The New York Times Opinion Section has three articles that, pretty much, sum-up what the United States suffers from. The first says "Charisma Rules the World," which should tell you truth, honesty, and facts mean nothing - if the Trump administration hasn't made that clear enough already. This is evidenced by the second article, "It’s Not Just Trump Voters. Both Parties Are in Denial." And both of those fully support this third, "The Clintons and Kamala Harris Descend on a Hamptons Wedding of Liberal Royalty," an expose' on a gathering of the ugly, disgraced, and horrible - but extremely charismatic - Democrats, who not only lost the last election but have brought the nation low over my lifetime.
Charisma not only explains the rise of Hitler, but how even a self-declared "idiot" like Joe Rogan is treated as intellectual royalty (much less, buffoons and liars like Trump or Hillary): people may "seek truth," but being in the presence of charisma makes them feel OK about being diverted from it. They'd rather be "in" with whoever's currently popular.
This is how we have "debates" between Bill Maher and Sean Penn - the man who denied Bill Clinton is a rapist and, more recently, insisted on RussiaGate vs. a propagandist for lies surrounding Harvey Milk. Both are full of shit - but they're quite charismatic - before a public, so unaware, these two can actually have careers peddling such dangerous nonsense.
But - always more disturbing - is who and what's behind them all. Because the charismatic always work for someone. And it's usually some damaged souls with no charisma what-so-ever. This is why, in the end, Steve Bannon and Co. needed Trump to lie for them:
The true messengers of evil got nothin'.
