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The Felon's Effort to Distort Reality—and Create Apathy.

Throughout his first regime and even more so now in his second regime, the Felon has sought to generate so much chaos that it becomes difficult to keep track of all of the misdeeds and objectionable policies being pushed by the would-be dictator's regime.  If the news is constantly flooded with stories and propaganda, it becomes hard to know what is happening in real time much less oppose the assaults on democracy and the free press. Trying to stay informed becomes exhausting and it is the hope of the Felon and his bootlickers at the Department of Justice and Department of Defense that the confusion and swirl of stories - some real others fake - will over time lead to public apathy which will make autocracy easier to impose on the nation. At the moment, it also is a means to keep the media distracted from the ongoing Epstein scandal. The downside, of course, is that it will become more difficult for those seeking to make policy decisions, including military decisions, based on objective reality to know what is really happening as well.  Not that the Felon cares because objective facts and experts are viewed as an enemy who expose the endless stream of lies coming both from the lips of the Felon and his self-prostituting minions and congressional Republicans like Mike Johnson, a fake Christian, who parrot the Felon's lies. A piece in The Atlantic looks at the misinformation campaign:

When you imagine media in a dictatorship, you probably think of something dull and gray.  Maybe a Soviet state-television program, extolling the annual harvest. Perhaps a smudgy newspaper photograph of Chairman Mao or General Pinochet, surrounded by blocks of turgid prose.

But if that is your mental picture, then your imagination is out of date. Nowadays, authoritarian propaganda can be varied, colorful, even mesmerizing. Hugo Chávez, the Venezuelan dictator, used to perform on television for hours, singing, chatting, and interviewing celebrities. On one recent day, the website of Komsomolskaya Pravda—formerly the organ of the Soviet youth movement, now a mouthpiece of Vladimir Putin’s Kremlin—offered stories ranging from clickbait about “the beautiful women who lure Muscovites into dating scams” to an alarmist account of how Ukraine is “being turned into a training ground for the EU army.”

The point of these efforts is not merely to misinform but to build distrust. Modern authoritarian regimes often offer not a unified propaganda line but rather contradictory versions of reality, and in many different forms: highbrow and lowbrow, serious and silly, sort of true and largely false. The cumulative effect is to leave citizens with no clear idea of what is actually happening.

For the first time in our history, the Department of Defense has been carefully preparing to offer Americans something similar: not information but entertainment, scandal, sycophancy, and jokes. Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth demanded that all news organizations at the Pentagon sign a document agreeing to some new restrictions on reporters’ movement—and, more important, prohibiting journalists from publishing information that contradicts official accounts, a stricture that some believed risked criminalizing ordinary journalism. Several dozen reporters left the building, including from The Atlantic but also representatives of Newsmax and Fox News. Many had years of experience, as well as deep knowledge of military budgets, logistics, and technology. Now their replacements are arriving, and they are indeed different. Although they are widely described as “right wing,” as if they were conservatives, most are conspiracy theorists, domestic and foreign propagandists, and others with little institutional knowledge.

One of the new outlets covering the Pentagon, for example, is LindellTV, the streaming service founded by Mike Lindell, the MyPillow guy . . . . LindellTV is already invited to press conferences at the White House, where one of the outlet’s “reporters” asked earlier this year whether the president’s staff would consider releasing his fitness plan. Donald Trump looks “healthier than he looked eight years ago,” she said, and asked, “Is he working out with Bobby Kennedy, and is he eating less McDonald’s?”

Another new face is Tim Pool, now the owner of something called Timcast Media. Pool previously worked for Tenet Media, a company that was secretly funded by RT, Russian state media. Pool has insisted that he did not know that the company received Russian money, although there were plenty of clues, including messages time-stamped in a way that indicated they came from Moscow, as well as encouragement to make videos that backed up absurd pro-Moscow narratives . . . .

Pool’s team and LindellTV will be joined by The Epoch Times, which is linked to the Falun Gong religious movement in China. The outlet is perhaps best known for promoting QAnon conspiracy theories as well as false accounts of the 2020 election. Accompanying it will be the Gateway Pundit, a site that unsuccessfully filed for bankruptcy in an attempt to thwart a lawsuit by election workers whom it had falsely accused of fraud. One America News Network, The Federalist, and representatives of Frontlines, a publication of Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point network, will also be part of the new press corps. None has a reputation for expertise in military affairs.

These outlets might, of course, produce pro-Trump propaganda. But, more important, they will produce confusion. At a time of multiple international crises, at a moment when the United States is about to engage in some kind of military action in Venezuela, as the National Guard is being sent to American cities against the will of American governors, the Pentagon’s official positions will be relayed by Timcast, The Epoch Times, LindellTV and the Gateway Pundit, which means that many people simply won’t believe Pentagon statements at all.

This appears to be the Trump administration’s preferred model, not only in the Pentagon but in the White House and everywhere else: Keep the public off-balance. Tell jokes, lies, and amusing stories or publish sinister AI-made videos, not in order to get Americans to believe government statements but in order to make them distrustful of all statements. If they aren’t sure what the U.S. military is really doing, then they won’t object.

If people don’t believe anything they read anywhere, then they won’t be motivated to argue, to discuss, or even to engage in politics. Modern authoritarian propaganda, of the kind we are about to receive from the Pentagon and perhaps other government agencies, isn’t designed to produce true believers or mass movements. It’s designed to produce apathy.

In a world where more and more people get their information from ChatGPT, Grok, DeepSeek and Gemini, this information fog could grow worse over time, creating permanent misunderstandings or historical vacuums. One study has already shown that these AI chatbots frequently link to Russian state media and produce false information about Russia’s war on Ukraine. But Americans might not have to wait for AI to write false histories before we feel the consequences. If the public, our allies, our adversaries, and eventually the military itself no longer believe what the Pentagon is saying, then the Pentagon might find it faces obstacles to its credibility, and to its operational capability, much greater than those once posed by investigative reporters with access to the building.

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Inflation and Economic Fears Are Coming for Trump

During 2024, we heard constant whining and complaining from Republicans, the MAGA base and, of course, the Felon about inflation and rising prices. Indeed, things got insane about egg prices while those whining ignored the fact that the driver of increased prices was avian flu decimating chicken flocks rather than any polices of the Biden administration. The Felon promised he would lower prices if elected and bring back some mythical golden age.   Fast forward to ten months into the Felon's regime and he has done neither (nor has he ended the war in Ukraine as promised).  Inflation is up, job creation is down, international trade and import prices have been driven up thanks to the Felon's insane tariffs. Add to this the federal government shutdown with federal employees going unpaid and SNAP benefits about to stop on November 1, 2025 - the latter will harm not only recipients of assistance, but also the many retailers who serve communities with large numbers of SNAP recipients.  The Felon's response? Claiming inflation is gone and that all is well.  Meanwhile, the MAGA base which will engage in self-harm to "own the libs" are having a reality check as they check out at grocery stores, pay the power bills and see other prices higher.  Ironically, the Felon posted an AI video of himself dumping feces on "No Kings" protestors, but hi is dumping feces on American consumers.  A piece at Salon looks at where we find ourselves: 

This time last year, America was focused on the upcoming presidential election. Despite a major hiccup during the summer, in which President Joe Biden bowed out after weeks of fevered speculation following a catastrophic debate performance . . . . Democrats were feeling very positive about their prospects. After all, the former guy, as Biden often referred to him, had lost the previous election, tried to stage a coup and had been convicted of 34 felonies. He couldn’t possibly make a comeback.

But no matter how they tried to explain it to voters or to shift the focus to other issues, Democrats were faced with a problem. In the end, they couldn’t escape it. 

In mid-2021, for the first time in 40 years, inflation took hold of the American economy. The Covid-19 pandemic had caused upheaval around the world. Delayed consumer demand accelerated dramatically at a time when supply chains were chaotic and necessary government stimulus increased the money supply. The Russian invasion of Ukraine put even more stress on the situation by driving up food prices and energy costs. By June 2022, inflation reached 9%.

In October 2024, just a month before the presidential election, inflation had decreased dramatically to 2.4%, just slightly above the Federal Reserve’s target of 2%. But people weren’t feeling the recovery — and in politics, perception is everything.

Prices hadn’t reverted to what they were before the pandemic. And when the price of eggs spiked due to an outbreak of avian flu, it became the symbol of general anger and unhappiness at the overall economy. The vibes, as they became known, were bad. 

Many Democratic party officials, pundits and analysts believe inflation is what got Donald Trump reelected. There were enough people who were spooked by perceptions about the economy, and many remembered the first Trump administration as a kind of golden economic age — mostly because he kept telling them they were. They believed he would bring prices down. At campaign events and in interviews, Trump would be asked what he planned to do about the cost of living, and he would meander around, saying that tariffs would bring in huge amounts of money, implying the government would cover additional costs. 

At an event at his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, he posed with tables full of groceries and vowed, “When I win, I will immediately bring prices down, starting on Day One.”

That never happened, and now many of the people who were counting on their grocery bills going back to what they were seven or eight years ago are gravely disappointed. Still, that hasn’t stopped Trump from telling them that their vibes are wrong and that inflation is gone. During a Thursday roundtable at the White House, he dismissed such anxieties. “Inflation, I’ve already taken care of,” he said. “Economically, the country is the strongest it’s ever been — thank God for tariffs. If we didn’t have tariffs we’d be a third-world nation.”

That’s a typically absurd comment and barely anyone believes it — not even many of his own supporters. Polling shows that inflation is the president’s lowest issue rating, averaging in the mid-30s and dropping. While the price of eggs has fallen back to normal levels now that the bird flu crisis has abated, people are seeing the price of beef skyrocket by 51% since February 2020. Americans famously love beef, so this placed Trump in dangerous territory — even before he announced his plan to quadruple imports of Argentinian beef, which have left ranchers “furious,” according to the New York Times.

The [Felon's] president’s tariffs haven’t helped. Inflation has been edging up ever since he announced his trade war in April, despite the warnings of most economists, who cautioned that tariffs will raise prices for consumers. The full effects of Trump’s tariffs haven’t yet been felt. Bigger companies were able to front load their inventories in anticipation, and small businesses have been taking out loans and freezing hiring to keep from raising prices.

Aside from the AI boom that’s fueling the stock market bubble, the economy is basically frozen, according to economist Paul Krugman. Everyone is holding their breath, waiting to see if the mercurial Trump will continue these tariffs, or if he will pull back once he’s flattered just the right way or given something he wants in return. . . . with the tariffs in effect, businesses are paying more for the imports they need to produce their goods and supply their customers. 

The government shutdown has delayed the release of all economic data except the Consumer Price Index (CPI) for September, which the administration called back federal workers to produce because it’s required to determine Social Security payments. On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the CPI showed a 3% rise when compared to September 2024 — the fastest annual pace since the start of the year. When combined with what is assumed to still be a deteriorating job market — those numbers are still unavailable due to the shutdown — it shows that Trump’s claim that the economy is the strongest it’s ever been to be laughable. 

Inflation is now a ticking time bomb for Republicans. They should have learned from the Biden administration’s stumbles that you can’t persuade people that they should be happy about the cost of living just because the statistics are good. And in this case, the statistics are not good. In fact, they’re getting worse.

Not even Trump, with his talent for pounding falsehoods so relentlessly that it convinces a lot of people to believe him instead of their own eyes, can beat the vibes when people are paying more and earning less. It’s another perfect storm, and this time it’s one entirely of his own making.

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Is Rural America Finally Waking Up to Trump and the GOP's Betrayal?

I have been involved in politics for over 30 years and even ran for political office in the early 1990's (at the time some farcically labeled me "Christian Right") and have been writing this blog which has a definite political slant to it for going on 18 years.  Throughout this period time and again I have been dumbfound by how rural areas vote Republican even though GOP policies are harmful to both rural residents and rural economies.  As aspects of the Felon and GOP's "big ugly bill" begin to kick in, this harm will only intensify given the reality that rural areas (in yellow on the above map) far more than urban areas (blue on the map) depend on government monetary transfers to support their economies and personal finances.  Add to this the Felon's tariffs and trade wars and the harm to rural areas is even worse.  Will rural areas finally wake up to this reality or will voters in these regions continue to fall for the GOP's use of "god, guns and gays" and resentment towards so-called urban elites and yet again vote against their own best interests?  A thoughtful piece by a Nobel Prize winning economist looks at the continued voting by rural America against its own economic interests as the Felon/GOP social safety net cuts to fund tax breaks for the super wealthy begin in kick in and as the Felon's regime is poised to bailout Argentina, a agricultural competitor.  Here are column excerpts:

Is rural America starting to fall out of love with Donald Trump?

Policy wonks like me have spent decades pointing out that if rural Americans voted based on their informed self-interest, they would be supporting Democrats, not Republicans. Republicans are constantly trying to eviscerate Democrat-supported programs that benefited rural states like Medicaid spending, SNAP (the supplementary nutrition program formerly known as food stamps), and school lunches. Trump is also cutting subsidies for green energy programs like solar farms and wind turbines – subsidies that disproportionately went to red states. Iowa gets 63 percent of its electricity from wind!

Moreover, these programs in effect subsidize rural areas with dollars earned in urban areas: because rural areas have lower incomes than urban areas, rural Americans pay relatively little of the taxes that finance these programs. So Democratic “big government” is highly beneficial to the heartland.

Yet economic self-interest has been swamped by “rural consciousness.” This consciousness rests on a belief that highly educated urban elites don’t understand or value rural culture and rural lives. And I will admit that this belief contains a grain of truth. Urban elites are unlikely to fully understand the attachment of rural Americans to a particular place and its time-worn rhythms of life. Ensconced in salaried jobs, urban dwellers are unfamiliar with the constant anxiety of being a farmer or a small business owner in the heartland. Decades of being battered by the economic changes -- deindustrialization, farm consolidation and corporatization, depopulation, loss of community ties, along with the loss of jobs, particularly “male-coded” jobs – have left rural Americans feeling adrift, marginalized and resentful.

And this created an opening to be exploited by the right wing. Much like how Trump peddled fantasies of a manufacturing resurgence or the return of coal-mining jobs, MAGA leveraged the deep discontent within rural America to inculcate the belief that only Republicans, and Trump in particular, respect rural voters. But this is false: MAGA actually holds its most loyal voters in contempt.

And the reality of this contempt is starting to show through — not, at least so far, via the One Big Beautiful Bill’s savage cuts to health care, which will be especially devastating to rural areas, but via the Trump administration’s bizarre fixation on aiding President Javier Milei of Argentina.

The truth is that rural America is even more dependent than urban America on the programs now on the chopping block. The nonpartisan Economic Innovation Group has mapped out where in America people depend for a large share of their income on government transfers: the counties where a lot of income comes from government programs, indicated in yellow, are overwhelmingly in rural areas, while the places where such aid plays a relatively small role (light blue) mainly correspond to major metropolitan areas:

Why has rural America become increasingly dependent on government aid? The main answer is declining economic opportunity, which has led to an exodus of young people, leaving behind an older population that relies on Social Security and Medicare. Even younger rural residents have low incomes that make them eligible for mean-tested programs, above all Medicaid and food stamps.

There shouldn’t be any shame about the fact that rural America is subsidized by more affluent parts of the nation. That is, after all, what a national social safety net is supposed to do. But it should make rural voters oppose politicians who support Project 2025-type plans to rip up that safety net, which will deeply impoverish already poor regions and degrade life even for those not personally receiving aid — for example, by leading to the closure of many rural hospitals, making health care inaccessible even to those who still have health insurance.

Yet rural voters went overwhelmingly for Trump last year. Why?

Many clearly felt that educated urban elites don’t understand their lives and values — which is true. Most people in New York or Los Angeles don’t have a good sense of what life is like in rural America. But the reverse is also true: Many, perhaps most rural Americans imagine that the surprisingly safe and livable city where I’m writing this is a crime-ridden hellscape, that Chicago and Portland are “war zones,” and so on.

Rural voters may also have imagined that they would be protected from the harsh treatment being meted out to blue cities. After all, our political system gives rural voters disproportionate influence. Wyoming and the two Dakotas combined have roughly the same population as Brooklyn, yet they have 6 senators while Brooklyn has to share two senators with 16 million other New Yorkers.

For both reasons, rural voters either tuned out or refused to believe warnings that a Trump victory in 2024 would be catastrophic for the heartland, that crucial programs would be eviscerated and the agricultural economy would be devastated by Trump’s trade wars.

I thought that rural voters might finally start to realize that they have been taken for a ride when the cuts began kicking in. This will begin to happen next month, when the 22 million Americans, many of them in rural areas, who receive subsidies to help buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act will see their premiums soar, on average by more than 100 percent. It will happen even more dramatically late next year (after the midterms), when the big cuts to Medicaid and food stamps kick in.

But back to a possible rural awakening: It may be starting ahead of schedule, thanks to, of all things, the Trump administration’s efforts to bail out Argentina’s Javier Milei.

The attempt by Trump and Scott Bessent, the Treasury secretary, to rush $20 billion to Argentina isn’t a big deal compared with the planned savage cuts to crucial programs. But it’s a graphic demonstration of the administration’s hypocrisy. After all the America First rhetoric, all the insistence that spending must be slashed, suddenly we’re sending lots of money to a foreign nation in which we have no real interest except for the fact that its president is a MAGA favorite. I don’t know how many voters are aware that these moves are in large part an attempt to bail out Bessent’s hedge-fund buddies, but I think the sense of something wrong and corrupt is leaking through.

Furthermore, from farmers’ point of view, Argentina is a rival — a big soybean exporter at a time when Trump’s trade war has locked our own farmers out of China’s market.

[F]armers have been shocked and outraged by Trump’s casual suggestion that he might start buying Argentine beef to sell in the U.S. market. That conveys the impression that Trump doesn’t care at all about his most loyal followers — an impression that is completely correct.

We shouldn’t expect rural America to suddenly do a 180 and abandon Trump. Sargent sends us to a lament from one rancher who calls the idea of buying Argentine beef an “absolute betrayal” — but begins by saying to Trump, “We love you and support you.” The sheer extent to which rural Americans have been hoodwinked will make it hard for them to admit their error.

But there are at least hints of a rural awakening. And for the sake of the nation urban and rural Americans share, it can’t come fast enough.

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