I’m sad to say it, but the fact that this is where we are as a country is an indictment of this country. The fact that it has to be written about. The fact that we’re discussing eating dogs and cats, or the apparent vileness of women without children. This crew did not drop in from outer space, but are here in power or at the gates of power because there are enough Americans who support them.
John D, what you said is what has always bothered me the most about Trump and all the rest of the perverts and lunatics in his orbit. Not that Trump and all his defective crew exist, but that there are multitudes of MILLIONS of otherwise “fine Christian people” and other “fine people” who are not only fine with it, they LOVE his cruelty, misogyny and racism. Seeing people who would never act or talk themselves like all these bimbos and scumbags like Loomer, Lewandowski, et al.,(don’t forget Trump and Vance too) still delight in their cruel and vulgar and frankly evil behavior, has shown the general public and citizens of this great republic to be what they are—cruel and disgusting and racist.
This has really shaken me, as an evangelical Baptist Christian myself—-(Jimmy Carter variety not Mike Johnson type!). Watching legions of my self proclaimed fellow believers happily and even gleefully abandon every moral and spiritual principle they claim to hold, in service to and allegiance to the most degenerate human of my lifetime, while watching and approving of the antics of his perverse band of merry men-and women- has been surreal and frightening.
Our country and its people have been weighed in the scales and found wanting. Shame on us. I would never have believed this insanity could happen. We have no one to blame but ourselves for the chaos now and to come. I blame McConnell, etc.most of all with my “evangelical” brethren a close second. Selling your soul for anything is never worth it. “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36. That has happened all over this country, and now we are reaping the bitter harvest.
I agree to a large extent, but keep in mind that most of the mainstream media has normalized Trump. Combine that with the fact that he’s a savvy propagandist who reads his audiences, as well as a Russian stooge, and it’s somewhat more understandable. I am hopeful that if and when Trump is defeated, some of the madness will gradually wear off. But we must continue to work for a more equitable and perfect union, our duty as Americans.
My own theory: after Obama became President, this thing called the Tea Party began. I believe it was a reaction by white people who could not handle the fact that a black man was President. I did not see any other reason for the Tea Party. This MAGA thing morphed out of that and became larger and stronger.
A book by Rachel Maddow, "Prequel," is an excellent summary of far right movements in America. The Tea Party is one of them. There are many more and we must never, never stop fighting them. One of the reasons they so often have widespread support is their association with a perverse use of religious fervor by soulless bigots.
The Tea Party was a phony "movement" organized and propped up by billionaires who sensed an opportunity to take advantage of older White citizens who felt challenged by a changing culture. The Obama presidency helped turn the TP into MAGA by making explicit the nativist racism that underlies much of our population. Now the Trumpublican MAGA has destroyed the Republican Party. It will be up to the voters on 5 November to prevent MAGA from destroying the country.
I live in a generally rural area of the midwest where some of the Tea Party first took root. I worked with some of the locals who were in at the inception around here and I was even invited to be a fellow traveller. At that early point it was mostly libertarians and quite a few of them were the leftist types. What I remember was there were a lot of evangelicals that jumped in too, and that's what made me shy away. It only took a minute for GOP movers and shakers to catch on to this movement and they wasted no time in wrestling this thing to the ground. They quickly ran off all the ones who wouldn't conform to what the movement as a whole soon became. I always heard it was a grassroots thing controlled by the Koch brothers. Hard to say what really happened, but it seems obvious with hindsight that that's probably where MAGA came from. They were just waiting for the demagogue to lead the $hitshow to show up and then along came TFG.
I can understand about 2016, but we have had this MAGA thing for almost ten years now. This will be the third election in a row. I don’t believe it is an aberration or the media’s fault. Not with the kind of voting numbers MAGA has received.
I agree, but we must keep trying. Much Trump support comes from a lack of information, disinformation, malinformation, and misinformation. Much of the media is responsible and we need creative legislation to protect us from attempts to undermine our values, Constitution, and democracy. Such legislation would have to protect our freedom of speech at the same time it protects us from victimization by malevolent politicians and their movements who manipulate so many through their deceptive strategies.
I certainly agree about trying. I think a deeper problem we face is the wealth inequality in this country. If you have a sizable portion of the population only one small emergency away from being financially wrecked, one might understand why demagogues appeal to people without hope. As far as I can tell, the current wealth inequality in the United States has no rival in history, not even feudal times.
Shoot I live on Social Security and not much else but I'd never dream of falling for someone like Trump bc I recognized a predator the minute I saw him and have been fighting him ever since!!! But you're right John and Anthony about the Obama backlash. That's been a huge part of this whole thing. That and just plain ole racism and misogyny!!!
Much of MAGA feels disempowered by circumstances not under their control. They feel shamed by this powerlessness. The instigators of MAGA (who are the ones fueling the disempowerment in the first place) have taken advantage of this shame to direct it elsewhere as hate.
His base has not increased, however MAGA on Supreme Court and Electoral College means we all need to work extremely hard to elect Kamala in overwhelming numbers.
The media has played a huge part in letting Trump get away with his BS. Some more than others. And they are still not calling him a liar; they are giving “both sides do it” excuses when both sides are not doing g what he is doing. It is the things being done by Trump and his followers that are cruel. xenophobic, hateful and putting people at risk. They see the effects of their rhetoric and they keep doing it. Just like they see the harm being done to pregnant woman by abortion bans and do nothing to fix it. The Republicans are fine with letting women bleed out in a parking lot and then claiming it doesn’t happen.
Trump was convicted of sexual assault, which the judge in his case said is commonly called RAPE (even though what he did doesn’t fit NY state’s legal definition of that term. Not to be gross, but if any man took it upon himself, without my permission, to stuck his fingers (or anything else) up my vagina, I would call it RAPE. Yet the press barely mentions he has 34 felony convictions, let alone mentioning what was essentially a rape conviction.
On Jan 6, Trump summoned a mob, knew they were armed, and aimed them at the Capitol to try to stop the certification of a secure and fair election; he even incited them to harm his own VP (Pence) — and still Republicans voted not to certify that election. They voted not to impeach, twice, even though they admitted he did what he was charged with.
I figure you know all of this. My point is the press should be hammering his baggage constantly — you know the way the press never let up on Hillary’s emails; and she had no convictions and no indictments. (When she was First Lady, the press even criticized Hillary for wearing a pink sweater!) So the press is complicit in allowing Trump to get away with shit.
The press isn’t going to save us. The courts aren’t going to save us either.
We need to turn out the vote and vote for Democrats, up and down the ballot, to run the Republicans out of office until they learn to protect democracy and respect women’s reproductive rights.
I understand and agree. The big problem I have is why are people voting as they have been? Case in point: Mark Robinson became Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina in 2020. Most of his vile statements up to that time were reported and known. Yet he received nearly 3 million votes and beat his opponent by 300,000 votes. My first reaction at the time was — something out there is seriously wrong.
John D, I’m with you on not understanding how such cruelty, hate, and stupidity attracts votes. MTG, Boebert, Mark Robinson, to name only 3 — it’s a very long list.
I’ve tried to give people the benefit of the doubt for supporting people trying to destroy democracy. They were misinformed. Or something something. But it doesn’t seem like they are just getting their news from a bad source (which they are) because, by now, they should have figured out their news source is lying to them. Repeatedly. They should have dumped the liars and found a better news source.
Right after Charlottesville, when TFG infamously said “there were very fine people on both sides” I was discussing what happened that day with the nephew of a decades long girlfriend. I’ve known her nephew since he was a baby and he’s an adult now. My friend doesn’t talk politics and welcomed my talking to her nephew on the issues. Her nephew watches Fox.
It took about 20 minutes of listening to her nephew defend TFG’s indefensible remarks before I realized the nephew had not seen the same story the rest of us saw. He had NOT seen the protestors marching with tiki torches or heard them chanting their foul anti-sementic chant. He didn’t know relevant details about what we were (heatedly) discussing.
I was disgusted that the nephew supported Trump and his Charlottesville remarks and he was arguing with me about it when he had no idea what he was talking about.
I told him he needed to get a better news source because his was leaving out some vital information and was lying about the rest. He said he couldn’t watch MSNBC or CNN because they lied all the time. (He had no examples of them lying, he “just knew it”). I left the discussion by suggesting he try NPR.
So you ask why they vote for such terrible people — I have no idea. Unless (shutter) they like the cruelty, hate, and violence and want more of it.
Media has absolutely been complicit to an incomprehensible degree. Trump has had hundreds-thousands!-of horrific incidents, statements and corruption, any one of which would have been front page news every single day until he was destroyed, and rightly so. The media from Fox on down to CNN to NBC, etc. has been atrocious and even traitorous (see Russian interference EVERYWHERE). Agree, Elizabeth.
Thank you, brother! If Christians are to not hide their light under a bushel, now is the time to let that light shine and and have it all come out, shout the truth from the housetops, just like the clarion Steve Schmidt, for whose newsletters I get rallied by. :) A little leaven, leavens the whole lump, and Kamala is seeding the field with hope and empathy. Even saying those words into the atmosphere makes the spirit rise than the downward drag of the nay sayers, the liars, and the hypocrites. These n'er do wells are digging the pit of their own perdition. Their fall will be apocalyptic, no doubt. Doom is upon their enterprise in their bitter end. That's my faith talking, and my hope is we have a woman for a President in my lifetime, so she can roll up her sleeves, like so many women do all over the world, and daily clean up the mess that men have made of our homes, the nation and the planet. It's high time to honor the endlessly creative and adaptive, evolutionary mother earth who resurrects food and our atmosphere each day, and one of her female representatives who is primed to take this tough task in hand. Sugar and curry spice, and everything nice.....
Yours is a very well written, thoughtful piece. I do have an insight for you. I have a friend who is an evangelical clergyman. One of these guys who got a Masters in Theology from an obscure, rural college. And worked for churches in very rural areas. And of course he married the first girl he ever slept with and she’s also the product of a very rural, obscure Bible college. And so here’s a couple whose life revolves around their faith. And living in rural America. And naturally not only are they all in for Trump/MAGA but they utterly despise everything about the Democratic Party. And you ask yourself, why? It’s because they feel that there is an elite ruling class that holds them in disregard and which ridicules their choices. They’ll tell you they are under attack from the democrats. Guns, church attendance and (ba-boom) abortion. For them it’s not live and let live. It’s giving rights to gays and transgenders etc - it’s an attack on their beliefs and that’s the Dems. So along comes Trump with his offer ,” vote me in and I’ll install judges to overturn Roe. A simple bargain. Never mind they guys been pro choice is entire life. And they accept the offer- and Trump follows through. He does what he said he’d do. Not out of conviction. But out of political expediency. And that’s why these god fearing, church going people who love Jesus and who preach love, all go for Trump. It’s brutal.
I am well aware of that mindset in evangelical circles. I am a 71 year old Baptist who grew up in a pastor’s home, and who has been immersed in that world my whole life. You do not have to explain to me how Jerry Falwell started what has now culminated in D’s evil, R’s good, end of story. There are many millions in that world who have been brainwashed by the word “abortion” and will never vote for any D, EVER. I do not agree AT ALL with that, but I guess I would grudgingly accept that at some level, IF these millions would not then support the most sick, perverse, cruel, corrupt and UNCHRISTIAN human imaginable. At least SIT IT OUT. Watching this, especially since 2016, has crushed me, it really has. It is so frightening and so incomprehensible to me, and shameful and the most horrific witness to the world. If I was not already a Christian, seeing this, I would not listen for one second to any “Christian” about anything!
Yes. It’s unbelievably sad and hypocritical. Ordinarily I’d say I don’t know how these people sleep at nite. But the reality is I know precisely why they sleep so well at nite. Because they’ve permitted politics to become visceral, emotional - in this instance full of hatred grievance and contempt. And it feels awfully good to support a guy that validates your emotions. And of course the whole “ thing” underpinning participatory democracy is that politics and voting is supposed to be the polar opposite of visceral and emotional. It’s supposed to be dispassionate and even keel. It’s ok to feel strongly about your candidate but to be emotionally invested as if your whole life is on the line? No, that’s not what the Framers had in mind. You know what? Go thank Limbaugh. He’s responsible.
And honestly I feel that they are entitled to their beliefs. They can pray for the souls of others all they want, but to force their beliefs onto others makes them evil. I and I alone take responsibility for the choices I have made in my life. The afterlife is mine as well. Just because the law says you can have an abortion doesn’t mean one will be forced on you. If it is, that’s indicative of an entirely different problem.
Many of these so called Christians have pastors who are products of very isolated, rural lifestyles. Even though they have advanced educational degrees, they’re educated from these incredibly rural , obscure institutions. And their lifestyle is also rural, isolated and regimented. And these pastors encourage their congregants to feel that the Democratic Party is attacking and ridiculing their belief systems. Many Americans feel historically, as you seem to, that our country is predicated on a live and let live attitude when it comes to choices made by consenting adults. However these “Christians” feel that abortion, same sex marriage, trans gender , guns constitute , what’s taught in schools is an invasion of their belief system. It’s ok to fight against and speak out against these things in the name of Jesus. That’s what Jesus would want. Forget live and let live. And of course the problem with this is that its values driven, deeply personal and just a hairs breadth from being about anger, grievance, even hatred. And along comes Trump and Fox News and the line is crossed into anger and hatred of “ the other”. We Dems are now “evil”. Am I evil because I support a woman’s right to choose? Or gay marriage? Well,, to these Christians, yes, that makes me evil. And that’s Trumps rocket fuel. And always has been. He validates their emotions even though he’s a felon philanderer liar and a hypocrite.
True, John. But the advent of the Internet and social media has allowed brainwashing to occur at an incredibly rapid rate.
I've been re-watching the Netflix series "Hitler's Circle of Evil," and it still takes my breath away to learn of the long game the Nazis played, starting before 1923! Everything that happened then is happening now, to the very last detail. Just swap Miller with Goebbels, and right down the line in the cast of characters.
For a very long time, the German people resisted the state antisemitism, even when guards were put at the doors of Jewish shops. The German people simply pushed their way through, dismissive and offended at the attempted control.
So the Hitler crew reconsidered their approach, and instead manufactured enough cheap radios so that every German family had one, which thrilled people. And they created the state radio station, which people were directed to listen to at a certain time every night. (The government even created "monitors" to walk building to building to make sure people listened.)
To a casual listener, it sounded like an ordinary program, with music and sports and the like, but with a slow drip of antisemitism. And that's what ultimately turned the German public into antisemites. As the state controlled all media by then, there was no one to counter that information. The brainwashing worked to perfection.
Now, we may not have state-run media (yet), but by choice the MAGA followers listen to the same sources that washed their brains in the first place. They won't listen anymore to opposing views. It's heartbreaking.
But there's a playbook for this kind of thing, and the Trump cabal is following it to a T. In the end, it will collapse, just like Nazism, as the personalities involved hated and destroyed one another, but I pray to God we can force that collapse in November lest we pay the price that the world did in WWII. That's where we're at.
Excellent comment, Mary Ann -urgently important. I wrote about the danger of social media algorithms on Robert Jaffeee's thread today and posted the link to a trailer for an excellent documentary on Netflix called "The Social Dilemma". Some quotes from that :"fake news travels 6 times as fast as truth" and "this is check-mate for humanity":
The main advantage we have now over 1930’s Germany is that Trump, unlike Hitler, is intellectually vacant and devoid of thought All he wants is the power. Not to install an ideology, like Hitler, but for the ego. All he wants is to sit in the big chair. Behind the big desk. Now, it’s true he’s isolated focused on and consolidated the Right to obtain power. But we all know, if he ever thought he could have defeated Hillary for the 2016 Democratic nomination he would have run as a Democrat. He has no principles. But there was a vacancy among Republicans and he saw that so he ran as a Republican. And he got the nomination. But now he’s cultivated his base and taken over the Republican Party. But he has no conviction at all about politics or ideology. His platform is re elect me so I can take my revenge. The only up side is that revenge is not a political ideology. Once and when Trump goes ( either now or in 2028) he’ll leave no real legacy. Because he doesn’t stand for anything political. So in this limited way I like to believe it’s not quite as bad as Nazi Germany
The formerly legitimate Fourth Estate is guilty of promoting this historically obscene dictator wanna be. Any one of the top news platforms could pull his plug, any day. But they don't because he is making them billions in revenue. Every time the Naked Emperor bends over and shows his ass, they make money. Every time the Naked Emperor blurts out hateful, stupid, obvious Big Lies, they make money. It is truly a conspiracy to ignore the obvious about self-disqualified Donald.
They all know he's a fucking moron, as his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson observed 7 years ago. "But he's a popular fucking moron who makes us money!" So they treat him like he's a legit contender for a public office of trust and service. Which he obviously is not. No holder of an office of public trust who violated their oath of office, with violence, is eligible to ever hold another public office. Liz and Dick Cheney are declaring this fact from the rooftops. Ignored by the Press.
The Press is lying about Donald. They obscure the truth. For money.
You're absolutely right, Burke! Money is the root of all the evil we are seeing today. It's even easier now to pay for someone's allegiance because of the extreme income inequality and greed around the world coupled by moral depravity and search for power. It's hard to see how we get out of this sad and deplorable period in our history. But I am hopeful that once the Dems are in office and Trump is no more, we can begin to see a change in our politics and in our politicians.
“Interestingly, MTG found no outrage over the Nazi dining at Mar-a-Lago, or Tucker Carlson flirting with a Nazi who denies the Holocaust, and slanders one of freedom’s greatest champions, Winston Churchill, as one of its greatest villains.”
You hit the nail on the head, Steve! This isn’t about being offended by Nazi’s and white supremacists, or hateful rhetoric; it’s about “HURT FEELINGS!”
And MTG and the other swamp creatures that inhabit MAGAland have had their feelings hurt BIGLY! And to add insult to injury, the embodiment of their rage is a walking, talking caricature of the worst of America’s citizenry; Laura Loomer, a political hack so nefarious and crude, that she even gives the likes of MTG and Graham the heebie-jeebies.
What irks me the most is that this entire Haitian incident is a smoke screen or red herring. Trump is getting the MSM to chase the shiny object, while the Confederate State’s of America continue to justify their voter suppression laws and anti-immigrant rhetoric for cheap votes and attention, which only helps Trump in the long-run.
By legitimizing these “non-issues,” the MSM is giving credence to an otherwise preposterous narrative that is an insult to intelligence of the American electorate.
If America continues on this trajectory, although we may avoid a constitutional crisis during this election cycle, I’m not sure our republic and democracy could survive the continued pounding of our vulnerable institutions. That said, Something has to give; and soon!….:)
Yea, this also achieves exactly what MTG wanted - people talking about her again and trying to reclaim some sense of validation in the TFG orbit of insanity and hate.
Trump went out into the spin room after he was entirely demolished in the debate in order to change the narrative, to say the debate was rigged against him, in order to get his lies out front into the social media algorithms that his followers are addicted to. We must understand how social-media algorithms work to amplify the lies MAGA leaders use to incite fear and anger in tens of millions of people. This is an effective brainwashing tactic that overrides people's reasoning brain, such as "they're eating your pets", and scares people enough to want to fight the "enemy". There is an excellent Netflix documentary called "The Social Dilemma" where experts, even in psychology, who design these algorithms, come clean about the dangers they create. I know you know this, Robert, but at least half of our country doesn't understand that they are being exploited in this way. Russia, of course, perpetuates these algorithms because getting Trump elected will be any easy way for him to win his wars.
Some quotes from this short trailer: "fake news travels 6 times as fast as truth" and "this is check-mate on humanity". It seems this is extreme. cyber warfare.
Steve don’t forget to add Charles Manson to the list of womanizing cult leaders including Koresh, et. al. - which upon reflection any of these cults resemble MAGA. Perhaps Loomer is the new Squeaky Fromme!
MTG , the heinous,wretched racist piece of crap doesn’t find what Loomer says offensive. She condemns it because she’s jealous that Loomer has weaseled her way unto the plane and into the rancid heart and addled mind of Donald Trump….
As I read Steve's post today, the absurdity of a man like Trump, a man who dined with American Nazi Nick Fuentes, who has called for the execution of "perfidious Jews," telling Jews who vote Democrat that they need "their heads examined," became crystal clear.
Nothing should surprise decent people about the increasingly desperate Trump behavior. It has worked for him in the past. This interval in our history will stand out like few others. That national media still has not described Trump accurately and continues to treat him as normal tells us the power advertising money is to corporate media organizations. It is leading us into what should not be a close election. The question is not whether Kamala has precisely defined economic policies or if she is too liberal. It is a clear choice between democracy and progress and fascism and racism. How do we convince trump supporters that he is not in their best interest?
That is the $64,000 question. I just don't understand why they can't see what a POS he is and that he is all about himself and that's it!! My last MAGA friend (Longtime friend of the family) who I love like a son's latest attack on Kamala is "She's a drunk." I said "Oh really?! I hadn't heard that one.". I told him he was nuts. I almost believed him when he came by my house 7the day after the debate and tried to convince me the eating animals story was true too. Yada. I almost believed him then but watched and read the new for 24 hours and found out it was another one of his "Big Lies". I'd give anything to change his mind on Trump. I've tried everything. I'll keep working on him.
Envisioning Majorie Taylor Greene as the moral conscience of MAGA is almost like having Satan in for Sunday supper. One must wonder if her anti-racist/racism stance is pure in nature or simply a ploy to keep the more reasoned and intelligent off-guard. (Think smoke screen.) The entire Republican Party has become a hyper-toxic brew. Eating dogs and cats and aborting babies at nine months is the stuff out of mythical horror stories. Yet, the REAL horror story is how a man (?) who wants again to be president has put a target on the backs of an entire population of immigrants (invited, by the way): Haitians.
The very idea that someone in such a prominent station in life could and would turn demons loose on an entire population represents the worst of us. The fact that very SAME man invokes the mythical Hannibal Lecter to the cheers of his idolators underscores how a segment of American society has lost its mind -- literally and collectively. Insanity on steroids has gripped a portion of our nation's society and culture and holds it captive. The darkness and evil that Trump and his minions have come to represent should signal a five-alarm fire for the rest of us. It is time to extinguish the inferno.
Just when you think it can't get more vile, it does. Again and again, behavior that would immediately disqualify any other candidate for high office is de riguer for the campaign of the former president. And the more putrid it is, the more MAGA idolizes their Supreme Leader. I guess it takes people way smarter than me to understand this,
"The vice president of a North Carolina county chapter of Moms for Liberty has been arrested on charges related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
According to court documents, Justina Guardino was arrested in Wilmington, North Carolina, on charges including entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct, and unlawful picketing in a Capitol building. A PACER entry confirmed the arrest warrant, which was under seal until recently."
Moms for Liberty. What a joke. If you are interested, you can read the full article @
The good part of the squabbling in the MAGA construct is that there is squabbling in the MAGA construct. As has been noted frequently, the MAGA crowd were solidly united and that unified force gave them great power. Much dissent should now follow since MAGAites were thrown into a largely unexpected spin by Trump's compromised performance in the debate. The fact that Trump has always dependantly projected his machismo image as invincible strongman significantly collapsed, especially when Kamala not only prevailed strongly in fact, but that she coyly stripped him of his ability to control his emotions and dissembled his ability to respond coherently, instead making him grouse angrily from a wounded ego source. We all saw it, and so did all of MAGA. While elected officials to on the Red Right were forced to chorus a defense, they remain embarrassed and angry because of the puerile ability to try to lie in such sunlight provided by Kamala. From top to bottom, MAGA is spinning. This is huge politically. Rail-sitting voters have been pimp-slapped into having their consciences awakened, denial is heavier, and their consciences will accompany
them loomingly when vote now. MAGA's big bell has been cracked.
Minutes after the second tower collapsed, Trump made a phone call into a local NYC television station. And as the tower debris billowed into the air, he remarked how his building "40 Wall Street" was previously the second tallest in Manhattan, and now it was the tallest.
This is not taken out of context. In fact, ask yourself what possible context could there be other than said by a clinical malignant narcissist feasting on the fresh blood of perhaps America's most unimaginable tragedy. Go ahead. Try all the batshit crazy context you can possibly conjure in defense of that. Seriously. Take a minute or two and try.
As we all know, Trump desecrated 9/11 in other ways. But my point is not who he is or what he did. We all know those things already, too. My point is Trump's mere presence at the Memorial is one more frightening symbol of how utterly fouled this country is. How a man who bragged over a horrific tragedy managed in time to becomer a guest of honor at its memorial. How such things are basically forgetten. And worse, how people are so willing to look the other way, and for all intents and purposes just dont care.
I’m sad to say it, but the fact that this is where we are as a country is an indictment of this country. The fact that it has to be written about. The fact that we’re discussing eating dogs and cats, or the apparent vileness of women without children. This crew did not drop in from outer space, but are here in power or at the gates of power because there are enough Americans who support them.
John D, what you said is what has always bothered me the most about Trump and all the rest of the perverts and lunatics in his orbit. Not that Trump and all his defective crew exist, but that there are multitudes of MILLIONS of otherwise “fine Christian people” and other “fine people” who are not only fine with it, they LOVE his cruelty, misogyny and racism. Seeing people who would never act or talk themselves like all these bimbos and scumbags like Loomer, Lewandowski, et al.,(don’t forget Trump and Vance too) still delight in their cruel and vulgar and frankly evil behavior, has shown the general public and citizens of this great republic to be what they are—cruel and disgusting and racist.
This has really shaken me, as an evangelical Baptist Christian myself—-(Jimmy Carter variety not Mike Johnson type!). Watching legions of my self proclaimed fellow believers happily and even gleefully abandon every moral and spiritual principle they claim to hold, in service to and allegiance to the most degenerate human of my lifetime, while watching and approving of the antics of his perverse band of merry men-and women- has been surreal and frightening.
Our country and its people have been weighed in the scales and found wanting. Shame on us. I would never have believed this insanity could happen. We have no one to blame but ourselves for the chaos now and to come. I blame McConnell, etc.most of all with my “evangelical” brethren a close second. Selling your soul for anything is never worth it. “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36. That has happened all over this country, and now we are reaping the bitter harvest.
I agree with your every word, which spells things out clearly. I find myself shaken to the core.
I agree to a large extent, but keep in mind that most of the mainstream media has normalized Trump. Combine that with the fact that he’s a savvy propagandist who reads his audiences, as well as a Russian stooge, and it’s somewhat more understandable. I am hopeful that if and when Trump is defeated, some of the madness will gradually wear off. But we must continue to work for a more equitable and perfect union, our duty as Americans.
My own theory: after Obama became President, this thing called the Tea Party began. I believe it was a reaction by white people who could not handle the fact that a black man was President. I did not see any other reason for the Tea Party. This MAGA thing morphed out of that and became larger and stronger.
A book by Rachel Maddow, "Prequel," is an excellent summary of far right movements in America. The Tea Party is one of them. There are many more and we must never, never stop fighting them. One of the reasons they so often have widespread support is their association with a perverse use of religious fervor by soulless bigots.
The Tea Party was a phony "movement" organized and propped up by billionaires who sensed an opportunity to take advantage of older White citizens who felt challenged by a changing culture. The Obama presidency helped turn the TP into MAGA by making explicit the nativist racism that underlies much of our population. Now the Trumpublican MAGA has destroyed the Republican Party. It will be up to the voters on 5 November to prevent MAGA from destroying the country.
I live in a generally rural area of the midwest where some of the Tea Party first took root. I worked with some of the locals who were in at the inception around here and I was even invited to be a fellow traveller. At that early point it was mostly libertarians and quite a few of them were the leftist types. What I remember was there were a lot of evangelicals that jumped in too, and that's what made me shy away. It only took a minute for GOP movers and shakers to catch on to this movement and they wasted no time in wrestling this thing to the ground. They quickly ran off all the ones who wouldn't conform to what the movement as a whole soon became. I always heard it was a grassroots thing controlled by the Koch brothers. Hard to say what really happened, but it seems obvious with hindsight that that's probably where MAGA came from. They were just waiting for the demagogue to lead the $hitshow to show up and then along came TFG.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
That is spot on. But remember the real nasty divide started in the 90s with that odious Neuter Gingrich.
I can understand about 2016, but we have had this MAGA thing for almost ten years now. This will be the third election in a row. I don’t believe it is an aberration or the media’s fault. Not with the kind of voting numbers MAGA has received.
I agree, but we must keep trying. Much Trump support comes from a lack of information, disinformation, malinformation, and misinformation. Much of the media is responsible and we need creative legislation to protect us from attempts to undermine our values, Constitution, and democracy. Such legislation would have to protect our freedom of speech at the same time it protects us from victimization by malevolent politicians and their movements who manipulate so many through their deceptive strategies.
I certainly agree about trying. I think a deeper problem we face is the wealth inequality in this country. If you have a sizable portion of the population only one small emergency away from being financially wrecked, one might understand why demagogues appeal to people without hope. As far as I can tell, the current wealth inequality in the United States has no rival in history, not even feudal times.
Shoot I live on Social Security and not much else but I'd never dream of falling for someone like Trump bc I recognized a predator the minute I saw him and have been fighting him ever since!!! But you're right John and Anthony about the Obama backlash. That's been a huge part of this whole thing. That and just plain ole racism and misogyny!!!
I could not agree more. That is why I support the agenda of the House Progressive Caucus.
Much of MAGA feels disempowered by circumstances not under their control. They feel shamed by this powerlessness. The instigators of MAGA (who are the ones fueling the disempowerment in the first place) have taken advantage of this shame to direct it elsewhere as hate.
For sure James. It's sick sick sick!!! 😫
His base has not increased, however MAGA on Supreme Court and Electoral College means we all need to work extremely hard to elect Kamala in overwhelming numbers.
Exactly. His base has not increased but MAGA on Scotus scares the shit out of me. God be with us. 🙏💙🇺🇸
The media has played a huge part in letting Trump get away with his BS. Some more than others. And they are still not calling him a liar; they are giving “both sides do it” excuses when both sides are not doing g what he is doing. It is the things being done by Trump and his followers that are cruel. xenophobic, hateful and putting people at risk. They see the effects of their rhetoric and they keep doing it. Just like they see the harm being done to pregnant woman by abortion bans and do nothing to fix it. The Republicans are fine with letting women bleed out in a parking lot and then claiming it doesn’t happen.
Trump was convicted of sexual assault, which the judge in his case said is commonly called RAPE (even though what he did doesn’t fit NY state’s legal definition of that term. Not to be gross, but if any man took it upon himself, without my permission, to stuck his fingers (or anything else) up my vagina, I would call it RAPE. Yet the press barely mentions he has 34 felony convictions, let alone mentioning what was essentially a rape conviction.
On Jan 6, Trump summoned a mob, knew they were armed, and aimed them at the Capitol to try to stop the certification of a secure and fair election; he even incited them to harm his own VP (Pence) — and still Republicans voted not to certify that election. They voted not to impeach, twice, even though they admitted he did what he was charged with.
I figure you know all of this. My point is the press should be hammering his baggage constantly — you know the way the press never let up on Hillary’s emails; and she had no convictions and no indictments. (When she was First Lady, the press even criticized Hillary for wearing a pink sweater!) So the press is complicit in allowing Trump to get away with shit.
The press isn’t going to save us. The courts aren’t going to save us either.
We need to turn out the vote and vote for Democrats, up and down the ballot, to run the Republicans out of office until they learn to protect democracy and respect women’s reproductive rights.
I understand and agree. The big problem I have is why are people voting as they have been? Case in point: Mark Robinson became Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina in 2020. Most of his vile statements up to that time were reported and known. Yet he received nearly 3 million votes and beat his opponent by 300,000 votes. My first reaction at the time was — something out there is seriously wrong.
John D, I’m with you on not understanding how such cruelty, hate, and stupidity attracts votes. MTG, Boebert, Mark Robinson, to name only 3 — it’s a very long list.
I’ve tried to give people the benefit of the doubt for supporting people trying to destroy democracy. They were misinformed. Or something something. But it doesn’t seem like they are just getting their news from a bad source (which they are) because, by now, they should have figured out their news source is lying to them. Repeatedly. They should have dumped the liars and found a better news source.
Right after Charlottesville, when TFG infamously said “there were very fine people on both sides” I was discussing what happened that day with the nephew of a decades long girlfriend. I’ve known her nephew since he was a baby and he’s an adult now. My friend doesn’t talk politics and welcomed my talking to her nephew on the issues. Her nephew watches Fox.
It took about 20 minutes of listening to her nephew defend TFG’s indefensible remarks before I realized the nephew had not seen the same story the rest of us saw. He had NOT seen the protestors marching with tiki torches or heard them chanting their foul anti-sementic chant. He didn’t know relevant details about what we were (heatedly) discussing.
I was disgusted that the nephew supported Trump and his Charlottesville remarks and he was arguing with me about it when he had no idea what he was talking about.
I told him he needed to get a better news source because his was leaving out some vital information and was lying about the rest. He said he couldn’t watch MSNBC or CNN because they lied all the time. (He had no examples of them lying, he “just knew it”). I left the discussion by suggesting he try NPR.
So you ask why they vote for such terrible people — I have no idea. Unless (shutter) they like the cruelty, hate, and violence and want more of it.
Well said Valeri!!! 👏🏻 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
Media has absolutely been complicit to an incomprehensible degree. Trump has had hundreds-thousands!-of horrific incidents, statements and corruption, any one of which would have been front page news every single day until he was destroyed, and rightly so. The media from Fox on down to CNN to NBC, etc. has been atrocious and even traitorous (see Russian interference EVERYWHERE). Agree, Elizabeth.
Thank you, brother! If Christians are to not hide their light under a bushel, now is the time to let that light shine and and have it all come out, shout the truth from the housetops, just like the clarion Steve Schmidt, for whose newsletters I get rallied by. :) A little leaven, leavens the whole lump, and Kamala is seeding the field with hope and empathy. Even saying those words into the atmosphere makes the spirit rise than the downward drag of the nay sayers, the liars, and the hypocrites. These n'er do wells are digging the pit of their own perdition. Their fall will be apocalyptic, no doubt. Doom is upon their enterprise in their bitter end. That's my faith talking, and my hope is we have a woman for a President in my lifetime, so she can roll up her sleeves, like so many women do all over the world, and daily clean up the mess that men have made of our homes, the nation and the planet. It's high time to honor the endlessly creative and adaptive, evolutionary mother earth who resurrects food and our atmosphere each day, and one of her female representatives who is primed to take this tough task in hand. Sugar and curry spice, and everything nice.....
Yours is a very well written, thoughtful piece. I do have an insight for you. I have a friend who is an evangelical clergyman. One of these guys who got a Masters in Theology from an obscure, rural college. And worked for churches in very rural areas. And of course he married the first girl he ever slept with and she’s also the product of a very rural, obscure Bible college. And so here’s a couple whose life revolves around their faith. And living in rural America. And naturally not only are they all in for Trump/MAGA but they utterly despise everything about the Democratic Party. And you ask yourself, why? It’s because they feel that there is an elite ruling class that holds them in disregard and which ridicules their choices. They’ll tell you they are under attack from the democrats. Guns, church attendance and (ba-boom) abortion. For them it’s not live and let live. It’s giving rights to gays and transgenders etc - it’s an attack on their beliefs and that’s the Dems. So along comes Trump with his offer ,” vote me in and I’ll install judges to overturn Roe. A simple bargain. Never mind they guys been pro choice is entire life. And they accept the offer- and Trump follows through. He does what he said he’d do. Not out of conviction. But out of political expediency. And that’s why these god fearing, church going people who love Jesus and who preach love, all go for Trump. It’s brutal.
I am well aware of that mindset in evangelical circles. I am a 71 year old Baptist who grew up in a pastor’s home, and who has been immersed in that world my whole life. You do not have to explain to me how Jerry Falwell started what has now culminated in D’s evil, R’s good, end of story. There are many millions in that world who have been brainwashed by the word “abortion” and will never vote for any D, EVER. I do not agree AT ALL with that, but I guess I would grudgingly accept that at some level, IF these millions would not then support the most sick, perverse, cruel, corrupt and UNCHRISTIAN human imaginable. At least SIT IT OUT. Watching this, especially since 2016, has crushed me, it really has. It is so frightening and so incomprehensible to me, and shameful and the most horrific witness to the world. If I was not already a Christian, seeing this, I would not listen for one second to any “Christian” about anything!
Yes. It’s unbelievably sad and hypocritical. Ordinarily I’d say I don’t know how these people sleep at nite. But the reality is I know precisely why they sleep so well at nite. Because they’ve permitted politics to become visceral, emotional - in this instance full of hatred grievance and contempt. And it feels awfully good to support a guy that validates your emotions. And of course the whole “ thing” underpinning participatory democracy is that politics and voting is supposed to be the polar opposite of visceral and emotional. It’s supposed to be dispassionate and even keel. It’s ok to feel strongly about your candidate but to be emotionally invested as if your whole life is on the line? No, that’s not what the Framers had in mind. You know what? Go thank Limbaugh. He’s responsible.
And honestly I feel that they are entitled to their beliefs. They can pray for the souls of others all they want, but to force their beliefs onto others makes them evil. I and I alone take responsibility for the choices I have made in my life. The afterlife is mine as well. Just because the law says you can have an abortion doesn’t mean one will be forced on you. If it is, that’s indicative of an entirely different problem.
Many of these so called Christians have pastors who are products of very isolated, rural lifestyles. Even though they have advanced educational degrees, they’re educated from these incredibly rural , obscure institutions. And their lifestyle is also rural, isolated and regimented. And these pastors encourage their congregants to feel that the Democratic Party is attacking and ridiculing their belief systems. Many Americans feel historically, as you seem to, that our country is predicated on a live and let live attitude when it comes to choices made by consenting adults. However these “Christians” feel that abortion, same sex marriage, trans gender , guns constitute , what’s taught in schools is an invasion of their belief system. It’s ok to fight against and speak out against these things in the name of Jesus. That’s what Jesus would want. Forget live and let live. And of course the problem with this is that its values driven, deeply personal and just a hairs breadth from being about anger, grievance, even hatred. And along comes Trump and Fox News and the line is crossed into anger and hatred of “ the other”. We Dems are now “evil”. Am I evil because I support a woman’s right to choose? Or gay marriage? Well,, to these Christians, yes, that makes me evil. And that’s Trumps rocket fuel. And always has been. He validates their emotions even though he’s a felon philanderer liar and a hypocrite.
Add in the entire lineup of Fox News going back to that slimy Bill O'Reilly. Or Billo the Clown 🤡 as Keith Olbermann used to say. 😆.
True, John. But the advent of the Internet and social media has allowed brainwashing to occur at an incredibly rapid rate.
I've been re-watching the Netflix series "Hitler's Circle of Evil," and it still takes my breath away to learn of the long game the Nazis played, starting before 1923! Everything that happened then is happening now, to the very last detail. Just swap Miller with Goebbels, and right down the line in the cast of characters.
For a very long time, the German people resisted the state antisemitism, even when guards were put at the doors of Jewish shops. The German people simply pushed their way through, dismissive and offended at the attempted control.
So the Hitler crew reconsidered their approach, and instead manufactured enough cheap radios so that every German family had one, which thrilled people. And they created the state radio station, which people were directed to listen to at a certain time every night. (The government even created "monitors" to walk building to building to make sure people listened.)
To a casual listener, it sounded like an ordinary program, with music and sports and the like, but with a slow drip of antisemitism. And that's what ultimately turned the German public into antisemites. As the state controlled all media by then, there was no one to counter that information. The brainwashing worked to perfection.
Now, we may not have state-run media (yet), but by choice the MAGA followers listen to the same sources that washed their brains in the first place. They won't listen anymore to opposing views. It's heartbreaking.
But there's a playbook for this kind of thing, and the Trump cabal is following it to a T. In the end, it will collapse, just like Nazism, as the personalities involved hated and destroyed one another, but I pray to God we can force that collapse in November lest we pay the price that the world did in WWII. That's where we're at.
Heaven help up.
Excellent comment, Mary Ann -urgently important. I wrote about the danger of social media algorithms on Robert Jaffeee's thread today and posted the link to a trailer for an excellent documentary on Netflix called "The Social Dilemma". Some quotes from that :"fake news travels 6 times as fast as truth" and "this is check-mate for humanity":
Here is the link, less than 3 minutes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaaC57tcci0
The main advantage we have now over 1930’s Germany is that Trump, unlike Hitler, is intellectually vacant and devoid of thought All he wants is the power. Not to install an ideology, like Hitler, but for the ego. All he wants is to sit in the big chair. Behind the big desk. Now, it’s true he’s isolated focused on and consolidated the Right to obtain power. But we all know, if he ever thought he could have defeated Hillary for the 2016 Democratic nomination he would have run as a Democrat. He has no principles. But there was a vacancy among Republicans and he saw that so he ran as a Republican. And he got the nomination. But now he’s cultivated his base and taken over the Republican Party. But he has no conviction at all about politics or ideology. His platform is re elect me so I can take my revenge. The only up side is that revenge is not a political ideology. Once and when Trump goes ( either now or in 2028) he’ll leave no real legacy. Because he doesn’t stand for anything political. So in this limited way I like to believe it’s not quite as bad as Nazi Germany
The formerly legitimate Fourth Estate is guilty of promoting this historically obscene dictator wanna be. Any one of the top news platforms could pull his plug, any day. But they don't because he is making them billions in revenue. Every time the Naked Emperor bends over and shows his ass, they make money. Every time the Naked Emperor blurts out hateful, stupid, obvious Big Lies, they make money. It is truly a conspiracy to ignore the obvious about self-disqualified Donald.
They all know he's a fucking moron, as his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson observed 7 years ago. "But he's a popular fucking moron who makes us money!" So they treat him like he's a legit contender for a public office of trust and service. Which he obviously is not. No holder of an office of public trust who violated their oath of office, with violence, is eligible to ever hold another public office. Liz and Dick Cheney are declaring this fact from the rooftops. Ignored by the Press.
The Press is lying about Donald. They obscure the truth. For money.
You're absolutely right, Burke! Money is the root of all the evil we are seeing today. It's even easier now to pay for someone's allegiance because of the extreme income inequality and greed around the world coupled by moral depravity and search for power. It's hard to see how we get out of this sad and deplorable period in our history. But I am hopeful that once the Dems are in office and Trump is no more, we can begin to see a change in our politics and in our politicians.
MTG very mad she is not his chosen concubine; only explanation.
And being a rabid antisemite she’s extra pissed off.
I just posted the same before reading yours.
That was my first thought 2 days ago...yuck
“Interestingly, MTG found no outrage over the Nazi dining at Mar-a-Lago, or Tucker Carlson flirting with a Nazi who denies the Holocaust, and slanders one of freedom’s greatest champions, Winston Churchill, as one of its greatest villains.”
You hit the nail on the head, Steve! This isn’t about being offended by Nazi’s and white supremacists, or hateful rhetoric; it’s about “HURT FEELINGS!”
And MTG and the other swamp creatures that inhabit MAGAland have had their feelings hurt BIGLY! And to add insult to injury, the embodiment of their rage is a walking, talking caricature of the worst of America’s citizenry; Laura Loomer, a political hack so nefarious and crude, that she even gives the likes of MTG and Graham the heebie-jeebies.
What irks me the most is that this entire Haitian incident is a smoke screen or red herring. Trump is getting the MSM to chase the shiny object, while the Confederate State’s of America continue to justify their voter suppression laws and anti-immigrant rhetoric for cheap votes and attention, which only helps Trump in the long-run.
By legitimizing these “non-issues,” the MSM is giving credence to an otherwise preposterous narrative that is an insult to intelligence of the American electorate.
If America continues on this trajectory, although we may avoid a constitutional crisis during this election cycle, I’m not sure our republic and democracy could survive the continued pounding of our vulnerable institutions. That said, Something has to give; and soon!….:)
Yea, this also achieves exactly what MTG wanted - people talking about her again and trying to reclaim some sense of validation in the TFG orbit of insanity and hate.
Trump went out into the spin room after he was entirely demolished in the debate in order to change the narrative, to say the debate was rigged against him, in order to get his lies out front into the social media algorithms that his followers are addicted to. We must understand how social-media algorithms work to amplify the lies MAGA leaders use to incite fear and anger in tens of millions of people. This is an effective brainwashing tactic that overrides people's reasoning brain, such as "they're eating your pets", and scares people enough to want to fight the "enemy". There is an excellent Netflix documentary called "The Social Dilemma" where experts, even in psychology, who design these algorithms, come clean about the dangers they create. I know you know this, Robert, but at least half of our country doesn't understand that they are being exploited in this way. Russia, of course, perpetuates these algorithms because getting Trump elected will be any easy way for him to win his wars.
Link to see the trailer for the "Social Dilemma" documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaaC57tcci0
Some quotes from this short trailer: "fake news travels 6 times as fast as truth" and "this is check-mate on humanity". It seems this is extreme. cyber warfare.
Great comment Lisa. Thanks for the info!! 💙🇺🇸
Steve don’t forget to add Charles Manson to the list of womanizing cult leaders including Koresh, et. al. - which upon reflection any of these cults resemble MAGA. Perhaps Loomer is the new Squeaky Fromme!
There’s many similarities between Trump and Manson. Having others commit crimes for you is one.
When MTG becomes the voice of reason, the whole shebang has come off the rails.
Looks like MTG has moved back a space in the Lady in Waiting line. Well hell hath no fury….
MTG , the heinous,wretched racist piece of crap doesn’t find what Loomer says offensive. She condemns it because she’s jealous that Loomer has weaseled her way unto the plane and into the rancid heart and addled mind of Donald Trump….
Just all so gross - and it all debases the country that we love.
As I read Steve's post today, the absurdity of a man like Trump, a man who dined with American Nazi Nick Fuentes, who has called for the execution of "perfidious Jews," telling Jews who vote Democrat that they need "their heads examined," became crystal clear.
I think MAGA has crossed the line over into Nazism. No more dog whistles. The racism is overt, which distinguishes Nazism from fascism.
Nothing should surprise decent people about the increasingly desperate Trump behavior. It has worked for him in the past. This interval in our history will stand out like few others. That national media still has not described Trump accurately and continues to treat him as normal tells us the power advertising money is to corporate media organizations. It is leading us into what should not be a close election. The question is not whether Kamala has precisely defined economic policies or if she is too liberal. It is a clear choice between democracy and progress and fascism and racism. How do we convince trump supporters that he is not in their best interest?
That is the $64,000 question. I just don't understand why they can't see what a POS he is and that he is all about himself and that's it!! My last MAGA friend (Longtime friend of the family) who I love like a son's latest attack on Kamala is "She's a drunk." I said "Oh really?! I hadn't heard that one.". I told him he was nuts. I almost believed him when he came by my house 7the day after the debate and tried to convince me the eating animals story was true too. Yada. I almost believed him then but watched and read the new for 24 hours and found out it was another one of his "Big Lies". I'd give anything to change his mind on Trump. I've tried everything. I'll keep working on him.
You have a way with words. Always a great way to start my day. Or check out midday or evening, whenever you post.
Envisioning Majorie Taylor Greene as the moral conscience of MAGA is almost like having Satan in for Sunday supper. One must wonder if her anti-racist/racism stance is pure in nature or simply a ploy to keep the more reasoned and intelligent off-guard. (Think smoke screen.) The entire Republican Party has become a hyper-toxic brew. Eating dogs and cats and aborting babies at nine months is the stuff out of mythical horror stories. Yet, the REAL horror story is how a man (?) who wants again to be president has put a target on the backs of an entire population of immigrants (invited, by the way): Haitians.
The very idea that someone in such a prominent station in life could and would turn demons loose on an entire population represents the worst of us. The fact that very SAME man invokes the mythical Hannibal Lecter to the cheers of his idolators underscores how a segment of American society has lost its mind -- literally and collectively. Insanity on steroids has gripped a portion of our nation's society and culture and holds it captive. The darkness and evil that Trump and his minions have come to represent should signal a five-alarm fire for the rest of us. It is time to extinguish the inferno.
Just when you think it can't get more vile, it does. Again and again, behavior that would immediately disqualify any other candidate for high office is de riguer for the campaign of the former president. And the more putrid it is, the more MAGA idolizes their Supreme Leader. I guess it takes people way smarter than me to understand this,
"The vice president of a North Carolina county chapter of Moms for Liberty has been arrested on charges related to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
According to court documents, Justina Guardino was arrested in Wilmington, North Carolina, on charges including entering a restricted building, disorderly conduct, and unlawful picketing in a Capitol building. A PACER entry confirmed the arrest warrant, which was under seal until recently."
Moms for Liberty. What a joke. If you are interested, you can read the full article @
https://www.rawstory.com/moms-for-liberty-2669203219/
The good part of the squabbling in the MAGA construct is that there is squabbling in the MAGA construct. As has been noted frequently, the MAGA crowd were solidly united and that unified force gave them great power. Much dissent should now follow since MAGAites were thrown into a largely unexpected spin by Trump's compromised performance in the debate. The fact that Trump has always dependantly projected his machismo image as invincible strongman significantly collapsed, especially when Kamala not only prevailed strongly in fact, but that she coyly stripped him of his ability to control his emotions and dissembled his ability to respond coherently, instead making him grouse angrily from a wounded ego source. We all saw it, and so did all of MAGA. While elected officials to on the Red Right were forced to chorus a defense, they remain embarrassed and angry because of the puerile ability to try to lie in such sunlight provided by Kamala. From top to bottom, MAGA is spinning. This is huge politically. Rail-sitting voters have been pimp-slapped into having their consciences awakened, denial is heavier, and their consciences will accompany
them loomingly when vote now. MAGA's big bell has been cracked.
Minutes after the second tower collapsed, Trump made a phone call into a local NYC television station. And as the tower debris billowed into the air, he remarked how his building "40 Wall Street" was previously the second tallest in Manhattan, and now it was the tallest.
This is not taken out of context. In fact, ask yourself what possible context could there be other than said by a clinical malignant narcissist feasting on the fresh blood of perhaps America's most unimaginable tragedy. Go ahead. Try all the batshit crazy context you can possibly conjure in defense of that. Seriously. Take a minute or two and try.
As we all know, Trump desecrated 9/11 in other ways. But my point is not who he is or what he did. We all know those things already, too. My point is Trump's mere presence at the Memorial is one more frightening symbol of how utterly fouled this country is. How a man who bragged over a horrific tragedy managed in time to becomer a guest of honor at its memorial. How such things are basically forgetten. And worse, how people are so willing to look the other way, and for all intents and purposes just dont care.
They just do not care.
Reminds me in a way of how some murderers enjoy showing up at their victims funerals.