I don't think of it as hypnosis, but more like a religious conversion into true believers. He accomplishes this by repeating the same hateful, divisive mantras over and over and over again. He didn't start this "religion", he just took advantage of what has been perfected by the right wing propaganda empire for the last 40 or 50 years.
His unique contribution is that unlike his predecessors, he realized that he had much better results by not even pretending to be truthful.
I had not thought about it that way, but yes, Rick, you're right: all that wasted energy pretending not to lie. "This is Melania, what are you talking about? Are you saying I don't know my own wife?"
I resemble that remark! I've commented that joy, laughter, compassion and competence are to the mainstream media what sunlight is to a vampire. Like you, I realized I that limiting the scope to mainstream media was a mistake.
I wake up every morning feeling like someone shit in my lunchbox again.
I love this piece. I read it a couple of times. I'm going to check her out. In regards to Vance, he has a spirit of poverty. He will always be poor inside his soulless heart. No matter what he accomplishes.
I'm glad to read, "not the nice ones." I keep referring to the 54% of Americans that are functionally illiterate. We keep playing the same games. For fucking centuries. Only the names change. The worst species on the planet are humans. I got nothing.
Wow, Greg! What can I say? I just read Sunday Pages aloud to my partner. We have fasted and digitally detoxed since the gangrenous results but I will always make time for your historical and insightful perspective. Thank you
Greg, you are the best. You write so well, and with such powerful insights and touching emotion. Thank you. With every passing year since 2015, I have been filled with increasing dread and fear of what I was seeing and hearing in the country and from the people around me. I have commented more than once about the parallels to the USA and 1930’s Germany. I was initially in absolute shock. We are different, we are better than that, we are the good old USA! No more.
A year or two ago in one of Steve Schmidt’s columns(one of dozens of political, historical, and social commentators I starred reading to try to understand the incomprehensible), he introduced me to the “Who Goes Nazi ?” article by Dorothy Thompson. I was absolutely stunned. It was amazing. I then read about her, but now you have inspired me to read her 1931 article too, and Sinclair Lewis’ book as well. Trump and Vance, Nazi to the core. I will never understand or get over this age as long as I live. My wife thinks I am I obsessed about “politics”and where we are, but I believe in my heart of hearts, I am not. This present day is that scary, frightening and even evil.
I am in Texas, ashamed to say, and I thought I was past being shocked by ANYTHING in this MAGA world. Then I saw that so many Hispanic people, even with undocumented immigrants in their FAMILIES, voted for Trump. I guess they did not watch the Republican National Convention, with all those “Mass Deportations Now” signs. We are officially in an alternative universe and I do not know what to do about it. Thank you for your calm wisdom, I need it.
Thanks, Rick. I appreciate that. I think I also read it when it was being shared at that time.
But we're not that far removed from Trump's Nazi rally, so when I saw that she went to the 1939 one and HECKLED, I mean, and I can't remember who pharsed it this way, but that's metal af. There ARE good people out there to model ourselves after. And, like, we did beat the Nazis once before. We have it in us.
Thank you, Greg, for another excellent Sunday analysis. I read her piece back during the orange godking’s first term. It was a great refresher to revisit, especially right now when things could get pretty dark. If people have not yet read Sinclair Lewis’ “It Can’t Happen Here”, now is probably as good a time as any!
(Posted earlier to twitter. Habit. I’ll break it soon?) I think this is so important. We now have different ways of interacting with others that are not in person. The tools we have (our body and processes) for processing are being disrupted because we are not taking in information in the same way. It’s hard to process and/or display empathy. We become ‘they’ … I don’t have any answers except, we need to be around others much, much more or we will lose empathy completely. 🥺🥺🥺- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3340463/
Thanks, Kim, and thanks for posting that. Of course that word, "hippocampus," now has one and only one connotation to me, thanks to Justice Rapey McKegstand.
Thanks for another stellar post, Greg. Imagine being an astrologer in 2015 and seeing Hitler starting to get attention in headlines. Imagine looking at his horoscope back then and feeling sick over the powerfully persuasive resurrection that was likely to develop for him over the next ten years. Who could you have told? Who would have believed you? Horoscopes are astonishing in that they continue to serve as reliable timing tools even when you're dead.
Meanwhile, how apt of you to equate the "saturnine" character with JD Vance. Guess what Vance has in his horoscope? An exact square (supercharged connection) between Saturn and his regal Leo Sun. In the language of astrology, Saturn refers to necessary controls, e.g., discipline, authority, streamlining. When in a challenging pattern, as it is in Vance's chart, it can suggests tyranny -- possibly from a severe relationship with the father figure, that is then internalized and inflicted on everyone else. Oh - but he does it with such sweetness (the "courtesy" Thompson notes in her saturnine figure). Vance is driven by a need to be popular and appreciated for his pleasantries, as we saw in his collegial performance in the debate with Tim Walz.
The US horoscope also has a Sun-Saturn square, though Saturn in the US horoscope is in Libra, whereas Vance's is in potentially ruthless Scorpio. Saturn (control) in Libra (justice) translates as the (until recently) elevated status of our RULE OF LAW. Our Sun-Saturn square also reflects American pragmatism, i.e., our belief that if we just WORK HARD enough (Saturn = discipline, and it squares our home/family security seeking Cancer Sun), anyone can make it.
Somewhere in the 34 pages of that piece, Elisabeth, Thompson writes about astrology...something like, if Weimar had been born under a different sign, and then she talks about what the patterns must have been. So she spoke your language.
Thanks for coming on Sunday! Was great to meet you!
They are attracted to money and power, I think, and cannot separate those things from the person. Hence the inflations. I guess that's not the sort of inflation MAGA doesn't like? Hahaha
Thanks, McLain. That IS one of the different things, although he was certainly handsome enough when he was younger to attract the attention of Roy Cohn...
Thank you, Greg. What a power couple—Sinclair Lewis and Dorothy Thompson. And her descriptions of D and JD could have been written today. So many smart people have warned us for years. It helps to know history.
I don't think of it as hypnosis, but more like a religious conversion into true believers. He accomplishes this by repeating the same hateful, divisive mantras over and over and over again. He didn't start this "religion", he just took advantage of what has been perfected by the right wing propaganda empire for the last 40 or 50 years.
His unique contribution is that unlike his predecessors, he realized that he had much better results by not even pretending to be truthful.
Oh, wow, William, that's interesting. I've seen professional hypnotists do live sets. It's really something to behold.
I had not thought about it that way, but yes, Rick, you're right: all that wasted energy pretending not to lie. "This is Melania, what are you talking about? Are you saying I don't know my own wife?"
Mesmerism.
He studied the speeches, but who prompted him to do that? Cohn? Someone else? All so strange.
One of the mistakes we made was assuming others wanted to feel joy. 🥺 I am completely guilty of that.
I’ll say one of the mistakes *I* made. I don’t mean to speak for anyone but myself. Sorry about that.
I made that mistake to some extent as well, Kim. But I was never totally convinced that Harris would prevail. It seemed too good to be true. Alas.
It does seem like in late-stage capitalism, everything sort of boils down to two big competitors, and the worst one wins. Yay, us!
I resemble that remark! I've commented that joy, laughter, compassion and competence are to the mainstream media what sunlight is to a vampire. Like you, I realized I that limiting the scope to mainstream media was a mistake.
"If it bleeds, it leads," as they used to say at the newspaper offices.
I think that's a really good way to articulate what they are. They can only feel joy by inflicting pain, and that is not really joy.
As always, thank you for this Greg.
Thanks, John!
Ivana said that TF-ingG kept a copy of Mein Kampf on his bedside table.
Maybe she read it to him.
I imagine Stephen Miller read it to him each night.
Interesting if there were footage...
Thank you, Greg. Another excellent piece.
Thanks, Kathleen!
I wake up every morning feeling like someone shit in my lunchbox again.
I love this piece. I read it a couple of times. I'm going to check her out. In regards to Vance, he has a spirit of poverty. He will always be poor inside his soulless heart. No matter what he accomplishes.
I'm glad to read, "not the nice ones." I keep referring to the 54% of Americans that are functionally illiterate. We keep playing the same games. For fucking centuries. Only the names change. The worst species on the planet are humans. I got nothing.
Thanks, Lisa. When I read the thing about people choosing to elect a dictator, I felt like someone punched me in the solar plexus.
Wow, Greg! What can I say? I just read Sunday Pages aloud to my partner. We have fasted and digitally detoxed since the gangrenous results but I will always make time for your historical and insightful perspective. Thank you
Helenbirdart.com
Thank you, Helen. And thanks for sharing the link!
Greg, you are the best. You write so well, and with such powerful insights and touching emotion. Thank you. With every passing year since 2015, I have been filled with increasing dread and fear of what I was seeing and hearing in the country and from the people around me. I have commented more than once about the parallels to the USA and 1930’s Germany. I was initially in absolute shock. We are different, we are better than that, we are the good old USA! No more.
A year or two ago in one of Steve Schmidt’s columns(one of dozens of political, historical, and social commentators I starred reading to try to understand the incomprehensible), he introduced me to the “Who Goes Nazi ?” article by Dorothy Thompson. I was absolutely stunned. It was amazing. I then read about her, but now you have inspired me to read her 1931 article too, and Sinclair Lewis’ book as well. Trump and Vance, Nazi to the core. I will never understand or get over this age as long as I live. My wife thinks I am I obsessed about “politics”and where we are, but I believe in my heart of hearts, I am not. This present day is that scary, frightening and even evil.
I am in Texas, ashamed to say, and I thought I was past being shocked by ANYTHING in this MAGA world. Then I saw that so many Hispanic people, even with undocumented immigrants in their FAMILIES, voted for Trump. I guess they did not watch the Republican National Convention, with all those “Mass Deportations Now” signs. We are officially in an alternative universe and I do not know what to do about it. Thank you for your calm wisdom, I need it.
Rick A. I am shocked there with you. It’s just unbelievable in every way.
[shakes head sadly]
Thanks, Rick. I appreciate that. I think I also read it when it was being shared at that time.
But we're not that far removed from Trump's Nazi rally, so when I saw that she went to the 1939 one and HECKLED, I mean, and I can't remember who pharsed it this way, but that's metal af. There ARE good people out there to model ourselves after. And, like, we did beat the Nazis once before. We have it in us.
That is completely chilling. But what a woman!
Amazing woman. Such a great writer.
Thank you, Greg, for another excellent Sunday analysis. I read her piece back during the orange godking’s first term. It was a great refresher to revisit, especially right now when things could get pretty dark. If people have not yet read Sinclair Lewis’ “It Can’t Happen Here”, now is probably as good a time as any!
I myself have not read it. I don't know if I can. Too soon, you know?
I’m currently reading Sarah Kendzior’s “They Knew: How a Culture of Conspiracy Keeps America Complacent”. It’s quite interesting.
(Posted earlier to twitter. Habit. I’ll break it soon?) I think this is so important. We now have different ways of interacting with others that are not in person. The tools we have (our body and processes) for processing are being disrupted because we are not taking in information in the same way. It’s hard to process and/or display empathy. We become ‘they’ … I don’t have any answers except, we need to be around others much, much more or we will lose empathy completely. 🥺🥺🥺- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3340463/
Thanks, Kim, and thanks for posting that. Of course that word, "hippocampus," now has one and only one connotation to me, thanks to Justice Rapey McKegstand.
Good luck tonight with the Five 8 going live! Thank you for the reminder of Dorothy Thompson’s wisdom.
Thanks, Gail. It turned out great, I think!
As a young kid I heard her spoken of, my proto-ANTIFA parents laughing about how Dorothy "had Hitler's number"
The rise of such a strongman demagogue *can so* happen here; we're witnesses
Oh, she had his number, alright, and he knew it.
Thanks for another stellar post, Greg. Imagine being an astrologer in 2015 and seeing Hitler starting to get attention in headlines. Imagine looking at his horoscope back then and feeling sick over the powerfully persuasive resurrection that was likely to develop for him over the next ten years. Who could you have told? Who would have believed you? Horoscopes are astonishing in that they continue to serve as reliable timing tools even when you're dead.
Meanwhile, how apt of you to equate the "saturnine" character with JD Vance. Guess what Vance has in his horoscope? An exact square (supercharged connection) between Saturn and his regal Leo Sun. In the language of astrology, Saturn refers to necessary controls, e.g., discipline, authority, streamlining. When in a challenging pattern, as it is in Vance's chart, it can suggests tyranny -- possibly from a severe relationship with the father figure, that is then internalized and inflicted on everyone else. Oh - but he does it with such sweetness (the "courtesy" Thompson notes in her saturnine figure). Vance is driven by a need to be popular and appreciated for his pleasantries, as we saw in his collegial performance in the debate with Tim Walz.
The US horoscope also has a Sun-Saturn square, though Saturn in the US horoscope is in Libra, whereas Vance's is in potentially ruthless Scorpio. Saturn (control) in Libra (justice) translates as the (until recently) elevated status of our RULE OF LAW. Our Sun-Saturn square also reflects American pragmatism, i.e., our belief that if we just WORK HARD enough (Saturn = discipline, and it squares our home/family security seeking Cancer Sun), anyone can make it.
Somewhere in the 34 pages of that piece, Elisabeth, Thompson writes about astrology...something like, if Weimar had been born under a different sign, and then she talks about what the patterns must have been. So she spoke your language.
Thanks for coming on Sunday! Was great to meet you!
Thanks for this, Greg. Thompson's description of potential Nazi "D" is pretty much spot on--but I would hardly call Donald "very good looking." Yuk.
Millions of deluded women would disagree with you. You know the ones, those with inflated breasts and lips.
They are attracted to money and power, I think, and cannot separate those things from the person. Hence the inflations. I guess that's not the sort of inflation MAGA doesn't like? Hahaha
Thanks, McLain. That IS one of the different things, although he was certainly handsome enough when he was younger to attract the attention of Roy Cohn...
Blonde Elvis.
Thank you, Greg. What a power couple—Sinclair Lewis and Dorothy Thompson. And her descriptions of D and JD could have been written today. So many smart people have warned us for years. It helps to know history.
Thanks, Katharine. It does help. Although I feel so bad for a lot of the people. Not her, she got out, but so many did not.