'Enemies of the people': Trump remark echoes history's worst tyrants

[OhSusana]

'Enemies of the people': Trump remark echoes history's worst tyrants
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39015559
"Charming that our uneducated President manages to channel the words of Stalin and fails to hear the historical resonance of this phrase," tweeted Mitchell Orenstein, a professor of Russian and East European studies at the University of Pennsylvania...

For anybody who has lived in America for any period of time - I was there for a few years - Trump's tweet is incredible.
"The FAKE NEWS media (failing New York Times, NBC News, ABC, CBS, CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!" the president wrote on Twitter.
That's most of the mainstream press in the country. ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN... The main tv channels and news networks...

I know Trump admires Putin a lot. But Putin is at a strong advantage when lying - the press will not say he is lying. Because Putin controls the press, just like Stalin did, and Mao did. But Trump does not control the press. Where will this end? Who knows/
But it is getting fascinating in the US now.

[geoffreys]

About time we had a strong leader in the "west".
Geoff.

[Dominic]

There is a difference between "strong" and "mad" though.

[OhSusana]

Saw this on Euronews today - one of the most senior Republican senators - in Munich (of all places!) -
McCain attacks Trump administration and inability to 'separate truth from lies'
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... -from-lies

If McCain is already going after Trump - somebody in his own party, theoretically - after 4 weeks, what faith do the rank and file GOP members have in their Commander in Chief?!

Also read an article today comparing Trump with Nixon! Nixon also complained a lot about the press...
Donald Trump is the new Richard Nixon - without the brains.
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/don ... 85486.html

And as for Trump's "popularity" -
Donald Trump’s approval rating lowest in history at one month mark
Bill Clinton previously held record low of 51% at end of first month - 11 points higher than current President
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world ... 86931.html

Looks like Trump is going "down the tubes". And the Republican party don't want to follow him there!

[OhSusana]

TD
1. McCain. What he said he said. It doesn't matter if I had quoted from the Financial Times or the Express.
Your "liberal left" has nothing to do with this.
2. Trump having the lowest approval rating - again - I could quote from 1000 papers. It doesn't matter as to the source.
3. You sound like Donald Trump. ABC, NBC, CNN, the BBC... they are all spreading "fake news" for you it would appear. The "liberal left" .
So what press sources do you approve of? The Sun? The Express?
4. What on earth makes you think that I have any liking for Hillary Clunton?
I would say that the American electoral system is fatally flawed to produce bozos like this to run the country.
5. I hope Trump will not be in office for 5 years, as you write.
4 years is the normal term for a US President.
So 3 years and 11 months' left. God bless America.

With the Munich conference some fascinating articles in the German press this morning - like -

„So fangen Diktatoren an”
https://www.welt.de/politik/live1620361 ... en-an.html

[geoffreys]

I would say Donald Trump is the new Richard Nixon but WITH the brains!
Geoff.

[Steve - SJD]

He is pushing his agenda as promised like it or not.

However that might not be the same agenda as the one people thought they were getting though so maybe not exactly as promised. Early days of course but so far it's difficult to know when he speaks whether that is what he believes or whether he is just saying the first thing that comes into his head. So far the White House team looks like it's floundering and for many is a laughing stock as they rush around trying to defend the President's latest stupid comment.

He has no idea how to handle the media, he is not a diplomat or a politician in the normal way but he has to date, succeeded in the face of all established norms.

That depends if you believe that succeeding means getting caught out blatantly lying!

He certainly did win the election but that doesn't mean he should get a pass if his words and actions are total nonsense.

Regardless of anyone's political viewpoint I find it difficult to understand how anyone can defend Trump - certainly at
this stage of the presidency.

Cheers

Steve

[Lynsab]

Short of assassination, sedition or resignation I cannot see Trump not serving his term of 4 years

I think it's more likely Trump will be impeached ( Offences do not have to violate criminal law to be impeachable) or there is another rule in the constitution that may be used to be rid of him.....the 25th Amendment...

I have to agree with Steve, I can't see why anyone can defend Trump, he's completely bonkers...

[geoffreys]

Short of assassination, sedition or resignation I cannot see Trump not serving his term of 4 years

I think it's more likely Trump will be impeached ( Offences do not have to violate criminal law to be impeachable) or there is another rule in the constitution that may be used to be rid of him.....the 25th Amendment...

I have to agree with Steve, I can't see why anyone can defend Trump, he's completely bonkers...

1. Where is your evidence he is bonkers, or is that just your perception of him because you don't like him?
2. Would you say Tony Blair was bonkers?
Geoff.

[OhSusana]

TD
You write -
What McCain said, you are right it does not matter.
I never wrote this.
On the contrary, McCain stikes at the heart of Trump is - for example,
"the growing inability, and even unwillingness to separate truth from lies. "

You write -
Approval ratings do not matter,
I disagree. For Trump they are everything. He needs approval, he needs adulation. I think we all can agree he is a narcissist. (Whether to the degree of a mental disorder is still open to debate, I admit.) That is the make up of the man. To quote Trump himself -
"Trump actually asserted on Monday that “any negative polls are fake news.” " Polls, on the contrary, are very very important for Trump.
The quote is from Twitter - Trump. 2:01 PM - 6 Feb 2017

And as for the term, fake news - I would agree with the Washington Post, in an article about "Fake news", that Trump has
"hijacked the term and sought to redefine it as, basically, any reporting ...[he doesn't] like."

Trump knows how to deal with the press. The press are the "enemy". Liars. He is dealing with it in the same way as Putin does.
If Putin says that it did not rain on some parade day, then - it did not rain. Putin is god. Trump expect the same treatment. But he is not getting it.
So - the papers say it rained. And therefore - for Trump - they are producing "fake news" - i.e. lies.
The papers say the crowd for Obama was much larger, and produce photographs to show a large large difference.
For Trump they are producing lies, once again. His "fake" news.
In Russia lies become truth. And history can be rewritten. Putin's word is law. Again, Trump wants the same treatment the man in Moscow gets from his press. But currently, the press are not complying with his wishes.


You failed to answer my question ... So I will ask you again, please -
So what press sources do you approve of? The Sun? The Express?

[OhSusana]

Avoiding the question .....
So what press sources do you approve of? The Sun? The Express?

[OhSusana]

1. Where is your evidence he is bonkers, or is that just your perception of him because you don't like him?

Geeeeze Geoffreys.... Do a google search, like
IS TRUMP BONKERS.
You get nearly 1 million replies. Almost as many as Cypriots living in Lincoln.

Like -
Trump is described as 'bonkers' by British lawmakers | Daily Mail Online

Andrew Sullivan says journalists should be talking about Trump's ...
money.cnn.com/.../andrew-sullivan-donald-trump-mental-he...
Andrew Sullivan: Trump "unstable, incapable of accepting reality" ... Sullivan's view is that the president is exhibiting "bonkers" behavior -- and ...

Jimmy Fallon reenacts that bonkers Trump press conference ...
www.avclub.com/.../jimmy-fallon-reenact ... rs-trump-p...

We're still not entirely certain what went down at Trump's press conference yesterday, or why he thought he could handle a room full of ...

1 million Cypriots can't be wrong.

[OhSusana]

Just out of interest,
IS TRUMP A LOONEY TUNE gets 426000 hits.

IS TRUMP A FRUITCAKE 328000 ...

IS TRUMP CRAZY 57 700 000

iS TRUMP MENTAL gets 64 500 000 hits.

SIXTY FOUR AND A HALF MILLION HITS.

Geoffreys - a lot of people think Trump is bonkers, including myself. And there is a lot of evidence about - produced by Trump himself - to show it.
Get out of Farmagusta. Get on a plane to New York. Ask the people there what they think of Trump!!

[geoffreys]

Just out of interest,
IS TRUMP A LOONEY TUNE gets 426000 hits.

IS TRUMP A FRUITCAKE 328000 ...

iS TRUMP MENTAL gets 64 500 000 hits.

SIXTY FOUR AND A HALF MILLION HITS.

Geoffreys - a lot of people think Trump is bonkers, including myself. And there is a lot of evidence about - produced by Trump himself - to show it.
Get out of Farmagusta. Get on a plane to New York. Ask the people there what they think of Trump!!

I don't need to, I have relations over there. They all think he is the best thing since sliced bread, and totally agree with his USA first and get the druggies out and don't let any Islamic extremists/terrorists in etc.
They voted him in because they like his polices. He said he would drain the swamp of Capital Hill, he is making a good start.
Geoff.
BTW, we live in Vrysoulles, not in Famagusta (we have an investment property empty there).

[kingfisher]

Doubtless just a lot of nonsense, but give it a try:
http://cyprus-mail.com/2017/02/19/trump ... -concerns/

[Lynsab]

''Tis indeed nonsense IMO...as one of the commentators below the article sums it all up......

" He has nominated some of the most unfit and improper cabinet members ever possible (e.g., a secretary of education who has never been to a public school and is against the very idea, an EPA director who fought against it all his life, a former Goldman Sachs executive as the treasury secretary, a secretary of energy who sought to abolish that very department and was completely clueless about its extremely important and vital mission, an Attorney General whose past nomination as a federal judge failed due to his record on civil rightst and racially insensitive remarks, a secretary of labor who employed illegal immigrants and had a history of domestic violence, a lying national security adviser with ties to Russia, and so on and so forth).

Now, Trump has opened a new front against the last bastions of democracy: the judiciary and the media. He has relentlessly attacked, demeaned, and delegitimized the courts and the so-called judges. He has openly declared all polls showing bad news as fake news. Lastly, a day or two ago the divider-in-chief crossed a very serious threshold: he called the mainstream media the enemies of the American people. Such language has not been heard since the Third Reich or Mugabe's Zimbabwe and it does not bode well for America and, indeed, for the rest of the free world."

[kingfisher]

A couple of quotes from the article, which was clearly not the outpouring of a Trump fan, (the second quote summarizing the thrust of the piece).
“At no time has such hysteria manifested over the executive orders. But in the turbocharged political climate after Trump’s election, Joe and Josephine Sixpack are suddenly experts and super-interested in politics.”

“The anti-Trump bloc and their media surrogates in the US and elsewhere need to get their act together. Having devolved into sore-loser Trump-haters, they’ve lost all credibility. Keep it up, and no one will pay any heed whenever government does get out of line”.

[Jimgym]

A couple of quotes from the article, which was clearly not the outpouring of a Trump fan, (the second quote summarizing the thrust of the piece).
“At no time has such hysteria manifested over the executive orders. But in the turbocharged political climate after Trump’s election, Joe and Josephine Sixpack are suddenly experts and super-interested in politics.”

“The anti-Trump bloc and their media surrogates in the US and elsewhere need to get their act together. Having devolved into sore-loser Trump-haters, they’ve lost all credibility. Keep it up, and no one will pay any heed whenever government does get out of line”.

Interesting point regarding the press. So many in the press and elsewhere seem to be so focused, some might say obsessed with his alleged mental health issues that other issues tend to either be ignored or lost in the rush to publish yet more articles from doctors who have never examined him. People will become inured to bad press regarding Trump and as the article says that could be a big issue!

[Lynsab]

Even a country is baffled by his speeches now...

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-t ... SKBN15Y0QH

As he goes on Twitter blaming Fox News, it seems he's got his countries possibly mixed up..

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/201 ... ror-attack

[geoffreys]

Are you still saying he is bonkers Lyn? Do you think Tony Blair is bonkers too?
Geoff.