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The aim is clear--subvert the power of any Democrat in the executive branch while looking to install a dictator. They have lost any claim to calling themselves Americans.

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Behind the goody-two-shoes, Howdy Doody demeanor of Johnson is found an evil surpassing all belief. He is a Christian in name only, as his actions belie everything his purported savior preached. His moral stench is as ripe as T💩p’s foetid diaper. Hakeem Jeffries needs to do an about face and disassociate the Democratic Party from dealing fairly with this wolf in wolf’s clothing. Nothing good will come of trying to work with this Republican traitor.

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I agree. Mike Johnson is a diabolical man and a grave threat to democracy. He defines the word hypocrite.

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He’s not diabolical, at least on his own he’s not. After he was pulled away from the MAGA extremists and into an intelligence briefing, he pushed for Ukraine funding.

But when he’s in the midst of Machiavellians such as Steven Miller, Steve Bannon, the orange gas-man himself, and others, he is easily co-opted. In short, his worldview is not, as he once said, found in the Bible. His worldview is found in that of those closing in on him.

In shirt, he’s just an ho-hum guy with a lot of personal financial problems in an important position, which makes him vulnerable to the likes of the Voldemorts of the world.

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Him and his hypocritical wife want to make the US into a theocracy.

For that alone, I consider him diabolical, but coupled with the fact that he with held critical aid from Ukraine for over 6 months while the Russians killed thousands of Ukrainians further cements his evil intentions.

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Jennifer, I'm not convinced that the intelligence briefing motivated him to push for Ukraine funding. I think it's likely that Hakeem Jeffries and the Democrats let Johnson know that they would vote to have him removed unless he brought up the vote to fund Ukraine.

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Additionally, I think trump told him it was "okay" so "it" would keep johnson in a position to help said "it."

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Johnson fully intends to steal the next election from Drumpf. He became aware the only way to stay in position to do that was to fund Ukraine aid. He's biding his time.

He needs to be in prison, along with all the other election denying thugs.

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I agree! The man was chosen for his weaknesses, his lack of experience and character. He has no business leading the House of Representatives, much less our nation. Second in line to the presidency is horrifying.

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He’s not weak. He’s the architect of J6.

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Mike Johnson is a dangerous fool. I wouldn't trust that little Dobby look alike as far as I could pitch his wife abusing ass.

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Wife-abusing? I’ve missed something.

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His religious misogyny is abuse

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His advocacy of Ukraine support would have been commendable if he'd done it almost a year ago. But he didn't. He fiddled and diddled as long as he possibly could and then, eventually and grudgingly, called a vote, He's not a good guy no matter who he's with.

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No Republican is “good” at this point. Vote everyone of them OUT for the next decade to clean house.

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Weak people, and by weak I mean he’s not the brightest bulb in the shed and that makes him dangerously malleable to a MAGA manipulator, are just a disaster when it comes time to make a decision on important things (eg., Ukraine, for example) …. He’ll never be a guy to do the right thing, to take an ethical stand if it means putting himself out there. He’s a pack animal…cause it’s safer in the pack than outside it. But he’s not the kind of guy plotting how he himself can shoot some guy in fifth avenue without losing any votes. He’s not brave enough for that.

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Jennifer, I believe that he cooperated with the Dems because he had no choice. MTG was gunning for him and he believed that the Democrats would assume he'd seen the light, so his caving was disingenuous. They went along and got what they needed. I doubt that he'll get a warm reception in the future.

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Hmmm …. I doubt the Dems ever thought he’d seen the light. They were desperate to get money for Ukraine.

As for his bring between the Dems and MTG: that’s part of my point …. A diabolical person is someone who is strategically manipulating his/her environment to achieve some cruel, immoral end. I just don’t see his decision as strategic: he had two choices forced on him after trying to avoid making any decision for months. He’s the kind of guy in an office who just tries to lie low so he can keep his job. If he were diabolical, he would be strategically crafting the environment to get what he wants. If he were a strategic thinker he would NOT be in so much personal debt …. That level of debt suggests to me that he not only wants to keep his job but also MUST keep his job to stay out of bankruptcy. If he lost the speakership, he’s lose face in his home district and likely get voted out. … loss of face, especially for men, is huge in the MAGA world.

So now to stay in MAGA graces, he MUST show up at the courthouse where the orange gasman is on trial for paying off a porn star to hide a sexual tryst from voters. He will now find himself covered in Trump’s slime. That’s not a sign of strategy. That’s a sign of desperation. When his wife (who counsels the desperate with medieval humoral theory) gets a big job with a corporation, you’ll know he’s financially desperate enough to take financial bribes. He’s just taken a political bribe.,

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Jennifer, all of your points are exactly what I was suggesting, so we're on the same page. I heard someone say recently that Johnson "seems to be such a nice, sincere, fellow," and I stifled the urge to smack her! His aw-shucks, bespectacled demeanor is concocted to disarm, and if people aren't paying attention, they're shocked to learn that it's all a sham.

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He worked with Dems to save his ass, i.e. speakership.

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No. Johnson believes in the. Literal truth of the Bible which puts “God’s law” above man’s. And that is a death treat to the kind of government/society most of us would choose to live in. Don’t even consider throwing your vote away this time around.

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I agree with you 👍Helen!!!

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The fundamentalist defending the man who dallied with a porn star while his wife was home with their infant son. Need we say more?

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I deliver Meals on Wheels a couple of days each week. One lady always pleads with me to pray for America. Sometimes, it's hard to get away from her as she is prone to prattle. Today, she said she doesn't watch the news, then asked me if I liked Trump. I said no. She said God told her Trump was to be the head of the church in America.

Today from another newsletter: "29%. The percentage of U.S. voters who say they would be less likely to vote for Trump if he’s convicted of a crime in the hush money trial, according to a March 2024 poll from Quinnipiac."

Why still on the fence? Don't these voters already have enough information to know that DJT should never be allowed near the White House again?

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Did you point out to the woman that Trump was fooling around with other women when his wife was pregnant and then when she was home with their infant son, and ask her if she really thinks that God would want her to support such a person? I realize that's not likely to work. Perhaps if a preacher or someone in her family whom she respects would speak to her and point out that Jesus would almost certainly prefer Biden to Trump--maybe in spite of the abortion thing--she would begin to think. But probably no--that would be too much work. We can be heartened by the thought that people like that woman cannot elect a president.

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She claims to have been a missionary from Germany for 50 years. I asked her if she knew what they say about wolves in sheep's clothing. She said no, so I wondered how much she knows about the Bible or if perhaps she's senile. But I assured her I would keep praying for American.

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I told her in German that I lived in Germany for 3 years 40 years ago and, after checking, I only got the last word wrong. ;)

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Did you forget that he is the new Moses and rewriting the commandments.

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I thought he was the new Jesus, or is that Trump? Or did you mean Trump is the new Moses?

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Apparently his speech was written by TFG. He was seen editing them in court while Michael cohen was testifying.

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Which would violate the gag order, if it could be proved.

But really, if you were Lil' Mikey, would you let Trump edit anything?

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Nope, that about covers it.

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Say the name out loud. White Christian Nationalist. Fool me once. Shame on you. Fool me twice. Shame on me. Dictators everywhere are milking our political confusion for all it’s worth.

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He studied acting. Here’s a March profile in New Yorker. Mike Johnson, the First Proudly Trumpian Speakerhttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/03/25/mike-johnson-profile

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That’s interesting. Trump also wanted to be an actor. Two wannabe thespians seeking the death of democracy. How dramatic can you get?

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Derek, I doubt that anyone here is surprised at Johnson's behavior. He's trying to re-ingratiate himself with the Orange Menace and his minions and hoping that EmpTGreene will relent. We all know that eventually he'll need another lifeline from the Democrats, but he spent his capital and hopefully his cooperation won't be needed in the future. I want to see them all crash and burn, and I await the day when Hakeem Jeffries is holding the gavel.

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But this is the “ new Christian “

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No. This is Christofacism.

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No. This is Christian Nationalism. Christianity in name only. Old Testament eye for an eye stuff. God is watching you.

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Next time Sporktoe calls to vacate the Speakership, Mr. Jeffries needs tb very hard to deal with in order to save the Malignant Moses from his own Caucus.

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I agree.These people are clearly working against our current POTUS and are aiding the effort to install an authoritarian dictator.They are pro-Putin in every sense of the word. I don’t know about you but Holy Mike being 2nd in line for the presidency scares the bejesus out of me.

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Don’t be scared. Fight back. Fear is a form of paralysis.

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We've seen this before. Listen to Rachel Maddows pod cast Ultra. The difference today is that the white supremacy/ultra rich/Republicans have spent the decades since Reagan stacking the deck with ultra right judges, law enforcement, school boards, etc.

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Excellently stated. This is a fear we should all share.

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Exactly so.

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and to do so in the short amount of time remaining until the election, (while holding the voters hostage in the mean time,) just in case they lose.

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David - they are desperate. We need not fall for this charade.

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"... they [Republicans] are desperate. We need not fall for this charade."

I would suggest Republicans are more determined than desperate. They have taken two lessons from the Civil Rights movement. 1. The initial importance of uniting at the ballot box to take power. And 2. the later notion of "by any means necessary."* Of course this latter, while appropriating the left wing phrase, also perpetuates the right wing culture of physical violence. Initially adopted by the GOP first through their Southern Strategy pandering to the KKK and later by Republican embrace of militia movements (such as the Bundys) violently defying the Federal government. And as epitomized by Jan 6 and personified by Josh Hawley fist bumping insurrectionists on his way to employing congressional procedures to overturn the election results.

* 1. Voting was central to the early civil rights movement which embraced peaceful protest. When state forces responded with violence - perpetrated by state officials who also permitted violence by other racists - a majority of Americans joined in supporting civil rights protections for African Americans. And LBJ signed into law Federal protections.

2. "The English phrase [By Any Means Necessary] entered American civil rights culture through a speech given by Muslim minister Malcolm X at the Organization of Afro-American Unity's founding rally on 28 June 1964 in Manhattan, New York." In the speech, he made a disavowal of violence but was sufficiently ambiguous about how and when "initiating" violence was justified that the previously 'clean-cut' image strategically adopted by the early Southern civil rights organizers was replaced by the Che Guevara style 'berets and bandoliers' adopted with the ascent of relatively more privileged Northern raised organizers like Stokley Carmichael.

Today, this dichotomy can also be seen in the campus Gaza protests - split between peaceful and violent protestors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_any_means_necessary

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Thank you for this, lin•

"...determined rather than desperate." I think you're chillingly accurate.

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ThankYou Ally House. I know that you are among the good cadre here who realize how much work we have to do for a Democratic victory.

Realize - in understanding and in making real the work in your efforts.

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determined and desperate! they have no policy that the majority want and will stop at nothing to get trump or snother lackey ( Haley) back in power

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I don't think Republicans are particularly desperate. Yes

their platform doesn't appeal to the majority, but they are close enough. Throw in that: they effectively have the entire Republican party and right wing apparatus all in for Trump; they will unite at the ballot box to take power; they have a myriad of voter suppression programs initiated since 2020; and they have a significant number of Americans - urged on by Stein, RFKJR et al - ready to elect Trump by treating voting as an individual exercise in personal expression. Republicans can already taste victory - and have Project 2025 ready to transform the entire Executive branch into the extension of an autocratic lunatic.

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Eyes open and brains engaged.

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Annabel Ascher,

Do these Republican thugs think they will live forever? What kind of country are we allowing them to create for the future for our children and grandchildren....for our friends throughout the world who are anxious themselves as they experience the rise of authoritarianism around them? I am so upset with myself for trusting this political party for so long. They are empty power-hungry fakes.

We cannot blame this on others throughout this country...throughout this world....this is on all of us who love and value freedom and a persons "right to choose"....the right to freely vote without fear, the freedom to choose the books we want to read.

As a Christian, Jesus taught us to love one another as He loved us and gave His life for us. That love is rare to see in the religious Republican communities. He loves us where we are in life...He does not ask us to pretend we are someone we are not so that we can "join the club" and mindlessly agree on everything and vote the same way!!! We are each given minds, gifts, personalities....some mild , some of us wild and crazy, funny characters. His love changes our ability to love others if we are truly HIS. Why???? Because if you are a true believer , you are so overwhelmed by His presence in your life ...by the fact that He loves you and has accepted you raw and making bad choices...lost...maybe a criminal. etc. unconditionally and pours that love and forgiveness in us ....so much that we cannot hold it and so we are compelled to "love our fellowman" NOT JUDGE EVERYONE ELSE!!!

If the Republican Party is full of Christians, then I belong on another planet!!!!! They will each have to stand before God and if I were them I would be shaking in my shoes...unless Trump has become their God.....

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Emily you said it all. trump has made himself a god. Even some of his adds are so offensive, he makes me ill🤮. I prayed over my ballot for the first time. Please GOD protect us🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

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Emily, may I respectfully suggest your third paragraph be rewritten to: "As a Jew, Jesus taught us..."?

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Yes, Mary…you may!!!👍❤️

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They are all traitors.

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So true and tired of dems just sit idly by when all this is happening. Dems stand up and fight for us!

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Democrats' biggest mistake was fearing Bernie Sanders more than they feared Donald Trump. 😪

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It’s a full court insurrection now.

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Bruce Glick: True.

Your short statement catches a lot.

Well said.

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We’ll need to adjust a lot when they win. Eventually they will, one State at a time:(

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Don't put up with it! Fight. Register Democrats -- save the world.

https://www.fieldteam6.org/

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Tonight Robert Hubbell is speaking at a Field Team 6 event called “How you can turn your dollars in Democrats!”

Sign up here: https://www.mobilize.us/ft6/event/622159/

https://www.mobilize.us/ft6/event/622159/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

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Thanks

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"We’ll need to adjust a lot when they win. Eventually they will, one State at a time:( "

Whew. Sheesh. Yikes. Giving up already. I hope by "adjusting" you mean upping our game to push back against clerical corporate fascism - as so many are even in 'red states.'

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Knock it off. Realism in this case when billionaires, corporations, foreign entities, and a third of the countries voters would burn us down to get what they want isn’t negativity. State by state they’re destroying education and fixing it so women will be bed bound between F-ing a husband and whelping his spawn. Kinda hard to vote that way. Those mo-fo’s are playing the long game. I don’t feel like we’re doing enough to stop the spread of this cancer and not fast enough. Low education, 🐂 💩 religions, and corrupt media are taking its toll.

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There's already an antidote being administered in one state at a time. It began in Alaska, a red state full of independents. They stopped Sarah Palin from winning their single house seat.

Nevada followed suit in 2022, and the deep red state of Idaho is on track to approve the reform in November. The campaign is being led by anti-Trump Republicans. There are a half dozen more states working on some type of electoral reform this year and others in the pipeline.

Yes, don't give up hope.

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Brief, to the point,clear and eloquent. Thank you from someone who struggles with all these qualities.

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Annabell Ascher: No WONDER I read your postings regularly.

You state it so clearly, so truthfully in two, short sentences.

I concur on all points.

Here, here!

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