Thoughts about the Ukraine and democracy?

Several news sources suggested that yesterday's meeting between Zelenski and djt probably was a MAGA setup staged to make Zelensky look as bad as possible, while making Russia look good. In my opinion, it was more evidence that djt and MAGA oppose democracy. djt's known pro-Russia and pro-authoritarian sympathies, and the subsequent reactions from both U.S. and Russian officials suggest that the meeting was conducive to making Zelenskyy look bad, while Russia would look better than it really is. The public nature of the confrontation, the harsh criticisms, and the implications for U.S.-Ukraine relations all contribute to this being a MAGA setup.

On 11/6/24, I posted this prediction: The Ukraine will fall to Putin and his brutal vengeance. The slaughter will be savage. All global democracies will be under increasingly intense pressure to go authoritarian. The last stand for global democracy will be Europe's democracies, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and little or nothing else. 

 

Seems like things are on track to make most or all of that true. Maybe one could even say that as of now, the slaughter in the Ukraine already has been savage. 

The Atlantic: It Was an Ambush -- Friday marked one of the grimmest days in the history of American diplomacy.

The Nation: The Most Disgraceful Foreign Policy Spectacle in US History -- Donald Trump and JD Vance tried to humiliate Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday with the whole world watching

Esquire: President Trump Embarrassed Himself, the Nation, and Every Thinking Human on Earth -- In the Oval Office on Friday, Donald Trump and JD Vance behaved like angry children. Volodymyr Zelenskyy acted like a man.

MAGA's lies (a/k/a "alternate realities")

ABSTRACT: Growing concern has been expressed that we have entered a “post-truth” era in which each of us willfully believes whatever we choose, aided and abetted by alternative and social media that spin alternative realities [lies and falsehoods] for boutique consumption. A prime example of the belief in alternative realities is said to be acceptance of “conspiracy theories”––a term that is often used as a pejorative to indict claims of conspiracy that are so obviously absurd that only the unhinged could believe them. The epistemological standard often involved in this indictment, however—the standard of “obvious” falsity—invites subjectivity in its application, because what is obviously false to one person can be common sense to another. This is not just a truism; considerable research suggests that people’s political beliefs, in general, and their acceptance or rejection of conspiracy theories in particular, tends in large part to be determined by partisan, ideological, and other priors. -- Joseph E. Uscinski & Adam M. Enders: What is a Conspiracy Theory and Why Does it Matter?, Critical Review: 1-22, 2022

The NPR program 1A broadcast a program yesterday about why most false conspiracy theories, mostly lies, are generally impossible to debunk. The transcript is at that link. The program was built around the toxic effects that decades of MAGA/authoritarian lies and demagoguery had on one family. Two points stand out:

• Diligent, respectful attempts to use facts and sound reasoning to debunk false beliefs and lies that MAGA demagoguery has implanted in believer's minds almost always fails. That's the case, even if some inconvenient facts or reasoning actually sink in and are accepted. The trapped minds simply rationalize their way out of the inconvenience, i.e., cognitive dissonance.

• A leading political scientist who studies the power of demagoguery and false beliefs, professor Joseph Uscinski, University of Miami (published research), asserts that minds trapped in false beliefs and lies cannot accept contradictory facts and reasoning because their identities are threatened too much. Most people's identities are built over decades. Changing that in a short period of time is usually impossible for most people. Changing a mind about one crackpot or blatantly false thing is a hopeless game of whack-a-mole.

A mentally trapped MAGA father confidently made a $10,000 bet with his non-MAGA son that all of these crackpot but fairly common MAGA conspiracy theory predictions would be true by the end of 2024: 

1. Obama will be convicted of treason by a court.

2. Biden will be convicted of treason by a court.

3. Nancy Pelosi will be convicted of treason by a court.

4. Bill Clinton would be convicted of treason and murder by a court. 

5. Hillary Clinton would be convicted of treason and murder by a court. 

6. djt would be reinstated as president without an election and cleared of all charges.

7. Biden would be removed from office.

8. The governor of New York would be removed from office. 

9. The mayor of New York would be removed from office.

10. The entire US will come under martial law because of mass rioting and chaos, with the US military having to step in to quell the violence.

Once it turned out that none of the predictions came to pass, the MAGA dad wanted to do another big bet on another round of crackpot MAGA conspiracy theories. MAGA has an endless supply of 'em, hence whack-a-mole. The dad simply rationalized all the failed predictions into irrelevance.

That is the reality that MAGA demagoguery and susceptible minds see and sincerely believe to be true. Those minds cannot be easily changed by anything. Those people's identities are at stake.

An email to the program commented: The Internet was supposed to bring a new age of enlightenment. Its ability to put people in contact with erudite discussion and accurate information was supposed to make us all smarter. Instead, it has allowed the worst of us, the most paranoid, the most angry, the most conspiratorial to coalesce in groups online. While in totality, they remain small in numbers. They feel strong and numerous in their online conglomerates. All this while caring people retreat from the fray because they are wounded by the lack of sincere engagement and the glee with which vitriol and lies are used to further empower the worst. 

How common is this degree of deceit and self-delusion among djt voters? That's hard to tell. A 2020 Pew Research Center study found that 47% of U.S. adults had heard at least a little about QAnon, with 41% of Republicans who were aware of it viewing it as a good thing for the country. This suggests that a significant portion of Republicans are not only aware of but also receptive to false conspiracy theories. A 2021 article in Persuasion indicated that 72% of Republican voters believed there was serious fraud in the 2020 election, and a significant portion of them had favorable views about crackpot MAGA conspiracy theories, e.g., millions of illegal immigrants vote in federal elections. Published data indicates that at least one-third to over half of Republican voters hold views aligned with conspiracy theories, e.g., false belief in widespread election fraud.

MAGA tore that family apart. MAGA is not merely knowingly immoral. It is knowingly evil. Unfortunately, this kind of evil is legal. In my opinion, politicians who spew divisive, evil lies like this are unfit for office and should be impeached and removed from office.

Some Canadian politics for a change.....

 Not ALL conservatives are MAGA types. Though I don't get a vote, I was pleased to see Doug Ford win last night in Ontario.

The leader of Ontario, Doug Ford, is projected to have won a third term in office, with voters in the Canadian province giving him a decisive victory.

In a nutshell, Ford talked tough against Trump and his tariffs:

Ford ran his campaign under the slogan "Protect Canada", reflecting his view that Canada needs to stand firm against US tariff threats.

Apparently, that slogan worked, though I would love to hear from our Canadian friends. 

Doug Ford is a man of things. Things he can see, things he can touch and most importantly, things he can build.

Big things matter to Ford. The Progressive Conservative leader is a self-proclaimed visionary who makes decisions with his gut. When he has swung and missed, like he did with opening up protected Greenbelt land that sparked public furor, he has apologized and walked it back.

Little things are important to him too. He will famously find out about a small problem and try to fix it.

Ford has bet big on building things. Early in the election campaign, he pledged an additional $22 billion in spending for infrastructure projects in the face of American tariffs. But that promise wasn’t contingent upon U.S. President Donald Trump imposing tariffs on Canadian goods.

It would bring his grand plan to build more highways, roads, jails, hospitals and a few vanity projects, including a redeveloped Ontario Place, to more than $200 billion.

https://globalnews.ca/news/11049712/doug-ford-how-he-wins/

With Doug Ford's Progressive Conservatives seeking re-election on a slogan of "Protect Ontario," it's worth examining whether they made good on their last campaign slogan: "Get It Done." 

The Ontario PC campaign promises in 2022 focused largely on building, in particular housing, hospitals, highways, transit and long-term care homes. 

"Overall I would say it's a relatively good performance," said Geneviève Tellier, a political scientist at the University of Ottawa, in an interview.

Peter Graefe, a political scientist at McMaster University, says while Ford may have acted on many of his specific promises, it's questionable whether those actions actually solved the bigger problems they were supposed to address. 

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-election-doug-ford-campaign-promises-report-card-1.7447912

OF COURSE................... not everyone is going to be thrilled at Ford winning a third term. Hence.............

 I would love to hear from our Canadian friends. 

For my money, that $200 cheque I got recently from the Ont. government just for being a resident of Ont. was a nice touch. Also, where I live, lithium mining is being heavily invested in which should significantly improve employment. 

February 22, 2025 — Today, Doug Ford outlined the PC plan to speed up approvals, cut red tape and invest in infrastructure to unlock the enormous economic potential of Ontario’s critical minerals in the Ring of Fire and protect northern Ontario’s economy and workers.

BUT...............................his standing up to the bullying of Trump, may have been the winning ticket. Ontario has rendered their verdict. 

The WaPo sinks into MAGA's world of authoritarian demagoguery and lies

Everybody is reporting that Bezos has formally poisoned the WaPo's opinion page. Bezos, the WaPo owner directed the newspaper's opinion section to focus exclusively on advocating for "personal liberties and free markets." This shift in editorial policy was announced in a memo to staff. He said that viewpoints opposing these principles would be left for others to publish. 

David Shipley, the WaPo opinion editor, resigned rather than lead the poisoned opinion section. Bezos offered Shipley the opportunity to continue, but Shipley declined, stating that he could not fully commit to the new direction. 

Bezos shields his abandonment of inconvenient truth, democracy, the rule of law and civil liberties with clever sophistry. Here he intentionally conflates freedom and liberty. Free markets, i.e., unregulated markets, is what allows people like Bezos and Musk to do whatever the hell they want to us and the environment. Personal liberty, i.e., civil liberties, is what protects the rest of us from people like them and authoritarians generally.

News sources:

https://www.npr.org/2025/02/26/nx-s1-5309725/jeff-bezos-washington-post-opinion-section

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y44gw5gpro

https://apnews.com/article/washington-post-bezos-opinion-trump-market-liberty-97a7d8113d670ec6e643525fdf9f06de

A WaPo article comments (not paywalled):

The move was received by some as an indication that Bezos is making decisions for the storied news outlet with an eye toward avoiding retaliation by President Donald Trump. Bezos, though, cast the change as a modernization from the days when newspapers offered opinions on a broad range of topics. Now, he said, “the internet does that job.”

“We are going to be writing every day in support and defense of two pillars: personal liberties and free markets,” Bezos wrote in his post, adding that the new topics “are right for America. I also believe that these viewpoints are underserved in the current market of ideas and news opinion.” Opinions editor David Shipley resigned rather than lead the shift, Bezos said.

“Bezos argues for personal liberties. But his news organization now will forbid views other than his own in its opinion section,” wrote Marty Baron, Buzbee’s predecessor at the paper, in a statement first reported by The Daily Beast. “There is no doubt in my mind that he is doing this out of fear of the consequences for his other business interests.”

“This is what Oligarch ownership of the media looks like,” Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., posted on X, Musk’s platform “The second-richest guy in the world, Bezos, owns The Washington Post. He has now declared that the editorial page of that paper is going Trump right-wing. Surprise, Mr. Musk agrees. We must support independent media.”

 So, the WaPo editorial pages have gone the way of the WSJ editorial pages, radical right, authoritarian, demagogic, kleptocratic and shamelessly mendacious. My subscription ends in April. I won't renew it. Years ago I ended my subscription to the WSJ for exactly the same reason.