My fervent hope is that young voters will turn out in historic numbers and solidly push GOP attempts to destroy our democracy into the trash.
I had to listen to a white older man who happens to be an ex navy seal rant on and on the other night...spewing stuff like Democrats are communists and Biden is owned by China and blue lasers are for real. He thinks Trump is the only one who “can save the republic “. These folks scare the hell outta me... there’s no reasoning with them. So maybe, if enough young voters and rational people can get to the polls, we’ll have a chance. Finally, Fani Willis is right up there with RBG in my book! Thank Goodness for her!
All indications are that the youth vote will turn out as they did in the last three elections and will cancel out the vote of those over 65 or even surpass it in the key battlegrounds states.
I'm a woman, well over 65, and have *never* bought into the former guy's madness. Please don't assume that everyone 65+ is a devoted former guy follower.
Fingers crossed on that! We should all make it a personal goal to bring at least one new voter to the polls! Getting involved on a local level is where it all begins.
As an old, white guy pushing 76, I'm with the idealistic, liberal young voters, and I have been ever since I was young and idealistic.
I am, however, also realistic in recognizing that our current system is not designed or operated in a manner that allows for more ideal third party candidates to stand a chance for most high elected offices. So, voting for the so-called "lesser of two evils" is something that is usually necessary, regardless of my high ideals. That's especially true these days when the "worst of two evils" is so much worse that it is best to choose keeping things as they are or possibly backsliding only a little, rather than being dragged back into the Dark Ages.
The "lessor of two evils" is actually very good in this case. Joe Biden has done an excellent job despite what the Republican propaganda machine reports.
i'm a white older man and I gotta say, I avoid white older men like the plague that they've become. Now, when I do business with individuals, such as a tax person, I just automatically go to POC folks. Not out of personal affirmative action, but because the raw data shows that people in my demographic voted for Trump and will again. And I'm gonna let them do my taxes? Give me a colonoscopy? Not a chance. The easiest way is to avoid them. Their judgement is impaired.
Same...except female......Grew up in Kentucky, but now live in Canada and have done for 46 years....talking to my relatives back home is like some sort of weird time warp into Magical Thinking Land.
Check out these younguns'! https://www.turnup.us/. If there is hope out there, I believe it starts here. Worth a look, and worth the support of us geezers. Speaking for myself, of course!
Linda, I completely agree! We will learn a lot from DA Fani Willis. My sense is that after years of trials ahead I’ll have earned my MSNBC lawyer fan girl degree.
On Thursday night, Lawrence O'Donnell, Andrew Weissmann, and Mary McCord had a terrific conversation about DA Willis’ letter to Jim Jordan. You can find the clip on YouTube.
If BLM had even tried to protest outside the Capitol, they'd have been arrested on the spot and detained, if they weren't shot first. (Remember, again, that DT was still President.) In fact, he was *hoping* counterprotesters would be there so he could declare martial law - thank goodness they got the word to stay away.
I've said this SO many times. Had that crowd been black.... or Muslim.... or immigrant... or LGBTQ.... or any combination thereof.... there would have been rivers of blood on the steps.
Add women to this looong list, regardless of other demographic categories. You nailed it, Maria. As Trump reportedly said to his security team when they told him there were weapons (guns, knives, bear mace etc.) in his rally crowd: "They're not here for me" (aka would not hurt him but would hurt/even kill? targeted legislators trying to confirm Biden's electoral win). Trump planned it that way. It was obvious on its face to all of us watching in real time on Jan. 6th when Trump sicced his rabid, foaming dogs on the capitol.
And considering the behavior of the GOP so-called lawmakers about this matter, I think they should have been left to deal with that mob. I wonder what Jim Jordan would have said to them to keep them from stampeding all over him?
Yes, I am aware of that. If you re-read my comment, you might notice that I implied there would have been significantly more, had it been a crowd comprising marginalized groups. And it wouldn't have been the blood of the security officers but of the protesters themselves.
And I quote you: "Neither of these candidates saw or weighed the evidence first hand in these cases."
This strikes at the heart of the problem; there are no cameras in federal court! Now that won't help people like DeSantis, or Jordan, or any of the hard core MAGA; but it would certainly help the majority of Americans understand the cases against these people. It will be difficult for people to understand the trump case in DC when, at the end of each day of the trial, the defense team come out to the press and spew their lies; and the prosecutors come out and say nothing. Every media outlet should be screaming - every day - that the trial should be televised!
The Congressional Jan. 6 Committee hearing was televised but many people refused to watch because they were told it was all lies and believed it! You can't fix stupid. No amount of evidence will convince cult members that they've been deluded.
Yes, the MAGA cult will ignore the facts, like they already do. However I think some will watch it; if for no other reason than to see (what they perceive as) trump and his lawyers "owning the libs." If they're not careful though, they might just learn something. We can hope anyway.
Sadly true - but maybe w wake up those saying “ah, politicians….” I know so many young families who are not tr supporters but who also don’t feel we are in any kind of danger.
Agreed. In this day and age, if it ain't on TV, it didn't happen, or it happened the way your echo chamber said it happened and you will never know otherwise. It is past time for the Federal Courts to start doing their business where it can be seen in real time. I know why they don't wanna, but I really think they gotta.
In Florida, Nazis walked the streets of Orlando in a parade, carrying Desantis posters along with their swasticas. Desantis is endorsing CLT (with less history, more pseudo “Jude’s-Christian”philosophy emphasis)over SAT and ACT scores for college entrance. His wife is pushing the Moms for Liberty agenda into other states so that public education can focus on parents’ rights over truth in course material. We have a weaponized state guard who operate at Desantis’ whim, with the recruiting brochure stating that these folks will “be a part of history.” Fascism is alive and well in Florida-and if allowed., they will murder democracy. Make no mistake-this is real.
You bet. That old phrase: “When people tell you who they are, believe them” rings true here. He’s telling us loud and clear that he is a Nazi-no question.
Any candidate for POTUS who repeatedly threatens to “slit the throats” of members of the opposing political party once elected is clearly a fascist. It won’t be long and he’ll be marching with those Nazi.
We just don’t want to accept that so many people are really that ugly. We’re all getting our big question answered of how could the Holocaust have ever happened. I’ve arrived at the conclusion of why humanity has so many religions, that they really are just our ancestors trying to pass on to us how to keep from killing each other. Love each other is such a simple premise. Yet seemingly so hard to follow as one looks around in the year 2023. Luckily we have recently learned about Neuroplasticity. Our brains will take us to our better selves only if we nurture and grow love instead of the hate. It’s up to all of us.
The GOP is no more. It is a full fledged mob syndicate. I agree with Susan Nieman, below, in hoping that the new generation of young voters blow the corrupt and entrenched GOP out the window. And they name GOP should be replaced with a totally different name and a new philosophy.
"The Party of Lawlessness and Disorder"...too right, as we have the disgusting spectacle of DeSantis and the Swamy falling over themselves being the first to say how many of the Jan 6 CONVICTED RIOTERS they will pardon if elected president. Then we see that the Fulton Cty., GA "special grand jury" had recommended indictments of: Lindsey Graham, Michael Flynn, former Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), attorney Cleta Mitchell, , far-right attorney Lin Wood and Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn. Quite a list of "law and order" peeps here, but the prosecutors ducked on formal GJ indictments. And there you have it, a laundry list of miscreants and reprobates firmly ensconced within the Orange Cancer's toxic orbit, and showing no signs of bailing on the Capo dei capi...Jesus wept.
Opinion polls from respected organizations have seemingly inured us to a sad reality: continuing additions to the existing mountain of evidence of outright criminality by Trump and his confederates only heighten the devotion of a large segment of the electorate to a multiply indicted but not yet convicted former U. S. President. Depressing as this is, we need to remind everyone that these Trump acolytes are a clear MINORITY of the voters. The impact of such legal and factually-based charges on the MAJORITY of voters who are NOT caught up in Trump's Alice-in-Wonderland is a wholly different matter: we Democrats will increasingly vow to walk through burning coals in order to defeat Trump--or any of his Mini-Me's; while anyone who is truly an "Independent" to any degree or even an old-fashioned Republican will be FAR LESS likely. The Trump wing of the Party is apparently determined to follow their demagogic leader over the cliff. We members of the rational world should do NOTHING to deter them from this electorally suicidal path.
You've provided another inspired commentary, as usual, Jay, especially regarding the downward spiral of the Republican party. You have epically captured its death throes. It's a pity more don't recognize what's happening in Texas with the sham of a trial. When you add that to the state's refusal of the court's orders to remove the Rio Grande barriers, it paints a clear picture of the Republican's lack of morals and denial of the rule of law when it becomes inconvenient to their goals. Not that they have any real goals other than promotion of their own power using whatever means possible, especially if it means the oppression of anyone who is not white and straight and toeing a very narrow line. I am continually amazed by how many continue to insist on electing people to govern who do not believe in government or educate themselves in its tenets or laws.
I lived in Texas until just before Elon invaded. Most of my friends in Austin hoped that the influx of California techies would influence voting patterns. Unfortunately, they did, and not for the better. Mostly, the types of techies attracted out of California to Texas were the kind of techies that made news with GamerGate. Libertarians with a nod toward 8Chan. Scan the worst of Elon's tweets, and that's Texas these days.
I grew up there but moved away in '78. Never regretted it. I still have family there, though, who I continually badger to move, although that appears to be a lost cause, sadly. But, yes, there is life outside of Texas and it's SO much better in a blue state. Congrats on the timely escape.
Well summated. That's exactly it- the Republican Party has fully embraced jester politics, but we have for too long indulged their rotten mad hatter affair, which has laid the walkways of disarray for even greater departures into the fantastically dumb.
Will the impeccably placed owns even resonate with the vacuous likes of a Jim Jordan (appreciated so heartily by sane America)?
Time to wrap up this act, kick them all off the island, or, better yet, relegate them to a far off plot of land where they can play MAGA King to their heart's content.
Time to reclaim the country, end the facade that these people have any public role. It's been surreal, and we're done.
This paragraph neatly summed up my own perspective of the modern Republican Party:
"This serves as a disturbingly clear window into the rotted core of the GOP, addicted to Trumpian opiates and saddled with self-consuming MAGA identity politics. It is emblematic of the slow implosion of the party, which is experiencing a race to the bottom that makes sense only to those wholly caught in the pull of the vortex. "
It's sad, and more than a little scary, to see the devolution of the GOP. I could absolutely support thoughtful, rational and fact-based conversation/discussion/negotiation between liberals and conservatives - the country would benefit. But right now it's almost impossible because most of the conservatives who are capable of thoughtful, rational and fact-based discussions are either politically impotent or invisible. And the remainder of the GOP is either incapable or simply unwilling to participate in civil discourse - they're indistinguishable from an irrational mob whipped into a frenzy by a cult.
We actually need a principled opposition to check the impulses of the left and keep us accountable. The self-destruction of the GOP needs to be followed by the rise of a centrist right, or we will face a different kind of problem later.
I absolutely agree. I think the seeds of a principled centrist right are out there - but the current GOP is going to have to re-make itself (again), or collapse completely, in order for that seed to germinate. Considering the rabid fervor of the current loud voices in the party - and the cult-like acceptance of their vocal following - this will not be a quick or painless process.
Not only that, but the Democratic 'big tent' could get big enough to have trouble embracing the span of opinion it contains, which could generate a fissioning into more than one party, one more centrist than the other. I'd hope that wouldn't happen until the GOP is no longer a threat to any new parties that would result, though.
Well, yeah - remember Will Rogers said, "I am not a member of any organized political party - I am a Democrat." For most of my lifetime, the Democratic Party has contained so many multitudes, it can make your head spin - everyone has their own issues, wants them to be top of any priority list, and it is nearly impossible to assemble any kind of organized platform. I liked it better when it was mostly a workers' party - most other issues can be nicely wrapped up in that, as the vast majority of folks are workers, rather than capital operators.
Gosh, if only Marjorie would release that surveillance footage from the stroll through the capitol on J6 then we'd all see that they are being persecuted by the DEEP STATE!!! Oh, wait......
As a Texan, I am appalled at watching the Paxton impeachment hearings. As you said, Jay, it doesn't have as much to do with Paxton's obvious illegalities, but whether or not the witnesses are insane. Sigh...
Mpls resident here. A significant portion of those charged with inciting violence after George Floyd's murder were white supremacists. Our neighborhoods set up night watches. We were on the lookout for white supremacists who saw it as an opportunity to incite a race war. Seems like pure projection when folks try to say it was lefties at the Capitol posing as Trump supporters.
My fervent hope is that young voters will turn out in historic numbers and solidly push GOP attempts to destroy our democracy into the trash.
I had to listen to a white older man who happens to be an ex navy seal rant on and on the other night...spewing stuff like Democrats are communists and Biden is owned by China and blue lasers are for real. He thinks Trump is the only one who “can save the republic “. These folks scare the hell outta me... there’s no reasoning with them. So maybe, if enough young voters and rational people can get to the polls, we’ll have a chance. Finally, Fani Willis is right up there with RBG in my book! Thank Goodness for her!
All indications are that the youth vote will turn out as they did in the last three elections and will cancel out the vote of those over 65 or even surpass it in the key battlegrounds states.
I'm a woman, well over 65, and have *never* bought into the former guy's madness. Please don't assume that everyone 65+ is a devoted former guy follower.
76 year old white anglo here and I don't buy his bullshit!
Not ALL youth are Dems, either, but statistically, 65+ vote R.
Fingers crossed on that! We should all make it a personal goal to bring at least one new voter to the polls! Getting involved on a local level is where it all begins.
As an old, white guy pushing 76, I'm with the idealistic, liberal young voters, and I have been ever since I was young and idealistic.
I am, however, also realistic in recognizing that our current system is not designed or operated in a manner that allows for more ideal third party candidates to stand a chance for most high elected offices. So, voting for the so-called "lesser of two evils" is something that is usually necessary, regardless of my high ideals. That's especially true these days when the "worst of two evils" is so much worse that it is best to choose keeping things as they are or possibly backsliding only a little, rather than being dragged back into the Dark Ages.
The "lessor of two evils" is actually very good in this case. Joe Biden has done an excellent job despite what the Republican propaganda machine reports.
i'm a white older man and I gotta say, I avoid white older men like the plague that they've become. Now, when I do business with individuals, such as a tax person, I just automatically go to POC folks. Not out of personal affirmative action, but because the raw data shows that people in my demographic voted for Trump and will again. And I'm gonna let them do my taxes? Give me a colonoscopy? Not a chance. The easiest way is to avoid them. Their judgement is impaired.
Same...except female......Grew up in Kentucky, but now live in Canada and have done for 46 years....talking to my relatives back home is like some sort of weird time warp into Magical Thinking Land.
Check out these younguns'! https://www.turnup.us/. If there is hope out there, I believe it starts here. Worth a look, and worth the support of us geezers. Speaking for myself, of course!
Thanks for sharing this! We need these youngsters! (I’m a geezer, too!)😂
Oh please, Susan; you'll always be just a kid to me!!
LOL
Just shared this link with my daughter...a social media/PR major looking for internship opportunities! Thank you!!
The more we spread this, the more our odds of saving our Nation increase! Thank you for sharing; as Joyce Vance says, "We're all in this together"!!
I particularly liked the put-down of Jordan by DA Willis.
We all smiled reading it.
Glad that my state has some redeeming qualities and isn't just "Kemplandia"
Sooo much respect for Fani Willis!
Linda, I completely agree! We will learn a lot from DA Fani Willis. My sense is that after years of trials ahead I’ll have earned my MSNBC lawyer fan girl degree.
Her closing was amazing “Yours in Service” *chef’s kiss*
On Thursday night, Lawrence O'Donnell, Andrew Weissmann, and Mary McCord had a terrific conversation about DA Willis’ letter to Jim Jordan. You can find the clip on YouTube.
I’ll try to find it.
FOUND IT: https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/why-trump-may-seek-removal-of-georgia-case-to-federal-court-192506437728
If BLM had even tried to protest outside the Capitol, they'd have been arrested on the spot and detained, if they weren't shot first. (Remember, again, that DT was still President.) In fact, he was *hoping* counterprotesters would be there so he could declare martial law - thank goodness they got the word to stay away.
One need only see the response of the authorities to the BLM march in DC, with the guard in riot gear, to see the difference.
I've said this SO many times. Had that crowd been black.... or Muslim.... or immigrant... or LGBTQ.... or any combination thereof.... there would have been rivers of blood on the steps.
Add women to this looong list, regardless of other demographic categories. You nailed it, Maria. As Trump reportedly said to his security team when they told him there were weapons (guns, knives, bear mace etc.) in his rally crowd: "They're not here for me" (aka would not hurt him but would hurt/even kill? targeted legislators trying to confirm Biden's electoral win). Trump planned it that way. It was obvious on its face to all of us watching in real time on Jan. 6th when Trump sicced his rabid, foaming dogs on the capitol.
And considering the behavior of the GOP so-called lawmakers about this matter, I think they should have been left to deal with that mob. I wonder what Jim Jordan would have said to them to keep them from stampeding all over him?
Actually Maria, there was blood on the steps. A white police officer attested to such during the Jan 6 hearings.
Yes, I am aware of that. If you re-read my comment, you might notice that I implied there would have been significantly more, had it been a crowd comprising marginalized groups. And it wouldn't have been the blood of the security officers but of the protesters themselves.
And I quote you: "Neither of these candidates saw or weighed the evidence first hand in these cases."
This strikes at the heart of the problem; there are no cameras in federal court! Now that won't help people like DeSantis, or Jordan, or any of the hard core MAGA; but it would certainly help the majority of Americans understand the cases against these people. It will be difficult for people to understand the trump case in DC when, at the end of each day of the trial, the defense team come out to the press and spew their lies; and the prosecutors come out and say nothing. Every media outlet should be screaming - every day - that the trial should be televised!
The Congressional Jan. 6 Committee hearing was televised but many people refused to watch because they were told it was all lies and believed it! You can't fix stupid. No amount of evidence will convince cult members that they've been deluded.
Yes, the MAGA cult will ignore the facts, like they already do. However I think some will watch it; if for no other reason than to see (what they perceive as) trump and his lawyers "owning the libs." If they're not careful though, they might just learn something. We can hope anyway.
Sadly true - but maybe w wake up those saying “ah, politicians….” I know so many young families who are not tr supporters but who also don’t feel we are in any kind of danger.
I miss Carl.
Agreed. In this day and age, if it ain't on TV, it didn't happen, or it happened the way your echo chamber said it happened and you will never know otherwise. It is past time for the Federal Courts to start doing their business where it can be seen in real time. I know why they don't wanna, but I really think they gotta.
In Florida, Nazis walked the streets of Orlando in a parade, carrying Desantis posters along with their swasticas. Desantis is endorsing CLT (with less history, more pseudo “Jude’s-Christian”philosophy emphasis)over SAT and ACT scores for college entrance. His wife is pushing the Moms for Liberty agenda into other states so that public education can focus on parents’ rights over truth in course material. We have a weaponized state guard who operate at Desantis’ whim, with the recruiting brochure stating that these folks will “be a part of history.” Fascism is alive and well in Florida-and if allowed., they will murder democracy. Make no mistake-this is real.
That the governor does not speak out against actual Nazis in his state is all you need to know.
You bet. That old phrase: “When people tell you who they are, believe them” rings true here. He’s telling us loud and clear that he is a Nazi-no question.
Any candidate for POTUS who repeatedly threatens to “slit the throats” of members of the opposing political party once elected is clearly a fascist. It won’t be long and he’ll be marching with those Nazi.
Scary just listening to duhSantis! It boggles the mind that too many still consider him POTUS material.
We just don’t want to accept that so many people are really that ugly. We’re all getting our big question answered of how could the Holocaust have ever happened. I’ve arrived at the conclusion of why humanity has so many religions, that they really are just our ancestors trying to pass on to us how to keep from killing each other. Love each other is such a simple premise. Yet seemingly so hard to follow as one looks around in the year 2023. Luckily we have recently learned about Neuroplasticity. Our brains will take us to our better selves only if we nurture and grow love instead of the hate. It’s up to all of us.
The GOP is no more. It is a full fledged mob syndicate. I agree with Susan Nieman, below, in hoping that the new generation of young voters blow the corrupt and entrenched GOP out the window. And they name GOP should be replaced with a totally different name and a new philosophy.
BLM protested incidents of police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people, which (checks notes,) are True.
J6 participants protested a stolen election, which (checks notes,) is False.
Any comparisons the GOP make between these two protests are comparing apples and bowling balls.
This is objectively true... but the cult, you see, is not objective. We here are preaching to the choir, which consists of (checks notes) us.
"The Party of Lawlessness and Disorder"...too right, as we have the disgusting spectacle of DeSantis and the Swamy falling over themselves being the first to say how many of the Jan 6 CONVICTED RIOTERS they will pardon if elected president. Then we see that the Fulton Cty., GA "special grand jury" had recommended indictments of: Lindsey Graham, Michael Flynn, former Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) and Kelly Loeffler (R-Ga.), attorney Cleta Mitchell, , far-right attorney Lin Wood and Trump advisor Boris Epshteyn. Quite a list of "law and order" peeps here, but the prosecutors ducked on formal GJ indictments. And there you have it, a laundry list of miscreants and reprobates firmly ensconced within the Orange Cancer's toxic orbit, and showing no signs of bailing on the Capo dei capi...Jesus wept.
Succession fans, I apologize. Those were the words of Logan, not Kendall, Roy.
Opinion polls from respected organizations have seemingly inured us to a sad reality: continuing additions to the existing mountain of evidence of outright criminality by Trump and his confederates only heighten the devotion of a large segment of the electorate to a multiply indicted but not yet convicted former U. S. President. Depressing as this is, we need to remind everyone that these Trump acolytes are a clear MINORITY of the voters. The impact of such legal and factually-based charges on the MAJORITY of voters who are NOT caught up in Trump's Alice-in-Wonderland is a wholly different matter: we Democrats will increasingly vow to walk through burning coals in order to defeat Trump--or any of his Mini-Me's; while anyone who is truly an "Independent" to any degree or even an old-fashioned Republican will be FAR LESS likely. The Trump wing of the Party is apparently determined to follow their demagogic leader over the cliff. We members of the rational world should do NOTHING to deter them from this electorally suicidal path.
You've provided another inspired commentary, as usual, Jay, especially regarding the downward spiral of the Republican party. You have epically captured its death throes. It's a pity more don't recognize what's happening in Texas with the sham of a trial. When you add that to the state's refusal of the court's orders to remove the Rio Grande barriers, it paints a clear picture of the Republican's lack of morals and denial of the rule of law when it becomes inconvenient to their goals. Not that they have any real goals other than promotion of their own power using whatever means possible, especially if it means the oppression of anyone who is not white and straight and toeing a very narrow line. I am continually amazed by how many continue to insist on electing people to govern who do not believe in government or educate themselves in its tenets or laws.
I lived in Texas until just before Elon invaded. Most of my friends in Austin hoped that the influx of California techies would influence voting patterns. Unfortunately, they did, and not for the better. Mostly, the types of techies attracted out of California to Texas were the kind of techies that made news with GamerGate. Libertarians with a nod toward 8Chan. Scan the worst of Elon's tweets, and that's Texas these days.
I grew up there but moved away in '78. Never regretted it. I still have family there, though, who I continually badger to move, although that appears to be a lost cause, sadly. But, yes, there is life outside of Texas and it's SO much better in a blue state. Congrats on the timely escape.
Well summated. That's exactly it- the Republican Party has fully embraced jester politics, but we have for too long indulged their rotten mad hatter affair, which has laid the walkways of disarray for even greater departures into the fantastically dumb.
Will the impeccably placed owns even resonate with the vacuous likes of a Jim Jordan (appreciated so heartily by sane America)?
Time to wrap up this act, kick them all off the island, or, better yet, relegate them to a far off plot of land where they can play MAGA King to their heart's content.
Time to reclaim the country, end the facade that these people have any public role. It's been surreal, and we're done.
“And we’re done”! Yes! We certainly are. Well said.
This paragraph neatly summed up my own perspective of the modern Republican Party:
"This serves as a disturbingly clear window into the rotted core of the GOP, addicted to Trumpian opiates and saddled with self-consuming MAGA identity politics. It is emblematic of the slow implosion of the party, which is experiencing a race to the bottom that makes sense only to those wholly caught in the pull of the vortex. "
It's sad, and more than a little scary, to see the devolution of the GOP. I could absolutely support thoughtful, rational and fact-based conversation/discussion/negotiation between liberals and conservatives - the country would benefit. But right now it's almost impossible because most of the conservatives who are capable of thoughtful, rational and fact-based discussions are either politically impotent or invisible. And the remainder of the GOP is either incapable or simply unwilling to participate in civil discourse - they're indistinguishable from an irrational mob whipped into a frenzy by a cult.
We actually need a principled opposition to check the impulses of the left and keep us accountable. The self-destruction of the GOP needs to be followed by the rise of a centrist right, or we will face a different kind of problem later.
I absolutely agree. I think the seeds of a principled centrist right are out there - but the current GOP is going to have to re-make itself (again), or collapse completely, in order for that seed to germinate. Considering the rabid fervor of the current loud voices in the party - and the cult-like acceptance of their vocal following - this will not be a quick or painless process.
Not only that, but the Democratic 'big tent' could get big enough to have trouble embracing the span of opinion it contains, which could generate a fissioning into more than one party, one more centrist than the other. I'd hope that wouldn't happen until the GOP is no longer a threat to any new parties that would result, though.
Well, yeah - remember Will Rogers said, "I am not a member of any organized political party - I am a Democrat." For most of my lifetime, the Democratic Party has contained so many multitudes, it can make your head spin - everyone has their own issues, wants them to be top of any priority list, and it is nearly impossible to assemble any kind of organized platform. I liked it better when it was mostly a workers' party - most other issues can be nicely wrapped up in that, as the vast majority of folks are workers, rather than capital operators.
“They just walked into the Capitol.” “Peaceful.”🤬
“As a non-member of the bar.”😂
Paxton impeachment 🦇💩🤪
Gosh, if only Marjorie would release that surveillance footage from the stroll through the capitol on J6 then we'd all see that they are being persecuted by the DEEP STATE!!! Oh, wait......
🌞
As a Texan, I am appalled at watching the Paxton impeachment hearings. As you said, Jay, it doesn't have as much to do with Paxton's obvious illegalities, but whether or not the witnesses are insane. Sigh...
Mpls resident here. A significant portion of those charged with inciting violence after George Floyd's murder were white supremacists. Our neighborhoods set up night watches. We were on the lookout for white supremacists who saw it as an opportunity to incite a race war. Seems like pure projection when folks try to say it was lefties at the Capitol posing as Trump supporters.