Leader Of The Pack

The drift of the Republican Party away from partnership in producing positive legislation began with Newt Gingrich (“a stupid person’s idea of what a smart person sounds like”), if not before. DeLay, Ailes, Limbaugh (Presidential Medal of Freedom from Trump, unremembered in death), Breitbart, Jones, Carlson, Hannity. The list goes on. All of them facilitated Trump’s emergence as the personification of their party’s decline.

Rather than detriments, his lying, gaslighting, ignorance, fake Christianity, and narcissistic nastiness became vehicles for success. It released what must have been building for years among Republicans (as opposed to conservatives, of which there remain, uncloseted, but a few); namely, a preference for electing people disinterested in legislation but committed to “sticking it to the libs.” Performative outrage and constant denigration were necessary and sufficient for MAGA candidates to be elected.

A few decades ago, it was beyond imagination that the party of Dan Evans, Mark Hatfield, John McCain, Barry Goldwater, Margaret Chase Smith, Everett Dirksen, and dozens more, would nominate for governor such an awful human as North Carolina’s self-described “Black Nazi,” vile social media poster Mark Robinson. Nor would they have countenanced a presidential candidate of that party who referred to Robinson as “better than Martin Luther King” and “Martin Luther King on steroids.” To Trump, skin color defines a person.

The presence of Trump as head of the party has freed red state voters to unlock deeply-held resentments of all people unlike them, to elect people like Boebert, Greene, Gaetz, Fox, Cruz, Cotton, Hawley, et uck, who contribute nothing to the common weal, but make a living appearing on rightwing media, pleasing themselves and their voters by attacking and lying about liberals.

Trump is the template for all but a few Republicans serving in Congress. Under Trump’s influence, the Republican Party elects the worst of the worst. It’s what they want. Old-school conservatives are tossed aside like Trump’s rumored adult diapers. 

Trump’s business failings, his lies and serial adultery, his bragging about sexual predation were well-known. Millions were fine with it and voted for him. (Many millions fewer than for Hillary Clinton, let’s not forget.) To North Carolinians, Mark Robinson’s Holocaust denial, misogyny, and anti-LGBT diatribes were known, too. Nevertheless, he was elected Lieutenant Governor and is their current choice for Governor. The logical conclusion is that MAGA Republicans want their candidates to be horrible.

Placing Jim Jordan and James Comer as chairmen of important investigatory committees, successive Republican Speakers of the House stood by appreciatively as their undisguised weaponization of government became routine. Having struck out with impeaching President Joe Biden, they’re moving on to “investigating” Tim Walz and his family. Vice President Kamala Harris’ tenure at McDonald’s is surely next.

And they’re doing it out of obsequious obeisance to Trump, such an unworthy candidate that, knowing it’s false, he continues his lie that Haitian immigrants are eating their host city’s pets. But, next to his stolen election lies, all others pale in damage to our democracy. As evident senility increasingly takes hold, some are becoming simply laughable. 

His latest, but surely not final outrage is preemptively blaming “the Jews” if he loses the election. Notwithstanding how ignorant he is about nearly everything, from Bitcoin to tariffs and windmills and alliances, he knows the consequences of such a detestable statement, virtually asking for violent reprisals. Which we can be sure there will be. His flock will feel called upon to do it. Because they were.

After the second assassination attempt, which Trumpworld blamed exclusively on liberals and their truthful rhetoric, Trump and Vance and every rightwing screamer demanded liberals tone it down; by which they meant stop accurately pointing to the dangers that Project Trump 2025 represents. No one should call a political opponent a fascist, Vance hypocrisized.

Within moments, Trump and Vance (“Trance”) were back to lying about Haitian menu choices and claiming Kamala Harris is a "radical left Marxist, socialist, communist fascist." There’s been no moratorium on their inflammatory prevarication. Who’d have predicted otherwise?

Trance wants the facts about them buried while they continue to lie about Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz. Because he’s smart enough to know better, Vance’s lies are worse than Trump’s. 

If, first time around, some voters didn’t fully understand who Trump is, after four years in office and four even more horrifying years out of it (both senses of the term), there’s no excuse for pretending he’s fit for election (by the Electoral College) to a second term. Given what’s been seen from him since his ejection, it’s inconsistent with decency that a decent person could vote for him again. We know why anti-Semites do. Homophobes and racists. Xenophobes, for sure. (Prepare to be disgusted). But decent? No.

By now, remaining undecided (one bad word, but excellent link) is like having a fire in your house and demanding more information about their hoses before letting firefighters in. 

The Man Who Would Be ... President

 

One takeaway from the debate between Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump is the annoyance of articles that promise “(insert number) takeaways from (insert event).” Here are three of mine: 1) fact-checking is a waste of time, 2) fewer people are paying attention than one would hope, and 3) focus groups confirm 1 and 2.

A worthwhile online destination is “The Bulwark,” consisting of current and former Republicans, traditional conservatives, always brilliant and, therefore, never-Trumpers. All have impressive resumés, as advisors to past Republican candidates, campaign managers, commentators, writers. Founder of The Weekly Standard, Bill Kristol is one. Former RNC Chair Michael Steele is another. Unlike MAGA Republicans, they also have a sense of humor. For those seeking current information and thoughtful opinion, there’s a YouTube channel and a website. Their publisher, Sarah Longwell, is a cogent political analyst and leader of focus groups. Her post-debate sessions have been somewhere between reassuring and disconcerting.

One “undecided” voter said she hadn’t known that Trump pressured Congressional Republicans to block the tough, problem-solving, bipartisan border bill so he could continue to use immigration as his central campaign issue. That act of seditious skullduggery is perfectly revelatory of what he is (deplorable) and who he is not (a patriot).

At this late date, remaining unaware must be due to derelict disinterest in politics or getting one’s news only from Foxish sources. Which suggests, given how closely divided our country is, that November’s election could be decided by people who know approximately nothing about the candidates or what’s at stake. Whether Trump wins may depend on people who believe his lie that he’s unaware of Project 2025, for one example, or who are unfamiliar with it. For the latter, here’s a helpful primer.

Most of the participants in Longwell’s focus groups agreed Vice President Kamala Harris prevailed in the debate and were put off by Trump’s claim about Haitians in Springfield Ohio eating neighborhood pets. How many of the sixty million viewers of the debate believed it, though? Enough that there’ve been dozens of bomb threats to Springfield’s government offices and schools. True to form, Trump refused to condemn those threats. JD Vance let slip that they know the claims are groundless, but push them for political advantage. MAGA.

Denying, but knowing he got trounced in the debate, Trump now claims that V.P. Kamala Harris was given questions in advance. Trumpists are sure she received coaching through her earrings. Perennially incapable of actual governance, House Republicans plan to investigate. But the explanation is obvious: diligent preparation for anticipated questions on predictable topics. Purposeful – let’s call it presidential -- preparation. Something with which Trump, who famously refused to read his daily briefings as “president” and didn’t bother to prepare for foreign visits, is wholly unfamiliar.

Since the debate, we’ve seen other examples of who Trump is. He’s been traveling with and pawing the most deplorable of MAGA women (there’s plenty of competition, with one of whom she shares a first name): Laura Loomer. A Holocaust denier and 9/11 conspiracist, she’s a racist xenophobe whose vile rhetoric makes Ann Coulter seem like Emily Dickinson. She claims the Ohio Haitians aren’t just pet-eaters, but cannibals. Not unlike a local Republican candidate, reportedly, she calls for Democrats to be executed.

Even nasty Marjorie Taylor Greene finds Ms. Loomer offensive (jealous, Marge?), saying the lady isn’t what MAGA stands for. But MAGA is Trump and Trump loves Loomer, so it most definitely is. Also included in his current coterie is Pizzagate conspirator Jack Posobiec. Trump pushed Loomer- and Posobiec-level conspiracies long before he inner-circled them.

The man MAGAs trust with America’s future is showing us the kind of people with whom he’d surround himself if elected.

After Taylor Swift endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, Trump posted on Truthless Sociopath, colloquially known as “Truth Social,” I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT! That’s the entire post, fourth-grader level from the man who would be president; so easily triggered by Taylor Swift and V.P. Harris that he descends into madness. Like his recent promise to deport those Ohio Haitians to – wait for it – Venezuela. But they’re here on Temporary Protected Status, making deportation illegal. Not that legality matters to a convicted felon, sex predator, and fraudster. Or his besotted believers.

Corollary to Trump’s psychic fragility is the ease with which he succumbs to flattery. If Trumpists don’t see it, the world does. Here’s a link to Australian Prime Minister Malcomb Turnbull describing Trump’s puppy-dog behavior around Putin and other dictators. All Americans should be appalled, because appalling is what it is. For America, Trump needs to lose. By a lot.

Underscoring the need, a letter has just been published by over a hundred Republicans, former members of the Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, Trump administrations and Congress, stating Trump’s absolute unfitness to be president. They expect, they wrote, to disagree with Kamala Harris on many issues, but gave full-throated support to her integrity and qualities befitting a president. If Taylor Swift’s endorsement won’t affect conservatives, maybe this will.

Not Debatable

 

Around thirty percent of voters, the kind that attend Trump’s rallies or wish they could, who cheer at everything he says no matter how dishonest, disconnected from reality, or undecipherable, will support him no matter what. No amount of fact-checking or pointing out dangers will dissuade them. They love the idea of his promised military tribunals convicting and imprisoning the Obamas, Bidens, Clintons, members of Congress’s January 6 Committee, people he falsely accuses of election fraud, including election officials, voters, and donors; even some of their neighbors. The similarity to the world’s worst dictatorships concerns them not; it’s their most fevered dream.

When Trump says rounding up undocumented migrants will be “a bloody story,” they must imagine it with delight. Unbatted eyes view his phantasm of school children heading off to school, only to return home sex-changed. Held down, castrated, given vagino- or phalloplasties, mastectomies or implants, presumably by the school nurse. Only people whose detectors have been wiped away like bugs on a windshield believe such obvious b.s.

They also buy his stunningly counterfactual claim (lie!) that tariffs are a tax on other countries and won’t cost American consumers a penny. It’s unsurprising that a “businessman” who managed to bankrupt casinos and several other projects could so thoroughly misunderstand economics; likewise his thirty percenters who lack the capacity to question it. But the ones bringing his support even with or ahead of Kamala Harris? Clueless voters, voting.

People educated beyond fourth grade ought not need explaining; but, for the record, tariffs are paid for by consumers, not the producing countries. They raise prices. They’re inflationary. To conservatives, they once were anathema. Think: a country sells a widget to importers for ten dollars. The US demands a ten percent tariff, which it collects not from the sender but from the importer, who then sells it to consumers at an increased price to cover their increased costs.

Trump’s “plan” would raise the cost to consumers of whatever imports he chooses by whatever rate he decides. He’s threatened as much as 100% on cars, and not just for China. Imports from everywhere. The money from tariffs comes from Americans. The US has no power to tax other countries. Our timid media should call him on it. 

He’d have you believe tariffs solve everything: the trillions he says other countries pay (lie!) will balance the budget, eliminate the national debt, and cover the cost of everything he’s promising, including tax cuts for the wealthy. Is he so stupid that he actually believes that, or is it just that he thinks his voters are? If, as tariffs are intended, consumers switch to buying only American-made products, there’d be a worldwide recession, and there’d be no revenue from tariffs. Until other countries’ retaliatory tariffs kicked in, American businesses would do fine; and, absent competition from abroad, raise prices. Either way, consumers lose.

Trump’s tariff lie is but one of the countless others on which mainstream media fail to push back, while Foxophilic media amplify them, because they DO think their listeners are stupid. In Tuesday’s “debate,” awakening voters to Trump’s lies, Kamala Harris did the best she could in the time allowed. With minimal pushback, debate “moderators” let Trump say whatever he wanted, rant about a horrible future that won’t happen, and ignore questions.

Asked why he forced Republicans to vote down the border bill that would have solved much of the current problems, he avoided answering and the feck-deficient “moderators” moved on. They did, however, let him melt down time and again, repeating his golden oldie lies about crime, immigration, and, yes, tariffs.

To her true statement that world leaders laugh at him, he proffered Hungary’s notorious dictator, Victor Orban, as a character reference. Comedy gold.

The thirty percent will think Trump “crushed” Vice President Harris. Notwithstanding being prevented from responding to all of his lies (or maybe she just chose to ignore them), Kamala Harris did extremely well. Real pundits, though, will tell us what to really think.

Now, Trump voters must ask themselves: his own Vice President, Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Chief of Staff, Secretary of State, National Security Adviser, and many of his Cabinet, people who’ve been with him in the Oval Office and the Situation Room, are warning of the dangers of another Trump term. What do you think you know about him that they don’t? Why is your assessment, from afar, more accurate than those who worked with him, daily, up close?

In the biggest of pictures, beyond yourself, for your country, how is it better to have as president a confabulating liar who will, despite is truthless denials, follow Project 2025’s path to autocracy, rather than a current Vice President, former senator, attorney general, prosecutor, who’ll protect your freedom and democracy and respect our laws, even if you don’t agree with every one of her policies?

Brain Drain

 

I apologize to all the veterans and their families I’ve offended. It was a very bad mistake.

Can anyone imagine Trump saying that? About anything, let alone his Arlington Cemetery desecration? One of the last honorable Republicans, John McCain did, using those final six words. Instead, after floating various excuses and lies, Trump went with “it was a setup” by the Biden administration and, yes, even Gold Star families.

Dutifully, JD Vance tried to flip it to attack Kamala Harris. “She wants to yell at Donald Trump because he showed up?” Vance said. “She can go to hell.” Big cheers. At the time, she’d said not a word about it. Later, she did, and remains topside.

In addition to Trump’s inability to take responsibility, there’s his lack of core values, seen as he set the 24-hour flipflop record, on Florida’s six-week abortion ban. (Advice for the Vice President: when he attacks her changed positions, she should say, “He was once a pro-choice Democrat. I changed for the better; he changed for the worse.”)

Last week, to “Moms for Liberty,” who are, more accurately, moms for the exact opposite, Trump said this: “The transgender thing is incredible. Think of it. Your kid goes to school and he comes home a few days later with an operation. The school decides what’s gonna happen to your child. And you know many of these childs (sic) say fifteen years later “What the hell happened? Who did this to me?”” OMG: It's real!

Suspecting that Kamala Harris will do the transgenderizing surgery herself, it’s unlikely the “moms” were concerned that a would-be recidivist “president” uttered something so hallucinatory, so bizarre, so weird that no brain within two standard deviations of stable could have birthed it.

There are only two possibilities for being so unloosed from reality: Either his mind is so unraveled that he actually thinks it happens, or he knows it doesn’t but assumes voters will believe and vote for him. Except within the most Foxified, uncritical, Trumpically-unbalanced minds, both should be considered disqualifying for another stint in the White House. As we witness him becoming increasingly incoherent, everywhere, option one is the more likely.

Imagine: Trump, divorced from reality even more than from his first two wives on whom he cheated, is in the Situation Room, faced with a multifactorial international crisis, demanding that he process rapidly changing, incomplete information, and evaluate advice from his confidants. As he’s made clear, those advisers will have been chosen not for competence but for obsequious willingness to do whatever Trump asks, constitutionality and rationality be damned. He’s said he’ll purge his “government” of career experts, so the advice he gets will be useless sycophancy. The prospect of him applying his dissociative thinking, unrestrained, ought to be terrifying to everyone. Likely, he’d just ask, “WWPD”?

Who but MAGAs could trust him to make well-reasoned decisions in the best interest of the US? Only those who love him for his hatefulness, finding all else irrelevant, could rationalize putting him back there, finger on the nuclear button. He’s promised to fire all general officers who refused to activate his impulsive, catastrophic ideas first time around, and replace them with ones like deranged, QAnon-adherent Michael Flynn.

If not for truthless rightwing and feckless mainstream media, the nightmare prospect of Trump again in office, babbling like he did to the “moms” while making critical decisions, should put him behind in the polls 75-25%. That he’s not confirms the anti-democracy success of post-Reagan endumbification efforts by Republicans.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to stoke and praise violence. At a rally last week, an attendee leapt into the press area and had to be tased and restrained by police. Trump said, “That’s beautiful” and "That's alright. That's OK. No, he's on our side.” The man to whom the Supreme Court gave near-absolute immunity for crimes. The man readying his mobs for another January 6. 

Who “our side” is, if not already clear, might be learned from his recent choices of rally venues: Howell, Michigan. Lacrosse, Wisconsin. Johnstown, Pennsylvania. What they have in common is that they were once known as “sundown towns,” cities in which Blacks were not allowed to be out after dark. Perhaps it’s unintended coincidence. I’m not one for conspiracy theories, but they are what they are. 

Always for conspiracy theories, Trump is now suggesting the assassination attempt was an “inside job,” coordinated by President Biden. But it balances the social media chatter that it was orchestrated by Trump, to get that money-making photo op. The evidence is that, like school shooters, the perpetrator was a solo, sick person.

There’s another sick person, too, one who endangers us all. Maybe not solo, though, as he’s the choice of a major political party. He was “president” once. Remember how it was. For the sake of all Americans, including his deluded supporters, he must never be again.