Must Read – Especially Now
Do you think Ted Cruz sounds like a delusional lunatic? Do you, like me, sit slack jawed while listening to the nonsensical tirades of Screwy Louie Gohmert? Well, I’ve got a piece that will help you understand how we got here.
This is actually from last year, but I re-read this piece from the Washington Monthly and thought it would be a good reminder of how ultra-conservative ideologues went crazy, destroying politics in the US as we knew it. Most interesting? They did it by adopting tactics used by the Communists in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. The result is that they have now vilified you, me, and everyone else with whom they disagree, using ever more desperate tactics as demographics and common decency move more and more against them.
I had a friend and former business colleague who was the Republican Party chairman in a Virginia suburban, D.C. area, jurisdiction. It was an unpaid, volunteer, mostly clerical job that he did in his spare time on weekends and evenings. After the first wave of ultra-conservatives were elected around 30 years ago, he went to the party office to do some routine record keeping stuff. His key wouldn’t work. The first thing the far-right crazies did, maybe as early as the evening as the election, was to change the locks on the local headquarters office. Neither he nor I have had anything to do with Republican Party politics since.
1Good luck to the Republicons with their philosophy that cannot stand unless one deludes oneself. The article mentions Barry Goldwater who voted against censuring Joseph McCarthy. Barry was a real deal conservative. Probably best remembered for bringing a nuclear mushroom cloud to the political ad as statement and campaign death. But like the proverbial broken clock, Barry was right. Twice. At least he wasn’t wrong when he declared that becoming embroiled in Vietnam short of nuclear annihilation would be a mistake. However, he failed to mention that nuclear annihilation would also be a huge mistake, so he lost a good argument to a sexy political ad. His other prediction still haunts the Republicons. The Southern ‘Strategy’ that forced the “politics make strange bedfellows” forming a coalition of racists with religious fascists. Barry predicted that would be one huge ass biting mistake. He wasn’t wrong.
2Good read. And though he’s right about The fox propaganda machine reaching orders of magnitude more people than earlier publications, the biggest thing I think he neglected was social media and how it’s being utilized.
3IMHO it’s so much worse. Not only are the troglodytes reaching unknown numbers, but much of it’s being done in virtual darkness. Lies and fear mongering targeted at vulnerable minds that can’t be disproven when they’re not done in the open.
Yep.
Off topic – how are Juanita Jean & Bubba doing? We are seriously concerned out here in the hinterlands.
4Edit: So here we are, our Supreme Court about to consider what the framers of our Constitution considered unthinkable: Is Donald Trump above the law, even the law against murder, just because he is president?
Technically, the high court said Friday that it will take up whether Trump’s tax returns and supporting financial records must be turned over to three different investigations.
The deep issue in all three cases is whether the justices will embrace Trump’s claims of being above the law.
The crucial case for Trump is the Manhattan district attorney’s probe. For our Constitution, the crucial cases involve subpoenas issued by a pair of House committees in Washington.
**Significantly, the high court is not taking up the most clear-cut case of Trump violating his oath of office with regard to his taxes.**
The House Ways and Means Committee asked the IRS for six years of Trump’s tax returns under a 1924 anti-corruption law. It says any return requested by the committee chairman “shall” be provided, a right also enjoyed by every president.
Trump claims that he doesn’t have to comply with that law because House Democrats want to embarrass him and have no legitimate legislative purpose. **There is no other known case of the IRS failing to comply with such requests.**
* Trump Above the Law
The deep issue in the three cases the Court is taking up is whether the justices will embrace Trump’s claims of being above the law. I doubt that, but if the high court proves me wrong our liberties and our republic will be in deep jeopardy.
The two Congressional subpoena cases also go to the heart of our Constitutional system with its three co-equal branches of government.
Repeatedly, Trump has shown his utter contempt for this separation of powers. He has denounced judges who don’t rule as he wishes, a sign of his dictatorial desires. He also claims he is free to ignore any Congressional subpoena he dislikes.
* Why Trump Wants To Hide Records
What has not been raised in these proceedings over subpoenas for Trump’s tax records, and likely will go on mentioned before the Supreme Court, is that Trump’s past conduct explains why he is fiercely trying to conceal his tax and accounting records.
Trump lost two income tax fraud trials over his 1984 New York state and city tax returns, a story I broke before the election in 2016. Trump falsified one of the returns. His longtime tax lawyer, Jack Mitnick, testifying that while his name was on the return, he did not prepare it. The document in evidence, the only copy known to exist, was a photocopy. A signature can be faked using photocopy technology.
** Art of the Steal** While still in his 30s, Trump beat four federal grand jury investigations into his connections with corrupt lawyers, real estate figures and railroad interests, as first reported by the late Wayne Barrett in his 1992 book Trump: The Deals and the Downfall. In two cases Trump, with help from the notorious lawyer Roy Cohn, simply ran out of the clock on the grand juries.
David Cay Johnston / DC Report, Raw Story December 16, 2019
5read more: https://www.alternet.org/2019/12/were-about-to-find-out-if-trump-can-literally-get-away-with-murder/
What we need to do and how to go about it [this writer, below, sees it about the same way, x100].
IMO: No more ‘nice guys/high road’ bullshit. Biden, Schumer, et alia, just ain’t up to this fight. They bring squirtguns to a machinegun and flamethrower fight. F that.
[Bloomberg’s toast; after today’s hits he’ll ditch it by next week, he now knows it ain’t gonna be worth throwing more of his millions after. Anybody notice the symbolism of the blue/red “2020” in his ads? And not a word about “Democrats” in them either. ]
See this:
You Want to Win? Be Ready to Fight Dirty, and Fight Ugly. Because They Are.
…”Now it’s essentially a criminal organization, headed up by a drug-addicted sexual predator with long ties to organized crime.
It is my view that the 2020 election is the most significant one since 1860, and no, I do not consider that an exaggeration or an overstatement. We are up against people who are trying to politically exterminate us, people who are trying to lock themselves into a position of unassailable power. We are up against right-wing authoritarian fanatics, people who will stop at NOTHING to achieve their goal.
They do not believe in the principles upon which America was founded.
They will tell ANY lie.
They will use ANY tactic to win.
They will utter any smear, ANY slander they can think of.
They will attack us in ANY way they can.
I know you’ve heard this before. But I’m telling you, it’s REAL.
They are out to end our Republic. Many of them want to establish a right-wing dictatorship. They would rather support ANYONE but a Democrat. They’ll vote for a pedophile, a Russian sympathizer, a crook, before they’ll vote for one of us.
The majority of them hate us, and I do not use the term lightly.
They must lose. And we MUST win. The alternative is unthinkable.
You know the kind of trouble this country is in. If these Trump supporters lie, cheat, and steal their way into power again, we’re finished.
–They are purging eligible voters with the help of right-wing organizations.
–They are closing voting locations in areas with large minority populations.
–They are setting up barriers to getting voter ID.
–They are already spreading bot-supported lies through Facebook and Twitter.
–They are putting REPUBLICANS in charge of the voting in DEMOCRATIC counties (as Crooked Ron DeSantis is doing in Florida).
–They are fighting to maintain gerrymanders in their favor.
–They may be rigging voter machines, some of which have components from outside the country
–They are actively looking for foreign help and illegal foreign money. They have shamelessly announced this.
–And they are united in lockstep behind Trump. The open sewer that is Donald Trump’s mouth is pouring out lies and smears at an astonishing rate. And the Republican Party’s leaders are fine with it. By the way, don’t look for any Republican senators to vote for Trump’s conviction. That ain’t gonna happen. McConnell may even have the votes to acquit Trump without hearing any witnesses at all.
In short, the ANTI-AMERICAN REPUBLICAN PARTY has our democratic republic on its deathbed.
We are facing the ugliest campaign in American history, a campaign waged by liars, cynics, criminals, and unyielding fanatics.
So we need knife-fighters. And I’m dead serious about that. We need to fight dirty, fight ugly. That doesn’t mean we need to lie. We can tell the truth about these wretched people we’re up against. If we do it right, we win.
Abstract issues don’t move voters very often. But scandal does. And cruelty turns a lot of people off.
Remind people that Trump is an accused rapist, and quite possibly a pedophile.
Remind people that Trump is hooked up with the Genovese, Gambino, and Russian crime outfits.
Remind people that Trump is a liar, a cheat, a fraud, a con man, a criminal.
Remind people that Trump is a draft dodger who has smeared veterans.
Remind people that Trump is a coward and a liar.
And remind them of any other vile thing about this bloated orange bastard shitweasel you can.”…
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/12/16/1905915/-You-Want-to-Win-Be-Ready-to-Fight-Dirty-and-Fight-Ugly-Because-They-Are
6Barry was right. Twice. At least
One of those occasions was when he made this statement:
“All good Christians should kick Jerry Falwell right in the ass.”
7Read this blog yesterday. Saw a video of what happened to Congresswoman Slotkin in Michigan when she held a town hall. There is a relationship here between the two.
Slotkin’s audience was very well up in years. As a retired teacher, and Michigander myself, I can tell you this much:
when these people went to school, they were told about the constitution but never saw a copy. Hence, the knowledge of the constitution is only skin deep and Trump can tell them anything and everything and get away with it.
They have never heard the oath all of the Members of Congress take to protect the constitution. Hence, someone like stolen would impress this low education crowd as a rogue, to put it nicely.
And then there is always the specter of old age depression and suspicion of damn near everything.
Still, Slotkin plunged along. My hat is off to her. Perhaps if she has another town hall elsewhere in her district she might start off with a free copy of the constitution for all the attendees and point out those parts of the constitution that a relevant. A copy of the swearing in oath wold also be a real help. Some visibility of doctors and nurses or even EMTs in the room might help.
At any rate, Slotkin has my “vote”.
8Sandridge:
9Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
I don’t think we were the first to say it, by any means.
I just hope the idea gets enough traction with the right people.
Because the high road ain’t getting it done.
Some things I’m sure of:
If Combover Crime Lord wins the 2020 election, there won’t be a 2024 election.
Telling the truth about the NSDAP, sorry, the NSGOP will be equivalent to fighting with knives. They’ll bring machine guns and cannons to the fight, so we’ll have to drown out their lies, vote suppression, and all their other dirty tactics.
The Dems need a solid ground game in every state. Taking some states for granted, conceding other states, and concentrating only on swing states won’t get the job done.
Yes, this *is* the most important election since 1860 and maybe in all our history. The Democrats need to understand that and fight as though the survival of government of, by, and for the people absolutely depends on it.
10I’ve been saying for a couple of decades now that the GOP has been adapting propaganda techniques that worked for the Communists, particularly the normalization of agitprop. Lenin and Stalin would smile. The Republicans are destroying us from within.
11This is all a bunch of BS. We should NOT be worried about Fat Donnie keeping his ‘job,’ but with throwing Moscow Mitch, ET. AL., out of theirs. The trial in the Senate is going to go Trump’s way: no doubt, no hope of another outcome. To prevent Fat Donnie and Moscow Mitch from absolutely destroying the country, we need to focus our efforts AND our money on rooting out the dismal fungi called the republican party.
12That’s what I aim to do, and I suggest rather than going into a panic attack about who the dem presidential candidate is, we need to focus on stopping the syphilitic rot first.