Lying on the world stage; DJT’s gift to a new way of life in America?

So, DJT gave his acceptance speech the other night and, as we have come to expect from this sorry and deeply flawed man, it was packed with a train load of plain and verifiable lies. There was hope he would try to offer a more unifying message for our country which has become increasingly and dangerously divided by a storm of false declarations, but that was too much to expect.

When I was growing up, lying would get you sent straight to hell according to my dear mother, the Bible, and practically every adult person in my young life. Here's what the Bible says about being untruthful:

1. 
   Exodus 20:16: “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.” This is one of the Ten Commandments, directly prohibiting lying1.
2. Proverbs 12:22: "The LORD detests lying lips, but he delights in people who are trustworthy"2.
3. Colossians 3:9: "Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices"2.
4. John 8:44: Jesus speaks about the devil, saying, "When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies"2.

These verses suggest lying is not only discouraged but is seen as contrary to the nature of God and harmful to human relationships and human communities.

Being "Trustworthy" is also the first commandant of the Scout Law which entails twelve points:

TRUSTWORTHY. Tell the truth and keep promises. People can depend on you.

LOYAL. Show that you care about your family, friends, Scout leaders, school, and country.

HELPFUL. Volunteer to help others without expecting a reward.

FRIENDLY. Be a friend to everyone, even people who are very different from you.

COURTEOUS. Be polite to everyone and always use good manners.

KIND. Treat others as you want to be treated. Never harm or kill any living thing without good reason.

OBEDIENT. Follow the rules of your family, school, and pack. Obey the laws of your community and country.

CHEERFUL. Look for the bright side of life. Cheerfully do tasks that come your way. Try to help others be happy.

THRIFTY. Work to pay your own way. Try not to be wasteful. Use time, food, supplies, and natural resources wisely.

BRAVE. Face difficult situations even when you feel afraid. Do what you think is right despite what others might be doing or saying.

CLEAN. Keep your body and mind fit. Help keep your home and community clean.

REVERENT. Be reverent toward God. Be faithful in your religious duties. Respect the beliefs of others.

If you were a Boy (or Girl) Scout, you probably had to say these twelve points together before each meeting as Troop 71 did back in the 1950's when Frank and Chan Springstead, Jack Underwood, and Jack McGee were our Scout Leaders. Obviously, DJT was never a Scout and never pledged allegiance to such fundamentally important human behaviors.

Lying would also get you sent to the Principal's Office in a heartbeat if you were caught in one by your 6th grade teacher. One of my teachers at Hernando High, Ms. Parrot, could make you feel like death would be a better punishment if she caught you lying.

So, how is it that lying is now as common as a crows call on a berry farm these days? How is it that politicians practice it like it's a proper pursuit for a politician? How is it that a very practiced or cleverly presented lie can potentially get one elected to the highest position in the land? And how is that millions of people have accepted DHT's incessant lying to the extent that his lies have become their Truth, their life’s Gospel. 

The one great lie of DJT is that the election of 2020 was a fraud and that he won the election instead of Joe Biden. Not only has this lie eroded the very foundations of the governing institutions fundamental to our American Democracy, it has also instilled in public behavior the poison of violent dissent.

CNN counted at least 20, TWENTY ! lies in DJT’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention the other night where he was nominated the 2024 GOP candidate for the presidency of the United States. CNN called them “false claims,” but, in fact, they were lies. You can find CNN's assessment HERE.

What in our decaying nation has happened to the thought that lying is not good, not good for you, not good for me, and certainly not good for the world where it is now being so easily spewed at the national level by a former and potential future leader of the most powerful nation ever established by mankind? What on this earth is he going to be lying to us about next?

 Why the Brits detest Trump

Here is Nate White’s answer to the question, “Why do some British people not like Donald Trump.” 

Nathaniel Ridgway White was an award-winning journalist known for his business and financial reporting at The Christian Science Monitor. He received the second and third Gerald Loeb Awards for Newspapers, the most prestigious award for business journalism.

From the London Times.

Nate White, an articulate and witty writer from England, wrote this magnificent response:

A few things spring to mind…

Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem.

For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed.

 

So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever.

I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman.

But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll.

And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers.

And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface.

Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront.

Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul.

And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist.

Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that.

He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat.

He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully.

That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead.

There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think

‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’

is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.

You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss.

After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form;

He is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit.

His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid.

He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart.

In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish:

‘My God… what… have… I… created?’

If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.

 

would be the boxed set.

 What Wikipedia says about the Heritage foundation. 

The Heritage Foundation has been publishing new editions of its Mandate for Leadership series in schedules that run parallel with each presidential election since 1981.^[41] Heritage refers to its Mandate as a "policy bible".^[41]

President Trump met with Leonard Leo and others in 2017.

Heritage president Kevin Roberts sees the organization's current role as "institutionalizing Trumpism."^[42] He established Project 2025 in 2022 to provide the 2024 Republican presidential nominee with a personnel database and ideological framework,^[43] after civil servants refused to support Trump during his attempt to institute a Muslim travel ban, his effort to install a new attorney general to assist him in his attempts to overturn the 2020 election, and his calling for the use of lethal force, saying "When the looting starts, the shooting starts" during the George Floyd protests.^{[44][better source needed]} Associate project director Spencer Chretien argued that it was "past time to lay the groundwork for a White House more friendly to the right."^[8]

In April 2023, the Heritage Foundation published the 920-page Mandate written by hundreds of conservatives,^[45] most prominently former Trump administration officials.^[2] Nearly half of the project's collaborating organizations have received dark money contributions from a network of fundraising groups linked to Leonard Leo, a major conservative donor and key figure in guiding the selection of Trump's federal judge nominees.^[37]

Axios reported that while Heritage had briefed other 2024 Republican presidential primaries candidates on the project, it is "undeniably a Trump-driven operation", pointing to the involvement of Trump's "most fervent internal loyalty enforcer" Johnny McEntee as a senior advisor to the project. The 2024 Trump campaign said no outside group speaks for the former president, referring to its "Agenda 47"^[46] as the only official plan for a second Trump presidency.^[47] Two top Trump campaign officials later issued a statement seeking to distance the campaign from what unspecified outside groups were planning, although many of those plans reflected Trump's own words. The New York Times reported the statement "noticeably stopped short of disavowing the groups and seemed merely intended to discourage them from speaking to the press".^[48] Nevertheless, the campaign said it was "appreciative" of suggestions from like-minded organizations.^[49] Project 2025 is not the only conservative program with a database of prospective recruits for a potential Republican administration, though the leaders of these initiatives all have connections to Donald Trump.^[50][51] In general, these initiatives seek to help Trump avoid the mistakes of his first term, when he arrived at the White House unprepared.^[52]

The two officials released a similar memo days later, after Axios reported Trump intended to staff a new administration with "full, proud MAGA warriors, anti-GOP establishment zealots, and eager and willing to test the boundaries of executive power to get Trump's way", which would include targeting and jailing critics in government and media.^[53] Axios also reported on people being considered for senior positions in a second presidency, which included Kash Patel, Steve Bannon, and Mike Davis, a former aide to senator Chuck Grassley who has promised a "three-week reign of terror" should Trump name him acting attorney general.^[54] Patel had said on Bannon's podcast two days earlier, "We will go out and find the conspirators—not just in government, but in the media... We're going to come after you. Whether it's criminally or civilly, we'll figure that out."^[55][56] In June 2024, Bannon named specific current or former FBI and DOJ officials who would be hunted down for alleged crimes and treason, even if they fled the country.^[57][58]

 Wikipedia on Project 25

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about Project 25

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Project 2025

Established	2022
Purpose	Reshape the U.S. federal government to support the agenda of Republican Party president
Location	Washington, D.C., U.S.
Director	Paul Dans
Main organ	Mandate for Leadership
Parent organization	The Heritage Foundation
Budget	$22 million[1]
Website	www.project2025.org

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v t e

Project 2025, also known as the Presidential Transition Project, is a collection of conservative and right-wing policy proposals from the Heritage Foundation to reshape the United States federal government and consolidate executive power should the Republican Party candidate win the 2024 presidential election.^[2][3] It proposes reclassifying tens of thousands of merit-based federal civil service workers as political appointees in order to replace them with those who will be more willing to enact the wishes of the next Republican president.^[3] It asserts that the president has absolute power over the executive branch.^[2][4] Critics of Project 2025 have characterized it as an authoritarian, Christian nationalist plan to transform the United States into an autocracy.^[5][6] Many legal experts have asserted it would undermine the rule of law, the separation of powers, the separation of church and state,^[7][3] and civil liberties.^[8]

Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts said in July 2024 that "we are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be."^[9] Paul Dans, the project's director, said in April 2023 that Project 2025 is "systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army, [of] aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state."^[10][11] Dans acknowledged it was "counterintuitive" to recruit so many to join the government to shrink it, but pointed out the need for a future president to "regain control" of the government.^[3]

Project 2025 envisions widespread changes across the government, particularly economic and social policies and the role of the federal government and its agencies. The plan proposes taking partisan control of the Department of Justice (DOJ), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Department of Commerce, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC), dismantling the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and sharply reducing environmental and climate change regulations to favor fossil fuel production.^[7][12] The blueprint seeks to institute tax cuts,^[13] though its writers disagree on the wisdom of protectionism.^[14] Project 2025 recommends abolishing the Department of Education, whose programs would be either transferred to other agencies, or terminated.^[15][16] Funding for climate research would be cut while the National Institutes of Health (NIH) would be reformed along conservative principles.^[17][18] The Project seeks to cut funding for Medicare and Medicaid,^[19][20] and urges the government to explicitly reject abortion as health care.^[21][22] The Project states that life begins at conception,^[19] and seeks to eliminate coverage of emergency contraception under the Affordable Care Act^[19] and enforce the Comstock Act to prosecute those who send and recieve contraceptives and abortion pills nationwide.^[22][23] The Project seeks to infuse the government with elements of Christianity.^[6] It proposes criminalizing pornography,^[24] removing legal protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity,^[24][25] and terminating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs,^[3][25] as well as affirmative action^[26] by instead having the DOJ prosecute "anti-white racism."^[27] The Project recommends the arrest, detention, and deportation of undocumented immigrants living in the United States by using the military to capture and place them in internment camps.^[28][29] The Insurrection Act of 1807 would be used to allow the military to engage in domestic policing and assist capturing undocumented immigrants.^[30][31] It promotes capital punishment and the speedy "finality" of those sentences.^[32]

Some conservatives and Republicans have criticized the plan for its stance on climate change^[33] and foreign trade.^[14] Other critics believe Project 2025 is rhetorical "window-dressing" for what would be four years of personal vengeance at any cost.^[34] The project's authors also acknowledged that most of the proposals would require the Republican Party to control both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate.^[34] Other aspects of the plan have recently been ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and would face court challenges, while others still are norm-breaking proposals that might survive court challenges.^[35] Although the project cannot by law promote a specific presidential candidate, many contributors have close ties to Donald Trump and his 2024 presidential campaign.^[36][37] The Washington Post called the project "the most detailed articulation of what a second Trump term would look like."^[38] In April 2024, John McEntee stated that the Trump campaign and Project 2025 planned to "integrate a lot of our work" by summer.^[39] While the Trump campaign initially said the project aligned well with their Agenda 47 proposals,^[34] the Project has increasingly caused friction with the Trump campaign which has generally avoided specific policy proposals that can be used to criticize him.^[38] In July 2024, Trump denied involvement with the project.^[39]