June 14, 2018

"First, journalists must understand how propaganda works on the brain and grasp the cognitive science that marketers of propaganda have implicitly mastered: frames, metaphors, narratives and brain basics."

"Second, keep a steely focus on the fact that American democracy is under attack by a foreign power, possibly with collusion from the sitting president’s campaign. This is a crisis. Certain rules don’t apply in a crisis, especially the rule that the press must amplify the president’s words, whatever they are. Third, stop letting Trump control the news cycle. Newsgathering should be a serious affair controlled by editors whose power rivals any politician’s. Stop chasing his tweets and elevating every sideshow. Start every story with truth and the context of what’s really important to citizens in a democracy. More BBC, less TMZ. Fourth, don’t spread lies. Don’t privilege Trump’s lies by putting their specific language in the headlines, the leads or the hashtags. Don’t repeat the lies assuming people will automatically know they’re lies. People need to know the president is lying, but be careful about repeating the lies because 'a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth.' Repetition of lies spreads them."

I am repeating the words of George Lakoff and Gil Duran, "Trump has turned words into weapons. And he's winning the linguistic war/From ‘spygate’ to ‘fake news’, Trump is using language to frame – and win – debates. And the press operate like his marketing agency."

153 comments:

Henry said...

"Words into Weapons" is overwrought and stale at the same time. Immediate eye roll.

Trump wins again.

Fabi said...

"Second, keep a steely focus on the fact that American democracy is under attack by a foreign power, possibly with collusion from the sitting president’s campaign."

Describing that wild-eyed speculation as a "fact" is propoganda.

Henry said...

The third point should have been the only point.

The second point is nuts.

I voted against Trump. The worst thing about the Trump Presidency is watching the people on my side turn into morons.

rhhardin said...

Trump isn't winning any debate. He's disabling the press's soap opera business model as a political force.

Oso Negro said...

Pretty fucking funny, I'd say! I don't recall fair coverage of a Republican President in my life time.

rhhardin said...

Words into ploughshares.

Rick said...

" Certain rules don’t apply in a crisis"

Now they're admitting why they invented the crisis.

Rick said...

The worst thing about the Trump Presidency is watching the people on my side turn into morons.

They were always morons, Trump is just making it obvious even to people who don't pay attention to politics.

mccullough said...

Berkeley professors contributed to the dysfunctional culture. Tune them out. Trump owns their ass.

Henry said...

George Lakoff is a linguist. Gil Duran is a former press secretary.

Neither of them seems to have mastery of metaphor.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The press operate like a pack of Hillary-lost butthurts.

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

The press is a constant weapon for the democrat party.

Martha said...

You mean like what fiction writer Rhodes tried to do in shaping the narrative of Obama’s Presidency?

“One of Barack Obama’s greatest frustrations during his time in the White House was his inability to use rhetoric and reason to better tell the story of his presidency,” Dan Pfeiffer, Obama’s communications director,in his White House memoir, “Yes We (Still) Can: Politics in the Age of Obama, Twitter, and Trump”.

Trump does it better.

Wendybar said...

This kind of Propaganda?? https://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2018/06/13/guys-theyre-doing-it-again-photo-of-rosaries-collected-at-the-border-during-the-obama-years-goes-viral-because-of-trump/

chickelit said...

Blogger rhhardin said...”Words into ploughshares”

Swords into tweetshares.

chickelit said...

Trump is a trenchant warrior and it’s 1918 all over.

mccullough said...

Trump is smarter than Lakoff and his faculty lounge lizards. But Lakoff can’t admit that. He also can’t admit that all presidents lie. Trump has a different style, but he doesn’t lie anymore or about different types of things than Obama did.

Obama’s propaganda worked on the lizards like Lakoff and many in the media. He was their drug of choice.

If news companies had wanted to change what they do, they would have turned over their reportering and editing staff after Trump won. They were so horribly wrong. But they didn’t. Guys like Kristof still have their perches.

Lakoff has been a go to lounge lizard for 25 years. The media keeps going back to the same losers and getting different results.

Lakoff couldn’t carry Scott Adams jockstrap



Ray - SoCal said...

One of the authors was Jerry Browns press secretary.

No biase there when he was in that role, obviously...

Fernandinande said...

"First, journalists must understand how propaganda works..."

Uh, I always thunk that was the purpose of J-school. If not, how did almost of Them learn to write so deviously if not actually dishonestly?

"Second, keep a steely focus on the fact that American democracy is under attack by a foreign power, possibly with collusion from the sitting president’s campaign."

That's some "shocking xenophobia" on display, but Mexico can't do shit, even with collusion from this writer's fellow propagandists.

tcrosse said...

Lies ! Lies !

Gretchen said...

Calling this a crisis and getting hysterical because Trump is good at controlling the news cycle is propaganda. They are concerned their propaganda is being overshadowed by Trump. The horror.

The US is under attack my uncontrolled illegal immigration. Illegals participated in campaigning. Is that what they mean?

WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

"Do you hear the alarm bells? That's the sound of another CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS!" "...because Trump did something we D's in the press don't like."

Chuck Todd

Tommy Duncan said...

Ann, please tell me it's April 1 and your posts this morning are all satire/humor.

Ignorance is Bliss said...

rhhardin said...

Words into ploughshares.

Trump is beating wordsmiths into laughingstocks.

Earnest Prole said...

Newsgathering should be a serious affair controlled by editors whose power rivals any politician’s.

Wait, I thought it was reactionary to want to return to 1955.

Jason said...

I never metaphor I didn't like.

Etienne said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dust Bunny Queen said...

Oh for God's sake! Can these guys never ever give it up in bashing Trump and trying to shove the Russian collusion (propoganda) story down our throats?

Trump uses words to persuade! Wow. There is a revelation. First person in history to try to craft communication to get people to think things. AMAZING! /sarcasm

These so called journalists and experts are to laugh at. Laughing at them is really the better alternative and they should appreciate being the butt of our jokes.

D.D. Driver said...

Truly we must STOP this propaganda that is being spread by the RUSSIANS conspiring with our sitting president.

Fabi said...

"Newsgathering should be a serious affair controlled by editors whose power rivals any politician’s."

Let that soak in for a sec. Their former power as gatekeepers of information has been greatly decentralized and they can't stand it. Boy, I really hate it for them. Really, I hate it.

Ann Althouse said...

"Ann, please tell me it's April 1 and your posts this morning are all satire/humor."

Just about everything I choose to blog has appealed to my sense of humor.

h said...

This article in today's WaPo explains more fully than I have ever seen what must be Mueller's theory of the case. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pressure-on-michael-cohen-intensifies-as-mueller-stays-focused-on-trump-attorney/2018/06/13/00a207fe-6f12-11e8-bf86-a2351b5ece99_story.html?utm_term=.dac09dd3f944

I makes Lakoff's second warning point more clear to me: "American democracy is under attack by a foreign power, possibly with collusion from the sitting president’s campaign"

“Collusion” implies some set of (secret) actions by two (or more) individuals that would be mutually beneficial to those individuals (but, I suppose would be illegal, or deleterious to the common good).

This article explains the possible quid-pro-quo that exists between the Trump campaign and the Russian government.

Question 1: What would Trump get from Russia?

“One area of interest to the special counsel is negotiations Cohen undertook during the 2016 campaign to help the Trump Organization build a tower in Moscow, according to people familiar with the probe. Cohen brought Trump a letter of intent in October 2015 from a Russian developer to build a Moscow project. Later, he sent an email to Russian President Vladi¬mir Putin’s chief spokesman seeking help to advance the stalled project. He has said he did not recall receiving a response.”

Question 2: What would Russia get from Trump?

“Another area that Mueller’s team has explored is a proposal to end tensions in Ukraine, viewed by some as a plan that would benefit Russia, the people said. The plan was delivered to Cohen by Artemenko one week after Trump took office, in a meeting at a Manhattan hotel. … The back-channel proposal offered a pathway for resolving the Ukrainian dispute that could have eventually led to the lifting of U.S. sanctions on Russia, a top goal of Putin. Sater and Artemenko disputed the notion that the proposal was Russia-friendly. Artemenko told The Post that his interest was only to bring peace to Ukraine and that he was not working to advance the interests of Russia or Trump.”

Question 3: What does this “Ukrainian policy for Moscow Trump Tower” explanation help us understand?

• Manafort was mostly dealing with Ukraine; so why has Mueller indicted Manafort for all of this Ukrainian activities?
• Flynn (remember him?). What is this about? “Sater said he gave the plan to Cohen in a sealed envelope. Sater told The Post last year that Cohen said at the time that he would pass the plan to then-national security adviser Michael Flynn but that Flynn was ousted before he could do so.”
• The “conspiracy” angle: It appears from this article that no quid-pro-quo ever occurred: the Russians did not facilitate the Trump real estate project and the Trump administration did not adopt a Ukrainian policy that helped the Russians. But even without this criminal act, there could still be a crime of planning to or intending to commit this criminal act.
• Trump involvement or non-involvement: Anyone with knowledge of the plan or intent to commit the quid-pro-quo could be guilty of the conspiracy; and anyone found guilty in this way could be asked (with a promise of reduced sentence) to inform about other co-conspirators.

mccullough said...

Lakoff doesn’t credit Trump’s entertainment value. People know politicians lie. But Trump is different and funny. He lets everyone in on the joke. It’s not the earnest lying of Obama, Clinton, and the Bushes.

And Twitter is perfect for Trump. The Man and the Medium were made for each other. His tweets are funny and interesting and off the wall at times. A lot of bullshit in them but we are used to getting bullshitted by politicians, the press, and the experts.

Lakoff doesn’t understand the importance of entertainment. He’s a Berkeley Professor.

mccullough said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
WWIII Joe Biden, Husk-Puppet + America's Putin said...

Putin is former KGB.

KGB is modern democrat.

rehajm said...

I blame Trump’s policies. Journalists give too much credit to the ‘news’ cycle. Also to words.

Its a hazzard to assume the world revolves around what you do for a living.

Darrell said...

The Left B Crazier.
They now believe their own lies.

285exp said...

Don't repeat his lies, repeat ours.

Leland said...

I won't let these journalist take my agency.

Fernandinande said...

"Third, stop letting Trump control the news cycle."

Said the article with Trump in the headline and Trump in the sub-headline and Trump in the picture caption and Trump beginning the first and second paragraphs and Trump in the little side-gizmo that's supposed to catch your attention contributing to a total of 27 mentions of "Trump".

“You guys are obsessed with Trump. Did you used to date him? Because you pretend like you hate him, but I think you love him." -- Somebody.

Darrell said...

The MSM Cult of Lies.

Fabi said...

Uranium One Mueller is keeping hope alive, h!

Jupiter said...

"Second, keep a steely focus on the fact that American democracy is under attack by a foreign power, possibly with collusion from the sitting president’s campaign."

Don't worry, fellows, when I see a tendentious pack of lies about the duly elected President of the United States written by two Communist vermin being published in a scurrilous, left-wing foreign rag like the Guardian, I know that American democracy is under attack by a foreign power.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

Trump lies, so lie harder.

Darrell said...

Today is Trump's birthday. And no YouTube poster has been put into jail at the 500+ day mark of Trump's Presidency.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

"Don’t privilege Trump’s lies by putting their specific language in the headlines..."

Tell us what Trump means, not what he says.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Yeah....I know ....I spelled propaganda wrong. I'm too lazy to correct it now and blame it on only being my first cup of coffee.

I believe that the journalists and academic elitists are having mental melt down because the techniques that they, themselves, have used in the past are just NOT working anymore.

The times they are a changing, and people communicate in new ways and at lightning speed through other mediums than the printed word. The death of print media and their inability to cope with the changes is a big part of this incredible animus toward Trump. They see him successfully using the New Media and their rice bowls being broken.

They thought they had Iron Rice Bowls and now have discovered they are just made out of clay.

Big Mike said...

Fourth, don’t spread lies.

Does that include the lie that Joe Biden was not groping wives and girls because he wasn’t touching their boobs?

Wince said...

"First, journalists must understand how propaganda works on the brain and grasp the cognitive science that marketers of propaganda have implicitly mastered: frames, metaphors, narratives and brain basics."

So, Lakoff sees Trump as beating him at his own game.

Bob Boyd said...

"In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." - Eric Hoffer

roesch/voltaire said...

Trump knows a lie drops its pants faster than truth can look away.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Prog traitors making excuses for their despicable treason. Off with their heads!

Michael K said...

Even The Nation doesn't believe there was any collusion shown by Mueller's witch hunt.

The New York Times recounts that Manafort “pressed [then–Ukrainian Prime Minister Viktor] Yanukovych to sign an agreement with the European Union that would link the country closer to the West—and lobbied for the Americans to support Ukraine’s membership.” If that picture is accurate, then Manafort’s activities in Ukraine during the period for which he has been indicted were diametrically opposed to the Kremlin’s agenda.

Back to the drawing board.

If they've lost The Nation.....

During the 2016 contest, the Democratic National Committee and the Clinton campaign accepted help from Ukraine and paid for the salacious and outlandish Steele “dossier” from across the pond.

Oh Oh. Does Mueller know about this ?

When do the clowns come on ?

Drago said...

r/v: "Trump knows a lie drops its pants faster than truth can look away."

Yep, happy warrior of the party of Clinton wrote that.

Just now.

Without irony.

pacwest said...

I read the whole thing, and my interpretation in a nutshell is 'its not fair that he is fighting back against our narrative'. The rest of of it is just about tactics they can use to 'win'.

The image of the three monkeys pops to mind. See no Trump, hear no Trump, speak no Trump.

Crimso said...

"Let that soak in for a sec. Their former power as gatekeepers of information has been greatly decentralized and they can't stand it. Boy, I really hate it for them. Really, I hate it."

They think one part of the solution to the alleged problem is to increase the power of editors such that it rivals the power of any politician. I think it is to decrease the power of politicians and bring them down to the power of an editor. Decentralizing power at all levels of government would help a great deal.

Drago said...

Uh-oh, lefty publications preparing their "Pre-political crimes units" to flex to "Republicans Pounce" on the IG report:

"The findings may give Trump fresh grounds for criticism"

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-06-14/comey-broke-from-fbi-procedures-in-clinton-probe-watchdog-finds

Because that's what is important about how the dems weaponized the federal govt.

pacwest said...

I read the whole thing, and my interpretation in a nutshell is 'its not fair that he is fighting back against our narrative'. The rest of of it is just about tactics they can use to 'win'.

The image of the three monkeys pops to mind. See no Trump, hear no Trump, speak no Trump.

Drago said...

In r/v's defense, history began anew this morning.

Michael Fitzgerald said...

Hey Henry @8:28, your side didn't turn into morons. The curtains were drawn back for everyone to see just what you all are, and always have been, that's all.

Seeing Red said...

They’re just pissed Trump co-opted them.

That, and as Martha Coakley? Said on the night of the long faces, they didn’t listen to us.

Nonapod said...

American democracy is under attack by a foreign power

I'm old enough to remember when lots of people on the left used to mock the various right-wing "consipiracy theories" in the misty past of like 2014 or something. Heck, many of them still mock the whole notion of a Deep State as some wacky conspiracy theory (despite there being no shortage of clear evidence of concerted efforts on the part of various government officials high and low to undermine and incriminate this administration in extralegal ways), while at the same time will totally unquestioningly believe almost any whimsical conjecture involving Russia conspiring with Trump.

NotWhoIUsedtoBe said...

If you are telling the truth for a political purpose, it's propaganda. Only if your purpose IS the truth are you immune.

Seeing Red said...

I did not have sex with that woman.

If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.

Caligula said...

After the author claims "The press has become complicit with Trump" how is anyone supposed to take this seriously?

By what objective measure has "the press" not been more negative about this U.S. President than about any other presidency it has ever covered?

The author's complaint seems to be that journalists occasionally interrupt their anti-Trump holy war to just report the news (such as, what the President of the United States actually said).

That, apparently, is intolerable. How could an honest journalist just deliver the who-what-where-why-how of anything presidential without "informing" us that, really, it's all lies, Pres. Trump is a Russian puppet, and if something isn't done soon to correct this error then democracy will surely die in darkness?

tim in vermont said...

Sounds like the advice Althouse gave when Trump first rode down the escalator, but we all know from Wikileaks that Hillary wanted to face Trump and egged the press on to write about him. Maybe she over egged the pudding!

buwaya said...

Lakoff is himself a propagandist, or consultant in propaganda, being a UC Berkeley professor on the subject of cognitive linguistics.
He has previously assisted Democratic campaigns on message framing, and etc., that is, the creation of propaganda.

Not notably successful I think.

Bob Boyd said...

Hey you guys, I got an idea! Let's triple down on what didn't work before and seriously damaged the credibility and influence of our entire profession.

More cowbell!

buwaya said...

And as above, it is indeed fair to compare Lakoff to Adams, they do opine on the same subject.

Drago said...

Shorter Lakoff: Stop listening to republicans!!!

Seeing Red said...


American democracy is under attack by a foreign power


How dare they! Only we can do that! I thought they didn’t have a problem with foreigners?

tim in vermont said...

What the press could do is explain exactly how his words are lies in specific terms. Since they don't, and feel the need to change his words to prove that they are lies, the only rational conclusion is that the press cannot prove that Trump is lying in any meaningful way. They are simply angry and frustrated that their side lost. Use your words press, the never ending tantrum is not working.

Drago said...

buwaya: "And as above, it is indeed fair to compare Lakoff to Adams, they do opine on the same subject."

A solid "tell" that Lakoff is a lefty jag-off pushing lefty propaganda is that LLR Chuck would never in a million years criticize anything he writes or says for any reason.

That is a very useful rule of thumb for identifying the far left partisans.

Drago said...

buwaya: "Not notably successful I think"

Indeed. Lakoff is the linguistics/political framing-worlds equivalent of Bob Shrum.

Nonapod said...

Lakoff is nowhere near as persuasive as Adams.

Fabi said...

Lakoff is not a cunning linguist.

tim in vermont said...

Remember when all of the foreign powers wanted Obama to win? Good times, good times. They believe that liberalism is the one true faith and reason from that unshakable premise.

Jonathan Haidt could explain this stuff to them but he is in bad odor for straying slightly from the party line. Heretical!

Sebastian said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
narciso said...

what's that French proverb about vicious animals, of course, Mueller let the cat out of the bag about the fmr potentates like Solana and stirbaer, who were also lobbying for the ukraine,.

Owen said...

Bob Boyd @ 9:16 AM: "'In times of profound change, the learners inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.' - Eric Hoffer."

Brilliant insight by Hoffer, brilliant citation by you. Thanks.

Sebastian said...

"Second, keep a steely focus on the fact that American democracy is under attack by a foreign power, possibly with collusion from the sitting president’s campaign. This is a crisis. Certain rules don’t apply in a crisis, especially the rule that the press must amplify the president’s words, whatever they are."

Just to illustrate how "propaganda works on the brain."

Sam L. said...

Propaganda? Leftist.

AZ Bob said...

Yes Ann, I see the humor in this post. It starts with the Guardian.

Sebastian said...

"American democracy is under attack by a foreign power, possibly with collusion from the sitting president’s campaign."

Actually, I'm not sure if O and Brennan helped to arrange the Russian disinformation peddled through Steele and paid for by Hill.

Larry J said...

George Lakoff has been helping Democrats use language to push their agenda for a long time. He's just upset that Trump is better at it than he is.

"American democracy is under attack by a foreign power, possibly with collusion from the sitting president’s campaign."

I didn't hear him complaining when Israeli democracy was under attack by Obama's meddling. It wouldn't surprise me if Russia was trying to create some mischief during the election cycle. Countries often do that. All the so-called evidence I've seen is that some Russians bought a small number of ads on Facebook and that somehow swung the election? Seems like a reach to me. They'll jump to any conclusion to avoid having to admit their candidate was so awful that she couldn't win an election that was being rigged in her favor.

n.n said...

Dual-use linguistics. Semantic weapons, where before it was semantic games, innocent and gay.

Sometimes a black hole is a black whore, and a not-for-profit business venture.

The antagonist wields a scalpel, and the protagonist a gun in self-defense.

Where is the Nazi? He was hiding under the tree, left of center, framed by the moonlight.

n.n said...

Muslim Brotherhood ascendant in Egypt, while half the population cowers in fear. Democracy lives and dies with journolistic reporting.

A bloody coup in Kiev, in reprisal to a confrontation of the Libya-ISIS Progression in Syria, followed by 10-20 trimesters of domestic spying, foreign collusion, gerrymandering the vote, and a complicit press.

Douglas B. Levene said...

Did Russia interfere in the election? Well, assuming that Russian agents stole John Podesta's emails and released them to the public, that probably depressed the vote for Hillary by exposing, truthfully, how corruptly the DNC dealt with the threat from Bernie to her nomination. Did that make a difference? I don't know. Did the tiny amount spent on Facebook ads, or the basements full of Russian-backed trolls tweeting away, have any impact? Doubtful.

Michael said...

It seems Trump has colluded to have Russia score the first goal in the World Cup.

DanTheMan said...

>>Newsgathering should be a serious affair controlled by editors whose power rivals any politician’s

If that is the case, shouldn't we get to vote on who the editors are?

h said...

Douglas at 10:14:

The theory of collusion outlined in my earlier comment is that what Russia was supposed to do for Trump was not (primarily) to help him win the election, it was to help Trump get approval for a real estate project.

DanTheMan said...

>>Well, assuming that Russian agents stole John Podesta's emails

That's a HUGE assumption, of which there is no evidence at all.

Podesta fell for a phishing attack, of the very clumsy "Hi, I'm Google. Please follow this link to reset your password" type.

If that's the best the Rooskies have, then we are perfectly safe.

Achilles said...

Darrell said...
Today is Trump's birthday. And no YouTube poster has been put into jail at the 500+ day mark of Trump's Presidency.

Tommy Robinson was unavailable for comment.

I expect Trump to start up on that at some point.

Darkisland said...

Rhhatdin

I prefer joel 3:10

Beat your ploughshares into (s)words

John Henry

RB Glennie said...

Oh yes, George Lakoff again with his `framing' theories - It is a pity he is so hyper-partisan because it is not a bad theory except for Lakoff's bizarre insistence that somehow only the Republicans or Donald Trump are `framing' language for political ends - as if the Democratic-party or the political left in general don't also engage in `framing' language for their own benefit - thus `pro-choice' and its antithesis `anti-choice', the latter of which has become acceptable style for the `newspapers of record' such as the NY Times... or `Islamophobia' to smear everyone who has justifiable criticism of an organized religion … or terms such as `alt-right' or latterly `far right', again directed at anyone regardless of their political affiliation who is also critical of `cultural Marxism...' These are of course only a smattering of the language `framing' that has been successfully posited as standard language in the news media and academia these days.

Darkisland said...

I particularly like that the NYU school of Journalism is now the craig newmark of Craigslist school of journalism

The nyt is furious

I can't stop smiling

John Henry

TDP said...

This from the left, the authoritarian-collectivist left, a movement that invented PC-Think that has proven to be the most powerful anti-American, anti-individual-liberty propaganda weapon in history.

And propaganda attacks the individual's feelings, manipulating them by allowing them to feel superior to the "other" if they simply repeat the mantras (talking points) provided by their leftist betters of how 'evil' Trump, et al, is and how big a 'threat' the "other" is to them.. even though reality does not back that up.

To the Left, Trump and his supporters, men, white-people, non-PC-compliant women and minorities, are the new "Jews", those who have been officially deemed worthy of hate, scorn, discrimination and (coming soon) much worse.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

And the Propagandist is already at it I see, in this very thread of all places.

tim in vermont said...

the Russians did not facilitate the Trump real estate project and the Trump administration did not adopt a Ukrainian policy that helped the Russians. But even without this criminal act, there could still be a crime of planning to or intending to commit this criminal act.
• Trump involvement or non-involvement: Anyone with knowledge of the plan or intent to commit the quid-pro-quo could be guilty of the conspiracy; and anyone found guilty in this way could be asked (with a promise of reduced sentence) to inform about other co-conspirators.


Jesus h, talk about "show me the man and I will produce the crime." If this is the standard, Hillary should be rotting in prison with her husband. Obama should be in prison for telling the Russians that if they back off during the campaign, he will help them out after the election, which he actually did.

It's always about accusing the other side of whatever it is that the Democrats are doing.

Dude1394 said...

The democrat media party is just torqued that someone is beating them at their own game.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“To the Left, Trump and his supporters, men, white-people, non-PC-compliant women and minorities, are the new "Jews", those who have been officially deemed worthy of hate, scorn, discrimination and (coming soon) much worse.”

Either a gross mischaracterization or propaganda being passed by an unwitting dupe.

tim in vermont said...

"And the Propagandist is already at it I see, in this very thread of all places"

Specific examples with your reasoning.

JK LOL, we all know that you are not able to do that.

stan said...

liberals projecting

Michael K said...

After the author claims "The press has become complicit with Trump" how is anyone supposed to take this seriously?

By what objective measure has "the press" not been more negative about this U.S. President than about any other presidency it has ever covered?


They have become"complicit" by hysterical hatred that has discredited the media with all but the most left wing partisans.

Now, you can't convince me that some all powerful mind was not behind this.

Nobody could be that stupid and credulous. Could they ?

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“It's always about accusing the other side of whatever it is that the Democrats are doing.”

Specific examples with your reasoning.

JK LOL, we all know that you are not able to do that.

tim in vermont said...

Really Inga? It's a mischaracterization, meaning that you don't like the way he said it, but even you won't call it an outright lie.

Matt Sablan said...

Man. I remember when adding -gate to the end of things was what journalists did.

tim in vermont said...

I just gave specifics and my reasoning in the original comment. You now should tell me why they were wrong or stop embarrassing yourself.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Really Inga? It's a mischaracterization, meaning that you don't like the way he said it, but even you won't call it an outright lie.”

I was being diplomatic.

Hagar said...

Don’t privilege Trump’s lies by putting their specific language in the headlines, the leads or the hashtags.

Funny. I always think that when watching Bret Baier on Fox News, except I think MSM's rather than Trump's.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“I just gave specifics and my reasoning in the original comment. You now should tell me why they were wrong or stop embarrassing yourself.”

You think you did, you didn’t. You should be embarrassed.

Matt Sablan said...

"Podesta fell for a phishing attack, of the very clumsy "Hi, I'm Google. Please follow this link to reset your password" type. "

-- In Podesta's defense. He did ask his IT guy what to do. His IT guy *told him to reset his password.* I assume the IT guy meant: "delete that email, go to Google's account from a secure browser and change your password," but... there's a reason you tell people to do ALL THOSE STEPS.

Hagar said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
tim in vermont said...

"I will have more flexibility after the election."
Hot mic capture of Obama speaking with the Russian foreign minister.

So cool it now during my campaign, Russia.

Collusion, clearly.

I can't help your purblind wit, but it's clear to most people, Inga, if not to yourself.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Then there are what cognitive scientists call “salient exemplars” – well-publicized individual cases, where wide publicity leads the public to take them as having a high probability and typifying a whole class. Trump turns them into weaponized stereotypes. He is a master at defaming entire groups of people as liars, rapists, terrorists – or in the case of US law enforcement and intelligence agencies – agents of corruption.”

We see this in play in a big way in these comments threads.

Birkel said...

Point #3 is my PURPLE ELEPHANTS recognition.

Trump orders the press not to think of what he wishes they would cover. And so they immediately begin to focus ONLY on the thing he wants them to cover. As day follows night, follows day.

roesch/voltaire said...

I wonder how the Whitehouse will frame Trump's salute to the North Korean General? No bowing down here but a quick snap of respect for all things military?

Drago said...

"....He is a master at defaming entire groups of people as liars, rapists, terrorists...."

Inga: "We see this in play in a big way in these comments threads."

Says the person who labeled all Trump voters nazi's and traitors.

In Inga's defense, history began anew this morning.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“He knows how to avoid taking responsibility for a claim. “Maybe.” “I don’t know.” “We’ll see.” Yet the claim has been made and stands, with no responsibility for it.”

He also blamed the Generals for the botched missions in Yemen and Niger instead accepting blame himself.

Drago said...

r/v: "I wonder how the Whitehouse will frame Trump's salute to the North Korean General? No bowing down here but a quick snap of respect for all things military?"

You had better luck with the Trump wants to enrich himself by building condos in NK.

#Sad

Hagar said...

I was reading about FDR last night where the author praised him for "his ability to put problems in simple terms the average American could understand," and thought: "Well, this is French for spinning it or, in other words, lying."

Inga...Allie Oop said...

““Deal” and “winning” are not just words. They are central to his worldview. Those who win deserve to win; those who lose deserve to lose. Those who don’t win are “losers”. This is a version of individual responsibility, a cornerstone of conservative thought. There is a moral hierarchy. Those who win are better than those who lose.”

We see this quite often.

buwaya said...

They saluted foreign officers all the time.
Including enemy officers during a truce, including those of the German or Japanese army in WWII.

This is courtesy.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Cornered by the Russia investigation, Trump is working overtime to twist the facts, the law, and reality in general, to benefit himself. As the indictments and the evidence pile up in favor of a case for Trump-Russia collusion in the 2016 election, he’s made it clear that he considers himself above both the law and the truth. As president of the United States, anything he says – true or false – is faithfully parroted by the press. This needs to change.”

Indeed! Trump’s mumblings and rantings should not be the focus of every news cycle. That’s exactly what he wants. The Reality Show Presidency could not exist without TV cameras and reporters falling all over themselves.

wholelottasplainin said...

““Deal” and “winning” are not just words. They are central to Inga's worldview. Those who win deserve to lose; those who lose deserve to win. Those who don’t win are “victims”. This is a version of individual impotence, a cornerstone of progressive thought. There is a moral hierarchy. Those who lose are better than those who win.”

We see this quite often.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Fourth, don’t spread lies. Don’t privilege Trump’s lies by putting their specific language in the headlines, the leads or the hashtags. Don’t repeat the lies assuming people will automatically know they’re lies. People need to know the president is lying, but be careful about repeating the lies because “a lie repeated often enough becomes the truth”. Repetition of lies spreads them.”

Spreading lies, sounds like propaganda. Manipulation of people who are ripe for the picking won’t know or care if they’re lies.

Drago said...

"The Mueller Indictments Still Don’t Add Up to Collusion
A year of investigations has led to several guilty pleas, but none of them go to the core of the special counsel’s mandate"

https://www.thenation.com/article/mueller-indictments-still-dont-add-collusion/

Ouch!

Has anyone told Inga? Or is The Nation now also "rightist propaganda" like Inga believes The Washington Post and the Stanford University paper are?

Robert Cook said...

"...keep a steely focus on the fact that American democracy is under attack by a foreign power, possibly with collusion from the sitting president’s campaign."

I think the press has fallen for the propaganda.

Drago said...

Looks like the continuing stunningly positive business and economic numbers have the democrats running scared enough to try and resurrect their hilarious emoluments charges!

They know their collusion lies won't pan out and so it's time to shift the narrative again!

LOL

Drago said...

Looks like the New York Attorney Generals office has a little more time on their hands since they are no longer spending so much time beating the s*** out of women.

Which, in the overall scheme of things, a real positive.

So, kudos.

LOL

Drago said...

I wonder how Justin Trudeau will propagandize the loss of jobs in Canada as well as decreases in the labor participation rate there?

And our push back against the horrendous Canadian tariffs on US goods and services as well as cutting Canada off from being China's gateway for abusing the NAFTA agreement haven't even been baked in yet.

Li'l Justin better get some bushier "I'm really a serious politician and wheeler-dealer" eyebrows ready to go.

He's going to need them.

Michael K said...

The left is going apeshit. The local fool must be working overtime to come up with lame bon mots.

Meanwhile, Michael Barone worries we will get tired of winning.

The latest NY AG, the one not going to prison, is going after Trump on the old stories.

Nothing new.

Mike Sylwester said...

American democracy is under attack by a foreign power, possibly with collusion from the sitting president’s campaign

* Russians have spent tens of thousands of dollars on Facebook and Twitter ads.

* RT television news broadcasts have criticized fracking.

And don't get me started on how Russians might be using MySpace to attack American democracy.

h said...

Replying to tim in vermont at 10:33: Jesus h, talk about "show me the man and I will produce the crime."

I hope it's clear that my long post was an attempt to describe Mueller's theory of the case, not an endorsement of his actions. And if I'm wrong about this ability to use "conspiracy" to find a crime when only crime is talking about or planning some crime that never took place, please set me straight. I know there are lawyers here who understand this better than I do.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“Or is The Nation now also "rightist propaganda" like Inga believes The Washington Post and the Stanford University paper are?”

Lie or propaganda, or both? Drago has now repeated this twice. At no time have I ever indicated that I believe WaPo or the Stanford University paper are rightist propaganda. I’d say folks here should take whatever Drago says as propaganda. Why would he think repeating obvious lies helps his credibility? He depends on readers here to not ask questions, to take what he says at face value because he claims a person on the left supposedly said it. I’d encourage readers here to pay attention to the way Drago manipulates you by his rapid fire commentary rife with mischaracterization, exaggerations, and outright lies.

Henry said...

Michael said...

It seems Trump has colluded to have Russia score the first goal in the World Cup.

And Ovechkin finally got his Stanley Cup win. This collusion goes deeeeep.

Drago said...

Inga: "Drago has now repeated this twice. At no time have I ever indicated that I believe WaPo or the Stanford University paper are rightist propaganda."

I specifically used information from those 2 sources which made a particular point yesterday.

You specifically called that "rightist propaganda".

In your defense, history began anew this morning.

LOL

Drago said...

"BREAKING: Newly disclosed text among FBI officials says ‘We’ll stop’ Trump from becoming president. The message is included in a forthcoming Justice Department inspector general report on the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email investigation…"

No bias at all. None at all.

BTW, it's from that Inga-labeled rightist propaganda organ Washington Post.

LOL

Mike Sylwester said...

h at 8:53 AM
This article in today's WaPo explains more fully than I have ever seen what must be Mueller's theory of the case.

I assume that the leaker was Robert "The FBI Whitewasher" Mueller himself.

tim in vermont said...

I just wanted to say "Jesus h."

Drago said...

Lakoff is not going to like all those explicit text messages in the IG report.

And remember, there are at least 2 other reports yet to come.

Inga...Allie Oop said...

“I specifically used information from those 2 sources which made a particular point yesterday.

You specifically called that "rightist propaganda".”

Liar. Go find the comment in which I said it was “rightist propaganda”. Are you so sure of your propaganda skills that you don’t think that readers here might think it unlikely that a leftie such as myself would ever proclaim the WaPo or the Stanford paper to be rightist propaganda? Don’t you think that most here would see that as unlikely? Or do you think readers here are stupid?

LOL, maybe your propagandizing skills suck afterall.


Inga...Allie Oop said...

“BREAKING: Newly disclosed text among FBI officials says ‘We’ll stop’ Trump from becoming president. The message is included in a forthcoming Justice Department inspector general report on the FBI’s handling of the Clinton email investigation…"

Why don’t you link it?

Matt Sablan said...

If Stzork sent that text... Mueller's entire probe should have the plug pulled. It can't be done in good faith any more.

chuck said...

George Lakoff is a brilliant scholar and a nasty, totalitarian scum bag. It's a twofer.

Seeing Red said...

His lies reach millions of people through constant repetition in the press and social media. Global Warming?

First, journalists must understand how propaganda works on the brain and grasp the cognitive science that marketers of propaganda have implicitly mastered: frames, metaphors, narratives and brain basics.

You’re not doing it right! Pay Attention!

Paul Zrimsek said...

Propaganda is an existential threat to democracy in the same sense that skating is an existential threat to hockey.

Daniel Jackson said...

Bullshit

Quaestor said...

George Lakoff is a linguist.

And a student of Noam Chomsky.

The alarm bells are ringing.

tim in vermont said...

Democrats have a deep faith in propaganda and do not believe that anybody who doesn’t have a sanctioned platform as a politician or columnist or whatever has an original thought.

This is why they believe that skepticism about global warming is a conspiracy, and not a spontaneous reaction by people with technical backgrounds to whopping holes in the data.

Bilwick said...

Oh, I think modern "journalists" understand how propaganda works all too well. . . .

Howard said...

No shit. That's what I've been saying since forever. Liberals need to accept 8-years of Trump

Chris N said...

It’s so often, almost always, some kind of weird psychological projection and transference. Assuming so has high predictability. What the latest freak out and hot button ends up being is the exact thing being contemplated/engaged in at any moment, especially during moments of retreat.

Kind of like the moral thinking is almost inverted form the host: Don’t love your neighbor, unless he or she has been rejected by ‘The Man’ and becomes part of ‘The People.’

***Also, Inga, please don’t need to keep posting those links. They’ve convinced me. Your hip, youthful avatar conveys the profound insight, independence of mind, and factual accuracy I’ve come to expect.

You, nay, WE are seeing the world as it really is and society as it should be. The struggle is over.