[View here as a Twitter thread]
1/ Let’s consider another possibility: He knows what he’s doing. The lies are carefully calibrated, and the emotional outbursts are part of the show. Prof. Snyder says the way to understand Trump’s methods is to study Putin. (yeah, I’ve been reading Snyder again)
2/ Snyder tells about the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2014. Everyone knew Russia invaded Ukraine. But Putin denied it. He told outrageous lies like: “Those soldiers weren’t our soldiers. They got the uniforms second hand somewhere.”
3/ The reporters spent their time covering Putin’s outrageous lies. Snyder described what Putin did as “RealityTV” — a larger-than-life dictator who kept telling crazy lies. Meanwhile, Putin delayed discussion of the invasion for months.
4/ When the Russians shot down the commercial plane, Putin’s media machine spread more outrageous lies, like: A Jewish Ukranian oligarch was controlling the air space & we know he was Jewish because of the shape of his nose. The lie itself got people riled, capturing attention.
5/ When Ukranians protested against Yanukovych (Manafort’s pal, BTW) the lie told over and over was that the protesters were organized by an LGBT group attempting a “homodictatorship” and hence disrupting “civilization.”
6/ The lie about the homodictatorship succeeded on multiple levels: It repulsed people who were homophobic, it irritated people who are not, and got both sides fighting against each other. Putin won because all the noise made it hard to focus on the anti-Russian protests.
7/ The Team Trump used the same tactics after the Access Hollywood Tape in 2016. Suddenly there were stories about Pizzagate, and shocking stories about Podesta. The Access Hollywood Tape got drowned out in the noise. And of course, “her emails
8/ Remember that most people believed HRC committed serious crimes with her private server (she didn’t) while all of this news reporting slides under the radar :russia-investigation-summary.com/crimes/ According to 538 aggregate polling (the one I most trust) Trump’s approval rating is over 41%.
9/ Yesterday I saw lots of legal analysis about Trump’s email obstructing justice. Coincidence? I think not. (OF COURSE he’s obstructing justice. He said he would. He calls it fighting back.) How about some analysis about where & how Manafort got the $$ ?
9/ Solidfying power by starting a war is very 20th century. Putin’s method (lie big, get people fighting, and undermine confidence in institutions) is better. Less blood and less risk. Fascist philosopher Llyin provided Putin’s blueprint for 21st century authoritarian control.
10/ Llyin argues that the entire world is a construction or a fiction; there is no truth. Everything is a form of lie. If everything is a lie, you can’t lie. Of if you DO lie, you just say, “EVERYONE lies, not just me.” It’s the ultimate skepticism and relativism.
11/ It also forms the basis for 21th century tribalism and nationalism. In the politics of “us v. them” people stick with their own leader, even though he lies, because they like his lies better than the other side’s lies.
12/Hardcore Trump supporters KNOW he lies & commits Manafort-type crimes. But they think ALL politicians lie and steal, so they don’t care. “He’s a liar, but he’s OUR liar. HRC is the enemy liar.” (For years the FOX-GOP has undermined confidence in D.C. and our institutions.)
13/Trump is playing a different game with different rules. Liberal democracy is like ping pong. Trump is bowling. Each time he throws a heavy ball to the ground, people think he’s screwing up. Meanwhile, he laughs at those wimpy ping pong balls. (& he’s breaking laws on purpose)
14/ Yesterday I wrote a 14th tweet to this thread, but never posted it because I thought it needed more explanation. See how to have a happy ending here:
