Hating Donald Trump is a valuable skill if you have the right connections. It can open doors, bring you riches and fame, and induce presumably intelligent people to idolize you and hang on to your every word.

Michael Fanone, a retired DC police officer has used his hatred of Trump in just such a manner. He is the co-author of a self-aggrandizing book and a regular CNN contributor.

Why is he on CNN? He hates Trump and blames his own injuries from the riot on him.

He appeared on CNN yesterday in order to declare Donald Trump a terrorist comparable to Osama bin Laden, and even his interviewer seemed a bit surprised by the comparison. I don’t know why, since Trump has been compared to the Nazis many times, so why not throw in some good ol’ al Qeada terrorists as well?

CNN analyst Michael Fanone on Trump's indictment: I feel "proud … Much in the way that I did when I learned that our military had killed Osama bin Laden … Trump is a terrorist who committed horrific acts against the American people" pic.twitter.com/OgfiVFMQNO

— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 3, 2023

We can argue all day long about precisely how much responsibility Trump bears for the January 6th riot–he certainly got people riled up about the election, but clearly didn’t incite the riot that followed. He called for a peaceful protest, and instead got a riot. I think he bears some responsibility, but far less than, say, the average Democrat politician bears for the BLM riots in 2020. They actually encouraged those riots and justified them.

They were good for public health, remember?

But I am not going to waste much time on those arguments because they are silly. Trump was a loudmouthed jerk who was irresponsible, which makes it an average Thursday. What he was not was a man who plotted for years the destruction of the United States and sent 4 planes to destroy Americans.

Trump has a nearly unique reality distortion field which follows him around. People who like Trump assign to him near magical powers for good and a soul full of good intent; people who hate Trump see a uniquely malevalent demon who plots to destroy all things good and beautiful.

Neither is remotely true. Trump is a a narcissist with large appetites and impulse control issues. He loves money, power, and being admired. And he has the attention span that ranges between that of a house fly and a mouse, depending on his level of passion. He also hates losing, which is the primary reason why he is running for president again.

The fact that a “news” outlet can employ somebody without the capacity to distinguish the moral difference between Donald Trump and Osama bin Laden tells you quite a bit about how low the MSM has fallen, but it also tells you how profound Trump’s reality distortion effect has on people.

It reminds me of this:

Dogs vs Cat on optical illusion pic.twitter.com/vSL9bilKhQ

— Damnthatsinteresting (@DAMNINTERESTlNG) June 23, 2023

If Donald Trump had designs on destroying democracy he had 4 years as president to do it. Instead he stimulated the economy, had some damn impressive foreign policy successes, Russia invaded nobody during his term (unlike Obama and Biden), and didn’t abuse the power of the Justice Department or the IRS–unlike both Obama and Biden.

Trump was a loudmouth, but until he gave the country over to Fauci things were actually pretty good. And despite his “lock her up” rhetoric, Trump didn’t do what Biden is doing and go after his political enemies with the power of the feds.

Trump’s biggest admirers suffer from the opposite delusion. Trump is no political giant. He won in 2016 because he was running against the most despised woman in America and enough people were fed up with liberal governance and power abuses to give him a shot. He never understood how Washington worked, so his enemies built a #resistance with the backing of the media and they hounded him out of office.

It was disgusting, deceptive and unfair. Much of it was illegal, too. But it worked at least partly because Trump didn’t understand the power game in Washington. He understands masses of people, but not how elites do business. He doesn’t know where the jugular is.

If we are ever going to fix America we need to get back to reality and ignore reality distortion fields. There are real problems that need real solutions.

All this talk about Trump=Osama or Trump=Superman doesn’t get us anywhere.