Krugman: Trump Is Promising To Rescue Us From Threats That Exist Only In His Mind

[kpete]

Trump has been a true innovator in political dishonesty. Lots of politicians have misrepresented their personal histories or the content of their policy proposals — Trump does that, too. But he has also constructed a whole dystopian fantasy world, trying to persuade voters that America is a nation with a collapsing economy overrun by violent immigrants.

……….

What’s new is that Trump’s vision of America-as-hellscape seems to be losing its political mojo. For example, a new Cook Political Report poll of swing states, while still showing Trump with some advantage on the economy, showed Kamala Harris tied on the issue of who can best deal with inflation and the cost of living, and barely trailing on who can best deal with crime and violence.

So it must be time to conjure a new fake source of fear and outrage.

……..

Will it work? I have no idea. What I do know is that it’s more of the same. Trump is promising to rescue us from dire threats that exist only in his mind.

More
https://jobsanger.blogspot.com/2024/10/trump-is-promising-to-rescue-us-from.html?m=1

[Walleye]

1. Trump is ignorant of what America is really like because he's never had to live in the real America

[Martin Eden]

8. Trump is indeed ignorant, but HE DOES NOT CARE ABOUT FACTS

What he actually does or does not know about the economy, immigration, crime, etc DOES NOT FACTOR in the rhetoric he spews.

All that matters is the narrative we wants voters to believe.

[Walleye]

13. Yes, And the more outrageous, the lie, the better it works for him

[Martin Eden]

17. Yep. Goebbels proved the BIG LIE repeated often enough becomes truth to millions

People have a hard time wrapping their minds around the possibility that a leader of national prominence would lie so blatantly about matters of huge importance.

Trump took that strategy so far beyond previous boundaries that once his audience if hooked THEY WILL BELIEVE ANYTHING, all evidence to the contrary.

[Beartracks]

2. Lots of other Republicans also share and spout that America-as-hellscape vision. Vote them out, keep them out.

I prefer my political leaders to be grounded in reality, looking for real solutions to real problems based on real data and a real shared humanity.

====================

[Shermann]

3. Darth Sidious made similar promises to Anakin Skywalker.

Imagine if Anakin was just a bit more skeptical.

[madaboutharry]

4. I don't think dire threats actually exist in Trump's own mind.

I think Trump is maliciously inventing bullshit to pull another con job on people lacking the critical thinking skills to see that he is a charlatan and a malignant sociopath.

The self-absorbed billionaires who benefit from his tax policies are another story. They don't care about the country. It's all about their money. These people don't care who suffers under Trump's malice. They have their own brand of sociopathy.

We can only hope that enough former Trump voters are breaking free of the MAGA cult and acknowledging reality. Like Michelle Obama always says, it only takes a few votes in each precinct to determine the outcome of an election.

[duncang]

5. He's not promising to rescue us

He’s saying what he will do.

[malaise]

6. Krugman needs to understand that the CONvicted felon is a

narcissistic sociopath who actually believes he is infallible.
In his madness, he thinks that anything he says is way more important than fact based reality.

[BootinUp]

18. Trump expected to lose in 2016 according to

Some reports. IIRC. He laughs at the dopes who worship his stanky ass and land in jail.

[malaise]

19. Waterman and other experts have reminded us of this truth

Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance. They need and seek too much attention and want people to admire them. People with this disorder may lack the ability to understand or care about the feelings of others.
-a textbook definition of the CONvicted felon, Smelvis the Slobfather.

It is frightening to me that the American political system allows this lunatic to run for its highest office when he could not get a teller’s job in a bank or a janitor in a school .

[yardwork]

7. This was an excellent column.

[erronis]

9. And to "fix" all the problems he caused.

For him, the "fix" is in.

[bmichaelh]

10. Shakespeare

MARCUS
He takes false shadows for true substances.
--Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus 3.2.81

[NJCher]

11. Want a good laugh?

The New Yorker Radio Hour has an interview this week with Newt Gingrich. Topic? What Trump would achieve in a second term.



The very idea that this devolving hot mess could “achieve” anything is evidence newt is buying into trump’s warped fantasies of killer immigrants, et al.

[DFW]

12. Although he probably doesn't know it, Trump is following the blueprint of Hitler's pal, Hermann Goering

"Why of course the people don't want war. Why should some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally the common people don't want war neither in Russia, nor in England, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.

"Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the peacemakers for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.”

-----------------------------------
Göring knew he was right, because he and his party had successfully brought his country into a war of previously unimaginable dimensions, and using exactly his observations as a guideline. Trump is no Göring, and he is no Hitler, but, then, he is dealing with a cult following that neither understands nor cares, so he is having an easier time of it that one would think in a modern society with access to accurate information. Of course, if their cult does not WANT accurate information, no amount of clairvoyance or telepathy will make them see the truth.

For the record, my father-in-law, though hardly one of those eager to do Hitler's bidding, was that "some slob on a farm." He was drafted off his farm into the Wehrmacht at age 17. He did not return in one piece. At age 19, he came back to his farm from Stalingrad, minus one leg.

[Farmer-Rick]

14. It's what advertising does

It convinces you you have a problem only their product can fix. Bad breath mouthwash dandruff shampoo and wrinkle creams are all trying to convince you that you have a problem only they can help you with. When in reality, they are just selling you something you don't really need.

But first they have to convince you of the problem before they sell you on the solution. Trump's dire threats in his mind are just him trying to convince America only he can save them. He's the product that will make us all safe. He's our government wrinkle cream that will take away all the wrinkles in our government and in our society.

While in reality he's only selling the filthy rich a tax cut.

[paleotn]

15. Right out of the fascist play book, chapter 3, page 87, second paragraph.

Other than there's not an actual play book and citing the passage, this is not hyperbole. Every fascist dictator in history did exactly the same thing. It's "the lie repeated often" coupled with "I and I alone can save the nation and restore it to its glorious, mythical past."

Same old, same old. Nothing new under the sun.

[CaptainTruth]

16. It's "WMDs in Iraq" repeated a hundred times...

...& too many people (Faux News viewers, MAGAts) fall for it every time.

It's a serious threat to our society.