In his inaugural speech President Trump said that his was:
“a movement the likes of which had never before been seen on earth”.
I wonder if he considered other ‘movements’, such as the suffragette and women’s rights movement, the Civil rights movement, the anti-Vietnam war movement, among other revolutionary grass roots movements, all of which changed the character of the United States for the better, by helping move our country towards its ultimate goal, ‘a more perfect union’.
The aforementioned movements occurred not only on earth but right here in the the United States. I will not even refer to other grass roots movements that have occurred in other places and times on earth. The hubris that emanates from Trump’s mouth is simply mind boggling. Only a true narcissist and demagogue would completely disregard history so as to portray himself and his puny political efforts as: 1) a movement at all, and; 2) the greatest on earth. Its as though he believes that because he utters something, that utterance automatically becomes reality. Well, it does in a way, it becomes Trump’s own alternate reality and the reality of those who wish to follow blindly.
Yesterday (January 21, 2017) we witnessed another example of Trump’s effort to create an alternate reality. We saw a President of the United States attempt to seduce the CIA through praise and flattery. He did so at its headquarters while standing in front of a wall with 117 stars, representing the ultimate sacrifice made by the same CIA he publicly disparaged only a few weeks earlier. Those stars were there when he called the CIA an incompetent organization. If that was not hypocritical he uses the opportunity to engage in a war of words with the media, of all things, over the size of the inaugural crowd at his inauguration. He calls journalists the most dishonest people on earth. The issue of the size of the inaugural crowd was not even a major story of the day. But out of a sense of false pride he made it the number one issue of his one day old Presidency.
Later in the day Trump sends out his lap dogs Sean Spicer, White House press secretary, and KellyAnne Conway his former campaign manager to continue the feud with the media. They each confront the media about the same petty issue. Sean Spicer dutifully carries out an order by saying that it was the “largest inaugural crowd in history”, a blatant lie, which may cost him his credibility as White House spokesperson.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/21/sean-spicer-held-a-press-conference-he-didnt-take-questions-or-tell-the-whole-truth/?utm_term=.8256f51d6ad3
KellyAnne Conway said about Sean Spicer’s false statement that what he said was ‘alternate facts’.
http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/wh-spokesman-gave-alternative-facts-inauguration-crowd-n710466
These lies and all the previous bold-faced lies uttered by Trump and his cronies, both in the present and during his campaign are not mere slips of the tongue. I believe they are part of a carefully crafted public relations misinformation campaign aimed at the misinformed citizenry. They are intended to persuade the gullible by creating an alternate reality.
In the words of Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda minister:
“It would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas and disguise.”
Goebbels also said:
“There was no point in seeking to convert the intellectuals. For intellectuals would never be converted and would anyway always yield to the sucker, and this will always be “the man in the street.” Arguments must therefore be crude, clear and forcible, and appeal to emotions and instincts, not the intellect. Truth was unimportant and entirely subordinate to tactics and psychology.”
What remains to be seen now is to wait and see whether Trump moves to transform the White House Press Office into a propaganda machine.