I recently read a comment on a NYTimes article wherein the author referred to citizens who are constantly criticizing the president as “haters.”
My reaction to that absurdity whisked me back to the rear seat of my dad’s stationwagon in the 1950’s. My older brother had hold of my wrist. He kept hitting me with my own hand, whispering, “What’s wrong with you? Why do you keep hitting yourself? Stop it! Are you crazy? I think you must be.”
My brother and I were about seven and six years old back when he teased me about being “crazy” for hitting myself.
I mention this reaction/memory because many of the recent written attempts by Trump’s supporters to come to his defense are, intellectually, on the level of a seven year old tormenting his younger brother. To call people “haters” for expressing concern about the ignorant, reckless actions of a power mad pathological-liar president is even weaker than my brother’s feigned (sarcastic) concern for my sanity all those years ago.
Weak, pathetic nonsense. Are Trump’s followers going to take us to “I know you are, but what am I? I know you are but what am I” - land on our way to the midterm elections?
23
The only explanation for Donald Trump is Hillary Clinton. How could Charles Blow support such a miserable candidate for office? The level of Trump's bad characteristics is a reflection of how truly pathetic a candidate Hillary Clinton was. Thank you Charles.
6
“Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.”
Or as Groucho memorably put it, “Who are you going to believe — me or your lying eyes?”
The Trump remark is the clinical definition of psychosis. Amendment 25, Section 4.
11
Well yes, but you all have blown it, Blow. The constant, abandoned attacks on Trump—admittedly an easy target—on any . . . trumped up pretense (see Putin) have weakened the credibility of the Fox Newsified media, and now in Trump world, its your lies against his. You have created this monster.
That the New York Times, NPR, PBS, the Washington Post, CNN, MSNBC etc would follow Fox down this "truthiness" rabbit hole, is actually a big part of the Big Story—historically speaking—of the Trump Presidency. It should be the lead! But for obvious reasons the big news outlets have completely missed it. Sad . . .
Fortunately for the people, Trump is doomed; events, his own arrogance and incompetence will do him in over the next 16 months. And the Republican Party is doomed too—they're gonna follow this dufus over the cliff—but so is the mainstream media. Your credibility is gone. Hopefully the Democrats and their leadership wake up out of their fever dream soon, remember they are the Party of FDR, hand the keys of the Party to Bernie, repair to a Buddhist retreat and don't go down with you all.
Because if they do, my fear is the Minions are going to take over the country.
2
Trump uses the same techniques for capturing the minds of loyal followers that enabled dictators to take unprecedented power in the 1930's in Europe. Trump tells his avid followers to ignore what they see and hear and to believe only what he says. That is indeed straight out of the dictators playbook.
What is more shocking than the valid description of Trump's Big Lie propaganda scheme is the complete subservience of the Republican Congress. In the face of Trump's overt lies, in the face of Trump's treasonous collaboration with Putin, in the face of Trump's outrageous sex scandals, these Republicans abandon their allegiance to the American people.
The bright light is that the closed-minded Trump supporters who are living in an alternate universe of lies, hatred, and hypocrisy represents a minority of American voters.
Citizens who do see and hear the truth, who are appalled by the disgrace and peril Trump and his Republican sycophants bring to our nation must work tirelessly to get out the vote against Trumpism.
5
Trump's supporters lost all moral compass when they knew that his "birtherism" was nothing but a lie (they had to know), and they chose to vote for him anyway. The more Trump compromises his base, the more they are attached to him. They are compelled to support him in order to protect their sense of self by not facing their own moral bankruptcy.
And so Trump ups the ante and they submit. Having sacrificed the truth, having sacrificed any real claim to decency, having reveled in unspeakable cruelty, they cannot admit they were wrong without condemning themselves.
And, please, let us have no more articles in the Times or anywhere else extolling the virtues of "Trump Country," or telling us how his supporters have suffered at the hands of an "elite."
Trump supporters span the spectrum of the American society: wealthy suburbanites as well as disgruntled workers; evangelical Christians, as well as orthodox Jews; school teachers and truck drivers; small businessmen and billionaires; farmers and factory owners.
While some have suffered over the past decades, just as many haven't. But what unites them is their willingness to support a charlatan who has made it his cause to undermine the foundations of American democracy in the service of his ego and his own self-enrichment.
However they explain this choice to themselves, however it is explained away on their behalf, nothing excuses it or relieves them of the responsibility of making that choice.
15
If Trump's re-elected (I expect that will happen), we'll be at 250 years or so from 1776.
Not a bad run, but I think we need to look at a new structure, and I think that will happen. Can't have minority rule by any party long term. Not viable outside of Syria.
Jon Stewart quipped on the Daily Show (I think during the 2008 elections and speaking to the Old South) "ya know that idea you guys had to break away? Uh... maybe not such a bad idea..." Or words to that effect.
I'm not ragging on the South - just think a restructuring is in order. Most large companies re-org every 10 or 20 years. We're way overdue.
4
I know I am beating a dead horse with this post. I have said it many times in others. These folks can accept non-truths because they are, in the heart and soul, racists.
They believe the lies and racial tropes Trump spews are true. They divide the world between us and "those others," who are not "true" Americans. And, immensely sadly, in some cases not truly human.
This is doubly ironic among recent immigrants, say Italians and Irish, who came over to America about 250 years after African Americans came.
I will say it again and again, the Civil War DID NOT finally and forever answer the question of racism. It is as potent now as ever.
We should just let the Red States go and create their own country. However, I believe, if they were offered this option, they would of course demur and say, "well, we would really like to stay"--since so many of them rely on the Federal dole for their economies.
We are in a classic conundrum.
16
6.5 lies per day. Gaslighting, obfuscating, deflecting and deceiving, along with the lies, makes up this administration.
Yet, many demonstrate they are willing to give the carnival barker a pass, if not encourage more lies and "truth stretching".
What I found disturbing is the lies that was reported in his speech to the VFW attendees. Don't listen to the press. Don't read the press. It is all fake. And those attendees cheered loudly and the beast was fed.
This is how the beast, Trump, will insure his legacy is maintained, by playing to the blood thirst his supporters have.
Many of us never believed his con, his grifting and his messages. Hopefully we are in the majority. Hopefully we will initiate and upset in Congress and install a Congress that will hold him accountable. Hold his feet to the fire and not succumb to the con as the former GOP has.
In time he will be his own worst enemy. Many will wake up and realize they have been played.
We can only hope it happens before another prophesy, one made by a political comedian, that Trump will not leave office until he is ready. He possibly believes his departure will not bode well for the country. Time will tell.
And during that time the lies will increase exponentially from the 6.5 per day today.
2
In 1933 Sebastian Haffner a German journalist wrote"What can democracy do if the majority of people no longer want it?" He fled Nazi Germany in 1939 with his Jewish wife.
Germany was in the midst of a world wide depression, losing WW1, their loss of ego, self worth, pride. They did not want democracy they wanted someone to fix their problems and they found someone who said he could, over and over again.
We are the greatest, the most powerful, the richest, this mantra has been relentless in the past years, to the point that we are willing to accept any kind of behavior as long as the tape keeps playing. "What can democracy do if the majority people don't want it?" I am afraid we might find out.
9
Why have so many Republicans fallen for this? Why do people go to Trump's rallies and cheer, when what he is doing is damaging them and the country?
Wake up, people. Please.
Vote Democratic in November. Our country depends on it.
3
"What kind of lawyer would tape a client?"
Exactly the kind you hired. The con is on!
5
I could be a member of VFW but after seeing those members cheering while our Democratic values are being hacked to pieces. Cheering a President who by avoiding military duty can't even join the VFW. And that is SAD!
10
The president colluded openly with Russia and shared intelligence with them; he boasts about being a sexual predator; he willfully and cruelly separates children from their parents; he has incited to violence at his rallies; he has contempt for those who have worked hard to become educated and informed; he undermines democratic norms and institutions the way most of us breath; he threatens the free press; he has called for imprisonment of his political opponents and their assassination; he is an avowed and proud racist; he speaks of dating his daughter; he is a serial adulterer; he attacks our system of justice and law enforcement; he is venal and corrupt and a cheat in a way that would give Caligula the vapors; he wants to take health care away from millions; he wants to degrade our environment; he has compromised security on the Korean Peninsula; he has attacked members of our military, including a Gold Star family.
He stands against everything the common consensus of humankind holds to be right, just, honorable, and deserving of grace, kind regard, and Christian charity and benevolence.
He is not a president but an obscenity.
We need to ask every administration official, every GOP legislator, every Trump supporter a simple question:
What is the matter with you?
8
"The more he lies without paying a price for it, the more he weakens the power of the truth to defend right and condemn wrong. And he expands his latitude to lie more."
That's for sure. Unfortunately, a large part of the reason for such a strange phenomenon may be laid at the feet of Mr. Blow and the NYT.
Trump was elected in an electoral-college landslide, which probably included less than a hand full of loyal NYT readers. The rest of his supporters, many who voted for Obama in 2008, were fed up with the so-called progressive, quasi-socialist policies and legislation of Obama and the Democrats, and were particularly enraged by arrogant Washington insiders, and a supercilious "lamestream" media, as Rush Limbaugh calls it, with its arrogant, politically correct prescription, which the great unwashed in middle America were required to accept while being labeled as "a basket of deplorables."
Who wouldn't be enraged by such treatment? And enraged enough to be willing to defend Trump against incessant attacks, a few completely unjustified, by people who consider them less than human. When folks like Mr. Blow apologize, maybe Trump's loyal supporters will be willing to look at the chinks in their knight errant's armor.
1
Never in my wildest dreams would I have believed that a large part of America would fall for a womanizing con-artist and habitual liar. That this liar is successfully bullying nearly all elected Republicans in Congress into submission and that these same members of Congress are filling the country's high courts at breakneck pace with judges who seem to be willing to give even more power to a crooked President and make him immune to prosecution, makes me fear for this country's future.
Those of us who wish to hold up the truth and remove habitual liars from office have only one option: vote, en bloc, for Democrats - no matter what happens between now and election day. That is really the only hope to start closing this dark chapter of our history. The alternative is truly scary.
9
Trump supporters are the absolute worst of the worst.
6
You have to fight Trump with the same weapon you, at the time, fought the Viet Nam war: LOVE! Don't lose time in fighting Trump and the GOP with logical argumentation go straight to the earth of the people: Love your country, your family, your friends and your neighbors and don't forget to tell them. Trump and the GOP are inciting violence , cruelty and amoral policies; they are not representing the values of the Americans...In fact, Trump and the GOP held the power by cheating, lying and playing the system. Vote in November for a Democrat ticket and ask your family, neighbors and friends to do the same; it is a must this year! Best
4
This is not a story of a boy who cried wolf - it is an apocalyptic tome of a narcissistic sociopath using the power and resources of the United States, enabled by his cult followers, to destroy and manipulate for his own political and criminal gains.
“TRUMP LIES” - that should be the slogan on every one of his pathetic hats. It should be seen on coffee mugs, t-shirts, golf clubs, bumper stickers, billboards, TV PSAs and bus posters. It is the mantra of the “age of Trump”, a national disgrace.
Contrary to any known logic, Trump’s cult members, including a slice of the political Trumplican spectrum like Jordan and Nunes, seem to “get off” on increasingly absurd, destructive lies utter by America’s narcissistic sociopath-in-residence.
THIS is what our children are being taught. It is antisocial, uncivil and, insofar as a President goes, criminal. I hope Trump is forced to testify under oath before Mueller and his Grand Jury so that there will be an accountability for his puerile, infantile, destructive and narcissistic utterances.
3
It occurs to me from time to time since Nov. 9, 2016 -- somehow, 50 years later, 'Colonel' Tom Parker became President of the USA.
Just a huckster who shills merchandise (foreign-made to boot).
I write this as an 'late-wave Boomer,' and huge Elvis fan for his second run ... think '68 special and beyond.
And shudder still to think of the manipulative, craven, greedy and self-serving 'Colonel.'
What might have been for Elvis without him.
What might have been for the U.S. without DJT.
2
Everyone says "Vote in November, we'll fix this!" But what if the election results are not respected? Trump is already claiming that the Russians are pressing their thumb on the Dem side of the scale. I'll vote, but I doubt my vote will count for anything.
3
There is great trouble ahead. It has become difficult to follow the actions of this president and impossible to understand what he says or tweets. The waters are muddied before the commentators and pundits are able to interpret the day's message for us. Confusion is beginning to reign. Are we ever sure if what the president means? Do we know what he will do next? Can anyone keep up? The world has become a slightly mad dance. Who will ever be able to stop it?
1
Use Trump as a learning experience. Vote, and vote Democrat. That is the answer. That will fix all things.
10
I am reminded of wicked King Ahab. In the Old Testament.
He's about to go to war. He needs a pep talk Pep talks are provided by a swarm of prophets. FAKE prophets. So the question arises:
"Any REAL prophets knocking around?
"Oh yes," comes the answer, "but the guy never brings me GOOD NEWS."
"Let's hear him anyway."
To cut to the chase. . . .
. .. wicked King Ahab gets BAD NEWS. He is fated to perish in that battle.
He does.
I see your name, Mr. Blow, at the top of a column. . .
. .. and i think, "The guy's gonna bring me BAD NEWS."
And you do. Always.
But I, sir, am not King Ahab. It's better for me to HEAR the bad news--take it to heart--react as wisely, as constructively as I can. . . .
. .than close my eyes--close my mind. . ..
. .. and turn on "The Simpsons"
You bring it all together, Mr. Blow. "This," you tell us--clearly, cogently--"is where we are.
Will you permit one more Biblical quote?
The book of Revelation--last book in the Bible. At the end, it talks about wicked people. Murderers and idolaters. People like that.
But one phrase occurs twice:
". .and everyone that loves and makes. . . .
". . . .A LIE."
When I consider our President, Mr. Blow. . ..
. . .and the fans that cheer him so lustily. . .
. . .the verse RINGS in my mind.
Many would call themselves "evangelical Christians." And I think. . .
. . .maybe they should read their Bible.
(And so should I.)
Thanks. Fine piece.
I
7
Okay, Charles, and the rest - get a grip. It's a battle. Stop bemoaning the state of the nation, stop fantasizing about the strength and solidity of the right. Believe me, they are cowards at heart. Take heart from the Ulysses Grant's steeling realization that the enemy was likely as afraid and ill-prepared as he was, and attack.
6
Your understanding of the difference between “facts” and “lies” seems to be based on which emotions are stimulated in you.
1
Make it less about Trump and more about the cult-like party that enables him. It is the party that must be defeated in November in order to put a check on Trump.
It is hard, I think, for most Americans to comprehend that one of this country's major parties has abandoned democratic norms for a kind of contemporary fascism. In most countries, fascist parties start out espousing fascism. But the GOP has evolved (or devolved) into a fascist party in a slow descent ever since the 1960s when it welcomed the white backlash to civil rights.
Trump is not a rupture. He is the culmination. But those who created the constituency for him must be held electorally accountable.
11
The scope of the seditious and treasonous behavior now included all supportive Republicans and to some extent the public supporters of Trump. Leaving them aside as unreachable. The focus MUST shift to advocating the removal of all of them. Vote Democratic because virtually all Republicans are now aware, corrupt, unethical and co-conspirators. It could not be clearer. A vote for a Republican is a vote for lying, violating the constitution and supporting treason. Save the Trumpsters and activate the independents to save our country by casting the current crop of deviant self serving, bribed Republicans as unworthy of office and desired of jail time...
7
Trump has vast support from every segment in America that believes they are the only authentic citizens of America. These 'true believers' tolerate and welcome Trump's dogma including his falsehoods and vile indignities.
These supporters want more of Trump's rants as it cements their priority and belief their citizenship has more standing and patriotic than others the 'outsiders, aliens . illegals, immigrants and of course people of color ( Black Americans)
BLM
4
It’s a Cult of Personality.
Without the personality.
10
The July 24 Quinnipiac President Approval Poll gives Trump a staggering negative 20 points: 38 percent approve, while 58 percent disapprove.
7
For all of my investing life I have been a "buy and hold" kind of guy. I always had faith that despite political wrangling and disputes, the party in power wanted a successful US.
The complete breakdown of propriety and logic are shaking my faith. The Trumpian chaos is supported by career Republicans - terrified of the power he has over the base.
The repercussions of random decisions by a sociopath president will soon be evident. Will it matter? Will Trumpers care if our manufacturers and farmers suffer?
Or do the mindless abortion foe zombies ultimately rule...played like a fiddle by the most immoral person on Earth who is not in prison?
Buy and hold suggests hope. Is it time to sell like the CEOs are?
6
The founding of this country is based on slavery and genocide. Lying and cheating and stealing are a vast improvement. Relax everyone. We are getting there. Going through a bumpy period where we have to deal with a painful reality. They can't and won't win. It is one of the forces that drives their despair.
2
What happens when trump calls them to arms?
It's on the way.
4
Teflon Don seems to be...well, Teflon, in part because he’s never pretended to have a moral compass. The downfall of politicians before him has been because they appeared to betray their value system and ruin their branding as icons of virtue. Trump has never portrayed himself in that way.
So what really IS the kryptonite of someone with a shameless, voracious ego but no appearance of a moral guiding light?
7
Can't wait for the next election. Me and my all family including my 19 years old son will vote Democrat.
7
Trump's supporters don't care about Trump's lies and disgusting antics because they are a mob on the attack. Their minds are made up, so the truth no longer matters, they're on the kill.
6
@walkman They're no different from so many on the Left. Mirror images of each other.
I have to disagree with Blow that Trump's lie about McDougal 'would have been a lethal revelation for any other president'. Trump had an (or multiple) affairs while married 12 years ago. No one really expects him to be truthful about it and its completely irrelevant to his Presidency. Also it doesn't hurt that Karen McDougal is absolutely gorgeous.
3
@Chriva
"its completely irrelevant to his Presidency. "
what's relevant is that the hush money violated campaign finance laws.
6
I believe most people who comprise Mr. Trump's base watch Fox News and Fox News is an enabler of Mr. Trump. Fox News simply fails to report much of the news that is negative concerning Trump, so the viewers are not aware.
7
@Thelma McCoy
Fox News is the flip side of CNN and MSNBC.
Repuvlicans impeached Presoident Clinton for lying about a consensual sexual encounter. But they have no problem with Trump having bragged about numerous sexual activities then lying about others that were and are accepted as having
occurred. Talk about a double standard.
But the real sad part or this is the farmer in Iowa that is a religious right evangelical , who now is losing some income because of Trumps Tarif policy still supports him.
10
@tom
You forgot to mention that Clinton did his lying under oath. Trump wasn't under oath. A big difference.
5
While the veterans in your photo clap to Trump's declaration about "tax cuts and tax reforms," I wonder if they are also clapping for how those "reforms" only further enrich the wealthy and created the largest deficit in history.
6
In Helsinki, how do we know Trump didn't tell the the US interpreter to go sit in a corner with Putin's noise cancelling earbuds in her ears, and Trump and Putin only spoke through Putin's interpreter (although I bet Putin is fluent in English)?
4
I’ve been wondering, will Trump’s lies become a new if warped normal? Or will our political system, such as it is, show revulsion in the coming elections?
Can America hold on to reality, instead of Reality TV Politics? That is the question.
As of October 2017, Gallup polling found that 31% of Americans identified as Democrat, 24% identified as Republican, and 42% as Independent. Some Gop are leaving the party, or staying, but maybe don’t want to admit either one.
A good book, though unpleasant reading is “The List: A Week-by-Week Reckoning of Trump’s First Year.”
Amazon:
“Amy Siskind, a former Wall Street executive and founder of The New Agenda, began compiling a list of actions taken by the Trump regime that pose a threat to our democratic norms. Under the headline: “Experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you'll remember” Siskind's “Weekly List” went viral.”
Hey, Charles....now that columnists are debating how the rw GOP are distorting 'democratica socialism' pushed by new younger candidates---where do you stand? Give us a clue on what you think the Democrats should stand for. A few specifics, please.
Inform NY Times readers of this, in addition to your Trump sharp bashing every week. That's what a democratic system needs to debate. Might be constructive!
1
I recommend Ezra Klein’s latest Podcast. White people are afraid of the demographic shifts in the U.S. And when people hear they are becoming the minority race, the reaction is to become more conservative/Republican. It is the only explanation that makes any sense. He won the white vote across all demographics. As a white woman, I am ashamed that the majority of white women in this country voted for him in spite of knowing what he truly is.
20
As long as the rich and the corporations get their tax-cuts and de-regulation they will stay for the ride and defend Trump.
9
@Simon M
Amazing how many rich people there are in Texas, which supports Trump in a big way.
1
@Unconvinced With all due respect, I think you’ve got a bad bet there. The reaction of millions of American citizens to Donald Thrump in the Oval Office is far beyond mere “disapproval.”
Outrage. That’s closer.
Bewildered.
Shocked. Embarrassed. Terrified. Sickened...
I believe a man of incredibly low character and ability currently holds the single most powerful position on Planet Earth. As I consider my honest reaction to this threatening turn of events, this ongoing tragedy, the term “disapproval” would never, ever occur to me.
You may be right. Disapproval might not motivate citizens to go to the poles, but I think outrage, terror and embarrassment will
13
Mr. Blow, today is yet another example that you never disappoint your readers. Your columns correctly define the Trumpification of America and the problems associated with the leadership of this tyrant. Thank you.
5
Is there anything to be done about Fox News (and hate radio)? Their output seems pure nonstop propaganda. What can those of us who want a society based on truth do? Are there legal remedies? Economic remedies? I'd like to read what propaganda experts have to say about relevant research. I've read that Russia is aiming their social media propaganda at our service men/women. So what happens when they join forces with Fox? (if they haven't already)
4
@PEA Fox News was born when Reagan killed the FCC Fairness Doctrine.
6
@PEA
Boycott every company that advertises on any program on the Fox network, and let them know that you are doing that
For a start, here are some Fox News boycotts, but I would extend it to the whole network to hit the hate-enabling Murdoch hard
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/bill-mann/heres-a-handy-list-of-fox_b_265...
http://www.debone.com/boycottFoxNewsSponsors.html
https://www.broadcastingcable.com/news/some-advertisers-return-tucker-ca...
https://www.foxnewsadvertisers.com/
https://www.mediamatters.org/research/2017/05/23/these-are-sean-hannitys...
1
In other countries, this abonimal presidential behavior invites power-hungry patriotic generals to seize their opportunity for a coupe d'etat. Far fetched you say? Really? How far fetched was having orange man in power? We are doomed, we are Slim Pickens falling off a B-52.
A veteran Republican and friend asked me why I couldn't vote for Trump. I simply noted: "Because he is everything I was taught not to be." My friend said at once he understood that.
14
@RPW Sadly, that's what many people also said about Hillary. Corrupt, dishonest, two peas in a pod.
The veterans clapping in support of the draft dodger.
At least Clinton, often incorrectly called a draft dodger, just had the luck of the lottery on his side.
There are hundreds of potential psychology doctoral thesis that can be written about these days of seemingly impossible human behaviors.
4
Sixth paragraph from the end - shouldn’t the last word be “buyer” not “seller” - AMI was the buyer relative to Ms. McDougal.
Charles, I would take issue with your claim that we have so far avoided catastrophe. The negligence of the administration dealing with Puerto Rico was a catastrophe. The separation of kids from parents legally seeking asylum is a catastrophe. The fact 33% of this country believes the most easily demonstrated lies is a catastrophe. I remember, prior to 2017, when America was still a great country. Will we ever reacquire our greatness?
5
The orange Hulk, the Incredible Drumpf. The angrier he gets the more he lies. The more his fans love him. They just seem to love a monster who can get away with anything.
6
You ALWAYS manage to articulate my thoughts...at least I know I'm not alone...the sheer volume of shrugged at chaos astounds me.
5
The bad guys out there like al Quaida are just waiting as trump reduces this country to rubble. Then they can swoop in and pick off whatever's left.
But trump's downfall has begun. See - WSJ "trump Organization Finance Chief Called to Testify Before Federal Grand Jury"
This is how they got Al Capone, and this in part will be how they get trump.
4
You are looking for a precedent: how about the McCarthy era?
2
@RSimon Yet what stopped McCarthy? One man with courage, Joseph Welch, asking simply "Have you no sense of decency?" Those were different times, and to even have such a question asked was an indelible mark of shame.
Today? Trump not only has no decency, but he relishes in this lack of moral constraint. Normal people, you know with honor and integrity, would have a hard time pulling of the lies and cons Trump lives for; decency would merely hold him back.
Still think McCarthy offers precedent?
2
I am beyond the point of being shocked by Trump. His character was known prior to the 2016 election. Anything Trump does will be the result of the kind of deluded thinking done by a con man.
Lying is what con men do and the fact that Trump is a pathological liar there are no surprises for me. I am angered by a media who can’t seem to grasp the reality of what Trump is. There will not be an ephipany, a spiritual rebirth, no improvement or change.
The reality is a barbarian occupies the White House. This person only understands deception. Any thought to not lie would likely make his brain implode - not in Trump’s DNA.
So the 60% who want Trump gone last year stuck living with the insane and destructive behavior of Trump until he’s impeached, voted out in 2020 or he’s escorted out of the White House in a strait jacket it handcuffs.
1
It strikes me as odd that Mr. Blow doesn't seem to comprehend he is the flip side of the same coin he so despises. His column presents another implausible version of the world where every single thing Trump does is wrong and evil and if only we could find the secret formula on how to impeach him the world will be back as it should be. This opposite polemic of the die hard Trump supporter fuels them, just as their extremism fuels Mr. Blow and many others on the left. We are not going to bring this country back to an even keel by counterbalancing dueling extremisms like Weimar Germany. Every time a column as hopelessly biased as Mr. Blow's is published it makes all the ones supporting Trump seem all the more natural in this distorted environment we live in.
9
According to Merriam-Webster:
FACT
1 a : something that has actual existence
b : an actual occurrence
2 : a piece of information presented as having objective reality
3 : the quality of being actual
Tweeter-in-chief seems to specialize in definition #2, with no regard whatever for #1 or #3.
1
It's the entertainment stupid! We want a good laugh every time the president speaks. He keeps us coming back for more. We don't want to be governed. Just make us laugh at other's pain or circumstances or unbelievably their physical features. We wanted a president who was a stand-up comic
and that's what we have. America may be the last democracy
and a child will destroy it as easily as throwing a toy againstthe wall. I studied Russian (language) in college 50 years ago. I just may get the chance to use it as America
transitions to Amerika. Pray please...
2
Mr. Blow would do well to stop wasting column-inches on 45 and start using them for Social Democracy, a la Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, to garner more votes from would-be utopians: https://ocasio2018.com/issues
Social Democracy is on the decline globally and needs the help: http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/the-demise-of-social-democrac...
5
@WorkingGuy -- I am not a would-be utopian. I am a Democrat who remembers Franklin Delano Roosevelt fighting for Social Security, Works Progress Administration,
Civilian Conservation Corps and preparing America's armed forces for D-Day. Hard-headed programs for America's working families. Not much of that going on, these days.
2
The more Trump lies, the more he is empowered to lie. Actually, it seems to work for YOU, Blow.
6
how lonh can this last? vote vote votr
1
Trump lies because everybody allows him to do it and others really give his lies more attention than the reality of anything that he does. Children lie to fool adults because they cannot control what they might do in any other way. Trump only lies to give others excuses for what he has done or not done. His lies are so transparent that it’s clear that he is not even trying to deceive just reduce all discussion to ridiculous irrelevance.
Our so-called American exceptionalism is made manifest in our exceptional provincialism and ignorance of the world, our exceptional intellectual laziness, our extraordinary religious hypocrisy, and most tellingly, our exceptional gullibility -- especially to the machinations and mendacity of our corporate-owned and exceptionally sociopathic politicians. We are in deep trouble, and we don't seem to care. Exceptional indeed!
4
@Jackson one knows what a blatant lie this nation is as soon as one parses "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" and compares it against the actions of the idolatrous collection of fools who are Congresscritters.
2
In a French documentary (The End of the World: Stalin) I saw yesterday, the muscovite Nina Padlosova explained how the country worked. ”We live in a Soviet world where there is only a rule of rule that everyone follows. He stands on the stands and lies. Everybody applauds even if they know that he is lying and that he knows we know it, but he just continues to spit out lies. He is pleased that everyone applauds.”
There are to many scary similarities here not to be seriously concerned. America first?
God luck in the midterm elections!
3
Six bankruptcies, four thousand lawsuits and three marriages: conflict is his modus operandi. he has also managed to enrich himself and manufacture a celebrity which are the ingredients for success in America. I may be delusional but I believe he will implode. Charlottesville, Zero Tolerance and Helsinki will be followed by more episodes of national disgrace and humilation, and the cumulative effect of his corruption will chip away at those who were willing to vote for him once.
The greater threat may well be the GOP Congress and the GOP Party.
3
Although I detest Trump, I've seen some version of this article a dozen times. How about some fresh ideas?
9
Alas, you’re preachin’ to the choir, Charles. Preachin’ to the choir.
2
Put in your ear plugs
Put on your eye shades
You know where to put the cork.
In Trump We Trust!
Say it loud, what's that song?
2
There is also the problem of, having lied, the need to lie more to cover you tracks.
1
@Paul Franzmann
Are you talking about the Clintons, or Trump?
I would have thought Blow would be supporting Trump. After all, Blow supported Bill Clinton, a man who, just like Trump, had affairs behind his wife's back and tried to hide it from her. Blow ardently supported a known liar for the Democratic nomination in 2016, and ignored all challenges to her honesty. Of course, Blow's support of the 2016 nominee despite all of her lies only emboldened her to tell more lies. As a matter of fact, this entire piece could have been written about the Clintons.
11
@Tony -- Mr. Blow's column urges readers to vote for Democrats and reminds us that the midterm elections represent an opportunity to change the balance of power in House, Senate, state, county, municipality. We have some very exciting, promising Democrat new faces who will be excellent representatives for America's workers.
2
Seriously?
Hey Chas: Facts are tools, even weapons, as you know, like statistics, and President Trump, also a fact, is simply advising Americans not to use the factual tools of his enemies in the media. Use his factual tools, Trump says, and so what if his facts no longer are reported as truthful news today: once his facts were once reported as truth before they were corrected. And his audience likes the older un-corrected news facts that Trump uses to bash your columns and his other critics accusing him of lying.
He’s not lying, by his view; he’s just not up to date with present news.
Take his denial that he used his attorney Michael Cohen to pay hush money to....for her silence about their relationships, or that Democrats are from Pluto, Republicans are from Earth. Or....and all the while he’s laughing at himself, as is his audience...while you’re seriously challenging him with your up-to-date contradictory, but verifiable, reported facts, thinking that you’ve won the game, but really you’re losing the audience as it knows Trump plays the adult role teasing a child to guess whether he holds the child’s belonging behind his back, in the lying game, “Yes, you do, No, I’m not, Yes, you do. No, I’m not, Yes,....”
1
@Bayou Houma The collective mental age of the American public is approaching the fetal stage under Trump.
2
Bolger: Is Blow lying when he accuses Trump of lying, and therefore which one is telling the truth? Or has not Blow ever told a lie? Have you?
Seriously, forgive my poor wit, as in the sense that it takes one to know one, but the political age of Charles Blow and his ideological enablers must also be, as you put it of Trump’s audiences, “at the fetal stage.”
Like most rabid anti-Trump Democrats, who, oddly, also have nothing good to say about Bernie Sanders, Blow takes himself and his musings far too seriously. He spills a mean mustard, as we say, on himself when he tries to spill it on Trump.
I’ve given up on Trump supporters. They don’t seem to care about what he does to America. They’re happy to cheer for an entertaining reality star who trolls their perceived enemies.
What I want to know is what do the rest of us plan to do about Trump. This morning, I heard that only about 25% of Americans self-identify as Republicans… the ones who approve of Trump at a rate of about 90%. That makes Trump’s hard-core support around 23%.
You can’t win elections with enthusiastic support of only 23%… unless the rest of us stay home. In 2016, Trump’s support might have been a bit stronger than now, but it still wasn’t anywhere near being a majority. Trump won the Electoral College because not enough of the rest of us voted or voted for a candidate who could defeat Trump.
In roughly 500 days, we’ve learned just how quickly a truly horrible human being can start eroding the pillars of our democracy. We know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that a Rubber Stamp congress will just roll over and let him do it.
If the Rubber Stamp party isn’t royally defeated in 2018, you can’t blame Trump supporters. The problem will be the rest of us, who cry a lot. Crying doesn’t count. Only votes count.
7
Foe the vast majority of us who do vote, our votes could not matter less.
If somebody tried to intrude into my private live including affairs with women I would lie as well. Note that these are all consensual relationships and do not compare to accusations of rape several women raised against Bill Clinton. If we had normal media Trump's affairs would be a side-note at best. I couldn't care less that Trump is lying about his affairs, in fact I would expect that from any normal human being. Maybe the media should try to figure out why it is the least respected institution in America.
5
The thing I don't understand is how easily these people allow themselves to be conned. What is in it for them?
1
@MR They think they'll get to ride on the king's gravy train.
1
A Native American meme states that sooner or later we all end up at the river, realizing that we will inevitably join it as everyone else has or will do. The river only flows toward an ever-advancing civilization, reflecting both the individual's life journey as well as that of humanity in general. There are no other sustainable options for survival. The river is not your killing ground, but it will carry you there.
Trump and his supporters are powerless to change the course or flow of the river, regardless of their intentions. The current carries us all to the prize, consciousness lifting us above, or ignorance dragging us along the muddy bottom.
1
@dmbones, The sky is void of modulated signals because no evolved intelligent species long resists nuking itself after producing the necessary weapons.
@Steve Bolger. The sky is a mirror that's seen every chapter of human history rife with means of annihilation; yet we speak of it today.
@Steve Bolger
Perhaps the sky is void of signals cause they are dead giveaways of evolved location. Perhaps our telepathic infrastructure lies fallow in the now mysterious DNA we carry unwittingly.
If there is a "Kryptonite" to Trump's "Superman," it's at least one Democratically-controlled branch of Congress; it would neutralize him politically, by allowing for further investigations into his charlatan way of doing things. If we were that lucky, and could get back full control of Congress, it would more than likely kill Trump politically, by conducting investigations, in a sort of "no holds barred" fashion; which would likely lead to impeachment. Once out of office, he'd be subject to criminal prosecution, or at the very least, lawsuits which would break him, once and for all.
The only chance of any of this happening, is to vote in the midterm.
If past midterm elections didn't seem important enough, let this serve as the mother of all wake-up calls.
3
Let's talk cause and effect instead of venting dismay. Because of the power of the military-industrial complex, for a half century the national wealth of the United States was invested in wars, foreign bases, and weapons at the expense of the human and physical infrastructure of the country. Our infrastructure deteriorated as a result while foreign countries built theirs. The long-term result is a United States whose human and physical infrastructure is no longer internationally competitive. We foolishly wasted our advantage. Go abroad and see for yourself. World capitalism has left us behind. At last Republicans are unhappy about this result, as they should be, but their solution is double-down on military spending that caused the mess in the first place. Trump did that so they support him. Remember Pogo Possum? "We have found the enemy and he is us."
2
Sir Thomas More: "I am reminded of something Wolsey once told me. That I should only ever tell the king what he ought to do, not what he could do; for if the lion knows his own strength, no man could control him."
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0997129/quotes
Never mind Vladimir Putin, Trump doesn't need him. The tariff agreement with the EU is decisive, it proves that Trump's strategy is working--would a Democrat president have achieved anything? No, they wouldn't even have tried. The voters will vote for success. Never mind scandals, never mind investigations; Democrats can stuff all their huffing and puffing about morality, Republicans will win in November. What is Democrat Plan B?
2
@Ronald B. Duke
Does that mean that when the "Tariff agreement with the EU" falls apart you will log on to this forum and give us a Mea Culpa? Will you publicly admit that you were snookered and that there is no positive Trump strategy? It will take some strength of character to do that. We are hoping you will man up! Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
3
Mr. Blow only hints at the two real problems we face.
It is not that this President is unfit, a fraud who was only in the race for money and vanity and a possible Russian asset.
The real problems are 40% of this country are so biased they ok with it.
And an entire party is propping up this charade even though every member knows he is unfit but won't say it in public because they are scared of the 40%.
I don't know what to do about the 40% of this country that disregard the facts/truth but the GOP has forfeited its right to be a governing party and must be defeated in November.
7
We are rightly worried about this incessant fake news claptrap that Trump is floating on the surface of America. But, the groundwork had been previously laid. During 2016 campaign, the mainstream media endlessly indulged in a form of phony balanced reporting, magnifying every Hillary misstep while minimizing Trump’s grotesque shambling. Never in my life had I seen a bar set so high for one candidate and a bar set so low for the other. Through this process, exponentially magnified by Russian interference, social media irresponsibility, and Berniebots, Trump, no matter how egregious his behavior, became increasingly invulnerable to attack. Toward the end of the campaign, Trumpeteers weren’t the only ones shouting lock Hillary up, so were many on the left. And now, we talk about fake news as if it were only a weapon of the right. Even The NY Times and other major news outlets helped launch this deadly juggernaut.
6
@Kevin Garvin. This newspaper evidently didn't learn anything from its misguided support of Bush's invasion of Iraq.
I now realize that Trump supporters love Trump because he embodies all the qualities they wish they had. He gets away with openly lying, cheating the government, flaunting social norms like monogamy, breaking rules about what socialized people do and say. He's the bad boy. He's the reality star creating his own reality. He even gets to defy science! Trump puts a diet of junk food into his belly and doctors say he's an amazing specimen! His cult members applaud how far Trump can go and how much he can get away with. Tee hee. You'll never believe what he said today. There's no reasoning with any one of them and you waste words trying to. He has tapped into something that IS truly deplorable. There are all these cliche's about"what goes around comes around," but somehow that doesn't seem to apply to Trump. Yet.
7
Good luck on the mid-term election. It is almost August and the Democratic Party has yet to tell us in plain language what is their program. We all know what the D is against, but what are they FOR? Just tell us!
4
When will too late be recognized as too late. That is what fears me most. It makes my stomach turn.
3
In a candid moment that cost her any remaining support from the centrist media, Hillary Clinton said that half the Republican voters who supported Donald Trump were deplorable.
Today, we learn that 88 percent of Republican voters support Donald Trump.
So: it turns out that Ms. Clinton miscalculated by 38 percent.
Three members of that 88 percent are among my neighbors. Blessedly, we have nothing to do with each other. And never will.
5
Like many generations of kids before me, i was told how George Washington fessed up when his father asked him if he'd cut down a cherry tree, saying "I cannot tell a lie." To millions of Americans, it was the most cherished story about our most cherished founding father, and the injunction it carried - "Always tell the truth" - was an indelible, universal lesson of American childhood. I would wager that the story of George Washington and the cherry tree disappeared some time ago, having been debunked by scholars as a myth, only to be replaced by the callow cynicism that prevails today.
4
@Charles Michener, nowadays it is hard to find anything that is the whole truth and nothing but the truth in a nation where con-artistry begins at it highest levels and crooks are the most celebrated people in the land.
1
As democracy is perfected, the office of President represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day, the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.
H.L. Mencken
I found this quote whilst I was searching for another, but it seems depressingly germane to the discussion.
21
What would have ended any other Presidency is just another day in this one.
What has happened to you, America, that you accept this without a whimper? When are you going to remove this criminal, traitorous man from the highest office in the land and take your country back?
The rest of us watch in wonder and sorrow as this wretched saga continues to unfold.
32
It is not going to happen short of the voting booth. The GOP is treasonously complicit and cannot be counted on to do their sworn constitutional duty of “ checks and balance”.
The only lawful option we have is the ballot. This November will tell. If we don’t start to reverse the efforts of this cult, we are truly witnessing the end of our once great Republic.
Supposedly “we” outnumber “ them”. We need to demonstrate it by voting out every single GOP candidate that s running for office.
1
And how's it going with the latest Ford election?
1
@Juanne, it isn't going to end before the Evangelicals get their "Rapture".
2
Clear your mind and GET OUT THE VOTE.
15
Be afraid, fellow citizens. Be very afraid.
12
I agree with the message but the column heading should be revised.
1
An interesting fact I learned last evening is that even though Trump has a record number of republican supporters as revealed by polling (88%), there are considerably fewer people identifying themselves as republicans. The distilled number offered was something on the order of 24% of all voters are willing to identify themselves as Trump supporters. This helps me understand how the flaunted 'percentage of republican support' for Trump is as misleading as a Trump tweet. More republicans are getting fed up every day, so as those identifying themselves as republicans dwindles, those clinging to being Trump republicans is a large percentage of a very small subset.
17
I sure hope you are correct. It wont matter though unless we VOTE.
4
You forget to mention the role of Fox news, the nation's largest media outlet, in spreading and validating Trump's lies. People believe Trump because of Fox.
20
There are a few ways to get rid of Trump...but what do we do with the forces that put him there?
Step one: money out of politics.
20
@Diego, that won't ever happen with force-fed religion dominating an utterly psychopathological Supreme Court.
3
Charles Blow in his every justified scathing condemnation of Trump and his lies columns pleads that we must vote. In the 2016 election my fellow Democrats did not bother to use their sacred American right to vote as they just knew Hillary Clinton would win.
Will we have learned anything when the mid-term elections come in November?
8
@michael, the Obama voters who didn't turn out for the 2010 census year election to vote Democratic threw him under the bus. I don't think the US will ever recover from that fiasco.
6
@Steve Bolger: yes Steve, I totally agree. And we need to be reminded of it every day from Now and the election. I
I have said since the beginning of Trump's campaign that he is living in an "Alice in Wonderland" world where down is up and up is down, truth is fake news and lies are alternate facts. There are other comparisons that are being used now that are apt: "The Manchurian Candidate" and "1984". Trump's fawning obeisance to Putin in Helsinki furthered the comparison. Trump is belligerent and insulting with allies and flatters Putin. You have to wonder what Putin has on him that allows him to play Trump and pull his strings as he does. The barring of an NBC reporter yesterday furthers the "1984" comparison. Trump does not want questions he doesn't like. When he told the VFW to ignore what they are seeing and reading, that was the epitome of Orwellian despotism.
Trump becomes more dangerous daily, and the thrall in which his followers are held by him seems not to diminish. It is frightening. Trump is undermining the basic tenets of democracy as he aspires to have the power of the Queen of Hearts in "Alice", the ability to shout, "Off with their heads!" His admiration for dictators is undeniable.
How far does he have to go for that 35% of Americans to wake up?
8
Suppose the media only reports on something earthshaking having to do with Mr. Trump? Ignore the tweets, the changing "facts" , the whining, the accusations. He seems to feed on attention...so deprive him of oxygen.
Maybe also avoid the constant stereotyping of various voters...by age, race, religion, region of the country, sexual orientation, etc. I find this inaccurate and divisive. Recently a relative from Ohio felt she had to tell this New Englander that "yes, there are educated people in Ohio" as if all of the "coastal elites" think the people in the midwest are uneducated. Let's focus on the unifying stories...in the words of Luis Alberto Urrea, "There is no them..there is only us."
1
It certainly is ironic that it's the Republican Party undoing this country, its democracy, and the Constitution (except for the 2nd Amendment, which they are enhancing).
8
@Virginia, the last thing this basket case of lies nation will ever remedy is arming up the God Loves Guns Cult of Perpetual Insurrection with 10 million assault weapons.
1
Mr. Blow, Donald Trump is the catastrophe.
Every day there is a catastrophe related to him.
Evert day some outrageous scandal emerges from his administration.
Every day there is another judicial judgment decided against him.
America is quickly being destroyed by this catastrophe
5
Something does not make sense.... why did Trump's legal team allow the Cohen/Trump tape to be made public? The tape clearly reveals that Trump and his team have been lying consistently to the American people.
Is this another Trump team ploy to wear desensitize public opinion and diffuse Trump's bald face lies with a flippant... "We told the American people Trump lied and they don't care."
Or was it a planned diversion to distract from Trump's outrageous Helsinki Trump disaster.
Blame is squarely on GOP Leaders, Ryan and McConnell, who turn a blind eye and Trump him continue to wreak havoc on our nation.
They and their GOP comrades will pay dearly in November.
Write call email text or tweet McConnell and Ryan and demand they do their constitutional duty to protect America from this unfit and increasingly dangerous man, Trump, and remove him from office.
3
@JM They did not want a court to rule that this is a recording of a criminal conspiracy between a lawyer and a client not covered by privilege.
3
I always chuckle when I see a reference to this line from Nietzsche. Sounds macho, but the guy ended up spending over a decade in a lunatic asylum, after awhile practically unresponsive and unable to say anything. There are movies of him in this state on Youtube, and they aren't an inspiring sight. His sister had them let his big, imposing, Teutonic mustache grow out that frequently shows up on pictures of him, and that he never would have gone in for when he was still in control of his affairs. Some things don't kill you, but end up turning you into a pretty silly caricature.
1
@dorjepismo, Nietzsche's own life is proof of the psychopathology of his philosophy.
A sure sign of a cult is when the leader starts telling people what they should read and who they should listen to.
24
One of the side effects of our president's lies is that we also begin to have no belief in the honesty of those who are in his administration.
It seems that the GOP congress is either agreeing with the lies he tells, or they think that there are enough people out there who believe him and therefore will not vote for the other party.
1
Don't republicans have a stake in the American dream anymore? I heard a quote the other day, by John Adams. It has given me some hope.
Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.
7
Charles,
Even though I hold a Masters degree in languages, I often have to check out the dictionary for some of the words in your prolific vocabulary.
Today's was: "gasconade"= excessive boastfulness; bravado
I think gasconade relates to a much more profound and fatal flaw-- Trump's sense of "hubris,"a word whose origin in Greek mythology refers to the excessive pride or self-confidence of the hero in defiance of the gods which ultimately leads to his downfall. Let's trust that the gods are on our side.
8
We learned our lesson from the 2016 election that polls must be regarded with caution. And for sure, a single poll, like the new NBC News-Wall street Journal poll referred to in this article, should be mixed in with all the other polls taking place and not given much importance on its own. Another point is that the popularity of our current President among Republicans may be strong, but the percentage of people who declare themselves Republican has been going down. I feel the same frustration that Mr. Blow writes about here, and I also agree with his last paragraph that our only way to change things is by voting in November. Elections are the only polls that matter.
5
Americans concerned with this president’s behavior need to remind themselvles that he is just the sideshow; the GOP is in fully cooperation mode, including the “good” Republicans. They all seem to be thrilled with the corporate tax give backs ( and how much of the 12 billion in recently announced agri subsidies will go to massive coporate entitities? ), the dismantling of environmental safeguards, etc, etc.
At least they haven’t started a war on pretext resulting in the deaths of hundreds of thousands like the “good” GWB. Yet.
8
The lies he will have to tell will include: You can get affordable health care; it is safe for your kids to play in the dirt; your retirement savings are safe; you can find a job if you just look a bit harder and smarter; the drug epidemic will soon be under control; America is becoming great again.
It took a decade for us to sour on Vietnam. Likewise for Iraq. Dubya took about seven years; the Trumplike tactics so successful in 2004 stopped working a few years later, but instead of learning from this experience, Republicans banished it from memory and treated Obama as if he had sprung ex nihilo.
7
MSNBC reported last night that the VFW venue was half empty during Trump's remarks. This is AFTER they switched it to a smaller arena than originally planned.
So, on the positive side, perhaps even some of his supporters are becoming tired of his act.
17
Another reason why he won.
" kill him "??
If something like this was written about President Obama it would be the end of a career. But not now with Trump. Voters know that and in fact voters took their vote not only against Hillary but against the main stream media. So as a result as much as the Liberal media was and is trying to destroy Trump...they actually help him.
" Amazing, but true there is nothing they can do "
Hey that sounds like a good song lyric !
3
@Joe Paper Always remember Hillary received more votes in 2016. 1/3 of the country sat around laughing at the carnival barker. Most of us don't buy his nonsense and are now laughing. I'm not a farmer or don't play one on tv either.
6
@Joe Paper
Sorry. But have you already forgotten that Trump lost the popular vote to Clinton by almost 4 million? ... And that's not because of the liberal media, it's because some Americans actually saw him for the racist bigot that he really is.
9
The phrase: "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" has been around forever. I doubt Fox News would twist that headline as you did, Joe Paper (to make your point about Victims make Republican Voters).
Actual lyrics - Kelly Clarkson's 2011 "Stronger":
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, stronger
Just me, myself and I
What doesn't kill you makes you stronger
Stand a little taller
Doesn't mean I'm lonely when I'm alone
Current SitRep: The White House runs on the fumes of adrenaline eked out of Each Trump Anthem of Victorious Defiance (against self-inflicted wounds, aka Fake News).
Trump loves a mirror. Who gives it to him? We and his supporters do, through the media. The more we react to his utter awfulness, the more they rejoice and he celebrates the image of himself through their eyes. A fix? We would have to completely ignore him...shut him out of our conversations and outrage. Wear black tshirts and turn away when he talks...that sort of thing. Only react and give approval when he does something, miraculously, positive...the way you shape behaviors in a toddler.
5
@Judy thanks Judy, but only partly valid, in my mind. ‘Behavior of a toddler’ yes. But we need our MSM, our free press, to call him, to critique him at every step along his way.
Grieving over what has become of my country. "For evil to succeed it is only necessary for good men to do nothing."
Everyone must make a supreme effort to get everyone who can vote to the polls in November. If you vote for a Republican - you are voting for Trump. Civilization has been through bad times before: "This too shall pass." "The triumph of the wicked is short." "The wheels of karma grind slowly but exceedingly fine."
8
So why is it that so many Americans care so little about any semblance of truth?
Here are some hypothetical, rhetorical questions (would love your responses):
1. Do we prefer the reality TV show over real policy?
2. Are we just tuned out to it all as white noise that doesn't matter?
3. Have we lost all faith in our government (and form of government) that we've given up?
4. And the big one... how will we react and who will we trust in the event of a true nationwide crisis?
"Republicans bewitched by Donald Trump have devalued the import of truth. "
A truthful enough statement but its implication that their bewitching is the reason is misleading. The GOP and their cult of voters has been in the thrall* of mendacity for many decades. Otherwise it is only some Americans who do not value truth.
Superman Syndrome is usually the effect that ensures destruction of such men.
The McDougal affair makes no headway with El Trumpo's supporters because they are the folks who think Bill Clinton did worse and excuse El Trumpo because they assert democrats excuse Bill Clinton for those previously mentioned "worse" things they imagine he got up to.
Wasn't it one of those public rumors mentioned in teh Press that El Trumpo was "known" to record people so he could use it against them later?
* thrall-the state of being in someone's power or having great power over someone.
3
Post Truth. My memory fogs with age, but the European fascists and nazis created post truth regimes. Chilling to realize it is happening here. My father’s generation fought a war against post truth and mine a Cold War. Reading about Orwell and Churchill by Ricks now brings chills to my brain.
9
you are neglecting to absorb that the left lies with the same frequency, but the left's lies are substantially more ludicrous and dysfunctional. trump's support strenghtens because of amplified and substantially more dysfunctional and ludicrous lies and positions from the left, not because trump's supporters are fully comfortable with trump's political methods. trump's supporters consider and compare the nonsense and amplified bluster from the left, and the result is trump's gains. you seem to miss that many of this supporters are able to discriminate and think
3
Perhaps you could name one or two of these leftish lies, and then move on to detail how much more frequent they are than Trump's endless daily lying. Not the FOX chants or those of the Blaze, mind you: details based on fact, please.
I can certainly give you five things Obama got wrong off the top of my head; lies are harder to come by, though there is some stuff Sanders says that, well...
But point is, I can give details and facts: why can't any of you?
7
@sh
Funny, I haven't seen one sign of "discriminate and think".
3
@Robert lie: Trump colluded with Russia to steal the election from Clinton.
It's the gang mentality raised to the presidential power. Trump, as its leader, continues to re-affirm the followers loyalty by picking so-called necessary fights with imaginary foes but promising relief from real ones. It is the ultimate con job on a following that is ready, willing, and able to prostitute itself in the name of abortion, immigration, and gun control. They may not want him in their congregation, but they have no problem rushing to defend the leader. After all, it is still a gang.
Trump has never faced any repercussions for his lying & abhorrent behavior, so it will continue. The entire Republican Party is aiding & abetting his criminality. Thus, he can continue lying.
13
This all points to an outdated Constitution that assumed the checks and balances it created would always work. Without term limits for Congressional legislators and Supreme Court justices, without prohibition of gerrymandering, without more restraints on executive powers, and without more specific and stronger emoluments laws, it no longer offers protection for a democratic republic from a would-be monarch like Trump. The fact that he has disbanded our government so quickly points to the weakness of a document created for 1781, not the 21st century.
11
@justthefactsma'am: you are so correct. Term limits are the ultimate fix. It mitigates the problem of campaign fund raising and emasculates the power of lobbyists.
2
@justthefactsma'am
Those checks and balances do still work the problem is not the design it is that so many of our fellow citizens have conspired to not abide by the design to impose their "god given" right to do what they "know" is right.
1
No, term limits make things worse. some years ago there was a study that looked at the impact of term limits in state legislatures that had enacted them. They found that the regular cycling through of neophyte legislators actually empowered lobbyists who would write legislation for the newbie inexperienced legislators and steer laws favoring them through the law enacting process. Term limits increased the power of lobbyists and big money, it didn't reduce them. When I look at the politicians who have served the public interests best, they are usually seasoned veterans of politics. Lobbyists are always with us, politicians come and go. The only true fix is to limit the money used to get candidates elected. That is the crux of the problem, term limits is a red herring.
2
Mr. Blow,
Certainly you are writing tongue-in-cheek about the unprecedented lying going on within the hallowed halls of government. This entire nation was created and built on the audacious lie that everyone has a fair chance at life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Lies have been part of the business of American government since the beginning. The difference is that our current president has no conscience and is simply more blatant with his outrageous confabulations and attacks on critics.
4
Nathanial West got it right about the American Dream and its lie(s) in his wickedly cynical allegorical novel, “A Cool Million”.
1
Add to the mesmerized Trump voters the power of the vested interests who will benefit from looting the country's wealth. It is for that purpose the Republican enablers like McConnell and Ryan, who privately deplore him, will carry the water to get the laws and judges to permanently disenfranchise the American people, a large minority of whom are those very Trump voters.
12
Trump is the master of the dumbing down of America.
We need intellectuals in government, not Trump handing out positions to anyone guaranteed to feed his massive ego.
Are we advancing science? Are we using wisdom in policy prescriptions? Climate science documents disappear from government websites. Continued lies about Obama are par for the course in this administration.
House Republicans are running McCarthyism against the FBI and DOJ's career staffers. Trump's creating distrust for venerable institutions: the law, judiciary, foreign service workers, the intelligence community...
Expertise is considered a tragic flaw in Trump's view. Hence Rick Perry in charge of nuclear weapons. His college degree? Animal husbandry. Hire a reality television reformer for president and you get a man of charades with no use for the truth. Or expertise. Or ability to negotiate a deal.
This election? Expect it to be personal for Democrats.
13
Ah, Charles, what are you going to write on 4 November 2020, when you wake to news that Trump crushed BOTH the Electoral College AND popular vote? Border your column with black and declare “RIP: America”? You might have been the one pundit from this paper influential with Trump had you taken a different path; but, no, it was so much more pyrrhically satisfying to rage against the dying of the hyper-liberal light.
We want our presidents to be winners because like none others among us we seek to identify as Americans through them; and we want to think of ourselves as winners. Yet you’ve done NOTHING but deny him as a winner in anything, but accused him of being the maggots one finds in a coffin buried for months.
Even Europe cuts a deal with Trump on trade, vindicating his demonized strategy and coming to the site of the future Trump monument on the Washington Mall, to be an immense dollar-sign carved in the purest alabaster, to genuflect before the ultimate politician who never before practiced AS a politician.
The America he’s building is as scrappy as it ever was, he’s serving as catalyst to #MeToo! and the removal of Confederate statues by SOUTHERNERS in the South! He’s causing us to ask questions of ourselves we’ve never before had the guts to ask. And he doesn’t BORE us to distraction.
“Build it and they will come”. Repeatedly.
2
@Richard Luettgen This comment is the embodiment of everything that is wrong with American culture.
15
@Virginia
I know Cape Cod well. Funny, I'd always thought of IT as the embodiment of all that is wrong with American culture.
But you have to admire the cheerful ignorance in that "the America that Trump's building," as though the man's ever built a blessed thing worth having in his life, or tried to.
Wanna see the America Trump's building? Try the casino in Atlantic City.
Oh wait...you can't. It went bankrupt and closed.
P.S. No, Mr. Luettgen, the golf courses you cannot afford don't count. Others built those.
8
When I read how the audience at the veterans event applauded and cheered when Trump told them "what you are seeing and what you are reading isn't what's happening", it made me want to stand up and scream. "What is WRONG with you people? How have you become so totally blinded?" The disconnect from truth and actual facts that Trump is creating among his followers is indeed extremely dangerous, and might be the most difficult to correct of all the ways he is damaging our country.
28
@Debra Petersen Same. It's completely maddening!
4
@Debra Petersen In any cult or fanatic mass movement, hatred for the Others fuels the emotions of the Believers. The Believers see themselves as as a valiant vanguard demolishing the corrupt society built by and for Others (libtards, immigrants, POC). It feels good to chant and cheer and be flattered by the Leader. Wallowing in the intoxicating emotional high of cult rituals is far easier and more satisfying than dealing with facts. Eric Hoffer laid it all out for us in 1951 (The True Believer).
1
Joseph Goebbels once said, "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." Trump seems to have taken that statement to a new level. Like the banditos said it an old Bogart movie, and I'll change the wording some, "The truth, we ain't got no stinking truth." Why let the truth get in the way of a good story as the saying goes.
19
With the dumbing down of our schools it has become difficult for some people to discern the truth from fiction. The truth always prevails but only if you face it and can recognize it. If America becomes "living a lie" we will have few friends and many enemies. As to trump individually his propensity to lie has caused me to not believe anything he says ever. How sad to think that this is the "leader" of a once great America. Oh how the mighty have fallen.
8
We really need to situate every argument against trump and his followers within a white supremacy construct.
12
Pretend for a moment that it's election night 2020, the dems have flipped PA, MI and WI back to blue and won 300+ electoral votes. Does anyone believe that Donald Trump would accept these results? Does anyone believe that Donald Trump would willingly remove himself from the highest office in the world? Does anyone believe that Donald Trump would allow an election without being absolutely certain of his victory? Does anyone believe that Trump would lose some of the 88% support among GOP for 'suspending the election' ? After all, a Trump loss has grave implications for the politicians that enable his behavior, why wouldn't they support unlimited power?
9
The intelligence of the vast American public has always been suspect. Fifty years ago, instances of their ignorance were published and continue to be published. Polls showed most European citizens were more world conscience than Americans, their education was superior to ours, etc. The top entertainment TV shows also are an indication of this. The difference between then and now, is it has taken an extreme partisan, political positioning.
The vast majority of the American public does not read The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, watch PBS or BBC.
The saying, by P. T. Barnum (I think) was " No one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public.
5
I believe it was H.L. Mencken.
2
Trump lies?
Well, didn't Trump say he could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and alternately tweet X, then non-X, an infinite number of times in one day, and get away with it?
Or - was he lying then? Hmm.
3
@Edward Devinney ...actually what he said at one of his pre-election rallies was, proudly, "I could stand in the middle of Times Square, shoot someone, and get away with it.", and of course, supplicants cheered - even more frightening than the idea of an irresponsible tweet. Sadly as bad as I thought it would be, it's even worse than I could have possibly imagined.
1
How this master of manipulation and lies continues to be afforded credibility and respect from the media and really from all of our institutions, as well as from foreign leaders is a source of deep frustration for me. I so long to hear leaders confront him on his lies to his face. I remember a congressman yelled to Obama, “you liar!” Why is that so hard to do with this man who has a proven track record of blatant lies? I’m weary of Democrats complaining about the outrages rather than putting themselves on the line by risking ridicule or even condemnation from Republicans. Do we really care what they think, because they don’t care what we think. They’ve proven how far removed they are from their humanity when a majority of them supported ripping immigrant children from their parents. It’s high time all of us treat Trump like the liar he is and acknowledge he has no credibility.
9
Two words:
blind faith.
3
In my view, the reason Trumps support for his racist, bigoted and seemingly sadistic administration is so surprisingly high is because in America there is a surfeit of racist, bigoted and seemingly sadistic voting citizens.
Maybe this country has gone to the dogs and we’re just waking up to that reality.
10
Q: “What kind of a lawyer would tape a client?
A: Yours
20
This is like the days of Republican businessman, President Herbert Hoover all over again. It will soon be 100 years since the Great Depression. Trump is providing a foundation for history to repeat itself all over again. Sad to watch. The world's greatest conman leads a once great nation into a financial abyss. One way or another Americans are going to learn the importance of truth and integrity.
5
If anyone thinks this country is not susceptible to a right wing dictatorship they are living under a rock.
15
why "gasconade" instead of "boasting"? vocabulary word of the day?
3
HL Mencken was right.
The plain folks of the land ( the word plain being used loosely) found their downright moron and adorned the White House, and the nation, with him.
Prescient fellow, that Mr. Mencken.
15
"What doesn’t kill him makes him stronger."
So, are you suggesting what I think you are....?
4
Russia = U.S. enemy
Trump = Russia
GOP = Trump
November 6.
Do the right thing.
15
Friends at the Times, I have not even read this article; I'm commenting on the title. Really...? What if Trump had said that of his political opponent during the campaign: "What doesn't kill her makes her stronger." Wouldn't anyone think he was perhaps encouraging violence...? I am sure that is not your intention here, but... I believe you should promptly think up an equally-clever and apt title for the article that does not leave itself open to interpretation by someone with a troubled mind. As much as many of us wish Trump had not been elected President of the United States, we do not wish for him to be removed THAT way. Because what follows logically from that title is, "you cannot merely weaken him. If you do anything less than ____ him, he will only get stronger." Please consider changing the title.
3
Well said DGB. This is a troubling and poorly titled article. The comments are moderated for civility but apparently the titles of the articles are not. And the media wonders why it has an image/integrity problem.
1
@DaveGabrielBene: Even as a non-native English speaker I know the title is a figure of speech, not to be taken literally... If anything will kill Trump, it's his habit of eating huge steaks and fat-laden ice cream and chocolate cake... He'll kill himself one of these days with knife and fork...
1
@Anna
He eats his ice cream with a fork?
All that stands between us and utter despair, Mr. Blow, is November 6. That's all we have. Nothing else.
If Republicans maintain control of the House and/or the Senate, we will have two more years of numbing nausea. Every day that Donald Trump is the president is another day that, as you accurately write, emboldens him to chart new frontiers of crudeness.
The next president, whether it's in 2020 or 2024, will need a first term simply to deal with the rot and sewage that has overrun its manhole cover at 1600. It's that bad; the fumigating would require at least two years to rid the place of enough filth to begin a plague. That's not even taking into consideration a possible presidency of...Michael "I'm a Christian first..." Pence. Oy vay.
It's quite disheartening to watch the proud Veterans of Foreign Wars applaud vigorously and cheer lustily at a commander-in-chief who surely shirked the duty upon which they all staked their lives. How can they approve of a man who ran from combat--as they did not--and gift him with deafening applause when he has never sacrificed anything in his life?
If the commander-in-chief cannot be trusted with the simple truth, what else can he say--or do--that may be taken at value? This man has lied to his wife, his children, his employees, his Cabinet, the Congress, foreign heads of state but, worse, to himself. Therein, I think, lies his deepest fault.
Having never walked with truth or honor, he keeps company with the lie, the smutty harlot.
18
@Soxared, '04, '07, '13
I am afraid it will take far more than two years to clean this mess. Unfortunately, I think some of it, like relationships abroad, may take decades. The assaults on public education, the environment, science, health care, and women's health may never be fixed.
2
“If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.”
Which politician lied about that and is still considered the wonder boy of liberal politics ?
3
I kept my doctor. I don’t personally know one person (family, friend or acquaintance) who did not. I suspect if you didn’t “keep your doctor” it’s your own fault for not having a good enough job or being financially successful enough to afford to. That’s a YP, not an MP.
9
@G I kept my doctor, AND had an emergency room visit in the middle of the night a couple of months ago with a kidney stone, got exceptional care, and didn't pay one dime.
As for the lie...spare us. You Trump supporters have proven that it's not lying that bothers you - you accept it by the truckload from Trump, but rather WHO it is. So one 'lie' (and that one is debatable) from Obama is equal to 3,000 from Trump. This is why you Trump supporters have no credibility, because you have no actual principles. If you hate lying, then you hate it in Trump and hold him accountable for lying a thousand times more than Obama, Hillary, anyone. Or you don't. But don't hold some people to one standard and Trump to an entire different standard. That might get people thinkin you are more like members of a cult.
15
It is so funny that Trump supporters always trot out that example from Obama, which is at worse not a lie, but an overly optimistic prediction. For most people it actually was the truth, by the way, most people could and did keep their doctors, or did not have to change any more than they did before the ACA. It is funny because it is just about the only thing they can find from Obama's entire eight years as President that even approaches a lie, meanwhile Trump tells huge, whopping, dangerous lies every day. Trump supporters-- we know you Love lies, so stop smearing Obama for it, ok?
3
It is very unfortunate that Mr. Blow, who obviously harbors a visceral hatred toward Donald Trump, uses the word "kill" in his opinion piece. There are many mentally disturbed individuals in our society who will hone in on this word. The use of this word signifies poor judgement on his part and on the part of the editors of the newspaper.
3
@MK Just like when Trump told the "second amendment people" to do something about Hillary.
I'd be happy to see the pompous, smirking Trump tarred and feathered.
I was very worried about the safety of Obama from the moment he announced his intention to run for president.
I don't have that worry anymore.
8
@Stephen. But Blow and the left pretend are better and hold the high moral ground, when in fact, as this title shows, are much worse, pompous worsts.
Trump's hold on his cult is messianic.
10
Your comment was exactly what I intended to post. Overcoming cults is very difficult. Let’s hope we can.
While it did not start with Machiavelli's advice, lying has been at the heart of politics forever. Certainly, the Soviets, the Nazi's, and now the new Soviets, the Russians, Putin included, and any other dictatorial system lives on lies. The #PLIC is in good company.
While he probably learned to lie at his fathers knee, and honed his skills in the world of NY real estate, he has shown great skill in lying - whether about his university, his steaks, his clothing or almost anything.
I don't know if he is lying more than ever, since I have yet to find any evidence that he ever, (yes ever) told the truth about anything.
3
I can't stand any more of the Rumps lies and his posse's appetite for them. I have to stop reading anything to do with him. Depressing!!!!!!
“His griping, in a weird way, is what fuels his gasconade.” Why couldn’t Mr. Blow have written: “His griping, in a weird way, is fuels his extreme boastfulness”?
The second sentence is much clearer and direct. That enemies of Trump use terms like gasconade that people have to look up and therefore seems pretentious only gives ammunition to Trump supporters. I doubt if Nietzsche would ever write like Blow. I think Nietzsche would have utter contempt for Blow.
1
@JamesEric
"Gasconade" references "gaslighting" (manipulating someone into doubting their own sanity). Trump's lying boasts are also used to make us wonder if we are going mad when the contradictions are clear to see.
4
@Heather Thanks for the clarification.
The US lives in a culture of ignorance, nurtured with the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is as good as your knowledge". Isaac Asimov-1980
16
We are not in "uncharted territory" with the Trump regime. Two existing maps are available: Mein Kampf and 1984.
10
The Evangelicals care about one thing only.
Overturn of Roe vs Wade.
5
Years ago, H.L. Mencken anticipated the rise of a politician like Trump. “As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people," he wrote, adding "On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.” However, Mencken did not write that the election of the "downright moron" would be the final act of American democracy rather than a staggering aberration. Trump too shall pass.
6
As Mr. Blow was coming up with his descriptive adjective for the Republicans' compliant attitude toward their president, one can imagine him mentally scrolling through alternatives, and perhaps not wanting to seem hyperbolic, decided upon "self-neutered". While accurate enough, this seems a little thin to my ears, and too kind. "Complicit" is more to the point.
Just what do you call accomplices to a morally bankrupt, misogynist, white supremacist, likely criminal, traitor?
I should know by now that defining their behavior doesn't help much. Voting does. I hope.
Nietzsche: Men believe in the truth of all that is seen to be strongly believed in.
Hitler (Mein Kampf): In the greatness of the lie, there is always a certain element of credulity to the broad masses of the people."
Sentiments such these are viscerally absorbed by historical authoritarian figures. It's in their DNA. They recognize that we are sheep to be led, and that's in our DNA. Kurt Anderson's book, Fantasyland, paints a disturbing perspective of America's vulnerability to accept lies and frank craziness as truths. I'm afraid this is beyond a political solution. Time for a deus ex machina to get us out of this hole.
6
The Veterans should understand that it is the same news organizations that put their reporters and photographers right by their side in times of war and strife! They should have shouted down the clown and shamed him!
9
Trump is going "Full Orwellian".
7
See: History of Germany in the 1930's.
11
Trump is but a cult leader with his seconds-in-line like FOX and Lou Dobbs and his followers. That is why these same people can express rage at Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama for lying, even when they haven't, while excusing Trump's chronic and pathological lying. That is why, if Hillary Clinton or Obama behaved a sixteenth the way Trump has, these same people would need hospitalization for acute hypertension. But it's also why they have no credibility. This country is in the hands of a cult, which is shocking. What is even more stunning is that Trump isn't even charismatic. He's a cad, a boor, a clod; he's overtly vulgar, ignorant, a pig. I have never understood those in history who have fallen for megalomaniacs and propped them up, and I don't understand it now that we are experiencing the same phenomenon in America.
8
Trump, congress and SCOTUS: Enemies of the people......
5
He was elected with help from an enemy of state - and he's replaced judges with civil rights deniers, cut off real media access, incited violence towards non-believers, paid bribes to shut up sex partners, and praised both neo-Nazis and the world's worst dictators as good people.
Now, he's taking more money from taxpayers to pay for his tariff mess, and our country is predicted to lose 2.6 million jobs.
Perhaps worst of all, he's made his supporters feel that their many hatreds are valid, right and welcome.
Tell Trump they're not welcome - vote away his power in November.
#votethedemoocraticslate
8
Actually - you - Charles are the thing that is most effective at increasing support for Trump.
The endless, relentless, elitist, ideologically driven, bitter rants appearing in the Times have become a sort of a poster-child example demonstrating that there is no point in trying to hold a conversation with the radical left.
You aren't listening. You aren't interested in listening. You will never listen.
You - and your fellow radical progressive writers - are a thumbnail view what controls today's Democratic party.
This is why Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan are now permanently lost to the Democrats. All propaganda, no results.
4
Oh right, it's all us liberals fault. You seem to think that any criticism of Trump, however justified, will drive people mindlessly into the arms of Trump. Strange how conservatives have the most negative view of the intellectual capacity of Trump supporters, who according to you, have absolutely no capacity for independent thought and will just react negatively to anything liberals say.
1
@Objectivist we are empathetic to your identity crisis. 8 years under President Obama, I'm sure spending it cursing him because of his color, has really put you in a bad place. Come over to us...we aren't the enemy.
1
@LizMill
I didn't say liberals. I said radical - left wing - Progressives.
The liberals (what is left of them, anyway) are running, not walking, away from the Democratic Party, which -was - the party of liberals but isn't any more.
I am not particularly a fan of Donald Trump, but Mr. Blow apparently has Mr, Trump living rent-free in his head. Over the past 20 months approximately 90% of his writing has been routed in an unhealthy obsession with Mr. Trump. Obviously he has lost the ability to view any Trump action objectively. I don’t expect a liberal columnist to write in support of the President, but his lack of objectivity makes it impossible to accept what he writes even though some of it is correct, it’s time to refresh the editorial contributor pool.
2
Amen! The cult that supports Mr Blow’s writings scare me more then the cult that supports Trump. Mr Blow paints and endless picture of doom and gloom week after week, article after article. If one’s view of the world was based solely on these writings, I would expect to see rioting in the streets, Nazi stormtroopers everywhere with people routinely being asked for their papers.
Mr Blow: Can you go out and have fun with family or friends and write about something positive. Just once. Please !
3
RIP america.
3
KEEP WRITING, Charles Blow. We need your voice!
13
The real reason these people have continued following Trump no matter what is they are followers of a deity called Trump. It's like a cult. Just look at the faces on the people at his rallies. Then when making a comment on a particular subject on YouTube or Facebook these people just jump down your throat with both feet!!! They instantly claim they know EVERYTHING about you. You don't have a job and/or living on welfare or you're a ravenous liberal and don't have a right to live because you think differently from them. These are some scary people. I wonder how their going to act if they don't get their way come November '18 or 2020.
7
~"There was applause and cheering from the crowd.~"
The applause was from a crowd of vets who fought against Nazi propaganda that led to the Holocaust. They betrayed the core values they fought for, and to what end? Have they been "left behind", or were the values they fought for simply bigoted? The audience that applauded are the same people that voted for Britain to exit from the EU. Sightless, full of rage and face down in the cult of trump.
These vets should be ashamed of themselves. Instead of running trump off the stage they emboldened him.
6
An empty soulless man is surrounded by men and women who plant big and little lies and hatred into his head and he in turn repeats them publicly and loudly to another group of empty people who crave meaning to their empty lives. A useful idiot is born and a new cult is born.
These cults used to be marginal groups, but now they dominate daily life. Fighting them off is exhaustive, it requires stamina and courage. We know most Republicans don't have the courage so the rest of us have to pick up the slack. Keep writing Charles and the rest of us have to vote.
4
Exactly right, Mr Blow, it's the second season of "Superman" and mesmerized viewers accept every demonstration of superpower including "going medieval" on young aliens to save Earth. The truth is - whatever Superman just said. And only evil villains would report otherwise. "They" are Fake News! Cover your eyes and ears! "They" bring you ungodly council.
The rest of us wonder - when will "The Reality President Show" lose a few time slots?
Never, I guess --- corporate sponsors are selling those Superman Flakes like all-their-tomorrows depend upon "friending" people who are already members of The Cultish Horde Fan Club.
Some evidence of fan-base decline, however, --- the Kansas City MAGA venue was a downsize and it looked half full.
Also, on 25 July 2018, our beloved PBS Newshour put the microscope on the radioactive fall-out from Superman's Non-Stop, Truth-Shifting. Set Republicans free with this Pure Kryptonite:
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/whats-happened-to-the-truth-under-pres...
1
"Facts don’t matter to millions of Americans anymore. That is just the truth. Republicans bewitched by Donald Trump have devalued the import of truth."
Duh Mr. Blow, Let's go back 20 years and I'll just change two things. "Facts don’t matter to millions of Americans anymore. That is just the truth. DEMOCRATS bewitched by BILL CLINTON have devalued the import of truth."
Does this sound familiar???
Dennis
3
It makes one rage, all the deceit and injustice. Mr. Blow's incisive, thoughtful pieces help me through these dark days (along with Jim Carey's biting spot-on cartoon portraits). They remind us we are not alone in our revulsion and that truth should win in the end, though indeed it will be a Battle Royale. "Have you no sense of decency?" helped bring down Joseph McCarthy. Likewise, this dam is building.... But given our masses of deplorables here in America (Hillary was correct), the rise of Hitler is much more fathomable. If it's accurate that 88% or so Republicans approve of this ignorant tyrant then I now have zero respect for most anyone in that Party. Only the Voting Booth and The Courts stand between us and a true totalitarian state.
1
To see these veterans applauding Captain Bone Spurs, the draft dodger, makes me sick to my stomach.
They may as well be wearing tin foil hats.
10
The Trump Presidency reminds me of the serials that ran at the theaters in the 1950's. The hero was the center of every week's episode. He always ended each week in dire peril. But I caught on early. They withheld the moment he, let us say, jumped out of the stagecoach just before it went over the cliff. The cliffhanger was a fraud. I figured that out while still in grade school.
Trump wants to claim the news every day. He wants to be the star. When he doesn't have an actual accomplishment to talk of or idea he needs to push, he reverts to insult. He picks a fight.
There's the evil enemy, "The Mainstream Media" (aka, "Fake News"). There's the FBI in general, the Mueller inquiry and all associated with it. And they are all part of "The Swamp" - the enemy that is trying to control us all.
There's NATO, sucking us dry. Canada too, though I'm not sure why. (Canada turned out to be a minor villain.) And Jeff Sessions, the traitor who pops up now and again. And again. And again.
And Only now do I mention Hillary and Obama.
Trump wants to be the hero of his daily serial. His viewers "Boo!" at the bad guys and cheer as he promises to be their champion.
There are, however, two actual cliffhangers on the way. One is the work of Mueller. The other is the November election.
Both could change the plot line of, "Donald Trump - Hero President". Those are the twists I'm waiting to see.
2
Trump is a shameless liar and attention grabber. He gets his kicks from basking in the news highlights. What if we the public just ignore him. Do not feed him the attention and the limelight that he so craves. What if the "fake news" channels all boycott him and just give him flatline, fact based reporting since he is POTUS: no highlights, no analysis, no critique whatsoever, only followed by a statement of facts checking. We the public are so sick and tired of his incessant lies that we would just tune him out. Since nothing else works, maybe this would take the oxygen out of his air and make him change his despicable behaviour a little.
1
Again we are the only group you're allowed to hate. We can feel it. Just enfranchise all the illegals in the country and legalize heroin. That will solve your problem.
About lies. Free trade won't destroy our manufacturing base. Low skill migrants along with that won't suppress wages. Identity politics is not equivalent to racism.
Once the much heralded demographic shift occurs you can enjoy turning on each other. MAGA to you all.
1
“Illegals” can’t possibly be worse than the Trump supporters we are already stuck with. Too bad they can’t be deported. That would truly MAGA.
4
Trump has gotten much much worse with his lying and he already was a serial liar. I would argue that this is not working except for a very low base, and is backfiring in the end. The only way to stop him is to VOTE AGAINST EVERY REPUBLICAN NO MATTER WHAT OFFICE. Only by removing these parasites can we right the ship. Dems win and Trump who is a coward loser probably won;t even make it out of next year. He'll make up a bunch of excuses, pardon himself and his criminal family and leave.
3
Geobbels lebt! Goebbels, the master liar, lives. In the Republican Party, White House & wherever Donald Trump et al. set foot. Let this be a lesson to politicians & legislators of any party. Your lies corrupt you personally, your party, & our democracy which has enough problems as it is. That goes for the Democratic Party, Social Democrats, Independents, & 3d parties as they come & go.
Why do we lie in our politics? Because we've long been telling lies in our advertising, on the witness stand, to our customers, to our spouses, to our children? Why can't we deal with the truth? How & why do the so-called religious people of this country condone, excuse & perpetuate this vicious practice of lying. It has done great harm to our society, & by extension to our friends & allies. It creates the loss of trust, reliance, honesty, & confuses what we think of as the truth, any truth.
Parents raise their children not to lie (with exceptions, I'm sure). What do psychologists, sociologists, & ethicists have to say about this? This country is a moral morass of deceit (to deceive is tromper in French.) Sounds familiar, non?
We will pay the ultimate price as a nation, & our children will lose their lives for the lies told by us, their parents & grandparents. It has to stop. Religion hasn't helped, in fact, it's approved the lies & the deceits.
If ever a nation needed a moral compass, it's the USA in the 21st century. The truth is what we're told, no questions asked. Goebbels lebt!
4
Please!!! If Obama had done a tiny bit of what Trump has done, he would have been impeached and thrown out of office by now. Trump is an embarrassment to all Americans!
7
“LOCK HIM UP!”
4
Trump's lies are the essential part of his psychopathic nature. This has been aided and augmented by Trump's accumulation through wealth of broken bits and pieces of the human beings who serve and protect him as members of his "Organization."
Trump must be taken down from within.
Enter Michael Cohen. Cohen is not well spoken, possesses a street gangster's sense of morality and loyalty, has practiced thuggery and intimidation as a profession along with extortion.
The perfect adjunct to Trump. "My Roy Cohn" - but without the IQ, His intelligence is more on par with Trump's, largely expressed as cunning, manifest in the emotional vendetta department.
Roy Cohn was a psychopath devoid of emotional empathy. Michael Cohen is a family man. He is no Roy Cohn.
Trump is now on the receiving end of his one-way-street loyalty policy. It is more than well-deserved.
Cohen was part of Donald Trump's protective protein coating that fooled most Americans into thinking that his vulgarity, sloppiness, and childishness makes him more "like a regular guy, except rich." Au contraire. Trump is a monster, and a traitor. Like FaceBook, he is "not your friend."
Michael Cohen is a weaponized symbiotic part of the Trump Organization that correctly used by prosecutors can bring Trump, Roger Stone, Robert Mercer, and the whole evil edifice crumbling to the ground.
Make America, America again. Impeach, Indict, Imprison Traitor Trump.
3
A tale, told by an idiot, signifying nothing. Shakespeare nailed it many years ago.
2
What kind of lawyer would tape his client? The kind whose client is a pathological liar.
6
Trump is driven by untreated mental illness.
5
The problem is not Trump. It's Trump voters. People stupid enough to buy his lies to cater to their racism. People ignorant enough to suborn treason and attack bedrock American values like a free press because Trump tells them to. Any idiot can see Trump is a bully. People literally have to shut their eyes to the obvious, or, like Kellyanne Conway, sell their souls, to avoid seeing that Trump is a coarse man, brimful of greed, and devoid of any values, any loyalty.
10
We are witnessing the transition from individual lying to institutional lying as America is becoming Jonestown to many Trump worshippers.
They robotically laugh as he gleefully mixes the cyanide and the Kool-Aid.
6
Trump, live from Jonestown: "Now, who wants some Kool-Aid?"
2
the best way to beat this psychotic, narcissistic idiot is to completely ignore him. I'm not kidding, stop attending so called press briefings, stop covering him on tv, any media at all. the big mistake is that media and others keep treating him like he was a 'real president'. Watch how fast he'll melt down without the huge attention he gets now. Plus his cult followers
will be so confused they won't know what to do. The only thing he'll have are his rigged ralliea.
4
Haiku
"Get Out of Jail Free---"
Imperial president...
Trump's Kavanaugh card.
2
"There may be precedents in other countries, but one would be hard pressed to find a precedent here. "
Nah, Mr. Blow, you do not need to go for precedents to "other countries."
I grew up right here, in good ole NYC and environs.
We had a master purveyor of lies in the area back then. Maybe you heard of him. His name is the very Rev. Al Sharpton.
The Rev. Al brought NYC to the brink of racial riots by creating and empowering a hoax. He claimed that a black teen named Tawana was assaulted by various white men, including an ADA in upstate, who smeared her with excrement during the assault. The Rev was assisted by attorney Mason, later disbarred.
Week after week, knowing he was lying, the Rev. told his audience, willing to hate as I remember, that any version denying the "assault" was...."fake news"!!
Indeed, the Rev. denies responsibility to this day, and he ahs a radio show, and is feted by all major Dem candidates. Even Hillary met to receive his "blessing" in 2016. I think I voted for Trump just because of that.
So, thank you Mr. Blow for reminding me that there are many examples of lying "to the tribe."
I'm glad you call out Trump. Do you have a word for the Rev. Al?
2
@Jubilee133, The completely unwarranted respect accorded to delusionals who project a human personality onto nature has made this nation hopelessly dishonest and infantile.
1
Democrats lie quite a bit as well. It just happens that you are blind to their lies.
Two things: (1) most Republicans know he lies, embellishes and grandstands but consider that the price we must pay lest we have a bunch of democrat-socialists running the show, and (2) most Republicans consider the lies, embellishments and grandstanding as a huge middle finger to the liberal elites, sort of a form of group mocking. In short, GOP voters have adapted to the situation as it is and are making the best of it - they aren't empowering anything but themselves.
2
And they said it couldn't happen here.
When serious historians try to explain the root cause and spreading mania of mass societal pathology, the prime example has always been the question of how the nation that gave the world Beethoven, Schiller and Albrecht Duerer could give itself wholly and willingly to Adolph Hitler.
We now have the definitive answer to that question as each day we experience the ongoing moral and intellectual rot of the nation that gave the world Abraham Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Thomas Edison, and that is now joyfully rushing to prostrate itself body and soul before the golden calf of Donald Trump. And they said it couldn’t happen here.
4
When Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin's fights his foes they end up in hospitals, mental institutions, prisons, urns and coffins.
When Donald John Trump, Sr. fights his enemies by tweeting and speaking slurs they end up mocking and smirking at Trump's idiot, ignorant, imbecile, immature, incompetent, inexperienced, intemperate and insecure nature and nurture.
Putin's friends end up in the Oval Office of our White House. Trump's friends end up at Trump Tower, Mar-a-Lago, Bedminster and Trump International Hotel D.C.
4
Why think much less critically?
Especially when you fools can let this non thinker do the ... for you
2
Trump is a cult leader a la Hitler, and his followers are like eager Nazis who went along for the ride.
The tragedy for America is that we can now reasonably compare Trump and his followers with what went on in 1930's Germany.
We are truly in dangerous territory.
3
PRESIDENT TRUMP ANNOUNCES HIS “MAGA—BE A DUO-PATRIOT” INITIATIVE
By Bell Press Staff Writers Too Numerous to Name
(Washington, D.C., Bell Press) Buoyed by positive Republican poll responses to his Helsinki Summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump today announced his “MAGA—Be a Duo-Patriot” initiative.
Henceforth America’s the “Star Spangled Banner” and Russia’s the "State Anthem of the Russian Federation" (Russian: Госуда́рственный гимн Росси́йской Федера́ции, transliteration: Gosudárstvennyy gimn Rossíyskoy Federátsii) will be played in tandem and honored at all U.S. political and sporting events.
“I’m gonna sign an executive order,” Mr. Trump proclaimed. “All American citizens, especially professional athletes, will be required to stand at attention—hand over
heart—whenever these two anthems are publicly performed. Patriotism is best secured when imposed by fiat,” he stated. “No more fake patriots or freedoms in America.”
Trump for the first time revealed the joint “Be a Duo-Patriot” agreement he made with the Russian leader during their private Helsinki meeting: “Mr. Putin assured me—in the strongest possible terms—how can I not believe him?—that the Russians will do likewise—and that with their basso profundos—they will do it even better. What a challenge! I have ordered the military to round up American basso profundos—whatever they are—to meet this challenge. America will not be bested!”
Just who are these members of the VFW that applaud Trump so vigorously? I doubt if many of them fought in the WW2 against Hitler, or they would not be voting for and attending speeches our own version of Adolph.
I do not belong to the VFW and never will, as I see it as mostly a political organization that serves little or no purpose to the country, especially after this display of stupid.
4
Why is Obama silent?
Trump is the fascist, wrapped in a flag, we were warned about.
7
Al always thought our country would be brought down by angry radicals and outside influences, but boy was I wrong. It's hateful, geriatric moms and pops on Facebook wearing stupid red hats and grinning at children locked in cages. Sad.
7
So Trump has 88% of the "Republicans" still in his favor. What I want to know is how many voters does that 88% represent? Aside from the famous, i.e., George Will, and others, I've read that many Republicans have left the party declaring themselves independent. I know an older lady who said she was a life long Republican, but, sometime before Trump she began to doubt her choice. One afternoon she announced that she was no longer a Republican. Last spring I learned that another friend who has long declared himself a Republican could not support Trump. How many more are out there who quietly say this to family, friends and neighbors? I think the recent polls from the Midwest are showing that the support is beginning to soften. It well may be that even the strongest supporters of the Republican Party will reach a breaking point when they can no support the Liar in Chief and the damage that he is doing to our country. It can't happen soon enough for me. My patience is waning.
1
I ask every American, and especially supporters of djt to ask themselves if, in their own personal lives, they would support a son, husband, brother, father who lied, who openly cheated on his marriage vows, whose word was unreliable, who didnt know what he was talking about, who broke his promises, who was emboiled in lawsuits because of misbehaviour. Never mind the policy isues for a moment. Ask yourself whether you would be proud of the man in your life who behaved that way? And if that is not OK for your own personal life, why is it OK for the country? And if it is OK for your own personal life, how did you make peace with that kind of betrayal? Asking for a friend.
2
Charles says that "Every day there is no catastrophe, every day yet another never-before-seen, outrageous scandal emerges from this administration and Trump is not destroyed by it, it strengthens him and numbs us and steels his supporters". It is clear that Charles is getting depressed for seeing that Trump is not being destroyed even after he and his comrades threw all kinds of "bomb shells" everyday. But, Charles appears to be unable to understand that the so called "bombshells" were not even crackers. For example, everybody know that Trump is not a saint and he probably had relationship with many porn stars during his life several years and decades ago. Those porn stars came out during the election time to take maximum advantage. The natural tendency of human beings under such circumstances is not to say the truth and to settle the issue secretly. Most of the American people understand this natural phenomena and know the truth even if Trump doesn't say the truth, and for them such reports are not bombshells. They know what is really happening is good for them.
1
This is a test of our democracy. I hope we get a passing grade.
The hatred toward liberals and progressives is palpable. We are the boogeymen out to destroy the country. The right has visions of transgender men in women's restrooms, hordes of illegal immigrants being given government benefits at their expense, we are the party of abortion rights, open borders and government handouts to those they consider undeserved. We are the heathens who want a secular America. We are the party of coastal elites who don't understand rural America. We are the boogeymen who will strip them of their guns and leave them defenseless in a world they see as increasingly terrifying.
It is irrational. Truth is irrelevant. The only thing that matters is vanquishing the enemy - and we are the enemy. They are winning the battle and we didn't know there was a war.
They believe they have waited a very long time to stick it to the liberals and they believe their time has come and the country will be righted (or whited).
Grade for Democracy: F
What will we do after we don't succeed in establishing a minimal balance of power after the midterms?
Will the last person to leave our destroyed democracy please take a copy of the Constitution so we can remember the government the founding fathers intended.
2
Another smart article!! Thank you again, Charles Blow. I, too, keep asking “Why?” Why are the Republicans so hypocritical? Where are their principles? I think the parallel might be to Jim Crow and to its Northern equivalent — oh, let’s just call it “racism.” It was always morality that the right-wing (then mostly Democrats in the South and Republicans in the North) used to disguise their sense of entitlement to power over others and to the resources of others and the labor of others. “Morality,” that provides the basis for the school-to-prison pipeline. It was never about principle. They don’t ask “why,” but only “how.”
1
Trump has lied so much that most of his lawyers have been taping him for 30 years, especially during his 6 bankruptcies.
He has broken every commandment except thou shall not kill (which he has threatened to do).
He is a great entertainer, which is why he gets so much applause.
How can 45% condone evil?
We need to prevent tyranny of the minority, probably by changing the Constitution.
2
I am not numbed by the onslaught of lies, corruption, filth, viciousness and treason coming from this President and those who enable him. I'm in fight or flight mode, my adrenaline is flowing, my senses are on alert.
All of my danger signal receptors have been activated. Nothing shocks me anymore. Just fills me with resolve. Ready to spring into action whenever needed to defend my country as the true patriot I've always known that I am.
3
Oh, boo the headline writer. This was begging for the Dark Night line by Heath Ledger - "Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stranger".
[For the pedants, from IMDB:
"I believe, whatever doesn't kill you, simply makes you... stranger".
“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”
― George Orwell, 1984
7
If news outlets gave him credit for his accomplishments every one in a while it would make them more credible. Just sayimg
1
I have asked the VFW to remove me from their donor list. I won't stand for them cheering this ignoramus as he attacks the First Amendment
5
In a part of the engineering profession, this sort of behavior is termed NOD - Normalization of Deviance!
1
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday...
We're living in a mob-boss universe, Mr. Blow. This is the Corleone family all over again. Were you expecting the truth?
I just hate what is happening to our beloved country. And I hate that I've used the word hate more in the last two years, even more in the few weeks, than I have at any other time in my life.
1
Whatever happened to the Moral Majority? Wasn't that a largely Republican bunch? Trump has turned the self-appointed righteous Republican Party into a bunch of apologists for his lying, cheating, scandalous self -- pathetic! Do they not feel an ounce of shame for supporting such an evil, heathonist soul? I was raised a Baptist and though I left the faith years ago, I think Trump would have been used as a bad example during our Sunday school lessons. Now, evangelists apparently love him ... go figure!
4
I fear that many people in this country have been brainwashed and /or lost their sanity. Trump blasts out at journalists as the Fake News. Trump himself is the creator and cultivator of Fake News. The words and statements (many flat out lies) are the embodiment of Fake News. He is a cruel, heartless and evil soul. He is also beholden to Putin. Our country is in grave peril. I fear for coming generations of Americans... if America survives. WAKE UP AMERICA!
5
Let's be honest. Look at the faces of the people at his rallies. This is the last pathetic gasp of white supremacy. It won't be easy to fix when this all comes crumbling down, but it WILL come crumbling down. This is not what America looks like anymore.
6
Here, I think is Trump's rules for continued success:
1) The boss (Trump) is always right.
2) If the boss (Trump) is wrong, see rule 1)
I believe that the Democrats must find a way to caricature Trump''s insane bossism, over and over, again. Otherwise, as Blow suggests, he becomes stronger and more invincible.
Democrats might hold ideas contests to define Trumpism.
If Democrats can't pin Trump down, they may lose the House.
==============================================
1
Republicans are now trying to impeach Rob Rosenstein. They are laughing in our faces. I was in Madrid in 2000 when the news broke that SCOTUS gave the presidency to Bush even though he had lost the election. The newspapers had huge, black headlines saying "Coup d'etat In America!" I think they're pulling out those same type trays again.
4
The closer we get to midterms the more I worry. Even with the Helsinki fiasco we still have a do nothing Republican Congress that enables 45. His behavior with the veterans pained me along with their enthusiasm over his idiotic comments.
3
Trump started his presidential run howling about imaginary "Mexican rapists."
Instead of heeding the rantings of a madman, we granted him presidential power.
Reagan's "revolution" is complete.
Feel better now?
3
Trump will remain atop the locomotive of his 'Runaway Train,' not fearing his own imminent destruction as long as he can do what he lives for-- sowing chaos with a projectile stream of lies, giving the world a middle finger, and seeking revenge against all who fail to lionize him. His string is getting shorter by the day, so he will only get more dangerous, and with his sickness there is no stopping point. Only our 900-odd federal judges are restraining him for now. He'll try to incite war with Iran, or even a civil war, if he feels it necessary. Because no one else matters.
5
Then again, the people of Iraq have said that they enjoyed life there better when Saddam was ruling them. He was a tyrant but he was their predictable tyrant. They knew where they stood before him and his murdering ways. Trump is a lying idiot but he's 40% of the nation's favorite, lying idiot. They can depend on him for being predicatively just who he is.
2
Beware. This is exactly how the Third Reich took hold in Germany. This is precisely how Hitler rose to power--he was another "idiot-genius" in his own twisted, immoral way. Follow the history, the steps are the same--one party rule, one man presiding over that party, shutting down the free press...
The only way out of this mess is to vote now and in every other election as long as we still have the opportunity. Say it loud and often to everyone you know.
8
This is all out of Hitler's playbook: the malignant buffoon, the blatant liar, the demonizer of the press. Mussolini himself said that fascism was based on irrationality. Make your followers irrational and they'll follow you anywhere. They are hypnotized because they WANT to believe in the White Avenger, their Superman. The maudlin self pitying "hero" is a John Wayne motif. In virtually every movie, the "Duke" would do some heroic deed, then be wronged or rejected by the woman he loved, resulting in a drunken pity party. Someday, Americans will see this disgraceful performance for what it is: Bad acting!
5
Hey Mr. Blow
You are trapped in your own liberal morality play.
Hey did you see what the market did today?
Who cares what Trump says?
I never cared what BO and Hilliary said either !
2
There is nothing new under the sun . Hitler became more popular after the night of the long knives . There is outrage in the Country as a whole . A blue wave is coming . Some GOP politicians are starting to speak up . But " the deplorables " continue doing what " deplorables " always do . There are " deplorables " in any country and any continent on Earth . Human nature is the same across all countries .
5
I sense a Reichstag fire in our future. Sooner rather than later.
7
Sounds exactly like Adolph Hitler's philosophy of bigotry, and that is based on his own actions. Let us hope Trump doesn't go any further on destroying this country.
4
It is beyond me why these honorable veterans seem to approve of a lying draft-dodging womanizer. My 20-something son says it has to get a whole lot worse before the Russpublicans who adore Trump begin to question his lies (methinks he doth protest too much). We are living in treacherous times - thank you for providing some much-needed ballast, Mr. Blow.
8
It’s been said of Germans that they wanted Hitler, they got Hitler and they liked Hitler.
Trump calls the media the fake news. Hitler called it the lying press.
Trump heaps scorn on immigrants.
Hitler? Well we know who he heaped abuse on.
The crowds that turn out for Trump. How different are they from the ones that turned out for Hitler?
This country is currently in very big trouble.
12
In the Trump administration we are looking at the machinations of evil, and we are reminded in stark terms of how and why evil deeds and doers are reviled and shunned. In the case of Trump, the evil-doer has a cabal and they have collectively wormed their way by trickery and deceit into the Presidency, perhaps the most powerful position in the world.. I think we have to take Mr. Blow's analysis a step further -- Trump's political power thrives on desecration -- the more sacred the belief or value, the more likely Trump is to desecrate it and add that to his list of symbolic conquests. The integrity of business ethics, the inviolability of women, respect for marriage, the bond between parents and children, respect for POWs, Gold Star Families, the Disabled, and the post WWII NATO alliance. Respect for the Truth. Trump has desecrated all of the above and he thrives on the disorientation of society that he leaves in his wake. What is even worse is that there is every indication that Trump charges his political batteries by causing misery and suffering to those who are innocent and vulnerable.
9
Yesterday's Trump rally was with the Veterans of Foreign Wars. When he ridiculed and attacked the Press and called attention to them at the back of the room, the attendees turned and screamed and yelled threats against the press.
While the organization later issued an apology, the acts of their members was a frontal assault on the Constitution.
Trump fosters treason at every turn.
Do not be surprised if this fall the Russian interference in our elections is used as a pretext by Trump to try and cancel the elections. The call will be "for the security of our great nation."
We are on the edge. We must not fall.
5
The Vets need to be reminded of the unfit quack Trump was trying to reward by appointing him head of the VA. Along with that they need to realize privatizing the VA would be disaster and merely enrich people like Trump, personal gain over Oath of Office.
Of all the laws tossed around why are outright lies to constituents to deform the political system allowed? Spin has always existed but this is beyond reason, ethics and morals.
5
It totally blows my mind to see these veterans of foriegn wars supporting Trump after the way he treated McCain. Blows my mind!
8
"It is becoming cliche...". Think you missed out an "a" there.
Just like in 2016, I blame this mess squarely on the Democrats.
Now, flirting with the New York lady that seems to be in over her head, ol’ Bernie and the socialists/Antifa/progressives, they risk losing it all.
The path forward is so easy. Moderate, left leaning candidate and a consistent well articulated agenda. Dems + Independents + sane Republicans can crush Trump and his approving cult.
I’m voting straight Demo, regardless, but I’m beginning to feel the Dems are gonna snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
And need I say, if Trump is not crushed in the mid-terms, “Katie bar the door!”
1
With it all, some cracks are beginning to be seen. Yes, as far as the diminishing GOP party is concerned his numbers are high but in polls released today he is not doing well with the country. That gives me hope that somehow people are getting an additional source of information besides Faux News and the endless tweets.
Trump has been lying about almost everything for most of his alleged adult life. He is playing to his base and they love it but they are not enough for a general election and sooner or later they will learn how they've been played.
I still believe as my mother used to tell me: 'every dog has his day'...and this dog is flea ridden and things are starting to come together to paint more of the picture.
Emoluments today, porn stars yesterday and a flop in Helsinki. Little by little the chipping away will form an unstoppable boulder. I like to visualize that scene in Indiana Jones where they outrun the boulder but Trump cannot ultimately outrun the goods they got on him and the truth.
Hang on, America. What goes around comes around and this president is overdue.
3
Would Charles even have a job if Trump had not won the presidency? It's as if he has nothing original left to say. It's the same drivel week after week.
Here's to Charles keeping his job for many years to come. Trump 2020, Ivanka Trump 2024 and 2028, Donald Jr 2032 and 2036!
Make Charles Great Again!
And among this national disgrace, the country literally burns, wildfires consuming hundreds of thousands of acres of land, record high temperatures everywhere.
While we should be making serious global policy to address global warming and save our environment and our children from a deadly catastrophe, we are instead wasting our time held hostage by ignorant hordes of cretinous Trump voters and their nihilistic cult.
3
Thomas Jefferson said that if he had to choose between a government without newspapers and newspapers without a government, he would not hesitate to prefer the latter.
He, nor the other Founding Fathers, could imagine that starting in the 20th and 21rst century black on white written words dealing with facts hardly mattered anymore.
Those too lazy to read are receiving their "information" about what supposedly ails this country - namely all forced on them by "coastal elites"- thrice pre-chewed 24/7 by an official Republican Party Ministry of Propaganda a la Goebbels, aka Faux Noise, and their side-kicks on radio, Limbaugh et. al.
4
Mr. Blow is right but why should we be surprised. We have voters and a public that seeks to be spoon-fed easy answers, that insists they are victims: victims of government, of conspiracy, of immigrants and illegals, of terrorists, of liberals, and science. Trump and his republican supporters are willing to feed into that for no other purpose than there own selfish goals. They have long ago proved themselves remarkably free of the fetters of shame and of any decent element suggestive of a moral compass. They acknowledge no guilt because they possess no conscience. They routinely and recklessly employ any and every method, legal or otherwise, to ensure their job security tirelessly working to protect their childish monster to whom they owe much; to that end, those cowards dishonour their offices happily kissing Trump’s rump smacking their lips at the pleasure of doing so. For them, no dirty trick, no vile lie, is too low, too dirty or too vile to not be used to discredit, undermine and destroy those whom they perceive as a threat to Trump hence themselves. They possess no dignity and respect no truth because they have need for either; the public doesn’t care. Lies become truth, dishonesty integrity, deceit openness, and corruption purity. They are bad people; their support of Trump immoral and unconscionable. Stupidity, ignorance and apathy are destroying America. Americans can stop the madness simply by waking up.
5
Two Qs Charles:
1) Do you ever wonder why Alan Dershowitz has emerged into a fierce Trump defender all while claiming not hired by Trump?
2) Did it ever cross your mind the horror if we don't win the mid-term election?
1
The Republican Party has enabled a lying, incompetent, amoral president. It is my hope this will be reflected in votes cast in November.
1
Educate, integrate and demonstrate!
1
The only way we can have a Blue Wave is to grow the vote. Go to SwingLeft.org and take action to take back the House. It’s our only way to control Trump and Sessions. Take action today! If you are in a blue state, you could go to OpenProgress.org to do remote texting from your home. Go to OFA.org and Vote.org to help with voter registration. PostcardsToVoters.org has people all over the country writing handwritten postcards for candidates in red states and it’s working! Please do something now and get your circle of friends to help. As Hillary recently said, it’s not enough to vote...now is the time to volunteer!
2
Trump has a political tourette's syndrome. He's expert at spewing out random crazy ideas, guaranteed to occupy the news cycle for a few days.
Then when the idiotic ideas collapse, it's on to the next self-generated subject.
Putin coming to Washington? Trade wars? 12 billion dollar bailouts? In a few days, the WH walks back, and then sneaks back around to something else.
Eventually people will get bored and walk away.
Eventually.
2
No, Mr. Blow, relevant facts matter to Trump supporters.
The constant whining and puling of identity politics liberals - while searching for criminals to celebrate - doesn’t matter a whit.
Trump 2020 !
2
With all due respects, Mr. Blow, we all feel trapped because he who shall not be named is hogging the media. With 100 days left for mid-term where are the democratic voices?
Drowned by the media who seems to only report on what next cruel, idiotic, shocking lie has been perpetrated by you know who!
It is time, it is really time to respond to those tweets with medias' own one liner if you must report it: 'YEAH RIGHT!' or 'HA HA HA!', followed by Democratic voices that you should seek and amplify.
It is time you let the people hear Democratic voices louder and clearer and more frequently or come mid-term elections, everybody knows who the president is touting and nobody else. Guess who is getting the vote or splitting it for others?
One strategy that seems to be emerging is the old Advertiser's dictum. Even bad press is good press! And may be so!
Please, I beg you and your colleagues and the media, start ignoring the demented liar and give voice to truth and the other side! Please.
There were news items during the last election where it seems the 'winner' did not advertise, but got it free by being shocking. In some ways the media played into his hand. Please do not do this again, if you can help it.
Just pick up any paper and the name appears in every page and every column! He has got the media saturated! You are among the very few who does not handle him with kid gloves! It is time to stop that too!
This is a wake up call to the media! Stop gratuitous press coverage!
3
Blame the pundit class and the MSM. Anyone who didn't see the depths of depravity, ignorance and dishonesty, or refused to broadcast it, or made false equivalency with HRC is complicit.
just go back and read the nonsense that was written. Thanks for nothing.
4
You are so right, Mr. Blow. Trump rules a CULT that the GOP congress has willingly joined. Nothing the god of this cult says is a lie. Nothing outsiders say about him is true.
2
it just gets better and better. We must deserve him for our sins. Lord, what did we do wrong? May he be smited !
There is only one important message now - VOTE on November 6. And if you are still unwilling to choose the lesser of two evils, please think again. And take a look at this:
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/podcast-dept/the-wilderness-reviewed-c...
2
Trump is playing a 100% by the Putin's KGB playbook. Lies, distractions, diversions, denial or spinning of the facts, attacking his opponents and media, keeping things vague and sensational instead of talking about the issues, etc.
Trump is trying to create his "alternative reality" for the US public just like Putin created his for the Russian. Same tricks from KGB propaganda playbook.
29 years ago, a KGB defector predicted Trump. Here's a documentary how KGB wages psychological war against America.
"This will happen to America unless it gets rid of people who will bring it to a crisis, warned Bezmenov. What’s more “if people will fail to grasp the impending danger of that development, nothing ever can help [the] United States,” adding, “You may kiss goodbye to your freedom.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX3EZCVj2XA
4
Neitzsche was wrong- what does not kill you may cripple you. Just you wait.
The election is around 100 days, or 650 lies away...
4
Charles M. Blow is not the only journalist this week to discuss Trump's compulsive, obsessive lying without placing any blame at all on FOX News which is widely used as the medium of choice by most if not all of Trump's base for "factual news". Since FOX program hosts do not call out Trump as a liar; in fact, they promulgate some of his lies or reinforce them, they contribute greatly to the deception Trump sustains. Really, if you are raised by a parent who says black is white, how long will it take you (if ever) to realize you're being brainwashed?
1
No "Black Mirror" episode can even come close to the genuine dystopian nightmare we are living through with this President and every single spineless Republican (particularly those at the top of the party) complicit with his egocentric pathetic behavior. This "episode" in American history must end!
9
Support for Trump has increased within the Republican Party. But isn't it also true that during the Trump administration membership in the Republican Party has decreased (while Democratic Party membership has remained relatively stable)?
Of course we all must vote. But get rid of gerrymandering, get rid of 2 Senators per state regardless of its population, and maybe we could have a government that represents the best for all the people.
2
Talking about Trump's popularity among Republicans is sort of like talking about the unemployment rate. You're only unemployed if you're in the labor market. Similarly, Republican approval ratings are only counted if the person identifies as a Republican. The number of people who identify as Republican has dropped precipitously since Trump won the election. There was a 5 point drop within his first one hundred days in office. In effect, Trump's popularity is high but the pool has shrunk.
I would never expect Trump's approval rating among Republicans to drop below the high eighties. I just hope there are a whole lot fewer Republicans out there come November.
It seems to me, having read this column, that Trump may simply be a symptom of America’s ague rather than its cause. If he lies, it’s because the polarities of his base, disenfranchised and dispossessed as it feels, or as enriched and emboldened as it enjoys, delight in the delicious irony of having a figurehead who sticks it to the status quo as it once stuck it to them. Trump is exacting vengeance on their behalf. The poorer have seen wage stagnation and the meteoric decline of their standard of living, the unfairness of their lot indeed a palpable injustice. The richer feel unfettered by nagging issues of taxation and other societal obligations. Together, they provide a monolithic, trans-class, segment of the voting public that must be appealed to on their level before Trump’s influence can be depleted. Granted, this is no easy task for Democrats, perceived pasty defenders of fringe causes and absconders from their traditional support among the working class yeomanry of American society. The working class outnumber the rich, who are, likely, a lost cause anyway, so it is they who must re-elect the truth as a requisite to sound governance. At some point, truth will become important again.
Trump is a foul and vicious liar, but he is the product of a foul viciousness that has undermined and divided American society for generations. He is the cattle prod his base use to annoy and sway. Democrats need to believe in their own base again. Its frustrated loyalty is vital.
1
Yup. Trump tells some whoppers.
Trouble is he ran against an even bigger liar in 2016.
2
@Tuco. There has never been anyone as investigated as Hillary Clinton with nothing of substance ever proven. And her entire taxpaying history of wealth-building was made available to all, unlike the dirt-bag in chief whose refusal to do so is a prima facie admission of guilt.
4
@TucoFox News?
1
@Steve Bolger
See New York Times -- Safire -- January 1996.
HRC has been at it for a looooong time.
Oh, come on Charles. The lies didn't start with Trump. Consider all the nonsense Americans tell themselves and each other about the goodness of our foreign policy, including on this very op-ed page.
You're all enablers. It's just that Trump discarded all decorum.
3
I will never stopped being stunned by (and aghast at) those who continue to support this buffoon. He’s clearly doing nothing for them. As illustrated by his foolish and pointless “trade war” he’s actually damaging them. Yet, they slavishly refuse to acknowledge that he’s throwing the entire country under the bus. He has demeaned the office of the presidency in embarrassingly epic proportions, reduced our standing in the world, destroyed our reputation as a nation and exhibited more callousness and cruelty than any previous American politician living or dead. It’s appalling. And yet those devoted to him still absolutely refuse to see or acknowledge the truth.
1
How I wish Sacha Baron Cohen would rip off his trump face mask and wake us up from this nightmare.
1
America is sick. We are infected by rage, resentment and demagogic populism. And, like many illness sufferers, we are killing ourselves with denial.
I work in healthcare--another place where truth has a tenuous hold. Sick patients don't want to know the truth. They don't want to know the grisly, often boring details of their failing bodies.
So they ignore their doctors and the tedious burdens of self-care and medication adherence-- Burdens that, not insignificantly, would be reminders that there is something terrifyingly wrong with them. Instead they resort to the instant gratifications of unhealthy eating and bitter resentments about their lousy luck.
The few patients who aspire to survival by changing their actions don't get there by facing up to hard truths. Realizations like "My lungs are rotting" or "They're gonna cut off my gangrenous foot" are more likely to discourage patients into denial than startle them into action.
The patients who ultimately take care of themselves, instead find positive inspiration from two sources: God and family love.
Of course, we can't ignore recent fascist history and let Donald Trump off the hook.
But, if Democrats are going to reach beyond their own base, they need to find a better message than "Trump is a scary monster."
The Democratic Party is, in fact, the party of family values, high morals and, if you believe in a deity, God.
If we are going to win hearts and minds-- That must be at the heart of our message.
I live in Oklahoma. Reddest of Red states. The Trump voter stereotype is so wrong. I know these people from corporate CEOs to boiler repair men and from professors to waitresses. Most voted for Trump because they didnt like Hillary. Get a moderate Republican leader that is smart, strong, funny, reasonable, and likeable, and they will abandon Trump faster than you can say tornado. I sense they know deep down he is embarrasing and harder and harder to like anymore. The cracks are there.
These people are not stupid.
1
Way down here in Alabama I am not, in the least, numb to demented Donald's lies. I bothered to learn all about him and his background BEFORE the election and KNEW exactly what he is and what he has done to harm others all of his adult life. Suffice it to say that he is a monster of a human being - completely void of conscience. I won't accuse my fellow Americans who support him of being traitors but I AM accusing Republican members of Congress of being traitors. They could have taken proper steps to impeach him on a volume of crimes and they have done absolutely nothing. Their refusal to remove him from office worries me more than Trump himself, and I am PLENTY worried about Trump.
3
Lying Trump's nose is so long it reaches past Charlottsville, VA.
It appears that white Christian lower and lower-middle income red state folks are so desperate to not become a minority in the US that they will do anything and believe in anything someone says that makes them feel as if they still, and will always, run the country. All they want to hear is what makes them feel good. Truth? An inconvenience.
1
"The more he lies without paying a price for it, the more he weakens the power of the truth to defend right and condemn wrong. And he expands his latitude to lie more." My namesake is making an excellent point here, but I would go one further. Trump is amoral, he has abandoned common morality. It's rule of the strongest, might makes right. "America First" means shove everyone else to the back of the line. Trash the international order and replace it with brute naked force like Putin's regime. The lying, the alternate reality, is a way of preparing people for abandoning the moral landscape. You can only gain the power to redefine reality by getting rid of your opposition. That comes next.
1
What do you expect from 25% of the country that has been lobotomized for 30 years by evangelical pastors promising riches if you contribute to their lavish lifestyles by digging into your meager savings. The greatest lies ever such as creationism and biblical inerrancy have been swallowed whole by a brainwashed gullible flock. Trump and his ilk are the inevitable consequence.
3
Doing everything I can but what if the midterms don't deliver?
i have a childhood friend that is part of the trump cult..... he is not uneducated and i am sure in all other parts of his life he is a fair and open human being. if trump gets locked away or the blue wave comes? i do not see him hitting the streets and i doubt he even ones a gun...... but there are others of the trump cult that are ignorant, angry gun owners. they are going to be with us for some time even if we manage to get rid of this monster and they are not likely to accept his demise calmly.
1
Voting is the only thing that can save us from the sociopath in the Oval Office. Maybe the wimps on the Left who were too afraid to vote against a strongman in 2016 will gain some courage by this November and help save our democracy. Mr. Blow is right. Trump feeds off his ever-multiplying lies and only grows stronger. Voting has never been more important in America.
The real reason that Trump supporters stick with him is quite simple: he gives them license to hate. To hate brown people, to hate the "elite," to hate the media (except hate-spewing Fox News) to hate women, to hate those who they feel have kept them downtrodden. Trump's campaign started with hate and will end with hate. This will likely not end well.
3
His ultimate goal is that of Invulnerable Autocrat. That was revealed early on with the "I can walk down Fifth Av and shoot someone....." statement. So, Founding Fathers, this is what we've become. It's the political version of WestWorld.
1
America has crossed a moral bridge. We are in a era where belief outweighs facts. I believe that the same "christians" who blindly follow the con jobs from their gazillionaire preachers are the core of those who choose Trumpiness alternative reality over their lyin' eyes and ears.
History will not look fondly back upon this period in our democratic republic. How do we get this evil genie back in the lamp?
1
I started reading this article but now I feel ill.
I am not numb, just the opposite.
I am so sick of Trump that I can hardly read the news anymore.
Sorry, could not finish your noteworthy report.
When will we stop this demonic threat to humanity?
Mr. Blow said it best. We are hostage to Trump, a neutered Congress and Trump’s voters. We have but one solution, VOTE for Democrats in November.
1
Yesterday Europe and the US announced a trade deal that among other things increases US exports of LNG to Europe. This will reduce Russian energy leverage over Europe and is definitely not Putin-friendly. Combined with the recent announcement of increased military aid to Ukraine, the entire ‘Trump is a Putin stooge narrative’ continues to blow up in the face of the Resistance.
Rather than address these developments Mr. Blow writes about...an affair in 2006 and the alleged lies Trump has told regarding the affair? A perfect encapsulation of the ‘Republicans are from Mars, Democrats are from Venus’ world we are in. Rather than focus on actual policies, Democrats/progressives/NYT columnists are obsessed with trivial gotcha items of little actual import. Does anyone really think Trump is a person who did not cheat on his wife and who does not lie about these affairs? No. But why do the same folks who ignored Obama’s lies about ‘like your doctor, keep your doctor’ and Hillary’s ‘Benghazi attacks were because of a video’ lies, lies that were of real political importance, obsess over Trump’s untruths about sex?
Yes, the midterms are only a little over 100 days away. But if you think the Cohen tapes, or Stormy Daniels, are your keys to victory you are mistaken.
1
Mr. Trump has most assuredly enriched us all in our use of the LOO, the Lexicon of Opprobrium.
Today, Mr. Blow gives us 'gasconade'. I had to look that one up.
Bringing joy to lexicographers cannot counter the heartache Mr. Trump has and will continue to bring to the rest of us.
2
Has anything changed since the day Trump rigged the election that got him to the White House? Have legions of old white Trump supporters that can no longer afford their insulin or oxygen died off? My guess is that we are stuck with Trump for the next six years. And possibly Ivanka after that. And then it will take decades to repair the damage that Trump and his evil children and cabinet have wreaked upon us.
That is very easy to understand. He plays to a backward audience of sheep who are not interested in any critical thinking. Just their "rage against the machine real or imagined though the propaganda of Rupert Murdoch Fox machine.
1
So disappointed in those veterans at his latest rally (and that's all these speeches are) cheering and applauding his "1984" line about not believing what you see, and then booing and jeering the press corp. Just what the heck do these veterans think they fought for years ago? The only redeeming quality of this rally was the crowd size was small with lots of empty seats. Maybe people are waking up to the Loser-in-Chief.
2
I never thought I would see the New York Times talk about killing a President of the United States. We have to tone this rhetoric down. Mr. Blow knows what the reaction to a headline like that about Barack Obama would have been. Are we losing our minds?
1
@Billy Glad Can't you just change the headline, please?
Reading that facts don't matter to millions...millions of Americans sounds dramatic ...but unfortunately is true ! To watch Jeff Sessions laughing at chanting of Lock Her Up was ridiculous! To not know what a President is discussing in private with the leader of a country who helped sway voting in a US election should have everyone up in arms! The Republicans as a whole have not been looking out for the country and have acted as the administrations enablers!However..though millions do not seem to want to look at the truth..the MAJORITY of Americans DO and they number in the millions also! The outcry of the majority has really been successful at whittling away the false narrative of the administration! Who can forget Kellyanne Conway and her ALTERNATIVE FACTS comment! Where is she now? Paul Manafort??...Where is he now? Ivanka? Jared? Eric and Don?? Bannon?...the list goes on! All gone due to the TRUTH being reported and the majority speaking out! The majority needs to keep up the pressure and persevering.Voting is important but who will we rally around to vote for? Shouldn''t we know who these people are already ? Hillary even with her issues was someone who could get enough support to win and would have if not for the Electoral College! But who will we vote for in the midterms and in the next Presidential election?? Who will have enough of the popular vote to overtake the millions of us who refuse to see the light of TRUTH. Millions of us voted for our current mess!
Yes, Trump is emboldened by what he's able to get away with.
But the question is whether what doesn't kill US makes US stronger... because we'll need all our fortitude to relieve him of his office (or at least outlast him), use every election cycle to replace his enablers/accomplices with higher caliber individuals, and reform our national institutions and reputation that he/they are doing their damnedest to shred to tatters.
2
Over the past six decades or so many white Americans made the leap of faith that the R party is the only chance for the preservation of white culture and political dominance. Once that leap is made, any and all lies, propaganda, dirty tricks and the like become permissible in the service of that end. Democrats foolishly neglected to maintain their advocacy for blue collar whites, intensifying irrational white fears of losing their place. At some point these phenomena became ingrained in much of white culture. “Custom will reconcile people to any atrocity, and fashion will drive them to acquire any custom.” George Bernard Shaw
1
The saddest part of this column: Trump is telling the veterans that they shouldn't believe what is said in the media, that what they are seeing and reading is not what's really happening. The veterans responded:
"There was applause and cheering from the crowd".
What is happening to our country? Hopefully we can turn this around in 103 days in the mid-term election.
All too true. The offenses mount and we are left with "luck" to save us. I wonder if we should protest the press officer and Bill Shine as well. Sean Spicer is getting confrontations on his lies as his book is reviewed.
PS When I check recommend, the number goes down rather than up. Is this just mine computer--or are we reducing the number when are trying to add to it.
Orwell knew what was possible... and it’s happening.
During the 2012 Presidential campaign, I was working a campaign rally for President Obama. My job was to help folks get on the shuttle buses that would take them over to the event site. As I walked the long line in the hot Florida sun, I encountered a somewhat elderly gentlemen wearing a Viet Nam Vet cap, standing on a crutch, with a prosthetic leg. I gently asked him if he would like to move to the front of the line, and board more quickly. He smiled and said, "No thanks. I'm fine. I just want to hear the President." His grace and dignity brought tears to my eyes.
I thought about him on Tuesday. I looked at his fellow vets and wondered what made them see the world so differently-how did they justify their own sacrifices, their own honor and dignity to stand and cheer for a man who contradicts everything they fought to defend. If I could get a clear answer-beyond the stock "They are old and afraid of seeing their America vanish." it might go a long way in helping me understand. By cheering for this man, they disavow real American heroes such as John McCain. Are they simply cheering because they feel it is their duty as veterans to support our leaders? I wish I could truly understand, because quite honestly I'm just weary and heartsick.
1
Want the real truth? Once outside the northeast (and probably California), the enlightened areas of America, where people are paying attention thanks to the NYT and the WaPo among too few others, most folks just don't care. Even many good guys aren't following the day-to-day lies. Why should they? Everything seems OK on the surface.
Frankly, I have grave concerns about November's elections: first, that they will be hacked; second, that voting by non-Republicans will be suppressed; third, that Russia and American oligarchs will buy the elections and the media promoting outrageous lies that are plausible to those who want to believe them; and fourth, that we get stuck with the same or worse Republican domination of all branches of government. Once thud entrenched, Trump declares himself some kind of dictator and suspends elections "for our own good," followed by an emerging police state, crackdowns on freedom of the press and speech, jailing dissidents, etc. Re-read "1984"; the year is off and the book's technology is not current, but the entire Trump script is there.
Well-meaning people suggest not making comparisons to Hitler and other totalitarians and ask us to "play clean," but the comparisons are all too real and we must stop fighting this political holocaust with a pocketknife. Bob Mueller needs to indict now, and we must overcome Trumpism with every possible weapon we have, including real truth. Otherwise....? Tragically, you know the answer.
1
After the dispatching of CNN's Collins our free press needs to remain free by pounding the useless Sarah Sanders with questions that demand honest responses. Under her control, press conferences are reduced Sanders dressing down the questioners or flat-out lying about Trump's lying. The solution: get off your behind and vote in this year's mid-terms. If Trump runs in 2020 he will keep the red states but the critical ones are the purples that he hijacked from Hillary. Voting him out is the only way to stanch the pathological lying.
1
"The midterm elections are only a little more than 100 days away."
Praise the lord and pass the RESISTANCE!
Trump is like every other grifter and braggart. They all fall down, it's just a matter of time.
it remains to be seen if we are going to have to remove all the "Chicken Little" books from the shelves
Silver lining: trump is an old. His cult of personality has a limited lifespan and there is nobody in the wings who can lie like he does and get away with it. It is a mystery that psychologists and political scientists will, no doubt, puzzle over for centuries to come. This is hopefully the last hurrah of a morally corrupt party. After trump I am hoping that the GOP will wither and die and that the Democratic Party will split in two to fill the void.
...
Sitting on his gilded porcelain thrones as he does, the old solipsistic man pushes hard to lay golden dingleberries. Some day his obsequious enablers will inhale and smell reality.
May be his "lies" are not lies after all? May it is the other side that lies and contort the reality?
1
Why didn’t President Obama defend America from Russian interference in the 2016 election ?
1
I am a Navy veteran, Fire Control Technician (Gunnery) 3rd ['65-'69] and a retired federal prosecuting attorney (1995-2010). Those of us who served in the Navy, also served with Marines on occasion. We all knew the "Semper Fi's" and the "Oooorrraaahhhs'" that were spoken frequently in our presence.
That said,it comforts me to know that Robert Mueller, [Captain, USMC (Vietnam '68-'69) awarded Bronze Star and Purple Heart] the one individual who can, and will bring down Trump and his minions, surely ascribes to the Marine creed, "Once a Marine always a Marine", even to this day.
So I repeat a comment I posted a few months on Charles column, to wit: Donald Trump and his cadre of Republican traitors, including, John " I couldn't see myself dying in a rice paddy in Southeast Asia" Bolton, by continually attacking the Special Prosecutor, chose the wrong person to mess with. They surely will rue the day they decided to do so. And that day, thank God, is coming right soon. I salute you Captain Mueller, "Semper Fi"!
4
George Orwell, "1984": "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
Donald J. Trump: "What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening.”
3
Remember WMD? Remember the good old days when representatives of the Bush Administration went to the UN and told us to see things that weren’t there, that didn’t exist?
Now we are told to “Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.”
The believers may as well be told the cliff in front of us is a mirage.
Lemmings.
2
When the Main Stream Media reports that there is an election on November 6, 2018, the typical Trump supporter just might not believe them.
Charles, all I can say is thank you from the bottom of my heart. And keep it up. You rock.
1
Mr Blow: the people of Puerto Rico might dispute your assertion that there has been no "catastrophe" ....
3
The Ministry of Truth is fully established. The Ministry of Love will be next.
We’ll soon find out if the president is a citizen like the rest of us or if he is above the law.
If the latter is true, then we are living in a dictatorship.
Give me liberty, or give me death. ( that’s not original, of course )
While it is true that Donald Trump is lying more now than a year ago, it may not be because he is emboldened. He may be more desperate.
Special counsel Robert Mueller closes in, Mr. Trump’s hare-brained tariffs backfire, the clumsy bandage on the Helsinki fiasco with Vladimir Putin falls off, and the payouts for sexual adventures are confirmed.
Donald Trump’s ridiculous lies are flying through the air so fast because the absurd man dares not stop.
The enthusiasm at the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City is not quite as disheartening as it sounds. There was so little interest in seeing President Trump, the rally venue was changed from the stadium to a smaller arena. Then, at the last minute, they moved from the main area to a smaller room – which ended up being a half-filled gathering of a few old men.
Americans are sick of Donald Trump in greater numbers, if you read the polls carefully, and Republicans on Capitol Hill know it. Mr. Trump feels things slipping away.
We should persist and resist.
2
Facts don't matter to Mr Blow, as he refuses to believe that his candidate didn't win the 2016 election. He also refuses to believe that his candidate was more horrific as a person and a politician than the man who got elected POTUS. As long as Mr Blow keeps holding his hands over his ears and keeps crying "la la la la I CAN'T HEAR YOU" he's going to be in denial. Probably forever.
Mr Blow's candidate was a consummate liar, politician, and generally intent on destroying the freedoms of Americans - witness her declaration that she would foster an Amendment to break the back of the First Amendment. Because censorship is very important to Mr Blow and his candidate. Speaking freely is a danger to them both, if what's being spoken disagrees with their Anointed Vision. This is the core value of Fascism, which Mr Blow and his candidate share.
3
He can lie all he wants to. People still love him and will vote for him again. His name is truly a household name thanks to the constant articles in the NYT. All you will remember on voting day is Donald Trump, no matter who runs against him.
Growing up within a large Jewish community my parents had friends who were Nazi Holocaust survivors.
When asked them if what happened in Germany could really happen here they replied, “It could happen anywhere.”
I didn’t believe it. Until now.
2
What we have, folks, is a cult. A brainwashed collection of followers who are eating up the lies. Conditioned by the right wing noise machine - via radio (Rush et al) and Faux TV (a whole 24 hours of deplorable lies from deplorable people), they are gone - lost - never to be recovered. Sadly, they are taking us all down with them.
1
Trump’s now a Messiah for his followers. They will follow him anywhere. Their joy is in following and scoffing at the unbelievers. Fact, reason, common sense are nothing compared to faith and fellowship.
Besides followers, Trump has the GOP and the GOP Congress, scoundrels enabling Trump’s actions. Not out of belief, but because their billionaire backers see advantage in Trump to promote their take-over.
It’s a wicked consortium. The Dems have to point this out to those as yet not stuck in the tar baby of Trump. With clarity and conviction.
1
Thank you NYT for staying strong. My heart breaks at the daily assaults on our free press and our constitution. Our vote is the only thing that's will stop this.
I don't understand how people can continue to put so much faith in November elections. Even it there is a Democratic landslide the current republican power brokers can refuse to seat the new Democrats. They did that successfully with Obama's Supreme Court pick and there were no repercussions. This administration has continued to stick it's thumb in the eye of all normal political standards. Why would that suddenly change in November? Trump and his gang are already setting it up to claim hacking and illegitimacy of election results. Face it people, we lost our democracy when we let Republicans install electronic voting with no independent verification. It's too late now.
1
Now one commenter is saying that even if Trump and the Republicans get voted out, they will claim elections were rigged and take to the streets in protest.
Maybe they will. Is everybody else, millions of people. just going to sit back and let them?
No. It is not. The outrage that Trump elicits has everything to with Trump.
It’s not about the Democrats and power. Not at all.
It’s about a pathological liar, with none of the necessary knowledge, experience or manners to be a politician, becoming a dangerously misguided POTUS and an unethical, spineless Republican Congress failing to protect the nation and the world from him.
3
Isn't it time to admit that Mr. Trump has made a
mockery of the presidential office and impeach this
man before he destroys our country.
3
This is an unsettling time for the country with truth on the line.I have lived long enough to see it happen before and eventually These truth deniers were discredited or gave up.During the McCarthy era I was in college and we were told that our professors were communists and many were black listed.We knew this was not the truth and continued to trust our professors and revile McCarthy.During the Vietnam Nam War Americans were misled about the battles there and our chance of victory.Again, thousands of us did not believe it and demonstrated.I believe the truth will win!
Stockholm syndrome: the more he tortures the nation the more his supporters love him. Some day he will get in trouble, and then his supporters will stop at nothing to defend him.
Trump is a walking, talking exemplar of moral hazard.
1
All I can think of is propaganda. Repeating the same lies, adding new ones to support the old ones, sending our millions of lies/tweets every day. Telling people what to think, and now how to think.
The US now has a Minister of Propaganda just like Germany in WWII, Russia, China, Iraq, etc. And he is supported by Fox, GOP and many others.
This a word & mind crisis, like the physical destruction of the disastrous fires in California, the oil spills in the Gulf, the hurricanes in Puerto Rico -- impossible not to watch with an aftermath as devastating and long-lasting.
1
I am at a total loss to understand how the VFW came to invite Trump to speak.
Didn't Trump trash McCain, a a great war hero? I am a life long Democrat, but have always respected and honored McCain for his service to the US.
Who is in control of VFW? I certainly believe we should honor every one of its members who served our country. But I imagine my father, who was wounded 4 times in combat serving this country during WWII, turning over in his grave at the thought of any of these veterans having any respect for Trump, who has publicly mocked their bravery.
4
Tonight's PBS NewsHour featured a segment on how often Trump lies and included an interview w Peter Wehner who several times called trump a "Pathological" liar. Wehner worked in the White House for Reagan and both Bushes and now serves in a think tank (name I can't remember). It is amazing and awesome to see such a Republican and Evangelical attack Trump's lies so blatantly. Watch!
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/whats-happened-to-the-truth-under-pres...
2
Charles, your use of the phrase, "What doesn’t kill him makes him stronger" caused me to consider this literally instead of figuratively.
So what would it take to actually accomplish this?
Well, short of the election of a new Senator Brutus, the peaceful way certain to get rid of Emperor Trump, IMHO, would be for 'we the American people' to loudly, publicly, continually, 'in the streets', but totally Non-violently fire a "Shout (not shot) heard round the world" to re-ignite a completion of our 242 year history of the "Revolution Against Empire" [Justin du Rivage] --- which book, might rightly be called "the most dangerous book in America" --- as Dan Ellesberg was called when he, and Cronkite, called-out an earlier secret war of Empire.
However, we might actually have the possibility of a new Senator from Maine (replacing A. King) in the person of 32 years old Zak Ringelstein, who, like future 28 year old Congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, backed by Bernie, a Democratic socialist, and is a brave and out-spoken peaceful patriot for 'we the people' as opposed to just another dual-Vichy party 'poser' of a Senator kneeling to Caesar Trumpus.
Zak had enough interest in my protest sign:
DUMP
EMPEROR
TRUMP
(and on the reverse-side, under an image of 'our' American flag)
"We can't be an EMPIRE"
to take one and consider its message, which Bernie only gave me a thumbs-up on in '16, but stopped short of expanding his slogan to "Political Revolution against EMPIRE".
1
Let's hope he will not succeed in lying the nation into a war. If he succeeds the media across the board will declare him finally "Presidential" and that would take care of his re-election. Iran is looking like the best target for autumn 2020. In which case the election would be finished before any lies may be conclusively exposed.
President's come and go, in the big picture trump will soon be gone. What really scares me is what will become of his supporters and Fox news? Will they continue to say everything is fake news and undermine a new government, will the government ever function again, is America finished, is it the next Egypt or Turkey?
1
Truth be told Mr. Blow! Unprecedented times require press voices to be heard louder, thanks for helping us through these difficult times!
2
Trump gives new meaning to the phrase 'lying in state' usually reserved for funerals, but now we can use it to refer to his daily speech.
1
Mr. Blow, you write this, as if, liberals and the MSM are the purveyors, nay, the guardians of truth. DJT may not assemble his facts with Tetris like precision, but, he gets most of it right.
Speaking for myself, he is not afraid to go against the premise of the views of liberals. That is exactly why he bested 15 other Republicans. And, he calls out the MSM. The MSM lies, but not giant whoppers that are easy to recognize. The MSM lies by omission.
How's that economy doing? What do the polls show, in fly over country? Have any of the elite know-it-alls offered an explanation as to why we have such large trade deficits with other countries, especially since we are the worlds leading economy?
A lie by omission, is still a lie.
I think we're all being far too civilized, far too good natured about this. Maybe it's because we've had it so good for so long? Unlike some of our European cousins, we have no real experience with authoritarianism. Republicans are derelict in their duties, so the only checks on this madness is voting, or violence. If voters do not put a check on Trump in November, America will deserve its fate.
3
Many pundits still seem to believe that votes will be fairly and accurately counted in Nov. They won't.
7
Come off it; dont believe what you see and hear with your own eyes and ears? Where did than unctous command come from?
Whoever believes such rubbish is beyond hope of regaining powers of discernment. Shame, but why waste time speculating or analysing why 40% of the nation is harebrained and daft? Anyone who goes to his rallies requires some certification - I mean why put yourself through the ordeal, how dumb, when there are far more entertaining events on the calendar?
Much as there remains a significant cohort unequivocal in their support, the fact remains 60% cannot abide him. This is positive and can only solidify as more is revealed about this charlatan.
Just think, 1 tape down and 11 left to go. To Trump's family members, each day must be a humiliation from hell as the name gets mired in more mud.
4
@Third Day
I don't think anyone in the family is any better than he. Just look at their comments and the record.
Trump is riding the economic waves set in motion by eight years of steadying by Obama, giddy from tax cuts for the wealthy, awash in dark money and corporate stock buy-backs. It’s a crack high, with all bills coming due later, deficits be damned, reality suspended. Pity the farmers? They voted for a pyromaniac and thought they wouldn’t be burned!
9
Our current political situation is like a very bad marriage: two parties outraged at the other; discussion quickly turns into shouting or worse.
It's I'm-right,-you're-wrong on a national scale. Worse, one side has weaponized itself to settle the dispute the old-fashioned way.
Therefore, I see no sane exit ramp on this highway to hell except a friendly divorce.
(The idea, a democratic republic, was basically sound. Contentious human nature, however, just won't play nice for very long.)
1
Take out the trash, America. Vote.
7
I've developed a bad habit. I check the 538 blog's ratings almost daily and among all adults Trump's ratings are trending down, but among "likely voters" it's beginning to decline as well.
Trump's supporters are saying they're still supporting him but Trump has neglected the base while enabling ultra-conservatives, right-wing nationalists, and energy companies. The masochism is beginning to have an impact on them so how much pain can they take? Trump likes to dish out pain, he's been bullied all his life and now he's paying it back. Little people will be crushed first, and in the middle, and in the end as well.
Republicans are panicking so they're going after the Deputy Attorney General, CNN, and anybody that dares to stand up to them. If a Bald Eagle pooped on Trump's limo they'd serve it up too. The Democrats are no longer the sole owners of a circular firing squad. Republicans shoot anything that moves including their own.
It'll get worse with this long hot summer of climate change ahead of us.
4
We are witnessing an epic failure of leadership on the part of the Republicans. They certainly recognize the long term damage of this assault on the truth. And yet, having created this slow motion disaster, they seem content to let it play out as long as possible. In return for what? Massive unpaid for tax cuts that shift more wealth to the wealthiest among us? A judiciary fully in compliance with Federalist Society dogma? An unregulated economy that will insure the Koch brothers and the Mercers can accumulate even more wealth?
Where are the REAL patriots?
2
I am not numb. Every day I realize this is NOT NORMAL. I remain shocked and outraged. I follow the Russia scandal closely. I read The List so I know the NOT NORMAL stuff this administration is doing. I will NEVER accept Donald Trumpass as my president. He is an illegitimate president. I support journalism. I am mad as hell and will never, ever vote for another Republican in my life.
12
@Diane Graves
I support journalism, too! Good one!
1
Trump lies to his base. And, they applaud and go home thinking he's done something swell, just a hell of a guy doing one hell of a job. How do they know this? Because Trump tells them so himself.
5
What the Trump Era has solidified for me, between his followers and the House Republican lackeys, is that we have got to bring back American Civics to schools.
4
I am not sure where I read this, or heard it, or when or where i was, or what I was doing, whatever, but the American experience would be murdered from within. It is true.
1
Ok. Truth is dead. The polls that show increasing support among Republicans for flies in the face of anything logical. Either most Republicans have lost their minds (unless ther are rich and immoral and cynical to the extreme) - so I ask: if truth is dead, why do we believe the polls? One of the remaining institutions that for some reason we "trust". Why? When something just does not make any sense at all, maybe it should be questioned. Should we be scrutinizing the method, the veracity, the meddling of these polls?
I don't think any of Trumps vociferous supporters will jump ship unless they are hit in their pocketbooks. They don't care that he has been unfaithful to Melania on a number of occasions. They don't care even if he used campaign funds to pay them off. They don't care if he insults our European allies, while at the same time embracing Putin over his own intelligence agencies.
They might care about his policies that affect their bank accounts or investments. With his pig headed tariff stance, our farmers are feeling the brunt, and now have to be coaxed to stay on his ship with 12 billion in subsidies (thanks, U.S. taxpayers). What will happen to the other businesses in this country? We going to subsidize them too?
OK, Trump has this master plan to MAGA, ensure we get the best "deal", and give us all the impression that we have been the victims until he came to office.
Our trade agreements and alliances have not been perfect, but they were functional. When he is all done experimenting, will it be an improvement? Here is a good example of how the country suffers while he is learning on the job.
1
It is a cult. His followers need to believe him or they face the lies they told to themselves. That is just too painful to admit.
Of course there are the selfish folks who just want more for themselves and don't care a wink what happens to everyone else as long as they get theirs.
I have a conservative relative who posts stuff that's just plain wrong (like a horrible article incorrectly attributed to late Charles Krauthammer). I pointed out the error (with a link to the original article), and somehow that is an attack. A voting PSA which has members from both parties and famous folks is somehow partisan because it has "Hollywood elites".
Is the American ego that fragile and weak now?
My more conservative friends and family used to complain ad nauseam how Obama and the Democrats had inserted themselves into our lives and ruined America. Well Trump is like a toothache or tinnitus that just will not go away. Obama wasn't my favorite President, but I honestly wasn't worried he was going ruin our great country. I can't remotely say that about Trump. I want my life back.
4
The picture alone sends shivers down my spine. Both of my parents were VFW and American Legion members. If they could see those vets clapping for Draft Dodging Donnie, they'd move to Canada.
6
My favorite is the nonsensical statement diehard Trump voters offer, when asked if they would change anything he's doing.
'Tweet less often' is the standard response.
What I hear in those statements, is not a complaint about 'frequency', but this: 'He should stop tweeting altogether because they make him sound childish and stupid and it makes it difficult to rationalize my continuing support for him'.
Not one of them would be complaining about the 'frequency' of his tweets, if they offered pearls of wisdom in the Benjamin Franklin tradition.
1
He is very close to uttering another Orwellian line: "Some people are more equal than others." When his followers wake up, it will have been too late for them and their grandchildren!
Think!
1
He is there god. They will have nothing else before them. Not another god. Not another person. Not common sense. Not facts. Not what they hear. Not what they see. Nothing. They could lose their job, their house, their health, their lives and their dying words would be,"I worship you."
@ggallo: HaHa. There? Their? I meant to say 'theirn't' not 'there.' I'm sure that should more than clear this up. (I actually proof-read my posts. Apparently, for no reason.)
Mr. Blow's concern is understandable. Certainly, a majority of the country is worried.
But I take a certain dark comfort in the following:
"[D]on’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news,” [Trump told the crowd], “Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.”
To me, this is a dying gasp.
This kind of divorce from reality is not sustainable.
Americans won't go for this.
What was it Lincoln famously said?
"You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of them all the time."
Seems to me that Trump is wildly over-playing his hand.
And when he's lost 'em, they ain't comin' back.
1
If things go entirely for the GOP after the November elections, it's over people. Folks either get off their butt and vote for common sense, reason, and truth or the country is lost. No exaggeration.
4
Seeing those Vets in Missouri cheer on a president who exhorts them to reject outright anything they see or read or hear about him which is negative, makes one wonder what they felt they were fighting to protect during their military service. With his lying, bullying, graft, and treasonous behavior with our enemy Putin, surely Donald Trump represents the absolute antithesis of the “democratic values” they were willing to sacrifice for in the past.
Of course when, with his customary eloquence, Trump tells his audience that “the truth” is not just “fake news” but “crap” and they shout approval, I find that I actually do have difficulty believing my own eyes and ears.
6
Mr. Blow writes, '“Just stick with us, don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news,”' before telling them, '“Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.”' There was applause and cheering from the crowd."
The crowd is what is making Trump stronger, not his lies. They know that if he's breathing, he's lying. But they don't care. Millions of people have coalesced around Trump in a manner best described in Ionesco's "Rhinoceros". Essentially, they are all now part of the Cult of Trump. And it is very much a cult. Trump has succeeded in forming this cult, by his ability to take advantage of the fact that nearly half this nation wants to be willfully deceived. They accept every lie he tells them, knowing full well their falsehood.
Cult leaders make extravagant promises to their members, having some emotional appeal. This is Trump in spades. He has told his followers that they are the "true" Americans, and that as whites, America is their country. He knows that appealing to their racism is a winning strategy. But without the support of his rabid white base, Trump would be just another two-bit TV shill. He is where he is because of all of them.
At this point, Trump is only limited by his imagination and the laws of physics, because of tens of millions of white racists who live in this country (I refuse to call them Americans). If this sounds like 1930's Germany, it should. Because this is exactly where we're headed.
13
“Just stick with us, don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news ... Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.”
So I guess the whole "have you no sense of decency" thing isn't going to fly this time around?
5
Trump is a text book example of he effect of cognitive dissonance on behavior.. Most Trump,supporters know he lies, is basically a dishonest con man who makes dubious promises. But, on the other hand, he expresses affinity with their anxieties and prejudices. On the one hand he is morally corrupt, but in the other he projects he man strength of purpose and action.
Having made an emotional and intellectual investment in Trump by casting their vote for him, they rationalize that their action of voting was the right decision, even in the face of his apparent unfitness for office.
It is not their belief in Trump that peaks their loyaly, but their reluctance to admit their own erroneous choice. They focus on what they perceive as the “strengths “they relied upon in voting for Trump, and ignore the ever growing body of evidence that he should have remained the baron of Trump Tower. Thus, people laid off due to his tariffs have proclaimed they are still loyal Trump supporters, because “he is a smart businessman who knows what he is doing.”
And they are right :he knew what he was doing when he conned their vote.
1
Everything that Trump touches, turns to dust. Flynn, Manafort, Page and Cohen can tell you this, in some detail. Unfortunately, the US voters did not recognize what a fraud Trump is. The damage to the US can never be repaired, since confidence in the country is gone. Sad, as Trump would put it.
2
>
About a healthy 45% of Americans are either crazy, nasty, greedy, selfish, stupid or inclined to the autocrat. DJT makes proof unnecessary. This number in fixed as to the downward but it can grow.
Social science shows 1 in 4 people are inclined toward the autocrat. Another 0.89 in 4 is ok with giving the autocrat a spin...let's throw the chips in the air and see how they fall...
Hence, even when DJT is gone, they'll still be with us. No, they're not dying off; well they're dying, but they're replaced by new old people. Remember our current blue hairs were the sixties children. What happened to that?
My point is that we are stuck with 45% of these people, and worse, there is someone out there in waiting that will take advantage of them who is much better at rightwing politics than DJT.
Here is how it will play out: Dems will probably have control of the WH and Congress by 2020. By then the economy will be destroyed and as always the Dems will have to fix it by cutting or taxes either way they're be tossed out in 2022 and another DJT will come into power in 2024 or 28. Rinse and repeat.
It's Freud's repetition compulsion in action
"Darwinian theory tells us that an interest in truth is not needed for survival or reproduction. More often it is a disadvantage."
John N. Gray
5
I have this theory that the republican powers that be will trash Trump when and if he is no longer any value to them. Right now they are getting all that they desire with no opposition. Tax cuts for the rich? Got it. Decrease union power? Got it. Reduced deregulation? Got it. Supreme Court? Got it. And so it goes. But Trump is not all there and the republicans know it. Trump lives in a world of delusions that he is a very unique and special person and anything hostile to his fantasy is attacked or changed. The fact is he is quite ignorant. His base seems to have bought into his fantasy world and as the saying goes, no one is blinder then he who refuses to see. Hopefully, we will survive Trumpism, honestly and morality will be restored and social scientist will enlighten us to what happened so we can stop it in the future.
Voting? Our voting mechanism has been compromised by corporations. Who knows what happens once the ballot is scanned?
We have always worn rose-colored glasses and sold a bill of goods that we are exceptional. We were for a while but our provicialism got the better of us.
The very people we fought during WW Il have surpassed us with their standard of living and education. They are not selfish and mean-spirited because the have embraced Democratic Socialism and have a safety net. We, on the other hand, are languishing in a chaotic state worried about our well-being while corporation and big business get wefare.
The evil of the GOP will eventually completely overwhelm us if we do not wake up and shed our provicialism.
2
POTUS is winning. The collusion hoax is all but debunked. The Supreme Court is now Trump's Court for generations to come. Corporations are receiving huge tax breaks. (They are people too. Look it up.) North Korea is on its knees. Nobel Prize coming. Iran to follow. Isis dead. Economy booming. Red wave coming. All this success is tiresome. Stay tuned.
1
The media created Donald Trump and the media is complicit in sustaining him. The endless scandal du jour style of reporting does not hurt him. Trump supporters simply ignore it.
To give them some credit, the sins of Donald Trump (greed, vindictiveness, ignorance, lust, vanity, incompetence and dishonesty) are not exactly rare among our political class. Faced with a new outrage, the loyal supporter can simply say to himself--or to his Facebook friends or Twitter followers--What about…? Here he or she simply Inserts the name of predecessor or political rival (preferably a Clinton, a couple, who between them, could be said to embody all of The Donald's many faults)
About the only political sin which Trump can't be accused of is indecision or self-doubt and this brings us to another reason why his supporters remain loyal. In politics, especially among conservatives, it is better to be seen as strong and wrong than as weak and right. Obama, rightly or wrongly, was seen by many as weak. In a dangerous world you want the biggest, baddest guy around on your side--even if he could be seen by critics as deferential to an even worse guy.
By breathlessly reporting each and every Trump tweet, tantrum and tirade as if this was the magic bullet that would finally bring him down the media immunizes him and worse yet takes attention away from the real harm that his administration is doing.
2
Sober assessment of the ongoing destructive nature of our brutus ignoramus in chief. Even if the democrats take the House and/or Senate, the economic and moral damage perpetrated is done already...even if the real impact may not be seen for a while (remember the huge corporation's gift in tax cuts, at a time when business and employment were doing well, a totally unnecessary future burden in debt). By the time we realize the carnage, Trump will be long gone, counting the money he was able to steal from us. And not entirely without fault of our own, for allowing it.
1
This country didn’t throw the British out via the ballot box. It took a revolution to do so. Are we going to use the ballot box to remove the disease called Donald Trump and his corrupt, cheating minions? Let’s hope an election can do the job, but with each passing day, those prospects are looking dimmer and dimmer.
We, as a country, are facing a monumental decision, do we hope for the best, or do we ramp it up and physically and literally throw the bums out that are slowly strangling the country?
This country does not belong to just the rich white people who hide behind a false god. We all have a vested interest in preserving this country for all of us, not just a select few.
The US has never been perfect, but it is now turning into something far worse than what has gone before.
We must decide quickly about what needs to be done to save the country or there isn’t going to be anything left to save.
1
Once again, elections have consequences. It amuses me that we continue to be surprised by Trump’s lies as he confidently showed us his inclination to lie from the get go. Almost 63 million people voted for him either because they believed his lies or did not care they were being lied to. But many people who knew better decided to sit the election or cast a “protest” vote because Hillary was not progressive enough. Well, here we are reaping the consequences. And the saddest thing is that people who should know better probably will not cast a vote in November and instead will continue to complain about Trump and his lies while Trump supporters will show up at the polls and ensure we still have a Congress that turns a blind eye to Trump’s lies.
The photo accompanying this piece shows veterans enthusiastically supporting Trump - and many veterans and active service people do. This fact illustrates better than anything how willing people are to suspend all values, dececy and alleged principals to support the guy who screams foreigners (aka anyone who doesn't look like you) are all bad and ruining your lives and I will put them in their place so that you can reclaim your rightful place atop society. For that promise - Trump supporters will let him do and say anything. What else could explain how veterans forgive a rich man's son, draft dodger, who demeans and ridicules a war hero like John McCain. These same people vilified Clinton for taking a bona fide deferment and have challenged every other candidate who did not serve (and even those that did like Kerry!). But - for Trump - no problem. Turns out they have no valor after all. And because of that - I know that his base will never abandon him - because they have already abandoned all decency to support him.
2
While I agree with you in your analysis, Mr. Blow, I do wonder why you felt the need to use the obscure word 'gasconade' instead of simply writing 'boasting'? Never mind that 'gasconade' is a long-forgotten ethnic slur against supposedly wily Basque people, but why choose to interrupt the beautifully forceful flow of your main argument with a word that I might venture to say few of us ever encounter once in a decade?
1
Mr. Blow seems not to know the critical context for Trump's claims that he has the power to say what is true and what false. This is the hallmark of the authoritarian despot. George Orwell showed us how it works in 1984. Recently, the holocaust historian Timothy Snyder warned against it in his book On Tyranny, specifically citing Trump.
Trump isn't just irresponsible or narcissistic or corrupt, although he's all those things. He is a clear example of the authoritarian personality. If he can seize the power to say what is and isn't fact, he can place himself above the law, and in doing that make himself into a dictator. There's no mystery about it; this isn't complicated. Putin is his model; it's why he admires Kim Jong Un.
The Constitution empowered congress to stop this sort of thing. But this Republican congress has hopped on board Trump's train to despotism. They are as committed as he is to overthrowing or at least hollowing out the constitutional order, and replacing it with a right-wing authoritarian state. "Don't believe the press, believe me," says Trump, and his supporters cheer.
The majority of us who, like Mr. Blow, despise and reject Trump need to know that this is what we're up against.
4
Close to two years on and Blow is still clueless that Trump never ran as any ones moral template. He was hired by the voters to come to DC and keep shaking the box until the direction of the country changed in a positive way.
2
Trial and error is not the way to run the country or a business. Trump has a horrible track record in business with multiple bankruptcies. It’s more logical to hire someone who actually has a good track record. The majority of US voters recognize that.
Trump's lies are the opiate of his base, but they would not be believed by many without the assistance of a propaganda organ called Fox News. A popular "news outlet" that deliberately airs fake news does far more damage than an unhinged huckster at the microphone of his never-ending campaign rallies.
3
I always knew that Republican moralizing and their professions of being devote Christians were lies that they used to herd their followers into submission. Their actions under Trump's rule has proven beyond a doubt that this is so. I still remember my co-workers almost in tears about how Obama was destroying their children's futures with the mounting federal debt. Now Trump explodes the deficit and you hear nary a whimper. The same applies to honesty, good business sense, morals, fairness local control of politics and getting the government off of our backs. They never meant a word of it and their actions in the Trump era prove that to anyone not a part of their bizarre cult and willing to be objective.
2
I know these columns function primarily as an ongoing therapy session for the #Resistance, but at what point does this kind of exercise become both a) excessive wallowing and b) actually a service to the person you claim to oppose.
We know he lies. We know he discriminates. We know he shatters all conventions of presidential conduct. Why repeat these self-evident things ad infinitum about a ghoulish man whose primary strategy has been to provoke outrage among people like Mr. Blow?
At a certain point, devoting 90% of your column to rehashing things that are already apparent to your readership (and indeed any semi-conscious observer) is counter-productive, especially when the only prescriptive advice comes in a paltry conclusion that reminds people to 'vote'.
And this is the central trouble with the discourse surrounding the #Resistance.
1. It too often fails to offer an affirmative response to Trump that doesn't degenerate into sputtering hyper-ventilation about his bad etiquette.
2. It pretends that American politics was basically healthy prior to 2016.
3. It treats Trump as the fundamental cause of political unrest, rather than a symptom.
2
The bigger they are, the harder they fall — sooner or later.
1
Trump isn't seen as a president; he is seen as a tv star. We tolerate, expect even, the same behaviors from them. Every week the National Enquirer tells us fantastic tales of their affairs and excesses. Who condemns them? Trump is just more of the same, a never-ending sideshow of excess, glitz, and poor taste. While he treats international affairs as a soap opera, his followers look forward to the next episode. Same with his sex life. They aren't expecting gravitas; they are expecting entertainment, and he delivers. He is a perfect reflection of the shallowness of our culture. He doesn't give us Churchill or FDR. They are boring. He is a one-man version of Larry, Moe, and Curly only we are the stooges.
2
Trump supporters, like Trump, whine about their circumstances and place the blame where it should not go. Trump: fake news. Supporters: illegal immigrants, for example. Trump comes to their aid; they come to his! The reason they don't care that he lies is because he's lying for them (or so they think.) If THAT bubble bursts, where will they turn and what will they do?
1
Charles should recognize that most Americans disrust/dislike the media that report these transgressions more than they dislike Trump.
2
@Robert -
Why?
Without a free press there would be no America. The first thing that dictators do is control the media. They work to get people to distrust the media so that when it is controlled or shut down they will cheer them for doing so.
Where would Clark Kent work today?
3
The more we watch this drama unfold, the closer it appears to resemble the era of Joseph McCarty. After the senator's downfall, Roy Cohen--also a mentor for Donald Trump--said:
“I was fully aware of McCarthy’s faults, which were neither few nor minor,” Cohn recalled. “He was impatient, overly aggressive, overly dramatic. He acted on impulse. He tended to sensationalize the evidence he had—in order to draw attention to the rock-bottom seriousness of the situation. He would neglect to do important homework and consequently would, on occasion, make challengeable statements. ...
“He was selling the story of America’s peril,” Cohn recalled. “He knew that he could never hope to convince anybody by delivering a dry, general-accounting-office type of presentation. In consequence, he stepped up circumstances a notch or two..”
These quotes (that almost sound understated now) can be found in Jon Meacham's "The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels ."
What's not to love about a lie? You can avoid unpleasantness. You can blame someone else for your problems. You can feel empowered because the lie makes you feel worthy. You can hide your racism behind a good lie. (i.e. gangs are taking over the U.S.). You can feel that protests are hurting the American way of life. (Even though the American way of life started with protests, i.e. Boston Tea Party). But really, all these reasons for believing a lie really mean that most Trump voters are lying to themselves. And that is worrisome that people in our country cannot even be honest to their own consciousness. (i.e. living in some sort of fantasy). What a failure our morality has become.
2
Trump is an epiphenomenon for the polarization that is taking place today - between the minorities & fringe groups & intellectuals vs. the mainstream America. Nothing is gained by complaining about the man and everything by setting an agenda that speaks to most Americans.
1
Whatever happened to truth, justice, and the American way?
1
The locus of Trump's cult-like support must be clearly circumscribed politically. It is a cancer on the American electorate. I refuse to believe Trumpism is a majority phenomenon.
1
"Republicans bewitched by Donald Trump have devalued the import of truth."
Don't take responsibility away from Trump's supporters. He didn't bewitch them; their sleep of reason produced this monster.
"Republicans bewitched by Donald Trump have devalued the import of truth."
What came first? The supply of lies or the demand to be lied to? Bewitched or Bewitchers?
Republicans first devalued truth, monetized propaganda, and made the word "expert" a pejorative. Reality was hard; lies were comforting.
This witches brew inevitably paved the way for the ridiculous (Hannity) and the dangerous (Trump).
The Republicans base isn't bewitched, they created the Trump presidency to their specifications, rewarding and reenforcing his lies, ignorance, and narcissism by selecting him over 16 other Republicans many of whom were actually sane.
Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and caldron bubble.
This presidency will not end well.
1
"Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants.”
– Alexander Hamilton, The Federalist #1
5
Trump was elected by resorting to demagogy, using gross exaggerations, distortions and outright lies, which were believed by a very gullible and naive segment of the electorate. After the election, he knew that he could lie and that his followers, too intellectually lazy to check the facts, would just eat it up. This not only enabled Trump but encouraged him to just make stuff up. Knowing that he could fool some of the people most of time just encouraged him to use lying as a political strategy. And most Republicans in Congress have been complicit by ignoring their responsibility to assert checks and balances.
3
Facts.Rules nor character matters when your team is in the heat of battle. Trump supporters think he is protecting White Prividge and if he has to break a few heads so be it. The media is quick to say Trump is the master of cultural wars when in reality he stirs the pot of Race War.. Trump is the master of Us and Them politics.Trump supporters know he lies but they could care less.If they believed in Truth Justice and the American Way they would stop selling Hot Dogs and Beer during the playing of the national Anthem at NFL games.If America was truly a color blind society Trump would still be boring the people of New York.
1
Some people are blamers and shamers.Trump blames and shames to try to cover up his outrageous lies. We are too smart for this! We must find ways to get republicans to let go of their loyalty to him and vote out anyone who supports him in the November 2018 election.
Someone once said that a liberal is someone who always tries to look at things from the other guy's point of view, even when he's being mugged. We like to think that everyone has redeeming qualities. Well, its time to realize that some people just don't. Its not only that anyone who can look at this monster of a man and not see him for the morally repulsive traitor that he is has a problem. But its also that Republicans know, down in their souls, what Trump is and what Trump represents, and they are happy with it. They are fine supporting a man who is not only morally bankrupt, but a traitor to his country as well. Taking the House of Representatives in November is only the first step on a long march. We need to take back the Senate, White House and Supreme Court as well. And once we do we need to make sure we put mechanisms in place so that evil like this can't take over the country again. Forgot trying to reach compromise with Trump supporters. They are the enemy.
3
Yes, Trump is offensive and shockingly "unconventional," and the man has said and done things we never thought we'd hear or see from an American president. He's a national disgrace and I do not, for one moment, downplay the damage he has done or will do. But luckily for America, the guy is a vainglorious simpleton, an open book without the Machiavellian guile and political talent that would make him considerably more dangerous.
When Trump misbehaves, he must do it in front of the cameras for all to see. He stumbles and blunders. He rejects the advice of his betters. His instincts are all wrong. Most of the time, he's his own worst enemy. America's salvation may, in fact, be Trump's vanity and incompetence. Simply put, Trump can't play the "great game," as Tyrion Lannister would say.
In my opinion, the George W Bush Administration was much more lethal. President Bush acted the part and listened to his "betters." But the Administration also left broken bodies, shattered minds, and death in its wake while the Fourth Estate slept.
6
@J.T. Wilder Trump isn't the danger. Just as with Bush, the danger lies in the irresponsible behavior of those who know - or should know - better but, for monetary or political reasons, prop up the naked emperor.
5
@J.T. Wilder great comment. i've always thought that what republicans hate most about trump is that he has stripped away then fig leaf of "decency" they were hiding behind.
6
Trump speaks to the Boy Scouts of America, and the organization has to apologize. Trump speaks to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the organization has to apologize. Jeff Sessions does not have the spine to stand before a group of rowdy teenagers and explain that the United States does not lock people up for no good reason. Justice is not predicated on a political slogan.
Trump is corrosive. He is dragging down the nation and our civil society.
The good news is that We the People of the United States can all a halt to this nonsense by putting a check on Trump and on lying sycophantic GOP congress-members.
Give Democrats control of Congress in November.
1
Citizens United stole what ever honesty that was in Washington and enabled a grifter like Trump to come to power. He understood the greed that fuels the GOP.
Reality TV COLLAPSED whatever intelligence most of the population had into complete ignorance. Any 10 minutes of reading would show what a lair Trump is. But the easy way is to just believe . When the country is broke in a few years the liberals will be blamed as Trump spends 700 billion defending against an enemy that spend a few million to topple us. Such is the fate of an uneducated, duped population.
2
Trump should tear down and burn the American flag on TV and denounce any criticism of his action as fake news. His followers would believe him. He should make a speech announcing that he has handed over foreign policy to Putin, which he believes is for the best because that will give him a lot of money. His followers would cheer this initiative as original and a stroke of genius.
Come to think of it, what Trump has done so far is not that different. And Republicans' reactions are precisely as expected. The party is no longer just a right-wing insurgency or a stalking horse of the very rich and corporations. It's also a cult with a mad king-emperor who can do no wrong, especially when he is obviously incompetent, corrupt, and treasonous.
1
And now it is not only Trump and congress that America has to contend with. The job of neutalizing this virus has gotten much much more difficult with the added extra super virus of Vladimir Putin and gang. They have now merged that is clear. The secret meeting was all about the next phase of the merger and more wannabe dictators are waiting to join in the fun. As you say over there in happy land, you ain't seen nothing yet...
We, the people, seem to be divided into the Pro-Trump "cult-followers" (Every breath he takes makes him more divine) and the Anti-Trump "Gob-smacked" (or "permanently jaw-dropped, and paralyzed by his incessant Chutzpah???")
I look forward to reading more articles and discussions about how we might reconnect with our potency and take ownership of our strength and will to fight back rather than active whining: habitually distracting ourselves by raging at the impotent lawmakers who are equally as paralyzed by fear, self-preservation and ignorance.
1
One of the things that gets to me the most is the abject hypocrisy of the Evangelical "Christians." I used to think that although we disagreed, they had a right to their sincerely held beliefs. Now, I think they are the most phony, mean hypocrites on the planet.
These so-called Christians hated President Obama, who was married to his first wife and tried to bring health care to the poor and protect the planet.But they love Trump, a liar with no principles who betrays his family and country. I absolutely despise Trump but he has been enabled by so-called Evangelicals and other fake Christians who obviously never read the ninth commandment about bearing false witness.
8
And what if the Blue Wave doesn't happen? What do we do then?
Intelligent, compassionate citizens must vote in record numbers. They must vote blue and rid the Congress of the pathetic republicans. The House must then begin impeachment proceedings. The Senate must then convict trump. Intelligent, compassionate people must help immigrants find a path to citizenship with their families intact. Intelligent, compassionate people must help the poor, the debt-ridden students, all those that trump has hurt. Intelligent, compassionate people exist and they will win back our country. And trump will be a footnote on the trash heap of history. Vote blue as if your life depended on it, it does.
Trump is a hollow man. He reeks of cowardice, weakness and uncertainty, which is why so much of his being is wrapped up in shoot first and ask questions later.
Cheeseburgers, chocolate cake, Shark Week bingeing and whatever he likes done with a rolled up Forbes are all lifestyle habits generally not conducive to good health or elementary grammar but unlikely to kill him. As close as he gets to anything dangerous is stalking a woman with lethal martial arts skills. When the risk gets real, Trump gets bone spurs.
So, no, he doesn't get stronger because he doesn't take risks that are real, certainly nothing more lethal than choco cake and cheeseburgers.
I can't watch him on cable or listen to him speak without thinking it's the Twilight Zone and Liberace is president.
1
We would be orders of magnitude better off with Liberace.
1
Charles posits, "Having survived so many episodes that would have destroyed another presidency, he has become ever more emboldened in his offenses because he comes to see himself as invincible. What doesn’t kill him makes him stronger."
Why has he survived? What makes him stronger?
The answer: Republicans in Congress and Republicans across America are no longer American.
Admit that truth: Republicans in Congress, Republicans across America have no love of what America has stood for for over 200 years. They give the lie to our values, trample our traditions, spit upon brave patriots who have served and died to preserve America. America is not changing, Republicans have changed America.
America no longer has respectable standing among nations...it is feared as a military and economic bully that suppresses internal democratic elections and threatens other nations...just as Russia has mock elections and threatens its neighbors.
America is no longer grounded in truth, law and order, pursuit of justice, equality of men, the extolling of many, one. Did you ever think flag waving Republicans, ever claiming a monopoly on patriotism, would fight to install and protect a despot in the White House?
America has changed because Republicans are sick with a disloyalty to America, an America that celebrated government of the people, by the people, for the people. Trump is the end-stage of the disease which has infected Republicans who have for decades sought to silence the people.
3
Anyone having a more than a casual grasp of history can easily see the comparisons, and hence the real possibility of dangerous repetition. Many people wondered why, in the 1930s, Hitler was not being reined in. There were opportunities for doing so, but they were either not taken -- thinking the problem would go away -- or were forestalled by peer pressure or threats. America is actually living that time now. That early time, when there is still time to do something to thwart the misery than can all-too quickly arrive (for some it already has). Then it will be too late. And people will wonder of America: Why didn't someone do something when it had the chance. A few seconds of voting every two years does not a democracy make. Hitler was also voted in. Putin is voted in. Democracy has to be preserved each and every day. Preserved to the point of paranoia. Because democracy can be so easily abused under the banner of freedom of speech -- which includes the speech of a pathological liar.
7
The other day, Jeff Sessions laughed along as a group of high school students reprised the "lock her up" chant. I can understand high schoolers doing that. That could've been a teachable moment if Beauregard had taken advantage of it, not unlike what John McCain did the time a woman tried to tell him what an evil Muslim Barack Obama was. Those kids did it because they knew that Beauregard would approve, and he did. He got a good laugh out of it.
That's what came to mind as I read about these veterans cheering their commander-in-chief's disgusting remarks. Do they even comprehend what he is saying? I can understand teenagers eagerly succumbing to group-think, but I would expect better from seasoned veterans - a group that I normally have tremendous respect for.
I hate to say it, but the more unhinged Donald becomes, the less respect I have for anyone who continues to support him. I just can't understand any of this. Words matter.
7
This normalization of falsehood and bragaddocio as an acceptable political/rhetorical device puts a dagger through the heart of democracy, giving pretext for all manner of ideologically driven movements that flourish on lies and perversions of reality.
Just like in Italy, where, after years of the buffoon Berlusconi, the political culture has been destroyed to such an extent that their far-right government is debating how to deal with "the gypsy question". These are scary times for democrats everywhere.
2
I'm sure almost all sane Americans experience the same feeling that I have towards Trump-ANGER. It impacts me daily and I've become more volatile. Some days I wish the worst for Trump and his ship of fools. Today I was yelling at Pompeo and Bolton for lying for him. They used to have my respect but they've become like the other sycophants in his administration, and the cowardly silent Republicans. Where is their patriotism. I keep telling myself that the Democrats will take the House and possibly the Senate. I want revenge for what Trump has done to our democracy. He may think he's Superman , but Mueller has the Kryptonite. I want Trump and the Republicans to go down in flames, so we can take back our country.
4
The caption of the photo reads “Veterans of Foreign Wars in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday. 'What you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening,'”
And the times reports "there was applause and cheering from the crowd."
“So this is how liberty dies . . . with thunderous applause.”
- Padme Amidala,
These are veterans cheering. The scariest thing I have seen. The veterans who have fought against exactly this typo of scenario, where despots lie to their people spreading false information. Where dictators set themselves up as the single source of truth. I am not sure how many WWII veterans are left, but history and their stories were told to others. Newsreels of the time time show our troops fighting to preserve the truth and freedom. It was important. They believed. They could die for it.
And now they applaud its demise.
5
“...we have so far avoided catastrophe.” Stock market near record highs, unemployment at record lows, North Korea dismantling a nuclear facility, no Americans in major combat...yeah, I guess we’re scraping by.
1
Yes, the midterm elections COULD be our salvation, but we have to be wary of the enemy in our midst. Here are several things to watch out for. 1) Putin might order Trump to shut down the government on September 30, using lack of funding for the border wall as his excuse. It's unclear how the elections would be affected, but chaos is certainly possible. 2) Putin, at Trump's urging if a "blue wave" appears inevitable, might hack our nation's electrical grid on election eve. Chaos would possibly be certain. 3) Ironically citing Russian meddling, Trump will invalidate the election results. Don't laugh. If I've considered it, you can bet that our traitor-in-chief has as well. 4) Having assembled an impressive show of force in Washington DC prior to the ominously militaristic Veterans Day parade and wondering aloud just how many divisions Robert Mueller commands, Benedict Donald will pull a "Seven Days in May" gambit and arrest Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis before declaring martial law. 5) If all this fails and a Democratic majority in the House makes impeachment a sure thing, Trump will call on millions of his rabid supporters to grab their AR-15's and march on our capital to oppose the "deep state's" takeover of his government.
Trump is a demented dictator. I hope we can stop him.
What it really proves is a good part of this nation has a true hatred for any kind of change or hint of progressivism. My enemy's enemy is my friend and they are willing to ignore the truth in order to have their con man in place.
2
I wonder if the president has ever read Lincoln's Gettysburg address?
1
@Tom osterman You do????
1
And yet the media keep following him slavishly. Reporting and equivocating endlessly. I'm still waiting to see the headline "President Lies Again!" Or for a reporter to ask him, straight out, why he lies so much. No euphemisms, no cloaked questions, no false equivalence -- "Mr. President, why do you lie so much?"
2
I believe trump is the best that could have happened. He is so off the charts with duplicity, meanness, ignorance that even the most hard hearted are alerted at how astray we are.
We are all aroused and want better. Except for the 32% who are lost because of ignorance, age, greed or racism. But we are the majority and we will prevail.
I have found myself kinder, more humble in response to trump and his minions.
NEVER AGAIN!
Mr.Blow writes that we have yet to experience a real catastrophe under this president. While I could contradict him with just the mention of Puerto Rico's ongoing disaster, I opt instead to mention what this presidency has done to the minds and hearts of the American people in general. We have not been as divided against each other since the Civil War; indeed, families have split apart over Donald Trump, not to mention lifelong friendships. One only has to read the comments on political forums to see the hatred and denigration of civility that flourish with each passing day. While Trump may not have used actual weapons of mass destruction against us, he has created an atmosphere of war in which Americans are pitted against each other and no treaty appears likely to be signed any time soon. Some of us view these times as catastrophic, Charles; everything we believed our nation stood for has been destroyed, our reputation around the world undone, and now we are at each other's throats. The United States have become the Divided States of America and we have never been weaker, or more forlorn.
5
It was a shame to watch all those veterans, many of an age to know better, cheer Trump's lies.
It was heartening, however, that the VFW organization released a statement enthusiastically supporting the free press - specifically naming those outlets that Trump loves to bash - and called them invited guests, admonishing their membership about the boos.
This kind of standing up is the only way Trumps campaign of lies, propaganda and distortion will be overcome.
4
There has been Truth since the universe began, regardless of what human beings say.
Perhaps he is becoming "stronger", but he is simultaneously decaying on the inside.
Having served three combat tours in Vietnam as a Marine officer, and later a tour in Iraq as a DoD contractor, and then a year in Afghanistan as a USAID Field Officer with the Marines, I am baffled by this seeming veterans' adulation of a thoroughly contemptible individual masquerading as our commander-in-chief who neither espouses nor lives the military values of honor, integrity, duty, country, service and sacrifice. It is these types of individuals who we opposed in countries with autocratic heads and who scoffed at the very thought of democracy that would impinge on their dictatorial power. Wake up veterans - this clown cares not a whit for us except to use the military and veterans as sad political props.
7
The real problem is voter participation. If all voters voted, then I think we'd be in a different place. But this is a tall order because in most places and situations your vote doesn't mean much for a variety of reasons. Why get excited about your power to effect change when that power has been diluted?
The other opposite is jiu jitsu. Let the Trump administration do everything it wants the way it wants and suffer the consequencest (which the rest of the US has no choice anyway). See what happened to Bush 2.
Why has the NYTimes not published the oped of Christine Todd WHitman that was published several days ago in the Los Angeles Times "Calling my fellow Republicans: Trump is clearly unfit to remain in office". Finally Ms. Whitman has said I have been waiting to hear, and what we need to hear from millions more Republicans: tell the President to resign. Yes, we can hear it from Democrats as well. But it must come from the sychophants who are enabling him. Tell the President to resign to save our country. Trump must be forced out of office.
2
My mother keeps asking me why he can get away with it? What is wrong with these people? And I just don’t know the answer. The only thing I can think is we’ve become a failed society.
4
There is a long history of Presidents lying to the American people. Worst examples are LBJ lying about Vietnam to involve us deeply in that war, and GW Bush lying about Iraq to get us in that war. On the positive side, at least Trump hasn't lied his way into any war, at the cost of hundreds of thusands of lives and trillions of dollar, as Bush did.
2
Maybe not, but his dismantling of environmental protections and ramping up of the fossil fuel industry will end up killing many more people than Bush Jr. ever dreamed of doing.
1
The mid-term elections? The Russians will hijack them and keep the Republicans in power.
Boldly lying without consequence. Fostered by a television network that acts as Trump TV. As veteran journalist Dan Rather observed, "Facts and the truth are not partisan. They are the bedrock of our democracy."
George Orwell, "1984": "The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."
Donald J. Trump, 2018: "What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening.”
3
I feel it coming. Deep in my bones. The second Civil War is coming. Be ready my fellow patriots. Arm yourselves--and No, words will not be enough. This will be sword against sword. The pens have already be vanquished. When the day comes, don't say you weren't warned. God help us all...
1
My New England Puritan ancestors would be horrified if they could see what their beloved America has become under Trump. Try to imagine how Emerson or Thoreau or Whitman would respond if they had to witness this farce. It makes one want to weep. The only hope I can see for America is Bernie Sanders. But even he can do nothing to reduce the violence, vulgarity, decadence and immorality of today’s America.
3
"Trump is experiencing something of a Superman Syndrome: Having survived so many episodes that would have destroyed another presidency, he has become ever more emboldened in his offenses because he comes to see himself as invincible. What doesn’t kill him makes him stronger."
He's always seen himself as "invincible".
The problem is that people are enthusiastically buying into his con. They are in awe of his complete and utter disregard of political norms, social customs and especially the rule of law, and how he can never be brought to heel or made to apologize for anything. They receive a vicarious thrill from it, like rooting for a sports team that wins the championship, but with Trump they get to "win" every day as he vanquishes his opponents with more lies.
At this point, it's become almost impossible to break the spell he has on his followers, because they are not really looking for tangible economic or societal benefits from his presidency. As a result, he pays no political price for anything he does, even things that tangibly hurt them.
They are in it for the entertainment value and the thrill they get by being on the "winning side" every day.
He's a predator that preys on human weakness and is a master at exploiting it.
2
Trump feels cornered and is desperate to suppress the truth about himself and his opaque business operations. Hence the increase in frequency of his demonstrable lies.
Anyone viewing the Trump disaster through the prism of rationality can see that Putin appears to have something on Trump. It's certainly no stretch to deduce that it involves shady financing of Trump's businesses.
Truth: Trump's greatest enemy.
1
"Trump is experiencing something of a Superman Syndrome: Having survived so many episodes that would have destroyed another presidency, he has become ever more emboldened in his offenses because he comes to see himself as invincible. What doesn’t kill him makes him stronger."
Charles, I prefer a different analogy:
Trump is a rocket ship launched towards outer space, and as his fuel tanks drop off the vessel keeps rising, giving the false impression of sustainability. But he has no plan and no control over his destiny. So he is either going to end up wandering aimlessly in space or come crashing back down to Earth. Most of us gladly accept either scenario.
6
Lies may make our wannabe Ubermensch stronger, but the dirty facts like increased air pollution from climate-warming greenhouse gas from fossil fuels will most definitely kill us. The lies may be toxic, but curtailing health care for millions, pulling out of the Paris climate accord, opening our national parks to the despoliation of mining and drilling are fatal. Donald Trump is not only a cancer on our democracy, but a real cancer-causing agent to our very survival.
3
@Maurice Gatien
No, not “maybe.” No. The media is not wrong. Nor is the media guilty of a “constant, unremitting attack” on the president.
The media is factually reporting what the POTUS says and tweets and does day to day. These news stories may seem like attacks because of factors over which the press has no control.
For example, Trump’s chronic lying. Journalistically, these reinventions of reality by the chief executive must be noted by professional reporters. And D.T. lies so incredibly often! But it’s him telling the lies, not the media.
Again and again, Trump has made decisions from a position of ignorance. His impromptu speeches, announcing whatever half-baked plan he pulled out of his gut earlier in the day, clearly reveal this. Trump doesn’t do his homework. This is news which the general public needs to know, not an attack on the poor, unprepared president.
Donald Trump is doing a remarkably poor job of being the POTUS, probably the worst of anyone who’s ever held the office. This unfortunate truth has a profound effect on the legitimate press coverage of him and his administration. Their job is to honestly tell the story of an ongoing political train wreck. It’s not personal.
Oh. The fact that the media didn’t predict his election has no bearing on any of this.
2
This piece is about Trump's lying. The top comment compares Trump's infidelity to Obama's hypothetical infidelity (?). The comment is much-liked and is largely irrelevant. It's purpose is not to address lies but to comment on perceived double standards. Public dialogue has suffered immensely in connection with Trump's utter abandonment of the truth. Rather than address issues, readers are looking for reinforcement of their moral outrage. People talk in emotions much more than facts. The pubic has dumbed itself down, and that may be the worst effect of Trump's infidelity to the truth.
1
It is a cult in which the truth is optional.
America loves heroes. Its hero in the White House is a mirage who created a cult and its millions of members follow him blindly.
If Trump goes to a rally and says he will drink magic orange juice with a substance that could endanger his life and asks who wants to participate in the ritual, his followers will go ahead and drink it. That applies to most cabinet members, most of the GOP Leaders, including Majority Leader McConnell. Speaker Ryan would point out the "textbook" reckessness of such orange juice invitation and then, he would drink it.
Imagine farmers and their families in upstate NY, 1789. What did they think of "a more perfect union..." of "all men are created equal?" Imagine an olive grower in ancient Greece. How did he engage in the debate on the trial of Socrates? Did he agree with the verdict? Did he even know there was a trial? Clearly, the achievements of history passed a lot of people by, and speaking of precedent is kinda tricky. As for the same Greek olive grower, what did he think of Ionic versus Doric columns?
1
"The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command." Chilling quote straight from Orwell's book 1984. All we can do is Vote and Pray...to God and to St. Orwell for intervention.
2
The mid-terms can poke Trump and the Redhats in the eye and a Democratic Congress may shackle some of his grotesque impulses, but until he is removed from power, the cancer will grow. His unhinged tweet about Iran suggests that he will start a war as a distraction if it will save his hide, even temporarily. He is a clear and present danger, unable to discharge the duties of his office, flagrantly abusing his office for enrichment, and attacking the First Amendment daily. We need to take impeachment seriously now.
1
All true.
Trump is soon to become the poster child for the old saw "Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely." As he keeps getting away with bigger and bigger lies, and does more and more outrageous things without any punishment, he becomes more and more emboldened. Who's going to stop him? His advisors? Nah, he got rid of most of them, and the tiny handful he keeps around know better than to tell him what he doesn't wants to hear. The Republicans? Nah, they've let him get away with, let's see, treason, because the only thing -- the only thing -- they care about is getting re-elected. Trump himself? Not ever, because if you're a certifiable narcissist, you can't stop your behavior, and there is no cure.
Melania, I know U really don't care, but I do. My family and I are using weekends to knock on doors to get out the Democratic vote in force. This strategy really does work -- as shown in Virginia, where we elected a Democratic governor, Lieutenant Governor, and Attorney General, plus many down-ballot candidates, and only lost the majority in the House of Delegates by a single vote (which would have gone the other way except the Republicans were in charge of the recount).
Please everyone, stop wringing your hands about the uneducable 40% of voters who keep supporting Trump. They will never change their minds. All we can do is make a concerted effort to get out the Democratic vote. After all, registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans: 48% vs. 44%.
@ALB "After all, registered Democrats outnumber registered Republicans: 48% vs. 44%."
That's not enough to overcome gerrymandered elections. It's the independents who could make the difference.
Trump's supporters would say "Of course he has to stretch the truth. What are you going to do when so many are against you and don't believe you?"
I'd say how about trying to be truthful from the beginning. That can't diminish support.
Another way to parse the escalation in lying is that he's got a secret wish to be caught.... and controlled from the outside, just like a tantrum-throwing toddler may scream his hate, but secretly wants to be picked up and calmed down.
He has lost ten billion dollars after inheriting 200 million 44 years ago and bankrupted six times thereby. He is nonetheless celebrated by his supporters as a great executive. Enough voters ignored his stunning failure to increase his inherited wealth by only 2 and 1/4 percent per year to put him in charge of their economy. Hopefully those who were his strongest backers among the dying white working class will bankrupt as he has done. Climate change will do the rest. If the left has bones it will fight this plutocrat wannabe to the last blood drop. Ours is a Jeffersonian moment not known since Lincoln undid the insult of slavery.
2
If there isn’t a 180° course correction in November’s election, I will have lost faith in the American people.
If enough voters don’t turn out and turn things around, I will lose hope.
But even without faith, and lacking hope, I won’t retire from the fight. Trump’s gotta go, and his sycophantic toadies with him.
2
Trump supporters don't care if Trump lies or not because he's giving them what they want most, when no-one else is going to give it to them: A ruthless crackdown on illegal immigration, on Muslim immigration, and rollback of the wider Liberal agenda with key SC appointments. And a general thumbing of the nose at anything that smacks of "political correctness". For this they will forgive him anything. And he knows it.
2
@Abraham - until they have to pay triple for their beer at Walmart, and then we'll see the Wrath of the Conned.
2
@Abraham They're not capable of that kind depth of thinking. What they're giving them is simple massaging of their self-pity and hatred and need for scapegoats.
1
What #45 did in Kansas City with veterans, and their acquiescence, was not just a lie; it was a moral debacle. Disgraceful as it is for me to relate, #45 told veterans-- men who had suffered much and faced the realities of war on a grand scale-- NOT to pay attention to or believe in objective reality, but to believe his lies instead, his psychotic version of reality. And the veterans foolishly, heedlessly, ignorantly applauded him. Charles, this was an Orwellian universe Trump was presenting to them, and they bought it, without any question. Before such behavior, of this faux-president and this audience, I am truly ashamed to be a Vietnam combat veteran.
3
@MickNamVet
Why did the vets applaud?
I am a vet. This guy faked bone spurs to avoid service and denigrated John Mc Cain. What are those "vets" in the audience thinking? They should have jeered him off the stage.
A person is either on Team America or Team Putin. The vets who applauded are not on Team America.
2
Good article, Mr. Blow but I disagree with you.
What we are witnessing is already a catastrophe.
It looks like if Trump orderes a massacre on 5th Ave, he wouldn't lose any supporters now.
One possible way is for moderate Republicans to register as third party candidates so the 20% Republican voters who don't support Trump but would not for Democrats can vote to register their disapproval of Trump and his cronies.
1
I’m not numb! And I think most of your readers aren’t either. You’re clearly not. The best thing we can all do now is volunteer for candidates who will fight against this insanity. Candidates up and down the ballot. All offices in this country that are coming up for a vote this November should be aided in whatever way possible to ensure this insanity is squelched. Vote Democrat! Our democracy is at stake!
1
We don’t call them The Deplorables for nothing. The good news is that in a new poll, 58% of voters disapprove of Dangerous Donald’s performance in office, and that percentage is growing, not shrinking. Also, let’s remember that while 88% of “Republicans” approve of Trump, they actually represent only about 25% of the electorate. So there is hope, even in these very dark days.
Charles, what are you doing except preaching to the choir week after week after week?
When are you going to start focusing on what the Democrats need to do to win the midterms? We get Trump. He’s a disaster. And his supporters think he’s great. But what do we about it? Wringing your hands weekly for over 52 weeks now does nothing.
1
Dear "blue wave" voting eligible citizens of the United States of America. I am reading a lot of concern about whether we can control our future and the future of our country at the ballot box.
Voting and working as one team is the only recourse we have!
If you didn't vote in your state's primary this year, you "must" determine your voting eligibility tomorrow. Do not wait until election day. If you do, you could be in for a big surprise.
Don't let your teammates down!
1
Trump is like that cartoon character whose head swivels 360 degrees around on his shoulders. I cannot bear to listen to him talk and lie. I am especially astonished at the depth of resentment towards others that Trump’s supporters use as an excuse to accept his betraying every Biblical value that they hold dear. No understanding and no shame from either Trump or his supporters.
1
Every day under president Trump, we are living on the edge of catastrophe. Yes, president Trump is empowered and adored by his base of ignorant loyalists, and despised by the rest of us. Trump's reality is cult-think; his G.O.P. moral posturing is vomitrocious. The American people need the courage of Henry V from Shakespeare's play of 1564: " ...in peace there's nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility..." When the blast of Trump's lies "blow in our ears, then we must take the action of the tiger". His constant lies galvanize his ferocious followers. We can only act to remove our lying demagogue of a president by voting in November. Horrific, Charles Blow, that Trump's approval ratings are 88% among his adoring loyalists, and 8% among his opposition. We need to smash the rituals of the Trump cult like pumpkins. Nietzsche was right -- what doesn't kill him makes him stronger. Perilous fights lie ahead. We, who would see our 45th president toppled like the Ozymandias he is, "must imitate the action of the tiger."
1
@Nan Socolow
Dear Nan,
It was recently revealed by the Five-Thirty-Eight political research firm, that one reason for the rise to 88 percent in Republican approvals of Trump is the number of defections from the former Party of Lincoln. With few dissenting Republicans in the party, the higher is so-called approval rating.
The RNC has, for more than 10 years, worked to rid itself of the "moderates" in the party. Through defections, and election losses, moderate Republicans are indeed in very short supply. And those moderate Republicans who remain at their posts in the House and Senate continue to cave to the "leadership" supporting Trump.
Since when lies, bluffing and bluster is considered winning? I guess only in America cuz we like to think of ourselves as truly unique.
I'm convinced that Fox, Sinclair, Clear Channel--all use, and have been using for some time, subliminal suggestion. It's a powerful propaganda tool, and it works, and it would explain why so many citizens of this country believe the most incredible load of baloney over their own eyes and ears.
The last line is the important one. 100 days. No more lies. VOTE, and protect the right to vote.
1
If we don`t see positive results in November then the truth will die. The truth is under attack by trump and his Media. he is threatening reporters regularly and if those of us who can see through the Blind Faith this demi-god instills in others can`t prevail then Blind Faith will rule. The Media`s part in this is complicit in that they won`t hold his feet to the fire. We get the occasional smirk that you give a little boy that is lying, but he is not a little boy that can be dismissed, it isn`t the pilfering of cookies or chocolate cake we`re talking about. he has the power of his pulpit to spew his lies of Blind Faith to those so empty that they will believe him. It is a foul nourishment but empty people will lap it up. Is it because this has become a new and powerful religion, this religion of Blind Faith, that the Media gives it leeway. Are they as afraid of this religion as some Republicans are, to afraid to recognize, face and carry the Truth. If they are then the next election will only be the start of a long battle between the Truth and the followers of Blind Faith.
How bad has the left been to bring us to this point?
That’s the question that needs to be asked
1
"Trump has gone from making 4.9 false claims a day to now making 6.5 a day."
Who says American productivity is declining?!
1
Best as I can tell, Christian values, for the religious right, anyway, are negotiable.
1
Let me first say that I have yet to find a single instance in which I agree with, or am proud of, a Trump policy. Every day is like a baffling whirlwind of vile nonsense.
That said, the title of this article ("What Doesn't Kill Him Makes Him Stronger") is really over the line, and I'm surprised The Times would publish it. By implication, if one does not want him to get stronger, one must kill him. I fully realize it's a figure of speech, but we're in pretty tense times, and I don't think any self-respecting author should in any way reference "kill[ing] him." We all know how upset we'd be if Sean Hannity had a segment about Obama called, "What Doesn't Kill Him Makes Him Stronger." Let's not sink to that level.
Our media could do a lot to curtail Trump if they had the courage. Too many in the media helped him get elected--they liked covering the chaos and lies on a daily basis. Their bosses liked the increase in their bottom line. Even almost two years into this administration, most media does not hold Trump accountable for his words and actions. I read the rationalizing and excuses daily right here in the New York Times. It is past time for some accurate, honest reporting that makes Trump and his administration accountable for what they do. It is past time to stop covering--in print and on air--rallies that are political and not presidential. Stop giving Trump free airtime for his 2020 re-election campaign. There are many things the media and ordinary Americans can do to deny Trump the attention he craves.
3
This article confirms what I have been telling people for months, The major culprits are the major televisions network shows like CNN and MSNBC. They spend their entire airtime talking about Trump along with the talking heads giving their analysis. This is only free advertising for Trump. In my opinion, their show should have more coverage of the Democratic Party — positive stories of what they plan for the future of the United States. However, it seems the bottom line is what really counts and 24/7 coverage of Trump’s tweets and erratic behaviour attracts viewers.
My recommendation is that they should state that if you want to read Trump’s daily twitter rants, go to our website. We are going to cover the important news of the day.
23
"Trump may be bad for the country, but he's great for our ratings"
-Les Moonves, CEO of CBS
82
@EdwardYou comment suggests that it is the role of the press to scheme and prop up one party over another. It isn't. It's job is to report and to speak truth to power, and the press is actually doing that more now than it has in twenty years. The only good thing to come out of the Trump Cult era, in fact, is that we are seeing real journalism again, esp. in the electronic media (written press has always been good, i.e.: NYT, WSJ). Corporate America and the GOP have been deliberately dumbing Americans down with their fluff "news", i.e.: the Today Show type of nonsense which are really vehicles for selling products with a few "awwwwww" stories thrown in about a child who called 911 and saved his mother, or some such nonsense. The press acted as a stenographer for the Bush Admin. leading up to the Iraq war, aside from McClatchy. Trump has re-awoken the press in America, which is one huge irony.
3
@Stos Thomas Is that what life is about in television? Now, that truly is sad.
500 days into this, Charles is astonished to stumble upon the ancient truth, "If you set out to kill the emperor, be sure to kill the emperor.". The transcendental 'truth' here, plainly apparent to most Americans, is not that Progressives have misread history, but rather that they have failed in what they have attempted. Progressives have defeated themselves; this column is a eulogy for a dying ideology. The world 100 years from now will be a far harder place. Eurocentric Enlightenment liberal democracy is on an irreversible decline.
@Charles Becker
Oh yes, that darn Eurocentric Enlightenment that our Founding Fathers were educated in.
Methinks that they would call Trumpism pre-Enlightenment.
@Sarah,
Of course it is. But this strident nationalism, spread far and wide is hardly the creation of Trump (Orbin, LaPen, AfD and Brexit happened long before Trump, no matter how much we might want to give him credit). We have become fractious, self-focused, identity-driven, but ultimately too weak to sustain that Eurocentric Enlightment liberal democracy (with Jefferson all but plagiarizing Locke). We have come to think that we are as good as our grandparents and our parents, and we are not, because they knew the price to be paid to maintain our system.
Time to be afraid, be very afraid and then get mad and then vote and then help someone else vote. The time is now. He has them mesmerized. They are at the place where they need to believe him because they are in so deep. We must vote and save our country.
3
The Republican castratos populating the halls of Capitol Hill were largely in place before Trump was elected. They also lie to their constituents but, until Trump rose to power at least, did so on a much smaller stage. Trump dragged them into the middle ring of the circus and has whipped them into trained animal act.
The result is what we have now that passes for American governance: a winner grab all at all costs, and especially the cost of believing lies over facts, truth, common sense and basic morality.
5
I fear that Americans have become so inured to untruths, dissembling, and debauchery among our political class that nothing surprises them. At the same time, there is an increasing sense that no amount of disapprobation will have any effect, and that efforts to object become a waste of what amounts to increasingly sapped emotional energy.
In short, Trump is wearing down roughly half of the country, who see their efforts to rein in his reign as wasted. Unless and until his core supporters and Republican backers tire of his routine, or some sort of incontrovertible smoking gun is uncovered that offends the sensibilities of even his most strident acolytes, we are probably doomed to continue taking it, while our confidence in government is even more greatly shaken than it already is. If that happens, we might as well kiss democracy as we know it goodbye.
Fair elections, Bill of Rights, Constitutionally-protected guarantees, transparency, decency and morality? It's been nice knowing you. Do svidaniya.
3
Trump is joint reality TV experiment with Fox News. Trump will crash and burn when Fox News turns against him. And that will happen when Fox's viewership (and advertising revenue) can be increased by attacking him instead of supporting him. That moment will come. It will be like the film "Le Roi de Coeur" when all the inmates go back to the asylum and lock themselves in again.
Unfortunately, of the majority who disapprove of him, insufficient numbers will actually stir themselves to vote.
1
The antecedents of Trump's misinformation marathons were apparent in the Republican diatribes against the Obama administration in particular and liberals in general for eight years. Their relentless attacks were not reality-based; they were calculated stepping stones for their return to political power. Their reticence now about challenging Trump's lies is merely a continuation of the fictions they were hawking for eight years prior to Trump. Which is to say that Trump has become the personification of a lying culture that permeates the Republican Party.
3
All true, Mr. Blow, but there is another part to this toxic stew of lies, and it is Fox News. Yes, Trump lies incessantly, and it is staggering to watch 40% continue to support him while a supine Republican Congress does nothing, but there is an ecosystem of lies here, and Fox News is the propaganda machine that continues to amplify those lies so that his supporters are sold on the idea that facts presented on "mainstream media" are portrayed as the "fake news" lies.
I think we have enough historical evidence to realize that lies are usually amplified and injected into the populace through TV--just see what Putin has done with TV in Russia--and it's clear that Fox News is playing that role in the US. And to top it all off, it's even profitable for Fox News to do this! I envision the Trump supporters as Mildred Montay in Fahrenheit 451 watching The Family. Fox and Friends, anyone?
4
The foundation of Trump's political support is racism. What used to keep the "faithful" firmly behind Republicans has changed to overt racism. For some reason this disgusting component to Trump's political support is neither addressed and/or confronted by the media. Why is that NY Times?
Until the media starts confronting racism head on and national leaders in both parties firmly condemn it, racism will continue to form the foundation of the Republican party. In the 1960's it became very unpopular to be a racist because our national leaders repeatedly condemned it. It is past time that we renew our national commitment against racism in all of its forms, including condemning Trump and the Republican's for continuing to exploit it in order to seize and remain in power.
4
Don't count on the midterms changing anything. DJT and his ilk have clearly established that they don't have any issues with subverting the integrity of elections - even if a foreign country is involved in tampering with our ballots. You can break out all the stories you want on November 6th about Russia or trolls or bots or flat-out voter suppression - but the results will be in, and we will continue to have a GOP majority in both the House and the Senate.
1
The best way to break the spell he has over so many otherwise sensible people would be for Mr. Blow and other MSM critics to start praising him. Yes, there are a few things he says and does that are fact-based and at least hold the possibility of doing some good. If he is channeling the hatred of all things liberal and PC that his supporters harbor, what would they do if PC liberals started batting on their team? I'm not saying change your principles, but change your glasses. Nobody is all wrong all the time. If you must note his mistakes and misstatements (aka lies), say something like, "It's to be expected that president with no government experience would ...." or "While I am sure he had the best of intentions ..." Trump himself draws power from his critics, so if you sometimes agree with him or praise him, you cut off some of his negative energy. Clearly, what you and your colleagues are doing, Mr. Blow, isn't working. Try a different approach.
Trump asks, “What kind of a lawyer would tape his client?”
The kind of lawyer who happens to know THIS client really, really well. One who happens to know all the lies his client has told. One who knows about all the nefarious schemes his client has run in the past (remember the university, the casinos with inpaid suppliers and so on). One who knows the various people and institutions he has defrauded. One who knows who all had to be paid off in the past. A lawyer who knows that his client has no moral standards and will stoop to anything to win.
3
@Sarah
If I may add, Sarah, not only is Michael Cohen privy to all of Trump's lies, business fraud, tax fraud and "fixes" with porn stars and Playboy bunnies, he also knows he could never trust Trump. Keeping the evidence on tape, computers and in his file cabinets, was Cohen's insurance against going to the slammer for his client.
A cult's existence is based on its members' unquestionable loyalty and obedience to its leader. The members are fooled into believing that the loyalty is a two-way street. They believe that Trump is the embodiment of the truth, is the only one who speaks the truth, and that he would never do anything that wasn't in the best interest of the group. Trump also plays the persecuted victim. That only strengthens the cult because being under attack is a unifying force. .
2
We will continue our moral and intellectual decline until we can go no lower and then if there is anything left we can begin to try to recover
1
Excellent glimpse of the abyss, deserves the widest circulation.
2
Sadly, I would guess a good percentage of his fan base are living vicariously, applauding his audacity and don't care about his politics.
5
Only a hundred days until mid-terms? Trump is the three year old who gets behind the wheel of a bus. As I lsee him careening down the road, it isn't reassuring to hear someone tell mel not to worry because there's only a few gallons in the tank.
2
I agree that most other public officials would have been undone by the lies and hyperbole. I disagree with 'this is a first.'
Much of America's myths and stories are based on lies and hyperbole, from the thinking and treatment of and about Native Americans, enslaved Africans, European immigrants in the 18th and 19th centuries, interned Japanese to current Mexicans, Central Americans, Muslims and other peoples of color.
If America is to recover, then perhaps, like Brian Stevenson is doing with the Museum in Montgomery, we must go back and tell the truth, not in bits and parts, but the whole truth.
3
Yet another misdirected essay: it attacks Trump, not the people who empower him. We have a name for people who hate immigrants, we call them racists. We have a name for people who hate LGBTQ's, we call them homophobes. We have a name for those who denigrate women, we call them misogynists. I have noticed that those three behavioral types usually occur in the same person; obviously we need a name for a person who is all three. Alas, we have one (as Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant roll over in their graves): Republican. Trump didn't create these people, they created Trump; pre-Trump they kept (relatively) quiet in their enclaves, now in an act of mutual empowerment they have become full-throated in their hatreds. To emasculate them one should not try to fight them head on, they're much better at belligerence than liberals, who tend to be of a more pensive nature. To remove them from power one needs to stimulate all the liberals, both leftists and centrists, to join forces on November 6 and vote for sensibility and humanity, in stead of the hatreds espoused by the Republican side.
5
This ends with Trump either "President for Life" or in prison. I think Trump knows this, but I am nor sure most of the country or the country's pundits understand that those or the stakes; and, more importantly, that Trump is aware those are the stakes. Once one understands that Trump knows this, his behavior makes perfect sense. Reality and the rule of law are his mortal enemy. He wins or dies. He cannot survive truth, and truth cannot survive him.
4
Trump must have been brought up on that old joke about the wife who comes home and finds her husband in bed with another woman; she screams at him to get that woman out of her bed, and the guy says "What woman?"
I am not entirely sure that Trump even knows he lied. The business he was in often accepts prevarication as a norm.I feel the greater danger is the number of people who are willing to believe him, and we have parsed his lied daily, making them routine rather than outrageous. I truly fear that overall, we have accepted the state of our nation. I hope I am wrong.
1
Trump's lies are very entertaining here in Europe. People already roar with laughter when I only mention his name. BTW, his relatives in the beautiful village of Kallstadt, in Rhenania-Palatinate, don't want to hear from him and fear a possible visit of him. The mayor of Kallstadt already was musing that a Trump visit would be unfavorable for tourism.
His bragging and his lies don't meet the standard in this part of Germany where people are open and friendly. As in all wine growing regions human relations are excellent, tolerance and equality, thanks to the French occupation of 1796 to 1814, are installed and there is no aversion against refugees and migrants.
Trump should take a lesson.
4
On Cohen....
the media seems to want to pit him against Trump.
ie, he'll flip.
Is it not possible that the Feds and District of NY DON'T NEED Cohen to flip? Is it not possible they may think they have enough evidence to put away many, many people?
2
The horror, the horror. Mr. Blow, it’s hard to read your words and know people I used to like, often loved, and typically respected are in the cultish horde you speak of. As far as the elections, with the lack of intervention on scale to thwart the pootin assault, we have reason to worry on scale. Couple that with predictable voter suppression, gerrymandering and the way trump will twist the notion of election rigging and you have a recipe for violence, not just chaos and confusion at the polls. One small note of joy is that trump had to call off, probably not just delay, pootin visiting him in WH chambers. That would I dare say have brought millions into the streets. Not to be too dramatic here but trust is now a useless notion. It is no longer trust but verify at the polls, it’s just verify. Citizens need to get off the sofa and run to the precint and do their civic duty.The need for a paper trail screams out in PA and other states where the vote count is threatened, and yet we hear very little about the electronic voting machines’ capacity to flip votes and mess up election night coverage precisely because that problem usually isn’t a big deal until election night. Press are caught in a bind, accused of conspiracy theories if they cover that issue and reluctant to write about rigging because trump has so effectively co-opted the term. The horror, the horror.
"We are all trapped, for the time being, held hostage by an empowered president, a self-neutered Congress, and a cultish horde of Trump voters."
We are trapped. This modern reality TV shtick resembles an odd version of Groundhog Day, waking to up to something that is familiar, a sort of rerun that is not quite right. We see one idiotic tweet after another. We see a wide swath of the population wanting to support almost anything that will irritate another swath of fellow citizens. The dominant congressional leadership promotes this for tax cuts and judiciary appointments, for guns, for the ability to cut social contracts to help those less fortunate--so they can feed their swath.
Those of us fixated on the turmoil contribute to this sense of deja vu, taking in editorials that can no longer pretend to be surprised, putting forward our own comments that try to find another way to express outrage or feign shock. We have silos fueled by mass agitated depression and no way to turn off the stimuli, no pill to dampen the agitation.
The vote does remain the best hope to begin to soothe the ailment. It will not, by itself, be enough. Modern media might not like too much return to calmer days--ratings could suffer. There is not, for the moment, much risk of that. But that might eventually be for the best. The walls of our silos will not disappear with one or two national election cycles. Not without some sort of external catastrophe.
We have a culture of following orders. Our educational system is about as top down as it gets. Business is all about what the boss wants. We worship gods that are directive or tyrannical. Parents control their children till they leave the nest. It is natural to do what you’re told. Most are not rewarded for interpreting, creating or evolving. You don’t get good grades for doing what you want. Good boys and girls do what they’re told. Trump is the boss, he knows what he’s doing, you don’t question the boss. This is not nor ever has been anything but a shell of a democracy, but we need to work on it now!
1
The medium and long term outlook of a country in which a significant minority of its citizens (in this case around 40%) does not care about the truth or is incapable of knowing the truth is very poor. Eventually the whole pack of lies collapses and the country will collapse along with the lies.
What is much worse than Trump’s lying is the toleration and/or believing in the lies by a large percentage of the American population.
3
The unthinkable level of Republican support for Trump may not be as extensive as reported. A significant number of Republicans have, at least temporarily, abandoned the party identification. Therefore, the pool of those polled who identify as Republican has diminished. The percentage of that pool is alarming, but the raw numbers are diminished.
Vote!!!!
2
That Trump lies is well established by now. I suspect most of his core supporters are reconciled to the fact that he lies but don't care too much so long as he keeps doing at least some of what he promised to do for them.
However, Trump is a reflection of a much bigger issue. Most of the established institutions in society may also be accused of not telling the truth or obfuscating the truth when it serves their purpose. A few recent examples to illustrate. Intelligence Agencies/Govt (Iraq WMD), Volkswagen (emissions), Catholic Church (abuse) Banks (GFC), Advertising Industry (products) and Defense (extent of civilian casualties in the Middle East & Afghanistan as collateral damage). These instances are widely known because they have caused enormous loss. It seems the "truth" does come out sooner than it may have in the past due to alternate media platforms and the likes of Wikileaks so now we know sooner when we are lied to. Of course the mainstream media needs to be added to the list both in terms of how opinion is presented as factual news and more insidiously through what is chosen not to be reported on.
On the whole the public expect to be lied to or be spin doctored to regularly from multiple sources. Trump has merely added to our regular environment of untruths a stream of almost daily lies via the Presidential platform. This may help to explain that those of us who still care do so because we don't like what Trump represents overall not just the fact he lies.
1
I am working hard to get my Democratic Senator Tester re-elected. He needs some Republican votes to get re-elected. I talk to people who voted for Trump and watch Fox News but will vote for Tester because he helps veterans and helps protect public lands and tries hard to represent all Montanans. He relies on human contacts, to huge rallies.
Trump is worse than we could eve have
1
We should not feel too special in this recycled Orwellian era of War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Ignorance is Strength. Orwell coined these oxymorons in 1949 and acknowledged that every political system has played fast and loose with facts in order to obtain or maintain power.
Since this nation's founding, we have been subject to the conjunction of manipulative falsehoods with political aspiration. Andrew Jackson's supporters accused John Quincy Adams of procuring women for Czar Alexander I when Adams served as US Ambassador to St. Petersburg, which by all scholarly accounts appears to have been a bold-faced lie. Nonetheless, it was one that enough voting public was inclined to accept; Jackson won. And his actual presidency was no exemplar of Truth is Power.
We are now going through one more chapter of the American story when truth is simply too inconvenient to inform political consent.
Moreover, It is naive to presume that the mid-terms are going to be won through some epiphanic hunger for truth by the voting public in 2018. They will be won by whichever candidate addresses the issues that matter to the public most. Whether those issues are addressed through facts or lies will be incidental to whatever a working majority choses to believe.
1
As you wrote, Trump is the Republican Party, and because of your antique constitution, gerrymandering, the concentration of liberals in urban areas and the shocking general ignorance of the people they have a structural advantage.
Moreover, the opposition Democratic Party acts like an actual political party, which is to say that there are differences in policy and interests. In the Alice-through-the-looking glass political world of the US this means that the majority of voters are reduced to minority status.
I guess my point is that yes, by all means vote, but know that it will be a delaying action only, and that come November you will still be on the crazy train bound for disaster.
2
"Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.'
What is also true is that Trump and the Republican cabinet reflect what is touted to the public.
1
I sure miss the good old days of 2008 t0 2016. Back in those days , I could live my life without worrying what my government was doing to do to set my life on fire. Since January 21, 2017 , it has been trump intruding in my life. No more, who knows, maybe he will get a second term, maybe he will go down, I am tired of this gameshow host playing president
5
Tariffs will destroy the remaining family farms in a slow motion train wreck. Trump will benefit from the low prices that the current liquidation of inventory will bring before the mid terms. But, the foreclosure rate will jump dramatically next year. The heartland is going to get a rude awakening. Input prices rise slowly, but they too will ensure that we are left with stagflation in the wake. I saw the best lawn sign earlier this week. It simply said: "President for Sale: Call Putin."
3
Don't give up hope Charles. The more he rises the harder he will fall. Mueller is smarter and just as set on winning this thing. If he cannot do so there is yet another solution. Good is the seed not evil. Good is what wins. It always does.
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@Stephen C. Rose
There is little historical evidence for your assertion that good always wins. I am sorry to say that this is wishful thinking. I share your hopes for Mr. Mueller and his team, however I am not at all sure of the outcome.
16
@seattle expat
As Bob Dylan noted in a little noted song, "Death is not the end." Not entirely unsubstantiated either. I think wishful thinking is essential to the formation of reality. That is also provable. Even in TED talks.
@Stephen C. Rose I love your attitude but if good always wins how did we get 45? Good is great but rolling up our sleeves and getting off the pity pot we been on since 2016 and voting is better. Evil never just get tired of being evil and go away.
2
Because Trump has so skillfully managed to identify totally with his base, they now view *any* criticism of him, even to correct a factual misstatement, as a personal attack on themselves. No wonder he is thriving while lying!
David Brooks nailed it in his recent column -- it is time for the democrats to develop their own powerful narrative that connects with the lives of the 60 percent that are not part of Trump's base.
25
Sadly the Democrats have been unable to develop a powerful narrative for decades.
1
@KP
Going back to Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, there WAS a narrative for the economy, opportunity, jobs, the environment, foreign policy and more.
I think the problem is that a realistic narrative about the diverse and complicated issues we face can never be as pat and easily digestible as the neat but empty sound bites that defined the Trump campaign. I'm not saying you're wrong, but just observing that the fervid support of many Americans might be more easily obtained through artful storytelling rather than through honesty and practicality about policy. The Democrats, I sense, are not so extremely devoted to political gamesmanship as the Republicans and so are more inclined to hew to the sloppy, uncertain but true and truly well-intentioned story.
On the other hand, there's evidence that Democrats are not blind to the need for political pragmatism as opposed to policy pragmatism: They do understand that money has to be raised, in huge amounts, in order to get into office and have a chance to do well for all Americans. So maybe they can extend that political pragmatism to their storytelling too. The key is to pivot from politics to policy once in office. President Obama did that. Now the Republicans have won the political game but, because that's all they know how to do, the country has lost as a result. The Republicans don't know how to govern.
@KP
Yes, KP, a "powerful (and strategic) narrative" which matches and delivers an effective "Competitive Strategy" [Michael Porter, youngest full professor HBS].
The only effective Competitive Strategy against Emperor Trump ('Trumpus Caesar') is to fire a loud, public, sustained, 'in-the-streets', but totally Non-violent "Shout heard round the world" to complete our 242 year completion of the American "Revolution Against Empire" [Justin du Rivage's 'most dangerous book in America'].
And as my double-sided protest sign shouts-out this short and effective 'strategic message':
DUMP
EMPEROR
TRUMP
"We can't be an Empire"
1
After 50 years of planning and implementing a complete takeover of the country, I doubt The Heritage Foundation ever thought they would find a candidate and president so maleable as to make the transition to total and complete power so easy. When Trump defeated their favorite 16 candidates in the 2016 primaries, they may have had an epiphany of fear when the Access Hollywood tape came out.
Then the GOP powers-that-be saw Trump deftly dodge and weave, deflecting all evidence by tweeting out some conspiracy theory designed to rile up his base, the millions of voters devoid of any shred of critical thinking skills. He saw a target audience operating from long-held fear and loathing.
So the more he lies, the more they cheer.
A friend traveling through Australia during and after the 2016 election, encountered questions from the Aussies such as, "What are you people thinking?" "What has happened to Americans?"
Now we know.
27
@David Ohman Sadly, the same seeds of White Nationalism, exist, perhaps dormant for now, in Australia and Canada.
1
It's so deeply troubling. I worry for the future of this country.
19
It was the recent declaration of a disinformation war that blew me away. Certainly, people recognize disinformation when they hear it, right? Apparently not. A lie is anti-truth. Disinformation is both a lie and anti-reality. “I did not cut down that cherry tree,” is a lie if the truth is I did cut down the tree. “The cherry tree cut itself down,” is both a lie and disinformation. Recognizing disinformation does not take a college degree, just common sense. The president telling his audience what they read and see is not what is happening is disinformation. The recent alteration of the White House official transcripts and video of the Helsinki press conference is disinformation. Secretary of State Pompeo’s performance at the Senate hearing yesterday was heavy on the pepper of disinformation. Sec. Pompeo’s audience of one may have liked his performance. I found it unprofessional, defensive, and with purposeful attempts to alter reality, with a lot of out-of-context, anti-reality, historical revisionist blaming President Obama for the problems Trump has to fix. None of this is necessary if the administration is working in good faith. Historical disinformation wars have not always been successful but some that were led to oppressive, genocidal authoritarian governments. The light of truth and reality eventually find the cracks through which to shine. With such knowledge, such campaigns should be easily recognized and easily dismissed.
6
Mr. Blow, while this is not based on fact, there is a feeling that we are coming to the end of this long troubled chapter in our history, where we nearly gave our country away.
It has never occurred to this American to read about Trump in a magazine article or an inflammatory best-seller because I find him boring. The lesson I have learned is how a dullard can cause such havoc.
Even if you are the last man standing, keep reminding us to stay awake and on the alert. Many thanks.
10