The US President has been lying and the main stream media has been uncritically broadcasting those lies about most things they are doing. One clear example is how both have told a tale of how the US weapons in the hands of US/NATO trained Ukrainian servicemen have been consistently defeating Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine. Quite a tale - the Russian forces have been pushed back miles and miles. It's only a different way of saying they withdrew forces from protecting vast tracts of farmland, but it sounds like a defeat for Russian Federation instead of the common sense it actually is. How 21 months of consistent victory for our bravest ally in Eastern Europe has led to no useful gains is going to be difficult for both politicians and media to walk back into alignment with reality.
People wonder how it is possible to find out the truth when the media lies consistently. TIME I found the answer lies in patience. Two weeks after the Russian Federation moved some armor in to protect Donetsk, I saw a post of how Russia had been chased out of Ukraine. 22 months later Russia is still there, trying to protect Donetsk. All those huge gains the media has been ascribing to the forces of Western and Central Ukraine have over time accumulated to almost nothing, the Surovikin Line is still pretty close to where it was when it was built.
Democracy can still work when the govt lies. Thats one of the benefits of democracy. Its just that a lot of people have to stop listening to the lying govt in order for democracy to continue working.
Yes, sometimes the public gets the decision for war right or less wrong than the govt gets it, but it depends on the amount and detail of the misinformation. Less misinformation In the UK the public were against the invasion of Iraq but Parliament voted in favor by 412 to 149 votes, therefore signifying Parliament's approval of an invasion. At least the public got it right, but the country went to war. More misinformation In the US where the propaganda had been going on longer and was a lot heavier, both the public and the government got it wrong, and by about the same amount. The public I recall was about 70% in favor of war and the vote in the House was 296 for war with 133 against, and in Senate 77 for war with 23 against. At present A lot of the public is against the genocide in Gaza, while the govt is in favor, and sent thousands of tons of bombs and ammunition over via Cyprus, in the past two months, the really big bombs are needed to flatten hospitals.