peggysue2
peggysue2's JournalThe Great Republican Abdication
Greg Sargent has a piece up today in the Washington Post. The above headline is as it appears above the article.
In my mind, those four words encapsulate what we’ve been witnessing over the last year but made particularly striking in the last few weeks. Gone are the criticisms of Bob Corker, he of adult-daycare fame. Forgotten are Jeff Flake’s comments on the floor of the Senate where he insisted he ‘would not be complicit or silent.’
And yet, complicity and silence is the Republican response to the Trumpster’s antics: his performance art, masquerading as serious immigration negotiation; his twisting in the wind regarding FISA’s renewal vote or his contentious attacks against our traditional institutions—the FBI, DOJ, any and all intelligence agencies. Not to mention his calls for private citizens to be thrown in jail.
Banana Republic, anyone?
Yesterday, I posted an OP on the release of The Foreign Relations Committee’s Report, specifically citing Putin’s asymmetric assault on democracies around the world and recommendations to defend ourselves and our allies from on-going and future threats.
Republicans remained silent, refusing to sign onto the report. Because . . . Trump. Because . . . Russia. And as Sargent contends, they’re hoping the report itself will be seen as a partisan document, evidence lending credence to the Trumpster’s whine: WITCH HUNT, WITCH HUNT.
Our national security as a country, as a people is being risked for the sake of political gamesmanship. This is a glaring, chilling example of Republican complicity, enabling the disgraceful and treacherous behavior/actions of Donald Trump. Even in light of Michael Woffe’s scathing expose’, Republicans have remained largely silent about the book’s details. Rather, they’ve spent the debate time trashing Wolff as a betrayer, a con-man. Irony is having a rebirth!
There’s more, of course.
Diane Feinstein’s release of the Fusion GPS testimony proves the GOP’s dueling narrative regarding Simpson and Steele was always false, that Republicans knew it, that Grassley and Graham certainly knew they were grandstanding and lying when they referred a criminal investigation request to the DOJ on Steele.
And yet, they did it anyway.
Which begs the question: Who are they protecting? The Donald, for whom few have respect? Vladimir Putin, who has made no secret of his antipathy toward the United States and our Allies?
Or themselves, the silent partners in How to Sell Your Soul and Pretend It Doesn’t Matter.
Sargent suggests the Foreign Relations Committee’s Report and Diane Feinstein going rogue is a new phase in the Democratic Party’s resistance and push-back to all things Trump/Russia.
For the sake of us all, I hope he’s right.
WAPO link here:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/01/10/the-great-republican-abdication/?utm_term=.8d0671a436b1
Just One More Thing to Put a Twist in the Trumpster's Panties
Democratic Senator Ben Cardin released a report from the Foreign Relations Committee detailing Two Decades of Putin’s Attacks on Democracy.
The Report includes more than 30 recommendations for the US and its Allies. Key points:
1. Mr. Trump must demonstrate presidential leadership in declaring US policy to deter Russian threats and attacks mobilizing our government in defense.
2. The US should provide assistance in concert with Allies in Europe, to build democratic institutions within those European and Eurasian states most vulnerable to Russian interference.
3. The United States and our Allies should freeze and expose Kremlin-linked dirty money.
4. The US Government should designate countries that employ malign influence to assault democracies . . . and subject them to a preemptive, escalative sanctions regime . . .
5. The US government and NATO should lead a coalition of countries committed to mutual defense against cyberattacks, to include the establishment of rapid action teams to defend allies under attack.
6. US and European governments should mandate that social media companies make public sources of funding for political advertisements along the same lines as TV channels and print media.
I took particular notice of “Mr. Trump” in the first recommendation. The Foreign Relations Committee is saying: ENOUGH ALREADY! Add this to the naming of a Boris Nemtsov Square adjacent to DC’s Russian Embassy and I can easily imagine this:
At 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
Happy days, Mr. Trump.
For more on the report:
https://www.foreign.senate.gov/press/ranking/release/cardin-releases-report-detailing-two-decades-of-putins-attacks-on-democracy
The Flunky Nominees Just Keep A-Coming
There’s something to be said about an Administration in meltdown, a group so toxic that no one with a real reputation or genuine set of professional credentials is willing to hop aboard the Runaway Train. This has been demonstrated repeatedly with a number of nominees, even the Trumpster’s legal team, 3rd tier at best.
And now we have yet another embarrassment: the candidate for leading the Indian Health Services Agency. Robert Weaver, a 39-year old member of Quapaw Tribe claims he is qualified to head the agency serving 2 million Native Americans in 26 hospitals and clinics with a budget of roughly $6 billion. His resume’ indicated a history of supervisory and management positions from 1997-2006 at St John’s Medical Center, Joplin, MO.
Only problem?
No one recalls the dude working at the hospital in anything beyond an entrance-level capacity. As for his employment records? Well, coincidentally both his personal records and those of the hospital were destroyed by the tornado that ripped through Joplin in 2011.
There’s also some question about his educational qualifications. As in, did he ever graduate from Southern Missouri State University with a major in International Business. Or why a business degree would substitute for a medical degree, a requirement for former Agency heads.
Oh, happy days!
These people really have no shame.
Full article from WJS can be found here:
https://www.wsj.com/articles/trump-nominee-to-lead-indian-health-services-faces-claims-of-misrepresentation-1515170335
Dumped Like A Dog. What Does Trump Have Against Dogs?
According to the Trumpster’s latest tweet storm, Sloppy Steve Bannon was dumped like a dog from his WH position, then begged and cried in the aftermath.
Variations on the Trumpster’s simile usage: Mitt Romney choked like a dog when he lost the 2012 election to Barack Obama. Keith Olbermann reminded me that Trump said Marco Rubio sweated like a dog during his infamous water-bottle rebuttal to President Obama’s STOU address.
Somewhat confounding, of course, since dogs don’t sweat.
There are other references to individuals begging for money—like a dog—though in all my doggy experiences I’ve never seen a canine begging for dollars. For attention, yes. For food, absolutely. Never cash. Presumably Kristin Stewart cheated on Robert Pattinson . . . like a dog.
Really?
Mr Smart, Stable Genius appears to be hung up on the dog analogies without understanding the nature of dogs. Or anything else.
Puppies are loyal to a fault, seeking the love and approval of even the most despicable human beings. Hitler loved his dogs and they loved him right back. Dogs are devoid of judgments about their owners. Whether you’re sick, old, beautiful or downright ugly, fat or thin, rich or poor, your dog doesn’t care and will adore you regardless. Bad breath or BO? No biggie because any dog worth his/her salt will outdo you in that department. Whatever smalls bad or unusual, dogs generally love. Because it’s all about the nose.
So what is the Trumpster’s real beef with the dog world?
Well, I’ve read he’s a germaphobe. He might think dogs are dirty, germ-laden creatures invading his space. Of course, the truth is that we’re all swarming with bacteria, actually share the world, a symbiotic relationship with our unseen but very prevalent cousins. Try reading “I Contain Multitudes, the Microbes Within Us” by Ed Yong for a wakeup tutorial.
But then, The Donald would need to read a book, believe in science, catch up to the Enlightenment.
Dogs love unconditionally, demonstrate joy with complete and utter abandon. Anyone coming home after work (or even a 15-minute absence) to their dog knows what I’m talking about. All a pooch asks in return is a square meal, a roof to share, some gentle pats on the head and a scratch behind the ears. These traits are obviously foreign to the Trumpster and his ilk who demand obedience and obeisance in all things, no questions asked. I can easily imagine The Donald believing that dogs are suckers, inferior creatures serving no useful purpose beyond objects to be kicked, choked, cheated on and/or dumped. His sons appear to think that animals in the wild exist for their own amusement and blood sport.
Here’s a newsflash for The Donald and his clan:
You can’t pay, intimidate or threaten anyone to to love you more than a dog loves on his or her worst day. And Americans love their dogs right back. So watch it on the inane dog references.
Because words matter. And your words could end up biting you in the ass. Like a pack of dogs. Or their irritated, disgusted owners.
Btw, I don’t know if Bob Mueller owns a dog but he does have a ‘pit bull’ named Andrew Weissmann, a prosecutor with expertise in bringing down N.Y Mob bosses, Enron crooks and more recently oversaw that pre-dawn raid of Paul Manafort’s Virginia home. The Trumpster may disrespect the dog world in general but he and his enablers do fear the breed-specific instincts of Weissmann, his persistent, never-let-go prosecutorial skills.
Oh, the irony!
Our Post-Literate Presidency
The stunning reveals of Michael Wolff’s expose’ is the center point of nearly every article I’ve read this morning. But none was quite as shocking to me than Wolff’s statement here:
Trump didn’t read. He didn’t really even skim. If it was print, it might as well not exist. Some believed that for all practical purposes he was no more than semiliterate .?.?. . Some thought him dyslexic; certainly his comprehension was limited. Others concluded that he didn’t read because he didn’t have to, and that in fact this was one of his key attributes as a populist. He was postliterate—total television.
Let that sink in—The Donald is ‘postliterate—total television.
Of course, that factoid begs the question: exactly what is the Trumpster, Tweeter extraordinaire, watching on television? Where is he getting his ‘facts’ and slant?
Matthew Gertz over at Politico asked the same question. All these tweet storms, the rat-a-tat-tat nature of the Trumpsters’ concerns, rages, perpetual attacks appear erratic and all over the board. Unless you check Fox News programming, which Gertz did over a 3-month period, only to find that tweet after tweet could be lined up with the networks ‘beef-of-the-moment.’
I’m sure a lot of people would say, Duh. We knew that already. Where’s the surprise?
Here’s Gertz explaining:
Everyone has a theory about Trump’s hyper-aggressive early morning tweetstorms. Some think they are a deliberate ploy the president uses to distract the press from his administration’s potential weaknesses, or to frame the public debate to his liking. Others warn his rapid shifts from one topic to another indicate mental instability.
But my many hours following the president’s tweets for Media Matters for America, the progressive media watchdog organization, have convinced me the truth is often much simpler: The president is just live-tweeting Fox, particularly the network’s Trump-loving morning show, Fox & Friends.
So, here we have a man installed in the WH, handed the extraordinary powers of the Executive Branch of the United States and his working knowledge comes from a propaganda-driven network blasting out ideological nonsense 24/7. The man sits in front of the TV—he has three in his bedroom. He consumes Fox-laden news—probably has ‘fake news’ CNN and MSNBC running in the background—while wolfing down cheeseburgers. Then he makes decisions that ultimately affect the entire world. As Gertz describes it: "we’ve been experiencing a continuous Trump/Fox feedback loop for months."
But certainly the Trumpster has advisors to tap, experts to outline, analyze and discuss the weighty issues of the world, you might ask?
Michael Wolff speaks to that:
But not only didn’t he read, he didn’t listen. He preferred to be the person talking. And he trusted his own expertise—no matter how paltry or irrelevant—more than anyone else’s. What’s more, he had an extremely short attention span, even when he thought you were worthy of attention.
This Know-Nothing, the post-literate Trump, trusts his own take/opinion over anyone else’s. And this is one of his key attributes as a populist because according to the spin, educated men or women are not to be admired or emulated. Their very education, their intellectual natures mark them as members of the dreaded ‘elite.’
Instead what we have squatting in the White House is someone arrogantly ignorant, an entitled asshole and flimflam artist all rolled into the shape of a human being.
Hooray for us!!!
Is there any doubt this creature needs to be ejected from the WH, sooner rather than later, or that the Republican Party never be permitted to pretend they were hoodwinked, hijacked, taken for a ride?
Never Forget. Never Forgive.
Excerpts for Wolff and Gertz here:
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/michael-wolffs-withering-portrait-of-president-donald-trump
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/01/05/trump-media-feedback-loop-216248
Rush Limbaugh Defends The Trumpsters My Nuclear Button is Bigger than Yours Strategy
Of course, he did. According to Rush, Trump is a brilliant strategist, fighting lunacy with lunacy and leaving Kim Jong-un confused and disoriented. Which is just what we want for a dictator with nuclear capabilities.
Including our own.
During his show on Tuesday, Rush declared:
“Trump’s brilliant. He knows who he’s dealing with and how to reach them. And if you’re dealing with lunatics and if you’re dealing with the insane, throw it back at ’em. You know, throw a little unpredictability and lunaticism back at them. And it discombobulates ’em — and in fact it is. Kim Jong-un is confused. Kim Jong-un doesn’t know how to deal with Trump.”
It’s hard to keep up with the daily crazy, which I believe is a feature, not a bug. How better to keep the public from reacting to re-opening all continental waters to off-shore drilling. Because we’ve all gotten over the Deepwater Horizon disaster; too bad the Gulf hasn’t. Or Session reneging on the burgeoning pot industry or one more DOJ investigation into Hillary Clinton’s emails because Eye of the Newt says these departments must be obedient or the Electoral Fraud Commission being disbanded but the data collected being turned over to ICE, etc., etc
Our last 24 hours has been totally consumed by Michael Wolff’s tell-all book detailing West Wing shenanigans. The book will be released tomorrow, four days early. Timing is everything! Who knows what’s been percolating behind the scenes? Maybe the fact Pakistan is turning to China since Trump has called for pulling any and all security funding to the country. Who needs ‘em right? It’s America First. America Alone. America Isolated in the Trumpster’s paranoia. If you don’t hop on the Trump train you won’t be invited to the party. As many UN members found out last week.
Rush refers to the Trumpster’s posture towards North Korea situation as the Madman’s Theory of foreign policy. David Frum has keyed it as foreign policy for three-year olds. I favor the latter description although it could be foreign policy for the forever distracted. Which could prove lethal not only to the Oval Office but the world itself. Then even a Rush Limbaugh echo chamber would be obliterated, forever silenced.
Oh, happy days! 2018 is off to a rip-roaring start.
Stephen Bannon: Despicable Me Eyes the WH
Vanity Fair ran an eye-popping (if not headache inducing) profile on the inimitable Steve Bannon, chief arsonist and editor of Brietbart News. Bannon describes himself as a ‘revolutionary,’ who is now eying the prospects of a . . . presidential run in 2020.
Before we all fall over laughing, I would suggest everyone read the VF piece because in doing so I suspect you’ll come away with something akin to my own take.
Steve Bannon is a very smart operator who—unlike Trump—is well-educated, politically adept and media/propaganda savvy. He knows how to move crowds despite his staggering loss in the Alabama/Roy Moore debacle. And he has been ginning up support both in the U.S. and around the world to sell his brand of American nationalism.
Oddly enough, he’s using the Obama strategy to gain a grassroots network, a new coalition of libertarians, evangelicals, gun rights activists and union members, those blue-collar workers left behind by globalization. He’s been effectively fanning the flames of victimhood in reverse—the unloved, unschooled white guys, put upon by modernity and immigration and who knows what else. Like all good revolutionaries, he is fixing his sights on The Establishment, the moneyed elites (the source of all evil) and pumps his ideology as a cure to all ills.
Snake Oil Salesman. But a clever, articulate snake oil salesman.
Think about a competent, strategic and take-no-prisoners’ version of the Trumpster and you’ll get a feel for the real danger of a Steve Bannon. His brand of leadership is lethal, even more deadly that what we’re experiencing now.
So, we may cheer Bannon’s desire to rid the world of Paul Ryan, Mitch McConnell and their various aides and acolytes. But make no mistake: this is careful what you wish for territory.
Remember the snake in the poem/lyric that Trump waxed eloquent (well, almost eloquent) about? The snake ultimately kills its caretaker, reminding her that she always knew He was a snake. Trump called the story ‘beautiful.’
With Steve Bannon? This would be a hyena coming in for the kill, yipping and shrieking with laughter. Because tearing things up is what Steve Bannon and his mini-clones are all about.
We must stay awake, always. Because the barbarians are grouping.
Vanity Fair link here:
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/12/bannon-for-president-trump-kushner-ivanka
Kasparov Speaks, Again
When we inquire about the Trump/Putin connection or think about what the Russians hoped to achieve through The Donald’s installation into the WH, I can think of no one better to give an opinion than Garry Kasparov. Why? Because Kasparov lived this—from inside Russia—and managed to survive. Certainly his celebrity status as a Chess Master gave him a protective shield for a number of years, but when he became an active dissident, life took a turn into unpleasant territory.
Kasparov was recently interviewed at WBUR’s Here & Now: link for the podcast and summary provided below.
Kasparov says a number of interesting things, issues we’ve been discussing here on DU: the internal attack on democratic institutions, how America is existing in a gray area at the moment where the sowing of doubt about the country, elections and institutions is quite deliberate, the preface to every dictator’s playbook.
He’s also quite clear that to beat the budding autocrat/authoritarian, a populace must have a long-term strategy, not simply a sharp tactical fix if citizens want democratic ideals to prevail. And that we should always choose democratic institutions over any particular personality. He feels this is where his fellow Russians went wrong, choosing Yeltsin over institutional integrity.
In addition, he said something elsewhere that made my ears prick. This is with the whole Roy Moore/evangelical stuff in mind:
When religion is in service to power, it’s always about the power, not the religion.
After reading some of Moore’s comments this morning, Kasparov’s comment really jumped out
Btw, another good podcast was an interview led by Phreet Bharara with Kasparov, Putin, Pawns and Propaganda. Link also provided.
http://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2017/12/20/trump-white-house-garry-kasparov
https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/putin-pawns-and-propaganda-garry-kasparov/
We Are Watching the Pod People Take Over
Paul Ryan (or his facsimile) can stand in front of a podium and say that what Republicans have accomplished was possible only because of the Trumpster's 'exquisite presidential leadership?' Senator Hatch can say that this is evidence of the best president in a generation, perhaps the best president evah?
We can discount Mike Pence; he was always a mindless clone hoping for his own moment in the sun (spelled Oval Office). And all these other sycophants smiling like goons at the punch bowl.
Think about that: exquisite presidential leadership. Silent translation: he shut up and didn't fuck us up.
Best president in a generation, maybe ever in the history of the United States? That would exclude Washington, Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, etc.
Donald Trump, King of the Clown Car.
Shame on these people. They've sold the entire country out, given away the store to greed and political expedience and have the gall to stand up and repeat Trumpian-size lies and hyperbole to the country, to the world, to themselves.
They all need a good dose of tar and feathers. If not worse!
While We Weren't Watching
Mineral Man had a satirical piece up in an earlier thread about Republicans secretly planning for an epidemic to solve the Debt Problem, a problem which will now mushroom after the GOP’s genius Tax Deform Bill and the impending healthcare crisis.
Satire always has a cornerstone of truth.
What is not satire is the announcement yesterday that the Federal funding ban on producing deadly viruses had been lifted.
What could possibly go wrong??
You may recall the ban was put into place after a public outcry regarding several missteps/accidents at NIH labs: one involving lab workers being exposed to anthrax, another where a deadly strain of virus was shipped between laboratories and the revelation that scientists in the program were working to develop a lethal strain of bird flu.
Yikes!
Ostensibly, all this work in mutating viruses to their more deadly relatives is a proactive measure in order to develop effective vaccines. Better to be prepared for an outbreak, the argument goes, then be caught defenseless if and when a large swath of the population is infected.
That’s the theory, at least.
My logical, rational mind can embrace the research idea because we know from medical literature that we’re merely a few steps away from a full-blown pandemic. Of some sort.
The Spanish flu after WWI killed between 20-40 million people worldwide. Some medical historians claim 50 million or more. It’s estimated half of the patients died from pneumonia, complicated by the high incidence of TB. This was before antibiotics, of course. But then, there’s the depressing news that our antibiotics are not as effective due to overuse, which has allowed bacteria to mutate in an increasingly deadly fashion.
So my rational mind says research = good; zombie apocalypse = bad.
But then, my more imaginative, suspicious mind conjures up dark scenarios where viruses are mishandled, accidents happen and/or the research to benefit mankind turns sinister. Watching Netflix’s recent series Wormwood didn’t help quell these darker thoughts (fascinating series, btw).
As it turns out, my layman’s misgivings are shared by a number of researchers, people who seem fully cognizant of risks vs. benefits. The good news in the New York Times’ article and several other publications is that a series of review processes have been put into place to mitigate further mishaps and/or dangers. And discussion continues between scientists about the merits of the research and how findings should be handled (not a good idea, for instance, to hand out recipes for enhanced viruses to the general public. Ya think?).
I’ll probably continue to rock back and forth between my logical mind and my zombie apocalypse mindset on this issue. The research moratorium hasn’t been given much playtime because of the Trump drama du jour and most recent Tax monstrosity. Still, it’s something to be aware of because lots can happen while we’re all distracted at the 3-ring circus.
I suspect that’s a feature, not a bug.
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Name: PegGender: Female
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