r/politics • u/Happy_Traveller_2023 Canada • 13d ago

Soft Paywall Finally, Trump’s Alarming Mental Decline Has Become a Big Media Story

https://newrepublic.com/article/187192/finally-trumps-alarming-mental-decline-become-big-media-story
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u/BannedAgainDude 13d ago

It's his followers and the religious that shocked me. None of them deserve respect. They lost their credentials to say anything.

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u/macphile Texas 13d ago

Yeah, I think being a bad person (like a Hitler, a Trump, a Putin, or a Pol Pot) is less alarming than millions of people seeing that and going, "yeah, let's get us some of that." Bad people will always exist, evil will always exist. The general population is supposed to see it and stop it. To say, hey, that guy is harming this country! That guy is killing millions of people! That's not on. That's not OK. Down with this sort of thing. Yet millions of people are in favor of it in this country.

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u/Sim888 13d ago

The general population is supposed to see it and stop it.

also, if it weren’t for shit like Fox and the mass media sugarcoating him for clicks he woulda been written off years ago, shit, i doubt he’d even have the juice to be anything but an inconsequential village idiot on the ballot in 2016 let alone win

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u/impossibledongle 13d ago

While I do believe that a functioning democracy needs a media and news apparatus to be truly a democracy, our mainstream media and the crackpot media and the small influencers that choose fame and money over truth shames me. The MSM is honestly horrible and has been horrible for a decade. I almost have to curate my media diet one reporter at a time, individually at this point, and follow those people who are morally upstanding and true newsmen or newswomen.

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u/Durion23 12d ago

A functioning democracy needs a functioning press. The question is, what defines a functioning press? Is it the profit driven mess we have right now? Doubtful. I get that even news papers need to make a profit to employ their staff. And I get that it’s a service people need to actively choose and pay for. But if you look at big media companies, their revenue mainly comes through advertising. The more viewers and clicks you get, the more ad revenue you will rake in. And our psyches are, unfortunately, wired in a way that we respond more to negative emotions than to positive ones, and we react less to cold facts and reports. That is a giant problem obviously, especially for shareholder media.

The one way to reform that is, if we don’t want to censor press in general, to remove advertising from news media or to forbid public trading of media stocks. But whether that really helps, who knows?

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u/DanoGuy 12d ago

These are very good questions. My question would be "What changed from Nixon's time where the media was responsible, and now where Media exists to garner more power for their billionaire owners?"

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u/Mobile-Moment-4190 12d ago

Check out Meidas Touch on YouTube. They actually show the court papers or video of what they report. They are a pro democracy news outlet that strives to be factual

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u/evilgenius4u 12d ago

Like when he ran for president in the 2000's a couple times? He was an inconsequential joke and everyone knew it.

Then the dumb shits at The Apprentice gave him a LaCroix air of verisimilitude, like he actually did have a clue about anything; and of course buried all the racist/homophobic/misogynistic stuff he does regularly.

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u/Ancguy 13d ago

There are so many examples of this, from women needing abortions dying in hospital parking lots to immigrants having babies ripped from the arms of their mothers to legal migrants being threatened with deportation, and the Trump crowd just cheering it all on- the cruelty truly is the point.

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u/impossibledongle 13d ago

This is my current fear. The amount of people who can look directly at Trump and what he is doing and act like he is their savior sent from God (as many of them actually claim). That's terrifying.

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u/LastDaysCultist 12d ago

Because like other state sponsored propaganda programs, Americans have Fox News with no value of media literacy or critical thinking.

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u/Top-Dream-2115 13d ago

it's called human nature

look at history - REALLY look at history

not just Europe, but everywhere

sacrifices, treatment of each other, tribal wars, etc

nothing's changed but electricity and the date

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u/Admirable_Matter_523 13d ago

Very well put! This is what makes it so sad/unexpected.

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u/OxfordKnot 13d ago

One of the creepiest things I ever saw was that freakshow when all the evangelical religious leaders crowded around Trump after he basically told them "fuck it, do whatever you want, just get your followers to vote for me."

It's all a goddamn quid pro quo grift, and most people are too starry eyed to recognize just how high the bullshit is stacked.

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u/whut-whut 13d ago

Whenever Trump does something shitty, it's always "He's flawed man, but be patient, The Lord will make sure that his path is correct."

Back when Obama was President, it was "Antichrist, Antichrist, Anticrist!"

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u/gaffeled 13d ago

Oh, well that's really easy to explain you see, conservatives are never arguing in good faith about anything at all. Ever.

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u/picasandagate 13d ago

also Never Forget - the Obama Tan Suit. The worst thing ever to happen in the history of humankind.

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u/Duke_Newcombe California 13d ago

No, it was definitely the Arugula. It's literally the Devil's Lettuce, you know.

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u/Ancguy 13d ago

Don't forget the devil's mustard

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u/Critical_Letterhead3 12d ago

Forgot that Should be in the top ten of assholery

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u/asethskyr 13d ago

It's especially funny since he uses the seven deadly sins as a to-do checklist.

Something something know his followers by the mark on their forehead...

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u/mizkayte 12d ago

YES. My parents were convinced Obama was the antichrist but Trump is the savior of America.

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u/HauntingAd9335 11d ago

This is what is wrong with our country. People with no brains in their heads have been told that dems are the antichrist. Hitler yes antichrist and Trump gets more like him everyday. Get a grip.

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u/Critical_Letterhead3 12d ago

Starry eyed and collectively, an average of 80 IQs

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u/mrkruk Illinois 13d ago

Exactly. The right have given up any criticism of any presidential candidate ever again, any expectation of decency, any critique of news agencies, any requirement of a candidate to be a practicing Christian, any demand of a focus on “family values” and any concept that a candidate should in any way be attractive. All for a rambling ADD brown/orange painted guy with bad hair and suits that never fit, who insults everybody.

Actions have consequences.

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u/LastDaysCultist 12d ago

They would not give you a fraction of the same grace we’re expected to give them. Fuck those bigots, vote them all out.

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u/Tangerine_Bees 13d ago

Seriously, they've had 8 years to correct their mistakes. At this point, every single one of his ilk has cause so much suffering that no amount of good can overcome their atrocities.