In a brutally blunt column for the Washington Post, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush accused Donald Trump of being easily manipulated by Fox News media personalities -- among others -- who make a living by feeding the paranoia and hysteria of their gullible fans.
According to Michael Gerson, a friend recently lamented the state of conservative talk radio, saying, “Right-wing talk radio is using language that can’t get much more apocalyptic. It’s all about coups, and Mueller as a Soviet-style prosecutor, and the left wanting to destroy America, and off-the-charts rage at the media.”
Gerson explains that Trump both buys into the conspiracy theories pushed by ratings-driven prophets of paranoia but repeats them creating a feedback loop that continues to metastasize.
"The president of the United States himself argues that he is the victim of a plot by the 'deep state' — a conspiracy he locates in any part of government that refuses to affirm and demonstrate loyalty to his person," Gerson writes. "It is worth noting, first of all, that all these comparisons and conspiracies are utter rubbish — the work of people who monetize hysteria or benefit from ignorance and paranoia."
According to Gerson, Trump's problems are the result of the president's own actions and the activities of the cronies he surrounds himself with.
"The current investigations targeting the Trump administration are not partisan witch hunts," Gerson explained. "They are the natural result when a leader surrounds himself with crooks, cronies and con men. Trump’s inner circle — including, at various points, Michael Cohen, Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone — constitutes a sliminess hall of fame."
"Another problem with apocalyptic language is that the comparisons don’t allow for limits," he elaborated. "If we are really facing a subversive and sinister deep state, why not use the Marines, or the Secret Service, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement to clean out the subversion?"
"The problem, of course, is that of all these comparisons are absurd, dangerous, inappropriate metaphors, used by adults who should know better. What we have in this country are serious political disagreements, which can be decided only through political means," Gerson wrote. "We are not really on a hijacked plane, or in a bloody civil war, or dealing with a coup, or hunting witches, or facing the apocalypse."
Gerson then warned that the problem of Trump and his media boosters feeding off each other is something that should be taken seriously because it can have disastrous real-world implications.
"It is a sad thing when a president manipulates the public. It is a sad and scary thing when the president is manipulated by people with a vested interest in cultivating crisis," he cautioned. "The worst danger of civil war or subversion comparisons is that Trump might actually believe them. And act on them."
You can read the whole thing here.
