On Friday, in an interview with CNN anchor Kaitlan Collins, Trump’s former attorney general William Barr brushed off the recent news that Trump, furious that the story he had taken refuge in a bunker during the Black Lives Matter protests in summer 2020 had leaked, called for the White House leaker to be executed.
The willingness of a former top law enforcement official to support a candidate who has demonstrated autocratic tendencies and disregarded democratic principles shows just how far into the Twilight Zone we've traveled politically.
I am not sure that Barr, or for that matter Trump, are fanatics so much as sociopathic opportunists. The 9/11 hijackers were fanatics. I think most dictators are opportunists. They don't believe in anything outside of their own will to dominate. What ever stories they may tell themselves, I think they know they are total liars, but pride themselves in that skill.
I think they truly believe that there are people who deserve and people who are undeserving. It is the basis of all bigotry and allows events like the Holocaust to occur.
The most disturbing aspect, I believe in Heather's post today is the RED MAPPING! The Republicans have been playing the long game. The Democrats, I believe, think if they hold the Congress and the Presidency long enough they can get it all straightened out.
Unfortunately, Susan, the Republicans have honed their skill by marching in lockstep to force their views on all of us. Democrats are a more fractious group, and want to believe that all of us will manage to see the light and agree with our vision of inclusion and fairness. We're not there - yet.
Even if we are not fractured, their vote fraud alone with Gerrymandering and removing people from the voting rolls, last minute so they don't have time to straighten it out is the way they steal elections. The Nazi's rose to power when Germans didn't even really know what democracy was. Weimar Germany was their first time having a democratic government and that time period was so fraught with post war poverty from the rebuilding and the 33 billion dollar reparations they were charged, and the political fighting amongst the groups that were elected by the people, that they did not really get a chance to learn what a healthy democracy could be before accepting Hitler as their dictator since he promised to help them out of the economic catastrophe that the US stock market crash caused for the German economy. They had had exactly 15 years of Democracy in their entire history. Republicans come from a much longer history of democracy with none of this economic disaster and are still embracing a strong man promising to save them from their misery. It seems that they are just miserable people and in need of therapy, not Trump. The agenda and the people seem very disturbed by modern standards. Their goals all seems very medieval.
Linda, the manipulators of the GOP use their world view to convince their minions to do their bidding and fill their coffers. I agree with you that Germany's economy post-WWI, aggravated by the depression made them vulnerable to Hitler, and that we have no such exculpatory excuses for the embrace of Trump and his influencers. My guess is that this country's racist tendencies, in addition to many people refusing to accept any information other than what they see in social media or conservative television, makes many susceptible to false narrative. I just hate paying the consequences for their ignorance.
There is a odd notion that the older an idea is the more true it is. While the persistence of ideas is worth noticing, it is not reliable evidence of truth. Relativity, women's suffrage, and antibiotics were all in place before I was born, but a great many aspects of human understanding have changed within my lifetime nevertheless, with substantial backing of logic and evidence, and a lot of aspects of the "good old days", while there were aspects worth preserving, were most definitely not so good. Authoritarians in the Supreme Court claim their interpretations are authentic because they claim to channel the minds of the framers, or even much older jurists, but the documents the framers penned does not credit them personally as the final authorities, but rather the public's endorsement of the PRINCIPLES they developed, with an understanding that the work remains in progress.
“Republicans from a much longer history of democracy”! Please amplify!
In North Carolina, those claiming the Republican label were formerly the southern democrats enthralled with Reagan who were also segregationists at heart!
I'm not sure it's so much that Dems are "fractured" as that we are diverse. The rethugs are able to achieve their repulsive goals by marching - and having marched, for decades - in lockstep, which Dems do not. IMO, Dems acknowledge that different groups included within the Dem Party have some goals that are at odds with, or slow down or interfere in the achieving of, other groups within the Dem Party - and money is an issue as well, of course. We seem to be unable to work on a single goal at a time, because obvs there are SO MANY things we are called upon RIGHT NOW to undo and fix. I don't know what the solution would look like.
I agree with you, Lynn. I just hope that our many factions will put their differing goals aside long enough to not give in to the fatigue of the last eight years, and unite to give us a large enough majority to break the log jam. Primary should be the goal of righting the heavy listing of SCOTUS.
All the comments above give the dems a place to hide as they've been hiding for decades allowing all these policies to take place. Again, I will mention Howard Dean and his 50 state strategy that dems never tried and now republicans run roughshot over them.
Yes. Baudelaire supposedly said "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist". The corollary for our time is "The second greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the GOP that his voice was God's."
Susan, they are certainly making the AntiChrist real in the person of death star. What we have is an already uncivil society becoming much worse once death star gave everyone carte blanche to be their worst selves. And in terms of execution, it doesn't even have to be explicit. Just ask Thomas Beckett. I think death star and his minions are experts at stirring the pot and letting others do the dirty deeds.
As I have maintained for a long time, the progressives have been resting on their laurels from the "progress" of the 60s and 70s while the fascist spawn of the 1939 coup attempt have been working diligently ever since for their next oppottunity. We have been asleep at the wheel far too long trying to make everyone feel good that it is now almost too late to save ourselves.
All the books written and publications screaming about all this have gone unread or been dismissed.
I could go on and on.....Their next opportunity is NOW!!
I think Satan is a personification of our own self-centered impulse gone beyond the bounds of "enlightened self interest"; when we cease to care if others are harmed by our behavior, or tell ourselves we are superior because of it. Was the deliberate separation and failure to track children of immigrants the work of a goat-horned supernatural monster, or antisocial human psychology? We have met the enemy and he is us. It's the same "GOP" either way.
I completely agree. Barr may have thought it would be curtains for Trump after the insurrection, so he admitted that he told Trump ‘the steal” was “bullsh*t.” But now, with Trump and Biden facing off, Barr wants the Republican Party and the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society to rule the roost. Barr knows Trump is a tool, so he will vote for the Right Wing Christian Theocratic Tool.
Wow, I’m not surprised he’ll do it. But I am surprised he admits it.
Thing is, the rats are swarming around the ship right now — One has to take note and wonder what the rats know. Do people like Barr really think they can admit this stuff and STILL win in November? Have they rigged and gerrymandered to such an extent that they will win, no matter how many of us vote blue?
NO - the gerrymander DOES NOT translate to statewide offices, like Gov. and Sec. of State. Gerrymandering (only) affects electoral boundaries with the state, like Congress and state house races. This is very significant, but DOES NOT come to play here.
ALL of the important states have ALL Democratic leadership in positions that matter - Secretary of State, Governor and I believe all of their site houses are controlled by Democrats ... MN, WI, MI and PA. Also, AZ has a fabulous Dem Gov and Sec of state
We have seen AZ and GA trend blue - the 2020 election proved that when the matters are most vital - the counting of ballots and the fending off of crazies in the courts - the adults in the positions of power carried forth to preserve our democracy
There is a lot of hot air and nonsense coming from conservative America, Fox, etc
"Don't worry, and be active," to paraphrase Simon Rosenberg, hopiumchronicles.org
This election. WILL BE a massive Blue Wave, of epic proportions. Mark my word, here on April 29, 2024.
My sense of worry never extends to NOT voting! Discouraging voting is not my intention. We need to turn out the strongest Vote Blue, Through and Through we can muster!
Republicans have put their energies — since the Reagan era, at least, and maybe even before — into gaining influence in exactly those governmental regions you mention, Frederick. It is why they thought that creating “uncertainty” about the vote counts in critical states in 2020 might throw those state Electors to their legislators, where Republicans had a lot of power.
IF key states — hell, MOST states — have strong Democratic representation in their local and statewide bodies, we have a much stronger chance of putting our governments, state AND federal, back on an even keel, and the rats can jump in the lake, for all I care …
Frederick, you are ignoring the gerrymandered Republican wins in the state houses and congress. The plan is to have CONGRESS decide the election. That means Trump wins. Don't be fooled!
Factually speaking, VP Harris WILL certify the election results, as determined by the factual vote counts and the respective factual electoral college results
You could be right. Who among us can imagine any of that lot giving their life for the cause they espose? Others, yes. Theirs? Not likely. A price too much for them. Thus, the need for a cult of sacrificial lambs with coinage, sterling and red. Fanatics and patriots share a willingness to give their lives for their cause and followers. Good and decent men and women stand daily with a leader who gives all for our Democracy. Biden seems to be a patriot, a decent man, a consistent conservator of our Declared aspirations for a free America.
How long will these men and women who have chosen to be candidates, be capable of governing....to be dictators for a few years to feed their egos....for that time to destroy the future of our children and grandchildren.....to steal the future goodness and hope /freedom for many......to force slavery to a false and corrupt government for the benefit of a few!!!! They could change laws that would give them the power to steal property...to raise taxes beyond a person's ability to pay. They could choose to fill our schools and universities with teachers who want students to know only the history or news or even scientific facts to their advantage. (ex: ingesting dangerous chemicals ie for CURES SUCH AS for COVID)
These men and women will eventually die...they will have destroyed our freedoms for momentary gain for them....destruction of our world order for short term gain and many nations who depend on us to "HOLD THE LINE!!!!" will have been abandoned to corruption and destruction!!!
A big "NO" from me!!!! A big "NO" to those justices who are a part of our Supreme Court who are "toying" with decisions that could further remove freedoms from our citizens and give COMPLETE POWER AND CONTROL TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE USA.
President Joe Biden has NEVER requested such power.
Only one past Republican President and his supporters have considered such control and power as a future goal for the office holder of the President of the USA!!!
That past President is now on trial facing just one of his many wrongs.
Is he the quality candidate we want to represent "the home of the free and brave"? Is he the candidate who will help us preserve our earth...care for our children...have compassion for our elderly...improve relationships with our friends around the world and even work with those who strongly disagree with our policies?
Our character as a nation, who we really are as a people will be revealed by our vote!!!! The world is watching!!!! What kind of country do we want to leave for our children and grandchildren?!
They are more than “opportunist”. They are thatt, but more. We shouldn’t minimize when describing or evaluating their relationship to the power their office wielded. Trump is a malignant narcissist sociopath. Barr is an ignorant white evangelical christian nationalist radical that is better suited to current Hungry’s AG than the US. The man, like his former boss is a disgrace to humanity.
I would say it's the other way around. The GQ swamp dwellers have normalized trump's behavior because they've been saying the quiet part out loud for a long time, starting with Alito arguing in favor for a unitary presidency.
I'm surprised this story starts in 1986 and not 1973. Wasn't it Nixon who said in effect, it's legal if the president does it, and tried "recission," where he refused to spend money appropriated by Congress, ie. to enforce/execute the laws of the United States?
The unitary executive theory is complete and utter bullsh*t. The founders WANTED a secular country, where religion didn't dominate the government, which got people killed. They wanted an executive, whose powers had checks and balances. A number of the founders were Deists, who believed in the existence of a faraway God. God created the universe and left humans to their own devices. Leave it to Samuel Alito to make up things like signing statements, which basically said, "I don't agree with this law, so I am not going to enforce it." If you look at the words of the presidential oath of office, signing statements are a dereliction of duty. The Republicans lie to grab power and money for themselves.
And we were damned lucky that, after the war, Washington refused to BE a king! Some urged it on him, and he said “NO.” As we had a weak federation at first … and framers continued to work on creating a strong and durable government, with a functional and enduring {amendable!} Constitution … Washington not only refused to be king, but he chose to LEAVE office and allow for continuing elections…. We could have had something more like Napoleon, but we got Washington. Damned lucky.
No guarantees we’d be so lucky again…. Right now, we SEE some who want to re-instate a “King” by a different name {a “unitary president” who has “full immunity while in office”}.
Yes, exactly! Any other interpretation of the Founders intentions when writing the Constitution & creating this country is bogus!! I'm glad to hear that at least George Stepanopoulous is finally recognizing that, and what is at stake if the Press doesn't protect our democriacy.
Yes, and those damned “signing statements” —- But people don’t have a clue what a “unitary president” is. They’ve taken a debating society skill and applied it to their political discourse — Whatever side you need to be on, find an “argument” that fits and stick to it, whether it bears close scrutiny, whether it holds up, or NOT.
Their “Christian Country,” Barr’s rewritten history about colonists rebelling against Parliament, the “unitary president” NOT being answerable to checks-and-balances …. All the real “bullsh*t” in this equation.
Barr has been a liar and a monster for a loooooong time.
[As a aside — people like Barr and Trump and Bannon show the effects of their venality on their faces. They are seriously scary looking people. I’m at a loss as to why anyone can consider them respectable.]
Maybe the "unthinkable among the GQP swamp dwellers" have always been there and we are just now finding out about them. I see the Nazi's and the KKK in what is currently happening. It seems to be a replay of history. Power and money....that is what it is about! I have never seen so many stupid people in my life and so many of them seem to be educated. I think over time they have been totaly brainwashed! I might add so many of us were sleeping living life and this is still happening excepted we have more people since the 1940s!
Yes. Brainwashed is the word I use too. I spent some time this weekend with two three lifelong friends, two of whom are conservatives and have voted for Trump at least once (pretty sure they did in 2020 also). My other friend is an atheist and a more liberal than I. We try to stay off politics but both were bothered by the student loan forgiveness. They haven’t paid a loan since the 1980s. It’s under their skin because Fox tells them it’s bad.
Funny thing, my other friend and I have kids who graduated in 2009 and 2020 so we KNOW how much that shit costs.
My daughter will be 47 this year and she is still paying on her student loan. She hasn't told me how much she still owes. But I did ask her if she was a couple years ago and she said she was still paying.
They are 'brainwashed' by their experience of the windfall they got when Trump was President. They just want More! They're just like him: Greedy, self-serving, better-than-tho kinda people who yeah, maybe worked hard for what they have, and have zero intention of exchanging their special tea or golf fees for financial social responsibility. And there goes the 'United' part of the United States of America! Ungrateful vehement pricks.
I suppose the State of New York v. Donald John Trump prosecution is sufficiently salacious to warrant the television air time it is being accorded … but … what about the bankers’ boxes after bankers’ boxes after bankers’ boxes full of classified materials
recovered from DJT’s Mar-a-Lago residence? Why is no news person pursued that story?
I served the United States Navy for 33 years. Had I mishandled classified materiel as did Donald Trump, I would have been court-marshaled and sentenced to many years of making little rocks out of big ones at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Why is DJT getting a pass on his criminal mishandling of those items?
Nothing about these despicable , lying, power mongers has ever been normal.
Those of us who realize that order not chaos makes a strong country abhor even hearing these creeps speak.
The only thing Bar , yes, bar holds dear is his slimy manipulation of the truth. He is not a lawyer. He is a business man with one purpose. Fill his underwear with our money. The press and the Law schools should be embarrassed that he is treated like a “normal” person. Jesus, when did “creep” win the beauty pageant ?
Barr was George W. Bush’s and Donald Trump’s John Mitchell, except that unlike Mitchell, he hasn’t done anything in public that would enable him to get caught. Barr’s only virtue was that he wasn’t willing to swallow or promote Trump’s lie that Trump had the election stolen from him.
And we have to also think that G.W. Bush and Trump are both not that smart! The difference in them appears to me to be that Bush is a bit more decent...but easily led by those that are in the background providing the cash to get them elected! However, I believe we have many evil ones in Indiana!
Sorry. It's not "religion." President Biden is religious, as have most of our former presidents been. It is ideology hiding in a disguise of a belief system. The religion demonstrated by the Republican party and T. Rump is hardly a religion. It's a signal, like virtue signaling- means nothing except to distinguish "us" and "them." All about divisiveness. Not about belief.
Organized religion is the framework with which they work. If one is used to having the man at the front of the church tell you what is the truth, who the enemies are, and tells you that this is the "one true way" then an individual is predisposed to this idea of "unitary executive power".
And they certainly don’t embody religious values. Trump doesn’t even go to church. They do not follow the 10 Commandments. They don’t follow the teachings of Jesus. It’s a form of corrupt ideological religion.
Barr is opperating within a "belief system" - that is how he can think the way he does and not be... completely stupid... a system of irrational beliefs. And in his case nefarious beliefs, but beliefs all the same.
Sure he has a belief system, AKA bs, and said TFFG's election claims were all bs, from peaceful tourists, to antifa, to Shay Moss and Ruby Freeman, to just find me 1100 votes, to the riot being an FBI set up. Barr and his former boss are up to their hairlines in belief systems.
Please do not conflate the former guy with a secondary sex characteristic that is celebrated in art and sculpture, and that originally evolved in both men and women, along with body hairlessness, the nuchal ligament (holds the head steady while running), and the Achilles tendon so that our ancestors could chase prey animals for many miles. And yes, women were hunters, too.
You’re implying that there’s a “right” religion. No religion can be allowed anywhere near a government. The Founders knew it; we’re yet to learn from that mistake. American fascists gleefully use religion as a cudgel to beat the people into mindless acceptance of their nonexistent authority.
It's been used as an excuse and justification for despicable behavior for centuries. I am not painting all people of faith with this brush - but there are plenty of them to paint.
In Trump’s case, it’s a form of political religious nationalism that encourages his followers, despite the fact Trump makes fun of the Christian Nationalists behind their backs. Like Barr, I’m a Catholic Christian, and in my case, I find Trump and Barr thoroughly repellent. I think it is a good thing to have a secular country, but the Republicans have rejected it, and their hand picked majority on the Supreme Court has violated the tradition of religious neutrality.
If white supremacists took power, they'd send him to the ovens based on his DNA as one of the mud people. Barr's father was Jewish but converted to Catholicism.
This came out during the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, as Barr's father hired Epstein at his prep school.
Is what Jesus said and did not principle? Or is it the remaining fillers of that story lends some tale tales…being used for convenience..the outline is NOT the outliars…
Ummm... the crusades? The struggle between Catholics and Protestants since Henry VIII? The pogroms? History has a ton of lessons to teach about "religion" mixed into government. Are we too stoopid or too stubborn to learn them?
Bill Barr is an extremely conservative culture warrior Catholic. That he would override the very First Amendment to our Constitution, which guarantees us all freedom of religion AND freedom from religion, should terrify us.
Having heard the debate over whether a Catholic should even have access to the White House when JFK ran, it seems clear to me that Catholicism covers a wide range of beliefs and practices. President Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Justice Sotomayor are all Catholic but they never would impose their religion on anyone.
Progwoman, the range is perhaps less wide when guided by principles of social justice that are core to the teachings Jesus. Teachings not unique to Christianity, either.
I have to wonder what homilies he has heard that give him this elitist distortion of Catholicism. He's a throwback to the Inquisition. And as terrible and terrifying.
Bill Barr, like Trump, had a father and brothers who were bullies. I am beginning to understand how men who are badly bullied as children and grow up in highly competitive families and religious upbringing learn to stay loyal to the biggest bully, and take their frustration out on the easiest victims. There’s a hierarchy and the biggest bully is on top
It is very Christian to execute those one does not like, said Jesus— never. Co-opting religions as righteous validation for war, discrimination and self-serving power is an ancient and egregious mask for exploitation of entire populations. The Donald is the current golden calf.
I think you are over-generalizing and somewhat harshly. (I subscribe to no religion, personally, though I come from generations of church goers). Those following their religion's essential spiritual beliefs can create so much good. However, using religion like an ugly team sport, whether needing to coerce and indoctrinate others, or define "non-believers" as enemies or somehow "less than", is evil exploit.
Thank you for helping clarify my observation. I see there are groups of people with a “golden rule” ethic that makes sense and that do a lot of good. To those, I celebrate, tied to religion or not. But Christianity/Catholicism hasn’t fully owned the damage done, and being done in its name. Examples in history are the “Indian schools”, the Magdalene laundries, the Crusades and the mass appropriation of land and wealth. To me, a church teaches one to submit and relinquish one’s own ability to create a civil morality. Sure, I tend to respond in general tone because I am not writing a paper here, just asking questions, sharing opinions and observations.
All that horrific and hateful behavior is not something Jesus would condone (or so I interpret). It's when religion and alleged loyalty to goodness has perverted to a cult of "evil" that all the worst of humanity unfolds.
It was a corruption of religion. Oh wait, maybe that is the definition. But to be fair, Jesus likely would chase these cretins away, like he did the money changers. They aren’t even pretending…
I was referring to the gullibility of belief, Patricia.
Barr can't imagine that a man who idolises and venerates a murderous dictator who regularly assassinates his rivals.... could actually follow through with stating clearly that that is what he wants to do.
He trapped in an illogical belief system and doesn't have the capacity to imagine evil in his associates. Dangerously gullible, of course he is a believer.
"...just how far into the Twilight Zone we've traveled politically."
And the KochLeo Heritage Society Project 2025 Trump transition plan will take us there at warp speed. 180 days to dismantle the entire Executive Branch. And rebuild it in KochLeo's image as administering a corporate clerical fascist state. As is being done by the KochLeo captured courts. (Gorsuch's mother was Reagan's EPA head. And ahead of her time. Her zeal in dismantling the EPA was so extreme and corrupt that she was forced to resign.)
Bill Barr made his GOP bones as cleaner for GHW Bush, getting pardons for convicted and indicted Iran Contra criminals. It's why he was brought back for Trump. Barr's also another Federal Society religious extremist. The 'unified executive' autocracy is in a way, a return to the Divine Right of Kings. Many in MAGA believe Trump is not only the anointed but Christ reincarnated as some RamboJesus and 2024 a literal Second Coming. They talk of themselves as Crusaders for Trump. Onward Christian Soldiers, indeed.
As AG Barr infamously quoted John Adams “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.” Implying that only the godly get constitutional rights. Preferentially those unborn or born again. Elsewhere, John Adams writes "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
The Federalist Society's greater purpose is to obstruct the Federal government's regulatory authority. In the name of God, and in the service of greed, Federalist Society jurists are bent on obstructing government's ability to regulate commerce, administer equitable taxation, and provide essential and emergency services. And because the majority of voters disagree, these right wing extremists are bent on overturning equality before the law and equal representation to achieve their purpose.
This election is about democracy vs. fascism. Period. The statement "When fascism comes to America, it will be draped in the flag and carrying the cross" is spot on.
The Federalist Society has been highly effective infiltrating our wheels of government and shifting our laws, using our democracy to overturn our democracy. Most troubling now is the significant support MAGA is experiencing from the voting public. The Democrats must run an effective and persuasive messaging campaign to arrest this toxic political pandemic infecting our body politic.
And somehow we need to convince those inclined to treat voting as a purity test exercise in personal expression, that voting is a united tactic to take government power.
Right wing voters held their nose to win the Supreme Court. And they did.
Leonard Leo has expanded his efforts (ie Koch et al money) to The Teneo Network or what he's termed 'a Federalist Society for everything that's messed up in American society.' By which he means all progress on government regulation, social safety net, and civil rights protections in over a century. An end to Teddy Roosevelt's Square Deal, FDR's New Deal, LBJ's Great Society, ObamaCare. And specifically targeting equal protections for LGBTQ+ persons.
The far-right ownership of vast media networks including Fox have been successful talking heads, expanding lies, propaganda, and influence over large segments of the population. The cyberattacks from China and Russia aid in this effort. Biden's negative ratings have in part resulted from the false narratives from the talking heads "news flashes". Developing a strategy to provide a counter reality is a daunting challenge. I do hope the Democratic power brokers are up for the task. The unraveling of the New Deal and the subsequent progressive legislation has been in the crosshairs of these far-right actors for quite a while now as you mentioned with Federalist Society, Koch, Mercer, Council for National Policy, etc. Once thought to be the third rail of politics, Social Security, Medicare, and civil rights protection are being boldly assaulted. The brazened political assaults and lies by GOP politicians, immune to any optics or consequential fallout, speaks to the confidence and power felt by them.
Whew! Heritage Foundation essentially says they were caught off guard by Trump's 2016 win. Project 2025 is their response. Right down to the CVs of loyalists at every level. Their wrecking crew is ready.
That manifesto completely dismantles our rules, our laws and disregards our Constitution. These are dangerous zealots cannot operate effectively if we deny them their voices and that’s why it is so important to reelect Biden-Harris. If you believe in democracy, which these men do not, then it is up to us and only us to make certain that we band together as one!
Barr's position on the exercise of authority and his intent to vote for an insurrectionist is proof positive that in the generality, talk doesn't matter because their reality is different from ours. So, what to do? Out vote them while votes still count. There is no middle ground.
I agree regarding the need to restructure SCOTUS - increasing the number of justices, putting in age limits and time served on the Court. It could very well be that to save our democratic process, we need to outnumber the Trump MAGA justices, starting ASAP.
I couldn't agree more. We need to do what we can to denigrate and debunk the nonsense that is being vomited at us from the Murdoch papers and media, Newsmax, OAN, Tucker Carlson and many other so-called news organizations.
And quit printing Trump's incessant lies like they are the truth. No one needs to here his constant denigrations of anyone that ever said something he disagreed with or looked at him the wrong way.
And Bill Barr is his only cabinet member who is backing Trump. One has to wonder why.
Gary..."clearly" (hahahaaahaa) he sees a trip to the gravel-pit with Kristi "Paladin" Noem. It's simply his choice to get down on his knees and blow #45 or have his brains blown-out by Ms'Have Gun'.., BLAMM!
Michael and everyone on HCR's letter should know Barr's history. The man has zero scruples. What he did after the Mueller report is a small example of what that low life has done. Just look up his history.
I’m holding to what Simon Says about the polls, trends, and reality of the gutsy American dependables-‘rally forth the flag ‘ . Yes, the subset that WAS enamored has dwindled..the ruse is up…the lesson is still being handed down a pill harder and harder to swallow …grow not weary soldiers …the final battle is 11/5/2024 and we need to have those numbers tell it BOLD and BLUE.
Codify, correct the subverse redacted.
Oust the dictators .
Renew the worldly promise by handing back civility to standing for the principles of equality we became world leader by , it may not be the last fight but it sure is the one point and center NOW!
Barr reminds us that it's not just a matter of defeating the Defendant candidate this November, which I believe Biden will do (assuming no judicial or extra judicial hijinks.) We also have to defeat the radical SCOTUS by adding 4 new members to its ranks (and hopefully have four years to replace judges who retire or expire.)
This notion of the unitary executive must be extinguished, along with Citizens United, Dobbs and the like, to rebalance the playing field. No president can do that on his own, and until the likes of Barr, Alito et al are watered down (name your own source of the stream) a future trumpian president remains a threat.
I'm not so sure, Jen -- I think he's too much of of an institutionalist in that regard (in much the same way Schumer seems chary of eliminating the filibuster rule.) But I do hold out hope that you're right. It's the only way, short of Thomas, Alito and Roberts all leaving SCOTUS during Bidens next term, which is unlikely.
He may be. It's not his call until it gets to his desk.
I think it's more likely that a Democrat- controlled Senate might impose ethical rules that are I hope identical to those on the rest of the judiciary. Sure there will be holdouts for whatever reasons, but Biden would sign that.
Kamala Harris would likely sign such expansion legislation imo. She's an actual attorney.
It's not his call, but he can still whistle his preferences. (And Joe is also an actual attorney, and was on the Senate Judiciary Committee for years -- some as chair, IIRC.)
My question is - does he view Biden’s presidency (or for that matter, Obama’s presidency), with the same overreaching authority? Maybe the Biden administration should take that unitary stance with their own signing statements.
I just read much of his full speech at Notre Dame. His constant reference to the lack of morality in our culture while ignoring the immorality of Trump is astonishing. His assertion that only a belief in a supernatural entity makes moral conduct possible is ludicrous. His fanaticism is frightening and should make him ineligible to hold ant public office.
"The contention of the former attorney general—who had been responsible for enforcing the rule of law in the United States of America—that a man who has demanded the execution of people he dislikes is a better candidate for the presidency than a man who is using the power of the federal government to create jobs for ordinary people, combat climate change, protect the environment, and promote health and education, illustrates that Republican leaders have abandoned democracy." (HCR)
Well stated, professor!!
*****
"Until now, ... [n]o American president had ever faced a criminal trial. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment for retaining and concealing classified documents. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment or a state indictment for trying to overturn an election, or been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. No American president ever faced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments for business fraud, defamation, and sexual abuse…." (George Stephanopoulos)
*****
... which is not to say no president ever has done any of these things - only that they never have been indicted or held accountable in a court of law. And, isn't that the big issue being challenged here - that state or federal intrusion into the realm of free men acting according to their perceived God-given rights, to hold them accountable for consequences of their actions ... this is government interference, deprivation of freedom and a violation of individual rights ...?
"Barr said. “I think the real threat to democracy is the progressive movement and the Biden administration.”"
More to the point, the progressive movement for justice and accountability affirms democracy - only poses a threat to big money dominance of a select private club of players who firmly believe America is their playground - a casino where the house rules the game and anyone who is not a member of the home team gets to play for pennies - where life is a lottery - a gamble in the name of their Almighty God:
ALL-AMERICAN GAME-TIME USA!!
In fact, America is a threshing ground where souls are tested - and sorted, like wheat from chaff - every one of us is held accountable for choices made and actions taken - in the long run, goodness will prevail ....
You had me at "top law enforcement official." Forget the tendencies and principles, what about the laws TFFG broke and the new ones he continues to break? The Maralardo case is incredibly egregious as regards not only our national security, but the security of our allies. Didn't Cheetolini show battle strategies of one of our allies to his biographer and friends? Not to mention the attempts to destroy other national docs and leaving them around his resort for anyone to take or photograph. How about enforcing those laws, Mr. Barr?
Do NOT get me started on the fake electors, big lie, or J6. If I had him on the stand, I'd ask Barr how he could countenance those... oh, right, he didn't. That's when he quit. But surely he recognizes that laws were broken and that 60 courts found the claims of fraudulent voters to be without any merit whatsoever.
This despicable minion needs to be disBarred. Like yesterday.
Heather, thank you for reminding us that it’s not a horse race.
“I’m sincerely not asking you to take sides, but ask you to rise up to the seriousness of the moment.
Move past the horse race numbers, the gotcha moments.”
President Biden has given all of us our marching orders. Each of us can contact five of our friends and have them check their voter registration status the first week in October and have them contact five of their friends. Then, during early voting, contact them again to make sure that they vote to save our democracy and, once again, have them contact five of their friends. If you can do more, like writing postcards or donating to campaigns, do so.
Yes, I applaud the statements Heather quotes from Joe Biden and George Stephanopoulos about the role of the media. It is not just the New York Times, as was discussed here two days ago. Responsible journalism all around needs to "rise to the seriousness of the moment" and speak out for the continuation of our democracy!
One thing that is obvious and needs to be shouted from the rooftops, is that if Trump gets elected, he’ll never leave unless or until he’s carried out feet first. There will be no more elections. There will be riots and mayhem and possibly another civil war. I believe it was Tony Schwartz, who cowrote The Art of The Deal, said that Trump’s ambition is to be the richest man in the world. If he’s president (dictator) again, he’ll take over our treasury and our taxes will flow to him. We’ll be in a dire place.
It's unbelievable how many of my low to mid middle class friends and neighbors will vote for Trump. So many fall for his I'm just like you BS. I Have found I only have a few friends and family that follow President Biden like I do.
I ask myself, how don't they see what I see. It's crazy and depressing.
sammybeardog, I use the ideas from the book Taking the War Out of Our Words to share one fact at a time—one that gets a positive result is that now companies that have profits over $1 billion (like Exxon and Amazon) have to pay a minimum of 15% on the profits that they report to shareholders (previously their tax accountants found loopholes so that they often paid $0 in taxes). Another is that they’re going after the hidden fees when you rent a car or hotel room; and they’re working to limit overdraft fees at banks.
It's important to note that William Barr was chosen by Trump because of Barr's previous role in the Reagan administration, covering up criminality by passing out pardons. The only place where they might disagree is that Trump would sell pardons as a way to enrich himself and the Trump brand.
Barr's role in the cover up of the Iran-Contra affair earned him the nickname "cover-up" General (as opposed to Attorney General).
I did not know that. Watching those hearings before Barr began working with 45, many were against voting Barr in and I sensed an unruly desire to throw up 🤮
I have that desire everytime I see and hear Donald Trump trying to convince his supporters that he is being crucified. After all, he is their "Savior." He was "sent by God" to save this country from, in his words, the "worst president in the history of our country."
If only his followers would realize the HE is the worst president in the history of our country.
Trump chose Barr because he wrote a 19 pages memo critiquing the Mueller investigation when it was still early days. I seriously doubt that Trump knew anything about Barr until then. Of course Trump didn't actually read the memo but hearing about it was good enough for him to 86 Jeff Session.
Yes, I do think that was Barr's "job application" with the Trump crime syndicate, however his experience at covering up crimes and as someone else pointed out, obstructing justice, provided the verifiable experience necessary for the job.
Trump did that because as repellent as Sessions was, Sessions refused to do Trump’s bidding when Trump expected Sessions to do so,etching illegal. Trump has had a mistaken idea that Trump was his own law and that Sessions had a duty to carry out Trump’s wishes even if they were illegal or unconstitutional. Sessions had more regard for his duties as an attorney than for indulging Trump’s desires.
I will never forgive Sessions for implementing the child snatching scheme without warning and without a system to keep track of the children. But I do honor him for not being a total toady despite the pressure to do so. How sad that later, when he ran for his senate seat, he tried to butter up to Trump.
all these GOP Trump appointees have a breaking point. They wanted to keep the GOP on top and own the libs. Trump took them over. Remember he was the outsider. Once he won, Sessions and the others switched allegiances. But the breaking point was when Trump crossed the line into not wanting to relinquish control of the GOP and suddenly they balked. by then, it was too late.
I agree. I also give full discredit to Stephen Miller for coming up with this evil idea. Trump wants to make himself a dictator, and he and his cronies have been able to misuse the constitution to do it. This time, any one of his critics would wind up in the concentration camps he wants.
Reagan and both Bushes started the illegal activities in the Oval Office. Clinton kept his to a sexual misadventure, as far as I know. Wish the others had too.
No Jerry. You forgot Nixon, where Roger Stone and Dick Cheney cut their teeth in the Rat F@&&ers team that did many dirty tricks to win the Election fir Nixon’s second term, including Watergate.
Damn, you are right. Nixon was the original oval office crook (that we know of). I remember well. I didn't know about Roger Stone for a long time since Donald Segretti got more press at the time. My memory is good enough to remember their every evil deed. And Chump thinks that he can get a second term the same way. His little cult army is the icing on the cake. The whole of the repub party is on board. At least Nixon was an outlier back then, not the leader.
While only speculation on my part, it likely involved a pledge of absolute fealty to all things Trump and a few in Trump's circle who weighed in on Barr's previous experiences with covering up the illegal actions surrounding Iran-Contra.
Thanks Mary -I do try. And always grateful to Heather for leading the discussions and all those like you who read and appreciate the insights and perspectives. If American democracy is to be rescued and strengthened -it must be built upon a foundation of factual information, education, and engagement.
This “the unitary executive branch" (and SCOTUS 'textualism') is a GOP charade (like 'election integrity'), a thinly veiled excuse to allow GOP to ignore the law/Constitution, but they expect everyone else to follow the law. Let's test how sincere Republicans are about their “the unitary executive branch.” Biden should order Trump's federal trials to resume immediately and not wait for a Supreme Court rulings. Biden should issue an executive order striking Trump from all ballots for his prior acts of insurrection. Biden should ignore all Congressional subpoenas. Biden should have sent aid to Ukraine and not waited for Congressional action. Biden should prosecute Bill Barr for violating his oath of office when he sanitized and whitewashed the Mueller Investigation. Biden should issue an executive order that Alito's Dobbs opinion is just wrong and can be ignored. Biden should issue an order saying the official religion of America is the practices of the Hopi Indians, that religion was here first. THEN George Stephanopoulos of ABC’s This Week should do a show asking Republican's if they still endorse the “the unitary executive branch.”
Right on!!! I’ve been thinking the same thing! And while he’s at it he should also restore voting rights, redraw gerrymandered congressional districts, expand the Supreme Court and install Justices who actually understand we are are a secular democratic republic with a proud history of defending the constitution and the expanding the rights of all people!
Oh yeah and just for kicks he should also suspend all federal aid to former confederate states until they are actually ready to rejoin the union and adhere to the constitution
GOP has gotten away with a lot of pay-back crap since Nixon was forced out of office. I think they fear losing power, and will do anything to retain it. Too bad they ran Papa Bush out for raising taxes. So short slighted.
Oh, wow, such a challenge. Maybe they would do what Reagan did when the SLA and other groups in CA started buying guns. Gun control became the law of CA, so I heard.
I keep thinking the same thing! He should expand SCOTUS first and proceed from there. Somehow, I think all this talk of "unitary executive" and "presidential immunity" would suddenly be completely wrong and even an impeachable offense. Problem is, Biden has integrity, so....
I’ve been wondering if anyone, during the it-might-be-ok-for-a-president-to-have-his-rivals-executed discussion at the Supreme Court asked whether a sitting president could have his opponent in an upcoming election executed, along with people that opponent may have appointed, for example, to the judiciary. How would Republicans feel about that?
That would have been a brilliant question to ask of the Supreme Farce this week. I listened to all of it and that question phrased to include the justices, would have brought them up short, wouldn't it? And I would have loved to hear their attempts to explain the unexplainable.
I've found that until it becomes personal to those trying to dictate to others, and the reality that there could actually be adverse consequences to themselves, only then does reality smack them up side the head.
THIS needs to be broadcast far and wide, HCR's concluding paragraph quoting George Stephanopoulos, esp. this sentence:
"“The scale of the abnormality is so staggering, that it can actually become numbing. "
"George Stephanopoulos of ABC’s This Week apparently took this reminder to heart. “Until now,” he said in the show’s opener on Sunday, “[n]o American president had ever faced a criminal trial. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment for retaining and concealing classified documents. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment or a state indictment for trying to overturn an election, or been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. No American president ever faced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments for business fraud, defamation, and sexual abuse….
“The scale of the abnormality is so staggering, that it can actually become numbing. It’s all too easy to fall into reflexive habits, to treat this as a normal campaign, where both sides embrace the rule of law, where both sides are dedicated to a debate based on facts and the peaceful transfer of power. But, that is not what’s happening this election year. Those bedrock tenets of our democracy are being tested in a way we haven’t seen since the Civil War. It’s a test for the candidates, for those of us in the media, and for all of us as citizens.”
George Stephanopoulos should have mentioned the mismanagement and politicization of Covid which caused the deaths of a million people in the US. Bleach—ivermectin—no masks. Add mass murder to the list of crimes.
…”but I was only trying to keep them from panicking” …or something like that…? The chains of gang warfare as they died by dozens and the rest screaming went over the cliff following the money, the lies, the lust…so cleverly used for complete control…
You’ve heard ..’there’s a rising tide of autocracy ‘?
Two actual headlines I saw on the front page of supermarket tabloids were "Man Electrocuted By Lighting Bugs" and "Statue of Elvis Found on Mars" (NO, not the Onion). They foreshadowed MTG.
There’s money to be made exploiting the ignorance or stupidity of the American public. See, for example, Donald Trump, David the Pecker and the National Enquirer.
Note what Barr did NOT say as a reason (or excuse) to vote for Trump: He did NOT say, “Trump didn’t mean those things and I knew it.” Instead, he said that cooler heads always managed to talk him out of crazy ideas. He obliquely admitted that Trump wanted to execute people for opposing him.
Only a deluded superstitious fool would equate secularism to totalitarianism. This country was founded on enlightenment not absurdity as Voltaire would say.
To claim "Judeo-Christian standards serve as the ultimate utilitarian rules for human conduct" is total Bullshit!
Agreed and the worst part is the license with which tyrannical "religious" standards are tailored to serve sociopathic agendas. Jesus advised compassion and aid for the poor and excluded, to renounce material wealth, and love, not kill, one's enemies. He even acquiesced to paying taxes. Does that sound at all like Trump or the so-called religious right? Does not the behavior of the extreme right wing far more closely resemble the occupying Roman Empire? It's all upside down, as in Orwell's anti-utopias.
Yes, "The scale of the abnormality is so staggering."
I like Heather so much more when she quotes those who see the menace we really do face. That Clarence court -- they hate American women to make their own choices. They think theocrats with medieval thinking should package all women the same -- or (same thing), let tyrannical states do that.
Virtually no one in this Republican party sees any benefits to democracy anymore. Grow a chief executive with authoritarian powers, and chuck the elective offices of Congress. That's what Republicans in Congress largely want to do, follow their fat guy. Or, follow the fat guy Barr following the fat guy in all those encrusted layers of orange make-up, diapers, peroxided hair.
Heather correctly notes the humor at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. But I'm glad she's more aptly also noted the gravity this year, as real dictator wannabees stalk the land, or sit on that Clarence court musing on how much better it would be to have a king once again above the law.
I keep remembering a comment a former boss made a few times during my short stint at a financial firm circa 1990. I think he was discussing what should happen with Hong Kong..."What they need is a benevolent dictatorship!" He had a couple of other gems, such as his opinion about diversity in the workforce "Oh, it's great in theory, and fine when things are going well, so you might have an Italian or Jew, but if there's crisis, than you need people you can trust!" BTW, the company was in San Francisco.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was right about the very rich!
And that's who Trump hangs with, golfs with, eats with. He finds a few lines that almost always get applause and repeats them at every rally.
But, it seems he has given up on rallies. Last Wednesday, when he had the day off from court, he went to Bedminister and golfed. If he's given up on rallies, all he has left is the failing Truth Social to spew his hateful bile on day after day.
I read yesterday that if the NY judge find Trump in criminal contempt of court, it triggers the potential in each other venue of the potential to be locked up for lying to each of the courts. He promised not to commit any more felonies when he was released under his own recognizance in each case.
I'm sorry I don't understand. They're both hard right, conservative Catholics who run in overlapping circles; if anything it would be Barr who has influenced Leo.
It is frightening to watch this attempted destruction of American democracy partly on the basis of needing more theocracy where on the other hand religious extremists are threatening Biden's support amongst young voters. These are dangerous times.
Thank you for tracing the history of this abomination. My Huguenot ancestors are turning in their graves. The trajectory of this treasonous anti-Constitutional theory is clear. Trump may be the serpent’s instrument but this theory & its implications must be made clear to all. It would be useful to remember that the real force of evil is always seen as an angel of light by many.
I have posted this many times but I think it may nail the essence of our dilemma:
"That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings." - Lincoln
Despite the consistency with which despotic regimes are seen to live in infamy, there is always a substantial constituency for supporting them with each new generation supporting them. Why else have they not faded in the distant past? Many seem to take comfort in a stratified society, in an order imposed from the top, irrespective of the evidence that power tends to corrupt. And frequently societies that once welcomed an authoritarian leader grow desperate to throw off the yoke, often at great cost, and not necessarily successfully. The Russians seem to go from one tyrant to another.
The founding documents of our form of government cleverly applied Enlightenment principles toward a more liberated society, however unevenly those principles came to be observed. Over time we have haltingly tended to advance toward more perfect union, liberty and justice. Lincoln and Republicans of the day installed a hard won renaissance of our stated values, bringing some of them into better compliance for the first time. While the battle Lincoln had identified was far from ended, we saw improvements in social equality, some of which continue to this day; but with increasing backlash. Always, always, follow the money.
That Bill Barr is a convinced christofascist was well known even before he became Trump's AG and fixer. Of course he is too chickenshit to risk his own skin for Trump by lying under oath, so he feels he needs to justify his actions on Trump's behalf by inventing theories of an all powerful executive doing God's will. What holy horseshit!
Thanks so much for posting this. It is probably the scariest scenario I have read about the people who might vote for Trump and the history of anti-liberalism. Makes me wish I could shake these individuals and tell them to appreciate what they have gotten as a result of so called "liberal" programs such as the New Deal.
'As Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, put it, “We have changed our forms of government, but it remains yet to effect a revolution in our principles, opinions and manners so as to accommodate them to the forms of government we have adopted.”
They did not insist that citizens believe in those principles. One could be an American citizen whether one believed in the Declaration or not.'
The willingness of a former top law enforcement official to support a candidate who has demonstrated autocratic tendencies and disregarded democratic principles shows just how far into the Twilight Zone we've traveled politically.
Barr has always been a despicable fanatic. He’s just saying the quiet part out loud now.
Cheetolini’s endless criminal behavior seems to have normalized the unthinkable among the GQP swamp dwellers.
I am not sure that Barr, or for that matter Trump, are fanatics so much as sociopathic opportunists. The 9/11 hijackers were fanatics. I think most dictators are opportunists. They don't believe in anything outside of their own will to dominate. What ever stories they may tell themselves, I think they know they are total liars, but pride themselves in that skill.
I think they truly believe that there are people who deserve and people who are undeserving. It is the basis of all bigotry and allows events like the Holocaust to occur.
The most disturbing aspect, I believe in Heather's post today is the RED MAPPING! The Republicans have been playing the long game. The Democrats, I believe, think if they hold the Congress and the Presidency long enough they can get it all straightened out.
If Satan is real....he has a firm grip on the GOP
Unfortunately, Susan, the Republicans have honed their skill by marching in lockstep to force their views on all of us. Democrats are a more fractious group, and want to believe that all of us will manage to see the light and agree with our vision of inclusion and fairness. We're not there - yet.
Even if we are not fractured, their vote fraud alone with Gerrymandering and removing people from the voting rolls, last minute so they don't have time to straighten it out is the way they steal elections. The Nazi's rose to power when Germans didn't even really know what democracy was. Weimar Germany was their first time having a democratic government and that time period was so fraught with post war poverty from the rebuilding and the 33 billion dollar reparations they were charged, and the political fighting amongst the groups that were elected by the people, that they did not really get a chance to learn what a healthy democracy could be before accepting Hitler as their dictator since he promised to help them out of the economic catastrophe that the US stock market crash caused for the German economy. They had had exactly 15 years of Democracy in their entire history. Republicans come from a much longer history of democracy with none of this economic disaster and are still embracing a strong man promising to save them from their misery. It seems that they are just miserable people and in need of therapy, not Trump. The agenda and the people seem very disturbed by modern standards. Their goals all seems very medieval.
Linda, the manipulators of the GOP use their world view to convince their minions to do their bidding and fill their coffers. I agree with you that Germany's economy post-WWI, aggravated by the depression made them vulnerable to Hitler, and that we have no such exculpatory excuses for the embrace of Trump and his influencers. My guess is that this country's racist tendencies, in addition to many people refusing to accept any information other than what they see in social media or conservative television, makes many susceptible to false narrative. I just hate paying the consequences for their ignorance.
There is a odd notion that the older an idea is the more true it is. While the persistence of ideas is worth noticing, it is not reliable evidence of truth. Relativity, women's suffrage, and antibiotics were all in place before I was born, but a great many aspects of human understanding have changed within my lifetime nevertheless, with substantial backing of logic and evidence, and a lot of aspects of the "good old days", while there were aspects worth preserving, were most definitely not so good. Authoritarians in the Supreme Court claim their interpretations are authentic because they claim to channel the minds of the framers, or even much older jurists, but the documents the framers penned does not credit them personally as the final authorities, but rather the public's endorsement of the PRINCIPLES they developed, with an understanding that the work remains in progress.
“Republicans from a much longer history of democracy”! Please amplify!
In North Carolina, those claiming the Republican label were formerly the southern democrats enthralled with Reagan who were also segregationists at heart!
I'm not sure it's so much that Dems are "fractured" as that we are diverse. The rethugs are able to achieve their repulsive goals by marching - and having marched, for decades - in lockstep, which Dems do not. IMO, Dems acknowledge that different groups included within the Dem Party have some goals that are at odds with, or slow down or interfere in the achieving of, other groups within the Dem Party - and money is an issue as well, of course. We seem to be unable to work on a single goal at a time, because obvs there are SO MANY things we are called upon RIGHT NOW to undo and fix. I don't know what the solution would look like.
I agree with you, Lynn. I just hope that our many factions will put their differing goals aside long enough to not give in to the fatigue of the last eight years, and unite to give us a large enough majority to break the log jam. Primary should be the goal of righting the heavy listing of SCOTUS.
All the comments above give the dems a place to hide as they've been hiding for decades allowing all these policies to take place. Again, I will mention Howard Dean and his 50 state strategy that dems never tried and now republicans run roughshot over them.
Yes. Baudelaire supposedly said "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist". The corollary for our time is "The second greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the GOP that his voice was God's."
Susan, they are certainly making the AntiChrist real in the person of death star. What we have is an already uncivil society becoming much worse once death star gave everyone carte blanche to be their worst selves. And in terms of execution, it doesn't even have to be explicit. Just ask Thomas Beckett. I think death star and his minions are experts at stirring the pot and letting others do the dirty deeds.
As I have maintained for a long time, the progressives have been resting on their laurels from the "progress" of the 60s and 70s while the fascist spawn of the 1939 coup attempt have been working diligently ever since for their next oppottunity. We have been asleep at the wheel far too long trying to make everyone feel good that it is now almost too late to save ourselves.
All the books written and publications screaming about all this have gone unread or been dismissed.
I could go on and on.....Their next opportunity is NOW!!
Iany suggestions on how to fight back? We have to think as individuals and join others in our fight!
I think Satan is a personification of our own self-centered impulse gone beyond the bounds of "enlightened self interest"; when we cease to care if others are harmed by our behavior, or tell ourselves we are superior because of it. Was the deliberate separation and failure to track children of immigrants the work of a goat-horned supernatural monster, or antisocial human psychology? We have met the enemy and he is us. It's the same "GOP" either way.
And rotund Billy is sprouting a tail and devil ears to be the mascot!
I completely agree. Barr may have thought it would be curtains for Trump after the insurrection, so he admitted that he told Trump ‘the steal” was “bullsh*t.” But now, with Trump and Biden facing off, Barr wants the Republican Party and the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society to rule the roost. Barr knows Trump is a tool, so he will vote for the Right Wing Christian Theocratic Tool.
Wow, I’m not surprised he’ll do it. But I am surprised he admits it.
Thing is, the rats are swarming around the ship right now — One has to take note and wonder what the rats know. Do people like Barr really think they can admit this stuff and STILL win in November? Have they rigged and gerrymandered to such an extent that they will win, no matter how many of us vote blue?
That is a real worry.
NO - the gerrymander DOES NOT translate to statewide offices, like Gov. and Sec. of State. Gerrymandering (only) affects electoral boundaries with the state, like Congress and state house races. This is very significant, but DOES NOT come to play here.
ALL of the important states have ALL Democratic leadership in positions that matter - Secretary of State, Governor and I believe all of their site houses are controlled by Democrats ... MN, WI, MI and PA. Also, AZ has a fabulous Dem Gov and Sec of state
We have seen AZ and GA trend blue - the 2020 election proved that when the matters are most vital - the counting of ballots and the fending off of crazies in the courts - the adults in the positions of power carried forth to preserve our democracy
There is a lot of hot air and nonsense coming from conservative America, Fox, etc
"Don't worry, and be active," to paraphrase Simon Rosenberg, hopiumchronicles.org
This election. WILL BE a massive Blue Wave, of epic proportions. Mark my word, here on April 29, 2024.
Stay active, and make this so ...
My sense of worry never extends to NOT voting! Discouraging voting is not my intention. We need to turn out the strongest Vote Blue, Through and Through we can muster!
Republicans have put their energies — since the Reagan era, at least, and maybe even before — into gaining influence in exactly those governmental regions you mention, Frederick. It is why they thought that creating “uncertainty” about the vote counts in critical states in 2020 might throw those state Electors to their legislators, where Republicans had a lot of power.
IF key states — hell, MOST states — have strong Democratic representation in their local and statewide bodies, we have a much stronger chance of putting our governments, state AND federal, back on an even keel, and the rats can jump in the lake, for all I care …
Frederick, you are ignoring the gerrymandered Republican wins in the state houses and congress. The plan is to have CONGRESS decide the election. That means Trump wins. Don't be fooled!
Factually speaking, VP Harris WILL certify the election results, as determined by the factual vote counts and the respective factual electoral college results
Facts matter
Well said!
You could be right. Who among us can imagine any of that lot giving their life for the cause they espose? Others, yes. Theirs? Not likely. A price too much for them. Thus, the need for a cult of sacrificial lambs with coinage, sterling and red. Fanatics and patriots share a willingness to give their lives for their cause and followers. Good and decent men and women stand daily with a leader who gives all for our Democracy. Biden seems to be a patriot, a decent man, a consistent conservator of our Declared aspirations for a free America.
Yes.
It comes down …to US vs ‘them’
This is the politics of the "other"....leading to the Holocaust.
Let it be but another lesson reminding us ‘what not to do….again’
Thanks Kathy 👍
JL Graham,
How long will these men and women who have chosen to be candidates, be capable of governing....to be dictators for a few years to feed their egos....for that time to destroy the future of our children and grandchildren.....to steal the future goodness and hope /freedom for many......to force slavery to a false and corrupt government for the benefit of a few!!!! They could change laws that would give them the power to steal property...to raise taxes beyond a person's ability to pay. They could choose to fill our schools and universities with teachers who want students to know only the history or news or even scientific facts to their advantage. (ex: ingesting dangerous chemicals ie for CURES SUCH AS for COVID)
These men and women will eventually die...they will have destroyed our freedoms for momentary gain for them....destruction of our world order for short term gain and many nations who depend on us to "HOLD THE LINE!!!!" will have been abandoned to corruption and destruction!!!
A big "NO" from me!!!! A big "NO" to those justices who are a part of our Supreme Court who are "toying" with decisions that could further remove freedoms from our citizens and give COMPLETE POWER AND CONTROL TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE USA.
President Joe Biden has NEVER requested such power.
Only one past Republican President and his supporters have considered such control and power as a future goal for the office holder of the President of the USA!!!
That past President is now on trial facing just one of his many wrongs.
Is he the quality candidate we want to represent "the home of the free and brave"? Is he the candidate who will help us preserve our earth...care for our children...have compassion for our elderly...improve relationships with our friends around the world and even work with those who strongly disagree with our policies?
Our character as a nation, who we really are as a people will be revealed by our vote!!!! The world is watching!!!! What kind of country do we want to leave for our children and grandchildren?!
They are more than “opportunist”. They are thatt, but more. We shouldn’t minimize when describing or evaluating their relationship to the power their office wielded. Trump is a malignant narcissist sociopath. Barr is an ignorant white evangelical christian nationalist radical that is better suited to current Hungry’s AG than the US. The man, like his former boss is a disgrace to humanity.
Interesting observations!
I would say it's the other way around. The GQ swamp dwellers have normalized trump's behavior because they've been saying the quiet part out loud for a long time, starting with Alito arguing in favor for a unitary presidency.
I'm surprised this story starts in 1986 and not 1973. Wasn't it Nixon who said in effect, it's legal if the president does it, and tried "recission," where he refused to spend money appropriated by Congress, ie. to enforce/execute the laws of the United States?
The unitary executive theory is complete and utter bullsh*t. The founders WANTED a secular country, where religion didn't dominate the government, which got people killed. They wanted an executive, whose powers had checks and balances. A number of the founders were Deists, who believed in the existence of a faraway God. God created the universe and left humans to their own devices. Leave it to Samuel Alito to make up things like signing statements, which basically said, "I don't agree with this law, so I am not going to enforce it." If you look at the words of the presidential oath of office, signing statements are a dereliction of duty. The Republicans lie to grab power and money for themselves.
That's why they wanted to have a President and not a King.
And we were damned lucky that, after the war, Washington refused to BE a king! Some urged it on him, and he said “NO.” As we had a weak federation at first … and framers continued to work on creating a strong and durable government, with a functional and enduring {amendable!} Constitution … Washington not only refused to be king, but he chose to LEAVE office and allow for continuing elections…. We could have had something more like Napoleon, but we got Washington. Damned lucky.
No guarantees we’d be so lucky again…. Right now, we SEE some who want to re-instate a “King” by a different name {a “unitary president” who has “full immunity while in office”}.
Elect Democrats who support Democracy!
Reject the Right Wing Theocratic Aristocrats!
Vote Blue, Through and Through!
Yes, exactly! Any other interpretation of the Founders intentions when writing the Constitution & creating this country is bogus!! I'm glad to hear that at least George Stepanopoulous is finally recognizing that, and what is at stake if the Press doesn't protect our democriacy.
Yep--right on the money Suzanne.
Yes, and those damned “signing statements” —- But people don’t have a clue what a “unitary president” is. They’ve taken a debating society skill and applied it to their political discourse — Whatever side you need to be on, find an “argument” that fits and stick to it, whether it bears close scrutiny, whether it holds up, or NOT.
Their “Christian Country,” Barr’s rewritten history about colonists rebelling against Parliament, the “unitary president” NOT being answerable to checks-and-balances …. All the real “bullsh*t” in this equation.
Barr has been a liar and a monster for a loooooong time.
[As a aside — people like Barr and Trump and Bannon show the effects of their venality on their faces. They are seriously scary looking people. I’m at a loss as to why anyone can consider them respectable.]
They’ve been saying it, but people have not recognized the meaning … We do now!!
People have very short memories. You are spot on, Barr has always been a despicable fanatic.
Maybe the "unthinkable among the GQP swamp dwellers" have always been there and we are just now finding out about them. I see the Nazi's and the KKK in what is currently happening. It seems to be a replay of history. Power and money....that is what it is about! I have never seen so many stupid people in my life and so many of them seem to be educated. I think over time they have been totaly brainwashed! I might add so many of us were sleeping living life and this is still happening excepted we have more people since the 1940s!
Yes. Brainwashed is the word I use too. I spent some time this weekend with two three lifelong friends, two of whom are conservatives and have voted for Trump at least once (pretty sure they did in 2020 also). My other friend is an atheist and a more liberal than I. We try to stay off politics but both were bothered by the student loan forgiveness. They haven’t paid a loan since the 1980s. It’s under their skin because Fox tells them it’s bad.
Funny thing, my other friend and I have kids who graduated in 2009 and 2020 so we KNOW how much that shit costs.
Not to mention how the outrageous interest keeps mounting up on those loans.
My daughter will be 47 this year and she is still paying on her student loan. She hasn't told me how much she still owes. But I did ask her if she was a couple years ago and she said she was still paying.
That is so unreasonable!
They are 'brainwashed' by their experience of the windfall they got when Trump was President. They just want More! They're just like him: Greedy, self-serving, better-than-tho kinda people who yeah, maybe worked hard for what they have, and have zero intention of exchanging their special tea or golf fees for financial social responsibility. And there goes the 'United' part of the United States of America! Ungrateful vehement pricks.
I suppose the State of New York v. Donald John Trump prosecution is sufficiently salacious to warrant the television air time it is being accorded … but … what about the bankers’ boxes after bankers’ boxes after bankers’ boxes full of classified materials
recovered from DJT’s Mar-a-Lago residence? Why is no news person pursued that story?
I served the United States Navy for 33 years. Had I mishandled classified materiel as did Donald Trump, I would have been court-marshaled and sentenced to many years of making little rocks out of big ones at the United States Disciplinary Barracks, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
Why is DJT getting a pass on his criminal mishandling of those items?
I never liked Barr. Even when he said that Trump was unstable....and now he says he'll vote for him... These people have to be responding to threats.
Nah... I think he IS the threat!
Dear George,
Nothing about these despicable , lying, power mongers has ever been normal.
Those of us who realize that order not chaos makes a strong country abhor even hearing these creeps speak.
The only thing Bar , yes, bar holds dear is his slimy manipulation of the truth. He is not a lawyer. He is a business man with one purpose. Fill his underwear with our money. The press and the Law schools should be embarrassed that he is treated like a “normal” person. Jesus, when did “creep” win the beauty pageant ?
A former top "law enforcement" official filled with contempt for just rule of law; a hallmark of tyranny.
Barr was George W. Bush’s and Donald Trump’s John Mitchell, except that unlike Mitchell, he hasn’t done anything in public that would enable him to get caught. Barr’s only virtue was that he wasn’t willing to swallow or promote Trump’s lie that Trump had the election stolen from him.
I think he only said that out of fear/knowing he'd be subject to a court case himself.
Trust Mr. Barr to say and so whatever seems to benefit Mr. Barr. He has the integrity of a COVID virus.
And we have to also think that G.W. Bush and Trump are both not that smart! The difference in them appears to me to be that Bush is a bit more decent...but easily led by those that are in the background providing the cash to get them elected! However, I believe we have many evil ones in Indiana!
Mr. Barr may find out more about justice than he ever wanted to know; because I don't think the Universe takes kindly to his kind of MAGA nonsense.
May the Universe agree!
Or the current AG
“The law as he deems appropriate”
Whatever floats through his conniving head.
“Believe me,……or else”
While reading this I was thinking that Barr must be really dumb.... dangerously stupid.
But then I realised that it was religion.
Sorry. It's not "religion." President Biden is religious, as have most of our former presidents been. It is ideology hiding in a disguise of a belief system. The religion demonstrated by the Republican party and T. Rump is hardly a religion. It's a signal, like virtue signaling- means nothing except to distinguish "us" and "them." All about divisiveness. Not about belief.
"It is ideology hiding in a disguise of a belief system." YES, EXACTLY THAT!
Organized religion is the framework with which they work. If one is used to having the man at the front of the church tell you what is the truth, who the enemies are, and tells you that this is the "one true way" then an individual is predisposed to this idea of "unitary executive power".
I think you're onto an important point.
Sadly many people have grown up in that kind of chuch. Even more Sadly, many people think that is the only form Christianity takes.
And they certainly don’t embody religious values. Trump doesn’t even go to church. They do not follow the 10 Commandments. They don’t follow the teachings of Jesus. It’s a form of corrupt ideological religion.
Would Jesus vote for Trump? That thought seemed preposterous at first but then I realized the MAGAts would try to claim he would.
Remember, this is not about having religious ideas, it’s about taking control of the government!
But some pretend with a vengeance
You said it, Lauri.
"belief system"
Barr is opperating within a "belief system" - that is how he can think the way he does and not be... completely stupid... a system of irrational beliefs. And in his case nefarious beliefs, but beliefs all the same.
Sure he has a belief system, AKA bs, and said TFFG's election claims were all bs, from peaceful tourists, to antifa, to Shay Moss and Ruby Freeman, to just find me 1100 votes, to the riot being an FBI set up. Barr and his former boss are up to their hairlines in belief systems.
“Faith” and “religion” are different things.
Indeed they are.
Faith and religion are different, but closely linked.
Religion is a system of control based on delusional and irrational faith. All you have to do is believe.......
I don't see it that way precisely. I have faith but I've lost my religion due to the behavior of the bishops, mainly but not exclusively.
Please do not conflate the former guy with a secondary sex characteristic that is celebrated in art and sculpture, and that originally evolved in both men and women, along with body hairlessness, the nuchal ligament (holds the head steady while running), and the Achilles tendon so that our ancestors could chase prey animals for many miles. And yes, women were hunters, too.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/early-women-were-hunters-not-just-gatherers-study-suggests-180982459/
I believe Laurie we are defining whose on the Good Ship Principle 🙌
You’re implying that there’s a “right” religion. No religion can be allowed anywhere near a government. The Founders knew it; we’re yet to learn from that mistake. American fascists gleefully use religion as a cudgel to beat the people into mindless acceptance of their nonexistent authority.
“Religion” is just the tool that allows a power hungry sociopath to run wild with absolute control.
It's been used as an excuse and justification for despicable behavior for centuries. I am not painting all people of faith with this brush - but there are plenty of them to paint.
I see many of them gullible when it comes to religion and believe their preachers.
Gullible travels. A "Christian nation"..? Howsabout: A gullible nation.
No, it doesn't
In Trump’s case, it’s a form of political religious nationalism that encourages his followers, despite the fact Trump makes fun of the Christian Nationalists behind their backs. Like Barr, I’m a Catholic Christian, and in my case, I find Trump and Barr thoroughly repellent. I think it is a good thing to have a secular country, but the Republicans have rejected it, and their hand picked majority on the Supreme Court has violated the tradition of religious neutrality.
If white supremacists took power, they'd send him to the ovens based on his DNA as one of the mud people. Barr's father was Jewish but converted to Catholicism.
This came out during the Jeffrey Epstein scandal, as Barr's father hired Epstein at his prep school.
Separation of church and state is more than just a tradition - it's clearly stated in the First Amendment.
Republicans don’t support our Constitution or they wouldn’t be voting for trump.
OMMPHHHH..., and right up front!
Support your opposition or be gone!
Spot on.
… until they get caught - although Sara Lynn, a few squeak through unscathed.
Is what Jesus said and did not principle? Or is it the remaining fillers of that story lends some tale tales…being used for convenience..the outline is NOT the outliars…
Ummm... the crusades? The struggle between Catholics and Protestants since Henry VIII? The pogroms? History has a ton of lessons to teach about "religion" mixed into government. Are we too stoopid or too stubborn to learn them?
Bill Barr is an extremely conservative culture warrior Catholic. That he would override the very First Amendment to our Constitution, which guarantees us all freedom of religion AND freedom from religion, should terrify us.
Having heard the debate over whether a Catholic should even have access to the White House when JFK ran, it seems clear to me that Catholicism covers a wide range of beliefs and practices. President Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Justice Sotomayor are all Catholic but they never would impose their religion on anyone.
Progwoman, the range is perhaps less wide when guided by principles of social justice that are core to the teachings Jesus. Teachings not unique to Christianity, either.
I have to wonder what homilies he has heard that give him this elitist distortion of Catholicism. He's a throwback to the Inquisition. And as terrible and terrifying.
Bill Barr, like Trump, had a father and brothers who were bullies. I am beginning to understand how men who are badly bullied as children and grow up in highly competitive families and religious upbringing learn to stay loyal to the biggest bully, and take their frustration out on the easiest victims. There’s a hierarchy and the biggest bully is on top
Toxic masculinity. An enduring sociological problem across cultures.
Lardo, is just another koch-sucker who has been provided a pulpit by Big Media. Being from a wealthy background helped immensely.
And aren’t most of the MAGA justices also extremely conservative Catholics?!
It is very Christian to execute those one does not like, said Jesus— never. Co-opting religions as righteous validation for war, discrimination and self-serving power is an ancient and egregious mask for exploitation of entire populations. The Donald is the current golden calf.
Since Constantine (approx 300AD)
Christianity has been demonizing humanity to justify wealthy warlords and kings selfish desires. Pathetic behavior.
I think you are over-generalizing and somewhat harshly. (I subscribe to no religion, personally, though I come from generations of church goers). Those following their religion's essential spiritual beliefs can create so much good. However, using religion like an ugly team sport, whether needing to coerce and indoctrinate others, or define "non-believers" as enemies or somehow "less than", is evil exploit.
Thank you for helping clarify my observation. I see there are groups of people with a “golden rule” ethic that makes sense and that do a lot of good. To those, I celebrate, tied to religion or not. But Christianity/Catholicism hasn’t fully owned the damage done, and being done in its name. Examples in history are the “Indian schools”, the Magdalene laundries, the Crusades and the mass appropriation of land and wealth. To me, a church teaches one to submit and relinquish one’s own ability to create a civil morality. Sure, I tend to respond in general tone because I am not writing a paper here, just asking questions, sharing opinions and observations.
All that horrific and hateful behavior is not something Jesus would condone (or so I interpret). It's when religion and alleged loyalty to goodness has perverted to a cult of "evil" that all the worst of humanity unfolds.
It was a corruption of religion. Oh wait, maybe that is the definition. But to be fair, Jesus likely would chase these cretins away, like he did the money changers. They aren’t even pretending…
These guys better hope that they’re wrong about there being a god, because if they’re right, they’re going to burn in hell for all eternity.
..that’s an interesting snap Christopher …principle vs convenience ..getting lost in the story
I was referring to the gullibility of belief, Patricia.
Barr can't imagine that a man who idolises and venerates a murderous dictator who regularly assassinates his rivals.... could actually follow through with stating clearly that that is what he wants to do.
He trapped in an illogical belief system and doesn't have the capacity to imagine evil in his associates. Dangerously gullible, of course he is a believer.
Ie. the principles override rationality.
..gullibility…weaved amongst callous twists ..it fascinates me how many can/do get lost..in the forest. Principle included.
The Art of the Deal?
There’s profound innocence in most 6 year olds.
Not Trump, Not Barr.
And excessive weight. Plus his letter to Trump to hire him.
And excessive weight!
"...just how far into the Twilight Zone we've traveled politically."
And the KochLeo Heritage Society Project 2025 Trump transition plan will take us there at warp speed. 180 days to dismantle the entire Executive Branch. And rebuild it in KochLeo's image as administering a corporate clerical fascist state. As is being done by the KochLeo captured courts. (Gorsuch's mother was Reagan's EPA head. And ahead of her time. Her zeal in dismantling the EPA was so extreme and corrupt that she was forced to resign.)
Bill Barr made his GOP bones as cleaner for GHW Bush, getting pardons for convicted and indicted Iran Contra criminals. It's why he was brought back for Trump. Barr's also another Federal Society religious extremist. The 'unified executive' autocracy is in a way, a return to the Divine Right of Kings. Many in MAGA believe Trump is not only the anointed but Christ reincarnated as some RamboJesus and 2024 a literal Second Coming. They talk of themselves as Crusaders for Trump. Onward Christian Soldiers, indeed.
As AG Barr infamously quoted John Adams “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate for the government of any other.” Implying that only the godly get constitutional rights. Preferentially those unborn or born again. Elsewhere, John Adams writes "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion."
The Federalist Society's greater purpose is to obstruct the Federal government's regulatory authority. In the name of God, and in the service of greed, Federalist Society jurists are bent on obstructing government's ability to regulate commerce, administer equitable taxation, and provide essential and emergency services. And because the majority of voters disagree, these right wing extremists are bent on overturning equality before the law and equal representation to achieve their purpose.
Please don't help them.
Vote Biden or elect Trump.
This election is about democracy vs. fascism. Period. The statement "When fascism comes to America, it will be draped in the flag and carrying the cross" is spot on.
The Federalist Society has been highly effective infiltrating our wheels of government and shifting our laws, using our democracy to overturn our democracy. Most troubling now is the significant support MAGA is experiencing from the voting public. The Democrats must run an effective and persuasive messaging campaign to arrest this toxic political pandemic infecting our body politic.
Exactly.
And somehow we need to convince those inclined to treat voting as a purity test exercise in personal expression, that voting is a united tactic to take government power.
Right wing voters held their nose to win the Supreme Court. And they did.
Leonard Leo has expanded his efforts (ie Koch et al money) to The Teneo Network or what he's termed 'a Federalist Society for everything that's messed up in American society.' By which he means all progress on government regulation, social safety net, and civil rights protections in over a century. An end to Teddy Roosevelt's Square Deal, FDR's New Deal, LBJ's Great Society, ObamaCare. And specifically targeting equal protections for LGBTQ+ persons.
The far-right ownership of vast media networks including Fox have been successful talking heads, expanding lies, propaganda, and influence over large segments of the population. The cyberattacks from China and Russia aid in this effort. Biden's negative ratings have in part resulted from the false narratives from the talking heads "news flashes". Developing a strategy to provide a counter reality is a daunting challenge. I do hope the Democratic power brokers are up for the task. The unraveling of the New Deal and the subsequent progressive legislation has been in the crosshairs of these far-right actors for quite a while now as you mentioned with Federalist Society, Koch, Mercer, Council for National Policy, etc. Once thought to be the third rail of politics, Social Security, Medicare, and civil rights protection are being boldly assaulted. The brazened political assaults and lies by GOP politicians, immune to any optics or consequential fallout, speaks to the confidence and power felt by them.
Proceed until apprehended.
It's our job to stop them.
Whew! Heritage Foundation essentially says they were caught off guard by Trump's 2016 win. Project 2025 is their response. Right down to the CVs of loyalists at every level. Their wrecking crew is ready.
That manifesto completely dismantles our rules, our laws and disregards our Constitution. These are dangerous zealots cannot operate effectively if we deny them their voices and that’s why it is so important to reelect Biden-Harris. If you believe in democracy, which these men do not, then it is up to us and only us to make certain that we band together as one!
Let’s don’t elect chump
Barr's position on the exercise of authority and his intent to vote for an insurrectionist is proof positive that in the generality, talk doesn't matter because their reality is different from ours. So, what to do? Out vote them while votes still count. There is no middle ground.
And after a Blue sweep, those elected have to see to the restructuring of SCOTUS, to counter the views of Alito and Barr, etc.
I agree regarding the need to restructure SCOTUS - increasing the number of justices, putting in age limits and time served on the Court. It could very well be that to save our democratic process, we need to outnumber the Trump MAGA justices, starting ASAP.
I couldn't agree more. We need to do what we can to denigrate and debunk the nonsense that is being vomited at us from the Murdoch papers and media, Newsmax, OAN, Tucker Carlson and many other so-called news organizations.
And quit printing Trump's incessant lies like they are the truth. No one needs to here his constant denigrations of anyone that ever said something he disagreed with or looked at him the wrong way.
And Bill Barr is his only cabinet member who is backing Trump. One has to wonder why.
We expect people to vote like they did before a criminal record was a recommendation for office.
Bill Barr has always been a corrupt toady. And now he has a "president " wholly for sale.
Gary..."clearly" (hahahaaahaa) he sees a trip to the gravel-pit with Kristi "Paladin" Noem. It's simply his choice to get down on his knees and blow #45 or have his brains blown-out by Ms'Have Gun'.., BLAMM!
Michael and everyone on HCR's letter should know Barr's history. The man has zero scruples. What he did after the Mueller report is a small example of what that low life has done. Just look up his history.
Yup. After all those centuries, America is running back hard and fast towards re-installing an absolutely powerful “Christian” king again…
I’m holding to what Simon Says about the polls, trends, and reality of the gutsy American dependables-‘rally forth the flag ‘ . Yes, the subset that WAS enamored has dwindled..the ruse is up…the lesson is still being handed down a pill harder and harder to swallow …grow not weary soldiers …the final battle is 11/5/2024 and we need to have those numbers tell it BOLD and BLUE.
Codify, correct the subverse redacted.
Oust the dictators .
Renew the worldly promise by handing back civility to standing for the principles of equality we became world leader by , it may not be the last fight but it sure is the one point and center NOW!
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
Well, at least you gotta try! This is too important, not only for America, but also for the rest of the world!
Into the religious holier than thou nutcase zone.
Barr reminds us that it's not just a matter of defeating the Defendant candidate this November, which I believe Biden will do (assuming no judicial or extra judicial hijinks.) We also have to defeat the radical SCOTUS by adding 4 new members to its ranks (and hopefully have four years to replace judges who retire or expire.)
This notion of the unitary executive must be extinguished, along with Citizens United, Dobbs and the like, to rebalance the playing field. No president can do that on his own, and until the likes of Barr, Alito et al are watered down (name your own source of the stream) a future trumpian president remains a threat.
Biden has proclaimed resistance to expanding the Court. I think he's holding his powder.
I'm not so sure, Jen -- I think he's too much of of an institutionalist in that regard (in much the same way Schumer seems chary of eliminating the filibuster rule.) But I do hold out hope that you're right. It's the only way, short of Thomas, Alito and Roberts all leaving SCOTUS during Bidens next term, which is unlikely.
He may be. It's not his call until it gets to his desk.
I think it's more likely that a Democrat- controlled Senate might impose ethical rules that are I hope identical to those on the rest of the judiciary. Sure there will be holdouts for whatever reasons, but Biden would sign that.
Kamala Harris would likely sign such expansion legislation imo. She's an actual attorney.
It's not his call, but he can still whistle his preferences. (And Joe is also an actual attorney, and was on the Senate Judiciary Committee for years -- some as chair, IIRC.)
He was not a practicing attorney to my knowledge, so I forget about his law degree.
My question is - does he view Biden’s presidency (or for that matter, Obama’s presidency), with the same overreaching authority? Maybe the Biden administration should take that unitary stance with their own signing statements.
I think they view any Democratic administrations as invalid. They believe they are the only ones that have authority to "rule" (NOT govern).
💯💯💯💯
💯💯💯💯💯
I just read much of his full speech at Notre Dame. His constant reference to the lack of morality in our culture while ignoring the immorality of Trump is astonishing. His assertion that only a belief in a supernatural entity makes moral conduct possible is ludicrous. His fanaticism is frightening and should make him ineligible to hold ant public office.
What about Scott who basically said in an obfuscated manner, he would not accept a Biden win. Trump was going to win. period.
4/28/24
"The contention of the former attorney general—who had been responsible for enforcing the rule of law in the United States of America—that a man who has demanded the execution of people he dislikes is a better candidate for the presidency than a man who is using the power of the federal government to create jobs for ordinary people, combat climate change, protect the environment, and promote health and education, illustrates that Republican leaders have abandoned democracy." (HCR)
Well stated, professor!!
*****
"Until now, ... [n]o American president had ever faced a criminal trial. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment for retaining and concealing classified documents. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment or a state indictment for trying to overturn an election, or been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. No American president ever faced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments for business fraud, defamation, and sexual abuse…." (George Stephanopoulos)
*****
... which is not to say no president ever has done any of these things - only that they never have been indicted or held accountable in a court of law. And, isn't that the big issue being challenged here - that state or federal intrusion into the realm of free men acting according to their perceived God-given rights, to hold them accountable for consequences of their actions ... this is government interference, deprivation of freedom and a violation of individual rights ...?
"Barr said. “I think the real threat to democracy is the progressive movement and the Biden administration.”"
More to the point, the progressive movement for justice and accountability affirms democracy - only poses a threat to big money dominance of a select private club of players who firmly believe America is their playground - a casino where the house rules the game and anyone who is not a member of the home team gets to play for pennies - where life is a lottery - a gamble in the name of their Almighty God:
ALL-AMERICAN GAME-TIME USA!!
In fact, America is a threshing ground where souls are tested - and sorted, like wheat from chaff - every one of us is held accountable for choices made and actions taken - in the long run, goodness will prevail ....
Scant comfort, but I'm certain our good doctor will assure us, that we've been here before Michael.
You had me at "top law enforcement official." Forget the tendencies and principles, what about the laws TFFG broke and the new ones he continues to break? The Maralardo case is incredibly egregious as regards not only our national security, but the security of our allies. Didn't Cheetolini show battle strategies of one of our allies to his biographer and friends? Not to mention the attempts to destroy other national docs and leaving them around his resort for anyone to take or photograph. How about enforcing those laws, Mr. Barr?
Do NOT get me started on the fake electors, big lie, or J6. If I had him on the stand, I'd ask Barr how he could countenance those... oh, right, he didn't. That's when he quit. But surely he recognizes that laws were broken and that 60 courts found the claims of fraudulent voters to be without any merit whatsoever.
This despicable minion needs to be disBarred. Like yesterday.
Heather, thank you for reminding us that it’s not a horse race.
“I’m sincerely not asking you to take sides, but ask you to rise up to the seriousness of the moment.
Move past the horse race numbers, the gotcha moments.”
President Biden has given all of us our marching orders. Each of us can contact five of our friends and have them check their voter registration status the first week in October and have them contact five of their friends. Then, during early voting, contact them again to make sure that they vote to save our democracy and, once again, have them contact five of their friends. If you can do more, like writing postcards or donating to campaigns, do so.
Yes, I applaud the statements Heather quotes from Joe Biden and George Stephanopoulos about the role of the media. It is not just the New York Times, as was discussed here two days ago. Responsible journalism all around needs to "rise to the seriousness of the moment" and speak out for the continuation of our democracy!
One thing that is obvious and needs to be shouted from the rooftops, is that if Trump gets elected, he’ll never leave unless or until he’s carried out feet first. There will be no more elections. There will be riots and mayhem and possibly another civil war. I believe it was Tony Schwartz, who cowrote The Art of The Deal, said that Trump’s ambition is to be the richest man in the world. If he’s president (dictator) again, he’ll take over our treasury and our taxes will flow to him. We’ll be in a dire place.
I feel compelled to help. I will be receiving my post cards from FieldTeam6.org today. Then I can start writing. Can't wait!
Also, Vote Forward is a very good letter-writing campaign.
Leopold, thank you for doing this!
It's unbelievable how many of my low to mid middle class friends and neighbors will vote for Trump. So many fall for his I'm just like you BS. I Have found I only have a few friends and family that follow President Biden like I do.
I ask myself, how don't they see what I see. It's crazy and depressing.
I ask myself that, also.
It's so disappointing.
sammybeardog, I use the ideas from the book Taking the War Out of Our Words to share one fact at a time—one that gets a positive result is that now companies that have profits over $1 billion (like Exxon and Amazon) have to pay a minimum of 15% on the profits that they report to shareholders (previously their tax accountants found loopholes so that they often paid $0 in taxes). Another is that they’re going after the hidden fees when you rent a car or hotel room; and they’re working to limit overdraft fees at banks.
Yes ✌️
Thank you Professor Richardson.
It's important to note that William Barr was chosen by Trump because of Barr's previous role in the Reagan administration, covering up criminality by passing out pardons. The only place where they might disagree is that Trump would sell pardons as a way to enrich himself and the Trump brand.
Barr's role in the cover up of the Iran-Contra affair earned him the nickname "cover-up" General (as opposed to Attorney General).
I did not know that. Watching those hearings before Barr began working with 45, many were against voting Barr in and I sensed an unruly desire to throw up 🤮
Nausea is the appropriate response.
https://about.bgov.com/news/iran-contra-justice-pick/
https://thetriallawyermagazine.com/2021/07/bill-barr-is-the-master-of-covering-up-political-scandals/
https://www.npr.org/2019/01/14/684553791/william-barr-supported-pardons-in-an-earlier-d-c-witch-hunt-iran-contra
Thank you George for the information on Barr👍!!
I have that desire everytime I see and hear Donald Trump trying to convince his supporters that he is being crucified. After all, he is their "Savior." He was "sent by God" to save this country from, in his words, the "worst president in the history of our country."
If only his followers would realize the HE is the worst president in the history of our country.
Projection, always accuse you opponent of what you youuself are doing.
Trump chose Barr because he wrote a 19 pages memo critiquing the Mueller investigation when it was still early days. I seriously doubt that Trump knew anything about Barr until then. Of course Trump didn't actually read the memo but hearing about it was good enough for him to 86 Jeff Session.
Yes, I do think that was Barr's "job application" with the Trump crime syndicate, however his experience at covering up crimes and as someone else pointed out, obstructing justice, provided the verifiable experience necessary for the job.
Trump did that because as repellent as Sessions was, Sessions refused to do Trump’s bidding when Trump expected Sessions to do so,etching illegal. Trump has had a mistaken idea that Trump was his own law and that Sessions had a duty to carry out Trump’s wishes even if they were illegal or unconstitutional. Sessions had more regard for his duties as an attorney than for indulging Trump’s desires.
I will never forgive Sessions for implementing the child snatching scheme without warning and without a system to keep track of the children. But I do honor him for not being a total toady despite the pressure to do so. How sad that later, when he ran for his senate seat, he tried to butter up to Trump.
all these GOP Trump appointees have a breaking point. They wanted to keep the GOP on top and own the libs. Trump took them over. Remember he was the outsider. Once he won, Sessions and the others switched allegiances. But the breaking point was when Trump crossed the line into not wanting to relinquish control of the GOP and suddenly they balked. by then, it was too late.
I agree. I also give full discredit to Stephen Miller for coming up with this evil idea. Trump wants to make himself a dictator, and he and his cronies have been able to misuse the constitution to do it. This time, any one of his critics would wind up in the concentration camps he wants.
And yes, Barr's formal position with with Bush senior, however his "role" with Reagan was to provide a cover up through a pardon strategy.
Reagan and both Bushes started the illegal activities in the Oval Office. Clinton kept his to a sexual misadventure, as far as I know. Wish the others had too.
No Jerry. You forgot Nixon, where Roger Stone and Dick Cheney cut their teeth in the Rat F@&&ers team that did many dirty tricks to win the Election fir Nixon’s second term, including Watergate.
Damn, you are right. Nixon was the original oval office crook (that we know of). I remember well. I didn't know about Roger Stone for a long time since Donald Segretti got more press at the time. My memory is good enough to remember their every evil deed. And Chump thinks that he can get a second term the same way. His little cult army is the icing on the cake. The whole of the repub party is on board. At least Nixon was an outlier back then, not the leader.
These are the facts needing underscored -the point by point articulation..🗣️CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?
Did tfg choose him or did his minions choose for him and talk him into it? 😈
While only speculation on my part, it likely involved a pledge of absolute fealty to all things Trump and a few in Trump's circle who weighed in on Barr's previous experiences with covering up the illegal actions surrounding Iran-Contra.
George, thank you for sharing this history!
I'm here to help... not like "the others".
:)
Thanks Mary -I do try. And always grateful to Heather for leading the discussions and all those like you who read and appreciate the insights and perspectives. If American democracy is to be rescued and strengthened -it must be built upon a foundation of factual information, education, and engagement.
This “the unitary executive branch" (and SCOTUS 'textualism') is a GOP charade (like 'election integrity'), a thinly veiled excuse to allow GOP to ignore the law/Constitution, but they expect everyone else to follow the law. Let's test how sincere Republicans are about their “the unitary executive branch.” Biden should order Trump's federal trials to resume immediately and not wait for a Supreme Court rulings. Biden should issue an executive order striking Trump from all ballots for his prior acts of insurrection. Biden should ignore all Congressional subpoenas. Biden should have sent aid to Ukraine and not waited for Congressional action. Biden should prosecute Bill Barr for violating his oath of office when he sanitized and whitewashed the Mueller Investigation. Biden should issue an executive order that Alito's Dobbs opinion is just wrong and can be ignored. Biden should issue an order saying the official religion of America is the practices of the Hopi Indians, that religion was here first. THEN George Stephanopoulos of ABC’s This Week should do a show asking Republican's if they still endorse the “the unitary executive branch.”
Right on!!! I’ve been thinking the same thing! And while he’s at it he should also restore voting rights, redraw gerrymandered congressional districts, expand the Supreme Court and install Justices who actually understand we are are a secular democratic republic with a proud history of defending the constitution and the expanding the rights of all people!
“Unitary executive branch" is wordy way to say "autocrat", which is exactly what a republic is not.
" — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men (sic), deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — "
Oh yeah and just for kicks he should also suspend all federal aid to former confederate states until they are actually ready to rejoin the union and adhere to the constitution
GOP has gotten away with a lot of pay-back crap since Nixon was forced out of office. I think they fear losing power, and will do anything to retain it. Too bad they ran Papa Bush out for raising taxes. So short slighted.
What you say makes sense to me! Refreshing logic.
Oh, wow, such a challenge. Maybe they would do what Reagan did when the SLA and other groups in CA started buying guns. Gun control became the law of CA, so I heard.
Oh, it did. When the scary Black men engaged in lawful carry of firearms, the RWNJ's* just about 💩 their drawers.
*Right Wing Nut Jobs. This was before they went over the edge and became MAGAts.
Proof that "law and order" is relative to republicans. If Joe would claim immunity for anything,, the SC would drown in schitt.
You got that right: Law for thee but not for me is their stock in trade.
That should be Dems mantra
I keep thinking the same thing! He should expand SCOTUS first and proceed from there. Somehow, I think all this talk of "unitary executive" and "presidential immunity" would suddenly be completely wrong and even an impeachable offense. Problem is, Biden has integrity, so....
I’ve been wondering if anyone, during the it-might-be-ok-for-a-president-to-have-his-rivals-executed discussion at the Supreme Court asked whether a sitting president could have his opponent in an upcoming election executed, along with people that opponent may have appointed, for example, to the judiciary. How would Republicans feel about that?
That would have been a brilliant question to ask of the Supreme Farce this week. I listened to all of it and that question phrased to include the justices, would have brought them up short, wouldn't it? And I would have loved to hear their attempts to explain the unexplainable.
I've found that until it becomes personal to those trying to dictate to others, and the reality that there could actually be adverse consequences to themselves, only then does reality smack them up side the head.
Perfect
Wow, what if?
Magnificent!
But Biden can't, and he won't, because he's determined to be correct in his belief that we are STILL AMERICA. I hope and pray that he's right.
THIS needs to be broadcast far and wide, HCR's concluding paragraph quoting George Stephanopoulos, esp. this sentence:
"“The scale of the abnormality is so staggering, that it can actually become numbing. "
"George Stephanopoulos of ABC’s This Week apparently took this reminder to heart. “Until now,” he said in the show’s opener on Sunday, “[n]o American president had ever faced a criminal trial. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment for retaining and concealing classified documents. No American president had ever faced a federal indictment or a state indictment for trying to overturn an election, or been named an unindicted co-conspirator in two other states for the same crime. No American president ever faced hundreds of millions of dollars in judgments for business fraud, defamation, and sexual abuse….
“The scale of the abnormality is so staggering, that it can actually become numbing. It’s all too easy to fall into reflexive habits, to treat this as a normal campaign, where both sides embrace the rule of law, where both sides are dedicated to a debate based on facts and the peaceful transfer of power. But, that is not what’s happening this election year. Those bedrock tenets of our democracy are being tested in a way we haven’t seen since the Civil War. It’s a test for the candidates, for those of us in the media, and for all of us as citizens.”
George Stephanopoulos should have mentioned the mismanagement and politicization of Covid which caused the deaths of a million people in the US. Bleach—ivermectin—no masks. Add mass murder to the list of crimes.
"Manslaughter" at least.
…”but I was only trying to keep them from panicking” …or something like that…? The chains of gang warfare as they died by dozens and the rest screaming went over the cliff following the money, the lies, the lust…so cleverly used for complete control…
You’ve heard ..’there’s a rising tide of autocracy ‘?
It’s stops by VOTING BLUE 💙
Not just here..but maybe it’s last stand ..here
Two actual headlines I saw on the front page of supermarket tabloids were "Man Electrocuted By Lighting Bugs" and "Statue of Elvis Found on Mars" (NO, not the Onion). They foreshadowed MTG.
Now we are learning from the testimony of Pecker that some Tabloid stories are not true. Shocking!
You mean that Hillary Clinton didn't have space aliens invade her brain??? I am shocked. <sarcasm font>
Au contraire. A spaced virus invaded the brains of those who voted for Trump.
🤣🤣🤣
Confirming my suspicions.
There’s money to be made exploiting the ignorance or stupidity of the American public. See, for example, Donald Trump, David the Pecker and the National Enquirer.
Note what Barr did NOT say as a reason (or excuse) to vote for Trump: He did NOT say, “Trump didn’t mean those things and I knew it.” Instead, he said that cooler heads always managed to talk him out of crazy ideas. He obliquely admitted that Trump wanted to execute people for opposing him.
Barr would willingly assist t💩p if the legal framework for doing so is in place. He’s an arrogant, evil, sociopath. Both of them, actually.
I think Trump will do exactly that if he gets back into office.
He's told us as much
Yeah, I noticed that. He aims to totally surround himself with toadies, as in the RNC.
HCR, here's the link to Barr's 10/2019 Harvard speech.
https://magazine.nd.edu/stories/barr-preaches-religious-freedom/
Only a deluded superstitious fool would equate secularism to totalitarianism. This country was founded on enlightenment not absurdity as Voltaire would say.
To claim "Judeo-Christian standards serve as the ultimate utilitarian rules for human conduct" is total Bullshit!
Anyone hiding behind religion is NOT to be trusted….ANYONE
Aaron Davis--
Thanks for highlighting the noxious BS of this speech. If people can stomach it, it's worth reading the whole thing:
https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/attorney-general-william-p-barr-delivers-remarks-law-school-and-de-nicola-center-ethics
One small point: for all of Harvard's sins against the commonweal, this speech was to a largely appreciative audience at Notre Dame Law School.
Agreed and the worst part is the license with which tyrannical "religious" standards are tailored to serve sociopathic agendas. Jesus advised compassion and aid for the poor and excluded, to renounce material wealth, and love, not kill, one's enemies. He even acquiesced to paying taxes. Does that sound at all like Trump or the so-called religious right? Does not the behavior of the extreme right wing far more closely resemble the occupying Roman Empire? It's all upside down, as in Orwell's anti-utopias.
Thank you. I’m glad the Prez. Called out the media to do their job.
I really appreciate you providing such a clear historical record of the decline and deep corruption of the GQP.
Yes, "The scale of the abnormality is so staggering."
I like Heather so much more when she quotes those who see the menace we really do face. That Clarence court -- they hate American women to make their own choices. They think theocrats with medieval thinking should package all women the same -- or (same thing), let tyrannical states do that.
Virtually no one in this Republican party sees any benefits to democracy anymore. Grow a chief executive with authoritarian powers, and chuck the elective offices of Congress. That's what Republicans in Congress largely want to do, follow their fat guy. Or, follow the fat guy Barr following the fat guy in all those encrusted layers of orange make-up, diapers, peroxided hair.
Heather correctly notes the humor at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. But I'm glad she's more aptly also noted the gravity this year, as real dictator wannabees stalk the land, or sit on that Clarence court musing on how much better it would be to have a king once again above the law.
I keep remembering a comment a former boss made a few times during my short stint at a financial firm circa 1990. I think he was discussing what should happen with Hong Kong..."What they need is a benevolent dictatorship!" He had a couple of other gems, such as his opinion about diversity in the workforce "Oh, it's great in theory, and fine when things are going well, so you might have an Italian or Jew, but if there's crisis, than you need people you can trust!" BTW, the company was in San Francisco.
F. Scott Fitzgerald was right about the very rich!
And that's who Trump hangs with, golfs with, eats with. He finds a few lines that almost always get applause and repeats them at every rally.
But, it seems he has given up on rallies. Last Wednesday, when he had the day off from court, he went to Bedminister and golfed. If he's given up on rallies, all he has left is the failing Truth Social to spew his hateful bile on day after day.
I read yesterday that if the NY judge find Trump in criminal contempt of court, it triggers the potential in each other venue of the potential to be locked up for lying to each of the courts. He promised not to commit any more felonies when he was released under his own recognizance in each case.
Lcck him up!!
"What they need is a benevolent dictatorship!"
What keeps it "benevolent" and "benevolent" for whom?
Right?!? But I guess CEO types all think they are "benevolent dictators" to some extent.
As benevolent only as long as their subjects are obedient. Then the iron fist comes into play.
I'm positive they never intended to stop at states. Going to states is just a convenient short cut to them.
Whenever I think your newsletters can’t get any more disturbing, they do. When, if ever, will the MSM and the American public wake up?
Barr is Opus Dei, he's a Christofascist weedled his way into the Trump
It's all about embracing ones own assumed supremacy, the key to the horror pages of history.
I suspect Leonard Leo got to Barr. He's another one who is past his expiration date.
I'm sorry I don't understand. They're both hard right, conservative Catholics who run in overlapping circles; if anything it would be Barr who has influenced Leo.
The only person who is a worse liar than a faith healer is his patient. - Lincoln
It is frightening to watch this attempted destruction of American democracy partly on the basis of needing more theocracy where on the other hand religious extremists are threatening Biden's support amongst young voters. These are dangerous times.
Thank you for tracing the history of this abomination. My Huguenot ancestors are turning in their graves. The trajectory of this treasonous anti-Constitutional theory is clear. Trump may be the serpent’s instrument but this theory & its implications must be made clear to all. It would be useful to remember that the real force of evil is always seen as an angel of light by many.
Hamlet "says" that the devil hath power to assume a pleasing shape.
I wasn’t aware of that parallel. Thanks!
I have posted this many times but I think it may nail the essence of our dilemma:
"That is the issue that will continue in this country when these poor tongues of Judge Douglas and myself shall be silent. It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings." - Lincoln
Despite the consistency with which despotic regimes are seen to live in infamy, there is always a substantial constituency for supporting them with each new generation supporting them. Why else have they not faded in the distant past? Many seem to take comfort in a stratified society, in an order imposed from the top, irrespective of the evidence that power tends to corrupt. And frequently societies that once welcomed an authoritarian leader grow desperate to throw off the yoke, often at great cost, and not necessarily successfully. The Russians seem to go from one tyrant to another.
The founding documents of our form of government cleverly applied Enlightenment principles toward a more liberated society, however unevenly those principles came to be observed. Over time we have haltingly tended to advance toward more perfect union, liberty and justice. Lincoln and Republicans of the day installed a hard won renaissance of our stated values, bringing some of them into better compliance for the first time. While the battle Lincoln had identified was far from ended, we saw improvements in social equality, some of which continue to this day; but with increasing backlash. Always, always, follow the money.
Great assessment, JL. As you say, always follow the money.
That Bill Barr is a convinced christofascist was well known even before he became Trump's AG and fixer. Of course he is too chickenshit to risk his own skin for Trump by lying under oath, so he feels he needs to justify his actions on Trump's behalf by inventing theories of an all powerful executive doing God's will. What holy horseshit!
I would add that Robert Kagan's column in the April 24 Wapo is a must read.
Kagan's column:
https://wapo.st/3UbKv9m
Thanks so much for posting this. It is probably the scariest scenario I have read about the people who might vote for Trump and the history of anti-liberalism. Makes me wish I could shake these individuals and tell them to appreciate what they have gotten as a result of so called "liberal" programs such as the New Deal.
Thank you for posting Karan’s piece! Wow, he reveals the unvarnished truth.
What happened to the edit option😠? Kagan!
Thanks Jeff, nice job. Clearly your internet skills exceed mine.
'As Benjamin Rush, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, put it, “We have changed our forms of government, but it remains yet to effect a revolution in our principles, opinions and manners so as to accommodate them to the forms of government we have adopted.”
They did not insist that citizens believe in those principles. One could be an American citizen whether one believed in the Declaration or not.'