Gaslighting
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Have you ever watched Gaslight? It’s the 1944 psychological thriller directed by George Cukor, and stars Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergman. It’s the story of a woman whose husband slowly manipulates her into believing that she is becoming insane. I watched it a long time ago. It was disturbing to see how manipulative Boyer’s character was, and how easily the wife could be manipulated. If you haven’t watched it and you like thrillers, I encourage you to check it out. It looks like it can be rented on Amazon Prime or Apple TV.
I’m fairly certain the term, “gaslighting” came from this film.
gaslighting
noun
gas·light·ing ˈgas-ˌlī-tiŋ -ˈlī-
: the act or practice of grossly misleading someone especially for one's own advantage
Gaslighting is a familiar tactic used by someone to gain more power. It is a common technique of abusers, dictators, cult leaders and narcissists. It is a behavior which is done slowly so the person doesn’t realize how much they have been brainwashed.
I remember Thanksgiving, 1978, when I was at my brother’s home. We were all horrified at the gruesome images being televised from the remote jungle commune in Jonestown, Guyana. Jim Jones, was an American cult leader who founded and led the Peoples Temple between 1955-1978. In what was termed "revolutionary suicide," Jones and members of his inner circle planned and orchestrated a mass murder-suicide as his followers lined up to drink Kool-Aid mixed with cyanide.
How does one become so gaslit, that they robotically commit suicide?
I think you’ll agree, that what we have been experiencing this week (actually the last 10 years) is nothing but gaslighting. Lies, lies and more lies. And yet, a huge number of people in this country actually believe these lies, which is what I find so alarming. They have been drinking the Kool-Aid for so long, that they actually believe that Trump cares about them and tells it “like it is.” I encourage you to read Conspiracists are about to get a dose of reality - it’s excellent.
I believe lying is an art that you learn when you’re young. Since lying was a punishable offense in my house, I’m not very good at it. I didn’t like getting in trouble.
My mother could always discern whether we were telling the truth. I think it’s a talent that most mothers have. My mother’s way of dealing with it was really quite simple. She’d look at us and tell us that our eyes were turning pink, which meant we weren’t telling the truth. Of course, out of remorse, we would confess and deal with the consequences.
I was a pretty honest kid, so I had sort of forgotten about Mother’s technique of getting to the truth. Once when I was with my brother, he brought it up. He said, that even today, if he tells an untruth of any kind, his eyes start burning! I found that kind of amusing.
“The man who lies to himself and listens to his own lie comes to a point that he cannot distinguish the truth within him, or around him, and so loses all respect for himself and for others. And having no respect he ceases to love." ~ Fyodor Dostoevsky
It’s too bad the Depraved Grifter grew up in a home where lying must have been encouraged, because boy, can this guy tell whoppers.
His lying started early in his career when he said he was a self-made, successful businessman. In actuality, he was an entitled nepo-baby, whose father subsidized and bailed out his failures often. #FOTUS said his father gave him a “small $1M loan.” That’s laughable. It’s estimated that he received at least $413 million from his father over the decades, much of that through dubious tax dodges, including outright fraud. On his own, Trump drove six companies into bankruptcy — including casinos. I’m mean really… you have to be a pretty inept businessman to bankrupt a casino.
The fact is that Trump made most of his fortune through fraudulent practices and by pretending to be a successful business man on The Apprentice. Sadly, many of his MAGA cultists actually thought The Apprentice was reality, rather than reality TV. (To learn more about his early lying history, check out this 2016 article. Trump’s Remorseful Ghostwriter)
On June 16, 2015, #FOTUS descended his golden escalator in Trump Tower to announce his White House run and we have had nothing but lies ever since. In fact, there have been so many, that there is full Wikipedia page devoted to his lies:
It’s no wonder that Elon Musk wants to get rid of Wikipedia.
Then we have the #BigLie, of course. That’s the lie that Trump won the 2020 election. That was such a big lie, that he was able to gaslight thousands of people to actually break the law and attack the US Capitol in order to overturn an election. It was an election that he not only lost, but lost by more than $7M votes. It wasn’t even close.
CNN duly reports his lies, so we have lies from his first presidency: The 15 most notable lies of Donald Trump’s presidency. And now recently, his most current lies: Analysis: Trump’s 13 biggest lies of his first month back in office
The one thing, I find fascinating is how Trump likes to project his own behavior on others through his lies. For example, he’ll say, “Biden is a criminal.” That is a projection, as well as a lie. In fact, #FOTUS was the man indicted for 88 felonies and has 34 felony convictions, not Biden.
Which leads me to his whopper of the week. Projecting again - only this time it is Putin’s deeds onto Zelensky. Once again he becomes Putin’s Puppet: Trump Flips the Script on the Ukraine War, Blaming Zelensky Not Putin.
Trump’s revisionism sets the stage for a geopolitical about-face unlike any in generations as the president embarks on negotiations with Russia that Ukraine fears could come at its own expense. By vilifying Zelensky and shifting blame for the war from Moscow to Kyiv, Trump seems to be laying a predicate for withdrawing support for an ally under attack….It was a striking distortion of reality. Zelensky did not talk the United States into giving him money “to go into a war.” He and his country were attacked, and only then did the United States under President Joseph R. Biden Jr. respond with expansive financial assistance. And even then, it has been only about a third of what Trump claimed.
I think I’m going to call this #BigLieDeux. As Anne Appelbaum reminds us, with this most recent lie, it is now The End of the Postwar World.
TRUTH:
The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 when Russia invaded Ukraine, occupied and annexed Crimea and supported pro-Russian separatists fighting the Ukrainian military in the Donbas War. These first eight years of conflict also included naval incidents and cyberwarfare.
Then on February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War. The invasion, the largest and deadliest conflict in Europe since World War II, has caused hundreds of thousands of military casualties and tens of thousands of Ukrainian civilian casualties. From a population of 41 million, about 8 million Ukrainians have been internally displaced and more than 8.2 million have fled the country, creating Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. And despite their supposed military superiority, Russian troops have only managed to occupy about 20% of Ukraine.
Gaslighting is really insidious. I’ve had friends who have been gaslit by their spouses, parents or even their children. In some cases, it has taken my friends years to separate the truth from the lies. The spread of misinformation and disinformation has affected our ability to improve public health, address climate change, maintain a stable democracy, and more.
Authoritarians have used gaslighting throughout history. In actuality, the “big lie” is a propaganda technique, originally coined by Adolf Hitler in Mein Kampf, when he said, “The great masses of the people… will more easily fall victim to a big lie than to a small one.” If a known falsehood is stated and repeated and treated as if it is self-evidently true, then people start to believe it rather than critically questioning it or ignoring it. I mean how else would the Holocaust have been so horrifically executed in a country that had also produced the amazing works and science of a Bach, Kepler, Beethoven, Goethe, Brahms, Einstein and Mendelssohn?
In grammar school, I was taught both the story and its moral of George Washington and the cherry tree. We’ve come along way from truthful George to dishonest Donald. I wonder what myths children are going to be taught in the future, about this sociopath and his pathological lying.
I’m heartbroken that our country has been heading down a path of lies, lies and more lies with his unconscionable gaslighting. As Trump Turns Toward Russia and Against Ukraine, Republicans Are Mum. I’m appalled that our Republican Senators and Congressmen have enabled these lies - or worse, been gaslit themselves.
Exhibit A: The Corruption of Lindsey Graham
What sometimes helps me, when I am feeling down like this, is to remind myself what Charlie Sykes often says: We Are Not the Crazy Ones
I wish I had an answer, but I don’t.
All I can do is what I was taught to do as a child: just tell the truth.
“…you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:32
Thought for the day in honor of her birthday…
“At this crucial time in our lives, when everything is so desperate, when every day is a matter of survival, I don't think you can help but be involved.” ~ Nina Simone
What I read every day…
Quote of the day:
“The root that tears apart your house’s foundation begins as a seed; a seed of distrust, hate and blame. The seed that grew into a dictatorship in Europe over a lifetime ago didn’t arrive overnight. It started with everyday Germans mad about inflation and looking for someone to blame… after we have ostracized our neighbors and friends… what comes next?”
~ Governor J.B. Pritzker
What I’m reading today…
In pushing for Ukraine elections, Trump is falling into Putin-laid trap to delegitimize Zelenskyy
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was shut out of the discussions concerning the future of his country, which took place in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 18, 2025. In fact, there were no Ukrainian representatives, nor any European Union ones – just U.S. and Russian delegations, and their Saudi hosts. The meeting – which followed a mutually complimentary phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin just days earlier – was gleefully celebrated in Moscow. The absence of Ukraine in deciding its own future is very much in line with Putin’s policy toward its neighbor. Putin has long rejected Ukrainian statehood and the legitimacy of the Ukrainian government.
‘Long Live the King’: Trump Likens Himself to Royalty on Truth Social
Trump’s expansive views of his power have been evident in his words and deeds. He has liberally dispensed executive orders that have gone beyond what is considered to be legally permissible. He has fired officials, run roughshod over federal agencies in ways that go beyond his authority and frozen funds that Congress had already appropriated. And just last week, the president made clear that he believed he had broad leeway to reshape the government in any way he saw fit.
This Is What Happens When the DOGE Guys Take Over
The full impact of the blitz will not be known for months, when the courts and Congress decide where to push back—if at all. But the scale and speed of the transformation now taking place across the executive branch is likely to leave a deep mark. The civil service is built on the caution that comes from layers of rules, with the knowledge that the American people directly depend on the services provided. Reliability, however creaky, is typically paramount. Musk’s broader operation started from the opposite premise: Radical action was the only responsible course. The improperly fired could be rehired. The confusing memo could be withdrawn and replaced. The courts might overturn their actions, but that is a problem for another day. Make change happen, and rebuild the smashed shards later, if necessary.
Musk has hinted, amid rising criticism, that DOGE will simply reverse any measures that go too far. This sounds good in theory. Move fast; cut stuff; add back whatever you miss. But in practice, you can’t just slash 10,000 programs at once and then reinstall them on a one-by-one basis depending on whether the volume of criticism passes some imaginary threshold. Whatever you think of the failures of progressive governance, “mess around and find out” is not a suitable replacement. Unfortunately, it does appear to be the current methodology of the executive branch.
Americans worry Musk's campaign to slash government could hurt services
Americans, including some of Trump's most ardent supporters, are nervous about the influence wealthy Americans are having on the White House after Trump stocked his cabinet and circle of advisers with corporate executives and billionaires. Among poll respondents, 71% agreed with a statement that the very wealthy have too much influence on the White House, and 69% said they think the wealthy are making money off their White House connections. Even among Americans who said they strongly identify with the Make America Great Again, or MAGA, movement - the president's most ardent supporters who make up about a third of his party - some 44% thought the richest Americans were profiting from White House connections.
Trump Team Plans Deep Cuts at Office That Funds Disaster Recovery
The Trump administration plans to all but eliminate the office that oversees America’s recovery from the largest disasters, raising questions about how the United States will rebuild from hurricanes, wildfires and other calamities made worse by climate change. The Office of Community Planning and Development, part of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, pays to rebuild homes and other recovery efforts after the country’s worst disasters, such as Hurricane Helene in North Carolina and Hurricane Milton in Florida. The administration plans to cut the staff in that office by 84 percent.
For eight decades, America’s alliances with other democracies have been the bedrock of American foreign policy, trade policy, and cultural influence. American investments in allies’ security helped keep the peace in formerly unstable parts of the world, allowing democratic societies from Germany to Japan to prosper, by preventing predatory autocracies from destroying them. We prospered too. Thanks to its allies, the U.S. obtained unprecedented political and economic influence in Europe and Asia, and unprecedented power everywhere else. The Trump administration is now bringing the post–World War II era to an end.
The world would look dramatically different without the Allies’ victories in the two World Wars, the stable worldwide economic system and NATO’s and the U.N.’s keeping the world relatively peaceful. But the value of allies to Americans, even when they benefit from alliances, appears to have shifted between George Washington’s attitude – avoid them – and that of Franklin D. Roosevelt – go all in … eventually.
The Threat of Political Violence Informing Trump’s Grip on Congress
These are the heirs of the Greatest Generation, and they turned out to be the worst generation. It’s tempting to compare Republicans to Prussian aristocrats in 1930s Germany. But Prussian aristocrats were more responsible. They were dealing with civil unrest and the threat of a communist takeover. Republicans today have historically low unemployment, a record stock market. What’s their excuse? Political survival is one. Senate and House Republicans know Trump will orchestrate the running of a primary challenger backed by Elon Musk’s unlimited resources if a member defies him. But this is not the whole story of Republican subservience to the president. In private, Republicans talk about their fear that Trump might incite his MAGA followers to commit political violence against them if they don’t rubber-stamp his actions.
Judge orders Mississippi newspaper to delete editorial criticizing public officials
First Amendment lawyers and press freedom advocates are sounding alarms after a Mississippi newspaper was forced by a judge to delete an editorial criticizing city officials in Clarksdale. The city sued the publishers of the Clarksdale Press Register over an editorial from February 8, which criticized officials for failing to notify the public about a hearing on proposed tax increases. On Tuesday, without a hearing to review the allegations, Hinds County Chancery Court Judge Crystal Wise Martin ordered the newspaper to “remove” the column from its website.
Social Security Is DOGE's New Target
They (DOGE) now have access to everything, which means if you applied for disability benefits they have thousands of pages of medical records. They have earnings statements all the way back when. They have access to when you got married and got divorced. The worst case is that they have taken a secure system and made it insecure. That access could open the Social Security system up to hackers who would have a treasure trove of information that could be used to defraud Americans, including older adults.
A fiscal crisis is looming for many US cities
Climate change and its attendant increase in major disasters are putting financial pressure on municipalities across the country. Events like wildfires and flooding have twofold effects on city finances. First, money has to be spent on rebuilding damaged infrastructure, such as roads, water lines and public buildings. Second, after the disaster, cities may either act on their own or be required under state or federal law to make expensive investments in preparation for the next storm or wildfire.