The sordid details of TFG’s extreme efforts to stay in power after he lost the election in 2020 are finally surfacing.  TFG tried to get the US military, the DOJ, and Homeland Security to seize the voting machines in states he lost so he could steal the presidency away from millions and millions of voters who chose the other guy.  I even remember the rumors that were floating around that the US military was seizing machines, as far fetched as that sounded pre-January 6. Today, it’s perfectly plausible, because that’s EXACTLY what TFG was actually trying to do.  He’s even publicly admitted it.

Even today, all of these facts are not only shocking, they are enraging.  It REALLY pisses me off that people in the government KNEW what he was doing.  A LOT of people knew what he was doing.  Many people in these agencies were aware of TFG’s efforts to steal the election; more important, those in high ranking political and non-political offices knew, including the Joint Chiefs, Attorney(s) General, Secretary of Homeland Security, the FBI, CIA, and hundreds of staffers in these agencies.  Fortunately for us our brittle system held this time, but that’s unlikely the next time it happens (and it will) with the changes Republicans have rammed through the state legislatures over the last year to make it easier to overturn election results they don’t like.

What I want to know, and I demand this answer, is where in the hell have these hundreds of people been in the last year?  Because he was so dangerous, I understand the cone of silence until we ousted TFG from the WH, but why the silence since then?  Now he’s just a crazy old fat man sitting on his gold plated toilet screaming at his television. It’s been over a year since he committed serious crimes on both state and federal levels, and NO ONE has come forward with the full story.  Why in the hell isn’t the FBI perp walking him right now?  This son of a bitch almost succeeded in overturning a national election, aided by many, many, co-conspirators.  Why aren’t THOSE people being perp walked?

Hey, Merrick Garland, DO YOUR DAMN JOB.  No more eggshell walking – go after this guy and everyone who either aided him or even looked the other way.  If there is such a thing as accessory to sedition, THIS IS IT.

Get to work.

This weekend I was reminded of Liz Cheney’s words at the beginning of the January 6th committee investigation that they had a responsibility “…to make sure that Donald Trump is not our nominee, and that he’s never anywhere close to the reins of power ever again.”  TFG was in the Houston area on Saturday grifting money from stupid and corrupt fans, playing his Top 40 hits of lies and hate.  This time, though, he added a new promise to the menu – to pardon the insurrectionists who’ve been charged, convicted, and jailed for attempting to overthrow the US government.  That’s right, folks, even after reversing himself on vaccines, which pissed off the base, he terrified everyone else with his promise to pardon the criminals who did his bidding on January 6th.  On top of that chilling declaration, he called for his supporters to demonstrate in New York and Georgia should prosecutors bring charges against him and his family.

TFG’s profound corruption is back on public display where he demonstrated that nothing at all has changed; he puts his own welfare and wallet in front of all other priorities, including the public welfare.  He doesn’t care if you live or die, as long as the lights are always focused on him and his followers do his bidding without question.

The stakes have never been so high as they are right now.

Late this afternoon, SCOTUS surprisingly ruled that the National Archives can release TFG’s  January 6th records to Congress.  TFG lawyers have been throwing everything, including the kitchen sink, in an effort to stop the disclosure.  Characteristically, Clarence Thomas dissented.  Jesus.

TFG at Mara Lago is probably a real shitshow right now.

Tomorrow is the 1st anniversary of the attack on the US Capitol by Trump supporters, but just commemorating that violent event is not enough and doesn’t address the real problem today in America.  The problem is much deeper than a couple thousand dumbasses brainwashed by a carnival barker and career liar.  Our system of government is now under constant threat.  That threat comes from what was once a national party that has morphed into a fascist regime which is striving for permanent power in defiance of the will of Americans.  THAT is the problem.

This has been coming for decades, fueled by increasingly radical media that is unconstrained by any regulation, especially the Fairness Doctrine that Reagan destroyed at the behest of Rupert Murdoch who was also provided fast track US citizenship and allowed to monopolize US media by a compliant FCC, also under Reagan.  That started the drain of fair journalism, and the rest is history.  Murdoch’s empire has rotted American democracy from the inside, moving from ranting about taxes at their historic lows to Bill O’Reilly’s idiotic “War on Christmas” trope to lying about everything not Right Wing Nut Job.  Murdoch offered up Fox as the official press office for TFG during his infestation of the Oval office, and still amplifies his lies ’round the clock.  The entire goal was to piss off one demographic, and that has succeeded.

We now live in a society where civil discourse and fact based policy decisions no longer exist.  Politics is now more than blood sport – it has become a death cult, from the radical gun culture that has successfully injected armed thugs into the political arena to losing candidates who will NEVER concede defeat, no matter how obvious that candidate’s loss is.  I recall 2008 when Al Franken beat incumbent Norm Coleman by 312 votes.  The votes were counted and counted and counted, and Franken’s win was close, but certain.  Coleman never conceded, fighting in court for 8 months until a 3 judge panel declared Franken the winner.  Since then, virtually no Republican has conceded defeat.  Every election is a battle to the death, and concession speeches from GOP candidates are almost non existent.  Trump has now normalized that behavior by lying and lying and lying and lying.  The Big Lie has now been embedded into the DNA of Republicans, and all over the country they are taking election administration out of the hands of non-partisans and putting it into the hands of radical partisans, even legislating overruling free and fair elections if they don’t like the results.

The real tragedy is that now both sides of the political spectrum have no confidence in the system.  Over 80% of Republicans have lost confidence because they believe The Big Lie and that the system is full of fraud.  Over 80% of Democrats have lost confidence because over 80% of Republicans believe The Big Lie and are trying to rig the system in their own favor.

All of this adds up to every election now being contested to the death especially if the Republican candidate loses.  Armed goofballs will show up at polls, counting locations, city halls, county seats, state capitols, and, yes, even the US Capitol if the election goes against their candidate.  Though TFG is the heartbeat of this massive delusion, it has now grown beyond his own cult of personality.  Oh, sure, every right winger will run to Mara Lago to kiss the ring, but The Big Lie is so engrained that it has taken on a life of its own.  People who were reasonable folks 10 years ago are now ranting maniacs spouting bullshit and even QAnon conspiracy theories.  All reason and critical thinking has all but vanished.

My greatest fear is that this won’t end well, and not until violence and fascism touches most Americans will people wake up and demand accountability from elected leaders.  Add the metastasized cancer that is TFG to the political mix, and the patient could easily die. That is the risk that we really face.

Remember back in 2008 when Sarah Palin’s lie about “death panels” in the proposed Obamacare legislation took on a life of its own?  How the entire red state noise machine took it and ran with it?  Well, irony kicked in this weekend when Palin, talking at the Turning Point USA convention brainwashing, said she’d get a vaccine “…over my dead body“.  The crowd of young conservatives fascists cheered, completely missing the irony of her statement.  Dana Milbank hit the nail on the head pointing out that Palin was an active participant in what can now only be called a death cult.

The death cult also showed its ugly head when the few people who actually paid for seats to the  Traveling Bullshit Tour stop in Dallas booed their Dear Leader, none other than TFG, when he told Bill O’Reilly that he got the booster to protect himself.  The Trumpified GOP is now actually getting people killed as the death rate from COVID in Trump counties is 5 times that of the death rate in blue counties.

The Darwin Club is actually a thing.

In a curious turn today, Rootin’ Tootin’ Rick Perry was named as the author of a text to Mark Meadows titled “AGRESSIVE STRATEGY” outlining how Trump, through a compliant Mike Pence, could steal the 2020 election for himself, overturn the will of the US electorate, and return himself to the office that he had just lost in a free and fair election.  A source knowledgeable about the investigation confirms that the text was sent from Perry’s personal phone.

With the misspelled title, I can believe it was Perry who sent the text, but I don’t believe he actually authored it.  Why?  Because Rick Perry is a dumbass who’s never had an original thought during his entire career.  I can believe that a staffer or right wing operative wrote it, and Perry sent it to get Meadows attention.  Perry’s office has already denied anything to do with it…next Perry will say that his phone was hacked a’ la Anthony Weiner’s denial of his dick pic.

Besides the poor spelling, it’s totally believable that Perry sent the text.  After all, after 4 years brown nosing and groveling to Trump, Perry fully expected another 4 years on the government tit before joining the ranks of lobbyists and wanted to stay in office himself.

I think I’m going to pop some popcorn.

Thanks to Horace down at the Phillips 66 for the tip.