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Politics Discussion
- Thread starter caribou
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As the author below points out, most of these scoundrels will have to rely on conservative right-wing organizations for the rest of their lives in order to make a living and bring home any kind of paycheck. They no longer deserve a seat at the table in the mainstream business community. And they have only themselves to blame for that. Not the "cancel-culture" or "liberal bias" or "anti-First Amendment" tropes that so many falsely aggrieved scoundrels try to use for sympathy after their infamous deeds have already been done and are part of the historical record.
These people sold their souls to the devil for a few shekels and 5 minutes of fame. What they very willingly and gleefully did for it though was become ministers of propaganda rather than press secretaries. They were so feckless and lacking in conscience themselves that they thought nothing of spewing lies, deception, spin, "alternative facts" and disinformation...for a morally bankrupt, Nazi-sympathizing, KKK-sympathizing, Confederate-sympathizing, fascist dictator. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels of the Third Reich might have given them a wink of approval.
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Forbes
ELECTION 2020|Jan 7, 2021,11:57am EST|1,023,182 views
A Truth Reckoning: Why We’re Holding Those Who Lied For Trump Accountable
Randall Lane
Randall Lane Forbes Staff
I am chief content officer and editor of Forbes, and post on business, philanthropy--and food!
GETTY IMAGES
Yesterday’s insurrection was rooted in lies. That a fair election was stolen. That a significant defeat was actually a landslide victory. That the world’s oldest democracy, ingeniously insulated via autonomous state voting regimens, is a rigged system. Such lies-upon-lies, repeated frequently and fervently, provided the kindling, the spark, the gasoline.
That Donald Trump devolved from commander-in-chief to liar-in-chief didn’t surprise Forbes: As we’ve chronicled early and often, for all his billions and Barnum-like abilities, he’s been shamelessly exaggerating and prevaricating to our faces for almost four decades. More astonishing: the number of people willing to lend credence to that obvious mendacity on his behalf.
In this time of transition – and pain – reinvigorating democracy requires a reckoning. A truth reckoning. Starting with the people paid by the People to inform the People.
As someone in the business of facts, it’s been especially painful to watch President Trump’s press secretaries debase themselves. Yes, as with their political bosses, spins and omissions and exaggerations are part of the game. But ultimately in PR, core credibility is the coin of the realm.
From Day One at the Trump White House, up has been down, yes has been no, failure has been success. Sean Spicer set the tone with the inauguration crowd size – the worst kind of whopper, as it demanded that people disbelieve their own eyes. The next day, Kellyanne Conway defended Spicer’s lie with a new term, “alternative facts.” Spicer’s successor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied at scale, from smearing those who accused Trump of sexual harassment to conjuring jobs statistics. Her successor, Stephanie Grisham, over the course of a year, never even held a press conference, though the BS continued unabated across friendly outlets. And finally, Kayleigh McEnany, Harvard Law graduate, a propaganda prodigy at 32 who makes smiling falsehood an art form. All of this magnified by journalists too often following an old playbook ill-prepared for an Orwellian communication era.
As American democracy rebounds, we need to return to a standard of truth when it comes to how the government communicates with the governed. The easiest way to do that, from where I sit, is to create repercussions for those who don’t follow the civic norms. Trump’s lawyers lie gleefully to the press and public, but those lies, magically, almost never made it into briefs and arguments – contempt, perjury and disbarment keep the professional standards high.
So what’s the parallel in the dark arts of communication? Simple: Don’t let the chronic liars cash in on their dishonesty. Press secretaries like Joe Lockhart, Ari Fleischer and Jay Carney, who left the White House with their reputations in various stages of intact, made millions taking their skills — and credibility — to corporate America. Trump’s liars don’t merit that same golden parachute. Let it be known to the business world: Hire any of Trump’s fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie. We’re going to scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we’d approach a Trump tweet. Want to ensure the world’s biggest business media brand approaches you as a potential funnel of disinformation? Then hire away.
This isn’t cancel culture, which is a societal blight. (There’s surely a nice living for each of these press secretaries on the true-believer circuit.) Nor is this politically motivated, as Forbes’ pro-entrepreneur, pro-growth worldview has generally placed it in the right-of-center camp over the past century — this standard needs to apply to liars from either party. It’s just a realization that, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, in a thriving democracy, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Our national reset starts there.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/randal...o-lied-for-trump-accountable/?sh=d17e7385710b
These people sold their souls to the devil for a few shekels and 5 minutes of fame. What they very willingly and gleefully did for it though was become ministers of propaganda rather than press secretaries. They were so feckless and lacking in conscience themselves that they thought nothing of spewing lies, deception, spin, "alternative facts" and disinformation...for a morally bankrupt, Nazi-sympathizing, KKK-sympathizing, Confederate-sympathizing, fascist dictator. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels of the Third Reich might have given them a wink of approval.
****************************************************************************
Forbes
ELECTION 2020|Jan 7, 2021,11:57am EST|1,023,182 views
A Truth Reckoning: Why We’re Holding Those Who Lied For Trump Accountable
Randall Lane
Randall Lane Forbes Staff
I am chief content officer and editor of Forbes, and post on business, philanthropy--and food!
GETTY IMAGES
Yesterday’s insurrection was rooted in lies. That a fair election was stolen. That a significant defeat was actually a landslide victory. That the world’s oldest democracy, ingeniously insulated via autonomous state voting regimens, is a rigged system. Such lies-upon-lies, repeated frequently and fervently, provided the kindling, the spark, the gasoline.
That Donald Trump devolved from commander-in-chief to liar-in-chief didn’t surprise Forbes: As we’ve chronicled early and often, for all his billions and Barnum-like abilities, he’s been shamelessly exaggerating and prevaricating to our faces for almost four decades. More astonishing: the number of people willing to lend credence to that obvious mendacity on his behalf.
In this time of transition – and pain – reinvigorating democracy requires a reckoning. A truth reckoning. Starting with the people paid by the People to inform the People.
As someone in the business of facts, it’s been especially painful to watch President Trump’s press secretaries debase themselves. Yes, as with their political bosses, spins and omissions and exaggerations are part of the game. But ultimately in PR, core credibility is the coin of the realm.
From Day One at the Trump White House, up has been down, yes has been no, failure has been success. Sean Spicer set the tone with the inauguration crowd size – the worst kind of whopper, as it demanded that people disbelieve their own eyes. The next day, Kellyanne Conway defended Spicer’s lie with a new term, “alternative facts.” Spicer’s successor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied at scale, from smearing those who accused Trump of sexual harassment to conjuring jobs statistics. Her successor, Stephanie Grisham, over the course of a year, never even held a press conference, though the BS continued unabated across friendly outlets. And finally, Kayleigh McEnany, Harvard Law graduate, a propaganda prodigy at 32 who makes smiling falsehood an art form. All of this magnified by journalists too often following an old playbook ill-prepared for an Orwellian communication era.
As American democracy rebounds, we need to return to a standard of truth when it comes to how the government communicates with the governed. The easiest way to do that, from where I sit, is to create repercussions for those who don’t follow the civic norms. Trump’s lawyers lie gleefully to the press and public, but those lies, magically, almost never made it into briefs and arguments – contempt, perjury and disbarment keep the professional standards high.
So what’s the parallel in the dark arts of communication? Simple: Don’t let the chronic liars cash in on their dishonesty. Press secretaries like Joe Lockhart, Ari Fleischer and Jay Carney, who left the White House with their reputations in various stages of intact, made millions taking their skills — and credibility — to corporate America. Trump’s liars don’t merit that same golden parachute. Let it be known to the business world: Hire any of Trump’s fellow fabulists above, and Forbes will assume that everything your company or firm talks about is a lie. We’re going to scrutinize, double-check, investigate with the same skepticism we’d approach a Trump tweet. Want to ensure the world’s biggest business media brand approaches you as a potential funnel of disinformation? Then hire away.
This isn’t cancel culture, which is a societal blight. (There’s surely a nice living for each of these press secretaries on the true-believer circuit.) Nor is this politically motivated, as Forbes’ pro-entrepreneur, pro-growth worldview has generally placed it in the right-of-center camp over the past century — this standard needs to apply to liars from either party. It’s just a realization that, as Daniel Patrick Moynihan famously said, in a thriving democracy, everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Our national reset starts there.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/randal...o-lied-for-trump-accountable/?sh=d17e7385710b
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kgmets
BSB God
Very well put!
There's much more I would like to say tonight. But I'm too wiped out to go into it coherently at this hour.
I'm very happy though that Trump is impeached again. However symbolic this first step in the impeachment process may be, Trump has still been slapped with a consequence for his actions. And that still feels like a victory for now.
I'm very happy though that Trump is impeached again. However symbolic this first step in the impeachment process may be, Trump has still been slapped with a consequence for his actions. And that still feels like a victory for now.
For the fourth time in history, the House of Representatives has voted to impeach a President of the United States of America.
DJT has been the recipient of half of those impeachments.
Now that is one for the history books! One term and two impeachment trials.
DJT has been the recipient of half of those impeachments.
Now that is one for the history books! One term and two impeachment trials.
Indeed Another1!
His political biography will forever reference him as a twice impeached, one term president. That will say a lot about a person's moral character long after those of us in the captive audience (who were forced to painfully live through it) are gone. He will live in infamy in presidential history. He makes Nixon look like a boy scout. And makes George W. Bush look like a great president in comparison. That takes some doing.
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mikeyank
Long time forumite
Very funny and very apropos for this website.
juanjo
BSB Addict
From March 4, 1797, up until this year, the succession of one president to a new president has been celebrated in relative peace [other than the events surrounding the upset of the Southern rebels over the election of Abraham Lincoln]. Now because of an immature, would-be dictator, we have soldiers sleeping in the Capitol building and stationed throughout Washington DC to ensure peace on the day of Biden's Inauguration. As others have already commented, Trump will go down in history as the man whose incompetence led to the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans due to an epidemic, who collapsed an economy through his incompetence, not mention greed and avarice, and who divided the American people into warring camps to a level not seen since the Civil War - all because he was a greedy bastard who wished to profit financially from his time in office.
May his name be used as a curse for all eternity.
May his name be used as a curse for all eternity.
I meant to follow up on this sooner to name names. Or at least one solid name that is. One of the worst and most loathsome human beings in the Trump administration is Steven Miller. He's a fascist too. And Jewish no less. Oh, the irony. He is one of the main architects of the policy of separating families at the border, deporting the parents...and then keeping the kids (seemingly in perpetuity) in U.S. concentration camps. I call them concentration camps because of the fascist ideology that went into their implementation. If you think the term concentration camp goes too far, you might be able call them penal colonies for kids. (Which would still be totally illegal under international law.) But you can't even try to whitewash them even a little bit by calling them internment camps. Because in Japanese internment camps the families were legal U.S. citizens and the parents and children were all allowed to stay together.
As with Trump himself and so too with Miller, the fascist ideology and propaganda runs deep. In Germany the Nazi religion was that none of the problems of Germany were the fault of the "good" victimized and aggrieved white people. The list of scapegoats went on. The problems of the Fatherland were the fault of foreign countries conspiring against them. They were the fault of the sinister "Others" in their midst. Germany's problems were the fault of the Jews, the non-Aryan immigrants bringing their filthy unclean blood to mix into the perfect pure white genepool. Their problems were the fault of the gypsies, the homosexuals, the communists, the trade unionists.
Here in the U.S. Trump and Miller would have us believe that all of the U.S.'s problems are due to numerous scapegoats. Other countries (like China) are conspiring against us. (Not that I'm saying that China's trade and military policies and posture are completely benevolent towards us.) But it would be oversimplifying to say at this point that China is a conspiring enemy.
But Trumpism is all about blaming many domestic supposed enemies also. It's the biased media and "fake news". It's the fault of the Blacks, the immigrants, the brown skinned Latinos, the gays, the poor, the Democrats and liberals, the Hollywood elites, the intellectual elites, the elites of scientific academia who try to push actual science onto the population as if it's provable fact, etc, etc. How dare they! Why, if we allow Blacks and Latinos to increase in population and allow them to truly have equal rights and equal economic opportunity, they'll think they can mix their unclean blood into our wonderful white population and genepool. And eventually "true" pure whites will be a minority in the country. What an outrage. Right?
That's the cesspool and race to the bottom of the septic tank that Trump is trying to take us down. But we are much better and smarter than that. And it's all done for the sake of his own personal agendas and political advantage. Certainly not from any sincere form of patriotism. It's all for his own selfish purposes, ulterior motives and self-edification.
kgmets
BSB God
Very funny and very apropos for this website.
That's for sure!
I found and saved this video to favorites almost 3 years ago when I saw that Trump was not just flirting with fascism but was becoming a fascist dictator. I wanted to share it on another forum site. But even over there I thought I would be accused of hyperbole and even unwarranted hysteria by comparing Trumpism to Nazism. But after Trump's unsuccessful coup attempt last week to overthrow the democratic government, overturn the results of a fair and democratic election, and install himself by force as an autocratic fascist president...I no longer feel that constraint.
This video for me is an allegorical warning about where the end game of fascism--with all its accompanying racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, homophobia and autocratic messianic "Great White Hope" leadership---goes. With Germany the end result was the physical destruction of the country's actual buildings and infrastructure along with the spiritual and emotional devastation and defeat wrought on the civilian population as the karmic price to be paid.
Notice how in broad daylight and with human activity still abounding, just how quiet, defeated, devastated, frightened and sullen the population is. Their messiah told them he would conquer the world for them so they could be the supreme rulers and the master white race on the planet. They were told to fear those in other countries as they were inferior and even sub-human. Now they have lost millions of lives of their fellow countrymen. Their country's borders have all been carved up as the spoils of war. They are now occupied by the very people they waged brutal war upon and were told to never ever trust. Their right to determine their own future has been taken away from them. At least for the foreseeable future. (Which lasted many decades.) And they lost territory of their former borders they would never get back.
So whether you're a WWII history buff as I am, or you watch it as an allegorical warning of the dangers of fascism, or even from an anthropological perspective...I think you'll find it a fascinating vid.
This video for me is an allegorical warning about where the end game of fascism--with all its accompanying racism, anti-Semitism, xenophobia, homophobia and autocratic messianic "Great White Hope" leadership---goes. With Germany the end result was the physical destruction of the country's actual buildings and infrastructure along with the spiritual and emotional devastation and defeat wrought on the civilian population as the karmic price to be paid.
Notice how in broad daylight and with human activity still abounding, just how quiet, defeated, devastated, frightened and sullen the population is. Their messiah told them he would conquer the world for them so they could be the supreme rulers and the master white race on the planet. They were told to fear those in other countries as they were inferior and even sub-human. Now they have lost millions of lives of their fellow countrymen. Their country's borders have all been carved up as the spoils of war. They are now occupied by the very people they waged brutal war upon and were told to never ever trust. Their right to determine their own future has been taken away from them. At least for the foreseeable future. (Which lasted many decades.) And they lost territory of their former borders they would never get back.
So whether you're a WWII history buff as I am, or you watch it as an allegorical warning of the dangers of fascism, or even from an anthropological perspective...I think you'll find it a fascinating vid.
juanjo
BSB Addict
I was singing "One More Day" all day long. But a friend commented that "we are all turned into Stormy Daniels. We are just waiting for him to finish and leave." I think that is an apropos comment concerning the four years of this complete disaster known as Donald Trump.
