1.
Nancy Pelosi recently said, "With Trump, all roads lead to Putin." Before Trump took office, it was unthinkable that anyone would seriously say such a thing about a U.S. president. The statement is, however, spot-on.
I am not a journalist; I'm a senior citizen with an overworked staff of one. The following list, illustrative of Trump's bromance with the brutal dictator is probably incomplete. It is astounding nevertheless.
1. Trump denied that Russia was involved with election tampering simply because Putin told him so. Even though the Department of Justice and the C.I.A. came to an incontrovertible conclusion that Russia was the culprit. "I don't know why it should be Russia," he infamously said.
2. Trump wanted Russia to be readmitted to the G10 group, which had canceled its membership after Putin annexed Crimea.
3. Trump's disastrous order to leave Syria played right into Russia's hands. Russia is now a major player in the Middle East.
4. Trump has accepted the refuted conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, which interfered in the last presidential election. This ridiculous theory originated in Russia. The brilliant Fiona Hill, a specialist on Ukraine and Russia, referred to this conspiracy theory, during a recent congressional impeachment inquiry, as a "fictional narrative." She continued, "I would ask you that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests."
5. Trump is now about to be impeached for directing the president of Ukraine to investigate Trump's political foe and to get at the bottom of the conspiracy mentioned in the fourth point above. (One can, of course, neither get to the bottom or the top of hot air.)
The list is undoubtedly incomplete. Thanks to Trump, Russia is now more powerful and the United States more weak. (I leave it up to the politically astute reader to compile her own list of our county's decline under the current administration.)
"Make America Great Again?" Those MAGA hats should read, "MaRGA," "Make Russia Great Again," for this is what Trump is doing. Yes, we've elected MaRGA Man. God help us.
2.
As a rule of thumb, the opposite of what Trump asserts is true. His "fake news" is real news; his assertion that "he is the least racist person" indicates his animus towards blacks and browns. This quintessential egotist's insults, once you know the code, actually refer to him. Thus his assertion that Nancy Pelosi is incompetent, or "crazy as a bedbug," can be translated as a confession of his own incompetence; his claim that the impeachment inquiry is a 'hoax' thus refers to the hoax of his defense, etc.
What an inveterate liar! All politicians stretch the truth, but never in the history of the presidency has asserting the opposite of what a commander in chief says been a rough way of getting at the truth. How has it come to this?
I have for a long time asserted that the entertainment industry is at the very least partially responsible for the lack of political knowledge and involvement among a large section of U.S. citizens. I remember seeing street interviews on YouTube. Many didn't know who won the Civil War, (!), not to mention when it was fought, etc. They all knew about Beyoncé's latest hit, however. This ignorance is not good for our democracy. A vibrant democracy requires that citizens make efforts to keep informed, exercise critical thinking, and get involved.
Trump's presidency has been called a reality TV show, a continuation of his popular show, "The Apprentice." There is a lot of truth to this, but one needs to consider Trump's involvement with professional wrestling to get a keener insight into the nature of his base.
Trump sponsored Wrestlemania, the WWE's (World Wrestling Entertainment's) yearly wrestling event, for several years in the past. He also appeared many times at televised wrestling events.
WWE is "entertainment," admittedly staged matches, admittedly fake. On one occasion, Trump got into a (fake) argument with the billionaire owner of WWE, McMahon. Trump body-slammed McMahon and strutted away. On another occasion, they decided to stage a proxy match to determine the victor of a pseudo-conflict between them. The loser would have his head shaved on the air. The wrestler representing McMahon lost (of course) and Trump proceeded to shave the guy's head. (McMahon apparently loves to perform these pseudo-masochistic events to entertain the crowd). The spectators went wild.
You get the idea. Most of the audience probably knew that the whole thing had been staged, but they let themselves be (almost viscerally) entertained. Just like in the movies--One knows from the outset that, say, "The Exorcist" is fiction, but that doesn't mean that the spectator can't get caught up in the show. One sweats, one's heart beats faster, etc., even though the spectator knows that it is "only a movie."
Although many Trump supporters really do think he is the best man for the job, others, I think, are a lot like the crowd attending a WWE event. They want to be fooled, they want to be driven wild. Whether what they witness is truthful or not doesn't matter at all. They cheer, they hoot; they are entertained. They forget themselves awhile; they also forget truth, decency and their responsibility as citizens. This is why you can't reason with them. Tell a movie fan that the mother of Rosemary's Baby is just an actress and they reply, "We know that. We want to suspend judgement. We want to be entertained."
Suspending judgement in politics, however. is very problematic. It therefore makes no sense arguing with Trump's fanatic base.We must concentrate instead on continuing to tell the truth as we see it, and to work on such things as voter registration.
Trump has been body-slamming Uncle Sam, as it were, since he took office. If he continues to flip him about after 2020, Uncle Sam might never recover. This is our country! We must vote MaRGA Man out of office--before it's too late.
Nancy Pelosi recently said, "With Trump, all roads lead to Putin." Before Trump took office, it was unthinkable that anyone would seriously say such a thing about a U.S. president. The statement is, however, spot-on.
I am not a journalist; I'm a senior citizen with an overworked staff of one. The following list, illustrative of Trump's bromance with the brutal dictator is probably incomplete. It is astounding nevertheless.
1. Trump denied that Russia was involved with election tampering simply because Putin told him so. Even though the Department of Justice and the C.I.A. came to an incontrovertible conclusion that Russia was the culprit. "I don't know why it should be Russia," he infamously said.
2. Trump wanted Russia to be readmitted to the G10 group, which had canceled its membership after Putin annexed Crimea.
3. Trump's disastrous order to leave Syria played right into Russia's hands. Russia is now a major player in the Middle East.
4. Trump has accepted the refuted conspiracy theory that it was Ukraine, not Russia, which interfered in the last presidential election. This ridiculous theory originated in Russia. The brilliant Fiona Hill, a specialist on Ukraine and Russia, referred to this conspiracy theory, during a recent congressional impeachment inquiry, as a "fictional narrative." She continued, "I would ask you that you please not promote politically driven falsehoods that so clearly advance Russian interests."
5. Trump is now about to be impeached for directing the president of Ukraine to investigate Trump's political foe and to get at the bottom of the conspiracy mentioned in the fourth point above. (One can, of course, neither get to the bottom or the top of hot air.)
The list is undoubtedly incomplete. Thanks to Trump, Russia is now more powerful and the United States more weak. (I leave it up to the politically astute reader to compile her own list of our county's decline under the current administration.)
"Make America Great Again?" Those MAGA hats should read, "MaRGA," "Make Russia Great Again," for this is what Trump is doing. Yes, we've elected MaRGA Man. God help us.
2.
As a rule of thumb, the opposite of what Trump asserts is true. His "fake news" is real news; his assertion that "he is the least racist person" indicates his animus towards blacks and browns. This quintessential egotist's insults, once you know the code, actually refer to him. Thus his assertion that Nancy Pelosi is incompetent, or "crazy as a bedbug," can be translated as a confession of his own incompetence; his claim that the impeachment inquiry is a 'hoax' thus refers to the hoax of his defense, etc.
What an inveterate liar! All politicians stretch the truth, but never in the history of the presidency has asserting the opposite of what a commander in chief says been a rough way of getting at the truth. How has it come to this?
I have for a long time asserted that the entertainment industry is at the very least partially responsible for the lack of political knowledge and involvement among a large section of U.S. citizens. I remember seeing street interviews on YouTube. Many didn't know who won the Civil War, (!), not to mention when it was fought, etc. They all knew about Beyoncé's latest hit, however. This ignorance is not good for our democracy. A vibrant democracy requires that citizens make efforts to keep informed, exercise critical thinking, and get involved.
Trump's presidency has been called a reality TV show, a continuation of his popular show, "The Apprentice." There is a lot of truth to this, but one needs to consider Trump's involvement with professional wrestling to get a keener insight into the nature of his base.
Trump sponsored Wrestlemania, the WWE's (World Wrestling Entertainment's) yearly wrestling event, for several years in the past. He also appeared many times at televised wrestling events.
WWE is "entertainment," admittedly staged matches, admittedly fake. On one occasion, Trump got into a (fake) argument with the billionaire owner of WWE, McMahon. Trump body-slammed McMahon and strutted away. On another occasion, they decided to stage a proxy match to determine the victor of a pseudo-conflict between them. The loser would have his head shaved on the air. The wrestler representing McMahon lost (of course) and Trump proceeded to shave the guy's head. (McMahon apparently loves to perform these pseudo-masochistic events to entertain the crowd). The spectators went wild.
You get the idea. Most of the audience probably knew that the whole thing had been staged, but they let themselves be (almost viscerally) entertained. Just like in the movies--One knows from the outset that, say, "The Exorcist" is fiction, but that doesn't mean that the spectator can't get caught up in the show. One sweats, one's heart beats faster, etc., even though the spectator knows that it is "only a movie."
Although many Trump supporters really do think he is the best man for the job, others, I think, are a lot like the crowd attending a WWE event. They want to be fooled, they want to be driven wild. Whether what they witness is truthful or not doesn't matter at all. They cheer, they hoot; they are entertained. They forget themselves awhile; they also forget truth, decency and their responsibility as citizens. This is why you can't reason with them. Tell a movie fan that the mother of Rosemary's Baby is just an actress and they reply, "We know that. We want to suspend judgement. We want to be entertained."
Suspending judgement in politics, however. is very problematic. It therefore makes no sense arguing with Trump's fanatic base.We must concentrate instead on continuing to tell the truth as we see it, and to work on such things as voter registration.
Trump has been body-slamming Uncle Sam, as it were, since he took office. If he continues to flip him about after 2020, Uncle Sam might never recover. This is our country! We must vote MaRGA Man out of office--before it's too late.
