Kellyanne Conway, counselor to President Donald Trump, on Monday suggested that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) had used “junk science” to prove that she had Native American ancestors.

The Boston Globe on Monday released the results of DNA test performed by a Stanford University professor. The test found that Warren likely had Native American ancestors in her family 6 to 10 generations ago.

But Conway hinted that Trump will continue to refer to Warren by the racist nickname “Pocahontas.”

“I haven’t looked at the test,” Conway told CNN’s Abby Phillip. “I know that everybody likes to pick their junk science or sound science depending on the conclusion it seems some days.”

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/10/junk-science-kellyanne-conway-blows-off-elizabeth-warrens-native-american-dna-test-results/

The past couple of weeks of the news have served up a hefty reminder not just of the deep corruption of Donald Trump, but of the entire Republican Party. On top of the headline-dominating story about Republicans ignoring all sorts of ethical concerns to place Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, there was also a blockbuster New York Times report showing that Trump amassed his massive fortune not through hard work or business acumen, but old-fashioned tax fraud and corruption. Meanwhile, there’s a pileup of stories indicating that Republicans intend to shore up their prospects in the November midterms through blatant and racist cheating, using a series of Jim Crow-style strategies to keep black and Native American voters from the polls in November.

This article first appeared in Salon.

To add to this already disturbing situation, there’s the shady behavior Trump is displaying around the disappearance and likely murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist who has run afoul of Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia and big buddy of presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner. Saudi Arabia is widely believed to be behind the attack, but Trump — who himself is overtly hostile to the free press — seems reluctant to do anything about the situation, citing his unwillingness to spike an arms deal with Saudi Arabia. It’s a stance made even more disturbing by the fact that arms deal isn’t even real, but more like a fantasy unlikely to come to fruition. There is also reason to believe that Trump is personally enriching himself off the Saudi government, which likely factors into his decision-making.

Despite all this, in a story that’s become all too predictable, Trump’s approval ratings don’t budge, lingering a few percentage points north or south of 40 percent. He’s not popular and never has been, but it’s clear that the 40 percent of voters who love him really do not care if he’s a crook. And despite the GOP’s widespread corruption, FiveThirtyEight still gives the party a four-in-five chance of holding a Senate majority in the midterm elections.

<snip>

If one believes, for instance, that Obama faked his birth certificate to evade citizenship requirements to be in the Oval Office — as a solid majority of Republicans suspect — then the fact that Trump is a tax fraud doesn’t seem so unusual or objectionable. If one buys into the theory that the Clintons had former White House lawyer Vince Foster murdered back in the 1990s, then Trump’s shady attitude about the murder of Khashoggi pales in comparison. And while it’s basically impossible to follow what, exactly, Republicans are getting at with their Benghazi obsession, they’ve using that fake conspiracy theory to minimize real concerns about Trump’s possible role in Russia’s criminal interference with the U.S. election.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/10/republican-voters-dont-care-trumps-corruption-heres/amp/?__twitter_impression=true

There was a time, less than a decade ago, when the sound of red-faced protest was music to Republican ears.

That, of course, was when Barack Obama was president, and the tea party movement was hijacking congressional town hall meetings with shouts of “Tyranny!” There were plenty of shoving matches, and Democratic lawmakers were burned in effigy. The police were regularly called in to bring a semblance of order.

<snip>

Meanwhile, Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) lauded the conservative agitation as a pure expression of the frustrations and values of ordinary Americans.

Now it is the Democrats who are making the noise, and the argument is playing in reverse.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/republicans-used-to-love-the-sound-of-an-angry-mob-what-happened/2018/10/10/e93ad7e2-cbd4-11e8-a360-85875bac0b1f_story.html?utm_term=.06dadf6009f8

During a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing Wednesday, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) asked FBI Director Christopher Wray if the investigation into sexual assault allegations against Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh was curtailed by the White House. Wray confirmed that it was.

“I think I would say that our investigation here, our supplemental update to the previous background investigation, was limited in scope and that that is consistent with the standard process for such investigations going back quite a long ways,” he said.

<snip>

Harris then specifically tried to suss out if White House lawyer Don McGahn was involved in the communication, but Wray sidestepped.

“Well, I can’t speak to what anybody throughout the organization might have received instructions on,” he said. “My understanding is that the communications occurred between the White House’s office of security and the FBI security division.”

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/wray-confirms-that-white-house-limited-kavanaugh-probe

President Donald Trump lies so often that it is no longer shocking when it happens, no matter how blatant or absurd the falsehood may be. Not only does Trump regularly exaggerate the truth, he frequently denies facts that can be observed directly from video or audio tapes. This has led some professionals to diagnose his lying as compulsive or pathological, and many psychologists have pointed out that he is constantly gaslighting his base—a term that refers to a strategic attempt to get others to question their direct experience of reality.

With so much evidence to contradict his claims, like having the largest inauguration crowd size despite pictures clearly showing otherwise, one must wonder how there are still people out there who believe anything the man says. But the fact of the matter is there are many who swallow it hook, line, and sinker. Most of his fervent supporters are convinced that Trump is the harbinger of truth when it comes to important issues like climate change—which is really just a “hoax perpetrated by the Chinese government”.

While this might sound laughable, it is a serious problem, as it has contributed to fake news and dangerous propaganda running rampant. Given its negative impact on society, it is important to understand why certain groups of people are more vulnerable to believing unsupported lies than others. For this, we must look to science for answers, and fortunately, the fields of psychology and neuroscience offer valuable insight.

<snip>

For Christian fundamentalists, being taught to suppress critical thinking begins at a very early age. It is the combination of the brain’s vulnerability to believing unsupported facts and aggressive indoctrination that create the perfect storm for gullibility. Due to the brain’s neuroplasticity, or ability to be sculpted by lived experiences, evangelicals literally become hardwired to believe far-fetched statements.

https://www.rawstory.com/2018/10/neuroscientist-explains-evangelicals-wired-believe-trumps-lies/