Gillette Dry Idea was Right

Trust me, that will make sense.  Eventually.

​But first --

​​I’m sure that most people who come to these pages also read social media, to at least some degree.  I’m equally sure that most have the good sense not to allow themselves to get dragged into its hellish bowels.
 
Well -- we live but to serve…
 
Okay, no, in fairness, I have my limits.  But I do dive in to do my part.  It’s not, however, to convince the person I’m writing to of anything (especially when the person is a public official and unlikely to even read what I replied).  It’s for all the “others” who might be uncertain about an issue, and see the post filled with disinformation or out-and-out lies, and not know where the truth lies.  (Which is one of the foundational principles of fascism, by the way, breaking down trust and creating uncertainty, so that people feel they can only trust “the leader.”)  So, I respond for all those people – the “others.”
 
Over the past month or so, though, Twitter has become even more hellish than usual and is almost at the point of wearying.  Not because of the reason most people might assume – the racism and hatred and anti-Semitism of the core base of the system who had been banned for breaking Twitter rules, but were let back on after Elon Musk bought it.  No, it’s for another reason entirely:
 
It's because MAGOP top officials in Congress and many Trump cabinet members are posting so often on Twitter now that I can’t, nor would I want to, keep up with all of them.  They have every right to do so, of course – though you’d think doing their elected job would occupy more of their time.  And you would hope there wouldn’t be as much disinformation and lies from such people in positions of responsibility – and yes, even racism – but that’s the Trump World we live in today.  So, it’s not unexpected.  Just very sad, fascist (by every book definition of the word) and divisive. 
 
And it’s annoying (of course) spending as much time making the responses I do make.  But we all have our skillset of what we can do, and I’ve accepted that this is mine.  I’m not an organizer, I don’t go to many protests (just some), I’m terrible at phone-calling and door-to-door canvasing.  But I can do this.  And so I do the best I can.  On social media and here – which I then promote on social media.
 
Among those whose presence on Twitter has most notably exploded recently are Kash Patel (a great use of FBI Director time), Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt (whose posts are infantile and abundantly full of lies – for example, on Sunday “quoting” a Washington Post editorial which I went to read…and nothing she “quoted” was in it), DHS Secretary Kristi Noem (profoundly defensive and untruthful -- and more on her flat-out lying in a moment), the DHS press department (who I honestly don’t think I’ve seen post anything that wasn’t a lie – and to whom I always respond by quoting the Chicago judge who said they were “untrustworthy), and Utah Sen. Mike Lee (who is generally snippy and repeatedly wrong).
 
But far-and-away the most prominent (which is saying a lot) are Speaker Mike Johnson (whose tweets are just sad and pathetic) and Ted Cruz (who I don’t think realizes how whiny, obsessive and creepy his tweets come across.  His latest rag is an unending stream calling for the impeachment of a federal judge who ruled in a way about Cruz that he didn’t like.  I think I read about 6-8 on that one subject last Thursday alone).

What leaps out most from this relentless barrage of tweets from all these MAGOP high-officials is how terrified and panicked they must be.  Because high-level politicians like this don’t have the time or inclination to spend so much time going on Twitter to complain and rant and whine and finger-point and lie unless they feel frightened, because the desperation not only shows, it’s leaking out of their pores.  Shakespeare described it best – “Methinks thou dost protest too much.”
​
Oh, my, way too much. 

I respond to many, though I have my limits, and not always with specifics.  For many, I just reply “Trump’s approval is 37%.”

For Mike Johnson, I go further.  I begin all my replies to him with “Bless your heart” (which is what he said condescendingly when asked about a complaint made by Adelita Grijalva, the Congresswoman-elect from Arizona who he has refused to seat).  And now, I also added to my Johnson-replies a quote from Trump that he was overheard saying to Johnson’s face – “I’m the Speaker and the president.”

Okay, just a few examples of what I mean about the level of flat-out, blatant lies that are being said, because it’s important to put all this in perspective:
 
There was a quote from Kristi Noem on Thursday which might require you buckling a seatbelt to keep you settled.  The short version is that she made a comment on camera, for which someone posted the video, where she said (and I swear this is true) “No American citizens have been arrested or detained”  Yes, really.  She said that, and risked her nose growing to Pinocchio lengths.
 
It's like they’re not even trying to be honest anymore.  But don’t take my word for it, here’s the video of infamous pet-killer Kristi Noem in her own words, saying it without somehow having the sentence gag in her throat and get stuck.

And on Thursday, too, Trump posted that "I (WE!) just won the War on the Climate Change Hoax. Bill Gates has finally admitted that he was completely WRONG on the issue."

Of course it will not shock you that this has absolutely no bearing with reality and is, obviously, another massive Trump lie.  In Bill Gates's long note, what he actually said is that Climate Change is real and serious. What he shifted in his position is only how best to deal with it.
 
As I said, it's like they’re not even trying to be honest anymore.  Even by Trump standards.  Seriously.  Back in Trump's first term, his advisor Kellyanne Conway gallingly related to the Trump team using "alternative facts."  Trump's second term isn't even qualifying for that pathetically low level, an empty standard one would think is impossible to miss, since it uses vacuum as its medium of choice.

Or this past Sunday, when press secretary Karoline Leavitt (who still, by the way, owes $326,370 to over 100 creditors for her failed campaign debts from three years ago that she never gets asked about...) posted a tweet where she "quoted" a Washington Post editorial that was highly favorable to Trump -- except that I then went to read the editorial, and nothing that she "quoted" (!) was in the editorial.

Say it all together now:  It's like they’re not even trying to be honest anymore.  That's not hyperbole.

Or, as a final example, there was Mike Johnson on Thursday.  It wasn't a lie, but just disinformation (which by today's MAGOP standards is almost impressive).  He posted one of his great-many tweets that said, in part – “But millions of Americans who depend on SNAP and WIC will go hungry — because DEMOCRATS voted 14 times to block their funding when they voted AGAINST the clean CR funding bill.”
 
What I wrote back was –
​

Bless your heart.

Most people can see the utter stupidity in your comment. What is blatantly OBVIOUS is "millions of Americans who depend on SNAP and WIC will go hungry" because. ..MAGOPs *want to cut the programs*!!!

You may think your base is stupid, but all Americans aren't.

​Believe me, there is so much more of this.  But it would be overbearing to embed even a tenth of it.
 
And racist, too, as I said.  Trump posted an altered photo on Thursday of Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries supposedly wearing really big “funny” Mexican hats.  And Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy did the same with another photo.
 
It’s “shocking” to learn that Trump’s support among Hispanics (who were a very important new part of his base in getting re-elected) has plummeted to just 25%! 
 
A close friend of mine who avoids social media like the plague (because he knows his limit for dealing with such things is borderline non-existent) wrote me and, after I explained some of these tweets to him, he asked – “How can you read this daily without SCREAMING?  I'd be carted off away from work to the medical building next door.”
 
And honestly, it’s very hard to read all that daily without “SCREAMING”.  But – that’s literally a major reason why I write my articles, as a vent to my fury.  And a big reason why I respond to the tweets, for the “others” to have the lies explained.  And also, as I said, because at times like this we all have to do something, and I know my limitations and things I’m not good at doing – but writing and relentlessly following-up on things is what I can do.
 
But the one good thing from all this new, relentless stream of disinformation, lies and racism from the Trump team and high MAGOP officials is, as noted, that it shows profound desperation by the party.  They absolutely, unequivocally doth protest much, much too much.  It is so clear that they know they're in trouble:  they can read the polls, they have seen the results of Special Elections, the watch Trump physically and mentally fading on a daily basis.  And know dementia is degenerative. And they're sweating torrents.  The panicked howls of "Impeach Judge Boasberg" and "No American citizens have been detained" is not a winning campaign platform for a political party.  All making it far more obvious than ever how next-to-nothing should believed by Trump and the high MAGOPs without their presenting documented and certified evidence.
 
And there’s a bonus “positive,” as well, from all this unrelenting stream of fascism:  when Trump has a 37% approval and dropping, it’s helping bring together a divided country.  The country is still divided and very divided.  But not the 49.8-48.3% for Trump in the election.  It’s 61-37% united against the fascists.