Six months ago today, rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, intending to stop the counting of the certified ballots that would make Joseph R. Biden president and Kamala Harris vice president. This attack was unprecedented. It broke our nation’s long history of the peaceful transfer of power.
The conclusion of a review of the Pew Research Center data:
"Thirty percent of Americans under 29 think Donald Trump was the worst president in American history. Sixty-five percent have an unfavorable view of the former president. Just 18 percent watch Fox News, the primary national vector for viral paranoia and disinformation, regularly. The Pew report is just a brutal document for Republicans. And it suggests that the light at the end of the tunnel, far from illuminating a path out of the wilderness for the GOP, is instead an oncoming, hostile generation poised to put Republicans at a decisive disadvantage in national elections for years."
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R! Today (which happens to be July 7) I wish to celebrate a couple who are celebrating their 75th anniversary. In November of 1976, America turned its back on the "horrors" of Watergate and elected a peanut farmer from the State of Georgia. Many had written at the time that he was ineffectual, a weak president who did not accomplish much.
I recall a time at a gala held in Los Angeles. Many celebrities were in attendance, Hollywood types as well as the well-connected. There was the standard hum in the room that goes with every large gathering of people. But the room electrified the moment Jimmy Carter, the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, entered. You could not help but notice it, it was that vivid. I can still feel it to this day.
So, too, aboard Air Force One on January 6,1978, after a tour of seven countries, a tired First Lady, Rosalyn Carter, gave up her chair and sat at her husband's feet so that this stenographer could do her job of reporting the President's remarks at a press briefing.
And fixing this whole disaster hinges on getting voting rights legislation passed.
I've been calling my Republican senators, and will keep calling them, especially on gerrymandering and dark money, and explaining that state's rights do not overpower our constitutional rights. It won't do any good, until it does.
Very thankful for Manchin's backup plan.
Our troops didn't give up on D-day, or under pressure from kamikaze pilots. So yeah, I can make phone calls. LOTS of phone calls.
SUBSCRIBERS, I believe that we are in the midst of a troll attack today.
Heather has provided us with an outline of where America is today; the steps towards autocracy taken by the Republican Party since the 1980's and historical contexts taking us back to the 1800's. It is a brilliant work by her that will nurture our understanding far beyond today and our activism going forward.
I was going to add a comment about figures such as the Nobel Prize–winning economist James M. Buchanan, 'The Architect of the Radical Right' (The Atlantic), the Koch Brothers and Rupert Murdoch as major forces contributing to the destruction of Democracy. I will not be submitting that comment today given our unwelcome visitors. It is too disquieting to be surrounded by them. I can only offer my sense of things and suggest that these characters are here to take us off track, smear democracy and occupy space in highly noxious ways. That is my impression, and I hope that the forum is less problematic today than I suspect.
Today I heard an interview with Nina Lakhani about the conviction of a Honduran corporate official for heading the conspiracy that murdered their most eminent environmentalist, Berta Caceres. Lakhani described the political environment of Honduras as a criminal state - not plutocratic, not authoritarian, which it may be, but as criminal.
This strikes me as an apt description of what Trump wants for the United States - a mechanism to deliver our wealth to HIM, and one that allows him to act with impunity. I would like to use that descriptor going forward, to separate the sheep from the co-conspirators.
Maybe, just maybe, if we get enough people to vote against them, we can get through this morass. Numbers matter, and we can't take for granted that we'll have enough. They'll have a harder time stealing elections if we have a huge turnout.
Call your local Dem headquarters tomorrow and volunteer. Organize your precinct, if it's not already. Ask what you can do to help.
The idea that legislatures can nullify the vote is horrific. Reprehensible. But believable from this group of people. I am actually amazed that they resisted at the time of the election, but now they’ve made it legal to do, so they will do it.
Rupurt Murdoch's latest project is to establish FOX Weather channel this fall. Of course, that means misinformation and lies about the climate crisis. This kind of opposition to moving forward rapidly on the climate crisis could be devastating for the world. I think this may be the time for non-violent resistance. Boycott any corporation or entity who advertises on FOX any channel. Complain to the FCC every day until they lose their broadcast license (I know, remote possibility). Expose the politicians who are getting money from Murdoch and other dark money. Any other suggestions? Yes, I'm serious. DTs lies about COVID much of which came from FOX cost hundreds of thousands of lives. FOX tampering with climate change could mean millions of lives.
I have been posting some of Heather's letters to my Facebook page; today's letter was one of them. This is a personal message I attached so my "friends" can understand why I'm posting.
The writer, Heather Cox Richardson, is a professor of American history at Boston College, where she teaches courses on the American Civil War, the Reconstruction Era, the American West, and the Plains Indians. She has a great knack of understanding events in the country's past and connecting them to today's political events. I received a degree in history in college and was a reporter for a decade in the1980s. Regardless what I covered, the premise and necessity of delivering unbiased facts to the public was drilled into me and other journalists ad infinitum. And there were editors ready to correct bias in reporters' stories if it occurred. That is why I like Ms. Richardson's daily columns. I have been reading them since last year and have not detected outward bias even once. That is not what she does. Ms. Richardson presents historical and current-day events side-by-side and allows you, the reader, to make your own conclusions. I don't think enough people in this country form opinions based on facts; most rely on biased media reports and propaganda espoused on the Internet, television, radio, podcasts, etc., whether these reports come from so-called right- or left-wing outlets. Ms. Richardson's columns are a way for you to gain a better understanding of the evolution behind some of the political goings-on occurring today. That is why I post them. If you are interested in reading them free of charge, just do an Internet search for "Letters From an American."
This making a deal with an authoritarian style of government suggests the depths of insecurity among Americans who refuse to accept diversity. They are so frightened of changes in their world that they would give up democracy in order to feel safe.
HCRs Letter tonight is a cliff hanger. Hope we don't have to wait too long for the sequel where the heros win the day -- and democracy.
One bit of good news tonight that does give me a wee bit of hope: Just heard on the Lawrence O’Donnell show that Texas Republican members of the legislature are now calling the provision allowing judges to turn over elections piece of the SB7 voting suppression bill “horrendous” and walking it back out of the bill claiming they don’t know how it got in there – at the last minute hoping no one would see it… When we see the actual bill we’ll be able to confirm it. What a victory for Texas voting rights! I have requested a meeting with my Texas Representative which will probably happen within this next week. There's still a lot to talk to him about! Maybe its just the Republicans being exposed, but I hope it is the start of a trend for Texas and then the other Red states. I know there is fighting going on within the Texas Republican party for control of the party. Perhaps this is the first sign the traditional Republicans are breaking through. Then, maybe I'm reading too much into this. We the People, All of Us this time.
As you lay is out, Heather, and I agree, "the steal" has been in progress for quite a while, and what better way to fuzz it over than claim the stolen from did the stealing.
What I don't see being said straight up in the news or on social media are other public places is the people claiming the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and other Republicans who lost, think but do not say blacks stole it. Why is that? Look at the Jan 6 capitol riot.
Look at the sea of white people swarming the national capitol. Look at the Confederate flag on top of the Capitol deck. Look at photos of MAGA rallies. Seas of white people. Look at the Charlottesville protests against removing Confederate monuments. A sea of white people, Confederate and Swastik flags.
Looks to me that Americans who do not like the South having risen again need to get very busy encouraging blacks and other non-white minorities and white Democrats and Independents about the South having risen again, and about how to vote in the future, and to vote regardless of how hard red states make it to vote.
Do not forget, ever, that during North Carolina elections in 2020, President Trump told his base to write in their vote, then go to the polls on election day and vote again, and their write in vote would not be counted.
Don't forget, ever, that not one Republican candidate reelected in 2020 claimed it was by voter fraud in his/her favor. All the voter fraud was done by the left, the right says. Not one dead Republican voted even once. Not one live Republican voted twice, or three times, even once. Republicans would never cheat to win elections. Only Democrats do that.
I'm not a Democrat, belong to no political party. I grew up in Alabama during the George Wallace years, when the Democratic Party was the white supremacist party in Alabama.
Trump doesn’t get enough credit for being a great teacher. He’s taught us two ugly, dangerous lessons. One is that, if a president is willing to, and his party controls the Senate, he can do whatever he damn well pleases. There are no guardrails, he can be as corrupt and autocratic as he chooses. Our vaunted “checks and balances” have proven to be mostly historical expectations and wishful thinking. Until Trump came along, presidents released their tax returns, presidents didn’t accept campaign help or bribes from foreign governments, presidents didn’t use the DOJ as their personal law office, presidents abided by the peaceful transfer of power. Then Trump showed us that there are no laws saying he has to do these things, so why should he?
Trump taught us that our vaunted “checks and balances” are mostly tissue paper. The only real check on a president is impeachment, overseen by the Senate. Nixon was forced to resign (by Republican congressmen), for crimes far less onerous than Trump’s. It didn’t even come to impeachment, Nixon resigned because he was likely to be impeached. Trump…well you know how his two impeachments turned out. The transitive law holds that, when Trump controls the GOP, and the GOP controls the Senate, Trump controls the Senate.
Trump’s Big Lie is teaching Republicans another lesson. Which is that our democracy is frail and flimsy, not all votes should count, and they don’t have to lose elections. We came closer than we ever would have expected to Trump declaring himself president in January, and staying in the White House for as long as he wants. He won’t miss next time. In 2024, after the votes are counted and the “real” votes are “certified”, Trump (or his clone) will be declared president, and that will be that. That’s what the Big Lie is really all about - Republicans preparing themselves to steal the next election.
Professor Trump taught us that democracy is for chumps. It’s a nice idea, but wouldn’t you rather have power? Trump showed Republicans how they can hold all the power, if they are bold enough, and just ignore precedent and expectations. The party of Trump may never give up power again.
The conclusion of a review of the Pew Research Center data:
"Thirty percent of Americans under 29 think Donald Trump was the worst president in American history. Sixty-five percent have an unfavorable view of the former president. Just 18 percent watch Fox News, the primary national vector for viral paranoia and disinformation, regularly. The Pew report is just a brutal document for Republicans. And it suggests that the light at the end of the tunnel, far from illuminating a path out of the wilderness for the GOP, is instead an oncoming, hostile generation poised to put Republicans at a decisive disadvantage in national elections for years."
From:
https://theweek.com/republicans/1002288/a-fresh-look-at-2020-electorate?utm_campaign=afternoon_newsletter_20210706&utm_source=afternoon_newsletter&utm_medium=email&refid=%7EREFERENCE_ID%7E
Morning, all!! Morning, Dr. R! Today (which happens to be July 7) I wish to celebrate a couple who are celebrating their 75th anniversary. In November of 1976, America turned its back on the "horrors" of Watergate and elected a peanut farmer from the State of Georgia. Many had written at the time that he was ineffectual, a weak president who did not accomplish much.
I recall a time at a gala held in Los Angeles. Many celebrities were in attendance, Hollywood types as well as the well-connected. There was the standard hum in the room that goes with every large gathering of people. But the room electrified the moment Jimmy Carter, the President of the United States, the leader of the free world, entered. You could not help but notice it, it was that vivid. I can still feel it to this day.
So, too, aboard Air Force One on January 6,1978, after a tour of seven countries, a tired First Lady, Rosalyn Carter, gave up her chair and sat at her husband's feet so that this stenographer could do her job of reporting the President's remarks at a press briefing.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/07/03/inseparable/
And fixing this whole disaster hinges on getting voting rights legislation passed.
I've been calling my Republican senators, and will keep calling them, especially on gerrymandering and dark money, and explaining that state's rights do not overpower our constitutional rights. It won't do any good, until it does.
Very thankful for Manchin's backup plan.
Our troops didn't give up on D-day, or under pressure from kamikaze pilots. So yeah, I can make phone calls. LOTS of phone calls.
SUBSCRIBERS, I believe that we are in the midst of a troll attack today.
Heather has provided us with an outline of where America is today; the steps towards autocracy taken by the Republican Party since the 1980's and historical contexts taking us back to the 1800's. It is a brilliant work by her that will nurture our understanding far beyond today and our activism going forward.
I was going to add a comment about figures such as the Nobel Prize–winning economist James M. Buchanan, 'The Architect of the Radical Right' (The Atlantic), the Koch Brothers and Rupert Murdoch as major forces contributing to the destruction of Democracy. I will not be submitting that comment today given our unwelcome visitors. It is too disquieting to be surrounded by them. I can only offer my sense of things and suggest that these characters are here to take us off track, smear democracy and occupy space in highly noxious ways. That is my impression, and I hope that the forum is less problematic today than I suspect.
Today I heard an interview with Nina Lakhani about the conviction of a Honduran corporate official for heading the conspiracy that murdered their most eminent environmentalist, Berta Caceres. Lakhani described the political environment of Honduras as a criminal state - not plutocratic, not authoritarian, which it may be, but as criminal.
This strikes me as an apt description of what Trump wants for the United States - a mechanism to deliver our wealth to HIM, and one that allows him to act with impunity. I would like to use that descriptor going forward, to separate the sheep from the co-conspirators.
Maybe, just maybe, if we get enough people to vote against them, we can get through this morass. Numbers matter, and we can't take for granted that we'll have enough. They'll have a harder time stealing elections if we have a huge turnout.
Call your local Dem headquarters tomorrow and volunteer. Organize your precinct, if it's not already. Ask what you can do to help.
Organize. Volunteer. Register new voters.
Now is the time to get to work.
The idea that legislatures can nullify the vote is horrific. Reprehensible. But believable from this group of people. I am actually amazed that they resisted at the time of the election, but now they’ve made it legal to do, so they will do it.
THAT will be a constitutional crisis.
Rupurt Murdoch's latest project is to establish FOX Weather channel this fall. Of course, that means misinformation and lies about the climate crisis. This kind of opposition to moving forward rapidly on the climate crisis could be devastating for the world. I think this may be the time for non-violent resistance. Boycott any corporation or entity who advertises on FOX any channel. Complain to the FCC every day until they lose their broadcast license (I know, remote possibility). Expose the politicians who are getting money from Murdoch and other dark money. Any other suggestions? Yes, I'm serious. DTs lies about COVID much of which came from FOX cost hundreds of thousands of lives. FOX tampering with climate change could mean millions of lives.
I have been posting some of Heather's letters to my Facebook page; today's letter was one of them. This is a personal message I attached so my "friends" can understand why I'm posting.
The writer, Heather Cox Richardson, is a professor of American history at Boston College, where she teaches courses on the American Civil War, the Reconstruction Era, the American West, and the Plains Indians. She has a great knack of understanding events in the country's past and connecting them to today's political events. I received a degree in history in college and was a reporter for a decade in the1980s. Regardless what I covered, the premise and necessity of delivering unbiased facts to the public was drilled into me and other journalists ad infinitum. And there were editors ready to correct bias in reporters' stories if it occurred. That is why I like Ms. Richardson's daily columns. I have been reading them since last year and have not detected outward bias even once. That is not what she does. Ms. Richardson presents historical and current-day events side-by-side and allows you, the reader, to make your own conclusions. I don't think enough people in this country form opinions based on facts; most rely on biased media reports and propaganda espoused on the Internet, television, radio, podcasts, etc., whether these reports come from so-called right- or left-wing outlets. Ms. Richardson's columns are a way for you to gain a better understanding of the evolution behind some of the political goings-on occurring today. That is why I post them. If you are interested in reading them free of charge, just do an Internet search for "Letters From an American."
Someone posited on Twitter last night "Why wasn't Trump rushed into a secure location on Jan 6th? Maybe because he was directing the insurrection?"
This making a deal with an authoritarian style of government suggests the depths of insecurity among Americans who refuse to accept diversity. They are so frightened of changes in their world that they would give up democracy in order to feel safe.
https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000007606996/capitol-riot-trump-supporters.html?smid=em-share
HCRs Letter tonight is a cliff hanger. Hope we don't have to wait too long for the sequel where the heros win the day -- and democracy.
One bit of good news tonight that does give me a wee bit of hope: Just heard on the Lawrence O’Donnell show that Texas Republican members of the legislature are now calling the provision allowing judges to turn over elections piece of the SB7 voting suppression bill “horrendous” and walking it back out of the bill claiming they don’t know how it got in there – at the last minute hoping no one would see it… When we see the actual bill we’ll be able to confirm it. What a victory for Texas voting rights! I have requested a meeting with my Texas Representative which will probably happen within this next week. There's still a lot to talk to him about! Maybe its just the Republicans being exposed, but I hope it is the start of a trend for Texas and then the other Red states. I know there is fighting going on within the Texas Republican party for control of the party. Perhaps this is the first sign the traditional Republicans are breaking through. Then, maybe I'm reading too much into this. We the People, All of Us this time.
40 minutes of NYT Film of January 6th truth for fascist deniers.
As you lay is out, Heather, and I agree, "the steal" has been in progress for quite a while, and what better way to fuzz it over than claim the stolen from did the stealing.
What I don't see being said straight up in the news or on social media are other public places is the people claiming the 2020 election was stolen from Trump, and other Republicans who lost, think but do not say blacks stole it. Why is that? Look at the Jan 6 capitol riot.
Look at the sea of white people swarming the national capitol. Look at the Confederate flag on top of the Capitol deck. Look at photos of MAGA rallies. Seas of white people. Look at the Charlottesville protests against removing Confederate monuments. A sea of white people, Confederate and Swastik flags.
Looks to me that Americans who do not like the South having risen again need to get very busy encouraging blacks and other non-white minorities and white Democrats and Independents about the South having risen again, and about how to vote in the future, and to vote regardless of how hard red states make it to vote.
Do not forget, ever, that during North Carolina elections in 2020, President Trump told his base to write in their vote, then go to the polls on election day and vote again, and their write in vote would not be counted.
Don't forget, ever, that not one Republican candidate reelected in 2020 claimed it was by voter fraud in his/her favor. All the voter fraud was done by the left, the right says. Not one dead Republican voted even once. Not one live Republican voted twice, or three times, even once. Republicans would never cheat to win elections. Only Democrats do that.
I'm not a Democrat, belong to no political party. I grew up in Alabama during the George Wallace years, when the Democratic Party was the white supremacist party in Alabama.
Trump doesn’t get enough credit for being a great teacher. He’s taught us two ugly, dangerous lessons. One is that, if a president is willing to, and his party controls the Senate, he can do whatever he damn well pleases. There are no guardrails, he can be as corrupt and autocratic as he chooses. Our vaunted “checks and balances” have proven to be mostly historical expectations and wishful thinking. Until Trump came along, presidents released their tax returns, presidents didn’t accept campaign help or bribes from foreign governments, presidents didn’t use the DOJ as their personal law office, presidents abided by the peaceful transfer of power. Then Trump showed us that there are no laws saying he has to do these things, so why should he?
Trump taught us that our vaunted “checks and balances” are mostly tissue paper. The only real check on a president is impeachment, overseen by the Senate. Nixon was forced to resign (by Republican congressmen), for crimes far less onerous than Trump’s. It didn’t even come to impeachment, Nixon resigned because he was likely to be impeached. Trump…well you know how his two impeachments turned out. The transitive law holds that, when Trump controls the GOP, and the GOP controls the Senate, Trump controls the Senate.
Trump’s Big Lie is teaching Republicans another lesson. Which is that our democracy is frail and flimsy, not all votes should count, and they don’t have to lose elections. We came closer than we ever would have expected to Trump declaring himself president in January, and staying in the White House for as long as he wants. He won’t miss next time. In 2024, after the votes are counted and the “real” votes are “certified”, Trump (or his clone) will be declared president, and that will be that. That’s what the Big Lie is really all about - Republicans preparing themselves to steal the next election.
Professor Trump taught us that democracy is for chumps. It’s a nice idea, but wouldn’t you rather have power? Trump showed Republicans how they can hold all the power, if they are bold enough, and just ignore precedent and expectations. The party of Trump may never give up power again.