From my new book: Ties That Blind: a.co/d/6wWF57N

It feels right now like we’re riding in the back seat of a car being driven by a blindfolded drunk driver who’s wearing a t-shirt he made for himself that says, “History’s greatest driver.”

It feels right now like we’re riding in the back seat of a car being driven by a blindfolded drunk driver who’s wearing a t-shirt he made for himself that says, “History’s greatest driver.”

A week from now, we’ll likely have moved on from the unfathomably awful thing Trump said today because of the numerous unfathomably awful things he’ll say between now and next week.

“Collective delusion is a powerful anesthetic for those who use it but leaves those around them languishing in pain.” Alan Godwin, Ties That Blind

One feature of collective blindness is the dogmatic insistence that everyone else is blind.

The only thing larger than Trump’s personal dysfunction is his power to get others to rationalize it.

The influence of Christianity is never weaker than when Christians seek to gain strength by wedding themselves to earthly powers.

By demonizing opponents, any methods used to fight them can be rationalized. And the greater the demonization, the easier it is to cast yourself as the hero fighting the demons.

This administration’s immigration policy is cruelty masquerading as patriotism. I grew up in Jim Crow MS, so I’ve seen this play before.

Trump’s superpower: 1-making up nonexistent accomplishments, 2-bragging about them, and 3-duping his followers into the fantasy. #3 is the most disturbing.

The more Trump distorts reality, the more his supporters must participate in his distortions to keep supporting him. And the more they support him, the more brazen his distortions. It’s a perverse synergy in which one side energizes the other.

Out-of-context words are half-truths that promote whole false narratives.

Here's the latest podcast about my new book, Ties That Blind. The interviewer did a great job and made a boring guy seem interesting 🙂 sites.libsyn.com/542052/153-t...

In Trump’s self-view: -He can do no wrong, he can only be done wrong. -He can never lose, he can only be cheated. -He’s never unfair, he can only be treated unfairly. -He alone says what’s true, all else is fake news. -He and America are one so if you oppose him, you hate America.

Trump’s constant barrage of atrocious words and actions conditions us to accept the unacceptable, normalize the abnormal, rationalize the irrational, excuse the inexcusable, and justify that which can’t be justified. We must be very intentional to resist such conditioning.

Trump is now and always has been a racist. He's sometimes tried to camouflage it but his post today in which the heads of the Obamas were superimposed on monkey strips away the camouflage. I grew up in Jim Crow Mississippi and I know unambiguous racism when I see or hear it.

A demagogue controls the masses by stoking fear of the “other.” And the higher the fear, the more pliable the masses become.

A theme of 2026 will be that Democrats steal elections and that Republicans should, therefore, take over the voting. Like when Trump recently said, “We should take over the voting.”

There is no more comfortable place, for some, than inside an alternate reality bubble where everyone inside is a hero, all outsiders are enemies, the surrounding membrane filters out competing views, nothing is uncertain, and “truth” is moldable into whatever they need it to be.

Perverse logic: A fact can always be found to support a lie. A justification can always be found to support a cruelty. An article can always be found to support a conspiracy theory. A reason can always be found to support a wrong. A verse can always be found to support a heresy.

MAGA’s most lethal weapon is the lie. The lie’s most powerful counter is the cell phone video camera.

1966 Alan Godwin would’ve heard these things reported on the news: “Masked men are killing citizens, claiming the victims deserved it, and making sure the killers escape justice.” 2026 Alan Godwin is hearing the exact same reports.

There’s a pretty good term describing: 1) masked, unidentified federal agents killing First Amendment-abiding protestors, 2) smearing the dead protestors by suggesting they brought it on themselves, and then 3) thwarting any investigation. That’s called domestic terrorism.

Some are learning today that if you lie shamelessly, confidently, enthusiastically and angrily, many who want to believe your lies will disregard their rational faculties and jump aboard your fiction train and see themselves as well-informed passengers of truth.

Facts have little power against the fictions one wants to believe. Or the fictions one wants to propagate.

The darkness of our time stems not only from acts of injustice but from the lie that the bad actors are fighting for justice.

Now we begin again more days of the Party telling us, in Orwellian fashion, to reject the evidence of our eyes and ears.

The church forfeits all moral authority when it values access to power more than living out its principles.

People become impervious to truth when they’ve predetermined that every challenge to the lies they tell is a lie.

The most dangerous leader is one who’s told he’s heading for a cliff and, rather than turning the wheel, steps on the accelerator.

The Nobel Prize winner gave her award to Trump. I always wanted to be valedictorian. I wonder if our actual valedictorian will give me their award and help fulfill my long-wished-for dream.

In today’s America, -lies are being called truth -lawlessness is being called law & order -cruelty is being called strength -kindness is being called weakness -might is being called right -Any who disagree are being called garbage -and, did I mention, lies are being called truth

"Lies confuse." Scott Peck

It’s harder for gaslighters to gaslight when videographic evidence disproves their assertions. And yet, they’ll do it anyway, knowing that many will believe the lies they propagate because they want to believe them.

Trump makes up realities, swears they’re true, and threatens anyone who challenges his alterations. This is his hourly practice.