Trump is a sociopath incapable of accepting even the most benign criticism and incapable of empathy. He is incapable of putting public interest before his own ego. It’s not going to get better in 2017, it’s going to get so much worse. He’s going to be handed immense power which will go largely unchecked by the moral cowards who’ve already repeatedly failed their obligations to protect this country in order to promote their own agenda which seems to consist largely of the total shredding of the social programs and protections that have existed since LBJ that we’ve come to take for granted. All of this set against a backdrop of rising global instability is alarming. It’s not going to get better. January 1st isn’t going to reset the clock. This is not to advocate for hopelessness or nihilism, but to say that turning away from what’s headed toward us is only going to make the coming abuses of power easier and crueler. The general election offers a lot of lessons in how tenuous the “truth” is and how “truth” can be wielded like a weapon especially if you aren’t paying attention or have no sense or perspective of history. Look at what Trump is doing now: during the general election he presented a narrative of a country that was economically broken, and when the facts did not align with the truth he turned the truth into conspiracy, claiming that the government was faking the unemployment numbers for unspecified, nefarious reasons, while at the same time falsely inflating the unemployment numbers of black and latino Americans in order to support the racist fearmongering to his almost exclusively white audiences. But even when his claims were shown to be objectively false, the truth was drowned out by invective. Trump was doing this as late as early November. Now that he has won the election he presents the same optimistic economic indicators that he had previously stated were lies as proof of his legitimacy and power. Essentially trying to take credit for the healthy state of the economy now that it behooves him. And there is a large portion of the electorate that swallows this uncritically. A report out today shows that in Elkhart, Indiana which saw a decrease in unemployment of 19% during Obama’s administration, those who identify as Republican do not credit Obama with their economic recovery, but instead think he is taking false credit for it. In a survey taken a week after Trump won approval of the economy jumped over 40%, a swing that occurred in less than two weeks. This is the damage that hyperpartisanship and yes, white identity politics, can do. But it’s also the triumph of emotion over objective fact. Add to this the complete and utter failure to attach any political significance or foster historical memory of Bush’s disastrous policies and administration and we’ve managed to create a reality that can be twisted at will to benefit the whims of Trump. When the truth does not benefit him it becomes conspiracy. And the same fact is either true or false depending on where he is standing. This will continue into his presidency and probably get worse. Now is truly the time to get acquainted with how much damage propaganda can do. If you can’t see what’s coming towards you, can’t see the strings contorting the marionette, than how will you resist? This is not just a problem on the right: those still expounding on how the DNC stole the election from Bernie Sanders also demonstrate an understanding of reality that appeals to emotion but not truth, which is even more troubling considering it was a narrative seeded by a hostile foreign power; innocuous politicking and frustration that a candidate wouldn’t concede once he had already lost became corruption and theft when presented as such by those trying to sow chaos. And the truth, which almost always takes longer to tell, and more nuance to absorb, was swept away by emotion and and easily repeated slogans. If there is any chance of resisting what’s coming than the stakes are too high to simply refuse to be informed, or ignore a truth because it feels bad, or perhaps is scary. Whoever controls the narrative controls the power, so don’t make it easier on those who have a vested interest in keeping you in the dark.
2087
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