Something’s ROTTEN in America right now and, while I want to say you could understand it with the word TRUMP, the reality is there’s a significant percentage of Americans who aspire to the White Nationalist/Supremacist philosophy of neo-Nazi’s Trump, himself, is pushing. Is Trump the actual cause, or is he just the surface of the problem? Well, either way, what Trump represents in America is ROTTEN to the core. Listening to some of his supporters makes my stomach curl. As a former teacher I’m always wondering: “How could so many people be so STUPID?”

I’m coming from the perspective of someone whose father was in the Army during WW II. I’ve said this here several times, “Trump is coming closer to turning America into a fascist nation than Hitler ever did.” However, I still see this scheme to be much deeper than any of the aforementioned. For example, the Supreme Court has been right in the “cross hairs” of right wing republicans for years and, certainly, since the year 2000 the Court has been laying the groundwork for Trump. And, when you look closer you see the ROT has been permeating the republican party since the days of Newt Gingrich. (If my mother was still alive she’d say it was since the days of Herbert Hoover!)

Republicans have been slowly tilting farther and farther to the right since Gingrich introduced the “vote against everything” and “lie about everything” policy during the Clinton administration and, for me, the “icing on the cake” came when the SCOTUS “crowned” GW Bush/DICK Cheney as our president/vice president by refusing to allow a viable recount of the votes in Florida – with GW Bush’s brother Jeb conspiring to allow him to win an election where Al Gore got the MOST votes AND should have won the MOST Electoral votes had the Florida recount been allowed to go to a fair conclusion.

I started writing here about 15 years ago with the “main idea” being “we the people” need to vote republicans into the History books – this was well before Trump. I watched after Barack Obama won the presidency in 2008 how MANY very wealthy Americans – led by the now infamous “Koch Brothers” (only one “brother” is left) – ginning up America’s white nationalists by “sicking” the so-called “Tea Party” on “we the people.” And, if you’ve paid attention to recent American History you know Trump saw his “opening” to enter politics via the phony “Birther movement” which was “spawned” by America’s leading racists suggesting President Obama wasn’t born in America. Trump was the PERFECT LIAR to lead that disgusting racist campaign – designed to, in the words of Mich McConnell, make sure President Obama is a one-term president.

So, here we are – and it’s ROTTEN and getting rottener. (Not sure if that’s a word) For anyone who’s paying attention Trump is busy convincing everyone who believes he doesn’t read they’re wrong – it appears, if nothing else, he’s read Mein Kampf – Adolf Hitler’s “handbook.” I’ve been writing for several years about Trump’s (and the republicans’) use of Hitler’s “Big Lie Theory” and their constant use of PROJECTION – both “strategies” right out of Hitler’s chief of propaganda Joseph Goebbels’ lexicon. But, now Trump is getting less subtle – that is, saying the “quiet part out loud.”

Over the past few weeks Trump has been complaining about “immigration” and suggesting immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of Americans. OK, once again, right out of Mein Kampf. But, was this some kind of misstatement by Trump? Nope! He keeps doubling down, apparently, to make sure all of us liberals get our “panties in a bunch.” Now, I’ve been making the “Hitler” references when writing about Trump for years. Of course as I’m writing this, we’re seeing members of the so-called “liberal media” acting as if they’re in “shock” upon hearing these overt references to Hitler. In fact, not only are “immigrants poisoning the blood” of Americans, according to Trump, but, additionally, “liberals” – and anyone who’s a Trump opponent, are “Communist, Marxist, Fascist (Projection) vermin.” Yep, there he goes again, Hitler!

But, as I always say, with republicans there’s always more. Not only have I referred to Trump as a “fascist” but on MANY occasions I’ve compared him to a “Mob boss.” It’s almost as if he’s reading my blog and attempting to make me look good. Just the other day, as he was complaining about the 91 FELONY charges he’s facing he tried to compare himself to the infamous Al Capone. He referred to Capone (who had over 200 people MURDERED) as “The great Al Capone” suggesting it was “bullsh*t” he was facing more charges than Capone. Apparently, Capone was SMARTER than Trump. I’ve just finished reading “Proof of Conspiracy” by Seth Abramson and, to me, the book just “cements” how ROTTEN Trump really is. He’s (allegedly) committed WAY more crimes than the 91 he’s now indicted for in various courts!

He’s facing more charges than “the great” Capone because he’s been violating America’s laws with impunity since well before he came down that escalator back in 2015. According to Abramson’s book (which he documents with real evidence) the “conspiracy” to “win” the “White House” back in 2016 went much deeper than simply the Russians. Bottom line, Trump has no compulsion to accept help from foreigners/foreign entities – he’s said that publicly on multiple occasions. And, as Adam Schiff promised us – “he’s going to do it again.” We all KNOW he’ll do it again – likely as I’m writing this. Facebook and Xwitter are both open for misinformation business. Do you think Trump and his sycophants/co-conspirators won’t take advantage of that? Do you really believe they won’t be using AI?

Trump’s schtick of late – from what I’ve been able to tell based on the amount of time I’ve been able to force myself to listen to him before I get sick to my stomach that anyone would be such a LIAR – is an absurd attack on our “Southern border” and the “15 – 17 MILLION illegal immigrants” Biden has let into the country to ‘poison the blood’ of our “people.” Now, think carefully, is the problem really at our Southern border? Or, is the problem in our Southern Hemisphere? Why do you think so many people from Countries in Central and South America are willing to risk their lives to get to America? A reminder: we are a “nation of immigrants.” Virtually ALL of us! (OK, you want to exclude “Native Americans” – but, the reality is they “immigrated” here something like 10,000 years ago)

In fact, Trump’s grandfather immigrated from Germany in the late 19th century and Trump is a second generation immigrant married to a first generation immigrant with a son who’s a son of an immigrant. (Born while his father was CHEATING on his Mom) And, for those who believe Trump when he says he hasn’t read “Mein Kampf” – and, I tend to believe him – keep in mind one of his closest “advisors” is Steven Miller- and, I haven’t the shadow of a doubt Miller has read “Mein Kampf” and Miller is one of Trump’s speechwriters. They’ve discovered the Hitler references actually gin up their “base” and he’s likely to keep repeating “immigrants are poisoning our blood” for the immediate future until he discovers it’s causing him to lose voters. Then he’ll say “just kidding.” This election is going to be hotly contested and I can guarantee you, when Trump LOSES there will be more right wing violence.

Trump’s PROJECTION is a critical part of their (republicans) media strategy – and, with Americans who actually believe this pathological LIAR (and his sycophants) – it’s working. This next election will be decided by the outcome in Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. If either candidate wins all three they will be the next president. I believe Biden has a chance in several other “red” states because of, you guessed it, the abortion issue. Ohio, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, and ???? Will women vote in large numbers? Then there’s the voter suppression efforts of the republicans. An appropriate example would be Wisconsin. In the 2022 Mid-terms a republican official bragged that republicans were able to block enough Black voters from turning out (in Milwawkee, I believe) to make the difference for Ron Johnson, one of the worst (and STUPIDEST) members of the Senate. I’ve been saying for years, with republicans “The end justifies the means.” It’s all about POWER!

As progressives (ie “liberals) we need to fully grasp the reality that Trump’s “base” across the South is made up of direct (close) descendants of the racist Southerners who were the proponents of “Jim Crow” laws and the years of LYNCHING African Americans – with members of the churches gawking in crowds cheering on the TORTURE of Americans because of the color of their skin. Should it surprise any of us what is going on right now in this country. I have a former friend I used to have breakfast with who, after we lost touch because he became angry about Trump LOSING the 2020 election (obviously, he bought the “stolen election” koolaid), I’m periodically reminded of stuff he said which I didn’t pick up at the time. He had actually adopted three Black children and the first thing which stuck wrong with my “craw” was comments he made about his (Black) daughter, which came across to me as overt racism.

Then I began, as I thought about him and prayed for him, remembering stuff he said which now makes me understand why he allowed himself to get sucked into Trump’s CULT. He, on several occasions, said “I don’t believe in democracy.” (I would always explain we live in a “democratic republic”) He said, more than once Trump’s followers were going to start a “civil war.” (going to far right websites?) And, the last thing I remember was him demanding I “prove” that Joe Biden had actually won the 2020 election. I explained the entire process to him which he interpreted as “bullying.” I even pointed out January 6th was nothing more than a ceremonial counting of Electoral votes. Well, little did I know what Trump had up his sleeve. (My former friend has never responded to an email since that date.)

The border “bullsh*t” is going to be a constant refrain between now and the 2024 election and Trump will continue LYING about our “it.” There IS a record number of immigrants attempting to cross our Southern border from all I can tell, but there is ALSO a record number of immigrants being “rejected” and sent out of the country. As I said above, the problem isn’t a “Joe Biden” problem, the problem is what the hell is going on in the Southern Hemisphere which causes so many people to want to leave their homes and risk their lives to immigrate here? And, why can’t Congress devise an immigration bill? It really is on them.

I do have to add that we NEED many of these immigrants to come here because they’re willing to work in places most Americans are not – like in the fields of America’s farmers. Remember, if you’re a Christian – I point this out repeatedly here – Christ said, “what you do FOR the least of these you do FOR Me. What you do TO the least of these you do TO Me.” In my mind, the “Christian Right” in America has made a “deal with the devil!” Trump is ROTTEN to the core!

Final Thought: Not a day goes by I don’t think about what is going on in Ukraine and Gaza/Israel. When I talk about how “Rotten” republicans are, just take a good look at our House of Representatives. They chose to take a THREE week break (I think it’s more like four weeks) without approving military and humanitarian assistance for Ukraine and without addressing the issue of Israel and the Palestinians. They remind me of Neville Chamberlain back in the early stages of WW II where he was appeasing Adolf Hitler and the Third Reich. Of course, we know how that turned out. (Or, at least, you SHOULD know) I’ve mentioned here Vladimir Putin reminds me of Hitler. (Maybe that’s why Trump is attempting to put himself in that same conversation) It’s DISGUSTING to me the republicans in the House who have been openly expressing their support for Putin. Voters MUST remember this next November!

When it comes to Israel, I “get” why “we the people” must be diligent in our support of the nation of Israel. However, that doesn’t, to me, mean we “must” be supporting Netanyahu. Netanyahu is CORRUPT similarly to Trump. He was attempting to “beat” the charges against him by subjugating Israel’s court system to his “government.” This is the classic playbook of a tyrant. Add to that the Israeli intelligence KNEW for up to a year the plans of Hamas’ surprise attack and FAILED to counteract what they KNEW was coming. (Netanyahu has actually supported Hamas in the past because he’s OPPOSED to the “two state solution.” I believe the Israeli people will rid themselves of Netanyahu as soon as this most recent war is “over.” (Until there’s a “two state solution” I don’t believe it will EVER be over – if then)

My point it it’s in Netanyahu’s interest to keep this devastation going on in Gaza as long as he can. However, in my mind, he’s just making his place in History worse. Most Israeli’s want the violence to end (I believe) and they want negotiations which return the hostages. Most Americans want the violence to end and to have the hostages released. There have now been over 20,000 Palestinians KILLED in Isreal’s “revenge” for October 7th – their point has been made. As far as I’m concerned it’s well past the point where the Israeli’s pull out of Gaza. Hopefully the U.N. can come in and help stabilize things and facilitate the reconstruction of all the destroyed infrastructure in Gaza. I believe just as Hamas will be accused of WAR CRIMES, unfortunately, so will the Israeli’s. I’ve had numerous conversations with my 34 year old son, and he’s become a supporter of the Palestinians as many of his online friends are as well. Biden has a lot of work to do to motivate these young Americans to understand the importance of them VOTING (for him) in the next election.

It’s all on the line for young Americans. Climate Change, Voting Rights, Civil Rights, the environment (things like clean water regulations, clean air regulations, etc.) Abortion access, Health Care (Trump still wants to eliminate “Obamacare” – ie “The Affordable Care Act”) Education, institutions like the Courts, the FDA, the CDC, institutions which Trump has claimed he’ll fill with “loyalists,” (The Supreme Court is already “stacked” for a generation – that alone should be enough to get young voters to the polls voting for Biden) I could go on and on, but “democracy” itself will be on the 2024 ballot (unless Trump gets “thumped” in the primaries – unlikely). Each election since 2018 I’ve referred to as “The most important election in my lifetime.” And, along those lines, nothing’s changed.

Just imagine where we’d be if democrats hadn’t taken control of the House in 2018, or where we’d be if Trump had managed to get re-elected in 2020. Republicans retaking the House in 2022 has created the WORST “do nothing” Congress in modern history after an historic first two years of Biden’s administration. The reality is 2024 IS the MOST important election in my lifetime – and, I don’t expect these right wing neo-fascists to go away even if (when) Trump is turned out to “pasture.” (Jail ???) Trump’s PROJECTION is so ROTTEN he’s convincing people Biden is turning America into a “third world country” while that is exactly his aim! The democrats messaging MUST improve! Stay tuned……

As a (liberal) Christian I’m not supposed to “hate” anyone and I’m trying hard to fulfill that part of my beliefs. That being said I’m going to attempt to choose my words carefully – I’m DISGUSTED with republicans. Now, I know a lot of republicans – in fact, my guess is a LARGE percentage of those who attend my church are republicans and I’m not disgusted with virtually any of them. I usually play it safe and don’t broach the subject of “politics” with any of them – and, in the rare cases where it comes up the conversations end quickly because it quickly becomes obvious the person I’m talking to is a purveyor of right wing media, usually Fox “news.” The last example, I made a “joke” about Trump going to jail and the response was “he’ll be there with the Biden Crime Family.” End of conversation!

Why am I “disgusted” with republicans? Let me attempt to “count the ways.” The first thing that comes to mind is the young lady in Texas who was, in essence, carrying a deceased fetus and the Texas Supreme Court – after an appeal of a district court decision – said this woman was not able to get a “D & C” (dilation and curettage) which is the “long term” for an abortion (or other “cleaning out of the uterus.”) I had no idea a “D & C” referred to an abortion until recently as the issue has become more “in the news” because of anti abortion laws spreading around the nation. This lady in Texas received THREATS from (CORRUPT) Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton as did with her doctors and the hospital she would have received this life saving care from – THREATENING felonies with penalties potentially of life in prison and fines up to $100,000. Pro life???

Fortunately, this lady had the means to leave the state to get the health care she so desperately needed but couldn’t get in her home state. In the last month she had been to the Emergency room four times. I will be watching to see what happens when she returns to Texas – or if she can return to Texas because I’ve read reports where they don’t consider leaving the state as making women protected from the Texas abortion law. Now, I’m not someone who would support an abortion (in my family) as “birth control” but I’m always reminded that the first time my wife became pregnant she had a miscarriage. She was actually prescribed a (cortizone) cream at the Emergency room which clearly caused the miscarriage – a “D & C.” was performed for her safety and to preserve her ability to have children in the future. I keep thinking had this pregnancy happened today and we lived in Texas her life would have been in danger. At the time we in no way had the means to leave the state to get the needed procedure.

The reality is, in places like Texas, becoming pregnant is potentially a “life threatening illness.” Women are forced there to carry a miscarriage to the point of becoming septic which is, in itself, life threatening. It was Donald Trump who proudly put three members on the Supreme Court (with the help of Mitch McConnell) on the court with the publicly stated expectation they would overturn Roe v Wade – the policy of the previous 50 years allowing women to be able to have needed medical care based on decisions they made with their doctors. Ironically, it’s become republicans who’ve decided they need to intervene in the private lives of the American people – completely OPPOSITE of their so-called “conservative/libertarian” beliefs. I’ve come to the conclusion they have no beliefs – other than doing what they believe will keep them in good standing with Trump.

Will the American public simply ignore the FACT America’s women will now have their personal health care decisions determined by (mostly) republican men like Ken Paxton? (His common denominator with Trump is they’re both facing charges of CORRUPTION – Paxton was actually IMPEACHED by the Texas legislature) Will the husband’s of American women accept that should their wives or someone else in their family have a similar experience to the above mentioned woman in Texas they should simply carry a dead fetus to term and “hope for the best?” In the case involving my own wife she was taken to surgery immediately because it was a serious threat to her health – PLUS – her future ability to have children. (I’m happy to say she, later, was able to carry two beautiful little girls to term – both who now have their own families)

It honestly makes me a bit angry everytime I witness (from afar, of course) another example of a woman going through pregnancy as a life threatening “illness.” (I really don’t know how else to say it) Think of ALL the women in places like Texas who don’t have the means to travel to another state to get the health care they need. Most women I’ve known WANT (or wanted – I’m very old) to have children. As a sixth grade teacher in a high poverty school I witnessed MANY children who had moms who desperately loved them but who – the circumstances varied greatly – were struggling to parent them. In almost every instance that comes to mind as I’m writing this I’m talking about single moms. Working hard in an attempt to survive financially without the means to afford child care would create incredibly difficult circumstances. I have etched in my brain a young boy telling me he and his mom had a package of hot dogs and a half a loaf of bread to make it until Monday (it was Friday) when his mom would get paid.

I’m in no way suggesting someone should get an abortion because – short of the circumstances I mentioned above – I would oppose it – in my own family. (Several years ago I came to the conclusion “if you don’t believe in abortion, don’t have one”) I just bring this up because the issue with this woman in Texas reminds me of why I’m disgusted with republicans. It was Donald Trump who – I remember this from an interview, I believe it was on MSNBC back in 2016 as they were attempting to “both sides” the campaign with Hillary Clinton, (which they’re doing once again) when Trump said “The woman who gets an abortion should be “punished.” Does that mean jail? he was asked if my memory is correct, and he answered in the affirmative. I don’t think he’ll be able to run away from the issue of abortion in the upcoming election and, remember, over half the nation’s voters are WOMEN! Remember, it seems as if these republicans have no intentions for the “men” to get “punished.”

Is the abortion issue the only reason I’m “disgusted” with republicans? Not even close. But there’s another one which was at the top of the “news” today and that’s the war in Ukraine. Shockingly, republicans are blocking further aid to Ukraine! I almost can’t even believe I’m being led to write this. Vladimir Putin is jumping for joy. Are the republicans going to save him? Why on earth would they do this? OK, anyone without their “head in the sand” knows Trump idolizes Putin. He envisions himself as being the American version of Putin by retaking the “White House” and, apparently declaring himself president for life – or something, something…..

Here’s the deal. Trump was hell bent on destroying NATO (as the greatest favor he could give to Putin) had he won the election in 2020. He was close to accomplishing that (TERRIBLE) goal prior to the pandemic. To make matters worse for Trump, Joe Biden not only has led the FIGHT to stop Putin in Ukraine (and, beyond had Putin been able to take over “in a matter of days” as originally planned – remember Trump referred to Putin’s invasion of Ukraine as “genious”) but Biden has also pulled NATO back together and led a strengthening of the Alliance, including NATO adding Finland and Sweden due to their concern Putin could attack them as well. The thought republicans might actually BLOCK additional aid to Ukraine making it possible for Putin to potentially win the war makes my stomach curdle. Republicans actually want the Ukrainians to cede portions of their country to Russia in order to get the fighting to stop. Again, I’m having a hard time believing what I feel compelled to write.

So, abortion, Ukraine, is that it? Of course not! There’s not enough space in this document for me to list everything – and, if you’ve been around this site before you’ve got a good idea what’s coming next – but, I’m going to list a few more reasons why I’m “disgusted” with republicans – anyway, and, I don’t expect myself to go back to the days of GW Bush/Cheney or Reagan/HW Bush or even back to Nixon. (OBTW – Watergate “stuff” has been back in the news regarding Trump attempting to avoid accountability similarly to Nixon) Let’s start with the Climate Crisis. To Trump or to people like me (old people) the reality our young people are facing is, compared to what we’ve lived through, well, not even close to similar. The last I heard was we are already facing what Climate Scientists refer to as “Global Tipping points.” This from the “Guardian:” (To which I subscribe)

“Tipping points in the Earth system pose threats of a magnitude never faced by humanity,” said Tim Lenton, from the University of Exeter’s Global Systems Institute. “They can trigger devastating domino effects, including the loss of whole ecosystems and capacity to grow staple crops, with societal impacts including mass displacement, political instability and financial collapse.

The tipping points at risk include the collapse of big ice sheets in Greenland and the West Antarctic, the widespread thawing of permafrost, the death of coral reefs in warm waters, and the collapse of one oceanic current in the North Atlantic.

Unlike other changes to the climate such as hotter heat waves and heavier rainfall, these systems do not slowly shift in line with greenhouse gas emissions but can instead flip from one state to an entirely different one. When a climatic system tips – sometimes with a sudden shock – it may permanently alter the way the planet works.”

Keep in mind, Trump is a confirmed “Climate denier.” Part of his “Dictator on day 1” strategy is to “drill, drill, drill.” To me, the man is “disgusting.” Of course he is, he’s a republican! (And, of course, his “day 1” will last for, well, until he’s finally IMPEACHED and removed from office – that is if republicans ever get the “stones” to do so – although, I’m with Liz Cheney, “we the people” MUST make sure he’s NEVER close to the Oval Office EVER again!

At the recent COP28 United Nations Climate Conference – held in the United Arab Emerates – according to US negotiator John Kerry a “breakthrough agreement was reached.” The goal is to reduce the use of fossil fuels to “zero” by 2050. Obviously, people like me and Trump won’t be around at that time, but you can bet any agreement signed by the Biden administration will be “torn up” the day Trump re-enters the Oval Office if that terrible day ever occurs. And, the interesting thing about his “drill, drill, drill” promise is that the United States is already the world’s leading oil producer. (We’re also the largest oil “user.” We seem to like gas guzzlers)

That’s a lot of words to explain the previously mentioned “reasons republicans disgust me.” (Interesting fact: one in four billionaires gained their fortune via fossil fuels) In summary women SHOULD be voting against Trump (and republicans down the ballot) because of the attack on their bodily autonomy. “We the people” SHOULD be voting against republicans because they’re siding with Vladimir Putin in the Ukraine war. (Unthinkable to me!) And, all of us, especially younger Americans – like my children and grandchildren (only one who’s old enough to vote) SHOULD be attempting to vote out of office any republican we can because of the Climate issue.

As usual, with republicans, however, there’s always more! Across the country, states with republican led legislatures are also passing one law after another aimed at suppressing the vote. And, are you STUPID enough to think their aim is republican voters? Of course not! That is an issue that could possibly be fixed if “we the people” would give President Biden a Congress which has a larger percentage of progressive democrats – especially in the Senate where the filibuster has been a (Jim Crow era) “road block” to Voting Rights legislation. Which leads me to another reason why republicans disgust me and why “we the people” SHOULD be voting for democrats up and down the “ticket” for a generation. (Keep in mind, I’ve NEVER been a registered democrat – I’ve considered myself an independent since the first day I cast a ballot back in 1968)

The Supreme Court. Reversing Roe is NOT the only reason the Supreme Court is a dangerous co-conspirator with right wing republicans attempting to, in essence, overturn our constitution and turn America into, at a minimum, what I’ve called a Mussolini type fascist state – that is (and, some would suggest we’re already there) a corporate/government partnership. I mean, have you paid attention to what people like Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, etc. are saying and doing? The Court has made it possible for these filthy RICH Americans to just keep piling up the “dough” and find creative ways to avoid paying taxes. (Jeff Bezos recently moved from my state – Washington – to Miami, Florida because – well my state is expecting RICH people to “pay their fair share” of taxes. Disgusting, from my viewpoint)

Let’s start with the Court imposing the Bush/Cheney administration on “we the people” – which led to the DISASTROUS (and illegal) invasion of Iraq. (I won’t get into the TORTURE authorized by Bush AND Cheney). Then came the (disastrous) “Citizen’s United” decision which led Mitt Romney to (infamously) say “Corporations are people my friend.” A “headnote” in a decision back in the 1880’s was used by Sam Alito and John Roberts to turn corporations into people in the “Citizens United” case and the Court has been granting more “rights” to corporations, ‘inch by inch” ever since. Corporate money has FLOODED our electoral process since Citizen’s United to the point where “Super PAC’s” are commonplace and DISGUSTING! My point: The Supreme Court will have this right wing “bent” for a generation and “we the people” MUST vote AGAINST republicans for that issue alone. Can you imagine if the right wing majority became 7 – 2? (Or worse – at least now, the issue could be mitigated by expanding the court where there would be an equal number of seats to the number of Circuits – 13)

Civil Rights, Education, issues like College admissions practices, book bans, gun rights and gun laws, the right to be able to choose the person you love, and on and on. If you look at American History, virtually every “right” “we the people” seemed to have come to take for granted – the 40 hour work week, child labor laws, Food inspectors being regulated, Water quality being regulated, CO2 emissions being regulated, Car seats for children being regulated, Seat belts in cars (they weren’t there when I was young), Social Security and Medicare (which, BTW republicans want to tear apart instead of making them STRONGER), Women’s rights (remember women couldn’t even vote until about 1920), Hiway laws and regulations, the building up of the “commons” (schools, libraries, Post offices, Court houses, etc. etc. – virtually ALL of these are the result of “liberals” fighting for change.

And, I keep saying: “rights are much easier to lose than to regain.” Many of the people I know who are republicans have NO idea what they’re actually supporting. For example, many of them my age depend on Social Security (to varying degrees) and Medicare. I don’t think they support cutting them back as proposed by the new “Speaker of the House.” I don’t think many of them either understand what Trump is actually proposing (“I’m your retribution,” etc.) or believe he’d actually follow through on his “promises.”

I know several who don’t believe Trump committed any criminal conduct – let alone enough for 91 FELONIES. I actually know grown republican men who don’t believe there was a violent attack on the Capitol on January 6th, 2021. That, despite the visual evidence to the contrary. They watch Fox “news” and you can’t even talk to them about it or SHOW them the PROOF that THOUSANDS of INSURRECTIONISTS attacked the nation’s Capitol injuring over 150 police officers and leading to at least 7 deaths. And, despite taking part in the “Lock her up” chants regarding Hillary Clinton’s private email server they believe it was OK for Trump to have STOLEN hundreds of our nation’s top secrets and, apparently, shared some of those secrets somewhat routinely with others. (And, therefore, it was OK to refuse to return the documents when ordered to via a legal subpoena) Speaking of “Lock her Up” chants – republicans don’t see the irony in the Trumps, Kushner, and others in the “White House” using personal cell phones for communications likely listened to by the Russians. (Kushner was regularly using “What’s App” to communicate with MBS)

I’ve already surpassed the limit I had in mind when originally following this thought as I’ve – over the last week or so – watched republicans in Texas attempt to force a pregnant woman with a fetus which was dying or had already died to carry this, essentially, dead tissue to term. People like Ken Paxton (facing multiple indictments) and Trump (facing NUMEROUS indictments), well, I kept telling myself it’s wrong to “hate” them – and, I really don’t “hate” them – but, the truth is they and many of their brethren disgust me. The members of my church who’ve been “sucked in to Trump’s CULT don’t disgust me, because I really believe they don’t understand what they’re supporting as republicans – and they are constantly bombarded by bile (ie disgusting) propaganda because they get their “news” from Fox or Newmax or worse.

Should they be able to sort out the LIES from the “truth?” Yes, I believe they should – the people I’m talking about are “educated” adults. It’s just that when you learn about how effective the “Big Lie Theory” has been since the day Hitler came up with it you begin to understand why you can’t have a “dialogue” about politics with them. For example, if you point out how 25% of our national debt was accrued under Trump, they just won’t believe you – just like any other issue you attempt to have a rational discussion over. (Heck, they even believe Trump tells them the truth – that, honestly, makes me feel a bit hopeless in communicating with them – to me, that’s just stupid! It’s very similar to republicans voting against legislation and then taking credit for the good it creates “back home.” In this case, republicans I know take for granted “blessings” which resulted from “liberals” while telling me they “hate” liberals – calling them “socialists” or – whatever. Republican leaders have been working to convince their minions to “hate” liberals since the days of Newt Gingrich – to me, the “father” of all this division. Hopefully, you get my drift. I’m saddened my thinking has evolved to this place, but, “it is what it is.”

Final Thought: During this past week while House republicans were refusing to vote for aid to Ukraine (or Israel, for that matter) before giving themselves a four week “vacation,” many of the most DISGUTING members of their party were meeting in Washington DC with none other than Viktor Orban, the neo-fascist RULER of Hungary who’s attempting to prevent the EU from also sending aid to Ukraine. Putin has a bevy of “cheerleaders” around the world like Trump, Orban, Erdogan, MBS, MBZ (The Crown Prince of the United Arab Emerates), el Sissi in Egypt, and, to a degree Netanyahu – dictators (or wannabe dictators) all. You have right wing groups meeting, like Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA where the anti-semitism is so thick you could “cut it with a knife.” Steve Bannon’s lining up right wing neo-Nazi groups all across Europe (and, of course, in the U.S.A. – plus he’s back in Trump’s good graces) and who knows what Roger Stone is doing – although, we can assume it’s “no good.” Trump’s crowds cheer his references to Hitler in his recent speeches – which he continues to repeat – “immigrants are poisoning our blood” democrats are “vermin” and he’ll only be a dictator on “day 1.”

Here’s his view of “day 1:” day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, day1, etc. etc. OK, hopefully you get my drift! Stay tuned….

Thom HartmannDecember 13, 2023 7:00AM ET 

Another article by Thom Hartman – one of my favorite “thinkers” in America. I pulled it from “Raw Story” one of the online news outlets I subscribe to. Check them and Thom out!T 

Trump speaking at a rally in 2019. (Shutterstock.com)

Most people, particularly Democrats, would never speak of Donald Trump and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the same breath or context. But the very strategy that King used to help end legal discrimination in America is what Trump is today using to try to win back the White House in 2024: movement politics.

And if Democrats don’t figure out a way to match the passion and fervor (and organization) of Trump’s MAGA movement — yes, it’s as real a movement as was the Civil Rights movement — with their own passionate, broad-based, slogan- and action-driven movement, things could get very ugly for next year’s elections.

As of this moment, the biggest mistake the Democratic Party and most Democratic politicians are making is not realizing that political movements and political parties are very different things.

Barack Obama understood movement politics: he created a movement and it carried him into the White House. For the Democratic Party today, though, not so much…

Political parties deal with policy and practicality:

“How do we get healthcare for the most people in the most efficient way possible?
“What kind of legislation will best deal with poverty and make our streets safer?”
“How do we raise money to spread our message and get people out to the polls?”

Movements, on the other hand, deal with identity and passion. They spawn activists and evangelists:

“I’m in the street because I’m mad as hell that those idiots in the state capitol outlawed my right to healthcare.”
“Hey, buddy in the next booth over here in the diner, I just heard you mention Trump and I want you to know he’s a liar, con man, and rapist!”
“Officer, I believe that a new and better America is possible with the ideas of our movement, and I’m willing to let you arrest me for it.”

The Democratic Party of today is no longer involved in movement building.

It was building a movement during the Roosevelt administration in the 1930s, when millions showed up for FDR’s rallies or listened to his fireside chats on the radio, volunteered or joined the three-letter agencies to rebuild America, and helped the war effort to save the world from fascism.

It was engaged in movement-building during the Johnson administration, when the Party embraced MLK’s Civil Rights movement and passed a whole series of Great Society legislation, beginning with the Civil and Voting Rights Acts and then leading to Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps and others that lifted millions out of poverty and laid the foundation for our first serious step in generations toward a genuinely inclusive, pluralistic society.

As mentioned, Barack Obama created a movement and without it never could’ve gotten elected or passed Obamacare.

Part of the Democratic Party was definitely recruiting people into a movement during the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016 when tens of thousands of people showed up for rallies and Bernie himself repeatedly said:

“This campaign is not just about me. It is about building a movement of human solidarity…”

But since the Bernie movement was crushed by the Clinton machine and the remnants of Clinton’s and Obama’s neoliberal “New Democrats” in the 2016 primary, the Democratic Party has devolved into a safe and predictable fundraising and electoral-strategy institution. It’s left the movement building to us.

While many people, particularly women, supported Hillary, she didn’t run her campaign like a movement, probably because both she and her husband had been politicians their entire lives, rather than activists. The closest she came to it was the millions of women wearing “pussy” hats nationwide right after Trump’s inauguration, but by then it was far too late and that wasn’t even led by her.

My friend and SiriusXM radio colleague Joe Madison is fond of saying:

“The difference between a moment and a movement is sacrifice.”

Politics, and political parties, deal with moments. They raise money, push legislation, get people elected, popularize issues, and react to the challenges of the day and to other parties’ rhetoric.

People, not institutions, generally create and populate movements. And, as Joe Madison says, doing so requires effort, persistence, passion, evangelism, and, yes, sacrifice.

While Democrats decry “the cult of Trump” and the media often ridicules Trump’s “personality cult,” the reality is that there’s never been a successful movement in history that didn’t have a charismatic leader. The movement may have preceded the leader, but the leader and his or her charisma is what makes it so potent.

Trump is a rapist, grifter, criminal, and all-around-horrible human being. But, like many high functioning psychopaths, he has extraordinary charisma and can be very charming. He knows how to lead a movement, and that movement will be his main weapon next November.

I remember Bernie telling me in an off-line conversation years ago that most politicians — and some of the best and most effective politicians — are followers, not leaders. They look for a “parade” (the start of a movement, in this example) and, when the parade is big enough, they’ll run out to the front of it, lift its flag, and proclaim, “This is my movement!”

It sounds cynical, but it’s almost always true. And because the self-organization of the movement preceded the political leadership, it’s actually a rather organic process.

Certainly, that’s what FDR and LBJ did, as did Teddy Roosevelt back in the day. Each responded to movements that were already growing on the ground, ultimately leading those movements in ways that literally changed America for the better.

Obama, a uniquely brilliant politician who came up as an activist and community organizer, created his own movement from scratch and it carried him into the White House.

And movement building and leading are what Donald Trump has been doing — although not to better America — ever since he came down his escalator in 2015.

His pitch was about emotion, not detail; about tribe, not facts; about identity and values, not politics. It was the language of movement, not momentary politics.

Even today, Trump is engaging in movement-building — this time a new and more forceful movement than in 2016, that is well-armed and enthusiastic about using violence — as he repeatedly proclaims his intention to use it to become a dictator if re-elected.

It cuts both ways. In their early days, most successful modern dictators were first leaders of movements.

Mussolini had his Fasci Italiani di Combattimento, the violent street mobs that became the enforcers of his Fascist movement when it made the transition to becoming a political party. Hitler brought people into the beer halls and the streets from the very beginning. Franco called his Spanish fascist Falange party “The Movement” to his dying day.

Most Democrats are passionate about defeating Trump and defending democracy, and some issues like abortion, pot, and voting rights will get people into polling places, but where is today’s progressive movement?

Outside of the protests against the murder of George Floyd in 2020 (which were then demonized by the right, as they have every leftist movement in history), most on the left have been content to consign all that “sacrifice” to the Democratic Party.

Instead of talking about values — the “right” of people to vote, healthcare, quality free education, a stable environment, or abortion, for example — the Democratic Party’s most powerful and visible leaders, President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Senator Schumer, talk about legislation and Republican obstructionism.

That’s all well and good, and people need to know those things, but details and information rarely motivate people the way a movement and its implicit invitation to membership, participation, and evangelism does.

When my old friend the late Tom Hayden helped organize Students for a Democratic Society, he and its founders envisioned it as a movement, not a party. I started showing up for the MSU chapter of SDS in 1967, hanging out repeatedly at the Student Union, for meetings off-campus, and in the streets, and ended up in jail for a week, shaved bald and beaten, for my efforts. Politicians don’t go to jail: movement participants (some of them politicians) do.

This comes out of something deep within our basic human nature.

As any psychologist or competent novelist can tell you, we human beings are story machines: we carry deep within us stories about our nation, about our lives, about ourselves and our place in family and society.

Those stories drive our behavior more than any amount of data or information. They transcend party. And they drive movements.

Deeply embedded into each of those stories are layers of emotion, identity, and a sense of self. It’s the stories that motivate us, which is why it’s always stories that drive movements.

Nobody ever got up off their couch and ran into the streets, particularly into a line of police or jeering militia thugs, because they were excited by a policy proposal offered in a boring floor speech read in a droning voice by the Senate Majority Leader.

Movement leaders know how to tell these stories to rouse people’s emotions and motivate them to action. It’s one of the keys to creating and sustaining movements.

From JFK calling a “new generation” to action, to MLK proclaiming a “promised land,” to Donald Trump saying “I am your vengeance,” movement leaders reach deep into the stories that underpin our sense of who we are and our understanding of how we got into the messes we confront.

They are usually driven by a deep longing for change, and often animated by wounds, unfairness, and grievance as much as idealism, hope, and a desire to embrace others. Witness the Act Up movement demanding action about AIDS during the Reagan administration when that homophobic monster refused to say the word “AIDS” out loud for eight long years, much less do anything about it as so many people (including three very close friends of mine) died an agonizing death.

Read the history of the labor rights movement, from the slaughters of the late 19th century to the Flint Sit-Down Strike to Shawn Fain’s brilliant leadership of the UAW today. It has waxed and waned for almost two centuries; it’s reviving itself as a movement again right now (and Fain has the talent to become a major force).

Movements can come out of pain, but they can also come out of hope. The belief that a pluralistic, multiracial society free of poverty was possible in America was, for example, the initial motivation and mission of SDS: that was the essence of Hayden’s Port Huron Statement. Its anti-war activity came later.

This movement requirement for narrative, for deep story that transcends mere details and summarizes entire complex issues into a single crystalized legend, is why movements so often have not just leaders but also martyrs. They are the yin to the yang of leadership and heroes, and for a movement to be successful both are often useful or even necessary.

Sometimes the leader and the martyr are the same; the persecution of Malcolm X, for example, or the repeated jailing of Martin Luther King. Hitler played that role when he went to prison in the 1920s for trying to overthrow the government of Bavaria; Trump plays it today with his candidacy for president overlaid by his victim routine about his 91 indictments and the daily drama of his legal travails.

The Civil Rights movement had Emmett Till and Rosa Parks, with other famous names in its deeper history. The women’s movement had Susan B. Anthony, who was arrested for voting-while-female in 1872 and thus became both the movement’s martyr and leader.

Hitler’s movement held up Horst Wessel, who was killed in his violent street-gang Sturmabteilung volunteer militia that was often, initially, met with violence by police and anti-Nazi mobs.

FDR had a generation of martyrs destroyed by the Republican Great Depression and brought to popular consciousness by John Steinbeck and Woody Guthrie.

LBJ used the memory of the death of JFK to push through the Civil and Voting Rights Acts, and then he and RFK pointed to martyrs in the poverty-wracked South and a retiring WWII generation who couldn’t get health insurance in old age to build a movement for his Great Society programs of Medicare and Medicaid.

Tim McVeigh, who aspired to kick off a “new [white nationalist] America” movement blew up the Oklahoma City Federal Building on the anniversary of the death of white supremacist David Koresh and in the memory of white nationalist Randy Weaver, leading Trump, today having seized the mantle of leadership of Koresh’s and McVeigh’s movement, to give his first speech as a 2024 presidential candidate in Waco.

Trump regularly honors Ashli Babbit (and trots out her mother), killed by a Black Capitol Police officer during January 6th, along with the imprisoned January 6th insurrectionists (and their chorus) the way Hitler did with Wessel and his early Munich brawlers who’d been arrested or killed. He mentions Babbit and sings along with a recording of the imprisoned traitors at nearly every rally.

Trump’s movement also has multiple spin-off but aligned astroturf movements, many funded to the tune of millions by oil, tobacco, pharma, banking, tech, and other industry billionaires.

For example, the Tea Party — funded by those billionaires — was successful in driving a nationwide movement to stop a national healthcare program and guarantee that Obamacare ran exclusively through the highly profitable insurance industry.

Moms for Liberty has chapters all across America and delights in harassing teachers and school boards while promoting the banning of books (except about threesomes?).

Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point USA has over 300 chapters on campuses across America and sponsors conferences around the country; their stated purpose includes “to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom…” Not a word in there about policy or even politics, although they’re having a huge impact on both.

There’s an entire infrastructure — capitalized to the tune of billions of dollars a year — that supports the white nationalist, low-tax, small-government, anti-union, anti-woman, pro-fossil-fuel, anti-public-school movements and all their branches and offshoots that Trump successfully captured and now leads.

It has over 1500 radio stations blaring hate and fear 24/7; three national television networks daily promoting propaganda friendly to their billionaire owners; newspapers, websites, and appears to even be embraced by the billionaire owners of America’s largest social media companies who refuse to make public their algorithms that drive public opinion and, often, public outrage.

It pays for the political campaigns of politicians who support it, funds outsiders like Manchin and Sinema who will betray and disrupt its enemies, and ensures total loyalty to the movement and its leader Trump with the promise of funding primary challengers against anybody who deviates even the slightest from its orthodoxy.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party has none of this.

Its three most visible movement leaders of my lifetime, JFK, RFK, and MLK, were all murdered in the 1960s. SDS died in the 1970s when its violent offshoot, the Weather Underground, was finally brought down. The Civil Rights movement endures but never recaptured its vitality after the brutal murder of King.

When Bernie took up the progressive movement’s mantle in 2012 and 2016, he was opposed by the institutional Democratic Party in ways that leave his supporters bitter to this day and led former DNC Chair Donna Brazile to pen an apology to him in her autobiography and on multiple TV appearances.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the “Squad” had their moment in the sun, but haven’t caught on as national movement leaders; similarly, the short-lived Black Lives Matter movement caught fire after the murder of George Floyd but has now devolved into internecine warfare.

Joe Biden and Nancy Pelosi did yeoman’s work overhauling the American economy and getting America back on track after the disastrous Trump years, but neither has the charisma (or youth or drivenness) to lead a new progressive movement.

Gavin Newsom is a fresh new face for much of America, and certainly mopped the floor with Ron DeSantis in a recent Fox “News” debate, but he’s yet to take the steps — and the chances/sacrifices — that could catapult him from politician to movement leader.

And it’s that risk-taking that almost always characterizes the difference between mere politicians and leaders of movements.

Politicians play within the system; movement leaders aren’t afraid to offend or even injure the system if it will advance the movement. Politicians follow the rules; movement leaders often intentionally break them, if for no other reason than to demonstrate the need for their reform.

Movement leaders — like true movements themselves — are disruptive. They lay down in the street, stand before lines of police, let themselves get beaten and arrested for a greater cause. They sacrifice.

The successful ones are almost always talented in the arts of mass communication, in public speaking, in organizing political and guerrilla theater.

For better or worse, from Gandhi to Trump, John Lewis to David Duke and Alex Jones, Gloria Steinem to Nick Fuentes, movement leaders defy the status quo and gain an almost mythic stature and power from the audaciousness of their insurgencies.

Heading into the 2024 election, Democrats are facing a massive, multi-faceted movement driving Trump’s faction, held together by white supremacy, authoritarianism, hate, and fear of the “other.” In response, Democrats are holding up their considerable accomplishments, but have yet to activate or find their own grass-roots movement in response.

The craving for movement and movement leadership on the left is palpable: look at how the country rallied around the Tennessee Three, for example. But their local activism hasn’t succeeded in going national and has only occasionally — and then with minimal national press — been replicated in state houses across the nation.

Similarly, the Occupy Movement had a powerful moment, until it was co-opted by a New York Maoist cult leader and collapsed.

There’s still a dramatic imbalance between the massive, organized, and well-funded “anti-woke” movement driving the politics of the right, and the scattershot state-by-state efforts at reform and to salvage democracy on the left.

The closest to movement politics we have at the moment are the millions of American women (and their male allies) who want control of their bodies and are outraged at GOP attempts to return them to the status of men’s servants and playthings, from the boardroom to the bedroom.

That movement is beginning to find its voice and even has a current martyr in Texas’ Kate Cox, the woman who the men running Texas threatened to force a doomed pregnancy to term at the risk of her own life.

Will it become organized and national? Will a charismatic leader emerge or step forward to carry the women’s rights banner?

The other issue that President Biden keeps trying to evoke movement politics around — so far with only lip service from the press — is the attempt to rescue American freedom and democracy from both the corruption of six billionaire-owned Republicans on the Supreme Court and a fascist demagogue who promises to become a dictator from “day one.”

A movement for democracy.

(Anand Giridharadas, one of America’s most thoughtful commentators, recently had a discussion about this very topic with Joe Scarborough that’s well worth viewing.)

The power of the freedom meme is so great that fossil fuel billionaires have hijacked it for decades, smearing the words “freedom” and “liberty” all over everything they do. It resonates deeply in the American psyche.

Will a progressive democracy movement leader emerge to take on the growing forces of fascism represented by the Trump and Qanon cults — and the handful of third-party wannabee movement leaders — in America?

Are there people with talent and charisma willing to risk the fate of JFK and MLK to take head-on the armed militias and algorithm-fueled haters who’ve sworn their lives and allegiance to Trump and his ideal of a Christian-only white supremacist nation?

And, if one or more does, will the institutional Democratic Party treat them as a threat, the way they did Bernie and Howard Dean before him? Or will they recognize that the only way to defeat a movement like Trump now commands is with another movement of equal passion and fervor — and to get behind it, collaborate, and use its force and energy to change policy and politics, the way LBJ did when he saw that MLK would never give up?

As Jen Psaki said on Morning Joe this morning about the great recent economic news:

“Data doesn’t move people, emotions do.”

She noted that its “never about the data” and the Democratic Party needs storytellers to convert Biden’s great economic data into narratives about “how this impacts you and your family.”

Similarly, should a movement and movement leadership emerge in the next few months that could inspire Bernie-like enthusiasm to drive millions to the polls, will the handful of billionaires associated with the Democratic Party, and the consultants who make their living on fees from conventional advertising, dismiss it the way they did Bernie, BLM, the Sunrise Movement, and the Occupy Movement?

Or have they finally learned their lesson and will thus embrace movement politics the way their rightwing peers did with the Tea Party, Trump in 2016, and continue to do today with all the spinoff “anti-woke” movements they fund?

The answer to that question may well determine the future of democracy in both our republic and around the world.

Honestly, at this point in time, I’m pretty sick of Trump. I SHOULD stop writing here if I were to listen to the pastor at our church this week. Apparently, I’m not able to listen to him because I just can’t bring myself to “forgive” Trump and I’m unable to accept what a second term would do to this nation. I’m already bracing myself for INSURRECTION #2 which will take place once he’s been SOUNDLY defeated once for all. Yes. it’s a bit alarming that President Biden’s “poll numbers” are historically low – you have to give republicans credit for their ability to LIE to the American people and, sadly, in my view, too many Americans – at this point in time – are thinking in terms of prices (which HAVE come down in many instances – gas, eggs, etc.) when there’s so much on the line in this upcoming election.

While I want to tout President Biden’s accomplishments (once again), which I consider historic themselves, I first have to focus on what it is that so many Americans, many of whom claim to be “Christians,” are supporting. Let’s start with the parallels to the Nazi’s coming from Trump and his supporters. Of course, lately, Trump has been saying the “quiet part out loud,” as he’s suggested “immigrants are poisoning the blood of Americans” which would be laughable on its face if it wasn’t so, well, NAZI. It’s almost as if Trump took the words right out of Mein Kampf – Hitler’s autobiographical manifesto – OK, I think he did. But, regardless, those are the same words Hitler used in his attacks on non-Aryan people. In fact, Hitler referred to these non-Aryans as “vermin.” Oops! ditto once again with Trump. Could we say his “Stand back and stand by” Proud Boys would be the equivalent of the “Brown shirts?”

I’ve been saying, here, for years, that Trump’s LYING (along with that of his republican sycophants) is right out of the Nazi’s “Big Lie Theory.” For some reason the “mainstream media” hasn’t picked up on this. This was another of Hitler’s “inventions” coming from Mein Kampf – “If you repeat a LIE over and over again, eventually people will believe the LIE to be “true.” This was the “strategy” put in place by Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s “minister of propaganda.” Here is one of Goebbel’s more famous quotes: ” This is the secret of propaganda: Those who are to be persuaded by it should be completely immersed in the ideas of the propaganda, without ever noticing that they are being immersed in it.” Another of their (Hitler and Goebbels) “techniques” was “projection.” They believed in accusing their opponents of that which they were busy doing.

Here’s a few more Geobbels quotes: ” Propaganda works best when those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will.” ” A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth.” ” Propaganda must facilitate the displacement of aggression by specifying the targets for hatred.” And, ” We shall reach our goal, when we have the power to laugh as we destroy, as we smash, whatever was sacred to us as tradition, as education, and as human affection.” If you’re still reading I think you get my point. I’ve defined fascists here several times and all I’ll say is when Trump accuses people like me of being “Communist, Marxist, Fascist vermin” you can see where he gets the inspiration.

Keep in mind, Trump is DESPERATE. Not only is he weeks away from potentially losing his control over the “Trump Organization,” he’s facing several more legal challenges in the coming year (or two). Trump is in full “Roy Cohn” mode as he’s attacking the prosecutors, judges, families of prosecutors and judges, ANYONE he thinks he can get away with sicking his right wing sycophants onto in the hopes to spread FEAR among those who might sit on a jury or who might have the temerity to TESTIFY against him. He’s going to PUSH everything to the limit including the “gag orders” – DARING a judge (somewhere) to actually prove we don’t have a “two tier” judicial system and throw his ASS in jail. What other defendant could get away with the “deplorable” behavior he’s exhibiting while out on pre-trial release. There are untold THOUSANDS of indicted defendants across this land sitting in jail waiting their trials for FAR LESS than what we are witnessing from Trump.

Speaking of projection I almost have to laugh when I hear (read about) Trump or any of his “cronies” referring to the “Biden Crime Family.” This goes right through the republican party and their members of Congress – especially in the House. It seems obvious that these House members have to be smart enough to know their LYING would be an embarrassment if the stakes were not so high. They accuse the Biden Administation of “weaponizing” government – as if they still believe January 6th, 2021 was “normal political discourse.” All the while they are threatening a MASSIVE weaponization of government should Trump regain the “Oval Office.” And, please, enough already with the Hunter Biden “stuff.” (I predict he’ll be acquitted on all charges if they ever get that far) Let’s just compare Hunter Biden to Jared Kushner – someone who SHOULD be facing strict scrutiny.

Let’s just go over a bit of Kushner’s “schtick.” First off, he was integrally involved in the “real” FAKE NEWS which took place in the 2016 election. (Of course, a perfect place to check out Trump’s PROJECTION over the previous EIGHT years) Cambridge Analytica (CA) – an outfit put together by Steve Bannon and Robert Mercer – HIJACKED the data from 57 MILLION American Facebook users and organized it in a way to allow for targeted mis/disinformation during the 2016 campaign. What made it so much worse was CA shared this info with not only the Russians but (allegedly) also some Israeli intelligence officers who had “partnered” (secretly) with the Saudi’s, the Emerati’s, the Egyptians, Bahrain, and Israel – with Kushner’s help along with others in Trump’s campaign – based on info in Seth Abramson’s “Proof of Conspiracy.”

Additionally, Kushner spent almost the entire 4 years he was Trump’s “Senior advisor” communicating with Mohammed bin Salmon (MBS) using and encrypted device – in violation of the presidential records act. Kushner (allegedly) was behind the Saudi and Emerati blockade of Qatar out of retribution for their denial of bailing Kushner out of his failed investment at 666 (the number of the devil – just sayin) 5th Avenue in Manhattan. Curiously, as soon as the Qatari’s agreed to bail him out, the blockade was ended. None of this even brings up Kushner making repeated trips to the Middle East right before the end of Trump’s administration and the subsequent $2 BILLION he was GIVEN by MBS – who opposed his own investment people who recommended the money not be “invested.” Let’s get off the Hunter Biden stuff for good.

As I’m writing this I can still hear Trump (and Michael Flynn) leading his sycophants in chants of “lock her up” because Hillary Clinton “may have been” careless with Classified information by using a personal server when she was Secretary of State (just like Condoleeza Rice and Colin Powell before her) Well, what about Trump and his HOARDING and attempting to keep – despite a subpoena – HUNDREDS of the most sensitive Classified documents – some of which there’s credible evidence he shared them. Yikes!!! And, getting back to Kushner, there are credible allegations he was reading the Presidential Daily Brief (when he wasn’t cleared to do so) and SHARING secret information with MBS – leading to the arrest and TORTURE of many Saudi’s the American intelligence Community had identified as opposed to the MBS – in essence – coup d’etat in Saudi Arabi – pushing himself above the true next in line to the “throne.”

Speaking of your “Crime families.” And, that’s without getting into the 91 FELONIES Trump has been (alleged) to have committed. In excess of 30 FELONIES in the Manhattan “hush money” case – which is rarely in the news these days, over 30 FELONIES in the Classified Documents case, I believe it’s 13 FELONIES in the Georgia case, and, of course, “only” FOUR in the January 6th, 2021 case. (And, this is not to mention the SECOND E Jean Carroll trial – which is only about how much he’s going to OWE her OR the several civil cases working through the system regarding the INSURRECTION)

Here’s where I believe Trump should be careful for what he wishes for. If you’ve been paying attention you know Trump MUST feel especially vulnerable from Jack Smith’s Jan. 6th case because he’s “throwing spaghetti against the wall” in an attempt to find a way to delay what is planned for a March trial date. If he succeeds in pushing that trial back that would simply mean the Manhattan “hush money” case could proceed in March as originally intended. And, it appears that Judge Aileen Cannon is doing everything she can to delay the Classified Documents case which, if she’s successful at pushing it back until after the election, THEN the Georgia RICO case will be able to be tried in around June or July of 2024 Here’s why I believe this is so critical – NEITHER of these two cases, the “Hush Money” case nor the “RICO” Case in Georgia are subject to whether or not Trump might regain the “White House.” In fact, at least in the Georgia case, ALL Americans would be able to WATCH the proceedings as that trial will be televised. If Trump is CONVICTED in either trial there’s NO ability for any federal pardon. He’ll be, what’s the word?, TOAST!!!

Should Trump be imprisoned, this would be another parallel to Hitler back in the 1920’s in Germany, except for one grave difference. First, the sentence could be much longer and Trump is ALREADY 77 and, from all intents and purposes, “losing his marbles.” He can’t even remember who defeated him in 2020 or who he defeated in 2016. He has trouble pronouncing any words that exceed two syllables and he confuses the dictators he admires with what country they’re actually “dictating” (not sure if that’s a word?) and, obviously, he hasn’t played “Where in the world is Carmen San Diego” because he mistakes where the boundaries of these INCORRECTLY described countries actually are. Have you ever watched him taking a drink when he’s speaking? He thought E Jean Carroll was his first wife. And, on and on. Somehow, republicans have the “mainstream media” focusing on “gaffes” by President Biden when the true “gaffe champion” is none other than Trump. He really is losing it!

His republican sycophants in Congress continue to badger the public into believing the budget deficits are the fault of Joe Biden when Trump may be the all time “king” of the budget deficits. When Biden took the oath of office approximately 25% of the national debt had occurred during Trump’s four years in office – led by the traditional republican giveaway er tax cut for the wealthiest Americans/corporations leading to record deficits during his reign. Barack Obama had spent 8 years working to reduce the deficits he (and Biden) inherited from Bush/Cheney and it didn’t take long for republicans to turn that “train” in an almost 180 degree direction. And, of course, republicans (along with Kyrsten Sinema) have made it more difficult for President Biden and the democrats to reduce the deficit even faster than they are.

So far, I’ve given a plethora of reasons why any sensible thinking American should NOT be considering voting for another Trump administration – and, I haven’t even gotten into the “saving democracy” schtick (other than pointing out Trump to be a fascist). Let’s talk about some policy issues. First and foremost in my mind – and, trust me, there are several issues which could occupy this “mantra” – is the courts. Yes, this could fall under the saving democracy spot in my “list” because, in my mind, sensible Americans can’t afford to elect another republican president for at least a generation because that’s how long this right wing court is going to last – short of “we the people” voting in enough progressives to IMPEACH at least TWO of the judges presently sitting on the Court. Personally, I consider Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito to be nearly as corrupt as the rest of the republican party. I probably won’t last more than, at most, a couple more elections – but, my children and grandchildren are in the same boat as other young Americans who face the realities of what this court is doing – and, it’s likely to get MUCH worse before it gets better.

Climate Change. To me, if you’re a young person your ONLY choice when going to the polls is democrats up and down the tickets because republicans refuse to even acknowledge the existence of the Climate Crisis. It’s time young people flock to the polls and vote out the republicans who seem hell bent on perpetuating the crisis. Let’s take a look at Florida, for example. Floridians voted overwhelmingly to re-elect one of the worst (in my view) politicians in America as their governor. Ron DeSantis is a complete Climate science denier. (As are virtually ALL republicans) Yet, every year there’s at least ONE MORE devastating hurricane hitting the state leaving the federal government to come to the rescue of the Florida people. If you live in Florida, it’s becoming almost impossible, for instance, to get homeowners insurance. Have you seen the devastation from these hurricanes? This goes for Louisiana, Mississippi, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Texas – maybe not as regularly as Florida, but??????

If you’re a woman, why on earth would you vote for a republican – especially a young woman of child bearing age? Getting pregnant SHOULDN’T be a life threatening illness. And, I’m thinking of all the women who find themselves bleeding out and having a miscarriage only to discover the solution is, in essence, an abortion and if you live in say Texas, or Florida, or Mississippi, or Iowa, or any other state which prohibits abortions even to save the life of the mother you’re, well, (maybe an inappropriate term) screwed! There’s, right now as I’m writing this, a woman in Texas who has a pregnancy which is “non-viable” and the Texas courts are forcing her to carry this (likely deceased) fetus to term – at the risk of her life and, of course, her future fertility – as this woman WANTS to have another child. How many cases are there which don’t make it to the “liberal media?” Remember, republicans want their abortion bans to be NATIONAL. I’ve said here, many times, a “right” is much easier to LOSE than to regain. (This issue resulted from Trump “winning” in 2016 – lots of women either voting for him or a third party candidate or staying home – I recommend against any of that)

There’s Civil Rights, there’s Voting Rights, there’s education (including student loan deferrals – Biden needs MORE democrats in Congress for that one), there’s the Ukraine war, there’s foreign policy in general – are we going to support dictators or democratic republics? – and, what do you think would happen if Trump was president during another disaster like the pandemic? Look up Narcissist if you want a simple answer to that question. President Biden is leading a MUCH needed revitalization of our infrastructure (do you remember all of Trump’s “infrastructure weeks?”), manufacturing is increasing, real wages are increasing. and there’s a concerted effort for government to work “from the bottom up middle out.” I’ve been waiting YEARS to hear that from someone occupying the “White House” and “we the people” shouldn’t be failing to understand how important that is. I played basketball in college and I still remember the coaches saying we were no better than the last man sitting on the bench. For all those right wing “Christians” out there remember Jesus said, “What you do for the least of these you do for me. What you do TO the least of these you do TO me!”

President Biden has included more women and “people of color” in his administration and via appointments to the courts than maybe ANY president before him. Of course, to republicans this is a reason to vote against him – but I have to believe there are MORE Americans who want people to be judged by their abilities than by the color of their skin. Remember, despite there being someone who always holds that “Blacks for Trump” at his rallies, there were virtually NO “persons of color” in his administration. In fact, at some point take a close look at the members of Congress who make up the republican caucus. Here’s a photo of the republicans who voted for the 2017 tax cuts – (which blew a several TRILLION hole in the budget) – you tell me how many non-whites were in the picture. You’re looking at the republican caucus.

I “get” that Trump and many of his sycophants are undeniable white nationalists/supremacists and they would look at that photo and see nothing wrong. Here’s the reality – and what these republicans fear – America is not TOTALLY white. We are/have been/ and hopefully will remain a nation of immigrants. Not all of the immigrants (in fact, probably not many of them) come from Norway – as was Trump’s wish while he was in office. He complained of “Shit hole” countries – do you think that may have been racist? There are so many different examples demonstrating Trump’s racism I’m not going to attempt to list them here – if you’re interested it’s not hard to find. I’m just counting on there being enough people who don’t believe in racism, mysogyny, anti-semitism (OK, that’s racism), xenophobia, Islamaphobia, and cruelty to the LGBTQ community to make it so Trump can face his legal perils WHENEVER the trials take place – that is, stopping him from retaking the “White House” so he can try to continue what he’s done his entire life – evade accountability for his conduct. Stay tuned……

Final Thought: I mentioned above about how President Biden is leading a “revitalization of our infrastructure” and, I have to add, MOST republican members of Congress voted against the bill. (Yes, it was a bipartisan bill, especially in the Senate). What’s been most interesting is the number of members of Congress who DID vote against it attempting to take credit for the good it’s doing out in the “field.” Here’s a list of republicans MOST of whom voted against the infrastructure bill – it’s true some voted for it – or it never would have passed. (The bi-partisanship President Biden strives for) Almost all GOP members of the House voted against the bill as you can see here. These people have no bottom!

Here goes David as a “broken record” once again. Today is the day Joe Manchin announced he’s not running for re-election to the Senate in West Virginian – for a seat he was likely to lose regardless – and the talk coming from democratic pundits is focusing in on the reality of how Trump and his sycophants are planning to CHEAT in order to “win” the 2024 election. I “get” the real issue SHOULD be the foreign “interference” coming from the Russians, Saudi’s, Emerati’s, Egyptians, and (maybe this time although not looking as probable as prior to October 7th) the Israeli’s replicating what took place back in 2016. However, there are emerging a group of “third party” candidates who will be bankrolled by republicans – just like in 2016 in the case of Jill Stein – with the plan to siphon off enough votes from President Biden’s “supporters” to carry targeted states like Wisconsin’s, Michigan’s, and Pennsylvania’s Electoral College votes to Trump.

In 2016 Ms. Stein was part of some kind of celebration in Moscow where she was seen in a photo which also included Michael Flynn and and Vladimir Putin and her third party candidacy via the “Green Party” swung enough votes in the aforementioned Mid Western states to swing the 2016 election for Trump. So, here we go again. There’s an old saying: “All’s fair in love and war – and American politics.” OK, I made up the “American politics” part of that, but, in essence, that appears to be historically true. Maybe the saying should be “fool me once, shame on you – fool me twice, shame on me?” And, the sad reality, from my perspective, is that republicans in this regard are like “men against boys” with a plan to “fool us twice.” I’ve been saying since my observation of the Obama v Romney election the republicans mantra – “The end justifies the means.” Of course, historically, this goes back, well, farther than my eyes can see. Now, we’re witnessing some of the experts of this “philosophy” who have turned against their original “home.”

The Lincoln Project is led by Rick Wilson, Reed Galen, Stuart Stevens, and Tara Setmayer among others (including George Conway and formerly Steve Schmidt) and they are teaching democrats (OK, we can hope) how to respond to the PROJECTION of Trump and the republicans. Their ads get under Trump’s (thin) skin which is why I’ve sent them my (meager) financial support. The democrats, sadly, just don’t know how to “fight fire with fire.” The republicans involved in the “Lincoln Project” were critical parts of the GOP as it evolved to the MAGA movement. I firmly believe that in this upcoming election they will be putting out some “biting” ads opposing Trump and some of his sycophants. This next election very well will be decided in the “confines” of Social Media – a place which is “foreign” to me. That said, should Trump once again prevail, these former republicans STILL represent culpability.

I read a report the other day suggesting America’s “young people” get more news on “Tik Tok” than they do from traditional media outlets or cable’s 24/7 “news” cycle. Additionally, both Twitter (X) and Facebook have announced they are open for a flood of mis/disinformation to washing over their platforms – why the change? – well, of course it’s because of the MONEY. And, I have to add that the place I watch/listen to (when I do either) for “news” is MSNBC and watching that channel you’ll get far more Trump “stuff” than Biden “stuff.” The reason I keep going back for more Trump “stuff” on MSNBC is because the one thing left on my “bucket list” that seems achievable is to live long enough to see Trump going to jail. (I’m 76 with some interesting ailments so this could be a close call – especially if republicans find a way to CHEAT their way to “victory” in 2024)

I’ve been referring to Trump as a “mob boss” on some occasions and a “fascist” on many others over the past 8 years. Before he decided on his attempt to destroy our republic in 2015 I referred to him, if I ever did publicly, as a nincompoop! Here’s the definition:

nincompoop /nĭn′kəm-poo͞p″, nĭng′-/

noun

1. A silly, foolish, or stupid person.
2. A fool; a blockhead; a simpleton.
3. A fool; a silly or stupid person

That’s straight from the American Heritage dictionary. Sadly, that’s now how I veiw many of his supporters. Trump has graduated to a cunning authoritarian, pathological lying, mysogyinistic, xenophobic, islamophobic, narcissistic A-hole “state,” from my perspective. I know as a Christian I’m supposed to “judge not lest I be judged” – but, I just can’t help myself. (Yes, I’ve got my own issues)

I’ve been reading (for a long time – it’s maybe more “detailed” than the Mueller Report – if you’re one of the 1% who took the time to read that) “Proof of Conspiracy” by Seth Abramson which lays out in (painstaking) detail the CONSPIRACY among the Russians, the Saudi’s, the Emerati’s, the Egyptian’s, and the Israeli’s – along with Trump’s campaign, to get Trump “elected” in 2016. These are all authoritarian regimes (yes, including Israel) who recognize “conservatives” are a distinct minority in America, but, due to the importance of who is in POWER in America – “The end justifies the means.” Representatives from these “authoritarian” countries CONSPIRED to manipulate the (thinking of) VOTERS in various targeted “swing” states in America’s election – via Social Media – and, of course, they’re still at it today.

I wrote several times (in the archives) about the work of Cambridge Analytica (a company put together by Steve Bannon and Robert Mercer) where they STOLE the personal information of over 57 MILLION Americans from Facebook, created a database putting people into “neighborhoods,” and funneling information to them with the objective to MANIPULATE their thinking – ie who they were going to vote for in the 2016 election. This information was shared with the Russians who worked to subvert the 2016 election along with a group of Israeli intelligence officers who worked with (for MONEY) the Saudi’s, the Emerati’s, the Egyptians, AND, of course, the Russians. Their expertise is MANIPULATING groups of people via Social Media. Jared Kushner was involved with all of this – PLUS he became BFF with Mohammed bin Salmon (The “Crown Prince” of Saudi Arabia known as MBS) a “friendship” which endured beyond Trump’s time in the “White House.” (To the “tune” of $2 BILLION)

Speaking of Jared Kushner, it boggles my mind that republicans are so obsessed with Hunter Biden getting a couple MILLION from his association with Burisma in Ukraine (Yes, it seems apparent he got the “gig” because he is the former VP’s – now President’s son) Kushner not only pocketed $2 BILLION within a few months from leaving the “White House” for an investment startup he was unqualified to lead – directly as the result of his association with MBS – a deal reportedly providing Kushner a salary of $25 MILLION annually. And, that’s not all which SHOULD be investigated, in my view. Kushner, who should NEVER have had a security clearance was (reportedly) a voracious reader of the Presidential Daily Brief and (allegedly) passed on information to MBS which led to the incarceration (and TORTURE) of several Saudi’s who were identified by American intelligence of not supporting MBS’s takeover of the Saudi government. Kushner was (allegedly) involved in encouraging the blockade of Qatar during the first year of Trump’s administration as (allegedly) “pay back” for the Qatari’s refusal to bail Kushner out on his TERRIBLE “666 Fifth Avenue” investment which had a “mortgage coming due.”

Well, guess what, eventually the Qatari’s “caved in” and came to Kushner and his Father’s rescue – by, in essence, taking over the failing building Jared had purchased over ten years earlier – right before the Kushner Mortgage was coming due. And, surprise, surprise, suddenly Trump was no longer in support of the blockade on Qatar. (A stalwart American ally) Now this (nefarious) situation is as clear as “black and white” but, of course, there’s been no investigation of Kushner’s underhanded dealings while an “advisor” to the president. (There’s so many things to investigate regarding Trump, himself, I kind of understand how this OBVIOUS “double dealing” managed to escape scrutiny. I’m just saying, Compare the dealings of Kushner to those of Hunter Biden and, well, there’s no comparison. Heck, it’s even been reported Kushner played a (side) role in the murder of Jamal Khashoggi – again, (allegedly) giving intelligence to MBS.

What Trump (and the republicans) has truly mastered, is the skill of PROJECTION. He’s now routinely referring to the “Corrupt Biden Family” and to progressives as “Communist, Marxist, Fascist thugs” and using words like “vermin” to identify his enemies who he will “crush” once he’s back in the “White House.” Those around him say he doesn’t read, so I suppose I’m safe, for now :o). Trump’s recent rhetoric, his use of PROJECTION, and his long time use of the BIG LIE THEORY makes me wonder about whether he really does read or not – because all of this is right out of “Mein Kampf” and workings of Hitler, Goebbels, and the rest of the Third Reich.

Now, it’s not just people like me noticing this – major media outlets are picking up Trump’s neo-Nazi leanings. Here’s how he and his supporters will deal with this issue. Of course, it goes without saying he’ll be back at the press as the “enemy of the people” (presumably because it’s attempting to educate the “people”) and, just yesterday I listened to a clip coming from Steve Bannon in his “war room” telling his followers that by the media connecting Trump and his rhetoric to Hitler back in the 1930’s “they are calling you (Bannon’s listeners) fascists.” Apparently, that line of thought assumes it will cause his listeners to “put their heads back in the sand” in reference to the reality of what they are supporting. I’m always reminded of Trump claiming, after the Iowa caucuses back in 2016 “I love my uneducated voters.” (One of the rare occasions when Trump blurts out the TRUTH – he depends on his “uneducated voters” to remain “uneducated”)

Will America’s progressive, independent, and disaffected republican voters band together in a massive effort to put this MAGA movement in the “rear view mirror?” Only time will tell. I’m having a hard time believing America’s voters will choose to go back to what Trump provided (only, this time far worse), but, at this point, who knows? I sure don’t. What I do know is that, surreptitiously, the Trump “operatives” are, behind the scenes figuring out new ways to CHEAT and actually get away with it. I read the Mueller report twice, but didn’t understand the role of the Saudi’s, Emerati’s, Egyptians, and the Israeli’s until I got deep into Abramson’s book. When I think back, the “signs” were all there, but Trump’s misdeeds were coming so fast it was almost impossible to keep up. What I firmly believe is there are “shenanigans” going on where “we the people” can’t see them AND one of them is Trump willingly taking support from foreign entities. The latter of which is easily hidden from public view by the (HORRIBLE) “Citizen’s United” Supreme Court decision which was “legislating from the bench” in its worse form. No matter what happens in the 2024 election Trump’s “cronies” have a grip on the Courts and “we the people” will be dealing with the fallout of that reality for, well, MANY years. Beyond my lifetime. Stay tuned…….

Final Thought: If you’re a progressive who, somehow, is turned off for any reason by Joe Biden I hope you’ll think very hard about the alternative. First of all, in my view, I’ve BECOME a strong supporter of President Biden. I look at what he’s managed to accomplish and I struggle to understand why so many Americans seem disillusioned about him. From the Covid rescue bill to the “Chips Act” President Biden accomplished more than any president in my lifetime – benefitting “we the people” as opposed to the top 1% – he’s had well over 30 STRAIGHT months of job gains with a record number gained up to this moment in time plus he’s tried to get critical legislation through which was blocked by his lacking a supportive Congress. It’s amazing what he did get through. I’ll emphasize it once more – a vote for ANYONE other than Biden is a vote for Trump. And, trust me, republican operatives will be funneling money to the “third party” candidates in order to siphon off votes which otherwise would have gone to Biden. They (republicans) did it in 2000 – resulting in the Bush/Cheney administration AND the invasion of Iraq – and they did it in 2016 with Jill Stein funneling off enough Clinton voters to help Trump over the (Electoral College) finish line. Will we be fooled twice? Yikes……….

And: I wrote all this a few weeks back, so I’m going to publish and hope my brother-in-law edits it before too many people discover this former sixth grade teacher misspells words! One last thing – I’m getting a bit tired of republicans calling the TRAITORS who are working to undo our constitution as “patriots.” I hope the media will start referring to them (including Trump) as the TRAITORS they are.

As usual, Thom Hartman can explain in one post what I’ve been attempting to do for the past eight years. I copied this article from one of the outlets I support, “Raw Story:”

Now we know how Hitler did it

Thom HartmannNovember 19, 2023 6:38AM ET  

Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Phoenix (Gage Skidmore)

The Nazis in America are now “out.” This morning, former Republican Joe Scarborough explicitly compared Trump and his followers to Hitler and his Brownshirts on national television. They’re here.

At the same time, America’s richest man is retweeting antisemitism, rightwing influencers and radio/TV hosts are blaming “Jews and liberals” for the “invasion” of “illegals” to “replace white people,” and the entire GOP is embracing candidates and legislators who encourage hate and call for violence.

Are there parallels between the MAGA takeover of the GOP and the Nazi takeover of the German right in the 1930s?

It began with a national humiliation: defeat in war. For Germany, it was WWI; for America is was two wars George W. Bush and Dick Cheney lied us into as part of their 2004 “wartime president” re-election strategy (which had worked so well for Nixon with Vietnam in 1972 and Reagan with Grenada in 1984).

Hitler fought in WWI but later blamed Germany’s defeat on the nation being “stabbed in the back” by liberal Jews, their fellow travelers, and incompetent German military leadership.

Trump cheered on Bush’s invasion of Iraq, but later lied and claimed he’d opposed the war. Both blamed the nation’s humiliation on the incompetence or evil of their political enemies.

The economic crisis caused by America’s Republican Great Depression had gone worldwide and Hitler used the gutting of the German middle class (made worse by the punishing Treaty of Versailles) as a campaign issue, promising to restore economic good times.

Trump pointed to the damage forty years of neoliberalism had done to the American middle class and promised to restore blue-collar prosperity. Hitler promised he would “make Germany great again”; Trump campaigned on the slogan: “Make America Great Again.”

Both tried to overthrow their governments by violence and failed, Hitler in a Bavarian beer hall and Trump on January 6th. Both then turned to legal means to seize control of their nations.

Hitler’s scapegoats were Jews, gays, and liberals. “There are only two possibilities,” he told a Munich crowd in 1922. “Either victory of the Aryan, or annihilation of the Aryan and the victory of the Jew.”

He promised “I will get rid of the ‘communist vermin’,” “I will take care of the ‘enemy within’,” “Jews and migrants are poisoning Aryan blood,” and “One people, one nation, one leader.”

Trump’s scapegoats were Blacks, Muslims, immigrants, and liberals.

He said he will “root out” “communists … and radical left thugs that live like vermin”; he would destroy “the threat from within”; migrants are “poisoning the blood of our country”; and that under Trump’s leadership America will become “One people, one family, one glorious nation.”

Hitler called the press the Lügenpresse or “lying press.” Trump quoted Stalin, calling our news agencies and reporters “the enemy of the people.”

Both exploited religion and religious believers. Hitler proclaimed a “New Christianity” for Germany and encouraged fundamentalist factions within both the Catholic and Protestant faiths.

Every member of the Germany army got a belt-buckle inscribed with Gott Mit Uns (God is with us).

Trump embraced rightwing Catholics and evangelical Protestants and, like the German churches in 1933, has been lionized by their leaders.

Hitler made alliances with other autocrats (Mussolini, Franco, and Tojo) and conspired with them to take over much of the planet. Trump disrespected our NATO and European allies and embraced the murderous dictator of Saudi Arabia, the psychopathic leader of Russia, and the absolute tyrant who runs North Korea.

Both Hitler and Trump had an “inciting incident” that became the touchstone for their rise to illegitimate levels of power.

For Hitler it was the burning of the German parliament building, the Reichstag, by a mentally ill Dutchman. For Trump it is his claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him and the martyrdom of his supporters after their attempted coup on January 6th.

Hitler embraced rightwing Bavarian street gangs and brawlers, organizing them into a volunteer militia who called themselves the Brownshirts (Hitler called them the Sturm Abeilung or Storm Division).

Trump embraces rightwing militia groups and motorcycle gangs, and implicitly praises his followers when they attack people like Paul Pelosi, election workers, and prosecutors and judges who are attempting to hold him accountable for his criminal behavior.

While Trump has mostly focused his public hate campaigns against racial and religious minorities, behind the scenes he and his administration had worked hand-in-glove with anti-gay fanatics like Mike Johnson to limit the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.

His administration opposed the Equality Act, saying it would “undermine parental and conscience rights.” More than a third (36%) of his judicial nominees had previously expressed “bias and bigotry towards queer people.” His administration filed briefs in the landmark Bostock case before the Supreme Court, claiming that civil rights laws don’t protect LGBTQ+ people.

His Department of Health and Human Services ended Obama-era medical protections for queer people. His Secretary of Education, billionaire Betsy DeVos, took apart regulations protecting transgender kids in public schools. His HUD Secretary, Ben Carson, proposed new rules allowing shelters to turn away homeless queer people at a time when one-in-five homeless youth identify as LGBTQ+.

German Pastor Martin Niemöller’s famous poem begins with, “First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.” But, in fact, first Hitler came for queer people.

A year before Nazis began attacking union leaders and socialists, a full five years before attacking Jewish-owned stores on Kristallnacht, the Nazis came for the trans people at the Institute for Sexual Research in Berlin.

In 1930, the Institute had pioneered the first gender-affirming surgery in modern Europe. It’s director, Magnus Hirschfeld, had compiled the largest library of books and scientific papers on the LGBTQ+ spectrum in the world and was internationally recognized in the field of sexual and gender studies.

Being gay, lesbian, or trans was widely tolerated in Germany, at least in the big cities, when Hitler came to power on January 30, 1933, and the German queer community was his first explicit target. Within weeks, the Nazis began a campaign to demonize queer people — with especially vitriolic attacks on trans people — across German media.

German states put into law bans on gender-affirming care, drag shows, and any sort of “public display of deviance,” enforcing a long-moribund German law, Paragraph 175, first put into the nation’s penal code in 1871, that outlawed homosexuality. Books and magazines telling stories of gay men and lesbians were removed from schools and libraries.

Thus, a mere five months after Hitler came to power, on May 6, 1933, Nazis showed up at the Institute and hauled over 20,000 books and manuscripts about gender and sexuality out in the street to burn, creating a massive bonfire. It was the first major Nazi book-burning and was celebrated with newsreels played in theaters across the nation. It wouldn’t be the last: soon it spread to the libraries and public high schools.

The conservative elite of Germany, particularly Fritz Thyssen, Hjalmar Schacht, and Gustav Krupp were early supporters of Hitler, as he promised to crush the German labor movement and cut their taxes.

Without the support of rightwing billionaires funding Cambridge Analytica and Trump’s campaign he never would have won the electoral college in 2016.

Hitler couldn’t have risen to power without the support of the largest outlets in German media. Some treated him as “just another politician,” normalizing his fascist rhetoric. Others openly supported him.

After his failed beer hall putsch, he was legally banned from public speaking and mass rallies but, in 1930, German media mogul Alfred Hugenberg — a rightwing billionaire who owned two of the largest national newspapers and had considerable influence over radio — joined forces with Hitler and relentlessly promoted him, much like the Murdoch media empire and 1,500 billionaire-owned rightwing radio stations across the country helped bring Trump to power in 2016 and still promote him every day.

Hitler’s first major seizure of dictatorial power was his use of the Weimar law Article 48 which, during a time of crisis, empowered the nation’s leader to suspend due process and habeas corpus, turn the army’s guns on people deemed insurrectionists, and arrest people without charges or trial.

Its American equivalents are the State of Emergency Declaration and the Insurrection Act, both of which Trump has promised to invoke in his first days in office if he’s re-elected in 2024.

Once Hitler had seized full control of the German government, he set about changing the nation’s laws to replace democracy with autocracy. His enablers in the German Parliament passed the “Enabling Act” that gave Hitler’s cabinet the power to write and implement their own laws.

Trump promises to use the theoretical “unitary executive” powers rightwing groups claim the president holds, but has never used in our history, to have his new cabinet rewrite many of our nation’s laws.

Hitler followed the Enabling Act, six months later, with the Act for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service which authorized him to gut the German Civil Service and replace career bureaucrats with toadies loyal exclusively to him. It was the end of any semblance of resistance to the Nazis or preservation of democracy within the new German government.

In his last three weeks in office, Trump issued an executive order called Schedule F that ended Civil Service protections for around 50,000 of America’s top government officials, including the senior levels of every federal agency, so he could replace them all with political appointees (Biden reversed it). The Heritage Foundation is reportedly now vetting over 50,000 people to fill these ranks if Trump is reelected and, as promised, reinstates Schedule F.

The last bastion of resistance to Hitler within the German government was the judiciary, and Hitler altered the German Civil Service Code in January 1937, giving his cabinet the power to remove any judges from office who were deemed “non-compliant” with “Nazi laws or principles.”

When Judge Jon Tigar of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down Trump’s new rules barring people from receiving asylum in 2018, Trump attacked Tigar as “a disgrace” and “an Obama judge.” He added that the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is “really something we have to take a look at because it’s not fair,” adding, “That’s not law. Every case that gets filed in the Ninth Circuit we get beaten.”

Because the German Supreme Court was still, from time to time, ruling against Hitler’s Gleichschaltung or Nazification of the German government and legal code, and he had no easy legal mechanism to pack the court or term-limit the justices, in 1934 he created an entirely new court to replace it, which he called the People’s Court.

Trump packed the US Supreme Court with rightwing ideologues, many of whom are heavily beholden to oligarchs and industries aligned with Trump and the GOP. If they continue to go along with him — and there’s little to indicate they won’t — he won’t need to create a new court.

When Hitler took over the country in 1933, the military leadership was wary of him and his plans. While they shared many of his conservative views about social issues, most still held a strong loyalty to the German constitution.

It took him the better part of two years, with heavy support from his Brownshirts (who he’d by then integrated into the military) to purge the senior levels of the Army and replace them with Nazi loyalists.

The night before January 6th, newly-elected Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville joined Trump’s sons to help organize the coup planned for the next day. As the Alabama Political Reporter newspaper reported at the time:

“The night before the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol, Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville and the then-director of the Republican Attorneys General Association met with then-President Donald Trump’s sons and close advisers, according to a social media post by a Nebraska Republican who at the time was a Trump administration appointee.
“Charles W. Herbster, who was then the national chairman of the Agriculture and Rural Advisory Committee in Trump’s administration, in a Facebook post at 8:33 p.m. on Jan. 5 said that he was standing ‘in the private residence of the President at Trump International with the following patriots who are joining me in a battle for justice and truth.’ …
“Among the attendees, according to Herbster’s post, were Tuberville, former RAGA director Adam Piper, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump, Trump’s former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn, adviser Peter Navarro, Trump’s 2016 campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and 2016 deputy campaign manager David Bossie.”

Tuberville is now holding open the top ranks of the US military, presumably so if Trump is reelected he can pack our armed forces with people who won’t defy his orders when he demands they seize voting machines and fire live ammunition at the inevitable protestors.

When Hitler took power in 1933, he quickly began mass arrests of illegal immigrants, gypsies, union activists, liberal commentators and reporters, and (as noted earlier) queer people. To house this exploding prison population, he first took over a defunct munitions factory in Dachau; within a few years there were over a hundred of these camps where “criminals” were “concentrated and separated from society.” He called them concentration camps.

The New York Times reports that Trump is planning to “build huge camps to detain people,” and “to get around any refusal by Congress to appropriate the necessary funds, Mr. Trump would redirect money in the military budget.”

How many people? “Millions” writes the Times. And not just immigrants: Trump is planning to send his enemies to them, too.

Will he succeed in getting around Congress? He did the last time, with money to build his wall taken from military housing.

So far, that’s as bad as it gets: what he has already promised. But these are early days.

Hitler was unbothered by the deaths of German citizens, and was enthusiastic about the deaths of those he considered his enemies.

On April 7, 2020 all three TV networks, The New York Times and The Washington Post all lead with the breaking story that Black people were dying at about twice the rate of white people from Covid. The Times headline, for example, read: “Black Americans Bear the Brunt as Deaths Climb.”

A month earlier Trump had shut down the country, but when this report came out he and Kushner did an immediate turnabout, demanding that mostly minority “essential workers” get back to work.

As an “expert” member of Jared Kushner’s team of young, unqualified volunteers supervising the administration’s PPE response noted to Vanity Fair’s Katherine Eban:

“The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy.”

It was, after all, exclusively Blue States that were then hit hard by the virus: Washington, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. And there was an election coming in just a few months.

Trump even invoked the Defense Production Act and issued an Executive Order requiring mostly minority slaughterhouse and meatpacking employees go back to work. It led to a half-million unnecessary American deaths and to this day neither Trump nor Kushner have ever apologized.

In the final years of the Third Reich, Hitler authorized his “final solution to the Jewish problem” that included building death camps in countries outside Germany to methodically exterminate millions of people. These were different from the hundreds of prisons and concentration camps he’d built within Germany for “criminals and undesirables,” although at those camps people were often worked to death or slaughtered when the war started going south.

So far, Trump and his people haven’t suggested the need for death camps in America, although Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott seem particularly eager to see immigrants die either from razor wire or gunshot.

But, then, the Nazis never officially announced their external death camps either; like Bush’s criminal “black sites” overseas where hundreds of innocent Afghans and Iraqis were tortured, often to death, they figured they’d never be found out.

There are few Americans alive today who remember Hitler, and for most of us the details of his rise to power are lost to the mists of time. But Donald Trump is bringing it all back to us with a fresh, stark splash of reality.

When I lived in Germany I worked with several Germans who had been in the Hitler Youth. One met Hitler. Another, Armin Lehmann, became a dear friend over the years and wrote a book about his experience as the 16-year-old courier who handed Hitler the news the war was lost and stood outside Hitler’s bunker room as he committed suicide.

They were good people, children at the time really, and were (they’ve all died within the last two decades) haunted by their experience.

It can happen here.

We’ve been sliding down this slippery slope toward unaccountable fascism for several decades, and this coming year will stand at the threshold of an entirely new form of American government that could mean the end of the American experiment.

To the extent that our Constitution is still intact, the choice for our democracy to rise or fall will be in our hands.

It’s been somewhere between 48 hrs. to 72 hrs. since Hamas began their attack on Israel MURDERING (the last I heard) around 1000 Israeli’s with the invasion leading to (up to now) around 600 fatalities among the Palestinians – most of them innocent victims – with likely many more to come. That goes without saying that Israel has cut off diesel fuel (which runs the Power Station in Gaza) along with deliveries of food and water. The loss of life by the time this conflict is “settled” (I pointed out to my son tonight this is a conflict which is thousands of years old) will likely be much more catastrophic. My son, who’s much more connected to the internet, pointed out to me what had transpired shortly after the invasion led me to explain to him the Israeli’s will level Gaza before this is over – a strip of land maybe covering 25 miles in length with a population of 2.3 MILLION Palestinians. This whole thing grieves my heart, but, at the same time, I pointed out that I’m a firm believer in Israel’s right to defend itself and history suggests their level of retribution will be devastating.

There can be no doubt that Iran is right in the middle of this conflict and that Israel is looking at HUNDREDS of rockets aimed at her strategic locations from Hesbollah in Lebanon along with possible issues on the West Bank as they attack Hamas in Gaza. I’m no expert on any of this but I do know the U.S. will stand firmly with Israel while, at the same time, attempting to cause the other “actors” who might wish “evil” on Israel to stand down. I suspect if it’s determined that Iran was DIRECTLY involved in this attack (there can be no question they were indirectly involved – at a minimum) there will ultimately be strikes against Iran from Israel which could cause this war to spread. (Although the other major “players” in the Middle East – like the Saudi’s, the Emirati’s, the Egyptians, maybe the Qatari’s (on that I’m not sure are no friends of Iran and would like nothing better than to see Iran’s Nuclear capabilities attacked – which very will might happen depending on what is learned about their participation. (The Iranian leaders were openly CHEERING on the slaughter of Israeli’s at the beginning of this attack).

That all said, this is where my concern lies tonight. As I watch the (justified) level of response in the U.S. regarding this HORRIFIC slaughter of young Israeli’s in the most barbaric of manner – reminding me of Al Qaeda and ISIL – I want to emphasize the importance of Americans NOT to lose sight of what is happening in Ukraine. Honestly, to me, both situations somewhat mirror each other. In Ukraine THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of innocent civilians have been purposely targeted and killed by rockets crashing into the places they live, there have been THOUSANDS of Ukrainians KIDNAPPED into Russia – many of the children with reports they are being BRAINWASHED while in captivity. On top of all this, of course, Vladimir Putin has unilaterally decided to ANNEX Crimea and other parts of Ukraine – attempting to simply claim this sovereign Ukrainian land for Russia.

Additionally, in America right now, the House of Representatives is in a state of chaos – self inflicted by the incompetent republicans who have a razor thin majority with no idea how to govern – and, the reality is NOTHING can be accomplished in the American government until the republicans decide on a new Speaker of the House – although, that won’t help much unless the majority of republicans decide they MUST “work across the isle” or be subject to the EXTREME right wing segment who recently ousted Kevin McCarthy as the Speaker. We actually need these republicans to start acting like grownups which, to be honest, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”

They’ve already acted as if they will be unable to get a bill through which will provide the funding for MORE aid to Ukraine. Remember, ALL funding bills originate in the House, so if they can’t get their act together on Ukraine the result could be devastating. Unfortunately, there is a group in the House republican caucus who have expressed support for Putin. (Yikes!) On top of that, they also need to authorize funding for the American support of Israel which has already begun, but I listened to an Israeli official tonight suggesting the Israeli’s believe this war will last AT LEAST three months. (What if Hezbollah decides to attack from the North? What if it spreads to the West Bank?) My point is, American aid is going to require a unified Congress in authorizing the funds. And, honestly, I’ll be really p*ssed off if they provide aid for Israel but not Ukraine – that would be an unimaginable travesty from my vantage point.

And, once again I’m extremely thankful “we the people” have an “adult in the room” at the “White House.” As he’s done so many times during his time in office President Biden, so far seems to have said exactly the right things. Additionally, I’ve been impressed by the individuals in his administration who’ve conducted various interviews on public broadcasting of the ongoing war in Israel. Today, for example, Biden participated in a joint conversation with the leaders of the UK, France, Germany, and Italy who together put out a statement showing unconditional support for Israel. The people I’ve listened to have all been realistic about what is likely to happen in the following weeks.

Hamas is threatening to start executing the hostages and broadcasting it on Social Media (one of the reasons I loathe Social Media) for all the world to see in retaliation for Isreal’s retaliation. Is this the perfect example of a “catch 22?” Where do you think they’ll show the videos? My guess is “X” (formerly Twitter before the American Oligarch – or is he South African? – Elon Musk turned it into even more of a racist quagmire than it already was) and, likely somehow videos will make it to Facebook and other Social Media sites (TikTok? Instagram?) – and, of course the right wing sites like “Gab” and “Rumble.” I hope any of these sights who allow this carnage on their sites meet financial gloom sooner rather than later. (In my mind, Social Media has been the engine for the spread of terrorist activity both abroad and at home – in America)

I almost can’t wait to hear what Trump’s response was/will be. Of course, he’ll claim first and foremost that if he was in the :”White House” Hamas would have never had the nerve to make this attack. And, of course, that is as much HOGWASH as virtually everything coming from his mouth, but the reality is he’s got a large swath of Americans who respond to his every word who might think this is the perfect time to attack a Synagogue. Keep in mind, in one of Trump’s latest rants, where he was attacking immigrants – going so far as to suggest “we know Mexico is sending us their prisoners, their mental patients, and that democrats were allowing them in to “poison the blood” of Americans. While the immigrants coming into America right now are NOT (mostly) Mexicans his language was right out of Mein Kampf. I’ve been pointing out the similarities between Trump and Hitler for years now and maybe some in the “liberal media” just might start taking notice. Remember, Trump is a second generation immigrant (from Germany) and he’s married to a first generation immigrant. What a slug!

OK, I remembered how easy it is to find info on the internet so I “Googled” (I actually use “Duck Duck Go”) and, sure enough there was Trump claiming Hamas would never have invaded Israel on his watch (as if he was some kind of champion of the Palestinians) plus he HAD to add Putin would NEVER have invaded Ukraine either. Let me break this down – first, there is speculation Trump’s passing sensitive Israeli classified (at the highest levels) of info to two Russians in the Oval Office while celebrating the firing of Jim Comey may have led to this attack by Hamas. Apparently, the info would potentially help Hamas circumvent the “Iron Dome” – Isreal’s ability to shoot incoming rockets out of the sky. And, as far as Ukraine is concerned, how absurd can this man continually get? Of course, had Trump managed to “win” the 2020 election he would have pulled the U.S. out of NATO which would have provided Putin the ability to do what he originally intended which was to take Kyiv in a matter of days. Remember, it was Trump extorting Zelensky (leading to IMPEACHMENT #1 – the “perfect phone call”) and he was attempting to BLAME Ukraine for the Russian interference in the 2016 election. Trump would have allowed Putin to “have his way” with Ukraine.

I wrote the above on October 7th, the day Hamas slaughtered around 1400 Israeli’s. What has transpired since has not surprised me – although, personally, I believe the Israeli’s are acting in response to their RAGE and maybe not planning for the long haul. (Kind of similar to America post 9/11) President Biden gave them good advice to not make the same mistake the U.S. made by starting WARS in Iraq and Afghanistan. I don’t believe Israel will be able to “blot out” Hamas and, as I told my son back on October 7th, they are in the process of flattening Gaza. Just another chapter in the continuing saga of the plight of the Palestinians.

I actually believe Israel is doing exactly what Hamas wants by invading Gaza with ground troups. I’ve heard the underground tunnels under Gaze spans anywhere from 10 to 100 miles. (Hard to even imagine from my standpoint) Israel is going to lose a lot of their ground troops in this battle which is hard for me to imagine. I keep thinking, will the Israeli troops actually go into these tunnels in an effort to eliminate members of Hamas. This is definitely an historic time.

I have to add: The House of Representatives now has a speaker and his name is Mike Johnson. I’m not kidding. Who the hell is Mike Johnson? He’s a representative from Louisiana who is about as right wing as you can get. As a Christian it grieves my heart when i see others who claim to be “Christian” supporting “stuff” that, to me, just can’t be reconciled with the teachings of Jesus. This guy is a card carrying supporter of Trump. End of story, full stop! (If you can’t see the problem with that you’re likely a Fox “news” or “Newsmax” viewer – or worse)

Between Mr. Johnson leading the House (I believe he has no idea what he’s doing) and Senator Tuberville BLOCKING nearly 400 military appointments as a way to gain popularity with the MAGA base – at the expense of America’s National Security – this really is an historic time. We are STUCK with the makeups of the House and the Senate for another year, but it remains to be seen if Americans will flock to the polls in November of 2024 in numbers enough to put these republicans, starting with Trump, into the shameful part of American history which is where they belong.

Johnson’s first action as the Speaker of the House was to bring up (and pass) a bill sending aid to Israel (not including Ukraine) and tying it to a rollback of President Biden’s increased aid to the IRS in the “Inflation Reduction Act” giving the IRS enough Accountants to go after wealthy tax cheats. Johnson claimed the reduction of support for the IRS would be a “pay for.” That it would offset the cost of the aid to Israel. The Congressional Budget Office pointed out it would actually add about $30 BILLION to the budget deficit. That’s right, what Johnson is really proposing is to (as usual with republicans) make it easier for wealthy Americans to CHEAT on their taxes. (Republicans believe in CHEATING everywhere else, why not allow their benefactors to CHEAT on their taxes?) Between Johnson and republicans in the Senate (OK, just republicans) being unwilling to stop Tuberville’s of the Military promotions America could end up spreading this absurd chaos to the rest of the world – which would suit Putin in Russia and Xi in China “splendidly.”

Final Thought: The other thing Mr. Johnson seems to be dead set on is IMPEACHING Joe Biden. Of course, they have NOTHING to suggest he’s done anything which could possibly be considered a “high crime or misdemeanor.” They are making unfounded claims about President Biden when he was the Vice President – that would be over four years before he took the oath of office to be our 46th President. Additionally, they can’t even prove he did anything back they which could possibly be considered a “high crime or misdemeanor. This is all what they consider retribution for the IMPEACHMENTS of Trump. It will be interesting to see whether the 18 republicans who represent districts President Biden won will support this nonsense – which is simply a gross wasting of precious time where are government MUST be functioning.

From what I can tell, on November 17th the government will shut down due to the inability of House republicans to do their jobs. They will attempt ANTICS which will be intended to mollify their “base” but will be, if enacted, detrimental to the incredible economy established in President Biden’s first two years in office (When the House functioned under Democratic leadership). I haven’t heard Mr. Johnson, for example, even broach this subject publicly. I suspect the House republicans don’t have enough time (or knowledge) to pass the appropriate legislation in the two weeks from today which is the day when critical parts of our government can’t function without legislation from Congress. I believe Mr. Johnson has “bitten off more than he can chew.” Stay tuned………

Here’s another HUGE reason for “we the people” to vote these incompetent “duds” out of office – and, I’m thinking of the Americans much younger than myself – I’m 76. Speaker Johnson doesn’t believe in Climate Change. Whether you agree with him or not, he has said (I heard him) that his philosophy is written in the Bible. He apparently believes the earth is 6000 ;years old. I’ve pointed out many times here I’m a Christian – but, my beliefs are rooted in the teachings of Jesus. I really have a hard time believing things that are clearly debunked by Science. And, people who don’t believe in Science scare me – if they’re in positions of authority. If it wasn’t for the two regional WARS going on I believe the main issue is the Climate Crisis. In addition, if you believe women should have the right to choose how to manage their own bodies, you SHOULD be at the polls in 2024 voting AGAINST republicans. Then there’s the issue of gun control – which will never happen with the republicans we now have in Congress. I could go on, but if you’ve read this far I believe you get the point.

We hear a lot these days about the upcoming election in 2024 and, not astonishingly to me, there are a large swath of Americans who will support Trump until “the well runs dry.” That’s notwithstanding he’s our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING four times INDICTED with 91 FELONY counts (ex) president who’s led three successive elections where the majority of Americans have rejected his neo-Nazi bonafides. I regret I’ve had to refer to many of the MAGA Americans I’ve listened to – trying to understand their logic – as STUPID. So, if you’re on the “fence” about 2024 let’s take a close-up look at what you’ll be deciding:

There was another MASS shooting last night in Lewiston (No, Marjorie Taylor Greene – not “Lewistown”) Maine with AT LEAST 18 dead (three more in the ICU) and, once again, the predator using an AR-15 type weapon of war. Who continues supporting this gun violence? Yep, republicans!

Who is attempting to take availability of reproductive health care from America’s women? Once again, republicans!

What political party is working to restrict VOTING RIGHTS in America? You got it, republicans!

Who are working to BAN books in libraries across America? You’re right again, republicans!

What group is trying to “deconstruct the administrative state” in America? (That means our institutions of government) republicans!

Who is it attempting to kneecap Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid? Answer: republicans!

Which party in America is sucking up to Vladimir Putin, Viktor Orban, etc.? Answer: republicans!

Which party believes storming the nation’s Capitol and injuring over 140 Capitol and Metro Police officers is “normal visitor activity?” Almost (but not) unbelievably, republicans!

Who supports a candidate for president who wants to tear up our 240+ year old constitution? Answer: republicans!

Which party believes members of the military who defend our constitution against civilian overreach? Answer: republicans!

Which party believes our founders were lying when they wrote our constitution to prevent the commingling of church and state? Answer: republicans!

Which party is supporting a candidate for president who has stated “If you don’t believe in ‘our’ religion” you should be deported. Answer: republicans!

Which party believes their candidate to be “above the law?” Answer: republicans!

Which party has taken LYING to an exponentially higher level? Answer: republicans!

Which party doesn’t believe in the Climate Crisis? Answer: republicans (by and large)

Which party has turned the House of Representatives into a laughing stock? Answer: republicans!

Which party has a member creating real world National Security problems? (ie blocking ALL advancements needing Senate confirmation) Of course, the answer is republicans!

Which party has been responsible for MOST of the national debt they complain about? Not shockingly: republicans!

Which party is supporting OVERTLY racist candidates – up and down the “ticket?” Answer: republicans!

Which party has members who vote against legislation and then, back home, take credit for the legislation’s success? Answer: republicans!

Which party believes that, in order to provide help to Israel, there MUST be more tax breaks for their BILLIONAIRE benefactors? Answer: republicans!

These are just a few of the things I believe any American who is a “republican” might think of before committing to vote for our TWICE IMPEACHED so-called two time popular vote LOSING four time indicted facing 91 FELONY counts (ex) president. He’s openly stated “I’m your retribution” – which means, “I’m going to get revenge on my ‘enemies.'” I can’t bring myself to believe a majority of Americans will vote for this thug – but, republicans are counting on the (supposed) fact they don’t need a “majority” to “win.” (It’s all about the Electoral College)

Make no mistake, the supporters of Trump are busy as I’m writing this on ways they can CHEAT in order to “win” the 2024 election. I’m presently reading “Proof of Conspiracy” by Seth Abramson which is like reading a 500 (or so) page indictment of how Trump CHEATED to “win” back in 2016. While MOST of us know about the Russian interference in the 2016 election, MOST of us don’t know (I WAS included in this category) Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Bahrain, and Israel were all involved in funneling support to Trump’s campaign as well. I read the Mueller report twice and, apparently, I missed this part. I believe Mueller knew at least part of that as part of the COLLUSION he claimed there was no “law” to enforce and he didn’t have the stomach (or ????) to pursue a CONSPIRACY charge regarding many of Trump’s surrogates during the 2016 election (and, some foreign nationals).

My point here is I believe many of the “republicans” who are lined up to support Trump “come hell or high water” will be very unhappy should he be able to CHEAT his way to another “victory.” Several state legislatures, for example, have given themselves the POWER to override the “will of their people” should the vote not result in their preferred outcome. The key states are Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania. There’s a lot of right wing “stuff” in each of those states. Stay tuned………..

Final Thought: Trump is LIKELY to have been CONVICTED of at least some of his alleged CRIMINAL conduct by the time of the November 2024 election. Once again, he’s been accused of 91 FELONIES in four different venues. Just like when he claimed ALL of the two dozen or so women who accused him of sexually assaulting them are/were LIARS (one of them has proved her case in a court of law) he’s suggesting, in the face of all of these charges, he “didn’t do anything wrong.” Well, if you actually believe that I’ve got a bridge…………

One more thing: If you’ve read the actual text of Section 3 of the 14th amendment of the constitution – and, like the conservatives on the US Supreme Court, you believe in an “originalist” view of the constitution – you’ve got to believe Trump has NO place on the ballot for any public office in “these United States.” Here’s the text so you can decide:

Section 3 Disqualification from Holding Office

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

PS – to my brother-in-law in Pittsburgh, I was too lazy to reread this, hoping you’re not too busy :o)

I copied this article from “Raw Story” a publication I subscribe to and Mr. Hartman says at the end “Pass it on” so, that’s what I’m doing. Thom Hartman is one of my favorite authors and he has a national radio program on Sirious XM.

Thom HartmannOctober 10, 2023 2:38AM ET  

Photo by Blake Cheek on Unsplash

“Saved at the last minute” is pretty much the story of our culture.

It’s built into our major salvationist religions, particularly Christianity and Islam. Even when killed or facing death, Jesus and Muhammed managed to ascend to heaven at the last minute and claim eternal life.

By this worldview, no matter how terrible a life you’ve lived, if you say a handful of magic words at the last minute before you die, you’re guaranteed a spot in paradise. There’s always the last minute.

It’s at the core of most all of our fiction, and a good chunk of our nonfiction. In the old Greek dramas it was deus ex machina — the god in the machine — when Our Hero was finally trapped in an impossible situation but then a platform is cranked down from the ceiling of the amphitheater with a god on it, who waves his hand and makes everything okay again.

In our modern movies and novels, it’s the last-minute discovery of the cure, a take-down of the bad guy, or the discovery of the fatal chink in the aliens’ armor. It’s the miraculous oil that keeps the menorah burning bright through the crisis or the earthquake that brought down Jericho’s walls.

Even in the field of nonfiction, nearly every book — no matter how dire its topic — wraps up with a section or chapter that essentially offers the “here’s what you can do” solutions to everything from acne to climate change to the fascist takeover of America.

This belief that something or someone will ultimately save us no matter how badly we screw things up is why we’re procrastinating with climate change and fossil fuels. It’s why we’re hooked on lotteries. It’s presumably why Merrick Garland put off doing anything about Trump for two years, apparently thinking Congress would rid him of that “meddlesome priest.” It’s why we celebrate Jack Smith, our savior.

There are fundamental issues that brought us to the verge of fascism and we’re ignoring them every day:

— Income inequality and the role of tax cuts in it.
— Worker insecurity and the role of the GOP war on unions.
— A climate-change-driven refugee crisis on our Southern Border.
— Political bribery by our Predator Class and the corrupt Citizens United decision.
— Billionaires and foreign governments buying politicians.
— Media consolidation under the control of rightwing billionaire families.
— Corporate monopolies.
— Racism, homophobia, and misogyny.

We ignore them all because we believe “somebody will eventually save us” so we don’t need to do the hard work of putting our nation, our working class, and our democracy back together.

For most of my life, religious salvationists have disparaged those of us who consider ourselves both spiritual and religious but don’t buy the salvationist aspects of our monotheistic religions. They mistakenly reverse the arrow of causation, arguing that without religion there can be no morality when in fact religion plagiarized morality from every human society that has ever existed.

Genuine morality is deeply buried in our collective psyche, and doesn’t require a savior figure or grand discovery to bring it to the surface.

As much as it pains me to say it (my personal urge toward salvationism is as strong as anybody else’s), nobody is coming to save us.

Salvationists take that as a statement of resignation, of surrender to crises bigger than we are. I take it as both a challenge and an opportunity. By abandoning reliance on others for our salvation from climate change, income inequality, political corruption, and all the other ills of our modern society, we can then shift responsibility for our future to the people most capable of doing something about these problems: ourselves and the governments we can influence.

Joe Biden is not going to save us, and neither are Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren. Without entire movements of people like you and me behind them, politicians are relatively impotent: we are the ones who have to save our nation and the world.

Don’t despair. Moments of crisis are also moments when the possibility of transformation is at its greatest.

When the Founders of this nation signed their own death warrants by publicly taking on the most powerful army and navy on Earth in 1776, they were no doubt worried. But they also saw it as a chance to create something wholly new.

As the author of the Declaration of Independence wrote in a June 5, 1824 letter to Major John Cartwright:

“Our Revolution commenced on more favorable ground [than the foundation of English or Biblical law]. It presented us an album on which we were free to write what we pleased. We had no occasion to search into musty records, to hunt up royal parchments, or to investigate the laws and institutions of a semi-barbarous ancestry. We appealed to those of nature, and found them engraved on our hearts.”

Similarly, an optimistic Thomas Paine wrote:

“The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. … We have it in our power to begin the world over again. The birth-day of a new world is at hand.”

When Abraham Lincoln faced fully half the nation in armed rebellion holding to a fascist notion of America as a permanent nation of slaveholders, he wrote to a friend:

“The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me.”

When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932, the Republican Great Depression was approaching its zenith; a third of Americans were out of work and hunger stalked the land. With just as much corrupt intent as we see today in Jim Jordan or Donald Trump, nakedly fascist politicians were preparing to carve the country up and split the spoils.

Which is why President Roosevelt told America in his first Inaugural Address:

“This is preeminently the time to speak the truth, the whole truth, frankly and boldly. Nor need we shrink from honestly facing conditions in our country today. This great Nation will endure as it has endured, will revive and will prosper. So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself–nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. … In such a spirit on my part and on yours we face our common difficulties.”

While Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt offered leadership during troubling times, in each case it was the people themselves to whom they reached and from whom they expected delivery from the nation’s enemies and crises.

And the American people didn’t let them down. We made it through the Revolution, the Civil War, and the Republican Great Depression, just like we will make it through this Trump- and Putin-fueled crisis of democracy.

In each of those three previous crises, American oligarchs stood up against democracy. They supported the British in the 1770s, the cotton barons in the 1860s, and even tried to kidnap and assassinate FDR in the 1930s.

Every time, they were held to account by the American people.

President Obama said it best, perhaps, in February 2008 when he was running for the Democratic nomination for president:

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or if we wait for some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

“We are the change that we seek. We are the hope of those boys who have so little, who’ve been told that they cannot have what they dream, that they cannot be what they imagine. Yes, they can.

“We are the hope of the father who goes to work before dawn and lies awake with doubt that tells him he cannot give his children the same opportunities that someone gave him. Yes, he can.

“We are the hope of the woman who hears that her city will not be rebuilt, that she cannot somehow claim the life that was swept away in a terrible storm. Yes, she can.

“We are the hope of the future, the answer to the cynics who tell us our house must stand divided, that we cannot come together, that we cannot remake this world as it should be.”

America has faced numerous challenges and difficulties on the way to becoming a multiracial pluralistic democratic republic. We’ve overcome most of them over time and moved forward, step by step, toward what the Preamble of our Constitution calls “a more perfect union.”

A washed up reality TV star and a handful of rightwing billionaires represent a current-day threat to our republic, but it’s not one we can’t overcome.

Trump and his lickspittles aren’t even a shadow of the power that the King of England held in 1776; can’t hold a candle to a brilliant tactician like Robert E. Lee (who we still defeated); and are hardly as powerful or convincing as Hitler or Mussolini.

That’s the marvelous and magical thing about democracy: it almost always finds a way to overcome obstacles and improve itself, even in the face of impossible odds and utter tyranny.

The only way we lose this country is if we give up. Which is why it’s now up to us — and we are not without passion or resources.

So let’s rededicate ourselves to the ideal expressed by Lincoln at Gettysburg:

“[T]hat this government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Pass it on…

I’ve pointed out in several of my previous posts about one of the complaints coming from republicans – that we have a “two tiered Justice system” – implying it is “weaponized” against Trump and, in the words of Matt Gaetz, “American patriots.” (Gaetz obviously referring to the defendants in the January 6th INSURRECTION) I’ve suggested that the republicans are correct, it’s just they are totally confused. For example, there are an unending number of examples of “Black and Brown” Americans along with poor Americans sitting in jail cells as I’m writing this waiting for their “day in court.” (Including many of the J 6th defendants) This, while Trump continues to spew one THREAT after another on his (un)Truth Social web fiasco which has caused NUMEROUS prosecutors, judges, and witnesses to experience Trump’s organized Crime onslaught of slights and name calling leading to them receiving a flood of THREATS coming from Trump’s (using Steve Bannon’s word) STUPID followers.

Trump continues to attack Jack Smith on his website, on TV interviews (why would any legit journalistic site give him the platform?), and in his rallies to his rabid followers. He goes after the judges involved and the other prosecutors (he’s got a plethora of upcoming court “experiences” on the near horizon) plus he’s gone after witnesses, potential witnesses, and by inference potential members of any of the juries. And, as everyone knows, no one will know where the danger is coming from until, well, it’s too late. Trump suggested General Mark Milley (who’s got a memoir coming out) should be “executed.” (Leading to Paul Gosar, one of the DUMBEST of the members of the House suggesting Milley should be HANGED)

Over the past week we’ve seen Trump sitting, and pouting, in a New York courtroom as he’s facing the RUIN of his “Trump Organization” business – at least in New York. He’s already been found to have committed mass “fraud” and he’s been ordered to surrender the licenses he has to operate his businesses in New York. From what I’ve read he’s been, essentially, ordered to sell his real estate holdings in New York – including “7 Springs” (which I have no idea what that is) and, based on the whining I heard from Don Jr. he’s going to have to sell his “cabin” – simply because it’s listed as an “LLC.” During his three days at the trial Trump has managed to royally piss off the judge – after he went after the judges clerk on his (un) Social truth site. He was placed under a GAG order from the judge – which is the first judge to actually hold him to account, even though he continues to push the boundaries set by the courts as a condition of his release. To me, the timidity of the judges in his cases are simply making things worse and it won’t be long until someone is saying to them “I told you so.”

Trump’s been doing this garbage so long it appears he believes it’s his “first amendment” right to criticize anyone he wants – including overt and covert suggestions his supporters resort to VIOLENCE on his behalf. Personally, I find it impossible to even consider the thought the American people would even consider voting him back into office – but, thinking that way is likely a “fool’s errand.” Not only has Trump shown a willingness to CHEAT but, in fact, there’s no doubt in my mind, he’s CHEATING as I’m writing this. Trump is nothing more than a glorified mob boss, but the reality is he’s got a LOT of people in the “background” with a lot of money and a lot of reasons to want him back in the “White House.”

For starters, anyone who’s been paying any attention at all fully understand Vladimir Putin is depending on Trump – and/or the House republicans to block the U.S. from providing aid to Ukraine allowing him to “win” the war. Clearly about 80% of the American public wants the U.S. to “stay the course” until Ukraine has pushed Putin out of their sovereign land. But, republicans in Congress have been blocking “stuff” “we the people” overwhelmingly support for, well, about as long as I can remember – probably back to the “rise” of Newt Gingrich in the 1990’s. So, it should surprise no one to find out Putin is busy with his “active measures” campaign using social media to convince Americans of how evil “liberals” are.

But, as usual, there’s always more with republicans. I read Robert Mueller’s report on the Russians interfering in the 2016 election, actually TWICE. However, as I’m reading now (a bit tardy I must admit) Seth Abramson’s “Proof of Conspiracy” I’m picking up on things either I missed or Mueller’s investigation missed. (I’m pretty sure it was me) Not only was Putin actively working to help Trump “win” in 2016 but so was a group of Middle Eastern Countries led by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, and – get this – Israel. They were pulled together by a group of under the radar “intelligence” operatives (mainly from Israel – and likely supported by Benjamin Netanyahu) who met with Eric Prince – who was financially committed to the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emerites (UAE) – in a secret meeting on the “Red Sea.”

I’m not planning to give a book report here (it’s a challenging read – FULL of information), but suffice it to say, Trump thumbs his nose at the LAW stating you can’t submit or receive help – in any form from a foreign country or foreign national. I’m still not sure why this didn’t get more attention from Mueller, but there can be no doubt the leaders of these country were DIRECTLY providing aid to Trump’s 2016 campaign. Of course, that’s now “water under the bridge,” but do you really believe these people won’t be providing him financial and logistical support in the upcoming election? One of the groups involved – affiliated with Israel intelligence – became connected to Cambridge Analytica – a secret “data gathering” outfit located in the U.K. and the work of Steve Bannon and Robert Mercer – two of America’s most prolific (alleged) neo-Nazi’s.

I’ve written about this before – Cambridge Analytica (Read Mindf*ck: Cambridge Analytica and the Plot to Break America by Christopher Wylie) was able to “hack” into Facebook’s data – with virtually NO trouble prior to the 2016 election and “snag” personal date from 57 MILLION American households with the express purpose of categorizing the data and manipulating the unsuspecting Facebook users via, you guessed it, Facebook. (They did the same thing with the BREXIT vote in Great Britain leading to their breaking away from the EU) They “manipulated” the data into identifiable groups based on the data they STOLE from Facebook. (And, to this day Mark Zuckerberg claims Facebook bears no responsibility for “Trumpism”) The Trump campaign then fed ACTUAL “fake news” to the Facebook users based on their “tendencies.”

To compound the effect of what they “discovered” Cambridge Analytica “partnered” up with the Russians and this group of Middle Eastern protagonists who were dead set on making sure Hillary Clinton did not become the U.S. president. The group from the Middle East – led by “MBS” (Mohammed bin Salmon), MBZ “Mohammed bin Zayed” president of the UAE, The president of Egypt (el-Sisi I believe), the intelligence officers from Israel, a guy named George Nader (with close connections to Putin and MBZ), and, of course Mr. Prince (whose sister became Secretary of Education under Trump). At least Nader and Prince (my memory is foggy) met with Don Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner in Trump Tower prior to the election and they were hell bent on finding ways to “smuggle” money to Trump’s campaign through intermediaries situated in the states with the aforementioned governments pledging their support for Trump’s campaign. By all accounts they funneled MILLIONS into Trump’s “coffers” including “a lot” of money for his transition and inauguration celebration.

When you look back on Trump’s four years in office this all makes total sense. I remember reading about Prince meeting with Nader (and I can’t remember who else someone from Russia) in the Seychelles prior to reading Mueller’s report and Mueller touched on this and other “stuff” related to Prince – which, at least to me, suggested Prince is as gifted a LIAR as Trump. Keep in mind, Prince (he of Blackwater fame during the Iraq fiasco) moved his operation to the Middle East (presumably to avoid American investigations) and agreed to set up a mercenary force for MBZ – who wanted Prince to protect the assets of the United Arab Emerates – not trusting “Arabs to fire on other Arabs.” If this all looks “murky” you’re correct. Do you think these people won’t be at it again in 2024?

I say this because when you look at Trump’s circumstances – 4 INDICTMENTS, 91 FELONY “counts,” his organization being dismantled because of his continual FRAUD, another sexual assault lawsuit on the horizon with the likelihood of a judgement in excess of $10 MILLION (which seems like “small potatoes” compared to what he’s facing in the NY Fraud allegations. When you listen to him he sounds as if he’s totally deranged (he claims President Biden has lost his “marbles” when he’s the one making the egregious gaffes) – he recently claimed he won the popular vote against – get this – President Obama. He even accused President Biden from threatening to get “we the people” into – get this again – WW II. He screws up pronouncing anyone’s name where it’s more than one syllable, and he continually proves he has no idea what’s in the U.S. Constitution. (Apparently MILLIONS of his sycophants don’t know that either)

The House is in a shambles right now and, God help us, some in the House are planning to vote for Trump as the next Speaker of the House. Is this possible? Well, yes and no. It is true the Speaker does NOT have to be a member of the House itself. However, there is a rule that no one facing an indictment with MORE than 2 years prison time can be part of the House of Representatives. Will republicans simply ingnore this rule? Likely, yes. But, time will tell! Stay Tuned……..

Final Thought: Just like Trump’s ILLEGAL activity and his trampling of American norms has become almost part of his daily routine, leaving “we the people” NUMB to the reality, so far, nothing has been done to stop him – we also have Justices on the Supreme Court who have, allegedly, been violating ethical norms which are part of any courtroom in America – save for the Supreme Court – so routinely that the judges are lashing out at their critics as opposed to facing up to the unethical (possibly illegal) behavior.

Of course, in particular, I’m talking about Justice Clarence Thomas who seems to be the object of stories about his unethical behavior (yes, possibly illegal) on as regular recurring a basis as the pain in my spine from the degenerative bone disease I was born with and which shows up on an almost daily basis. The latest “foopah” which has become public regarding Thomas’ cozying up with the BILLIONAIRE class is the reports he has attended AT LEAST two of the “Koch network’s” BILLIONAIRE fundraisers/corporate gettogethers. These are the people who have directly benefited, for example, from the “Citizen’s United” SCOTUS decision.

Sadly, this is the period in American History where corruption seems to be a part of the system from top to bottom. Trump is the prime example, but there’s also Robert Menendez, the Democratic Senator from New Jersey who’s under indictment for some serious, you guessed it, CORRUPTION. Just as Trump continues to run for the presidency Menendez refuses to resign his position – despite calls from 31 members of his caucus (at last count) urging him to do so. And, of course, there’s the examples of the justices listed above. And, there’s not time nor space here to list all the CORRUPTION (known) that is going on all the way down through state governments to local officials. It really is getting ugly out there. And most, but not all, of the known CORRUPTION is the work of various republican officials around the country. I’ve been saying this for over 20 years (15 of which are on this site) that until the republicans are voted into the HISTORY books in large enough numbers to nullify their shenanigans this nation is in a spiral toward third world status. Let’s just hope that in all the “stuff” “we the people” are facing that our commitment to the rule of law here and the Ukrainians is interrupted. Yikes!!!