I Listened to All Six Trump Rallies in October. You Should, Too

[babylonsister]

https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/i-listened-to-all-six-trump-rallies-in-october-you-should-too

Letter from Trump’s Washington
I Listened to All Six Trump Rallies in October. You Should, Too
It’s not a reality show. It’s real.
By Susan B. Glasser
5:00 A.M.
I’m still watching the President’s rallies, because his words—radical, dangerous, and often untrue—are still the best way to understand him.

snip//

The biggest difference between Trump and any other American President, however, is not the bragging. It’s the cult of personality he has built around himself and which he insists upon at his rallies. Political leaders are called onstage to praise the President in terms that would make a feudal courtier blush, and they’re not empty words. These are the kinds of tributes I have heard in places like Uzbekistan, but never before in America. “Is he not the best President we have ever had?” the Mississippi senator Cindy Hyde-Smith enthused. (Trump then praised her for voting “with me one hundred per cent of the time.”) In Erie on Wednesday, a Republican congressman, Michael Kelly, gave the most sycophantic speech of the ones I listened to this month. Trump, he yelled to the crowd, is “the strongest President we have seen in our lifetime.” Addressing Trump, he said, “You are the best! You are the best!” Trump did not need to leave his “luxurious” life behind for the indignities of political combat, but he did. “I am so grateful,” Kelly concluded, “that an American citizen came out of nowhere to take the reins and reform and retake this nation.”

No wonder his followers think this way. In Trump’s telling at these rallies, he is the hero of every story. All ideas, big or small, flow through him now that he is President. He personally ordered the Ambassador in Israel to renovate a building for the new American Embassy there using “beautiful Jerusalem stone.” (Never mind that all buildings in the city are required to be faced with it.) He had “the greatest idea” to get veterans better medical care by allowing them to go to private doctors, confounding the experts who told him, “Sir, we’ve been working on this for forty-four years,” and couldn’t fix the problem. Same with an N.F.L. dispute with Canada. “Nobody could get it done,” Trump said. “I did it in two minutes.”

Then there are the stunners that we already know Trump thinks are true. But listen to them for almost seven hours in an election season, and remember, this is the President; maybe we shouldn’t just screen this out, or pretend it doesn’t matter. Every single rally included multiple attacks on the media and “fake news.” In Mississippi, the press bashing began seconds into the speech; in Pennsylvania, it took seven minutes; in Minnesota, ten. Deadbeat allies, rapacious foreigners ripping us off, and murderous gang members from MS-13 also figured in every one of the speeches.

snip//

Much of the coverage of these events tends to be theatre criticism, or news stories about a single inflammatory line or two, rating Trump’s performance or puzzling over the appeal to his followers. But what the President of the United States is actually saying is extraordinary, regardless of whether the television cameras are carrying it live. It’s not just the whoppers or the particular outrage riffs that do get covered, either. It’s the hate, and the sense of actual menace that the President is trying to convey to his supporters. Democrats aren’t just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous. Trump and Trump alone stands between his audiences and disaster.

I listen because I think we are making a mistake by dismissing him, by pretending the words of the most powerful man in the world are meaningless. They do have consequences. They are many, and they are worrisome. In what he says to the world, the President is, as Ed Luce wrote in the Financial Times this week, “creating the space to do things which were recently unthinkable.” It’s not a reality show; it’s real.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/i-listened-to-all-six-trump-rallies-in-october-you-should-too

[malaise]

1. It's the political equivalent of evangelicals testifying about being saved by their gawd

This is absolute madness

[pangaia]

17. It is worse. Much worse.

[malaise]

32. I agree

[pansypoo53219]

43. chickenshit. just say hitler like you wanted too.

[malaise]

44. LOL

[Hortensis]

2. Horrible thought, but definite read this article! The New Yorker's

doing some excellent work on the topic of the Trumps, especially this one.

We know Trump's always been a wimp, lot more gas than flame. But Mr. Khashoggi's murder has made me wonder how comfortable Trump might be becoming with connections to murder and other violence.

Our government intercepted information that this assassination was being planned, and under any previous administation Mr. Khashoggi would have been promptly informed -- standard procedure complete with a numbered federal form for it. In this case, there is every indication that Mr. Khashoggi had no idea as he walked alone into that consulate to his date with torture and death.

There's also strong indication that Trump's "friendly" relationship with Saudi Arabia is entirely a personal business one.

[Merlot]

8. trumpft was in construction in NYC, and has russia funding on his "business"

"...made me wonder how comfortable Trump might be becoming with connections to murder and other violence. "

To answer your queston, very.

[Hortensis]

9. Yes, but he's in the "buck stops here" position now, even if

others are trying to keep it away from him. That's extremely different from before.

The Russians considered him the clown he was before he became president. What business he was involved in seems to have been mostly facilitating money laundering, low level stuff, no decision making, and we have no evidence that his decisions could facilitate or result in murder.

Now that he is president, his casual (and causal) decisions can result in death while he remains as far away and safe as he ever was. Not good training for one who admires world leaders who routinely kidnap, imprison, torture and murder -- because they do.

[Merlot]

10. Money laudinering low level stuff?

Not when you're dealing with the russian mob and mass quantities of money.

[Hortensis]

47. Think about it. Low level compared to

decision-making levels. He'd be one of many used by people whose job was to move money.

[BigmanPigman]

34. The "construction business in NYC"

has been a term used to insinuate that a person is connected to "the mob/mafia" and that is how they dispose of the bodies that had a contract put on them.

Personally the moron has zero morals and ethics and has two goals in life...to be rich and famous. I would not put it past him to have already paid to have someone killed, probably more than one person.

[Hortensis]

48. That could be, and he and whomever he plotted murder with

could have kept their mouths shut. But his dad took care of him up through most of the 1980s.

He has had nothing but dicey times after that, of course. We know he's associated with some who really might have been stupid enough to plot murder with The Donald and risk ending up in a Doonesbury comic strip. But none of those at least would have belonged to the Russian mafia.

Fwiw, my picture of him is of a coward, and murder as a private citizen would have taken him out of the zone of wealthy safety he was born and raised in, expose him to consequences he couldn't use the legal system to get around or just throw money at to go away. But a clown capable of turning into a dangerous clown as long as he thinks he's beyond consequences. Like this situation.

And wondering what else. Who's dying in our drone and other covert strikes, which are not being covered by the media (censored?) or overseen by congress? He once argued publicly that we should deliberately murder the families of terrorists, which to me suggests his only limit is what he has the guts for and can get away with.

[BigmanPigman]

57. He has said early in his fake presidency

when asked about Putin being a murderer that "We kill people too". Just about every Dem says Bush 2 was not as bad as the Donald and look what he did with unnecessary killing...for profit. The moron would definitely have someone killed for money. His whole admin would too since they are so corrupt and amoral.

[Hortensis]

59. Yes, that easy insistence on political murder as normal.

Leaders around the planet at all levels must have noted that one.

[pangaia]

33. Trump WILL order assassinations... the day will come..

I hate to say that, but....

[Haggis for Breakfast]

38. He already has.

He ordered DoD to kill Bashir al-Asad. Mattis immediately told them it wasn't happening.

[Hortensis]

53. Yes. And that was a "no" because Asad is a head of state

in a proxy war and assassination could potentially trigger WWIII. Who else has Trump ordered assassinations on? In that vast range between terrorist leaders (for whom the question is how many) and heads of state?

[riversedge]

52. Thanks for the info. I did not know that the Feds had intercepted info. prior to his death (assumed

damn, this is beyond the pale.

[EleanorR]

3. not just creating the space to do the unthinkable, actually doing the unthinkable

If we'll let them pry a baby from it's parents arms and put it in a cage, we're well on the road to anything goes. Did people think trump was joking when he said of Xi's making himself dictator for life, I think it's great, maybe we'll have to give it a shot sometime?

[Hortensis]

7. +1000. This. From a man who equates power with fear.

Trump by his own admission will not have power as he recognizes it here until his people fear him.

Regarding NK's deeply feared leader: “He’s the head of the country, and I mean he’s the strong head. He speaks and his people sit up in attention. I want my people to do the same.”

[pangaia]

20. You are on the money.

I keep saying something like "I saw this coming." And I suppose I did, years ago, but what now I ask is.. did I really believe it? And did I believe how bad it would be and did I believe it would come this soon?What

What HAS surprised me, is the sudden acceleration in the slide (or climb) into a totalitarian police state.

Yes. one day, sooner than we think, trump will order the killing of someone in the opposition. But I also suspect that by then DU will no longer exist, nor any/many other such sites.

[Hortensis]

27. Same worries here, though a lot more hope for democarcy,

but my guess is that if our democracy were suddenly taken over, Trump would be among the first to die, though being allowed to live on a bit more as a puppet also seems possible. Maybe he'd be publicly executed for plotting the treason with Russia that made the takeover "necessary."

As always, protecting our democracy will mean saving others from themselves. And never a word of thanks.

[smirkymonkey]

4. K&R

[bdamomma]

5. I don't watch his rallies

but he is promoting violence and hate to another group/groups of people, Americans against Americans, it's not something to dismiss either.

He projected that vitriol when he was campaigning you could feel it and hear it. And he does play by the dictators handbook.

[Skidmore]

6. You don't need to listen

to every rally to get that he's a narcissistic snake oil salesman. Two to three video clips daily and a quick browse through tweets from his cultists will tell you that.

[Cosmocat]

12. Right - I have seen MORE than enough to know

that they are sick, vile and depraved, and every time he opens his mouth, and republics genuflect to him, this country slides further down the fascist rat hole ...

[pangaia]

21. Daily?

I had enough after 1-2 of his original campaign rallies and/or republican debates.

[SCantiGOP]

11. if forced to make a choice:

I would prefer setting my hair on fire and putting it out with a hammer.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

39. Ow.

[hot2na]

13. We don't need to listen and we should not listen.

Come on captain obvious move on. Let the professional media critics pan this (and support them). We got better things to do like turning out the vote.

[certainot]

29. actually, he's channelling 1500 radio stations, that's why he has any standing at all, and those

stations are creating that buzz constantly in 40 states with 80 senators

hearing him is important, more importantly though is knowing he's not the real problem, he's just limbaugh with better hair

ignoring that buzz is why we have this orange asshole in the white house, and the real problem is not knowing that he's just repeating well established memes and talking points

[irisblue]

14. She is getting good cashy money to do this ugly dirty work

:: yeah Firefly reference::
I'll read the article though.

[gratuitous]

15. "Much of the coverage of these events . . ."

Uh, Ms. Glasser? Some questions: Who's responsible for the coverage of these relentless campaign events? Does it just happen that the coverage comes out as theatre criticism or focusing on one or two inflammatory lines? Are reporters and news outlets incapable of doing a deeper dive? Are they ignorant of the danger posed by the hate and menace of the president's speeches to the Fourth Estate? You say, "I listen because I think we are making a mistake by dismissing him." Who is the "we" in that sentence? How often does a guest on one of the talk programs get a chance to offer an in-depth critique and analysis of a Trump speech? How often do the hosts do more than take a couple of 7-second clips, pitch their clever gloss on it, and move on?

In short, what the fuck difference is it going to make for me or any other citizen to waste seven hours listening to this gibbering baboon when the media don't, won't, can't say a discouraging word about it?

[pangaia]

22. touche...

It is mind-boggling

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

56. Beautifully and frighteningly said. nt

[malthaussen]

16. But does it earn him converts?

It it is just self-referential, that is one thing. If he can export it and pull in more supporters, then that is another.

-- Mal

[violetpastille]

18. "You Should Too" New Yorker so Buzzfeedy

"I took the 100 Squats a Day Challenge and You Should Too."

i was hip to this pervert when he came down down the gold escalator and told me that "Mexico is not sending their best."

And that was all I needed.

If someone needs to watch his shit for hours of their one wild and precious life before they get it, then that's what they need. Some will need their eyes pried open and "Ode to Joy" on blast.

Most people got it back in the 80's. They don't need the torture therapy.

His words are designed to drive us fucking crazy. Look at the actions happening around him.

[iluvtennis]

19. Sorry I can't stand to listen to his voice let alone watch him - he disgusts me. I'll read articles

and commentary later, but I switch his face off of the TV/his voice off of my radio every time.

trumpty dumpty makes me want to

[Hekate]

23. I can't bear to watch him, but it is absolutely necessary that someone should document & analyze...

That's why I say that while I agree that the major news agencies should stop pandering, should stop sending whole crews for him to point out and bellow at -- I do believe that they should band together and send one or two cameras jointly, and one or two reporters jointly. The resulting film should imo not be shown in real time unless he declares war or the equivalent, but should be held back long enough to analyze and fact check.

This horrifying era in America MUST be documented.

[Enoki33]

24. I may be wrong, but my gut feeling is that the primary goal, apart from the

obvious self gratification, is to lay the groundwork for his personal storm troopers. He sees it as his last resort - because the conning will eventually be inadequate - to make the ultimate power grab. He is going to reject the results of the next election in one way or another. We are dealing with a depraved criminal mind honed by years of Russian mafia influence and control. He is capable of more depravity than we can imagine. Hope it is only a upset stomach. Meanwhile I have been able to convince two more acquaintances to vote straight D.

[gordianot]

26. I tend to agree, true Fascism requires layers of bodyguards.

This is the real purpose of his rallies even if they continue to be a minority. That stupid damn hat is his swastika arm band. Even when Trump is gone this damage will linger, MAGA is his salute and will be taken up by his successors. It will take decades to even begin to purge what he has planted. My guess is they are already loading Federal law enforcement.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

40. As you say, gordianot,

He already has "loaded" federal law enforcement when he raised the number of BP agents to 5000. It would take nothing but an EO to transfer them into deputized agents.

Make no mistake, he WANTS to be able to declare martial law. My biggest paranoid fear is that he will create a reason to do so right before the elections.

[Lonestarblue]

51. I too think he is dangerous.

Trump’s ability to convince people to follow him is quite astonishing to those of us who are not susceptible to cult worship. More and more, Trump reminds me of Jim Jones of Peoples Temple and mass murder/suicide fame. Like Trump, Jones was described as megalomaniacal. Jones was from the Midwest (Indiana) where he anointed himself a Christian minister and established his “church” called the Peoples Temple. Is there something about some people in the Midwest, which is also Trump’s major base of support, that contributes to susceptibility to charlatans? I grew up in the Midwest/South, but I never saw examples of the adulation given to anyone like Trump.

Again like Trump, Jones promised followers a utopian existence in communal harmony (like Trump’s inferred promise of an all-white country with no immigrants), but his demands for members to turn over property, and even custody of their children, to the church caused some members to drop out and gained more public notice. From History.com: “Faced with unflattering media attention and mounting investigations, the increasingly paranoid Jones, who often wore dark sunglasses and traveled with bodyguards, invited his congregation to move with him to Guyana, where he promised them they would build a socialist utopia.”

In Guyana, Jones had armed guards who prevented followers from leaving. In 1978, the day of the mass suicide/murder, he ordered his guards to murder a U.S. Congressman and his staff who had gone to Guyana to investigate the Peoples Temple and whether U.S. citizens were being held against their will, after which he ordered the mass suicides and murders. Like Jones, Trump cares nothing for the rule of law. It’s all about him and his accumulation of wealth, but he is able to fool people into hero worship. Trump and his followers will not end as Jim Jones did, but I think Trump’s personality and lack of any moral underpinnings will allow him to order any actions that will keep him in power. The question becomes how far he can go with no repercussions before the people in Congress, law enforcement, and government institutions decide enough is enough. We will not be able to rely on Republicans. As we’re already seeing in this election, Republicans will say and do anything to be elected, and many of them are trying to be just as outrageous as Trump. We know that Republicans suppress Democratic votes. Do they also change vote counts? I suspect that someone like Brian Kemp in Georgia would.

[JohnnyRingo]

25. A read of the entire piece is worthwhile.

Well composed and informational. Ms Glasser watched the rallies so we don't have to.

Thanx for posting!

[Bernardo de La Paz]

28. Rep Kelly: "retake this nation" back from people of color & women he means, back fr Obama & Hillary

It's out in the open.

Re: NFL: it was part of the NAFTA 2 negotiations which took about a year longer than necessary and tRump didn't get many concessions from Canada. The NFL SuperBowl ads was one and not a big deal.

[TeamPooka]

30. Don't listen, VOTE!

[mia]

31. ..bleak and threatening world view...accompanied by an increasingly grandiose rewriting of history

...Many of the statements are not only untrue but are repeated from event to event, despite the industry of real-time Trump fact-checking and truth-squadding that now exists. This summer, the Washington Post’s Fact Checker looked at all the statements in one rally and determined that seventy-six per cent of the ninety-eight factual assertions Trump made were untrue, misleading, or baseless. Since then, Trump seems not only undeterred but to be stepping up his pace. He claimed that Justice Kavanaugh was No. 1 in his class at Yale and Yale Law School in at least three of his events over the past week, despite Yale not even calculating class rankings. On Wednesday, Trump repeated several of his greatest-hits fallacies, such as asserting that fifty-two per cent of women supported him in 2016 (that number was forty-two per cent), and that numerous new steel-manufacturing plants are being opened (none are), and that “clean, beautiful coal” is coming back (it isn’t).

Still, fact-checking is far too narrow a lens through which to view the rallies. Certainly, Trump pours out untruths and whoppers at these events; the more defensive he is, the more he seems to unleash them. But I found myself reeling most at the end of my rally-watching marathon not from the lying but from the bleak and threatening world view offered by a President who is claiming credit for making America great, strong, and respected again, while terrifying his fans with the grim spectre of the scary enemies he is fending off. Even more than they did in 2016, these threats come accompanied by an increasingly grandiose rewriting of history.What’s happened since his election, Trump said in Pennsylvania, “has been the greatest revolution ever to take place in our country,” or maybe even anywhere in the world. His victory “superseded even Andrew Jackson.” “America,” he said, “is winning like never before.”

https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/i-listened-to-all-six-trump-rallies-in-october-you-should-too

[Turin_C3PO]

35. I can't listen to him.

I have blood pressure issues and I’m afraid I would literally stroke out if I watched all of his rallies.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

41. Me and my Losartan hear you.

You might want to take a low-dose aspirin before bed each night.

[Turin_C3PO]

58. Seriously that's a good idea.

My health has, in general, taken a turn for the worst these past two years and I’m convinced that all the political mayhem is a contributing factor.

[Haggis for Breakfast]

60. You are probably correct.

One of my MDs told me that over 70% of the country is now on anxiety meds.

I have had to disconnect from the news a lot recently. It was affecting my mental health. You might want to find a new hobby that you like that will keep you entertained to keep you occupied. That's what I had to do.

Take a deep breath. I keep reminding myself that the pendulum always swings back.

[Crunchy Frog]

36. You'd have to pay me a helluva lot.

Otherwise I'll just hammer nails into my skull and call it a day.

[Bob Loblaw]

37. Yeah, I almost listened to one

but I found an old rusty do-it-yourself root canal kit and decided I'd rather do that instead.

[Doitnow]

42. Why do you suppose he is always cozying up to the military and the police---making sure they get

pay raises and other benefits? So they will be on his side in a showdown.Really scary.

[watoos]

45. I don't have to watch them

CNN and msnbc will show clips of the highlights, followed by, "Oh Dear."

[GoCubsGo]

46. It's not that I am dismissing him and his words.

I just can't stand the sight of him, or the sound of his voice. I know that I am far from alone here. Hell, even his Propaganda Channel is getting sick of it.

I will continue to rely on those with stronger stomachs to relay to me whatever verbal diarrhea he spews.

[Martin Eden]

49. Trump has been a vile demagogue, a cult leader, and ...

... a very effective con man from the start. I don't have to subject myself to hours of torture to reinforce what I already know about this would be fascist dictator and his legions of brainwashed brownshirts.

Nor do I have to be made aware of the very real threat to our democracy when this patholigically lying malignant narcissist has 40% approval from the voting public.

It is alarming as hell, and much more dangerous than any foreign adversary.

What we need to know is how to defeat this plague.

[Uncle Joe]

50. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread babylonsister.

[FakeNoose]

54. K & R bookmarked

Thanks Babylonsister! I feel bad for this reporter having to attend all of Cheeto's hideous rallies, but I'm glad somebody normal is keeping tabs on him.

[BootinUp]

55. Really? Like it's going to reveal something I didn't know?