I'm With Her

 

President Biden has done something that Trump and his party could never do. He put the country over himself. 

Kamala will be the second woman to have more Americans voting for her over Trump.

I'm with her. 

Reichsmarschall Vance

Then:

Trump’s VP candidate J.D. Vance in 2016:

“But I’m not surprised by Trump’s rise, and I think the entire party has only itself to blame. We are, whether we like it or not, the party of lower-income, lower-education white people, and I have been saying for a long time that we need to offer those people SOMETHING (and hell, maybe even expand our appeal to working-class black people in the process) or a demagogue would. We are now at that point. Trump is the fruit of the party’s collective neglect.”

I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn't be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he's America's Hitler. How's that for discouraging?”

Now:

Born-again neo-Nazi Reichsmarschall Vance:

So, what’s the "central premise" behind Trump re-posting this, Herr Reichsmarschall?

What "Liberal Media"?

 

Our friend Dave Miller posed a question that we need to address. It is one of the most important questions in our country at this time.

“How does the left communicate with a section of the electorate that has decided to ignore all media outlets because, as one sailor said, "they all lie, so why bother?"

The left has very little power in corporate media. Mother Jones isn't the dominant newspaper and NPR isn't the primary source of broadcast news for Americans.

There are a few voices of reason in corpo-media, but the executives are more interested in profit than in informing the public. Thus the "horse race" becomes the game, instead of focusing on the clear and present danger to our democracy.

Combine this with the fact the right successfully pushed their first Big Lies that corporate media is "liberal media" and liberalism is next to communism. It was only a matter of time when "Rigged election" would be their ultimate Big Lie.

Bias is not inherently evil, unless the bias supports evil. As Stephen Colbert put it, "Reality has a well-known liberal bias".

Since Reagan allowed Murdoch, Limbaugh and other extremists to be given free rein over the fairness doctrine, far right partisan media have taken full advantage of their leverage over truth.

Their captive audience was immediately indoctrinated to believe their far-right partisan media was truly "fair and balanced". This was their Big Con. "Everybody is lying to you. We are your only source for truth".

“Goebbels 101” became the MO for them, while the rest of corporate media decided to move to the right instead of holding a bias for reality. This isn’t recent. In the frenzied war fever before Bush invaded Iraq, Phil Donohue’s highly rated show was canceled by MSNBC because he had too many guests who questioned the official lies about WMD’s and Saddam’s “connection to al-Qaeda”.

Look what they are doing to Biden now, while giving Trump and his agenda a pass. If Biden had spoken as LOUDLY as Trump in the debate, we wouldn't be hearing any of the unqualified pundits' "medical expertise" on Biden's mental acuity.

Corpo-Media is tolerating intolerance and promoting false equivalence.

And most of the country thinks THAT is "liberal bias" from the "liberal media".

When Christiane Amanpour delivered the commencement address at the Columbia University School of Journalism she said:

“Journalism is a public service, first and foremost. Journalism is about the truth, first and foremost. Be truthful, but not neutral. Both-siderism, (on the one hand, on the other hand,) is not always objectivity. It does not get you to the truth. Drawing false moral or factual equivalence is neither objective nor truthful. Objectivity is our golden rule. And it is in weighing all the sides and all the evidence. Hearing everyone, quoting everything, but not rushing to equate them when there is no equating. And look at the damage that has done.”

But here we are. The corporate media is rigged in favor of the right. The Electoral College is rigged in favor of the right. The Senate is rigged in favor of the right. And the Supreme Court has been stolen and stacked for the right. They obstructed justice by numerous delays and proceeded to elevate a convicted felon and insurrectionist to the ballot where he is likely to win an election. To top it off they have granted him immunity from further crimes. 

There can be no happy, just, or democratic outcome from this slow moving, decades long, authoritarian coup. 

Trump's "Enabling Act"

 

Justice Sotomayor's fear is grounded in her rational sense of justice and the rule of law, and her dissent is a clear warning. 

President Biden agreed when he said in response:

I concur with Justice Sotomayor's dissent today. Here's what she said..."In every use of official power, the president is now a king above the law...With fear for our democracy, I dissent". End of quote. So should the American people dissent. I dissent.

And I dissent. 

The founders wanted a president, not a king. 

Sadly, they couldn’t have foreseen the disastrous consequences of their horrible decision to mandate lifetime judicial appointments, an anti-democratic Senate and electoral votes for the presidency.

A radical Right Christian nationalist majority on the Supreme Court has decided a president, and former president Trump in particular, is now above the law in his so-called “official acts”. This comes as no surprise to those of us who clearly saw the actions of this court were intended to shield Trump from accountability and to delay, obstruct, and DENY justice.

So why can't Biden now order his DOJ to arrest those justices for obstruction of justice and aiding and abetting Trump's crimes as his "official act"? He can certainly direct them to disrupt and deny state election counts by just saying, "The election was corrupt. Do it over". He can tell Kamala to deny election certification next January. Maybe he can declare Trump a domestic terrorist and by an "official act" have him taken out. Why not?

By protecting Trump from accountability, the corrupt partisan majority with three justices appointed by Trump, has shredded our Constitution and destroyed our republic by allowing the president the virtual immunity of a dictator. A president may now cite any of his crimes as “official acts”. And he has a Supreme Court majority in his pocket to assure every one of his crimes can be called an “official act”.

Among other authoritarian edicts, the Supreme Court has just decided it is an "official act" of the president to order his minions in the DOJ to INTERFERE with an election on his behalf.

We now have a US version of the Enabling Act, passed by the German Reichstag on March 23, 1933, which allowed Chancellor Adolf Hitler to assume dictatorial powers.

Remember the quaint notion of an independent Department of Justice?

Chief Justice Roberts killed it. He essentially implemented Project 2025’s stated goal to politicize and weaponize the DOJ:

Page 552

Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise

The Director of the FBI must remain politically accountable to the President in the same manner as the head of any other federal department or agency. To ensure prompt political accountability and to rein in perceived or actual abuses, the next conservative Administration should seek a legislative change to align the FBI Director’s position with those of the heads of all other major departments and agencies.

Or as exemplified by the Third Reich, the Director of the Gestapo must remain politically accountable to the Fuhrer.

The radical Right wants Trump to be a dictator. And that's exactly what we'll get, unless American voters overwhelmingly join Justice Sotomayor's and President Biden's dissent as well.

Chief Justice Roberts endorsed this travesty when he corruptly elevated a person, even a convicted felon, to being above the law to "take care that the laws be faithfully executed".

The fascist decrees by these red hatted so-called Justices have desecrated the very word "justice". 

These authoritarian "In-Justices" have twisted the motto "Equal Justice Under Law" over the entrance to our highest court into an "official lie" that now echoes and establishes as law Orwell's dystopian, "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others".

Is this the final Big Lie that terminates our republic? 

“This country is finished".  - George Carlin

Tonight's Debate

 

Trump's pattern of constant projection tells me HE will be medicated tonight. He whined that Biden will need a "shot in the ass" for tonight's debate.

This makes it likely that Trump will be the one getting the shot in the ass. And he makes it certain that I will be having a shot in the glass.

My Debate Predictions:

There will be no handshake.

Trump will LIE. (Duh!)

Trump will rant about "Marxist, radical left, Communist Democrats".

Trump will say, "fake news", "rigged" and "not fair".

Trump will attack the moderators.

Trump will leave the podium and aggressively approach Biden.

Trump will interrupt Biden.

Trump will yell while his mic is muted.

 

50/50: Trump will walk out.

Reason v Belief and Feelings

 

Our friend Shaw at Progressive Eruptions wondered, "Why is it that we can see beyond Trump's lies and con games but his cultists cannot, no matter the amount of evidence we put before them?"

There are a number of reasons I can cite off the top of my head that don’t support the necessary willful blindness of the Trump cult.

1. We are actively literate and value education.

2. We have a healthy sense of curiosity. Open minds work better than closed minds.

3. We are not gullible.

4.  We prefer verifiable fact-based reality instead of the "alternative facts" from Trumpists.

5. We are not authoritarian personalities.

6. We value compassion and decency in our personal lives and in public policies.

7. We are not frightened, xenophobic, white Christian nationalists.

8. We are not bigots and racists.

9. We recognize sociopathic liars when we see them.

10. If we live in isolated rural white communities we don't embrace the limited world views that most of them have.

11. We actually know the differences between socialism, fascism and communism.

12. We value critical thinking beyond bumper sticker slogans.

13. We support democracy, unobstructed voting rights, fair representation, and equal justice under law.

14. We value free speech, a free press, and ALL of the First Amendment including the freedom of religion and the implied freedom FROM religion. Their church is NOT our government.

15. We don't scapegoat marginalized minorities or define ourselves by the people we hate.

16. We prefer informed and rational understanding over beliefs determined by emotional reactions and hurt FEELINGS.

I'm sure this list is far from complete because nobody has ALL the answers, especially Trumpists.

Trumpism

 

Conservative ideology has never been hampered by an open mind, so it isn’t a great leap from reactionary to radical Right. Today’s American conservative ideology has been hijacked by radicalized talk radio and the Murdoch propaganda empire, which have inevitably allowed Trumpism to essentially become the Republican Party platform. Loyalty to the leader and lockstep conformity to his rhetoric of hate, lies, and blame are now the ONLY qualifications necessary to run as a Republican.

Trumps words become their stated BELIEFS, whether they agree with him or not. With Trumpism BELIEFS become their reality, and those beliefs, and therefore Trump’s words, are beyond examination and dissent. This is Trumpism.

During an interview on Fox & Friends Weekend on Sunday, June 2, 2024, Donald Trump denied saying "Lock her up" about Hillary Clinton.

"You famously said, regarding Hillary Clinton, 'Lock her up.' You declined to do that as president," Fox News's Will Cain said.

With three FOX (R) News “journalists” sitting across from him, Trump declared, “Hillary Clinton—I didn't say lock her up but the people would always say 'Lock her up, lock her up.'"

The FOX (R)  “Journalists” could have said, “Yes you did, sir”, and reminded him of a June of 2016 rally in Redding, California, where he said, "I think Hillary is very weak, I think she's pathetic, I think she should be in jail for what she did with her emails, ok? I think she should be in jail."

And at a rally in Lakeland, Florida in October 2016: Trump again referenced the Clinton email scandal. “She has to go to jail. 

And in the same month during a debate Clinton attacked Trump, saying: "It's just awfully good that someone with the temperament of Donald Trump is not in charge of the law in our country," to which he replied, "Because you'd be in jail."

In January 2020: Responding to crowds in Toledo chanting "lock her up," Trump said: "You should lock her up, I tell ya."

In October 2020: Delivering a speech in Florida, he said, "Lock them up, you should lock them up. Lock up the Bidens, lock up Hillary, lock 'em up."

Not one of the fake “journalists” at FOX(R) dared to display the honesty, courage, and integrity to correct or disagree with their mendacious malevolent messiah, lest they be branded “enemies of the people”.  Trump's word shall not be questioned by his sycophantic propaganda network.

That's how Trumpism works. If a conservative like Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney or Adam Kinzinger dares to question Trump’s words or condemn his actions, they are effectively canceled, and punished as treacherous “RINOs”. 

Trumpists never allow facts to get in the way of their BELIEIFS. Triggering emotions is how their leaders instill those false beliefs and exploit them as the path to power.

It's always about who to fear, who to hate, who to blame, and who will be their savior to punish the dreaded evil "others" who are out to get them and take over their country.

"They are coming after YOU! I'm standing in their way." Sound familiar?

Hitler understood this. “I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few". And so does Trump.

Unfortunately, that's how authoritarianism, Trumpism and fascism have always operated.

It doesn't take long to discover their beliefs are rooted in selfishness, greed, fear, resentment, anger, scapegoating, xenophobia, and at the extreme, racism and radical right nationalism.

With all those emotionally rooted beliefs, it’s not surprsing they lack any concern for the welfare or opinions of others. It's always been about their easily manipulated FEELINGS, no matter their IQ. It's their EQ that is suppressed. Compassion and caring for the disenfranchised, sick, and poor are not within their so-called values.

They are driven by the will to DOMINATE and CONTROL the majority.

With a sick sense of gleeful cruelty, the Party of Trump rejoices as they deprive people they resent, fear, and hate of food stamps, healthcare, reproductive rights, living wages, voting rights, poll access, and fair elections with fair representation.

Trump has been Putin’s most useful American idiot for the past decade. He welcomed Russian interference in 2016 and praises Putin. He also invited Russia to do “whatever the hell they want” to a NATO ally if they don’t pay enough money. He invited Russians into the Oval Office and gave them secret intelligence. These are verifiable facts.

While Trump is by all reasonable measures a traitor and insurrectionist, most Trump voters are not. They don’t directly betray our secrets or aid and abet enemies. 

Millions are just ill-informed, poorly educated people who don't really pay attention to politics, world events, or history. They vote for Republicans because their family has always voted for Republicans. They are charmed by Trump's celebrity status and dismiss his crude language and behavior. Or they are anti-abortion evangelicals who vote for anyone who would repeal Roe v Wade. They are encouraged by Right wing media to trust his "business background". They never hear of his history of bankruptcies, fraud, and squandering Daddy's money.

Anyone who believes, acts on, or defends Trump's Big Lie is a Trumpist. They are white nationalists, grifters, propagandists, and neo-Nazi types. If Trump's word is your gospel, you're in a neo-Nazi white nationalist cult.

But many ARE truly insurrectionists and traitors to our democratic republic. They regurgitate Russian lies in the halls of Congress.

Former Giuliani associate Lev Parnas testified under oath: "From shortly after my arrest on October 9, 2019, to now, I have been trying to share the irrefutable truth with you: The American people have been lied to by Trump, Giuliani, & various cohorts of individuals in government and media positions. They created falsehoods to serve their own interests… . The only information ever pushed on the Bidens in Ukraine has come from one source and one source only: Russia and Russian agents. The impeachment proceedings that bring us here now are predicated on false information spread by the Kremlin.  Congressman Pete Sessions, then Congressman Devin Nunes, Senator Ron Johnson and many others understood they were pushing a false narrative. The same goes for John Solomon, Sean Hannity and media personnel, particularly at Fox News. My original indictment linked me to an individual referred to as unindicted coconspirator . We know now this individual to be Congressman Pete Sessions who sits on this very committee.”

They are authoritarian true believers in dictatorship over democracy. They are white nationalists who want to dominate the majority of Americans and punish those they hate. Any and all means are justified in their anti-democratic criminal coup. January 6 was the beginning, not the end of their threat to our country. We can be certain they will commit more violence if Trump loses again. It is in their nature.

There are the die-hard extremists like Mike Flynn*, Roger Stone, Alex Jones, with their Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, gun nuts, and wacko militia types who think they're minute men. They have a media empire of soulless hacks, Putin lovers and racists poisoning the minds of millions of Americans with endless scapegoating, hate, and lies.

Being duped by Trump's lies and hate-mongering, or worse yet, knowing better and just cashing in, doesn't absolve them anymore that it would absolve "good Germans" who cheered for their Fuhrer's dictatorship, belligerent militarism, Holocaust, war, and police state. They were all "patriots" who believed loyalty to the Fuhrer was loyalty to their country.

And we now have Trump’s white supremacist dinner guest Nick Fuentes who said on November 9, 2022: “There are too many nonwhite people in the country… And it sucks, and it is what it is, but that’s why we need dictatorship…We need to take control of the media, take control of the government, and force the people to believe what we believe. Or force them to play by our rules and reshape the society.”

He told Jews to "get the fuck out of America": "You serve the devil. You serve Satan. ... I piss on your Talmud."

And Trump? “He (Fuentes) gets me.”

This is the dark and rancid core of the "Mega MAGA" cult. Fascism. It is their nature.

The inescapable bottom line is Trumpism is the refuge, identity, and de facto new term for white nationalism.   

The white nationalist Trumpists parrot neo-Nazi hate rhetoric by calling anyone who opposes Trump, or holds him accountable "communists", while they PRAISE Putin. Because Trump does. Their blind rage calls for vengeance, retribution, revenge, and even civil war, all because they BELIEVE in Trump's Big Lie. This is the final step before justifying violence against us. January 6 is CELEBRATED, and the thugs Trump praised with "We love you. You're very special" have become "hostages, martyrs and political prisoners" in their fascist cult. They are effectively Putin’s agents in his information/propaganda war to destabilize and subvert the US.

Therefore, I stand by this statement:

Insurrectionist, white nationalist, neo-Nazi Trumpists are domestic enemies of democracy and our constitutional republic. 

~~~~

* Flynn recently met with fellow neo-Nazis at their paramilitary training facility called "88 Tactical". "H" is the eighth letter of the alphabet and "88" is neo-Nazi code for Heil Hitler.

Guilty!

 

Count 1: Guilty!

Count 2: Guilty!

Count 3: Guilty!

Count 4: Guilty!

Count 5: Guilty!

Count 6: Guilty!

Count 7: Guilty!

Count 8: Guilty!

Count 9: Guilty!

Count 10: Guilty!

Count 11: Guilty!

Count 12: Guilty!

Count 13: Guilty!

Count 14: Guilty!

Count 15: Guilty!

Count 16: Guilty!

Count 17: Guilty!

Count 18: Guilty!

Count 19: Guilty!

Count 20: Guilty!

Count 21: Guilty!

Count 22: Guilty!

Count 23: Guilty!

Count 24: Guilty!

Count 25: Guilty!

Count 26: Guilty!

Count 27: Guilty!

Count 28: Guilty!

Count 29: Guilty!

Count 30: Guilty!

Count 31: Guilty!

Count 32: Guilty!

Count 33: Guilty!

Count 34: Guilty!

Who They Are

How much neo-Nazi rhetoric do we need to hear from them before we can understand they ARE neo-Nazis? Everything they say is wrapped in lies, bigotry, racism, revenge, retribution and the evil desire to inflict suffering upon those they hate.

Trump's insurrectionist ally and fellow traitor Mike "Q" Flynn met with III %ers, J6ers, neo-Nazis & Q cult members at a neo-Nazi paramilitary training camp called “88 Tactical.”

H is the 8th letter of the alphabet. "88" is neo-Nazi code for the "HH", which represents "Heil Hitler". Look it up. It's a real thing. At his low-turnout Bronx rally Trump told FOX & Friends, "We're gonna win New York. And if we win New York, the election's over. We take over the country. We take over the country."

As Trump's shady lawyer Alina Habba put it: "No one is above the law" is a stupid little catchphrase."

Trump’s dinner guest Nick Fuentes told Jews to "get out fuck out of America...You serve the devil. You serve Satan. ... I piss on your Talmud."

Nick Fuentes on his podcast 11-9-22:

"There are too many nonwhite people in the country.

People like abortion. Hate it, but it’s true. And you can thank the Jewish media for that. Abortion’s popular, sodomy’s popular, you know, being gay is popular, being a feminist is popular, sex out of wedlock is popular. Contraception is—it's all popular. That’s not to say it’s good. That’s not to say I like that. Popular means the people support it. They do.

And it sucks, and it is what it is, but that’s why we need dictatorship."

Trump: “He (Fuentes) gets me.”

“Just a quick reminder for liberal Jews who voted to destroy America & Israel because you believed in false narratives! Let’s hope you learned from your mistake & make better choices moving forward! Happy New Year!”

“Any Jewish person that votes for Democrats hates their religion”.

"We will Root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country…"

"They’re poisoning the blood of our country. That’s what they’ve done."

"Hitler did a lot of good things."

 This is the kind of talk that is really poisoning the blood of our country.

Enough is enough.

Some questions:

What do you call Nazi supporters? Nazis.

What do you call neo-Nazi supporters? Neo-Nazis

What do you call white nationalist neo-Nazi supporters? White nationalist neo-Nazis.

What do you call Black neo-Nazi supporters? Black neo-Nazis.

What do you call Catholic neo-Nazi supporters? Catholic neo-Nazis.

What do you call Jewish neo-Nazi supporters? Jewish neo-Nazis.

“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” ~ Maya Angelou

 

Any more questions?

Good Faith

 

Some readers will recall I have offered our Trump supporting fellow Americans a format for good faith discussion a number of times.

One example is my request for any information they had to set me straight. What are the facts I am missing? Just fill in the blanks.

Dave, I have to say you are stating falsehoods, or misunderstanding, by claiming (_____) and (_______). These verifiable facts and evidence (_____) and (____) suggest you are quite mistaken.

Another was a simple request to enlighten me as to their understanding of just WHEN America was great before 2016. How far was it they wanted Trump to take us back? When were those golden years of greatness? Were they the years when Clinton balanced the budget with a surplus?

Again, all they had to do was fill in the blanks.

Trump WILL make America great again, like it used to be before 2016, from the years_____ to  ____.

Not one Trumpist was up for the challenge. Apparently, it's easier to just call me a commie. I'll refer to a couple examples of how they respond.

Exhibit A: Trumpist blogger Darrell wondered if there could be common ground between the left and right. My suggestion for common ground was agreement that Trump lost a fair election in 2020, and he lied about non-existent massive voter fraud that cheated him, and he illegally attempted to overturn the certified legal results.   So, he "informed" me I'm a communist.

"Oh, and by the way, when I called you a communist, it wasn’t necessarily meant as a pejorative but rather more as a descriptive term. You support many of the very tenets of the communist creed according to what you have written in the past that are antithetical to America, its values, and its Constitution. So while you see that is retaliatory name-calling, I meant it only as classifier of your stated beliefs in big-government, anti-capitalism, anti-faith, and anti-family rhetoric."

After numerous requests for any citation of my words promoting communism, he failed or ignored me every time. What he's saying is I disagree with him and that makes me a commie. This hysteria has been with us since the post-Bolshevik revolution Red Scare to McCarthyism but has been amplified to the extreme by Trumpism. The more fear and anxiety white conservatives feel in their racial resentments and culture wars the more “communists” they see. This is at the root of white nationalism.

Instead of discussing a topic, this is the type of anger and hostility we see in the Trumpist reaction to an invitation to good faith discussion.

Exhibit B: Just the Facts aka Vern resorted to dismissal and denigration. 

"debate with him in good faith" Bull Shit

And there it is. The Trumpist idea of good faith discussion. This proves again they really don't want to LISTEN to ANYTHING that Trump doesn't want them to hear. He is their Master and commander. They will obey him and BELIEVE his words as gospel. So, to them there's no need to consider what anyone else has to say. He is their new religious leader, one they are utterly incapable of imagining to be a conman, a charlatan, a deceiver, a malevolent mendacious messiah filling them with hate and lies.

Their closed-minded belief system must regard anyone who opposes him as evil villains, out to persecute their innocent and maligned savior. Trump’s paranoia and projection becomes THEIR paranoia and projection.

As the social media memes say, “We won’t change the minds of Trump supporters with facts, logic, or appeals of decency. If they could be influenced by these, they wouldn’t be Trump supporters.” And “They will never admit he’s guilty because that would mean admitting he made fools of them all”.

And thus, they are locked into being true believers to the bitter end. They will eagerly buy into their leader's paranoid persecution complex. "Never forget our enemies want to take away my freedom, because I will never let them take away your freedom." 

Invoking evil "enemies" is at the heart of the political indoctrination by every fascist and dictator. The darkness this portends is truly chilling.

All they can do is demean and insult the person who questions their Dear Leader's lies. Like any cult of true believers, they can be violent thugs in service to their leader, as they showed us on January 6. This fanaticism has already resulted in death and injuries. Tragically this means more death and destruction will come from this white nationalist movement. They want their power and white nationalist minority rule and will do ANYTHING to seize it.

Trump is America's savior to them. And his true believers hate us for opposing him. They must demonize us as "communists who hate America", the worst thing their enraged, deluded, and deranged minds can concoct.

Obviously, they need ZERO words or evidence to back their absurd paranoid accusations, because they ARE paranoid. All Trumpist white nationalists are terrified of being "replaced". The idea of a multiracial democracy scares the wits out of them.

Xenophobia and racism are their default reaction to immigration.

The Washington Post noted this recent manufactured outrage.

Now, both Trump and MAGA Inc., a super PAC that backs him, claim that Biden is funding a Michigan program that they say provides rent to undocumented immigrants. A MAGA radio ad claims: “Did you see Biden’s paying rent for illegals now? They get handouts and we pay for all of it.” In a video posted on social media, Trump said Biden was “selecting and stealing your money to give free housing to illegal alien migrants and then asking you to quarter these foreign armies.”

At issue is a Michigan program, launched last year, under which individuals who qualify may receive as much as $500 a month in rental subsidies for up to 12 months. The key word is “qualify” — the subsidies in question are not available to people in the country illegally.

Their final solution is a dictator and Trump promised to be one. He WILL refuse to accept the will of the voters if he loses, and likely stoke more violence. He is their great white hope to keep their white minority in power. And make no mistake, this is EXACTLY their idea of what makes America great.

They will regurgitate Russian propaganda and corrupt and undermine our House, Senate, the courts, and our elections to permanently establish white Christian Nationalist minority rule. Their Furious Fuhrer is already calling for brown shirt style intimidation by an army of “poll watchers”. MAGA threats have already resulted in massive resignations of election workers. He’s filling their paranoid fantasies with neo-Nazi rhetoric of an ominous "definite anti-white feeling" in America.

Yes, we've seen it all before. In the last century they howled about "anti-Aryan communist Jews, anti-German socialists, journalists, and educators” ALL standing in the way of making Germany great again.

Today they howl about "Anti-white, America-hating Marxists, Communists, socialists, radical leftists, Black racists, Brown invaders, child molesting LGBTQ Americans, in ADDITION to enemies of the people like journalists and educators" aka Democrats and their voters, ALL standing in the way of making America great again. 

The true believer fanatics embrace a vengeful indicted criminal and authoritarian sociopath who divides our country with hate and lies. Neo-Nazis, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, the Klan, and other election denying, anti-democracy American white nationalist Trumpists are showing us their true heritage.

And that heritage is the direct opposite of a democratic republic with bipartisan legislative cooperation and compromise by good faith discussion and debate.

Supreme Court Treachery

 

I wrote on Feb 29, "If the Roberts court had planned all along to aid and abet Trump’s election interference crimes and attempted coup it would do EXACTLY what it is doing now."

The Red Hats on the Supreme Court bench have been doing everything possible to delay justice for Donald Trump. They are essentially granting dictatorial immunity to a criminal. This is neo-fascist level corruption that aids and abets both Trump's insurrection and future tyranny.

And don't get me started on the sleazeball husband of an insurrectionist, who would have had the decency to recuse himself, IF he had a conscience or any sense of shame. 

Back in December Jack Smith asked the Court to address Trump’s unfounded BS immunity claim to clear the way for a trial that would show the evidence of Trump’s crime spree before the upcoming election. The Court declined and sent it down to the Circuit Court to decide.

Supreme delay, Supreme obstruction of justice, and Supreme election interference, count one.

So, the Circuit Court did decide. They made it clear there was no Constitutional provision for ANYONE to be above the law and unaccountable for their crimes. There is no “presidential immunity” from criminal prosecution. The only immunity is limited under a DOJ Office of Legal Counsel policy that says a sitting president cannot be indicted.

Enter the Red Hats of the Supreme Court. “We’ll take it up now”, as they moved onto the surest way to delay the trials of Trump and by extension, justice for America. They assured de facto immunity for Trump before the election.

Supreme delay, Supreme obstruction of justice, and Supreme election interference, count two.

It was a set up for delay. The corrupt Court of the Red Hat Majority agreed to take the case of Trump’s “imaginary immunity” claim, but only within the narrow confines of determining whether the acts were “official” or not.

Yeah. This opened them up for endless deflection and distraction from the URGENT CASE AT HAND, and steer it off into what it means for future presidents! We gotta protect them from prosecution, too, as if they were counting on a Republican/Trump dynasty of dictators to rule a former democratic republic. 

Trump's attorney John Sauer made the outrageous claim, that depending on circumstances, ASSASSINATING a political rival could be considered an "official act"! The same would apply to a coup, of course.

No wonder Putin loves Trump and his party of useful authoritarian idiots. They're praising AND emulating him. 

And this devious delay, obstruction of justice, and blatant election interference by the high court will FURTHER delay the trials when they invariably kick it back down to a lower court. See the pattern here?

Supreme delay, Supreme obstruction of justice, and Supreme election interference, count three.

This is how democracy is killed in plain sight.

And as I wrote last week, “The authoritarian minority can defeat the majority's will in an undemocratic Senate, an undemocratic gerrymandered House, an undemocratic Electoral College, and the Supreme Court stacked by a minority empowered president and Senate. Both Trump and Bush Jr. lost the popular vote and won the White House, and thanks to a Senate installed and controlled by a minority they built a six to three majority in the Supreme Court.”

The fast track to dictatorship begins by first corrupting the courts.  And the authoritarian minority is getting away with it. 

This ongoing coup has been decades in the making. Bush v Gore stopped the count and overruled the majority. Citizens United transformed corporate bribery into “free speech”.  Shelby County v. Holder gutted Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Dobbs v Jackson stripped women of the reproductive rights. And now the partisan, rigged, and stolen Supreme Court’s Red Hatted Justices are granting Trump’s wish for immunity from prosecution.

This corrupt and highly partisan court has transformed the words chiseled into the marble edifice of the Supreme Court into another big lie. The very idea of “Equal justice under law” has been desecrated in the name of Donald Trump.

The Congress cannot save the republic. The president cannot save the republic. The courts cannot save the republic.

Strap in, kids. We’re on the ride of our lives towards the darkness of lawless tyranny. It’s past time to take the wheel.

Only “we the people” can save the republic. Our only hope is our right to vote. It’s now or never.

The struggle for democracy never ends. It is now and forever.

Authoritarian Minority

 

Historically there has emerged a serious and fatal flaw in human nature. It is the authoritarian personality. There are authoritarian leaders and authoritarian followers. We’ve seen them in neighborhood bullies and their toadies, in petty street gangsters, in Hitler and his loyal Nazis, in assorted tinpot dictators, and in Trump, with his cult of deluded, deranged, and enraged insurrectionist dupes and thugs. They form organized crime cartels, even within governments as Trump’s Russian patron and ally Putin has done to become perhaps the richest person in the world.

We’ve seen authoritarians deny and attempt to overturn elections, demonize minorities, start wars, torture prisoners, and kill innocents. We’ve seen authoritarian racists burn crosses, shoot Jews in their synagogue, kill Unitarians in their church, slaughter gays in a nightclub, and massacre Mexicans at shopping centers. We’ve seen authoritarian cops murder non-violent crime suspects.

They are more emboldened by Trumpism and don’t even bother to hide their true nature anymore. As Maya Angelou said, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time”.

They are showing us who they are again in their plan for purging the government of anyone not loyal to Trump. Project 2025 is their roadmap to autocracy.

Former Nixon White House counsel John Dean has written two books on authoritarians; “Conservatives Without Conscience”, a study of the Bush/Cheney Administration and “Authoritarian Nightmare: The Ongoing Threat of Trump’s Followers”, co-written by Bob Altemeyer.

They warn us that a quarter to a third of any population, including Americans, would reject the values of equality and democracy, and welcome autocracy and a dictator. (Supporting an authoritarian criminal who claims to be above the law with immunity from prosecution, and who admitted he will be a dictator on day one makes this clear.)

These authoritarian leaders and followers stand athwart democracy and freedom, of the evolution of human intelligence, conscience and compassion, and ultimately the survival of our species. 

Now we have a lone American Democratic Party facing the combined forces of a powerful and evil Axis of Authoritarians. Trump's base of greedy Republican billionaires, white Christian nationalists, and the usual nitwits, racists and bigots are politically allied with the corporate greed and corrupting influence of Wall Street, and now ominously Putin's Russia. Trump is Putin’s main man in America. Russia eagerly interfered in the 2016 election, even before Trump welcomed them with, “Russia, if you’re listening…”

Both Mueller’s report and a Republican-chaired bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee confirmed Russian interference on behalf of Trump. And they still are interfering for Putin’s Puppet and Party. This is their key to destabilizing, dividing, and weakening America. Trump and his party are virtual Kremlin agents, spreading disinformation and hate.

Newsweek reports, “Russian state media called out former President Donald Trump on Wednesday, saying that he is looked at as "the destroyer of America" amid discussions of the 2024 presidential election... In the footage shared by Julia Davis, founder of the Russian Media Monitor group, Sidorov declared: "I am for Trump, I always was for Trump." The GOP frontrunner is "the destroyer," he added, and the U.S. would "fall apart" if Trump is re-elected in 2024. If he gets elected, everything we said about civil war will be on their agenda, in reality. If one of the Democrats gets elected, this beat will go on," Sidorov said. "Trump can really get it to the point that our geopolitical adversary will fall apart—without any missiles."

Mike Turner, the Republican chairperson of the US House intelligence committee, told CNN’s State of the Union show some of his fellow Republicans, “It is absolutely true we see, directly coming from Russia, attempts to mask communications that are anti-Ukraine and pro-Russia messages, some of which we even hear being uttered on the House floor”.

Republican Michael McCaul, chairman of the House foreign affairs committee said, “Russian propaganda has made its way into the United States, unfortunately, and it’s infected a good chunk of my party’s base”.

According to sworn testimony by insurrectionist Rudy Giuliani's former friend Lev Parnas, the Republican authoritarians behind the Biden impeachment travesty are regurgitating Russian propaganda, "From shortly after my arrest on October 9, 2019, to now, I have been trying to share the irrefutable truth with you: The American people have been lied to by Trump, Giuliani, & various cohorts of individuals in government and media positions. They created falsehoods to serve their own interests… . The only information ever pushed on the Bidens in Ukraine has come from one source and one source only: Russia and Russian agents. The impeachment proceedings that bring us here now are predicated on false information spread by the Kremlin.  Congressman Pete Sessions, then Congressman Devin Nunes, Senator Ron Johnson and many others understood they were pushing a false narrative. The same goes for John Solomon, Sean Hannity and media personnel, particularly at Fox News. My original indictment linked me to an individual referred to as unindicted coconspirator . We know now this individual to be Congressman Pete Sessions who sits on this very committee.”

Putin is winning his psychological propaganda war on America. He is now totally allied with the Party of Trump.

And all we have to defend what remains of a democratic republic are the Democratic Party and a flawed anti-democratic Constitution that is rigged for minority rule.

The authoritarian minority can defeat the majority's will in an undemocratic Senate, an undemocratic gerrymandered House, an undemocratic Electoral College, and the Supreme Court stacked by a minority empowered president and Senate. Both Trump and Bush Jr. lost the popular vote and won the White House, and thanks to a Senate installed and controlled by a minority they built a six to three majority in the Supreme Court. This is not in any way the will of the people or by consent of the governed. The idealistic latter phrase is in the Declaration of Independence but is absent in our foundation of law in the Constitution.

As Ben Franklin said, we have a republic, “if we can keep it”. Maybe he saw the inherent flaws that could undermine a democratic republic, that the Constitution was originally set up to give an advantage to wealthy, land-owning white men over minorities, women, the poor and working class.

It was designed to be amended, but we likely won't see any more pro-democracy amendments. The authoritarian Right minority has it essentially locked up. And why not? The antiquated Constitution is truly rigged in their favor. If our democracy falls into a white nationalist autocracy, this will be the reason.

And they will have it, if the rest of us don't vote in every election as a clear and overwhelming majority to stop them. This is where we must unite and take our stand against the darkness of authoritarian minority rule.

 

"Not Fooled"

 

As we’ve learned in this recent examination of the authoritarian mind of the Trumpist true believer, our old buddy Darrell isn’t happy with my answer to finding common ground. (Accepting the FACTS that Trump lost, lied, and tried to criminally steal the 2020 election.) He’s done with allowing me to respond to his questions, lies and accusations. But that didn’t stop him from issuing his latest, um, request, directed at yours truly.

 “Please,Tell Me What I am Thinking, Mr. Leftist”

Gotta hand it to Darrell.

Only an authoritarian true believer in Trump and his Big Lie would solicit an answer to a question, after BANNING the person from responding. Ah, ‘tis the way of the radical Right Trumpists. And why should he listen? He already has ALL the answers and doesn’t bother to understand, let alone consider, the response he already FEELS are commie lies and hate for America and all things good and decent. Demonization is the way of the fascist and Trumpist.

It is expected that a Trumpist true believer will block the answer to his question. They don't want to know what others think or the facts that guide their thinking. They choose to BELEIVE the holy infallible gospel of Donald Trump's election LIES. They "think" they have ALL the answers. I left this response at his blog, but do not expect him to publish it.

“Please, Tell Me What I am Thinking, Mr. Leftist”

Besides knowing YOU think, although BELEIVE is the correct term, that I’m a leftist, pro-Hamas commie who hates America, murders children, loves black criminals, welcomes Mexican killers and rapists, wants to exterminate Jews, and take away your guns and freedom? 

You "think" Trump is being HONEST with his ridiculous, baseless, debunked, and absurd election LIES.

THAT delusional belief is what defines you. It also happens to define neo-Nazis, white supremacists, white Christian nationalists, racist Proud Boys and the rest of Trump's THUGS (whom he PRAISES) who terrorized Congress and beat cops bloody to overturn the election that he LOST.

(He won’t like that answer, will he?)

Darrell "thinks" the "stollen" election was the result of a vast multi-state conspiracy when by ALL facts and evidence it is Trump's and HIS PROJECTION. The FACT is Trump tried to CANCEL the MAJORITY votes of 81 MILLION Americans in his attempt to STEAL the election. This is by definition hating America.

Darrell and Trump are just too clever to be "fooled" by the certified results.

By ALL counts, recounts, certifications, Trump’s DOJ, Trump’s Homeland Security, 60 courts, and multiple audits:

Biden

51.3%

81,283,501 Popular votes

306 Electoral Votes

Trump

46.8%

74,223,975 Popular votes

232 Electoral Votes

A bipartisan majority in both the House and Senate voted Trump GUILTY of insurrection in his second impeachment.

Here are the FACTS and EVIDENCE against your "honest Don the con" accurately presented by "RINO leftist" Liz Cheney (R WY):

"On the morning of January 6, President Donald Trump's intention was to remain president of the United States, despite the lawful outcome of the 2020 election and in violation of his Constitutional obligation to relinquish power. President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob and lit the flame of this attack."

“To my Republican colleagues I say there will come a day when Donald Trump is gone but your dishonor will remain.”

"President Trump oversaw a sophisticated seven-part plan to overturn the 2020 election and prevent the transition of presidential power.”

1. President Trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information to the American public claiming the 2020 election was stolen from him.

2. President Trump corruptly planned to replace the Acting Attorney General, so that the Department of Justice would support his fake election claims.

3. President Trump corruptly pressured Vice President Pence to refuse to count certified electoral votes in violation of the US Constitution and the law.

4. President Trump corruptly pressured state election officials, and state legislators, to change election results.

5. President Trump's legal team and other Trump associates instructed Republicans in multiple states to create false electoral slates and transmit those slates to Congress and the National Archives.

6. President Trump summoned and assembled a violent mob in Washington and directed them to march on the US Capitol.

7. As the violence was underway, President Trump ignored multiple pleas for assistance and failed to take immediate action to stop the violence and instruct his supporters to leave the Capitol.

ALL of this is supported by verifiable FACTS, EVIDENCE, and SWORN testimony from TRUMP'S own people. 

But Darrell "thinks" he and Trump the pathological LIAR know better. So he embraces Trump's Big Lie, AND accuses me, without quoting my words or showing evidence, of wanting to "support the limitation of constitutional freedoms because he assumes that I and other like minded  conservatives are the one (sic) wanting to restrict the democratic process and destroy our nation, while his president has actually been doing this".

A Trumpist true believer cannot comprehend the REALITY that their hero is charged with provable ELECTION INTERFERENCE crimes. So naturally their complete denial of Trump's obvious intentions to DENY my right to have my vote counted and to overturn our election is saddled with PROJECTION that I personally want to "limit constitutional freedoms". 

He can't say which "freedoms" I want to limit, of course. Trumpist true believers emulate their hero's example by regurgitating the lies, false accusations, and blatant projection. Like a cult. They will unite in hatred of everyone who wants to hold their Malevolent Mendacious Messiah accountable under our rule of law.

Finally, Darrell only quoted ONE complete sentence of mine, ignoring the context, of course.

“Believing Trump's lies is what makes Americans neo-Nazis.” 

Damn straight. People have been violent and died for those lies. They stormed the capitol to overturn the election for those lies. Death threats fall like rain due to those lies.

Here Darrell quoted only the last phrase, out of context naturally.

"The media doesn't want to talk about WHY the Middle East is such a mess. They love to do their "both sider" schtick with American politics, but DREAD blaming both sides for Israeli land theft, apartheid, terrorism, the Palestinian Nakba and GAZA holocaust'."

He just wanted to accuse me of blaming ONLY Israelis and supporting their extermination.  

All of these are verifiable FACTS. To this day Israelis are forcing Palestinians from their homes.

Darrell cherry-picked my words from the previous comment thread at my blog, IGNORING these significant remarks for context:

"Until Palestinians are no longer being driven from their homes and terrorism abates, the hate that fuels the conflict will continue to burn. BOTH sides need to evolve past ancient religion/land feuds and learn how to live with each other in mutual respect for rights and justice."

And:

"Netanyahu is doing his best to corrupt their justice system. He is their Trump and needs to go. The same for Hamas, ISIS, al-Qaeda, Trump, and Putin. And while we're at it, the same for the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, the Klan, and the rest of MAGA America. ALL of them are threats to peace, stability, and democracy."

I'm calling Hamas evil here and saying they need to go, along with a few more evil actors.

For this Darrell accuses me of "championing modern day Nazis hoping to exterminate the Jews that Hitler couldn’t. 

This vile lie is EXACTLY what neo-fascist MAGA lies and hate look like.

If you want to know what I think, read and QUOTE my words instead of taking them out of context.

If you don't understand what I say, ASK for clarification before LYING about me.

But they don't answer questions or listen to answers, do they? Trumpists already "KNOW" everything.

Once again, the way to common ground is accepting the FACT that Trump lost, lied, and illegally tried to steal the election. Many Republicans know this. For that they are hated by Trump's true believers. The MAGA cult refuses to look at the facts, evidence, and indictments. 

Trump's election LIES are gospel to them.

Common Ground

 

I’m happy our old radicalized far Right, Trump-supporting friend Darrell is preaching again. I do value his perspective in order to better understand the radical Right Trumpist mentality.

In his post, “The Unbridgeable Divide Between Left and Right”, he reasonably asks, “How does one find common ground when many of the points of contention are diametrically opposed and argued so vehemently?”

I can think of one or two reasons he would not want to consider, so I’d like to address them here.

A good start to finding common ground would be to accept verifiable facts, and not dismiss any journalism as “fake” if it doesn’t conform to, and support, Trump’s “alternative facts”, lies and propaganda.

If one’s grasp of reality relies on the Holy Infallible Word of Donald Trump, common ground is automatically denied. THAT is the primary deal-breaker.

And it also answers these questions:

How is it possible to bridge the divide…

…Between those who BELIEVE every word from Trump as gospel, and those who KNOW he’s a narcissistic, compulsive, serial LIAR?

…Between those who compromise, and those who REFUSE to compromise?

…Between those who were willing to pass border protection that included over a thousand new officers and additional fentanyl detection devices, and those who killed it on orders from ONE man who WANTS a border crisis to base his campaign on so he can be above the law and stay out of prison?

…Between those who would vote for Trump even if he is a convicted criminal and those who support equal justice under law?

…Between those who support an authoritarian who calls his opposition “vermin” and “communists” and those who know the history of the same hate rhetoric from 1930’s Germany?

…Between those who support a man who sent an angry and violent mob to the Capitol, REFUSED to call them off,  and PRAISED his thugs (“hostages”) after watching them desecrate our Capitol, terrorized Congress, and beat cops bloody attempting to steal the election, and those who see this as gross negligence, a crime, and a betrayal of our republic that terminated our history of peaceful transfer of power?

…Between those who want to IMPOSE their religious beliefs against the will of MOST Americans, and those who understand our republic is NOT based on, or favors, any religion?

…Between those who accuse a Democrat of trying to “overthrow the elected prime minister of Israel” (by calling for an election, of all the “tyranny”,) and those who KNOW Israel is sick of their leader who is charged with corruption, having the support of only 19% of the Israeli people?

…Between the intolerant bigots who howl against drag queens and those who know drag is theatre, not indoctrination, and that Reagan and Giuliani have done it, and those who KNOW far more clergy abuse children than drag queens ever did?

…Between those who are intolerant of the LGBTQ community and won’t mind their own business, and people exercising their right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

…Between those who think the covid vaccination is more dangerous than covid, and those who KNOW it has SAVED far more lives?   

…Between those who give Trump more credit for lowering Black unemployment than the Black president actually did?

(Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers: Aug. 2011 the Bush Recession produced black unemployment rate 16.7% January 2017, the Black unemployment rate was at 7.8 percent. Under Obama the Black unemployment rate dropped 8.9%. Trump crowed about a record low 5.4% rate, a 2.4% drop from what Obama left him. Trump left Biden a Black unemployment rate of 6.9% rate in January 2021.)

…Between those like Darrell who ignore Trump's racist history and birtherism and say, “the black president did more to destroy race relations and divide the nation than any other politician in recent memory”, and those who KNOW racism has been deeply rooted in American white culture for CENTURIES? They can’t imagine the possibility that hostile reactions to the black president could reveal the racism, so they blame the black guy instead of the real racists.

In a June 2017 poll by the Pew Research Center, nearly 9 in 10 blacks — 88 percent — said the nation needed to continue making changes for blacks to have equal rights with whites. For whites, that number was substantially lower: 53 percent. About 51 percent of blacks said Obama had made progress toward improving race relations, compared with 28 percent of whites. The poll also found 32 percent of whites blamed Obama for making race relations worse, compared with 5 percent for blacks.

Those black voices fall on deaf ears among Trump supporters. Instead, they wrap themselves in a single MLK quote on judging by character, and FALSLEY accuse liberals of disagreeing with the man. What they DON'T want to hear is what happened to the black women election workers Giuliani and Trump LIED about, falsely accusing them of election fraud. Shaye Moss and Ruby Freeman were terrorized by DEATH THREATS from Trumpists who BELIEVED the racist LIES Trump and Republicans spread about them. 

…Between those who believe Trump is an honest man who lost (by massive fraud that he could NOT prove), and the majority who accept the VERIFIABLE FACT Biden won a fair election according to ALL counts, recounts, certifications, audits, Trump’s AG and DOJ, Trump’s White House Counsel, Trump’s Homeland Security, and 60 courts?

Biden

51.3%

81,283,501 Popular votes

306 Electoral Votes

Trump

46.8%

74,223,975 Popular votes

232 Electoral Votes

Finally, let’s examine one more foul absurdity that Darrell advances.

“Ironically the only thing that remains the same is that it was the Democratic Party that opposed freedom then,(The Civil War) and it is the Democratic Party that opposes freedom today.”

This is what happens when someone ignores the fact that today’s Klan, Neo-Nazis, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and every other racist white nationalist is a Trump supporter.

Since Trump took power, no one lost more freedom than women. Republicans wouldn’t allow a raped ten-year-old to abort a rapist’s fetus. They would FORCE a woman to DIE from an ectopic pregnancy. Republicans DENY women the FREEDOM to NOT FOLLOW REPUBLICANS’ RELIGION. 

Trump’s party is still gerrymandering Blacks out of fair representation, and STILL attempting to empower their legislators to OVERTURN the will of the voters. Arizona Republican state Sen. Anthony Kern was one of the fake electors in 2020. Kern recently proposed legislation that would give the state legislature the authority to override the popular vote.

Trump criminally tried to steal an election and CANCEL the votes of 81 MILLION Americans. The evidence is clearly shown in the indictments, that Trump’s true believers REFUSE to even read.

And ONLY white Trump supporters STILL wave the Confederate flag!

This brings us to the answer to Darrell’s question.

Common ground can only be found when enough Republicans and conservatives acknowledge the FACT that Trump is a grifter, con man, cheater, liar, sociopath, and criminal.

He won’t like it, or even consider it, but this answers Darrell’s question.