Post-Truth/Alternative-Facts circa 2004:

“We’re an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you’re  studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — we’ll act again, creating other new  realities, which you can study too, and that’s how things will sort out. We’re history’s  actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.”