Trump's latest hate rally: A master class in cult mind control

[XacerbatedDem]

Donald Trump's political circus and freak show is continuing its American tour. Everywhere it stops, Donald Trump unleashes a torrent of lies, hatred, ignorance, bigotry, racism, narcissism, authoritarianism, threats of violence and other antisocial and evil values.

Trump's political rallies resemble George Orwell's "six minutes of hate" from "1984," expanded to two hours or so.

The mainstream news media has made an obvious editorial decision to downplay or ignore Trump's political hate rallies and similar events. That may be an attempt to correct for the wall-to-wall coverage Trump received the first time he ran for president, but it won't save the American people or American democracy — or the "freedom of the press" — from the neofascist assault. Moreover, ignoring Trump's escalating threats at this point, given all we know, amounts to journalistic malpractice and betrayal of the public trust.

Many other Americans, to be sure, are also ignoring Trump's rallies. Most of those who are paying attention, it appears, are mostly doing so in order to mock Trump and his followers as ignorant or stupid. They are doing this rather than responding to the danger with an appropriate mixture of fear, caution and then effective planning for how best to defeat the threat. Such behavior is an example of what psychologists call "defensive contempt," a reaction born of deep existential fear.


https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-latest-hate-rally-a-master-class-in-cult-mind-control/ar-AAWGNrx?ocid=HPCOMMDHP15&cvid=fdf412a9015348da97011f24b24b47e9

Best description of TFG BS rally I've read to date. Salon dogs the hell out of him. LOL Kind of a scary ending though. Geez.

[True Blue American]

1. I watched some of Trumps last rally here.

The background audience was mostly teen abets who were not even listening to him.

They were laughing, looking around! Meanwhile Trump was whining about some one calling him stupid. Then went into a ramble about his brilliant Uncle and how many smart people there were in his family.

Those kids were not even old enough to vote but do enjoy a freak show.

[Kingofalldems]

2. Yes, his uncle was a 'super genius'.

[Justice matters.]

16. Did he not work at his grand-grandpa's brothel cleaning toilets?

[True Blue American]

20. Is that

How Uncle paid his way through Colllege his Sister was a judge, niece a Phycologist. Trump did not mention them. They had the brains.

[msfiddlestix]

3. Interesting perspective

This excerpt i(below) in particular deserves serious consideration among us here on DU, imo.

Many other Americans, to be sure, are also ignoring Trump's rallies. Most of those who are paying attention, it appears, are mostly doing so in order to mock Trump and his followers as ignorant or stupid. They are doing this rather than responding to the danger with an appropriate mixture of fear, caution and then effective planning for how best to defeat the threat. Such behavior is an example of what psychologists call "defensive contempt," a reaction born of deep existential fear.

It pretty much sums up my observations regarding a significant number of posts focused on the ignorance of tfg's voters/followers. As I tend to agree in general, tfg's followers are both ignorant and find comfort in the hate speech, I see this phenom playing out here as an indication of helplessness. Helpless to do anything about it, because what can we do about it? How do we fight this?

We don't have the tools, I believe largely because as a nation we nurture, condone and support Religious edicts and nut jobs to dominate our culture and our governance. Yes, this statement is an over-simplification and of course there are other factors.

As regards the point in the excerpt, I am among those who largely ignore most of posts reporting or commenting on tfg and/or his cult followers every outrageous behavior and comments because of the impact that it has on my mental and emotional health, and move on to other news.

Always hoping and praying to stumble on a report of him being arrested, charged, convicted and sentenced to many years in prison.

I've finally resigned to accept this idea is pure fantasy, it's never going to happen.

[XacerbatedDem]

5. I'd would say I agree with that last line, but my heart won't let me.

Hope and vote are my only friends.

[msfiddlestix]

8. Yes. We Hope and Vote

No other tools at our disposal.

We certainly no longer have the democratic institutional levers to uphold our democracy, except by a thread which is very very weak at this juncture. I'm thinking of the DOJ, SCOTUS and Congress, along with other federal agencies that hold corruption in check.

[paleotn]

6. In the early years, most of Hitler's followers

were thugs, petty criminals and the uneducated. The educated classes and political elites thought he was a clown and his rallies were freak shows. Until the freaks won a significant number of seats in the Reichstag. By then it was too late.

[msfiddlestix]

7. Exactly so. Repeating here, in the U.S. I'm not saying "the ultimate solution" is at hand..

But Cult inspired Fascism none the less.

for a lack of a better pity description.

[lonely bird]

9. Conservatives made common cause with Hitler

They believed that they could control him and they were scared of the socialists/communists.

Didn’t quite work out.

[wnylib]

19. Journalist Leonard Pitts wrote a newspaper op-ed piece

in 2016 that made the comparison between Hitler and the German conservatives with Trump and Paul Ryan's acceptance of him. Pitts was on the mark. Thus is the article. It is worth reading for the on-the-mark warning Pitts gave, even more obvious now in retrospect.

https://www.pressherald.com/2016/06/08/leonard-pitts-allying-oneself-with-a-noisy-buffoon-has-been-proven-to-backfire/

[paleotn]

4. Another good analogy. Don't screw around with cancer.....

Cut it out and destroy it. Even as an ignored pocket, it's still an existential threat to democracy and must be dealt with ruthlessly. We Dems haven't been as politically ruthless as we once were in a very long time and that worries me now more than ever. Folks like Dorothy Thompson warned us about Hitler and the Nazis long before he came to power, but her warnings were ignored by most. The warnings are as important now as then and we ignore them at our peril.

[kentuck]

10. I think it is quite a gamble to believe it can be ignored.

That would be a mistake, in my opinion.

[thenelm1]

11. Be sure to check out this article from Salon as well - about Repub operatives hacking into...

voting systems (mind you, all in the name of finding "fraud".)

https://www.salon.com/2022/04/28/unprecedented-in-modern-elections-conspiracy-theorists-breach-voting-systems-in-5-states/

[The Wizard]

12. It is incumbent on

Democratic leadership to register more voters and get those who usually fail to vote in the midterms to "secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our posterity" A prescribed in our Constitution's Preamble, or lose these liberties forever. We didn't totally vanquish the fascists in 1945. We just silenced them for a while.

[panfluteman]

13. Having Been A Substitute Teacher, I Have Seen the Dumbing Down of America First Hand.

A lot of the papers that my students turned in at the end of class would make me cringe, just from a two to three second skimming of them. And the situation is probably a heckuva lot worse now. Why do so many people fall for Trump, and why is he so successful in forming a cult following? Well, I got news for you - the public education system doesn't teach critical thinking skills anymore, which is most essential for a healthy democracy; instead they teach to standardized multiple choice tests - but life isn't a multiple choice test. If you want to know the cause or genesis of the problem, look no further than the American educational system as it exists today. EDUCATION IS THE IMMUNE SYSTEM OF A DEMOCRACY!

[Evolve Dammit]

17. well said, by a real witness.

[keep_left]

21. Texas Republicans actually wrote a clause rejecting "critical thinking"...

...into their 2012 party platform! Apparently the clause was removed after it was ridiculed by not only news programs but also Stephen Colbert's show.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/post/texas-gop-rejects-critical-thinking-skills-really/2012/07/08/gJQAHNpFXW_blog.html

Texas Republicans also attacked "Outcome Based Education", a favorite conspiracy theory topic of idiots like Michele Bachmann of MN. (Bachmann was part of the leadership of a group that destroyed several education initiatives in MN, which helped advance her to a career in Congress).

[oldsoftie]

14. Seeing only 2k show up for his Commerce Ga rally was encouraging. Thats big trump country.

[XacerbatedDem]

15. Definitely! Hopefully it's a diminutive response to the SOS he spouts.

Maybe people are finally getting tired of his same ole same ole BS. We can only hope.

[oldsoftie]

22. Perdue looked like crap at the debate the other day too. Kemp's up by 20.

Kemp:"Weak leaders blame everybody else for their own losses instead of blaming themselves,"
That was aimed at Perdue, but of course fits Trump as well.
Perdues ads, so far, have been terrible

[kimbutgar]

18. One other thing we can take away is that a lot of the cult members who attend his rallies

Are like the Deadheads who went all over the country to see the Grateful Dead in concert. They’ve interviewed people who say it’s their 5th, 25th one guy said over 50 rallies he’s attended. It’s the same people going.

[Achilleaze]

23. .

[Mister Ed]

24. Thanks for posting this. I strongly recommend everyone read the entire linked OpEd as well. n/t

[liberalmediaaddict]

25. Stephen Miller writes his speeches

Most of the evil, hateful rhetoric Trump spews at his white nationalist rallies comes from a speech on his teleprompter written by Miller.

No doubt Trump holds the same views but he can't string two sentences together even using a sharpie. Miller is definitely his evil little muse.

[Hekate]

26. KnR