I mean, it’s like a dream come true. It’s like a totally free and sponsorless White Trash Trailer Park Saturday night Hootenanny with the main attraction being between a Hillbilly and a Redneck.

Oh Lord, it’s like watching the best disaster movie ever.

The messy feud between two of MAGA world’s biggest stars burst into public view on Wednesday, when Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) a “little bitch” to her face on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Oh no, it gets better.  What they were fighting over is which one of them gets to sponsor the Impeach Joe Biden resolution in the House. Honey, that’s like putting gas in a car you just crashed. Why would you want to do it in the first place.

Of the fight, Boebert commented that she’s “not in middle school.” Wait, wait, did she graduate middle school?

Messaging is about repeating the same message in a number of ways until something sticks. So, I’ve said many of these things before. So, let’s consider this a public service announcement. If you are tired of reading this message I invite you to move onto the next piece. One of the struggles that those left of center have is in the arena of issue framing, The right just does a better job.

I have mentioned this before, but a lot of this comes down to a grievance vs. gratitutde mindset. Keep in mind that I haven’t even taken a single stand or offered any judgement on whether people should be in a grievance state. Some have every right to be. Someone or something has screwed them over. The job of the populist is to find someone or something to pin it on.

People who are happy don’t respond to scapegoating. People who are unhappy do. Part of the problem with scapegoating is that some people have no right to be in a grievance state. Populists don’t care. They are willing to stoke anger even if it is dangerous. The other part of the problem is that no matter what direction people are coming from, the target of the populists is never the only geniune target. That’s true whether they are billionaires, undocumented immigrants, women, African-Americans, LGTBQ+, or whoever else they could possibly blame.

This is why anti-woke exists. This is why Antifa is so vilified. This is why CRT has been stretched and expanded beyond any recognition. It is why all of these things seem like they are speaking in code. It’s because they are. Woke can mean whatever we want it to mean. It obviously sounds better than hating African-Americans, ethnic minorities, women, or people with alternative identifies and lifestyles.

The difference in populists is that some honestly believe they have foubd the bogeyman. Bernie Sanders certainly did but his tune hasn’t changed in over 40 years in politics. Others obviously do not. They know they are pointing the finger at the wrong folks and they don’t care. They are all too willing at taking people’s anger and frustration and pointing it at a direction away from where it might otherwise logically go.

People in a grievance state are governed by anger. People governed by anger don’t listen to facts or reason. They just want a direction to aim their anger. So, your choice is either to give them one or find a way to transform them from grievance to gratitude. It’s obviously easier said and done. Yet, when arguing in logic, reason, or facts is like screaming into the void. It doesn’t accomplish anything.

Populism isn’t tethered to ideology on either side. Gratitude allows people to consider others. It allows them to buy into a cogent ideology that forms a worldview that makes sense. The world would be a better place if we adopt THESE individual strategies that are all connected and all are consistent with that world view. Progressives, leftists, and liberals are treating the national debate like an ideological one. It isn’t. The right has been taken over by a populist. Populism is never tethered completely to ideology. So, continuing an ideological debate is like screaming into the void. No one will be there to hear the message unless they already believe.

I was wrong. It is just easy enough to start there and fill in the blanks later. I was wrong. When I was being brought up, I was taught that the default position on every politician was to start from the assumption that everyone was a patriotic American. They wanted what was best for America and we simply disagreed with them on what that looks like. Therefore, political prosecutions were generally bad because it would devolve into a tit for tat game and nothing would ever get done.

I was wrong. Then again, I wasn’t wrong about all of it. I wasn’t wrong about how the other side would react. At the end of the day, all of this stems from a misunderstanding about what this is ultimately all about. One side is interested in the rule of law. The other side really isn’t. Oh sure, they say they are interested and no one would ever say they are against the rule of law, but that’s not what this is all about and it never has been.

Buried in all of the Trump nonsense was the death of Pat Robertson. I’m not for making even idle talk about what happens to other men’s souls. That’s not for me to decide and it never has been. However, legacies are something else entirely. The religious right swallowed the Republican party whole and turned it into something even Richard Nixon wouldn’t recognize. Niccolo Machiavelli wrote his now famous words in “The Prince”. “The ends justify the means.” Now, we see the ultimate intersection of warped faith and craven self-interest wrapped up into one simple line.

The right is entitled to lead. They are entitled to lead because they are “the party of God.” Obviously, this label is self-appointed, but they have browbeat the general public into believing it is true. So, people of God have three very distinct choices. They can acquiesce and become a member of the religious right, they can fight back and try as best they can to maintain their faith and their political truth, or they can shun God. The battlefield of the last 40+ years tells the tale. Church attendance is down. Faith professions are down. At the same time, the makeup of the church and the church itself doesn’t jive with the church many of us experienced in our youth. Pat Robertson was not the only one to bring this forward, but he definitely is one of the leading suspects.

When the ends justify the means it doesn’t matter what your guy (or gal) does. It can’t be illegal if it is done to forward our political ends. Nothing we do is illegal because we were born to lead and anything in the furtherance of this leadership is righteous. Meanwhile, anything you do is the opposite. That one phrase (the ends justify the means) ultimately separates us and explains our divide. They threaten investigations of Hunter Biden and Hillary Clinton as if we care. They talk about locking her up or locking him up as if it matters to us. It comes down to a fundamental misunderstanding about the rule of law. We use the rule of law because HOW you do things is just as important if not more important than WHAT you do. They use the rule of law as a means to power. Power is the end. The end justifies the means. I was wrong. I just don’t know how many people on the other side even grasp the concept here.

Oh y’all, it ain’t pretty.  At all. Republicans are fifty pounds of giant mad insane in a ten pound bag.

This is an actual screenshot from Fox News. I am promised that it has not been altered in any way.

It was only 7:00 Mountain time, but it was most assuredly Rocky Mountian high.

And then the guy you thought had disappeared, Marco Rubio, decided to go after Joe Biden’s family. Cool move considering how Trump’s offspring are Eagle Scouts and military veterans.

And there’s this one.

The person they were attacking wasn’t even on teevee yesterday.  Because, you know, he hasn’t broken any laws.

But, I gotta admit that my favorite rolling thunder blades of knives dumb was Kevin McCarthy explaining how the top secrets files were perfectly safe in the trashy bathroom at Trump’s house because “bathroom doors have locks.”  That’s not just dumb, Honey, that’s stoopid.

Okay, Happy Indictment Day!

This is just a wild ass guess on my part but I suspect the rowdy lawless sumbitches ain’t gonna show up in such big numbers this time.  Here’s my guess as to why: we were smart enough to prosecute them for January 6th. They truly believed they were above the law. They were not.

Over 1,000 people were charged with criminal indictments the sentences were stiff for white boys and girls who believed they were invited to overthrow the government with force by the damn president.  It’s a stunning record for the justice system working effectively.

Check in when you have time and we’ll see if I am right.