The Battle for Our Hearts and Minds (the Republican Playbook)

During Michael Cohen’s testimony on Wednesday, February 27, 2019 before the House Oversight Committee, he dropped a number of bombs about President Donald J. Trump. For those of us with insight into the sociopathic mentality of Trump, these were not surprising revelations. Indeed, they just confirmed that our 45th President was and is a twisted person, with severe narcissistic personality disorder.

What was apparent was just how unfair the right-wingers (i.e., the Republicans) were. They put up posters taunting Cohen; Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz sent a threatening Tweet about Cohen the day before his testimony; the Republicans made much ado about Cohen’s perjury conviction from last November, overlooking his desire to redeem himself (even though their evangelical/Born Again Christian pastors and ministers who fleeced countless members of their flocks or perpetrated sex crimes also begged for redemption).

The Republicans attacked the messenger instead of listening to and fairly evaluating his message.

This crime goes back to the times of the ancient Greeks, and has led to the au courant phrase: “Don’t shoot me; I’m just the messenger.”

But the tactics of bullies, gangsters, autocrats, and dictators always boil down to the same basic dirty tricks: