Personally I’m not too concerned with the Epstein flight logs. If a billionaire hedge fund guy says hey Ray want to come with us? We’re flying to my tropical private island. Woody Allen and Bill Clinton are coming also there’s girls and booze and snorkeling and seadoo…STOP don’t overtalk the sale Jeffrey you had me at Woody Allen to be honest. Have you seen Crimes & Misdemeanors? And sex and snorkeling sounds fun too.

The stakes here are interesting richest guy in the world vs leader of the free world, in a twitter spat calling each other pedos? Doesn’t happen everyday.

The angle I care about is how it’s digested. What I find more important than this predictable public fallout of two American titans, more interesting, whether we are truthful to ourselves and faithful to our own beliefs. Because politics is one of those times we tend to be flexible in our principles to condemn or cover for people “on our team”. If you are impassioned in your hatred or love for any of the people referenced, just know that I’m not.

This brings us to Phil aka Catturd2, of Twitter fame. And the phenomenon I’d like to talk about today. I like that Phil is open about his fanaticism and cultism. He freely admits it, so you rarely have to wonder what he thinks—the answer is always Trump. I don’t recall if he likes those particular words yet. But I’m flexible as he’s lived the definitions; exemplifies them to a precision so exacting, a 1099 from Webster’s Dictionary should be on the table.

I choose something I believe is simpler to keep up, allows for greater, and just gets better results than cheerleading does. I’m on the side of what I believe—my values, my principles.

That’s it.

If instead you choose a person, it’s astronomically unlikely they’ll stay consistent over time. Sooner or later, you’ll reach a crossroads: either hold the person accountable for a failing (which is nearly impossible in a cult or unwavering allegiance scenario), or start making excuses—the default response for any fan army or cult. That means mental gymnastics, denial, delusion, or the classic: “That thing I said was bad? Maybe it’s not that bad.”

I struggle with that second option. Because whatever version of it I might use, the result is going against what I said I believed yesterday. So—did I actually believe it? Or was I just saying it? See, it’s no longer a simple mental model. Worse, I’m now getting the opposite of what I want. And if anyone’s paying attention, I look like an unserious fool.

We’re talking, of course, about cognitive dissonance. I said before I think my model is easier, so let’s try it here.

Context: we’re talking about the Elon vs. Trump feud, where Elon made a serious allegation about the former president’s past behavior and associations—specifically with the notorious pedophile and pimp-to-the-stars (no not Diddy he’s a homosexual rapist pimp and occasional gay pedophile), Jeffrey Epstein!

So how does my principle-over-person method handle hearing an unsubstantiated yet incendiary accusation that Trump was complicit with, or even participated in, Epstein’s crimes?

Ready?

If he did that he should probably go to jail.

No mental gymnastics involved. When Trump pleases me, I say “good job.” When he doesn’t, I say “get fucked.”

Let’s do it again. Admittedly it seemed too easy:

Interviewer: “Ray, President Trump may have condoned or participated in the sexual exploitation of women, including underage girls, with the notorious child pimp Jeffrey Epstein. How do you respond?”

Me:
“Well Tom, thanks for asking. If Trump did that—and to be honest, I have no idea—he should step down and face charges.
To his credit, I don’t think he’s a pedo nor rapist. But really I don’t know.”

The President is just a man at a desk. Sometimes he makes decisions that benefit me or society, and sometimes he harms it. That’s true of every U.S. president—and the 200 or so other presidents across the planet. We shouldn’t have emotional attachment or special reverence for any of them.

Default position here will be denial among fans. But when it comes to alleged pedophilia, and child rape, not that I have any reason to think Trump is guilty but I’d even afford him a degree of slack as there’s widespread misconceptions about the nature of what that act or attraction is. The lines drawn are somewhat arbitrary and inconsistent even in America where consent laws have ranged from 13 to 18, thus the law can’t be depended really at all in relation to morality, what constitutes abuse, etc. But that is another discussion altogether. The point here is if the Pesident was seeking out underage people held as a sort of sex slave abused psychologically and fed intoxicants to keep them compliant, it’s not the behavior I would want a president enabling or engaging in unless he’s torturing ISIS or something.

I can hold these views without cognitive struggle because the people aren’t important—the principle is. And if you apply that principle consistently to everyone, life gets a lot simpler.

As a bonus, you won’t look like a dishonest fool with no convictions.

Granted, that may not matter to you. For most people, their own hypocrisy or intellectual dishonesty isn’t a big concern. Anecdotally, I gather it’s rarely even pondered. People don’t particularly care if their beliefs contradict each other. But I try to follow my own rules, independent of what the crowd does.

When it comes to MAGA—or the “Catturd Army,”—the rules are very clearly laid out in the tweet I’m referencing and in countless other posts:
If you are not by Trump’s side, no matter the accusation or action, you are the enemy.

My favorite viral meme from that army is Catturd’s avatar holding up a middle finger with the slogan:

“Don’t care. Still voting Trump.”

Translation: “It doesn’t matter what he does. I’m with him no matter what.
So I don’t even need to hear the details, because I’ve already decided nothing could defy my beliefs—because I don’t actually have beliefs. I have blind faith in an objectively flawed man.”

Compliments, again, to Mr. Turd and those who believe the same:
If you’re going to be intellectually dishonest and abandon principle, at least be honest and open about it.

It’s weirdly refreshing.