How did we get here? A certified wack job breaks into the home of Nancy and Paul Pelosi with a couple hammers, finds Pau Pelosi, 82, sleeping and, to make a short story shorter he ends up bashing Mr. Pelosi in the head with one of his hammers, cracking his skull – right in front of the Police Officers responding to a 9-1-1 call. And, sadly, as could be expected, some of the deranged members of the so-called MAGA movement show up on Social Media with, what they believe to be “funny” responses – the most notable, to me, coming from Donald Trump Jr. (Is he FINALLY making his papa proud?) The absurd “tweets” went right up to the new “chief twit” Elon Musk who proved immature, spoiled brats can be just as STUPID as immature sons of TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) presidents who are also spoiled BRATS!

Well, from this perspective, this is – REALLY – the work of Vladimir Putin – at its foundation. Putin started his “active measures” against America and other Western Democracies, where he discovered he could use the freedoms we take for granted against us long before he helped Trump “win” in 2016. This is where the actual “fake news” became commonplace. Misinformation flooded Social Media platforms and the Russians, later in conjunction with Trump’s 2016 campaign, became expert at targeting their mis/disinformation on platforms like Facebook and Twitter. (Mark Zuckerberg’s passion for making as much money as possible left Facebook a “sitting duck” to the Russian misinformation “troops.”)

I have to add, members of the republican party were highly susceptible to this attack on our nation – I mean, I remember being assaulted as a “liberal hippie” back in the 1960’s once I realized the TRUTH about the Viet Nam War – and, once again – in a nuanced manner – after the ILLEGAL invasion of Iraq in 2003 when I expressed my outrage at a small Community Church I was attending – where the demonizing of “liberals” was already imbedded into the brains of many republicans. Iraq was like “Deja Vu all over again” to me regarding my experience during the Viet Nam era and, once again I was ostracized as a “liberal.” (I have to add that, since then, several members of that church have apologized)

So, republicans were easy prey for Putin – and, eventually Donald Trump. Credible reports suggest the Russians started “grooming” Trump back in the 1980’s. He’s what they would call an “unwitting idiot.” But, Trump was perfect to carry on the work of Putin in America because of his narcissistic pathalogical LYING. Both Trump, and Putin, have proved our Justice Department is easily intimidated. Trump has been “stepping over” one legal “boundary” after another – for well before his four years in the “White House” – and he’s still walking free and sending INTIMIDATING messages to Merrick Garland and the rest of those in the department. And, of course, Putin was simply laughing at Robert Mueller indicting his hackers involved in the “active measures” caompaign.

If you’ve read about the organization Cambridge Analytica, set up in England prior to the “Brexit” campaign, and responsible for the hacking of Facebook allowing both the republican party (via Steve Bannon and Jared Kushner) and the Russians to pinpoint the “tendencies” of 157 MILLION Americans prior to the 2016 election – flooding Facebook with phony advertising full of “fake news” and, not only turning MILLIONS of Americans against Hillary Clinton, but beginning the process of indoctrinating Americans (radicalizing) leading to days like January 6th, 2021 (and the INSURRECTION) or, more recently October 28, 2022 when one of these radicalized (STUPID) people broke into Nacy Pelosi’s home and nearly killed her husband – with a HAMMER no less.

There can be no doubt where this dude’s motivation came from. He’s a strong Trump supporter, a QAnon afficionado, a white nationalist, an anti-semite (I guess those two go together, don’t they?), I suppose those on the “right” would refer to him as “scum” had he been a “liberal” attacking a republican. And, of course, they (republicans) would expect democrats to respond in an empathetic way had “the shoe been on the other foot.” Here’s the IRONY which we see repeated OVER and OVER with republicans – the republicans REQUIRE you to be a LIAR to have any chance of success in their “party” – and, of course, the reason this THUG who attacked Mr. Pelosi justified his actions because Ms. Pelosi is the leader of the “party of lies” (apparently, the democrats) This happens ALL the time!

Republicans after republicans were finding ways to obfuscate, dissemble, deflect, divert, or, sadly, make light of what happened to Mr. Pelosi. To me, how can you make fun of someone who’s had his head bashed in by a hammer – republicans are defensive because they KNOW their cowardice and rhetoric is what is motivating people like this to attempt to KILL or KIDNAP politicians who they believe disagree with them. The lady who might end up as Arizona’s governor (Kari Lake) made light of the attack, Donald Trump Jr. showed a couple “tweets” making a joke of what happened with a couple disgusting entries into Elon Musk’s new toy. I have to add, I’m sorry Jr. – but, your choice of “briefs” made me shake my head – I guess we used to call it “underwear.” I haven’t worn anything resembling your apparent “briefs” since I was in the eighth grade – that’s over 60 years ago. I’ve seen photos of your Dad in his tennis outfight wearing the same choice for “underwear” – as visible through his tennis shorts. Eeauu! Yikes!!!

Is this going to get better? Well, it seems not anytime soon. As I’ve been saying for years, until the Justice Department holds those “at the top” to the same laws which those of us at “the bottom” are susceptible to – this will continue. There are right wing “militias” all across America which want to start the next “civil war” and, should democrats prevail in the November elections that could happen sooner rather than later. (My biggest concern in such a scenario is how many of our Police and or National Guardsmen have been sucked into the right wing MAGA movement?) Who knows how many democratic members of Congress are in the “crosshairs” of these right wing wack jobs? And, what will republicans do in response to an uptick in right wing political violence? What happens when a member of Congress is killed? Will republicans remain quiet? Will they make more jokes? (Well, assuming it’s a democrat)

I have to wonder how will republicans respond when the “shoe is on the other foot.” Keep in mind, the last time I checked, you’re not checked for your political affiliation when you purchase and AR-15 for example. As far as I know, African Americans can purchase weapons too, I think. I have no idea what lies ahead, but I seem to have an active mind. And, NONE of this is particularly FUNNY – I hate to share that with people like Trump Jr., Elon Musk, Ted Cruz, Jim Jordan, etc. etc.

That being said, I have to add, as I’m thinking about “how did we get here,” the so-called “Tea Party.” A backlash to “we the people” doing the “unthinkable,” in the eyes of people like Charles and David Koch, by electing a “person of color” as the 44th President of the United States. To this day I believe Barack Obama is the MOST popular political figure in America – but, the TRUTH is, it was the “Tea Party” which set the stage for the emergence of Donald Trump via the so-called “birther movement.” And, it’s been the “Tea party” members who have slowly taken over the republican party allowing IN people like David Duke, Don Black, and a host of others involved in the white nationalist movement – which, as I liked to say at the time, was “hiding under the rocks” until the election of Obama.

Trump is the master manipulator – well, with the exception of Putin – and, now they’ve succeeded in accomplishing Putin’s “wet dream” of turning America into TWO factions fighting at each other’s “throats.” Of course, the faction “close to Putin’s heart” is the one headed by Trump who created a MASSIVE cult following across America – full of people like the guy who attacked Nancy Pelosi’s husband. I mean have you no shame? The man was in his sleep and he’s 82 years old – and the dude cracked him over the HEAD with a HAMMER! OMG!!!

Less than a week (from when I’ll likely publish this rant) will be the mid-term elections of 2022 which most “experts” expect will allow republicans – the same group which keeps causing disastrous results in their INCOMPETENT leadership – to take control of Congress. We’ll be right back into the malaise which encompassed our country during the LONG four years of the rein of our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING (ex) president. Here’s what they’ve promised: they’re going to, of course, vote to impeach Joe Biden. Maybe they’ll do it twice because, well, Trump has taught them the value of LYING and REVENGE. They are promising to go after Social Security and Medicare – by threatening to BLOW UP the American (and maybe world) economy over the debt ceiling. (Democrats have until January to get rid of the Debt Ceiling requirement – which is pretty much STUPID in its own right – and, I can virtually guarantee you will still be there in January)

Of course, republicans are planning to make the so-called Trump “tax scam (er cuts)” permanent. That would simply mean they would be “permanent” until the next time democrats gained control of Congress (which would hopefully be in two years – although “election deniers” say it will be “never” if they “win” in November). Republicans have shown they are OK with the use of VIOLENCE to get their way. They consider democrats weak – because democrats keep focusing on governing and they don’t fight back against republican overreach. Republicans will also impeach Merrick Garland in an attempt to protect Trump from the legal accountability he so deserves. (Plus, they’ll attempt to defund the Justice Department to block attempts at indicting Trump and his co-conspirators – which, I believe, includes the wife of Clarence Thomas) Some of them carry copies of the constitution around with them with no idea what it says. Trump is NOT “above the law” and it’s up to Mr. Garland to hold him to account. There are mixed messages as to whether he has the courage to do so, I’ll believe it when I see it. But, that’s how we got to this ugly place – a combination of Vladimir Putin enabling (and mentoring?) Trump to take advantage of cultural issues which were lying “under the surface” when Barack Obama was elected President. God help us!

Final Thought: I’ve been saying there’s a war for the heart and soul of America for about 20 years and I’ve lamented that democrats don’t seem to understand what is happening. Some of them are starting to “get it” but others seem to still be acting as if this election is just another election. The usual way Americans discover an issue is critical is when it’s too late. I’m not saying it will be “too late” if democrats fail to show up in November (and, who knows if “showing up” will matter in states with new election suppresion laws in place?) but, as I’ve said for years, it’s much easier to lose rights than to get them back. And, this Supreme Court is set on overturning some “rights” Americans have come to take for granted – well, again, I’m talking about democrats – rights which were fought for over the years and “assumed” part of our future – and, I have to believe the overturning of Roe was just the “tip of the iceberg.” Here’s how they think – if they could overturn Roe and democrats still not respond at the ballot box – well, “katy bar the door!” As Steve Bannon, himself, says, “buckle up!” Stay tuned…………………..

One more thing: I have a brother-in-law who lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (a KEY state in this coming election) who, apparently, thinks what I write is too depressing. He’d like something “positive.” My plan was to write about ALL the accomplishments of the Biden administration despite the Congress which has been “hamstrung” by the 50/50 Senate “majority” – with two reclacitrant democrats. The amount of legislation they passed would be historic under any circumstances, let alone in this combative climate. I hope to write about that, but even that could seem depressing should republicans take control of Congress next week. However, we’ll see……….