APP - Trump in Washington

midcan5

Member
The Banality of Donald Trump. "Donald Trump has demonstrated consistently, while three hundred thousand people in the U.S. died and millions became sick, that he couldn’t be bothered.*

How did America come to elect a man so unable to manage our nation? A person incapable of thinking of others. How did the conservative media machine make a qualified woman unqualified and actually hated. How did hatred of immigrants become a central selling point along with a barrier wall become a goal of America - a land of immigrants. How did hate and white supremacy come to raise its ugly head so high in modern America.

Trump wanted too to control justice itself, thankfully our judges still follow the law and their conscience. Senator McConnell and Republicans pushed through judges they thought would bend in the favor of injustice. They were wrong.

Why do Americans enthusiastically cheer a president who appears to believe his own lies. A person who has pseudologia phantastica. So many lies are they still counting them? Thousands. And they continue still for losing fair and square in our democracy cannot be accepted. Democracy doesn't appeal to Trump and his kind.

How could Americans jeopardize their own health by imitating a man who predicted the Coronavirus would disappear as if waving your hand had magical power. Why do so many Americans follow a person who uses his office to enrich his family while taking Healthcare away from the needy American. Emolument took on new meaning under Trump.

Do republicans kowtow to a president's conspiracy nonsense only because they fear a challenge from someone who may be even more amoral a cult follower. Are they this morally bankrupt. Vice President Pence looks at Trump like some teenager admiring their idol, any wonder why Trump selected him.

How did our religious and fundamentalists come to admire and cheer a leader who breaks up families and cages children. Certainly no religious person or moral person or Christian person could vote for these policies. Could they.

Consider too media sources such as FOX OAN and Newsmax, these too are anti-democracy. Are there that many Americans who can accept their distorted biased viewpoints? Given the fake news on each and even the ads which are often lies - it would seem so. Media sources like these make Banana Republic News look honorable.

What have we learned. Where to now. We learned that democracy can be challenged. We learned that power and privilege matter more than honor. (See list below.) We learned that one man can lie and cheat and steal and yet if he says things that appeal to certain people and tribes, what he does does not matter. We learned that religious evangelicals are not religious in any sense. We learned that some believe absurd conspiracies without even an iota of evidence. Some will argue that's not true, but the proof is out there should you take the time. Challenge if can. See links below.

Power corrupts and these people demonstrate that fact. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Mike Braun of Indiana, and Senator-elect Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

'Lest We Forget The Horrors: A Catalog Of Trump’S Worst Cruelties, Collusions, Corruptions, And Crimes'
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-complete-listing-so-far-atrocities-1-923

'100 Ways, in 100 Days, that Trump Has Hurt Americans'
https://www.americanprogress.org/is...31299/100-ways-100-days-trump-hurt-americans/

'Americans’ acceptance of Trump’s behavior will be his vilest legacy'
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...-of-trumps-behavior-will-be-his-vilest-legacy

'45 Self-Evident Truths About Donald Trump'
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/29/trumpology-kruse-45-trump-truths-433455


"What is patriotism? Let us begin with what patriotism is not. It is not patriotic to dodge the draft and to mock war heroes and their families. It is not patriotic to discriminate against active-duty members of the armed forces in one's companies, or to campaign to keep disabled veterans away from one's property. It is not patriotic to compare one's search for sexual partners in New York with the military service in Vietnam that one has dodged. It is not patriotic to avoid paying taxes, especially when American working families do pay. It is not patriotic to ask those working, taxpaying American families to finance one's own presidential campaign, and then to spend their contributions in one's own companies. It is not patriotic to admire foreign dictators. It is not patriotic to cultivate a relationship with Muammar Gaddafi; or to say that Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin are superior leaders. It is not patriotic to call upon Russia to intervene in an American presidential election. It is not patriotic to cite Russian propaganda at rallies." Timothy Snyder 'On Tyranny'


*https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-...he-trump-administration-and-other-autocracies
 
Hello midcan5,

The Banality of Donald Trump. "Donald Trump has demonstrated consistently, while three hundred thousand people in the U.S. died and millions became sick, that he couldn’t be bothered.*

How did America come to elect a man so unable to manage our nation? A person incapable of thinking of others. How did the conservative media machine make a qualified woman unqualified and actually hated. How did hatred of immigrants become a central selling point along with a barrier wall become a goal of America - a land of immigrants. How did hate and white supremacy come to raise its ugly head so high in modern America.

Trump wanted too to control justice itself, thankfully our judges still follow the law and their conscience. Senator McConnell and Republicans pushed through judges they thought would bend in the favor of injustice. They were wrong.

Why do Americans enthusiastically cheer a president who appears to believe his own lies. A person who has pseudologia phantastica. So many lies are they still counting them? Thousands. And they continue still for losing fair and square in our democracy cannot be accepted. Democracy doesn't appeal to Trump and his kind.

How could Americans jeopardize their own health by imitating a man who predicted the Coronavirus would disappear as if waving your hand had magical power. Why do so many Americans follow a person who uses his office to enrich his family while taking Healthcare away from the needy American. Emolument took on new meaning under Trump.

Do republicans kowtow to a president's conspiracy nonsense only because they fear a challenge from someone who may be even more amoral a cult follower. Are they this morally bankrupt. Vice President Pence looks at Trump like some teenager admiring their idol, any wonder why Trump selected him.

How did our religious and fundamentalists come to admire and cheer a leader who breaks up families and cages children. Certainly no religious person or moral person or Christian person could vote for these policies. Could they.

Consider too media sources such as FOX OAN and Newsmax, these too are anti-democracy. Are there that many Americans who can accept their distorted biased viewpoints? Given the fake news on each and even the ads which are often lies - it would seem so. Media sources like these make Banana Republic News look honorable.

What have we learned. Where to now. We learned that democracy can be challenged. We learned that power and privilege matter more than honor. (See list below.) We learned that one man can lie and cheat and steal and yet if he says things that appeal to certain people and tribes, what he does does not matter. We learned that religious evangelicals are not religious in any sense. We learned that some believe absurd conspiracies without even an iota of evidence. Some will argue that's not true, but the proof is out there should you take the time. Challenge if can. See links below.

Power corrupts and these people demonstrate that fact. Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, Senators Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, James Lankford of Oklahoma, Steve Daines of Montana, John Kennedy of Louisiana, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee and Mike Braun of Indiana, and Senator-elect Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Roger Marshall of Kansas, Bill Hagerty of Tennessee and Tommy Tuberville of Alabama.

'Lest We Forget The Horrors: A Catalog Of Trump’S Worst Cruelties, Collusions, Corruptions, And Crimes'
https://www.mcsweeneys.net/articles/the-complete-listing-so-far-atrocities-1-923

'100 Ways, in 100 Days, that Trump Has Hurt Americans'
https://www.americanprogress.org/is...31299/100-ways-100-days-trump-hurt-americans/

'Americans’ acceptance of Trump’s behavior will be his vilest legacy'
https://www.theguardian.com/comment...-of-trumps-behavior-will-be-his-vilest-legacy

'45 Self-Evident Truths About Donald Trump'
https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/10/29/trumpology-kruse-45-trump-truths-433455


"What is patriotism? Let us begin with what patriotism is not. It is not patriotic to dodge the draft and to mock war heroes and their families. It is not patriotic to discriminate against active-duty members of the armed forces in one's companies, or to campaign to keep disabled veterans away from one's property. It is not patriotic to compare one's search for sexual partners in New York with the military service in Vietnam that one has dodged. It is not patriotic to avoid paying taxes, especially when American working families do pay. It is not patriotic to ask those working, taxpaying American families to finance one's own presidential campaign, and then to spend their contributions in one's own companies. It is not patriotic to admire foreign dictators. It is not patriotic to cultivate a relationship with Muammar Gaddafi; or to say that Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin are superior leaders. It is not patriotic to call upon Russia to intervene in an American presidential election. It is not patriotic to cite Russian propaganda at rallies." Timothy Snyder 'On Tyranny'


*https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-...he-trump-administration-and-other-autocracies

A remarkable page in history is finally turning.

Hopefully we can begin to ease the pressure off the bitter hatred which has dominated our politics for the last 4+ years.
 
Few comments? Dialogue helps and maybe one day we'll all see these times just a little clearer. One thing that motivated me while writing OP was all the holocaust documentaries on Prime. Unreal, my wife can't even watch them. Caused me to reread 'Eichmann in Jerusalem' which I recommend for the thoughtful reader. Not sure I'll tackle Arendt's 'Origins' again, quoted below as I never read 'Hitler's Willing Executioners' and want to see what he has to say. Had a copy for years now. 'Origins' covers mass propaganda well and watching Fox OAN and Newsmax remines me often of just how easily lies become truths and distortions knowledge. Take care all.

If you want a mental and philosophic challenge pick up 'Hitler's Willing Executioners'. It gives you a sense of how anti-Semitism grows as it has during Trump's presidency. Challenge yourself.


"The effectiveness of this kind of propaganda demonstrates one of the chief characteristics of modern masses. They do not believe in anything visible, in the reality of their own experience; they do not trust their eyes and ears but only their imaginations, which may be caught by anything that is at once universal and consistent with itself. What convinces masses are not facts, and not even invented facts, but only the consistency of the system of which they are presumably part." p351 Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism

from https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/hannah-arendt-fact-check


'What Are the Tools of Propaganda?'

https://www.historians.org/about-ah...ganda-(1944)/what-are-the-tools-of-propaganda


'Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust'

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/784848.Hitler_s_Willing_Executioners
 
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