Lucian K. Truscott IV, Salon - It would appear that Trump lies instinctively, automatically, reflexively, almost as a matter of course. But he doesn’t lie that way at all. Trump tells lies as a way to exercise power. He used lies to accumulate wealth as a businessman. He used lies to accumulate votes as a candidate. He used lies to accumulate power as a president. Now he’s using lies to keep himself from being removed from office.
It’s amazing how similar Trump’s lies are to the perpetual campaign of propaganda used by Russian President Vladimir Putin to maintain power. After taking power in 2000, the first thing Putin did was seize or co-opt most of Russian news media by jailing or exiling its oligarch owners. Once he controlled the media, he set about firing executives of state-owned outlets like the RIA Novosti news agency, liquidating their assets and remaking them in his image. This resulted in classic Soviet-style-all-lies-all-the-time Russian propaganda cranked out around the clock on TV and newspapers across Russia. The only difference between what Putin does and the way Trump behaves here is ownership of the media. The perpetual production and dissemination of lies are exactly the same. Lies are the way authoritarians exercise power. If you are governed by a set of rules and laws, and then tell lies that enable you to break those rules and laws, the lies give you power. It’s like you’re standing astride the life of the nation and saying, I know I’m lying. You know I’m lying. I’m powerful and you’re not. Fuck you.
There’s only one thing Trump and Putin care about: power. They showed their affinity for each other last week in Vietnam when Trump repeatedly and affirmatively quoted Putin denying that Russia had anything to do with “meddling” in U.S. elections last year, despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary that has built up since American intelligence agencies concluded over a year ago that Russia had hacked Democratic party servers and sought to disrupt our elections.
3 comments:
More BS on the theme The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. This story about "lies" is composed of some big ones. There is no "irrefutable evidence" that Russia hacked the Democratic servers.
Just the opposite. And "The only difference between what Puti does and the way Trump behaves here is ownership of the media." Trump doesn't have to own the media...they do their lies without the government owning them. Remember WMD's? All U.S. wars are based on lies.
"There’s only one thing Trump and Putin care about: power."
Oh, and I guess we're supposed to believe that Hillary, Obama and Bush cared about anything else? What a crock.
Truscott IV does get the general dynamic right but the real issue is presented by various truth movements going back to Penn Jones, Jr. and Mae Brussell or really to the Wilson administration and Debs. Trump has been a truther on the JFK issue, releasing the remaining documents. But on all the critical current items such as the Syrian missile attack hoax, he has something to hide. Of course, he would never challenge the veracity of the 911 cover story, but he strangely doesn't go on TV for a Checkers speech to dispel the Russian election meddling hoax. Of course, he comes from an overt criminal background as have most recent presidents such as Nixon, LBJ, Clinton and the Bushes. But his criminal background should not deter him from defending his office. That is the essence of presidential power since LBJ, and Trump seems rudderless perhaps because of his birtherism. Whereas LBJ would go so far as to destroy Warren's reputation in order to cover up Dallas, Trump does nothing to defend himself as the patsy in this psy-ops attack from the Clinton-Obama-Bush faction.
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