FIRST THEY CAME

Trump Hugging the Flag

Credit: nymag.com

First, they came for the news media, crying "fake news," promoting "alternative facts" and denying the reality of any unfavorable reports or evidence, and we did nothing.

Then they came for the "aliens" and immigrants, and though concerned, we did nothing.

Then they came for judges whose legal rulings prevented the separation and caging of migrant children at the border, and, though protesting, we did nothing.

Then they came for Homeland Security officials whose warnings of Russian election interference they rejected, and though surprised, we did nothing.

Then they came for the FBI Director who would not pledge complete loyalty, but it was 'complicated', and other concerns were cited, and we did nothing.

Then they came for the Attorney General whose required recusal opened the door for the Mueller Investigation, and who was no Roy Cohn, and, we did nothing.

Then they came for the Investigators themselves, accusing them of being "deep state"agents and labeling the investigation a "total hoax," and we did nothing.

Then they came for the "whistleblowers" who revealed corrupt dealings with a foreign power to undermine a potential political rival, and we, ultimately, did nothing.

Then they came for the Inspectors General in every Federal agency where questions were raised about administrative corruption, and we grumbled, but did nothing.

Then they came for the Public Health experts and officials, charging a "cabal" of scientists with undermining the President by promoting the "hoax" of a pandemic and the wearing of masks, and we've done nothing.

Then they came for peaceful Black Lives Matter protestors, smearing them as "subversives" and "anarchists" bent only on destruction, deserving of "retribution," and threatening to charge them with sedition, and we've done nothing.

Finally, they came for the Electoral System, claiming it to be "rigged," against them, suppressing voting, cutting short the census, shrinking the Postal Service, and undermining public faith in the integrity of the most basic mechanism of a functioning democracy, and so far, we've done..... 

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Les Adler

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This piece was inspired by Martin Niemöller, a prominent Lutheran minister and courageous opponent of Adolf Hitler. Niemöller survived seven years in Nazi concentration camps.

"GET ME ROGER STONE" -- A MUST-SEE DOCUMENTARY

“Get Me Roger Stone” Netflix documentary 2017

Those still attempting to make sense of how the country has reached its

current political impasse could hardly do better than viewing the new Netflix documentary,

“Get Me Roger Stone.”

 Roger Stone

Credit: Wikipedia

Stone, whose career closely tracks the Republican Party's evolutionary descent from Nixon to Reagan to Trump (sad) appears first as a ideologically driven Young Republican partisan in the 1970's, then a fervent Reagan campaign staffer and later big-time Washington consultant/lobbyist in the 1980's and 1990's, and most recently as a key strategic adviser to Trump's campaign team. With a history of lobbying for a variety of unsavory foreign governments, his name has currently appeared in a number of recent investigative reports and articles delving into the relationship between close Trump associates and Russian operatives during the 2016 presidential campaign. 

As his public profile has risen, so has his ego, which the documentary highlights in full graphic display-- to Stone's evident delight. Like Trump himself, one of Stone's acknowledged mentors in the darker arts of politics was the infamous Roy Cohn, Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel and hatchet man during the Senator's anti-Communist crusade in the 1950's. It was, in fact, Cohn who introduced Stone to Trump in the early 1980's; and Stone, who later in the decade began urging Trump to consider running for President.

Central to Stone's 'brand' has been a mastery of the techniques of negative campaigning, including character assassination, dirty tricks, disinformation and behind-the-scenes manipulation of groups, individuals and causes. In interviews, he is openly and aggressively unapologetic about his commitment to winning at all cost, using any weapons available. Unfortunately, his model seems to have been increasingly adopted by Republican leaders in Washington where policy and public interest concerns, along with any commitment to bipartisanship or shared governance have given way to the single-minded goal of defeating and demeaning the opposition. With no fixed ideology, available to the highest bidder, and certainly without shame, Stone is the perfect hired gun and exemplar of the new Trumpian world. 

The documentary's chief impact, however, is its shocking revelation of just how far and how fast we have come from a world in which at least the ideals and standards of acceptable political and personal behavior in a democracy were promoted and proclaimed –if not always followed. What we are experiencing is not a new normal, but what can best be described as a 'new abnormal' in which 'alternative facts', denial of evidence, blatant lies, deliberate distortions and a generous admixture of the politics of fear have effectively undermined a sense of shared reality and trust in national institutions.

In their effort to win at all cost, freely employing the politics of personal destruction while demeaning the very instruments of democracy, Trump, Stone and their enablers have brought the nation to its current debased level of national division and crisis. Joe McCarthy and his amanuensis, Roy Cohn, have very nearly triumphed. While perhaps not explaining fully the shape of the elephant in the room, “Get Me Roger Stone” is a timely examination of a significant portion the beast.

Les Adler

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Zerospinzone published the above piece in July, 2017. It now (January 25, 2019) appears that Stone may have pulled a few too many "dirty tricks." He was arrested early this morning at his home in Florida by heavily armed FBI agents and charged with one count of obstructing an official investigation (the House Intelligence Committee's Russia investigation), five counts of making false statements to Congress and one count of witness tampering. We'll see how Stone's notorious arrogance holds up in the face of Mueller's notorious diligence.

And today, 11/16/19, we learned that Stone has been found guilty on seven counts, including lying to Congress and witness tampering, and could spend up to twenty years in prison. Of course, it seems almost guaranteed that the man Stone mentored in the darkest political arts, Donald Trump, will pardon him.

Again, you can view the excellent Netflix documentary on Stone here.

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L'ETAT C'EST MOI--TRUMP'S IDENTITY PROBLEM

“I believe it hurts our country terribly, because it shows we’re a divided, mixed-up, not-unified country. And we have very important things to be doing right now, whether it’s trade deals, whether it’s military, whether it’s stopping nuclear – all of the things that we discussed today. And I think this shows a very divided country."

-----President Trump, commenting on the appointment of a special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the U.S. elections

"I have absolute right to do what I want to do with the Justice Department."

-----From Trump's interview with the New York Times, 12/28/17 

If someone is a narcissist, it's all about him or her. Narcissists are notorious for having no boundaries--you're cast for a role in their drama whether you want to be or not.

One corollary is that if you've done something that reflects well on them, for the moment you're their best friend; but if you've done something that fails to feed their ego, or worse yet, threatens it, you're instantly their enemy.*

Another corollary is that they can't ever be wrong; so if something goes wrong, it's always someone else's fault.

It's safe to assume that to a narcissistic ruler, there are no boundaries between himself and his realm. The poster child for this, at least until now, has been Louis XIV of France. He's famous for proclaiming, "L'etat? L'etat c'est moi,"--"The State? I am the State."

Louis XIV of France--The Sun King in full regalia
Author: Hyacinth Rigaud
Musee du Louvre

It's no secret that our current president has the same proclivity. From his point of view, it's his country, his military, his secrets to share or withhold as he wishes, his realm to do with as he pleases. The Constitution, the rule of law, checks and balances, Congress and the courts are irrelevancies that had best get out of his way.

There's no doubt that the appointment of Robert Mueller as Special Counsel is bad news for Donald Trump, and as Mueller's investigation develops, it may well hurt Trump terribly.

However, given his narcissism, it's not surprising that he experiences this threat to himself and his presidency as a threat to the nation. It's also predictable that as he experiences further ego-threatening narcissistic injuries, he will be driven to strike out in narcissistic rage at his enemies, actual and perceived.

Angry Trump caricature
adapted from Gage Skidmore's Flickr photosteam
by DonkeyHotey

In relationships, the targets of narcissistic rage are often advised to walk away, then later try to define and defend the boundaries of what they will or will not take. Unfortunately, none of us here in the U.S. or the rest of the world can just walk away from a wounded and enraged President with the ability to lash out within the country or abroad with the full power of the state.

Still, even if Trump can't tell the difference between himself and "our country," we can. Because it truly is our country, not his.

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For an analysis of the implication ofTrump's narcissism from the point of view of a neurolinguist, you can navigate to an excellent post by George Lakoff at this URL.

*Click here for a Yale psychiatrist's discussion of this pattern, and its impact on Trump's followers and on the nation as a whole.

And here for a more detailed disucussion of this problem as of 9/15/19 by professor Steve Hochstadt.

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