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What Do You See in That Guy?

(I wrote this during the first Trump Presidency. I found it today in my little archives of editorials while looking for something else…I am even more disheartened by our fellow citizens who are still betrothed to this disgusting fool. Are you?)

Every day, I am dumbfounded by the insistence of Trump supporters in vehement defense of a man so callous, so dismissive of the thousands people suffering every day that he barely registers as human.

It has been recounted by many who know him that Donald Trump ran for President as a joke. It was a play to his ego to see how far he could get, while each day campaigning meant a bigger spotlight, a bigger rally, a bigger rush. He would have the last laugh, he assumed, when he dropped out of the race at the last minute in a splash of free publicity and marketing. He figured he could cash in on being a former Presidential candidate. But then he won.

He didn’t want the job. His wife didn’t want the job. But like it or not, understand it or not, he got the job. And it became his JOB to learn how to be President, to be big enough to learn the rules, to be smart enough to listen to experts, to be humble enough to know that he is the President and not a king, to be mature enough speak kindly and respect all of the citizens in his care. He has failed in every one of those very simple tasks.

In the same condescending dismissal of those very simple tasks, he also disregarded the larger, more important ones. He ignored the warnings he received about a looming pandemic, pretending there was no danger and lying about its severity. It was his JOB have seen the COVID-19 pandemic coming, and to have acknowledged it, prepared for it, estblished a plan for how to deal with it, and warned the nation of its arrival. It was his JOB to provide guidance, assistance, equipment and personnel to stop its growth. Instead, he repeatedly claimed it was just another “Democrat hoax,” cooked up to hurt his reelection chances, while he acknowledged the serious nature of the virus in private conversations. To this day, he pretends to believe that he has succcessfuly and single handedly defeated the virus in the U.S.

“Magical thinking” is nothing new during political campaigns. But when magical thinking is actually found to be unremittant lying to the public, to the media, to the Congress, to

I know, the newest woman claiming to have heard Trump talk about his supporters as disgusting has been dismissed by the White House as a “disgruntled employee” with an ax to grind. Does that make it easier for his people to believe that she is merely lying, rather than having to acknowledge that this is simply one more time Donald Trump has said or done something crude and disgraceful.? Remember, this is a man who, long beforeefore he was ever involved in actual politics, he wanted to reinstate the death penalty for the “Central Park 5”, kids convicted of a brutal rape and beating but later found innocent when the real rapist was found. His response was to say they should have had the death penalty anyway, suggesting that it would only be a matter of time before they would be in prison again. He promoted the lie that President Obama was born in a different country and was ineligible to be President- and he STILL refers to that at times. While he was running for the Presidency, he called his supporters “stupid people”, saying that as long as there were stupid people around he had a chance to win election. (Don’t remember that one? Go ahead, look it up)

A theory I heard recently for the reasoning behind the rabid defense of a man like him is that his followers don’t really support Trump! Well, they don’t like/trust/believe him, but they hate “the left” so much that they will continue to vote for Trump simply out of spite. They know he is a bad man, an awful barely-human being, but their anger & resentment for those they believe have made them feel small or insignificant in the past encourages them to get their “revenge” by being part of the Trump bandwagon. Making the Left acknowledge the power they have to make those “elites” suffer under this prez for another four years is all they are looking for. Sadly, even though they understand that the policies enacted by this bunch are harmful to them, also, it doesn’t matter, because this rich, white, spoiled, dumb, egocentric frat boy is their “man of the people” and we liberals are just going to have to deal with it.

I hope to god that isn’t the reasoning behind their support; I’m really afraid that may be a large part of it.

Another theory behind his support is that his faithful followers are trapped in some sort of Stockholm Syndrome. They are unable to free themselves because he has so totally convinced them, the way any abuser does, that he is their only salvation, as long as they do as they are told.

This has to be it, right?

I’ve been listening to his faithful for years now, trying to understand the appeal, but I don’t. I hear so many of them repeat, almost word-for-word, the lies Trump has spewed during a rally or press conference, or that his spin docs have put out as talking points:

*”Joe Biden is a socialist”.

Uhhh…no. This particular voter (me) wishes it were so, but he is not.

Biden is a decent man, with good values and a mostly calm disposition, who happens to believe in equality and health care for all, is a right, that multi-billion dollar “corporate welfare” payments are sinful, and that good manners and humble leadership are positive attributes, not weakness.

He knows there are real, live people who are barely surviving without a place to live or enough food for their families.

He believes that the job of President is to protect our liberty; that a leader must step up and actually DO something about the environmental wreckage we all witness every day as our entire West coast burns to the ground and our Gulf states drown.

Has he caused those disasters? No. But his cronies in the fossil fuel industry who continue to rape Mother Earth with their destructive practices are a huge part of it. His repeal of environmental protections and disregard for scientific evidence that says we are almost past the “tipping point” of being able to save our planet AND OUR SPECIES is disgraceful and dangerous. Then we wonder why he would act so cavalierly ? He lives here, too, right? He has children & grandchildren who will be affected for decades by our environment.

Unfortunately, he does not think about the effect his policies have on our environment-even with his kids and grandkids as a part of the picture. Because from where he sits, on his gold “throne” in NYC, or his resort in Florida, or his golf course in Ireland, none of those disasters will affect him at all. By the time any real consequence happens, he will have successfully depleted every resource and pocketed his silver, assured his status as a REAL billionaire, and made a name for himself in the history books. Besides, he will never have to worry about food shortages, paying rent, or dangers posed by fire or flood. So, he doesn’t give a damn.

But that’s not what his acolytes hear or see. He has them convinced that he is “one of them”, picked on and slighted by those smart people who don’t like him, or embarrassed by an eloquent and intelligent black man at a party in front of millions. You know how that feels, right? We’ve all been embarrassed or left out at some point in our lives- now is the time for revenge! And he has poked that sense of disillusionment enough times that it has become a mantra for his masses. He has picked at that scab enough that his wounding is their wounding-even when it’s him that draws their blood.

The final theory I’ve surmised about his appeal is that for many, politics is not something they think about or have paid attention to since Civics class in high school, except every four years when there is a Presidential election. They are busy living their lives, working (if they are lucky), paying rent, feeding their families, trying to keep them all safe and healthy. There isn’t enough time or energy in a day to pay attention to Washington politics. And besides, politicians are all crooked and want to tax them until they are broke, or take away their guns, or tell them what to do. They don’t see government as having ever done anything good for them, because after all, they are still having to struggle to make a better life, and Washington doesn’t come by to help them– why should they care about politics?

And that’s when DJT steps forward and tells them that although he’s never had to work a day in his life, and although he has created a giant real estate empire by starting out with an inheritance of over 400 million dollars, a father willing to “rescue” him from his business failures, and declaring bankruptcy 4 times, that he is a true “man of the people”. He is the only one who understands their struggle and their distrust of politicians and he will get rid of all the crooked, lazy politicians taking their tax money and doing god knows what with it. He alone can “clear the swamp”, because, you’ll remember, he is rich and doesn’t need their tax money. He’s a billionaire outsider who can go in an set things right.

And if you are a CEO of a major corporation, you probably think he has set things right. He’s taken the leaders of industry and placed them squarely in the positions of government designed to preserve the agencies they now lead and protect those agencies from the private plunder of corporate America. The problem is, those folks don’t have a single day of public service experience, and have no concept of what that means. They manage or own very profitable private corporations and have worked to make sure those profits go up every year in order to satisfy the stockholders. It’s an inherently transactional relationship- stockholders are folks who “believe” in and have invested money in the company- and earn a dividend reward for that investment. In a corporation, that’s how things work.

Government is not a corporation. Government is essentially a non-profit organization, it’s goods available and distributed to everyone, not just for those who offer support or accolades, but for those who find themselves in the “disgusting” circumstance of needing help. The money the government takes in taxes is spread like grass seed among the states- growing infrastructure, stopping disasters, helping those in need. Those values are built into the Constitution; it’s what has made our nation one of the greatest on earth.

But DJT doesn’t actually believe that. He has spoken of “those” people, “the Democrat party”, the “radical socialists” so often that he has created and fomented more fear and division among the citizens of our nation than he has contributed anything positive. He has pocketed money from government payments to his hotels, he has turned a blind eye to the abuses of power by dictators around the world, allowing unthinkable atrocities to take place while he sends those dictators “love letters” or spends a few minutes on the phone with them. And he has done NOTHING to curb gun violence, racism at every level of society, poverty, hunger, homelessness, environmental ruin, or our most imediate threat, protecting his citizens from an internationally proven and deadly pandemic.

So what, I wonder, is the real story behind the blind trust Trump’s apostles have in him? Of three possible theories of my attempts to try to understand it, I still dont get it. I’ve tried to find reasons that good people follow such a shallow, selfish dullard and allow him to possess the “football” with the nuclear codes? I’ve given the benefit of the doubt over and over, expecting to find someone who can explain-rationally-the devotion the man demands, believing that Americans wouldn’t follow him if they had all the facts about what he does. Or maybe they felt sorry for him, knowing that he likes and cares for no one, and therefore has to “buy” himself friendships because no one really likes him, either.

And that was the answer.

I have tried for years to find an explanation for what keeps otherwise decent, proud people so devoted to this flabby, foul-mouthed messiah. Evidence of his cruel nature is exposed in bits and pieces every day. But maybe I cant figure it out because I’m trying to find a logical, rational explanation for something that is neither rational or understandable. The American people are involved in an abusive relationship with the President of the United States. Anyone who has ever known or experienced being a woman or child in an abusive relationship easily recognizes that kind of cruelty.

Maybe I’m not finding any “better angels” here because there are none.

Maybe that’s no surprise from someone who considers dead soldiers “losers” and finds military service such a loathsome career choice that he would disown his own children if they chose to serve. No surprise, either, from a man who lied to avoid compulsory military service, denied payment to contractors who worked for him, refused to rent to people of color looking for a place to live, who has made a mockery of the rules of law, order, decorum, and tradition as President. Not a real stretch to believe such a man could refer to his devoted supporters as “disgusting people”

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March 2, 2025 · 1:47 pm
Aside

AND IN THE BEGINNING….

AND IN THE BEGINNING….

Hello my friends. It’s been a while. I had said I would try to write and post on “Politics Mondays, but honestly, lately, I’ve had a difficult time even talking to people about anything  or watching any kind of news programming, especially anything political.  I’ve I have written two exceptionally long pieces that need significant editing in which I just tried to say everything I wanted to say all at once. Then I figured it out-I need to break it up into pieces! Once I get those edited, I’ll post them another day-not such a long wait for those, I promise! In the meantime, get comfortable, get a cup of coffee or glass of wine-I’m going to tell you a story. 

There is just SO MUCH going on in just the one month that we have had this bizarre and brutal administration injustice  Washington DC creating such chaos not just in DC but all over the country. It’s been hard to keep up with all of the havoc this second Trump administration has been wreaking on every single aspect of our lives. And I get it, a lot of times, it’s hard to see how any of this stuff has anything to do with us on a normal, daily level. It is all happening so fast-as the self proclaimed anarchist Steve Bannon has bragged that he would “flood the (whatever)” in order to make sure no one can keep up with the damage being done that they can divert attention from some of the most serious and dangerous policies getting passed while we were looking elsewhere and distracted. I know my head spins when I try to figure things out! 

So, I’m going to start with some personal observations and experiences and try to post some conversations between the various awful misfortunes the people elected to help us choose to slop all over us. What they are doing in DC and the policies they are putting in place, and the f-ing dangerous clowns they have put into positions of leadership really DOES matter- and we will need some plans for what we need to do as a community before those misfortunes hit us in our most personal and spiritual selves. 

First, because I am not convinced that most people (people I know, anyway) are not as feverishly obsessed with politics as I am, so I’ll start by sharing a couple of items that will help explain my foundational beliefs and how I see things.  I may give a little space for the “other guys” if I must. We’ll see. 

My first “political” experience came when I was six years old. That was on November 22, 1963. That, of course, was the day President Kennedy was killed. To be honest, I didn’t really understand all of it, and my brother and I were just a little miffed that Saturday morning cartoons-the only time Children’s programming was on tv!-were interrupted by the “booooring” funeral of JFK.  With no other distractions, or anything else to watch, I watched bits and pieces of the dark and sad funeral procession. I was touched to see little John John give the salute to the casket, and recognized that the little girl, Caroline had a coat that looked like mine, and she was the same age as me! And now her daddy was dead. How sad she must be! At that moment, I made a connection to that little girl, I just KNEW that if we were to meet, we would be great friends. And for years I continued to try to figure out why such a horrible thing would happen. It would be something I explored until long after my childish naïveté had faded.  

Not long after that, there was an excitement that was buzzing around that suburban neighborhood, something about “the President” but I was six years old, I didn’t pay much attention to what the grown ups were talking about. But after dinner that evening, my folks bundled my brother and me into the car and drove to the airport. On the way, our parents talked to each other about what we were going to do, and I got the sense that my mother considered this a frivolous activity, but my dad insisted that there might never be another time for us to ever get to see the President of the United States so closely, and that it would be an important memory. It was history. 

When we got to the airport, we walked straight to a place where there were what seemed a lot of excited people waiting, anticipating. Then the doors were opened, and the group of us walked quickly out onto the tarmac.  forming a loosely cohesive bunch behind a rope barrier. 

For what seemed like hours, we stood and waited; I was bored and tired and couldn’t see anything but the backsides of the grownups bunched up in front of me, conversations among the adults floating over my brother and me, who whined and sat, then stood, then sat again, ready to go home.  Then, there began a quiet buzzing beginning at the door we had used to exit the building. The buzz grew a little bit at a time, gaining volume and excitement, and beginning to impact me as well. My father quickly picked me up and put me onto his shoulders, the klieg lights nearly blinding me.    The sound of the many cameras clicking and alerted me that there was a group of people approaching the airplane on the other side of the rope, walking crisply toward the airplane. I wasn’t sure where I should be looking; actually it didn’t matter much, since the only things I could see of the group were the tops of several men’s heads; the viewing audience ahead of me successfully masked the group we had come to see. But then, as if the mask had been pulled off, there was another head, almost directly in front of me at that point, a full head above the others. He looked like a meerkat soldier standing up in the middle of his troop and surveying the terrain for threats or food. 

“That’s the President! That’s LBJ!” The crowd clapped and yelled approvingly. 

The President? That’s not what Presidents are supposed to look like! This guy was OLD and he had a big nose and big ears and wrinkles and didn’t smile. Not at all like the handsome young President that died.  I was unimpressed. 

The following summer, my neighbor had a baby boy that I simply fell in love with. A baby! Babies,  I would learn, would also become a part of the woman who would come to be and remain a core part of my soul to this day.  I had been playing with him outside of their house one afternoon while he was in his little baby chair. I LOVED that little boy, and his mom, too; when she asked me if I could wait there and “babysit” him while she went to hang laundry on the line in the backyard, I was honored.  When she returned, she paid me 16 cents for my efforts, and I was very excited to have “earned” real money for a job! Into my piggy bank for a “rainy day”.

My mother asked me later what I thought I’d like to do with the money I earned from “babysitting”.  I had no idea. The only money I had ever spent at that time was to put a penny into a gumball machine at the grocery store, but it didn’t seem a very interesting way to spend such an important sum.  Then I heard somebody talking about Mrs. Kennedy, and my ears instantly perked up. She was raising money so she could build a library, the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Presidential Library, and was asking for donations from the public in order to pay for it. That was it! Mrs. Kennedy needed me! I wrote a letter to Mrs. Kennedy, taped the dime, nickel, and penny to the bottom of it, and asked my mom to send it in the mail. I was sure Mrs. Kennedy and Caroline would see and appreciate my major contribution and be happy. 

(As it turned out, I received a letter from Mrs. Kennedy thanking me for my “donation”, a letter I was obviously very excited to get, and also, someone at the Dayton Daily News wrote a tiny blurb about it in the newspaper. Pretty heady stuff for a six-year-old! I’ve kept both for over 50 years.  I saw them recently, showed them to my family, and now have no idea where they are. SMH)

My understanding of the world continued to develop through my Catholic school days- 12 years of Catholic school and, to my parents’ chagrin, I’m sure,  I left those institutions with less religion and a lot more politics. In 1968, I was a TERRIBLE representative of Hubert Humphrey in a mock election, but I didn’t know much about him or what I did know I didn’t like (except that he was from Minnesota, which is where I was born). In that election, my friend Shawn gave a dramatic portrayal of Bobby Kennedy; (MY President’s brother!) his portrayal and what Shawn taught us all about what Bobby stood for was awesome. So much so, I think I voted for him rather than for Mr. Humphrey! 

Aside from that moment of politics in middle school, what I learned from my mostly progressive teachers at Corpus Christi Elementary and Julienne/Chaminade-Julienne High School was about living lives of generosity, love, and service. What I learned is that those ideas-the ones that Jesus preached about- were the ones that I took to heart and applied to my idealistic political awareness. Decades later, it still defines how I try to live my life. Yeah, ok, so I don’t go to church anymore, but when I am asked or have to fill out a form I still answer “Catholic” when asked. 

On May 4, 1970, when I was 13 years old, I came home from school, came through the back door, and found my mother sitting at the kitchen table, the newspaper spread out in front of her, her head in her hands, weeping.  My mother was (and still is) a very capable, strong woman, and not one to cry over “little things”, so I knew instantly that something was terribly wrong.

“They’re killing them. They’re shooting our children”. What she was seeing on the front page of the newspaper was soldiers, guns out and pointing, and students running for their lives. It was the Ohio National Guard turning their guns on students at Kent State University, murdering 4 and injuring ten more. What had been a weekend of protests on campus, some anger fused with indignation over the illegal and secret invasion of the country of Cambodia in an expansion of the increasingly unpopular Viet Nam war. 

The shooting itself was scary and awful; the reaction from my mother was perplexing. We had seen the pictures and videos from the war on the news, of course, but while I knew about it in a very abstract sense, the war had not touched anyone I knew in any real way. That day, I determined to find out what those students at Kent State knew that I needed to know. I cut that article out of the newspaper, put it into a scrapbook, studied the war, talked about it whenever the opportunity arose, filled the scrapbook with more articles, and began a real love/hate relationship with our government and politics. 

By the time I was 17, about to enter my last year of high school, and just as I was beginning to feel like I had reached an understanding of the world and my place in it, everything changed. My father had accepted a new job working for the City of Akron, Ohio 400 hundred miles northeast of my hometown of Dayton, and we had to move.  It was devastating. I was angry, sad, frightened, and very alone in this world. It felt ironic that it was on August 10, 1974, the last dinner we had in our hometown was with friends while we watched President Nixon resign from the presidency. Of course he did.

The one potentially bright light in the sea of darkness in my brain was that our new address was only about 35 minutes away from Kent State University. I was determined to make my own new path, address, and life and attend the school that was a symbol for the feeling of rebellion that had been planted over the many years of my childhood but that had grown so large I was pretty sure I might explode if I didn’t find an outlet for it.  

So I went to Kent State, and met people of every political stripe-Communists, labor unions, Veterans, Musicians, Artists, and curious Freshmen. My politics became clear to me, and although I have grown and continued to learn, it’s a quote from “My President” JFK that gives the best summation of what I believe, and that I think speaks for progressive liberals in general, despite rush Limbaugh’s assessment that “today’s liberals are not like JFK was a liberal”. I call that bullsh*t. 

“If by a ‘Liberal’ they mean someone who looks AHEAD and not BEHIND, someone who WELCOMES new ideas without RIGID reactions, someone who CARES about the welfare of the PEOPLE- their HEALTH, their HOUSING, their SCHOOLS, their JOBS, their CIVIL LIBERTIES, someone who BELIEVES we can break through the STALEMATE and SUSPICIONS that grip us in our policies abroad. If that is what they mean by a ‘LIBERAL’, then I’m PROUD TO SAY I’M A LIBERAL”. 

NEXT TIME: Another quote: 

“The ignorance of one voter in a democracy impairs the security of all.” JFK

(So what happens when half the country is ignorant?)

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February 22, 2025 · 4:36 am
Aside

Never Trump

See

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September 25, 2024 · 4:11 pm
Aside

CAMPAIGN BUTTON TEMPLATES: These are available for anyone to use- they are free, not copyrighted, and designed by me for the candidates and issues I am working on as my contribution to the campaigns. Avery 2 1/4″ circular sticker paper (Cheapest at Amazon, I think)

PRESIDENTIAL

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July 4, 2024 · 10:29 am
Aside

Fighting Fascism: Biden’s Achievements Against Trump’s Deception

I watched, of course. I watched the debate with my friend Marie, who is not as annoying as I am about politics, but is very intelligent and informed, and what we came away with was that yes, Biden did not do well. Like all good Democrats, our hands settled into the appropriate wringing position that so accompanies our ever-present anxiety, our optimism stunted once again by the overblown bluster that diminished President Biden that night and reintroduced the familiar dark cloud that finds us so easily in uneasy times.

But today, after a fitful sleep and several days of televised, electronic, and newspaper “autopsies” of the event, I got up, shook off the cloud, and got angry. Because what I realize, and what I want the anti-fascists everywhere to understand is that there was NEVER a chance that Joe Biden could have won that debate. How could ANYONE who is intelligent, accomplished, and honest even begin to debate such a creton like Trump? When we were watching the show, my friend & I were so dumbfounded about the size and speed and frequency of Trump’s lies that we were tripping over each other trying to refute the disgusting things Trump was saying, one after the other and other and other- we were getting dizzy just trying to keep up! And our conversations were full of mouth-hanging-open-Incredulity, barely able to make full sentences.

So, yeah, I’m not the President, who obviously does know the truth to all of Trump’s lies. What he didn’t have was time; to have to respond immediately to the filth being spat by Donald Trump was impossible. But that doesn’t mean that he has gone soft in the head, or that he is some sort of doddering, foolish old man. If two politically active, reasonably intelligent women who are a couple of decades younger than either candidate couldn’t squeeze out a few rejoinders to the mud Trump was wallowing in, tossing out the Prez because of some perceived “frailty” is just stupid.

It’s stupid because, despite the absence of media coverage, Joe Biden has accomplished more in 3 1/2 years than any President since FDR. He has a list of accomplishments that are jaw-dropping in themselves. He has done more for the American people than most people can even imagine. He doesn’t pretend to be Presidential, he IS Presidential. He doesn’t pander for votes, he EARNS them by listening to what the citizens say, thinks about them, and finds ways to help or fix the greatest number of problems in the most coherent and concrete way possible. His efforts to reduce and eventually eliminate child poverty; absolving students with stifling college debt; creating grants to help first time home buyers; funding for historic colleges, lowering prescription drug costs; fully funding the Veterans Administration and studies to help determine cures for the damages of war, and providing Child Tax Credits for young parents have created what should be a great “safety net” for our Democracy for millions and for years to come. And he did it at the same time he REDUCED THE NATIONAL DEBT! But those are not the things that we hear about. Donald Trump is today’s political version of P.T. Barnum, and the civilian audiences turn to see whenever he points to another ring in the circus.

His sleight of hand is successful, too, because he knows that our weakness, as citizens, is that we aren’t really paying attention to what is REALLY happening, so his forked tongue picks up our ignorance and turns it onto us. He listens (or rather, his dangerous and greedy minions listen) to what good things we hear about when we are driving or between dinner and Netflix and bedtime, and he flips the story. For all of the things that Joe Biden has accomplished, Donald Trump claims them as HIS. He lies, boldly, loudly, and without embarrassment, that it is HE who has “done more for our Veterans than any President ever….” after denying his calling the fallen and wounded or captured soldiers “suckers and losers” in lieu of attending ceremonies to celebrate our heroes. He claims that “EVERYONE” wanted to reverse the Roe v. Wade decision and send it “back to the states” where “it belongs”, and even though most states have voted exactly OPPOSITE that position, he has said he will sign a federal ban once elected.

But those are not the things being written, spoken, debated about after last week’s debacle. And neither are we hearing about his indictments for 34 FEDERAL CRIMES, his CONVICTIONS for fraud and RAPE, the more than 35,000 PROVEN lies-that’s right, THIRTY FIVE THOUSAND lies he told during the 4 years he lived in the White House ; an average of 21 lies PER DAY! (How hard to you have to work to reach that level of deception?!). Just to be clear- he hasn’t stopped that behavior-he still lies as easily as he breathes, accusing the “radical left” of every single thing he and his thugs have done AND CONTINUES TO DO.

It is nearly impossible to imagine any person of honor and integrity like Joe Biden, who has served his constituents and our country for decades, being able to counter the diatribe of lies and libelous accusations that were blown at the President Thursday night. But that was the point, right? Because Donald Trump, as far as we know, has claimed to read only two books in his lifetime. He claims (not convincingly) that he has read the Bible and that Adolf Hitler had some good ideas in Mein Kampf. Whether we believe he actually read either of those books, one thing is clear- someone around him obviously did. (My money is on Steve Bannon and Steven Miller). Because he is the perfectly diabolical example of the Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels’ appalling assertion that “if you tell a lie often enough and loud enough, soon, it becomes the truth”. It would appear that it was true of the German reich’s propaganda, and has had the same effect here in the US in 2024.

So, all the anxiety we are feeling and the hand wringing we are doing is JUST EXACTLY WHAT TRUMP WANTS. In that way that a snake weaves his way through grass, Trump (and his minions on the SCOTUS) the White Christian Nationalists, and the rabid MAGA acolytes that he has managed to convince of his divinity, Trump has learned the “survival skills” one must have in order to slither into the White House. All he has to do is amplify Goebbels’ contention and do it on tv or in his tent-revival rallies, and that’s what many millions of people believe. Even more frightening is that Trump has added the despicable practices of name-calling and calling on his rabid followers to destroy any one and everything that he believes is “out to get him”, and he can sit back and watch as his bile drips and slimes over our nation’s “light on the hill”.

This process works, he knows, and people begin to fear speaking out against the horror they see and feel brewing just beneath the surface.

I make campaign buttons for various Democratic campaigns. Mostly they are very positive, specific to supporting a particular candidate or issue. But I admit, I do enjoy coming up with some humorous ones that are not necessarily endorsed by “official” communications offices, and I’ll take advantage of my ability to create them myself to take a “dig” at the opposing candidate. Some of the favorites this year are the ones that are defiantly anti-Trump. I take the buttons to various campaign events, send them out to different supporters, and pass them out when people ask me about them.

The buttons I make are free, with no restrictions for how many they can take, and are not copywritten, available for anyone to make copies for themselves. I’ve done this for several years now, and for quite a few campaigns, and they are always a hit. For the last few years, however, since Trump was elected the first time, when I share the buttons with the crowds, the absolute favorites are those that say “Make Trump Lose Again” or “NO MAGA”, and others similar, with amusing images and so forth. And EVERY TIME, at every event, people pick up the anti-Trump buttons, laugh, tell me they LOVE them, but put them back into the box and say, “I’d be terrified to wear that one” or “I don’t want to get shot”. Yeah. And they aren’t laughing when they say it. TRUMP IS WINNING, folks.

But after I did my day of Democratic hand-ringing, I realized that I did not want to live like that! I refuse to live the last years of my life under some nasty, ignorant fascist Russian/Heritage Foundation puppet. I will FIGHT for my grandchildren to keep that element from gaining power over them.

But of course, a couple of campaign buttons and an anti-fascist editorial now and then will make no difference if the progressive, liberal, democratic, flower-child, and “outsider” communities give up. We CANNOT allow these people to take the reins of our Democratic Republic and shred them in order to squeeze out every penny, every bit of hope from those of us who know what they are doing. So I’m begging all of you, my timid, loving, generous friends, even if, like me, you don’t have a lot of money to spare or if you don’t think you have anything to offer, PLEASE, PLEASE, find the Democratic headquarters in your city and volunteer. Do it for a weekend, join the phone banks or text messaging teams- for the Democratic candidates in your communities and up the ticket to the Senate (Sherrod Brown, Ohio!) and for the President, Joe Biden.

It might seem like everyone everywhere is overreacting to this contest, claiming this “the most important election of our lifetimes”. Of course, they have said that for every one of the past 25 years or so, and maybe before that, too! I kind of thought that way, too, until I read the 900 pages of the Project 2025 Heritage Foundation manifesto that the Republican Party has adopted essentially word for word as their party platform. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve slept soundly since I read it. This election quite literally will mean the difference between democracy and the destruction of everything we love about being Americans. It is THAT important:

They will do away with nearly 2000 government agencies (they have already done a couple hundred!) that are populated with governmental employees with expertise in their professions. They will have turned those positions into “appointed” positions that will be distributed to those people the President feels will be loyal to him, whether they have any expertise-or even any KNOWLEDGE in the job they are given.

They plan to eliminate the Department of Education, with the curricula designed not by teachers or educators of any stripe, but by the President! There will be no unions, especially the teacher’s unions, so that teachers that go “rogue” and teach students REAL history, REAL social studies, REAL language arts, etc. or who don’t follow the radical “white christian national” program sent from the President can be fired without warning or recourse, or even arrested!

If those brave teachers are arrested, then, their luck has just about run out, because the Justice Department will no longer be a separate Department, away from political influence. The Justice Department will also be filled with appointments by the President, and will be able to be fired without warning or recourse should they stray from the President’s official demands for his notion of “justice’.

And of course, your communications will be compromised. Privacy on line, on your phone, or in your doctors’s offices? Don’t count on it. They are potentially up for “inspection”, because even if they don’t dismantle the Department of Homeland Security altogether, they have promised that the “security” they are looking for is investigating anyone and everyone they suspect of not conforming to what the Office of the President feels is enough. So, that would also mean that I could be arrested for writing this post; you could be under suspicion for clicking on it, doubly if you actually read it, and “watched” for what kind of response you have to it.

And god help you if you are black or brown skinned, LGBTQ+, disabled, Muslim, Jew, or any other religion they do not approve of. Do not protest having to walk past statues celebrating Confederate Generals or “Christian” heroes or imagery when walking into the DMV. Civil Rights? Look at what the Trump-enabled SCOTUS did today. As long as he is sitting in that White House, he can do nearly anything as part of his “official duties as President of the US”.

It really does sound a lot like what George Orwell imagined so many years ago when he wrote “1984”, doesn’t it? We’ve had a few years now where every now and then that phrase comes up in conversation when we talk about the worst possible thing that could happen to our country or our world. Because that is what it would be-the worst possible thing that could happen to our society. And that is exactly what they are proposing in the Project 2025 manifesto, plus much, much worse. They have the foundational structure already in place. How many times have you seen politicians saying things like, “Trump is a lunatic, I would never support him”, only to have them turn around a few days later and start talking about how much they LOVE him and want to kiss his ass? And pretend that they never said the things that we SAW AND HEARD THEM SAY? Forget 1984…this is more like “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”! Only, this is not fiction, this is real.

We cannot let them win. You don’t like Joe Biden? Fair enough, you don’t have to like him. You don’t have to want to go hang out in a bar with him and have a beer. You might think he looks old and feeble and doubt his ability to be energetic on the job. I get it, it would be nice to have a younger, funnier, more vigorous leader, one that looks good performing on television or in front of a big wound-up crowd of supporters who travel with him all over the US. Even one like Trump that will tell you that he is “sent by God” to be your “savior”, that he is “the only one who can save this country” (all words uttered, by the way, by the aforementioned leader of 1940’s Germany) or that he will provide “your retribution” for whatever issue you have in your own life.

But he is NOT sent by God, nor is he your savior, or the only one who can save the country. He may provide “retribution”, but it won’t be for you, it will be solely for his own grievances. He doesn’t care about you. At all. Except when he needs your vote. But once you vote him into office, he won’t even need you for that. He will name himself or one of his rich money lenders as “President for Life” or declare that it is his family that will take over for him in case he isn’t immortal as well. Just think….you could have Don Junior or Eric or his favorite, Ivanka, as your next President! Personally, I think maybe the highly educated, civil servant and Vice President of the US would make a better choice.

So wash your hands, splash a little water on your face, take a breath, pull up your britches and do what you need to do. Don’t do it by yourself, bring along some friends. Get in touch with your local Democratic Party, or the League of Women’s Voters, or the campaign headquarters of a candidate running locally and volunteer. Or apply for a job. They actually have a lot more jobs for people to work with campaigns now, since Trump and his MAGA goons have scared off many of the older and experienced election workers. But you have to muster your courage and not let them win before the campaign even gets going. But it’s got to be done, and it’s got to be done NOW! There are only a few months before the election- and we don’t have much time.
(And just so you know, for those of you who fear Trump’s effect on our society and are thinking that you might have to “move”….. Canada, Australia, and most countries in Europe do not want us! (My daughter Cassady worked for two immigration law firms in the past 12 years, and shared some of that knowledge, but not enough for me to quote it to you, sorry!) As far as I can tell, the only options of countries with a “western” culture open to U.S. citizens (and I am in no way professing to know for sure) are New Zealand, maybe Mexico, and maybe South Africa. )

WE CANNOT ALLOW THEM TO WIN!

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July 1, 2024 · 10:49 pm
Aside

A LITTLE MORE CONVERSATION – OR DEBATE

FROM A REDDIT READER:

I understand Trump lied every time he got spoke, but that doesn’t explain Biden’s poor performance. Biden looked weak from the first sentence he spoke before Trump even had a chance to speak. How are Trump’s lies preemptively causing Biden to mumble? Plenty of people could do the job and speak in full sentences. Obama definitely wouldn’t have crumbled. Newsome or Whitmer could definitely stand up to Trump.

Biden was already struggling in the polls before the election. I believe we are likely to lose the election because of Dem’s blind loyality to Biden and their inability to see reality.

*******************************************************************************************

MY RESPONSE:

You can’t buy into the notion that Joe Biden is not able to lead. As explained above, the “technique” that Trump used to ruffle Biden, the Gish gallup, (with Trump is less about “technique” than it is about bad manners) successfully worked on Biden, which is much easier to do when the “victim” is a stutterer, as President Biden is. When you watched the debate, were you as taken aback as I was in trying to just yell at the tv “that’s a lie!” or “that’s not true, never happened, that’s what Trump did, not Biden….” ?  The lies were coming in so fast and furious with no fact checking…well, I guess there was fact checking, but the NPR fact checker  couldn’t keep up and couldn’t release his data until well after the debate was over. 

So, yeah, the debate was a debacle. But changing lanes at this point would be a complete disaster. The problem has been, for me, that everyone is so concerned about Biden’s age-a concept that the Trump camp has been rolling out for months now, even though the difference in age is negligible. The real difference, which is what Trump wants people to forget, is that he is a lying, conning, raping danger to American society who is a narcissistic sociopath who can’t put a cogent thought together even though the rot he spews is loud and full of false bravado. THOSE are the things that should be talked about! 

The other issue is who will leave office with the condition of the country in better condition? The plans that the Biden Administration have long-lasting value for US citizens; the condition Trump left the country in when he finally decided he couldn’t take his ball and go home was in disastrous circumstances. He continues to disparage our country, the one he wants to lead, the one that MOST Presidents (the reasonably sane ones, anyway) love and want to maintain as a “shining light on the hill” as a “dump” , a “disaster”, with murderers, rapists, and murderers around every corner. My feeling is that his paranoia is a far more dangerous point of view than Biden’s astonishment over the filth that Trump was throwing at him. Trump’s vision is always one that he ends up creating…and he does nothing to stop it, he just makes people fear and hate more than ever. 

Then, of course, there is the fact that we don’t even know who Trump will call to be his VP. After the way Trump shit on Mike Pense every chance he got while they were in the WH, and he did NOTHING while the mob at the Capitol chanted and built a gallows in order to HANG him, the only people who would want to walk into that situation are those whose craven ambition for power is equal or greater than that of Trump’s!  I’d lay my bet on the intellectually superior, “seasoned” politically astute Kamala Harris over any slime bucket Trump would tap to be part of his Administration. and I’d bet on Biden 100% over Trump as someone who could finish a four year term with usable brain matter in his head, since Trump is so obviously lacking in that already. And if Trump’s brain continues to deteriorate at the rate it’s going, he’s likely to slip further into the even more “primitve” parts of his brain, which means even more hate, ugliness, and violent rhetoric. That has to NOT be allowed to happen!  

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July 1, 2024 · 10:42 pm
Aside

Real Voices, America? Scary!

Good Monday morning, all! 

While I’ve said before that I would be reserving Monday mornings for politics, I’ve actually been using Monday and Tuesday mornings as writing days for a book, having determined that that particular pursuit is a much better use of my time. But I’m driven to spend some time today writing about some of the things I’ve learned while researching politics in 2023. 

I have a so-called “smart tv”. (A Samsung, in case you are interested) We have, in total, 5 t.v.s in our home, but this one is different from the others. You see, when I turn this one on, it goes to the “home page”(?)first, then you can go to the channels available from there.  The thing is, that home page is a channel called “Real American Voices” I had never heard of this channel before, and I could not find it now if it didn’t just show up when I turned on my set, but it has provided me with quite an education. Here’s why:  

It was obvious from the start that it is a channel devoted to the waaaaaay Right political realm-ever so much farther Right than Faux News, and maybe even Newsmax, (which I avoid at all times, if possible) The first clue as to the channel’s dedication to all things to the Right fringe was the ads for their headline shows-the ones featuring the repulsive Steve Bannon and even more repulsive (yes, it is possible!) Ted Nugent and his WIFE! Ugh! 

I admit, if either one of those two shows are in progress when I turn on the tv, I cannot watch or listen to them for more than a moment for fear of my eyes and ears bleeding from the godawful stuff they brandish. Besides, we are all pretty much aware of what those grandstanding alt-right cheerleaders are going to say. It’s not worth the pain. 

BUT! What has shocked and sickened me and created a fear for all of us who believe in progressive democracy are the many other demented “personalities” hosting what look like fake news shows. They are shows that are breathtaking in their articulating the dangerous lies, conspiracy theories, supremacist ideology that far exceeds what even Faux News presents. And while Faux News anchors have been called out for their behind the scenes communications describing their guests/“experts” as CRAZY or delusional, the folks on Real American Voices (RAV) are unguarded in their beliefs that all the conspiracy bullshit is real. Yes, this is a free country and we are all given the right to our own opinions by virtue of the First Amendment. But when do we acknowledge that having an opinion and sharing it is fine, but sharing an opinion as though it were FACT is not just irresponsible, but dangerous? 

In 2020, Tuckie was sued by former Playboy model Karen McDougal, who had told her story about an affair with Donald Trump. It seems Tuckie didn’t like her disparaging his guy, and made up a story that she had tried to extort the former President for money, although she never even approached him. The Faux legal team responded that Carlson’s comments could “not reasonably be interpreted as facts”, and the judge agreed, saying “given Mr. Carlson’s reputation” and “his overheated rhetoric is precisely [what one expects]when tuning in…and as such, are not actionable as defamation” In other words, no one with an ounce of brains would actually believe this purveyor of stinking shit.  

We’ll see how that holds up in the Dominion defamation suit, especially now that we’ve seen the snarky and dismissive emails and texts between the Faux News’ “personalities” that expose the FACT that they actually knew from the beginning that the reports of a “stolen election” were false, the Dominion machines were fine, their “expert” guests were “loony” and CRAZY (in 9 separate texts) and their viewers were gullible for believing it all. They kept up the ruse, though, that fueled the dangerous rage developing on the Right. 

Faux News has a lot to answer for; they have encouraged paranoia among the already under-educated and fearful white citizenry, and hopefully, the lawsuit against them will finally expose the lies they have been telling for YEARS.

No matter what happens to Faux News, however, they have spawned a sense of freedom for next-level, once hidden extreme-Right broadcasts, websites, podcasts, and social media trolls who have come out from under their rocks and gained a veneer of capability and righteousness in the exploitation of such propaganda. We have seen in real time just how little power there is in preventing the lies being dispensed as truth, and any kind of “watch dog” attempt to correct the fabrications are met (successfully, it seems) with declarations of “propaganda” by the “left wing elites” in the media who (they really DO believe this) are not merely baby-killing pedophiles, but who are attempting to strip them of their “freedom” by way of “The New World Order” (a cabal of the worlds 13 richest families (Rockefeller’s, Morgans, Rothschilds, etc. who will make up a 1-world government in which we will be forced to bow down to or…..? 

They point to “Event 201,” a forum of top public health experts, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, The World Economic Forum, and-oh no!-The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation who met in 2019 to discuss the growing threat of possible pandemics and how to best respond to them. In a 2+2=5 logic, the Right-wing “leaders” decided that because they weren’t invited, it must have been a part of the secret, liberal, Nazi(?), socialist NWO plan to KILL OFF Republicans. They really do think that the goal of all Democrats is not only to drink the blood of babies born to the women being trafficked or held in imaginary pizza shop basements, but also to MURDER all Republicans. Yep. And according to the delightful Margerie Taylor-Greene, the murdering has already started!)

In watching the shows on RAV, I’ve gleaned what I think is the groupthink projection that Covid-19 is a virus created by the Chinese for the liberals in the U.S. so we could release it and it would magically know who the Republicans were in order to infect and kill them. It’s really no surprise, I suppose, when you have the woman with the most direct access to the current Leader of House has compared Democrats to “wild hogs…that need to be taken out” and who has repeatedly supported the idea of EXECUTING prominent Democratic politicians. On Twitter, she “likes” comments like “a bullet to the head would be quicker to remove Nancy Pelosi as Speaker” or her joining with Alex Jones after the Parkland shooting, calling the shootings in Newtown, Connecticut and Parkland Florida “false flags”-that they were not real events, but rather staged events with actors, created by Democrats to distract and discredit gun ownership, especially those Republicans who support the 2nd Amendment. Her grip around the neck of Leader McCarthy has landed her appointments to the House Education Committee, as well as the Homeland Security Committee. 

I know I feel safer. You? 

MTG is just the loudest and most obnoxious “spokesperson” on the Right these days…she joins the likes of Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley, Ron DeSantis, Matt Gaetz, and our favorite, Gym Jordan in believing they are the smartest people in the room, the ones who want to “avoid” a Civil War by having a “divorce” between Red and Blue states and creating two separate countries, so there won’t be as much fighting. 

I know these things seem so strange that most of us feel like they are not even worth addressing or responding to; that no one in their right minds would entertain the validity of such outrageous ideas or behavior.  And therein lies the real menace. Because the things the ridiculous Right is saying only serves to prop up the propaganda being served by the no-longer-hidden conspiracy nuts that grew Q-Anon from a prankster’s joke to a full-on “movement” or that, like (ugh)Steve Bannon who, like Charlie Manson before him, revels in the chaos they are creating in the expectation of a great revolution in which the White Male Christian once again seizes power from the hands of those who would try to take his place, and would include the coronation of Bannon himself or some other lucky toad who would have to listen to Bannon and his supremacist posturing and manipulations. 

We are in danger, my dear intelligent, progressive friends. We are a group that wants to believe in the best of people, to think that those who want to destroy democracy are a small but noisy bunch who will soon wear itself out by simply not getting anywhere with the ideas they share about who can make decisions about our personal lives, from our bodies to our textbooks to who is able to vote and who is able to be elected. We look at the progress our country has made in industry and economics, the future we look to in leading the way to protecting the environment and amazing technology, and we feel proud. We are determined to make good on the promise to provide everyone-EV-ER-Y-ONE-an equal ability to live a good life or better, and to protect our democracy and any democracy around the world that needs our help. We believe in the strength of our guaranteed freedoms: of speech, the press, life, liberty, and the unhindered pursuit of happiness. We continue to support the rights of those we disagree with, including those who believe it is their right to own firearms, but we caution that with steps to ensure that their right to a gun does not deny our right to live. 

I grew up in an era of Viet Nam war, Civil Rights activism, Women’s Liberation, pre-and post-Stonewall, assassinations of precious leaders, massacres of students and suppression of dissent,. Those of us who remember those years know that our government was worthy of scrutiny and demands for change. And none of us is naive enough to believe that our government is only GOOD. But those days, and the changes that were made both in societal structure and in the minds of many, including some of our current governmental leaders, have allowed for some powerful, positive adjustments in the lives of many of us. 

Of course, we have a long way to go. Sometimes it is frustrating as hell to feel like we KNOW what would be the best course, or to have to wait for progress to wend its way down to “the people”.  But, we cannot allow democratic elections to be replaced by authoritarian rule or corporate control simply because democracy is not going fast enough, or because we don’t like the look of the people running things. Progress inevitably makes changes that may not allow us to maintain a superior position in society or government; that is how we grow and learn how to progress. But supporting authoritarianism or theocracy or corporate dominion is NEVER a good idea. It has never worked, anywhere in the world, and implementation of such regimes nearly always starts and ends with blood and death. 

So, for the supposedly “patriotic” and “law and order” folks on the Right, your cries for the deaths of Democratic politicians, your attempts to usurp the Justice Departments and the Law and Order of the FBI, Secret Service, and other agencies that protect even you, your scrutiny is fine. Your destruction of them is not. That becomes the beginning of the end of what is right about the U.S., and history will not be kind to you or your descendants. 

The Right attempts to disparage those of us on the Left with the supposed epithet “Woke”. As opposed to what? Sleeping? Being unaware of the plight of others? I think we consider that one “weak”. Being “woke”is a concept we should be embracing, proudly, and defying the attempts by the Right to diminish our “awareness” of the acts of kindness, intelligence, and community we share in the preservation of what is good in society. So, my warm-hearted, patriotic and progressive brothers and sisters on the Left, it’s time to recognize that we cannot sit back and simply believe in the goodness of human beings or that “good will triumph”. Because without our defense, it won’t.

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February 27, 2023 · 6:49 pm
Aside

Libs and Cons…Part 3

The Republicans, thanks to Trump and the dirty and underhanded and lauded “evil political genius” Mitch McConnell, have gotten what they wanted.There were actually TWO goals they were focused on, and because we were all focused on the antics of an idiotic President, they got both of them.They vowed to overturn Roe, to send the decision about women’s bodily choice to the State legislatures, and have been rewarded, hopefully temporarily, by Republicans in as many as 46 states. Some states reacted with total bans on the procedure, some having exclusions for rape, incest, or life of the mother. For that, the Republicans can probably thank the religious communities for the fanatical support of such a reversal.  The puzzle for me remained, “How can supposedly religious people support the likes of a filthy, foul-mouthed liar, cheat, and philanderer like Donald Trump?” And then, just recently, a Republican woman stood up in front of a crowd and admitted, “I don’t care about anything else, I just want the Senate…that’s all…I just want control of the Senate”.

Ah, yes. The Senate. Why? Because if Mitch McConnell can control the Senate again, then he controls what things get bought up for votes. And he can control who gets priority seating when deciding on Judges. And under Donald Trump, they appointed 234 federal judges, including three to the U.S. Supreme Court. All of them have lifetime appointments. So in addition to the Supreme Court being politicized by the Republicans, so are the other judgeships in The Courts of Appeals, Common Pleas, Military, and so on.  And that is why, when McConnell was the Majority Leader in the Senate, he withheld all petitions for judges (among other things) and allowed a great many judgeships to remain vacant under Barack Obama, including the Supreme Court, a position which Trump filled with Neil Gorsuch, then added Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, two judges who lied during their confirmation hearings, swearing that they believed that Roe v Wade was “settled law” and would have no reason or desire to re-litigate it.  

When you are appointed to the highest court in the land, the Court that governments around the world hope to be able to emulate, and that appointment comes from the biggest proven liar ever witnessed, I guess the logic is that its ok to lie to the US Senate in order to get what it is you want. (Even though it is illegal!)

When you are told over and over that the election was fraudulent (a lie) and that “there will be hell to pay”, (Steve Bannon, Trump, RogerStone, General Mike Flynn and his brother, etc.) I guess that means that there is a call for revolution. The revolution that will remind the “others” that you are the “chosen”, and that will serve to cement that position, and you’d better be prepared for violence. 

When you are reminded again and again that everyone-not just caucasians-are demanding a voice in the governments of their towns, cities, states, or federal governments. They tell you those people are dangerous and will make you “slaves” to some imaginary socialist scheme, and you will be “replaced”. Maybe they will treat you the way they have been treated since arriving here as slaves or butchered for their land and resources, then I suppose it’s understandable that you feel righteous in your hate for them, and that you prepare to hurt them before they can hurt you. It doesn’t matter that it’s not true. What does truth have to do with any of it? 

Your “truth” is validated when the media tells you every night and most of every day that your whiteness makes you the best, that you are exceptional, but that there are “lesser” people just waiting at the gate if you even acknowledge their humanity, so you’d better be prepared to defend your “supremacy”. And you will do as your leader wants, whether it means storming the Capitol or shooting up a church for the “cause” of white supremacy. You vow to go to jail for your leader, even die for him, because he is the one who understands you, who loves you, who is proud of you, even when you do things you know are sinful, because he is the righteous messenger of god.   

Well, then, I suppose, in honor of that unlikely Southern progressive Democrat, Lyndon Johnson, you have let that leader and their sycophants pick your pockets as well as your brains, and what you ended up losing is your soul. And when you have no soul, you endanger us all. 

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October 31, 2022 · 6:00 pm
Aside

Libs and Cons…Part 2

The Republican Party has made no secret of their alignment with the conservative, Southern, Christian evangelical movement. They used to be the party of law & order, the “Party of Lincoln” that signed the Emancipation Proclamation. But then they realized that the “Southern Strategy” to appeal to the racism of Southern voters didn’t work nationwide and that the Democrats had been welcoming African American voters, electing Lyndon Johnson in a landslide in 1964. 

The Republicans, searching for a new strategy and voters, realized that the Evangelical Christian movement may be their best bet. They decided that they could convince a huge block of white voters that they were the Party of “American Values”; not exactly the same as their disastrous Southern Strategy, but still recruiting from much of the same voting block. They cast their lots with the likes of Billy Graham, Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson (who ran for President in  the 1988 Republican Party) and their various Christian organizations. They would become the “pure” Party, the Party of God, Guns, Apple Pie, and Patriotism. They didn’t need any of those liberal socialists anyway. And they might just be able to pull it off.  They heard what LBJ said, and they knew that was where they could exploit millions of hard working, faithful, Christian men and women to join them. 

“If you can convince the lowest white man he’s better than the best colored(sic) man, he won’t notice you’re picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he’ll empty his pockets for you”.  Lyndon Johnson, 1964

As crude as LBJ’s words are, it may be the way to understand the devotion of Donald Trump’s followers, and the loud “mean girl” strategy being used during this election season. 

The Republican Party has been referred to recently as “the party of grievance”, or the “just say no” party:

  • No health care, 
  • No abortions
  • No voting for black folks,
  • No mercy for people crossing into the US from dangerous countries 
  • No Social Security or Medicare for old or disabled people, 
  • No funding (especially)for Medicaid, of course 
  • No funding for public education (but using that money for private charter schools is ok), 
  • No rent assistance, 
  • No debt forgiveness, 
  • No nutrition assistance for children or families, 
  • No books that may have social or political themes, 
  • No allowances for gender differences, 
  • No gay marriage 
  • No restrictions on gun ownership or guns in public places, 
  • No restrictions on the destruction of public lands by private oil companies, 
  • No money to fund the maintenance of bridges or highways that are crumbling, 
  • No restrictions on greenhouse gasses or funding for alternative energy sources, 
  • No restrictions on ownership of media or what is said by such,  
  • No restrictions on the amount of money corporations can use to fund and support candidates that they know will vote on legislation in the best interest of the corporation rather than the best interests of the people of the United States (dark money aka bribes). 

Grievance politics means that the rules of behavior (good manners) that you learned in elementary school as early as kindergarten no longer apply, and anyone can say or do anything they want to do. If you disagree, then you are ridiculed as “woke”, “elitist”, “socialist”, “snowflakes” or other terms they consider insulting. 

Better than some of the invectives thrown around during the Civil Rights era, yes, although I’m not sure why they think the appropriated term “woke” is disparaging…and I embrace that one. I’m proud to be awake, aware of what’s happening around me, aware of what they are attempting to do….”snowflakes” are beautiful in winter, none of them exactly the same as another, just like humans…”socialist”…well, I do appreciate the services provided by the fire department, police department, public hospitals, Veteran’s benefits, Unemployment insurance, FEMA, the GI bill, the National Parks, the FDA, NASA, the CDC, the Post Office, and, of course, the military. Soooo, yep. That one works for me, too. (Plus, I’m on Social Security and Medicare, the truly evil socialist programs the Republicans have been trying to dismantle since they were developed, and have promised to do just that if they are able to gain the Senate and House majorities again) 

The “elitist” one cracks me up.  The Republican Party “ruling class” is made up almost entirely of extremely wealthy “legacy” rich white men with degrees bought and paid for by ELITE wealthy parents who realize that their offspring don’t have a dime of common sense or interest in actual learning. They may have excelled at the expensive private prep schools they attended in the arts of bullying, hazing, drinking, cheating, and womanizing (ahem, Brett Kavanaugh) and know that they will have to provide large “gifts” to the Ivy League institutions they insist their offspring attend in order for said offspring to graduate. Now, who are you calling “elitists”? 

Elitists? I’ve often wondered how they can launch that term at Democrats with a straight face. Then, a couple of weeks ago, I was informed by a former Republican friend that “elitists” actually refers to “the Jews”.  Yep, that same old trope that’s been floating around, sometimes under cover of what Republicans call “political correctness”, sometimes blatant, and sometimes fatal. The trope that says that all Jews are connected by some sort of  international cabal that starts with that most dangerous Jew, George Soros, and makes its way throughout the world by way of his support for organizations that promote democracy, peaceful governments, and “socialist” ideals like feeding the poor and hungry and providing health care to the most needy, especially on continents like Africa and Asia. Of course, his “influence” is aided and abetted by the “elites” of Hollywood, New York, and the Democratic Party.  (I guess that must be when we aren’t all gorging ourselves on the blood and flesh of the children we have molested and kept prisoner under a pizza shop in NYC)(You know I’m joking, right?) 

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October 31, 2022 · 5:57 pm
Aside

Libs and Cons…Part 1

I’ve been trying to understand for years now the draw that people like Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Donald Trump, and groups like “The Proud Boys” et al. for the American right wing-especially for the CHRISTIAN right wing. I think I may have thought that it was simply because of the issue of abortion; no discussion of conservative politics ever took place in my discussions without the issue of abortion asserting itself somewhere along the way.  But with the election of Donald Trump and the repeal of Roe v Wade, the bile oozing from Republican candidates across the country is still spreading, smothering any kind of rational discussion of political policy I once believed possible between the left and right. 

Of course, the election of Donald Trump was a shock to our political system on all sides.  Republicans were shocked and delighted. We liberals were shocked to see such an ill-informed, narcissistic buffoon elected to the office of the Presidency of the United States. We suffered through four years of embarrassment as his lies, his racist and anti-semitic bloviation, his ineptitude and his obvious sense of entitlement made a mockery of our image of ourselves as Americans here and abroad. The disdain we saw on the faces of foreign allies and adversaries alike, the shifting of traditional alignments of the U.S. with other democratic governments to the “love letters” from leaders of authoritarian nations like North Korea, Russia, Hungary, and Argentina were indications of the transforming of American culture from the top down.  Even those who rarely engaged in political action or conversation have been drawn in by what Polish writer Ann Applebaum calls the “seductive lure of authoritarianism” developing in all aspects of our American life.  

The frightening part of the reign of Donald Trump, though, was not simply the alliances he discarded or insulted, or even the coarseness of his language and lies.  The frightening thing is that because of his belief that he alone knew what was best for all of us, that what he wanted to do, legally, criminally, or personally, was what we “should” also want and be satisfied with, and that nearly half the citizens in this country fell for it. The glee that many of our citizens have for following his lead, for being “allowed” to spew racist and anti-semitic rhetoric, to feel entitled to violence against those who disagreed with them, and to demand his continued presence in the White House even after 60-SIXTY!-judges, many of them judges that he himself had appointed, declared that he had not won the right to continue as President has been bone-chilling. 

Even worse, if possible, has been the acquiescence of the Republican Party to the influence of Donald Trump and his despicable stooges. That grown men, some who have been in Washington for decades, have deprecated themselves, politically, personally, and spiritually to bow down to this bloviating bully, cowering in fear that he will use his truly “bully pulpit” to call them out, revealing or lying about their loyalty to him, which means loyalty to the country, or calling into question some aspect of their “manhood”, virtue, intelligence, or whatever he recognizes as a weakness he can use to corrupt. The voting public has no such fear, as they know they are anonymous to him. The Republicans in Congress, however, so brash and self-righteous in their belief that THEIR way is the RIGHT way, cower in fear of Donald Trump’s wrath, even after his expulsion from office. 

Now, the Republicans stepping into the fray and running for offices at every level of government in their attempt to seize or maintain power are seriously emulating the example that Donald Trump set for them.  It is almost a badge of honor to be hateful, foul-mouthed, and extolling vitriol, propaganda, and violence toward those who disagree. They are angry-very angry, it seems-that their guy LOST in the 2020 election, and that means their grievances won’t be heard. So they are running themselves. And they are using every nasty trick in the old Republican playbooks ever used: they are lying outright, having learned from the “master” of propaganda Josef Goebbels, they know that a lie, repeated long enough and often enough will become “truth” to those predisposed to believe it.  They are mocking rivals for their health, for their non-religious politics, their quiet demeanor, and for “goodness”.  They are even “darkening” the skin of their African-American opponents in advertisements, believing (or knowing) that their almost entirely Caucasian base will be frightened by a candidate they see as “too black”. 

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October 31, 2022 · 5:51 pm