Fintan O'Toole: Welcome to Trumperica

[Denzil_DC]

Probably the smartest thing anyone said about Donald Trump before his election was the explanation by Salena Zito in The Atlantic of why he could get away with making wildly exaggerated or flatly false statements: "When he makes claims like this, the press takes him literally, but not seriously; his supporters take him seriously, but not literally."

And yet Zito's insight has turned out to be insufficient. In the mad days that have followed his inauguration, it has become clear that Trump takes himself both literally and seriously.

He mistakes his own impulses for facts. He does not know the difference between self-aggrandising symbolic gestures and lived human realities, and this tiny-minded literalism has very serious consequences for millions of people.

The most important thing to understand about the executive order keeping immigrants and refugees from seven Muslim countries out of the US is that it has no relationship whatsoever to its stated purpose. That purpose is, supposedly, to keep America safe from terrorism. The order is actually called "Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States".

http://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/us/fintan-o-toole-welcome-to-trumperica-1.2960823

[Trust Buster]

1. I am one of the few that thinks that Zito's often quoted observation is pure bullshit.

When Tinkle Bell threatened to go after everyone non-white, his supporters definitely took him literally. Good luck finding a Tinkle Bell supporter who is unhappy with this slime dogs behavior. #Irredeemable

[Denzil_DC]

2. I do think it's unraveling a bit as time goes on. n/t

[Trust Buster]

3. His voters took his attacks on minorities and the media quite literally. I always thought that

Zito's quote amounted to a get out of jail free card for the haters that loved seeing minorities being attacked at his rallies AT HIS DIRECTION. You just don't get more literal than that.