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…
Trump
Newspapers, Trump
Tumulty Finds Sycophancy’s Hard to Shake
by JOHN ADAMS •
Trump Press Sec. Spicer gave a dishonest statement about crowd size on Saturday (“White House press secretary attacks media for accurately reporting inauguration crowds“), and spent a bit over an hour in a dishonest and maudlin press conference on Monday (“This time Sean Spicer smiles, spins, pledges not to lie“). It was a first conventional…
Authoritarianism, Libertarians, Liberty, Trump
Wes Benedict Tries & Fails Again
by JOHN ADAMS •
I’ve been critical of Wes Benedict, executive director of the national Libertarian Party (1 and 2), but I’ll say this for him: he’s an unfailing failure. In an email he sent today, Benedict wrote to party members, in part, that We are all waiting to see what our new president does. No doubt he’ll do…
Conway, Mendacity, Trump
Ridiculing Kellyanne Conway’s Claim of ‘Alternative Facts’
by JOHN ADAMS •
America, Local Government, Newspapers, Press, Trump
Trump Will Force Choices the Local Press is Too Weak to Make
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
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…