In a section Big Little Lies (p 193), Anonymous quotes Trump's tweet about NASA: "For all of the money we are spending, NASA should NOT be talking about going to the Moon We did that 50 years ago. They should be focused on the much bigger things we are doing, including Mars (of which the Moon is a part), Defense and Science!" Anonymous says, "Everything the president says is not a lie, but an awful lot of it is." The list of lies goes on and on, he says.
The president has been called a pathological liar. I used to cringe when I heard people say that just to score political points, and I thought it was unfair. Now I know it's true. He spreads lies he hears. He makes up new lies to spread. He lies to our face. He asks people around him to lie.
Anonymous quotes some of Trump's more racist and hateful language. "At a minimum, Trump's language is alienating in a way that feeds hateful groupthink. ". [T]here is no avoiding the fact that his words have a striking undertone of racial animus".. I still don't think he's a hardline racist, but draw your own conclusions." Anonymous says "Extremists are hijacking the president's rhetoric to promote their movements." Anonymous gives as an example the killer responsible for the mass shooting in El Paso who said he was defending the country against an "invasion" of immigrants echoing Trump's language.
Steady Staters try to moderate the presidents rhetoric, by preparing speeches, but Trump usually goes off script. Afterwards, aides have to perform cleanup, often even lying to the press to try to fix the damage. Often aids scheme to get the president away from D.C., where he can do damage, by sending him to rallies or overseas.
Anonymous worries about "democracy's foundations being ripped apart by mob rule." He thinks that Trump has created "a true cult of personality" and that tribalism and blind faith in the tribe drive many of his supporters. Greed, fear, and power drive many of Trump's aides. Trump's authoritarian tendencies exacerbate the problem."Trump embraces fear as a management tool," threatening aides with termination if they disagree with him. Many Trump staff begin with noble intentions, but the ones who stay are usually corrupted and acquiesce in falsehoods and bad policies. "Trump's character rubs off on people."
Speaking of Ukrainegate and the impeachment proceedings in Congress, Anonymous writes, "He [Trump] has always acted impulsively to serve his interests over those of the United States". he has repeatedly concocted ways to break the law if it gets him what he wants." Anonymous doesn't doubt that Trump acted improperly with Ukraine or that he obstructed investigations. Still, Anonymous is reluctant to support impeachment and said that, though there were discussions to invoke the 25th Amendment and have Trump removed from office, the discussions were never close to being acted upon. (It might have caused violence in the streets, he surmises.)
"The Trump administration is an unmitigated disaster." There are some benefits from his policies, Anonymous says, but they're outweighed by "the damage he has done to the fabric of our republic."
We're lucky there's been no major crisis (like a terrorist attack or war), because Trump cannot be trusted to act smartly.
Anonymous hopes that Republicans will be willing to vote for a (moderate) Democrat in 2020, but he warns that if the Democrats nominate a socialist, then Republicans will almost certainly stick with Trump. Anonymous hopes that a Republican will emerge to challenge Trump in the primary.
When I shared some of the quotations from the book with a Republican acquaintance, they refused to believe they were accurate descriptions of Trump.
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