By Sid Schwab / Herald Columnist
No comment on Sen. Katie Britt’s, R-Ala., melodramatic, bizarre, scary-on-many-levels response to President Biden’s State of the Union speech; embarrassed Republicans have been panning it enough.
OK, well, since she harped on the border crisis (and lied about it, MAGAly (X: tinyurl.com/borderlie4u), let’s note that she was one of the bipartisan group of senators that hammered out a bill addressing the crisis more significantly than any previous attempts. And then, as demanded by Trump, under indictment, out on bail, voted against it. It’s doubtful she’ll take this advice from one of her constituents: (X: tinyurl.com/advice4her).
The president’s speech put the lie to Trumpofoxians’ perseverating claims that he’s sleepy, weak, and/or befuddled. So much so that they’re suggesting — seriously! — that he must have been given drugs to hype him up. Except that Ronny Jackson’s no longer at the White House (tinyurl.com/pillmill4u).
President Biden presented a progressive vision for America, in which there’s less poverty and more opportunity. His subsequent budget proposal provides for that and lots more, by raising taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations. And it would still lower the national debt by $3 trillion over 10 years. There followed, of course, screams to low Hell from Republicans’ ultra-wealthy paymasters. With Republicans controlling the House, it’s DOA (Washington Post: tinyurl.com/2sayno2u).
There were, as usual, energetic standings and pejorative sittings. No Republicans rose to applaud Biden’s call for an end to political violence. That, and other regressive accouterments of autocracy, including encouraging riots like Jan. 6, 2021, are what, in their support of Trump (under indictment, out on bail) they desire.
Joe all but dared them to interrupt, which they did, disrespecting the office and themselves. He responded with delight, while Holy Moses Mike sat shaking his head at everything; reinforcing his and his party’s devotion to Trump — under indictment, out on bail (U.I.O.O.B.) — and their bankrollers; forsaking average Americans, including their own supporters, too Foxotrumpified to realize it.
That Trump, under indictment and out on bail, fawns over dictators and would emulate them, has been evident since day one. Underscoring it, he invited Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s autocratic “president” (not Turkey’s, as Trump, out on bail, once asserted) to Mar-a-Lago, where he heaped servile praise on him: “There’s nobody that’s better, smarter or a better leader than Viktor Orbán,” said Trump, under indictment, out on bail. “He’s fantastic … because he says, ‘This is the way it’s going to be,’ and that’s the end of it. Right? He’s the boss.” Like Putin, Orbán is lionized by democracy-fearing MAGA Republicans and their media. Given the opportunity, Trump, U.I.O.O.B., will strive to out-autocrat both.
Less certain, but suspicious, is the possibility that the $92 million bond he finally posted while appealing the E. Jean Carroll verdict, was backed by Russian — i.e., Valdimir Putin’s — money. It came from the Chubb Group, now operating out of Russia (X: tinyurl.com/Rcash4u). True or not, it’d be nice to know the terms of the bond. Likewise, the explanation for his “suden” flip-flopped love of TikTok, in which a pal’s hedge fund has a $33 billion stake. Trump, under indictment, out on bail, strapped for cash, seems to have a price for anything. What do top secret documents go for, nowadays? (tinyurl.com/all4sale4u)
To support him at all, to overlook his promises to weaponize government against all enemies, domestic and domestic, to rationalize his immature, petty nastiness and lies, people must not just acquiesce to it, but desire it. With their electoral choices, today’s Republican Party confirms the premise.
For governor, North Carolina Republicans just nominated Mark Robinson, a conspiracist, homophobic, Holocaust denier, school-shooting mocker, who says the purpose of the Affordable Care Act is to “enslave everybody.” Out on bail, Trump called him “Martin Luther King on steroids.” Presumably because he’s black.
The presence in Congress of MTG, Gosar, Gaetz, Boebert, et al., further proves the point. They’re there because they’re what their voters prefer (grammar lesson): people performing base-pleasing, kangaroid “investigations” rather than legislators committed to working on solving problems.
It all comes down to Trump, U.I.O.O.B., the proof positive, the tone-setter. At his rambling rallies, when he’s not stumbling over words, incoherent and mixing up names, he’s taken to mocking President Biden’s stuttering. Were any attendees repulsed? Did they question whether it befits a would-be president of The United States of America? Of course not. They laughed and cheered. It’s who they are and what they came for. It’s what that party has become. Mean and demeaning. Lies and empty promises.
Speaking of lies, Special Counsel Robert Hur, whose final report of his Biden investigation luridly included implications of a failing memory, conveniently left out Biden’s actual transcribed words, showing the opposite. MAGA-normal is blatant lying, confident the truth will be smothered on Fox “news” and both-sided by mainstream reporters.
Perhaps there remain actual conservatives who, repudiating his despotic intentions, lies and fear- and hate-mongering, will reject Trump, under indictment, out on bail; taking an America-honoring, KAG stand against MAGA’s embrace of totalitarianism. There’s at least one: (X: tinyurl.com/onlyone4u).
Email Sid Schwab at columnsid@gmail.com.
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