I got an email from DK. It read; “What messaging will work to defeat Trump? How do we expose his extreme rhetoric? How do we hold the media accountable for his lies? And how do we ensure record voter turnout to crush him in November?”
There is no messaging. His extreme rhetoric has all been exposed. His complete assortment of lies and fabrications have been exposed. While the media has exposed all of this, they also continued to deliver Trump 24/7 into our living rooms. He hasn’t had to pay for any advertising. It all comes free with non-stop coverage of every breath he takes. Chris Matthews of MSNBC devoted an entire hour of Hardball to a program called “Citizen Trump”. And he wonders with amazement at how Trump could possibly be doing as well as he is doing. From the moment the TV goes on in the morning, until it’s turned off at night, it’s Trump. The media apparently is all in for Trump. It’s finally come to the point that turning the news into entertainment finds it’s natural leader in a Realty TV star, the bombastic Donald Trump. The original “birther”. He tells people what they want to hear, feeding them one conspiracy after another, and they all know that it’s bullshit, but they love the way he says it. So, how do you counter that? Glenn Beck was on the stage at a Caucus site in Nevada speaking to people about Ted Cruz, and suddenly the crowd goes nuts. Trump just walked in. They all run to get a glimpse of “The Donald” shrieking as if the Beatles had walked in, and Beck” is left standing on a stage talking to nobody. ( How fitting is that?) This political season has the feel of the Jerry Springer Show. We’re watching the demise of the Republican Party.
Trump is not a conservative. He’s as much a Republican as Bernie Sanders is a Democrat. They’re both Anti-Establishmentarians. Each one has a message but needs a party platform to be viable. Trump chose the Republicans and Bernie chose the Democrats. Those that have argued that Bernie isn’t a “real Democrat” only offend the independents that will vote for Bernie. I’m one of them. I’m not a Democrat. I tend to go with the Dems on most everything as long as it has a liberal or progressive goal. But I could give a crap about the Party. It’s all about the ideas with me. Are they rational. Are they logical. Are they humane. For the most part, the Democrats give me that. The Republicans aren’t even in the ballpark on that. But a long time ago it was the Republicans that gave us Lincoln and the Democrats that gave us Jefferson Davis. My how times ( and the party’s) have changed. I never want to have to make excuses for a party that I’m connected to. So I remain unattached.
Trump is like a monkey with a gun. I heard that description of him tonight. We all say ooohhh look at the monkey, isn’t he funny; except he’s holding a gun and you have no idea when it’s going to go off. You can only hope that you aren’t in the way when it does.
There is only one way to stop Trump and that’s at the polls. If people don’t come out and vote, then Trump will move into the White House. It also means that he will name the justice to replace Scalia. And you can count on several more Justices to retire in the next four years. That means that the court will be totally lopsided and to the far right before he’s done. I hope that thought alone is enough to motivate people to get out and vote, while voting is still an option. You never know when you might lose that right. I wish I was just being sarcastic...but I’m not. Democracy as we’ve known it is under direct threat. Trump is using democracy to undermine it. He wants to ban an entire religion from this county in direct violation of the first Amendment and the people cheer. He wants to re-institute water boarding and other forms of torture and the people cheer. He’s going to build a wall between the US and Mexico and Mexico is going to pay for it, and the people cheer. They don’t care if it’s bullshit and doesn’t get done. At least he says it. So if he can use democracy to win the White House, he could systematically take it apart, brick by brick in the name of Trumpism. And the people will cheer.
Cruz and Rubio are completely out of touch with where the party has gone. They still think that “conservatism” matters. Trump has proven that the Republicans don’t really give a shit about their conservatism. What they’re into today is Authoritarianism. (White)Nationalism, and Fascism, with a heavy dose of religious zealotry. A pretty toxic mix. Where have we seen this play out before in history? Remove the religious zealotry and you have Germany in the 1930's. They’re lining up with a cult of personality.
If this doesn’t scare the crap out of you, then you don’t have a pulse. I doubt very seriously that I could live here if he became president. And I know, I’ve heard people say things like that about Reagan or Bush 43, but this is different. This guy has a VERY thin skin and anybody that criticizes him ends up in his sights to be destroyed. I would imagine that would include places like the Daily Kos and those that contribute to it. In his eyes, we’d all be subversives. If this guy intends to round up 11 million immigrants and deport them, and wants to ban Muslims and even register them so they can be ID’d easily, who’s next? Liberals? Who’s going to raise their voice against Trump? Have you not seen what happened to all of the candidates that did just that?
The more Trump lies you expose, the more people flock to him. The more his rhetoric goes over the top the more they love him. The fact is that his followers don’t believe a word the media has to say about him. “The media lies”. Trump told them so, and has pointed right at them at his rally’s calling them scumbags, and they believe Trump, because even if he’s twisting the truth, they love how he does it. So no amount of factual evidence penetrates the skull of the Trumpets. They aren’t rational so no amount of logic persuades them. They all think that Logic is a liberal tactic and therefore should never be trusted. So they can’t be reasoned with.
So...here’s the only answer that is going to work. VOTE. Vote as if your life depended on it and it doesn’t matter if it’s Bernie or Hillary. It simply cannot be Trump. You don’t want to live with the consequences if he should win. One party has gone completely off the rails to the right. I’m sure that the Republicans are thinking the Dems have gone completely off the rails to the left with Bernie. But, I do believe that there are more people in line with Bernie’s ideas then with Trumps. Trump doesn’t have any policies. He just spouts a bunch of crap and people eat it up. He doesn’t give speeches. He does “Stand Up”. He does Shtick. It’s like watching an old time comedian doing the Borscht Belt playing in the Catskills. (Nobody puts Baby in the corner) However, it is unnerving to know that there are so many people in this country that are so totally deranged that would actually see Trump as the face of the United States. I mean, look at the picture at the top of this article. This man is despised in France, and the UK. ( they want to ban him from entering the country). I imagine that he brings back less than fond memories for Germany. So...vote people. And if Bernie doesn’t end up with the Democrats nomination, then get behind Hillary, and vice versa. I don’t want this man anywhere near the White House, and we are the only ones that can prevent that. This election is going to drastically change the direction of the country. Which direction depends on us. The African/Americans, the Latino’s the Women. The youth. The Seniors, LGBT, Asians, Jews, Muslims, Atheists. Obama won by winning a minority majority. He had every minority group in the country. Hillary or Bernie must have the same. Because what would happen if the election was close? Suppose that Trump and the Democrat nominee ended up in a tie for the electoral college? It could happen. Mathematically it could happen. If the election was that close the vote count in at least a few states would be so close that Trump would call for a re-count. Then a re-count to the re-count and on and on. Would the election go to the SCOTUS? They told us after the Bush v Gore decision that that decision should not be seen as a precedent. But how do we decide who won? This time the Court is deadlocked are 4-4. Who decides the next President? Does Obama stay on until a decision has been made? And how long would that take? The Repubs are vowing not to even listen to a nominee for the Court. If Bernie or Hillary won, why should anybody think that they’ll allow either of them to appoint a new justice? That would tip the Court liberal and they won’t allow it. It’s Conservative or it’s nothing. That means all the cases before the SCOTUS go back to the lower courts, and those decisions stand. But what if one district court disagrees with another district court over the same issue? Then the laws become different according to where you live. And this would be how the country would operate, but for how long? How long can we go with our citizenship dependent on where we live.
Everybody had better vote. There’s a lot at stake. Probably more than ever before.