Great opinion piece - you are spot on!
It is sad that the Republican Party is now the cowed dog that has been beaten by it's owner one too many times. The role of a Senator or Congressman is not necessarily supposed to be a lifetime job. Sometimes you just need to be willing to move-on to another opportunity and like Jeff Flake and Senator McCann - say it like it is and don't back down.
Our current Republican Senators and Congressmen that are remaining silent are not doing themselves nor their party any benefit. The wife abuser rarely just stops abusing, they only get worse. You need to be willing to leave, if you want it to stop. The Republican party needs to speak up (out) against all the intolerance and lies or lose many supporters for a generation to come.
You can fool some of the people, all of the time and all of the people, some of the time. But you can not fool all of the people, all of the time. His supporters are his (some of the people all of the time). But the rest are leaving.
17
Two Hitler themes, and a pursuit of race dominance in the top five comments (the other two top commenters appear to be ex-pats). Personally when I disagree with my fellow citizens or someone gets elected I didn't vote for I try to disengage somewhat (there is more to worry about...), I realize fellow citizens have a different perspective and there will be another election in 2,4,6 years. Being a centrist (with left, right and libertarian views) I don't think of my fellow citizens as fascists, anarchists, communists, etc.For that I'm grateful for because I'm a six year veteran and I'd hate to feel that way about citizens and by extension a constitution I was swore to defend. I'm often surprised at the vitriol in some of the columns of periodicals with stellar reputations.
3
It really bothers me that we , the citizens & voters of this country, those of us with a conscience, sit and watch this morally corrupt, criminal and potential co-inmate of Mike Cohen, etal., tear our well grounded institutions apart while ignoring what is decent and acceptable for the presidency of our country. I am frozen at the sight of all this depravity and insanity in our face while McConnell & Paul Ryan are sitting on their hands and allowing this sick mental institutional escapee run at large through our government. To say they are complicit in Trump's collusion & conspiracy is an understatement. They too, must pay the price and share the bracelets when Trump is forcefully removed from the WH.
29
Why are the American people paying for these hatefests?
61
Trump is not capable of fearing anything. That should be patently obvious to anyone. His switches are crush you or work with you. There is nothing in between.
If so-called journalist want to be listen to by Donald Trump and his followers that they might want to try completely new way that smashing and smearing him with garbage night after night. He will not except it and neither will we we will always hammer you back twice as hard as anything you hammer us with. Always. Guaranteed. And we will always win and you will always lose.
Why don’t you try talking to them instead of smearing him? Might get somewhere.
If I only considered what Mr. Blow has to say, I'd be a Trump supporter out of sympathy alone.
There are grounds to consider the Mueller investigation, if not entirely a witch hunt, biased and tainted from the start in a way no target would not feel aggrieved.
He's not attacking the FBI as a whole. And are they above reproach now? It is not too long ago that the left was attacking them and will again. For all partisans, it just depends on whose ox is being gored.
I heard Jens Stoltenberg agree with Trump on NATO payments and thank him for his leadership. Trump was right that the press wouldn't print it. Who really thinks we would not defend our allies?
Why can't he attack athletes/celebrities? They attack him.
He is not attacking immigrants. But, if you are against our having borders and ICE, I guess you would not understand the difference between all immigrants and . . . [you know].
He should attack the press. Much of it has fully aligned with the Resistance to the point of even ignoring dangerous activities on the left.
Okay, he is attacking the truth and he's bad at it. At least in some way. In other ways he's refreshing. And Obama, Romney, Clinton, Kerry, etc. didn't lie? Please.
Yes, he's insecure. He's also his own worst enemy. Many faults. If the Ds or other Rs don't like him, they should stop supporting partisans and support moderates. I have no sympathy for them. Stop putting up bad candidates and then complaining when you lose.
10
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Mr. Blow.
I look forward to this evisceration of the President and the complicit Republican-controlled Congress via your articles until all is right in the US once again.
I yearn for the day when a truly accomplished and erudite statesman (or woman) becomes the President of this republic. The Chief Executive (CE) must command the respect of everyone in our country and must take charge and do the things that are required of a public servant. This CE is the antithesis of the dedicated public servant. May he face the boundless wrath of the American electorate later this year. My anger at the current "Administration" is now quite raw.
Such contempt for the populace, democratic institutions, rule-of-law, prevalent norms of behavior, news outlets and journalists, I've never witnessed in my adult life.
Also, I'd like to add this about my fellow commentators: Thanks for sharing your thoughts on this public forum. Reading your logic-driven posts filled with palpable exasperation keeps me level-headed and hopeful for our democracy.
18
The following are not fake news headlines; White Menace Takes Over White House!; GOP Have Become Zombies in Trump Zombie Apocalypse!; Racist President Issues Declaration That People of Color Need Not Apply For Visas or American Citizenship!;
Homeland Secretary and U.S. AG Running Amok And Kidnapping Babies and Children At Southern Border!; Children Being Taken From Refugees Fleeing For Their Lives!
First 'Russian' President in America Plans To Destroy Democracy in America!; Fake American President Tries to Shut Down American Justice System!; Trump Embraces Enemy of American Democracy With Open Arms!
First 'Russian' President of America Tweets Threats to Democrats, Entire U.S. Intelligence Community, American Athletes and Any and All People Who He Calls an Enemy Because They Did Not Vote for Him!
There are hundreds more headlines encompassing 18 months of hell under the WRONG president, but what they all end up saying is that we have to remove an unfit, angry, ignorant, and deranged 'president' who is attacking everyone everywhere like a junkyard dog.
12
Democrats, be wary of to much TRUMP TALK. He is digging his ditch with every lie.90 days. LET'S DO THIS. WIN BACK THE HOUSE .
6
Great piece except for one error: Trump's evangelical supporters don't have a "religious liberty" agenda. They have a "Christian evangelical liberty" agenda. No other beliefs or ethical systems need apply.
22
Trump IS getting free propaganda.
4
Where o' where are the voices of the elder Republican statesmen to rise up against Trump? Are they too beholden to dirty money and/or too scared of a rabid constituency in their midst to stand up against the growing fascism and dangers to democratic values? Surely all these members of Congress and the Senate can't be willing to trade their principles for a vote from the likes of hateful and dangerous bigots attending to Tampa rally. Why are they so mute when our country is being sold to the highest bidder? This is the most worrying aspect of all to me- where are the leaders of the Congress and Senate when democracy is at stake? We are calling on them to lead us out the this black hole we are descending into. Yet there is only silence. Why?
8
If mainstream media continue to attack don't complain when he punches back. Then mainstream holds it's little nose and points the finger at any conservative. Sorry but the people are becoming numb to the attacks.
We who are just eager viewers of what is happening in the USA in this historic time with a president in the WH who is lying more often than speaking the truth and who believes that the free press is an enemy of the people. A president who thrive and must have an enemy - who has given the members of the free press the honor of being his opponent. It does not look good..
If a child was so hyper as the president seem to be how would you then handle it. Maybe another strategy would be good - as to ignore him and leave him alone for a while...no press or news from the WH press secretary. Just silence and peace.
2
Charles is DEFINITELY the guy you need to recognize propaganda. Without the need to have writers keep the soon-to-becoe-violent agitated, charles would be out of a job.
When rioting finally does break out near Trump fans, will Charles get a reprimand or a bonus check?
1
When I was a kid in DC, I went to a carnival. They had large cloth-posters outside a tent, showing a beautiful white woman on an island in the lush tropics. Of course, she was barely clad.
In the next picture she tempted a USN sailor.
In the last of the banners, painted in lurid colors, the island woman had shockingly butchered the sailor and was scarfing him down, as cannibals are wont to do.
I sprung for a ticket, as did many others.
What we got was an 85 year old man in ragedy, rejected-by-a-thrift shop, women's clothes, wearing blindly applied makeup which was well faded.
Pretty much a metaphor for what Trump's voters wreaked upon the nation.
12
Once again, Mr. Blow, right on. Just two years ago, I would never have imagined a need to write anything like this. I would have imagined that social and economic justice struggles would continue, but I would not in my wildest dreams have imagined such a morally bankrupt, sociopathic, unashamed racist and misogynist as....the president. The Republicans--from financial and bigoted greed--created this golem. In the long run, is all revealed now so we can really move forward as a diverse and healthy democracy at some point? Or is this it? Parallel universes? The presumption of white male power (and the need to hold it rather than to share power) is grotesque and oppressive in new ways every day. I can hardly sleep.
6
The GOP is complicit because they, too, have been bought and paid for by Russia through their contributions to the NRA. If we don't vote them out in November, we are doomed. Trump and the GOP will be even more emboldened to continue their corruption and treason.
4
To all serious people (not the "mercenary" fans who egg him on because his Trump obsession fits well with their Trump derangement), Blow is truly a very silly individual.
The egotistical Press seems to equate their having free and easy access to having a free press.
No one in the Administration is obligated to say one word to them.
They are free top print what they want.
1
How about moderating your opinion columnists for civility as well? How dare he refer to nearly half the American public as white supremacists and worse.
2
I'm writing a Me Too comment. Charles is the voice of so many of us who are appalled and outraged over this president, I want to say "Me Too." When this president's behavior, whether it be his multiple lies a day, his rages and increasingly disturbing incitement at his rallies (and why on earth is he having rallies -- he's supposed to be running the country)which leave me in fear one of our news reporters can be gravely injured by someone from Trump's base, every day brings harm to our country as we bear witness to a president who seems spoiling for a fight with America, Trump has brought hate, ignorance and cruelty into our country's dialogue
David Remick wrote an article in The New Yorker November, 2016. He begins "The election of Donald Trump to the presidency is nothing less than a tragedy for the American republic, a tragedy for the Constitution, and a trump for the forces, at home and abroad, of nativism, authoritarianism, misogyny, and racism."
What has happened in the 18 months of his presidency? What has Trump done to prove us wrong? We are at a crossroad, we have to decide which way we want to go. In a way it really doesn't matter what Mueller finds (though let it be soon!) because we see what we see, a man who has divided this country in ways that have smeared all of us, he lies repeatedly, his twitters are vile and ignorant, a man who acts impulsively and recklessly, who plays fast and loose, a dangerously selfish man. Charles, Me Too.
16
Trump should have been stopped with a libel lawsuit when he was still a private citizen who started promoting--with no evidence whatever--the notion that Barack Obama wasn't born in the U.S. That lie became the current juggernaut of lies with which he assaults the truth. And that result is strong evidence that we should be persecuting people who are currently creating and spreading lies and inventing alternate realities that sabotage the political life of our country.
6
Excellent and beautifully written article.
One thing I wish that you'd write about, Mr. Blow, is why there really are no moderates in the Republican Party. Susan Collins and Ben Sasse like to portray themselves as moderates, but they go along with McConnell's strong-arm tactics and vote along party lines. A few years ago Sasse lamented that the Senate was not doing its job because they were rubber-stamping the president. The situation has gotten worse under Trump. And now Sasse is one of Trump's rubber-stampers. IF Collins, Sasse, Murkowski, and the retiring Corker are patriots and would like to stop Trump's rampage against our democracy, they should become Independents. That way they can vote as they please, sometimes with the Republicans, sometimes with the Democrats. At least then we might have thoughtful senators who choose country over party.
11
I caught Alan Dershowitz last night on CNN (fake news, except when blind trump supporters speak) explaining the "logic" of a "perjury trap." His entire argument is predicated on the acceptance of "multiple truths," that there is no objective truth. That sums up the trump cult. Conservative christians have found their "light" in post-modern moral relativism, where the Seven Deadly Sins are virtuous means to an end. In his op-eds, Blow consistently hits the nail on the head as to what that end is: white racial dominance and entitlement.
13
When we need more critical insight, Mr Blow goes "there".
Where we will find what's ticking - inside - those who gush love, respect, and ..what's with the laughter?
Where Trump goes - "further and further into his own alternate universe and away from acceptable norms and conventions" - his MAKERS must follow.
Evangelicals for Judeo-christian justice, Traditionals for GOP government, and Racists for white restoration: Each and every MAKER shares that trinity - they agree - they have been slighted on all accounts.
Homogenized into ONE glistening snowball, Trump rolls it right then alt-right. Nuances and decorum are frozen within. On his que, all boo the press and Dems. On his call, all chant the response. On his urging, they vilify categorically - all Muslims, all immigrants, etc.
That laughter at MAGA rallies is the unfettered joy of participating in Reality TV President's game show "Winning!" Privately, they can share smiles of self-satisfaction: the enemy was vanquished and they are back on top.
Innate pride shields them from losers or the lost who have the gall to question them about Trump's accuracy. They can't see his actual persona nor his actual actions. They can only see the back of their shields.
They're 'fine'. They can still hear him: "I will be so presidential that you will be so bored". They can still imagine - at some point he will "come back as a presidential person" and that "people will say, ‘boy he really looks presidential’."
1
Studies show that ABC/CBS/NBC/PBS/CNN/MSNBC's coverage of President Trump is 97% negative.
Defense rests.
2
@Truth Gun
Since Trump is 100% engaged in negative behaviors and activities 100% of the time you should be happy with that 3% bump.
12
Before Trump's election, I had a discussion with my evangelical sister, who hated Trump but had obviously been brainwashed by the Fox News channel her husband watches incessantly.
She believed, like many people did, that since Trump was a millionaire CEO businessman, that that made him a good choice for the presidency. In her view, the country needed to be run more like a business. I pointed out to her that:
#1 CEOs are dictators. CEOs, especially private owners of large companies, don't have to take a vote to find out anyone's opinion, as you do in a democracy.
#2 Trump was a lousy but wealthy businessman, even though he was largely bailed out by Dad whenever he failed.
#3 Trump had a reputation for being racist, not paying contractors, a liar, a bully, a cheater and philanderer.
Though my sister didn't vote for President at all, her husband and thousands of Trump's fans said yes to all that, and that is the President what we got.
In the U.S. there is a whole lot of misplaced admiration for wealthy businessman, and wealthy celebrities. Americans, especially those who are just barely getting by, are often tricked into thinking that if you are a wealthy person and especially a big celebrity, you are like a god and therefore can easily handle the job of President of the United States.
8
Thank you. Keep using your column to speak truth to power. Thank you. T R U T H.
9
"Trump and his base are like two mirrors facing each other."
This is a perfect simile - the hate is reflected back and forth between the two mirrors infinitely.
There is no reasoning with either of them. They will go down into hell together.
8
So you must be winning your fight. The Times has just hired a White-Christian-Old-Male hater (covers a lot of bases; racist, bigoted, ageist and sexist) who will also sit on their editorial board, that is if the twitterati let them get away with it. The last hater they hired got sacked same day but Quinn Norton clearly hated the wrong people, her hate unacceptable compared to Sarah Jeong's hate. I guess we learned about the right kind of hate today. The one that comes with an agenda.
But never mind. Oddly we agree on Trump's character - egotistical, but not weak I don't think, more in the vein of personal insecurity actioned as loud, boorish and sometimes incoherent. A bad combination. A combination made particularly, worse, or maybe even dangerous when inundated with 92% negative media attacks on his character, appearance, intelligence, personality and family. Rarely does one read any (mainstream) media coverage giving praise - or even grudging acknowledgement - of some of the things Trump and his administration have accomplished. A good example of this non-stop nastiness: your columns, and the merciless reader attacks fomented by these them. I've written here before that I'd be hard pressed to see the difference between your frenzied reader-posse and Trump's rabid fan base.
That makes you and Trump a lot alike.
Charles if you want something better, be something better. Goes for your employer as well, as they have failed to show us today.
1
I agree with every word you've written except one. It is not religious liberty trumps followers want it's religious tyranny. If they could put anyone who did not show up for church on Sunday in stocks they would. Wonder who will be the next Torquemada?
3
I feel so sorry for Donald. Well, actually, I don't. The sooner he is off the stage the sooner we can begin to repair the terrible damage he has inflicted on "our country" (the same one that Trump so loudly claims is his country). But one thing is forever sure: Trump has been our comeuppance as a nation. We can no longer cling to our "exceptionalism," which is a good thing. Chastened, we can start over again to help lead a multilateral world, putting the crazy ruins of "America First" behind us and having learned a sober lesson, namely, that we are as vulnerable as any country to the pitfalls of populism, stupidity and fear.
10
Not to mention, he is vying for a Nobel Peace Prize. But like all else, he's clueless about what and how it is awarded.
1
At some point in time, now may be a good one since we have only 90 days until the Mid Terms, Democrats or those still thinking themselves to be loyal Democrats, must decide upon a direction for this Party. It is easy to attack Trump, it is easy to attack his supporters (which are growing by the way) it is harder to attack the Republican Party and it seems almost impossible to attack the Democratic Leadership which is deafening in their silence regarding any specific platform to offer voters. If one goes to the Democratic Party FaceBook page, the lead banner states, "I Will Vote!" That is what these people think will help galvanize the opposition to the Republicans in 90 short days!
But all Democrats must finally decide that the leadership needs to change and that change must be reflected in an people based agenda highlighting issues that effect families. Bernie Sanders presented that in 2016 and was rebuked. But it crossed Party lines and the lasted finding by Fox News in a request for votes on whether viewers want a Single Payer plan was an overwhelming majority of 70 percent of the 33,000 replies favored such a plan! Maybe someone can let Pelosi know about that!
12
SAnders refused to say the press is not the enemy
of the people.
she is a shameless liar and why they cover her
and play along escapes me.
Wolf did NOT attack her appearance. she attacked
her for LYING which is the truth
18
Maybe her family has a Russia problem
Would not surprise me at all if her dad was up to his neck in this.
3
So true.
So sadly disgustingly true. The future of America is at stake.
Republicans and trump must be voted out of Office. Or impeached. Then we’ll have to figure out how to jettison Pence.
13
A recent Harvard/Harris poll has Trump's approval rating up 10% among Hispanics. Just sayin'
5
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But he's got his mob. And how many cops and colonels, are in it? This is no ordinary mob. He knows it and it looks like he's going for broke. We have a problem Houston.
10
The enemy of the people? Trump and all his enablers.
9
Attention is Mr. Trump’s oxygen - good or bad. When I see him at those rallies, it’s like watching an addict get a fix. He just goes through his “hits” - the wall, MS13, Hilary, Obama, no collusion, horrible press, etc. And are we paying for his travel to these rallies?
The press should not treat his ridiculous tweets like “news” - history will remember them for what they are - just the rantings of an old man.
I
13
The United States allowed its education systems to go south so that increasing fewer are able to think or reason. Crazy capitalism conditioned people to view life through the lens of their wallets. Then you add timid lawmakers whose focus is re-election. Add hyper-Christianity (where ball players point to heaven if they walk), and hyper-patriotism, where everybody wears flag pins and only military sing the national anthem. Stir the pot and you get Trump’s base.
10
@Mark Paskal Well, let's see. Viewing life through the lens of your own well being has been pretty much the default since the days of the cavemen. Likewise putting the interests of your own nation first. One of the few historical exceptions would be the teachings of Jesus Christ, but apparently you've already conceded his followers to Trump as well. So just who exactly is left to vote for the Democrats?
Why doesn't the press simply bypass the Trump rallies, and ignore his tweets?
13
Today, we saw a loss of nerve by the few White House voices who stood up to Donald Trump’s conspiracy with the Russians.
In a staged performance, everyone agreed that (a) there was ongoing meddling in our electoral process by several countries – NOT just Russia, and (b) everyone agreed that they were NOT aware that the Russian meddling was meant to help Donald Trump.
Dan Coates, sadly, folded under pressure.
The march towards solidifying Trump’s and Putin’s power in the midterms had a good day.
Democracy and our national security had a bad day.
7
Donald Trump, weak and afraid? Please, that is patently false, ridiculously false. Egotistical? More than Barack Obama? More than Bill Clinton, Chuck Schumer, Or Nancy Pelosi?
This is where we’re at folks—a talentless hack of a writer—engaging in name calling.
2
@Jesse The Conservative, yes he's weak and afraid. Why the tweets demanding Sessions fire Mueller? Why does he attack anyone who crosses him save Vlad Putin, Stormy Daniels and Lebron James? Why could he not fire Tillerson to his face? Why cannot he not confront anyone to their face? Weak? Yes. He told his supporters dozens of times he'd get Mexico to pay for a wall. Readouts and transcripts of his conversations with Mexico's president indicate he never even asked them to pay merely asked the Mexican president not to keep saying they were not. Trump has zero respect for his own supporters; he just plays on their fears for his own benefit.
@Jesse The Conservative
Trump speaks at his rallies telling us how smart,rich, and amazing he is. People who are secure and strong within themselves do not need to remind us of this kind of flapdoodle. He is trite and full of avarice and says nothing of genuine importance. He is dedicated to the defense, perpetuation, and exploitation of every cliche and superstition in the saddlebag of institutionalized reality.
What a not so well oiled Con Artist Trump is.
Freedom of opinion is free speech. Reporting in the press that which is untrue is slander, libelous, propaganda, or politics—all which should be subject to litigation and punitive damages. Clear separation of news and opinions is critic to first amendment rights moving forward. Mr. Blow is a black activist writer of opinions universally anti-Trump, pro-Obama whose words are predictable, banal, and contribute little to intellectual discussion.
3
@JDL " slander, libelous, propaganda" should we start with Trump?
2
Keep it simple: attack the Republic Party not voters. Immigration is a phoney click bait issue staged by Trump and the GOP.
Focus on who the republicans really serve, beside themselves. Certainly not the Base. It’s just a coalition of resentment and it didn’t just happen, it’s a project, like Brexit, but whose project? For the answer, just look at what Trump and the party are doing: attempting to turn government into a funnel to move wealth offshore, away from taxes, away from the people, meanwhile creating a blizzard of distraction to cover it up.
Next, focus on fearless Leader, who represents money without national affiliation or loyalty; yes big MAGA man. The Russians found him offshore in the same laundry they use. The Russians and the Base made him President, a floundering con propelled by the vacuum of an empty mind, some low rodent cunning, a foul mouth and a terror of the truth, which chases him constantly like Capn. Hook’s croc.
Stay on that.
Show how Putin plays his hand coolly, with a laser focus on the GOP as America’s point of vulnerability, turning it into the realization of Joe McCarthy’s paranoid vision, a body infested, a cosmic joke. Hello Maria Butina.
Sort out differences later.
There is a job to be done and it's more than Trump: it’s time to break the Republican Party with the weight of a massive majority. It can be done. The numbers are there.
No more minority rule. That's what the coming elections are about.
180
Your magnum opus, Angstrom Unit !
Bravo !
6
@Angstrom Unit
Democrats are all about being in power and all about making Democrats great with power. Trump is all about giving the power back to American citizens & making America great. Now, what do you want, Democrats with great power or empowered Americans making America great? Pretty simple question, no?
Why wouldn't he expect that, Charles? Name one time you ever criticized President Obama. I'll wait.
1
Keep waiting. He doesn’t have to prove anything to you. He’s an opinion columnist. He needs to no more prove to me that he’s ever criticized Obama as Hannity needs to prove to me that he’s ever criticized Trump.
4
I love your columns Charles, especially when I have to look up something like "poltroon." Absolutely perfect word to describe the R's in Congress: utter cowards.
9
@Stephen Holland
Hopefully trump to erase Obama from history
This is the price we pay for decades of dumbing down our educational system and relying on TY (and now social media) to supply our values.
12
My wife and I are profoundly grateful to be OTD these days. The future scares us deeply, and we're happy for our mortality. My wife's parents survived Nazi Germany, and we're happy that they aren't here to see what our America is doing. I served my country, volunteered for Vietnam so that maybe some deserving person would not be drafted against their will. I spent most of my career as a firefighter, my wife as a nurse. We're both avid students of history, fervent opponents of bigotry, misogyny and ignorance.
Yes, the future scares us badly. We see strong, strong echoes of 1930's Germany and Italy and other, arguably lesser tyrants. Many there, too, said it can't happen here.
A large portion of Christianity is being perverted by poorly-disguised racism. The haves are pouring their chamberpots from the windows onto the have-not rabble in the streets.
I could go on, but it's pointless. You, dear reader, have probably heard it all before, and I'll not waste your, our, time remaining. We're grateful to have been younger and vital at a time when it was good. The fear my wife and I share can be eclipsed only by the fear that younger people should have.
Fear it! Fear Trump and associated evils. Fear what we've probably already gone beyond fixing, this planet we all share.
Fear the world you see forming before you, and the thing you should fear most profoundly is good people doing nothing to make it right.
Fight your fears, good people. Vote!
20
The energy Trump supporters show is like people at a pep rally for their home school basketball team. It's a game to them. Politics is sports. Energy from the left is full of real deadly anger and hatred and leads to incidents like the DC shooter and BLM inspired arson, looting, hate chants and ultimately the murder of innocent people such as law enforcement personnel.
3
As usual Mr. Blow you are spot on. What scares me however, is like addicts Trump sycophants have been seduced and are now addicted to the traction that Trump has achieved. “Low lying” republicans stand on the side line deciding when and if they jump full throttled onto the Trump train. Few thought Trump could win in 2016, but he did. Trump can win re-election in 2020. And then someone, somewhere will step up to the plate and become Trump II. Nothing could be more dangerous for the rule of law and the future of our country.
2
"Poltroons". What a great word, Charles, and perfectly describes Republican lawmakers. Of course, Republican lawmaker is an oxymoron.
5
ATTN. ALL NON-FOX MEDIA: It is past time for a complete coverage revolt. The world is begging you to Just Say No.
The epicenter of propaganda also know as Sarah Sanders' White House press briefing? Say "No!", and don't go. Let Fox news cover the nonsense. Trump campaign rally disguised as something of national significance? Don't go. An impromptu Trump distraction in the Rose Garden so that you won't report the real news? Don't cover it.
Trump's head would pop right off of his shoulders if he couldn't get a reaction out of the media 24/7. Right now media members outside of Fox have taken on the personas of domestic abuse victims. Trump abuses you, berates you and declares you're the "Enemy of the people", and you are doing nothing to help yourself or us by taking his toxic garbage.
The media has a responsibility to fairly and accurately cover the news. Propaganda is not news. Lies are not news. Every time Trump or his minions spew misinformation and lies from their pulpits, the media shows it live. After he's done, pundits then have to regroup and debunk the myriad of falsehoods, contradictions and outright propaganda. By then, far too many people have already believed the lies that Trump just spewed on the public airwaves.
We, the viewers and readers will applaud you, not fault you for it.
Just say no, Media. It is the only way that you will get your dignity back. More importantly, it might be the only shot we have at getting America back.
15
Donald Trump has very low self esteem, primarily because he was literally orphaned by his parents.
2
It wasn’t for nothing that Trump never released his taxes and never showed us his report cards.
16
“Trump and his base are like two mirrors facing each other.”
What a perfect simile – an infinite regression of reflections, spiraling into darkness. How utterly horrifying.
10
Thank you, that was truly inspired. Hatred is just as good a muse as love apparently. Also poltroon. You've blackened my heart and enriched my vocabulary.
Sincerely
3
I always feel better about reading your column Mr. Blow. Though I live in a blue state, in a blue city and in a diverse neighborhood, everyday I feel anxiety and anger at the changes happening to America, led by the president. Unless you are heterosexual, white and male, your rights and person are no longer safe in our country, Daily, Trump unleashes his rants and rages to his intelligent deficit lemmings to take up the torches against all us others. Your column and all the responses assure me that I am not alone and nor we will not go quietly into Trump’s darkness.
13
Organized religion has always sided with power, no matter how corrupt the Kings & Queens were, it was good to be the king & as long as the Pope was aligned with the Monarchy, it was good to be the Pope, or in this case Evangelicals.Their objective is to turn America into a Theocracy, & remove the separation of Church & State & become the State religion, which our forefathers were against. They disregard our Constitution in favor of the Bible & Trump.
7
Charles; thank you so much for your editorials. If I didn't have commentary like you provide, I think I would go bonkers.
Also the comments expressed by the folks writing in.
Together, both you and your commentators remind me that this show that keeps happening isn't normal, or right. I feel less depressed to know that others out there are as disgusted and mad as I am.
18
The treatment of the media at the Tampa rally was unacceptable. Why don't the press take cover and just stop covering his rallies? 45 would hate that.
7
It's interesting to compare and contrast Donald Trump to the strongmen he admires: Putin of Russia, Kim of North Korea, Duterte of The Philippines. Each of them is a murderer, either by way of pulling the trigger himself or by ordering the death of others. Whatever they might be, these men are not weak. One can only imagine the contempt they have for someone that exhibits the weakness and impotent rage that Trump displays every day.
4
I have lost any respect for most of Trump's base of voters. They defy logic, they defy truth, they defy morality, and most of all, they defy American values. Whether it be politics, finance, real estate, or any other venue, the pendulum seems to swing to the extremes. This too will swing back (hopefully, the sooner the better) and when it does, Trump's cult of supporters will be in for a very rude awakening.
9
@Diane Kropelnitski
The old "basket of deplorables" eh? I query whether you ever had any respect for these people that could be lost. You seem to show no interest in understanding views different from your own. You say Trump voters defy logic, truth, morality and American values, but to who's version of logic, truth morality and American values do you refer? Is there but one such version? Sure Trump voters are in their own world like all people, and some of it seems at odds with reality. But how about those on the left? The world is doom and gloom according to most on the left. Objectively speaking is that true? We have a workforce firing on all cylinders for the first time in over a decade; for the millions of people who were stuck on the sidelines during the recession and the several years afterwards, it would be difficult to overstate the importance of the glorious opportunities that are ever bountiful today. Things are actually going quite swimmingly in this country. True, we can always point to anecdotes about individual acts of racism or violence or whatever other societal malady we choose to make a constant obsession, and convince ourselves that things are heading straight into the toilet, however, it's rather pathological to be so morbid, especially when the sun is shining.
These columns are all correct observations. Just like the articles about climate change. The thing is.. the climate has changed and Trump has become the president. Is it too late to do anything about it? I really hope not.
2
Charles, I nearly always agree with you 100% as I do with this piece. But something is and has been bothering me for a long time. You made mention of it here, and I, at last, want to protest- not against you, but a semantic issue. You used the term ¨Christian Nationalist¨, and of course, I know exactly what you mean. It is a term with some variations, but in general it refers to the American evangelical base which supports Trump in vast numbers, vociferousness and fervor. They are white, rural/suburban and overwhelmingly found in red states. They indeed are nationalists in all ways. However, what I object to is the ´Christian´ part. Yes, I know they profess to be Christians, but there is nothing about their ideology which, in my view, has anything in the slightest to do with Jesus Christ. In fact, they are the least Christ like people in the public sphere. In my view, they are to Christianity what the Taliban or ISIS is to Islam. I refer to them as the American Taliban. If they are Christians, then I am not - yet, I am a Christian. Jesus taught understanding, forgiveness, tolerance, generosity, and love to the stranger. None of these things are demonstrated by American evangelicals. If they had one scintilla of Christian belief, then they could never support Trump, who is the antithesis of everything Christ taught. Perhaps we could just refer to them as religious fanatics and leave Christianity out of it.
I thank you for your tireless clarity.
19
There seems to be much comparison of this time to the workers revolution in the first half of the last century indicating that the struggle is not yet over with one big difference, this time around, the revolution will be carried out in the light.
3
This column is a cogent, accurate review of Trump's campaign, his presidency and, indeed, of the man himself. It is an impassioned call to take action. Too bad it is preaching to the choir. On the other hand, it is reassuring to people like me. Every day I am agog. Everyday I'm shocked, saddened. Every day I ask myself if I'm seeing straight, if my liberal bent is biasing me more than I realize against my fellow Americans who, in such frenzy, adore this man. So I am relieved that I am not alone, not crazy to be so shocked and worried. So, keep blowing the bugle, Mr. Blow, for freedom of the press and for democracy.
14
For all of Trump's myriad faults, he is only a symptom of the problem that has been festering and encouraged for the last 30-40 years.
The extreme and radical right wing agenda in this country has sought to demonize their ideological citizen opponents. They have been very successful in feeding a dialy diet of conspiracy and hate to create a solid 35% of this country that were just waiting to be served up to a character like Trump.
Now I'm not sure if they are actually voting against their own interests, but they obviously feel there is sufficient cause to support a man that seems to represent all they say they don't like. Well they must hate something else more.
The point I'm tying to make is there is now a solid 35% of this country which:
Are not patriotic in a traditional sense.
They do not support democracy or the institutions of a liberal democracy.
They are inclined to support authoritarians.
They are hoping for a ethno-religious take over of this country (aka The Handmaids Tale).
6
Hard not to think of House of Cards when the Underwoods have their back against the wall in their reelection campaign, but then decide they can work with (and use) fear to turn their prospects around.
1
This is how desperately I'm looking for a good take on things --
In Stephen Colbert's monologue last night he referenced an article written by someone who attends Trump's rallies. This writer had compared the crowds to those at professional wrestling matches, that they like getting revved up for the event but afterward appear as though they knew it was a show.
That felt a little good.
8
Charles: As a master of rhetoric you cannot honestly say that there's no such thing as fake news. There are a variety of ways to present the truth, and depending on which way you do it, you can create a bias and false implications.
For example: "She murdered her husband" versus "She defended herself after years of emotional and physical abuse" are both factual, but one presents the context under which an event happen, while the other one dispassionately describes the event. Likewise, constantly saying "undocumented immigrants" versus "illegal immigrants" presents two different narratives. Although it may be true that a tiny number of immigrants who cross without papers are not illegal, the vast majority of them are, in fact, illegal immigrants. And yet certain so called news stations consistently avoid calling them illegal.
That's just one out of a number of examples. If you critically watch CNN, for example, you can find multiple examples of where the newscasters essentially lie. And, to be honest, I prefer watching CNN over other stations that are even more twisted.
The news stations are playing to certain crowds, including to the President, and that has definitely shaped the way they present facts, to the point that certain points are, at a minimum, at least very misleading.
2
People cannot be called "illegal." What would that even mean? There are people who are here illegally, but it is wrong to call them "illegals" or "illegal aliens." A criminal who has committed illegal actions is not called "illegal." Only actions or substances can be called "illegal." https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/dec/06/illegal-immigrant-label-...
Just when I despair utterly and feel that I absolutely cannot go on another day living with what's happening....Mr. Blow produces a column like this one. And then I think I can soldier on. I'm bolstered by the chuckle I get from words like "poltroons." I take heart in seeing my despair catalogued accurately and succinctly. I can know that my educated, principled parents - now roiling in their urns - would find similar succor were they alive to see this tragedy playing out. Heartfelt thanks to Mr. Blow and his comrades in arms there at the NYT. Reflecting on how their tireless efforts are informing the hard work of democracy, I'm spurred on to sponsor a student subscription so that some young person will learn from all this - I suppose if there were a silver lining to the wretchedTrump era, it might be that, with the help of skilled journalists, coming generations will be too smart to let this happen again.
29
Like a rabid dog, backed into a corner. (My apologies to all rabid dogs.)
16
As Sasha Baron Cohen has so graphically demonstrated, making "useful idiots" out of politicians is quite easy. The Russians have understood this for years; and have made good on it.
21
oh, he’s not just egotistical, he’s a full-fledged narcissist, with all the social and mental disabilities that includes. We should be more concerned with the republicans who have sold their honor in order to become toadies.
18
The depravity of this president is unbounded and fascist. I do think there is an argument to be made, though, that Nixon was worse- also a depraved human but intelligent enough to fool millions while directing an illegal bombing campaign that killed millions of people. So far the Donald has not initiated WWIII
3
As Manafort's trial gets underway, as Cohen starts talking to prosecutors, and as Mueller closes in on him, Trump is beginning to panic.
What he fears is the exposure of what Charles is telling us: that Donald Trump is an ignorant, hollow, blustering, inadequate fraud. All of his lies, ultimately, are an attempt to conceal that one particular truth, because for Trump, to lose the illusion is to lose everything.
22
The present crop of editorials, op-ed pieces, and TV commentary amount to no more than boring school term papers, passionless and brimming with equivocations. In other words, the hodge-podge of everything.
Last Wednesday, I watched with horror Chris Mathews show Hardball on MSNBC. Now, Mathews is no fan of Trump. Yet he presented a typical picture of Trump's critics who know not what they do. For openers, he reproduced Trump's tweet asking AG Sessions to stop Mueller investigation. Then he showed a video clip of Trump making that demand. Then he brought on the screen Rudy Giuliani to expand and explain his client's tweet. Soon Rudy was followed by a group of wishy-washy newspaper people none of whom has ever shown any passion for their opinions or beliefs against Trump. It went on and on like that the full length of its allotted time, ending as pathetically as it started. I never once get to see a an articulate critic of Trump rebut him right at the outset.
I understand that Sean Hannity's show is number one on cable tv. If that is the case, I have to conclude that it is successful because it contains raw passion. It is fully devoted to the cause it espouses. It makes no effort to mute or blunt the sharpness of its words. Trump's backers, as Trump himself, want to leave no doubt or ambiguity about their message.
The moral of the story is simple: In a public debating contest, a tongue-tied presentation would always fail against a sharply worded message.
4
Fox news, Sinclair broadcasting, social media are all places that offer either bias or "fake News in Commentary form. I recently had the unpleasant social meeting of some Trump supporters. I was amazed to hear almost the same diatribe from them. The amazing untruth they believed, was that the Clintons were killers as they described them. I was taken back but now I know what drives these uninformed people, it is "fake news". really!
14
Charles M. Flow writes with elegance and grace. It is amazing that one can write on the topic of current affairs in the U.S. is such a manner.
I believe it is essential to write the articles one reads in the NYT.
I am not sure that it changes anything. I don't believe that DT and his devoted followers ever look at the articles written in this paper.
Some do respond but never convincingly.
What is discouraging is that there appears to be no remedy for the ills
of this administration. If the elections are manipulated by a foreign power which it has done with success. Then what is the remedy to the malady? It is all so dismal.
5
I wish the Press would stop attending his adulation sessions with the deplorables. Just have someone tape it and report on that. Stop being there for him to point at you and essentially put your life in danger.
9
The press should use some of Trump’s methods, more attacks and less attempts to explain this madman’s behavior.
Example? He is INSANE!
7
You can go on about Trump and all the ways he is repulsive, ugly, evil, dark and boring, but what about all those adoring fans, aka his basest base, who love him no matter what, and even if it kills them?
It's Trump's base that frightens me. Those people will believe absolutely anything that comes out of Trump's mouth.
They will believe any deranged, delusional thing they hear, from qanon, or Bannon, Trump, Huckabee Sanders, Hannity, Limbag, and anybody who supports this unsupportable thing called Trump, against all reason or evidence. The more lies, apparently, the better.
Trump will go someday, but his awful base is here to stay. What a revolting' development.
21
Only fake Presidents behave and talk like felonious and fraudulent despot Donald Trump. He would be just as incapable of successfully leading a boy scout troop as he is leading the world's once most admired democracy. Just like a slew of Trump branded properties, the reality television host and mob boss-in-chief, along with the complicit and corrupt Republican party, is driving American democracy into bankruptcy.
19
These Trump rallies aren't event analogous to near-religious revivals, these assemblies of a cult. The behavior of the leader and the followers makes this movement a cult; they drank a very toxic Kool-Aid that threatens our democracy.
17
Great article, Mr. Blow. Obviously, you were thinking of Voldemort and his deatheaters when writing about Trump and his supporters. The parallels are frighteningly obvious.
Will the real Harry Potter please run for office? We need you.
Expeliarmus!
6
BRAVO, Charles Blow! Our nation desperately needs you journalists to keep fighting for the truth.
11
Thank you Charles, for the chance to read something with the word 'poltroon' in it.
13
https://www.aidamuluneh.com/the-wolf-you-feed-1/
Mr Blow, your column reminds me of this old story of the 2 wolves. We know which one Trump is feeding,
2
"religious liberty agenda" must be in quotes----because liberty is not one of the religious right's objectives.
17
Well said. Thank you.
9
So when the press prints Trump's word-for-word tweets and exact quotes, the GOP calls it "Fake" news.
Not much you can do to reason with such bizarre irrationality.
But thank you, NYTimes, CNN and the American Press for not backing down to attacks by these cultish brain washed Trump supporters.
17
Charles Blow has always been one of my favorites and this column is one of his best. I,too, wonder why the taxpayers of this nation should pay for Trumps political rallies...and his many golf trips. He is the President, but being President is a JOB! I am so sick of him and his followers...but, do see a slight resemblance to the country when I was first married. Flag waving, church going, snobby, snoopy people running everyone’s life if they could. I was married more than 60 years ago. Perhaps Trump’s followers were bored: no big war, no starving people begging for dimes, no time off from regular classes for church lessons, no Lord’s prayer in public schools, no neighbors spying on other’s children and church attendance , drinking habits, etc. It’s been a “live and let live” country. The “God will punish you people hate freedom.”
8
I think this is a fantastic column and that's all I've got to say.
17
"Near religious adulation" Trumpsters in general share a common thread with religionists (and many/most? are) called non-rationalism. Running on faith (in Dear Leader/God)and wishful thinking ('When I get to heaven.../When Trump makes America great again...').
And now we have to deal with "Q" along with Alex Jones and other crazies. Depressing.
5
"He's one of us!" exclaim the rubes, about a man so spoiled and out-of-touch that he has clearly never even bought his own groceries.
11
All very well said. Too bad Trump minions won't see this.
3
After watching PBS Newshour last night, the video of 45 clapping as the crowd at his rally held up signs promoting Q Anon in PBSs coverage of the Q phenomenon , I had a rough time trying to sleep. This Q thing is so far out there and his base is so fervent about it . Why would a man that got elected to the highest position in the land not tell Americans this is not true and the country is secure? Is this not pretty much what he took an oath to do? He is tearing us apart. Is it just about $$$ or something else?
9
Charles Blow has hit the nail on the head. This is Trump's party and they love emotion and lowering the level of discourse from reasonable and legal methods to unreasonable and illegal methods of communication. As a psychologist, I would say Mr. Blow is even better and he, thank heavens, calls it like it is with Trump.
13
I must agree with those who suggest the press/media stop covering this boondoggle of a president and his moronic administration. And I have begun noticing that on some occasions--not sure if there is a policy that stipulates or defines--but one cable channel will have the president's appearance--Oval Office with visiting dignitary or speech at a manufacturer, or political rally/fundraise--complete and uninterrupted while another may have a split screen or only make reference to the president's schedule. It appears to be if the event or action is of nationwide importance. But the man is notorious for manipulating TV time and his egocentric need to be a daily presence in American homes--like a vile epidemic.
3
One only needs to listen to other demagogues to see the similarities. He comes across as a dictator with new found power but will crash and burn just like they all do when the world turns their back on this country. Unfortunately the poorest social class will suffer for their inability to see where this is going.
4
I have lost all hope.
8
Does Mr. Blow have any thoughts at all that don't involve Trump as the primary player? I find it comical to hear sideline commentators call the most powerful man in the world "weak." I'm sure it serves a deep psychological need to believe this, but, of course, it's entirely at odds with the reality that Trump is a total powerhouse (whether you like him or not). It kind of reminds me of the couch potato yelling out at the TV that such and such professional athlete is garbage while he gorges on pizza and beer until he can barely move, let alone compete at a professional level. And let's be clear, these so-called "attacks on the press" are entirely justified. Sure Fox News is propaganda, but so too is this publication. The editorial board of this publication believes its duty is to present each news story in the most unflattering possible manner to Trump, which is getting harder with each passing day. Sure, the publication may not deliberately issue false statements of fact, but, as any attorney knows, one can mislead every bit as effectively with the truth by simply choosing which facts to include in a statement and which ones to omit.
3
(standing ovation for your comment!)
3
@Bill..Trump isn't "strong" he speaks some like drunk guy in a bar just mouthing off to other patrons and at the TV. I have noticed this from day #1. Railing that Mexicans are rapists? ("But I presume some of them are 'good people") Is he charismatic? Yes he is-undoubtably-and he knows it and revels in it. He has a very expressive face and mannerisms-almost like an actor? However being 'charismatic' that doesn't equate to "strong". He is used to being attacked for the stuff he did-as a private citizen-and now as the President. He brings it upon himself and then denies he brings it on himself! "Strong" I equate with the Military, Fire Dept or Police. Something Trump personally avoided and wouldn't allow his children to do as well. He is THE OPPOSITE of strong.
1
So far no one has died nor been wounded by a Trump tweet or speech against his enemies.
But a growing legion of Putin's foes have ended up in hospitals, mental institutions, prisons, urns and coffins .
Trump is afraid that Putin will send him a gift of a bullet, Novichok or polonium - 210.
6
Every time I see yet another Trump Rally I become angry and disgusted among other emotional responses. One thing I'd like to know is how much these rallies cost us in tax payer dollars. Does anyone have a figure? It seems that first he was coupling them with some meeting or some other conservative group that wanted him to speak. Now it seems he is just going out and rallying.
Here's another problem. His choice for the Supreme Court, Mr. Kavanaugh, has written that no president should be indited or otherwise questioned while in office, because, he tells us, the President is far too busy with the affairs of state to have the time for such stuff. After reviewing Mr. Trump's schedule and watching his many golf weekends and rally trips, I have to question Mr. Kavanaugh's sensibilities. Really, not enough time?
Looks like another column, Mr. Blow.
12
Well said, however, the English language, as rich as it is, can't adequately portray how awful Trump is. He is a vulgar, petty, not very bright man, who on his best day isn't vaguely qualified for the office he holds.
9
Trump has tapped into the dark side of the human psych here
in the US of A. It's always been here (see, the civil war, George Wallace, Huey Long, just to name a few). White,
Christian, ethnonationalists alone did not elect Mr. Trump.
I seriously believe that his act will become tiresome and
boring and american voters will realize that he is the epitome
of "Fake News" and vote him and his minions out of office.
Hey, Mr. Blow ,I'm an optimist.
4
I'm trying to remember when America was this crazy. Maybe the McCarthy years, or Jim Crow. All I know is, every time we seem close to becoming a better society, something makes us slam on the brakes and run for the dubious safety of demagoguery, racism and bellicosity. The sad thing is that now we are self-destructing over the same issue we built this country on - immigration and diversity. All my life I have loved our uniqueness, being part of a country whose people actually came from somewhere else. In grade school classes we would be asked by the teacher to share with the class the story of how our parents or grandparents came to America. Now we are shutting out the world and becoming a frightened, bigoted place, because our president is a frightened bigot.
4
Notice in this photo..how the 2 Secret Service guys are looking down at Trump's waist as he raises his right arm. Could it be he is packing a concealed weapon in a waist holster? He's the President, he can do what he wants. But SS should be looking straight ahead or peripherally scanning for any possible threats-not looking at Trump's waist. Very curious.
3
Read Martha Stoat "The Sociopath Next Door". It was written years ago to describe sociopath- a person without conscience.
I was reading it during the primary, and personally decided that Trump was a sociopath -a man without conscience.Look at his words and actions. We cannot normalize his actions, nor can we discuss his actions as if he has a conscience. Putting a "label" to his actions doesn't help the USA with respect to its relations with the rest of the world. It will help the press, and those people who didn't vote for him to be vigilant. It will help to understand those people who think that Trump is a messiah, but who will be abandoned in an instant.
7
I agree with every word, especially the observations that his attacks come from a place of great weakness. I am just so sick about this abomination of a human in charge of our nation. The GOP is indeed complicit in every respect. Not good, not good at all.
6
If by "weak" you mean a total powerhouse, this is an accurate characterization of reality. No such thing as fake news? Uh, yeah there is. Just because a reputable news outlet will correct clear misrepresentations of clear fact does not mean they are not misleading people with their characterizations of facts, the facts they choose to report and the facts they choose to omit. Read anything this newspaper publishes, and you cannot help but come away with the abiding conviction that the editorial board thinks its job is to paint whatever facts it can in a negative light for Mr. President. Instead of saying "new tax cut to result in most middle class taxpayers getting to keep more of their hard earned cash and cause foreign funds to pour into the country like a roaring river," the paper says "such and such small percent of people aren't getting a tax cut"or "these guys got a bigger tax cut than these other people." The statements are true of course, but it's a bizaare, biased and highly misleading way to construct reality. I think the term "fake news" is a fair characterization of this form of story-telling.
4
@Bill There is a difference between context and puffery. Puffery is "hard earned cash", not context, and in fact, the tax cuts did not give anything appreciable to the middle class, so that is the real world context.
6
@vandalfan Depending on who you talk to and what the term "middle class" means, the middle class household saves an average of between $1,000 to $2,000 under the tax cut. True, that may not be a complete game changer, but I don't agree with you that it constitutes nothing appreciable. As many reporters on these pages have noted, a good percentage of the middle class live paycheck to paycheck, have very little saved up, and in a lot of cases have crippling debts. An extra grand or two a year represents the ability to take a vacation, start building savings for the future, or make some headway on loans. That's not nothing. And the cash savings on tax payments is hardly the only thing going on. The initial data certainly suggests that Trump's policies of cutting expensive regulation of businesses and reducing taxes is spurning a white hot economy. For the first time in a long time, the labor market is super-tight, unemployment at multi year lows, consumer confidence at multi year highs etc. Yeah, we'd like to see wage growth increase, but the fact is, simply having a job is a big, big deal, and most people who want a job today can have one. Now that's a beautiful thing.
Don’t forget the economic growth began under Obama.
Thank you Mr.Blow.Everyday I cannot believe this conman is actually the president.So very grateful that we still do have a free press,and that there are very brave people like you,to tell the truth.
8
Conservatives, Republicans & Trump supporters may not consider that, by vilifying CNN, which has functioned as a professional news organization, & by denying one of their news correspondents at a Presidential news event, they are opening the future portals to deny Fox Propaganda reporters as well.
It is an incontrovertible fact that Fox Propaganda has poorly masqueraded as a news organization since it was spawned in the 1990s. Fox has never provided fair & balanced news -- except to rightwing conservative extremists. Fox has refused to present any political views other than their own "fake news" as legitimate. Fox has behaved unprofessionally when "guests" with anti-Fox views have been "interviewed" or "allowed" to "contribute" to whatever "program" Fox has aired. Liberal guests' voices have been shouted over, microphones have been "cut," & the steady barrage of Hannity's intemperate ad hominem attacks have fostered festering hatred amongst conservatives for anyone opposed to their point of view (read "liberal").
Trump's whipping up hatred of his base mirrors the exact same actions of criminals who whipped up anti-Semitic murderers in Europe during pogroms as well as lynch mobs which murdered innocent African-Americans in the U.S.
That being said, Mr. Blow's column has analyzed several of the most troubling behaviors of Trump and his base than can be commented on with this writer's 1500 character limit. (I will try to add to my commentary if I can access a 2nd posting....)
4
It seems as if the stalwart supporters of Trump are driven by one thing: spite. They love the fact that Trump annoys liberals. Period. That's why he could "shoot someone on 5th Avenue" and his supporters would still be there for him. They can't handle multiculturalism. They can't handle gay rights. They can't handle discussions of climate change. The world is changing in so many ways and they see Democrats as being behind those changes. And it makes them afraid. So they lash out.
4
I am interested to see that everyone who hates Donald Trump is placing their hopes in the wheels of Democracy and the next election when it was the last election and the wheels of Democracy, distorted by Russian intervention, that gave us this wanna be demagogue and his Republican lackeys. Demonstrations haven't worked. The free press isn't read or watched
by the Trump supporters. As Mr. Blow points out, Christian values aren't helping either. It is some hope to recall that just a few years ago we had a wonderful black president, who surveys show is America's favorite. Maybe Democracy does offer hope. But if it doesn't maybe we need stronger medicine. Abe Lincoln? What would you advise?
1
We hear so many commentators trying to figure out why Trump disses friends of the US - democratically elected leaders, and embraces US enemies, why he loves authoritarian leaders like Putin, China's president, Erdogan, etc. They keep saying it is something about his emotional makeup, maybe even something Oedipal. No!
Donald Trump kisses up to these guys and belittles our allies because they are the ones he can make a deal with - a business deal. Democratically elected leaders are bound by their democracies. He can't make a personal business deal with Angela Merkel or Theresa May. They have nowhere near the autonomy that Putin or Xi have. If you stop for a moment to try to think like Donald Trump, it is natural to jump to the one-man dictators since they can make the deals.
Trump will poke countries like China, Iran, Korea, but he will wait for a signal from them that he will benefit personally somehow and then backtrack.
It is either money or kompromat. Pundits seem to be throwing up their hands and defaulting to some sort of psychological explanation. But I think this throws them off the trail.
I hope that the media don't get sidetracked by goofy psychological analysis. Trump kisses up to those who can give him something; either money or keep him out of jail. It is not a question of admiring strong-men, not a question of a feeling of inferiority. He is always looking for an angle where he can personally benefit.
4
Well, yes - there is such a thing as fake news. If news is defined as newly received or noteworthy information, especially about recent or important events, then such information that is both untrue and purposely crafted to be untrue for specific purposes is fake news. Thus, Trump is actually the biggest purveyor of fake news on the planet; his accusations of fake news are actually themselves fake news, but are only a fraction of all the falseness that flows from him and his cronies.
My biggest problem is not with Trump, who can't help being a narcissistic, pathological liar who learned (as the spoiled child of family wealth) that bullying others was an easier and surer way to prosper than real hard work and learning. No, my problem is with all the enablers who know better and have the power to check this President.
In a way, in America we seem to have elected a whole lot of mini-Trumps over the years, and for reasons I won't expand upon here, they have mostly turned up as Republicans. Trump certainly didn't invent fake news, and politicians in particular have made use of it from time immemorial. Modern technology makes disseminating it more effective.
It's always easier for such disorder to drive out order; it's a fundamental quality of the universe (entropy). It takes a lot of hard work to reverse that, and most people don't put in the work, most of the time. Generally, we work that hard only when things get dire enough.
Sometimes, dire enough happens too late.
4
Perhaps it will take a WWIII to bring us to our senses.
1
And today we read Mr. Trump has told his Secretary of the Treasury, to remove economic sanctions from a friend of Mr. Putin! That is treason.
And as usual, more environmental damage has begun by changing the environmental regulations to allow more auto emissions pollution. As you say, corruption on many levels, damage on many levels, and favoring the elite and corporations on many levels. This will not end well.
3
Brilliantly stated. Thank goodness for Mr. Blow's indignation, He is particularly on target about "fake news," a concept engineered by Trump to do exactly what Mr. Blow says -- support untruths, deflect lies, and undermine the press.
There is indeed a great difference between factual reporting and opinion. As one example, Fox News continues to blur that line and create their own fantasy world in which Trump lives.
We must protect the right of journalists such as Mr. Blow to speak out against the demagogic attack on our free press. Otherwise, we will no longer be a democracy.
3
Well written sir. I couldn't agree more with your assessment of Mr. Trump and his base. It's just too bad that Reagan Republicans and Democrats seem to be under the spell of this modern day Svengali. Reagan wouldn't have anything to do with Trump or his followers.
1
This should be required reading. Thank you!!!
3
I wish people would stop calling what these right-wing Republicans are pushing for "religious liberty."
They do not seek religious liberty at all. They are intolerant of all religions except evangelical Christianity, and they believe that being Christian affords them rights, including a right to exercise governmental power, denied to those who hold other beliefs.
But the interesting thing is that most of these people pushing for this so-called "religious liberty" are not actual Christians. They are what I refer to as "Xtians," wannabe pharisees who wear their religious affiliations and views on their sleeves, beliefs that have very little to do with the teachings of Christ.
Christ never taught bigotry, or homophobia, or that the wealthy should be able to forego paying taxes, or lying, or shunning refugees, or denying services to the poor and the infirm. Quite the opposite.
8
He's attacking our environment and our ideals and our future. He is at war and he is winning...for the moment.
Perhaps we will stand up and defend ourselves soon.
2
Thanks for eloquently summarizing what we all know about Trump's shortcomings and threats. Now...what do we do about it?!
1
To me, Mr. Trump is just an instant example, the latest symptom of a bigger, more wide-ranging problem.
The real elephant in the room is the Republican Party and the American community. The Party first.
For several decades now, the Republican Party has proven to be too attractive to the kind of politics that manifest in politicians like Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump's predecessors-in-spirit were somewhat more subtle, only willing to dog-whistle, or only whisper what Mr. Trump willingly says out loud. Who was really surprised that Mr. Trump chose to run as a Republican, and mount the particular campaign that he did?
Regarding the American community, how come it still is that there are Americans susceptible to Mr. Trump's message? It is not a zero-sum game. How come so many want to play it as such?
By my count, every position publicly espoused by Mr. Trump's supporters have proven to be logically incoherent. From the Evangelicals' to the Tax-Cut fanatics, to the anti-immigration campaigners.
Mr. Trump campaigned on "Make America Great Again", but that can never work until you make America a community again. Or perhaps that should be until you make America a community. But from the looks of it, that ain't happening with the Republicans.
2
Why does the Press continue to report everything Trump says, then turn around and complain that he is lying.
It seems to me that the Press has fallen completely into the Trump game.
4
@Richard Epler What the president says is news, and if what he says is a lie, that is also news. Reporters don't "complain", they report. Mr. Blow is an opinion columnist, not a reporter, and as such, is entitled to complain.
1
Trump compares to Nero. He is not a leader. He is a performer, who wants nothing more than to be adored by the masses. He has found his audience. He will play to that audience even if it destroys everything around him. He will let the US burn while he fiddles.
2
My reaction to Trump's Florida rally behavior? RISE UP AMERICA before it's too late.
We cannot get use to this dangerous behavior believing 'Common Sense Will Prevail', much like Europe did during the 1930's.
4
Simply not healthy is a good description of the state of our politics that allowed Donald Trump to usurp the system. The Trump rallies are a mere precursor to what is up ahead in which a clear understanding of the real heart of darkness in America will emerge. Trump talking about the fake news opened up a much bigger can of worms where our information is concerned. It was the abuses of the mainstream media, in covering for the fraud in our political policies, that created the political mess we are in. It was the lie of our information that landed Trump in our lap.
Mr. Trump has learned well the lessons contained in the Autocrat handbook, which has been written throughout history: #1 Divide and Conquer, #2 Create Eneamies, real or perceived, #3 Control the Narrative, #4 Incite Passion and Hate, #5 Seize Power, by any means possible, #6 Eliminate all resistance. Read History, it has happened throughout; Caesar, Napoleon, Lenin, Hitler, Putin, the list goes on and on. We can't let Trump, add his name to this list.
5
Excellent!
4
History will view Trump's squat as the time when "American exceptionalism" blew apart. Not the slow boil of the unknowing frog, but a smack-in-our-face daily, indeed hourly, disintegration of the fundamental values that help us together for so long.
As for him, he and his (including his base) will go down in that same history as the most bovine, uneducated lot ever unleashed in a modern democracy.
Tragic beyond measure.
10
Mr. Blow, Your description of Trump and his supporters is right on and just plain bone chilling. Trump is weak, guilty and dangerous. He has successfully exposed the dark , evil under belly of this country. The question is what people of good conscience are going to do about it on the streets and in the voting booth. Blow on Mr. Blow!!
6
New about a fake president by definition is fake news. Is it not?
3
This so-called president is no Don Quixote, jousting at windmills. Don Quixote was respectful of women.
This so-called president is no Rubicon crossing Julius Caesar.
Caesar served with his troops, did his own dirty work.
This so-called president is no democracy burning Nero. Nero could play a musical instrument.
BUT this so-called president is LOVED by the mob. And that may b enough as good men and women stand by (as they did in Nazi Germany) and let evil reign.
VOTE.
21
And still, few in the mainstream media, including this publication, are afraid to call it what it is: Fascism.
10
Trump: the worst president in American History.
The worst there ever will be. Period.
We Americans living at this very moment will never forget these times. Stories will be told and passed down to generations for eons. Where were you during the Age of Trump? Where did you stand? And what did you do about it?
That's the question for the Ages.
For you, Mister Charles Blow. You were there when and where counted. You are on the right side of history.
I never expect to hear that you had an "off-the-record" meet and greet with this dictatorial demagogue. You know better.
God Bless You.
DD
Manhattan
9
Wow, "poltroon", you and Andrew Jackson characterizing your opponents
Well, Charles, you don't seem to be "afraid" or think of yourself as "weak, but you clearly display your being "egotistical" and readiness to 'attack'. The new definition of a "free press" is a media that's free to to sow and water the seeds of more discord and bullet-brained allegiance. We live in your new world where nothing gets done for anyone's cause. The press will be free when it frees us all to learn to work together. How do you think Trump got elected in the first place. Your ilk owns as much of this madness as those who elected him. You caused it.
3
@Lake Woebegon
We can't rely on the media or our government to be a catalyst for all of us to work together. We as citizens have to do it. The news media should report the news - the factual news. Government has a hard enough time doing what it's supposed to be doing (e.g., see our crumbling infrastructure). They don't have the ability to bring people together.
1
@ .RDC; Sad to say, we now live in a world where social media and the other media have established groupthink and we have become lemmings heading to our seas of discontent. We are a representative republic and the media plays a major role in elections and reelections. We, as citizens can't even talk together anymore, it's all screams and **** letter words. The catalyst for all of this discord is....guess who?
When Mr. Blow writes "The president’s recent rallies have come to resemble orgies for Donald Trump’s ego,..." etc., he's hitting the secondary points. These rallies are nothing other than an American version of the NAZI's Nuremberg rallies. Let's just be honest with ourselves about this. And then think about what needs to be done to put a stop to this. Waiting "for the mid-terms" is condemning more immigrants to attack, endangering women's right to abortion, and more.
And since some other op-ed columns in the NYTimes have not been open to comments, I'll say this about the columns bemoaning people "labeling" all the Trump voters as racist, misogynist, etc. Please, wake up! Trump is and was a known racist and misogynist (among other repugnant things). If you voted for him, what does that say about you? You cannot say "I just want America to be what it used to be." Because that America was build on slavery, genocide, Jim Crow and wars of plunder (how did Guantanamo become an American possession?). Those things I just listed are true. If you (or the NYTimes) don't want to admit that, you're using the same method and epistemology as Trump.
5
@Tom Two points, sir.
First, unless you have evidence for Mr. Muller that would get him to actually finish his investigation with indictments, the only alternative to waiting for the mid-terms is armed rebellion, a favored tactic of both left and right wing would be tyrants.
Second, we got Guantanamo after intervening to assist Cube in freeing itself from Spanish control, as a base to ensure that the Spanish could not return. Far from a war of plunder, this was a war of national liberation for the Cuban people in which we gave them necessary assistance.
1
Bravo, Mr. Blow!
Among the many points you made so cogently, so eloquently. . . .
. . .what stuck out was your remark about "Fake news." Bingo! Your remarks should be:
(1) shouted from the housetops.
(2) cried out in public streets and squares.
(3) published in every newspaper in America.
(4) reprinted as a letter or e-mail and sent speeding on its way to that massive desk in the Oval Office. . .
. .. where a certain stocky gentleman--an older man with very peculiar hair--sits scowling at the news. . . .
. .the news which is not--repeat, NOT--"fake news" but REAL news. . .REAL facts. . . .REAL truth. . . .
. . .but which he loathes and abhors because . . .because--
--because what?
Because its very EXISTENCE imperils, undermines a shaky world of virtual reality--a tottering world of "alternative facts"--in which that gentleman lives.
You are so right, Mr. Blow, when you speak of Mr. Trump "taking over"--absorbing--swallowing up the traditional Republican party. It makes me pause for a moment. A LONG moment.
My God! This was once the party of Nelson Rockefeller (New York). Charles Percy (Illinois). Mark Hatfield (Oregon). Not only that--these men at the time were called LIBERAL Republicans.
And we are now blessed with . . .with . . .with Paul Ryan. With Mitch McConnell.
Do you realize, you Republicans. . .
. . .do you realize what has HAPPENED to you?
Do you CARE?
Hello?
HELLO?
8
The long joke has always been you know when Trump is lying because his lips move. While mostly true, it's not completely accurate. Trump's whole life has been a lie. He lies just by breathing.
More fool those who stand by him because he would toss them to the wind once they have fulfilled their usefulness and are no longer needed. Their usefulness is enabling him to rape the country on their backs! What type of petty mind clings to the support of brigands and fools? Oh, that's right, a thuggish one; a bully and a coward.
Inside, he has to be one of the most miserable men on the planet. I mean, he has no friends, only fawning zealots hoping to grab a crumb. He's close to being the most despised human on the planet, and might yet reach that infamous plinth.
But hey, the press enabled him. They began doing it long ago to make money. Problem is, he actually then truly believed he was that brilliant because of all the adulatory propaganda the media afforded him. The media created this fool. Then America elected a cheap, chintzy brand name running the biggest scam in history. Why? Clearly because, collectively, Americans have proved themselves complacent idiots. Forgetting that democracy is something everyone has to work at, not just other people.
4
@James Devlin
I think maybe capitalism created this fool. Granted, it (capitalism) wasn't the playing field for a man with the best DNA, but a free market doesn't care too much about intelligence, compassion, or truthfulness. Most of all truthfulness.
Charles is right 45 is a psychopath. So what do we do about it besides agreeing, wringing our hands, and reading more columns like this? We have only one remedy and that is the vote. Vote. Vote. Vote. If we loose the midterms Charles and the rest of us who agree with him will be silenced. The GOP is nothing but a shell that is now filled with alt right psychopaths and their socoiopathic enablers. There is nothing more important now than the midterms. Our freedom and possibly our lives depend on them. Donate to Dems who can flip the House and Senate. Volunteer to help their campaigns. Vote as if you life depended on it, because it just may.
3
Bravo!
3
Mr. Blow you and others like you at the NYTimes are the reason I subscribe.
Great and true words as usual.
thank you
4
More of the same from Traitor Trump...
4
What a monster Fred Drumpt & Roy Cohn made . What could they have done to make such a totally damaged individual . They must have constantly told him what a piece of garbage he was to toughen him up & make him react by thinking that no , he was exceptional . Instead they’ve been proven right . He thought when he was president he would show everyone what a genius he was . Instead everyday he shows that he is a mindless idiot with no real knowledge of anything except how to bring out the hatred & anger he lives with in others . I feel sorry for him that he has to live with what he is within himself but sorryier that I & so many others have to live with it to .
10
The articles by Charles Blow and many others at the New York Times, Washington Post and other reputable media are brilliant and I want to see them all castigating D. Trump, removing the Emperor's new clothes and shining a very bright light on those dark crevices of our democracy.
However, what I really want to know is, when is this man going to be stopped. What is really being done to remove this despot from office? We are headed to autocracy as sure as you can say Hitler and yet those we elected to congress say or do anything.
17
Thank you Mr. Blow for continuing to expose the lunacy of our president and his administration
5
Or, as with #37, he's a crook. "Lock him up!"
2
"He is attacking the FBI as a whole."
How old ARE you, Charlie? I'm old enough to remember when the FBI, led by the crossdressing Hoover, was the enemy.
2
Bravo!
5
I loathe Trump and was sickened when we went from an outstanding President Obama to this sad, evil jerk. His increasing shrillness and lashing out as the Russian investigation continues is that of a cornered rat- that is a dangerous situation.
8
Poltroons?! Omg! Perfect.
4
spot on...
3
Trump's rallies don't so much resemble orgies for his ego as they do the whip-the-crowd-into-a-frenzy events held in Nuremburg in the 1930s. Torchlights? Check. Uniforms composed of shirts and hats? Check. Undisguised race hatred? Check. Vitriol and invective shouted in unison? Check. The only thing missing is a two-word rallying cry and a stiff-elbowed raised-arm salute. Oh, and one other thing — a night of vandalism, looting & arson accompanied by the sound of glass shattering.
The last time such a massive outbreak of nationalistic psychosis occurred, millions of innocent ordinary people were rounded up and systematically slaughtered. Among them were dozens of relatives I never knew.
While growing up in the 1960s & 1970s, I poo-pooed my parents' stories and their object lessons as residual paranoia. "It Can't Happen Here," I insisted, "this is America, after all." But they warned me... the veneer of civility, decency & humanity is thinner than you realize.
Now I see their wisdom far more clearly than ever before. Their advice back then had been "always have a valid passport, in case you need to flee," "don't wait _too_ long," and "learn, learn, learn." For "they" — whomever "they" are — might confiscate my books and my other worldly possessions, but "they" can never, ever, strip away the knowledge in my mind nor the character of my soul.
20
Time for a new hat: Make America Great Again--Dump Trump
6
There’s nothing newsworthy to report at his rallies anymore. The featured performer is a willfully ignorant, borderline-illiterate, walking personality disorder verbally defecating his tired greatest hits for America’s trash. The press should ignore them. Stop giving these useless cretins the only thing they want, which is attention. It isn’t worth the safety of even one journalist, which is in jeopardy any time they are in proximity to these violent mobs and the reprobate who pulls their strings.
13
VERY, VERY weak.
1
This is year 157 of our Civil War. It has never ended. How close are those mobs to lynching Jim Acosta? As close as the nearest sturdy tree. Trump validates white supremacists. He is one of them. It is a visceral relationship.
10
The use of the word "orgy" is apt, I think, more apt than we may all realize. His rallies are porn for his ego, and if we can break it down like that it shines a new light on them. He is addicted this porn, and like anyone with a porn addiction it will just keep getting worse.
8
It is ironic to be thinking at a tme like this that we are fortunate to have a diverse multicultural society. It acts as a check on nationalistic movements like Trump's. It's only in a monocultural society like Germany (prior to 1945) that a charismatic leader like Hitler could take over all bridles of political power. If this epoch doesn't turn out very badly, we will owe the failure of Trump to take that kind of control to the structure of our constitution and the diversity of our society.
58
@paulpotts You really think so? Who stopped the incarceration of thousands of immigrant families and the separation of the children from their parents? NOBODY. Wake up.
4
@paulpotts
I agree that our multicultural society may throw a few roadblocks in trump's way as he deconstructs our democracy and it branches of government.
But as bad a business owner as trump appears to have been, he has finally found his niche as an effective demagogue. He may be so effective that he, with GOP blessing, will "take over all bridles of political power."
2
Hitler shouldn't have been logically able to rise to power either. He was morally bankrupt; yet he was willing to do and say unspeakable things for personal profit and pride. He won the adulation he craved by scapegoating and murdering Jews, gays, immigrants, foreigners, the poor, and the disabled. He made his pathetic followers feel powerful by attacking those who were weak or were surprised that they were no longer considered part of the nation. We are all vulnerable to propaganda, repetition of lies, fear of violence and losing our livelihoods, freedoms, families, and lives. His jackboots are to be feared and called out, even if his rallies and the violence he incites is pathetic. Trump has no real beliefs, which makes him dangerous. If his position or money is threatened, I'll bet we'll find ourselves in phoney war, because that's what weak would-be dictators do. And if the economy tanks, you better believe, it will be anybody's fault but his.
148
@Dr. Conde
What is most perplexing is Trump's rise to power during one of the longest economic booms in modern times, albeit a slow but very steady recovery that did not raise all boats equally, and still doesn't nearly 2 years into Trump's presidency. The post-recession period also occurred in a relative lull in international military engagements, compared to that in the G W Bush era. If Germany had been in a similar situation in the 1920's and had experienced a long period of democracy with an effective, constitutionally empowered government, Hitler would not have risen from the ashes of the post-WW I disaster. Germany was not only defeated, but dismembered by the allies. It suffered huge unemployment, hyperinflation, political turmoil in a spectrum ranging from communism to fascism overseen by the weak Weimar republic. Hitler took advantage of the despair and confusion of that era by promising the MAGA equivalent of MGGA, as Germany had seen much better times in its pre-war past. At the time of the 2016 elections, we in the US had experienced a steady 8 year comeback from turbulent times, yet a large fraction of our voters fell for Trump's propaganda that we were living in the worst of times, which only HE could fix it.
1
@Dr. Conde That was one of Hitler's strengths versus other political organizations rivaling his. The kind of person who swore fealty to the Nazi party was largely a matter of indifference to him. All he needed was their fealty (although he would turn on some of them eventually, once have attained absolute power). Michael Shirer in his seminal work 'The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich' makes this point at length.
Trump - relying as he does on a much more exclusive group of committed supporters - will most likely fail to achieve anything like the power that Hitler did. Trump excludes much too large a portion of American society to succeed in the long run.
Also, despite the failure of the Republican party to grow a spine, American institutions are holding up much better than did the Weimar Republic of Hitler's time. Weimar was cobbled together by the Allied powers with little thought to the concept of balance of powers in government, opening the door for a demagogue in the executive branch.
Finally, having no experience of democracy in their history, German voters seemed to accept the concept that a candidate whose "platform" included overthrow of the government was "okay", so long as he won the vote (albeit only by a plurality).
Trump, in his way, campaigned and is governing on somewhat the same principle: changing government to the extent of essentially "overthrowing" it, but that won't work.
Take heart, fellow citizens.
Could this be it? That Russia thing?
According to former KGB officer, Yuri Bezmenov, the KGB playbook called for “making intelligence assets” out of “useful idiots.” That is to say, out of American politicians who are further characterized as “greedy, egomaniacal, who lack moral principles, and who suffer from exaggerated self-importance.”
5
AMEN.
6
Trump is an ignoramus.
Trump is a demagogue.
Trump is a con man.
Trump is a bigot.
Trump is a narcissist.
Trump is a sociopath.
Trump is a liar (on a scale that is utterly off-the-charts).
And yes, under all this bombastic and psychopathic behavior, Trump is a small, scared, pathetic little boy. The person who is being conned the most by Trump is Trump himself. It's all an act to convince himself that he's strong - when in reality he is pathetically weak. Charles, you hit the bullseye with this observation.
And like all insecure bigots and megalomaniacs who fear deep down that they're really the inferior ones - Trump is one thing above all:
TRUMP IS A BULLY.
Trump is also the President of the United States.
Which means that we are one very frightened, ignorant, bigoted and sick nation.
Not all of us, but enough of us to poison the entire Body Politic and bring such shame upon ourselves as a nation that it may take a century to undo the damage to both our nation and our global reputation as a largely "benevolent" superpower deserving of respect and admiration.
Trump proves every day that America is no longer a "great" nation by any rational or internationally accepted standard.
Instead, America is now seen by the rest of the world as a vindictive, pugilistic, racist, sadistic bully on the world stage.
Thanks to Trump, America is now small, weak, tribal, delusional and dangerous. Whatever claim to "Greatness" America may once have had died on November 9, 2016.
7
Spot on, Mr. Blow...the madness of "King Trump"!
2
Who reading here has ever seen Hitler’s 1930s rallies?
Eerie resemblance !
11
I have just finished reading Madeleine Albright's book on fascism and am totally convinced Trump is a distorted, 21st century reincarnation of Mussolini and Hitler. His need for cheering crowds and his hatred for truth and a free press are even more terrifying to me now. Please Mr. Blow keep up the focus on the weakness and insecurity of this madman we have in the White House.
5
Charles, if Trump wasn't born to a racist parent, he could do lot of good deeds in his life and maybe could go to heaven which is totally impossible now for a racist man of his stature.
Although it's just a dream but if Trump could rent his apartments when he was 21 years old to all the Americans irrespective of the color of their skin,maybe we could give him a pass for his 4,000+ lies as president which everyone except millions of his ignorant leeches think he won without Russian help.
But the fact is he didn't. Trump clearly told his property managers in the 60's New York not to show his apartments to any African Americans or to any other minorities but to only White Christian and Jewish families.
The same man, while owning casinos in Atlantic Cty, NJ,told his White managers to herd all the Black and minority casino employees and patrons and put them in the smoky inner windowless rooms so that his rich White and Jewish patrons did not have to see any Black or minorities in his business properties.
We also saw how this totally racist president openly challenged our last president's validity as an American citizen just because our country's first Black president's father was born in Kenya.
And now after he became the president by dividing the country by spreading hatred and hysteria against immigrants and Muslims while taking unending help from our enemy country's dictator,Putin,a totally racist Trump is trying to spread divisive propaganda to win again.
Go figure !
9
I always assumed the face of nihilistic radicalism was some 20 year old kid in riot helmet throwing a molotov cocktail. In fact, it's a geriatric, portly white mom and pop wearing stupid red hates and shouting FAKE EVERYTHING.
8
Amen.
2
Beware thinking that Trump is on the defensive. He is playing offense and playing it to a constituency that adores his..."they don't like me, they don't want me...which is all the more reason you should," whine-a-thon.
He is playing the pre-Chancellor Hitler-as underdog-game...including the "I'm the only one who can fix what's wrong,"-game that is building the kind adoration we see reflected in the way he can do NO wrong (shoot someone in 5th Ave?).
This is a dangerous stew.
6
Mr Blow. hope your blood pressure is a little lower by now!
Before I read your article, when I first saw the headline, I thought it was about you, Mr. Blow.
1
Free propoganda? Could that charge possibly be turned around at times toward you Mr. Blow? Has there been anything else you've written about since the election, other than attacking our President? I'm looking through the archives and can't see it.
1
@SecondChance Not my president.
This rabid minority led by an increasingly deranged traitor is tyrannizing the rest of us.
When will this national nightmare end?
7
(Charles, off-topic, but...)
AG/Dean, ever considered inviting Obama to join your BoD - esp since a slot might be coming up shortly...
Before either of you or he rolls your eyes - go look at Al Gore's and Apple's history, in the 15 years since Jobs invited Gore to join...
The hate-filled paranoia and imaginings I read every week coming from Mr. Blow, the New York Times editorial board and their followers is starting to remind me of the rabid anti-Semites of 19th and early 20th century Europe...a disease of dangerous resentment that can only too easily turn violent and deadly. Sober up people.
1
A perfect description of the Trump presidency.
2
Attacking is what Blow does. What does that say about him?
1
@Jackson If Blow is in your opinion attacking, what exactly do you call what trump is doing?
3
@Jackson
Because standing up to bigotry, lies and deception is no better than being a bigot, liar and deceiver. Is that your point?
2
And you read his column. What does that say about you?
1
I was just reading the news ( in NZ) and the report about the Tampa Florida rally and this weird "Q" thing. Something that is very disturbing and worrying about Trump and these rallies is that he gives these complete idiots, who want and choose to think like morons and believe utter garbage, validity. That is very scary.
9
Trump's rallies don't so much resemble orgies for his ego as they do the whip-the-crowd-into-a-frenzy events held in Nuremburg in the 1930s. Torchlights? Check. Uniforms composed of shirts and hats? Check. Undisguised race hatred? Check. Vitriol and invective shouted in unison? Check. The only thing missing is a two-word rallying cry and a stiff-elbowed raised-arm salute. Oh, and one other thing — a night of vandalism & looting accompanied by the sound of glass shattering.
The last time such a massive outbreak of national psychosis occurred, millions of innocent ordinary people were rounded up and systematically slaughtered. Among them were dozens of relatives I never knew.
While growing up in the 1960s & 1970s, I poo-pooed my parents' stories and their object lessons as residual paranoia. "It Can't Happen Here," I insisted, "this is America, after all." But they warned me... the veneer of civility, decency & humanity is thinner than you realize.
Now I see their wisdom far more clearly than ever before. Their advice back then had been "always have a valid passport, in case you need to flee," "don't wait _too_ long," and "learn, learn, learn." For "they" — whomever "they" are — might take away my books and my other worldly possessions, but "they" can never, ever, take away the knowledge in my mind & the character of my soul.
6
Look, the media made this moron into a national figure. The guy was/is morally bankrupt and was financially as well. Yet, he was given a forum, first locally in New York City by the tabloids, then nationally by all sorts of media outlets, the culmination being NBC's "The Apprentice" which he hosted.
He has/had absurd opinions of where Obama was born, whether or not someone is fat, Iraq war, trade and on and on. The outrageous things he has tweeted would have resulted in Twitter suspending the account, if it was done by anyone else. Twitter should have suspended his account long before he became POTUS, but they didn't.
So, here we are, a moron as our president, thanks mainly to the media. Very hard to put this repulsive genie back in the bottle, isn't it?
3
The American press needs to stop covering, 7/24
every wing nut rally,
every toilet tweet,
every Constitutional violation,
and every lie that comes from Mr. Donald Trump.
14
@Steven of the Rockies
We get that even with the foreign press, though not as much.
I agree with you that it is a source of great stress and headache for the US and the world, and that it validates this idiot's strategy to always be under the spotlight. On the other hand ignoring what the man with the nuclear capacity to destroy 2 planets Earth says seems... risky.
2
@Steven of the Rockies No. Remember, democracy really does die in darkness. We cannot censor the news - that goes for all of it, not just Trump's idea of what should be silenced or your being offended by Trump's tweets. The press has the obligation to report on all of what the president says and does, even if you don't like it.
3
@Steven of the Rockies
Whether covered by the press or not, every utterance of this vulgarian is part of the historical record now. It's tempting to want to turn away from all this ugliness. It's exhausting to be perpetually assaulted by it. But turning away is an abdication of our responsibility. Besides, he sprinkles those toilet tweets with written confessions of his crimes and misdemeanors.
In the end the truth will out! He may not be silenced, but he will be ousted.
1
There's no "may have been compromised" about it, Charles. The evidence is pouring in every day of his corrupt campaign, and #45 is obstructing-by-tweet almost daily. Those videos of Trumpbots shouting down, cursing, threatening the press is one of the ugliest things I've ever seen done by Americans. Equally insane and dangerous are these "QAnon" bimbos and their "deep state conspiracy" theories. Hard to believe they're adults, but that's what the GOP electorate has turned into. They're Nazis, really, no question. Very alarming that such "national socialist" psychos exist in considerable numbers here. Reminiscent of Hitler's Munich putsch.
4
Brilliant but we all know this already. So you are preaching to the converted. Unfortunately the haters will never read this because NYT is to them the worst
Of the fake news. How to reach these deaf blind and dumb?
11
What a horrible life this man has lived: lying, cheating, and stealing are the basic building blocks of his character. A man of base interests, venomous hatred and unfathomable shallowness. A hideous monstrosity and barely what most would call a human being. Human Slag.
34
He's a circus clown, plain and simple.
A crazy one.
6
Do you have any other subject you write about ? It appears as though you are so fixated on Trump that you didn't notice the parade going by. Relax, take a deep, put your feet up and realize that no matter how much Chicken Little screamed that the sky was falling, remember, it really wasn't.
2
Don't Rant, Vote.
8
I wonder if the main-stream media would be ready to blacklist his rallies. Just don't cover them. Don't show up. Make a statement.
I know he would hate it. He secretly craves their attention, their approbration.
7
@Priya S It cannot happen entirely, because he is POTUS. But his most recent rally was covered live only by Fox News.
1
Amen.
4
Hitler's Playbook for the New Fascists
The psychotic masses staring adoringly at Der Trumpster''
Let us remember that Adolf Hitler was elected president of Germany. Through intimidation and murder he used the Jewish people as a target for religious persecution. They were murdered and imprisoned. The "liberal" part of Germany was demonized. Armed brown shirts roamed the streets murdering Jews, liberals and homosexuals. Racial superiority of the "Aryan" race was resurrected from Germany mythology. The Reichstag fire provided the alibi for the seizing of constitutional power. The German military swore allegiance to Hitler and not to Germany's democratic constitution. The German courts and jurists supported the seizure of power. We now see Neil Gorsuch is a supreme court justice through a constitutional coup d'état executed by Mitch "Heinrich Himmler" McConnell. Gorsuch lacks the moral integrity to know that he occupies a seat on the court that has no legitimacy. He now executes the right wing agenda with the members of the federalist society on the SC.
Remember, Goebbels said "If you repeat a lie often enough, people will accept it as the truty.
Heil Trumper!
10
When did character and morality disappear from the list that we use to evaluate potential candidates for office? Seems like eons ago. It's been mentioned many times; the public knew exactly who and what DJT is. Unimportant. Why? Non-stop books and academic papers will will roll off the presses for years attempting to answer this question.
6
Charles, thank you for sharing your razor-sharp observations. I am deeply concerned that the moderating forces by many government leaders in all major US political parties has been sidelined & subdued by their own actions. Our Senators & Representatives are elected to serve us. Limiting their primary communication about the wide spectrum of complex social & political issues currently facing our nation to FACEBOOK & Twitter disempowers the effectiveness of the American democracy. It’s not just Donald Trump who is inappropriately & ineffectively using social media to converse with American constituents. Take my senator. Although her communication style is more adult, respectful & honest, Senator Amy Klobuchar continues to focus & increasingly limit her responses to Minnesotans to FACEBOOK & Twitter. Although she is more responsible & committed to the citizens she represents, many of Senator Klobuchar's responses to Minnesotans have been reduced to simplistic “Marketing Messages”. These tactics do little to inform, educate or serve the people she was elected to represent. Many of our elected officials embrace this communication strategy. The result? The opportunity for in-depth discussions as well as critical thinking about important issues evaporates into thin air. Meanwhile, FACEBOOK and Twitter increase their profits through mining the data entered & selling the data they gather to the highest bidders. The American People from all political parties deserve better.
17
Charles. How'd you do it? Not one mention of narcissism or the word "lie"! Amazing!
Chrles, your every paragraph is profoundly true, but please stop talking as much about this man. He's becoming like an evil force, sucking the air and energy from everything else.
2
Watching Trump's maniacal supporters at rallies, like this week in FL, is frightening on many levels. Simply realizing that so many people are ignorant and angry is unsettling. The Qanon phenomenon may be the most troubling of all.
I am among the dwindling few who believes justice will prevail and - whether impeachment, indictment or election - Trump will be removed from office and some semblance of our civil democracy (albeit plutocratic) will be restored.
But their will be hell to pay. These zealots, although perhaps not significantly greater in number than in prior years, have been empowered and mutually vindicated. Their delusions and hatred will not be dissipated by Trump's removal. For at least some time, they will be armed and vicious. Our institutions must ready themselves for that near certainty.
In the meanwhile, I await with dread the also inevitable murders of a few journalists. These cretins are indeed convinced that the free press is the enemy of the people and a few will seek martyrdom in the service of their insanity.
10
@Barking Doggerel "there" not "their" Ugh. I hate typos
What a pounding on Trump's willful stupidity. All true, by the way, even if incomplete, as this ugly American in-chief is a distinct bully (a coward in disguise) abusing the power of the presidency...with what it seems the full consent of the republican party, and certainly of a thoughtless, ignorant and prejudiced 'base', the latter being exploited by demagogue Trump to it's full and shameless extent. As Nazi propaganda chief Goebbles used to say: "Lie often and lie big, so it becomes, by sheer repetition, the dogma truth" (actually, he said: "A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth"). Trump is so corrupt, and seemingly proud of it, that corruption is being spelled T-R-U-M-P .
4
Charles Blow should read Arthur Brooks column about taking the time for a political cleanse from now until at least the end of the summer. Charles Blow is letting himself be totally engulfed and devoured by a horrible disease called Trumpus Obsessiveness. The only temporary cure is go cold turkey on politics and Donald Trump for a little while. If anyone desperately needs a political cleanse it's Charles Blow.
1
Way to go, Mr. Blow!
Yes, the media has given Trump free time on the airwaves to push his propaganda on a daily basis from the instant he entered the presidential campaign over three years ago.
Today's Washington Post has determined that in the 558 days of his presidency Trump has made 4,229 false or misleading claims averaging 7.6 per day!
And the media blasts out these absurdities as though they are newsworthy - labeling them "breaking news" - in many cases without immediately noting how many of these statements are outright falsehoods.
Couple this with the newest incursion into insanity - the reporting on QAnon that has made headlines since Trump's Florida "rally" on Tuesday - and we have the highlighting of the next wave of paranoid hysteria to encroach upon our political perspectives.
It is notable that Trump has clearly learned from the leader of Third Reich in the 1930s, as he stated:
- “All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach.”
- “Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round, to consider the most wretched sort of life as paradise.”
May the voting public find our way out of this hellish quagmire in November by kicking Trump's spineless GOP minions out of office!
17
Donald Trump is following in the footsteps of Adolf Hitler.
I know. It's not "cool" [yet] to compare the two. But the parallels are obvious.
Why not dig around in your attic or basement, and resurrect that moth-eaten copy of Shirer's *Rise and Fall of the Third Reich*? You'll see right away, that what happened in Germany is beginning to happen right here in America, right now.
Don't be, "academically proud"! Better to face facts, than to be very, very sorry, later on.
7
These aren’t rallies so much as KKK gatherings. Except these days, they’re not shamed enough for white hoods. And POTUS is the Grand Wizard. We should annex Idaho and send them all there and he can bask in their idiocy forever, away from patriotic Americans.
11
Yep.
3
Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.
--Donald Trump, President of America
Is Donald Trump a real person? If you prick him does he bleed? If you tickle him, will he laugh?
Of the many words Mr. Trump fails to understand, 'fake,' is the word he understands least. He uses it to mean “untrue.”
Never meant to be believed as real, always understood as fake, Shakespeare’s plays were performed in front of a full universe of people. Queen, salesman, noble, serf, dude and dudette--anyone capable of human buzz was there. Think of it as the first time the world could stand together and say:
Hey, that up there? You see that? That’s all fake.
Shakespeare is Descartes with props. That is fake, therefore I must be.
The news may be untrue, Mr. President, but you are happening and we are seeing you happen.
We find some truths to be self-evident, Mr. President. The poverty of your act, for one. You can’t play tough guy or lover, swing zero regular guy cred.
Your incompetence off stage is another. You and your supporters revel in Dionysian frolic, in that theatrical (fake) space where James Bond shoots people with aplomb and world domination is a fun game. You mewl and puke, think yourself the king of infinite space.
But outside of N. Korea and Russia and such, the show must end, the unfake world demands its due, and the work of governance requires those who can distinguish fake from untrue.
5
I am so amazed and entertained by all the comments by people who are so butt hurt by Trump. What did he do to them? Tell some lies? So what! It all started when I watched Judy Woodruff on PBS go simply apoplectic when it slowly sunk in that one liar had lost to another! I love watching Judy slowly understand that Crooked Hilliary had just splatted face first on national television and her liberal social warrior glass ceiling entitlement for more entitlement had gone with her!
I love it that so many liberals and Dims are so upset with Trump!
Oh yeah Mr. Blow your column is fake opinion! Do you spend all week each and every week thinking of a column to critique Trump? Trump drives the discussion, he is the conversation and touchstone.
You know what the best thing about Trump is?
He is not BO or Hilliary!
6
@Pogo
You need to read "Angry White Men" by Michael Kimmel, a serious book that explains Trump's base instead of disqualifying all of you as ignorant, hoodwinked jerks. There is a fascinating difference between what is real and what is true--and the author does not insult the real complaints of Trump's base but he does point out that those perceptions of the world are not necessarily real. By the way, there is no such thing as a fake opinion.
63
Let me recommend Charles Sykes' column on Trumpists, nihilism, and ressentiment to you.
The basic argument is that Trumpists believe in nothing, except ther hatreds and their angers. They'd be happy to see this country go down, if it meant that lib'ruls like me feel pain.
He's right, looks like. And by the way, Sykes is a right-wing conservatve.
14
Bravo Pogo, well said!
Blow is obsessed with Trump.
He would have given a free pass to anything Obama did, or Hillary. Slavish devotion ain't pretty in the news staff.
2
Everyone eschews using Nazi terminology, but Trump's profile and actions mirror Hitler's.
8
The latest Trump rally in Tampa Florida, used the same exact camera angle, used by most all Trump political rallies so far in the last 2 years or more.
The camera angle reveals either one or two black men positioned just behind, and off, Trump's right shoulder, smiling, waving a sign. Red hats with the words "MAGA" attack our eyes. A few attractive well-dressed white women usually sit prominently nearby with shining white teeth, hair bleached blond. Disgusting verbal attacks on the press fill the background noise.
The media manipulation is evident --- it's not a news story.
It's a morally-bankrupt media-manipulation spectacle.
Contemplate this.
The other day, New Yorker editor David Remnick posted online the following brief historical summary of the larger problem:
" . . . Steve Bannon, once Trump’s chief ideologist, put the matter well earlier this year when he told Michael Lewis, “We got elected on Drain the Swamp, Lock Her Up, Build a Wall,” he said. (Bannon continued) “This was pure anger. Anger and fear is what gets people to the polls.” Bannon added, “The Democrats don’t matter. The real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit.”
That's what con-man Trump is delivering to America.
We're being hijacked and attacked from within the halls of power. The free press must continue to reveal this great sham.
It's not P.T Barnum. It's the media-zone.
The deplorables are being schmoozed by a con-man.
8
So true! Free broadcasting of the Alice in Wonderland politics as practiced extensively by the right for at least the last decade.
Trump has capitalized on a process that sucks the dissenters in by making them think that if they stick with him equality will mean that being white in America means you are the dominate race. A government that can openly distinguish that fact with no fear of retaliation. Trump for all intent and purpose represents the party of selfish racist fear mongering haters.
92
Mr. Blow, I am not a Trump fan (at all), but your repeated attacks on him is boring, repetitive, and strengthens his base. Relentless media outcry about him is also driving marginal Trump supporters into his camp.
I would rather you offer some prescriptive remedies for what you see the US needs to accomplish, in a bipartisan fashion (which is the only way they will get done), than continued outcry over the Presidency of Donald Trump and the Republican Party. It get's us nowhere.
I am a moderate Republican, and I know we have issues, but let's focus on solutions rather than just crying about what happened.
8
The solution, of course, is to vote out this ignorant lout and the republicans who stand by as he tears apart our beautiful country.
5
@Mark Arizmendi Ok, I'll bite. Here's a prescriptive remedy: Dump Trump and all that support him.
As far as Trump's base goes, they are beyond redemption for now, so I'm not worried about them. What I do worry about are the people that, for one reason or another, don't vote.
I am always happy to see Trump get whomped on, but I pretty much agree: at some point, I read Charles Blow and start thinking about reaction formation.
1
I urge the NYT, WaPO, NPR, PBS, CNN, the major networks, et al, to announce that they will no longer cover Trump’s campaign rallies until the menacing stops. We already know Trump and much of his base are sick in the head-what will be the sense in reiterating this point several times a week while the reporters are exposed to such abuse?
14
It boggles the mind that there is such a thing as a "Trump rally" at this point in his administration. Has any sitting president ever held a "rally" until the reelection campaign has actually begun, months before the election? Not two years before, or in Trump's case, actually FOUR years before, as soon as he was inaugurated?
20
@Patricia Trump needs to feed the blood thirsty ego beast that controls him.
1
I long for the day that the Times prints a story about the current GOP Administration without a photo of our Chief Egotist.
20
@Don
That's a great idea! Or just add a tiny thumbnail size photo at the bottom of the article.
1
@Don Daily coverage of his grandstanding, lies, and misdirection is tiresome. All photos of #LIARinchief should be deleted. We all would be spared seeing 'that guy' and it would ire him to no end. A win-win!
Analogies with the Tump Administration continue to increase by degree. For example, its most recent actions, Trump's dangerous, 'threatening' of our 'press representatives' at this weeks political rally in Florida, earily mirror what the world witnessed during the 1930's. The alarm then, across Europe must have evoked reactions on both sides of the political and social spectrums much like the reactions to Trump's behavior at this rally across our own country immediately following the Florida rally.
You throw in the remarks by Sarah Huckabee Sanders at a follow-up press briefing just a day after the rally, and one can easily associate with what Europeans were exposed to after some of the rallies they witnessed during those alarming times in Europe.
11
It's all well and good that Trump is criticized on a daily basis because he deserves it. However, we can't get rid of him until we have a party that will fight him. What about the Democrats? A couple of years ago all we heard was how the Republican Party was falling apart. That didn't come true, did it? It's the Democratic Party that has fallen apart and I don't see it coming back any time soon. Half of America seems to want a dictatorship and half want a democracy. The Democratic Party had better stand up for the latter group, or we're finished as a democratic republic.
16
Mr. Blow, you and your colleagues are the Press. If you continue to print propaganda’ “he is attacking...”, rather than facts, then that is what will be read. Perhaps the responsibility for maintaining the integrity of a free press begins with you.
1
@FNL. Please remove your head from the sand. Trump IS attacking the things that Mr. Blow has listed.
3
Sad, but well said, Mr. Blow!
12
These rallies that pump up the already over-inflated ego balloon that is our president are as vile as the Nuremberg rallies. I don't understand how your next door neighbors in a quiet suburb can go from a backyard cookout to screaming like maniacs, believing in idiocy like we have seen lately. Waving the flag like they are the only real Americans. Cussing like sailors because they are the only true Christians. Hating people because of their skin color, their religion, their deeply-held political beliefs? This has got to stop.
19
@TrumpLiesMatter Perhaps someone is paying some people to insight?
Charles Blow is obsessed with Trump. Sadly, not one of the truthful and intelligent points he raises in his columns wil change anything. All Mr. Blow is succeeding at doing is using precious space in the NY Times to give free publicity to Trump, providing ammunition to his deplorable supporters, and adding to the psychological damage everyone else is experiencing daily by the constant barrage of depressingly negative content from which it is nearly impossible to escape. Please, Charles, find a better, more productive way to communicate your ideas and opinions.
Even among the countless recent articles accurately analyzing this nightmare that our country finds ourselves stuck in, this editorial is amazingly insightful, perceptive and honest. Every demagogue from Hitler to Milošević has pushed the same vulnerable buttons in human nature for their own selfish goals. Never in my wildest dreams did I ever ever ever think it could happen in the "Shining City on the Hill". The rest of the world is equally bewildered. VOTE!!!!
33
Perfectly accurate Mr. Blow, thank you. The sad fact that's difficult to accept is how large a percentage of the US still approves of this weak, racist, corrupt, bully.
13
The Zombie Apocalypse is real. Trump Republicans are its horde.
8
The press should stop showing up and covering his rallies. Maybe send one pool reporter in case he manages to say something of substance
12
@Thom I have, for some time, felt this was a good idea. Trump craves attention and if the press is not there to give it to him, it may have a positive effect.
5
It is time to start advocating for the dissolution of the united failed states, Mr. Blow. There is no other solution to the fraud that america has become, as you will again learn in November.
#calexit
5
"This wannabe authoritarian needs two scoops." Ah, I had forgotten that personality-defining tidbit: when Trump has an upscale dinner with allies or minions, he requires two scoops of ice cream, while the others only get served one.
"Donny Two-Scoops" — a great mafia nickname, doncha think?
10
Trump practices the politics of revenge and his supporters love it. Nothing is ever their fault - it's always some one else to blame. These white voters blame gays, blacks, foreigners, Democrats, the press, and on and on. The irony is this is the party of personal responsibility but many of these ardent supporters don't feel responsible for their own miserable lives. Trump has played these people superbly well. Hopefully the grown ups will all vote this fall and begin to right this listing ship. Our country is in pathetic shape because of Trump and his crazy band of followers.
29
Charles mentions an orgy and I think this is apt. his past habits show a propensity to a desire for orgies, he craves the adulation of a sex master. But it`s all fake. That is why he has to revel in public, drawing crowds to rant and sway to his ministrations. he now has an almost secret cult trying to find the inner meaning to his ministrations. All this is due to his inability to perform, perform to his own expectations, he secretly knows he is a failure, a fake, and so he promotes a fake image of a savior when he is nothing but a golden idol, a Baal to have people dance and chant around. An image with out substance. A vampire whose bite will enslave you. Look at the revelers who gather for his orgies. Slaves to his and their own fake imaginations.
8
When you elect a devil, you get chaos. If Trump isn't the devil incarnate, he is the runner up. I hope we survive this episode of hate and insanity.
10
He attacks everyone except Mr. Putin. Enough said.
9
This is dead on. He loves the applause and will say anything to get it, and that anything is in the form angry victimhood.
6
Trump is an extreme narcissist who cannot tolerate any criticism.
Trump’s mentor, the vicious Roy Cohn taught him to counterattack with double the force of his opponents.
Trump combines these displays of mental illness and fear with the teachings of the Dictators Handbook: Chapter One- Eliminate the power of the free press and replace it with Lies (Trump Tweets) and Propaganda (Fox/Breitbart).
Bottom line: Trump is a sick wannabe Dictator.
9
Trump cannot be beaten or stopped because he is shameless and does not care about any one except himself. On a good note, however, Trump is the only one who can get rid of Trump and that is very likely to happen.
89
Trump makes me ache down to my bones. The sight of him gives me waves of nausea. The sound of his voice makes me gasp for air. He is an incubus, who has slithered his way into the collective bed of the US, taking our health, joy and well-being.
I try to look away, but I can't. He's everywhere, all the time. Every word he speaks, every letter he tweets, is an assault on all that is true and good.
13
Charles Blow is the one whose words will pave the way for the end of Trump's presidency. He is unmasking the clown and making plain for all to see the true nature of Trump and his minions. I follow your lead Charles.
13
Every tweet is published. Even the MSM gives him a platform. Why? He’s both conniving and insane, so why give him that?!
6
Raised in the deep south when Jim crow was ascendant it has been a long journey towards enlightenment. But the last few years it seems I have woke up from a fog I did not realize existed. It certainly was and is worst than it looks. This piece really strips away the veil so we can look at what is actually in many peoples hearts.
12
What would we do without journalists like you?
...we'd be in deep trouble.
Thank you for your persistent fight against this cruel felon.
26
'It is simply not healthy for the country to have a President (or a journalist come to that ) stuck perpetually in attack mode, ... pushing a toxic agenda that mixes the exaltation of grievance and the grinding of axes.' But Mr Blow this perfectly describes your journalistic outpourings. If this is not the case please give an example of one of your articles that was not indulging in the exhilaration of anti-Trump bile. If your headline is not the blush inducing alliteration of Traitor Treason Treachery, then it is the scary caps of Afraid? Weak? Egotistical? But hey, it is a free press, however that does not mean it is balanced.
@Contrarian
Without fearless journalists like Charles M. Blow, the nonsensical bile being spewed by all from the Conservative side would become truth just because they are unrebutted. Rush Limbaugh, Dennis Prager, Fox News and all the many sources of completely untruthful "news" would continue to push opinions, opinions which they are loathe to defend with anything more than anecdotal evidence, and that only occasionally, as facts. Just the other day I heard Mr. Prager spend better than ten minutes of precious air time belittling the left as having no moral compass. His evidence for this was that because they don't believe in God, they can not have a base of morality. Now, I need to state here that I am a man of faith, my belief in God is unshakable, but also explainable to anyone who does not already share it, because I can't prove his/her existence with any scientific evidence. But my belief does not lead me to the conclusion that those who do not share with me are ipso facto without morality.
Sir, your comment might lead to the belief that the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C. isn't "stuck perpetually in attack mode," Well, that simply is not true!
2
@Contrarian
We have a president "stuck perpetually in attack mode," "pushing a toxic agenda." It is Mr. Blow's job to call attention to the daily onslaught of Trump's malignant and criminal administration — until we're rid of it. Mr. Blow is a patriot, I'm grateful for his tenacity.
2
The proverbial nail on the head, Mr. Blow. But the larger issue is that all this vomiting of loyalty as the litmus test for a patriot is simply a warning- everything he does and says is exactly what every other baby autocrat has done throughout history. Little by little we believe the lies becoming truths, and before we know it, we have lost all control, and answer only to the state. Madeleine Albright (Fascism- a warning) quotes a German Citizen from the 1930s which is so chilling as to make one cringe:
"And one day, too late, your principles, if you were ever sensible to them, all rush in upon you. The burden of self-deception has grown too heavy, and some minor incident, in my case my little boy, hardly more than a baby, saying 'Jewswine.,' collapses it all at once, and you see that everything, everything, has changed and changed completely, under your nose.
Time to start cringing.
23
Yes indeed, Trump continues the abasement of the office of the President with his unbridled, hysterical and ridiculous claims about fake news, Mueller conspiracy theories, immigrants pouring over the borders, on and on. He feeds on the premeditated bile of his comments and the reaction they elicit his base.
Each time, with more and more smugness ( if that's possible) he ratchets it up just a little high and then sits back and anecdotally measures the response. If it works, he stokes the flames. No one has ever tried this maneuver but it does seem to be working. One need only watch a rally where the crowd goes wild when Trump makes one ridiculous claim after another.
But it's all a distraction. Trump-uses the Office of the President to keep the home fires burning, and his followers hooting sand hollering their support, wearing their MAGA hats, Trump's self serving architects of greed are chipping away at the US Treasury. Most recently, he is considering a ridiculous and probably illegal plan to index circumvent Congress and allow investors to index capital-gains taxes to inflation, costing roughly $100 billion tax cut over the next 10 years, with much of the benefit going to wealthier Americans. These changes are complicated, will not benefit his unemployed and underemployed ,yet hopeful followers as he drives the country off one cliff after another.
It's winner take all with Trump and he is trying to "get it while the gettin is good".
11
does anybody with a working brain still believe that Mr. T is not a dangerous, crazy man without scruples, morals, knowledge, and intelligence?? Does anybody with a working brain still think that all those "Trump Supporters" at his rallies with their printed shirts and signs include no paid actor/agitators whose job it is to lead the cheers and chants? Not only did he hire actors for his infamous Trump Tower announcement tossing his hat into the ring, but the use of actors is a seemingly crazy idea repeated by right wing crazies like Anne Coulter, et al. Where could they have gotten such an idea??
And WHY WHY WHY do any of the Press show up at his rallies or "Press Conferences" to be abused and lied to??
30
It's only a matter of time before his rhetoric spews forth the next Timothy McVeigh.
23
I suspect that it already has. They just haven't killed a bunch of kids yet.
3
School assignment for today.
Describe Donald J. trump in four words !
Afraid? Weak? Egotistical? Attack !
Perfect Charles A +
12
A coworker of mine once tried to tell me that Obama was the most racist president we have ever had. How does one reason with that? No facts will ever penetrate that kind of ignorance. That is what terrifies me. No matter what happens with the Mueller investigation Trump supporters will always support him. If (please, God I don't believe in, let it be when) Trump is removed from office his base will riot at best, start a civil war at worst. Either this won't end or it won't end well.
13
Mr. Blow, I hope your words are flying from your lips to God’s ears. Let’s hope there is a higher power that is supportive of truth and justice. If not, then I hope that the news industry stops enabling Trump and his administration by allowing them to dictate and control the public discourse, filling it daily with non substantive chaos rather than substantive, detail oriented policy discussions. I understand that like dogs which have a limited ability to communicate with thinking and rationale humans, Trump and his legion of supporters can only speak in dog whistles surrounded by bright lights and shiny objects. So, please, dress facts, issues and higher level thinking in the language that canines can listen to and accept. If you and your peers only reason with the reasonable and replay Trump’s lies and name calling without calmly and simply correcting him or better still, insisting that he drop his schtick and answer important fact based questions (he can’t, that’s why he constantly vomits nonsense and bluster!), then his cancer will continue to spread.
4
Trump must have read at least read one book in his life. It's
"Games People Play" by Dr. Eric Berne. That book was so popular back in the 60's and 70's and many people from the Baby Boomer Generation used it to their advantage. I should
know because I was victimized by an avid subscriber. He was
more charismatic than Trump and left many women totally
vanquished. I learned a lot though, read the book and never
looked back. I guess I became the "Anti-Gamer" and moved
on but those avid subscribers were psychological time bombs.
Trump seems to almost be sort of an evil cyborg who's batteries just won't wear out. I hope we survive.
3
While I certainly agree with this assessment of Trump himself, I believe that the painting of all Trump supporters as racists and homophobes puts us on dangerous ground and only adds to our problems.
We cannot afford to continue to regard Trump's followers as simplistic caricatures, to level condescension and charges of ill intent at anyone who doesn't agree with us. When we do that, we only reinforce their equally simplistic view of us. The result of only a couple of years of this is that we barely seem to recognize each other as human anymore.
De-humanizing the "enemy" in the minds of the people is a common practice of governments before going to war. Certainly Trump is doing his best to dehumanize anyone who doesn't agree with him in the minds of his supporters. And unfortunately, too many on the left are choosing to fight fire with fire.
None of us, on either side, have to play along with this, but for the dynamic to change, we ALL need to remember that those on the "other side" are actually our friends, relatives, neighbors, and certainly our fellow citizens. Do we really want to go to war against them? Or would our energy be better spent fighting to free ourselves from the source of all this ugliness?
3
Don the Con is leading not so much a movement, but a cult. It has all the symptoms of a cult... He demands adulation. He is the only answer. He and he alone can fix things. And you can not convince his followers with facts the things he says are false. The sooner we realize this and perform an intervention (by way of the mid-term elections) the better off the U.S. will be. Maybe after we cut off the cult leader's source of power (the intransigent Republicons), we can start fixing all the things he has broken and actually convince some of the cultists of the error of their ways.
13
Since trump took over, I have started to understand the book, The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson. Irrational rage and hate can be called up at any moment and go in any direction, as directed by trump. The object of this rage can be anything or nothing. It simply keeps his followers trained and at the ready. The question is why doesn't this manipulation work on all people? What is the key to breaking this ritual of hate? We will remove trump hopefully, and soon. But who will be the next charlatan to step in now that it is obvious we are (in a much-too-large-part) a nation of sheep?
6
An attack on the truth is an attack on democracy . Donald Trump has probably not thought this through because he rarely thinks anything through carefully enough. He has become an autocrat with a dictatorial mind because he is a malignant narcissist, which means that all he thinks about is himself with little or no regard for how it will affect other people . When he speaks about the country being under attack or how the Mueller investigation is a disgrace to the country, he is really talking about himself , meaning that he and the country are one and the same in his mind. He tweets when he becomes insecure and uncomfortable, and he is going to become a lot more uncomfortable in the time ahead as his wrongdoings are gradually exposed. He cares little for his base other than their ability to support him publicly, and is driven by his ability to dominate and survive , always at the expense of others.
And with all this mind, can we conclude who is the real enemy of the people?
9
The Republican Party’s leadership slide into the gutter has been decades in the making - from vacuous actor (Reagan) to shallow frat boy (W) to the ignorant, corrupt bigot who currently holds office.
This is a party that now unabashedly embraces voter suppression, extreme gerrymandering, and unlimited sums of dark, unaccountable money (often from repressive regimes and oligarchs overseas) for its very survival. One can only hope that, with the sellout to Trump and Putin, the Republican Party pays a huge price at the ballot box, and is banished from the corridors of power for at least a generation.
13
Trump derangement and Trump fanaticism are two sides of the same coin bearing the likeness of Caligula. It astounds me that regular contributors to the Times' editorial page are so devoid of ethical scruples as to have neither the intellectual honesty, consistency, nor the courage to call attention to that fact.
Setting aside the fact--as alluded to by Mark Levin and other conservative commentators--that the veritable torrent of rabid anti-Trump commentary and media which circulates on television, in print, and on the internet inside of every ten minutes seems in and of itself to discredit the specious notion that Trump is suppressing unfavorable news coverage under the auspices of the executive apparatus...Trump's recriminations of the so-called fake news media actually typify the attitudes of most modern politicians (left or right) and by extension most presidential administrations--most notably the preceding administration.
Has the new York Times forgotten that former Obama-era White House Communications Director Anita Dunn made it a major agenda item to declare almost nightly that "Fox News is not a news network"?
On my own initiative, I pulled up a NYT article from October 2009, less than a year into Mr. Obama's first term, which detailed the administration's concerted strategy to de-legitimize Fox News as "not a news network." It has an awfully similar ring to "fake news," wouldn't you agree, Mr. Blow?
I certainly wouldn't, no. It's because FOX' excellent reporters (and there still are three or four, even after they lost Major Garrett) are swamped beneath the tide of Carlson, Fox&Friends, and so on.
Then there are the explicit statements from their founders and top execs. This ain't lib'ruls saying thatbtheir lib'rel values lead them to report the news honestly and represent a range of views; this is a propaganda apparatus. FOX has a perfect right to be that, but that is what they are.
Do MSNBC et al harangue? Sure do, and it can get tiresome. But beyond the fact that as a rule they're just plain smarter and fairer, they don't generally get the facts wrong...especially not DELIBERATELY wrong.
The guys you're supporting are all pretty much the "Rev" Sun Myung Moon, who explicitly said that his purpose in founding the "Washington Times," was to advance the cause if creating a worldwide Church.
With him running it.
1
Charles - There is, in fact such a thing as "fake news." Never forget that this term was coined in 2016 to describe the demonstrably false anti-Democrat "news" stories being passed around social media by foreign and domestic organizations. Trump and Republicans, understanding how damaging the optics were, began to co-opt and redefine the term "fake news", re-applying it to any real news story that made them look bad. Unfortunately, the media let them get away with this, forever burying the real, original meaning of "fake news."
7
@Jim
We have a perfectly good word for describing the difference between factual reporting and manipulation: propaganda.
Trump, the GOP, the White House toadies and their Russian pals comprise a propaganda machine. Sprinkling a tiny shake of truth into a big stew of lies, threats and hatred is the slop they dish up to the ignorant and the greedy.
3
Looks like he's going to a frat party. 3 more months, Donald, and then the party's over - unless Mueller crashes it sooner than the November elections.
10
@Kris
Never assume. Get out the vote.
2
It would be interesting and useful to the country if the press entirely avoided Trump's circus-like rallies and did not report on - what? Lacking an audience to act out their childish antics, both Trump and the attendees at his carnivals would quickly become dispirited without the publicity. And what would the country lose? Absolutely nothing. This show has gotten old and pointless.
20
I agree with you. The press is use to following a normal president. I have no idea why they continue to be the fall guys for his rallies. They should also forget about attending the White House press conferences. That press briefing has been full of lies from day one when they said he had the biggest crowd ever for his inauguration. It's a waste of time and just allows them to spread disinformation to a larger audience. It's not news, its propaganda and the free press should stop being a part of this outrage.
2
I just finished reading Linda Greenhouse's column 'Is Clarence Thomas the Supreme Court's Future?' - she represents the very best of what the NY Times was, and in a select few cases, still is. Even if you are not a lawyer nor have an interest in constitutional law, you will never-the-less gain an important perspective on our federal judiciary. On the other hand, this columnist represents the worst of what the Times has become - deeply, deeply opinionated, vicious even, so thoughtfulness is not a word that springs to mind after I read one of his columns (and, no, I neither voted for nor do I like Donald Trump; you can include most Republicans in that, too). Go back to the beginning of 2018 and take a look, not just at what he writes about, but also pay attention to his overall style and tone. So this the future of the NY Times? Good luck with that.
1
Just what would you say was the right tone of voice in which to talk about our very own wannabe Mussolini?
I mean, I'm not exactly the biggest fan of Charles Blow's writing style, and I take your point about its being kinda uninformative at some point.
But you know, Trump's genuinely awful: a stupid, vicious greedhead who's hurting our country. And whatever Blow's hyberbolic style, it is as nothing by comparison with five minutes of what comes spewing from Trump and the scabrous likes of, say, Sebastian Gorka.
1
A Trump voter told me that we are a Christian country. We’re NOT and never were legally. The founders who actually met in Philadelphia were mostly Agnostics, and the first amendment FORBIDS the establishment of a state religion. The words “under god” were added to the pledge when I was in grade school...with a lot of objections I might add. We must stop the people who are scanning the skies for Jesus from destroying our country and world.
13
As Manafort's trial gets underway, as Cohen starts talking to prosecutors, and as Mueller closes in on him, Trump is beginning to panic.
What he fears is the exposure of what Charles is telling us: that Donald Trump is an ignorant, hollow, blustering, inadequate fraud. All of his lies, ultimately, are an attempt to conceal that one particular truth, because for Trump, to lose the illusion is to lose everything.
17
The only thing that prevents Trump from being the most boring person alive is that he's the most despicable.
10
Worth noting:
After his election, “60 Minutes” journalist Lesley Stahl interviewed Trump:
“At one point he started to attack the press, and it’s just me and my boss and him … he’s attacking the press and there were no cameras, there was nothing going on,” Stahl told her audience.
“And I said, ‘You know that is getting tired, why are you doing this? You are doing it over and over, it’s boring, it’s time to end that. You know, you’ve won … why do you keep hammering at this?'”
He said, ‘You know why I do it? I do it to discredit you all and demean you all so that when you write negative stories about me no one will believe you.”
https://shareblue.com/lesley-stahl-trump-press-attacks-deadline-club-awa...
306
One More Realist in the Era of Trump--Well, judging by the recent gathering, in Florida, there are some nutso tRump supporters, who are on the verge of violence against journalists, as they threatened Jim Acosta, of CNN. When (not if) somebody gets hurt, or killed, as in Charlottesville, tRump will attempt to establish "plausible deniability," but I think he will be an accessory to any violence that comes out of this, since he can be proven to have suggested violence, over and over again. November, hurry up!
3
@One More Realist in the Era of Trump
Yes, so when people say that 45 is stupid, they are wrong. He absolutely knows what he is doing and is incrementally desensitizing the American public to his outrages as he continues to reach beyond his nominal powers and authority.
More than ever, we need the free press. Keep reporting what he does but if you can stop broadcasting him, that would be appreciated. He has a horrible voice (in addition to the content of his words) and it is like nails on a blackboard.
2
it talks to its base, call it by a disparaging nickname, and never address it with respect. i will help: 'the fake president made his predecessor Barack Obama even more amazing. the fake just lied again about our revered institutions and gave up credibility in negotiations with adversaries.'
2
There is a cult of IGNORANCE in this country, with the false notion that democracy means: my ignorance is just as good as my knowledge (not my words but I.Asimov)...
13
Trump and his supporters want a press that's NOT LIKE YOU, Mr. Blow.
We want one that is respectful of lawfully elected people and their supporters, i.e. Donald Trump, and people like me.
We don't haters and name-callers like you, Clinton, Acosta, and the NYT Editorial Board.
In the immortal words of Barack Obama, "We Won"
So, by democratic norms, WE ARE RIGHT. Of course, you want a dictatorship, especially control of the Press and the end of the 1st Amendment. Facebook, for example, is targeting Trumpists.
@Doug McDonald Tell me again, please, the name of the planet you came from? However, you are correct in writing that Trump and his supporters want a press not like Mr. Blow. They want a press that kisses Mr. Trump's behind, that bows down to him, tells him how wonderful he is, kisses his ring etc etc. Fox does that, so of course, he does not consider them "fake news".
3
Trump gives voice to the bitter resentment felt by some people. Once those people have been liberated to express their resentment publicly, they exult and become loyal subjects regardless of what Trump actually does or does not do.
They reject facts or critical thinking. They feel superior to those who do not share their exultation. Trumpism is the worst kind of cult.
10
Trump appeals to the one-third of Americans who do not believe in American ideals.
For example, they do not believe that all people are created equal. Instead they believe that a person's worth is determined by the color of their skin or their gender.
With Trump, these people can now shout their beliefs in the open rather than behind closed doors. After all, they can't be unAmerican, the President is in agreement with them!!
The only way to stop these people is to vote for politicians who will honor and support the ideals stated in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Register and vote! Urge anyone who supports our ideals to register and vote!! If you can afford it, support any organization that fights against voter suppression.
November 6th is only 97 days away. Work to save our ideals, our country.
27
Last month, I was in Berlin. Standing outside the site where the Stasi (East German secret police) headquarters had been razed is a short section of the Wall. Along the inside, is a graphic chronology of how Hitler came to power and, ultimately, drove the world into an epic struggle to defeat Facism and his dream of an Aryan Europe 'cleansed' of Jews, Gypsies, and other, 'lesser' races. Reading excerpts from Goebbels diaries and Hitler's speeches at rallies moved me to tears of despair and rage - those quotes could have come from trump's twitter account. Every European I talked to was equally discomfited - they know what can happen when a man like trump comes to power and they are bewildered that the American people have foisted this horror on the world.
25
The press has good reason to attack Trump. But they are not blameless. They wrote stories speculating that Trump was mentally ill without benefit of a psychiatric examination’. They reported violence at the polls without evidence. They made comparison with Hitler who gassed millions of Jews. They attacked Trump’s reference to “carnage in our crities, even though there is carnage in the worst of our cities. Trump’s locker room comments. — in the nature of talk I have heard 100 times, crudely referring to women as sexual objects, was depicted as different, even though. was typical. And following fights between Nazis and protestors that have never been sorted out, Trump’s claim that neither side was blameless, which is often the case in fist fits, was deemed racist by the press absent any Evidence to the contrary. Trump is a disaster as President but that doesn’t absolve the press from going way over the line. When there is mutual hatred, both sides lose objectivity. The press should have stuck to the facts. But it’s reportig has bei irresponsibly slanted. The best attacks on Trump have come from McCain and Flake. The press is blinded by hatred and all too often it goes over the line.
@michjas . . . I respect your right to your opinion and found your comment illuminating, albeit frustrating to read. Most of us can likely find ample examples where journalists make mistakes and agree they are flawed. Understanding comes with stepping back and discerning underlying patterns of actions and behaviours and sifting credible sources from the incredible. Motives are assessed better or speculated upon after it is clear what is actually taking place. I agree with you that much of what is written is wrong or mis-directed. There are always scraps that are correct and some commentators I enjoy most are able to find those nuggets and fashion them together into a tapestry of understanding. Healthy debate needs diverse ideas and points of view as we weave ideas in search of truth.
1
Once again from Charles Blow, a clear and courageous column. I applaud that as Trump shows worse, Mr. Blow responds stronger. Rather than watching the deranged cult leader at his recent Florida rally, I, too, observed his followers; I could only shake my head in despair. Mr. Blow's piece supports the fact of our arrival at a critical failsafe point. Trump began with spitting; then water balloons; now fire hoses. My plea is for the Democratic party leaders to stand up, pull together, and let us all work and vote to build, not a wall, but a dam. Trump's onslaught flooding of Democracy must be stopped.
8
Someone said the whole Russia investigation is just because of $100,000 in Facebook ads, implying 100,000 is a very small number. I said it is a small number, about the margin of victory in three swing states, COMBINED. 107,000 to be exact. And that was with targeted email releases and social media chaos from a foreign adversary. It's no coincidence a big email dump was as the DNC convention started. They also got the DNC analytics database and help from Cambridge Analytica.
7
If the GOP/trump, House & Senate cannot be honest with our fellow citizens , they cannot or have no intentions of protecting the U.S.
3
Thank you, Mr Blow for speaking clearly about the reality we are all sharing with Trump and his followers.
Reading your op-ed totally reminded me of what Moses must have experienced when he came down from the mountain to find people worshiping a Golden Calf - a false god - this Golden Calf is Trump -- and all the people worshiping him, supporting him, enabling him are in a dangerous self destructive 'Raving' Frenzy -- destroying out of FEAR.
It is up to all of us who see what is truly occurring - to vote all these people out of office - November 6 - from School Board- to Judges- to State representatives - to governors - to Federal House Representatives - to Federal Senators - thereby: freezing Trump & Pence turning them into Lame Ducks - until 2020 - then vote them out for a President who is truly a Leader For, By, With - All People of America - of all colors, cultural and spiritual heritage and practices, all economic realities - all genders --
Nov 6 - let's bring down the Golden Calf - let's work together to build a nation - an American Nation welcoming and for the benefit of everyone equally out of LOVE. - YES WE CAN!
30
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
Joseph Goebbels
16
Trump has been using propaganda (traditionally used my Communist countries..Russia and China, anyone?) the entire time. Propaganda is taking the criticism that other people are leveling at you or your country and turning it around to accuse the original accuser of the same offense. So how it works is? People accuse Trump of being a liar? He turns it around and accuses everyone who says this and calls them the same. This propagandistic approach is definitely something he learned from dealing with Russia and any advice he has gotten from them and from people like Manafort-who is very familiar with how things work in Russia. I don't have the works to describe what a despicable character this guy is.
4
Yes, Trump attacks, but this is just a symptom. Trump starts every negotiation by either taking hostages or threatening to. It’s the Art of the Deal. Whether it is kidnapping children at the border to get a wall, or imposing tariffs to get a new trade deal, or threatening to nuke somebody to get them to denuclearize, etc., all Trump negotiations start with taking something from somebody and holding it hostage until you meet his demands. This is why when he cannot threaten someone (Mueller) he often has a total meltdown like yesterday’s fire Mueller tweet.
11
I am old enough to remember Watergate and its aftermath. In particular I remember Gerald Ford's speech in which he acknowledged that he became President by accident and promised not to be arrogant in his use of Presidential power.
Trump is another accidental President, but his attitude is "to the victor belongs the spoils". At one point he even insinuated that it was treasonable to challenge what he did.
Notions of presidential behavior have really degenerated in 40 years.
11
I imagine Trump was impressed by Putin and Russian cyber warfare. Russia won the election for him.
Two hours is enough time to ask Vladimir for tips.
"Hey Vlad, how do you control the media?" Very easily, attack and confuse. The new Trump University may be handing out disinformation certificates through QAnon and Fox News.
"Hey Vlad, how do you win your elections with huge margins?" Send your opposition to jail and threaten the media with their lives.
Is this really a maga effort? Really!? Everything for the oligarchy. Scraps, lies, and conspiracy for the Trump base. Really!
7
Wow, wow, wow, this is dead-on!
Cheers Mr. Blow, on another great article, albeit, something most of your readers already know. I'd like to read more about the elected men and women who are allowing this narrative to continue. They need to be voted out! One tag line he had right, which he doesn't taut anymore, "drain the swamp," should be taken up by the dems and they need to act on it.
165
Just as freedom of speech does not entitle one to shout "fire" in a crowded theater, likewise freedom of press should not mean a nonstop, daily, endless, vituperative gang-up against a single individual, even if he is president of the United State and Charles blow just does not happen to like him or respect his accomplishments. One would imagine Mr. Blow was hired with a slightly broader mandate than to engage in ceaseless verbal pot shots again POTUS. The silver lining on this nauseating cloud is that shots like these will backfire come November. Americans are fed up.
10
@JJ Gross, Yes we are fed up with the constant fear mongering, lies, and self serving policies of the current idiot child occupying the White House. His accomplishments? Other than a tax cut for the wealthy and corporations, this administration has done nothing except try to undue health care, the environment, and the fully justified investigation into the conspiracy to influence the elections. You, on the other hand just see a person who's willing to lie about supporting Israel on one hand and ignore his history of antisemitism. Rationalize much?
2
@JJ Gross - Apparently you do not comprehend the difference between news and opinion. Mr. Blow is employed to write about the latter. If you don't like his opinions, don't read his columns.
1
@JJ Gross Yes, the truth hurts.
1
As usual, on point, Mr. Blow. However, "Fox News" is anything but. It's a cruel oxymoron. Let's call what it really is: Fox Entertainment.
119
@Chief Scientist Long ago I seem to remember that FOX News, with a consistent 68% "inaccuracy" rate and lies repeated for days after that had been exposed and documented, were to be sued for misrepresentation as a "news" agency.
The FOX solution...they went to court to change their legal status to an "entertainment" corporation while taking the legal name " FOX News".
2
@Chief Scientist I prefer to call it Fox Propaganda channel.
@Chief Scientist
How about Fox in the Henhouse? Perhaps, Chicken Little was right.
1
If the House and the Senate turn Democratic, one of the first things they need to do is revive the FCC's old Fairness Doctrine, and get it enforced, with genuinely painful fines for violations. If this can be done, Fox News and wingnut radio will either change their content or pay fines that hurt their bottom line. The FCC should investigate ways to apply the same to social media. After all, it's our public that needs to be informed with the truth, and our democracy that the Russian hackers have so cleverly interfered with.
These entities, with of course the 800-lb. Internet gorilla, have created a segment of our population that is woefully misinformed, glad of it, and addicted to the daily dose of rage served up there. This is REAL and if it isn't a public health crisis, what IS? If we go on pretending it's all protected by the First Amendment, so we can't do anything, we will go on paying the price--which is only going to go up.
14
Book titles
Spicer - Period!
Cohen - Who?
Trump - Could, would, should
Trump is not a leader. He is a purveyor of hate who continuously and cynically feeds the base instincts of his ignorant, xenophobic, gullible, selfish, fearful, appropriately called "base." He solidifies his position by buying off the top 1% with tax and other economic benefits. Comparisons to current and former dictators are entirely appropriate. I never thought I would see it in this country but here we are.
224
Bravo Mr. Blow. Your columns are a bulwark against the idiocy and evil raging at the door. Steady on!
31
Charles, keep writing. Just. Keep. Writing.
29
This essay is most articulate and brilliant in its analysis of the Trump presidency.
The look of insane rage on the faces of those yelling at Jim Acosta of CNN in the Times photo today is a real fact of America’s poisoned democracy.
The foul, evil Trump has nurtured from those that believe his lies and vicious hatred is testimony of fascism’s ideology ready for exploitation in those foolish minds.
218
Interesting that the people who really wanted to be on television were on CNN during the trump orgy. I did notice, however, that there was one man who kept his magat hat in front of his face, obviously not wanting to be seen at a trump orgy.
I never thought I would see this in the US.
These rallies have an eerie connection to the Nuremberg rallies.
Numbnutz has his own propaganda arm of the press.
Historians will record Fox "News" and its minions as the instigators in the downfall of freedom.
23
The dim-witted Sarah Palin trotting out “Joe Six Pack” as the ideal American patriot/citizen was bad enough, but the herd of “Pizza-gate type crazies” who now show up to roar on cue at the Trump rallies are exponentially worse. They represent everything dangerous in the human psyche -blind hatred of “the other,” unquestioning submission to authoritarianism, and the suppression of rational thought and behavior in favor of the exhilarating emotions of the mob. Many of them look as if it would take very little goading to push them into actual violence if their “master” demanded it.
Trump is playing with fire and putting all of us in peril.
26
Trump with his combative harangues, his rejection of truth, couched in super-narcissism, has awakened a sleeping giant in the US, called tribalism...the very destructive phenomenon that cast democratic Lebanon into a 15 yr fratricidal war, where 10% of the citizenry perished.
With 45 million plus unquestioning followers of Trump, who are mesmerized under the spell he has cast, there remains only one final chapter in this country...civil war.
With 250 million guns, including assault weapons and now plastic guns each household could produce, the death toll could reach 30+ million...long live the second amendment!
5
What, realistically, can be done? What, if anything, is an effective course of action to counter this egregious mendocracy?
2
The House of Representatives with a Majority held by the other party. Agent Orange is only as mendacious as a supine GOP Congress
1
More of what we already know from Mr. Blow. Yawnnnn… It might be time to start coming up with solutions, Sir.
I agree with nearly every charge that Charles Blow has hurled at Donald Trump over the past three years. But still, I think Mr. Blow would do well to write about something else for a change.
1
I'm sure Mr Blow would be happy to write about something else if he was not so terrified that this madman is dragging us and the rest of the world to the abyss. Would you have him write about Fashion Week in NY instead?
5
Revivals. That's what these rallies are. Just like those of the speaking in tongues, snake handling evangelicals.
They feed off of each other and their shared hatreds. Anyone with an education. Anyone who is not their version of Christian. Anyone who is not white. Any woman who doesn't know her place. Anyone who shows their world view as being simply wrong.
It's not just DJT. Sessions and Pence are all part of the show.
8
The ardent, unwavering Trump supporter has decided that rules are for losers. Manners are for the weak. Their rampant hypocrisy IS the truth. They have given up on debate and closed their minds.
For them, this is no longer a debate nor is it a conversation. It is a war. It is a fight for their lives. And they will do anything to win. No rules apply.
Overstated? Could they cause violence and kill someone? They already have. Charlottesville, VA.
4
Watching Trump in Tampa reminded me of a place like Venezuela and made me ashamed to be an American. It was like a plan rally without the hoods.
9
Trump is simply a gangster in the style of the classic mob boss. The ONLY thing that is he doesn't do - as far as we know - is order the murders of his enemies by individual killers. The U.S. has a President who is by any definition a straight up gangster. How the congress can morally and ethically support him is way more shocking and dangerous than the man himself because they are allowing him to continue tear down this country and the world. Who coulda thought we could get here?
9
Starve the Beast........especially electronic media.....
send reporters, but no cameras to the rallies . No cameras
to record the getting on and the getting off of helicopters.
Until Huckabee what's her name stops reporting lies and
answers with lies, boycott the sham of a Press briefing.
Every newspaper in the country should be in meetings to discuss coordinated means to deal with this insatiable ego.
NO Presidential gossip.....only news that affects the country
directly. Those cameras got him into office.....maybe they can get him out. We need a visual blackout.
13
“No obstruction of justice, no peace”
Maxine Waters
6
Fake news is the enemy of the people and Fox News defines the genre.
7
More angst. Call for his impeachment and be done with it.
5
It is so easy to forget that Trump's entire career was as a slippery con/salesman.
Like all successful conmen, he is expert at phrasing that is always JUST ambiguous enough to not be accountable.
Trump is never going to admit to Mueller his "intent"--he will come up with more slippery words that will leave everyone scratching their chins and speculating for days about what he REALLY meant.
It's the timing that is key---his public encouragement to Russia, and his tweets at times he thinks (knows) he is in jeopardy.
4
What we need is a counter to this fool. We need someone who rallies the other side so people won't be afraid. So we can all see we out number the crazy faction by millions.
We need a voice on the side of reason to counterbalance the insanity.
6
It’s called a Democratic-controlled House
3
America’s greatness has NOT given this coward a spine, nor any other useful human body part.
It has given him an ugly metal crutch to prop up his spineless, heartless, mindless, hollow, craven shell from which to bray his endlessly malevolent bluster while the country that put him in the People's House sinks remorselessly into its own suffocating bile.
As the president crowed during his campaign, "I am your voice," hardly begging the question of who he is as much as it begs the question of who we are.
4
Thank you for thia great column.
6
Weak people like Donald Trump are the most dangerous kind of people. Voters should have listened to the psychologists who said he was mentally unfit for office.
10
Alexander Harrison is a Trump supporter, but is neither a white nationalist, ethno nationalist, nor a Christian nationalist. I believe in the Constitution and legal immigration, and spouse Juliana waited in line 2 years before receiving her visa, boarding the flight from ACCRA to rejoin me in the US. (She was my "cuisiniere" in Dansoman and later went with me to Boke, Guinea where I helped adults, market traders, ex pro footballeurs, to learn enough French to qualify as "enseignants" in "les ecoles primaires!""Donc," I do not share any of the undesirable traits which author attributes to us Trump aficionados! SUGGESTION: Attend a Trump rally, request an interview, give us a primary source, first hand glimpse of how you perceive The Donald and his enthusiastic followers.As I faithful reader, believe I have a right to ask that you, Mr. Blow, give us more than second and third hand impressions of someone whom you apparently find "insupportable!" When Dr. Harrison set out to write his dissertation, books on the Algerian OAS, i sought them out personally, in their homes or "planques" in Algeria before 1962 and afterwards in France, after being amnestied by De Gaulle. Mr BLOW "Faites comme moi!"Show stamina , attend a n Trump rally, come back with your impressions. After all, if a colleague travels to south Sudan to confront Janjaweed militias, what prevents u from getting close to the source and attending a Trump "rassemblement?" Much safer!
Please sir, list your reasons for supporting your President. I would sincerely like to know. I ask this question of all the people I know who voted and still support him. Their answers are, in order of importance:
1) He reduced their business and personal taxes.
2) He and they are Republicans.
3) He isn’t Hillary Clinton.
4) They don’t believe in (or in my opinion fully understand) Globalism.
I look forward to your answer.
6
@Shally Guerin: First,on a personal level, The Donald has "it," that indefinable quality,, magnetism which makes everything he says and does interesting.He can't help but be spontaneous! Look how the media is obsessed by him.Second, I support his position of putting the citizenry first, and opposing illegal immigration as deleterious to our deepest values and our welfare. W/o sovereignty, strong borders, we cease to exist as a nation! Third,his formal education at a top notch school, U. of Penn., his genius as a reader of contracts, his exposure of fakery in the media, and willingness to tell off self important leaders of EU.,exemplified by his revelation that AM is buying billions of Euros of nat. gas from Russia while considering Putin as a threat to Western civ.TRUMP, or The Donald , as late Jack Newfield called him, represents us, "petits blancs,"put down,dismissed by the HRC's and Obama's of this world, but who have finally found a champion, our vox populi!After "Barry,"nickname given to O by DOWD, who cared less for the citizenry than for open borders--"what the heck, let 'em all in--"we have someone willing to defend us, "les citoyens," Can you think of any other political figure with the magnetism to be able to pack stadiums with supporters, some of whom have traveled overnight to be there?Trump is to us what Pierre Poujade represented to the small tradesmen, farmers, commercants of France in the post WWII era: their voice. Your interest is appreciated!
No more vainglorious presidential libraries. Obama's is bad enough. If his rallies prove anything, Trump's library would be even moreso an orgy or of Uzbekistani proportions.
1
"Trump doesn’t want a free press; he wants free propaganda."
Exactly, Mr. Blow, say it loud!
Trump is a fascist.
Emboldening supremacists, siding with foreign adversaries over our own intellligence/judicial agencies, steamrolling our Constitution and a free press.
Putin's Puppet needs to go, democracy is at stake. Where is our Congress? Silent enablers. Country first!
8
Trumps only option is to start a war to distract attention and unite the nation . In the Condoleezza Rice "We need a common enemy to unite us"
4
Simply put, Trump is running a hate cult.
Reason, truth and logic don't enter the equation.
Just adulation and blind faith.
10
Mr Trump has unleashed the dogs of hate in America. We are witnessing a tsunami of intolerance and prejudice unseen before in recent times. Indeed abhorrent nazi flags have defaced public places and houses of worship. The question is whether Americans will have the wherewithal to neuter these curs and euthanize their toxic ideas by rejecting Mr Trump at the ballot box. The free world certainly hopes they will.
7
"Trump is weak. Very weak. Unbelievably weak." Excellent! Absolutely correct!
I caught a wide shot of a Trump rally the other day. The venue looked pretty empty. Must have been on BBC. Truth, as it is, is no longer readily found in the US.
He could easily dispense with the notion of fake reporting by producing any transcript from the whitehouse stenographers. But he never used them, so they left. Small-fingered Donny 'Two-scoops' thinks his blatant lying and obnoxious absurdity are too much fun.
11
@Positively: You should be more respectful of the President of the United States! He's your president as well as mine and millions of others. Notice that you are reluctant to give your name!Have the courage of your convictions!
@Alexander Harrison: Nonsense. I didn't vote for this schlub. And what's the matter? Jealous at the courage of my convictions and my exercise of free speech? Typical ad hominem.
2
@Positively
My good buddy, Positively! It's been a long time since we've hung out on 4th Street! Say hello to your sister Indisputably and your Brother Certainly for me. Sorry to hear about the passing of your parents (Good Ol' Mr. and Mrs. Courageous!)
I would like to know where the money to pay for moving the POTUS to these opium political rallies is coming from. It better not be my tax dollars! It should be the RNC, but is it?
Moving the POTUS is a multi million dollar expense. And since these are political rallies it should not be from my tax dollars.
So, NYT, please investigate this. Trump has been all over the map lately getting his opium high from these rallies.
Oh, and this “hard working” president will be golfing at his golf club in NJ from August 3-12, in case anyone is keeping score.
23
Trump won by masterfully manipulating the press -
The more the press talks about Trump, the more free publicity.
Ignore him.
I know it's counter the economic interests of the NY Times, whose circulation increased by 30% after his election thanks to its critical reporting (the NYT CEO called it rocket fuel) but as the report on school shootings (that also rocks the audience) it is not in the optimal interest of US Society
4
None of us want to waste our lives writing or thinking about this manifestly unfit president. Charles carries the burden for the rest of us. Trump is ignorant, abusive, miserable, pathetic, self-obsessed, dishonest, and all the rest of it. Writing and thinking overmuch about Trump carries a distinct psychological risk. Charles carries that for us as well. Mostly, however, Trump is simply banal. He repeats the same big lies endlessly. Everything he does is motivated by the same racial resentment and white nationalist meme. His same hamburger and same golf and same bathrobe-TV-ranting are so horribly bland as to be torture for sane skeptical thoughtful tolerant Americans. Charles also must bear the burden of writing and thinking about this banality on our behalf.
5
The American president is an evil and soulless man.
He’s also probably a traitor to his country; you know, the one he swore an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. So help me, God.” That final phrase was spoken, at high noon on January 20, 2017, with perhaps more than a touch of both irony and sacrilege.
But 63-million American citizens voted to place him there on that day, the successor to a black man whom none of them wanted. They knew that their high priest of hate would begin their holy consecrecation and benediction of the white race as the sole, primary inheritors of a young nation only 240 years old.
Donald Trump’s presidency was born like the screaming alien monster. It was inseminated by a candidacy that was polluted by the diametrically-opposed aspirational qualities that should define what it is to be an American. His “base” knew that and raved. Republicans, at the state houses and on Capitol Hill knew it too, welcoming the hideous change from decency to decadence—at first hesitantly—but then with an increasing ardor that overran the boundaries of civilized behavior. Or they were quiet, their silence a gleeful approval of his spoken promise to destroy the America that we knew. Their own white, “Christian,” nativist constituencies demanded the same. Like lambs, they followed the sated wolf to its lair, heedless of the fangs dripping the nation’s blood on the trail, the gore marking its progress.
This is what we face, now.
And then forever?
8
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13
A lot of those 63 million had voted for Obama, some even twice. I know one personally (well, knew - he died last year).
They voted for Obama because he offered something different, but also I'm sure with the thought that that one act of voting would somehow end racism, so that 'those people' wouldn't have any reason to complain anymore.
When that didn't happen, they turned on him with and anything associated with him.
Conveniently there was hatemongering huckster waiting in the wings to tell them that all their worst thoughts and beliefs were.. okay.. truly 'American' even.
1
Nailed it again, Mr. Blow. One wonders where it will end, and how soon. This, too, will pass away. Thank God.
1
Trump is the abusive husband and father whose victims will kowtow to avoid the next damaging blow. Instead of standing up to him, the GOP cowards allow him to continue to wreak havoc to our country.
Trump needs to be restrained against further violent actions towards destroying this nation.
Lock him up!
11
"The president’s recent rallies have come to resemble orgies for Donald Trump’s ego, spaces in which he can receive endless, unmeasured adulation and in which the crowds can gather for a revival of an anger that registers as near-religious. They can experience a communal affirmation that they are not alone in their intolerance, outrage and regression."
Well I wasn't around for the rise of Hitler and Nazi Germany but I imagine it must have resembled these sorts of scenes. These are among the very worst of times we have ever faced as a nation.
19
You did it again, Charles Blow. You gave us a fresh new perspective on Trump’s cult of decadence and destruction. Thank you.
5
Perfectly summed up. We can no longer have normal debates with a petty, deplorable man and his cult. Just out vote them
19
America appears to have fallen very quickly into the hands of a psychopath. We are Germany 1933 and most of us are the Other. I believe Trump can tell his followers to kill and they'll do it. Time for reporters to stop covering his propaganda. Let Sarah Suckabee talk to an empty room. And once and for all stop acting like this man is a President. Call him out for what he is. An evil, corrupt, corrosive cancer on America that must be cut out and destroyed.
28
@rruin Trump is not one madman. NONE of trump could happen without the full support of his Cabinet, talking heads and the silent GOP House & Senate.
Every GOP candidate in November who does not clearly and adamantly denounce the GOP/trump/KKK/Nazi's assault on human rights and democracy needs to be fully exposed.
6
@johnw Agree completely. He is enabled by the GOP. A political party that has turned into a hate group.
All dictators want propaganda. And Trump is a wannabe dictator.
4
Yes, thank you, the country reels under this sickness. This sickness is relieved by the certain knowledge that Trump's rein will end publicly, and painfully for the coward.
4
We're right where Putin wanted us to be. Putin is a very devious genius, indeed!
9
Only in America can a fool be elected to high office, be given the gift of voter patience, be allowed to be a consummate fool, be an oaf, be dishonest, be rude and crude, be ignorant, be dangerous, be boastful, be harmful to democracy, be given a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance, a fifth chance, etc., etc., etc. But not to worry: a fool will always be hoist by his/her own petard.
10
I live in dire fear for journalists because God forbid one of trump’s deranged supporters kill a journalist. And if this reprehensible action takes place the blood will be on trump’s little hands!
8
The headline is a fitting dectiption for many things, including the perspective of the writer and the Times.
2
Trump's entire brand is based on propaganda. From Trump University to Trump's supposed wealth, It's all a sham. The truth would undo Trump. He knows that, and does everything in his power to keep it from ever coming out. His taxes would show he isn't as rich as he claims, and probably Rusty his money does indeed come from Russia. He is a dispicable man and I only wish we had a true democracy in which the majority of the votes decides who actually becomes president. Republicans in general represent less people than the democrats, yet they are the ones in power. That is a shame.
6
We don’t need a pretty Sunday sermon from a community activist. We need results. Trump delivers. Lowest black unemployment in decades.
2
@M ...Interesting, obviously you do not realize that "black" unemployment rates also declined during the Obama Administration. As did all unemployment rates resulting from the "Great Recession" 9% Nationwide, that was caused by 8 years of Republican fiscal policy under the G.W. Bush administration. However, what continues to rise even more under the Trump and Republican agenda is "Wage Disparity." So enjoy those pennies they are throwing at you and the higher inflation rates they are creating with Trump's "Tariffs" that will eat those pennies up.
7
@M: We have the highest level of overt, threatening white racists in over 50 years, too!
7
@M
And how many blacks work at Trump businesses, of which there are many?
1
Trump's toughness has nothing to do with his ability to endure personal sacrifice.I doubt he would give up anything for another person or for country. His enduring privation is laughable. Trump's toughness is measured by the degree he is willing to inflict pain on others. The more vulnerable his targets, the tougher he is.
Trump's political acumen is not his foresight or judgment. His treatment of children and families at the border, firing Comey or kowtowing to Putin are not indicative of political cleverness.
Trump's political or demagogic brilliance is his recognition that 35% of Americans can be motivated by targeting their hate. His political acumen is based on the contempt with which he treats his base. He believes, correctly, that for at least 35% of Americans truth and rational judgment is subordinate to hatred.Truth can be overcome by inciting hatred of others. And hatred is readily available in the fearful.
There is no rational argument to be made. Trump's persona and actions argue eloquently for his unfitness every day. His followers buy the snake oil from an obvious self-interested con man and abandon rationality to believe brown people and the unseen state are the problem. That the peer-reviewed Press is fake and Alex Jones holds the "Truth."
The only answer is to vote for Dems and hope the system is not too corrupted by Russians, gerrymandering and Repub's use of third parties such as "The Greens" to overcome the voice of the majority of Americans.
24
He is the epitome of the carnival barker who promises something wonderful and delivers nothing. His backers listen to and believe his lies and continue to be mesmerized by his nonsensical rantings. He is scary because he speaks loudly and has a huge platform from which he can speak. He commands the news which covers him incessantly - much to my dismay. I miss Pres. Obama and his thoughtfulness. I miss his kindness. We have elected a wannabe dictator and heaven help us.
23
@joyce-WELL DONE AND RIGHT ON !!
1
Sinclair Lewis was right when he said fascists will come wrapped in flags and bearing crosses. 45’s followers have the “desired goal of a religious liberty agenda?” Forget the agenda, the goal is “a religious” dictatorship (only white so-called Christian religions need apply).
35
I am a church librarian and I know several ministers. I have never heard any talk in my church about "religious liberty". That's a euphemism for giving more power to evangelicals. And I wish the press would learn to make a distinction between politico-evangelicals vs legitimate religions, and not make blanket accusations..
1
We have a narcissistic man-child for a president, throwing his hate-filled tantrums to get attention.
Let's try some well-supported psychology.
Stop reinforcement. Completely. In psychology, this is the concept of extinction, but beware: it usually creates a limited period of time known as the "extinction burst" where the child throws more intense tantrums.
If any media sources think it's necessary to cover Trump's rallies just because he's president, time-restrict and title that coverage as "Trump's 2 Minutes of Hate"... nothing more.
Then, cover the news that's really important, such as changes to rules and regulations that will negatively impact quality of life, impacts of climate change around the world, the stagnant wages and paltry benefits most workers receive, and so many other issues that far outweigh Trump's tantrums.
60
@Donna Nieckula I agree stop covering the rallies...he obviously chooses places that voted overwhelmingly for him and has a predictable script that's almost like a maniacal preacher firing up his congregants. There was some news in going to these things awhile ago but now it's mostly 'old news' and anyone with half a brain can predict what he's going to say, eg. attack Comey, Dems, praise himself. News media is allowing themselves to be manipulated by him and giving him press coverage at events where he is attacking them. Stop feeding the narcissist and hurt him in a way he feels it-stop the free publicity!
5
@Donna Nieckula: U r far too biased to be believable and to be taken seriously. It should concern readers that virtually all of Mr. Blow's judgements are based on second, third hand sources. Downloaded from a Smartphone?: a hypothesis not to be excluded! Have challenged him to cultivate primary sources, attend a Trump "rassemblement " or two, interview the candidate and his most fervent supporters. America still guarantees press freedom , and its not as if he were reporting on the narcotics trade from Mexico, where journalism is among the most hazardous "metiers,"and more than 70 "periodistas"have met their deaths in the past year or so, or Algeria , where a close friend and journalist for "Revolution Africaine," an hebo like Newsweek is "porte disparu," and even today, years after the end of Algeria's second civil war between the zealots of FIS and the armed forces, and democracy has supposedly been restored, there still reigns a climate of fear, a reluctance to express 1's opinions openly. American journos like Mr. Blow face no such danger to their personal safety. Time for him to give his proofs as a fearless reporter and dare to enter the jaws of the wolf: Go to Tea Party country and conduct interviews. Attend a Trump rally. Be original!
@Alexander Harrison
Isn't that the point: NOT to turn the United States into a lawless society where journalists' lives are at risk?
If Trump wants to be covered "live" by the press, let Trump start acting like a reasonably normal president and hold press conferences. Do press conferences where substantive information is garnered via intelligent questions and answers.
Alas, I know I ask too much.
1
If you want to understand the inner workings of the Don’s “presidency” Just watch an episode of the Sopranos.
8
@D. Healy
Yes, altho' Tony went into therapy . . . imagine Trump with Dr.Melfi
2
@cheryl
Great comment! I was going to mention it but could not imagine very stable having the capacity for honest self-assessment.
Out of desperation I dream that Trump like Dicken's Mr. Scrooge wakes up one morning after a night of ghost visitations and becomes a new man full of decency and kindness. He then willingly offers up all the dirt on Putin, the "golden showers" etc. and begs the world for mercy and forgiveness as he is escorted to his jail cell on Riker's Island.
Mel Brooks...this could be better than the "Producers"!
3
The mainstream media should continue your heroic and historical resistance to defend our national security and interest, as well as our core values.
In his frustrating end, the evil and pathetic Trump will reveal much more dirty tricks. He may not care about his family or his children. Last week, Putin said that if Trump keeps his promises, he may be invited to Moscow. For a state visit, or for asylum?
10
Trump's presidency may be the afterbirth of a troubled, national pregnancy, but his destruction and diluting of our institutions can be laid at the feet of two cowardly men--McConnell and Ryan. These two men, who lead an equal but separate section of our government, have failed miserably. McConnell, an extreme partisan, political hack, has become willfully deaf, dumb and blind where Trump's obvious transgressions are concerned. He acknowledges no Trump excesses, nor does he exert the power of the Senate to thwart some of Trump's more devious endeavors. Even his occasional statement refuting Trump's actions are worded in such a way as to refrain from directly criticizing his mentor.
Ryan is a mental midget, overwhelmed by his office and the power it wields. His only thoughts are obsessed with elimination of institutions like Social Security.
Ryan and McConnell have no stature, honor or patriotism. What's good for them and their backers is the only concerns they harbor.
The current destruction caused by Trump has two very significant accomplices. Two men who are allowing a chaotic and unhinged president to dismantle all that is good in this nation. History will not treat these two sycophants, kindly.
22
I've said it before and I'll say it again. Responsible Republicans., i.e., John McCain, Jeff Flake, Susan Collins, etc., should change their party affiliation to Independent and caucus with the Democrats. I can't see that it would hurt them politically, and it could save the country that they profess to love. End this nightmare!
33
Will someone please explain to me why taxpayers are paying for Trump's campaign rallies? Isn't this, like, against some law or the other? Or can Trump do this because he's a celebrity and celebrities can do whatever they want?
Once he's gone--and that day can't come too soon--I wonder how much the final total will be of all the tax dollars Trump has bilked from the American people. Trump gets richer, and all we got was this lousy cap: "Make America Grimy Again.
13
Is there something that we can do stop this before some angry Trumpist mob actually kills a journalist?
I have no great love for the media, but this incitement to violence against media is another step down the slippery slope to fascist cult rule.
4
It is shameful that a scoundrel like
Donald Trump is the president of the United States. The fact that about 40% of Americans approve of him is a tragedy. There is a word for them.... Deplorable. Thanks, Hillary.
A good percentage of them will be with us for quite some time. I doubt very many of them will ever see the light. At least in the long-term the demographics offer some hope. Fingers crossed that the high percentage of the younger Americans who disapprove of Trump don't themselves become deplorable.
23
Living and experiencing America today leaves me wondering,if in some respects, that it is how it felt living in Germany in the 30's; or, perhaps, Italy. I have seen a picture of Mussolini staring with his arms crossed and a frown that bears an amazing resemblance of the stance and visage of our current president.
22
"Trump doesn’t want a free press; he wants free propaganda."
I watched part of the rally in Florida and I found the jeering and yelling at the press to be the final devolution into the gutter he likes his base to live in...the visual of the white woman yelling profanities and flipping off the press has been burned into my mind. I had to wonder what she was so angry about...she looked well-fed, she is wearing decent clothes, she had the lung power to yell at the press so she must be fairly healthy...
Apparently she found nothing ironic that the very press she is screaming at is helping to protect her right to yell profanities at them.
My fear after watching this debacle is someone is going to get hurt; this level of vitriol may soon spill into someone coming with a gun to help this madman on his jihad.
24
Blow is missing the big picture. Trump hasn't remade the Republican party in his own image. The voters have. We need to reframe the way we look at his voters. It's not what they are for that matters, it's what they are against. Trump defies the normal metrics for success because his voters don't support him for what he does. They love him for what he's against. Trump is against the political establishment,the MSM, liberals, Rhinos, the Bushes and the Clintons. Trump is against rapid change which for the working class encompasses everything they had but fear they are losing. Trump is against globalism and unrestricted immigration which has taken jobs from many Americans. It's not that a third of US voters are fervently on the side of Donald Trump - what's more relevant is that they are adamantly on the opposing side of a culture war that's been brewing here since the 1970s. Trump isn't causing this populist revolt, he's reflecting it. I agree with Blow that it's not healthy for the country to have a president stuck perpetually in attack mode. But by the same token it's worse when the MSM is just as unrelenting. Reporters feel free to snark on Trump, especially on Twitter, they're going on TV, they're slinging their opinions & the lines are getting very blurred. Turn on CNN and you see reporters from the WAPO, NYT, as well as Blow weighing in on Trump. For Blow to say his opinions are not news, is honestly disingenuous & absurd. They are and for good or bad reflect on the NYT.
3
I lament our ubiquitous ignorance of mental illness and a more generalized internalization that WE put Trump in office.
He was and has been a basket case for years! That we haven’t and didn’t see it sufficiently before voting suggests to me that WE voters are the real problem, and Trump is the White House manifestation of our problem with seeing sufficiently into people who aspire to high political office!
5
Sometimes the truth is politically incorrect and lies are not politically incorrect; we convincingly tell the child that Santa Claus is coming (a politically correct lie). Well, here comes a politically incorrect thought that is demonstrably true. The base which supports Trump--no matter how ridiculous his thoughts and actions--are deplorable. Like their master they do not read and are incapable of complex thinking. Our educational system has failed these people. These uneducated, biased roughnecks cannot see what would be obvious to anyone who was not deplorable.
8
I have lived through nine presidents. Trump, so far, has failed to fulfill his duties. What are his duties? Who knows? He is a patsy to Stephen Miller's and Steve Bannon's wrapped philosophies, a patsy to Mr. Kim of North Korea, a very expected patsy to Vladimir Putin. I am getting sick and tired of hearing his name and seeing his face every single day. He's not a president,except in name. He uses the office to satisfy his narcissistic soul (and narcissism is a mental illness). He's a monster and he is a danger to this country. He is one of the greatest tragedies of this nation. Shakespeare said to always add a bit of comedy to your tragedies so as not to burden your audience. I fail to find any comedy here. His followers are blinded by his grandiosity. They will never receive anything he promised them. There's no way to argue with them.
This is a bad time in America but we have to tell ourselves it is unacceptable. VOTE. For right now that is the best option.
17
The GOP was " a soulless mindless monstrosity" before Trump. It conspired against President Obama and the American people inauguration night 2009. It tolerated birtherism and the racist elements of the Tea Party. It became home to the Dixiecrats that Fanny Lou Hamer and others shamed out of the Democratic Party long before Trump. Craven political hack Mitch McConnell and the GOP liars and thieves in the United States stole a Supreme Court seat and much of the federal judiciary before Trump became president.
The rotting corpse of the soulless mindless monstrosity of a party was the carrion food for Trump. He did not make the GOP what it is today. The GOP made Trump possible.
5
Spot on, Mr. Blow. Trump wants the press to report his narrative, while he continues to lie and gaslight the public.
12
The comments sections of the Philadelphia Inquirer is filled with conservatives complaining about the liberal bias of their opinion writers and calling it fake news.
It's sad that they don't understand the difference between an opinion piece and a news story, but it sure does explain a lot.
12
I love Venezuela and am heartbroken that the country has fallen apart due to horriable governance. Hugo Chavez was a media darling and then got elected to power, which he never let go of. Trump reminds me of him.
Now Veneuelans try to find food scraps in garbage cans or run to Columbia. The country has oil reserves greater than Saudi Arabia, but is now a wreck and a failed state with a dictator, Maduro, Chavez's follwer, who continues to securely hold on to his power.
This is the fruit of allowing a person like Trump to rule for many years----Beware America!
7
This passage reminded me of Mary Shelley's story of Frankenstein. Victor Frankenstein, motivated by ego and a vision of his own grandiosity, used corpses to create a monster that he couldn't control. Are Trump voters Frankenstein? Or is he himself? Or do both analogies hold frighteningly well?
Well done, Charles Blow.
"Trump has killed the traditional Republican Party and raised and animated in its corpse a soulless, mindless monstrosity, loyal only to him. The moderating forces in the party have either been sidelined or subdued."
26
@Tom Morris - I beg to differ, he hasn't killed it, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Donald Trump and all the others who allow this nut to continue without regard to the entire USA have killed it.
6
Let us recap. Trump found a new way to call forth people who never voted before. I would call them "inexperienced voters"; they poured forth from their tiny towns and trailer parks to "reclaim their country". On paper "their" party controls ALL branches of Federal government and yet they can't get what they want (more money without education, the removal of brown people from their sight, an undefined exaltation of the their status for just being what they are), so what to do? Attack journalists. March with tiki torches. Demand a symbolic wall. The United States of America has been on the path towards a shared future with the rest of the world (messy though it is) far longer than these inexperienced voters have been alive. A nation founded for White Christians only? No, that ship has sailed. So much for the Master Race.
4
Trump has to go. He's dangerously unhinged and out of control. This has to stop before he *really* loses it and calls on his supporters to get their guns. And don't believe that can't happen!
24
There is a certain frenetic Hitlerian tone to Trump's rallies, he is a cunning fellow when it comes to whipping up his base with outlandish lies. He stays right on the edge of inciting criminal violence toward the members of the press, hoping to do it and not be held criminally liable. The soulless GOP goes along with it. The next election cannot come soon enough.
19
"...the crowds can gather for a revival of an anger that registers as near-religious. They can experience a communal affirmation that they are not alone in their intolerance, outrage and regression."
Are you referencing the front page of the NYT?
1
The truth is before us and now Democratic voters need to stand up and be heard. Mr Blow is giving all the reasons to vote.
23
Trump had never been interested in either policy or governance. Propaganda is all he knows and does. This was apparent from the start. He has clearly learnt the fundamental lesson that Josef Goebbels enunciated - tell a lie, make it big, and repeat it often - The uneducated masses will follow.
24
Trump is repaying the base with racism, removing the rock the racist fringe used to have to hide under, making it now acceptable "some very fine people on both sides" - presumably very fine people, except that are racists. But other than that, "very fine people..." Now they don't have to hide under the rock, they can stand proudly next to their president. Trump has done nothing for them, nothing at all except cheapen and weaken the moral stigma that used to slime-coat racism, no longer as fringe when the president does it, now, eh? But the big payoff, the real payback is for his 1% wealthy crony crowd. Giving them 80% of the Trump "Tax Reform" wasn't enough, so he's trying to give away another $100 Billion, 67% of it to the 1% and above, and not even bother to involve Congress. Constitution? Doesn't matter to Trump - and he'll distract the base with another rally, a few more slurs on Mexicans and China, and the base won't even notice how he's selling them out... as long as he gives the cover for the bigots and racists, he's golden. The most corrupt president ever, doing everything he can to increase inequality and "rig the system" even more for the very wealthy... not even pretending any more to care about middle class or poor people. Unless they're white.
2
"The entire Trump presidency is about repayment to the most devout: the white nationalists, the Christian nationalists, the ethnonationalists."
Yes, pluse the trillion-dollar tax-cut payoff to the super-rich, of course.
7
why is a sitting US president holding "rallies" to begin with?
13
@R.A.K.
I wonder if the times could present a little research: I don't remember anyone doing continual political vaudeville of this sort throughout their Presidency. And certainly not in the midst of a string of crises.
4
@R.A.K. He believes that We The People are his audience, not citizens.
5
"Trump has killed the traditional Republican Party and raised and animated in its corpse a soulless, mindless monstrosity, loyal only to him. The moderating forces in the party have either been sidelined or subdued."
All I can say is "WOW". You have the nerve to opine that 1/2 the country who voted for Trump is "a soulless, mindless monstrosity, loyal only to him".
How farcical is that? Basically, if our opinion differs from yours, we are "a soulless, mindless monstrosity, loyal only to him".
How about if we like some of his policies? We are still "a soulless, mindless monstrosity, loyal only to him"?
I must say, for you to write that is almost as "despicable", as Hillary suggesting that those who voted for Trump are the "deplorables"!
If we do not agree with you, there may be no debate or conversation. Once again "WOW"!
1
@bsb
Do the math. 63 million people voted for trump. Our total population is over 300 million, but for arguments sake, let's say 300 million. The adult population is 225 million.
That means that 28% of the adult population voted for him. Not half.
Despite the depressing fact that only half of adults eligible to vote actually do so (the numbers for primaries and midterms are even more dismal), these numbers still give me hope.
Though at 40% approval, that still means that 90 million American adults think this fragile man-child is actually doing a good job.
3
Excellent column! And my favorite part is applying the word "poltroon" to the Republicans around Trump who refuse to act on this vile freak show's damage. Dictionary.com defines a poltroon as "a wretched coward; craven." Can't think of a better description for our Republican House and Senate leaders!
6
The lead article in the NYT today shows how corrupted the lobbying process has become. It is rife with foreign influence working via the connections and persuasion of key players, i.e.g, Podesta and Vin Weber. Foreign influence on legislation and policy is on the same fine line as election meddling. We did it for decades in many countries most recently in Ukraine and Egypt ( all the NGO's we supported against the Moslem Brotherhood ). Face it, this is a worm eaten political culture and there are few heros
The premise , quite remarkably stated, is that people who hold a traditional view of the national character ( European , Judeo Christian ) are biased or prejudicial. There was a time when all who came sought assimilation. Many changed their name, learned English, adopted the cultural traditions ( Thanksgiving , for example ). It was how to become American and not a path to Ethno-nantionalism , whatever that is. Let me remind you that when there is a conflict or national threat, we rely on the volunteer Army , people who identify as American and are likely , more often than not, Trump supporters by virtue of his view of the defense budget and the VA. As someone said the other day, in a discussion about illegal immigrants, " We are all Americans but some of us are citizens." Really? Only legal immigrants can serve ( green and other cards )
There are only about 10,OOO legal non citizens serving despite it being a path to citizenship...Think about that. ..Mr .Blow.
1
These types of articles are well and good but what is needed are facts. How are the tax cuts hurting his base, how many of his base have and will lose their health care, what compromising information does Putin have on him? The list is long. We know the man is mentally unbalanced, a danger and a fake.
4
The political cartoon published by Norwegian news outlet VG keeps popping into my mind. The one with a Trump baby in soiled diaper, grabbing the American flag with covfefe-covered hands yanking the Earth to the ground. A spoiled child with in awe of his wonderful generals, intelligence agencies, weapons, and resources at his disposal. And yet little clue on how to really use them other than to create fear in everyone else and manipulate them to get what he wants.
Like the flag pulling the fragile globe, Trump only understands leverage. There is no appreciation for the beauty of nature (other than nubile female bodies), music, words, art, science, or anything that a black (or other non-white) man created. Only gold-plated junk.
Trump is the embodiment of all of the failed kids in Willie Wonka's Chocolate Factory and then some.
5
It puzzles us here in Australia that the president is invested with so much almost mythical power, a power that is currently being shamelessly exploited by a man totally unfit for the job. As we are seeing, the American political system is clearly vulnerable to a would-be dictator. Where are the supposed checks and balances for someone who believes he can ride roughshod over the law of the land? Especially when backed by a weak-kneed bunch of sycophants in his own party.
To suggest, as Justice Kavanaugh seems to have done, that the president should be above the law while in office is simply ludicrous. The fact that Trump so obviously admires the leadership of countries like Russia, North Korea and China makes it abundantly clear what he craves at home. Not this term, perhaps, but imagine the consequences if, with Putin’s help, he manages to engineer another four years.
10
America in 2018 is reminiscent of the Weimar Republic circa 1932. Americans wondering how the cultured and civilized people of a democratic nation could turn to war and genocide should compare Trump's speeches to the Nuremberg rallies. The main difference is that the German crowds were more orderly than the rabble Trump arouses.
10
@Chris Bowling
"German crowds more orderly"...how remarkably naive and uninformed. Do a bit of homework on the Jewish shops destroyed and people beaten to and from such rallies.
People know so little of history and are so proud to show that ..these forums are wonderful for the uninformed...you can turn history into anything and others cheer you on...
2
@Joel Levine You misinterpreted my comment, which was more specifically focused on the immediate effect rather than the long-term one. View film of the rallies themselves, not the terror that was released in their wake. Kristallnacht (1938) and other S.A. activities were outside the venue of these (and smaller) rallies, especially the 1933-35 ones, and subsequent to them. The demogagory was similar, but the German audiences didn't indulge in near riots on the scene (such as what occurred in Florida).
You need to wake up and stop talking about the population of Trump’s pep rallies as “Trump’s base.” They are not his base. His base is the people who elected him, and there aren’t and never have been enough of those MAGA fanboys to elect anybody. His “base” is the same people who voted for Mitt Romney. Walk into any country club and check out the people in the tennis whites and ugly golf pants. They voted for Trump, they still support him, and they will elect him in 2020 unless candidates start offering voters some alternatives for positive change that can increase voter participation. (Yes, Bernie Bros, I said “increase,” not “rile up.”) Ignore the guys who drive pickups that never get dirty. They’re not that interesting. Speak to and about the rest of the country.
3
"Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength." Eric Hoffer
16
The base of the Republican Party are so vulnerable to the lies of this wannabe despot because they share the same political DNA - greed, hatred, jealousy, intolerance, outrage, regression. These are small minded people who live in a tiny world.
The threat of change, the unknown, diversity are all too much for them to anticipate.
Does anybody doubt that BFF Vladi and his cyber spies are behind the Q?
9
What's going to happen when the waters released by all the scandals starts reaching his chest and he really starts to panic? I'm afraid the guy is capable of anything. I would hope that the top pentagon brass have already had a sub rosa meeting to discuss what to do in the case when the commander in chief issues a truly crazy order.
5
Of all the mysteries of the Trump voter alternate universe, that they don't see him as an emotional weakling is right at the top.
Imagine demanding, in the strongest terms possible, almost every day for a year-and-a-half, that the Mueller investigation end, and no one listens to him and nothing happens.
He's like Cartman, impotently demanding: "Respect my authoritah!"
Trump is very, very weak. Totally weak. Weak Donald. Bigly.
6
You hit the nail on the head. Trump is a weak and insecure man who is unqualified for his office.
He craves adulation from his base and as an amoral sociopath is not reluctant to destroy essential democratic institutions and the free press and the idea of facts and the truth. He is attempting to become an authoritarian like his mentor Putin and the Republican Party is enabling him as long as they get their cherished tax cuts and financial deregulation and conservative judges. For them the end justifies the means and so shamelessly ends democracy.
6
You summed it up beautifully. This is not Trump bashing it is the truth of the matter. Obvious in your face reality.
This is an existential battle we're in mow for the heart and soul of our Nation.
It is NOT an intellectual contest as to which paradigm advances common objectives. Such contests are healthy and can help form the best implementations against shared objectives..
Objectives of liberty and opportunity, of fairness, of united communities, of basic equality, of justice for all, of egalitarianism, of secular rational based governance, etc.
Objectives however imperfectly implemented at the start or how arduous and slow our march toward perfection has been were obviously there in the minds of our Founding Fathers as best they could comprehend and realize them in the 18th Century.
Today they'd be aghast - I am pretty sure.
Today we have two sides - one stocked with the authoritarian inclined,
or those driven by their base instincts, fears, prejudices, narrow-band theology, or very parochial concerns
or those that too easily embrace truthy sounding and easy to wrap head around propaganda and misdirection
These are not bad people, nor stupid, but they will vote for people that will eventually recast our Nation into a form of fascist Plutocracy.
On the other side we have a MAJORITY - about 58% - that can psychology and intellectually see the dangers of that and could vote to stop it. I just hope I am right and they do!!!!
3
Everyone should read the article in USA Today (sorry NYT) that explains that President * Trump is "highly vulnerable to what can reasonably be called “sympathetic audience control.” The author states: "When Trump is in front of a large group of cheering people, his thinking is fully controlled by the crowd. It might seem he’s in control, but the opposite is actually the case. The supportive audience completely dominates his thinking, causing him to repeat, over and over, things he believes the audience wants to hear."
Trump is dangerous. He is not a small d democrat. He is a wannabe autocrat. But at the end of the day he not responsible for his actions. He should be removed -- but humanely.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2018/07/30/trump-lies-reversals-r...
3
Mr. Blow's piece is nothing if not blunt. In my considered opinion, it is also nothing if not accurate. Clearly it is unlikely to sway the would-be emperor's loyal base. But to the unconvinced it's essential that someone draw attention to the fact that the would-be emperor is also nude. Thanks to Mr. Blow for being up to it.
7
Charles, we know all this about Trump. I know the forms comments will take.
I want something new from you that bears directly on a fundamental belief held by Trump, by American white-nationalists and neo-Nazis, probably a large fraction of Trump supporters and even other Americans.
BELIEF: There are genetically distinct "races" that can be arranged in order of superiority.
Only rarely do we read anything in the Times challenging this belief. A recent example comprises two interviews of Adrian Piper, artist and philosopher. Consider these from the 2d interview given by Lauren O’Neill-Butler (LOB):
LOB: “What do you consider among your most important achievements:
AP: 2d of 4: I escaped from the United States (to Berlin) with my life.
AP final remarks: “--- it has always been obvious to me that the fantasy of racial difference has no foundation in genetic fact. It is merely the last outpost of segregation, the kind that exists only in the minds of those who think they need it as a source of status and self-differentiation.”
Understand?
Your turn Charles.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
5
The people who were screaming obscenities and raising their middle fingers to the press pool in Florida are very capable of turning into a violent mob. No question about it.
Therefore, Trump is inciting a riot which is sufficient cause for any municipal owned venue to refuse to host his mob scenes.
Jim Acosta's Twitter account has posted video of this mob of violent people screaming at him, calling him names, giving him their middle fingers, and harassing him while he was working and on the air.
These people present a danger to the safety and well being of the press who are covering Trump. They must not be allowed to continuing harassing the press or anyone else at this mob-scenes without intervention by law enforcement.
They need to get a loud and clear message that their unlawful conduct will not be tolerated by anyone at any time.
No member of the press should take their safety lightly and if they are attacked they should be prepared to defend themselves.
Frankly, I would not go near one of these mob-scenes due to the potential violence that is inevitable as long as Trump continues to spew his lies and hate-filled abuse of the press.
13
The media gave Trump and his campaign over $4 billion
free air time, and they have continued to give him free publicity to peddle his propaganda and lies - therefore the media is the amplification mechanism that is selling Trump's propaganda to the nation.
Cut off the free publicity and let Trump use his right wing
media hubs to sell and peddle his nasty racist and bigoted
opinions - and see how many people he can reach and manipulate.
The media keeps talking about a possible Constitutional crisis.
The truth is that America is in a Constitutional crisis now.
7
Trump rages on like a two year old. Which brings to mind: what happened to him in his formative years? But again, who cares.
3
Looking at the bright side, these four years are forcing the Democrats to stand for something, rather than drifting past GO and collecting a paycheck. This president is also shining a light on the details of how Washington is corrupt to the bone–so corrupt that the players don't understand their own corruption. Power and rivers of cash corrupted them to the point that they never questioned the ethical implications of their actions. They just leveraged their power and money to amass more power and money. And aesthetically, they all share a taste for dictator-chic (or is it dictator-sheik). Real men speak softly and carry big sticks. These men speak loudly and drive Range Rovers with spinners.
...
For sure, Trump is horrible. But he is exposing the swamp for what it is. Maybe after his reign we will clean up the swamp and balance the ecosystem.
...
Trump is not just the president of nationalists and racists and sexists. He is the ultimate cynic's president–people who think that government is a bad joke. Well. It turns out that government is a bad joke, but it is a joke on the cynics as much as on the rest of us. We've all been had. Maybe we can learn from it.
3
Donald Trump is in the process of destroying everything in his path. He has laid waste to over 240 years of progress and hard work. By the time he is done with his scorched earth policy, all of the blood that has been spilled, all of the sweat that has been shed, and all of the tears cried will have been in vain. He is remaking America in his own image. And it’s not a good one!
7
The media that is bent on determining political climate and leanings (the NYTs is probably the foremost) is the mother of president Trump going into the attack mode. What is dangerous to the USA is that the media has decided that it will determine what is "the truth" and what is news-worthy relative to politics. We need the media kings to step out and step back. There's plenty of Fake News to go around on both political sides. Charles is aware of this.
Trump is not the disease...he is a symptom of our broken politics. Religious fanatics, 1% capitalists and racist haters in the aggregate represent far less than 50% of the populace, but their activism and largess gives them outsized influence. Politicians do not lead, they follow the money in pursuit of their benefactors goals. THe paradox is that the moderate majority does not get the implementation of policies that would benefit our country but rather it is subjected to legislation which enriches the already wealthy and which impinges on the civil,rights of minorities and those less powerful. Our bloated military budget is less about national security and more about corporate profits. Even our penal system and immigration enforcement is funded for the benefit of the private prison business. The ever more dangerous threat of climate change takes a back seat to ending increased auto mileage goals.
Donald “I can have no conflicts of interest” Trump is in it for the money. But so are most of those sitting in Congress...that is the disease that brought us the cancer infecting the White House.
14
Great article, thank you Charles!
6
You wonder how much lower the GOP can go. Talk about a sliding progression Reagan ---Bush ---- Trump
Still, it seems there is a core of US voters willing to install even the most obvious huckster. Trump doesn't even try to hide how utterly common he is. A scary time.
8
After watching video of "Trump: Triumph of the Will Tampa Style" and his supporters rabid reactions to his mendacious ravings, I concur with Charles Pierce who wrote "these people don't need to be understood, they need to be medicated".
11
How close is Donald Trump to a psychotic breakdown? Make no mistake, an out of control malignant narcissist will destroy us all to protect himself. His constant need for ego gratification and the false self he has created are under threat and no one is safe from his psychosis. No one. An impotent Congress will not protect us from a man who walks the path of madness and a brutal dictatorship...we are on our own. The times we are living in have become so dangerous I truly fear our country won't survive. This is no time to be a Pollyanna or a glass half full optimist. Not only are the red lights flashing, but the sirens of immanent danger are sounding as well.
9
In some ways it is the “traditional Republican” who bears the most blame for enabling Trump. As Jesus apparently said, “the deplorables will be with you always.” Trump may bring them to the fore, but their bigotry and ignorance is not new.
What is new is the willful ignorance of many otherwise decent people who belong to the Republican tribe and therefore ignore the attacks on the rule of law and on our republican government itself.
6
Will someone, ANYONE. from Trump-world please PLEASE go on the record stating exactly what "main-stream" media stories about him are not factual? Please be specific....I do so want to understand...
....and while we're on the subject of fake news...didn't Trump campaign on the promise, constantly chanted at rallies, that Mexico would pay for the wall?
5
Perhaps the media should refuse to cover his rallies. Don’t feed Trump’s pathology. The worst thing that can happen to a narcissist is to be ignored.
19
@E Bennet When small children have a temper tantrum, you ignore it and the child comes down, because you have not given in to its manipulation of getting it own way. At a later moment, when you clearly are in charge, you teach the child how to behave by modelling positive, firm, and loving constructive behavior. It is possible for the press to deal with trump's temper tantrums in likewise fashion. In Agreement.
2
I've been writing in recent letters about the importance of calling forth Noam Chomsky's writings on the degree to which Trump is, in a sad and disgusting way, really a front and distraction for the horrific policies beloved by the far right, which, in the death throws of the Republican cult, are truly all that is left.
Republican Nationalism is really a kind of vile spew cast out upon the rest of the country and the world. The ugliest of what an American can be- and, yes, Germany once showed us the same face.
Trump should be seen only as a dark clown, and I think Charles Blow does this consistently article to article. But I would also consistently expose this horrific man's policies, Charles. Trump is a distraction, as Chomsky warned us. The far right doesn't want a government. The billionaires funding these monstrous policies want a slow genocide of the poor, the dark of skin, and the middle class. Nothing less.
6
Rightwing media has been tilling this soil for decades, laying the groundwork for today’s fact-free politics. By the time Hillary ran in ‘16, she had endured over twenty years of unfair and outright baseless attacks that nevertheless accumulated like barnacles on a ship...so much so that most Republicans today believe she is more evil than Putin. The prevailing sentiment that “at least it’s not Hillary” means Trump can do no harm.
6
Thank you for speaking reality and truth through the current obfuscating mirage.
Is this sad story of Trump and his deluded supporters not exemplified in the famous Hans Christian Anderson tale of calculated lies and blinded followers: The Emperor's New Clothes?
6
Mr. Blow has a way of exploring insights into Trump's personality that no other columnist has exhibited. He seems to see Trump's pathologies and their attractiveness to Trump's followers as a symbiosis, and I think he's right. Too bad the rest of us have to get hit by the fallout of this shared pathology between the dictator and his followers.
6
When I read that Trump supporters are supposed to be just regular people, middle-class Americans who felt left behind as the economy moved ahead without them, Americans who see their way of life threatened by foreigners, I try to be sympathetic and understand their point of view. But, then I can't square that with the screaming, raging, rabid hoards at his rallies, frantic in their hatred of the press and lunatic in their calls to "lock her up." Their distorted faces remind me of the White people I've seen in photographs taken during the civil rights era, when schools desegregated and Black children were harassed and bullied as they tried to go to school. It's like Trump gives normal, everyday people the license to unleash their most vile, despicable feelings that they must keep under wraps in their everyday lives. It really makes me look at people differently, and I wonder if the Trump supporters I know are really like that, too--filled with a hatred that they stifle most of the time, but let go of when they go to his rallies. I no longer sympathize with them--I'm afraid of them.
573
@MsPea, thank you for your eloquent letter. You have touched upon exactly what I have been feeling. It is becoming so abundantly clear that we are no different than the rest of humanity. When allowed and encouraged to unleash our inner insecurities, we go to the darkest places. We bully the neighbor we have lived and worked with for years. It is no longer difficult for me to imagine how easy it is for neighbors to turn on one another. Forces, both domestic and foreign, know how to foment unrest and hatred to divide a people. Make no mistake, these times are being orchestrated to bring us down. And we have a president who is complicit in this process. Truly, we have met the enemy and he is us.
5
@Ms. Pea Agree completely. It's not Trump but his rabid base that scares me the most. Fear can make people do horrible things. I try not to be as fearful as they seem to be.
2
@Ms. Pea - Dear Ms. Pea, your comment is spot on, perfectly worded, and I agreed with all but one sentiment. Do not be afraid of them. Like all bullies, they want you to fear them. It emboldens them. And as is almost always true of bullies, when their intimidation tactics don't work, when they're confronted from a position of strength, they show their true color: Yellow. Bullies are cowards.
Yes, I too have tried to be conciliatory and non-confrontational with those I know, just to keep the peace. But there's too much at stake and what trump is inciting is dangerous, I'll give you that. But tolerance can be mistaken for acceptance. This kind of rabid mob hate fest is not acceptable, and we should no longer pretend otherwise for the sake of being polite. If these otherwise seemingly "nice" people are really that ugly on the inside, I want nothing more to do with them and don't mind letting them know it.
1
Trump is the leader of a mass movement and his constituents are true believers. Hoffer's description of mass movements is certainly applicable to Trump's supporters. Hofer asserted that all mass movements no matter how diverse their doctrine preached all of them breed "fanaticism, enthusiasm, fervent hope, hatred and intolerance...".
Mr. Blow's statement that "no matter how much he violates their religious tenets they forgive him and cheer" is exactly the single hearted allegiance and blind faith exhibited by cult followers and true believers.
It will be difficult to get true believers like Trump supporters to compromise and accept facts. If they do, they will no longer be true believers.
5
This is also the problem with all social media—they confuse news with propaganda. I would guess that the ultimate source of this confusion is none other than the ubiquitous form of communication called—advertising.
2
We know how the Republican Party has won the majority. We know they have been working on this since Regan. This is like trying to make a reasonable argument with an obstinate uncle. You aren’t going to move the needle one little bit with reason because reason has nothing to do with it.
5
"America was founded as a white, Christian nation and should be governed as one." This assumption has been demonstrated false by historians like Jon Meacham. The God in whom the Founders trusted was more like the God of Unitarian Universalism than the God of the Christian Fundamentalists who support DT. The Treaty of Tripoli says clearly we are not a "Christian Nation."
The people like the rabid Fundamentalists who helped elect DT out of disillusionment and displacement are being betrayed daily by the administration and the do-nothing GOP Congress. They should be sick at the carnage that is left of their dreams of cultural dominance. People who think are not buying them.
6
Without Russia attacking our election, Trump would not be president. Therefore, he has to attack the press and any one else who represents reality.
A representative democracy needs to be just that—representative. While Trump’s base's beliefs and support for his atavism are loathsome, they only represent a minority. That last part is key.
One thing that the Russian interference in our election has revealed is that Trump is a minority president. Not just because of the anachronism of the Electoral College or that he lost by over 3 million votes. He was materially and decisively aided by Russia’s attack on our election. There were times in 2016 when the Democrats looked to win not just the White House, but perhaps a majority in the House and even conceivably the Senate. Then there were dumps of emails and false news to target the most susceptible. The result? The Democrats' majorities evaporated in a psychographic mist spreading across social media.
Every major poll has shown that he is deeply disliked by a majority of Americans. Those that like him and GOP policies really, deeply do, but they are consistently a minority.
We face an ominous choice in November. If Trump’s minions win, American democracy loses. The worry is that the Russians are getting better in their attacks. They are harder to spot and therefore harder to stop. They were surprised that they succeeded in putting their lackey in the White House. Now they know their power. They are going to use it.
10
Recent polls show the press rating at about 18% approval. That is about 4 out of 5 Americans disapprove of their
actions. Yet they climb in their High Horse named, "Freedom
of the Press", and claim that they stand for truth & justice.
It is, of course, utter nonsense. They think that being rude & what they call,"Asking tough questions." excuses them from
basic decent manners. It doesn't.
Freedom of the Press is for Journalists, who present verifiable facts, not opinion writers or reporters who give anonymous sources & stretch the truth.
And yes, we can handle the truth.
1
@Elaine Coyle Respect for decent manners as you call them is for everyone including your Mr. Trump and his rallies. Mr. Trump fears the press because they say things he doesn't want to hear. The press doing less because of Trump attacks would lead to the loss of free speech for everyone. We can not stop the hate condoned by Trump in his rallies, but we sure can deplore it and speak out. We have not lost this right, yet.
1
@just Robert
Fear the press??? Surely you jest? With an 18% approval rating, they don't even have all the Democrats on their side.
Trump gives what he gets & he is speaking out against the hate spewed by CNN. He has the same right as you do.
Trump said during the campaign that he could shoot someone on fifth Avenue and get away with it, a remark That assumes reality everyday of his presidency. Things that would lead to impeachment in any other president are common place and now considered just business as usual, things like special privileges for Russian thugs, the threat to fire a special prosecutor assigned to investigate possible Trump Crimes, the use of his office to make huge profits and the intimidation of witnesses and threats to his rivals. To Trump all of these things are protected under executive privilege so totally legal and business as usual. Some presidents have stretched presidential authority to their own uses, but never have we had one who used it to shelter illegal actions in plain sight. This is the true danger that a president will so openly use his position as a normal vehicle to flagrantly break the law and no one in the judiciary or congress will do anything about it.
3
I don't know what is really going on in the heads of Trumps' followers. I know there are desecrators of Black churches and Jewish synagogues. The Klan still exists, the Bundys' seize federal land with weapons drawn, there's violence on Planned Parenthood clinics, and so on. The list was already pretty long BEFORE 2016. An enormous lack of education breeds a warped view of what the human struggle is all about. The goal is to develop a better social order, a "more perfect union". It's to help folks live in a global society and not hide in fear. In the meanwhile DT's mental fitness to perform his job is so deficient that even his senior staff, even his lawyers, are now contradicting him and trying to excuse his jumbled-up words by offering that he's not really going to shut down the government, he's not really going to fire the attorney general, he's not really trying to interfere with an ongoing trial. We don't just suffer from income inequality, we have the problem that many adults can't read or write. They will believe almost anything if you drill it into their heads often enough, long enough, loud enough. So certain people enter politics with this in mind- to seize control no matter who they hurt in the process. Their obsession with self-promotion, acquiring wealth, and gaming the system "becomes the system". We had the guts to "fire" Richard Nixon before he did any more damage, but he was simply ruthless. Now we must contend with serious mental illness as well.
5
Trumpism is a faith-based cult. Jesus hasn't shown up yet, so evidently he will do for now with his supporters. It's especially scary because unfettered faith necessarily demands the denial of reason. Impeachment can't come soon enough for our country, but where does that leave us? Close to half of the country have proven themselves to be unreasonably blind to this man's illegal follies, and to call for locking up people who have committed no crime. Again, it's a scary country now.
4
Indeed, Trump is all about himself. That aside, it seems that the majority of Americans know that Trump's calls of fake news are themselves fake. Trump's base did not believe most of the major news outlets to start with because they had subscribed to the ideology of Bill O'Reilly when he criticized, among others, the NYT. Anyone that is not living in the world of conspiracy theory, which accounts for most Americans, understands that the majority of news sites are working on evidence. Will Trump's attacks on the media have long lasting effects? The US will probably revert back to the tribalism of pre-Trump once he is out, with right wing conspiracy theorists keeping the ears of white nationalists.
2
Great column.
I’m worried about the Trumpians at rallies. If they do something, they have been getting arrrested. And there aren’t a huge quantity of them. I’m more concerned with colleagues of mine, with graduate degrees, who watch Fox News at lunch. The ones who work with immigrants from India, Turkey, and Asia. Who is pleasant with them, but you wonder what his inner dialogue is like.
2
The Tamp rally was great for Trump. It was sad to see pictures of the large crowd because it meant to me that many of my fellow Americans have gone off and joined the insanity of the mob.
Trump's ego grows in toxicity with every passing day. He is a great manipulator of social media and combined with his malignant need for affirmation Trump has positioned himself Savior of America and the world. Everything before Trump was awful, the worst, wrong and big time Loser. Everything after Trump fixes it is the best, most beautiful, correct and Winning! It's not for nothing that Trump attempts to paint the world in B.C./A.C. imagery.
Be afraid of any man who has never, ever been wrong or made a mistake. Transparency, the truth and facts expose the lie and are Trump's greatest threat. That his sycophantic staff allow him to hold bilateral meetings in total secrecy and make private calls to other heads of state is just the tip of the iceberg of Trump's hidden agenda. Trump is acting in the interests of HIMSELF ONLY.
He does not fulfill his oath of office to represent, defend and protect the USofA.
I wonder how all this will end. Americans of good conscience are putting way too much faith and power in the hands of Mr. Mueller.
Mueller can not be our only hope to restore the dignity and true values of the office of POTUS. It is way to much a burden for his shoulders no matter how principled Mueller is. WE must back him up with affirmative action to push back against the rally.
6
About these awful rallies...
I keep thinking about the old "Big Time Wrestling" TV broadcasts which were so obviously and intentionally fake. Yet the crowds roared for the bulky, sad heroes and villains doing their choreographed dramas of good and evil.
How did we get a "Big Time Wrestling President" and crowds that treat our democracy like cheap theater?
7
Re-establish the standard that truth matters.
America's schools and public discourse have led people into believing free speech is a 'get to of jail free' card.
Laws are necessary to provide definition to our lives.
The actions of spreading lies as if they are true, systematically and deliberately, HAS to be criminal.
Unfortunately, reasonable people have let the crazies get away with too much before taking a stand. It is time to sue, and sue, and sue, and sue slander wherever it exists.
Re-establish the standard that truth matters.
3
The President continues to show the nation how a person who suffers from a long-standing mental disease, one that prevents him from dealing with reality, behaves. That means, of course, that he is NGRI - not guilty by reason of insanity.
Persons who believe themselves to have super-powers [Only I can fix it] are compelled to behave as the President does. Only he can insult other world leaders - especially women; only he can forge 'relationships' with political strongmen; he could shoot someone on the streets of New York and get away with it.
For the record, the notion that psychologists and/or psychiatrists should not comment on the sanity [a legal term, not a medical or psychological one] is not a law, but a custom decreed for members of certain organizations. It is like not telling a person that she has cancer.
Finally, a finding of NGRI would automatically get Trump out of harm's way. He would face no penalties, and a reasonable court would accept the plea that, once out of office, he posed no danger to himself or others and could thus not be committed to a mental institution.
And no one has told him about this? SAD!
2
Trump and his supporters who so angrily disparage "Fake News" organizations should try living in counties where despotic leaders have violently suppressed civil rights, freedom of the press, and fair and honorable rule of law. Ordinary citizens in these counties have no protection against being sent to prison or executed if they displease a powerful official.
Our nation's so-called "evil" mainstream news organizations report, not only on politics, but also on -- snowstorms, tornadoes, droughts, earthquakes, floods, wild fires, wars and other foreign events, plane crashes, toxic spills, food contamination, healthy food, climate change, medical issues, science and technology, business, the economy, employment, education, housing, the world of nature, sports, entertainment, literature, arts, and in fact, every aspect our lives.
Is all of this "Fake News"? Trump says,"Don't believe anything that you read, hear, or see. Just believe what I say." Only HE can solve all of our problems, and it doesn't matter if he turns Truth inside-out and upside-down.
If humans give up on trying to intelligently discriminate between fact and falsehood, and if we cease to value true integrity of character, we have a monumental problem.
5
At some point Blow ought to realize the utter futility of being in a constant state of rage against Trump. Especially as the economic and security state of the country continues to flourish. At some point, the cognitive dissonance should kick in, no?
It was said of Syria's leader, Assad, that when he first came to Syria in 2000 after his Dad died he seemed "reasonable," "open" and "Westernized." Then, the fantastical conspiracy theories and enemies listing spun by his security apparatus began to get to him to where he trusted no one and persecuted everyone.
Trump is no Assad because our democratic institutions, though frayed, are much stronger. He does have though a dictator's fantasist and paranoid mindset. Since Congress isn't doing its job, we're seeing the American version of what unchecked power looks like. His average lies per day now lie at around 7.5, up from the first days of his administration, thanks in part to the torrent he's spewed in June and July. And the cloud of violence that hovers in his name, whether it's in Charlottesville, over a Hollywood star or this latest heckling of journalists at his rally.
5
At times I have questioned all those required liberal arts courses I was made to take at a small liberal arts college. Lately, sitting at several social gatherings, I have listened to other college educated individuals--for the most part business and professional majors---albeit, skillfully, utter high level Fox justifications of Donald Trump: gentle hints that the media is biased, the claim that all Presidents were morally bankrupt (even Obama---a sex scandal is imminent), climate change is overblown, and immigrants pose a clear and present danger to our country (except for their foreign nanny--being paid off the books). All those books I was required to read in history (especially Hannah Arendt's Origins of Totalitarianism), in sociology, economics, even the required earth science class, prepared me well for the intellectual mess we are witnessing on a daily basis. My fear of course, is that even amongst our educated class in this country, the vocational turn of our colleges and universities, leaves even the most "educated" vulnerable to this snake oil salesman.
4
The people who worship Trump, perhaps as much as 40% of the population, seemingly want an authoritarian, a father figure. They want someone who tells them what to think so that they don't have to make the effort to think for themselves. They want someone in whom they can immerse themselves, through whom they can live vicariously with imaginary wealth. This is how cults and dictatorships are maintained. Democracy, representative government takes work on the part of all citizens, including intellectual work, to sort through and analyze the information with which we are bombarded, and act based on the information. Trump was probably correct when he asserted that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any support. Sadly, the way he would lose support would be to instruct his followers to read the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and a science publication regularly.
4
Trump wants the kind of press coverage that his alter ego, Vladimir Putin demands in Russia. Trump took an oath to defend the constitution, which guarantees the right of a free press, and when he says the press is the enemy of the people, he is violating that oath. If that is not an impeachable offense, it should be. The silence of Republicans implies tacit approval of his un-American behavior and they should pay the price for their reticence in the mid-term elections.
5
Steve Bannon created *all* this. He is a severely mentally ill person who has grandiose fantasies about the "Clash of Civilizations" which is a global war of Christians against Muslims. He preached/preaches the absolute destruction of the American government. And it was Bannon who created "the mainstream media" as the enemy of the people. And it was Bannon's followers who became the core base of Trump supporters. Bannon handed them to Trump on a silver platter but Trump was required to follow the playbook and sing the right tune.
Bannon got Trump elected in a campaign which pitted "them" against the "media" rather than Republicans vs Democrats. He said so.
Sure Trump threw him under the bus like he will do anyone who is no longer useful. But he will never veer away from the script Bannon wrote for him because he believes it got him elected and hw knows for sure he's not gaining any new supporters as president so he's got to continuously keep that base ginned up to get him through his re-election. Trump will do or say anything not to lose the next election. It's just convenient that the press is unflattering to him so that kills two birds with one stone.
We are in a lot of trouble. The rest of the world is busy making other plans but we are trapped in this dystopia Trump is creating before our very eyes using Bannon's template as his guide.
6
First, this was a gorgeous opinion piece. I loved everything about it, especially Blow's portrayal of the current Republican Party as as quasi-Richard Mathesonesque vampires/zombies.
But I do have a minor quibble with the claim that, "The entire Trump presidency is about repayment to the most devout: the white nationalists, the Christian nationalists, the ethnonationalists."
Certainly Trump is beholden to these groups. However, after reading Seth Hettman's piece on the Treasury Department's easing of sanctions on the Russian aluminum company Rusal, I would add Oleg Deripaska and Vladimir Putin to this list. I suspect that the current occupant of the White House is mortally afraid of these gangsters.
If I were him, I'd also be screaming FAKE NEWS! at the top of my lungs every time I even thought about Robert Mueller. The moment he is no longer president, he is no longer valuable to Russian thugs, and appears to be completely at their mercy.
8
They cheer - as now he turns on the Kochs of the world and bites the hands that have fed and protected this administration. They are losing control of their creation.
3
At some point this spell will break. I just hope it's before Russia attacks our electrical grid. To quote Marianne Williamson, "anger is fears most potent face". And trump's whole gig is stoke the fear. After all, he alone can fix it. Right? We're in trouble America.
3
What if this person is able to seat Kavanaugh? After Republicans “cheated” to get Gorsuch seated, Trump who lies, cheats, steals, and most likely breaks the law (so far with impunity) may succeed in rewarding all of these zombie followers with a Supreme Court Justice who will be an ally in helping him get away with his crimes. What then ? Absolute power corrupts absolutely.
5
The free press in the US has done an admirable job in pushing back against the stream of the lies, falsehoods and conspiracy theories that have been emanating from this blowhard president.
The scary part however is the mad crowds attending his rallies; the turkeys who voted for Christmas.
The people who say they love freedom, yet embrace his authoritarian tendencies. The American workers who will bear the brunt of his trade war with the rest of the world and cheer as he rewards big business with tax cuts while cutting social services. Democracy depends on educating and informing the masses.
Even before the election it was clear for all to see what kind of man Donald Trump really is, yet he was elected nonetheless.
He attacks allies and is fawning with dictators. Russia continues to meddle in any way it can and Kim is still upgrading his nuclear facilities. But Donald looks the other way because he believes he has a personal bond with both leaders and they have given him personal assurances. What a joke.
A cue to the rest of the world that the American Century is ending fast.
4
The NYT and WAPO have columnists and reporters who keep us informed. And, we have MSNBC and CNN who blast out views and news that conflict with Trump's Fox drivel.
But, how many Americans even bother to learn the truth? 65%? Can we rely on them to vote in the mid terms? The young are working to keep the light lit but we still have almost 100 days left. The old guard in the Democratic party seems clueless as to how to harness all that energy and keep it focused.
The risk is that the D's will splinter again into competing groups. Sanders is not our leader. He is still a 60's radical who is now leaning on that lovely PR woman, Alexandria, from the Bronx to give him some legitimacy. Sanders contributed heavily to the electorate's doubts about Hillary.
Keep us focused Charles.
5
"...cheering for a man who is not only surrounded by corruption, but whose inner circle is also under criminal investigation, has become the discordant soundtrack of a man who is morally compromised..."
Oh. Clinton.
For a minute I thought we were still talking about Trump...
@Objectivist
Clinton never held rallies like Trump does. I don't condone his moral lapses or his dissembling (yes - alright - LYING) about them, but I do understand that he let the non-stop investigations run their courses and was, ultimately, exonerated of everything except cheating on his wife and trying to cover it up. That the US Congress did not feel that his actions merited removal from office for the "high crimes and misdemeanors," as is provided for in the Constitution, may have been mistaken, but it wasn't for lack of trying by his political foes or as a result of attempted obstruction. On the other hand, Trump's cronies are being investigated for indictable crimes, and each indictment reaches closer and closer to where Trump may have made a deal with the devil (Putin and Russia, in this case). In the meantime, Trump tweets while our democracy burns.
2
@Objectivist
You must be referring to the Clinton who once voluntarily submitted to 10 straight hours of questioning in front of Trey Gowdy's 'Waste of Time and Money Bengazi Political Theater Show' committee, and the only thing they found out was that she had received requests for additional security that weren't responded to in a timely manner, Oh, and also that thing about the State Departments budget for embassy security being slashed - by the GOPs in Congress. Oops! That didn't quite turn out like ol' Trey was planning, eh?
Trump recently declared that his poll numbers were better than Abraham Lincoln's. A statement that is, of course, ridiculous on many levels.
No, trump can be much more accurately compared to the likes of Archie Bunker, or Al Bundy.
Also: I just now realized the identical initials of these two characters, and wonder if the creators of 'Married: with Children' meant that as an homage.
4
Trump did not kill the Republican Party. He is the pure and true expression of what they have been working toward since Ronald Reagan. I am glad you tied them to nationalism. Only from that perspective does the modern GOP make sense. It explains republican’s admiration and respect for Putin. It explains why they would use Putin to destroy Hillary Clinton.
3
Mr. Blow has tipped over the edge with this fluctuant boil of an editorial. Even if he's right in every assertion (which he certainly is not), what good does making that case this way do? This editorial is disturbing in ways that have nothing to do with those it targets.
1
Mr Blow has neatly described why we should be afraid of DJT.
The more Trump experiences the power of the (US) presidency (with rallies becoming more Nuremberg-like) and the more the mob continues to adulate him, the more his megalomaniacal tendencies will need to be fed -- a recipe for disaster.
4
"Attack is the best form of defence" is wearing thin. No, is totally frayed.
The problem is that Trump has given himself no alternative. Because his answer to everything has been to 'attack' he has generated massive pushback from all sides, not just from law enforcement but from from voters in state primaries.
When he looks back on the debacle one day, hopefully through the bars of a prison cell, he will realize his sole escape would have been to act 'presidential' from day one. His decision to attack everyone and everything, each time with exceptional arrogance and even vulgarity, invited the nemesis he is experiencing today.
4
Trump’s cowardice hasn’t been highlighted enough. As you correctly argue, he has been allowed to hide behind genuinely strong institutions of state, whose members (from the military in particular) have inexplicably added their voices to the chorus of popular support.
As an ex-British Army officer I have been trained in the principles of leadership, and the fundamental requirement is that the troops come first. Whether that means letting them file into the canteen ahead of you, or whether it means leading an assault on an enemy position, a leader has to be willing to welcome hardship so that their subordinates can prevail. Trump’s Me First approach to the presidency has displayed the precise opposite. Can anyone, even the most ardent Trumpist, genuinely believe that he would ever say, ‘after you’ in a queue, or ‘I’ll do it’ in the face of the enemy?
He is not a leader; he is a self-involved coward. It’s a shame that genuine leaders in America aren’t calling him out as such more frequently.
6
"Trump is weak. Very weak. Unbelievably weak,"
Mr. Blow, this statement you shared is serendipity at it's best.
My daughter works part time at a restaurant while attending college. Just last week she shared a conversation she had with one of her 'regulars'. The gentleman is a very successful financial adviser and entrepreneur. More often than not, their conversations turn to the political state of our nation.
He shared with her that before trump threw his hat into the political arena, he had spent time as a part of that' inner circle' and came to know him. He said what struck him was the fact that the man is weak, and insecure. He said he is not the least bit surprised by his attacking bravado and, it will grow louder and more abrasive with time, for this bravado is called fear.
It is all too evident,this president's state of fear is growing expotentially day by day. I think it is a cosmic joke that the one thing he is best at selling is fear and, it is the very thing that has him unraveling.
I have to believe were are approaching a tipping point in November. djt and his posse will loose the majority of their seats of power. 2020 may be too late. Vote.
5
There is but one and only one solution to this stain on America and that is to vote each and every Republican out of elected office. The Republican Party has to be made to pay a kings ransom for their silence on all things Trump.
7
Interesting that the one thing Trump does not attack is our actual enemy, Russia.
6
We won't know if Donald Trump's presidential campaign of 2016 was materially compromised for a while. Time will tell. But there are ongoing investigations into the Russian cyber-hacking during our 2016 presidential campaign and now Russians are meddling during our 2018 Mid-Term Elections. Meanwhile, the worst president in American history (thank you, Charles Blow, for your frightening laundry-list of what Trump has perpetrated on our democracy) is holding constant VOTE TRUMP 2020! rallies from coast-to-coast -- 'gimme that ol' time religion' revival meetings! President Trump is buoying up Republican candidates all over the U.S. with his endorsements for our Mid-Terms on our American taxpayer dimes. Free propaganda. Go figure.
6
Hear, hear! Powerful. Thank you.
3
Another excellent analysis of what is now a common theme of Trump's political and psychological state. He has a base of support, but broadly speaking he is widely unpopular. Some 55% of Americans, myself included, oppose him. He is cornered. Used to hiding his dirty laundry in the opaque world of corporate malfeasance, because of his position of power as POTUS, his actions are now under great scrutiny. Trump, like Nixon, is not not a crook. (To use the ever present double negatives). Venal, insecure, corrupt, and connected to venal, insecure and corrupt people, Trump's getting very nervous as Manafort's trial starts and Cohen looks likely to flip.
Nixon 2.0
4
The only silver lining of the Evangelicals’ embrace of Trump is that they are making none the fastest growing religion in America.
5
“The president’s recent rallies have come to resemble orgies for Donald Trump’s ego.”
It tells you everything you need to know about our very unhinged “president” that he loves these rallies. He started doing them almost immediately after his inauguration, and he won’t stop doing them until he is removed from office.
This is a moment of truth for our democracy, if not basic human decency. Either 50.1% or more of Americans will vote to throw out the Trump appeasers, or our country is toast.
3
Photos from Trump's recent rallies look like pictures of HItler entering the Rhineland: the upturned faces, the glee, the look of worship.
These things need to be said and once again we can rely on Charles Blow to say them, much more elegantly than the subject of them deserves or what my private thoughts contain.
But those who attend his orgiastic rallies or defend him with blind acquiescence including those elected to serve the American people deserve the same level of condemnation. Their continued support of this man and stubborn refusal to see the swath of damage he has wraught across the country and beyond make them as guilty as he will prove to be.
After Trump, what will we have left in this great land? A weakened system that sustained an unfit and corrupt administration, a severely diminished social safety net, a ravaged environment and a divided citizenry that will find it impossible to stand together in times of crisis.
If we are to avoid these outcomes, we must continue to stand for truth and defend and support those who bring the truth to us like Mr Blow and publications like the NYT.
We must also be extremely discerning in whom we place our trust when we give politicians our vote.
3
Anyone even vaguely familiar with the history of the Third Reich, and with Hitler, can see the horrifying similarities to the Trump regime. We, meaning this country, are in grave danger. None should allow themselves to think it can't happen here, because it is happening, before our very eyes. Exactly as it happened in 1930's Germany. And no doubt it will end in the same manner, or worse. We have been warned, but are we heeding? We will know in November.
13
This country is becoming morally bankrupt under Trump. We have children separated from their parents by immigration officials at Trump's behest, we have white nationalists proudly on display, the EPA has been deregulated almost out of existence, we have withdrawn from the Paris Accord, we have withdrawn from the Iran Peace Treaty, there have been tax cuts and more tax cuts for the wealthy, the ACA has been put on life support, Trump is seeking to align the U.S. with Putin, as he disparages our allies, the list goes on. Trump has left scorched earth wherever he treads or whenever he speaks. I am not certain this country will ever recover from the damage done in just 18 months (which seem like years).
This past week I have felt uneasy, as if there has been a real paradigm shift in this country. I really don't recognize who we are anymore with blatant racism, xenophobia, and misogyny on display. What do we stand for? I know that we used to stand for decency, but not anymore.
President Obama said we would be ok in his parting speech. We are not ok. Kavanaugh will be confirmed for SCOTUS soon, and the Judiciary will be controlled by conservative judges at all levels. That will seal our fate for decades to come. No, we are not ok.
402
@Diana, we are now lead by the hate & greed president who has encouraged the underlying minions to remove the wrap and do a happy dance revealing their true beliefs. 240 + years down the drain.
3
@Diana
Yes, Diana, then you throw in how earily similar what is playing out under this administration to what Europe experienced during the 1930's and the shiver shooting down your spine is frightening.
1
I keep hoping that Congressional Republicans will wake up from their torpor, realize the danger Trump poses to our democracy and do something to stop him. But my hope is waning.
7
I was horrified watching clips of his supporters in FL. They truly are "deplorable". I know it's mean spirited, but I can't help but hope their tax cuts are minimal, their wages go nowhere, their health care goes away and they lose their tax deductions. Will that alter their support? Of course not.
8
Thank you again, Mr. Blow.
I was horrified by the heckling of journalists at Trump's last love fest.
Every day we are treated to his latest outrage and to the silence of the majority of Republican lawmakers.
Vote in November.
16
Putin did not become Putin overnight. He consolidated his power bit by bit, year after year. Same with Erdogan. Trump is following that same playbook: discrediting the press, fear-mongering, putting cronies in key positions, and building a cult of personality.
Trump is in the early stages, but as we have seen throughout history: the longer you wait to stop an aspiring dictator, the harder it is to get democracy back. Until, one day, there is no going back.
8
Trump might be weak but he is quick on his feet. So far not one has been able to lay a glove on him. Whatever strategy you are using to bring him down is not working. So, what is your plan B?
1
So where are we? The Republican party has been co-opted by a charlatan who dwells on magical thinking to stoke the fears and antique beliefs of a dwindling base. With each passing year, that base is aging and, despite all the screaming, rallies, posters and hats, is facing not just a demographic problem but inevitably an economic one.
Wages are stagnant. Building a wall, locking up Hillary and pillorying Obama will not improve things. Tariffs will only raise the costs of items they need. Tax cuts for the plutocrats will not help the precariat.
Saddest of all, savings for retirement or any other purpose have cratered. Almost 80% of Americans have less than $1,000 in savings for any purpose. ( https://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/13/heres-how-many-americans-have-nothing-at... ) Furthermore, the fiscal shenanigans of Trump and his minions will end up kicking out the Social Security leg of the three legged retirement stool (savings, SS, 401K/pensions) everyone needs.
So, by 2040 or 2050, the homeless among us will be huddling in corners and over subway grates shielded only by their dingy #MAGA hats seeking some reason for their troubles.
The reason for their troubles is two inches below the cap on their heads and the decisions those heads made 30-35 years earlier.
5
Yesterday I saw a small child, in the first grade, maybe six years old, trying to sell rocks to passersby in the neighborhood. He said he would sell a small rock, the size of a fingernail, for a dollar. A larger rock, the size of the palm of your hand, was $5. He said he'd sell the whole pile, maybe the size of your knee, for $100. They were simply rocks he'd picked up in the yard, the same rocks that are everywhere. He offered the rocks for sale without irony. I said: "How generous of you. Imagine selling natural resources that are lying around made available by nature." I didn't go into the whole concept of appropriating resources that should be freely shared by all. But I thought, who is teaching values to this child? I thought: this is Trump's America.
6
"The supposed evangelical Trump supporters have accepted he is an imperfect instrument to achieve their desired goal of a religious liberty agenda cemented by conservative judges."
Their goal is not religious "liberty." Their goal is religious tyranny. They don't want to follow the rule of law. They want the rule of law to follow them. They want to be able to break civil rights laws without fear of accountability. They want to change those laws to allow persecution of those who won't swallow their interpretation of their bible.
Calling it liberty does not make it so. It's a major aspect of Christo-fascism, and it has nothing to do with liberty.
20
Thank you. We need more people with a platform calling trump out. But most important we must vote Blue and take back our government. The real America believes in the First Amendment and we demand that our leader embrace it as well.
6
They believe in money and power, that's it, their own money and power. His promise to his people, and to himself. They take it and make it.
1
Maybe having Trump and his party, the Trump/GOP, in power would be a good thing for your country...I think that there is 2 United-States, the Red States and the Blues State; Trump and his party is forcing the people to make a clear choice.This on the long term shall be good for the Country in getting rid of some red states which are not on the same moral ground and never will...
2
This very much reminds me of when my kids played youth hockey....there was always one parent in the stands who agitated the rest of the parents and got all of them to verbally attack the referees, most of whom were teenagers. Eventually the heckling evolved into threats. (See the NY Times article on the lack of soccer referees). Most of these people are , what their friends and neighbors would describe, decent human beings. But something happens when they get in the stands. I think the same thing will happen with Trump. We are going to have an incident. Where a reporter goes to get in his or her car to leave and someone confronts them because they are all filled with agitation and rage after Trump has stirred the pot. And the person just lets the rage get the better of them and the reporter is attacked. For trying to do their job, just like the referees who are trying to do the best they can. And then.....the question will be: Do these people attending these rallies do some self reflection and say to themselves "That's not who I am. I am not going to attend anymore because I can see myself losing control there"? Or do they go home and prepare for the next rally? I pulled my kids out of youth hockey. Because I was afraid of what might come next. Will Trump's supporters stop attending? Or will all the winning they are enjoying make them even hungrier for more and willing to do whatever it takes to keep on winning? I am very afraid of what comes next.
16
Brilliantly stated as usual. The terrifying truth.
36
@Lilnomad, Brilliant is as brilliant does. Where oh where are the brilliant doings? What we have here is brain-lock.
Charles Blow, thank you for your continued articulate and brave coverage of the despot in the White House. Too many are willing to look the other way, ignore the danger signs, use ameliorating language to describe what Trump has done. Democracy is far more fragile than most people realize. There is a reason there are fewer democracies than autocratic forms of government and democracies are shorter lived.
36
@Nancy Dafoe, look inward as well. Blow's so-callled articulate and brave coverage of a despot is what leads to more and more discord. Great lesson from Ben Franklin: "We shall have our Republic as long as we can keep it." Which means enough accord to do politics on both sides.
1
It is possible to watch reruns of the Morton Downey Jr. show, and see how the more things change, the more they stay the same.
3
Charles, your analysis of this nightmare of a presidency has been masterful and heroic, and this piece is perhaps your best. Thank you for being the brave national resource you are.
42
@Neal Monteko. Gosh, Neal, here in Lake Woebegone, we believe every one is above average. Discord is no natural resource. it beats ploughshares into weaponry. With it we lose what we used to sow: peace.
@Lake Woebegoner
National resource LW. Re watch the rally and ask: what they will be reaping by what they sow? We all have access to opportunities that allow us to rise to the responsibilities of citizenship. Forgive my harsh tone, because I only wish them the willingness to inquire and question their sources. Yes, I wish against the evidence their behavior portrays. Peace out.
Like every journalist, and most Americans, I have been watching Donald Trump's increasinglu vituperative attacks on the media with a mixture of awe and despair, because at any point in history where the leader of the country starts to crack down on the press, it's a sure sign of what's coming next.
But what makes it so heinous when it's happening here in the United States is because we have a Constitution that actually guarantees its freedom.
As for watching Mr. Trump's rallies, I'm unable to do that. Besides, once you've seen one of them you know what they will all look like.
Unfortunately America made the SAD mistake of electing a showman.
So now they have to watch the show.
31
@N. Smith. The saddest part of our twisted reality is that this case of arrested development was not elected by the people. For some reason the electoral college believed it was against the law for a woman to run for president.
3
@Quilly Gal
It goes without saying that the Electoral College is complicit in Trump's election, which is why this outdated institution also needs to go.
@N. Smith
Hitler had lots of hate rallies, and I am sure he didn't put up with any negative media. Hopefully Trump's day of reckoning will in this life and the next. The power he lust for will be his downfall.
Charles I couldn't agree with you more. Donald Trump is like the iceberg that sank the Titanic. At present hope for survival of the humaneness and benevolence that this country has to offer is diminishing daily. The critical questions are can this nation avoid the same fate as the Titanic, or will the lesser of us succeed in their efforts to remake the country into a gross distortion of itself?
48
what we have is a large group of struggling Americans that a politician that doesn't care what he says can use by creating a group to rally around some possibly fictous character that claims to have inside knowledge. No one will ever be able to confirm or deny any alligation from either side because the average person has no way to find out who anyone with the power to publish or legislate is or isn't.
7
If his public appearances are nothing but stage shows then why report what he says? If they are nothing but lies and innuendo then treat him as the actor and provide a review in Arts and Leisure.
We are upset because we were are still looking through the wrong lens. There is no government but the apparatus of government still is working so hold on.
24
@Sick Of Lies
"If they are nothing but lies and innuendo then treat him as the actor and provide a review in Arts and Leisure."
Dear Sick Of Lies:
The man is the president of the United States. That is why whatever he utters --however nonsensical, egotistical, or self-serving -- has to be covered on the front pages, not in "Arts and Leisure."
2
Mr. Blow, I agree. Every word. And thank you. As a social psychologist, I can't help but worry about that moment that's coming. It won't be cause for celebration. Whether it's at the hands of Mr. Mueller and his team or the courts or at the ballot box, when Trump faces an undeniable reality that he will, nonetheless, deny. I cannot imagine a gracious acceptance and withdrawal nor can I imagine even a petulant, thuggish, boorish, ranting but ultimately "uneventful" departure. I can only imagine a typical Trump "doubling down" in such a way as to cause maximum pain for everyone.
83
@SurlyBird
Agreed. This will not end well. And I fear there will be violence, perhaps even on a large scale.
1
I agree. He is already setting the scene for his response to a possible "blue wave" in November.
Was it an eon ago or just last week that he informed us that the Russians are busy rigging the midterms in favour of the Dems?
1
This is the best analysis of the Trump phenomenon that I've read. Every educated person in America, nay, the world should read this. But very few will. That's why Trump got into the Oval Office in the first place.
121
@David And you do not have too much of an education to know that Trump and his base, who are a twisted mob, that support a crook, liar and coward.
At the Tampa rally the other night, I stopped watching Trump - I've seen Trump - and watched the people behind him - wearing their talisman red hats, eerily chanting their master's slogans and catch phrases - and they seem to have lost something: a piece of their identity which they have signed over to their mesmerizing leader, their individuality which was absorbed into the mob, their sense of decency which had become irrelevant, an artifact of some lost civilization. They are the true- believers, or as Eric Hoffer might have put it, the fanatics.
A quite normal-looking woman - someone who could be checking out your groceries - was interviewed on camera for cable news: "I do anything, believe anything that he (Trump) says. He always turns out to be right."
For me, it was kind of surreal, to see this kind of ardor and blind faith in the twenty-first century. My wife, watching alongside me said, "How did the country get into this mess?" I didn't have an answer immediately ready.
154
@Midnight Scribe Just watching this on the news feeds is disturbing. Don't think there is anyone with any answers as to what is happening in our country. From the moment I watched him is a lackadaisical, blase attitude take the oath of office my heart sunk. When I swore in 2 times for the military, then 3 times for federal service with the DOD, I was proud, inspired to have the privilege of serving our country. To swear to protect our constitution is an honor. This punk along with many within this administration are not worthy of it.
I have hope that the mid terms bring about a shake up to get our country back.
I wanted our flag~we have one displayed 24/7, yes it is lighted at night~turned upside down show we are in distress, but my husband did not want the drama that would probably come from it. He commented that if this fool starts a warm he will turn the flag. Both of us are veterans with great pride in our military. Cannot imagine what it would be like to have this commander in chief. Ours was Nixon for the first few years of our enlistment. What he did is benign compared to what we are seeing now.
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@Midnight Scribe you are right - and this is the description of charismatic leadership - any cult leader has the same sway over the followers, and undying, unquestioned loyalty is the result.
Sometimes leading to Jamestown and self destruction,
sometimes leading to genocide - Germany, Rwanda, and many other examples.
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@Midnight Scribe
Those same worshippers at the cult of trump are the same type of people who keep televangelists in the opulent lifestyles that they enjoy.
It's really the same psychological pathology.
The point that opinion should be differentiated from news is important and, too often, gets confused. The news media themselves too often seem almost as confused as the Trump supporters at those rallies.
When you spend a lot of time learning about a topic, it's almost impossible not to have opinions. So, it's an occupational hazard that reporters allow their opinions to color their stories.
The worst offenders are the media outlets that consciously incorporate opinions into their reporting. Fox News may be the most infamous, but there are others. The opinions get repeated when reporters report on what others are saying.
When will the mainstream media figure out how to handle Trump and his minions? They are drawn to the outrage and provide echo chambers for his braggadocio. "Calling out" lies is not sufficient.
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@Betsy S I agree. In their zeal for ratings and the obvious draw of the sensational, the media often give him fodder for his outrageous behavior.
1
This is a great article. At times, though, you wondered whether he was talking about Trump or Putin. Their agendas appear to be the same.
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Let uis only hope that Mr. Mueller finds out who is blackmailing Trump and over what, because I am convinced that all of his behavior is one gigantic cover-up for the fact that someone else has the goods on him and refuses to let go.
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@Mark Lebow
He owes a lot of money to Russian financiers: 250M plus an additional 95M delivered to FL in an unmarked plane: 345M is not chump change. Legitimate banks will not loan to a deadbeat who does not pay his debts. He is compromised by his financial transactions with a known adversary. It might be a stretch to call him a traitor; it is not a stretch to describe him as a victim of what Russians call Kompromat. He is not free to act in our best interest. His business interests in Saudi Arabia compromise our ability to negotiate fairly with Iran. We did return the money Iran deposited here during its revolution. However, Iran still remembers our CIA and BP Oil unseating a popular, elected leader: Mossadegh. They do not totally trust us. Now we have to face an odd alliance between the Saudis and the Israelis; we have Netanyahu's odd move of Israel's capital from Tel Aviv to a conflict zone in Jerusalem; we have the President's public spokesperson telling outright lies. Mueller is now under attack; our Intelligence Agencies are under attack; regulations are under attack; NATO is under attack; our oldest allies are under attack. If Putin wanted to divide the country and create venomous attacks from Trump's base, he has succeeded. It is way past time to stop this.
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@Mark Lebow
And Dems accuse the Right of being conspiracy nuts...
Sometimes I wonder what the Trumpers would do even if Mueller came out with the most damning evidence against Trump. In fact, I feel I already know what they would do, and it's very scary.
I have seen, in this matter of Donald Trump, an opportunity to identify, and then to correct, the darkest tendencies of the American psyche. Each and every aspect of his personality that we criticize and despise are a very public display of the diseases that have been eating away at the character and soul of our country for much too long. He has given license to them, and to the people who carry them most, to now openly declare, "I am sick, and proud of it!".
Yes indeed, there can be no doubt as to what ails us, thanks to Donald Trump, so how do we now go about healing them? It will not be done by attacking the carriers, that will only make them stronger and more determined; it will not be achieved by shunning them either; nor will it be accomplished simply by removing the man from office. I believe we will be healed by relieving the fear and trepidation that lies at the root of the darkness we are seeing so very plainly today. We must strive to help people understand that there is plenty for all, that no one wants to take away their things, that they will not lose their significance if we co-operate. We must show them the joy and peace of working from the center of our hearts and not our egos,we have to lead by example. Donald Trump has perhaps never been given these solutions to fear, and it's unlikely they would move him at this point, but we can provide them to his fellow sufferers, then they will have no need of him, and we won't either.
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@woodswoman
So prophetically stated! I’m reminded of mediation training I took years ago through the Lombard Mennonite Peace Center. During one day’s session our trainer said that one of their teams had done training in an elementary school to help curtail bullying and facilitate better communications between teachers and students. A few weeks later they received a call from a bemused patent who mentioned that, when she and her husband had gotten into an argument, their eight year old daughter intervened asking, “May I help mediate your dispute?”
We need that child’s intervention now.
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@woodswoman
No. If the fight is in the mud, plan on getting muddy, or plan to lose.
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@woodswoman Sweet, but I fear overly optimistic. Imagine presenting those rabid, foaming, cultists, howling for the blood of the media they were told to hate, with your sincere offer to "help people understand". Then run.
They do not care about understanding, they thrill to the hatreds Trump deliberately and gleefully evokes every chance he gets. Soon they will need a bigger hit of that dark emotion and so actions -- violence -- will be needed against Trump's scapegoats to keep his cult followers juiced up and on board with the destruction intends for us all.
Trump is a sociopath leading a mob. Run.
Great column, I hope we can pull our country back to sanity. Better vote in November.
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@Bryce Wilson
I second that!
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Big issue is 'All Trump All the time'.
He dominates the news. No one hears other voices and other news, since Trump is so much in everyone's face.
If we ignore the man, does that mean he has won the political discourse? I say no, we need to turn our attention to running the country via the Congress and courts by setting their own agenda and ignoring the President's agenda .
Find out what works to improve infrastructure, immigration policy, health care and fair taxation. Place our attention on those issues and minimize President's Trump simplistic answers to complex problems.
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I agree 100%. We, in the middle, are also trapped in this process. We are as guilty as his followers to be obsessed with him. We and main stream media have to turn down the volume of his open mic and start reporting on the rest of this disastrous time. Like healthcare, deficit, gas prices. I remember news outlets reporting every single case when i family couldn’t have the same doctor because of ACA. The amount of people was not that big but it affected some demographics and the GOP took this and amplify it to the point where we are today...about to lose healthcare. I wake everyday hoping for a better day when we stop giving him the loudest microphones.
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@Thomas E Martini That would require the cooperation of the Republicans in Congress, and every sign points to their delight in watching our President dismantle all that is good and decent in this fine land.
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@Thomas E Martini "we need to turn our attention to running the country via the Congress and courts by setting their own agenda and ignoring the President's agenda." True enough, but it is unlikely to happen since Trump is the media's cash cow. Just ask Les Moonves.
Great points. One more to add: "He is attacking human decency."
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You had to have Hillary remember?
The only candidate that could lose to Trump on this planet.
We could be talking about how nice it is not bombing eight different countries right now. Talking about using the seventy billion a year trump gave the military for tuition free college and trade school for our children.
Just had to have a neoliberal Hillary.
Better learn to live with Trump because we see what the Corporate Democrats are doing to the progressive primary candidates.
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@gene
Hillary beat Trump by 3M popular votes. The GOP never wants to admit that; however, she did beat him. She lost the Electoral College vote by 77,000. The Electoral College is a corrupted, gerrymandered relic from the Reconstruction era when votes were given to the South to keep cotton planters in the Union. A national vote would be more reflective of the whole country, majority rule. If the GOP can't win a national vote; it needs to address its policy issues, and its candidates. Demographics are not on its side with its current corporate big donors.
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@gene
Hilary was indeed a terrible candidate, but it is not clear that trump and Putin could not have stolen the election from a stronger one. It remains to be seen the degree to which Russian interference had a material impact on this election, one of the greatest upsets in American history. Hopefully mueller’s investigation will shed further light on it.
@gene
Oh for goodness sake, get over it already Gene. Bernie would not have won either. Re-read Mr. Blow's column and you will see who came out in full force for Trump and who will come out again in November and again in 2020. Stop whining about Hillary and start thinking about getting out and voting. The perfect Democratic candidate for you may not be on the ticket, but hold your nose if you have to and vote for him/her anyway. If that had been done in 2016, we might not have Trump today. Let's not make that mistake again in November or 2020.
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The term “overwhelming military power” means less and less in this day and age of asymmetrical warfare where a single individual or a small group of people can wreak incredible havoc on a target nation. I shudder to think of the possibilities. I’d feel much more secure if we were perceived as an overwhelming moral and intellectual force leading the entire world by acts and example against the very real and common existential threats such as global warming and ocean pollution.
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@Richard Leary
Just wait until all those untraceable plastic guns are out there! No place will be safe in this country.
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@Richard Leary
If terrorists perceived us as "an overwhelming moral and intellectual force", they would leave us alone. So would Russia, and China, and NOKO, and Iran, and the Taliban.
Yeah, right ...
1
Yes, it’s better to have friends and be respected for your character than to be feared because you’re a bully.
Once again great column.
Thank you.
It has been said:
History is written by the winners.
Dems better win BIG in November.
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The thing is, Donald Trump does not deserve respect.
It is another of many odd things a large swath of the American public has chosen to embrace, that a man for whom practically all the negative character descriptors in Merriam Webster have been used, continues to be treated as though he is a paragon of virtue, by those whose job it is, or, should be, to forcefully, adamantly, unflinchingly, question his fitness to be an American President.
Donald Trump is not the American Presidency. He is a poser. A fake. A bad egg. Hopefully, a passing fancy. He is a classless bully. A brute. A man with no sense of history, of the interconnectedness of the world and its peoples. Vacuous. Witless.
The office can and should be respected, but each day, the occupant awakens to prove again that he's a squatter. He does not belong there.
The time has come to call him out; ask him the hard questions. Force him to answer. Prove his claims. When he cannot, as surely he will not be able to, he should pack up and return the office to its rightful owners.
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@CVP It’s authoritarianism. In an authoritarian worldview, power - not moral worth - commands respect.
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@CVP
Thank you for using language trump cannot understand to so perfectly describe him.
@CVP
Hopefully this term gains notoriety: "Whitehouse Squatter."
Trump didn't kill the Republican Party. It contracted terminal brain dysfunction when it became the party of Ronald Reagan. Style over substance, a jovial facade over heartless policies...
The only difference between "Morning in America" and "Make America Great Again" is that Reagan didn't put the slogan on a trucker hat. It's the same appeal to fantasy of an America where white people are in charge and the world bows to our military might.
Trump is Reagan without the subtlety. He says out loud what Reagan only hinted at. He sneers where Reagan told jokes. Reagan, however, was at least willing to stand up to Russia.
It should be noted that Trump does find the press useful in one regard besides flattering him. His use of tabloids to "capture and kill" stories about his sexual exploits is the kind of service he expects.
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@Larry Roth Actually, even Trump's signature slogan, which he had copyrighted years ago as if he was a genius who invented a new way to transplant organs, was borrowed from Reagan, "Make America Great", to which he added "Again".
In fact, if you really examine Trump's entire act, the result of years of con artistry, every major priority he speaks about has a history, much of it in the negative zone, that he grabbed from the zeitgeist and claimed ownership.
2
Trump didn't "kill the traditional Republican Party." The Republican party did. They did it when they figured out that the old Edmund Burke conservatism of the old Republican Party could not sustain them. If Republicans wanted power, they had to attract voters and the voters they chose to attract were the racists and white supremacists who were offended by Brown v. Board of Education and LBJ's support for the proposition that people of color should be allowed to vote and should be protected from discrimination. They had to have a Southern Strategy -- dog whistles that told white racists that they were on their side. They needed enough votes to control the government and protect and pay off their rich principals. They sold their souls to racists and the purveyors of regressive social policies to stay in power. Eventually the elite and cynical political heart of the Republican party was overwhelmed by the racists and social regressives who put them in power.
Trump is the end product of Republican lust for power: not its cause.
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@Andrew Zuckerman - Thanks Andrew, I would add that the Republican party never changed. It is simply the John Birch Society facilitated and in full bloom through fascist loving billionaires from the Mellons and Coors to the Kochs, Murdoch and Theil.
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This is how democracy dies.
One chance left.
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@Bob Woods Not this election. Rather 2020, after the Democratic Party has cleaned house after its 2018 defeat.
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@czarnajama
Who would be cleaned out exactly? The so-called 'socialist' democrats that conservative republicans seem to hate, or the 'establishment/ centrist' democrats that the progressives and Bernie/Warren fans seem to hate.
btw, I hear Warsaw is lovely this time of year.
The trump cult must be stopped, other wise America is doomed to slip into an unimaginable Chritso-Fascist dystopian theocracy. Our last best hope is voter turnout. Vote! If the House and/or Senate cannot be turned this November all bets are off. Holy cow, how did we get here?
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We got here because too many people DIDN’T vote.
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@Bailey, When they can't even comply with "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" you know there isn't an honest neuron in their brains.
1
@ERT, Don't ever take anything to be a shoo-in here in the US, where everything might as well be fake because who can tell the difference?
I find those rallies frightening.
I salute journalists like Acosta who stand in the teeth of the mob and document their hatred and their rage, their mindlessness.
I hope they're proud of themselves, because they are now on TV and YouTube for posterity.
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@Sophia it takes so much courage to stand close to a out of control and speak the truth. He will be seen as a HERO when this corrupt mess is over.
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@Sophia I too found that rally frightening. It made me think of the brown-shirts, they've now become trumps personal army. The real possibility that trump is found to have collaborated with Putin to undermine our democracy makes me fear an actual civil war. That mob at the rally was one click away from dragging the reporters down and killing them in the name of trump. He was clearly so unhinged and angry that a word from him could start a confligration.
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@Sophia ... I agree. Jim Acosta is a national hero right now, on par with soldiers fighting at war, for that is what we've become, a nation divided and at war. I'm very nervous for when weapons come into play in this war. I'm nervous for reporters. I'm nervous for upcoming democratic candidates running for office. All this is so, so, so unhinged. And Trump's fellow republicans in power STILL stay stone cold silent. May every last one of them lose to a democrat when their terms are up. Better yet, I'd prefer resignations and impeachments. End their terms early.
Trump speaks of the press having "Trump Derangement Syndrome". It isn't the press with this syndrome. It is Trump, his so-called press secretary/propaganda minister, his cabinet, his racist advisors and his racist base.
You need to give Trump, the Inciter, credit-he knows how to whip up a frenzy with his base. What is alarming is the more he incites his rabid base, the more dangerous and emboldened they will become and someone will get hurt-and our country will be damaged forever by the third rate wannabe despot.
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@Dan I view it more, for his Supporters, as Trump Acceptance Syndrome where as they just accept everything the man says and does without questioning whether fact or acceptable behavior.
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@Dan: People got hurt, and killed, already because of the hate engendered and condoned by Trump: Heather Heyer in Charlottesville and Srinivas Khuchibhotla killed and Alok Madasani hurt in Olathe. It happened already.
1
@Jim that sounds more like Trump Stockholm Syndrome.
To be fair: There are those of us that are very concerned about the way the media has delivered "facts" in the past. We are dismayed by the toxic influence that TV and Newspapers have had on the voting public. (Take, for example the way the Brexit issue was vastly over-simplified and the decision strongly influenced by the British press. The outcome will impact on our lives for generations to come).
Defense of the press at this time is totally justified but all of us (Including Trump supporters) have evidence of misrepresentation of truth by the media. And some agents talk as if they have a monopoly on the truth rather than acknowledging that they have, in the past, manipulated reports in order to achieve higher ratings.
So if we are to challenge Trump on his outrageous and divisive attacks, then, to retain some credibility, I think we ought to be seen to be also recognising where the press could do better and to actively promote the values within their ranks that are being expected of Trump and his followers.
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@iain mackenzie
We were just in the UK on holiday. My sister-in-law, in a London suburb, told us that she's been furious with the BBC because of Brexit. She said that, when presenting Brexit news, back then, they always, always had to have a counter argument. And those counter arguments were basically Trumpian exclamations. Sometimes, here, NPR can be like that. Always tell two sides of a story, but, even when one of those sides is corrupt and distorted.
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@iain mackenzie Who or what is the “press”. I think press-bashers are confusing opinion with journalism. When a reputable news source gets something wrong, they correct it. I think the American psyche has grown too impatient, it’s attention span has become too short, for real journalism.
1
@iain mackenzie. Less followers and more accuracy. Remember “weapons of mass destruction.”
Charles,
I respectfully disagree with your position regarding Christians. True Christians understand that we ought to be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath. True Christians know that God is no respect of persons. True Christians know that God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. True Christians know where confusion and strife are is every evil work. True Christians Charles, don’t cheer on evil, they pray for deliverance.
I saw the egregious behavior of the crowd at the rally the other night and I was saddened that our President divides instead of inspires, undermines instead of unites and calls other Americans enemies. Those behaviors are not of God and you are right Charles, it is darkness, but please don’t call individuals who embrace our President’s divisive rhetoric Christians. Call it Nationalism, Republicanism, whatever “ism” you want Charles, but I don’t want non believers and those who have never read a Bible to believe that Christianity is what they are witnessing in our political spectrum today. It is not and will never be. 1 John 4:16 “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”
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@OMGoodness If non-fundamental Christians do not want to be considered in the same category as the Trump Evangelicals who also call themselves "Christian", then mainstream Christians must start speaking out much louder and more frequently than they are currently are against those who are using Christianity for political gain.
The actions and policies of the Trump administration such as the terrible idea to separate families seeking asylum in the US are currently being given the "blessing" of the most vocal of the Christian sects. Clergy and congregations need to firmly and publicly oppose policies which do not reflect their religious values. This is controversial and will take hard work, but the alternative is to allow those who misuse Christian teachings to be the loudest voices in the public debate.
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@Lynda, The Presbyterian Church USA came out loud and clear against the border policies. We have an Office of Public Witness in DC that advocates on behalf of immigrants, the poor, etc. And our membership is going south at a rapid rate - that is not a geographical term. It doesn't seem to matter to progressives that we are a more progressive Christian denomination. The intolerance of many NT Times readers of religious faith inflames the intolerance of those who feel faith life is under attack. If you folks on the left cannot at least admit faith can compose a life embracing both intellect and mystery, and its value in creating a community of actual to hold you accountable for your delusions, then yes, you help inflame Trump's base by being the embodiment of their fears of godless government taking over. If you can't at least try to join us please do try to respect us as Christians who do not believe God is a Democrat or a Republican, but that unites us all in our fallibility and calls us to bring out the best in ourselves.
@OMGoodness - "True Christians..."
Remember when Muslims were saying that true Muslims who are believers in Islam would never condone or practice terrorism and the response from many Christians was that they need to repudiate those who did evil in the name of their religion? It is the same for the "True Christians" to expose those who call themselves Christians but who practice hate not love.
2
Mr. Blow, very well put. He also seeks to censor those who tell the truth, and he does so by use of mob intimidation. He also seeks to ostracize those who refuse to drink the Kool-Aid.
36
Bravo!
I am adopted and just sent this article to a (newly found) 1/2 sister, a Republican. Let the cards fall where they may...……
15
@Lee,
Why would you do that? I'm truly curious.
2
@Lee
Another curious one: you can have "full blood" relatives that you cannot have a political discussion with . . .
1
"In fact, there is no such thing as fake news. If something isn’t true, it isn’t news."
In that case, Fox News is definitely not a news channel which people with an IQ above room temperature have always known.
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@Somewhere: Nicest thing about your anti FN lament is the picture of your dog. He or she has a nice face, and deserves the good home that I am sure you offer this sentient , 4 legged creature and if you have rescued the creature, hats off! Keep in mind that each time that Jim Acosta is singled out by Trump for fake news, his college lecture fee goes up!He's a media personality "surtout et avant tout," and Trump's presence in the WH is balm in gilead to the networks. That is the real story, and am surprised you don't get the point, that "vous n'avez pas compris!"When President De Gaulle began his first "septennat " in 1960, he controlled the air waves, all of RTF, and only his viewpoint was presented. Trump, seeing all the fakery, takes to twitter in retaliation. Found unseemly TIMES newspaper reporters like Maggie Haberman double dipping by frequent appearances on CNN, and N. Confessore sitting shilling for anti Trumpists on MSNBC, just 2 examples:Whatever credibility there was is lost!
Trump is a 3 yr old brat who was left off a kids guest list and is still fuming about it. A thug, a creepy bully, a creature with no conscience and no humanity. But I probably exaggerate.
Since he lives on attention, but insults those who provide it, my obvious suggestion would be for the press to stop sending reporters to his rallies. Simple explanation. He appears to be inciting a riot so it is not a safe place for journalists to be.
See what happens. Can't hurt. Might be amusing.
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Now there’s a thought... stop reporting on Trump. Stop publishing his picture five times a day. Stop printing his every tweet. Ignore him and get busy electing democrats.
Any article about Trump should begin with the words ‘Trump lies about...’ and go in from there. If Fox Entertainment News can publish stories about what Kim Kardashian wore to the swim party, then reputable news outlets can certainly publish more dirt on the Most Corrupt Administration in American history.
The right wing news media has abandoned any pretense of unbiased news reporting, in favor of becoming the propaganda arm of the Republican Party.
Time to fight fire with fire!
1
@Mary Jo Spaulding Right! Turn of the cameras........
It will be like water on the Wicked Witch in
the Wizard of Oz..........
1
Trump Derangement Syndrome is a term appropriated from the same howling Trumpians who once insisted Obama was a Muslim socialist who would bring Sharia Law to the US and put everyone into FEMA camps. And it's the same people who suffer from Trump derangement Syndrome. The derangement of those who look to him as an actual savior and follow him blindly and maniacally, regardless of how many people he shoots on Fifth Avenue. Trump is an immediate danger...but those afflicted with TDS are the greater long-term danger.
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No one knows better than does Donald Trump how depraved, maladjusted, gullible, and cult-like his supporters are. Trump said of them, that he could murder someone and they'd continue to support him. I'd take that as a huge insult, but they cheered. When he lies - now up to 16 - 18 times a day - he is lying to them, not us. But they cheer and lap it up; he knows that, not only will they never question what he says, they'll be good soldiers and shout down anyone who dares to point out the truth to them. When he abandons his job (thank goodness!) to go and scream at them his boorish, tacky, and classless bleats about what a stupendous, par-human human he is, he knows they will clap like poodles. Trump may lob ad hominem attacks at those who dare challenge or critic his Supremeness, but he insults no one more than he does his own base. And they are not smart enough to realize it, which is exactly what he is counting on.
36
“It is simply not healthy for the country to have a PRESS stuck perpetually in attack mode, fighting enemies real and imagined, pushing a toxic agenda that mixes the exaltation of grievance and the grinding of axes.”
Fixed that for you, Charles.
4
@QED You have fixed nothing. When the president stops giving the press reasons to attack him then maybe the attacks may stop until then the free press will rightly keep the public informed of his ill informed comments and and childish antics.
2
@QED “It is simply not healthy for the country to have a CITIZENRY stuck perpetually in attack mode, fighting enemies real and imagined, pushing a toxic agenda that mixes the exaltation of grievance and the grinding of axes.”
Fixed that for you, QED.
@QED What you call “attack mode” is journalism. Just because you don’t like what you read and hear doesn’t mean it isn’t true.
2
Mr. Blow. You are like a spotlight of hope that shines light on the shifty shadows made by this dark, dank, horrific man. Pushing back against Trump is like trying to keep your head above quicksand; any attempt at freeing yourself just gets you further stuck in the slime.
Trump 'fights back' because he lies so much. When you lie and you have no power, your are basically just a liar. When you lie as the President of the United States, people get to ask 'what is wrong with you?" precisely because you have power than can change millions of people's lives. It's why this job needs the most honourable, trustworthy and competent men or women to run it.
America is being conned and robbed from the inside-out, and the incredible speed that it's happening will be studied for decades after it is over, IF the nation survives at all. The damage to the moral integrity of the USA is incalculable right now; it's only after the country is able to start over again that the full impact of the worst President in History will be finally understood.
I remain shocked at the complicity and enabling of the people and party that surrounds him. It is unconscionable that so many leeches and hoodlums are in reach of this man, that he encourages it, and that he turns reality on its head while robbing the country of every decent thing they have ever had.
I give up hope sometimes, then I read a column like this and for a moment things make sense again. The truth matters. Thank you sir.
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Reliable sources(Q) have it that Donald Trump was born in Russia. Q sources say his father was Nikita Kruschev. Trump, the love child, was raised as an American in order to take over the U.S. as his father had predicted during his famous set-to with Richard Nixon (the “We will bury you” event). At her passing, Trump’s mother reportedly called out “Nikki, Nikki, look after our boy.” Vladimir Putin, Trump’s half-brother, rescued his semi-sibling’s floundering campaign, thus earning his “Order of Stalin” medal, worn only during the Moscow summit to remind the semi-American of his never-ending debt. This information, having come from Q, is entirely reliable and most definitely pravda.
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Thanks Neil. Finally the truth comes out.
It’s about time!
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@Neil Robinson: LOL, Yes! This is so totally believable. I always am reminded of Nikita Kruschev (remember him pounding his shoe on the table?) when I see Trump. Trump without the fake hair and orange glow would look a lot like Kruschev I think. Thanks for uncovering this!
2
@Neil Robinson if only you could get this into a main stream newscast... that would be funny. Especially watching Hannitys head explode!
1
Here's what you do, Charles. The press. STOP COVERING HIM. Stop broadcasting these disgusting rallies. They are not newsworthy. Stop breathlessly repeating his tweets. Twitter is not an official means of communication. STOP ATTENDING THE DAILY PRESS BRIEFINGS. SEnd one reporter and one camera from the pool to record anything useful. Draw up a rotation among the press corps. Ask no questions. The answers are all lies. You are enabling Trump by covering his madness. Starve him of oxygen. It will drive him crazy. You are perfectly capable of doing your jobs as the Fourth Estate without following him around like whipped dogs. Dig down for your muckraking roots and hold this President to account. The newsmedia is largely responsible for this debacle. Time to make some amends.
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@kmcorby I agree with everything but the last sentence. We are all complicit in this debacle.
5
@kmcorby
Couldn't agree with you more! Ignoring him is obviously the greatest punishment. To do it as systematically and thoroughly as you suggest would be tremendously wide-ranging and effective. He'd explode. (Or implode?!)
@kmcorby Do not blame the news media for this debacle.They call it as they see it. Donald Trump and his enablers are solely responsible for this debacle.
Trump did not "killed the traditional Republican Party." When Trump got the nomination the traditional party was already dead. It was killed by Nixon, Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43, the Religious Right, the Tea Party, the Southern racists (which used to be in the Democratic Party), the Alt-Right, the anti-Semites and holocaust deniers. And all that with the blessing of Big Business which was providing the money. Trump just had to pick-up the pieces and build the party as "soulless, mindless monstrosity". And if you think that Trump is bad just listen to Ted Cruz and Mike Pence and other republicans. Also read the paper by Frank Bruni, "Mike Pence, Holy Terror" in the July 28 edition of the NY Times. Believe me, the Conservative Party of Canada sounds like a centrist party, even less conservative than the right wing of the Democratic Party.
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@Wilbray Thiffault I agree about the Canadian Conservative Party, but clearly Trumpism is on the ascendant in Canada, vide Doug Ford, who will become Federal leader and Prime Minister if Scheer stumbles. It's a phenomenon in nearly all electoral democracies, as those left behind by the global financial and cultural transformation flex their muscles and ally themselves with demagogues and plutocrats to displace better educated and wealthier cosmopolitan elites.
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@Wilbray Thiffault, fascistic parties tend to collect single-issue monomaniacs caring about nothing else.
Is it possible that Charles Blow wrote the following:
“In fact, there is no such thing as fake news.”
Really?!
Of course there are the fake news. It’s called PROPAGANDA…
It has been used for many decades and centuries.
It was used by the Nazis and the fascists. It was used by the communists. It was used by America.
Actually, the longest wars in the US history have been started thanks to the fake news.
After the 9/11/2001 the US government including both the GOP and the Democratic elected officials was embarrassed to publicly admit that the terrorists behind the worst attacks in our national history came from our alleged allies Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, the very countries that were behind the creation and spread of the radical Wahhabism, and that the leaders, members, ideologues, financiers and the clerics that issued the fatwa authorizing the terrorist attacks came from those Sunni Arab countries.
To protect themselves personally they created the fake news claiming that the Afghan people were behind the Al Qaeda so the USA invaded Afghanistan (a non-Arab country) and Iraq (a socialist country that was the staunch opponent of the radical fundamentalism).
No wonder that we have been waging the longest wars because invaded the wrong countries thanks to the fake news…
The destroy the terrorism we have to attack the real sources of the terrorism.
I offered them the know-how few months after the 9/11 but the government didn't care...
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@Kenan Porobic hello from someone who was in NYC the day of the attacks and was glued to the news even before the attacks (full disclosure: i work in the industry). I remember quite clearly that all news outlets identified the terrorists as all Saudi, Egyptian, Lebanese and UAR.
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@Kenan Porobic
Blow was referring to news in its literal sense. If it isn't true, but made-up, it isn't news. It's a story. It's fiction.
"Fake news" as term came into being when supposed "news" outlets, typically right-wing (and they have admitted to it), reported false information in a news format letting believe believe they were getting news. Now, of course, those that trafficked in "fake news" as their bread and butter turn the term around on others reporting facts.
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@Kenan Porobic
Other than from his supporters what news about Trump is fake?