Paul Revere by Cyrus Dallin, North End, Boston

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Saturday, February 11, 2017

Donald Trump: A Brute Authoritarian



Clearly, #45 is mentally unstable.

Andrew Sullivan: "THERE IS...MADNESS."  


"I think this is a fundamental reason why so many of us have been so unsettled, anxious, and near panic these past few months. It is not so much this president’s agenda. That always changes from administration to administration. It is that when the linchpin of an entire country is literally delusional, clinically deceptive, and responds to any attempt to correct the record with rage and vengeance, everyone is always on edge. There is no anchor any more. At the core of the administration of the most powerful country on earth, there is, instead, madness."



Trump makes groundless New Hampshire voter fraud claim.

Weeks ago, Lord Dampnut claimed the only reason he lost the popular vote was because 3 million illegals voted for Hillary.  That, of course, is a lie, and everyone on the planet, except Lord Dampnut's easily duped supporters, know it.

But there's a method to Trump's madness and his chronic lying:




Adam Gopnik of The New Yorker writes:  "...rereading Orwell, one is reminded of what Orwell got right about this kind of brute authoritarianism—and that was essentially that it rests on lies told so often, and so repeatedly, that fighting the lie becomes not simply more dangerous but more exhausting than repeating it. Orwell saw, to his credit, that the act of falsifying reality is only secondarily a way of changing perceptions. It is, above all, a way of asserting power."

[skip]


"When Trump repeats the ridiculous story about the three million illegal voters—a story that no one who knows, that not a single White House “staffer,” not a single Republican congressman actually believes to be true—he does not really care if anyone believes it, even if, at some crazy level, he does, sort of. People aren’t meant to believe it; they’re meant to be intimidated by it. The lie is not a claim about specific facts; the lunacy is a deliberate challenge to the whole larger idea of sanity. Once a lie that big is in circulation, trying to reel the conversation back into the territory of rational argument becomes impossible."

Andrew Sullivan:

"Trump’s lies are different. They are direct refutations of reality — and their propagation and repetition is about enforcing his power rather than wriggling out of a political conundrum. They are attacks on the very possibility of a reasoned discourse, the kind of bald-faced lies that authoritarians issue as a way to test loyalty and force their subjects into submission. 

That first press conference when Sean Spicer was sent out to lie and fulminate to the press about the inauguration crowd reminded me of some Soviet apparatchik having his loyalty tested to see if he could repeat in public what he knew to be false. It was comical, but also faintly chilling. What do I mean by denial of empirical reality? 

Take one of the most recent. On Wednesday, Senator Richard Blumenthal related the news that Judge Neil Gorsuch, Trump’s nominee for the long-vacant Supreme Court seat, had told him that the president’s unprecedented, personal attacks on federal judges were “disheartening” and “demoralizing.” Within half an hour, this was confirmed by Gorsuch’s White House–appointed spokesman, who was present for the conversation. CNN also reported that Senator Ben Sasse had heard Gorsuch say exactly the same thing, with feeling, as did former senator Kelly Ayotte. 

 The president nonetheless insisted twice yesterday that Blumenthal had misrepresented his conversation with Gorsuch — first in an early morning tweet and then, once again, yesterday afternoon, in front of the television cameras. To add to the insanity, he also tweeted that in a morning interview, Chris Cuomo had never challenged Blumenthal on his lies about his service in Vietnam — when the tape clearly shows it was the first thing Cuomo brought up."


Trump is clearly a danger to our American democracy. We need to continue to expose him for the reckless liar that he is. The media need to call him out every time he puts out a lie. And never be afraid to call him a LIAR! 

The POTUS is a disgrace to our Constitution and our country. 

Resist him and his lies.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

No, it’s not just a father defending his daughter. It’s the president of the United States bullying a particular business and, more generally, making a public case against free enterprise.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Right wing bloggers are wrong when they compare Harry Truman's defense of his daughter to what #45 did. President Truman did nothing but admonish a critic who said unkind things about Margaret Truman's singing. Trump slammed Nordstrom's because it dropped Ivanka's fashion line for reasons of poor sales. Trump's hysterical tweet caused Nordstrom's stock to momentarily drop. This is quite different from the Truman defense of his daughter.

Don't expect the right wingers to understand. They are, after all, besotted with a maniac and they haven't the brains to see him for what he is.

Kevin Robbins said...

My understanding is that Blumenthal was in the Marines while the Vietnam War was going on. Obviously, he shouldn't have embellished. OTOH, Trump had deferments but was still able to play tennis. That's not a place I would go if I was him and thank God I'm not.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Kevin,

Worse than the deferments is how Trump bragged to radio shock jock Howard Stern that he screwed so many women while he had the deferments during the Vietnam war that he risked getting STDs. "That," said the current POTUS, "was my own Vietnam." So getting a venereal disease from screwing around was, to Trump, as brave as fighting for one's country.

Trump isn't good enough to be scraped off of the shoes of John Kerry, areal patriot who the Stupids on the right demonized while their "hero" Lord Dampnut screwed his way through the Vietnam war.

Shaw Kenawe said...

This is UTAH! No "coastal elites" here.

Listen to what they say about Trump!

GOPER LEFT SPUTTERING AS TEACHER BRINGS TOWN HALL TO ITS FEET WITH BRUTAL OBSERVATION ABOUT TRUMP

The delusional wingnuts actually believe the country supports Trump -- they're ignoring the fact that he has a 40% approval rate -- 53% disapproval. It's amazing how they refuse to see what's in front of their noses.

They're to be pities. Really.

Charles B. Wentsworth said...

It Seems as EVERYONE is wrong except you!

Les Carpenter said...

Read an opinion piece in the Washington Post today. The author's view is Trump will be a 2 year president. Theory is Trump will continue his slide in approval and independent voters and democrats will cause a 2018 mudslide and flip both the House and Senate in 2018. In sort order impeachment proceedings supported by his lies and unethical methods will result in his removal from office.

Hopefully the author turns out to be right.

Meanwhile the trumpanzees remain convinced a majority of Americans think he's just dandy.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Charles B. Wentworth -- No. Not everyone is wrong except me. I've never claimed that. But it is true that 53% of the American people don't like Trump, so a majority agree with me. About 40% of the American people like him. So there's that.

It's the worst favorability rating of a new president in modern American history. So there's that too.

Lots of people on the right are pretending that isn't true. But, of course, it is true.

Shaw Kenawe said...

RN, folks like "Charles" can't handle the truth. Trump is not liked not just by a majority of Americans, but a majority of world leaders think he's a colossal jerk.

Charles B. Wentworth said...

Shaw:
"RN, folks like "Charles" can't handle the truth. Trump is not liked not just by a majority of Americans, but a majority of world leaders think he's a colossal jerk."

Sorry Shaw, but I think that you have it Ass backwards, it's people like you who can't handy the truth. You seem to find EVERYTHING wrong with EVERYTHING. That Mr. Trump says or and does.
I can remember the days when the situation was in reverse and you sat there and defeated every thing that Obsma did.
Well it's time for YOU to Suck it up now.
Karma is a Bitch

Shaw Kenawe said...

First of all, "Charles," you're a troll who comments on the WYD and other whacko blogs.

Second. your argument is invalid.

Begone!

Les Carpenter said...

@ Charlie, ... It's people like you who can't handy the truth.

No Charlie it is you who can't handy (sic) the truth.

@ Charlie, ... you sat there and defeated everything that Obama did.

How did Shaw defeat everything President Obama did? Do tell.

Charlie, I hope you won't take offense but you really need some remedial work to improve your word comprehension.

Shaw Kenawe said...



RN, "Charles" had his 3 minutes of trolling here. He won't be back. I don't understand people like him who dislike what I put up on my blog, yet come here anyway and tell me they don't like what I put up on my blog.

Shaw Kenawe said...

Two new polls reflect poorly on President Donald Trump's brief tenure in the Oval Office, with one showing his administration is tarnishing Americans' view of U.S. popularity around the world, and another finding voters are already evenly divided on the issue of impeaching the president.

The Gallup poll released Friday finds Americans believe the world at-large sees the U.S. more unfavorably (57 percent) than favorably (42 percent)—the worst assessment of the country's image in almost 10 years. "The 42 percent favorable rating is one of the lowest since Gallup began asking this question in 2000 and may be attributable to the election of Trump, whose sometimes controversial statements and actions have rankled several world leaders," the polling outfit wrote.