Letter: The Trump PR machine
I know that it is impossible to change irrational perceptions once established, but perhaps I can keep someone from becoming a Trumpist. Donald Trump is the ultimate plutocratic (relating to government run by the wealthy) candidate. The Associated Press media, a monopoly run by its owner to create our views and let us know how we feel about them, has been very productive for Don. Public relations is a focused science. Social psychology shapes advertising and sales. Donald’s deprecating nicknames reflect George W. Bush’s deprecating nicknames that he gave to his intellectual superiors, whom he needed to control. I have three valley newspapers that run identical AP inputs, the same with TV news and Clear Channel radio news; only the editorials and letters differ, but not much. The way one becomes a billionaire is to steal millions from 1,000 or thousands from 1 million or hundreds from 100 million. It doesn’t matter — we take it all without regret and buy a bigger airplane. Don has done that times 10 if you believe him. As pathological liars, we tell stories we believe in at the time, because it works for our purpose. They can always be changed later if the media work with us. Science discovered that the more we lie, the bigger our brains become. The better to keep track of it all.
John Hoffmann
Carbondale
Editor’s note: The Associated Press is a nonprofit cooperative owned and governed jointly by several financially unaffiliated member news organizations.
