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I& #39;m so glad to see this story about Trump& #39;s Trump University scam. I& #39;ve been saying (most recently on @Honestly_Tara) that the Trump U scam was the biggest story of 2016 because it directly contradicted Trump& #39;s hero narrative & showed he was a con. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/spin-deride-attack-how-trumps-handling-of-trump-university-presaged-his-presidency/2020/07/24/7d3a327a-bfb8-11ea-9fdd-b7ac6b051dc8_story.html">https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/...
I write about it in my book, the Trump U play books were amazing. You can still buy Trump U crap on amazon--he& #39;s still making money off of this scam.
Here& #39;s a thread from when I was writing that chapter: https://twitter.com/jenmercieca/status/1050139691780067328">https://twitter.com/jenmercie...
Here& #39;s a thread from when I was writing that chapter: https://twitter.com/jenmercieca/status/1050139691780067328">https://twitter.com/jenmercie...
The takeaway from my story was about how Trump strategically used ad baculum (threats of force/intimidation) appeals when he needed them, then discarded them when he didn& #39;t. Not only is he a con, but he& #39;s also a con authoritarian. He used his followers& #39; frustration as a wedge.
Trump isn& #39;t the hero his followers think he is, he is a con man.
Trump isn& #39;t the authoritarian tyrant* his opposition thinks he is either, he is a con man.
*BUT, he will be a tyrant, if he has to be. It& #39;s a strategy for him. He& #39;s America& #39;s authoritarian PT Barnum. Dangerous.
Trump isn& #39;t the authoritarian tyrant* his opposition thinks he is either, he is a con man.
*BUT, he will be a tyrant, if he has to be. It& #39;s a strategy for him. He& #39;s America& #39;s authoritarian PT Barnum. Dangerous.
Related to what I was saying about Trump being America& #39;s Authoritarian PT Barnum: "Welcome to the world of performative authoritarianism," @anneapplebaum: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/07/trump-putting-show-portland/614521/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share">https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/arc...
And credit for the "authoritarian PT Barnum" line goes to @JTiloveTX. I use it all the time, you should know he wrote it.
one other thing about this since folks are interested: Trump distracted us from focusing on this story with an ad hominem attack (attacking the person) on the judge& #39;s credibility & ad baculum threats (threats of force/intimidation) against reporters.
All "ad" fallacies are distraction techniques. The word "ad" is Latin for "to" and these fallacies are used to re-route our attention from the central issue of debate TO the person or threat.
