donald Trump’s first term of office, from 2017 to 2021, he told 30,573 lies; an average of slightly over 20 a day. I didn’t make this up. It is a fact, meticulously checked by The Washington Post.
If someone lies as often (and as shamelessly) as President Trump, it’s a good reason not to trust them. But what should you do about lies in debates? Here is a short guide to dealing with lies (or, to put it more charitably, inaccurate information) in a debate.
1. Don’t lie
Never say things you know aren’t true, no matter how much they may help your argument. If you are speaking for the proposition on the motion This house would abolish private schools, it will greatly help your case if you say that many private schools refuse to accept students who are not white. Except that it’s not true, and everyone knows it’s not true. Such a policy would not only be an act of public relations (and commercial) suicide, it would also be against the law.
As well as being dishonest, telling lies undermines the audience’s trust in you and makes them less likely to be persuaded by you. This will especially apply to the most important member of the audience, the judge, who will be much less likely to award you the debate. So lying is not just wrong, it’s also not in your interest.
2. Only use numbers if you are certain of them
It is a fact that students at private schools overwhelmingly come from higher earning families. So you can make that general statement, absent of figures, to support the argument that private schools entrench privilege for already privileged people. If you want to be more precise, you can reinforce your argument with the figures: 70% of private school students come from families in the top 25% of incomes, and only 7% from families in the bottom 25% of incomes. But if you can’t remember the stats, or don’t have them in front of you in hard copy, don’t make them up. If in doubt, keep it general.
3 Don’t call out small inaccuracies
Now let’s imagine you’re on the opposition side in the private schools debate, and a proposition speaker says that 75% of private school students come from families in the top 25% of incomes. Do you leap up with a point of information, to let them know that, actually, it’s only 70%? No. That’s a waste of a point of information. Even though the facts are on your side, you will come across as petty. More importantly, you won’t advance your side of the case, as you will be reinforcing the proposition’s point about the way in which private schools entrench privilege, which applies just as much if the number is 70% instead of 75%. Much better to use your point of information to attack the argument by saying that, if parents have worked hard to achieve a higher income, they should be allowed to spend it on supporting their children’s education.
4 Do call out big lies
If, on the other hand, the proposition speaker says that many private schools operate a whites-only admission policy, that is worth a point of information. But make it brisk and brief. ‘No private school operates such a policy, because it would be against the law.’ Job done - you have exposed the proposition’s argument as being based on a falsehood. No need to revisit the point when it comes to your turn to speak..
5. Arguments are more powerful than facts
Facts are important, and lies are dangerous. But debates are won and lost on arguments. Some debaters love to assemble an army of facts to support their case. That’s certainly better than assembling an army of lies. However, an overuse of data can end up undermining your case, as listeners feel overwhelmed by numbers and assertions and lose sight of the main argument. The statistic I quoted above about the income distribution of private school parents is only persuasive if it is placed in the middle of a well developed argument about the way in which private schools entrench privilege. By itself, it doesn’t prove anything.
So don’t lie. But also keep facts in their right place.
