Brainwashing Requires Reinforcing

It's easy to dismiss Trump's cowardice towards Putin as the explanation for Trump's punching down by yelling at the leader of an allied country who has bravely led his nation through a now 3-years-long attack from the violent Russian state, as he did on the 28th of February, 2025, during a visit by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky.  After all, Trump was too scared to fight in Vietnam, so he said he had bone spurs.  Further, he does appear scared of hearing truthful information in regards to geography, weather, politics, international relations, business and people.  At every opportunity to criticize Russia, Trump cowers.  Give him a chance to punch down and he takes it every time.  This is what he has turned the Republican party into, as several of them joined Trump in ganging up on Zelensky in the Oval Office, where the business of the People of the United States is conducted.  Donald Trump hates the United States of America for standing for freedom and he's ready to put a stop to it during his presidency this time, after failing during his first attempt.  He's scared of an educated free people because educated free people don't historically choose to voluntarily allow someone as shallow, empty and hateful as Trump to serve as a business partner or a leader.

What was really behind the trumpists' setup and attempt to create a reality only appreciated by elderly dementia patients is the need to continue and reinforce the brainwashing being dished out by hard-right disinformation outlets that masquerade as news (i.e. Fox News, OANN, etc.).  What Trump did won't affect the way Americans view Ukraine and its heroic leader, Zelensky, except amongst those consuming the disinformation-as-news outlets.

Amongst those disinformation-as-news consumers, they are well along the path of embracing the Russian view of the world.  It's a radical departure from where they and their ancestors were 30 years ago and that's why it requires persistent, continuing disinformation and acceptance amongst the political leadership to allow such a transformation.  People like Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Vance and Trump have given them permission to transform into the opposite of what they used to be and what they used to represent.  Feigning outrage over a fabricated idea of disrespect from Zelensky is disgusting to those of us who avoid the disinformation-as-news world, but it's accepted as a valid criticism from disinformation-as-news consumers.  It hurts them to question the ideas being offered to them by people who bring them order and understandable explanations, as the anchors in disinformation-as-news outlets do.

It's painful to witness half our country being pulled into a new reality where our friends are our enemies and our enemies are our friends, but that's where Trump and the disinformation-as-news outlets are taking them.  They've been on this path for years and they can't abandon it because doing so would force them to recognize and attempt to rationalize the inconsistency in their behavior that would cause extreme psychological pain for them.   It's human nature to want to be consistent, but these changes have happened over such a long arc of time, in baby steps and with dismissive acceptance of Republican politicians and the disinformation-as-news anchors that MAGA doesn't recognize what they've become.  They focus on a small subset of issues (like gender and skin color) to rationalize their chaos, not realizing what they're doing.  The political leaders and billionaire American Oligarchs realize, but their financial interests are too strong a pull to allow them to speak for morality.  Trumpism is a dark force that only knows how to love Putin and his dictator friends.  We can be certain there have been numerous payoffs from Russian oligarchs besides the ones the Trump family has been known to receive through business transactions.  But, in only 5 weeks, the Trump regime has eliminated all resources that the U.S. government would need in order to find that out.  The Russian money will flow freely and the disinformation-as-news outlets will grow in strength with Russian backing.  The Brainwashing will continue because it requires maintenance to block out, dismiss or explain away all sources of truth.  MAGA as a slogan solidifies this for them.  They repeat it, wear it on their clothing and say it from their mouths and it prevents them from questioning what they're really doing and correcting course.