This week Texas Monthly announced its 2022 Bum Steer Awards and the ones you expected were winners.  The only question was who was going to be the Top Bum Steer.  You won’t be surprised that it is none other the National Embarrassment of Texas, Greg Abbott.  The magazine ripped him a new one with these choice quotes:

“From the beginning, Abbott was attuned to the 4 percent of Texans who decide Republican primary elections and that group’s many peculiar priorities.”

“This has been a hard year for everyone, and no governor in the U.S. has had it easy. (“At least we don’t have Andrew Cuomo,” Texans could say.) But every step of the way, Abbott has made it harder for nearly everyone, rendering life more difficult, the death tolls higher, and the experience of being a Texan more demoralizing.”

About the blackout: “Who was the responsible party? Two days into the crisis, Abbott took the time to appear on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show and blame renewable energy—a field in which Texas has been a leader, thanks in large part to his Republican predecessors—even though the blackout was caused mostly by problems with the distribution of natural gas.”

About COVID-19: “And Abbott’s handling of the situation was comically erratic. He ordered a lockdown and then, under pressure from his right, crusaded to free Texans imprisoned by his lockdown.”

“But Abbott had other priorities. With his approval, the Legislature passed voter suppression legislation that rivaled the worst in the country as well as a law placing bounties on the heads of those who help others get abortions.”

And finally, “Over the course of 2021, Texans learned that Greg Abbott was not so colorless after all—somewhere along the line, he learned to be ruthless. ”

The article is a must read.  Close runners up were Ted Cruz for obvious reasons, and 25 Texans who participated in Trump’s effort to overthrow the US government and steal the presidency from Joe Biden.

After 26 years of single party rule where the GOP has controlled the governor’s mansion, both state houses, and virtually all the courts including the Texas Supreme Court, our state has become a cesspool of corruption, weirdos, felons, and fascists.  I have little hope that much will change as long as the federal government and courts are tolerant and complicit with Texas’ post-democracy fascist regime.

Rightwing extremists who continue to support the insurrectionists arrested in the aftermath of the attack on the US government at the Capitol on January 6th are organizing a “rally” at the Capitol for tomorrow to protest the arrests, charges, and detention of hundreds of criminals who destroyed property, assaulted police, and attempted to stop the Congress from certifying the Electoral College vote.  To publicize their rally, they’re spreading the hashtag #JusticeforJ6 all over social media.  Ironically, supporters of insurrectionists are calling these criminals “political prisoners”.  Worse, The Former Guy took a break from golf and commentating at cheesy boxing matches to publicly support the insurrectionists and the rally.  Yesterday, still banned from social media, he issued a statement saying:

“Our hearts and minds are with the people being persecuted so unfairly relating to the January 6th protest concerning the Rigged Presidential Election.  In addition to everything else, it has proven conclusively that we are a two-tiered system of justice. In the end, however, JUSTICE WILL PREVAIL!”

So, the guy who incited the riot and attack on the US Capitol is STILL fomenting violence against the US, the country he’s trying to take over again for his own benefit.  The Great Unwashed Brainwashed white supremacists are beyond redemption, believing they are in the right and following a dangerous ideology where they actually the “patriots” when they are actually the problem.  The fact that the police and national guard are being called on to reinstall the perimeter fence around the Capitol with HD cameras and 24 hour patrols should tell normal people everything they need to know about the danger of disinformation and hate.

Trumpists are using #JusticeforJ6 for publicity. I say that’s fine as long as you add #JusticeforJ65to20 to represent the prison sentences they should receive. I’ve got another idea, also; in June, Facebook banned Trump for 2 years with reinstatement conditioned on him changing his behavior.  They should modify the ban by extending it for 2 years from the date of his latest self-serving, anti-government rant.  That should do it.

#JusticeforJ65t020

We had a quiet holiday weekend at home this year, similar to last year’s, but most certainly not as fearful as that one.  We binge watched television series, cooked, and went on walks with our dogs, even sans masks since we’ve both been vaccinated and continue social distancing from people we don’t know are vaccinated.  Ignoring the nonsense going on in Austin, we had a relaxing and less stress-filled holiday and I realized yesterday the main reason – no Trump Show.  One of the most infuriating intrusions Trump made into our lives for the last 4 years was his constant co-opting of holidays to draw attention to himself.  Besides his incessant tweeting, childish insults, and rambling press gaggles, he LOVED the self aggrandizing rallies he organized at every opportunity, especially national holidays.  For those 4 years, I couldn’t watch Memorial Day, 4 of July, and other national events because Trump turned them all into rallies for himself.  Not during a holiday, but he even turned the White House into a 3 ring circus during the GOP national convention which was an assault on everything from the senses to federal laws to common decency.  He was a one man shit show.

The pain of watching Trump turn the entire government apparatus into his own personal plaything has now been replaced by Biden’s quiet and steady leadership.  He has returned us to our traditions of wreath laying and serious speeches about public service, the courage of our armed forces, and the keystone of our country, democracy.  He never talks about himself, his personal grievances, or his political enemies.  He restarted the WH daily brief with a competent press secretary who answers all questions truthfully without the personal attacks on the press that were commonplace under Trump.  He’s played golf one time since becoming President as compared to Trump who had played at least 25 times at this point in his term.

What this weekend really drove home for me is that we must make goddam sure that Trump, or any of his Mini-Trumps, get anywhere near the Oval Office, ever again.  The toxic waste of the Trump presidency came within inches of actually destroying our government and our way of life and continues to corrode our institutions, even from his lair at Mar a Lago.  We must never let that happen again.

Among the outrages committed by Trump during his 4 year infestation of the WH is the damage he did to the US’s global standing.  Not only did he turn against centuries-long alliances and quit global cooperation (the WHO, Paris Climate Accord, Iranian nuclear deal), he ceded global trade positions to China.  Oh, he talked tough and launched a disastrous trade war, but the real damage he did was allowing China to get a giant leg up on global trade, diplomacy, and even defense.   When Trump was boasting about his “America First” policy, other countries were moving into the vacuum and moving quickly.  After a smaller increase last year due to the pandemic, China announced today an increase in its defense budget of 6.8% as it modernizes and increases its military capabilities.  Xi Jinping, facing no real political opposition, has jumped into the void created by Trump’s bungling cementing not only China’s dominance, but also his own.

Xi saw Trump’s bungling as an opportunity for China, and he took it.  He let Trump think he did the “biggest deal ever”, when, in fact, he pantsed him in front of the entire world, and the only people who didn’t see it were MAGHats and Lindsey Graham.  His trade war and “deal” with China used his crack negotiating skills – he gave China everything it wanted.  The Brookings Institute put it best just before the 2020 election:

“Despite Trump’s claim that “trade wars are good, and easy to win,” the ultimate results of the phase one trade deal between China and the United States — and the trade war that preceded it — have significantly hurt the American economy without solving the underlying economic concerns that the trade war was meant to resolve. The effects of the trade war go beyond economics, though. Trump’s prioritization on the trade deal and de-prioritization of all other dimensions of the relationship produced a more permissive environment for China to advance its interests abroad and oppress its own people at home, secure in the knowledge that American responses would be muted by a president who was reluctant to risk losing the deal.”

Trump’s paper tiger presidency allowed bad actors like Iran, Russian, and China to actually do the opposite of what he boasted would happen.  These countries, without the vigilance of the allies lead by the US to hold them to account, increased their global dominance.  Russia has expanded its cyber operations targeting all global democracies, China stepped into the void to dominate Pacific trade, and Iran is once again expanding its nuclear capability.  Worse, our own allies have backed away from us, and Biden’s aggressive re-engagement has not calmed fears about who the US will elect in 2024 and simply return to Trumpism.  This problem is not going away any time soon, especially with a Senate that can’t even pass a bill that will provide some relief to our long haul misery caused by Trump’s incompetence that was magnified by politicians terrified of his violent supporters.  Remarkably, it seems that Trump’s greatest accomplishment was creating an environment in the US toxic enough to enable domestic terrorism to rise from the shadows out into the light of day for the entire world to witness.  Domestic terrorists espousing fascist ideology and violence doesn’t give our allies confidence in our long term viability and most certainly takes away our moral authority as the biggest proponent of democracy around the world.

The damage Trump did will be long lasting and far reaching.  Republicans, trying to protect their own hides, refuse to acknowledge the problem, and this problem can’t be fixed with more executive orders and the efforts of only one party.  I’m not hopeful.

Today, Pro Publica published an amazing archive of over 500 videos of the attack on the Capitol posted to Parler by the insurrectionists who horrified all normal people on January 6th.  They are in sequential order and cover the time from noon until 6pm Eastern time.

The level of violence can disturb some, so be warned and cautious sharing this around.  This is significant work and preserves for all time how Americans attacked Americans because they didn’t like the result of a free and fair election and followed a profoundly corrupt man to the Capitol and now to jail for a long time.

You’ve probably heard about Trump politicizing the U.S. Agency for Global Media which manages Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, and Radio Free Asia by installing loyalist Michael Pack.  Pack has packed the board of the agency, as well as senior staff with other Trumpists, ideologues, and conservative activists.  Biden has already signaled a housecleaning and fumigation of the agency when he takes over in a few weeks, but Pack is not planning on going quietly.

In secret, Pack has unilaterally attempted to execute binding employment contracts with said Trumpists intended to block any Biden firings for two years.  When the career staff found out what Pack was doing, they said not no, but hell no, and blew the whistle.  Day before yesterday, they sent a four page letter to McConnell, Pelosi, and Senate and House leaders, the Inspector General, and the presidential transition team.  The letter was signed by over two dozen staffers including the editorial board, the editor in chief, and all the heads of the global regional operations.  In the letter, they made this statement:

When Pack took over last June (after a two year Senate confirmation battle), he made sweeping changes to the agency including dissolving all of the boards of the agencies under his authority and packing the boards and staff with a rogue’s gallery of religious fanatics, activists, ideologues and weirdos.  What’s particularly galling is that in October a Superior Court Judge in DC ruled that Pack had acted illegally in dissolving the board and seizing control of the Open Technology Fund which was established to help areas of the world access to open and secure internet access.  Pack has ignored the court order and to reestablish the boards he dissolved.

Pack is a bad guy who represents all that is truly odious about Trump who is continually trying to destroy our democracy.  Many thanks to those career staffers and true Americans who stood up to Pack and said NO.

They are the only thing right now standing between democracy and the Trump abyss.