Here is a comment from insanitybytes22 well worth sharing.
Sometimes it really feels as if we are just trapped in a narcissist’s funhouse hall of mirrors, Tom. That is where every reflection they see is simply a distortion of their own. This impeachment trial is the impeachment of at minimum, 75 million Americans who voted for Trump and who continue to support him. It also serves no genuine legal purpose, so the only purpose remaining is to play politics and to attempt to incite an insurrection. We’re in a lot of trouble in this country, a good chunk of people now believe our elections are rigged, our leaders are corrupt, and congress isn’t even worth the 13% approval rating we give them. When we lose trust in our institutions, when law and order no longer seems just, the moral authority of those things vanishes.
A FEW OBSERVATIONS ON THE SECOND IMPEACHMENT OF DONALD TRUMP – Citizen Tom (comment-99944)
Think again about how insanitybytes22 begins.
@insanitybytes22
Sometimes it really feels as if we are just trapped in a narcissist’s funhouse hall of mirrors, Tom. That is where every reflection they see is simply a distortion of their own.
Is that not an apt analogy?
Because we are fallen, we do not have purely good motives. Therefore, whenever one of us runs for public office, to some extent we run to be somebody. Whereas, we should be running to serve the public.
What does it mean to serve the public? Who is the public? How does one man serve 330 million people? How does a dog catcher serve a small city? Can any of us understand and empathize with hundreds of people? Not really. What is more likely to happen? We can more easily see ourselves mirrored back by the words and actions of others. Don’t President Donald Trump, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer at least believe they know what people think about them? But do they know you or me? No. Of course not.
Is what our leaders see mirrored back to them from us real? No. That’s because we don’t know them. In our pride, we think we know more about our leaders than we do.
Is it not ironic? In an age of hypocrites (The Origin of ‘Hypocrite’ | Merriam-Webster (merriam-webster.com)), everyone is required to wear a mask.
Why do we want to believe that we know more than we do? We elect people like ourselves. If our leaders are narcissistic, it is because we are narcissistic.
If we want to know the truth about ourselves and each other, where do we go? We must go to the Word of God.
James 1:19-25 New American Standard Bible
19 [a]You know this, my beloved brothers and sisters. Now everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger; 20 for a man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness of God. 21 Therefore, ridding yourselves of all filthiness and all [b]that remains of wickedness, in [c]humility receive the word implanted, which is able to save your souls. 22 But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not just hearers who deceive themselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks at his [d]natural face in a mirror; 24 for once he has looked at himself and gone away, [e]he has immediately forgotten what kind of person he was. 25 But one who has looked intently at the perfect law, the law of freedom, and has continued in it, not having become a forgetful hearer but [f]an active doer, this person will be blessed in [g]what he does.
Why has our government become such a joke? Because we are full of pride — full of ourselves — we have elected a leadership that focuses on serving itself, not the needs of our nation. That is why almost everything our leaders now propose results in gathering more power to the government and the people who run it, themselves.
What happens when our leaders seek ever more power? Nothing our leaders are in charge of works well for any length of time. That is because our leaders are not trying to fix anything. The problem is not their incompetence. The problem is their goal. They are just trying to gather power to themselves. Fixed problems are actually an impediment to them. A fixed problem just eliminates an excuse for acquiring more power to themselves.
Why would our leaders want more power? Remember. We the People are their mirrors. Whereas the Christian turns to the Word of God to see a reflection of himself, the natural man sees himself mirrored in the words and the actions of his fellow, fallen men. If the natural man does not see the reflection he wants and fails to repent, he punishes the mirror. That is, when we become narcissistic, we elect narcissists. We elect people who punish those who refuse to mirror back to them the self-image they want to believe.
Once a man begins to become haughty and proud, eventually he will seek to become God. In time, all the fawning and obsequiousness we are capable of will not be enough to please him.
Therefore, think. Consider the news reporting.
Impeachment lawyers for Donald Trump accused the prosecution of waging a “politically motivated witch-hunt” against the former president, vehemently denying the charge that his words and actions incited the deadly insurrection at the US Capitol as they concluded their sharply partisan defense and prepared for a swift conclusion to the trial.
Confident that Trump’s unprecedented second impeachment trial would again result in acquittal, the defense lawyers channeled the former president’s bombastic style – and his loose relationship with the facts – to denounce the case against him as an “unconstitutional act of political vengeance” fueled by Democrats’ longstanding “hatred” of their client. They claimed the House managers had grievously mischaracterized Trump’s remarks to his followers at a rally on 6 January, when he exhorted them to “fight like hell” during a rally just before they marched down Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington and attacked the US Capitol.
Impeachment trial: defense lawyers argue Trump is victim of ‘cancel culture’ | Trump impeachment (2021) | The Guardian
And.
Trump’s lawyers used just two 2½ hours of the 16 hours allotted to them for their defense, their brevity underscoring that at least 34 GOP senators are expected to vote to acquit the ex-president and allow him to escape the prospect of being barred from public office.
Yet their presentation was rife with the sort of falsehoods that marked Trump’s campaign and his unsuccessful effort to overturn the election results. Lawyers spread Trump’s contention that President Biden did not actually win the state of Georgia, implied that antifa and other leftists were involved in planning of the attack of the Capitol and accused Democratic House managers of withholding key evidence.
What happened on day 4 of the Senate impeachment trial of Trump – The Washington Post
Does the so-call mainstream news media tell us what to think, or do they impartially deliver the news? Are these the people we want to use for our mirror? Are these the people we want to “mirror” to us our neighbors and our leaders? How much of what they mirror to us is true? How much is a reflection of their own biases?
Whose hatred is real, and whose is a projection? Whose hatred are we responsible for? Who can we with the help of God stop from hating his brothers and sisters?
Additional References
- Impeachment trial: After Democrats’ visceral presentation, Trump team on stage (mercurynews.com)
- Cruz Asks Impeachment Managers if Kamala Harris Incited Riots from BLM Protests (breitbart.com)
- Democrats in Congress: ‘There Needs to be Unrest in the Streets,’ ‘I Just Don’t Even Know Why There Aren’t Uprisings’ | CNSNews
- WATCH: Trump Legal Team Obliterates Dems Impeachment Case With Videos Featuring Their Violent Rhetoric (thefederalist.com)
- Trump impeachment trial headed for Saturday finale after defense rebuttal, questions | Just The News
- With That Declaration, Here’s Why the Nikki Haley’s Presidential Hopes Just Went Up in Flames by Matt Vespa (townhall.com) and Schoen Argues: Why Didn’t the Democrats Release This ‘Never-Before-Seen’ Footage Before? by Cortney O’Brien (townhall.com)
Citizen Tom 
Reblogged this on boudica.us.
Thanks again!
Thanks for the mention, Tom. You always have something good to say. Great Bible verse, great quote from James. Sometimes when I am getting frustrated with difficult people, it helps when I remember they are often projecting, they are often seeing themselves in you. That’s what “gaslighting” is all about. We feel crazy, it makes no sense, until you realize it’s not about you at all, it’s their own reflection.
We can see this truth play out quite clearly in the months of rioting and violence going on before the election that was supported and embraced. There really was no “violence at the capital” or “insurrection.” That is a narrative, a projection, fake news. Heck, Seattle and Portland are still being occupied, still enduring violence and riots but that’s not the problem.
@insanitybytes22
Glad you enjoyed the post.
Frankly, I am a bit uncertain what happened at the Capitol on January 6. I think it is revealing that even though I was there and walked most of the way to the Capitol that I did not know what was going on until about 3:15 PM. My guess is that it took about an hour for the president to hear about it, but the House Impeachment Managers did not investigate the matter. They just made speculative inferences that painted Trump in the worse possible light.
Democrats and the Liberal Democrat news media narrative so suffocates the truth that it is not even clear how the Capitol Police reacted to the “rioters.” Who ever heard of a demonstration that caused a couple of policemen to commit suicide. I understand head injuries sometimes lead to suicidal behavior, but that is unusual.
At some point the Capitol Police were letting people into the building. When and why did that happen? Then the Capitol Police decided to drive the crowd out of the building. With how much violence? How much was truly needed?
Congress should be doing an honest investigation into the matter, but that isn’t going to happen. It is sad our country is so divided. All Democrats want to do with any issue now is use it to score political points, and scoring points means treating Trump’s supporters as gullible maniacs.
Tom.
I wonder what those portrayed in your link think about themselves when they see your link.
https://thefederalist.com/2021/02/12/watch-trump-legal-team-obliterates-dems-impeachment-case-with-videos-of-their-violent-rhetoric/
My guess is they laugh same as clowns do when they see themselves in a mirror.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
PS I linked your link in my post today titled: Impeachment Trial an Eviscerated Project?