What does the lying, hate-mongering fantasist say?
It has no relation to reality. I said Osama bin Laden is going to come and do damage to us. And nobody believed it. In The America We Deserve (2000) Drumpf’s chapter on terrorism warned that a weapon of mass destruction such as a “biobomb” might be carried in to an American city, and detonated. One day we’re told that a shadowy figure with no fixed address named Osama bin-Laden is public enemy number one, and U.S. jet fighters lay waste to his camp in Afghanistan…He escapes back under some rock, and a few news cycles later it’s on to a new enemy and new crisis. Bin Laden was one of the FBI’s ten most wanted fugitives.
This is not speaking with intent to deceive so much as imperfect recollection, such as many people exhibit: bigging themselves up, so being less trustworthy, because they do not care about truth. And Mr. Trump uses rhetoric to erode people’s trust in facts, numbers, nuance, government and the news media, according to specialists in political rhetoric. “Nobody knows,” he likes to declare, where illegal immigrants are coming from or the rate of increase of health care premiums under the Affordable Care Act, even though government agencies collect and publish this information.
Pointing this out will not harm his ratings.
-Who’ll pay for the Wall?
-Mexico!!
shout his supporters. They are happy. They won’t listen to the naysayers, who show the same disdain for them as for Drumpf. He calls for torture- waterboarding isn’t enough- even if it does not work. The most striking hallmark was Mr. Trump’s constant repetition of divisive phrases, harsh words and violent imagery that American presidents rarely use…He has a particular habit of saying “you” and “we” as he inveighs against a dangerous “them” or unnamed other. He calls himself smart, and others dumb, and they love it. He boasts of his Ivy League degree and talks at the level of high school, in a relaxed, joky, winsome tone.
New York Times.
Time shows the five parts of a Drumpf speech. He starts by saying how great he is. He and his supporters are Winners, and America needs winners. Then the Issues- mainly immigration from Mexico: They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. Then the “bad guys”, Islamic State and the liberal media. Then he insults his opponents: These insults are a key part of Trump’s mojo, essential to the construction of the winners versus losers mentality, and also part of his appeal: supporters often say they like that he is plainspoken, and he will say what no one else will in the face of political correctness movement. Then he riles the crowd against any protestors.
How authoritarian is the US? How despairing are its voters, to be shilled by this man?
Clare Flourish 
It’s springtime for our homegrown fascist and his devoted followers.
There is nothing he could do that would make his fans open their eyes on his pathology. He could eat a live puppy and they would pass him the ketchup. And a second helping.
LikeLike
Would you have preferred Mr Bush? Would you prefer Mr Cruz?
He would need to disgust his fans, and I am not clear how. And in debate, he would need to lose on his own terms, and I am not sure how, either. He needs to be shown as weak in a way they will see it, and not find it forgiveable- after the nomination.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Oh, no. Of all the GOP candidates, Herr Drumpf is truly the bestest. He is also the classiest. A tremendous candidate. Simply amazing. Huuugely appealing.
Which is why I’ve even considered voting for him in my state primary in two weeks. Because I want him to be the GOP nominee, to be dismantled by Clinton — or Sanders, should a miracle happen. And if not, let America reckon with its Shadow. Maybe that’s what is really needed for any meaningful change.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Could be costly:
If the war is lost, the nation will also perish. This fate is inevitable. There is no necessity to take into consideration the basis which the people will need to continue even a most primitive existence. On the contrary, it will be better to destroy these things ourselves, because this nation will have proved to be the weaker one and the future will belong solely to the stronger eastern nation. Besides, those who will remain after the battle are only the inferior ones, for the good ones have all been killed.
To Albert Speer (1945), as quoted in “Defeat of Hitler: Enter the Bunker” (2010), The History Place.
This quote is perfect:
I have not come into this world to make men better, but to make use of their weaknesses.
Quoted in the essay “The Mind of Hitler” by H. R. Trevor-Roper
I too would vote for him in a primary if I had the chance, on the basis of wanting the most unattractive opposition candidate. Beware, though, if he wins!
LikeLike
I know. I’d feel responsible. I don’t believe I could bring myself to mark his name on the ballot, even in the primary.
BTW, that quote is as pure an expression of psychopathy as they come.
LikeLike
I was having coffee with my socialist friend this morning. “Who’ll pay for the wall?” I asked him.
“Mexico,” he said, wearily.
It is a pure dead brilliant catch phrase, so it is. Everyone knows it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, everybody knows that Mexico will pay for The Great Wall of Trump (made entirely of gold; it will be tremendous, folks, tremendous, I tellz ya).
Although this guy seems to disagree:
http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/25/politics/vicente-fox-donald-trump-wall/
Go figure.
LikeLike
Well, no. I would not, in Mr Fox’s position, either.
The border is over 3000 km. The Israel wall costs $2m per kilometre. The only way iPhones will be made in the US is if US wages are driven down to Chinese levels.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The joys of global capitalism…
You know, Trump may seem a subject for ridicule, but his political success indicates something really terrible brewing in the world. An era of open and sustained hate is upon us, I’m afraid, and not just in the US. It’s coming whether he wins or not.
If he loses, his supporters will not let up their hate; if anything, it will intensify. In my 30 years in the US, I haven’t seen anything like this.
LikeLike
Here he is. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lybr4EPkZRE
I think of him as Mr Toad, with those eye movements. At 12.40 he kicks out a protester. “I’ve developed a nice- ‘please get him out’… Bye-bye… I love you.” I am not laughing.
Here is the view of a fan: Watching your campaign, and being as invested in it as I am, has been an exercise in recognizing, and confronting, fear that I never expected. Every time your opponents hit you…I feel fear for your candidacy and our country. Every charge of racist, sexist, facist, etc. causes me to worry that no one, not even you, can really change the country for the better. That we’re doomed to failure…
Then…inevitably…you win the battle. You don’t “survive”, or “endure”…you attack, and put fear into your opponents. You don’t stop until they are buried under your feet. Until they become paralyzed…
Sometimes, you even bait them into hitting you, just so you can beat the crap out of them again. Your life is full of conflict, but it becomes yet another opportunity to WIN, and makes you MORE powerful…not less.
Then, once they are eliminated as a threat, you are generous to the vanquished. It’s not personal, and they are not evil. They were, simply…in the way. Once they are not, they become worthy of kindness and respect.
Furthermore, you’re not just a blunt instrument…your strategy is impeccable. You go into every conflict knowing exactly what your opponents weaknesses are, how to exploit them, and what levers to pull to ensure victory. Clearly, you spend good time before announcing your candidacy doing the things the military taught me as a young soldier: surveying, recon, intelligence-gathering, ammunition, discipline, execution…
You are defending America from our enemies within, and it’s an AMAZING thing to watch.
Last night, you also did something else. You became the Man that helped me see fear for what it is: an illusion of power, a powerful teacher, and the path to winning if used properly. There is no reason, regardless of the enormity of the task, to lose to fear if you prepare well, are disciplined in your execution, and have the faith necessary, in God, yourself, and in others…that leads to victory.
Winning is always possible, but becomes probable if you never back down, never quit, and become your dominant self. Once the battle is won, treat the vanquished with kindness and respect. Be the bigger man.
The Guardian on Anger.
And Victorian words can be so useful! Here is the definition of “Trumpery” from the Shorter OED:
1. Deceit, fraud, trickery;
2. A worthless, useless or trifling article; worthless stuff, rubbish, nonsense;
2b. religious ceremonies regarded as superstitious nonsense;
2c. showy clothing, worthless finery;
2e. a worthless person.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oooh, this is such a good comment it should make a post. I will come back to it later, Clare, as I now I have to work.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha! Trumpery then is much ado about nothing.
Yes, very appropriate, Clare, in so many ways, not in the least because Trump represents nothing, apart from empty self-aggrandizement. His “achievements” are illusory; whatever he has accomplished was really done by other people, he just attached his name to it and took credit.
The narcissist that he is, he possesses no inner core: there are no values there to speak of — dominating others and winning is not a value, but it impresses psychopaths. And not surprisingly, psychopaths — people without a conscience — are the main demographic supporting him.
One of the benefits, such as it may be, of Trump’s candidacy is revealing the extent of the psychopathization of our society: the vast (vaster than some may have believed) number of people who do not possess a conscience at all or only some withered remnants of it, the everyday little psychopaths; and their susceptibility to influences of Big Psychopaths, with whom they feel an instant affinity and whose bidding they are eager to do.
I have more to say (sorry!), but it’s gonna wait (work beckons, drats).
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes. You have given enough material for a post here. Thank you.
I wanted to ask, where were you before the US?
LikeLike
In the Soviet-era Poland, Clare.
LikeLike
I have heard that such questions are asked to pigeon-hole a person, but I seek connection: my immediate impulse was to say my aunt, and my good friend, had/have Polish heritage.
LikeLike
Well said and asked Clare
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Super Tuesday craches Canadian Immigration Website | Another Spectrum