Desensitization

Can I make an insane, possibly totally true claim, which is that, when your officials, from the president on down, lie about what happened in a shooting in the middle of the street, and therefore force everybody to go watch a shooting in the street -- my guess is there's desensitization that happens.

-- John Dickerson (6 July 1968 -), American journalist, contributing writer at The Atlantic, and past co-anchor of CBS Evening News, speaking on the Slate Political Gabfest podcast (8 January 2026)