I've asked this here previously, but no one really knows the answer.

It seems to me that many Republican voters are mentally challenged. And while some of their elected officials are dumber than dirt, others know better, are playing along in order to cling to power, and they have a "fuck the consequences" attitude.

All too often, the answer to my OP question is: "Trump." Yeah, perhaps among some of those voters "Trump" may be the answer. But the Republican Party was an established collection of world class pricks long before the orange mound of shit rode down his golden escalator.

I often wonder if Republicans are the same species as the rest of us. Are they missing some gene that is standard in normal, sane human beings? Beats me.

But what I do know is that, next to climate change and Covid-19, the Republican Party and their voters are malicious, uncaring people and they are a deadly danger to all of us.

And they're not going away.

I'm having trouble distinguishing Germany 1933 from America 2021. The countless similarities should come as no surprise to anyone who knows what happened in Germany in that era, and has been paying attention to our plunge into hell in recent years.

I'm almost convinced that American democracy is on its death bed. And it may be a drawn out death that will take place during and after the next two elections. The Democrats, who seemingly hold all the levers of power, appear to be incapable of preventing it. -- Not because of incompetence, but because of the viciousness of the Republican onslaught, and the fact that not enough people are fully aware of the peril.

I hope I'm wrong about this and some kind of "salvation" is at hand. But if it is, I'm damned if I can see it.

Paying attention to the news is both exhausting and depressing. Covid, medieval Afghan thugs, medieval Republican thugs, Manchin and Sinema, increasing climate disasters, and so, so much more.

I suppose there are a couple of bright spots like Biden's Herculean effort to evacuate Afghans in peril, and Nancy Pelosi's ability to pull together the Democratic caucus. But for the most part, the world, at the moment, seems to be mostly doom and gloom.

Do you suppose humanity is a mistake? If some sort of "Supreme Being" exists, would He/She/It have created this? And if there is no supreme universal intelligence, are we just random atoms floating around in an indifferent vacuum? (Full disclosure: I'm a devout agnostic.)

Yesterday evening, I had a couple of drinks, turned off the TV and sat around for a while wondering if "God" was some kind of eternal version of Donald Trump. Then I picked up a good book I've been reading and escaped into a comfortable parallel universe.

Governor DeSantis tried to forbid masks in schools by threatening to withhold state funds from any school that didn't pay attention to his insanity. Palm Beach County didn't pay attention.

PBC now requires all students to be masked, unless they have a note from their parents to the contrary. Good for them. The county votes mostly Democratic and isn't about to pay any attention to Republicans who are trying to sicken or murder children.

I think that Trump suspended all White House Press Corp roasts during the time he infested the White House. My guess is the only thing that he burst into laughter over was watching January 6th unfold.

Conservatives are the butt of many comedian's jokes. But can anyone name one conservative comedian who's actually funny? Or any conservative comedian at all?

Governor Ron DeSantis has declared no masks in schools and will withhold state funds from any school that requires masks.

You just know this prick is vaccinated, yet he's discouraging anyone else from getting a shot or wearing a mask.

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE???

DeSantis doesn't give a rat's ass who lives, dies, or becomes radically sick. I really wonder if Republicans are descended from the same species as the rest of us.

Evidently, climate change, life-saving vaccines, and reality in general are all "fake news" and "hoaxes" to today's "Flat Earth believers" who call themselves Republicans. Seems that the wealthy owners of the GOP will order their bought and paid for politicians to do and say anything to get and hold power, and keep the peasants in line. And if ignoring science is what it takes, then that's what they'll do.

Nothing new here. In the 17th century, the church pretty much controlled the lives of many Europeans and they had themselves an Inquisition to keep it that way. Perhaps their most famous victim was Galileo who almost blew up church dogma by stating that the sun didn't revolve around the Earth. Being a scientist in a "flat Earth" world isn't the safest profession (as Dr. Fauci is learning through all the threats on his life).



What's frightening is the possibility that our government could end up in the hands of today's "Inquisitors" which would seem likely to doom our freedoms, our democracy, and eventually, the survival of human life on a ruined planet.

Dinosaurs didn't choose extinction. On the other hand, our species has choices and has never missed an opportunity to make the wrong ones. (I guess those who run the world either don't have grandchildren, or don't give a rat's ass about the survival of any they may have.)

*Excerpt from Wikipedia.

Put simply for purposes of this discussion, an example of cognitive dissonance is holding two totally opposing thoughts in your mind simultaneously and believing them both. This disorder affects perhaps a third of Americans -- The MAGAs.

Unfortunately, this particular virus makes many of those who have it dangerous. Dangerous to Democrats, dangerous to everyone's freedoms, dangerous to democracy. And there ain't no vaccine for it. (Not that most of them would take a shot if one were available.)

With elections coming up in 2020 and 2024, countless state laws have been passed by malignant Republicans who want to suppress the votes of the "THEMS." We here on DU are, of course, included in the "THEMS." And voters in many of these states are inflicted with cognitive dissonance. They will vote against their own best interests and if their state laws tilt and even allow for stolen elections, so be it.

So why aren't Dems in DC running around with their hair on fire? Hopefully, action is being taken by the Dept. of Justice to overturn and/or nullify these laws in some way beyond just lawsuits. Unfortunately, going to court takes time and these elections are coming at us like speeding bullets.

Of course, we need a massive voter turnouts regardless of the circumstances. And that turnout must be driven by the knowledge that the Republicans will do anything, anything at all, to "win" elections. If we allow that to happen, America is over.

Over six hundred thousand people have died from Covid 19 and Donald Trump is responsible for most of those deaths.

He knew about it before it spread, but the vicious, uncaring prick decided that it would not be good for him personally if he let it be known that a deadly virus was on the loose.

Imagine if Clinton, or Bush, or Obama, had been president when this thing hit the world. Any one of them would have encouraged people to wear masks, stay out of crowds and isolate themselves as much as possible.

But the orange creature did just the opposite. "No masks. No isolation. It's a hoax. It was released by China. Go about your life. Ignore the shit the media is spreading."

Over six hundred thousand people are now dead! Yes, there would have been deaths. But not more than half a million human beings. Most of them died because Donald Trump is an uncaring, self-absorbed mass murderer. (And of course he got himself vaccinated the instant a vaccine was available.)

You know what. Fuck Trump's tax and bank fraud, fuck his scams, fuck his lies, fuck every other crime he committed. He's a mass murderer. And that, more than all the rest of it, is what he should be held responsible for and made to pay for.

And it's not over. Many are still dying because they won't get vaccinated. And most of them refuse to get vaccinated because the stupid orange fuck told them not to. His death count is still running up. But the Republican Party and his base voters still bow down to their "Dear Leader."

We really need a vaccine to protect us from corrupt Republican politicians and stupid voters. And Trump really needs to be dragged out of his Florida castle and put on trial for the murder of millions.

We have two pseudo-Democrats, (Manchin and Sinema), who are helping to flush American democracy down the sewer. So let's stop the bullshit that we "control" the Senate.

America is fucked. Perhaps beyond repair.

We are teetering on the edge of fascism. And if the Republicans manage to win/steal many of their races in 2022, then 2024 will be the year in which this "American experiment" in democracy fails. Some motherfucker like Tom Cotton, or Ted Cruz, or Hawley, or even some total imbecile such as Louie Gohmert, or Marjory Taylor Greene might end up in the White House. (Think that can't happen? How did a brain dead cretin like Trump get into the Oval Office?)

Let's stop believing our own propaganda of "senate control." Let's face reality. The Republicans are at "war" with us, (they own people like Manchin and Sinema), and it's time we started behaving like we are at "war" to save American democracy. How? Good question. And your answer is ...?