Whitewashing The Smithsonian

 

The ignoramus Malignant Fascist's white "Christian" nationalist KKKoup is now targeting the Smithsonian National Museum of American History.  The Orwellian, McCarthyite gaslighting and lies have reached fever pitch:

If President Donald Trump gets his way, the first thing visitors to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History will be greeted with are signs warning them that because of “inaccurate information presented in the Museum” they should seek “accurate information” elsewhere.  [Ed. -- From the lips of the moron in the White House?  From the racist, anti-immigrant, misogynist, homophobic, fascist clowns who form his advisors and base of support?]

The president on Friday ordered the installation of temporary “warning” signs on the museum’s sidewalks, marking a major escalation in his campaign to pressure the Smithsonian Institution to rewrite American history to better align with his administration’s ideology.

The executive order directs Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought and several other Cabinet officials to utilize “all available authorities to encourage” the Smithsonian Institution to “correct the issues found” in a scathing  White House report released on July 4 that accused the museum of “extreme political activism” and claimed it “cannot be trusted to tell America’s story honestly and in a way that is inspiring, unifying, and worthy of our great republic.”

The sidewalks and walkways outside of the popular museum, which welcomes just shy of two million visitors annually, are federal property controlled by the National Park Service. The signs would “notify visitors that the Museum exhibits should be renovated consistent” with the findings of the July 4 report. They would also “direct visitors to locations and resources for accurate information regarding America’s history.”

Trump also accused the museum of failing to “to appropriately honor the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence during this 250th anniversary year of the founding of our country,” and instructed Burgum to install “temporary exhibits” on Smithsonian walkways to correct “inaccurate information presented in the Museum.”

McCarthyism alert:

The signage order followed a week of congressional testimony by Smithsonian officials in hearings called by House Republicans in response to the White House report. Anthea Hartig, head of the National Museum of American History, was grilled over her patriotism and dedication to country.

Hartig said the White House report “does not fairly characterize the full body of work of this museum.” And under questioning from GOP lawmakers she reaffirmed her allegiance to her country multiple times, at one point answering, “I love this country unconditionally.”

The report, oversight hearings and signage demand compound more than a year of the Trump administration’s pressure campaign against the world’s largest museum, education and research complex. In March 2025, Trump signed an executive order that vowed to strip federal funding from Smithsonian programs that present what he viewed as “improper, divisive, or anti-American” ideology.

The Trump administration has since threatened to withhold federal funding from the Smithsonian Institution unless a number of its museums submit documentation for an expansive content review. 

If the question is who loves and is dedicated to our country, Ms. Hartig wins hands down over the cult-over-country crowd that we call the MAGAt Republican party.

As the aforementioned Orwell said, “The most effective way to destroy people is to deny and obliterate their own understanding of their history.”  We are under the sway of a narcissistic baboon who's never cracked a book, along with his vapid white nationalist supremacist subalterns in the Republican party/ cult.  They've systematically gone after the rule of law, the system of checks and balances, our institutions of higher learning, news media, our free and fair elections, and now the repository of our common American history.   That they seek to remake our republic into a fascist white authoritarian state, cannot be seriously challenged now.  

BONUS:  Clay Bennett in the Chattanooga Times Free Press today --

(Image:  who you gonna believe, this guy or the Smithsonian? via Getty Images)

Traitor Statues Removed In Charlottesville

 

Earlier this morning, the statue of traitor Robert E. Lee was removed from a park in Charlottesville, VA. A statue of fellow traitor Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson was also removed in Charlottesville today.  Both statues will be put into "storage." The original plan for removal was the cause of the white nationalist/ Nazi riot in August 2017 that resulted in the death of anti- racism protester Heather Heyer.  Good riddance to those pigeon toilets:

 

charlottesville’s robert e lee statue has been lifted from the plinth pic.twitter.com/3pou4f86dv

— molly conger (@socialistdogmom) July 10, 2021

 

the confederacy in retreat pic.twitter.com/McLZgpiX4B

— molly conger (@socialistdogmom) July 10, 2021

 

WATCH: Stonewall Jackson's statue was also removed this morning in Charlottesville.

It was erected in the 1920s, on land stolen from Black owners seven years earlier.

Today, two towering symbols of white supremacy are gone. pic.twitter.com/wDfpv7bQ4d

— ACLU of Virginia (@ACLUVA) July 10, 2021

 

 

The Next White Supremacist Mass Shooter?

News Item:

An armed supporter of President Donald Trump and Republican Senator Ted Cruz was detained by police Wednesday outside a migrant community center in El Paso, according to Dallas News.  [snip]

Police spokesman Robert Gomez said Thursday that a 21-year-old “suspicious subject” was “detained and interviewed” before being released. He was reportedly armed with a gun and knife.

He was spotted lurking outside the Casa Carmelita shelter.

“He was sitting in his truck wearing blue latex gloves, and brandishing a knife. Police recovered a loaded gun, ammo, and a bag of white powder from his person,” Casa Carmelita wrote in a Facebook post.

"Released."  That's nice.

You'll note the truck is plastered with Trump and Cruz advertising and, in a nod to an ancient conspiracy theory of far right- wingers still pushed by fever swamps like Infowars, a "flouride" bumper sticker:


 

JFC, these people are nuts.  And they're not chastened, they're emboldened.

Tweets Of The Day -- "Trump But Actually Competent"?

This past Tuesday, a new wingnut welfare operation called The Edmund Burke Foundation sponsored a "National Conservatism" conference in Washington.  The conference has been described as basically an attempt to reverse- engineer a conservative philosophical veneer over Trumpism. Giving the keynote address (!) was Missouri's answer to Arkansas's crackpot Sen. Tom "Pencil Neck" Cotton, Sen. Josh "Lord Haw Haw" Hawley.  It seems Hawley knows how to speak the language of Steven Miller, Stormfront and Stalin:

Sen. Josh Hawley tonight: "It's time we ended this cosmopolitan experiment and recovered the promise of our republic. Let's start with this: America is not going to become the rest of the world, and the rest of the world is not going to become America."

— Jonah Bennett (@BennettJonah) July 16, 2019

Taking notice --

If you're Jewish and the use of "cosmopolitan" doesn't scare you, read some history https://t.co/yc5xTCN2ck

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) July 18, 2019

It sounded better in the original German.

— Meghan🌹 (Bitch Jesus) (@meglanker) July 19, 2019

Jesus, this man is stupid.

— Charles P. Pierce (@CharlesPPierce) July 18, 2019

There is an entire American tradition of right-wing nationalist language that frames a herrenvolk middle against an underclass of racial and ethnic others and an overclass of the wealthy, defined primarily as cultural elites and often identified as Jews.

— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) July 19, 2019

He is basically a clone of Tom Cotton, but with a little more theocracy to add to the white nationalist bile.

— Taylor Desloge (@TaylorDesloge) July 19, 2019

Hawley (and Cotton) is why I'm reasonably sure we'll get a "Trump but actually competent" at some point in the near to medium-term.

— b-boy bouiebaisse (@jbouie) July 18, 2019

BONUS:  Haw Haw's been asked to apologize for his remarks by the Missouri Anti- Defamation League.

Republicans Stand With White Nationalism; Some Media Finally Learning?

The House of Representatives passed a resolution last night condemning the racist tweets of malignant bone spur Donald "Not Exonerated" Trump.  We like the truthful and straightforward way the Washington Post framed it on their front page:

A divided House voted Tuesday to condemn President Trump’s racist remarks telling four minority congresswomen to “go back” to their ancestral countries, with all but a handful of Republicans dismissing the rebuke as harassment while many Democrats pressed their leaders for harsher punishment of the president.

The imagery of the 240-to-187 vote was stark: A diverse Democratic caucus cast the president’s words as an affront to millions of Americans and descendants of immigrants, while Republican lawmakers — the vast majority of them white men — stood with Trump against a resolution that rejected his “racist comments that have legitimized fear and hatred of new Americans and people of color.” (our emphasis)

All but four Republicans voted against the resolution (a fifth being recent apostate Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan).  We wish them well in their future careers after they're primaried out of office by frothing red hats.

While it's not at all surprising that, at all levels, the white nationalist Party of Trump has nothing resembling a moral conscience anymore, we're increasingly surprised at the turn our hometown newspaper has taken, at least on this particular topic.  (We should also note that on the NBC Nightly News last night, Lester Holt referred to the Trump tweets as racist, several days after they were weaseling it as "some have called racist." We imagine there's been some professional and public blowback that's resulted in getting these media outlets to finally call a racist a racist.  Baby steps.)  No one, in any walk of life, who sees what's going on in this country should be silent, least of all the media.  The stakes are too real and too high.

BONUS: Just as they began to savor their victory, Rep. Al Green (TX) promptly stepped on it by filing articles of impeachment against Trump, a premature move that will put the majority of Dems in opposition prior to Robert Mueller's testimony, and that will give Trump a diversion from his racist tweet debacle. As progressive Dem Rep. Jaime Raskin (MD) said, “I'm enough of a political pragmatist to believe that you call votes when you think you can win them, not when you think you can lose them.”

BONUS II:  While some in the media may be learning, some are obstinately missing the whole point.

(Photo: Blinded by the white -- the House Republican caucus takes its oath to defend racist white nationalism)

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

Barcelona

The death toll continues to rise from the horrible terrorist attack in Barcelona on Thursday. As of now, 14 people are dead and more than 100 wounded as a result of a van being driven through crowds walking on the popular promenade, Las Ramblas. ISIS has claimed "credit." A number of arrests have been made, and a shootout with Spanish police in a town south of Barcelona has resulted in the deaths of several terror suspects. Barcelona thus joins other cities such as Nice, Berlin, London (twice) and, sadly, Charlottesville as the scene of an act perpetrated by a terrorist behind the wheel of a vehicle.

Today, people in Barcelona made a statement by showing up on Las Ramblas to tell the world they're not afraid of cowards who target innocent lives. From leaders around the world, expressions of horror and sympathy for the victims poured in.

Then we have this:



As Tapper notes, this egregious lie is another example of the lack of truth and moral clarity emanating from neo- fascist Donald "Rump" Trump.  It's also an example of how he'll use any lie or distortion to enflame his base, whether it's against Muslims today, or people opposing Nazis and white supremacy earlier this week.

They're desperate, and this is the van they're driving through American society.

Tweets Of The Day - The White (Supremacist) House

Trump says federal funding for HBCUs is racist against whites.  https://t.co/ElKh2nWdNi

— Angus Johnston (@studentactivism) May 6, 2017

The tweet refers to Historically Black Colleges and Universities and neo- fascist white nationalist Donald "Rump" Trump's statement on the omnibus spending bill Rump signed Friday. Here's what happened:

President Donald Trump signaled Friday that he may not implement a 25-year-old federal program that helps historically black colleges finance construction projects on their campuses, suggesting that it may run afoul of the Constitution. 

In a signing statement on the $1.1 trillion omnibus government spending bill, Trump singled out the Historically Black College and University Capital Financing Program as an example of provisions in the funding bill “that allocate benefits on the basis of race, ethnicity, and gender.” 

Trump said his administration would treat those programs “in a manner consistent with the requirement to afford equal protection of the law under the Due Process Clause of the Constitution’s Fifth Amendment.”’

Once and for always, the orange shitgibbon and his staff of redneck nitwits don't have the faintest foggiest notion what they're talking about.  Here's Cheryl Smith at the United Negro College Fund trying to paint a picture for them:

Smith noted that the federal designation of an institution as an HBCU is not based on race, but rather on mission, accreditation status and the year the institution was established.” She speculated that the “signing statement may simply be the Office of Management and Budget being overly cautious and perhaps not fully understanding this important distinction as it relates to HBCUs, but UNCF needs more information regarding their thinking and intent.” 

Under the program, which was created by Congress in 1992, the Education Department provides federally-backed loans to historically black colleges and universities for the construction of buildings and other facilities. The bill provides $20 million in federal loan subsidies in fiscal year 2017 to support as much as $282 million worth of financing to the schools. 

Derek W. Black, a law professor at the University of South Carolina School of Law who studies constitutional and education law, called Trump’s reference to the HBCU program “rather odd.” (our emphasis)

Odd is as odd does.

This could've been a clue earlier:

Who could've predicted the Trump administration would treat historically black colleges & universities with contempt? pic.twitter.com/oq9ig7BDGt

— Jeet Heer (@HeerJeet) May 6, 2017

How could this have gotten by Presidential apprentice and heavyweight liaison Omirosa?! We don't think she'll get any props for this!

Tweets Of The Day -- Sic Transit Gloria, America

In hindsight, maybe it was a mistake to put a bunch of white nationalist bloggers in charge of the federal government.

— Ned Resnikoff (@resnikoff) February 14, 2017

Meanwhile, on Earth 2, President Clinton just met with another Nobel laureate, and the media are treating it as a major ethics problem

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 14, 2017

Tweet Of The Day - Breaking Glass

Congrats on Steve Bannon for finally breaking the glass storefront window for white nationalists everywhere!

— Patton Oswalt (@pattonoswalt) November 16, 2016

Kristallnacht...  Anyone?

Today's Cartoon Threefer -- Steve Bannon, Trump's "Assputin*"

You get the concept -- he's a monster.

(click on images to enlarge)


(Rob Rogers, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)


(Nick Anderson, Houston Chronicle)


(Darrin Bell, via gocomics.com)

* h/t Samantha Bee.

Trump's Pivot: "I Was Sabotaged!"

It's not exactly the "pivot" Republicans and amoral members of the horserace media were expecting.

Ryan Lizza traces the downward arc of neo- fascist pervert Donald "Rump" Trump's shampaign, and posits that Rump sees the approaching debacle and, narcissist that he is, is pivoting to a way to deal with it to his advantage:

... Trump knows he can’t win and that he has decided that the last stretch of his campaign should be used to set the stage for the aftermath of his loss. In this scenario, what’s crucial for Trump is to be able to convince his hardcore supporters that he—and they—didn’t lose, but that the dreaded Republican establishment sabotaged the Trump campaign in the final weeks. This strategy is in keeping with the way Trump has always spun his greatest defeats, from his failures in Atlantic City to his loss in the Iowa caucuses. He either denies that he failed or he argues that he was cheated. 

Trump is either victorious or victimized, but never a loser. This week marked the end of Trump trying to actually win, and the beginning of him plotting to explain why the election was stolen.

As always, Lizza's entire piece is worth the read.

It makes perfect sense that the neo- fascist narcissist needs a scapegoat to explain his likely loss to himself and to the credulous, white nationalist knuckle- draggers willing to follow him off the cliff. After the election, he knows he'll need an institutionalized bullhorn to maintain the fiction that he was a victim of dark forces -- whether it's the Republican "establishment" or voter fraud in "certain areas." His "plan B" has always been to try to maintain this white nationalist cohort as the base audience for a post- election media empire (there's always money to be made fleecing the rubes -- just ask Oxycontin Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck, Fox "News," or any televangelist). His hiring of Breitbart's noxious anti-Semite Steve Bannon as shampaign CEO was seen as a strong signal that he was on the way to implementing this "plan B." Continuing to exploit their economic anxiety racial and cultural grievances, as well as the white nationalist "stab in the back" betrayal grift, will be the business model;  the groundwork is already being laid.  Expect the worst.

This May Come as a Shock, But...

"Pssst.. hey buddy...yeah you. Guess what? Dis might shock you, and you dint hear it from me, right? Youse know that ACORN-exposing dude, the one who tried to diddle with Senator Lawndoo's phone -- what's his name?-- oh, yeah. "G. Gordon Diddy" O'Keefe!! Are you sittin' down?

Dude's a racist! Coulda fooled me!"

(Image: Hey, Diddy, where's your hood?)