General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI used to think that Trump was stupid. And...
... I still do. But I think handlers of the Steve Bannon type are behind much of what he does, because it is what dictators do. One thing is to lie a lot so the populace doesn't know what to believe. Now we have another one. Give orders to your subordinates that are internally inconsistant. Not matter what they do, they are either violating the law or his orders. For example. Keep families together, but continue to prosecute all illegal immigrants. What are border patrol and ICE supposed to do??? He keeps reminding me of Idi Amin....
I tried to articulate to myself why giving inconsistent orders to one's staff helps a dictator and I wasn't able to do it. I believe it's true. Can some of you other DUers do this for me?
tia
las
Thomas Hurt
(13,903 posts)The Pig seems smart because he has power and he is a great grifter.
Unfortunately, that is a virtue to the right.
Crutchez_CuiBono
(7,725 posts)if given long enough to spin on critical issues, end up taking both sides of an issue and therefore can't be held to account for anything. See R Ghouliani.
bdamomma
(63,875 posts)back up with facts. It is all hearsay and total BS.
PatrickforO
(14,577 posts)who killed millions, you'll hear that they enjoyed playing subordinates off against each other for one primary reason: by sowing distrust among subordinates, it prevented people from working together to unseat them.
But this technique, called 'divide and conquer,' isn't only used by dictators. The Koch brothers, the Mercers, right wing talk radio, Fox, Breitbart and many others routinely inject racist 'dog whistles' into their conversations, as well as phrases meant to dehumanize liberals and/or Democrats.
Of course, Russia did it to us as well in 2016, masterfully.
Sad thing is............it ALWAYS works.
ALWAYS.
No one has figured out a way to make it not work.
AlexSFCA
(6,139 posts)He gets away playing dumb all the time. He knows exactly what he is doing and his goals are clear. He is making his own decisions and so far they are achieving the goals. This has potential to be much worse than Hitler.