It is Much Worse Than it Looks

“The autocratic leader lies and then falsely charges his opponents with lying. He politicizes institutions that are supposed to be free of politics by falsely accusing his foes of politicizing them. He victimizes others by falsely claiming they are victimizing him.

The autocrat also counts on spineless politicians to cave in to his demands. And as they destroy governmental institutions at his bidding, they insist they are defending them.”

And spineless talking heads and corporate leaders shilling for this regime.

EJ Dionne and Hannah Arendt help us make sense out of nonsense saturating communication channels by design. Trump and his enablers have the great American experiment teetering on the edge of extinction. FOCUS: unity at any cost to win midterms.

The entire commentary is well worth reading, but Dionne’s use of Arendt here to frame what Nunes & Trump & Ryan are doing right now should blast anyone out of complacency because her description of totalitarianism could have been written this morning.

‘The totalitarian method of the 1920s and 30s, she noted, was to “dissolve every statement of fact into a declaration of purpose.”

She also said this: “Mass propaganda discovered that its audience was ready at all times to believe the worst, no matter how absurd, and did not particularly object to being deceived because it held every statement to be a lie anyhow.”’

Anyone who reads my posts or blog knows I am not one ready to constantly leap to the alarmist and I have struggled (and continue to struggle) to try to understand my fellow Americans who (still) support this regime…

…but the case for deep concern and alarm is overwhelming, is made daily by the president and his enablers themselves, and is destroying carefully built (admittedly imperfect) democratic institutions and processes and values we depend on as a nation to survive and thrive.

I am sorry to sound so alarmist, but the situation warrants it.

“The autocratic leader lies and then falsely charges his opponents with lying. And as they destroy governmental institutions at his bidding, they insist they are defending them.”