Shocks From the Right
Trump is still on the loose. More classified documents discovered in one of his storage lockers. He’s met with vocal anti-semites, and just now, with a prominent spokeswoman of QAnon.
The Jan. 6 Committee debates criminal referrals, but will be dethroned and “investigated,” when the Republicans claim their majority in the House next month and year.
Meanwhile, the US Supreme Court debates whether to legislate some version of the “Independent State Legislatures” theory.
According to reports on the debate, the Court is divided three ways: Liberals: No way! (three votes); the (radical) conservatives: State Legislatures should do what they want and not even their state supreme courts can say no (three votes); the establishmentarians: well, maybe State courts and the US courts should have some say (three votes).
The independent State Legislature theory is really a veiled formula for Republicans to take over the Federal Government, since it posits unlimited powers to gerrymander, restrict voting rights—like in the “good old days,” when blacks and other minorities were blocked from voting at all, doing away with Social Security and other “Socialist” programs, deporting all “undesirable” immigrants, cutting social programs (they’re wasteful, they claim, and reward the undeserving), while cutting taxes on those who matter—the wealthy and powerful.
That’s a somewhat biased rundown of the US’s right wing, even without considering Trump.
In Germany, 25 were arrested for plotting a violent takeover: kill the PM, install a little known “Prince” of a little known ‘royal’ family, and their plot included overthrowing their democratic constitution, and the “Deep State” that the radical right’s conspiracy theories target as behind all the features of modern, postwar Germany. Their formative theory seems to be QAnon, originally an American conspiracy theory centering on Clinton and “Pizzagate”. Members of this plot include police, and active duty military.
Amazing what people all over the world will believe in!
In Brazil, however, Bolsonaro was overthrown by a democratic election, and despite his mouthing ideas of Trump-like resistance: not abiding by election results, he’s about to be out of office and his opponent, former progressive President Lula, wrongly imprisoned for the last several years, is on his way to be legally inaugurated. And hopefully, to stop the destruction of the Amazon rainforests.
Still, other authoritarian dictators (China’s XI), Iran’s Ali Khamenei, Russia’s Putin, all while facing some resistance, or would-be dictators, (India’s Modi), continue in office, having put in place instruments of repression that are designed to keep them there.
But, but, Democrats still control the House in their “lame duck” session, and briefly had a one vote margin in the Senate. Shouldn’t Pelosi and Schumer be pushing every progressive possibility they can?
First: expand the Supreme Court with progressive justices. Immediately rewrite the election law to prevent the kind of takeover Trump’s Jan 6 insurrection was attempting. Pass a new budget and include prevention of the kind of ‘leveraging’ the R’s did in past sessions to block deficit spending. Hell, they do deficit spending, too, but only for their interests, not the people’s.
Last note for yesterday: McConnell managed to block legalizing Marijuana and freeing its imprisoned victims, remarking that he’d gotten rid of that “liberal foolishness.”
Given the horrific effects of Putin’s authoritarian rule, Xi’s Zero-Covid policy ( now, being undone to neuter the resistance it generated), Bolsonaro’s assault on the Amazon, Peru’s collapse into corruption, and many other examples, it’s a wonder that the right-wing continues to promote it’s vision, and continues to attract millions or billions of followers.
At least, the Democrats fared better in the mid-terms than expected, especially retaining slim control of the Senate, and holding the R’s to a very slim majority in the House. So, it’s possible that some of Biden’s agenda can continue to be actualized. Although, the mitigation of the effects of global warming and extreme weather look unlikely to be realized, given the mixed results of COP27.
At age 83, I hope I won’t live to see the global results, if their side wins.
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