And say anything
Donald Trump believes Americans who gave their lives in defense of their country are “suckers” and “losers.” What must he think of his fans who will believe any lie he tells?
Paul Waldman responded to Donald Trump’s Wednesday town hall on Fox News:
Trump has always employed this very simple strategy: Dish out the most preposterous hyperbole and lies, but do it with the utter conviction that only an experienced con artist can muster. It’s what he did as a businessman, what he did when he ran for president in 2016, and what he has done ever since.
Trump’s shtick has worn thin, Waldman believes, but it’s the only one he’s got. Trump went to it again upon leaving a New York City courtroom on Thursday. Trump stood before reporters and lambasted N.Y. Attorney General Letitia James.
Presiding Judge Arthur Engoron (who received a bomb threat at his Long Island home on Thursday) will determine how large of a fine the Trump Organization will pay for committing decades of fraud in New York. Engoron mentioned Bernie Madoff’s case at the end of the day, reported Susanne Craig of the New York Times. Madoff was ordered to pay $170 billion in restitution to his Ponzi fraud victims.
MSNBC’s Stephanie Ruhle corrected the record on Exxon misinformation Trump has repeated over and over.
Marc Elias of Democracy Docket tweeted a quote in response to the same Exxon misinformation:
“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.” – Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism
Here’s how the New York Times deconstructed just one Trump speech in October 2020:
The sad fact is that the GOP and its MAGA base have been conditioned to lap up the lies as a sign of belonging and to repeat them as casually as an evangelical working the drive-thru window might wish you “a blessed day.”
Only “a blessed day” is mighty harmless compared to the flood of conspiracy theories that sadly did not culminate in the sacking of the U.S. Capitol. MAGA Republicans have been conditioned to lie and “to believe the worst, no matter how absurd.”
This was Rep. Clay Higgins (R) of Louisiana in 2020:
This was MAGA influencer (and former @Project_Veritas operative) Laura Loomer attacking Trump challenger Nikki Haley on Thursday night:
And they vote.