FILE PHOTO: Former FBI Director James Comey testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Russia's alleged interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 8, 2017. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein/File Photo
In a new op-ed, James Comey explained how Trump’s lies had eaten the souls of everyone around him and the Republican Party.
Comey wrote in The New York Times:
It starts with your sitting silent while he lies, both in public and private, making you complicit by your silence. In meetings with him, his assertions about what “everyone thinks” and what is “obviously true” wash over you, unchallenged, as they did at our private dinner on Jan. 27, 2017, because he’s the president and he rarely stops talking. As a result, Mr. Trump pulls all of those present into a silent circle of assent.
Speaking rapid-fire with no spot for others to jump into the conversation, Mr. Trump makes everyone a co-conspirator to his preferred set of facts, or delusions. I have felt it — this president building with his words a web of alternative reality and busily wrapping it around all of us in the room.
I must have agreed that he had the largest inauguration crowd in history because I didn’t challenge that. Everyone must agree that he has been treated very unfairly. The web building never stops.
From the private circle of assent, it moves to public displays of personal fealty at places like cabinet meetings. While the entire world is watching, you do what everyone else around the table does — you talk about how amazing the leader is and what an honor it is to be associated with him.
Comey continues to document the progression until Donald Trump has eaten your soul.
Comey described what happens to individuals in Trump’s orbit perfectly. The corruption starts small, but from the first moment, Donald Trump is working to destroy personal integrity and values. What Comey described as happening is a sort of brainwashing where people are sucked into adopting Trump’s delusional world and views. Trump is a black hole that has swallowed up what used to be the Republican Party. As Barr’s testimony and Lindsey Graham’s lies reveal, down is now up, and reality has no home in Trump-centric universe where the former GOP now resides.
For more discussion about this story join our Rachel Maddow and MSNBC group.
Follow Jason Easley on Facebook
Trump got House Republicans to not use reconciliation to cut Social Security. The problem is…
President-elect Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson have agreed to a deal that would fund the…
Donald Trump demanded that the debt limit be raised as part of the government funding…
Donald Trump and JD Vance are blaming President Biden for the havoc caused by Elon…
The first little bit of pressure involving passing a bill to keep the government open…
X boss Elon Musk is throwing a tantrum on his social media platform as House…
This website uses cookies.
