Simple Statistical Mechanics Approaches For Representing The Ising Model

 The "Ising model" is central to many problems and systems in statistical mechanics.  It first came to the fore in the study of ferromagnetic systems. It was found that the use of such simplified models paved the way for greater understanding via modeling of more complex systems.  Let's now look at an elementary, statistical mechanical spin system.  A fairly  mundane example is a two-dimensional Ising model for ferromagnetic matter. It contains magnetic domains for which the individual spin magnets can be subject to sudden reversals. For a simple example, think of the 2D model of 4 x 4 elementary spin magnets as shown  below:

Here the Ising model system, by virtue of undergoing spontaneous magnetization  discloses an evolution to a higher degree of order  (from state S(1) to state S(2)) at the later time t(0) + t, where t could be in billions of years or nanoseconds.

The degree of order, as well as information, is determined from what is called "the spin excess", or the net spin difference (up minus down or vice versa). The larger this number, the greater the degree of order, and the lower the entropy of the system. Obviously, since 0 denotes an extremely low number, we can deduce large entropy.

Consider the system S(2) in more detail, noting the right side orientations of the elementary spin magnets. Here we get: 14 spin ups - 2 spin downs = 12 spin ups, or in other words the spin excess = 12. This system, S(2), has much higher degree of order (less entropy) than the system S(1). (We should add here that higher entropy - as in S(1) - corresponds to the most probable state, defined by the minimal spin excess of zero.)

Accessing such simple systems allows us to infer fundamental measures applicable to the systems, for example the "magnetic moment" of a state, as well as the "degeneracy function". Consider an N= 2 model system with either 2 ups (two up arrows) or 2 downs. 

Then, if  m  denotes the magnetic permeability we can have:

M = + 2 m   or M = -2 m

where the first is the magnetic moment for two spin- up particles, and the second for two spins down. One can also, of course, have the mixed state inclusive of one spin up plus one spin down, then:

M = O m or O

Meantime, the degeneracy function computes the number of states having the same value of m (individual spins) or M such that:

g(N,m) = N!/ (½N + m)! (½N - m)! [M_av]

where [M_av] denotes the average value of the total magnetic moment summed over all states (e.g. with m_s)

The power of the Ising model, however, doesn't end with ferromagnetic systems. We can also use it to examine ice crystal configurations as has been shown in a recent paper by Andrei Okounkov (Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, Vol. 53, No. 2, p. 187).  In this paper the author presents us with the 2D ice crystal Ising model shown below:

Let each white square denote an ice crystal and the blue areas represent separating media. Certain model stipulations apply as given in the paper: 1) the total number of white squares is fixed, just as the total number of elementary magnets in the earlier system; 2) all squares along the boundary are deemed blue in order to prevent crystals sticking to the sides of the container, and 3) It must be possible to assign probabilities to the configuration in the same way we might assign "order" or entropy to the ferromagnetic system.

The most basic probability for any such system is "thermal equilibrium". Thus, at some temperature T if the system attains thermal equilibrium then the probability of any particular configuration decays exponentially with the energy of C, which is analogous to E  =  m _m  B in the ferromagnetic case. The probability of any particular configuration dependent on T is then:

Prob (C) = 1/ Z(T) [exp (-Energy (C)/ kT)

Where k is Boltzmann's constant, 1.38 x 10 ^-23  J /K.

One will also make use of the  "partition function":

Z(T) =  å _C   exp (- Energy (C)/ kT)

which as Okounkov notes, really functions as a "normalization factor"  given that it "makes the probabilities sum to 1".  In this Ising ice crystal model, then, the energy is "the sum of interactions of all adjacent squares." Since the total number of squares is fixed (see stipulation (1))  then the energy must be proportional to the total length of the contours separating white from blue.

To identify the contours is easy. If the energetic reader will run off  a copy of  the image of the 2D rectangle, then take a black magic marker and trace around each ice crystal region as it appears, he will have generated the contours. The normalization for energy is then (op. cit.):

Energy = 2 x Length of contours

As in the case of the ferromagnetic system entropy competes with order (energy).  In the Ising ice crystal energy is saved via clumping. If we designate an "order parameter" such that  b = (kT)^-1  then in the ice crystal case the larger   b   the stronger tendency for order. Interestingly, as Okounkov notes there is a critical temperature  T_c  > 0 above which entropy wins, it is:

b  =  0.5 ln ( Ö 2    + 1)  

Below T_c  and for ice crystal concentrations above a certain threshold a crystal will form as the size of the container goes to infinity.

Suggested Problems:

1) Quantify the magnetic energy for the system at time t(o) compared to time t(o) + t, if the magnetic energy of one spin magnet can be written:

M = - m B cos Θ

where m  is the magnetic moment (-eL/2m, L = 1) and assume Θ = +/- π, and B = 0.1T. 

2)  Say that S = log (g) determines the entropy for a  simple statistical mechanical system, where g denotes the number of accessible states. Then estimate S for the 2D ice crystal model - including any errors that might enter.

YEPPERS! Our Colorado Mail Ballots Arrived And We've Voted - Take That Dotard!

 

                                                                                  
                                                                                      "No! No Mail ballots!"

Our Colorado mail ballots arrived Saturday October 12th and now we can't wait to stick it to Traitor and Fascist Degenerate Trump.   We intend them to be part of the grand tsunami (landslide) that will wash Trump and his MAGA cult into the dustbin of history on November 5th.  

But first things first.  The mail ballot is two pages long and lists 25-odd items to vote for (or against), divided into sections. The first thing I did is survey the ballot item by item, looking at each choice available. Somewhat like looking over a physics or math exam before commencing. 

Then I selected Amendment 79 first. Passage (requiring 55% majority) would amend the state constitution. Besides enshrining the state’s existing wide-ranging abortion protections in that document, the measure would repeal language from 1984 that prohibits the use of state and local government funding toward abortion services. Doing so would allow the state to greenlight abortion coverage for Medicaid enrollees and public employees on government health insurance plans. 

Abortion has ranked among the top five most important issues identified by voters participating in The Denver Post’s ongoing Voter Voices survey, carried out in partnership with other media outlets through the Colorado News Collaborative.  

Other key amendments that stood out:

Amendment 80:  Constitutional Right to School Choice:  Obvious 'No' vote for me, so that it preserves the current system under state law. A 'Yes' would have created a choice 'free for all' with parents able - under state constitution - to send kids anywhere: private schools public, home school, charter etc.   A recipe for destruction of the public school system.

Amendment JJ: Retains Additional Sports Betting  Revenue: Allows the state to keep and spend more money for water projects when the sports betting tax revenue is collected above the amount previously approved by voters.  Hey, what can I say? I'm a "tax and spend" liberal!

Amendment KK: Firearms and Ammunition Tax:   A 'Yes' creates a new tax on firearms, firearm parts and ammunition. The added money can then be used for more crime victim services and mental health services for vets and youth. A 'No' vote would mean the state's level of taxation for firearms doesn't change. Guess which choice I made.

Amendment 127:  Prohibits Bobcat, Lynx and Mountain Lion Trophy Hunting. A 'Yes' makes it illegal to hunt these cats in Colorado. I already wrote about this and the reasons for my choice in a previous blog post (Colorado Initiative 91 appears in ballot as Amendment 127):

Colorado Initiative 91 (Which We're Voting For) Gives A New Lease On Life To Mountain Lions

Proposition G: Modifies the Property Tax Exemption for Veterans with Disabilities.  Sounds reasonable and what a tax and spend lib like me would like. However, A 'Yes' would make property taxes even more complicated than they are and harder to administer fairly.  This is given it hinges on what the definition of "unemployable" is.  So I opted to vote 'No' meaning the provisions for the existing homestead exemption remain in place.

Proposition J:  Repealing the Definition of Marriage in the Constitution. The 'Yes' vote here redefines the meaning of a valid marriage (in the state constitution) to put it in conformance with the Supreme Court decision that legalized same sex unions.

The sole local (El Paso County) proposition (2C), enables a taxpayer, bond-subsidized continuation of road repairs and other services.  Since we don't want the county to become like another Mississippi this was a no brainer.

Sadly, the WSJ Editors yesterday ('The Mail Ballot Panic Is Back for 2024', p. A16)  continued their nonsense about mail ballots not being a genuine exercise of voting rights, babbling:

"Absentee voting is a necessity for those who are ill or truly absent, but there's a reason that casting a ballot in person is the traditional way. At the polling place, the order of operations is to validate and then vote. With mail ballots the procedure is reversed, vote then validate. Inevitably some are thrown out."  

Which isn't quite true, given actual "voting" is not accomplished until and unless the vote is actually counted. Here in Colorado, as well as most other mail ballot states, that count isn't done until the signature is validated. There are also situations which can reasonably justify "curing" a ballot.  

Episodic errors or oversights are included here,  i.e.  forgetting to sign one's ballot,  signing too quickly and ending up with a distorted signature, forgetting to insert the date,  forgetting to insert the ballot proper into the main envelope  etc.  All of which can be "cured" by contacting the voter and having him fix the ballot in person.  Further, all such ballots are subjected to adjudication by a pair of trained judges - one Republican, one Democrat.  

The real reason the WSJ Editors detest mail voting? Because it is done predominantly by Democratic voters. In 2020, Joe Biden won 76.3% of mail ballots. Trump took 65.1% of same day voting ballots, according to the editors. All I can say here is you do not kill an effective and efficient voting modality because one party chooses not to use it as much. You try to educate those voters it is the best voting method all things being considered. 

See Also: 

Swatting Down More Nonsense About Mail Ballots - Including Trump Legal Goons' Claims About Absentee Ballot Fraud In Nevada 

In A Stirring PA Rally Kamala Exposes Trump As The Fascist Nutcase He Is - Will The Mainstream Media Now Catch Up?

 

                             Trump caught during one rant - the "Alzheimer's look".

"A Maga stranglehold on Washington would bring America into uncharted waters. All three branches of government would be in Trump’s corner. He already has the 6-3 Supreme Court on his side. The court recently ruled that America’s president has criminal immunity from almost any “official” acts, including assassinating his opponents. You do not need to believe that Trump would go to such lengths to see the ruling as a green light to do what he wants. Without judicial or legislative brakes on his actions, Trump would take it as a sweeping licence to go after his enemies." - Edward Luce, 'The Trump- Harris Dead Heat',  The Financial Times

"Donald Trump is not only the wrong man for the presidency, he is unfit to lead the country. Trump is far worse than Richard Nixon, the provably criminal president...Trump was the most reckless and impulsive president in American history and is demonstrating the very same character as a presidential candidate in 2024."  - Bob Woodward, p. 362, WAR

"I mean, 'Ave Maria'? “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World,” segueing into “YMCA,” followed by tunes from Sinead O’Connor, Jeff Buckley, the cast of Cats, Oliver Anthony, Elvis, and Guns N’ Roses? I kept waiting for them to break out the Dog and Cat Report from the late, great WBCN in Boston. Where were Danny Schecter, the News Dissector, or Duane Ingalls Glasscock? I had time to muse on these questions because the Republican candidate for president* of the United States stood there like a meat monolith for almost forty minutes, looking off into the distance with nothing behind his eyes. For the first time, I felt a small twinge of sympathy. He’s so very freaking lost now. The problem is that a good chunk of our fellow citizens are out there, lost in the ozone with him.- Charles Pierce, 'Trump's Weird Little DJ Set', Esquire

“There is not a case in American history where a presidential candidate has run for office on a promise that they would exact retribution against anyone they perceive as not supporting them in the campaign. It’s so fundamentally, outrageously beyond the pale of how this country has worked that it’s hard to articulate how insane it is.”-  Ian Bassin, a former associate White House counsel under Barack Obama

Yesterday Kamala Harris spoke in Erie, a Pennsylvania county that is one of the state’s most reliable bellwethers. Seeing and hearing her warmed the cockles of my heart. For days now, since she suffered a 5 point drop in national polls vs. the Orange Pestilence, Dem pundits (like James Carville) have said she needs to go on the attack. She had, according to Carville in an exchange with the NYT's Maureen Dowd, "let too many fat pitches go over the plate". Well yesterday that shtick changed and Kamala went for Trump's jugular.  She actually played clips from Trump’s recent media appearances and condemned his call for the military to be deployed against opponents he labelled “the enemy within”. “He considers anyone who doesn’t support him, or who will not bend to his will, an enemy of our country,” Harris said at the rally. “This is among the reasons I believe so strongly that a second Trump term would be a huge risk for America”.

Maybe you missed it -  but Rump has been on a fascist romp the past week. At rallies here in Colorado and then in California, he surpassed his usual rants, and added another twist, suggesting that a woman heckler should “get the hell knocked out of her” by her mother. Then on Sunday morning, this freak show senile fart outdid himself in an interview on Fox News, by  yapping about “the enemy within”.  Commies? Nope. Just Americans he described as “radical left lunatics,” including Representative Adam Schiff of California.  Their crimes and transgressions? Simply being determined to hold this deranged fucker to account, oh – and to visualize an America without a traitor and rapist like Dotard at the helm.

This lot (which includes me) he claimed are more dangerous than Russia or China, and could be “very easily handled” by the National Guard or the U.S. military.  This off the rails, fascist rhetoric is why I hailed Kamala yesterday at a Pennsylvania rally- actually showing the rant on a TV jumbotron and then whaling on the fruitcake.

Yeah, okay, I get it, the terms fascist and fascism has been so overused as a denunciation that many Americans have understandably tuned it out. But they are premature and politically naïve to do so, especially when former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley told Bob Woodward that he sees Trump as “fascist to his core.”

Thus, every sentient American should be shocked to hear a presidential nominee say that other Americans (including a sitting member of Congress) are more dangerous than an actual enemy nation (Russia) that has over 15,000 nuclear tipped ICBMs pointed at us.

This is why Kamala needs to be applauded and why she needs to keep the constant attack lines going these last few weeks – to get the American voters asleep at the switch to wake the hell up. I am referring to those who somehow believe this 78 year old loudmouth actually was better for them than Biden and Harris have been, according to an NBC news poll. Do they not recall the dead and dying all over the place as the pandemic spread thanks to Trump and his feral lies and incompetence? Do they not recall the millions of jobs lost, the supply lines shut down, the barren store shelves that inevitably transpired, the subsequent inflation.  And then the LIES about the 2020 election followed by his treasonous efforts to overturn the certification of electoral votes so he could stay in power. Where the fuck are the pro-Trump voters' brains, their minds?  Their patriotism Has his preternaturally loud voice, aimless and riffing psychotic ranting taken them over, rendered them numb?

Keep it up, Kamala! Keep pounding away until your message and warnings get through. This nation cannot endure another 4 years of Trump. And besides, at the rate his mind is cratering, the 25^th amendment for his removal would be likely if he keeps deteriorating at the rate we behold. After all, his old man died of Alzheimer’s disease which means he likely is showing the first of many symptoms in his babbling incoherence and rants.

And by the way, Rachel Maddow last night ripped to shreds the nonsense that Trump will be the best candidate economically or in any way. How can he when he’s already got ten screws loose? See e.g.

Rachel Maddow Debunks Key Argument Of ‘Relatively Normal’ Donald Trump Voters (msn.com)

Kamala showing media captures of Trump (blathering fascist threats at his own Pennsylvania rally) to her Erie County rally, exposed the recklessness and derangement of her opponent - as a totally abnormal candidate. The question now is whether the mainstream media - especially the vaunted 4th estate - finally gets off its duff and ceases treating Trump as a normal candidate?

See Also:

No One Has Ever Been as Dangerous to America as Trump — It Can Happen Here

by Thom Hartmann | October 16, 2024 - 6:04am | permalink

— from The Hartmann Report

The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was the American predecessor to the CIA and was formed during World War II. They hired a psychoanalyst, Dr. Walter C. Langer, to undertake an exhaustive, nearly-year-long analysis of the personality of Adolf Hitler, from his earliest influences through his later years as then-Führer and mass murderer.

Langer’s profile of Hitler wasn’t declassified until 1972, when much of it was published in a book titled The Mind of Adolf Hitler. As The New York Times explained that year:

“[Langer] saw Hitler as a weakling who masqueraded as a bully, Hitler the failure casting himself in the role, unconsciously for reasons of mental self‐preservation, as Hitler the Fuehrer the superman.

Based on his work, in 1943 the OSS summarized the strategy Hitler used — driven in part by his own psychopathy — to both seize and hold power:

» article continues...

And:

Trump Escalates Threats to Political Opponents He Deems the ‘Enemy’

And:

Trump sways and bops to music for 39 minutes in bizarre town hall episode

And:

Donald Trump

‘Donald Trump Gives Up on Speaking’: Fox News Correspondent Blasts ‘Strange’ MAGA Town Hall

by Maya Boddie | October 15, 2024 - 5:49am | permalink

— from Alternet

Fox News national correspondent Bryan Llenas detailed his experience as a Donald Trump town hall attendee in Oaks, Pennsylvania Monday night, after the former president stopped speaking and "started playing music" instead.

Llenas wrote via X: "Well, this is a very strange Trump Town Hall in Pennsylvania. It turned on a dime after two Trump supporters passed out/fainted/needed medical attention in back to back episodes that paused the Q and A format for a while. The Q and A portion never restarted after four questions mostly on the economy."

He continued, "Trump talked for a little and decided instead to play his favorite music to the crowd. He’s standing on stage. We’ve listened to opera songs Ave Maria, Con Te Paritiro and now we are listening and watching James Brown and Pavarotti on video singing 'This is a Man’s World.' Trump urges people to vote and then plays the YMCA."

Determined to keep the crowd going, the former president said, "No one is going home," according to Llenas.

» article continues...

WSJ's Peggy Noonan Hits A New Low: "In great disasters you must take rumors Into account!" (I.e. Forget Trump's Despicable LIES)

 

                                         

On a campaign stop in Pittsburgh last week, former President Barack Obama called out the Reepos and others concerning the chaos sown by Trump's lies in the wake of Hurricane Helene:  

Obama calls out Trump on bullying and hurricane aid lies - YouTube

Referring to Trump's "making up stories" and causing delays in assistance reaching those in need, then asking "When did this become okay?" Well, WSJ resident hack Peggy Noonan offered the lamo answer in her weekend column ('What A Deadly Flood Revealed About America',  Oct. 12-13, p. A13), writing, after spending three-fourths of her piece on the 1889 Johnstown, Pa. flood:

"What are our thoughts from this?  In great disasters rumors spread quick as fire. When you're in one you must take this into account."

Pegs references for her source the  1968 book, The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough, noting the dam that collapsed with over 2,000 killed. But in the wake of the disaster, horrific, depraved rumors circulated, that local Hungarian laborers were robbing, raping and pillaging. Peggy then points out:  

"It wasn't true but caused plenty of trouble, and it turned out the rumors were started by a local lawyer who'd lost his wife and children and gone off in his head."

But what is despicable is her using this whole tangential catastrophe from 1889 (and the 1968 book about it) to avoid directly calling out the abominable Trump for his part in compounding the current disaster from Helene.  To refresh memories Trump spread a debunked conspiracy theory about FEMA spending disaster relief money on helping migrants who are in the country illegally. Also that when FEMA did give money it was only $750. (An ignorant yarn, given that amount was designated an initial assistance with more to follow when the proper claim forms were completed).  

Trump's initial lies then triggered a tsunami of conspiracy codswallop, such as false information spread in western NC that a dam was about to burst, prompting hundreds of people to unnecessarily evacuate and diverting the attention of first responders. Then in eastern Tennessee, some locals spread a hoax about federal officials seizing and bulldozing a town hall.  

Trump’s lies about the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the wake of two major hurricanes have been particularly insidious. On Fox News, he insisted: “They’re being treated very badly in the Republican areas. They’re not getting water, they’re not getting anything.” Elsewhere, he declared that “Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for” — you guessed it — “illegal migrants.” 

These allegations of a politically motivated emergency response are vicious and false, but they have discouraged people in need of aid from going to the agency for help. (And, as it turns out, Politico reports, it was Trump who as president hesitated to give disaster relief to blue parts of the country.)

Attacking this toxic behavior and rhetoric - from a former president no less -  would have given Noonan's column valence and currency but she lacked the courage to write it.  Instead, we got a half-assed, ridiculous history lesson regarding 'rumors' started by a forlorn flood victim in 1889. Can Peggy say "false analogy"? 

So again, when did this deplorable shit out of the mouth of a liar who fancies becoming president again become okay, Pegs?  That was your question to answer which Obama had asked. But all we got from you was a 135-year-old account of the Johnstown flood, and rumors in its wake.

But:

1-  These were not started by a president or former president but by an ordinary citizen "not right in his head".

2- The rumors while nasty did not compound delays in aid or assistance getting to those who needed it, given FEMA didn't even exist then.

3- It is beyond daft and I'd say loco to insist people assume that rumors can spread and be started by a former president!

In a way I get Peggy's reluctance to hold Trump accountable given most times she's done so in the past she was hammered in published letters to the Editor. So being unusually sensitive to such criticisms she steadfastly tries to walk the 'weasel' road now in her columns.  But for a true journalist - as opposed to a hack - that simply isn't good enough.

Not far removed from Noonan is fellow WSJ hack Holman Jenkins Jr. who in his own same page, same date column ('Taxpayers Pay People To Be Hurricane Risk Takers') actually claims our current climate -related catastrophes are often "due to questionable government policies."

The nitwit hack is referring to the provision of federal insurance to be able to rebuild. Basically arguing that rebuilding - especially in hurricane prone areas - is an invitation to further disaster and more federal $$$ to do another rebuilding round. But he totally skirts over the fact BOTH recent major hurricanes- as well as previous ones (Ian two years ago) were amplified by much warmer waters directly linked to climate change.  Will Jenkins Jr. ever change? Not likely given he's as dug in as the Mensa and Intertel pseudo-climate skeptics - but who at least admitted (one from Intertel) that I had "tatooed them real good"  in an Integra article last year."

In the end it's actually a good think that Peggy Noonan and Holman Jenkins Jr. write their offal on the WSJ opinion pages.  Because at least then we already know beforehand (like FOX News) it's more  about seeding pro-Trump propaganda  than useful information.

See Also:

North Carolina authorities arrest armed man after threats against FEMA workers

And:

Donald Trump

Trump’s Hurricane of Milton Lies: MAGA Has a Deadly Addiction to Disinformation

by Amanda Marcotte | October 11, 2024 - 5:51am | permalink

— from Salon

Of all the lies Donald Trump tells, perhaps the most preposterous is that he cares about his own voters. That was evident in 2020, when Trump repeatedly downplayed the threat of COVID-19, even calling the pandemic a "hoax." His followers got the message, risking their own lives first by refusing to socially distance and then, going further even than Trump himself, refusing to vaccinate. The result was that excess deaths were 43% higher for Republicans than Democrats in the months after the vaccines were released. Trump's lie killed his own voters by the thousands.

At the heart of Trump's pandemic lies was a sociopathic calculation: His lies and conspiracy theories would offset the loss of MAGA voters to COVID deaths. That bet did pay off, as most of the excess Republican deaths occurred after the election. Trump is making the same bet again in 2024 with his lies about Hurricanes Helene and Milton. He's spraying lies about the federal response that have rapidly spread throughout social media, convincing his followers to take risks with their own safety. His lies will kill people. He doesn't care, though, because he's betting that he can offset the losses by using these lies to turn out more voters.

» article continues...

'The Apprentice': A Must -See Film Showing How Trump Mutated To The Malignant Psychopath He Is Today (Spoilers Alert)

     One of opening scenes: The Apprentice (& Cinema ticket stub)

One of most grotesque scenes: Trump getting fat drained off belly

'The Apprentice'  - The new film (almost still -born after maneuvers to stop its distribution), finally made it to theaters Friday and we were fortunate to see it. Why? Because it provides the whole sordid origin story of how Donald Trump became the soulless monster we behold today. And for that reason, every citizen worth his salt - and especially those who want to know how Trump got to be what he is - needs to see it.  

Some reviewers, e.g. in The Denver Post, (10/11/24, p. C7), have claimed the film "humanizes Trump".  Well, yeah, but only near the beginning when the young Trump wanted to try to get the aging Commodore Hotel in NYC under the Trump umbrella. Trouble was the DOJ had filed a housing discrimination lawsuit against dad Fred Trump for racist, biased practices at his Trump Villages apts. and no one -  no developer - wanted to get near that mine field. Enter Roy Cohn, the hardball lawyer who Trump meets in a seedy lounge with two mob clients, Fat Tony Salerno and  Carmine Galanti  (see this 1977 video about one Cohn-Galanti interaction: Roy Cohn Interview after Carmine Galante Leaves Court in Miami, Fla. (August 23, 1977) (youtube.com)

Trump is so impressed with Cohn's take- no -prisoners style he hires him to dispose of the DOJ case. When young Trump sees the means Cohn uses: blackmailing a Federal official associated with the suit, using photos of a homosexual meetup in Mexico- he hesitates. Indeed, he's appalled. His moral barometer clearly has kicked in but Cohn lets him know in no uncertain terms this is the only way to win, further adding his 'three rules' to get young Donald's attention:

One: Attack, Attack, Attack, Attack

Two:  Admit nothing, deny everything

Three: No matter what happens you claim victory and never admit defeat.

Cohn adds for emphasis that truth is "malleable" and "whatever you believe it is".  And "You have to be willing to do anything to anyone to win."

This is particularly relevant when later on young Trump wants desperately to get Trump Tower construction underway.   However, he needs a $160 million property tax abatement  to accomplish this, so that he's willing to go to Cohn (again) to make it happen. Key to succeeding is having the city approve the abatement but if passed would force the city to cut critical services to the poor.  Early signs in the Council meeting showed the majority (by 1 vote) leaning to reject Trump's abatement plea. 

But during a hearing recess Cohn pulls the young Trump into a hidden room to show him the dozens of audio tapes he has secretly amassed of the various Council members' discussions, conversations. There and then he pulls out one that criminalizes the key Council vote-  exposing him in a nefarious exchange which Cohn caught on tape. Cohn then threatens the Council member who caves, and agrees to vote for the tax abatement-  to the horror of all regular citizens assembled. 

Young Donald is so impressed with the use of such bare-knuckle tactics that he surrenders whatever vague reservations of morality he previously had.  At that point he crosses into the dark side and there is no return. He will use Cohn's 'laws' and methods to steamroll over everyone and everything in his way. The stage is set for a veritable Kraken unleashed.

 The rest of the film shows the progressive downward spiral away from any semblance of humanity toward brutality and craven, pathological narcissism backed by force and manipulation. A stark perspective into the Trump of today, and we behold the nascent grifter coming on as well - i.e. stiffing contractors in Atlantic City over newly built casinos, including the Taj Mahal.  In one scene a contractor threatens the young grifter Trump who's stiffed him out of money owed.  The Donald merely smiles and says he will declare bankruptcy. (This will be the first of six, compliments of the guy too many American dummies believe is "better on the economy" than Harris.  See link at bottom.)

Sebastian Stan as the young Trump, delivers about as authentic a performance as one will ever see, and evinces a believable adaptation progressing through the film's timeline. Thus, in the initial (70s) scenes Stan displays only a hint of the Trump flair.  But as he ages over the coming decade, and into the 1st term of the Reagan administration the 'Trumpian' cadence, accent and delivery become more pronounced. By now the guy talks like  Trump and even affects every action from the constant checking of his hair to the cocky and generally disrespectful manner toward women. 

 Especially his wife Ivana - whom he rapes in one jarring scene - after she mocks him  putting on weight, his "big orange face" and bald spot on the top of his head.  Thus, we plainly see Trump's psychopathy and narcissism growing more malignant as the film progresses.  

A humorous aspect is that - worried about his expanding midsection - Trump goes to a doctor who advises him to get off the diet pills, which are basically "low grade" amphetamines.  He suggests exercise instead of pills but Donald will have none of it. He believes a human body only has a finite amount of energy in it, and if one uses it up in exercise  - well, there won't be enough left to live. Stymied, he opts to get a major liposuction operation to drain off about five pounds of fat, at the same time he has a procedure done to replenish his bald spot. As the Donald's siphoned fat pours into a waiting receptacle it vies for perhaps the  grossest scene in the movie.

His brutality and contempt are confirmed by the end of the film, when he has taken up temporary residence at Mar-a-Lago and invited a now sickened Cohn (dying of AIDS from his homosexual liaisons) to stay and celebrate Cohn's birthday.  As the ailing Cohn is feted at Trump's palatial estate (and told by Ivana the diamond -studded cufflinks Trump gave him as a gift are fakes) we see Cohn finally realizing the measure of the monster he has created. A "monster to whom America is a joke, a punchline, something to be devoured like a can of diet Coke" in the words of one (NYT) reviewer.

For by now, it's evident to Cohn that his long time protege has ascended to the height of his powers and no longer needs to lean on the master. Empowered by his hubris, the no -more apprentice will "build, borrow and bang with a sense of gleeful combativeness" as he goes on his merry way - soon to emerge in the form of the manipulative showman and charlatan who yearns to tear the country to shreds.   

One stock moment of the transitional Trump just after he crosses into the dark side is illuminating. When he's asked by a guest at party what he would do if he lost all his money.  He spends barely a minute pondering his answer before responding: "Well, I guess I would probably run for president."

That line chilled one to the bone. See the trailer to the film here:

The Apprentice Trailer #1 (2024) (youtube.com)

That the film has opened barely 3 weeks before the election was not intentional. Director Ali Abassi - according to a WSJ account (yesterday, p. C2, 'The Controversial Trump Movie Finally Arrives') had begun work on the movie in 2018 but faced roadblocks every step of the way. From a Hollywood reluctant to antagonize the orange reprobate (in case he wins and conducts a retribution onslaught) to legal threats from the Trump campaign itself.   

For example,  Trump campaign communications director (and 'Jabba the Hut' lookalike) Stephen Cheung    e.g.

"called the film 'election interference by Hollywood elites'  and 'garbage that belongs in a dumpster fire'."   This according to the WSJ. Cheung also filed a 'cease and desist' order that prevented an earlier (February) release and had all the major studios and distributors backing off despite a rousing reception at Cannes Film Festival in the spring.

So every major studio buckled under the threats except for Tom Ortenberg, of Briarcliff Entertainment - the film's eventual distributor. In Ortenberg's words, quoted in the WSJ: "I enjoy taking on pictures that others are afraid of, that others are frankly too cowardly to take on."

Bully for him and Briarcliff, given this intense film might otherwise never have seen the light of day.  Especially, as we only learned yesterday of Trump's latest threat - e.g. from the UK Independent:

Trump floats sending military after US citizens on election day citing ‘radical left lunatics’ and ‘the enemy from within’ (msn.com)

No, you can't make this shit up. It's for real and hopefully people are paying attention and get to see this film to see just how the orange roach was spawned. And why we need to take his every blather seriously, no matter how demented it sounds.

See Also:

Donald Trump

‘Germany Elected a Guy Who Talked Like This Once’: Experts Sound Alarm on Trump’s Fox Interview Response

by Maya Boddie | October 14, 2024 - 5:58am | permalink

— from Alternet

Donald Trump, during a Sunday interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo, floated the idea that the National Guard will take control of polling sites on Election Day.

"Let's remember you've got 50,000 Chinese nationals in the last couple of years. There are people on the terrorist watch list — 350 in the last couple of years. Like you said, 13,000 murderers, and 15,000 rapists," Bartiromo said, asking the former president, "What are you expecting? Joe Biden said he doesn't think it's going to be a peaceful Election Day."

Trump replied, "He doesn't know what's happening. I think the bigger problem is the enemy from within ... sick people, radical left lunatics. And it should be easily handled by, if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military."

A slew of political experts and journalist immediately sounded the alarm.

» article continues...

And:

2024 Elections | Donald Trump

My 2024 Election Video of the Week: Trump’s Business Failures

by Robert Reich | October 12, 2024 - 5:27am | permalink

— from Robert Reich's Substack

Trump’s entire candidacy is based on a lie.

TRUMP: I’m really a good businessman. I’m so good at business.

Not true. Trump is a business failure. Almost every business he’s touched, he’s driven into the ground.

MARCO RUBIO: You ever heard of Trump Steaks?

TRUMP: Trump Steaks are the greatest steaks, and I mean that in every sense of the word!

» article continues...