Not like we didn’t know that already, but the unfettered love of Biff has completely corrupted any sanity left in the Republican party.
Mitt Romney took a principled stand, something like his late father would have done, against the Orange Fuckwit by voting for his removal. We know this. It’s tempting to question this, but in the face of the fallout, it is clear Romney has indeed allowed his principles to make his decision for him, something less and less frequent among his colleagues.
And he’s had to endure some shit from it. Various outlets and mouth-breathing talking heads have raked Romney over the coals. This is not unexpected. The Republican Party has pandered so far down that its ranks are littered with people who literally froth at the mouth if you don’t stand strictly in line with Biff.
We know this. We know this because the impeachment proved Biff’s assertion from during the election completely correct. He could murder someone on Fifth Avenue, hell in full view of a hundred people, and he’d walk. That’s the indisputable truth now. And thanks to lapdogs like McConnell, he can now strut around like he owns the joint, because he basically does.
Except for Romney.
How bad has it gotten for him?
The chairman of CPAC, the lovely conservative convention that is always a bastion for great ideas(if you’re not seeing the sarcasm, I don’t know what to tell you), has expressed concern about being able to guarantee Romney’s physical safety at the annual conference.
Seriously holy fuck right there. Let’s put the train in park and unpack this.
While I do not see this statement as a threat per se, it shows just how far down the rabbit hole conservatives in this country have gone. Chairman Matt Schlapp, who made this indication about Romney’s safety, sent out a tweet disinviting Romney last month, so these were not his first words on the subject.
They are truly eating their own now. Mitt Romney, as prominent as a Republican as there has been in the last decade, so much so that he took the party’s Presidential nomination in 2012, is being subjected to “concerns” about physical violence being done against him from his own people. It’s hard to fathom that there’s any more proof needed that Biff is a dictator than this. If this is how they are treating someone of Romney’s stature, then it certainly sends a message that those that wear an R (or, presumably, a D) and step outside of lock with Orange Hitler should fear for their safety.
This is sheer craziness. This is not normal. The fragile civility that binds Americans together is coming apart completely. Democratic candidates should take note of what is happening here, and use this as an object lesson on codifying their own base without unleashing the lunatics, and getting everyone behind whatever nominee there is.
You hearing me in the Ivory Tower, Hillary? That means you, too. I don’t care how much you don’t care for Bernie, you either need to stay away, or throw your weight behind the notion of unifying the party to unseat Biff.
Consider this in reflecting on where we are right now: If Mitt Romney were to be assassinated, the chances are drastically higher that the person who would it would be a disgruntled conservative, rather than an angry liberal.
Insane.
More from the Washington Post here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/02/10/cpac-chair-mitt-romney-impeachment/
…well…shit…how many more circles down can we go in this inferno, John?
…dunno about you…but I think I may be in need of a drink
I’m not familiar enough with how the German people perceived Hitler and the changes going on around them other than that the citizenship “let” Hitler happen. Are we those same people? Just trying to get by and keeping our heads down and hoping for the next election? Yes.
What continues to leave me flummoxed in Year Four is how people can throw their weight behind Trump. Forget the solid 30% who are cultists and need to be reminded to breathe. I’m talking every last one of those “principled” and “steady handed” Republicans and Independents. It would be one thing if Trump were charming, occasionally honest, intelligent, giving, or even simply good looking. He is the opposite of all things good and decent.
Yet here come all of his little soldiers and yes-men. Are they even accomplishing that much? The Trump Administration has had more than a few wins in rolling back environmental protections, getting two anti-abortion judges on the Supreme Courts, increasing the deficit in service of tax breaks for billionaires. But what have they really gained in these four years?
They’ve won if they were aiming for a divided, broken country who cry out for a warm Russian embrace.
When it comes to Mittens, especially, I think people are enraged that he couldn’t beat Obama with his binders full of women in the same way they came for John McCain. Their insane hatred of Obama has driven the party for over a decade and it would be sad if it weren’t more infuriating. Somehow, I can imagine a world where Bernie wins the nomination (I’m not counting on it) and having to watch as the DNC, Hillary, and the MSNBC crew hurl jabs and unending questions about HoW wE’rE GoING to PAY for iT!? for four years ad completely undermine any progress that could be made.
What the RNC/DNC are stuck on is keeping party members in line, rather than having to lobby for their allegiance. You can’t even have a polite, well reasoned disagreement with the party platform anymore because it makes a billionaire somewhere upset. Rather than strengthening the party, it makes it weaker and we end up with #Never(DemCandidate)
It’s a shame we currently don’t have a viable multi-party system so that we could have more democracy, rather than less.
So, the main motivator behind the German citizens’ support of Hitler was the fact that they had lost a war when they still held significant enemy territory, and as a result their economy had completely collapsed due to the crushing reparations imposed as part of the Versailles Treaty (which the public called the “diktat” which is a decree imposed without popular consent). Likewise, they were subjected to some pretty humiliating conditions such as disarmament and the occupation of the Ruhr Valley by the French and Belgian armies. There were also political assassinations galore–hundreds of them. So, if you look at it from the perspective of someone who feels their country surrendered when they were “winning” in the contemporary sense of the word, their major industrial center was essentially repossessed due to bad debts, their economy was so fucked that one Dollar was the equivalent of over 4 trillion Marks, and that political leaders were getting bumped off left and right, then having a guy step up to the microphone telling them he’s going to bring stability and glory back to their country while punishing those who were to blame for their woes doesn’t seem so far fetched.
Now, with that being said, I’m still firmly in the camp that we are NOT heading down the express train to Naziland. From the political standpoint alone, our circumstances are nothing like post-WWI Germany. We didn’t surrender to the Afghans or Iraqis (hell, we’re still fighting them because we don’t actually know what the hell we’re doing), Detroit isn’t occupied by a foreign power, the economy is essentially plugging along (no thanks to Republican efforts to tank it), and political leaders aren’t getting taken out by MAGAts. That’s not even getting into the whole military side of the situation, which is likewise entirely different from what we have. Our problem is what has been posted elsewhere: Republicans and “Centrist” Democrats have stripped our educational system for parts, glorified ignorance and vilified intelligence. So, what we have now is a shockingly ignorant populous who are easily duped and will do essentially whatever their strongman of the moment tells them to do. Yet, we still aren’t heading toward the extremes of Nazi Germany. We may have concentration camps on the border, and people may be dying in them due to neglect and mistreatment, but they are not extermination camps pumping out the ashes of millions of cremated bodies. Does that make me feel better? Not really. But it does give me the capacity to have some perspective and the recognition that there are currently people in power who are doing their damnedest to shut those camps down so I should support their efforts any way that I can. All of this shit can be reversed with the next election, rather than having to wait until the rest of the world invades us and forces us to change.
I think the “are we going full Nazi?” question will be answered depending on this election, because not only is it going up show us if we have the power to overcome the fact the elections are no longer free and fair, but also determine whether we continue to truly have elections. I’m also real nervous about the SCOTUS decision on faithless electors; it’s possible they will tell us our vote literally doesn’t matter because electors determine the president and they get to decide no matter how people of their state vote.
But really, you’re right. If we “go Nazi,” it will look different than Hitler’s Germany, because too many things are different, but we will still call it that because it’ll be led by Nazis and their allies.
A scholar I heard on a podcast said we are in a very similar position to 1932 Nazi Germany because of the perception that Americans are victims and have little to lose – even if it’s not the same degree as Germany. It’s the time when regular Germans were having to decide whether to blame outsiders for their plight or not – the question wasn’t did they want all the jews killed, it was just, would they limit a leader who wished I’ll upon the Jews (and others), and would they EVER question their country. Trump is testing his limits with us and Hitler did the same.
Yeah, I haven’t yet decided which I’m more afraid of: Trump getting re-elected…or the three months between Trump losing the election and the inauguration of the new President.
I’m not sure Trump leaves if he loses.
I can certainly see him trying to barricade himself in the Oval Office, but I honestly don’t think the Secret Service would put up with that shit. Besides that, the Constitution is quite clear on the matter: the President stops being President at noon on January 20th. I doubt even right wing SCOTUS would go along with him on this, particularly since Roberts has already shown his willingness to vote against Trump on more than one occasion.
Ultimately, I think it would be most hilarious to watch him getting dragged out of the White House by the Secret Service, kicking and screaming.
I guess I’m more afraid of the former but the latter is going to be painful.
I’m not under the impression that the times we’re living through now are anything like Weimar Germany or Nazi Germany. Even still, there are people in concentration camps who are being abused; our democracy is being sold for parts. This is all because a man stepped up to the mic and said he would “fix” everything for the masses of citizens who feel under attack and decided minorities of all stripes are to blame.
…not really intending to disagree…but it’s notable that in 1939 Hitler’s efforts to lead a resurgence in the German economy appeared to have delivered enough improvement that Time magazine awarded him Man of the Year
…& the international eugenics conference was hosted in New York in ’32 (& ’21…the one in 1912 was in London) so…more folks were thinking along those lines than just the anti-Semites & Nazis
…plenty of stuff is different in the US today than in Germany then…but the part where most of the population sleepwalked their way into an authoritarian despotic regime…I dunno…there are definitely more parallels to be drawn than I’m comfortable with
…not the least of which being Dolt45’s entire campaign strategy being made of pages torn from Goebbels’ propaganda playbook?
Money. Money is what the “beyond 30%” crowd wants. They are rich or nearly so, and if there’s one thing I learned in years of writing investment articles, rich people hate taxes with a white-hot fury. They see it as robbing them of their hard-earned money (never mind that most of them never actually “worked” at anything). They will pay $5000 to save $1000 in taxes (true story). They will vote for any ghoul that promises to reduce and eliminate taxes.
As a corollary to reduced taxes, they want regulatory oversight eliminated. They don’t care about roads or infrastructure, they don’t care that there is a growing (and increasingly restless) poor and nearly-poor population, they don’t care about the planet or climate change, they only care about shoveling more money into their pockets at the expense of others, most of whom don’t have the resources to protect themselves.
There are decent rich people. But they didn’t vote for Trump. And let me be clear — those who did vote for Trump don’t get a pass on supporting racism, misogyny, and graft just because they voted in naked self-interest. Nope, they bought the whole package. And being “okay” with racism, misogyny, and corruption so you can line your own pockets is the same as being racist, misogynistic, and crooked.
I know the rich live in a different country than us, both physically and mentally. Just as with the MAGAs it’s hard to get into the headspace of anyone supporting Trump, for any reason. Which is why I think Dems and leftists need to spend less time defending their choices because those who vote GOP certainly feel they have no obligation to do so.
Man, a million times this. I’ve been having a “debate” with a friend who is a big trump supporter. I keep asking him what trump has done that’s so good and I get the standard talking points, “the economy, taxes are lower”. No matter how many articles I send him about how little the tax act actually did to help the economy it doesn’t matter. You’re 100% right, if he can pay literally $1 less in taxes he doesn’t give a shit how corrupt or divisive the president is.
It’ll come as no surprise that he thinks that all forms of “entitlement” need to be taken away, he’s tired of paying for everyone else (Mind you he grew up upper-middle class white in orange county CA so he has every advantage). He’ll defend corporations and why they deserve every penny of the tax break until he’s blue in the face, but when it comes to giving a a struggling family $100 in food stamps to go buy groceries (which goes DIRECTLY into the economy) he’ll come up with every reason in the world why that shouldn’t happen and why those people need to work harder.
I just don’t know where we go from here. Half the population has been brainwashed to think that corporations can do no wrong and everyone who is struggling just needs to pull harder on their bootstraps.
Hillary doesn’t give a rat’s ass about making sure Trump loses. She only cares about herself and making sure that Sanders doesn’t prove that he could have beaten Trump in 2016. She’d probably force herself to smile and give a tepid endorsement of Warren if it meant the difference between Warren and Sanders at the end, but ultimately she wants someone in power who will protect her money and if that’s Trump then so be it.
“They are truly eating their own now.”
I wish. I wish.