The fact that they aren’t at all smart is one of the major reasons the US is on the brink of fascism.
Continuing the Trump stuff in here because of the broader scope of it, but the reaction of those in the GOP and their media friends is as pathetic as it is predictable. The one aspect of 1984 I struggled with when I originally read it as a young teenager was the “unrealistic” idea that the party could flip its message 180 degrees overnight and not only not have not explain themselves but get away with pretending this had always been their position. The Oceana Party has nothing on the GOP
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Also, this…
One the one hand their complete absence from the recovery effort is gross. On the other, we know how spiteful and vindictive US (GOP) politics is. Back in the early days of Obama’s presidency, his effective coordination with the then Republican Governor of Florida in a hurricane recovery effort was presented up as the sort of bipartisan bridge building Obama was elected to bring back to our politics. Despite it resulting in a successful recovery effort it was used as an anchor around the neck of Crist and one of the main reasons the party put up an opponent for Crist in his senate race the following year, someone who would go on to beat him to the nomination (fucking Rubio).
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The fact that Rand Paul doesn’t actually give a damn about his constituents is not in the least bit surprising. He actually doesn’t believe government has a legitimate role in a situation like this. Kentucky’s choice of representation is fairly startling when you consider it is one of the states most dependent on Federal funding, and the state gets $1.68 for every tax dollar.
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Whispers recently of a growing split between Trump and Meadows. Some part of it was Team Trump identifying Meadows as a potential fall guy for the Jan6th prosecutions coming down the pipe, and whether in response to that or independently, there is no a lot of dots being connected suggesting that Meadows is now cooperating with DoJ. This raid yesterday appears very targeted, in that they knew where to look for the information they were looking for. That insight comes only with an insider tipping them off.
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Anyone who wants to understand the Alex Jones cases, I am imploring you to go back and listen to the Knowledge Fight podcast. They have 700+ episodes often going over 3 hours so I understand not committing to every episode but at the very least go and listen to all of the “Formulaic Objections” episodes.
No one on the planet knows more about Alex Jones than Dan, the podcast host. They cover absolutely everything, even to the extent of becoming expert advisors to the prosecution during the depositions. The lawyers then become guests on the show in more recent episodes.
If you’re picking up news from twitter (especially this guy Ron Filipkowski) you’re just getting a fraction of a story. Knowledge Fight, its the best podcast you’ll find anywhere and the coverage is absolutely exceptional. Watcing the collapse of Jones’ empire through the eyes of people who have made the study of Alex Jones their whole career is absolutely fascinating.
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I remember reading the book (ironically(?) in the late 80s) and coming away with the feeling of absolute numbness* and hopelessness*. At the time I felt that we were not there yet but were moving in the “right” path. In hindsight, I’m unsure of two things.
- Within each generation are there always going to be individuals that can identify with those feelings(*) by drawing parallel examples within their lives and world view? Was Rome, Egypt or the 3rd Reich any different - are there always people who feel that there is no choice and lack hope?
- For a long time after reading that book, and for a number of reasons, but the book was clearly highly influential, I thought of not ever having children.
What changed was that I concluded that voices other than the perceived “norm” need to be present and hopefully heard and that people are the same everywhere, in that they are talented and in essence good.
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Goddamn, Trump just took the 5th. This has gone so much further than Watergate ever did.
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Wow.
Interesting times we live in…
Trump issued a statement shortly after the questioning began confirming that he was going to decline to answer questions from the attorney general. In the statement, Trump noted that he once asked, “If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” He then added, “Now I know the answer to that question. When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded, politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors, and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”
Music to goober ears, but it is just so utterly absurd that they think he of all people is their champion.
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Does it? MSNBC’s new star is a woman who was a Bush Coms director who still today is unapologetic over her role in that administration’s actions. Their long time justice correspondent, one of the more important people in the Trump era who was largely responsible for framing the way the various DOJ stories were carried on that network, is a career GOP coms guy who came to Washington initially to work for Dick Fucking Chaney. CNN fell over themselves during the Trump years to fill their roster with pro-trump syncophants to provide “balance”.
Media in general is overrepresented with people with a personal liberal/left leaning, and these networks have high profile stars who editorialize in their primetime shows from a liberal PoV, but it’s an overly simplified perspective to then say that results in partisan liberal presentation of the news.
Take the recent search of Mar A Lago as a case study. How would a partisan media portray this story and does that match with what you are seeing? My expectation of what I would see from a truly partisan media is a group of people on one side intractably critical of the actions of the DOJ for weaponizing it against political opponents. On the other I would expect to see uniform “he’s guilty” framing. Yet that isnt what we’re seeing with the latter side. Yes there is a lot “this is a big fucking deal” framing, but sometimes to truth does fall closer to one side of a partisan disagreement. However, we are also seeing the textbook “liberal media” framing of going to lengths, sometimes absurd ones, to make sure the alternative view point is presented. They often do this to the degree that everything is covered through their favoured framing.
https://twitter.com/SIfill_/status/1557370296797126658
This is what we see from the supposed liberal media all the time. People with a perception that cutting the baby in half on any story is the way to bring balance, and a commitment to do so to prevent accusations (mostly made in bad faith) of allowing their liberal bias to drive their coverage.
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Was about to post the same.
So that’s it. The Republican party is now completely Trumpist. Any moderates now have to decide whether to support a fanatical fascist personality cult or vote Democrat. Abstention amounts to the former.
Can anyone defeated in the primaries run in the election? I wonder what would happen if these Trump adversaries erode a part of the Republican votes.
Isn’t she Dick Cheney’s daughter? If she’s anything like her father, then the term moderate seems inappropriate.
In my book, Cheney senior is one of the main gravediggers of democracy in the US. If you look at the relationship between Halliburton and the federal state, and the profits they made during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the term kleptocracy comes to mind.
Corrupted people like Cheney allowed the appearance of Trump in the first place by utterly discrediting their function as state employee.
Maybe the daughter is different, I don’t know. But usually, children follow their parents’ patterns, especially in politics.
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I think it is meant in a relative term as she has been trying to fight the Trumpist element within the party. If she has lost out to Trumpists, then people that are more moderate may struggle even more.
However, it may just be the area she represents, I saw trump candidates in other areas losing out so am not sure what the picture across the whole picture looks like?
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The point about abstention is the important one. The bigger issue is not one for moderates, but what does it mean for died in the wool conservatives. Skipping a race, or a write in a vote for someone not on the ballot is now a vote for the Trumpist candidate.
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