by Rod Williams, April 1, 2021 -Well, well, well. What do you know?
When Sidney Powell said the election was stolen by means of a conspiracy that involved voting machines switching votes from Trump to Biden, she didn't really mean it. Now that she has to defend her claim in court against a $1.3 billion defamation lawsuit her lawyers argue, “no reasonable person would conclude that [Powell’s] statements were truly statements of fact.”
I am a reasonable person. I didn't believe it. So she is saying if you did believe it you are not a reasonable person. She is now saying her allegations about Dominion were political in nature, and therefore, citing an earlier case, “prone to exaggeration and hyperbole.”
So, all of you people who were telling me the truth would come out and you were certain the election was stolen by machines that flipped votes and this involved a conspiracy that included communists in Venezuela, Cuba, and “likely” China and the use of Hugo Chavez-directed software to rig the election against Donald Trump, what do you say now?
I posted similar comments as this to Facebook a few days ago and I now know what the Trumpinistas are saying. Now, there were only a dozen or so responses, so the responses I got are certainly not representative of all Trump supporters. Not all Trump supporters are cultist. But from those responses and other comments made on other post and from other examples from other sources this is, I think, typical of the opinion of die-hard Trump loyalist. Below are the favorite responses of the Trump cultist to any Trump criticism or evidence that contradicts what they believe.
"Fake news," is the most common response to any thing that contradicts the Trump narrative. To the person using the term, I don't think "fake news" means that the the accuracy of what is reported is necessarily in doubt. I don't think they are saying the information is false or misleading. I think 'fake news," means this information supports the agenda or point of view of liberals or Republicans who are not true Trump loyalist, so it is possibly inaccurate but even if accurate, it is an insignificant tidbit of information that does not carry sufficient weight to change ones opinion. It may be true, but it is "spin." I think they are saying this does not fit my preconceived opinion of what is true so I am simply dismissing it.
They have what is sometimes called, "confirmation bias." They are so certain of the rightness of their cause that they only bring in information that fits what they know to be true and dismiss anything else. They have a my-mind-is-made-up-don't-confuse-me-with-facts mindset. Any information, no matter how verifiable, how tested, how scientific, or logically valid, will be disregarded. That is what they mean by "fake news."
The other common response is, "I would suggest better news sources," or calling the source of the information a "liberal rag." The source I quoted was The Morning Dispatch, which is a column in The Dispatch written my Jonah Goldburg. The Dispatch is hardly a "liberal rag." And, Jonah Goldbrug is hardly a liberal. Who is Jonah Goldburg?
Jonah Jacob Goldberg (born March 21, 1969) is an American conservative syndicated
columnist, author, political analyst, and commentator. The founding editor of National Review Online, from 1998 until 2019 he was an editor at National Review. Goldberg writes a weekly column about politics and culture for the Los Angeles Times. In October 2019, Goldberg became founding editor of the online opinion and news publication The Dispatch. Goldberg is the author of Liberal Fascism, which became a No. 1 New York Times bestseller shortly after its release in January 2008; The Tyranny of Cliches: How Liberals Cheat in the War of Ideas, released in 2012; and Suicide of the West, which was published in April 2018 and also became a New York Times bestseller, reaching No. 5 on the list the following month. (link)
To the Trump true believer, it does not matter how strong is one's conservatives credentials, if you are a critic of Trump, you are a "liberal." It that doesn't stick then "RINO," or "neo-con," or "never Trumper," will do. Those labels simply dismiss anything the so labelled person says or writes.
Another response to anyone who is not a Trump worshiper is to claim the information critical of Trump or one of his disciples is cherry picked or taken out of context. They claim that Powell's defense that no reasonable person would have taken her claim seriously is cherry picked or a misrepresentation. If you doubt that her lawyers really did argue no reasonable person would have taken her seriously, read for yourself her motion to dismiss. Here it is at this link.
I am giving up on trying to reason with a Trumpnista. They are not rational. It is like they are part of a cult. This, of course, is not true of all people who voted for Trump. I voted for Trump. I doubt it is true for most Trump supporters, but it is for many. To try to reason with a Trump true believer is like trying to argue with a religious zealot. Their belief is not based on reason but on something akin to faith. That just know Trump was sent to be America's savior and critics of Trump are like infidels.
A comparable belief system is like the true believer members of the John Birch Society who believe that since about the Enlightenment a cabal of "insiders," have been directing everything that happens in the world. The Illiminati and their subsidiaries such as the Bilderburgs, the Trilateral Commission, and the Council on Foreign Relations are really in charge. We are all puppets and these few insiders are pulling the strings. Many people at one time joined the JBS because they were conservative and anti-Communist and never bought into the whole big conspiracy thing. Many never even understood it. Those who did "see the light," however became absolutely convinced the big conspiracy was true. It was pointless to try to reason with them.
Trumpinistas are also comparable to members of the Nation of Islam who believe that Allah created Black people but White people were created by a mad scientist and that white people overthrew Black people but that Allah will soon return aboard a spaceship, the "Mother Ship," to wipe out the white race and inaugurate a black utopia. Weird I know, but a lot of people really believe it. And, believers of this weird story are treated as if they were respectable and rational. Farrakhan even gets invited to share the stage with prominent Democrats and you can still find well dressed Black men selling the organization's newspaper.
The Trumpinistas may be like members of the Church of Scientology. The believe is too weird for a rational person to accept and is very bizarre but once a person has become a true believer they are not easily dissuaded of the notion that they are the only ones who have it all figured out.
The Trump cultist have some overlap with Q-Anon. It appears all Q-Anon members are Trump cultist but I don't think all Trump cultist are Q-Anon. Many Trump cultist, I fear, have lost touch with reality. Some of them are a danger to society and to the person who is a critic of Trump. Maybe I should take the threat more seriously but I have been told when it comes time to take care of traitors, I am on the list. I figure they have bigger fish to fry and if they do start taking revenge on people who were disloyal to the leader, that it will take a while to get to me. Also, I think a lot of that is just macho bluster.
It is no use trying to reason with a Trumpinista or show them evidence. Any criticism of Trump will be dismissed without even considering the evidence presented. Hopefully, over time, some of the Trump cultist will lose their faith in Trump and return to something resembling normalcy. If not, we can still work with each other to advance policy position we share and to help elect conservatives. However, it is just pointless to talk Trump with them. When they get off into la-la land, I will smile, nod my head an try to change the subject. Unfortunately we will always have people ready to join a cult. If we can't talk them out of it, then it is just best to ignore that part of who they are.
I am not going to waste my time even replying to Trump cultist anymore. It is pointless to try and reason to a person so convinced of the righteousness of his cause that he has lost touch with reality. I know this post will generate some "fake news," some "liberal," some "RINO," some "never Trumper" invectives or maybe more. Don't bother.
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