Why would Trump work with Fox News to create a fake news story about Seth Rich's death to try and distract from the Russian investigation?
http://www.npr.org/2017/08/01/54078...s-and-trump-supporter-created-fake-news-story
It's really a pisser that one of the fundamental offensive strategies of Trump and his supporters is to label the adversarial press(which in a democracy I should think is preferable to a compliant press, in fulfilling a role as the "watchdog" of democracy) as fake news, and to then use fake news themselves to drive that very narrative. And crafting that alternative universe and "hypnotizing" millions with it, is, at least in my eyes, fundamentally irresponsible to the health of the body politic. I think it's one of the deliberate actions by Trump that I most resent, as one cannot really expect to open people's eyes once these false narratives are implanted, so to speak. It's a chief reason why it will be extremely difficult to reconcile the opposing sides in the conflict plaguing us.
I read somewhere that one pundit asked the question "does it matter that Trump lies?" It got me to thinking.
A recurring strategy is to take the basic facts and infuse them with positive superlatives. Examples here include largest crowd, and greatest speech. Or to take known facts and add fictional elements that cast Trump in a more positive light. An example of this is his claim that the Boy Scout leader told him his speech was the "greatest ever given". The known fact is that he delivered that speech. The Boy Scout leader calling him to praise him is the fictional element. This allows Trump to put the best spin on his standing in any situation or event.
He fictionalizes his life when it will elevate his standing.
This seems like odd behavior, whether it's consciously realized BS in service to the narrative of his life, his narrative in its self stated form, or whether he actually believes it some of the times. Either way, the public, both press and citizens, are presented with either a somewhat fictionalized or a greater fictionalized narrative of his life and actions, and accomplishments.
Somewhat or to a greater degree fictionalized by either exaggerating the facts or by inventing elements that never happened.
There also is often no attention or little attention paid to consistency. The stated facts, whether true or invented, can change day to day.
He is thus able to fictionalize his life on the fly, so to speak.
Who can say whether this is a personality disorder, or a strategy for eluding either "capture" in relation to any investigations, or, in the case of simply casting positive spin, presented in the interests of reinforcing allegiance by his core followers? It may be some of both. A personality disorder and a strategy for maintaining control of his life's narrative and support by his followers.
Following from all this, we should expect he and his allies to be the principle purveyors of the very fake news he and they are so fond of placing as a label on media outlets that do not accept his fictionalized narratives at face value or who are actively trying to undermine those narratives.
