Trump v Biden 2020,The insurrection (pt 6) Read OP

seamus wrote: »

It was a few months ago I first saw an analysis on Twitter about how when Trump is presented with options, he always picks the bad one. Without fail. The only time he ever does the right thing is when he has not other choice.

Once you see it, you can't unsee it. It's quite incredible.

If you ever think to yourself, "Trump will do the smart thing here now, he has to", but there is another option on the table - he will take that option.

... he’s going to pardon himself.

Overheal wrote: »

... he’s going to pardon himself.

He may not be able to

https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1349001087928344577

The Nal wrote: »

He may not be able to

https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1349001087928344577

Wouldn’t stop him from trying though

https://twitter.com/nycsouthpaw/status/1349020186427457537

The town of Alamo has not been officially contacted about the president coming for dinner.

The Nal wrote: »

He may not be able to

https://twitter.com/ProjectLincoln/status/1349001087928344577

Thats gas. He's taking his ball and going home :D:D

The US really needs to take a good long look at the whole 'Pardon' system. I mean else does that? Dictators and Kings?

partyguinness wrote: »

The US really needs to take a good long look at the whole 'Pardon' system. I mean else does that? Dictators and Kings?

I don't think anyone ever seriously foresaw the system being potentially abused the way Trump could do.

seamus wrote: »

It was a few months ago I first saw an analysis on Twitter about how when Trump is presented with options, he always picks the bad one. Without fail. The only time he ever does the right thing is when he has not other choice.

Once you see it, you can't unsee it. It's quite incredible.

If you ever think to yourself, "Trump will do the smart thing here now, he has to", but there is another option on the table - he will take that option.

This is so true and yet to this very day there are people who legitimately think he some kind of genius ('4D chess master') just because of stupidity by others or pure dumb luck things now and again work out for him.

Deleted User wrote: »

Internally a mess, he seems to have stayed out of a more wars than many recent presidents. John Bolton left the administration is disgust, and this is despite the fact that Trump was playing the bully boy with Iran. Presumably Bolton wanted a war.

I always found this an odd argument from the right. The military is revered in the US. Trump made a massive deal out of failure of NFL players and like failing to respect the flag and the military.

Everyone, including those in the US, understand that much of the power of the US comes form the threat of military action. They spread $750bn a year, well ahead of many of the other countries combined.

Yet all of a sudden, a true metric of a POTUS is that he doesn't get involved in foreign conflicts? Don't get me wrong, I agree with the sentiment, I just don't believe they actually believe it.

I sometimes wonder how a person came to support Donald Trump and also, after his sole tenure as President, I wonder why they continue to support him. To understand it, I recalled the seminal work "When Prophecy Fails" from the 1950's. This was a book detailing the psychology involved in a doomsday cult which predicted that a flood would destroy the world and that a flying saucer would come to rescue the true believer followers of this cult. In short, the world did not end as predicted and to deal with it psychologically the group, instead of admitting they’d been duped and were gullible, believed that it was their strong belief's which had helped avert disaster. In the aftermath, their belief intensified. It was support for the theory of cognitive dissonance yet at it's heart was the concept of "disconfirmed expectancy". The events at the Capitol are an example of this phenomenon fuelled by fringes of the internet, biased media and the President of the United States.

Five conditions lay at the heart of this phenomenon and it can be prescribed to the Trump phenomenon and the 2020 Presidential election results.

1. A belief must be held with conviction.

An American becomes disenfranchised with status quo politics, they consume Donald Trump's easily digested rhetoric, they take to his (bullying) style, they particularly get a kick out how he riles people this person despises. They believe that he would make a great President, that he is a successful businessman, a billionaire who can’t be bought, that he has integrity and they align themselves with his platform to Make America Great Again.

2. The believer must be committed to the belief.

The person becomes an unapologetic supporter for Trump both before and after his election. Trump doesn’t merely get their vote, he get’s their soul. His election gives confirmation that other Americans believe and trust in Trump as well. They consume biased media which is exclusively supportive of Trump which reinforces their beliefs, they attack media outlets which criticize or try to hold Trump accountable. A siege mentality develops and the narrative becomes that Trump's opponents are out to end his Presidency, to disrupt his goals. They engage in confirmation bias and latch onto (and zealously share) conspiracy theories which denigrate and smear opponent's of Trump. They believe that those not supportive of Trump do not want to make America great, to be anti-Trump is to be anti-American. They incur expenses to travel and attend Trump rallies. They kit themselves out in MAGA gear. They become blocked on Twitter attacking Trump critics and they find their way to Parler, an echo chamber for Twitter rejects, white supremacists, neo-Nazi’s and Trump devotee's. They consume hate speech therein. All told they believe that Donald Trump is the greatest President in the history of the US.

3. The belief must be falsifiable.

Trump is thus the greatest President ever and given that, to his hypothetical supporter, then surely a second term of office is an inevitability. In advance of the election, Trump sows seeds of fraudulent activity, of his opponents conspiring to steal the election. They accept his accusations that mail in ballots are rife for fraud. They believe that the only way Trump can lose is by electoral fraud. Trump loses the election. The cognitive dissonance kicks in. The supporter, now radicalized, believes Trump's assertion that it was rigged. They consume biased (and baseless) conspiracy theories about servers and dead people voting and they feel that factions of a "deep state" are operating to undermine Donald Trump. This person, a misguided patriot, decides that they must step up and confront this enemy within. They will watch TV news channels which further foment suspicion.

4. Contradictory evidence must be presented to and recognized by the believer.

The supporter will follow all court activities by Trump's legal team, they will see them get rejected. They will donate money to the Trump campaign after receiving mutiple messages and emails requesting money. They will follow swing states performing recounts and audits which confirm a Biden victory, they will watch the Electoral College vote confirming a Biden win, they will take heed of every check and balance available certifying a Biden win. The believer is subjected to a significant amount of cognitive dissonance i.e. "I believe something that is not true."

5. The individual believer must have social support.

This is the final step. This is where Donald Trump's refusal to concede a fair election takes hold and which sows the seeds of the supporter ultimately storming the Capitol Building. The message boards, the TV channels and even the President of the United States are all in agreement about one thing. The 2020 election was stolen. Towards the end of 2020, with the President still in denial about the reality of his loss, he tweets about a rally taking place on the 6th of January, the day that a joint session of Congress meets to certify Biden's victory. Usually a formality, this will be the final nail in the coffin for Trump. The President's tweet is a call to protest. Last chance saloon to stop the steal. The supporter decides they will go. Between the time of that tweet and the 6th of January, the supporter consumes increasingly violent rhetoric on message boards. It won't just be a protest, it will be an operation to stop Congressional certification. Those who accept the election result are deemed traitors, RINO’s etc. On the day, the supporter, wearing their MAGA regalia, listens to various speakers at the rally which whips up a frenzy in the crowd. The Presidents words about showing strength resonates and the mob quickly descends on the Capitol building itself. Surprisingly, it is lightly policed and protected. In attempting to gain access to the building by climbing, the supporter falls and is hurt. They don't receive medical attention but they wallow within proximity of the building watching the events unfold. They eventually make their way back to their motel but the congressional certification takes place deep into the night to their indignation. Back on the message boards, they note that activists are already planning protests in their state capitol. It will be their next step.

This person would not be trying to storm the Capitol building in isolation. They have been groomed by President Trump, they have been radicalized by his most zealous supporters, they have been given confirmation for their beliefs by disingenuous news and media outlets. My thoughts about the storming of the Capitol building is that it was the action of a cultish mob, egged on by a cultish leader. Rest assured, that hypothetical supporter is still a believer in a stolen election, they’ve simply invested too much to come back from the brink, back to some semblance of reality. They are now die-hard Trumpist’s who will continue to fight phantom enemies within. A domestic terrorist.

Another Dem has tested positive since Wednesday bringing the number up to 3, one is 75 yrs old. Hopefully she pulls through okay.

robinph wrote: »

I think people saw that he'd try it, but we hoped that the system would have spotted what was being done and called a halt to his messing sooner. Each step along the way though people assumed that was as crazy as he'd get and there wasn't any reason to clip his wings as he'd learnt his lesson and would behave like a normal person by tomorrow... Except he never did.

I think what Trump and Boris/Brexit have shown is that a lot of politics is just convention and is easily undermined and left floundering when someone comes in that doesn't give a shít about tradition or protocol.

jill_valentine wrote: »

Edit - though it's worth saying they've moved a lot of their fundraising lately to a "Christian" GoFundMe alternative platform recently.

GoFindMe ?

https://twitter.com/kylegriffin1/status/1349032185479663616?s=19

Shocking stuff. Incredible really.



PS - In that case, they should be tax deductible for kids