"Just remember, what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening."

At noon, President Trump spoke to a VFW convention in Kansas City and told the crowd : "Just remember, what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening."

Even for a president who tweeted "any negative polls are fake news," three weeks into his administration, this flat-out appeal for people to ignore what they see with their own eyes was jarring. Observers quickly pointed out that the American president's syntax was uncomfortably close to an infamous line from George Orwell's "1984:" "The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command."

In "1984," the Ministry of Truth is dedicated to teaching citizens to accept sinister nonsense, like 2+2=5 and War is Peace. The test of a loyal party member is "a loyal willingness to say that black is white when Party discipline demands this. But it means also the ability to believe that black is white, and more, to know that black is white, and to forget that one has ever believed the contrary."

In other words, the test of loyalty is not only to lie for the regime but to convince oneself to believe the lies, or at least to dismiss any meaningful difference between truth and lies. And that's where the real danger with the hyper-partisan defense of Trump is emerging.

cnn

---

President Donald Trump's poll numbers are sagging in three key Midwestern states, with only around one-third of voters surveyed saying he deserves to be reelected in 2020, according to new NBC News/Marist polls out Wednesday.

The poll indicated that 28% of registered voters in Michigan, a state Trump flipped in the 2016 presidential election, say he deserves a second term. Some 62% of voters polled believe it's time to replace Trump, the poll found.

In Minnesota, a state Trump lost to Hillary Clinton by fewer than two percentage points in 2016, roughly 30% of voters surveyed say Trump deserves another go-around in the Oval Office, while 60% said he doesn't.

Thirty-one percent of voters in Wisconsin are in favor of a second term for Trump, while 63% say they are not, the NBC/Marist polls show. Trump flipped Wisconsin in 2016 with around 23,000 votes.

businessinsider

"Just Remember, What You're Seeing And Reading Is Not What's Happening."  DJT.

Except it is. 

Is the Goebbels playbook in play here?

It really is unbelievable. What has happened to America? And so suddenly. 

I got a -1, is that good?

On what?

My screen shows you have a -2.  A collapse thread thing.

What has happened to America?  A lot of things.  Maybe pay back.  Maybe over indulgence on our pretend perfections.  Maybe Russian propaganda has been in use for longer than we think and it has more 'domestic friends' than we can imagine.

Too many things about DJT just doesn't add up. 

My screen shows you have a -2.  A collapse thread thing.

I dont know what is up with that. 

That is just a collapsed thread. To open it, click on the -2. 

That is just a collapsed thread. To open it, click on the -2. 

Hi, Perrie...

You might want to remind everyone that there's a link on the front page that leads to a full explanation .

"Just Remember, What You're Seeing And Reading Is Not What's Happening."  DJT.

Except it is. 

Is the Goebbels playbook in play here?

That's George Orwell. 

“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

As did Goebbels.

"Just remember, what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening."

Donald Trump speech, July 24 2018

“The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”

George Orwell '1984'

Yep. 

Somehow I failed to notice the mentioning of the quote in your first post. Sorry for the redundancy.

It's fine. 

donald trump is the greatest president of all time.

Idiocracy - The Sequel.

Demented, completely demented. If you have a relative in a nursing home that talked that like you would immediately talk to the nurse or doctor to inquire about your loved ones medication.

How can a family member sit back and watch this insanity that goes on daily and all the lies and the disconnect from reality and not step in to do something?

The fear of being disinherited must be extreme to avoid coming forward to get this man some help.

"Just remember, what you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening."

O this guys speaking again ?

I like to see who is talking !

This pretty well sums it up.

Amazing, absolutely amazing, but then, Republicans have basically been telling their voters they are going to screw them for years without losing them.  Trump is simply being the exact type of president that most right wingers want, a moronic, swaggering bully who will take an axe to any and every government program, because, well, EVERYTHING the evil gubmint does, is bad!   And of course, like most bullies, Trump is an absolute coward. 

How can anyone in their right mind be against regulating industry so they can't abuse society?  How can anyone in their right mind trust completely amoral corporations over the very people they elect to represent their interests?  How can anyone in their right mind feel that Trump is even remotely acceptable for a president?

How can anyone in their right mind be against regulating industry so they can't abuse society?  How can anyone in their right mind trust completely amoral corporations over the very people they elect to represent their interests?  How can anyone in their right mind feel that Trump is even remotely acceptable for a president?

By ignoring reality. (or perhaps a shitload of cash, or even perhaps the promise of it) 

Everyone wants to be rich, right ?

Hell just vote for ME I'm rich, you can be too....LOL   "I promise.......

Amazing, absolutely amazing, but then, Republicans have basically been telling their voters they are going to screw them for years without losing them.

Your caricature is less than helpful. In one sense, the Right wants a country where you've got to do it all for yourself, while the left wants someone else to do it for them. This is why one side wants a smaller government and the other a larger. Personally, I think there are arguments for both views, so I think the answer is somewhere in the middle. As you say, there does need to be regulation, but it needs to be realistic. It isn't realistic to put draconian EPA standards on a corporation that doesn't apply to competitors in other countries, for example. All that does is cause corporations to move their manufacturing to countries that can make the product cheaper. End result is less employment at living wages, which creates more poor who generally are more concerned with being poor than the environment. That isn't to say that environmental regulations aren't important. They are, of course. However, we can't just do it on our own. We have to have regulations that make sense economically as well. 

And as to the overall subject of the post, I really don't bother with much news anymore. It seems impossible to tell who's telling the truth any more. In my opinion, all the major news outlets spin the news so hard it probably time travels backwards. 

We shouldn't put regulations on any company that a competitor in another nation doesn't have, is this your position?  Well, China basically pollutes to her heart's content, so I guess we shouldn't have any environmental regulations at all by your way of thinking.  China has them, but they are rarely enforced, much like the US in the sixties.

There is no Constitutional authority for federal attempts to control businesses or the environment 

The Chinese government has environmental regulations but they are enforced locally and economic interests, payoffs, prevent the regulations from being enforced.  This gives Chinese companies an advantage.  Do you think the other countries should even things out by not enforcing environmental regulations at all?

or the environment 

E.A  I am sure you mean " other " then " We the People " wish for and demand!

Pollution wasn't an issue when they wrote the constitution.  Should we allow companies to dump toxins into the air we breathe and the water we drink, at will?

We shouldn't put regulations on any company that a competitor in another nation doesn't have, is this your position?

No, it isn't my position. My position is that we should enact regulations that don't significantly harm our competitiveness while at the same time work to force other countries to actually comply with what they say they support. As they increase their compliance toward effective environmental standards, so do we. 

Well, China basically pollutes to her heart's content, so I guess we shouldn't have any environmental regulations at all by your way of thinking. China has them, but they are rarely enforced, much like the US in the sixties.

That isn't what I said, but perhaps you don't care. Not sure yet. 

In any case, I'm all for President Trump backing out of the Paris Accords. Not because I was against the idea of a world with less pollution, but because of the reason you yourself supplied. China signed the Paris Accords, if I recall correctly, but they have no intention of abiding by them. As far as I can see, their only goal was to put pressure on the US to abide by them in order to make it harder for us to compete economically. India and other countries are the same. The Paris Accords had zero to do with actually accomplishing anything to do with environmental issues and everything to do with disadvantaging the west. 

My feeling is that unless the world embraces sustainable environmental standards it is a waste of effort for a few to try. It may slow the inevitable down, but the end will be the same. And in the trying, it will only cause social unrest in those who do the trying because they will become poorer while the rest of the world takes advantage of them. By "the rest of the world" I mean the 1% of other countries who actually make the decisions. 

Pollution wasn't an issue when they wrote the constitution.  Should we allow companies to dump toxins into the air we breathe and the water we drink, at will?

No. I think the US should be a leader in environmental protection. However, there needs to be a rational method about it. We can't pretend we are the only country on the planet or that environmental issues are the only issues. 

We can be environmental fascists, but that will not last long. It would destroy us as a country and, in the end, we'd become just like China in order to survive. 

What do you call significant?  In some cases, just bringing down toxic emissions and effluence to a moderate degree that is still no where near safe, will be a very significant difference against a competitor who doesn't have to do a thing.

China DOES have pretty decent environmental regulations and they are enforced in some areas, the problem is the overall lack of local enforcement.  Now I have a question for you, do you think the central Chinese government should force the local and regional branches to abide by the environmental standards?  I do, I think every country should abide by the laws as a country, with nationwide compliance enforced.  And while we're on the topic, every company in the world should be forced by their government to pay a living wage and provide a safe work environment, like they do in most civilized nations, evening the playing field for everyone.  Also, every country should care for the health of their citizens.  

Starting in 2017 the central government of China began a crackdown on the regional governments that are not enforcing the environmental laws, lenny. 

npr

Didn't realize that, thanks for the info, good to hear!  Even China is more humane than President Trump...

Well, we WERE being an environmental leader, but then we elected Trump!

What do you call significant?  In some cases, just bringing down toxic emissions and effluence to a moderate degree that is still no where near safe, will be a very significant difference against a competitor who doesn't have to do a thing.

Okay, but what are we talking about? You realize that no matter how much we reduce emissions or how perfectly we manage the environment we will all die, right? The point isn't that, because of that, we shouldn't be concerned with environmental issues, because we should, but rather, that it isn't really what is important. What does it matter to the mother and father who were let go from their jobs because the company they worked for folded because they couldn't compete and now they have to work at jobs that don't pay a living wage, let alone pay for the medical treatment their son needs. Yet even though this is obvious, we have people who disregard this in the name of environmentalism. The state of the Earth becomes more important than the people it sustains.

Believe me, I understand your concerns. Like anyone, I think about what I would do if I won the lottery. One of my fantasies is that I'd find some way to collect all the plastic floating around in the oceans. More realistically, I think I'd find some way to bring clean water to those who don't have it. But the world is the way it is. We have to deal with it in that fashion. To go after environmentalism at the expense of all the other considerations simply won't work. 

State and local issue

The Chinese government has environmental regulations but they are enforced locally

Did you mean "they are not" by any chance?  China's air quality is so bad, it can be seen from the space station.