Mountain Views News, Combined Edition Saturday, July 27, 2019

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Mountain Views-News Saturday, July 27, 2019 


SUSAN HENDERSON

Editor/Publisher

MOUNTAIN 
VIEWS

NEWS

PUBLISHER/ EDITOR

Susan Henderson

PASADENA CITY 
EDITOR

Dean Lee 

PRODUCTION

SALES

Patricia Colonello

626-355-2737 

626-818-2698

WEBMASTER

John Aveny 

DISTRIBUTION

CONTRIBUTORS

Mary Lou Caldwell

Kevin McGuire

Chris Leclerc

Bob Eklund

Howard Hays

Paul Carpenter

Kim Clymer-Kelley

Christopher Nyerges

Peter Dills 

Rich Johnson

Lori Ann Harris

Rev. James Snyder

Dr. Tina Paul

Katie Hopkins

Deanne Davis

Despina Arouzman

Jeff Brown

Marc Garlett

Keely Toten

Dan Golden

Rebecca Wright

Hail Hamilton

Joan Schmidt

LaQuetta Shamblee


THE GASLIGHTING OF AMERICA

Gaslighting is a form of psychological manipulation in 
which a person seeks to sow seeds of doubt in a targeted 
individual or in members of a targeted group, making 
them question their own memory, perception, and sanity. 
Using persistent denial, misdirection, contradiction, and 
lying, gaslighting involves attempts to destabilize the 
victim and delegitimize the victim’s belief. Don’t know 
of anyone who would use such tactics other than villains 
like Hitler? Well, wake up and smell the roses. The 45th 
President of these United States, should be correctly 
bestowed with the title of Gaslighter in Chief!

Before we go any farther, here is a brief glossary for this article: Victim/You: 
The American Public; They/Him: The many faces of Donald J. Trump.

Don’t believe it? Consider this: (In a 2017 Psychology Today article, they 
articulate the 11 Warning Signs of a Gaslighter, from the Book: “Manipulative 
and Emotionally Abusive People – and Break Free” by Stephanie A. Sarkis Ph.D.)

1. They tell blatant lies. You know it’s an outright lie. Yet they are telling 
you this lie with a straight face. Why are they so blatant? Because they’re setting 
up a precedent. Once they tell you a huge lie, you’re not sure if anything they 
say is true. Keeping you unsteady and off-kilter is the goal. As of June 7, 2019 
Donald Trump has told more than Verified 10,700 lies to the American Public! 
“Totally Exonerated”
2. They deny they ever said something, even though you have proof. 
Who are you going to believe? Him or your lying eyes? Time after time we 
have watched the replays of what he has said right along with him saying he 
“never said that”. You know they said they would do something; you know 
you heard it. But they out and out deny it. It makes you start questioning your 
reality—maybe they never said that thing. And the more they do this, the more 
you question your reality and start accepting theirs. Like the Wall Mexico was 
going to pay for or the tax break that would benefit everyone. Let us not forget 
the infamous pre-election video about sexual abuse of women. 
3. They use what is near and dear to you as ammunition. The US 
Constitution and the protections and freedoms it bestows on all citizens; social 
justice concerns and traditional American values. He attacks the foundation of 
your being. He attacks all political identifies that are not his kind of Republican. 
Democrats are not devils or demons any more than Republicans are. In this 
country, we have a right to our individual beliefs. 
4. They wear you down over time. This is one of the insidious things 
about gaslighting—it is done gradually, over time. A lie here, a lie there, a snide 
comment every so often...and then it starts ramping up. Even the brightest, 
most self-aware people can be sucked into gaslighting—it is that effective. It’s 
the “frog in the frying pan” analogy: The heat is turned up slowly, so the frog 
never realizes what’s happening to it. After years of his ‘noise’ and the media’s 
attempt to keep the public informed, your resistance is wearing thin. You’d 
rather listen to a TV or Radio station broadcasting in a language you don’t 
understand rather than hear another word about him.
5. Their actions do not match their words. When dealing with a person 
or entity that gaslights, look at what they are doing rather than what they are 
saying. What they are saying means nothing; it is just talk. What they are doing 
is the issue. 
6. They throw in positive reinforcement to confuse you. This person or 
entity that is cutting you down, telling you that you don’t have value, is now 
praising you for something you did. This adds an additional sense of uneasiness. 
You think, “Well maybe they aren’t so bad.” Yes, they are. This is a calculated 
attempt to keep you off-kilter—and again, to question your reality. Also look at 
what you were praised for; it is probably something that served the gaslighter. 
7. They know confusion weakens people. Gaslighters know that people 
like having a sense of stability and normalcy. Their goal is to uproot this and 
make you constantly question everything. And humans’ natural tendency is 
to look to the person or entity that will help you feel more stable—and that 
happens to be the gaslighter. 
8. They project. They are a liar and/or a cheater, yet they are constantly 
accusing you of that. This is done so often that you start trying to defend 
yourself, and are distracted from the gaslighter’s own behavior. He yells ‘Fake 
Media’ so much you begin to doubt the very institutions that have always kept 
the public informed.
9. They try to align people against you. Gaslighters are masters at 
manipulating and finding the people they know will stand by them no matter 
what—and they use these people against you. They will make comments such 
as, “This person knows that you’re not right,” or “This person knows you’re 
useless too.” Keep in mind it does not mean that these people actually said 
these things. A gaslighter is a constant liar. When the gaslighter uses this tactic 
it makes you feel like you don’t know who to trust or turn to—and that leads 
you right back to the gaslighter. And that’s exactly what they want: Isolation 
gives them more control. 
10. They tell you or others that you are crazy. This is one of the most 
effective tools of the gaslighter, because it’s dismissive. The gaslighter knows 
if they question your sanity, people will not believe you when you tell them 
the gaslighter is abusive or out-of-control. It’s a master technique. Hence, the 
many, many nicknames he loves to bestow on his enemies.
11. They tell you everyone else is a liar. By telling you that everyone else 
(Dempcrats, the media) is a liar, it again makes you question your reality. You’ve 
never known someone with the audacity to do this, so they must be telling the 
truth, right? No. It’s a manipulation technique. It makes people turn to the 
gaslighter for the “correct” information—which isn’t correct information at all.


So, there you have it. Stop all the outside noise and take a moment to think 
about what is going on. Our country has always had differences of opinions, 
and our priorities have not always been in alignment with each other, but never 
before has there been such a reign of chaos.

Why, you might ask? Let’s see, consider this familiar title, “The Man Who 
Would Be King”. And that he will be if we continue to allow him to destroy the 
foundations that our country was built upon. Get your heads out of the sand 
people, that’s for ostriches. As citizens, we need to be aware and take more 
responsibility for future generations. By the way, if you want to continue as an 
ostrich, remember, when his head is in the sand looking for food to satisfy his 
urges, his butt is sticking straight up in the air, and easy target

 


DICK POLMAN

MUELLER’S TESTIMONY: IMPEACHMENT 
ACCELERANT OR 
ANTICLIMAX?

Remember the now-distant days when we Americans 
who closely track Donald Trump’s lies and lawlessness 
waited in great anticipation for “Mueller Time”? 

That historic reckoning seemed virtually assured - until 
Trump’s servile attorney general, Bill Barr, falsely 
spun the Mueller report as a total exoneration of his client. Barr’s bumper-
sticker mantra, amplified by his client’s relentless tweets, infested the mainstream 
media bloodstream and struck a chord with a public that hasn’t 
bothered to read the densely circumlocutions report.

So it’s quite possible that Robert Mueller’s long-awaited open testimony, 
slated for Wednesday in front of the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees, 
will be a yawner. Indeed, he recently warned that “the report is 
my testimony.” But key House Democrats believe (or hope) that if the special 
counsel merely recites the most crucial passages on TV, that he will 
somehow bring the report to life and seed more grassroots support for 
impeachment.

If that were to happen, fine. But it’s a sad commentary on our attention-
deficit, sub-literate culture that the powerful substance of the Mueller report 
has not sufficiently resonated. Only three percent of Americans have 
reportedly read the entire thing, and only 10 percent say they’ve read some 
of it.

If Mueller’s public testimony moves the needle, fine. But legal experts 
with federal prosecutorial experience know already how damning it is - 
regardless of whether Mueller remains characteristically reticent under 
questioning.

Donald Ayer, a former assistant U.S. attorney and a deputy attorney general 
under George H. W. Bush, calls it “a very readable account of repeated 
acts by the president carefully tailored to interfere with and disrupt (Mueller’s) 
investigation.” Mimi Rocah, another former assistant U.S. attorney, 
says the report amasses “an overwhelming amount of incriminating information” 
that documents how Trump “engaged in obstruction of justice by 
repeatedly trying to dissuade witnesses from cooperating or testifying, using 
threats and intimidation” - and she points out (as have more than 1000 
current and former prosecutors) that if not for a Justice Department memo 
that argues against indicting a sitting president, obstruction charges were 
likely justified.

Indeed, those current and former prosecutors write in their open letter: “To 
look at these facts and say that a prosecutor could not probably sustain a 
conviction for obstruction of justice - the standard set out in Principles of 
Federal Prosecution - runs counter to logic and our experience.”

There’s certainly fertile ground for substantive questions. House Democrats, 
most notably Judiciary Chairman Nadler, would ideally love to hear 
Mueller endorse the obstruction angle - in colloquial, everyday language. 
They will surely ask him whether he, as an experienced professional prosecutor, 
believes that Trump committed obstruction-of-justice crimes, as 
determined by the weight of the evidence, even though Trump, as a sitting 
president, cannot be criminally charged.

Will Mueller elaborate on his report and answer that question in the affirmative? 
Yeah, right. And the 2019 Phillies will rally to win the National 
League East.

So if Mueller won’t bite on whether Trump should be criminally charged, 
Judiciary Democrats will surely ask him to elaborate on the remedy he offered 
in his report: “The Constitution requires a process other than the 
criminal justice system to formally accuse a sitting president of wrongdoing.” 
Well, the only other process is impeachment. Does Mueller believe 
that the evidence he amassed meets the threshold for an impeachment 
probe of high crimes and misdemeanors?

Could Mueller answer in the affirmative? Yeah, right. And unicorns will 
gambol on the National Mall.

Excuse me for trying to lower expectations, but Mueller is not likely to break 
character and deliver an indelible Hollywood moment. In fact, when the 
news broke that his testimony was being pushed back one week, because 
House committee Democrats wanted to ensure that their junior members 
would have the chance to speak, the odds of another Democratic muck-up 
increased. Expect repetitive questions badly framed within a five-minute 
window, all while preening for the cameras. 

Perhaps Mueller’s mere appearance on live TV will dominate the news 
cycle for a day, and remind enough potential 2020 voters that our Russia-
enabled president is soaked in corruption – regardless of whether Mueller 
does little more than read aloud from what he has written. But if “Mueller 
Time” lays an egg, I’ll be reminded of an old Peanuts cartoon, circa 1968, 
when Charlie Brown laments, “What a team. We can’t even win enough 
games to have a slump!” 

He could easily have been talking about the Democrats.

-


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