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WASHINGTON: With doctored images, distorted quotes, and diabolical attributions, the United States is descending into a dodgy and high-decibel election campaign that is calling into question its status as the world’s most stable and durable democracy.
In an ugly turn of events, Trump Republicans and Democrats are now routinely accusing each other of manipulating facts, invoking everything from “deep state” to “deep fake” to conjure up victory in elections. The US president himself has set the tone in demagoguery and divisiveness by unleashing a shrill, racist campaign that included a shocking defense of a young white vigilante who is charged with the murder of two BLM protestors in Wisconsin, while invoking deep, dark forces that he said were trying to destroy America.
“He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like. I guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would have been killed but it’s under investigation,” Trump said at a White House briefing on Monday, virtually laying out the defense for 17-year old Kyle Rittenhouse, a vigilante Trump Republicans are now hailing as a hero.
The US President then unleashed a tirade against “radical left” Democrats, as he went on his favored Fox News to speak of dark forces that were trying to destroy America. “We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city, this weekend. And in the plane it was almost completely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms, with gear and this and that. They’re on a plane,” Trump charged vaguely in an interview. Joe Biden, he sad, was having his “strings” pulled by “people you have never heard of, people in the dark shadows.”
Even the sycophantic anchor was nonplussed and asked: “What does that mean? That sounds like conspiracy theory.” “I’ll tell you some time. It’s under investigation right now,” Trump said vaguely, claiming that the money for fomenting unrest is coming from “some very stupid rich people [who] have no idea that if their thing ever succeeded, which it won’t, they will be thrown to the wolves like you’ve never seen before.”
Trump supporters meanwhile took to outright doctoring of videos to portray Biden as a doddering geriatric who was supporting a violent uprising.
One video clip they released was edited to show the Democrat nominee saying ‘You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America’ – taking out of context what Biden actually said in a speech in Pittsburgh: “And since they have no agenda or vision for a second term Trump and Pence are running on this: ‘You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.’ And what’s their proof? The violence you’re seeing in Donald Trump’s America.”
Twitter flagged the video for manipulation. It also deleted a claim minimizing coronavirus death toll that Trump himself retweeted.
Democrats are not sitting back, striking back with their own videos showing Trump as being both mentally and physically unfit for office. A new upcoming book by a New York Times scribe that said Vice President Mike Pence was put on standby to temporarily assume the powers of the presidency during Trump’s to Walter Reed hospital last November for an annual physical – a standard procedure in case he needed to be anesthesized – was parlayed by Trump-haters into speculating that he had or has had a series of strokes, with vivid descriptions of his gait, posture, slurring over words etc.
There are broadly three areas where the two sides are pulling out all stops to portray the other in a negative light: Accusing each other of selling out or being lackeys of foreign forces – notably Russia in the case of Trump and China in the case of Biden; Accusing each others’ supporters of fomenting violence and civil unrest across the country – Trump ramping up charges against the Black Lives Matter protestors, whom he now describes as a “Marxist group,” and Antifa, an amorphous group without structure that is being described as a terrorist organization; and Democrats calling out gun-loving white nationalists. And both sides trying to expose the rival candidate as being old and unfit for office.
Trump, 74, and Biden, 77, with a combined age of 151 years between them, are the oldest contestants in history for the White House.
In an ugly turn of events, Trump Republicans and Democrats are now routinely accusing each other of manipulating facts, invoking everything from “deep state” to “deep fake” to conjure up victory in elections. The US president himself has set the tone in demagoguery and divisiveness by unleashing a shrill, racist campaign that included a shocking defense of a young white vigilante who is charged with the murder of two BLM protestors in Wisconsin, while invoking deep, dark forces that he said were trying to destroy America.
“He was trying to get away from them, I guess, it looks like. I guess he was in very big trouble. He probably would have been killed but it’s under investigation,” Trump said at a White House briefing on Monday, virtually laying out the defense for 17-year old Kyle Rittenhouse, a vigilante Trump Republicans are now hailing as a hero.
The US President then unleashed a tirade against “radical left” Democrats, as he went on his favored Fox News to speak of dark forces that were trying to destroy America. “We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city, this weekend. And in the plane it was almost completely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms, with gear and this and that. They’re on a plane,” Trump charged vaguely in an interview. Joe Biden, he sad, was having his “strings” pulled by “people you have never heard of, people in the dark shadows.”
Even the sycophantic anchor was nonplussed and asked: “What does that mean? That sounds like conspiracy theory.” “I’ll tell you some time. It’s under investigation right now,” Trump said vaguely, claiming that the money for fomenting unrest is coming from “some very stupid rich people [who] have no idea that if their thing ever succeeded, which it won’t, they will be thrown to the wolves like you’ve never seen before.”
Trump supporters meanwhile took to outright doctoring of videos to portray Biden as a doddering geriatric who was supporting a violent uprising.
One video clip they released was edited to show the Democrat nominee saying ‘You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America’ – taking out of context what Biden actually said in a speech in Pittsburgh: “And since they have no agenda or vision for a second term Trump and Pence are running on this: ‘You won’t be safe in Joe Biden’s America.’ And what’s their proof? The violence you’re seeing in Donald Trump’s America.”
Twitter flagged the video for manipulation. It also deleted a claim minimizing coronavirus death toll that Trump himself retweeted.
Democrats are not sitting back, striking back with their own videos showing Trump as being both mentally and physically unfit for office. A new upcoming book by a New York Times scribe that said Vice President Mike Pence was put on standby to temporarily assume the powers of the presidency during Trump’s to Walter Reed hospital last November for an annual physical – a standard procedure in case he needed to be anesthesized – was parlayed by Trump-haters into speculating that he had or has had a series of strokes, with vivid descriptions of his gait, posture, slurring over words etc.
There are broadly three areas where the two sides are pulling out all stops to portray the other in a negative light: Accusing each other of selling out or being lackeys of foreign forces – notably Russia in the case of Trump and China in the case of Biden; Accusing each others’ supporters of fomenting violence and civil unrest across the country – Trump ramping up charges against the Black Lives Matter protestors, whom he now describes as a “Marxist group,” and Antifa, an amorphous group without structure that is being described as a terrorist organization; and Democrats calling out gun-loving white nationalists. And both sides trying to expose the rival candidate as being old and unfit for office.
Trump, 74, and Biden, 77, with a combined age of 151 years between them, are the oldest contestants in history for the White House.
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