Do you remember the Indiana primary? Ted Cruz' last stand? Cruz came out of someplace he was speaking and saw some pro-Trump protesters and went across the street and talked to them. There were two guys in particular. I remember watching it. "Are you Canadian?" one of them asked with a smirk. It was appalling the disrespect, it was un-American.
“What do you like about Donald Trump?” Cruz asked.
“Everything. Anything that Donald Trump talks about that’s what I’m about.”
(I found a news report with a video of the encounter. My God, it has been over a year.)
https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/05/02/ted-cruz-confronts-donald-trump-supporters-in-indiana/
The snarky comments, to a sitting U.S. Senator and candidate for president, and the unquestioning loyalty to their Leader, were too "polished," bad word, "canned," they seemed canned to me. Cruz was hoping to catch the Trumpists off guard by coming over and engaging them, turning them into blubbering fools, but the one guy was cool as a cucumber. It was a spontaneous encounter but the Trump loyalist was prepared. The snarky guy didn't seem to me to be man-on-the-street (literally!) American. "Anything that Donald Trump talks about that’s what I’m about.” Both in style and in spoken content he seemed more Russian to me. He refused to give his name and then walked off.
I have no reasonable doubt that the man was American, not Russian, but Russian-influenced, yes, I believe that; Russian-trained, a Russian agent? Yes, in this sense: Russia's ties to Trump and to his campaign were extensive; their influence on the election determinative. Everybody who does not practice Russian Big Lie politics agrees that Russia influenced the presidential election and did so both to hurt Secretary Clinton and to help Trump. The racist nationalist media, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Steve Bannon's Breitbart, are where people like that guy in Indiana, like my-brother-the-racist, had their opinions and their talking points, and their unquestioned loyalty to Trump, formed. That media is not conservative, it is not "American," it is Russian trained. They practice the Big Lie, traffic in "alternative facts," have no loyalty to the American Constitution, in fact, they "assault" the Constitution, they are not American, they are internationalists, Moscow-directed racist, internationalist "nationalists"; they have fellow-travelers in Great Britain (Trump supported Brexit; Nigel Farage campaigned for Trump in Mississippi), in France, The Netherlands, throughout Europe; it is, as Marine Le Pen put it, an affinity constituting "a new world, the world of Vladimir Putin, the world of Donald Trump."
Catch this https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/opinion/sunday/if-liberals-hate-him-then-trump-must-be-doing-something-right.html:
If there was one principle that used to unite conservatives, it was respect for the rule of law. Not long ago, conservatives would have been horrified at wholesale violations of the norms and traditions of our political system, and would have been appalled by a president who showed overt contempt for the separation of powers.
But this week, as if on cue, most of the conservative media fell into line, celebrating President Trump’s abrupt dismissal of the F.B.I. director, James Comey, and dismissing the fact that Mr. Comey was leading an investigation into the Trump campaign and its ties to Russia. (emphasis added)
Limbaugh:
“This is great. Can we agree that Donald Trump is probably enjoying this more than anybody wants to admit or that anybody knows? So he fires Comey yesterday. Who’s he meet with today? He’s meeting with the Soviet, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov! I mean, what an epic troll this is.”
That is the Alice in Wonderland, Big Brother, up-is-down propoganda technique. "Trump is probably enjoying this more than anybody"? Precisely the opposite--which is what the technique does; it inverts truth and fiction. Freedom is slavery, slavery is freedom, misery is enjoyment.
...conservatism, with its belief in ordered liberty, is being eclipsed by something different: Loathing
those who loathe the president. Rabid anti-anti-Trumpism.
I like "everything" about Trump. "Anything that Donald Trump talks about that’s what I’m about" and if you are agin' him, I like him more.
Here is how it works: Rather than defend President Trump’s specific actions, his conservative champions change the subject [See #5] to (1) the biased “fake news” media, [That's the Soviet/Russian "Big Lie" tactic] (2) over-the-top liberals, (3) hypocrites [See #5] on the left, (4) anyone else victimizing Mr. Trump or his supporters and (5) whataboutism, as in “What about Obama?” “What about Clinton?” (emphasis added)
Whataboutism: the logically fallacious weapon of first choice of the Soviets, the Russians, and Putin.
Limbaugh:
“How many times during the campaign did I warn everybody Trump is not a conservative? Multiple times a day. How many times have I told you: ‘Do not expect Trump to be a conservative? He isn’t one.’"
What is he?
“What do you like about Donald Trump?” Cruz asked.
“Everything. Anything that Donald Trump talks about that’s what I’m about.”
(I found a news report with a video of the encounter. My God, it has been over a year.)
https://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/05/02/ted-cruz-confronts-donald-trump-supporters-in-indiana/
The snarky comments, to a sitting U.S. Senator and candidate for president, and the unquestioning loyalty to their Leader, were too "polished," bad word, "canned," they seemed canned to me. Cruz was hoping to catch the Trumpists off guard by coming over and engaging them, turning them into blubbering fools, but the one guy was cool as a cucumber. It was a spontaneous encounter but the Trump loyalist was prepared. The snarky guy didn't seem to me to be man-on-the-street (literally!) American. "Anything that Donald Trump talks about that’s what I’m about.” Both in style and in spoken content he seemed more Russian to me. He refused to give his name and then walked off.
I have no reasonable doubt that the man was American, not Russian, but Russian-influenced, yes, I believe that; Russian-trained, a Russian agent? Yes, in this sense: Russia's ties to Trump and to his campaign were extensive; their influence on the election determinative. Everybody who does not practice Russian Big Lie politics agrees that Russia influenced the presidential election and did so both to hurt Secretary Clinton and to help Trump. The racist nationalist media, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, Steve Bannon's Breitbart, are where people like that guy in Indiana, like my-brother-the-racist, had their opinions and their talking points, and their unquestioned loyalty to Trump, formed. That media is not conservative, it is not "American," it is Russian trained. They practice the Big Lie, traffic in "alternative facts," have no loyalty to the American Constitution, in fact, they "assault" the Constitution, they are not American, they are internationalists, Moscow-directed racist, internationalist "nationalists"; they have fellow-travelers in Great Britain (Trump supported Brexit; Nigel Farage campaigned for Trump in Mississippi), in France, The Netherlands, throughout Europe; it is, as Marine Le Pen put it, an affinity constituting "a new world, the world of Vladimir Putin, the world of Donald Trump."
Catch this https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/12/opinion/sunday/if-liberals-hate-him-then-trump-must-be-doing-something-right.html:
If there was one principle that used to unite conservatives, it was respect for the rule of law. Not long ago, conservatives would have been horrified at wholesale violations of the norms and traditions of our political system, and would have been appalled by a president who showed overt contempt for the separation of powers.
But this week, as if on cue, most of the conservative media fell into line, celebrating President Trump’s abrupt dismissal of the F.B.I. director, James Comey, and dismissing the fact that Mr. Comey was leading an investigation into the Trump campaign and its ties to Russia. (emphasis added)
Limbaugh:
“This is great. Can we agree that Donald Trump is probably enjoying this more than anybody wants to admit or that anybody knows? So he fires Comey yesterday. Who’s he meet with today? He’s meeting with the Soviet, the Russian foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov! I mean, what an epic troll this is.”
That is the Alice in Wonderland, Big Brother, up-is-down propoganda technique. "Trump is probably enjoying this more than anybody"? Precisely the opposite--which is what the technique does; it inverts truth and fiction. Freedom is slavery, slavery is freedom, misery is enjoyment.
...conservatism, with its belief in ordered liberty, is being eclipsed by something different: Loathing
those who loathe the president. Rabid anti-anti-Trumpism.
Here is how it works: Rather than defend President Trump’s specific actions, his conservative champions change the subject [See #5] to (1) the biased “fake news” media, [That's the Soviet/Russian "Big Lie" tactic] (2) over-the-top liberals, (3) hypocrites [See #5] on the left, (4) anyone else victimizing Mr. Trump or his supporters and (5) whataboutism, as in “What about Obama?” “What about Clinton?” (emphasis added)
Whataboutism: the logically fallacious weapon of first choice of the Soviets, the Russians, and Putin.
Limbaugh:
“How many times during the campaign did I warn everybody Trump is not a conservative? Multiple times a day. How many times have I told you: ‘Do not expect Trump to be a conservative? He isn’t one.’"
What is he?
