The Day the Republican Party Shook Hands With the Devil

I was thirteen years old on July 14, 1964, when I sat in the living room with my parents and watched the beginning of the long, painful death of the Republican Party.

We were watching a live broadcast of the 1964 Republican convention in San Francisco. For months New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller and Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater had fought to become the party’s nominee. Rockefeller was a pro-civil-rights star from the party’s traditional Northeastern wing. (When Martin Luther King was stabbed, Rockefeller quietly paid for his hospital bill.) Goldwater was the fiery leader of a starkly different, ultraconservative movement based in the West and South. He had voted against the Civil Rights Act and openly accepted the support of racist, extreme right-wing, conspiracy-driven groups like the John Birch Society.

During the campaign, Rockefeller predicted what would happen to his party if Goldwater were to win the nomination. Goldwater, Rockefeller said, was pursuing “a program based on racism and sectionalism.”

After a close race, Goldwater narrowly beat Rockefeller in the California primary and effectively clinched the nomination. When an aide called on Rockefeller to summon the power of the Eastern Establishment, Rockefeller told him, “You are looking at it, buddy. I am all that is left."

At the party convention at the Cow Palace, Rockefeller was given five minutes to address the delegates in defense of five amendments to the party platform that had been submitted by the moderate wing to counter the extremist Goldwater platform.

Rockefeller let the Goldwater delegates have it. Standing underneath a portrait of Abraham Lincoln, Rockefeller told the furious Goldwater delegates that “There is no place in this Republican party for such hawkers of hate, such purveyors of prejudice, such fabricators of fear. There is no place in this Republican party for those who would infiltrate its ranks, distort its aims, and convert it into a cloak of apparent respectability for a dangerous extremism. The Republican party must repudiate these people.”

The Goldwater crowd gave it right back, interrupting Rockefeller 22 times and booing him lustily for sixteen long minutes while he stood his ground at the podium and insisted on his right to speak.

“This is still a free country, ladies and gentlemen,” Rockefeller smilingly told them, condemning the “infiltration and takeover of established political parties by communist and Nazi methods.”

Rockefeller refused to support Goldwater in the 1964 election. Goldwater was crushed by Lyndon Johnson that November, but the Republican Northeastern establishment would never again control the party. The GOP had begun its horrific, inexorable journey toward Donald Trump, white supremacy, and fascism.

Fiona Hill wasn't shy about speaking the truth about the biggest threat to our national security: Donald Trump. The impeachment process and the 2020 campaign need to embrace this reality, too.

Our national political crisis crystalized on Thursday when Fiona Hill pointed out—to their faces—that the White Supremacist Party members of the House Intelligence Committee were willfully promoting a disinformation campaign led by Vladimir Putin. The White Supremacists showed a rare moment of fear and squealed their denials, but Hill’s point was unassailable. Donald Trump—not Russia, not Iran, not North Korea—is the greatest threat to our national security, and this has been evident since Helsinki. This core reality needs to be front and center in the impeachment process and the 2020 election campaign.

Just as there will likely be a broad article of impeachment detailing Trump’s obstruction of justice, there should be a broad article of impeachment declared Trump a threat to national security. No further hearings or documentation would be needed, as the entire case is already in the public domain. The article could reference:

·         Trump’s refusal to accept the reality of climate change, the biggest threat to our national security, and his decision to pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement.

·         Trump’s refusal to read his daily intelligence brief.

·         Trump’s persistent and public refusal to accept the fact that Russia interfered in the 2020 election and his public siding in Helsinki with Vladimir Putin over the entire U.S. intelligence community.

·         Trump’s refusal to spend money allocated by Congress to protect our elections from foreign interference or to put in place a plan for protecting the 2020 elections, despite constant warnings from the intelligence community and bipartisan Congressional committees that this is already happening.

·         Trump’s persistent and public effort to impugn the reputation of U.S. intelligence agencies, including accusing them, with no evidence, of spying on his 2016 campaign.

·         Trump’s refusal to keep records of his private, closed-door and telephone conversations with Vladimir Putin.

·         Trump’s decisions to pull the U.S. out of preexisting treaties and agreements, such as the Iran Deal, the INF treaty with Russia, our support of the expulsion of Russia from the G8, and our longstanding refusal to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, that enhanced our national security.

·         Trump’s refusal to abide by basic security procedures, including ensuring that security clearances are not granted to people who may be security risks, revoking the security clearances of people who disagree with him, the use of personal cell phones for highly sensitive conversations that has certainly resulted in their interception by foreign adversaries, and his sharing of classified information with Russian officials in the Oval Office.

·         Trump’s conscious strategy to not fill key national security positions, including that of the National Security Advisor and the Secretary of Homeland Security.

·         Trump’s decision to reallocate money budgeted for troop pay and pensions to pay, which are vital to troop morale, for his border wall.

·         Trump’s declaration of a phony national emergency at the southern border to justify the building of his wall.

·         Trump’s plans to transfer nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in violation of federal law.

·         Trump’s persistent efforts to enhance the international reputations of some of the world’s most odious dictators, including Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, President Xi of China, and the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.

·         Trump’s persistent and unjustified criticism of U.S. allies, especially our NATO partners in Europe, and his decisions to withhold military funding approved by Congress from allies unless they interfere in U.S. elections on his behalf.

·         Trump’s decision to renege on our promises to the Kurds and his approval of a campaign of genocide against them.

·         Trump’s promotion of racism within the U.S. and in Europe by mischaracterizing refugees as security threats and criminals, and prohibiting Muslims from traveling to the United States.

·         Trump’s persistent efforts to purge the intelligence agencies, the State Department, and the Justice Department of people he deems are not politically loyal to him.

·         The refusal of Trump and his family members to stop conducting personal business dealings with foreign governments.

·         Trump’s public endorsement of torture and his decision to not charge or try the prisoners at Guantanomo are both top recruitment tools for terrorist groups.

·         Trump’s decision to ban transgender people from serving in the military, which harms national security by creating unnecessary vacancies and damaging morale.

Likewise, the Democrats need to openly campaign in 2020 against the effort by Trump and the White Supremacist Party to destroy our national security along with our institutions and the rule of law. This is not a Republican versus Democrat election. This is an existential political contest and the security of the United States is at stake. Trump and the White Supremacist Party members in Congress are not acting for political gain and not for anyone’s definition of the best interests of the United States. We must take a cue from Fiona Hill and confront their treason head on.

Beware of Billionaires Bearing Bipartisanship

The American electorate is deeply divided. Bipartisanship and compromise are essential to bringing the country together, but the dramatic leftward shift of the Democratic Party is making this more difficult. Voters are anxious to vote for an independent moderate who occupies the political space between the two parties. 

Horseshit. 

Yes, the actions of our government should reflect the desires of the majority of our citizens. And you can make the case that much of the progress the United States has made has been the result of 250 years of middle-ground compromises between conservative and liberal constituencies. 

Today, however, those constituencies and the parties that have historically represented them are no longer roughly equal in size or representative of traditional conservatism and liberalism. Most Americans don’t hold political beliefs that occupy a space halfway between the policies of the GOP and the Democratic parties.  

We only have to look at the recent examples of Howard Schultz and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortes to understand this. 

• Howard Schultz, a billionaire businessman, steams his imperial yacht into Presidential waters on behalf of the 40 percent of American voters who self-identify as independents, who he claims are desperately looking for a national savior in the form of a billionaire coffee executive and failed sports-team owner who opposes the “extremes” of both parties.  

• Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Congressional rookie, has proposed to tax the rich at a 70-percent rate after their first $10 million—an idea that has been greeted by Republicans as a “leftist fantasy program.”  

If Schultz is to be believed, these developments serve as good examples of the difference between the moderate “silent majority” and the “extreme” wing of the Democratic Party. 

How have American received these proposals from a classic moderate and an “extreme” democratic socialist? 

• Polls show a scant 7.7% of voters supporting Howard Schultz’s Presidential aspirations. The only major political figure who applauded Schultz’s flirtation with throwing his hat in the ring was Donald Trump—polls show that Schultz would draw most of his scant support from Democrats. A “major policy speech” by Schultz at Purdue University this week drew a tiny crowd and on online audience that peaked at 200.  

• A Hill/HarrisX poll taken last month, on the other hand, shows AOC’s “tax the rich” proposal supported by 59% of Americans—in fact, by the majority of women and men in all regions of the country. Even 45% of Republicans say they like the idea. 

This should not be surprising, given that polls taken over the past year show that the majority of Americans also support: 

• Medicare for all (70%) 

• Free public college (63%) 

• Stricter gun control laws (68%) 

• Legal abortion (57%) 

• Taking action to reduce global warming (66%)

• Overturning Citzens United (87% of Democrats, 82% of independents, and 60% of Republicans) 

 Recent polls also make clear what the majority of Americans are AGAINST: 

• Building a wall on our southern border (60% oppose) 

• Donald Trump (56% oppose) 

• Partisan gerrymandering of legislative districts (71% oppose) 

• The deportation of illegal immigrants (84% oppose) 

 Polls are not scientific or infallable, but these large majorities clearly show that the politicians who best represent the majority of Americans are not Howard Schultz or Donald Trump but AOC, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders. 

Obviously, the balance of power in Washington does not reflect the desires of the majority of Americans. There are three primary reasons for this—the extreme rightward shift of the GOP, the Republicans’ success in establishing a tyranny of the minority, and the corrupting influence of money on every level of politics and in both parties. 

Donald Trump’s GOP is not the party of conservatism. The traditional conservative principles of conservatism—a small federal government, fear of deficits, support for free trade, and respect for the social hierarchy and social institutions—have no place in Trump’s GOP, which is a proudly fascist, white-supremacist party that has openly declared war on the rule of law in America. 

The Republican Party has brilliantly managed their core problem—that their voter base represents a minority of Americans and is shrinking every year. Rather than respond to this reality by increasing the party’s appeal, the GOP has worked tirelessly—and successfully—to establish a tyranny of the minority for by suppressing voting, taking over governorships and state legislatures to gerrymander as many safe Republican districts as possible across the country, leveraging the undemocratic institutions in our Constitutional framework (e.g., the Senate and the Electoral College), and attempting an end-around against future populist legislation by packing the federal judiciary and stealing a seat on the Supreme Court. And the GOP has cunningly used racism and wedge issues like abortion to convince Americans vote against their own economic best interest.

Money has completely corrupted our political system. It is an existential threat to our politics equivalent to the threat of global warming to our planet. AOC did a brilliant job of explaining of demonstrating this during a recent Congressional hearing. Both the Democrats and the Republicans have participated in the disastrous reduction of the corporate tax rate from 90% in the 1950s to the 21% rate we have today.  

'We have a system that is fundamentally broken.' - Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is explaining just how f*cked campaign finance laws really are. " Subscribe to NowThis: http://go.nowth.is/News_Subscribe In the latest liberal news and political news, New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made headlines at a recent congressional hearing on money in politics by explaining and inquiring about political corruption.

Howard Schultz and Michael Bloomberg are classic examples of the rich, socially liberal donors who have typically supported the Democratic Party—until that organization starts talking about helping unions, making the ultra-rich shoulder a fair tax burden, providing universal health care or offering free higher education.

When Democratic-leaning billionaires like Schultz and Bloomberg accept their tax windfalls and then explain that we have to focus on the deficit and that we can’t afford anything for the middle class, they reveal themselves not as moderates but as rich people who are just as disinterested in the success of the majority of Americans as anyone in the Flying Monkeys Party. 

Bipartisan “compromises” between the Democratic progressivism represented by AOC, Warren, and Sanders on the one hand and the fascist GOP would not reduce political polarization by moving this country to the political center. AOC, Warren, and Sanders ARE that center, or at least very close to it. Bipartisanship today is just another con by the Trumpists who want to move the country to the right and by rich Democrats who want to protect their wealth. The tension and polarization in this country is the result of the failure of both parties up til now to stand for the 99% of Americans. 

Don’t be confused by the GOP’s constantly moving the political goal posts as it becomes more extreme and more criminal, by the false notion that Creature From the Past Lagoon Joe Biden is the only candidate who can beat Trump, or the claim by Howard Schultz that he represents the “silent majority.”    

We can all take heart that the only fan of Schultz’s weak brew is Donald Trump, that the Democratic Party has universally condemned him, and that AOC and Warren and Sanders and the voters who have been inspired by them are guiding that party not to an “extreme leftward shift” but to the real political center of this country. 

We Are the Terrorists

This is an emotional day, and we don’t yet know the identity of the terrorist or terrorists, but it is possible to catalogue the indisputable facts behind the situation.

Live explosive packages were sent to former President Obama, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Representative Debby Wasserman Schultz, Representative Maxine Waters.

There are also unconfirmed reports of other suspicious packages being mailed to other individuals and groups.

The early word from law enforcement is that there are similarities between these packages. We don’t yet know for sure, but given that these packages were mailed inside the United States, this is likely domestic terrorism.

What we experienced today is REAL terrorism, not to the fake terrorism constantly spun up by our government for political benefit.

This is concerted terrorism that is politically motivated.\

The link between all of the people and organizations targeted by this terrorist or terrorists is the fact that all of them have been the targets of vicious attacks from Trump and the Republican Party that go beyond political attacks and into the realm of threats. This is a fact. Trump and the Republican Party have made threatened these people and organizations with imprisonment, called them “the enemy of the people,” claimed that they were not actual Americans, accused them of coddling or colluding with ISIS and other terrorist groups, threatened to remove their Secret Service protection, and relentlessly branded them as the biggest threats to America.

Trump has instigated violence against his opponents at his rallies, referring over and over again to the “good old days” when political opponents were “taken care of.”

Trump has praised the vicious, and murderous treatment of political opponents by the tyrannical leaders of other countries, including Saddam Hussein, Kim Jong Un, Rodrigo Duterte, Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, and Vladimir Putin.

There is no morality, much less moral leadership, in the Republican Party. They have, and will continue to be, purposely silent about Trump’s fascist message as long as they can win primaries.

Today’s GOP is the party of white supremacy, authoritarianism, domestic terrorism, and treason.

Trump and the GOP have yet to pay a real price for abandoning core American principles, and they won’t change their ways if this does not happen. It’s not at all clear that they will change even if they DO pay a price.

Trump and the Republicans are just the most public faces and the loudest cheerleaders for all that is dark, monstrous, and un-American in this country.

We are the terrorists. The millions who support Trump and vote for Republicans are endorsing domestic terrorism, institutionalized racism, and fascism.

Trumpism has already claimed a life in Charlottesville.

Trumpism will lead to more violence and more deaths.

That is not a political or a partisan statement. It’s not a declaration of war against people I don’t agree with. It’s the plain, obvious truth.

Republicans--an age-old problem

Just in case you were under the impression that Republicans were a new plague upon our great nation...

This is just a short clip from a 1932 WC Fields movie that demonstrates all too well that the political thinking of Americans hasn't changed much over the years.