The indispensable journalist Masha Gessen wrote this (shockingly prescient) primer after Trump's election in 2016:
'Autocracy: Rules for Survival'
"Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a = rationalization. This will happen often: humans seem to have evolved to practice denial when confronted publicly with the unacceptable. Back in the 1930s, The New York Times assured
its readers that Hitler’s anti-Semitism was all posture. More recently, the same newspaper made a telling choice between two statements made by Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov following a police crackdown on protesters in Moscow:
“The police acted mildly—I would have liked them to act more harshly” rather than those protesters’ “liver should have been spread all over the pavement.” Perhaps the journalists could not believe their ears. But they should—both in the Russian case, and in the American one. For all the admiration Trump has expressed for Putin, the two men are very different; if anything, there is even more reason to listen to everything Trump has said. He has no political establishment
into which to fold himself following the campaign, and therefore no reason to shed his campaign rhetoric.
On the contrary: it is now the establishment that is rushing to accommodate him—from the president, who met with him at the White House on Thursday, to the leaders of the Republican Party, who are discarding their long-held scruples to embrace his radical positions...
To begin jailing his political opponents, or just one opponent, Trump will begin by trying to capture members of the judicial system. Observers and even activists functioning in the normal-election mode are fixated on the Supreme Court as the site of the highest-risk impending Trump appointment. There is little doubt that Trump will appoint someone who will cause the Court to veer to the right; there is also the risk that it might be someone who will wreak havoc with the very culture of the high court. And since Trump plans to use the judicial system to carry out his political vendettas, his pick for attorney general will be no less important. Imagine former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani or New Jersey Governor Chris Christie going after Hillary Clinton on orders from President Trump; quite aside from their approach to issues such as the Geneva Conventions, the use of police powers, criminal justice reforms, and other urgent concerns."
Trust them or believe them? I think it might be the latter, as I’m reminded of Maya Angelou’s observation that “When somebody tells you who they are, believe them the first time.”
By Putin’s pretzel logic, the United States must then be an artificial country created by Great Britain years ago.
Western liberals tilt toward narcissism: we see only ourselves when we look at the world. We look into the hungry tiger's eyes and believe they are human. Hamas, Putin, Iran, etc. We simply cannot imagine they are not nice liberals too. It is Western arrogance that is our weakness. When monsters tell us who they are we must listen. but we do not
Bush took Putin seriously enough and advocated for Ukraine and Geirgia to be given the MAP to NATO at the Bucharest summit in April 2008. Merkel and Hollande stonewalled him, and four mionths later russia invaded Georgia. As a lame duck president, Bush didn't have enough clout or time to knock heads. Just as the US election ended, the summit of NATO FMs that November AGAIN refused both countries! Then came Obama with his ludicrous "reboot"!!
One has to admit that the past year has been miserable, unjust, and unaffordable under the Cheeto regime uninterested in helping the American people Yes, there has been hope in seeing the burgeoning protests by a growing number of millions of dissatisfied dissenters and federal judges upholding the Constitution
But if we’ve learned anything about our own American history a Revolution as many others against a dictator takes countless months of action, continually pressing against the attempt to destroy the democratic republic As in the French Revolution or the Bolshevik uprising in the remembered past it takes time to rally the persecuted into a mobilized angry energized populace who arrests the levers of power from the dictator/king
So in the background of 2025 the stage is set for 2026 as the year of Revolution where angry public sentiment against Cheeto’s corrupt cruel regime will grow to a fever pitch and by November the electorate will show the Nazi Republicans the door In the meantime WE the People need to keep up the rhetoric and not forget our purpose Pedal to the metal folks
Yes, narcissists always tell on themselves. You just have to understand how they communicate. They lie about everything in the present, but are quite honest about plans for the future. That is because future plans are directly tied to propping up their shriveled, dark-hearted selves and the overblown egos they’ve created to compensate. And let’s face it, most world leaders are extremely high on the scale of narcissism. Unfortunately, a good number of them dwell in the psycho region. The world needs to listen to the honest assessments of dissidents, ethical journalists, psychologists and anyone else who can speak factually about these individuals. They know exactly how to tap into people’s biggest fears and insecurities to manipulate them, and once they get their claws into the levers of power, they are downright dangerous.
Yes we should've learned the first time about electing morons to the highest office in the land and possibly the most powerful positjon on the planet. But Reagan was handed Pax Americana.and immediately thought to rub Russia's nose in it.
The indispensable journalist Masha Gessen wrote this (shockingly prescient) primer after Trump's election in 2016:
'Autocracy: Rules for Survival'
"Rule #1: Believe the autocrat. He means what he says. Whenever you find yourself thinking, or hear others claiming, that he is exaggerating, that is our innate tendency to reach for a = rationalization. This will happen often: humans seem to have evolved to practice denial when confronted publicly with the unacceptable. Back in the 1930s, The New York Times assured
its readers that Hitler’s anti-Semitism was all posture. More recently, the same newspaper made a telling choice between two statements made by Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov following a police crackdown on protesters in Moscow:
“The police acted mildly—I would have liked them to act more harshly” rather than those protesters’ “liver should have been spread all over the pavement.” Perhaps the journalists could not believe their ears. But they should—both in the Russian case, and in the American one. For all the admiration Trump has expressed for Putin, the two men are very different; if anything, there is even more reason to listen to everything Trump has said. He has no political establishment
into which to fold himself following the campaign, and therefore no reason to shed his campaign rhetoric.
On the contrary: it is now the establishment that is rushing to accommodate him—from the president, who met with him at the White House on Thursday, to the leaders of the Republican Party, who are discarding their long-held scruples to embrace his radical positions...
To begin jailing his political opponents, or just one opponent, Trump will begin by trying to capture members of the judicial system. Observers and even activists functioning in the normal-election mode are fixated on the Supreme Court as the site of the highest-risk impending Trump appointment. There is little doubt that Trump will appoint someone who will cause the Court to veer to the right; there is also the risk that it might be someone who will wreak havoc with the very culture of the high court. And since Trump plans to use the judicial system to carry out his political vendettas, his pick for attorney general will be no less important. Imagine former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani or New Jersey Governor Chris Christie going after Hillary Clinton on orders from President Trump; quite aside from their approach to issues such as the Geneva Conventions, the use of police powers, criminal justice reforms, and other urgent concerns."
Chilling. Infuriating. And brilliantly insightful.
It also applies to the current resident dictator in the White House.
I wish everyone would read this. Every freedom-loving person in America and elsewhere needs to take heed.
Trust them or believe them? I think it might be the latter, as I’m reminded of Maya Angelou’s observation that “When somebody tells you who they are, believe them the first time.”
By Putin’s pretzel logic, the United States must then be an artificial country created by Great Britain years ago.
Americans also speak English so… You know. That's like an open invitation to recolonize them.
/s
Western liberals tilt toward narcissism: we see only ourselves when we look at the world. We look into the hungry tiger's eyes and believe they are human. Hamas, Putin, Iran, etc. We simply cannot imagine they are not nice liberals too. It is Western arrogance that is our weakness. When monsters tell us who they are we must listen. but we do not
Bush took Putin seriously enough and advocated for Ukraine and Geirgia to be given the MAP to NATO at the Bucharest summit in April 2008. Merkel and Hollande stonewalled him, and four mionths later russia invaded Georgia. As a lame duck president, Bush didn't have enough clout or time to knock heads. Just as the US election ended, the summit of NATO FMs that November AGAIN refused both countries! Then came Obama with his ludicrous "reboot"!!
2026: A Year Of Revolution
One has to admit that the past year has been miserable, unjust, and unaffordable under the Cheeto regime uninterested in helping the American people Yes, there has been hope in seeing the burgeoning protests by a growing number of millions of dissatisfied dissenters and federal judges upholding the Constitution
But if we’ve learned anything about our own American history a Revolution as many others against a dictator takes countless months of action, continually pressing against the attempt to destroy the democratic republic As in the French Revolution or the Bolshevik uprising in the remembered past it takes time to rally the persecuted into a mobilized angry energized populace who arrests the levers of power from the dictator/king
So in the background of 2025 the stage is set for 2026 as the year of Revolution where angry public sentiment against Cheeto’s corrupt cruel regime will grow to a fever pitch and by November the electorate will show the Nazi Republicans the door In the meantime WE the People need to keep up the rhetoric and not forget our purpose Pedal to the metal folks
Yes, narcissists always tell on themselves. You just have to understand how they communicate. They lie about everything in the present, but are quite honest about plans for the future. That is because future plans are directly tied to propping up their shriveled, dark-hearted selves and the overblown egos they’ve created to compensate. And let’s face it, most world leaders are extremely high on the scale of narcissism. Unfortunately, a good number of them dwell in the psycho region. The world needs to listen to the honest assessments of dissidents, ethical journalists, psychologists and anyone else who can speak factually about these individuals. They know exactly how to tap into people’s biggest fears and insecurities to manipulate them, and once they get their claws into the levers of power, they are downright dangerous.
Yes we should've learned the first time about electing morons to the highest office in the land and possibly the most powerful positjon on the planet. But Reagan was handed Pax Americana.and immediately thought to rub Russia's nose in it.
https://open.substack.com/pub/captainfransentim/p/the-proof-is-here-and-so-is-our-test?r=5jmmex&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Putin is a "young global leader", installed under the distraction of a likely-false-flag terrorist bombing.
In other words he is controlled opposition, and we are likle watching a contrived movie.
All the world is a stage.
Great game by the way: Did Kasparov Play a Perfect Attacking Game?: https://youtu.be/i8JQvJVeiFI