And welcome to our annual celebration of the Great War on Christmas
Yes, it’s that time of year again when we all eat too many goodies, wear ugly sweaters and pose with Santa Claus alongside our semi-automatic weapons. It’s Christmas time in America.
And here at Hullabaloo it’s the time of year I ask you, my loyal readers, to put a little something into the old stocking to keep us going for yet another year.
I think you all know how vital political information is right now. In fact, it’s never been more vital. Back when I was a young person, the biggest problem for most Americans was trying to wade through the conventional wisdom of the establishment media to find out the truth of what our government was really doing. That’s still an issue today but in the last few years we’ve had to confront the overwhelming problem of cacophonous propaganda bombarding us from every direction via our now ubiquitous social media. It is very hard to sort through it all, even for me and I have no life!
Take this, for instance, from just this past weekend:
You can say this is just fringe, and it should be. But this kind of thing is filtering into the mainstream of American life in truly disturbing ways, sometimes helped by the mainstream media that doesn’t always know that it’s enabling the authoritarian right wing movement that’s benefiting from all this. The feeling of chaos this is creating is is the reason so many people are freaked out and may be looking for a strongman to fix it.
For reasons I will never understand, many of them seem to believe that Donald Trump, the make-up wearing, hairspray addled, narcissistic blowhard — the man who thought injecting disinfectant might cure COVID — is the guy we need to do it. Again, this is due to propaganda and the failure of the media, at least until recently, to recognize what’s happening and take action to inform the public.
But if you’ve been reading this site, you know better. We have been pounding on this threat since January 21, 2021 knowing that Trump’s exile to his Mar-a-Lago beach club was temporary and that he would be back with a vengeance in 2024. Literally.
As we enter the crucible of this epic election year, it’s never been more important to sort through the lies and the propaganda that comes across our screens. My morning man Tom and I aren’t perfect in our ability to see through all of it but after doing this for so many years we have pretty good bullshit detectors. We will follow this god-forsaken news cycle closely seven days a week and try to analyze and synthesize the important political stories along with those that add context and color to help all of us get through this fraught time.
I still feel confident that the American people are not going to put that sociopath back into the White House, despite the current polling. But it’s going to be a tough fight. If you can, I hope you will help us keep this site going for another year so that we can continue the mission.
I can’t tell you what your support has meant to me over the past years. If you can do it this year, it would mean the world.
cheers,
digby
And Happy Hollandaise everyone. We’ll get through this!
*Keep scrolling for new stuff. 🙂