Donald Trump once claimed:
“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s, like, incredible.”
Fifth Avenue is the street in New York where he lived at Trump Tower.
That claim was never put to the test, but something close to it has: as president he has been sunk in the Russiagate scandal for the past six months and, to date, the 35% or so who voted for him because they believed in him (and not as the lesser of two evils) have stuck with him the whole way: his job approval rating has yet to sink below 35%.
How he, his people and Fox News seem to do it:
- Say you never did it. Your voters will want to believe that and will give you the benefit of the doubt all the way. Otherwise they will have to see what a poor judge of character they are. Cognitive dissonance – it works! They want to be morally blind. You must make that as easy as possible for them.
- Make the press the enemy – by calling them “fake news”, “very dishonest”, etc. That way your voters will tend to discount anything bad they say about you. Nearly all Republicans still trust Trump over, say, CNN.
- Gaslight – tell barefaced lies so that people become unsure of their own judgement.
- Deflect – by pointing out (or even making up) crimes and misdeeds by political opponents, especially those your base voted against (Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton).
- Make it about the leaks – you did not break any laws but the leakers certainly did! This is another good deflection.
- Admit as little as possible – even though it means the story will be kept alive by leaks and you will have to keep changing your story. You have already trained your base to dismiss leaks as fake news. And they will not want to see your changing story as proof of lying. But they will remember what you have admitted to. For that reason:
- Suffer selective collective amnesia – have all your top people accidentally forget the very same set of facts. This will be hugely suspicious to most people, but not to your base, which will remain wilfully obtuse.
- Punish loyalty – by blurting out the truth the day after your friends lie for you. Do this even though you need all the loyalty you can get to prevent leaks!
- Obstruct justice – by firing the person in charge of the investigation. Then boast about it to your suspected partners in crime! To those who object:
- Point out you did not break any laws – even if you have to interpret the law in a narrow or questionable way. You need to maintain the image of innocence.
- Say there is no smoking gun – until there is a smoking gun, in which case:
- Say everyone does it. After spending months of saying that it was all a lie made up to make you look bad, just act like it is no big deal!
– Abagond, 2017.
See also:
- cognitive dissonance
- moral blindness
- wilfully obtuse
- gaslighting
- thief-thief technique – what most deflections boil down to.
- Russiagate
- Fox News
- CNN
- fake news
- Guide to Trump
- White Evangelical Protestants – the lion’s share of that 35%
540
“Punish loyalty – by blurting out the truth the day after your friends lie for you. Do this even though you need all the loyalty you can get to prevent leaks!” Specifically, what are you referring to?
“Obstruct justice – by firing the person in charge of the investigation. Then boast about it to your suspected partners in crime!” Firing Comey was obstruction of justice? How?
“To those who object:
Point out you did not break any laws – even if you have to interpret the law in a narrow or questionable way. You need to maintain the image of innocence.” As Clinton and anyone accused of something does? Isn’t that self preservation?
“Say there is no smoking gun – until there is a smoking gun, in which case:
Say everyone does it. After spending months of saying that it was all a lie made up to make you look bad, just act like it is no big deal!”
If you are referring to the Trump jr. emails, it would have been helpful to insert that fact between “smoking gun” and “in which case:” as follows:
“-until there is a smoking gun, such as the Trump jr. emails, in which case:…” thereby, leaving no doubt what you’re referring to.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I see no difference in the 35% who are with Trump to those who are either anti or pro Obama and Clinton on this site.
People tend to hold to their beliefs no matter what the facts seem to show!
When and if Trump falls, that 35% will continue to believe he has been done in by fake news.
If the healthcare bill takes away their medical benefits, they will find a way to blame the Democrats.
Read the conservative publications for an understanding of the 35%. Look at FOX, Hear Russ, Follow Breitbart News Network.
Fact do not matter in politics!
LikeLiked by 1 person
@ Allen Shaw
“When and if Trump falls, that 35% will continue to believe he has been done in by fake news.
If the healthcare bill takes away their medical benefits, they will find a way to blame the Democrats.”
Perhaps for the first time ever, I totally agree with your analysis.
LikeLike
I have the impression that in the US people not just differ in opinions, but about what the facts are. A scary idea, you can’t reason with somebody who thinks to live in another world.
LikeLike
@Kartoffel Just why do you believe that it is any different anywhere else. The fact that you are unaware of something does not mean it does not happen.
The US is a composite of the entire world and therefore there is a likely chance that all human elements are the same every where.
What may be lacking is opportunity.
I lived in Germany for three years and England for three years and I did not see any difference in the people. Some were rich other poor, some hard headed other easy and every where in between.
I lived in 7 separate state in the US. There are differences, however not anything you are talking about.
I Supervised people from the moment I enter the military forces until three years ago when I came to live with my daughter. I found the same principles applied all through my life with all people both the rich and the poor.
Expect out of Donald Trump and Warren Buffett the same as all billionaire’s, some honest others not so honest. Same for the poor.
The world is going through a traumatic time. Since is is impossible to feel how it was during the days of the Roman Empire or the Egyptian period of pharaoh we do not realize that the people probably acted the same as today.
LikeLiked by 2 people
@ Allen Shaw
In Germany media outlets across the political spectrum report the same things as facts, excluding extreme fringe newspapers and websites. I don’t watch that much TV, but I couldn’t even point to political prefernces among the different networks, just overall they seem to be a bit more to the left than the newspaper mainstream.
Take climate change for example. The German left and right differ significantly in their opinion what should be done about it, but not in the information basis on which their opinion rests. This seems to be notably different in the US. The people on, for example the still mainstream National Review, appear to honestly not think that climate change is real (or man-made).
LikeLiked by 1 person
“I Supervised people from the moment I enter the military forces until three years ago when I came to live with my daughter.”
I figured that you, Shaw, were either a cop or military, based on your rigid belief in “authority”. Thanks for confirming that hunch.
LikeLike
Kartoffel said,
“Take climate change for example. The German left and right differ significantly in their opinion what should be done about it, but not in the information basis on which their opinion rests.”
Maybe Abagond can do a post on global warning.
I belive in climate change but am skeptical in how the government goes about combating it.
In California I voted for the clean air act because the advertising looked like it was going after corperate polluters. Instead gross polluters were “grandfathered”
in or “bought” carbon credits but small businesses like myself came under DOT scrutiny. Suddenly thousands of pieces of working macherery became illegal and their value evaporated within the State. This caused smalled businesses to either go out of business or get bought out by larher corporations.
In the end the laws did little to combat global warming because specialized mechanical equipment is statistically insignificant compared to the millions of cars that exist in the state. Rather it propelled a slide towards corporatism.
LikeLike
@ michaeljonbarker
“In California I voted for the clean air act because the advertising looked like it was going after corperate polluters. Instead gross polluters were “grandfathered”
in or “bought” carbon credits but small businesses like myself came under DOT scrutiny. Suddenly thousands of pieces of working macherery became illegal and their value evaporated within the State. This caused smalled businesses to either go out of business or get bought out by larher corporations.”
Sounds familiar. In Seattle, some groups and the media are making noise about an income tax for city residents. Their rallying cry is “make the millionaires and billionaires pay their fair share”!
I remember that is how the federal government snookered the American people into an income tax swamp in 1911. Prior to that time, the government was financed through tariffs on imported goods.
Now ordinary Americans shoulder the burden of a government that only wants to spend money on war and controlling the lives of taxpayers.
I know if the local media is making noise about an issue, it is because the local business establishment has figured out another way to steal from the citizenry.
Make them pay, indeed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
@Afrofem
If you set at home and just vote it is “the government’.
If you get up go out into the society and participate in the affairs the government is “US”.
There is always going to be and upside and a downside. Those individuals who get stuck making the decisions get the blame while those that sit around doing nothing get to complain.
Support your local representatives they are doing as good as they can and are responding to those that contact them.
The situation did make a change in spite of the automobile problem. The small businesses should have been able to continue and should not have been able to pollute.
If the “gross polluter were put out of business and thousands of people laid off what would you have said then? What was the big picture, did the large grandfathered organizations eventually make changes?
By the way do you remember 1911 or did you read about it. What were the conditions of this nation in 1911? Why do you think the people living then made such decisions?
I have a very tiny tiny small experience tying to help please the public and I ran as fast as I could from such responsibilities. No one is ever happy.
Have a good day!
LikeLike
@Afrofem There is this thought. Take all of the rich persons money and you do not have enough. Take a small amount of money from everyone and you get the job done.
How many rich people are there and what do they do with their money? How many donate to good causes which are not a tax.
Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and many more are giving all of their assets to help the poor, it is not a tax.
When you look at the big picture everyone needs to pay. Have you ever studied the donations of the rich.
LikeLike
@ Allen Shaw
There have been recent studies of the charitable patterns of the rich — and of the lowest-income brackets as well.
The findings? Poor people in the U.S. already donate a greater percentage of their income to charity than do the richest Americans.
https://www.theatlantic.com/amp/article/309254/
LikeLike
‘Gross polluters’ lol that’s mainly why ‘cash for clunkers’ took everything affordable off the road, the little guy pays the bill again, enchante!
LikeLike
And the difference between philanthropy and tax should be obvious to anyone with a pulse. Heard of ‘tax havens’, the cayman islands, etc. Sheesh. You got to be kidding, right?
LikeLike
Hey Kartoffel,
“This seems to be notably different in the U.S….”
While I agree with Allen Shaw that across the world, political differences are the norm. I’m sure each place represents these differences uniquely according to their social norms and regions.
Your post reflects my dislike for our two party system and a party system as a whole. The reason why is because we exist as a stratified society, where group paradigms are most influential. As soon as we adopt the label of Dem or Rep we also adopt the history of the parties and we feel the need to defend them (the power of labels). Sprinkle in race, religion, irrationality and well…
Thus the focus is no longer about policies or the candidate, or generally what’s best for Union; it’s us versus them.
PF-T
LikeLiked by 1 person
Allen Shaw,
“…Trying to please the public, no one is ever happy.”
Touche’ sir. I think part of the reason is people happiness seems directly linked to wants. When at the general public level, needs are assessed first and if that aligns with wants then happiness potentially follows. If not, well you already know the answer to that.
LikeLike
The more educated people become the less happy they are with the government.
For those in the government I have this advice. Do your home work, learn how to compromise, participate and have a very thick skin because some body, group or individual is going to dislike what you do.
The two party system in this nation has developed not by any requirement, it has developed because third parties fail to produce differences that are significant, thus they do not attract enough support to get to the big times.
We do not have a two party system by law. Currently the Progressive thinking individuals are undermining the Democratic Party instead of becoming a third party. There are three separate groups of thinking people in the Republican Party, they should be separate parties; however, the groups are too small. If all of the groups were to run separately we would be like other nations.
O well!
LikeLiked by 1 person
@v8driver Yes the took most of the junk off the road and produced plastic automobiles that last. My last plastic car is now 16 years old, while prior to that the metal automobiles rusted out in four or five years and had to be junked.
So pound for pound even though you pay more for the automobile you get a great deal more for your money.
Besides, that has been a long time ago.
I have a 77 Cutlass Oldsmobile in my garage with the doors rotted out.
LikeLike
Lies, deflection and obstruction of justice and gaslighting that is the $h*t show that is our government in this country. The psycho sycophantic Trumpanzees i feel like we are living in The Twilight Zone or Netflix’s Black Mirror episode Where’s Waldo about a foul mouth, obnoxious cartoon bear who the folks in Great Britain select to run in an election for Prime Minister. I think the Brits were laughing at our election when they created this storyline for the anthology series. 45 is the foul mouthed, obnoxious cartoon bear.
LikeLike
@ Allen Shaw
“By the way do you remember 1911 or did you read about it. What were the conditions of this nation in 1911? Why do you think the people living then made such decisions?”
LOL! No, I was not alive in 1911 (at least not in this life). I should have written that I read about the reasons for starting income tax in 1911.
From my reading, in 1911 the conditions in this country were pretty miserable for most working people: Low wages and union struggles, lots of disease and epidemics, soot filled cities with ragged tenement slums and lots of racial violence against Black and Latinx and Native Americans.
In 1911, people accepted the propaganda that a tax on income would affect the wealthy more than the poor and working classes. Income tax has instead turned out to be a boondoggle that soaks ordinary people while the wealthy shift their money to tax havens overseas.
LikeLike
@ Allen Shaw
“Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and many more are giving all of their assets to help the poor, it is not a tax.
When you look at the big picture everyone needs to pay. Have you ever studied the donations of the rich.”
Bill Gates and Warren Buffet don’t really “give all of the assets to help the poor.” They have funded trusts and foundations that provide tax breaks to them while allowing them to buy influence and further their personal interests.
The poor and working classes not only donate a greater percentage of their incomes to charity, they also give for different reasons. They tend to give to help others who are in a tight spot get back on their feet.
The wealthy tend to give money to institutions that benefit them personally. The Atlantic article Solitaire quoted described where the wealthy give money but not why they give to those institutions.
David Callahan, wrote a book in 2004 called The Cheating Culture. Callahan described in detail why and how the wealthiest Americans funnel large amounts of cash into private schools, universities, hospitals and museums. Those institutions benefit the wealthy with jobs and internships for friends and relatives. In the case of schools and universities, charitable donations are little more than bribes to make sure the offspring of the wealthy are first in line for admission to an elite education.
The same goes for the hospitals and museums. The wealthy get naming rights and social perks such as preferred access for themselves and family members, social networking opportunities and inside access to high-end collectible art. Their donations are little more than pay for play.
◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉◉
The wealthy also team up with corporations to further certain long term agendas such as increasing cigarette smoking rates in certain regions of the globe or introducing genetically modified seeds (GMOs) to poor countries. Bill Gates is well known for his foundation’s efforts to push GMOs in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. The Haitian farmers understood the risks of such seeds and burned them while they were still in the sacks.
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/06/haitian-farmers-burn-monsanto-hybrid-seeds/#.WW2KwsaZMi4
According to an article on the site Global Research, the Gates Foundation is behind trickery and violence in Nigeria to destroy local seeds, force farmers off their land and monopolize the food supply of Africa’s most populous country. The article states:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/monsanto-gmo-seeds-in-nigeria-breaking-the-agricultural-cycle-complicity-of-un-world-food-program/5571539
Allen Shaw, I see the donations of the rich in a very different light than you seem to in your earlier comment.
LikeLike
@ Solitaire
Interesting article. Thanks for sharing.
LikeLike
@ Mary Burrell
” I think the Brits were laughing at our election when they created this storyline”
That may be true, but the Brits are having their own version of crazy elections right now.
LikeLike
Ok mr.shaw you aint a mechanic. Or live where they salt the roads all the time, eh, but those plastic cars are metal on the bottom too!
LikeLike
Allen Shaw,
“The more educated people become the less happy they are with the government.”
Ahhh, the beautiful misery of higher education (not just speaking academicly). I attempt to remedy that with some level of acceptance, expanding awareness and hopefully earned wisdom.
“We do not have a two party system by law… instead of becoming a third party. There are three separate groups of thinking people in the Republican Party, they should be separate parties; however, the groups are too small…”
True, hence the influence of group dynamics. The larger the group, the more influential they tend to become, at least until (as you mentioned) another group puts forward a more salient and compelling argument for change.
Great advice for governments, unfortunately they are choosing not to listen.
PF-T
LikeLike
I wouldn’t be surprised if several people who are in 45’s cabinet ended up in prison like as in the Watergate scandal with Nixon.
LikeLike
@v8driver
My 77 Cutlass did not rot underneath, the doors rotted and the back of the car wheel covers and the bumpers.
I will admit I drove that car a long time until it had aged, but that was Olsmobiles next best car.
I did not think about the bottom of my current auto.
LikeLike
@Afrofem I cannot help you in your believes about rich people. You seem to find the negative in anyone who has anything more than you.
My understanding of the world is it is better to day than it was.
There are always going to be people who are born rich, get rich and lose what they have.
I choose to believe that some of the accusations you make add up to fake news; however, I am not going to waste my time researching them. I actually did not even read them. They add up to the story about Haiti, which ignored many facts about the two groups of people.
There are good and bad in each of us. Islam jihad is the struggle of a human to overcome his bad side and grow his good side. In Christianity it is the same. Christians must keep managing to get rid of the bad that is in all of us.
LikeLike
@Afrofem
The story of the seed that now seems to be failing is far more complex then you would like to say. It took years before it was discovered that the seed was not good.
It is as a matter of fact still in courts or has just been completed if it has. The article implies that Bill Gates controls, what he uses, when in reality the Gates’ Trust uses what is available.
“while Monsanto (owned by Bill Gates)” erroneous statement.
Look for the dark side and you will find it. Bill Gates does not own Monsanto he is not one of the 5 largest stock holders. Look at the mutual funds that own the company.
See the story of the company at the site listed below
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/company-insights/091016/top-5-shareholders-monsanto-mon.asp?lgl=rira-baseline-vertical
The following is copied from my reference above:
Add To Watchlist
MON
117.46
+0.68%
Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON
Monsanto Co
MON
117.46
+0.68%
) is a global conglomerate that specializes in agro-chemical and agricultural biotechnology. Its stock is trading at double the price of its competitors, and yet, shares continue to climb. There are three types of shareholders holding Monsanto stock: individuals, mutual funds and institutions, with institutions holding the bulk of the shares.
Who Is Buying Monsanto?
As of May 2, 2017, Monsanto stock is held by 1,072 institutions. In fact, 76% of the company’s shares were held by institutional and mutual fund owners. Founded by John Francis Queeny in 1901, the company leads the world in the production of genetically modified (GMO) seed for crops such as soybeans, corn and cotton. Headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, the company traded for approximately $116 per share in early May 2017, close to its 52-week high of $117.33, which it touched recently.
Read more: Top 5 Shareholders of Monsanto (MON) | Investopedia http://www.investopedia.com/articles/company-insights/091016/top-5-shareholders-monsanto-mon.asp#ixzz4nNJcB1ED
Follow us: Investopedia on Facebook
LikeLike
@allen shaw my 68 toronado was a beast, fastest car i’ve ever owned. Plus it was front wheel drive so the back was like a leather couch and no transmisson hump.
LikeLike
@ v8driver
“…it was front wheel drive so the back was like a leather couch and no transmisson hump.”
Sure miss those front and back seats you could snuggle up to your honey on….
LikeLike
@ Allen Shaw
“I choose to believe that some of the accusations you make add up to fake news; however, I am not going to waste my time researching them. I actually did not even read them.”
As you wish….but wishing doesn’t change reality.
Thanks to your assertion about Gates and the other super rich, I stumbled upon the story of horrific happenings in Northeast Nigeria. I dug a bit deeper and found that farmers and civil society of Nigeria are facing the reality of food slavery head on and fighting against Global North corporations and their violent minions who masquerade as religious extremists:
http://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/top-news/233364-%E2%80%8Enigerian-civic-groups-march-against-gmos.html
You may be in denial about the malevolence of large corporations and the super rich. Farmers in Haiti, Nigeria, Hungary and Mexico, etc. are very aware of their sinister schemes——and are taking steps to stop them.
Thank you, Allen Shaw, for leading me to that story.
LikeLike
@Afrofem It may be true that Monsanto may have produced a bad seed. No one had any idea it was bad and you are going to find all sorts of stories about it.
Ask yourself when did they prove the seed was bad?
I do not believe a company that has as many share holder as Monsanto would cut there throat by pushing a bad seed.
Every day a new story come out about how bad Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act) is; yet, no change seems to be forth coming. This is the problem. Fake News! Stories written listing only one side. Looking at small nations as being victims of someone.
Not facing the reality that the rich are always going to dominate and they will hire the poor to control the other poor.
Idealism is not a political party any more the free lunch is going to happen!
LikeLike
So Sean Spicer resigned. I am going to miss Melissa McCarthy’s hilarious impressions.😂😂😂
LikeLike
We hate that lying hillary
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jul/21/trump-global-death-warrant-women-family-planning-population-reproductive-rights-mexico-city-policy?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+USA+-+Collections+2017&utm_term=236017&subid=19799392&CMP=GT_US_collection
LikeLike