TRUMP AND “THE BIG LIE”

I have been so disgusted by the events and candidates in this election that I had previously just been ambivalent to the whole thing.  Given my experience, education, training and past, this ambivalence says a great deal.  I revel in politics and political discourse, but the vile and putrid nature of the campaigns in this election had me turned off completely....That is until now. There are a lot of really bad things you can say about Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels and Donald Trump, but they are all absolute masters of propaganda.  Specifically they were, and Trump is, the master(s) of “The Big Lie.” And yes, I put them in the same category when it comes to the use of “The Big Lie.” 

Adolf Hitler coined the expression “The Big Lie” when he dictated his 1925 book Mein Kampf.  “The Big Lie” is the use of a lie so "colossal" that no one would believe that someone "could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously."

[The] secret does not depend on particular intelligence. Rather, it depends on a remarkably stupid, thick-headedness. The principle [follows] that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.  [Joseph Goebbels, 12 January 1941. Die Zeit ohne Beispiel. Munich: Zentralverlag der NSDAP. 1941, pp. 364-369]

The phrase was also used in a report prepared during the war by the United States Office of Strategic Services in describing Hitler's psychological profile:^[5][6]  A Psychological Analysis of Adolph Hitler. His Life and Legend by Walter C. Langer. Office of Strategic Services (OSS) Washington, D.C. With the collaboration of Prof. Henry A. Murr, Harvard Psychological Clinic, Dr. Ernst Kris, New School for Social Research, Dr. Bertram D. Lawin, New York Psychoanalytic Institute. p. 219 (Nizkor)

His [Hitler’s] primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.  [Emphasis Added - Hitler as His Associates Know Him (OSS report, p.51)]

Donald Trump is using almost precisely this strategy.  I recently reviewed a list of 56 fact-checked statements by Donald Trump that, as it turned out, were absolute, unadulterated, bald-faced lies.  I am not talking about differences of opinion nor matters of interpretation.  I am talking about Trump saying something that is in direct, absolute, stark contradiction to something he said previously that is on audio or video.  When confronted with this fact, he insists it is not contradictory, all proof to the contrary.  Other items are just demonstrably untrue and there are not now, nor have there ever been, any disagreements about the facts, other than The Donald.  Hillary Clinton put it best when she sited "Donald World" where

Now that Donald Trump is receiving close scrutiny by the media, he has adopted the position of telling the voters, and particularly his supporters, that it is the left-wing media that is making false allegations against him.  Basically, he is telling us, the media is lying to everyone about everything about him.  Again, all proof to the contrary notwithstanding.  It is a good indication that Trump supporters have a herd mentality that is causing them to completely ignore reality.  These people, if Donald Trump stated the sun will rise in the west tomorrow, they would flock to the pacific coast with absolute certainty that it was going to occur.  Then, when it did not, they would insist it did occur, because The Donald said it would, then it must have.  The left-wing media reporting that the sun arose in the east, as it has since the beginning of time, would be dismissed, because The Donald told them to dismiss it.

I am completely aghast at the mentality, or lack thereof, of not just the deceiver himself, but the people that find a way to deny reality, deny proof and accept that which absolutely cannot be true.  I do understand that it is not without precedent, even on the kind of scale as national elections.  Adolf Hitler adopted the Big Lie technique, told everyone, in writing, about the Big Lie technique and then proceeded to use it to become Chancellor of Germany.  We are coming close to possibly electing a new “Fabricator in Chief” that will have no basis on a claim to the Presidency, other than he was able to utterly and completely deceive the electorate, who will blindly follow this man over the cliff like so many Lemmings.

Donald Trump is a megalomaniac and truly believes that he has and is the one true way.  This makes him more dangerous than can be imagined.  If he has the one true way, then anyone that disagrees with him must be stupid and therefore can be dismissed.  This attitude and mentality also gives The Donald the means by which to become, purely and simply, a dictator. 

The corporate world lends itself to dictatorial rule.  The Donald would have us believe it is also suitable for leaders in government.  Why else would this pompous fool admire and flatter the likes of Vladimir Putin?  It is because he wants to govern just like him.  Disagree with Donald and you’re fired!  I am not sure he will stop at merely dismissing people, but will try to find a way to render them to CIA camps for political re-education.  Anyone remember how that worked out in other countries?  Germany had concentration camps, Cambodia had re-education camps.  The result was millions dead that did not agree with the political ideology of the leaders of the country, and the list of countries in which this has occurred over time is almost endless.

I am left with only one explanation, best articulated by Bill Engvall, “Ya can’t fix stupid.”  And to those who vote for this liar, cheat and thief I say, “Here’s your sign!”