Trump is an egotistic windbag, and his lying incompetence is catching up with him.*
This retired military officer calls his “march to the border” a political stunt that risks the military’s integrity and loyalty to the Constitution.
The Trump administration tried to bury a new, massive report by 13 US government agencies on the current and future damages from climate disruption by releasing it on Black Friday (when most Americans are shopping or recovering from overeating on Thanksgiving). Trump thinks that cold weather “disproves” climate disruption (like he thinks that people like him rather than his money), but this report buries his ignorance under 1,600 pages of science and data. Go read it — and then get angry that America’s “leader” cares more about golf than defending the country.**
My one-handed conclusion is that the best defense against lying deception is truth, facts and protest. Have you called your representative lately?
* I’m usually polite about leaders, but Trump is such a failure that I cannot see any redeeming qualities or mitigating actions. One reader of my newsletter was not happy with my criticism:
I suggested that the Swordmaiden unsubscribe as she (like her hero Trump) does not seem to engage in critical thinking. Related: Russia (as a dictatorship) benefits from confusion and disinformation, much as the U.S. (as a democracy) suffers. Support truth.
[I just did by subscribing to the New York Times (over 3 million digital subscribers), Atlantic and Guardian (they just hit 1 million subscribers). Good journalism needs your support.]
** Speaking of not caring about people, I’m pleased to see the wheels falling off Facebook, as Zuckerberg’s business model of using your data against you and hiring sockpuppets to attack his critics (via… yes, “fake news”) backfires. I hope that the UK’s seizure of internal memos reveals more Facebook manipulation, if only to force people to recognize it. The result? “Zuckerberg’s could be the first in history to collapse simply because its citizens logged out.“
Regarding the idea that Trump “buried” the climate report, I would just say that I think you’re giving Americans too much credit. Do you really believe that Americans would care about a 100 page federal report (undoubtedly one of thousands of such reports that have been written) on any other day of the week? And just because a report is released on a particular day when many people have taken a brief pause from the hysterical 24 hour news cycle does not mean it’s “buried”. That the New York Times, The Atlantic The Guardian and countless others (including yourself) have reported on, and continue to report on this, is proof alone of that.
@Peter — it’s widely understood that the report was released on Black Friday (2 weeks before scheduled) in an effort to bury it, but you’re right that many Americans don’t read. Sadly, they vote.
Climate change won’t go away in 24 hours: it’s altering our future in very serious ways.
David:
How much of the ugly march toward populism and fascism in Europe do you think is due to Russian hackling and misuse of the internet to undermine democracy in countries it has targeted?