Jun 21, 2019 · With Iran, Trump Wants to Be Arsonist and Firefighter. Individual-1 apparently loves to intensify a crisis and then declare victory by ending it. Self-swatting prophecies embedded in tweeted hyperbole.
This is no different than claiming that millions of migrants will be rounded up only to “postpone” it. Or in more sordid details, the reports of a rape victim disinformed by the rapist.
On occasion, the media enables the gaslighting.
And then there’s rape.
Donald Trump deployed half a dozen tactics in a press release on Friday that any abuser would recognize.
Trump’s goal was to get us to question our own eyes and discredit columnist E. Jean Carroll, who described an encounter with Trump in the 1990s that ended in rape.
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Her fears came true within hours when Trump released a statement in response to the piece that attempted in several ways to gaslight anyone who read Carroll’s account and threaten any other woman who might want to speak out.
Tactic #1: Inject doubt
“I’ve never met this person in my life.”
When I read this line, I paused. I could have sworn New York magazine published a photo showed Trump and Carroll together. Maybe I had misunderstood. Maybe I was wrong about what I saw. Maybe the publication pulled a fast one on me.
Even if Trump didn’t remember Carroll, he certainly read the article and would have seen the photo of himself with her. It’s just not true that he never met her — and he knows it. Trump is deliberately putting readers back on their heels, making them doubt their own eyes.
Tactic #2: Misdirect
“Shame on those who make up false stories of assault to try to get publicity for themselves, or sell a book, or carry out a political agenda—like Julie Swetnick who falsely accused Justice Brett Kavanaugh.”
An obvious parallel to Carroll’s story is Christine Blasey Ford’s. Like Carroll, Ford is an accomplished, professional, well-spoken woman who told the world a detailed, deeply personal story about a powerful man. She sat in front of a Senate committee for hours and answered questions about her account of an encounter with Brett Kavanaugh in high school in which she says he attempted to rape her. Most Americans found her credible.
Tactic #3: Play up irrelevant details
“Ms. Carroll & New York Magazine: No pictures? No surveillance? No video? No reports? No sales attendants around??”
Tactic #4: Play the victim
“False accusations diminish the severity of real assault. All should condemn false accusations and any actual assault in the strongest possible terms.”
Tactic #5: Cryptic threat of violence
“The world should know what’s really going on. It is a disgrace and people should pay dearly for such false accusations.”
Trump doesn’t say he wants someone to hurt Carroll. He doesn’t say he wants his mass digital following to attack her. But the implication is there for anyone who supports him to read into if they wish.
www.vox.com/...
It has been reported that roughly 100 U.S. firefighters are convicted of arson each year.[3][4]
Motives behind why a firefighter would commit arson are widespread, ranging from excitement to concealing a crime. An excitement based motive would suggest that the firefighter wanted to be viewed as a hero. These fires are anything from "nuisance" fires, such as a trash container fire, to a fully occupied apartment fire. This motivation could be due to a need for excitement or thrill, but also in some rare cases sexual gratification. The firefighter would set the fire, allow it to be reported from an outside source before arriving on scene and acting as a hero. This can also be classified as hero syndrome.
A profile through the FBI's Behavioral Analysis unit was put together, that detailed a potential arsonist, and found it to be highly accurate compared to the cases studied in years since. The profile states to look for a white male, between the ages of 17-26, with poor social skills. He will have been a product of a poor home environment, where one or both of his parents were abusive or missing from his life. He will have a poor relationship with his father, aggressive or hostile, while having a potentially overprotective mother.
en.wikipedia.org/...