Let's start calling it what it is

[lunatica]

Joseph Goebbels would be proud. We are past trying to figure out what FoxNews, Limbaugh, and now the Republicans are doing. It's propaganda - that simple. It's what all the dictators since Hitler have used to keep the people ignorant and compliant.

Perhaps if we gave it a specific name such as American Propaganda, or more to the point Trumpian Propaganda so we can know exactly what it means to us now then we could dispense with constantly trying to explain it. A name such as the ones I've listed here could encompass the entire concept of what this era in history is all about.

Whenever we see an ad that is patently false it is Trumpian Propaganda. Whenever we hear that pedophilia is being reference in biblical terms to justify it we should pin the name Trumpian Propaganda on it. We can use the term Trumpian to explain and name his followers, his foreign policy, his twitter spasms. His every word for that matter is Trumpian Propaganda. And when we hear the lies come out of pundits' and politicians' mouths we should know it to be Trumpian propaganda.

Let's stop meandering around in confusion about what he's doing and what he's done. Let's stop trying to explain it. We need to use a term that means something just like when we say the 1% or the 99%. We no longer need to explain that concept anymore. We know what it is.

I don't do twitter, but is someone who does started this it might catch on. It would give us a good name of that which we are resisting.

[elleng]

1. Yes.

[JHB]

2. No. Its NOT Trump propaganda. Komrade Mango is a latecomer...

This is the Conservative Con Machine, the Mighty Wurlitzer, the apparatus they built to pry apart the Democratic New Deal coalition, and then just kept amping it up because that worked.

Don’t lay it all at Prima Donnie’s feet. It will just let the others wash their hands of him and hit the ground running with nothing more changed than a fresh layer of decals.

[lunatica]

5. So you think we should just keep explaining it in multi paragraph length

Just like you just did?

I definitely get your point and you're right. Do you get mine? The Trump Era should go down in infamy, just like the McCarthy Era did. It was named aptly. There is no need to go on and on explaining it. Two words captured the concept and are still used decades after it happened.

[JHB]

19. Trump is the Party, and the Party is Trump.

His propaganda is their propaganda.

I'd go on, but length is apparently an issue.

[lunatica]

25. I'm not criticizing you

Length is not an issue in itself. I'm trying to capture the entire concept of what we're going through by seeking a name for it.

I agree with you.

[JHB]

29. And I'm not criticizing what you're trying to do...

...I just think it's critical to frame it as a Republican problem, not a Trump problem. They've all backed him up when it counted. They've all acquiesced. Even the "Never Trumpers" are mainly upset he's drag-racing on a road they built... because they were supposed to be the ones drag racing on it.

He won by thumping on every theme Republicans have pushed since the 1970s. He's continued with their support. None of them have been willing to support investigation of Russian interference with his election. There is no division anymore. He's theirs, by their choice. Don't give them space to disown him.

[zaj]

31. Agreed, we must recognize that the GOP will...

... be around continuing to push for authoritarian rule long after Trump is gone.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

45. Yes. Weld the Republican & Trump brands together. Tight. . . . nt

[StevieM]

20. The second McCarthy Era predates Donald Trump. I see your point but here is how I look at it:

If we pin it all on Trump then it opens the door for the GOP to do the same stuff again down the line.

We need to make it clear to the American people that this is a dark chapter in Republican Party history. President Scott Walker would be doing some pretty heinous things right now, if he had been given the opportunity.

And we should all be terrified by three words: President Kris Kobach.

[Crash2Parties]

36. There is a danger though to naming it after him

and that is that if it begins to fall apart the GOP will play up that he was a rogue and they too were victims. I'm oversimplifying but you get the idea.

He doesn't even read what he signs. I firmly believe that the only actions he has actually initiated are resort deals with foreign despots for Trump corporations. The rest of his actions in office he simply slaps the Trump name on, just like his real estate deals.

[lunatica]

39. I'm becoming convinced you and other responders are right about this

It needs to hang around the neck of the Republican party and drag the entire party down to the dust heap of history. But we need something to keep it as an important part of our history - the part when our democracy almost came to an end.

[StevieM]

17. Totally agreed. The problem is the GOP. Donald Trump is just a symptom. (eom)

[BigmanPigman]

3. One word to describe this atmosphere?

I could say a lot of 4 letter words but my favorite one is HELL! This is pure, living Hell!

[lunatica]

9. One word can be used to identify this particular use of propaganda

But naturally we can use all the colorful and descriptive language we want if someone asks us what Trumpian Propaganda means.

[thbobby]

4. Josef Goebbels WOULD be proud

Look up some of his quotes. He defines the GOP method of campaigning. Just hope that Americans can recognize and stop this evil.

Those who ignore history are condemned to repeat it. Nazi Germany with a nuclear arsenal. If Americans do not wake up and fight this evil, we may be just that. I do not believe this is an impossible scenario. Will we be responsible for ending human life?

[KPN]

40. Oh I'm quite sure we'll be

deeply involved, if not chiefly responsible ... so long as we have the GOP and Christian conservatives at least.

[Cary]

6. What I learned from Steve Bannon is that anyone can get lucky

He caught lightning in a bottle.

We played our part in his perfect storm. Our radicals gleefully sowed discord and discontent, helping to keep some of us at home or siphoning off just enough votes to Jill Stein.

There's no reason for any deep analysis or hand wringing. Our answer is simple: VOTE DEMOCRATIC!

Keep the fascists out of power.

[lunatica]

12. I don't think luck played any part in what has happened

This Era did not jump out of the ether full grown.

[Cary]

28. Let me know when these same pieces all fall into place again

I don't see that happening any time soon.

Vote Democratic!

[KPN]

41. Drop it man.

This wasn't luck like winning the lottery. There's been a long build-up ... and there is always, ALWAYS blowback to these kinds of build-ups.

[Cary]

44. Drop what?

#fakepresident has no skill. If he's such a great master of social media then why was he the least popular President ever at his inauguration and why has his popularity dropped? He is capable of pandering to his affected base. That's it and it's not sustainable.

He's a grifter. He takes what's fallen into his lap.

As for fascism, it's subversive. The Third Reich was supposed to be a thousand year Reich. It lasted only 12 years. So yes this kind of crap never works.

I don't know what you expect me to drop. Get out and vote. Work for Democrats. That's all we have to do. Over analyzing, hand wringing, talk of "revolutuon" or whatever... this is a dead end. Vote Democratic. Don't squabble. Just get the bastards out and then the hard work to fix all of the fascists' damage begins.

[KPN]

48. BS. You know exactly what I mean.

This is not the first time we've had this discussion. "Doesn't require deep analysis", "our radicals" -- drop what my ass.

[Cary]

49. I have no recollection of you.

Given your current vapidity I can see why I wasn'timpressed.

[KPN]

56. That's your response?

[Cary]

57. If this were 2016 I might take that shtick more seriously

Vote Democratic!

[kentuck]

7. The purpose of propaganda is to control the mind...

It seems to be working.

[elleng]

10. It's BEEN working, for a LONG TIME,

and we've failed to address it.

[lunatica]

14. I'm trying to address it here

We need to snap out of the shiny object distractions. We need to understand this concept and name it and then spread it. Although I'm probably not very good at it.

I feel I need to try at least.

[elleng]

16. Yes, and thanks.

We all need to try, and Professor Lakoff has addressed it, even directly to Dem party some years ago, and still 'we' persist in failing.

[lunatica]

13. Yes.

That way they don't need to control us through terror. It's much easier to make everyone as stupid as possible and then only get rid of the few resistors. Make them look crazy, or nuts. No one will listen to the Truth Tellers because the masses are already controlled by the propaganda.

[2naSalit]

8. Yikes, it's TP all over again!

[lunatica]

11. ?

I must have missed something.

[2naSalit]

21. I was going off

on a little tangent, the Trumpian Propaganda, yet another tool like the T Party...

[JHB]

24. Right. No upgrades to the Bush-Off machine (HT to Driftglass with apologies to Dr. Suess)

http://driftglass.blogspot.com/2010/09/now-bush-belly-sneetches.html

***

This made Bush-Belly Sneetches look like ignorant tools
And their Bush-Belly screeching sound like the ranting of fools.
First the Senate fell down, then the House fell down too
(And if that weren't enough to make Bush-Bellies boo-hoo
In two thousand and eight the very worstest blow came
When they lost to a Negro with a strange Muslim name!)

The Bush-Belly Sneetches became very confused.
How could they fail? Had they merely been used?
Fox had told them for years they were righteous and shrewd;
That the Plain-Belly Sneetches were stupid and crude.
Now their Bush-Belly tats made them look shithouse-rat-nuts
Their own words had damned them, no "ands", "ifs" or "buts".

And then out of the West came their own gin-soaked Moses
Who swore all their shame could be turned into roses.
His name was Sylvester "Dick Armey" McBean
Inventor of the Fabulous, Tea-Baggulous Bush-Off Machine.

For the price of their souls and a couple of bucks
The Bush-Bellies could now buy some nips and some tucks.
From the Bush-Off Machine they tumbled like fresh laundered sheets
Screaming about deficits! Taxes! And those awful elites!

[lunatica]

27. Thanks for explaining

[2naSalit]

47. No problem...

I know my minders off the block at times and I can't expect that everyone else went there too.

[pangaia]

15. REPUBLICAN PROPAGANDA

Since that is what it really is.

[lunatica]

18. Yep.

Corporate propaganda too. Republicans are beholden to their masters.

[JHB]

22. Precisely.

[Squinch]

30. There ya go!

[blaze]

23. The Fox Era

[lunatica]

26. Your choice of that name should definitely go down in American History

It's example could forever be a reminder of how freedom of the press can be used for the worst kind of activity involving the press and free speech. It's the opposite of what this country stands for and it's insidious and destructive to democracy.

[JHB]

32. It is political vandalism, an inFOXicated bender...

...supported by supplying the most seductive drug of all: ax-grinding on pet peeves.

[lunatica]

33. Rage is highly addictive

I know how it can take over and all you can think of is getting another rage fix.

[JHB]

34. Boy, howdy!

Continuous axe-grinding is addictive, powerfully hallucinogenic, and very, very lucrative for its purveyors.

[Mr. Ected]

35. Call it "GOPaganda"

Lay this on the entire Republican Party and not just Trump. They're co-conspirators in an ongoing assault on truth and democracy.

[lunatica]

37. That's a very good name

It pretty much says it all. Short and Sour.

[world wide wally]

42. I was going to post the same thing.

GMTA.

[captain queeg]

38. Goebbels was a master, and repugs are following his play book

I always think of his famous speech (to a hand picked crowd) calling for Total War. They’ll get around to that sooner or later. If they aren’t stopped or progress is too slow that the repugs start drifting off.

[Donkees]

43. Trumpaganda

[lunatica]

51. That's a very good term to use

[lexington filly]

46. How about "Trumpaganda?" I agree we need

a shorthand term so we can out his more dangerous rhetoric. Past words like True, False, Spin, Lie miss the mark by a long-shot these days. Trump, Fox, and his Republican followers are using long-term constant, consistent language to gaslight Americans and create a slew of false feelings about fellow Americans, conspiracies, and generally, up is down.
We need a term to act as an agent of reality.

[lunatica]

50. I like Trumpaganda a lot

Something that catches the concept of what Trump and news outlets and the Republicans do.

[quartz007]

52. Trumpaganda!

It is throwing a bone to the masses in the form of a tax cut, while the lion's share of tax cuts go to large corporations and top 5% incomes.

[lunatica]

53. You're the 3rd person who came up with that name and I like it a lot!

Actually it's pretty damn near perfect because it's very obvious what it is and it works instantly.

[Blue_Tires]

54. We're way beyond propaganda....

This misadministration is literally trying to completely redefine what is truth, what is fact and what is reality to an extent never before seen in this nation, and it has had a shocking amount of success so far...

[KY_EnviroGuy]

55. Huge problem, and it's international, and I'm a dreamer.

The basic thing that allows so few to control the minds of so many is money. "Follow the money", as they say. For many decades, profits from our daily routine purchases have trickled upwards into the coffers of billionaires such as the Waltons, Koches and Murdochs, and these people in turn use those funds against us in hundreds of ways that originated from our paychecks, savings and retirement funds.

I'm convinced that until the public is willing to inflict some serious pain on these corporations, this situation will only worsen. Translated, a large percentage of the public would have to sacrifice some pleasure and consumerist habits for a while, and either strike against or boycott a select group of these corporations until their quarterly earnings were tanked. In other words, force Wall Street to yield and pay attention.

For example, if half the American public swore to not enter a Walmart for a year, or if several million people dropped all services from AT&T as a boycott, that might get some of the upper crust to listen. However, a single non-political organization would be needed to table the demands such as stopping funding of outfits such as ALEC and Heritage Foundation.

That to me, is the only way to reverse this corrosive trend. I doubt if a deep recession or even a mild depression would do the trick because these people are deeply hedged against losses, and they own tremendous amounts of capital around the globe as their safety net.

There are currently several small organizations that are doing this - such as a boycott of Koch-brand products and of Limbaugh's advertisers - but they are too piecemeal to have a big-punch effect.

I would also love to see a hostile takeover of News Corp by a group that would turn their cable feeds into cartoon and educational channels.

[Initech]

58. I call it "Fox Pravda".

The GOP and the Fox News cult are now integrated.

[lunatica]

59. Its a good descriptive term

It catches the concept perfectly. Keep using it and just trust that people notice and understand it. I think that’s the way it will works. I plan to use it too if you don’t mind.

Just from this thread I’ve gotten “Trumpaganda”, “GOPropaganda” and “Fox Pravda”. I plan to use them as often as I can.