Tag Archives: GOP

national news

QAnon needs to um … go!

(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

I have to make an admission.

This kook fringe called “QAnon” had gotten past me forl far too long. I didn’t know much about it. Then I learned more than I ever wanted to know.

These morons are loons, freaks, conspiracy nut jobs. They allege all kinds of lunacy, such as Democrats killing and eating children, that demons are invading the United States. They adhere to the usual lunacy, such as the birther crap involving Barack Obama and now, Kamala Harris.

QAnon espouses death to all Muslims.

But get a load of this: Donald Trump won’t disavow QAnon. He makes some goofball statement about it being “out there,” and that he doesn’t know anything about it, so he won’t pass judgment. “I’ve heard these are people that love our country and they just don’t like seeing it. I don’t know really anything about it other than they do supposedly like me. And they also would like to see problems in these areas … go away,” Trump said.

Huh? What the f*** is the matter with this clown?

I hear QAnon has some fans on the far right fringe. They include notables such as former Ku Klux Klan grand lizard David Duke, the hater who has endorsed Donald Trump’s re-election.

I want to hand out a bouquet to one Republican lawmaker, U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who has condemned QAnon. “QAnon is a dangerous lunacy that should have no place in American politics,” Cheney said in a statement on Thursday.

There you go. Some sanity does exist within the GOP. If only it did in the Oval Office.

national news

You go, John Kasich

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I’ll be brief.

John Kasich was my favorite Republican running for president in 2016. Had he won the GOP nomination, he likely would have gotten my vote over Hillary Clinton. Tonight he affirmed precisely why I admire the former Ohio governor.

He didn’t swill the Donald Trump Kool-Aid after losing to the eventual GOP nominee. He stands on the principle of good government.

He said he supports Joe Biden for president, even despite the men’s disagreements on policy. “That’s all right,” he said tonight in remarks to the Democratic National Convention. “That’s America.”

Yes it is, Gov. Kasich. Thank you for standing on principle.

national news

Not so strange after all

Media pundits continue to make something of a ruckus over the recent political history involving Joseph R. Biden and Kamala Harris, that Harris roughed up Biden in a couple of debates before she dropped out of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary contest.

They’re now on the same Democratic ticket. So I am left to wonder: Why the fascination? It’s hardly the first time political rivals have hooked up, buried the hatchet and locked arms in the fight against a common opponent.

In 1960, Sens. Lyndon Johnson and John F. Kennedy fought for the Democratic nomination. They spoke harshly of each other. LBJ pulled out at the end of that primary fight. JFK was looking for someone to help strengthen him in the South. So he turned to Sen. Johnson. They won that race. Fate, though, tragically intervened when JFK died from an assassin’s bullet in November 1963.

In 1980, former Gov. Ronald Reagan and former CIA director/U.N. ambassador/former congressman/former special envoy to China George H.W. Bush butted heads for the Republican nomination. Bush chided Reagan’s fiscal policy as “voodoo economics.” Reagan survived and then selected Bush to be his VP. The two of them served together through two successful terms.

In 2008, for heaven’s sake, Sens. Barack Obama and Joe Biden fought for their party’s nomination. Biden didn’t last long. He took his shots at Obama, who fired back at his foe. Obama got nominated and had Biden at his side for two terms.

So now it’s Sen. Harris who’s being examined. Is she loyal enough? Does the presumptive nominee trust her to be a team player?

Biden has been through the VP vetting process. He knows what to ask, where to look.

Harris’s selection is historic. Many have made much of that fact, given her racial and ethnic background. Biden’s decision to select her, though, doesn’t look like much of a gamble. LBJ, George H.W. Bush and Biden himself already have blazed recent trails that led them all to the vice presidency.

Let’s worry less about the recent past between these two politicians and concern ourselves more with the policy positions they share and will take to the fight against Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

It’s game on, man!

national news

Where is the GOP hiding?

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What used to be known as a great American political party has gone into hiding.

They call themselves “Republicans,” but they aren’t really anything of the kind. They are “Trumpkins” beholden to some guy who ran for president in 2016 under the Republican banner. He isn’t an actual Republican. He just portrays one while sitting behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.

I ask the question about where the GOP is hiding because Donald Trump — the aforementioned POTUS masquerading as a Republican — is seeking to undermine a free and fair election. He speaks for Republicans, he says, because they would be harmed by an effort to allow voters to cast their ballots by mail this November.

Republicans should be joining their Democratic colleagues in Congress in bellowing their displeasure at what is trying to do to the U.S. Postal Service. They aren’t. They are silent. Democrats are doing all the griping. They note that efforts to inhibit the USPS violates the U.S. Constitution, which mentions the “Post Office” specifically in Article I. The “Postal Clause” was added “to facilitate interstate communication as well as to create a source of revenue for the early United States,” according to Wikipedia.

So, why aren’t congressional Republicans upset at what Donald Trump is trying to do? He is seeking to usurp the Postal Service’s duties delineated by the Constitution.

State election officials stand by their staffs’ ability to conduct elections without the “rampant fraud” that Trump — without evidence — keeps alleging.

And yet, congressional Republicans continue to stand by the phony Republican in the White House who has admitted in plain sight to anyone who cares to listen that he is trying to protect his backside at the expense of allowing voters to perform their civic responsibility.

The GOP silence is deafening in the extreme.

national news

Still committing impeachable offenses?

I am acutely aware that Donald Trump’s impeachment and Senate trial are now part of our nation’s history, that Trump will be remembered forever as the nation’s third impeached president of the United States.

I cannot get past the cowardice demonstrated by all but one of the Senate’s 53 Republican members in giving this corrupt narcissist a pass on what he did, which was to extort the leader of another country into providing political dirt on Joe Biden, the man now in position to defeat Trump in the upcoming election.

Nor can I understand the logic behind that Senate acquittal, given that since then Trump has committed — allegedly — at least two more heinous acts.

One is that he reportedly sought to move the British Open golf tournament to a resort he owns, thus seeking actively to flout the clause in the Constitution that prohibits the president from profiting materially from his public office. It’s called the Emoluments Clause and this reported solicitation is simply the latest such example of this blatant corruption.

The other is the hideous betrayal of his oath as commander in chief to care for the troops under his command. I refer to the allegation that Russia paid Taliban terrorists bounties for every American serviceman and woman killed in Afghanistan. If there is a more “impeachable offense” than that, I am totally unaware of it.

This is the bargain that every House Republican and all but one Senate Republican delivered when they decided that the “perfect phone call” to the Ukrainian president in July 2019 wasn’t enough to toss Trump out of office.

I am enough of a realist to know that impeaching Trump again is likely out of the question. I also am enough of an idealist to hope that the election this November will take care of the corruption that has influenced damn near every political decision Trump has made while sitting in the Oval Office.

Of course, an election result doesn’t prevent criminal prosecution of Donald Trump once he quick-steps out of the White House for the final time. Oh, allow me to wish once again that the day comes after this next election.

State news

Censure the governor? Are you serious?

I have to ask: What in the name of public safety has happened to the Texas Republican Party?

The Ector County GOP hierarchy has voted to censure their fellow Republican, Gov. Greg Abbott over Abbott’s executive order requiring Texans to wear masks in public places.

Why did Abbott do such a dastardly thing? Oh, he wants to stop the spread of a virus that has killed 130,000 Americans. For taking that action, the Texas Republican Party is launching a campaign to conduct a statewide censure movement ahead of its political convention scheduled soon.

This is utterly ridiculous! It’s insane! It’s certifiable lunacy!

Don’t get me wrong on this point: Greg Abbott is not my favorite Texas pol. He dilly-dallied on taking measures to stop the virus in Texas. He plunged full speed into reopening the state. The infection rate spiked as a result, along with the death rate from COVID-19. Abbott has hit the “pause” button on the restart.

I wish he had done so earlier … but he did and I am glad about that.

However, there’s a lot of bitching going on throughout the state among Republicans who’ve swallowed the Donald Trump Kool-Aid about the coronavirus. They want the state to continue to press ahead with reopening. I have a couple of friends in the Texas Panhandle — business owners, in fact — who complain openly about what they believe is some sort of communist plot within the GOP.

I am not kidding! These are dedicated Republicans who have swilled the concoction that makes ’em believe the coronavirus ain’t that big of a deal.

There’s talk now about a special legislative session that would seek to reel in what GOP loons say is Abbott’s executive overreach. Good grief! The man is seeking to stop the spread of a disease that is killing us.

national news

Trump practices a form of political levitation

(Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

This brand of levitation we keep witnessing from Donald John Trump continues to astound me.

He has returned to the political campaign trail. He convened a rally in Tulsa, Okla., telling us 1 million people sought tickets to the arena. He had the rally, but it was attended by something fewer than 7,000 die-hard Trumpkins.

Trump’s base continues to hold at around 42 percent and yet the man himself doesn’t tell them anything new. He offers no vision of any sort into what he intends to do if — God forbid! — he gets re-elected on Nov. 3.

How in the name of political illusion does this guy pull it off?

I am left to agree with others’ conclusion, which is that Donald Trump has created a cult of personality among Republican faithful voters.

I listened to former national security adviser John Bolton’s interview with ABC News’ Martha Raddatz in which Bolton said Donald Trump is “not a conservative Republican” and that Trump doesn’t adhere to any discernible political philosophy other than what benefits him politically.

The Trump cult of personality has co-opted a once-great political party and turned into something none of what remains of the GOP establishment recognizes. Even the “real Republicans” who serve in elected office seem smitten by the cult.

Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised. Donald Trump promised to shake up the establishment when he ran for president in 2016. He has delivered on that promise, even as so many other campaign pledges have face-planted along the way.

It appears that the shakeup has produced this continuing levitation among the hard-core faithful of Trump’s base.

It gives me pause when I consider whether Joe Biden actually can defeat this fraudulent politician. I am hoping for all I am worth that we can send this clown packing.

national news

GOP primary voters finally exhibit some sanity

Just about the time I am ready to give up on the Republican Party, believing it has gone totally bananas, berserk and bonkers, voters in a rural western Iowa congressional district tell me there’s reason to hope for sanity within the once-great political party.

U.S. Rep. Steve King, the GOP lunatic who has been stripped of his committee assignments over his blatantly racist rhetoric, had his head handed to him Tuesday in the state’s Republican primary.

He won’t be returning to Congress next January … to which I say “hooray!”

I shouldn’t as a rule be concerned about a wacky congressman from Iowa, except that he votes on laws that affect the entire country. So when Iowa sends a nincompoop such as King to Congress, it becomes all Americans’ concern.

This is the idiot who said that he cannot understand why the term “white supremacist” has derived a negative connotation. Huh? Eh? Yep. He said it.

He also has talked about illegal immigrants hauling drugs across the border from Mexico with such frequency that they develop “thighs the size of cantaloupes.”

King has been a proud member of the Birther Brigade, questioning whether former Barack Obama — the nation’s first black president — was constitutionally qualified to run for president, alleging he was born in Kenya and not in Hawaii, the nation’s 50th state.

So, Steve King — who lost his congressional committee assignments when he made the “white supremacy” crack — is now a lame duck.

If only he could be silenced. He cannot. The Constitution grants even wackos the right to speak freely. At least, though, he soon will be stripped of his authority to enact federal law.

Good riddance, Mr. White Supremacist.

national news

GOP chatter … then silence

I keep hearing snippets of encouraging news from inside the Republican caucus in both chambers of Congress … which is that GOP members are finally beginning to get fed up with Donald John Trump’s behavior as president of the United States.

The latest bit of chatter involves U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, a longtime champion of government accountability and of the watchdog program set up to help sniff out corruption in government.

He’s angry, reportedly, that Trump has let so many inspectors go. He wants the IGs on the job rooting out wrongdoing.

But then … what does he do to hold Trump even more accountable? What does he do to ensure that Trump doesn’t continue his frontal assault on government accountability and transparency?

Nothing, man!

The nation’s founders established co-equal branches of government. They intended to limit executive authority, along with limiting congressional and judicial authority. Donald Trump is running roughshod over the founders’ intent. Meanwhile, those congressional Republicans who should be fighting fiercely to protect their constitutional authority become subservient to the Imbecile in Chief.

I probably shouldn’t worry too much about what the GOP political leadership is going to do about Donald Trump. His future likely rests in the hands of voters who will decide this November whether to keep him on the job for another four years. Oh, how I hope voters have the good sense to turn away from the bad sense they exhibited four years earlier by electing this clown in the first place.

If only that Republican leadership that occasionally bristles at Trump’s power grabs, his ignorance and his arrogance would act on what they see right along with the rest of us.

It is that the president of the United States is a danger to the nation he swore an oath to protect.

national news

Needing to understand Trump’s grip on his ‘base’

(AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps)

I never have professed to know everything about everything.

Some things escape me. They sit perched beyond my ability to grasp certain aspects of human thinking. One of those things involves Donald John Trump, who does profess to know everything about everything, but who in reality is a dunce who cannot admit it.

This brings me to my query: How in the world does Donald Trump’s base of voters defend the conduct of this individual who to my way of thinking exhibits an astonishing example of unfitness for the job he holds.

I have many social media acquaintances — some of whom are actual friends of mine in real life — who cling to this idiot’s world view … such as it is! Maybe they can explain a few things to me.

I am left to ponder so many examples of crassness, boorishness, cruelty from this clown. How do these folks stand with a guy who:

Defames a talk show host by suggesting — without a shred of evidence — that he played a role in the death of a trusted aide when that talk show host served in Congress and drags the family of the young staffer through more grief?

Alleges that a former president of the United States committed an illegal act, again without any evidence?

Suggests the former president, Barack Obama, should be thrown in jail?

Denigrates the service of a war hero, the late Sen. John McCain, and then continues to criticize him as he fights a disease that eventually would took his life?

Mocks a reporter with a serious physical handicap?

Criticizes a Gold Star family — that happens to be Muslim — whose son died while fighting for this country in Iraq?

Admits to grabbing women by their genitals, admits to philandering on his wives and admits to seeking to do so immediately after his third wife gave birth to his fifth child?

Donald Trump is unfit at any and every level to make decisions as president of the United States. He was elected in 2016 partly because he sold Americans a bill of goods about his business background.

And now here we are. We are struggling against a global pandemic that has killed more than 100,000 Americans. Many thousands more of us will die. He should focus solely on the effort to stem the infection. What does he do instead? He takes to Twitter virtually 24/7 to foment lies about his political foes and to disparage others who choose to wear masks as a way to protect themselves and others against a potentially fatal viral infection.

Trump’s base of voters continues to stand with the Nimrod in Chief for reasons that escape me. I want to understand a little better that line of so-called “thinking.”

Bear in mind that I won’t change my own mind about his unfitness for the office he occupies. I just want to learn something.