In response to Steven Beschloss's Substack on the rally last week, and his truthful dedication to expose Donald Trump - I decided it is time to write a narrative about dictatorship. It is what I know best and can contribute to this conversation. I spent about 20 years living and working in six dictator-led countries, including Russia.
Towards the end of Steven's message on 5/10, he wrote: If Trump is convicted in his hush money/election interference case, we can expect more Republicans and other fence-sitters to abandon him. Recall a February Reuters/Ipsos survey which found that 51 percent of Republicans claimed they would not vote for Trump if he’s a convicted felon. That number may ultimately be overstated. But it’s a reminder that November’s outcome remains in the hands of voters, even if the courts don’t hold Trump accountable and top Republicans continue to spread disinformation and telegraph to voters their unwillingness to support our democratic project. The key words are the "November's outcome remains in the hands of voters."
Yes, we need another seven-million voter-advantage that mirror's the Biden lead in the 2020. However, this lead did not change Trump's lies, violence, and the insurrection. He did not accept the outcome of that election and he again will not accept or swallow the results in 2024 if he looses. Most of us already know this. What that means is still unknown but hold onto your seat.
Donald Trump cannot deal with reality, and has a typical cult-like leadership mentality. Jim Jones, also thought of himself as God, and he amassed a following of about 900 individuals. He ordered them all to drink Kool Aid laced with poison and they all perished. Trump's followers, of which over 800 have been convicted of crimes and many are now in prison, have experienced the same level of coercive mind control as the people who followed Jim Jones. With his "us-versus-them mentality" most of the Trumpers are now in a state of blind loyalty.
The dark and dangerous world of mind manipulation was first used in totalitarian countries about 100 years before - Germany, Austria, Italy, Russia, China, and so on. The Holocaust is the best-known example of brainwashing. Hitler converted an entire country into mass murderers using slogans of hatred toward others - just like Trump. Brainwashing is defined as telling lies over and over until it is perceived as the truth. Once converted, a person has little or no independent thought. Over six million people were tortured and killed in Germany. In Russia, Stalin murdered over twenty million humans. Donald Trump's threatening behavior, disturbing words, and his duplication of Putin/Hitler's leadership methodologies echoes other treacherous historical crises and mass murders.
This is not a coincidence, it is learned behavior combined with a long list of personality disorders. He learned it from Putin who spent his spy years in East Germany. Trump is caught up in a complex web. He truly believes that "only he can fix America," without grasping the basic concepts/events that formed the United States. He talks about re-writing or scrapping our Constitution, but his many-sided destructiveness over-rides the true meaning of how a democratic country operates.
The only option then is a dictatorship. A dictatorship can be defined by a list of words: tsarism (Russia), despotism, autocracy, totalitarianism, oppression, Nazism (Germany), and domination. The word that jumps out to me is "oppression." Can you envision the United States having: (1) No public media. All tv channels and newspapers are government and dictator-controlled. All sources of information are inhibited. (2) No independent enterprise. MicroSoft, Walgreens, Utilities and all other corporations are privately retained by the dictator who receives a large percentage of the profits. and (3) Security services are combined (CIA, DIA, FBI, and others) into one organization controlled by the dictator and like the gestapo report on private citizens, arrest and imprison innocent people, and instill fear.
Anyone not loyal to the "leader" may be murdered: poisoned, shot, thrown out windows in tall buildings, etc. A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for a dictatorship. He has openly admitted to preferring this form of government without an inkling of what that means. Our entire Congress would operate from fear and there would no longer be a two party system.
Trump has already amassed a group of people - gangsters - who threaten anyone (and their families) who opposes him. The askew aptitudes of the Supreme Court judges already has demonstrated proclivities and partialities toward Trump, and other judges have also succumbed to delivering asymmetric justice.
Many across the U.S. have lost faith in our system of justice. And during the Trump impeachment, many Republicans voted our of fear of Trump's revenge. Gonzales (R) Ohio voted to impeach. Then due to death threats, he refused to run for re-election and hired 24 hour protection for his family.
Trump sold his soul and our country to the Russians decades ago. Trump followed Putin's example in his role-out of a meticulous PR campaign, similar to what happened in Moscow after the bombing of several apartment buildings - a maneuver to perpetuate apprehension and terror. It resulted in a national sense of emergency and instilled fear. The financial scandal surrounding Yeltsin was pushed to the sidelines, and Putin was thrust to the frontlines. The blame was assigned to the separatist rebels and Chechnya independence fighters, but in the "unofficial" word on the street, Russian people said these bombings were like the Stalin purges. Putin has been compared to Stalin, and he appears to appreciate this assessment. "Could Putin's security men have bombed their own people - hundreds died in these bombings - in a cynical attempt to create a crisis that would ensure Putin took the Presidency?" (Putin's People, by Catherine Belton).
This type of deception is widely known in Russia and other dictatorship countries. It reminds me of Trump still saying the 2020 election was stolen. Trump began traveling to Russia in 1987. He became entangled with Russian business men who were all later found to be KGB operatives. This is a period when Trump was buried in debt and at the same time, the KGB was searching for new ways to transfer black cash into the U.S. instead of just bank transfers. Bayrock Group, formed with all KGB men as a real estate firm, was housed one floor below the Trump Organization at 725 Fifth Avenue in New York. They offered Trump multi-million dollar real estate deals and bailed him out of another bankruptcy. He was hooked.
Both Trump elder sons have confirmed that the Trump Organization has received about $100M from Russian banks. (www.businessinsider.com). Republican voters across the U.S. think they are supporting their political party - the same party as Abraham Lincoln. Instead, they are voting to instill a man who has been compromised by Russian KGB/FSB and who will turn our nation into a Putin-owned and operated dictatorship.
Also in Putin's People, Belton states: "Even as Trump ramped up his bid for the presidency, the same Russian network stepped up its courtship of him... In a letter to Michael Cohen, Sater (Bayrock) boasted that they would build a tower in Moscow that would be Europe's tallest building and would bring Trump a $100M licensing deal. Sater promised to leverage all of his Kremlin connections to get it done. The letter said he would get Putin on this program, and we will get you (Trump) elected." (ibid)
The rest is history, except the role of William Barr in squashing the Mueller Report. Twelve Russians were arrested, but nothing changed and Trump was elected to the presidency with enormous Russian "behind the scenes" support, cyber attacks, hacking, propaganda, and misinformation fed to the American public.
Since 1993, I have been saying to anyone who would listen that the Cold War did not die. In Putin's People, (Revenge of the KGB, page 479) Catherine states: "Putin's security men reveled in Trump's victory. To many, it seemed like revenge for the Soviet collapse. 'While the West was playing James Bond . . .we turned our attention to gaining respect... When the West thought the Cold War competition was over, they lost respect for their opponent (Russia). Now they are waking up to this again." Unfortunately, only a small percentage of Americans are "waking up." Half of our country still believes Trump's lies and they have no idea of Trump's relationship with Russia. Democrazy tells you the whole story.
This upcoming election is critical. If Trump wins, we all loose.
Excellent articulation of our dilemma. When does "free speech" become a threat, and treason, to our government t? Why is this madman allowed to say and do things that would land most of us in jail? Just the classified docu.ent case , to me, is clear evidence e of treason. Trump was asked politely, then more strongly , then Supeanoed fir those docs by OUR GOVERNMENT. People have been jailed for much less, why not trump?.
Thank you for stating all of this in such clear, unambiguous terms, Elizabeth. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the DoJ and FBI haven't reopened their investigations into Trump's abject fealty to Putin.
There is so much mis-labeling and failure to accurately report the news. Ugly mess is so far the best description of what it is. It sounds titillating to refer to a "hush money" trial, but the issue that makes it a criminal case is tax fraud, election fraud, and non-compliance with tax laws and election reporting. "Hush money" sounds like hush puppies -- cute and adorable, not criminal. And just to add: the reason for calling it a criminal fraud trial (tax and compliance) is because it tracks with the business fraud judgment for engaging in similar shenanigans: cheating the gov't and the public, filing false financial records, all to the detriment of the public, from which he wants support. And how did the E Jean Carroll case -- sexual assault -- get lost in the melee. Is there no link (e.g., disregard of women's rights and boundaries) with the Stormy Daniel's encounter? He has been found liable for fraud on a massive scale, and sexual assault. Do those cases have NOTHING to do with the case before Judge Merchan? Are they suddenly yesterday's news, which can't even be referenced despite the similarities? And why was it not more of an issue that Trump was conducting the business of his real estate business from the OVAL office? Being supported by the taxpayers of the country? Was that not utter disregard and indeed contempt for his sacred obligations of the Presidency? Did he not treat the Presidency with contempt from Day 1?
Trump is a loathesome individual . The fact that he can even be considered a viable candidate at this point in time is pure madness.
The media is serving Trump they are not even attempting to serve the people of this country.
They have shown this paid bias over and over again.
The name calling and the chanting ugly words has apparently become acceptable. I don’t know who these people are that are fine with this , but there is real societal disturbance here.
Trump is seriously Mentally Ill .
It shows up every time he speaks , or when he sleeps in court at his own trial. And when he trashes the Judge , his family the other members of legal system.
His illness causes him to believe he is above everyone. He is unable to be even reasonably respectful.
This is not how a president of the United States should behave .
But we will see much worse if he is re-elected. Believe it.
He is a malignant narcissist. I am not a therapist either but I’ve seen many of them give this diagnosis and it makes perfect sense. I’m reading a book entitled “ The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” written by input of 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts. With Bandy Lee MD, organizer of the Yale “ Duty to Warn” Conference.
Where are the adults in the playground? When a schoolyard bully aggressively and repeatedly insults other students and urges his gang to assault them, that bully would be hauled away to the Principal's office, and, if the behavior is repeated on a continual basis, expelled.
Why, then, is Trump allowed to get away with insults and statements that are clearly designed to rile up his supporters and incite them towards violence? The assault on the Capitol on January 6th is proof, if any were needed, of this deranged individual's intentions.
So where are the responsible adults in the Justice Department? Why hasn't Trump been arrested and locked up pending trial? Yes, I know, the so-called "Supreme Court" is debating whether a President has total immunity. But, face it, that proposition is utter nonsense as any first grader would tell you. Besides, Trump is not President now and needs to be held to account immediately.
Or are the adults simply going to stand by and watch while the schoolyard bully tears down the entire establishment?
A good question, Homi. Seems also to me that Merrick Garland ought to speak out about the attacks on our judicial system. They may not be criminal, but they are surely undermining a central pillar of our democracy.
I could not agree more, Steven: Merrick Garland's silence and lack of action, in the face of the existential threats against every guiding principle of what our nation represents, is inexcusable.
But where, for that matter, are the voices of the "responsible" Republicans who should (with few exceptions such as Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger) be screaming out in a steadily escalating chorus about the consequences for democracy?
"This is such stuff as nightmares are made of." We are standing on the train tracks, staring into the beam of a slowly approaching locomotive, but do not have the common sense or strength to step off the lines.
Steam is coming out of my ears. I refuse to be fed bullshit. It's not my diet - I gag on lies distortions, omissions, "polite" moderation when it flies in the face of the truth. This rubbish flowing in a continuous stream, is dangerous to us individually and extremely dangerous to us as a nation. A commitment accuracy is a commitment to the whole truth and nothing but.
There is no excuse for the media to "normalize" Trump, et al.; whether a reporter is ill-intended, lazy, the moon is full, or under a hypnotic spell. It's not "normalizing" it's abnormalizing. Danger, danger, danger! Enough.
Steven Beschloss and Mark Jacob: I thank you for all you do. You might wish to thank me for having enough self-control to not post here all the foul language coming out of my mouth at the moment.
Back in the day (like 2016) the press was often criticized for repeating the racist and other dog whistles trump trumpeted. The fear was that such repeating would spread the permission he was giving for people to let loose their darkest side, that had till then mostly be constrained by a general societal embrace of civility. That is an argument from days of yore. The permission has been embraced full-throttle by the cult and the surrogates and the poison already permeates society. Now its continuation along with the descent into actual babble MUST be constantly before the public, not all of which has decided to devote itself to the Dark Side. In particular, we all need to see the increasing instances of what I now call trump's "non-word salad,' that makes Yabba dabba do seem like the height of the rational.
How many middle-aged children are watching their own parents descend into senility, who might suddenly find a terrifying mirror of what they are experiencing with a parent showing up in a candidate.
I was amused by Roger Stone posting a picture of "the crowd at Wildwood." In fact, it was a picture of a Rod Stewart concert in Rio 30 years ago.
I believe that fear is at the core of so many media outlets, reporters, and members of Congress. They're afraid of being singled out by Trump and those who support him. They're afraid of the retribution he openly exhibits and uses towards anyone who he preserves as a threat, especially if they point out his dangerous behavior and lies.
And there you have it; a demented bully is destroying our Democracy, while surrounded by cowardly people who are afraid to speak the truth. If we don't confront this and soundly defeat Trump and his movement on Nov. 5th, the great American experiment with Democracy is likely over.
When you discuss “media misses”, I totally agree with you. Yet there are some “hits”, and please consider this from the Seattle Times which was just aired online”
“University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce called for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war Wednesday while also criticizing the encampment protest at UW, saying in a public statement that the language used by some has been “vile and antisemitic.”
Tensions have risen recently between the protesters at the encampment, which was set up about two weeks ago, and other university affiliates and outside demonstrators, including attendees of a right-wing activist’s talk and pro-Israel demonstrators led by a Christian church organization. Protesters have clashed, sometimes physically, with counterprotesters.
While Cauce has been open about her reluctance to sweep the encampment as other university presidents have done, her remarks Wednesday marked her strongest condemnation yet of the encampment.
Cauce reiterated, as she initially wrote Friday night, that the university’s response to calls for change won’t be based on an encampment and called on the members to dismantle.
Several main campus buildings were vandalized with graffiti overnight into Wednesday, which an administrator referred to as a “major escalation” in an internal email obtained by The Daily newspaper. Nearly all major buildings were spray-painted, some with “antisemitic slogans,” the email said.”
We’ve discussed these protests, and about two weeks ago someone blamed Jewish students for some of the violence. I replied to her (which she responded to but obviously didn’t understand that we need to look at the totality, specifically how Jewish students on campuses were incredibly fearful of their safety due to the virulent antisemitic slurs from protesters. What happened today in Seattle on the UW campus is real and should,d be a reminder to everyone that these protests are misguided and dangerous.
Thanks Stephen & Marc for this focus. With so many news majors "normalizing" Trump's behavior – MSNBC being one of a few exceptions – it begs the question, is there any effective way to incentivise media to cover Trump's insane con for what it is? What sort of pushback might help, given biases of reporters, producers and owners, and given the political preferences of advertisers?
Short of a massive, sustained citizen campaign demanding honest coverage, targeting each organization, I can't think of any way to incentivise these companies. The likelihood of such a campaign being organized is about nil, and it might have little effect in any case. Perhaps there is some other corporate-level approach, but I would be surprised.
I thought it worth asking the question, if only to eliminate the possibility. Instead, I think we can be confident the media will steadily shift as Trump's lies and juvenile vitriol become even more impossible to ignore or defend. Fox is already making the shift. Still, any pushback against media abdication of honest coverage would help.
And thanks for not requiring a subscription, as so many sources of news & opinion do these days. My income, for example, is limited to social security, so the option of, say, $20 or $30 for the year would fit my circumstances. Just a suggestion.
I am convinced this is how Trump got elected and will get elected again. Our Fourth Estate continues to fail us. The CNN headline yesterday was “People warm to a second Trump term.” It’s time we call out each article as it happens. And each publication for continuing to normalize this man. Joe Kahn - editor at the NYT says it’s not his problem - it’s up to the voters not his paper to elect Trump or not. I canceled my subscription. We all have to get louder about this and insist journalists do their damn jobs.
THANK YOU! Once again, as with 2016 campaigning, when all media SATURATED AMERICA with Trump’s every movement, media is repeating their blanketing coverage again. Whether Trumps discussing his usual inane topics, as rally blather about what suit he looks best in, or he’s threatening to upend our nation with his promises of violent revenge of his enemies or of deporting millions of immigrants settled in our nation. There seems to be no criteria for balance of amount or appropriateness of covering Trump.
In response to Steven Beschloss's Substack on the rally last week, and his truthful dedication to expose Donald Trump - I decided it is time to write a narrative about dictatorship. It is what I know best and can contribute to this conversation. I spent about 20 years living and working in six dictator-led countries, including Russia.
Towards the end of Steven's message on 5/10, he wrote: If Trump is convicted in his hush money/election interference case, we can expect more Republicans and other fence-sitters to abandon him. Recall a February Reuters/Ipsos survey which found that 51 percent of Republicans claimed they would not vote for Trump if he’s a convicted felon. That number may ultimately be overstated. But it’s a reminder that November’s outcome remains in the hands of voters, even if the courts don’t hold Trump accountable and top Republicans continue to spread disinformation and telegraph to voters their unwillingness to support our democratic project. The key words are the "November's outcome remains in the hands of voters."
Yes, we need another seven-million voter-advantage that mirror's the Biden lead in the 2020. However, this lead did not change Trump's lies, violence, and the insurrection. He did not accept the outcome of that election and he again will not accept or swallow the results in 2024 if he looses. Most of us already know this. What that means is still unknown but hold onto your seat.
Donald Trump cannot deal with reality, and has a typical cult-like leadership mentality. Jim Jones, also thought of himself as God, and he amassed a following of about 900 individuals. He ordered them all to drink Kool Aid laced with poison and they all perished. Trump's followers, of which over 800 have been convicted of crimes and many are now in prison, have experienced the same level of coercive mind control as the people who followed Jim Jones. With his "us-versus-them mentality" most of the Trumpers are now in a state of blind loyalty.
The dark and dangerous world of mind manipulation was first used in totalitarian countries about 100 years before - Germany, Austria, Italy, Russia, China, and so on. The Holocaust is the best-known example of brainwashing. Hitler converted an entire country into mass murderers using slogans of hatred toward others - just like Trump. Brainwashing is defined as telling lies over and over until it is perceived as the truth. Once converted, a person has little or no independent thought. Over six million people were tortured and killed in Germany. In Russia, Stalin murdered over twenty million humans. Donald Trump's threatening behavior, disturbing words, and his duplication of Putin/Hitler's leadership methodologies echoes other treacherous historical crises and mass murders.
This is not a coincidence, it is learned behavior combined with a long list of personality disorders. He learned it from Putin who spent his spy years in East Germany. Trump is caught up in a complex web. He truly believes that "only he can fix America," without grasping the basic concepts/events that formed the United States. He talks about re-writing or scrapping our Constitution, but his many-sided destructiveness over-rides the true meaning of how a democratic country operates.
The only option then is a dictatorship. A dictatorship can be defined by a list of words: tsarism (Russia), despotism, autocracy, totalitarianism, oppression, Nazism (Germany), and domination. The word that jumps out to me is "oppression." Can you envision the United States having: (1) No public media. All tv channels and newspapers are government and dictator-controlled. All sources of information are inhibited. (2) No independent enterprise. MicroSoft, Walgreens, Utilities and all other corporations are privately retained by the dictator who receives a large percentage of the profits. and (3) Security services are combined (CIA, DIA, FBI, and others) into one organization controlled by the dictator and like the gestapo report on private citizens, arrest and imprison innocent people, and instill fear.
Anyone not loyal to the "leader" may be murdered: poisoned, shot, thrown out windows in tall buildings, etc. A vote for Donald Trump is a vote for a dictatorship. He has openly admitted to preferring this form of government without an inkling of what that means. Our entire Congress would operate from fear and there would no longer be a two party system.
Trump has already amassed a group of people - gangsters - who threaten anyone (and their families) who opposes him. The askew aptitudes of the Supreme Court judges already has demonstrated proclivities and partialities toward Trump, and other judges have also succumbed to delivering asymmetric justice.
Many across the U.S. have lost faith in our system of justice. And during the Trump impeachment, many Republicans voted our of fear of Trump's revenge. Gonzales (R) Ohio voted to impeach. Then due to death threats, he refused to run for re-election and hired 24 hour protection for his family.
Trump sold his soul and our country to the Russians decades ago. Trump followed Putin's example in his role-out of a meticulous PR campaign, similar to what happened in Moscow after the bombing of several apartment buildings - a maneuver to perpetuate apprehension and terror. It resulted in a national sense of emergency and instilled fear. The financial scandal surrounding Yeltsin was pushed to the sidelines, and Putin was thrust to the frontlines. The blame was assigned to the separatist rebels and Chechnya independence fighters, but in the "unofficial" word on the street, Russian people said these bombings were like the Stalin purges. Putin has been compared to Stalin, and he appears to appreciate this assessment. "Could Putin's security men have bombed their own people - hundreds died in these bombings - in a cynical attempt to create a crisis that would ensure Putin took the Presidency?" (Putin's People, by Catherine Belton).
This type of deception is widely known in Russia and other dictatorship countries. It reminds me of Trump still saying the 2020 election was stolen. Trump began traveling to Russia in 1987. He became entangled with Russian business men who were all later found to be KGB operatives. This is a period when Trump was buried in debt and at the same time, the KGB was searching for new ways to transfer black cash into the U.S. instead of just bank transfers. Bayrock Group, formed with all KGB men as a real estate firm, was housed one floor below the Trump Organization at 725 Fifth Avenue in New York. They offered Trump multi-million dollar real estate deals and bailed him out of another bankruptcy. He was hooked.
Both Trump elder sons have confirmed that the Trump Organization has received about $100M from Russian banks. (www.businessinsider.com). Republican voters across the U.S. think they are supporting their political party - the same party as Abraham Lincoln. Instead, they are voting to instill a man who has been compromised by Russian KGB/FSB and who will turn our nation into a Putin-owned and operated dictatorship.
Also in Putin's People, Belton states: "Even as Trump ramped up his bid for the presidency, the same Russian network stepped up its courtship of him... In a letter to Michael Cohen, Sater (Bayrock) boasted that they would build a tower in Moscow that would be Europe's tallest building and would bring Trump a $100M licensing deal. Sater promised to leverage all of his Kremlin connections to get it done. The letter said he would get Putin on this program, and we will get you (Trump) elected." (ibid)
The rest is history, except the role of William Barr in squashing the Mueller Report. Twelve Russians were arrested, but nothing changed and Trump was elected to the presidency with enormous Russian "behind the scenes" support, cyber attacks, hacking, propaganda, and misinformation fed to the American public.
Since 1993, I have been saying to anyone who would listen that the Cold War did not die. In Putin's People, (Revenge of the KGB, page 479) Catherine states: "Putin's security men reveled in Trump's victory. To many, it seemed like revenge for the Soviet collapse. 'While the West was playing James Bond . . .we turned our attention to gaining respect... When the West thought the Cold War competition was over, they lost respect for their opponent (Russia). Now they are waking up to this again." Unfortunately, only a small percentage of Americans are "waking up." Half of our country still believes Trump's lies and they have no idea of Trump's relationship with Russia. Democrazy tells you the whole story.
This upcoming election is critical. If Trump wins, we all loose.
Elizabeth, http://www.democrazy2020.org
Excellent articulation of our dilemma. When does "free speech" become a threat, and treason, to our government t? Why is this madman allowed to say and do things that would land most of us in jail? Just the classified docu.ent case , to me, is clear evidence e of treason. Trump was asked politely, then more strongly , then Supeanoed fir those docs by OUR GOVERNMENT. People have been jailed for much less, why not trump?.
Thank you for stating all of this in such clear, unambiguous terms, Elizabeth. For the life of me, I cannot understand why the DoJ and FBI haven't reopened their investigations into Trump's abject fealty to Putin.
There is so much mis-labeling and failure to accurately report the news. Ugly mess is so far the best description of what it is. It sounds titillating to refer to a "hush money" trial, but the issue that makes it a criminal case is tax fraud, election fraud, and non-compliance with tax laws and election reporting. "Hush money" sounds like hush puppies -- cute and adorable, not criminal. And just to add: the reason for calling it a criminal fraud trial (tax and compliance) is because it tracks with the business fraud judgment for engaging in similar shenanigans: cheating the gov't and the public, filing false financial records, all to the detriment of the public, from which he wants support. And how did the E Jean Carroll case -- sexual assault -- get lost in the melee. Is there no link (e.g., disregard of women's rights and boundaries) with the Stormy Daniel's encounter? He has been found liable for fraud on a massive scale, and sexual assault. Do those cases have NOTHING to do with the case before Judge Merchan? Are they suddenly yesterday's news, which can't even be referenced despite the similarities? And why was it not more of an issue that Trump was conducting the business of his real estate business from the OVAL office? Being supported by the taxpayers of the country? Was that not utter disregard and indeed contempt for his sacred obligations of the Presidency? Did he not treat the Presidency with contempt from Day 1?
Trump is a loathesome individual . The fact that he can even be considered a viable candidate at this point in time is pure madness.
The media is serving Trump they are not even attempting to serve the people of this country.
They have shown this paid bias over and over again.
The name calling and the chanting ugly words has apparently become acceptable. I don’t know who these people are that are fine with this , but there is real societal disturbance here.
Trump is seriously Mentally Ill .
It shows up every time he speaks , or when he sleeps in court at his own trial. And when he trashes the Judge , his family the other members of legal system.
His illness causes him to believe he is above everyone. He is unable to be even reasonably respectful.
This is not how a president of the United States should behave .
But we will see much worse if he is re-elected. Believe it.
I’m not a therapist but I’m convinced that #45Dementia is a sociopath!
He is a malignant narcissist. I am not a therapist either but I’ve seen many of them give this diagnosis and it makes perfect sense. I’m reading a book entitled “ The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump” written by input of 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts. With Bandy Lee MD, organizer of the Yale “ Duty to Warn” Conference.
Where are the adults in the playground? When a schoolyard bully aggressively and repeatedly insults other students and urges his gang to assault them, that bully would be hauled away to the Principal's office, and, if the behavior is repeated on a continual basis, expelled.
Why, then, is Trump allowed to get away with insults and statements that are clearly designed to rile up his supporters and incite them towards violence? The assault on the Capitol on January 6th is proof, if any were needed, of this deranged individual's intentions.
So where are the responsible adults in the Justice Department? Why hasn't Trump been arrested and locked up pending trial? Yes, I know, the so-called "Supreme Court" is debating whether a President has total immunity. But, face it, that proposition is utter nonsense as any first grader would tell you. Besides, Trump is not President now and needs to be held to account immediately.
Or are the adults simply going to stand by and watch while the schoolyard bully tears down the entire establishment?
A good question, Homi. Seems also to me that Merrick Garland ought to speak out about the attacks on our judicial system. They may not be criminal, but they are surely undermining a central pillar of our democracy.
Merrick Garland is not doing his job. He is “supposed” to represent and uphold our laws, but he only does this when it is convenient.
Alas, you are right.
I could not agree more, Steven: Merrick Garland's silence and lack of action, in the face of the existential threats against every guiding principle of what our nation represents, is inexcusable.
But where, for that matter, are the voices of the "responsible" Republicans who should (with few exceptions such as Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger) be screaming out in a steadily escalating chorus about the consequences for democracy?
"This is such stuff as nightmares are made of." We are standing on the train tracks, staring into the beam of a slowly approaching locomotive, but do not have the common sense or strength to step off the lines.
The bottom line: "Normalizing a Trump rally is media malpractice." Absolutely Right On!!
Thank you Steven Beschloss and Mark Jacob for your pure powerful excellence. We need this!
Steam is coming out of my ears. I refuse to be fed bullshit. It's not my diet - I gag on lies distortions, omissions, "polite" moderation when it flies in the face of the truth. This rubbish flowing in a continuous stream, is dangerous to us individually and extremely dangerous to us as a nation. A commitment accuracy is a commitment to the whole truth and nothing but.
There is no excuse for the media to "normalize" Trump, et al.; whether a reporter is ill-intended, lazy, the moon is full, or under a hypnotic spell. It's not "normalizing" it's abnormalizing. Danger, danger, danger! Enough.
Steven Beschloss and Mark Jacob: I thank you for all you do. You might wish to thank me for having enough self-control to not post here all the foul language coming out of my mouth at the moment.
Thank you, Deborah. I understand. Oh, do I understand. These times take a lot effort to hold onto our decency and our sanity.
I’m sick of the media coverage that tries to make this presidential race look normal.
Back in the day (like 2016) the press was often criticized for repeating the racist and other dog whistles trump trumpeted. The fear was that such repeating would spread the permission he was giving for people to let loose their darkest side, that had till then mostly be constrained by a general societal embrace of civility. That is an argument from days of yore. The permission has been embraced full-throttle by the cult and the surrogates and the poison already permeates society. Now its continuation along with the descent into actual babble MUST be constantly before the public, not all of which has decided to devote itself to the Dark Side. In particular, we all need to see the increasing instances of what I now call trump's "non-word salad,' that makes Yabba dabba do seem like the height of the rational.
How many middle-aged children are watching their own parents descend into senility, who might suddenly find a terrifying mirror of what they are experiencing with a parent showing up in a candidate.
I was amused by Roger Stone posting a picture of "the crowd at Wildwood." In fact, it was a picture of a Rod Stewart concert in Rio 30 years ago.
I believe that fear is at the core of so many media outlets, reporters, and members of Congress. They're afraid of being singled out by Trump and those who support him. They're afraid of the retribution he openly exhibits and uses towards anyone who he preserves as a threat, especially if they point out his dangerous behavior and lies.
And there you have it; a demented bully is destroying our Democracy, while surrounded by cowardly people who are afraid to speak the truth. If we don't confront this and soundly defeat Trump and his movement on Nov. 5th, the great American experiment with Democracy is likely over.
Corporate-owned media has been thoroughly corrupted. They won’t “do better,” because Trump
has promised another tax cut for corporations and
that’s all they care about.
They better start reporting on it. They will be the recipients of it if he’s elected.
In response to the AP comment. They are ALL doing it if they report anything other than the freaking trial.
When you discuss “media misses”, I totally agree with you. Yet there are some “hits”, and please consider this from the Seattle Times which was just aired online”
“University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce called for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war Wednesday while also criticizing the encampment protest at UW, saying in a public statement that the language used by some has been “vile and antisemitic.”
Tensions have risen recently between the protesters at the encampment, which was set up about two weeks ago, and other university affiliates and outside demonstrators, including attendees of a right-wing activist’s talk and pro-Israel demonstrators led by a Christian church organization. Protesters have clashed, sometimes physically, with counterprotesters.
While Cauce has been open about her reluctance to sweep the encampment as other university presidents have done, her remarks Wednesday marked her strongest condemnation yet of the encampment.
Cauce reiterated, as she initially wrote Friday night, that the university’s response to calls for change won’t be based on an encampment and called on the members to dismantle.
Several main campus buildings were vandalized with graffiti overnight into Wednesday, which an administrator referred to as a “major escalation” in an internal email obtained by The Daily newspaper. Nearly all major buildings were spray-painted, some with “antisemitic slogans,” the email said.”
We’ve discussed these protests, and about two weeks ago someone blamed Jewish students for some of the violence. I replied to her (which she responded to but obviously didn’t understand that we need to look at the totality, specifically how Jewish students on campuses were incredibly fearful of their safety due to the virulent antisemitic slurs from protesters. What happened today in Seattle on the UW campus is real and should,d be a reminder to everyone that these protests are misguided and dangerous.
Thanks Stephen & Marc for this focus. With so many news majors "normalizing" Trump's behavior – MSNBC being one of a few exceptions – it begs the question, is there any effective way to incentivise media to cover Trump's insane con for what it is? What sort of pushback might help, given biases of reporters, producers and owners, and given the political preferences of advertisers?
Short of a massive, sustained citizen campaign demanding honest coverage, targeting each organization, I can't think of any way to incentivise these companies. The likelihood of such a campaign being organized is about nil, and it might have little effect in any case. Perhaps there is some other corporate-level approach, but I would be surprised.
I thought it worth asking the question, if only to eliminate the possibility. Instead, I think we can be confident the media will steadily shift as Trump's lies and juvenile vitriol become even more impossible to ignore or defend. Fox is already making the shift. Still, any pushback against media abdication of honest coverage would help.
And thanks for not requiring a subscription, as so many sources of news & opinion do these days. My income, for example, is limited to social security, so the option of, say, $20 or $30 for the year would fit my circumstances. Just a suggestion.
I am convinced this is how Trump got elected and will get elected again. Our Fourth Estate continues to fail us. The CNN headline yesterday was “People warm to a second Trump term.” It’s time we call out each article as it happens. And each publication for continuing to normalize this man. Joe Kahn - editor at the NYT says it’s not his problem - it’s up to the voters not his paper to elect Trump or not. I canceled my subscription. We all have to get louder about this and insist journalists do their damn jobs.
THANK YOU! Once again, as with 2016 campaigning, when all media SATURATED AMERICA with Trump’s every movement, media is repeating their blanketing coverage again. Whether Trumps discussing his usual inane topics, as rally blather about what suit he looks best in, or he’s threatening to upend our nation with his promises of violent revenge of his enemies or of deporting millions of immigrants settled in our nation. There seems to be no criteria for balance of amount or appropriateness of covering Trump.