I’ve been trying to motivate myself to write lately and, I’m not sure if I’ve had too many thoughts in my head to focus on one topic or if I’m just so disgusted with where the U.S. has evolved politically that I’m turned off.  I keep reminding myself that back in the day when Ronald Reagan was first elected I saw the evolution to a selfish nation taking place and I didn’t say anything. So, I’m trying not to allow myself into that same space again.  As I watch the political situation moving toward November and all the “moneyed interests” (who made up the “stop Trump” movement) moving toward funneling their money to Donald Trump it just reaffirms that the republican party is focused SOLELY on POWER.  I’m guessing these financiers believe Trump, should they succeed in (the seemingly impossible) getting him elected, will do what he’s told in return for all their money.

Of course, all along Trump was claiming he would fund his own campaign – and, while I never believed a word of it (I don’t believe ANYTHING Trump says), Trump doesn’t have nearly enough money (even if he’s been truthful about his net worth) to run a general election campaign for president.  That being said, there are some definite “red flags” I’m seeing in regard to what should be a landslide victory for whoever the democrats put up against Trump.  First, as I just said, the “stop Trump” movement has become the support Trump movement.  That isn’t what bothers me the most.  I expected it – as I just said, with republicans it’s all about the POWER.  More bothersome to me: I used to listen to MSNBC on my XM radio as I drive around, but I simply got sick of them giving Trump an unbelievable amount of FREE publicity in what is beginning to appear to me a very surreptitious attempt to support Trump’s candidacy.  I wrote a while back that I’m beginning to think that MSNBC is more dangerous than Fox, because the general thought is that they are the “liberal” alternative to Fox.  I turned it on again the other day and there was “Trump, Trump, and Trump” dominating the discussion.  In the time I listened – not one word about the democrats – who, if I’m not mistaken, still have a campaign in progress.  My third red flag is the voter suppression that’s been pushed by republicans for the past few years that could block enough democratic voters from voting to swing the election and doesn’t seem to get much “play” in the “liberal media” Fox “news” has America so worked up about.

I read the other day where Newt Gingrich’s former “sugar daddy” Sheldon Adleson has committed $100 MILLION to Trump’s campaign.  I can virtually guarantee you the rest of the “money changers” (including the infamous “Koch Brothers”) will fall in line.  The fact that Trump shows a startling resemblance to a famous German politician back in the thirties will not deter any of those operating behind the scenes in the republican party.  Again, it’s all about POWER.  I’ve mentioned in earlier posts about the so-called “Powell Memo” written in 1972 by a future Supreme Court justice (Lewis Powell) setting out a plan to subvert the labor movement and promote corporatism – a plan put in place by the United States Chamber of Commerce  plus the Supreme Court – and those in the republican party who’ve been pushing this “plan” will do anything to win the White House this November, because it potentially fulfills their dream of the so-called “permanent republican ‘majority.'”   (control of Congress, the Courts, and the White House) Trump will have BILLIONS in support – even from those who think he’s a wack job – because, as I’ve said, they believe they can manipulate him should he win the election.  I shudder to think what this would mean to my children and grandchildren.  The available money (including foreign money – sorry Sam Alito, but President Obama was “right on” when he predicted this soon after the Citizens United DISASTROUS decision! (Just imagine Trump with the nuclear codes!)

Regarding the media,I’ve been writing for years about how absurd it is that the general “consensus,” as portrayed by the media itself, is that we have a “liberal” media.  This is the result of Fox “news,” (GOP “news”) and all the republican “talkers” – either on the radio or the “pundits” who make the rounds on various cable TV formats spewing the same talking points that are directed from some secret part of the republican caucus.  I’ve pointed out many times these people have latched on to the Joseph Goebbels “Big Lie Theory” and it works really well for them.  The general public is unsuspecting and NO ONE in the “liberal media,” that I’ve heard, EVER even mentions this reality.  Honestly, you don’t have to be a brain surgeon to figure this out.  (apologies to Ben Carson)  Just watch different sources on the same day and you’ll see a plethora of republican “experts” spewing the same lie OVER and OVER again.  The theory is; if you repeat a lie often enough people will believe it’s true.  In a society that is made up with the busyness of America, the people are susceptible to the “sound bite” world that seems to be defining us.  Since Bill Clinton (unfortunately) signed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 our media outlets have contracted to the point where something like 9 (right wing) corporations CONTROL over 90% of America’s media outlets.  As a nation, we’ve been BRAINWASHED!  Do you honestly believe these RIGHT WING corporations are supporting a “liberal” agenda on the rigidly controlled airwaves?  Yikes!

Donald Trump did say a couple things that I saw (and heard) during the primary campaign that I believe were “right on.”  First, when he was in Iowa I heard him say that America’s voters are “stupid.”  Personally, I’d characterize it with a different word (I’ve called them “low information” voters) – in my mind, for the most part, America’s voting public means well, I just think they are unsuspecting recipients of the brainwashing I referred to above.  The other thing I heard Trump say a couple of times was that he “loves the uneducated voters.”  I once referred to America’s “uneducated voters” (again, I used the term “low information”) and was accused by a second rate right wing “talker” (Lars Larsen who operates locally to me) as being an “elitist.”  Of course, he and the others of his ilk made the same reference to Barack Obama – and, I’m sure none of them understood the stupidity of that characterization either.  The truth is that the republicans DEPEND on uneducated voters (low information) – otherwise they would be “history.”  Personally, I’m hoping that by nominating Trump they speed up their demise, but the red flags I’m writing about tonight are all there to help continue the charade.  (Remember, they managed to get both Ronald Reagan and GW Bush, two “low information” politicians into the White House)  Our “liberal media” has given Trump MILLIONS worth of free publicity – way beyond ANYTHING I’ve ever seen in my 40 years of voting – and combined with my other two “red flags” I’m writing about this evening, who knows, maybe America’s voters will vote us into a fascist corporate state.

The third “problem” as I see it is the gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the same Supreme Court that allowed all the secret money into our elections via the Citizens United decision.  I’ve heard estimates that as many as 10 MILLION (mostly) democratic leaning voters will be denied the right to vote by a conspiracy nationwide of republican “insiders” to make it more difficult, or impossible, for certain voters to participate in the election.  For years, republican leaders have claimed that the fewer the number of voters the greater their success at the polls.  Within days of the Court’s gutting of section 5 of the Voting Rights Act several states had “plans” in place to make it more difficult for (mostly poor, old, and/or young) people to vote – people that largely favor democrats.  Some politicians were even quoted as saying this would be the reason republicans would gain control of their states in the ensuing elections.  Combine this with the gerrymandering which has made it almost impossible for democrats to gain control of the House (in the last election, democrats had over 1.3 MILLION more votes than republicans yet were in a sizable minority in the House) and you can see the result of the republican expertise in manipulating the political process.  They believe the “end justifies the means.”

Unfortunately, for those of us who want to see this version of the republican party rejected and given its rightful place in America’s history books along with the “Robber Barons,” the “Trusts,” and the eerily similar republican party of the 1920’s, it seems as if stopping their “free market” agenda should be a no-brainer.  I mean, we’ve been down this path before.  The problem, as I see it, is that the alternative is the democratic party and, as I’ve said before, I often think they don’t have the courage of their own convictions.  This election year the democrats have Hillary Clinton (someone who’s been absorbing “body blows” from the “liberal press” for something approaching 25 years) and Bernie Sanders, who’s not a Democrat at all, he’s an independent running in the Democratic primaries.

The greatest irony, from what I can tell, in this election is the similarity between Trump and Sanders.  No, not their individual positions – those are like night and day.  What’s so similar is that, in my view, both men are representing the overwhelming number of Americans who are TOTALLY “fed up” with American politics.  And, thanks to that “liberal media” that Fox “news” so adroitly defines for us all, most Americans have no idea who’s largely at fault for the gridlock in Washington D.C.  It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure this out, (sorry to Ben Carson) but the republicans have been following a policy of OBSTRUCTION since the days of Newt Gingrich and the so-called “Contract for America.”  (I’ve always called it the “Contract on America”)  In a “nutshell” this “obstructionist” approach to politics has defined republicans since the early 90’s and when they actually are put in a position to “govern” they have no idea what to do.  They “gin up” their base when they’re in the minority – blaming democrats for the nation’s “ills,” and, when they have control of Congress or the White House, they mess things up “royally” and – do the one thing they’re really good at – blame democrats!

The result of all this is that the republican “base” got sucked in by Donald Trump (as if he’s an “outsider” – who knows how many politicians Trump has “bought” over the years – but he’s no “outsider.”  What he is, essentially, is an ignoramus when it comes to how the government actually functions – this will become clear in the general election.  On the other hand, Sanders is the result of the democratic “establishment” ignoring the BASE that made the country (and the party) great from the 1930’s to the 1970’s)  You can see (looking at all the statistics that are readily available online) the great economic divide that we’re experiencing today and that Sanders is campaigning against which began around the time of Powell’s memo in 1972.  Reagan put the “free market” “corporatist” philosophy on “steroids” in the 1980’s (the height of the anti-worker anti-union movement, the “trickle down” [I call it “trickle up”] economic ripoff, the military mega-buildup, and the massive push for deregulation, just to name a few of the strategies to turn America into a corporate oligarchy) – a push which is nearly complete as I write this.  Bernie Sanders “gets it” and MILLIONS of “liberal” Americans are supporting him.  I believe Sanders’ supporters are similar to Trump’s supporters in that they are virtually COMPLETELY disillusioned with our present government and it’s lack of resemblance to the constitution which is its foundation.

While I philosophically “side” with Bernie Sanders, I in no way buy into the 25 years of attacks on Hillary Clinton.  Yes, she is a moderate (although Bernie has succeeded in “pulling” her toward the “left”), but she’s in no way what Fox “news,” Rush Limbaugh, and the rest of the right wing propaganda machine makes her out to be.  I watched her in the so-called “Benghazi” hearings, and she was as knowledgeable a person regarding the machinations of our government as any person I’ve ever heard. This could not be said for the republicans who “grilled” her for 11 hours.  The only thing they proved to me is that you don’t need to understand how government functions to be a member of Congress.  And, the reality is that it’s going to be Hillary Clinton v. Donald Trump in November.  I’m one of the MILLIONS who’ve given Bernie small donations (I believe I’ve sent him around $60) but, I have to say that I stopped giving him money when I sensed he was willing to destroy Clinton in order to win the nomination.  The tenor of his campaign changed along the way and it really bothered me.  Hillary Clinton is not a bad person and my hope was always that the democrats would campaign solely on pertinent issues.  When that started to change, I backed off from Bernie.

The bottom line for me is to defeat the republicans, not only for the White House, but for control of Congress as well.  I have good friends who I have to listen to as they characterize Hillary in the same terms as Fox “news.”  They say she’s a liar (but, can’t give one example of why), they say she is untrustworthy (again, without a shred of evidence).  One of the members of the Benghazi committee admitted the purpose of the hearings was to destroy Hillary Clinton’s “poll numbers.”  Republicans have been focused on this for years, and they’ve, to a certain extent, succeeded.  Their problem is that their “base” came up with Donald Trump as the alternative.  And, if you think Hillary Clinton is “stupid,” I believe you’re going to be surprised as you see her debate Trump in the general election.