DJT lies fluently. It is his native language.
He has been honing his craft for decades.
Now he can make lies sing with just enough ring of truth to get him anything he wants.
It even got him the White House.
Reality based people figured out he was lying pretty much right away.
“Mexico isn’t going to pay for the wall,” we said. “He can’t single handedly bring back the coal industry,” we said. “How can he lock Hillary up when she hasn’t done anything illegal?”
I don’t need to go through all the other lies he told. Pick your favorite.
Over and over again we questioned the intelligence of deplorables for believing him and voting for him. We gleefully repost the stories of the ones who are slowly figuring out since inauguration day that they are going to lose their health care and they aren’t going to get their manufacturing jobs back and their disabled elderly aunt won’t get Meals on Wheels anymore and their kids won’t be able to watch Sesame Street and their sister in the mountains won’t get heating assistance and their cousin’s farm will be foreclosed on because he can’t get Legal Aid help anymore.
Then today I had a sad thought that made me almost feel sorry for all of them.
Almost.
It occurred to me that they knew he was lying. And they didn’t care.
Because they were desperate.
Not desperate for a show, or desperate for entertainment, as many first thought. The reality TV president.
I think they were just desperate to have someone pretend to care about them.
So desperate that they decided to attach themselves to the fake guy even though they knew he was lying.
Like any master of seduction, he figured out all the right words to say, all the right buttons to push. Deport the Spanish-speaking people! Reverse everything the black president ever did! Throw the uppity smart woman in prison! Keep out the Muslims!
And his biggest whopper of all, which wasn’t even really a lie: “I love the poorly educated.”
No one had ever just nakedly told them what they wanted to hear before.
Every crackpot/racist/sexist/xenophobic theory in right blogistan. He gave it all to them, uncut and unfiltered.
No one had ever bothered to even go through the motions of telling them what they wanted to hear before.
No wonder they ate it up with a spoon.
They wanted to hear it so badly that they set aside the part of their minds that tried to warn them it was probably a lie. Too good to be true. They had just been longing for someone to say it for years, for generations. And here he was.
The more we called him a flim flam man the more they defended him, like the teen girl on Maury explaining to her mom but I *LOVE* him and I *KNOW* he loves me and we are gonna be *TOGETHER* and he’s going to support me AND Little Forrest! And the parent or the counselor or the best friend says “but look at all the times he's lied to you before, how can you believe him now? He lied to his other women—he told them the same thing! No, no, this is *DIFFERENT* she insists.
Right up until the lie detector determines that was a lie.
How many love songs have been written along these lines. Tell me what I want to hear, just for tonight baby. I don’t know how to say no to this. Let me pretend you love me, even though I know you don’t mean it.
It’s really hard to come down off of a fantasy like that.
Heartbreaking, even.
To realize you have been used, and that you allowed yourself to believe a lie just because you were desperate to hear words you had been longing to hear.
It’s almost enough to make me feel sorry for them.
Almost.
Previous TRUE BLUE REPORT diaries
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
c
