The Trump administration was supposed to expose the conspiracy, now they're saying there's nothing to see, creating a MAGA rift that could have lasting impact
It's an amazing opening for them. The first real crack in the bubble in ages, perhaps ever.
But while they definitely shouldn't shy from making an issue of it, the line is not the easiest to walk, since they have to hang it around Trump's neck and stoke conspiracy theorists' doubt without adding to the Trumpist attack on truth.
Just stay focused on how Bondi, Patel and Bongino's public statements changed. Why did they change? When did they reach their conclusions? Did they show evidence to Trump? What was his reaction?
The hard part of lying is keeping your story straight. Unless, that is, you don't care if people know you're lying and don't expect anything else. Then changing stories and rationales and premises befuddles your enemies and the press, and commits your supporters to accepting ridiculous stories as the price of their loyalty.
Along similar lines, here's Hannah Arendt: "The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they knew all along that the statement was a lie and admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness."
It will be interesting to see how our period of mass delusion ends. Hopefully, a little better than the era Arendt was talking about.
What about the possibility of Trump supporters (more likely the grifters that see Epstein News as a gravy train as opposed to the ones facing existential doubt about Trump Administration's dedication to exposing information about Epstein) simply gravitating to another right wing fanatic like Ron DeSanits reasoning that he may be boring and uninteresting but he isn't directly connected to Trump. He's a true culture war leader who cares about kids and is honest about that unlike Trump. Then after that these people simply dump Trump and anyone in his administration in the same bucket as the Biden administration. Now you have a Trump and Biden are the same narrative which doesn't serve the Democratic Party's interest at all.
DeSantis can't recreate the cult of personality. Maybe no one can, that's uncertain, but he definitely can't. 2024 tested it, and DeSantis flopped.
The portion of MAGA that's really into the policy platform without the cult of personality and reality TV performance is not enough to get and hold power.
I'm pleasantly surprised to see Dems getting off their feckless asses and taking political advantage of this.
It's an amazing opening for them. The first real crack in the bubble in ages, perhaps ever.
But while they definitely shouldn't shy from making an issue of it, the line is not the easiest to walk, since they have to hang it around Trump's neck and stoke conspiracy theorists' doubt without adding to the Trumpist attack on truth.
Just stay focused on how Bondi, Patel and Bongino's public statements changed. Why did they change? When did they reach their conclusions? Did they show evidence to Trump? What was his reaction?
The hard part of lying is keeping your story straight. Unless, that is, you don't care if people know you're lying and don't expect anything else. Then changing stories and rationales and premises befuddles your enemies and the press, and commits your supporters to accepting ridiculous stories as the price of their loyalty.
Along similar lines, here's Hannah Arendt: "The totalitarian mass leaders based their propaganda on the correct psychological assumption that, under such conditions, one could make people believe the most fantastic statements one day, and trust that if the next day they were given irrefutable proof of their falsehood, they would take refuge in cynicism; instead of deserting the leaders who had lied to them, they would protest that they knew all along that the statement was a lie and admire the leaders for their superior tactical cleverness."
It will be interesting to see how our period of mass delusion ends. Hopefully, a little better than the era Arendt was talking about.
The old "just asking questions" ought to come in pretty handy here.
First time that's working against them instead of for.
What about the possibility of Trump supporters (more likely the grifters that see Epstein News as a gravy train as opposed to the ones facing existential doubt about Trump Administration's dedication to exposing information about Epstein) simply gravitating to another right wing fanatic like Ron DeSanits reasoning that he may be boring and uninteresting but he isn't directly connected to Trump. He's a true culture war leader who cares about kids and is honest about that unlike Trump. Then after that these people simply dump Trump and anyone in his administration in the same bucket as the Biden administration. Now you have a Trump and Biden are the same narrative which doesn't serve the Democratic Party's interest at all.
DeSantis can't recreate the cult of personality. Maybe no one can, that's uncertain, but he definitely can't. 2024 tested it, and DeSantis flopped.
The portion of MAGA that's really into the policy platform without the cult of personality and reality TV performance is not enough to get and hold power.