It's not just the Republicans in the House and Senate and in governorship and mayoral positions.
It is also, the Orwellian world comprised of the majority of American constituents in 2024 and perhaps now in 2025.
Americans, via the Electoral College and the popular vote, elected Trump into the office of POTUS. It is not you, nor me, but it is many millions of Americans, living next-door, or across the street, that fly the flag and go to church on Sundays, but do not hesitate to vote for a fascist, a racist, a lunatic, etc as POTUS. This is the insanity or is it the ignorance, naïveté, apathy and laziness of many who pray to Jesus in one breath and vote for Trump and accomplices in another.
I believe in kindness, in loving others as thyself, and in fixing the world. Trump, the GOP, the Republican constituency clearly do not give a rat's ass about such moral views. I remain unsure if this is a reflection of racism in so many Americans, or is it just stupidity- too much beer and TV and no reading of history or philosophy.
But whatever this horrendous state we are in IS, it is not simply a MAGA cult.
The "democratic" West always accommodated fascism after WWII. Germany was never properly de-Nazified. Vatican City exists because of a deal the Catholic Church made with Mussolini's regime. Franco was left alone until he died (though thankfully Juan Carlos, though he later proved horribly corrupt, was principled enough to democratise Spain), and Salazar's Portugal was even let into NATO as a founding member. (There is, however, a debate among historians whether Salazar was an actual fascist or just a garden-variety authoritarian--nonetheless, his Portugal was certainly not democratic in any meaningful sense.)
EDIT: Hirohito was allowed to remain on the throne of Japan (as a figurehead monarch, admittedly) despite his knowledge of and complicity in Japan's war crimes. Allied propaganda listed him, not figures like Tojo, alongside Hitler and Mussolini, but it was decided that it would be easier to turn Japan into an ally if Hirohito was left on the throne than even if he was forced to abdicate while Japan remained a monarchy. END EDIT.
Second EDIT: The Duke of Windsor, a personal friend of Hitler's, sent letters to him advising him to bomb Britain relentlessly to attempt to force the UK to sue for peace. After the war he was (with the complicity of, among others, Winston Churchill) allowed to retire quietly to France instead of being tried for treason. END Second EDIT.
But the fascists were anti-communist, and the fascist argument that countries faced a choice between fascism and communism silently carried the day in favour of the former.
It just took eighty years for everyone who had a living memory of how bad overt fascism was to die off so that the fascists could take advantage of the covert underlying infrastructure, built on that accommodation, to bring it back in full force.
Yeah, everyone thinks that the midterm elections will magically fix everything if Trump loses both houses of Congress. No, it took decades to dig ourselves into this hole and likely decades to claw our way back out. My father fought fascists in Europe during WWII, and it looks like my grandson in the military will be fighting them again on the home front.
That is why the government is shut down… no more pretending it is “business as usual”. Trump and MAGA wants to destroy the government and it appears they have succeeded.
Excellent piece - agree power is the motivating force behind many who are perhaps a little discomfited by Stephen Miller’s jack booted thuggery but just go back and look at the military audiences in the old Nazi propaganda trials with Roland Freisler presiding. In the face of outrageous criminal actions against innocents and former respected military figures they provide the cowardly acquiescence required for the worst abuses to occur.
Thank you, Mike. This is excellent. I am cross-posting and sharing on Facebook. Your post needs to be read far and wide. And everyone single one of us must follow your advice in the final paragraph. Blessings to you. May our constitutional republic survive. May our country have a new birth of freedom.
1792 the first congressional laws passed for deploying US troops on US soil written by the same folks who wrote the declaration and the constitution put into these laws judicial review that would happen in some instances before the president deployed the troops. The troops who aren't getting paid but Argentina troops will be payed because the Argentina bailout is a essential function but Medicaid and Medicare are not.
This unmasking of Miller reflects a truth across the MAGtard spectrum on any variety of issues. 2A self-defense against unlawful, warrantless home invasion by ICE? The MAGtards Karen-wag: “It’s obstruction of law enforcement.” Really??? They had different views about the Bundy’s Ruby Ridge and the Branch Davidians in Waco (both had warrants). It’s always, “Don’t tread on me,” “States’ Rights,” “my liberties,” “the party of law and order….” Except that it was ALWAYS about Fear and Control. Nothing but a wink/nod con job, biding time, waiting for their P2025 wet dream to arrive and then flip it upside down. Unitary Executive, Federal overreach, martial law, suspension of habeas corpus, Blah, Blah, Blah. THIS is why the probability is high that the country will split up. Because MAGA and all the silent GOP motherfuckers who support them are NOT PARTNERS FOR DEMOCRACY. Not now. Not ever.
Americans are going down a similar path as Russia has under Putin. Do Americans really want extreme oligarch corruption, no rule of law, and more wars?
He is Goebbels and Himmler all wrapped up in one.
Wrong is right, up is down , bad is good. Welcome to the psychotic world of the MAGA cult.
Not quite right to my thinking.
It's not just the MAGA cult.
It's not just the fascist POTUS.
It's not just the Republicans in the House and Senate and in governorship and mayoral positions.
It is also, the Orwellian world comprised of the majority of American constituents in 2024 and perhaps now in 2025.
Americans, via the Electoral College and the popular vote, elected Trump into the office of POTUS. It is not you, nor me, but it is many millions of Americans, living next-door, or across the street, that fly the flag and go to church on Sundays, but do not hesitate to vote for a fascist, a racist, a lunatic, etc as POTUS. This is the insanity or is it the ignorance, naïveté, apathy and laziness of many who pray to Jesus in one breath and vote for Trump and accomplices in another.
I believe in kindness, in loving others as thyself, and in fixing the world. Trump, the GOP, the Republican constituency clearly do not give a rat's ass about such moral views. I remain unsure if this is a reflection of racism in so many Americans, or is it just stupidity- too much beer and TV and no reading of history or philosophy.
But whatever this horrendous state we are in IS, it is not simply a MAGA cult.
The "democratic" West always accommodated fascism after WWII. Germany was never properly de-Nazified. Vatican City exists because of a deal the Catholic Church made with Mussolini's regime. Franco was left alone until he died (though thankfully Juan Carlos, though he later proved horribly corrupt, was principled enough to democratise Spain), and Salazar's Portugal was even let into NATO as a founding member. (There is, however, a debate among historians whether Salazar was an actual fascist or just a garden-variety authoritarian--nonetheless, his Portugal was certainly not democratic in any meaningful sense.)
EDIT: Hirohito was allowed to remain on the throne of Japan (as a figurehead monarch, admittedly) despite his knowledge of and complicity in Japan's war crimes. Allied propaganda listed him, not figures like Tojo, alongside Hitler and Mussolini, but it was decided that it would be easier to turn Japan into an ally if Hirohito was left on the throne than even if he was forced to abdicate while Japan remained a monarchy. END EDIT.
Second EDIT: The Duke of Windsor, a personal friend of Hitler's, sent letters to him advising him to bomb Britain relentlessly to attempt to force the UK to sue for peace. After the war he was (with the complicity of, among others, Winston Churchill) allowed to retire quietly to France instead of being tried for treason. END Second EDIT.
But the fascists were anti-communist, and the fascist argument that countries faced a choice between fascism and communism silently carried the day in favour of the former.
It just took eighty years for everyone who had a living memory of how bad overt fascism was to die off so that the fascists could take advantage of the covert underlying infrastructure, built on that accommodation, to bring it back in full force.
Yeah, everyone thinks that the midterm elections will magically fix everything if Trump loses both houses of Congress. No, it took decades to dig ourselves into this hole and likely decades to claw our way back out. My father fought fascists in Europe during WWII, and it looks like my grandson in the military will be fighting them again on the home front.
That is why the government is shut down… no more pretending it is “business as usual”. Trump and MAGA wants to destroy the government and it appears they have succeeded.
Excellent piece - agree power is the motivating force behind many who are perhaps a little discomfited by Stephen Miller’s jack booted thuggery but just go back and look at the military audiences in the old Nazi propaganda trials with Roland Freisler presiding. In the face of outrageous criminal actions against innocents and former respected military figures they provide the cowardly acquiescence required for the worst abuses to occur.
Thank you, Mike. This is excellent. I am cross-posting and sharing on Facebook. Your post needs to be read far and wide. And everyone single one of us must follow your advice in the final paragraph. Blessings to you. May our constitutional republic survive. May our country have a new birth of freedom.
How can we get him hauled out and put on trial?
1792 the first congressional laws passed for deploying US troops on US soil written by the same folks who wrote the declaration and the constitution put into these laws judicial review that would happen in some instances before the president deployed the troops. The troops who aren't getting paid but Argentina troops will be payed because the Argentina bailout is a essential function but Medicaid and Medicare are not.
This unmasking of Miller reflects a truth across the MAGtard spectrum on any variety of issues. 2A self-defense against unlawful, warrantless home invasion by ICE? The MAGtards Karen-wag: “It’s obstruction of law enforcement.” Really??? They had different views about the Bundy’s Ruby Ridge and the Branch Davidians in Waco (both had warrants). It’s always, “Don’t tread on me,” “States’ Rights,” “my liberties,” “the party of law and order….” Except that it was ALWAYS about Fear and Control. Nothing but a wink/nod con job, biding time, waiting for their P2025 wet dream to arrive and then flip it upside down. Unitary Executive, Federal overreach, martial law, suspension of habeas corpus, Blah, Blah, Blah. THIS is why the probability is high that the country will split up. Because MAGA and all the silent GOP motherfuckers who support them are NOT PARTNERS FOR DEMOCRACY. Not now. Not ever.
If, "... for them, it was all a lie," then, it seems like there is a question about useful idiots to be had.
Americans are going down a similar path as Russia has under Putin. Do Americans really want extreme oligarch corruption, no rule of law, and more wars?
https://open.substack.com/pub/theamericanrefugee/p/learning-from-russias-descent-into
https://open.substack.com/pub/slavamalamud/p/putins-playbook-for-the-illiterate
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15164269/south-carolina-judge-beachfront-home-arson-fire.html
This is what happened to the last judge that defied his demands