[I thought this was interesting, so I figured I’d post it here.]

“None are more deeply enslaved than those who believe themselves truly free.”

There’s nothing new about calling DJT an illegitimate head of state. And plenty of basis for doing so. Weird stuff happened that shouldn’t have happened in the leadup to the election. Comey made questionable choices, and there was evident foreign tampering. These factors arguably shifted the vote just enough to yield a razor-narrow margin across 3 states and tip the electoral college in Trump’s favor. And to top it off – for heaven’s sake – the winner got FEWER votes than the loser. All of this has the stench of democracy gone off the rails.

But I want to shine a light on the prime mover behind Trump’s victory. He never could’ve gotten where he is, and managed to stay there this long, without a truly maniacal rightwing media apparatus pulling for him.

This apparatus functions to amplify, cheerlead for, and legitimize a whole swath of reprehensible attitudes and positions. Day by day, this juggernaut of stupidity sputters forth its endless spume of toxic nonsense. Distortions and lies dressed as truth. Fabrications, fantasies, and justifications for the unjustifiable.

These broadcasters spawn in the mind of their audience almost a mythological landscape, on which a manichaean struggle plays out. They depict the disadvantaged and the oppressed as “takers,” who fiendishly strive to undermine “America and its greatness.” And they extol the noble Corporate Capitalists, benevolent benefactors of the plebeian common folk.

The rightwingers’ economic “philosophy” is as simpleminded as it is vicious. Give big business a few more tax loopholes, and some easing of regulation. These measures, they proclaim, will inevitably redound to the benefit of all. The opulent wealth pouring into corporate coffers will, in time, “trickle down.” (Reagan was saying stuff like this back in the 80s, and it was ridiculous then.) Further, these pundits insist there can be no valid economic grievance in the “land of opportunity.” And economic justice, as a concept, is laughable.

But if one isn’t going to fight on the economic front, what else is there to get heated about? How about a manufactured, non-existent “culture war” between the regular folk of “flyover country” versus the “coastal elites”? This ugly contrivance is a distraction and a diversion, as well as a nonsensical phantasm. It has the obvious function of turning the population against itself using a classic divide-and-conquer strategy.

What sense does it make to say there is no elitism or wealth in the interior of the country? And no forgotten poor in the metro centers on the coasts? Of course it’s true there are differences in regional culture. Contrast rural Arkansas and Sunset Boulevard. And to some degree, these regional differences of culture can be seen to overlap with disparity in wealth distribution.

Yet this alleged correlation does more to obscure than to clarify. If rough-hewn working men opt for a cultural style which entails denim, flannel, and heavy work boots, is THAT STYLE really the essential issue? If these same workers had the means and the wherewithal to attend law school and become successful attorneys, they could still wear jeans and John Deere caps at their law practice.

The name of the game is generate an artificial cultural rift in the country and make THAT – not economics – the burning issue. And inasmuch as economics can’t be entirely ignored, you blame the have-nots, champion the haves, and sow overall confusion as to what is going on. And what is going on, make no mistake, is economic class warfare.

Trump has his cleverness and his cunning, his knack for creating simple, stupid, yet resonant names and slogans. Not to mention a flair for being the victim of non-existent conspiracies and scandals. But these dubious talents would get him noplace without the enthusiastic complicity of the rightwing lying industry.

That industry does more than just enable Trump; it makes him possible. It’s unthinkable there could be any substantial social consensus surrounding Trump without there existing this rhetorical universe designed to validate him, literally every day, in every way.

And the final piece we must confront is that this is a big-money industry. Its influence is so widespread, because it is financed by titanic resources. Limbaugh as a leading AM pundit rakes in, for ONE DAY of broadcasting, an amount most Americans could only dream of earning in A YEAR. And almost unbelievably, his legions of dittohead followers accept it when he postures as an “average Joe” or “regular guy.” There is nothing average or regular about a man wallowing in oceanic sums of cash as recompense for his stream-of-consciousness ramblings on a radio show.

Yet money, in large enough sums, has always been sufficient to get individuals to surrender any personal integrity or scruples. We need to think about where all that dough is streaming in from. And you’re not going to tell me, in this age of globalism, that it’s all originating within the US. And if other national interests are involved in formulating our domestic propaganda consumption, that should really give us pause.

And I want to clarify: This is not a “conspiracy theory” alleging that e.g. Limbaugh is receiving direction from shadowy contacts in China or Russia. Rather, I’m suggesting that tools know, instinctively and intuitively, what kinds of messages their paymasters want to see them spin out. And in this case, the paymasters ultimately have global designs, in which the specific national interest of the US may be expendable or incidental.

Therefore, when FOX and AM radio sing their incessant praise of Trump and cloak him in the garb of red-white-and-blue patriotism, it should always be remembered what a bitter charade that is.

Trump and the psychotic lying industry have no compunction about steamrolling US national interest on the world stage. Trump might not be fully cognizant of that. (But he would not care, even if he did realize the full ramifications of his careening presidency.) Thus, DJT is, in the final analysis, a sort of puppet. It is the lying apparatus that made him, maintains him, and – in the form of Hannity – sometimes even formulates his own messages for him.

So, to circle back to the beginning: There’s nothing new about calling DJT an illegitimate head of state. But at the deepest level, it was not Comey who made him. Or Russian tampering. Or a flawed electoral system. It was an out-of-control apparatus of mass indoctrination, belching out messaging that does not square with our interests as Americans, and does not align with our national wellbeing.

And it scored a successful coup d’etat in November 2016.