I say this same thing every time Dr. David Newquist puts up a new blog post: he doesn’t write much, but when he does, his words are powerful. This weekend, Dr. Newquist explains how Donald Trump’s lies are destroying our democracy as surely as our government’s lies demoralized the American Indians.
As usual, it is hard to excerpt Newquist. Every paragraph is powerful, but every paragraph gains even more power in concert with the whole. Here’s just one passage, which should inspire every reader to read everything Newquist says about the lies of the “village idiot” in the White House:
The most serious damage lying inflicts is on the language. When words are used to deceive, they become untrustworthy. An environment of lies makes the language useless in conducting any kind of human transactions. And when people cannot trust words, they cannot trust anything or anybody. The misuse and consequent mistrust of language spreads into documents and the laws that govern us. People realize that laws are construed to oppress some people and exempt others from any kind of responsibility [David Newquist, “Pathological Lying Destroys Human Possibilities,” Northern Valley Beacon, 2017.06.10].
Read and share Newquist’s full critique. Forward these words to our elected officials. And fight the cynical linguistic nihilism that Trump is using to destroy our democratic institutions as he raids the national cookie jar.
Politicians should be held accountable with Perjury Laws. If we lie on our job applications, it says at the bottom of the page we are guilty of perjury. If they get their job by saying they will do certain things, and then don’t attempt to, or do the opposite, they should be held legally accountable, as would we.
Hear, hear Prof. Newquist.
“I can definitively say the president is not a liar[.]” Sarah Huckabee Sanders
That statement makes her a liar too.
This experiment of a minority of voters putting Trump into office to drop a nuclear bomb on Washington has gone a lot worse than those with bad intentions ever hoped for.
Our pariah liar in chief, trump, will not go to the UK for a state visit. What a fall from grace. The United States has now become about as popular as Zika to our friends and allies. But we have that boots on the ground thingy going on now in the Philippines to protect the fellow despot there. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/11/donald-trump-state-visit-to-britain-put-on-hold?CMP=twt_gu
Our trio of codependent congress critters, shrug their shoulders with the grand hope of the windfall of money that will come to them for their betrayal of defending the country against our enemies, which are now, paying customers. America is for sale, and we cannot afford the price tag.
First time I’ve ever seen anyone use the word “suck” as a noun: “Trump shapes the attitudes of the sucks who curry his favor because he is rich and powerful.” Very Trumplike.
He’s a blowhard everybody knows it, but why did he get elected? Because he could relate to the common man, the voters the Democratic Party tossed aside and Hillary called deplorable, the ones you have such contempt. For many of you probably your own family background a generation or two ago, nothin worse than that first brat that goes to college.
Keep stickin your nose in the air and looking down on working class voters there will be 4 more years of Trump, once again delivered by liberal snobs.
Find a centrist, compromise, and win but you can’t do that, can you? Not capable of it. My way, my way, my way just like Trump. More in common than you know.
Once again camper finds it necessary to go after Hillary who just happened to beat Trump by 3 million in the popular vote.
Trump’s base will be the losers if he is ever able to get back to his agenda. It is sad that they don’t even realize how much Trump is screwing them over.
It is absolutely mind boggling to watch the Trump base and for them to accept and believe all the lies he has told them. What the hell is wrong with them?
What needs to remembered here is that most of the politicians that went to prison as a result of Watergate went not because of the break-in, but because of the lies they told.
If Trump goes before the Senate Intelligence Committee as he promised and he lies, he will be impeached.
Just as I enjoy Cory’s daily informative blogging, I equally enjoy Dr. Newquist’s Northern Valley Beacon.
For me, Cory and David are South Dakota’s blogers.
Dr. David Newquist complains about Trump and says nothing about people like Hilary who wipes her server with a cloth. Looks like Dr. David Newquist is just another establishment hack.
If Dems lose in 2020 it will be because of widespread voter fraud and minority voter suppression efforts across America. It will be because of even more gerrymandered districts that favor wingnuts. It will have zero to do with wingnuts agenda because they will be running away from Drumpf’s mess in droves.
Not one item on Drumpf or wingnuts agenda favors anyone other than the wealthy. And I believe the stoopid bastards that voted for Drumpf might fall for all his lies all over again. I also expect the NRA to pull out the Dems are coming after your guns again in 2018 and 2020.
What’s wrong with Trump’s base? Why can’t they see that they were lied to and sold a bill of goods that has zero chance of becoming reality? Most of them took the easy road through life, made selfish decisions like choosing pain pills and bar stools over goodwill and trade schools. Now that they’re not kids anymore they need someone to tell them they’re not the losers they think they are and all their problems are someone else’s fault. I can see Trump getting re-elected pretty easily. He’s made his base feel good about themselves even though in reality they’re no better off and getting worse not better, as they were during Obama. No matter how bad it gets, they’re still white and that’s better than anyone who isn’t. That’s overt white supremacy and it suits the Trump base just fine.
Here’s Trump’s Base …
European-Americans should push back! European-Americans should abandon the Democrats. Change your party allegiance to the American Freedom Party. A Nationalist Party that shares the customs and heritage of the European American people. We need a Nationalist Party interested in defending our borders, preserving our language and promoting our culture. The American Freedom Party is not beholden to foreign governments, special interest groups, nor Wall Street. The American Freedom Party is for America First!
Here is the deal Larry, the whatever case against Hillary is closed some months ago. We have all moved on from that as grownups tend to do. Now we are dealing with russian involvement in our democratic processes here with one being the integrity of voting. I know that it can be difficult, but do try to keep up.
Larry,
In the event you missed it, Hillary Clinton is not the president, Donald Trump is.
I supported Hillary, but I never had any doubt she was too slippery a politician to completely trusted. Hillary shades the truth, as do 99.99 percent of all politicians. Hillary knows what reality is, but she stresses the most favorable aspects of that reality.
Trump’s lying is completely different. Trump is a Big Liar. He’s not content to concede to any part of reality. No, he has to insist, against all reality, that the Russians didn’t try to swing the election for him. In many cases, Trump has no clue what is real. In others, he’s so far in the muck of corruption and a string of lies that he has forgotten what he said and what is real. It all becomes one and the same to him. He is George Costanza. In a sense, he doesn’t lie, because he just makes it up on the spot. If he believes it, it’s real. So if he says it, it isn’t a lie.
Good one … “Keep up.” LOL. Hillary, John Kerry, McCain and Romney were all candidates who were “next in line” in their respective parties. Paying back party loyalty rarely results in success.
Mr. C, I despise Mr. Trump as much as the next fellow does and I also ate significantly more sausages than him since last November but he’s still president, since sausage eating does not elect you president.
Senator McShame of Old folk’s home Arizona told the Guardian today that Obama was a much stronger leader than the orange, unsweetened bloviator in the WH.
Wingnuts are trying to excuse Drumpf’s messes on his being new to the job. I thought the litmus test for potus was being able to handle a 3 AM phone call?
The hate inspired trump election is driving people mad. The racial overtones on everything, the open religious hatred that seem to be so Balkans and driving folks over the edge http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMms1702111 We seem to have Slobodan Milošević as our leader, both have the same hairdo and both have the same hatreds. The dude’s kid Marko, is a real piece of work as well, living in russia, where else?
One of the great lies being told today is that our voting machines are never hooked to the Internet, so there can be no hacking.
Allow Senator Al Franken to read to you, “Giant of the Senate”.
It’s a tale of many things wrong in politics – especially lying. It’s a road map of how to run for office and what to do when there. His book is full of grace and humor. His words will, strangely, give you long-term optimism for our future.
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/06/al-franken-giant-of-the-senate-review/529005/
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/29/books/review/al-franken-giant-of-the-senate.html
Drumpf is saying he didn’t know Comey well enough to ask for loyalty. Riiiiight.
True to form, Drumpf and lawyer are throwing false/unprovable accusations about leaks and executive privilege around hoping something will resonate with Drumpf trolls.
Hap, I have no interest in refighting the 2016 election, but in the interest of drawing the correct lessons for future elections, and in the interest of defending basic facts as Dr. Newquist writes is vital in resistance to Trump’s constant lies, I feel obliged to correct the record: the Clintons are centrists. Ask Bernie Sanders.
Thank you, Donald, for debunking the false equivalency and pointing out the difference between standard politics with its ambitious advocacy and spin and the completely self-serving disregard for truth and decency demonstrated daily by Trump. Newquist could not have issued his critique of any past President, arguably not even Nixon.
I think it is a mistake to paint Trump voters as an identifiable whole that share the same traits and views. It reminds me of the anti-Islam thinking that we have in the most part agreed is unsound. Trump voters, like Muslims, can’t be legitimately stereotyped based on voting for Trump or for believing fantasy tales. Sure, some Trump voters commit racist and violent acts, but most do not, just as most Muslims do not commit violent or harmful acts. I suspect most Trump voters and Muslims are good neighbors that add to a community, despite having faith in some things that I personally find rather naive or unbelievable.
Donald Pay’s comment that:
is an interesting observation. In reality, I suspect that 99.99 per cent of all human beings shade the truth from time to time. For example, what are we supposed to say when our loved one asks, “do these pants make me look fat?”
And the idea that Hillary shades the truth to describe the world as a better place or good place suggests she is more of an optimist than liar. The contrast to the Trump repeated nonsensical and/or dystopian lies is deafening.
On CNN just a few minutes ago there was a clip of Trump holding a cabinet meeting where the Secretaries and other agency leaders paid homage to Trump.
It was an absolutely “dear leader” moment that any other president would have been uncomfortable with or embarrassed by.
As to bears comments, he is right, not all Trump supporters or Muslims are bad people. The problem is that when there are radical anti-Muslim groups, Islam Jihadist, and extremely dumb Trump supporters they do more damage than good.