And so it begins. On the first rule day of the Trump regime, in an astounding press conference, the White House press press secretary shrilly attacked the press for insisting on facts about turnout.
And yesterday, the odious Trump minion Kellyanne Conway was all over the news, belligerently insisting Sean Spicer (aka Baghdad Bob) has “alternate facts.”
The White House is working with a merry band of right-wing extremists who have for a long time studied the uses of propaganda in authoritarian regimes. Now they get to experiment with the American psyche. What fun!
The media is not yet worthy of a martyr’s crown. They are showing some signs of life (CNN in particular gets props for refusing to broadcast the press conference) but if you watched coverage of the Women’s March, reporters carefully avoided any mention of the fact that it was a march against Trump. Instead, it morphed before our eyes into an “expression of positivity” and “assertion of girl power” rather than an angry march against a sexual assaulter. (Were all those pink pussycat hats and “Pussy Grabs Back” signs of female cat fanciers?)
It certainly had nothing to do with feminism. I didn’t hear the word once.
But we have to support them when they do get it right. Watch carefully. Let them know when they get it wrong — but support them when they get it right. (Follow them on Twitter so you can respond in real time.)
The Trump regime will divide us into groups: The ones who say “he’s lying,” the ones who say the president wouldn’t lie, the ones who don’t care if he lies, and the ones who can’t figure out who’s telling the truth. We need to move as many people as possible into that first group, because the more people can’t figure out the truth, the more likely they are to become politically detached. We can’t afford that.
This is a dangerous time. We expected it, and those of us who have been strategizing behind the scenes for the past year know where it’s headed. We need every single one of you to push back on every front, because they’re fighting a multi-front war, flinging crap in all directions.
Signing up here is also a good way to start.
Don’t forget where Trump learned PR: from the odious Roy Cohn, McCarthy’s attack dog and the man Molly Ivins called “Maybe the most despicable man to ever walk the Earth.”