The dictionary defines treason as betrayal, treachery, disloyalty and faithlessness. I looked it up, because it was the word that came to mind when I read this article by Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo.
Marshall was revisiting a report that first emerged in June, 2016, about a remark made by Kevin McCarthy, House Majority Leader, asserting that both Donald Trump and Dana Rohrabacher were on Putin’s payroll. When the comment leaked, staff members dismissed it as a “joke”–which it pretty obviously wasn’t. At the time, there was no way of knowing what prompted the observation. But as Marshall writes,
Given all we know now, it’s worth revisiting not only the stunning quote but the context around it.
Let’s start by reviewing the gist of the news. Here, from Entous’s article, McCarthy pipes up in a conversation among House leadership about Russia and Ukraine.
That’s when McCarthy brought the conversation about Russian meddling around to the DNC hack, Trump and Rohrabacher.
“I’ll guarantee you that’s what it is. . . . The Russians hacked the DNC and got the opp [opposition] research that they had on Trump,” McCarthy said with a laugh.
Ryan asked who the Russians “delivered” the opposition research to.
“There’s . . . there’s two people I think Putin pays: Rohrabacher and Trump,” McCarthy said, drawing some laughter. “Swear to God,” McCarthy added.
“This is an off the record,” Ryan said.
Some lawmakers laughed at that.
“No leaks, all right?,” Ryan said, adding: “This is how we know we’re a real family here.”
Marshall notes that McCarthy and Ryan had each met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Groysman earlier in the day.
According to the recording obtained by The Washington Post, in his meetings with top US officials Groysman had focused on the dynamic we’ve all grown familiar with over the last two years: Russian funding of populist, rightist political parties, propaganda campaigns meant to throw competitor states off balance and into turmoil and even financial subsidies directly to key politicians.
Whatever else Groysman discussed with them, subsequent comments made by Ryan make it clear that he was aware of Russia’s very sophisticated cyber-warfare techniques, and that they weren’t confined to Ukraine: financing populists, financing people in various governments to sabotage those governments, interfering with oil and gas energy production, and a variety of other disruptive strategies.
The question is whether Groysman told McCarthy and the others something more specific. It’s not a stretch to imagine he did. The accounts suggest he was describing patterns and candidates very much like Donald Trump. We simply don’t have evidence to settle that question. The people in that meeting certainly aren’t talking. What strikes me is that the people in that meeting, certainly Kevin McCarthy and Paul Ryan had a very clear sense of Russian operations in Ukraine and Europe more broadly and how it matched what was taking shape with Donald Trump. The gist of Groysman’s message was that western countries needed to stand united because Russia represented a common threat. The first news of cyberattack the day before only put the equation in a sharper relief.
Whatever they knew then or suspected, the coming months would add dramatic weight to McCarthy’s suspicions. Wikileaks began releasing DNC emails a month later, throwing Clinton’s campaign repeatedly off track. Trump would more aggressively cheer on Russia’s actions. And remember: precisely what was happening – whether Russia was the power behind Wikileaks or someone else – wasn’t 100% clear at the time to ordinary citizens. But at least Ryan and likely McCarthy as well had contemporaneous intelligence briefings which made it crystal clear. Both men were among the 12 members of Congress who were briefed on the Russian campaign in early September 2016 by Jeh Johnson (DHS Secretary), James Comey and Lisa Monaco (White House Homeland Security Advisor).
At that briefing, according to reports,
“The Dems were, ‘Hey, we have to tell the public,’ ” recalled one participant. But Republicans resisted, arguing that to warn the public that the election was under attack would further Russia’s aim of sapping confidence in the system.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) went further, officials said, voicing skepticism that the underlying intelligence truly supported the White House’s claims. Through a spokeswoman, McConnell declined to comment, citing the secrecy of that meeting.
As the sentences I’ve bolded indicate, McCarthy, Ryan and Mr. Evil–aka Mitch McConnell–have been aware of the nature and extent of Russian meddling since June of 2016. To get a complete and accurate picture of their disgraceful conduct, you need to click through and read the entire analysis, but as Marshall concludes,
McCarthy and Ryan as well had clear warnings and a clear understanding of the Russian pattern of conduct and Trump’s probable connection to it. They would get a lot more evidence over coming months confirming this impression from June 2016. But they either ignored what they knew or decided to make a conscious decision to unknow it as they moved more and more firmly into lockstep support of Donald Trump. We see this especially clearly with McCarthy, the one who appeared most sure of the connection in this June 15th 2016 meeting and would become the most loyal and staunchest advocate for Trump in the ensuing months and years.
Treachery? Disloyalty? Faithlessness?
Ryan said the Republicans were all “family.” Right. Like the Corleones…
Russia…russia…russia…snooze.
The Russians spent $45,000 on Facebook ads promoting right-wing ideology. This had zero impact. Get on Facebook…the people who generally endorse and support right-wing lunacy had those ideas for years and don’t change. Do you honestly think liberals receiving those ads switched over and voted for Trump? LOL
Russia made the DNC look bad. They exposed the Democratic Party as frauds. Tulsi Gabbard quit the DNC because she heard the parties strategy against Bernie Sanders. Hello????
During an international interview, Putin was asked about our “democracy”. He said it sounds great, but the USA doesn’t have a democracy.
If the Russians exposed the DNC/Clinton Regime as not being democratic, they did us a favor by exposing the ugly truth. Did the ugly truth hurt the outcome of the election? Maybe.
Last I checked, that’s the role/purpose of our free press. Why wasn’t the hacked data handed over to the American media?
The answer is the same reason Edward Snowden didn’t hand over his treasure trove to the American media.
Why would folks in certain locations object to an honest appraisal of what is happening? If our government is corrupt, I want our newspaper to hold them accountable. If our state regulatory agencies are not doing their job, I count on the newspaper or TV broadcast news to tell us so we can make intelligent choices come time to vote.
I’ve written countless articles about our corrupt government which is rarely supported by our profiteering media in Indiana. Why is that?
Why has our state government laid down beside the corporations who pollute us? And why hasn’t the newspapers exposed the newspaper zeroed in on the corruption?
Albert Einstein and Noam Chomsky have already answered these questions.
“Speaking Of Treason” has been the leading liberal outcry, repeatedly using Trump’s own words against himself regarding Putin and all things Russian. He spoke adoringly of Putin over and above past presidents, praised the Russian government over and above our own government, continues to meet with Putin in private and has been photographed whispering in his ear on numerous occasions. Our own Congress has continuously aided and abetted and upheld Trump’s treasonous and/or seditious comments, actions and Executive Orders throughout his campaign and since Day One in the Oval Office. Trump, his ever-changing administration and the Republican Congress are NOT charged with treason for one reason and one reason only…the fact that they are the only ones with the power to bring these charges against themselves. They have turned their backs on Americans and our strongest allies around the world as they follow Trump deeper into oblivion daily, sometimes hourly.
In January 1898, an open letter from Emile Zola, titled “J’accuse!”, was addressed to the President of France regarding the erroneous arrest and conviction of Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish military officer, of treason, resulting in his being sentenced to Devil’s Island. Emile Zola’s words against the French government need to be used against this current treasonous U.S. government:
“Ah, what a cesspool of folly and foolishness, what preposterous fantasies, what corrupt police tactics, what inquisitorial, tyrannical practices! What petty whims of a hew higher-ups trampling the nation under their boots, ramming down their throats the peoples cries for truth and justice, with the travesty of state security as a pretext.”
We watch daily as each of Emile Zola’s accusations in 1898 are carried out in public and “behind that curtain” by our own government; not against one man but against all Americans. If not Treason…what other name can the Trump and Republican Congress destruction of democracy be given?
At this point, I need to ask a serious question of my fellow Americans: WHY are these people still running our government? And WHY are they not arrested immediately and charged and detained? Have we become so slothful, so ignorant of our rights and responsibilities that NO ONE has the courage to step in and ARREST THEM? I have 6 buckets of TAR in my garage – if someone has some feathers I can tell you what we can do and the fucking military be damned it is time the People took this into their own hands! You think I am joking?..
We are already in new territory every day. Is anything off limits? When the Military comes to Washington for the Trump Parade, is that the setting for a take over? Is anything too far out to consider with these awful people?
Rev. Manuel Colunga-Hernandez; I answered your question in my comments. Those with the power to order and enact those arrests are the ones who need to be arrested. I know you are not joking; your words are tame compared to the thoughts in my head which are too dangerous to put into print…dangerous to myself because we all know we are all being hacked 24/7/365. Our mid-term elections in November have never been more vital to our survival; they are the only ammunition we have at this time and if we lose this chance…we may never get another.
It amazes me that one commenter is still stuck on false narratives and Bernie. This “Russia” thing is a great deal more serious than the “politics” of the issue. We have elected officials repeatedly ignoring or choosing not to take Russian involvement seriously. We know more and more about how McConnell, Ryan, Rohrbacher, DT and others were (are) involved. Treason and betrayal are the proper terms.
Rev. Manuel Colunga-Hernandez – The answer to your question just may be that everyone in DC has dirty hands and are too afraid to publicly accuse anyone else, lest their own crimes might be exposed.
McCarthy, McConnell and the rest may have known what Putin had on Trump before the election, but remember folks, no one thought Trump would win. If Putin got some of his dirt on Trump from the hacking of Hillary’s computers why didn’t she use it? Whatever the Republicans knew before the election they kept quiet about it in order to win as much as they could. When Trump actually won, it was too late.
In their quest for power, the Republican party lost it all to a psychopathic would be dictator.
This makes the evidence on trumpbribe.com more credible. Have a look.
Why is Sen Joe Donnelly (D-Ind) airing a TV ad calling for “making the tax reform (tax cuts for the rich and corporations) permanent”? Is that the most important pre-election issue for Democrats?
Ask me Joe, I would say at least one better issue for Democrats would be to ELIMINATE the income cap (now a mere $128,700) for Social Security contributions.
Let’s not forget two things. First, we are a country of laws. I had to explain this to a cabdriver on St.Martin, who wondered why it took so long for the government to go get Elian Gonzalez and send him back to his daddy. I shouldn’t have to explain it to the commenters on this blog.
Second, we have the appropriate investigation going on at the moment. It will take some time, but I am certain Mr. Mueller will set forth an ironclad case for both conspiracy and obstruction. When he does, that will be the time to demand action. That will also be the time to decide whether the actions of the leadership of the House and Senate constitute criminal acts on behalf of a conspiracy against the government.
Todd,
I’m sure those who were backing Clinton didn’t have their minds changed by the garbage that was on Facebook, but what about those Bernie-bots who were looking for more reasons to hate Hillary? Bernie’s own people were trying to get the message out that these posts should be ignored and warning that some “pro Bernie” websites were fake Russian sites. Some young members of my family were convinced that they should never vote for Hillary beause of those items.
As an aside, I have decided to get all of my news from “The Onion”, and the “Borowitz Report”, and my musical entertainment from “Randy Rainbow”.
Per Thom Hartmann > There are three general theories to explain Trump’s behavior toward Russia.
1.) The Manchurian Candidate: He’s being blackmailed or has been a Russian asset for years.
2.) The Wannabe Dictator: He believes that countries should be run like companies—essentially autocracies.
3.) The Deadbeat: He’s not only not rich, but he’s badly in debt, and Russian billionaires are among his main creditors. This also would explain why Trump has been so unwilling to release his tax returns, even after he won the election. https://www.commondreams.org/views/2018/07/20/there-are-3-main-theories-explain-trumps-approach-putin-and-russia-which-one-makes
**********************************************************************
The election came down to votes, no one to my knowledge can prove beyond a reasonable doubt a single vote was changed because of the Russians. Again, no one to the best of my knowledge can prove beyond a reasonable doubt any voting systems were hacked by the Russians.
These theories all ignore the effects of Lobbyists, PAC’ s, and Super PAC’s on our electoral system. Our Corporate McMega-Media CNN and MSDNC can devote day after coverage on Russia, Cohen, Stormy Daniels, etc., but not a minute on the endemic corruption of our political system, by our own oligarchs.
How do you lose to Donald Trump (aka Agent Orange) in general election you select Hillary Clinton. The Corporate Democratic Party and their shills in the media have been offering up one excuse after another why they continue to lose: Right Wing Radio, FOX News, Ralph Nader, Bernie Bots that sat out the election, and now the Russians. What next space aliens???
The facts are clear – The Corporate Democratic Party has been losing in the House, Senate and Governor’s races since 1990. Even though the Democrats continued to lose, they kept Nancy Peloisi and Harry Reid at the helm in Washington. Ahh well, better to hit the iceberg, than turn left into Progressive Seas.
Or, Joe, what about guns, guns, guns?
easing into todays news,manfort goes to trail tommarow, and what did he know? as we have read about the millions hidden and stashed between cyprus and cayman isds. then lost i n the papaer trail. oleg deripaska, was a hand off of such money to manfort, as he is, putin buddy. when i found manafort was representing russian interests in ukraine, it was a search and see, why? obvioulsly,manfort a lobbyist,influential in congress and money people, was at forefront of the start of keeping ukraine out of nato.putin was dealing cards before crimea. intent im sure. when it was found manafort was possibly paid by ukraine treasury money,stolen and wrote down in a journal in handwriting as to where that money went,as the former russian backed president fled back to russia after a uprising.. after a western backed president was elected,yushchenko,then putin invaded crimea. obviously to putin,democracy is not his buddy. the white house did little to even, pubicize the incedent.. and when trump was elected, basically snubbed yushchenko in ameeting at the white house. if manafort as an american was able to and maybe only for the money, why would an american support a european country back into the hands of putin,and why? maybe members of congress have this answer. if treason is the word of today, (blacks or webster) we have been ignorant of who, and why,and motivation.. trumps command performance was seen by a few,as the right thing to do,in helsinki.. private,and to make friends? trump has no,international training,or experience other than,business,as i see it, who ever is coaching him,sould be the subject of treason,conspiracy, and or, be jailed for leading our nation into a far right nationalism. if cambridge analytical is owned by rob mercer,and steve bannon, do we also point a finger at them also??no one in congress is even,touching this.. for i believe the congress as a whole, is guilty of treason,as, not upholding the law,suppressing knowlege of crimes,and intent to. mr evil is a good name for mcconnell, i have a trucker term, and its far more indignate. ive followed manaforts disregard for democracy for a few years,obvioulsly, theres many more walking the floors of congress, either as members,or lobbyists. maybe some major shaking out of the lobbyists ranks are due,as the memebers of congress. mueller, heres the plan, dont give up.thank you for bringing a trator to trial, may this be the first of many.. best wishes America…
“But it remained for the Jews, with their unqualified capacity for falsehood, and their fighting comrades, the Marxists, to impute responsibility for the downfall precisely to the man who alone had shown a superhuman will and energy in his effort to prevent the catastrophe which he had foreseen and to save the nation from that hour of complete overthrow and shame. By placing responsibility for the loss of the world war on the shoulders of Ludendorff they took away the weapon of moral right from the only adversary dangerous enough to be likely to succeed in bringing the betrayers of the Fatherland to Justice.”
“All this was inspired by the principle—which is quite true within itself—that in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation are always more easily corrupted in the deeper strata of their emotional nature than consciously or voluntarily; and thus in the primitive simplicity of their minds they more readily fall victims to the big lie than the small lie, since they themselves often tell small lies in little matters but would be ashamed to resort to large-scale falsehoods.”
“It would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.”
— Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X[1]
So, according to Hitler, struggling to rise to dictatorial power, the Big Lie which explains a great deal about his success in grabbing power was invented by the scapegoats that he created as a Big Lie.
That tortuous logic is now recited daily here. That the DNC lost the election. That Hillary lost the election. That Trump won the election. There was more honest outrage about Tom Brady’s balls than Putin/Trump installing the most incompetent corrupt President we have ever had despite the election. I honestly don’t understand how people continuously fall for that Big Lie.
Where is the outrage?
I trust that Mueller will get to the bottom of it soon enough with his FBI level dedication to investigation that is professional and relentless and highly skilled.
But in the meantime what I worry about is the level of gullibility shown by increasing numbers of us.
It is still amazing to me that self-ordained intelligent people can blame the sources of their information for not providing certain aspects of that information that they feel are important to themselves. Someone who is actually interested in the facts and news seeks it out in various areas, not just in corporate-sponsored media.
The great game the Republicans play is DISTRACTION. They have no agenda that serves the majority of the people, so they do everything, say anything and support anyone – even Russians – that allows them to win elections. It’s about power. Republicans care not a whit about working people – except how to exploit them more to enrich their donors. It’s really that simple. It is irrefutable, beyond-a-reasonable-doubt truth. The Republican party is now the party of scoundrels and traitors.
“Albert Einstein and Noam Chomsky have already answered these questions.”
I’m sure they have but regardless of that we still have to deal with what is happening now, right now. I remember when Mr. McCarthy made his comments but I did not know how Mr. Ryan replied to them. So, essentially we have multiple games being played on us simultaneously and perhaps more than we can imagine – a confluence of threats from many quarters. We have the leadership of the Congress shirking their duty to defend the Republic and instead keeping what they knew then and obviously know now, with the exception of Duncan Nunez and members of the Freedom Caucus, under their hats solely to maintain their hold on power and only that.
Then we have people like Mr. Rohrabacher whose own brain rot has led him to act the way he does which essentially makes him an outlier but also an outlier that could potentially do damage to this country since his constituents either condone his conduct or are oblivious to it. He, along with the other Republican goofballs in the Congress of all stripes, via their crazed conduct continue to gum up the works and slow things down in terms of having any credible legislative agenda assuming that one was ever really contemplated. They mirror the conduct of the majority party and the Indiana State General Assembly, or the other way around, in terms of their gross incompetence.
Then you have the Russians who work every day, rain or shine, to rip this country’s guts out via the electronic subterfuge that they’ve used on Central and Western Europe for the last five years to cripple their electoral processes and do the same here and also drive a wedge of fear into the hearts of Americans from coast to coast in order to destroy our confidence in our electoral processes which had already been waning given voter plurality over the last 30 years in this country. They’ve done a pretty thorough job of it and had a lot of help from people they co-opted and could be referred to as traitors or, at least, as the Russians conveniently call them, useful idiots.
Then, of course, we have the useful idiot in charge who is riding roughshod over virtually everything guided by narcissism and perhaps an occasional wink and a nod from Vladimir Putin and whoever his GRU/FSB have infiltrated into pivotal positions to help keep this chaos going so that it benefits them by running this country into the ground via being smart and clever enough to actually get a sizable portion of the American people to support what they’re doing via the useful idiot in charge. Every day the news is dominated by this useful idiot and all of the incredibly stupid and counter-productive things that he is done and is doing while people that know better vainly trying to set the record straight as to what is really going on and how detrimental this useful idiot in charge is to this country and everything it stands for. The noise of all this crud is causing fatigue across the country and good people are tuning it out and hiding from it to save their sanity while all these games continue to play out almost unabated.
I hope and pray that this country lives long enough so that the typical 20 to 30 years of historical reflection can take place so that an accurate accounting of all the various aspects of this incredible cataclysm are properly and accurately recorded. Meanwhile, the Russians go on playing hardball fast and loose via their ongoing subterfuge with perhaps a great deal of it still yet to be uncovered while we look on and grapple with how all we can deal with what will be ultimately seen as treasonous conduct by governmental officials and their helpers on a scale so large that it will boggle our minds.
God, please bless America!!
Vernon, also Pete,
“The great game the Republicans play is DISTRACTION.”
Ditto. But is it really DECEPTION? Or is it just closer to the truth about the REAL AMERICA? What would the country have looked like without the WARREN Supreme Court? I doubt that the goodness of men [or women] or Congress would have eliminated Jim Crow. I’m afraid we’re just witnessing our true nature which is very, very, unfortunately leading us into a REAL, honest to goodness, ARMAGEDDON in, our beloved, America.
Tom,
I believe, you understand, as much as anyone, that we must RE-ORGANIZE right now, or we’re DOOMED. Yesterday, we had, I believe, 100 days to be fully prepared for the November elections;
Now we’re down to only 99.
I was listening to a NPR podcast this morning about Facebook’s challenges managing the conversations on the media they invented in order to be a more positive tool of society than a negative one.
It struck me that people who create the things and institutions in our lives typically start directed by the creative muses and the results either become powerful and influential or they languish and die a peaceful death.
If they become influential they also attract money and/power mongers and the arm’s race is on between good and evil. As that heats up regulators swoop in to manage the struggle as best they can to favor social benefit over social harm. Some days those cops win and some days the robbers win.
Money and power in government, especially powerful government in a large country with many resources, is the grand prize in the struggle between good and evil. We’ve always known that and as much creativity is diplayed by the good guys as the bad guys.
Putin is first an oligarch and second a power monger. True also of Agent Orange. The two believe that they can plunder the world, especially as a tag team, yet avoid accountability.
There should be an entire government devoted to their accountability but our times have dictated only a one man show, Robert Mueller.
We are betting our country on that being a fair fight and I still believe it is but the path to insuring that would be a Democrat Legislative Branch in support of Mueller. We are the only one who can make a that happen.
Perhaps unfortunately, we do not follow Webster’s but rather the Constitution is deciding what is and what is not treasonous conduct. The Constitution even sets forth the evidentiary basis for such a finding, perhaps still smarting from the misconduct of Benedict Arnold fresh in mind.
The good news is that Trump has long since fit the definition in both Webster’s and in the Constitution with blatant aid and succor given to the enemy which he doesn’t even try to disguise and we certainly have more than two witnesses to such misconduct. It doesn’t matter if Mueller is poisoned by Putin tomorrow and goes his way or if Trump fires him or whatever; there is already a mountain of evidence that in a more rational day would have already removed Trump from the Oval Office and perhaps even to his new digs at Leavenworth.
Evidence is not the problem; the problem is the will of Americans in the Congress to take Madison’s hammer in hand and end this insanity (which assumes those in Congress are Americans). Our task is to see that those who are unwilling to do their duty to their country and its people do not sit in the Congress. It’s called an “election,” and I urge everyone to participate in doing their individual duties as citizens come November 6, after which we can hash out our academic brawls and theoretical niceties.
When the Democrats started using Russia!Russia!Russia! for more than 6 months as their reason to vote for them, is the point that they lost. There will be no Blue Wave.
Plus,the vilifying of Bernie supporters isn’t helping.
Congratulations,you have not learned a G’damned thing since 2015/16. You’ve successfully alienated everyone. Especially among those on your side. There is 13 weeks left. In nearly two years,the party is acting like a broken VCR stuck on pause and rewind. That will not change.
Pat Mcc
July 30, 2018 at 7:42 am
“We are already in new territory every day. Is anything off limits? When the Military comes to Washington for the Trump Parade, is that the setting for a take over? Is anything too far out to consider with these awful people?”
Nope, Mac, nothing is too far out. Some of us old enough to remember the Nazis of the 1930s started warning about a fascist coup many months ago when we observed our beloved country going Third World, when critical parts of our executive branch were going missing along with the dare-not-say-a-word Congress, with rampant poverty, the rich getting much richer, and with the courts being packed. Nazi Germany all over again.
The 40% are ready with their boots and guns but citizens as young as 18yo will be pushing back in November.
Let’s pray for a bloodless renaissance. Flip the majority, Vote “NO” to GOPs November 6th. Save the courts already in deep trouble.
Put a leash on Cerberus. VOTE
My prediction,within the following 13 weeks Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will be accused of being a Nazi sympathizer by Establishment Democrats. Who needs Republicans when the DNC and DCCC seemingly work in tandem together?
The word “Socialism” will become weaponized……..By the Democrats.
Pause,Rewind and Russia!Russia!Russia!
That should have read…
Who needs Republicans, when the DNC and the DCCC seemingly work in tandem together to completely rid themselves of having any semblance to the party of FDR?
Some will say that the tragedy of separated families and lost children was deserved because they were scofflaws. The CHILDREN were guilty?
The Trumpinsanes argue that they’re working till they drop to reunite those families. Isn’t the effort to right the wrong prove that it was a colossal mistake in the first place? If they were livestock and not people, detailed records would have been kept.
Weren’t the borders open for itinerant farm workers to provide cheap labor for oligarch “plantation” owner-scofflaws who hired the undocumented? Tell me it was Obama’s fault and I’ll ask you if Dubya was complicit by default.
LM:”The facts are clear – The Corporate Democratic Party has been losing in the House, Senate and Governor’s races since 1990. Even though the Democrats continued to lose, they kept Nancy Peloisi and Harry Reid at the helm in Washington. Ahh well, better to hit the iceberg, than turn left into Progressive Seas.”
By focusing on Russia!Russia!Russia! real issues don’t need to be addressed. For almost two years,Establishment Democrats have accused Trump of being a malevolent dictator at the level of Hitler, and reasonable people (whatever their political persuasion) are not buying into it. He is not Hitler. Plus,these vain attempts at fear cannot be walked back and erased. The Democrats have painted themselves into a corner. I’ve never seen a party work so hard to alienate everyone–especially those on their side. It’s almost as if they want to lose. Leaving behind those buying into the rhetoric looking foolish when all is said and done. Even the “Resistance” is a “pretend” resistance. About as ineffectual as the party itself has become. When the Blue Wave doesn’t materialize,we will all be accused of being Russian spies….
We have the least competent and most corrupt President in our history imposed on us by a foreign power using theft and other dirty tricks and our biggest problem is the only party resisting a more complete takeover?
That makes no sense to me at all. It seems like full blown denial of reality.
Besides that huge security problem we have cultural problems inflicted on the electorate by completely pervasive entertainment media and the buying of minds by oligarchs creating hoards of right wing extremists even though it should be well known that creating extremists on one side only leads to extremists on the other side.
Now we have left wing extremists too competing with right wing extremists (which will always be a standoff).
In this shitstorm of non-thinking our first reaction should be enforcing our laws by holding criminals accountable for breaking them but Republicans won’t prosecute Republicans and Democrats are the power-less Congressional majority.
The path forward is clear and doable in a few weeks. Make the Republicans who won’t hold other Republicans accountable the power-less Congressional minority.
We’ve got this. Let’s not blow it by getting distracted by the left wing extremists who are a product of right wing extremism.
OMG brings up a good subject,children. Caging babies is barbaric. Wasn’t it much better during the Bush and Obama administrations when we simply bombed them? Especially in faraway lands!
If anyone–Repub or Demo– really cared about children,there has been plenty of time to act. Unfortunately,children are only brought up when they can be used as a pawn to score a political point or two.
1 in 3 American children live in poverty. I have not read a thing about them in the platform. I guess OMG!RUSSIA! is a much more important subject. Considering that subject doesn’t rock the boats (yachts) of the donor-class.
An Excerpt:
More alarmingly, the share of U.S. children living in poverty has actually increased by 2 percentage points since 2008. Overall, 24.2 million U.S. children were living in poverty in 2012, reflecting an increase of 1.7 million children since 2008. “Of all newly poor children in the OECD and/or EU, about a third are in the United States,” according to the report. On the other hand, 18 countries were actually able to reduce their childhood poverty rates over the same period.
The United States ranks near the bottom of the pack of wealthy nations on a measure of child poverty, according to a new report from UNICEF. Nearly one third of U.S. children live in households with an income below 60 percent of the national median income in 2008 – about $31,000 annually.
In the richest nation in the world, one in three kids live in poverty. Let that sink in.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2014/10/29/child-poverty-in-the-u-s-is-among-the-worst-in-the-developed-world/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.933f8f06b063
We don’t need to address the above……If we focus on Russia and “dream” of an indictment from our comic-book-hero, Robert “Iraq has WMD’s” Mueller. This dream of an indictment is reminiscent of Nixon’s constant use of the phrase “The Dream for Peace’. Coinkydink? Nope. Fear and wishful thinking is the only thing that seems to be the motivating factor to vote for the impotent party. Folks are being played. I guess by resorting to OMG!RUSSIA! We don’t have to face our–Democratic Party — failures.
Pete;”Now we have left wing extremists”
There you go. If you disagree with establishment Democrats,you’re an extremist.
They really have not learned a thing. And will not.
Because bringing up the FACT that 1 in 3 American children live in poverty is so extreme.
It’s better to focus on OMG!RUSSIA! Russia Hacking of the 2016 Election!! RUSSIA!RUSSIA!RUSSIA!
Pete,good luck losing,
Pete,
“We’ve got this. Let’s not blow it by getting distracted by the left wing extremists who are a product of right wing extremism.”
Not being a FOOL, in my book, doesn’t make someone a LEFT WING EXTREMISTS.
William, definitely, is not a fool. By the way, neither am I.
William @ 12:46 pm. The Establishment Corporate Democrats and their stooges in the McMega-Media have embarked on a Journey into Hysteria. First, Bernie spoiled Hillary’s quick coronation. Comey was accused of tossing a monkey wrench into the Hillary Campaign. The supporters of Agent Orange were labeled in public as deplorable.
Once Hillary lost the hunt was on to blame someone, anyone for the Corporate Establishment Democratic Party’s defeat. Words like Nazi, Hitler soon found it’s way into the hysteria. Not to let it rest with Nazis and Hitler, now we have Putin, Russia and Treason.
So now after roughly 18 months since 2016, the best the Corporate Establishment Democratic Party can offer is fear. Agent Orange and the Reactionary Republican Party has certainly offered up smorgasbord of potential issues, but it seems the DNC and DCCC want fear as the primary over riding issue.
MLanguor @2:55 You’re absolutely right.
Pete: “our first reaction should be enforcing our laws by holding criminals accountable for breaking them ”
Oh,you mean like those Wall St Bastards that willfully chose to crash the economy? Not one was jailed. Instead,the Obama administration chose to give them a bailout. They were even allowed to give themselves six and seven figure bonuses. And you wonder why no one has any confidence in Democrats? Are you living on an island? Actions have consequences. The chickens did come home to roost.
I have never lost one of my houses in a fire but if I ever encounter one in progress I’m sure that my first action will be to call the fire department not the plumber or electrician or lawyer or doctor.
They are all people that may be needed after the fire is out but putting the fire out has priority and urgency over all of them.
We have always had as a country many opportunities for progress and improvement. Now is no different.
We have never though had as corrupt and incompetent a President installed by dirty tricks by a foreign President and a party in power that is so busy bringing in the sheaves from selling us off to do their job.
Let’s see which problem should we go after first??????
I see the doomsday crowd is in full voice today. Thanks, guys, for all the solutions to your raving fears.
Actually,you and Pete are the doomsday crowd. Your Mantra: “If People Don’t Vote Then We Will Lose Our Democracy Forever”….Well,we no longer have a democracy. Where have you been? While you’ve been satisfied with perpetual war,et al, within the confines of your comfortable, affluent and Caucasian neighborhoods, there’s been a riot going on. You want to pretend voting matters. Well,it doesn’t because the people voted,Hillary received the majority and we still ended up with Trump. You guys don’t want to change the system that gave us Trump, and neither does the Democratic Party as an organization want to change the status quo. There needs to be a real revolution (evolution really) for real change to happen. Let Trump be the fuse to bring it on. Just like the Phil Ochs song from 1966,you guys (Vanity-Democrats) don’t want a real revolution,’that’s going a bit too far.” Because you want to preserve your social status and lifestyle. No sacrifice. Hell,how many here believe in global warming–yet still drive an auto and fly? Well, there will be a change sooner or later ,and we will get through this administration. And after the doomsayers have done the grunt work, when the fog clears up,you and Pete can come out of the safety of your suburban bomb shelters and claim credit for the changes!
If you applauded the Obama administration for crushing the Occupy. movement…Well,that’s where the Democratic Party lost the millennials. Unfortunately,in 2020 the Democrats will most likely run Holder,Biden or some other Republican-Lite candidate and wonder why no one is excited voting for them. How many here are looking forward to voting for Donnelly? No? There’s you answer and the organization’s future.
Vernon @ 4:28- THANK YOU for saying that. I’ve been thinking that for some time. A wise manager of mine years ago made the point to not come to the table with complaints only, but solutions, actionable items. Our resolve is being tested and we must prevail, there is simply no other option. Read Churchill if you have to…Never give in.
Here is a solution but I will bet the DNC and DCCC will not get on the band wagon of Medicare for All.
Koch-Funded Hit Piece Backfires: Shows Medicare for All Would Save ‘Whopping $2 Trillion’ Over Ten Years While Covering Everybody.
“At first glance, it is strange that the Mercatus center…would publish a report this positive about Medicare for All,” writes Bruenig.
“The claim that ‘even the Koch organizations say it will save money while covering everyone’ provides a useful bit of rhetoric for proponents of the policy,” he adds. “But the real game here for Mercatus is to bury the money-saving finding in the report’s tables while headlining the incomprehensibly large $32.6 trillion number in order to trick dim reporters into splashing that number everywhere and freaking out.”
Even a Koch brothers-funded attempt to trash Medicare for All can’t hide the truth: Medicare for All will lead to a $2 TRILLION REDUCTION in national health expenditures over 10 years. That’s trillion with a “T.” Bernie Sanders.
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2018/07/30/koch-funded-hit-piece-backfires-shows-medicare-all-would-save-300-billion-over-ten
You’re living in fantasy land if you think fighting an organization(s) such as the Koch,Mellon and Adelson syndicates means doing the following:
Marching Once A Year.
Wearing Hats.
Online Petitions ….Do you think the aforementioned individuals do such a thing?
Support Establishment Democrats.
Support Republicans.
Bloviate and blame Russia for the ills of your party.
Blogging to the choir.
Voting for the very same candidates over and over.
Sending your last earned dime from your meager income to a political organization that favors $1,500 a plate fundraisers.
Religiously follow the infotainment talk show hosts. They’re earning $30,000 a day for a reason.
Can you imagine if the French Resistance had stayed within the confines of their comfortable homes and simply wrote to one another….Would that have been effective? No. That’s essentially what’s happening now with the McResistance.
Hey, Monotonous,
139 House Democrats Join GOP to Approve $717 Billion in Military Spending!
We must support these Democrats because……Military Parades….This really has become useless and futile.
Plus,this forum has become just like a high school lunchroom. Some us are vilified for pissing and moaning…others….revered for doing the same thing. The clique wants an echo chamber.
Lots of obfuscation but avoidance of the key question.
Odd. No one wants to acknowledge the obvious,1 in 3 children in America lives in poverty. Hell,I thought some would offer a solution or two? I guess it’s not important. As I said up-thread,Democrats don’t really care about the children any more than Republicans. This thread and its responses are indicative of my summary. Instead,the thoughtful wisemen of the forum want to be given an opportunity to continue typing DNC biased canards,slogans,platitudes and rhetoric.
It’s no wonder anyone takes the Democratic Bourgeoisie seriously anymore. Its become a farce.
William – I’m sure many of the readers of this blog agree that you make many valid points. Can’t each of us comment, offer insight, disagree without being judgmental, snarky and condescending? I see it in many of our responses. We are all just trying to figure out this quagmire that is currently in power. )-:
Linda,
“Can’t each of us comment, offer insight, disagree without being judgmental, snarky and condescending? I see it in many of our responses. We are all just trying to figure out this quagmire that is currently in power. )-:”
I doubt it.
“Problems can’t be solved at the same level of awareness that created the problem”
~Professor Albert Einstein
This blog is made up of many very bright commentators, however, nothing worthwhile has been accomplished, since it operates at the SAME LEVEL OF AWARENESS that has caused the QUAGMIRE THAT IS CURRENTLY IN POWER. The give and take will become worse and worse over the next few months unless the blog can find the CIVIC COURAGE to deal effectively with the PRIMARY FACT that we’re not a DEMOCRACY.
Neither maintaining the STATUS QUO of the DNC or the SOCIALISM of Bernie Sanders will provide a workable solution. It can only be found at a DEEPER SYSTEMIC LEVEL, a level that directly involves the CONTROLLING OLIGARCHY.
I’m sure, if Professor Einstein was alive, he would be in full agreement with me.
OMG – the ad that you are referencing is a Koch Brother’s ad asking people to pressure Donnelly to “make the tax cuts permanent”. He voted against the tax cuts.
Peggy Hannon – if you read the Onion, how will you differentiate from a typical day in Trump land. They may report the facts and you will think it is satire. However, I do understand the sentiment. I watch more movies and listen to more music now.
Speaking of satire, you may recall Tom Lehrer, who said that political satire became redundant (or obsolete – too many versions) when (either 1) Richard Nixon became President (or 2) Henry Kissinger was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize.
Sadly, he is less flippant now. This was quoted in an article celebrating his 90th birthday in the British scientific journal Nature – “Things I once thought were funny are scary now. I often feel like a resident of Pompeii who has been asked for some humorous comments on lava.”
William’s head has finally exploded.