Are Democrats “too dangerous to govern”?

To all of the Republicans who have jumped on the “Democrats are a danger to the rule of law” bandwagon as a way of delegitimizing protest, and obscuring the fact that regular Americans have very real and legitimate reasons for being upset with their leaders in Washington, who are essentially taking health care from working families in order to hand billions of dollars over too their corporate donors, I offer the following.

Scott Wagner, the Republican candidate for Governor in Pennsylvania, just threatened to stomp on the face of Democratic incumbent Tom Wolf. “You better put a catcher’s mask on your face because I’m going to stomp all over your face with golf spikes,” Wagner said in the following Facebook Live video, which was just broadcast yesterday.

Now, I ask you, which is the party of violence? Is it the party of Donald “knock the crap out of them” Trump, who said that the white supremacists marching in Charlottesville last year, where a peaceful protester was murdered by a member of the far-right, were “some very fine people,” or it is the party of those who made Ted Cruz feel sad by confronting him in a restaurant over his support for a Supreme Court nominee who, almost assuredly, will cast the deciding vote against women’s reproductive freedom, a move which, we know from history, will cost women their lives?

But that’s the world we live in. The wealthy white men in power can essentially do whatever they like to the American people, and, when we finally rise up and demand that they be held accountable for their actions… actions which we know will do significant harm… these same men claim that they’re the actual “victims”… We’ll talk more about Republican victimhood in a moment, but here, first, is the GOP’s new ad, which, picking up on the ridiculous “unhinged mob” theme, is called “The Left: An Unhinged Mob.”

And, with that, the Democrats go from being timid, little “snowflakes,” to a gang of bloodthirsty criminals… It’s funny how fast narratives change these days, isn’t it?

OK, back to the victimhood of the right, did you happen to see what Melaina Trump said a few days ago about being “one of the most bullied people in the world“? It’s hilarious funny, I know, but also it gets to the strange psychology of these people, and their unbelievable narcissism. I would have thought that it would have been clear, but when people don’t like you for being the enabler of a dangerous, authoritarian racist, or suggesting that our first black president wasn’t actually born in the United States, or wearing an “I really don’t care” jacket to visit victims of a natural disaster… that’s not the same as being mocked, ridiculed and lied about just because you’re a Democratic woman running for public office. No, this, from Donald Trump’s friend David Pecker, the publisher of the National Enquirer, is what bullying really looks like.

One would hope that the American people would wake up to the fact that, everything Trump and his acolytes accuse their detractors of having done are actually things that they’ve done themselves. One would hope that people would come to realize that when Donald Trump says, as he did yesterday, that Hillary Clinton colluded with the Russian to interfere in the election, he’s actually talking about himself. And the same goes for when he says he and the Republicans are the only ones who “believe in the rule of law.” I mean, we’ve all heard him accuse the Department of Justice and FBI of being corrupt. And we know that it’s the Democrats who, without holding any of the levers of power, are attempting to safeguard the investigation into Russia’s campaign to destabilize our democracy, while he continues to try to kill the investigation. But he just keeps going, lying big, and turning everything around, like Brett Kavanaugh did during his confirmation hearing, when he responded to Senator Amy Klobuchar’s question about whether he’d ever drank so much that he’d blacked out by snapping back, “I don’t know. Have you?

And, in that instance, it worked. By the end of the hearing, Kavanaugh was the victim, not Christine Blasey Ford, the woman who credibly testified with “100%” certainty that, at the age of 15, a drunk Bret Kavanaugh had attempted to rape her. It was a deliberate strategy, and it worked.

As Hitler said, “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, and eventually they will believe it.” And the big lie of the day is that Democrats are violent, and that the true victims here are wealthy, white Republicans. This isn’t the case, and any rational observer could tell you that. But the Republicans know that the only way they’ll stay in power, assuming the voter suppression, the gerrymandering, and the propaganda don’t prove to be enough, will be to start labeling their adversaries terrorists, and scaring them into silence. And what we’re seeing today is the first step. This should alarm all of us.

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110 Comments

  1. Josh
    Posted October 13, 2018 at 1:03 pm | Permalink

    Yeah, we’re going to have to have another civil rights movement during Trump’s third term. So…in a way calling us dangerous is fair. I think they’re already planning messaging for when they force Americans who believe in democracy to act.

  2. Jesse
    Posted October 13, 2018 at 1:08 pm | Permalink

    $100 says your right to assemble gets a makeover before 2020…

  3. Joshua
    Posted October 13, 2018 at 1:57 pm | Permalink

    Here is the “victimized” right in action http://huffp.st/d5d1gwf

  4. Posted October 13, 2018 at 2:04 pm | Permalink

    I posted this on Facebook: “How the Democrats went from being timid, little snowflakes to the greatest threat that our nation has ever known.”

    My friend Dan in Austin responded with this:

  5. Jean Henry
    Posted October 13, 2018 at 2:21 pm | Permalink

    Angry people are both highly sensitive and scary. I get your larger point of the turn around of painting the left as the threat to America ( when plenty of GOP acknowledged previously that a Trump and minions presented the existential threat to Democracy), but there is nothing inconsistent about those two characteristics being present at once in any angry person.

    I think the larger intent of this new talking point is to shame us into backing down. Because the GOP win when we play nice. I think the a smart approach on the left is to really dissect how to engage in angry discourse better. And that requires some compassion and discernment. We can’t reasonably expect the opposition to treat us with any more respect than we offer them. (And visa versa) I’m not saying that we should play nice. I’m saying we should not let their counter attacks get to us.

    One other point— while we citizens can engage this kind of grand standing, we need to understand that people in government will need to be prepared to compromise to get the basic work of running the state done. I love it as much as anyone when politicos on the left hammer the right and show some vision in their agenda, but governance is really another job. And we need to stop attacking our representative when they make necessary compromises to keep us secure. Maintaining the security (in many forms) of the citizenry is their job. I think we need to both keep our eye on the prize and get a lot more realistic about how things work. Otherwise our energy will be depleted. As has happened to so many on the left over and over again.

  6. iRobert
    Posted October 13, 2018 at 3:11 pm | Permalink

    Projection is a common campaign tactic. It rarely works.

  7. wobblie
    Posted October 13, 2018 at 3:25 pm | Permalink

    Last night on the streets of NY
    https://thinkprogress.org/proud-boys-violent-mob-after-gavin-mcinnes-lecture-899d32404a75/

  8. John Brown
    Posted October 14, 2018 at 6:27 am | Permalink

    Antifa kids need to stop feeding their propaganda machine, like in NYC yesterday. They’re clearly going full fascist by having MacInnes at the Republican Club. Get gunned up. Avoid being used as a propaganda tool. Plan for the long haul.

  9. Anonymous
    Posted October 14, 2018 at 7:24 am | Permalink

    From the GOP point of view, the Democrats are composed of weak willed white dudes who are not willing to stand up for their own people, as well as angry non white dudes who will stand up for their own people. So yes, snowflakes and thugs, just not in the same individual.

  10. Posted October 14, 2018 at 9:02 am | Permalink

  11. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 14, 2018 at 10:06 am | Permalink

    You make no sense. How is antifa not a fuckin’ MOB??? From the whole USA outside of your little bubble – You tell us fuck you? Well guess fucking what???

    Watch out Eminem lmfao! In all seriousness your ideas are getting flushed down the drain like your champions in the D.C. swamp.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=231&v=9mlz1O6kYJE

  12. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 14, 2018 at 10:11 am | Permalink

    proper link

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mlz1O6kYJE

  13. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 14, 2018 at 10:51 am | Permalink

    Isn’t it embarrassing to be such a liar? Trying to say President Trump called white supremacists fine people? Fuuuuck you. Why can’t you admit it’s pretty damn fine for the (in all likelihood non-racist) militia people to tend to anyone who was injured no matter who they were? These are the same people that protestors were whipping rocks at as hard as they could earlier in the day. You can’t win with lies. Fuckin’ Antifa CIA Democrats….

  14. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 14, 2018 at 11:04 am | Permalink

    Everyone is voting for John James, right?

  15. Lynne
    Posted October 14, 2018 at 11:30 am | Permalink

    I have been motivating people to vote for Stabenow by reminding them that deplorable people like HW are behind John James. It is funny how good of a motivator fear can be.

  16. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 14, 2018 at 11:42 am | Permalink

    If telling the truth and exposing liars like you is deplorable then that’s cool. I’m deplorable.

  17. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 14, 2018 at 11:44 am | Permalink

    But why do you want to keep a black man from Michigan out of the US Senate? Don’t be racist now.

  18. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 14, 2018 at 12:32 pm | Permalink

    Yeah, antifa is the shiiiit!!! Hahahaha! Funny shit

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hTkywyKV-9U

  19. Sad
    Posted October 14, 2018 at 7:51 pm | Permalink

    HW I think Electablog tweaked their graphics, you might want to check it out. It’s easier than ever to comment and there are a bunch of readers who probably aren’t familiar with your unique take on things. Just sayin.

  20. Jean Henry
    Posted October 14, 2018 at 7:55 pm | Permalink

    John James political signage featuring a military helicopter silouetted by an explosive ‘bombs bursting in air’ Stars and Stripes background is everywhere in my neck of the woods and, just visually, makes me incredibly uncomfortable. And I’m pretty far from a peacenik. I can’t remrmber such militaristic campaign signage ever. I’m sure aggressively liberal political signage (with maybe rainbows and bleeding hearts or something) would make the right uncomfortable. I just can’t think of any right now.

    It amuses me that the right thinks the left votes by race and gender. We ask for fair representation. But we’re not single issue voters like many GOP. We have more integrity than that.

  21. iRobert
    Posted October 14, 2018 at 8:05 pm | Permalink

    Looks like Scott Wagner is the one who’s getting his face stomped, by the voters of Pennsylvania.

  22. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 7:05 am | Permalink

    John James was actually there. Stabenow merely had to say aye. You choose an old white lady who sent my man to go fight. You say people who didn’t like Obama are racist so you are racist now,

  23. Anonymous
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 7:24 am | Permalink

    I’m sorry, the children’s comment section is at M&M.com.

  24. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 7:33 am | Permalink

    That’s funny you of all people would make comments about other people’s maturity. You are like two years old.

  25. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 8:06 am | Permalink

    Interesting article. As tempting as it is to just accept the conclusions of Mark’s “rational observers”, aka those people who have concluded the same thing as Mark, I think it might be worthwhile to actually examine actual instances violence and attempt to actually account for the context of the violent acts. After we do a lot of examination we might be able to classify the violence and come to a conclusion about the causes of the violence. I think it would also be interesting to catalogue instance of people trying to suppress freedom of peaceful assembly. If we do these little investigations enough we might be able to come to something like a reliable conclusion….

    #becausehitler as a reason is just not doing it for me.

    #becauserationalobservers as a declaration of reliability is just not very convincing.

  26. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 8:20 am | Permalink

    I posted vids in 2016 of many extreme cases of violence by leftists against Trump supporters but these people flatly denied it even though it was in their face. Did they find one vid going the other way? Nope.

  27. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 8:25 am | Permalink

    Yes, HW, it seems like many people on mm.com like to announce that they are “rational observers” but they don’t want to be bothered to investigate any of the actual instances upon which their supposed rational conclusions are based.

  28. Anonymous
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 8:27 am | Permalink

    Rational comments should be directed to littlegreenselector@gmail.com

  29. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 8:31 am | Permalink

    They don’t know shit. As Q has said many times: These people are STUPID.

  30. Anonymous
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 8:40 am | Permalink

    You guys should meet up for breakfast at Beezy’’s. There’s even an app for that.

  31. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 8:49 am | Permalink

    You always feel a need to distract from the verbal beatdowns you get, don’t you? It’s never even entertaining though. “Urh, go to Beezy’s…”

  32. Anonymous
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 9:07 am | Permalink

    I’m totally defeated. Feel better?

  33. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 9:09 am | Permalink

    Anonymous,

    Jordan Hunt is the guy in the purple zipper hoodie, in the “Dems are violent” ad above. Jordan forcefully damaged personal property on the street and then round house kicked a woman who called him out on his crime. How do you feel about any of that? Was it a freak occurrence? Was it representative of the current attitude of many on the left? Jordan has compared himself to Ghandi, MLK and Susan B Anthony:) . What are your thoughts on that?

  34. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 9:46 am | Permalink

    There was never any contest so it doesn’t matter what you think the “outcome” is.

  35. Sad
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 10:07 am | Permalink

    That depends on what the definition of is -is.

  36. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 10:12 am | Permalink

    Soft as mush

  37. Joshua
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 1:00 pm | Permalink

    Here is the “victimized” right in action http://huffp.st/d5d1gwf

  38. Anonymous
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 1:03 pm | Permalink

    Oh Warlord, you’re so hard!

  39. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 4:32 pm | Permalink

    Anonymous or anyone from the mm.com “reasonable observer” club,

    After you get around to commenting on Jordan Hunt: What are your thoughts on the Gabby Skwarko attack? Normal? Legit?

  40. Anonymous
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 6:01 pm | Permalink

    Sorry, Mom called me home dinner. But let’s all meet up at M&M.com later. You seem smart. You’ll do really well there. I think they’ve gotten bored with you here and don’t want to play with you anymore.

  41. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 15, 2018 at 6:22 pm | Permalink

    I am always amazed by the strange comments here. Really odd. If you don’t want to give your opinion on specific instances of violence and destruction of property that is cool. If you would rather recommended random breakfast spots and ficticitous message board alternatives, that don’t exist, to strangers that is cool too, I guess. It seems like a very odd use of your time though.

  42. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 17, 2018 at 11:08 am | Permalink

    It’s no joke what I’ve been telling you for a year now. The end is near for inverted progressivism (think they are progressive but are always 180˚ from truth.) How can it be I am still here saying this shit and it is seeming more plausible than ever? Nothing has worked out on your end. Why is that? Could it be you are full of shit like I said and I am correct??? What then? What will you say then?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRtEgdgj_XQ

  43. Sad
    Posted October 17, 2018 at 11:28 am | Permalink

    You can’t judge things while they are happening. The story isn’t over yet. Time will tell. I’d save your self righteous gloating until after Nov. 6th. Depending on how things go then, a little gloating might be in order.

  44. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 17, 2018 at 6:33 pm | Permalink

    I get so confused as to who is on which side. Can someone tell me if they have seen the recent camera angle by NYPD that shows that violence erupted after members of one group threw a projectile at members of another group. Which group threw the projectile right before the reported violence erupted? I’m so confused but I desperately want to join the “reasonable observers” club. Please help.

  45. iRobert
    Posted October 17, 2018 at 7:38 pm | Permalink

    There are many idiots who identify themselves as anti-fascist or anti-racist, but are really just messed-up, impulsive, destructive, assholes. People who want to turn this into a violent exchange deserve to be the only victims of the violence. But of course the victims are almost always people who have no interest in being violent.

    The vast majority of Americans, left, right, or centrist, don’t want to escalate political differences to violence. But a small minority on both sides do, because they’re deranged assholes. If only they could all be placed together somewhere far away from the rest of us, where they could pummel each other to death, the world would be so much better off.

  46. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 17, 2018 at 8:31 pm | Permalink

    I don’t know. I wonder sometimes if maybe some of the violent self identifying anti-fascists and self-identifying anti-racists are not merely just a bunch of randomly violent assholes. I wonder if their acts might actually be rooted in some sort of disseminated ideology that is felt, by them, to be legitimized through various sorts of powerful institution (s).

    I guess some questions can only be answered by the rational observers amongst us.

  47. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 18, 2018 at 2:00 am | Permalink

    Search: YouTube: “antifa vs proud boys in further detail!!!”

    What do you guys think? Unreasonable observations from the black guy?

  48. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 19, 2018 at 2:42 pm | Permalink

    Jobs not mobs

    https://twitter.com/intheMatrixxx/status/1053317058035892230

  49. Jean Henry
    Posted October 19, 2018 at 9:34 pm | Permalink

    Is repeating GOP/Trump talking points word for word evidence of your independent thinking and free mind, HW?

  50. Trump is still at it
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 3:56 am | Permalink

    President Donald Trump: “The Democrats don’t like being called an angry mob but, really, that’s what they’ve become. They’ve gone so far left, they can’t even believe that they’re over there.”

    https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1053553404155355136

  51. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 4:07 am | Permalink

    Still at it? It was a similar message with a twist. At the end Trump said something revolutionary:

    “We should be a unified country. We will be some day.”

    It is my opinion that the left is getting its ass handed to them on a daily basis.

  52. Jean Henry
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 7:57 am | Permalink

    No one would dispute that, FF, given GOP majorities in both houses and the presidency. But wait until that tax bill comes due and they try to cut social security or eliminate healthcare for people with ore-existing conditions. Wait until they overturn Roe v Wade… Right now Trump is riding high on Obama’s recovery. Longer term the GOP outlook isn’t going to be pretty. I wouldn’t gloat and declare victory so early in the game.

    It will be a long time (after 2020) before the Dems position in government is reflective of their actual support among the population. Gerrymandering rigged the system and has emboldened the right with the delusion of mandate. But that’s a short term victory.

    Trump from the start of his campaign has been angry, divisive and encouraging of violence. His administrations policies have been violent towards many. Calling the resistance to Trump a mob denies the impetus of that anger and outrage. The mob line plays both to conservative bias/fear and the lefts inclination to back down and mediate. It’s not going to happen. Trump’s the bully. A group of people rising in resistance to a bully is solidarity not a mob. No wonder it scares the right so…

  53. Jean Henry
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 8:10 am | Permalink

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-senate-mcconnell-policy/mcconnell-says-senate-republicans-might-revisit-obamacare-repeal-idUSKCN1MR2QE

  54. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 8:57 am | Permalink

    “Is repeating GOP/Trump talking points word for word evidence of your independent thinking and free mind, HW?”

    For example?

  55. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 9:02 am | Permalink

    I mean I have been talking about this shit for a while. If other people agree then I have no problem with that.

  56. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 9:06 am | Permalink

    How can you people seriously say Trump called for violence? Everyone knew he was kidding when he said rough ’em up. I guess you don’t because you are a little baby who latches onto whatever you can and holds on for dear life.

  57. Jean Henry
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 9:15 am | Permalink

    My concern is not for my own safety and welfare HW.

    I don’t hide behind a fake name for instance.

    Are you actually a 6th grader?

  58. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 9:26 am | Permalink

    I mean you are reaching for anything to hold onto to try to make Trump the baddy. Just like a little baby. Don’t see how you think you can question my maturity when you never reached a basic understanding of logic. Having fun skunking you all the time does not equal immaturity.

  59. Anonymous
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 9:36 am | Permalink

    He can’t help himself. It’s the pot. Here’s to hoping he’s gotten beyond the age where he bothers girls to show that he likes them.

  60. Hyborian Warlord
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 10:31 am | Permalink

    Derp Anon

  61. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 11:15 am | Permalink

    Jean,

    I was trying to say that, in my opinion, the right is demolishing the left in terms of messaging. HW’s “jobs not mobs” video he posted is not just “talking points”, it is powerful messaging that will ring true to a lot of Americans. The left’s “resistance” stance is a failure, I think. The left needs to change their approach. The left needs self reflection, self criticism, and disavowal of their own darker side. The left has lost touch with its instinct toward truth. People are walking in another direction because they cannot stand the smell of the left’s bullshit. The only revolution John Brown has a chance to have is a personal revolution, which might possibly come about by staring into the mirror. It won’t happen however, because the left is way too far gone, or “unhinged”, so to speak.

  62. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 11:21 am | Permalink

    In terms of messaging the left undermines itself constantly.

    Search: YouTube: “9/11 widow is harassed by antifa in Portland”.

    How do you think this garbage plays to most of America.

    PS. I am not gloating. I have been warning you guys about this stuff for over 2 years. Wake the fuck up!

  63. wobblie
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 1:53 pm | Permalink

    The first true test to what kind of “Right to Life” court this will be
    https://truthout.org/articles/supreme-court-halts-youth-climate-case-after-trump-effort-to-kill-suit/

  64. Sad
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 4:51 pm | Permalink

    I love HW and FF with their constant need for acknowledgement of the fact that they are right. Really? Do you want an award or something?

  65. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 5:03 pm | Permalink

    I want the workd to be a better place. Truth. Justice. All that sort of bullshit.

  66. Anonymous
    Posted October 20, 2018 at 5:57 pm | Permalink

    It’s very American to not ask nicely when seeking truth and justice. Boston Tea Party. Civil War. Women’s suffrage. Civil Rights Act. What do you think this is? Canada?

  67. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 21, 2018 at 9:27 am | Permalink

    Are you imagining the issue to be a general distaste for forcefulness or so call uncivility? Where do you guys get these ideas? The comment sections of mm.com have already addressed this misidentification of the issue many times. Do you actually believe the current left has people who are on the cusp of joining Ghandi, MLK, and Susan B Anthony, Jordan Hunt, Gabby Skwarko, and (not)Charlie Wilkins in the pantheon of political saints?

    What basic moral principles is the left actually currently “resisting”? Do you want to start a list together?

    The issue is not a distaste for forcefulness. Jesus Christ.

  68. Anonymous
    Posted October 21, 2018 at 2:42 pm | Permalink

    Shakes cane, yells at cloud.

  69. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 21, 2018 at 3:42 pm | Permalink

    That image is fine by me. You are the cloud though, right? You could probably 1) explain yourself better, 2) clarify better, 3) answer a question once in awhile……Or, keep doing the cloud thing and see how that works out for you.

  70. Jean Henry
    Posted October 22, 2018 at 8:04 am | Permalink

    https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/carl-bernstein-trump-preparing-to-call-midterm-elections-illegitimate-if-democrats-take-power

  71. Concerned Michiganian
    Posted October 22, 2018 at 12:01 pm | Permalink

    Liberals are RESISTING racism, misogyny, exclusion and indifference!!! HEALTH CARE FOR ALL!! BLACK LIVES MATTER!! NO MORE MASS INCARCERATION OF YOUNG BLACK MEN!! OPPORTUNITIES FOR ALL! NO MORE CRONY CAPITALISM!! CLEAN COMMUNITIES where people can live SAFELY and HAPPILY without fear of being TARGETED for their race or sexual identity or immigration status!! DEMOCRATIC REPRESENTATION FOR ALL!! No more REDLINING!! No more VOTER SUPPRESSION!! No more GERRYMANDERING!!!!

    #BlueWave2018 #Whitmer2018 #CleanYpsi2018 #ResistTRUMP

  72. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 22, 2018 at 12:22 pm | Permalink

    Jordan Hunt, Gabby Skwarko and (not) Charlie Wilkins agree with your assessment of the resistance.

    #ghandijordanhunt
    #mlkgabbyskwarko
    #susanbanthonynotcharliewilkins

  73. Jean Henry
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 10:03 am | Permalink

    The left is resisting the erosion of democracy and the slide into increasingly autocratic rule. They are resisting the dismantling of the state dept by attrition and failure to re-appoint and the accrual of more and more hard power. They are resisting the dismantling of environmental protections as well as bureaucratic capacity at the EPA. The smaller government is, the more power the executive branch has. Please note that Trump is not moving power to the states, as traditional conservative principles would suggest, but simply dismantling the federal government by attrition. The left are resisting nativism and the racist targeting of people of color citizens, immigrants and foreign nationals. They are resisting the packing of the courts with unqualified candidates tested only on their ideology and fealty to the president. They are resisting the erosion of the right to self-determination and equal treatment for LGBTQ people. (Trump is right now considering disallowing changes in gender on birth certificates etc.). There;s more. Here is a handy dandy guide: https://theweeklylist.org

  74. Jean Henry
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 10:13 am | Permalink

    FF– Please read. Our concerns are legitimate. And at least in my family, which is half conservative, non-partisan. We care about the health and well being of our Republic and democratic and constitutional principles. We care about standards of effective and fair governance. We care about our waning integrity as a citizen of the world. https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/one-year-after-trumps-election-revisiting-autocracy-rules-for-survival

  75. Jean Henry
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 10:24 am | Permalink

    Re transgender rights: https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-trauma-of-the-trump-administrations-attacks-on-transgender-people

  76. Jean Henry
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 10:32 am | Permalink

    FF- Dems are not creating divisiveness; they are responding to it. They are resisting divisiveness.

    “what the President of the United States is actually saying is extraordinary, regardless of whether the television cameras are carrying it live. It’s not just the whoppers or the particular outrage riffs that do get covered, either. It’s the hate, and the sense of actual menace that the President is trying to convey to his supporters. Democrats aren’t just wrong in the manner of traditional partisan differences; they are scary, bad, evil, radical, dangerous. Trump and Trump alone stands between his audiences and disaster.

    I listen because I think we are making a mistake by dismissing him, by pretending the words of the most powerful man in the world are meaningless. They do have consequences. They are many, and they are worrisome. In what he says to the world, the President is, as Ed Luce wrote in the Financial Times this week, “creating the space to do things which were recently unthinkable.” It’s not a reality show; it’s real.” https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-trumps-washington/i-listened-to-all-six-trump-rallies-in-october-you-should-too

    One more time for emphasis: “The President is creating the space to do things which were recently unthinkable.”

  77. Lynne
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 12:00 pm | Permalink

    Yes. We absolutely must change the balance of power in Washington. This president has shown us that he is ok with abusing power. Our current congress has all but said that they are going to take away health care for a lot of people and dismantle things like Medicare and Social Security in order to fund big tax cuts for the wealthy. That is what we get if we fail to get out as a group and vote for DEMOCRATS.

  78. EOS
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 12:46 pm | Permalink

    Abuse of power would include growing the size and scope of government. Reducing the size and scope of government restores individual freedom.

  79. EOS
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 12:49 pm | Permalink

    I heard it would be a 10% tax cut to the middle class before the midterm election.

  80. iRobert
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 5:38 pm | Permalink

    How is a congress which isn’t in session going to pass a tax cut, EOS?

  81. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 5:41 pm | Permalink

    Jean:

    I thought the author’s rule number 5 was interesting: NEVER COMPROMISE

    “Still, this is the most problematic of my rules, because it calls forth the strongest counter-argument. Democracy is based on compromise. A commitment to purity can ultimately serve only to widen the divide between those who elected Trump and those who could not imagine his Presidency. A commitment to purity, in fact, risks becoming a commitment to refusing to imagine his Presidency, even a year after the election. A commitment to purity is antithetical to political engagement. Yet political engagement risks or even demands a measure of normalization….The tension is irresolvable. This rule should be amended to read: Pay attention to the ways in which the Trump Presidency breaks the moral compass.”

    Putting aside that the author from a privileged position to announce that her beliefs are the “moral” and “pure” beliefs she makes a good theoretical point but it seems doubtful she will act in accordance with her theoretical understanding or bother to encourage others to either. She is speaking the truth in that little paragraph but she is also framing the truth as a problem. Isn’t that weird? What is behind that impulse?

    Fortunately, we live in a Democracy (kind of). If you don’t like Trump then get busy educating people so they will vote in accordance with your views. Education and voting is not resistance. Resistance, as it is being practiced, is divisive. Despite what you are claiming the divisiveness is coming from the Left. Educate and vote. Stop hitting, spitting, swearing, breaking, lying and tossing piss at people and get busy educating and voting.

  82. Oliver
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 6:50 pm | Permalink

    Please sir, can I have more?

  83. Sad
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 7:01 pm | Permalink

    If you vote republican I’ll get you a tax cut. Why didn’t he do it when they did the tax bill? Are people ( other than EOS) really that gullible?

  84. Jean Henry
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 8:42 pm | Permalink

    FF– Resistance takes many many forms. Richard Spencer is done. Toast. You can thank the local Antifa for that.

  85. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 23, 2018 at 9:17 pm | Permalink

    Why should I care if Spencer is no longer giving speeches? He should speak all he wants. How is shutting him down permanently or temporarily a victory?

    (It sounds like Spencer was a domestic abuser and it was likely he was going to shut himself down by his own words and deeds–the elegant solution for Spencer is more Spencer.)

  86. EOS
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 7:25 am | Permalink

    I don’t think it is being gullible. He has kept more campaign promises than any other president in my lifetime.

    I think its obvious that he will describe a plan that will be presented to Congress for a vote. If Republicans retain both houses, it’s highly likely it will pass. If Democrats gain the house, there will likely be nothing that can be accomplished in DC in the next two years.

  87. Lynne
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 10:18 am | Permalink

    FF, given that someone sent bombs to the Obamas house and the Clinton’s house, do you still think the left is more to blame for divisiveness in this country than the right? Considering Merrick Garland too. Considering we have a president who openly states that he feels entitled to molest half of the population of this country??? I honestly don’t see how you can say that the left is more responsible for the current divisiveness than the right with a straight face.

  88. iRobert
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 11:20 am | Permalink

    He’s the greatest president America has every had, isn’t he, EOS?

  89. EOS
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 12:06 pm | Permalink

    iRobert,

    No. The phrase is “He is making America great again”.

  90. EOS
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 12:08 pm | Permalink

    iRobert,

    Nate Silver says an 85% chance. Are you trusting him again?

  91. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 12:23 pm | Permalink

    Lynne,

    One person trying to bomb some people does not wipe out my observations. Check out extreme Nazi leaning white supremacist type right wing websites. Even the most extreme are denouncing the bomb threat and giving reasons why violence or the threat of violence hurts their cause. On the left we just hear denial and lack of awareness that they have a problem. Check out the article Jean offered. The author identified a truth about the “resist” movement and then formed it as a problem to be sidestepped by placing blame on the other: “Trump made is do it” is not good enough. You guys can do better.

  92. iRobert
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 1:25 pm | Permalink

    No, EOS. Trump has also said this is the greatest administration in this country’s history. He has also suggested he will be remembered as the greatest president in US history.

    What has Nate Silver said there is an 85% chance of happening? Are you talking about Trump being reelected?

    Can I also have you go over to HW’s house and make sure he’s home? I wonder what he’s been up to over the past 48 hours.

  93. iRobert
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 1:27 pm | Permalink

    EOS, I wasn’t trusting Nate Silver in 2016. I stopped paying much attention to him since he was bought off through the New York Times.

  94. iRobert
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 1:38 pm | Permalink

    I wouldn’t be surprised at all if Nate Silver’s assessments suggest Trump currently has a 85% chance of re-election. It’s a very unpredictable thing this far out. The Democrats have no likely candidate yet, and things always change dramatically after a mid-term election.

    If you are trying to suggest that Trump is popular, I would agree he is more popular than most Democrats would expect. But I think he’s also a lot less popular than most Republicans think.

  95. EOS
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 2:11 pm | Permalink

    Nate is again overconfident. He thinks there is an 85% chance that the Dems take back control of the house.

  96. Lynne
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 2:28 pm | Permalink

    FF, you really don’t see how you are giving a pass to the right that you aren’t giving to the left? Wow. It is truly amazing to me that you don’t see it. That is part of what is driving this divisiveness I think. The right, which is mostly white men, seem to think that different rules apply to them than apply to everyone else. Guys like you complain about the rudeness of the left and how behavior on the left is fueling divisiveness even though the same behavior and worse exists on the right. You are taking a “but the right denounces it” about violence without noticing that many on the left do too. And you conveniently have ignored my other less violent examples. I have heard very few people on the right say that they are displeased with things like the political stalling of Garland for instance.

    I have heard a lot of people on the right suggest that somehow calls to shame politicians in public from the left are the same as calls for violence from the right. I have heard people on the right suggest that late night comedians mocking them is somehow just as bad and divisive as them threatening people with violence. Here is the thing. We are talking about big groups. I submit that there is no behavior you can point to on the left which isn’t also happening on the right to the same degree or worse.

    I have no idea what link of Jean’s you are talking about.

  97. iRobert
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 2:36 pm | Permalink

    EOS, I am more confident than Nate is that the Dems will take the house. They might lose a seat or two in the Senate though.

    The reason so many polls were so inaccurate regarding the presidential race in 2016 is because the implosion of the Democrat’s urban Get-Out-The-Vote operations was kept concealed from essentially everybody right up until polls closed on the east cost.

    This is not something that can be done with a hundred congressional races. In 2016, despite the inaccuracy of the presidential race polls, the predictions were very accurate in terms of all the other races. I’ve told you that before.

    The Trump campaign had no part in the disabling of the Dem GOTV operations. The election was essentially rigged for Trump without having to even let any of them in on the secret of what was being done. It was brilliant really, and not illegal.

    Only in those few states in which Dems depend mightily on their big urban GOTV campaigns were the presidential race polls off. Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin were all that were needed, and it was to those states (and possibly Florida) where the strategy was limited.

    The Democratic Party is dumb, but it isn’t blind. That’s why the Republican strategy you see now is massive voter suppression. It is clear the GOP is going to lose the house. The suppression is going to minimize the damage somewhat however.

  98. iRobert
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 2:39 pm | Permalink

    We should wager on it EOS. Any ideas what we should wager?

  99. wobblie
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 2:51 pm | Permalink

    https://thehill.com/homenews/412977-police-intercept-suspicious-package-addressed-to-maxine-waters

    This is how the right always plays. It was Birchers who fire bombed my print shop in 1974 for printing impeach Nixon signs, and it was Walkenhut thugs who threw the rock with a death threat on it through my front window during the newspaper strike. John Brown has it right, they will resort to violence when all else fails.

    Do not put your faith in the Democrats, vote for them because we have no alternative, but demand in the streets if necessary, that every vote be counted. They stole the 2000 election, and probably the 2016 election and the Democrats did nothing. We will only have as much democracy as we force from the plutocrats.

    I will be spending some of my free time down at the Democratic headquarters next to Dos Hermanos, I hope many of you will join me.

  100. Lynne
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 4:21 pm | Permalink

    Thank you, wobblie. I believe I may also try to find some time to show up there to do something.

  101. Frosted Flakes
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 4:57 pm | Permalink

    Lynne,

    The total violence on one side or the other is going to be hard to determine. At bottom you and I just have different senses of which side is at fault at a higher rate. I don’t think we are going to be able to prove either side is wrong or right. I will say that commenters on this site have proven to me multiple times, over the course of the years, that they are unwilling to investigate particular instances of wrong-doing. Any general judgment, which has any validity at all, is based off of an accounting of individual instances. Refusal to investigate the individual instances invalidates any general judgment. Yet there is no lack of willingness from the average commenter from this community to make lots and lots of general judgments with a high degree of moral certainty.

    The article Jean shared that was interesting to me was the one from the NewYorker: “Revisiting autocracy 6 rules”. The author describes the tension between an openness to political engagement, on the one hand, and holding onto the belief that the Trump presidency is illegitimate, on the other. I thought it was a very smart way to describe the issue; but I disagreed with the authors solution to the issue which was to just excuse the left’s closing down of political engagement by way of violence (both physical and institutional); based upon the left’s presumption that Trump’s political power and presence is always already morally illegitimate.

    I reject that kind of approach: Because democracy.

  102. EOS
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 5:27 pm | Permalink

    I’m betting that these suspicious packages don’t really contain anything hazardous, and we’ll soon find out that they were sent by Dems in the hopes that people would automatically blame Republicans. It’s not like we haven’t seen this tactic used repeatedly. Anybody remember the racist graffiti at EMU?

  103. iRobert
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 5:35 pm | Permalink

    I suspect the same thing, EOS. But I don’t think it’s going to ever become public knowledge.

  104. iRobert
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 5:39 pm | Permalink

    ABC News just reported that the authorities do not believe Debbie Wasserman-Shultz-Shultz sent the packages.

    I’m not kidding, and I’m not making this up.

  105. EOS
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 5:56 pm | Permalink

    Wobblie,

    There’s no way Birchers firebombed your print shop because you printed Impeach Nixon signs. They would have gladly paid for such signs. The Birchers were rabidly anti-communist and did not appreciate how Nixon reestablished ties with China. More fake news on your part.

  106. iRobert
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 6:00 pm | Permalink

    I was so relieved to hear from ABC News that congresswoman Wasserman-Shultz wasn’t believed to be involved in sending those pipe bombs. I don’t know what we’d do without the geniuses at ABC News.

  107. EOS
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 6:05 pm | Permalink

    It did have her return address on it. ..

    She’s the one responsible for paying a Pakistani with terrorist ties to manage the Dem Party servers. She’s not the brightest bulb in the pack.

  108. wobblie
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 6:12 pm | Permalink

    EOS, they signed the threats J. Birch. They may have been local KKK folks, they all worked together against the anti-war movement back then. They were afraid of the left back then and Nixon was there leader. But with your magical thinking I’m sure you are right and it was a deep state false flag attack. By the way I still have the letter from them, also the death threat and rock–sentimental value and all that.

  109. EOS
    Posted October 24, 2018 at 6:38 pm | Permalink

    Wobblie,

    It’s not believable. The KKK were mostly Southern Democrats. The had nothing to do with right wing Birchers. I get it that you don’t like Birchers because you identify as a communist. The Birchers were against the ietnam war also. They don’t support foreign entanglements. They are very much isolationists. You don’t have a clue. By the way, J. Birch died in 1945. Don’t know who signed your note.

  110. iRobert
    Posted October 26, 2018 at 10:55 am | Permalink

    Now that the FBI has arrested a suspect pretty quickly, it is looking more like he was genuinely a Trump supporting nut, and not a Dem false flag.

    The particular people he targeted suggests this as well, because a false flag operation would target more strategically to maximize affect.

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