Why Shaming Republican Candidates For Their Bigotry Won't Work

The Democrats and media are correct in calling out the unequivocally bigoted campaign rhetoric coming from numerous Republicans, but at this point, it's very moot. Now this is by many of these heads openly taking that shame, and turning it into a badge of honor. Some on the left have every incentive to pin this spike in hateful speech on Donald Trump, but they're thoroughly going after the wrong person.

Trump is the figure who's been blurting the quieter part of the Republican Party's numerous coded and bigoted tropes out loud, which had invariably marked a change in tone. But he's not the cause for all of this, especially not the direct one. That honor falls onto greater figures of yesteryear. These are people such as James Buckley and Robert Welch, both of whom had entirely opposed the ending of segregation and the onset of Civil Rights. Doing so starting right back in 1954 with the ruling of Brown v. Board. 

So for all this bigoted horseshit that Republicans have been saying on the campaign trail, it's a clear sign that the party so taking a chapter out of Trump's playbook. But at the same time, it's also a sign that all these new Dixiecans are picking up from where their Dixiecrat ancestors were stymied in the 1960s and 1970s. Trying to get rid of the Civil Rights laws which outlawed Jim Crow. All with its unremittingly mandated segregation and discrimination.

For Republicans, it's not so much about gaining power as a party, it's about a section of America seeking total revenge for what it determines as encroachment on its rights: the White South, specifically of its elites. Some members of this clique have a thoroughly long history of using such bellicose language whenever they don't get their way. To them, it's about preserving a power structure which can actually only run smoothly upon the suffering of non-Whites, especially Blacks. They and Hispanics/Latinos are overwhelmingly targetted for either their dark skin tones, or for speaking in the wrong language, or both. Bear in mind, this is only a small fraction of this group which we're talking about, not the overwhelming majority.

Donald Trump Will Be Elected President In 2024

A lot of people need to avoid falling into a false sense of confedence that Joe Biden, or whomever runs in his place on the Democratic national ticket, will be (re)elected in 2024. NO HE/THEY WON'T! Donald Trump will be "elected" (more like implanted) in 2024 instead.

Trump is going to become president through a combination of cheating from vote suppression and legislative undermining of popular will. We can fight this to the n^th degree, but it's not going to change the reality that Trump is going to win and by a bigger margin in the electoral college than he did in 2016; although with a smaller percentage of the popular vote. This is not so much minority rule as it is White Supremacist reign returning. Returning after a nearly 60-year hiatus.

Donald Trump's Continued Hold On The Republican Party

It shouldn't be lost on anyone that Donald Trump us still pulling the strings behind the Republican Party's descent into fascism. This is why Republicans in Congress are fighting tooth and nail to ensure that no commission is set up for investigating the 01/06/2021 attack on the Capitol. Having the commission up and running means that some of them are likely going to be implicated in the attack's prior planning. It'll also illustrate that some figures in the Republicans' congressional leadership had also been in communication with then outgoing Trump about effectively executing the uprising.

Seeing both Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell squirm at the bill's passage in the House of Representatives indicates that they likely know something in how the attempted coup was allowed to happen in the first place. So be sure to watch this pair and their seconds-in-command in the coming days as these 2 are clearly trying to cover up any potential involvement of both themselves and anyone else in their respective conferences. They're also the gateway to Trump himself (who's doing everything he can think of to keep himself out of prison), who's leading the base to force those Republicans in power to be part of his cover up effort.

Don't think that Trump isn't aware of his deteriorating legal situation, or the fact that he's likely going to be in prison, because he definitely is. If a commission is set up by Congress to investigate the uprising of 01/06, it might illustrate his level of involvement in addition to the congressional Republicans' leadership's knowledge of the event's commencement and when they knew about it.

Republicans Caught Flat-Footed Trying To Oppose Biden

 It's not lost on anyone that Joe Biden and congressional Democrats have been running circles around the Republicans in Congress with great success thusfar. While it is great to see that, it's also a warning sign, too. Here's how: It's a warning sign by illustrating just how broken our system of governance has become; and with 1 of the 2 major political parties out to lunch, fixing it is going to be a real challenge. The first means of getting control of our nation from the hijacking done by the far-right is to rein in corporate excess and wealth inequities that have been driving its extremism.

So far, the Republicans seem content on embracing this far-right extremism and making it their party's brand; rejecting the will of the rest of the electorate in the process. To them, the far-right's extremist conduct and rhetoric is their ticket back into power in 2022. That and extreme gerrymandering. Whether all of that will work or not isn't the question we should be asking ourselves. The question we should be asking ourselves is how to go about changing the culture in Washington, DC so that the Republicans have no other choice than ditching the far-right for good. That is going to take some time, and a few electoral losses, for the Republican Party to ultimately reach that conclusion. In the meantime, many veteran Republican senators and representatives are heading for the exits as they don't see any reason to remain in an environment that encourages the worst abuses of power for personal gain. Essentially they're tired of being forced into concentrating on scoring political points instead of doing their actual job, which is governing and keeping tabs on the current issues of the day to craft policy.

It's the 1 fact that Democrats in Washington are beginning to recognize, they need to start moving the government's policy-making closer to where the people are. If they keep remaining responsive to this fact, it'll help them hold strong in the 2022 midterm election; maybe even gain seats in both chambers (the incumbent party has pulled off this result 4 times in US History: 1806, 1818, 1934 and 2002). Should the Democrats continue to successfully illustrate actual governance and productivity looks like, it'll help them make the case that the Republicans should not be given any lever of power given that they don't govern at all and their party has become the unproductive do-nothing party. 10 years of Republican mismanagement has taken a heavy toll on us all, and so far the Democrats have demonstrated that they understand that point very clearly. They recognize now in 2021 that they screwed up badly in 2009 and 2010 by going by the old manual of crafting legislation, which did little to help people as the economy began to recover from the worst throes of the Great Recession.

As for the original premise of this blog post, the fact is that Republicans are not just opposing the vast majority of the electorate when trying to obstruct Biden and the Democrats. They're also opposing their own base who actually supports what Biden and the Democrats are doing with their new trifacta. Biden is able to connect with them, making it easy for them to understand what's being churned out of Congress. The other problem the Republicans are also running into is that Biden is nowhere near as polarizing as either Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton were when they were running for president (or in Obama's case, as president). And because he's nowhere near as polarizing, it's next to impossible to get their based all riled up in anger. Republicans have demonstrated time and again that they have nothing to offer and are bankrupt of ideas; that is with the exceptions of lowering taxes on the wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations and expanding deregulation of the economy.

1968 Is The Wrong Comparison For 2020

I have no patience for those voices who claim that 1968 is the year for us to compare 2020 to in terms of dynamic similarities, as it's the wrong analogy. The right election years to compare 2020 to are 1980 and 1992. 1980 and 1992 were years of immense change in how certain regions had aligned themselves politically. Some states, like California. were Republican-leaning swing states prior to 1992; while others, such as Texas, had been Democratic-leaning swing states prior to 1980. 2020 is shaping up to be a year along those same dynamics again. 

What The Results Of This Year's Elections Tell Us

With the Democrats taking 2 of the 3 gubernatorial races and control of the Virginia State Legislature in this year's elections, they're now in a much stronger position to fight the effects of Trumpism and ultraconservatism coming from the Republicans. This means that for average Americans, the assault on their basic rights as citizens will no longer be under attack and that their voice in government will be much stronger.

The results are also indicating a problem for Trump and the Republican Party, and that problem is that their lies are no longer being believed by the American people. That realization should scare them, as they have no further credibility as time goes on. With the exception of Gerald Ford, each Republican president over the last 50 years has gotten into office by colluding with a foreign actor. The party itself hadn't gotten caught doing so until mid-September in the form of Ukrainegate.

The fact that Kentucky's Republican governor Matt Bevin lost on November 14 is enough to show that Trumpism has finally started being rejected by some portions of Trump's base. It's also a signal to Trump himself that he's in real electoral trouble going into next year's presidential election. The same can be said for Mitch McConnell, whose incumbency is in peril, too.

House Republicans Have Some Explaining To Do

On Wednesday, several House Republicans led by their #2, Steve Scalise (R-LA 01), stormed a closed-door hearing with witnesses for the House of Representatives' ongoing impeachment inquiry, and doing so with their telephones recording everything. The whole charade delayed the hearings for 5 hours. This is the biggest display of witness intimidation, and for what? To make the point that presidential impeachment only applies when Democrats hold the presidency? That's bogus!

They better have a good explanation for why their party has so openly resorted to engaging with foreign powers to attain and maintain power. Just to be clear, this is not the 1st time that the Republican Party has done this. It's been their M.O. for at least 50 years (going all the way back to Richard Nixon in 1968; Gerald Ford and Bob Dole are the sole exceptions in both 1976 and 1996, respectively). That's in addition to trying to fix elections and manipulate redistricting through gerrymandering.

That's at the heart of Ukraine-gate, the Republican party getting caught with its pants down. They have no basis for arguing about the lack of fairness in being held accountable for their actions, nor do they have any ground in attempting to scare voters into letting them continue to violate federal election laws with impunity.

2019 Is Going To Be 1 Hell Of An Interesting Year

There’s no denying that because of the outcome of the 2018 midterms, 2019 is shaping up to be a real interesting ride now that Donald Trump is practically cornered. How much more mayhem he’ll cause is still a massive unknown, but 1 thing is definitely clear, it’s not going to be a pretty picture. What happens now is dependent on what he chooses to use next as a conveniently placed distraction.

Seeing The Left Destroy Itself

I know that I wrote about how the Right was destroying itself last year, but I think it's time to give the Left its due. The biggest problem is that the "leadership" is doing everything humanly possible to prevent anything meaningful from being enacted. This is a massive problem when the Democrats are holding America hostage just to fatten Corporate America's wallet (the GOP notwithstanding), while only pretending to care about the issues that actually matter to the electorate. At this point the Democratic National Committee has lost its mind, only carrying on (until about last week or so) Hillary Clinton's post-election media tantrum. Be it about Donald Trump's supposed connections to Russia, or how everyone who voted for someone other than Clinton as a mysogynist. That's just a couple of examples, but it paints the picture of how badly out-of-touch the "Left" (and I'm being very generous to the Democratic Party's current leadership) has become. Until there's a revolt from within, there's no way for the left to actually assert itself in America's political dialogue. Especially when we're fighting the very worst elements of the far-right.

Dishonoring Our Nation’s Vets

Alright, I think that it’s better to start off by saying that the Republicans in Congress are complete chicken-hawks, and I’m being very kind in saying that. Basically, I don’t see why they can’t just bother to live up to the deal they made vets of this nation: don the uniform to defend us and we’ll cover your cost of living. That’s how it should be, but lately Republicans in Congress have been wrapping themselves in the flag, while paying lip service to the after-effects.

If anything, the Republicans have been using war and the troops as political pawns to gain any advantage in their quest to destroy the Democrats. This is beyond disgraceful, and it shows why the Republican Party has become the Party of Corruption. It needs to quit and do so now, if it wants to retain any credibility with the American electorate. If there’s anything that we as Americans dispise more than anything, it’s politicizing the military. The military is apolitical for a reason, it represents everyone and is a unified voice in our country’s defense.