Reading time – 3:13; Viewing time – 4:18 . . .
In Brené Brown’s new book, Braving the Wilderness, she quotes Harry G. Frankfurt in differentiating between liars and bullshitters. The liar rejects the authority of the truth; the bullshitter pays no attention to the truth at all. She also quotes Brandolini’s Law: “The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it.”
The BS effrontery was plain for all to see on January 30, as the President of the United States delivered the Constitutionally required report to Congress on the state of the union. The president delivered his practiced applause lines and – horror of horrors! – the Democrats did not stand and applaud.
Now, this is the reality show president, so for him to experience an absence of fawning adulation must have been terribly painful. Indeed, the next day he put his hurt feelings on his sleeve.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Monday called Democrats’ stone-faced reaction to his State of the Union address last week “treasonous” and “un-American” during a visit to a manufacturing plant in Cincinnati.
Trump described Republicans as “going totally crazy wild” during his remarks last Tuesday, while expression-less Democrats remained seated for the majority of the speech. “They were like death,” Trump lamented. “And un-American. Un-American.”
But their reaction, he said, was also something much worse.
Vaguely noting that “someone” called the Democrats’ reactions “‘treasonous,'” Trump said he agreed. “I mean, yeah, I guess. Why not? … Can we call that treason? Why not? I mean, they certainly didn’t seem to love our country very much.”
Definition: treason – the crime of betraying one’s country.
Apparently, failing to applaud Trump is the same as betraying one’s country, at least in the mind of the Great Thought Mangler. Is it possible, though, that treason is flowing from a different source? Wouldn’t undermining the fundamentals of our country be treasonous?
Some examples:
From The Onion, of course! Consider this as a placeholder for all the betrayals of this administration
- – Violating the separation of powers
- – Attacking the Justice Department, the FBI and the press in order to undermine an investigation
- – Bringing to the inner circle of the White House people who CANNOT GET A SECURITY CLEARANCE, at least one of whom has been targeted by a Chinese influence operation and several of whom put themselves in a position to be blackmailed by foreign powers – and they all had access to top secret information
- – Refusing to be loyal to allies and sucking up to tyrants, both large and small
- – Threatening nuclear annihilation
- – Double-crossing Dreamers and CHIPs kids
- – Abandoning the people of Puerto Rico
- – Blatantly disregarding the emoluments clause, making millions for himself, and
- – Failing to protect and defend this country against invasion by a hostile foreign power
Not one of these actions is partisan in nature or even a policy issue and none is in dispute. Each is in direct opposition to the welfare of this nation and every one is poison to democracy. They are simple questions of right versus wrong, patriotic versus treasonous. This is about betraying one’s country.
From How Democracies Die:
Click to watch the interview of former DNI James Clapper and former CIA Director John Brennan about the Russian invasion of America.
“An essential test for democracies is not whether such [authoritarian] figures emerge but whether political leaders, and especially political parties, work to prevent them from gaining power in the first place.”
Congress, you miserably failed the first test. Protecting the FBI and the Justice Department may be the last chance to stand up and fulfill your oath of office. The only question is whether you will wake up to your responsibility to protect and defend the Constitution and intercede to stop treason, the betrayal of our country.
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Ed. note: There is much in America that needs fixing and we’re on a path to continually fail to make things better. It’s my goal to make a difference – perhaps to be a catalyst for things to get better. That’s the reason for these posts. To accomplish the goal requires reaching many thousands of people and a robust dialogue.
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Copyright 2024 by Jack Altschuler
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2 Responses to The “T” Word
Douglas Binkley February 12, 2018
Like Norman Goldman suggested, I am going to refer to Trump as “Benedict Donald,” since he is the real traitor.
Joni Lindgren February 11, 2018
The entire Republican Party shouldn’t expect any more from the Democrats than they weren’t willing to give themselves!
The Republican Party needs to grow up and pass some bills that will include citizens instead of ONLY the corporations and wealthy. Can you spell Kleptocracy??