What is Satan about Donald Trump?

Just like with Elon Musk, who was hugely responsible for T-rump winning the 2024 election, the Oval Office lunatic is enamored with Satan because the Prince of Darkness represents the evil ways in which Donald Trump has led his life, conducted his businesses, and is now terrorizing and destroying America. Rick Wilson, an anti-Trump GOP strategist and co-founder of the Lincoln Project, wrote a best-seller, "Running Against the Devil: A Plot to Save America from Trump--and Democrats from Themselves." 

The book was written for the 2020 election with the following blurb...

"NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • One of the founders of The Lincoln Project, the bestselling author of Everything Trump Touches Dies is back with a guidebook for beating Trump’s tricks, traps, and tweets in 2020."

Joe Scarborough, of MSNBC's Morning Joe, had this to say...

“If you believe America’s future depends on Donald Trump’s political machine being crushed at the polls next year, then Rick Wilson’s Running Against the Devil is a must-read.”

Apparently the voting public paid no attention because the accomplice of the evil spirit won and is currently attempting to dissect our country into pieces this tyrant can control under his dictatorship. But he hasn't been all successful, considering Alison Durkee's piece in Forbes, Here Are All The Major Lawsuits Against Trump And Musk—As Judge Cuts Off DOGE’s Treasury Access. The timeline starts with Jan. 20, 2024, inauguration day, and goes through Feb. 8. Also obvious, Donald Trump has SCOTUS in his pocket.

Jeffery R. Wilson, a teacher of writing at Harvard University, has another viewpoint. He says, "Trump is Satan," with the sub-headline, "Paradise Lost in Washington, DC." The latter refers to John Milton's "Paradise Lost," published in 1667, with a charismatic Satan and naked, innocent Adam and Eve at the center of his story, it was a human tragedy about the

Trump...Satan...Hitler

Fall of Man. Wilson's treatise on Trump as Satan starts with...

"Donald Trump is Satan. The Satan in question is perhaps the greatest literary character in the finest epic poem in the English language, John Milton’s Paradise Lost. That makes Washington Republicans the other fallen angels."

The author exclaims that Republicans made a deal with the devil, selling their souls like Dr. Faustus, bringing back memories of Mitch McConnell, who placed GOP power over everything, including ethics. In the Wilson quote, above, Washington Republicans as the other fallen angels, is a superb description of Trump's flunkys in Congress and others in his administration who are unbelievably scared of him, constantly in fear of his wrath. But Jeffrey Wilson worries his piece will be seen as just political railing against Trump...

"Trump as Satan: you might think it’s absurdly over-the-top, or want to celebrate it as a (literally) epic takedown, but this is not a political statement hurling invective. It’s an analytical statement describing what is happening – what will happen – and why, aided by the Miltonic intervention. Great literature helps us understand the world. Both politicians and literary critics do their jobs best when they’re willing to use literature to think about life.

Key words, 'analytical statement,' professing that Wilson has done his homework, and you can count on his verbalizations. Here's the scenario...

"Published in London in 1667, Paradise Lost is a Christian humanist epic about the war in Heaven and the fall of humankind in the Garden of Eden. Though he’s the ‘author of evil,’ Satan is shockingly an attractive character. He charms us with his energy. When God the Father anoints his Son king over the other angels, Satan, ‘Great in power’, doesn’t think it’s fair. The system was rigged."

Sound familiar? Donald Trump is denied the White House in 2020 when Joe Biden beats him to take over the Oval Office. From then, until he won the election in 2024, and continuing even today, Trump has asserted his right to office because 2020 was rigged for Biden. And of course all his lackeys like Kari Lake, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz and several more acted as cheerleaders and still do. Here's another description from Milton that fits T-rump, except I deny he is a "powerful orator," rather just a bigmouth...

"A powerful orator, but loose with the truth, Satan secures a base of support, ‘and with lyes drew after him the third part of Heav’ns Host.’ This third of the angels back Satan to the bitter end, no matter what."

Paradise Lost seems so Trump-laden that I decided to read it again. In the meantime, John Milton recognizes Satan as a relentless liar and the first Never Satan-er to stand up is an angel named Abdiel, after which a war ensues, and God must send his Son to bring it all to a halt. But Jeffrey Wilson says, "Trump’s minions won’t fall so willingly" with Milton seeing it this way...

Republicans are more likely to fall like the stars in the Book of Revelation, Milton’s source: ‘His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth.’ That image of a falling Satan’s tail whipping out behind him, snagging the third of the angels that backed him, pulling them down, is what Milton invoked in the poem’s first epic simile. After crashing down in Hell, Satan lies belly-down in the swamp, a slumbering Leviathan.

Trump has always said he wants to clean the swamp. Perhaps the "cleaning" has always meant that we should just get rid of Donals Trump. 

 

MARK TWAIN: "The truth has no defense against a fool determined to believe a lie"

The headline is a Mark Twain quote. And it precisely describes the predicament the good people of this country find themselves in the fight against Donald Trump's lies and the supporting morons that believe him. Think about it...these lost souls are probably in double-digit territory in connection with their mental status and follow the Oval Office lunatic without the slightest hesitation nor evidence of reality. Donald Trump is a habitual liar. Some of his nominated administration misfits are liars. And there you have the blueprint for Trump 2.0.

Guess what...it couldn't have been that long after his inauguration that Trump shifted to his usual deluding, con-artist roll. In comparison to his inaugural address, in the speech at Emancipation Hall there were a lot of lies told, many of them familiar, according to CNN's Jake Tapper, along with Daniel Dale, the network's famous fact-checker. Dale's retort to Tapper was...

"There were a bunch, Jake."

There's more...

Dale noted that while there was only a "smattering of falsehoods" in Trump's "scripted" inaugural speech, he "returned to his familiar lie-a-minute style" during the "unscripted" Emancipation Hall speech.

Here we go...

"He [Trump] said the 2020 election was totally rigged," Dale told Tapper. "We know that's a lie. He said his opponents tried to rig it this time; that is more nonsense. He said California Democrats tried to cheat, and that he thinks he would have won the state this time if it were not rigged. Well, it was a free and fair election in that state as well; he lost by more than three million votes."

For the seven-hundredth time, we are hearing the same 2020 steal story, one that has been disproven over seven-hundred times, which must indicate some level of dementia, or just that Donald Trump is stupid. Remember Kari Lake? She was a loyal Trump fan who used the same strategy but in respect to her loss of the Arizona governor's election. Arizonans, of which I am one, grew tired of Lake's whining and decided to give her another defeat when Ruben Gallego beat her in the Senate race.

"The CNN fact-checker also debunked Trump's false claims about the January 6,

 

2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol Building."

Sarah K. Burris in AlterNet calls Trump 'One million percent total insane' for his claim that California's wildfires were being allowed to spread “without even a token of defense.” Here's the scenario...

"What an insult to all the amazing firefighters who put their lives on the line to bring the LA fires under control! Trump starts out with a speech filled with massive lies, deceit, insults as he trashes the country to uplift his own deviance," she said on X.

Another writer in this article spoke about Donald Trump' ignorance about what "asylum" means. It seems that Trump believes that the immigrants seeking asylum are also those who come from insane asylums and are being sent to the U.S. MSNBC host Mehdi Hasan, thinks Stephen Miller may have written Trump's speech and could be behind the inane idea that asylum-seekers are coming from mental asylums. And, of course, the White House maniac couldn't speak too long without taking a shot at Joe Biden...

New York Times reporter Glenn Thrush noted Trump is already preparing to take credit for former President Joe Biden's work, "Many of the crises Trump has vowed to address (taming inflation, ridding cities of violent crime, building the world's most formidable military...) are already well on the way to be solved..."

More from CNN's Daniel Dale and Trump's Emancipation Hall speech...

"He [Trump] claimed he won Alabama this time by 48 points — more like 30, 31. And then, on immigration, he spoke of the jails of every country in the world being emptied into this country. He has never provided any evidence for his familiar claim that foreign countries are deliberating emptying prisons to send people here as migrants."

 There are several more instances of Donald Trump's misinformation fantasies in the above AlterNet piece, well worth reading. It almost seems that Mark Twain had Donald Trump and his minions in mind when he concocted the above [headline] statement. Dorothy Parker said...

"I require only three things of a man: He must be handsome, ruthless and stupid." 

Naw, she would shoot Trump down in flames and write something like this...

'Only a grifter like Donald Trump could get away with murder and have the person murdered thank him.'

Folks, we must press on for four years. 

 

 

and

Kari Lake Turns On DeSantis

 

Most Arizona voters have gotten over Kari Lake and just want her to go away. I am one of those, but, and this is a huge BUT. Daily Beast says she...

"once fawned over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for having the “BDE [Big Dick Energy] that we want all of our leaders to have,” is now spreading conspiracy theories about the Republican darling."

We need a good liberal strategist, like James Carville, to put together a blueprint to wreck DeSantis' drive to the White House in 2024 and send him back to Florida where he can continue to ravage that state.  

George Carlin talks - Stop making stupid people famous

 

The headline is taken from an Internet quote and represents a great array of politicians today like Arizona's Kari Lake and Georgia's Herschel Walker. They came out of the woodwork with a mouth loud enough to get the attention of the stupid people George Carlin is talking about. The question is, how can we get rid of them?

Kari Lake salutes Trump/Hitler

 

We know what a loser Kari Lake is, brought down in part by her love and affection for Donald Trump. It is endless, as well as her passion for denying the fact that Joe Biden won the 2020 election. Lake is, of course, a lunatic who thought she could parlay her television exposure into a political career. She didn't, but she hasn't given up yet and goes on with a new strategy planned to unseat Arizona's elected governor, Katie Hobbs. Republicans never learn, especially Trumpsters.

Billionaires and Large U.S. Corporations Support Anti-Democracy

 

It is beyond disconcerting to realize one of the richest families in the U.S. supports the 2020 election deniers spending over $1 million to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory. It was right-wing shipping magnates Dick and Elizabeth Uihlein and their money went to "campaigns or committees tied to the 147 Republicans who voted, on January 6, (2021), to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory." But their affection for MAGA goes a lot farther, according to AlterNet...

"Sollenberger, writing for the [Daily] Beast in an article published on November 28, reports that in 2021, Arizona Republican Party Vice Chair Gina Swoboda was hired as executive director for “the Uihlein-backed dark money nonprofit Restoration Action Inc.” Her salary was $108,750 per year."

And in corporate America some of the largest corporations handed out more than $8 million "in campaign contributions toward candidates running for federal office who denied the results of the 2020 election and promoted ideas that the race was stolen from former president Donald Trump." Of course, Chas. Koch and Koch Industries was one of the leaders in the gang of democracy mongers. Another you will want to know about before planning home repairs is Home Depot.

There are more so remember the names if you have a relationship with these companies and let them know how you feel...

"AT&T, Home Depot and UPS, which collectively contributed more than $1.6 million to campaigns that pushed ideas of election fraud.

"Others included Comcast, NBC Universal, the American Crystal Sugar Company and Delta Airlines."

 Arizona GOP Election Rejecting Zeal Could Boomerang On Party's Candidates...

What is most concerning is how organized these people are becoming as if this is only the beginning of the battle...and it may very well be. Here's the scenario and you can see why Arizona is known today as the hotbed of anti-democracy...

“Swoboda, a former Trump campaign official and the vice chair of the... 

"Arizona Republican Party, is now leading a misguided charge against the ballot count in that state on behalf of GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake,” Sollenberger explains. “Swoboda currently serves as ‘election integrity’ coordinator for Lake, whose repeated false claims of voter fraud have ingratiated her to former President Donald Trump and who still refuses to acknowledge her election loss to (Democratic Arizona Secretary of State) Katie Hobbs.”"

Kari Lake is a big promoter of Swoboda and the Uihleins' funded Restoration of

America network which is a hub for election denial, including funding some of the key players pushing election falsehoods in Arizona at the moment. There is so much more in this article that will make the democracy-loving public literally sick to their stomach. It's a great read! In closing, this is AlterNet's overall perspective...

"This is a reminder that there’s big money behind the push to undermine democracy. Through Restoration Action and other entities, an array of groups pushing election conspiracy theories are backed by literally tens of millions of dollars from just one billionaire couple.”

This anti-democracy movement must be stopped now but so far lacks a real leader. If one doesn't step up to the plate soon it could be too late. 

 

ARIZONA...The Hotbed Of Anti-Democracy

 

I have lived in Arizona for over twenty years. We left Los Angeles because of the gangs that were slowly migrating up the coast where we lived. When we arrived here and discovered how conservative and far-right the state was (didn't do my homework), we didn't want to leave; rather we thought another liberal presence in the land of the sun could help change the state to, at least, moderate. We have had luck finding other liberals and now Arizona has definitely turned purple, we think on the way to blue.

But as it turns out the Donald Trump administration, which didn't make the state necessarily more red, did incite the brand of retaliatory politics that has resulted in the recent chaotic gubernatorial election. Kari Lake, a radical right Trumpster who is also a 2020 election denier, challenged Democrat, Katie Hobbs, who wasn't squeaky clean but a hell of a lot more honest and qualified than Lake. Hobbs had a narrow win but Lake is still contesting the certified voting results. 

Other Trumpsters and 2020 election deniers also lost, but Abe Hamadeh, in a tight race for...

"attorney general, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday contesting the preliminary results of an election that had already been headed to an automatic recount."

You can see the stupidity of these people who react with no thought to what they are doing. Idiots. Hamadeh had a guaranteed runoff. But, what puzzles me even more, probably shouldn't in Arizona, is the fact the races are so close. You would think when known anarchists are on the ballot the logic would be that it is a threat to our democracy, vote them down. Much of the country did in the blue tsunami, but not Arizona. The New York Times reports...

Mr. Hamadeh’s lawsuit, filed in State Superior Court in Maricopa County, names as defendants Arizona’s secretary of state — Katie Hobbs, a Democrat who won the governor’s race — as well as the county recorders and boards of supervisors in the state’s 15 counties. The Republican National Committee joined Mr. Hamadeh in the suit as a plaintiff.

 Inside The Arizona GOP' 'Anti-Democracy Experiment'...

And on Thanksgiving Day, it was reported that Lake filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County, demanding information about Election Day printer problems. She said, "I still have hope." Here's the scenario...

"Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake filed a lawsuit against Maricopa County officials on Wednesday, accusing them of breaking election laws and demanding they provide information about voters whose ballots were impacted by Election Day printer issues."

But, one of the most critical wins for Democrats was Sec. of State; the position controls state elections and Republican candidate and a Trump denier Mark Finchem had repeatedly said he may not certify some elections. With that area worsening on a daily basis, the Washington Post corroborates the problem in this piece, "Election denial is reaching new levels of absurdity in Arizona." Here's their

take...

"Arizona is home for many of the most fervent true believers in the election fraud myth. Their ire is directed toward election authorities in Maricopa County, home of Phoenix, where roughly 60 percent of the state’s votes are cast. After the 2020 election, the purveyors of the fraud narrative pushed the state legislature to authorize the so-called audit of the county’s vote. That effort confirmed Joe Biden’s victory, but it did nothing to quell the faithful’s suspicions."

That was followed by what WaPo calls the "fraud squad," illegal electors, led by gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake. She, along with the Trump supported gang of mock politicians lost, and as far as I am concerned, Arizona is saved...for the time being. We still have a Republican legislature to deal with and Governor-elect Katie Hobbs has indicated her plan to work with them. Being the self-designated state pessimist, I have my doubts but unlimited hope for turning Arizona blue.

Will Extremism Haunt The Republican Party To Self-Destruction?

New York Times columnist, Charles M. Blow, says, "Extremism Is on the Rise … Again." And here I thought it had never abated. But Blow, being the excellent journalist he is, qualifies his headline, written before the Nov. 8 elections, citing one startling fact...

"There are 291 election deniers on the ballot."

You can see the 291 deniers in the "on the ballot" link, above, with names you will recognize like Kevin McCarthy, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Ron DeSantis, Kari Lake, Herschel Walker; you get the idea. But Blow reports...

In a major speech Wednesday night, President Biden described election denial as “the path to chaos in America.” “It’s unprecedented,” he said. “It’s unlawful. And it’s un-American.” But in truth, the extremism, racism and white nationalism are neither un-American nor unfamiliar.

There are comparisons with the William Howard Taft administration in 1908, later Woodrow Wilson, who campaigned on an “America First” platform, which soon became "associated not just with isolationism, but also with the Ku Klux Klan, xenophobia and fascism." Wilson was a racist from the South and is measured against Donald Trump who Blow says...

"is one of the worst presidents — if not the worst — that this country has ever had."

More matching between Wilson and Trump...

It was Wilson who screened “The Birth of a Nation” at the White House, a film that pushed the “Lost Cause” narrative and fueled the rebirth of the Klan.

 Assessing threats of political violence and rising extremism on the far-right...

Trump hosted a screening of “2,000 Mules” — a fact-checker-debunked documentary that purported to show widespread voter fraud carried out by “mules” who stuffed ballot boxes with harvested ballots during the last presidential election — at Mar-a-Lago, which Trump has called the Southern White House. That film has helped boost his followers’ belief in his lie about the 2020 election.

Civil war has been talked up by Republicans and now they are targeting their own with in-fighting over the upcoming Dec. 6, runoff between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker. This is a must win for the GOP and it all boiled over recently between Mitch McConnell and Rick Scott of Florida...

"A long-simmering, mostly private tension between the two men and their allies came to a head this week as their respective political consultants resorted to publicly insulting each other, particularly over how each was approaching the upcoming Georgia election."

Democrats would welcome Republicans keeping their extremism internally as long

as there is no spillover to the rest of the country. Annihilating each other could be the answer to saving our democracy. Neither Trump nor Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has offered Walker help, and some say the GOP big guns are not so enthusiastic about Herschel Walker because his win will not give them control of the Senate. And finally, more talk of civil war, this time between Republicans...

"Marjorie Taylor Greene says she is ready [to] unleash a civil war in the Republican Party after its poor showing in the midterms.

"The Georgia congresswoman also indicated she would throw her support behind House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in an interview with Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast."

Have you heard the talk recently from a past GOP congressman who said Kevin McCarthy will be Speaker of the House in name only? He said Marjorie Taylor Greene will be the actual Speaker.

Did anyone see that coming? 

Kari Lake, You Lost...Now Please Go Away

 

Kari Lake didn't run a good campaign and Katie Hobbs ran a lousy campaign but she won because the people of Arizona realized Lake is a lunatic with a maniacal agenda. She is a Donald Trump avid supporter and most important an election denier who ranted through her campaign with a string of lies that would make Trump proud. Here is Salon's scenario...

"Lake, a former news anchor who was backed by former President Donald Trump, became one of the most prominent election deniers in the country but ultimately lost like so many other election deniers that the former president backed in key battleground states. Fellow Arizona election deniers Blake Masters and Mark Finchem also lost the U.S. Senate and secretary of state races, respectively."

Last Monday, Kari Lake tweeted, "Arizonans know BS when they see it." And they did by electing Democrat Katie Hobbs and sending Lake to the showers, or worse. Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., agreed, tweeting, "As it turns out, yes, yes they did," in response to the beaten candidate's comment. Another, "Totally true, as the vote shows," jabbed Rep. Jared Huffman, D-Calif. Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo...

shared a letter Lake sent to her in October thanking her for an "in-kind contribution" to her campaign by campaigning against her. "You're welcome," Cheney wrote. 

Do you believe this?...

"Kari Lake told a legion of John McCain supporters across Arizona that they could go to hell. Tonight, [election nite] they returned the favor," an anonymous GOP strategist told CNN.

Even the dumbest of Arizona Republicans knows that you do not attack John McCain in this state. And, Arizona gun nuts came out in force...

Sheriff's deputies were dispatched to the Maricopa County Election Center over the [past] weekend after dozens of GOP supporters, including some that were armed and wearing ballistic vests, staged a protest and carried signs claiming "Kari Lake Won" and "Hobbs is a Cheat." But there was no repeat of the aggressive 2020 election protests at the vote-counting center, said Sheriff Paul Penzone, and the protest cleared out after about an hour.

"Former Republican strategist Tim Miller said Lake's tweet that 'Arizonans know BS when they see it' was 'unintentionally' right." Miller wonders now just how far Kari Lake might go, since she is so Trump-indoctrinated; could she continue this battle about the Arizona governor's race into the future? The state is full of MAGA Republicans capable of a statehouse insurrection and with some of the loosest gun laws in the country, it could be a bloodbath.

 Katie Hobbs Defeats Kari Lake To Win Arizona Governor’s Race...

The HuffPost came up with a long line of tweets mocking Kari Lake's tweet, "Arizonans know BS when they see it." One of my favorites is Rick Wilson, co-founder of The Lincoln Project, a Republican who has established himself as anti-Trump, who said, "Clearly. That's why they rejected you." While Trump cries election fraud, we have this from the New York Post...

"She [Kari Lake] is the latest Trump-endorsed MAGA candidate to be rejected by voters in the midterm elections, which failed to unleash the “red wave” of GOP victories that Republicans had predicted.

"From Pennsylvania to Nevada, a parade of Trump’s handpicked candidates vying to become senators or governors faltered, among them Dr. Mehmet Oz, Blake Masters and Doug Mastriano.

"Likewise, all the Trump-backed hopefuls running for secretaries of state in key battleground states met the same fate."

Trump's purpose in winning Sec. State offices is because they control elections, thus, would be under his thumb. You might remember that in the 2020 election, Trump demanded the Georgia secretary of state 'find' enough votes to hand him win. Here's the scenario...

"In an hour-long phone call with Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on Saturday, [Jan. 2, 2021]President Donald Trump falsely claimed it was "not possible" for him to have lost in The Peach State, and asked the secretary to "find" the exact number of votes he would need -- just one vote over the margin that he trailed President-elect Joe Biden by -- so he could be declared the winner of an election that three separate counts confirmed he lost."

And...

Raffensperger, a Republican who supported the president's reelection but has maintained Georgia's election was legitimate and accurate, rebuffed the president's allegations, saying the data the president is citing to claim tens of thousands of illegal votes, "is wrong."

You may also remember the Georgia's AG investigation of Trump's interference covered in Newsweek...

"It wouldn't surprise me for Georgia to become the first jurisdiction to indict a former president on felony charges. I doubt it'll be the last. And I think the charges will stick," Laurence Tribe, professor emeritus of constitutional law at Harvard University.

Tribe's remarks came as Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis ramps up her investigation into Trump's alleged efforts to overturn Georgia's vote in the 2020 presidential election. Trump lost the state by a narrow margin of 0.23 points.

So, it's over for Kari Lake and Donald Trump. Now, if we can only get rid of Moscow Mitch and Kevin McCarthy. Any ideas? 

With 2022 Almost In The Books, What's Next

 

Some of the most undone work is the Arizona governor's race between Democrat Katie Hobbs and Republican Kari Lake. Hobbs leads the Trump lunatic Lake by only one point and Arizona is taking forever for the final vote count. This race has national ramifications in that a Lake win could boost her into the national picture. Rather than document the insanity of her campaign, you can see a compilation of my posts here. It is astonishing to me Lake has gotten this far.

Now, back to the national scene with a tug of war between Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis for 2024. The Daily Beast says, "Trump Would Easily Crush DeSantis in Battle Today." That's today but in two years this country could be in a new civil war if the hate-mongers don't back off their rhetoric. 

Majority Of Trump Voters Say Civil War ‘Likely’ In Next Decade...

I recently finished The Next Civil War by Stephen Marche and it is frightening. One of the author's findings describes how the next one won't be fought on the battlefield, rather it will be neighbor against neighbor, depending on your political stand. Just think of the consequences especially if you live in a radically right area and you are on the liberal left. I urge you to read my post and if you really want a scare, read Marche's The Next Civil War.

And right in the middle of all this altercation is a war between Donald Trump and

Ron DeSantis that might just surpass 'winner takes all' to a conclusion of 'self annihilation.' It is an unfortunate fact but with the current situation in America this may be the happy ending. If this could take down the Republican Party to a point where they have to negotiate, we have saved our democracy. A recent Mother Jones headline: "The Party of Don’t Say 'Democracy'” says it all...

"Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) sent out a campaign with a solemn, all-caps heading: PARTICIPATING IN OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC.

"As I read the email, I noticed that Boebert’s campaign uses a lot of words here to describe our form of government. It’s a “constitutional process.” It’s “representative.” But one word is glaringly absent: “democracy.”

Of course, Lauren Boebert is an idiot but her words reflect the position of the Republican Party. There's more...

Indeed, Republicans across the country are removing the word “democracy” from their lexicon. My colleague Pema Levy reported today that in Arizona, Senate candidate Blake Masters argued that the United States is not a democracy but a republic. “It sounds like a nerdy takedown,” she writes, “but it’s being bandied with frequency by Republicans who also support minority rule and supported overturning President Biden’s 2020 victory.”

Robert Reich says, and I agree, Democrats Can No Longer Compromise with “Authoritarian” Republicans. Republicans no longer understand or condone the word "compromise." From the right, no one since Everett Dirksen, U.S. Senator from Illinois, has mastered his ability to negotiate and compromise for the good of the U.S. Reich says...

President Biden must “push back as hard as he can” if Republicans take control of even one chamber in Congress following Tuesday’s midterm elections. He says the administration needs to be clear there is no compromise on the debt ceiling, which he expects a Republican-controlled Congress would challenge, potentially triggering a repeat of the political crisis in 2011 under former President Obama.

Well, the Democrats still hold the Senate and that position could strengthen if Warnock wins in Georgia. The House is still up for grabs but, at best, Republicans will end up with a small majority. The focus is then on 2023, then 2024 with plenty of time for the left to build momentum.

Major Threats to Democracy: Kari Lake and Ron DeSantis

 

What can one say about Ron (the despot) DeSantis? Well, he thinks he is God, as expressed in a 90-minute campaign ad released just before the midterms. This alone should have turned off the numb nuts in Florida who support him. But it didn't; he had a significant win. These people are just like the Trump minions who were trounced in the recent election and could likely return to violence for vindication. DeSantis is an offshoot of Trump, perhaps, even more depraved and dangerous. Here's the ad...

God made a liar Ron DeSantis Campaign ad...

And then there is the unbelievably sick and stupid Ron DeSantis campaign ad (above) that everyone, including the former Republican Nat'l Committee chair, says is the worst ever in the field of politics. Only a complete idiot would believe this crap! But right after the ad ran, DeSantis won the governor's election from Charlie Crist by almost 20 points. Go figure? If this bullshit swayed the voters in Florida, it is definitely a mandate of the low level of their intelligence.

Frank Bruni of the New York Times calls it, "Ron DeSantis’s God Complex." When you think about it, you not only hear this in what DeSantis says, but it is also portrayed in the smug look he expresses in public. This is Bruni's scenario on the ad...

"In little more than 90 seconds, its unseen narrator mentions “God” 10 times, beginning with the assertion that “on the eighth day” God gazed at a newly created world and decided that it needed a protector. “So God made a fighter,” the narrator says — sonorously, somberly. That’s the ad’s refrain, intoned again and again, and accompanied each time by a shining, commanding image of DeSantis."

MSNBC says...

"The ad is so ham-handed that one could imagine DeSantis later claiming it was tongue-in-cheek. He has not, so far. But even if it is just a tease, like many far right and authoritarian “jokes,” DeSantis is not kidding around. The ad is dangerous and anti-democratic, and was meant that way."

The dialogue from the ad could have been lifted from "a well-known speech, “So God Made a Farmer,” that the radio personality Paul Harvey delivered in 1978 to what was then known as the Future Farmers of America." And here is more examination from Bruni...

"To me, DeSantis doesn’t seem quite so levelheaded. (As exclaimed by 

Bruni's colleague Ross Douthat) He picks and hypes battles designed to cast him as some conservative superhero. In that regard he’s histrionic and hyperbolic, and I could easily see him overplaying his hand, especially in regard to religion. The “God” ad signals that any presidential bid by DeSantis, who is clearly plotting one, will aggressively court Christian nationalists and, in the process, empower them. "More from MSNBC's Sarah Posner...

"DeSantis’ premise — that just as God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to bring salvation to a sinful world, he has sent DeSantis to save an immoral America — seems so over the top that it’s hard to believe the campaign would use it."

Trump has just commented that he will 'scorched-earth humiliate' Ron DeSantis if he tries to take him on." He did say recently he had "dirt" on the Florida governor. And, I almost hesitate to say this but, could Donald Trump's war with Ron DeSantis set the stage for a huge win by the left in 2024? What the hell, it's worth a try.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Major Threats to Democracy: Kari Lake and Ron DeSantis

 

Republican Kari Lake is running for Arizona governor against Democrat Katie Hobbs with the results as of this writing Hobbs 50.33 to Lake 49.67. There are over 600,000 votes yet to be counted with the state being compared to Florida which had their votes counted just hours after the polls closed. If Kari Lake should win, she carries the baggage of being a Donald Trump minion and 2020 election denier. Morning Joe says Lake is, "Willing to do or say anything."...

"MSNBC's Joe Scarborough singled out one of Donald Trump's hand-picked candidates as a threat to U.S. democracy."

Kari Lake also supports Arizona state Senator Wendy Rogers "who promotes white Christian nationalism, racist conspiracy theories and election fraud claims." Here's another example...

"Top Arizona Republican candidates Kari Lake and Abraham Hamadeh, who are running for governor and attorney general, respectively, spent the final days of the campaign praising a GOP state legislator who has embraced white Christian nationalism, racist conspiracy theories and baseless election fraud claims."

 Lake also LIED that Lee Zeldin, GOP candidate for New York governor, got

stabbed while he was speaking to a crowd of people not all that long ago. Then blamed the "left" in the spread of her lie. And then there is my post, 'Kari Lake knows that the MAGA mob must stay ignorant in order for Trumpism to work. She wants less math, science, and history in public high schools.' But the clincher is my Sept. 2022 post, 'Kari Lake Invites Jesus Christ to Arizona." You have to read it.

Finally...

Speaking on MSNBC, Fanone (Capitol cop who was injured) referred to Lake, who is the Republican nominee in the 2022 Arizona gubernatorial election, as a “piece of sh*t".

 To read all my posts on Kari Lake, go here.

Maricopa voting officials announced earlier today that they would be counting votes into early next week. Meanwhile, voters will be counting the hours until Katie Hobbs is pronounced Governor of the state of Arizona.

NEXT: The mayhem of Florida's dictator, Ron DeSantis

GOP Red Wave Fizzles To A "Puddle"

The Washington Post coined the saying adding it was a "messy" one at that. At the same time, RawStory exclaims, "Not many signs of a red wave at this point’: Election experts say there’s lots of good news for Democrats." Okay, it wasn't a blue tsunami like Michael Moore predicted, but it also wasn't a blowout like Republicans envisioned. The governor's race in Arizona is still up for grabs with Democrat Katie Hobbs 50.1% of vote, Kari Lake 49.9%. 73% of votes counted.

The pundits have labeled Arizona a test of the future of democracy in this country. If the denier, liar and conspiracy specialist Kari Lake, supported by Donald Trump, wins, Arizona goes down the tube. Unfortunately, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs did win reelections but, there is some good news... 

Democratic Secretary of State candidate Adrian Fontes held a lead over Republican nominee Rep. Mark Finchem, R-Oro Valley, when initial election results were published on Tuesday night, 59.4% to 40.6%.

And more on the good side: For U.S. Senate, Democrat incumbent Mark Kelly

51.2% and Republican Blake Masters 46.6%, 66.9% reporting. There are other Arizona races but none as important to the democracy to the state and the country than the above.  Just before 11 PM Tuesday on MSNBC Jen Psaki observed...

"This was supposed to be an election where it would be embarrassing for Joe Biden to wake up in the morning. And it's not going to be."

The Washington Post reported...

"Voters, it would appear, saw this midterm as something more than a referendum on the party in power; with Republicans putting forward a host of extreme, election-denying candidates and little by way of an agenda, it became a choice between two drastically different paths forward."

Further...

"Between former president Donald Trump’s continued domination of the news and the backlash against the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the right to abortion, Americans are — rightly — focusing on the question of what the opposition party stands for and what Republicans would do if they again found themselves controlling one or both houses of Congress."

The key here is the question of whether Republicans have an agenda? As an example, Arizona's gubernatorial candidate, Kari Lake's agenda is that she is an avid Trump supporter, that's it, a fact that has proved fateful for others like her across the country. There is still a lot to be determined and we aren't likely to have Georgia results on Warnock and Walker until Dec. 6, an important race for the control of the Senate.

With egg on their face, Republicans will still attempt to show us what they can do. History tells us that could be a disaster.

2022 Election Republican Extremists

 

The nation's focus is on Arizona because the experts say that if the radical slate of extremist candidates win, democracy is lost in the state. The concern is over a select five including Kari Lake, running for governor, Mark Finchem for Sec. State, Blake Masters, U.S. Senate and incumbent House members Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs. All 2020 election deniers. Gosar's family even says do not vote for him. There are more not on the current active list which I will cover later.

What can I say about Kari Lake?...She's a misinformation lunatic and possibly the next train wreck to hit Arizona unless she is stopped. If you go to "Search," above, and type in her name, there are numerous posts that express the need to defeat her. One of my favorites is "Kari Lake, Potentially Most Dangerous Politician in America," It recounts one of her latest lies saying she has won the election...

"Lake boasted that recent polls showed her up 11 points and 9 points just before Fox News flashed a graphic of the latest New York Times/Siena College poll showing the race tied at 48 to 48 percent." 

You cannot believe Kari Lake so why would anyone but an idiot want her for the next governor of Arizona? VOTE FOR KATIE HOBBS (D) TOMORROW!

Mark Finchem is a devout 2020 election denier, but his most serious downside is the fact that he has said, if elected, he wants to do away with 'vote by mail' in Arizona and will make changes to the state's voting system that will make it harder to go to the polls in the future. In a debate this whacko admitted 'the big lie" is a fraud. Duties of the Arizona Secretary of State include serving as the state's chief election officer. So, VOTE FOR ADRIAN FONTES (D) TOMORROW!

Blake Masters, another avid believer that the 2020 election was won by Donald Trump, not Joe Biden. Masters is not alone...

"Election deniers will be on the ballot in 48 of 50 states and make up more than half of all Republicans running for congressional and state offices in the midterm elections. Nearly 300 Republicans seeking those offices this November have denied or questioned the outcome of the last presidential election, according to a Washington Post analysis."

This is unconscionable as is Masters' position in Arizona. VOTE FOR INCUMBENT SENATOR MARK KELLY TOMORROW! 

Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar, two Arizona House members that should have been voted out years ago. My blog on February 9, of this year, following the Republican insurrection of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, "ARIZONA: Home of Insurrectionists." pretty much labels Biggs and Gosar the anarchists they are. Added to that...

Leading Phoenix columnist E.J. Montini says it all in his headline, "Arizona's Jan. 6 insurrectionists should be barred from holding office."

The same should apply, of course, to the other 2020 deniers mentioned above. But it all comes down to the 14th Amendment; here is Section 3...

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

And the other non-active Arizona election participants are Karen Fann, Kelli

Ward and Wendy Rogers. Fann, as Arizona Senate Pres. ordered an audit of the election results in Maricopa County, hiring a firm that was founded by a pro-Trump conspiracy theorist who promoted false claims of fraud. And Ward, after losing three Arizona elections, was chosen as chair of the Arizona Republican Party and who filed lawsuits seeking to nullify the state's (AZ) 2020 election results.

Finally, Wendy Rogers, the Arizona state Senator who was the focus of an ethics investigation by her own party for a comment on the Buffalo gun massacre...

“Of course I condemn the violence in Buffalo, who doesn’t?” Rogers tweeted on Monday morning – two days after suggesting it was a false flag attack by a federal agent.

 Could it get any hotter? Many political pundits are exclaiming, 'so goes Arizona, so goes the rest of the U.S. The local newspaper, The Arizona Republic, a conservative publication said this...

"Don't sit out this election. The stakes are too high"

VOTE TOMORROW AND MAKE THIS A BLUE TSUNAMI! 

Kari Lake Lies Again - Makes Joke About Pelosi Assault

 

As I said in my blog post yesterday, "Kari Lake, Potentially Most Dangerous Politician in America," this country has a desperate problem on its hands if this lunatic is elected to any government office. Republicans are having a field day with the Paul Pelosi assault, with Elon Musk doing his own muckraking, and Lake is licking her conspiracy theory chops as usual. She expects to win the Arizona governor's office Nov. 8, with her special brand of misinformation. 

The Republican disinformation machine is never silent, it purrs right along and has picked up significant speed before the elections. Paul Pelosi, the husband of Nancy Pelosi, Democrat Speaker of the House, is the perfect target. Beyond tasteless, Lake is not alone, Yahoo!News reports, "Prominent Republicans push conspiracy theories about attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband." Some of those mentioned are Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La. and Virginia Gov. Republican Glenn Youngkin.

There are more, and of course...

Donald Trump Jr., meanwhile, shared an Instagram post on Sunday night featuring a photograph of a hammer on top of a pair of Hanes underwear that he captioned, “Got my Paul Pelosi Halloween costume ready.” Trump Jr. doubled down on Monday, reposting the meme and adding the comment, “The internet remains undefeated… Also if you switch out the hammer for a red feather boa you could be Hunter Biden in an instant.” He also shared on Instagram a meme that showed two men having sex and the older one on the phone telling police he’s being attacked.

We expect this kind of nonsensical nonsense from the Trump family but not from elected officials the American public should be able to expect civility from. But, there is no civility left in the Republican Party and that, folks, is the problem. Nancy Pelosi was in Washington, "but Paul Pelosi, 82, suffered a fractured skull and underwent surgery at a local hospital. He is expected to make a full recovery." Yet the GOP has chosen to do their smearing at the bottom of the barrel on this.

She just flat-out lied': Cooper calls out Kari Lake's false claim about Paul Pelosi...

Here is Elon Musk's statement with added comment from Yahoo...

“There is a tiny possibility there might be more to this story than meets the eye,” Musk tweeted, along with a link to an account of the attack in the Santa Monica Observer, a site with a history of posting right-wing misinformation.

Musk subsequently deleted the tweet, but he did not post any admission that it was false or apologize for defaming Pelosi. Instead he mocked the New York Times for accurately reporting what he had done.

Saying he is not attached to either political party, he sure sounds like a Republican

to me.

Heading back to Arizona, another political freak...

Wendy Rogers, a Republican state senator in Arizona, shared a phony Amazon listing for a “Paul Pelosi Fake Attack Plastic Novelty Item” that included a blood-stained hammer. Anthony Sabatini, a Republican state legislator in Florida, posted “RELEASE THE PELOSI TAPES” on Twitter. (It’s not clear what tapes he is referring to.)

But here is the ultimate of bad taste... 

"Last Wednesday, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., posted on Twitter a video of himself firing a rifle and the hashtag #FirePelosi. In an interview with CBS on Sunday, Emmer was asked if he would take down the tweet and if he would stop running ads focused on Pelosi. He declined to do either."

With gun violence raging in America, this moron uses a gun to mock Nancy Pelosi. If the American public doesn't realize the dilemma we are in and correct it in the upcoming election, the U.S. is destined for disaster. VOTE DEMOCRAT NOV. 8! 

Kari Lake, Potentially Most Dangerous Politician in America

 

What else do we expect from a Trump worshipper? More lies, of course. Here's the definition of a lie: "a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth." Precisely what Lake has been doing the entire campaign for governor with Katie Hobbs, her Democrat opponent. Here's the scenario from MEDIAite...

"Republican nominee for governor of Arizona, Kari Lake, joined Fox News’s America’s Newsroom on Tuesday and declared “it’s pretty much game over for Katie Hobbs” – her Democratic opponent. Lake boasted that recent polls showed her up 11 points and 9 points just before Fox News flashed a graphic of the latest New York Times/Siena College poll showing the race tied at 48 to 48 percent."

Former President Obama, whom Lake supported in 2016, is coming to town

and, hopefully, will help Katie Hobbs improve her place in the polls. Lake says Obama's trip is no big deal, then rages on about Hobbs refusing to debate her. This is how Hobbs reacted to this claim...

"How do you debate someone who refuses to accept the truth, who doesn’t live in facts? Oh, she’s going to do a shout. Shout over me, interrupt me and spew lies."

Any well-balanced, fair-minded Arizonan would agree with Hobbs' statement, probably adding, Lake is a certified lunatic. It is obvious she was trying to jump on the bandwagon with Barack Obama, then six years later she has found a faster train with Donald Trump. She has no issues other than...Trump. There is no substance in her speeches and even less in the crowd she attracts. And, working for Fox News for 30 years was an excellent training ground for Lake's persistent lies.

Yahoo!News asks, "Is Arizona's Kari Lake the most 'dangerous' politician in America?" The article quotes from Atlantic Magazine and The Washington Post exclaiming the fact that Lake bets all her chips on Donald Trump and the 2020 election denial. But the article gets scary when top Democratic strategists "now believe Lake has the 'potential to soar to a vice presidential spot or a post-Trump presidential candidacy.'”

That isn't just scary, it is downright terrifying! VOTE KATIE HOBBS FOR ARIZONA GOVERNOR!

 

 

Arizona Focal Point in Democracy loss

 

The state of Arizona is now a dead-center on the issue of our loss of democracy. This honor results clearly from the candidacy of the lunatic, Kari Lake, who is running for governor. Frank Bruni of the New York Times dubs her as part of, "The Republican Double Standard That’s Endangering American Democracy. Here's the scenario...

"A Republican victory in a tightly contested race means that Democrats’ desires or schemes to corrupt it didn’t pan out. Let freedom ring! A Democratic victory means that George Soros cast a magic spell over voters while a global cabal of socialists and pedophiles used space beams to scramble the results that voting machines spit out."

Kari Lake doesn’t commit to accepting Arizona election result if she loses...

 This is the result of Bruni's analysis of Lake's interview with Dana Bash on CNN. In her appearance with Bash, Kari Lake made it clear she would accept no result except her win against Democrat opponent, Katy Hobbs. Lake later softened that stand. I live in Arizona, moved here from California some 25 years ago. We were blind-sided by the radical politicians, we were more concerned with affordable housing in the move. I have been a liberal activist since the first day.

Kari Lake was skewered on the latest Saturday Night Live, and her misguided rants over a fixed 2020 election and sophomoric idolatry of Donald Trump makse her a laughingstock among the thinking population. But many Arizonans are flocking to her side, making the competition with Hobbs very close. Bruni exclaims...

"Republicans are fashioning a politics without accountability. They’re rigging reality itself. And Lake’s interview with Bash was one of those moments that captured, in miniature, the broader dynamics and dysfunctions of its time."

Bruni continues...

"Look at all that doubt! It’s a garden, it’s a thicket, it’s a wild anti-Eden all its own. It must be tamed — and you know how? Elect Kari Lake. Bow to Ron DeSantis. Because they’re spotlighting that doubt. They’re boldly confronting it. They’re not letting evidence, or the lack thereof, get in the way of emotion."

GOP governor says Trump-backed candidate is misleading voters...

Even current Arizona GOP governor Doug Ducey said Kari Lake is full of misinformation and fully rejected her in the primary against Karrin Taylor Robson. Lake did win but Ducey wasn't sure whether Republican governors would support her. The gov has finally decided to support Lake, which indicates what kind of leader Arizona has had the last eight years. Bruni quips, "This is no laughing matter," continuing...

"If enough Americans exalt feelings over facts, insist on their preferred version of events rather than the actual one, refuse to subjugate their personal wants to any public good and reject the processes and institutions that enable group decisions, we have chaos. We all lose."

Bruni says he won't accept that result and neither will I.

VOTE KATY HOBBS GOVERNOR OF ARIZONA.