This was the subject of a post over at Balloon Juice.
Just Saying – Open Thread
by Cheryl Rofer
October 13, 2017A number of commenters have said that Trump’s behavior makes them afraid. His behavior is, in many ways, frightening. He is spiteful and ignorant and willing to use the power of his position in destructive ways.
But he wants us to be afraid. Fearful people are more malleable. That is part of his schtick, and part of why he thinks he is a good negotiator. He uses fear.
This is my response.
I don’t have fear. I have a persistent rage that hasn’t left me since November 8th.
It has hardened me.
With every insult
With every action
With every wrong he does against this country, I grow hardened.
When I write that those who voted for Dolt45 and those who voted third party will NEVER be forgiven… I mean that.
And, I know that I am not alone on this side of the aisle. I read it all the time.
There is a sea change. We are not ‘ letting it go.’
They put sociopaths in charge and think that we should ‘ understand’ why they voted the way that they did.
I.DON’T.CARE.WHY.
I just want them to suffer.
But, fear?
Oh, phuck no.
I’m phucking PISSED OFF.
If I am afraid of anything, it’s the arrogance of White Supremacy that believes that they can control any of this. But, even then, my fear turns to anger.
Anger for those arrogant White Men surrounding him, thinking that they are slick.
Anger at the GOP White Men in Congress that Bob Corker says think the way that he does, but won’t bring up Articles of Impeachment against him.
Anger at the Spineless, like Speaker Paul Ryan, who is so blinded by his dream of dismantling the New Deal and erasing the 20th Century, that he spinelessly keeps on backing Dolt45, because he believes that he will get his place in history for destroying the American Social Safety Net.
Anger at those who clearly have chosen to betray democracy in this country, because they want their tax cuts.
They are not patriots. They will ally themselves with traitors to this country for some tax cuts.
Anger at those in his cabinet, who had reputations before joining up with him, and now try to put out into the universe that THEY are the adults in the room, and we should be grateful to them.
Their arrogance at believing that they can control the situation. They risk the safety and security of this country, with their arrogance. Instead of doing the right thing, and verifying what we see, they pretend like they are doing some service to this country.
Pathological Stupidity. pic.twitter.com/O1Z0hvcUvS
— Tomthunkit™ (@TomthunkitsMind) October 14, 2017
.@FareedZakaria: "It's very clear now that we essentially have no diplomacy going on in the United States" https://t.co/vO7l4Qn4s3
— Anderson Cooper 360° (@AC360) October 14, 2017
uh huh
Trump's one idea: reverse whatever Obama did. https://t.co/hsdtuI7MGV
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) October 14, 2017
It didn’t have to be this way.
I think that’s what makes me fill with rage.
ALLL this extra shyt that we’re going through?
DIDN’T HAVE TO BE THIS WAY.
IF we had President Clinton, the ONLY thing on her plate right now would be to marshal all the forces of the United States to save our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico. THAT is what President Clinton would be talking about All day, Everyday.
All the other nonsense that we’re dealing with now?
North Korea
Iran
Obamacare
ALL that shyt is Dolt45’s making.
And, why, those that made him possible, and continue to enable him WILL NEVER BE FORGIVEN.
https://twitter.com/atDavidHoffman/status/918942828008534017
https://www.instagram.com/p/BV9YZ7VAmpK/?hl=en
https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/920752869598531584
This kid was just 25 years old…
This kid gave his life for nothing….for a country that still doesn’t think his life meant much…A country that still largely consciously/unconsciously/subconsciously negatively stereotypes black folks, and only to justify their mistreatment of them…to justify mistreating and dismissing him, his young wife and family, even in his death…A country that in the end, never really gives a rats a*se about black folks….reflected again, and again in the way they mistreated and summarily dismissed him, in life and in death…seeing him, his young wife and family, as just another set of 3rd class, unequal … In the end, just another of those pesky, inconvenient blacks…
RIKYRAH BEAT THAT ASS TODAY!
https://twitter.com/GrahamDavidA/status/920716792041017354
https://twitter.com/Eugene_Scott/status/920715754521100288
After Trump’s warning, McCain says, ‘I have faced tougher adversaries’
10/18/17 10:02 AM
By Steve Benen
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was awarded the Liberty Medal by the National Constitution Center on Monday night, and delivered remarks that sounded like a not-so-subtle shot at Donald Trump. The veteran senator said that “some half-baked, spurious nationalism” should be considered “as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma of the past that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history.”
Asked yesterday whether this was a rebuke of his party’s president, McCain added that he was really referring to “America Firsters” – which only reinforced impressions that Trump and his followers were his intended targets.
As the Washington Post reported, the president was asked about this during a radio interview yesterday.
Soon after, McCain didn’t sound overly concerned about the president’s warnings. “I have faced tougher adversaries,” he said of Trump.
Grampa McCain, you unleashed The Wassila Hillbilly on the Lower 48, THO!
Thank you…
I’m sorry that he’s ill…brain cancer is the worst..
But I’m tired of people turning a blind eye to McCain’s still ongoing dubiousness and mealy-mouthedness..
Always careful not to insult the buffoon who endlessly insults him, but quick to always slam the administration and policies of a President who’s continued to go out of his way to treat him with respect and dignity he hasn’t always been deserving of..
hmmph
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/17/17
House Intel Russia investigation burdened by partisan disunity
Congressman Eric Swalwell who serves on the House Intelligence Committee, talks with Rachel Maddow about challenging partisanship within the committee’s Trump Russia investigation.
Of course he did.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/17/17
Trump picks leader of failed Bush Katrina response to lead DHS
Rachel Maddow reminds viewers of the leading role Kirstjen Nielsen played in the George W. Bush administration’s response to Hurricane Katrina, making her a dubious pick by Donald Trump to lead the Department of Homeland Security.
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 10/17/17
Mueller interviewing former Trump staffers
Rachel Maddow relays a report that former Trump communications director Sean Spicer is among the former Trump staffers who have now been interviewed by special counsel Robert Mueller, leading to speculation about how far along Mueller is in his inquiry.
As Alabama race tightens, Republicans rally behind Roy Moore
By Steve Benen 10/18/17 10:41AM
With Alabama’s U.S. Senate special election just two months away, most recent polling shows Roy Moore (R) with a modest lead over Doug Jones (D). The extremist Republican is clearly the favorite, but his advantage is hardly insurmountable.
With this in mind, the political world was jolted a bit yesterday when Fox News released a new statewide poll of its own, showing the race tied at 42% each.
It’s probably wise to take the results with a grain of salt — it looks like an outlier, and there are some legitimate questions about Fox’s methodology — but the poll was nevertheless a reminder that Alabama’s race is relatively competitive, thanks in part to Roy Moore’s radicalism and record that got him thrown off the state Supreme Court (twice).
The broader question, meanwhile, is what Republican officials are thinking about his candidacy at this point. The New Republic’s Jeet Heer had a compelling take yesterday, following Sen. Rand Paul’s (R-Ky.) endorsement of Moore.
MSNBC’s Chris Hayes added yesterday, “GOP senators from across the spectrum of their coalition endorsing Roy Moore shows that Trump is a symptom not a cause.”
Movement Conservatism Protects Itself With Racism
by Martin Longman
October 17, 2017
Ed Gillespie and the Republican Party in Virginia are so bent on using racism as a political weapon that they’re campaigning against sanctuary cities even though Virginia doesn’t have any sanctuary cities. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg when you consider the other things they’re doing, including the mailers they’re sending out and the advertisements they’re producing even in downticket races.
I want to go back to July 2nd, 2013. That’s the day I wrote a piece called The GOP is Moving in the Wrong Direction. It was in response to an article Benjy Sarlin had written for MSNBC in which he detailed the transformation that occurred in Republican circles as they moved from following the RNC post-2012 autopsy report’s analysis (that insisted on the political necessity of passing immigration reform) to following the analysis of Real Clear Politics’s Sean Trende (who argued that the GOP could win by opposing immigration reform and getting better turnout and a greater share of the white vote).
…………………………………………………….
The Republicans are doing this because they’re driven by movement conservatives who believe it’s the only way they can win in a country that is growing more diverse. The Democrats are grappling with how to adjust as a party to their collapse of support in small towns and rural America, so I know parties can struggle to change to meet new challenges. But the GOP is using racism to protect conservative ideology. They know that immigrant communities don’t share their values on a host of issues related to how the government should function, and they want to avoid having to ask for their votes for as long as possible.
Racial animosity has always been a big part of movement conservatism and of the Christian Coalition, but the need to keep polarizing whites against everyone else is making it more central and more transparent than ever before. It’s actually making people more racist, both by design and by osmosis.
For the Republican Party to break this transformation into a fascist party, they need a rump to emerge with a lot of financial backing that is opposed to movement conservatism and that refuses to cede the party to them. We’ve seen push-back when the business community intervened to stop anti-gay measures pushed in North Carolina and Mike Pence’s Indiana. I know it is possible for traditional Republicans to organize, finance and push back against the extremists in their midst. But when a guy like Ed Gillespie is using racism like this in the Virginia governor’s race, it’s obvious that this process has not yet begun.
Trump’s Criminally-Inspired Approach to Deal-Making
by Nancy LeTourneau
October 18, 2017
Lately I’ve been noticing some of the analogies people have been using to describe Trump’s deal-making as president. Right here at Political Animal, David Atkins described him as an organized crime boss.
Mayhew at BJ has some thoughts up on the new compromise on CSR’s :
Morning thoughts on Alexander-Murray
https://www.balloon-juice.com/2017/10/18/morning-thoughts-on-alexander-murray/
Good Morning, Everyone 😐😐😐
Good Morning, Rikyrah & 3 Chics Family.
I feel you, Rik. I caution you to not become hardened, though. It’s not healthy, and in the long run, your physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies will pay the price.
Take care of you and your loved ones.