The principal effect wealth and power always have is to cocoon the wealthy and powerful from the consequences of their actions. When the wealthy and powerful are (as they already have a tendency to be) bad people, this effect is accelerated, which is one of the many reasons Jesus warns of Mammon worship. When the bad man is a sociopathic narcissist who lies constantly the cocoon effect is turbo-charged and he cuts himself off from anybody but a tight and sycophantic inner circle who labor to deny him all contact with reality. The result is, inevitably, the kind of delusion we see in DOWNFALL, when Hitler is moving imaginary armies on a map in the defense of Berlin.
is currently shrinking the number of people he listens to down to a bare handful of lying toadies who only tell him what he wants to hear. He made clear, even to most of his cabinet, that he has no trouble with them being blown out of the sky just so long as a couple of craven flatterers were still at his side, lying to him and never confronting him with things he does not want to hear (meaning Reality).
Consequently, we are ruled by a deaf and blind man, stumbling through the world with no clue of what is actually going on. All he has, as Hitler had, was his “mystical intuition”, which tends to abandon the servants of the devil and leave them–and their sycophants–high and dry just when they think they are masters of the universe. The customary response of such people when events turn against them is, “NO! THIS CANNOT BE! I AM INVINCIBLE!” as their imaginary world is destroyed by the only reality there ever was: the world created by the Logos and not by the lies of Satan and men.
As Trump cocoons himself from reality, cabinet members like this gormless babbler
who get confronted by reality have to make a stark choice. Will they shout down every single voice in their base that sees the lie or will they try to walk the tightrope of acknowledging some reality while trying to please the Boss with some non-comittal Happy Talk?
The more Trump retreats into unreality, the more even trying to engage with stuff like Baier’s citation of an obvious fact will be seen as betrayal by Trump and guys like this in his cabinet will be numbered with the Enemy for failure to shout down the Disloyal. Eventually, only full-throated denial of reality will be acceptable. There’s a reason Trump is dead-set on building a bunker. He is trying to wall out, not just immigrants, but all of creation and the human race. He is a deeply evil man.
Father, deliver us from evil through Christ our Lord!
Advertisement
3 Responses
Trump values slavish loyalty above experience and competence. Witness Hegseth, Noem, etc.
Indeed, he seems to like sycophantic yes men and women above all else. His cabinet meetings are nauseating as one member of the cabinet after another heap sickening praise on him.
The Republican Party has become a personality cult, like North Korea. Whatever Dear Leader says is Gospel, no matter how stupid. I saw an interview with Senator Ted Cruz trying to say that the high gas prices and. War with Iran are not a big deal and well worth the temporary sacrifice.
You could tell even he does not believe it.
How long can the fantasy continue? Well, at some point, reality intrudes. It always does.
“How long can the fantasy continue?”
That is the million dollar question, isn’t it? I keep asking myself, “What line will Trump have to cross before his advisors or the Joint Chiefs or the RNC or — gasp! Congress, who might actually do their duty as mandated by the Constituion — stand up say, ‘Enough, sir.’ ”
Is there a line? Check out Truth Social on any given day. Trump has become a parody of himself. Weird Al, the Onion, the Daily Show … they are looking at that site and saying, “Yeah. I can’t out-stupid that.”
“…is currently shrinking the number of people he listens to down to a bare handful of lying toadies who only tell him what he wants to hear.”
That always happens with tyrants. Not only in government (Trump, Hitler, Stalin, Mao, etc., etc., etc.), but I have seen the same thing happen in business and education and even high school cliques. It’s a general rule of life: For every tyrant, you can count on unless a dozen sychophants jockeying for position.