In this blog post, I wanted to share these three video clips in particular made by people realizing that Trump and the Republican Party he now owns lock, stock and barrel intend to make our country into a dictatorship as its form of govt. In fact, the Republican Party as it now stands and their Trump cult are installing a fascist authoritarian dictatorship with Trump as the fuhrer running it all with absolute presidential immunity as SCOTUS is further delaying his trials on part of the 91 indicted charges to decide through the next few months ahead.
This way, between SCOTUS taking until after April while staying the DC court case against Trump added to Judge Cannon’s pinching the scale for Trump in the Florida trial of his illegal theft and retention of top secret national security documents – Trump won’t have federal trials from the Special Prosecutor’s investigations and evidence until after the election and possibly never after he literally cheats in this election to steal it as he did the other two.
After Trump’s illegal interference in the peaceful transfer of power, his inciting an insurrection on Jan 6, organizing and activating a scheme of fake electors to be presented as the real ones, creating a vast disinformation campaign of lies claiming the election was stolen or altered in some way by voting machine companies or Italian satellites, etc., pressuring Vice President Mike Pence to refuse certification of electors’ votes cast for Biden who had legally and validly won those states, and other illegal efforts made by Trump and incited by him to stay in office after he had lost the election, he shouldn’t be allowed to ever hold office again based on the clearly written mandate of our Constitution’s 14th Amendment, Section 3.
It is unlikely that the current politically beholden money driven Republicans holding our Supreme Court hostage for Trump is going to uphold that disqualification in our Constitution, despite court findings in Colorado, and in the bipartisan Congressional January 6 Committee that show the facts prove Trump incited, participated in and organized an insurrection against our Constitution and tried to overturn the valid, legal election results.
Today, SCOTUS justices made it clear that their thumbs push the scale down to unreasonably delay the criminal trials of Trump’s 91 indicted charges which is: SCOTUS majority Republican appointees loyal to Trump rather than our Constitution, purposely disallowing the public to know the facts found by investigators, reviewed and adjudged by four Grand Juries and a Special Grand Jury nor to have those facts judged in a court of law by a jury in a timely manner.
It is disgusting how easily six justices tied to the far right fascists of the current Republican Party discard justice and equal justice under the law and in fact, the legal authority of our Constitution to suit their political and theocratic beliefs. But, as we all discovered when Roe v. Wade was thrown out by the current SCOTUS group of theocrats, their confirmation hearings were nothing but lies with no consequence, no concern for the institution of our Supreme Court and nothing but contempt for the will of the American people.
These three videos are worth watching. The very best one, is the second one – I hope you make the time to watch it. You will be amazed and inspired by its common sense approach to standing up and speaking the truth about these fascists masquerading as an American political party of conservatives, which they clearly are not.
cricketdiane, 02-29-2024
Dear America, Trump is a Dictator Who Will BURN America to Ash (w/ Will Saletan) | Bulwark Podcast
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Plaintiff in LAWSUIT Against GOP Law Delivers BRUTAL Takedown
Meidas Touch on Burn the Boats
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Why Republicans Sold Their Souls for Trump (w/ John Avlon) | The Bulwark Podcast
What are the Christo-Fascist GOP Republican Party MAGA Trump Supporters and Evangelicals of the same variety trying to get from changing our democracy into an authoritarian dictatorship of fascism rather than freedom, liberty, justice, rule of law and individual human and civil rights guaranteed by our Constitution?
What purpose do their wealthy donors of mercantilism, tech bros, Wall Street brokers and hedge fund managers, political consultants and right wing fascist entrenched Republican organizations expect to get from achieving this change of our Constitutional makeup and our nation’s foundational principles?
Why would these political activists of the far right of politics in the United States as they’ve operated over the last fifty years believe these actions they’ve been doing and pursuing are profitable for them:
of removing our Constitution; destroying and utterly decimating our federal government structures and institutions; creating fifty nation-states rather than the United States as a single nation; removing birthright citizenship unless a citizen can afford to purchase that citizenship even if it is already protected by our Constitution applied to even those whose families have been in the US since the Revolution as well as legal immigrants; altering and even removing the freedoms, rights, liberty and equal justice under the law that have been foundational tenets of our nation; and establishing an authoritarian theocratic and fascist dictatorship where our democracy and rule of law has existed for 249 years?
“But there is another and greater distinction for which no truly natural or religious reason can be assigned, and that is the distinction of men into KINGS and SUBJECTS. Male and female are the distinctions of nature, good and bad the distinctions of Heaven; but how a race of men came into the world so exalted above the rest, and distinguished like some new species, is worth inquiring into, and whether they are the means of happiness or of misery to mankind.
Sad to watch these highly paid groveling Republican cowards bow to Trump and his anti-democracy fascist authoritarian dictatorship after God saved us from kings, rulers and tyrants.
The cause of America is in a great measure the cause of all mankind. Many circumstances hath, and will arise, which are not local, but universal, and through which the principles of all Lovers of Mankind are affected, and in the Event of which, their Affections are interested. The laying a Country desolate with Fire and Sword, declaring War against the natural rights of all Mankind, and extirpating the Defenders thereof from the Face of the Earth, is the Concern of every Man to whom Nature hath given the Power of feeling; of which Class, regardless of Party Censure, is the AUTHOR.
Somewhere lost in this current political situation of the far-right is the idea that a citizen of the United States serves us as our president and protects our Constitution. He or she serves as a citizen, not as a king and is willing to do the work of that office to provide for our national security, attend to our foreign affairs, review and pass or veto laws made in our Congress, bring the best and brightest educated minds to work for our nation’s goals and for the prosperity of our people with our Constitution and our nation’s well-being guiding their work for all of us.
It is lost in the sea of politics as a winner-take-all bloodsport of Lee Atwater, Roger Stone, Joseph McCarthy and his sidekick Roy Cohn, Donald Trump who Cohn mentored, Newt Gingrich, the Tea Party, the Freedom Caucus, Jim DeMint, Pat Buchanan, Pat Robertson, Steve Bannon, Paul Weyrich, Harlan Crow, the Koch Industries Koch Brothers, The John Birch Society, Claremont Institute, Heritage Foundation, Leonard Leo, and the rest of, what had been the “conservative” movement that is now in the hands of nothing short of fascism and Nazism, white supremacy, Christian nationalism, dominionists, racists, misogynists and zenophobic nihilists claiming to be “Christians” but with none of the teachings of Christ guiding them.
These are the people and groups that have spent a little over fifty years grouping, organizing, funding, activating resources to their end agenda demonstrating unequivocally that in their estimation, “the ends justify the means” in their actions to force their direction, their vision and their ideology along with their will on the people of the United States. In a nation where we elect those who will represent us, few of those listed were elected and those only elected for short periods of time to represent one state or another at a specific time by the voters who never knew of their larger agenda and connections to it.
These are the people and groups who would install a fascist dictator to rule our nation and dispose of democracy and our Constitution as if they had no value at all. And, given the opportunity to continue they will, but why? What do they seek to gain by this trade with pure evil?
In the early ages of the world, according to the scripture chronology there were no kings; the consequence of which was, there were no wars; it is the pride of kings which throws mankind into confusion. Holland, without a king hath enjoyed more peace for this last century than any of the monarchical governments in Europe. Antiquity favours the same remark; for the quiet and rural lives of the first Patriarchs have a happy something in them, which vanishes when we come to the history of Jewish royalty.
Government by kings was first introduced into the world by the Heathens, from whom the children of Israel copied the custom. It was the most prosperous invention the Devil ever set on foot for the promotion of idolatry. The Heathens paid divine honours to their deceased kings, and the Christian World hath improved on the plan by doing the same to their living ones. How impious is the title of sacred Majesty applied to a worm, who in the midst of his splendor is crumbling into dust!
As the exalting one man so greatly above the rest cannot be justified on the equal rights of nature, so neither can it be defended on the authority of scripture; for the will of the Almighty as declared by Gideon, and the prophet Samuel, expressly disapproves of government by Kings. All anti-monarchical parts of scripture, have been very smoothly glossed over in monarchical governments, but they undoubtedly merit the attention of countries which have their governments yet to form. Render unto Cesar the things which are Cesar’s, is the scripture doctrine of courts, yet it is no support of monarchical government, for the Jews at that time were without a king, and in a state of vassalage to the Romans.
Near three thousand years passed away, from the Mosaic account of the creation, till the Jews under a national delusion requested a king. Till then their form of government (except in extraordinary cases where the Almighty interposed) was a kind of Republic, administered by a judge and the elders of the tribes. Kings they had none, and it was held sinful to acknowledge any being under that title but the Lord of Hosts. And when a man seriously reflects on the idolatrous homage which is paid to the persons of kings, he need not wonder that the Almighty, ever jealous of his honour, should disapprove a form of government which so impiously invades the prerogative of Heaven.
Do those who want a dictator over the United States or are convincing the American people to have a dictator and to let go of our Constitution and our democracy believe they will have exclusive access to the prosperity, riches, resources and opportunities our nation owns? Do they simply believe that getting a yes from one man to do something is easier than what they have to do now, whether it is mining in our national forests or getting to pollute as they find more profitable or working children in dangerous occupations with little or no pay rather than having them spend time being educated as they grow up?
Joy: They are letting literal Nazis into their den of Trump worship Feb 27, 2024
“For years we’ve heard from the right about “welfare queens” and other so-called “freeloaders” pulling one over on the government. But actually, it’s the wealthy who are the real freeloaders — pulling one over on us all by skirting their taxes. Where is the outrage over that?”
93.9K Views (from Robert Reich on twitterX)
Surely there are winners in war. Who would they be when fascism and an authoritarian dictatorship backed by oligarchy as it is in Russia with Putin and in Hungary under Orban, among other nations who’ve also changed a democracy and freedom into a tyrannical dictatorship – becomes the result for the United States at the hands of the far rightwing fascist Trump backers of the Republican Party as Newt Gingrich and others have remade it?
What are the riches and resources of America that they are after? Our people as their enslaved peasants without education, without opportunity, without upward mobility, without any real rights and freedoms, without liberty, without any hope of justice, without the rule of law to rein in our government and its actions, without our Constitution and its foundations? Is it the pools of riches that belong to the people of the United States of America that these fascist dominionists want for themselves? Is it both and more?
Does our public education system look like a vast pool of public resources available for the wealthy to uncover and harvest for themselves in some for-profit scheme while dealing in exclusivity and exclusion to all those who they would deem not to deserve access to it because of race, gender, religion, political party affiliation, nationality, sexual orientation, age, family connections, class status, or the arbitrary whims of the new feudal lords in the dictator’s oligarchy and governorships, as well as his own capricious, petty and vindictive choices he’s given the power to force upon each of us and our families?
Right Wing Nut Has DISTURBING Episode Live on Stage! Luke Beasley
February 22, 2024 CPAC (Feb 21 – 24) – Jack Posobiec led the event with a statement that they are there to kill democracy and finish the job of Jan 6 plus Steve Bannon hosted talks describing how to make the most confusion possible to takeover the United States with the point of decimating the US govt and democracy (find his speech clip and the Posobiec one.)
Surprise: The GOP’s Favorite Gathering Was Full of Nazis Despite denials from the conference’s leaders, white supremacists, conspiracy theorists, and racists did attend CPAC over the weekend. Self-identified Nazis were at CPAC—and for all of the event leadership’s political waffling, NBC News had the receipts to prove it.
“On Saturday, NBC News reported that the fascists “didn’t meet any perceptible resistance” at the conservative conference, and mingled openly with Republican personalities and members of Turning Point USA, describing themselves as “national socialists” while discussing “race science,” skull measurements, and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.”
Feb. 23, 2024 Calls to ‘fight’ and echoes of Jan. 6 embraced by CPAC attendees A number of attendees at the annual gathering of conservative activists defended “what really happened on Jan. 6.”
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Jack Posobiec set off a wave of alarm after a video of his welcome speech at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference went viral. In the video, the right-wing activist and media personality said he wanted to end democracy and finish the mission of Jan. 6, installing a God-first government.
“Welcome to the end of democracy. We are here to overthrow it completely,” he said Thursday. “We didn’t get all the way there on Jan. 6, but we will endeavor to get rid of it.” (…)
Later he said, in response to what he meant – “What we’re trying to do is return it to the original system. We’re not destroying all of democracy, just their [Democrats’] democracy,” he added. But in his speech Friday, Posobiec continued to use rhetoric evocative of a violent revolution. “After we burn that swamp to the ground, we will establish the new American republic on its ashes, and our first order of business will be righteous retribution for those who betrayed America,” he declared.
Wonder how Trump got this way in his political loyalty pledges, strong-arming Republicans and now completely taking over the Republican Party to serve him exclusively and not the United States – this article describes a little of what brought this into being as it is –
Cohn was best known as a ruthless prosecutor. During the Red Scare of the 1950s, he and Wisconsin senator Joe McCarthy, the fabulist and virulent nationalist crusader, had hauled dozens of alleged “Communist sympathizers” before a Senate panel. Earlier, the House Un-American Activities Committee had skewered artists and entertainers on similar charges, resulting in a trail of fear, prison sentences, and ruined careers for hundreds, many of whom had found common cause in fighting Fascism. But in the decades since, Cohn had become the premier practitioner of hardball deal-making in New York, having mastered the arcane rules of the city’s Favor Bank (the local cabal of interconnected influence peddlers) and its magical ability to provide inside fixes for its machers and rogues.
“You knew when you were in Cohn’s presence you were in the presence of pure evil,” said lawyer Victor A. Kovner, who had known him for years. Cohn’s power derived largely from his ability to scare potential adversaries with hollow threats and spurious lawsuits. And the fee he demanded for his services? Ironclad loyalty.
Is it the perfect storm? At a time our adult population finds thinking difficult with all the Russian disinformation being repeated on FoxNews and other rightwing outlets repetitively across their shows and on other right wing and Christian evangelical news sources, plus the massive conspiracy theories that took hold of QAnon and Trump’s claims of election fraud despite all of that being refuted with facts, added to the defunded public education system of Reagan onward caused by Republican actions in every state legislature and in Congress since 1980 – can our voters know to protect our democracy and our Constitution as valuable, or even to vote because it’s important?
Will Americans know that to allow anyone (and especially Trump), to be given all of the powers and resources of the greatest country and economy the modern world has known – without restraints, without conscience, without regard for others, without justice, without morals, without ethics, without any hindrances nor consequences for their actions – would be horrific and an abomination to mankind in every way and at every level?
Installing a dictator over the US to rule us rather than our elected representative government democratically elected, would change more than the character of the United States. It would permanently alter the opportunities, freedoms, liberty, justice, human rights, civil rights, prosperity, accomplishments, potentials, discoveries, scientific advances, medical advances, economic stability and profitability, knowledge and education, health, well-being, national and international security, environment, engineering, applied sciences, currency value, overall value of our markets, and every future generation including the one living right now as our own children and grandchildren.
Altering these aspects in this way does not historically yield positive results, nor does it make things better in countries around the world who have been subjected to this Nazi fascist playbook of taking a democracy and turning it into a dictatorship. Look at their economies. They suck. Look at what they produce in manufacturing, science, knowledge, engineering, advances to make their citizens lives better, infrastructure improvements – any of it, and it is obvious that dictators do a poor job of increasing or improving any of that and commonly are so corrupt that all of those things go backwards, into disrepair, into degradation rather than improvement.
The facts prove it. Dictators steal countries blind to serve themselves with every resource of the nation from the time and lives of its citizens used in ways to suit the dictator’s whims, demands and egomania, to stealing the nation’s natural and economic resources to fill their own coffers, fund their lifestyles and whims along with their family’s while depleting resources that would be otherwise available to the entire population of the nation and the nation’s needs.
From Thomas Paine’s pamphlet, Common Sense written in 1776 –
In England a King hath little more to do than to make war and give away places; which, in plain terms, is to empoverish the nation and set it together by the ears. A pretty business indeed for a man to be allowed eight hundred thousand sterling a year for, and worshipped into the bargain! Of more worth is one honest man to society, and in the sight of God, than all the crowned ruffians that ever lived.
This blog post is not a 3-6 second get your attention thing. I don’t know how to do that. I’m writing these posts with the information that I can find hoping that you might know how to do that to get the same information condensed and as exciting as a sports announcer at a race car event or soccer game so voters in the United States of every age will know about these things some way. And, to get them to go vote when the election comes.
If every eligible voter came out in 2024 and voted – what would the results be?
Would we really be a nation that allowed a Trump-owned Republican Party in the throes of Fascism to install him as a dictator and enact the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 action plan to gut our govt and make it an authoritarian dictatorship?
This is an expert and author who has investigated how the far-right Christian conservative movement became fascist and what they are trying to accomplish by acting on a dominionist authoritarian favoring ideology and funding it. The overview of the entire movement starting with Paul Weyrich and though they don’t mention him, Pat Buchanan along with others is filled with good solid information.
Anyone who wants to understand why the foundation of freedom, liberty, democracy and justice is at risk currently in the United States, especially this year – can get a bearing on it by watching this interview of Katherine Stewart by Lincoln Project’s Reed Galen. It is amazing how much information is in this video clip.
From the YouTube description – “. . . and what members of the pro-democracy movement can do to fight against the advancement of white Christian nationalism. If you’d like to hear more from Katherine Stewart, be sure to pick up her latest book, ‘The Power Worshippers: Inside the Dangerous Rise of Religious Nationalism’, and find the documentary, ‘God & Country’, at a theater near you. For more from Reed Galen, subscribe to ‘The Home Front’.”
Another great info rich video that I watched is about what Trump attorney and pled guilty to Jan 6 Georgia RICO charges Ken Chesebro showed in a document dump that an investigative reporter at
Feb 25, 2024 Hawk After Dark FULL VIDEO Podcast “Welcome back to another episode of Hawk After Dark! In this episode, Hawk dives into the intricate details of Little Kenny Cheesebro’s role in Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election. As a Harvard-educated lawyer, Cheesebro played a crucial role in crafting legal strategies, including the infamous fake electors scheme. Hawk explores Cheesebro’s background, his involvement in the plot, and the legal maneuvers they hoped would lead to Trump’s continued presidency. The episode reveals startling insights from documents provided by Cheesebro to the Michigan Attorney General, shedding light on their attempts to manipulate the system and create chaos. Hawk unravels the complex web of events and personalities involved in this dark chapter of American history. So, buckle up for a deep dive into the legal machinations that unfolded by the lawyers who tried to keep Donald Trump in the White House after losing a free and fair election.”
from YouTube description with this video podcast from Hawk After Dark
In a very enjoyable, easy to listen to, conversational storytelling style, this podcast describes the way attorneys Kenneth Chesebro and John Eastman came up with an intellectual exercise to amuse themselves with creative ways that the Jan. 6 electoral count certification could be twisted to suit keeping Trump in office despite losing in a valid fair 2020 presidential election.
From a document dump made by Chesebro trying to stay out of trouble with the Michigan Attorney General by cooperating, talking points memo dot com investigative reporter Josh Kavinsky wrote about the information uncovered across massive material documents. The Hawk weaves it together into the story of what happened leading up to Jan. 6 behind the scenes with the legal efforts being made to create chaos and confusion hoping to extend the lack of a certified president through Jan. 20 where the Supreme Court might be forced to give the office to Trump.
He tells it better than I do – go watch it when you get a chance. What is fairly horrifying is that it meant so little to all of the players under Trump’s influence to throw away our democracy, our election, our votes, the will of the American people reflected by our votes, our Constitution and our nation’s foundational principles to serve nothing but Trump, his fascist supporters, backers and donors to force his illegally keeping an office to which he was not legally entitled.
‘It’s very well-thought-out’: Authoritarian expert breaks down dangers of Project 2025
“The connection between PROJECT 2025 vision of Christian autocracy and the likely Republican nominee, Donald Trump, became generally clear this week.” – Ali Velshi
Once the Republicans elect Trump or possibly anyone else to the White House in 2024 (and in every state where they form the administration and legislature) – if they win, Project 2025 from the Heritage Foundation and its 75 organizations that are signed onto it will be enacted which guts all federal civil service based employees and replace them with Trump loyalists that take an oath to him and serve only at his arbitrary and capricious will – as in an authoritarian dictatorship with absolute power and no reins to temper any of it. (my comment, if you didn’t guess that.)
Ali Velshi speaks to Professor of history and scholar of authoritarianism, Ruth Ben-Ghiat, about the efforts to change the United States democracy into an authoritarian form of govt.
So, what is that? – like a king, where they can make everyone do whatever they want them to do on any whim from one minute to the next. If he doesn’t like you and your family or your business, he can take all of it away arbitrarily simply because he wants to and every resource of our nation becomes his to use as he commands and sees fit whether any of it makes any sense or not.
That is how dictators are tyrants. It seems to come with the opportunity of holding that much power over the lives of other people, especially en masse with nothing to stop or rein in the stealing of every national asset and using every national power in whatever horrific way amuses them., sometimes simply because they are bored.
“And so some of what Project 2025 proposes, like abolishing the DOJ and the FBI, is designed to that end, to make it impossible to prosecute Trump and allow him [and his friends, my note] to commit crimes with impunity.” – Ruth Ben-Ghiat
The idea being that these agencies that in theory are otherwise populated by Senate approved people who are deemed to have the merit to run them, will now these will either be eliminated or the president in the executive branch will make decisions that were otherwise being made by experts.” – Ali Velshi
“Well, also if you’re eliminating whole departments, you’re also eliminating those cabinet positions. So, you end up with what I described in ‘Strongmen’, which is a structure of governance which allows abandonment in many places like Putin’s Russia, which is a kleptocracy; a band of criminals supported by oligarchs.” – Ruth Ben-Ghiat
From video on MSNBC – “‘It’s very well-thought-out’: Authoritarian expert breaks down dangers of Project 2025”
From the first part of Ali Velshi’s reporting, Trump said these delusional things presenting himself as if he is the Christ to audiences at a Christian Media Convention this week –
“His rhetoric escalated further as he declared, quote, ‘”‘No one will be touching the cross of Christ under the Trump administration.’ A bizarre comparison, Trump also likened his legal troubles to the crucifixion of Christ, gesturing as if you are on a cross, he stated, ‘I take all these arrows for you. I am being indicted for you.'” – Ali Velshi
in the beginning of this video segment linked above
So, it seems that Trump has been deemed the Second Coming of Christ or something which isn’t the first time he has made that claim, nor the first time that evangelicals have made that claim about him despite his character and actions proving far from Christian, vastly different and even the opposite of what Christ taught and what Christianity is about, and obviously still believing he needs no forgiveness from God (as Trump has said in a tv interview) or the forgiveness that Christ offers to be able to have a relationship with God. That is, if anything – anti-Christ by its very nature and the facts prove it.
In the last few days, I’ve stumbled upon a set of videos and don’t know anything about the person who made them but he compares the Bible verses about the antichrist with Trump, finding them to be an absolute match of all the verses with the facts about Trump. So, you might want to see it. The first one I’m putting here is the second one he made which reviews the first 15 verses about the antichrist that he matches with Trump and covers another 12 verses that are an obvious match as well. Then, I’ll put the link to what was the first one of the two that expands on the first 15 verses that clearly match. I agree with all but maybe a couple of them that I don’t know enough about those verses to be sure. The others certainly are a match though and this man is certainly not the first nor the only one to have noticed this about Donald J. Trump. It figures that the Christian churches of today as remade by the Republican Party since the late 1970’s would worship the one guy who absolutely fits all the characteristics warned in the Bible as the antichrist.
12 More Bible Verses That Identify Donald J Trump as the Antichrist Antichrist 45 – Bible Prophecy with Brother Paul
“As a reminder, we are looking at all of these verses in totality. In other words, what makes the case for Trump being the Antichrist so powerful is that he matches ALL of the biblical descriptions, not just a few. That is simply NOT the case with any other figure on the world scene.” Full transcript at: https://antichrist45.com/12-more-bibl…
part of the description about this video on their channel
The first video of the two is this one below and it expands how each of these 15 verses from the Bible about the antichrist exactly match Trump. I’m including it in case you want to watch it. I had seen it first and then the one above. There is one more on his channel that is really worth watching about Trump’s “Truth and Reconciliation Commission” that he has planned for his second administration in our White House. It is like 1984 applied to govt policy if he gets elected. Absolutely cringe-worthy.
From its included description for, Trump’s ‘Truth and Reconciliation Commission’ on YouTube – it says:
Apr 23, 2023 Antichrist 45 – News Updates “At the Republican Party of Lee County’s 2023 Lincoln Reagan dinner Friday, former President Donald Trump promised to investigate and “obliterate” Deep State bureaucrats at all levels of the government upon re-election. One method he intends to use is a so-called “Truth and Reconciliation Commission,” which he mentioned yet again on Friday. Here’s a short video clip from that speech, and I apologize for the quality as this was how it was originally published on a pro-Trump Rumble account. Will the Deep State be replaced with something else? Something along the lines of a Trump New World Order?”
Here is the other video of the two about characteristics of the antichrist matching Trump –
15 Bible Verses That Identify Donald J. Trump as the Antichrist
Antichrist 45 – Bible Prophecy with Brother Paul
I wish that I had that clip from when Trump was in the White House saying people thought he was the second coming of Christ or whatever it was. He was out on the lawn and memes were made by his MAGA cult of the sun streaming from his head behind him as if it was some spiritual power emanating from him. There is the photo of Christians praying with their hands on the gold statue of Trump that he has somewhere, probably at Maralago. I’m not sure. The photo has been viral on twitter X and other social media especially among MAGA and QAnon supporters believing that is a good thing. It reminds me of the Bob’s Big Boy statue that used to be at those restaurants except this one is made of gold in the likeness of Trump and nobody prayed, blessed or worshiped the one for that restaurant. I don’t know why they are doing it with this one of Trump either.
But, just so it might be a reminder of the fruits from Trump and whatever spirit he is, that honestly appears far from anything godly or of Christ – these two PBS Frontline interviews, one with Rusty Bowers and the other with Gabriel Sterling.
Democracy on Trial: Rusty Bowers (interview) | FRONTLINE
This shouldn’t have ever happened to this man. Trump and Republicans serving him, MAGA supporters and the rest of the far right Nazis, white supremacists, fascists, QAnon delusionists, Christo-fascists and evangelicals that did this to Rusty Bowers and his family had no fruits of the Holy Spirit nor Christian teachings guiding and directing any of this. It was the opposite of that. And it shouldn’t have happened to countless election officials, their staff, election workers, secretary of state officials, and all of their families.
Democracy on Trial: Gabriel Sterling (interview) | FRONTLINE
Now, the threatening actions and violent threats have happened also to libraries, school libraries, librarians, teachers, school board members, governors, judges, jurors, witnesses, election volunteers and many others that have become the targets of Trump and his cult members, MAGA supporters that feed his need for money constantly as well as the armies of digital warriors as Mike Flynn and his reawaken tours have taught them for the “conservative” fascist takeover of America.
Sometime, check what the fruits of the Holy Spirit are in the Bible according to Jesus. Those are not the fruits of Trump (and the current ideologically fascist Republican Party) in any measure. They are in fact, the opposite.
Feb 22, 2024 #Trump#Politics#Putin Morning Joe questions why Donald Trump trashes America and seems to favor Russia and Vladimir Putin.
Morning Joe today describes not only the America bashing done by Trump but how Republicans serving Trump are screaming that America is dying when all evidence is to the contrary. Is that because Trump is repeating ad nauseum things foreign dictators say about the United States using the opportunities of his “campaign” in order to make it seem they are in agreement and simpatico? Does he really think North Korea and Russia will allow him to build hotels and golf resorts in their countries if he schmoozes them like this? Is that it?
His townhall with Laura Ingraham which is another in-kind political campaign marketing donation from Fox NewsCorp last night – included nearly every Russian talking point of many Putin speeches claiming the West is in decline, that the United States is in decline. In fact, it is one of Putin’s favorite talking points over the decades as he has illegally held Russia in a kleptocracy as an absolute tyrant stealing Russia’s national resources and diverting them to himself, his cronies and friends.
As the audience clapped in agreement with both the teleprompter set by Fox and possibly also agreed with Trump’s statements, rightwing and conservative American viewers at home were likely believing everything he said and took in those false facts about America as if they were true statements. Joe Scarborough points out that the facts simply don’t support Trump’s view, Putin’s view, Republicans’ view, and other foreign dictators’ views of the United States being in decline nor their views that Western democracies are in decline. In fact, the facts support none of those viewpoints and opinionated false judgements.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has approved the merger proposal of former president Donald Trump’s media start-up with a special purpose acquisition company, a critical step for a long-delayed deal that would make the owner of Trump’s website Truth Social a publicly traded company and unlock $300 million in …4 days ago
So, essentially the SPAC DWAC was claimed to be created to target a company making $5 million to $25 million a year in revenue which Trump’s platform Truth Social has never had – their revenues
If the merger is completed, Trump would own nearly 79 million shares in the new business, or as much as 69% of the combined company, a DWAC filing shows. That stake could be worth as much as $3.95 billion based on DWAC’s stock price on Thursday.
On Friday, the former president faced a major setback when the judge in his civil fraud trial banned Trump for three years from running the New York-based company that for decades has served as the hub of his global business empire. Trump and The Trump Organization were also ordered to pay penalties of $354 million in what is one of the stiffest corporate sanctions in New York history.
Our sponsor, ARC Global Investments II LLC, has agreed to purchase an aggregate of 1,174,109 placement units (or 1,320,359 placement units if the underwriter’s over-allotment option is exercised in full) at a price of $10.00 per unit, for an aggregate purchase price of $11,741,090 ($13,203,590 if the over-allotment option is exercised in full). Each placement unit will be identical to the units sold in this offering, except as described in this prospectus. The placement units will be sold in a private placement that will close simultaneously with the closing of this offering.
We are a newly-organized blank check company incorporated in December 2020, whose business purpose is to effect a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to as our initial business combination. To date, our efforts have been limited to organizational activities as well as activities related to this offering. We have not selected any specific business combination target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, engaged in any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business combination target with respect to an initial business combination with us.
While we may pursue an initial business combination opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, we intend to focus on middle market and emerging growth technology-focused companies in the Americas, in SaaS and Technology or Fintech and Financial Services
(however, this SPAC has already been fined by the SEC for insider knowledge and information sharing about the intent of the merger being the Trump platform Truth Social and in fact, seeming to have been formed for no other purpose, despite the Truth Social revenues being nowhere close to the charter’s stated goals for acquisition in the target revenues of $5 million or more.)
Clearing this regulatory hurdle amounts to a major win for Trump and his media business, which runs the conservative-leaning Truth Social platform. The merger has been in the works since October 2021, but had stalled because of regulatory concerns and other roadblocks.
The plan has been for DWAC to merge with Trump Media, providing the former president’s fledgling business with capital to expand its operations. But as the merger process dragged on, DWAC returned hundreds of millions of financing commitments to investors.
Consistent with our strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses. We intend to use these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but we may decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria and guidelines.
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Target Size: Consistent with our investment thesis as described above, we plan to target businesses of total enterprise value from $400 million to $2 billion in the Americas, companies in the SaaS and Technology or Fintech and Financial Services
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Businesses with Revenue and Earnings Growth Potential. We will seek to acquire one or more businesses that have the potential for significant revenue and earnings growth through a combination of both existing and new product development, increased production capacity, expense reduction and synergistic follow-on acquisitions resulting in increased operating leverage.
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Businesses with Potential for Strong Free Cash Flow Generation. We will seek to acquire one or more businesses that have the potential to generate strong, stable and increasing free cash flow. We may also seek to prudently leverage this cash flow in order to enhance shareholder value.
•
Strong Management. We will seek companies that have strong, experienced management teams in place, or are a platform to assemble an effective management team with a track record of driving growth and profitability. We will spend significant time assessing a company’s leadership and human fabric, and maximizing its efficiency over time.
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Benefit from Being a Public Company. We intend to acquire one or more businesses that will benefit from being publicly-traded and can effectively utilize the broader access to capital and the public profile that are associated with being a publicly traded company.
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Defensible Market Position. We intend to acquire one or more businesses that have a defensible market position, with demonstrated advantages when compared to their competitors and which create barriers to entry against new competitors.
These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors and criteria that from time to time our management may deem relevant.
THERE IS NOTHING ABOUT TRUMP OR HIS TRUTH SOCIAL PLATFORM THAT FITS THE TARGET ACQUISITION CRITERIA OF THIS SPAC.
How does Truth Social compare to other social media platforms?
There are around 2 million active Truth Social users.
from the link below
DWAC is a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, that announced plans to merge with Truth Social parent company Trump Media & Technology Group in October 2021. The merger has since faced numerous delays.
DWAC’s SEC settlement dictates that the company must pay an $18 million civil penalty fee if it merges with TMTG and takes the company public. But if the merger does not occur before the Jan. 1, 2025, deadline, and if DWAC returns investors’ money, the SEC has agreed to waive the penalty.
The SEC alleged improper merger discussions had taken place. It is illegal for SPACS to solicit specific merger targets ahead of an actual initial public offering filing.
The settlement also comes on the heels of U.S. government charging three Florida men for DWAC-related insider trading.
So, on top of having been in trouble with the SEC for an insider trading fiasco, not fitting the target criteria of the SPAC and targeting a private company 90% owned by Trump who has been found guilty in a document based fraud case for disgorgement of a staggering $350 million dollars – PLUS he was forced to dismantle his fraudulent charity and pay a $25 million fine for his fraudulent Trump university. From the most recent finding of business fraud across decades in New York –
During the trial, Trump and executives at his company, including his sons Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, attempted to blame exaggerated financial statements that were the heart of New York Attorney General Letitia James’ fraud case on the accountants who compiled them. Engoron disagreed.
(find the entire 92 page judgment in this article here)
“There is overwhelming evidence from both interested and non-interested witnesses, corroborated by documentary evidence, that the buck for being truthful in the supporting data valuations stopped with the Trump Organization, not the accountants,” he wrote.
This recent interview with the prosecutor who held the Trump University fraud accountable and stopped it, he describes how long people in politics and law enforcement / district attorneys simply looked the other way and refused to investigate or prosecute despite tons of information of wrongdoing and fraud of various kinds.
Prosecutor who BEAT Trump gives him BAD NEWS as trial looms
INTERVIEW: Brian interviews attorney Tristan Snell about his successful litigation against Donald Trump, and what he thinks the likelihood is of Trump being successfully prosecuted in his upcoming trials.
Why is it that any SPAC can legally merge with any company whose owner is known to be a fraud, and to have run fraudulent businesses including a fraudulent charity and fake university, and proven to have engaged in fraudulent business practices for decades? How is that possible?
**
Judge fines Donald Trump more than $350 million, bars him from running businesses in N.Y. for three years
The state AG’s office said that when factoring in pre-judgment interest, the amount exceeds $450 million. Trump said on Friday night that he would appeal.
Senior Republicans fear Trump will tap the RNC to cover legal bills again
The president is going to put his people in place on the committee. Major changes are in store.
02/14/2024 05:54 PM EST
Several senior Republican officials are concerned that Donald Trump’s expected takeover of the RNC will ultimately pave the way for the committee to once again cover his legal bills.
The RNC spent nearly $2 million on two legal firms working on Trump cases in 2021 and 2022 before stopping once Trump jumped into the presidential campaign. The committee will continue to have a legal fund to pay for recount efforts, lawsuits and typical party legal business.
Trump has large visions for reshaping the RNC.
[. . .]
The changes come as part of a merger between the Trump campaign and RNC, which has been under consideration for months.
This past week, Trump endorsed Michael Whatley, the head of the North Carolina state GOP, to be the RNC’s next chair; along with his daughter-in-law Lara Trump, to serve as co-chair; and LaCivita to serve as the RNC’s chief operating officer.
BUT TRUMP HASN’T SECURED THE NOMINATION AND ONLY 3 STATES, (Iowa, Nevada & New Hampshire) HAVE VOTED IN THE REPUBLICAN PRIMARIES SO FAR –
“It is customary that the national committee becomes a sidearm of the presidential campaign once the candidate wraps up the nomination. And even those who place themselves in the Trump critic camp say they believe he should have influence on the RNC and that Whatley is palatable to them.”
Trump’s Takeover Of The RNC Could Mean Party Donors Will Pay His Legal Bills Again
The Republican National Committee picked up some fees, reasoning the cases were politically motivated. Two of those cases will likely total $450 million in judgments.
WASHINGTON ― Three years after agreeing to pay Donald Trump’s legal bills on the rationale that cases against him were “politically motivated,” the Republican National Committee could face pressure from its coup-attempting presumed nominee to pay not just tens of millions of dollars more in legal fees but more than $450 million in likely judgments against him.
“That’s why he wants ‘his people’ on the inside. It’s not about building up MAGA but rather getting MAGA to pay his bills,” said former RNC chair Michael Steele, referring to the “Make America great again” motto that’s become shorthand for Trump’s followers.
[…]
Although Trump has won only a few dozen delegates of the 1,215 he needs to secure the GOP presidential nomination, he announced this week that one of his top aides, Chris LaCivita, would take over the party’s day-to-day operations while daughter-in-law Lara Trump would become the RNC’s co-chair.
It’s all just another grift to get someone else’s money to cover everything in Trump’s life including his own bad choices and bad behaviors. This country deserves so much better. We all do.
In 2023, Trump spent $54.2 million raised almost exclusively from donors who gave $5 or $20 or $50 a month ― a vast number of them retirees ― to pay lawyers defending the former president in the various civil and criminal cases, a HuffPost analysis of Federal Election Commission filings found.
As the near-certain Republican nominee in an election year, donations to both him and the RNC are likely to increase dramatically, particularly after a joint fundraising agreement is finalized that would let a single donor contribute upwards of $1 million, with nearly all of that spread among the party’s various funds.
No fund, however, is designed to pay the extraneous legal costs of someone who is not an employee or officer of the committee. But that did not stop the RNC from picking up $1.6 million of Trump’s fees starting in 2021, when Trump had been threatening to run as an independent candidate in 2024.
That decision was made at the party’s highest levels, by RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel and the RNC’s “executive committee,” bypassing the budget committee that normally handles such outlays.
This makes it obvious, but how many Americans are still checking the Republican box on their ballots next to what they believe is something far different than what the Republican Party is now as run exclusively by Trump and his strong-arming tactics, extortion and blackmail inuendoes to frighten elected Republicans into compliance and absolute obedience to his will rather than their own conscience and knowledge?
How often is Trump’s idea of what is right simply what he believes will work for him, whether fraudulent or not, illegal or not, immoral or unethical or unseemingly or insane or plainly just stupid and based in pure ignorance? That others would demur to him, defer to his beliefs or knowledge however wrong they may be – when Trump is literally the dumbest person in the room and incapable of putting people around him that can be trusted to do what is right for our country – is nightmarish.
That businesses are still being built around this fraudulent style of doing business to personally profit Trump and that others, including an entire national political party along with all of its co-organizations serving the fascist MAGA rightwing “marketed as conservative but far from it” will cover his wrongdoing while the rest of us are treated far differently in everything – is so unAmerican and anti-Constitutional as to be worth stopping them from it in every respect.
‘Putin is trolling the entire world’ with Navalny’s death: Bill Browder | DW News
Bill Browder points out that Putin is trolling the world as leaders attend the Munich Security Council and yet fails to realize that where it would’ve been discussed about giving Russia’s frozen assets to Ukraine, this conference has been taken over by the discussions of Navalny’s death and potentially Kara-Murza being next. If it hadn’t been for this timing, the talk at the Munich Security Council was to be focused on supporting Ukraine, its defense and rebuilding from Russia’s illegal genocidal invasion by giving the Ukrainians all the seized Russian funds that were sanctioned and frozen. (BTW, Navalny’s wife is in Munich and attending the Security Council when this news came. I don’t know if she was expected to speak there or not.)
So Russian frozen assets were going to be given to #Ukraine by agreement of those attending the Munich Security Conference & now all talk is about Navalny’s death & fear of Putin’s next moves instead? After Putin killed 400k Russians & hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian citizens? (my comment on twitterX)
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Michael Steele: Dictators don’t make life better for you; pick up a history book and read it
The Morning Joe panel discusses Donald Trump’s recent NATO remarks and how some Republican lawmakers are responding.
Joe Scarborough talking with others about Trump insisting he’s going to be a dictator from day one and how he worships and bows to dictators while saying he’s going to turn his back on Europe and NATO – also dismantling our Constitution and Republicans parroting Putin talking points.
Talking about Ron Johnson and Tucker Carlson pushing Putin as the one who will win and how Ukraine can’t possibly win – and would they have done that to Hitler as Neville Chamberlain did? Cult of Trump and in service of Orban and Putin.
The timeline of Russia’s current information campaign continues with everything since the Putin interview with Tucker Carlson and Trump’s comments about NATO where he would tell Russia to do anything they wanted to our allies unless he was given the protection money he is trying to extort – which honestly, is not the way NATO works at all. It isn’t a club with dues, or fees for membership, or some amount thrown into the same pot to use.
However, along this timeline of Trump repeating this blatant obscenity about NATO and Republican Senator Ron Johnson insisting that only Putin can win so we need to give him whatever he wants, and Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville getting on a radio interview to parrot Putin’s talking points on Ukraine verbatim as if they came directly from Russia to serve Russia’s interests, we have news of Navalny’s death at Putin’s hands. Obviously the day before Navalny was announced to be dead, there is video of him talking to judges laughing and in good spirits. He looked alright and far from death.
What if the entire field of distractions from these Russia-fueled Republicans and Trump’s Russia-serving statements are part and parcel of a bigger current theme? Would it include the Tucker Carlson interview of Putin, then Putin’s statements about Poland starting WWII by refusing to give themselves to Hitler when it was demanded? Added to the timing of Navalny’s death in prison on the first day of the Munich Security Council where they were expected to agree to remove frozen Russian assets to Ukraine for its defense from Russia’s illegal invasion and rebuilding from the destruction Putin’s war machine wreaked?
cricketdiane 02-18-2024
Putin Seeks Revenge on a World Order He Once Wanted to Join
“In Ukraine, Putin is attempting to strike his own decisive blow against the US and Europe to reshape that global order to Russia’s advantage. Putin’s gamble – backed by military force and grudges – is that he can bend the world to his will.” (according to this article’s author.)
“He is sitting right there on his throne, keeping an eye on the entire plot and trying to figure out how he can manipulate and take advantage of every set of international circumstances to push forward,” said Fiona Hill, a former top White House adviser on Russia. “Putin can look like he’s losing colossally, but he’s actually winning – and he’ll think he’s winning.”
“Encouraged by Trump, (I would say, strong-armed and extorted by Trump), Republican opposition in the US to continuing to arm Ukraine is also growing. Billionaire Elon Musk also urged Americans to lobby Congress to oppose funding for Ukraine on Monday, saying there’s ‘no way in hell’ Putin can lose the war.”
Ron Johnson tells reporters Putin won’t lose the war and approving $60 billion will just destroy Ukraine more in a U.S. proxy war against Russia. Says it is depraved to argue this helps jobs at weapons manufacturers. Durbin said he’s glad 18 of his Republican colleagues disagree
15.9K Views
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The Bloomberg article includes a lot of information that covers how Putin brought us to this mess and its precipice into World War III – worth reading all of it.
“The isolation [of Covid19] had an impact on Putin’s thinking that was underestimated, according to Ekaterina Schulmann, a non-resident scholar at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin. His resentment of the West festered.”
Familiar narratives and a severely skewed version of history were on display once again in President Vladimir Putin’s interview with Tucker Carlson. There were also some moments that shed additional light on his motives in the invasion of Ukraine and other matters.
Here are some of the key developments in Russia over the past week and some of the takeaways going forward.
“Partly because Putin started off with a long history lecture riddled with falsehoods and factual errors that did little, for many ears, to make it more interesting. It spawned multiple memes mocking what one commentator called a “largely fictional” account that stretched back to the 9th century. Ninth — that’s not a typo.
At one point, Carlson reassured Putin that his lengthy sojourn into the past was “not boring,” but many who watched the interview — or wrote about it — disagreed.”
Poland rebuffs Putin’s historical untruths from interview
Putin has long sought to change historical narratives from WWII era to sow discord between Eastern European neighbors, and interview seems to be another step in that direction
Poland on Tuesday rebuffed what it says are “Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 10 lies on Poland and Ukraine” from an interview last week by a former Fox News host.
Tucker Carlson, a longtime Putin admirer while at Fox News, appears to be part of a rhetorical shift in US right-wing circles to pivot away from support for Ukraine.”Tucker Carlson, a longtime Putin admirer while at Fox News, appears to be part of a rhetorical shift in US right-wing circles to pivot away from support for Ukraine.
The news of the Alexei Navalny’s death this morning is setting the current Munich Security Council on edge – but only because it adds to very recent timelines of popular bullshittery involving Russian influence campaigns such as Trump’s comments against NATO saying to Russia: do whatever you want to our allies, he and the United States won’t protect them (unless they pay him racket protection fees essentially).
Also, as a vote was expected in Congress about aid to Ukraine and other allies – the puppet installed by Trump and his Russian master as Speaker of the House sent Congressional members on vacation and insists it will not be passed by MAGA Republicans holding majority in Congress anyway.
Most reporting includes that Trump has called members of the Republican Party in our Congress telling them not to vote for it and not to pass the bill with border security included with the national security funding to our allies either.
All of this in the same few weeks of Tucker Carlson interviewing Vladimir Putin where he insisted that Poland was at fault for Hitler’s invasion of their country and for World War II because they refused to give themselves to Germany when Hitler demanded it.
It was also a week in which Tommy Tuberville, the Florida resident illegally serving as Senator for Alabama and Freedom Caucus member who held up all the military promotions across all branches for nearly the entire year of 2023 hindering readiness and threatening our national security – did a radio interview in which he repeated verbatim Putin’s talking points about NATO and the United States being the cause of Russia’s illegal, unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, not Russia.
It actually is irksome that when 200,000 Russian troops were amassed around the borders of Ukraine in 2021, there was a chance it could’ve been thwarted if dragon’s teeth, mines and other fortifications had been placed in front of them, but no.
And, those Russian army resources were there for awhile, plenty of time to take active defensive measures – all of Ukraine’s allies should’ve helped right then to shore up defensive actions against a clearly imminent lawless Russian invasion. Then, when it was obvious that a denial of all international laws and treaties was being made by Russia’s actions invading Ukraine – why the skies weren’t closed about Ukraine immediately – is beyond me to understand.
Then, after the first waves were thwarted and pushed back in 2022, when winter came – Russia was at about 2% – 6% of their forces left and there should have been any number of massive efforts by the allies of Ukraine to use that time while the invading forces were at their weakest and before Russian army generals had time to build fortifications of trenches, dragons’ teeth and millions upon millions of mines distributed across Ukrainian lands, but no.
All aid was tempered and slowed up intentionally by partners who still hoped Russia would be willing to resolve this bullying they were doing in some negotiated settlement leaving Ukraine with what besides the genocide Russians meted out on them en masse? Truly a horror without cause.
There’s no justification for Russia taking over Ukrainian lands and people, destroying their neighboring country and denying Ukraine’s sovereignty except that Putin wanted to do it and possibly, as the Wagner guy said – Putin had promised Ukraine’s businesses, national resources, minerals, mining operations, industries and other “goodies” to Russian oligarchs.
Are we indulging Putin? | Fiona Hill full interview
Right now, the big problem with Trump running a shadow govt in the United States that is, by extortion, blackmail, bullying, and arm-twisting forcing Republicans in Congress to have refused funding to Ukraine, to Israel and Taiwan among other things – is that none of what Trump does or wants or says or promotes actually serves the national security interests of the United States.
Typically, our elected officials balance their choices to serve their party or our country as a not one or the other but both – where that conflicts and becomes party over country, normally their conscience and principles would guide their choices – not politics and not fealty, allegiance and loyalty oath to the leader of the Republican Party and shadow dictator running the United States on Putin’s behalf, Donald Trump. There is no overriding conscientiousness in our Republicans anymore.
NATO did not make Russia illegally invade Ukraine – but every time Putin opened his mouth in 2022 he seemed to say that – blaming the US, blaming NATO. Now, Tommy Tuberville who had held up all our military promotions for nearly an entire year – is repeating Russia’s talking points straight out of Putin’s mouth. Why?
Why Trump’s attacks on NATO in his speeches recently? Why Tucker Carlson giving a platform to Putin in the last couple weeks? Why Trump’s insistence on being a dictator for a day and then repeating that comment saying maybe for more than a day? Why the worship of Orban who is a dictator? Why the worship of Putin by Republicans after the war crimes of the most horrific atrocities by Russia and Russian soldiers? Why?
“Putin may dislike NATO expansion, but he is not genuinely frightened by it. Russia has the largest army in Europe, engorged by two decades of lavish spending. NATO is a defensive alliance. It has never attacked the Soviet Union or Russia, and it never will. Putin knows that. But Putin is threatened by a flourishing democracy in Ukraine. He cannot tolerate a successful and democratic Ukraine on Russia’s border, especially if the Ukrainian people also begin to prosper economically. That would undermine the Kremlin’s own regime stability and proposed rationale for autocratic state leadership. Just as Putin cannot allow the will of the Russian people to guide Russia’s future, he cannot allow the people of Ukraine, who have a shared culture and history, to realize the prosperous, independent, and free future that they have voted and fought for.”
Today seems like as good a time as any to examine what is at stake as Alexei Navalny’s death is confirmed by his lawyer who has headed to the northern penal colony where Navalny was held. There was a great map I saw the other day about where Russia would be if it had not abusively taken vast swaths of the countryside belonging to others around them – mostly the area around Moscow would be theirs and not much else and it’s really all they care about genuinely funding as well. The rest of Russia lives in some time period vastly distant from today without most of the modern living offered even in the nineteenth century. Now, with nearly all of Russia’s government resources wrapped up in funding its war on Ukraine, Russians are starting to feel the cost of their government’s folly.
“This way of thinking in Russia goes back to the tsars. Russia has no natural borders on its periphery. Stalin believed that without hegemony in Eastern Europe he would be subject to infiltration and subversion. But the peoples of Eastern Europe did not want to be forced to live under communism, and thus arose the very hostility Stalin feared.
In a similar vein and updating this explanation of Soviet aggression, my Ukrainian friends offer another rationale for Putin’s attack. As an autocratic leader who has denied his people the human rights we in the West enjoy, such as a free press, an honest judiciary, and especially genuinely contested elections, he is threatened by a liberalizing Ukraine right on his border. After all, Putin’s 22-year tenure rests on banning free and fair elections, stifling dissent, and controlling domestic media, along with official propaganda that excoriates Western institutions and values.”
When Wagner was operating as Putin’s private army, NATO and western allies understood the threat posed to Ukraine, to Georgia, to Chechnya, to Serbia, to Moldova, to Belarus, to other Baltic neighbors of Russia and to much of the 17 plus African nations where they were and still are, operating. Why didn’t the opposing forces of good meet this head on? Why didn’t our diplomatic missions recognize their analysis was underplaying the real threat Putin and his criminal oligarchy / kleptocracy openly displayed? Why do we keep seeing Republicans and rightwing media and foreign affairs specialists serving the far-right, giving air time to long debunked Russian disinformation and outright Russian propaganda?
“Russia’s long-term prospects are dim, but the threat is present – The myth of the invincible Russian military machine has evaporated in the space of a few weeks. The initial goals of the invasion have clearly not been achieved. Russian forces had to withdraw from the vicinity of Kyiv and were beaten off in many other locations. Ukrainian bravery and excellent use of limited resources (reinforced by foreign assistance) have so far proven a strong match against the badly led, poorly motivated and organised opponent, who are also experiencing logistic and technical problems, like faulty equipment. Corruption, a disease at the heart of the Russian state, displayed itself on a grand scale in the conduct of the military operation. Russia’s human losses are enormous and, in spite of censorship, becoming known to the Russian public. […]
Concrete decisions will matter more than any new organisational organigrams, and sophisticated plans or strategies are valuable only as long as they are made real. Russia has started to relish its role as a predator, and it is using brutal force to achieve its imperialist goals. Even weakened, Russia remains capable of inflicting heavy damage upon others. Only strong deterrence and credible force will be able to stop it. Counter-intuitively, preparing for a possible war with Russia is the best approach to prevent it.
Found an interesting article from that was done in early February of 2022 before Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine –
Putin says the West has ignored Russia’s security concerns over NATO and Ukraine
PUBLISHED TUE, FEB 1 2022 12:04 PM EST
Putin was speaking at a press conference following talks with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, with whom Putin shares friendly ties, in Moscow on Tuesday.
It’s the first time that Putin has commented publicly about the geopolitical crisis with Ukraine in weeks.
There has been a flurry of diplomatic meetings, calls and written exchanges between Russian and Western officials in recent weeks.
It describes Putin’s insistence that US, Europe and NATO basically concede to Russia’s demands made in December when they gave an ultimatum to western nations to withdraw any and all support for Ukraine, in essence.
This article heavily pushes the Russian defense narrative Putin was spouting, however, at no time has Russia been invaded nor threatened by Ukraine nor by NATO nor by anyone else, neither have the Russian Federation states been subjected to terrorism by Ukraine nor by NATO, nor is there any reason to believe those things would happen.
So without provocation, Putin delivered an ultimatum to NATO and the European nations / the Western nations including the United States and UK then proceeded to act as a bully against their neighbor by illegally invading, less than two months later.
Genuinely, no missiles have ever hit Russia until this war was started by Russia against Ukraine and against all other nations that Russian media claims are next. Russia has gone from being the 11th economy in the world to twelfth and heading towards thirteenth or below – while western nations still wonder whether anything can simply convince dictator Putin and his criminal cronies to withdraw and fix the damage they’ve already done to Ukraine.
From yesterday’s Morning Joe segment describing Tommy Tuberville repeating Putin’s talking points about Ukraine and why Russia had to invade because it is something the US made them do. The things Tuberville said were so exactly the same as Russian propaganda outlets and as Putin himself said in a multitude of statements, especially leading up to Russia’s illegal invasion and genocidal atrocities committed against Ukraine and during the first year’s statements Putin made about it.
“They’re praising Vladimir Putin, praising Putin!!” – “and blaming the United States.” 7.09
Watch Morning Joe Highlights: Feb. 14 | MSNBC
Tuberville claims Putin is on top of his game right now. And, he says that our media is propaganda but for some reason believes he can trust Russian media which is known to be propaganda, disinformation and lies put out to serve Putin and his fascist authoritarian dictatorship.
Apparently, Tuberville serving the Republican MAGA Freedom Caucus and Trump continues proving he is part of a Russia serving fifth column in the US intending to destroy the United States rather than protect and serve our country. Tuberville is the same anti-American senator who held up military appointments and promotions for nearly a year across all our branches of the military to serve his own political purposes which lowered our military readiness, increased stress and financial hardship of our military families and service members, and added impossible unnecessary demoralizing effects on our military that caused many to leave or not continue in the military where their skills are much needed.
Now, the Republican Party run exclusively by Trump’s whims as a shadow dictator making our Congress members’ decisions for them rather than their conscience, their knowledge, their principles making those choices – are denying military aid to Ukraine and other US allies in their fight against atrocities and invasion.
from the NATO site in July 2022 explains what is at stake and answers Putin’s taking points as Tuberville repeated this week –
“February 24, 2022, is likely to engrave itself on the history template of the world. Russia’s unprovoked, unjustified and barbaric invasion of Ukraine is not only a manifestation of a huge security danger that has shattered peace in Europe.”
“The magnitude of damage is immense and still increasing. Ukrainians (military and civilians alike) are being killed simply because they are Ukrainians. Whole cities – like Mariupol – are being razed to the ground. Evident atrocities fitting the criteria of war crimes are being perpetrated and accompanied by genocidal talk on Russian state TV. Hundreds of thousands of people, including children, have been forcefully deported to Russia. Over six million (at the time of writing) have had to flee Ukraine; many more have been internally displaced. Hospitals, infrastructure, cultural treasures, private homes and industrial centres are either destroyed or pillaged, with stolen goods being sent to Russia in an organised manner.”
Top CULT EXPERT Diagnoses Trump & MAGA Brainwashing | Burn The Boats
In the beginning of this video interview – there is a clip of a Trump MAGA supporter claiming he believes we need a dictator and how he wants the law changed to allow a continuing term rather than a two-term limit on our office of the president. That is odd to hear from someone who likely demands that no one require him to wear a mask during Covid running rampant, that doesn’t want anyone telling him what he can and can’t say, that would be okay carrying a “Don’t Tread On Me” flag that demands a govt free of dictatorship.
This video from Meidas Touch Contributor Ken Harbaugh of Against All Enemies (Burn The Boats Podcast) – is an interview with: “Dr. Steven Hassan is a licensed mental health professional and recognized expert on cults. His book, The Cult of Trump, examines how Trump has built a base with fanatical devotion.”
Well worth taking the time to watch all of it. Dr. Hassan recounts some of his own experiences with the Moonie cult and describes what brought him out of that cult. The second half of the interview really describes how to approach bringing someone out of the cult and what being in a cult really does to the personality and conscience and knowledge of the person who is in it. There is not a person operating in their own mind and by their own thinking through things when they are in a cult. This explains how Trump MAGA cult members and the Republicans they own right now can speak and believe the opposite of the facts despite all evidence and despite what kind of principles and beliefs they had as a person before being taken over by this fascist cult think.
So ex-president Trump is illegally and unconstitutionally acting as a shadow dictator right now running our people’s elected representatives in Congress and making their decisions in defiance of our representative democracy?
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Howard Mortman
@HowardMortman
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3h
“I talked to President Trump today, and he’s dead set against this package. He thinks that we should make packages like this a loan, not a gift.” — Sen. Lindsey Graham on Ukraine aid 2/11/2024 h/t @LACaldwellDC & @lizcgoodwin here: https://washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/02/14/lindsey-graham-ukraine-trump/…
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On NBC News, Nikki Haley suggests Trump
Nikki Haley suggests Trump is aiming to ‘take’ the election by promoting his daughter-in-law for RNC leadership
Trump has endorsed North Carolina GOP Chair Michael Whatley to be the next RNC chief and Lara Trump, the wife of his son Eric, to serve as co-chair.
“”Now he has decided he has fired the RNC chair,” Haley said at an event Tuesday morning in her hometown of Bamberg, South Carolina, referring to Trump’s endorsement of a successor to Ronna McDaniel as chair of the Republican National Committee if she decides to step down in the coming days. “He’s named who’s going to be the new RNC chair. His daughter-in-law will be the co-chair, and he is making his campaign manager the officer that runs the party.”
&*&
The shadow government being run by fascist Trump is obviously making the decisions of a dictator and acting as the decision-maker where his choices are being used by elected Republicans as policy rather than their conscience, their knowledge, their experience, and often against their previous values and principles.
Republicans in the Freedom Caucus and MAGA Trump supporters in Congress impeached a cabinet member of the Biden administration without cause or evidence as a political stunt to suit their narcissistic psychopathic shadow dictator Trump who is calling the shots behind the scenes. They claim to be against any border bill agreement made in the Senate because Trump’s decision to make no solution to the border question and immigration crisis until he is in office again.
Republicans first demanded that all aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan be tied to solving the border crisis at Trump’s demand that it be done that way and then decisions and agreements worked out between Democrats and Republicans in Congress couldn’t go forward because a shadow dictator decided behind the scenes, unelected, (in fact, set aside in our election and taken out of power) – wanted to stop it.
House GOP made themselves look foolish over impeachment: Rep. Raskin
What we have now, for the last three years is a shadow dictator operating with hordes of organizations that had once been serving the conservative cause and Republican cause and Libertarian cause – acting as Trump’s armies to serve his every whim.
NATO will no longer exist, Russia will be given whatever they want and invited to brutalize and commit atrocities across Europe according to Trump’s Republican Party candidacy speeches. Americans serving the Republican Party are standing up and clapping for this dictator who is doing everything possible right now to throw sand in the gears of our government to destroy it, including our Congress and our Justice system; throwing away every effort that keeps the United States and the world safe, living in peace and cooperation; and using his blackmail and extortion to demand abject & absolute loyalty from everyone in the Republican Party and beyond, including Taylor Swift who he claimed this weekend only made money because of him and owes loyalty to him.
That is what two-thirds of the Republicans in the United States claim they want as their presidential candidate and are supportive right now of this same man running our nation as a dictator in a shadow government acting in whatever ways his whims take him. The entire Republican party resources and all of the resources of its sister organizations across evangelicals, conservatives and libertarian groups are being harnessed to form against democracy and our nation’s best interests. They are in the hands of a fascist coup in action and there are few people who know how to stop this kind of narcissistic supremely selfish, self-serving, self-dealing, psychopathic bully Trump is.
When those serving MAGA, Fascism and Trump basically are running the Heritage Foundation, most of the think tanks and consultants used by the Republican Party, the American Enterprise Institute, CPAC, the World Congress of Families, the Evangelical and televangelist movement leaders, the Freedom Caucus and other Republican organizations in Washington, DC and throughout every state, the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association (CSPOA) and Protect America Now (PAN) among others like the Oath Keepers, militias, 3%ers, Proud Boys, other Neo-Nazi groups – etc. ad nauseum – when those are all serving MAGA, Fascism and Trump –
What’s the plan to stop their efforts to decimate our Constitution and destroy our federal and state governments being run by the people, for the people and of the people – to change them into sovereign autocracies, oligarchies and an outright authoritarian dictatorship?
Cornell William Brooks on the Supreme Court’s Trump bias and the danger of Christian Nationalism FIVE MINUTE NEWS
Feb 11, 2024 Professor Cornell William Brooks joins Anthony Davis to discuss the Supreme Court’s hearing of ‘Trump the insurrectionist’, the rise of Christian Nationalism and the danger of America losing its democracy – only on The Weekend Show.
This interview covers a lot of what is wrong with our current Supreme Court Justices appointed to serve the Federalist Society, their donors, and in the cases before SCOTUS about the insurrection – to serve Donald Trump and the Republican Party.
3:30 “can we imagine a member of Congress can we imagine a governor, can we imagine someone on the local city council literally taking wildly expensive luxurious trips acting on matters that benefit their donors and then insisting that they’re not subject um to any ethical guidelines, any ethical prescriptions? Uh that they L literally operate above the rule of law?”
“But the problem here is, this is a member of the Supreme Court so here we have someone whose wife literally organized at a minimum organized the transportation of insurrectionists to the capital who promoted the Insurrection. Now most justices on the Supreme Court I would like to believe it would acknowledge the appearance of of conflict of interest is obvious. But here we have a substantive conflict of interest uh not only retrospectively, I.E she was involved in the Insurrection but prospectively meaning if her husband votes to keep Donald Trump on the ballot she will benefit as a lobbyist and so the the conflict is both retrospective with respect to the Past prospective with respect to to the present and the future. . .” – Professor Cornell William Brooks
The first part of the interview talks about this and is great, but the main reason I wanted to share this here is for something said about why Republican MAGA voters and business people are supporting Trump and the current push for an authoritarian dictatorship by the Republican Party –
“because you know let’s be clear if Donald Trump is on the ballot and he doesn’t win he’ll do exactly the same thing claiming that it was fraudulent and and and and his army they know what to do this time it it could just be a repeat it is” – Professor Brooks
33:14 “the amount of anger and hatefulness and spitefulness and just vengeance that the former president spouse like I I’m just trying to figure out just a couple things if you really listen to president Trump on the way to your church your Moss your synagogue by the time you get there you’re not going to be in a great mood to worship whatever God you worship right because it’s just too it’s too emotionally and morally toxic okay and and and the third Point here is and this is a really serious theological point which is idolatry right as much as I admire you Anthony my tradition tells me I can’t put you above God right and so it doesn’t matter whether it’s President Obama uh President Biden or president Trump [or] was secretary Hillary Clinton”
“none of these people or anybody else in this country at 350 million plus people uh is to be so exalted and so the dangerous part of this moment is literally we have a a kind of autocracy being proposed to the the people under the guise of a theocracy all of which results in a threat to our democracy and that’s the part of this which is really really frightening because to the evangelicals he promises Christian nationalist theocracy to those who want their form of capitalism he promises them a kind of soft autocracy well you’ll get the kind of Court you want want you get the kind of Congress you want you’ll get the kind of state legislatures you want and we’ll make sure that you’re able to make as much money as you want to the way you want to make it” – Professor Brooks
Sadly, none of us elected the Federalist Society to choose our justices nor to train them in some Leo Leonard approved, Republican donor approved conservative or theological or fascist interpretation of our laws and our Constitution – or ways around our Constitution in order to violate, abrogate or outright deny the legal validity and authority of our Constitution. We didn’t elect political consultants to choose the pay to play schemes that seem to dominate our Supreme Court Justices decisions across many different cases – including taking test cases for making law – or reinterpreting laws and established precedents – which aren’t even real cases representing real people seeking the Court’s help.
And sadly, the 14th Amendment, Section 3 decision being made by the Supreme Court will find a way to allow Trump to stay on the ballot along with other insurrectionists who participated in insurrection against our country trying to overturn our valid election in 2020 (and since).