This is how a dictatorship works.

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The press has had enough of being called liars by the liars. I’m not a big fan of MJ, but the very fact that MJ has quotable conversation about this is a change in how the world works.

Here’s another thing dictators do: Make up accolades. Trump created a fake TIME magazine cover and hung it in several of his golf clubs. It has him on the cover. That issue of TIME never happened. It is not just fake news, it is an entire fake news magazine. Details here.

Here it is. Interesting set of headlines:

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26 thoughts on “This is how a dictatorship works.

    1. I believe that if you watch the video the CNN story is mentioned. I don’t think anyone cares a rat’s ass about what Sarah Palin is doing.

      Your point?

  1. The difference is that CNN admitted it’s error and the folks responsible are out of a job. Maybe Kevin doesn’t understand what taking responsibility means?

    And, as Greg said, nobody cares about Palin’s latest attention whore move.

  2. Nice little piece, mentioned in “Signs of Fascism”. https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2017/6/28/1676059/-Signs-of-Fascism-Trump-checking-off-the-list

    As to Kevin:
    (1) Yup, CNN acted as professionals, retracted a story, and disciplined people for violating standards. Hmmm … anything similar coming from Trump in terms of accountability for erroneous statements/assertions?
    (2) Wow — Sarah Palin is going to sue, announced after the NY Times had already issued a correction to a piece which had an error in it. Too bad that Democrats haven’t been suing people and outlets who have been far more egregious in creating and promoting far more aggressive libel (such as assertions that Michelle Obama is a transvestite, that Barack Obama wasn’t born in the United States, … etc … etc … etc …).
    3. And, of course, your comment is simply trolling — irrelevant to Laden’s post.

  3. Kevin’s attempt at a false balance fallacy. Trump’s putting up fake magazines to try to convince people he is perfect is, in fact, a cliche move of despots. He did this, it is a fact. Greg Laden is under zero obligation to talk about anything else to satisfy YOUR need to forgive Trump for lying by just blaming others for unrelated matters.

    And news outlets mess up. In response, the good ones admit it via corrections and retractions. If CNN really was committed to “destroying” Donald Trump, it would double down on the original story…duh.

  4. “So, no mention of CNN having to retract a story?”

    No. And that news has nothing to do with this story, so why are you whining here? Butthurt that your tiny tinpot dictator is being accurately identified and categorised so busy shouting “LOOK! SQUIRREL!!!”?

    There was also no mention of Jared getting 4x over the odds for his failed purchase by the Chinese, just before China got “good press” from the president, despite all the campaigning about how bad and evil “Chynya” is. Though that DOES have a fair bit to do with what a dictator does.

  5. This is a fascinating test for American democracy – either it proves resilient to a bloke who wants to run his country Putin-style, or it doesn’t.

    I still think the Bush/Cheney/etc.. period was 100x more of a threat than Trump is though.

  6. You got that right this is planned and we have seen it before via Germany. I cannot believe they think everyone is so stupid. Thank you for speaking out.

  7. Craig T, early days yet. We thought Bush I was OK when he manned up a bit after 9/11 (and mind you, 16 years later, we’re several months short of September now). Bush/Cheney were civilized compared to this bunch, and we still had a window of opportunity about climate change (btw, Bush despite his bad actions on that did actually end up acknowledging it).

    OTOH, you make a good point; Republican misbehavior is not new, Democracy and the economy do not thrive under their misrule, and that includes Reagan as well.

  8. Re Craig: Only because the orange-utan is a more incompetent and idiotic blowhard than Shrub and employs people not anywhere near as smart as Cheney (as virulently toxic as that intelligence was).

  9. The Trump/Mussolini thing is interesting. Even before the election I noticed that Trump’s body language and facial expressions bore an alarming similarity to those of ‘Il Duce’. His actions since becoming PotUS have only extended the similarities. Of course Trump was elected (questions about the system and whether it was corrupted aside) and could be removed from power democratically whilst Mussolini seized power via the threat of force so comparisons are, currently at least, largely superficial. But if Trump continues to push his ‘cult of personality’ then ………..

  10. Then take a look at all these “Dictators”…

    I dunno. What is allowing you to assume that people requesting such fake covers are balanced people?
    (and anyway, this cover is not the only point in the data)

    Someone has a fake cover made for him/her or for a friend*, and then the recipient displays it at home or in his office as an obvious joke/conversation piece? No problem here.

    The recipient put the fake cover on public display among real newspapers’ excerpts, by example in the entrance hall of his building? I would start to get worried.
    If he is my co-worker, I would get really worried. If he is my boss, I would quit my job.

    But then, I’m a scientist. We are taught that misrepresenting our achievements is a career-ending action. I guess different rules apply for politicians.

    * trying to be charitable, here. I dunno if this fake cover was ordered by Mr Trump himself or if this is a gift from a friend. Although I don’t know which one is actually the worse possibility: narcissism or gullibility.

  11. “We are taught that misrepresenting our achievements is a career-ending action. I guess different rules apply for politicians”

    It’s different for those in the right, since they only let about the poor, women, and minorities — people they don’t believe matter, so the lies don’t matter.

  12. dean – “It’s different for those in the right, since they only let about the poor, women, and minorities — people they don’t believe matter, so the lies don’t matter.”

    So there aren’t any poor, women or minorities on the right?

    Why the need to lie dean?

  13. There are betula they just don’t matter to the politicians, just as they don’t matter to you. One of lying, and it is you, as it is what you were born to do.

  14. Betula, do you have a reading comprehension problem?

    So there aren’t any poor, women or minorities on the right?

    How did you interpret him as saying that?

  15. Batshit just makes stuff up. Ask Jeff if he turns up with the info about what he’s been working on here.

  16. re #17, I think the difference goes deeper.

    The left thinks of themselves as “the good guys”.
    The right thinks of the left as “the bad guys”.

    So the left doesn’t do what “bad guys” do, because that breaks their belief in their being good. They complain about others they see as being on the left doing it too, again, because they feel that this proves they’re not “the good guys”.

    Meanwhile the right does WHATEVER THEY CAN THINK OF against the left, and justify it with “the ends justifies the means”, so any and all bad things are “fine” *when they do it*, because they’re being shitlords to remove “the bad guys”. They don’t care what they or anyone else on the right does “bad”, because it’s against “the bad guys”, therefore right and just. They DO complain deeply about the left doing the same thing, because “that proves they’re the bad guys!”.

  17. Wow – “The left thinks of themselves as “the good guys”.
    The right thinks of the left as “the bad guys”.

    I’m glad you don’t think of the right as “bad guys” Wow…it’s a rare bit of honesty on your part. Oh wait…

    Wow – “They DO complain deeply about the left doing the same thing, because “that proves they’re the bad guys!”.

    So the left really does think of the right as bad guys and the right thinks of themselves as the good guys, only the real good guys can prove who the bad guys are by calling them bad for complaining about the good acting like the bad.

    Simple Wow logic.

  18. I’m glad you accept that you to all sorts of shitlord bollocks on your side, batshit. In your rush to bash the left (because you think of anyone who disagrees with your politics is inherently and irredemably evil) you managed to score an own goal.

    Oh, nope, you made up that last paragraph, batshit.

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