Do you think the broad reach with buzzwords aimed at the “other” (“Anti-fa”, “leftists”, “lock her up”, “CRT”, BLM and so on) and repeated over and again by the right also has a desired affect to render this language unusable by the left. The right takes language that is ‘progressive’, gets ahead of it and then the Democrats turn on each other in fear of using ‘buzzwords’ within the intended context as if they’re ashamed. “Heck yea, I’m a liberal lefty, support immigration and DACA , appreciate critical race theory and am anti-racist, and You keeping calling us the ‘Democrat’ party but the l’ll correct you as we are the DEMOCRATIC party”. This makes me think of kids who are bullies on a playground where one says, “Sally, you’re so dumb”, Sally cries and retorts “I’m not dumb - you are!!!” and then the bully laughs and mocks Sally and says, “Copycat! You can’t say that cause I said it first”.
Another excellent piece. Long time ago I heard from somebody (who fled Germany before WWII started) who attended some of his sessions that Hitler started his speeches quite tame and boring, stating a lot of obvious true facts but then somehow managed to convince his audience that his opponents were all opposed to those creating the image of him as the good guy. Having created some fear and an enemy in the room, which raised the temperature in the room, he then started to attack his opponents , bring in his own falsehoods and extremist ideas. It was all well planned and well rehearsed, including all hysterical outbursts He used to leave the stage completely calm and composed so all the excitement was part of the show. Even opponents in attendance became overwhelmed and influenced by the whole show and many became supporters. Others fled the room to escape his influence. Trump's rally seem to follow a similar pattern....
The person I referred to was Jewish and a teenager at the start of the 1930's. I was a teenager when I listened to him in the late 60's. I will never forget how he explained that, whilst he knew how bad and extreme Hitler' ideas were and how bad his policies were in particular for the jews, attending some of his rally's combined with peer pressure from his friends at school and sports clubs he and some of his friends almost unintentionally (out of fear?) developed sympathy for the Nazi's, almost as if they became under a spell. Once he managed to break the "spell" by realising that the Nazi's were enemies to him and his people in particular, he became very lonely which of course became worse after Hitler came to power in 33. Fortunately he and his family escaped Germany and survived WWII. This shows how dangerous effective propaganda can be........ Again.......Trump seems to know how to apply it .
Just noticed that this article was noted on Twitter by Morgan Fairchild and retweeted by Rick Wilson of Lincoln Project. More and more people are ‘Lucid!’
You mention that "he or she" love bombs followers. Who is the "she" you're referring to? La Pen? And if so, does she really qualify as a cult leader? Genuine question, as I can't think of other women who fit this mold.
Aren’t all historical authoritarian cult leaders, and Trump, also conscience-deficient narcissists and sociopaths/psychopaths? All male, as Ruth pointed out. I would urge everyone to also read Elizabeth Mika’s 7 or 9 essays via Twitter and posted on Medium. BTW - truly excellent points made in this discussion by Steve R., Gary, Mike, and others. I find this discussion to be just as valuable as reading Ruth’s piece.
So, to counter this finely tuned propagandist machine we have to offer real world incentives (mainly economic) to these disaffected people to ditch the charlatans who have given them nothing and motivate them to pursue a constructive, reasonably well-compensated, contribution to the world at large, and access to the education required to get them in the ball game.
How dearly wish these incentives do the trick Douglas….but ditching something you love and are truly devoted to is very difficult in a sea of propaganda. Many of these people don’t read the same news you read. They are in silos and they keep getting more and more unreachable.
The news media should have been calling Trumpism, fascism after his first few campaign rallies. I saw that he was fascist leaning, right away and that he was a sociopath. Madeleine Albright and Bandy Lee put out books early on, to warn the public of the Trump threat of both fascism and sociopathy respectively. Trump supporters would not read these books though. Our media dropped the ball.
Here’s just one passage…enough to make your blood boil.
Pay TV is in structural decline, as younger viewers cut the cord or never subscribe in the first place. But the three major cable-news networks have each set viewership records in the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency. Fox News had the best quarter in cable news history. MSNBC grew more than 50 percent in both daytime and primetime. CNN also saw double-digit growth over its sensational 2016 ratings. Feeding off the fumes of Trump’s whirling-dervish presidency, the networks seem to be growing at the expense of practically everything else on television.
Trumpism is thriving - but for it to thrive a number of things were set in motion years ago. Citizens united - the fairness doctrine - Facebook targeting - Mitch McConnell - the filibuster - the rise of Fox News - Breitbart - the Tea Party. I could go on and on.
The USA is in a pickle right now and I fear it will only get worse. It will combine the cultish devotion that you find in North Korea, the abortion rights of Poland, the xenophobia of Hungary, the state surveillance of China, the authoritarianism of Russia and lord knows what else. Trumpism is not just national, it is statewide and local. And I haven’t even mentioned the whack load of Q Anon people running for office.
I'd even add to your list of things; the gutting of the 2013 Shelby vs. Holder decision, which ended protections for voting rights and opened the flood gates for new voter suppression laws being enacted all over the country. See RED map.
I feel that the largest driver of Trumpism was the deindustrialization that was brought about by the advent of neoliberal capitalism, circa 1980. It increased income inequality and got rid of many manufacturing jobs via outsourcing. Our middle class was in peril and angry. Many times, fascism comes about through economic decline. Germany and Italy had this as well.
"If the history of authoritarian cults is any measure, his followers won't be satisfied until he is back in the White House, no matter the cost to America". I agree 100% with your statement Ruth!
Trump has not only got his fervent base of loyalists and followers doing his bidding but he has also got almost all of the GOP (save for the likes of Liz Cheeny or Mitt Romeny) and several media outlets doing his bidding, no matter the damage done to the country. Goebbels ran Hitler's ministry of propaganda. Today we see those same functions privatized to the FNC and several other alternative far right media outlets and then further propagated on social media.
With new voter suppression laws enacted in 17 states and counting, Trump has underway a coherent strategy going on within compliant state level GOPs all over the country to take over the administration and certification of elections, so that if a Democrat wins they can fix it so he/she can't. RHINOs like Brad Rhafsenburger are being purged out of the party and staunch stop the steal loyalists like Dana Hines in Georgia are taking over secretaries of state positions. They presumably don't care about upholding the sanctity or integrity of elections while their leader is carrying on hysterically claiming falsely that voter fraud is rampant and the democrats are cheating. They are all about clicking their heels and saluting to their corrupt cult leader. No matter the damage to democracy or the rule of law, Its all about the leader's return to power.
Trump has put his followers into a fascist fantasy bubble of post-truth, postmodernism, confirmation bias, political bigotry and motivated reasoning. They cannot extricate themselves from it due to the Backfire Effect. No amount of the truth will change their fallacious position.
Right, they're invested hook, line and sinker emotionally. And they're martyrs. As Ruth has pointed out, it took allied bombing in Germany and Italy to finally break the bond of loyalty and support to their respective leaders. Here It will take continued defeats at the ballot box that allows a return to democratic norms.
Indeed! The dangerous aspect of this situation is that 74 million people have become fascists and don't even realize it. Fact and fiction have become indistinguishable.
I shudder to think and am back to having restless nights sleep. The antics and malignant fantasy world that is Republican leadership out front and behind scenes is truly unsettling. In 2015 I said over and over as we watched TFG’s campaign rallies, “the cicadas have risen’…and, I don’t see them going back.
I'm sorry to say this, Steve, but... you might as well start packing now. Should Trump run, he will be reinstalled at 1600. If not by popular vote or the electoral college, then by State legislatures on the strength of the new laws that authorize and enable them to set election results aside for any reason or no reason at all.
Outstanding piece Ruth. Something that Trump said really hit a nerve with me; "I know your pain, I know you're hurt," Sociopaths like Trump do not feel empathy, sympathy or compassion, so Trump's comment was a lie and manipulation. His rant to get his people to storm the Capitol was nothing more than narcissistic triangulation; a narcissists way of getting others to do his dirty work for him.
Thank you Ruth for another wonderful piece! Also, Saturday’s presentation was wonderful! The whole process here is aided and abetted by Republican enablers interested only in power for its own sake. To win at any cost!
Thanks. Hopefully, after some of the Jan 6 def's admit to sedition / terrorism (if charged, finally), and conspiracy (if charged), and attribute motivation to DJT, and IF DOJ pursues (which it won't because it's letting bygones be bygones and moving on), you would be a stellar expert witness. I think Mary Beck, who has written about polarized groups / extremists, evidently was such an expert in a matter involving fringe groups. Maybe have a joint program some day with someone from DOJ about dealing with defenses of cultists and their leaders in criminal matters. Just a thought
Do you think the broad reach with buzzwords aimed at the “other” (“Anti-fa”, “leftists”, “lock her up”, “CRT”, BLM and so on) and repeated over and again by the right also has a desired affect to render this language unusable by the left. The right takes language that is ‘progressive’, gets ahead of it and then the Democrats turn on each other in fear of using ‘buzzwords’ within the intended context as if they’re ashamed. “Heck yea, I’m a liberal lefty, support immigration and DACA , appreciate critical race theory and am anti-racist, and You keeping calling us the ‘Democrat’ party but the l’ll correct you as we are the DEMOCRATIC party”. This makes me think of kids who are bullies on a playground where one says, “Sally, you’re so dumb”, Sally cries and retorts “I’m not dumb - you are!!!” and then the bully laughs and mocks Sally and says, “Copycat! You can’t say that cause I said it first”.
Yes that's a good point
Another excellent piece. Long time ago I heard from somebody (who fled Germany before WWII started) who attended some of his sessions that Hitler started his speeches quite tame and boring, stating a lot of obvious true facts but then somehow managed to convince his audience that his opponents were all opposed to those creating the image of him as the good guy. Having created some fear and an enemy in the room, which raised the temperature in the room, he then started to attack his opponents , bring in his own falsehoods and extremist ideas. It was all well planned and well rehearsed, including all hysterical outbursts He used to leave the stage completely calm and composed so all the excitement was part of the show. Even opponents in attendance became overwhelmed and influenced by the whole show and many became supporters. Others fled the room to escape his influence. Trump's rally seem to follow a similar pattern....
Yes Hitler's speeches had a structure moving from calm to angry to resolute.
The person I referred to was Jewish and a teenager at the start of the 1930's. I was a teenager when I listened to him in the late 60's. I will never forget how he explained that, whilst he knew how bad and extreme Hitler' ideas were and how bad his policies were in particular for the jews, attending some of his rally's combined with peer pressure from his friends at school and sports clubs he and some of his friends almost unintentionally (out of fear?) developed sympathy for the Nazi's, almost as if they became under a spell. Once he managed to break the "spell" by realising that the Nazi's were enemies to him and his people in particular, he became very lonely which of course became worse after Hitler came to power in 33. Fortunately he and his family escaped Germany and survived WWII. This shows how dangerous effective propaganda can be........ Again.......Trump seems to know how to apply it .
I would share this, but object to my personal email appearing in the Subscibe box.
Just noticed that this article was noted on Twitter by Morgan Fairchild and retweeted by Rick Wilson of Lincoln Project. More and more people are ‘Lucid!’
You mention that "he or she" love bombs followers. Who is the "she" you're referring to? La Pen? And if so, does she really qualify as a cult leader? Genuine question, as I can't think of other women who fit this mold.
Most cult leaders are men in fact! And all the authoritarians with personality cults
Aren’t all historical authoritarian cult leaders, and Trump, also conscience-deficient narcissists and sociopaths/psychopaths? All male, as Ruth pointed out. I would urge everyone to also read Elizabeth Mika’s 7 or 9 essays via Twitter and posted on Medium. BTW - truly excellent points made in this discussion by Steve R., Gary, Mike, and others. I find this discussion to be just as valuable as reading Ruth’s piece.
So, to counter this finely tuned propagandist machine we have to offer real world incentives (mainly economic) to these disaffected people to ditch the charlatans who have given them nothing and motivate them to pursue a constructive, reasonably well-compensated, contribution to the world at large, and access to the education required to get them in the ball game.
How dearly wish these incentives do the trick Douglas….but ditching something you love and are truly devoted to is very difficult in a sea of propaganda. Many of these people don’t read the same news you read. They are in silos and they keep getting more and more unreachable.
It is a cult…and it’s growing. Steve Hassan wrote a book called The Cult of Trump.
More critical links below…
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/06/inside-the-cult-of-trump-his-rallies-are-church-and-he-is-the-gospel
https://www.voanews.com/usa/qanon-strains-relationships-loved-ones-try-show-way-out
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/07/is-it-finally-time-to-begin-calling-trumpism-fascism.html
The news media should have been calling Trumpism, fascism after his first few campaign rallies. I saw that he was fascist leaning, right away and that he was a sociopath. Madeleine Albright and Bandy Lee put out books early on, to warn the public of the Trump threat of both fascism and sociopathy respectively. Trump supporters would not read these books though. Our media dropped the ball.
All about feared loss of access for the media.
Hey Steve, with all due respect, the MEDIA WERE MAKING BANK!
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dbloom/2018/11/05/happy-election-season-media-donald-trump-has-been-very-good-for-you/
https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2017/05/donald-trump-media-enemies/525381/
Here’s just one passage…enough to make your blood boil.
Pay TV is in structural decline, as younger viewers cut the cord or never subscribe in the first place. But the three major cable-news networks have each set viewership records in the first 100 days of Trump’s presidency. Fox News had the best quarter in cable news history. MSNBC grew more than 50 percent in both daytime and primetime. CNN also saw double-digit growth over its sensational 2016 ratings. Feeding off the fumes of Trump’s whirling-dervish presidency, the networks seem to be growing at the expense of practically everything else on television.
They were making money while Rome burned so to speak. Pathetic.
Trumpism is thriving - but for it to thrive a number of things were set in motion years ago. Citizens united - the fairness doctrine - Facebook targeting - Mitch McConnell - the filibuster - the rise of Fox News - Breitbart - the Tea Party. I could go on and on.
The USA is in a pickle right now and I fear it will only get worse. It will combine the cultish devotion that you find in North Korea, the abortion rights of Poland, the xenophobia of Hungary, the state surveillance of China, the authoritarianism of Russia and lord knows what else. Trumpism is not just national, it is statewide and local. And I haven’t even mentioned the whack load of Q Anon people running for office.
I'd even add to your list of things; the gutting of the 2013 Shelby vs. Holder decision, which ended protections for voting rights and opened the flood gates for new voter suppression laws being enacted all over the country. See RED map.
I feel that the largest driver of Trumpism was the deindustrialization that was brought about by the advent of neoliberal capitalism, circa 1980. It increased income inequality and got rid of many manufacturing jobs via outsourcing. Our middle class was in peril and angry. Many times, fascism comes about through economic decline. Germany and Italy had this as well.
"If the history of authoritarian cults is any measure, his followers won't be satisfied until he is back in the White House, no matter the cost to America". I agree 100% with your statement Ruth!
Trump has not only got his fervent base of loyalists and followers doing his bidding but he has also got almost all of the GOP (save for the likes of Liz Cheeny or Mitt Romeny) and several media outlets doing his bidding, no matter the damage done to the country. Goebbels ran Hitler's ministry of propaganda. Today we see those same functions privatized to the FNC and several other alternative far right media outlets and then further propagated on social media.
With new voter suppression laws enacted in 17 states and counting, Trump has underway a coherent strategy going on within compliant state level GOPs all over the country to take over the administration and certification of elections, so that if a Democrat wins they can fix it so he/she can't. RHINOs like Brad Rhafsenburger are being purged out of the party and staunch stop the steal loyalists like Dana Hines in Georgia are taking over secretaries of state positions. They presumably don't care about upholding the sanctity or integrity of elections while their leader is carrying on hysterically claiming falsely that voter fraud is rampant and the democrats are cheating. They are all about clicking their heels and saluting to their corrupt cult leader. No matter the damage to democracy or the rule of law, Its all about the leader's return to power.
Trump has put his followers into a fascist fantasy bubble of post-truth, postmodernism, confirmation bias, political bigotry and motivated reasoning. They cannot extricate themselves from it due to the Backfire Effect. No amount of the truth will change their fallacious position.
Right, they're invested hook, line and sinker emotionally. And they're martyrs. As Ruth has pointed out, it took allied bombing in Germany and Italy to finally break the bond of loyalty and support to their respective leaders. Here It will take continued defeats at the ballot box that allows a return to democratic norms.
Indeed! The dangerous aspect of this situation is that 74 million people have become fascists and don't even realize it. Fact and fiction have become indistinguishable.
Yep sorry to say we are in real danger of losing our democracy.
Agree with you Gary
God forbid that Donald Trump or any of his family returns to the White House!
I shudder to think and am back to having restless nights sleep. The antics and malignant fantasy world that is Republican leadership out front and behind scenes is truly unsettling. In 2015 I said over and over as we watched TFG’s campaign rallies, “the cicadas have risen’…and, I don’t see them going back.
The nation would be a failed state if he returned. I would move to BC Canada.
I'm sorry to say this, Steve, but... you might as well start packing now. Should Trump run, he will be reinstalled at 1600. If not by popular vote or the electoral college, then by State legislatures on the strength of the new laws that authorize and enable them to set election results aside for any reason or no reason at all.
The death cult of Donald Trump.
Exactly
Outstanding piece Ruth. Something that Trump said really hit a nerve with me; "I know your pain, I know you're hurt," Sociopaths like Trump do not feel empathy, sympathy or compassion, so Trump's comment was a lie and manipulation. His rant to get his people to storm the Capitol was nothing more than narcissistic triangulation; a narcissists way of getting others to do his dirty work for him.
Exactly. Manipulation is his specialty
Thank you Ruth for another wonderful piece! Also, Saturday’s presentation was wonderful! The whole process here is aided and abetted by Republican enablers interested only in power for its own sake. To win at any cost!
Thanks Tom. Saturday was good, great experts there.
Thanks. Hopefully, after some of the Jan 6 def's admit to sedition / terrorism (if charged, finally), and conspiracy (if charged), and attribute motivation to DJT, and IF DOJ pursues (which it won't because it's letting bygones be bygones and moving on), you would be a stellar expert witness. I think Mary Beck, who has written about polarized groups / extremists, evidently was such an expert in a matter involving fringe groups. Maybe have a joint program some day with someone from DOJ about dealing with defenses of cultists and their leaders in criminal matters. Just a thought
Thanks. That's a good idea.