Frightened by Donald Trump? You dont know the half of it

[Atman]

Last edited Sun Jun 4, 2017, 09:08 AM - Edit history (1)

Frightened by Donald Trump? You don’t know the half of it

George Monbiot

Yes, Donald Trump’s politics are incoherent. But those who surround him know just what they want, and his lack of clarity enhances their power. To understand what is coming, we need to understand who they are. I know all too well, because I have spent the past 15 years fighting them.

Over this time, I have watched as tobacco, coal, oil, chemicals and biotech companies have poured billions of dollars into an international misinformation machine composed of thinktanks, bloggers and fake citizens’ groups. Its purpose is to portray the interests of billionaires as the interests of the common people, to wage war against trade unions and beat down attempts to regulate business and tax the very rich. Now the people who helped run this machine are shaping the government.

<snip>

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/nov/30/donald-trump-george-monbiot-misinformation?CMP=share_btn_fb

[C_U_L8R]

1. Chaos reigns.

Trump's just falls back on worn-out business devices... like "where there's mystery, there's margin"
and IBM's good ol' (and long abandoned) "Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt"
Everything Trump does is from a gimmicky circa-1972 self-help business primer.
What a joke.

[Madam45for2923]

2. British Media & newspapers to the rescue! Thank you foreign MSM!

Thank you!

[Honeycombe8]

3. It's super scary to me. I think I have somewhat of a handle on what's going on.

This is not the country I ever thought I'd see in my lifetime.

I do believe Russia is running the White House, and big corporations are running the country.

People hailed the Special Counsel as the system working. That's something, but I don't think the system is really working as intended. I don't see the checks and balances system working. I see the representatives & senators going along with the big corporations and the White House, either too afraid to make waves or because of greed for the big tax cuts and other payoffs coming down the pike.

The Democrats have little power...because Russia, colluding with the Republicans, arranged for the Republicans to win.

Our system, which was set up to fight exactly this sort of thing, doesn't seem to be working. This is frightening.

[Atman]

6. Republicans have something Democrats don't...

PATIENCE.

They play the long game. This coup didn't happen with the 2016 election. It's been going on for over 30 years, with all the same major players on the right. They know it takes time to turn the Titanic, and they allowed themselves plenty of time. The long, steady drumbeat demonizing liberals, the media, they created Fox "News," they created Rush Limbaugh and Drudge, they formed fake grass roots organizations, they yelled SQUIRREL and America got distracted every time. They taught us to hate our neighbors, but love the rich guys on the other side of the country. They made education uncool, and injected God into everything, knowing full well that the masses in the depressing (and depressing) heartland states would eat it up even at the expense of their own interests.

In short, they're much better strategists than Democrats, because Democrats still believe people will be reasonable and honest when given the choice. It's not true, not when those people are sitting on a massive of money and all they have to do is trick you into subverting the laws of our founders and hand them the money legally. They're willing to take the time to do it right. Democrats want everything changed tomorrow.

[Honeycombe8]

10. Yes, I have thoughts on that, too.

I saw an election or two lost because the Democrats pushed certain social agenda issues that were generally unpopular among the masses at the time. The issues were ahead of their time.

But the activists insisted those issues be pushed, and elections were lost. IMO, it was not savvy. Because you have to WIN to have any issue pushed. Patience. Activists have a different agenda. Their job is to push push push. But a political party has to get as many votes as possible and win, which means appealing to not just the base, but to middle America.

This isn't saying those issues aren't important. But sometimes the Dems misread the public and insist on certain things, totally missing the mark, instead of focusing on the issues that DO matter to middle America.

I hope they get it right for the mid-terms. So far, the special elections aren't foretelling success in the mid-terms. But I'm hopeful.

[Madam45for2923]

11. Yes, and the last 2 Republican Presidents stole or cheated to get "elected".

[happy feet]

12. +1

I wholeheartedly agree. And we still don't seem to have a collective strategy .

[ewagner]

14. We're on the same wave-length..

I wrote this below a week or two ago in response to our DU friend Kentuck...it mirrors your thoughts:

Little by little we've let talk radio and campaign finance reform fall by the wayside so now all that matters is sensationalism 24/7 on the airwaves and how much campaign money from the oligarchs flows into the campaign coffers...

The repubs have the cash to buy almost any election and the gerrymandering of 2010-2011 sealed it tight! Those a-holes in DC don't work for us, they work only for themselves and those who finance their campaigns.

It didn't happen all at once...it happened in small increments since the "Austrians" decided to overturn The New Deal all the way back to 1947...they almost did it with Goldwater in 1964 but learned the lesson of public manipulation which grew the think tanks. The think tanks grew trickle-down and Reagan and during his administration the deregulation of broadcasting and ABC proclaiming that TV news was a "profit center not a public service"...

It's complicated but we've fallen for false patriotism and dedication to a vision of America

[madokie]

21. If you look at the long game

I see the Coup started in '76. Possibly with the resignation of tricky dick. The republiCONs fought President Carter tooth and nail.

[BSdetect]

25. And the US msm bought right into that

[defacto7]

22. It's been in the works..

far longer than 30 years. Try since the 1950s. The father of the The Koch bros. was one of the founder of the John Birch Society. This mess we are in is the JBS's dream and intention. Talk about patience...

[spooky3]

4. Totally agree with the OP. He's as much a figurehead/puppet

as W was.

[lark]

16. drupmpf is worse.

He represents foreign and hostile intentions for the US and the world. He's Putin's sock puppet and drumpfs financial interests align
with the other oligarchs while shrub wasn't hostile to Europe the way drumpf is. drumpf is destroying our country and the entire world out of Putin's and his malice. This is something new for the US and if the midterms are held without Russia being reigned in, we are in serious trouble.

[sharedvalues]

28. Both are bad in different ways

Trump: authoritarian like Putin, Chavez, Ergodan, Mussolini

GOP: plutocrats like the Saudis. Note how their people get oppressed too.

[Dustlawyer]

5. This is what I have been saying!

It is easy to criticize the ignorant Fox News junkies and their hateful rhetoric, but when you look at why they are like they are, you discover a psyops that brainwashes these Americans and manipulates them for great gain. Why do you think they vote in much greater numbers in midterm elections? They are programmed to be angry and afraid, much like we are with Trump as the leader of our country!

We need to fight to regulate the media and require a truth standard for all news. News must be clearly defined so that we don' t allow them to say it is "entertainment" which is what allows them to lie presently. We also need to break up the big 6 media conglomerates who weld too much power over what we see, hear and read. We also need to separate the advertising departments from the news departments!

[Atman]

7. THIS

[madokie]

23. Until we get the 'News' fixed

as you say, nothing else matters

[KingCharlemagne]

8. Trump (Priebus) governs much as Hitler governed, by letting rival wings of the

state bureaucracy fight it out in a social Darwinian cage match to see who will prevail: Speer or Goring, Bannon or Tillerson.

[erronis]

20. Or some external entity letting the "dems" and "reps" fight it out

In name only. conservatives/liberals; right-wing/left-wing/progressive/teaparty. Only separated by labels for entertainment and distraction purposes.

Meanwhile the rot spreads.

[Martin Eden]

9. Can't Rec this enough!

Republican politicians are merely paid servants of the obscene wealth that manipilates so much public opinion.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

13. Donald Trump is the REPUBLICAN President. He & Pence are the natural product of 40 years. . nt

[ewagner]

15. Correct n/t

[DemoTex]

17. The US has moved from an age of order to an age of entropy.

It will get worse before it gets better. Bannon, and his ilk, revel in the chaos.

[progressoid]

18. This is why a Pence presidency is all the more frightening.

Trump's incoherence and lack of clarity has slowed down the level of destruction the GOP wants to inflict.

I can easily see Pence, Ryan, and McConnell cooperating to wreak even more havoc.

[Greybnk48]

19. George Monbiot opened my eyes years ago!

He is brilliant and accurate about the "denial industry." Once you know what they're doing and how they're doing it, it can be seen plain as day. Of course, I live in Wisconsin, which is ground zero for rolling out and refining their tactics before they try them elsewhere.

Bust unions, trash public education, can we pollute and still win elections?, how can we cheat our elections and not be punished, denying medical care, mandatory drug testing for Medicaid recipients, reinstating Jim Crow with voting suppression laws, to name a few.

A bunch of us have been saying this for years. If you want to know where the country is heading, just look to Wisconsin...the Koch brother's proving ground and their stooge Walker.

"Divide and Conquer!"

[Doreen]

24. Does anybody get the feeling that either this last election or

the next one if a Repuke wins it will be the last one? I feel they are going to take elections away from everybody unless you are the top 1% of the 1%.

[vlyons]

26. No I am not frightened by Donald Trump

I am so beyond fear and anger. I don't appreciate you trying to incite my negative emotions. It is counter-productive. Why isn't an appeal to basic human decency, and the cleansing of greedy and destructive corporate corruption enough?

[Scurrilous]

27. Yeah..

...we're screwed.