"The attention span of the average American is that of a house fly. The dumbing down of the United States is Real. "
Indeed it is. And it is very nearly ENTIRELY the fault of the GOP [“The GOP’s Murderous Anti-Intellectualism”: https://newrepublic.com/.../republican-murderous-anti...] and their mouthpieces at the Fox "News" Channel:
1.) Adler, Ben. "It’s Official: Watching Fox Makes You Stupider: A new study shows that Fox viewers are even worse informed than those who consume no news at all". The Nation. May 22, 2012: https://www.thenation.com/.../its-official-watching-fox.../
2.) Bond, Paul. "Fox News Viewers Are Less Informed Than Those Watching No News". Hollywood Reporter. November 22, 2011: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/fox-news-msnbc-viewers-less-informed-265063/
3.) Bunch, Will. "Watching Fox News makes you more stupid". Philadelphia Inquirer. May 23, 2012: https://www.inquirer.com/.../CONFIRMED-Watching-Fox-News...
4.) Dolan, Eric. "Consuming content from Fox News is associated with decreased knowledge". PsyPost. July 31, 2020: https://www.psypost.org/consuming-content-from-foxnews.../
5.) Froomkin, Dan. "A new study suggests Fox News viewers aren’t just misinformed — they are literally being made ignorant". NBC News. April 9, 2022: https://www.nbcnews.com/.../fox-news-study-comparing-fox...
6.) Kelley, Michael. "Study: Watching Only Fox News Makes You Less Informed Than Watching No News At All". Insider. May 22, 2012: https://www.businessinsider.com/study-watching-fox-news-makes-you-less-informed-than-watching-no-news-at-all-2012-5
7.) MacNicol, Glynnis. "Study: Watching FOX News Makes You Stupid". Insider. December 17, 2010: https://www.businessinsider.com/extended-exposure-to-fox...
8.) Magister, Stephenie. "Science Proves (Again) That Watching Fox News Makes You Dumber Than Not Watching Any News At All". Medium. June 30, 2022: https://medium.com/transgender-soapbox/science-proves-again-that-watching-fox-news-makes-you-dumber-than-not-watching-any-news-at-all-6783ac48a348
9.) Rayfield, Jillian. "Study: Watching Fox News Actually Makes You Stupid". Rolling Stone. May 24, 2012: https://www.rollingstone.com/.../study-watching-fox-news.../
10.) Reininga, Ben. "Study: Fox News makes you dumber" Nerve. December 16, 2010: https://hooksexup.com/.../tv/study-fox-news-makes-you-dumber
The “dumbing down” of the United States is very nearly--if not ENTIRELY-- the fault of uneducated and uninformed illiterate compulsive habitual pathological bald-faced liars:
Frame, Kyle. “Republicans are anti-intellectual”. Threads: https://www.threads.net/@recoveryfrompol.../post/C8pBNSwODUu
“GOP has turned anti-intellectual”, Gold Country Media: https://goldcountrymedia.com/.../gop-has-turned-anti.../
Nor is the "dumbing down" in question at all accidental on the part of anti-American MAGA GOP wingnut terrorists. It is, quite literally, the ENTIRETY of the stated policy platform of what remains of what was once the Republican Party: “Anti-Intellectualism and the Republican Strategy”, The Patterning: https://thepatterning.com/.../anti-intellectualism-and.../
Indeed, fervent and virulent anti-intellectualism has not only been part and parcel of quite literally each and every single GOP Congressional, Gubernatorial, Senatorial and Presidential campaign this century, but has been the featured theme of each and every single Republican National Convention as well [“Republicans’ disdain for intellectualism”, Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../republicans-disdain.../], Including and especially the three Conventions that coronated your own fellow uneducated illiterate blithering imbecile Donald Trump:
"Here was, arguably, the central issue of the Trump presidency, informing every aspect of Trumpian policy and leadership: he didn’t process information in any conventional sense — or, in a way, he didn’t process it at all. Trump didn’t read. He didn’t really even skim. If it was in print, it might as well not exist. Some believed that for all practical purposes he was no more than semi-illiterate. Some thought him dyslexic; certainly his comprehension was limited. But not only didn’t he read, he didn’t listen. He preferred to be the person talking. And He trusted his own expertise — no matter how paltry or irrelevant — more than anyone else’s. He was often confident, but he was just as often paralyzed, less a savant than a figure of sputtering and dangerous insecurities, whose instinctive response was to lash out and behave as if his gut, however confused, was in fact in some clear and forceful way telling him what to do. It was, said [former deputy chief of staff Katie] Walsh, ‘like trying to figure out what a child wants.’ What’s more, he had an extremely short attention span, even when he thought you were worthy of attention.”"
-Wolf, Michael. "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House". 2018:
“Trump and Kushner Don't Read Much at All”, NewsWeek: https://www.newsweek.com/jared-kushner-donald-trump-cant...
The virulent and vitriolic hatred of far-right wingnuts such as yourself towards anything that in any way, shape or form even remotely resembles credentials, degrees, education, experience, or qualifications of any kind [“Republicans are increasingly antagonistic toward experts”, Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../republicans-are.../] is nothing new, as it dates back to the very beginning of the 21st century, with the uneducated and illiterate moron who was--until relatively recently--hitherto the dumbest man ever to set foot in the White House: George W. Bush. The multi-layered cataclysmic international catastrophe that was the George W. Bush administration notwithstanding, many--myself included--would argue that the earliest clearest sign of the GOP's rampant and virulent anti-intellectualism was the decision by war hero and campaign finance reformer John McCain--arguably the best-qualified candidate to campaign for President up to that time--choosing uneducated, intellectually and mentally-retarded illiterate Sarah Palin [“Republicans' anti-intellectualism”, Washington Monthly: https://washingtonmonthly.com/.../coming-to-grips-with.../] as Vice President to the 80-year-old cancer survivor McCain. But the autocratic authoritarian dictatorial regime of willfully-uneducated and scientifically-illiterate bumbling imbecile George W. Bush was itself certainly no slouch when it came to vile and virulent hatred of all things in any way, shape or form even remotely tangentially related or adjacent to education or intellect: “Republican anti-intellectualism”: https://crookedtimber.org/.../republican-anti.../
Utterly unsurprisingly, virulent and hatred-filled vitriolic anti-intellectualism was most prominently the featured theme of the 2016 Republican National Convention [“Trump stands on GOP’s apparent anti-intellectualism”: https://redwoodbark.org/.../trump-stands-gops-apparent.../], where the not-yet quite so violently anti-American GOP was preoccupied nominating uneducated and illiterate moron Donald Trump to run against former University of Arkansas School of Law Professor Hillary Rodham Clinton, arguably the best-educated--and certainly the best-credentialed and most-qualified--person to ever campaign for the Presidency in recent memory. However, in 2020 and 2024, faced with, in relatively quick succession, what are arguably two of the most brilliant minds ever to campaign for the Presidency--in former United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Joe Biden and former California State Attorney General Kamala Harris--the violently anti-American Donald-Trump-worshiping terrorist death cult that still insists on quixotically calling itself the "GOP" looks set to finally face the truth that most of us out her in the sane world have known for most of this century [“Republicans Sowed Anti-Intellectualism, Now Reaping Results With Donald Trump”: https://dekerivers.wordpress.com/.../republicans-sowed.../]: There simply are not enough uneducated and functionally-illiterate hatred-filled homophobes, racists, misogynists and xenophobes left in America to a functioning governing Party make.
It should likewise come as little, if any, or no surprise to anyone paying attention that the newest warrior in the Trump-worshiping GOP terrorist death cult's half-century-long war against intellect and intelligence is none other than James Bowman [popularly colloquially better known by by his onscreen stage pseudonym "JD Vance"], violently anti-American terrorist leader Donald Trump's top lieutenant as leader of their criminal organization: “Donald Trump and the Pitfalls of Anti-Intellectualism”, The Takeaway, WNYC: https://www.wnycstudios.org/.../how-history-anti…
The fact that multi-millionaire failed businessman, lifelong tax cheat and convicted fraudster Donald Trump just received his THIRD nomination as leader of the GOP tells those of us out here in the sane world all we need to know about the correlation between being a rich old racist white man and having anything even remotely resembling an education of any kind [“The GOP and the Rise of the Elite Anti-Intellectual”, Brewminate: https://brewminate.com/the-gop-and-the-rise-of-the-elite.../]. Donald Trump's slogan "Make America Great Again" is no accident either, as when asked when America was last great, the overwhelmingly vast majority of Trump supporters cite the "Golden Age" of the late 1890's-early 1900's. Not coincidentally, a time when absolutely positively NO education of any kind was required in order to become wildly successful [“Trump, Anti-Intellectualism, and the GOP’s Existential Need to Modernize”, University of Chicago: http://uchicagogate.com/.../matt-lewis-trump-anti.../], provided you were wealthy, white and male.
It should come as no great surprise, however, that violently anti-American terrorists such as Donald Trump have quite happily used the GOP cult's virulent anti-intellectualism for their own ends [“How Republicans Use Anti-Intellectualism To Divide America”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDGOMSyQpRc “How Republicans Are Using Anti-Intellectualism To Divide America”, Daily Politicus: https://www.thedailypoliticususa.com/.../how-republicans…] As lifelong racists and self-described white supremacist Eugenicists and vocal Adolf hitler fans and Nazi supporters such as Donald Trump have been pouring an obscene, unconscionable amount of time, energy, effort and most of all money over the past half century into starting a "purifying" race war that will result in the United States of America becoming the world's sole "white" ethnostate. As the lifelong self-described white supremacist Eugenicist that he is, Donald trumps one and only sole claim to any intellect or intelligence of any kind was his blatantly anti-scientific belief that he had somehow magically inherited his brain from his uncle John, an engineer who worked maintenance at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology half a century ago [“They Hate Universities: Trumpian Anti-Intellectualism Is Spreading Among Republicans”, Truthdig: https://www.truthdig.com/.../now-they-hate-universities.../]. The revelation that Donald Trump paid someone else to take his SAT's for him would have been automatically disqualifying were he a Democrat--or indeed quite literally ANYWHERE else other than in the GOP [“The Oddly Snobbish Anti-Intellectualism of Donald Trump”, New York Magazine: https://nymag.com/.../the-oddly-snobbish-anti…], As would the knowledge that he violently threatened the administrators of the high schools and colleges that he attended in order to terrorize them into being too afraid to release his grades. While the Democratic Party has spend the lion's share of the past two decades of this century trying to give as many young Americans as much access to the highest-quality western university and college education as possible, the violently anti-American terrorist death cult calling itself the GO has spent even longer--dating back to Donald Trump's fellow dementia-addled and senile blithering idiot Ronald Reagan--doing their damnedest not only to keep Americans out of college by any and all means necessary and expedient, but to do away with secondary and higher education in the United States altogether [“Republicans Are the Anti-Education Party (And Proud of It)”, Good Men Project: https://goodmenproject.com/.../republicans-are-the-anti.../ “Trump’s America: Anti-Intellectual and Proud of It”, Yale Global: https://archive-yaleglobal.yale.edu/.../trumps-america…] to as much of an extent as is pragmatically plausible. As Harvard University Professor of the History of Science and Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences Naomi Oreskes [Ph.D., Geological Research and History of Science, Stanford University] writes in her 2010 book "Merchants of Doubt", the overriding and overwhelming focus of the GOP's virulent hatred and vitriol since the rise of the "Christian Right" more than half a century ago has been on one thing above and beyond all else. Namely, SCIENCE: “How the GOP Became the Anti-Science Party”, Huffington Post: https://www.huffpost.com/.../how-the-gop-became-the-an_b...
“Chuck Todd Lays The Blame For Trump On ‘Anti-Intellectualism’”: https://uproxx.com/culture/chuck-todd-gop-anti-intellectual/
By far and away the most emblematic peak of this decades long trend came within weeks of the inauguration in January 2017, of illiterate imbecile Donald Trump, whose staff came out of the gate from minute one of day one bald-faced lying their asses off at every possible opportunity, all the while excusing their pathological dishonesty as being, and i quote "ALTERNATIVE FACTS":
“The GOP and the Rise of Anti-Knowledge”, Bill Moyers: https://billmoyers.com/.../the-gop-and-the-rise-of-anti.../
“GOP and the Rise of Anti-Knowledge”, Consortium News: https://consortiumnews.com/.../gop-and-the-rise-of-anti.../
“Trump and the Triumph of Anti-Reason”, US News and World Report: https://www.usnews.com/.../donald-trump-and-the-triumph...
"Donald Trump, who has sacrificed all to Make America Great Again, for ALL Americans."
-Fran Hosman
FALSE
This claim, too, has been REPEATEDLY proven to be nothing more than a blatant, bald-faced and flagrant LIE with reference to the fact that
1.) "Trump has sacrificed all."
-Fran Hosman
FALSE
Donald Trump and his family profited quite literally billions of dollars from his time spent in the White House
A.) Alexander, Dan. "Trump’s Business Hauled In $2.4 Billion During Four Years He Served As President". Forbes. July 19, 2021: https://www.forbes.com/.../trumps-business-hauled-in-24.../
B.) Schnell, Mychael. "Trump businesses made $2.4 billion during his presidency". The Hill. July 19, 2021: https://thehill.com/.../563735-trump-businesses-made-24.../
2.) "Trump has sacrificed to Make America Great."
-Fran Hosman
FALSE
By quite literally each and every single metric humanly imaginable, Donald Trump's career in government has been a DETRIMENT to quite literally each and every single American [https://thehill.com/.../529913-55-percent-in-new-fox.../ “100 Ways, in 100 Days, that Trump Has Hurt Americans”, Center For American Progress: https://www.americanprogress.org/.../100-ways-100-days.../] including and especially Donald Trump himself:
A.) Breuninger, Kevin. "Trump tumbles down the Forbes 400 as his net worth has taken a major hit since he launched his presidential run: Donald Trump’s net worth has declined by more than $1 billion since the year he launched his presidential campaign. The president’s net worth stands at $3.1 billion, down from $4.5 billion in 2015". NBC News. Tuesday, October 2 2018: https://www.cnbc.com/.../trump-forbes-400-spot-tumbles-as...
B.) Choi, Joseph. "Trump’s net worth dropped by $700 million during presidency". The Hill. March 17, 2021: https://thehill.com/.../543672-trumps-net-worth-dropped.../
C.) Cillizza, Chris. "Donald Trump is a lot less rich today than when he was elected president". CNN. Wednesday September 9, 2020: https://www.cnn.com/.../forbes-400-donald.../index.html
D.) Harper, Justin. "Donald Trump's wealth takes tumble during presidency". BBC News. March 17, 2021: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-56438914
E.) Melby, Caleb. "Trump's Net Worth Drops to $2.8 Billion, Lowest Since 2015". Bloomberg. May 31, 2018: https://www.bloomberg.com/.../trump-s-net-worth-slides-to...
3.) "Trump has sacrificed for ALL Americans."
-Fran Hosman
FALSE
According to his own family members, Donald Trump DESPISES anyone and everyone NOT named "Trump": “Trump’s ‘intolerance towards everyone’ encourages hate”, The Guardian: https://www.theguardian.com/.../chris-christie-trump...
A.) Brooks, David. "Donald Trump Hates America". New York Times. July 18, 2019: https://www.nytimes.com/.../trump-america-election.html
B.) Ellen. "Nobody Hates America More Than Donald Trump". News Hounds. July 18, 2019: https://www.newshounds.us/nobody_hates_america_more_than...
C.) Hall, Colby. "Donald Trump Hates America’: Trump Calling the US ‘Greatest Threat to Western Civilization". MediaIte. March 17t, 2023: https://www.mediaite.com/.../donald-trump-hates-america.../
D.) Joyella, Mark. "Donald Trump Hates America". Forbes. March 17, 2023: https://www.forbes.com/.../msnbcs-joe-scarborough-donald.../
E.) Kilgore, Ed. "Donald Trump Thinks America Is a Sh*thole Country: In Waco, he denounced the U.S." New York Magazine. March 26, 2023: https://nymag.com/.../trumps-dark-waco-speech-denounced...
F.) Marshall, Will. "Trump’s slandering America". The Hill. March 8, 2024: https://thehill.com/.../4516822-trumps-slandering.../
G.) Masciotra, David. "Donald Trump and the Republican Party hate America: the unctuous Republicans are the ones who really despise their country". Salon. August 18, 2019: https://www.salon.com/.../donald-trump-and-the.../
H.) Mazza, Ed. "He Hates America': Trump, who has frequently expressed disdain for America and Americans said this week that he could be enjoying the south of France rather than being in the U.S.: "I could have been relaxing at Mar-a-Lago or in the south of France ― which I would prefer being in this country” he said." Huffington Post. August 10, 2023: https://www.huffpost.com/.../trump-live-in-france_n...
I.) McNally, Joe. "Trump Hates American Cities". Shepherd Express. June 17, 2024: https://shepherdexpress.com/.../why-trump-hates.../
J.) O'Neil, Luke. "Trump hating on America: mocking America is one of his own favorite pastimes". The Guardian. Friday July 19, 2019: https://www.theguardian.com/.../trumps-been-hating-on...
K.) Shalex, Chemi. "Why Does Donald Trump Hate America So Much? The GOP derides allies, admires enemies, accuses the U.S. of heinous crimes and depicts it as a dark and dangerous place". Haaretz. August 14, 2016: https://www.haaretz.com/.../0000017f-e336-df7c-a5ff...
L.) Tomasky, Michael. "Donald Trump Against America: He hates the America that actually exists". The New Republic. May 18, 2023: https://newrepublic.com/.../donald-trump-plot-against...
M.) Woodward, Calvin. "Trump US putdowns' '. Associated Press. July 18, 2019: https://apnews.com/article/6818969e655b4eea9d123827a52f4ffb
Including and especially his own supporters:
A.) Casiano, Louis. "Trump 'disgusted' by his own supporters: 'He wouldn’t even let them in a f---ing hotel'". Fox News. May 12, 2020: https://www.foxnews.com/.../howard-stern-claims-trump...
B.) Chait, Jonathan. "Trump Despises His Own Supporters". New York Magazine. August 30, 2018: https://nymag.com/.../coastal-snob-trump-mocks-sessions...
C.) Cohen, David. "Trump Hates You If You Love Him". Rolling Stone. September 22, 2020: https://www.rollingstone.com/.../trump-hates-you-even-if.../
D.) Giaritelli, Anna. "Trump: ‘I hate everyone in the White House’". Washington Examiner. October 11, 2017: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/.../trump-i-hate.../
E.) Lange, Jeva. "Trump said 'I hate everyone in the White House". The Week. October 11, 2017: https://theweek.com/.../trump-reportedly-said-hate...
F.) Leibovich, Mark. "Trump Has Called His Supporters ‘Disgusting’: The people Trump despises most love him the most”. New York Times Magazine. October 10, 2020: https://www.nytimes.com/.../sunday.../trump-supporters.html
G.) Linder, Brian. "Trump supporters, Trump is ‘disgusted’ by them". Pennsylvania Patriot News. May. 13, 2020: https://www.pennlive.com/.../howard-stern-says-he-hates...
H.) Lopez, Linette. "Trump is disgusted by his supporters: Trump has never had anything but contempt for his supporters". Insider. January 10, 2021: https://www.businessinsider.com/capitol-siege-tragically...
I.) Mordowanec, Nick. "Trump Mocks MAGA Supporters". NewsWeek. October 10, 2023: https://www.newsweek.com/trump-mocks-maga-supporters...
J.) Niemietz, Brian. "Trump supporters: He hates you". New York Daily News. May 13, 2020: https://www.nydailynews.com/.../howard-stern-to-trump.../
K.) Nolan, Emma. "Trump 'Despises' His Voters". NewsWeek. May 13, 2020: https://www.newsweek.com/howard-stern-tells-trump...
L.) Oppenheim, Maya. "Donald Trump lies to his base because he thinks they're stupid': 'He just knows Republicans are stupid". The Independent. Wednesday May 31, 2017: https://www.independent.co.uk/.../jared-kushner-donald...
M.) Paiella, Gabriella "Trump Hates ‘Everyone in the White House’". New York Magazine. October 11, 2017: https://www.thecut.com/.../trump-i-hate-everyone-in-white...
N.) Rothman, Noah. "Trump Hates All the People Responsible for His Administration". National Review. October 16, 2023: https://www.nationalreview.com/.../trump-now-hates-all.../
O.) Sherman, Gabriel. "“I Hate Everyone in the White House”: president consumed by dark moods". Vanity Fair. October 11, 2017: https://www.vanityfair.com/.../donald-trump-is-unraveling...
P.) Spocchia, Gino. "Trump ‘despises’ his own supporters and would be ‘disgusted’ by them: the US president would not let his own supporters inside Mar-a-Lago". The Independent. Wednesday May 13, 2020: https://www.the-independent.com/.../trump-howard-stern...
Q.) Tapp, Tom. "Donald Trump “Despises” MAGA Voters". Deadline. May 13, 2020: https://deadline.com/.../howard-stern-donald-trump.../
R.) Willis, Jay. "Donald Trump "Hates" Everyone in the White House". GQ. October 11, 2017: https://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump-hates-everyone
S.) Yakas, Ben. "Trump Hates 'Everyone In The White House'". Gothamist. October 11, 2017: https://gothamist.com/.../extra-extra-trump-reportedly...
