With the 2018 election approaching, what would you do if you were Trump and the GOP and you have broken every major 2016 campaign promise while subsequently accomplishing virtually nothing in the way of actual policy outcomes even though you had complete control of Washington?
You’d do what establishment frauds have always done when trying to protect their positions of power. Look for something, anything to use as a distraction to hide behind in the hope that doing so would allow you to eek out a victory in November.
We’ve witnessed some of this strategy already on many of the big issues. For example, earlier this year, the GOP-controlled House conducted a show vote on the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Act just weeks before Republicans joined hands with Democrats to create a budget deal that not only ensured America’s bankruptcy but provided billions of dollars in funding for Planned Parenthood.
That same budget deal also ensured that Obamacare never goes away — a trend likely to continue with current spending legislation expected to be passed before October. Not to worry though. Faced with the reality of their biggest broken promise, Republicans want to assure us that they will really, really, really repeal Obamacare if we let them keep control after November.
As weak and pathetic as these obvious election-year ploys are, they fail because they remind America that Trump and the GOP have broken a promise or two. What they really need to distract the voters is an issue unrelated to their campaign promises that also feeds Trump’s loyal base. And it looks like they found it.
Trump’s egomaniacal need for unconditional praise and adulation from people other than the Fellowship of the Pharisees has been the trigger behind his impulsive abuse of power against the so-called “Fake News” media whenever they say “negative and nasty” things about him.
Labelling the media “the enemy of the American people,” Trump has repeatedly made threats against them and the freedom of the press, often to the sound of thunderous applause from so-called conservative media voices.
This has become the perfect distraction.
Using the same propaganda principles once practiced by Joseph Goebbels, Trump has made an impact as the idea of government censorship of the media has grown in acceptance by Republicans. Unfortunately, Trump is riding that wave to target new “enemies.”
Last week, Trump added Google to his enemies list for using what he called a “RIGGED” system against him, and he promised to address this “very serious situation.” So, it should come as no surprise that Attorney General Jeff Sessions — a man with his own job security worries — announced plans to meet with state attorneys general to discuss the “growing concern” that companies like Google might be “intentionally stifling” the free exchange of ideas.
Not to be outdone, Republicans in Congress recently conducted another round of hearings where they grilled Google, Facebook, Twitter, and others for their so-called biases.
Trump and the GOP know they couldn’t win a race for dogcatcher based on their track record, so they are relying on the politics of distraction to save their positions of power. Meanwhile, the slow and steady death of liberty continues.
David Leach is the owner of The Strident Conservative. His politically incorrect and always “right” columns are also featured on NOQReport.com.
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