[Editor’s Note: Please listen to this interview. Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston’s insights on Trump and his long ties with the Mafia and Russian oligarchs and the only way the democrats can unseat Trump are spot on. Unlike many, he calls things as they are. Also, listen to Chauncey DeVargas’ comments afterward. He gives a hard dose of reality that we on the left need to fully grasp about what may well be coming even if — especially if — Trump were driven from office. This is serious business, folks and the democrats and the left really has no idea what is building. — Mark L. Taylor]
By Chauncey DeVega
Salon (4/23/18)
The saga of President Donald Trump consists of several parallel and intersecting stories.
There is the structural dimension. Trump’s victory over Hillary Clinton was not entirely unpredictable or shocking. America’s crisis in civic literacy, political polarization, rampant anti-intellectualism, deeply embedded sexism and racism, greed, broken schools and weakened democratic institutions, as well as a hollowed-out public sphere where people confuse celebrity with human worth, made the election of someone like Trump nearly inevitable.
There is Donald Trump the man, who seems to revel in the very worst human values. His closest family members — including his father and grandfather — taught him the “value” of unrepentant greed and ambition. He also displays the symptoms of malignant narcissism, as well as sociopathy. In all, Trump is a master of manipulation who leads a political cult.
How do these factors combine to form Donald Trump’s presidency and the type of society that he and the Republican Party want to create? Are matters actually worse than they appear, in terms of how we assess the political and social crisis of Trump’s presidency? What strategy should Democrats use to stop Trump and the Republican Party? If Trump is removed from office because of his increasingly obvious efforts to obstruct justice, how will his public respond? Will there be violence?
In an effort to answer these questions, I recently spoke with Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter David Cay Johnston. For 30 years, Johnston has covered Trump’s life and career, as detailed in the bestselling book “The Making of Donald Trump.” His new book is “It’s Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration is Doing to America.“…
(Cartoon by Tatiana Katara, 2018.)
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Chauncey DeVega Interview With Long-Time Trump Documentarian David Cay Johnston
“We should be calling these people who and what they are.”
The Chauncey DeVega Show is the official podcast of Salon.com politics writer Chauncey DeVega. On a weekly basis the show features a relaxed and free-form conversation with artists, authors, musicians, researchers, academics, journalists, activists, as well as Hollywood actors and directors.
Audio Interview With David Cay Johnston Begins At 27-Minute Point