The Cultivation of Ignorance

Headline: “Trump: ‘Impeachment is an attack on Democracy itself.’”

There in a nutshell is the technique that Trump and cynical Republican politicians use to try to stay in power. Call it the cultivation of ignorance:

 Impeachment could lead to the removal from office of a duly elected president. What could be more undemocratic! It’s shameful what these Democrats are doing. Nancy Pelosi is a threat to the foundations of our precious Democratic system. Thank goodness president Trump is a fighter and has a strong character and is standing up to people like her and the traitorous Adam Schiff, who is directing the impeachment inquiry!

Democracy under attack? How many people understand that the founders provided for impeachment in the Constitution, because they wanted our country to be a democracy and not a monarchy? How many people understand that the president is in no danger of being removed except by a two-thirds vote of the Republican-controlled senate? Yet Trump and his enablers are claiming that Democrats are trying to stage a coup; trying to subvert our precious democratic system. Tens of millions of people believe this nonsense because Trump, Republican politicians, and right-wing media propagandists are  skilled at the cultivation of ignorance.