Let’s see now, here is a list of the people claiming that President Obama wiretapped DJT in Trump Tower:
- DJT
- Sean Spicer
- Fakes News Channel
- Various Rcon spokesbots
- the most extreme elements of Right Blogistan
Here is a list of the people who say there is no evidence whatsoever that is true:
- FBI Director James Comey
- Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper
- National Security Agency (NSA) Director Michael Rogers
- House Intelligence Committee chairman Devin Nunes
- House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Adam Schiff
- Senate Intelligence Committee chair Richard Burr (sir)
- Senate Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Mark Warner
- Speaker of the House Paul Ryan
- Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
- Former Obama deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes
- everybody else with three brain cells
Which list is more credible?
That is not a trick question.
Normally I would not list Republicans as authoritative sources, but the above names are not backbenchers going rogue trying to get attention. These are party leaders who get intelligence briefings and are aware of a lot of the real backstory. Red Team discipline is usually so airtight that no one is allowed to say anything other than the party line, and here we have the people who help *determine* the party line openly saying that DJT is making an assertion for which there is no evidence.
it is telling that they are not even pretending to defend their president in this matter.
Several people on the internet are compiling annotated list of DJT lies. (The Toronto Star has a good one.)
Decide for yourself which are the biggest ones: (largest inauguration crowd, three million illegal voters, saving the treasury billions of dollars).
Then decide for yourself which of the following reasons for this pattern of lying is true.
(1) Either DJT is a pathological liar who says whatever pops into his head that he thinks will sound the best, or make him look good, or make his enemies look bad, and there is not much malice aforethought because he is just being reactive in the moment. He has learned that telling convenient lies, in a way that makes him look like the big guy and the hero, is a quick way to get attention and admiration. Since he is constantly on the hunt for that narcissistic supply he has to lie regularly because there is certainly nothing true he can say about himself that will draw the level of applause and adulation he craves.
or
(2) DJT is a magician deliberately telling the big lie as a means of misdirection. When the press gets too close to a story he does not want covered, he throws out some whopper like chum in the water. Once the feeding frenzy starts among the sharks, he is able to palm the coin, switch the deck of cards, slip the rabbit under his hat or whatever else is the purpose of the latest trick he is trying to pull on the American people.
or
(3) DJT is a used car salesman who knows that prevaricating and exaggerating and lying by omission is the way to move product off the lot. You turn back the odometer and then say the car was only driven on Sunday by a little old lady from Pasadena. You hammer out the dings and then say the car was never in an accident. You claim you put undercarriage protection on the car when you didn’t so you can get an extra couple hundred dollars pure profit out of the deal. He is the seducer: just tell the girl you love her, buy her a ring and let her think it is an engagement ring, say whatever you need to say to get in her pants—if she is fool enough to believe it too bad for her, you got what you wanted. He knows millions of voters are incurious and easily manipulated, and will believe whatever they are told by someone they consider to be an authority, so he lies to them just to watch them swallow it and is laughing behind his hand at how gullible they are and how much he can get away with. He takes and he takes and he takes and he keeps winning anyway, and he figures if he gets away with it that’s the way the game of life is played.
or
(4) Someone on his staff who knows DJT himself is incurious, easily manipulated, and believes whatever he is told by the last person he considers authoritative, deliberately plants specific lies where DJT will find them (up to and including using connections at Fakes News on the shows he watches regularly). That person (President Bannon?) is the puppeteer controlling the narrative, and setting up the misdirection. This leaves DJT in the dark and with plausible deniability. “That’s the information I was given, blame the person who told me” becomes the all-purpose alibi for repeating something untrue. Hmmm… is he really lying in that instance, if he doesn’t know it is untrue when he says it, because he is repeating someone he wrongly (or stupidly) trusted to tell the truth?
Or
(5) He is mentally damaged in some way, and his own mind and his own thoughts are his highest authority because he trusts absolutely no one. He honestly will not accept any contradiction of something he has decided is true and no amount of external evidence will budge him. Mental health professionals on this blog may have an official name for that syndrome. Again, is he actually lying though if he has no idea it isn’t true because he is pathologically convinced that every notion in his head is a true thought?
Those are the five scenarios.
Which one do YOU think is closest to being the right explanation?
Slowly but surely the press is beginning to actually use the word “lie” more and more.
Some are even using the term pathological liar.
Some are openly wondering if DJT is constitutionally incapable of telling the truth—if his thought processes are damaged in some way that he literally cannot tell truth from reality.
In that case, we are in serious danger, because if he is his own highest authority, there is nothing stopping him from imagining one day that we are under attack and refusing to believe any of the military advisers or intelligence personnel when they tell him the attack isn’t real.
Let’s not lose sight of what having the nuclear football means. His delusions could bring all life on the planet to an end.
So he is either a liar who enjoys lying just for the fun or it, or the power of it, or the sadistic manipulation of it.
Or he is a naif who can’t tell the difference between someone who should be believed and someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about.
Or his mind is damaged in some way that he cannot differentiate between things in his mind and the reality of the outside world.
One of these things is true and there are no other options.
How do the people who have the authority to remove him from office sleep at night knowing that?
c
Previous TRUE BLUE REPORT diaries
Mar 19: A budget is a moral document—a statement of public compassion
Mar 18: Ribbons: CBO scorers, Senate Intelligence Committee, Judge Derrick Watson
Mar 17: They know DJT is lying. Here’s one sad reason they follow him anyway.
Mar 16: Mick Mulvaney's ignorant, callous, evil, Republicon definition of compassion
Mar 15: Message Discipline—Pushback against Rcon talking points re DJT 2005 tax return
Mar 14: Message Discipline 101—Pushback against Rcon talking points about Obamacare repeal
Mar 13: Culture, Civilization, Rural America, Working Families—the missing word is a “tell”
Mar 12: The Rcon definition of Christians is as wrong as the Rcon definition of Democrats.
Mar 11: Ribbons: A Day Without a Woman, Native Nations Rise, Voting Rights Act still lives
Mar 10: How to talk to people who have trouble understanding actions have consequences
Mar 9: Where’s the fire? The real reason Rs are trying to rush TrumpCare through Congress
Mar 8: Message Discipline 101: TrumpCare, RyanCare, GOPCare, DonTCare—what’s in a name?
Mar 7: How very hard it is for a woman to go a day without paid (or unpaid) work
Mar 6: Can DJT really be stumbling into the exact investigation we want?
Mar 5: How is it even possible that deplorables see a man of faith when they look at DJT?
Mar 4: Blue Ribbon Winners—Chris Hayes, Malcolm Nance, Cierra Fields
Mar 3: I’m glad Bannon, Conway, Carson, Sessions, Miller, et al. are in the DJT Administration
Mar 2: “In every major fire it always starts with smoke. And smoke is what kills you.”
Mar 1: Am I the only one whose skin crawled at the Carryn Owens BIRGing moment?
FEBRUARY
Feb 28: Spinspotting 101: Special Prosecutor for what? It’s so easy to answer that question
Feb 27: Spinspotting 101: I’ve seen no evidence because I haven’t looked for any evidence!
Feb 26: If Neil Gorsuch were a man of integrity, he would decline the S.Ct. appointment
Feb 25: True Blue Ribbons: Russia Flag trolling, Dixie Swastika grabbing, District Days demonstrating
Feb 24: There is no such thing as a compassionate conservative
Feb 23: Chief of Staff, Nat’l Security Advisor, GOP Head, President Bannon—too many hats!
Feb 22: DJT has a few questions for you—SMURF THIS POLL!
Feb 21: The end of “access journalism” means it’s time to #sendtheinterns
Feb 20: KAC lying low for now… can we banish her (and all her ilk) from the airwaves completely?
Feb 19: DeVos cartoon, Ruby Bridges, unearned unhappiness and childlike faith
Feb 18: Blue Ribbon Winners—Vice Adm. Harward, Melissa McCarthy, and intel whistleblowers
Feb 17: And Ain’t I an American?
Feb 16: Please tell your family and friends—If you regret your DJT vote, speak up NOW
Feb 15: R-supported forced childbirth laws deny the autonomy of women
Feb 14: What did the president know? Everything. When did he know it? From the beginning.
Feb 13: Coping with The Madness of King Donald by hoping political comedy will save us
Feb 12: The Poverty and Justice Bible
Feb 11: Blue Ribbon Winners: Swastika removers, Ninth Circuit Panel, and the Persisterhood!
Feb 10: The first three words of the Constitution are “We, the People” not “I, the President”
Feb 9: Who first inspired your political activism? Who inspires you now?
Feb 8: We cannot and will not be silenced—Here’s what to do if they try to silence you
Feb 7: Plain Talk Tuesday: Tell people the Affordable Care Act is the same as OBAMACARE
Feb 6: Interview Skills 101—Internalized oppression and what Ryan Lizza did right. BRAVO!
Feb 5: These protest signs with Bible cites will confuse and befuddle RWNJs
Feb 4: Blue Ribbon Winners: Temple B’Nai Israel, Judge Robart, CNN, Senate Phone Callers
Feb 3: Not rich, not smart, not a good businessman, not a winner—DJT is NOTHING he claims to be
Feb 2: Thursday action—Encouragement, thanks, and apologies (pick one or more)
Feb 1: July 7, 2009 to August 25, 2009 and September 25, 2009 to February 4, 2010
JANUARY
Jan 31: If you’re on overload that’s part of their plan—there’s more than one way to #resist
Jan 30: Interview Skills 101 for reporters attempting to interview KAC and other Rcons
Jan 29: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness
Jan 28: Blue Ribbon Winners: Women's March participants and #NoMuslimBan demonstrators and...
Jan 27: I wish Steve Bannon would tell me to keep my mouth shut
Jan 26: Thursday Action—Have you ever written a letter to the editor? Here’s how to start
Jan 25: The Asch Conformity Study, inauguration crowds, and the importance of speaking out
Jan 24: #ResistTrumpTuesday—good news day or another paying dues day?
Jan 23: Spy the Lie 101: How to enjoy watching Rcon spokesbot interviews, even KAC!
Jan 22: Why I prayed for the President* today
Jan 21: The only silver lining in the midst of these clouds
Inaugural (!) diary: Stop expecting Republicons to make sense