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In response to a December 10th 2016 Op-Ed featured in Teen Vogue by Lauren Duca that is developing new traction thanks to a big push from various news sources I submit to you that: Yes, President Donald Trump is absolutely ‘gaslighting’ America.
According to Google ‘gaslighting’ is defined as a way of “manipulating (someone) by psychological means into questioning their own sanity.” The Wikipedia definition is a bit more detailed and references the 1944 Ingrid Bergman Film, “Gaslight,” from which the term is derived.
“Gaslighting is a form of manipulation through persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and lying in an attempt to destabilize and delegitimize a target. Its intent is to sow seeds of doubt in the targets, hoping to make them question their own memory, perception, and sanity.”
Recent events, such as Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s insistence that "That was the largest audience to witness an inauguration, period,” and the subsequent lampooning by the media is a very direct indicator that this is true.
Lauren Duca cites several other instances of ‘gaslighting’ during the Trump campaign if you can put on your sunglasses to safely read through the powerful leftist flames throughout her piece. I will not dispute her sourcing or conclusions here, although her views are clearly contradictory to my own. I, however, would like to posit that while I did not then, and do not now agree with all of the actions and words of President Donald Trump: perhaps America NEEDS to be gas-lit.
Our nation has needed to deeply question our cultural memory, objective perception, and collective sanity for over twenty years now. The examples are as exasperating as they are numerous, and date back to the early nineties and President George H. W. Bush’s infamous “Read my lips, no new taxes” debacle. Remember that one? When President Bush increased several taxes as part of the 1990 budget agreement and broke his lofty campaign promise, the people were angry, and rightly so. It cost Bush re-election.
Soon after, the people started to fall asleep again, as the newer, younger, and more "pop-culture" appealing President Clinton played them a lullaby on his sax.
Here are a few of the more face-palm worthy examples over the years:
On August 20, 1998, as part of Operation Infinite Reach: American cruise missiles struck al-Qaeda bases in Khost, Afghanistan, and the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical factory in Khartoum, Sudan. This type of mistake creates extremism and harms America’s image abroad.
2.) President Clinton during his impeachment proceedings, when asked if his statement that "there's nothing going one between us" had been truthful (because he had no ongoing relationship with Lewinsky at the time he was questioned), stated: “It depends on what the meaning of the word ‘Is’ is.”
There is really no further explanation for this necessary, as Slate’s Timothy Noah quipped, “This is way beyond slick. Perhaps we should start calling him, ‘Existential Willie.’”
3.) President George W. Bush “I’ve abandoned free-market principles to save the free-market system.”
Fiscal conservatives groaned as the weight of the 2008 banking disaster which placed the American economy mere hours from what experts called a "catastrophic collapse." President George W. Bush, the standard bearer of the Neo-Conservative movement succumbed to Wall Street’s frantic pleas for action. Michelle Malkin called this quote “George W. Bush’s political epitaph” for good reason.
4.) “Reports that say something hasn’t happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say, we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns- the ones we don’t know we don’t know.” – US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, February 12th, 2002
Wait, what? … I can work this through, hang on….nope…nope ….. and my nose is bleeding now…. (See: Bilbo Baggins in ‘The Lord of The Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’: “I don’t know half of you half, as well as I, should like. And I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve.” You’re welcome.)
5.) "If you like your plan, you can keep it." President Barack Obama, campaigning for the Affordable Care Act.
While President Obama was on the stump, he repeated this refrain again and again and again. It is sure to go down in history as one of the most grievous political lies in history. While the right howled in outrage, the mainstream media and the left quietly shuffled this overt deception under the rug, where they wish it would stay.
On Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan’s Speaker.gov, Doug Andes wrote “The reality is simple: This was not true. Before Obamacare became law, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted that millions of Americans would lose their plans, and that’s exactly what happened. Shortly after the law took effect, millions of Americans received letters informing them that their plans had been canceled. “
6.) March 9, 2010, Speaker Nancy Pelosi- "We Have to Pass the Bill So That You Can Find Out What Is In It."
This logic denying, brain numbing, cerebral flatulence was the product of the Democratic Party’s desperate efforts to push through the Affordable Care Act, despite Republican opposition, and the Speaker’s clear exasperation with her conservative colleague’s unwillingness to join her in completely defying their constituencies in unleashing what amounted to the largest tax increase in nearly a century.
7.) “But the debate is settled. Climate change is a fact.” –President Barack Obama during his 2014 State of the Union
This has to be the great granddaddy of them all- the single largest piece of articulated brain damage of the last twenty odd years. “The Science is settled.” The very phrase is in itself antithetical to the scientific method, the concepts of the Enlightenment, and the words of history’s greatest scholars.
The legendary author, M.D., and film producer Dr. Michael Crichton said: "Whenever you hear the consensus of scientists agrees on something or other, reach for your wallet because you're being had." I trust the brilliant mind that brought us Jurassic Park, Sphere, and The Andromeda Strain to know a monster when he sees one.
Gaslighting or not, whether you agree with the President’s actions or not, if we are forced as a nation to question all of our preconceived notions and paradigms, then we win. After all, Jefferson taught us to “Question with boldness even the existence of God; because if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blind-folded fear.”
Originally Published on http://www.lanterns.buzz
January ,25 217
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