monitoring Trump and relevant contemporary events

Hopefully the tide will turn where the entire lot agree to distance themselves from him. The guy's knack for saying some of the most indefensible things has got to wear thin at some point.. right?

Quote:

Hopefully the tide will turn where the entire lot agree to distance themselves from him. The guy's knack for saying some of the most indefensible things has got to wear thin at some point.. right?

I no longer believe that is what will happen. The GOP is now so corrupted ideologically and financially that all (or close to that) of the incentives push towards further and greater degradation of the institutions of governance and the moral/ethical codes which real democracy depends upon.

At most, 15-20% of Republicans could be brave and ideogical enough to speak out. But wouldn't dare as they would be primaried.....

BillW wrote:

At most, 15-20% of Republicans could be brave and ideogical enough to speak out. But wouldn't dare as they would be primaried.....

yup

the Koch boys and their redwood party boys aren't going to let that happen

they've got Pence right where they want him

quotes from supportive left wing commentators.

Meanwhile examples of left wing hypocrisy are multiplying from Hollywood to Washington,

Deny, deflect, repeat. Nothing new to see here

Russian Trolls Used ‘Up To 100’ Activists To Organize Events In US, Report Finds
As many as 100 unwitting activists were recruited to help organize events in the United States both before and after the election by the same St. Petersburg-based Russian troll farm behind scores of fake social media accounts that purchased ads to sow discord during the 2016 campaign.

The revelation comes from a report in the Russian business magazine RBC published on Tuesday morning.

The events included an October 2016 rally in Charlotte, North Carolina to protest police violence mere weeks after a protester was fatally shot at a Black Lives Matter protest there. The organizers of the October protest were not with BLM, though, according to RBC’s report. They were with BlackMattersUS, the organization outed as a Russian front last week by Casey Michel at ThinkProgress.

Roy Moore's Senate campaign said Monday it does not know why more than 1,000 fake Twitter accounts originating from Russia started following the former judge's account over the weekend, causing a spike in Moore's social media following.

Several people in this thread have made the point that fascist policies and tactics have been discernible in left-wing regimes, as well as in right-wing. In fact, when I made a post to outline the key attributes of fascist take-overs, I specifically mentioned Stalin's (so-called) Marxist-Leninist regime in the Soviet Union, saying I saw no difference between that and the classic fascist regimes in Europe in the 1920s and -30s. People keep coming up with these tu quoque fallacies, here and in other threads. Moral turpitude on the part of one individual or group does justify or excuse moral turpitude on the part of another.

People on the right have been calling for the Democratic Party to be banned, including one member here. People on the right have been calling for a purge of the Republican Party, including one member here. President Plump has called the constitution outdated and effectively said it needs to be scrapped--on Fox television, making him undeniably forsworn--he took an oath to preserve, protect and defend the constitution. (The last paragraph of Article Two, Section One reads, in its entirety: Before he enter on the execution of his office, he shall take the following oath or affirmation:--"I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States." Finally, President Plump has publicly said that NBC should be shut down because they have criticized him.

These represent classic fascist technique. All political opposition is outlawed. The party is purged of those who are considered not to be ideologically "pure." Constitutional protections and legislative statutes are ignored or set aside. Communications, both public and private, are subjected to censorship or banned outright. Fascism is not a political ideology nor an economic system--it is a blueprint for the take-over of government and the maintenance of the regime thereafter.

There may well be many people on what is called the left in the United States who would do the same if given the opportunity. But they are not in power right now, and President Plump and the Republican Party are. Any threat of "rising fascism" in the Untied States right now comes from the far right of the American political spectrum.

US President Donald Trump's latest bid to impose travel restrictions on citizens from eight countries entering the US has suffered a court defeat.
A federal judge slapped a temporary restraining order on the open-ended ban before it could take effect this week.
The policy targets Iran, Libya, Syria, Yemen, Somalia, Chad and North Korea, as well as some Venezuelan officials.
Previous iterations of the ban targeted six Muslim-majority countries, but were checked by the Supreme Court.
The state of Hawaii sued in Honolulu to block Mr Trump's third travel ban, which was set to go into effect early on Wednesday.
It argued the president did not have the powers under federal immigration law to impose such restrictions.
US District Judge Derrick Watson, who blocked Mr Trump's last travel ban in March, issued the new restraining order.

Today's bit was factual reporting on the top donors to Super PACs - it turns out they are mostly liberal donors, foundations and labor unions, and not the evil corporations they were chasing with Citizens United.

Despite all of this, our economy is thriving in a way we haven't seen in a long while.

tu quoque fallacy
...and the citizens of the United States have a right to expect the chief magistrate to set a high standard.