Vance And Republicans Spread Racist Lies About Immigrants

 

The latest racist, anti-immigrant trope from the fascist white nationalist Republican/ MAGAt cult wasn't on our bizarro bingo card:

​​Police say they have not received any credible reports of immigrants harming people’s pets in Springfield, Ohio, as a racist rumor spread further by JD Vance continues to circulate.

Donald Trump’s running mate posted a video yesterday, in which he peddled the rumor immigrants were abducting pets and eating them, “causing chaos” in the town.

Springfield Police Division said it was aware of the “rumors” but has no information to support them.

“In response to recent rumors alleging criminal activity by the immigrant population in our city, we wish to clarify that there have been no credible reports or specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community,” NBC reports.

Police added: “Additionally, there have been no verified instances of immigrants engaging in illegal activities such as squatting or littering in front of residents’ homes. Furthermore, no reports have been made regarding members of the immigrant community deliberately disrupting traffic.”

In an apparent attack on Kamala Harris over her border and immigration policies, yesterday Vance wrote on X: “Months ago, I raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services and generally causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio. Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn’t be in this country. Where is our border czar?”

Vance’s debunked claim appears to have originated from a local Facebook group in Springfield which warned residents to be wary of the Haitian community and alleged that animals, including cats and dogs, were being “carved up” for consumption...

Follow the link for how other weirdos like Elon Musk, Rudy "Toot Toot" Giuliani, and "Gym" Jordan's House Judiciary Committee are pushing the noxious, ludicrous lie.

The Haitian immigrants are already a marginalized community whose presence in many parts of the MAGAt- infested country marks them as exotic and unwanted ("people who shouldn't be in this country," as J.D. Vance put it).  But Vance's lie is wholly in the wheelhouse of these fascists, whose specialty is punching down on those who don't have the power and influence to defend themselves, especially if they're minorities and/ or poor.  The perpetrators and spreaders of this dangerous, racist claim need to be exposed and hounded just as they would hound these marginalized groups.

BONUS:

The fact that one of the two major political parties, including the owner of this site, went all in on an incendiary lie seems like the kind of thing you’d expect reporters to hound the liars over, but as it happens they’d only do that if it were the other party. https://t.co/2K4L3nKtIB

— Brian Beutler (@brianbeutler) September 10, 2024

 

 

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

When the right to choose an abortion is on the ballot, it wins. And it will keep winning for the rest of the decade until the right to abortion is secured state by state in all but the deepest red states and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision is rendered moot.

The latest evidence? On Tuesday, the liberal Milwaukee circuit court judge, Janet Protasiewicz, scored a solid victory over the conservative candidate Daniel Kelly in a race whose outcome would determine the majority on the Wisconsin Supreme Court and pave the way for overturning the 1849 law outlawing abortion.

This race is but the latest example of the power this issue has to upend American politics. It happened first in August 2022 when a referendum on the primary ballot in Kansas would have amended the state constitution to make abortion illegal. Turnout was high — more votes were cast (980,000) than in any primary election in Kansas history. In a state Donald Trump won by 15 points, the anti-abortion referendum lost 59% to 41%. The larger more urban counties rejected the referendum by large margins and in the rural counties where it won it won by narrow margins.

And now Wisconsin...

About those deep red states --

The bad:

... Red states are sinking deeper into virulent far-right culture-warring — banning books, limiting classroom discussion of race and gender and prohibiting gender-affirming care for transgender youth. GOP legislatures passing these things were of course legitimately elected by majorities, though in some cases gerrymanders increase their power.

Those legislatures are also finding onerous ways to use power to tamp down on the unexpectedly ferocious dissent their culture war has unleashed among numerical minorities, largely concentrated in cities and suburbs inside red states. As analyst Ron Brownstein argues, this often pits an overwhelmingly White, older, rural and small-town Republican coalition against an increasingly diverse, younger and more urban coalition.

“These Republican legislatures are stacking sandbags against a rising tide,” Brownstein told CNN. Call it the GOP retreat into Fortress MAGA.

This takes many forms. Republican state legislatures have become particularly aggressive in pushing “preemption” laws restricting cities and counties from making their own rules or policy choices. In some cases, these could functionally block those localities from governing themselves democratically in more socially liberal ways on all kinds of issues.  [snip]

Yet this retreat into Fortress MAGA faces a problem: Whenever state-level Republicans undertake another reactionary lurch, it often goes national in a big way. Attention has poured down on everything from insanely broad book bans to shockingly harsh proposed punishments for abortion to anti-transgender crackdowns with truly creepy implications.

If the adage was “all politics is local,” we can now say that “all local politics is in danger of going viral.” And the more onerous the use of state power in these situations, the more attention it gets...

Tennessee.  Florida.  And, of course, Texas --

The ugly:

On Friday, a Texas jury unanimously convicted Daniel Perry, a man who shot and killed a Black Lives Matter protester in the summer of 2020. While Texas prides itself as a "stand your ground" state—hence all the recent mass murders—Perry's act of murder appeared to be brazenly premeditated. In social media posts Perry sneered that he might "kill a few people on my way to work. They are rioting outside my apartment complex" and that he "might go to Dallas to shoot looters." He argued with a friend over whether that would be legal; that friend warned him that "we went through the same training" and "Shooting after creating an event where you have to shoot" is "not a good shoot."

Two weeks later Perry ran a red light and "accelerated" into a Black Lives Matter protest in Austin, Texas. As protesters approached Perry rolled down his window and emptied his handgun at 28 year old Air Force veteran Garrett Foster, who was legally carrying an AK-47 rifle. Perry would tell police afterwards that Foster was raising his weapon; none of the witnesses at the scene agreed. The Texas jury determined that Perry had intentionally murdered Foster.

Within 24 hours, Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott took to social media himself to vow that he would pardon Daniel Perry as "swiftly" as he is able to. "Texas has one of the strongest 'Stand Your Ground' laws of self-defense that cannot be nullified by a jury or a progressive District Attorney," tweeted Abbott. Abbott announced that he had already requested the Board of Pardons and Paroles to review Perry's conviction and "instructed the Board to expedite its review...

For anyone needing an occasional reminder of the lawless, fascist nature of the Republican/ Seditionist/ Shooters Party, the Texas of smarmy Greg Abbott is right up there with Bootsie's "Florida freedom" fascist paradise and the Republican- legislature- gerrymandered Wisconsin.

QOTD -- Hateful Little Ecosystem

 

"In the era of Donald Trump, a major plank of the modern Republican Party platform is outright racism. Whether it’s the leader of the free world telling four congresswomen of color to “go back” to the “totally broken and crime-infested places from which they came,” a U.S. senator saying he wasn’t afraid of the January 6 rioters but would have been worried if they were Black Lives Matter protesters, a U.S. congresswoman speaking at event put on by a white nationalist, the complete and total hysteria over the idea of children being taught about systemic racism, or a prime-time conservative host’s regular white-power hour, this hateful little ecosystem just loves to appeal to the lowest common denominator by demonizing anyone who isn’t white. But when their actions actually have consequences? And it turns out their hate speech matters? And people have the audacity to suggest they’re part of the problem? Well, they really get their noses out of joint." -- Bess Levin in Vanity Fair on the telling, furious reaction of Republicans to being rightfully linked with the racist "Great Replacement Theory."  We'd argue that the racism goes farther back in Republican DNA than Trump (see Nixon's "Southern Strategy" and St. Ronnie of Hollywood's speech in Neshoba County, MS, in 1980 for starters).  But points well taken.

Racist Republicans Don't Like Women Of Color Nominees

 

What could possibly be the common thread here?

-- Susan Rice, former UN Ambassador and National Security Advisor and current head of the Domestic Policy Council, withdrew her name from consideration for Secretary of State after Senate Republicans made it known she was "un-confirmable."

-- Neera Tanden was forced to withdraw her nomination to be Director of the Office of Management and Budget following a  right- wing smear campaign (with an assist from Maserati Joe Manchin); she's now White House staff secretary, a position not requiring Senate confirmation.

-- Vanita Gupta, barely confirmed as Assistant Attorney General after another smear campaign by Republican groups.

-- Prof. Lisa Cook, President Biden's nominee for the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors, is under attack by Republicans in another racist smear campaign.

Now we have the prospect of an eminently qualified black woman being nominated to the Supreme Court and, on schedule, Republicans have tuned up their dog whistles bull horns in going after the concept of such an appointment, which Biden had made as a campaign promise back in February 2020.  Smarmy hypocrite Republican Sen. "Moscow Mitch" McConnell has already had the gall to "warn" President Biden not to pick a "radical" nominee, by which standard he would likely judge any woman of color "radical" because yada yada BLM, The Squad, Ida B. Wells, Sojourner Truth, etc., etc. 

Then there's Mississippi Republican redneck Sen. Roger "You Don't Get Thicker Than" Wicker who opened his sexist/ racist hole yesterday:

During an appearance on a Mississippi radio program on Friday, Wicker dismissed Biden’s eventual choice as a “beneficiary” of “affirmative racial discrimination,” lamenting that the court would be saying goodbye to a “nice, stately” justice.  [snip]

 “The irony is that the Supreme Court is, at the very time, hearing cases about this sort of affirmative racial discrimination while adding someone who is the beneficiary of this sort of quota,” Wicker told SuperTalk Mississippi’s Paul Gallo.

The irony is that Wicker is the beneficiary of "good ol' boy affirmative action" that elevated his wrinkly white ass to the U.S. Senate, regardless of his obvious lack of two brain cells to rub together.

Insurrectionist Sen. Josh "HawHaw" Hawley (Sedition-MO) provided a statement lacking in self- awareness but full of shit, that included the buzz words "woke left," "race-obsessed, gender-obsessed," and the ne plus ultra, "I hope Republicans are ready to stand up for the Constitution," which surprisingly didn't cause him to combust on the spot.

Perpetually concerned hypocrite Sen. Susan Collins (FU- Maine), having gone along with the flash confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett shortly before the 2020 election, now wants to take all the time necessary (possibly hoping one of her octogenarian Senate Democrat colleagues won't make it to 2022, and flip the Senate back to the fascists):

“This time," Collins continued, "there is no need for any rush. We can take our time, have hearings, go through the process — which is a very important one. It is a lifetime appointment, after all.” So true! Now is the time to really sit and deliberate. The past two nominees were, only in the strictest and most literal sense, the deciding votes that could overturn Roe v. Wade; this nominee will be the one who has to sit there collegially dissenting after it happens, a role that requires a great deal more scrutiny.

We'll just mention in passing the now- deleted tweet from far- right libertarian and recent, lesser Georgetown Law hire Ilya Shapiro that has all the blatant sexist racism that others prefer to couch in softer terms.

It's all par for the course for what has become a thoroughly white nationalist party, with all its toxic masculinity in full bloom.

BONUS:  The white nationalist scream machine is riling up the knuckle-draggers again.

Texas Republicans Act To Disenfranchise Latinos

 

In a move from the Republican-controlled Texas legislature that's bound to be challenged, maps to redraw Congressional districts to favor them and harm minority voters were approved after being rushed through to minimize public comment. From the Associated Press:

"Texas Republicans approved redrawn U.S. House maps that favor incumbents and decrease political representation for growing minority communities, even as Latinos drive much of the growth in the nation’s largest red state.

The maps were approved late Monday night following outcry from Democrats over what they claimed was a rushed redistricting process crammed into a 30-day session, and one which gave little time for public input. They also denounced the reduction of minority opportunity districts -- Texas will now have seven House districts where Latino residents hold a majority, down from eight -- despite the state’s changing demographics."  (our emphasis)

Texas Republicans see that their best chance of retaining their grip on power is to choose the electorate, rather than the reverse. They're doing that by gerrymandering districts, and by imposing onerous voter suppression laws. Civil rights groups have already filed suit to stop the discriminatory gerrymandering. Over the years, Texas has been taken to court multiple times for drawing Congressional districts to increase their chances of success and to under represent minority -- mainly Latino -- voters who traditionally vote for Democrats. The challenges to Texas' redrawing of the districts will almost certainly end up in the Supreme Court, which does not bode well.

 

Racist History Texts Part Of Republican Schooling

Recently, corrupt human/turtle hybrid Sen. Moscow Mitch McConnell (Secession-KY) and 38 other Republican Senate colleagues sent a letter to the Secretary of Education expressing horror at the thought of a realistic history of slavery and Jim Crow being taught in America's public schools. They've been on a tear about the 1619 Project and Critical Race Theory, which counters the whitewashed version of American history that's been portrayed in history books for generations, ones which those Republicans learned from.

A revealing and thoroughly researched article in The Root looks at the kinds of textbooks that were used in the schools at the time these Republicans would have studied there. Not surprisingly, the history of African-Americans is rarely mentioned, and when it is, it's through the eyes of either paternalistic or outright racist authors. A small sample:

Sen. Marsha "Whiteburn" Blackburn (TN):

"In 1959, the year Sen. Marsha Blackburn would have entered kindergarten in Mississippi, the state legislature handed control of choosing textbooks to Gov. Ross Barnett. At the request of the Mississippi State Society of the United Daughters of the Confederacy (UDC), the state had already mandated a ninth-grade course in Mississippi history, which means Blackburn learned the history of her state from John K. Bettersworth’s textbook Mississippi: a History. 

The New York Times wrote in 1975 that Bettersworth’s catalogs 'treat blacks of old as complacent darkies or as a problem to whites.' When The Root reviewed the text, we noticed that the entire history of the 250-year institution of slavery was reduced to five pages. Bettersworth’s book was based on UDC propaganda that taught children that the slave master treated his slaves 'as his own,' but noted that most of the human chattel were so lazy that 'it took two to help; one to do nothing.'”  (our emphasis)

Sen. Ted "Cancun Ted Coup" Cruz (TX):                

"If Second Baptist High School adhered to the standards of the Texas Department of Education, we can surmise that Cruz had to learn speeches from Jefferson Davis, but not that slavery caused the Civil War, which wasn’t taught in Texas schools until 2018. Texas’ social studies curriculum 'deemphasized slavery, questioned New Deal entitlements and mandated study of the 'optimism’ of ‘thankful’ immigrants,' before 2010, according to the Texas Tribune. The state also believed Harriet Tubman was too sensitive a subject for third-graders but taught that slavery was the 'third-most-influential cause of the war.'"   (our emphasis)              

Sen. Lindsey "Huckleberry" Graham (SC): 

"Although Brown v. Board of Education officially outlawed segregation in 1955, Lindsey Graham’s school district in Pickens County, S.C., didn’t desegregate until 1970. So it’s understandable why he learned history from The History of South Carolina, published from 1840 until 1970 by three generations of descendants of pro-Confederate William Simms. While Simms’ early versions opined about the 'irresponsible, uneducated, unmoral and, in many cases brutish Africans,' Graham likely used the 1958 edition where Mary C. Simms Oliphant, Simm’s granddaughter, had a much more progressive view. [ed. -- snark!]

'Most masters treated their slaves kindly,' wrote Oliphant. 'Africans were brought from a worse life to a better one. As slaves, they were trained in the ways of civilization. Above all, the landowners argued, the slaves were given the opportunity to become Christians in a Christian land, instead of remaining heathen in a savage country.'” (our emphasis)

We should note that just learning from racist history books isn't the only factor in moulding a racist. Newborns aren't racist; children have to be taught racism by their peers, and more importantly their parents or guardians. But the point is that by introducing work like the 1619 Project into curricula would go a long way to eliminating this kind of overt racism being taught to students. Otherwise, we'll be getting more Huckleberrys, Coups, and white supremacists in the halls of Congress and state legislatures in the future.

                                              

QOTD -- DC Statehood And Republican Racism

 

"I have had enough of my colleagues' racist insinuations that somehow the people of Washington, D.C., are incapable or even unworthy of our democracy. One Senate Republican said that D.C. wouldn't be a -- quote -- well-rounded, working-class state. I had no idea there were so many syllables in the word 'white.'

"One of my House Republican colleagues said that D.C. shouldn't be a state because the District doesn't have a landfill! My goodness, with all the racist trash my colleagues have brought to this debate, I can see why they're worried about having a place to put it.

"The truth is that there is no good faith argument for disenfranchising over 700,000 people, Mr. Speaker, most of whom are people of color."  -- Rep. Mondaire Jones (D-NY) , speaking on behalf of the DC Statehood bill (which passed in a party line vote 216-208), shortly before being interrupted by faux offended Republican racists demanding his remarks be struck (which Rep. Jones subsequently agreed to, having made his point).

Today In Republican Racism

So many examples these days, but let's look at these two:

1) Tennessee State Rep. Jerry Sexton argued in a debate in the Tennessee legislature that the bust of notorious racist and KKK founder Confederate Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest should not be removed from the Tennessee State Capitol. Part of what Sexton said:

“It was not against the law to own slaves back then. Who knows, maybe some of us will be slaves one of these days. Laws change.”

The fruit of Richard Nixon's "Southern Strategy" is on full display with this bigot.

2) In Ohio, State Sen. Steve Huffman speculates that African-Americans may have a higher COVID-19 infection rate for a curious reason:

"Could it just be that African Americans or the colored population do not wash their hands as well as other groups or wear a mask or do not socially distance themselves? That could be the explanation of the higher incidence?”

Apparently Huffman, who is (yikes!) an emergency room physician, has disregarded legitimate causes like a higher incidence of comorbid diseases (diabetes, heart disease, etc.) from his careful assessment of the "problem" with the "colored population." If you're "colored," pray you don't have this guy as your doctor, who'll just tell you to wash your hands and be on your way.

Tweets Of The Day -- A Dispatch From Racistville

News item:  In their eagerness to take the spotlight off of the incompetence of their Dear Leader, Republicans are abandoning their usual racist dog whistle to brazenly tag the cornonavirus as something "foreign", and specifically Chinese, with a racist name:

This morning a White House official referred to #Coronavirus as the “Kung-Flu” to my face. Makes me wonder what they’re calling it behind my back.

— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) March 17, 2020

Deplorable. https://t.co/dxCxnZ42bc

— Molly Jong-Fast🏡 (@MollyJongFast) March 17, 2020

And now a dispatch from Racistville. Don't forget, the likes of Chuck Muth, who is handling GOP campaigns here, also is calling it the "Kung Flu." One thing can be said for a crisis: It shines a light on leaders and scumbags alike. Just revolting. pic.twitter.com/UQLi7PADl6

— Jon Ralston (@RalstonReports) March 17, 2020

Dear @WhiteHouse: We are in an unprecedented health crisis. All Americans are at risk from #coronavirus, which does not discriminate. The next few months will be very difficult for our nation. Please stop your bigotry. It is not helpful. We all need to work together. https://t.co/Bb92pULMTX

— Ted Lieu (@tedlieu) March 17, 2020

A White House official referred to the Coronavirus as the Kung Flu today but please tell me more about how calling it things like the Chinese virus or the Wuhan virus are totally harmless and not racist. https://t.co/mAQmNzQQ4f

— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) March 17, 2020

Media: Congratulations to President Trump for showing a new level of decorum by calling it “The Chinese virus” instead of using a racial slur, and not hurling feces at reporters for asking questions.

— The Volatile Mermaid (@OhNoSheTwitnt) March 17, 2020

What's that old Maya Angelou saying? "When people tell you who they are, believe them."

— Ray Suarez (@RaySuarezNews) March 17, 2020

BONUS:  The fish always rots from the head.

Racism Has Always Been In Republican DNA, Ronnie Reagan Edition

Following release of a 1971 audio recording of then- California Gov. Ronald "St. Ronnie of Hollywood" Reagan making a racist comment to President Richard "I'm Not A Crook" Nixon about African delegates to the U.N., at least one newspaper from Reagan's home state has weighed in on a long, vicious strain of white supremacy in the Republican Party:

In the shocking conversation, first revealed by The Atlantic, Reagan refers to African delegates to the United Nations as “monkeys” and says “they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes.” Nixon guffaws.

The two men – one a governor of California, one a president from California – were upset that the African delegates had voted to recognize the People’s Republic of China. So, in response to this political disagreement, two of the most powerful men in the world resorted to racist invective. Nixon, recounting his conversation with Reagan to a White House staffer, referred to the African delegates as “cannibals.”

Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article233373467.html#storylink=cpy

President Donald Trump’s increasingly racist rhetoric has stunned political observers, yet he’s simply playing to a constituency that was cultivated over decades by people like Nixon and Reagan. They may have operated on a more subtle level, saving the worst of their bigotry for private conversations instead of declaring it in tweets. Yet the core principle remains the same: racism.  (our emphasis)

The link embedded in the editorial provides the audio recording of Reagan's racist remarks and Nixon's approving reaction.  Please read the entire editorial for the historical references demonstrating the Republican Party's following a racist agenda from the "Southern Strategy" to Trump's white nationalism.  Here's The Atlantic's transcription of the Reagan remarks:

“Last night, I tell you, to watch that thing on television as I did,” Reagan said. “Yeah,” Nixon interjected. Reagan forged ahead with his complaint: “To see those, those monkeys from those African countries—damn them, they’re still uncomfortable wearing shoes!”

The Sacramento Bee is right:  the core principle of the Republican Party is racism.  If you support them, you support that.

Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article233373467.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article233373467.html#storylink=cpy

Monday Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds.

Is the Republican Party a hate group?  Leonard Pitts, Jr., has our answer, which we've excerpted at length:

Here’s how The Southern Poverty Law Center defines a hate group.

It is, they say, “an organization that — based on its official statements or principles, the statements of its leaders, or its activities — has beliefs or practices that attack or malign an entire class of people, typically for their immutable characteristics.” [snip]

Granted, in its “official statements or principles,” the party doesn’t meet the SPLC standard. Its activities and the statements of its leaders are, however, another matter. [snip]

For half a century, then, the GOP has taught white voters racial resentment, taught them to prioritize concerns about white prerogative over concerns about shuttered factories, dirty water, lack of healthcare, foreclosed futures. It did this in code — “Willie Horton,” “tax cuts,” “welfare queen” — which, while obvious to all but the most gullible, still allowed respectable white men and women to maintain fig leaves of deniability.  [snip]

Donald Trump is the payoff of that devil’s bargain. His “innovation” has been to shred subtlety and abandon code. With blunt, brutish clarity, he tells four black and brown women to “go back” where they came from, and if you don’t see racism there, you’ll never see it anywhere.

Yet bad as that is, the monstrous part is that his audience, trained by 50 years of appeals to their basest selves, cheers him on. They no longer need fig leaves. That should tell you something. As should the fact that the GOP seems to have abandoned policy altogether.

What do they stand for? Do they still care about the national debt? Do they have a strategy to combat global warming? What will they do about Russia and Iran? Who knows?

Because all they are now is the party of “Send her back!” — of outrage over Colin Kaepernick kneeling and April Ryan asking questions. That’s what passes for ideas in today’s GOP. And if that’s what Trump has made them, it’s not like they fought him tooth and nail.

So is the GOP a hate group? It’s sobering that the question can even be asked. But the inevitable answer is downright chilling. Because the SPLC offers a fair and cogent definition of that term.

And the GOP fits it with room to spare.

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article232893067.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article232893067.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article232893067.html#storylink=cpy

No matter how they try to distract and deflect*, racism is part of their DNA, and they have their leader who has given them permission to hate and to act on that hate.

Virginia Heffernan tells us not to buy into the media narrative of Trump's juggernaut base:

Back in the arena at East Carolina University, the bellowing helped the modest-sized rally make up in volatility what it lacked in numbers. Trump lied again. He said there were no empty seats. There were empty seats. Trump’s aide Brad Parscale took on the Spicer role, crowing on Twitter that 20,000 people were in the venue. Accurate counts put attendance at about 8,000. (For comparison, an average of 18,000 people attend every single men’s basketball game at the University of North Carolina.)  [snip]

Trump’s support is clearly not all phony. Polls show Republicans approve of the job he’s doing in high numbers, which raises the question of how big that polling pool really is. Trump’s critics, in any event, do their cause a grave disservice by following his lead and exaggerating his support, which gets people buzzing and may generate a bandwagon effect: real support following simulated support.

Or something even more sinister could happen. Anti-Trumpers might become cowed and discouraged enough to stay away from the polls because they are convinced the specter of a massive GOP base can’t be beat.

Don’t listen to Trump’s lies, skip the alarmism, and turn down the “send her back” volume. Above all, remind yourself that Trump’s Gallup approval rating has fluctuated between terrible (36.8%) and bad (42.7%). He isn’t our all-time favorite. Period.

Skip the alarmism, stay focused and work like hell.  That's how we excise the tumor in the White (Supremacist) House.

Greg Sargent explains why the "send her back" chant at Trump's North Carolina rally was a breaking point:

What changed? Well, the Times also reports that Trump advisers privately warned against letting these sentiments get out of control at his rally.

So I submit to you that the key difference is twofold: Trump’s naked hatred and cruelty was captured on live television, and along with it, so was the seething anger of the hard-core Trump base.

The whole nation saw in dramatic fashion that Trump voters understood his meaning perfectly well, and watched them not just agree with it but also amplify it with as ugly and hate-curdled a chant as one could imagine.

Sargent has much more about the Republican panic that has set in around their heretofore muted racism being exposed in such raw form.  And, of course, the "send her back" chant was led by Trump's rally leaders.

*Distraction/ deflection watch:  Lest we forget (we won't), there's the testimony Wednesday of Robert Mueller that has Putin's puppet in a state of agitation, and the connections between sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein with fellow predator Trump, something that's also never far from Trump's "mind."

As always, Infidel 753 has been laboring to bring us an impressive array of links to interesting items around the internet and beyond.  Go see what we mean!

Read more here: https://www.miamiherald.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/leonard-pitts-jr/article232893067.html#storylink=cpy

The Racism Is A Feature Of The Con

Matthew Yglesias tells us "it’s impossible to understand why the Trump Show we see on stage works without appreciating what’s happening behind the scenes and who benefits from it."  In other words, follow the money:

On Monday, Brian Schwartz of CNBC reported that “Trump, Republican National Committee turn to titans of industry to help raise over $100 million in second quarter.”

That massive haul of financial cash comes in part from people who backed Trump in 2016. But it also features big bundles of cash from donors who supported other GOP candidates in the 2016 primary and then stayed aloof from Trump. It includes people like Stephen Rosenberg, CEO of the real estate investment partnership Greystone. Rosenberg backed Hillary Clinton in 2016, but wrote a $360,600 check to the Trump reelection campaign — and I’m guessing it’s not because he appreciates the way Trump drives liberal elites wild with his blunt talk.

Trump’s signature tax bill didn’t pay for itself as promised or lead to a massive surge in business investment, but it did boost bank profits to record levels. And it spurred a massive series of stock buybacks that benefitted rich people who own lots of stock and corporate executives with stock-linked compensation packages. He’s approving a Sprint/T-Mobile merger that will raise cellphone plan prices for consumers, repealed net neutrality regulations, and in one of his first acts decided to allow internet service providers to sell private user data to advertising companies.

Under Trump, decades of steady progress on non-climate air pollution have finally been reversed, and his administration is hard at work writing new rules that would increase water pollution levels as well. [snip]

This agenda, no less than Trump’s racism, is an absolute disaster for America’s immigrants and communities of color who are generally lower-income and more vulnerable to corporate abuses and pollution than more privileged people.

But critically, it is also an absolute disaster for the vast majority of white people. There are simply very few people who benefit from a combination of more pollution and less economic competition, and there’s no way for the tax cutting to balance that out unless you’re part of the tiny minority of the public that derives the majority of its income from stock ownership.

Trump’s politics of racial division are not particularly popular — his approval ratings are worse than those of any prior president at this point in his term except Jimmy Carter — but it’s still true that framing Trump as a symbol of white privilege is almost certainly more favorable to him than framing him as a person whose governance has concrete material implications for Americans of all ethnic backgrounds.

Neo- fascist con man Donald "Boneless Racist" Trump and his rotted- out Republican Party are focused on what they've always been focused on:  the plutocrat class.  That's certainly not news, as conservatives have been conning low- and- middle- income white people for over a century by fanning racial animosity while they steal more and more wealth from suckers like you see at Trump's Nuremberg rallies.  At this point in time, the conned are fully reveling in the racist con, since Trump hates the same people they've been taught to hate.  That's called "winning" in Trumpland.

The problem for Trump and his rotted out party may be that the con, which has historically been encouraged by dog whistles and winks, now is full- blown, public racism as seen in this week's Nuremberg rally in North Carolina.  A line many of us saw crossed early on in the Trump era (starting with the "Mexico is sending rapists," continuing through the Muslim travel ban, and into the Charlottesville, VA, episode) has now been boldly and irretrievably crossed in July 2019 in the minds of some in the mainstream media and a significant majority of Americans, who see this and don't like it.  While it makes some Republicans nervous that the game is up, it still may not be enough to drive the plutocrats and their millions away from Trump, as they've already shown what they value, and it certainly won't make a dent in Trump's hardcore, white nationalist, knuckle- dragging base.  But they're not a majority in this country.

Democrats can and should still make the moral and political case that Republican racism is part of the larger con to "comfort the comfortable, and afflict the afflicted," regardless of race or ethnicity.  To coin a phrase, the racism is a feature, not a bug of the Republican con.

Tweets Of The Day

It seems existential threat Donald "Boneless Racist" Trump had one of his Nuremberg rallies last night in North Carolina, and he stoked the red hat goobers with more racism:

This is racist. If you’re chanting this, you’re a racist. If you’re a journalist asking white people if this is racist—you’re an idiot. https://t.co/ewOdrKlWmM

— Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) July 18, 2019

As Trump riles up racist frenzy & his base yells "send her back," please note Ilhan Omar has had several death threats against her. They increase when he attacks her. There are real life consequences, real costs resulting from Trump's hatred. It harms us, communities of color.

— Wajahat Ali (@WajahatAli) July 18, 2019

Democrats we are spoiling ourselves with policy, and that’s a good thing.

However, you do know Policy ain’t going to beat Donald Trump.  This election is not going to be about who has best agenda.

This election will be about fighting. Fighting for what our country should be.

— Bakari Sellers (@Bakari_Sellers) July 18, 2019

And, finally

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.

-Maya Angelou https://t.co/46jcXSXF0B

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) July 18, 2019

Trump Toady Graham Attacks Minority Congresswomen

After bigot and demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump was blasted for his series of racist tweets yesterday (by everyone who's not a Rethuglican, that is), Trump's most reliable towel boy and sycophantic hack Sen. Lindsey "Huckleberry" Graham unleashed an unhinged attack on the four Congresswomen this morning on "Fux and Trump's Friends" saying:

“We all know [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez] and this crowd are a bunch of communists. They hate Israel, they hate our own country. They’re calling the guards along our border, Border Patrol agents concentration camp guards. They accuse people support Israel doing it for the Benjamins. They’re anti-Semitic. They’re anti-America." [snip]

“They’re socialists. They’re anti-Semitic,” Graham declared. “They stand for all the things that most Americans disagree with. Make them the face of the future of the Democrat Party. You will destroy the Democrat Party.”

A plain and simple smear, nothing about the obvious, rancid racism displayed in Trump's ugly tweets, directed at the four Congresswomen (all American citizens, elected by Americans, three born in this country) suggesting they should go back to "their own countries". Graham, who in 2015 called his new master "a race-baiting, xenophobic bigot", has devolved into Trump's close ally and slobbering defender, a development that must have his erstwhile friend and Trump nemesis Sen. John McCain doing somersaults in his grave. He's full of sweaty fear about his re-election bid in 2020, about being primaried, and about crossing his unstable, racist leader.

Twitter reactions to Graham's Trump-stroking performance were dead-on and brutal:

Lindsey Graham is a modern day Joseph McCarthy, with an extra soupçon of crazy in his Smithers-like sycophancy. Like McCarthy, Graham's name, too, will go down in infamy for his dishonesty and baseless attacks in support of a mad king.

— S (@Yes_Its_Me_S) July 15, 2019

Wow what a surprise that Lindsay has gone full-on Klan

— Anita Creamer (@AnitaCreamer) July 15, 2019

Someone remind me. What does Trump have on Graham that's making him grovel to stay out of trouble?

— kalbzayn (@kalbzayn) July 15, 2019

Lindsey Graham has no spine and no soul. He will sell himself to anyone who has power. So pathetic.

— DogsGoneCrazy (@3DogGoneCrazy) July 15, 2019

Wow! Guess you got more than a pep talk during that golf game with trump. Did he remind you that Putin has your emails too, not just the DNC's?

— Sandy B (@sandy_b_good) July 15, 2019

Kompromat Graham got his marching orders at golf yesterday

— Eileen Stern (@estern839) July 15, 2019

"You know how you make America great again? Tell Donald Trump to go to hell." - Lindsey Graham, before he met him there.

— Schooley (@Rschooley) July 15, 2019

South Carolina Dem Jaime Harrison is running against the despicable Huckleberry and could use some support in a challenging race. Donate here.

(photo: Huckleberry trying to appear tough to his leader. Andrew Harnik/AP)

It's Who They Are

There's a Little Free Library in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, DC, dedicated to Michelle Obama that's been visited by some people not interested in the books:

The Little Free Library went up a week after the inauguration, its wooden walls painted to evoke the White House eight blocks away. But if the book box coincided with President Trump taking office, its tiny plaque pined for the previous administration. 

“In Honor of Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama,” it said. “Lawyer, writer, and First Lady of the United States.” [snip]

But then the library began attracting more attention for what was written on its outside than what was contained within. 

First someone wrote “eyesore” on it, although it wasn’t clear if the word was meant as criticism or merely a tagger’s moniker. Then came the broken window and the missing plaque. [snip]

One neighbor swept out the glass and painted over the graffiti. Another covered the library in patriotic decorations for Election Day, including a smiling portrait of Michelle Obama above an American flag. 

But the vandal — or vandals — struck again, tearing it all down. 

“Help restore the book exchange,” someone wrote on the broken window. 

So someone did, replacing the window with a new one. “Michelle Robinson Obama” appeared again in bronze painted lettering. 

Yet it was only a few days before a vandal crossed out her name and christened the library for Trump. 

Here's the library with the original plaque and the glass broken out:

(Photo: Michael E. Miller/ Washington Post)

Here's a later version of the library with the window out again and the Trump tag:

(Photo: Michael E. Miller/ Washington Post)

This happened in a neighborhood where only 4% of voters went for Trump, mind you. But it doesn't matter;  like the neo- Nazis who marched in Charlottesville and the "Proud Boys" Nazi street fighters, they feel empowered to wreck anything anywhere they see as a threat or a challenge to their white supremacy.  This library was a right- wing snowflake's trifecta:  Democrat, woman, African- American.

By their actions small and large, they've given us permission to hate them.  And we do.

Monday Pre-Election Reading

As always, please go to the links for the full articles/ op eds (and, if you haven't already, VOTE tomorrow!).

Francis Wilkinson writes about the pervasive racism in the Republican Party, and offers poll after poll illuminating how their base has shifted ever further into the dark recesses of racial resentment and ignorance.  Here's his conclusion:

Preservation of a racial hierarchy is the glue that holds much of the GOP’s rickety planks together. It’s the basis of Trump’s call to end birthright citizenship. [snip] 

The broader electorate may be ready to reject GOP control of at least the House on Tuesday. Perhaps that will deter Republicans from advancing their race war. But it’s possible that they’ve steeped in their resentments for too long, and traveled with Trump too far. They may not want to go back, or even know how to.  (our emphasis)

Republicans need to be defeated at all levels, over and over again.

Leonard Pitts, Jr., puts it bluntly:

... Tuesday is about what we do for ourselves, for our country. It is about whether those of us who see this madness for what it is acquiesce to it or whether, like the guy in Rockwell’s painting, we stand up and speak out. It shouldn’t be a hard choice. 

If you find this calamity unacceptable, make your case. 

If you think we should be better than this, raise your voice. 

If you are disgusted and appalled, make yourself heard. 

Because we could absolutely lose America. Or, we could save it. 

What do you say?

We say, Republicans need to be defeated at all levels, over and over again.

"Trump is on the ballot.  Vote accordingly."  ABC News:

President Donald Trump has repeatedly refused to accept any responsibility for inciting violence in American communities, dismissing critics who have pointed to his rhetoric as a potential source of inspiration for some citizens acting on bigoted beliefs. [snip] 

But a nationwide review conducted by ABC News has identified at least 17 criminal cases where Trump's name was invoked in direct connection with violent acts, threats of violence or allegations of assault. 

Nearly all -- 16 of 17 -- cases identified by ABC News are striking in that court documents and direct evidence reflect someone echoing presidential rhetoric, not protesting it. ABC News was unable to find any such case echoing presidential rhetoric when Barack Obama or George W. Bush were in the White House.  (our emphasis)

Republicans need to be defeated at all levels, over and over again.

Meanwhile, here's more on the vote- suppressing, racist über- Trumper running for governor of Georgia while simultaneously running the election there, Georgia Secretary of State Brian "No Show" Kemp, and his banana Republican last- minute effort to smear Democrats for his fraud- friendly voting system:

But the latest appalling move by Kemp to publicly accuse the Democrats of hacking without evidence is even worse than that: Kemp has been one of the few state election officials to refuse help from the federal Department of Homeland Security to deter foreign and domestic hacking of voter registration databases. After computer scientists demonstrated the insecurity of the state’s voting system, he was sued for having perhaps the most vulnerable election system in the country. His office has been plausibly accused of destroying evidence, which would have helped to prove the vulnerabilities of the state election system.  [snip]

 ... [The latest episode] shows Democrats, like many others, pointing out the glaring security flaws in Georgia’s voting system. To turn this around and blame Democrats is an act of political chutzpah by an election official on par with nothing else I’ve seen. 

It is bad enough there is a partisan election official running Georgia’s elections. It is also bad enough that this partisan election official is in charge of his very own election, an election where he is running in a very tight race against Democrat Stacey Abrams, and that he has engaged in acts of voters suppression aimed to decrease the turnout for the candidate who would be this nation’s first black woman to win a governor’s mansion. It is still worse that we have an election official who, according to audio leaked to Rolling Stone, expressed concern about the state’s citizens exercising their rights to vote via absentee ballot: “[Democrats] have just an unprecedented number of [absentee ballot applications],” he said, “which is something that continues to concern us, especially if everybody uses and exercises their right to vote—which they absolutely can—and mail those ballots in, we gotta have heavy turnout to offset that.” 

But what Kemp has done now goes beyond the pale. He’s accused his opponents of election tampering without evidence on the eve of the election, and plastered the incendiary charge on an official state website in the days before his office will administer that election. This is some banana republic stuff.  (our emphasis)

This speaks for us:

There are few more disgracefully corrupt figures in American public life than Kemp. He should be nowhere in the vicinity of a position of public trust. Enabler of Russian interference in our elections, racist scoundrel.

— Norman Ornstein (@NormOrnstein) November 4, 2018

Republicans need to be defeated at all levels, especially this shitbag Kemp.

As always, we close with a recommendation to check out Infidel 753's link round- up for a great assortment of interesting political, social, universal, etc., topics.  A fine way to start the week.

Trump's Racist Ad (UPDATED)

There's no bottom for them:

In the most racially charged national political ad in 30 years, President Donald Trump and the Republican Party accuse Democrats of plotting to help people they depict as Central American invaders overrun the nation with cop killers. 

The new web video, tweeted by the President five days before the midterm elections, is the most extreme step yet in the most inflammatory closing argument of any campaign in recent memory. 

The Trump campaign ad is the latest example of the President's willingness to lie and fear-monger in order to tear at racial and societal divides; to embrace demagoguery to bolster his own political power and the cause of the Republican midterm campaign. 

The web video -- produced for the Trump campaign -- features Luis Bracamontes, a Mexican man who had previously been deported but returned to the United States and was convicted in February in the slaying of two California deputies. (our emphasis)

We're purposefully not linking to the video;  you may have already seen it anyway.  It's pure filth. It appeals directly to the most bigoted, darkest corners of the American id.  In other words, it's pure white nationalist Trump Republicanism.  All Americans should be revolted by this naked display of bigotry and fear- mongering -- especially the race- baited Hispanic population.

The only way to stop this corrosion in our country is to vote these Republican bastards out at every level of government.  Every one of them.

Some reactions:

So WH is closing with straight-up racist incitement not less than a week after a MAGA cultist tried to assassinate 13 officials and critics and 4 days after a Nazi cited WH-led immigration propaganda as his cause for committing slaughter.

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) October 31, 2018

Imagine Trump popping Starbursts and saying, “That Willie Horton ad, that was a good ad.”

— Schooley (@Rschooley) November 1, 2018

Not linking to this ad but it’s not a shock.

It’s his only political strategy. If it’s not working, he just increases the volume.

Trump thinks racism is the most powerful force in American politics

Tuesday we get to see if he’s right. pic.twitter.com/H8xBtIIvxQ

— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) November 1, 2018

Glad everyone has come around to using the word ‘liar’ to describe Donald Trump.

Now use ‘racist.’

— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) November 1, 2018

UPDATE: 

The cop-killer featured in Trump's incendiary video blaming Democrats, was actually released by Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the man Trump pardoned. He was deported by President Bill Clinton and re-entered the US under President Bush. https://t.co/tN8oMDH4W0  pic.twitter.com/txuA1LpNO8

— Amee Vanderpool #WaveCast (@girlsreallyrule) November 2, 2018

On Trump's Racist Caravan Fear-Mongering

Stephen Colbert nails sociopathic demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump's racist "dog trombone" about the caravan of migrants heading to the southern border:

Republicans Running On Racist Appeals, Naturally

Behold, a pattern is emerging in Republican attack ads leading up to the mid- terms, one that is directed straight to the rotted- out core of their party. If you're surprised by these developments, well, bless your heart.

Maryland

The object of the Republicans’ ire is [Maryland] state Del. Aruna Miller, a highly respected lawmaker from Montgomery County who is one of the putative front-runners in a field of more than a half-dozen Democrats running for the party nomination in a race to succeed Rep. John Delaney. (Mr. Delaney is leaving Congress to run for president.) Her transgression, according to a mass mailing from the state Republican Party, was to have been one of 58 legislators in Annapolis to co-sponsor legislation that would bar state and local authorities from asking individuals about their immigration status. The measure died in the House of Delegates. 

That’s a pretty flimsy basis on which to link Ms. Miller with violent gangs such as MS-13. But it’s no flimsier than the pretext in another mailer — accusing her of “making your neighborhood go downhill” because she backed a bill to allow community-based organizations to establish centers to treat drug addiction and infectious diseases. That, according to another Republican mailer, would “bring drug dens to our neighborhoods” and “jeopardize your family’s safety.” (our emphasis)

Arizona

Democrats don't think they are going to win next week's special election in the reliably Republican suburbs west of Phoenix. 

But in a year where Arizona is slated to have multiple high profile general election races in November -- including a closely watched contest for the state's open Senate seat, a chance to challenge Arizona's Republican governor and a winnable open House seat -- a dozen Democrats in the state and around the country told CNN that they see their efforts to back a longshot congressional candidate as a test run for November. 

Republicans aren't taking any chances either, spending over $1 million in the race and getting President Donald Trump to record a robocall earlier this month to boost early voting. 

"Nancy Pelosi wants to send a liberal Democrat to Congress to represent you. We can't have that," Trump says in the call, a recording of which was obtained by CNN, that went out to voters on April 6. "If that happens, illegal immigrants will pour right over your border, bringing their drugs and their crime with them, right into your neighborhood, right into your back yard."

We're sure there are -- and will be --  more examples of this tactic in play this year, ranging from dog whistling to bull horn blaring. Apparently, since no one but plutocrats and Paul Ryan got a stiffy from the Republican wealthfare tax giveaway, Republicans are resorting to their time- tested, good old fashioned racist playbook to rouse their mouth- breathing, melanin- phobic base to get off their asses and get to the polls.

As the WaPo op/ ed points out, similar racist scare tactics backfired spectacularly in the governor's race in Virginia last November.  And doing the "Nancy Pelosi misogynist boogaloo" didn't save PA- 18 for Republicans. But when racism is in your political DNA, this is what you do because it's literally who you are.

Keep your eye on this.

Stephen Miller And The Bullhorn Racism Of Republicans And The Trump Regime

Morally rotted- out Republicans are working overtime to weaponize racial animosity in falsely framing the discussion around the continuing resolution and Dreamers/ DACA.  Since the vast majority of Americans (87%) want to keep Dreamers in this country, Republican white nationalists have decided to ignore the popular case for Dreamers and are going directly to flogging racist stereotypes that have nothing to do with extending protections to people who were brought into this country as children. Surprise, surprise!

Specifically, you may have seen this vile piece of racist misdirection from "Donald J. Trump for President" (or you may just want to take our word for it and skip it):




On Sunday's talk shows, when confronted with this steaming pile of un- American crap, former Koch brothers executive and current Man Baby's legislative affairs director Marc Short offered a mealy- mouthed non- disavowal.  Koch- coin- operated spineless weasel Rep. Paul "Lyin'" Ryan didn't have the courage to denounce the ad either. The lesson, once again, is that we should expect nothing less from the neo- fascists busily dividing us and undermining our democracy.

Meanwhile, Charles Pierce also offers his pithy review:

This thing makes the Willie Horton ad from 1988 look like Live From Lincoln Center. It is the equivalent of all those one-minute speeches from the House—unmoored from the facts, sailing aloft on hot rage and molten ignorance, and that is the state of play as the first business day of the shutdown comes along. There is madness abroad in the land. There are those who can coin it into advantage, which makes it effective, but no less mad.

So, with this level of mendacity to deal with, in addition to the ignorant Man Baby (a.k.a., "Cadet Bone Spurs")who's apparently swayed by the last person to see him, hopes for a resolution are as dim as Man Baby himself.  It's being reported in fact that Man Baby's staff are desperately trying to keep him out of the debate to avoid further damage to their distract and misdirect campaign.

One of the last people to see Man Baby when it comes to immigration is that vicious malignancy Stephen Miller. Yesterday, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey "Huckleberry" Graham identified him as a specific reason why a deal on Dreamers/ DACA continues to get sabotaged:

"Every time we have a proposal it is only yanked back by staff members. As long as Stephen Miller is in charge of negotiating immigration, we're going nowhere," the senator told reporters.

In a statement attributed to White (Supremacist) House spokesperson Hogan Gidley (!), but sounding an awful lot like Miller's puerile "I'm rubber, you're glue..." mentality, Huckleberry's words were tossed back at him:

"As long as Sen. Graham chooses to support legislation that sides with people in this country illegally and unlawfully instead of our own American citizens, we're going nowhere. He’s been an outlier for years,” White House spokesman Hogan Gidley said in a statement Sunday night, according to several reports.

Sounds like we have a new candidate for the White (Supremacist) House's Adult Day Care ("Now, Hogan! Play nice! No taunting Lindsey!").

Make no mistake:  white nationalist Republicans want as little immigration as possible, and as for those already in the country who are contributing to making America better and stronger, they want them out. They'll stoop to the most blatant misdirection and racist tactics (with help from their Russian handlers -- see below) to achieve that goal, as we're now seeing in plain sight.