Clear and Present Danger

Former President Donald Trump spoke for nearly two hours in his closing address at the CPAC summit in Dallas.

In Trump’s view, America has been destroyed in the 18 months since he left office, with out-of-control crime, inflation, and oddly enough unemployment, which Trump estimates to be three times the official number.

Trump took the stage to the song “God Bless the USA” and began by thanking the “proud patriots” in attendance.

Trump said he was proud to be joined by Rep. Ronnie Jackson (R-TX), who was his White House surgeon.

“He was an admiral, a doctor, and now he’s a congressman,” Trump noted, saying he asked him which was the best.

“And he sort of indicated doctor, because he loved to look at my body. It was so strong and powerful,” Trump said.

Trump then introduced Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Lauren Boebert (R-CO), and Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA).

“This is no time for complacency,” Trump warned. “We have to seize this opportunity to deal with the radical left socialist lunatic fascists. We have to hit them very, very hard. It has to be a crippling defeat.”

He went on to complain about Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) for supporting the Inflation Reduction Act, which passed a procedural vote after Vice President Kamala Harris cast the tie-breaking vote while Trump was speaking, resulting in harsh words for GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

“But McConnell is the most unpopular politician in the country, even more so than crazy Nancy Pelosi, and something has to be done,” Trump urged.

Trump said Biden “surrendered our strength and our everything [in Afghanistan], they surrendered our dignity.”

Michael Hardy, senior editor at the Texas Monthly, was one of the local journalists covering the speech. He said that line had “echoes of the Nazi ‘stab in the back theory’ of losing WW1.”

He then described crime in “Democrat-run (sic) cities” in very dark terms.

“The streets of our Democrat-run cities are drenched in the blood of innocent victims,” Trump claimed. “Bullets are killing little beautiful little children who never had a chance. Car jackers lay in wait like predators.”

Hardy described that as “some literal blood-and-soil rhetoric.”

And Trump went on saying “we need to courage to say what needs to be said and do what needs to be done,” which Hardy said “is a rallying cry for street violence and worse.”

Trump went on to call for a military takeover of San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Portland.

“Trump’s rhetoric is significantly more extreme than even a few years ago,” Hardy said. “This might be most frightening speech I’ve ever heard. Full-on, unapologetic fascism. Trump has either been reading Mein Kampf or having someone read it to him.”

Trump repeatedly his lies about election fraud and teased a 2024 presidential comeback.

Former RNC official Tim Miller said, “I know everyone in the DC GOP is just hoping Trump will die but it’s impossible to watch this CPAC speech and not come to the conclusion that he’s going to run and be very hard to beat in a primary. Sorry to be the bearer of bad weekend news.”

After his speech, Trump danced on stage to the song “Hold On I’m Coming” by Sam and Dave.

“Don’t you ever feel sad; lean on me when times are bad,” Sam and Dave sang. “Then the day comes and you’re down; in a river of trouble and about to drown. Just hold on, I’m coming. Hold on, I’m coming.”

U.S. Senator Rick Scott (R-FL) gave a lengthy speech at CPAC on Friday in Dallas, telling far-right conservatives that Democratic policies are “evil,” the “militant left” is the “enemy” and “the greatest danger” America has ever faced while claiming Democrats are “wacky” socialists, and socialism is responsible for the deaths of 100 million people.

After calling U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) “one of the most principled individuals I know” who “will always stand up for what he believes,” Scott told attendees at the Conservative Political Action Conference that the “militant left-wing in our country has become the enemy within” and is “the greatest danger we’ve ever faced.”

Scott took his audience on a long tour of 20th Century history, but along the way equated “the militant left” with “the woke left” who he says has now “seized…control of our economy, our culture and our country.”

He then equated “the woke left” with the entire Democratic Party, suggesting Democrats are socialists, and socialists are communists before declaring: “Socialism leads to two things, poverty and depression. Socialism is not a new idea. It’s one of the dumbest, oldest, most despised ideas of the 20th century that resulted in the deaths of 100 million people.”

“They are destroying everything they touch, and they’ve got their hands on everything. Here’s the thing about what they’re trying to destroy: American patriotism. Border security. American history. Gender. Traditional morality. Capitalism. Fiscal responsibility. Opportunity. Rugged individualism. Judeo-Christian values. Free speech. Law enforcement. Religious liberty. Parental involvement in schools. And even private ownership of firearms.”

“They want to replace freedom with their control. The elites in the government are telling us what we can and cannot believe what we can think and what we can do. They want to completely control our lives. Woke government schools. Woke government-run health care. Woke government-run media. Woke government-run everything. In their new socialist order, everyone will obey and no one will be allowed to complain. You do speak up, boom, you’re going to be canceled. Your views if you don’t conform with big tech, Fauci, or Neil Young, you’re gonna be taken off Spotify, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.”

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Let us not forget that Rick Scott and the company he led were found guilty of the largest Medicare fraud ever.

 

 

Click on the arrowhead to play the music.

This article appeared in the Washington Post, August 4,2022.  It is the meat of Dana Milbank’s new book  “The Destructionists: The Twenty-Five Year Crack-Up of the Republican Party” .

 

It began where it ended, on the West Front of the United States Capitol.

On Jan. 6, 2021, an armed mob invited and incited by President Donald Trump smashed barriers, overpowered police and stormed the Capitol. The insurrectionists scaled the scaffolding erected for President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration and proceeded to sack the seat of government for the first time since the War of 1812.

Called to Washington by Trump, who promised a “wild” time, and sent to the Capitol with instructions to “fight like hell,” the mob halted Congress’s certification of Biden’s victory, sending lawmakers and staff fleeing for their lives. At least seven people died in the riot or its aftermath, and more than 140 police officers were hurt. Some 845 insurrectionists, several with ties to white-supremacist or violent extremist groups, have faced charges including seditious conspiracy.

Many Americans were shocked that Trump, after first considering a plan to seize voting machines, had orchestrated an attempted coup, knowingly dispatching armed attackers to Capitol Hill and then refusing for 187 minutes to call off the assault. And many Americans have been shocked anew to see elected Republicans, after initially condemning Trump’s attack on democracy, excuse his actions and rationalize the violent insurrection itself as “legitimate political discourse.”

But a sober look at history might have lessened the shock, for the seeds of sedition had been planted earlier — a quarter-century earlier — in that same spot on the West Front of the Capitol.

Read the full article here.

 

Far-right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán has been drawing vehement criticism around the world for a July 23 speech in Romania, where he declared that a “mixed-race world” is harmful to western countries and promoted the racist Great Replacement theory. The speech was so racist that even long-time Orbán adviser Zsuzsa Hegedüs resigned in protest, calling it “a purely Nazi diatribe worthy of Joseph Goebbels.” But despite that controversy, the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) plans to go ahead and feature Orbán at the start of its Dallas gathering. Orbán, in fact, is scheduled to give one of the keynote speeches when the event opens on Thursday, August 4.

The four-day Dallas event, which continues through Sunday, August 7, has a far-right lineup of MAGA culture warriors. In addition to Orbán, CPAC Texas 2022 will feature former President Donald Trump, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, “War Room” host and former White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon, Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. (COMMENT:  The average IQ of this group will be somewhere in the mid 80’s.)

Read the full article here.

Meanwhile, this is the best way to respond to Nazis:

 

 

Trump tried to sing along with the national anthem at his Bedminster NJ golf course — forgot the words.  He’s just another old fat man riding in a golf cart.

The last time I saw a face like that, it was riding the short school bus and licking the windows

Capitol rioter Guy Reffitt, who was found guilty of multiple felonies earlier this year, is receiving his prison sentence this week — and NBC News reporter Ryan Reilly believes it’s going to be the stiffest January 6-related prison sentence yet.

Writing on Twitter, Reilly translates some legalese delivered by Judge Dabney Friedrich in which she said she was setting his offense level at 29 as the basis of her sentencing decision.

“Translation: Guy Reffitt is almost certainly to get the longest Jan. 6 sentence to date, it’s just a matter of how many years he’ll get on top of the current 5.25 year (63 month) record for Jan. 6 cases,” writes Reilly.

A level 29 offense carries a sentencing range of between 87 and 108 months in prison, which means the judge would have to radically depart from guidelines for him to not break the current record for January 6 defendants.

Reffitt became infamous earlier this year when his own son, Jackson Reffitt, testified against him at his trial.

Among other things, Jackson Reffitt said his father sent messages to the family promoting a new civil war, while also talking about “rising up” and “destroying” the United States government.

In all, Guy Reffitt was found guilty on charges of transporting a firearm in furtherance of civil disorder, guilty of obstruction of justice, guilty of entering the Capitol with a firearm, and guilty of obstruction law enforcement officers.

Here’s a song dedicated to this piece of shit.

. . . husband arrested for exposing himself to teenaged girls; she and husband have string of minor arrests.  Yet she’s a member of Congress.

Who votes for a fool like this?  Republican fools.

Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) said that a lack of firearms is to blame for the practice of eating dogs in Venezuela.

During an interview on Newsmax with host Sebastian Gorka, Boebert recalled how she had confronted Democratic politician Beto O’Rourke after he suggested that assault-style weapons should be banned.

“I was compelled to go to him because I saw that a disarmed populace — if the citizenry in America is disarmed then we are no longer citizens, we are subjects,” Boebert said. “You know here in America we have gourmet treats for puppies. We have these amazing groomers for dogs.”

“In Venezuela, they eat the dogs and it started because they do not have firearms to protect themselves, to defend themselves against a tyrannical government,” she added.

The Daily Mail reported in 2018 that dog eating was not a new practice in Venezuela.

“Stray dogs are not a new problem in major cities of the country, with reports from two years ago suggesting that the nation’s poorest have always hunted and eaten them,” the report said.

One America News (OAN) was dealt another major blow when Verizon announced that it would quit carrying the far-right cable news channel on its FiOS service, effective this Saturday, July 30. This comes after OAN being dropped by AT&T’s DirecTV in April.

Journalists Jeremy W. Peters and Benjamin Mullin, in an article published by the New York Times on July 26, stresses that between Verizon and DirectTV, OAN has lost access to millions of potential viewers. DirecTV has around 15 million subscribers, while Verizon FiOS has around 3.5 million.

“OAN’s remaining audience will be small,” Peters and Mullin explain. “The network will soon be available only to a few hundred thousand people who subscribe to smaller cable providers, such as Frontier and GCI Liberty, said Scott Robson, a senior research analyst at S&P Global Market Intelligence. OAN also sells its programming directly to users through its OAN Live and KlowdTV streaming platforms, but those products most likely provide a fraction of the revenue generated by traditional TV providers.

By losing Verizon, the Times reporters note, OAN has lost a “a major stream of revenue: the fees it collects from Verizon.” Robson told the Times, “I really think this is the death blow for the network.”

Like its competitor Newsmax TV, OAN prides itself on being to the right of Fox News and Fox Business and even more pro-Donald Trump than those outlets.

According to Peters and Mullin, “While OAN doesn’t have the influence wielded by the much larger Fox News, the top-rated cable news network, the fees from its deals with Verizon and AT&T provided a substantial stream of income, about $36 million a year by some estimates. And once it is gone from millions of television sets, OAN will be in a weaker bargaining position with advertisers — fewer potential viewers most likely mean fewer companies willing to pay as much to promote their products on the network.”

Peters and Mullin note that losing Verizon after losing DirecTV “comes at a particularly bad time for OAN” because of the lawsuits it is facing from the voting technology companies Dominion and Smartmatic, both of which have also filed defamation lawsuits against Fox News and Newsmax. Following the 2020 presidential election, Fox News, OAN and Newsmax all promoted the Big Lie — which falsely claims that the election was stolen from then-President Trump.

“The voting technology companies Smartmatic and Dominion are suing OAN over false claims that their machines enabled Mr. Trump’s enemies to switch votes cast for him to President Biden,” Peters and Mullin observe. “One employee of Dominion, Eric Coomer, is also suing the network. Mr. Coomer received death threats after OAN named him in a report as an alleged collaborator of Antifa, the far-left movement…. For OAN, the litigation has so far not gone well, as judges have rejected its attempts to have the cases dismissed.”

The Times reporters add, “In one ruling, a judge concluded that OAN had acted “maliciously and consciously” in perpetuating falsehoods about Dominion, and that its chief White House correspondent, Chanel Rion, had failed to exercise even the most minimal journalistic scrutiny. In her report, Ms. Rion cited a conservative podcaster and activist, Joe Oltmann, who claimed to have eavesdropped on an Antifa conference call before the election. She reported that ‘Antifa-drenched engineers are hell bent on deleting half of America’s voice’ and referred to Mr. Coomer.”