You cannot trust anyone. Except Trump.
Trump has amplified and shaped an idea that was out there pre-Trump.
The Trump press conference resolved any question over whether President Trump would be different from candidate Trump. He will not be adjusting to "presidential" norms. He will be doing it the Trump way. The way that worked to get him elected.
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| You are fake. Fake news. |
Trump understands something the old establishments of academia, media, scientists, the political establishment of long time officeholders, and the supposedly impartial judiciary have not yet fully grasped because the truth is so disastrous to their very purpose for being. The public thinks there is no such thing as an impartial expert or objective truth. Experts and judges and people of supposed integrity and knowledge need to get their heads around this: People don't believe them or trust them. Trump laughs at them, calls them names, and the public agrees with Trump.
I watched Harvard professors with PhDs and 40 years' experience studying foreign policy with China, Japan, the Middle East realize the public had rejected their nuanced expertise. The public actually preferred a shoot from the hip swashbuckler with pro-American instincts and a desire to shake things up over people who thought deeply and carefully about how to handle complicated life and death national relationships. They were shellshocked.
Who should you distrust? Pretty much everybody. Distrust:
The mainstream media of professional journalists and supposed straight, balanced news. Fox News set the stage, naming themselves "fair and balanced" in an effort to define everyone else as leftist and biased. Trump amplified this notion, then expanded it by being critical of Fox News as well when they were critical of him. Then Trump made up with Fox when Fox knuckled under and became a Trump cheerleader. Fox viewers trust Fox. Fox haters hate Fox. No news organization is safe from Trump's pointed finger of accusation.
Scientists. Republicans generally rejected scientists' conclusion on climate change. Trump agreed. The Kyoto Agreement is foolish, the China accord on emissions will be void on inauguration day, coal is clean.
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| Foreign policy experts at Harvard. Rejected. |
Foreign policy experts. Trump led the way here saying they were stuck in the past, defending old ways of thinking on NATO, Japanese defense, on Russia. Enough voters agreed.
Politicians of both parties. Trump scoffed at and devalued them all, even the ones who most represented consensus thinking, the former presidential candidates McCain (not a hero and a friend of "less than 1% Lindsey Graham") and Mitt Romney (total loser and choker) and the weak losers who run the House and Senate, Boehner, Ryan, and McConnell. No political leader who opposes Trump does it from a position of credibility and respect. Trump praises them when they agree and condemns them when they do no.
The pope. Liberal now.
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| CBO. Ignore them. |
The bi-partisan experts (the CBO and GAO) in Congress who supposedly give the straight facts. Trump rejects their way of scoring infrastructure spending and repeal of the affordable care act as costs or increases to the deficit. Newt Gingrich weigh in with agreement. Trump does not knuckle under to their math or their conclusions.
The Intelligence Community--FBI, CIA, Defense Intelligence. They are partisan, they made mistakes, they leak, they are prejudiced against Russia. Don't trust them, Trump says.
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| Dodd and Frank. Rejected |
Government regulators and consumer protection agencies. Trump's call to slash the EPA was a stand-up and cheer applause line. He vowed to cut regulations on banks and consumer financial protection, and in the aftermath of the election bank stock prices have soared at the prospect that regulations put in place in the aftermath of the 2007-2009 financial collapse will end.
United Nations and the "International Community". Trump: They are globalist by definition, they are anti-Israel, they are anti-US, they are freeloaders, they are a burden, and they have no right to tell Americans what to do, and we may just pull out of them.
American traditional allies internationally. NATO countries and Japan have taken advantage of the US.
The judiciary and the Supreme Court. They got the important stuff wrong on abortion, voting rights, libel law, consumer protections, and birthright citizenship, and Trump will replace the people with judges who will get it right. Trump condemned a federal judge as biased per se based on his ethnicity. Ryan called it bigotry and racism--but supported Trump anyway and so did the overwhelming majority of Republicans, the overwhelming majority of white males, a narrow majority of white females and a majority of the electoral college. Trump paid no lasting consequence for saying the judiciary has no credibility. What did the judiciary do? Nothing, except for Ruth Bader Ginzburg, a lone voice, who then apologized. The federal judiciary was silent. The Bar Associations were silent. Trump's contempt is now mainstream and endorsed by the democratic process.
Summary: There are no authoritative, credible arbiters of truth.
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| President-Elect Trump |
So who can be trusted??
Trump himself--but you have to take what he says symbolically, not literally.
Trump spokespeople--as long as they get it right.
Fox News, when they support Trump--but not when they do not.
Bebe Netanyahu, when he supports Trump and so far he does.
Republicans, when they support Trump--but not when they do not.
1 comment:
Trump is America. America is Trump. That's what it looks like. For him, he's your best friend. Against him, he will destroy you. It doesn't matter Democrat or Republican. If that slogan looks familiar, it's a famous one used by Hitler. Just substitute Trump/Hitler and America/Germany. That's the definition of Fascism. If you look at it that way, you get a sense of who he is.
Bernie Sanders wanted to give everyone who wanted one a free education at a public university. The question was raised, how would we pay for that? Sounds like a waste of money. However, Trump's wall is estimated to cost $25 Billion. If the cost of a 4 year education at a public school is about $25,000, that $25 Billion would educate 1 million students. Let's see, a million college educated kids versus a wall that just sits there. Which is the best investment?
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