As Ruth Ben-Ghiat says, the wall-to-wall lying we're seeing Trump engage in right now as the election nears is par for the course for authoritarians, who have to control reality for their followers. She says that "Trump’s campaign … is better understoo...

William Lindsey :toad:

@KathyLK She may be doing that in her own way by blogging, I think.

Mastodon Migration VOTED

Somehow interviews with the NYT and other corporate media evolved into gotcha sessions focusing on insipid nonsense, and now they are super cranky because no one wants to sit down with them to be screwed over. They did it to themselves.

William Lindsey :toad:

@mastodonmigration They did it to themselves seems so right to me. So much of their failure is rooted in colossal arrogance, which is always blinding.

Dave Goldsmith

@wdlindsy

And Trump has been doing this his entire life, even before he entered politics.

Trump's motto, taught to him by Roy Cohn, is: "The whole world is a con, and only suckers play by the rules."

Martin Vermeer FCD

@wdlindsy So very perceptive.

William Lindsey :toad:

Evan Hurst writes,

"Josh Marshall tweeted a screengrab last night from the New York Times, saying, 'This arrangement and editorial gloss may stand for, capture the journalism about the entire campaign.'”

The screengrab is below.

#Trump #KamalaHarris #media #NewYorkTimes #BothSidesism #FalseEquivalence
/10

New York Times Pretty Sure Trump Just Loves Science! Something Real Shifty About Kamala, Though.

This is getting worse, not better.

(www.wonkette.com)

William Lindsey :toad:

"We don’t know what kind of malignant sickness is metastasizing throughout the political newsroom at the Times. And we don’t know what’s going to happen on November 5.

But if Kamala Harris loses, the New York Times’s absolute failure to meet the historical moment — not just this year, but ever since 2015 — will be a big part of the story of how the United States of America ended up where it ended up."

#Trump #KamalaHarris #media #NewYorkTimes #BothSidesism #FalseEquivalence
/11

eberhofer

@wdlindsy wow - utter dereliction of journalistic duty was my phrase so far.

This is worse - it's, like, prime spreader of propaganda? Or co-conspiracy?

#MoronikaForMorons

William Lindsey :toad:

Mary Trump notes that Washington Post has jumped on Kamala Harris for saying she would like to see Medicare expanded to cover long-term at-home care. WaPo asks where the money will come from.

Mary Trump responds:

"Here’s a question I never hear the corporate media ask: What is the cost of not addressing an issue that affects millions of Americans?"

#Trump #KamalaHarris #media #WashingtonPost #BothSidesism #FalseEquivalence
/12

https://www.marytrump.org/p/what-it-costs-us?

DJH

@wdlindsy

maybe they are just too intellectual

William Lindsey :toad:

"In the wake of two devastating hurricanes, Helene and Milton, that’s a question we should be asking in context of climate change: What is the cost of failing to address the increasingly dangerous combination of increasing air temperatures, warming waters, and rising sea levels in terms of loss of human life, destruction of property, and the quality of our existence?"

#Trump #KamalaHarris #media #WashingtonPost #BothSidesism #FalseEquivalence #Helene #Milton #hurricanes #ClimateChange
/13

Phoenix Gee 🥥🌴😸💃

@wdlindsy This is like looking at the Pravda pre-1989...

William Lindsey :toad:

@PhoenixGee Indeed, it is.

Patrick, Grand Arbiter

@wdlindsy They never ask how we're going to pay for corporate tax cuts either

William Lindsey :toad:

@DJHDJH It's not clear which particular excerpt in the thread you're responding to. Since your comment follows Evan Hurst speaking about New York Times, I'll assume — but I may be wrong — that "they" refers to NYT.

To which I'd reply: Yes, they think they're highly intellectual.

But what we think about ourselves and the reality of ourselves is often highly disconnected, especially when arrogance distorts our self-understanding.

William Lindsey :toad:

@patricks Never. That question is ONLY ever asked of Democrats. Never Republicans.

William Lindsey :toad:

@eberhofer A good phrase — utter dereliction, indeed.

William Lindsey :toad:

@martinvermeer I agree. He's a perceptive commentator and a good writer.

William Lindsey :toad:

@Dave_Goldsmith That's right. This is one reason I value Mary Trump's testimony, since she has known him up-close for years and tells the truth about who he is.

DJH

@wdlindsy

I find it fascinating to see how, despite deep thinking, you still can't grasp reality. It's like playing checkers in a game of chess.