The Damage: Part 7 - An Update

The Omnivore's Trump-voting uncle asked The Omnivore: "What has Trump done that is so bad." The Omnivore has written a lot about this--but it's time for an update.

Trump's administration mixes malice, incompetence, ignorance, and conspiracy-theory into a totally toxic sludge. Oh, you think The Omnivore is overblowing it or just being biased? Well, behold. The Omnivore is going to stick to things you cannot in good faith disagree with! Yes, you read that right--YOU, Trump-voter, will be forced to agree with all of this.


Malice

Trump's (really Stephen Miller's) plan for dealing with illegal immigration was to change the standing policies to prosecute (refer to the DoJ) 100% of caught border crossers--even if they said they were seeking asylum.

This was done, explicitly as a deterrent. Now--why would this deter? The reason is that border crossers with young children understand that the children will be traumatized by this (even if they are kept in relatively nice places). In other words: the plan is to traumatize children to deter parents.

1. What About Evil People With Fake Kids? We have stats for that. It's 1/2 of 1%. That's not the reason for doing this (although it was floated as one--ex-post-facto). Nope.
2. You Break The Law--You Lose Your Kids! Simple. Firstly, no. Improper Entry--the crime for border crossing--is a misdemeanor. Can the government take your grandkids if your daughter is caught speeding? Yeah--you'd be happy with that. Secondly the kids--the ones, you know, being traumatized--are innocent. To even attempt this excuse is abhorrent.
3. We Had To Do Something. We did not. Illegal crossings are down well below their historic highs. Also: parents crossing with kids are not the problem in terms of crime.
4. OBAMA DID IT TOO! Look, you idiot, Obama tried to minimize separations. Don't believe The Omnivore? Obama had a pilot program for light monitoring of families with kids that cost a whopping 36.00 per day. It was shut down by Trump. Comparing policies to minimize trauma to innocents to policies designed to maximize it? If you thought that for a second, you should turn the fuck off your TV. Seriously. You don't know how to get news.

Analysis: Despite the fact that you were lied to a bunch, it should now be clear that the plan that Miller (who ditched his Latino friends in high school, telling them he could not be friends with a Latino) has enacted is, in fact, malice. A plan to maximize harm to children--no matter your political objective--is evil. You know--and you know from childhood--that the ends do not justify the means.

Incompetence

If parts of the Trump admin are malicious, a great deal more of it is simply incompetent. Want a prime example? North Korea. 

This is a photo of Trump saluting Kim--who has his hand out to shake. What happened was that Kim saluted Trump and then Trump returned the salute as Kim stuck his hand out. It was, in fact, a human mistake to make. HOWEVER - there is a reason that presidents are usually prepped all to hell and back before meeting foreign leaders: they are to know the protocol and not give monstrous dictators huge propaganda wins. 

What does this matter? This sort of thing--Kim looking dominant over Trump--improves Kim's standing with his generals. His generals are the people who would theoretically remove him if they were going to change the regime. That means Trump, fucking around, has strengthened Kim's hand in negotiations since he is stronger internally.

The summit was a disaster for other reasons. Kim got a bunch of of stuff he wanted (meetings with a world power as an equal--something generations of Kims have sought, cessation of SoK/US readiness exercises, and pleasure from China--their chief supporter). The US got nothing. Trump claimed the problem was solved--maybe you believed him? It wasn't--and now you can see that.

There is a way to avoid this nonsense: do things the right way. Your lower-level people hammer out a framework for a deal and THEN the presidents meet. Meeting Kim wasn't the problem. Meeting Kim incompetently is.

Analysis: There were a LOT of options here, honestly. The roll-out of the Muslim ban was incompetent. The DHS response to the courts ordering children reunited with their parents shows there was no planning or anything going into this policy shift. All this stuff--everything they do--is half-assed.

Ignorance

Is the Trump administration ignorant? It is difficult to say what they really think vs. what is "spin." For example, Trump tweeted that immigrants are coming now to get in on the DACA bandwagon (DACA only applies to immigrants who came here before 2007). The Tariffs plan seems to be ignorant as well: Trump has very little idea what trade-deficits we have with countries admitting he made up deficits with Canada and then he lied about being proven right.

When faced with his campaign promise to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something better, he asked "Who knew health care was so complicated?" The answer, unfortunately, was everyone but him. If you think Obamacare was bad, you should place your blame squarely on Trump for failure to repeal it. He claimed he could do this easily and completely fumbled the ball--out of ignorance.

Trump seems only vaguely familiar with how the legal system works--complaining about the filibuster when a majority of Republicans cannot agree on a bill. He apparently asked if we could invade Venezuela. You might not believe these things--or believe that Trump is just pretending not to know things in order to help push his agenda--but consider this: what move has Trump actually made that shows a command of knowledge? 

Analysis: It is difficult to determine if Trump policies are actually ignorant--or if that is just what he believes his base to be so he feels he can get away with things. However, we have him on the record as saying things that are, clearly, legitimate expressions of ignorance of key issues his admin has promised to tackle.

Conspiracy Theory

If there is one mindset that does the most damage to our country--and has all but destroyed the Republican's moral center--it is the adoption of conspiracy theory as a mindset. Trump, facing an investigation that is largely of his own making (due to incompetence in firing Comey) has settled on delegitimizing a stalwart Republican patriot in the eyes of his base. He claims that Mueller--a hero--is running a witch hunt, trying to get him by any means necessary.

He claims he was wire-tapped in his tower. He claims that an FBI "spy" was placed in his campaign. His attacks on the FBI and the DoJ have had a noticeable effect in weakening our institutions. People believe that the mainstream media literally invents stories. This is false. Trump has tried to claim sources did not exist when they were captured on audio. Trump claims millions and millions of illegals voted in the 2016 election when we know they did not.

And so on. 

The damage here is that more and more Trump voters are living in a false reality--one where the FBI is massively corrupt, where Russia is our ally, where Canada is an enemy. They believe that the media is full of liars and voting numbers are counting millions of fraudulent votes.  This is a disgrace to our country and dangerous for our democracy--and Trump embraces and spreads it.

Conclusion

We have covered this ground before--but we can see that these trends still continue and increase. Trump is damaging the fiber of America and our moral center and his enablers in government and the electorate cheer him on as we watch. 

Part 7: The Damage: Trump On Russia

This is an on-going set of posts on the damage that Trump and his administration is doing to America (by request from a Trump-Voter).

The Russia Denial

A key part of conspiracy theory is that, in order to defend it, you must have "something to hang your hat on." This means that the c-theorist needs any fact, any crack in the official story, which their opposition can't explain. After that, for the conspiratorialist, the entire conspiracy becomes true. When Trump provides those facts, he increases the conspiracy-mindset of his followers and drags America further and further into the rabbit hole of paranoia, logical deficency, and moral absence.

Even as our intelligence community says that Russia is gearing up for another assault on our election (in this case the midterms) Trump expresses doubts about whether they did anything in 2016 at all. The evidence, of course, is overwhelming that they did--the whole IC + Facebook + Twitter + data we can see (like the URL shortner used to hack Podesta and the Russian hacker who says he gave the data to Wikileaks, plus the Dutch intelligence release, and the leaked internal NSA memo)--all points in the same direction.

But for Trump-supporters it's all part of a bigger conspiracy. Or maybe we deserved it for doing the same thing? Or maybe it's really Obama's fault for not doing something stronger?

This, of course avoids the big question: With the chief beneficiary of the meddling being in the White House, and not just refusing to take a strong stance against it--but doing the opposite--engaging in a conspiracy-theory lie that the Russians didn't do anything--why wouldn't they keep going after us?

To say this is a deriliction of duty is an understatement.

How / Why The Russia Denial Works

The denial of Russian meddling is very important to Trump-Supporters because it provides a possibility that Trump's win was illigitimate. If you can prove that, for example, Russia got voter targeting data from the Trump campaign and used their propaganda as a surgical strike in swing states (note: there is no clear evidence of this and some that it's going in the other direction) then you could attribute Trump's super-narrow margin of victory (by around 100k votes across 3 states) to a hostile power.

The Omnivore doesn't think that'll come out--but the fact remains that Trump-Supporters are very upset by the idea of it. If Russia illegally funded campaign efforts through the NRA, if Russia operated specifically to release Clinton dirt at the most damaging times (even without coordination with the Trump campaign)--whatever the case--then the worst nightmare could be true: Trump might not have won without Russia.

Whether or not this is the case, the idea of there even being any directional evidence towards that is unthinkable.

So they don't think it.

Instead, what happens is you get the shape-shifting conspiracy theory that turns into whatever you need it to. What's that? Well, consider:

1. Phase 1: There was no meddling but Team Hillary made it up after her loss to explain it (refuted by the Republicans themselves)
2. Phase 2: Russia may have done something--but the real problem was that Obama and his traitorous DoJ illegally spied on Trump, wiretapping his tower (that didn't pan out)
3. Phase 3: Okay, they didn't illegally wiretap Trump's tower but they illegally unmasked all kinds of Trump people because Obama is a super-partisan evil guy (Nope: turns out the unmasking was okay and done within routine parameters)
4. Alright, maybe it was technically legal surveilance but this was still based on a completely forged FISA document designed to fool a judge (Nope: Nunes, the most partisan guy in the room, says the investigation started before Page--and then was forced to admit that they did disclose the general source of the information--just not, apparently, using the term 'Crooked Hillary Clinton.' They also did this after Carter Page left the campaign).
5. Really, FISA warrants are too powerful--too easy to get--and this one was probably misused because THERE ARE QUESTIONS (why isn't Carter Page being charged?? Huh?? Huh??). Of course they just renewed the power without any additional controls so if the admin really did have it in for FISA that would be odd.

People on Team Trump believe one of these depending on how closely they follow the news or when they punch out of the information cycle. This goes hand in hand with things like believing that "The Nunes memo totally clears Trump and invalidates Mueller"--which Trump basically said and a lot of his followers believe.

Once you believe that, it must follow that huge portions of the entire US government are corrupt and anti-Trump (blatantly disregarding the law). If you think that . . . what do you think of America herself?

Does This Mean Nothing Wrong Was Done?

Of course The Omnivore calling bullshit on the polymorphic conspiracy theory doesn't mean that some new informaiton might come out that, indeed, proves that the Obama admin or the Hillary campaign behaved badly or misued a FISA warrant or something. That's certainly not impossible--but remember that right now, this theory allows all kinds of other conspiracies to flourish such as:

1. Since the Russians, maybe, didn't do much / anything, it's clearly Hillary who had Seth Rich assassinated (see trusted Fox personality Sean Hannity for help that along).
2. The Don Jr. meeting was a set-up sting operation by Fusion GPS (who was also hired by Republicans for oppo-research)--this renders his wish for Russian dirt something-something-something-something.
3. The FBI is run by traitors. So too, the CIA. Probably the NSA. Basically everyone but Jeff Sessions and we're not too sure about him.

These theories, swimming around out there, being helped along by Fox & Friends (wiretapping Trump Tower) and Sean Hannity (Seth Rich) and the myraid of others is like an acid eating away at our cohesion as a country.

Russia is preparing to dump more acid on us--and Team Trump, with Trump's muddying of the waters, is really all for more of that.

Part 6 - The Damage: Denigration of the Office

This is an ongoing series about the damage that Donald Trump is doing to the United States on a daily basis. It is being done on request by a Trump Supporter.

Part 6: Denigration of the Office of the Presidency

There is "more power in blue jeans and rock and roll than the entire Red Army." - French philosopher Regis Debray

Clothes and style are more important than you might imagine (oh, you do know your history here? Then you didn't vote for Trump, did you?).  The president of the United States is also more than just an executive--he is iconic and a leader. This is not the nature of the man--it is the nature of the office. A president cannot escape being a leader--but where he chooses to lead is up to him.

By the time Carter (and then Reagan) were elected blue jeans had lost some of their counter-cultural cool--but the president--even a guy as, shall we say, not strong, as Carter--appearing in them had an impact. Carter's decision to appear in jeans during fireside chats is widely credited with re-popularizing them in men's wear fashion.

The Omnivore is picking this--not because it is so hugely important (although) but because it is a good illustration of how the office of POTUS can have deep and subtle influence on cultural currency beyond just blunt policy.

Like it or not--believe it or not--when you elect a president, you are electing a cultural leader.

That's why it's important to get it right.

The New 'Presidential'

It's easy to say that none of this matters--compared to policy--but while it's easy to say it, it isn't true. The character of the person--of the leader of our country--in the White House does matter. It matters in gross ways and it matters in subtle ways. It matters in ways we can see and measure right now and it measures in ways we might not identify for years.

Right now the person we have in our office is denegrating it. On a daily basis the office of the President is being degraded and humiliated. Trump's tweets, his lies, his petty palace intrigues? His hiring of nazis--literal and more figurative--and most of all his easily wounded over-inflated ego.

These are things we knew about--obvious things--but he was still elected. It hasn't changed--and it isn't going to. It's where we are today.

That Trump is making a fool of himself isn't news to anyone following along--tweeting nonsense on a daily basis has managed to annoy supporters and critics alike--but what about people who are kind of in the middle?

Embarrassed.

Trump has to be treated like a child--with  his reading list edited so that he doesn't get bad information or data from conspiracy theorists.

Humiliating.

Trump has to have a propaganda-folder delivered to him twice daily with specially curated positive news coverage. That this is happening at all is shocking. That we know about it is mortifying.

Infantile.

Trump's chaos and turn-over--his palace intrigue White House--his appointment of utterly unqualified people to positions of national importance--his inability to spell words correctly on Twitter--all of these are a degeneration of America's high office.

The Omnivore is familiar with the argument that Obama had already degraded the office--with his tan suit and his interviews with YouTubers and so on. None of this is remotely similar. If you want to argue it, you can--The Omnivore will take you on--but just understand that this is a ridiculous and losing game.

We are in an era of change--and how the state is managed from top to bottom is changing--but the Chief Executive needing a media-folder pick-me-up or being unable to spell his pronouncements isn't our new way forward. It's just degrading--and it hurts us.

Part 4 - The Damage: North Korea

This is an ongoing series about the damage that Donald Trump is doing to the United States on a daily basis. It is being done on request by a Trump Supporter.

The Rule: As this is being done by request, The Omnivore has a rule: Trump-supporters (and other readers for that matter) cannot simply stipulate that a point made by The Omnivore is wrong because of its source or The Omnivore's bias--if they are going to disbelieve a point they must provide affirmative evidence. The Omnivore expects this to be "the hard part" for Trump Supporters. That is intentional.

Part 4: North Korea

Trump is a political novice--he has experience (?) running (?) a large real estate enterprise. He has appeared on reality TV. He is good (!) and brand licensing. He doesn't seem to know anything about geo-politics. That, by itself, is not a problem - had he come through on his promise to "hire the best people" and listen to them, his lack of domain wouldn't be a critical issue.

If he was able to deliver on his promise of being a master negotiator--able to swing deals and influence people--having a deft hand at cost-benefit analysis in his actions--then he might bring an outside-the-box perspective to an intractable problem.

Of course he does neither - he doesn't hire "the best people." He doesn't listen to who he does hire. He refuses to learn on the job - and he works against the people involved who do have domain.

North Korea is our number one foreign crisis. The stakes are astronomical. On the table are three options (from worst to best).

1. A War In Asia Kills, Literally, Millions
2. North Korea becomes a Global Nuclear Power Able to Hit American Cities With Nuclear ICBMs
3. North Korea is Forced to De-Nuclearize

The full range of actions and issues is beyond the scope of this post--but we can show, in every sense, how Trump's actions take a bad situation and make it worse.

Option 1: WAR

In this option we go to war with North Korea. The best case is an exchange that makes North Korea stand down--but more likely we see the "death flower" where they unleash nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. They might, for example, try to deliver a nuclear weapon to ISIS as part of a revanche move. Think about that.

How Trump Makes It Worse: Forget about the (entirely plausible) argument that Trump and Mattis are contradicting each other--no, The Omnivore doesn't need to go there. The Omnivore will instead point out an incontrovertible way that Trump makes the War outcome worse: In an Epochal Disaster (which is what that would be) tensions within the country--and outside our nation among our allies will run at all time highs.

Trump takes this disaster to the next level by being un-trusted, divisive, and seen as incompetent. Early reports are that world leaders, for example, are in no rush to offer assistance for Hurricane Harvey. In the event of a war where allied cities are destroyed and millions of American allies are dead, having a leader in which the world has little faith is going to take a disaster to the next level. Defense One writes:

People will get blamed. Trump, with his ambiguous hot-headed tweets, will be a blame magnet. He has set this up himself and Americans, for generations, will reap the consequences if North Korea goes to battle.

Option 2: Nuclear Nork

The most likely outcome is that we simply wind up living with a rogue nuclear state that has at least a passable chance to destroy American cities. Not optimal. If this happens, it will, again, haunt Americans for decades to come even if there is a positive resolution somewhere down the line. 

Trump makes this worse by weakening America even further if it does happen. Trump's hard-line Twitter-Tough-Guy stance turns America into a paper-tiger once North Korea demonstrates global nuclear capacity. This, in turn, encourages other rogue actors (Iran) to do the same.

Obama was, correctly, called out for setting a red-line with regards to chemical weapons-use in Syria. Trump is doing worse here: His statements are not just directed at a Middle Eastern dictator who is attacking subjects within his borders--they are concerning to our long time allies Japan and South Korea who will be under the greatest threat from a Nuclearized Nork.

Option 3: Diplomacy Works

The best outcome is that a diplomatic solution forces North Korea to stand down. If this happens, Trump doesn't make it worse--but he actively makes it less likely. Why? The components of a diplomatic win are (a) pressure from China and (b) unity among American allies. Trump is developing neither.

China: Trump's dealings with China are chaotic and adversarial. He makes threats (name them a currency manipulator) and backs down. He chides them (on Twitter) for not doing enough--and he flirts with Taiwan. None of this is encouraging China to stick its neck out to denuclearize North Korea. In fact, for them, North Korea is a bargaining chip--as Trump's exiled Chief Strategist publicly calls for trade-war, they are going to cling to it even more tightly (and, of course, Trump artfully de-fanged himself by exiting the TPP).

Allies: To say that our allies are confused about strategy and competency is an understatement. 

The savvy Trump voter will doubtless say that heads of these positions are unnecessary and the teams in place can manage everything on their own. The Omnivore tells you that is bullshit. In a crisis, you need coordination more than anything. Coordination is what we are lacking.

Conclusions

A nightmare situation for any administration is simply made worse by Trump's lack of discipline, lack of credibility, and lack of understanding. If the outcome is anything other than perfect, we, all of us, will be saddled with the question as to whether someone else could have done a better job. That (hugely legitimate) question will further our internal divisions and facilitate political finger-pointing for our lives and the lives of our children.

Part 3 - The Damage: Conspiracy Theory Mindset

This is an ongoing series about the damage that Donald Trump is doing to the United States on a daily basis. It is being done on request by a Trump Supporter.

The Rule: As this is being done by request, The Omnivore has a rule: Trump-supporters (and other readers for that matter) cannot simply stipulate that a point made by The Omnivore is wrong because of its source or The Omnivore's bias--if they are going to disbelieve a point they must provide affirmative evidence. The Omnivore expects this to be "the hard part" for Trump Supporters. That is intentional.

Part 3: Conspiracy Theory Mindset 

The conspiracy theory mindset, in a nutshell, is this:

The mainstream voices are lies. The Truth is that powerful forces are clandestinely conspiring against you to hurt you. There will never be evidence to prove this--but you can see it in the shadows of things all around you. Do not trust your leaders.

The break down looks like this:

The damage that Trump-Voters  have done to America on this front cannot be minimized: The election of Donald Trump has created a surge in the apparent credibility and mainstream reach of conspiracy-theory voices. To put it in X-Files terms: The Conspiracy is, for Trump-Supporters, No Longer A Theory.

Getting people like Mike Cernovich, Alex Jones, Jim Hoff, and others who traffic in conspiracy and prey on their readership more audience and louder voices is horrific. It is one of the ways Trump is "Tearing the Country Apart." What does that mean?

The Conspiracy Mindset--which Trump not only enables--but encourages (wire-tapping the White House tweets, 3MM illegal-voter conspiracies, etc.)--does a lot of bad things.

1. People make decisions based on obviously false data or get taken for a ride (Buying Hannity's dodgy gold certificates).
2. People believe in threats that are not real (Sharia law being enforced) and not in threats that are (Climate Change).
3. Real news gets ignored in favor of fake news that feels better.
4. Conspiracy Theory inflames fear, hate, and other things. It feeds the worst of us.

All of these are bad--but The Omnivore wants to focus on one more: Conspiracy Theory Mindset acts like an Immunization System Disease Against Being Manipulated.

People in the Conspiracy Mindset--which Trump has increased and embraced--are easier for bad people to manipulate. To take advantage of. Let's look at that.

There are forces that want to divide us--potentially for profit (conservative media has made bank on it). Potentially for strategic advantage. Conspiracy Theory is not, itself, inherently divisive but it is a powerful carrier wave for divisive messages. For example:

This is bullshit--but conservatives will believe it because they are susceptible to it. Liberals are too--but Liberals do not have a conspiracy monger in the White House.

Here We Go--CNN Is Faking On-Air Rescues

Nothing escapes the Conspiracy Mindset. People who are being told that CNN is #fakenews and are total liars (by the President) are going to fall for this stuff. It's absurd--but it's going to happen--and grow. 

The Omnivore will say this again: Trump's position as POTUS makes his conspiracy-mindset more influential, powerful, and pervasive than anything the liberals conspiracy forces can field.

If you believe the Mainstream Media is conspiracy minded? Well, you're fool--but please: show your work.

The Russians Love Their MAGA Too

Let The Omnivore introduce you to Hamilton--this is a site that tracks what Russian propaganda bots are saying / amplifying. Here are some examples:

Last Week

This Week

It is not hard to figure out what Russia wants us to be talking about. The fact that Russia seems to be promoting pro-Trump messages--and anti-antifa messages--should make you very cautious. Russia is not an ally. They want to destabilize us. They want to weaken us. So why are they doing this?

The reason they are doing this--promoting Trump and talking (badly) about antifa--is because doing so is a way to split us. It requires two components:

1. Rally Trump Supporters--especially in an Us vs. Them manner.
2. Portray antifa as the premier threat--that is: to show The Left as an existential threat to America.

This requires conspiracy theory. Trump enables this attack. He does so powerfully 

The Omnivore is not suggesting that Trump is colluding with Russia propagandist to sow discord in America--no, he doesn't have to. Trump's behavior by itself is an engine of conspiracy-theory driven discord that Russia exploits. Why?

The Omnivore Tells You THE TRUTH

This next part is going to be a little hard for the Constant Reader Trump-Supporter to follow--so The Omnivore is going to be blunt and explicit:

Nazis (and attendant right-wing fascists) are NOT an existential threat to America*.

Let's review that--because The Omnivore heard your jaw drop: Nazis--by themselves--without something powering them--are a domestic terror threat. They are dangerous individually (especially as it leads to lone-wolf / disturbed-person violence)--but they are not a . . . "big deal."

Do you understand, save for that asterisk there is no reason to be especially concerned about nazis. That's an issue for DHS and law enforcement. The Omnivore is telling you to stand down. Breathe. It's not that big a deal.

Got it? You felt shivers, right? How could The Omnivore say that??

Let's do one more--that you won't like, Constant Reader.

Antifa is NOT an existential threat to America.

Hmm. There's no asterisk. Why not? Well, let's just stick to the meat right now--antifa does a lot of property damage. They dress scary. They attack people--some who came for a fight--but a lot who didn't. They see Trump-supporters--even non-violent, well meaning ones, as nazis.

A lot of them are bad cry-baby anarchists. If you live in a liberal town--Berkeley or Seattle--or are at a right-wing demonstration, there is reason to worry about anfia--but even there, their violence is limited and sporadic. Tens of thousands of people came to Boston. There were around 30 arrests. One of them was for a Trump-supporter carrying (illegally) a concealed gun.

Antifa is not a big deal. They are asshole noisy kids (or too-old-to-be-kids professors with bike-locks)--and they have attacked people who should not be attacked--and they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law--but they do not represent a growing, looming threat to the democratic process.

Sorry--but the don't.

* Unless They Hold The White House Or Get Support From The President Or The Justice Department Or Something. Something Crazy Like That. Then, Yeah--We Should BE CONCERNED.

Oh, crap. There's that asterisk.

Russia knows that if it can make antifa appear as an existential threat--and this is done by taking small violent encounters and amplifying their ubiquity--and amplifying lies about them (showing images that are either doctored or not from America or not from current events pitched as current events) they can make their subjects believe that America is in danger from antifa and that the White House's weird relationship to nazis is now a culture-war issue: You better be on the side of the White House, Trump Supporters.

The right's susceptible to #fakenews and Trump-Supporter's susceptibility to #fakenews in particular is well documented. Russia is exploiting this. Trump is enabling it.

Thus, every day, he hands gifts to our enemies and does damage to America.

The Damage Done: Violence

Part 2: In an on-going series, The Omnivore discusses how Trump is damaging America daily. It has been requested by a specific reader, as such The Omnivore is instituting a specific rule.

Key Rule: In order to disagree with the content of this post you must show evidence that The Omnivore is wrong. If The Omnivore cites an anonymous source in an article, you don't get to say "it's an anonymous source! I disbelieve it!" You need to show actual counter-evidence for the specific claim.

This is going to be important shortly.

Today: Violence

"So if you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of 'em, would you? Seriously. Okay? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees. I promise. I promise." --Trump on hypothetical protesters at his March rally. 

“The guards are very gentle with him. He’s walking out, like, big high-fives, smiling, laughing,” Trump continued, before saying to loud cheers: “I’d like to punch him in the face, I tell ya.” -- Trump on a protester being led away.

“Maybe he should have been roughed up, because it was absolutely disgusting what he was doing,” he said on Fox News at the time. -- Trump on a Black Lives Matter protester.

“I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate. I will say that, and everybody here has reported it.” -- Trump on reports that two men had attacked, beaten, and urinated on a homeless man, citing Trump as the reason.

 Intermission

“There probably has not been a more racially divisive, economic divisive president in the White House [Obama] since we had presidents who supported slavery."

“He’s clearly the most racially divisive president we’ve had since I’ve been alive. But, again, we did have presidents in the first 80 to 100 years of our country that supported slavery, and you cannot say that Barack Obama was worse than them.”

-- Mo Brooks (R-AL)

"We have not seen such a divisive figure in modern American history" as Barack Obama -- Marco Rubio

"He lectures us on civility yet has been one of the most divisive presidents in American history." -- Ted Cruz

Donald Trump: Hold My Beer.

End Intermission

Trump supporters believe that the left is attacking them--that as Trump rose on the scene the antifa goons and the liberals and the rabble-rousers came out and struck. Certainly things have happened. We have video of Trump supporters being attacked. We have watched antifa fighters go after peaceful right-wing protesters.

In the narrative of right-wing media Trump supporters are the victims, not the attackers.

You think that's true? Of course you do. You have to: it's what your media tells you. If there were another story . . . that would be  . . .  unthinkable.

Thinking The Unthinkable: Trump Has Brought Violence With Him

Obama's divisiveness was always a subtle knife: he called police stupid, for example. He said if he had a son, he'd look like Trayvon. When you looked at the entire sentences there was always nuance and context--but that was because he was an artist of division.

Obama knew what to say--deftly--to cleave white people from black people and men from women--the rich from the poor--while still maintaining a veneer of reasonableness that liberals could use to defend him. He was a master at saying--without saying. That was one of the worst things about him.

Sure, sometimes the mask dropped and he said what he thought about the people clinging to Guns and Religion or the 47% who will never take responsibility for themselves. But mostly, in public? He acted like you saw in the speeches above: speaking in a calculated manner so as to appear respectful--while inciting his followers to blame the rest of America for their predicament.

Trump, on the other hand? He's just a counter-puncher. Throw a tomato at him? He'll tell his boys to rough you up a little. Give him problems at a rally? The police oughta rough you up some. You deserve it.

So let's get two things clear:

Antifa Does Bad Things

Antifa isn't storming the beach at Normandy. They fight Nazis sometimes--but they also fight cops--and anyone else. They may not just be attacking random people (a common charge that is hard to substantiate) but they are certainly attacking Trump supporters who are not engaged in any kind of violence.

This is bad--it is bad and stupid. It is disqualifying from being part of the political conversation. Antifa's position that they are pre-emptive violence against a fascist state is absurd. They are preemptive violence against a state they don't like--but their philosophy, such that they espouse one, is somewhere between infantile anarchism and idiot communism.

Putting violence on top of that scaffolding is atrocious--their stated plans, should they achieve them--would kill more people than if the Alt Right created its ethnostate (The Omnivore can show his work if someone is going to seriously defend antifa's espoused philosophies).

Also: Trump Supporters Have Been Attacked

The Omnivore already said this--but it needs to be said again--no, not because the attacks were so bad--and not just because you, Constant Reader and Trump Supporter will not believe The Omnivore is sincere about this.

No. The reason it needs to be said again is because of something you missed, Constant Reader. Something that hasn't already been said. Did you catch it? No--and The Omnivore knows you didn't. Go back--read what was written again--see if you can find it.

No?

Okay--here it is: non-violent, non-provocative Trump supporters have been attacked by people who are not antifa. The magic trick you, Constant Reader, do in your head--to yourself--is to turn everyone on "the left" (meaning left of Mitt Romney) into antifa. You might not even realize you're doing it.

So let's be clear: people who might just be assholes--but are not anarchist-flag-flying mask-wearing, black-hoodie antifa people have also attacked Trump supporters. For that matter people who were not antifa stood up to the marching Nazis--maybe even fought against them. Remember the magic trick: not everyone who punched a nazi in Charlottesville was antifa. Some of them just came out to stand up to nazis.

You, Constant Reader, can say firmly that violence is never okay in the political sphere--just, you know, don't get all offended when someone tells you that you sound like you're defending nazis--you do the opposite for antifa.

So we good?

Let's Go To The Unspeakable Place

Trump Supporter  At A Rally

Trump is a leader. He is the leader of the free world (or was before Merkel took that place by his abdication of it . . . America First, right?). He is the chief executive and the Commander In Chief. He is our leader--for all Americans. That's people who support him--and people who don't.

Trump Supporters At A Rally

When he advocates violence--any kind of violence--even if you think it's justified--he raises the heat level in America. He sows division--and hell, he means to. He knows people don't like him. He knows that his voting demographic has a bone to pick with some other Americans. He understands this just fine.

Trump Supporter At A Rally

He wants his supporters mad. For one thing anger correlates to political action--he might not know the studies--but The Omnivore assures you he understands the mechanism. For another thing, well, if he gets them riled up--angry--mad--that it creates a kind of cohesion: Us vs. Them. Trump knows that if he's re-elected in 2020 it'll be because the Us is greater than the Them.

Trump Supporter At A Rally

Can you hear The Omnivore now?

Of course you can't--you believe that these pictures could have been taken from anyone's rallies. Hillary? Jeb!'s Heck--Ted Cruz probably did have some pictures like this. Certainly Kasich had a few?

No? Okay--you don't quite believe that, Constant Reader--good for you. But there's no real effect is there? It's the violent leftists who are keying cars. Torching limos. Breaking windows. Right? The Trump-voters just have a good old-fashioned yell.

Right? That's what your TV tells you.

Isn't it?

Your TV, Constant Reader, is lying to you. You read other sources--but you do so with a specific intent to disbelieve them thanks to their bias. Your preferred media is biased too--but you believe it. You don't see the contradiction because if you did, well, that would be unthinkable.

Now we're going to go to the hard part: Slate has a running total of hate-crimes since the election. They call out faked ones. 

Read through some of them.

BUT SLATE IS FULL OF LIBERAL LIES

This is the part that The Omnivore told you would hurt, Constant Reader. You have to show that the crimes touted as real are actually fake. You can't just say "They're liberal--I won't believe it" and use some smiley faced icons. You asked for this, so you're getting it.

But let's do some ones that no one is disputing:

Jeremy Christian - Nazi White Supremacists, Stabbed Two People To Death On An Oregon Train

"If Donald Trump is the Next Hitler then I am joining his SS to put an end to Monotheist Question. All Zionist Jews, All Christians who do not follow Christ's teaching of Love, Charity, and Forgiveness And All Jihadi Muslims are going to Madagascar or the Ovens/FEMA Camps!!! Does this make me a fascist!!!"

 James Jackson - Hunted And Killed A Black Man

Jackson also subscribed to a series of racist channels including that of the National Policy Institute, a white-supremacist group founded by Richard Spencer. Another subscribed channel uploaded videos denying the Holocaust and claiming there are IQ differences between races. Videos in several other subscribed channels included “I Want a Fascist Ethnostate for Christmas” and uploaded broadcasts from Nazi website Stormfront.org and ex-Klansman David Duke. He also subscribed to the White House YouTube channel.

The Omnivore can hear you: You Can't Blame Trump For That (also, maybe, a picture of the Bernie Sanders Baseball Shooter).

Well, it turns out? You kinda can.

Flag At A Trump Rally

Tweeted By Trump (White Supremacists Lies)

The KKK Is Awfully Fond Of Trump

The Nazis Like Him Too

Enough To Wear His Swag

You see, The Omnivore holds that:

1. Trump Has Raised The Violence-Temperature With His Condoning It By His Supporters
2. Trump Has NEVER Called Out The Hate Group Right For Chanting His Name Or Bearing His Symbols
3. He Has Never Told Those Who Endorsed Him In Strong Language That He Does Not Accept or Want Their Endorsements--Or Even Their Votes -- he has denounced--but not in the way that would make them actually think he does not support them. In fact, they read his denouncements as support--and so did a lot of other people (like the Joint Chiefs of Staff and all the Rabbis).

Trump isn't causing antifa violence--these guys are home-grown lefties who are now in a symbiotic relationship with the activist right. Right-wing provocateurs are able to make an appearance or even schedule one--and the antifa guys come out--and if they get a fight? They get footage--and it's what a small (but successful) portion of the right (the provocateurs) want.

They want the left to strike them--so they can either film it--or hit back. Sometimes this happens: At a Milo Y. speech a person was shot--the person was an anti-Milo protester. The shooter was a woman (the police at the night arrested her husband believing it was him).

Antifa is a part of this vicious circle--but the circle--the cycle--is being inflamed by Trump. It was inflamed at the start of his campaign. It was stoked throughout his campaign. He continues to inflame it by his rhetoric, by his refusal to condemn the groups like the Nazis and the KKK in a way that would back them off--by taking steps they approve of (Gorka, Miller, and Bannon are seen as fellow travelers by them). Trump is not the only one feeding it--there are others (voices in academia, for example)--but Trump is the president of the United States of America. The moment he won the election he became the president of All of Us. There is no more Them--not to him.

Even if he wants to hit back--and he does--oh boy does he--that is beneath his office. When he hits back he winds up hitting everyone. All of America. Every Time.

As such, as our country is driven further and further apart, we have a president who, instead of responding to hecklers as Obama did . . . wants them beaten up and thrown out. 

You know who likes this? Who profits from it? The people who want a fight.

That's damage Trump does daily to America.

The Damage Done: The Lies

The Omnivore has been asked to write about how President Trump is damaging our country on a daily basis.

The Price of Admission: This is written, on request, to a particular person. Here are the rules:

For You, Constant Reader

1. You don't get to claim "fake news" without hard-core proof that The Omnivore is wrong. You have to engage the elements here as factual. If you can prove otherwise, fine--but if not, being dubious because you don't like the message isn't cool.
2. You don't get to not-respond. It can be as simple as "I'm thinking about it"--but this is a give-and-take.
3. Whattaboutism ("But Obama was divisive") is unwelcome. If you engage in it, you have to write something substantial that includes evidence The Omnivore will (likely) accept of your claims.

For The Omnivore

1. The Omnivore will try to use facts that both HE and the Trump-Supporting reader will agree with.
2. When that isn't achieved, The Omnivore will stick to Republican/Conservative sources and arguments as much as possible.
3. The Omnivore will try to write as many of these as possible--this is an on-going series under the tag "damage."

Part 1: The Lies

President Trump lies in a way that no other president has done. He lies often--and he lies about things that there is no reason to lie about. This damages our country severely on a daily basis. How? Let's see.

Trump Lies Like No Other President

"You can keep your doctor." The Omnivore knows. Obama lied. "I came under sniper fire." The Omnivore knows. Hillary lied (a lot). But while those speak to credibility (Obama will lie to you about the impacts of his health-care plan to sell it, Hillary will lie to make herself sound brave) president Trump's lies go further. Much further. How so?

1. The Lies are Trivial

The lies about Inauguration Crowd size are of the "what-do-you-take-me-for?" variety. Trump himself got involved in trying to find out who had tweeted the image [you don't get to not believe this without proof that reports were wrong]. He doesn't just lie and laugh it off, he takes it seriously. 

2. The Lies Are Petty

You-can-keep-your-doctor is a lie made to sell an agenda. That's bad. But Trump lies in ways that are almost inexplicably petty. He lies for self-aggrandizing reasons to a degree that is well beyond "bullshitting with your buddy." He does it pervasively.

He has lied about, for example:

1. Having consulted with his generals on the Transgender Ban.
2. A call from the boy scouts saying he was doing the greatest job ever.
3. A call from the Mexican president saying he was doing a great job on immigration.
4. The size of his crowd in Phoenix last week.

3. He Has Lied About Important Things Too

Don Jr. was going to release a statement about the Russian meeting in Trump Tower. POTUS re-wrote it to lie. Trump has said he categorically has no dealings in Russia: he did--during the campaign. Hope Hicks, Manafort, and Conway--all speaking on the record on behalf of POTUS have claimed repeatedly there was "no contact" with Russia.

These are all lies and they are all obfuscatory lies. Having surrogates lie for you is as bad--or even worse--than doing it yourself.

The Damage Done

Sometimes it would be good if the American people could believe the President when he says things. Sometimes that is very important to us--to our institutions. 

But people didn't. They didn't just believe what Trump said.

Other people felt compelled to step up.

That is damage.