Radicalization Accomplished

 

The proposed independent commission to investigate the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol is dead. The few Republicans of conscience who joined Mitt Romney and Liz Cheney in understanding what happened represent a feeble resistance to the cult leader who has taken over their party.

The Party of Trump is in near lock-step loyalty to their leader who was overwhelmingly voted out of office. That lock-step loyalty is looking more like goose-stepping with each passing day.

This isn’t hyperbole.

They either still believe his Big Lie, or refuse to disavow the Big Lie. As longs as they are under Trump’s control they are an authoritarian cult of personality. Nothing is more dangerous to a democratic republic than a party more loyal to its leader than to our people and Constitution.

Mitch McConnell earned the title "Grim Reaper of Democracy" before his conversion to the Trump Cult. His denial of a vote on Obama’s Supreme Court nominee was a betrayal of our Constitution.  He and Trump packed a third of the Supreme Court, despite the majority of voters who rejected his party’s occupancy of the White House.

The radical Right does not want to govern. They want to rule.

Governing requires cooperation and a bi-partisan investigation of Trump’s January 6^th insurrection. Mitch demanded his party shut it down, calling it a “personal favor”. 35 Republican Senators fell in line. 

It’s no wonder they don’t want an investigation of 1/6. Trump’s toadies and his drones in congress are guilty as hell for organizing and inciting his coup. And make no mistake, the radical Right coup is ongoing.  We have not seen the end of it.

Senate Republicans spent two years investigating Benghazi, but voted against investigating an attack on the Capitol. They would rather lie and blame BLM and antifa for the actions of their hate-filled radical cult. Hillary Clinton has shown more guts, integrity and patriotism than every insurrection-abetting Republican.

The Republican Party will be enemies of the republic as long as it believes the President can buy off porn stars, obstruct justice, and incite acts of insurrection without penalty.

The Trump Cult has become a criminal cartel. The “Stop the Steal March” was really Trump’s “March to Steal”. And of course, he lied about marching with them.

Congressional conspirators Louie Gohmert, Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Taylor Green, Paul Gosar, and Andy Biggs are traitors who should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Each of them gave insurrectionists reconnaissance tours of the Capitol on January 5th.

We've yet to discover the extent of the coordinated planning to "fight like hell" and "take back our country" through "trial by combat" by Trump's inner circle of loyal toadies and henchmen.

The Party of Trump wants to "move on" from the January 6th, 2021 insurrection; preferring to go back to denying the November 3rd, 2020 election.

I have no doubt they would follow Hitler if he was here today. Trump is proof. They obediently and avidly support him after his insurrection, just as authoritarian Germans supported Hitler after his failed coup on November 8, 1923. Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch was inspired by Mussolini’s “march to steal” 1922 march on Rome that overthrew Italy’s elected government. Nazis, Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and the rest of the American radical Right share a fanatic hatred for minorities, equality, voter rights, progressives, socialists, and leftists. They don't want to debate or run on policy. They would lose. Instead they want to destroy democracy.

And they wonder why they are seen as authoritarians.

If the election was corrupted by massive fraud and irregularities, why has not one Republican officeholder who objected to Biden’s victory objected to his own win? They were on the same ballot in the same election. How is it only Republicans are "fairly elected"?

Anyone?

The only answer is they are a party of radical white nationalists who oppose democracy itself. Too many Americans, especially minorities, voted in the last election, so the radical right is enacting new laws to assure that won’t ever happen again.

Suppressing democracy, especially minority voting rights, is essential to the authoritarian, white nationalist, fascist playbook.

We recall the pro-Trump Nazis chanting, “Jews will not replace us! YOU will not replace us!”, in Charlottesville during the “Unite the Right” rally in 2017.

Republicans, white nationalists, and their radical right ilk have one great fear. Minorities. They are fearful of their white majority fading. They are indoctrinated to believe minorities will be corrupting “their country” by their decadence and impurity. 

Damn right I’m comparing them to Nazis. This was Hitler’s first Big Lie about Jews.

The “Great Replacement” or “replacement theory” of European white nationalism is finding its home in American white nationalists and the radicalized Republican Party

Tucker Carlson promoted it. “I have less political power because they're importing a brand new electorate. Why should I sit back and take that? The power that I have as an American guaranteed at birth is one man, one vote, and they're diluting it. No, they are not allowed to do that. Why are we putting up with this?"

Retired Army Col. Douglas Macgregor is worried about the “great replacement” too.  He was appointed to West Point's Board of Visitors in the waning months of the Trump administration.

"The idea is that they have to bring in as many non-Europeans as possible in order to outnumber the numbers of Americans of European ancestry who live in the United States. That's what it's all about. And I don't think there's any point in questioning it. That is the policy. ... It is a deliberate policy to enact demographic change...We're also encouraging all these worst elements to come in and camp and effectively enjoy the fruits of citizenship without earning them and without ever having qualified for them," he said, "And I think some of you must have seen the thousands of pregnant women coming up from Latin America, so they can have their children here. And then the child immediately is declared an American citizen. And again, all of this is part of the grand plan. This is what Mr. Biden and his supporters want. They want another country. They don't want the United States."

Herr Goebbels would be so proud of his American protégés.

Fascism and racism have been close partners for a hundred years and counting, and now that the Republican Party is the party of Trump, it’s contagion has become toxic to the truth and to our democratic republic.

American neo-fascism needs more than the usual scapegoats and bigotry to seduce its indoctrinated cult. It needs to undermine and destroy democracy. Voting must be suppressed. Elections must be questioned, denied and overturned if the radical Right loses the vote count.

Trump lost the election, and so they staged a coup. It was so shocking and horrifying even some Republicans temporarily spoke the truth.

Trump’s fanatic boot-licker Kevin McCarthy was moved to proclaim the facts on January 13, 2021. "President Trump bears responsibility for Wednesday’s attack on Congress by mob rioters. He should have IMMEDIATELY denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. These facts require immediate action by President Trump to accept his share of responsibility, quell the brewing unrest and ensure President-elect Biden is able to successfully begin his term.”

McCarthy even suggested that Trump become the first president in more than a century to be censured.

But like every authoritarian follower, he soon fell in line.

On April 25th,  “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace asked McCarthy about Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler’s (R-Wash.) claim that Trump had told McCarthy during the riot, “Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are.” McCarthy declined to confirm or deny it. Instead he suggest Trump had responded sufficiently to his pleas for action.

“I was the first person to contact him when the riots” were going on, McCarthy said. “He didn’t see it. [How] he ended the call was saying — telling me, he’ll put something out to make sure to stop this. And that’s what he did, he put a video out later.”

Yes, we remember Trump’s video, praising his thugs, telling them they were “special” and “loved”.

This is the glaring evidence that McCarthy has been completely radicalized.

But he isn’t the only one to abandon the facts and bend the knee to the first traitor president.

Senator Mitch McConnell understood what happened on 1-6-21:

“President Trump claims the election was stolen. The assertions range from specific local allegations, to constitutional arguments to sweeping conspiracy theories.

I supported the president’s right to use the legal system. Dozens of lawsuits received hearings in courtrooms all across our country. But over and over, courts rejected these claims...but my colleagues, nothing before us proves illegalities anywhere near the massive scale that would have tipped the entire election. Nor can public doubt alone justify a radical break when the doubt itself was incited without any evidence...If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral. We’d never see the whole nation accept an election again. Every four years would be a scramble for power at any cost.”

The Grim Reaper’s somber sincerity didn’t last long. About two weeks actually. On January 19^th McConnell said, “The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government which they did not like.”

But his tune soon changed to the authoritarian marching song.

FOX(R)’s Bret Baier asked what he would do if Trump was the nominee in 2024: "If the President was the party's nominee, would you support him?" McConnell replied, "The nominee of the party? Absolutely."

Loyalty to the Fuhrer. Trump uber alles.

Mitch needed to downplay the coup, and shut down any bi-partisan congressional efforts to investigate the insurrection.

“It’s not at all clear what new facts or additional investigation yet another commission could actually lay on top of existing efforts by law enforcement and Congress,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Wednesday, announcing his opposition. “What is clear is that House Democrats have handled this proposal in partisan bad faith going right back to the beginning.”

You see how clear it is? It wasn’t “partisan bad faith” behind the coup at all. It’s the Democrats’ fault for wanting to investigate it.

On May 25^th, McConnell whined Democrats “would like to continue to debate things that occurred in the past. They'd like to continue to litigate the former president into the future. We think the American people, going forward, and in the fall of '22, ought to focus on what this administration is doing to the country and what the clear choice is that we have made, to oppose most of these initiatives”.

Yes, initiatives like investigating who abetted Trump’s coup. Never mind what Trump’s coup is doing to our country, look at what the Biden Administration is doing to the country.

The radicalization is complete. Once the leaders in the party of Trump have obediently and cowardly submitted to their Fuhrer, the rest of America’s duped authoritarians would follow suit. The horrific reality is they number close to a third of the population. Most Republicans and Trump voters think he won. And those millions of duped, angry authoritarians remain ready to follow their leader's exhortation, "And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore!" 

This is our republic's worst nightmare. The enemies are within, and are ready to destroy our democracy because their glorious leader refuses to admit he lost the election. The American people, the rule of law, and our Constitutional order must contend with brainwashing on a scale that rivals North Korea. The radical Right is indoctrinated top to bottom.

A fellow blogger has given us a revealing snapshot of how this “trickle down insurrection” has taken root among the cult followers.

Our old buddy Darrell, formerly T. Paine, wrote this at my blog on Jan 8, 2021: “Dave, Trump was wrong to give encouragement and a wink and a nod to the protestors and delaying any attempt to rein them back. He was complicit. Sadly this ego maniacal narcissist tarnished the myriad of good things he has done for our country with this latest escapade.”

This is what Darrell wrote on May 15, 2021: “Trump instigates a riot according to the left and the media, but then I repeat myself. (He didn’t.)”

And there you have it. Radicalization accomplished.

Flag-Gate

Flag-Gate is the radical Right's new front on their jihad against our fairly elected President Biden.

President Biden rescinded his order for flags to be flown at half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day Saturday.

The Radical Right pounced. “Aha! Now we have proof! Sleepy Joe must really hate cops, amirite?”

“In case you had any question as to where President Biden stands on police, now you know,” said Kayleigh McEnany.

New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) called Biden’s decision “outrageous” and said his state would continue flying flags at half-staff.

Florida Representative Brian Mast (R) tweeted: “Earlier this week Joe Biden announced that flags would be flown at Half Staff tomorrow to honor the men & women in blue who died in the line of duty. Today he “Friday news dumped” that he’d changed his mind: in his opinion, they aren’t worthy of lowering the flags. Unacceptable!”

Radical Right hate and ignorance are what should be unacceptable. The Radical Right wants us to believe that Joe thinks policemen killed in the line of duty “aren’t worthy” of being honored.

Willful ignorance not only fuels anger and hatred in radical Right ideology, they embrace it.

The Washington Post explained:

President Biden initially ordered flags on Saturday to be flown at half-staff. Then he ordered them back up at full-staff.

It’s because of a quirk that comes up every half dozen years or so, when a day that honors two groups collides — with two different protocols for the American flag. For Peace Officers Memorial Day, which falls on May 15, flags are supposed to be at half-staff. But the third Saturday in May is marked to honor Armed Forces Day — and on that day, flags are supposed to be full-staff.

On Saturday, those two days were one and the same.

Biden’s initial proclamation last week said that flags should be flown at half-staff. But he reissued a proclamation on Friday making clear that flags were to remain at full-staff.

The White House declined to comment on the record about the change, but suggested that it was done to remain in compliance with U.S. codes honoring Armed Forces Day.

“The flag shall be flown at half-staff on Peace Officers Memorial Day, unless that day is also Armed Forces Day,” reads the U.S. code pertaining to the flag.

Plainly, this nuance is on a scale unfathomable to the radical Right.

Will radical Right Republicans admit to their error? 

No.

Will radical Right Republicans admit it when their accusations are false? 

No.

Will radical Right Republicans EVER admit to their errors and false accusations? 

No.

Will radical Right Republicans EVER admit that Trump lied and lost to Biden? 

No.

Will radical Right Republicans EVER apologize for their errors, lies and false accusations? 

No.

Radical Right Authoritarians have always considered admission of errors, false accusations, lies and apologies as weakness. 

Their self-righteous sense of superior morality, innate arrogance, and fragile egos, won’t allow it. They can't imagine being mistaken or misled because they are always right. 

Well, radical far Right to be precise.

Isn't It Just Terrible?

 

In these turbulent times of social upheaval, I think I've found the least I can do to help. I would like to offer support to our special white conservative friends who are fed up with racism...against them.

Yes. They are the “real victims” of racism.

~~~~

“Whites Believe They Are Victims of Racism More Often Than Blacks”

Whites believe that they have replaced blacks as the primary victims of racial discrimination in contemporary America, according to a new study from researchers at Tufts University's School of Arts and Sciences and Harvard Business School... "On average, whites rated anti-white bias as more prevalent in the 2000s than anti-black bias by more than a full point on the 10-point scale. Moreover, some 11% of whites gave anti-white bias the maximum rating of 10 compared with only 2% of whites who rated anti-black bias a 10."

“Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game That They Are Now Losing”

To test our hypotheses that many Whites now perceive anti-White bias to be more prevalent than anti-Black bias and that this view is related to Whites’ conception of racism in zero-sum terms, we asked a large national sample of Black and White Americans.

"Whites See Anti-White Bias as More Prevalent Than Anti-Black Bias"

...Black respondents perceived decreases in anti-Black bias over time and relatively nonexistent anti-White bias, but White respondents perceived anti-Black bias as declining even more quickly and anti-White bias as increasing sharply— particularly in recent years. Indeed, we observed a complete reversal over time in White respondents’ views of racism. Whereas Blacks saw greater anti-Black bias in every decade, ts(207) 20.55, ps < .001, this gap reversed in the 2000s for Whites: They perceived more anti-White bias than anti-Black bias...Not only do Whites think more progress has been made toward equality than do Blacks, but Whites also now believe that this progress is linked to a new inequality—at their expense.

~~~~~

Our dear white conservatives epitomize the quaint expression, “To the privileged, equality feels like oppression.”

The poor dears.

Indeed our special white conservative friends see themselves as innocent souls tortured by injustice, bigotry, and persecution.

How do we comfort our marginalized white conservatives who whine about being the "real victims" of discrimination and racism? How can we soothe their existential suffering?

We could say:

 

You poor guys. All that persecution and discrimination against you must be insufferable. Like your Dear Leader in exile, nobody has ever been treated as unfairly as conservative white Americans.

Sometimes it just FEELS like it’s true. Isn’t it just terrible?

Isn't it just terrible that white conservatives are always stopped by police for "driving while white"?

Isn't it just terrible that a white conservative could get a knee to the throat and killed for an alleged fake $20 bill?

Isn't it just terrible that white conservatives are persecuted for being "real Americans" and the only “true patriots”?

Isn't it just terrible that white conservatives are suffering reduced poll access and longer voting lines?

Isn't it just terrible that white conservatives need to prohibit water being given to Blacks in their much shorter voting lines?

Isn't it just terrible that white conservatives are denied services from gay-owned businesses?

Isn't it just terrible that white conservatives had the election "stolen" from them?

Isn't it just terrible that white conservatives have to wear masks in a pandemic?

Isn't it just terrible that white conservatives needed to brandish weapons in the Michigan capitol building after being told by Trump to "Liberate Michigan"?

Isn't it just terrible that white conservatives needed to plot the kidnapping and murder of Michigan’s governor because Trump hates her for following medical advice in a pandemic?

The Lansing Occupation turned out to be the dress rehearsal and prelude to Trump's January 6th coup.

Why? Isn't it obvious?

Because nobody has ever treated more unfairly than white conservatives and Trump, America's Number One White Victim.

Oh, the injustices endured for being white and conservative. 

No wonder you are so resentful at having less representation in Congress, especially the Senate, than any other group.

No wonder you must suffer the injustices of a stacked liberal Supreme Court.

The socialist commies of the “left” have all the power, and are using it to oppress white conservatives. Especially very wealthy white conservatives.

Will no one speak for them? It’s as if the entire federal government is run by a leftist deep state out to punish corporations and billionaires with taxes and destroy our freedom,

And Joe Biden is coming for your hamburgers!!

And we know the "left" is anyone who thinks Trump is a racist, a birther, a liar, a criminal and a cheater.

The "left" are all socialist commies for demanding racial and gender equality.

The "left" are all socialist commies for demanding reform and accountably for abusive law enforcement.

The "left" are all socialist commies for believing Biden won the election.

The "left" are all socialist commies for blaming Trump for his violent attempted coup to overturn the fair election.

The "left" are all socialist commies for believing loyal Trumpists are authoritarians who would vote for the insurrectionist again.

The "left" are all socialist commies for wanting fewer obstacles to voter rights, voter registration, poll access, ballot boxes, mail-in ballots, and fair representation.  
 
The "left" are all socialist commies for wanting Constitutional taxes on corporations and the rich, Constitutional regulation of commerce, and Constitutional provision for the general welfare.

The "left" are all America-hating socialist commies, just like the socialist commie founders who put all those anti-American socialist provisions in the Constitution.

All of which proves the "left hates America” and along with minorities are the "real bigots". And of course, conservative white people are the real victims.

Isn’t it just terrible?