Washington and Lincoln – In September, 2016, this blog predicted a "colossal crisis" if Donald Trump were to be elected. Now we have three such crises simultaneously: a cybersecurity invasion by Russia that might, at any time, bring our nation operationally to its knees; a raging pandemic made worse by an inept federal response; and an insurrection resulting in a breach of Capitol security during the counting of electoral votes under the Constitution.
The rest of the free world is appalled; the world's dictators exult over the shame of it all.
The prediction of colossal presidential failure was not hard to make. The man had no government experience and had never served in the military (he was a draft-dodger). He was a bankrupt (several times over), a serial philanderer, and was well-known in business for stiffing his contractors. He was a fabulist, a liar. His personal behavior was indecent.
The real surprise was not his foundering, but why so many Americans voted for him in the first place. I continue to shake my head as to why my fellow Nebraskans, decent folk mostly, not once, but twice gave him overwhelming approval at the polls.
What were they thinking? Trump was hardly a conservative; many of his policies stood traditional conservatism on its head. A certain percentage of the population is always attracted to buffoonery in the cause of grievance, perhaps one in five at most, but not three or even four of five, as many Nebraska counties voted. It did not help, of course, that Democrats conducted poor campaigns, but that does not account for the Trump enthusiasm exhibited by many Nebraska voters.
I believe the answer lies in understanding the power of mass media propaganda. Media manipulation techniques were developed and perfected by Joseph Goebbels in service to the Nazis. They were demonstrated contemporaneously in America by Father Charles Coughlin. If you have ever seen Dr. Goebbels and Father Coughlin at work, in old film clips, you are not surprised at their success.
Coughlin is a model for modern-day propagandists, exemplified by Murdoch media and its imitators. The once-obscure priest dominated mass communications in the 1930s, as Murdoch saturates it now.
Goebbels is remembered not only for his use of radio, movies, newspapers, and rallies, but for his exploitation of the Big Lie approach to news-making. The bigger the lie, the better, on the theory that it must be true because no one would dare say it otherwise. It was then repeated over and over, on the premise that it must be true or it would not be repeated so often. The Big Lie then was accepted in the public consciousness, because "everyone knows" it's true.
Which brings us to the latest version of what "everyone knows": that the 2020 election was a landslide victory for Trump. People flocked this week to a Goebbelsian rally and were incited to storm the U.S. Capitol to keep the Big Lie alive. A few died in the cause that they were convinced was patriotic. A few of the stormers may be thugs, but most, it seems to me, are victims of the propagandists.
The question of the moment is how to overcome the three colossal crises now at hand. The resignation of cabinet and other high-ranking officials does little to help. The propagandists must stand down.
