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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNo words. From slate "Trump's Contagious Delusions"
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/07/donald-trump-vladimir-putin-helsinki-summit-the-president-cannot-reconcile-reality-with-his-own-truth.html?via=homepage_taps_topNo matter how much he twists and untwists his version of reality, his supporters are happy to embrace it.
Double Decker Narcissism
Donald Trumps supporters believe the guy who believes only what he wants to believe.
By DAHLIA LITHWICK
JULY 19, 20182:31 PM
The New York Times Wednesday story revealing Donald Trump was fully and meticulously briefed before his inauguration about direct Russian interference in the 2016 election solves the mystery once and for all: Trump simply cannot permit his own brain to accept any evidence that he didnt win the presidency by millions of votes. Thats it. No matter how many Russian emails and texts the nations intelligence apparatus show him, no matter how many times he is reminded of what is incontrovertibly true, Trumps mind cannot reconcile reality with his own truth: that he is the most beloved and cherished leader in American history. Even when he was forced to walk back his Helsinki comments about trusting Russia more than his own intelligence agencies, in a performance arguably more horrifying than the original press conference with Vladimir Putin, Trump couldnt manage to stay on message. Within hours of his clarification, he had reverted back to no when asked whether Russia was still targeting the United States.
This isnt an intelligence problem or even a political problem. Its an epistemological problem. This president is never going to allow himself to believe something that is abhorrent to him, and he will therefore dismiss, deflect, and contradict any information that doesnt confirm his pre-existing beliefs. Whether or not hes ever directly conspired with Russia, whether or not the Russians have something on him, Trumps mental health requires him to reject even flawlessly sourced facts that he cannot integrate into his worldview. The most important conclusion we can draw from the past weeks events is that even his own aides have given up on trying to persuade him of the truth. Or as Sen. John Thune glumly conceded, regarding Trumps walk-back, I guess its probably the best were going to be able to get. His reality is a fixed point. We either work around him, like Thune, or devote useless energy to trying to dissuade him.
Donald Trump believes only what he wants to believe. Although Washington Republicans will surely continue to craft their workarounds, nobody can deny any longer that Trump is willing to destabilize decades-old geopolitical alliances and undermine American national security, doing so chiefly in service of his own delusions. History books will someday have to note that American democracy died largely as a result of one mans terminal case of confirmation bias.
But heres the catch. Trumps refusal to countenance any reality that doesnt map on to the movie kicking around inside his brain isnt an affliction thats limited to Trump. Its perfectly mirrored in the devotion of the Trump loyalists who suffer from precisely the same disorder. The presidents inability to differentiate between reality and what he wants to be true is the reason his staunchest supporters see him as the patron saint of choose-your-own-ending geopolitics. The bulk of unyielding Trump fans dont want or need a coherent narrative. Trumps performance in Helsinki on Monday was heroic because Russia is not the enemy, the deep state is. Trumps walk-back in Washington the next day was heroic because he was man enough to concede that he misspoke and Russia is again the enemy and we trust our national intelligence apparatus. And Trumps walk-back of his walk-back is also heroic because Russia is not the enemy, the deep state is. Yeah, thats the ticket. Its like Build-A-Bear, but for truth.
snip - read the rest at the link above
long but good article and mind bendingly depressing - IT IS A CULT!
pansypoo53219
(20,959 posts)teach1st
(5,932 posts)NRaleighLiberal
(60,009 posts)C_U_L8R
(44,992 posts)Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)EndGOPPropaganda
(1,117 posts)30 years of lies from Fox and Limbaugh and Cato and Heritage and Breitbart and WSJ Ed page created this.
Not Trump.
Rightwing propaganda told America that Hillary and Democrats are evil. Thats why 20% of America thinks Putin is better than Dems. Because Limbaugh reaches 18% of Americans weekly and has been lying to them for THIRTY YEARS. Lots of those listeners have been listening to his lies for their WHOLE LIVES.
The rightwing propaganda machine was built by GOP billionaires to get votes for tax cuts.
And it created the conditions for Trump. Trump didnt build this. Rupert Murdoch and Rush Limbaugh and the Koches and Bob Mercer built this.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)The white backlash to the Civil Rights Movement and Nixon's Southern Strategy and Reagan's intense dog whistling helped make the rise of Trump (or someone like him) almost inevitable.
But, yes, right wing media has played an enormous role in the rise of Trump.
EndGOPPropaganda
(1,117 posts)The birth event was LBJ kicking the racists out of the Democratic Party with the Civil Rights Act.
We went from a GOP coalition of rich people plus the educated and socially liberal, to a coalition of rich people and racists and Christians.
Oligarchs plus identity politics is a recipe for disaster.
(Piketty has written some good stuff on this.)
John Fante
(3,479 posts)obedient NFL players, and traumatized brown people at the border.
BIGOTRY BIGOTRY and more BIGOTRY. That is Trump's charisma, his charm, his appeal - and as far as his supporters are concerned, it more than makes up for his numerous shortcomings. As long as he continues to follow through on his bigoted policies, Trump will always have GOP support in the high 80s. They couldn't care less that he is weak, lazy, crooked, hypocritical, and incoherent. He is deplorable, and so are they.
EndGOPPropaganda
(1,117 posts)Garrett78
(10,721 posts)I'm not convinced that "Trumps mind cannot reconcile reality with his own truth."
That might be true. But it may also be true that he's simply obfuscating, because he doesn't want others to accept that he's compromised, that he's weak, that he's illegitimate.
gulliver
(13,168 posts)His audience accepts what he says not because they believe it, but because it allows them to do something they want to do (or not do something they don't want to do...or both).
The Genealogist
(4,723 posts)I don't know whether it is what this writer says, or one of a dozen or more other things that is wrong with him. Doesn't matter exactly. He is destroying this country right before our eyes. THAT is what matters.
Ultimately, whether the house burned down because of faulty wiring, an arsonist's moltov cocktail, or a kid playing with matches, it is still a burned down house.