Annihilating the Truth

[peggysue2]

A year ago, Gary Kasparov wrote the following:

The point of modern propaganda isn't only to misinform or push an agenda. It is to exhaust your critical thinking, to annihilate truth.

The Trumpster and his band of sycophants have taken this idea and pushed it to the max, exhausting the public's patience and yes, sometimes exhausting the public's will to rear up and howl bloody murder.

The Trumpster's poll numbers have slipped into the low 30s but the far-right's mouthpiece, Fox News, is still churning out hit pieces on American institutions. The FBI, the DOJ, the Free Press, our Intelligence Community, our electoral integrity have all been under fire, not to mention Mueller's team of investigators and various State Attorney Generals. Anything and anyone who has not knelt to the greatness of The Trump, who has not bought into the daily lies and obfuscation has suffered the arrows of outrage, dismissal and harassment.

And now, the American public is being encouraged to see any questioning of the current Administration, its pandering to Putin, its proposed tax plan scam and/or its general incompetence and incoherence as an attempted coup . The sheer irresponsibility of this accusation is staggering because we know there are loose cannons living among us, people armed to the teeth just looking for a reason to push it to the max just like their cult leader. The irony of the accusation would be laughable if it weren't so dangerous. As more information becomes available on the 2016 election, the more credible the evidence that there was a electoral coup--the installation of a Putin-friendly scam artist by the name of Donald J.Trump. Old Vlad got his Christmas wish in 2016, the puppet he always wanted.

So the lesson learned the hard way by Gary Kasparov is to stay awake, stay involved and resist the deliberate denigration of American institutions and principles as well as the projection of false equivalencies. All things are not equal. There is no such thing as 'alternate facts.' Democratic institutions are superior to the rule of the autocrat.

This is how we save the country and ourselves. We extinguish the arsonist's fire; we re-establish truth as our Northstar. We never forget. Never!

[Irish_Dem]

1. Putin has been very successful in Russia. Will it work in America?

We are not Russia, we are an independent and freedom loving people.

But a good chunk of our country is easily manipulated by intense propaganda, stirring up hatred, fear and anger. And the elections have been rigged, with the help of our own institutions (FBI interference in last election).

We have a corrupt president and Congress, and we have not yet examined the judiciary. Are any of them on Putin's payroll too?

Right now, it is like we are in the middle of a bad movie.
I do not know how the movie will end.

[unblock]

2. they are testing us. do we love actual freedom, or merely the buzzword freedom.

they already are having much success, at least in the right-wing noise bubble, selling the freedom to oppress, the freedom to discriminate, the freedom to deny rights to others.

if they find success and little enough resistance, they'll eventually sell us on the freedom to enslave.

[Irish_Dem]

3. Exactly. This is a real test of the American people.

So far, the dark American underbelly has been exploited easily to sell out the country.

Will the freedom loving, rule of law, and justice for all part of America emerge or not.

A struggle for the soul of America.

Time will tell.

[peggysue2]

6. I agree

This is a test and a struggle for the American soul. It really will come down to redefining who and what we are. Sadly, Putin's brand of propaganda has worked on a third of our fellow Americans, who bought Trump's schtick and never turned back.

Guess we'll find out if the Trumpster's pre-election prediction had merit: that he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose a single vote.

We'll also find out if we honor and are willing to fight for basic American principles and traditions, if they were more than mere lip service.

I suspect this fiasco will be coming to a head sooner rather than later. And when that moment arrives, we will know who we truly are.

[Irish_Dem]

8. Perfectly stated Peggysue2.

[smirkymonkey]

4. Actually, Putin may not be as powerful as he seems

according to Julia Ioffe, (journalist who covers national security and foreign policy topics for The Atlantic) he's not the untouchable mastermind that people seem to think he is. Read more from "What Putin Really Wants" in the Atlantic.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/01/putins-game/546548/

"Russia's strongman president has many Americans convinced of his manipulative genius. He's really just a gambler who won big."

"Both Putin and his country are aging, declining—but the insecurities of decline present their own risks to America. The United States intelligence community is unanimous in its assessment not only that Russians interfered in the U.S. election but that, in the words of former FBI Director James Comey, “they will be back.” It is a stunning escalation of hostilities for a troubled country whose elites still have only a tenuous grasp of American politics. And it is classically Putin, and classically Russian: using daring aggression to mask weakness, to avenge deep resentments, and, at all costs, to survive."

The entire article is really pretty fascinating in the face of all that is going on and makes Putin look somewhat less menacing that we are led to believe. He's dangerous like Trump is dangerous. Two very insecure, weak men who will stop at nothing to maintain the illusion of their individual power and relevance.

[Irish_Dem]

5. Putin is worth $600 Billion. So he wins either way.

I am certain he has an escape plan and his money is housed in overseas safe accounts.

And he pulled off the crime of the century, stealing the American presidency and owning members of Congress. And will continue to do so.

[smirkymonkey]

7. Politically, I meant.

He will almost always be a very rich man.

[Irish_Dem]

9. Time will tell if America and Europe can or will rein in Putin. nt