Trumpenstan

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, FEATURE, Trumpenstan January 30, 2020

‘A Very Stable Genius’ — A Conversation With Book Authors Carol Leonnig & Philip Rucker

Washington Post Live (1/24/20) Watch as The Washington Post’s White House Bureau Chief Philip Rucker and National Investigative Reporter Carol Leonnig discuss their new book, “A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump’s Testing of America.” Link To 54-Minute Video ***** WashWeekPBS Extra: Discussing “A Very Stable Genius” With Writer Carol Leonnig Washington Week (1/24/20) Moderator Robert Costa was joined by The Washington Post’s Carol Leonnig. She shared insights from her newly published book “A Very Stable Genius,” co-written with the Post’s Philip Rucker. Link To 10-Minute Video

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan January 27, 2020

Badly Bumbling Behind Those Who Have Gone Boldly Before Him…

By Mary Papenfuss HuffPost (1/24/20) Make it so! The just-unveiled seal for America’s new Space Force looks eerily familiar to the “Starfleet” badge that “Star Trek” watchers know so well. Some fans were over the moon — but most were in fusion-reactor meltdown. The Space Force emblem is decidedly out of this world after the new military division got dinged last week for coming up with woodland camouflage uniforms, which will almost certainly clash with extraterrestrial environments. The logo was unveiled Friday by President Donald Trump — on Twitter — after his consultation with “our Great Military Leaders.” The great…

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan, Your Brain On Politics January 23, 2020

FLUSH! How Trump’s Toilet Politics Connect With Many Voters

“Trump’s toilet politics are intimate, tangible, real, immediate and visceral for his cult members. They can flip a light switch and see that their new bulbs are not as bright or pleasing to the eye. Trumpists can look at the waste in their toilets and become frustrated that their excreta do not swirl down the bowl in as pleasing a way as previously. “In a world where they feel disempowered and confused by the complexities of social and political life in the 21st century, their Great Leader is offering them something tangible that they can both understand and control. As political…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, FEATURE, Rethuglicans, Right Wing Religion, Trumpenstan January 13, 2020

Former GOP Strategist Rick Wilson Pens New Rules For Republicans Who Have Decided To Worship ‘Sniffles The Clown’ Trump As Their God

By Sarah K. Burris Raw Story (1/8/20) Former Republican Rick Wilson unleashed an epic rant against Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Wednesday night. As part of the mockery of the South Carolina Senator, Wilson outlined new rules for Republican officials to follow under the leadership of President Donald Trump, who he called “Sniffles The Clown.” “The assertion by Lindsay Graham that today’s bizarre performance by Sniffles The Clown was on par with ‘Tear Down This Wall’ is part of the Saddamification of the GOP,” said Wilson. “What are the new rules?” he asked. Never be the first guy to stop clapping…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, M. Taylor Columns, Trumpenstan January 13, 2020

The Dangerous Mental State & Shared Psychosis Of The ‘King Of Everything’

By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (1/13/20) There has been a growing concern among the nation’s mental health professionals about the psychological state and fitness of Donald Trump in his role as president. His endless tweeting, lying, name calling, impulsivity, inconsistent policy statements and, most recently the assassination of an Iranian military leader, which has put the Middle East on edge and set the stage for serious military and diplomatic repercussions all underline the danger Trump’s mental state brings to the world. In the January 4 episode of the Ralph Nader Radio Hour, Nader does a two-part interview with…

ALL ARTICLES, History They Don't Want You To Know, M. Taylor Columns, Trumpenstan, War State America January 6, 2020

Trump’s Past Tweets Accusing Obama Of Pending Attacks On Iran Expose His Own Personal Weaknesses

By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (1/6/20) Psychological projection is an unconscious defensive behavior in which those with troubled and weak personalities angrily and snidely accuse others of the very weaknesses they can’t face in themselves. Donald Trump is a naked poster boy of the phenomenon. This past week Trump’s psychological projections were broadcast worldwide with his ordered assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, leading to well-founded fears of renewed war in the Middle East. Throughout Barack Obama’s presidency Trump launched tweets accusing Obama of what he himself is now doing. In the process, he projected his own personal…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, FEATURE, Rethuglicans, Right Wing Religion, Trumpenstan December 30, 2019

Craziest Op-Ed Of 2019 Arguing Trump Will Inspire A Religious Revival Is Far More Than It Seems

By Mike Lofgren Common Dreams (12/27/19) “For false christs and false prophets will arise and perform great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.” —Matthew 24:24 Just when you thought the soon-to-expire year had long since reached peak stupidity, Newsweek published a piece that set a record for preposterous ideas, confidently but incoherently argued. At first glance, it also appeared to demonstrate the lengths the supposedly mainstream media will go in giving equal time to fringe points of view—what is pretentiously called the national conversation. But it may actually be the result of a more ambitious agenda than just a…

ALL ARTICLES, Economic Injustice, One Percenters, Trumpenstan December 26, 2019

Trump’s Sour Holiday Menu: More Handouts For Billionaires, Hunger For The Poor

Ultimately, we must make a choice as a society: will we tolerate the insatiable greed and cruelty of the billionaire class? By Bernie Sanders & Rep. Rashida Tlaib The Guardian (12/24/19) When it comes to billionaires benefiting from the generosity of the American taxpayer, the holiday spirit is alive year-round. Taxpayers paid out $115m to Donald Trump so he could play golf at his own resorts. And Amazon didn’t just pay zero in federal taxes on $11bn in profits – taxpayers gifted the corporation $129,000,000 in rebates. That’s enough to pay for CEO Jeff Bezos’s three apartments in Manhattan, including a penthouse, that cost him $80m. We must demand that the…

'Just-Us' System, ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan December 23, 2019

‘Impresident’ Trump Is Number One … BIGLY!

126 members of Congress voted to impeach President Andrew Johnson in 1868. 221 members of Congress voted to impeach President Bill Clinton for obstructing justice in 1998. 230 members of Congress voted to impeach President Donald Trump for abuse of power this week. In other words, Donald Trump holds the singular distinction of being impeached by more members of the U.S. House of Representatives than any other president in our nation’s history. — Aaron Matteson, Dem frenz Facebook page (12/20/19) (Commoner Call cartoon by Mark L. Taylor, 2019. Open source and free for non-derivative use with link to www.thecommnercall.org )

ALL ARTICLES, FEATURE, Trumpenstan December 23, 2019

Ralph Nader Lays Out Nancy Pelosi’s Missed Opportunities With Impeachment

“It’s truly tragic.” Democracy Now! (12/16/9) Donald Trump is set to become the third president to be impeached when the Democrat-controlled House votes Wednesday on two charges related to his attempts to pressure Ukraine to investigate his political rival Joe Biden. The vote will send the charges to the Republican-controlled Senate, which will then hold a trial on whether to remove Trump from office. Witnesses who could be called to testify include former national security adviser John Bolton and acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney. Early Monday, the House Judiciary Committee released its full report on Trump’s impeachment…

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan December 19, 2019

He Can’t Run From It: Chiseling Trump’s Tawdry Legacy In Stone

“Today, the House of Representatives performed its constitutional duty by standing up for our democracy and standing up to the criminal in the White House. By voting to impeach Donald Trump, patriots affirmed that no one—not even the president of the United States—is above the law.” “Today, every single Republican in the House of Representatives became an accomplice to Trump’s subversion of our democracy. By failing to impeach Donald Trump, GOP lawmakers showed their blind loyalty to their party and to a corrupt president—and history will remember them for the cowards they are.” — Sean Eldridge, founder and president of the…

ALL ARTICLES, History They Don't Want You To Know, Media Hits & Misses, Trumpenstan December 19, 2019

Think Trump Is Bad? Reporter Jane Mayer Exposes The Koch-Brother Puppet Masters Behind Mike Pence

By Jeremy Scahill Intercepted Podcast (10/25/17) The great investigative journalist Jane Mayer has a fascinating exposé on Pence in the recent issue of The New Yorker magazine. The title of it is, “The Danger of President Mike Pence.” Jane is one of the best journalists of our time and she was one of the first reporters to crack open the CIA torture and extraordinary rendition program under Bush and Cheney. She has written a number of books. Her latest work has focused on investigating the Koch brothers and other shady right-wing or Republican financiers. Her most recent book is…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Economic Injustice, One Percenters, Trumpenstan December 16, 2019

For Growing Numbers, America Is Regressing Into A Brutal Developing Nation

The U.S. is no longer one country, but splitting into two separate economic and political worlds. By Lynn Parramore Institute For New Economic Thinking (4/20/17) You’ve probably heard the news that the celebrated post-WW II beating heart of America known as the middle class has gone from “burdened,” to “squeezed” to “dying.” But you might have heard less about what exactly is emerging in its place. In a new book, The Vanishing Middle Class: Prejudice and Power in a Dual Economy, Peter Temin, Professor Emeritus of Economics at MIT, draws a portrait of the new reality in a way that is frighteningly, indelibly…

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan December 12, 2019

‘Commander In Cheat’ — Former Sports Illustrated Columnist Rick Reilly Says ‘Donald Trump will cheat you on the golf course and then buy you lunch’

“He’s the biggest loser I’ve ever met.” By Donald McRae The Guardian (12/10/19) “Donald Trump is the worst cheat ever and he doesn’t care who knows,” Rick Reilly says as he describes a man he has known for 30 years. “I always say golf is like bicycle shorts. It reveals a lot about a man. And golf reveals a lot of ugliness in this president.” Reilly, the former Sports Illustrated columnist, has written a book called Commander in Cheat: How Golf Explains Trump. It’s rattling good fun which also depicts the startling duplicity of the president as a golfer. “You’re mostly…

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan December 9, 2019

Just Another Day In Trump’s White House: Rambling Rant About Flushing Toilets ’10 times, 15 times’

Too often the media reports snippets of Donald Trump’s rambling craziness; plucking a sentence or two that make some sense, but taken out of the context of the crazed narrative rant. To get a full sense of the extent of Trump’s cognitive muddle one needs to see the whole of Trump’s recent ‘toilet’ rant. The implications that the future of our nation is in the hands of such a mentally crippled man is really quite stunning. ***** “The light bulb — they got rid of the light bulb that people got used to. The new bulb is many times more…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Police State America, Trumpenstan, War State America December 9, 2019

Trump Trots Out Recently Pardoned War Criminals At Secretive Florida Fundraiser

“Should any American soldier be so base and infamous as to injure any [prisoner]. . . I do most earnestly enjoin you to bring him to such severe and exemplary punishment as the enormity of the crime may require. Should it extend to death itself, it will not be disproportional to its guilt at such a time and in such a cause… for by such conduct they bring shame, disgrace and ruin to themselves and their country.” — George Washington, orders to the Northern Expeditionary Force, Sept. 14, 1775 By Tom Boggioni Raw Story (12/7/19) According to a report from the Miami…

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan December 9, 2019

Bare-Faced Tomfoolery: Standing Stark Naked & Unprepared On The World Stage

By Richard Wolfe The Guardian (12/5/19) You know that classic nightmare where you’re at work and everyone is talking but none of them say the obvious: you’re stark naked. Donald Trump is living that hellacious dream every time he steps in front of the women and men who make up the world’s leaders. Stripped of his usual protections inside the White House, Trump exposes himself on the world stage at every conceivable opportunity. This week’s Nato summit in London was no exception, adding itself to the long list of denuded nonsense that erupts in front of every international figure. “I don’t want to…

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan December 9, 2019

Does Donald Trump Have The #Testestotestify?

TYT (12/6/19) “Fox News senior judicial analyst Andrew Napolitano on Thursday predicted that President Trump will testify on behalf of himself at an impeachment trial in the Senate, saying it would be “the most dramatic legal political event” in modern history. “ If you go to a Senate trial, who testifies on behalf of the president?” Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer asked Napolitano on the network’s “America’s Newsroom.” “Himself,” Napolitano quickly responded. “You believe that could happen?” Hemmer pressed. “I do,” replied Napolitano, a former New Jersey Superior Court judge. “I think it will be the most dramatic legal political…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Trumpenstan November 28, 2019

Trump Biographer David Cay Johnston Issues A Warning And Important Message Of Hope About Engaged Citizenship

“I believe that if the Republicans do not open their eyes and face the reality in front of them, then the voters are going to do real damage to them. This will be the type of political damage the likes of which they’ve never seen before — or we’re going to discover that the United States is fully headed toward fascism.” By Chauncey Devega Salon (11/27/19) You have been closely observing and writing about Donald Trump for more than three decades. With the Ukraine scandal and these weeks of congressional hearings none of this should really be a surprise. Given…

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan November 25, 2019

Trump’s Journey From Russian Useful Idiot To Working Asset And The Worldwide Attack On Democracy

“Trump has done an enormous service to Russia.” [Editor’s Note: This important interview provides a deep understanding of the Russian role of the rapidly morphing worldwide fascist revolution, including here in the United States. — Mark L. Taylor] By Jeff Schechtman WhoWhatWhy. (11/22/19) In this week’s WhoWhatWhy podcast, MSNBC counterterrorism analyst and bestselling author Malcolm Nance talks in detail about how Donald Trump has, in his view, betrayed the nation as an asset in a Russian plot to place a Kremlin-friendly US president in power. Nance argues that the effort to seduce Trump began as far back as the late 1970s. He…

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan November 21, 2019

Malignant Narcissism & Brittle Grandiosity On Full Display: “Deep inside, Donald Trump is a very empty and sad person”

He has said things such as “I’m the chosen one.” It is malignant narcissism and grandiosity, which has become more extreme. … All these things are becoming dramatically worse. By Chauncey Devaga Salon (11/18/19) …Dr. John Gartner is a psychologist, psychoanalyst and former professor at the Johns Hopkins University Medical School. Gartner is also the founder of the Duty to Warn PAC, an organization working to raise awareness about the danger to the United States and the world posed by Donald Trump. Gartner was a contributor to the 2017 bestseller “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental…

ALL ARTICLES, Russia Monitor, Trumpenstan November 18, 2019

Russia Monitor: Which One Wins? National Shame Or Pride

“House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.) decided to read the tweet aloud and give Yovanovitch a chance to respond. She said she found the effect of Trump’s words “very intimidating.”” — Trump tweeting witness intimidation aimed at former Ukraine Ambassador Yovanovitch during her testimony. ***** “The most profound threat to democracy today is not from Russia … The most grave threat to the life and health of our democracy comes from within, from a president without ethical compass. Without an understanding of or devotion to our Constitution.” — House Intelligence Chair Adam Schiff (D-CA) ***** “As glorious as…

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan November 11, 2019

Comedy Group Replaced The Covers Of Trump Jr.’s Whiny New Book

Daddy, Please Love Me: How everything I do is to earn my father’s love By Walter Einenkel Daily Kos (11/8/19) A New York City Barnes & Noble was the site of a prank performed by comedy group The Good Liars. The release of the greasiest Trump’s new memoir (which spends most of its ghost-written pages complaining about being a victim) seems to have inspired the fun. To add more context, the books were placed in a Young Adult display section at the store. I suspect most Young Adult readers and authors will be justifiably offended by the proximity of such trash writing, but the point being…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Rethuglicans, Trumpenstan November 7, 2019

Milwaukee Mayor Blames Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric & Policies For Acid Attack Against Hispanic Citizen

By Julia Conley Common Dreams (11/4/19) Milwaukee mayor Tom Barrett said Monday that President Donald Trump is responsible for violent hate crimes like an acid attack which left a 42-year-old man with second-degree burns in the city on Friday. Mahud Villaluz told CNN affiliate WISN that a man confronted him over a parking spot, called him “an illegal,” and told him to “go back to [his] country” before throwing battery acid at him. The incident was caught on surveillance video and a 61-year-old man was arrested in connection with the crime on Monday. “My concern is that more and more people feel that…

ALL ARTICLES, Rethuglicans, Trumpenstan November 7, 2019

Wired? Could This Explain The Highs & Lows Of Trump’s Behaviors & Impulsive Decision Making

David Packman Show (10/7/19) Shocking pictures appear to confirm Donald Trump’s likely use of “uppers” after boxes of Sudafed [a formulation not sold in the United States] were photographed during the 2016 campaign in his Trump Tower office desk. Link To 5-Minute Video ***** MASH-UP: Trump’s al-Baghdadi Speech & Obama’s Bin Laden Speech Jimmy Kimmel Live (10/28/19) When Barack Obama went on TV to announce they killed Bin Laden, he spoke for nine and a half minutes. Trump yesterday, when he announced they killed Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, did for 48 minutes. So, for further comparison, we thought it might…

'Just-Us' System, ALL ARTICLES, Police State America, Screwing With Your Vote, Surveillance State, Trumpenstan, War State America October 31, 2019

Trump’s Giant Loophole: Executive Control Of The Judicial Branch Is The Final Step To Tyranny

What happens when the judiciary is captured — and the bad guys are true fascists? Well, they turn the law itself into an instrument of violence. [Editor’s Note: This is an extremely important article to read and consider. Few people really understand the most dangerous moment we are facing in this nation. Whether by bumbling stupid luck or strategic calculation, Donald Trump has pushed the nation to the abyss of totalitarian fascism and time is short. — Mark L. Taylor] By Umair Haque Medium (10/25/19) In case you didn’t notice, yesterday [10/24] was an especially dark day for America democracy….

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, FEATURE, History They Don't Want You To Know, Trumpenstan October 24, 2019

Pity The Kurds (And Curse Our Callous, Cowardly Betrayal)

They were cannon fodder for the United States. By Chris Hedges TruthDig (10/21/19) I stood on the wind-swept Kalowa Hill in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniya as Pershan Hassan, a stocky 53-year-old woman, clambered quickly up the dirt track leading to where a mass grave was being excavated. She clutched a framed black-and-white picture of a boy. She pushed her way through the crowd that was looking down at the unearthed remains of dozens of bodies. Suddenly, she let out a gasp of pain and recognition as she saw the skeletal remains of her 13-year-old son, Shafiq. A faded…

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan October 21, 2019

Trump’s Unraveling Of Middle East Trashes US Reputation & Hurls Hundreds Of Thousands Into Deadly Chaos

“Trump’s promises to end the ‘crazy, endless wars’ have proven to be just another cynical ploy by this supremely cynical politician and con man.” — Medea Benjamin & Nicolas J S Davies, Trump’s Fake Withdrawal From Endless War (10/18/19) ***** As Trump Downplays Attack On Kurds, Amnesty Details Turkish War Crimes & ‘Utterly Callous Disregard For Civilian Life’ “The president is talking about genocidal slaughter and hundreds of thousands of war victims like it’s a playground squabble.” By Jake Johnson Common Dreams (10/18/19) Just hours after U.S. President Donald Trump downplayed Turkey’s assault on Kurds in Syria by likening it to a parking…

ALL ARTICLES, Trumpenstan October 3, 2019

To Impeach Or Not To Impeach? Chris Hedges & John Bonifaz Debate What Congress Should Do Next

Democracy Now (10/1/19) House Democrats subpoenaed President Trump’s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani Monday, seeking documents related to his work in Ukraine. Last week, Guliani admitted on television that he had urged the Ukrainian government to investigate Trump’s political rival and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden. This comes as House Democrats continue to build their case for impeaching the president, following a whistleblower complaint focused on a phone call in which Trump asked the Ukranian president to do him a “favor” investigating the actions of Democrats, including Joe Biden and his son Hunter. Meanwhile, Trump is continuing to threaten…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, FEATURE, History They Don't Want You To Know, Police State America, Rethuglicans, Right Wing Religion, Surveillance State, Trumpenstan September 30, 2019

Pathocracy: The Pathological Power Of Governments Led By Narcissists & Psychopaths

The danger of democracy transitioning into pathocracy is always real. It is always closer to us than we think, and once it has a foothold, will crush every obstacle in its way. By Steve Taylor The Conversation (9/19/19) After spending his early life suffering under the Nazis and then Stalin, the Polish psychologist Andrew Lobaczewski devoted his career to studying the relationship between psychological disorders and politics. He wanted to understand why psychopaths and narcissists are so strongly attracted to power as well as the processes by which they take over governments and countries. He eventually came up with the term “pathocracy”…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, History They Don't Want You To Know, Police State America, Surveillance State, Trumpenstan September 30, 2019

Before The Hobnail Boot Of Tyranny Falls, There Are Warnings

By Mark L. Taylor The Commoner Call (9/23/19) Oftentimes big stories are revealed in small footnotes. The Miami Herald recently reported (9/19)that a Marine Corps unit was looking to hold its celebration of the annual Marine Corps Ball at Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. “At a time when taxpayer and foreign-government spending at Trump Organization properties is fueling political battles, a U.S. Marine Corps reserve unit stationed in South Florida hopes to hold an annual ball at a venue that could profit the commander-in-chief,” the Miami Herald reported Thursday. The news comes after recent reports of Trump’s struggling Turnberry golf resort in Scotland benefiting from diverted…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Trumpenstan September 9, 2019

Grifter In Chief: Trump Businesses Banking Millions Bilking Taxpayers

Pentagon Officials Are Allowing Trump To Personally ‘profit off of the military’ By Matthew Chapman Raw Story (9/7/19) On Saturday [9/7], Politico’s Natasha Bertrand spoke with MSNBC’s Joy Reid about her new reporting that Air Force transports made unusual stopovers at the Trump Turnberry resort in Scotland, as the resort gained $3 million in revenue in 2018. “How unusual is it for a military transport to stop at a private hotel, any private hotel, rather than like Ramstein Airbase in Germany and the other official military bases where they stop?” “Very unusual, Joy,” said Bertrand. “[Trump Turnberry] made about $11 million off…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Democrats, FEATURE, Police State America, Rethuglicans, Surveillance State, Trumpenstan September 5, 2019

America’s Slow-Motion Coup Keeps Grinding Forward: But Is Donald Trump Really The One To Blame?

We need to understand that Trump is a symptom, not the problem. By Andrew O’Hehir Salon (8/2/19) We are in the middle of a slow-motion coup in the United States of America. Even the phrase itself is banal, which is itself a symptom of our moral and political exhaustion. But sometimes clichés are on the money. Most of this coup is happening right out in the open, where those of us who are somewhat paying attention can notice it, bemoan it and then move on to the next day’s real or manufactured outrage. That doesn’t seem to be helping. There…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, History They Don't Want You To Know, Trumpenstan, War State America September 2, 2019

On The 80th Anniversary Of WW II We Must Remember The Knowledge Of Brutal Human Rights Abuses Had Long Been Ignored

Gatehouse to infamous Auschwitz-Birkenau death camps. Now as then, ignoring of human rights abuses lays groundwork for more tragedy to come. [Editor’s Note: With yesterday’s [9/1/39] 80th anniversary of the beginning of WW II it would be comforting to think we have learned the lessons of not tolerating government abuse of human rights. But with a spreading network of filthy and abusive concentration camps along our southern border it is impossible to say we have learned anything. Worse, no doubt, is sure to come and the national moral stain will run deep. — Mark L. Taylor] By Peter Beaumont The Guardian…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, FEATURE, Trumpenstan, Your Brain On Politics August 26, 2019

Goebbels: The Truth About Political Lying (Or Why Trump Lies So Much)

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.” — Joseph Goebbels, Adolf Hitler’s Reich Minister of Propaganda.

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, History They Don't Want You To Know, Police State America, Trumpenstan August 15, 2019

Civil Rights Lawyer Shows 20 Ways Trump Is Following Hitler’s Early Rhetoric & Policies

“From the leading constitutional lawyer who has sued every president since LBJ, a masterful explication of the ‘pillars of our democracy’.” — Amazon review By Steven Rosenfeld Independent Media Institute (8/9/19) A new book by one of the nation’s foremost civil liberties lawyers powerfully describes how America’s constitutional checks and balances are being pushed to the brink by a president who is consciously following Adolf Hitler’s extremist propaganda and policy template from the early 1930s—when the Nazis took power in Germany. In When at Times the Mob Is Swayed: A Citizen’s Guide to Defending Our Republic, Burt Neuborne mostly focuses on…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Trumpenstan August 8, 2019

Trump’s Cynically Snarky ‘Up Yours’ Empathy-Free Non-Apology Tour

“My Rhetoric Brings People Together”: Trump Has An Untruthful Take On His Anti-Immigrant Slurs By Gaby Del Valle VICE News (8/7/19) Heading out the door to visit the mass shooting sites of Dayton and El Paso, President Donald Trump denied that his repeated anti-immigrant slurs had anything to do with either massacre — even the one carried out by a man who echoed Trump when he referred to Hispanics and immigrants as “invaders.” “No, I don’t think my rhetoric has at all,” the president told reporters outside the White House on Wednesday morning. “I think my rhetoric brings people together. Our country is doing incredibly…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Trumpenstan August 8, 2019

It’s Impossible To Continue Ignoring Trump’s Role In Inspiring Mass Shootings

“The president may not be pulling the trigger or planting the bomb, but he is enabling much of the hatred behind those acts.” By Mehdi Hasan The Intercept (8/4/19) On Saturday [8/3] morning, a gunman at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, shot and killed at least 20 peoplebefore surrendering to the police. By all accounts, Patrick Crusius, the 21-year-old alleged shooter, is a fan of President Donald Trump and his policies. According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, “a Twitter account bearing the suspect’s name contains liked tweets that include a ‘BuildTheWall’ hashtag” and “a photo using guns to spell out ‘Trump.’” Incredibly, the nation woke…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, FEATURE, Trumpenstan, Your Brain On Politics August 1, 2019

Trump’s Crude Words Are Cruel, Hateful – And Infectious. We Must Resist Calculated Hate

Language is a kind of virus, and history has shown many times that this virus can be lethal. By Francine Prose The Guardian (7/30/19) In the lead-up to the 2016 election, after Donald Trump referred to Mexican immigrants as “animals” and his supporters began chanting “Lock her up” about Hillary Clinton, it seemed as if a malevolent genie had been let out of a bottle. Now, almost three years later, it has become painfully clear just how cruel, powerful and destructive that hateful spirit is, and that the survival of our country, our culture – indeed of our humanity – may depend…

ALL ARTICLES, American Fascism, Trumpenstan July 29, 2019

While Ignoring Surge In Far Right Killings Trump Warns Antifa May Be Branded A Terror Group

The far right accounted for 73% of 425 extremist murders in the U.S. between 2009 and 2018. By Mary Papenfuss HuffPost (7/27/19) President Donald Trump warned Saturday that “consideration is being given” to declaring antifacist protesters — Antifa — a “terror” organization. He issued the threat even though Antifa followers haven’t been linked to a single killing, while the death toll of far-right extremists is surging. Trump’s warning follows a nonbinding resolution introduced earlier this month by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) calling for the “designation of Antifa as a domestic terrorist organization.” Cruz later called on Attorney General William Barr to investigate…