Flashback - 46 years ago

joker44
In the wind
"But I wonder whether the enormity of his lying has sunk in yet – whether we have, or can, come to terms with the thought that so much of what he said to us was just noise, words, and that we can no longer begin by accepting any of it as the truth.   This is a total reversal of the way we were brought up to think about presidents, a departure from deeply ingrained habits. One's mind resists the thought that our president is a faithless man, capable of looking at us in utter sincerity from the other side of the television camera and telling us multiple, explicit, barefaced lies."

No, this isn't some contemporary journalist writing about Trump. It's an excerpt from Elizabeth Drew's Washington Journal, an account of Watergate and the fall of Richard Nixon.

Charlie Sykes of The Bulwark had this comment:
This feels like a missive from a kinder, more naive age. Back in 1974, you could still be shocked by presidential lying. But for us, it has become a way of life so normal that its seems like a constant background noise. Our minds no longer resist the thought that "our president is a faithless man," because that's been drilled into us thousands of times over the last four years. 

I think it's fair to add that to a lesser extent it extends thru the W Bush and Clinton presidencies. They lied but much less frequently than Trump.

4 comments

  • latinalover69
    •
    4 years ago
    Oh Joker yer not changing any minds or hearts. Guess you have not seen or heard of the massive Trump boat and car parades. Guess you have not seen the massive rallies. 50k at the Penn rally on Sat. 50k? What does pedo Joe get? 15 peeps. Please bro no one buys yer bull crap. It is a monumental landslide on Tues Nov 3. We'll be drinking yer salty liberal tears that night.
  • Arigano_69 (Twat)
    •
    4 years ago
    "It is a monumental landslide on Tues Nov 3."

    Yup, it sure will be.
    ByeDon!!!!
  • joker44
    •
    4 years ago
    Latinalover, I get your humor but, seriously, my political posts are NEVER aimed at changing any Magats minds. I fully accept Eric Hoffer's description of the True Believer as applying to these guys --

    "“It is the true believer’s ability to “shut his eyes and stop his ears” to facts that do not deserve to be either seen or heard which is the source of his unequaled fortitude and constancy. He cannot be frightened by danger nor disheartened by obstacles nor baffled by contradictions because he denies their existence.”

    AND

    “The fanatic cannot be weaned away from his cause by an appeal to his reason or moral sense. He fears compromise and cannot be persuaded to qualify the certitude and righteousness of his holy cause. But he finds no difficulty in swinging suddenly and wildly from one holy cause to another. He cannot be convinced but only converted.”
    - Eric Hoffer, The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements

    Remember the 2016 Bernie Bros who went from supporting Sanders to voting for Trump?


  • skibum609
    •
    4 years ago
    People vote for Trump because they no longer see democratic party drones as Americans. Party of low life's ruled by limousine leeches.
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