Serial killer Charles Manson has died, so it was probably inevitable that Democrats would try to connect him–somehow!–with Donald Trump. It was Newsweek that did the dirty deed: “HOW MURDERER CHARLES MANSON AND DONALD TRUMP USED LANGUAGE TO GAIN FOLLOWERS.” I suppose they could have written, “HOW MURDERER CHARLES MANSON AND BARACK OBAMA USED LANGUAGE TO GAIN FOLLOWERS.” But they didn’t.
The death of cult leader and convicted murderer Charles Manson resurfaces tales from his twisted family’s killing spree after nearly four decades. Manson orchestrated the brutal deaths of actress Sharon Tate and six other innocent people in the 1960s according to historical reports, which leave many wondering how he convinced followers, made up of a former Sunday school teacher, a church choir singer and a one-time homecoming princess, into committing such brutal acts.
Just a bunch of all-American, drug-addled mass murderers!
It would be hard to find two people born in the U.S. in the 20th century with less in common than Charles Manson and Donald Trump. Nevertheless, Newsweek absurdly tries to tie them together:
According to psychoanalyst Mark Smaller, past president of the American Psychoanalytic Association, part of Manson’s power lay in the type of language he used. Notably, Manson was able to speak in a way that engaged those who felt marginalized or alienated.
But wait! Weren’t his followers best described as Sunday School teachers and homecoming princesses? (Actually, no.)
Smaller is clear that he does not believe President Donald Trump is similar to the convicted killer, or that their followers have any shared beliefs or characteristics, but he did say we can look to the current president to see how language is used to form a bond with followers.
“Our current president speaks in an emotional or affective way to large numbers of people in our country who feel a kind of alienation or disconnection from the government,” he said. “They feel very responded to and become his political base.”
This is idiotic. One could say of virtually any political leader that “language is used to form a bond with followers.” Newsweek put out this reprehensible tweet, which confirms that the whole purpose of this foolish article was to smear President Trump through a fanciful association with Charles Manson:
How murderer Charles Manson and President Donald Trump used similar language to gain followers https://t.co/SWNeoff4vY pic.twitter.com/pBPeHLXqAG
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) November 20, 2017
“Similar language.” Really? President Trump advocates LSD use, a hippie lifestyle and mass murder? It is hard to imagine anything more reprehensible, but Newsweek long ago abandoned any pretense of being a respectable news organ.
The funny thing about this is that there is a prominent American politician to whom a direct line to Charles Manson can be drawn. His name is Barack Obama. Obama’s first political campaign was launched in the living room of his close friend Bernardine Dohrn, the wife of unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers. For what is Ms. Dohrn best known? She cheered on the Manson murders, considering them “groovy.” As Daniel Flynn reminds us:
The charismatic Bernardine Dohrn, later a friend of Barack and Michelle Obama, feverishly told Weatherman followers: “Dig it: first they killed those pigs, then they ate dinner in the same room with them, then they even shoved a fork into the victim’s stomach. Wild!”
Barack Obama’s friend Bernadine Dohrn later claimed that her endorsement of the Manson murders was an “ironic joke.” You can always trust a Communist to have a sense of humor.
So, there actually is a link between the cult leader Charles Manson and a major American political figure. But don’t expect Newsweek, or any other “mainstream” news source, to mention it.
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