it gets worse and worse. It has even been suggested that this is a strategy: the reason so few of the administration’s scandals remain “front page” reports for long is that they are superseded on a daily basis by evidence of even more damaging corruption.
Just the other day, in an effort to distract from the growing numbers of pandemic cases and deaths, the White House staged an event to announce the continuing exploitation of the environment. A bright red crane was set up on the south lawn and was shown “lifting the weights of regulation” while “the burden of regulation” was shown weighing down a blue truck.
When Trump spoke, he said they had cut “25,000 pages of job-destroying regulations,” saved the oil industry and cut auto standards, making cars cheaper and also “better, they’ll be stronger, and they’ll be safer.”
But what pleases him the most is that he’s “brought back” incandescent lightbulbs and improved the shower experience: “We made it so dishwashers now have a lot more water, and in many places, in most places of the country, water is not a problem … it’s called rain.”
Trump’s fossil fuel cronies at the EPA and the Department of National Resources have done incalculable damage to the environment. At the Department of Justice, William Barr is busily upending longstanding policies in favor of the “unitary executive” theory beloved by radical rightwing lawyers and former Vice-President Dick Cheney.
As if Trump hadn’t done enough damage to America’s international reputation, his Secretary of State– Christian fundamentalist Mike Pompeo– is embarrassing us further.
Human rights advocates denounced as “dangerous” a draft report released Thursday by the U.S. State Department’s controversial Commission on Unalienable Rights that paints property rights and religious liberty as “foremost among the unalienable rights that government is established to secure” while casting doubt on other liberties, including reproductive freedom.
“Make no mistake: this report was not designed with principles of equality, justice, and rights in mind. Instead, it serves as another stepping stone in the White House’s radical, isolationist, anti-rights, anti-scientific, religious agenda,” Serra Sippel, president of the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), said in a statement.
As those of you who follow such things know, Pompeo’s version of “religious liberty” is anything but the government neutrality required by the First Amendment’s religion clauses. If he had his way, the law would give all citizens the “liberty” to follow Evangelical Christian “moral” dictates. As Heather Cox Richardson described the document,
The report lays out a version of American history and human rights designed to appeal to the evangelicals who count Pompeo as their own. It begins by stating that the primary tradition “that formed the American spirit” was “Protestant Christianity… infused with the beautiful Biblical teachings that every human being is imbued with dignity and bears responsibilities toward fellow human beings, because each is made in the image of God.”
And don’t get me started on Betsy DeVos’ assault on the very idea of public education…
This broad-based attack on representative democracy and the common good isn’t just being enabled by Trump and his corrupt and incompetent cabinet.
Greatly assisting in the demolition of constitutional government is the Most Evil Man in America: Mitch McConnell.
Consumer and workers’ rights advocates are warning that new details of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s plan to shield businesses from coronavirus-related lawsuits show just how far the Republican leader is willing to go to ensure corporations are not held accountable for endangering public health and safety.
“Congress must reject this dangerous proposal,” the National Employment Law Project said in response to a draft (pdf) of McConnell’s plan obtained by Politico and other outlets on Friday….
As the Associated Press reported, the Republican plan “offers a broad shield by requiring heightened pleading standards, stiffening burden-of-proof standards, and capping damages on awards. Employers would also be shielded from investigations by federal agencies.”
Every day, there’s a new report, making it virtually impossible to keep up with these assaults on the rule of law, fair play and what used to be considered basic American principles.
Assuming–as hopeful people must–a blue tsunami in November, I hope someone is figuring out what we can do to keep Trump and his “best people” from blowing up the world between November 3d and January 21st.
And we had almost forgotten about Madam Maxwell; 2nd in command to Epstein in his sex trafficking business in young girls…and probably boys. Now back in the news after we almost forgot AG Bill Barr had visited her in prison for reasons still unknown to the public when a reporter asked Trump about her at his first return to daily coronavirus reports. He sees nothing, hears nothing and knows nothing about her but…he wishes her well. It appears that the new Coronavirus Task Force is a one-man force, still spouting lies and misconceptions and while stating “masks are good” is still seen in crowded situations of maskless people and not wearing one himself.
“Every day, there’s a new report, making it virtually impossible to keep up with these assaults on the rule of law, fair play and what used to be considered basic American principles.”
All moral values have been ignored by Trump and his administration as immorality has become more and more an acceptable Republican attribute.
If Dems can squeak out a majority in the Senate they should immediate take up a new and robust Voting Rights Act, as well as HR1, a bill already passed by the House to help address many of the imperfections of our democratic republic. Next they should pass and sign a bill to admit Washington, D.C. as the 51st to ensure the Senate has two more Democrats. They cannot afford to blunder as they did under Obama where they thought his charisma and passing ACA would help consolidate power. That backfired badly and they lost the House in 2010 and the Senate in 2012. The way to consolidate power is to consolidate power. Mitch McConnell’s long corrupt regime has made a joke of protocols, norms, and legislative chumminess. If there’s one thing Dems can leverage from his era it is his ruthless pursuit of expanding the power base. They cannot rely on “we’re the nice guys” again and expect a different result. The fascist wing as well as the entire extreme right Republican Party must be marginalized for years, perhaps ad infinitum, to even have a chance of healing this country from the ascendancy of TRE45SON and his enablers, a process that took over 40 years to happen.
Chaos serves 45 well and he puts it to good use at every opportunity. We just have to recognize and hold to one thought (well two, if you count praying for the health and well being of Ruth Bader Ginsburg), we must vote them out of office in November. The new Congress starts January 3rd and Dems need to be prepared from day one to pass legislation reversing the damage that has been done and to put in place measures that ensure we don’t go down this dark road again.
It isn’t that period between Nov.3rd and Jan. 21st that I worry about. I fear we will not make it through August.
Amy McGrath, a proud veteran, has a long-shot chance of beating Mitch in his senate race. If you know anyone in KY, encourage them to help her campaign in any way possible. If you don’t, go to her website and donate.
Why could this happen? Because despite the $ he has funneled into the state over the years, he has been the least-liked senator in his own state in the US for 10 straight years. Combine that with his recent behavior and a real alternative…..
Yes, we have the perfect storm of corruption, evil and utter incompetence from not only the executive branch but the Senate as well. Ron Johnson is doing his best imitation of a treasonous bastard as he continues to coddle the Russians and attack those he has been told to investigate regarding the Russian election influence work by real Americans.
McConnell is beyond words. Not only must Democrats win back the Senate, McGrath must beat him and send McConnell back to being the butler at Oleg Daraposka’s dacha in Kentucky.
The latest shiny object is Trump directing the U.S. Ambassador – one of his biggest donors and cronies – to ask the British/Scottish government to hold The Open golf tournament at his failing Turnberry golf resort. Violating the emoluments clause in the Constitution doesn’t get any more blatant than that. The second in command at our embassy there, cautioned against trying that and promptly got himself fired. It doesn’t get any more corrupt than this. And here we still are…
Thugs in the streets kidnapping our citizens? Abject corruption? Blaming everybody for the pandemic? Spreading the disease with idiotic rallies? What else can go wrong? Oh. Those nuclear launch codes in the hands of a psychopath… I almost forgot.
Didn’t somebody worry about what will happen between November and 20 January? Those worries are profound and valid.
Thank you Vernon…..
The latest shiny object is Trump directing the U.S. Ambassador – one of his biggest donors and cronies – to ask the British/Scottish government to hold The Open golf tournament at his failing Turnberry golf resort. Violating the emoluments clause in the Constitution doesn’t get any more blatant than that. The second in command at our embassy there, cautioned against trying that and promptly got himself fired. It doesn’t get any more corrupt than this…..
someone please tell me how this type of behavior is allowed and what needs to be done to prevent it from ever happening again. This is for personal gain…isn’t that a direct violation of the oath of office for a president?
He needs to go. His family needs to go. His corrupt administration needs to go. The people, (thugs) sentenced for their crimes need to stay in jail. Using Federal troops on our own people needs to stop now.
The environment needs to be a top priority. Someone, 9many of them) in the Republican party needs to step up and say enough is enough. What does the Republican party stand for anymore? Just the dollar?? Not the people??
In April, Trey Hollingsworth, a congressman from Indiana, said it was time to choose between restarting the economy and saving lives – with a surprising answer as to which he thought was the “lesser of two evils”.
Referring to Covid-19 as a “biological challenge”, he said: “We do have a biological challenge in this problem but the economic challenge is growing and is much larger.
“Both of these decisions will lead to harm for individuals, whether that’s dramatic economic harm or whether it’s loss of life. But it’s always the American government’s position to say, in the choice between the loss of our way of life as Americans and the loss of life of American lives, we have to always choose the latter,” he told Indianapolis’s WIBC. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/22/us-reopening-politicians-volunteering-peoples-lives-coronavirus
The Trumpet, Pastor Pence along with the other Right Wing Reactionary Republicans have framed Corona as choice, between destroying the economy or taking precautions to mitigate Corona, i.e., lock downs, quarantines and even masks.
The Trumpet will continue to use distraction and the blame game to cover-up his gross negligence.
June 9, 1954. Joseph Nye Welch was an American lawyer who served as the chief counsel for the United States Army while it was under investigation for Communist activities by Senator Joseph McCarthy’s Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. As a result, McCarthy and his chief counsel Roy Cohn (yes, THAT Cohn who defended the Mafia against Bobby Kennedy’s investigation and who was Fred Trump’s, then Prez Bone Spur’s, lawyer) largely ran the show by themselves, relentlessly grilling and insulting witnesses. Sound familiar? Harvard law dean Ervin Griswold described McCarthy’s role as “judge, jury, prosecutor, castigator, and press agent, all in one.” You know what they say, “same shit, different day.”
The army in this nationally televised debacle hired Boston lawyer Joseph Welch to make its case. At the June 9th session, McCarthy charged that one of Welch’s attorneys had ties to a Communist organization. As an amazed television audience looked on (back when we had 3 or 4 channels on our “social media platform”), Welch responded with the immortal lines that ultimately ended McCarthy’s career: “Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.” When McCarthy tried to continue his attack, Welch angrily interrupted, “Let us not assassinate this lad further, senator. You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency?”
Folks, we have been inn this rodeo before. The difference, however, is that the indecent rodeo now claims the Oval Office, The Justice and State Departments and the Senate. BIG BIG difference. But they took Roy Cohn’s and Joseph McCarthy’s playbook and made it standard operational procedure. Scary.
As I have stated before, now as then, BIG money bank rolls these corrupt entities. We have, without ANY doubt, a Corporate and Wall Street bank rolled Government. Unfortunately, way too many Democrats are in this rodeo as well ever since they saw donor dollar signs when Reagan made it cool.
Needless to say, the planet and REAL Democracy (Electoral College makes voting and Democracy a farce) has it’s back against the wall and time is running out in my opinion. Not only does there need to be a massive change at the voting booth to overcome gerrymandering, voting suppression and the Electoral College, but there desperately needs to be an overhaul of our laws and the system of governance. If not, this rodeo and the endless indecency and slime it produces will continue on and on.
Does this country have the courage to make such critical changes in history?
I don’t know why anyone is surprised by any of the mess that deepens everyday in the wake of this administration. Trump has never demonstrated any ability to accomplish anything useful to anyone. His one “talent” is personal brand management like the Kardashians and the next nut to fall out of the bowl trying to lie his way into the Presidency, Kanye West.
Our hope lies in the Biden Campaign recruiting the very best in the business, massive voter turnout despite every obstacle this administration puts in their way, and Biden’s ability to quickly and professionally displace all of the trash that Republicans will try to leave behind in jobs way to big for their capabilities, all of that simmering in a few months of good fortune.
The sideshow’s over and it’s time to get to work folks.
Funny several people mentioned chaos, but I believe that Mitch McConnell is also using that chaos. I sure hope he has figured out his dismount on that tiger ride.
As for Trey Hollingsworth, that guy is the scum of the earth. He put out a press release saying, “Hey I am saving lives”, by donating plasma with COVID19 antibodies. It turns out he was infected early on, and never bothered to say a thing about that. Sitting silently by with the rest of the Republican Party while the President politicizes any response to the pandemic is immoral. Ever hear “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”? I think Trey Hollingsworth is guilty of some of those 140,000+ American deaths, through his continued silence. He believes he has immunity, so it makes more since why he is fine with just letting other people die.
ML,
As so many of us have stated before on this blog: The Republican party is totally in the bag for corporate/banking America. There is no alternative for these shallow, intellectual dwarfs but to offer the devil’s bargain. These guys aren’t very smart; never have been.
Sadly, the Republicans have out-messaged Democrats over the decades. They win with terribly flawed and corrupt candidates. These “candidates” are fundamentally corrupt from day #1. Yet, the Republican messaging and propaganda machinery gets them elected time and time again. They are even too stupid to understand that by screwing the very people that make them rich and even more corrupt, they ruin their long-term perpetuation of their cash cows. By denying the unemployment and rent relief benefits by blackmailing the Democrats, they show how craven and evil they really are. “They”, of course are the Republicans in all levels of government. If the Congress fails to pass an extension of relief, as many as 30 million MORE Americans will be cast into the streets while the banks foreclose on the dwellings that the unemployed can no longer afford to live in.
Does anyone but me see how idiotically evil THAT situation is? What good does an empty, non-paying apartment do for the property value for the bank that owns it? Giving people shelter is one of the first laws of grace and decency. Of course, that value isn’t part of the Republican playbook, is it? For Republicans it’s PAY OR DIE!
I adopt Patrick’s views and opinions today, and as to what is going to happen after Trump is defeated on November 3, 2020, to January 20 2021, and the fears that this fruitcake may do some irreparable damage to this country and even the world, rest easy. It’s not going to happen and here’s why: As a lame duck soon to leave the Oval Office and with no election staring them in the face, the Republicans in the House and Senate (in order to keep the country afloat) can and will and finally speak up since their fear of Trump’s reprisals will be no more and since voters will have rejected his candidacy in (I hope) overwhelming numbers. Imagine! Bipartisanship! On the contrary, and with an eye to post January 20, 2021, and a political repudiation in his wake, I think Don may well and on his own be looking for some conciliatory vibes during this interim between the election and Biden’s inauguration what with a Democratic AG and grand juries waiting to look over his record and that of his family.
Personally, I think the bigger issues by that time will still be the coronavirus disaster, whether schools should be open given our experience since circa Labor Day etc.
Many authoritarians believe that property rights are a more sacred space than the rights of people.
They can relate to property more than people who once were property.
China has been ordered to vacate their consulate in Houston, TX, China has naturally threatened to retaliate.
Another Trump Coronavirus Task Force report scheduled for 5:30 p.m., Eastern Time…I am waiting with baited breath…whatever that means.
He may decide to blow it up BEFORE November 3 — why bother with an election?
Bradford Nelson Bray; yesterday I again watched the movie “Trumbo” about screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, “Roman Holiday”, “Spartacus” and “Exodus” to name a few, and the McCarthy destruction of his and the many lives of people who believed in humanity and basic human rights. The American Communist party before and during WWII and through the 1950s was not the Communist party of Joe Stalin. A common quote used to paraphrase the leading question during the McCarthy hearings was “Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Democratic party.”, the meaning was and is obvious. The comparisons between the McCarthy/Cohn era and the Trump administration are undeniable; Trump has the advantage of having the entire Republican party at his beck-and-call and the blatant racism and bigotry of Americans which was unleashed by him is rampant at this time. That wasn’t enough to satisfy Trump; he is now turning federal troops loose on Democratic cities and turning peaceful protests into an ongoing American Kristallcacht which is only beginning in Portland, OR. AP is reporting Trump and Barr have planned to release their report of additional Democratic cities which will have his federal troops invading soon.
Theresa Bowers’ comments copied and pasted should be our primary concern at this time, “It isn’t that period between Nov.3rd and Jan. 21st that I worry about. I fear we will not make it through August.”
“…the fears that this fruitcake may do some irreparable damage to this country and even the world, rest easy. It’s not going to happen and here’s why: As a lame duck soon to leave the Oval Office and with no election staring them in the face, the Republicans in the House and Senate (in order to keep the country afloat) can and will and finally speak up since their fear of Trump’s reprisals will be no more and since voters will have rejected his candidacy in (I hope) overwhelming numbers.”
A different take: Either they’ve won and have 2 or 6 years to erase memories of what they did in the lame duck session, or they’ve been defeated and have nothing left to lose. Either way they have no constraints on their actions. Also, there’s no reason to think trump won’t burn everything (well, everything that’s left) down on the way out, being the vindictive psychopath he is. Even steal the “B” from all the keyboards – for real.
JoAnn – least we forget, Ronald Reagan was a great supporter of the Blacklist, denying people the right to work, have a home, and if he could, eat. He carried on his vindictive streak with a LIFETIME ban on the air traffic controllers (who supported him), who had 25 safety demands and one for salary.
Lifetime – which brings me to my next angst filled proposal – lifetime bans from all government employment and anything else we can manage for the participants in the Trump/Barr/Wolf goon squads. That should include Barr and Wolf.
My next angst filled shout – they love the Unitary executive, punishing cities and states run by Democrats, forcing schools to be opened because the most likely victims will be the teachers and support staff – mostly evil Democrats
Biden should issue an executive order putting the whole bunch of corrupt Trumpsters in GItmo, or someplace worse (some place like Devil’s Island). Then, like the Supremes declaring that Bush v. Gore couldn’t be used as a precedent, or like my favorite historical hypocrite, Toyotomi Hideyoshi, BIden should sign a law saying that no President can ever do that again.
[Toyotomi was a peasant who rose through the ranks and became Shogun – then decreed that nobody could rise above the position they were born into.]
If my tone sounds a bit harsh these past few days, it if my reaction to the goon squads. Seeing this, these angst filled outbursts also cover the fact that I fear the damage of a wounded Trump from November until January 20. Sadly I have no answers on how we protect ourselves.