Why does Trump lie so much?

[Bonefishblues]

TRiP US current episode is worth a listen - turns out that Mooch has been on the inside working with the Dems for a couple of months, including at last night's debate.

[briansnail]

Apparently also helps amongst immigrant voters which I found particularly surprising.

Trump is not racist personally.He plays the card to garner votes from those blue collar voters so many who have lost good paying manufacturing jobs to China.They work for half the money in the local supermarket.The Republicans bussed some immigrants to Democrat areas.The already poor immigrants resent state funding going to new arrivals.
Finally the Republicans want the immigrants.They do the poor back breaking farm work for no money.The smart Indians and Chinese are doing PhD's in the states and going back home to build businesses.The salaries have caught up.
********************
I ride Brompton,Hetchins 531

[Jdsk]

Trump is not racist personally.
...

"Donald Trump’s Racism: The Definitive List, Updated":
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/201 ... acist.html

"An Oral History of Trump's Bigotry":
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/ar ... ts/588067/

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

David Allen Green on Taylor Swift on Harris and Walz:
""How Taylor Swift’s endorsement of Harris and Walz is a masterpiece of persuasive prose: a songwriter’s practical lesson in written advocacy":
https://davidallengreen.com/2024/09/how ... -advocacy/

Today's competition... the Ronstadt or Swift song or album that best describes Trump....

Jonathan

[Psamathe]

Of course and violence directed against anybody is terrible.

I wonder if Trump has appreciated the hypocracy when he starts with

Donald Trump claimed without evidence Monday that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ comments that he is a threat to democracy had inspired the latest apparent attempt on his life ...

Has he reflected the damage and violence his own rhetoric caused eg Jan 6, attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband, etc. and his own continual rhetoric attacking and threatening his rivals? To me his reaction further highlights his narcissism and lack of any thought process beyond self-interest and attention seeking.

Ian

[Bonefishblues]

Of course and violence directed against anybody is terrible.

I wonder if Trump has appreciated the hypocracy when he starts with

Donald Trump claimed without evidence Monday that President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ comments that he is a threat to democracy had inspired the latest apparent attempt on his life ...

Has he reflected the damage and violence his own rhetoric caused eg Jan 6, attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband, etc. and his own continual rhetoric attacking and threatening his rivals? To me his reaction further highlights his narcissism and lack of any thought process beyond self-interest and attention seeking.

Ian

AIUI the individual charged had used that form of words in some post or other.

[briansnail]

So guys ,ladies why is this liar in your view managing to get 46% polling? I just do not get why he polls so high.

[Cugel]

So guys ,ladies why is this liar in your view managing to get 46% polling? I just do not get why he polls so high.

They like the jut o' his fib.

Most humans prefer what they want to hear to any kind of more objective truth. Reality is far too awkward, distasteful or just plain painful to many filled with their large gobbets of prejudice about this, that and especially the other. And we seem to prefer to have imagined enemies rather than to make others our friends. Especially in the MeSA, where "you" is looked upon with all kinds of suspicion and foreboding. (Shoot 'em quick, them strangers!)

All of us are, in fact, filled to the brim with made-up-stuff. We long ago discarded our connection with the real in favour of a connection with the imagined. Language is an awful, terrible thing, so it is! Take your pick of a thousand cultural constructs made of the sticky stuff. Or rather, get programmed with one or more of the cultural constructs that appear at home, school and in the mass media.

If only we could function without the prattle and all its lies, half-truths and very queer notions. Mind, if we did, we'd all soon be dead-of-other-beast rather than dead-of-human-doings. No civilisation, technology, markets or anything other than a basic animal existence without our thunks and all that ensues. We'd still be chasing mammoths for dinner. Mind, there would still be mammoths to chase.

[reohn2]

So guys ,ladies why is this liar in your view managing to get 46% polling? I just do not get why he polls so high.

Because his opponents upto now have been so bad?
And because the US demockracy system is even worse than ours perhaps?

[Bonefishblues]

TRiP US gives some interesting insights and perspectives on his winning in 2016 by redefining what was possible and acceptable for a politician. Hate him or hate him, he defies political gravity.

[Psamathe]

So guys ,ladies why is this liar in your view managing to get 46% polling? I just do not get why he polls so high.

It is possible that once people have decided how they intend to vote there is a fair resistance to changing their mind. Possible a good number decided whilst Biden was still running and they are not paying as much attention to campaigns (as they are boring for non-fanatics) so are being slow to change their minds and maybe wont change their minds. Biden may have done a lot of damage to the Democrat prospects.

Ian

[Vorpal]

So guys ,ladies why is this liar in your view managing to get 46% polling? I just do not get why he polls so high.

1) divisiveness in American politics
2) single-issue voting (guns, abortion, etc.)
3) conservative women voting the way their husband's say
4) media treating 'both sides' as equally valid, even when politicians say things that are blatantly untrue

Also, remember that the USA was founded by religious conservatives and there remains an undercurrent of that today. I don't think that conservative religious leaders accept Trump at face value, but they see him as a means to achieve their theocracy.

[roubaixtuesday]

So guys ,ladies why is this liar in your view managing to get 46% polling? I just do not get why he polls so high.

Any answer to this which focusses on Trump the individual is probably going to miss the point.

A better question IMO would be "Why are voters susceptible to the appeal of a person like Trump".

Some suggestions. Purely personal views, and could be wildly wrong!

1. History is always a good guide. Demagogues have *always* appealed to people. Trump is nothing new in this context, and to see him as such is mistaken. Wiki has some examples throughout history here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demagogue

2. Such people are always attractive in times of economic difficulty. Whilst the US is still a rich nation, working class incomes have stagnated whilst the richest have prospered in recent decades. This brings a ready source of grievance

3. Globalisation has driven prosperity through cheap imports, but equally contributed to (2). Another ready source of grievance.

4. America is no longer white dominated in the way it was, which allows the "other" to be blamed. More fuel for grievance.

5. More recently, division is stoked by social media, which deliberately amplifies outrage and anger for profit, making it seem that people are far more polarised than they really are.

6. Trump is funded and supported by the super rich who through outlets like Fox News, deliberately sow propaganda to keep their privilege.

If you think this is unique to America, explain how Brexit and Johnson happened.

[Nearholmer]

And, explain the incredibly high level of “anti “ stuff directed at stoking discontent, at at destabilising our recently elected government, via social
media particularly.

Cui bono?

Oligarchs, other forms of mega-rich, existing demagogues who would feel very comfortable in a world full of people the same as them.

Not the turkeys who are conned into voting for Christmas.

Demagoguery is always, always, always a con-trick, pulled by lying, which is why pathological liars like Trump, Putin, Johnson, and an endless line of other pathological liars are good at it!

He appeals to people by lying, that’s both why he lies, and why he is popular. And, the bigger, the more egregious the lies are, the better they work.

[Psamathe]

Over last two night I watched the Channel 4's 2 part documentary (on-air) about Trump's "Stolen Election". Nothing new and no great surprises but bringing it all together with interviewing republicans at senior positions and with responsibilities really brought home the madness of Trump.

Ian