CORKER UNLOADS: He would NOT support Trump again; says Trump NOT a role model; won’t say if he trusts Trump w nukes https://t.co/oAGIWVZ8P9 — Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 24, 2017 Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee might have delivered these accurate, critical remarks earlier; it’s still worth hearing them now.
Mendacity
Mendacity, Press, Television, Trump
‘This is an Apple’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
“Some people might try to tell you that it’s a banana.” #FactsFirst pic.twitter.com/LbmRKiGJe9 — CNN (@CNN) October 23, 2017 I haven’t watched CNN in years, to be honest, but their promotional advertisement about Trump’s alternative facts outlook is spot on. It’s more common for me to read than to watch cable news, but my two…
Film, Mendacity, Putin, Russia, Sports
Film: Icarus
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
When Bryan Fogel sets out to uncover the truth about doping in sports, a chance meeting with a Russian scientist transforms his story from a personal experiment into a geopolitical thriller involving dirty urine, unexplained death and Olympic Gold-exposing the biggest scandal in sports history. Readers who have Netflix can catch Icarus, a documentary that…
Authoritarianism, Kakistocracy, Mendacity, Trump
‘Trump is never going to be a proper president’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Architecture, Fashion, Mendacity, Television, Trump
How The Apprentice Manufactured Trump
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The first season of The Apprentice re-introduced Donald Trump to the world as an incredibly successful and intelligent businessman—it was a hit show in 2004 and boosted the Trump brand. The show was a major opportunity for producers to create his persona and sell his image to America. How did they pull this off? And…
City, Mendacity, Trump
A Reminder on Dealmaking
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
David Frum, writing about Trump’s failure to advance health care legislation, observes the truth about Trump: Regular reminder that Donald Trump’s core competency is not dealmaking with powerful counter-parties. It is duping gullible victims. — David Frum (@davidfrum) March 24, 2017 That’s right, and cannot be said enough: Trump’s a confidence man, and he preys…
Kakistocracy, Law, Mendacity, Trump
Axl Rose on Jeff Sessions
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Mendacity, Trump
Why Trump’s Staff Lies
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Tyler Cowen, writing at Bloomberg, offers an explanation of Why Trump’s Staff Is Lying: By requiring subordinates to speak untruths, a leader can undercut their independent standing, including their standing with the public, with the media and with other members of the administration. That makes those individuals grow more dependent on the leader and less…
Conway, Mendacity, Trump
Ridiculing Kellyanne Conway’s Claim of ‘Alternative Facts’
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Authoritarianism, Mendacity, Press, Trump
Why Trump Press Secretary Spicer Lies
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Anna Rascouët-Paz relates an explanation (from someone who worked in a past administration) for Trump press secretary Spicer’s repeated lies about inaugural crowd size. It’s spot on: For more on a disinformation strategy based on insisting that nothing is knowable, see The Russian Conspiracy on Behalf of Conspiracy Theorist Donald Trump (“there is a coherent pattern…
Foreign Affairs, Mendacity, Putin
Why the Kremlin Lies With Abandon
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Mendacity, Trump
Conway’s, and Trump’s, Post-Empirical Lies
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Lawrence Downes describes Kellyanne Conway, and Trump, correctly as bald-faced liars, in Trump, Trapped in His Lies, Keeps Lying. Sad! They’ve a certain kind of lie, though: one that rests in the idea that nothing’s outwardly determinable, and that, in fact, there are no discernible facts. See, along these lines, For Mr. Trump, It’s STEM,…
Mendacity, Trump
Trump: Three Tweets, Three Lies
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Summary first, from Greg Sargent, on Trump’s three lies in three tweets: To recap: Lie No. 1 is that thousands of U.S.-based Muslims celebrated 9/11. Lie No. 2 is that the disabled reporter’s original story backed Trump and that the reporter backtracked on it. Lie No. 3 is that Trump didn’t mock that disabled reporter…
Education, Mendacity, Science/Nature, Technology, Trump
For Mr. Trump, It’s STEM, Schwem, Whatever…
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Embed from Getty Images In response to a question about whether state-sponsored hacking against an American political party should go unpunished, Donald Trump grew expansive, giving his typically thoughtful perspective on science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and (even) epistemology: “I think we ought to get on with our lives. I think that computers have complicated lives very…