Robert Reich: There's a More Frightening Possibility Than Trump Is Just Nuts

[Snarkoleptic]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/robert-reich-theres-more-frightening-possibility-trump-just-nuts

...Trump’s attacks on the press were his way of distracting public attention from a week of embarrassing news – the Congressional Budget Office’s conclusion that the Senate’s version of Trumpcare would cause 22 million Americans to lost their coverage, and the inability of Senate Republicans to pass it; the refusal of election officials in most states to cooperate with Trump’s commission on voter fraud; and the news that Republican financier Peter W. Smith last fall assembled a team of computer experts to
contact hackers connected with the Russian government, saying he was working with Trump campaign advisor Michael Flynn.

snip

As the tweets and rallies become shriller and more provocative, their clear message is that Trump’s critics are bad people who are conspiring to undo his presidency – people whom Trump supporters must “not let” silence him, who deserve to be slammed the way Trump took it out on CNN in the mock video he posted Sunday morning.

snip

In one recent video from the National Rifle Association, for example, Dana Loesch, an N.R.A. spokeswoman and former editor at Breitbart News, charges that a left-wing cabal “use their media to assassinate real news. They use their schools to teach children that their president is another Hitler. They use their movie stars and singers and comedy shows and award shows to repeat their narrative over and over again.”

As black-and-white images of recent protests play in the background, Loesch says “the only way we stop this, the only way we save our country, and our freedom, is to fight this violence of lies with a clenched fist of truth.”

This “clenched fist” theme is being legitimized by the President of the United States who’s on a warpath against news organizations and professionals who criticize him.

[Iliyah]

1. Ya think

Seems like everyone in his administration is touched in the head negatively including Pence. Matter of fact seems like the whole Republican party is.

[Brainstormy]

2. I disagree

I have the utmost respect for Reich, and I have no doubt that Trump supporters and organizations like the NRA will find ways to exploit every reaction from the left, but Trump IS nuts. This is another one of those "crazy like a fox" theories I've heard since the beginning. He's not crazy like a fox. He's just crazy. Juvenile, narcissistic, probably suffering from dementia, but he's not capable of devising the complex plots he's given credit for, even to distract.

[luvtheGWN]

3. I agree that he is not capable of devising complex plots, but

some of his closest advisors are -- Steve Bannon, for one.

I don't think Trump is "crazy". I do think he lacks a conscience, and that he's incapable of functioning on a "responsible adult" level. It may well be that he has inherited a dementia gene or two from his father, but I think the lack of conscience is the trait we should all be most concerned about.

[Cryptoad]

5. agreed,,

Comrade Trump is not even capable of playing 2D Chess much less 3D

[SweetieD]

4. I agree with you. Trump is just crazy and is surrounded by vultures who exploit the crazy

for their own wants. I also think he is a long time narcissist bordering on being a sociopath who is in early dementia stage. Not a good combo and easily exploitable.

[Cosmocat]

7. I agree - however, functionally

as the other poster noted, you have some really sick bastards who follow his lead and they are the ones who take his actions and run with it.

Republican party is full on board, too.

It is spinning wildly out of control and we are a literal tinderbox.

It is unsustainable, and we are closer to a breaking point than people can imagine.

[AwakeAtLast]

8. Manchurianesque IMO

He is crazy, but he is also a puppet.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. But this is not a "complex plot"

Reich is suggesting that Trump's tweets against the Washington Post, MSNBC and CNN are meant to get his rabid followers hating the media. That's not complex, that's straightforward. It's taking the tweets and speeches at face value.

[ProfessorGAC]

20. Besides, They Already Hate The Media

They've been decrying the non-existent liberal media for 35 years or more. The rise of Faux news was a clear symptom that they hated all media that ever reported anything they didn't like.

[Amaryllis]

24. Whether or not he is doing it intentinally is irrelevant; it has the same destructive effect.

Debating if it's intentional is a distraction.

[maddiemom]

19. Surely he wouldn't humilate himself this way on purpose.

Even someone with far less ego would knowingly behave like such a fool to consolidate more power with his already happy-too-be-hoodwinked base.

[Dustlawyer]

6. I don't want to givee him the out of being mentally ill when it comes time to convict him.

Let him be the one to raise the issue. On the other hand he is a malignant narcissist, but who understands that the things he has done are wrong, that is why he is covering them up.

[cheyanne]

9. It's not stupidity or incompetence. It's demagoguery.

For all the talk of craziness and incompetence, Trump has stuck to three policies since he announced his candidacy: lift sanctions on Russia, weaken NATO, and give approval to Putin’s attacks on Ukraine.e day that Trump announced his candidacy.

He started his attacks on the media and the intelligence community. He knew that these centers of power in a democracy had the ability to bring him down. The media would prevent him from hiding his objectives from the public. The intelligence community would be aware of his Russian connection.

He has also de legitimatized the judiciary by calling in question its integrity.

The one power center that Trump cannot call an enemy is his own party. Congress is the most dangerous of his enemies though. It has the actual power to remove him from office. He steps on any actions the Congress takes to ensure the dysfunction and discredit of the institution. How many positions has Trump taken on health care? The congresscritters are afraid to take any stand that he won’t undercut the next day.

Promoting the evisceration of the government functions in Congress, in the DoS, in the DoD is grounds for impeachment.

[Kaleva]

10. Trump isn't trying to distract. He's just nuts.

[Sunlei]

11. Mr. Trump stole the clenched fist logo,he steals & lies about everything. p(R)esident Bullshitte(R)

[broadcaster90210]

12. No. He's just nuts.

If the Press doesn't cover the other issues then that's the Press.

Trump is an uneducated fool. He will get us all killed and is POTUS, but that doesn't raise his level if intellect one iota.

[Astraea]

13. Trump doesn't have a strategy

He mostly just free associates about what happens moment to moment. He's an egomaniac and incredibly stupid.

[lark]

14. These are all planned steps on the path to dictatorship.

Trumplandia is the desired outcome for them. Here's the wish list -
First step - get folks mad at the media to hide the truth of terrible things being done to the populace
2nd step - create false narrative about constitution, that it's no longer worthwhile and is actually bad
and dangerous.
3rd step - demonize the judiciary - all of these steps have already been taken - Here's a possibility for the next steps
4th step - false flag "terrorist" operation where people are killed leading to
5th step - marshal law where constitution, free press and courts are overturned
6th step - Drumpf and Pootie, arm in arm, riding down the center of DC in a tank

[Snarkoleptic]

18. Seems like 'early warning signs of fascism' is actually a to-do list for the authoritarians.

Link to tweet

/photo/1

[AntiFascist]

15. Trump's distractions are obviously working...

and he knows how to play to his base and get what he wants by breaking the rules. Otherwise, he never would have gotten elected, or even prevented his business empire from going down. No doubt he would like his base to take up arms so that he could emulate Hitler by defeating the "Resistance," but he will never gain that level of support through intimidation.

[EleanorR]

16. He is a useful idiot

His handlers feed him lies to either rile him up or stroke his ego, whatever works to get him to say or do or tweet something that serves their interests. He's incredibly stupid, selfish, and a vile narcissist and therefore easily manipulated.

[Bradical79]

21. It's not much of a distraction

Wish people would stop pretending he's orchestrating some grand strategy, and that complaining about his real attacks on the constitution are distracting from other real trouble he's causing. He has low popularity, he's being actively investigated for multiple crimes, multiple members if his own party are openly criticizing his proposals, and causing huge delays and failures in enacting his policies... I don't know where anyone is getting the idea that his "distractions" are in any way successful. He even tends to undermine his own atempts to distract with tweets and statements that ultimately put the focus back on his biggest problems.

[loyalsister]

22. After a couple of irrational tweets

30 states are handing over their voter rolls. No matter whose idea it is, his behavior is serving a purpose and furthering a very scary agenda.

[AntiFascist]

23. If right-wing Republicans had their way...

they would suppress the votes of all dark-skinned or brown people, unless they were registered Republican and had a clear record of voting Republican in the past. I agree, this is a very scary agenda they have going at its core.