(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . No, the GQP is Not going to ‘Come to their Senses’. Dangerous Big Lies Last Decades. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2023-10-29 Dangerous Big Lies Last Decades Bernie Madoff falsified financial records for 30 years. W Bush’s 9/11 lies about ‘weapons of mass destruction’ led to 10 years of US military searching in Iraq despite that country not being involved in 9/11. In 1953, tobacco companies secretly organized a disinformation campaign beginning to dispute links to lung cancer, until settling lawsuits 45 years later. In 1977, Exxon knew that fossil fuel pollution would cause global warming with ‘dramatic environmental effects before the year 2050’, and they funded fake science for decades to hide the truth. Disinformation continues today. Some of the worst atrocities in history began with and were hidden for years by big lies. Stalin denied famine in Ukraine, paid the NYT to repeat the lie and hid the truth in gulags for 30 years, among many other lies. After losing WWI, German leaders blamed ‘back-stabbing Jews’ for their defeat leading to Hitler’s rise and the Holocaust under the same lie 25 years later. Mao, a student of Stalin, reeducated peasants under totalitarianism and killed somewhere between 40 and 80 million people under his 27 year reign; the truth buried in secret for decades. The Kim family has ruled North Korea since 1948, thanks in part to Mao, similarly burying the truth and unknown millions of people, for 75 years and counting. Under a false bio and name ‘Pol Pot’ lied about implementing democracy and equality, while following Stalin, Mao & Kim’s policies to execute around 2 million Cambodians, ¼ of the population buried along with the truth for 30 years when Khmer Rouge leaders were finally brought to trial. The GQP is Not going to ‘Come to its Senses’ There is a widespread, persistent hope among those in the small center and growing left that the GQP is going to ‘come to its senses’. Perhaps you have been guilty of having some of these thoughts. This racist backlash against Obama is like a fever, which will hopefully break quickly. Tr*mp is such a ridiculous charlatan that people will see through him before he is ever elected. Mueller has evidence that the Tr*mp campaign provided election data to the Russians and that the Russians stole and released edited emails to help the Tr*mp campaign, so even a Republican DOJ will have to pursue charges. The phone call where Tr*mp tried to extort Zelenskyy into manufacturing evidence against the Biden’s is so obviously illegal, that even Republicans must vote to impeach. Everyone saw on live TV how Tr*mp tried to overturn the election, so even Republicans must vote to impeach. The FBI found classified documents in his desk, despite his claims, so now even Republicans will have to admit Tr*mp broke the law. Surely, Republicans will recognize the danger to democracy, realize that Tr*mp is a criminal, stop believing conspiracy theories, understand that the climate crisis is real, and all the rest. Why, all we have to do is wait, right? “You can fool all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time.” — Popular ad slogan in the 1880s, falsely attributed to Abraham Lincoln. It is ironic that the hopeful quote above is likely misattributed. I grew up believing Honest Abe said it. Folks want to believe that lies are easily dismissed, that they evaporate naturally like a light morning mist. We want to believe we are too wise to fall for lies. People don’t want to believe that humans are gullible and can be misled for years, decades or even generations. But Lincoln grew up surrounded by both slavery and the big lie that slavery was justifiable. Largely self-educated, he worked his entire life to fight that big lie and end that most unjust system. Lincoln knew from painful personal experience, that generations of people can be raised in complete darkness, that the population is not immune to big lies and that such big lies are not easily defeated. “You can always lie to others and hide your actions from them... but you can not fool yourself” — Abraham Lincoln What Lincoln did say about lying was that liars know that they are lying. That means Tr*mp is not an innocent fool, unaware of all the trouble he causes. Tr*mp is fully aware that he lies. He lies intentionally for his own benefit. He knows that his lies must be repeated to spread and sustain them. Russian Communists named their official media Pravda, meaning Truth. Trump’s is called Truth Social. And he knows that he must take extraordinary measures, including inciting violence, in order to hide the truth and promote his lies. The House Republicans also know that they are supporting a liar. They were in the Capitol on 1/6. They know that Tr*mp lost all his lawsuits contesting the election, but they just voted unanimously for a Speaker who denies the election. This is not an accident. All the House Republicans have now chosen to go on the record in support of Tr*mp’s big lie. They all know it is a lie, but they chose the lie in order to wield power. They are all liars. They know it. And they choose to lie, as a group, because they believe it will make them stronger. Hoping such people will somehow ‘come to their senses’ is foolish. Appealing to their sense of fair play, is a waste of time. Expecting facts to sway their judgement, misses the point. Waiting for committed, power-seeking liars to stop being evil, is dangerous. Paraphrasing Maya Angelou, they have shown us who they are, and we should have believed them the first time. What We Must Do Big Lies in history often allow autocrats to take power and crush anyone who speaks the truth. Only bloodshed defeats them. But we still have a democracy. We still have our voices and our votes. We have not yet lost. First, we must use our free voices before we can be silenced. We should not expect the truth to convince the liars, but we must promote truth against every lie to convince the deceived. Pick your battles, think of your audience and hone your message. And don’t give up. Second, we must win the next election before our votes are lost. The liars will not relinquish power voluntarily. They have no shame or guilt about choosing to take power dishonestly, just as they took money from the NRA which took money from Russia. The next Presidential election is in 53 weeks. I’m depressed and tired, but the only way to defeat the liars is to vote them out of office. As difficult and ugly as the next election will likely become, we should be thankful that we have another chance to win by ballots. And finally, unfortunately, we should expect that Tr*mp’s big lies will take years or decades to overcome. Trials, election losses, conviction, imprisonment and his eventual death will all help, but remember that a few big lies persist for centuries and are still repeated today. Courage. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2023/10/29/2202360/-No-the-GQP-is-Not-going-to-Come-to-their-Senses-Dangerous-Big-Lies-Last-Decades Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/