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The Brand is Crisis
Author: Raine    Date: 11/28/2016 14:10:48

From the Philadelphia Inquirer, last night.
One of my heroes in journalism, the late 20th Century muckraker I.F. Stone, is most famous for his dictum that all governments lie. Sadly, that's been true -- albeit in wildly varying degrees -- with all the U.S. presidents of my lifetime. The list includes Republicans like George W. Bush (the Iraq war, the African uranium caper) and Richard Nixon (pretty much everything) and Democrats like LBJ (Vietnam) and, yes, even the relatively scandal-free Barack Obama ("If you like your health insurance, you can keep it," even after evidence emerged to the contrary, and his promise of "the most transparent government"...not even close.) But none dared to launch what a certain German minister of propaganda (today you might call him a "chief strategist") once called The Big Lie -- a falsehood so outrageous and so without basis that it's almost futile to contradict in any conventional way.

But Donald Trump went there. Armed with his iPhone and his two thumbs, the president-elect -- who takes the oath of office in 54 days -- experienced a Twitter meltdown earlier this afternoon, and ultimately told a shocking Big Lie to the nation he plans to lead.


The lie? Here you go:




I am godsmacked. The Inquirer goes on:
This is the media's challenge -- to cover Trump's lies and yet not lose sight of the big picture either. To cover the most dangerous political figure in America's 240-year history with reckless abandon and yet with a sense of control.

The stakes are too high to calculate. But there is one other thing about Trump's big lie about the 2016 election. Ironically, before today, the case for a recount in the three states was a tad shaky. While the threat of Russian (or other) hacking has been a valid concern, little in the way of actual evidence of a stolen election has emerged since November 8. But now that Trump has alleged massive fraud, the integrity of the American system demands that the result be audited and properly certified. So let the re-counting begin.


We're being told to watch for fake news -- who needs fake news when the President-Elect of the United States has no problem telling lies so outrageous that only his true believers will think is factual?

It is the absolute right of the State to supervise the formation of public opinion.

Goebbels


This is not normal. This is dangerous. And he is trying to distract people from stories like this, These are stories that are warning everyone of what is to come.
Mr. Antonio’s combination of jobs — he is a business partner with Mr. Trump, while also representing the Philippines in its relationship with the United States and the president-elect — is hardly inconsequential, given some of the weighty issues on the diplomatic table.

Among them, Mr. Duterte has urged “a separation” from the United States and has called for American troops to exit the country in two years’ time. His antidrug crusade has resulted in the summary killings of thousands of suspected criminals without trial, prompting criticism from the Obama administration.

Situations like these are already leading some former government officials from both parties to ask if America’s reaction to events around the world could potentially be shaded, if only slightly, by the Trump family’s financial ties with foreign players. They worry, too, that in some countries those connections could compromise American efforts to criticize the corrupt intermingling of state power with vast business enterprises controlled by the political elite.


It didn't seem as important then, but Eichenwald wrote about this back in September
Many foreign governments retain close ties to and even control of companies in their country, including several that already are partnered with the Trump Organization. Any government wanting to seek future influence with President Trump could do so by arranging for a partnership with the Trump Organization, feeding money directly to the family or simply stashing it away inside the company for their use once Trump is out of the White House. This is why, without a permanent departure of the entire Trump family from their company, the prospect of legal bribery by overseas powers seeking to influence American foreign policy, either through existing or future partnerships, will remain a reality throughout a Trump presidency.


This is a dire situation already and he hasn't yet moved into office. Don't blink, don't stop caring and don't ever give up.

and
Raine
 

40 comments (Latest Comment: 11/28/2016 21:02:46 by Mondobubba)
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