The Turn of the Screw
First things first. Much as I don't believe for a second that Trump "aced" his cognitive test and got ALL 35 questions right -- I couldn't care in the slightest if he did. Let's even say he did. Left out of his claim is that doctors thought there was a reason he should be given a cognitive test. But even more, however cognitive Trump wants the world to think he is -- there are still 143,269 dead Americans so far, there are till 48 million Americans on unemployment, there is still no response from the White to criticize Russia for putting bounties on U.S. soldiers, Trump is still defending the Confederate flag, still continually sending up even more flares sends flares to White Supremacists, and he screwed up the country. And there are still immigrant children taken from their parents and they are still in cages. It would seem that Trump's best defense would be to claim that he failed the cognitive test completely. At least then he would have an excuse. Now, however, he's telling us all that he knows what he he has been doing.
Which brings us to the whole "screwing up the country" thing.
Back in 2016, for reasons unknown to me now -- I suspect I was channel surfing -- I happened to stop of the "Fox News" channel when Tucker Carlson's show was on. I suspect it was because a liberal guest was on and giving Carlson hell, at one point commenting that the Trump-led Republican party was fascist. If you could envision one of those cartoon characters who begins spinning like a whirling dervish, has smoke coming out of his ears, his face turning red, and his eyes springing out of their sockets and going "BOINNNNNG!!!" -- that was fairly close to Carlson's response. "How can you say he's fascist???!! How can you SAY he's fascist??!!!!!" he kept crying out.
Yes, not only was the guest very observant and prescient (sorry, I don't recall who it was) -- but how pointed that the host he was talking to was Tucker Carlson.
I completely understood the point the guest was making, though was a little late to his party, so it wasn't until April, 2018 that I wrote my article here, describing the textbook definitions of fascism and explaining why I felt comfortable now saying that Trump met all the criteria and was in fact a fascist. That was over two years ago, and the elected members of the Republican Party in Congress have willfully joined in their support.
If there was any uncertainty in fair-minded people, the current actions taken in Portland, Oregon, by the Trump administration -- and enabled with their complicit silence by Republicans in Congress -- should have removed all doubt at this point. It's not just that federal police and military offers have taken over the streets there, but also that these are unidentified federal officers using unmarked vehicle, grabbing citizens off the street for peaceful protesting. For all anyone would know, without identification, they could just be vigilante thugs. Or at least unlicensed ones. That's what makes it all the more insidious.
This is not hyperbole. There was a video of over a dozen fully-armed federal officers who surrounded someone drawing on the sidewalk in chalk and dragged the person off screaming. Or this video of military-garbed federal officers chasing off and then beating a couple of medics who were checking on the health of someone lying on the ground prostate. In fairness, they might not have been "official" medics, since their insignia seems makeshift -- but bending over to be fair is far-more than is deserved here, since they are clearly there just to provide aid...and without any provocation are beaten.
The level of Trump fascism can be seen by Governor Kate Brown of Oregon contacting the Acting Director of Homeland Security Chad Wolf and requested that officers be withdraw from the state she is in charge of -- and he refused.
It's reached the point where Oregon Attorney General Ellen Roseumblum posted the following tweet over the weekend --
"Tonight we will file a lawsuit in federal court against U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Federal Protection Service alleging they seized and detained Oregonians without probable cause."
And to be clear, the point here isn't about Portland. Especially since Portland is one of the more laid-back cities in the United States. The point is that there's no special reason this has to be Portland. The peaceful protests there are just an excuse. It could be any city in the United States. Wherever you're reading. Even if it it's in a Red state. This is all ordered by Trump, the man who in an interview yesterday on "Fox News" said, "I'm not a big fan of Fox, I'll be honest with you" Yes, that's "Fox News" he was speaking of -- the network that has been his lapdog for over four years and was the foundation of getting him elected president. They've finally criticized him a few times, now that 143,269 Americans are dead, and Trump has turned on even them. (Side note: Any phrase by Trump that includes "I'll be honest with you" is a joke unto itself.) So, if Trump can turn on "Fox News," he can turn on anyone, in an instant. No matter how Red the state.
(The only thing Red it appears that Trump won't ever turn on is Russia.)
All that's the bad news. The good news is that the most recent poll, this from the Washington Post/ABC News, was yet another than showed Joe Biden up over Trump by 15 points, which is confirming the results of the others. So, the public is not only rejecting Trump's actions, they are steamrolling them.
Yes, a poll is only a snapshot of what is happening at that moment, and we elect a president by Electoral vote, not by national vote -- let alone by national poll. But to those in the vast majority, imagine how horrifying it would be if the results were the polar opposite.
One of the more pointed and effective ads about all this came the other day from the fine group, MeidasTouch.
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