A while back, “Cowboys for Trump” leader Couy
Griffin said on camera, “The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat”. It was no
surprise that Trump re-tweeted the video of the future terrorist
insurrectionist.
There’s a lot of hate over there in the
Radical Right Party of Trump.
Over here on the left we don’t get praised by
presidents for that sort of vile demonization. Instead we prefer to say
something like, “The only good Republican is one who votes to impeach or convict
Trump.”
We’re thankful for them. Bipartisan
majorities of both the House and Senate voted to impeach and convict Trump for
his terrorist insurrection on January sixth.
The ten Republican representatives and seven
senators with the courage and conscience to vote for impeachment and conviction
have faced harsh blowback, ranging from censure by their state Republican Party
officials, up to death threats. Nobody gets angry like authoritarian
Republicans, when their two primary values of loyalty and conformity are
betrayed.
After being censured by the North Carolina
GOP, Senator Richard Burr said, “My party’s leadership has chosen loyalty to
one man over the core principles of the Republican Party and the founders of
our great nation.”
Welcome to reality, Senator. Some of us have
noticed the Republican Party has valued loyalty and conformity over the public
good since Reagan and his 11th Commandment: “Thou shalt not speak ill of any
fellow Republican.” As we know, Donald Trump isn’t bound by any commandments,
and loyalty must be for him exclusively. It is the way of authoritarians.
After the insurrection that commandment was
betrayed by 17 Republicans. And they didn’t just betray the party.
Representative Adam Kinzinger’s act of
courage and conscience offended family members so deeply they sent him a letter
to let him know about it.
KInzinger acted on more than conscience and
courage, though. It was his duty as well.
Kinzinger joined the Air Force after the
Sept. 11 attacks and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He swore an oath to,
“support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies,
foreign or domestic, that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the
same.” Upon his discharge he joined the Air National Guard, where he remains
a lieutenant colonel.
Rep. Kinzinger has represented Illinois'
solidly Republican16th congressional district since 2013, when he swore the
oath again.
He would solemnly bear true faith and
allegiance to the Constitution after Trump’s incitement of his terrorist mob’s
deadly insurrection on the Capitol.
He called for Trump to be removed from
office via the 25th Amendment. He and nine other Republicans voted
with all the House Democrats to impeach Trump.
"I looked at what happened on the sixth
and said, if that's not impeachable, we may as well just get rid of impeachment
because then nothing is, Whatever the consequences are it's the right thing to
do."
Consequences would indeed follow, in the form
of outrage and anger from radical Right Republicans and other true believers of
Donald Trump’s cult, including members of his family.
CNN showed the hand-written letter by his
cousin Karen, (Of course.) and signed by 11 members of his extended family.
Karen said she spent $7 to send the letter via certified mail to make sure that
he saw it. To emphasize her feelings she underlined up to three times certain
words she felt most deeply. Since I can’t replicate those lines, the reader
will have to visualize them as I put the words in bold type. My remarks are
added in brackets.
~~~~~~~
Jan. 8,
2021
Adam,
Oh my,
what a disappointment you are to us
and to God.
[Here we go. As a conservative Republican, God is understandably disappointed.]We were once so proud of your
accomplishments! Instead you go against your Christian principles and join the
“Devil’s Army” (Democrats and fake news media). [Poor Adam has gone from
disappointing God to waging war on Him.] How
do you call yourself a Christian when you join the “Devil’s Army” believing in
abortion! [Obviously knowing Trump is guilty is the same as “believing in
abortion” Everybody knows this, I’m sure] We
thought you were “smart” enough to see how the left is brainwashing so many “so
called good people” including yourself and many other GOP members.
[Brainwashed by Trump’s own words of insurrection?]You have even fallen for their socialism ideals. So, so sad! [Oh,
the humanity! Yes courage, conscience and duty are “socialist ideals”.]
President
Trump is not perfect,
[Who knew? But God sent him to save America anyway.] but neither are you or any of us for that matter! It is not for us to
judge or be judged. [And here I thought votes were based on one’s
judgment.] But he is a Christian! (If God
can forgive and save King David in the Bible, He can do the same with President
Trump. Franklin Graham, Robert Jeffries, to just name a few of many Pastors who
mentor President Trump know that he is a believer. [What more proof do we
need? His favorite Bible verse?] Obviously
you didn’t hear President Trump’s “Christian Message” to the American people
(fake news media did not cover his message) [Once again, the enemies of the
people are to blame.] where he actually
gave the place of his salvation, instructing people how to repent and ask their
Savior into their heart to be “born again”. (To believe in John 3:16) [James
Dobson, the founder of the group Focus on the Family claimed, “I know the
person who led him to Christ”. That would be prosperity-gospel televangelist
Paula White. Bless her heart.] When was
the last time you proclaimed your faith Adam? (Oh we forgot your now with the
“devil’s army”). [We all fall short of the spiritual glory of Donald Trump.]You
won’t convince us otherwise with your horrible, rude accusations of President
Trump! [Indeed, only the Devils’ Army could commit such sacrilege.](To embrace a party that believes in
abortion and socialism is the ultimate sin!) [The “Belief in Abortion and
Socialism Sin” is in the Bible, plain as day! Wall Street Jesus said so when he
preached about serving mammon.] We should
list even more grievances against you but decided you are not worth more of our
time to list them. We have said enough.[Oh, really?]
You
should be very proud that you have lost the respect of Lou Dobbs, Tucker
Carlson, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Greg Kelly, etc., and most
importantly in our book, Mark Levin and Rush Limbaugh and
us!
[Gasp! He lost the respect of God, his family, and the High Princes of Propaganda!]
It is
now most embarrassing to us that we
are related to you. You have embarrassed
the Kinzinger family name. [Time will tell and history will judge. Not
that it is for history to judge.]
We are
not judging you.
[Obviously not.] This letter is our
opinion of you... [See the difference?]
Greg
and Karen Ott
[But wait. It seems he is, in fact, worth
more of their time, and they have not yet said quite enough.]
P. S.
For your information, many more family members, feel the same as we do. They
just don’t have the courage to sign our letter or write their own letter! Not
us, we are so thoroughly disgusted with
you!!
[Clearly only Karen and her co-signers are the family members of true courage.]
And, oh by the way, we are calling for
your removal from office. I have received numerous calls concerning your actions and egregious behavior towards our President of the United States
Donald J. Trump!*
cc:
Many conservative Republicans [Yours truly and dear readers as well.]
*President
Trump has done more for the American people in four years than you Rinos and
the Democrats have done in years.
~~~~~~~
"Rino." Ouch! That’ll teach him.
Kinzinger correctly believes his family
members suffer from “brainwashing” from Trump and conservative churches that
have led them astray.
"I hold nothing against them,'' he told
The New York Times, "but I have zero desire or feel the need to reach out
and repair that. That is 100 percent on them to reach out and repair, and quite
honestly, I don't care if they do or not."
Kinzinger said he may change his party
affiliation if it becomes clear that Trump’s allies have become a permanent
majority.
“The party’s sick right now,” he said. “It’s
one thing if the party was accepting of different views, but it’s become this
massive litmus test on everything. So it’s a possibility down the road, but
it’s certainly not my intention, and I’m going to fight like hell to save it
first.”
Did he say he’s going to “Fight like hell” to
save his party from moral sickness?
He has a long way to go. His party wants us
to believe insurrectionist Trump meant the same thing, when he ordered his mob
to “March to the capitol, Fight like hell, stop the steal, and take our country
back”.
I mean, what's the difference?
Posts
12 comments:
Kinzinger is, as JFK would say, a profile in courage. Unfortunately, there are so few it won't move, or change the Republican party.
Trump is back in it now slamming McConnell and getting his supporters ramped up. We will see just how much power he has left in the Republican party.
I think the Republican party will split, which will be great for Democrats.
While I vehemently disagree with the constitutionality of the second impeachment trial, I think it is very wrong for GOP party affiliates to censure or otherwise punish representatives or senators for what is supposed to be a vote of conscience. I think the voters should hold those same officials accountable at the next election, if they are unhappy with the reasons given for that vote, however.
I will work hard to help any decent primary challenger to Senator Romney in Utah accordingly. Evidently Mitt thinks he is still in Massachusetts and representing their values.
"Kinzinger said he may change his party affiliation if it becomes clear that Trump’s allies have become a permanent majority." ~ Dubya
I can understand people being disgusted with Trump; however, if Kinzinger considers changing parties, then evidently his values regarding abortion, constitutional rights, taxes, and big government never were very conservative to begin with.
Jerry,
Since mainstream Democrats have scorned their left leaning base, while Republicans embrace their far Right fringe, a divided Right would be very good for the country.
There are still plenty of corpo-dems serving the interests of Wall Street, banks, and the Military Industrial Complex, including Biden. He's listening to the rest of us a bit more these days, but we'll see.
I'm not foreseeing a split. The Right is more authoritarian and likely to fall in line with their leaders, no matter how radical, hateful and dishonest. Trump has proven this.
Darrell,
Ah, yes. Conservatism never fails, it can only be failed. Cutting taxes for the rich, opening the regulatory gates to polluters, along with gutting voter rights, healthcare and safety nets for the poor do not require a conscience.
Without conscience, conservative values ring hollow. Kinzinger and 16 others can see this.
I just as vehemently disagree with the "January Exception" that McConnell invented for Trump's acquittal. Trump was lawfully and rightly impeached while president. We can't give one man the power to overrule the Constitution by refusing a trial while he was in office, and then deny any accountability claiming, "Sorry, it's unconstitutional now that he's out". McConnell has betrayed our Constitution quite enough, especially after his hypocrisy over Garland and then ramming a Justice through DURING an election.
"The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments." "All" means all. Would you want to convince us otherwise?
I understand the resentment for Romney and others. They have a conscience and the courage to act on it. Loyalty and conformity are deeply held values on the Right, and they want to punish anyone who they see betraying those values. Conscience isn't one of their strong suits. They're too busy playing the victims, while degrading the environment, coddling the rich, punishing the poor, and suppressing minority voter rights, mail-in ballots, and poll access.
Donald "Mr. Law and Order" Trump committed the biggest election frauds of 2020. Georgia prosecutors are on his trail, and his Big Lie has torn the country further apart. Some of us remember he broke the law by paying off a porn star. You are either with Trump or America at this point. Mass delusion is Trump's ally and tactic.
Not that it affects me, I am personally opposed to abortion, while supporting the right of women to not bear the child of a rapist. I don't promote it, but it's not my right to dictate difficult personal reproductive decisions.
(Cont.)
I support Constitutional rights, Constitutional taxes, Constitutional regulation of commerce and Constitutional provision for the general welfare. And yes, differences on degree and application of those provisions should be debated and compromises sought. If that's socialism, go tell the founders. I would hope those are conservative values too, but I know otherwise. They hate and reject compromise and would prefer to rule rather than govern through compromise. They have no issue with their minority rule, yet demand unity without accountability afterwards.
I think your idea of "big government" is just different from mine. I say it has no business denying a woman's reproductive rights, or other personal decisions or orientations in an individual's personal life that are no threat to others. I also say it has no business to be the world's police, and economic enforcers who sanction other countries because we don't like their leaders or government. It causes real human suffering. THEY see the beam in our eyes in ways our media never discuss. There's good reasons millions of Iraqis are not praising our war based on lies. Everyone knows someone who was killed. Somehow they don't see the US as "pro-life". Go figure.
I'm also not terrified by propagandists and alarmists who say democrats are coming to take my guns. Won't happen. Never did, never will. The Second Amendment stands. We will always have tools for hunting and sport as well as the firepower to defend our homes.
I am not a victim. Neither are you. I survived the "assault weapons" ban. So did you. And we will survive any further meager restrictions on silencers, bump stocks, magazine capacities or weapons of war. I feel quite safe with my 12 gauge, Mauser, SKS, Winchester '94 and .22 varmint suppressor. In fact, I can say I don't really "need" them. Never have, and probably never will. I certainly don't feel so paranoid or unsafe to have to pack heat wherever I go.
I am still a free man. "Free your mind and your ass will follow". I have no issues with responsible firearm ownership.
Is Reagan still seen as conservative? Because I agree with him on gun control. But what did he know? He was only shot and nearly killed.
I think "conservatism" has drifted radically Right over the past few decades. Trump and his sycophantic cult of bigots, racists, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, 3% ers, etc. and other terrorists have proven this. Millions of believers in his Big Lie are the icing on the radical Right authoritarian cake. There is nothing so delusional or comparable on the left.
Yet those terrorists and other Trump defenders will insist people like me "hate America", as if Trump himself is America.
"While I vehemently disagree with the constitutionality of the second impeachment trial" - Darrell
Feels before reals. It feels like it should be unconstitutional, so it is. There. Don't even need to read the Constitution or cite where in the Constitution one can find support for the assertion. It just FEELS like it should be unconstitutional, cause Darrell and "conservatives" don't like it (Because it affects their guy).
"evidently his values regarding abortion, constitutional rights, taxes, and big government never were very conservative to begin with."
I'd argue that none of that reflects "conservatism" at all, anyways. And, Constitutional Rights? Again. I do not know what "conservatives" have tried to stake their flags on the Constitution like they're the arbiter for its interpretation. This "conservative" meme to treat the Constitution like it's the Bible is ridiculous. They don't seem to live by the words in either of them.
TB3,
We've noticed how conservatives are the self-appointed experts on history, economics, religion and government. Well, everything really. We can just ask one, and he will be kind enough to lecture us. Just don't expect them to answer any specific question that requires a deeper explanation.
I'm still waiting for Darrell to explain how Trump really won the election. ;-)
Both the Bible and Constitution are merely the throw-away wrappings of conservatism. And yes, most conservatives haven't read either. But that does't prevent them from being experts. Only "true conservatives" truly understand both.
As Trump's favorite Bible verse says....wait, what was it again?
Conservative Masters of History, Exhibit A:
Could she even pass a citizenship exam?
Nikki Haley tweeted: “George Washington turned an army of ragtag troops into an unstoppable force that defeated the British & secured America’s independence. As President, he oversaw the creation of our Constitution & showed the world what it looks like to govern by the people and for the people.”
Like the Union Army during the Civil War, the Continental Army lost more battles than they won. But they prevailed over time. Also the French were key allies in the victory at Yorktown.
The Constitution was written in 1787. George Washington became president in 1789.
Government “by the people and for the people” was from Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address in 1863.
And this woman wants to be president.
And why not? It just FEELS Right. Very far Right.
There is a lot wrong with that tweet. Even a cursory dive into Revolutionary history would reveal that Washington didn't turn the Continental Army into an 'unstoppable force'. But American "conservatives" are all about embracing the jingoistic myths of America rather than its actual, powerful history. Look at the ignorant knee-jerk reactions they have towards the 1619 project or, really, anytime anyone asserts something they perceive as contrary to their world view.
And oversaw the creation of the Constitution? The man wanted nothing more than to retire to his plantation. His role was passive at best. Unless Ms Haley is asserting that the Constitution wasn't written until after Washington became President? Because... wowzers. I have to assume she misunderstood something or misrepresented something.
TB3,
Haley is just warming us up by going through her list of "Posturing Presidential Pretensions".
I really like your descriptor "jingoistic myths of America".
"American dream" sounds so much nicer than, "I'm going to be rich!" And "Shining city on the hill" is much catchier than, "Scram! There's no room up here for your kind!"
Real History (TM) needs to be viewed through the perspective of conservative white men, not from the perspectives of Blacks, Native Americans, or immigrants. Or even women. We don't need to hear about all the bad ways conservative white American men treated those people.
Darrell believes, “1619 claims America was founded on slavery and is a racist and horrible nation ever since”.
He never actually read it. I've read only parts of it after first reading about the controversy. And I would disagree on one sweeping statement that the Revolution was fought to preserve slavery. While slave owners rebelled, and the Constitution abetted it, the Civil War was the war to preserve slavery.
Darrell would point us to Trump's "1776" to get the Real History (TM)
I can be truthful and admit I haven’t read 1776 either. Better educated people than I have read it, and I trust them more than people who think Trump won the election.
Here's a sample from the table of contents: “Challenges to American Principles: Slavery, Progressivism, Fascism, Communism, Racism and Identity Politics."
Yes. Progressivism. Something tells me liberals and Democrats are to blame for all of it.
The American Historical Association notes, Instead the authors focus on early 20th-century Progressive reformers and bizarrely suggest they were similar to Mussolini and other World War II European fascists. Of particular note is the implied condemnation of Progressive Era legislation-workplace health and safety legislation, regulation of the production of food and drugs, the elimination of child labor... The report concludes with a full-throated assault on American universities, which, the authors claim, have produced what they call “deliberately destructive scholarship.” This scholarship is described as the “intellectual force behind so much of the violence in our cities,” including the “defamation of our treasured national statues.” The vast majority of targeted statues, as the AHA has noted before, honor either men who committed treason by violating oaths of office and taking up arms against the United States government, or whose main historical significance lay in their defense of slavery or other forms of white supremacy.
A more accurate title would be "1776: Embracing Jingoistic Myths of America".
The more choices one has, the more freedom they have. If you ban anything (make it illegal) you have just eliminated a choice (freedom) for people to make. We must learn to live with our fellow citizens and allow them to make choices that we abhor. We have no right to tell others how they should live.
Jerry,
I agree with libertarians on a few things. Women should be free to decide for themselves to reproduce or not. Responsible gun owners should be free to own their guns.
I'd bet most Americans would agree if you're against abortions, don't have one, and if you're against guns, don't buy one. If you don't like drugs/alcohol, don't drink or take them.
Of course reasonable public safety considerations will arise on what limits/choices are needed or allowed. Freedom also means freedom from the effects of bad choices by others.
Corporations' free choice to pollute impacts the public's right and freedom to breathe clean air and drink clean water. Flint Michigan comes to mind when corporate managers were free to decided on the public's water source.
Freedom brings responsibility and limits to dangerous choices.
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