Dr. Sebastian Gorka, PhD and the MyPillow Guy Just Gave Away the Game on Trump's Election War

[beastie boy]

From Esquire

The president's ongoing spiral into desperation and delusion has provided the odd moment of clarity. That the President of the United States has responded to his decisive loss in a free and fair election by talking about martial law in the Oval Office ought to put to bed any notion he considers himself a servant to the public imbued with power through the will of the people. He is an enemy of democracy, and of the American project. This guy is trying to stay in power and out of legal jeopardy at any cost—though as usual, he won't be picking up the tab—which now means, according to Axios, using "DHS or the military to impound voting machines" for some dipshit investigation.

snip

There was never any evidence or coherent argument that the election had actually been stolen from Donald Trump, at least within the bounds of observable reality. That's why they've lost 50 court cases. It was always a feeling that he shouldn't have lost—couldn't have lost—because the Real citizens of America had voted for him. The people who voted for his opponent, all 7 million more of them, had no right to choose the president. And so the conspiracies began to work backward from the conclusion, twisting and sprawling out, first with talk of how there was massive voter fraud in swing-state cities with large Black populations, then with wild tales of voting machines and Venezuela. The conclusion to be reached in the real world—that most Americans did not want Donald Trump to be president anymore—was simply unacceptable. It had to be buried away, battered beyond recognition, so there could be revealed the ultimate truth: that Trump was the true president of these United States.

In his way, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, PhD, made all this plain. Stroke my lizard brain, he told the MyPillow Guy. Make me feel aggrieved, enraged, afraid. At this point, the talk of how the election was rigged is not based in anything that actually happened, nor is it required to make much sense. By stating it, you assert your allegiance to The Movement. It is a litmus test, a loyalty oath. You can get down into the details, reciting the conjuring words to show just how committed you are. Or you can just talk loudly about how mad you are. Either works. This is what Walter Benjamin called "the introduction of aesthetics into political life." The president and his loyalists are engaged in a kind of theatrical performance, a made-for-TV production of the great War on the many Enemies. You need only signal that you believe the show must go on.

Short article. Worth a read in its entirety to give more context to the above excerpts.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/dr-sebastian-gorka-phd-mypillow-155900830.html

[northoftheborder]

1. Two words only necessary: He's insane.

[Arne]

2. Great writing style.

[beastie boy]

9. As insane as Nero fiddling as Rome burned.

But when politics is transplanted by performance art, what's a little insanity (or a lot) between the performer and his adoring fans?

[grumpyduck]

3. Wait, should Gorka be using the title "Dr?"

[beastie boy]

8. Herr Doktor, perhaps?

If Goebbels could, why not Gorka?

[Paladin]

12. I doubt that Gorka has ever delivered a baby---unlike Dr. Jill Biden.

That was the criterion that fuckhead in the WSJ set forth.

[MyOwnPeace]

4. Wait a minute.......

It's OK to call Gorka "Dr" - and add the "PhD" part?

Does that mean the same happens for our "First Lady Elect?"

[dchill]

7. All Republican males are qualified doctors by default.

[Beartracks]

13. You're supposed to use one or the other -- not both at the same time. n/t

[erpowers]

15. Even Worse

The Gorka situation might be worse than you think. Democrats had a valid reason for not wanting to call Gorka, Dr. Gorka. Gorka's PhD might not be valid. Below I have included excerpt from two articles that raise questions about Gorka's credentials.

I started digging and it didn’t take long to find out that Gorka is a fraud – a charlatan of the most brazen hue – a snake-oil salesman whose supposed Ph.D dissertation would have never passed muster in America or Britain and to put the cherry on the cake was approved by an fraudulent panel of examiners. The polar opposite of Lt. Gen H.R. McMasters’ celebrated dissertation awarded by UNC Chapel Hill.

snip

Even Gorka’s attendance poses a mystery. When exactly was he a graduate student at the university? Did he take classes? Did he receive any training in Islam or Islamic studies? His CV notes that he left Hungary in 2004 to work for the U.S. Defense Department in Germany and then in 2008 relocated to the U.S. There is no evidence that he ever returned to live and study in Budapest.

The dissertation is online and includes the ‘evaluations’ of three referees who each presented a page of generalized comments – completely at odds with the detailed substantive and methodological evaluations that I’ve seen at every Ph.D defence I’ve been on over the last twenty years.

snip

If that is true, we are left in sum with a degree that was awarded in absence – on the basis of a dissertation without basic political science methodological underpinnings – and apparently from an examining committee of two of Gorka’s diplomat friends, with only BA degrees; along with an old family friend, Schöpflin.

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/the-academic-fraud-of-trumps-terrorism-expert-1.5465216

“I would not call him an expert on terrorism,” Stephen Sloan, a retired professor of political science who advised Gorka on the Ph.D. dissertation he completed at Budapest’s Corvinus University and considers the White House aide a friend, told CNN in a report published Friday.

snip

“His level of expertise does not match the level where he stands in the White House,” Sloan told CNN, adding that Gorka “does a very good job being the bulldog” for the Trump White House “but as an adviser, I have some discomfort.”

snip

Even Gorka’s West Wing colleagues have cast doubt on his competence, telling reporters that he contributes little to policy development and mostly hangs around the White House waiting to do his next cable news hit.

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/phd-adviser-says-gorka-not-counterterrorism-expert

[Blue Owl]

5. I don't believe the MyPillow freak ever put down the crack pipe

He's got it loaded up with pure 100% crazy...

[Captain Zero]

14. Addictive personalities just change their drug of choice

First it was crack.
Now it's Trump. Trump is his drug of choice now.

[FM123]

6. Yep. They just keep framing and re-framing the narrative to explain their crazy.....

"And so the conspiracies began to work backward from the conclusion, twisting and sprawling out, first with talk of how there was massive voter fraud in swing-state cities with large Black populations, then with wild tales of voting machines and Venezuela."

[Bernardo de La Paz]

11. Confirmation bias: Rationalizations to counter negative facts rather than objective evaluation

That's how confirmation bias works: Select or leap to an emotionally satisfying conclusion and work backwards seeking confirmations.

[judesedit]

10. "Stroke my lizard brain" lol