We often see the lunatic right and the
religious right as the same because of evangelicals supporting people
like Roy Moore. While it is true that a large percentage of the
right wing nut cases are religious fanatics, however, there is a
significant percentage of those nut cases who are not that religious
or are only religious when it is convenient to be so. There are also
a large enough number of very religious people who are not right
wingers. In other words, the religious divide is probably not as
much of a problem as tribalism and an ideology demagogues market and
sell in absolute terms and with a religious fervor that leaves no
room for questioning or examining the underlying assumptions
regardless of how obviously spurious those assumptions may be.
With nothing to sell but the bogus
economic hypothesis of “trickle down” the Republicans have
resorted to pandering to the tribalism of less educated white people
who think their tribal values are under attack from those other,
lesser people. And the federal government actually has the nerve to
tax those white people in order to help those lesser people have a
better life they do not deserve the Republicans say. That is the
Republican cocktail – add one part xenophobia and one part anti
government phobia, then shake vigorously. Ah, but fear not, the
Donald will greatly diminish the state to create a new birth of
freedom and liberty (read anarchy) where the virtuous majority can
crush the undeserving minority to set things right again! Bleach
those sheets and white hoods because the klan will ride again. It
sounds a bit like communism with a peculiarly odious American twist?
The dictator of the proletariat will destroy the government to free
us! From what? From reason and a sense of social responsibility
perhaps? Never in our history have we had a President as nihilistic
and destructive as Trump, nor a political party as nihilistic and
destructive as the Republican Party has now become! I
would go so far as to say that with the help of his party Donald
Trump is trying to install in this country the same sort of
kleptocracy that the Russian oligarchs have installed in Russia. And
yes, there is solid evidence of collusion and/or a conspiracy between
Russia and the Trump Campaign to defeat Hillery Clinton.
Now that Special Counsel Mueller's
investigation is coming ever closer to the White House, Trump and the
diapers trying to cover Trump's butt are using the old fascist tactic
of discrediting and smearing an impartial investigator they see as a
threat. In this case they fear that the truth Mr. Mueller is likely
to uncover will set them free of their political offices, and it damn
well should! The right wing disinformation machine has been cranking
out vile accusations against Mueller, the Department of Justice, and
the FBI only to watch most of it slide down the wall into a putrefied
heap. Ah but then! Then, much to the surprise and delight of people
with an IQ of less than eighty, solid evidence emerged proving that
FBI agents and investigators actually have political opinions and
that some of those agents and investigators are not even mindless
reactionaries. Oh, happy days!
Over the summer Mueller fired one of
his investigators, Peter Strzok, who was on loan from the FBI. Mr.
Strzok was fired because he sent and received text messages in 2015
and 2016 calling Trump an idiot and saying that the prospect of
Trump's election is “fucking Terrifying.” News of the firing of
Strzok and the text messages describing Trump in accurate but
disparaging terms had the Republicans all a twitter and they pounced
with both feet. During the hearing in which Deputy Attorney General
Rosenstein testified the Republican members of the House Judiciary
Committee assailed Mueller and his investigation regardless of the
fact that Mueller had fired Strzok and that in one of his earliest
messages Strzok had also called Bernie Sanders “an idiot like
Trump...” As Mr. Rosenstein pointed out it would be unrealistic to
think that investigators or agents have no political opinions. The
real test is whether they can set those opinions aside to conduct a
fair and impartial investigation. I might add here that if you say
agents and investigators cannot set those political opinions aside
you would be hard pressed to find anyone who could investigate any
Democrat because an overwhelming percentage of law enforcement
officers and investigators are Republicans.
But facts and/or the truth are not what
Republicans on the house Judiciary Committee want. What they want is
to cover Trumps ass and end the investigation, and they are more than
willing to lie and dissemble in order to protect Trump. Hey guys,
how about a renewed witch hunt? That is what the Chairman of the
judicial committee, Bob Goodlatte called for when he told Attorney
General Jeff Sessions to appoint a second special counsel to
investigate a host of Clinton-related matters. Now that will fix
Trump's problem won't it. Just yell “and so's your old lady” and
all of Trump's culpability in the Russian hacking and interference in
our election will go away. Gee, I bet Trump will even stop acting
like Putin's man ho!
“...'to assert,
without any evidence, that the FBI both paid for the Fusion GPS
dossier on Trump and used it as the basis for a foreign-intelligence
surveillance warrant. Jordan portrayed Strzok as a rogue “James
Bond” and revived a
failed congressional GOP effort to fire Mueller – with the
twist of assembling a new probe to go after Mueller’s team.
'You can disband
the Mueller [probe], and appoint a special counsel to look into
this,' said Jordan, his voice raising.”
You would have to be deaf, dumb, blind,
and stupid not to see where the Republican Party is taking us. It is
far away from anything resembling truth, reason, or patriotism. Our
country and its political system came under attack from a foreign
adversary that is still using those tactics against us. We must have
the truth about the culpability of a president who appears to do the
bidding of Vladimir Putin and appears to have conspired with Russians
to defeat Hillary Clinton. We need that and other information to
protect ourselves!
The shell game the Republicans are
playing in regard to investigating the Russian matter is indicative
of the way they approach everything because what they are doing
cannot stand the light of day. Just look at the way the Republicans
are trying to rush through their tax cuts and hose jobs bill without
allowing time for debate or a proper examination that would reveal
just how badly the middle class is getting screwed. It is not unlike
like the FCC removing the consumer protections of net neutrality
without any proper hearings or the approval of congress. If 2018
does not see the voters expel from the body politic the debilitating
and life threatening cancer that has become the Republican Party than
American democracy will deserve to die from the terminal stupidity of
the voters and/or the people who did not bother to vote!
