In Front of Our Nose: Lies and Propaganda
Secretary Noem strikes again.
First, the Trump administration is not just going after the “worst of the worst.” Not only are they clearly targeting based on skin color, but they are also not affording due process to those arrested.
Second, the notion that LA was saved from burning to the ground and that the place was facing uncontrolled riots is simply a lie.
Unless there was some immediate fact-check of all of this, it is irresponsible of CBS to have her on to spout this nonsense. I honestly do not know what the best answer is, as part of me thinks that we need to see them being so brazen in their lies, but I also know that a lot of people have a really hard time understanding how untruthful she is being.
Even better, she went on the offensive after the interview because she didn’t like them editing out her litany of trumped-up, unproven allegations against Kilmar Abrego Garcia. And yes, by sharing, I help propagate, but it is noteworthy that they are adding new allegations constantly, now to include the solicitation of “nude photos from minors.” All of this is a remarkable hit job to cover up the initial mistake of sending him to CECOT and to justify whatever else they try to do.
This is not law enforcement, not seeking justice. This is abuse of power.
The real gut punch of all of this is the degree to which there is a clear lack of any concern about how human beings are being treated. Noem has acquired power and prestige by being willing to be dishonest and cruel.
Just another MAGAt Monday.
w/ apologies to the Bangles.
In a perverse way, it’s actually rather clever. The wannabe autocrat needs an enemy. Jews are too well accepted and have the means to strike back. There are too many Blacks. Gays worked for awhile, but don’t anymore. And there are also too many hispanics. But splitting off a subset of hispanics, “illegal” immigrants, is working fairly well for them. I confess I’m surprised at how well it’s working.
Having created an enemy, an untermensch, they can hardly break kayfabe by treating them as people. You note Noem has gained power and prestige through lying and cruelty. Hardly unprecedented.
Wasn’t it the GOP in the Clinton days that used to say “character matters”? Holy villains, that pendulum sure swung 180 degrees. While never a false assertion, we’re certainly seeing proof about how electing the worst people has serious consequences.
There’s a reason some people call her Kristi Noempathy.
I have been thinking lately about how “the Founders” thought about Enlightenment values, and about how more “contemporary” versions of those values struggle. Most of the originators of those ideas were probably fine with them only applying to white male property-owners. With appropriate substitutions, you might get to a majority of the world’s population today. “Han Chinese” for white in China. “Hindu” in India. So long as borders can provide sufficient isolation, which Modi and Xi seem to be talking about.
Myself, I risk being in the minority anywhere, as I once answered the question “Who are your people?” with “the applied mathematicians.”
In the latest development, the regime blew up a boat and its 11 occupants in international waters on the grounds they were members of a “narco-terrorist organisation”. This is straight from the Duterte playbook in the Philippines, much admired by Trump, that makes extra-judicial assassinations a core component of policing.
The lawlessness of the regime feeds on itself, in the absence of any significant consequences and with the tacit condonation of the Supreme Court. And with the likes of Third Way and “centrist” Democrats in Congress pleading for opportunities to work with the regime, why would Trump see any reason to slow down?
It starts when journalists and bystanders start laughing outright, in public and in real time, at the outrageous lies as they are uttered. Post hoc fact-checking is impotent; live ridicule is effective. But the journalists care more about their access than about creeping authoritarianism, and their bosses care more about profits than about truth. So it doesn’t happen.
CBS has the government “handler” now. They are now just a Trump megaphone.
@DrDaveT:
You aren’t wrong.
@cmiked: Sigh.