As a role model, President Donald Trump might now rank the most successful man ever to occupy the White House.
More and more Americans become like him every day, and if one is to accept the hypothesis of Dr. Robert Lustig, emeritus professor of pediatric endocrinology and a member of the Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California San Fransisco, this is no accident.
“Everyone is worried about what happened to Trump’s brain,” Lustig has written at MedPage today, “but no one seems to be particularly worried about what’s happening to ours. The Russians hacked the election, but it’s Trump who has hacked our minds.”
How bad is it?
Well, Fairbanks writer Dermot Cole a couple of days ago took Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, to task for neglecting to rip Trump a new one for his fighting with the late Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
Sullivan’s crime?
He tried to handle questions on the talk show Meet the Press in a statesmanlike manner. Sullivan said this in the middle of a 10-minute long interview:
Cole was upset that Sullivan didn’t light into Trump, writing that “Sullivan could have taken the opportunity to reject Trump’s attacks, but he reverted to his standard practice of never saying anything that might offend the president. Pretending that there was ‘tension’ in the Trump/McCain hatefest fits that pattern of obsequious behavior.”
Or maybe Sullivan was simply maneuvering to stay on speaking terms with a president whose policies have generally been good for the Senator’s home state and who appears only to become more intransigent, rather than less so, when confronted with foot-stomping, table-pounding and shouting.
Cursed be the peacemakers
But maybe it isn’t Cole’s fault he got so upset with Sullivan trying to make nice with the President. Maybe it’s Trump’s fault.
Yes, that sounds a little crazy, but here’s what Lustig writes:
“Many have remarked that Trump operates out of his “lizard brain“. Rather, I would argue that Trump has turned our brains reptilian. The two emotions that belie this effect — greed and fear — are the same two emotions that govern Wall Street’s behavior. No surprise.
“Greed drives dopamine action in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), the reward center deep within the limbic system, the emotional part of the brain (Freud called it our id). Appealing to our avarice with promises of ‘good jobs’ and ‘healthcare for everyone’ and ‘tariffs on our competitors’ and ‘better trade deals’ and ‘tax breaks’, Trump jacks up our dopamine the same way a roller coaster does. Thrills in both directions, up and down. When the NAc goes into hyperdrive, it translates into ‘I want more.’ The problem with the dopamine response is it’s a bell-shaped curve — there is an optimum below which people are lethargic and above which they become irritable.”
The dopamine ups and downs, Lustwig contends, only increase the irritability. But that’s only the half of it.
“Fear,” he writes, “activates the amygdala, which sends corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) signals throughout the CNS. CRH drives cortisol, which stymies our prefrontal cortex (PFC) the executive function center (Freud’s superego), which sits just above the eyes and serves as our internal compass. Normally, the PFC makes you behave and keeps you from doing stupid things you’ll later regret, and acts as the ‘brake’ on the NAc. Unfortunately, the PFC is a highly vulnerable structure. Chronic stress and cortisol kill neurons in the PFC….”
Once Trump gets the dopamine and cortisol rolling in your system, you’re his or your him, even if you’re a her. And if you don’t know a her who has become a little less thoughtful and a little more reptilian, like Cole, thanks to Trump, either you’re extremely lucky or you’re not paying attention.
American scream
This country is today overrun with people like Trump to whom aggression is the seemingly most natural form of discourse and reality is what he or she want to believe, facts be damned.
Trump at least has an excuse for the latter. He was a reality TV star, and he seems to have stayed stuck in the role of all-powerful boss on “The Apprentice” where the week’s winners and losers were defined by the whim of their leader and where the catch line was “you’re fired.”
Trump would clearly like to run government just like “The Apprentice.” And his core constituency, tired of being looked down upon by the U.S. intelligentsia and a bureaucracy that sometimes appears to them like Czarist Americana, is happy to embrace that approach.
Meanwhile, the self-identified “better” part of America recoils at Trump and all those commoners down in the mud and the blood and the beer clinging to their “guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them” as another candidate for president once put it.
Trump gets their reptilian hormones cooking, too. The only difference between them and Cole is that they scurry in opposite directions.
“So, what do you think Trump’s 3 a.m. non-stop Twitter feed combined with a 24-hour media cycle is doing to you?” Lustwig asks. “The next quickest way to inactivate the PFC? Xenophobia. Build that wall. Banish that Muslim. Nuke North Korea. A dysfunctional PFC inhibits cognitive processing, restricts long-term planning, and translates into ‘I don’t care about the consequences.’
“These two neurophysiologic phenomena have conspired to change human behavior throughout the millennia, and have previously been harnessed by demagogues in the name of populism,” which is wholly what Trump is selling.
Sales, particularly self-promotional sales, was the world from which Trump came, and he has clearly identified good, old American populism as one of his most-effective pitches. “The Apprentice” was a weekly clinic on how to make things sell. Trump as president is leveraging everything learned there to make the sales pitch of a lifetime to the masses.
Trump is no populist. He was born to wealth. He has no clue what it’s like to work behind the counter at a McDonald’s or shovel shit at a stable in California, but he has a salesman’s innate sense for the feelings of those who labor for a living, and he has shown a remarkable ability to take that skill out of the small world of traditional sales into the global world of the internet.
Trump has, to steal a term from Lustig, “weaponized” the sale of Trump.
Blame science
Whether Trump arrived there by accident or study only he and some close associates know, but the science is out there.
“After the harvesting of data from 270,000 Facebook users in 2013, Alexandr Kogan and Joseph Chancellor of Cambridge University predicted ‘likes’ and ‘dislikes’ based on a personality questionnaire called ‘thisisyourdigitallife,’ Lustig writes. From there, the researchers accessed 87 million ‘friends’ data, including 1 million U.K. records. Utilizing two algorithms similar to what Netflix uses to predict movie choices called ‘singular value decomposition’ and ‘multi-step co-occurrence’ they exhibited 95 percent confidence in distinguishing black from white, 93 percent confidence in distinguishing men from women, 88 percent in distinguishing gay from straight, 85 percent distinguishing Democrats from Republicans, and 70 percent to 80 percent distinguishing five personality traits to target with social media.
“From there, the Canadian consultancy AggregateIQ used these data to create the Ripon platform to activate dopamine and cortisol to influence voters to sway the Brexit referendum on June 23, 2016. They then sold the dataset to Cambridge Analytica to influence specific voters in the American election on November 8, 2016, to increase their dopamine and cortisol to get them irritable enough so that they would vote, and couldn’t necessarily foresee the consequences of their actions.”
Trump campaign strategist Steve Bannon is alleged to have used what Cambridge Analytica learned to help suppress the turnout of Democrat voters and get Trump elected. But don’t think for a minute that Democrats aren’t deep into the same tactics as you read this.
No one is innocent in this game.
Copycatting is a standard of American politics. Democrats are every bit as busy fear-mongering as Trump and have been for longer. The biggest difference might be simply that the fear of climate change doesn’t sell as well as the fear of Muslims in a society increasingly tribalizing.
“The cortisol/PFC response on dopaminergic activity is enough to alter human behavior in predictable, if socially undesirable, ways,” Lustig wrote. “Witness the episode of ‘The View’ last week when Whoopi Goldberg popped off at Judge Jeanine Pirro.”
“…Many of us have now become Trump. The more dopamine and cortisol, the more we lose our ability to discern truth from post-truth, the more irritable we become, and the more we abandon our cognitive control and with little regard for the consequences.”
As a result, reality cedes ground to propaganda. People stop looking for facts and go looking for what someone claims to be factual even if it is obviously not, and the tubes become fertile ground for “fake news,” which should really just be a joke.
Most fake news is so obviously fake no thinking person would believe it. But we’re becoming a society that thinks less and reacts more, a society Lustig would argue is so pumped up on hormones that we’ve become badly prone to act before we think.
Or act and never think.
Categories: Commentary
I just came back from a wonderful sixteen day moose hunt with pals and some of their wonderful offspring; no phone or interwebs. Then, I go and ruin the high by reading the oinks in this pigpen.
“Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm,” James Madison wrote in one of the Federalist Papers during the debates over the ratification of the Constitution.
First in honor of 9/11 and all those effected ,let freedom ring . May all your families heal and become strong again. You will never be forgotten. Small individual people like me recognize our losses . May our nation become stronger and more united.
Steve, a Boeing 757 holds approx 11,500 gallons of fuel. Not to mention the THOUSANDS of witnesses who saw 2 planes bit tye towers and Pentagon. Those buildings were 1,100 feet tall. What do you think? They were going to tip over? Of course not. The structural integrity was comprimised on several floors, thus, the upper floors pancaked down and kept on going down. Pretty simple and basic actually. Just get off the silly conspiracy BS when it comes to that. There is plenty under the Obama Admin to concern yourself with.
Brian , you are most likely propogating false standard media talking points . You apparently have not studied engineering. Hopefully you are not politically or financially motivated to spread very unlikely information about a terrible historical disaster. That damaged our nation in a multitude of ways . Particularly freedom. Please look more carefully at compressive strength of steel , the temperatures needed to melt steel , the strain wind and uneven combustion/ heating put on steel . Also study how to demo large buildings safely . Study what causes steel to keep burning . A good but very minimal place to start is u tube . Look up — 9/11 experiments the great thermate debate – physics and reason . Good luck . You will find heavy study in these areas enlightening as to what really caused three towers to collapse in a controlled fashion . It wasn’t just jet fuel and debris. After you have spent multiple years studying engineering, explosives, steel , demolition, and construction you will change your tune I’m sure .
Bryan,
I am not saying that 2 planes did not hit the towers…
I am saying that “Nano Thermite” was discovered in the dust particles from a PHD from Brigham Young University in Utah.
How did that that highly specialized and highly combustible “Accelerate” get inside the trade towers or airplanes?
Also,
How can a perfectly good building like building 7 collapse?…Shockwaves?
Seems doubtful.
Lastly, why was all the depries hauled off and buried without access to our scientific community??…
Oh yeh, and we are still partners with Saudi Arabia for trade and forgein milatary bases, When all the highjackers were Saudi Nationals….
My respect is to the Brotherhood of FDNY (on which one of my best friends has worked for over 15 years since this horrible tragedy)
RIP to all our fallen heros!
Ok, I do not want to sidetrack this thread with debate about the cause of the WTC buildings falling. Although Id love to. Ha Also, that same professor you quote might have had a different analysis if Obama was preaident.
Plus, I doubt if there is a 1,000 foot building on our planet that could withstand the impact of a Boeing 757 going 500mph with 11,500 gallons of fuel onboard. So, Ill just leave it there.
Opinion is right, let us not forget 9/11.
You guys do realize the buildings buckled at the exact locations the planes hit right? Also, no secondary planted explosives could have survived over an hour in that heat and fire. Also, surrounding buildings caught fire amd burned out of control, and yes, 1,100 foot buildings falling would create enough shockwave to possibly level surrounding buildings.
Bryan look up top down demolition. It’s very effective. This will explain how trade towers started collapsing where they did . Heat tends to rise with hot air . How would you have any idea of the temperature that explosives endured on lower floors ? Bottom line is that when something collapses from fire it does so in an uneven way as different parts of structure are at different temperatures. This weakens different parts at different speeds causing unbalanced breakdowns . The opposite of what you see in the trade towers . Please don’t try to defend your idea until you have adequately studied engineering, physics and products involved. It’s silly for you to basically say the best way to bring down a high rise in a controlled fashion is to hit in the side with a jet liner , set it on fire up top and watch it’s controlled reliable collapse into its own footprint. Let’s use that method for two of them and a shockwave into the side of the other and watch it do the same thing . Yep good plan . 100% success . Heck I’ll patent the method for others to use . Bryan please don’t defend the silliness of people propagating these unbelievable ideas . What we really know is someone attacked America- probably with the help of certain people- Someone paid for it . Certain people are profiting from it . Certain people are suffering because of it , many nations have suffered . God bless America May she find her way in these dark times .
Opinion, I enjoy your posts but, I disagree with your hypothesis in this case. Honestly, Id love to go head-to-head with you on this very topic. I will also argue that we aren’t in “dark” times right now. We are in some very bright times right now. So much so that if trump is doing so bad, then why is Obama trying to claim credit for Trump’s successes?
All I can say is MAGA !
Bryan,
As you know Ramey and I do not agree on much.
As for the challenge our country faces, I agree we are in some difficult times.
Suicide, gun violence, homicides, police shootings, gang violence, loss of small businesses, opiate and meth addictions, just to name a few….but as for the twin towers Nano Thermite was discovered in many sources of dust deposits from the results of this terrible day. (This has nothing to due with bipartisan politics or your Anti-Democrat agenda).
The Nano Thermite conculsion has been “peer reviewed” by several scientists and confirmed….not just one professor.
I have been a medic and onscence of one of the largest fires in PA history (an entire block of row houses burned in the 90’s).
That fire was still extinguished within 24 hours.
How can you explain this site that burned for over 100 days?
Jet fuel which is essentially Diesel would not do that…no matter how many gallons.
The firefighters onscene were baffled by this fire’s ability to reignite itself after millions of water and “foam” type treatmemts were used on it.
Something made this fire very special (Nano Thermite)….
It burned for 100 days until it was finally extinguished.
FDNY claimed they had created a lake around the debris field (and covering the remains) and yet it continued to reignite itself under the water.
That is not just Diesel fuel.
This was a coordinated, planned destruction of American property and it’s people (and our culture since Patriot Act changed every aspect of our personal freedom) & to this day we still do not know all the forgein and possibly domestic actors that were involved.
Remember there were prior attempts to detonate explosives in the parking garage of the towers and nothing really happened to the structures.
This time the “demolition” was precise and very well planned and coordinated.
By whom we still really do not know.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/dec/20/september11.usa
https://youtu.be/JJxszYlAfPU
Paul . So you are referencing a person who is not American . From what I read he is on the fringe . He doesn’t understand mainstream Democratic Party. He unduly smears the Democrats . Who are already kooky enough without being blamed for nonsense. Yes many do have socialist opinions but that is far removed from communistic extremism you are painting them with. You also mention Antifa . A bad element. Who are not the Democratic Party. They are fringe misguided individuals often paid and organized by organizations supported by Soros and his type to undermine the fabric of America. Follow the money. Now to give you credit soros money has infiltrated the Democratic Party really bad . Also certain parts of the Republican Party . Follow the money and you will see I’m right . Soros and his associates want to control our government. Just because they have a choke hold on the Democrats doesn’t mean the Democratic Party are bad people their supporters are mostly good people but being fooled . Same as Republican. Soros money is currently bankrolling many extreme protestors. He partially bank rolled Clinton and gave Obama his financial start . Clinton’s associates paid people to make trump rally’s look bad – disrupters . A few bad apples doesn’t make the barrel . So I think it’s very inaccurate picture to paint Democrats as bad in general. Some of their ideas are not good but that can be said about republicans. In short before you publish more nonsense please provide the numbers on who finances the people in those pictures and who finances Trevor louden from newzealand .
I think a few of these guys are working for Francis Dunleavy and trying to smear Democrats every day here cause they know Begich is making up ground in Alaska by uniting the voters…not segregating them.
Mark Begich even gave a shout out to AK Media on his website…said they are some of the best journalists in America….that is what the GOP fears the most.
Kind hearts in office who think for themselves, not their corporate super pac.
Whenever I read Paul and Bryan’s comments….I think “Vote for Begich in November”
Mainstream Demoncrats like Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi do their own smearing through their hysterical Marxist rantings. You can put sugar on a loaf of shit……..but its still shit.
You nailed that one Paul !
Right on Paul, but man, your Democrat list could have gone on and on. People here like Steve who say they are inclined to vote Democrat just show their Chavez/Castro/Obama anti-American leanings. Kind of like “lipstick on a pig”. So naive about history and the real world around them.
Steve, seems like even tue Swedes have lost taste in your fantasy form of governing.
“Sweden is set to see a major political shift after national elections on Sunday, as the populist Sweden Democrats have a chance to become the largest party in the country.
Sweden goes to the polls on Sunday to elect a new government, and the ruling Social Democrats, who have been the most dominant party in the country for decades, could not only lose power but, according to polls, possibly even lose their status as the largest party in the country.
A number of issues have dominated the debate leading up to the election, including rising levels of violent crime and the impact of mass migration, which was shown to be the most important issue for Swedes according to a poll from earlier this year.
Since the last election in 2014, Sweden has seen a rise in the number of radical Islamic extremists, with the country seeing its first radical Islamic terror attack in Stockholm in 2017.
The growth of heavily migrant-populated “vulnerable suburbs,” commonly referred to as no-go zones due to difficulties emergency services often face operating in them, has also become a major issue in Sweden along, with a rise in gun violence and grenade attacks linked to organised criminal gangs.”
Bryan,
Your short sightedness is blinding.
Do you not remember Watergate and the Gulf of Tonkin?
Your GOP frat boys Johnson and Nixon wound up getting 60,000 American GI’s killed in Vietnam and Daniel Ellsberg and Journalists proved they LIED to the public.
What about Bush and his weapons of mass destruction in Iraq?
Another lie.
So, when you say to me that I am…
“So naive about history and the real world around them.”
I think you are a paid GOP political operative.
What are you afraid of that Mark Begich keeps health care for the poor?
That he supports food banks?
You would have to be a fool to think he has some sort of socialist agenda.
He and his family have been in small business for years.
So,
Sit back and think about Vietnam and the big lie that the Republicans fabricated for America….we still are suffering from wounded veterans today!
https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/5646136
Regarding Johnson and the Gulf of Tonkin event….
“History has shown that the resolution was built on a foundation of misinformation, fabrication, and willful evasion of the truth. Contrary to what the president claimed, there was no unprovoked “act of aggression” against the American destroyers that were patrolling the Tonkin Gulf, and a second alleged incident never even took place.
But the Johnson administration was looking for a pretext to escalate the war. “We don’t know what happened,” National Security Adviser Walter W. Rostow told the president after Congress passed the resolution, “but it had the desired result.”
I am more afraid of lies than I am afraid of subsidized welfare programs…
No one dies when food is placed on food banks or gets to visit a doctor for the first time in years…
Steve, come on man. Vietnam was a Democrat mess (Kennedy/Johnson). Hint, Johnson was a DEMOCRAT. Nixon amd Watergate, good Lord man, you have the nerve to compare that to the Clinton and Obama scandals? Forgive me my young apprentice of history for laughing my arse off. You really do not know history do you? As for WMD in Iraq, didnt Saddam gas and kill 5,000 Kurds? Didn’t the Israeli’s destroy his nuclear reactor? Once again, all Democrat talking points but, please do read this and educate yourself:
https://m.dailykos.com/stories/2005/2/12/92023/-
Bryan,
I forgot Johnson slipped in when Kennedy was assassinated.
Other than that I feel everything else is accurate.
I guess we can say the “War Party” reaches to both the “Donkeys” and “Elephants” in America….
That is why I do not belong to either of those parties.
Nikon was our worse lying president in history. PROVEN.
I guess our country is designed to stay divide for a reason.
As for WMD…in Iraq, well most folks without blinders remember G.W. Bush standing at the podium and marching 500,000 young men and women into the “sandbox”…now we have control of most oil fields in Iraq and the world’s largest forgein embassy.
Colonialism lives on in spirit and anthem.
Good day.
Steve, once again I find myself schooling you in history. Bush Sr. sent 500k troops into Iraq. Bush Jr..sent 170k. As for the oil fields, would you rather China or Russia or ISIS control them? Also, we paid, if I remember correctly, .20 cents a gallon to the Iraqi’s for fuel used during OIF, so, while your anti-American screed sounds good, it is flawed. Also, weren’t Dems running the show during WW1, WW2, and Korea as well? If there is any dividing, it is 100% coming from the Democrats. What I hate about the GOP is they are too nice.
Bryan,
There is nothing anti american about keeping a close eye on government actions or disagreements with the “majority”…that is why we have the first ammendment…
Thomas Jefferson once said:
“I predict future happiness for Americans, if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
Former President Barack Obama tried to claim credit on Friday for President Donald Trump’s economic success.
This would be the same former president who mocked Trump’s promises on jobs in 2016. “What magic wand do you have?” he taunted.
The reality is that Democrats, including Obama, have opposed every policy that is responsible for the current economic boom:
– Tax cuts: Democrats unanimously opposed the Republican tax cuts that Trump signed into law last year, which lowered the corporate tax rate to an internationally-competitive 21% and lowered tax rates for the middle class as well as high earners. Under Obama, Democrats tried to reverse all of the Bush tax cuts in 2012, and Republicans fought them until the very edge of the “fiscal cliff” — until the president and his party agreed to allow Bush’s tax cuts for the middle class to become permanent.
– Deregulation: As soon as Trump took office, Republicans used the Congressional Review Act to toss out many regulations that Obama had neglected to notify Congress about before leaving office. The president also used executive orders to reverse or simplify many rules the Obama administration had implemented that were obstacles to investment and economic growth.
– Obamacare fixes: Obamacare was a major drag on the economy in two ways. First, it imposed an individual mandate that forced everyone to buy health insurance — often at expensive prices. Second, it created new uncertainty in the economy, since investors anticipated that the Obama administration would follow through on promises to regulate other industries. The GOP repealed the individual mandate — over unanimous Democratic opposition — and the Trump administration relaxed the rules on Obamacare to allow individuals to buy simpler and cheaper short-term plans rather than expensive Obamacare plans. Partly as a result, premiums are growing slowly. The Associated Press reported Friday that some people will pay less next year.
– Energy: Obama literally tried to shut down the coal industry, tried to stop the Keystone XL pipeline, and discouraged oil and gas drilling. Yet the strongest economic growth during his tenure came from the booming oil shale industry, which created many new jobs while keeping fuel prices low for the economy as a whole. Republicans immediately reversed his policies, allowing the energy sector to grow even more — though Obama continued to target “corporate polluters” in his speech Friday.
– Spending caps: Though fiscal discipline is not exactly a priority of the current Congress, Republicans forced Democrats to accept spending caps after taking the House in 2010. That restraint arguably helped restore a sense of economic stability.
Undeterred, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and the Democrats are running on promises to raise taxes, restore regulations, expand Obamacare into “Medicare for all,” limit fossil fuels, and spend more on government programs. A box of “magic wands.”
Craig,
IMO you should stick to your niche: writing about Alaska and – especially – AK outdoors. You are well-situated to write stories about this place that nobody else can. If you start writing about Trump you just become another tiring place where people will come to say how great Trump is or how much he sucks. You can find that kind of crap anywhere and everywhere. Personally, at this time of year – arguably the most beautiful time of year here – I’ll be spending as much time as possible outside under blue skies with cranes passing overhead bugling farewells and gold birch leaves whispering about winter. You should find some stories out there. That’s where the truth resides.
Pete,
From the onslaught of comments this morning, it looks as though Alaskans wish to discuss the Trump issue…
You can just leave your phone at home as you explore mother nature’s creations…no harm done.
Thanks, Steve. But my comment wasn’t addressed to you.
Pete, Craig has several “drop down” topics to include both “Outdoors” and “Politics”. Just click on whatever pleases you. I enjoy both outdoors and politics. Cheers!
Grassroots Democrats posing for a picture
https://binged.it/2wVN98J
Hi Paul . Here’s my take on that picture.Democrats did not make that picture. Either misguided republicans did in effort to smear democrats , perhaps it’s just a spoof – joke . or worse yet and darker it’s distinctly possible it was paid for and made by someone who just wants division- to be able to control both sides . So chaos ensues so good Americans can’t come together and push for positive change and better world conditions. As Steve said . Divide and conquer. The ultra rich struggle with Americans independence. Their ability to think for themselves and their love of personal choice. They are a very hard group of people to control and conquer as each one is a king in their own life . If elites can get us to fight each other and degrade our morals ,culture and history they have us under control. If we unite we can move any mountain regardless of size . Look at every iota of info in this age and use a reasonbility test . Common sense plus facts . Decipher each word carefully. Look at the motives of who made or wrote it . Who paid for it . How many mistakes were made in writing it . Is it trustable. Was the writer or photographer trying to push the media consumer in a specific direction or was it just pure facts . This is a time of illusion and misinformation that requires abnormally careful processing.
Trump knows that playing nice will only result in losing. The D’s have increasing dominance of MSM. Look what they did to Romney, who was probably as qualified a person there has been to be POTUS and a truly decent person v. Obama, who was probably the least qualified. (Of course that’s just me. I wasn’t valuing community organizing because I still don’t know what that is. I was only considering foreign and domestic policy experience.)
Trump disrupted MSM with tweets and outlandish behavior because he thought it was a winning strategy and of course he was right. His tweets result in the biggest communication ROI in the history of the world. A few seconds, a few words, one finger and presto – global MSM meltdown! Kinda cruel. Like terrorizing chimpanzees in a cage except in Trump’s case his enemies have it coming. But still, to continue terrorizing lower primates is cruel.
Trump has been pretty successful at accomplishing his goals as evidenced by his trophy kids, trophy wives, trophy buildings, trophy toys and now the ultimate trophy job. It is not an accident that he is POTUS. He has had the goal for at least 30 years. No doubt looks at all of the people who have run and realized he and his strategies had a chance. Sad but true.
Trump was a correction. Too early to tell if will stick. Reagan was a correction for Carter who was a fluke of Watergate. Bush 1 was Regan’s 3rd term. Then we had 24 years of increasing ineptitude.
Seems like media experience is a key core competency. Reagan had it. Trump has it better than any other candidate in history. But he also had tangible accomplishments and a wife that looks the part of a FLOTUS better than any since Jackie (no doubt accident versus media savviness). Just being an actor/actress is essentially being a con. Need to have accomplished something tangible. And I don’t think being a SJW is sufficient.
Yep, all those masked faced violent protestors hitting people over the head with bike locks are really local Republicans. That’s ii, it could never be the street thugs of Demoncrat Party! What a conspiracy theory to laugh at! To quote Bugs Bunny: “What a Maroon!”
Paul,
Looks like we got a troll.
Any chance you are one of the NSA’s 40,000 “handles” operating daily from their headquarters?
The picture you posted could have been staged in the woods near Virginia…
The only one I ever heard touting: Maoism was Rogoff…and other Elites who wish to further “Capitalize” off worker’s labor….
No workers I know want less in wages and losing of Liberties and property.
As for the modern term Socialized….well, most G7 countries and Canada have some form of Socialized programs.
The truth is today’s modern economies have aspects of both Subsidized Government Programs and Small Business and Corporate Companies, just like those ALREADY in place in the U.S. So…unless you look to China, Russia or North Korea there are not sole Socialist Economies.
And who the hell living in America would want to model our life off of any of those three.
https://www.real.video/embed/5807772174001
Come on Steve, it should be clear to your “educated” mind that todays Democrat Party would like to control like China and Russia. Didn’t Bernie Sanders honeymoon in the Soviet Union while they killed thousands? Isn’t Obama’s Van Jone’s and admitted Communist? Wasn’t Obama’s own mentor on the FBI Communist Watch List? Didn’t Obama’s Anita Dunn adorn the White House Xmas tree with bulbs of Mao? And the Democrat list goes on from OWS to ATIFA…Stop being so “off grid” Steve. You sound more and more naive with every post.
Any Democrat who isn’t totally brainwashed should #Walkaway
https://youtu.be/jyW5fGQBsA0
This does not fully explain the phenomena that we are observing from the unhinged and violent Marxist left. I have been saying for at least 20 years that the Democrat party was rooted in Communist ideology. What President Trump has so successfully done is trigger the left to remove their masks and expose their real inner hearts. This observed violent-Marxist behavior started before the election with violence upon Trump supporters in the streets of America. After the election the Marxists have become hysterically unhinged with ever growing acts of violence. We see violent armed attacks upon free speech and peaceable gatherings including public prayer meetings, as well upon Trump supporters just going about their daily lives. We see it also in their attempt at mob anarchy in the Kavanaugh hearings. The violent antifa is nothing more than the Marxist Democrat Party’s Maoist styled Red Guard of street thugs who are out to violently overthrow the Constitutional Republic. I do give President Trump credit as a master of implementing Sun Tzu, which has caused the Marxist Left to cross the rubicon of sanity thereby exposing their dark and hardened hearts. This is the reason the #Walkaway movement is growing exponentially.
https://youtu.be/dESglDA45VU
The sad part is that some people think it started with Trump. Amazingly Obama, in his extremely partisan speech the other day, said Trump is the “symptom not the cause”. He got that right, even if he doesn’t know or acknowledge what the cause is…HE is what caused Trump.
The political pendulum swings, and has done so for as long as politicking has been on the earth. Trump is a response to how far Obama pushed this country, Obama was a response to Bush, Bush was a response to Clinton, just like Thomas Jefferson was to John Adams.
This is nothing new. The press acting like it is something new is also not new. Feigned outrage is all it is.
As we see this rise of “Illiberalism” in America, we will also see a rise in resistance to this unbalance of power…
“An illiberal democracy, also called a partial democracy, low intensity democracy, empty democracy, or hybrid regime, is a governing system in which, although elections take place, citizens are cut off from knowledge about the activities of those who exercise real power because of the lack of civil liberties.” Wikipedia
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/opinion/trump-white-house-anonymous-resistance.html
Trump operates in the dimension of persuasion. The left has been doing that for a long time. Trump is the first one on our side of the political fence who has and the left hates it. it is one of the reasons they hate him so vehemently. Scott Adams of Dilbert fame has written extensively about what is going on, the techniques, and why they work. Well worth your time to read. Cheers –
http://blog.dilbert.com/
Well put agimarc.
Thank You President Trump –
4.2% growth (Obama said tue goid times are behind us, we’d never see over 3% again)
Stock Market at record levels.
Black and Hispanic unemployment at record lows.
Food Stamp usage nearing record lows.
Respect on the World Stage again.
More jobs than people to fill them.
Who in their right mind would elect Democrats again? I mean honestly?
DJIA 26,000. The number tells the story. Trump is good.
The DJIA has been going up since 2009, but has been flat most of this year.
Corporate capitalism is actually running our government. The 1% are increasing their wealth, at a more rapid rate, than ever before in US history. Our President is the embodiment of it.
The pendulum has swung.
Sure James, let’s give failed Socialism, Communism a try right? Capitalism “rises all boats”. Who cares about the 1%? They are none of your business. How many Democrats are in that 1%?
On a side note, how about those loons Corey Booket, Obama, and Kamila Harris the last few days? Guess you want those racist 1% bums in charge huh?
Stick to salmon James.
Bryan,
I know you wish to devide us into blue and red agendas with every comment you make, but remember many of us are now shades of “purple” or “green” in our political beliefs.
Also remember many of the most staunchest Republicans were once Democrats and vis versa…
“I didn’t leave the Democratic Party,” Ronald Reagan famously quipped. “The Democratic Party left me.”
Funny Steve, after watching Obama, the most divisive president in US history and you habe the gal to say I am dividing along Red/Blue lines. I mean where have you been the last 2 yrs with the rabid media and Democrsts? Forgive me but, I spit my coffee across the room. I mean, I dont care what your personal opinion is but, you cannot deny Trump has been good for America. Real America, not illegal America, not Marxist/Socialist/Communist America.
Well Bryan,
I guess it depends on your knowledge and consciousness if you feel the Trump Administration is “good for america”.
Many reoprts say our country is now dropping (A Bomb every 12 mins throughout the world)…this frequency has doubled since Obama the “Drone Master” has been in office (and I wrote to him to express my dissatisfaction, he told me that he got Bin Lauden and we are safer.)
Our military is currently actively engaged in Iraq, Afaganistan, Syria, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia.
We now have as many as 700 military “bases” throughout the world.
If you feel this is good, it speaks to a larger change in our sense of human compassion or lack of it.
BOTH Dems and Repubs support this….
http://theweek.com/articles/655826/why-wont-anyone-admit-that-america-fighting-5-wars
5 wars . Very important. Also bombs dropping. The real issue is that got the bombs rolling was political corruption and bankrolling reconstruction contractors, defense contracts and perhaps some form of political favors to mess with Mideast country’s . + oil . It appears 9/11 was some form of inside job helped along by criminal bushes – criminal as in since before world war 2 . During World War Two they were caught using standard oil to illegally support and sell oil to hitlers nazis who were killing our allies troops , bushes were brought before congress at that time and questioned. They should have been thrown in prison for life . Obama’s justice department has worked hard to cover it all . Especially Holder . Bushes -Brennan helped Saudi terrorists get visas . Now bushes friends profi from reconstruction.Anyone with any concept of engineering can watch the towers go down and recognize it was a careful engineered explosive demo job .This possible massive false flag helped get Americans behind the concept of a permanent war and constant bombardment! Not to mention racial /religious divisions. Something bankers and investors profit from . More chaos the better especially if they have inside info . It’s time it stopped . Wars bombs the whole division mess . Trump has said he may try and uncover who was really behind this . Pull back the curtains. The deep state and corrupt politicians have everything at stake and could be in a bind . They are covering their tracks and attacking anyone who tried to help trump . Is trump part of it ? Doubtful. It would appear there was a purposeful weakening of Americans through nafta . Ross Perot wanted to stop that but dropped out of presidential race after his family was threatened. Trump has a very tough skin to be able to put up with the political and press bombardment. This could be a turning point for Americans. Hopefully for the better .
Opinion… I agree on your statement:
“Anyone with any concept of engineering can watch the towers go down and recognize it was a careful engineered explosive demo job”
What about tower number 5?
Just miraculously collapsed with no exterior damage?
This was the first (and last) time in history that modern highrises collapsed due to a fire. (Of any type)
Some have burnt for over a week in NYC without falling or collapsing.
A PHD from SLC determined from samples of dust in the neighboring apartments that “Nano Thermite” was used to accelerate compustion and facilitate demolition.
This is an act of what scholars now call “The Deep State” within America.
Rockefellers and Clintons, etc….(this was planned over 10 years)…to stop Gen X from uniting as they were.
Everyone wants to put Democrats against Republicans, but as common workers…we are all more of a “Proletarian” class of people.
The last thing our government wants is for us to unite in a common bond.
Divide and Conquer has been around since the Romans committed genocide on this Earth.
More love and less hatred is what is needed through this huge test of our modern civilization.
Steve, Rayme…I really think you guys should wean yourselves off of Infowars. That was some pretty kooky crap.
Hey Jason . Might be kooky crap but it didn’t come from info wars . Tried to read his stuff couple times but it never caught my interest . The info I passed on through this site came from history books before all this recent trump drama . Some books very old . Also from researching and following up various information trails that are public. Mostly not off internet. Though I have seen some of it repeated on internet . If you start digging deeper than standard media you will find most of what I said is correct . It will probably be mainstream information within 50 years . Unless we loose the right to speech and information. Shockingly I’m not blowing smoke . I don’t blame you for thinking it’s crap because it seams ridiculous. Sadly it all appears to be true .
Oh Jason . Forgot to mention. As to Steve’s statement about 5 buildings going down in New York using high tech explosives he is fairly correct . Can’t remember exact number but it was more than the two hit by planes . I thought 3 . I asked a friend of mine who lives in New York that I had visited trade towers with. They confirmed it was more than 2 . As to explosives I looked at a sheet of the chemical make up of the dust that was tested post 9/11 . It appeared to confirm very high tech explosive. Can’t remember the name right now but basically melts steel . So Steve is close on that . I have also confirmed that info through several other sources. It’s a political known fact through standard media that 9/11 was done by primarily Saudi connections . Look at the lawsuits through the courts . As to bushes involvement and criminal history- look up Rockefellers and what they did to amass their wealth and how they would bring Gatling guns with hired people- police if I remember correctly and then shoot up the camps and striking coal miners ect . That stuff is just history. Forgive me if it’s not 100% accurate as I read it in history books years and years ago . With Rockefeller/ bushes helping the nazis through South America it pretty well shows you their morals throughout history and now it stands to reason why the Mideast is so messed up under their leadership. Good possibility they wanted it messed up to profit from war and chaos. Obviously you have to throw in Rothschild – Soros and the bankers and various associates who have been financing both sides of conflicts for hundreds of years . Don’t take my word for it . Look it up in books yourself.
Jason,
Here is the PHD from Brigham Young University who discovered the NanoThermite in the dust of the WTC collapse.
Not my theory, but it can explain why buildings the buildings collapsed so quickly….not too mention ones that had no impact from planes.
Plus the buildings fell perfectly (imploded) that is a sign of “demolition”.
https://youtu.be/qhAiX_XvsBc
Jason . Look up ludlow massacre. Wicapedia doesn’t do it justice by any mean . They always soften the facts and inadequate details . Best to look it up in historical papers for a fairly full detailed read . At any rate Rockefellers were heavily responsible and paid the killers involved. If I remember correctly they even paid the governor to set the national guard onto the coal miners . It’s been 30 years since I read about it so that part might not be correct. At any rate it shows very questionable morals of the Rockefellers who had hired guns shoot into a tent camp of miners killing women and children trying to inflict punishment and fear so those people could be treated like slaves and increase rockefellers profits . They are closely tied to bushes , saudis and other very questionable families. Even if you judge their actions by that era it was beyond reprehensible.