Jeopardy! host Ken Jennings writes that “our republic” might be saved from Trump-era misinformation by basic facts, like the meaning of habeas corpus, which Kristi Noem recently flubbed.
The scathing takedown came in the form of a new op-ed in The New York Times. When “Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire asked Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to define habeas corpus, a bedrock common-law protection under fire from the administration,” Jennings writes, “Ms. Noem wasn’t even close.”
The problem with her answer, writes Jennings, is that “inaccurate facts make for less informed decisions. Less informed decisions make for bad policy. Garbage in, garbage out.”
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Jennings, who became the primary host of Jeopardy! in 2022 following the death of Alex Trebek in 2020, has irritated those on the right before.
In 2020, after several past tweets mocking conservatives resurfaced and drew the ire of MAGA, he apologized for the posts in an X thread at the time, writing, “Sometimes I said dumb things in a dumb way and I want to apologize to people who were (rightfully!) offended.” Jennings was not apologetic in his Times essay, however, as he complained that “alternative facts” have “moved to the mainstream.”
“Scientific consensus in fields like climate change and vaccine efficacy is no longer the official position of American government. Ditto for legal facts (birthright citizenship), political facts (the winner of the 2020 election) and historical facts (too many examples to list),” he also writes. “Inconvenient experts who push back can be removed by executive order; inconvenient books that disagree can be removed from libraries.”
Noem’s “incorrect” habeas corpus definition is a great example, Jennings adds, but Jeopardy! viewers give him some hope.
“The game was taped months in advance, so it was by sheer coincidence that one of the five clues concerned the definition of, yes, habeas corpus” the week of Noem’s gaffe on the Senate floor. “The Jeopardy! contestant, you’ll be relieved to hear, responded correctly.”
“In a dark time, my secret optimism is that our viewers’ love for quiz games is a sign of what can eventually save us: a practical belief in fact and error that is more fundamentally American than the toxic blend of proud ignorance and smarter-than-thou skepticism that’s brought us to this point,” Jennings writers, concluding that ultimately, “trivia and Jeopardy! could save our republic.”
