Racism is what Trump voters are driven by, actual unpatriotic acts by Trump "unimportant" due to Trump giving racist 'hits' to his voters

We need to face it. Since 43% of the US military is Non Caucasian, today, Trump will get a pass from his base as long as Trump continues racial vilification.

That 35% of America is, though, NOT ENOUGH to insure re-election, but strong enough to try to wage intimidation of the nation, as it is now doing.

To get to the root and foundation, the remaining part of America, not part of that 35% cohort needs to get it as to the totality of racist resentment Trump constantly invokes

https://www.salon.com/2020/09/04/trump-calls-dead-us-troops-suckers-and-losers-why-dont-his-voters-even-care/

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Trump calls dead U.S. troops "suckers" and "losers": Why don't his voters even care?

All that right-wing flag-hugging was a cover story for racism, more than a sincere expression of patriotism

AMANDA MARCOTTE

SEPTEMBER 4, 2020 5:00PM (UTC)

Donald Trump is likely lying, of course, in denying a new report by Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic that accuses the president of calling the fallen American soldiers of World War I "suckers" and "losers."

We know this because of Trump's pathological pattern of telling lies, first of all. But also because in his tweeted denials, Trump now claims he never called the Sen. John McCain a "loser" for being captured during the Vietnam War, even though there's a recording of him doing so, in the same rant during which he declared, "I like people who weren't captured." Trump was so proud of this smear of the late Arizona Republican that he

Beyond his implausible but vehement denials, Trump's other tell is that he falsely accuses others of doing what he himself has done. In this case, Trump has spent years bashing athletes who kneel during the national anthem, falsely accusing them of dishonoring veterans and war dead. In truth, the tradition — started by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick — was formed with input from a former Green Beret as a way to speak out against racism and police brutality while still honoring the troops. 

This is the same guy who found out that Russians were offering bounties to Afghan fighters who killed American soldiers and shrugged it off. He told a grieving widow of a U.S. Army sergeant that "he knew what he signed up for", and then accused her of lying when she spoke out about it. He smeared the family of Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who was killed in action in Iraq, when Khan's parents spoke at the Democratic National Convention. In between Trump's badly acted efforts at pretending to care about the troops, his actual contempt has often shown itself. 

All of this is why it would be unwise to hold your breath waiting for this story to put a dent in that stubborn 41 to 43% approval rating, below which Trump has rarely dipped throughout his entire presidency. Nor will Trump's voters be fussed about the Washington Post adding to Goldberg's reporting with a story sourced to a "former senior administration official" that Trump had "told senior advisers that he didn't understand why the U.S. government placed such value on finding soldiers missing in action because they had performed poorly and gotten caught and deserved what they got."

The Trump base, which is stable enough to keep Trump within stealing range of the 2020 election, loves to talk about how patriotic they are and to make a big show out of how much they supposedly love the troops. As this unquestioning loyalty to Trump makes clear, it's all nonsense. Given a choice between white supremacy and support for the men and women of the military, Trump voters will pick racism every single time. 

As with Trump, much of the flag-hugging and declarations of love for "our troops" is just an act for the conservative base. As with the showy piety of the Christian right and the outrage over imaginary pedophilia play-acted by QAnon adherents, the ostentatious "honoring" of troops is just another performance meant to put a moralistic gloss on the deeply immoral ideology of the right. 

This was blatant in the way Trump and his supporters weaponized their phony love of the troops to bash Black Lives Matter protesters in pro sports.

The real reason conservatives are angry at Kaepernick, or other athletes who kneel during the national anthem — who are predominantly but not exclusively Black — is plain old racism. Conservatives are loath to admit out loud that it bugs them to see athletes show support for racial equality, since admitting that comes uncomfortably close to admitting to racist beliefs. Instead, they pretend to be outraged about the supposed insult to "the troops," even though there has never been an insult to the troops embedded in this somber and respectful form of protest. 

The very notion that there's anything disrespectful to the troops about demanding racial equality also overlooks the long history of how people of color have served with honor in the military, while continuing to face discrimination and abuse at home. A number of civil rights activists in the 50s and 60s were World War II veterans motivated by anger over how much they had sacrificed for America, only to return home to be treated, as activist Hosea Williams once said, "like a common dog." The Tuskegee Airmen, a predominantly Black group of fighter and bomber pilots in World War II, were as famous for the work they did to desegregate the military and fight for civil rights in civilian life as they were for their feats of bravery during the war. 

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Currently, 43% of active duty military are people of color. There is no conflict between the fight for racial equality and supporting the troops. Indeed, doing the latter requires the former. 

Right-wing pieties about flag, troops and country have often been a bunch of hot air meant to disguise what is really forceful opposition to what are supposed to be shared American values of freedom, justice and equality. Consider how many people on the right love the Confederate battle flag, valorizing an act of rebellion in the name of racism and chattel slavery that led to the bloodiest conflict in American history. In his typical ham-fisted fashion, Donald Trump simply lays bare how much of right-wing patriotism is pageantry designed to wrap racist impulses in the flag. 

As I wrote on Thursday, polling data shows that the majority of Republicans have turned their backs on American values, the ones our troops take an oath to protect, such as freedom, equality and the rule of law. If protecting white supremacy requires abandoning bedrock American values, such as the universal right to vote, so-called conservatives seem distressingly eager to do so.  

There's literally nothing Trump can say or do to insult the troops, even those who have died in service to the nation, that would cause his supporters to turn away him. What's become clear is that they never really believed that stuff in the first place. This is and always was about their commitment to racism, a commitment they believe — reasonably enough — that Trump shares. As long as he keeps delivering on that toxic current in American history and American life, his supporters will forgive him for everything else. 

AMANDA MARCOTTE

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This behavior by Trump is in line with his Gaslighting

https://www.wvgazettemail.com/opinion/op_ed_commentaries/frederick-hufford-is-trump-delusional-gaslighting-or-both/article_652a0759-cbf9-5a1a-83f2-40ca67b20bf6.html

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Frederick Hufford: Is Trump delusional, gaslighting or both?

• By Frederick Hufford Feb 15, 2020 
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This is not an attempt to diagnose the president of the United States. I will, of course, honor the Goldwater rule that states we must not diagnose public figures outside the consulting room. I will present information from the voluminous presidential tweets and numerous TV appearances, which give us enough context of his actual words and nonverbal behaviors, to help us answer the question of whether Donald Trump is gaslighting, delusional or both. You may draw your own conclusions.

I have been trying to sort out which of Trump’s statements are probable delusions (a false belief or altered reality which is held despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary) and which are gaslighting (the manipulation of someone by psychological means into questioning their own sanity using the tool of persistent lying). Delusions are a mental disorder.

Examples of gaslighting:

1. “I graduated first in my class at the Wharton School of Finance.”

Fact: The graduation program for his class of 1968 (368 graduates) listed the top 56 graduates (cum laude and higher) and none of them were named Trump. Trump told this grandiose lie (or was this a delusion or gaslighting?) for 50 years. Trump’s undergraduate degree from Wharton is in economics, not business. He does not have an MBA from Wharton.

2. “Fake news!”

Fact: The major news services have credible sources and evidence for their reporting, but the president simply cries out “fake news!”

3. “Witch Hunt!”

Fact: Six “witches” from Trump’s administration are in prison, six more have pleaded guilty, 20 more have been indicted (13 of which are Russian military officers who were sent to America to interfere with the 2016 presidential election). President Trump no longer denies this Russian interference in our 2016 Presidential election.

4. “It was a perfect call” (President Trump’s phone call to President Zelensky).

Fact: Trump leveraged military aid money appropriated by Congress for political investigations that would benefit him personally. President Trump says he was concerned about corruption. Yet he never mentioned corruption on this call. The U.S. defense department had already cleared Ukraine for the aid on the issue of corruption.

More examples of gaslighting and/or probable delusions:

1. “No one knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.” Republican national convention, July, 2016.

Facts: This is the man who thought judges could make laws. This is the man that thought Secretary of State Rex Tillerson could, by himself, overturn the Foreign Corruption Practices Act (enacted by Congress in 1977). Trump was complaining that it was unfair American businessmen could not bribe foreign governments and businesses to procure contracts. Trump knows the system so well that he presided over a government shutdown of his own making when his party controlled both the House and the Senate. This is the same man who called our four-star generals in 2017 “dopes & babies,” which finally pushed Secretary Tillerson to call Trump a “f---ing Moron.” This the same day after the top generals and a few cabinet members met in a room to try to explain to Trump how valuable the United Nations was to the U.S.

2. “I know more about ISIS than the generals do. Believe me.” November, 2015.

Fact: Trump never entered military service and has no military training. Trump does not read any of his briefing papers, including the military ones.

3. “I am the chosen one,” while looking up to the sky. In reference to the trade war with China, August 21, 2019.

Fact: Gary Cohn, top economic advisor to Trump, resigned over tariffs, saying he could not get Trump to understand that tariffs were a tax on the American consumer and not a tax on China.

4. “We had a massive landslide victory, as you know, in the Electoral College.” December 11, 2016, interview on Fox News Sunday.

Fact: Trump had the 12th smallest Electoral College margin of victory (56.88 percent) in history and the smallest margin in the post-Regan era. Bill Clinton had a higher margin twice (70.45 percent, 68.77 percent); Obama also twice had higher margins of victory (67.84 percent, 61.71 percent) and George H. Bush also had a much higher margin (79.18 percent) — all this since Reagan’s electoral vote totals (90.89 percent).

Conclusion: Our President is not a genius at math. Hillary Clinton’s popular vote victory of 2.8 million votes in 2016 further discredits his claim of a landslide victory.

5. “My inauguration crowds were much larger than Obama’s.”

Fact: Despite Trump sending Sean Spicer out twice to chastise the White House Press Corps, Obama’s totals in 2008 were 1.8 million and 1 million in 2012, far surpassing Trump’s best estimated total of 600,000 in 2016.

6. Trump’s address to the CIA staff early in 2017. “I am 1,000 percent behind the CIA and the fake media is making it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community when the truth is the exact opposite.”

Fact: Trump had been sending out tweets about the dishonesty and incompetence of the “so called intelligence community” for several months.

7. To these same CIA staff on the same day he expressed his disappointment that as he was beginning his inaugural address, it was raining, and “God looked down and said; We’re not going to let it rain on your speech.” Trump then said “it stopped raining immediately” and “it became really sunny” and it “poured right after I left.”

Facts: The drizzle on Inauguration Day started as Trump began to speak and continued; it never got “sunny” and it never subsequently poured. Did Trump realize he was telling these lies/delusions? Or was he attempting to gaslight the intelligence community?

The third falsity that day to the CIA was about the size of the inauguration day crowds. Three lies/delusions/gaslight attempts in one hour to the intelligence community.

8. Finally: The most probable delusion/gaslight? “I am a very stable genius.”

Fact: Examples of Trump’s grandiose lies or delusions are spoken on national television or tweeted out almost every day.

Did Donald Trump actually believe that the truth was defined by his words and not the hard facts to the contrary? Why would he lie in front of the very people (the CIA staff) he had been demeaning for months? His stunning falsehoods lack the shrewdness of the typical pathological liar. If he had been hooked up to a reliable lie detector and were in fact “delusional” he would have passed with flying colors, because a delusional person literally believes every word he says, despite irrefutable evidence to the contrary. Trump takes it as a given that the world around him will conform to his own warped view of events, and that those who do not believe so are irrational enemies backed by the “fake media.”

1. Delusions are beliefs that exist despite indisputable, factual evidence to the contrary.

2. Delusions are held with absolute certainty, despite their falsity and impossibility.

3. Delusions can have a variety of themes including grandeur and persecution.

4. Delusional people tend to be extremely thin skinned and especially regarding their delusions (Michael J Tansey from “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump”).

Does this sound like Trump when he is confronted about an obvious lie or a delusion? Or an attempt at gaslighting? Trump has a 50-plus year reputation of a near non-existent relationship with the truth. Delusions by definition are a nonexistent relationship with reality.

Now that you have this much information, what is your decision? Is our president gaslighting, delusional, or both?

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Trump gaslighting and racism are his draws to his carnival barker base, and see this

https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article216495165.html

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A year ago this weekend, Trump defended a white supremacists rally. Sad.

Trump says 'both sides' are to blame for Charlottesville violence

During a press conference about infrastructure held at Trump Tower on Aug. 15, President Donald Trump said that “both sides,” including the “alt-left” were to blame for the violent rally in Charlottesville, VA. BY MCCLATCHY

During a press conference about infrastructure held at Trump Tower on Aug. 15, President Donald Trump said that “both sides,” including the “alt-left” were to blame for the violent rally in Charlottesville, VA. BY MCCLATCHY

Donald Trump is a man of famously definite opinions. Whether it be about Mexicans, Muslims, or Mueller, he knows what he thinks and isn’t shy about sharing.

So it was telling, one year ago this weekend, when he refused to take a stand.

Meaning, of course, Charlottesville and the white supremacist rally that shocked that town and the wide world beyond. Bad enough a motley mob of tiki torch-bearing bigots marched under Confederate flags. But then a car plowed through a crowd of counter protesters, and Heather Heyer, a 32-year-old waitress and paralegal, was killed.

Hurricane Center watching 3 systems. But that’s not why Labor Day could bust in Miami

In the moment of airless shock that came after, we did what Americans instinctively do at such times: turned to the president to steel our resolve, speak our overflowing hearts, help us make sense of a senseless thing. That’s what Obama would have done, what Clinton or the Bushes would have done. But this time, the president was Donald Trump, and he did something else.

First, he pinned blame on “many sides.” Two days later, with all the sincerity of a bad boy forced to apologize for tormenting his sister, he read prepared remarks acknowledging that white supremacy is wrong. The next day, he reversed his reversal, saying of the white supremacists and those who came to oppose them, that there were “very fine people on both sides.”

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It was an act of moral equivocation that will forever soil his presidency and it left many observers righteously outraged. But when it comes to moral equivocation, Trump is hardly alone.

No, we’ve seen it with reporters who obscure hard truth with soft euphemisms, turning white supremacists into “the alt-right,” and racism into mere “racial insensitivity.” We saw it when Twitter awarded its coveted blue check mark — something appended to the accounts of journalists, celebrities and public figures to assure followers that they are authentic — to a handful of white supremacists. We saw it when Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who is Jewish, said his company would not close its platform to Holocaust deniers.

If Trump is motivated by sympathy for supremacists, people like Zuckerberg seem to act from something more insidious and complex: a kind of misguided open mindedness, an extreme insistence on hearing “all sides” — even when there is only one.

They turn intolerance into a sterile intellectual exercise, the fears and experiences of its victims reduced to irrelevant footnotes. We debate the meaning of “alt-right,” debate whether Twitter should give David Duke’s account the same credibility it gives Jim Acosta’s, debate whether Holocaust deniers should be on Facebook and never seem to get that in the very act of making hatred a “debate,” we legitimize it, give it a seat at the table.

As a man who tweets as “Julius Goat” observed on Twitter a few days back, “While you are debating, your opponent is merely ‘using’ debate. The fact that you are engaging means he’s already succeeded.”

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Sen. Edward Kennedy famously eulogized his brother Robert as a decent man who “saw wrong and tried to right it.” The same might be said of Heather Heyer. It would be good if more decent people emulated her simple conviction.

That doesn’t mean one needs to be closed-minded to dissenting opinions. But one does need to recognize that intolerance is not — can never be — up for debate. Invite intolerance to the table, and you’d better be prepared to lose the table. So none of us gets to opt out of this struggle. There are no conscientious objectors here.

The refusal to take a stand is a stand in itself.

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