AlterNet:
Coupla things:
I can say one thing to you and another thing to the next guy and then I can play those two positions against each other from the middle. I stand to get something from you and/or something from him, and I can "come clean" or double down or go a completely different way - none of which matters because I'm hedging my positions to the point where I've off-loaded almost all of my risk onto somebody else so I'll "win" something regardless of how anything turns out - I am far less concerned with how it turns out than I am with positioning myself to benefit no matter the outcome.
And politically, by the time (eg) The Libtards fact-check it, the bullshit is already "out there" and we're all on to something else, and that's all yesterday's news and on and on and on.
Once you've surrendered your silly girly-man concerns over doing what's right, you'll never have to be wrong again.
...a Moral Flexibility that goes beyond most people.
Donald Trump is a prolific liar. That’s neither an opinion nor a criticism, but a statement of scientific fact. In the midst of the presidential campaign, Politico analyzed a few hours of Trump’s speeches and found he lied once every five minutes on average.
PolitiFact gave Trump its Lie of the Year Award for 2015, and has since determined that only 15 percent of Trump’s words are true or even mostly true. Toronto Star journalist Daniel Dale, who fact-checked Trump for 33 days and found he told as many as 25 lies in a 24-hour period (excluding debates, when he crammed up to 34 lies into 90 minutes), wrote that Trump “lies strategically. He lies pointlessly. He lies about important things and meaningless things. Above all, he lies frequently.” Trump lies so effortlessly and consistently that the Washington Post created a plug-in that, lacking the human tendency to grow fatigued, fact-checks Trump’s lie-filled tweets in real time.Strategic lying. Trump's lies are in fact habitual at this point, but that's only because he's had lotsa practice at lying by design. Because it works.
Coupla things:
I can say one thing to you and another thing to the next guy and then I can play those two positions against each other from the middle. I stand to get something from you and/or something from him, and I can "come clean" or double down or go a completely different way - none of which matters because I'm hedging my positions to the point where I've off-loaded almost all of my risk onto somebody else so I'll "win" something regardless of how anything turns out - I am far less concerned with how it turns out than I am with positioning myself to benefit no matter the outcome.
And politically, by the time (eg) The Libtards fact-check it, the bullshit is already "out there" and we're all on to something else, and that's all yesterday's news and on and on and on.
Once you've surrendered your silly girly-man concerns over doing what's right, you'll never have to be wrong again.
...a Moral Flexibility that goes beyond most people.
