My introduction of a very long and timely post:
The country is divided deeply – and not just politically-speaking either, but in everyday life and in terms wherein it seems so lately if one listens and pays close attention nowadays.
Today it seems that person’s views or
opinions on any subject matter (critical issue or not) is the only thing that
matters to them. Their source or person
or network is all that matters to them – truth be damned – just follow the ones
that seems right, whether they are or not – matters not – why? Who can prove or
disprove anything these days?
In short far too many
people today believe and follow who they like, or who they think is right –
mostly cause they sound right and toss all facts aside – since only their view matters – or so it seems. I fully understand that but don't fully agree.
That is why far too many people today fall for the “Big Lie” about the 2020 election being rigged and stolen from Trump - he who keeps saying it to reinforce his lie and boy does it catch on and stay attached.
Remember in Nazi German how their “Big Lie” about not losing WWI, or how the
Jews stole and ruined everything good in Germany – so keep telling that lie
and eventually it will and in fact did stick and look at what it got us: WWII.
Tell a lie long enough and
it will be believed – true or not contents matter not – at least that is for
those paying attention to the lie who may be weak-minded and easily conned by
the skilled liar and fall for it hook, line, and sinker.
The main case in point is this very
long and excellent Washington Post article and analysis of Trump’s
power over what I call “the new” Trump owned and operated GOP with this
headline (written by Josh Dawsey and Michael Scherer
and formatted to fit the blog) with this headline:
“Trump asserts his dominance inside GOP, pushing Republicans to embrace his false claims of fraud”
Trump has in the past week threatened electoral defeat for
Republicans who dismiss his election falsehoods, inserted himself into the VA governor’s
race to the delight of Democrats, and promised to root out disloyal GOP
officials in legislative primaries in AZ and MI.
With more than a year to go before the midterm elections, the former president is leaving no corner of the party untouched as he moves to assert his dominance, both in public and behind the scenes.
His stepped-up
efforts create a conundrum for many of the party’s strategists and lawmakers,
who believe they could have a banner election year in 2022 if they keep the
focus on President Biden and his agenda.
But Trump has repeatedly turned the focus back onto the 2020
election. He moved into new territory when he released a statement
threatening the GOP with ballot-box repercussions if candidates do not embrace
his false claims that the White House race was rigged.
Trump said in part of a barrage of statements on the 2020 election and
the January 6 Capitol attack that he sent out this week even to the NRCC this:
“If we don’t solve the Presidential Election Fraud of 2020 (which we have
thoroughly and conclusively documented), Republicans will not be voting in ’22
or ’24. It is the single most important thing for Republicans to do.”
The former president’s threat drew winces among GOP
operatives and U.S. senators gathered for a donor retreat for the National
Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) in Palm Beach recently.
Many still blame Trump for the loss of two U.S. Senate seats
in Georgia in runoff elections early this year, saying his false claims of
fraudulent ballots kept people from coming to the polls.
One top party strategist, who like others interviewed for
this report, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private
conversations saying: “It gives everyone cold sweats over the Georgia situation
and the prospect he could have some impact again.”
Already, many GOP candidates are following Trump’s lead, echoing false
allegations that the election results were manipulated and raising the prospect
that fraud will taint other elections.
In a private speech at the retreat, Trump cast himself as
the GOP’s savior, saying he had brought the party back from the brink of
disaster and helped Republicans hold seats on Capitol Hill (yet, he failed to
mention that the party lost the White House and control of both the House and
Senate under his presidency) as he spoke to a room of Senators, donors, and
lobbyists, according to a recording of the event obtained by The Washington
Post.
All that was before he
starting boasting of all the endorsements and telephone town halls he had done
in the 2020 cycle, adding: “It was a dying party, I’ll be honest. Now we
have a very lively party.
Trump then railed
against Republicans who had spoken negatively about him — naming Sen. Mitt
Romney (Utah) and Sen. Ben Sasse (Nebraska).
Then he urged the party to “stick together,” with him as the de facto leader, again saying: “They cheat like hell, and they stick together.” (He said of Democrats). “The Republican Party has to stick together.”
Again he reiterated his claims that the 2020 vote was tainted by fraud, praising GOP-controlled states that have passed new voting restrictions since then.
Continuing his rant he said:
“It’s a terrible thing what they did in Georgia and other states, You look
at Texas, you look at a lot of states — they are correcting all the ways we
were all abused over the last election . . . last two elections if you think
about it.”
In a statement, Trump
spokesman Taylor Budowich said: “There is no one in the country that does
more to increase voter engagement and participation than President Trump.
Through his endorsements and massive “Save America” rallies, President Trump is
single-handedly rebuilding the Republican Party at the ballot box.”
Meanwhile, Republicans
running in competitive general elections, such as VA gubernatorial candidate
Glenn Youngkin, have been wary of tying themselves too closely to Trump’s
claims about the 2020 election, while trying not to do anything that would
spark Trump’s ire and turn off his supporters.
Then Trump gave Youngkin a
full-throated endorsement when he called in to a small rally for the GOP ticket
in VA headlined by former White House strategist Steve Bannon.
Youngkin did not attend or sponsor the event, which began
with the crowd pledging allegiance to a flag that the emcee said had been flown
at a rally for Trump on January 6, when his supporters attacked the National Capitol.
But Youngkin’s Democratic rival, former VA governor Terry
McAuliffe, nonetheless pounced calling on the Youngkin to publicly denounce the
act of pledging allegiance to “a flag that was used to bring down our country.”
Then Youngkin responded
saying: “If that is the case, then we shouldn’t pledge allegiance to that
flag. I have been so clear: There is no place for violence — none, none — in
America today.”
Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE), who represents a swing district outside Omaha, just like other Republicans who worry that the debates over the 2020 election will bleed into election season next year, in a way that will hurt the GOP said: “Right now, if the party focuses on Afghanistan, inflation, the border, and crime — we are going to win big. If the party wants to make it about the election is rigged, we will lose. Independent voters don’t respond well to that. If we keep the focus right, I think we’re going to win big in 2022.”
But Trump has been unrelenting, sending out a blizzard of
statements attacking state and local officials in AZ and MI who he claims have
failed to investigate election irregularities like this in a recent message to
MI lawmakers: “Hopefully, each one of these cowardly RINOs, whose names will be
identified and forthcoming, will be primaried.”
Trump has also increasingly aligned himself with those who
took part in the Capitol attack, recording a video this month to wish happy birthday to Ashli Babbitt, the rioter
fatally shot by a security police Lieutenant. Trump called her “a truly
incredible person” and then he called on the DOJ to reopen its investigation
into her death.
Trump repeatedly raises the idea of the “rigged” election
with candidates seeking his endorsement, and has backed a slate of GOP
contenders across the country who back his claims.
Earlier this month, Trump threw his support behind a mayoral
candidate in Hialeah, FL who told the Miami Herald that he believes there
was “widespread fraud in 2020 but that it is very difficult to prove.”
GOP candidates across the country have been forced to answer questions on the topic. Former VP Mike Pence, who was threatened by a mob of Trump supporters on January 6 to be hanged, has struggled about what to say about voter fraud since then, according to advisers and allies.
Other potential Republican presidential candidates have tried to thread the needle. In a speech to donors in CA this summer for example, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tried to nod at voter fraud without fully backing Trump’s claims, that according to audio reviewed by The Post.
In the tape
Pompeo says: “It’s hard to figure out the math on that (when a donor asked him
incredulously how Biden won). These elections were imperfect. There’s no doubt
about that.”
Much of the party’s power structure has given Trump leeway
to prosecute his false election case, without explicitly endorsing it. The NRCC,
the House GOP campaign arm, is running Ads on Facebook that fully embrace a
Trump return to the White House, a clear sign that he commands the support of
small-dollar donors.
Some of the Ads declare: “Trump won’t run for President unless we
take back the House! There’s NO shot we win without your help.”
Another recent fundraising email from the group threatened donors who had
not yet contributed, saying: “You’re a traitor. You abandoned Trump. You
will be branded a deserter unless you contribute to the House effort.”
Note: Some Trump advisers were livid about the emails, saying the
rhetoric was off-putting and could alienate supporters, with one saying: “The
tone was totally inappropriate.”
The NRSC, meanwhile, has been offering donors the chance to
get an “Official Trump Majority Membership,” and promising invites to a
“closed-door, in-person strategy meeting with Trump” while asking people to add
their names to petitions that show support of “Trump’s Social Media site.”
(Note: Trump has not rolled out a new social media site).
Noteworthy: NRCC Chairman Tom Emmer (R-MN) said in a recent
call with reporters: “The president is going to headline our fall dinner.
He remains the biggest draw in our party and we are happy he is helping our
efforts to fire Nancy Pelosi.”
When he was asked to respond to Trump’s threat against
Republicans who don’t embrace his election fraud narrative, Emmer demurred saying: “The former president,
he’s a private citizen. He, of course, is entitled to his own opinion.”
Some Trump allies have encouraged the RNCC and party committees to make election fraud more of an issue in 2024, and the party has stepped up its “election integrity” efforts, hiring people in battleground states across the country.
In a presentation to donors earlier this year, RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel (Mitt Romney’s
niece) said: “Election integrity is one of the party’s top priorities — and
that the committee would be creating a program for 2022.”
At the NRSC conference in Palm Beach donors and lobbyists
were treated to a presentation on polling that showed Republicans were in a
strong spot to take back the Senate, and that Biden’s poll numbers had dropped,
particularly among independents, according to people familiar with research.
The agenda did not include any panels on election fraud, but
instead offered donors a golf session with Jack Nicklaus and discussions about
how Republicans are performing on digital fundraising, foreign policy, and
infrastructure.
In Trump’s address, one of the final events of the retreat, the former president focused on re-litigating grievances he has retained since leaving office, calling Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Schumer “maniacs” and described his presidency as a fight for survival, saying: “It was all phony sh*t, okay. All phony stuff.” (Referring to the Democratic impeachment efforts and the investigation of his ties to Russia).
Then unprompted, he brought up an unsubstantiated claim he had
interactions with prostitutes in Moscow before he ran for president saying:
“I’m not into golden showers. You know the great thing, our great first lady —
That one she said I don’t believe that one.”
Then after extensively praising Chinese President Xi Jinping
for his intellect and then touting his good relationship with Russian President
Vladimir Putin, he returned to his long-standing hatred of windmills,
referencing a new plan by the Biden administration to expand the number of offshore
wind turbines saying: “It’s so sad
when you see that they are approving these windmills — worst form of energy,
the most expensive. You talk about carbon emissions, well they are making them.
More goes into the air than if you ran something for 30 years.”
FYI: When operating properly, wind turbines do not create
carbon emissions as a result of electricity generation, according to the U.S.
Energy Information Administration.
My 2 Cents: This is an excellent up-to-date record of just how wild and crazy Trump is and how the GOP clings him out of fear of the “Wrath of Don.”
The above illustrates exactly what I mean and have been emphasizing for as long as Trump has been in this spotlight. We all have various views and opinion, but about him it’s simple: He is a without any doubt a clear and present danger to our country and entire national structure. It can’t be stated any clearer than that.
Related to all this is my earlier post here.
Special kudos to the Washington Post for this excellent article by reporters Josh Dawsey and Michael Scherer.
And thank
you for stopping by.
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