Republicans’ manufactured outrage over Trump’s felony conviction(s) blurs fact and fiction. High ranking Republicans, including the Speaker of the House, are attacking judge, jury and the rule of law in hopes of reducing the political fallout in November.
MAGA pols are thirsty, craven, and willing to burn down the house for power. That’s on them. That they are getting away with it is on all of us.
There is no evidence connecting Biden to Trump’s criminality
Trump and his toadies keep saying, ‘Biden did this’ to anyone who will listen, without having to explain how, exactly, the President was able to manipulate 12 anonymous jurors selected by Trump’s own trial counsel. Successfully blaming Biden despite the disconnect between the U.S. Department of Justice and the New York DA’s office, where prosecutors are elected (or not) solely by New Yorkers, suggests there’s an intellectual deficit Republicans are intentionally manipulating.
Self sabotage on the right is head-turning: Law and order republicans attacking the rule of law; Christians defending Trump’s debauchery, poor people giving their money to a billionaire’s Ponzi schemes, pensioners who don’t understand that tax cuts for the 1 percent threaten their own entitlements.Trump has done nothing for the common man and everything for his wealthy donors. Yet somehow, that fact doesn’t seem to compute.
To misquote Jesus, the stupid will always be among us.
But stupid seems to be spreading in the U.S., and it’s in our best interest to figure out why.
Our politics reflect a cognitive decline
When Trump celebrated his 2016 election win, his declaration, “I love the poorly educated” made headlines. Nearly eight years on, it’s not that half the country supports violent coup attempts, it’s that half the country sincerely believes the 2020 election was stolen, despite all evidence to the contrary.
The United States seems to be slumbering toward Idiocracy, a funny-not-funny satire about Americans in the year 2500. Instead of possessing superior intellect, they have lost the ability to think. In the movie, Americans elect as president a dimwitted pro-wrestler — President Camacho — because he is loud and manipulative and they don’t know any better. The Trump sequel writes itself.
Amusing as that movie was, America’s declining cognition is serious. Americans’ logic, language and reading comprehension levels have fallen measurably. Last year, researchers from Northwestern University and the University of Oregon reported that, while Americans’ IQs increased dramatically over the past century, their cognitive abilities showed measurable decline between 2006 and 2018. Scores in three of four broad domains of intelligence fell during that period: logic, vocabulary and visual/mathematical problem-solving.
Excessive use of personal electronics, social media may be to blame
In 1850, unwashed kids aged 6 to 18 were crammed into smelly one-room schoolhouses with no electricity or technology — and often no books. Yet despite their primitive educational settings, most still emerged well-versed in Latin, French, humanities and trigonometry.
Today, with whiteboards, laptops, separate rooms for each grade and teacher/student ratios at historical lows, student comprehension levels are falling instead of rising. Last year, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, math and reading scores for 13 year-olds hit their lowest scores in decades, which isn’t explained by the COVID-19 gap of recent years.
The explanation may be found in a growing reliance on smartphones, social media and electronic devices that offer addictive and excessive visual and audio stimulation, dulling the brain’s ability to think critically and organically.
Observational studies in human learning have shown a direct link between a child’s exposure to fast-paced television in the first three years of life and his subsequent attentional deficits as he gets older. Excessive sensory stimulation (ESS) during childhood has been shown to increase cognitive and behavioral deficits overall. Even rising levels of ADHD among older children and college students are correlated with subjects’ early exposure to excessive electronic media.
Over-stimulation, overall, reduces our ability to think
It seems logical that over-stimulating the human brain with loud colors and noises would, over time, reduce our capacity for nuanced and critical thinking. Just as over-reliance on crutches can cause leg muscles to atrophy, over-exposure to electronics and addictive but thoughtless social media can atrophy the learning centers of the brain.
Smartphones aren’t the only culprit. Recent studies have also shown that high levels of noise, including exposure to high-decibel music at home or in the car, and loud, omnipresent television, also leads tocognitive impairment and oxidative stress in the brain.
It’s been reported that 100 million people are exposed to dangerous environmental noise due to traffic, personal listening devices and other sources. Noise pollution has emerged as a risk factor for depression, cognitive impairment and neurodegenerative disorders of the central nervous system leading to cognitive and memory defects.
It seems the entire nation could use a long walk in the woods, or an extended visit to one of our 429 national park sites — sans devices.
Education levels are affecting U.S. politics
America’s growing political divide may have more to do with education and cognition levels than policy differences. By wide margins, the mostly highly educated congressional districts in the United States elect Democrats, while the least educated districts elect Republicans.
According to data compiled by Politico, Democrats control 77% of the most highly educated congressional districts, while Republicans control 64% of the least educated districts. The rural poor love Trump, even though Democrats deliver kitchen table results that benefit them most: jobs, infrastructure, broadband, healthcare, and industry regulations so trains don’t derail and parts don’t fly off aircraft at 16,000 feet.
Maximilien Robespierre, one of the most influential (if controversial) figures of the French Revolution,was known for his attacks on the monarchy and his advocacy of democratic reforms. He famously wrote, “The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.”
Even though Trump’s closest advisers widely regard him as an idiot, especially that he is now a convicted felon to boot, he has a preternatural skill: manipulating ignorance.
Call it a conman’s intuition.
Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25 year litigator specializing in 1st and 14th Amendment defense. Her Substack, The Haake, is free.