Tonight's debate is about Trump's and MAGA's false reality, not party nor message

TAT readers,

Well, my friends, it is my first day back at my desk after several days helping my son and his family remodel their new home. This cut back on my writing and thank you for your patience. Playing with delightful grandchildren before and after a day’s work… priceless. There’s a mountain of critical work to catch up on before another short hiatus regarding my latest book, so let’s get at it.

Introduction

Tonight’s debate between VP Kamala Harris and the former occupant of the Oval Office, is what the military calls the “5-meter target.” In other words, when in combat, first engage the most dangerous threat and this most often, is the closest target. This does not mean to ignore other threats, but the one that has the best chance of doing you the most and more immediate harm, must be your primary focus. Donald Trump and the MAGA/ GOP are precisely that threat to our constitutional republic. To precisely define that threat is to acknowledge that they will do and say anything to achieve their objective of overturning our constitution in pursuit of a nation built on authoritarian, oligarchical White Christian Nationalism.

Today, in preparation for tonight’s debate, we will look at the three most dangerous false narratives Trump and his base have built their campaign around. In many respects, my insights today will mostly revolve around Trump’s threat to our constitutional republic. This is because I have written often and passionately about two of the three false narratives. In addition to briefly addressing these two previously explored dishonest narratives, I will also include links to those essays about; 1. price-gouging, falsely defined as “inflation” and “MAGA’s overt dishonesty about the border.

My podcast, hosted by the Lincoln Project and discussing narrative, re: today’s extremist controlled, GOP (truthaboutthreats.com)

The last thought that I will leave you with as we launch into today’s essay, is that narratives, once established are extremely difficult to dislodge. When false narratives have been propagated for a very long time among a loyal following, it becomes exceedingly difficult. In regard to MAGA conspiracy theories which are an especially pernicious form of narrative, they are almost impossible to dislodge from those who have fully internalized them. This is a very long and difficult explanation that would only detract from today’s essay, but I will include a couple of links to what is called, Narrative Warfare as we go. As some of you may know, I am the VP of a Think Tank called Narrative Strategies, that specializes in what most call, influence operations and that we teach, research and mentor national security professionals in Narrative Warfare.

The bottom line for readers, is that understanding the truth becomes your first line of defense against those who would seek to impose their conspiracy theories onto your beliefs. The issues surrounding price-gouging and border dishonesty are especially dangerous to those attempting to defeat Trump and his fake patriots in the November election. Professionally speaking, when I speak of a “first line of defense,” I’m talking about what the national security community calls, “cognitive resilience.” In short, this simply means that the more resilient that a person is, the better able they are to resist dishonest narratives and propaganda.

In an age where our national security community has demonstrated decades of incompetence in fighting adversarial influence and building resilience, we must help each other. The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security who have the primary responsibility to defend us from all types of threats, are not coming to the rescue. We must do it ourselves. When I write these essays, I’m doing all I can to build resilience into those who hold actual patriotic values based on truth, reality and our founding principles. Without resilience, our nation is at its most acute danger, since the US Civil War. The ideology of the MAGA crowd, is their unbridled desire for an authoritarian, oligarchical, White Christian Nationalist nation which is the precise opposite of our beloved, constitutional republic. In order to achieve this, they must eliminate our constitution. They have boldly declared that this is exactly what they wish to do in their 2024 GOP Platform and as outlined in their strategy called, Project 2025.

Let’s get this show on the road!

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As noted earlier, most of today’s work will revolve around Trump’s well-documented declarations to both undermine and/ or significantly alter the US Constitution in a manner that revokes many of our personal, constitutional guarantees. Once broken, our constitution will end up like the children’s rhyme, about Humpty Dumpty. It can’t be put back together again.

Trump does not stop with just constitutional issues, but has as an integral part of his disgraceful un-American personal repertoire, a hostile attitude towards our military, Veterans, Gold Star families, other veteran’s families, Reservists, Guard members etc., etc., etc. Sure, the MAGA/ GOP, excuses his behavior at Normandy, Arlington and far more, but no serious American patriot, will every overlook these toxic, un-American indiscretions. I come from a family of Veterans, most combat and war-time veterans, including my mother, father and son. They, nor those we served with, are “losers and suckers.”

As always, Trump in all of his public appearances and primary media narratives, comments on patriotism, albeit this is his bizarre, cultivated fake patriotism version. Tonight, he will again make multiple references to the implied fake patriotism of MAGA that is best defined as, God, guns and Trump.

In order to grasp the depth of the threat, let’s first look at a few examples of Trump’s and MAGA’s anti-patriotism and unconstitutional intentions. As is my normal procedure, these claims will be accompanied with their sources.

• CREW, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in government has long waged a war against corrupt government officials of both parties. Below is their statement regarding Trump’s pervasive abuse of the Emoluments Clause of the US Constitution:

  Following the dismissal of the emoluments cases by the Supreme Court, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Executive Director Noah Bookbinder released the following statement:
  
  “CREW sued Donald Trump on his first day in the Oval Office for systematic violations of the Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution. We were honored to work in that case with courageous competitors of Trump’s businesses who joined the lawsuit, in a subsequent case with the bold attorneys general of Maryland and the District of Columbia, and with an incredible team of lawyers to pursue these cases. These two emoluments cases continued to move forward successfully, including wins in two federal appeals courts, through four years of the Trump presidency, despite advancing novel legal theories and having the weight of a presidential administration arrayed against them. This important litigation made the American people aware for four years of the pervasive corruption that came from a president maintaining a global business and taking benefits and payments from foreign and domestic governments. Only Trump losing the presidency and leaving office ended these corrupt constitutional violations and stopped these groundbreaking lawsuits.”
  
  - CREW statement on Emoluments Cases
  - January 25th, 2021

  

• In 2018, the US Supreme Court/ SCOTUS in a vote along ideological lines, allowed Trump’s “Muslim Ban.” This is far from the last time that the John Roberts’ SCOTUS will save Trump’s unconstitutional edicts. Just like Emoluments Clause case, SCOTUS’ decision to protect this obvious violation of our constitutional principles, allowed Trump to override our most critical founding document, the Constitution.

  • It did not help that Trump verbally assaulted the Gold Star parents of a Muslim American Army officer who died fighting for the US in Iraq.

    The Supreme Court today handed a major victory to the Trump administration. By a vote of 5-4, the justices rejected a challenge to President Donald Trump’s September 2017 order – often referred to as the “travel ban” – restricting immigration to the United States by citizens of eight countries, most (but not all) of which are predominantly Muslim. In an opinion by Chief Justice John Roberts, the majority relied on the national security justifications for the ruling, while Justice Sonia Sotomayor, in dissent, lamented that the court had “blindly” endorsed “a discriminatory policy motivated by animosity toward” Muslims.
    
    - Opinion analysis: Divided court upholds Trump travel ban (Updated)
    - SCOTUSblog
    - Amy Howe
    - June, 2018

• After receiving factual and well-deserved criticism from the New York Times, Trump threated to undermine the free speech section of the First Amendment’s Free Speech clause.

  Trump has also suggested that as president, he would enact new restrictions on the First Amendment’s guaranteed freedom of the press. “We're going to open up those libel laws,” Trump said in February. “So when The New York Times writes a hit piece which is a total disgrace … we can sue them and win money instead of having no chance of winning because they're totally protected.” For more than 50 years, the Supreme Court has held that for a public figure to prove libel against a news outlet, they must show that the outlet acted with “‘actual malice’ — that is, with knowledge that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.” To seek to overturn this constitutional protection such that news organizations could be sued for publishing a story that gets some minor facts wrong but is not actually malicious would run contrary to our long-established understanding of the First Amendment freedoms of speech and the press. In a constitutional democracy, it is essential that the press has broad freedom to investigate public officials so that voters have the information needed to hold them accountable.
  
  - Trump vs. the Constitution: a Guide
  - COREY BRETTSCHNEIDER
  - Politico
  - August, 2016

  

• Who can forget Trump’s claim to “terminate” parts of the constitution?

  WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Donald Trump faced rebuke Sunday from officials in both parties after calling for the “termination” of parts of the Constitution over his lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
  
  Trump, who announced last month that he is running again for president, made the claim over the weekend on his Truth Social media platform.
  
  “A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” he wrote. “Our great ‘Founders’ did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!”
  
  - Trump rebuked for call to suspend Constitution over election
  - Associated Press
  - Hope Yen
  - December 2022

• During COVID, Trump sought a variety of presidential overrides to the constitution, like the power to reopen business and schools, which via the Tenth Amendment, allocates those decisions exclusively to the States and their elected leadership.

  During an evening news briefing on Monday night, President Trump declared that he, and not individual governors and mayors, would make the decision about when and how to reopen the country. Explaining his authority by stating that “[w]hen somebody’s president of the United States, the authority is total,” President Trump claimed vast executive powers in relation to the ongoing fight against COVID-19, including the power to reopen businesses, send children back to school, and end stay-at-home orders. Legal scholars across the ideological spectrum were quick to reject his arguments. Pointing out that under our federal structure the 10th Amendment reserves these powers to the states, these scholars explained that the constitutionally enumerated powers of the national government simply do not cover the powers that President Trump alleges to have.
  
  - Trump’s Unconstitutional View of Presidential Power
  - American Constitution Society
  - ACS president
  - April 2020

Of course, his intentions for VP Pence on January 6th, are now infamous and another direct attempt to subvert and invalidate the very foundation of American government, our constitution.

There are plenty more examples for this portion of today’s essay but by now, I’m certain that we all, get the point. Add to this the driving focus of Project 2025 and the GOP 2024 Platform that largely echos it, is the intention to completely revamp the three branches of government, Executive, Legislative and Judicial, so that all real power resides in the Executive. Both documents also include a healthy dose of, the imposition of Christian Nationalism on all Americans. Few things are more un-American and unconstitutional, than imposing religious beliefs on all Americans. There is no doubt that Trump and his closest affiliates’ true intentions, are to overthrow, our constitutional republic, in support of an authoritarian, oligarchical, White Christian Nationalist state.

For tonight’s debate, Trump will again fail to actually answer moderator questions, unless he can dominate the response with one of his false narratives; 1. FOX News/ MAGA fake patriotism of God, Guns and Trump, 2. the false narrative that we are experiencing “inflation and 3. that the border situation is caused by the current administration. As always, when I make these predictions, I reserve the right to be wrong. Past history from Trump though, shows a well-defined and near flawless representation of how he operates as an alleged, debater.

You can even buy this disgraceful flag and countless similar products on Amazon

Trump also possesses a knack for breaking with convention and protocol in order to get his way with audiences. Anyone moderating that cannot control these traits within reason, will fail as a moderator. To be frank, I don’t recall anyone successfully corralling his stalking, aggressive and dishonest approach to the debate stage. Fortunately, tonight, there is no studio audience.

Will Trump double down on his misogyny with a female candidate such as VP Harris? I have no doubt, that those preparing him for debate will attempt to coach him to show a modicum of respect, but Trump’s version of such restraint is akin to a slap, instead of a punch in the face. His self-control has been nearly absent in all areas of his life and throughout his life. With his increasingly unintelligible and so-called “word salads” occurring ever more readily, I do not foresee a great deal of potential for him showing restraint. His cognitive issues far surpass anything that the GOP/ MAGA propaganda machine has tried to hang on Joe Biden.

Trump’s only success can come from changing the dynamics so dramatically, that independent viewers will see ambiguity in his attempts to sell the false narratives. Fact checking is meaningless to Trump’s, MAGA base. Those whose identity has already been conditioned to accept his truly crazy conspiracy theories, are from my professional perspective, unsalvageable. This is another fine point of Narrative Warfare. They will believe him and do precisely as he asks them to. Look how many showed up on January 6th and attempted a coup. Pollsters do not understand this detail of influence operations, grounded in Narrative Warfare. This is why they were so wrong in 2016. They have improved little since. This is why when I write on this topic, that I am so serious. I do understand how the psychology works in these situations. It is a professional requirement.

So as we wrap up this first section regarding fake patriotism and unconstitutional narratives, please remember that these narratives are alive and well for all voters as that they saturate our media environments. Like the two short summaries that follow regarding the false narratives of inflation and a Biden caused border crisis, they are a threat to the minds of all voters, not just the GOP. In fact, both the border and alleged inflation issues, have already infected far too many among the opposition.

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It’s not inflation… it is price-gouging by oligarchical corporations.

As noted, these next two sections will be simply summaries of the multiple essays already written and of which, some are fairly recent. Because they are false narratives and professionally speaking, narratives are always about influence, we must be very energetic is selling the truth to all voters, not just targeting the MAGA crowd. We must build resilience in those who would vote against Trump and MAGA. This is as plain as I can make the difficult and complex story of how Narrative Warfare works. Build a foundation of truth in the good guys and do our best to show truth to our fellow Americans.

During active COVID periods there were legitimate issues regarding supply chains and other related factors that caused price increases. Today, those issues are normalized but corporate profits across the board, continue to hit record heights. A trip to the grocery store is still painful and the Biden administration has been taking these corporations to task for price-gouging. These record profits my friends are no longer “inflation,” and credible sources across the board agree with me. It is simply price-gouging. Sure, corporations are paying a fortune to public relations firms to try and sell the opposite, but consumers are pushing back, and we’re beginning to “win” a little.

Economic indicators | U.S. Department of Commerce

The following links are to credible sources that say, “inflation” is false advertising.

• Companies are using inflation to price-gouge Americans – and making it worse | Robert Reich | The Guardian

• Brown: Corporate Price-Gouging Tactics Distort the Market and Drive Inflation | United States Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs (senate.gov)

• Corporate profits have contributed disproportionately to inflation. How should policymakers respond? | Economic Policy Institute (epi.org)

• Prices have gone up since the pandemic began. Is that ‘inflation’ really corporate greed? – NBC4 Washington (nbcwashington.com)

• Consumer prices pushed up mostly by corporate profits, new Groundwork Collaborative study finds | Fortune

• Economic indicators | U.S. Department of Commerce

What is critical at this point is to stop the narrative about inflation. Yes, I completely understand that it is easier to just say the word inflation than the long-complicated argument about price-gouging but if we do not put this conspiracy theory to bed, it becomes one of Trump/ MAGA’s best election weapons. This above all else, must be focused on and that means that the Harris/ Walz campaign must absolutely focus on it. Local advocacy is in many ways… more valuable than the national campaign. It is your neighbors who experience the same at the grocery as you, and they are the ones who must understand.

If we all don’t band together instead of fighting over partisanship, corporate greed will rule us forever. MAGA believes the inflation narrative and falsely believes that the GOP will help them. They will not. This is because it is precisely those corporate price-gougers, that make the biggest campaign donations to elected representatives, who provide less oversight of their businesses. In the past couple of decades, the GOP has been on a deregulation binge. In short, deregulation by the GOP, has cost all of us a bundle. The same applies at the gas pump too but there, it is OPEC and US supermajors like ExxonMobil , Chevron, ConocoPhillips etc. that are the abusers, not the administration.

Below are earlier essays on this topic.

• It's not Inflation, its price-gouging by corporate Oligarchs, who are also, the largest campaign donors. (truthaboutthreats.com)

• Big oil, oligarchy, and the threat they pose to US and global security. (truthaboutthreats.com)

• Oligarchy and its evil offspring... price-gouging (truthaboutthreats.com)

The last of our false narratives that I expect Trump to focus on most intensely, is his and MAGA’s (with Russian state support) false narratives about our southern border. I have professionally paid a great deal of attention to our southern border. My congressional district, represented by a MAGA Republican, Tony Gonzales includes the longest stretch of our southwestern border. Tony spends an enormous amount of time whining, moaning and overtly lying about the border. Of course, his MAGA dishonesty doesn’t stop there but that is another story all by itself.

The most succinct way to describe the border situation is that as of this writing, the border is more secure and at lower encounters than it was when Trump left office. There is a higher Federal presence than at any other time and that processes for asylum have greatly improved and are light years more humane than they were under the Trump administration. Still, the false narratives persist, even in audiences deeply anti-Trump. Blame the media and a failed messaging strategy by the DNC and US government for this.

Our border has ebbed and flowed as far as immigration since we’ve been a nation. Terrorism at the Southern border is intensely minor relative to other potential opportunities for entrance into the US and the most significant problem remain drugs, human trafficking and of course… guns that are far more easily available in the US.

Yes, we must greatly improve our border security, but the primary problems are not at the border, they are at the point of origin and largely driven by global threats, primarily climate change driven catastrophes. War, gang violence, drought, food insecurity and famine among other issues are driven by climate change and decades of erosion of global law, norms, policies and anti-democratic threats.

The entire world is facing the largest migration of human beings, since the end of the second world war. Walls are patently ridiculous as an effective measure. True improvement must come from Congress who legislates, not the White House/ Executive Branch. Congress has failed their constitutional duties for decades regarding the border (s).

This is the closest I can come to summing up our border situation. For more details from previous, detailed essays, can be found in the links below.

• Yes, our borders are critical to our National Security (truthaboutthreats.com)

• In Texas, it's reality vs. Greg Abbott and conspiracy theories (truthaboutthreats.com)

• After the end of Title 42, the southern border of Texas is calm. (truthaboutthreats.com)

• Texas Travesty - by Paul Cobaugh - Truth About Threats

• My TX congressman is gaslighting us on school security and lots more. (truthaboutthreats.com)

• Separating the Wheat from the Chaff about our Southern Border. (truthaboutthreats.com)

• ·       The truth about the Southern border the GOP won't tell you, and that the left is incapable of effectively narrating. (truthaboutthreats.com)

• ·       The BS about BS... Border Security - by Paul Cobaugh (truthaboutthreats.com)

The last word I will say prior to tonight’s debate is that our founders required citizens to be well and accurately informed. Listening carefully and employing truth rather than false narratives in your opinions, is part of being an American. What good is it to have free speech, if honest brokers do not speak up and advocate for truth rather than party? Yes, this is a rhetorical question. Eliminating Trump and MAGA from public office in November, is not the same a becoming a liberal. It is simply a matter of national security. What good is a democracy if we don’t participate in it? This is NOT a rhetorical question. It is one that each one of us must answer.

I look forward to this evening’s debate, as a step forward in our democratic process and pray that it is not a step… backwards.

My best for your week,

Paul