108 Comments

Once again I'm knocked out by the incredible writing of Lucian.

And as I'm reading this article I'm reminded of a lyric from a Neil Young song I like very much...

' love and only love will endure. Hate is everything you think it is. Love and only love will break it down. Love and only love'

I don't post here often. Consider myself a scarcely educated old plumber. Feel out of place among the PhDs etc of other posters here. Their comments are always lightning and give me hope.

Lucian speaking of hope, I get to see Dylan open his tour here in Kansas City Sunday night, he's 82.

Take care of everybody.

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Huge Neil fan. Saw him here in San Diego on his recent solo tour. Amazing. Also, sidenote: before he recently moved, one of my favorite humans was my plumber. We had such amazing conversations whenever he came by to help me out. Don’t knock yourself, friend…

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True. Who among us understands plumbing? Not me.

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We all need plumbers!! Not so much assistant administrative associates, accountants, programmers, and those other busy-work, make-work jobs held mostly by the lumpen parasites who make life miserable for people doing real work.

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Let's not trash anyone, please Kozmo. Love is the only way!

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Thank you

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Cory, your writing is as good as anyone's, I don't have a PhD. or even a high school diploma. I left school at age 14 in 1946 which was mandatory at the time in England. But I often Soake a few mistakes, my grammar isn't great but all that's needed is to get your point across which as I say I thought you did very well. I like what you said about love. Not easy to love hateful intolerant people, sd described in Lucian's article, but while it is impossible to reason with them, we can at least try to set an example by expressing kindness ourselves as much as possible. I said before the only way to make this a better world is for everyone in it to strive to become a better person.

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Corky! You are splendid. A "scarcely educated" person would not read Lucian or go to a Bob Dylan concert!!! I love your comment. Please write more 💜.

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That was my thought as well. If we keep our minds open and flexible, living a varied life will teach us nearly as much as can be learned in college. Asking for help and watching others (humbly) will add even more knowledge.

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Wow, Dylan. Lucky man. I'm envious

I hope you are right about the Neil Young quote. Thanks for sharing

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Dylan, you might look in LKTIV's archive for his column (s) with a strong focus on Dylan, very entertaining, informative, and fits in with a larger context of the 60s-70s energy that was stymied by the rise of Reaganism, as well as some godawful violent overreaching by the likes of the Weathermen, SLA, "Maoists" and of course, truly dangerous hallucinogens, among other factors - also "selling out" and becoming freakin' Yuppies, it's a long list of interconnected barriers.

I seem to always post this Dylan song, just because I like the lyrics and the energy:

youtube.com/watch?v=yPDEhq6uO1s

Bob Dylan: Rough And Rowdy Ways Tour

More Info

Fri • Oct 06 • 8:00 PM

Cadillac Palace, Chicago, IL

8:51

Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts

Bob Dylan

1.27M subscribers

Share

384,580 views Jan 8, 2016

Provided to YouTube by Columbia

Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts · Bob Dylan

Blood On The Tracks

℗ 1975 Columbia Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment

Released on: 1975-01-17

Producer: Unknown

Producer: Producer not documented on available sources

Bass: Billy Peterson

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Would you believe that this fan, has already got tix for both KC nights, plus all 3 of the Chicago shows?

I caught 9 dates between 2021 & 22, the exact same set. Yet he changed up the arrangements so much from night one to night 9, that it was barely recognizable!

I can't wait.

And, I am just so knocked out, by all of the kind posts & replies.

Bless you one & all. Smart bunch!!

Corky in KC

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Very cool, Corky! I and then-girlfriend went to a Dylan Concert in St. Paul in the early 1990s and Dylan did the same thing, changed up the songs, reinterpreted them in the way he felt at that moment, in that time span or era after years of more life experience and touring, prompting Wendy (who as youngest of nine kids in South Mpls. grew up hearing all of her older sibling's albums, including a ton of Dylan, Neil Young, and much more) to mutter sentiments to the effect of "what did they expect?! He's a creative artist, not a machine rehashing his older hits note-by-note!"

Only one DIRECT musical connection to K.C. for me : living with a couple who later got married in the Grand Canyon for over a year as we were forming a "new wave" band, we acquired tickets to a Patti Smith concert scheduled for Kemper Arena, but venue was changed due to:

1979 roof collapse

On June 4, 1979, at 6:45 p.m., a major storm with 70 mph (110 km/h) winds and heavy rains caused a portion of Kemper Arena's roof to collapse.[5] Since the Arena was not in use at the time, no one was injured.

The American Institute of Architects had given the building an "Honor" award in 1976[6] and the AIA, coincidentally, was holding its annual national conference in Kansas City half a mile away at nearby Bartle Hall. The last event in the arena had been a Memorial Day concert by the Village People a week earlier.[7] Further, the collapse coupled with the 1978 collapse of the Hartford Civic Center under heavy snow prompted architects to seriously reconsider computer models used to determine the safety of arenas. -

So it was moved to a venue I couldn't name now, I THINK it was one of those medium sized buildings with multiple uses, and might even have been a really large bowling alley (!?), anyway

Patti came up the incline playing a clarinet, she got close enough for me to venture to ask : "Patti, can I touch your clarinet," she nodded, I did, the mesmerizing solo - with that great backing band, continued! You should definitely rock on and report back to us on here, lots of Dylan aficionados on here.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PLyYCRnCEA

Patti Smith - Ain't it Strange - 1976 - Stockholm

HistoireDuRockEnVidéos Patti Smith

1.81K subscribers

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That's the great thing about Dylan. He could do the same set for 10 shows and each one is unique...tweaked just enough to make sure you listening.

So glad you're here Corky... Enjoy those shows

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Corky, I sure do believe KC tix and 3 in Chicago. I would love to be there too. Linda from Hibbing.

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Corky, simply elegant.

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Corky, you bring valuable and often different perspectives to the discussions. Lack of a PhD or even a college degree doesn't in any way mean lack of intelligence or awareness of what you perceive in today's world. Besides, as with all of us, you're educating yourself when following our favorite substack writers.

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Love. I love reading that word. Thank you.

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Terrific Doris! We do all applaud you Corky! The plumber is the most brilliant man I know...and the electrician...and the auto mechanic...and the gardener. My academic pursuit was so narrow, that all I ever heard from my father was “what are you going to do with a masters in 18th & 19th C British Literature?” I can read the 600 page manual that came with my car. I have to remember to say “righty tighty, lefty loosey” everytime I change a lightbulb. BUT...If an analysis of Alexander Pope or any of the Brontë sisters is required, I’m your source!

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I’ll start this comment by saying something that virtually every person on this blog has already said (or at least thought): Every time I think Trump can’t possibly go any lower, he surprises me. But my question tonight is somewhat different: Trump himself is too dumb and too lazy to orchestrate these events. So who on his staff puts these things together? What must it be like to work daily with people who think like this?

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Stephen Miller?

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Yes! That’s who I was thinking of.

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Precisely the sub-human who would come up with this kind of thing.

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Someone else must also write many of his social media posts—that is, the ones that are coherent.

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Those posts seem very consistent to me -- the limited vocabulary, the petulant tone, the weird, non-standard, Germanic capitalization fetish -- I believe those are definitely from the Trumpolini himself.

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ive had thoughts about those posts too, and i agree with JT, but

i also agree with you, K, in that im sure someone like steven miller is the initiator of ideas and likely urges trump to say something.

probably what happens is something like:

1. miller gets trump going on some issue, then

2. miller drafts out his version of trumps blustering,

3. trump proofs it and makes sure the caps are put in where he thinks they should go, and as he does with his rallies, inserts ad libs, thus giving the readout a trumpy touch.

i think some of the organized flow and structured sentences are a few grade levels above trumps freewheeling (no one at the wheel) grade school style.

oh, and i wouldnt be surprised if trumps kremlin handler is very well versed in american lore and lifestyle to keep up with current events to plan things for miller/trump just as LKTIV described.

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Trumpolini! If you cooked up the word (al dente, of course), have you copyrighted it?

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haha! Oh no, I can't take credit for that. I'm sure I read it elsewhere long ago. There are so many of these constructions.... the only way we can fight back sometimes!

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Yes they do

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Steven Miller maybe?

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No doubt in my mind, Judith.

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Groupthink is a thing, and not just among the "best and the brightest" (the title of journalist David Halberstam's classic about the brilliant white guys who developed the U.S. policy in Vietnam). If you work daily with people like this, either you leave or you gradually come to see them as normal -- because they *are* the norm for that situation -- and become more like them. (Most of us humans are social animals and we like to fit in.)

Fingering an evil genius like Stephen Miller is tempting but misleading. Take a look at the cabal trying to keep Trump in office. John Eastman is no evil genius. Neither is Sidney Powell. And take a look at former DoJ official Jeffrey Clark, the undistinguished bureaucrat who came up with what might have been the most appalling scheme of all. In the Trump White House, and the Trump campaign, these people found each other and became more than the sum of their parts. Needless to say, this phenomenon can and often does work for the benefit of "the good guys": think military units or sports teams or the civil rights movement. But it happens among the not-so-good and even downright awful guys as well.

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this, for me, is the important point. maybe the most important one.

yeah, everybody knows Steven Miller and Bannon and those very telegenic publicity hounds and they make a very convenient bunch to blame. but the actual problem is cultural (and, I sure hope, generational as well). people feel threatened and love the idea of someone telling them he'll solve their problems. the most frequent thing I see on TV is old people talking about how promising TFF is for America and how he's going to do these wonderful things and has so much promise...uhhh, guys...what about those now-forgotten years of 2017-2021?

on sites usually associated with Other Side, I see that the economy is in chaos and billions of dollars worth of fentanyl is pouring over the border and the Left wants all freethinking people in concentration camps...people swear up and down this is true

I also hear that Manhattan is overrun with rats. I thought they were all in the 8th Avenue 42nd Street Station...

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The whole idea about TFF being "promising" -- isn't that a word usually applied to up-and-comers in their 20s and 30s? Being 72 myself, I'm not going to blame it entirely on "old," and I'm not going to stop believing that these (white) people are talking in code: the "wonderful things" they remember are the same things you and I remember as abhorrent.

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William, you read my mind. Koch Bruhs? Leonard Leo? Bannon? How about the Nazilover Steve? dump IS incapable of any of this. Such a lowlife. OMG 😰

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Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast?, Rudy’s web of informants? Alex Jones? Sean Hannity? Any QAnon poster?

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He has all of his cult members coming up with ideas.

A great read is Tim Miller’s book “Why We Did It”

I can’t go into a good enough review, but it’s incredible

tRump’s methods + GOP operatives + social media + people’s strange motivations.

An easy read:

https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Did-Travelogue-Republican/dp/B09HL6LGSQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2ID7FWJZNIC3I&keywords=why+we+did+it+tim+miller+book&qid=1695878294&sprefix=why+we+did+it%2Caps%2C176&sr=8-1

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I had that same thought. The name Stephen Miller came immediately to mind.

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My guess is that half the media was oblivious and the other half afraid.

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Or just plain STUPID😥, Cheryl!

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I’ve said repeatedly—here and elsewhere— that the true bedrock of t-Rump’s support is racism. Often I’ve been told that I’m oversimplifying, and I grant that other factors play a part. But at bottom, it always comes down to racism—as noted here in this essay, TFG silently signaling that it’s not just OK to hate Black Americans. It’s also OK to shoot them dead.

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And gays, lesbians, transgender people, journalists, immigrants, Jews,

Are all targets.

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Agreed—as I said—other factors are in the mixture.

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I had a weird conversation with a rabid, Black Trump supporter who was about more cynical than anyone I’ve ever met. He was a security guard at a well respected museum and asked him what he would do to protect himself if we have a civil war in this country. He said would “shoot anything that moves”.

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itz kinda like hes joined the trump horde under the hate flag.

hate anything outside his door, red or blue doesnt matter. possibly to him, all are rascist and discriminate against him, to him even liberal Black people might be movin on up, looking down on him.

hmmm.

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Like the ‘white’ off duty policeman who recently shot his ‘black’ neighbor right thru the door 🙃💔🙃💔

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And don't forget women.

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It’s much worse than “just” racism.

A great read is Tim Miller’s book “Why We Did It”

I can’t go into a good enough review, but it’s incredible info.

tRump’s methods + GOP operatives + social media + people’s strange motivations.

An easy read:

https://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Did-Travelogue-Republican/dp/B09HL6LGSQ/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?crid=2ID7FWJZNIC3I&keywords=why+we+did+it+tim+miller+book&qid=1695878294&sprefix=why+we+did+it%2Caps%2C176&sr=8-1

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It’s quite possible the MSM didn’t know all the symbolism of *Rump’s visit to that particular gun emporium. They may also have been deliberately obtuse about it. Lucian, you took the trouble to decode it, and obviously you nailed it. Thank you for doing that. I have to wonder if *Rump is smart enough to have planned that, or is there a strategist in his campaign that looks for such opportunities to dog whistle his racism to the cult. On the other hand anyone who doesn’t already know he’s a flaming racist has a room temperature IQ, or been living in their parents’ basement too long playing video games.

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The South Carolina media knew. They’re not MSM, but reporters in the sticks cozy up to the parachuting Big Dogs, hoping to land a job that pays more than $30k a year somewhere, anywhere other than South Cackalaki. It’s a safe bet that they told the MSM knuckleheads exactly how that store is a chamber of horrors.

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Oh--the dirtbags KNOW. The NeoNazis revel in their “code messaging” and “secret societies”--it’s all part of their love for conspiracy theories. . . Make ‘em feel special.

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F*****g media I swear to christ. They did the same thing with Reagan, ignored the blaring racist trumpet of Philadelphia. Kind of like the way they covered the 4 seasons which was SO OBVIOUSLY a total Giuliani screw up of epic proportions.

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I thought the media did pretty well with covering Giuliani’s Four Seasons clusterf*uck.

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Yes but no one ever called it Giuliani epic screwup. That I recall.

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I have pondered about this for a long time and have come to the conclusion,just like my dear friend in West Virginia has, that the only way we will ever be free of him is for him to die.He is pure evil and will never stop with his relentless message that someone done him wrong and he is out to get them.Revenge and hatred of the other will continue to be his raison d’etre.I am not a religious person by all means but I pray daily that he will die and leave us all the hell alone.

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He'll die, mortality is unavoidable, but with Trump it always gets worse - expect him to haunt Washington D.C. if at all possible.

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haha

an apparition casting an orangeish glow pounding feebly on the outside gate of the White House, ranting, "lemme in lemme in i won i won everyone says so this is the unfairest anyone had ever treated your favorite ghost, ME!"

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Good one! Thanks for the laugh!

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Good catch, if loathsome information. Trump and his sick mind are rendering old words rather pale. "Evil" applied to him doesn't cut it. That the man is a shit seems insult-neutral when you think of what he says -- whether he believes it or not.

I shall probably have an ulcer named after him, because he's a man who doesn't get them, he gives them. If only the jerk could feel shame ...

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Definition of a psychopath.

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There was a brief argumentative discussion on here months ago about whether or not Trump is "psychotic" --- or "only" a vicious sociopath, malignant narcissist, racist, pathological liar, etc.

If we admit, or stipulate, that Ted Bundy was psychotic, why not Trump? That is, it seems possible in perhaps rare cases, for people to be able to dissimulate very successfully and cover up the depths of their psychotic disease, so maybe Trump fits the rubric too.

Trump is just barely "covering up" anything, in fact, as as been observed countless times by both his legions of detractors, and the strange cult that views his forthright blustering, bullying, and endless firehouse rants with their preposterous delusions presented as facts, apodictic truths, undeniable conclusions about the real world which only liberals, progressives, dupes of the godless forces of the Deep State blah blah blah could possibly accept.

If you're interested, the DSM-V is online in a free download --- let me see if I can locate the website and post a link...

ia800900.us.archive.org/0/items/info_munsha_DSM5/DSM-5.pdf

Internet Archive,

"What is the difference between DSM-5 and DSM-5 TR PDF?

Facts About DSM-5-TR | Psychiatric News

DSM-5-TR is a text revision of DSM-5 and includes revised text and new references, clarifications to diagnostic criteria, and updates to ICD-10-CM codes since DSM-5 was published in 2013. It features a new disorder, prolonged grief disorder, as well as ICD-10-CM codes for suicidal behavior and nonsuicidal self-injury .Feb 24, 2022"

https://psychnews.psychiatryonline.org/doi/full/10.1176/appi.pn.2022.03.3.28#:~:text=DSM-5-TR%20is%20a,behavior%20and%20nonsuicidal%20self-injury.

^^^^^ MORE info on the revisions added since original publication in 2013.

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I like your light reading - the DSM!

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Ya know… there are soooooo many reasons that that orange fūkstik is a total PoS. Racist, misogynist, traitor, crook, fraud, philanderer. Is there anything nefarious that he won’t do, hasn’t done? 😡‼️

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The fear of not being reelected by this cowardly, motley, unserious pack of Republican jackals outweighs any sense they may ever have had.

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Vile. Thank you for exposing this! Incredible. Will share widely.

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Truth to power Lucian.

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Lucian you always nail the facts and bring it home with writing that has wings. This is another one of your strongest.

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With psychopaths there are no coincidences.

The shop owner probably sold the gun for a dollar. After all 45 is bankrupt.

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I can't for the life of me remember where I read it, but I seem to remember reading that he decided at the last minute not to purchase. I have a very difficult time believing that any of the sycophants with which he surrounds himself would have the temerity to remind him that it's illegal for a convicted felon to own a gun...but anything is possible, I suppose.

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Sep 30, 2023·edited Sep 30, 2023Liked by Lucian K. Truscott IV

With the dementia-inducing effects of social media, it’s a tonic to peruse Lucian’s Latest commentary on Substack! We get to voice our grievances and share a spirit of camaraderie while gaining insights from a seasoned journalist with a remarkable perigee and a broad historical perspective.

Who knew that old politicos could converse in the privacy of their own homes and frame our concerns in such an accessible forum? More power to those who refuse to drink the Kool-aid, or subsist on the ever-expanding reach of soma-inducing technology tools!

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Sep 28, 2023·edited Sep 28, 2023

The mainstream media are suckers for Trump's con. He isn't about journalism, he is about fascism, fraud and fakery. Why do they give a criminal and a fraud free press?

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It's a news story so from a certain more or less amoral perspective, their job is to cover the story.

I think often it's much worse than that - some of the journalists are definitely in the "Trump Watch" to turn it into self-indulgent self-publicizing money-making opportunities, Trump just happens to be there, but if wasn't Trump, it could be the JFK assassination or Taylor Swift, anything they think can generate attention, controversy, air time and cash.

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Allowing yourself to be manipulated should not be part of professional journalism. I distinguish between Walter Cronkite and Josef Goebbels.

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