Yeah… i was referring to his global empire as Mordor. He himself is Sauron. And his son apparently just as vile. Nothing good ever comes out of Mordor. I also liked the slight alliteration of Murdoch and Mordor.
But wouldn't that defeat what we are fighting against. Freedom of thought and expression are a hallmark of American democracy... or as we knew it for more than 200 years. That being said, the people who listen to them are not seeking information upon which to make rational decisions, but rather, seeking affirmation for their irrational ones. But banning them would just confirm their worst conspiricy theories and probably cause physical confrontation.
Except we have rules and laws of behavior in society. Laws for public roadways. Laws for busineses, radio, laws for supermarkets, no nudity in public parks.
I appreciate your defense of free speech, but our public areas of broadcasting (over air, via cable, satellite, or any means) clearly need oversight.
We need laws of behavior, and not permit deliberately and repeatedly spewing misinformation and outright lies. Laws like that should be high on the list.
Anyone can make a mistake, but healthy broadcasters correct them asap.
No one wants to be lied to. Not even magats.
Who doesnt want a law that protects them from lies?
He reminds me of Jim Jones...cult leader who led his "believers" to drink the Koolaid. I was young at the time but remember being revolted that eople would commit suicide because a mad man tol them too. My parents never worried about me joining a cult! Its disturbing that this is a cult of millions of citizens. My brain explodes at the magnitude. Great piece, Chris
That is exactly what I was thinking! Jim Jones reincarnated! Yikes, lock up the Koolaid. I'm originally from Iowa and do not recognize the GOP voters there anymore.
Now let’s figure out who will mix the Kool Aid when Trump gives the order. Bannon, Gaetz, Jim Jordan and MTG are all soulless. They have to be at the top of the list.
The scary reality? Those voters are lying to themselves.
Even if Donald Trump were convicted of murder or there was a video of him punting a baby, they would find a way to overlook it or explain it and still vote for him. There's more than ample evidence of truly heinous things that Donald Trump has done. His followers could care less. If that isn't a cult mentality, I don't know what is.
You nailed it, Chris. The problem is the sheer scale of devotion; it isn't just a few fan-boys, but 30-40% of the voting public accepting the American equivalent of Führerprinzip, i.e. "the Führer's word is above all written law."
Trump is not Hitler, but beyond the damage of his retaking the Presidency, the damage caused to the American body politic due to his ascendancy to cult-like status will reverberate for a generation.
All this has been said before, but nothing has changed. The R party is mostly an aggrieved white party - not the party of the other. T is the golden con man. He is the updated version of the travelling medicine man; the man who is going to take care of what ails them. The base is ticked off at everyone and everything - from the government, to companies, universities, the media. They are gleeful that he is going to blow them all up; take control. He is - as he said - their retribution. The love him and it! He is their guy! The vast right-wing misinformation system has succeeded!
Totally spot on. Which is why the breaking news in the NYT today of Trump receiving MILLIONS of dollars from foreign governments while he was president will go nowhere. Except to those of us un-brainwashed.
Agree with you Susan. The Trump Republicans are a lost cause. As we are all acknowledging, there is nothing that Trump can do or say that will not be excused or explained away. This will never change. But what today’s NYT story and other stories that are similar accomplishes is that it perhaps moves the needle positively for those who are not completely brainwashed and devoid of common sense. Those Republicans and Independents that know that Trump is a danger to our democracy. Those are the people that will join with Democrats and people who know that a democracy needs to be protected and nurtured. Those are the people who will ensure that Trump never ever gets to walk through the White House doors ever again unless to clean the f’n toilets.
We can always hope, but it's also true that hope is not a strategy. The Democratic party better have a strong message for the American public to in order to sway enough voters to matter. Thin margins are the norm any more, so every vote counts crucially.
Another reason the NYT story may go no where is that some journalists have also drank Trump's kool-aid and they want in the News daily so that their products can sell. Too bad isn't? Hopefully the Democrats will pick up on it or the Lincoln Project
It's not just a matter of reprogramming. Many of the Trump voters have made being a member of his cult integral to their self-identity. To repudiate Trump or acknowledge that they had made a terrible misjudgment is more than they can take.
True, true, true. Which leaves the question: Precisely WHAT has Trump latched onto in these 70 million MAGAs that makes them check everything besides mindless adoration at the door? Could it have happened in another era, or is it something about the Information Age and the psychologically warping effect of social media? Is it purely the resentment, turned to implacable hatred, on the part of those who feel (at Trump's stoking) belittled and scorned for their relative ignorance? Is it the breakdown of religion, with its mythical comforts, replaced by end-stage existential anguish and nihilism?
I could well understand the MAGAs, screwed by corporate America, turning to a Bernie Sanders to get their own back. But Trump?? Who wouldn't waste his spit on such "losers"?? (Aside: Maybe if a video surfaced of Trump, in a careless moment, cruelly mocking his flock as losers and suckers?) That they can possibly, and unshakably, imagine he is FOR THEM!! What IS it that makes them so much PUTTY in his tiny hands??
Yeah…the WHY is the billion dollar question. I’ve heard many angles, some from our host CC. Something along the lines of “he’s completely untethered to political conventions and so will unashamedly fight dirty” or “Even though he lies constantly, there’s (ironically) something completely authentic/transparent about it and him” or “he’s so ignorant and unprincipled politically that he’ll do anything his supporters want”(which would explain why evangelicals support him)
Of course its a cult. And when a leader shares his followers’ racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and misogyny; it is nearly impossible to pry them away from him. They don’t support Trump for policy reasons, they support him for affirming their prejudices. If we don’t unite around a non-Trump candidate, then the tyranny of the minority will prevail, and Trump will be president for life. If you did not like the OG, just wait for 2.0.
This is exactly why I switched my voter registration from Independent to Republican today - to battle from the inside the ballot box so that I can vote against Trump in the primary and at least cancel out one of the cult votes and switch it back after the primary. Sue me Don - I'm rigging the election.
He simply wouldn’t. He’s absolutely NOT policy-driven and goes whichever way the wind blows, so why would he stake out policies that MIGHT lose him support of the Republican Party (and possibly his Cult)? Of course, it’s questionable whether “support of the Republican Party” matters at all, given how quickly they reversed from their brave words on Jan. 7th, and who knows about his Cult Followers: maybe if he still made it OK for them to hate those they hate....
Though there was that one time after Parkland, he floated gun control stuff, clearly just trying to tell people what they wanted to hear, but then backtracked after the usual blowback.
And both of your comments, Sam and Kevin, reinforce that he has NO core policy beliefs and is ALWAYS driven by what he thinks people want to hear.
Truthfully, though none of us have been able to TRULY figure out what his lasting power is with his Cult Members, I do think him giving them “permission” to hate the people they hate is a very large part of his attraction. There are a LOT of hate-filled Americans out there, more than I think we’d realized, and he voices their hatred for them.
The corollary to his cult members that's don't get much attention are the people who dislike him passionately and they are in majority.There was this Republican in Pennsylvania who said the other day on the TV that he will vote for a dead Joe Biden over Donald Trump. How about that.
The MAGA dupes are in a mindset where choosing their president is of the same importance as who to vote for on "America's Got Talent" or "The Gong Show". (Remember that one, Boomers).
And with Trump continuing to debase the office, good luck changing that paradigm.
another good example is when he made disparaging remarks to Jeb Bush, calling the Iraq invasion a 'mistake' during a primary debate. previously, to admit the Iraq invasion was some sort of mistake was republican heresy, and yet nobody called him on it.
I suggest that these people be ignored by the Democrats. They're done. Then only real issue is how to persuade enough of the undecideds to vote for Biden. Biden needs to beat down the age issue by getting out more with unscripted talks. He needs to articulate a clear foreign policy that is forward looking, not reactionary or based on 40 year old policies that no longer apply. He needs to move to the center domestically. He needs to address the border issue via compromise with the Republicans. And he needs to get in front of the Hunter situation with honest remarks.
Right you are! It begs the question: How can we deprogram 70 million people glued to Fox, Breitbart, et al?
Somehow--and I have no idea how this could be done--get RID of Fox, get rid of Breitbart, 4-Chan and all the other right-wing echo chambers.
It's that, or invent a time machine to go back and make sure Rupert Murdoch remained in the UK.
Or Australia, where he’s from. Murdoch is Mordor.
I think of him as more "The Voice of Sauron"...
Yeah… i was referring to his global empire as Mordor. He himself is Sauron. And his son apparently just as vile. Nothing good ever comes out of Mordor. I also liked the slight alliteration of Murdoch and Mordor.
But I agree w you!
But wouldn't that defeat what we are fighting against. Freedom of thought and expression are a hallmark of American democracy... or as we knew it for more than 200 years. That being said, the people who listen to them are not seeking information upon which to make rational decisions, but rather, seeking affirmation for their irrational ones. But banning them would just confirm their worst conspiricy theories and probably cause physical confrontation.
Except we have rules and laws of behavior in society. Laws for public roadways. Laws for busineses, radio, laws for supermarkets, no nudity in public parks.
I appreciate your defense of free speech, but our public areas of broadcasting (over air, via cable, satellite, or any means) clearly need oversight.
We need laws of behavior, and not permit deliberately and repeatedly spewing misinformation and outright lies. Laws like that should be high on the list.
Anyone can make a mistake, but healthy broadcasters correct them asap.
No one wants to be lied to. Not even magats.
Who doesnt want a law that protects them from lies?
maybe the smartmatic lawsuit might help? or am i being overly optimistic once again?
He reminds me of Jim Jones...cult leader who led his "believers" to drink the Koolaid. I was young at the time but remember being revolted that eople would commit suicide because a mad man tol them too. My parents never worried about me joining a cult! Its disturbing that this is a cult of millions of citizens. My brain explodes at the magnitude. Great piece, Chris
That is exactly what I was thinking! Jim Jones reincarnated! Yikes, lock up the Koolaid. I'm originally from Iowa and do not recognize the GOP voters there anymore.
I grew up in Iowa and still live here and it's scary what is happening here.
Now let’s figure out who will mix the Kool Aid when Trump gives the order. Bannon, Gaetz, Jim Jordan and MTG are all soulless. They have to be at the top of the list.
As the joke goes, Trump would probably charge his followers for the Koolaid...
I put up my comment before reading yours. I should have read through them first. But, obviously, I was thinking the exact same thing.
The scary reality? Those voters are lying to themselves.
Even if Donald Trump were convicted of murder or there was a video of him punting a baby, they would find a way to overlook it or explain it and still vote for him. There's more than ample evidence of truly heinous things that Donald Trump has done. His followers could care less. If that isn't a cult mentality, I don't know what is.
Trump toggles between two personas, cult leader and mob boss.
You nailed it, Chris. The problem is the sheer scale of devotion; it isn't just a few fan-boys, but 30-40% of the voting public accepting the American equivalent of Führerprinzip, i.e. "the Führer's word is above all written law."
Trump is not Hitler, but beyond the damage of his retaking the Presidency, the damage caused to the American body politic due to his ascendancy to cult-like status will reverberate for a generation.
Couldn’t agree more. It’s 1933 all over again.
All this has been said before, but nothing has changed. The R party is mostly an aggrieved white party - not the party of the other. T is the golden con man. He is the updated version of the travelling medicine man; the man who is going to take care of what ails them. The base is ticked off at everyone and everything - from the government, to companies, universities, the media. They are gleeful that he is going to blow them all up; take control. He is - as he said - their retribution. The love him and it! He is their guy! The vast right-wing misinformation system has succeeded!
Totally spot on. Which is why the breaking news in the NYT today of Trump receiving MILLIONS of dollars from foreign governments while he was president will go nowhere. Except to those of us un-brainwashed.
Agree with you Susan. The Trump Republicans are a lost cause. As we are all acknowledging, there is nothing that Trump can do or say that will not be excused or explained away. This will never change. But what today’s NYT story and other stories that are similar accomplishes is that it perhaps moves the needle positively for those who are not completely brainwashed and devoid of common sense. Those Republicans and Independents that know that Trump is a danger to our democracy. Those are the people that will join with Democrats and people who know that a democracy needs to be protected and nurtured. Those are the people who will ensure that Trump never ever gets to walk through the White House doors ever again unless to clean the f’n toilets.
From your lips to God's ears, my mom would say.
We can always hope, but it's also true that hope is not a strategy. The Democratic party better have a strong message for the American public to in order to sway enough voters to matter. Thin margins are the norm any more, so every vote counts crucially.
Another reason the NYT story may go no where is that some journalists have also drank Trump's kool-aid and they want in the News daily so that their products can sell. Too bad isn't? Hopefully the Democrats will pick up on it or the Lincoln Project
It's not just a matter of reprogramming. Many of the Trump voters have made being a member of his cult integral to their self-identity. To repudiate Trump or acknowledge that they had made a terrible misjudgment is more than they can take.
True, true, true. Which leaves the question: Precisely WHAT has Trump latched onto in these 70 million MAGAs that makes them check everything besides mindless adoration at the door? Could it have happened in another era, or is it something about the Information Age and the psychologically warping effect of social media? Is it purely the resentment, turned to implacable hatred, on the part of those who feel (at Trump's stoking) belittled and scorned for their relative ignorance? Is it the breakdown of religion, with its mythical comforts, replaced by end-stage existential anguish and nihilism?
I could well understand the MAGAs, screwed by corporate America, turning to a Bernie Sanders to get their own back. But Trump?? Who wouldn't waste his spit on such "losers"?? (Aside: Maybe if a video surfaced of Trump, in a careless moment, cruelly mocking his flock as losers and suckers?) That they can possibly, and unshakably, imagine he is FOR THEM!! What IS it that makes them so much PUTTY in his tiny hands??
Yeah…the WHY is the billion dollar question. I’ve heard many angles, some from our host CC. Something along the lines of “he’s completely untethered to political conventions and so will unashamedly fight dirty” or “Even though he lies constantly, there’s (ironically) something completely authentic/transparent about it and him” or “he’s so ignorant and unprincipled politically that he’ll do anything his supporters want”(which would explain why evangelicals support him)
Of course its a cult. And when a leader shares his followers’ racism, xenophobia, homophobia, and misogyny; it is nearly impossible to pry them away from him. They don’t support Trump for policy reasons, they support him for affirming their prejudices. If we don’t unite around a non-Trump candidate, then the tyranny of the minority will prevail, and Trump will be president for life. If you did not like the OG, just wait for 2.0.
This is exactly why I switched my voter registration from Independent to Republican today - to battle from the inside the ballot box so that I can vote against Trump in the primary and at least cancel out one of the cult votes and switch it back after the primary. Sue me Don - I'm rigging the election.
Cult of personality? Now I need to watch some CM Punk.
I am generally curious what would happen if Donald Trump came out in favor of gun control, assault weapons bans etc. Then what?
He simply wouldn’t. He’s absolutely NOT policy-driven and goes whichever way the wind blows, so why would he stake out policies that MIGHT lose him support of the Republican Party (and possibly his Cult)? Of course, it’s questionable whether “support of the Republican Party” matters at all, given how quickly they reversed from their brave words on Jan. 7th, and who knows about his Cult Followers: maybe if he still made it OK for them to hate those they hate....
Right, this is more of a hypothetical.
Though there was that one time after Parkland, he floated gun control stuff, clearly just trying to tell people what they wanted to hear, but then backtracked after the usual blowback.
He tried pushing the vaccine to them at one point and they weren’t having it. The mob controls him as much as he controls it.
And both of your comments, Sam and Kevin, reinforce that he has NO core policy beliefs and is ALWAYS driven by what he thinks people want to hear.
Truthfully, though none of us have been able to TRULY figure out what his lasting power is with his Cult Members, I do think him giving them “permission” to hate the people they hate is a very large part of his attraction. There are a LOT of hate-filled Americans out there, more than I think we’d realized, and he voices their hatred for them.
The corollary to his cult members that's don't get much attention are the people who dislike him passionately and they are in majority.There was this Republican in Pennsylvania who said the other day on the TV that he will vote for a dead Joe Biden over Donald Trump. How about that.
The MAGA dupes are in a mindset where choosing their president is of the same importance as who to vote for on "America's Got Talent" or "The Gong Show". (Remember that one, Boomers).
And with Trump continuing to debase the office, good luck changing that paradigm.
another good example is when he made disparaging remarks to Jeb Bush, calling the Iraq invasion a 'mistake' during a primary debate. previously, to admit the Iraq invasion was some sort of mistake was republican heresy, and yet nobody called him on it.
I suggest that these people be ignored by the Democrats. They're done. Then only real issue is how to persuade enough of the undecideds to vote for Biden. Biden needs to beat down the age issue by getting out more with unscripted talks. He needs to articulate a clear foreign policy that is forward looking, not reactionary or based on 40 year old policies that no longer apply. He needs to move to the center domestically. He needs to address the border issue via compromise with the Republicans. And he needs to get in front of the Hunter situation with honest remarks.