Political Theatre category archive
Truth:Trump::Oil:Water 0
In The Charlotte Observer, Frank Harris observes:
It is the stuff of dictatorships and totalitarian regimes. Like oil and water, Trump and truth don’t mix.
More at the link.
All the News that Fits 0
Thom and Pap discuss the how the media misses the mark through superficiality.
“As Is” 0
Shorter Dick Polman: In the soul biz, all sales are final.
Spin Cycle 0
An ex-corporate spin-meister discusses how “spin” differs from “lies” and marvels at the multiplication of mendacity. A couple of nuggets (emphasis added):
But let’s say that beyond emphasizing just one figure and de-emphasizing another, to try to “help” our company I decided to unilaterally claim that Assets Under Management were up 10 percent, not 1 percent. That’s not spinning. That’s lying. You can’t do that. At least not for long. . . .
Today lying has been elevated to a renegade art form. We call it Fake News. (I’d rather call it Real Lying.) In a year of troubling trends, no trend is more troubling to me than the everyday casualness with which folks in power, or seeking power, ignore facts or make up their own when real facts don’t suit their needs.
Treadmill Hamster Cage to Oblivion
0
Shorter Booman: This is nuts and can’t go on.
I fear implosions–or I hope to God not but would not be surprised, explosions–are closer than I thought.
Garrison Keilor suggested the other day that Republicans did this and they need to fix it.
Afterthought:
Yeah. Good luck with that.
One Thing Is Not Like the Other Thing 0
In related news, Solomon Jones finds inspiration in an unlikely place (follow the link for the complete article):
They must stand up, red-faced and outraged, and shout that now-infamous phrase.
“You lie!”
Forward into the Past! 0
Der Spiegel’s Holger Stark takes a long and complex look at the forces that fed Trumpery. Here’s a nugget.
With his diabolical instinct for the country’s political mood, Trump captured this shift on campaign evenings like the one in Burlington, distilling it to a single maxim that warmed the hearts of many in the United States: “America First.”
The article is well worth the ten minutes you will spend reading it.
A Dutch Treat 0
Via Balloon Juice.
Afterthought:
I suspect that this is not atypical of international perception of the Trumpling of America, he said in a convoluted manner.
NDA 0
Non-Disclosure Agreements are common in business, so as to protect proprietary information. I once had to sign one, even though I was a very small fry, promising not to disclose any of my employer’s secrets about their patented and copyrighted products.
Government is different, as, at least in theory, government employees work for the people, not for a private person. In contrast, Donald Trump reportedly had many of his campaign officials sign MDAs and may even have demanded that government employees do so, as he seems to be approaching his new job (this is just my own opinion, now) as if he had been elected God Emperor of Dune or something.
“Under the anti-gag provision, agencies cannot impose nondisclosure agreements and policies that fail to include required language that informs employees that their statutory right to blow the whistle supersedes the terms and conditions of the nondisclosure agreement or policy,” the OSC press release said.
Frankly, I consider it highly unlikely that he will pay any heed to this at all.
More at the link.
A Modest Proposal 0
Daniel Ruth offers a plan for a cease-fire in the White House War on Facts. Here’s a bit:
The solution is obvious. Give the president and his team all the fake news they want.
Really now, how hard would it be for the Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal and USA Today to print a few hundred special copies every day solely to be delivered to the White House and filled with glowing, cooked-up stories and editorials extolling the brilliance, the vision and the magnificence of the Trump administration?
Imagine all of the stories in tribute to the Caesar of the West Wing. All of Trump’s favorite sports teams would always win. Every policy would be a stroke of pure genius. And everywhere the president went it would always be 80 degrees and sunny. And while you may think the Trumps are the first family to move into the White House in quite some time without a pet dog, you can’t deny that unicorn grazing on the South Lawn is a thing of beauty.