Yesterday I talked about how Trumpists flocked to their latest article of faith that Trump isn’t really impeached because the House hasn’t transmitted the articles of impeachment to the Senate.  There is no basis in law or fact for that belief, but it’s there anyway, virally spreading throughout Trumpland.  During our Trumpist infestation we experienced yesterday that was the recurring theme.  These trends often start as a joke or a hoax, sometimes on satire sites, but quickly morph into viral proliferation by those who desperately cling to anything that supports their predisposed beliefs.  Here’s the Google trend line for searches this week on “Trump not impeached”:

And, as you would imagine, the regions that have the most searches are the red states.  There’s new viral rumor now growing in Trumpland and that is, now that Trump is impeached, he’s automatically eligible to run 2 more times.  That is REALLY stupid, and is completely unsupported both in the Constitution including the 22nd Amendment.  It started as a “joke” in October, but really took off this week, spreading across right wing pages by Trumpists.  Here’s the Google trend line for “Trump can run for third time”:

This kind of proliferation is what makes brainwashing so nefarious.  Many of the Trumpists’ comments during our infestation yesterday were repeating absolute nonsense, Russian propaganda, boasting, taunting, and personal insults.  None of the dozens of comments we received were based in any kind of fact; all taunted; none were even reasonable.

With rampant propaganda proliferated over social media facts or truth no longer matter.  Worse, Trump’s Twitter account amplifies these lies.  Every time he tweets one of his insults, childish taunts, threats, or lies,  it goes out to millions or users, retweeted thousands of times.  In the hands of an immoral politician like Trump, social media is weaponized for the dark side.  You can see it, but can also measure it.  Here’s the search terms “Burisma” and “Hunter Biden”:

These trends follow Trump’s twitter feed and those who support him.  Nobody ever even heard of Burisma, and few were even aware of Hunter Biden until Trump, Giuliani, and the Noise Machine started repeating it.  And, they almost got away with it; were it not for the whistleblower, Ukraine would have announced an investigation of the fabricated Russian story that Ukraine was the bad actor in 2016, and Biden’s chance to become the Democratic presidential nominee would have been destroyed.

Integrity matters, but evil can easily run over integrity because brainwashing works really well.  And THAT threatens our republic more than any outside force.

UPDATED:  Joe Scarborough and company go nuts and tears Miller’s head off on MoJoe.  Have a look:

https://youtu.be/5mgv2eQYBJc

In the wake of KellyAnne Conway’s illegal hawking of Ivanka’s cheap crap from China on national television, Stephen Miller, former attack dog for Jeff Sessions, is the new apparent television propagandist for Cheeto Jesus.  He made his debut appearances on MTP, Face the Nation, and This Week, and boy, were they doozies.  He spewed more lies in a few minutes than most people do in a lifetime, and tried talking over his hosts, but Chuck Todd and George Snuffleupagus, both who, having recently grown actual spines, were having none of it.  The most outrageous thing he repeated, though, was that the president’s authority over immigration is “unquestioned”.  Well, actually, no, it’s not.  That’s why we have three branches of government – the president’s authority is continually questioned.  That’s the way it works.

The most striking thing, though? It was the physical similarities to a certain former propagandist that sent chills up my spine. Josef Goebbels was Hitler’s chief propagandist during his rise beginning in the 1920’s until it’s destruction in 1945.  Goebbels was a master at “enlightenment” and used that mastery to convince Germans to submit to the worst dictator in the modern era.

I’m not big on the whole Nazi parallel thing, but this is pretty creepy, yes?

Oh, and one more comment, directed at Miller – buy a history book, sonny.  Sit down, shut up, and READ.

Steve Bannon – white supremacist, anti-Semite.  Professional alt-right propagandist and liar. Permanent member of the National Security Council.

I’m so proud.  Aren’t you?