...The Neo-Reactionary Coup "The Ciskei libertarian experiment failed in South Africa. It was an effort to resist the elimination of Apartheid, on the way to democratic rule in South Africa. "Crack-Up Capitalism: How Billionaire Elon Musk's Extremism Is Shaping Trump Admin & Global Politics"" [...]National Security Safeguarding U.S. national security is fundamentally about protecting the Constitution and the Nation from all enemies, foreign and domestic, by preventing exposure of American assets, personnel, and infrastructure to foreign governments and non-state actors. Musk/DOGE espouse anti-Constitutional ideologies, are under the influence of America’s principal foreign adversaries (China and Russia), and lack essential experience in cybersecurity. Their control of critical digital infrastructure and personnel therefore constitute a vital and immediate threat to US national security. https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=175801418
I sat there shaking my head in frustrated denial at the lunch table staring at my best friend’s newly updated phone. Through mouthful bites, he chuckled as he pointed at the words that stood out on his blue screen. They read “Gulf of America.”
Our dining hall food was bland, but our group’s political discourse was heated as we argued about President Trump’s renaming of the Gulf of Mexico. Walking out of the dining hall, it dawned on me in a moment of epiphany. We had been distracted from the real issues affecting normal people in their everyday lives. This is exactly what the Trump administration wants us to do.
The two would quickly become the closest of allies, with Trump as the dedicated student and Cohn as the well-connected man who would form him. The strategy Cohn imparted on Trump was to “Deflect and distract, never give in, never admit fault, lie and attack, lie and attack, publicity no matter what, win no matter what, all underpinned by a deep, prove-me-wrong belief in the power of chaos and fear.”
[Insert:How Donald Trump Still Lives in the 1980s [...] [Insert: Be sure to catch the very last word in...
[...]The lawyer, whose connections included President Ronald Reagan, Rupert Murdoch and mobsters, had introduced the Queens-bred Mr. Trump to a new world and had taught him to always deny wrongdoing, to attack his attackers and to seek lawyers willing to do anything. But at the start of the ’80s, as he was gaining respectability himself, Mr. Trump already seemed ready to put some distance between himself and Mr. Cohn. P - “All I can tell you is he’s been vicious to others in his protection of me,” Mr. Trump told the journalist Marie Brenner a few years before Mr. Cohn’s death. “He’s a genius. He’s a lousy lawyer, but he’s a genius.” https://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=174493786]
Trump the businessman made this mantra his life’s mission. Trump the president continues to recycle the same Cohn-blessed strategies that led to his unlikely comeback.
My friends and I had wasted the entirety of our lunch together arguing about a name on a map that would never directly affect any of us. This was Roy Cohn’s playbook of “deflect and distract” run to perfection. Somewhere, this slimy snake was smiling in his grave.
The American people are being tricked. We are drawn to care about one thing, so preposterous, ludicrous and counter to our core beliefs that we are unfazed when the Trump administration is meddling with something completely different. By the time we realize what their actual goals are, the Overton Window .. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/02/25/overton-window-explained-definition-meaning-217010/ .. (i.e. the range of policies that are acceptable) has expanded to include their formerly fringe fantasies.
Americans will notice that annexing Canada and buying Greenland (potentially renaming it Red, White, and Blueland) may be a lot to undertake in one presidential term.
[ The Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act could prevent many married women from being able to register to vote. [...] Much of the documentation listed under the SAVE Act is based on having a birth certificate that matches the person registering to vote. However, as many as 69 million married women in the United States have changed their legal name since getting married, meaning their name does not match their birth certificate, according to the Center for American Progress.] https://www.newsweek.com/married-women-stopped-voting-save-act-2029325 ,
which passed in the House during the 118th Congress, would leave nearly 70 million American women without the right to vote because they changed their last name when they married. Do not let distractions stop you from seeing that leading American officials ..
[WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The Trump administration has appointed to serve as the top public diplomacy official at the State Department a former speech writer for President Donald Trump with a history of doubts over U.S. foreign policy towards Taiwan and inflammatory comments on women and minorities, at one point saying that "competent white men must be in charge." P - Darren Beattie has been named the acting undersecretary for public diplomacy and public affairs, a senior State Department official said, a role that determines the tone of America's public messaging in the world. Beattie requires Senate confirmation to serve on a permanent basis.] https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-administration-taps-right-wing-ideologue-senior-state-dept-job-2025-02-04/ ..
do not believe women or people of color should be in roles of authority or full citizens.
But instead, Americans will discuss the terrifying avalanche of executive orders Trump has signed since returning to the Resolute Desk.
This is a distraction from the autocratic moves Trump has already taken to slowly implant himself as an American tyrant. President Trump has eliminated positions meant to keep his administration in check and surrounded himself with those who hold his same extreme beliefs about executive power. In addition, he has seriously implied that he will be in office for a third term ..
[“Anyone who says that obviously the 22nd Amendment will deter Trump from trying for a third term has been living on a different planet than the one I’ve been living on,” says Ian Bassin, who was an associate White House counsel for President Barack Obama and is now the executive director of the nonprofit advocacy group Protect Democracy. P - If Trump decided he wanted to hold onto power past 2028, there are at least four paths he could try: P - * He could generate a movement to repeal the 22nd Amendment directly. * He could exploit a little-noticed loophole in the amendment that might allow him to run for vice president and then immediately ascend back to the presidency. * He could run for president again on the bet that a pliant Supreme Court won’t stop him. * Or he could simply refuse to leave — and put a formal end to America’s democratic experiment. P - Each path would face serious political, legal and practical impediments. But the prospect of a third Trump term shouldn’t be dismissed with a hand wave. P - Trump, after all, is definitely not dismissing the prospect. He’s been openly floating it for years.] https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/01/31/trump-defy-constitution-third-term-00200239
In the White House press room, Trump has welcomed and given attention to reporters from right-wing outlets that serve as propaganda outlets for his agenda. While Turning Point USA, Real America’s Voice and the Daily Caller get to ask the President softball questions, legitimate news outlets like the AP are blocked from events .. https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/nx-s1-5293524/ap-gulf-of-mexico-white-house-oval-office .. for not recognizing the Gulf of America.
Trump has also given his ally Elon Musk access to all of the sensitive personal payment information stored at the United States Treasury. Like any bank robbery, do not let the noise in the Oval Office distract you from what is going on behind the scenes.
President Trump's efforts to distract the American people to successfully enact his agenda may seem like an inventive new strategy. Rather, it is the same set of schemes he has pulled since his days as a New York scumbag. Some may criticize him for his lack of creativity, but we have just been caught in his carefully crafted Art of Distraction.
The views expressed in this column are those of the author and not necessarily those of The Observer.
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