The Trump Machine is like Scientology
Here is my current theory. The Donald Trump machine is like Scientology. No seriously, go with me on this one.
I’ve been watching all the Scientology documentaries and, of course, Leah Remini’s show on A&E (which is fantastic despite her scary and unnecessary plastic surgery). One of the genius things Scientology was able to accomplish was that they convinced their members that they were participating in all this charity work and helping the universe, and then told them the media wasn’t reporting any of the good things, so the media is evil and everything they report that’s negative has to be wrong. They are suppressive people.
Somehow, the Trump machine has figured out a way to tap into this and make it work, even with the 24-hour news cycle. I mean, seriously, party affiliation aside, no other candidate in our history has been able to get away with the things Trump has and still be elected. Talking about shooting people in the street, mocking disabled people, and talking about grabbing women would end any other political career. Look at what happened to poor Howard Dean!
But they’ve figured it out. They were able to make their supporters believe that the media is evil and not to listen to them. If you don’t want the coverage or don’t watch his speeches, you never would have heard directly that Trump said that there was violence on both sides in Charlottesville. So then, at his rally last night in Phoenix, when he conveniently left out those details, his supporters can say “oh that’s just fake news” even though it’s actually what he said. He says he isn’t racist, and they believe him. When else has this actually worked in American politics?
And to suggest he’ll pardon Joe Arpaio, who presided over one of the most appalling periods of racial profiling in our history, allowed disgusting jail conditions, failed to investigate sex crimes in his department, misspent around $100 million, (and much more) is shocking. And the crowd cheers. Do they actually know who it is? Are they even listening? Or does Trump speak like David Miscavige speaks and they cheer regardless of the details?
We are living in a dangerous time. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t because the President is a Republican. I have no issue with a Republican in power. This is different. Don’t let anyone say the Democrats complaining about Trump is the same as Republicans complaining about Obama. It isn’t the same, and we have to stop allowing this behavior to continue. At the very least, shut down the Twitter account.
