Consider three basic rhetorical techniques that Trump (borrowing from the Soviets and Putin) so often uses (blatant lies, whataboutism, and that a given contention is obvious) and one finds that each technique is designed to avoid discussion, to avoid inquiry, to end debate. He aims to stifle. 1. Blatant falsehoods. Trump lies or makes false…
Trump
Politics, Trump
What’s Left
by JOHN ADAMS •
It was Secretary Clinton who, during the campaign, controversially but memorably asserted that “[t]o just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the ‘basket of deplorables,’” Hillary Clinton said at a New York fundraiser on Sept. 9. “The racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it. And unfortunately, there…
Local Government, Politics, Trump
Trump’s the Failure We Always Knew He Would Be
by JOHN ADAMS •
Writing in the Journal Sentinel, Craig Gilbert finds that Donald Trump has squandered chance to broaden base, increase popularity, polls show: “He’s done nothing to expand his base and, if anything, he’s sort of where he was, or experiencing greater erosion,” says Lee Miringoff, who conducted polls this month for NBC/Marist in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania that showed Trump with…
America, Bigotry, Federal Government, Television, Trump
Sec. of State Tillerson Distances America from Trump
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’m no fan of Rex Tillerson, an American Secretary of State who is a recipient — from dictator Vladimir Putin — of the Russian Order of Friendship, but even Tillerson had the sense to disclaim the stain that Trump has spread over this country. In the clip below, on Fox News, Tillerson makes clear that…
City, Politics, Trump
‘Enough is enough’
by JOHN ADAMS •
The Los Angeles Times editorial board plainly states the truth about these times: These are not normal times. The man in the White House is reckless and unmanageable, a danger to the Constitution, a threat to our democratic institutions. Last week some of his worst qualities were on display: his moral vacuity and his disregard…
Alt-Right, America, Film, History, Liberty, Trump
Don’t Be a Sucker
by JOHN ADAMS •
In 1943, in the middle of the Second World War, the United States Government, fighting on both sides of the world, commissioned a short film about fascism entitled Don’t Be a Sucker. The film describes the fight in which America was embroiled in the style and vernacular of that time; it’s even more compelling to me…
City, Politics, Trump
Molly Ball on ‘The Trump Show’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Covering Trump’s recent appearance in West Virginia, Molly Ball writes that “HUNTINGTON, W.V.—Every day brings new drama, but the Trump Show’s themes remain the same. He’s come to tell his people that everyone else is wrong and they are right…. They have come here, more or less, to be lied to: Trump, in his speech,…
Politics, Trump
Too Little, Too Late
by JOHN ADAMS •
Brian Beutler writes that Jeff Flake’s Ridiculous, Fake Anti-Trump Rebellion Should Terrify Republicans: [U.S. Senator from Arizona Jeff] Flake now professes alarm about Trump’s “affection for strongmen and authoritarians,” yet has done next to nothing with his extraordinary power—including a seat on the Foreign Relations Committee—to stop Trump from presiding over a pro-authoritarian administration. Only a handful of…
Authoritarianism, Politics, Trump
“The Leader is the Party and the Party is the Leader”
by JOHN ADAMS •
Embed from Getty Images Trumpist Kayleigh McEnany has left CNN (where she appeared as a Trump surrogate), for both Trump TV and the Republican National Committee as the RNC spokesperson. Evan McMullin, a conservative opponent of Trumpism, rightly (but too optimistically, I think) observes that “[i]nstead of doubling down on Trumpism, GOP leadership would be well served…
City, Politics, Trump
When Lions Meow
by JOHN ADAMS •
No one is obligated to think about politics, let alone write about politics. (Indeed, in a more libertarian world, for example, the state would be smaller, and there would be fewer political matters of which to speak and write.) In Whitewater and cities nearby, however, there are more than a few who have public, political…
City, Economics, Economy, Education, Immigration, Trump
Anti-Immigration Measures, Wrong Yet Again
by JOHN ADAMS •
Embed from Getty Images An anti-immigration position is for economics something like a flat-earth position would be for natural science: one may hold it only through either ignorance or disorder. (The ignorance would have to be profound, as even the weakest grasp of economics would incline a rational person to acknowledge the benefits of a…
Authoritarianism, Trump, Trump-Russia
Amy Siskind’s Weekly Authoritarianism List
by JOHN ADAMS •
Amy Siskind, president and co-founder of The New Agenda, keeps The Weekly Authoritarianism List. She does so because, as she rightly observes, “experts in authoritarianism advise to keep a list of things subtly changing around you, so you’ll remember.” (The list has been nominated for permanent keeping with the Library of Congress.) There are just…
City, Culture, Politics, Trump, Trump-Russia
The Limits of Cultural Shelter
by JOHN ADAMS •
In difficult times, some will retreat to apolitical, cultural matters. An apolitical approach is not one that I would take, but for others perhaps it seems the best that one can do. Indeed, in Whitewater, I’ve advocated that approach for those who would not take an overt stand on the principal political question of our…
Kakistocracy, Trump
‘Trump is a dumb person’s idea of a smart person’
by JOHN ADAMS •
Jennifer Rubin writes that “Trump is a dumb person’s idea of a smart person,” and expands on that description today in the Post: In many ways, President Trump behaves just how poor people imagine rich people do — with garish, ostentatious displays of wealth, imperiousness toward the common folk and disregard for the rules others must…