Thursday, October 1, 2020

Why won't the lying liar lie?

 


     So here's the mystery.
     Given that Donald Trump is a liar—a continual, habitual, reflexive, pathological liar. And given the ease with which he mouths whatever untruth will reflect the greatest unearned glory upon him at any given moment or grease his way out of some self-imposed jam, secure in the knowledge, or maybe completely unaware, that he can always reverse himself should circumstances dictate, how do we explain this:
     Why didn't Trump just condemn white supremacy when called upon to do so, rather pathetically, by Fox News' Chris Wallace at the presidential debate in Cleveland Tuesday night?
     Could it be he believes so strongly in the superiority of the white race that he cannot publicly denounce it? That doing so would be like some Christian martyr forced to renounce his faith by some pagan tyrant? He would rather die.
     That's hard to imagine. Trump doesn't believe in anything except his own superlative greatness. He turned his back on New York, the city that created him. He drop kicks longtime aides at the first sign of trouble. It can't be loyalty to white supremacy. Not from the man whose entire mechanism is greased by disloyalty, hypocrisy and betrayal.
     So what it is then? It isn't as if such a condemnation would matter in the slightest.  As Hazlitt reminds us, "
The repentance of a hypocrite is itself hypocrisy."
     Maybe because Chris Wallace, a member of the despised media, albeit the weak tea Fox version, was urging him to do it. Trump can't denounce white supremacy for the same reason he couldn't wear a mask for the first four months of the pandemic, even when doing so would be painless, help him politically and, oh yeah, save lives: because he was supposed to do it. And part of the oxygen that keep Trump and his base alive is their image of themselves as Harley-straddling rebels, Robinson Crusoe noncomformists, AR-15 in one hand while the other flips off any and all, on general principles. What is denouncing hate versus the the visceral pleasure of emitting a long, loud, deeply felt, "Fuuuuuuck yooooooouuuuuuu!!!" in the general direction of everybody who isn't on their knees, adoring the godhead?
     Ridiculing their enemies is an essential part of Trumpism. Mexicans are rapists, Muslims terrorists. Think of all the effort conjuring up pants-wetting liberals, casting them as traitors and cowards and idiots, then imaging their eye-goggling shock at whatever dull repetitive inanity Trump et al are babbling. The fact that most liberals are already bored and disgusted and at this point have to force themselves to notice, think about and if possible care, doesn't register. In their minds, they shoot, they scoooore!
     Haters define themselves by the people they hate. They sit in cathectic contemplation of what in theory so disrupts their lives but, in fact, give them the meaning they otherwise lack. This is counterintuitive, and can be very hard for non-haters to understand. They give the objects of their hate power over their own mental states, then resent and fight that power. Think about your marriage. Now try to imagine feeling that the marriages of gay people you never met somehow affect yours, never mind undermine it. Hard to do, right?
      You want to laugh, but none of this is funny. The Department of Homeland Security called white supremacism will be "most persistent and lethal threat" facing the United States over the coming year when it comes to terrorism. Donald Trump can't even pretend to condemn it. He won't acknowledge the danger that white nationalism poses, never mind do something about it. Only we can.

8 comments:

  1. No none of this is funny. And if its a game , its a deadly game. Too many in the media , in our government and just regular citizens don't seem to truly acknowledge the real danger to our liberty and possibly our lives Donald Trump and his inner circle pose to the people of this country. many Trump supporters seem to realize how poor a president he is but support him because it pisses off liberals. imagine granting a tyrant who will have a negative affect on your own life just to anger the people who support the notion of equal rights for all. this is not going to end well . clearly even if he loses the election . we live amongst shit heads. some of whom are our friends, family and neighbors.

    my son labored for a bricklayer I've known intimately for years over the weekend and when I asked how'd it go. he told me he didn't know J was a trump supporter and he nearly walked off the job after hours of listening to him rant about immigrants, blacks, gays and women. he said I want to like J but there's something wrong with him . yes son, he's a bigot. my son said I think he's dangerous. I think so too.

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  2. Definition of cathectic: of, relating to, or invested with mental or emotional energy. Nicely played.

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  3. After agonizing and questioning myself about the Trump problem, I really believe it’s mental illness. Mental illness left untreated, for years, covered up by enablers and star-lovers who have given him not only permission, but encouragement, to continue his act. Now it’s too late, past the point of even trying, to think he can change.
    Even the most pathologically sick individuals can seem intelligent at times. But the illness always prevails. Trump will never have the ability to keep quiet during a debate; it would be like trying to keep water from pouring out of a turned on faucet.
    I’m no psychologist, but that’s the only conclusion I can come to. The alternatives would be even more terrifying.

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  4. Even if he his kicked out of office and maybe even fade from view, the sleeping giant has been awakened and who knows when it’ll go away.

    I’ll be able to deal with it in my remaining years. I feel for the youth of this country.

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  5. "Cathectic: of or relating to cathexis." Oh, thanks a lot, Dictionary . com. "Cathexis: the investment of emotional significance in an activity, object, or idea." Sometimes there are words that I can't really define, but I see occasionally. I think this one may be completely new to me.

    "So what it is then?" To me, Occam's Razor suggests that Hair Furor fears that if he were to condemn white supremacy with any vigor, he might lose votes. I don't actually believe that such would be the case -- the Proud Boys know who's on their side regardless of what's said at this point. But I think it's safe to say that crossing his fingers and mouthing the right words, after all that he's said and done, is not gonna get him any *new* votes, so he'll continue to dance with who brung him.

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  6. I think Trump won't criticize the Proud Boys, or white supremacists in general, because they like him, and that is the beginning and end of how he judges anyone.

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    1. Yep, Scribe, that's even simpler than my speculation, and seems like an adequate explanation by itself.

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  7. It's all about macho toughness with Orange Julius. His thinking and way of seeing everything is all about winners and losers and coming out on top. His Queens roots have made him view the whole world as a streetfight, in which a winner never backs down, walks back what he says, or loses face. Talking the talk and walking the walk. Even though Richie Rich probably never duked it out with anyone in his whole sorry life.

    If Sniffy condemned or disparaged or disassociated himself from his thugs and the fascist militias and the brawling, gun-toting, flag-waving Storm Trumpers, he would lose his "street cred" with them, and with the rest of the mouthbeathers and yahoos and sheeple who comprise his base...mostly undereducated racists and haters...white men who've never progressed beyond high school.

    The Proud Boys are just a politicized Fight Club...aging has-beens or never-wases with pickup trucks and firearms, who want to play Rambo. Frat-boy wannbees who never went to college. This outfit is their frat. Now they are famous, on the world stage for a few brief minutes. The Bullying Brotherhood of the Bullet.

    Eventually, the Proud Boys will go down like the Klan went down, through the justice system...or via armed Federal response...if they get too nasty and too deadly. And if some Nasty Boys become Dead Boys in the coming months? Tough. They began it. Sic 'em, President Joe!

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