I'm experiencing a cognitive dissonance.
The former president, we are told, still has millions of avid, rabid, supporters. Republicans are publicly anyway, denying the reality of the last election trying to court these supporters believing, rightfully, their support is fundamental to the Republicans' political survival.
And the former …
The former president, we are told, still has millions of avid, rabid, supporters. Republicans are publicly anyway, denying the reality of the last election trying to court these supporters believing, rightfully, their support is fundamental to the Republicans' political survival.
And the former president's blog, or whatever it was, folds up for lack of interest. What happened to those tens of millions of followers who lived for their Dear Leader's daily, hourly, verbal defications on Facebook and Twitter? Do they even exist?
Above it all, I am most heartened by the news that Cyrus Vance is hauling Trump people in to talk to the grand jury. Sing, sing, sing!
Paragraph 2 - Bingo. I visited his blog once. The very first thing I saw was an appeal for $$$. Are people wising up or did Brad Parscale manufacture the "millions" of followers to attract the attention of potential supporters and massage Donald's ego.
From a personal perspective, if a political candidate or group, of any stripe, hits me up for money right off the bat, I shut down instantly. Has Donald's constant begging turned some of his supporters off as well? Time will tell...
First thing I do when I fire up my Gmail in the morning is scan those classified as "Promotions" to see if any are incorrectly placed there (sometimes even comments on HCR's letter end up there) and delete them. They all end up asking for $$$. Then I move over to my duly sanitized "Inbox" to read my real Email.
Yes, I think that the cult followers require simple, short memes. They do not want to work too hard or read long blogs. Twitter was ideal as the followers of the orange Führer appear to have relatively short attention spans. A hypnotic trance cannot be maintained if you have to think too much beyond your memes programming. Hmmm, good book title for the current use of the internet's brainwashing phenomenon: Beyond Your Memes.
Perfect title! Please write the book. I'll buy it! I love the expression "Don't die with the song still inside you." You have a book inside you that needs to be written.
I just might! I am obsessively fascinated by cults and brainwashing. But it was stirred due in my childhood due to reading Anne Frank. I suppose Hitler had his memes as well.
Is it just being female and repulsively allergic to men who think they are God's gift to earth why I cannot fathom any attraction to the little mustachioed tyrant or his orange-hairpiece & skin devotee to Mein Kampf, physically or mentally? In fact, I have not seen or read about one authoritarian ruler that has attraction of any sort. Perhaps it is because
I can be one subject for you. I was brainwashed as a child by my Rush Limbaugh worshipping father. I never knew my Mom was a Democrat until after he passed away. I spent 50 years as a Conservative Republican and supported Trump. I am now a Democratic Socialist. Brainwashing is real and tragic.
Exactly. His 70 million plus voters haven’t simply disappeared. They will be back in force come midterms. Throw in some voter suppression and the House is lost.
Many of the 74 million who voted for Trump wouldn't show up at a football game if they knew there wouldn't be any cheerleaders there. But as Harry says, the still vote.
And more and more political gurus are saying that between control of state legislatures, gerrymandering, voter suppression , foreign interference and increased Republican turnout to overthrow the ‘socialists’, that once the Congress goes Republican, it will stay that way for the foreseeable future.
The main difference between a blog and a tweet (or FB post), in my experience, is that for a blog to work, you have to continuously provide interesting -- nay, fascinating and well-written -- new content: you have to draw your readers, but then you have to HOLD them. In the Tweet environment, all you need to do is blurt out something. "Today, I'm wearing red jockey shorts," will do just fine. If you tweet this three days in a row, some people will pick it up, and next thing you know, you have a political movement started to enact "Red Jockey Short Day."
Social media "influencers" exist, not by the quality of their work, but as part of a self-reinforcing cycle that amplifies their "influence" as a function of their existing influence. A lot like capitalism, where the way to make wealth, is to have wealth. Both result in an exponential (I'm using that term mathematically) expansion that increases until either physical constraints, or entropy, put a cap on it.
TFO (The Former Occupant) has no capacity to run a blog. He's a one-tune pennywhistle. HCR runs a successful blog -- that's what these Letters are -- and she does it by leveraging current news, her extensive historical knowledge, her impressive writing skills, and her apparently endless capacity to stay awake. But you'll notice that her comment volume has flattened, somewhere around 400 comments a day. I don't know what her subscription returns look like, but I would guess they've also gone flat.
Perhaps it’s the identity and camaraderie of being a “Trump supporter” (pious, crass & aggressive bullies who hate libs, minorities and “socialism”) more than it is the man himself that they are wedded to
Belongingness as a human need follows physiological and safety needs according to Maslow. I suspect that being a Trumplican satisfies this basic need, as being in a cult would satisfy. The footage of those so-called "rallies" reminds me of historical gatherings in a Roman coliseum, where drooling fools (I stole this from another writer) cheered for the deaths of captors in the ring.
I so agree Ellen! Thank you! I wish every child would learn of Maslow's hierarchy of needs in kindergarten. Children are resilient if they have help knowing what they need.
This is my opinion also, although I'd say falsely pious. His fans have found a guy like themselves -- and they love that, not necessarily T himself but anyone who acts like that.
Mary, Thank you for your reply. I had to look up pious because I had only ever seen it used to indicate hypocritical devotion. What I also interestingly discovered is that Merriam Webster online has a section on the "complicated uses" of a word. I'll copy and paste a sentence here just to show I didn't make it up. What I found overall though was that many dictionaries did not include the definition as I had intended (hypocritical). So I thank you, mostly for sharing your similar thoughts, but also for leading me to knowledge. "Pious has a bit of an image problem. From the beginning of its use in the 15th century this Latin descendant has been used to describe those who are simply very religious—that is, who are deeply devoted to their religion—but it has for centuries also described those who make a show of their religiousness and use it to assert their superiority. We see both in literature"
Thanks, Christy. I confess — your clarification was once in my memory bank but had fallen off the back of my Rolodex, like a few other bits of long-ago acquired information. Thanks for jogging my memory!
I am in your camp, Ralph, of the doubters. I think it’s all bait and switch with the Repubs, I believe the big fanfare given to his military-like followers, and his very politically naive fan base is all a weakening force that the legislature, particularly the Senate, seriously OVERestimated.
And more importantly, they have underestimated the very large majority of citizens that trump anything that Trump comes up with. It’s pitiful. Dangerous, yes, in a sense of the bloated significance given to his threats.
But, we have the timeline is in OUR favor now with the electing of Pres Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris.
I'm experiencing a cognitive dissonance.
The former president, we are told, still has millions of avid, rabid, supporters. Republicans are publicly anyway, denying the reality of the last election trying to court these supporters believing, rightfully, their support is fundamental to the Republicans' political survival.
And the former president's blog, or whatever it was, folds up for lack of interest. What happened to those tens of millions of followers who lived for their Dear Leader's daily, hourly, verbal defications on Facebook and Twitter? Do they even exist?
Above it all, I am most heartened by the news that Cyrus Vance is hauling Trump people in to talk to the grand jury. Sing, sing, sing!
One needs to be able to read in order to follow a blog——
You took the words “right out of my mouth!” Thank you for a chuckle!
You've read my mind, Gwen.
😔
Paragraph 2 - Bingo. I visited his blog once. The very first thing I saw was an appeal for $$$. Are people wising up or did Brad Parscale manufacture the "millions" of followers to attract the attention of potential supporters and massage Donald's ego.
From a personal perspective, if a political candidate or group, of any stripe, hits me up for money right off the bat, I shut down instantly. Has Donald's constant begging turned some of his supporters off as well? Time will tell...
First thing I do when I fire up my Gmail in the morning is scan those classified as "Promotions" to see if any are incorrectly placed there (sometimes even comments on HCR's letter end up there) and delete them. They all end up asking for $$$. Then I move over to my duly sanitized "Inbox" to read my real Email.
My suspicion is that the problem was the platform (a blog) rather than a lack of followers.
Yes, I think that the cult followers require simple, short memes. They do not want to work too hard or read long blogs. Twitter was ideal as the followers of the orange Führer appear to have relatively short attention spans. A hypnotic trance cannot be maintained if you have to think too much beyond your memes programming. Hmmm, good book title for the current use of the internet's brainwashing phenomenon: Beyond Your Memes.
It would have been more apt to say, "Living Beyond Your Memes."
Perfect title! Please write the book. I'll buy it! I love the expression "Don't die with the song still inside you." You have a book inside you that needs to be written.
Write It!
I just might! I am obsessively fascinated by cults and brainwashing. But it was stirred due in my childhood due to reading Anne Frank. I suppose Hitler had his memes as well.
Is it just being female and repulsively allergic to men who think they are God's gift to earth why I cannot fathom any attraction to the little mustachioed tyrant or his orange-hairpiece & skin devotee to Mein Kampf, physically or mentally? In fact, I have not seen or read about one authoritarian ruler that has attraction of any sort. Perhaps it is because
misogyny and liars are simply repulsive?
Perhaps it is also because you are a mentally and emotionally healthy person. Write the book! Or at least the article.
I misread Mein Kamph as Meme Kamph. Hm. And the women who are attracted to such deplorable men have never been dear friends of mine.
I can be one subject for you. I was brainwashed as a child by my Rush Limbaugh worshipping father. I never knew my Mom was a Democrat until after he passed away. I spent 50 years as a Conservative Republican and supported Trump. I am now a Democratic Socialist. Brainwashing is real and tragic.
I think because they haven’t been able to get la*d. Heh heh
Love it!
Good point
Exactly. His 70 million plus voters haven’t simply disappeared. They will be back in force come midterms. Throw in some voter suppression and the House is lost.
Many of the 74 million who voted for Trump wouldn't show up at a football game if they knew there wouldn't be any cheerleaders there. But as Harry says, the still vote.
And more and more political gurus are saying that between control of state legislatures, gerrymandering, voter suppression , foreign interference and increased Republican turnout to overthrow the ‘socialists’, that once the Congress goes Republican, it will stay that way for the foreseeable future.
Midterms are just around the corner.
I think you are right.
The main difference between a blog and a tweet (or FB post), in my experience, is that for a blog to work, you have to continuously provide interesting -- nay, fascinating and well-written -- new content: you have to draw your readers, but then you have to HOLD them. In the Tweet environment, all you need to do is blurt out something. "Today, I'm wearing red jockey shorts," will do just fine. If you tweet this three days in a row, some people will pick it up, and next thing you know, you have a political movement started to enact "Red Jockey Short Day."
Social media "influencers" exist, not by the quality of their work, but as part of a self-reinforcing cycle that amplifies their "influence" as a function of their existing influence. A lot like capitalism, where the way to make wealth, is to have wealth. Both result in an exponential (I'm using that term mathematically) expansion that increases until either physical constraints, or entropy, put a cap on it.
TFO (The Former Occupant) has no capacity to run a blog. He's a one-tune pennywhistle. HCR runs a successful blog -- that's what these Letters are -- and she does it by leveraging current news, her extensive historical knowledge, her impressive writing skills, and her apparently endless capacity to stay awake. But you'll notice that her comment volume has flattened, somewhere around 400 comments a day. I don't know what her subscription returns look like, but I would guess they've also gone flat.
I think you may be right, but can't one subscribe to a blog?
Maybe he will show up on Substack! Ha ha ha ha...
Yes please sing canaries!
Perhaps it’s the identity and camaraderie of being a “Trump supporter” (pious, crass & aggressive bullies who hate libs, minorities and “socialism”) more than it is the man himself that they are wedded to
Perhaps both the man and his followers are illusory...
Belongingness as a human need follows physiological and safety needs according to Maslow. I suspect that being a Trumplican satisfies this basic need, as being in a cult would satisfy. The footage of those so-called "rallies" reminds me of historical gatherings in a Roman coliseum, where drooling fools (I stole this from another writer) cheered for the deaths of captors in the ring.
I so agree Ellen! Thank you! I wish every child would learn of Maslow's hierarchy of needs in kindergarten. Children are resilient if they have help knowing what they need.
This is my opinion also, although I'd say falsely pious. His fans have found a guy like themselves -- and they love that, not necessarily T himself but anyone who acts like that.
Mary, Thank you for your reply. I had to look up pious because I had only ever seen it used to indicate hypocritical devotion. What I also interestingly discovered is that Merriam Webster online has a section on the "complicated uses" of a word. I'll copy and paste a sentence here just to show I didn't make it up. What I found overall though was that many dictionaries did not include the definition as I had intended (hypocritical). So I thank you, mostly for sharing your similar thoughts, but also for leading me to knowledge. "Pious has a bit of an image problem. From the beginning of its use in the 15th century this Latin descendant has been used to describe those who are simply very religious—that is, who are deeply devoted to their religion—but it has for centuries also described those who make a show of their religiousness and use it to assert their superiority. We see both in literature"
Thanks, Christy. I confess — your clarification was once in my memory bank but had fallen off the back of my Rolodex, like a few other bits of long-ago acquired information. Thanks for jogging my memory!
I am in your camp, Ralph, of the doubters. I think it’s all bait and switch with the Repubs, I believe the big fanfare given to his military-like followers, and his very politically naive fan base is all a weakening force that the legislature, particularly the Senate, seriously OVERestimated.
And more importantly, they have underestimated the very large majority of citizens that trump anything that Trump comes up with. It’s pitiful. Dangerous, yes, in a sense of the bloated significance given to his threats.
But, we have the timeline is in OUR favor now with the electing of Pres Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris.
It literally has driven them insane.