- Recalling Reagan and his cynicism about the government;
- And lies about Hurricane Helene response, climate change, and about everything over one 24-hour period;
- My anticipation of how long it will take for Trump fans to realize how incompetent and moronic he’s become, especially if he wins again; ever?
Salon, Lucian K. Truscott IV: When natural disaster strikes, the legacy of Ronald Reagan haunts, subtitled “Reagan’s nine most ‘terrifying’ words in the English language: ‘I’m from the government, and I’m here to help'”
I’ve never understood the veneration of Ronald Reagan (either). In 2020, in this post, I copied a section of my journal from 1980 about seeing Reagan at a rally at Cal State Northridge. He confirmed my impression of him: a kindly old man who was not too bright yet who reassured his audience that what they felt was true (never mind what was actually true). He was an actor who wanted to play the president, and that’s what he did.
Here is an article yet again recalling his infamous statement about not trusting the government, a government he aspired to lead. It comes up now because of all the FEMA folks out in the field to address problems in the South, especially North Carolina, in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Of course the locals are now *complaining* that government aid isn’t showing up fast enough… and some Republican politicians are actually lying about it. (What a surprise!)
Politics will inevitably enter the picture of the reaction to this storm as it has after others. Already, a Tennessee legislator has been quoted as saying that the federal declaration of emergency necessary for FEMA relief was “finally” given, as if the White House was late in granting it. Actually, the White House approved a federal disaster declaration immediately after the governor of Tennessee asked for it. All states affected by Hurricane Helene have received a federal declaration of disaster, setting in motion federal emergency relief through FEMA and other federal agencies.
(The Tennessee governor held out and asked for aid later than other southern governors, I read elsewhere.) And some other Republican somewhere is complaining that all the relief money was sent to Ukraine. (It wasn’t.)
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And again:
PolitiFact, 30 Sep 2024: Donald Trump stated on September 30, 2024 in a press conference in Georgia:
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp was calling President Joe Biden after Hurricane Helene but “hasn’t been able to get him.”
Rating: False
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And in response:
Salon, Griffin Eckstein: “FEMA helps all people”: Agency responds to Trump claims that they aren’t helping Republicans, subtitled “As Trump claims FEMA leaves Republican areas behind, the agency says misinformation discourages relief applications”
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I think we can do a whole post on this theme. Of lying. Yet it’s not as simple as that; the whole issue is deeply invested in tribalism — and the way humans can and do, in fact, live their lives as driven by human nature despite the facts of the real world. Republicans apparently don’t see themselves as lying; they see themselves as girding them up to battle their enemies, in a Manichean world. I need a new word.
Media Matters, Allison Fisher, 30 Sep 2024: Morning Joe debunks Trump’s climate “scam” rhetoric, subtitled “Donald Trump is echoing longstanding right-wing media climate denial”
On September 30, the MSNBC Morning Joe hosts called out Donald Trump for criticizing the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene while repeating right-wing media climate denial during a rally in Pennsylvania on Sunday.
Trump referred to climate change as “one of the great scams of all time” and suggested it has fallen off the national stage “because people aren’t buying it anymore.”
Right-wing media have a long history of denying climate change, particularly as it relates to extreme weather events like hurricanes.
I wonder, as weather events become more and more severe, will Trump’s followers jump over the cliff with him in mutual denial?
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TNR, 30 Sep 2024: Watch: Trump Appears Not to Understand How Hurricanes Work, subtitled “Donald Trump, who wants to dismantle storm prediction services, seemed caught off guard by the completely predictable Hurricane Helene.”
Of course he doesn’t understand. Trump said “nobody” could have forecast this hurricane, whereas in fact September is the most active month of the year for hurricanes.
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Leading up to this:
JMG‘s “Sheer Volume” Of Trump’s Lies Is Overwhelming links to:
Washington Post, Aaron Blake: 24 hours of MAGA misinformation, subtitled “A small sampling of the inundation of false and dubious claims flowing from Donald Trump and his allies.” [gift link from JMG]
The president who set new benchmarks for false and misleading claims — more than 30,000 of them during his term, in fact — leads a MAGA movement that increasingly shamelessly treats misinformation as a political strategy. Democrats have their faults on this front, too, but there is simply no comparison to Trump’s approach to politics, an approach that so many influential people on his side have also gradually adopted as their own.
The barrage is so constant that it often leaves journalists with a dilemma. How do you tell the story when Trump says for the umpteenth time that he was Michigan’s Man of the Year (an honor the state doesn’t actually award)? Is it a headline every time Trump repeats this fantasy, or do you note the many previous fact checks? Does debunking it just promote it? Trump will often make dozens of false, misleading or baseless claims at a single rally alone, creating a problem of sheer volume as well.
This article’s solution is to walk through a 24-hour period of MAGA misinformation, on Monday. From Musk, D’Souza, Sen. Mike Braun, Trump, Trump, Trump, Cruz, Trump, Trump, Trump, the NRCC, Cotton, Rep. Byron Donalds, and Donalds again.
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In a weird way I slightly look forward to what will happen if Trump is elected again. I anticipate schadenfreude. I want to see Trump’s fans and supporters gradually realize how incompetent and moronic he’s become. What will they all do when Trump can’t give a coherent response to any question, any time? This already seems to be happening, but his fans don’t notice, or care. Cannot they not notice or care forever?
