Republicans Moving Slow On Fascism...Not Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

 

First let's start with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who epitomizes a fascist dictator and is running at full momentum to become the modern Mussolini of our time. He is also planning to run for the White House in 2024. The pitiful lot of voters who elected him and wantonly continue to support him are letting the state of Florida digress as no other state in the country has done.

The nation is fighting for our democracy against a Republican coalition of rightist radicals who are determined to establish an autocracy. And a Republican constituency is supporting them. It is beyond me how anyone could want a tyrant telling them every move to make. Donald Trump tried his hand, now Ron DeSantis wants to put in his two cents. And that is about all the man and his candidacy are worth.

A RawStory commentary by Thom Hartmann says, "Republicans are systematically destroying democracy — and replacing it with strongman authoritarianism," a move, prompted, in my opinion, based on two factors. First, the never-ending Republican drive for power; second, the GOP has absolutely no agenda, thus, they must resort to athoritarianism. Both of these points can be supported by the actions of Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy.

And Hartmann comments... 

"For some unfathomable reason, Democrats insist on calling their Republican colleagues their 'friends.' They are not friends."

The point is well taken with the likes of right radicals like Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar, Lauren Boebert, Andy Biggs and the list goes on. Democrats and other liberals must treat Republicans like the enemy, which they are of both the left and this country. Until we do, states will continue to rack up new GOP legislatures and we could lose the Senate. Aggressiveness is what is needed to contradict the right's propaganda machine, and push forward on Democratic issues.

They are moving slowly now, according to Hartmann...

Infiltrating police departments and the enlisted ranks of the military

Taking over school boards and local boards of elections

Firing principals and teachers who defend multiracial, multicultural democracy while banning books that contain such “dangerous” ideas

Demonizing queer people and outlawing drag shows

Gerrymandering states so regardless of how people vote, Republicans control the levers of power

It is clear to see here that four out of the above five have Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' footprints all over them. He both initiated these ideologies and continues to support them aggressively in his state. For gerrymandering, which seems to be a Republican specialty, and an area that the left must oppose and fight for vigorously. There are several more of Hartmann's theories of GOP takeovers that are very interesting to read, here. 

Want To Keep Your Social Security And Medicare? Dump Republicans In 2024

 

For those of us on Social Security and Medicare, we just got a significant raise due to an increase in the cost of living. Being one of the recipients, I believe this is more than justified based on contributions over the years. As the saying goes, these are entitlements which Republicans are regularly trying to take away from us. The new GOP House Speaker, Kevin McCarthy, said both were off the table. McCarthy is just sneaky enough, however, to take them off the table but sneak them in the drawer underneath.

In the SOTU speech, "President Joe Biden slammed Republicans for their efforts to "sunset" Social Security and Medicare." You cannot trust Republicans...case in point Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida)...

"who has called for dramatic changes to the way in which those programs are funded. Instead of perpetual funding, Scott has called for Social Security and Medicare to 'sunset' in five years."

WATCH BIDEN: ‘We all apparently agree’ on saving Medicare and Social Security, Biden teases at SOTU...

You have to wonder what kind of an individual would even consider taking away the lifeblood of seniors in programs like Social Security and Medicare when the current system of retirement is based in part on these entitlements. Here's what Vox says...

"Sen. Rick Scott wants every government program — even entitlements — to expire after 5 years unless Congress approves them again."

There must be something in the water in Florida to spawn two ignoramuses like the Gov. Ron (the despot) DeSantis and Scott. You know it must be pretty bad when Joe Biden feels the need to target a specific Senator and taut the idiocy of what he wants to do. Here's the scenario...

"Scott’s proposal would radically overhaul how the federal government 

operates, forcing Congress to re-pass every federal law or else let them lapse — a move that, in Democrats’ telling, would endanger much of what the government does, including beloved federal programs like Medicare and Social Security."

Biden proposes, instead, "making the wealthy pay their fair share." Now that's an idea that has been floated for years now, but the millionaires and billionaires just keep racking up more and more $$$ and the rest of the country suffers. Even Moscow Mitch is disagreeing with Rick Scott, partly in retaliation for Scott's challenging McConnell's leadership, saying this was not a Republican idea. And, get this, Donald Trump promised not to cut Social Security and Medicare.

I urge you to read the Vox article which provides some history into both programs and more insight into the fight by Democrats to keep them.

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? 

Joe Biden is a Victim of Reckless Republican Propaganda...Here's the Real Story

 

OK, let's accept the fact that no matter what President Biden does, the GOP erects an immediate wall to oppose it. Whatever - you name it. Minority Senate leader and power grabbing Moscow Mitch McConnell is the head wall builder, followed by Kevin McCarthy, House minority leader mixed with a plethora of Republican misfits. It is clear that the above has replaced an agenda for the right as they roll on with their plans to eliminate American democracy.

Overshadowed within all this is the agenda of Joe Biden which he describes as the perfect storm, consisting of four crises that must be addressed. They are, "fighting the coronavirus, restoring the economy, combating climate change and making the country more equal." Here's the scenario from The Washington Post...

Those four issues remain central to Biden’s presidency. “I think if you take a look at what we’ve been able to do, you’d have to acknowledge we made enormous progress,” President Biden said Wednesday [Jan. 20] of his first year in office.

From WaPo's Post Pundit Power Rankers in the beginning of the Prez's administration he was given a B+ on his first 100 days in office. Fast-forward through the crises to today and...

"Now, we’re back to assess a full year’s worth of White House decision-making. Like last time, our rankers have assigned Biden a grade A+ to F, taking into account such issues as the pandemic, the economy, foreign policy, voting and human rights, and presidential leadership. Also as last time, our readers — more than 4,400 of you! — got in on the grading. Your scores factor into the final average just like our pundits’."

 Biden highlights wins, struggles and top priorities after 1 year in office...

In the final score Biden had an average pundit grade of C+, average reader grade B, overall grade B-. There is a raft of scores on specific issues in this article like the economy, voting and human rights, foreign policy, etc. I urge you to read them all.

But, Matt Robison from AlterNet exclaims, "The reality is that Biden has done a great job — but the pundits can't admit it." He gives President Biden an A+ commenting, "Anything else is insane."

Robison points us back to a glut of Donald Trump stupidities...

water cannon of lies
a cabinet of grifters and thieves
disastrous and deadly Covid denial
child separation
the Helsinki Putin bootlicking affair

This is only five. There are fifteen more. This is how he visions another four

years under Trump...

"Faster global warming. Endless vendettas. Jailing dissidents. Clawing back LGBT rights. MAGA budgets and widespread hunger. Endless trade wars and rising nuclear standoffs. An impenetrable wall of judges. A chokehold on immigration. The end of democracy."

Then, Jennifer Rubin comes along with her opinion, "Biden is on a roll as commander in chief." A great read! That's good enough for me.

        

ARIZONA: Home of Insurrectionists

 

Here we go again. The January 6, 2021, insurrectionist rioting proved that a substantial portion of Americans--and I use the term "Americans" loosely--do not respect the U.S. Constitution. Leading Phoenix columnist E.J. Montini says it all in his headline, "Arizona's Jan. 6 insurrectionists should be barred from holding office." We have a gang of Republican lawmakers in this state that have taken it upon themselves to rewrite the laws of the state and the country.

They are U.S representatives Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar along with former state Rep. Mark Finchem, now running for Arizona secretary of state, and former state Rep. Anthony Kern, now running for the state Senate. Montini reports...

"Finchem and Kern were at the Capitol that day.

"Biggs and Gosar gave more aid and comfort to those attempting to overturn the election and stage a coup than just about anyone in the country."

There is also the case of the moron from North Carolina running for reelection to the U.S. House, Madison Cawthorne, who has been challenged by the state's Board of Electors saying he "fails to comply with an amendment." Here is Section 3 of the 14th Amendment...

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.

Naturally, Republicans are ignoring this, focusing rather on the justification of the insurrectionists reported in this New York Times piece, "G.O.P. Declares Jan. 6 Attack ‘Legitimate Political Discourse.’" There is no explanation for this kind of attitude other than the intention to abolish American democracy. The GOP wants an autocratic government with a despot to be named from its ranks since Donald Trump has fallen from favor.

Montini isn't finished with the Arizona radical right...

"And then there is every member of the fake slate of Republican electors who filed paperwork to try to overturn the will of the people. None of them should be permitted to hold office. Ever."

CNN confronts Karen Fann, the woman behind bogus Arizona election audit...

Don't forget, it was Arizona's premiere Republican idiot, State Sen. President, Karen Fann who led the fight for the infamous audit on 2020 election results that cost the state millions with the results that Joe Biden did, in fact, win the election. Then Montini concludes...

"If we believed in oaths – believed that those who swear to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” must be held to that promise – then none of the insurrectionists from Jan. 6, and none of those who gave them aid or comfort, would be permitted to hold elected office."

I'm sorry but I believe that Republicans worship only one thing...POWER. Moscow Mitch McConnell has paved the way for the thirst for political influence. Now look at Kevin McCarthy, who would likely take over as Speaker if the GOP wins back the house. It is frightening for those of us who believe in democracy, and the thought of living under another Republican rule in the future is not only disheartening but very, very daunting. 

America is Destroying its Democracy -The Experts Agree

 

The first site I came upon was one that we would not see if not for the administration of Donald Trump. As you read this post you must do it with the understanding that, although former president Barack Obama left the country in reasonably good shape at the end of his presidency, there had been an undercurrent for his eight years to thwart everything he did. This included the Democratic agenda in general. The major culprit was and still is Moscow Mitch McConnell.

Additions to this unconscionable less than a human being is Kevin McCarthy, who has been actively working to replace Nancy Pelosi as Speaker in a wishful Republican takeover of the House. And then there are state governors like Florida's Ron DeSantis, Texas' Greg Abbott and So. Dakota's Kristi Noem who have given dictatorship a new meaning. They are running their states in such a Hitleresque manner it is a wonder the constituencies don't revolt.

And that, folks, is where our democracy has gone. And why the media is covering it like the following...

The Washington Post says, "Democracy is on the brink of disaster. For voters, it’s politics as usual." Sam Rosenfeld recognizes the fact that the American public has decided to let politicians run away with their country, and do absolutely nothing about it. Apathetics, I call them. And maybe Trump isn't all to blame as Rosenfeld reports...

"Worries about the state of American democracy didn’t begin when Trump rejected the election’s results — indeed, they predate his entrance into politics. For the last two decades, analysts have connected dysfunction in governance to deepening party polarization, marked by an asymmetrical Republican shift toward procedural hardball and extremism."

READ MORE... 

Canadian author Stephen Marche opens his new book, "The Next Civil War:

Dispatches from the American Future." with "The United States is coming to an end. The question is how." And with the natural reaction from Americans when an outsider criticizes us, he or she is just a U.S. hater. Not so says the author, Dean Obeidallah, who explains...

"In fact, as Marche explained on my SiriusXM radio show last week, it's the opposite: Marche wrote his book because he "loves" the US after working and living within its borders off and on for years. His hope, he says, is to warn Americans of where the nation is going before it's too late."

It seems that everyone but Republicans have discovered the fact that our country is on the verge of losing its democracy and wants to help...

Marche isn't the only Canadian worried about their southern neighbor's future. Just days before Marche's book released, political scientist Thomas Homer-Dixon -- the executive director of the Cascade Institute, which focuses on ways to address threats to society -- penned a powerful op-ed in Canada's "Globe and Mail" that begins with a similar warning. "By 2025, American democracy could collapse, causing extreme domestic political instability, including widespread civil violence," Homer-Dixon writes. "By 2030, if not sooner," he adds, "the country could be governed by a right-wing dictatorship."

READ MORE... 

In a New York Times opinion piece, David Brooks says, "America Is Falling Apart at the Seams," a statement highly appropriate in the sense that the wheels seem to be coming off from the states to the federal government. Brooks found that driving in the U.S was down during the coronavirus pandemic but the number of traffic deaths rose 7 percent. Two numbers that don't make sense until you take into consideration the pandemic has raised the stress level to the breaking point...

"While gloomy numbers like these were rattling around in my brain, a Substack article from Matthew Yglesias hit my inbox this week. It was titled, “All Kinds of Bad Behavior Is on the Rise.” Not only is reckless driving on the rise, Yglesias pointed out, but the number of altercations on airplanes has exploded, the murder rate is surging in cities, drug overdoses are increasing, Americans are drinking more, nurses say patients are getting more abusive, and so on and so on.

From airplanes to school rooms there are outbursts like we have never seen before. This article is so all-inclusive on America's fight for democracy that I strongly recommend reading it all. 

More on America's destruction of democracy later.

42% of Republicans Lie About Fake News

 

There is no doubt when you mention fake news, the first thing that comes to mind is the Fox Network. Blabbermouths like Tucker Carlson who even admitted recently that he lied and spewed misinformation. But Fox isn't the only culprit and Politico proclaims One Group of Americans Who Are Most Likely to Spread Fake News is low-conscientiousness conservatives. The research of two Duke U. professors says we oversimplify blame, generally placing it all on republicans.

In this case Politico is zeroing in on this profile saying...

"it’s not conservatives in general who tend to promote false information, but rather a smaller subset of them who also share two psychological traits: low levels of conscientiousness and an appetite for chaos. Importantly, we found that several other factors we tested for — including support for former President Donald Trump — did not reliably predict an inclination to share misinformation."

If not primarily Donald Trump supporters, who? The piece says "researchers, social media platforms, politicians and members of the media to focus their efforts on low-conscientiousness conservatives (LCCs for short) in particular." On the other hand, you can't beat these conservatives over the head with the fact they are using fake news. And here's why...

"To be clear, existing research has found that conservatives have a greater tendency toward misinformation than liberals do. For example, during the 2016 election, individuals who leaned conservative were more likely to engage with and share disinformation on Twitter and Facebook. Likewise, in the early months of the pandemic, conservatives were more likely to believe Covid-19 was a hoax, and to downplay the virus’" severity.

Nearly Half Of Republicans Admit To Lying About Fake News...

In other words, Republican conservatives are more gullible than liberals, which would indicate to me a higher level if intelligence in the latter. Here's the authors' definition of low-conscientiousness conservatives...

"the tendency to regulate one’s own behavior by being less impulsive and more orderly, diligent and prudent."

What this means to me is that this gang of anti-Americans are able to ignore their principles, that is, if they have any, and discipline themselves to complete a cause, no matter how bizarre or illegal it might be. Highly conscientious conservatives and their liberal counterparts are much less likely to succumb. So what does drive LCCs to spread misinformation? The researchers...

"asked participants to report their leanings on a range of potential influences: level of support for Trump, time spent on social media, distrust of the mainstream media, and endorsement of conservative social and economic values. To our surprise, none of these factors was a reliable predictor of LCCs’ elevated tendency to share false news stories."

Through a statistical analysis it was found that this bunch simply wanted chaos.

That sound familiar from Moscow Mitch McConnell and the fellow GOP not producing any agenda on the right, rather creating discord throughout the country to thwart anything the Democrats do? This is the tragedy of why the United States is in such great trouble with the Covid-19 pandemic, voting rights, racism, inequality and more.

You can blame it on Joe Biden all you want to but this research proves exactly where the buck has stopped.

I urge you to read this article because I have only touched on the surface of low-conscientiousness conservatives.

Republicans Don't Want Democracy. They Want a Concentration Camp

 

The GOP has long forgotten the mission of Congress, which is to make the United States, and the world, a better place to live in. They don't want a better place. They only want control, and led by Moscow Mitch McConnell, they have been working in this direction for several years now. If they succeed in taking over Congress and the White House in 2022 and 2024, they will get their wish. They will have Democrats in the concentration camp of their making.

Here's the definition of a concentration camp...

internment centre for political prisoners and members of national or minority groups who are confined for reasons of state security, exploitation, or punishment, usually by executive decree or military order.

At this point, Democrats will be the minority group of power, destined to live under a dictatorship of the chosen one that next rules the Republican Party. Currently in authority is, of course, Moscow Mitch and Kevin McCarthy. Others might include Mike Pence, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, John Cornyn and a host of others. I would doubt id if any self-respecting leftie would agree on any of this gang of idiots.  Mitt Romney, now, might work.

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post says in an opinion piece, "The GOP isn’t even trying to sound coherent anymore." And in the disjointed rhetoric is an indication of how this body of morons is acting. There is a picture of Ron Johnson, Sen. from Wisconsin, in the article, which I assume is an illustration of current GOP idiocy. An avid anti-vaxxer, instead of getting vaccinated, Johnson just this past December recommended gargling with mouthwash to "kill the coronavirus."

Republicans Are Running Against Democracy Not Democrats | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

Unmentioned in the potential dictators above, is ex-president Donald Trump, not an oversight, just anticipation that he has finally become a has-been. Not so when Rubin designates him as "the undisputed head of the party," and she is much closer to the Washington political circus than I. She describes his "babbling" cancellation of his Jan. 6, press conference at Mar-a Lago, adding...

"Even nuttier than the statement itself was the entire Republican Party’s refusal to remark upon his aberrant behavior."

And here lies the horror of seeing the GOP in control of this country. A lunatic as the dictator, and hundreds of maniacal minions bowing at his feet. In the meantime, the U.S. slides back into the downward spiral we went through from 2016 to 2020. In the Guardian, "One-party rule is now the credo of Trump and his followers," with a sub-headline, "An illiberal democracy, similar to Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, is increasingly the model for Republicans."

This is scary and could be partially realized by the end of this year. More from the

Guardian...

"The first anniversary of the invasion of the Capitol approaches, our cold civil war grows hotter by the day, and the numbers tell the story. A majority of Republicans view the attack as a defense of freedom (56%) and just under half (47%) cast it as an act of patriotism. For good measure, one in six Americans approve of the events of 6 January 2021, including nearly a quarter of Republicans."

The Democrats are a pathetic bunch who mean well but apparently have completely forgotten how to wager a political fight for their life. If someone on the left doesn't turn up the heat soon, we'll only be able to experience democracy in the history books.

JOE BIDEN: A government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth

 

Borrowing from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, the headline should be an awakener for this country that has repercussions for all political beliefs. The primary take-away is that in Lincoln's statement, there is an emphasis on the "people" and their place in the running of the government. What Honest Abe didn't speculate on are the kind of people today on the fringes, attempting to destroy the democracy our 16th President fought so hard to preserve.

It is the founder of the "big lie" who is the abhorrent challenger to Lincoln's words, Donald Trump, 45th in a line of leaders of the United States, who turned out to be anything but a leader, but I have never been able to bring myself to call him...that. Trump's authoritarian reign is over but the singular oligarch continues to rule with thousands of mentally depraved followers. Here is an example of a couple who should know better from election law guru Richard L. Hasen...

two supposedly “responsible” Republicans, Sens. Lindsey O. Graham of South Carolina and Mike Lee of Utah, had reviewed the disgraced former president’s fraud claims in January and confirmed they were total bunk. Despite this, the senators have refused to separate their party from the instigator of the Jan. 6 insurrection and voted against a bipartisan commission to review the violent day.

Pres. elect Joe Biden's "Soul of the Nation" address from Gettysburg...

  It's the election, stupid, and the year 2020 will be forever remembered as the one where American began to take its plunge from democracy. In a Washingon Post opinion coumn, Eugene Robinson said...

T.S. Eliot wrote that the world ends "not with a bang but a whimper,” but I fear our great nation is careening toward a third manner of demise: descent into lip-blubbering, self-destructive idiocy.

Robinson goes on to chide a pathetic gang of blockheads mimicking politicians that fashion themselves  “the world’s greatest deliberative body,” which is, in effect, the world's greatest collection of, yes, idiots. Take Moscow Mitch McConnell,known to all as the drim reaper since he is against all...democracy. We needn't go any further to identify a source of the root source in this country's problems but there is

also now the lunatic group of Republicans...

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, WI Sen. Ron Johnson, TX Gov. Greg Abbott, Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis, S.D. Gov. Kristi Noem...and the list goes on.

Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post labeled this group the "evil lunacy" conjecturing its home is the GOP and not a good place to be. Chas. M. Blow in the New York Times gives America one last chance to save democracy. Preserve the basic right that has made this nation great, the right to vote. Pass the Freedom to Vote Act...

The bill would set national standards for early voting, expand voting by mail, allow the use of more forms of voter identification, make Election Day a federal holiday and institute measures to counter voter suppression tactics. It would also automate voter registration, force states to give voters the option to register on Election Day and offer safeguards against voter purges. Finally, it would overhaul portions of the campaign finance system, prohibit partisan gerrymandering and prevent the politicized removal of election officials, among other changes.

There's more on Joe Biden's fight to defend our democracy in a later blog.

READ MORE:  What if Things Are About to Get Better?

                          David Shor Is Telling Democrats What They Don’t Want to Hear

UPDATE...Is it Unamerican to be Conservative?

 

UPDATE: 

In the dead of night the, Texas House approves GOP's gerrymandered map

This is a question that must be asked since it appears to be the goal of Republicans to thwart anything that comes from the Democratic Party, with no consideration as to how that will affect the good of the country. They appear to be anti-anythng good for the United States. Back in May, Senate Minority Leader Moscow Mitch McConnell said that he is...

"100 percent" focused "on stopping" President Joe Biden's administration.

Since Joe Biden is President of the U.S., this statement would indicate to most that Moscow Mitch is more interested in destroying Joe Biden and his administration than he is in helping this country solve its problems. This attitude by the former Senate head compares with another Democratic decree, namely former President Barack Obama, when McConnell said his number one priority was preventing Obama from getting a second term. He didn't, and miserably. Fully unamerican.

And then there is, of course, the administration of Donald Trump, a four-year term

that has no equal in U.S. history when it comes to the near-destruction of the American democracy. The then White House maniac did everything in his power to bring down all the good this country has built and stands for today in favor of an authoritarian state. He almost succeeded but fed up U.S. citizens in 2020 voted to block his evil plans.

But on the absurd side, there are a number of Republican wingnuts out there like Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Lauren Boebert, to name only a few. Their radical-plus- ignorant views illustrate the low mentality that conservatives have lowered themselves to in order to make their points. Points which go nowhere but are a constant barrier in bringing this country back to normal. A major example is the Covid-19 pandemic. The three above are firmly unamerican.

Republicans, led by T-rump's initial assessment of the coronavirus as a "hoax" has matured over the past four-plus years into a major blockade by the right. It is safe to say that anti-vxxers/maskers have been responsible for extending the spread of the virius in America, responsible for a great number of the 739,000 deaths from the disease. And the misinformation specialists, found primarily on social media, can take credit for this contravening movement.

Two of the major proponents against masking and vaccinations are Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. They are the killing machines of the U.S. having combined been responsible for a mjority of 126,000 Covid-19 deaths. This is unconscionable but finally teachers in Florida are rebelling by walking out and Texas businesses like Southwest and American Airlines are ignoring laws against vaccine mandates. Abbott/DeSantis solidly unamerican. 

Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, published the 2018 book "How Democracies Die." According to Salon, it is a warning, "of the dangerous signs they saw in Donald Trump's presidency that followed the authoritarian playbook." Here's an update from one of the authors, Levitsky...

"Five years ago I would have laughed you out of the room if you suggested our democracy could die." But today, he added, we see the Republican Party apparently focused on breaking our democracy. In a nutshell, Levitsky believes the threat to our democracy is more acute today than when Trump was in the White House, since the GOP is desperate to retain its fading power in the face of hostile demographic change.

Watch Rachel Maddow: Republicans Are Running Against Democracy Not Democrats...

 CNN's Anderson Cooper calls the state of our losing our democracy, "terrifying." This reaction came, "Tuesday after two Harvard scholars explained how the Republican Party has radicalized itself against democracy." Again, political scientists Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt...

"It is pretty dark," said Levitsky. "When we wrote How Democracies Die four years ago, we were worried about the Republican Party because they allowed Donald Trump to be elected. They sort of dropped the ball and failed to protect our democracy from an authoritarian demagogue. But we did not expect that the entire Republican Party would evolve into an anti-democratic force, and that's where they are today."

Now, here is a new question: Are Republicans collectivively committing an act of treason?  But that's another story.

Republicans continue to dissect the democratic process

 

Richard L. Hasen, is a professor at the University of California, Irvine, School of Law, and an expert in election law, according to the New York Times, and he is concerned that the GOP is quietly but effectively undermining the democratic voting process. You might recall a few years ago when the radical right, again, quietly and effectively, completely flummoxed DNC head, Debbie Wasserman Schultz in taking over Governors' offices and state legislatures, leading to won elections.

Hansen reminds us of the recent Jan. 6, insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, basically for the purpose of denying the validity of the 2020 election, which 

The Donald Trump sneer

Donald Trump has continued in a number of ways by energizing his group of double-digit supporters. This, alone, carried into the 2024 election, would be enough to disrupt the democratic process. But, Hansen says the next coup attempt will be executed by “lawyers in fine suits.”

Here are the facts...

"Between January and June, Republican-controlled legislatures passed 24 laws across 14 states to increase their control over how elections are run, stripping secretaries of state of their power and making it easier to overturn results."

And there is, of course, the ever-present Moscow Mitch McConnell, known as the "Grim Reaper," since President Barack Obama he has decreed to block anything "Democrat." His most recent drive against our country is to block 
"Democrats’ effort to act responsibly and step up to the thankless task of raising the debt limit." Here's the Daily Beast's take...

There are lots of things you can say about Cocaine Mitch, but you can’t say he broke his vow to make stopping Biden “100 percent of his focus.” His willingness to imperil the full faith and credit of the United States to do so is more proof than the country can stand.

Here's a typical Republican quote for you by Sam Brodey: "Republicans Don't Want a Debt Default—Just Democratic Chaos."

But what we must never lose sight of is the fact that Trump supporters are just as

mentally unbalanced as the simpleton they follow. Here's a headline from Salon: "White terror: Millions of Americans say they'd support violence to restore Trump to power." That should scare the hell out of anyone who is in full command of his or her mental faculties. There has even been talk of another civil war like we experienced in 1861, with the Jan. 6, insurrection a preview.

A couple weeks ago the Trump goons held a "Justice for J6" rally, which pretty much fizzled with a very low turnout. Salon's reaction was...

Trump's Republican-fascists and their propagandists have elevated these hooligans, vandals and (in many cases) terrorists to the status of martyrs and patriots as a way of legitimizing their anti-democratic movement, creating sympathy among Trump's faithful that can be exploited for fundraising and, of course, recruiting and encouraging more extremists to the cause.

To underwrite this bizarre Trump movement, AlterNet reports there is a group, The Claremont Institute that will tell you...

that Republicans and Democrats aren't just members of competing political parties, but are, in effect, living in two separate countries. Describing Claremont as the "intellectual home of America's Trumpist right," Green notes that Claremont President Ryan Williams and his colleagues "believe that America has" become "two fundamentally different countries, not least because of the rise of secularism."

Can you imagine what Abraham Lincoln would have thought had he been confronted by a bunch of lunatics like this? Racists aren't the most mentally stable individuals, but at least the cause was simpler. The South favored slavery; the North did not. It is no longer simple, but still very similar to 1861, two very different groups that are determined to, each, have its way. Only one side can win, and it is that which will determine the future of democracy.

Republican killing machines: Gov. Ron DeSantis/Gov. Greg Abbott

 

The Republican death cult has smoothly extended its reach from a general attitude of callousness for the American people to actually proposing and legislating their deaths in the case of the Covid-19 pandemic. Moscow Mitch McConnell led this movement when during Barack Obama's administration, saying he could care less about America. All he wanted was to deny Obama a second administration. He didn't. But McConnell has gone on to continually attempt thwarting the Democratic agenda.

Then only recently Moscow Mitch did the same with President Joe Biden, followed by Kevin McCarthy's invitation to insurrectionists to join the Republican Party. As L. Davis Bond said in the Galveston County Daily News...

"These two men care nothing about America. They only care about getting elected, so they can take care of the rich and be rich and powerful themselves."

And there you have the basic purpose of the Republican Party, the above and to stay in power so they can stonewall or undo anything in the Democrats' a

genda. The GOP has no mission of its own, only to block the left at every turn. And this goal has become more obvious as Republican governors like Florida's Ron DeSantis and Texas' Greg Abbott have become killing machines to circumvent every move Joe Biden makes in his objective to control the deadly coronavirus.
 

I have done a series of posts documenting just how Abbott and DeSantis have attempted to literally destroy their states by blocking any precautions set up by the CDC, especially banning mask mandates and undermining vaccinations. All this when Texas has 3,322,528 cases, 54,385 deaths; Florida 2,875,150 cases, 40,528 deaths. Combined, there are over 6 million cases between the two, and Texas is number one in new cases and new deaths. Here are some of my posts...

Who should know more about addressing the coronavirus than the scientific community, which all Republicans seem to disregard with disdain: "More than 800 Florida physicians implore Gov. DeSantis to allow local school mask mandates."

Greg Abbott has mercilessly pushed his denial in Texas forcing one school superintendent to comment that she "can't do the one thing she wants to protect students." Further, "'I am frightened by what is coming': Texas officials scramble to staff hospitals as Covid-19 surge continues."

And here's one that takes the cake, DeSantis and Abbott screwing around with peoples' lives, especially the school children: "Abbott and DeSantis playing 'game of chicken' in balance between killing their constituents and owning the libs: columnist."

 Abbott at his very best putting his killing machine in motion: "Texas governor files legal challenge to end Dallas County mask mandate."

After the above, there should be no doubt that the Republican Party places

absolutely no value on the lives of American human beings. They can try and explain it away with any number of excuses, but it still comes down to their greed for power. But what is even more frightening is that a certain portion of American's agree with this lunacy, thus, why these political lunatics do what they do. The ringleaders are Ron DeSantis and Greg Abbott but there are more.

President Biden has come on strong against those GOP governors that rally against masks and the vaccine telling them to act to save their constituents or "Get out of the way." If they don't, they may have no choice in 2022 and 2024.

Here are three of my recent blogs on the Covid-19 pandemic:

When it's too late for a vaccine...what?...UPDATE

Private health insurers/Medicare should deny anti-vaxxers coverage

Doctors' battle cry: “We can’t let COVID win.”

 

Republicans are eating themselves alive on the way to extinction

 

Just tale a look to your left if you're curious why the Republican Party is suddenly vaporizing. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Kevin McCarthy, Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley. Of course you could throw in Moscow Mitch McConnell for a full house. These people scrape the bottom of the barrel; they are the epitome of incompetence with the kind of leadership that lacks judgment and logic.

In a word they are idiots. Contrary to any reasoning, there is another idiot by the name of Donald Trump. In all his glory of beating the impeachment game, he has made the Republican Party look like the kind of losers and bogus politicians they actually are. And the American GOP public is beginning to see the sign and jump a sinking ship. Trump was acquitted simply because Republicans agree with him and are also scared shitless of his supporters, a swarm of inept terrorists.

And to back up all this hype about disenchanted conservatives, there is a report from the New York Times that shows, "the alarmingly high number of voters who
opted to change their registration." Here's an example...

"Since the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, more than 200,000 voters across several states have left the Republican Party. While shifts are normal after elections, the publication noted how distinctly different this one is."

Republicans leaving Party...

 One deserter made something clear that many of us have been saying for some time...that the GOP has lost its morals. I believe this kind of ideology hit overdrive when Karl Rove joined the Geo. W. Bush administration. But it is Republican Liz Cheney that put the Jan. 6 riots in clear perspective...

"You certainly saw anti-Semitism. You saw the symbols of Holocaust denial. ... You saw a Confederate flag being carried through the rotunda..."

There's more in this CNN article from Chris Cillizza which deserves reading.

 

UPDATE: PARODY: Meghan McCain kicks Dr. Fauci out as Biden's Chief Medical Adviser

Meghan McCain receives "avalanche" of criticism for saying Dr. Fauci should be replaced. Dr. Vin Gupta "blasted her for her "misguided" attack on Dr. Anthony Fauci. Read more...

This week marks a change of format in Nasty Jack posts featuring parody to illustrate just how hilarious and absurd the political scene can be. Enjoy

Meghan McCain was facing her peers on The View, complaining just how bad the COVID-19 crisis was when Joy Behar commented, "Well, it is your party we have to thank for this whole mess." 

But McCain quipped, "Not true, it is all Dr. Fauci's fault. Donald Trump should have fired him from the get-go."

Whoopi Goldberg jumped in with, "Okay honey, guess you could do better?"

To which McCain replied, "Hey, I went to Columbia and got a Bachelor of Arts degree, however, I did take a chemistry class." 

Behar retorts, "But the pandemic is all about epidemiology." 

McCain, "I remember some bugs crawling around in a petri dish once." Whoopi almost fell out of her chair with laughter, but she quickly recovered with a question.

"That's it, that's your qualifications to replace Dr. Fauci?" 

McCain thought, then, "I have the endorsement of Lindsey Graham, Sarah Palin is flying in later this week, and Mitch McConnell promised to talk to Joe Biden about me.

Collectively, The View said, "You're in."

This is why the Republican Party should be deleted like a bad post

 

To begin with, the Republican Party has created a turbulence within its members that some say is not fixable. The projections were that this unrest would take hold following Donald Trump's impeachment trial, and there is some evidence of this where six of the seven members voting to impeach Trump have been censured. Former Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) uses Nikki Haley as an example of one who has finally realized the truth...

"I'm glad that belatedly she has come around and acknowledged what many of us have been stating for some time: that we are tired of the cronyism, denialism, nativism and those who are advocating this instability."

RawStory adds from Dent...

"I think going forward a lot of us don't want this a period to be led by those who are handmaidens to the big lie and to the insurrection. This party cannot be about instability and insurrection and we need to get back to a center-right agenda..."

In another take former Washington State Republican party chairman Chris Vance

said, "his one-time party is a lost cause that deserves to be demolished. There's more from RawStory...

"In an interview with the New York Times, former Washington State Republican party chairman Chris Vance said that he's been watching in horror as the GOP has been overtaken by crackpot conspiracy theorists being promoted by former President Donald Trump, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA)."

Vance declares he doesn't see the party "snapping back." reckoning...

"I don't think the party can be saved," he said. "I think it needs to be broken up, smashed and blown to bits." And Moscow Mitch continues to be riddled with the kind of hypocrisy that has made him the lowlife of the U.S. Senate for years with ratings like 21.8 favorable, 63.3 unfavorable according to RealClear Politics. Here are his recent comments re. Trump's impeachment trial...

“Former President Trump’s actions [that] preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty.” He added, “Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day.”

But then when the time came, he voted to acquit with the reasoning the trial had come too late, when in fact he was the one who delayed the whole process. However, there is more to the Moscow Mitch scenario that 'tis a puzzlement to many. Here's a headline by a Kentucky columnist re. McConnell that is startling: "Hated by absolutely everyone." Moscow Mitch lives in Kentucky...

"In a scorching column for the Lexington Herald-Leader, columnist Linda Blackford accused McConnell of standing by while 'His beloved Republican party has turned into a death cult in thrall to a pathetic and pathological egotist.'"

So, why is he still in office? There's more...

"Everyone sees through him now. He may have helped create the modern Republican party, but when it most needed saving, he was nowhere to be found. He could have given political cover to his colleagues to stand up to Trump and the attack on Jan. 6, but as I wrote before, the monster he helped create was no longer in his control," she wrote before stating McConnell's legacy is forever stained.

The Republican Party after Trump... 

So be it.  And there's much more to worry about with Lindsey Graham's statement,

"Impeachment Trial Boosts Lara Trump’s Chances of Joining Senate." Although she is not a Trump/Trump, she is a part of this mentally disturbed family whose head almost brought the United States to its knees. There is no room in this country for any more of the Trump brand. After exclaiming that Virginia Sen. Richard Burr's vote to convict Trump, Graham added...

“The biggest winner of this whole impeachment trial is Lara Trump,” Graham said on Fox News Sunday. “My dear friend Richard Burr, who I like and have been friends to a long time, just made Lara Trump almost the certain nominee for the Senate seat in North Carolina to replace him if she runs.”

If the voters of Virginia allow this to happen, well, there is really no excuse for that kind of stupidity. But nothing compares with what comes out of the state of Arizona when you look for morons in the Republican Party. Here's a headline for you, "Arizona legislator compares transgender people to farm animals." State Rep.

 

John Fillmore "is facing an ethics complaint after he compared transgender people to farm animals at a Wednesday committee hearing."

I am a Zoni and have to face similar idiocies from these Republican blockheads on a daily basis. The state is currently purple, slowly turning blue. Here is what Fillmore proposes...

"The hearing was for House Bill 2725, which would require state identification documents to contain only a male or female gender marker. The bill pre-emptively bans nonbinary people, who are neither exclusively male nor female, from using gender-neutral X markers on their IDs, even though Arizona law doesn’t currently permit that."

Now you know what I'm talking about. So, considering all of the above, it would be downright interesting to gather the Republicans all together, along with all their warped ideology, have them smile and look neat, and then delete the whole thing. There, I've said it and I feel so much better. However, first, let's let all those 1,000s from the right who are deserting the GOP for the left fulfill their goals. Welcome to the party of all that's good!

 

an