Hoodwinked: An American Tragedy in the Era of Donald J. Trump

By Anthony Todd Arnold

To hoodwink means to deceive or trick, to cover, or to provide a false report to gain the advantage for a desired goal.

The word is also textbook Donald J. Trump, who rose to political prominence when he questioned whether Barack Obama was born in the United States of America.

Trump learned racism from his father Fred Trump Sr., who also taught other family members to live by the doctrine of white supremacy. In fact, Trump's racist, bigoted, and sexist view of the world were all taught by his father as decisive character traits in building his financial dynasty.

Throughout his career--including as President of the United States--Trump has also relied on an adept talent for propaganda, which Adolf Hitler devoted three chapters to in his 1925 book, Mein Kampf.

Discover how Trump's racist agenda has driven his career and re-examine the way you see yourself and those closest to you with the insights in Hoodwinked.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Apr 9, 2019
• ISBN: 9781480875418

Anthony Todd Arnold

Anthony Todd Arnold is also the author of Hoodwinked: An American Tragedy in the Era of Donald J. Trump, published in April 2019. Daisy Alex Lloyd writes from her home in Alaska.

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Copyright © 2019 Anthony Todd Arnold.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-7542-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-7543-2 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-7541-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2019903007

Archway Publishing rev. date: 4/5/2019

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

Chapter 1 The Decision

Chapter 2 The Motive

Chapter 3 The Justification

Chapter 4 The Purpose

Chapter 5 The Plan

Acknowledgments

Special Acknowledgment

Bible Verse Translations Index

Bibliography

There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of us all, who is above all, Sovereign over all, pervading all and living in us all.

(EPHESIANS 4:5-6 AMP)

To my sons, Anthony Todd Arnold II and Angelo Pierre Arnold

A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor rather than silver and gold; the rich and the poor meet together; the Lord is the Maker of them all. The prudent sees danger and hides, but the simple go on and suffer for it. The reward for humility and fear of the Lord is riches and honor and life."

(PROVERBS 22:1–4 EVS)

PREFACE

Hoodwinked is written for the sole purpose of enlightening the reader about how easy it is to be deceived when a person, a group, or a government decides to lie, to alter facts, or to provide a false narrative to gain the advantage for a given purpose. Specifically, the purpose is to change the way you think about something or someone without knowing your thinking changed. To hoodwink means: to deceive or trick; to cover; or to provide a false report to gain the advantage for a desired goal. For example, magicians use a form of deception known as sleight of hand, quick and clever hand movements, to gain the advantage to achieve their desired goal.

Imagine that a magician asks a favor of you as an audience member to come up front and assist him in performing a magic trick. Happily, you agree. Next, the magician says to you, Pick a card, any card, from a deck in his hands. You do so. To complete the next step in the process, the magician says to you, Now, turn around and show the audience, but do not reveal the card to me. Then he asks you to place the card back in the deck.

Next, the magician shuffles the deck of cards a few times to make sure that the card you picked is completely blended back into the deck. Remember—the magician’s goal is to gain the advantage by tricking the audience into believing he possesses some kind of supernatural ability. Suddenly, after a moment of silence, the magician amazingly reveals the card you picked from the deck. To reach his goal, he asks you, Is this the card you picked? And of course you delightedly say yes.

Similarly, magicians use a technique called transformation to gain the advantage for a desired goal. The goal is to trick an audience into believing that something or someone miraculously vanished into thin air in plain sight of the audience. The magician’s purpose is to gain the advantage by deceiving the audience into believing this miraculous feat was achieved through some kind of supernatural powers he possesses. Equally, the magician must prove his powers are not limited to just making an object disappear, but he also possesses the power to bring the object back at his command. Finally, to complete his desired goal to gain the advantage of tricking the audience, the magician, after a few moments of suspense, calls out the magical word Abracadabra! Instantly, the hidden object reappears from some secret location, to the astonished audience’s delight.

Another method of hoodwinking is used by con artists, people adept at lying who use cajolery (flattery, coaxing) to gain the advantage to realize a purpose. Their purpose is achieved by making elaborate false promises based on bogus information that sounds realistic to listeners. Wretchedly, one of the most infamous examples was the charismatic cult leader Jim Jones (1931–1978), founder of the Peoples Temple of the Disciples of Christ.

Jim Jones is also known as the Kool-Aid king of death because he is held responsible for the mass suicide-murders of nearly one thousand of his organization’s followers, including children, on November 18, 1978. In the middle of the jungle in Guyana, South America, nearly 1,000 people drank lethal cyanide punch or were shot to death, following the orders of their leader, Jim Jones. Mothers and fathers gave the deadly drink to their children and then drank it themselves. People screamed. Bodies trembled. And within a few minutes on Nov. 18, 1978, 912 people were dead¹ Descartes said, I think, therefore I am.

Equally disturbing, the George W. Bush administration (2001–2005) hoodwinked the American people when he gave them a false narrative to gain the advantage for a purpose. The goal of the Bush administration was to oust Iraqi president Saddam Hussein based on a pretense. Specifically, the Iraqi government illegally developed weapons of mass destruction. If we lie to the government, it’s a felony, but if the government lies to us, it’s just politics.²

Furthermore, Bush claimed US intelligence reports confirmed that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein planned to use these fabricated nuclear weapons on Iraqi civilians, as well as using them as a threat against sovereign governments in the Middle East region. On that pretense, President Bush authorized US forces to invade Iraq on March 19, 2003, and named the invasion Operation Iraqi Freedom.³ All the while, he knew his justification for going to war was based on deception. Is this any way to run a country? Is there an honest politician in the house? Behind the scenes you brew cauldrons of evil; behind closed doors you make deals with demons. (PSALM 58:1–2 MSG)

To that end, a person, a group, or a government will lie, alter, reform, or falsify a narrative to gain the advantage to achieve their desired goal. Specifically, they hope to change the way you think about something or someone without realizing your thinking changed.

INTRODUCTION

When I asked Caucasian Americans, Why do you think so many black people live in poverty, instead of living prosperously in America? It seems this question is almost impossible for them to reconcile. As one might expect, the answer given most often was it’s complicated. This flippant answer simply means, I cannot justify my answer, so I don’t want to talk about it. On the other hand, the most straightforward answer offered was black people are lazy! On hearing that, I then asked, "How did you come