The problem with documentaries is #Untruth: The Psychology of TrumpismBesides the name, it’s also hard to tell who the audience is: politically-interested people, people who are apolitical until the election, or propaganda trying to get people to take action? The answer is, it’s a little bit of everything.
Dan Partland’s documentary is part of a series of documentaries on Apple TV. His previous work includes #Unfit: The Mindset of Donald TrumpI haven’t seen the documentary, but if it FalsehoodThe title may be misleading: Despite the word “psychology,” Partland is less interested in the motivations of Trumpism than in uncovering how Trump got us to where we are today.
Psychologist John Gartner pointed out early on that “our generation has really lived through two pandemics. One is, of course, COVID-19, but the other is a psychiatric pandemic.” FalsehoodThe prevalence of authoritarianism and how easily the pillars of our system have been eroded.
This is not to say that psychologists and attempts to explain the mindset of Trump supporters don’t exist — Partland devotes airtime to figures like former Rep. Joe Walsh and former Trump White House communications director Anthony Scaramucci — but Falsehood Explain how Trump is both a literal and an existential threat to democracy.
The question is not how misleading the title is, but whether Partland’s documentary is any good. The answer is yes and no. For someone like me who cares enough about politics to go beyond online discussions and read articles and books, this documentary is not new to me. FalsehoodBut I think most people don’t fully understand the magnitude of it all.
I remember a colleague once casually saying that Hillary was worse than Trump. But when I asked him why, he couldn’t answer. He wasn’t even a Trump supporter. My point is, there are people who have opinions but don’t think about them enough. As a critic, I encounter these situations every day.
For such people, Falsehood That could be an interesting starting point. Partland is talking to people like Dr. Steve Hassan, who used his time as a member of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon’s cult to write a book on cult psychology. Walsh and Hassan Falsehood Because they speak clearly and passionately.
It was a shock to see him again, as I remember him yelling at then-President Obama during the State of the Union, telling him he was lying. Frankly, I had forgotten about him. Walsh mentioned the Tea Party. I vividly remember the Tea Party and watched them in real time as they pushed the Republican Party further to the right.
But they’ve been forgotten, mostly because the Republican Party has now become the Tea Party. Partland briefly mentions figures like former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, the first and last Black chairman of the Republican National Committee. Steele is invaluable as a Republican who is fighting hard against Republicans because they no longer represent the party he joined.
But Partland’s biggest problem is Falsehood There’s no escaping the gravity of the budget, and it moves quickly, with the feel of a YouTube documentary, as Partland and cameraman Stefanos Kafatos attempt to distill complex concepts into short audio segments, though they do bring in various commentators to provide input.
Even worse, Partland and editor Scott Evans use still animation to create a montage of images at the beginning, but then abandon it entirely as the documentary progresses. Partland and Evans use copious amounts of media footage gleaned from exhaustive, breathless news coverage of Trump’s authoritarianism. The media’s role in Trump’s rise is left unexplored, perhaps because time ran out.
One of the problems with the modern world is how quickly everything happens. Falsehood It is recent enough to include Project 2025, but not recent enough to mention the Palestinian genocide, and it does mention the Ukrainian genocide because it ties into the Putin and Russiagate story.
It’s worth pointing out that the world is in a state of multiple genocides happening simultaneously. I say this because sometimes it seems like people think there is only one genocide, and perhaps correctly feel that if they can put an end to at least one of them, it will be a victory.
Social media and how it affects us will also be explored, as will the concept of “news deserts,” where there are thousands of counties across the country that lack a local newspaper. Falsehood It’s most effective when it shows how all these events are connected and how Trump fueled them.
Watching the footage of the January 6th riots and Trump rallies makes it hard to contain my anger. But for me, the most effective and chilling part of this documentary is watching Trump prepare to deliver his speech after January 6th. The way he pauses to take notes and reveals that he clearly has to say these things. The most striking part is when he says, “I don’t want to say the election is over. I just want to say that Congress has certified the results of the election.”
still, Falsehood Without further ado, I think the most depressing aspect of Trumism is that as a political party it is a movement founded by the most insincere, shallow, gullible, and sly fools that have ever lived.
Film director Lynn Sachs beautifully captures this in a short film. Letter: Letter to Jean VigoShe watched footage of the riots and Jean Vigo’s Zero Actions and Lord of the FliesThis five-minute short film is uncomfortable to watch as it shows how childish the rioters were by emphasizing how little they cared about anyone but themselves.
Partland Falsehood This is a well-made documentary designed to appeal to uninformed voters, pique their curiosity, and get them to look around and realize the precipice on which we stand.
Image courtesy of Dark Star Pictures
Do you have any strong feelings about this piece that you’d like to share, or maybe discuss with other Fandomental members? Come join our community Please visit our server to join the conversation.
Source: The Fandomentals – www.thefandomentals.com
