I have two highly intelligent, decent, generous, kind, well educated friends (one has a PhD) who not only support Individual-1, they both have posted numerous trumped up, fallacious articles and videos on social media that endeavor to substantiate his falsehoods. [Is it not an astounding lingual coincidence that the man’s name is part of a phrase meaning “false”?]
In any case, the cognitive dissonance of these two men’s positive regard for this obvious criminal charlatan has given me mental conniptions. I hasten to add that my disquiet is not of a political nature but of a moral one.
While it is pathetic yet understandable that the uneducated and the under-informed might believe that the powerful and decisive character portrayed by Individual-1 on that ridiculous unreality TV show was the real thing, it is utterly mystifying that educated, well read people could buy this patently absurd notion. His history of business failures, profiting personally from bankruptcies and well known pattern of stiffing creditors – from small contractors and employees to major banks – hasn’t registered in the excellent minds of my brace of buddies. The evidence of his self-aggrandized and utterly false image as the great dealmaker, is in plain sight so my mystification knows no bounds.
Then there are the otherwise formerly upright citizens who joined his administration, empowered this prevaricator extraordinaire and then departed. No listing is required, they are well known and mostly unemployable now except by Faux Noise (and other extreme right-wing propagandists) because of their association with himself. And there are the not so upright citizens who have populated his cabinet, not exactly the "best people" and, as it turns out, not even particularly able grifters.
This from Paul Krugman in the New York Times 15 January 2019 edition: “Normally working for the president of the United States is a career booster, something that looks good on your résumé. Trump’s presidency, however, is so chaotic, corrupt and potentially compromised by his foreign entanglements that anyone associated with him gets tainted — which is why after only two years he has already left a trail of broken men and wrecked reputations in his wake.”
So what does explain these parallel phenomena; disbelief of conspicuous facts by some smart people and willingness by others to serve this walking treasonous dungheap of a human?
The only explanation that I can see – covering both my aforementioned friends as well as the otherwise formerly upright citizens who briefly and unwittingly served his nefarious, self enriching cause – is that Donald J Trump exudes a highly contagious virus that infects people’s brains, distorts their sensibilities and erodes their moral fabric. This pernicious ailment destroys judgement and negates patriotism.
There appears to be no antidote to this rapacious dis-ease other than major political surgery. And yet I fear that even the removal and isolation (preferably in an eight by six barred concrete room) of this carrier of deadly contagion would not change the minds of these otherwise intelligent true believers.
What IS a Nation to do?