Waco1947 said:

---

Motivated ignorance refers to willfully blinding oneself to facts. It's choosing not to know. In many cases, for many people, knowing the truth is simply too costly, too psychologically painful, too threatening to their core identity. Nescience is therefore incentivized; people actively decide to remain in a state of ignorance. If they are presented with strong arguments against a position they hold, or compelling evidence that disproves the narrative they embrace, they will reject them. Doing so fends off the psychological distress of the realization that they've been lying to themselves and to others.

---

Whiskey Pete said:

---

Waco1947 said:

---

Whiskey Pete said:

---

TexasScientist said:

---

Trump challenges Biden to a cognitive test but confuses the name of the doctor who tested him

https://apnews.com/article/trump-mental-acuity-gaffe-biden-ronny-jackson-0d45b6d89ae295b690f5ad12ca0bd38a

WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trump on Saturday night suggested President Joe Biden"should have to take a cognitive test," only to confuse who administered the test to him in the next sentence.
The former president and presumptive Republican nominee referred to Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, who was the White House physician for part of his presidency, as "Ronny Johnson." The moment came as Trump was questioning Biden's mental acuity, something he often does on the campaign trail and social media.
"He doesn't even know what the word 'inflation' means. I think he should take a cognitive test like I did," the former president said of Biden during a speech at a convention of Turning Point Action in Detroit.
Seconds later, he continued, "Doc Ronny Johnson. Does everyone know Ronny Johnson, congressman from Texas? He was the White House doctor, and he said I was the healthiest president, he feels, in history, so I liked him very much indeed immediately."
ADVERTISEMENT

Jackson was elected to Congress in 2021 and is one of Trump's most vociferous defenders on Capitol Hill.
Trump, who turned 78 on Friday, has made questioning whether the 81-year-old Biden is up for a second term a centerpiece of his campaign. But online critics quickly seized on his Saturday night gaffe, with the Biden campaign which has long fought off criticism about the Democratic president's verbal missteps posting a clip of the moment minutes later.

Trump took the cognitive test in 2018 at his own request, Jackson told reporters at the time. The exam is designed to detect early signs of memory loss and other mild cognitive impairment.

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment that Trump took includes remembering a list of spoken words; listening to a list of random numbers and repeating them backward; naming as many words that begin with, say, the letter F as possible within a minute; accurately drawing a cube; and describing concrete ways that two objects like a train and a bicycle are alike.

Trump later said that he had to remember and accurately recite a list of words in order: "Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV."

During the same speech in Detroit, Trump also referenced a video clip widely circulated online in Republican circles where Biden is seen during the recently concluded Group of Seven summit in Italy watching skydivers land with flags from different nations.

A cropped version of the video shows Biden stepping away from the leaders, turning his back and walking in the other direction. He flashes a thumbs-up but it's not clear who he is gesturing to. A more complete angle of the same scene, however, shows that the president had turned to face a skydiver who has landed.
Trump nonetheless seized on the video clip, falsely describing Biden turning around "to look at trees," drawing laughter and hoots from the crowd.

The Biden campaign issued a statement dismissing the clip as misleadingly cropped and accusing those disseminating it as "tampering with the video to make up lies."

---

Cool story. Still voting for Trump

---

Motivated ignorance refers to willfully blinding oneself to facts. It's choosing not to know. In many cases, for many people, knowing the truth is simply too costly, too psychologically painful, too threatening to their core identity. Nescience is therefore incentivized; people actively decide to remain in a state of ignorance. If they are presented with strong arguments against a position they hold, or compelling evidence that disproves the narrative they embrace, they will reject them. Doing so fends off the psychological distress of the realization that they've been lying to themselves and to others.
Motivated ignorance is a widespread phenomenon; most people, to one degree or another, employ it. What matters is the degree to which one embraces it, and the consequences of doing so. In the case of MAGA world, the lies that Trump supporters believe, or say they believe, are obviously untrue and obviously destructive. Since 2016 there's been a ratchet effect, each conspiracy theory getting more preposterous and more malicious. Things that Trump supporters wouldn't believe or accept in the past have since become loyalty tests. Election denialism is one example. The claim that Trump is the target of "lawfare," victim to the weaponization of the justice system, is another.

I have struggled to understand how to view individuals who have not just voted for Trump but who celebrate him, who don't merely tolerate him but who constantly defend his lawlessness and undisguised cruelty. How should I think about people who, in other domains of their lives, are admirable human beings and yet provide oxygen to his malicious movement? How complicit are people who live in an epistemic hall of mirrors and have sincerelyor half-sincerelyconvinced themselves they are on the side of the angels?
Throughout my career I've tried to resist the temptation to make unwarranted judgments about the character of people based on their political views. For one thing, it's quite possible my views on politics are misguided or distorted, so I exercise a degree of humility in assessing the views of others. For another, I know full well that politics forms only a part of our lives, and not the most important part. People can be personally upstanding and still be wrong on politics.

But something has changed for me in the Trump era. I struggle more than I once did to wall off a person's character from their politics when their politics is binding them to an unusuallyand I would say undeniablydestructive person. The lies that MAGA world parrots are so manifestly untrue, and the Trump ethic is so manifestly cruel, that they are difficult to set aside.
If a person insists, despite the overwhelming evidence, that Trump was the target of an assassination plot hatched by Biden and carried out by the FBI, this is more than an intellectual failure; it is a moral failure, and a serious one at that. It's only reasonable to conclude that such Trump supporters have not made a good-faith effort to understand what is really and truly happening. They are choosing to live within the lie, to invoke the words of the former Czech dissident and playwright Vaclav Havel.

Three ways to assess the moral culpability of people:
1) how absurd the lies are that they are espousing;
2) a second is how intentionally they are avoiding evidence that exposes the lies because they are deeply invested in the lie;
3) and a third is is how consequential the lie is.
It's one thing to embrace a conspiracy theory that is relevant only to you and your tiny corner of the world. It's an entirely different matter if the falsehood you're embracing and promoting is venomous, harming others, and eroding cherished principles, promoting violence and subverting American democracy. Peter Wehner

---

Didn't read you bloated response.

Still voting for Trump

---

GrowlTowel said:

---

Waco1947 said:

---

Whiskey Pete said:

---

TexasScientist said:

---

Trump challenges Biden to a cognitive test but confuses the name of the doctor who tested him

https://apnews.com/article/trump-mental-acuity-gaffe-biden-ronny-jackson-0d45b6d89ae295b690f5ad12ca0bd38a

WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trump on Saturday night suggested President Joe Biden"should have to take a cognitive test," only to confuse who administered the test to him in the next sentence.
The former president and presumptive Republican nominee referred to Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, who was the White House physician for part of his presidency, as "Ronny Johnson." The moment came as Trump was questioning Biden's mental acuity, something he often does on the campaign trail and social media.
"He doesn't even know what the word 'inflation' means. I think he should take a cognitive test like I did," the former president said of Biden during a speech at a convention of Turning Point Action in Detroit.
Seconds later, he continued, "Doc Ronny Johnson. Does everyone know Ronny Johnson, congressman from Texas? He was the White House doctor, and he said I was the healthiest president, he feels, in history, so I liked him very much indeed immediately."
ADVERTISEMENT

Jackson was elected to Congress in 2021 and is one of Trump's most vociferous defenders on Capitol Hill.
Trump, who turned 78 on Friday, has made questioning whether the 81-year-old Biden is up for a second term a centerpiece of his campaign. But online critics quickly seized on his Saturday night gaffe, with the Biden campaign which has long fought off criticism about the Democratic president's verbal missteps posting a clip of the moment minutes later.

Trump took the cognitive test in 2018 at his own request, Jackson told reporters at the time. The exam is designed to detect early signs of memory loss and other mild cognitive impairment.

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment that Trump took includes remembering a list of spoken words; listening to a list of random numbers and repeating them backward; naming as many words that begin with, say, the letter F as possible within a minute; accurately drawing a cube; and describing concrete ways that two objects like a train and a bicycle are alike.

Trump later said that he had to remember and accurately recite a list of words in order: "Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV."

During the same speech in Detroit, Trump also referenced a video clip widely circulated online in Republican circles where Biden is seen during the recently concluded Group of Seven summit in Italy watching skydivers land with flags from different nations.

A cropped version of the video shows Biden stepping away from the leaders, turning his back and walking in the other direction. He flashes a thumbs-up but it's not clear who he is gesturing to. A more complete angle of the same scene, however, shows that the president had turned to face a skydiver who has landed.
Trump nonetheless seized on the video clip, falsely describing Biden turning around "to look at trees," drawing laughter and hoots from the crowd.

The Biden campaign issued a statement dismissing the clip as misleadingly cropped and accusing those disseminating it as "tampering with the video to make up lies."

---

Cool story. Still voting for Trump

---

Motivated ignorance refers to willfully blinding oneself to facts. It's choosing not to know. In many cases, for many people, knowing the truth is simply too costly, too psychologically painful, too threatening to their core identity. Nescience is therefore incentivized; people actively decide to remain in a state of ignorance. If they are presented with strong arguments against a position they hold, or compelling evidence that disproves the narrative they embrace, they will reject them. Doing so fends off the psychological distress of the realization that they've been lying to themselves and to others.
Motivated ignorance is a widespread phenomenon; most people, to one degree or another, employ it. What matters is the degree to which one embraces it, and the consequences of doing so. In the case of MAGA world, the lies that Trump supporters believe, or say they believe, are obviously untrue and obviously destructive. Since 2016 there's been a ratchet effect, each conspiracy theory getting more preposterous and more malicious. Things that Trump supporters wouldn't believe or accept in the past have since become loyalty tests. Election denialism is one example. The claim that Trump is the target of "lawfare," victim to the weaponization of the justice system, is another.

I have struggled to understand how to view individuals who have not just voted for Trump but who celebrate him, who don't merely tolerate him but who constantly defend his lawlessness and undisguised cruelty. How should I think about people who, in other domains of their lives, are admirable human beings and yet provide oxygen to his malicious movement? How complicit are people who live in an epistemic hall of mirrors and have sincerelyor half-sincerelyconvinced themselves they are on the side of the angels?
Throughout my career I've tried to resist the temptation to make unwarranted judgments about the character of people based on their political views. For one thing, it's quite possible my views on politics are misguided or distorted, so I exercise a degree of humility in assessing the views of others. For another, I know full well that politics forms only a part of our lives, and not the most important part. People can be personally upstanding and still be wrong on politics.

But something has changed for me in the Trump era. I struggle more than I once did to wall off a person's character from their politics when their politics is binding them to an unusuallyand I would say undeniablydestructive person. The lies that MAGA world parrots are so manifestly untrue, and the Trump ethic is so manifestly cruel, that they are difficult to set aside.
If a person insists, despite the overwhelming evidence, that Trump was the target of an assassination plot hatched by Biden and carried out by the FBI, this is more than an intellectual failure; it is a moral failure, and a serious one at that. It's only reasonable to conclude that such Trump supporters have not made a good-faith effort to understand what is really and truly happening. They are choosing to live within the lie, to invoke the words of the former Czech dissident and playwright Vaclav Havel.

Three ways to assess the moral culpability of people:
1) how absurd the lies are that they are espousing;
2) a second is how intentionally they are avoiding evidence that exposes the lies because they are deeply invested in the lie;
3) and a third is is how consequential the lie is.
It's one thing to embrace a conspiracy theory that is relevant only to you and your tiny corner of the world. It's an entirely different matter if the falsehood you're embracing and promoting is venomous, harming others, and eroding cherished principles, promoting violence and subverting American democracy. Peter Wehner

---

Great cut and paste. Any actual thoughts on the matter?

---

LIB,MR BEARS said:

---

TexasScientist said:

---

Trump challenges Biden to a cognitive test but confuses the name of the doctor who tested him

https://apnews.com/article/trump-mental-acuity-gaffe-biden-ronny-jackson-0d45b6d89ae295b690f5ad12ca0bd38a

WASHINGTON (AP) Donald Trump on Saturday night suggested President Joe Biden"should have to take a cognitive test," only to confuse who administered the test to him in the next sentence.
The former president and presumptive Republican nominee referred to Texas Republican Rep. Ronny Jackson, who was the White House physician for part of his presidency, as "Ronny Johnson." The moment came as Trump was questioning Biden's mental acuity, something he often does on the campaign trail and social media.
"He doesn't even know what the word 'inflation' means. I think he should take a cognitive test like I did," the former president said of Biden during a speech at a convention of Turning Point Action in Detroit.
Seconds later, he continued, "Doc Ronny Johnson. Does everyone know Ronny Johnson, congressman from Texas? He was the White House doctor, and he said I was the healthiest president, he feels, in history, so I liked him very much indeed immediately."
ADVERTISEMENT

Jackson was elected to Congress in 2021 and is one of Trump's most vociferous defenders on Capitol Hill.
Trump, who turned 78 on Friday, has made questioning whether the 81-year-old Biden is up for a second term a centerpiece of his campaign. But online critics quickly seized on his Saturday night gaffe, with the Biden campaign which has long fought off criticism about the Democratic president's verbal missteps posting a clip of the moment minutes later.

Trump took the cognitive test in 2018 at his own request, Jackson told reporters at the time. The exam is designed to detect early signs of memory loss and other mild cognitive impairment.

The Montreal Cognitive Assessment that Trump took includes remembering a list of spoken words; listening to a list of random numbers and repeating them backward; naming as many words that begin with, say, the letter F as possible within a minute; accurately drawing a cube; and describing concrete ways that two objects like a train and a bicycle are alike.

Trump later said that he had to remember and accurately recite a list of words in order: "Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV."

During the same speech in Detroit, Trump also referenced a video clip widely circulated online in Republican circles where Biden is seen during the recently concluded Group of Seven summit in Italy watching skydivers land with flags from different nations.

A cropped version of the video shows Biden stepping away from the leaders, turning his back and walking in the other direction. He flashes a thumbs-up but it's not clear who he is gesturing to. A more complete angle of the same scene, however, shows that the president had turned to face a skydiver who has landed.
Trump nonetheless seized on the video clip, falsely describing Biden turning around "to look at trees," drawing laughter and hoots from the crowd.

The Biden campaign issued a statement dismissing the clip as misleadingly cropped and accusing those disseminating it as "tampering with the video to make up lies."

---

If it wasn't for the Drudge Report, you'd have nothing to say.

---

Harrison Bergeron said:

---

He posts the weirdest TDS stuff.

---

Johnny Bear said:

---

Harrison Bergeron said:

---

He posts the weirdest TDS stuff.

---

Agreed. In a TDS contest between him and J.R. I'm not sure who wins.

---

J.R. said:

---

Johnny Bear said:

---

Harrison Bergeron said:

---

He posts the weirdest TDS stuff.

---

Agreed. In a TDS contest between him and J.R. I'm not sure who wins.

---

Again, Little Johnny. TDS is just infantile. Just stop already. Is BDS a thing? if so, you and your ilk have it.

---

BearN said:

---

We're on the brink of economic collapse, tens of millions of illegal aliens roaming around our country, and are neck deep in 2 hot wars with Russian Warships parked off our coastline and you are posting about generic surnames.
..
In the time it took me to read that lame "article", Biden fell twice, had three naps, and soiled his diapers.

---

TexasScientist said:

---

Only for your benefit.

---

TexasScientist said:

---

Only for your benefit.

---

KaiBear said:

---

TexasScientist said:

---

Only for your benefit.

---

Only for your therapy.

---

TexasScientist said:

---

KaiBear said:

---

TexasScientist said:

---

Only for your benefit.

---

Only for your therapy.

---

Just trying to help you out.

---