What if for over a short period, say one week, all the reactionaries and their fellow travelers in the Republican party would stop using the words “socialism” and “socialist”? Let them say what they really mean by these words, if they even know what the words mean. These words have been so long in use by the American right that their only meaning is a bow towards the reactionaries’ list of big lies used to scare the rubes and fundamentalists.
4 I 2019: A haphazard border security.
I see King Trump on various commercials (that is what they are) ranting about “border security,” asserting that the Democrats don’t want border security, so it’s up to King Trump and his “base” to take care of it. No surprise here, for Trump has been using “border security” as a dog whistle for “Keep them brown people from Latin America out of my country.” This is a reminder, if we needed one, that a foundational tenet of Trumpism is Racism.
But I wonder what about our other borders??? Most of the long Canadian border is said to be very, very porous. Shouldn’t that cause us anxiety?? Does anyone know who are crossing illegally and transporting infernal devices (explosives, marijuana) into the U.S. And the Atlantic and Pacific seaboards are variously porous, with the option for terrorists of using the tide to deliver explosive devices to the U.S.
But if Trump must have this so-called Wall, I say let him pay for it. He’s told us that he is very rich. So if he is so concerned he could privatize the border and put up the Trump Wall.
2 X 2019: Spies, traitors, tattle-tales, snitches
I see these terms used in the Ukraine Storm.
Spies? Spies for whom? Soviet intelligence, Iranian ayatollahs?
Traitor. This is Trump’s favorite term of abuse, second only to “nasty.” I don’t think he knows what traitor means except, in his view, disloyal to Trump. But it was Trump who was attempting to make a secret deal affecting domestic politics with the leader of a foreign power.
Tattle-tales: I hear “Nobody likes a tattle-tale.” This is something out of elementary school, when a tattle-tale reports infractions by other little children. There is more at stake here surely.
Snitches: And I hear “Snitches get stitches.” This saying is used by a criminal underworld to frighten witnesses of crimes from giving evidence. Trump has certainly implied a white criminal’s equivalent in his “what we used to do to traitors.” I believe Trump and his entourage truly believe that the Whistleblower ratted Trump out. But you cannot rat someone out unless there is some misdeed to be ratted about.
As it is, the Whistleblower is neither spy, nor traitor, nor tattle-tale, nor snitch. She/He is, rather, a law-abiding professional public servant who brought a potential crime against our government to the attention of proper authorities. The term “patriot” is much misused by the right-wing. We see it in advertisements, in the trade-names given to firearms, in the names of criminal associations, etc. I think we’ll find that the Whistleblower is an authentic patriot.
1 X 2019: Funny and frightening
Secretary of State M. Pompeo, who we now know was in on the attempt to squeeze Ukraine, won’t let officials from State cooperate with Congress for he will not tolerate his dedicated professionals being interrogated, bullied, etc. Does this mean the Trump-line has changed and is now calling for respect instead of contempt for State Dept. professionals?
An omen?Mitch McConnell says the Senate would have no choice to take up an impeachment of Trump. No choice? Look at how the nomination of Merrick Garland was treated. But I do wonder if, at the end of months of defending Trump they are going, of necessity, of course, throw Trump overboard?
Trump as 3rd World Dictator: CNN presented a very good interview of Lt. Col. Ralph Richards, its two main points: 1) Trump’s throwing out the threat of civil war in a tweet amounts to sedition. 2) Trump is like a 3rd World who must stay in office to avoid inevitable prosecution. Sedition? I think so. He has before this warned of terrible strife if he is not re-elected. I wouldn’t be surprised if the hardcore Trumpites would rise up in arms to keep their Love and Inspiration in office.
Trump’s deal with N.R.A.: It’s reported that Trump and Wayne LaPierre put their heads together at the White House. It is said that they struck a deal that if Trump would back away from gun-control, the N.R.A. would do something for Trump. N.R.A. is now vociferously denying that there was any deal, so the report of a deal is probably true. But I am left wondering what more N.R.A. could do for Trump. Maybe helping with the civil war.
Defenders of Donald Trump remind me of the scene in The Blues Brothers in which Joliet Jake has to make up lame excuses as fast as he can.
29 IX 2019: Trumpite Banner-bearers
We heard today a chorus of Trumpite heavy-hitters. Rudy Giuliani is getting worse, and we’ve heard from Steven (Xyklon-B) Miller, and from that Judas of good government, Lindsay Graham, all labeling Trump’s all who tell the truth about Trump as terrorists, spies, moles, 5th-columnists, and meanies generally. At the same time, they and other Trumpite mouthpieces are trying to portray Donald Trump as the “Suffering Servant” of Isaiah.
I don’t know why the media cannot give us a break from Rudy Giuliani. He’s a cute little guy, and time was when you never knew what he was going to say next, but now he’s become repetitious and the new dodges he comes up with are sillier and sillier. Can’t we leave him alone until he’s called as a witness?
Steven Miller, unelected but official, usually limits himself to callous remarks about poor people. But his Principal Patron and Enabler is on the line now, and so, clad in his usual rental tux of assumed superiority he is attacking the spies, traitors, Hassidim, desperados, sorcerers, Decembrists, et al., who are ganging up on his Leader. Mr. Miller should stick to what he knows, rallying the mob against the immigrants.
I want the same treatment for Lindsay Graham as for Giuliani. Can’t we just let him talk to himself for a while? We know perfectly well what he is going to say, and it makes me, for one, nauseous to see how low a man I once thought maybe a statesman has sunk.
28 IX 2019: Are most right-wingers gas-works? Or have I been listening to the wrong right-wingers?
I just watched a news clip of the testimony [sic] of Thomas Homan, who, when acting director of ICE, transformed the agency from a brown-shirt squad into black-shirt police. Mr. Homan testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship that ICE detention facilities “have the highest standards in the industry” and are “the best facilities in the world.” But when his allotted time for speaking ran out, he kept on motor-mouthing, ignored the Chair’s call to order, and became abusive when she insisted that he stop.
Now, Mr. Homan was probably right in testifying that our gulags are superior to those run by other regimes. But he had to keep talking, had to force his way through his “talking-points.” This is, in my experience, behavior typical of right-wingers on-the-air. Kelleyanne Conway is the best example, but this can be observed in other reactionaries as well, especially low-seniority members of Congress and Trumpites generally. They force their way through their assigned talking-points, each of which says virtually the same thing, and they keep on talking faster and faster to prevent, I guess, any question or examination of what they are saying.
Finally, as one would expect, Fox News [sic] trotted out a lawman, Sheriff Thomas Hodgson, to defend Mr. Homan and denounce congressional mistreatment of testifying lawmen. He did an impressive job considering that he had a limited amount of time to learn his lines.
27 IX 2019: Has Trump started talking to White House paintings?
Trump has achieved what had been thought impossible: He is becoming weirder by the day.
He claimed that coal miners to whom he has spoken were so hostile to the idea of re-training for tech jobs they almost vomited, and is quoted as saying: “Can you imagine a miner with massive arms, shoulders, who love what they’re doing, in a line with little tiny widgets?” Mr. Trump must have mixed up miners with professional wrestlers. (Trump is a wannabe professional wrestler.)
He wasted his time (and ours!) fussing about typos on CNN with a tweet had more errors than the CNN text.
He said that people who reveal his criminal activity are “spies,” and spoke fondly of what we used to do to spies and traitors. For Trump, a spy is anyone who reports his illegal activities, and a traitor is anyone who is not sufficiently loyal to him.
Trump’s Toadies have hastened to follow their Leader into madness.
Devin (No-lie-too-small) Nunes has accused democrats of wanting to obtain nude pictures of Trump. Ugh!
America’s Nutcase, Rudy Giuliani, is now claiming that he is the real whistleblower, and says ‘When this is over, I will be the hero.’
26 IX 2019: Trump’s behavior no surprise
Unlike some, anyway, I am not at all surprised that Trump abused his office for his own political gain. Corrupt behavior is who Trump is. If he were to act honestly, without self-interest, and faithful to his duties as President, that would be a surprise, just as it would be astonishing if he were ever to speak the truth consciously and willingly.
Trump and Trumpworld are so narrow and corrupt that I can at least imagine that maybe Trump really thinks he’s done nothing wrong. Don’t all winners practice extortion and regard as their own what others have entrusted to them? But no, Trump is not so naive. He is a semi-criminal, one of a class of people who have contempt for the laws and think people who obey them are chumps. He and his enablers knew he committed a crime and took immediate steps to conceal it, like a cat hiding its feces.
Semi-criminals have standard responses to stress, like “If you get caught, lie about it and keep lying.” Trump and his winged-monkey, Rudi, have not stopped telling lies for several days now, and will keep on telling lies as long as anyone will listen to them.
His Trumpites are firing a copious and varied barrage of disinformation in their Leader’s defense, lies calculated to deceive and tall-tales intended to distract. The Trumpworld cares only about appearances and impressions, and in the Trumpworld the truth is considered the greatest threat.
25 IX 2019 bis: Strict control and courage can prevent circus-hearing
A piece in The Daily Beast by Mr. Sam Brody, the Beast’s Congressional Reporter, bore the summary headline: “Dems Worry Rudy Would Send Impeachment Hearing Off the Rails.” Well, yes. That garrulous old liar has created so much uproar and chaos on TV shows that I’m amazed that they keep asking him to return. Yet there he is, all the time, with his grimaces and grins, talking like a prize-fight promoter, and telling one whopper after another unless he is stopped. And, yes, he is hard to stop, because he has no manners at all.
I came away from the Corey Lewandowski hearing feeling pessimistic about future hearings. Members of Congress, Chairs of Committees need to rouse themselves and shut down the delaying tactics and derisive behavior of their colleagues. They need to make witnesses either answer the questions or face a citation for Contempt of Congress. Our institutions must be less indulgent and tolerant when dealing with practiced liars and swindlers. Mad-dog partisanship and a high tolerance for foolery have made a mockery of the oversight role of Congress. Congress must resume this role with grave and determined energy if our democracy is to survive.
25 IX 2019: It’s nota transcript
AS Michael Tomasky points out on Dailybeast, the document released by Teamtrump is not really a transcript of the conversation between Trump and Zelensky. It is, I’ve read, a summary of notes taken by White House officials listening in on the call. The document indicates that the conversation lasted 30 minutes, and they have come up with a 1992-word version of it. Were they speaking that slowly? A summary that is a verbatim record is a failed summary. Or, if the document is to be regarded as a transcription of the conversation, it is a very partial, and therefore selective, transcription. Were the White House officials taking the conversation down in shorthand? Or was their “transcription” based on a recording of the conversation? The latter seems more likely, for I’m sure that a conversation between heads of state would be recorded entire on both ends. In any case, the editors managed to squeeze thirty minutes into less than 1992 words that convey not very much of real substance. If this is at all a true version of the conversation between these two leaders, then taxpayers of the U.S. and of Ukraine should make Trump and Zelensky pay for the call themselves.
This document is not an authentic account of the conversation between the two heads of state, but a doctored version put together from meaningless remarks of Zelensky and statements of Trump that stop just short of “you give me the dirt and I’ll give you the money.”
The portrait of Trump in the transcript seems true-to-life: impolite, a braggart, unable to refrain from re-living past real or imagined slights, and unable to see the difference between himself and the United States. If the portrait of Zelensky that emerges is true-to-life, then heaven help Ukraine! But I suspect that Zelensky’s smarmy gratitude, unbounded admiration, and whole-hearted agreement with Trump are White House confections.