Trump followers are gullible and cynical

Gullible and cynical Trump supporters

AlterNet says, "Trump’s lies can be understood as expressing his view of the world — how he would like things to be, for whatever purposes he may have, some quite enduring (as seen in his “bottomless Pinocchios”), others perhaps spur-of-the-moment." My post of May 1, "Fact Checker: Trump continues lies at "unbelievable pace," pretty much tells the story of a maniac in the Oval Office who spouts off lies by the hour, which the whole world makes fun of.

Jennifer Mercieca, a historian of rhetoric, whose book, “Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump,” [table of contents here] will be published next year, in AlterNet says...

"the Mueller report can be read as further confirmation of Trump’s authoritarian orientation in word and deed, in sharp contrast to the “total exoneration” he falsely claims it to be. This is entirely typical. Demagogues and tyrants have always used lies this way. But they cannot and do not act in a vacuum."

Mercieca thinks Trump doesn't act alone but has an "expert" propaganda team. His propaganda "seeks to shape understanding by subverting rational thinking." His objective is to make everyone accomplices in his lies making himself out as a truth-teller. She says, “Trump’s lies are popular with his base,” suggesting this passage from Hannah Arendt’s “Origins of Totalitarianism”...

"A mixture of gullibility and cynicism had been an outstanding characteristic of mob mentality before it became an everyday phenomenon of the masses. In an ever-changing, incomprehensible world the masses had reached the point where they would, at the same time, believe everything and nothing, think that everything was possible and that nothing was true … Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow."

“I think gullibility and cynicism are a good explanation for Trump voters,” Mercieca said. “They think everything is a lie anyway, so why not cheer for their guy who lies better than the rest of them?” So pathetic especially since we are talking about the most powerful man in the world.

Charley Manson's "Helter Skelter" is back

Young Charles Manson

The Manson family got its start in 1967, just north of where we lived in Canoga Park, Calif. We rode up there one day looking for Spahn Ranch where the Manson cult collected and did their evil business. We were almost immediately turned around by signs saying"No Admittance" accompanied by a heavy wire fence. Appropriately called the Spahn Movie Ranch, it was owned by George Spahn who willingly allowed Manson and his followers to live there.

The ranch had been the home for TV episodes of "Bonanza," "The Lone Ranger," and "Zorro." Although George Spahn wasn't involved in any of Manson's crime, his ranch was where the 'family' lived while committing the 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders in Los Angeles. A wildfire destroyed all of the Spahn Movie Ranch film set and buildings on September 26, 1970. The owner, George Spahn died on September 22, 1974. My thanks to Wikipedia.

With this background, you might remember the book, "Helter Skelter," written by Charles Manson's prosecutor, Vincent Bugliosi. It was Charley's term for the race war he intended to start between blacks and whites, expecting near annihilation after which he would lead his followers to take over the country. The words, from a Beatles' song, were written on the LaBianca's refrigerator door to instigate the race war. And that's a long way around to get to this...

"The Russians who interfered in the 2016 US presidential election are still at it — and this time, they’re trying to ignite racial violence in America and a partial collapse of the United States."

Looks like Charley Manson got in Vladimir Putin's head, assuming there is room next to Donald Trump. Here's the scenario from Vox...

"According to secret documents obtained by a Russian opposition group, hackers have discussed plans to stir up racial resentment in the United States in hopes of tearing American society apart. The operatives are apparently associates of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the man who set up a troll farm and was indicted by special counsel Robert Mueller for his role in 2016 meddling."

Someone has been reading "Helter Skelter." There's more...

"Prigozhin and his team of Russian trolls tried to inflame racial tensions during the 2016 cycle by operating several social media accounts that tried to discourage African Americans from voting, mainly by repeating messages of police violence and voter fraud."

But the "apparent new plot" originating as early as 2018, in preparation for the 2020 election, digs much deeper. The following is unbelievable...

"The documents reportedly contain shocking proposals such as sending black Americans to Africa “'for combat prep and training in sabotage,' as well as targeting people who have previously been incarcerated and people 'who have experience in organized crime groups ... for participation in civil disobedience actions.'”

Manson could take lessons from this guy, Yevgeny Prigozhin. Vox says...

"there is no indication of how seriously the documents — titled “Development Strategy of a Pan-African State on US Territory” — and the plan overall have been received in Russia. It’s possible the set of proposals went absolutely nowhere and were viewed as too extreme (or ridiculous) even for Moscow."

We can only hope with Donald Trump in the White House. 

George Orwell wants Donald Trump impeached

The dope with the genius

Well, that's not exactly what the famous writer said, but as a serious Orwell fan, I agree with the author of 1984's quotes, “ignoring facts which are obvious and unalterable,” and  “To see what is in front of one’s nose needs a constant struggle.” The first quote applies specifically to T-rump, the second to his followers. AlterNet mentions Hitler's intentions of the 1930s as a wake-up call that went unanswered, somewhat comparable to the Trump administration today.

Germany invaded Poland in 1939, Trump is on the verge of invading Iran today. AlterNet's take on the Russian interference in the 2016 election that led to the Mueller Report...

"Everyone able and willing to distinguish facts from lies has witnessed Trump’s brazen cover-up of Russia’s attack. He has never named or denounced the aggressor, while depicting the investigators as traitors who used a hoax to attempt a coup."

 Here's another scenario in which the...

"author casts himself as defender of the nation against the 'globalist elite' and their 'deep state' henchmen. In Act I, he miraculously outwits their attempt to rig the 2016 election; in Act II he thwarts their attempted coup. Act III completes the plot, as the Democrats manage to fake a 2020 victory, only to face a resolute President who—having forewarned of a final deep state conspiracy to regain power—announces a state of emergency."

God forbid another four years of this maniac, as Democrats, even now work feverishly in deciding whether to impeach Trump. However, what we will get is a mealy-mouthed goody-two-shoes who, in my opinion, would be worse than the Oval Office lunatic. And with John Bolton behind the escalation of war with Iran, anything could happen. All of this results from...

"Tehran's decision to stop fully complying with the 2015 nuclear pact after several weeks of intensifying US sanctions and restrictions against Iran, as well as warnings from Washington about an increased Iranian threat to US personnel in the region."

It's the same tit for tat crap that Trump is using against xi jinpin in the China Tariff war and none of this bodes well for the American people.

Donald Trump's misguided administration

How often can this man be wrong? Millions?

One of Donald Trump's biggest opponents is focusing on states to make sure there is no funny business going on in voting. Their plan is...

"to dig up the actual motivations, communications, and moneyed interests behind restrictive voter laws—and to potentially tie them back to national figures like former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach, the Heritage Foundation's Hans von Spakovsky, or Trump administration officials themselves."

You remember Kansas' Kris Kobach? He's the guy who teamed up with Arizona's Russell Pearce to pass the state's immigration law SB-1070 that was eventually repealed. He roams around the country making trouble for people he doesn't like, often teaming up with ALEC. This was also Sheriff Joe Arpaio's state, who ardently enforced SB-1070, and was fully supported by Donald Trump. Arpaio was finally voted out of office.

“Voter suppression is the corruption of democracy itself, and most of that corruption isn't happening in Washington, DC, but in the state and local governments that set the rules for voting,” said Austin Evers, executive director of American Oversight in the Daily Beast. After two years working on the federal government, the organization is now turning its attention to the states using the same model to fight corruption there.

And the American farmer is "running out of patience with President Donald Trump's trade war with China," according to CNN. Already facing a 25% tariff imposed by China last year, the farm folk were willing to tag along for talks between xi jinping and T-rump, but the patience is now thinning as commodity prices are plummeting. At the same time, Arkansas' favorite idiot, Sen. Tom Cotton, just schluffed off the farmers' dilemma. 

And finally, Trump has "gleefully" compared himself to an authoritarian strongman, as reported by AlterNet. Here's the scenario...

"Hungary’s democratic institutions are under attack from its own Prime Minister Viktor Orban, but you wouldn’t know it from President Donald Trump treatment of the authoritarian leader on Monday in the Oval Office."

It seems that Trump refused to meet with Orban after the authoritarian president "shut down Hungary’s opposition media, eliminated independent courts, drove a prestigious U.S. university out of Budapest and spewed hateful rhetoric toward Muslims and, in more subtle terms, Jews." Even with disdain from Europe, Trump saw fit to praise Orban from the White House. It's just something between two authoritarians.

NRA head gun nut Wayne LaPierre on way out?

Oh hell I screwed up, now I'm out

Here's the Daily Beast headline: "NRA Board Member Allen West Calls for Wayne LaPierre’s Ouster." Former Florida Rep. Allen West, an NRA board member, called for the ouster of head gun nut, NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre. He tweeted it on Tuesday morning. At the same, time he accused NRA President CAdam Westarolyn Meadows of lying to news outlets when she claimed the board didn't know that LaPierre used NRA money to buy designer clothes.

He also said, "a statement defending LaPierre from Charles Cotton, the head of the NRA’s audit committee, was also a lie." Do you get the feeling that the whole organization is corrupt? West continued...

“These statements have maliciously, recklessly and purposefully put me, and uninformed Board members, in legal jeopardy. I do not support Wayne LaPierre continuing as the EVP/CEO of the NRA."

Okay, how soon can we get rid of him? This comes at a time when we are experiencing increased mass shootings violence. I blogged on this: "World asking why so many U.S. mass shootings?" The facts are...

"Worldwide, a country’s rate of gun ownership correlated with the odds it would experience a mass shooting. This relationship held even when he excluded the United States, indicating that it could not be explained by some other factor particular to his home country."

"countries with high suicide rates tended to have low rates of mass shootings — the opposite of what you would expect if mental health problems correlated with mass shootings."

Another sure reason for LaPierre's ouster is the following...

"Senior U.S. District Judge Thomas McAvoy in Albany dismissed the NRA’s claim that the Department of Financial Services selectively enforced state law when it issued millions of dollars in fines against two companies that helped the group sell products to its members that critics dubbed 'murder insurance.'”

When you consider that in connection with the fact that banks are now refusing to work with the NRA, you can understand the financial tension, and who else should be responsible but the head gun nut of the NRA. But dumping LaPierre from the NRA should quell gun violence in that his continuing crusade has been to put more guns on the street. As a result, The NRA and gun violence are inseparable, my feelings, of course.

Latest on anti-vaxxers and the measles outbreak

Doctors being attacked by anti vaxxers

As the anti-vaxxers continue to do their thing, the country is reeling over new measles cases with 75 more this week. "This year's total marks the most U.S. cases since 1994 – and since measles was declared eliminated in the USA in 2000," reports USA Today. The paper added...

"Most of the new cases were in New York City and its suburbs, where hundreds of cases have been reported this year. The area is home to Orthodox Jewish communities where many parents refuse to allow vaccinations for their children. Authorities mandated vaccinations in some ZIP codes."

"Outbreaks are linked to travelers who brought measles back from countries such as Israel, Ukraine and the Philippines, where large measles outbreaks are occurring, the CDC said. The travelers spread the disease to unvaccinated people in the USA, the agency said."

The CDC is begging parents to get vaccinations and, "in Washington state, Gov. Jay Inslee signed a bill Friday ending personal or philosophical measles vaccine exemptions for most parents whose kids will attend day care centers or schools. Dozens of parents protested outside the signing." Total reported cases now are 839, but the uninformed anti-vaxxers surge on doing their damage by resisting vaccinations and sending their kids out to mingle with the unexpecting public.

And it's not bad enough that the anti-vaxxers make it impossible for others, especially those who cannot get vaccinations due to valid medical reasons, now doctors are being attacked online for recommending vaccines to patients, according to the Boston Globe. Here's the story...

"Dr. Monique Tello found that she had been peppered with 100 negative reviews and derogatory comments on a number of physician ratings sites for speaking out in favor of vaccines. None of the people who posted reviews were her patients, and only after she threatened a lawsuit did the websites take down the reviews."

 I keep saying this and I will continue to keep saying it...Round up all of the anti-vaxxers, find a remote location, perhaps in the middle of the Sonoran desert, build a compound they can't escape from, and let them infect each other as much as their warped heart's desire.

Although this is the largest measles outbreak since 1900, "The outbreak from 1989 through 1991 was much larger than today's, with more than 27,000 cases in 1990 alone. But the conditions that lead to that outbreak, where children were dying, and what it took to end it are dramatically different from the ones the U.S. is seeing today." Here's why...

"As of Monday, New York City alone reports 498 cases, with 34 people hospitalized. New York state, public health authorities attribute the outbreak to anti-vaccination sentiments among a small subgroup of religious Orthodox Jewish residents among whom the virus has spread."

"The outbreak in the early 1990s hit poor black and Latino communities the hardest, in Central Brooklyn, upper Manhattan and the South Bronx."

The big difference is once the public health officials got involved in the 1900s, and the parents were cooperating, not working against the system by resisting vaccinations. So, the big question today is how many children will die this time around before anti-vaxxers realize that science is right.

And finally, here's a study that illustrates measles outbreaks where you live and ranks places in the U.S. where the risk is highest. This is worth a read to see how your area stacks up.

Please give me your comments on this issue.

Electoral map changes favor Democrats

Me worry about 2020, Naaaaaaaa

Donald Trump barely made it in 2016 with "thin margins" in the swing states. Racing ahead two years, "the shifting trends in the electoral map since his inauguration should make no one confident in his re-election chances" according to Salon. Examining voter preference changes between 2016 and 2019, a study found considerable differences in voters who voted for Barack Obama in 2012 and then Trump in 2016. 

While most of the finds were favorable to Trump, one stands out as negative...

"Americans say that it is more important for the next president to have particular policy positions than particular demographic characteristics. For example, Americans say it’s more important that the next president advocate for racial and ethnic minorities (69 percent) than that they are a person of color (19 percent)."

All of this positive stuff was in 2016 and this is 2019. Compared to an 85% voter approval in 2016, today it is just 66 percent of these voters that still approve of Trump, a 19-point drop. Robert Griffin of the Voter Study Group said...

“Even small movement among these voters — who represented 9 percent of voters in 2016 — may prove significant heading into the 2020 presidential election. Obama-Trump voters are also disproportionately white, non-college educated and, as a result, are likely to be well distributed geographically for the purpose of electoral impact."

What is interesting is that both Obama and Trump won victories in the Electoral College, with voters switching from Democrat to Republican in the latter. The inference is that with all the changes in the polls which are significantly more negative for Trump, the switch will go back to the Democrats. In key states where Trump won in 2016, the net positive approval ratings were...

Wisconsin +6, Michigan +7, and Pennsylvania +10. By April 2019, these results change to Wisconsin -13, Michigan -10, and Pennsylvania -7.

Meanwhile, there are other states where Trump is also weak: Ohio -4, Arizona -7, Florida -2, North Carolina -2; Iowa -8. This bodes well for Democrats and since Iowa, with a minus 8 is one of the first indications of where the 2020 election is going with its Caucuses on February 3, 2020, we should have an early compass of where this election is going.