As expected, this morning the House Republicans removed Wyoming Representative Liz Cheney from her position as conference chair after she refused to stop speaking out against the former president for instigating the January 6 attack on our Capitol and the counting of electoral votes for President Joe Biden.
McCarthy, McConnell and all the Trumpublicans are batshit crazy. I’m done being polite about it. They should be paying the $30 million damage bill and the hospital expenses plus wages lost for all injured Capitol Police.
Batshit crazy. I just spent an hour listening to a christian trump supporter explain how the end of the world is coming, and his proof for it. There were three eclipses a few years ago and that is tied to Israel; something about an eagle's wings that I was unable to understand; trump changing the capitol of Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem; the pope is going to go to a synagogue in Jerusalem and claim he's god, meaning that the pope is the antichrist; an asteroid is going to fall into the Pacific Ocean in 2029 and poison 1/3 of the ocean water, leading to the deaths of most Earth's inhabitants; the US is going to join the league of nations and that will signal the end of the earth (I mentioned NATO - he didn't seem to know what NATO was) . . . . . and so forth. These are the people who elected trump. I felt as if I were talking to someone from the Dark Ages.
I was raised in these beliefs. In my case they were taught in a Pentecostal church which I had to attend five times each week - plus revivals and special services - until I was able to legally leave home. The rules were extremely strict and hate and fear based.
I believe that each person can believe whatever they want but only as long as you don’t cause harm to others or try to force others to live by your beliefs.
Unfortunately, what you described as batshit crazy - and it is - is not only fervently believed but hoped for (to bring about the End Times which will bring about The Rapture where all true believers will be whisked off to heaven while the rest of us suffer for a thousand years and so on) and even scarier, planned for by more than a few people with power. Think Pence & Pompeo.
It is easy to roll our eyes at these beliefs but when people with the authority to start a nuclear war are influenced by such a cult it cannot be dismissed. Even though they are no longer in charge they haven’t gone away or given up. No mob can be organized faster than one based on religious fervor. Combine that with those who crave power and it is a dangerous mix.
The Dominionists intend to establish the Kingdom on Earth so Jesus will return. That means destroying all those who are not true believers. They would see nuclear destruction of Europe, China, India, Russia as positive
In spring of 2020 I received a handwritten letter from a woman from a local church who praised the appearance of Covid for it meant the beginning of the End Times. She waxed on about how all Covid deaths would be on nonbelievers and would make Jesus happy. It was astonishingly hateful and happy at the same time.
I remember visiting relatives in Idaho, and going to a church service there. One of the men had advanced (untreated) skin cancer that had destroyed his face. They were faith-healers, and for them, going to doctors was a sin, punishable by hellfire. So this gentleman was the subject of earnest prayer, that he might be "delivered from his affliction." He was celebrated for the strength of his faith, that he had not sought medical treatment. And in the end, when he died of the disease -- as I'm sure he did -- his failure to attain a full recovery would have been attributed to "insufficient faith."
I wish we had an idea how many of us are this far gone and this was a bigger focus in our news. Maybe a few good movies of this indoctrination would help folks see their own crazy?
They would see it as nonbelievers propaganda against them which only strengthens their belief. Instead of thinking “Hmm, maybe I should consider this other view”, it is “Ha! You’re against me so I know I’m right!”
It is extremely hard to change the minds of people who are enmeshed in religious beliefs who surround themselves by like-minded people. Look at Trump rallies. Egads. They actually tend to get worse while surrounded by other Trumplicans.
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Gen 1:28KJV
What made you question these beliefs? Was there an event, something you learned in school, or just plain logic, that encouraged you to evaluate these teachings and turn away from them?
I think questioning everything was part of my personality from the beginning. Add to that - growing up immersed in hatred (the beliefs taught at church & home) and pain (home was a violent environment) was difficult to stomach - literally and figuratively. I had stomachaches and headaches from all the hate. I rebelled every time I was told something was absolute and written in stone and I was wrong, blasphemous and a willful, horrible child if I asked why. I found it all too much to hold. As I grew up I began to see the holes in the plot lines, if you will. I wish I could say that there were specific people who showed me a different way to be or who planted the seeds of questioning but there wasn’t. I did have a few individuals in my childhood who were very kind to me and that mattered beyond measure but they did not impart any specific lessons on looking beyond what I was taught.
Without telling anyone until a week before I left for basic training I joined the military a few months prior to high school graduation and left three weeks after. Getting out of the evangelical/white supremacy bubble was everything. Being around other people who held a variety of beliefs, living life without the constant impending doom of the End Times, starting college at night, testing myself - all of that gave me the room to learn, explore and make up my own mind.
Thank you for telling us your story. I can't think of an adjective to descrbe the horror and pain and eroding hate you endured in your young life. And thank you for finding a (secret) way out of it. I am stunned. I am not naive. I joined a pentocostal movement in college for a year, but tired of what seemed like nonsense to me. To think of what it became, and how it could undermine our democracy, even potentially eliminate our world, and all the suffering you endured (inn the Name of Christ) - I think it is a story that needs to be told to a much larger audience. Terrible and riveting, and so incredibly sad. Americans need to hear it. Write it. Thanks.
Thank you for sharing. Your childhood sounds very stressful and repressive, and quite frightening. You had quite a bit of personal strength to question and to leave the world without giving much notice. You must be a strong person.
It's ironic that Christianity is supposed to be about a god of love, which to me means nurturing and helping children become who they are meant to be; and, instead, this cult created an oppressive hate and fear-filled environment. The best way to control others is through fear, and evidently the leaders used this method.
Hi Diana. I appreciate your kind words - my childhood was all of those things. I have had to be strong at times but I think it was/is mostly stubbornness :) One of my grandfathers used to tell me “you could give lessons in stubbornness to a mule”. (Sometimes he meant it as compliment - sometimes not.)
In college I took courses in rhetoric, brainwashing. psychology and various religions to help me understand what I went through. It was sad to realize the level of fear that some religions and power seeking individuals use to control and manipulate people - especially so with religion given that, as you pointed out, it is supposed to be about love, service & support. It’s good there are religions and ways of thought that do not resort to such awful tactics.
I once encountered a woman "preaching" End Times doctrine at a street corner bus stop in Spokane to speak to her teenaged daughter - dragged along to witness, learn, support? I immediately flashed to my own childhood and youth with my evangelical, charismatic (not in the charming sense, but in the speaking-in-tongues sense) mother, being taken to a Jesus freak march (I don't think she understood that some of our fellow marchers were high on something besides Jesus) in the middle of the Vietnam anti-war protest era. That teenaged girl reminded me of myself, so I approached her, ignoring her mother, and told her that she didn't have to stick with those beliefs - that I'd survived and had a fuller life since leaving that craziness behind. I've often wondered if that shell-shocked looking young woman ever got out.
Unlike Kasumii, I was fortunate enough to have parents who were strict, but very loving. They didn't like the way I turned away from the church, but they'd always told me I needed to think for myself. That one backfired on them and I think they may have regretted encouraging me to use my brain so much!
Thank you for speaking up to that young woman and leaving that seed of hope and curiosity. That took courage and compassion. I imagine that she has never forgotten that you did that.
just remember it says right there in the bible that if anyone tries to tell you that they know the day and hour of the coming of Jesus they are indeed batshit crazy because no man knows the "hour of my coming"
They ignore ALOT of parts, yet, fervently believe and quote alot of other parts. Religion is belief/faith, don't even bother talking sense about it. Politics is supposed to be fact based, but there are entertainment channels falsely labeled as news....and the lies upon lies upon lies got us to where we are today. Who will write our history? Thank you Heather, for the umpteenth time, for citing and documenting truths as we cut through the "bald face lies" of today.
Like their fearless leader, they are very good at throwing out red herrings rather than sticking to the topic. I think it’s called “what about ism.” They need to argue and feel superior. You cannot reason with them.
They all exhibit symptoms of slight ABI (acquired brain injury). Not enough to be full blown ABI but enough to interfere with normal thought processes.
I would like to compare dMRIs (diffusion MRIs) imaging of the brains of these religious trump supporters to the fact-based population to see if there is a difference. dMRIs are used to find blockage/damage to the brain by measuring pathways of activity. It's frequently used to evaluate TBI.
More idiotic right-ranting, displaying the speaker's rank ignorance. 1/45 had no power to move the Israeli capital; he did recognize Israel's doing so. And it's very hard to join the League of Nations since it hasn't existed since WW2. These folks need to update their script from the 1930s.
Yes - I wanted to leave the conversation, but at the same time, here was a trump supporter who was actually willing to tell me what he thought, so I listened. He listens to evangelists on Sundays, one sermon after another.
I didn't interject much because I wanted to hear what he had to say. He does some gardening work for me (excellent gardener), so I may have to listen to this again sometime (oh no!!), and I may say a couple things. I was astounded at his lack of knowledge of history. I did suggest he read some history books . . . .
The surest way to deal with the gaslighting is to starve/suffocate it, and carry on with the business of governance— including building airtight legal cases against the perpetrators while our laws are still in place, so they can be dealt with swiftly, decisively, and permanently— and leave them to all rot away without any personal attention whatsoever, while we work to rebuild our democracy so that it’s stronger than it was before, by including all the voices they wished to silence.. Anything that addresses them directly will only give them the attention they crave and invite them to engage in more of the same wretched behavior. I thought this kind of shit was horrible on a personal scale—but at a national level, it’s absolutely reprehensible. I’m not religious, but I pray we have it in us to weather this crazy storm until it finally passes.
And as always, dear Professor Richardson, thank you for your clear-eyed and steady distillation of events for the historical record. Between your words and those of the members of this community that has formed around you, I can still feel my feet on the ground.
Unfortunately, our media does not adhere to these guidelines and we are subjected daily to the gaslighting, hatefulness and gleeful lying. Also unfortunately, our courts do not work swiftly.
We are mired in this sludge and it negatively affects us even when we do our best to keep it at arms length. I should say - it negatively affects me. I do my best to keep it at a safe distance but after being raised in constantly gaslit environments (church/cult & a white supremacist home) I find it very difficult to escape the horror and dismay it all causes. To put up a protective shell I would have to disengage completely from society and I can’t do that. I can’t in good conscience not do what I can to work against such corruption, lying and gaslighting.
I so wish our media would adhere to actual journalism and not sensationalism. I wish our courts worked for justice and not the corrupt. Maybe in time and with those of us opposed to such corruption and gaslighting working against it - as you eloquently described - things will change for the better.
I think you're right, but journalism is up against it financially and they know that sensationalism pays the bills. It's a sad state of affairs, for sure.
I was having such a good time not hearing as much from Trump. Without Twitter or FB, the media has a harder time finding the incendiary rhetoric he trades in. I think not giving airtime or ink could ease the reactionary giant amoeba that is Trump's base. Whatever looney stuff he posts, they react as if it's gospel. I mean, if they don't hear him quoted on every news outlet EVERY DAY, they may go into some sort of social/political remission. Only problem is the little thing called freedom of speech. Dang it.
He/they are free to say whatever they will. The rest of us are likewise free to not repeat, engage with, or even listen to it. That’s the most effective tool we have for neutralizing this nonsense, and giving ourselves some blessed peace and quiet.
"Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA) said that calling the attack on the Capitol an insurrection is a “bald-faced lie” and that “if you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit….""
These ... people.... astounding with their gaslighting. I watched the replay of Clyde's comments that Jan. 6th was not an insurrection in disbelief... words fail me.
We must do our best to counter the lies, the BIG LIE and many smaller ones, because we can't let the liars take over our country and destroy our democracy.
Have you seen the CNN's Don Lemon w/the newly released body cam footage of Officer Fanone this week? Scary. It does include footage of his fellow officers trying to help him once he was back in the Capitol. As far as the Republicans' claims that no one was hurt in the Insurrection-he was unconscious due to tasing, he had a heart attack and now has PTSD. I wouldn't be surprised if more of the Capitol Police have PTSD. Will they be able to get the needed psychiatric care?
tired-er. I’m no longer willing or able to read all the minutiae of the daily political scrambles which in a different era of my life fascinated me. I thank you with whole hearted joyous compassion for your also older and wiser being, that continues to listen, read and no doubt engage a group of friends and students and academics to clarify and often simplify the day’s outpouring of political verbiage. And game playing.
I again feel hopeful. Democracy may still be a viable, humane form of government.
My personal experience of ‘a living democracy’ is in my Alcoholics Anonymous affiliation of over 36 years. Everything is accomplished throughout the international and down to the smallest local groups by consensus. Talk, more talk, especially inviting dissenting opinions, study groups and time to contemplate and return to have a final vote. It’s always amazing to be on board for final votes that have been contentious. Inevitably after everyone is heard we go away feeling connected to each other even when we’ve heard opinions that were not easy to listen to. The group consensus keeps us safe in our clean & sober world wide community. Amazing. And uplifting. And really working in the best interest of keeping sobriety available to anyone wishing to make a healthy change in their lives.
I pray our current living United States’ democracy will weather the storms and grow stronger for the effort from all of us.
Sometimes it’s so difficult to listen to all those who lie, cheat and steal their way to power, all the while covering their actions with “poor me” and “we’re the ones being discriminated against!” Ugh.
It’s refreshing to watch parodies like the ones Randy Rainbow 🌈 produces. We all need to laugh to release the frustration...I apologize for any offensive language Randy infuses in his creative songs.
If you need some giggles, here’s Randy Rainbow’s latest.
I saw this latest RR the other day, Kari. He does with video the same as Alexandra Petri (WaPo) does with the printed word. Both are excellent purveyors of today's news presented in satire. Thanks for posting!
❤️“They’re so slimy they make my skin crawl.”❤️I haven’t checked him out in a while. Though I find I am now unable to laugh, it did make me feel better that someone else sees the craziness for what it is. If I were a repub believer in their ever changing lies, I would feel like I’m standing at the net at Wimbleton with a very sore neck and a bad headache.
Michael Moore said satire was the one thing that would destroy Trump's gossamer sense of self; hopefully it is also the antidote to the Poison Lie Potion ingested by Republicans. RR is doing his bit magnificently!!!
Good morning everyone! I think this is such an interesting letter. When I heard that McCarthy had decided on a "voice" vote--which is always suspicious--I knew it was because he wanted to guarantee that there would be no reproducible record, because y'know, deniability is his watchword. The letter from over 100 Republican officials stating that they were determined to form a third party should have scared the Kevster and Malignant Mitch but apparently they think they can corral all the money despite this break, and that all of their corporate sponsors--and the Koch and Walton families--will fall into line again.
The issue exercising me this morning is the trend--including Missouri's appalling governor, Mike Parson--for Ghastly Old Pols to cancel the supplemental unemployment payments for the most vulnerable people in their states--usually BIPOC and (I suspect they have forgotten this point in their desire to damage communities of color) the rural poor on the basis that, as the utterly ignorant freshman senator from Kansas, Roger Marshall, said this morning without any evidence whatsoever, enhanced unemployment benefits are encouraging people not to look for work. This rhetoric by the Repugnicans is statistically false, and could be countered as soon as these privileged white men and women parrot it. But the return of the Reagan propaganda about people on public assistance is apparently unassailable except on NPR, where few Ghastly Ones agree to be interviewed because the reporters instantly refute their baseless claims.
My mayor just spent two days in DC trying to lobby the Repugnicans he is forced to work with in order to impress upon them how the Biden infrastructure bill will bring jobs, jobs, jobs to western Missouri and eastern Kansas. They were perfectly happy to have their photo ops with a charismatic Black mayor but then immediately turned around and returned to their idiocies and lies. Meanwhile, Mayor Lucas was posting on Twitter and FB the following: If employers are having trouble hiring people because their unemployment benefits pay them more than the job, the employers need to raise the wages they are paying for the job. True 'dat.
“ If employers are having trouble hiring people because their unemployment benefits pay them more than the job, the employers need to raise the wages they are paying for the job. True 'dat.”.
Yes! And... if they can’t afford to pay their employees a living wage, they need to rethink their business model, reevaluate monetary distribution within the company, or examine their own moral compass. Or maybe all of the above.
And we need to bear in mind always that there are very few reputable economists who believe the lie that higher unemployment benefits are a major driver of the low return of workers. The lack of childcare, uncertainty about school re-openings, and fear of exposure to Covid in the workplace are all more salient factors. One stat that should drive this point home is the fact that recent job gains ALL went to men. Because in our misogynist society women are assumed to be responsible for childcare and schooling, and because they are grossly over-represented among those who work jobs that have not yet come back, they are re-entering the job market is much lower numbers. That has nothing to do with expanded unemployment benefits. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/about-275-000-women-left-workforce-january-critical-pandemic-trend-n1256942
Many hospitality and restaurant workers transitioned to working in other industries. Finding the pay and benefits superior, they aren’t returning to their old jobs in the service industry. Wages must go up and if that means higher prices, so be it.
Many restaurants pay a paltry wage, sometimes less than $5.00 and have their servers count on tips to bring them up to even the minimum wage. This is unconscionable. No wonder they left for other jobs.
Add to that the number of people who changed career fields in the face of what working in the immediate aftermath of pandemic quarantine might give them...
Men have gone back to work. Women are finding that much more difficult as there are both child care/home school issues to deal with. You are spot on that many of the jobs yet to come back are for women as well.
I know, right? I don't think they realize how patently absurd it is to think $1200 a month leaves someone in such a luxurious position that they don't have to work. $300 a week is $7.50 an hour if you're full time. If you can't compete with that, shame on you.
As I fellow Missourian, I too sympathize—it’s the “you can’t make this stuff up” craziness in Jefferson City that wakes me up in the middle of the night 😱
Also a bit hard to re-hire dead workers. The hospitality and restaurant industries I believe had and continue to have some of the highest mortality rate for COVID-19
Republicans are hoping a majority of Americans are as exceptionally ignorant and moron stupid as I generally think half of them usually are. I hope I am proven wrong, but as of last count, we only outnumber the morons by 8 million in a population of 330 million.
But with luck, their shit-eating grins as they say "Nobody here but us chickens, boss!" may remind people that the surest way to tell if a Republican office holder is lying is to look and see if his lips are moving.
The extremism of the rethuglicans is causing just enough of them to stay away from the polls that we won two seats in GA. We must not rest on our laurels but there is hope. Let’s root the bastidges out in 2022 and 2024. Then we can devolve into bickering over what the appropriate liberal agenda is.
Listening to the gas lighting yesterday, I was struck by the coincidence that the illiteracy rate in this country has hovered at about 21% of the population (that includes functionally (4th grade) illiterate). It’s interested that the Republican “base” is estimated to be about 23% of the population. Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the numbers!
When people in power are constantly lying to your face, telling you what you see and hear is not what happened there is no answer back. You can tell them they are wrong till you are blue in the face but they hold steady with their lies. It is like being in a bad nightmare with no hope of waking up. I just don't understand how we fight this kind of psychological brain washing. They have honed their talking points to such quick responses that all their followers can spout at notice.
“Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA) said that calling the attack on the Capitol an insurrection is a ‘bald-faced lie’ and that ‘if you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit….’ “
It’s beyond comprehension and credibility that a U.S. congressman could say such a thing. Normal tourist visit? That’s tragically funny. Was it a normal tourist visit when Buffalo-Man trashed Pelosi’s office, then sat in her chair and propped his legs up on her desk? Or when people were killed on both sides? If that’s the new normal for tourism, Washington can count on a radical drop in their tourist business.
Right. I still keep thinking, "How could there be a U.S. congressman who believes this, and whose view represents the view of many millions of Americans. How could that be? Woe is us. We're in big trouble now.
Don Lemon was overcome with emotion after the first showing of this body cam footage. He has given Fanone a voice on his show and proclaims repeatedly that Fanone is a true hero and PATRIOT. I watched it last night for the first time. I wept. I felt the white hot anger from the crazed people that got their hands on Fanone. Without his pleas affecting a few to help him, they would have shot and killed him...with his own gun. One could feel it through the video. It was yet again another lynching, but in a different time, method, and victim.....but perpetrated by the same hate and total loss of reason.
This is part of Trump’s base. It perplexes me why those that are not like these zealots remain in that base. Can it possibly be they secretly approve of the treatment of that police officer???? If so, we are at civil war.
Depending on how many people approve of the way that officer was treated, we could be in for a civil war. It's really hard to imagine that the U.S. could have another civil war, but it's also obvious that "battle lines are being drawn." The insurrectionists need to brought to trial soon; the longer the U.S. waits, the more time passes, the more confidence the thugs feel, and the more time they have to plan another "normal tourist visit."
This is the clip that bears repeating everywhere (“Lincoln Project”?!?! ) w clips of every lying denial he and other repugs have made since. The traitors that week within the party must be brought to justice.
The ultimate lie in that piece was his final 2 sentences: "It simply shows that Senators did what the former President failed to do. We put our Constitutional duty first." Yeah-you Republicans didn't try to stop the counting of the electoral ballots, right?
So, as expected, Liz Cheney was voted out of her leadership position in the House. She had said what needed saying and - to her credit - didn't give an inch to her delusional GOP colleagues.
So, that card having been played, what comes next? It seems safe to say that we should not hold our breaths waiting for the GOP to change course or collapse or even see the error they are committing. No, they have decided to double down on the Big Lie, in part because they know there is no going back, but largely - I fear - because most of them actually believe it. They are caught up in mass hysteria and out of control, having accepted their Faustian deal. Uh huh, Donald J. Mephistopheles now controls a large horde of political demons and he intends to unleash them on the rest of us at every opportunity.
Hearing from HCR that "President Biden is refusing to get sucked into the Republican drama" does not reassure me in the least, nor do his polite consultations with his old buddy McConnell. Yes, of course the President is trying to get his important bills passed, and yes, the Attorney General is hard at work trying to bring White supremacists to justice, and all this will convince Americans to vote for Democrats in 2022 - well, so we hope - but when you have nearly half the electorate either believing the Big Lie wholeheartedly or even entertaining the outside chance that it isn't really a lie, the situation is gravely, seriously, imminently dangerous for our democracy and even our lives. Joe Biden is a man of many talents, but there is not a chance in hell that he will be able to change the tenor of our national "conversation" anytime soon.
I'm about ready for President to come down into the street - into the gutter if he has to - and start fighting. This goes for the rest of our Paladins in Congress, including Schumer and Pelosi. et al.
Not Joe's style, though. We knew what we were getting with Biden. He is being far more progressive than we had any right to expect, but otherwise is pretty much to form. Plus, of course, he has been dealt a lousy hand--filibuster, Manchin, Sinema, etc. Negotiating with Rs is, of course, window dressing, since they have no intention of doing so in good faith. Seems to me he has to give it the old college try, though. Optics matter.
Joe is Joe. I don't hold out much hope that he will change his tune. Also, as I say above, he was dealt a dirty hand. Because of the filibuster, we simply have to treat the Senate as if we are in the minority. Under those conditions, Biden is doing what he needs to do, I think. Maybe become a bit more vocal about the insurrectionists, perhaps, but his play is to focus on governing and leave the insurrection up to the DOJ. Hard to know what the right thing is to do.
None of those Republican lawmakers believe The Big Lie. Their job is to sell their voters their support of The Big Lie as a salve to the sore-loser voters. Supporting The Big Lie is both a waste of time AND very dangerous. It’s a waste of time, because without analyzing the 2020 losses, Republicans won’t be able to carry their message in 2022. It’s dangerous because Republicans have no interest in selling their brand, but instead, they push the cheating rhetoric to disenfranchise voters and stay in power without representation.
Jane Dough is a great moniker, even if it is your real name. As to what GOP lawmakers really believe.... Of course some GOP lawmakers are surely willing to lie about The Big Lie so as to achieve objectives to which they will not yet admit. At least I assume so based on my imperfect understanding of human nature. However, what people really think and/or believe is known only to them. Our real thoughts are our last remaining secrets, try as Facebook, Google, etc. do to pry them out of us. Of course actions speak louder than words, but I have not seen any actions that would contradict my suspicion that many GOP pols are, in fact, true believers in the church of Trump. They have even burned one of their own (poor Liz Cheney) at the stake, and a new Inquisition may be waiting in the wings. And this is only the beginning....
Why is Biden even talking to Republicans? I cannot understand this fixation with compromise. If you are elected to govern, then govern. If you are the (dis)loyal opposition, then oppose. It is how government works.
Because, first, he promised he would attempt compromise. Two, all Manchin talks about is “bi-partisanship,” so to being him along Biden must attempt it. Three, it makes it easier to move toward modification of the filibuster rule to have tried. That’s why.
It seems to me that if there were some way to bring Manchin along, he would have been brought along already. Reconciliation is the only way - for now - the Democrats can pass any legislation, and that maneuver can only be used a few times and only for things that can be reasonably construed as "budget" matters (as I understand it), and even then it requires all 50 DEM Senators' votes plus the VP. or an adequate number of GOP votes to compensate for undisciplined Dems.
Most legislation - including the essential/existential "For the People Act" - can only be passed if 60 Senators (must include at least 10 GOP Senators) vote "yes" (never gonna happen) or if the filibuster is modified, suspended or eliminated (not gonna happen unless Manchin and Sinema make it happen).
The simple vote-counting math is inescapable, and you can be sure Mitch McConnell knows how to count votes.
I am still waiting for some coherent explanation of how the Dems can get past the filibuster barrier with any legislation that is worth the effort. Compromise either involves give and take, or one side gets fleeced.
I think this is precisely correct. Though I applaud Biden and his team for continuing to try, since the Rs only goal (baldly stated by McConnell) is to obstruct Biden until they can get to the 2022 midterms, there is zero chance for meaningful legislation until at least then. Might Manchin and Sinema be brought around in a 12th Hour reveal? You know, "we TRIED to do it the bipartisan way but the other side wouldn't budge" type of thing? If I were writing the movie script, that's what would happen. But I doubt it will happen in real life.
What if two or more republican senators (Hawley and Johnson come to mind) are arrested for insurrection? Are they removed from Congress while pending trial? Does Congress continue on given the vacancies? Would this create an opening for majority vote? Just thinking outside the box.
Indictments and arrests are separate from decisions about the status of individual Congresspeople. They must be made by the House or Senate.
The classic case is the House expelling Preston Brooks in 1856 for beating Charles Sumner half to death. Brooks was promptly reelected by his constituents. (He died within a year, ensuring his status as a nasty footnote in American history.) NB, his home district of Edgefield SC was the most violent county in the entire country.
D Donald, Charles Sumner & the Coming of the Civil War
J Freeman, The Field of Blood
S Puleo, The Caning
PS, I often leave a modest offering at the Sumner statue in Harvard Square when passing by. It's literally putting in my two cents worth.
Great questions! I'm sure there are a few poli-sci and history profs reading these comments who are able to give better answers than I can. Google is often useful for the quick and general....
I did a little google search to find out that the state governor replaces a senator until a special election is called. Although there may be differences in each state. The governor of Missouri is a republican. The governor of Wisconsin is a democrat. Wonder if a governor is required to replace with like party?
It seems to me that on this point you really either don't understand how things work, or haven't been keeping up with current affairs. You *cannot* ignore either Manchin or Sinema, unless you want to live with a 48-member minority in the Senate. Please, I hate having to educate people I consider otherwise intelligent.
TC, I always find your comments interesting and I often agree with your take on things (as I understand it). Unfortunately, when the late evening rolls around here in Italy, I begin to lose the thread and am not sure who is responding to whose comments. Jeanne Doyle says she's sorry if that was her you're educating and admits to asking a stupid question, but it occurred to me that I'm the one you think needs educating, given that your 2-hr. old comment is directly under my 7-hr. old comment. In any case, it's no big deal as I'm sure I still need lots of educating if anyone wants to give it a try.
Sorry if that was me you’re educating. I don’t ignore those two but I think I did ask a stupid question. Sometimes I ask questions here instead of looking them up because if I look them up online and try to come back to the same spot on substack, I’m completely lost. Then I give up because I need to sleep.
Maybe you should be using a laptop - with Chrome (on my MacBook Pro) I can open a web page - and it sits there, while I open another - so it's easy to flip between items without losing your place. I don't know how many pages I can have "on standby" - seems a lot. Some pages refresh (if you have to) and take you to the part you left, some just start at the top again..
I don't believe that the president has the power to change Congressional rules through direct action. Presidents must work through and persuade members of each chamber.
Sounds good, but what sort of grinding are you referring to? A little corruption might change a few key votes, but I'm pretty sure that is not what you had in mind.
Biden is fully aware of what dangers our nation faces from both domestic and foreign forces. He’s attempting to manage an exquisitely difficult balancing act. I trust him more each day. And still, the ultimate outcome is unknowable.
I disagree. He’s taking the high road and doing what he said he would do. Remember he’s been around the block and he’s a crafty guy. I think he knows EXACTLY what he’s doing. That said, both parties are supposed to work together, or attempt to anyway. It’s called democracy. If we don’t do that we are just like them and then I am no longer a Democrat
I'm sorry, Elaine. The Republicans have announced they will not participate in bi-partisanship....at all. Even after the meeting with President Biden yesterday, McCarthy said that Biden was pushing a radical socialist agenda and started a fundraising tweet. And Joe Manchin continues to say bi-partisanship is possible. You can close your eyes all you want, but the reality is that there is no bi-partisanship to have.
I’m not sure where I said that the republicans were going to comply. Nevertheless making the effort is what democracy is about and it’s a very noble thing. I applaud him for making the effort.
I agree with Elaine. I am a school counselor in an elementary school and I have seen group think in action. I have also seen courageous and socially wise leaders persuade some from the group to recognize their power as an independent thinker. We might not get Manchin to vote for HR 1, but we might get Romney and the lady from Alaska and then, Voila! No more voter suppression. I am proud of Joe for giving any of them a chance to speak up. Plus, by trying to compromise, any failure is the fault of the Republicans after that in the eyes of the world.
It's called "politics," in case you slept through Civics. He's educating both the Senate and the general public.
He has to convince more than two of the Democratic Senators to proceed, and that takes either getting a bit of what he wants in a bipartisan way and then doing the rest in reconciliation (as he explained last night in his interview with Lawrence O'Donnell) or he proves the Republicans are not people who want to make things work.
For the public, he educates them to the fact the Republicans are mostly not serious ab out being a governing party.
Just because *you* know Republicans can't be worked with doesn't mean 50% of the people you know *don't* know that.
It wasn't called civics in Canada. Ignoring Manchin and Sinema will result in the Dems with a minority Senate? That is what you have now. Good luck. In four years Canada next to USA will be like Ukraine next to Russia.
Me thinks Mr Biden is right on track with staying out of the internecine battle. Nothing to be gained by expressing an opinion or taking on the battles that really have to playout in the GOP. His handbump with Cheney at his address to Congress was appropriate as a statement. Mr Biden's policies are what matters. Me thinks that were he to take up this cause doing so would do damage, giving Republicans a common enemy for daring to give comfort to their common enemies, Anti-Trump RHINOS. One thing I hope others, especially Linoln Project Republicans, take away is that just voting against Trump wasn't enough. Down the ticket problems abound among their party members who allign with the malignancy that it was convient to assign strictly to Trump. Seems the Congress is awash with a current crop who will sign any pledge against democracy to keep their seats of power.
Liz Cheney's courage and firmness in telling truth to power is heartening. Even if I don't agree with her very conservative positions, I respect what she is doing so much that I made a donation to her Wyoming campaign for re-election. I'd encourage others - independents and party affiliated alike - to do the same. Thursday, March 13, over 100 influential Republicans including former high level elected officials will declare they will form a third party if the Republicans do not pull away from DT. This is encouraging news for democracy and gives me hope. For Liz Cheney to be a leader of the anti-DT movement she needs supporters and followers. The 100 will be a great start. I hope it starts a flood of followers and creates a strong movement toward democracy.
While I have respect for what Rep. Cheney did to protect Democracy, I will still probably spend the rest of my life disagreeing with her. With her high percentage of votes for Trumpism, she is not going to be singing kumbiyah with Democrats. Rep. Cheney has nut changed, she is going to keep doing what she has been doing, taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Just don’t forget the story about the scorpion and the frog.
The story of the scorpion and the frog is apropos valid in this situation. We have scorpions ... and frogs.. here in Texas. What we need then is a few of my Papillon dogs who have the instinct to safely bite the scorpion at the base of the tail disarming it. Almost very scorpion I find in my house has a useless tail!
I'll argue that Liz Cheney has always been a stanch and consistent conservative all her life and has voted consistent with those values. She's never supported Trumpism. It is the other way around. DT only became a conservative five years ago because he decided the Republicans were vulnerable to take over. He was a Democrat for decades. He is a party of one -- himself.
“ Here is how she described her support for Trump in a July 2020 appearance on Fox News:
So there is no comparison in terms of the kind of leadership that we need in the world and the choice is a very clear one. You know, the American people are going to have to choose between a world in which the United States and the other free nations set the rules of the road or a world in which China and Russia and our adversaries, who do not believe in freedom, set the rules of the road. That is the world you will see under a Joe Biden presidency… We are all going to work together to stop that.”
“In the first two years of Trump's presidency, Cheney supported Trump's position on 95.8% of her votes. In the last two years, Cheney supported Trump's position 92.8% of the time. That's a higher level of support than Trump received over the same time period from Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC), who Trump later selected as his Chief of Staff.” - Popular Information
While I applaud her courage, the thought of her gaining power terrifies me. She wants an oligarchy too; she just wants it to wear a convincing facade of democracy.
The former guy was a ham fisted wrecking ball. Liz Cheney is a skilled operator. She will bring competency and discipline to undermining democracy while appearing to champion it.
We need to be careful. She is far more dangerous than the former guy.
Diane, I do understand your position and concerns. My calculus is a little different. I'd rather deal with a Liz Cheney who is protecting the rule of law rather than a lying, gaslit kook parroting DT who will be primaried against Rep. Cheney. I'd rather deal with a sane person I disagree with even a powerful one than an insane one who no one can deal with. If we just look at the 2022 election, a split Republican Party will make it so much harder for them to take back the House.
Liz Cheney will never get a cent of my money. I'm glad she's challenging the Big Lie and Trump's hegemony. But she is an autocrat by nature and would advance a deeply regressive, oligarchic, oppressive form of government if given the chance.
You position is certainly a valid one. For me, we first need a conservative party to deal with rather than a party who insanely worships nothing but egocentric power with absolutely no ethics or positive values. I do believe a large part of the problem here is the two party system. The two parties are both moving to extremes and leaving a huge portion of the constituents in the middle with no representation. President Biden is being a President for all Americans including those in the middle which I like a lot.
My politics are pretty far left, so from my perspective the increasing conservatism of the Rs has dragged D's inexorably to the center. Whereas I agree with you that the Rs have become increasingly radical in their conservatism, I don't see the Ds doing much at all that I would call extreme. Extremely wimpy maybe, but that's about it. Not that I think they're wrong, considering the moment we're in, but the "both sides" argument that you make is not what I see.
This recap of Cheney's removal was copied from Fox News:
"American Conservative Union chair Matt Schlapp said Wednesday that Liz Cheney was ousted from her committee because she was distracting people from the Republican Party's message for 2022.
MATT SCHLAPP: I’ve been talking to a lot of members one on one and I think the overwhelming belief of these members, including a lot of women members—Republican women members of Congress—is they felt like Liz Cheney was distracted by Trump derangement syndrome.
She was so transfixed on taking every reporter to question about her belief that Trump incited a riot or her belief that Trump should have been impeached or whatever fantasy of the day that was focused on the never-Trump crowd that it was getting them off-topic.
When you’re Chairman of the House Republican Conference your number one job is the message. All the Republicans that want to pick up the majorities in the House and Senate know that we have a singular message. Push back on the socialism and the radical policies coming out of the Biden White House with Nancy Pelosi’s leadership in the house. Focus on these policies. We have gas lines in northern Virginia and across the country. Focus on the Republican policies that would fix these problems in society. Stop talking about how you—what your feelings are about the Donald Trump presidency."
- - - Liz Cheney was distracted by "trump derangement syndrome" (!!?!) which according to Fox, it appears, is the "fantasy" that trump incited the riot or should have been impeached. It's really time to begin teaching critical thinking in schools. Without that, and courses on civics, history and the Constitution, this country will just continue to spiral downwards.
This is the official GOP talking point on why Cheney was ousted. As if any citizen with half a brain doesn't know the real reason. Other Republicans repeated it in interviews today. They keep showing the country what kind of people they are. The lesson we keep learning and re-learning and not quite grasping is simple: they will say and do anything to retain and increase power. They are a true and present danger.
Their brazen attempt to rewrite history is delusional. Stalin and the Communist Party can be rehabilitated if you are Putin and hold unlimited power. To oppose a Big Lie in those circumstances is undertaken at enormous peril.
Closer to home, it was - barely - possible to convince citizens of the case to make war on Iraq in 2003. America is a free country, but at that moment in history it was reeling from the havoc wrought by hatred emanating from the Middle East. A Republican dominated Congress was only too willing to lend loud moral support to the President and his arrogant acolytes. There were rumblings from the citizenry to be sure, but the media beat the drums of war fiercely and a sizable majority of Americans absorbed the war in their stride, unable to distinguish one Middle East country from another. Today’s “Na Na hey hey...” was yesterday’s “Freedom Fries”.
But these are different times. The Republicans hold no power federally. Their grasp on the levers of the media is tenuous at best. Even the monkeys behind those organ grinders have to tread with some care. The Dominion voting machine case was instructive in showing their limits.
In this situation their attempt to sweep the insurrection under the rug is cringeworthy. The Republicans in Washington are effectively now the purveyors of *two* big lies and the best they can do is obfuscate. They are richly earning the contempt of millions. And as cases come to trial and, God willing, the President is indicted, tried and removed from public view, their illusion of having 74 million supporters still will be brutally exposed.
Yesterday’s events are laughable. These lies are born of desperation, not arrogance. Some of the most brazen purveyors of the dual lies may be doing so because they face criminal exposure.
It is tedious to have to call them out on a regular basis. But it is vitally necessary. There must be constant pressure on the Department of Justice, the legal system in general and the Democratic Party itself to bring maximum sunlight and thus accountability to these scoundrels. A failure of nerve here will not be countermanded by a hundred Infrastructure bills.
Republican message? Say whatever it takes, no matter how corrupt, to win back the majority. This includes gaslighting, obstruction and framing any effort to help people who desperately need it as socialism, communism, PC, “woke,” etc. Republican policy? There is none, except to pass tax cuts for the rich and find new wars to wage, using those same desperate people as cannon fodder, lured into signing on with promises of security and appeals to patriotism. Not unlike human traffickers.
There are certain Trumpets that are so despicable that even hearing their name makes me ill. Schlapp is one of them along with Jason Miller. Many of the mainstream media will no longer interview them anymore.
Ask Officer Fanone if it was a "normal tourist visit"- he wound up unconscious, had a heart attack from the tasing he got and now has PTSD. Here's his emotional interview w/ Don Lemon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wisHg04b_S8
I listened to a Lincoln Project Facebook live last night (I’ll post a separate comment on that later) but here is a great suggestion from them. Call Kevin McCarthy’s office (202)-225-2915, and ask 2 questions: 1. Did Joe Biden win the 2020 election fairly and 2. Why won’t you meet with Officer Fanone? Apparently he has refused to do so and is avoiding Officer Fanone’s calls.
We watched that LP live broadcast last night, too. First question from a viewer was a doozy. Paraphrased by Barbara G: "If you're such savvy political/campaign people, how did this (former guy et al) happen right under your nose?" Appreciated that Reed took the question. He and Stuart were embarrassed but candid. They basically said they have no good answer for that failure. They absolutely didn't believe he'd be elected (as it turns out, he probably wasn't) and their sight line beyond Election Day was dictated by that belief.
Also interesting was Reed's explanation of what's involved re setting up a new party. It involves setting up in each of the 50 states, for starters. Complicated, though not impossible.
Of course, Marcy: tourists routinely defecate on the floor of the Rotunda and smear their feces all over the walls. Didn't you know? (the only way to deal with this stuff is to make fun of it)
Yes, indeed! I remember my last visit to the Capitol - I entered through a broken window after ramming a capitol policeman's plexiglass shield through said window.
In Windows, you can insert an emoji in any text field by hitting the opt/start key at the same time as the colon/semicolon key. A little popup box will appear that will default to your most recently used emojis - but you can also type and it will filter to those that fit. Have fun, and good luck! 😎
zoo animals would poop on the floor, yes, but they would not erect a gallows, chant about hanging the VP, or attack police with sticks and riot shields.
Guess I've been overprotected. I know autistic kids may do that, and prisoners driven nuts by their captivity, but otherwise I can't see the point. What would the equivalent be in words? (I don't mean to drag this out, I'm really curious.) Would it be something like this?: "You disrespect me, and so I degrade you by fouling your stuff!"
Uh, no. The closest comparison I can come to in my little world is the behavior of drunk football fans at an Oregon football game at Autzen Stadium between the Ducks and the Huskies...
Well my thought is if the Republican party splits and then there are 3 parties, that if the dems can stick together... they will stay in power. 3 parties notoriously split the vote and hurt the corresponding closest in ideology party, i.e, the Green party takes votes from the Democrats. I'm all for it, let the Rep burn. I think the "normal Republicans" like Cheney, are fine with the more liberal party taking over for a while as long as the Trumpers are crushed. What a crazy dystopian era we are living in.
Dems do not stick together. Manchin and Sinema are going to throw the 2022 and 2024 elections to the Republicans and the American experiment will be over.
Even slightly progressive organizations can never agree throughout history. The real Russian Revolution occurred in February 1917. The provisional government spent so much time squabbling among themselves that the Bolsheviks were able with little popular support, overthrow them and take over.
Little space is left in history for the well-intentioned Mensheviks who didn't appreciate the reality of the dangerous situation they were in.....blinded by their fascination for the convoluting discussions of arcane minutae of their "profound" ideological considerations...so content they were to be able to debate and not be killed by the Tsar's men that they achieved the inevitable.....they succeeded in killing off debate and they were killed themselves of by Lenin and the Bolsheviks.
PS anyone watch the movie Mank yet and pick up on all the similarities in references to Upton Sinclair and socialism? I have read Sinclair but never knew he ran for CA Governor. Ah history. Professor, I have become such a fan of history and what it can teach us!
Trump will have personal input on all Republican candidates for office come midterms.
My hope is that his choices will hold such extreme points of view as to cause most Independents to vote Democratic and moderate Republicans to either vote Democratic, of if they can’t stomach that idea, to stay home on Election Day.
By midterms, the mess at the border will be under control, unemployment will be down, inflation, hopefully, will be at an acceptable level and most Americans will see the benefits of the Biden administration.
Who knows, with any luck the former guy will be defending himself in court.
I think Cheney will form a shadow organization to counter Trump's endorsements. I don't think she will have significant impact, but it will be interesting to see how the Sanity Caucus does.
To answer your question, “Will today’s gesture be enough to make swing voters forget the party’s wholehearted embrace of the former president?” I would point to the fact that he chose to have his first Oval Office visit with Republican leaders, which revealed a lot about where President Biden’s priorities lie. It showed he wants to work with them. If you remember, it was almost four years ago today, that Trump had his first office visit with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. That’s who Trump wanted to work with. In hindsight, we could surmise that visit definitely went a long way in getting his base to embrace Russian disinformation. Whether it was “enough for swing voters”, I don’t know, but it was significant for Biden’s base and in sharp contrast to the treason we witnessed four years ago.
McCarthy, McConnell and all the Trumpublicans are batshit crazy. I’m done being polite about it. They should be paying the $30 million damage bill and the hospital expenses plus wages lost for all injured Capitol Police.
Batshit crazy. I just spent an hour listening to a christian trump supporter explain how the end of the world is coming, and his proof for it. There were three eclipses a few years ago and that is tied to Israel; something about an eagle's wings that I was unable to understand; trump changing the capitol of Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem; the pope is going to go to a synagogue in Jerusalem and claim he's god, meaning that the pope is the antichrist; an asteroid is going to fall into the Pacific Ocean in 2029 and poison 1/3 of the ocean water, leading to the deaths of most Earth's inhabitants; the US is going to join the league of nations and that will signal the end of the earth (I mentioned NATO - he didn't seem to know what NATO was) . . . . . and so forth. These are the people who elected trump. I felt as if I were talking to someone from the Dark Ages.
I was raised in these beliefs. In my case they were taught in a Pentecostal church which I had to attend five times each week - plus revivals and special services - until I was able to legally leave home. The rules were extremely strict and hate and fear based.
I believe that each person can believe whatever they want but only as long as you don’t cause harm to others or try to force others to live by your beliefs.
Unfortunately, what you described as batshit crazy - and it is - is not only fervently believed but hoped for (to bring about the End Times which will bring about The Rapture where all true believers will be whisked off to heaven while the rest of us suffer for a thousand years and so on) and even scarier, planned for by more than a few people with power. Think Pence & Pompeo.
It is easy to roll our eyes at these beliefs but when people with the authority to start a nuclear war are influenced by such a cult it cannot be dismissed. Even though they are no longer in charge they haven’t gone away or given up. No mob can be organized faster than one based on religious fervor. Combine that with those who crave power and it is a dangerous mix.
The Dominionists intend to establish the Kingdom on Earth so Jesus will return. That means destroying all those who are not true believers. They would see nuclear destruction of Europe, China, India, Russia as positive
Yes, they would.
In spring of 2020 I received a handwritten letter from a woman from a local church who praised the appearance of Covid for it meant the beginning of the End Times. She waxed on about how all Covid deaths would be on nonbelievers and would make Jesus happy. It was astonishingly hateful and happy at the same time.
how do they explain all the pastors who held unmasked services and then died of covid?
In the church I had to attend they always used the fallback of “God’s ways are not our ways” as explanation, justification or rationalization.
It can be even worse than that.
I remember visiting relatives in Idaho, and going to a church service there. One of the men had advanced (untreated) skin cancer that had destroyed his face. They were faith-healers, and for them, going to doctors was a sin, punishable by hellfire. So this gentleman was the subject of earnest prayer, that he might be "delivered from his affliction." He was celebrated for the strength of his faith, that he had not sought medical treatment. And in the end, when he died of the disease -- as I'm sure he did -- his failure to attain a full recovery would have been attributed to "insufficient faith."
I wish we had an idea how many of us are this far gone and this was a bigger focus in our news. Maybe a few good movies of this indoctrination would help folks see their own crazy?
They would see it as nonbelievers propaganda against them which only strengthens their belief. Instead of thinking “Hmm, maybe I should consider this other view”, it is “Ha! You’re against me so I know I’m right!”
It is extremely hard to change the minds of people who are enmeshed in religious beliefs who surround themselves by like-minded people. Look at Trump rallies. Egads. They actually tend to get worse while surrounded by other Trumplicans.
Ironic that christianity is about service and caring for others; and this group choose to identify with the term "dominionists."
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. Gen 1:28KJV
Of course. A man with control issues must have written that.
Very scary
Not raised in, but exposed to these cultists more than necessary.
I’m sorry that happened.
What made you question these beliefs? Was there an event, something you learned in school, or just plain logic, that encouraged you to evaluate these teachings and turn away from them?
Hi Diana.
I think questioning everything was part of my personality from the beginning. Add to that - growing up immersed in hatred (the beliefs taught at church & home) and pain (home was a violent environment) was difficult to stomach - literally and figuratively. I had stomachaches and headaches from all the hate. I rebelled every time I was told something was absolute and written in stone and I was wrong, blasphemous and a willful, horrible child if I asked why. I found it all too much to hold. As I grew up I began to see the holes in the plot lines, if you will. I wish I could say that there were specific people who showed me a different way to be or who planted the seeds of questioning but there wasn’t. I did have a few individuals in my childhood who were very kind to me and that mattered beyond measure but they did not impart any specific lessons on looking beyond what I was taught.
Without telling anyone until a week before I left for basic training I joined the military a few months prior to high school graduation and left three weeks after. Getting out of the evangelical/white supremacy bubble was everything. Being around other people who held a variety of beliefs, living life without the constant impending doom of the End Times, starting college at night, testing myself - all of that gave me the room to learn, explore and make up my own mind.
Thank you for telling us your story. I can't think of an adjective to descrbe the horror and pain and eroding hate you endured in your young life. And thank you for finding a (secret) way out of it. I am stunned. I am not naive. I joined a pentocostal movement in college for a year, but tired of what seemed like nonsense to me. To think of what it became, and how it could undermine our democracy, even potentially eliminate our world, and all the suffering you endured (inn the Name of Christ) - I think it is a story that needs to be told to a much larger audience. Terrible and riveting, and so incredibly sad. Americans need to hear it. Write it. Thanks.
Thank you for your kind words.
So glad you had the resilience to survive and then make a life for yourself based on positive values.
Thank you.
Hi Kasumii,
Thank you for sharing. Your childhood sounds very stressful and repressive, and quite frightening. You had quite a bit of personal strength to question and to leave the world without giving much notice. You must be a strong person.
It's ironic that Christianity is supposed to be about a god of love, which to me means nurturing and helping children become who they are meant to be; and, instead, this cult created an oppressive hate and fear-filled environment. The best way to control others is through fear, and evidently the leaders used this method.
Hi Diana. I appreciate your kind words - my childhood was all of those things. I have had to be strong at times but I think it was/is mostly stubbornness :) One of my grandfathers used to tell me “you could give lessons in stubbornness to a mule”. (Sometimes he meant it as compliment - sometimes not.)
In college I took courses in rhetoric, brainwashing. psychology and various religions to help me understand what I went through. It was sad to realize the level of fear that some religions and power seeking individuals use to control and manipulate people - especially so with religion given that, as you pointed out, it is supposed to be about love, service & support. It’s good there are religions and ways of thought that do not resort to such awful tactics.
You were speaking to someone from the Dark Ages.
Listening to these people is bad for your mental and physical health. Don't do it. Signed, Your Mother.
Pass this on.
I once encountered a woman "preaching" End Times doctrine at a street corner bus stop in Spokane to speak to her teenaged daughter - dragged along to witness, learn, support? I immediately flashed to my own childhood and youth with my evangelical, charismatic (not in the charming sense, but in the speaking-in-tongues sense) mother, being taken to a Jesus freak march (I don't think she understood that some of our fellow marchers were high on something besides Jesus) in the middle of the Vietnam anti-war protest era. That teenaged girl reminded me of myself, so I approached her, ignoring her mother, and told her that she didn't have to stick with those beliefs - that I'd survived and had a fuller life since leaving that craziness behind. I've often wondered if that shell-shocked looking young woman ever got out.
Unlike Kasumii, I was fortunate enough to have parents who were strict, but very loving. They didn't like the way I turned away from the church, but they'd always told me I needed to think for myself. That one backfired on them and I think they may have regretted encouraging me to use my brain so much!
Thank you for speaking up to that young woman and leaving that seed of hope and curiosity. That took courage and compassion. I imagine that she has never forgotten that you did that.
just remember it says right there in the bible that if anyone tries to tell you that they know the day and hour of the coming of Jesus they are indeed batshit crazy because no man knows the "hour of my coming"
They ignore that part.
They ignore ALOT of parts, yet, fervently believe and quote alot of other parts. Religion is belief/faith, don't even bother talking sense about it. Politics is supposed to be fact based, but there are entertainment channels falsely labeled as news....and the lies upon lies upon lies got us to where we are today. Who will write our history? Thank you Heather, for the umpteenth time, for citing and documenting truths as we cut through the "bald face lies" of today.
Like their fearless leader, they are very good at throwing out red herrings rather than sticking to the topic. I think it’s called “what about ism.” They need to argue and feel superior. You cannot reason with them.
Sounds like my brother. Trump supporters should all have MRIs to determine how many are suffering from slight brain injuries due to a fall.
slight injuries? more like TBIs (traumatic brain injury)
They all exhibit symptoms of slight ABI (acquired brain injury). Not enough to be full blown ABI but enough to interfere with normal thought processes.
And create oppositional defiant disorder behaviors.
I would like to compare dMRIs (diffusion MRIs) imaging of the brains of these religious trump supporters to the fact-based population to see if there is a difference. dMRIs are used to find blockage/damage to the brain by measuring pathways of activity. It's frequently used to evaluate TBI.
OK, TBI and ABI are the same thing, just from two different countries. I think that would be a worthy experiment
😂
Or the Twilight Zone.
More idiotic right-ranting, displaying the speaker's rank ignorance. 1/45 had no power to move the Israeli capital; he did recognize Israel's doing so. And it's very hard to join the League of Nations since it hasn't existed since WW2. These folks need to update their script from the 1930s.
That League of Nations reference really jumped out at me.
Look at the bright side. At least they didn't reference the League of Schmalkalden!
https://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/League+of+Schmalkalden
hahahahaha
They're completely clueless.
That was a wasted hour, you couldn’t make that shit up, it’s so insane.
Yes - I wanted to leave the conversation, but at the same time, here was a trump supporter who was actually willing to tell me what he thought, so I listened. He listens to evangelists on Sundays, one sermon after another.
Was he willing to listen to what you thought? That is, if you felt like talking with him further.
I didn't interject much because I wanted to hear what he had to say. He does some gardening work for me (excellent gardener), so I may have to listen to this again sometime (oh no!!), and I may say a couple things. I was astounded at his lack of knowledge of history. I did suggest he read some history books . . . .
If he does bring it up again I hope it goes well and he is open to listening to an idea or two to ponder later.
We ARE talking to the dark ages. Called dark because there was no one left to operate the levers of governance or learning.
Sorry for the spelling errors!
Whut spelig errrorz?
😁
I always have spelling errors!
WOW!
Yes indeed and they should be voted out of office.
And charged with breach of promise for not upholding the Constitution, as well as being removed from Congress!
Yes!!!
😤😡😖
The surest way to deal with the gaslighting is to starve/suffocate it, and carry on with the business of governance— including building airtight legal cases against the perpetrators while our laws are still in place, so they can be dealt with swiftly, decisively, and permanently— and leave them to all rot away without any personal attention whatsoever, while we work to rebuild our democracy so that it’s stronger than it was before, by including all the voices they wished to silence.. Anything that addresses them directly will only give them the attention they crave and invite them to engage in more of the same wretched behavior. I thought this kind of shit was horrible on a personal scale—but at a national level, it’s absolutely reprehensible. I’m not religious, but I pray we have it in us to weather this crazy storm until it finally passes.
And as always, dear Professor Richardson, thank you for your clear-eyed and steady distillation of events for the historical record. Between your words and those of the members of this community that has formed around you, I can still feel my feet on the ground.
I agree with everything you say here.
Unfortunately, our media does not adhere to these guidelines and we are subjected daily to the gaslighting, hatefulness and gleeful lying. Also unfortunately, our courts do not work swiftly.
We are mired in this sludge and it negatively affects us even when we do our best to keep it at arms length. I should say - it negatively affects me. I do my best to keep it at a safe distance but after being raised in constantly gaslit environments (church/cult & a white supremacist home) I find it very difficult to escape the horror and dismay it all causes. To put up a protective shell I would have to disengage completely from society and I can’t do that. I can’t in good conscience not do what I can to work against such corruption, lying and gaslighting.
I so wish our media would adhere to actual journalism and not sensationalism. I wish our courts worked for justice and not the corrupt. Maybe in time and with those of us opposed to such corruption and gaslighting working against it - as you eloquently described - things will change for the better.
I think you're right, but journalism is up against it financially and they know that sensationalism pays the bills. It's a sad state of affairs, for sure.
I was having such a good time not hearing as much from Trump. Without Twitter or FB, the media has a harder time finding the incendiary rhetoric he trades in. I think not giving airtime or ink could ease the reactionary giant amoeba that is Trump's base. Whatever looney stuff he posts, they react as if it's gospel. I mean, if they don't hear him quoted on every news outlet EVERY DAY, they may go into some sort of social/political remission. Only problem is the little thing called freedom of speech. Dang it.
He/they are free to say whatever they will. The rest of us are likewise free to not repeat, engage with, or even listen to it. That’s the most effective tool we have for neutralizing this nonsense, and giving ourselves some blessed peace and quiet.
Amoeba as metaphor—or remember the blob movie— like a steadily growing red amoeba 🦠
I hated the blob. I remember being tossed from my parents bed three days in a row after watching it.
Me too— it scared the hell out of me.
wow. I had almost added something about the blob movie! Haha. It really does evoke that.
:wutcat:
"Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA) said that calling the attack on the Capitol an insurrection is a “bald-faced lie” and that “if you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit….""
These ... people.... astounding with their gaslighting. I watched the replay of Clyde's comments that Jan. 6th was not an insurrection in disbelief... words fail me.
We must do our best to counter the lies, the BIG LIE and many smaller ones, because we can't let the liars take over our country and destroy our democracy.
Have you seen the CNN's Don Lemon w/the newly released body cam footage of Officer Fanone this week? Scary. It does include footage of his fellow officers trying to help him once he was back in the Capitol. As far as the Republicans' claims that no one was hurt in the Insurrection-he was unconscious due to tasing, he had a heart attack and now has PTSD. I wouldn't be surprised if more of the Capitol Police have PTSD. Will they be able to get the needed psychiatric care?
Two committed suicide.
Dear Heather,
I so appreciate your doing all
the work for me. I am older and
tired-er. I’m no longer willing or able to read all the minutiae of the daily political scrambles which in a different era of my life fascinated me. I thank you with whole hearted joyous compassion for your also older and wiser being, that continues to listen, read and no doubt engage a group of friends and students and academics to clarify and often simplify the day’s outpouring of political verbiage. And game playing.
I again feel hopeful. Democracy may still be a viable, humane form of government.
My personal experience of ‘a living democracy’ is in my Alcoholics Anonymous affiliation of over 36 years. Everything is accomplished throughout the international and down to the smallest local groups by consensus. Talk, more talk, especially inviting dissenting opinions, study groups and time to contemplate and return to have a final vote. It’s always amazing to be on board for final votes that have been contentious. Inevitably after everyone is heard we go away feeling connected to each other even when we’ve heard opinions that were not easy to listen to. The group consensus keeps us safe in our clean & sober world wide community. Amazing. And uplifting. And really working in the best interest of keeping sobriety available to anyone wishing to make a healthy change in their lives.
I pray our current living United States’ democracy will weather the storms and grow stronger for the effort from all of us.
Sometimes it’s so difficult to listen to all those who lie, cheat and steal their way to power, all the while covering their actions with “poor me” and “we’re the ones being discriminated against!” Ugh.
It’s refreshing to watch parodies like the ones Randy Rainbow 🌈 produces. We all need to laugh to release the frustration...I apologize for any offensive language Randy infuses in his creative songs.
If you need some giggles, here’s Randy Rainbow’s latest.
https://youtu.be/07II_EJlcYg
I saw this latest RR the other day, Kari. He does with video the same as Alexandra Petri (WaPo) does with the printed word. Both are excellent purveyors of today's news presented in satire. Thanks for posting!
Randy Rainbow’s video’s got me through the election to Inauguration Day. Funny, truthful and terrific parody/word play.
I agree! This is a good one, especially because it ridicules one of the most ridiculous of the Ghastly Ones, Josh Hawley.
Hahahahahahahahaha. A good wake up song.
I love his stuff and always look forward to his new releases. The GQP is certainly supplying him with new fodder
❤️“They’re so slimy they make my skin crawl.”❤️I haven’t checked him out in a while. Though I find I am now unable to laugh, it did make me feel better that someone else sees the craziness for what it is. If I were a repub believer in their ever changing lies, I would feel like I’m standing at the net at Wimbleton with a very sore neck and a bad headache.
Michael Moore said satire was the one thing that would destroy Trump's gossamer sense of self; hopefully it is also the antidote to the Poison Lie Potion ingested by Republicans. RR is doing his bit magnificently!!!
Karl you made my day—thank you! Yes we all have to laugh more.
That made my day! Thank you.
Thank you. I needed some humor in my day!
Good morning everyone! I think this is such an interesting letter. When I heard that McCarthy had decided on a "voice" vote--which is always suspicious--I knew it was because he wanted to guarantee that there would be no reproducible record, because y'know, deniability is his watchword. The letter from over 100 Republican officials stating that they were determined to form a third party should have scared the Kevster and Malignant Mitch but apparently they think they can corral all the money despite this break, and that all of their corporate sponsors--and the Koch and Walton families--will fall into line again.
The issue exercising me this morning is the trend--including Missouri's appalling governor, Mike Parson--for Ghastly Old Pols to cancel the supplemental unemployment payments for the most vulnerable people in their states--usually BIPOC and (I suspect they have forgotten this point in their desire to damage communities of color) the rural poor on the basis that, as the utterly ignorant freshman senator from Kansas, Roger Marshall, said this morning without any evidence whatsoever, enhanced unemployment benefits are encouraging people not to look for work. This rhetoric by the Repugnicans is statistically false, and could be countered as soon as these privileged white men and women parrot it. But the return of the Reagan propaganda about people on public assistance is apparently unassailable except on NPR, where few Ghastly Ones agree to be interviewed because the reporters instantly refute their baseless claims.
My mayor just spent two days in DC trying to lobby the Repugnicans he is forced to work with in order to impress upon them how the Biden infrastructure bill will bring jobs, jobs, jobs to western Missouri and eastern Kansas. They were perfectly happy to have their photo ops with a charismatic Black mayor but then immediately turned around and returned to their idiocies and lies. Meanwhile, Mayor Lucas was posting on Twitter and FB the following: If employers are having trouble hiring people because their unemployment benefits pay them more than the job, the employers need to raise the wages they are paying for the job. True 'dat.
“ If employers are having trouble hiring people because their unemployment benefits pay them more than the job, the employers need to raise the wages they are paying for the job. True 'dat.”.
Yes! And... if they can’t afford to pay their employees a living wage, they need to rethink their business model, reevaluate monetary distribution within the company, or examine their own moral compass. Or maybe all of the above.
And we need to bear in mind always that there are very few reputable economists who believe the lie that higher unemployment benefits are a major driver of the low return of workers. The lack of childcare, uncertainty about school re-openings, and fear of exposure to Covid in the workplace are all more salient factors. One stat that should drive this point home is the fact that recent job gains ALL went to men. Because in our misogynist society women are assumed to be responsible for childcare and schooling, and because they are grossly over-represented among those who work jobs that have not yet come back, they are re-entering the job market is much lower numbers. That has nothing to do with expanded unemployment benefits. https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/about-275-000-women-left-workforce-january-critical-pandemic-trend-n1256942
Many hospitality and restaurant workers transitioned to working in other industries. Finding the pay and benefits superior, they aren’t returning to their old jobs in the service industry. Wages must go up and if that means higher prices, so be it.
Many restaurants pay a paltry wage, sometimes less than $5.00 and have their servers count on tips to bring them up to even the minimum wage. This is unconscionable. No wonder they left for other jobs.
Much of Europe has done away with tipping. We would do well to imitate them.
And too many restaurants steal tip money earned by staff, not the owner or manager. Unconscionable.
Add to that the number of people who changed career fields in the face of what working in the immediate aftermath of pandemic quarantine might give them...
Men have gone back to work. Women are finding that much more difficult as there are both child care/home school issues to deal with. You are spot on that many of the jobs yet to come back are for women as well.
Who said “If your business model depends on paying your employees a low wage (less than $15/hour, you don’t have a viable business model.”
I know, right? I don't think they realize how patently absurd it is to think $1200 a month leaves someone in such a luxurious position that they don't have to work. $300 a week is $7.50 an hour if you're full time. If you can't compete with that, shame on you.
Good question, Jean. I dunno . . . a capitalist?
As I fellow Missourian, I too sympathize—it’s the “you can’t make this stuff up” craziness in Jefferson City that wakes me up in the middle of the night 😱
Also a bit hard to re-hire dead workers. The hospitality and restaurant industries I believe had and continue to have some of the highest mortality rate for COVID-19
Republicans are hoping a majority of Americans are as exceptionally ignorant and moron stupid as I generally think half of them usually are. I hope I am proven wrong, but as of last count, we only outnumber the morons by 8 million in a population of 330 million.
But with luck, their shit-eating grins as they say "Nobody here but us chickens, boss!" may remind people that the surest way to tell if a Republican office holder is lying is to look and see if his lips are moving.
The extremism of the rethuglicans is causing just enough of them to stay away from the polls that we won two seats in GA. We must not rest on our laurels but there is hope. Let’s root the bastidges out in 2022 and 2024. Then we can devolve into bickering over what the appropriate liberal agenda is.
Listening to the gas lighting yesterday, I was struck by the coincidence that the illiteracy rate in this country has hovered at about 21% of the population (that includes functionally (4th grade) illiterate). It’s interested that the Republican “base” is estimated to be about 23% of the population. Sometimes we can’t see the forest for the numbers!
When people in power are constantly lying to your face, telling you what you see and hear is not what happened there is no answer back. You can tell them they are wrong till you are blue in the face but they hold steady with their lies. It is like being in a bad nightmare with no hope of waking up. I just don't understand how we fight this kind of psychological brain washing. They have honed their talking points to such quick responses that all their followers can spout at notice.
“Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA) said that calling the attack on the Capitol an insurrection is a ‘bald-faced lie’ and that ‘if you didn't know the TV footage was a video from January the 6th, you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit….’ “
It’s beyond comprehension and credibility that a U.S. congressman could say such a thing. Normal tourist visit? That’s tragically funny. Was it a normal tourist visit when Buffalo-Man trashed Pelosi’s office, then sat in her chair and propped his legs up on her desk? Or when people were killed on both sides? If that’s the new normal for tourism, Washington can count on a radical drop in their tourist business.
Where can I sign up for the guided tour visit where we get to climb to the upper windows and smash them to gain entry?
Right. I still keep thinking, "How could there be a U.S. congressman who believes this, and whose view represents the view of many millions of Americans. How could that be? Woe is us. We're in big trouble now.
And don’t forget to bring your feces!
Or your bear spray!
When GQP Congressbeasts are trawling for votes and donations, they don't let reality get in the way.
Segment from Don Lemon Show - just another normal tourist visit? Of course, just another bald-faced lie made evident by the fact that it has been years since any tourists have been allowed to enter the U.S. Capitol by climbing up the steps. Visitors are required to enter through the Visitors Center and then must take a guided tour. Here's the footage from Don Lemon for those like me who don't subscribe to the cable channel: https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2021/05/13/officer-fanone-capitol-insurrection-footage-exclusive-ctn-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/cnn-tonight-highlights/
Don Lemon was overcome with emotion after the first showing of this body cam footage. He has given Fanone a voice on his show and proclaims repeatedly that Fanone is a true hero and PATRIOT. I watched it last night for the first time. I wept. I felt the white hot anger from the crazed people that got their hands on Fanone. Without his pleas affecting a few to help him, they would have shot and killed him...with his own gun. One could feel it through the video. It was yet again another lynching, but in a different time, method, and victim.....but perpetrated by the same hate and total loss of reason.
This is part of Trump’s base. It perplexes me why those that are not like these zealots remain in that base. Can it possibly be they secretly approve of the treatment of that police officer???? If so, we are at civil war.
Depending on how many people approve of the way that officer was treated, we could be in for a civil war. It's really hard to imagine that the U.S. could have another civil war, but it's also obvious that "battle lines are being drawn." The insurrectionists need to brought to trial soon; the longer the U.S. waits, the more time passes, the more confidence the thugs feel, and the more time they have to plan another "normal tourist visit."
I just now watched the Don Lemon video. What a horror. Those dumb thugs who attacked the guard need to be slapped around a bit. Then put on trial.
GOP = Gaslighting Old Plutocrats.
Every congressional hearing should begin with the playing of this McConnell admission: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlyQdWyU2Rw
This is the clip that bears repeating everywhere (“Lincoln Project”?!?! ) w clips of every lying denial he and other repugs have made since. The traitors that week within the party must be brought to justice.
The ultimate lie in that piece was his final 2 sentences: "It simply shows that Senators did what the former President failed to do. We put our Constitutional duty first." Yeah-you Republicans didn't try to stop the counting of the electoral ballots, right?
Excellent idea, Sherman!
I agree, and love gaslighting old Plutocrats as the definition for GOP.
So, as expected, Liz Cheney was voted out of her leadership position in the House. She had said what needed saying and - to her credit - didn't give an inch to her delusional GOP colleagues.
So, that card having been played, what comes next? It seems safe to say that we should not hold our breaths waiting for the GOP to change course or collapse or even see the error they are committing. No, they have decided to double down on the Big Lie, in part because they know there is no going back, but largely - I fear - because most of them actually believe it. They are caught up in mass hysteria and out of control, having accepted their Faustian deal. Uh huh, Donald J. Mephistopheles now controls a large horde of political demons and he intends to unleash them on the rest of us at every opportunity.
Hearing from HCR that "President Biden is refusing to get sucked into the Republican drama" does not reassure me in the least, nor do his polite consultations with his old buddy McConnell. Yes, of course the President is trying to get his important bills passed, and yes, the Attorney General is hard at work trying to bring White supremacists to justice, and all this will convince Americans to vote for Democrats in 2022 - well, so we hope - but when you have nearly half the electorate either believing the Big Lie wholeheartedly or even entertaining the outside chance that it isn't really a lie, the situation is gravely, seriously, imminently dangerous for our democracy and even our lives. Joe Biden is a man of many talents, but there is not a chance in hell that he will be able to change the tenor of our national "conversation" anytime soon.
I'm about ready for President to come down into the street - into the gutter if he has to - and start fighting. This goes for the rest of our Paladins in Congress, including Schumer and Pelosi. et al.
Not Joe's style, though. We knew what we were getting with Biden. He is being far more progressive than we had any right to expect, but otherwise is pretty much to form. Plus, of course, he has been dealt a lousy hand--filibuster, Manchin, Sinema, etc. Negotiating with Rs is, of course, window dressing, since they have no intention of doing so in good faith. Seems to me he has to give it the old college try, though. Optics matter.
Maybe Joe needs to adopt a different style, even try to get his base riled up. The old college try never worked for me, not even in college.
Joe is Joe. I don't hold out much hope that he will change his tune. Also, as I say above, he was dealt a dirty hand. Because of the filibuster, we simply have to treat the Senate as if we are in the minority. Under those conditions, Biden is doing what he needs to do, I think. Maybe become a bit more vocal about the insurrectionists, perhaps, but his play is to focus on governing and leave the insurrection up to the DOJ. Hard to know what the right thing is to do.
And Reid, I agree: optics really do matter. Unfortunately, it sometimes seems that nothing matters more.
None of those Republican lawmakers believe The Big Lie. Their job is to sell their voters their support of The Big Lie as a salve to the sore-loser voters. Supporting The Big Lie is both a waste of time AND very dangerous. It’s a waste of time, because without analyzing the 2020 losses, Republicans won’t be able to carry their message in 2022. It’s dangerous because Republicans have no interest in selling their brand, but instead, they push the cheating rhetoric to disenfranchise voters and stay in power without representation.
Jane Dough is a great moniker, even if it is your real name. As to what GOP lawmakers really believe.... Of course some GOP lawmakers are surely willing to lie about The Big Lie so as to achieve objectives to which they will not yet admit. At least I assume so based on my imperfect understanding of human nature. However, what people really think and/or believe is known only to them. Our real thoughts are our last remaining secrets, try as Facebook, Google, etc. do to pry them out of us. Of course actions speak louder than words, but I have not seen any actions that would contradict my suspicion that many GOP pols are, in fact, true believers in the church of Trump. They have even burned one of their own (poor Liz Cheney) at the stake, and a new Inquisition may be waiting in the wings. And this is only the beginning....
Why is Biden even talking to Republicans? I cannot understand this fixation with compromise. If you are elected to govern, then govern. If you are the (dis)loyal opposition, then oppose. It is how government works.
Because, first, he promised he would attempt compromise. Two, all Manchin talks about is “bi-partisanship,” so to being him along Biden must attempt it. Three, it makes it easier to move toward modification of the filibuster rule to have tried. That’s why.
It seems to me that if there were some way to bring Manchin along, he would have been brought along already. Reconciliation is the only way - for now - the Democrats can pass any legislation, and that maneuver can only be used a few times and only for things that can be reasonably construed as "budget" matters (as I understand it), and even then it requires all 50 DEM Senators' votes plus the VP. or an adequate number of GOP votes to compensate for undisciplined Dems.
Most legislation - including the essential/existential "For the People Act" - can only be passed if 60 Senators (must include at least 10 GOP Senators) vote "yes" (never gonna happen) or if the filibuster is modified, suspended or eliminated (not gonna happen unless Manchin and Sinema make it happen).
The simple vote-counting math is inescapable, and you can be sure Mitch McConnell knows how to count votes.
I am still waiting for some coherent explanation of how the Dems can get past the filibuster barrier with any legislation that is worth the effort. Compromise either involves give and take, or one side gets fleeced.
I think this is precisely correct. Though I applaud Biden and his team for continuing to try, since the Rs only goal (baldly stated by McConnell) is to obstruct Biden until they can get to the 2022 midterms, there is zero chance for meaningful legislation until at least then. Might Manchin and Sinema be brought around in a 12th Hour reveal? You know, "we TRIED to do it the bipartisan way but the other side wouldn't budge" type of thing? If I were writing the movie script, that's what would happen. But I doubt it will happen in real life.
What if two or more republican senators (Hawley and Johnson come to mind) are arrested for insurrection? Are they removed from Congress while pending trial? Does Congress continue on given the vacancies? Would this create an opening for majority vote? Just thinking outside the box.
Indictments and arrests are separate from decisions about the status of individual Congresspeople. They must be made by the House or Senate.
The classic case is the House expelling Preston Brooks in 1856 for beating Charles Sumner half to death. Brooks was promptly reelected by his constituents. (He died within a year, ensuring his status as a nasty footnote in American history.) NB, his home district of Edgefield SC was the most violent county in the entire country.
D Donald, Charles Sumner & the Coming of the Civil War
J Freeman, The Field of Blood
S Puleo, The Caning
PS, I often leave a modest offering at the Sumner statue in Harvard Square when passing by. It's literally putting in my two cents worth.
Thank you for the history and book titles! I used to go through the Charles Sumner tunnel as a young girl. Never appreciated the history.
Yes, please, Dear God in Heaven, Mother Nature and Buddha hear us!
Great questions! I'm sure there are a few poli-sci and history profs reading these comments who are able to give better answers than I can. Google is often useful for the quick and general....
I did a little google search to find out that the state governor replaces a senator until a special election is called. Although there may be differences in each state. The governor of Missouri is a republican. The governor of Wisconsin is a democrat. Wonder if a governor is required to replace with like party?
It seems to me that on this point you really either don't understand how things work, or haven't been keeping up with current affairs. You *cannot* ignore either Manchin or Sinema, unless you want to live with a 48-member minority in the Senate. Please, I hate having to educate people I consider otherwise intelligent.
TC, I always find your comments interesting and I often agree with your take on things (as I understand it). Unfortunately, when the late evening rolls around here in Italy, I begin to lose the thread and am not sure who is responding to whose comments. Jeanne Doyle says she's sorry if that was her you're educating and admits to asking a stupid question, but it occurred to me that I'm the one you think needs educating, given that your 2-hr. old comment is directly under my 7-hr. old comment. In any case, it's no big deal as I'm sure I still need lots of educating if anyone wants to give it a try.
Sorry if that was me you’re educating. I don’t ignore those two but I think I did ask a stupid question. Sometimes I ask questions here instead of looking them up because if I look them up online and try to come back to the same spot on substack, I’m completely lost. Then I give up because I need to sleep.
Maybe you should be using a laptop - with Chrome (on my MacBook Pro) I can open a web page - and it sits there, while I open another - so it's easy to flip between items without losing your place. I don't know how many pages I can have "on standby" - seems a lot. Some pages refresh (if you have to) and take you to the part you left, some just start at the top again..
I think Joe can change the filibuster back to being a marathon monologue with just an executive order. Am I wrong about that?
I don't believe that the president has the power to change Congressional rules through direct action. Presidents must work through and persuade members of each chamber.
The Senate makes, changes or eliminates its own rules. Joe Biden can express an opinion. That's it as far as I know.
Yup!! When they refuse to do anything we grind out the legislation. Slow but sure.
Sounds good, but what sort of grinding are you referring to? A little corruption might change a few key votes, but I'm pretty sure that is not what you had in mind.
Well, I grind my teeth whenever someone mentions the GQP.
Does Manchin understand the word Seditionists? Sort of like Northern Congressmen compromising with Southern after the Civil War.
Absolutely!
Biden is fully aware of what dangers our nation faces from both domestic and foreign forces. He’s attempting to manage an exquisitely difficult balancing act. I trust him more each day. And still, the ultimate outcome is unknowable.
I disagree. He’s taking the high road and doing what he said he would do. Remember he’s been around the block and he’s a crafty guy. I think he knows EXACTLY what he’s doing. That said, both parties are supposed to work together, or attempt to anyway. It’s called democracy. If we don’t do that we are just like them and then I am no longer a Democrat
I'm sorry, Elaine. The Republicans have announced they will not participate in bi-partisanship....at all. Even after the meeting with President Biden yesterday, McCarthy said that Biden was pushing a radical socialist agenda and started a fundraising tweet. And Joe Manchin continues to say bi-partisanship is possible. You can close your eyes all you want, but the reality is that there is no bi-partisanship to have.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/manchin-support-measured-voting-reform-lieu-sweeping-democratic/story?id=77646348&cid=social_twitter_abcn
I’m not sure where I said that the republicans were going to comply. Nevertheless making the effort is what democracy is about and it’s a very noble thing. I applaud him for making the effort.
I agree with Elaine. I am a school counselor in an elementary school and I have seen group think in action. I have also seen courageous and socially wise leaders persuade some from the group to recognize their power as an independent thinker. We might not get Manchin to vote for HR 1, but we might get Romney and the lady from Alaska and then, Voila! No more voter suppression. I am proud of Joe for giving any of them a chance to speak up. Plus, by trying to compromise, any failure is the fault of the Republicans after that in the eyes of the world.
Anyone who saw his interview last night with Lawrence O'Donnell would know you are correct.
It's called "politics," in case you slept through Civics. He's educating both the Senate and the general public.
He has to convince more than two of the Democratic Senators to proceed, and that takes either getting a bit of what he wants in a bipartisan way and then doing the rest in reconciliation (as he explained last night in his interview with Lawrence O'Donnell) or he proves the Republicans are not people who want to make things work.
For the public, he educates them to the fact the Republicans are mostly not serious ab out being a governing party.
Just because *you* know Republicans can't be worked with doesn't mean 50% of the people you know *don't* know that.
It wasn't called civics in Canada. Ignoring Manchin and Sinema will result in the Dems with a minority Senate? That is what you have now. Good luck. In four years Canada next to USA will be like Ukraine next to Russia.
Me thinks Mr Biden is right on track with staying out of the internecine battle. Nothing to be gained by expressing an opinion or taking on the battles that really have to playout in the GOP. His handbump with Cheney at his address to Congress was appropriate as a statement. Mr Biden's policies are what matters. Me thinks that were he to take up this cause doing so would do damage, giving Republicans a common enemy for daring to give comfort to their common enemies, Anti-Trump RHINOS. One thing I hope others, especially Linoln Project Republicans, take away is that just voting against Trump wasn't enough. Down the ticket problems abound among their party members who allign with the malignancy that it was convient to assign strictly to Trump. Seems the Congress is awash with a current crop who will sign any pledge against democracy to keep their seats of power.
Liz Cheney was on FNC last night and stated that she would NEVER vote for a democrat.
Check my recent post here with the Call To Action of the "We're Not Crazy" conservatives.
Liz Cheney's courage and firmness in telling truth to power is heartening. Even if I don't agree with her very conservative positions, I respect what she is doing so much that I made a donation to her Wyoming campaign for re-election. I'd encourage others - independents and party affiliated alike - to do the same. Thursday, March 13, over 100 influential Republicans including former high level elected officials will declare they will form a third party if the Republicans do not pull away from DT. This is encouraging news for democracy and gives me hope. For Liz Cheney to be a leader of the anti-DT movement she needs supporters and followers. The 100 will be a great start. I hope it starts a flood of followers and creates a strong movement toward democracy.
While I have respect for what Rep. Cheney did to protect Democracy, I will still probably spend the rest of my life disagreeing with her. With her high percentage of votes for Trumpism, she is not going to be singing kumbiyah with Democrats. Rep. Cheney has nut changed, she is going to keep doing what she has been doing, taking from the poor and giving to the rich. Just don’t forget the story about the scorpion and the frog.
The story of the scorpion and the frog is apropos valid in this situation. We have scorpions ... and frogs.. here in Texas. What we need then is a few of my Papillon dogs who have the instinct to safely bite the scorpion at the base of the tail disarming it. Almost very scorpion I find in my house has a useless tail!
I close my eyes and imagine your dogs biting off Mitch McConnell's tail and smile.
I'll argue that Liz Cheney has always been a stanch and consistent conservative all her life and has voted consistent with those values. She's never supported Trumpism. It is the other way around. DT only became a conservative five years ago because he decided the Republicans were vulnerable to take over. He was a Democrat for decades. He is a party of one -- himself.
“ Here is how she described her support for Trump in a July 2020 appearance on Fox News:
So there is no comparison in terms of the kind of leadership that we need in the world and the choice is a very clear one. You know, the American people are going to have to choose between a world in which the United States and the other free nations set the rules of the road or a world in which China and Russia and our adversaries, who do not believe in freedom, set the rules of the road. That is the world you will see under a Joe Biden presidency… We are all going to work together to stop that.”
“In the first two years of Trump's presidency, Cheney supported Trump's position on 95.8% of her votes. In the last two years, Cheney supported Trump's position 92.8% of the time. That's a higher level of support than Trump received over the same time period from Congressman Mark Meadows (R-NC), who Trump later selected as his Chief of Staff.” - Popular Information
While I applaud her courage, the thought of her gaining power terrifies me. She wants an oligarchy too; she just wants it to wear a convincing facade of democracy.
The former guy was a ham fisted wrecking ball. Liz Cheney is a skilled operator. She will bring competency and discipline to undermining democracy while appearing to champion it.
We need to be careful. She is far more dangerous than the former guy.
Diane, I do understand your position and concerns. My calculus is a little different. I'd rather deal with a Liz Cheney who is protecting the rule of law rather than a lying, gaslit kook parroting DT who will be primaried against Rep. Cheney. I'd rather deal with a sane person I disagree with even a powerful one than an insane one who no one can deal with. If we just look at the 2022 election, a split Republican Party will make it so much harder for them to take back the House.
Hi Cathy. I do understand the calculus and what’s at stake. I’m just worried about the unintended consequences. Time will tell.
Sure with you on that!
It will be interesting to watch, that’s for sure. A “Cheney” always has something up his of her sleeve.
Liz Cheney will never get a cent of my money. I'm glad she's challenging the Big Lie and Trump's hegemony. But she is an autocrat by nature and would advance a deeply regressive, oligarchic, oppressive form of government if given the chance.
You position is certainly a valid one. For me, we first need a conservative party to deal with rather than a party who insanely worships nothing but egocentric power with absolutely no ethics or positive values. I do believe a large part of the problem here is the two party system. The two parties are both moving to extremes and leaving a huge portion of the constituents in the middle with no representation. President Biden is being a President for all Americans including those in the middle which I like a lot.
My politics are pretty far left, so from my perspective the increasing conservatism of the Rs has dragged D's inexorably to the center. Whereas I agree with you that the Rs have become increasingly radical in their conservatism, I don't see the Ds doing much at all that I would call extreme. Extremely wimpy maybe, but that's about it. Not that I think they're wrong, considering the moment we're in, but the "both sides" argument that you make is not what I see.
I’m with you Cathy.
Thank you.
This recap of Cheney's removal was copied from Fox News:
"American Conservative Union chair Matt Schlapp said Wednesday that Liz Cheney was ousted from her committee because she was distracting people from the Republican Party's message for 2022.
MATT SCHLAPP: I’ve been talking to a lot of members one on one and I think the overwhelming belief of these members, including a lot of women members—Republican women members of Congress—is they felt like Liz Cheney was distracted by Trump derangement syndrome.
She was so transfixed on taking every reporter to question about her belief that Trump incited a riot or her belief that Trump should have been impeached or whatever fantasy of the day that was focused on the never-Trump crowd that it was getting them off-topic.
When you’re Chairman of the House Republican Conference your number one job is the message. All the Republicans that want to pick up the majorities in the House and Senate know that we have a singular message. Push back on the socialism and the radical policies coming out of the Biden White House with Nancy Pelosi’s leadership in the house. Focus on these policies. We have gas lines in northern Virginia and across the country. Focus on the Republican policies that would fix these problems in society. Stop talking about how you—what your feelings are about the Donald Trump presidency."
- - - Liz Cheney was distracted by "trump derangement syndrome" (!!?!) which according to Fox, it appears, is the "fantasy" that trump incited the riot or should have been impeached. It's really time to begin teaching critical thinking in schools. Without that, and courses on civics, history and the Constitution, this country will just continue to spiral downwards.
https://www.foxnews.com/media/liz-cheney-removed-from-leadership-for-distracting-from-partys-message-for-2022-schlapp
This is the official GOP talking point on why Cheney was ousted. As if any citizen with half a brain doesn't know the real reason. Other Republicans repeated it in interviews today. They keep showing the country what kind of people they are. The lesson we keep learning and re-learning and not quite grasping is simple: they will say and do anything to retain and increase power. They are a true and present danger.
And utterly disgusting.
Their brazen attempt to rewrite history is delusional. Stalin and the Communist Party can be rehabilitated if you are Putin and hold unlimited power. To oppose a Big Lie in those circumstances is undertaken at enormous peril.
Closer to home, it was - barely - possible to convince citizens of the case to make war on Iraq in 2003. America is a free country, but at that moment in history it was reeling from the havoc wrought by hatred emanating from the Middle East. A Republican dominated Congress was only too willing to lend loud moral support to the President and his arrogant acolytes. There were rumblings from the citizenry to be sure, but the media beat the drums of war fiercely and a sizable majority of Americans absorbed the war in their stride, unable to distinguish one Middle East country from another. Today’s “Na Na hey hey...” was yesterday’s “Freedom Fries”.
But these are different times. The Republicans hold no power federally. Their grasp on the levers of the media is tenuous at best. Even the monkeys behind those organ grinders have to tread with some care. The Dominion voting machine case was instructive in showing their limits.
In this situation their attempt to sweep the insurrection under the rug is cringeworthy. The Republicans in Washington are effectively now the purveyors of *two* big lies and the best they can do is obfuscate. They are richly earning the contempt of millions. And as cases come to trial and, God willing, the President is indicted, tried and removed from public view, their illusion of having 74 million supporters still will be brutally exposed.
Yesterday’s events are laughable. These lies are born of desperation, not arrogance. Some of the most brazen purveyors of the dual lies may be doing so because they face criminal exposure.
It is tedious to have to call them out on a regular basis. But it is vitally necessary. There must be constant pressure on the Department of Justice, the legal system in general and the Democratic Party itself to bring maximum sunlight and thus accountability to these scoundrels. A failure of nerve here will not be countermanded by a hundred Infrastructure bills.
Citizens of the opposition are quite able to view the talking points they want and to hear them in stereo.
Republican message? Say whatever it takes, no matter how corrupt, to win back the majority. This includes gaslighting, obstruction and framing any effort to help people who desperately need it as socialism, communism, PC, “woke,” etc. Republican policy? There is none, except to pass tax cuts for the rich and find new wars to wage, using those same desperate people as cannon fodder, lured into signing on with promises of security and appeals to patriotism. Not unlike human traffickers.
No critical thinking going on. Blame immigrants, BIPOC, democrats, socialism, etc. for your ‘ills’ while we, the 1%, steal from your pocket.
Don’t forget the need to line your own pockets. And the need to kiss 💋 oligarchical Hiney.
"Thinking? What thinking? We don' need no stinkin' thinkin'!"
Alfonso Bedoya. Great actor. Great scene. Great movie. And after all that, the gold just blows away.
Schlapp needs a good bitch slap.
Thanks. I will think of him as Bitch Schlapp from now on.
Great plan. Let’s spread the news. Hahahaha
Metaphorically only, please. Violence is not the answer.
This thinking helps rationalize their seditious behavior.
There are certain Trumpets that are so despicable that even hearing their name makes me ill. Schlapp is one of them along with Jason Miller. Many of the mainstream media will no longer interview them anymore.
“you would actually think it was a normal tourist visit…." WHAT???
Ask Officer Fanone if it was a "normal tourist visit"- he wound up unconscious, had a heart attack from the tasing he got and now has PTSD. Here's his emotional interview w/ Don Lemon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wisHg04b_S8
I listened to a Lincoln Project Facebook live last night (I’ll post a separate comment on that later) but here is a great suggestion from them. Call Kevin McCarthy’s office (202)-225-2915, and ask 2 questions: 1. Did Joe Biden win the 2020 election fairly and 2. Why won’t you meet with Officer Fanone? Apparently he has refused to do so and is avoiding Officer Fanone’s calls.
We watched that LP live broadcast last night, too. First question from a viewer was a doozy. Paraphrased by Barbara G: "If you're such savvy political/campaign people, how did this (former guy et al) happen right under your nose?" Appreciated that Reed took the question. He and Stuart were embarrassed but candid. They basically said they have no good answer for that failure. They absolutely didn't believe he'd be elected (as it turns out, he probably wasn't) and their sight line beyond Election Day was dictated by that belief.
Also interesting was Reed's explanation of what's involved re setting up a new party. It involves setting up in each of the 50 states, for starters. Complicated, though not impossible.
I'd never seen this video before. Thank you for posting, Barbara. The betrayal by the very lawmakers that he was protecting is unconscionable.
Of course, Marcy: tourists routinely defecate on the floor of the Rotunda and smear their feces all over the walls. Didn't you know? (the only way to deal with this stuff is to make fun of it)
Yes, indeed! I remember my last visit to the Capitol - I entered through a broken window after ramming a capitol policeman's plexiglass shield through said window.
I always suspected you had a violent streak.
😇
Enough political talk. What I want to know is how you were able to make an emoji your comment!
On my phone. There's no way to emoji directly in Substack. (Is emoji a verb? Did I just make it one?) 😁👍🤪
In Windows, you can insert an emoji in any text field by hitting the opt/start key at the same time as the colon/semicolon key. A little popup box will appear that will default to your most recently used emojis - but you can also type and it will filter to those that fit. Have fun, and good luck! 😎
Hmmm - I could do it until you asked how to do it.
Ha! I'm on my tablet. I have a little emoji face icon I press and voila! Emoji!💐🙂💐
🌺 Barbara, right click inside the text box. Up at the top is the "emoji app." Click on that to get your emoji symbols. 😉
🤣
Thanks for the smile y'all...much appreciated!
And tourists routinely cause $30,000,000 worth of damage. But they are normal folks right and they are white so of course they can’t be extremists.
A tourist visit consisting of zoo animals!
zoo animals would poop on the floor, yes, but they would not erect a gallows, chant about hanging the VP, or attack police with sticks and riot shields.
Really! Let's not defame zoo animals. 🐵🐯🐼🐗🦓🦄
Was that really done? Whenever I hear about deliberate poop smear, I always suspect it's something someone said to dehumanize that other.
I believe it was well documented and verified by the workers who had to clean the place up--who are mostly Black and people of color.
Plus one legislator.
Rep Andy Kim, D. NJ
Yes. It was really done.
Huh. Gross.
It is the ultimate sign of disrespect and degradation.
Guess I've been overprotected. I know autistic kids may do that, and prisoners driven nuts by their captivity, but otherwise I can't see the point. What would the equivalent be in words? (I don't mean to drag this out, I'm really curious.) Would it be something like this?: "You disrespect me, and so I degrade you by fouling your stuff!"
We could smell it all they way up here in MA. VT is farther away; lucky you, Becky!
Oh yeah...it’s been an number of years since I visited.
Uh, no. The closest comparison I can come to in my little world is the behavior of drunk football fans at an Oregon football game at Autzen Stadium between the Ducks and the Huskies...
What? What?
Such fools... Gaslighting at its worst.
Well my thought is if the Republican party splits and then there are 3 parties, that if the dems can stick together... they will stay in power. 3 parties notoriously split the vote and hurt the corresponding closest in ideology party, i.e, the Green party takes votes from the Democrats. I'm all for it, let the Rep burn. I think the "normal Republicans" like Cheney, are fine with the more liberal party taking over for a while as long as the Trumpers are crushed. What a crazy dystopian era we are living in.
Dems do not stick together. Manchin and Sinema are going to throw the 2022 and 2024 elections to the Republicans and the American experiment will be over.
Even slightly progressive organizations can never agree throughout history. The real Russian Revolution occurred in February 1917. The provisional government spent so much time squabbling among themselves that the Bolsheviks were able with little popular support, overthrow them and take over.
Little space is left in history for the well-intentioned Mensheviks who didn't appreciate the reality of the dangerous situation they were in.....blinded by their fascination for the convoluting discussions of arcane minutae of their "profound" ideological considerations...so content they were to be able to debate and not be killed by the Tsar's men that they achieved the inevitable.....they succeeded in killing off debate and they were killed themselves of by Lenin and the Bolsheviks.
Humorously addressed by J. Swift in Gulliver’s Travels.
We will just have to see how they vote. Biden has given them the cover, of bipartisan olive branches that they will need, to do the right thing.
PS anyone watch the movie Mank yet and pick up on all the similarities in references to Upton Sinclair and socialism? I have read Sinclair but never knew he ran for CA Governor. Ah history. Professor, I have become such a fan of history and what it can teach us!
I loved Mank!
Trump will have personal input on all Republican candidates for office come midterms.
My hope is that his choices will hold such extreme points of view as to cause most Independents to vote Democratic and moderate Republicans to either vote Democratic, of if they can’t stomach that idea, to stay home on Election Day.
By midterms, the mess at the border will be under control, unemployment will be down, inflation, hopefully, will be at an acceptable level and most Americans will see the benefits of the Biden administration.
Who knows, with any luck the former guy will be defending himself in court.
I think Cheney will form a shadow organization to counter Trump's endorsements. I don't think she will have significant impact, but it will be interesting to see how the Sanity Caucus does.
To answer your question, “Will today’s gesture be enough to make swing voters forget the party’s wholehearted embrace of the former president?” I would point to the fact that he chose to have his first Oval Office visit with Republican leaders, which revealed a lot about where President Biden’s priorities lie. It showed he wants to work with them. If you remember, it was almost four years ago today, that Trump had his first office visit with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. That’s who Trump wanted to work with. In hindsight, we could surmise that visit definitely went a long way in getting his base to embrace Russian disinformation. Whether it was “enough for swing voters”, I don’t know, but it was significant for Biden’s base and in sharp contrast to the treason we witnessed four years ago.