Last week Donald Trump “shook up” his campaign staff by firing the guy who was taking money from a Russian oligarch closely connected the Vladimir Putin and, instead, hired this guy from Brietbart.com named Stephen Bannon who’s an outright white supremacist.  I’ve seen some of his quotes (I’m sure you can find them on the internet) and, I have to say, the ones I saw were disgusting.  I’ve been aware of Brietbart “news” for some time, but it’s just not the place where I’m going to spend (waste) my time.  From what I’ve read they are the supporter of the so-called “Alt. Right” movement – which is a white supremacist movement.  And, Donald Trump has the right to choose anyone he wants to run his campaign – I will find it interesting in how the so-called “liberal media” interprets this decision by Trump.

Shortly after hiring Bannon Trump gave a speech in Wisconsin to a group of white supporters with the most disingenuous outreach (ostensibly) aimed at the African American voters I’ve ever seen – claiming they will be much better off in a Trump presidency than a Clinton presidency.  In fact, he pretty much blamed the problems of the Black community on Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.  This was a scripted speech and I can only guess who wrote it, but now Trump’s campaign is being run by Bannon (white supremacist) and Kellyanne Conway who might be the best example I’ve ever seen of someone who could “argue with a fence post.” (Previously, she was advising Ted Cruz)  If these two people get through to Trump (and, it appears to me that Bannon and Trump are on the same page with their racist attitudes and their willingness to create “facts” as they see fit) We will see nothing but a blistering (and, in most cases, unsubstantiated) attack on Mrs. Clinton and Barack Obama.  Trump and Bannon were at the forefront of the “birther” movement early in President Obama’s tenure as president.

And, Ms. Conway is very good at what she does – it’s just that she’s a sophisticated proponent of what I’ve been writing about on this site for years now – the republicans “adoption” of the “Big Lie Theory” as a way to convince the public that they’re out for the “middle class” – or, in the instance of Trump’s recent remarks in Wisconsin, for the Black community.  Honestly, NONE of what Donald Trump does causes me to waver in my interpretation of his “plan” – which is something eerily similar to Nazi fascism.

Now, I have to say that I believe there’s lots of room to have a real debate over issues and character with Hillary Clinton (that being said, I don’t believe half of what I read and hear about her in the “liberal media,” but I’m not an enthusiastic supporter either) except that Trump is apparently not capable of this. First of all, I don’t believe he’s got a grasp of the issues more than what many of us have in our “water cooler” discussions.  And, secondly, I believe that if Trump himself was “vetted” to the extent that Mrs. Clinton has endured over the past 25 years he wouldn’t want to discuss “character” in public with anyone.  (three marriages and six bankruptcies) To me, Trump is a pathological liar, so he “believes” whatever happens to be coming out of his mouth – but, in a debate with Hillary Clinton, I would expect her to have foundational facts that Trump would find difficult to refute on national TV.  He bullied his way to the republican nomination in the “debates” with the “clown car” – but, debating Mrs. Clinton will be far different.  He’s got issues she’ll raise – like the bankruptcies and his business practices that he’s hiding by not disclosing his taxes. (I predict his REFUSAL to disclose his taxes will become a more significant issue the closer we get to election day)

That being said, I don’t expect Trump to publicize his taxes because they will expose many of the LIES he’s claimed about his own expertise. (it will be interesting to see how the “liberal media” deals with him withholding his tax information)   He bases his campaign on HOLLOW promises that he can “make America great again” (whatever that means) because he’s a good negotiator.  Huh?  People have to be so turned off by the inability of our government to “get things done” (which, by the way, creating gridlock has been the foundation of the republican strategy since the 1994 “Contract with America” – foisted on us by Newt Gingrich, Tom Delay, Dick Armey, and a group of right wing zealots who’ve since [mostly] left Congress due to various corruption issues) that millions of Americans have taken the “bait – hook, line, and sinker.”  If America’s no longer “great,” then it’s the republicans who’ve been busy undermining the GREAT “New Deal” and its aftermath since the 1970’s.  They’ve (republicans) succeeded in undermining our government and placing blame on democrats. (In my view, part of that “equation” is that many democrats don’t have the spine to fight for their own values – but, that’s a story for another day)

I have to add though, that Trump is a manifestation of the so-called “tea party” movement that was engineered by the Koch brothers and Fox “news.”  Roger Ailes, then the head of Fox “news,” has now been added to Trump’s campaign and, along with Bannon, Trump now has two racist “advisors” who represent the racial hate spewed out toward President Obama for the previous 7 1/2 years.  I have good friends who were not able to see the level of racism in the “tea party” movement and I’m guessing some of them will vote for Trump because they really dislike Hillary Clinton.  However, as I once said to one of them, if you associate yourself with a racist organization, then you become part of that organization.  You don’t get it both ways.  There are many Christians that I know who have voted republican for years based simply on the abortion issue (somehow assuming that republicans are going to stop people from having abortions), but, at the same time, have found themselves voting for people who are racist, or support racist legislation.

When I (try to) listen to people I know who are going to vote for Trump, in almost every instance, the rationale is how corrupt Hillary Clinton is.  What’s really interesting, at least to me, is that in virtually EVERY instance the people I’m talking to are spewing the EXACT same “talking points.”  And, these are people who don’t research the information they’re processing – it comes from the Cable news outlets.  For example, I have two friends who in the past couple of days told me how corrupt Hillary Clinton is and I could have been listening to Fox “news.”  In both cases, I just asked where their information came from and they wanted only to say “the news” – one guy told me he watches all the different channels – but, they both admitted to watching Fox “news” for their main information.  When I suggested that Fox “news” is a propaganda arm of the right wing they became a bit defensive.  Of course, none of us wants to admit that we’ve allowed ourselves to be brainwashed – but, in my mind, that’s exactly what’s been happening in America for the past 35+ years.  And, the cause of this isn’t “fair and balanced” – it’s coming from the right wing and it all started with the “Powell Memo” in 1972.

I recently wrote about “political projection” and it probably shows itself in issues of race more than anywhere else.  I can remember many times (including from Kellyanne Conway) where republican “pundits” were accusing democrats (and, President Obama) of “using the race card” in situations where they were clearly supporting some form of racist activity.  I can’t remember the exact details, but as they’ve been working overtime to suppress the voting rights of minority (and democratic leaning) voters they will accuse democrats who are opposing them of “using the race card.”  This is how they deflect the focus of Americans from their own misbehavior.  The best example I can think of right off the top of my head is their “disdain” for “activist judges” as they’ve BLOCKED (or opposed) virtually every appointment made by President Obama while “their own” judges (Scalia – RIP, Roberts, Thomas, Alito) are possibly the MOST activist judges in American History.

The aforementioned judges are responsible, for starters, (well, not Alito in this instance) for the invasion of Iraq (and, who knows, possibly 9/11 because Al Gore might have listened to the intelligence before the attack on the World Trade Center) because they CHOSE George W Bush as President back in late 2000 when Al Gore had likely won the election.  Once Roberts became the “chief judge” and Alito was on the court, we got “Citizens United” – maybe the WORST decision in the HISTORY of the court – we’re seeing the ramifications of “Citizens United” as we watch the “0.1%” (along with foreign nationals) buying off our Congress and politicians around the country.  “Citizens United” was “judicial activism” on steroids and they topped that off with the McCutcheon decision (further opening the “floodgates” of money into the corrupting of our system (Citizens United = corporate money, McCutcheon = wealthy individuals).  If allowing corporate and wealthy interests to buy the political process wasn’t enough to achieve their aims they topped that off by GUTTING the Voting Rights Act of 1965 allowing their “base” to introduce voter suppression legislation within days of the ruling.  For those who don’t believe there’s a connection between the court and the right wing republican party – well, Scalia and Thomas are (were, as I noted earlier, rest in peace Mr. Scalia) regulars at the “Koch Brothers” annual fundraisers and propaganda “fairs,” and the voter suppression legislation was already drawn up as the court inexplicably gutted the historic Voting Rights Act. (their goal, as I heard it, was to prevent something like 5 to 10 MILLION people from voting in the 2016 election).

That reminds me, as I was earlier writing about their strategy of political projection.  Well, voter fraud is a great example of how they do this.  Despite the EVIDENCE that shows actual voter fraud to be almost negligible – EXTREMELY RARE in light of the MILLIONS of votes cast in a presidential election, that is the “justification” republicans give for their voter suppression legislation – it’s designed to stop “voter fraud.” Additionally, of the RARE instances of alleged fraud (again, something like 30 allegations out of 60 MILLION votes) virtually NONE would be stopped by issuing voter ID cards, although that is precisely what the new laws require.  The idea behind the voter ID laws is to purge the low income voters from the polls who tend to vote democratic (because many would be unable to get them or pay for them).  This (projection) is a very important part of the republican strategy designed to gain power despite the reality that their “platform” is “tilted” strongly toward the wealthy elite in America.  But, I digress……..

So, Donald Trump is claiming Hillary Clinton is a BIGOT and CORRUPT while concealing his own dealings by refusing to disclose his taxes.  He’s PROJECTING his own vulnerabilities onto Mrs. Clinton in a way to hide the vetting process from exposing him for what he really is.  He has a history that would suggest that he SHOULDN’T be anywhere near the White House.  However, he seems to be the MASTER at manipulating the media – they are so infatuated by Trump that he doesn’t need to spend too much money advertising because he’s getting the predominance of the media attention.  (Interesting to me, his plan seems to clearly be based on getting this attention, but as some in the media are actually exposing some of what I’m writing about here, Trump will [and is] complain(ing) that he’s being unfairly attacked.)  Trump will praise those who BLINDLY support him (if you’ve noticed, he’s now on “good terms” with Fox “news”) and attack anyone who tells the truth about him.  If I had the chance to ask Trump one question, I would preface it by saying “Before you can make America great again” Mr. Trump, SHOW ME YOUR TAXES!