On Saturdays, the True Blue Report “Blue Ribbon” will be awarded to individuals or groups with the most successful, dramatic, or encouraging act of resistance in the previous week.
Some winners will be named in the body of the diary and you can nominate other worthy ribbon winners in the comments.
Since we have to laugh to keep from crying, let’s start with one of the most epic trolls imaginable.
Ryan Clayton and Jason Charters handed out “souvenir flags” at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) right before DJT spoke. Each white blue and red flag had TRUMP printed on it in shiny golden letters, and CPAC attendees seemed eager to take them and wave them!
There was only one problem.
The harmless-looking red white and blue rectangles were actually the flag of the Russian Federation.
This is master class trolling, people! Stephen Colbert could not have done a better job of ridiculing sheep-like Rcons mindlessly waving whatever flag is put in their hands. People who wasted years complaining about Barack Obama’s “ZARS” happily waved the actual flag of the Tsardom of Russia just because it had DJT’s name on it. The whole thing reads like a chapter on “Conventions” from the eerily prescient America Again--Rebecoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t.
And since The Colbert Report is no longer on the air, maybe the better parallel is to John Oliver’s Lessons in Geography. The Russian Federation! A country you think about so little that you didn’t even know this was their flag! Come on, it’s the country whose President helped your guy get elected! That’s not OK!
A big happy blue LOL ribbon to Charters and Clayton for successfully carrying out one of the greatest trolls of all time.
"Some call it a false flag operation," Clayton added. "I like to call it a true flag operation because Trump's definitely the wrong kind of red, white and blue."
I almost left out BLM activist Muhiyidin d’Baha since he was not actually successful in grabbing the confederate flag out of the hands of a man protesting the Bree Newsome speech “Tearing Hatred From The Sky”. What kind of person do you have to be to literally protest in favor of hatred? You have to be a member of the S.C. Secessionist Party, one of many groups of deplorables still upset about Ms. Newsome’s role in getting the battle flag removed from the grounds of the S.C. State house grounds. Mr. d’Baha’s dramatic jump over and through the yellow police tape only knocked down the flag, and broke the pole. But it was thrilling video, and he did it on live television, and truthiness working in our favor has now spread the story internationally that he *did* snatch away the flag, so since he has the name he might as well have the game. And the Blue Ribbon.
Plus Mr. d’Baha gave this stereotype-busting interview to the CBC that shut up the usual suspects who tried to paint him as an ignorant thug:
Fortunately these blue ribbon awards exist only in cyberspace so that I have plenty of virtual ribbons to go around for all the members of the Blue Team who swarmed their congresscritters’ offices during District Days.
So many incumbents use that time as a lie low week, a fundraising week, and a week to relax at home, but this year they were bombarded with demands that they hold town halls. Rcons were on the run, hiding out from constituents, sneaking out of side doors, cutting meetings short, lying about how many people could fit into their offices.
Tom Cotton deserves to be the poster boy for this. His meeting was full to the brim with righteous anger and he was clearly outmatched. An angry woman whose husband is dying of Alzheimer’s brought the house down by asking him what kind of insurance he had. Kati McFarland, uninsurable because of a pre-existing condition that may take her life, said from her wheelchair, “We are historically a Republican family. We are farming family. We are an NRA family… You want to cut funding to Planned Parenthood, which does my cancer screening... You talk a lot about repeal of the ACA, but you don’t talk much about what you will replace it with. What are you going to replace it with?” A sweet young activist named Toby Smith (who is “almost eight but I’m seven”) got nationwide press attention when he stood up and told Tom Cotton that DJT “is deleting all the parks and PBS Kids just to make a wall, and he shouldn’t do that.” Cotton replied by calling him Tony and mumbling some nonsense talking points about Mexico and crime and protecting our citizens. We know who won that exchange.
Since he represents the future for Arkansas and the country and the world, Toby gets the last video word:
It’s so thrilling to see this kind of activity in Arkansas and Alabama and Louisiana and other places where people think there are no Democrats. Like thirsty animals in the desert crowding around an oasis, just a little bit of encouragement and organizing energy has emboldened Red State Democrats to get out there and make themselves heard. They won’t admit it, but Rs were shocked by this. Their lame talking point accusing people of being paid protesters and busing in folks from outside the district only drew more attention to the fact that these were local people, many of whom had never done anything like this before. Some of them started identifying themselves as “not a paid protester” and at a few events people showed their driver’s licenses to prove they lived in the district.
Best of all, this is still going on every week! Rs keep expecting it to go away but after a month protesters are still louder than the crack in the bell, shouting “you work for us” and “save our health care / save our Medicare” and “shame! shame! shame!”. Keep the pressure on, everyone. We outnumber them.
And please support your blue friends in red states.
Previous TRUE BLUE REPORT diaries
Feb 24: There is no such thing as a compassionate conservative
Feb 23: Chief of Staff, Nat’l Security Advisor, GOP Head, President Bannon—too many hats!
Feb 22: DJT has a few questions for you—SMURF THIS POLL!
Feb 21: The end of “access journalism” means it’s time to #sendtheinterns
Feb 20: KAC lying low for now… can we banish her (and all her ilk) from the airwaves completely?
Feb 19: DeVos cartoon, Ruby Bridges, unearned unhappiness and childlike faith
Feb 18: Blue Ribbon Winners—Vice Adm. Harward, Melissa McCarthy, and intel whistleblowers
Feb 17: And Ain’t I an American?
Feb 16: Please tell your family and friends—If you regret your DJT vote, speak up NOW
Feb 15: R-supported forced childbirth laws deny the autonomy of women
Feb 14: What did the president know? Everything. When did he know it? From the beginning.
Feb 13: Coping with The Madness of King Donald by hoping political comedy will save us
Feb 12: The Poverty and Justice Bible
Feb 11: Blue Ribbon Winners: Swastika removers, Ninth Circuit Panel, and the Persisterhood!
Feb 10: The first three words of the Constitution are “We, the People” not “I, the President”
Feb 9: Who first inspired your political activism? Who inspires you now?
Feb 8: We cannot and will not be silenced—Here’s what to do if they try to silence you
Feb 7: Plain Talk Tuesday: Tell people the Affordable Care Act is the same as OBAMACARE
Feb 6: Interview Skills 101—Internalized oppression and what Ryan Lizza did right. BRAVO!
Feb 5: These protest signs with Bible cites will confuse and befuddle RWNJs
Feb 4: Blue Ribbon Winners: Temple B’Nai Israel, Judge Robart, CNN, Senate Phone Callers
Feb 3: Not rich, not smart, not a good businessman, not a winner—DJT is NOTHING he claims to be
Feb 2: Thursday action—Encouragement, thanks, and apologies (pick one or more)
Feb 1: July 7, 2009 to August 25, 2009 and September 25, 2009 to February 4, 2010
JANUARY
Jan 31: If you’re on overload that’s part of their plan—there’s more than one way to #resist
Jan 30: Interview Skills 101 for reporters attempting to interview KAC and other Rcons
Jan 29: Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness
Jan 28: Blue Ribbon Winners: Women's March participants and #NoMuslimBan demonstrators and...
Jan 27: I wish Steve Bannon would tell me to keep my mouth shut
Jan 26: Thursday Action—Have you ever written a letter to the editor? Here’s how to start
Jan 25: The Asch Conformity Study, inauguration crowds, and the importance of speaking out
Jan 24: #ResistTrumpTuesday—good news day or another paying dues day?
Jan 23: Spy the Lie 101: How to enjoy watching Rcon spokesbot interviews, even KAC!
Jan 22: Why I prayed for the President* today
Jan 21: The only silver lining in the midst of these clouds
Inaugural (!) diary: Stop expecting Republicons to make sense