Editor’s Note:
The fealty of the Republican Party’s MAGA base to anti-democratic policies is based, according to Robert Bruce Adolph in this article, to what makes them “feel good” and to their values, notwithstanding facts. Their faithfulness to falsehoods is abetted by partisan media and boosted by the “New Nobility,” Adolph’s tag for the wealthiest Americans. NSL4A member Adolph is a former senior U.S. Army Special Forces officer and retired UN Chief Security Advisor.
MAGA and White House Lies
By Robert Bruce Adolph
It is easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.
- Mark Twain
Thirty years ago, I began writing snippets of what I hoped to be wisdom regarding the human condition. So as not to take myself too seriously, I gave them the satirical title of “Bob’s Laws.” The first of these laws broken down to its essential truth follows: “Many people believe what they wish to believe” - including lies. This brief sentence may best describe the worst of Mr. Trump’s MAGA cult. Facts do not matter. Truth does not matter.
Terrifyingly, the only thing that does seem to matter to those suffering from the MAGA fantasy are the political positions that make them feel good about themselves and what they call “their values,” along with the unwavering conviction that the political Left in our country represents Satan and his minions or Communists.
With this above understanding, gerrymandering that disenfranchises significant proportions of our society is permissible. Cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits to those that most need it is desirable. Denying women, the right to control their own bodies is unarguable. Banning books, the usual fetish of Fascists, is necessary. Placing firearms within easy reach of the temperamentally or psychologically unfit is imperative. Tarring migrants as “drug dealers and rapists” is acceptable.’
Servicing the best interests of the “One Percent,” the wealthiest in America, what I have termed as the New Nobility, is essential. Their refusal to consider compromise - the baseline of a healthy democracy - is telling and destructive of all things that define a Republic.
This situation reflects a confluence of negative influences engendering a riot of conspiracy theories that engulf the party of Lincoln. It has betrayed its founding principles and become self-interested and corrupt, while peddling untruths. Proof is everywhere evident: illegal tariffs; an unnecessary war in the Middle East; extra-judicial killings in international waters; massive dollar devaluation internationally; enormous and still growing national debt; betrayal of Ukraine; continuing support to Israel’s ethnic cleansing and genocide in both Gaza and the West Bank; and so much more.
Much of the above-mentioned is of course supported by Fox News’ proven history of lies that came to light in the startling Dominion Voting Systems vs Fox News Network defamation case. Those lies cost News Corp $787.5 million in court ordered damages. Apparently, some corporations never learn. A judge permitted Gavin Newsom’s $787 million dollar defamation lawsuit against News Corp to move forward.
In defense of MAGA acolytes, they sense correctly that something is wrong with the country. What they get wrong is the cause. The actual key problem facing America is the current rule of the New Nobility, the wealthiest among us. Their money buys them boat loads of influence in the halls of Congress and within the Supreme Court, protecting their ilk from fair taxation and much-needed government oversight. As a result, the rich are literally getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the Middle Class is getting badly squeezed.
Yes, MAGA Republicans know that something is wrong. They are clearly angry about it, as am I. But Democrats are not the enemy. The enemy are the most financially privileged among us. The only possible counterweight to the New Nobility is good government. Therefore, the One Percent must control the government via the party system. The Republican Party has become their shill. Corruption has metastasized onto the Republican Party as a whole. As we have seen during Mr. Trump’s second administration, a sitting president can be placed above the law if he appoints sycophants at the Department of Justice and FBI, while corrupting his own political party.
The party of Lincoln now merely masquerades as conservative. Moreover, no amount of verifiable fact-based truths will impact this group. Their embrace of fantasy is deeply entwined with their identity. The loss of one therefore condemns the other – a tragedy still in the making. In other words, MAGA Republicans believe what they wish to believe. Mark Twain, quoted at the beginning of this commentary, was brilliant.
President Donald Trump speaking at the Great American State Fair kick-off rally. (WhiteHouse.gov)
Robert Bruce Adolph — a qualified Military Strategist — is a former senior Army Special Forces soldier. When retired from the active military, he joined the UN and subsequently saw service in multiple crisis countries across three continents. Robert holds graduate degrees in both International Affairs & National Security Studies, and once taught university courses in U.S. History, American Government, and World Politics. More recently, he became a successful international speaker. His over three hundred articles, essays, and commentaries have appeared in more than fifty newspapers, magazines, professional journals, and academic publications. He also authored the book “Surviving the United Nations: A true story of violence, corruption, betrayal, and redemption,” now out in a paperback second edition and on Audible and Kindle. Robert is a member of the Steady State Group composed of former senior US National Security professionals, and the National Security Leaders for America organization. Discover more at www.robertbruceadolph.com.
Simple yet profound analysis. An ideology and politics built on confirmation bias and false attribution bias.
I feel compelled to respond to this because I am so disappointed in NSL4A. While much of Mr Adolph’s analysis is strong, antisemitism comes through clear as a bell with his flippant comments about Israel, genocide and ethnic cleansing. It completely undermines his credibility for me and I hope for other officers who look at Israel’s response a little more critically. Antisemitism has no place in NSL4A. This man is supposedly an expert in international affairs and the use of military power. He knows or should know that the situation is so much more nuanced than he makes it out to be by his comments. And this article is about MAGA untruths? How about his (our) untruths? It makes me deeply distrustful of the actual agenda of NSL4A and fundamentally undermines my trust in the organization. Since when does the A in NSL4A stand for antisemitism?
Shame on us for putting our name on this. As I have told many people, if Canada were lobbing rockets into New York State, kidnapping US Border Patrol officers, raping and murdering American women and blowing up the occasional NYC bus, Ottawa would be a smoking ruin and Americans would be cheering. But God forbid the Jews defend themselves after a brutal and inhuman attack on Israeli citizens by Hamas terrorists, who are in actuality the Palestinian military. In my opinion, the Israelis responded with a military operation to end the ability of the government of Palestine to wage war on Israel in the same way the United States conducted a military operation to end the ability of the Japanese and the Germans to wage war on us. I cannot tell you just how deeply disappointing I find this coming from a group of leaders who served in our military and who are supposed to know better.
Andrew M Porter
LTC, US Army, Retired