Category Archives: GOP

Trump’s Brand is Con.

So don’t be a sucker.

“Don’t Be a Sucker” was designed to warn pre-internet moviegoers about the dangers of being taken in by a populist demagogue. It’s seventy five years old, so it barely predates Don the Con. It also perfectly encapsulates a what he is, and always has been, a dyed-in-the-wool conman.

However, the fact that he is a Russian-backed conman puts him in another category. He and his family are not just in it for their personal gain (in the form of Russian hotels, and even possibly huge shares of Rosneft. 

Go down this incomplete list of pro-Russia actions Don the Con has taken in direct contravention to American commitments and interests:

  1. Exiting the Iran deal. Oil price rises, American influence declines.
  2. Praising strongmen: Duterte, Erdogan, Kim, Orban have all been praised by Trump, making Putin’s mob-run government seem legitimate and normal. American style democratic norms have been criticized as dumb and weak. How is it in our best interests to criticize the form of government we use and promote while praising an adversarial system?
  3. Attempting to lift Russia Sanctions for seizing Crimea: the sovereignty of a country is a primary tenet of the rule of law. Nevertheless, Russia’s seizure of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula doesn’t seem to be sanction-worthy for Trump. Our NATO allies depend on this precept for their survival! The negative impact on our NATO alliance is extreme and this rewards Russia’s aggression.
  4. Korean military exercises: our armed forces and South Korea’s require regular cooperative exercises to maintain readiness. We have gained neither security nor specific commitments from North Korea. But Russia has gained a reduced military readiness stance by U.S. forced near its borders.

This man is not in office for you, people like you, or even people you like. His policies on trade directly harm his own narrow constituency. His  rhetoric has consistently targeted minorities and his slogan itself is dredged from the darkest parts of American history. He’s in office for himself and for Putin (to save himself). He came into office in violation of his oath of office on day one. His actions and the actions of a still rising number of convicted flunkies indicate he’s guilty, psychologically duplicitous and fully-compromised. This cannot end well, but it will end. Let your conscience be your guide and most of all …

Don’t be a sucker!

Comey on Trump

“Donald Trump’s presidency threatens much of what is good about this country.”

Considering the content of this book, the investigation into Trump and his obstruction of justice, and the rumored pardoning of Scooter Libby who was himself convicted for obstruction, perjury and lying to investigators, any supporter or member of the GOP has got to ask themselves just exactly what level of criminality they are comfortable with. You don’t get a pass for merely liking GOP policies, because civic duty now requires collective action to support our system of government and the rule of law. The RNC has made its decision already. They are going to the mats against the Department of Justice.

The Justice Department will win this and you will forever be tainted as siding with autocracy, just as an FYI. You will be outed as not such a fan of democratic processes or even really a fan of civil discourse and civic pride in institutions.

The GOP attacks voting, a Signature Move Towards Authoritarianism

Just was informed by my dad about this:

“In a little-noticed 6-3 vote today, the House Administration Committee voted along party lines to eliminate the Election Assistance Commission, which helps states run elections and is the only federal agency charged with making sure voting machines can’t be hacked. The EAC was created after the disastrous 2000 election in Florida as part of the Help America Vote Act to rectify problems like butterfly ballots and hanging chads. (Republicans have tried to kill the agency for years.) The Committee also voted to eliminate the public-financing system for presidential elections dating back to the 1970s. This cannot be tolerated, especially at a time when our voting systems are still under attack. Its criminal.

This puts the function of the EAC under the Office of Management and Budget, aka, Mike Mulvaney’s plaything.
Director of the Office of Management and Budget