They are not just lying, they are backing their lies with threats of violence and other methods of intimidation. They threaten the press, corporations, and any who take stands against them. They don’t just repeat the old lies, the constantly come up with new, more ridiculous ones so that the exposing of the old lies is never heard over the chaos of the new ones. The press can’t help because so many of the trusted names are hedging their bets against a Trump win. WaPo might go out of business. The Times is surviving because of their puzzles. Their editorials are against Trump but their headlines are often misleading and anti-Biden.
The best way to beat this is by old-fashion neighborhood politics. Postcards can be helpful but field work is the best. Trump just held a rally in a Black church in Detroit to push his lie that he is popular in the Black community. Some of the press reported it that way. The next day it came out the almost all the people who attend were paid by the Trump campaign and most were white. Very few of those who attended were from the community. Trump is a great showman, but he is a terrible person with not morals, integrity, with no idea of what is going on in the world. More people are beginning to realize this. He can be beaten.
I've run into that. I don't know if it's willful disbelief, they know and don't care, or they are in it so deep that they can't see the light. When I run into someone that I say is that our differences are so great that one of us must be wrong, and maybe in a year the truth will become apparent. I hope so, but it hasn't happened in 8 years.
It's not just Trumpers and rightwingers. I have Jewish friends and family members who can look at what is happening in Gaza and say it is not genocide. They see what they want to see, not the reality. I was born to Jewish parents but now I despise Judaism.
"Thou shalt not bear false witness" means nothing to these thugs. You think any thug has ever asked himself or herself, what can I or we do to make the world a better place to live? That thought to them, is rarer then an honest right winger.
Trump has been following Hitler's playbook for the last 50 years, lying and repeating lies, so this comes natural to him.
The church did their job to keep the American citizens from evolving. Got a hold of the babies and children and detached them from reality, truth, good and God! The religious leaders, will now jump in bed with the capitalist and hope some of the gold flows their way! Everyone else can just suffer, especially idealists.
Fascism would not be possible if it were not for those greedy billionaires who are sadistic!
With artificial intelligence and doctored pictures and voice messages, the sky is the limit for the fascist especially since they own the media and social media!
When you decide to author a Substack newsletter, BeeJay, I am publicly informing you that I will immediately become a paid subscriber. Not because of any sociopolitical concurrence (for that cannot exist), but because of your intelligence and uncanny ability to silence dissent of your argument(s).
No doubt that the media is the message and MSM is not impartial. Robert Hubbell wrote about the Washington Post this morning. Their profit-maximizing strategy is to “Root against Biden during the campaign and then rage against Trump if he wins.” (To understand that strategy, it is helpful to know that WaPo’s website had 100 million unique visitors in 2020 when Trump was president and 50 million unique visitors in 2023 when Biden was president.)
WAPO hired Will Lewis as its new publisher and CEO. Lewis worked for Murdoch News Corporation at the height of the scandal-plagued era. When the Post’s own reporters attempted to write a story that touched on Lewis’s conduct, he reportedly told the journalists to kill the story because it was “not newsworthy.” Lewis shortly thereafter summarily fired Sally Buzbee, the Post’s popular and respected executive editor. Suspicious, no?
Hubbell decided that despite a number of other incidents, "the Post and its reporters performed admirably and courageously during the darkest days of the Trump administration. We owe them a debt of gratitude. They have earned our patience and goodwill as they work through their problems. Moreover, the Post remains home to excellent journalists and insightful columnists who deserve our support. Let’s hope the Post emerges from its present scandals to resume its rightful position as the standard bearer for quality journalism and ethical integrity in the US press. We need another source of truth and accuracy during this perilous moment for democracy!"
I decided otherwise. I let my subscription lapse. I lived in DC and despite my hatred for Robert Novak and the current roster of right wing op ed whackos, I hoped that they'd improve. Bad has gone to worse.
Fear evokes two reactions. 1. Turn tail and run. 2. stand and fight. Please choose number 2. FIGHT.
Gen Z gets most of its info from other sources. That, in large part, is the reason for the decline of MSM. Channel Taylor Swift. FT 6 identifies millions of unregistered folk who can tilt the playing field
We have the capacity to sweep this election even if we do not have MSM.
We need to get serious about returning truth to news; Fox should be sued out of existence. If not the Fairness Doctrine, we can adopt something like Britain's Due Impartiality requirement.
Trump bypassed the spin stage and proceeded to just plain stupid. On the road there, he simultaneously managed to undermine and get the MAGAs to hate the media. I've read reporters' books; they describe what he's done to their jobs and their lives. He spews hatred and infects some people to the point they now hate their own relatives, much less the hard-working county clerks that count the vote.
This Report explains how he didn't invent the method, but we have to admit he took it to a new level with the help of millions of others willing to do and say anything to suppress the truth. It wasn't possible to do so 100 years ago. Today it's just a few clicks and the "pollution" obscures the truth.
President Biden is working for my interests; it's easy to see. We can pick an old, stupid psychopath who lies and drags everyone into his delusions, or we can be rational and put people in office that are not trying to gaslight us.
Maddow's "Prequel" was an eye-opener and an excellent read and so are you, Thom.
Being politically and religiously agnostic, and possibly your biggest advocate and fan (and I am not a fan of many), I must inform you that the subterfuge of truth happens on both sides. This is the danger the United States faces. The duopoly of political parties are saying the exact same thing about the other. From indictments of fascism to voter tampering, it is the same narrative.
The danger of this and, perhaps, even the salvation of it (though unlikely), is that it is opening up, for the very first time, the politically disenfranchised and homeless to a third choice, or further disenfranchisement. Neither of which is good for the duopoly.
In your article you, quite accurately, state: "Americans are generally used to believing their politicians are telling the truth, albeit often a slightly shaded version for political convenience."
From Prohibition, Vietnam, Afghanistan and the "war on terror," therein...lies the problem.
Difficult days ahead, brother. Things most cannot fathom, both domestically and internationally. Because, 800 million guns notwithstanding, racism and sexism notwithstanding, health and wealth gaps notwithstanding; we now live in a society of people that have no idea what is fact, and what is fiction. WORSE, they are intellectually incapable of ascertaining either.
Who is "you?" And, if your arrogant supremacist thought process is, by some cognitive tactical error, espousing "you" as me, a Black Man in the United States, you are, indeed, proud of your ignorance. For BOTH of your "parties" have a bit less than that to those like me...from day one. Because if they were, I would not be here on the island. Your comment is too ignorant and, most of all, arrogant to respond to in any substantive way; and I shall not further.
Frankly, I wonder how many times you old rednecks like you have used the word "nigger" or if you might even remember.. A query infinitely more interesting than your cyber, ain't written or published a-damned-thing cowardice reflected in your pathetic commentary. For I have found few white supremacists admit to being one and there are only two types: those that know they are, and those who don't and IF your ass is European and in the United States, you are one, the other...or illiterate.
I really despise cowards that attempt to punch above their weight.
I wrote an Instagram comment about giving $25/month to Biden’s campaign for my children’s future and I received over 700 likes in a short time. I only have 30 followers so these are not related to my account. It sounds like a message that would resonate with a lot of people worried not just about the immediate future but generations to come. I have 2 boys and one is almost 18 and the other 12. After watching Saving Private Ryan last week, I’m terrified of the consequences of a 4th Reich!
“we’re in better shape, in most ways, than any time since the 1960s”
A problem for all Democrats supporters is that the statistics like the GDP and employment, although better are misleading. They do not show the distribution of wealth creation. Now it goes primarily to the upper 10%. There are two sets of consumers one lives in luxury, one in financial precarity: https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/
After Reagan, under both Democrat and Republican administrations, economic inequality increased, especially hitting the 90% in the white rule areas (which you have pointed out in previous articles.)
These people experience something quite different than the statistics that are created by economists in their university or government offices. Chris Hedges describes returning to his hometown, Mechanics Falls, that was once solid Democrat and prosperous. He passed the abandoned factories, the empty storefronts and decaying houses and saw Trump signs everywhere: https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/30/chris-hedges-the-forgotten-victims-of-americas-class-war/
And Trump is the only one who speaks to them telling them that the system is rigged. It is rigged—but by and for the upper .01%. The moneyed class to which Trump belongs. Would it not be better for all Democrats/Progressives to send out the message they understand the system is rigged against the 90% including white rural America and explain policies to return to a better sharing of the GDP – which can be done because it once was done.
You have mentioned the role of tax on the wealthy— and there are many other ways of exposing and stopping the continuous and massive upward transfer of wealth. But it depends on recognizing that these people who are supporting Trump have a legitimate concern for their financial security.
Jan Weir: I'm in agreement. Even if some of the statistics are a little better for everyone, like unemployment numbers, the very existence of unholy INEQUALITY is all by itself a weight on our necks. When one class has infinite funds, they will use it against those of us scraping by to make our lives desperate and uncertain, even if we are managing to limp along for now. The very existence of the super-rich is intolerable in any viable society other than pure fascism and even then, it can only be imposed by continued violence.
“But something has changed for me in the Trump era. I struggle more than I once did to wall off a person’s character from their politics when their politics is binding them to an unusually—and I would say undeniably—destructive person. The lies that MAGA world parrots are so manifestly untrue, and the Trump ethic is so manifestly cruel, that they are difficult to set aside.
If a person insists, despite the overwhelming evidence, that Trump was the target of an assassination plot hatched by Biden and carried out by the FBI, this is more than an intellectual failure; it is a moral failure, and a serious one at that. It’s only reasonable to conclude that such Trump supporters have not made a good-faith effort to understand what is really and truly happening. They are choosing to live within the lie, to invoke the words of the former Czech dissident and playwright Vaclav Havel.
One of the criteria that need to be taken into account in assessing the moral culpability of people is how absurd the lies are that they are espousing; a second is how intentionally they are avoiding evidence that exposes the lies because they are deeply invested in the lie; and a third is is how consequential the lie is.
It’s one thing to embrace a conspiracy theory that is relevant only to you and your tiny corner of the world. It’s an entirely different matter if the falsehood you’re embracing and promoting is venomous, harming others, and eroding cherished principles, promoting violence and subverting American democracy.” — The Atlantic, “Motivated Ignorance” in “When are Trump Supporters Complicit?”
Psychologically, Biden is a picture of mental health in contrast to Trump. However, Biden regularly shows that he is very out of touch with the times. When I saw the vid of the Juneteenth concert, Biden's posture was so out of step with the crowd, I thought it was AI-altered - but it was live and he really did stand there like a statue emotionally and physically - while all around him were boogalooing.
Biden is experiencing physical symptoms of minor neurological deterioration typical of people his age. Trump being younger is not. That has little to do with running the country.
In contrast, Trump is so off his nut that he daily promotes fascist policies, rants incoherently, threatens violence against all liberals, and lies with impunity - right out of Hitler's playbook. Trump's plans for the economy will put most MAGAs in the poorhouse within a year while risking a depression with his tariffs, mass deportations, imprisonment of all political opponents, etc. My friends in the EU are more worried about Trump than we are. That is because their economies are far more fragile than America's - for now.
Whatever happened to the party of god where the Repubs claimed to be Christian and better than their opponents that made no such claim to being holier than any other man. Can such an obvious false claim be held by real Christians or not be called out by Christians that know upholding truths are standard behavior. Lies cannot be allowed in a Christian life and if any do, they know the outcome. Jesus told them. Where are the Christian leaders calling out this abomination? Most did not come out for MLK either.
"Is their love of political power so great they would sell out our democracy for it?"
HELL YES!!! This is the human default mode, the reptilian mode, no, the cellular mode! This predates our invention of gods! It has been in us for millions of years! Propaganda is the water that awakens those seeds and allows them to grow, grow in all of us. We won't fix anything until we pull our head out of our ass and see ourselves as "US." "THEM" IS "US." History's value is that it allows us to step outside ourselves and take a look! Propagandist's play with our dendrites, synapses, and neurons, our unconscious, to control us. They dance around in the back of our brain and paint images for us to see. Every word has its origin in an image. We are guided, motivated, by those images. I bet you never thought of propagandists as artists, as painters. I had not. I bet our failed playwright, Robert Reich, has had that thought. The Greek Tragedies told our story. We refuse to see what we see until we become what we see. Propagandist figured this out a long time ago. We have become!
The contagion of hatred you mention is part of the contagious craziness we read about in a recent Report. Every country throughout history has this element of society. That lizard part of our brain is in us all. The scramble to get to the top of the heap can be unchecked in some. Trump and his cult are the perfect example.
Psychopaths and their followers are a HUGE part of American history, and we our now fighting to tell the truth about that.
Evolving is hard work; the haters will try to drag us back into their sickness. When someone mentions the criminals crossing the border, we should point out that OUR AMERICAN criminals have been fleeing to Canada, Mexico, and other parts of the world the last 250 years.
Then we need to tell this story, just like Thom did about how hatred and craziness led this woman to try to drown innocent children.
With the internet, there has never been more opportunity to talk about hatred and craziness and show how it is contagious. The net also provides ways to spread the disease. We CAN govern it in our homes, and we can vote for those that will do the same for our country.
How the hell do you dare compare Democrats to the Republicans/Trump constant spew of lying! Have you been living under a rock the past 8 years? Why is a MAGAt even making a comment here?
Tell it to the membership of Tree of Life Synagogue, Pittsburgh, Pa. Many of the so called students were professional Islamists, who supported the October 7 attacks. They want you dead based on your DNA, Barry.
Daniel. remember this is the internet and anyone can be anything. I doubt that Barry is a Jew, I doubt that his name is Barry O Kaufman, I doubt that he is a DO.
They are not just lying, they are backing their lies with threats of violence and other methods of intimidation. They threaten the press, corporations, and any who take stands against them. They don’t just repeat the old lies, the constantly come up with new, more ridiculous ones so that the exposing of the old lies is never heard over the chaos of the new ones. The press can’t help because so many of the trusted names are hedging their bets against a Trump win. WaPo might go out of business. The Times is surviving because of their puzzles. Their editorials are against Trump but their headlines are often misleading and anti-Biden.
The best way to beat this is by old-fashion neighborhood politics. Postcards can be helpful but field work is the best. Trump just held a rally in a Black church in Detroit to push his lie that he is popular in the Black community. Some of the press reported it that way. The next day it came out the almost all the people who attend were paid by the Trump campaign and most were white. Very few of those who attended were from the community. Trump is a great showman, but he is a terrible person with not morals, integrity, with no idea of what is going on in the world. More people are beginning to realize this. He can be beaten.
“ exposing of the old lies is never heard over the chaos of the new ones “ - is right on .
I might add that much of the media that would expose the lies would not
be heard at all by the spellbound Trumpers . Even more scary is that
I have “ friends “ that refuse to
acknowledge the truth - even when
the lie is directly pointed out to them.
These former friends are too far gone
but they may have enough like
minded people in battleground states
to pull off the unthinkable.
I've run into that. I don't know if it's willful disbelief, they know and don't care, or they are in it so deep that they can't see the light. When I run into someone that I say is that our differences are so great that one of us must be wrong, and maybe in a year the truth will become apparent. I hope so, but it hasn't happened in 8 years.
Show them this: https://rvat.org/
Thanks Daniel – That was helpful! I wish I could figure out how to post it.
Past and copy into a comment on Facebook. Military sites, "Not suckers or losers."
It's not just Trumpers and rightwingers. I have Jewish friends and family members who can look at what is happening in Gaza and say it is not genocide. They see what they want to see, not the reality. I was born to Jewish parents but now I despise Judaism.
"Thou shalt not bear false witness" means nothing to these thugs. You think any thug has ever asked himself or herself, what can I or we do to make the world a better place to live? That thought to them, is rarer then an honest right winger.
Trump has been following Hitler's playbook for the last 50 years, lying and repeating lies, so this comes natural to him.
The church did their job to keep the American citizens from evolving. Got a hold of the babies and children and detached them from reality, truth, good and God! The religious leaders, will now jump in bed with the capitalist and hope some of the gold flows their way! Everyone else can just suffer, especially idealists.
Fascism would not be possible if it were not for those greedy billionaires who are sadistic!
With artificial intelligence and doctored pictures and voice messages, the sky is the limit for the fascist especially since they own the media and social media!
When you decide to author a Substack newsletter, BeeJay, I am publicly informing you that I will immediately become a paid subscriber. Not because of any sociopolitical concurrence (for that cannot exist), but because of your intelligence and uncanny ability to silence dissent of your argument(s).
I try, very hard, to that very same same thing.
No doubt that the media is the message and MSM is not impartial. Robert Hubbell wrote about the Washington Post this morning. Their profit-maximizing strategy is to “Root against Biden during the campaign and then rage against Trump if he wins.” (To understand that strategy, it is helpful to know that WaPo’s website had 100 million unique visitors in 2020 when Trump was president and 50 million unique visitors in 2023 when Biden was president.)
WAPO hired Will Lewis as its new publisher and CEO. Lewis worked for Murdoch News Corporation at the height of the scandal-plagued era. When the Post’s own reporters attempted to write a story that touched on Lewis’s conduct, he reportedly told the journalists to kill the story because it was “not newsworthy.” Lewis shortly thereafter summarily fired Sally Buzbee, the Post’s popular and respected executive editor. Suspicious, no?
Hubbell decided that despite a number of other incidents, "the Post and its reporters performed admirably and courageously during the darkest days of the Trump administration. We owe them a debt of gratitude. They have earned our patience and goodwill as they work through their problems. Moreover, the Post remains home to excellent journalists and insightful columnists who deserve our support. Let’s hope the Post emerges from its present scandals to resume its rightful position as the standard bearer for quality journalism and ethical integrity in the US press. We need another source of truth and accuracy during this perilous moment for democracy!"
I decided otherwise. I let my subscription lapse. I lived in DC and despite my hatred for Robert Novak and the current roster of right wing op ed whackos, I hoped that they'd improve. Bad has gone to worse.
As I have expressed repeatedly, the Republican Party is a clear and present danger. This morning, I published a Substack re the threat to administrative law, which is apparently too arcane a subject for MSM to report. https://danielsolomon.substack.com/p/register-democrats-to-save-administrative?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=742145&post_id=145721077&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=zc69i&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Fear evokes two reactions. 1. Turn tail and run. 2. stand and fight. Please choose number 2. FIGHT.
Gen Z gets most of its info from other sources. That, in large part, is the reason for the decline of MSM. Channel Taylor Swift. FT 6 identifies millions of unregistered folk who can tilt the playing field
We have the capacity to sweep this election even if we do not have MSM.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
We need to get serious about returning truth to news; Fox should be sued out of existence. If not the Fairness Doctrine, we can adopt something like Britain's Due Impartiality requirement.
BILLIONAIRES LOVE TRUMP and SCOTUS
Trump bypassed the spin stage and proceeded to just plain stupid. On the road there, he simultaneously managed to undermine and get the MAGAs to hate the media. I've read reporters' books; they describe what he's done to their jobs and their lives. He spews hatred and infects some people to the point they now hate their own relatives, much less the hard-working county clerks that count the vote.
This Report explains how he didn't invent the method, but we have to admit he took it to a new level with the help of millions of others willing to do and say anything to suppress the truth. It wasn't possible to do so 100 years ago. Today it's just a few clicks and the "pollution" obscures the truth.
President Biden is working for my interests; it's easy to see. We can pick an old, stupid psychopath who lies and drags everyone into his delusions, or we can be rational and put people in office that are not trying to gaslight us.
Maddow's "Prequel" was an eye-opener and an excellent read and so are you, Thom.
Being politically and religiously agnostic, and possibly your biggest advocate and fan (and I am not a fan of many), I must inform you that the subterfuge of truth happens on both sides. This is the danger the United States faces. The duopoly of political parties are saying the exact same thing about the other. From indictments of fascism to voter tampering, it is the same narrative.
The danger of this and, perhaps, even the salvation of it (though unlikely), is that it is opening up, for the very first time, the politically disenfranchised and homeless to a third choice, or further disenfranchisement. Neither of which is good for the duopoly.
In your article you, quite accurately, state: "Americans are generally used to believing their politicians are telling the truth, albeit often a slightly shaded version for political convenience."
From Prohibition, Vietnam, Afghanistan and the "war on terror," therein...lies the problem.
Difficult days ahead, brother. Things most cannot fathom, both domestically and internationally. Because, 800 million guns notwithstanding, racism and sexism notwithstanding, health and wealth gaps notwithstanding; we now live in a society of people that have no idea what is fact, and what is fiction. WORSE, they are intellectually incapable of ascertaining either.
Which party officially wants you to be a second class citizen?
Ans. Republicans. https://www.americanprogress.org/series/project-2025-exposing-the-far-right-assault-on-america/
Who is "you?" And, if your arrogant supremacist thought process is, by some cognitive tactical error, espousing "you" as me, a Black Man in the United States, you are, indeed, proud of your ignorance. For BOTH of your "parties" have a bit less than that to those like me...from day one. Because if they were, I would not be here on the island. Your comment is too ignorant and, most of all, arrogant to respond to in any substantive way; and I shall not further.
This ain't that kind of party, Jack.
https://rohnkenyatta.substack.com/p/if-you-aint-black-dont-call-me-boy
Been listening to your paranoia for years.
How interesting you post a link to what project 2025 will do us, and Rohn goes off on a tear Hmmm.
Accusing you a Jew of white supremacy.
https://www.americanprogress.org/series/project-2025-exposing-the-far-right-assault-on-america/
Ancient; Jim Crow birds of a feather...
Frankly, I wonder how many times you old rednecks like you have used the word "nigger" or if you might even remember.. A query infinitely more interesting than your cyber, ain't written or published a-damned-thing cowardice reflected in your pathetic commentary. For I have found few white supremacists admit to being one and there are only two types: those that know they are, and those who don't and IF your ass is European and in the United States, you are one, the other...or illiterate.
I really despise cowards that attempt to punch above their weight.
I wrote an Instagram comment about giving $25/month to Biden’s campaign for my children’s future and I received over 700 likes in a short time. I only have 30 followers so these are not related to my account. It sounds like a message that would resonate with a lot of people worried not just about the immediate future but generations to come. I have 2 boys and one is almost 18 and the other 12. After watching Saving Private Ryan last week, I’m terrified of the consequences of a 4th Reich!
“we’re in better shape, in most ways, than any time since the 1960s”
A problem for all Democrats supporters is that the statistics like the GDP and employment, although better are misleading. They do not show the distribution of wealth creation. Now it goes primarily to the upper 10%. There are two sets of consumers one lives in luxury, one in financial precarity: https://time.com/5888024/50-trillion-income-inequality-america/
Under FDR and continuing through both Democrat and Republican administrations until Reagan, the Gini coefficient shows that wealth was distributed more evenly to the 90% including the white rural areas: http://piketty.pse.ens.fr/files/capital21c/en/Piketty2014FiguresTables.pdf
After Reagan, under both Democrat and Republican administrations, economic inequality increased, especially hitting the 90% in the white rule areas (which you have pointed out in previous articles.)
These people experience something quite different than the statistics that are created by economists in their university or government offices. Chris Hedges describes returning to his hometown, Mechanics Falls, that was once solid Democrat and prosperous. He passed the abandoned factories, the empty storefronts and decaying houses and saw Trump signs everywhere: https://scheerpost.com/2023/07/30/chris-hedges-the-forgotten-victims-of-americas-class-war/
And Trump is the only one who speaks to them telling them that the system is rigged. It is rigged—but by and for the upper .01%. The moneyed class to which Trump belongs. Would it not be better for all Democrats/Progressives to send out the message they understand the system is rigged against the 90% including white rural America and explain policies to return to a better sharing of the GDP – which can be done because it once was done.
You have mentioned the role of tax on the wealthy— and there are many other ways of exposing and stopping the continuous and massive upward transfer of wealth. But it depends on recognizing that these people who are supporting Trump have a legitimate concern for their financial security.
Jan, I would like Biden to wear a shirt the rest of the campaign trail that says, "FDR gave us prosperity, Reagan gave us poverty"!
Yes, the Dems need sound bites to counter Trump. This would be perfect .
Jan Weir: I'm in agreement. Even if some of the statistics are a little better for everyone, like unemployment numbers, the very existence of unholy INEQUALITY is all by itself a weight on our necks. When one class has infinite funds, they will use it against those of us scraping by to make our lives desperate and uncertain, even if we are managing to limp along for now. The very existence of the super-rich is intolerable in any viable society other than pure fascism and even then, it can only be imposed by continued violence.
“Motivated ignorance” is what The Atlantic calls it: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2024/06/when-are-trump-supporters-complicit/678704/
“But something has changed for me in the Trump era. I struggle more than I once did to wall off a person’s character from their politics when their politics is binding them to an unusually—and I would say undeniably—destructive person. The lies that MAGA world parrots are so manifestly untrue, and the Trump ethic is so manifestly cruel, that they are difficult to set aside.
If a person insists, despite the overwhelming evidence, that Trump was the target of an assassination plot hatched by Biden and carried out by the FBI, this is more than an intellectual failure; it is a moral failure, and a serious one at that. It’s only reasonable to conclude that such Trump supporters have not made a good-faith effort to understand what is really and truly happening. They are choosing to live within the lie, to invoke the words of the former Czech dissident and playwright Vaclav Havel.
One of the criteria that need to be taken into account in assessing the moral culpability of people is how absurd the lies are that they are espousing; a second is how intentionally they are avoiding evidence that exposes the lies because they are deeply invested in the lie; and a third is is how consequential the lie is.
It’s one thing to embrace a conspiracy theory that is relevant only to you and your tiny corner of the world. It’s an entirely different matter if the falsehood you’re embracing and promoting is venomous, harming others, and eroding cherished principles, promoting violence and subverting American democracy.” — The Atlantic, “Motivated Ignorance” in “When are Trump Supporters Complicit?”
Psychologically, Biden is a picture of mental health in contrast to Trump. However, Biden regularly shows that he is very out of touch with the times. When I saw the vid of the Juneteenth concert, Biden's posture was so out of step with the crowd, I thought it was AI-altered - but it was live and he really did stand there like a statue emotionally and physically - while all around him were boogalooing.
Biden is experiencing physical symptoms of minor neurological deterioration typical of people his age. Trump being younger is not. That has little to do with running the country.
In contrast, Trump is so off his nut that he daily promotes fascist policies, rants incoherently, threatens violence against all liberals, and lies with impunity - right out of Hitler's playbook. Trump's plans for the economy will put most MAGAs in the poorhouse within a year while risking a depression with his tariffs, mass deportations, imprisonment of all political opponents, etc. My friends in the EU are more worried about Trump than we are. That is because their economies are far more fragile than America's - for now.
Truth can be ugly. Truth can be beautiful. But the only thing that really matters about truth is what we do with it.
Whatever happened to the party of god where the Repubs claimed to be Christian and better than their opponents that made no such claim to being holier than any other man. Can such an obvious false claim be held by real Christians or not be called out by Christians that know upholding truths are standard behavior. Lies cannot be allowed in a Christian life and if any do, they know the outcome. Jesus told them. Where are the Christian leaders calling out this abomination? Most did not come out for MLK either.
"Is their love of political power so great they would sell out our democracy for it?"
HELL YES!!! This is the human default mode, the reptilian mode, no, the cellular mode! This predates our invention of gods! It has been in us for millions of years! Propaganda is the water that awakens those seeds and allows them to grow, grow in all of us. We won't fix anything until we pull our head out of our ass and see ourselves as "US." "THEM" IS "US." History's value is that it allows us to step outside ourselves and take a look! Propagandist's play with our dendrites, synapses, and neurons, our unconscious, to control us. They dance around in the back of our brain and paint images for us to see. Every word has its origin in an image. We are guided, motivated, by those images. I bet you never thought of propagandists as artists, as painters. I had not. I bet our failed playwright, Robert Reich, has had that thought. The Greek Tragedies told our story. We refuse to see what we see until we become what we see. Propagandist figured this out a long time ago. We have become!
The contagion of hatred you mention is part of the contagious craziness we read about in a recent Report. Every country throughout history has this element of society. That lizard part of our brain is in us all. The scramble to get to the top of the heap can be unchecked in some. Trump and his cult are the perfect example.
Psychopaths and their followers are a HUGE part of American history, and we our now fighting to tell the truth about that.
Evolving is hard work; the haters will try to drag us back into their sickness. When someone mentions the criminals crossing the border, we should point out that OUR AMERICAN criminals have been fleeing to Canada, Mexico, and other parts of the world the last 250 years.
Then we need to tell this story, just like Thom did about how hatred and craziness led this woman to try to drown innocent children.
With the internet, there has never been more opportunity to talk about hatred and craziness and show how it is contagious. The net also provides ways to spread the disease. We CAN govern it in our homes, and we can vote for those that will do the same for our country.
I guess the Democratic Party's lie machine is somehow preferable. https://newrepublic.com/post/182772/biden-criticize-protests-antisemitic-gaza-palestine-new-york
How the hell do you dare compare Democrats to the Republicans/Trump constant spew of lying! Have you been living under a rock the past 8 years? Why is a MAGAt even making a comment here?
Tell it to the membership of Tree of Life Synagogue, Pittsburgh, Pa. Many of the so called students were professional Islamists, who supported the October 7 attacks. They want you dead based on your DNA, Barry.
Daniel. remember this is the internet and anyone can be anything. I doubt that Barry is a Jew, I doubt that his name is Barry O Kaufman, I doubt that he is a DO.
Then again there are Marxist Jews, and Marxists have a love affair with Russia. Modern Tankie's https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tankie
In their lexicon America is an evil imperialist, and Russia is a victim of American aggression.
Mention that Putin is a genocidal aggressor building an Empire and they change the subject or ignore the subject.
Of course you stump for Republicans , who stump for Trump who is in Putin's back pocket.
If anything you are predictable Boris.