The enigma of Orwellian Donald Trump: How does he get away with it so easily?

[sandensea]

In this day and age, with instant information, how does a politician succeed in double-talking, in bragging, in scapegoating and in shamefully distorting the truth, most of the time, without being unmasked as a charlatan and discredited? Why?

That is the enigmatic question that one may ask about President Donald Trump, as a politician.

The most obvious answer is the fact that Trump’s one-issue and cult-like followers do not care what he does or says and whether or not he has declared a war on truth and reality, provided he delivers the political and financial benefits they demand of him, based on their ideological or pecuniary interests.

These groups of voters live in their own reality and only their personal interests count.

There are four groups of one-issue voters to whom Trump has delivered the goodies:

·Christian religious right voters, whose main political goal is to fill the U.S. Supreme Court with ultra conservative judges. On that score, Trump has been true to them by naming one such judge and in nominating a second one.

·Super rich Zionists and the Pro-Israel Lobby, whose obsession is the state of Israel. Again, on that score, Trump has fulfilled his promise to them and he has unilaterally moved the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem - in addition to attacking the Palestinians and tearing up the ‘Iran Deal’.

·The 1% and some corporate owners, whose main demand to Trump was substantial tax cuts and deregulation. Once again, President Trump has fulfilled their wishes with huge tax cuts, mainly financed with future public debt increases.

·The NRA and the Pro-Gun Lobby, whose main obsession is to have the right to arm themselves to the teeth - including with military assault weapons - with as few strings attached as possible. Here again Trump has sided with them and against students who are increasingly in the line of fire.

There are three other reasons:

·Trump’s view that politics and even government are another form of entertainment - i.e. a sort of TV reality show, which must be scripted and acted upon. Trump thinks that is OK to lie and to ask his assistants to lie. In this new immoral world, the Trump phenomenon could be seen a sign of post-democracy.

·When Trump attacks the media, he is in fact coaxing them to give him free coverage to spread his insults, his fake accusations, his provocations, his constant threats, his denials or reversals, his convenient changes of subject or his political spins. Indeed, he has forced the media to talk and write about him constantly.

In the coming weeks and months, as the Special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s report is likely to be released, Donald Trump is not above resorting to some sort of “Wag the Dog” trickery, to change the topic and to possibly push the damaging report off the headlines.

In such a circumstance, launching an illegal war of choice, say against Iran (a pet project of National Security Advisor John Bolton), could then look very convenient.

·Finally, some far-right media outlets, such as Fox News and Sinclair Broadcasting, have taken it upon themselves to systematically present Trump’s lies and misrepresentations as ‘alternative’ truths.

Since 1987, when the Reagan administration abolished the Fairness Doctrine for licensing public radio and TV waves, and since a Republican dominated Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996, which allowed for the mass conglomeration of local broadcasting in the United States, far-right news outlets such as the Fox and Sinclair networks have sprung up. They are well financed, and have become powerful propaganda machines.

All this leads to this conclusion: Trump’s approach is not the way to run an efficient government.

Notwithstanding the U.S. Constitution and what it says about the need to have “checks and balances” among different government branches, Trump has de facto pushed aside Congress and civil servants in important government Departments, even his own Cabinet, whose formal meetings under Trump have been little more than photo-ops to grab the central political stage for himself.

If such a development does not represent an ominous threat to American democracy, what does?

At: https://www.globalresearch.ca/the-enigma-of-orwellian-donald-trump-how-does-he-get-away-with-it-so-easily/5650980

While support from heavy hitters is essential, our shiny object-driven media have proven fertile ground for a carnival barker like Trump

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. This article, though a good one, misses a major part of his support - republican politicians

who stand by and do nothing. Now THAT is the real mystery....and, tragedy.

[sandensea]

2. Absolutely. And the answer there is pretty simple as well:

They're whores - and of Biblical proportions.

Their bankrollers pay them to stand for certain things, against others. That's what they live for (that, and cheating on their wives with Russian agents).

Cheeto was the inevitable product of our corporate/black money-funded campaign system.

[NRaleighLiberal]

3. Sad, but so so true.

Have a great Tuesday! Off to walk the doggie...

[sandensea]

5. Likewise!

Have a great walk - and a great week!

[tanyev]

4. Part of it is the sheer magnitude of offensiveness of which he is capable.

By the time someone tries to hold him accountable for something he's said or done, he's committed countless other offenses as bad or worse. Republican leaders think it's awesome as long as that cannon is not pointed at them. The Deplorables love having a leader who's even more deplorable than they are.

[sandensea]

6. True. It's all not cirsumstancial; some of it is personal.

Cheeto's nothing if not shameless. And that, unfortunately, appeals to a lot of people who wish they could be like that.

Republicans tend to admire the wrong things.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

7. There is one thing about this

That I hope will finally lay to rest the BS notion that CEOs can run government better. They are ignorant of how government works. They won't take the time to learn, because they don't care to know. They don't respect the institutions and agencies of government, so they belittle the dedicated servants who have devoted a lifetime to public service.

Look what they - Tillerson, Ross, Pruitt, DeVos, Price, Mnuchin, Zinke, Carson, Kushner - have done to decimate our lives since they got in.

No more CEOs ever.