19 V 2021: Republican attempt to obstruct justice

Both Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell oppose creation of a bi-partisan committee to investigate  the Jan 6th attack on the United States. McConnell says that the attack has been sufficiently investigated, but many believe that investigation of Jan 6 has only begun. We must know far more than the names of mob members and what each did in the Capitol. The organization of the mob, the planning of its assault, the timid and tardy response of the Capitol Police and National Guard, and the complicity of federal officials are all only partially known. So why do Republicans oppose creation of an investigative committee?

The behavior of congressional Republicans suggests that they know or suspect complicity in the attack by Republicans in both the executive and legislative branches. They know, or even a are part of the conspiratorial effort at damage control for the Party and its Leader. While the trauma of the attack was fresh, a few Republicans denounced the attack and Trump’s instigation of it. But after recovering from the shock, they have striven to draw attention away from the attack (“Let’s move on …” etc), to rewrite the story of the attack by floating various false narratives (antifas, tourists, Jesuits, etc.), and to minimize the threat that it posed to the our Democracy.

The reputation of the current Republican Party has been severely damaged by the large number of weirdos, liars, hustlers, and other sorts of scoundrels it has placed in national and state legislatures. The Party can never outlive the disgrace of its collaboration with the neo-fascist Trump administration. So if I were a card-carrying Republican, I too would be trying to block an investigation of Jan 6. Our Capitol has not been attacked since the British came in 1814. Domestic attempts at sedition and secession never went this far. No one has ever attempted to control a national election by force or the threat of force. How did this attempted banana-republic coup come about? America urgently needs to know, in detail, who was responsible for what. Those who attempt to obstruct this necessary investigation are only increasing the awful burden of shame they already bear.

17 V 2021: Crime of the century?

The Liar now claims that the 2020 election is the “Crime of the Century.” Again, Trump denounces others for what he himself does. It is, I would suggest, a little early to select the Crime of the Century, but when the time comes, I’m sure that Trump himself will be on the short list.

12 V 2021: Which is the junkie?

I had a chance to read Trump’s comment about the winner of the Derby, Medina Star. He wrote “So now even our Kentucky Derby winner, Medina Star, is a junky. This is emblematic of what is happening to our Country.”

This statement is just the same old Trumpian hyperbole and lying extrapolation. But it did make me think: Now that Trump is out of the White House, would he be willing to take a blood test? I don’t know, but I’ve been told that he is virtually addicted to Ritalin, and his speech and behavior do suggest that perhaps his doctors and handlers give him narcotics to keep him from losing it altogether. As he is no longer governing the country, it would be safe now to reveal that he is on a narcotic regimen, or, if he turns out to be drug-free, he would stop a lot of scurrilous talk and rash judgements.

7 V 2021: Is popular irrationality a fad or a permanent threat to national security?

It seems that around 50% of the American population are delighting in the licensed irrationality promoted by the Republican Party and extreme right wing. “Facts? Phooey! Think? Why bother? Let’s raise some hell!” This behavior is, of course, being modeled by our former president and his Republican punks in Congress, in slavish state legislatures, and everywhere dim and angry people assemble. Half the nation has gone on a spree of thoughtlessness and impulse driven speech, acts, and opinions. Insanity has become our pop-culture.

What I wonder is: Is this self-indulgent thoughtlessness and willful stupidity a fad, like Prohibition and the KuKluxKlan, or is it to be a long-lasting feature, if not a determinant, of American life? If the latter, it is more than an embarrassment. It is a grave weakness and internal threat to our national security. For no foreign power antagonistic to the United States is likely to be constrained by any national unity, gravity, and common resolve on our part, but will be encouraged by our current disarray.

18 III 2021: Another creep from Texas

There is an ancient proverb, “Ex Africa semper aliquid novi,” i.e., “From Africa always something strange.” I am prompted to substitute the Texas of today for the Africa of old, for Texas regularly is always bringing something weird into the nation’s politics. Recently, Texas has given us the likeable and steadfast Senator Ted Cruz. Then there’s Rep. Louis Gohmert, a perennial embarrassment to the Congress, who did his own little bit to cause the 6th of January attack on the government. And one cannot forget Texas’ Attorney General, Mr. Ken Paxton, who files one foolish suit after another so he can keep moving and stay one jump ahead of federal law enforcement. 

And today yet another Texan monstrosity blundered his way to national attention. The incoherence and insensitivity of Rep. Chip Roy’s remarks at the House hearing about the Atlanta killings were the equal of anything we used to hear from our former president. Roy denounced China and the Chinese government. He denounced criticism of extremist rhetoric as an attempt to stifle free speech. He pledged his devotion to the “rule of law.” And then topped it all off with positive remarks about lynching, quoting “old sayings in Texas about find all the rope in Texas and get a tall oak true.” These “old sayings in Texas” were derived from a 2002 song written by Oklahoman Toby Keith.

I have heard there is a movement in Texas to secede again from the United States. I can only applaud this initiative and wish its advocates all success.

17 II 2921: Can Ron Johnson fill Trump’s shoes?

As one might expect, various Republican politicians entertain ambitions to take over Donald Trump’s voter base. They are re-using one of Trump’s more successful game plans, namely, keep yourself in the public eye and do whatever it takes, however degrading, to stay there. Trump kept himself in the media spotlight for four plus years by continually saying something stupid or vicious and by behaving in novel brutish and criminal ways.

Now the leading competitors for the throne they hope Trump will soon abandon are Ted Cruz, the lounge-lizard of Cancun, and Josh Hawley, whose elite heart bleeds for the common man. But at this time the figure who seems most regularly to be copying Trump’s plan is Trump’s sycophantissimus, Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin. Ron cannot open his mouth without making a fool of himself and he seizes every opportunity to open it. He is afraid that he cannot be re-elected, and so he keeps forcing himself into public consciousness by acting the fool. This ongoing campaign of outspoken foolishness plays well with the Trumpian base, as it must with Trump himself. But it is also attractive to the news media that report Johnson’s every embarrassing utterance, because, I suppose, he creates a kind of scandal with statements that are outrageous, borderline screwy, and offensive to good sense. A senator’s saying or doing something stupid is hardly surprising, but really transcendent stupidity is, I suppose, newsworthy.

But I keep asking why the media cannot refuse to play along with “no such thing as bad publicity” campaigns of Trump and his epigonids? How can they refuse? Good editing is not the same as censorship, and if right-wingers complain that they are edited out of the news coverage, they should be told that responsible reporting is not a venue for nutty ideas, lies, and political melodrama. 

3 III 2021: Who sabotaged the Nat’l Guard on January 5th

It took the Trump Defense Dept. three hours and nineteen minutes to respond to requests that the National Guard come and defend the Government. The Guard had been on stand-by before the Black Lives Matter event in D.C., but someone decided they should not be ready to respond quickly on January 6th. The D.C. Chief of Police sent a frantic call for the assistance of the National Guard at 1:49 and he and the National Guard heard nothing from the Defense Dept. higher-ups until 5:08. Why?

Either the Army high command and the Defense Dept. are stumble-bums or someone did not want the National Guard to help the D.C. police to quell the riot before an appropriate amount of criminal behavior had taken place in the Capitol. I am wondering if this delay was part of a plot by Trump & Co. to let the riot they had started continue long enough to do serious damage.

28 II 2021: The idol of gold at CPAC

I read of the display of a golden idol of Donald Trump at the CPAC meeting and thought at once of Psalm 113:12-16:

The idols of the nations are silver and gold, 

   the works of the hands of men.

They have mouths, and do not speak; 

   they have eyes, and do not see.

They have ears, and do not hear; 

   they have noses, and do not smell.

They have hands, and do not feel; 

   they have feet, and do not walk. 

Neither will they cry out with their throat.

Let those who make them become like them, 

   along with all who trust in them.

It is altogether appropriate to have a statue of Trump at a gathering where most of the GOP has come to bow down before him and his idol (that is on sale for $100,000). The prayer of the Psalmist, “Let those who make them become like them,” has been fulfilled abundantly in the Republican Party that made this idol and has become like it, wholly corrupt.

I also thought at once of Psalm 95:5, “For all the gods of the gentiles are demons, but the Lord made heaven and earth.” In The City of God, St. Augustine asserts that what the demons most crave is to receive the worship due to God. Is Trump demonic? I’m inclined to say that he is. For how else can we explain his preternatural reduction to servitude of half the country and most of the Republican Party? He has made every effort to undo what is good in government and to replace it with greed and malice. He is also a thoroughgoing liar, and Trump brings vividly to mind the Lord’s description of the Devil in John 8:44: “When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”

26 II 2021: Public confessions

We’ve seen various cases of outrageous behavior in the Republican Senate. To mention only a few examples: Ron Johnson (what a mind!) is trying to find a place for himself on the conspiracy bandwagon. Rand Paul gave an exemplary demonstration of what it is to be a brute, bigot, and idiosyncratic show-boater. And Old Mitch has shown yet again that he can almost literally talk out of both sides of his mouth at once. We’re seeing a lot of rightwing acting-out at the CPAC gala. Ted Cruz has taken a well-deserved early lead in the sycophant sweepstakes and we are, of course, looking forward breathlessly to the re-emergence as to the center of attention of the Father of lies Mr. Trump.

We can view these instances as, at best, a national embarrassment, at worst, as a sign of how close to ruin the United States has come. But let’s look on the bright side. There’s no need for eavesdropping or for leaked confessions. These Republicans are confessing their perverted ambition, abuse of position, devotion to manipulation, misanthropy, and irrationality out loud and in the light of day. But no need for penance, they are by no means ashamed of themselves, and are quite ready to congratulate themselves even if no one else will.

18 II 2021: Another polluter leaves the American scene

So I’ve learned of the death of Rush Limbaugh. 

We are told that we should say only what was good about the dead, and the right-wing media are full of encomia, eulogies, etc., about old Rush. I am sure there must be something good to say about him, but I cannot imagine what that would be.

Mr. Limbaugh was a huckster, just like our ex-president, or, maybe not just like. You see, I could never decide whether the divisive opinions Trump pedaled were truly his own or were selected from a menu of offensiveness because of their appeal to his people.

Not so with Rush. I had no doubt at all about his sincerity. He spoke from the heart. He did not affect hatred, he embodied it, and poisoned America with his lies and misrepresentations for decades. He had a “God-given talent” for giving voice to the immense resentment, bigotry, and envy that he shared with his listeners.