W. Niederhut

Ron, I had posted that story on the forum some time ago, from a September 1990 Vanity Fair interview of Ivana Trump, that Donald Trump used to keep a copy of Hitler's speeches on his nightstand-- which was all the more unusual since Trump was never in the habit of reading any books. https://www.majorityrules.org/2020/01/donald-trump-and-hitlers-speeches-my-new-order.html Last April, perhaps in a surge of Czech nationalism, Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler’s collected speeches, My New Order, which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed. Kennedy now guards a copy of My New Order in a closet at his office, as if it were a grenade. Hitler’s speeches, from his earliest days up through the Phony War of 1939, reveal his extraordinary ability as a master propagandist.

And you'd definitely make your horse a consul. 🤥 But hey, CB, I thought we were supposed to dispense with the snarky tr-oll-ing around here. Didn't you get the memo?

This story reminds me of Suetonius's account of the Roman Emperor Caligula wanting to make his horse a Consul of Rome. Trump would have been the first Medal of Honor recipient in American history who dodged the draft and never served in a war.Trump says he wanted to give himself Medal of Honor but was told it was ‘inappropriate’ ‘They wouldn’t let me do it’www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-honor-medal-turning-point-summit-b2130101.html July 24, 2022

Well, this is discouraging. A new Marist poll indicates that Trump supporters have largely tuned out the Congressional J6 hearings, and that the hearings have not moved the Trumplicon Denial needle into the Reality Zone. Jan. 6 committee has done little to sway Republicans: poll (axios.com) Excerpt Two out of five Republicans say what happened on Jan. 6, 2021 was a protest protected by the First Amendment, per the poll. Since December, the percentage of Republicans who call Jan. 6 an insurrection and a threat to democracy increased from 10% to 12% - a shift smaller than the margin of error of the survey. Fewer than one in five Republicans say Trump deserves a great or good deal of blame for what happened that day, compared with nine out of 10 Democrats and 57% of independents, according to the poll.

Joe, Your post about Trump's latest Arizona MAGA rally raises an important point about the recent history of this lengthy "56 Years" thread. Trump is still lying his ass off, and his fans still believe him, and repeat the lies. A number of people have been understandably critical of the recent "redundancy" of this thread-- the repetitious debates about Trump's January 6th coup attempt, and the ongoing denial of Trump's serious crimes by an estimated 25-30% of the U.S. population, etc. What I would point out is that the recent "redundancy" on this thread has mainly been the result of the repetition of lies by Trump's apologists on this forum-- taken largely from right wing media sources. Most recently, this repetition has taken the form of denying the damning J6 evidence presented in the Congressional hearings, and the repetition of the false GOP memes about J6 "hearsay" evidence and mere Congressional "theatrics." It's an example of the Goebbel-esque propaganda technique of repeating the lies until people believe they are true. Famous examples in modern American politics include T. Boone Pickens' Swift Boat Vet commercials attacking John Kerry in 2004, and the Fox/GOP Benghazi smear campaign against Hillary Clinton from 2012-16. What I would ask the forum is the question, "How should any society (or forum) respond to the repetition of lies that are destructive to the society itself-- e.g., to its ideals, public welfare, democratic institutions, etc." Is it better, more civil, to say nothing? To use humor? To repeat the truth? A RAND Corporation paper on the subject of countering propaganda argued that people need to respond to the repetition of lies technique by repeating the truth. Obama commented on this issue during his presidency by saying, "Our approach will be to repeat the truth until it finally sinks in." I see no evidence that Trump and his followers will cease repeating the lies, although it looks like Rupert Murdoch may finally be putting the kibosh on his longstanding Trumpaganda.

Kirk, Regarding Chris B's latest hissy fit, I was the one who suggested that I probably needed to "chill out" about the persistent Trumplicon denial of Trump's January 6th black op. Chris gleefully agreed, and wanted me to get involved in another one of his usual puerile pissing contests about it. My only advice for Chris is to get a monkeypox vaccine before it's too late. Meanwhile, I'm not surprised that our monster "56 Years" thread finally got booted off of the JFK boards. Ben is in for a shock when he wakes up in Thailand this evening to begin another busy day of MAGA-spamming the 56 Years thread, only to realize that we've been banished to an obscure side board! 🤥

I probably need to chill out about this, but is anyone else around here really fed up with this pervasive Trumplicon dishonesty and denial about January 6th? It seems to go hand-in-hand with the incessant anti-Biden smear campaign in the right wing media. The anti-Biden smear campaign reminds me of the incessant Fox News smear campaign against Obama from 2008-17. In Obama's case, the smear was about being black, Kenyan, an alleged Muslim, Marxist, etc. In Biden's case, it's about being elderly, allegedly demented, having a bicycle accident, allegedly being a pedophile, etc. It's Karl Rovian slime. ‘It’s a kangaroo court’: in key state, Trump backers dismiss January 6 hearings | Wisconsin | The Guardian

Huh? Do you and Ben ever get anything right? You've got the glib, self-assured jive talking down, but all of your half-baked "theories" are nothing burgers-- usually based on obscure marital records and islands (Gibson, Epstein, etc.) In Ben's case, most of his daily spam comes straight from the MAGA-verse-- like his absurd notion that the Congressional J6 Committee hasn't come up with any damning evidence about Trump's coup plot! Ben's daily talking points here directly mirror things I hear from Trumplicons on less scholarly forums-- like the false Trumplicon memes about "hearsay" evidence and "theatrics."

Cliff stopped posting on the forum in 2020, if I recall correctly. No one seems to know what happened to him.

Steve Bannon found guilty in Jan. 6 contempt of Congress trial - The Washington Post

And Fox has played a major role in creating a sizeable delusional subculture in the U.S., of people whose worldview is based largely on "alternate facts" and false narratives from the right wing media. They adamantly shun any exposure to the real news of the day-- e.g., the Congressional evidence about Trump's J6 scam. Concurrently, a number of former Fox devotees have gravitated even further into the delusional MAGA-verse-- to Newsmax, OANN, and Breitbart -- believing that Fox's occasional reporting of real news about Trump, COVID, etc., is too liberal.

Well I'm shocked, shocked to see Rob Wheeler and Ben, once again, dodge and deflect from the historic big news of the day-- the public, Congressional exposure of Donald's Big J6 Con. What they are doing here on the forum is a microcosm of Trumplicon Denialism in the MAGA-verse today-- the denial of Trump's sociopathy, often associated with the more general denial of science, Koch/GOP plutocracy, climate change, COVID epidemiology, etc. Rob's modus operandi on the forum has always been to post erroneous, glib, cryptic innuendoes that sound clever but end up as nothing burgers. The most recent example is Rob's reference to the alleged Alfa Bank/Trump Tower nothing burger-- while side stepping the unread Mueller Report and Senate Intel Report on Russian interference in our elections. As for the Trump video clip-of-the-month, it's reminiscent of the scene in the Wizard of Oz where Toto pulls back the curtain on the Great and Powerful Oz talking into his microphone.

The Josh Hawley chicken video kind of stole the show tonight, but Trump's out take video was a close second. I'm posting this for Ben, Rob, and any other Trumplicons who chickened out on watching tonight's historic J6 hearing. Here's Trump on January 7, 2021 trying to apologize for inciting his deadly mob attack on the U.S. Congress.

Geez, Chris. More anti-vax disinformation from non-scientists. Perhaps you don't know that I'm a graduate of the world's greatest medical school-- class of '83 ? And, BTW, didn't I already post that data debunking your adverse reactions disinformation? I've always gotten along well with Brits, although some of you -- the upper class ones-- are supercilious twits who don't know when they're intellectually and athletically overmatched. We had some visiting med students from Oxford and Cambridge when I was in medical school at Harvard years ago. They were shocked by the work hours at the Massachusetts General Hospital (aka Man's Greatest Hospital) where we would put in 30+ hour shifts on the medical and surgical wards. As for the "elephant in the room" tonight-- it was Donald Trump!! Complete with hilarious out-takes!! And the chicken in the room was Senator Josh Hawley...

Well, I'm shocked, shocked to learn that Rob Wheeler hasn't studied the 2021-22 COVID morbidity & mortality stats for vaccinated vs. unvaccinated adults in U.S. Yo, Rob, did you ingest any bleach or horse paste during the pandemic, as your Great Orange Leader advised? 🤥

And conspiring to evacuate Mike Pence from D.C.? Also, since Tony Ornato was informed by 10:00 AM on January 6th that Trump's MAGA mob was armed, why did he and his SS men do nothing to protect Pence and the U.S. Congress?

Yeah, just what the forum needs-- another Russia-gate denying Trumplicon from the MAGA-verse who never read the Mueller Report. Denizens of the MAGA-verse seem to have a deplorable lack of curiosity about Trump's multi-decade ties to Felix Sater and Putin's oligarchs. And Rob Wheeler is a Wall Street guy... Here's hoping that Rob will, eventually, learn the true facts about how the FBI investigation of Flynn's December 2016 efforts to sabotage the U.S. sanctions against Russia (for hacking our election) resulted in Trump firing James Comey, and the appointment of a Special Prosecutor to investigate the 2016 Trump campaign's Kremlin connections. I'm not holding my breath.

Ben, Based on our previous discussions here, you haven't even watched the J6 hearings. No wonder you're not impressed with them. You're blindfolded, like roughly one third of the U.S. population. The truth is that these historic hearings have been excellent-- highly informative, and shocking in regard to what they have uncovered about Trump's crimes; his multi-state false elector scam and plot to obstruct the certification of Biden's election on January 6th, including the incitement of an attack on Congress by a mob that he knew was armed. And now we're learning that Secret Service and Pentagon officials were, evidently, complicit in Trump's coup attempt. If you still don't understand the historic significance of these hearings, you're living in an alternate universe.

That, and the fact that Trump is an abysmally uneducated, inept con man whose erratic "policy" decisions-- including his J6 coup attempt-- were entirely driven by emoluments, Kremlin blackmail, favors for wealthy domestic (and foreign) donors, and self-aggrandizement. But, hey, nobody's perfect... 🤥 Did you and Wheeler ever decide whether you agree with Trump's avid support for the Saudi LIV golf tour-- given your obvious moral indignation about Biden's fist bump with MBS?

That Alecia Long "review" of JFK Revisited is one of the most disgraceful excuses for a "scholarly" news article I've ever read in the Washington Post over the years -- perhaps the all-time worst. Their other WaPo review-- by what's-his-face, the jocular film reviewer -- was equally absurd, but the guy made no pretense of being a scholar. (He ridiculed Oliver Stone's JFK films, in passing, in the context of criticizing Spike Lee for interviewing the Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth.)

Well, I'll re-post my questions, Rob. My last attempt to engage in a dialogue here was repeatedly interrupted by another Ben Cole spam-a-thon. As for Ford F-150s with, "Let's Go Brandon," bumper stickers, does anyone here actually believe that the plutocratic, union-busting, healthcare de-funding Trump/Koch GOP represents the interests of working Americans?

Geez, Rob, surely you don't believe that "conspiracy theories" are monolithic, do you? Some are accurate explanations of the data, and some are absurd. As for the M$M, everyone here knows that they have colluded with the CIA and the U.S. military to censor information, and promote false narratives, about CIA and military black ops. Are you suggesting that the M$M is censoring or covering up information about Trump's J6 coup attempt? Tucker Carlson, (and Benjamin Cole) were promoting that "patriot purge" narrative a few months ago, but all of the damning evidence now seems to implicate Trump and his flying monkeys at the Willard Hotel, Pentagon, and Secret Service.

Don't sweat the small squad stuff, Rob. They're simply making a public statement about Dobbs. Meanwhile, how do you feel about Fox, OANN, and Newsmax repeatedly broadcasting false claims about what happened on January 6th, while refusing to air the actual Congressional J6 hearings? And the fact that 68% of Fox viewers in a recent poll still blame radical "leftists" for Trump's J6 attack on Congress? Wouldn't you agree that THAT is downright Orwellian? That a substantial U.S. subpopulation (? 25-30%) is completely delusional about Trump's historic coup attempt?

Rob, Can you list some "non-legacy" news sources that you actually trust? (I'm hoping that Breitbart, Newsmax, and OANN aren't on your list.) Also, regarding your somewhat amusing Prius joke about the libs, do you happen to drive a Humvee or a Ford F-150 with a "Let's Go Brandon!" sticker on the rear bumper?

Kirk, Gavin Newsom and David Pakman are hitting the crooked Republican nail squarely on the head here. The Koch/GOP has been fighting dirty (and hitting below the belt) for years now to establish minority plutocratic control of the Federal government. And Biden has never punched back. Neither did Obama. In fact, the only J6 Committee member throwing round House punches at Trump has been Republican Liz Cheney.