GOP

First Impeachment vote of then-President Donald Trump over extortion of Ukraine for aid in defense against Russia

Former FBI informant Alexander Smirnov pleaded guilty to completely fabricating the story about the “$5 million bribes” paid to Joe and Hunter Biden by Ukranian energy company Burisma, and has been sentenced to 6 years in prison for his role in attempting to influence the 2020 election in favor of Donald Trump. The Burisma hoax led to a Special Counsel probe and a years-long attempt by Republican lawmakers to impeach Biden for alleged “corruption.”

Meanwhile the GOP apparently knew the whole thing was made up — because they helped ferry the disinformation from Russian sources to further their political goals. Trump had sent Rudy Giuliani and Lev Parnas on a fishing expedition to “dig up dirt” on the Bidens in Ukraine circa 2018-2019, making them almost eager to be willfully conned by Russian active measures. The Russians of course did not disappoint — first implanting the Burisma disinformation through this channel.

Later Lev Parnas would testify before Congress to having been duped himself during his involvement in the deception scheme. He went on to present evidence both that the allegations of Burisma bribes were completely fabricated, and that GOP leaders were knowingly spreading the fake Russian disinfo in order to help Trump muddy the waters around his first impeachment trial initiated by a whistleblower who revealed the phone call in which Trump attempted to extort Ukranian President Volodomyr Zelensky over military aid in its defense against the Russian invasion of 2014 and ongoing occupation. Then-NSC member Alexander Vindman testified to the veracity of the whistleblower’s complaint before Congress, and Trump would later fire him in retaliation.

The Lev Parnas story would become the basis of the excellent Rachel Maddow-produced feature-length documentary, “From Russia with Lev”:

Burisma bribes were fake

In other words, both arms of the “Biden bribes” story have been thoroughly debunked — which led House Republicans to drop the Biden impeachment inquiry, but not to drop their disinformation campaign around the alleged corruption. So, GOP lawmakers know the Burisma story is fake, that Russian spies planted it, and “disinformation courier” Smirnov will serve jail time for it — but they continue to push it anyway, in an attempt to create a vague veneer of corruption around sitting President Joe Biden.

Meanwhile, the about-to-be-sitting-President Trump is actively planning to profiteer from the Presidency. His new “ethics plan” ups the ante from his first term by newly allowing deals between the Trump Organization and foreign businesses. In December, Eric Trump announced deals for 2 Trump Towers in Saudi Arabia.

The Republican flavor of whataboutism that tries lamely to stand up an entirely fake, intentionally fabricated story about $5 million bribes to the Bidens against the unprecedented scale of openly naked corruption as Trump brazenly seeks to profit from his public service is a morally reprehensible ethical stain that I hope follows them into history as a legacy of abject greed and lust for power that thoroughly characterizes the Republican Party in this era. To the extent the GOP stands for anything, it is corruption.

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Below is a list of the covert gang of folks trying to take down the US government — the anti-government oligarchs who think they run the place. The Koch network of megarich political operatives has been anointing itself the true (shadowy) leaders of American politics for several decades.

Spearheaded by Charles Koch, the billionaire fossil fuel magnate who inherited his father Fred Koch’s oil business, the highly active and secretive Koch network — aka the “Kochtopus” — features a sprawling network of donors, think tanks, non-profits, political operatives, PR hacks, and other fellow travelers who have come to believe that democracy is incompatible with their ability to amass infinite amounts of wealth.

Despite their obvious and profligate success as some of the world’s richest people, they whine that the system of US government is very unfair to them and their ability to do whatever they want to keep making a buck — the environment, the people, and even the whole planet be damned. Part of an ever larger wealth cult of individuals spending unprecedented amounts of cash to kneecap the US government from any ability to regulate business or create a social safety net for those exploited by concentrated (and to a large extent inherited) wealth, the Koch network is the largest and most formidable group within the larger project of US oligarchy.

The Kochtopus

By 2016 the Koch network of private political groups had a paid staff of 1600 people in 35 states — a payroll larger than that of the Republican National Committee (RNC) itself. They managed a pool of funds from about 400 or so of the richest people in the United States, whose goal was to capture the government and run it according to their extremist views of economic and social policy. They found convenient alignment with the GOP, which has been the party of Big Business ever since it succeeded in first being the party of the Common Man in the 1850s and 60s.

Are we to be just a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch Industries? Who will help stand and fight for our independence from oligarchy?

  • Philip Anschutz — Founder of Qwest Communications. Colorado oil and entertainment magnate and billionaire dubbed the world’s “greediest executive” by Fortune Magazine in 2002.
  • American Energy Alliance — Koch-funded tax-exempt nonprofit lobbying for corporate-friendly energy policies
  • American Enterprise Institute — The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is a public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. Established in 1938, it is one of the oldest and most influential think tanks in the United States. AEI is primarily known for its conservative and free-market-oriented policy research and advocacy.
  • Americans for Prosperity
  • Harry and Lynde Bradley — midwestern defense contractors and Koch donors
  • Michael Catanzaro
  • Cato Institute
  • Center to Protect Patient Rights — The Koch network’s fake front group for fighting against Obama‘s Affordable Care Act.
  • CGCN Group — right-wing lobbying group
  • Citizens for a Sound Economy
  • Club for Growth
  • Competitive Enterprise Institute — Right-wing think tank funded by the Kochs and other oil and gas barons
  • Continental Resources — Harold Hamm’s shale-oil company
  • Joseph Coors — Colorado beer magnate
  • Betsy and Dick DeVos — founders of the Amway MLM empire, and one of the richest families in Michigan
  • Myron Ebell — Outspoken client change denier picked to head Trump’s EPA transition team who previously worked at the Koch-funded Competitive Enterprise Institute.
  • Richard Farmer — Chairman of the Cintas Corporation in Cincinnati, the nation’s largest uniform supply company. Legal problems against him included an employee’s gruesome death thanks to violating safety laws.
  • Freedom Partners — the Koch donor group
  • Freedom School — the all-white CO private school funded by Charles Koch in the 1960s
  • FreedomWorks
  • Richard Gilliam — Head of Virginia coal mining company Cumberland Resources, and Koch network donor.
  • Harold Hamm — Oklahoma fracking king and charter member of the Koch donors’ circle, Hamm became a billionaire founding the Continental Resources shale-oil company
  • Diane Hendricks — $3.6 billion building supply company owner and Trump inaugural committee donor, and the wealthiest woman in Wisconsin.
  • Charles Koch — CEO of Koch Industries and patriarch of the Koch empire following his father and brother’s death, and estrangement from his other younger brother. Former member of the John Birch Society, a group so far to the right that even arch-conservative William F. Buckley excommunicated them from the mainstream party in the 1950s.
  • The Charles Koch Foundation
  • (David Koch) — deceased twin brother of Bill Koch and younger brother to Charles who ran a failed campaign in 1980 as the vice presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party — netting 1% of the popular vote. In 2011 he echoed spurious claims from conservative pundit Dinesh D’Souza that Obama got his “radical” political outlook from his African father.
  • The Leadership Institute
  • Michael McKenna — president of the lobbying firm MWR Strategies, whose clients include Koch Industries, picked by Trump to serve on the Department of Energy transition team
  • Rebekah Mercer — daughter of hedge fund billionaire and right-wing Koch donor Robert Mercer, she worked with Steve Bannon on several projects including Breitbart News, Cambridge Analytica, and Gab.
  • Robert Mercer — billionaire NY hedge fund manager and next largest donor after the Kochs themselves, sometimes even surpassing them
  • MWR Strategies — lobbying firm for the energy industry whose clients include Koch Industries, whose president Michael McKenna served on the Trump energy transition team
  • John M. Olin — chemical and munitions magnate and Koch donor
  • George Pearson — Former head of the Koch Foundation
  • Mike Pence — Charles Koch’s number one pick for president in 2012.
  • Mike Pompeo — former Republican Kansas Congressman who got picked first to lead the CIA, then later as Secretary of State under Trump. He was the single largest recipient of Koch money in Congress as of 2017. The Kochs had been investors and partners in Pompeo’s business ventures before he got into politics.
  • The Reason Foundation
  • Richard Mellon Scaife — heir to the Mellon banking and Gulf Oil fortunes
  • David Schnare — self-described “free-market environmentalist” on Trump’s EPA transition team
  • Marc Short — ran the Kochs’ secretive donor club, Freedom Partners, before becoming a senior advisor to vice president Mike Pence during the Trump transition
  • State Policy Network
  • The Tax Foundation
  • Tea Party

Koch Network Mind Map

This mind map shows the intersections between the Koch network and the larger network of GOP donors, reactionaries, and evil billionaires who feel entitled to control American politics via the fortunes they’ve made or acquired.

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republican vs. democrat cage match boxing ring

Buckle up, we’re in for a wild ride. Many of the serious scholars of political history and authoritarian regimes are sounding the alarm bells that, although it is a very very good thing that we got the Trump crime family out of the Oval Office, it is still a very very bad thing for America to have so rapidly tilted towards authoritarianism. How did we get here?! How has hyper partisanship escalated to the point of an attempted coup by 126 sitting Republican House Representatives? How has political polarization gotten this bad?

These are some of the resources that have helped me continue grappling with that question, and with the rapidly shifting landscape of information warfare. How can we understand this era of polarization, this age of tribalism? This outline is a work in progress, and I’m planning to keep adding to this list as the tape keeps rolling.

Right-Wing Authoritarianism

Authoritarianism is both a personality type and a form of government — it operates at both the interpersonal and the societal level. The words authoritarian and fascist are often used interchangeably, but fascism is a more specific type of authoritarianism, and far more historically recent.

America has had flavors of authoritarianism since its founding, and when fascism came along the right-wing authoritarians ate it up — and deeply wanted the United States to be a part of it. Only after they became social pariahs did they change position to support American involvement in World War II — and some persisted even after the attack of Pearl Harbor.

With Project 2025, Trump now openly threatens fascism on America — and sadly, some are eager for it. The psychology behind both authoritarian leaders and followers is fascinating, overlooked, and misunderstood.

Scholars of authoritarianism

  • Hannah Arendt — The Origins of Totalitarianism
  • Bob Altemeyer — The Authoritarians
  • Derrida — the logic of the unconscious; performativity in the act of lying
  • ketman — Ketman is the psychological concept of concealing one’s true aims, akin to doublethink in Orwell’s 1984, that served as a central theme to Polish dissident CzesΕ‚aw MiΕ‚osz‘s book The Captive Mind about intellectual life under totalitarianism during the Communist post-WWII occupation.
  • Erich Fromm — coined the term “malignant narcissism” to describe the psychological character of the Nazis. He also wrote extensively about the mindset of the authoritarian follower in his seminal work, Escape from Freedom.
  • Eric Hoffer — his book The True Believers explores the mind of the authoritarian follower, and the appeal of losing oneself in a totalist movement
  • Fascism — elevation of the id as the source of truth; enthusiasm for political violence
  • Tyrants and dictators
  • John Dean — 3 types of authoritarian personality:
    • social dominators
    • authoritarian followers
    • double highs — social dominators who can “switch” to become followers in certain circumstances
  • Loyalty; hero worship
    • Freud = deeply distrustful of hero worship and worried that it indulged people’s needs for vertical authority. He found the archetype of the authoritarian primal father very troubling.
  • Ayn Rand
    • The Fountainhead (1943)
    • Atlas Shrugged (1957)
    • Objectivism ideology
  • Greatness Thinking; heroic individualism
  • Nietszche — will to power; the Uberman
  • Richard Hofstadter — The Paranoid Style
  • George Lakoff — moral framing; strict father morality
  • Neil Postman — Entertaining Ourselves to Death
  • Anti-Intellectualism
  • Can be disguised as hyper-rationalism (Communism)
  • More authoritarianism books
Continue reading Hyper Partisanship: How to understand American political polarization
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The Council for National Policy is a conservative organization founded in 1981 by far-right Republican activists in the U.S. including Paul Weyrich, Richard Viguerie, Phyllis Schlafly, and Tim LaHaye to advance a Christian Right agenda in American politics.

Today, the CNP is enormously influential on the right and almost unknown on the left. Its secretive cabal designs policy for federal and state lawmakers to amplify or parrot, and they dutifully do. Members include a who’s who of the Trumpian rogue gallery, from Steve Bannon and Kellyanne Conway to Mike Pence, Jim Jordan, Cleta Mitchell, and of course, Ginni Thomas.

The CNP gave Mike Flynn an annual award. Then-President Trump spoke at their 2020 annual meeting. That tells you pretty much all you need to know about how dangerous and well-connected this organization is, and how great is the extent of the group’s influence on American politics — and it’s only the tip of the iceberg. Columbia University scholar Anne Nelson describes the primary impact of the group as β€œconnecting the manpower and media of the Christian right with the finances of Western plutocrats and the strategy of right-wing Republican political operatives” in her excellent book, Shadow Network: Media, Money, and the Secret Hub of the Radical Right.

CNP and the Big Lie

They go to great lengths to conceal their activities, membership rosters, and connections within the corridors of Washington as well as in state legislatures and the judiciary. For more than 40 years the CNP has united the deep pocketbooks of right-wing donors with strategists, media campaigns, and activists. The group was deeply involved in both the efforts to overturn the 2020 election, leading up to and including the January 6 insurrection — from funding and planning to propaganda and “legal” challenges.

The CNP continues to press its narrow, historically revisionist ideas about America, including efforts to influence the 2022 midterm elections and, undoubtedly, the 2024 contest. In the quest to understand this fractious moment of bitter partisanship, the Council for National Policy is one of the secret keys to unlocking the true inner workings of the right-wing political machine.

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The Big Lie about the 2020 Election was hardly the first or even the Biggest of the Big Lies in American history — fomented in vast majority by the right wing. Call it a personality trait, an ideology, or perhaps a financial preference — but Republicans seem to lean towards the disingenuous end of the truth scale.

What are Big Lies?

A Big Lie refers to a propaganda technique that involves repeating a falsehood or exaggeration so frequently and convincingly that people begin to accept it as truth. The term was popularized by Adolf Hitler in his book Mein Kampf, where he wrote that propaganda must be based on a “big lie” because people are counterintuitively more likely to believe a colossal falsehood than a small one because of its sheer audacity.

The technique of the Big Lie is often used by authoritarian leaders, political parties, and movements to manipulate public opinion and gain power. It relies on the psychological phenomenon known as the “illusory truth effect,” which suggests that people are more likely to believe something if they hear it repeatedly. Ironically, even a debunking of the Big Lie can contribute to the illusory truth effect by keeping the content of the falsehood top of mind in the eye of the believer.

Examples of Big Lies

Examples of the Big Lie include the election denial claim that the 2020 US presidential election was stolen from former President Donald Trump, the false assertion that vaccines cause autism, and the Nazi propaganda (blood libel and global cabal theory, among other hateful ideologies) that blamed Germany’s problems on the Jewish people, scapegoating them unfairly and setting up a justification for the horrific murder at scale known as the Holocaust.

The danger of the Big Lie is that it can lead to widespread disinformation, polarization and hyper partisanship, and even violence. It is essential to fact-check claims and resist the impulse to accept information at face value. Instead, critical thinking, fact-checking, and seeking out multiple sources of information can help individuals and society avoid falling prey to the Big Lie.

The following table is a compendium of GOP Big Lies known so far.

MythDefinition
"Antifa did it"This is a pre-planned "reusable" false narrative for right-wing extremist actions. It's a ready-made "false false flag" conspiracy for repeated deployment as white supremacists and homegrown extremists ratchet up the level of political violence.
"government overreach"When Democrats pass a law that Republicans don't like
"Makers and takers"A cynical narrative that splits society into "productive" and "dependent" classes, casting essential public support as a parasitic burden β€” while conveniently ignoring the subsidies that keep powerful corporations in business.
"National security party"Self-proclaimed guardians of national defense, the GOP often prioritize partisan agendas over genuine security concerns, blurring the lines between safeguarding Americans and scoring political points.
"Quality" of votesBy emphasizing β€œquality” over β€œquantity” in voting, the GOP taps into thinly veiled elitism, subtly endorsing the restriction of voting access to groups who may not support their power hold.
2nd AmendmentThe GOP’s devotion to the Second Amendment borders on the sacred, promoting unrestricted access to firearms in the name of "freedom" while dismissing the deadly toll of gun violence as a necessary cost.
Abu GhraibThe torture and abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib prison showed how the GOP’s post-9/11 policies spiraled out of control, ultimately staining America's global reputation in the name of a warped version of patriotism.
American DreamThey inverted it away from a sense of social justice and equal opportunity (self-governance) to simply embody the venal pursuit of money.
America FirstInvoked by right-wing propaganda campaigns over the past century, starting with Charles Lindbergh in 1939 through to Reagan (1980s), and again with lazy plagiarizing Donnie
American ExceptionalismA relentless insistence on America's supposed moral superiority, this myth ignores deep-rooted systemic issues and serves as a deflection tactic to dismiss legitimate critiques β€” because nothing says "exceptional" like refusing to self-reflect.
Anti-gayMasked as β€œfamily values,” GOP rhetoric often undermines LGBTQ+ rights, framing queer Americans as cultural threats while stoking a narrative of moral panic that distracts from genuine issues of equality.
Anti-immigrantBy painting immigrants as scapegoats for economic and social ills, the GOP has turned a nation of immigrants against itself, relying on fearmongering rather than addressing the root causes of immigration.
Anti-TaxA knee-jerk opposition to taxes serves as the GOP's rallying cry, despite relying on the very social systems taxes support β€” a contradiction often buried under rhetoric of β€œliberty” and β€œsmall government.”
Be BestMelania Trump's so-called anti-bullying initiative provided a hollow public image for an administration that thrived on divisive rhetoric, exposing the emptiness of performative kindness undercut by the reality of inflammatory policies.
Black and white thinkingGOP messaging favors oversimplified β€œus versus them” narratives, reducing complex social issues to crude binaries that stoke outrage, sidestepping nuanced policy discussion to breed tribalism and division.
Blacks are commiesAn outdated, racially-charged trope, this smear invokes anti-communist hysteria to demonize Black political activism, relying on fear and racism to dismiss any push for equality as a β€œthreat” to the American status quo.
Cancel cultureA rallying cry against accountability, "cancel culture" has become a GOP catch-all for criticism, conflating consequences with censorship to defend offensive rhetoric and shield high-profile figures from scrutiny.
Christian nationalismCloaked in patriotism, Christian nationalism seeks to merge religious and political identity, positioning one faith as the cornerstone of American identity while undermining the separation of church and state.
Cities are badGOP rhetoric frequently demonizes urban areas as crime-ridden wastelands, reinforcing class and racial divides while ignoring cities' economic contributions and the diverse lives and communities they house.
Climate change is a hoaxLabeling climate change as β€œfake news” dismisses overwhelming scientific evidence, allowing the GOP to sidestep environmental responsibility while protecting fossil fuel interests over global health.
Coastal elitesA classic strawman, "coastal elites" are cast as out-of-touch adversaries of "real America," fanning division while distracting from policy issues affecting everyday lives across the country.
CommunistsAny left-leaning policy or social progressivism is denounced as β€œcommunist” to trigger Cold War fears, as the GOP weaponizes this loaded term to shut down discussions on equity and social reform.
Confederate statuesDefending Confederate statues under the guise of β€œheritage” ignores the painful legacy of slavery and oppression these symbols represent, perpetuating a sanitized version of history that glosses over systemic racism.
Conscience votersDismissed as disloyal by the GOP, "conscience voters" are cast as obstacles rather than principled citizens, downplaying the importance of voting based on integrity, ethics, and democratic values.
Corporate liberalsThe GOP paints "corporate liberals" as hypocritical elites more interested in profits than principles, wielding this label to deflect from their own corporate ties while portraying the left as disconnected from "real" Americans.
Covid is a hoax; covid is overblownBy dismissing COVID-19 as either nonexistent or exaggerated, the GOP stoked dangerous misinformation, downplaying a global health crisis that required collective action for the sake of short-term political gain.
Covid is no big dealFraming COVID-19 as minor trivialized the virus’s severe health impacts, a tactic that encouraged disregard for safety measures and contributed to preventable illness and loss, all in the name of β€œfreedom.”
CrimeGOP messaging inflates crime rates in an effort to spark fear and justify β€œlaw and order” crackdowns, often targeting urban areas and minority communities to stoke racial and class anxieties.
crisis actorDismissing tragedy survivors as β€œcrisis actors” has become a tactic to discredit those advocating for change, a cruel narrative that undermines empathy and dismisses firsthand accounts as part of a conspiratorial plot.
Critical Race TheoryA recent GOP boogeyman, Critical Race Theory is misrepresented as an attempt to β€œdivide” America, redirecting attention from real racial inequities by framing academic discussions as ideological threats.
Cry more, libA favorite GOP taunt, "cry more, lib" embodies an anti-empathetic, combative stance that prioritizes β€œowning the libs” over constructive dialogue, turning polarization into an entertainment sport.
Democrats are SatanicConspiratorial fearmongering at its peak, branding Democrats as "satanic" plays on religious anxieties and paints political opponents as morally depraved rather than simply ideologically opposed.
Drain the SwampRather than rid Washington of its layers of corrupt supplicants as he had promised on the campaign trail, he invited all of his cronies in to benefit from the greatest expansion of corrupt graft under any President we know of thus far.
Economic superiorityThe GOP often touts its economic policies as inherently superior, claiming to champion β€œfree markets” while endorsing tax cuts and deregulation that benefit the wealthiest at the expense of average Americans.
Election integrityCloaked in concern for β€œelection integrity,” this rhetoric is frequently code for voter suppression, sowing doubt in democratic systems under the guise of preventing fraud that is statistically negligible.
elites should rule othersThough they publicly denounce β€œelites,” the GOP has long relied on an entrenched hierarchy where wealthy insiders set policy, tacitly endorsing a class structure that keeps power in privileged hands.
Elite resentmentBy stoking resentment toward "elites," the GOP strategically channels legitimate frustrations into distrust of institutions, framing experts as adversaries to push an anti-intellectual, populist agenda.
Enemy of the peopleBorrowed from authoritarian playbooks, calling the media the β€œenemy of the people” undermines journalism’s role in holding power accountable, fostering public distrust in factual reporting while insulating the party from critique.
Flawed saviorGOP leaders often frame their candidates as β€œflawed saviors,” humanizing their shortcomings as β€œauthentic” while expecting voters to overlook misdeeds under the pretense of fighting a β€œgreater evil.”
Free speechThe GOP champions β€œfree speech” as a shield for offensive rhetoric, selectively defending it to legitimize hate and conspiracy while casting opponents’ criticism as censorship.
Freedom of religionUnder the banner of β€œreligious freedom,” the GOP has promoted policies that privilege Christian beliefs, framing inclusivity as a threat and sidelining the rights of non-Christians and secular Americans.
George SorosHungarian billionaire whose liberal politics irritate Vladimir Putin. Cast as a shadowy puppet master, George Soros has become the GOP’s favorite boogeyman, allowing them to funnel fears of globalism and liberal influence into a single, often antisemitic, scapegoat for everything they oppose.
Government is the enemyBy branding government as the enemy, the GOP promotes a β€œsmall government” narrative that frames public institutions as inherently oppressive, ignoring the role of government in providing essential services that benefit all citizens.
Government spendingThe GOP’s criticism of β€œgovernment spending” rarely applies to military or corporate subsidies; instead, they use it to vilify social programs, pushing a selective austerity that prioritizes profit over public welfare.
Great Man theoryEmbraced by the GOP to justify outsized authority, the Great Man theory glorifies β€œstrong leaders” as irreplaceable forces of change, ignoring the systemic contributions of everyday people and fostering a culture of authoritarian admiration.
Guantanamo BayOnce heralded as a necessary response to terrorism, Guantanamo Bay remains a symbol of human rights abuses and unchecked government power, its continued existence a stain on America’s reputation and a testament to a decade of bipartisan moral compromise.
Heroic redeemerThe GOP often casts its figureheads as β€œheroic redeemers,” saviors of American values who will β€œrestore” the nation, a narrative that overlooks their own policy failings and breeds an unquestioning devotion to the leader over democratic principles.
HollywoodPart of an "excuse framework" to ignore or dismiss something, by smearing it with vague "Hollywoodness." A cue to tune out and discredit the source. Prominent in the Qanon ideology.
Identity politicsThe GOP decries identity politics as divisive, dismissing the legitimate pursuit of marginalized groups’ rights as β€œplaying victim,” all while promoting their own forms of identity-based rhetoric tied to nationalism and traditional values.
InsultsRather than engaging in substantive debate, GOP discourse increasingly leans on insults and ad hominem attacks, a tactic that lowers the bar for political discourse while energizing a base attracted to combative rhetoric.
Jim CrowModern GOP policies echo Jim Crow tactics in their approach to voting rights and policing, subtly reinforcing racial hierarchies through β€œlaw and order” rhetoric and voter ID laws that disproportionately impact minority communities.
Job creatorsFramed as economic heroes, β€œjob creators” are often just wealthy corporations and CEOs receiving tax breaks, with the GOP perpetuating this myth to justify policies that favor the richest while sidelining workers' rights and fair wages.
Kyle Rittenhouse deificationRittenhouse has been elevated as a GOP folk hero, a troubling symbol that valorizes vigilantism and extreme interpretations of self-defense laws while casting violent actions as β€œpatriotic.”
Law and orderThe GOP’s β€œlaw and order” mantra prioritizes punishment over justice, often targeting marginalized communities and framing police authority as infallible, even as it dismisses accountability for law enforcement abuses.
Leftist apocalypseGOP rhetoric about a β€œleftist apocalypse” is designed to incite fear, painting progressive policies as dystopian threats to freedom while diverting attention from their own regressive agendas.
Liberalsβ€œLiberal” has become a GOP catch-all slur, evoking disdain for progressive values and framing anyone left of center as a radical, promoting tribalism over thoughtful discourse on policy differences.
Lost CauseAn American mythology manufactured after the Civil War by the Confederates, to soothe their wounds from the loss and whitewash the role of slavery in fomenting their sedition. In the Reconstruction era and beyond, the retcon held that "states' rights" had animated the southern states to secede from the union when in fact, the bitter contest had been inarguably about whether or not the peculiar institution was to continue in the new nation.
MAGAMore than a slogan, β€œMake America Great Again” has become a rallying cry for a brand of nationalism that idealizes a past rife with exclusion and inequality, often as a coded appeal to reverse social progress under the guise of patriotism.
MarxismGOP discourse uses β€œMarxism” as a catch-all for any progressive policy, conflating social welfare and economic regulation with authoritarianism, and fanning fears that equity is a slippery slope to state control.
minority ruleBy leveraging mechanisms like gerrymandering and the electoral college, the GOP has solidified a power structure that enables them to hold influence even without majority support, subverting democratic norms to preserve a shrinking voter base.
Mueller ReportOriginally heralded as a potential political reckoning, the Mueller Report was quickly undermined by the GOP as β€œpartisan overreach,” minimizing credible findings to cast the investigation as a witch hunt rather than a check on foreign influence.
MuzzledThe GOP often claims they are β€œmuzzled” by media and tech, positioning themselves as victims of censorship while using the supposed suppression to bolster a narrative that mainstream platforms are hostile to conservative voices.
National debtSuddenly out of nowhere (aka, when a Democrat comes to town), the national debt is a pressing problem. The GOP selectively decries the national debt to criticize social spending, yet they rarely extend this scrutiny to defense budgets or tax cuts for the wealthy, using debt concerns to mask their true fiscal priorities.
NostalgiaGOP rhetoric often hinges on nostalgia for a β€œsimpler time,” romanticizing a selective history that erases social struggles, casting the past as a lost ideal in order to resist modern demands for inclusion and justice.
Personal responsibilityThe GOP promotes β€œpersonal responsibility” as a rationale to dismantle social safety nets, shifting the burden of systemic issues onto individuals and minimizing the need for collective solutions to inequality.
Poll taxesModern GOP voter restrictions echo the discriminatory legacy of poll taxes, targeting marginalized groups under the guise of β€œelection security” to limit access to the ballot for those unlikely to support conservative candidates.
Pro-lifeβ€œPro-life” rhetoric is selectively applied to abortion by the GOP, often ignoring broader life-affirming policies like healthcare and social support that ensure quality of life, reducing complex issues to a single, polarizing stance.
QAnonOnce fringe, QAnon’s conspiratorial beliefs have been embraced by some in the mainstream GOP, spreading dangerous misinformation and fostering a distrust in democratic institutions by framing political opponents as part of a hidden, sinister elite.
RacismGOP rhetoric often denies systemic racism, framing the issue as either exaggerated or solved, dismissing discussions on race as divisive β€œidentity politics” and obstructing efforts toward equity and reform.
ReaganomicsThe GOP continues to champion Reaganomics, despite decades of evidence that trickle-down policies have widened inequality, promoting tax cuts for the wealthy as an unquestioned formula for prosperity that largely benefits the elite.
Refuse to recognize the legitimacy of one's opponentThe GOP’s growing refusal to accept opponents’ legitimacy fuels a dangerous precedent of distrust in democratic processes, painting opposition victories as fraudulent rather than respecting the will of the electorate.
Religious freedomUnder the guise of β€œreligious freedom,” the GOP champions policies that often privilege Christian beliefs over others, using faith as a shield to justify discrimination and exclude non-Christian communities from equal rights.
Run the country like a businessThe GOP’s push to β€œrun the country like a business” favors profit over people, promoting efficiency at the expense of social welfare and ignoring the unique role of government in safeguarding public well-being over private gain.
SadismGOP rhetoric and policies sometimes border on sadistic, reveling in punitive measures that target vulnerable groups, from restricting social services to celebrating harsh sentencing, with cruelty often spun as β€œtough love.”
silent majorityInvoking the β€œsilent majority” allows the GOP to claim moral high ground for their agenda, positioning themselves as the voice of β€œreal” Americans while dismissing progressive movements as fringe or unrepresentative.
small governmentThe GOP mantra of β€œsmall government” selectively shrinks programs that benefit the public, while expanding government’s reach in areas like policing, reproductive rights, and military spending, revealing a selective interpretation of freedom.
Social Justice WarriorsDismissed as β€œSocial Justice Warriors,” those who advocate for equality and reform are mocked by the GOP as overly sensitive or β€œwoke,” reframing calls for justice as extremist demands in an effort to downplay systemic issues.
SocialismUsed as a GOP scare word, β€œsocialism” encompasses everything from universal healthcare to progressive taxation, stoking Cold War-era fears to oppose any policy that might threaten corporate interests or reduce inequality.
States' rightsThe GOP’s rallying cry of β€œstates' rights” often justifies undermining federal protections, especially on issues like voting and civil rights, rehashing a states-versus-federal government narrative long used to resist progress.
The Big LiePropelled by the GOP, β€œThe Big Lie” insists that the 2020 election was stolen, a baseless claim that undermines faith in democratic institutions and sets the stage for voter suppression efforts under the guise of so-called β€œelection integrity.”
The Civil War wasn't about slaveryReframing the Civil War as a conflict over β€œstates' rights” sanitizes history, obscuring the central role of slavery and excusing the Confederacy’s legacy, which the GOP uses to appeal to certain voter bases.
The New Deal was bad for AmericaThe GOP derides the New Deal as government overreach, ignoring its role in lifting the U.S. out of the Great Depression to push a narrative that prioritizes β€œfree markets” over social welfare programs.
The SwampThe GOP paints Washington as β€œthe swamp” to capitalize on anti-establishment sentiment, yet often fills positions with insiders and lobbyists, exposing β€œdrain the swamp” as a hollow slogan.
Trickle down economicsDespite decades of evidence showing it widens wealth gaps, the GOP clings to trickle-down economics, framing tax cuts for the wealthy as a benefit to all when, in reality, the wealth rarely β€œtrickles down” to everyday Americans.
Trump "says it like it is"This GOP defense casts Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric as β€œhonesty,” portraying offensive comments as unfiltered truth rather than harmful language, allowing supporters to celebrate incivility as β€œauthenticity.”
UbermanEmbracing a Nietzschean β€œuberman” ideal, some in the GOP glorify β€œstrongmen” who embody unyielding authority, justifying authoritarian tendencies as a sign of strength while downplaying the need for democratic accountability.
VenezuelaThe GOP uses Venezuela as a cautionary tale for any left-leaning policy, equating social welfare with economic collapse to stir fears of β€œsocialist” policies that threaten American prosperity.
Voting is a privilege, not a rightFraming voting as a privilege, rather than a right, enables the GOP to justify restrictive policies that limit access, aiming to make the ballot box less accessible to certain demographics.
War on ChristmasThe perennial β€œWar on Christmas” narrative stokes cultural division by framing inclusive holiday practices as an attack on Christian traditions, positioning the GOP as defenders of religious heritage in a battle that barely exists.
WarmongersWhile the GOP often presents itself as β€œpro-military,” critics see some members as warmongers, eager to engage in conflicts that benefit defense contractors and geopolitical power, sometimes at the cost of lives and diplomacy.
Welfare queensReviving Reagan-era rhetoric, β€œwelfare queens” is a thinly veiled racist trope that paints those who need social assistance as cheats, justifying cuts to social programs under the guise of β€œfiscal responsibility.”
WMDsThe infamous β€œweapons of mass destruction” justification for the Iraq War became a hallmark of GOP-led misinformation, fueling a conflict on misleading grounds and setting a precedent for policy based on manufactured threats.
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The American Founders, by me and Midjourney

The Founders meant for the republic to be agile in philosophy — always changing to meet the new demands of the next generations. They meant for us to be self-governing, and empowered to create policy for problem-solving in new eras they themselves could not even conceive of. Thomas Jefferson wrote forewarningly of the Dead Hand of the Past and how critical it would be to not remain trapped by it. The Founders were agile not in the sense of software development (obviously!), but in the same spirit: they embraced responding to change over following a plan, and in continuously uncovering ways to develop a more perfect union.

Conservative ideology on the other hand — and in particular, Originalism — flouts the actual intentions of the Framers while cloaking itself in nationalist symbology. It tries to claim that our modern hands are tied by the dead ones of the past. The Originalist doctrine currently holding sway at The Supreme Court, The Federalist Society, and the majority of right-wing judiciary maintains that the best we can do is peer feebly into the distant past and try our best to squeeze ourselves into the minds of the men who inked our Constitution some 235 years ago.

The Founders wrote things. A lot of things.

Leaving aside for a moment the impracticality of that theory as an actual practice of interpreting the law, some consideration of materials on hand shows us that we needn’t go to all that trouble in the first place — why? Because the Founders left a lot of writings behind about exactly what they meant, and the principles they were thinking about, at the time of the nation’s founding and the drafting of our Constitution.

Continue reading The Founders were agile
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The Republican National Committee, in perhaps the most stunningly stupid self-own in the history of modern politics certainly in my lifetime, finally said the quietest part out loud: that in their official pronouncement, the events at the Capitol on January 6 constituted “legitimate political discourse.” Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger were censured by the RNC in the statement as well, for their role on the January 6 Committee and their investigation into these “legitimate” events involving a murderous attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power.

Yale historian Joanne Freeman had this to say about the RNC statement:

Democracy vs. Authoritarianism is on the ballot in 2022

If there’s any upside to the dark situation we’re in, it’s these gifts Republicans keep on giving — further debasing themselves each time you think they can’t possibly stoop any morally lower — that we can use to our advantage to turn out our base in record numbers in these upcoming midterms. We did it in 2018, and there’s no reason to believe we can’t do it now. Trump’s support is waning, not growing — and the fractures within the GOP are widening, not tightening. Plus, we’ll have 8 million new 18-year-old eligible voters we can potentially reach — the vast majority of whom statistically speaking, are going to be progressive Democrats.

None of the other policy questions or culture wars will matter if we cannot solve the most fundamental question at the heart of our democracy: do we still believe in the ideals of the Constitution, the rule of law, and the vision of a self-governing people shared by the Founders? Or do we want to hand over the keys to the nation to the erstwhile billionaires, old money heirs, and trust fund playboys who want to drag us back to some perverted nostalgic fantasyland that’s part Leave It To Beaver, part wild west, and part Silence of the Lambs?

Do we want democracy, or authoritarianism?

Do we want to choose our leaders, as citizens — or do we want politicians to choose our leaders?

It’s the only question in 2022.

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Bootlicker Kevin McCarthy showboated his way through an evening of scorn and ridicule for his audience of one: Herr Trump. His sad evening comedy routine for the “just joking!” crowd was an act of political theater given no votes in his caucus were ever in danger of voting for the bill, thus no need to persuade them. McCarthy’s speech sparked jeers and heckles from the chamber itself as well as the wider outside world, as tweets poured forth from inside and out of the Capitol.

Fortunately, the GOP Leader failed to stop Biden’s Build Back Better plan while gifting the Democrats with a healthy dose of both comedy gold and some irresistable mid-term slogans:

Continue reading McCarthy’s speech stunt gives gift of Democratic midterm slogans
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The articles of impeachment 2021 are so much clearer and simpler than last year’s impeachment — it’s the Marie Kondo version of indicting the president’s conduct. His coup attempt most certainly did not spark joy!

At least, not to the patriots who defended the United States Capitol from invasion on January 6, several of whom lost their lives including Brian Sicknick who lied in honor last week, as well as 2 Capitol Police officers who took their own lives subsequent to the events of that darkest of days in American history.

That is why it is important to both get the memory of that day seared into the historical record, and continue good faith efforts to seek justice for the trauma inflicted upon the nation by its supposed guardian. The House impeachment managers are doing an incredible job evoking both the clarity of the law pointing to his guilt, and the emotional gravity of what Republican House #3 leader Liz Cheney referred to as the “gravest violation of his oath of office by any president in the history of the country.”

He’s guilty

He said he would do it, and he did it — Trump refused to accept the results of a free and fair election, convinced his supporters it was stolen from him (and them), and that they had to “fight like hell” to “take their country back.” And yet Republicans want to claim that he could have had no idea what they would do, and that the whole thing was “obviously” an innocent misunderstanding and a “boys will be boys” sort of thing.

Nonsense — his droogs Mike Lindell, Mike Flynn, Roger Stone, Steve Bannon, and of course his royal brood were involved in planning this, along with multiple sitting members of Congress, some of whom spoke at the “Save America” rally at The Ellipse. Rally organizer Ali Alexander fingerprinted Reps Andy Biggs and Paul Gosar of Arizona and Mo Brooks of Alabama as his co-conspirators in the endeavor.

They made sure security was intentionally lax by decapitating the defense apparatus during the lame duck period, and installing a bunch of loyalist partisan hacks into “acting” positions of power who were pliable or even eager to do the president’s ill bidding.

Free Speech does not protect the abuse of public trust

Trump’s lawyers filed a brief indicating a First Amendment defense for their client, which former acting Attorney General Peter D. Keisler ripped to shreds in a scathing essay. Free Speech does not give you a license to be incompetent at your job, and the Trump’s failure to secure the Capitol during a violent insurrection was a dereliction of duty of the highest order — even if he hadn’t been involved in sowing it, planning it, funding it, promoting it, hosting it, and encouraging it.

1A also does not give you the right to use words to plan criminal activities, because that would be absurd. It would essentially render all law meaningless as a deterrent, so long as you only ever give orders to someone else to carry out your dirty work indirectly vs. getting your own hands dirty.

His conduct is not defensible

Republicans are trying to squirm away on procedural grounds so they can remain cowardly supplicants to the tyrant they love or fear, or both. They do not want to have to confront the reality of Trump’s abhorrent and unforgivable behavior on January 6, their role in enabling it, and their continued role in undermining small d democracy in this nation.

There is no defense of Trump’s behavior, but the GOP wants to pretend it has a mere technical disagreement with a document’s language as an excuse to not put themselves on record for the more serious and obvious hypocrisy of giving egregiously anti-American behavior a pass — it’s like a plea bargain of sorts.

He cannot hold public office

Breaching the public’s trust is grounds for disqualification from holding future office. Why should a free people suffer the tyranny of one who abrogates duty and holds in contempt an oath they swore, as if words have no meaning? Which, in essence, is the argument of Mr Textually from day 1 of the Trump impeachment trial.

The idea that a former official cannot be impeached is baseless, because the provision of preventing them from holding future office is enumerated in the Constitution to explicitly explain the rationale. And if ever there were a case of clear unfitness for duty, it is before the Senate right now.

Acquittal nullifies impeachment power altogether

If fomenting an armed insurrection to stay in office when you lose a democratic election is not an abuse of power, I really don’t know what is. If throwing out the will of the people and keeping yourself in power by force is not a violation of the oath of office, then oaths are worthless and there’s no point in speaking them anymore. They will have become dead sea scrolls, in a language dead to us and on a parchment too brittle for continued use.

Let us not throw out the Constitution while professing to save it. Senators know better, and they know that We the People — and not their ever-shrinking base — know they know it as well. The game theory is on our side as the timeline keeps ticking away.

Senators should vote to convict, for what is most certainly the highest presidential crime ever committed in the history of this nation. To preserve this republic, if we can keep it, Congress must hold him accountable for his behavior and apply consequences for defiling the founding principles of America.

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Is it possible the Condorcet jury theorem provides not just a mathematical basis for democracy and the justice system, but a model predictor of one’s political persuasion as well?

If you’re an optimist, you have no trouble believing that p > 1/2. You give people the benefit of the doubt that they will try their best and most often, succeed in tipping over the average even if just by a hair. That’s all it takes for the theorem to prove true: that the larger the number of voters, the closer the group gets to making the “correct” decision 100% of the time.

On the other hand, if you’re a pessimist, you might quibble with that — saying that people are low-information voters who you don’t think very highly of, and don’t find very capable. You might say that people will mostly get it wrong, in which case p < 1/2 and the theory feedback loops all the way in the other direction, to where the optimal number of voters is 1: the autocrat.

A political sorting hat of sorts

Optimists will tend to believe in the power of people to self-govern and to act out of compassion a fair amount of the time, thus leaning to the left: to the Democrats, social democrats, socialists, and the alt-Left. Pessimists will tend to favor a smaller, tighter cadre of wealthy elite rulers — often, such as themselves. They might be found in the GOP, Tea Party, Freedom Caucus, Libertarian, paleoconservative, John Birch Society, Kochtopus, anarcho-capitalist, alt-Right, and other right-wing groups including the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and other white militia groups around the country.

Granted the model is crude, but so was the original theorem — what is the “correct” choice in a political contest? Or does the Condorcet jury theorem imply that, like becoming Neo, whatever the majority chooses will by definition be The Right One for the job? πŸ€”

…if so, we definitively have the wrong President.

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