#if you use Donald Trump as a gun to try and force people to vote for you

[arueshalaetablebuildingsociety]

Incorrect. For a couple reasons:

1. Less than half of Americans who could vote, voted.

2. It's not how Kamala ran her campaign. It's how She and Biden wasted their incumbency doing nothing.

3. Trump had 2-3 million LESS people vote for him than in 2016. The fact that Kamala had 14-16 Million less people vote for her is not indicative of a "swing right"; simple math says that Trump's numbers would have to be positive for that to begin to be the case.

4. The Democrats took NO steps to head-off Trump or Project 2025. There are a lot of things they could have done, COULD STILL DO, to make that as difficult as possible. Enshrining Trans Protections in Federal Law. Creating a law establishing an agency that exists to ensure Women maintain the right to Abortions, with mandatory budget allocation. Creating a law requiring all accused Undocumented Immigrants be afforded full Constitutional Protections, that they are tried individually, and ICE has to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are truly here illegally, knowingly and by choice. But they didn't. They wanted to tie all of that to a Democratic 2024, meaning that they saw a murderer wielding a gun labelled "Project 2025", and instead of stopping him, they whispered to us, "You know, if you keep voting Democrat, we'll keep him away from you."

5. If your Incumbent Party bungles an election against Trump, that is not a failure of the voters, it's a failure of the Party.

What did Democrats do to challenge the insane levels of power-grabbing from the Supreme Court? Well, they granted SCOTUS Justices extra Secret Service protections, of course!

What did Democrats do about the fact that the average rent in EVERY State is more than the average monthly wage? Did they introduce price controls? Renter protections? No. The FBI raided one office and then seemingly did nothing. This is not a new problem, and the Democrats have had four years with a solid, if not unshakable, Congressional control to do so.

What did Democrats do about the fact that a hurricane destroyed western NC? Did they send National Guard to establish Rationing, to ensure that people still had access to basic needs? No, they sent cops to threaten to beat anyone who wanted the food and water in the stores which had no power so all of that was going to go bad anyway.

What did Democrats do about the fact that Climate Change looms above all of us as a loaded gun pressed against the head of the Human species? Did they reactivate Nuclear Powerplants to create a massive source of emissions-free, too-cheap-to-meter electrical power, forcing Oil and Coal to break up their market hegemony? No, they decided those plants would EXCLUSIVELY go to AI datacenters so we could make really good pictures of Shrimp Jesus amidst all the intensifying mass digital surveillance.

What did Democrats do about the fact that we are currently embroiled in two major wars, one of which is deeply wrong and deeply unpopular? Did they pressure the aggressor, who is reliant on American-made weapons and technologies as a majority of their stockpiles, to back the fuck off? No, they made patronising statements to the media and

then sent Bill Clinton to go tell Lebanese Americans how it was good that Israel was bombing Lebanon and Gaza, actually, and they ought to be thankful.

Jesus fucking Christ, this isn't about Kamala's advertising like she's a commercial on TV. It's about the people who are sick and dying because Neoliberal Economics refuses to recognize they exist as long as GDP Go Up, Mr. Bond.

Remember when Biden arbitrarily decided Covid was over? I do! Is it over? No! People still are contracting it, getting sick, and dying from it. I see those people when they come to pick up their suddenly-much-more-expensive Paxlovid. I've seen people who can't afford it and break down crying because they don't know if they will live through their next paycheck.

[qqueenofhades]

as a woc (who is south asian, so i share that with harris), it's deeply upsetting to me that......nothing she could do would be right. i see people wondering why she isn't doing more, but then she does something, and then those same people pick that thing apart and tear her to pieces and it really does go to show that nothing we ever do will be "right".

i have yet to see criticism of her specifically that doesn't boil down to racism or misogyny (or a combination of both), and it's frustrating, especially in leftist spaces, because i do want to think critically and have conversations about what she's doing right and what she (and the administration as a whole) could improve upon, but i feel like i can't start or participate in those conversations without dealing with that same racism + misogyny. and this isn't even getting into the gop, this is about people who call themselves progressive/leftist/whatever. so much effort goes into maintaining the idea that they're better than the right, but i don't see nearly as much effort put into.....being better tbh

Unfortunately, among all their other problems, Online Leftists are a) often just as likely to be racist and misogynist as the GOP, and b) to strenuously deny that they are, weaponize that language in bad faith against people or candidates they dislike, and otherwise parrot abstract "social justice" talking points and Progressive Jargon while being absolutely noxious to the real, actual people that are involved. They do, as you say, assume they are Morally Righteous, and then don't actually interrogate that or question it in any way. So.... yeah. Yeah, pretty much. As I've said before and will say again, they are an absolute failure as any kind of practical or effective opposing force to right-wing fascism, and often inadvertently or even deliberately enable it in deeply disappointing ways.

It's funny that in all my posts/answers on the topic, I stated multiple times that if people could provide me an actual reason that made empirical sense as to why they didn't like Kamala, I was happy to have that discussion. Instead I got a lot of weird angry asks from people clearly still trying to justify their Hillary Clinton Derangement Syndrome (I only answered one of them because I have better things to do with my life), accusing me of being "emotional," "angry," "trauma-dumping" and God knows what else. And like. I'm sorry that pointing out a clearly verifiable fact (misogyny is what doomed HRC, anti-Obama backlash/racism was what enabled Trump) triggered y'all to that degree, but I think that fact is pretty illuminating on its own. And no, actually, I don't have to "get over" HRC's loss or "just accept" that people had "reasons" (conveniently never articulated, but they were real! They totally weren't misogyny! PEOPLE HAD REAL REASONS FOR NOT LIKING HER WHY WON'T YOU BELIEVE ME AND ACCEPT THAT!!!) for disliking her and/or not voting for her when her opponent was Donald F'n Trump. Like, I know they live in the magical realm of the Permanently Online where the real world suffers no consequences from their bullshit and the argument about why 2016 was not their fault changes daily, but that's not the case with us here on Earth. And yeah, we're pretty mad.

Kamala has, in my view, been doing a perfectly fine job as the vice president. She has been able to give a few powerful and relevant speeches about race relations, gun violence, abortion, and other topics. I occasionally see news articles from "anonymous sources" who "don't like her" or want to cause trouble for whatever reason, which I treat with the usual degree of skepticism that I employ when reading anything the mainstream media writes about Democrats (which is then repurposed and reused in the Online Leftists' "Democrats Terrible!" screeds in equally bad faith). Yet again, I repeat my offer for anyone who wants to complain about her for an actual and clearly articulated reason to explain what that reason is and why it's not a double standard, why it's not attributable to racism and misogyny (even and especially the unacknowledged sort), what they expect she should be doing differently, and why this is any kind of big deal for the actual mainstream electorate. But judging from previous experience, this will just trigger another round of anonymous WE HAVE GOOD REASONS FOR NOT LIKING HER!!! whines with cheese, and to that I say, yeah, don't even waste your time.

[shinobicyrus]

Listen. I'm not foolish enough to expect the Democratic nominee to proudly proclaim some socialist stance. That's just the state of American politics and its terminally myopic two-party system.

This need to appeal to the capital "M" Moderate, though? It's just the steady shift of Democratic policies further to the Right. It's how you get six Republicans speaking at the DNC, but not a single Palestinian-American speaker. It's how you get, for the first time in 12 years, no trans speakers at the DNC during a time when the GOP have put transphobia and anti-queer policies at the forefront of their platform.

Rather than dismiss or ignore the tired Socialist/Marxist/Communist accusations that Republicans fling at everyone to the left of fucking Sauron, Harris feels the need to tell people in an official public speech: "Look, I'm a capitalist."

This is a thing that no one asked or even thought about except for the most terminally online far-right trolls that weren't gonna vote for her anyway. Yet, she felt the need to reassure everyone she isn't some "radical." Whatever that means. This is how you have Harris promising to pass that failed bi-partisan immigration bill that Donald Trump sabotaged. Which, in case everyone forgot, would have been one of the toughest and harshest to date. Can't look weak against immigrants and asylum seekers!

This is how you have the Democratic Nominee for President promising to keep the US military the "strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world."

This is how you have the Democratic Nominee for President's economic policies compared to Mitt Goddamn Romney's.

Anyone remember the Romney's presidency? No, of course not, because he lost.

Will Harris defeat Trump in 2024? There's a good chance that she might win - or perhaps more accurately - that Trump will lose. I truly hope for this outcome.

But what about 2028? 2032? What about when someone less personally offensive than Trump but every bit as fascistic inevitably tops the GOP ticket? One a little more disciplined in speech, less prone to inane ramblings, and lacks dozens of indictments? How can the Democratic Party, ostensibly the "left wing" of American politics, supposed to stay competitive and distinguish themselves in a political arena when they're constantly ceding ground to the Right on immigration, military spending, the economy, guns; trying to hush controversial issues like "human rights for queer people," or "being a party to genocide" in a desperate attempt to appeal to some shrinking "moderate" demographic?

What do they have left, when all they can say is "well at least we're not weird like those guys"?

When NBC News of all organizations asked about the DNC's lack of trans speakers this year or the scaling back of discussions about queer rights, it was met only with silence:

"The DNC and the Harris campaign declined to comment."

Cool.

[misfitwashere]

Friends,

I grant you, it’s not a perfect one-word description. But it’s obviously getting to Trump and Vance:

TRUMP: No, we’re not weird. We’re very solid people.

A more accurate adjective for MAGA politicians might be “misogynistic” or “xenophobic” or “authoritarian” or even “fascist.” 

But if you listen to what they’re saying, the word “weird” does come to mind again and again. Consider:

Donald Trump: “The late great Hannibal Lecter, he’s a wonderful man.”

JD Vance: “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives”

Sen. John Kennedy: “This is what the bill would do to the penis”

Jesse Watters: “If a man votes for a woman, he actually transitions into a woman.”

Hello??

Now, I want to be clear ��� it’s MAGA Republican leaders who are being weird, not every single Republican voter. I know many Republicans — I’m even friends with some. You probably are too.

What makes MAGA Republican leaders weird isn’t just that they’re awkward, unfunny, and unpleasant. It’s that they want to impose their weird ideas on everyone else. 

Trying to control when and how Americans can start a family is weird. 

Trying to restrict abortion, IVF, adoption, and even birth control is weird.

So is trying to force one specific religion on everybody else … weird.

Trying to micromanage where children can go to the bathroom? Beyond weird.

Trying to ban books, Black history, or kids with same-sex parents from talking about their families in school is weird. 

So is opposing school lunch programs.

Claiming to protect kids while blocking regulations on guns (the #1 killer of American kids) is, well, weird.

Defending junk fees, or claiming Americans WANT to pay them? I mean seriously, raise your hand if you want to pay more junk fees.

Complaining about the deficit while offering tax cuts to the richest Americans … What’s the word for this? Weird!

Trying to slash programs as essential and popular as Social Security and Medicare is … weird.

Blocking action against the climate crisis during the hottest year on record is … say it with me … weird.

Trying to deprive citizens of their right to vote and trying to overthrow democracy … is … guess what? Weird!

These ideas and policies being pushed on us by MAGA Republican leaders are also deeply dangerous, unpopular, and downright cruel. 

Look, the important thing here is not calling them names. There’s already way too much name-calling in American politics. The important thing is to reveal what they stand for. Please join me in doing so — and invite others too as well. 

[anthonybialy]

Crime Party

Hunter Biden isn’t like Al Capone: the latter failed to get away with tax evasion.  Only certain legal breaches are disregarded like they’re inflation during the presidency of a person who by sheer coincidence shares the same last name as the nation’s most prominent chronic offender.  Mob bosses who view committing crimes as merely a means to grasp true power run for office.  Permitting certain offenses by law is the truest way to conduct a successful racket.  The difference is the mafia knows how to run businesses.

Criminals naturally have an ulterior motive.  The accomplice party holds the executive branch, an unnerving percentage of the legislature, and governorships in our coincidentally more dangerous states.  Stealing everything not bolted down and some of what is became trendy immediately after their ascent in what they hope is another example of cause and effect you ignore.  Not prosecuting family members or their voters is the privilege extended to altruistic geniuses who plan out society for law-abiding suckers.

You may notice that Democrats don’t quite meet standards they enforce.  It’s their favorite hobby.  A capricious view of what constitutes a violation based on the committer epitomizes corruption.  Wouldn’t you giggle as you screwed over everyone who didn’t offer you utter fealty, too?

Presuming crookedness comes naturally to complicit officeholders who figure everyone else is as scuzzy as they are.  This White House’s biggest enemies are business and gun owners.  If you sell guns, know that every supermax cell features the same uninspiring view.

Putting government in charge of everything is pitched as the ultimate in fairness by the biggest cheaters.  Wrestling referees shake their heads at the lack of integrity.  Foes of natural rights require enough authority that they decide who does and doesn’t benefit.  It’s a good thing Democrats are preternaturally fair, or we’d endure incessant abuses.

Do as you’re told.  It’s not a request.  Government’s targets can’t appeal to a higher force.  Try praying.  Here on a rather unjust planet, insatiably inept rulers get to decide who’s in luck or trouble.  They’re about as skilled at determining who’s behaving as they are at spurring economies.

Using power however it benefits them is how Democrats help everyone.  You’d vote for them if you cared about others, you cruel fan of individual responsibility.  Scheming central planners certainly never use the unchecked power they crave to punish foes while rewarding allies any more than stagnation would follow paying people not to work.  Deploying grudges against bars which dared point out Andrew Cuomo was a professional serial killer is balanced with giving passes to presidential children who don’t want to deal with the paperwork required to deduct crack.

Joining the wrong faction serves as a confession.  The only present criminals are people defending from actual criminals, anyone who transfers enough through Venmo to shop at Sam’s Club, and Donald Trump.

The sole offense is conducting commerce.  Democrats have decided to protect the Earth instead of people on it.  For thoroughness, they do neither.  Take their most present maddening mandate, namely their disdain for everyone’s favorite food.  Hassling pizzeria proprietors who dare cook with deliciousness-enabling coal as diabolical lunatics murder on the sidewalks out front is as New York as it gets.

You have to be Alice in Wonderland-level absurd in injustice to make the previous president sympathetic.  Nobody wants to see Trump claim he’s king of the prison yard more than me.  But knowing Hillary Clinton won’t be starring in a women’s prison movie is a casting letdown even though it deserves to bomb.

Menace should be discouraged just from a voting perspective.  You’d think eternally calculating Democrats might want to make their bloc not feel like their lives are endangered while mailing ballots.  As with attempting to tax their way to prosperity, purveyors of bossy lawlessness presume that endangered residents of Blue States don’t realize they can flee to jurisdictions where the law-abiding can arm themselves while knowing the nefarious will be expected to abide prohibitions against taking stuff and lives.  The liberal commitment to not grasping markets is thorough if you’re looking for a nice way to classify fanatical adherents.

Noticing what kind of felonies Democrats let slide only helps protect against them so much.  People who feel like prey don’t have enough to cope with from everyday aggravations: these days, certain governments permit victimizing subway riders or workers taxed into submission for the result.  Treating productive people as predators is surely just in the same way it encourages secure prosperity.  Consistency is not necessarily to be valued.

Wanting to keep what you earn is the only illegal crime during the Purge.  Liberals think the most important law enforcement agency is the IRS.  The glorious collector of decadent kulak fund targets every foe of communal budgeting except the failed president’s corruptly scuzzy bagman of a brat when he didn’t feel like funding glorious selflessness-embodying projects.  

It’s the item’s fault.  Bitching about guns constitutes the perfect liberal response.  Nobody gets treated as culpable for what’s done.  Bullet-connected crime just happens to spike wherever liberals get what they demanded just like the poverty they use as a justified excuse for unabashed shoplifting.  The lack of responsibility is inherent to their beliefs.  Why do they stick with such pernicious foolishness?  Don’t blame them.

[stage-props]

This is pretty different from what I usually post but because I know a lot of people don’t have access to The Washington Post:

Basically, without exaggeration, we’re legitimately on the brink of civil war. Trump supporters have invaded the capital building and Trump is cheering them on, still claiming he won the election.

In the notes I’ll reblog this with the link to a full pdf of the article

Thousands of President Trump’s supporters are in Washington for rallies Wednesday to falsely assert that the presidential election was stolen from him. Many in attendance see the demonstrations as a last stand for Trump on the same day that Congress votes to certify that President-elect Joe Biden won the election. Trump — who lost the popular and electoral college vote — continues to dispute the results, without evidence, and has encouraged his supporters to attend the rallies in the nation’s capital. He took the stage about noon to roaring crowds, claiming he had won the election. At the U.S. Capitol, throngs of protesters pushed past police who were trying to block them from entering the building as senators inside debated the certification of the presidential election. Some were able to breach security to successfully enter the building.

TEAR GAS RELEASED, IN THE BUILDING ON THE TERRORISTS, DEMS CONDEM TRUMP ONLINE

Throngs of pro-Trump supporters bust through security barricades and stormed the U.S. Capitol Building where they entered the U.S. Senate chamber and forced police to deploy tear gas inside. Lawmakers, tweeting from inside, captured a terrifying scene with many Democrats assailing Trump for provoking his supporters to attempt what some called a coup of the federal government. Rep. Dan Kildee (D-Mich.) wrote that he’s in the House Chambers and has been “instructed to lie down on the floor and put on our gas masks. Chamber security and Capitol Police have their guns drawn as protesters bang on the front door of the chamber." “We were just told that there has been tear gas in the rotunda and we’re being instructed to each of us to get gas masks that are under our seats,” Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) said in a video he posted on Twitter, referring to the area under the dome that connects the House and Senate sides of the building. Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) called it a “coup attempt.” He later reposted a Twitter message from Trump and said: “You are not protecting the country. Where is the DC guard? You are done and your legacy will be a disaster.” Many Democrats also blamed Trump for inciting his supporters. “This is thuggery at its best...And the flames are being stoked by the person currently in our #WhiteHouse. Donald Trump is responsible for this. #TrumpThugs,” tweeted Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-N.Y.). Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), who wrote that she and her staff are “safe” and “following protocols,” said, “This is a situation provoked by President Trump & Republicans that is rapidly deteriorating. It needs to end quickly & peacefully,” she added. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), wrote that “violence is always unacceptable. Even when passions run high.” He added: “Anyone engaged in violence—especially against law enforcement—should be fully prosecuted.” 

TRUMP SUPPORTERS CLAIM THEY ARE NOT DEMOCRATS OR REPUBLICANS, THEY ARE ‘TRUMPERS’

Mary Ann Wilbur gasped as three men slowly made their way up the balcony wall while those who made it up unfurled Trump flags. She approved. “We’re tired,” said Wilbur, who came to D.C. from Massachusetts. “We’ve been pushed and pushed and pushed, and we’ve had enough.” “The people are angry,” she said. “Nobody’s listening to us, Republicans or Democrats. We’re Trumpers.”

TRUMP CONTINUES TO SUPPORT PROTESTERS AND ENCOURAGE THEIR COUP

President Trump, who repeatedly urged his supporters gathered on the Ellipse earlier today to march to the U.S. Capitol to demand that Congress overturn the election, tweeted a call to “stay peaceful” as some of those supporters broke into the Capitol building. U.S. Capitol Police were unable to hold back throngs outside the building, some of whom pushed their way inside. With the House and Senate on lockdown inside the building, Trump asked for “support” for the police force trying to maintain order.

PROTESTERS BREAK BARRICADES AND PROJECT NATIONALISTIC CALLS, CLAIM THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS BETRAYING THEM

Just before 1 p.m., a group of primarily White men pushed, then toppled the barricades, storming through them to the grassy fields leading to the Capitol. Several Capitol police stood guard but could not hold back the tide. Hundreds scaled and kicked aside the barricades, yelling “forward!!” as they ran upward. Some tried to reach the steps of the Capitol, but were stopped by law enforcement. A few who made it through and scaled metal construction structures were tackled by police. After a few minutes of the crowds yelling “USA! USA!”, dozens of law enforcement descended down the steps to boos

“Fight for Trump!” “Make it louder!” said a woman south of Constitution Avenue. By 12:15 p.m., people were beginning to peel off and head east. “Off to the Capitol,” one woman said. “Let’s go!” Toward the middle of the president‘s speech, more people began streaming toward Capitol Hill, where Congress was preparing to certify the electoral college vote  

TRUMP TELLS PROTESTERS THAT THEY WON

“We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn’t happen. You don’t concede when there’s theft involved,” Trump said, falsely claiming that Biden’s victory was based on fraudulent vote counts. “We won this election, and we will never give up.”

This is from some of my own research when communicating with historian Professor Justin Brunette from PPCC

When asked what his feelings were on the situation, he states as follows:

“Honestly, this is right on the knife-edge of an insurrection, and thus potential civil war.  Nothing like this has happened in American history since the Civil War.  So I am anxious too, if I'm honest.”

This is ongoing as of 1/6/2021 1:40pm Mountain Time Check the notes for the link to the full article

[robertreich]

The Coming Civil War Over Trump’s Ego

What is America really fighting over in the upcoming election? No particular issue. Not even Democrats versus Republicans.

The central fight is over Donald J Trump.

Before Trump, most Americans weren’t especially passionate about politics. But Trump’s MO has been to force people to become passionate about him – to take fierce sides for or against. And he considers himself president only of the former -- whom he calls “my people.”

Trump came to office with no agenda except to feed his monstrous ego. He has never fueled his base. His base has fueled him. Its adoration sustains him.

So does the antipathy of his detractors. Presidents usually try to appease their critics. Trump has gone out of his way to offend them. “I do bring rage out,” Trump unapologetically told journalist Bob Woodward in 2016.

In this way, he has turned America into a gargantuan projection of his own pathological narcissism.

His entire re-election platform is found in his use of the pronouns “we” and “them.” “We” are people who love him, Trump Nation. “They” hate him.

In late August, near the end of his somnolent address on the South Front of the White House accepting the Republican nomination, Trump extemporized: “The fact is, we’re here – and they’re not.” It drew a standing ovation.

At a recent White House news conference, a CNN correspondent asked if he condemned the behavior of his supporters in Portland, Oregon. In response, Trump charged: “Your supporters, and they are your supporters indeed, shot a young gentleman.”

In Trump’s eyes, CNN exists in a different country: Anti-Trump Nation.

So do the putative rioters and looters of “Biden’s America.” So do the inhabitants of blue states whose state and local tax deductions Trump eliminated in his tax overhaul. So do those who live in the “Democrat cities,” as he calls them, whose funding he’s trying to cut.

California is a big part of Anti-Trump Nation. He wanted to reject its request for aid battling wildfires “because he was so rageful that people in the state of California didn’t support him,” said former Department of Homeland Security chief of staff Miles Taylor.

New York is the capital of Anti-Trump Nation, which probably contributed to Trump “playing down” the threat of Covid-19 last March, when its virulence seemed largely confined to that metropolis. Even now, Trump claims the US rate of Covid-19 deaths would be low “if you take the blue states out.” That’s untrue, but it’s not the point. For Trump, blue states don’t count because they’re part of Anti-Trump Nation.

To Trump and his core enablers and supporters, the laws of Trump Nation authorize him to do whatever he wants. Anti-Trump Nation’s laws constrain him, but they’re illegitimate because they are made and enforced by the people who reject him.

So Trump’s call to the president of Ukraine seeking help with the election was “perfect.” It was fine for Russia to side with him in 2016, and it’s fine for it to do so again. And of course the Justice Department, Postal Service, and Centers for Disease Control should help him win reelection. They’re all aiding Trump Nation.

By a similar twisted logic, Anti-Trump Nation is dangerous. Hence, says Trump, the armed teenager who killed two in Kenosha, Wisconsin acted in “self-defense,” yet the suspected killer of a right-winger in Portland deserved the “retribution” he got when federal marshals gunned him down.

It follows that if he loses the election, Trump will not accept the result because it would be the product of Anti-Trump Nation, and Trump isn’t the president of people who would vote against him. As he recently claimed, “the only way we’re going to lose this election is if the election is rigged.”

In the warped minds of Trump and his acolytes, this could lead to civil war. Just last week he refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power. His consigliere Roger Stone urges him to declare “martial law” if he loses. Michael Caputo, assistant secretary of public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, warns “the shooting will begin” when Trump refuses to stand down.

Civil war is unlikely, but the weeks and perhaps months after Election Day will surely be fraught. Even if Trump is ultimately forced to relinquish power, his core adherents will continue to view him as their leader. If he retains power, many if not most Americans will consider his presidency illegitimate.

So whatever happens, Trump’s megalomaniacal ego will prevail: America will have come apart over him, and Trump Nation will have seceded from Anti-Trump Nation.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

August 30, 2021

Heather Cox Richardson

At 3:29 ET on August 30, 2021—early on the morning of August 31 in Afghanistan—the U.S. military mission in Afghanistan ended. It was the longest war in American history.

Among the last to come home were the 13 Americans killed in an ISIS-K attack last Thursday. They arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware Sunday morning from Germany. President Joe Biden, First Lady Jill Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and 8 aides attended the dignified transfer between the plane and a waiting vehicle.

In the last 17 days in Afghanistan, U.S. troops evacuated more than 120,000 people, making up the largest airlift in our history. For comparison, as Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post pointed out, the U.S. evacuated no Americans from the civil war in Yemen in 2015, and only about 167 from Libya in 2011.

While critics have suggested that America’s withdrawal from Afghanistan will hurt American credibility abroad, President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have called for combatting terrorism through financial sanctions, bombing, and drone strikes like the one they used to retaliate against ISIS-K for the attack on the Kabul airport that killed more than 160 Afghans and 13 Americans last Friday, and by strengthening democracy at home.

There is plenty of work to do on that last front.

Last week, Peter Wehner, who served in the Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and George W. Bush administrations, pointed out in The Atlantic that the right wing has moved to such extremism that former president Trump, whose behavior seemed so shocking in 2015 and 2016, is now being sidelined by lawmakers and pundits who are even more extreme.

Yesterday, in an event hosted by the Macon County Republican Party, Representative Madison Cawthorn (R-NC) insisted that the January 6 rioters are “political hostages” and said he wanted to “bust them out.” When someone in the audience asked “When are you going to call us to Washington again?” he said, “We are actively working on that one…. We have a few plans in motion that I can’t make public right now.” He called for removing Biden from office under the 25th Amendment and added, “when Kamala Harris inevitably screws up, we will take them down, one at a time.” He concluded by saying: “The Second Amendment was not written so that we can go hunting or we can shoot sporting clays…. The Second Amendment was written so that we can fight against tyranny.”

Increasingly, right-wing agitators are calling for violent overthrow of the government.

Today in Pennsylvania, Steve Lynch, a candidate for Northampton County executive, said: “Forget going into these school boards with freaking data. You go into these school boards to remove them. I’m going in with 20 strong men and I’m gonna give them an option—they can leave or they can be removed.”

At a protest in Santa Monica yesterday before a vote on a mask mandate, a man held a sign with the names and home addresses of each Los Angeles City Council member and said protesters would go to the homes of anyone who voted for the mandate and, if it passed, “Civil War is coming! Get your guns!”

This sort of street-level violence is known for radicalizing individuals as they get swept up in it and then later embrace the larger political arguments behind it. It also forces more reasonable individuals out of government positions as they conclude that their position on a school board, for example,  is not worth threats against their families and their lives.

Far from trying to tamp down this violence, right-wing leaders are egging it on. Tonight, on the Fox News Channel, personality Tucker Carlson told his audience that no leader had apologized for “these terrible decisions” in Afghanistan. “This can’t go on,” he said. “When leaders refuse to hold themselves accountable, over time, people revolt…. We need to change course immediately… or else the consequences will be awful.”

The images on the screen behind Carlson were of President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken, Defense Secretary Austin, and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Milley. Carlson often tries to undermine the current leadership of the military, suggesting that he would welcome its replacement by officers he finds less objectionable.  

Republican offense may be an attempt at defense.

Today, Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS), chair of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, announced that the committee has demanded that 35 major communications companies preserve their records from April 1, 2020, to January 31, 2021, for people involved in the January 5 and January 6 rallies in Washington, D.C., or “potentially involved with discussions” about stopping the electoral vote count on January 6 or otherwise  “potentially involved with discussions" in planning the January 6 insurrection. According to CNN, the companies affected include cell phone giants Verizon Wireless, AT&T, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Sprint. Social media companies covered under the request include Apple, Google, Facebook, Signal, Slack, YouTube, Twitch, and Twitter.

CNN reports that members of the committee have requested preservation of the records of representatives Cawthorn, Lauren Boebert (R-CO), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Jim Jordan (R-OH), Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Paul Gosar (R-AZ), Mo Brooks (R-AL), Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Jody Hice (R-GA), and Scott Perry (R-PA). They have also asked the companies to preserve the records of former president Trump; those of his children Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump; and those of his daughter-in-law Lara Trump and Don Jr.’s girlfriend Kimberly Guilfoyle, who worked on the campaign.

Those determined to regain control of the country from the Democrats also have to contend with continuing good news from Biden’s policies. A new study from the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Columbia University shows that the first child tax credit payment kept 3 million children from falling below the poverty line and that the child poverty rate dropped from 15.8% in June to 11.9% in July. Coronavirus relief measures kept another 3 million children from poverty. Families are using the money to buy food and pay off debt.

The administration is also coordinating aid to the states hit hard by Hurricane Ida, which brought up to 15 inches of rain to parts of Louisiana and knocked out the state’s power grid. The administration deployed more than 3,600 employees of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, who prepared more than 3.4 million meals, millions of liters of water, more than 35,700 tarps, and roughly 200 generators in the region before the storm hit. They have moved ambulances and search and rescue teams into the area and have opened shelters. The Army Corps of Engineers has mobilized personnel to remove debris and to provide temporary roofing and housing.

The administration is shifting its focus from unilateral military might to multilateral alliances to deal with common problems. Tomorrow, Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry will leave for Asia, where he will meet with leaders from Japan and then China to bolster international cooperation on climate change before the meeting of the 2021 U.N Climate Change Conference in early November.

—-

​​

Notes:

Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1CENTCOM's Gen. McKenzie: In total, 123,000 civilians were evacuated from Afghanistan over the last 18 days.

869 Retweets3,334 Likes

August 30th 2021

Aaron Fritschner @FritschnerAt Macon County GOP event yesterday, Madison Cawthorn called January 6 rioters “political hostages,” and spoke of trying to “bust them out.” Then- Attendee: “When are you gonna call us to Washington again?" Cawthorn: “We are actively working on that one.”

4,235 Retweets7,587 Likes

August 30th 2021

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/cawthorn-calls-jan-6-defendants-political-hostages-muses-about-trying-to-bust-them-out

Scott MacFarlane @MacFarlaneNewsALERT:  House Select Jan 6th Committee asks 35 major communications companies (including major cell service providers, Twitter, Parler, etc) to preserve records  for "individuals  potentially involved with discussions" in planning Jan 6 Sweeping request (more)

1,408 Retweets3,875 Likes

August 30th 2021

/photo/2

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/30/statement-by-president-joe-biden/

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/30/politics/fact-check-biden-dover-afghanistan-kabul/index.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/28/world/asia/kabul-airport-attack-isis-us-strike.html

https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/30/politics/january-6-phone-records-members-of-congress/index.html

Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowskiAt protest in Santa Monica today before the vote on mask-mandate, Jason Lefkowitz has the home addresses of each LA City Council member on his sign. He says they are going to the homes of whoever votes for it, and if it passes, it’s “civil war, get your guns.” From @chadloder

3,407 Retweets5,941 Likes

August 30th 2021

Andrew Lawrence @ndrew_lawrencethe most watched cable news host in america justifies a coming "revolt" unless we "change course immediately"

261 Retweets957 Likes

August 31st 2021

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/apr/01/american-civilians-yemen-left-behind

https://www.npr.org/2021/08/30/1032615984/house-panel-investigating-the-capitol-attack-orders-35-companies-to-preserve-rec

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/08/30/how-evacuation-americans-is-going/

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2021/08/radicalism-post-trump-gop/619891/

https://www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/news-internal/monthly-poverty-july-2021

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/08/30/readout-of-president-bidens-briefing-with-gulf-coast-elected-officials-on-hurricane-ida/

https://www.businessinsider.com/child-tax-credit-expansion-reduce-child-poverty-rate-research-2021-8

https://apnews.com/article/hurricane-ida-louisiana-new-orleans-c43c2c68946ceb6100c2239534c6c290

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[arcticdementor]

In September of 2020, I published a book entitled The Stakes. It was billed as a “current events” or election-year title. The election behind us, the candidate I recommended is no longer president. But the analysis which led me to that recommendation is very much still “current.”

To recap briefly (but read the whole thing!), the book explains how every prominent and powerful American institution, including the federal government, has been taken over by a hostile elite who use their vast powers to attack, despoil, and insult about half the nation. In the sixth chapter (excerpted here), I outline what I think America will look like if the present ruling class refuses to moderate, cannot be forced to share power, and has the wherewithal to keep its regime going. In the seventh chapter, I sketch several possibilities—from secession to Caesarism to collapse—that might result if it turns out that our overlords are a lot less competent than they think. And in the final chapter (excerpted here), I offer policy and other ideas that might enable America to avoid those fates.

That chapter (from which this essay is adapted) culminated with a proposal now being talked about widely, namely, to allow counties, cities, and towns unhappy with their current state government to join another. This would be a practical, and practicable, way to ease Blue and Red Americans’ present discontent and exasperation with each other.

There are precedents. The counties that became Maine split from Massachusetts in 1820, and—more famously—those that became West Virginia left Virginia during the Civil War. Fittingly, when I wrote the chapter, West Virginia had generously offered to welcome western Virginia counties unhappy with rule from newly, aggressively Blue Richmond. Today, a year later, West Virginia’s governor says the offer still stands.

There are similar movements throughout the country—most, though not all, driven by disaffected Reds. The most recent, news-making example was five Oregon counties joining two others in voting to leave the Beaver State and become part of Idaho.

So far nothing has come of any of this. But why shouldn’t these efforts be allowed to proceed if both the welcoming state and the exiting counties want it? Wouldn’t that be “democracy”?

…

Classical philosophers and historians alike condemn democracy as a bad form of government, in part because of its partiality but mostly because of the specific nature of the demos, which they contend is the polis’s least wise and least moderate part.

I would here add that it’s both sad and hilarious to see classically-trained academics and intellectuals bleat on about the sanctity of “democracy.” The worst offenders are the Straussians, who really should know better. Haven’t we all read Republic VIII and Politics VI, to say nothing of the warnings from Strauss himself on the dangers and shortcomings of democracy? Their failure as analysts is worse. The present American regime that they celebrate as “our democracy” is all but identical to classical oligarchy (discussed in those same books) while the “populism” that gives them the vapors is much closer to the democracy they claim to revere. But even more embarrassing, the Straussians’ central boast is to stand above, in Olympian detachment and even disdain, all regime pieties and see through them as self-serving rationalizations. Yet when extolling “democracy,” they sound no different than an Assistant Secretary of State, foundation president, or CNN host.

…

States such as California, Colorado, Illinois, New York, and now Virginia are utterly dominated by one party, and often one city, which amounts to the same thing. This is how Virginia—cradle of the American Revolution and home to four of our first five presidents—suddenly, just like that, became implacably hostile to the first two amendments to the United States Constitution. Five cities and counties, three adjacent to Washington, D.C., essentially dictate to the other 128.

The uncomprehending angst of people who’ve lived the same way, in the same places, for generations suddenly finding themselves harassed by a hostile government—ostensibly “theirs”—is mocked by the ruling class as a lament over “lost privilege.” After Virginia flipped from purple to Blue in 2019, the state legislature immediately enacted draconian gun restrictions that flew in the face of centuries of tradition and peaceful practice. Too bad! You lost! That’s “democracy.” As Joel Kotkin has remarked, “The worst thing in the world to be is the Red part of a Blue state.”

We should not, however, give the powers-that-be too much credit for principled consistency. If and when popular majorities produce outcomes the rulers don’t like, their devotion to “democracy” instantly evaporates. Judges, administrative state agencies, private companies—whichever is most able in the moment to overturn the will of unruly voters—will intervene to restore ruling class diktats. On the other hand, when voters can be counted on to vote the right way, then voting becomes the necessary and sufficient step for sanctifying any political outcome. It doesn’t even matter where the votes (or voters) come from, so long as they vote the right way. The fact that they vote the right way is sufficient to justify and even ennoble their participation in “our democracy.”

Blues perpetually outvoting Reds and ruling unopposed: this, and only this, is what “democracy” means today.

Bad Faith Objections

Reds, increasingly, are catching on. They know the game is rigged, that they cannot win, and the veneer of their participation and consent is a sham.

This is why the gaslighting is being dialed up to the lumen levels of blue stars. Every objection to Blue despoilation is now openly ascribed to “white supremacy.” Don’t want to be late for work because regime-favored thugs “protesters” are illegally blocking an intersection? White supremacy! Object to being beaten on the streets? White supremacy! Want to see the laws enforced equally and impartially? White supremacy!

Obviously, nothing is more susceptible to this dread charge than calls for “secession.” Hence the entirely apples-to-oranges cases of redrawing state lines better to reflect residents’ preferences and interests will be—already is being—compared to the events of 1860-61.

…

Some opponents of Red attempts to leave Blue states will disingenuously point to Lincoln’s first inaugural address, the ne plus ultra anti-secession argument. But there Lincoln was talking about replacing ballots with bullets throughout a sovereign state—overturning not merely the outcome of one election but the form of government itself. The peaceful rearrangement of political and administrative boundaries within a sovereign state is an entirely different act, with far lesser—and less grave—consequences. Indeed, in the latter case the consequences may be entirely salutary: there is ample precedent in history and around the world of countries redrawing internal lines to suit shifts in population and interests.

Others will try to muddy the waters by facilely equating the peculiarly American use of the word “state” for our 50 regional governments with the far more common meaning of state as “sovereign and independent country.” Lincoln said secession was unlawful, unconstitutional, and immoral—but this hypocrite Anton who claims to be a Lincolnite is endorsing the very practice! The argument is false and will be offered in bad faith. If you wish to waste a moment of your time, which I don’t recommend, remind such liars that the anti-secessionist Lincoln not only supported but presided over the division of Virginia. The decisive point is that this proposal is here proffered for precisely Lincolnite reasons: to save the Union and keep the current territory and population of the United States together.

…

Article IV, Section 3 states that “no new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.”

In the Maine and West Virginia cases, new states were formed, hence the legislatures of the original and prospective states, plus the Congress, had to consent. (In the case of Virginia, then in rebellion against the government of the United States, two competing state governments existed. The Unionist government, recognized by the federal government, voted to allow the separation.)

The Constitution is, however, silent on the question of transferring a county from one state to another. No doubt should rural Virginia counties seek to join Charleston, Richmond wouldn’t like it—all that lost tax revenue! Look how many fewer people to boss around! Fewer Electoral votes!

But, constitutionally speaking, the state government’s power to stop it would be dubious. As would, if we want to speculate along such lines, the means. It could, and almost certainly would, take the issue to federal court where, admittedly, any outcome is possible regardless of law, and any outcome favorable to Red interests extremely unlikely. There’s little question that a Blue state capital could easily join with the federal judiciary and the Biden administration to block any such action. That may or may not be “constitutional” as you and I understand the term, but we don’t rule.

Or suppose we interpret Article IV, Section 3 to mean that moving just one county from one state to another constitutes creating a “new state.” That makes things harder, but hardly impossible. It simply means that legislative victories would have to be won. That may seem impossible now; no empire ever seeks to become smaller. But, dare I say, the election of Donald Trump seemed impossible as late as 9 p.m. on November 3rd, 2016. Public opinion is changing fast. Reds, who’ve put up with a lot only to face repeated demands that they put up with even more, are getting fed up.

Not only do they get nothing but abuse from the political system, increasingly they don’t even get to talk. Any dissent against regime ideology is swiftly and ruthlessly censored on Blue media platforms, which is to say, all of them. Reds’ elected leaders (to the extent that they have any) are declared “domestic enemies” by the Speaker of the House. Blue wise men talk of “cleansing” Reds from the political system. Nils Gilman—a man who called for my death—declaimed that “These people need to be extirpated from politics.” To have no say and no voice, forever, means that one’s only option is exit.

It would be an act of magnanimity, and even self-interest, for a sufficient number of Blues to recognize Red concerns and let the state-county reorganization proceed. Right now, at least half of Red America feels trapped in an abusive marriage, endlessly told they’re worthless, racist, and evil—but also that under no circumstances may they even broach the topic of leaving. Stay and take your deserved punishment is Blue America’s constant message to Red, the political philosophy of Judge Smails: You’ll get nothing and like it.

Besides, as Blues never tire of reminding us, aren’t we Reds poor, weak, and dumb? Who wants such dross as fellow citizens? Imagine (say) Virginia’s glorious future without all those retrograde hicks getting in the way of NoVa’s progressive utopian vision.

If Blues cannot see their way to letting such peaceful means proceed as a way of improving civic harmony and extending the life of the republic, they’re placing a giant bet that they can, through sheer brute force, rule Reds forever. Can they? They’d also be admitting that, in New America, “democracy” just means Blues outvoting Reds, effectively nullifying their franchise.

…

It’s worth pointing out, in this context, the utter hypocrisy of Blues who cry “Jeff Davis!” at the mere suggestion of some rural counties in a Blue State seeking refuge with fellow Reds, which almost certainly would not change the composition of the Senate, but who blithely demand that D.C. and Puerto Rico be made states so the Democrats can get four extra Senators and (likely) four more Electoral votes.

[hasufin]

On Magical Thinking

I just want to share this notion I’ve been mulling over for the past month.

It’s about the way rightwing followers - not, like, Trump and McConnell, I mean the people who follow and support them - think.

Let me start with Sovereign Citizens.

For any non-American readers, or those happy Americans who have not encountered the completely bonkers pile of bullshit that is Sovereign Citizens, let me explain.

This is a movement of sorts, which is about fifty years old, whose members believe they are sovereign and separate from the United States. They have some extremely selective and nonsensical interpretations of the law and parts of the US Constitution, which includes the claim that their “flesh and blood” self is a separate entity from the fictitious entity of their US citizen person, and that by not consenting to being a citizen they are not subject to US laws. It’s complete nonsense, but you could spend forever trying turn it into something which makes enough sense to even be able to argue against it.

Now, what I find interesting is, they have this tendency toward magical thinking. For example, they claim that US courts are actually “admiralty courts” (because they often have a gold-fringed US Flag). They also have convoluted legal rituals by which they believe they can obligate the US to “return” to them some quantity of gold which is theirs by right. Oh, and that they’re not “driving”, they’re “traveling” which by the Constitution cannot be restricted so they don’t need driver’s licenses.

This is all magical thinking, and it says a great deal about them, I think.

It says that they believe the world operates under very strict rules which rely on - and can be subverted by - tiny details. A court’s jurisdiction is contingent on what flag is in the courtroom. There is a secret set of forms and office to file with to just be given gold. A clever use of synonyms frees you of all vehicular laws. And so on.

It also says they have a very limited theory of mind. They imagine that simply by pointing out that a court is using the wrong flag, the judge will say “Darn it, you caught me. I can’t do anything about it, you’re free to go, this has all been a sham.” That is, they imagine the people they oppose - people who clearly fully believe they are enforcing the laws and who intend to do so - will somehow be bound by these secret laws and words... even when that person has never heard of such a thing and considers it ridiculous. Which is weird, because of course they aren’t bound like that. They don’t have any magical words which compel them to act a certain way. But they think other people do.

So, we’re talking about people with very little empathy, a belief that other people are deterministic machines which can be compelled if you find the right words, and who believe that rituals and tools have literal meaning.

Which gets me to what happened a month ago: the January 6th Insurrection, and what they hoped to accomplish. Now, not everyone in the attempted coup was actually a Sovereign Citizen, but the conspiracy theories which spawned the coup share DNA with the Sovereign Citizen movement.- it’s the same kind of thinking.

Here’s my suspicion: they believed they could actually force Congress to make Donald Trump POTUS, and that it would stick.They believed the formal opening and counting of the electoral votes is what actually determines who is the next POTUS - as opposed to the reality of who won the majority in each state and what that means for electoral vote numbers. By this reasoning, if they could substitute different ballots, or force Congress to just certify that Trump was actually the winner, then the next day Congress would all say “Sure, there were literally guns to our heads but we voted to certify and there’s nothing to be done about it now. Guess we get four more years of Donald Trump.”

I strongly suspect that the guys who stole the gavel and the Speaker’s podium literally believe that in doing so they either get the authority of being the Speaker, or that in taking those things they removed Nancy Pelosi’s ability to be Speaker of the House.

I suspect in amidst all the violence, the threats, the general madness, we will find these threads of symbolic acts, things which the perpetrators firmly believed would empower or protect them. Ways they can claim they were “protesting” whilst committing violence and treason, was they think they have stolen the authority of Congress. I don’t think, once they realize how ridiculous they were and that the “magic spells” aren’t working, that they will admit to these things, but I think they’ll be there.

What I think we should recognize is, while none of this had any potential to work, the people who attempted a coup last month earnestly believed it would work. That it was impossible does nothing to diminish their culpability - even if it fails, it’s still a coup.

But what is truly disconcerting is the people who egged them on. Who knew that it could not work, who knew better, knew that it would end in violence and death, and decided “Yes, this is what I want.”

[route22ny]

When it was announced earlier this month that President Donald Trump was hospitalized with COVID-19, there was a chance that maybe, just maybe, he would finally start taking this pandemic seriously.

  Fat chance.

  Shortly after leaving Walter Reed Medical Center (where the president, a critic of "socialized medicine," got the finest medical treatment that government can provide), Trump was back on his bullshit — holding massive rallies across the country, where thousands of his supporters gathered, many not wearing masks, as if the whole thing never happened. As this week's issue went to press, Trump was expected to bring another one of his superspreader events to Michigan, with a rally scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 27 in Lansing — a week before the Tuesday, Nov. 3 general election — because apparently Trump doesn't care if Michiganders die.

  On Friday, the U.S. reported its highly daily number of coronavirus cases, with at least 81,400 new cases reported. More than 222,000 Americans have died from the virus so far. In Michigan, more than 7,522 people have died from COVID-19.

  If you're sick of Trump's plague, there's something you can do about it. Vote for Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for the presidential ticket, and Gary Peters for Senate, on Tuesday, Nov. 3.

  That's not all that's on the ballot. We also have an opportunity to move the Michigan Supreme Court to the left (by voting for Bridget Mary McCormack and Elizabeth Welch). There are also two state ballot proposals: Proposal 1 (a constitutional amendment that would allow money from oil and gas mining on state-owned lands to continue to be collected in state funds for land protection and creation and maintenance of parks) and Proposal 2 (which would require a search warrant in order to access a person's electronic data or electronic communications). In Detroit, voters can weigh in on Proposal N (which would allow the City of Detroit to sell $250 million in Neighborhood Improvement Bonds to preserve and renovate 8,000 homes and remove another 8,000 blighted homes). —Lee DeVito

  What you need to vote  

  Simply show up in person to your local polling place on Tuesday, Nov. 3. Bring a photo ID, such as a driver's license, identification card, or U.S. passport. If you don't have an ID, don't worry. You can fill out a brief affidavit stating that you're not in possession of a photo ID. Your vote will still be counted.

  Don't forget your face mask, although it's not required at polling stations. It wouldn't hurt to bring some hand sanitizer or gloves, too. And don't forget social distancing. You'll likely be standing in a long line and encountering election workers. You may also want to bring a personal cheat sheet to remind yourself how you're voting. Even the most astute voters may not be familiar with all of the races, especially the judicial ones.  

  To find your polling place and preview your ballot, visit the Michigan Voter information Center at michigan.gov/vote. Polling places are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday Nov. 3. If you're in line to vote at 8 p.m., you have the right to cast your vote. If you're still in line at 8 p.m. and someone tries to send you home and deny you your right to vote, don't take no for an answer. Ask for a supervisor and an on-site voting advocate.

  Anyone who is registered to vote may cast an absentee ballot in Michigan. Michigan expects a record number of absentee voters in November because of the coronavirus. More than 2 million voters have already requested an absentee ballot. —Steve Neavling

  Voting deadlines  

  We've been trying our best to keep our readers up to date with the various deadlines for the election, considering all the chaos of 2020 — you know, a pandemic, civil unrest, Trump's suspiciously timed cuts to the U.S. Postal Service, yadda, yadda, yadda — but it turns out things are a bit more complicated than we thought they were.

  See, in 2018 Michigan voters approved Proposal 3, which was supposed to make it easier to vote by allowing for no-reason absentee voting and other changes. And it does — but there are quite a few different scenarios to consider, and they all have various deadlines.

  Reader Jordan Smellie would know. Smellie's an elections specialist for the City of Ferndale.

  "Proposal 2018-3's changes to the constitution made things much better for voters by adding a lot of flexibility, but the downside of that is that it created a staggered series of nuanced deadlines that have proven very difficult for anyone to keep straight, and even more difficult to summarize gracefully," Smellie tells us via email.

  Graciously, Smellie has provided us with a more detailed timeline, which we have edited lightly for style. We hope this helps you as much as it helped us.

  Your deadlines for the upcoming general election are:

  Friday, Oct. 30 (5 p.m.): If you're getting an absentee voter ballot for this election, your local Clerk can't mail it to you after this time. But you can still get an absentee ballot in person at your local city or township hall.

  Saturday, Oct. 31 (2 p.m.): If you made a mistake on your ballot or changed your mind, your local Clerk can't mail you a replacement ballot after this time. You can still get a replacement ballot in person at your local city or township hall.

  Sunday, Nov. 1: The last day you can pick up an absentee voter ballot and take it home with you.

  Monday, Nov. 2: You can still get an absentee voter ballot in person, but you have to vote in your local city or township hall. Just like on Election Day, you can't take your ballot out of the room.

  Monday, Nov. 2 (10 a.m.): If you've already turned in your ballot, you can't change your votes after this time. (If you're voting in your local Clerk's office today and you make a mistake, you can still receive a replacement ballot.)

  Monday, Nov. 2 (4 p.m.): Your local Clerk can't issue absentee ballots to anyone for any reason after this time. (If you're already in the room at 4 p.m., you will be served by staff.)

  Tuesday, Nov. 3: Election Day. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. All absentee voter ballots must be signed and in the Clerk's possession by 8 p.m. in order to be counted.

  To make sure your ballot arrives in time, you should not send it by mail. Instead, you should drop it off at your local Clerk or at a designated ballot drop-box. You can find the addresses for both, as well as the answers to any other questions you might have, at michigan.gov/vote. —Lee DeVito

  Officials warn of potential violence  

  Michigan is among five states with the highest risk of right-wing militia violence during and after the election, according to an alarming new report from a nonprofit that tracks political violence.

  The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) examined the activities of more than 80 militias across the country and concluded that Michigan is at a heightened risk, based on active militia training, anti-coronavirus lockdown rallies, and the presence of the Proud Boys, the far-right brawlers whom President Trump told to "stand back and stand by."

  Michigan is home to several active militias, including Michigan Liberty Militia and the Michigan Home Guard.

  "In light of this activity, tensions run high" in Michigan, the report states.

  Battleground states such as Michigan also run a higher risk for violence. Trump won by just 0.2% in 2016, or some 10,000 votes.

  The report highlights the arrests of 14 men accused of plotting to kidnap Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and attack the state Capitol and law enforcement, with the goal of instigating a civil war.

  Among the warning signs for militant activity are protests against states' coronavirus lockdowns. In April, hundreds of armed protesters stormed the state Capitol in Lansing, and the rallies were among the first in the nation. An analysis of Black Lives Matter rallies found that counter-protesters, including the Proud Boys, were often involved, sometimes clashing with demonstrators. On Aug. 15, for example, the Proud Boys clashed with supporters of the anti-fascist Michigan People's Defense League and Black Lives Matter movement.

  In May, armed militia members pledged to block police from forcing the closure of an Owosso barber shop that opened in defiance of Michigan's stay-at-home order.

  Michigan officials are taking precautions. Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson recently banned guns near polling locations, and Attorney General Dana Nessel said state troopers will be sent to polling places in counties where officials fear local sheriffs may not enforce voter intimidation laws.

  The report concludes that the "trends raise significant concerns for the security of the election period."

  "It is yet unclear how many of these groups will react, no matter the vote's outcome," the report states. "Does a Trump loss lead to anger at the system and a backlash against what is deemed a stolen election? Does a Trump victory further empower groups that see him as a supporter, including through verbal encouragement ahead of the election? The answers to these questions are as numerous as they are uncomfortable."

  Three gun-rights groups have filed a lawsuit against Benson to nullify her ban on openly carrying firearms at or near polling locations on Election Day.

  Michigan Open Carry, Michigan Gun Owners, and Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners argue that Benson's directive violates state law and harms residents who want "to exercise both their 2nd Amendment right to self-protection and their fundamental right to vote."

  "Nowhere within Michigan's Constitution is the office of the Secretary of State empowered to issue directives regarding the time, place or manner of elections," the suit said. "Indeed, those powers are specifically limited to the Legislature."

  The groups are asking a judge to issue an injunction to suspend Benson's order before Election Day.

  The Michigan Association of Chiefs of Police also criticized the order, arguing that it does not give police "the authority to enforce the Secretary of State edict."     On Tuesday, after this week's issue went to press, a Michigan judge struck down Benson's gun ban at polling places. —Steve Neavling

  When will we know the results?  

  Don't bother staying up late on Election Day, because officials in Michigan say it's going to likely take longer than usual to count all the ballots. Be patient!

  That's because of the unprecedented volume of mail-in ballots local clerks are reporting in Michigan, as is the case in other states, due in part to the pandemic. In 2018, Michigan voters approved no-reason absentee ballot voting.

  Several local officials held a Zoom meeting on Thursday to explain the situation. In Hamtramck, City Clerk August Gitschlag said the tiny two-square-mile city has already seen seven times the typical number of absentee ballots. Due to state law, however, they can't start counting the ballots until Election Day.

  "We've been working round-the-clock to process absentee applications and send out ballots," Gitschlag said. "But we don't have the infrastructure to keep up with the overwhelming demand. We will count every vote, but being right is more important than being fast. I want to urge everyone to please be patient."

  Assistant Secretary of State Heaster Wheeler said municipalities across the state are seeing similar spikes.

  "We see every sign that this will be a high-turnout election all across Michigan," Wheeler said. "Secretary of State [Jocelyn] Benson and our team are working incredibly hard to make sure that every vote is counted fairly, efficiently, and accurately. We're going to get this right." —Lee DeVito  

[marvelsmostwanted]

Can’t read the comments on political posts for self-care reasons so here is my blanket response to all of the people somehow still deciding whether to vote for Biden

I can’t relate to people who want to throw democracy out the window. If your worldview is so self-centered that you can’t comprehend that over 200,000 people are currently dead as a direct result of Donald Trump’s failure to contain the virus and inform Americans when he knew about it in February - a staggering loss that we have hardly begun to comprehend - and that he will put who knows how many more lives in danger if he wins again - such as immigrants and refugees at the US-Mexico border, women desperately seeking abortions if that right is denied to them, victims of COVID-19 because he will inevitably botch the distribution of a vaccine, DACA recipients who will get deported if it is repealed, victims of gun violence because there will be no gun control, those who will lose their lives without healthcare if/when the ACA is repealed, victims of hate crimes on the rise as his racist rhetoric increases, victims of unchecked racist police brutality, LGBTQ+ children and teens forced into conversion therapy in states where it is still legal, LGBTQ+ adults facing discrimination and hate crimes - then all I can say is for the love of God, try to think outside of your own little world and realize that this man is actively, right now, currently, destroying this country. We are not just well on our way down the road to fascism. Every day that this man remains in power, we are inviting it in. He has already done a nearly irreversible amount of damage. Completely irreversible, for some.

A non-vote, a third party vote, a vote for Trump - these are all acts of violence at this point, in my opinion. Vote for Biden like your life depends on it. If yours doesn’t, someone else’s does.

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

'Good way to die': An AR-15 worshiping Moonies sect mobilized for Jan. 6 and is recruiting the far right to its apocalyptic vision

Screengrab from a video rodofironministries (Sean Moon) posted on Instagram.

Jordan Green, Staff Reporter    RawStory August 03, 2021

https://www.rawstory.com/rod-of-iron-ministries/

With just over three weeks to go before the 2020 presidential election, former White House senior counselor Steve Bannon addressed a crowd gathered on the grounds of Kahr Arms/Tommy Gun Warehouse in Greeley, Pa. by video. He warned about a supposed Democratic conspiracy to steal the election from Donald Trump.

"What the left intends to do — and you're seeing it in Pennsylvania right now — use the courts, use social media, use the mainstream media to try to make sure Trump is not declared the winner that night," Bannon said. He went on to promise that the Trump forces would "win this thing," adding: "Pennsylvania is the key that picks the lock for a second Trump term."

Frank Scavo, a local Republican politician who had previously served on the Old Forge School Board in Lackawanna County, emceed the event. Following Bannon's remarks, Scavo reinforced the previous speaker's points.

"You heard Steve Bannon," Scavo said. "Now is our time, now is your time. Working the polls — all you're doing is making sure that it's going straight, that it's going according to plan. All you're doing is making sure that there aren't busloads of people which show up and just happen to vote."

Then, Scavo introduced the next speaker — a man dressed in a camouflage-patterned suit and tie and wearing a crown of bullets, with a gold-plated AR-15 rifle slung over his shoulder. It was Pastor Hyung Jin "Sean" Moon, leader of World Peace and Unification Sanctuary, more commonly known as Rod of Iron Ministries. Alongside Kahr Arms, the gun manufacturer owned by older brother Kook-Jin "Justin" Moon, Rod of Iron Ministries hosts the "Freedom Festival," an annual celebration of firearms, military service and patriotism in the Pocono Mountains of northeast Pennsylvania.

"Pastor Moon has the message," Scavo told the assembly. "He has the answers, and the answers are from above. Pastor Moon is the vessel that delivers the message, but it's up to us to deliver on what the word of God is."

Since 2017, Rod of Iron Ministries, an offshoot sect led by the youngest son of the late Rev. Sun Myung Moon that worships with AR-15s, has increasingly aligned itself with Donald Trump, while aggressively evangelizing to the pro-Second Amendment and anti-government flanks of the far right. Consistent with the teachings of the Unification Church from which it sprang, Rod of Iron Ministries considers Sun Myung Moon "as a returning Jesus," or "True Father." Believers call Sean Moon the "2nd King," although Rod of Iron is bitterly divided against other factions led by Hak Ja Han, the widow of Sun Myung Moon and Sean's mother, and his older brother Hyun Jin "Preston" Moon, which are also vying for recognition as heirs to the legacy of the cult's founder.

Among the groups involved in the insurrection, including the Proud Boys, the Oath Keepers, and loose configurations of Three Percenters, the role of Rod of Iron Ministries as a hub of organizing for the Jan. 6 assault on the US Capitol has been largely overlooked.

FULL STORY: https://www.rawstory.com/rod-of-iron-ministries/

[hoping-for-changes]

I just got my place to live threatened if I don’t vote for Trump this November.

I was told that the protests and riots going on are bullshit and that the cops should mow the protesters down with bullets.

I have been told that protesting doesn’t change anything.

What was the US supposed to be? A place where you are told who to vote for or lose your place to live? A place where people have to be afraid because of the color of their skin?

No. This was a country built on the backs of protesters and rioters, by the hands of people who were thought of as less than for the color of their skin. This country was built with the intent of it being the so called “land of the free”.

Boston Tea Party.

Abolition Riots.

The March on Washington (1963).

Anti Vietnam War protests.

Anti nuclear march

Triangle Shirtwaist Factory protests

Women’s suffrage protests

Sit-Ins during the Civil Rights Movement

The whole Civil Rights Movement

Now Donald Trump wants to try to stop protesters. He has thought since AT LEAST 2017 that the US allowing protesters is embarrassing.

He called gun toting white people, who they themselves claimed were “armed to the teeth”, good people who were upset that their lives were disrupted. He called unarmed black people who are SICK AND TIRED of being afraid for their lives due to the color of their skin thugs.

There was a little 10 year old girl who was maced directly in the face by a cop named Jared Campbell. Protesters are being fired at by rubber bullets for being there. Crowds with children, elderly people, and people with respiratory problems are being tear gassed during a pandemic for a viral respiratory disease. They are protesting the death of black people who have been killed due to systematic racism.

White peoples with guns who threatened to harm government officials aren’t faced with riot gear. People with signs and their voices are. The main difference is skin color.

Because of my skin, I would be able to go to a state Capitol with a gun and force my way into a building and not be shot. A black man was suspected of having paid with a counterfeit $20 bill and lost his life.

My own family thinks that the people who are protesting are idiots and ignorant. My own family thinks that protesting won’t cause change.

My own family member said that a white man with a gun isn’t a threat. There’s so many school shootings that say otherwise. So many women who have been bordered for turning down a man that say otherwise. So many dead, unarmed, innocent black peoples who can say otherwise.

In this world, the person who is most threatening is a white man. A white man holding the office of president. A white man with a gun. A conservative, Christian, white man is the most dangerous person in the world.

Let me list off things that wouldn’t be possible if protests hadn’t happened, for me and my family.

1) I wouldn’t be allowed to vote because I am a woman.

2) I wouldn’t be a US citizen as I have Native American blood.

3) My cousin wouldn’t be able to get married to a woman she loves because she is a lesbian.

4) I wouldn’t be able to be friends with several people I know and care about, because segregation would still be in effect, or slavery would still exist.

5) I would be living in a Brittish Territory because the United States wouldn’t exist as the US.

I want to have a solid way to tell the family members that I live with that they’re wrong so that I don’t lose my place to live at the end of the fall 2020 semester.

I want everyone who feels like they can’t tell their family their political views to find a way to share their views without it impacting their family life, their place to live, their physical or mental safety. Whether it’s making a post, message a friend who shares your views. Do something so you can let out your anger about the injustice going on in this country today.

[maplecatra]

i am back for a brief moment!!! so, i live in the USA, if you are curious about the current political situation, here’s what’s going on:

several politician figures who are running for elections for positions have been using social media to say that the blm organization should be caterogized as a terrorist orginization, using the fact that the website says they are looking to disrupt the nuclear family idea and raising their kids in “villages” of friends and family. this way of raising kids, by the way, is very good for them because it gives them a strong community of role models that will help raise the kids and give them a more varied experience with people early on.

antifa, or antifascist, has now been classified as a terrorist orginization.

president trump is continuing to send armed police to peaceful protests, it has been appearing less in the media now. the peaceful protests for justice that aren’t disrupted by the police are not reported on making many americans who haven’t actively been following in support of the the cause believe that there are no longer any protests and that the only protests that happened were turned into riots by bad civilians supporting blm. in truth, most of the violence and rioting is started by either undercover cops or people who came to make the movement look bad.

the current black lives matter protests spurred by the death of george floyyd and pushed on by the police brutality that has killed many innocent black people is now the biggest civil rights movement of all time. there are protesters in most places now, and even the news channels, which are largely supportive of the police and avoid supporting anyone that is a victim of the police recognized the death of george floyyd as completely unwarranted and an outrage. some news channels who had not suported other innocent black people who died from police because of an excuse the cops made have taken a complete 180. others have used the chance to take videos of the riots and censor them to not show what the police have done. at one point, the news broadcasted a video that was cut off of the protests. it cut off right before the police car drives through a group of civilians.

police so far, both in past riots and current peaceful protests have:

blocked ambulances from areas in the riots where people have set up first aid kits.

driven past peaceful protests with a gun out their window

killed a black shop owner who had supplied them with free food previously and left his body in the streets for over 12 hours

gotten extremely physical with peaceful protesters, grabbing people who have done nothing wrong aggressively and forcing them down, or in painful positions.

used excessive force even with a crowd and many people recording, using violent action of protesters not resisting arrest and only not causing possibly long lasting injuries because another cop or another person the cop seems to deem an ally lifts them off at least 2 times

have taken photos with protesters faking peace for the media and tear gassing them immediately

shootig rubber bullets into crowds, which are lumps of rubber a little less than the size of your palm with metal shrapnel designed to ricochet outward. these prices of metal shrapnel have enough power to go through a persons leg, and are lethal as they are. in close range, however, they become even more dangerous and cause more damage and also panic.

used teargass to clear out an area where trump was scheduled to have a photo shoot. after teargassjng all the protesters out he took photos and said some things about how proud and brave he was.

they have gone to the supply tents of some peaceful protests and have broken all the water bottles and ruined the food so they had no supplies

currently, the US is becoming a facist nation. our president has stated that he is against antifa, has quoted hitler in a speech, has set up borders that send immigrants back into dangerous conditions or just take their kids into dangerous conditions. ICE has begun spraying harsh chemicals on and around the detention camp that is irritating the eyes, lungs and skin of the immigrants inside sometimes 3 times a day or more.

closer to the start of donald trumps term, he had disbanded the pandemic response team, and now refuses input from actually doctors and scientists. when they suggested they pause meat plants, donald trump refused and stated that they should keep working. after people started suing meat companies because of covid cases, they brought up an article with a subsection that they stated allowed them to keep working. millions have been wasted on this. upon closer inspection of the article, which was implemented by donald donald trump who stated that meat plants would keep running, does not say that meat plants are legally allowed to stay open.

our current political climate is incredibly right leaning, and bernie sanders is the only current candidate who has somewhat centrist ideas. most people in power are right wing, which means that many ideas donald trump proposes will be approved and anything that the other branches proposed will be approved by trump.

trump has a past of sexually harrasing women. it was leaked by a well known hacker that donald trump had been prosecuted for raping a 13 year old girl. he and jeffery epstein, a pedophile who ran a child sex trafficking ring for high profile people on a private island, had been fighting over who would take the virginity of the young girl. it was said that jeffery epstein killed himself before he could go to jail, but the leading theory and the most likely as well is that one of his high profile clients had him killed so he wouldn’t tell anyone their name.

trump has consistently harmed and mocked many race minorities in the US, and while parading that he has many avid minority supporters. the reality of it is that if you attend a single trump rally you will find only white people.

donald trump has made people feel more confident about being open in their racism. this appeals to many white people who believe minorities want to actively harm them when they try to gain justice for themselves, and especially for white people who were shoving these feelings down because they recognized that it was not a popular opinon but who still felt constantly motivated to share it. trump supporters are always bigoted, even if they don’t believe they are. they believe their opinion is not biggoted despite it showing incredible hypocrisy. for example, some say they support the lgbt community but don’t think they should be in kids media. that shows that they believe that only cishet characters are appropriate. and even if you haven’t heard them say anything biggoted or they say “i don’t support him but he shares my political alignment so i have to vote for him” they are bigoted. simply by supporting a person like donald trump you are supporting his ideals, his action, and a person who acts like that in a seat where he can access much more people who can become victims and can use his position to spread his biggoted opinions on every inch of news

as a result of the protests, donald trump now has a bunker. he has called trump supporters who were yelling and acting rudely “nice people” and peaceful blm protesters “savages”

the government is currently trying to make it harder for local post offices (the USPS) to function. they’re trying their best to pass things and many people haven’t noticed. taking out the USPS would take out local newspapers, which are a very reliable source. they share the voice of the people and do not have a reason to not give unbiased information. this means we will be fed mostly propaganda if this happens.

to bring up old news, i would like to take a moment to remember the time donald trump put the government in lockdown (?? he just basically pressed pause) for i think 60-70 days till the officials were begging him to stop. i don’t remember what happened to spur that on but i certainly still think that the response was inappropriate.

the US is becoming a facist nation. donald trump is putting markers on his supporters by giving them a free gift and mass emailing how to get them. the US is becoming a facist nation and it feels like my world is burning down and collapsing in on itself. people often ask why no one noticed that hitler was a horrible disgusting monster, but the reality of it is that they don’t show it until they’re in power, and then they slowly start to coax people into the idea that he is not bad. even if many americans recognize that donald trump is horrible, a devoted group of many aggressive registered voters just keep falling for it because they are tired of holding their ugliness and hatered toward others in check. no one noticed until minorities started to be put in camps and be killed by the people in power.

i’ve lived in the US my entire life and was always fed on the idea that places in the middle east were always poor and less than the US, that they were pitiful and needed the protection of our armies. i know that’s not true now, but action movies and media keep on circulating the idea that the USA is better than everywhere else and that everywhere foreign (other than canada, no one talks about canada really, and russia, the uk and australia are pretty safe) is strange and gross and any food that comes from them is censored and dulled to fit into one aisle. it’s not right, and young children are still constantly being fed these harmful ideas that they have to unlearn later in life.

the US is becoming a facist nation and the older people in my life, even if just by 2 years, refuse to recognize it.

if your outside of the US, ask any friends there if they have a plan to leave if they need to. it’s heading into a direction where it might become dangerous, the best thing to do is to be prepared.

if you can add on anything about the situation, please do. If youre from the US you can share your feelings on the situation and ways to help as well

[danwhobrowses]

America, We Need to Talk

For some reason in these past years the concept of ‘Reason’ and ‘Sense’ has departed your country, I’ve hissed, I’ve simmered, I’ve hit my head against the wall hoping that in the end IN THE END the collective mass of the American People will open their eyes, stop making excuses and realise that for 4 years, America has not become ‘Great Again’ I’ve resisted the urge to unload many a time, but news that Donald Trump is to be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize is just too much, because this is literal horseshit. For some part it feels like they’re only trying it just so Republicans can force a rhetoric as if Trump did a better job than Obama - who won in 2009 for easing religious tensions, preventing Nuclear Weapons distribution and profiting, working towards fixing climate change and assisting with the UN - as people die of COVID, cities burn and violence against peaceful protests continue to ravage your country.

I have to say that again, Ravage, because I feel as though some people are blind to the matter at hand. Donald Trump will say something and his cult of followers will believe it, when someone disagrees and presents evidence it’s deemed irrelevant or forged, if a Democrat says something on the contrary they need a full powerpoint presentation to prove it, somehow this mentality has poisoned the American society when the louder people will say something in confidence only for the rest of the world to read and think it’s one of the dumbest shit they’ve ever read. This isn’t just coming from a Brit, this is coming from family in Chicago, a co-worker who moved out of America and worked in the army, Italians, Greeks and someone who was in Hong Kong during the riots. The people who believe in Democracy, Majority Vote, Free Healthcare, Fair Wage, Equal Rights AND international peace that doesn’t look towards World War Fucking Three look at your country in shame because the state of your leadership and how it’s been allowed to continue with ridiculously boneheaded and stubborn reluctance to see the truth. So let’s start with the boiling point shall we, a Nobel Peace Prize Nomination? Have you learned anything from the last year? Or has the far-right got the prize so by the balls that this nomination is used as a cheap add-on to coincidentally peacock the Trump administration in its build to an election. The nomination to Trump has been cited to be in favour of the following things; Israel-UAE relations (aka ‘Saving the Middle East), Serbia-Kosovo deal (aka ‘Saving the ‘Middle East’’), Inter-Korea relations and likely the support of Jerusalem and Hong Kong, and in face value that may sway the common person who knows nothing about these deals. But a simple amount of research cuts most of these at the legs. Let’s talk Serbia and Kosovo, since it’ll directly involve Israel, relations were tense but they have not been at war, they are peacefully not talking to each other. The media will have you think that Peace has been brokered by Trump only in this but in reality Serbia still refuses to recognize Kosovo’s independence, the tensions are still there you can just travel there now. This is an agreement that’s been build up since the economic and trade agreement in 2013. If that year isn’t surprising you that is 3 years before Trump was elected, when Barrack Obama was in office - Republican Public Enemy Hillary Clinton was at the forefront of that when she was Secretary of State. So no, Trump hasn’t saved the Middle East by this deal, mainly because Kosovo and Serbia are in Europe, they have been part of the EU for quite some time and the deal is already jeopardized since Serbia won’t build an embassy in Jerusalem if Israel recognize Kosovo as independent - which was part of the original deal. Also for all the Republicans’ use of ‘fear by Communism’ to slander their opponents they sure love to rub shoulders with countries also rubbing shoulders with Russia and China. So this segues into Israel-UAE, the Arab Nations have mainly been reluctant to recognize Israel as independent. On the 13th August a deal was struck called the Abraham agreement establishing Diplomatic Relations. Except, this was in the making since 2012 and only delayed to help progress Israeli-Palestine conflicts (which Trump’s actions with Israel led to Palestine cutting ties with the administration and his ‘Peace Plan’ falling apart 3 years after announcing it). UAE and Israel had been in conversation before Trump was signed in, but only made headway when the FDD - already funded by the UAE - took over. For 3 years USA did little for the relations, UAE and Israel doing it themselves, it’s only now do the US mediate a peace agreement, which meant that Trump didn’t really do much in terms of convincing both sides, he just made sure things didn’t get out of hand - which was never close to happening since there is little tensions. It was Kushner who requested the meeting and Mossad also had a huge part in it. Also I want to add that the US are only buddied with these two out of fear of Iran - you know, that country that Trump almost goaded into war in January after bombings and the death Assassination of General Soleimani who helped the US in the wake of 9/11 track and hunt down the Taliban, as well as fighting ISIS, how peaceful was that? The Middle East is still in Civil and Proxy Wars, no saving has been done there, the US just were there for Israel and UAE to confess that they’re friends. Which leads me to Korea. The Olympics helped more than Trump did, a shared effort where both countries had to travel and accommodate each other. Tensions may’ve eased in 2016 but they were far from resolved and in 2020 not much is better. Korea still antagonize one another and the North still antagonizes the US, any ‘peace’ the Trump Administration will claim to towards Korea faded quickly. And finally, Hong Kong, the US may be supportive and rightly so but this is again fear of Communism, it should’ve happened sooner but the US was hoping for that big and meaty trade deal with China. And this isn’t months I’m talking about it’s years, the proposal first took place after the Umbrella Movement...in 2014, it was annually brought up in Congress but postponed until the Senate decided to. And after Trump signed it he said he might veto it in favour of the China trade deal

“We have to stand with Hong Kong, but I'm also standing with President Xi: he's a friend of mine." - Donald Trump, November 2019

So really, this Nobel Peace Prize is the product and efforts of other people that set events in motion that Trump was there just to sign his name on. Meanwhile, in the country he is President of, the COVID Death toll has officially risen to 190 Thousand. 20% of COVID deaths are in the United States. Tear Gas/Pepper Spray - which is a recognized chemical weapon not allowed to be used in warfare - is used by Trump Supporters along with paintballs to attack peaceful protesters and Trump calls that peaceful because ‘Paint is not bullets’ - as someone who has been hit with Paintballs from safe range, they will hurt like a bitch and if you don’t wear protective gear they can do enough harm to crack and sometimes even break bone, the asthmatic co-worker I aforementioned that was in Hong Kong also notes that Tear Gas is awful, it may not kill you but it is far from peaceful. In the same breath Trump refuses to condemn a 16 year old carrying an AR and shooting someone in the head. He has also refused to condemn Epstein’s financier Ghislaine Maxwell and ‘hopes that she’s well’...the sex trafficker, but when you mention late Civil Rights leader John Lewis and his words are ‘can’t say one way or the other...he didn’t come to my inauguration’. This is your leader. The embodiment of the standards the country upholds itself to, it baffles me and many many others that the American People Chose a racist, bigoted, misogynistic, careless, self-important, naive, power-mad, severally-bankrupted, reality tv personality man-child, who is also intending to use US Taxpayers money to cover lawsuit fees against him alongside all his other golf trips. The man literally said that no other president has done more for Black People than he has, this is while he profusely condemned Kaepernick taking a knee to protest Police Brutality against Blacks and POC only for years later the world support it as BLM protests still happen because action has not been taken. We’ll also see what happens on the 14th regarding the Felony Hearing of the officers in Buffalo who pushed over Gugino and gave him a brain injury which he is still rehabilitating from after Trump tried to sell him as an Antifa member. Just in case you’re unaware, antifa stands for anti-fascist but Trump will paint that again in ‘Fear of Communism’. If you actually look up this stuff, the web of Trump’s lies unravel, and yet people just forget about. The man is a pro at gaslighting I’ll give him that, I mean leaking e-mails that condemned Clinton right at election time was some cutthroat stuff, but a man who needs to rely on preying on xenophobia, paranoia, fear, racism and invests mainly on smear tactics and dismantling, is not someone who can lead a country to prosperity, the amount of leeway this man gets from his supporters just hurts my head. So let me ask you America, truly, what is it that you want? Because it can’t be this, can it? Protests, Riots, people refusing to wear a simple face mask to limit the spread of a deadly virus because they think it’s a fake thing that the entire world decided to get in on with WHO just to spite Trump? Teenagers carrying guns? Refugees refused asylum and kept in cages? Do you want to keep spending your savings just to go to the doctors? or do you think that ‘Patriotism’ is blindly defending your country’s flaws and clinging to archaic and outdated thinking because centuries ago your country prospered in it? I’ll tell it to you straight: America is not the greatest country in the world, it hasn’t been for a long time. I don’t know what your history books tell you; that Native Americans were fine with slaughter, that the US won WW2 with the military might they always had, that Vietnam was a moral victory, but the present day should tell you that your country is a mess, and the man who has been at the helm for 4 years will not fix it in another 4. There’s only so much of Obama’s policies he can plagiarize as his own; he has left the UN, left the Paris Agreement for cleaner air and energy and all his original campaign members have been arrested, an alarming amount of people associated with him are facing criminal charges - is that not a red flag? Don’t let your thoughts that as a patriot you have to support your country no matter what, true patriotism is not just the love of your country but the hope and strive to better it because you can love it but accept that it has flaws. I mean even I’ll admit that the UK has a lot of its own shit to deal with, doesn’t mean I hate where I live I just know it can be better. If this were anyone else, hell if this were a Democrat the Republican party would be booking them a flight to the other side of the world with the stuff Trump has done and let to continue on with afterwards, through him you went from the United States to an Absolute State and the rest of the world wonder if this will either lead to World War 3 or a Second American Civil War You don’t have to like Joe Biden, but he clearly looks like the lesser of the two evils here, and at least in 4 years time America under him won’t be on fire. If you still don’t like him someone new could be elected after, but right now you are on a downward spiral and need someone who can put you back into a stable place, that man is not Donald Trump. The man who wants to intercept mail-in voting and outcry its ‘risk’ of tampering when he himself voted by mail is not a truthful leader, the man who tried to cancel the World Health Organization when they simply asked to not call COVID a racist name that incited xenophobia after decrying cancel culture is not a moral leader, and the man who said that COVID would peter out and suggested injecting disinfectant into the lungs to combat it only to now suddenly buy out all the experimental treatment so that they can try and engineer a cure in time for the election campaign, is not a wise leader. All the stuff you see in these coming months is just an attempt to win your vote, for the most part it’ll be Trump stamping his name on something other people worked on for years and claiming that he did all the work. So make sure you actually check the truth of these things, research and fact-check yourself with valid, neutral sources. Take off the blinders, take a breath and actually see the full picture. And please, as well as not letting this man have the Nobel Peace Prize Don’t give this guy have a Second Term