10 signs you’re living in an echo chamber
As politics become ever more and more polarizing and divisive amongst individuals, it’s not the politics that are the problem, it’s the echo chambers that feed into misinformation and into false beliefs. Let’s explore.
Background
More and more I find people who profess openness and critical thinking skills, yet I also find it is these very people are actually holed up and living in local echo chambers, chambers that only serve to reinforce their own beliefs; but whose beliefs have no actual basis in reality or what’s actually happening in or to the world around them. It is these echo chambers which are causing the divisive nature of not only politics, but just about any other belief which can be found in the world. It seems that more and more people are choosing their personal beliefs over using their eyes, ears and most importantly, their brains.
With that said, let’s uncover the 10 signs that prove that it is YOU who may be living in an echo chamber. Before we begin, let’s define…
What is an Echo Chamber?
An echo chamber is simply a space where you tend to converse with people who also tend to believe in the same things as you and/or who are feeding you disinformation that seems as though it is genuine and truthful; but that disinformation supports your beliefs, which makes you want to believe in it. An echo chamber is designed to 1) never contest your current belief system and 2) reinforce your beliefs, supporting your way of thinking… even when your way of thinking is completely based on fantasy, not reality. Echo chambers can be filled with friends and family who converse by using a gossip-like information transmission methodology (word of mouth, texting, etc), but may extend onto social media sites like Facebook.
Basically, instead of watching news programs directly and forming your own objective opinions yourself, you, instead, rely on receiving your news mostly by using a gossip grapevine of friends and family. When you do watch the news, you turn it off as soon as anything contests your beliefs. In your mind, you believe that news channel is then biased.
An echo chamber thrives because everyone in it essentially agrees on a very specific skewed view of the world… viewing the world not actually how it is, but how everyone in the echo chamber believes that it is.
In other words, an echo chamber is, yes, a form of brainwashing.
Without further adieu, here are the 10 signs you’re living in an echo chamber…
10. You firmly believe to the point of anger that the world is one way when actual news events prove your beliefs are invalid.
This sign shows us that you have subscribed to a belief system so strongly that you simply cannot allow anyone to disrupt that belief system at all, not under any circumstances. In other words, you are fully unwilling to even entertain the possibility that your belief can be in any way proven false.
You remain so firmly entrenched in that belief, even if it can be proven to be a false belief, shows that you are not only stubborn, but also exceedingly closed-minded. You are absolutely not interested in truth. You’re interested only in others who are willing to coddle and support your beliefs. Being unwilling to entertain any outside information that disagrees with your belief system is a hallmark sign that you have succumbed to the power of an echo chamber.
9. You say that you’re open to all ideas, but you instantly shut down anyone who puts forth an idea that doesn’t support your beliefs.
Here’s a situation where when you have a discussion with someone who doesn’t believe what you believe, you then feel the need to counter their arguments with such phrases as, “Well, I’ve always seen the exact opposite.” However, instead of actually providing concrete examples to support your “exact opposite” belief statement, you delay, avoid and ignore requests to provide any details on how those “exact opposite” beliefs actually became real in your mind. In other words, your beliefs are crafted entirely on faith, not on facts.
What this typically means is that you’re listening to the (false) beliefs of others in your gossip group, instead of forming your own opinions based on witnessing world events yourself and digesting and forming your own opinions from actual world events. Listening to other’s words and trusting that those words are valid reinforces your belief system under an echo chamber.
8. You instantly counter any argument to which you disagree, then attempt to insult the person by claiming you’ve been offended by the other person’s argument.
This is both bad debate form and it also proves you’re living in an echo chamber. This situation manifests when another person (party 2) counters one of your beliefs with actual real world facts showing exactly how your belief is invalid and untrue. Instead of rationalizing and realizing the possibility that that belief is wrong, you instantly take offense to the statement and then claim that party 2 is in the wrong for insinuating that you’ve been brainwashed.
This is a circular argument that only intends to insult the second party solely to reaffirm that your own personal (false) belief is true and valid. This is strictly a manipulation tactic to get the other party to back down. Using any form of manipulation in an attempt to win your argument is not only bad debate form, it is illogical, it shows that you’re closed minded, it shows that you’re unwilling to entertain any outside ideas and it also proves that you’re living in an echo chamber.
7. You only visit social media sites that support your belief systems. More than this, you only friend accounts who also believe like you do.
This one should go without saying. However, many people may not realize that this is exactly what they are doing. When you sign up at or into Facebook or X (formerly known as Twitter) or similar, you find yourself gravitating towards those who believe like you do. This does two things at once: 1) Like minded “friends” make you feel instantly comfortable and 2) by doing this, nothing will ever challenge your beliefs (see point 1).
By not exposing yourself to counter arguments from others, you limit your view of the world to only those people who profess to believe just like you. This is the very definition of an echo chamber.
6. You state that you’re critically open minded and claim to watch all types of news programs, but you prove that you don’t do this when you’re presented with reports that invalidate your beliefs… and then you claim news media bias.
It’s easy to profess equality and critical thinking skills, but it proves more challenging for some people to actually do this. Typically, even if a person does watch many news programs, it’s very easy to discount and invalidate what any news reporter is showing you by simply claiming that news channel is biased. This rationale instantly allows you to shut off that real news spigot claiming it as “fake news” or disinformation, thus keeping your false beliefs fully intact.
Here you’ve just watched a news program that has shown you the reality of the world, yet you’ve instantly decided to completely discredit the news report, and by extension the entire news channel, simply because that news report invalidates your own personal beliefs.
Discounting ALL news reports that are fully documented with videos, clips and interviews using people who are first-hand involved, yet you STILL choose to discredit all of that simply to hold onto a (false) belief indicates you’re living in an echo chamber.
5. Using year’s past examples or potentially old and misleading information to support your beliefs. (Cherry Picking)
It’s easy to call on examples from the past, using potentially misleading or cherry picked quotes that support your beliefs. Instead of researching the full information and context surrounding any given quote or news snippet, you choose to take a quote or snippet entirely out of context or, worse, choose to cite sources of misinformation or disinformation solely to support your beliefs.
Cherry picking tiny bits of (mis or dis)information that supports your beliefs, but where the very real and full context of information doesn’t hold up your beliefs under contextual scrutiny is a sign you’re living in an echo chamber.
4. Your actions prove you’re unwilling to entertain any other points of view.
This one is pretty simple. It’s not what you say. It’s how you respond and act as actions always speak louder than words. Sincerity is easily determined not by your words, but by how you respond to argumentation. A listening party can easily determine you’re not being sincere when you make claims of being fair and open-minded, but prove that you are not by devolving arguments into nonsensical debate tactics solely in an attempt to win your arguments.
Not only does this prove you’re not sincere, it proves you’re only in it solely for the argumentation and most likely only to support your current beliefs. This is entirely a defense mechanism against outside beliefs, but it also proves that you’re living in an echo chamber.
3. Instantly discrediting legitimate news sources and news articles because “they’re biased.”
While definitely linked to number 6, this one is wholly separate. When you cannot win your belief argument because of counter facts brought up using a news article example of how the beliefs are false, you insist on attacking the news source as highly biased, non-credible, illegitimate and “fake news” strictly because they have written an article that runs counter to your beliefs.
I won’t state which person now does this frequently, but suffice it to say that he has taught others to do exactly this and that this behavior is acceptable. It isn’t. Not only does this tactic look insanely stupid, it shows us that you’re close-minded and unwilling to entertain alternative beliefs AND that you must instantly attack anyone or anything that doesn’t fit within your belief system. This one shows us you’re living in an echo chamber.
2. You find news articles on extremist and tiny “news” sites that almost no one has heard of solely to support your beliefs.
When a counter argument to your (false) belief system is given to you by the likes of The New York Times, The New York Post, USA Today or even featured on CNN, MSNBC or Fox News, you counter those articles by claiming “biased reporting”, choosing instead to locate an article on a super tiny “news” site that few have ever heard of and which receives maybe 50 views per day solely to show that your belief is valid and true.
Having to dig down into the bowels of the internet to a teeny-tiny “news” site solely to refute articles published by large news organizations, like those listed above, your actions say you’re not interested in being open minded or fair. Forget that these tiny news sites are likely mini echo chambers themselves by echoing extremist disinformation view points, many of their “news” articles are not even professionally written nor do the “reporters” even have journalism credentials. If they did, they’d be working for CNN or The New York Post.
It also says you’re willing to put your faith into a super tiny “news” site with no notable credentials over actual professional journalistic organizations whose sole goal is to produce professional news segments 24 hours and 7 days a week, employing hundreds if not thousands of degree holding journalism majors. What credentials does your tiny news site offer? Not much. What proves your cited article is even valid? Nothing.
Relying on extremely tiny, boutique news sites that few use or have heard of proves you’re trying way too hard to support your belief system and that you’re living in an echo chamber.
1. You resort to insults and name calling to support your beliefs.
Insulting someone by name calling is not only extremely bad debate form, it’s stupid, inane, insipid and sophomoric. It tells the other party that not only is your point entirely invalid, it shows us that you have no solid way to debate your beliefs using actual real facts. Further, your name calling not only tells other parties that you are NOT open-minded nor do you possess any critical thinking skills, you also don’t even know how to properly argue your stance in any legitimate way.
Because you are unable to win on actual facts, articles and information that support your beliefs, you must resort to name calling and by insulting the other party; which seems to be the modus operondi for such sophomoric behaviors when all else fails. This action is considered such a bad sporting tactic that, if you were playing in an actual professional sporting event, you’d have been suspended and required to leave the field.
By resorting to this kind of amateur action, you have proven that you have no interest in hearing any other points of view or in listening to other belief systems other than your own. Doing this one proves you are 100%, most definitely living in an echo chamber.
Conclusion
While these 10 signs are the most critical, these are not the only signs that indicate you’re living in an echo chamber. Any way that sees you to rationalize and maintain your belief system by potentially hurting others indicates you are living in an echo chamber. If you are doing any of the above, you may not personally want to believe that you’re living in an echo chamber, but you are. You can choose to continue to pull the blinders over your eyes, or you can firmly open them to the world around you.
It’s far easier to live in a world of fantasy than it is to live in a world of reality. Unfortunately, living in that fantasy world does you no favors. For example, if you vote a candidate in based solely on your false beliefs, you may be dooming yourself and, more importantly, your children and grandchildren to something they may not comprehend until years later when it’s way too late. It is on you to choose to wise up and become a responsible adult. Living in an echo chamber may feel nice right now, but it won’t prevent the chaos and decay that will born and consume us from such destructive echo chambers.
If you wish to break free from an echo chamber, it may not be easy and it definitely won’t feel comfortable. You will need to stop the arguments designed to support your beliefs. Instead, you will need to ask questions and find out why the “other side” believes the way that it does, read articles that support other beliefs and understand why those beliefs make sense. Additionally, you will need to use your eyes, ears and brain to comprehend it all. Stop the arguing and begin questioning.
As long as you’re arguing for your stance only, then you’re not open to all information out there. You must be willing to open your eyes, ears and mind to ideas and beliefs beyond your own world view. Until you are willing to do this, you will remain stuck in your comfortable, but destructive echo chamber.
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Rant Time: Politics isn’t News!
Seeing as how this is yet another Presidential election year, news channels cannot help themselves. Too bad for all of those poor news channels. They get so deep in the political weeds, they can’t even see the wild animals surrounding them. Let’s explore the tricky problem of incessant political news reporting.
Politics is absolutely not News!
One thing that cable news channels do not really seem to understand is that politics is politics. Political reporting may be considered a form of journalism, but it is absolutely, 100%, unequivocally not news. Politics is politics and will always BE politics. Let’s understand the problems with political reporting. To do that, we need to understand…
What is news?
News is goings on in the world. More specifically, it’s goings on outside of Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C. has always been a microcosm. It is and always will be its own tiny world of problems; political problems to be specific. While Washington, D.C. is a city and has its own city and local problems just as any other city, it is also the home of all things political around the nation. Thus, even though it is a microcosm of all things political, it also represents politics around the nation.
Let’s understand more about what is actual news. News is a pileup on a freeway. News is a mass shooting in a night club. News is the pandemic. News is an earthquake, tidal wave, Tsunami, hurricane or tornado touching down. News is a domestic squabble turned fatal. News is a dog biting and injuring someone. These are events that warrant and justify news reports. Politics is an ongoing, never ending, smorgasbord of mostly nonsensical drivel, punctuated using a lot of rambling so-called “expert” talking-heads; talking-heads who bluntly over-analyze everything, saying nothing at all useful.
When reporting news around the nation, or even around a local area, news is incident driven by what occurred today outside of politics. News reporting needs to ask itself, “Did something occur today [in politics] that warrants 24/7 political coverage?” If that answer is, “No”, then coverage should cease. And no, simply because it’s an election year doesn’t warrant 24/7 political coverage alone. The incident must still pass the criteria as being both news and newsworthy.
“What Is and What Should Never Be”
To borrow an apt phrase from Led Zeppelin’s The Lemon Song, News should almost always be new to the receiving audience. News should inform the audience about something they are unaware or have little to no knowledge. Like, for example, being stuck in a 2 hour traffic jam on the way home and then tuning into a local news station to find out what caused the massive delay. This means some people will have passing knowledge of an event, but they are seeking to become fully informed. This is what News reporting is all about.
In that goal, News reporting should always be something you’ve never heard of or have little to no knowledge. News also discusses what is. It does not and should not ever discuss or attempt to speculate on what might come to pass. What this means is that news is about the happenings of the day, not future speculation of what might come a month or three down the road. Speculation is best left to stock market analysts, futurists and fortune tellers. Speculation is never for news reporters. News reporting is intended to report on factual events that have already occurred. News reporting should never attempt to report on outcomes of possible futures. Future speculation is not news, it’s considered predicting the future. Predicting the future is a magic trick presented in Las Vegas. Prestidigitation is absolutely not now and should never become a news reporter’s job.
The only way someone in the nation might be uninformed about political goings on of the nation would be if they are new to the United States (just moved here) or if they’ve been hiding under a rock for the last couple of years. There is almost no chance that anyone even moderately informed wouldn’t have a fair amount of knowledge of what’s being said on these political segments. Even assuming total lack of knowledge, one day of watching these political ramblings would fully catch you up to 100%.
Obsessive Fixated Coverage
Unfortunately, for the last year or more, news networks have become fixated on reporting politics as their primary means of existence. Worse, they neglect reporting of actual news to fixate on political coverage around the election, around Donald Trump and around all of Donald Trump’s legal woes. They’re even now fixating on the Republican Caucuses as if their lives depended on it. Hint: they don’t.
Just because YOU want to report on all things political doesn’t mean WE want to consume it.
It gets worse. You’re probably thinking, “How so?”
Cable news networks like CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and now even NewsNation have fallen into the near 24/7 100% coverage trap of reporting solely on politics, with a heavy emphasis speculating on the future (see the section immediately above). When you can turn on the news any time of the day or night and hear the words “election”, “Nikki Haley”, “Donald Trump”, “Whitehouse” or “Biden” within the first 2 minutes of tuning in, you’re witnessing political fixation in action.
When that discussion spends a large portion of the segment with talking heads over election polls or of possible legal outcomes for Donald Trump, this is all 100% speculation. This is absolutely, positively, 100% fortune telling. No one can predict the full future to any degree and especially not reporters who have been trained in Journalism, not prestidigitation. This is also something news networks should absolutely NOT be doing simply for the reason that it is not news!
Repetitive
Worse, what can these news networks say that hasn’t already been said at least 1000 times before? Sure, it might be said by a different set of talking heads, but the words are effectively the same.
News is absolutely, 100% not about repetition. It’s about reporting on NEW news events… events that have never been reported previously. The word “new” is actually part of the word “news”.
Reporting on the same things over and over and over is absolutely not news, nor is it considered coverage or new. It’s considered fixation. News is not about fixating. It’s about reporting. It’s surprising to me that respected journalists who work for these organizations tolerate such political fixation and fortune telling. Hint: if you don’t like what your employer is doing, leave and find a new job.
As I said, it gets worse
When you can tune into shows hosted by Ari Melber, Wolf Blitzer, Chris Cuomo, Briana Keiler, Erin Burnett, Laura Ingraham or Hannity, when it turns politics, it’s all fixated speculative tunnel vision. Those things being said might be slanted to the left or to the right politically leaning audience, but they’re fixated, repetitive and completely inane nonetheless. How many times do you need to be told the same things about Donald Trump or Nikki Haley or even Joe Biden?
CNN and MSNBC are probably the two most fixated channels out there, but NewsNation and Fox News are not far behind. What is meant by this is that when it comes to prime time “news” programs, it almost always consists of back-to-back political chat… many times with many of the same talking heads “experts” being held over between each of the hourly segments. Not only will you hear the same discussions again and again and again, you’ll hear the same people saying the same exact things hour after hour after hour. It’s both mind numbing and nauseating. Again, this is absolutely not news.
Eclipsing Real News
What’s worse is that so many of these prime time opinion hours neglect reporting of actual news entirely. Yes, these so-called news hosts actually do neglect the actual goings on in the world to focus solely and completely on Biden or Trump or the Election or something else political. It’s absolutely sickening, maddening and, yes, frustrating. It’s also insane.
Feel Good Pieces
The one place where some news hosts seem to have a soft spot is reporting on various tear jerker segments. However, human interest stories are also NOT news. However, these hosts love to interject these eye rolling “human interest” segments in among their incessant political fixation. These tear jerker segments usually discuss a person who befriended a dog or saved a cat from a tree or some other such trivial nonsense, blown way out of proportion.
Fewer times, it’s a cancer patient were the news host is attempting to use their own celebrity status (and their network audience) to drive traffic to a GoFundMe campaign. That’s a noble goal, at least for the cancer patient, but sending money to the patient won’t help cure them. Only medical science can do this. Your money would be better spent and sent to medical research organizations seeking cures for cancer. These research organizations need this money a whole lot more to help fund their cancer cure research than sending it to a patient who can only use it to help make themselves more comfortable. That’s assuming that the person didn’t dupe the news program into believing a faked up cancer story.
Nothing wrong with tear jerker segments, but they are also absolutely not news… and they’re also produced for the wrong reasons.
News Producer Failure?
One would think that a news producer might want to vary the topics of discussions between news host segments hour over hour, but you’d be wrong. Instead, these news producers and their “programs” double down on the exact same political rhetoric hour after hour.
What you’ll end up seeing is these channels reporting on pretty much the same topic 24/7, but hammering it home incessantly beginning around 5PM and lasting until midnight. These channels love to fixate on repetitive political topics, especially during these hours… to the exclusion of all else. Yes, they actually DO exclude and neglect to report on actual news around the nation. Unless such news is a mass shooting, killing hundreds or there’s an earthquake, a random favorite sports celebrity or a fire that has leveled an entire city, these news outlets have no interest in reporting on it. Instead, they choose to fill their time slots with inane political drivel encompassing mostly future speculation.
In fact, far too much news goes unreported due to these news channel’s neglect and political fixations. This situation actually serves as a major disservice and distraction to the nation. This gratuitous and vomitous political reporting situation actually serves to divide the nation even more rather than bring it together.
For example, when the middle east broke out in “war” yet again, the news outlets temporarily halted their political coverage for about 2-3 weeks to give us a “war” play-by-play. They even went so far as to send their “top reporters” (ahem) to the front lines to report on smell-o-vision. A small, but unnecessary temporary reprieve from their political fixations. Since then, these channels have grown tired of that middle east smell-o-vision play-by-play, just as they grew tired of the Ukraine play-by-play and have moved their camera spigots 100% back onto politics, ignoring all else.
Unfortunately, that’s the state of our so-called cable “news” channels today.
Politics as a News Segment
In the 80s and 90s, politics was limited to a 1 hour segment in among various news reporting. This is actually the proper amount of coverage for politics. That’s also why C-SPAN was created… to report 24/7 on the goings on in D.C. Yes, C-SPAN still exists, now in 3 different channels. That amount of prime time coverage in combination with C-SPAN was perfect and served the nation well to discuss politics.
Unfortunately, the spigot has been slowly moving towards more and more political coverage on so-called mainstream “news” networks with less and less time focused on actual news. Today, political analysis programs make up at least 90-95% of the so-called “breaking news” coverage of CNN, MSNBC, NewsNation and Fox News Network… not that the Fox News Network was ever or has ever been a legitimate news organization. Regardless, these networks have become fixated on political analysis and speculation instead of reporting of legitimate news around the nation.
While news goes unreported, CNN and its ilk focus on Biden, Trump and now, the 2024 Election coverage. They’re even diving deep into the Republican caucuses, as if they even matter in the grand scheme. They might matter to Ms. Haley, but these caucuses don’t deserve 24/7 coverage. Politics doesn’t deserve 24/7 coverage, except on C-SPAN where it belongs.
A Good Example
CNN and the others reported that the Iowa Republican caucuses favored Donald Trump over any other candidate by some “astounding” lead. What they forgot to mention on the air was that only ~14% of Iowa’s entire registered Republican voters turned out to vote in those caucuses. That means the 86% of Iowa’s Republican voters haven’t been represented. That the caucus voter turnout was so low means voter apathy. It also means that the those who did show up were most likely avid Donald Trump fanatics and MAGA extremists, likely making their views not representative of the vast majority of registered Republican voters in Iowa.
Yet, these so-called politically leaning news networks went on with this charade anyway, attempting to sway their viewers that this 14% turnout was somehow indicative that Donald Trump is a clear winner. Sorry to say, 14% of Republican voters turning out won’t win a general election guys.
Cable News Charters
These cable news networks were originally chartered to report on actual news around the nation. At one point, CNN (and the rest) did that. Today, not so much. The same can also be said of pretty much any other cable news network.
At some point in the future, CNN and the rest are going to be bitten hard by this incessant, fixated political coverage. I don’t know how and I don’t know when, but at some point their coverage of politics 24/7 won’t serve these channels well. At some point soon, these channels will need to make a hard choice. Continue this stupidity or begin serving the nation again properly by reporting on actual news, thus putting politics back into an appropriate 1-2 hour segment per day labeled creatively enough “Politics”.
Disguising Politics as News
One thing that these channels seem intent on doing is labeling their political talking head opinion and analyses segments as “breaking news”. This is disingenuous, if not downright considered disinformation. This is tantamount to YouTubers using ClickBait to draw viewers in. This is also why YouTube has laid down the gauntlet on creators who intend to use ClickBait when that ClickBait is not included within the YouTube video.
The same should be said of Cable News. If these channels are trying to (mis)lead you into believing that a talking head political analysis segment is “breaking news”, then these channels are just as guilty of performing ClickBait on you. Unfortunately, there is no overall YouTube / Google company to lay the gauntlet down on these news organizations for perpetrating fraud on its viewers. And yes, ClickBait is a form of fraud.
Fraud is fraud whether perpetrated by an individual YouTube creator or by a large conglomerate news organization. Let’s call it for what it is: Fraud. When news channels insist on reporting on politics, it cannot ever be considered “breaking news” and should never carry this banner. The only exception to this rule is when a political figure dies. Their death may be considered breaking news, but only in the context of their actual death… not in the political goings on the day that the person died. As long as the political figure is living, their personal woes are not subject to “breaking news.”
If news channels won’t report on the personal woes of Hollywood celebrities as “breaking news”, then they shouldn’t report on personal woes of Political representatives. In fact, the primary outlet that actually does report on Hollywood celebrity woes is TMZ. Unfortunately, the primary outlet(s) for all things political has now become CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and NewsNation (formerly WGN). The word “news” is in the name of all four (4) of these cable news networks, yet they primarily seem intent reporting almost solely on politics. That right there should be considered perpetrating fraud on viewing audiences. That, or each of these networks need to change their names.
Politics is Absolutely Not News
If there’s one thing that should now be abundantly clear, it’s why politics and political reporting is absolutely not news. It’s information, yes, but it is not news. Whether repetitive political ramblings is actually useful for most people remains to be seen. Personally, it’s not useful to this author. I find it annoying and mind-numbing. I do not find it enlightening or useful. Because I can’t be the only one who feels this way, please sound off your opinion on this topic in the comment area below. We want to hear your thoughts on this topic.
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Donald Trump indicted?
Yes and this is likely to be the first of many indictments to come. Should Donald Trump be indicted for anything? Clearly, the MAGA Republicans say, “No.” Let’s explore.
Note, I’ve typically avoided political and controversial topics like this one on Randocity. Not because they’re not worth writing about, but because these topics are mostly useless. However, this topic is so urgent that it must be said.
MAGA Republicans
Let’s lead with the elephant in the room. Clearly, these MAGA Republicans are bad for the United States. They’re bad for United States Citizens. They’re bad for the world. Yet, here we are once again. With these MAGA cultists jumping to Donald Trump’s defense, not even knowing if the indictment has merit.
Donald Trump is a sleazy, off-kilter, man-child wannabe politician. There’s no doubting this. The man certainly appears to be successful by all measures, but that’s only because he uses his alleged victimhood to raise money every single time someone acts against him.
Worse, the MAGA Republican base always seems to rally around this man as if he’s some kind of cult leader messiah. Yes, MAGA is literally a cult; the cult of Donald Trump.
Liberal Democrat?
I can hear all of the MAGA Republicans groaning over this article at this point claiming this author is liberal Democrat. You don’t know me. You don’t know my views. As an author, it is a journalist’s prerogative and, indeed, obligation to call out that a duck is a duck. You and Donald Trump can’t waddle your way out of this. Be upset. Fine. But, that doesn’t change the facts above. Donald Trump’s cult IS a cult. There is no way around that.
You don’t see liberal democrats rallying around Joe Biden carrying flags with Biden’s face on it as if he were some kind of messianic figure. Just the opposite, in fact. A lot of liberal democrats don’t like what Joe Biden is doing as President of the United States either and are more than willing to call out each and every fact or action they don’t like. Yet, these liberal democrats also don’t stand on street corners waving flags with Biden’s face when he’s being persecuted. On the other hand, the MAGA Republicans rarely ever speak ill of their messiah, Donald Trump, even when Donald Trump called for people to inject bleach into themselves to rid themselves of COVID-19. A truly medically dangerous suggestion. Yet, they’re so willing to drag out the messianic flags and stand on street corners calling Donald Trump the best President ever. That’s a delusional cultist.
Intelligence vs Not
One of the things that much of Donald Trump’s base has proven time and time again is that they’re far less educated than the average liberal democrat. This lack of education may be what’s feeding the gullible nature of MAGA people, leading them to becoming cultists for Trump. When you can’t exactly think for yourself, letting other people think for you seems like bliss. Sure, as a MAGA Republican, you may think you’re good at trying to make arguments, but most of those arguments end up stupid and don’t work out for you. This is the reason Fox News is so bad at it. They hire moronic TV hosts (and lame piece writers) and then expect intelligence out of each and every one of them. You (don’t) get what you (don’t) pay for. You can’t pay dumb people to instantly become intelligent.
It’s quite clear that Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson check their education at the Fox News’ door every day on the way in, even though all three claim to be college educated. If I worked at the colleges where these three allegedly attended, I’d summarily revoke their degrees. Of course, these three aren’t required to have an education to work at Fox News. A comb, a suit and a dusting of makeup in the makeup artist’s chair and they’re good to go. The teleprompter and remedial reading skills do all of the rest. You don’t need a college education to read from a teleprompter.
It’s sad that Fox News has had to stoop to such (uneducated) lows to try to gain (and retain) its ratings… ratings, I might add, that come from the bottom 10-30% of the uneducated percentile of the United States.
Once again, I can hear the MAGA Republicans groaning. Stop groaning and go get an education. That or stop reading and go listen to your (sym)pathetic “friends” over at Fox News or News Max so you get today’s fix of unreality.
Donald Trump Indicted in New York
Donald Trump formerly lived in New York and has operated businesses in and out of New York while living there and since departing the state. It’s actually relatively recently that Donald Trump moved out of New York state, first to be President when he lived in the White House and then later to Florida to live full time at Mar-a-Lago. Simply because Donald Trump WAS President at one time and just because he now lives in Florida does not mean Donald Trump didn’t perform illegal activities while residing and operating businesses in New York prior to his Presidency.
Clearly, since the Manhattan District Attorney, Alvin Bragg, has brought an indictment, Bragg (and a grand jury) believes that there is sufficient evidence of wrongdoing on the part of Donald Trump.
Donald Trump claims it’s all a political witchhunt and all politically motivated, but Trump knows what he has done both prior to and after leaving New York. Because nearly every single person who is indicted of a criminal offense initially pleads “Not Guilty”, that doesn’t mean that they truly are innocent. Only a trial will uncover if this is true.
Considering that there are 30+ charges pending under Donald Trump’s New York indictment, that sheer volume doesn’t say “petty misdemeanor.” If there had been one or two charges, a petty misdemeanor might sound more reasonable, but 30 or more? No. 30+ charges definitely says something larger is at work… something that can only be decided via a judge, courtroom and jury.
Yes, it’s entirely possible that Donald Trump could be acquitted of all charges, but we won’t know that until or unless the charges and the evidence have been presented and a trial jury has decided.
Trial by Jury
One thing that Donald Trump and his cult following (including cult members Kevin McCarthy and Lindsay Graham) have continually put forth is his innocence. More than this, they have put forth that the DA has “weaponized” the judicial system against politicians, or more specifically, against Donald Trump as a politician. Again, I say, “No.” Instead, I’ll strongly counter that Trump has weaponized his cult following against the United States’ sovereignty.
A District Attorney’s job is to find wrongdoing and prosecute it. Clearly, Trump has at least left a trail of wrongdoing that has now been uncovered… in part with the help of Donald Trump’s former attorney and now convicted felon, Michael Cohen. Regardless of Cohen’s conviction and release, and regardless of Cohen’s disbarment as lawyer, that doesn’t discredit or discount his statements as to what Cohen did for and while in the employ of Donald Trump… especially when those statements can be fully corroborated using physical evidence.
Trump conferred many, many of his own personal and legal matters onto Cohen as his attorney. Trump then threw Cohen under the bus to serve prison time over those very same matters. What did Donald Trump think would happen after? Did Trump think that Cohen would step out of prison and jump right back into Trump’s good graces? No. Cohen is doing what anyone who gets thrown under the bus does. Whistleblow. Cohen just so happened to whistleblow right into the Manhattan DA’s ear… and clearly Bragg has listened intently. Cohen has likely managed and presided over many, many shady dealings with Donald Trump’s affairs, not just the Stormy Daniels “affair.”
You don’t see 30+ charges (and request to see Michael Cohen 20+ times for testimony) over of a single night’s affair requiring one single hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels. There’s a whole lot more that’s been uncovered about Donald Trump’s New York affairs than a single hush money payment. Clearly, Michael Cohen has been spilling the beans about everything with Trump’s dealings while Cohen was Trump’s attorney.
This extensive situation must be resolved by using a trial with a jury. There is no other way to resolve this. However, time always seems to be on Trump’s side. Meaning, Trump can delay, delay, delay until a later day. Trump also hopes that that later day is much more inconvenient for Bragg, or better, a day when a Republican appointee has taken office and these charges can be dropped against Trump. At least, that’s what Donald Trump is hoping. This situation sucks for the United States, but it is our legal system (not) at work.
Were this any person other than Donald Trump, these legal shenanigans would not work against a DA. However, Trump seems to be able to slip out of these situations with all due ease (wielding time, loopholes and his MAGA cultists as weapons).
Further Indictments and Trump’s Future
Let’s hope that Donald Trump’s potential federal trials are not so easily skirted. I’m not fully writing off Bragg’s trial yet, but I’m also not holding out much hope that this trial will land in a court before 2024, the Presidential election year. If this trial lands at any point during 2024, Bragg will likely be forced to postpone the trial until the election is over, pending the election outcome. This means even longer waiting and possibly no trial at all.
Unless Alvin Bragg can bring this to trial before the end of 2023, his hopes of actually seeing the charges in the indictment stick to Trump are fading rapidly. Along side Trump’s false, but very noisy “witchhunt” rhetoric, which is also being parroted by his MAGA cult followers, we could also end up waiting 2 years or longer for a trial to convene. This lengthy wait may even cause the charges to completely evaporate. I’m all for holding people legally accountable, but in Trump’s case, it must be performed as rapidly as possible; from indictment to trial in no more than 3 months. If that’s not feasible, then bringing an indictment might be fruitless because of Trump’s inevitable delaying tactics.
It’s nearly guaranteed that if Trump can delay this New York trial for long enough, the charges are likely to disappear. This is why any attorney seeking to bring charges against Trump must plan to execute not only the indictment and the charges carefully, but they must also weigh the delay games Trump is likely to play. If Trump can successfully delay 6 months, 12 months, 24 months or even longer, it might exceed the statute of limitations and it could allow Trump to retake Presidential office (or see another Republican become elected) to get out of the charges entirely. The longer a trial takes to convene, the less likely Trump is to even see a trial at all. Bragg needs to weigh all of this carefully.
Could Bragg continue to levy these charges if Trump is re-elected as President? Probably not. If Trump is re-elected President, these New York charges along with any federal charges are also likely to evaporate under Trump’s change in cabinet. However, Bragg’s charges could remain, but New York State could be pressured out of existence should Trump’s feds place extraordinary (retaliatory) federal pressure on the state of New York. Thus, forcing the charges to be dropped. Worse, how would it look for Alvin Bragg to bring state criminal charges against a newly elected President?
This is why it’s nearly impossible to run these indictments at this late date. In fact, any Federal indictments should have already been levied by the DOJ in 2021 or 2022 so that Trump could potentially be on trial by the end of 2023. It’s actually too late to levy any federal DOJ charges via indictment against Trump due to the upcoming 2024 election. If a federal indictment were to be levied at this point in 2023, there is likely no possible way a federal trial could occur before November 2024 (the Presidential election). At this point, the feds are going to be forced to wait until after the 2024 election to have any hope of indicting Trump, assuming he’s not re-elected. The prospect of the DOJ indicting Trump actually fades every day that goes by without an indictment at this point. Once 2024 arrives without a DOJ indictment, there very likely won’t be an indictment until after November of that year.
If ANY other Republican candidate takes Presidential office and replaces Joe Biden, all federal indictments (or investigations) against Trump are likely to be wiped away with a single pardon. State charges don’t get wiped with a pardon, but potential federal charges (and federal crimes) do. The Department of Justice likely fully understands this ticking-clock-dilemma, particularly at this late date. At this point, it is likely far too late for the DOJ’s special counsel, Jack Smith, to hand down a Department of Justice indictment over the charges of Insurrection or the classified documents case. The only way these cases would still be possible is if Jack Smith uses his ties to the ICC to levy charges under the ICC, which is entirely separate from and outside of the Department of Justice. This “dual counsel” aspect of Jack Smith may actually be the subtext for why Merrick Garland “hired” Jack Smith as special counsel to handle Trump’s case. Merrick Garland wouldn’t stand in the way of Jack Smith were he to levy an ICC indictment against Donald Trump and then hold an international trial against Trump’s espionage charges at the Hague.
Further, if the United States changes to a Republican led President and even if that newly elected President (assuming it is not Trump) chooses to pardon Trump, any ICC indictments still remain. The ICC acts outside of the United States jurisdiction. The United States is not a current signatory on the ICC, but that situation acts entirely in Merrick Garland’s favor, even if Garland ends up ousted from office as the DOJ’s head. For all of the jurisdictions that are signatories to the international court, they may have enough pressure over the United States to force the US to hand over Trump for an ICC indictment and international trial regardless of Trump’s present political office held (or not).
In other words, with Jack Smith as counsel, all may not be copacetic for Donald Trump even after the 2024 election ends. By Garland allowing Jack Smith to deep dive into Donald Trump’s DOJ investigation, this may see the ICC weigh in on Trump’s legal situation after the DOJ is unable. Garland knew the stakes of Trump’s situation and it appears that Garland may have used Jack Smith as an ICC insurance policy if the DOJ is unable to bring a proper indictment timely.
Republican Readers
If you are a Republican and you’re still reading up to this point, I applaud you. It means that you want to better understand Donald Trump’s predicament. Donald Trump is most definitely skirting laws that the rest of us would never be able to skirt. What it ultimately says is that Donald Trump is above the laws of the nation… and that situation is not right. No man is above the law. Yet, Donald Trump firmly believes that he is… and so do his sycophant cult members.
Why MAGA Republicans continue to endorse a man who wishes avoid legal consequences by becoming a dictator over the United States solely to make sure no laws ever apply to HIM, but then happily apply laws to everyone else, why would you as a Republican want that, not just for you and your family, but for the rest of the United States?
Democracy keeps the United States whole. The rule of law glues our democracy together. Dictatorship ensures neither remain and that the United States falls. Your very livelihood, family and indeed everything you hold dear is at stake. You may think that this man’s MAGA ideals are worthy, but Trump’s ideals are only worthy of collapsing the United States and turning the United States back into a third world nation.
If Donald Trump or any of his sycophant ilk including Kevin McCarthy, Lindsey Graham, Mitch McConnell, Marjorie Taylor Green, Ron DeSantis, Gregg Abbott, Josh Hawley or any other doofuses manage to become President, democracy is likely to end.
The End of Democracy?
What does it mean if democracy ends? It means you won’t have a job. It means millions won’t have a job. It means the loss of income. It means the loss of whatever money or savings you have. It means the loss of your home. It means no more public schools for your children. It means no more food. It means restaurants close. It means that the United States as you know it is over. It means those with guns survive a bit longer than those without. It means the medical system serves those who are favored by the dictator, but affords those to die who aren’t.
What comes in Democracy’s place is no more elections. No more law enforcement, except against you if you speak out against the current regime. No more free press. No more constitution at all. It effectively means the situation that now exists in China and Russia, except it’ll be under Donald Trump in the United States. Puerto Rico will likely withdraw its involvement with the United States as many other US territories are likely to do (e.g., Guam, US Virgin Islands, American Samoa, etc). Even Hawaii might try to become a territory of another nation since it’s a set of islands in the Pacific and not physically connected to the 48 state continent.
Further, it means the loss of allies and the loss of NATO status. The military will become, well who really knows? There’s no way to know what a dictator might do with a military the size of the United States Military nor the nukes under his control. It also means that those who live on or near a border, such as Mexico, will see the very real possibility of Mexican military takeovers of that border land and property. 50 states? Not anymore, with Russia firmly moving to take back Alaska and Mexico likely taking over border states.
Let’s just say that the life that you have come to know and understand is over. You won’t live under the rule of law, you will live under the rule of a supreme leader… one who will just as quickly kill you as look at you. Death will likely become the means to solve all legal problems. If you break the law, you die… even for a simple matter of theft of food simply to feed yourself or your family… even if that food was grown by you in your backyard. Once democracy is lost, your land is no longer yours and no longer is anything that sits on it.
Once democracy ends and a dictator comes into power, what you knew of the United States is gone. You can’t vote someone out of office if you’re not allowed to vote. What is the first thing that Donald Trump does if he’s re-elected president? He halts all future elections indefinitely, state or federal. An elected person cannot be voted out of office when elections don’t take place. Don’t think that Trump won’t do this. Further, Democrat led states will be either disbanded or new state leaders will be appointed by Trump, pushing out any remaining Democrat control.
This is who and what you’re endorsing and wanting to vote back into office as a MAGA Republican. You’re not voting in freedom. You’re voting out the ownership of everything you own. You’re voting out your very family’s well being. You’re voting out America’s future.
Vendetta
Why didn’t this happen in 2016? It didn’t happen in 2016 because Donald Trump didn’t have a vendetta against the United States. Today, Donald Trump has a very strong vendetta; a vendetta so strong that he’ll do anything once he regains power to ensure that vendetta is fulfilled and that he remains in power indefinitely. That includes shutting down democracy.
Once that happens, the rest of the world will retaliate by cutting off the United States from, well, just about anything and everything (imports and exports alike). No more imported food, clothing, oil, energy, products and various other stuff that keeps America economically rolling. No more exports will be accepted. That will collapse both Main Street and Wall Street alike. America’s dollar will become so devalued and worthless as to become worth less than the value of one Mexican Peso. Mexico’s money will likely become worth more than what will be left of the USD. Trump will have to seek new allies and trading partners. Better buy up some gold and horde it in your house. It’ll be the only thing you can buy stuff with… assuming Trump doesn’t force the military to go on raids and take everything you own away from you.
At this point, the United States will have to be renamed to something else… probably something like Trump Nation… or whatever naming whim Trump dreams up. What this also means is a major exodus of people flooding out of what’s left of the United States and into Canada or Mexico or other locations. Some will leave and head to Europe, but Europe (and the rest of the world) will suffer dearly from the collapse of the United States.
Staple products like cars and other big ticket items will disappear. Manufacturing will cease because there will be no money to buy these products by anyone in the United States. Grocery stores and most forms of commerce will cease. Barter will take hold, assuming Trump doesn’t annex the entirety of the United States land (and everything on it) into one big land mass ownership for himself, leaving no borders, no ownership and no more need for state legislators or state capitols. Meaning, you won’t be left with anything other than perhaps the clothes on your back with which to barter. A post Trump dictatorship economy will make the Great Depression decade between 1929-1939 seem like a pin prick by comparison.
The only people who will serve Trump directly are those who continue to lick his boots. The rest will be thrown to the curb and/or arrested and possibly disappeared (read killed). As for jails and current inmates, who really knows? Trump will deal with these institutions at his own fancy. Perhaps moving some military to manage and keep certain penitentiaries open and closing down others by releasing inmates back into what’s left of society or possibly executing them all. There’s no way to know exactly what Trump as a full out dictator might do here. Trump will have a huge bodyguard detail, but the rest of “America” will be left to fend for itself. Those in Trump’s employ who backstab Trump will summarily disappear.
There will also be no more press or TV channels or radio, except for radio and TV channels devoted solely to the Trump propaganda, which will run 24/7 on big screens around big cities. Trump’s still gotta stroke his fragile ego. No more free press or freedom of speech. Try to protest? The military will see to that.
Make America Great Again? Yeah, this is not so great is it? If you think this is all just alarmist rhetoric, then you really don’t know what Trump is capable of doing. Of course, if you want to live under the thumb of a dictator in squalor and poverty worse than what we have today, then by all means vote for Donald Trump again.
Donald Trump isn’t a Republican. Donald Trump isn’t even a Christian. Donald Trump is a nihilist; probably the exact type of nihilist that the author Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky warned us about.
A nihilist, by believing that laws and morals are useless, is also a person who would place the ultimate importance of life on material things. To this person, family, religion, and laws would have no purpose. This would make them a materialist, someone who believes the only things which have any value are those which are physical.
Does this quote sound just a little too familiar?
Trump actually doesn’t care about you or your family or anyone, let alone laws, religion, family or any other thing he professes to claim. He doesn’t care about the United States, religion or anything else… other than money and power (which gets him the things he wants… materialism). Trump pretends to care about such social topics, but only to the point that Trump hopes to convince you just enough so you as a Republican will vote for him. Once Trump lands back in power, his vendetta sees to it that the United States ends and so too with it do the Republicans, the Democrats, religion and the economy. After Donald Trump gets done with the United States, there will be nothing left united about it.
Let’s hope that before this happens that an indictment and a court finds Donald Trump criminally guilty and puts him away in prison for a very, very long time. The world is not ready for a petty nihilist dictator like Donald Trump practicing his petty dictatorship on American soil. Donald Trump cannot be allowed to be re-elected to any position. There are also plenty of non-MAGA Republican candidates who are actually willing to do the right thing for Democracy, who can kick these MAGA extremists to the curb, who can put this morally bankrupt Republican period behind us and bring respect and sanity back to the Republican party. Republicans need to finally wake up and stop defending a man who is so clearly morally bankrupt and in no way worth defending. Let Donald Trump be indicted; it’s his problem, not yours. It’s long past time to shut up and leave Donald Trump to his own fate.
Donald Trump Indictment Text
For your reading pleasure and enjoyment, here is the full text of Donald Trump’s New York indictment.
If you’re on a phone or tablet, you may need to click the link for the document to open. Donald Trump’s team is also still calling this a politically motivated prosecution from Alvin Bragg. There’s nothing in this indictment that seems politically motivated in nature. Though, the charges are also not surprising or unexpected considering Donald Trump’s activities stated by Michael Cohen. All of the counts are based on falsifying business records. Whether these counts are valid and have merit are for the courts to decide, not for Donald Trump or his sycophants or CNN’s analysts to decide. Donald Trump can file motions to dismiss in a legal format, but again it’s up to the courts to decide whether to consider if those motions are valid.
Analysis
I hadn’t really wanted to include an analysis section of this indictment, so I’ll include a short one. CNN legal pundits are heavily leaning in Donald Trump’s favor. It’s clear, CNN has become much more right leaning in its views. Thus, CNN’s legal analysts have basically treated Bragg’s indictment as nothing more than a mere, but very weak nuisance. Donald Trump’s lawyers echoed this same sentiment immediately upon leaving the arraignment court building. These Donald Trump sycophants and CNN alike have decided that Trump will likely to be able to dismiss the entire set of charges.
MSNBC, however, has taken a more balanced approach in its view; an approach to which I agree. There are 34 counts present in the indictment (this sheer number is important to realize). If the case had zero merit, it would have never been accepted by a judge to arraign Trump over. Thus, the counts are most definitely strong enough to arrest and arraign Trump. What MSNBC’s analysts postulate is that while many of the counts may be dismissed as weak, not all of them are likely to be dismissed. That reduction in counts reduces Trump’s criminal exposure, to be sure, but it is not eliminated. If even 10 counts remain after Trump’s move to dismiss, that’s still 10 counts to which Donald Trump must be held to criminal account.
I do agree that Trump may be able to get some or even a larger number of the counts dismissed. I also agree that Trump may not be able to dismiss every single count. Trump understands this. Even just 1 count is enough to take it to trial. Though, I believe there will be well more than just 1 left over after whatever is dismissed is dismissed.
False Rhetoric
One thing I do not agree with is that Bragg’s indictment is in any way politically motivated. Bragg has every right as the Manhattan District Attorney to bring anyone and everyone to justice for perpetrating illegal activities. If Bragg has uncovered evidence that Donald Trump has, in fact, perpetrated illegal activities… and according to this indictment he has… then Bragg has a legal obligation under New York Law to seek prosecution against the accused. It does NOT say witchhunt. It does NOT say politically motivated. It DOES say that District Attorney Alvin Bragg is doing his job for the state of New York. Donald Trump and the Republicans will spin this as political, only because they think it will help Donald Trump skirt responsibility for the laws that he has allegedly broken. To that I counter, if you break the law and you are exposed, you take the consequences; ex-president or not. No man is above the law.
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Politics: What happens if Trump runs again?
While I’ve pretty much avoided political debate and politics on Randocity, I also recognize that this blog is called Randocity. Political discussion is never off of the table. I’ve avoided politics because it’s like playing with Playdough. It’s salty, dries out and becomes no fun after just a few minutes. Because democracy actually hangs in the balance with this former President, I’ll grit and bear my way through this article as this needs to be said. Hopefully, you’re willing to do the same. Let’s explore.
Prophetic
I’m not one to try and be a prophet, but let me don this hat for this next few sections of the article. We all know what Trump did during the 2020 election. Let’s just list his actions leading up to and after the election:
- Trump began his lead up to the 2020 election by sowing seeds of mistrust and doubt in the election system by claiming that mail-in ballots are a major source of fraud. Don’t trust me on this? Follow the link. Trump made this claims many times well prior to the election. Trump’s action intended to sow distrust in the United States’s election system. For better or worse, it worked. It also set the stage for what came after. This is the start of Trump’s “Big Lie”.
- Election day arrives and Joe Biden wins. Yet, according to Trump (and his followers), Biden and Democrat party somehow managed to “rig” the election (and 50 states worth of voting systems) to see Biden win. See #1 for the beginnings of this “Big Lie”.
- Trump refuses to concede the election on election day, the day after or even today as I write this article. Instead, he begins a concerted effort to prove that he won and that Biden lost. This effort includes a number of steps including discrediting election officials, discrediting election workers, discrediting election polling places, discrediting election equipment and basically discrediting anyone involved in the election system. Make no mistake, this discrediting tactic was systematic and entailed making wild claims about the entirety of the election system… which, of course, those claims could not at all be supported or corroborated. Courts all over the country were entangled in many (frivilous) lawsuits set up by Trump and his followers to challenge the election integrity and discredit many people in the process. Trump didn’t stop here. However, Trump lost every single one of those lawsuits, over and over and over. No election fraud was (or is) ever uncovered.
- On January 2nd, 2021, in a vain attempt at overturning the election results in the state of Georgia, Trump calls Brad Raffensperger, the Secretary of State over Georgia, requesting that Raffensperger “find” 11,780 votes for Trump. Of course, he made no mention of exactly how Raffensperger might go about “finding” those votes. Clearly, this was an attempt at persuading election officials into performing actual voter fraud on behalf of Trump using veiled words. It’s most definitely not the first time Trump has used veiled words to prompt someone take potentially illegal actions which greatly benefits Trump. However, those words can then be claimed by Trump as “innocent”. It also wouldn’t be the last time Trump uses veiled words to do his bidding.
- Trump organizes a rally at the Ellipse near Capitol Hill on January 6th, 2021. January 6th was the day the winning candidate was to be confirmed as the Presidential winner by the Electoral College. This congressional procedure is primarily symbolic in nature, but it also serves a purpose for congress to go through the motions to ensure the candidate is fully recognized as having been duly elected. Trump’s rally brought throngs of Trump supporters to Washington DC on the day of the Electoral College vote in the hopes that he could somehow disrupt the Electoral College process.
- On the same day of the Rally, Trump calls Mike Pence, the then Vice President of the United States, to request him to discredit Electoral Vote counts from key states. States that, if discredited, would aid in Trump remaining in office by overturning the election results. Pence refuses and performs his duties as President of the Senate. Pence, as Vice President, is the person who facilitates and presides over Electoral Vote tabulation in front of the House and Senate. In fact, the Vice President doesn’t appear to have such requested power even if he had wanted to do as Trump asked. Again, Trump likely used veiled words with Pence to “get him” to do something untoward that, again, greatly benefits Trump.
- Trump, along with a bunch of Trump allies, make veiled, but now inflammatory rhetoric riling up the crowd at the Ellipse, effectively making it appear as if the election was about to be stolen from Trump by the Electoral College. Again, Trump uses flowery veiled rhetoric to incite the crowd into a frenzy. Trump knew exactly what his rhetoric would have the crowd do, particularly knowing a large extremist Trump-supporting fringe element had also shown up. The vote, at that time, was just several hours away. Trump and Co’s inflammatory, but veiled rhetoric lead to the riotous results which immediately followed on Capitol Hill.
- After the walk from the Ellipse, the riots begin in earnest. As a result, this riot forces the Electoral Vote count proceedings to halt for a period of time while the House and Senate staff take cover in a safe location until the grounds can be brought back under control with the rioters gone. Until that time, the Electoral Vote count remains suspended. Yes, Trump was instrumental in encouraging this action. Yes, Trump, the then sitting President of the United States, based on his veiled rhetoric speech, intentionally caused suspension of the prescribed formality of counting and tabulating the Electoral College vote counts. Keep in mind that this intentional suspension was all for the purpose of overturning the election results… IN TRUMP’S FAVOR.
- Several hours later after the rioters had gone and the DC police had brought the grounds under control did the vote count resume, with Mike Pence presiding. The vote count was uneventful and, as the voting had concluded, Biden was confirmed as the next President by the Electoral College.
These above facts are irrefutable, even though Trump would have you believe it’s all fake. Let’s stop here. I think I’ve included enough pertinent information to predict the outcome should Trump run again. Trump is, if anything, predictable.
Trump hates Losing
It’s clear, Trump hates losing. In fact, he hates it so much that he began planning his road to the “Big Lie” months before the election to ensure he couldn’t lose, at least in his own mind. If he can drag some people into his “world” of lies, then all the better. To date, Trump has still not conceded the election and still insists that the election (and election system) was (and is) rigged.
In fact, Trump is so adamant that he had won the election (both before and after) that he filed many, many lawsuits in an attempt to “prove” the election was somehow rigged, sometimes forcing a vote recount. In some places like Arizona, the votes were recounted a number of separate times all confirming and proving that Biden had won, even by his own requested staffers. Yet, Trump simply won’t take, “No” for an answer. Trump still insists that the election was rigged, is fraudulent and that he is the rightful winner of the 2020 election. No such evidence has ever been shown that this claim is, in fact, true. In fact, all evidence points to the fact that the 2020 election was free, fair and without major fraud. Sure, every election has its irregularities, but no more than any other past election.
Trump simply can’t look at the irregularities and call foul when the statistics indicate no such fraud exists.
Election Lies and Rigging
Let’s understand the preposterousness of Trump’s lie claims and understand better who is actually doing the rigging here. In order for Joe Biden and others in the Democrat party to have truly rigged the election in favor of Joe Biden, this action would have required an extremely enormous coordinated effort from many, many election officials, election workers and modification of election equipment all over the United States, in every single state. Such an enormous coordinated effort would have required many thousands of people’s synchronized participation at the polls and many, many hours of planning.
If our election system is truly that easily compromised, then there’s no way possible we can possibly use it for any future elections… ever.
Let’s examine what’s more probable, plausible or even possible? Trump’s Lie that thousands and thousands election workers all conspired against Trump to make Biden win? Or, the American people voted correctly, accurately and fairly… and that Biden was duly and fairly elected! Let’s even qualify this more. Whom do you trust in the above scenario? One single person who is known to lie (i.e., Trump) or thousands of election workers all over the country who voluntarily devote their time and resources to ensuring we have a free and fair election? Again, I ask, “Which situation is more probable?”
Just to be sure we’re on the same page, I’ll answer that question. Trump has more than proven he is not trustworthy. Thousands of election workers and election staff cannot ALL be at the level of untrustworthy that Trump claims in his “Big Lie”. It is, therefore, Trump who is lying.
Obviously, Trump’s lie is THE ludicrous and unbelievable claim here. It is way more probable that Trump is lying than suggesting an enormous coordinated effort existed to place Biden into the Presidential seat over the will of the voters. Further, if such a coordinated effort truly existed, why stop at such narrow voting margins and not go for an all out landslide victory? If the election machines can be truly compromised and modified, then why bother with slim margins? No, Trump’s claims just don’t hold water.
Biden didn’t win by any sense of a “landslide”. Oh, no no. The votes were so close that some battleground states weren’t able to call the election results for days after the election. By ‘close’, this could be as few as several thousand votes. This meant election workers were forced into counting and recounting to ensure the vote counts are all counted accurately and tabulated properly. With that many recounts all showing Biden won, there is no possible way that Trump’s “Big Lie” is in any way plausible, let alone realistic or even true.
Trump and 2024
Looking ahead, let’s really talk about what’s likely to occur should Trump end up on the ballot again. In fact, Trump is already sowing the seeds of distrust even deeper right at this very moment. As long as Trump maintains his “big election lie”, he WILL continue to both expand and reuse it against the 2024 presidential election should he choose to run again. Believe me, he will most definitely use it again and will up his game based on what he learned during the 2020 process! He’s that predictable. Prediction noted.
Let me say right now that this man should never be able to run for President again. In fact, Congress performed a major disservice to this country for not finding Trump guilty in his final Impeachment hearing. If they had found him guilty, that would have prevented Trump from ever holding office as President again. This would be a blessing come 2024. The man cannot be President again or even be allowed to run or else this country may entirely lose the meaning of the word, “Democracy.” Prediction noted.
Trump Wins?
Assuming Trump were to win in 2024, Trump will not only continue to do everything with his reacquired Presidential power to discredit the election system entirely. It’s nearly guaranteed he will want to ensure that he remains in office indefinitely by attempting to halt everything to do with future elections. That’s just the beginning of his tirade. Trump will see to it that not only can he not be voted out again, that no one else can be voted in. At this point, Democracy and the Constitution’s power ends. Worse, Trump’s “back pocket” GOP will likely follow the leader here and continue to do Trump’s bidding by seeing to it that legislation is passed that allows Trump to remain in power beyond 4 years, possibly even indefinitely. Prediction noted.
Election Lie 2.0
What if Trump loses? The outcome is just as bad simply because he was allowed to run. If we think Trump’s election lie is bad now, just wait. If Trump is allowed to participate and again loses, not only will Trump parade his next version of the Election Lie v2.0, he will see to it that both he and the GOP make sure the elections are so undermined that we can’t even use our election system come 2028. The courts will also be so completely saturated with meritless case after meritless case all for the sole means of attempting to prove that the election was, once again, rigged and stolen from Trump.
Trump will most definitely up his lying game to make sure everyone knows he was, again, cheated out of his win. That somehow the election system was (and is) majorly rigged against him with yet more fabricated evidence. This will then lead to even more voter law changes by Trump supporting states. Prediction noted.
Let’s put this into a bit more perspective with how Trump can leverage the GOP leadership team. The GOP (aka Republican party), is hanging onto Trump’s coattails for all it’s worth. These elected officials continually and constantly push Trump’s lie, but not verbally. They do so by introducing legislation that is tantamount to a modern version Gerrymandering. Gerrymandering is technically redrawing district lines around population centers so as to change the outcome of an election from a Democrat win to a GOP win. It is a form of political scam. When districts are drawn correctly and properly, the vote distributions are fair. When redrawn using Gerrymandering, it unfairly rigs voting in favor of one party over the other. Gerrymandering is an old tactic, but there are many new age tactics that can also be used in addition to redrawing districts in unfair ways.
States have now taken it upon themselves to craft laws that restrict voting in ways that make it easier for Republicans to vote and much more difficult for Democrats to vote. This is a legal form of Gerrymandering. Laws, in combination with actual district Gerrymandering, pretty much ensures a win for the party who set all of these scams up, even if that party is in the minority. This is a form of…
Election Rigging
Who is actually doing the rigging here? The problem I really have with all of Trump’s (and by extension, Trump’s GOP) hoo-ha above is that the reverse is actually true. Everything that Trump has crafted in an attempt to discredit the election results was actually performed with the intent to rig the 2020 election in Trump’s (and, more specifically, the GOP’s) favor. His “Big Lie” wasn’t intended to uncover any truth as there was no “truth” to actually uncover. Instead, his claims of election fraud by Biden were all intended to allow him to rig the elections in Trump’s favor. It’s a reverse ploy. He takes a functional, legitimate, working system and twists it into something that appears broken, corrupt and perverse for the sole means of turning it around and using it to his own benefit. It’s a classic victim ploy.
It’s also diabolical. Rigging is rigging whether by Trump or by someone else. Trump’s attempts to use the justice system, the media, his supporters and veiled words are simply attempts to get people to do his bidding, which meant overturning the 2020 election results by illegitimate means and usurping the 2020 election for himself. Can we say, “Rigged by Trump”? Yet, for whatever reason, people actually fail to see this diabolical scheme that Trump has concocted. It’s a plot that seemingly turns Trump into a victim rather than exposing him as a con man. Trump is, plain and simple, a con man. He intended to deceive his followers into believing fake information and, thus, attempt to take a legitimate free and fair election system and actually twist it by rigging it to Trump’s will.
Let me ask. Who exactly is doing the rigging here? It’s certainly not Biden.
However, few Trump supporters want to believe that they’ve been conned by Trump. It’s way easier to accept Trump as a victim than to view themselves as being duped by Trump. If you accept Trump’s lies, however, you ARE being duped. Accepting a known lie is the very definition of being duped.
Can Trump be Trusted?
A very good question. Let’s examine. At this point, it should be completely clear that this man cannot be trusted, not with Presidential power, not even with participating in the election system as a candidate. Anyone so intent on treating our election system so recklessly, callously, with disdain and with so much malice of intent cannot be trusted. Trust is earned. It’s clear that Trump has failed to earn trust and respect from almost anyone. Yet, followers still flock in his direction. I’m still at a loss as to why. The man has proven that he has no morals, moral compass, ethics or scruples.
It’s one thing for a politician to make boasting claims about doing great deeds while in office, then fail to accomplish those goals. It’s entirely another when the President of the United States holds a rally intended to halt counting the Electoral Votes which undermines the election system and the basic fundamentals that hold Democracy together.
Lies and Fraud
Trump’s deception has not ended and will not end until he is pushed out of politics entirely. That means that the GOP must force Trump out of the party. The GOP cannot continue as a legitimate political party when someone so corrupt and so ill-intentioned remains within. Someone who was (and still is) willing to sacrifice the entirety of the United States Constitution and Democracy’s fabric itself simply so that he can remain in office, that’s someone we absolutely do not need running this country, let alone even being allowed on the ballot.
If Trump is placed on the ballot in 2024, Democracy literally hangs in the balance. If we think we’re in a constitutional crisis after the January 6th Capitol attack, that’s simply the first salvo in what will likely bring down the United States if Trump regains the office of President. Prediction noted.
Trump absolutely in no way cares about the continuance of Democracy and only cares about one thing… Trump and his ability to gain and retain power, particularly Presidential power. He also wants to take that power and bastardize it into something that was never intended by the framers of the Constitution.
Regardless of whether Trump wins or loses in 2024, the United States faces a serious existential threat, one that Trump seems to want to seriously undermine (at best) and dismantle (at worst). No, Trump cannot be allowed to even participate in the 2024 election process at all. His corruption will taint the election system, win or lose. The GOP leadership must eject Trump from the party and shun any further interaction with him. That is, unless the GOP (Republican party) wants to become known as the party that brought down United States Democracy, which also likely means the GOP (and all other parties) will cease to exist once Democracy dies. No need for Democratic processes once the President wields all of the power, forever.
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Business and Politics don’t mix
As Target and Best Buy have so aptly found out, donating large sums of money to political candidates can backfire. I know why companies wish to donate. They want to be able to call in the candidate on local reform when necessary. The issue, though, is that while this may be the goal, the candidate may not stand for what your customers do… especially if you are a retailer. Retailers must sell to the public. The public are the people who support the retailers. However, when these same businesses choose to contribute to (aka endorse) candidates who may have agendas that a vocal part of your buying public opposes, then your company can get into hot water. And yes, Target and Best Buy have found this out the hard way.
Target And Best Buy
Both of these companies contributed over $100,000 that ended up supporting advertising for a local Minnesota gubernatorial candidate who opposes gay marriage and who advocates violence towards gays. While that wasn’t the crux of that candidate’s platform, it was a the part of it that caught the wrong attention from these donations. This set off a firestorm of negative publicity for both of these companies. Gay activists are now calling for boycotts of these stores.
This is cause and effect. This is why companies have no business contributing funds that go to specific candidates. In fact, companies have no business in politics. Yes, I know they want to have hip-pocket legislation, but at the same time, these companies also need to understand the direct relationship of any direct candidate donation to the bottom line. It’s very likely that Target and Best Buy have spent more than their donations in managing this publicity nightmare. This issue also proves that if a company feels the need to donate to politics, they need to do it directly to each local democratic or republican top level coffer. That way, the money is spread out among the candidates rather than going to a single candidate. Even still, politics is a sticky wicket and any contribution may backfire.
Oil and Water
Business and Politics don’t mix and this situation is the prime example of why. If companies want to contribute to political causes, they must understand the negative outcome of those decisions and weigh it carefully against the cost of a PR fallout. Worse, it could alienate customers whom you depend on for your bottom line. Being in business is already difficult enough without making such huge mistakes.
If company executives feel they must have hip-pocket legislation at their fingertips, then they need to find other ways to do it… like, for example, lobby groups. Send these groups to Washington like everyone else and get legislation made in a more generic way.. not by endorsing specific local candidates where their political agenda might conflict with the buying public.
Could be any cause involved..
Note that any donation could have gone to support some other problematic issue. So, any direct political candidate donation is not a good idea for any company.
So, how does Target and Best Buy deal with this issue? Well, clearly it’ll be difficult to get that money back. It’ll also be difficult for them to weather this storm. The best idea is to, obviously, issue a sincere apology regarding the donation. State that they didn’t understand the candidate’s platform and state that they won’t do this again. But, the deed is already done. Of course, a statement that they won’t do it again is probably a lie. It’s only a matter of time before they donate to some other cause that may get them into hot water again.
Companies like this never learn and are destined to make the same mistakes. As a consumer, you need to make your choices about whether you want the money you spend at those companies to go to supporting those causes. Just something to think about.
Is Obama hostile towards big business?
To answer this question, we need to delve a little deeper. Note, I am neither condoning nor praising Obama’s handling of his regulatory efforts. However, I would like to point out certain corrections that do need to be made.
“The truth is that not even the Franklin Roosevelt administration was as hostile to and ignorant about free enterprise as this [Obama’s] administration is.”
–Steve Forbes.
But, is Obama really hostile towards business? Or, is he making needed corrections? There is a fine line here. This issue also points out a serious problem in politics today. That problem is, you guessed it, money. Without money, the world doesn’t work. Without money, candidates don’t get elected. Without money, businesses don’t sell things and make money. Back up the train.. Businesses make plenty of money without governmental help. The trouble is that businesses want to be able to make laws that enable their businesses to make more money and then have the government be lenient with them when issues arise.
The reality, though, is that like the separation of church and state, the government now needs separation of business and state. The two are oil and water, they don’t mix. Government needs to be able to make law without interference from any party. But, businesses have deep pockets and hefty lawyers. These two elements help elect officials and help sway these same officials into making good on promises they made towards these businesses during the election.
Obama’s corrections
While I don’t agree with every single thing Obama has done, I do agree that change is necessary. The change that he is making is intended to correct the issues that led to the economic downturn. The trouble comes with statements from people like Steve Forbes. Mr. Forbes believes that he is the end-all-be-all-know-it-all when it comes to all-things-business. The trouble is, he doesn’t. Yes, he runs a successful magazine, but that doesn’t make him an authority. That makes him a successful business owner.
Obama is walking that fine line. A fine line that shouldn’t even be necessary. But, there it is. The line that’s there to help Obama help the economy, help spur business and growth and reduce the chances of a repeated failure. At the same time, the line is there to show that government values business, but isn’t there to socialize it. The trouble is, this economic downturn was of our own making. By our, I mean Wall Street. The housing bubble was just that, a bubble. Bubbles eventually burst and this bubble was no exception. It’s not as if analysts and intelligent minded people couldn’t see the handwriting on the wall. When the mortgage interest rates got down to 1% and all of those ARM and specialty loans were being issued like water flowing down the Mississippi, trouble was inevitable. We just didn’t know that banks and insurance companies were tying their financial soundness to these extremely risky loans using credit default swaps.
Until the bubble burst, no one really knew just how deep the rabbit hole went. Then, everything came crashing down and all of the nasty subprime mortgage and credit default swap issues came into view in their all fugly detailed glory. The first evidence of that was Bear Stearns followed by AIG (and the subsequent governmental bailout). I still think they should have let AIG fold, I digress.
Government and Business
It’s high time that government distanced itself from corporate businesses. It’s high time congress made laws to separate government from business (including political support). It’s high time that government stopped being a pawn for corporate businesses. Forbes clearly seems to think that Free Enterprise requires socialism to function. Free Enterprise is not part of and does not need socialism. Free Enterprise means that businesses can do whatever they need to do (within the limits of the laws) to make their business succeed. Clearly, there have not been laws enabled that have dramatically impacted Free Enterprise. The laws that have been enacted have been placed there to prevent corporations from producing risky investment vehicles with a high likelyhood of crashing down again. If businesses are now floundering, it’s not because of laws. It’s because corporations have lost their way and are still expecting handouts. Well, you can keep your hand out, but don’t expect the government to be dropping any coin in it.
Corporations have relied, no… depended on the US Government for handouts. That time needs to end. Subsidies for business need to go away. Businesses need to fend for themselves just like Free Enterprise mandates. If a business can’t make it on its own, then let it fail. I’ll repeat, LET IT FAIL. Failure is also part of Free Enterprise. Businesses that will succeed, will succeed because they produce a good product or service. Businesses that fail, will fail because they don’t produce good products or services.
Lost our way
America, and specifically corporate enterprises, have lost their way. For far too long have big corporations depended on favorable governmental conditions (sounds like a weather report) to help them stay in business. Well, that train has left (and must leave). It should be solely up to you and your business practices alone to make or break your company. It is the quality of your products, services and support that makes people want to buy your products or invest in your company. Nothing has changed about this aspect of Free Enterprise.
We need to go back to a time when quality was the key. When providing a superior product was the answer to getting people to buy things. If that also means deflation, then so be it. Businesses need to find their way by learning how to do more with less. How to manage their staff better and stop over-hiring. At the same time, many of them need to stop under-hiring and also value the employees that they have right now.
The key to keeping your business flowing is by keeping your employees active, productive and happy. Morale is a big problem in companies during any downturn. Once fear sets in over the next reduction in force (RIF), then morale falls to all-time-lows. No, taking the employees on an outing doesn’t boost morale. The way to boost morale is to stop RIFing the staff out the door. Yes, I know it gives a temporary boost to the stock price and makes the shareholders happy, but that’s a temporary fix with limited effects. Once the dust settles, the employees who are left become disgruntled, unhappy and produce less. This is completely backwards thinking. Which is why business has lost its way.
Shareholder value vs quality products
I know, someone’s going to say that it is all about ‘shareholder value’. That may be the way things seem now, but it is wrong. Currently accepted actions that lead to improved shareholder value tend to undercut production, stifle innovation, reduce profit margins and lower productivity. Why would you intentionally do this to your business? So, while these measures may seem to help the stock price, it does nothing to help the company improve its quality of products and services. In fact, in the long run, these actions almost always negatively impact the bottom line. So, the fundamental question is, are you in business to make the shareholders happy or are you in business to sell quality products and services? This fundamental question must be answered.
The true answer to this question also shows that Free Enterprise priorities today are all wrong. It used to be that the customer is #1. Now, shareholders are #1 and customers are #2. This is both wrong and stupid. Until businesses go back to the idea that the customer is #1, corporations will continue to fail and need governmental subsidies. While shareholders are considered #1, there is really no such thing as Free Enterprise when it comes to multi-million dollar corporations… which is why they always need a handout from the government.
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