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Ginny's avatar

Be reminded that sociopathy is a serious mental health disorder that our president displays. Look up the definition of sociopathy (or psychopathy) and you will be struck by how he fits the definition (as we see him). He surrounds himself with many others who likely also share this disorder or have drunk the Kool-Aid. Truth, empathy, laws, rights of others, and social norms aren't part of their abilities to recognize or adhere to. They simply aren't capable of it. It is frightening how many people have swallowed the Kool-Aid in voting for him.

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JA's avatar

Excellent, Ginny! Thanks for sharing, making us better informed.

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Gunnar Jensen's avatar

In consideration of the desire and quest for truth, it would seem helpful to acknowledge at least the likelihood that our current collective peril might truly be a foreign engineered coup. And one that began some years before the firing of James Comey. I believe we give Musk and Trump much more credit than they deserve for cooking up the trajectory of the lies that lay the foundations of phony justifications for especially some of the more ridiculous, imperialist ambitions we’re seeing. At some point, the media that still matter should seek to find the solid, evidentiary chains that surely must exist linking Musk and Trump to Putin. It would seem vital to our pursuit of understanding the true origins and source of a foreign incursion that it be constantly referred to as such, if in fact that is the case. While there exist at present many gossamer threads tying Putin to our country’s demise, confusion is apparent as so much reporting, writing and opining leave us with the clear, and I believe erroneous conclusion that Trump, along with Musk, Vance, Heritage, P2025, etc., are somehow the architects of our destruction. Trump and his duma of dunces just don’t seem capable of designing this destruction on their own. They’ve certainly proven their incompetence at execution.

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Michael Cleary's avatar

British psychiatrist Russell Razzaque reminds us (https://youtu.be/074gEsTCLMY) about slow, long term KGB activities that were reported 40 years ago, and suggests separate psychological foundations for MAGA's dependence on a great leader.

Based on a 1984 interview of defector Yuri Bezmenov, the KGB was actively working on psychological warfare against the US for decades. The goal: make it difficult for people to come to sensible conclusions even with plenty of information available. Razzaque's video includes two clips from Bezmenov's interview.

A longer analysis of that interview (https://bigthink.com/the-present/yuri-bezmenov) covers what Bezmenov describes as a 4-stage societal destruction process. The third stage is chilling. They write:

' The third stage would be “crisis.” It would take only up to six weeks to send a country into crisis, explained Bezmenov. The crisis would bring “a violent change of power, structure, and economy” '

That sounds a lot like what we're in right now.

Is this Putin's coup de grâce being executed by our government as we watch? It would certainly fit with the fact that so much of what's being done makes no sense.

Razzaque's idea about MAGA's thinking is that the rapid changes of modern life make people feel out of control. That brings insecurities to the surface, both economic and cultural/identity. When it gets too bad, people seek someone else to take over decisions for them.

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Gunnar Jensen's avatar

Thanks for this response … I would add to “… makes no sense.” “… in any other context.” (than the one you describe as Putin’s coup. It is certainly a slow walk, calculated, patient coup, if in fact that’s what’s happening …)

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ANTOINETTE PIETROPINTO's avatar

If only those bright people you and I know would adhere to this principle so wonderfully outlined.

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Joe kaiser's avatar

Thank you for a solid summary of where we are today and I hope when you do encounter friends who are "mostly" smart and agree with you that trump is a serial liar - but support his policies, that you follow up with a comment to the effect of: So you agree he is a terrible human being but because you like his policies you are willing to destroy this country and its founding values so you can what get a tax break? That is what is important to you?

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Nyleen Mullally's avatar

I have not wasted my time or energy researching the history of t***p’s life and activities in business or in the over 4,000 lawsuits he filed between 1973 and 2016, his six business bankruptcies (five of which were casinos. How the heck can a business genius manage a casino into bankruptcy, much less do that five times?). The only awareness I had of his life history, because I never watched The Apprentice, was that of his many wives. I considered his run for the presidency in 2016 a complete joke, because I did know that he had zero experience or competency in either politics or public service or involvement with the complex workings of our federal government. Oh, and during a trip to NYC in 2003, the only cockroach I saw one day was in the women’s bathroom in t***p tower. But the thing about him that disturbed me the most was the ease and frequency of how often he lied, constantly and repeatedly, even after the lies were debunked. It was maddening, like listening to an old vinyl record with a scratch, repeating the sound over and over again. The Bible says that the father of lies is Satan. It also says the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. There were many reasons why t***p won back the presidency last year, but I think the most powerful one was the deluge of lies he sold as the truth.

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Lois Henry's avatar

Truth? Where was truth when torture became “enhanced interrogation”?

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