David Frum | Donald Trump
ADDICTING INFO
You know lies have gotten out of control when a man who helped orchestrate the Iraq wars, a man who coined the term “axis of evil” and who helped push the lie of weapons of mass destruction, calls Trump propaganda what it is. Former George W. Bush speech writer David Frum has been one of the ironic voices of reason when it comes to the President Elect and the media that’s fawning all over him.
Frum took to Twitter on Sunday with a series of tweets that’s guaranteed to piss Trump off. Frum warned that “Trump’s lying about the popular vote has dangerous real-world consequences.” He called Trump a “narcissist” who will surround himself with sycophants (my word) and convince true believers “to act en masse as if the lies were truth.”
According to Frum, another consequence of Trump’s lies will be to encourage Congress to be reckless.
Even more surprisingly, Frum, an old school Republican, admitted that Republicans have lost the popular vote in every single election but one over the last 28 years. That, to Frum, means that Republicans should rule with caution, since they don’t have a mandate.
Trump’s lying about the popular vote has dangerous real-world consequences
— David Frum (@davidfrum) December 18, 2016
1) Trump, a textbook case of Narcissistic Personality Disorder, will believe the lies he tells, after he tells them https://t.co/ZCXPUGNxtc
— David Frum (@davidfrum) December 18, 2016
2) Meaning that Trump will live among ego-salving fantasies – a dangerous location for a president of the United States
— David Frum (@davidfrum) December 18, 2016
3) Worse, Trump will surround himself by people who repeat his lies back to him: either a) abject creatives or b) sinister manipulators
— David Frum (@davidfrum) December 18, 2016
4) Worse still: because the conservative media amplify Trump’s lies, the whole conservative world will lose touch with reality
— David Frum (@davidfrum) December 18, 2016
5) Encouraging true believers – and compelling even pragmatists – to act en masse as if the lies were truth.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) December 18, 2016
6) Among other negative consequences, this will encourage reckless political risk-taking by Republicans in Congress
— David Frum (@davidfrum) December 18, 2016
7) It remains true that Republican candidates for president have won the national popular vote only once since 1988: 1 in 7 elections!
— David Frum (@davidfrum) December 18, 2016
8) The party’s agenda is not popular in real-life. That would seem to suggest … caution.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) December 18, 2016
9) Instead, it seems congressional Republicans are about to plunge ahead as if the country were clamoring for their program.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) December 18, 2016
10) Some congressional Republicans surely know this not to be true. They dare not act on that knowledge
— David Frum (@davidfrum) December 18, 2016
11) In 1965, 1981, 2009, new presidents changed national direction with clear democratic consent.
— David Frum (@davidfrum) December 18, 2016
12) 2017 bids to be as activist as those prior years – but without the clear consent. How will that end? Not well, I fear.
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— David Frum (@davidfrum) December 18, 2016
Frum is right and he knows a thing or two about propaganda. Trump has taken his fake news cues directly from the Kremlin and his supporters are believing the lies. Polls show that the majority of Americans don’t believe the news media. More than half of Republicans think Trump won the popular vote. He didn’t. He lost by almost 3 million votes.
We are entering a very dangerous time. While people lose confidence in all our institutions, a demagogue who’s plagued with strong foreign influences and too many conflicts of interest to count has taken over the presidency, all without the permission of vast majority of the American people. That’s all we really need to know about the incoming Trump administration.
