Thursday, December 16, 2021

Are They Fascists?

 

The AP reported out of over 159 million votes cast, there were only 475 cases of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

That is nowhere near enough to change the results of the election.

And most of the fraudulent votes were for Trump.

Who's surprised?

Trump’s Big Lie has been disproved at every turn, every recount, every study, every Republican partisan “audit”, and in every court.

But a cult is a cult. And a cult isn’t a cult to a cult. The Trump Cult are true believers in their Dear Leader.

They are told, and they believe, they are victims. It is essential for a cult to cut off its members from all real world information that doesn’t conform to the cult’s ideology and indoctrination.

So are Trumpists fascists? Dare we compare them to Nazis?

Let’s have a look at why the answer to both questions is “yes”.

Let’s start with this news:

The January 6th committee has subpoenaed the phone and social media records of Marjorie Taylor Greene and other “sedition caucus” members of Congress: Lauren Boebert, Paul Gosar, Mo Brooks, Andy Biggs, Madison Cawthorn, Matt Gaetz, Jim Jordan, and Louie Gohmert.

Mean Margie Green is got very upset, and tweeted on December 14th:

"The job of Congress is make laws, not enforce them. But the Communists in charge of the House are purposely abusing the Constitution and the institution of Congress. The J6 Committee is a kangaroo court & a total abuse of power. I will vote NO to hold @MarkMeadows in contempt."

These hateful bigots are desperately trying to whitewash Trump's fascist Putsch.

On January 6th, some of Trump’s cult worried he’d gone too far. We now have their texts from that day.

“We need an Oval address. He has to lead now. It has gone too far and gotten out of hand.” — Donald Trump Jr.

“Please get him on TV. Destroying everything you have accomplished.” — Fox News host Brian Kilmeade

“This is hurting all of us. He is destroying his legacy.” — Fox News host Laura Ingraham

They quickly fell back in line and sung a different tune to their viewers. They passed on more lies about “Antifa” and “BLM” being in the mob. Since then the lies have gotten even more absurd, blaming the FBI for the coup.

Before it all hit the fan, Gym “Rat” Jordan sent a text that amounted to a push to overturn the election by blatantly unconstitutional means.

“On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as President of the Senate, should call out all the electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional as no electoral votes at all — in accordance with guidance from founding father Alexander Hamilton and judicial precedence..."

No, Gym Rat.

"Believing" Trump's Big Lie does NOT allow anyone to overrule the Constitution and cancel the votes of the American people. Even Pence knew that, only to have his life threatened for following the Constitution.

But that wasn't enough. Trump allowed his mob to storm the Capitol, literally following their Fuhrer like brownshirt storm troopers did for Hitler. It was pure fascist thuggery.

The violent insurrectionists were actually PRAISED by Trump, and now they squeal like pigs, "Witchhunt!"

A few individuals may think it isn’t fair to compare the rise of the American radical Right to the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, despite the obvious similarities in behavior and radical Right racist extremism.

To be clear, I am not equating Republicans to Hitler and his Nazis. I’m not calling them Nazis, nor am I comparing Trumpism to the Holocaust, like so many radical Right wackos do with vaccination requirements.

I’m calling them out for emulating Nazis before they rose to power. I’m noting their common roots of white nationalism, hate, scapegoating, and bigotry. Both groups are power mad authoritarian liars who lie and accuse anybody against them of being "communists". I’m noting how both Nazis and Trumpists attempted a violent overthrow of a government.

The essence of fascist propaganda and indoctrination is summed up by Trump’s own words, "What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening,"

The German Nazis used the term “Lügenpresse”, or lying press, in their campaign to undermine truth and journalism. Now American fascists cry “liberal media” and “fake news” when the facts threaten their agenda. Trump accuses the press as being “enemies of the people”.

Fox News deleted a cartoon of George Soros from its social media accounts Wednesday after the Anti-Defamation League accused the cable network of “casting a Jewish individual as a puppet master who manipulates national events for malign purposes.”

There is no denying this fact. Trumpists are emulating Nazis before they took power in Germany.

They are just as fascistic as German Nazis were before they took power.

Not only has the radical Right become the greatest domestic threat ever to equality, truth and democracy, they’ve become the greatest force of evil in America since slavery. The threat of more radical Right terrorism is higher than ever.

Their Dear Leader praises terrorists, and they LOVE him. They CHEER his hatred and lies.

This is a tyrant and his cult of angry fanatical bigots.

Some may even disagree if we call it fascism, if we apply the definition strictly to government policy only.

Were Nazis fascists before they took power? Were they fascists before joining the Nazi Party?

Hell, yes.*

But decency, common sense, and some understanding of history will apply a more accurate term.

The word for that is evil. We ignore their evil at our own peril.

~~~~

 *From George Orwell’s 1944 article titled, “What is Fascism”.

Of all the unanswered questions of our time, perhaps the most important is: ‘What is Fascism?’

One of the social survey organizations in America recently asked this question of a hundred different people, and got answers ranging from ‘pure democracy’ to ‘pure diabolism’. In this country if you ask the average thinking person to define Fascism, he usually answers by pointing to the German and Italian régimes. But this is very unsatisfactory, because even the major Fascist states differ from one another a good deal in structure and ideology.

It is not easy, for instance, to fit Germany and Japan into the same framework, and it is even harder with some of the small states which are describable as Fascist...

 ... By ‘Fascism’ they mean, roughly speaking, something cruel, unscrupulous, arrogant, obscurantist, anti-liberal and anti-working-class. Except for the relatively small number of Fascist sympathizers, almost any English person would accept ‘bully’ as a synonym for ‘Fascist’. That is about as near to a definition as this much-abused word has come.

Thursday, November 25, 2021

Thankful? For Now

 

I suppose we should be thankful today for a semblance of justice, delayed and obstructed as it was, for the racist murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

Arbery’s killers, along with the likes of fellow predators Zimmerman and Rittenhouse, are showing us how American vigilante racists want the right to hunt, provoke, and kill human targets.

And talk about white privilege and entitlement.

"Self defense! That Black guy tried to grab mah shotgun from me... after I shot him with mah rifle! I'M the VICTIM, here!"

Now the racists are saying the verdict proves the US is "not a racist country", ignoring the systemic racism that would have never brought them to trial.


All it proves is racism is real, and finally thanks to videos, more guilty verdicts are reached.

If local authorities in Georgia had their way, no one would have been charged for the murder of Ahmaud Arbery.

The original prosecutor called the murder "justifiable homicide". She’s been indicted for interfering in the arrest of the defendants.

The public saw the video. There were weeks of protests before charges were even brought in the case.  74 days passed after Arbery was shot and killed in February 2020.

What decent person wasn’t shocked by the nasty racist defense attorney when she demonized the victim with her "long, dirty toenails" crack? It's not hard to imagine she'd have said "filthy animal" if she thought she could get away with it.

Racism isn’t racism to racists.

At least there will be three less Trump/Republican voters in Georgia for the next few elections.

Radical right Republicans, white nationalists, and other racists and bigots still want to deny such systemic racism exists. So they’re banning the study and teaching of the history and effects of slavery and racism, calling it "Marxist CRT".

And they have no frickin' idea what Critical Race Theory even is. It’s their perfect warped and ill-defined tool to elevate white fright. If it scares, it fares. Just ban it.

Ignorance is strength. - Big Brother 1984

MAGAts would prefer to take us back to the good old days when nobody was charged for lynching or for the Tulsa Massacre.

Trump is calling Democrats communists, as his House fascists share their fantasies of killing them.

Man. That's a LOT of hate. In fact, it's stochastic terrorism. It's way more than just a war on voter rights and democracy. Armed violence is being brazenly pushed, and condoned, by the Republican Party.

How many more Americans will be slaughtered by radical Right domestic terrorists?

Trumpism's continuing "gift" to America is escalating dishonesty, division, rampant racist hatred and fascistic demonization of any opposition.

What we need is more justice, more voter protections, more democracy, and more accountability for Trump’s Big Lie and coup.

If we don’t get that soon, the US will be turning a corner into a deep darkness of political violence and tyranny.

For the moment, we need to be thankful for our right to vote and steer the country back towards sanity and decency.

Friday, November 12, 2021

Unlearned Lessons


Another Veterans Day has come and gone, each time seeing fewer remaining veterans from World War II.

We are appropriately accustomed to thanking them for their service, but we rarely discuss why they fought.

My father-in-law earned a Purple Heart and Bronze Star when he served in Patton's Third Army during the Battle of the Bulge and liberation of Buchenwald. He saw the end results of unchecked fascism.

Those inmates were all "enemies of the state", enemies of the “Deutshce Volk”, (German people). They were communists, socialists, educators, non-heterosexual people, and members of the wrong religion/heritage.

Even if someone wasn’t in any of those groups, he could still be labeled an enemy of the people and sent to the camps. The “law” allowed this.

Every atrocity the Nazis committed was "legal". The Enabling Act of March 23, 1933 allowed the Reich government to issue laws without the consent of Germany's parliament, laying the foundation for the complete Nazification of German society.

Echoes of Hitler's racist fascism are now ringing across America. As with the Third Reich, the resentments and anger of white nationalist bigots have fueled the rise of the radical Right and Trumpism.

We're on the precipice of a one-party dictatorship if voter rights are not protected and gerrymandering is allowed to continue.

This is the party that still supports a leader who calls democrats communists. He calls the press the enemy of the people. He makes scapegoats of immigrants and minorities. He rose to power by fueling racism and hate.

The leader is a criminal sociopath who incited a violent coup and praised the mob of thugs for their efforts.

His party of radical Right American fascists constantly employs propaganda tactics to portray liberals, Democrats, Socialists, educators, atheists, immigrants and minorities as repugnant and evil as possible. They deliberately cultivate resentment and hate for them in their white nationalist supporters and duped base.

They organize and stage a coup, attempt to bully the Justice Department and state officials to overturn an election, plot to kidnap a governor, threaten congress and political opponents, threaten election officials, engage in vigilantism, and openly intimidate others by brandishing weapons.

They seize power to suppress voters, nullify elections, ban books, and ban teaching the history of racism and slavery.

His party is getting away with it all. See any parallels here?

This is fascism.

Never forget these crimes against freedom and democracy.

Let’s also not forget our Constitution didn't prevent Bush from starting a war based on lies, locking people up without charges, and implementing torture.

And always remember the US Holocaust Museum list of the early warning signs of fascism:

1. Powerful and continuing nationalism
2. Disdain for human rights
3. Identification of enemies as a unifying cause
4. Rampant sexism
5. Controlled mass media
6. Obsession with national security
7. Religion and government intertwined
8. Corporate power protected
9. Labor power suppressed
10. Disdain for intellectuals and the arts
11. Obsession with crime and punishment
12. Rampant cronyism and corruption

This is radical Right Republican Trumpism, folks. And it is fascism.

Too many Americans fail to see this ongoing domestic threat to our republic, and fail to learn the lessons of history. Either American fascists are held accountable by the rule of law, or there will be no rule of law to constrain the authoritarian party of Trump.

If the rule of law doesn’t apply to the rulers, there can be no rule of law, and no democratic republic, and the future will certainly be further darkened by American Radical Right fascism.

I guarantee it.


Wednesday, November 3, 2021

Sorry, Kids

 

Is it just a passing mood, or clear insight into a grim forecast?

Future American fascists will do what they are doing now. Appeals to greed and inflaming resentment, anger, and hatred have always nurtured the radical Right. They know the “Big Lie” will deceive and radicalize enough Americans into supporting a tyrant and his coup. Despite, or because of, his praise for his violent mob of insurrectionists, Trump will be their revered hero and they will build statues of him. This is the irrefutable identifying mark of a fascist leader and his movement.

1/6 will never have happened. The history of slavery and racism will be expunged. The corrupt and radicalized white Right minority will rule, as they portray themselves as victims, in order to suppress democratic opposition.

Hate crimes will continue to rise in number and intensity. Mobs will swarm and intimidate every level of government function, from local school boards, county offices, state capitols, up to the nation’s Capitol 

They will continue their minority rule, and seize increasing power through their disproportionate representation, suppression of minority and democratic voters, and control of elections. Minority rule is exactly what corporate interests have been buying all along. Their partnership with the radical Right will assure fascism’s future in the United States.

Equal justice under law will be a forgotten concept.

They will continue their lies, smears and demonization of dissent and opposition, and eventually criminalize it. They already falsely and viciously accuse Democrats of being communists and progressives as “commie/fascists”. The press is the “enemy of the people”. It doesn’t take any special psychic ability to envision where fascistic scapegoating and false accusations will take us.

The lessons of history will be banned and erased as if they were Critical Race Theory. Orwell’s Big Brother will be their role model. “Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

And above all, “Ignorance is strength”.

This is America's present and future. The Right's dominance is already assured by their disproportionate representation and power in the Senate, their gerrymandered House, their stolen Supreme Court, and the antiquated Electoral College.

Our future was written in the past. Ironically, our Constitution was drafted with flaws that would become toxic to democratic representation.

This is NOT, nor has it EVER been, a democratic representative republic.

Sorry kids, it was rigged for rich white people from the beginning. It was only a matter of time when corporate elites and their crooked and corrupt white authoritarian enablers would lock their grip on the throat of democracy and establish the power of American fascism.

Please feel free to change my mind. Or if that’s impossible, I’ll settle for a slight elevation of my mood.

Sunday, October 24, 2021

Prime Doctrines

I've recently been banned from a certain Trumpist's site, despite our having a long history of commenting at each other's blogs. (He and his loyal pals may still comment here.)

"Prager U" is one of his go-to sources of information and opinion. It is his gospel, of course. It is all believed 100% beyond question.

Ever since he drank the Big Lie koolade, he's been self-radicalizing to the extreme.  He finally had enough of my repeated requests for evidence showing the election was stolen. (Oh, me of little faith.)

After years of  lecturing me on how much I was being "Marxist, Leftist, Socialist”, etc, he's now all aboard the "Leftists Are Fascists" train. 

Well, that train derailed. Do they know fascists have always hated communists?

Do they know, or care, what those words even mean? Or is it just about the hate? 

Exhibit A: "Anyone that simply wishes to throw "Nazi" and "fascist" firebombs as a means of debate is not a useful source at all, other than as an example of how low the militant left has descended."

Of course, it was also acceptable discourse to be called "Commie racist Dave".

Their Leader recently declared, “Slobs and Radical Left maniacs at the View” are the “Communists” Meghan McCain should fight.

And at the radical Turning Point rally:

 “Like it or not, we are becoming a communist country. That’s what’s happening...The radical left democrat communist party".

That’s also when his standard Trumpian projection echoed Goebbels:

“That’s what they’re doing. You know what it’s called? Disinformation. They make up a lot of crap and they say it over and over and over…”

Like someone being a commie AND a fascist. 

Of course our Trumpist friend has been conditioned to reflexively ignore, dismiss, or deny all information from the “Liberal Media, Fake News, Enemies of the people”. He can believe only pro-Trump media. 

It was only a few years ago he agreed Trump wasn't morally fit to be president.

He grew weary of ignoring facts and dismissing appeals to reason, of course. It may even have made him uncomfortable. That made me a "hater". Well, that and being such a dirty, lying Socialist/Leftist/Commie/Fascist.

I think what really snapped his girdle was when I challenged him for still supporting Trump, knowing he praised the violent 1/6 terrorists AFTER their failed coup.

It did not compute.

He was utterly incapable of disagreeing, or even recognizing the statement.

So he had to ban me for my "hate".

I’m not so sad to leave as so happy to have been there.

Really. I’ve learned a bit. Those on the radical Right have strong FEELINGS, and beliefs beyond introspection. Beyond facts, logic and reason.

And I have gained a belief of my own, albeit open to as much question as my fascist tolerance allows.

I believe there are two important things to understand about cults like the American far Right.

The radical Right and Trump Cult have two Orwellian operating "principles".  

The Two Prime Doctrines of the American Radical Right:

1. The Doctrine of Flexible Morality and Ethics. “It's OK if you’re a Republican.”

“Anything and everything. Identical words and actions are evil if by a Democrat, but never if by a Republican.”

 (Right. My body. My choice. If not for double standards, they’d have none.)

2. The Doctrine of Flexible Reality.*

“Everything is as we say, contradictions included, and everyone else is lying.”

* (Corollaries) “There is no such thing as a Doctrine of Flexible Morality and Ethics. There is no such thing as a Doctrine of Flexible Reality. Unless we say there is.” 

(This doctrine was established and expanded upon by their propagandists over the decades, and employed every day across their cult. They were now ready for Trump, their Dear Leader of infallible words and deeds.)

I can’t think of anything these “principles” can’t cover in their deranged and delusional cult bubble.

Ignorance is strength. 

2+2=5, comrades.

Friday, October 15, 2021

Random Tweets

 

Well, maybe these tweets of mine are not quite so random samples, but they are important points on how our republic is failing, and falling into authoritarianism.

“The fundamental cause of the trouble is that in the modern world the stupid are cocksure while the intelligent are full of doubt.” - Bertrand Russell 

"Never underestimate the power of stupid people, especially in large groups." - George Carlin

"Just find me 11,780 votes." "Just say the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me." They are criminals and enemies of democracy. Period.

They are seizing the power to invalidate every election they lose. Fair elections and fair representation are the antithesis of the radical Right and Trumpism. A system already rigged for minority rule isn't good enough for them.

The country was founded on anti-democratic roadblocks like the Electoral College , the Senate, and now the gerrymandered House 

The majority voted for the Democrat in 7 of the last 8 presidential elections. The Senate, gerrymandered House, and Electoral College are biased for the minority. Thus the majority of Americans, not conservatives, are marginalized.

Systemic denial of systemic racism is actually systemic racism. The radical Right sees the study of racism and its effects as a Marxist assault on our freedom, and is why they want to ban the 1619 Project and anything that looks like CRT.

The radical Right have more tolerance for Trump's gang of racist vandals, felons, thugs, white nationalists, Q-Anon believers, Proud Boys, Nazis, Oath Keepers, etc. than they do for those investigating them. It is the "Authoritarian Way".

Sociopaths can thrive in system that rewards their manipulative machinations. They will have the support of the 30% of humanity with authoritarian personalities. Apathy is the ally of authoritarians.

Magat brains are poisoned with not only the lies, but animosity for everyone who isn't in their cult. They are being indoctrinated to hate and fear us as America-hating Leftists, on the cusp of a communist takeover. They are that nuts. And evil.

It is a cult, with a leader revered beyond question, and all outside information is rejected. Journalism went from "liberal media", to "fake news" and finally to "enemy of the people". The Right has always depended on falsehoods, and a gullible base, so this was inevitable.

Facts still matter to honest and rational people. Unfortunately "alternative facts" matter more to dishonest and irrational people.

Mundus vult decipi, ergo decipiatur. "The world wants to be deceived, so let it be deceived."

“The truth is too complex and frightening; the taste for the truth is an acquired taste that few acquire…. ….The world winks at dishonesty.” ― Walter Kaufmann.

Voltaire: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."  Absurdities like witch trials, inquisitions, the "final solution", war based on lies, torture as "enhanced interrogation" and a "Stop the steal" coup.

Their fear of democracy and equality drives the radical Right into fits of lies, false accusations, demonization, and denials of election results. To hold power, they STILL need to cheat, suppress voter rights and seize control of elections.

They can't seem to imagine how much they’d screech and howl, “Impeach”, “Traitor”, “Liar”, and “Commie!”, if President Obama or President Biden had done or said exactly what Trump did and said.

If his 1/6 coup didn't make it clear enough, what will it take for the corporate media to admit Trumpism IS fascism? He PRAISED the TERRORISTS! Why isn't this fact included in every report about that man?

Friday, September 24, 2021

Imagine If...

Where hate, lies and ignorance converge:

“All house Democrats are evil and will kill unborn babies all the way up to birth and then celebrate.” – MTG shouting to Debbie Dingell on the Capitol steps.

Margie Greene forgot the part where Dems celebrate by dancing naked around the fire they roast the dead babies on.

Seriously, this along with the “Left hates America” style convergence of hate, lies and ignorance will get the semi-literate, irrational, dupes and true believers thinking we literate and rational objectors are the enemies of the United States.  We’ve seen this fascistic level of hate and lies before.

This madness is exactly how they will justify killing or imprisoning those who disagree with the man who said this:

“Like it or not, we are becoming a communist country. That’s what’s happening. The radical left democrat communist party"

This convergence of hate, lies and ignorance is fascism. And it is deadly to democracy and humanity.

The Radical Right has shown they have an outlandish imagination in their fantasies about their opposition. No accusation is too far-fetched or detached from reality. They readily embrace crazed conspiracy theories and disinformation from the likes of Alex Jones and Q-anon. They regurgitate Trump’s everyday lies as well as his Big Lie.

They imagine BLM as evil racist commie Marxist hordes. They imagine Critical Race Theory, and every other study of the history and effects of slavery and racism, as “Marxism”, and should be banned in educational settings. (Say didn’t Nazis and Commies ban education on subjects they didn’t want taught?)

They even see public education as “commie indoctrination”. They imagine Democrats are all socialists and Marxists, coming for their guns, desecrating their churches, running pedophile rings, and seeking to emulate Venezuela. They imagine the free press is the "enemy of the people”. They even imagine Trump was sent by Jesus, or he’s His choice for president.

Yes. Putin and Jesus agree on that.

But amazing as their imaginations are, there are many things they seem unable to imagine.

They can’t seem to imagine...

...If President Obama or President Biden had threatened an opponent with imprisonment.

...If President Obama or President Biden had bragged about grabbing women’s genitals without their consent.

...If President Obama or President Biden had illegally paid off a porn star for her silence before an election.

...If President Obama or President Biden had invited Russia to hack opponents emails.

...If President Obama’s or President Biden’s campaign met with Russians for dirt on his opponent.

...If President Obama or President Biden had betrayed the US and sided with Putin on the world stage in Helsinki.

...If President Obama or President Biden obstructed FBI investigations of election interference.

...If President Obama or President Biden had declared, “You have people who are very fine people on both sides”, when one side had white supremacists, marching Nazis, and a murderer.

...If President Obama or President Biden had called the free press the “enemy of the people”.

...If President Obama or President Biden had withheld aid approved by Congress on condition of a foreign leader’s political attack on his opponent.

...If President Obama or President Biden had whined about the “fascist Republican Party”, as Trump whined about the “socialist Democrat Party”

...If President Obama or President Biden had said, “Hitler did a lot of good things”.

...If President Obama or President Biden had complained he would only lose if the election was rigged.

...If President Obama or President Biden had lied about a “stolen election” if he had lost.

...If President Obama or President Biden had complained about a “rigged election” even if he won.

...If President Obama or President Biden had accused a secretary of state of being a criminal if he didn’t "Just find me 11,780 votes."

...If President Obama or President Biden had pressured the acting  attorney general to "Just say the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me."

...If President Obama or President Biden had incited a mob to overturn an election, to march to the Capitol, and to “fight like hell” and “stop the steal”.

...If President Obama or President Biden had watched his supporters storm the Capitol on TV and refuse to order them to stop.

...If President Obama or President Biden had praised that mob of terrorists as “very special” and told them he loved them.

...If President Obama or President Biden had chosen the day Congress was to follow its constitutional mandate to certify an election, and had said this to an agitated violent mob:

“Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore and that’s what this is all about.

We’re going to have somebody in there that should not be in there and our country will be destroyed, and we’re not going to stand for that.

You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.

I like Bill Barr, but he changed, because he didn’t want to be considered my personal attorney.

Make no mistake, this election, stolen from you, from me and from the country.

If we allow this group of people to illegally take over our country.

We fight like Hell and if you don’t fight like Hell, you’re not going to have a country anymore.

We’re going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.”

They can’t seem to imagine how anyone saying these words could incite a mob to violently storm the Capitol.

They can't seem to imagine how much they’d screech and howl, “Impeach”, “Traitor”, “Liar”, and “Commie!”, if President Obama or President Biden had done or said exactly what Trump did and said.

We’ll just have to imagine that for them.

 

Tuesday, September 14, 2021

The Marginalized Majority

 

Maybe you’ve noticed a few things about our nation's current political landscape.

Nobody complains more about being marginalized than conservatives.

Nobody complains more about their voices being unheard than conservatives.

Nobody demands to “take our country back” more than conservatives. 

Nobody claims to be “real Americans”, and vilifies opponents for “hating America” more than conservatives.

Nobody howls about “rigged elections” more than conservatives.

Nobody believes Trump’s Big Lie about a stolen election more than conservatives. This will encourage the radical Right to deny the results of every election they lose.

But what are the facts, besides the obvious one that Biden won the election?

The facts tell us who really are the truly marginalized Americans in our so-called representative democratic republic.

They are not conservatives. And they are not the minority.

The majority of Americans voted for the Democrat in 7 of the last 8 presidential elections.

Through wild and convoluted gerrymandering, Republicans have been in the majority in the House of Representatives for four of the past six congresses, despite the fact Democrats have won more total votes in four of the six past midterm elections.

50 Democratic Senators represent 40 million more Americans than the 50 Republican Senators.

The Electoral College has a built in bias for mostly white conservative rural states.

These facts tell us who actually are the marginalized victims of disproportionate, unfair and reduced representation in our government.

Blacks, other minorities, women, and Democrats.

It’s no coincidence, or quirk of demographics, that the Republican Party and its elected officials are overwhelmingly conservative white men.

No wonder their fear of democracy and equality drives the radical Right into fits of lies, false accusations, demonization, and denials of election results.

To hold power they STILL need to cheat, suppress voter rights and seize partisan control of elections.

Elections are rigged all right. In favor of Republicans.

Sunday, September 12, 2021

What, Me Gullible?

 

From the Washington Post:

DIHYDROGEN MONOXIDE: UNRECOGNIZED KILLER

The chemical compound dihydrogen monoxide (or DHMO) has been implicated in the deaths of thousands of Americans every year, mainly through accidental ingestion. In gaseous form, it can cause severe burns. And, according to a new report, "the dangers of this chemical do not end there."

The chemical is so caustic that it "accelerates the corrosion and rusting of many metals, . . . is a major component of acid rain, {and} . . . has been found in excised tumors of terminal cancer patients." Symptoms of ingestion include "excessive sweating and urination," and "for those who have developed a dependency on DHMO, complete withdrawal means certain death."

Yet the presence of the chemical has been confirmed in every river, stream, lake and reservoir in America.

Judging from these facts, do you think dihydrogen monoxide should be banned?

Seems like an open-and-shut case -- until you realize that this chemical compound is plain old water (two hydrogen molecules bonded to one oxygen, or H 2 O, which can drown you, scald you or make you go to the bathroom.

In 1997, Nathan Zohner, an enterprising 14-year-old student at Eagle Rock Junior High School in Idaho Falls, Idaho, conducted his science fair project on just this theme. Nathan distributed a tongue-in-cheek report that had been kicking around the Internet, "Dihydrogen Monoxide: The Unrecognized Killer" (from which the quotes above are drawn), to 50 of his classmates.

In the end, 43 students, or 86 percent of the sample, "voted to ban dihydrogen monoxide because it has caused too many deaths," wrote Nathan in the conclusion to his project, adding that he "was appalled that my peers were so easily misled. . . . I don't feel comfortable with the current level of understanding."

Nathan's project, which won the grand prize at the Greater Idaho Falls Science Fair, was titled, "How Gullible Are We?" But ninth-graders aren't the only gullible parties. I'm sure that, if Nathan tried the same experiment on adults, he'd find at least as many would want to ban DHMO.

 ~~~~~~

So we can see the Trump era’s use of facts, and of course lies, to lead a scientifically, historically, sociologically or politically ignorant public to a false conclusion is not new.

Karl Marx developed Critical Theory to address the oppressive symptoms of class divisions under 19th Century capitalism. As we know, Marx and Lenin are the philosophical founders of communism.

Britannica informs us:

Critical theory, Marxist-inspired movement in social and political philosophy originally associated with the work of the Frankfurt School. Drawing particularly on the thought of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud, critical theorists maintain that a primary goal of philosophy is to understand and to help overcome the social structures through which people are dominated and oppressed.

Hmm. This sounds dangerous! 

Now Black and Brown sociological researchers, universities, educators, and other liberals are employing Critical Race Theory to study the history and effects of slavery and racism.

Given the Marxist origins of Critical Theory, should Critical Race Theory be banned?

We know what happened.

That’s exactly what Republican legislators have done.

When Trump lied about a rigged and stolen election, Republicans launched a nationwide crusade to restrict voter rights, and enacted efforts to enable their partisan control of elections.

Critical Race Theory, hydroxychloroquine, Ivermectin, anti-maskers, anti-vaxxers, and the Big Lie about a stolen election reveal the symptoms of the same human malady. It is popularly known as gullibility.

And it is quite evident which sector of the population is most afflicted with gullibility.

 

Tuesday, September 7, 2021

Fanning the Flames

Too bad Trump’s cult loves their Dear Leader more than America.

They believe in his Big Lie over every state certification board, every poll worker, every recount, every court, and every elector.

This blind acceptance and obedience fits the definition of a cult. They attacked our Capitol, believing they were following Dear Leader’s orders.

All that matters to these terrorists and their sympathizers is they hate the same people, those of us who know Trump is a dangerous liar.

And they are foaming at the mouth for more insurrection. Another Fourth Reich style rally and possible Putsch are in the works for September 18th.

Washington (CNN) Former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said Monday evening that law enforcement needs to take the upcoming right-wing rally in support of jailed January 6 rioters "very seriously" as concerns mount about more potential violence on Capitol Hill.

Law enforcement members in Washington are steeling themselves against possible unrest at the "Justice for J6" rally -- planned for September 18 -- which aims to support the insurrectionists charged in the riot.

Homeland Security Intelligence chief John Cohen told CNN last month that online extremist rhetoric is strikingly similar to the buildup to the January 6 attack, with increasing calls for violence linked to conspiracy theories and false narratives.

Still, McCabe, who served as the FBI's deputy director from 2016 to 2018 including a period as acting director, said Monday that law enforcement has "a few factors leaning in their favor" this time. "You don't have a sitting President actively fanning the flames and trying to get people to attend the rally," he said.

Sorry Andy. They have an ex-president fanning the flames. He is still their Dear Leader, and he's still pouring gas on his fire.

Trump recently mixed in more hate and blame with his Big LIE.

Just last week he told his new “spokesperson” and fellow serial liar Liz Herrington "We had it perfectly -- perfectly -- in control. We could have taken our time. It was after I got out with a Rigged Election, as soon as I got out [the Taliban] started taking over. Those 13 incredible people would be alive today."

Why do Trump True Believers eat that crap up so willingly? Is it the hate? 

I see no other reason for rejecting truth to this dangerous degree. This radical cult is attacking our country's democratic process, voting rights, and elections as well as the truth.

All on the word of Donald Trump.

No shame. No decency. No honor.

Just loyalty to the Big Lie of "Honest" Donald Frickin Trump. No wonder so many brainwashed dupes think wearing masks and vaccinations do not mitigate a pandemic. Many still think covid is a hoax.

Only hate can explain their brainwashing, fascist demonizing, scapegoating, and hate mongering like, "Leftists hate America", and every damn thing they say about socialism and Critical Race Theory.

This cult of lies and hate is what is really tearing our country apart.

It took six months after being legally voted out of office for the big jerk to finally recommend getting vaccinated.

His cult didn't like being told that, either.

How many cultists will continue to embrace his Big Lie, even if after he finally recants the most dangerous lie known to the republic?

Trump may back off on his Big Lie if he starts to feel the heat of justice closing in. He’ll probably try to weasel his way out by saying, “That’s what people were saying”.

He’d better start rehearsing.

He and Lindsay Graham are under investigation for interfering with the Georgia election.

This is exactly what he said.

"Just find me 11,780 votes."

"Just say the election was corrupt, and leave the rest to me."

They are criminals and enemies of democracy. Period.


Monday, September 6, 2021

Happy Labor Day


Happy Labor Day.

Today we honor the working men and women of America.

They who built it, maintain it, preserve it, continue to build it, and improve it.

They serve in the public sector, and labor in the private sector.

We honor those before us who worked to build unions, and to strengthen labor rights, and to achieve collective bargaining and representation.

Their contribution to the American middle class was immeasurable. At times the price was paid in blood.

The 1886 Haymarket Riot helped bring about the eight hour workday. A hundred years ago miners revolted against horrible working conditions at Matewan and the Battle of Blair Mountain.

And we should honor their work and sacrifice through efforts of our own, to similarly assure our well-being.

Just as we should remember the sacrifices of our service members on more than just Memorial Day, we need to remember the American worker on more than just Labor Day.

For all practical purposes, Tuesday begins the next 364 days of “Management Days”.

This is indicative of neither a thriving economy for workers nor of a functional democracy.

We the people also need to work to preserve what remains of our democratic republic.

We all have to defend our freedoms, our rights, our safety and well-being, if we all want to be free.

Free from bigotry, lies, hate, and fear.

Free from corporate economic power over government, free from injustice, free from civil unrest, free from foreign and domestic terrorism.

We want to be free from those who want to dismantle or undermine our constitutional public education, social safety nets, and public health.

We want to be free from those who want to dismantle or undermine constitutional equal justice under law, fair representation, voting rights, reproductive rights, free speech and a free press.

This is what patriots want for a more perfect union.

But freedom isn’t free. Rights cannot be taken for granted. Consent of the governed must be a guiding principle of our government, or we have a failed republic. 

Private interests are dictating public policy. Public policy should serve the public interest, not that of the privileged and economic elites. Our constitutional general welfare and our Individual freedoms and rights become suppressed by private control of public policy. Constitutional regulation of commerce and fair representation for the general public are not in the interests of private wealth and corporate power. 

As the wealthiest of Americans enjoy greater tax cuts, the greater burden falls upon the workers’ shoulders. Too many corporations pay a lower federal income tax than school teachers or truck drivers.

It’s up to the working men and women of the country to claim fair and livable wages, and to demand freedom as our birthright, as well as the means to defend our rights from all threats. We of the working class need to vote in greater numbers and participate more in self-government, or others will do it to suit their own political purposes and economic ends.

Only the American working class can restore and preserve our democratic republic.

We face the most urgent and critical job of preserving the republic.

Now, and from now on.

"Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration." - Abraham Lincoln


Thursday, September 2, 2021

Courage of Conviction


Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

W.B. Yeats

 

Democrat Lindsey Simmons challenged Republican U.S. Rep. Vicky Hartzler for Missouri's 4th Congressional District seat. Her insight and experiences are important in understanding the radical Right’s embrace of terrorism in its war on democracy and equality.

She also notes the fatal weakness in intimidated and corporate-owned institutional Democrats. Their meekness shows they lack the courage of conviction found in the pro-democracy fighters in red states.

~~~~~~~~~~~

I launched my campaign for Congress in 2019.

I was harassed. My home was vandalized, multiple times. I received violent threats. My car was followed by active Klan, with my 2 year old in the car.

We fought a righteous fight out here.

And the Dems in DC don’t give a damn.

Volunteers and activists from Columbia to Cass County, between Moberly and Marshfield and Lamar to Lebanon—these people endured the same + worse.

On their own property, close to their homes, people had signs burned to the ground, stolen, or shot up by passers-by. 

I called it terrorism as it happened. Because that’s what it is.

Violence + intimidation against civilians for a political purpose.

January 6th wasn’t a shock to us out here. It was a larger finale to a season’s long episode of aggression. 

When you stand up in a deeply red district in a deeply red state, you do it because lives depend on it.

You do it because democracy depends on it.

You do it because the future you want for your kids + grandkids depends on it. 

That future included:

▪ a new voting rights act
▪ ending gerrymandering
▪ universal healthcare
▪ codified Roe v Wade
▪ anti-lynching laws
▪ ending qualified immunity
▪ equal rights amendment
▪ prosecution of the crimes we watched unfold before our eyes the previous 4 years

 And Democrats in Washington, DC who have a seat at the table—they’re playing a dangerous game.

They’re betting our entire country’s future on this notion that if they don’t rock the boat too much, things will calm down, and they can get re-elected and do more “next time”. 

This is a damn fairytale.

We are in the eye of a storm.

And what we do now dictates whether democracy survives after 2024.

You cannot make bets with the underlying assumption being that you will win another election. 

The autocrats aren’t trying to win. They aren’t trying to beat you.

They are actively dismantling democracy such that the American people willingly hand it over.

We won the White House.
We won the House of Representatives.
We won the Senate.

Let’s act like it. 

The days of gentlemanly handshakes and agreeing to disagree are long-gone.

Nine months ago sitting Members of Congress invited terrorists to murder the Vice President and their colleagues.

They have stolen seats on the Supreme Court. 

These are not people who care about decency or precedent or the law.

They care about control.

And we need to care more about doing the hard things instead of looking bad on cable news. 

This week you have Members of a Congress threatening telecom companies if they comply with subpoenas—that’s obstruction of justice.

You have Texas subjugating women.

You have multiple states hellbent on limiting our right to vote.

You have California facing a recall. 

School board meetings are full of parents denouncing science and history.

Politicians are using that chaos to defund public education.

Our nation is in crisis and we’re pretending our hands are tied.

We lack not options for moving forward, but the courage to do so. 

There is no doubt in my mind that our nation is in safer hands with President Biden.

But there’s also no doubt in my mind that if the “political consultants” had the backbone + experience of pro-democracy fighters in red states we’d be a lot more prepared to survive this storm. 

 

Monday, August 23, 2021

Dare I Compare?

 

Dare I compare?

Because of all their similarities, I’ve tended to compare the American Radical Right to Nazis and other fascists. I knew I would get flak for that, and I suppose I’m begging for it again.

Recently I was informed that I was uninformed, of some Brownshirt/Nazi history, although the correct information was never offered. The Brownshirts were Hitler’s Nazi storm troopers during his ascent to power. They were his “security”, but more accurately they were his brawling street thugs. They were his early versions of Proud Boys and Oath Keepers, itching for fights with commies or anyone they declared a commie. He purged them the year after he became chancellor, awarding the security duties and brutality to Himmler’s SS.

I was told, “Comparing anyone to Hitler is an insult to the Holocaust victims and the millions of other victims”. I can understand equating mask requirements and vaccinations to the Holocaust would be an insult, but Holocaust victims HAVE compared Trumpism and its white nationalist core to the early Nazi movement, and rightly so.

I’m pretty sure my comparisons of similarities don’t meet the same level of insult as Marjorie Taylor Greene saying, “We can look back in a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens — so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany,” and days later, tweeting, “Vaccinated employees get a vaccination logo just like the Nazi’s forced Jewish people to wear a gold star.”

Readers are free to make their own call on comparing our two perspectives.

I do stand guilty of comparing the rise of the current American radical Right with the rise of Nazis and other fascists of Europe in the past. Similarities draw those comparisons, but in my defense I did not equate them. Fascists come in all sizes and colors, creeds and races. Nazis do not. They come almost exclusively in white.

I don’t want to be a blog Nazi, but I insist on an understanding of the difference between “compare” and “equate”. (Just joking. I suppose the olden days when Jews could joke about a “Soup Nazi” were too wild for today’s PC sensibilities. If so, I apologize to Holocaust victims and survivors on our joint behalf.)

I’ll summarize my case.

Remember "Godwin's Law"?

Mike Godwin updated it. Now he says this:

"I came up with Godwin’s Law. In its original form, Godwin’s Law goes like this: “As an online discussion continues, the probability of a reference or comparison to Hitler or Nazis approaches 1.”

First, let me get this Donald Trump issue out of the way: If you’re thoughtful about it and show some real awareness of history, go ahead and refer to Hitler or Nazis when you talk about Trump. Or any other politician."

I'm comparing the similarities of radical Right movements and their common roots of fascism. Authoritarians have always been the minority, but that doesn't stop them from taking power.


Yes, I'm comparing racist American authoritarians to Nazis because Nazis were/are racist authoritarians.

Nazis didn't start out with camps and Kristallnacht. They started in the same place as other racist authoritarians. They had to win a propaganda war first.

Today's radical Right are doing just that. The anger, resentment, scapegoating, accusations, and lies from FOX(R) and Limbaugh and all the rest of the radical Right's hateful messaging has been sinking in to millions of Americans.

They have indoctrinated a significant percentage of our population into believing Democrats are Socialists and the radical left "hates America".

Good God, MOST Trump voters believe HE WON! This degree of brainwashing and delusion is a lethal cancer on the republic.

As with Hitler, all opposition is demonized as "Marxist" and communism. Why in the world should I NOT compare such similar ideologies?

As I noted, Tucker Carlson denied the existence of white nationalism, but he attacked Rep. Ilhan Omar for “hating America,” saying, “We have every right to fight to preserve our nation and our heritage and our culture.” He fanned outrage at, “non-white people cheering the extinction of white people”.

Systemic denial of systemic racism is actually systemic racism. No wonder the radical Right sees the study of racism and its effects as a Marxist assault on our freedom, and is why they want to ban the 1619 Project and anything that looks like CRT.

And while we’re at it, let’s ban masks and vaccines. It’s just patriotic, unabashedly American, common sense.

Some think I went too far with, “I get a lot of flak for comparing America’s radical Right to Nazis. But racists are racists. Authoritarians are authoritarians. They spring from the same fetid mire of bigotry and hatred. They are enemies of democracy and equality. They share the bloody trait and heritage of a violent coup and Putsch... They desecrated the “Back the Blue” and US flags by beating police officers who thwarted their coup and protected our Congress and Constitutional rule of law. Are they really that different from Hitler’s Brownshirts?”

Perhaps you’ve heard of the Nazi anthem called “The Horst Wessel Song”. He was a brown shirt storm trooper killed in a 1930 brawl, possibly by communists. Nazi propagandists, led by Joseph Goebbels, elevated him to martyrdom.

Not to equate anyone, it seems Trump has his own martyr.

~~~~~

“Statement by Donald J. Trump, 45th President of the United States of America”

"I spoke to the wonderful mother and devoted husband of Ashli Babbitt, who was murdered at the hands of someone who should never have pulled the trigger of his gun. We know who he is. If that happened to the “other side,” there would be riots all over America and yet, there are far more people represented by Ashli, who truly loved America, than there are on the other side. The Radical Left haters cannot be allowed to get away with this. There must be justice!"

 “Save America”

President Donald J. Trump

August 11, 2021

~~~~~~

It’s quite clear who to hate and blame in all this, and they are not the “very special” terrorists he “loves”.

He promoted and basked in a renewed elevation of nationalism. Flagrant patriotism was the new norm. Flag displays, many of him, were more abundant than any time since 9-11. National security, as in a strong military, was paramount.  Without his leadership the military was “out of ammo” and weak. After he became president the military suddenly became the “most powerful military in the world”.

He wanted to expand interrogation torture tactics “beyond waterboarding”. "I would absolutely authorize something beyond waterboarding and believe me, it will be effective," he said on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopoulos." "You have our enemy cutting heads off of Christians and plenty of others, by the hundreds, by the thousands."

"Do we win by being more like them?" asked Stephanopoulos.

"Yes," replied Trump. "I'm sorry. You have to do it that way."

The pro-torture serial sex offender pretended to embrace traditional family values. Denial of women’s reproductive rights was a priority. His appointments to the Supreme Court had to be pro-business and anti-choice.

History has echoes:

“The National Government...regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality, and the family as the basis of national life." - Adolf Hitler "My New Order" - Proclamation to the German Nation, Berlin, February 1, 1933

In 1941 Hitler said, “I am now as before a Catholic and will always remain so."

On October 10, 1936 Heinrich Himmler created the Reich Central Office for Combating Homosexuality and Abortion, or Special Office (II S), a sub-department of Executive Department II of the Gestapo.

Incidentally, Hitler’s “My New Order” was the only book his wife Ivana saw him read.

But Trump brought religion back to government, surrounding himself with preachers in the Oval Office. Better yet, Black preachers. After gassing protesters for exercising their First Amendment right, he brandished an upside-down Bible in a calculated campaign photo-op.

He anointed an unhinged woman as his “spiritual advisor” who reveled in her “assignment from God”. Paula White was the typical “prosperity” preacher who sucked up cash from unwitting dupes before bankrupting the church.

She employed the old scam of “speaking in tongues” to secure Trump’s reelection, as Jesus surely would have wanted. "We declare that we overcome every strategy of hell that has been aligned against this election, that has been aligned against your will, that has been aligned against the church," she said.

White claimed that "demonic confederacies" were attempting to steal the election from Trump.

"I hear victory, victory, victory, victory in the quarters of heaven," "Angels are being dispatched from Africa right now," she said, adding, "They're coming here."

Can I get an “Amen”?

He told us who the bad guys were. We’re not talking about ISIS, the Taliban, Russia or China, but fellow Americans. The enemies are everywhere, and they would be his scapegoats and targeted for blame for any and all ills within our borders.  He blamed immigrants for gangs and crimes, saying Mexico and other “shithole countries” were sending rapists and murders to the US. He wanted to have protestors and people crossing the border illegally to be shot. 

Athletes taking a knee to protest police violence were “sons of bitches” who deserved to be fired, “Radical left Democrats”, antifa, "The radical left democrat communist party" were more of his hated enemies. “Like it or not, we are becoming a communist country. That’s what’s happening.” The message is, “The Left hates America”.

He ran on a promise to ban Muslims from entering the country. His supporters were delighted to share his hate for all those “Anti-American others”. When he ordered the assassination of an Iranian bad guy, he pushed us to the brink of another war. Luckily Iran was satisfied by retaliating with a missile attack on a US base in Iraq.

Also, whenever the press portrayed him in any negative or unflattering way, they became “fake news” and “enemy of the people”. He led the media in circles with daily outrages and rants against journalists. In one week in 2018 he singled out three African-American women journalists. The women - Abby Phillip, April Ryan and Yamiche Alcindor - earned his contempt apparently just for asking him questions. Trump, the Birther President, called one of Ms Phillip's questions "stupid," described Ms Ryan as "a loser" and scolded Ms Alcindor, saying her question was "racist."

In the radical Right’s twisted world, only Blacks, BLM, and liberals are racists. They will tell you they “don’t see color” and judge only on the “contents of one’s character”. They will tell you racism isn’t really a problem anymore, but white conservatives are the real victims of racism.

The far Right’s primary Big Lie was “liberal media” in their war on journalism. Journalism has always been seen as a threat to totalitarians and authoritarians.

The German Nazis used the term “Lügenpresse”, or lying press, in their campaign to replace journalism with their party propaganda. Now American fascists replaced “liberal media” with  “fake news” and “enemy of the people” when journalists threaten their agenda with truth.

He cut taxes and regulations for corporations and the economic elites. He scorned organized labor and embraced opponents of unions and labor rights.

He proposed cutting activities funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Following the Goebbels playbook, he projected his dishonesty onto the press and opposition. “That’s what they’re doing. You know what it’s called? Disinformation. They make up a lot of crap and they say it over and over and over…”

This projection is to deflect away from Trump’s 30,000 plus lies in office, as well as the stolen election “big lie”.

From the Jewish Virtual Library:

“The original description of the big lie appeared in Mein Kampf. Adolf Hitler applied it to the behavior of Jews rather than as a tactic he advocated. Specifically, he accused Viennese Jews of trying to discredit the Germans’ activities during World War I. Hitler wrote of the Jews’ “unqualified capacity for falsehood” and “that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods. It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation…. From time immemorial, however, the Jews have known better than any others how falsehood and calumny can be exploited.”

The OSS psychological profile of Hitler described his use of the big lie:

His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.

Goebbels did describe the big lie in different language in an article he wrote in 1941, “Churchill’s Lie Factory,” but he was accusing the British of the ploy: “The English follow the principle that when one lies, one should lie big, and stick to it. They keep up their lies, even at the risk of looking ridiculous.”

Hollywood Access personality Billy Bush, of the infamous “Grab ‘em by the pussy” interview, reported Trump’s telling response after being called out for inflating his ratings. "People will just believe you. You just tell them and they believe you,"

He claimed the mantle of “law and order”, but he had different standards for BLM protestors and his own insurrectionist mob. He praised his violent mob, saying they were special and he loved them. He and his party are dug in on protecting violent and crooked cops with “qualified immunity”. They resist any reforms to police powers and practices.

He placed unqualified family members and loyal cronies into the Cabinet and high lever advisory positions. His daughter Ivanka would be an advisor. Her husband Jared Kushner was to solve every problem from the Middle East to the opiod crisis, in addition to being Liaison to Mexico and China.

Trump assured us, "I know all the best people".

Manafort *

Roger Stone **

General Flynn **

Giuliani ****

Michael Cohen *

Tom Barrack ***

Rick Gates *

Allen Weisselberg *****

----

* Convicted & imprisoned

** Convicted

*** Arrested

**** Raided by FBI

***** Indicted

 

He undermined and interfered with elections with his big lie that he won the 2020 election, and by demanding Georgia “find” him enough votes to win. He twisted arms at the Justice Department and demanded acting attorney general Rosen to, “Just say that the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me.” In self-serving subservience his party actively works to restrict voting rights, registration, and ballot access. Minorities are specially targeted for disenfranchisement of both the vote and fair representation.

There is no doubt that the American radical Right, like all fascists before them, are absolute enemies of democracy and equality.

But are they really fascists? If that’s not clear by now, here’s a handy guide for your search for any similarities and shared characteristics between our American Radical Right and fascism.

~~~~~~

 Political scientist Dr. Lawrence Britt recently wrote an article about fascism ("Fascism Anyone?," Free Inquiry, Spring 2003, page 20). Studying the fascist regimes of Hitler (Germany), Mussolini (Italy), Franco (Spain), Suharto (Indonesia), and Pinochet (Chile), Dr. Britt found they all had 14 elements in common. He calls these the identifying characteristics of fascism.

The 14 Characteristics of Fascism

by Lawrence Britt

Spring 2003

The 14 characteristics are:

1. Powerful and Continuing Nationalism
Fascist regimes tend to make constant use of patriotic mottos, slogans, symbols, songs, and other paraphernalia. Flags are seen everywhere, as are flag symbols on clothing and in public displays.

2. Disdain for the Recognition of Human Rights
Because of fear of enemies and the need for security, the people in fascist regimes are persuaded that human rights can be ignored in certain cases because of "need." The people tend to look the other way or even approve of torture, summary executions, assassinations, long incarcerations of prisoners, etc.

3. Identification of Enemies/Scapegoats as a Unifying Cause
The people are rallied into a unifying patriotic frenzy over the need to eliminate a perceived common threat or foe: racial , ethnic or religious minorities; liberals; communists; socialists, terrorists, etc.

4. Supremacy of the Military
Even when there are widespread domestic problems, the military is given a disproportionate amount of government funding, and the domestic agenda is neglected. Soldiers and military service are glamorized.

5. Rampant Sexism
The governments of fascist nations tend to be almost exclusively male-dominated. Under fascist regimes, traditional gender roles are made more rigid. Opposition to abortion is high, as is homophobia and anti-gay legislation and national policy.

6. Controlled Mass Media
Sometimes to media is directly controlled by the government, but in other cases, the media is indirectly controlled by government regulation, or sympathetic media spokespeople and executives. Censorship, especially in war time, is very common.

7. Obsession with National Security
Fear is used as a motivational tool by the government over the masses.

8. Religion and Government are Intertwined
Governments in fascist nations tend to use the most common religion in the nation as a tool to manipulate public opinion. Religious rhetoric and terminology is common from government leaders, even when the major tenets of the religion are diametrically opposed to the government's policies or actions.

9. Corporate Power is Protected
The industrial and business aristocracy of a fascist nation often are the ones who put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship and power elite.

10. Labor Power is Suppressed
Because the organizing power of labor is the only real threat to a fascist government, labor unions are either eliminated entirely, or are severely suppressed .

11. Disdain for Intellectuals and the Arts
Fascist nations tend to promote and tolerate open hostility to higher education, and academia. It is not uncommon for professors and other academics to be censored or even arrested. Free expression in the arts is openly attacked, and governments often refuse to fund the arts.

12. Obsession with Crime and Punishment
Under fascist regimes, the police are given almost limitless power to enforce laws. The people are often willing to overlook police abuses and even forego civil liberties in the name of patriotism. There is often a national police force with virtually unlimited power in fascist nations.

13. Rampant Cronyism and Corruption
Fascist regimes almost always are governed by groups of friends and associates who appoint each other to government positions and use governmental power and authority to protect their friends from accountability. It is not uncommon in fascist regimes for national resources and even treasures to be appropriated or even outright stolen by government leaders.

14. Fraudulent Elections
Sometimes elections in fascist nations are a complete sham. Other times elections are manipulated by smear campaigns against or even assassination of opposition candidates, use of legislation to control voting numbers or political district boundaries, and manipulation of the media. Fascist nations also typically use their judiciaries to manipulate or control elections.