Replies to post #362951 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[blackhawks]

81 million Biden voters are seething with anger--the burden of 'healing' is on Republicans

Joshua Holland
January 17, 2021



The American right seems oblivious to the seething anger that the 81 million Americans who braved a multifaceted voter suppression campaign and a raging pandemic to vote against Donald Trump feel over Republicans' relentless attempts to silence their voices with Donald Trump's ludicrous election fraud conspiracy theories.

This week, many of them sought to weaponize President-elect Joe Biden's campaign theme of bringing the country together after four years of Trump's bomb-throwing. The very same Republican lawmakers who objected to counting the Electoral College votes that gave Joe Biden a resounding victory claimed this week that impeaching Trump would violate Biden's promise to promote healing and seek greater unity.

"Rushing this resolution to the floor will do nothing to unify or heal the country," said Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) during this week's debate. "These actions, again, will only continue to divide the nation."

But it is not on us to comfort the 74 million Trump voters whom Trump, most Republican lawmakers and the conservative media whipped into a frenzy. These calls for unity are premature--a transparent efforts to obtain impunity for those who brought us to the point where a mob of wingnuts clad in military gear and red hats planned to assassinate a Republican Vice President on Capitol Hill and there are now more troops stationed in DC to defend Biden's inauguration than there are on the ground in Afghanistan.

So it is vitally important for conservatives to understand that while Joe Biden appears to be earnest in his desire to bring the country together, as is appropriate for a president in these circumstances, most of us on the left have no interest whatsoever in "healing" or seeking "unity" with those who have long refused to acknowledge the basic legitimacy of Democratic governance until they undertake a reckoning with that strategy.

Perhaps more importantly, they must understand that the burden of beginning the process of healing our frayed polity falls squarely on them. It is their tribe that stormed Congress, attacked the cops and is engaged in an ongoing, violent insurrection in response to losing an election, and it is on them to figure out how to pull their movement back from the brink.

We will consider their ideas. But there's a necessary order of things that must be followed before we can even begin to "lower the temperature" in this country. We must first establish some truth before we can even begin talking about reconciliation.

At a minimum, that means publicly acknowledging not only that Joe Biden won this election, but also that there were never any serious questions about his victory.

After all, making bogus claims of fraud has long been one of Trump's signature moves. When The Amazing Race beat out The Apprentice for an Emmy Award, Trump claimed that the Emmys were rigged; when he lost the Iowa Caucus in 2016, he claimed that Ted Cruz had cheated; he said there had been widespread fraud in the election that he won in 2016 and started claiming that he could only lose in 2020 as a result of fraud back in 2019.

After he trailed Biden by 6-10 points in the polling averages for the entire campaign, and never lead in even a single high-quality poll, Trump's outlandish assertion that he not only won, but did so in a landslide were always laughable.

This week, Sens. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), the leaders of what has been dubbed the "Sedition Caucus" in the Senate, tried to have their cake and eat it too by acknowledging that Biden was the winner but continuing to insist that "millions of voters concerned about election integrity deserve to be heard," as Hawley put it. That won't fly because those "concerns" were promoted by virtually the entire conservatives movement--including Hawley and Cruz—and they were always transparent nonsense. So the "we're just asking questions" gambit isn't going to cut it.

Reconciliation is also impossible to contemplate without accountability for at least those who are the most culpable for bringing us to the brink of armed conflict.

Ideally, Republicans would join with Democrats to expel any members of Congress who voted against counting the duly-certified Electoral College results. Given how numerous they are, that's impractical, but certainly those who spurred on the mob or coordinated with the insurrectionists must be held accountable before the GOP can again claim to support law and order without being laughed out of the room.

The standard operating procedure for the right in these circumstances is to claim that investigations into wrongdoing by Republicans can only be politically motivated "witch-hunts," and that Democrats and the left don't really care about the underlying allegations.

Healing won't be possible unless the right abandons that spin and acknowledges that our anger and fear are genuine and justified, and that our need for justice isn't merely a quest for vengeance. This shouldn't even be a partisan issue.

This week, a number of Republicans chose to quote from Abraham Lincoln's second inaugural address in 1865, when he said, "with malice toward none, with charity for all, let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation's wounds." But as Colombia University historian Eric Foner pointed out, that snippet was cherry-picked to create a false impression of what Lincoln was trying to express.

"He also said that this war, the Civil War, was God's punishment on the nation for the evil of slavery and, that if it was necessary to have every drop of blood drawn by the lash repaid by one drawn by the sword - that's Lincoln's words - that would still be justice," Foner told NPR.

"In other words, what Lincoln is saying is reconciliation needs justice to come with it. Reconciliation needs accountability. You can't just wash your hands and say, let's forget about the past and move forward with healing."

https://www.rawstory.com/trump-election-2649962788/#comments_section_start

[fuagf]

The Historical Origin of "Alternative Facts"

"Deceptions in the time of the ‘alternative facts’ president"

Totalitarian Trump fought against fact and truth. Fact and truth won.
Authoritarian Trump authored in alternative reality. Reality won.

Marilyn Wedge Ph.D. Suffer the Children Posted Jan 23, 2017

Kellyanne Conway says Press Secretary gave "alternative facts."

Groucho Marx once said: "Who are you going to believe, me or your own eyes?" It seems that President Trump's press secretary Sean Spicer, as well as Trump himself and one of his senior advisors, recommends the former. They insist that we believe what they say, rather than what what our own eyes tell us.

What our eyes tell us

Looking at aerial photographs of Trump's inauguration and Obama's 2009 inauguration, our eyes tell us that the crowd at Trump's was nowhere near as large as the crowd at Obama's. Obama's inaugural crowd reached all the way back to the Washington monument, whereas Trump's reached nowhere near that marker.

Conway's introduction of "Alternative Facts"

Not wanting the public to recognize this fact, Trump senior advisor Kellyanne Conway [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_facts] told Chuck Todd on Sunday's Meet the Press that Spicer was not telling a falsehood when he insisted that Trump's crowd was larger. He was simply giving "alternative facts".

Following the interview, social media exploded with a newly minted meme, “#AlternativeFacts.” Come Monday morning, the media worldwide is aghast at the notion that Trump's press secretary told the press a falsehood on day 1.

Every data point—TV ratings, stats for use of the Washington Metro system, expert crowd analysis—confirms Spicer's statement to be false. So would Trump's team launch his new administration with such an obvious, disprovable falsehood?

Good question.

The origins in "Newspeak"

Here's where we get to the origin of the idea of an "alternative fact." In 1949, George Orwell wrote the novel 1984, which portrays a totalitarian state that limited freedom of thought by creating its own language called "Newspeak." The political purpose of of Newspeak was to reduce the English language to simple concepts that reinforced the totalitarian dominance of the State. Moreover, words with negative meanings were removed, such that "bad" became "ungood".

In the current "Newspeak" that Ms Conway called "alternative facts" on Sunday, falsehoods lose their negative connotation and become facts—albeit alternative facts. The new administration's efforts at mind control begins.

According to Oxford Dictionaries .. http://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2014/09/george-orwell-newspeak/ , "Newspeak" in Orwell's novel is "designed and controlled by the state in order to suppress free thought, individualism, and happiness." The new language shapes peoples' minds to what the State wants them to think, feel and even see.

Language and Totalitarianism

Are we entering an authoritarian regime with a strongman in charge who wants to control the minds of Americans as he controlled the minds of those who attended his rallies?

The answer seems to be "yes."

Authoritarian dictators crave control. If they can control what you believe and even what you think you see, then their power over you is total.

One thing is clear. On day one, Donald Trump is attempting to twist the norms of our democracy to his own will. He is trying to tell us to believe what he and his advisors say rather than what our eyes tell us.

If he takes the next step—starting his own news platform (Twitter is only the beginning)—that reports the alternative facts he wants people to believe, our democracy will be well on the road to an authoritarian dictatorship like that of the Russian leader Trump admires so much.

Update: On February 24, 2017, Trump began his censorship of a free and independent press in the United states.

According to the Huffington Post .. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/white-house-bars-news-organizations_us_58b08a76e4b0a8a9b78213ae? :

"The White House blocked several news outlets from attending a closed-door briefing Friday afternoon with press secretary Sean Spicer, a decision that drew strong rebukes from news organizations and may only heighten tensions between the press corps and the administration.

The New York Times and CNN, both of which have reported critically on the administration and are frequent targets of President Donald Trump, were prohibited from attending. The Huffington Post was also denied entry."

Copyright Marilyn Wedge, Ph.D.

Marilyn Wedge is the author of A Disease called Childhood: Why ADHD became an American Epidemic

https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/suffer-the-children/201701/the-historical-origin-alternative-facts

[fuagf]

Same old allaboutme - Donald Trump grabs mic at wedding to toast himself ... and happy couple

Ex-president praised couple at Mar-a-Lago – after complaining about Biden’s Iran and China policy, the border and the election


Donald Trump adjusts a microphone as he speaks in Old Forge, Pennsylvania, on 20 August 2020. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

Martin Pengelly @MartinPengelly Mon 29 Mar 2021 22.44 AEDT
Last modified on Mon 29 Mar 2021 23.23 AEDT

Donald Trump took the microphone at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday night, to praise a couple getting married at his Florida resort. Nearly 400 words later he did so, according to video published by the website TMZ .. https://www.tmz.com/2021/03/28/donald-trump-wedding-speech-mar-a-lago-biden-administration/ , after a rambling complaint about Joe Biden’s policy towards Iran and China, the situation at the border with Mexico and the supposed fraud .. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/28/republicans-politics-bigotry-democracy-risk-border-voter-fraud-trump-biden .. he claims caused his election defeat.

“Y’know,” the tuxedoed former president began, standing in front of a waiting band, “I just got, I turned off the news, I get all these flash reports, and they’re telling me about the border, they’re telling me about China, they’re telling me about Iran – how’re we doing with Iran, how do you like that?

Republicans have taken up the politics of bigotry, putting US democracy at risk
Robert Reich
Read more > https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/mar/28/republicans-politics-bigotry-democracy-risk-border-voter-fraud-trump-biden

“Boy, they were ready to make a deal, they would have done anything, they would have done anything, and this guy goes and drops the sanctions and then he says, ‘We’d love to negotiate now,’ [and Iran replies], ‘We’re not dealing with the United States at all,’ Oh, well, they don’t want to deal with us.”

Trump withdrew from the deal .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/may/08/iran-deal-trump-withdraw-us-latest-news-nuclear-agreement .. between Iran and leading powers meant to contain Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. Biden is seeking .. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/mar/04/iran-and-iaea-clear-potential-roadblock-to-talks-with-us-on-nuclear-deal .. to re-engage.

“And China, the same thing, they never treated us that way, right?”

Biden officials have said the US stands with allies ..

The United States stands with our ally, the Philippines, in the face of the PRC's maritime militia amassing at WhitsunReef. We will always stand by our allies and stand up for the rules-based international order.

— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) March 28, 2021

.. in the Pacific in the face of Chinese military ambition. Trump blamed Beijing for the coronavirus pandemic but also, in one instance recorded in a recent book .. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/14/chaos-under-heaven-josh-rogin-donald-trump-china-covid .. by the Washington Post reporter Josh Rogin, carelessly angered China over his attitude to Taiwan, then told a senator if the Chinese were to invade, “there isn’t a fucking thing we can do about it”.

In Florida, Trump continued: “You saw what happened a few days ago, was terrible, and uh, the border is not good, the border is the worst anybody’s ever seen it, and what you see now, multiply it times 10, Jim – he’s the only one I know who would handle the border tougher than me.”

It was not immediately clear to which Jim the former president was referring, and pointing.

The Biden administration is struggling to deal with an increase in migrants at the southern border and the political fallout .. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/27/ted-cruz-us-mexico-border-immigration . Figures show the increase of arrivals is seasonal .. https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2021/03/23/theres-no-migrant-surge-us-southern-border-heres-data/?utm_source=CJR+Daily+News&utm_campaign=2e7c6e3ada-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_11_11_06_33_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&mc_cid=2e7c6e3ada&mc_eid=fef816934d ; the administration blames Trump for dismantling policy and infrastructure in pursuit of hardline goals. No one denies conditions in Texas are desperate.

Trump said: “What’s happening to the kids, they’re living in squalor, they are living like nobody has ever seen anybody, there’s never been anything like what’s, and you’re gonna have hundreds, and you have it now, they have the airplane photos, the shots, and they call ’em shots, and these things are showing thousands and thousands of people coming up from South America and it’s gonna be, it’s just uh, look, it’s a disaster.”

Trump did not mention his administration’s policy of separating migrant children .. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/04/trump-administration-family-separation-immigrants-joe-biden .. from their parents, which Biden is not following.

“It’s a humanitarian disaster from their standpoint,” he continued, “and it’s gonna destroy the country, and frankly, the country can’t afford it because you’re talking about massive, just incredibly massive amounts. Our school systems, our hospital systems, everything.

“So it’s a rough thing, and I just say, ‘Do you miss me yet?’”

Many Republicans apparently do, as Trump repeatedly tops polls of potential presidential candidates for 2024. The crowd at Mar-a-Lago cheered and applauded.

'We tortured families': The lingering damage of Trump's separation policy
Read more > https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/04/trump-administration-family-separation-immigrants-joe-biden

Trump duly moved on to the 2020 election, in which he insists Democrats cheated, a lie repeatedly laughed out of court but which inspired the 6 January Capitol attack, in which five people died and more than 400 people face federal charges .. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/22/donald-trump-capitol-riot-michael-sherwin . Trump was impeached a second time – and acquitted again.

“We did get 75m votes,” Trump said at Mar-a-Lago, which was nearly true, as he collected around 74.3m .. https://cookpolitical.com/2020-national-popular-vote-tracker . Either way, his problem was that Biden got 81.3m.

“Nobody’s ever gotten that,” Trump said. “They said, ‘Get 66m votes, sir” – a fraction more than Hillary Clinton got when she beat him in the popular vote in 2016 .. https://www.nytimes.com/elections/2016/results/president – “and the election’s over.’ We got 75m and they said … but you know, you saw what happened, 10.30 in the evening, all of a sudden I said, ‘That’s a strange thing, why are they closing up certain places, right?’

“Now, a lot of things happening right now. I just wanted to say, it’s an honor to be here, it’s an honor to have you at Mar-a-Lago, you are a great and beautiful couple … have fun.”