Saturday, December 12, 2020

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS FINALLY CROSSED THE LINE INTO FASCISM

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree 

EXCELLENCE IS THE KEY TO BLACK EQUALITY 


THE REPUBLICAN PARTY HAS FINALLY CROSSED THE LINE INTO FASCISM



It’s amazing to witness how the Republican Party, a party that built its reputation on the claim of being America’s great defender of democracy, has gone from the party of Joe McCarthy, who went after and completely destroyed the life of anyone he perceived to be “un-American”, to now being a party that’s the leading cheerleader for Donald Trump, a politician who has a brazen affinity for the Russians, and has pronounced autocratic tendencies. They’ve gone from Ronald Reagan’s “Tear Down this wall”, to a party that's committing such glaring acts of sedition against American democracy that it would make Vladimir Putin blush - and it's made that transition in less than 30 years. 
. 
If examined objectively, the reason for their change in character is obvious. As I’ve mentioned before, the very word “conservative” means to be dedicated to “conserving” the traditions of the past. But the rapid change in demographics in America predicts that the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant will soon be a minority in America, and since democracy is based on majority rule, suddenly American democracy is not all that attractive to conservatives. What’s much more important to them today than democracy, or even America itself, is protecting White privilege.  

. 

CANADIAN BORDER WALL
That explains why in spite of the fact that Donald Trump claimed to be determined to “protect our borders”, he only found it necessary to build a wall at our Southern border, while the border we share with Canada has been completely ignored. So, he wasn't actually interested in protecting our borders, he was only interested in protecting our Southern border, protecting it from the scourge of the non-White hordes from entering the country.  
.

The reason for that is that many conservatives have been living in a delusional bubble of assumed superiority since this country’s inception. They saw minorities as being innately inferior to themselves, so they were looked upon as merely "the help". But people like Barack Obama, and now Kamala Harris have popped that bubble. Now they’re beginning to realize that what they’ve so casually patronized as Black “soul” is not just limited to singing and dancing, it’s a manifestation of intellectual creativity straining to be unleashed. As a result, many conservatives now feel desperately threatened. Thus, their chant, "You won't replace us!"

. 

That also explains why Donald Trump hates Barack Obama so intensely. Obama, a Black man, is the walking and breathing personification of everything Trump's always dreamed of being. In fact, that's who he's deluded himself into thinking he is - brilliant, and beloved by the world - in spite of the fact that he lacks the knowledge, character, and intellect to ever compete with such a man.
.
But deep in his psyche Trump knew he couldn't compete with Obama, so instead of trying to live up to Obama's excellence, he, essentially, destroyed his presidency trying to tear down Obama’s legacy, and he made a posturing fool of himself in the process. The harder he tried to fill Obama’s shoes, the more glaring his incompetence became. Now he's not only failed in his attempt to compete with Obama, but he's lost all of his power and prestige to Joe Biden, Obama's former subordinate, and that's more than his fragile ego can take. 
.
Early in Trump's presidency it became clear to those who worked around him, and also the rest of the world, that he was a man who was in way over his head. He was trying to act out a role that he was grossly ill-equipped to fill. So, the past four years have been an endless source of frustration for Trump, and he’s quite bitter that he was never accepted beyond his undereducated base.
 
But his base understands him perfectly, because they suffer from the same type of insecurity, so he's become the poster child for a declining Republican Party. 
.
Trump's base love him unconditionally, because he personifies all of their fears and insecurities, and as President, he symbolizes the fact that a White male can be mindless, petty, and crass, and still reach the very pinnacle of our society. That's their dream - to excel in spite of their limitations. But the ever growing number of highly educated minorities are a threat to that dream. So, Trump supporters have adopted both his personality and philosophy, thinking that the most effective way of protecting their interests is through hatred, arrogance, and division, and insisting that their delusional bubble is the real world. That’s why we rarely see an inspiring or forward-looking Republican. Most of them are angry, whining, and conniving. They all come off as scowling Tucker Carlsons.
.
I often tune into Fox News to try to get a perspective on how conservatives think, and I’ve found most of their programing to be just one long and angry rant mingled with mindless propaganda that any perceptive idiot should be able to see through. Yet. Trump angrily complains that even they are not loyal enough in spewing his mindless agenda. But his conservative followers are so desperate to preserve their place in society that they’re perfectly willing to suspend reality and fully embrace his Trumpian delusions. Thus, their chant, “You will not replace us!”
. 
So, the Trump base has taken on his propensity for delusion with all it's nuances with a pronounced gusto. The Republican Party has become the Trump cult. Just like Trump, they believe that right, wrong and what constitutes reality is what Trump says constitutes reality, even when it's obviously the delusions of an unstable mind. That’s what allows them to accept the ridiculous claim that Trump won the 2020 election with so much passion, even though the courts have said they've failed to prove their case, even after nothing less than 59 attempts.
.
The reason for that is clear - the court doesn't deal in fantasies and delusions. 
Federal judge Stephanos Bibas, appointed to the bench by Donald Trump, said in a scathing ruling that “Charges of unfairness are serious. But calling an election unfair does not make it so,” Bibas wrote in a 21-page ruling dismissing a lawsuit seeking to stop the certification of Pennsylvania's voting results.  He went on to say. “Charges require specific allegations and then proof. We have neither here.” 

.

So Trump supporters can't just stomp their feet and claim fraud just because they don't like the outcome of an election. You have to bring proof, and Trump has none. These people can't prevail because they go to court trying to say what things look like. They say, "There's no way Biden got more votes than Obama did in the Black community." But the court's response was, "Okay, well prove there's no way." But they couldn't, and they can't.  
.
If they were not so blindly illogical they'd realize that there are more people in America today than there was when Obama ran, and due to mail-in voting more people took advantage of the opportunity. Nevertheless, Trump supporters refuse to believe that Trump loss the election, and feel that anyone who disagrees with them is “An enemy of the people” - and they only consider people who are as delusional as they are as "the people".
.
So the phrase "enemy of the people" is a call to arms against anyone who doesn’t look, think, and act exactly like they do. T
hey also believe that any attempt to use common sense or logical and objective reasoning is  “elitism”, and anyone who dares to educate themselves are elitists. They're forced to embrace that philosophy, because it's the glue that holds their delusional world together.
.

So, again, American democracy is no longer an attractive concept for many of these conservatives. Democracy entails respecting and seriously considering the opinions of others, but that's also a threat to the world of delusion that sustains them. So they’ve replaced the love of democracy with their desperate need to “conserve” White privilege – and as we’ve just seen, if that entails sedition or even supporting a budding dictator, so be it. It's the exact same kind of thinking that led to the rise of fascism prior to WWII. So these people are un-American. They're far-right brats who are trying to threaten America by saying, "It's our way or else!"

. 

For that reason, Glenn Kirschner has rebranded the GOP, “The Seditionist Party”, because it's filled with people who are so desperately delusional that they’ve become a danger to our democracy. So, even the thought of not holding them fully accountable for their actions in an attempt to “to heal the division in society” is not only naïve, but should be out of the question.  All that would do is leave them free to continue to plot against our democracy, and it would set a precedent that will make them feel secure in staging their next attempted coup - and if not completely crushed this time, it's definitely coming - because nothing will satisfy these people but unfettered and permanent control of this country. 

.
MAGA LEADERS CALL FOR TROOPS TO KEEP TRUMP IN OFFICE 
MAGA leaders call for the troops to keep Trump in office - POLITICO
.
"And now, with Electoral College confirming Biden’s win, recounts failing to change the results and courts at every level swatting down lawsuits challenging the outcome, some MAGA figures have latched on to the specific Insurrection Act clause granting the president authority to use the military to quash a 'rebellion against the authority of the United States.' In their strained interpretation, the clause gives Trump the power to go after the Democrats and deep state actors conspiring to remove him from office. It’s a reading of the law experts immediately rejected."
If we allow the current behavior of these people to stand as a precedent, it'll become the new normal, and they'll start a rebellion every time they lose an election, and that will turn America into a banana republic. So if we want to save our democracy, sooner or later we're going to have to deal with these people, because they're only going to become increasingly bold. It's only a matter of time, so we should nip them in the bud immediately.
. 

It's easy to see that Trump and his cohorts are without limits because  they’re so clumsy in carrying out their agenda. Proud Boys leader, Enrique Tarrio, said that he was invited by the White House to attend the rally that took place

in Washington's Freedom Plaza. The protest has been staged as a threat of rebellion against Trump's defeats in both the election and the courts. But later Enrique modified his comment after obviously being contacted by the White House to shut up. Thereafter, he said he simply went on a White House tour. Of course he did. He just happened to decide to go on a White House tour just prior to a Trump rally . . . and he brought along his entire crew just to keep him company. That sounds perfectly credible.


DONALD TRUMP IS GUILTY

OF SEDITION


SEDITION 

Conduct or speech inciting people to rebel against the authority of a state or monarch. 

.

Inviting the Proud Boys to Washington to start trouble falls right into Trump’s MO. Why do you think 17 states and 126 Republican politicians joined in the Texas fraud case that was just thrown out of the Supreme Court? Do you really think they all just simultaneously decided that they had to support their President in his seditious attempt to overturn the votes of all the voters of four states? Not on your life. Instead of addressing his Presidential responsibilities, Trump was on the phone day and night, pressuring, threatening, and trying to place his thumb on the scale of democracy.  
. 

Trump is so desperate about having to leave office that he’s not above inciting insurrection. And his desperation is justified considering the legal environment he'll be facing once he leaves office. 

The Russians obviously know much more about his collusion with Russia than has been made public in the United States, and the Russian position on the matter is not only alarming and unprecedented, but it goes along way towards explaining why Trump assigned Bill Barr to "investigate the Russian investigation", and ordered our national security agencies to declassify their files to him. Trump wanted to get a look at their files to try to see how much our national security agencies knew about his involvement with the Russians. It also explains why Trump was so focused on attacking our national security services, and why he's tried to brand them as "Deep State." Trump was trying to discredit and prosecute anyone who's ever investigated him - and after he invited FBI Director Comey to dinner and saw that he couldn't put him in his pocket, he started with him. Trump can't afford to have anyone who insists on following the law in his circle. So, Comey should have pretended to go along, and then took notes on everything Trump tried to get him to do. But obviously, Comey was too honorable for that.
.

But it was obvious that Trump was already mounting his defense against what might come out regarding his activity with the Russians. But, just like Comey, the people in our national security agencies are not rookies. They're career professionals. So regardless of what Trump ordered them to do, they weren't going to let Barr see anything they didn't want him to see - and especially if they had evidence that Trump was a Russian asset. Trump claimed that the Mueller investigation vindicated him, but Mueller couldn't investigate an ongoing classified Russian investigation. That would have tipped the Russians of what they knew, and after all, a possible Russian asset was still the sitting President of the United States. The Daily Beast reported the following:

.

  THE RUSSIAN MEDIA WANTS MOSCOW TO GRANT DONALD TRUMP ASYLUM 

. 

"Russian state media—a reliable barometer of the mood at the Kremlin—remains fixated on election-related events in America. Affectionately referring to Donald Trump as “our Donald,” “Trumpusha” and “Comrade Trump,” Russian lawmakers, experts and pundits repeatedly have expressed their concerns about the future of Moscow’s all-time favorite U.S. president. 

.

"Co-host of Russian state TV news talk show 60 Minutes Olga Skabeeva brought up the possibility that President Trump would end up seeking asylum in Russia to escape any prosecutions in the United States following the conclusion of his sole presidential term. Skabeeva emphasized that this was by no means a joking matter: “It’s all very serious,” she said, as she pondered out loud about the nature of criminal charges Trump might soon be facing. "

.

RECENTLY PARDONED MICHAEL FLYNN PROMOTES PETITION URGING TRUMP TO SUSPEND THE CONSTITUTION AND DECLARE MARTIAL LAW  
.

"The petition, published Tuesday by the Ohio-based non-profit group We The People Convention, said there was “no peaceful way left to preserve our Union” following President-elect Joe Biden’s electoral victory and urged Trump to exercise his “extraordinary authority” to avert a second civil war."  

.

MICHAEL FLYNN WITH PUTIN
JUST
PARDONED BY TRUMP
Trump's possible hidden Russian involvement would explain why he's pushed his unsupported election fraud claim to such a ridiculous extent, but now the Supreme Court just shutdown all of his legal options, so obviously he's decided to go to plan B.
.
Any normal person with common sense would have been embarrassed to throw a petulant tantrum before the public like Trump's done since he 
lost the election. He's filed no less than 59 losing cases in court, and has been thrown out of the Supreme Court twice. So, an insurrection would be perfect for him at this point. Then he could suspend the Constitution, declare martial law, and claim that he can’t leave office until everything is under control. Thereafter, he’d continue to pour fuel on the fire to see to it that the situation is never brought under control. He could then become America's Vladimir Putin - and it's not as though Trump hasn't floated the idea of an extended presidency out loud on several occasions, and as we all know, Trump is renown for telegraphing what's on his mind. 
.

Trump again jokes about extending his term past 2024 

 
“President Donald Trump on Monday once again joked about extending his presidency beyond the constitutional confines of eight years, trying out a favorite bit on a new audience: FIFA President Gianni Infantino. ‘Gianni, we're going to have to extend my second term because 2026 — I'm going to have to extend it for a couple of years.’" 
Trump again jokes about extending his term past 2024 - POLITICOBack ButtonSearch IconFilter Icon 

.
Trump doesn't have a sense of humor - and even if he did, casually talking about violating the Constitution is not a joking matter. So, the man is dangerous, and so is his enablers. 
. 

But if we manage to dodge the current bullet, President-elect Biden's indicated that he's considering nominating Gov. Andrew Cuomo as Attorney General. That should be applauded. He'd be a perfect fit for that position. Cuomo has already stood up to Trump, and he's demonstrated during the pandemic that he’s willing to make the hard decisions necessary to do what’s needed to protect the people – and what’s needed now is for Trump and his enablers to be brought up on charges for sedition. That would be a firm warning for the next demagogue who considers attacking our democracy. Letting criminals off the hook for the sake of healing never works. If we'd sent Nixon to prison, chances are, we wouldn't be going through what we're suffering today. And as for the 126 congresspersons who signed on to Trump's sedition, their own Theodore Roosevelt left a prescription for such people:
.
.
And, finally, isn't it curious that every time we've had an assault on our democracy it involves Republicans? With Nixon we had "Watergate", Reagan brought us the "Iran-Contra Scandal", George W. Bush engaged in "Rendition and Torture", and now with Trump, we have this. It makes one wonder if conservatives even know what it means to be a true American. Think about that. 

EVEN PAT ROBERTSON 

SEES THE LIGHT

.
SUPREME COURT

.

The Supreme Court threw out the case that Donald Trump described as "The BIG ONE". It said in it's ruling that Texas “has not demonstrated a judicially cognizable interest in the manner in which another state conducts its elections.”

.

THE END

.

Eric L. Wattree 

Ewattree@Gmail.com 
BLACK WRITERS, INTELLECTUALS, AND INDEPENDENT THINKERS 
. 

Religion: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.   

Sphere: Related Content