{"id":101016,"date":"2017-08-24T14:20:45","date_gmt":"2017-08-24T21:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=101016"},"modified":"2017-08-24T14:20:45","modified_gmt":"2017-08-24T21:20:45","slug":"assertion-and-demonstration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/08\/assertion-and-demonstration.html","title":{"rendered":"Assertion and Demonstration"},"content":{"rendered":"<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><head><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><meta http-equiv=\"content-type\" content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\"><\/head><body><p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americamagazine.org\/politics-society\/2017\/08\/23\/editors-trumps-recklessness-danger-body-politic\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">The Editors of <em>America<\/em> make the charge<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>President Donald J. Trump appeared before thousands of his supporters at a 2020 re-election rally in Phoenix on Aug. 22, where he defended his actions as president, excoriated his critics and derided the institutions of the republic. While the country has seen much of this before, the event in Phoenix shows that the president prefers to continue to campaign and stir up mobs instead of attempting to govern and serve the country. Yet campaigning is a poor substitute for governance, and stoking rage is no substitute for developing policy and building coalitions. The president\u2019s inflammatory and occasionally incoherent address, moreover, was a grab-bag of half-truths and reckless accusations, red meat tossed to the ravenous crowd who filled the convention center. During 90 minutes:<\/p>\n<ul id=\"kix.wrefal4e0a8z-0\" data-level=\"0\">\n<li class=\"LID-kix.wrefal4e0a8z-0\" data-level=\"0\">Mr. Trump misrepresented his actions in the immediate aftermath of the tragic events in Charlottesville, omitting that he had expressed a moral equivalence between the neo-Nazi demonstrators and their counterparts.<\/li>\n<li class=\"LID-kix.wrefal4e0a8z-0\" data-level=\"0\">Mr. Trump accused the national media of deliberate dishonesty in reporting his statements regarding Charlottesville, which were covered in their totality across media platforms.<\/li>\n<li class=\"LID-kix.wrefal4e0a8z-0\" data-level=\"0\">Mr. Trump undermined the rule of law by boasting that he will pardon the convicted criminal Joe Arpaio, not as an act of merciful justice, but to celebrate Mr. Arpaio\u2019s flouting of court orders and immigration laws during his tenure as sheriff in Phoenix.<\/li>\n<li class=\"LID-kix.wrefal4e0a8z-0\" data-level=\"0\">Mr. Trump repeatedly used racial and ethnic coding to accuse the media and the establishment of trying to rob \u201cus\u201d of our \u201chistory and our heritage.\u201d<\/li>\n<li class=\"LID-kix.wrefal4e0a8z-0\" data-level=\"0\">Mr. Trump claimed against ample objective evidence to the contrary that he has so far managed the most successful presidency in history.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These statements by President Trump are beneath the dignity of his office and are an affront to the intelligence of the American people. His characterization of the national news media is especially galling: \u201cYou would think they\u2019d want to make our country great again, and I honestly believe they don\u2019t. I honestly believe it,\u201d he said. While the press is not above critique, Mr. Trump\u2019s statement is an indiscriminate assault on the patriotism and integrity of the press from the man who swore an oath to preserve, protect and defend its freedom.<\/p>\n<p>Polybius, the ancient Greek historian, could have been a pool journalist reporting on Mr. Trump\u2019s performance in Phoenix: \u201cThe common people feel themselves oppressed by the grasping of some, and their vanity is flattered by others. Fired with evil passions, they are no longer willing to submit to control, but demand that everything be subject to their authority. The invariable result is that government assumes the noble names of free and popular, but becomes in fact the most execrable thing, mob rule.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The one who leads a mob\u2014no matter how large\u2014is a demagogue. President Trump\u2019s reckless disregard for the truth, the rule of law and the institutions of the republic are a clear and present danger to the body politic. We the people must use all peaceful, lawful means at our disposal to check his power and limit the damage.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And, as if he had been paid by them to prove their point,\u00a0GOP dirty tricks op Roger Stone threatens death and violence against those who so much as think of impeaching Trump:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rawstory.com\/2017\/08\/violence-and-insurrection-gop-dirty-tricks-operative-warns-trump-impeachment-will-unleash-civil-war\/\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">\u201cTry to impeach him, just try it,\u201d he said, becoming animated. \u201cYou will have a spasm of violence in this country and insurrection like you\u2019ve never seen.\u201d<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Speaking of paid ringers, of the cherished lies of the Trump gang is the \u201cpaid protester\u201d. \u00a0You know, this guy:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pbs.twimg.com\/media\/C4R-hgEUoAEfQSE.jpg\" alt=\"Image result for paid protester cartoon\"><\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s the thing, despite the deathless faith of the Trump supporter, there is, of course, no There there.<\/p>\n<p>There is however, the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/thr-esq\/donald-trump-escapes-fec-punishment-paid-actors-at-presidential-announcement-966428\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">documented fact that Trump himself hired a paid actors to cheer for his campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.huffingtonpost.com\/entry\/trumps-phoenix-team-apparently-posts-craigslist-ads_us_599a8243e4b02eb2fda3216c\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">And there\u2019s this<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/img.huffingtonpost.com\/asset\/599a830d1e00001400c5e857.png?ops=scalefit_820_noupscale\" alt=\"\"><\/p>\n<p>Of course, the same people who shout about the \u201cpaid Soros protesters\u201d for whom there is no evidence shout \u201cfake news\u201d about the paid Trump demonstrators for which there is hard documentation.<\/p>\n<p>I wonder why the people who are so certain of this conspiracy never go\u00a0wherever it is they believe these thousands of paid protesters go, sign up, get the check, and expose the whole operation?<\/p>\n<p>I think the only think this really illustrates is a pattern that has become more and more obvious with Trump and his true believers. \u00a0It is this:<\/p>\n<p>With the Party of Trump accusation is always a form of confession.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Editors of America make the charge: President Donald J. Trump appeared before thousands of his supporters at a 2020 re-election rally in Phoenix on Aug. 22, where he defended his actions as president, excoriated his critics and derided the institutions of the republic. While the country has seen much of this before, the event [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[860,859],"class_list":["post-101016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-evidence-for-the-impeachment","tag-life-in-the-banana-republic-of-trumps-amerikkka"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Assertion and Demonstration<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Editors of America make the charge: President Donald J. 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