Textbook Information Warfare
One data point tells you little more than pure randomness. With two points, you can make a line. More than three points, you can start forming patterns. Our new president has so many points, it can be confusing to keep track of them all. Yet, confusion is exactly the pattern Trump is counting on. It is textbook information warfare. Let's quickly run through the chapters.
Chapter 1: Gaslighting
On day one, the new President set in motion the first salvo in a new campaign against reality. On the surface it looks like a rather innocuous lie. Who really cares how big the crowd was on inauguration day? What bearing could it possibly have on his duties as President?
What makes the lie so powerful is not the fact in question. It is the function that it serves in creating confusion. This kind of rewrite of reality is what clinical psychologists call “gaslighting,” which is a reference to a 1944 film where a murderous husband denies dimming the gaslights in his home, sending his wife into a state of confusion that allows him manipulate her.
If you make people confused, they are vulnerable. By definition they don’t know what to do. — Clinical Psychologist Bryant Welch
By insisting upon such a bald faced lie, Trump is telling Americans that they cannot even trust their very own eyes. He even made it easier for some folks by releasing photos from his own perspective, which shows the packed first few sections. It’s one of the oldest photography tricks in the book.
So what? Politicians do this all the time. Of course they do, but if confronted, how many of them go on at such great length to lie about it? How many lie on such a scale as to claim over a million in attendance, when at most it was half that many?
Whether it is all Trump vanity or an entirely deliberate action matters not, the effect is the exactly the same. The President is gaslighting America.
Chapter 2: Marginalize
On day two of his presidency, the largest protests in all of US history, swept peacefully over the nation. If held on inauguration day, no amount of force could have stopped them, but the protest leaders sought to be respectful (unlike the hooligans that tainted demonstrations the day before). Once again, one might expect the new President to acknowledge disagreements and seek common ground. Instead he tweeted:
While he later recognized protests as a hallmark of democracy, he made no attempt to acknowledge the validity of their positions on his policies and behavior. When you marginalize your opposition, you strip away their legitimacy. By calling people sore losers, Trump is reinforcing his position as the singular authority.
Chapter 3: Propaganda
By day four — with the war over reality well underway — Trump moved onto the next chapter, propaganda. In making his first official stop the institution that reported on Russia’s deliberate attempts to manipulate the US election’s in his favor — a claim that Trump vehemently and publicly denied — one might have expected him to try and reconcile past disagreements.
Instead, while standing in front of a wall memorializing the citizens who gave their lives for our country, Trump sought to whitewash his behavior by bringing in 40 supporters to cheer on a speech that lay all the blame on the media. A tactic used tirelessly during his campaign that always finds someone else to fault, and never once accepting responsibility.
Not all that served were fooled:
When I see our president use a wall that symbolizes the ultimate sacrifice as a backdrop for his vanity, I cannot play down its seriousness. And when he borrows a line straight from a dictator’s playbook — “Probably almost everybody in this room voted for me, but I will not ask you to raise your hands if you did” — I cannot remain silent. — Former CIA Analyst Yaël Eisenstat
There is no other word for such a charade. Trying to co-opt the imagery of the CIA’s most sacred memorial in an attempt to improve one’s standing is straight from propaganda 101.
Chapter 4: Suppress
On day five, the President was well onto the next step. While Trump had already made it clear he would be hand picking from the media — deciding which institutions were “real” and which were “fake” — Trump took things a step further by muzzling the EPA.
Having almost fully suppressed the flow of reliable and scientific sources, Trump is now seeking to establish total control over crucial information.
Chapter 5: Placate
Once you have your opponents subdued and the general public confused enough to buy into propaganda, the next step in an infowar campaign is placate your base. Any good authoritarian will tell you that the last thing you want is dissent amongst the rank and file.
So, with strokes of his pen, Trump has given each faction of the GOP something they always dreamed of. From dismantling the Affordable Care Act to restarting oil pipeline projects, Trump is consolidating his base and making sure everyone gets at least something they really wanted, even though they may disagree with all the rest.
Coda
There it is. Textbook information warfare. This isn’t hyperbole. It isn’t even exaggeration. It is the reality you can plainly see with your own two eyes. It is his very own words.
Yet more important than how he is subverting the American people is why he is doing it. What is the real point of such alarming deception?
The truth is, this was never about eliminating the swamp that surrounds Washington — even though the swamp is something very real and problematic. This was about letting the swamp monsters inside. The ones hidden in the murky depths.
It was a warning when Trump refused to release his tax reports during the election. By refusing as president, it is a five-alarm fire. Trump’s global business ties were also just problems that required solutions, but with the trust in his children he is still far too close to avoid massive conflicts of interest. From stacking his administration with billionaires and loyalists, to direct violations of the Emoluments Clause, our new president has both everything to hide and everything to lose. Given the lengths he has gone to over blatant lies as trivial as the size of a crowd, what do you think Trump will do about issues that really, really matter?
Issues that will affect generations. Your children. Your grandchildren. Your great grandchildren.
What can we do though? We are an army of ones.
We do as every true American has ever done, we resist. When it was taxation without representation, we resisted. When it was slavery, we resisted. When women’s suffrage was denied, we resisted. When civil rights were withheld, we resisted. When the rights of love were prohibited, we resisted.
When it is a direct assault on reality. We must resist. We must not fatigue of the impassioned calls for justice and liberty. We must not turn away from the constant stream of carnage flowing from the mouth, fingers, and actions of Trump. We must resist the desire to throw our hands up in despair.
It does not matter if you are Democrat or Republican, Libertarian or Green, Independent or non-voter, if you are an American first, then you have a duty to defend your country. We must resist.
There is only one real cure is to keep pulling back the curtain. We have to pull back the curtain behind the image of the great and powerful Trump and show everyone that he is but merely one man, pulling on the levers of an information war machine.
#resist
