I've come to believe that Trump's lies are intentional. And this is scarier.

[LAS14]

I used to think he was just a narcissist who would say anything at all to put himself in a better light (in his own mind) or to appeal to his base. But the more I find out about Steve Bannon and how he has a vision of how to gather power through, among other things, destroying our society's ability to know what is and is not true... to the "leader" can tell us anything. The more I think that Trump is consciously carrying out a plan to become a plain old garden variety dictator. And it has happened to other societies.

Is it this bad? What do you think?

[doc03]

1. Unless the leaders Ryan and McTurtle

eventually call him out I think we are.

[ecstatic]

2. Definitely. He's not senile. This is all carefully crafted, the only thing that's not clear

is whether he's naturally "gifted" in transitioning democracies into fascist countries, or if someone is in his ear, helping him along with a blueprint. I think the latter.

What might confuse people regarding trump is that he is 100% unscrupulous and he has no idea of what is appropriate/inappropriate to say, so in most cases, we think of him as a bumbling idiot. And yes, he is an idiot in that regard. But he's not bumbling. He knows what he's doing, and he's completely OK with throwing the entire country under the bus to protect his own ass.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

6. I wonder if his lies are "vetted" and "audience-tested" by Cambridge Analytica.

I wonder the same about all the stupid nicknames he gave, Lyin' Ted Cruz, Little Marco, Crooked Hillary, etc, etc.

[ecstatic]

8. I think they are. He's very much in tune with the sentiment of the MAGAts

And tweets accordingly. When he's getting beat up by his fans about something, he responds--usually with a lie, but he responds, nonetheless.

[lapfog_1]

3. lets see what happens with the elections this fall

I believe they will be either "postponed" or cancelled if the republicans continue to look like they will lose the House.

There are many reasons that will be given... Mueller is influencing the election with the "witch hunt" or people are voting illegally or war with North Korea or Iran.

Any minions convicted in the Mueller investigation can now count on a presidential pardon.

So, yeah, I'm worried. The Russian disinformation campaign is working its magic here to the point that many people really don't know who to trust or what's the truth anymore... we don't have a few nutball conspiracy believers anymore, but millions of them.

[Wounded Bear]

4. It's how he's fought off lawsuits and personal attacks his entire life...

He's not going to use a new strategy now.

[Thomas Hurt]

5. yes it is, http://www.nybooks.com/articles/1995/06/22/ur-fascism/

[Snackshack]

7. Yes,

It is as bad as you think.

I think djt is in both of the two worlds you describe in your op. Some comments are based purely on shining a better light and some are part of a game plan to reduce exposure to consequences of dubious actions and retention of control.

[sharedvalues]

9. Of course that's right. Read this: Masha Gessen

May 2017

http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2017/05/13/the-autocrats-language/

Very important read on why Trump and other autocrats lie- to make truth unimportant so the autocrat is the only authority.

[sharedvalues]

10. Also Trump is intentionally taking baby steps to autocracy

He doesn’t want to do anything big because then people would rise up and protest. So he’s doing small things.

It’s the Mussolini strategy: “Pluck the chicken one feather at a time and it won’t squawk.”

https://www.dametown.com/fascism-comes-feather-by-feather/

[sharedvalues]

11. Finally: Republicans built their party on lies

Also, lying has been an absolutely foundational strategy for the GOP since 1970 at least.


The republican coalition is racists for votes and billionaires for money.
The only way to hold that together is to lie about what you’re doing. Lie about healthcare cuts. Lie about tax cuts. Lie about racism. Lie about the Koches and other billionaires. The GOP would not exist without the big lie strategy.

The sooner we wake up and face the facts - that Republicans deserve an assumption of bad faith, that they are lying, each time they speak - the sooner we can rescue America. The Dems are a normal party, with some simplifications and elisions of stats and sometimes errors. But they try for the truth and deserve an assumption of good faith. The GOP is the party of THE BIG LIE and every news article about them should start with assuming they are lying until they change their ways and prove otherwise.