Is MAGA's overarching strategy to just flood the world with bizarre provoking ideas and statements and mix them up with actual and serious issues? That way people don't get a chance to absorb or navigate through the flood of news and distinguish the important from the non-important ones. Instead I suspect most will fall into a state of political apathy.
-- It feels like part one of the plan (if there is one) is to create chaos and confusion.
Maybe this bill doesn't go through, but it is now part of the news cycle.
That was a directly stated goal of their media strategy, I think by Bannon.
This is different though, this is seeing if there is any push back.
Do something -> see if there is a response/pushback -> if no response push harder. It's testing if there are limits on abuses of power to either overcome them, or figure out what they need to overcome/who will resist so they can punish them.
It's called the Firehose of Falsehoods. Or at least some people call it that.
The idea is to flood the public sphere with so much nonsense and bullshit that nobody can keep up with it. Flood the media, flood the courts, flood everything with crap.
People eventually disengage and can't keep up. It becomes a job to pay attention to what's going on.
The idea, not surprisingly, comes from Russia. Bannon basically uses the same term Russia did for it. Again, not surprising considering the number of known Russian operates who are in Trump's orbit.
Is that what you think this bill is all about? I skimmed through it, and it seems to be a parody on controversial mental health issues like ADHD. Do you think the parody succeeded based on the fact that you think that an ADHD-like "illness" description sounds "bizzare" and unserious?
That's my impression with last election too. Using every possible way to smear dems, everything is provokation, tons of bots, threats, etc. Super shady.
It's a bill that's been introduced. The DFL (essentially, the Democrats) have a majority of the Minnesota Senate. This isn't going to pass, and is for attention seeking only.
It feels that way because the actions taken in recent times are historically informed and follow precedent set by successful autocratic regimes. It feels like a bad parody because it's clumsy and you can easily see the parallels, but parody or not, it is succeeding un-resisted.
Trump derangement syndrome is just a way for Trumpers to avoid thinking critically or having to defend anything about Trump. "You have TDS" lets them pretend they are the sane ones and disengage.
I think people underestimate how sinister this type of thing is. It's not "haha," and it's not childish, it is a prelude to take away people's rights.
TDS is like calling Ukrainians russophobic. It flips cause and effect. It frames criticism as irrational hatred so that the accusers can see themselves as victims. It dismisses problems with trump or Russia as blind hatred and directly ignores any harms caused by them.
I don't know the name for this technique, but it is straight out of Russia's playbook. There is even a history of weaponized psychiatry:
> Drapetomania was a proposed mental illness that, in 1851, American physician Samuel A. Cartwright hypothesized as the cause of enslaved Africans fleeing captivity. This hypothesis was based on the belief that slavery was such an improvement upon the lives of slaves that only those suffering from some form of mental illness would wish to escape.
> In the spring of 1960, Mulholland participated in her first of many sit-ins. Her civil rights activism was not understood, being a white, southern woman. She was branded as mentally ill and was taken in for testing after her first arrest.
Weird that the bill got the definition wrong. TDS is a phenomenon experienced by Trump supporters who cannot distinguish dictatorial and anti-American behavior from legitimate policy.
I think we might be experiencing an outbreak right here, symptoms include over reaction to anything Trump does, posting politics to HN, and excessive downvoting.
The bill itself is evidence of mental illness, except on the part of the authors of the bill.
The fact that they are introducing this bill itself proves that they are possibly suffering from clinically concerning levels of delusion, paranoia, or brainwashing.
trump is the symptom, the cure for the disease is,
to out work, the condition of complacency
all the talky talk is very much like an auto immune response, that causes inflamation and feaver, but no actual healing
and the, (anti social) truth is that trump etall are, flat out working, his detractors, who are stuck in a doom loop ,whack-a- mole, character assisnation routine, for which, trump has shown not just an immunity to, but can derive energy from.
that exactly what I am saying, the trumpy's are out working everybody else
why Canada, woke the fuck up, and has gone into work mode, it's palpable here
truedeu maned up, and stepped down, and everybody is putting there grudges away, and just digging in
working, and grinding hard
We have a certifiable bankster running things now,which is likely going to suit everybody, so
again, its work, grind hard, play harder, sleep easy time for Canadians.
not heard of that description, which sent me into a long reverie of many past experiences, which are
markedly similar, in the behavior of others drawing me into various pitfalls and confusing situations, and this has reframed my understanding of the current situation, but I stand on my committment/admonishment, to simply out work the cunning ones, and make sure I am rightiously tired at days end, and sleep well, in spite of all the cuffuffling.
In Soviet Union dissidents were sometimes confined to psychiatric institutions: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatr...
Maybe we are taking small steps towards something similar?
Small steps?
Is MAGA's overarching strategy to just flood the world with bizarre provoking ideas and statements and mix them up with actual and serious issues? That way people don't get a chance to absorb or navigate through the flood of news and distinguish the important from the non-important ones. Instead I suspect most will fall into a state of political apathy.
-- It feels like part one of the plan (if there is one) is to create chaos and confusion.
Maybe this bill doesn't go through, but it is now part of the news cycle.
That was a directly stated goal of their media strategy, I think by Bannon.
This is different though, this is seeing if there is any push back.
Do something -> see if there is a response/pushback -> if no response push harder. It's testing if there are limits on abuses of power to either overcome them, or figure out what they need to overcome/who will resist so they can punish them.
> I think by Bannon
He was calling it "flooding the zone". As he said:
"The Democrats don’t matter, the real opposition is the media. And the way to deal with them is to flood the zone with shit."
That seems to be also motivation for so many executive orders in such short time.
It's called the Firehose of Falsehoods. Or at least some people call it that.
The idea is to flood the public sphere with so much nonsense and bullshit that nobody can keep up with it. Flood the media, flood the courts, flood everything with crap.
People eventually disengage and can't keep up. It becomes a job to pay attention to what's going on.
The idea, not surprisingly, comes from Russia. Bannon basically uses the same term Russia did for it. Again, not surprising considering the number of known Russian operates who are in Trump's orbit.
Is that what you think this bill is all about? I skimmed through it, and it seems to be a parody on controversial mental health issues like ADHD. Do you think the parody succeeded based on the fact that you think that an ADHD-like "illness" description sounds "bizzare" and unserious?
This is pretty much the strategy Putin and his clique employed with success for years.
That's my impression with last election too. Using every possible way to smear dems, everything is provokation, tons of bots, threats, etc. Super shady.
It's a bill that's been introduced. The DFL (essentially, the Democrats) have a majority of the Minnesota Senate. This isn't going to pass, and is for attention seeking only.
Yes, it's still stupid.
> This isn't going to pass, and is for attention seeking only.
There are some things that are disqualifying even as a "joke". This is one of them.
Like an elementary school principal who keeps "joking" about sexually abusing the children.
Or a President who keeps "joking" about becoming "President for life".
How does this differ from thought policing?
It's arguing semantics about the arrangement of deck chairs when a cult has taken over a sinking Titanic.
So can I get mental health leave for it? If so, sign me up!
If it takes being labeled as mentally ill to get healthcare, I'll admit to unapproved doublespeak.
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/03/18/state-senator-eicho...
The world has become a very bad parody of itself.
It feels that way because the actions taken in recent times are historically informed and follow precedent set by successful autocratic regimes. It feels like a bad parody because it's clumsy and you can easily see the parallels, but parody or not, it is succeeding un-resisted.
Trump derangement syndrome is just a way for Trumpers to avoid thinking critically or having to defend anything about Trump. "You have TDS" lets them pretend they are the sane ones and disengage.
Blaming everyone else plus inability to admit fault and narcissism have a lot in common. It's some dark stuff that doesn't reflect well on America.
I think people underestimate how sinister this type of thing is. It's not "haha," and it's not childish, it is a prelude to take away people's rights.
TDS is like calling Ukrainians russophobic. It flips cause and effect. It frames criticism as irrational hatred so that the accusers can see themselves as victims. It dismisses problems with trump or Russia as blind hatred and directly ignores any harms caused by them.
I don't know the name for this technique, but it is straight out of Russia's playbook. There is even a history of weaponized psychiatry:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatry_... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_abuse_of_psychiatry#...
To pull out the first example from your second link, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drapetomania
> Drapetomania was a proposed mental illness that, in 1851, American physician Samuel A. Cartwright hypothesized as the cause of enslaved Africans fleeing captivity. This hypothesis was based on the belief that slavery was such an improvement upon the lives of slaves that only those suffering from some form of mental illness would wish to escape.
One not mentioned, but similar to Clennon W. King, Jr. - Joan Trumpauer Mulholland. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joan_Trumpauer_Mulholland
> In the spring of 1960, Mulholland participated in her first of many sit-ins. Her civil rights activism was not understood, being a white, southern woman. She was branded as mentally ill and was taken in for testing after her first arrest.
[dead]
That's mostly correct.
Timothy Snyder wrote about this idea directly: https://snyder.substack.com/p/antisemitism-and-antisemitism
The flipping of cause and effect language is also directly out of one of his lessons.
Weird that the bill got the definition wrong. TDS is a phenomenon experienced by Trump supporters who cannot distinguish dictatorial and anti-American behavior from legitimate policy.
I think we might be experiencing an outbreak right here, symptoms include over reaction to anything Trump does, posting politics to HN, and excessive downvoting.
Victim mentality much?
The bill itself is evidence of mental illness, except on the part of the authors of the bill.
The fact that they are introducing this bill itself proves that they are possibly suffering from clinically concerning levels of delusion, paranoia, or brainwashing.
[flagged]
[flagged]
This sounds like "Don't blame the burglar, blame whoever didn't put metal bars over the glass window."
Don’t blame the GOP, MAGA, Trump and Musk for all the blocking and misinformation?
Poor Trump didn’t have a choice to exploit all this.
trump is the symptom, the cure for the disease is, to out work, the condition of complacency all the talky talk is very much like an auto immune response, that causes inflamation and feaver, but no actual healing and the, (anti social) truth is that trump etall are, flat out working, his detractors, who are stuck in a doom loop ,whack-a- mole, character assisnation routine, for which, trump has shown not just an immunity to, but can derive energy from.
You don't give Trump and his guys like Bannon enough credit.
And you underestimate how much it takes to change laws that are made during extreme time.
In those times politicians are unified against a common enemy, something that rarely happens in peacuful times
that exactly what I am saying, the trumpy's are out working everybody else why Canada, woke the fuck up, and has gone into work mode, it's palpable here truedeu maned up, and stepped down, and everybody is putting there grudges away, and just digging in working, and grinding hard We have a certifiable bankster running things now,which is likely going to suit everybody, so again, its work, grind hard, play harder, sleep easy time for Canadians.
You can work as much as you want, you don’t stand a chance against the mass of bullshitting.
Ever heard of
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gish_gallop
not heard of that description, which sent me into a long reverie of many past experiences, which are markedly similar, in the behavior of others drawing me into various pitfalls and confusing situations, and this has reframed my understanding of the current situation, but I stand on my committment/admonishment, to simply out work the cunning ones, and make sure I am rightiously tired at days end, and sleep well, in spite of all the cuffuffling.