Liberalism

 

So, what is liberalism again? Is it really that different from progressivism? Democrats need to reclaim both terms because they represent what the radical Right hates almost as much as they despise a Black man kneeling for the National Anthem protesting police brutality. Trump's racists gutted the African Room at the Kennedy Center, and its works of art are missing. "Degenerate art" is what the OG Nazis called it.

This is not liberalism or even conservatism. It is con-servatism.

Later I will define progressive liberals by the words of individual leaders their opponents have vehemently hated.

Teddy Roosevelt was called a progressive. FDR was called a liberal. It requires a lot of nit-picking and quibbling to differentiate between the terms, which have far more overlap than differences. This is why the propagandists of the far Right need to smear and redefine both terms in efforts to divide opposition.

There are no absolute definitions or applications of any political ideology except as dictated by authoritarian leaders. Soviet and Chinese Communism were defined by their dictators. National Socialism was defined by Hitler. MAGA is whatever Trump says it is.

The radical Right must redefine language itself to suit their bigotry and bias.

“Woke” is now whatever the radical Right hates and says it is, from Democrats to drag queens, to trans people, to universities, to the military, or to anyone different from them who wants to live their lives how they choose. The authoritarian personality cannot mind its own business. It must dominate and control everyone else. All of their targets are “woke”. (Governor Ron DeSantis’ lawyers were forced by the court to define “woke.” The lead lawyer described it as “The belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.”)  Authoritarians need to redefine terms in order to keep moving the goalposts and demonizing opposition.

Naturally, they needed to redefine the word “liberal”. It’s now “woke”. And “woke” is very, very bad. Like communism. Like progressivism. Like Democrats.

Since the Clinton Presidency radical Right propagandists met with considerable success in demonizing the word “liberal” to smear everyone to the left of Dick Cheney or Trump. This is the real reason for the Left embracing the term progressive. Nevertheless, the propaganda worked because intelligence is limited and ignorance and stupidity are infinite.

And this is why the Right Wing Authoritarians are now trying to further divide the Left by claiming “Classic liberalism” or corporate neo-liberalism, is fine, but modern liberalism and progressivism are both socialism and communism. Or even fascism. Yes, the desperate lying fanatics of the radical Right go so far as to claim Hitler was a “socialist” because the NAZI Party used the term. Right, as in North Korea is actually the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea? 

No president has used Hitler’s playbook more than Trump with his demonization and scapegoating of minorities, white nationalism, his Big Lie, violent coup, and use of secret police and unjust politicized law enforcement. Hitler and Trump share the distinction of being two notable racist criminals who rose to power in flawed democracies. Both Trump and Hitler share the same immorality that imprisons non-violent human beings in unaccountable, cruel, and dehumanizing concentration camps.

The fundamental characteristic of all fascists is the desire to inflict as much punishment as they possibly can on people they hate. This is their idea of “law and order”.

And that is nowhere to be found in progressive liberalism, where law and order is for criminals, not political or personal enemies. We don’t want to imprison non-violent immigrants. We want them to pass citizenship tests and be productive members of society. This is the dreaded “replacement theory” lurking in the white nationalist amygdala. They fear becoming a minority because of how THEY have treated minorities.

At any rate, Liberalism/progressivism must be viewed as a terrible form of tyranny to be hated so much by MAGA, racists, bigots, neo-Nazis, Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, Christian nationalists, vulture capitalists, and greedy oligarchs. This is why the far Right needs a massive propaganda network to reinforce their hate and lies. 

The "con-servative conscience": ICE agent Jonathan Ross, who fatally shot US citizen Renee Good is now a millionaire thanks to a series of online fundraising campaigns launched in the aftermath of the the shootings. He's their kind of guy, as their Dear Leader sets an example of praising, pardoning, and rewarding THUGS for violently attempting a coup for him.

Communism and fascism’s new incarnation in MAGA are the opposite of the ideals of progressive liberalism.

(Just imagine what Lincoln would say of his party falling under the thumb of a cruel racist criminal. "What, did the Confederacy win?)

This paranoid and racist opposition by the far Right is significant in defining progressive liberalism. The RWA’s are antithetical to equal rights, equal justice under law, individual freedom, democracy, and voter rights. In other words, the American ideal of government by, for, and of the people. 

Here’s some news for those “con-servative” authoritarians. With notable exceptions like the antidemocratic Senate, electoral presidential elections, and slavery in particular, progressive liberals are more conservative in the sense of supporting our Constitutional provisions for the rule of law and general welfare.

The MAGA Mob will whine about liberal progressives supporting Constitutional public healthcare, public education, public services, taxes, and regulation of commerce as being "socialist evil".  Yet they enthusiastically support the most authoritarian, corrupt and criminal president in history. They’re all in with their heroic sex offender and pedophile protector who would deny healthcare and food for the poor as he cuts taxes for billionaires and praises and pardons crooks, thugs, and swindlers like himself. 

The Criminal President Trump has pardoned over 70 people convicted of massive fraud against Americans, because he is ONE of the THEM.

Crime pays, especially in service and LOYALTY to the authoritarian regime of the Criminal President.

The proof is in the pudding, folks. This has been the inevitable trajectory of con-servatism since Nixon, who would be dumped into the RINO bin with Reagan were they both alive today. Hell, even the Bushes would be squeezed out of the MAGA party today. 

MAGA Con-servativism and deregulated cutthroat capitalism are quite compatible with fascism. The Krupps, BMW, Ford, and other mega-capitalists did well under Hitler’s rule…until it all came down in flames.

And if you indulge me in one more reference the Nazi Fuhrer, let’s note his worst enemy was the very liberal Franklin Delano Roosevelt. That wasn’t very liberal, progressive, or socialist of him, was it?

His presidency is a foundation of American liberalism, found in his New Deal and in his Second Bill of Rights.

I’ll suggest FDR and JFK have defined American liberalism as best as anyone has since their presidencies.

FDR’s Second Bill of Rights:

The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;

The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;

The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return which will give him and his family a decent living;

The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;

The right of every family to a decent home.

The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;

The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;

The right to a good education.

JFK on being liberal:

“If by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people-their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights and their civil liberties-someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal", then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal.”

The next time a fascist MAGA supporter whines about “woke liberals” and “commie libs”, demand they address the reality of what progressive liberalism actually is. Tell them it’s rooted in our Constitution. And watch them squirm and twist into gaslighting pretzel monsters.

Memorial Day Perspective

 

This Memorial Day we remember the ultimate sacrifice Americans in uniform paid in defense of our country.

It was originally called "Decoration Day" in 1868 to honor those who served to defend the United States against the slave states of the Confederacy. I have an ancestor who died in Union Blue in 1865, the final year of the Civil War. 

Today we largely honor the fallen for defending freedom from fascist and racist regimes that waged unprovoked wars of conquest and territorial expansion. Domestically the dictators dominated their country’s legislatures and courts while they employed secret unaccountable police to enforce their will. I also have relatives who were killed, wounded, and or taken as a prisoner of war in the Ardennes in 1944.

I can’t help but wonder what our heroes who fell on Omaha Beach, in the Ardennes, and on Iwo Jima would say about our country today. They died fighting Right Wing Authoritarians (RWAs) who promised to make Germany and Japan great again. Here in our United States, we now have a Right Wing Authoritarian leader who has the legislature and Supreme Court in service to his personal agenda. We now have a virtual dictator who has secret unaccountable police to enforce his will.  And I can easily imagine the men in blue would be horrified to see that we now have former Confederate States given license by that authoritarian leader and his Court to suppress African American voices in our elections and government.

Welcome to Trump’s MAGA America. And in the authoritarian minds of its loyal adherents, we who object are seen as an evil threat to “their country”.

As readers know, I love to inspect the dark corners of that authoritarian mind. This trait is prevalent in our greedy power seeking oligarchs, Christian nationalists, and white supremacists. They are America's Right Wing Authoritarians. (RWAs)Their overactive amygdalas keep them in constant fear of “socialism”, “woke”, DEI, LGBTQ, CRT, immigrants, minorities, and the thousand other triggers that haunt them like demons. It’s a sealed fortress of a closed mind where there’s little to no light of factuality and morality to confuse the Right Wing Authoritarian personality. 

Here, we identify a novel factor that may predict belief updating: right-wing authoritarianism (RWA), which is characterized by a desire for order, structure, and preservation of social norms. We hypothesized that because people who score high on RWA are motivated to preserve entrenched beliefs, they may often fail to successfully update their beliefs when confronted with new information. Using a novel paradigm, we challenged participants’ false beliefs and misconceptions to elicit prediction error. In two studies, we found consistent evidence that high-RWA individuals were less successful at correcting their false beliefs.

To say the least...

I confess to having an occasional impulse to tweak the authoritarian MAGA mindset to draw out their indoctrination and anger against most American who overwhelmingly disapprove of the Criminal President. None of the comments I made under my name were allowed at a particular blog so I posted as Anonymous:

~~~

Dave Dubya as "Anonymous":

The criminal, sex offending, pedophile protector you condoned and helped put in the Oval Office is rigging the stock market for $millions and stealing almost two $BILLION to reward his thugs for beating cops bloody and trying to overturn our fair 2020 election he lost.

Now we know exactly what you think America should have for leadership.

How does it feel to have no shame, no conscience, and zero respect for our Constitutional rule of law?

And how's that war of choice working out for you at the gas pump? Better blame Biden and liberals, right?

~~~~~~~

I was mildly surprised when a response came from the Trump supporter

~~~~

The RWA blogger:

I don't particularly care for anonymous comments, as I think if you have something to say that you supposedly believe, you should at least assign some sort of nom de plume to your comment. It doesn't matter as I am about 95% certain of whom this comment came from anyway. I posted this to show the complete disconnect that the radical left has from reality. I don't like Trump. I never have, but I think he has done some really important and good things to right the country. Not everything he says or has done has been good however.

Our anonymous poster, if I am correct in my assumption of his true identity, supported the treasonous and treacherous Biden and his administration and had no problem with his $6/gallon gasoline back then, nor the crony capitalism for his buddies, rampant crime, and open borders . Trump is far from perfect, and I have criticized him in these very pages when warranted. That said, I love my country far more than my hatred for Obama, Biden, or Trump personally. Evidently the hate-America Leftists would rather have the country completely fail rather than give any credit to the evil orange man. Their childish tantrums would be amusing if they weren't so dangerous.

~~~~~

Of course he had good reason to believe I made that comment. I’ve been his blogger nemesis for over a decade, so I really know him better than he thinks I do.

Our authoritarian friend lectured me with, “I posted this to show the complete disconnect that the radical left has from reality.”

He seems to confuse “to show” with “to accuse”.

And what are his examples and where is his supporting evidence of his version of “reality”.

Nowhere.

But true to my desire for honest dialogue, I found common ground.

“I don't like Trump.”

I agree. I don’t like him either. He’s a criminal who spreads deliberate divisions, hate, lies.

“I never have, but I think he has done some really important and good things to right the country.”

Where to begin? The worst sociopath may give a thirsty person a drink of water. Even Al Capone did some good things like opening a soup kitchen for the unemployed people of Chicago. However, both Capone and Trump have committed numerous crimes.

I do agree it’s good for the country to deport violent immigrants. I can’t deny he did something right with his "TrumpRx" to help some uninsured people find lower priced meds. It falls far short of what is really needed, like banning Big Pharma from political donations, universal public healthcare, and demanding lower prices for everyone.

There’s nothing good for the country in giving billionaire oligarchs power to deny public services and shut down agencies. It's outright cold-blooded to give them tax cuts at the cost of cutting food stamps and Medicare for the poor.

It does the country no good to punish non-violent immigrants with cruelty  and neglect as they are packed into concentration camps run by amoral and unaccountable corporations. It does the country no good when ICE thugs can kill non-violent protesters with impunity. It does the rule of law no good when drug running suspects are murdered on the open sea without due process. Along with Trump’s unaccountable criminality this is where the rule of law breaks down.

Trump was bailed out of his evidence-backed indictments by his corrupt and highly partisan judges and Supreme Court Justices, two of whom were appointed by way of the grossly dishonest double standards of Mitch McConnell.

Count 1: 18 U.S.C. § 371 (Conspiracy to Defraud the United States)

Count 2: 18 U.S. C. § 1512(k) (Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding)

Count 3: 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(c)(2), 2 (Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding)

Count 4: 18 U.S.C. § 241 (Conspiracy Against Rights)

A leader above the law is NEVER good for any country.

There’s nothing good about pardoning and rewarding his henchmen and thugs for violently beating cops to overturn a fair election he clearly lost.

Here a just a few of the crimes committed by Trump’s J6 thugs after he praised and pardoned them.

– Violent assault

– Sexual assault of a child

– Solicitation of a minor

– Possession of child pornography

– Domestic abuse

– Aggravated DUI and reckless homicide

– Attempted murder

– Stalking

– Burglary

How much would he REWARD them with our tax dollars for their violence and loyalty? How is that any different from Hitler and his Brownshirt thugs?

A real Christ following Christian of conscience would never vote for any of this. 

Our RWA concedes, “Not everything he says or has done has been good however.”

Or “Double plus ungood!” in Orwell’s Newspeak.

As I predicted with, “Better blame Biden and liberals, right?”

Yes, I called it again. (They are SO easy to read and predict.)

He accuses Biden of  “crony capitalism for his buddies, rampant crime, and open borders”.

Yes, I agree lax border protection was Biden’s first big mistake. (His second big mistake was breaking his promise to serve only one term.)

The authoritarian personality will always deflect to Biden to protect their lack of moral grounding in defending the Criminal President. The authoritarian will blame Biden alone for high gas prices in 2022 and go so far as to say I “had no problem with his $6/gallon gasoline back then”. But In reality the prices surged to historic highs due to pandemic constraints and supply disruptions, in addition to the reaction to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Remember when Trump urged OPEC to cut production?

From Forbes:

Compared to the Biden‑era spike—driven by a complex mix of post‑COVID supply lag, OPEC+ restraint, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—the current Trump‑era spike is more directly tied to a single geopolitical decision and its immediate consequences for a key transit route… In Trump’s case, oil prices were relatively stable until the February 28, 2026 decision to attack Iran. Iran’s retaliation—closing the Strait of Hormuz—directly threatened a major share of global oil flows. That move triggered a sharp increase in the geopolitical risk premium, and oil prices have climbed roughly 50% since, with fuel prices rising in tandem.

Unlike the supply chain plagued prices during Biden’s term, ONE person is to blame for today’s souring inflation and gas prices. That would be our tariff obsessed Criminal President and his lust for being a tough guy by starting a war.

Without evidence he accuses Biden of being responsible for “rampant crimes”.

Let’s look at the reality the MAGA Authoritarians MUST DENY.

“EVERY federal and nongovernmental analysis completed since shows crime falling in 2023 and 2024.”

And:

Violent crime has decreased during Biden’s time in office, according to FBI crime statistics and those compiled by other sources. Annual figures for 2023, released last month, show a decline in the number and rate per 100,000 population for nationwide violent crime overall, as well as for murder and nonnegligent manslaughter, rape, robbery and aggravated assault.

Despite this data, Trump and other Republicans have continued to falsely claim that violent crime has gone up under Biden. Instead, what the statistics from several sources consistently show is a spike in violent crime overall in 2020, Trump’s last year in office, due to increases in murders and aggravated assaults.

 

This information will be rejected by the fanatic RWA Trump supporters.

Only willful ignorance, hate, and faith in the lies of Donald Trump could induce the deluded person to call Biden “treasonous and treacherous” without a trace of evidence.

Trump’s insane tweets are his gospel. This is MAGA propaganda all the way and the RWA’s lap it up.  They cannot QUESTION Trump’s words, including his Big Lie about the 2020 election. That’s their loyalty test.

And his ugly mean face draped over the FBI building reeks of a dictator’s ego with a personal Gestapo eager to obey his orders to prosecute without justification anyone he hates.

It is futile to ask them for evidence to support their vicious lies about the 2020 election and Biden’s “crimes” and acts of “treason” because there is none. There are troves of evidence behind Trump’s indictments, but NOTHING on Biden. No wonder they hate him so much!

Crony Capitalism is a Trump trademark. He and his family and friends have enjoyed raking in $billions in just the past two years. As for Biden’s “rampant crime”? No evidence. By the sourced evidence I provided, the nation’s crime rate came DOWN during Biden’s term. Anyone who doesn’t know this isn’t paying attention.

“Trump is far from perfect, and I have criticized him in these very pages when warranted.”

In fairness, I acknowledge his criticisms. I agree with him on Trump’s desecration of our public lands for resource exploitation. I agree that Trump violated the Posse Comitatus Act by deploy military assets for law enforcement. However, in the same paragraph he would offer a back-handed justification for that that crime with his lies about “leftist mayors refuse to fight crime” and “This does NOT negate the lawful need to deploy limited National Guard troops to protect federal facilities and employees when blue city politicians refuse to do so”.

Glaringly there’s not a peep about Trump having his minions at the DOJ obstruct the unredacted Epstein files. He is behaving EXACTLY as if he’s either protecting his pedophile pals and/or protecting himself.

No problem for RWA’s. That Epstein stuff is just a Democrat “hoax”, I’m sure.

Let me note that Trump’s attacks on the free speech rights of critics, often demanding for their arrest, his demand for racist gerrymandering to strip representation from Black Americans, and his barrage of hate speech and lies don’t appear in his list. Absent from his list are his demand for racist gerrymandering to strip representation from Black Americans, and his barrage of hate speech and lies, and the widespread corruption and insider trading by him, his family, and henchmen.

I will also note the ominous absence of any discussion of Trump’s numerous, evidence-supported criminal indictments after he LIED about the 2020 election. He has no objection or even concern over Trump’s J6 coup and praise and pardons for his violent thugs for beating cops bloody in his criminal attempt to overturn a fair election he lost.

Our RWA even went so far as to retract his most important and morally justified criticism.

To refresh our memory, this is what our dear RWA wrote at my blog on Jan 8, 2021:

“Dave, Trump was wrong to give encouragement and a wink and a nod to the protestors and delaying any attempt to rein them back. He was complicit. Sadly this ego maniacal narcissist tarnished the myriad of good things he has done for our country with this latest escapade.”

This is what he wrote on May 15, 2021:

“Trump instigates a riot according to the left and the media, but then I repeat myself. (He didn’t.)”

Like so many others, he believes the lies and has allowed Trump to pervert, diminish, and corrupt his mind, conscience, and morality, even to go so far as to say,” Evidently the hate-America Leftists would rather have the country completely fail rather than give any credit to the evil orange man”.

That’s what happens with everyone who supports dictators. They MUST see him as the savior of the country and see those who oppose him as the enemy who hates and would destroy the country. And that is precisely how a democratic republic DOES fail.

Trump’s path to his virtual dictatorship isn’t difficult to understand for the rest of us.

After lying, sowing doubts on election integrity, scapegoating, and fear-mongering his way to power, he refused to concede to electoral defeat. He duped and distracted enough voters into forgetting his insurrection. His allies on the Supreme Court absolved him from criminal responsibility and enabled him to run for president again. This only encouraged more lies, rage, and lust for vindictive retribution. He swore to punish everyone who tried to hold him accountable. This is exactly the unjust weaponization and “lawfare” he falsely claims was used against him.

He accuses everyone who opposes him of being traitors and attacks our First Amendment rights. The free press is demonized as the “enemy of the people” for accurately reporting his treachery, lies, and crimes. He demands punishment for comedians who dare to joke about him. But he has a cadre of self-serving billionaire oligarchs as allies. As the obscenely wealthy Jeff Bezos whines about paying his taxes, Stephen Colbert donated $2.5 million to Chef Jose Andres for his World Central Kitchen that feeds people in times of trauma and suffering. This is the difference between real Christians and a MAGA oligarch.

And true to every dictator’s ambition, he desires to expand his power over other countries. Canada, Greenland, Mexico, Venezuela, Iran, Cuba, etc. are in his sights.

Trump went on to suppress dissent, minority representation, and voter rights, and to pardon his loyal criminals and thugs. He is now attempting to loot our treasury to reward them. He routinely calls for the arrest of critics and proceeded to take control of the legislative and judicial branches of government. Finally, as all dictators do, he is taking control of, and intimidating, news media, law firms, the educational system, and corporations.

This is every tyrant’s idea of “law and order”.

Like Hitler did last century, the insurrectionist Criminal President gained power over the rule of law. What is worse for a country than that?

Now our nation is falling into the hell of an authoritarian dictatorship that HIS servile Republican Party, HIS corrupt Department of Justice, and HIS partisan Supreme Court refuse to restrain.

We the people are finally waking up, albeit far too late. Today’s Combined polls Trump Approval Rating:

Disapprove – 58.1%

Approve – 38.9%

Authoritarianism is NEVER compatible with democratic ideals, free speech, civil rights, voter rights, fair elections, liberty, and justice. Authoritarianism is how our great experiment in a representative democratic republic withers and dies. And the radical right authoritarian third of our country, along with 5% of the mentally deficient and illiterate, still approves of him. In 2016, our deeply flawed Constitution permitted their tyranny of the minority to take root. Now it’s the majority be damned.

So let us memorialize our fallen. But let us also NEVER FORGET WHY they served and fell.

(Un)Christian Nationalism

 

Along with the Criminal President’s Big Lie that the 2020 election was “stolen” from him is another popular Big Lie held as gospel in the radical right MAGA fringe cult: “America was founded as a Christian nation”.

Well, THAT would surely delight the Founders, wouldn’t it?

Or not.

“The civil government functions with complete success by the total separation of the Church from the State.” ~James Madison, 181 

Article 11 of the 1796 Treaty of Tripoli, negotiated by President Washington, signed by President Adams, ratified by the US Senate, expressly refutes that the US is a Christian nation "The Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion"

But it’s not theocracy when we do it, right?

Right. And of course it’s not criminal, unjust, or cruel when the Criminal President Trump and Republicans do it, as well. 

The DHS post was timed with last Sunday’s "Rededicate 250" rally billed as a “rededication of our country as One Nation under God.”

Director of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin is the perfect replacement for the evil Kristi Noem . Mullin’s Christian nationalist cred is substantial.

Turning his back on his Savior’s message of compassion for the sick, he demanded that the Affordable Care Act be delayed or defunded.

After the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, Mullin displayed his unchristian lack of compassion when he called murder victim Pretti a "deranged individual" in a Fox News interview.

He’s now in charge of the army of ICE thugs and the private concentration camps where cruelties against thousands of non-violent immigrants are hidden from the public. Turning his back on his Savior’s message of welcoming immigrants he’s the embodiment of the exact opposite of, “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born”.

And speaking of racist white Christian nationalists, one of them was asked at last Sunday's Trump's "Rededicate 250" Christian nationalist rally to comment on this on FOX (R):

Christian Nationalist and supporter of the Criminal Pedophile Protecting President Mike Johnson responded: "They want to erase the history of America and pretend as if we’re not a nation that was dedicated originally to God… The people who are the naysayers and who have created this new term of 'Christian nationalism' as a pejorative, a derogatory term, are trying to silence the influence and the voices of Christians, and I think that's wildly inappropriate."

More radical Right lies and projection.  

Mike Johnson has partners in the extremist antidemocratic New Apostolic Reformation that promotes their Seven Mountain Mandate, or Seven Mountains Dominionism. It holds that there are seven aspects of society that believers seek to dominate: family, religion, education, media, arts and entertainment, business, and government.

Their Dominionism advocates silencing the majority of Americans by Christian dominance over the United States. 

Just what the Constitution and Bible tells them to do, amirite?

We get it. White Christian nationalists and evangelicals represent Trump’s deluded base of ignorant and/or racist sheep.

They don’t care if their vile Criminal President Trump is above the law and his Administration and cronies are unbound by our Constitution. They seek to enforce their criminal, corrupt, racist, and antidemocratic POWER over the rest of us.

Johnson defended his fellow bigot Phil Robertson the duck hunter after he told GQ that homosexuality was "just not logical" and a sin, saying Robertson was being "punished" for expressing his opinion. 

Yes, another “persecuted” white Christian bigot. When will enough be enough?

In a 2003 article, Johnson warned: "Homosexuals do not meet the criteria for a suspect class under the equal protection clause because they are neither disadvantaged nor identified on the basis of immutable characteristics, as all are capable of changing their abnormal lifestyles." He wrote that legalizing same-sex marriage could put the country's "entire democratic system in jeopardy". In another article, he wrote, "experts project that homosexual marriage is the dark harbinger of chaos and sexual anarchy that could doom even the strongest republic.”

He is also morally outraged at transgender students using the wrong bathrooms because Jesus preached against it when he condemned homosexuality. Just kidding. That never happened. Gays and transgender Americans just make him feel icky.

In other words, a MAGA loyalist, hypocrite, and unrepented bigot.

Sunday he and his ilk decided to celebrate America as a “Christian nation”, the hallmark and calling card of Christian nationalists.

The same white Christian nationalist responded to another question at Sunday’s Trump/Christian Nationalist rally.

Shannon Bream FOX®: What is your message to Black voters about redistricting?

Mike Johnson: This brings back fairness and certainty to the system.

Nothing dishonest or racist about that, I’m sure.

What he meant was "brings back unfair advantage to white nationalists" and "certainty of their one-party rule".

During Trump's "Rededicate 250" prayer event at the National Mall, the Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of the late preacher Billy Graham, spoke via a pre-recorded video at the prayer event, describing America as a country that has become "morally rotten" and "completely sick with sin." He mentioned issues like "transgenderism" and "opening women's locker rooms to men" as a couple of examples.

Or as in the fear-mongering bigotry of their Most Unchristian and morally rotten Leader, “Transgender for everyone”. Oh, dear! This sounds like a threat! Does that mean they're out to force us all to swap genders? 

Graham said. "Why do we need to rededicate ourselves? When God sent the flood and destroyed the earth, it was because man's heart had become so evil and violent. In the news, we see unimaginable violence: rapes, murders, [and] unimaginable violence. Video games are full of violence. We have an insatiable appetite for violence."

Gee, that sounds a lot like the ICE thugs sent out by a guy who wants to pay his pardoned loyal thugs for beating cops bloody trying to overturn an election he clearly lost. 

Graham once suggested opposition to Trump was the work of a "demonic power”.

Last week during a radio interview with Eric Metaxas, evangelist Franklin Graham was about to say that he thought it was "almost a demonic power that is trying" to oppose President Trump, according to the Washington Examiner.

At that point, radio host Eric Metaxas interrupted, saying "I would disagree. It's not almost demonic. You know and I know, at the heart, it's a spiritual battle."

Graham agreed, and then, essentially, went on to say how unusual it is to see such opposition to a president with a record-breaking economy.

Anyway, you get the point. Christian nationalists are ignorant and or racist white conservatives who think America was founded as a “Christian nation” and are terrified of being “replaced” by atheists and people of color or other faiths.

Lest anyone be duped otherwise, there is no room for Christ in Christian nationalism. 

My dialogue with one of their radio propagandists essentially confirms this.

Anyway you look at it, the most racist and bigoted, and least Christian Americans among us want to dominate our lives, government, and country.  

And that means voter disenfranchisement, cruelty, and punishment for both the majority and the least of us. 

Recommended reading:

Oops

 

Oops. Dear Leader accidently told the truth.

Q: To what extent are Americans' financial situations motivating you to make a deal with Iran?

TRUMP: "Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon. I don't think about Americans' financial situation. I don't think about anybody." 

Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon.

It was always Israel's war, so we already knew they would stop Iran's efforts to build one, but they found their hitman in our Belligerent Buffoon. And at our expense to boot.

But be of good cheer, America. National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett brings joyful tidings.

"People still don't have faith that the golden age is upon us, that Trump policies are working...And just as Secretary Bessent said, credit card spending is through the roof. They're spending more on gasoline, but they're spending more on everything else, too."

If that doesn't sound like great news, then you're just not a real patriot, amirite?

Now it's down to we the people directly and indirectly paying even more to support Netanyahu's radical Zionist criminal regime. 

And of course China is relishing Trump's warmongering as more cover for invading Taiwan, as Putin does with his war on Ukraine.

Putin, Netanyahu, Xi, and Trump have each other as inspiration and comfort for their military aggression.

It's a win, win, win, win for all four dictators. 

I have to share the fitting image of Junior Dictator Trump sitting down to dinner with Xi. (He had the woman behind him remove his chair cushion that he and Xi were to sit on.)

"Toddler Tyrant at the Adults' Table". A small man looking even smaller. 

Cui bono? Trump's oligarch companions in China.

Supreme Racism

 

"The Supreme Court betrayed Black voters, they betrayed America, and they betrayed our democracy."- Barack Obama

Before I proceed with my rant, let’s start with some insight from historian and fascism expert Ruth Ben Ghiat:

 

Elections as Tools of Autocracy and White Supremacy

In the 21st century, we have a proliferation of electoral autocracies, or countries with strongman leaders who keep a semblance of democracy going (opposition parties and, sometimes, a degree of independent media), including by holding elections. In a separate essay, I will analyze the bag of tricks autocrats deploy to turn elections to their advantage, including invalidating the will of the people by removing already-elected officials from their offices.

The central point here is that in 2026, the aim of “competitive authoritarianism” is to take away competition: to take the “fair” out of free and fair elections, while redefining freedom as a liberation from the corruption and chaos of democracy. During his 2024 campaign, Donald Trump described the act of voting to his Evangelical Christian followers as a kind of burden he would free them from. “In four years, you don’t have to vote again. We’ll have it fixed so good, you’re not gonna have to vote,” he promised them.

Authoritarianism in all its forms depends on people acting against their own interests, in this case seeing the abdication of agency and giving up of rights as something positive, as almost a relief. Let the leader decide for you! Let the leader, who is an agent of divine providence, decide your destiny! Getting people to believe this is one of the main functions of personality cults that depict the leader as infallible.

Of course, propaganda is not enough to “fix” the problem of voting. That is why autocrats work hard to achieve “autocratic capture” and have the courts, the media, and other institutions retooled to reflect the ideologies, priorities, and methods of the autocrat and his partners.

This is where the Supreme Court decision fits in. By striking down a key element of the Voting Rights Act, the Court has once again made itself the vehicle of the crusade to end American democracy as we know it. “Justices” such as Clarence Thomas (“Corrupted by Billionaires, Including Harlan Crow, Who Has a Garden of Dictator Statues”) and Samuel Alito (“Flew Insurrectionist Flags At His Homes”) act like far-right political operatives. Both long ago jettisoned democratic ideas of conflicts of interest and judicial impartiality.

Giving immunity to a head of state who incited a violent mob against Republican and Democratic lawmakers on January 6, 2021, was one blow to our democracy; legitimizing practices designed to disenfranchise Black voters is another.

Undoing Our Multiracial Democracy So That White Supremacy Can Prevail

Every authoritarian state has a central ideological pillar and fixation. In America, the retooling of institutions to serve autocracy and the fanatical desire to remake the country in the image of White Christian nationalism go hand in hand. I have written repeatedly about the ongoing war on Blacks, and how Donald Trump from 2016 on has made himself the protector of every kind of racist, from neo-Nazis to those who hate immigrants and religious minorities to people who never really accepted the end of Jim Crow and the democratic doctrine of racial equality.

This is why Trump continues his attacks on the Obamas ten years after they left the White House. The very idea of a Black man as president must be “undone” in the public mind.

 ~~~

Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias warns: “Not only was the Supreme Court's Callais decision cynical and wrong, it has now resulted in the Republican governor of Louisiana declaring state of emergency to cancel the ongoing congressional election. If you think this ends in Louisiana or with redistricting, you are not paying attention.”

Reviving Institutional Racism

These are indeed the glory days for 21^st Century American racists and “Christian” nationalists. Their white privileged minority rule has just become set in concrete; thanks to the serial criminal they TWICE installed into the Oval Office.

White Christian Nationalists have their racist criminal president. They own Congress. And they own the Supreme Court, abetted by their token black White Nationalist. They have won their decades-long engineered coup by taking control of the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of our federal government. Now their corruption and rampaging abuses of power are overwhelming our ability to even keep track. Every day more cons, grifts, inside deals, extortions, cronyism, and nepotism come to light. But not to justice. 

I won’t mince words. Their long-term damage is more than likely fatal to our constitutionally weakened democracy, already undermined by the corrupt Supreme Court, antiquated electoral college, and anti-democratic and disproportional power in the Senate.

This weakness was exacerbated by an American electorate that was too racist, ignorant, misogynistic, and apathetic to vote against a second Trump presidency. A qualified woman of color was spurned in favor of a racist, corrupt, lying, indicted criminal and conman. This isn’t difficult to understand, considering enough racist, ignorant, misogynistic, and apathetic Americans rejected a qualified moderate white woman in favor of the racist pathological liar ten years ago.

Americans opened the door to the formation of a corrupt, highly partisan, white Christian nationalist Supreme Court. Americans didn’t learn from their demolition of women’s reproductive rights. They didn’t learn from the Court’s authoritarian decree of “presidential immunity”, demanded by the indicted Criminal President.

And there’s no reason to think they will learn from the destruction of Roe v Wade, fabricated presidential immunity that eliminated equal justice under law, and now the gutting of the Voting Rights Act. Gerrymandering by white Republicans has been greenlighted. Gerrymandering by Democrats for fair representation for African Americans has been virtually outlawed.

The racist majority on the Supreme Court has all but assured a white Republican Congress and presidency far into the future. The Louisiana v. Callais decision is nothing less than wholesale election rigging for the benefit of the Republican Party.

As the rights of Americans are falling like dominoes, the increasingly authoritarian Republican Party will continue to lock our country down into a white nationalist, antidemocratic tyranny under minority rule.

MAYBE enough Americans will be motivated to vote for a Democratic congressional majority this year after Trump’s recession arrives and bleeds our wallets dry. But remember this. Trump and his evil henchmen will do everything they can to control, disrupt, and deny the next two elections.

Election interference is already well under way. From Reuters:

In January, a DHS agent sought unredacted voter records and voter registration information from Franklin County, Ohio, without explaining the basis for the request. Reuters found similar federal requests for voter data, access to voting machines or revived fraud investigations in at least eight states, including Nevada, Colorado, Michigan and Missouri, often tied to claims previously rejected by courts.

There’s the very real threat of massive voter intimidation by armed ICE agents stationed at Democratic leaning polling places.

I’m afraid I can see this evil dictatorship going for another 10 years at least. The next two elections will face every obstruction and authoritarian measure Trump, ICE, and SCOTUS impose on them, likely including inciting mass disorder and canceling the elections by declaring a state of emergency. He won't leave willingly. Sorry to be such a downer, but the arc of justice has been bent towards an arc of tyranny. If they win the next two elections this coup will extend indefinitely.

The forces of white nationalist tyranny, abetted by corporate and oligarchic interests, are expanding their control over the former mainstream news media, making it even more difficult for American voters to have access to vital information. The post-truth era is upon us and the tyrants and oligarchs are more than adept at using every tool of disinformation it to consolidate power.

President Biden’s plan for Supreme Court reform will never be revived as long as MAGA racists dominate our congress and high court. He knew what needed to be done by suggesting a constitutional amendment to “make clear that there is no immunity for crimes a former president committed while in office.” The court’s recent decision last month in Trump v. United States, Biden wrote, “means there are virtually no limits on what a president can do.” But the United States, Biden stressed, “was founded on a simple yet profound principle: No one is above the law.”

At the behest of the Criminal President the Alito Court terminated our quaint notion carved into the portico of the Supreme Court building. “Equal Justice Under Law” is no longer an American ideal.

I don’t want to be the negative grumpy guy at the party, but the chances for needed reform are rapidly slipping away.

It’s come down to this. Democrats can only hope to reverse the destruction of the remnants of our democracy by winning a supermajority, with DC statehood and expanded SCOTUS. This will require unified and disciplined messaging that seems almost impossible for them. It’s reasonable to presume there are always going to be the Sinemas, Manchins, and Fettermans to drag them down.

More than ever, we need younger American voters to turn out in record numbers. We also need millions of older Americans to wake up and smell the tyranny.

I won't hold my breath because I honestly don't expect to live long enough see a free and remotely democratic republic again. I'm afraid the American people will suffer through austerity and privation before real change can happen.

However, I will not abandon hope that younger Americans will learn from the ongoing debacle and impending collapse of what we once had, and they realize what needs to be done. It will be up to them to drive the final stake through the fetid heart of Trumpism.

Yet He Persisted

 

23-year old Adam Mockler is a brilliant and insightful rising Gen Z political commentator featured on youtube and CNN. We can hope his voice will be heard as marking a sane pathway towards our nation’s recovery from the toxic hate and swath of destruction left by the Trump Cartel.

More ghoulish, gloating, and gleeful cruelty from the Criminal Sociopath:

And there's this:

(Senator Mike Lee of Utah called it "A nightmare on Walz Street", referring to governor Walz.) 

See the pattern yet?

Yes, Jimmy Kimmel did it again. He made a joke that enraged Trump and his wife by violating their delicate feelings.

On Thursday night Kimmel parodied the upcoming White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, which is usually hosted by a comedian who roasts powerful people, including the president.

His set up for the joke was, “So, I thought, why not … do some of the jokes a comedian might do if our president wasn’t a trembling drama queen who’s scared of comedy?”

And who would be surprised that the Drama Queen and his wife share a thin-skinned fear and hate for free speech?

Melania went on a social media tirade against Kimmel. In her Monday post on X, she called the late night comedian a “coward” who “shouldn’t have the opportunity to enter our homes each evening to spread hate.”

“Kimmel’s hateful and violent rhetoric is intended to divide our country. His monologue about my family isn’t comedy- his words are corrosive and deepens the political sickness within America…Kimmel hides behind ABC because he knows the network will keep running cover to protect him,” the first lady said. “Enough is enough. It is time for ABC to take a stand. How many times will ABC’s leadership enable Kimmel’s atrocious behavior at the expense of our community.”

Melania's “faithful and loyal” Kimmel-hating Drama Queen husband shared her outrage. He contemptuously sniffed that the host is “in no way funny” and "diplomatically" described his monologue as a “despicable call to violence” in a Truth Social post.

Say, isn’t that something like telling an angry mob to, “March to the Capitol! Fight like hell if you want to take your country back!”?

Clearly the Trumps want to incite hate for Kimmel, and to see that the maximum possible level of punishment is inflicted upon him. 

Of course this applies to everyone Trump hates, or dares to challenge him, or dares to disagree with him, or dares to mock him, or dares to criticize him, or  dares to report his criminal acts, or even unflattering information about him. 

Seeking to punish those sorts of people and to silence their voices has always been the MO of every bully, thug, tyrant, dictator, sociopath, and authoritarian leader. There's every reason to understand all of these terms apply to our Criminal President.

Yet Kimmel persisted.

Monday night Kimmel responded. You know how sometimes you wake up in the morning and the First Lady puts out a statement demanding you be fired from your job? We’ve all been there, right?

He went on to explain.

It was a pretend roast. I said, “Our First Lady Melania is here. Look at her, so beautiful. Mrs. Trump you have a glow like an expectant widow”. Which was obviously a joke about their age difference, and the look of joy we see on her face every time they’re together. It was a very light roast joke about the fact that he is almost eighty and she’s younger than I am. It was not by any stretch of the definition a call to assassination. And they know that…

And also I agree hateful and violent rhetoric is something we should reject. I do. And I think a great place to start to dial that back would be to have a conversation with your husband about it.” 

Then on Tuesday:

During his remarks welcoming King Charles III and Queen Camilla to the White House earlier in the day, Trump noted that his parents had been married for 63 years. Then he set the premise for Kimmel's age joke:

“That’s a record we won’t be able to match, darling,” Trump, who turns 80 in June, said to first lady Melania Trump, 56, who was sitting just behind him. “I’m sorry. Just not gonna work out that way.”

Attacking and falsely accusing comedians reveals moral and intellectual weakness. It's also an attack on our First Amendment by the actual domestic enemies of our Constitution and Republic.

Trump v Pope

 

It’s time for Reverend Dave to step up to the pulpit with my sermon, “Why Trump hates the Pope”, (and MAGA is ok with it.)

If Trump isn’t the antichrist, he certainly comes closer to being that than anyone else in this century. He is a racist, grifting, sex offending, extortionist and felon who pardons powerful drug kingpins, protects rapists and child molesters, and richly rewards the worst oligarchic servants of mammon in history 

Yet he’s “God’s Chosen” in eyes of his deluded cult and duped supporters. He can do no wrong that would elicit their disfavor and diminish their devotion.

The truth is the last thing the MAGA cult is interested in. Trump’s word is their gospel, and journalists who don’t praise him are their hated nemeses.

Last October Pope Leo said journalism is "not only an act of justice, but a duty of all those who long for a solid and participatory democracy."

He quoted Hannah Arendt's "The Origins of Totalitarianism" in asserting that the world needs a free press and objective information. He cited her warning that "the ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."

"With your patient and rigorous work, you can act as a barrier against those who, through the ancient art of lying, seek to create divisions in order to rule by dividing.”

That went over like a garlic-covered silver cross would with vampires. In Trump’s view the Pope is supporting the “enemy of the people”.

The Pope’s next blasphemy against MAGA was directed at Trump’s alcoholic, spouse-abusing war monger Pete Hegseth for invoking Jesus in justifying the slaughter of Iranians:

“This is our God: Jesus, King of Peace, who rejects war, whom no one can use to justify war. He does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war, but rejects them, saying: ‘Even though you make many prayers, I will not listen: your hands are full of blood.’” 

Leo reminded us and warned others, "Blessed are the peacemakers! Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth. 

The “Woke Pope” even dared to mention the characteristic shared by every anti-MAGA and anti-war resister. 

It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God’s creation that must be denounced and rejected by ​every honest conscience."

Pope Leo didn’t neglect to include the likes of Putin, Orban, Netanyahu, and the Iranian leadership. He meant ALL tyrants.

"The world is being ravaged by a handful of tyrants, yet it is held together by a multitude of supportive brothers and sisters!" he said.

But it gets even worse, as the “Woke Pope” transformed into the “Commie Hippie Pope”:

"The masters of war pretend not to know that it takes only a moment to destroy, yet often a lifetime is not enough to ​rebuild. They turn a blind eye to the fact that billions of dollars are spent on killing and devastation, yet the resources needed for healing, education and restoration ​are nowhere to be found."

There it is. Trump virtually sees the Pope as a woke leftist commie hippie, a threat to his imperial rule, and enemy of the people.

Wasn’t Jesus similarly deemed by the authoritarians in charge back in his time?

Maybe Trump will want to bomb the Vatican next, so they don’t develop a nuclear weapon to wipe out Mar-a-Lago?

Nothing is too deranged anymore. Nothing.