The more Trump lies, the more he is empowered to lie.
Facts don’t matter to millions of Americans anymore. That is just the truth. Republicans bewitched by Donald Trump have devalued the import of truth.
It is a sad truth and a dangerous one. What is the operational framework of a society when the truth ceases to be accepted as true?
There may be precedents in other countries, but one would be hard pressed to find a precedent here. It is becoming cliché now to say that we are in uncharted territory with Trump and his regime, but that is precisely where we are.
.. Every day there is no catastrophe, every day yet another never-before-seen, outrageous scandal emerges from this administration and Trump is not destroyed by it, it strengthens him and numbs us and steels his supporters.
The more he lies without paying a price for it, the more he weakens the power of the truth to defend right and condemn wrong. And he expands his latitude to lie more.
.. Rather than lying less, Trump is increasing the frequency of his lying.
.. Trump has gone from making 4.9 false claims a day to now making 6.5 a day.
.. “Just stick with us, don’t believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news,” before telling them, “Just remember, what you are seeing and what you are reading is not what’s happening.”
.. he has used the power of the position to project a sort of hypnotic disregard and amnesiac self-delusion upon the people who follow him. So much of what Republicans once said they believed has now been betrayed.
.. He boasts about being strong while simultaneously whining about being assailed.
.. His griping, in a weird way, is what fuels his gasconade. He insists to his supporters that he is being treated unfairly and their reflexive defense of him prevents them from even entertaining the fairest of criticisms.
Indeed, the more Trump is rebuked by his opponents, the more his base rallies.
.. Among [Republicans], 64 percent strongly approve of Trump, who is experiencing an almost unheard-of level of support from members of his own party.”
.. The White House had previously denied any knowledge that McDougal had even sold her story. That clearly was a lie. Trump not only knew; he was discussing buying it from the seller.
.. Rather than cowering in shame at his deception and his unseemliness, Trump simply goes on the attack, tweeting outrage and indignation
.. We are all trapped, for the time being, held hostage by
- an empowered president,
- a self-neutered Congress, and a
- cultish horde of Trump voters.
But it is the vote that is the most likely way to curb this rolling tragedy. The midterm elections are only a little more than 100 days away.
One Cause of Market Turbulence: Computer-Driven Index Funds
In many ways, this stampede toward passive investing — in which people put their money into funds that track indexes and broader market themes as opposed to relying on human stock pickers — is uncharted territory.
.. the key question is how this transformed market holds up during a financial storm that lasts more than a few days.
.. Cheaply priced exchange-traded and index funds .. They now own close to 40 percent of stocks in the United States
.. BlackRock.. is the leading issuer of exchange-traded funds, with $1.3 trillion under management
.. The popularity of E.T.F.s has concentrated unparalleled financial power in BlackRock and Vanguard, the two biggest providers of index funds and E.T.F.s. Together, they sit on $10.5 trillion in assets and control 65 percent of the 1,700 exchange-traded funds that exist.
.. As the flows have grown in volume, much of these funds have gone toward index heavyweights like Amazon, Apple and Facebook, pushing their valuations ever higher.
.. Active fund managers — human stock pickers .. because they are the ones who buy when others sell.