Chris Hedges explains stubborn wingers and predicted fRump in his book Empire of Illusion

[lindysalsagal]

https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/6771033-empire-of-illusion-the-end-of-literacy-and-the-triumph-of-spectacle

Written in 2010, it predicts frump's rise to power. I'm in the middle of it now. Not a feel-good read, but it explains why wingers hang onto the BS that faux and 45 sling at them. Basically, people will always choose whatever they're familiar with even if it's killing them. Basic psychology of humans.

“A culture that does not grasp the vital interplay between morality and power, which mistakes management techniques for wisdom, and fails to understand that the measure of a civilization is its compassion, not its speed or ability to consume, condemns itself to death.”

“The words consent of the governed have become an empty phrase. Our textbooks on political science and economics are obsolete. Our nation has been hijacked by oligarchs, corporations, and a narrow, selfish, political, and economic elite, a small and privileged group that governs, and often steals, on behalf of moneyed interests. This elite, in the name of patriotism and democracy, in the name of all the values that were once part of the American system and defined the Protestant work ethic, has systematically destroyed our manufacturing sector, looted the treasury, corrupted our democracy, and trashed the financial system. During this plundering we remained passive, mesmerized by the enticing shadows on the wall, assured our tickets to success, prosperity, and happiness were waiting around the corner.”

“Washington has become our Versailles. We are ruled, entertained, and informed by courtiers -- and the media has evolved into a class of courtiers. The Democrats, like the Republicans, are mostly courtiers. Our pundits and experts, at least those with prominent public platforms, are courtiers. We are captivated by the hollow stagecraft of political theater as we are ruthlessly stripped of power. It is smoke and mirrors, tricks and con games, and the purpose behind it is deception.”

“In an age of images and entertainment, in an age of instant emotional gratification, we neither seek nor want honesty or reality. Reality is complicated. Reality is boring. We are incapable or unwilling to handle its confusion. We ask to be indulged and comforted by clichés, stereotypes, and inspirational messages that tell us we can be whoever we seek to be, that we live in the greatest country on earth, that we are endowed with superior moral and physical qualities, and that our future will always be glorious”

[lindysalsagal]

1. The prediction of fRump

“A furious and sustained backlash by a betrayed and angry populace, one unprepared intellectually and psychologically for collapse, will sweep aside the Democrats and most of the Republicans. A cabal of proto-fascist misfits, from Christian demagogues to simpletons like Sarah Palin to loudmouth talk-show hosts, whom we naïvely dismiss as buffoons, will find a following with promises of revenge and moral renewal. The elites, the ones with their Harvard Business School degrees and expensive vocabularies, will retreat into their sheltered enclaves of privilege and comfort.”

[Va Lefty]

2. George Carlin said much of this years ago, in plainer, coarser language

[lindysalsagal]

4. A country where only the stand up comics are permitted to tell the truth.

[yallerdawg]

3. The "Trump Tribe" came to power...

"when 'good people' did nothing."

It's time for us to 'wake everyone up' and put some meat back on the bare bones of 'consent of the governed'!