- Trump’s stupid lies;
- How conservatives do not trust people to make their own decisions;
- Heather Cox Richardson on how we got here;
- A Republican who boasts about cheating homeless people;
- On a positive note: Ali Velshi on NPR this morning.
Why do they lie all the time? Because they can get away with it. Their crowds adore it — either they believe the lies, or they admire the audacity of the telling of them.
Joe.My.God, 13 May 2024: Trump Lies That 100,000 Attended His New Jersey Rally
With photos stolen from a Rod Stewart concert in Brazil 30 years ago.
\
USA Today, 13 May 2024: Trump’s followers believe his every lie. But if he was a real alpha-male, he’d lie BIGGER., subtitled “Why, for example, has he not taken credit for the Grand Canyon and said it was his idea? Why hasn’t he boasted about inventing cheese?”
Because if he made those claims in the subtitle, his followers would believe them too.
\
Conservatives do not trust people to make their own decisions.
Right Wing Watch, 9 May 2024: ‘Men Must Be Governed’: The Christian Nationalist Worldview Laid Bare By Pastor Joel Webbon
And of course it is they who would govern.
Christian nationalist pastor Joel Webbon says Americans are “degenerates” and therefore the Constitution doesn’t work anymore, so this nation needs a Caesar-like dictator who “Constitution be dammed, just rules with an iron fist.”
He needs to get out more, breathe some fresh air, meet people outside of his bubble, and read some books besides the Bible. Perhaps see a psychiatrist about his need to control other people. His is the path toward fascism — that special, self-entitled people, presume they are destined to rule over others.
\\
As it happens today’s post by Heather Cox Richardson summarizes the premise of the first part of her book, Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America, which I read about half of late last year but have not yet returned to. The summary is worth quoting:
I write a lot about how the Biden-Harris administration is working to restore the principles of the period between 1933 and 1981, when members of both political parties widely shared the belief that the government should regulate business, provide a basic social safety net, promote infrastructure, and protect civil rights. And I write about how that so-called liberal consensus broke down as extremists used the Reconstruction-era image of the American cowboy—who, according to myth, wanted nothing from the government but to be left alone—to stand against what they insisted was creeping socialism that stole tax dollars from hardworking white men in order to give handouts to lazy minorities and women.
But five major stories over the past several days made me realize that I’ve never written about how Trump and his loyalists have distorted the cowboy image until it has become a poisonous caricature of the values its recent defenders have claimed to champion.
The cowboy myth originated during the Reconstruction era as a response to the idea that a government that defended Black rights was “socialist” and that the tax dollars required to pay bureaucrats and army officers would break hardworking white men.
I can’t bear to read the five stories. More malfeasance and corruption and cronyism, from a glance. The Republican way.
\\
A deplorable. And I’m guessing that this person considers himself a Christian.
Joe.My.God, 13 May 2024: Former Trump Aide Boasts Of Giving Counterfeit Bills To Homeless So That They Get Arrested When Using Them
LGBTQNation, 13 May 2024: “Vile & heartless” Trump aide brags about getting innocent homeless people arrested, subtitled “‘The second worst person on the planet, after Trump, is John McEntee,’ one user wrote on X in response.”
\\
To end on a positive note. I was very impressed by the discussion on the radio this morning, with this guy, Ali Velshi.
KQED Forum, Mina Kim (the host), 13 May: Ali Velshi on the ‘Small Acts of Courage’ That Define His Family’s Inheritance and His Journalism
In his new memoir “Small Acts of Courage,” MSNBC host Ali Velshi recounts his family’s migration across continents –– beginning in India under British rule, intersecting with Gandhi’s “satyagraha” movement in South Africa, and eventually settling in Canada during a refugee crisis for the global Indian diaspora. Ali himself immigrated to the United States two days after September 11, 2001 and writes: “Cynicism about politics is actually a luxury of those who have never had to experience life without it, and if those people every truly lost their ability to participate in the system, they’d never take it for granted again.” And we want to hear from you: Are there “small acts of courage” that define your life and values? What are they?
A very reasonable guy; I noticed especially his advice about conservative panics about immigration: this has always happened, it’s American’s strength, don’t worry about, things will work themselves out. He’s published a book which I probably won’t buy; I have too many books already. But I’ll be alert to his name.
\\
Every day I reread and copy-edit my post from the evening before. If this comment is still here, I have not yet done so for this post.
