"Every single family has been touched by this": "#Untruth" director Dan Partland diagnoses Trumpism

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"Every single family has been touched by this": "#Untruth" director Dan Partland diagnoses Trumpism
Salon talks to the director of the "#Unfit" sequel about why Trumpism and misinformation continue to proliferate

By Melanie McFarland
Senior Critic
Published September 10, 2024 1:30PM (EDT)


(Salon) Dan Partland ended our recent conversation by referencing the paradox of tolerance: To maintain a tolerant society, it holds, tolerant citizens must retain the right to not tolerate intolerance.

“So how does that work?” he mused. “It's a puzzle. I definitely think it doesn't help to shut people out. I also think it doesn't help to not acknowledge the moral failing. It’s tough.”

Nevertheless, the director of "#Untruth: The Psychology of Trumpism" believes Trumpism only ends when people who stand against it figure out some way to grant those under its spell some grace and forgiveness. This, more than other maladies hanging over from whatever happens in November, might be one of the most arduous undertakings of a generation.

....(snip)....

When did you decide that #Untruth was necessary?

I think it started to become clear pretty early on, you know? I mean, something was clear on January 6, [2021] that Trump was not going to go gently into that good night. He was going to hang around and he was going to continue to be an influence. I think there was a brief moment on January 7th, 8th, 9th, or whenever — until Kevin McCarthy went down to Mar-a-Lago — where it seemed like the Republican party might cast him off. But at the point that he was brought back into the fold, we started seeing that there was a larger picture.

....... . . . Now the issue isn't really Trump so much. What we really have to think about is what's going on in our culture, with American society, although it's happening all over the world. Why at this point in human history is the momentum of a pluralistic Western democracy lost? Why is democracy back on its heels? People around the world are preferring authoritarian figures to take over and make decisions for them that are, frankly, disenfranchising people. ...............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/09/10/every-family-has-been-touched-by-this-untruth-director-dan-partland-diagnoses-trumpism/