A sound critique of the national print press says that it has a limited time left. See, concerning the work of Clay Shirky, A Prediction of Print’s ‘Fast, Slow, Fast’ Decline. Market forces will also take their toll on the local print press, and even now local papers are useful only for The Last Inside Accounts (rather than…
Trump
Authoritarianism, Mendacity, Press, Trump
Why Trump Press Secretary Spicer Lies
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
Authoritarianism, Immigration, Trump
Neither Shocked Nor Awed
by JOHN ADAMS •
In these next months ahead, one should expect that the Trump Administration will do what it can to make statement after statement, in part to impress hardcore supporters and in part to shock and awe opponents. As a guess, one can reasonably say that immigration deportations will be one of Trump’s prominent efforts. See, As…
Authoritarianism, Trump
Dumb Show from Trump Now (and Mussolini Then)
by JOHN ADAMS •
Writing my inaugural address at the Winter White House, Mar-a-Lago, three weeks ago. Looking forward to Friday. #Inauguration pic.twitter.com/S701FdTCQu — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 18, 2017 Trump wanted to show the world how hard he was working on his inauguration speech, so he published a photograph. The picture is what one might expect from…
Education, Federal Government, Kakistocracy, Trump
Betsy DeVos: What a Weak Nominee Looks Like
by JOHN ADAMS •
In a confirmation hearing, one might face tough questioning, and those tough questions might – understandably – trip up a nominee. What shouldn’t happen, to someone of normal ability and proper preparation, is to stumble over simple, straightforward questions. That’s what happened to Trump nominee for secretary of education Betsy DeVos: she stumbled (indeed, almost threw herself…
Alt-Right, America, Authoritarianism, Trump
Trump, His Inner Circle, Principal Surrogates, and Media Defenders
by JOHN ADAMS •
We’re early in the formation of a grand coalition in opposition to Trump, but however long the task, that effort should focus on the top: Trump, his inner circle, principal surrogates, and media defenders. All in all, that’s a small group on which one may concentrate. There will be endless tactical debates about how to reach this…
America, Trump
On Obama & Trump
by JOHN ADAMS •
From columnist Dusty Nix of the Ledger-Enquirer, a comparison of Obama and Trump: Barack Obama is everything so-called conservatives have, at least since the dismal dawn of the Moral Majority, told us a political figure should be: a dedicated and loving faith-and-family man, personally beyond reproach, publicly untainted by scandal or corruption. The man who…
Mendacity, Trump
Conway’s, and Trump’s, Post-Empirical Lies
by JOHN ADAMS •
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,…
Animation, Cartoons & Comics, Trump
Trump as The Joker from Batman: The Animated Series
by JOHN ADAMS •
We’ve a long, difficult slog ahead, but occasionally a bit of humor will make the journey easier. Mark Hamill, who was the voice of The Joker on Batman: The Animated Series, has recorded one of Trump’s many unhinged tweets as though Trump were that comic book villain: The Trumpster quote #1#ANewJeersToast https://t.co/qZQEGU18r6 — Mark Hamill…
Kakistocracy, Language, Misconduct, Trump
The ‘Best Words’ Turn Out to Be Someone Else’s Words
by JOHN ADAMS •
Donald Trump insists that he uses ‘the best words‘ and that he will only hire ‘the best people.’ Turns out, some of those best people have found the best words not of their own expression, nor even of Trump’s, but of third parties from whom they have liberally plagiarized: Monica Crowley, President-Elect Donald J. Trump’s pick…
America, Authoritarianism, Liberty, Politics, Trump
Paul Krugman Asks ‘How This Ends’
by JOHN ADAMS •
On Twitter, Paul Krugman (@PaulKrugman) has a nine-tweet chain on possibilities after Trump becomes president. The chain begins at 1:05 PM – 6 Jan 2017 and ends at 1:16 PM – 6 Jan 2017. Here are those tweets, in order: Some musings on the next few years: We are, I’d argue, in much deeper and more treacherous…
Authoritarianism, Trump
Masha Gessen on Trump (1.8.17)
by JOHN ADAMS •
I respect Masha Gessen’s observations on Putin’s Russia, and her biography of Putin (part biography, part sketch of contemporary times) is excellent. See, among her many works, The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin and Autocracy: Rules for Survival. Gessen has more recent observations on Trump as an authoritarian that are compelling. Her principal…
Mendacity, Trump
Trump: Three Tweets, Three Lies
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…