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Stranger Danger

Published by Tom Sullivan on March 23, 2024

What’s a little scaremongering among Republicans?

Migrant invaders are coming for your Social Security and Medicare, Trump warns.

Donald “91 Counts” Trump is feeling especially vulnerable these days. For good reason. He sees his “empire” under threat on Monday of being seized to cover his half-billion-dollar bond in the New York financial fraud case. If he does not win the presidency, conviction in his other four pending cases could mean he spends the rest of his days in prison. The harshest cut of all is the damage to an ego so fragile it requires constant media and fan attention to keep from melting down.

So he and his campaign are in damage-control mode after his big mouth spit out words to the effect of his threatening Social Security and Medicare if reelected. In Trumpian “I know what you are, but what am I?” fashion, Trump issued a panicked “Truth” accusing Democrats of being the party threatening the safety net.

Big “tell,” Greg Sargent observes:

Plainly, what triggered this rage-rant was the news that a group of House Republicans has proposed a budget that would raise the retirement age for Social Security and restructure Medicare along lines that Paul Ryan–esque Republicans have long sought. Democrats have seized on this to bludgeon the GOP for threatening to cut the program.

Trump and his advisers know how big a problem this is for them. After Trump recently opened the door to Social Security and Medicare cuts, his campaign rushed to clean up his remarks. His eruption Thursday was clearly an effort to stanch the bleeding, now that House Republicans have opened that wound once again.

But here’s the thing: There is no particular reason to listen to what Trump says he’ll do on Social Security and Medicare. What really matters is that a large bloc of his party remains committed to the underlying principles of Paul Ryan–style economics and that when Trump is sitting in the Oval Office, he tends to hand control over to them.

True, Trump is no policy wonk. But as much as what was the GOP is Himself now, its zombified version still has vestigial reflexes and responds to basic stimuli. Despite Trump’s gee-hawing, Republicans will keep doing what Republicans do should he get reelected.

The fundamental difference here between the parties is that Biden and Democrats think we should raise taxes on the rich and corporations, fortify Social Security and Medicare without serious cuts to benefits, and expand the safety net and invest in other programs for reducing inequality. By contrast, Trump and Republicans oppose higher taxes on the wealthy and corporations, and want to cut entitlements and the safety net pretty much wherever they can.

Trump’s INVASION OF THE SOCIAL SECURITY SNATCHERS warning reflects a Republican reflex as deep as catering to the rich and keeping peasants in their places: hyping “stranger danger.” Conservatives know their marks, and they reflect their own anxieties onto them.

After the strangulation homicide of Jordan Neely, a Michael Jackson impersonator, on a New York City subway, I wrote:

Since the 1980s and earlier, unreasoning fear of the “other” has been cultivated and marketed. There was the moral panic over rumors of ritual Satanic abuse at day care centers. There was the repressed memory syndrome fad. There was “stranger danger.” The response of parents fearful of their children being abducted was to have them photographed and fingerprinted at mall clinics designed more for identifying bodies than for preventing rare abductions. There were ubiquitous “Baby on Board” signs in car windows. Danger lurked around every corner.

Stranger danger sells zombie movies and QAnon merch and MAGA candidates and the Big Lie. It feeds Trump’s anxieties that burble out in social media posts. Still, Trump thinks he’s the shmaht one. Everyone else is a sucker, and there’s one born every minute. What sells? Stranger danger. So with his ego fracturing and his empire under threat and his dreams tortured by images of jail cells, he’s selling it and selling hard. His zombie army shambles along behind.

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Friday Night Soother

Published by digby on March 22, 2024

Opossum’s are not pests, they are our friends. Support them!

They are North America’s only marsupials:

It’s true that wombats, wallabies, kangaroos and koalas are regular sights in national parks — if you happen to be in Australia. Australia boasts the most diverse population of marsupials in the world, with more than 200 different species roaming, climbing and hopping about the continent, out of about 334 such species worldwide.

In the United States, it’s a different story. The only marsupial anywhere in the country is the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana). These two- to three-foot-long mammals are the only animals north of Mexico that carry their young in pouches, a characteristic of marsupials that allows their babies to more fully grow and develop before living independently from their mothers. All other mammals have placentas, which nourish the young while still in the womb. After an opossum’s babies are developed enough to live outside its pouch, the mother will continue to carry the young on her back for another month or two while they nurse.

Though the opossum is the only animal of its kind in this part of the world, it has a wide range and a robust population. It is most strongly associated with the Southeast, where it appears in folklore and even traditional recipes, but it is common throughout the country east of the Rockies. It also lives along the Pacific Coast, is widespread in Central America and has been expanding its range northward into parts of Canada. Thus, national park visitors can find them everywhere from Cuyahoga Valley to the Everglades to Olympic — and many, many places in-between.

Although opossums prefer forested habitats, part of their success comes from their ability to adapt to urban and suburban environments. These natural omnivores will feed on everything from worms and eggs to fruits and grains, and the shy, nocturnal creatures can often be found rummaging through trash bins in search of their next meals. They have a particular fondness for persimmons when the fruit is in season. Although sometimes viewed as pests, opossums voraciously feed on ticks, slowing the spread of Lyme disease.

A Virginia opossum photo captured by a camera trap at Petersburg National Battlefield in April 2018.    Photo by Ryan Valdez/NPCA.

How did the Virginia opossum evolve to be the only creature of its kind in the United States, when so many similar species live on the other side of the world?

Scientists believe that modern marsupials, including the opossum, may have actually descended from ancestors that originated in North America. Around 65 million to 68 million years ago, many of these ancestor species went extinct and some migrated to South America, a continent that is now home to about 100 different marsupial species. At that time, South America, Antarctica and Australia were connected as one large landmass; all of Australia’s marsupials may have evolved from a single species that crossed over from South America, whereas the Virginia opossum is believed to have migrated north much later, roughly 3 million years ago. The Virginia opossum is one of the oldest surviving mammals on the planet, having existed for about 65 million years or more, since around the time the dinosaurs went extinct.

Fun fact: Opossums are one of very few mammals with prehensile tails, meaning they can independently grasp objects with them. This helps the animals gather nesting materials and keep their balance by holding on to tree branches and other objects as they climb.

Viral Excellence

Published by digby on March 22, 2024

It was a crime syndicate

This has been making the rounds all week and for good reason:

Trump is a criminal. His associates are criminals. It’s obvious and yet his followers are convinced that every last one of these people is an innocent man being railroaded by “the deep state.” No wonder they are happy to send a professed billionaire their social security checks. They are the most gullible people on the planet.

Shadow Speaker MTG Makes Her Move

Published by digby on March 22, 2024

Let’s just make her the Queen Of All Maga and get it over with

Of course she finally did it:

On Friday, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) filed a motion to formally boot Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) from the office.

Greene’s move, which came amid conservative outrage over Johnson’s deal on a spending package to avert a government shutdown that passed Friday, threatens to throw the chamber into chaos just months after a hard-right faction ousted Kevin McCarthy from the top job.

Due to the procedural details of the so-called motion to vacate the chair, it was unclear when exactly the vote on Johnson’s fate would be held—or if it would be held at all.

Greene did not notice the resolution as privileged, a special designation that forces a vote. If and when she does, it would give House leadership two legislative days to hold a vote on the measure.

However, the chamber was scheduled to leave for a two-week recess on Friday, so any vote on a motion to vacate would happen at the earliest on April 9.

Speaking to reporters after filing the resolution, Greene said it was time to find a new Speaker of the House.

“We’ve started the clock to start the process to elect a new speaker,” Greene told reporters after filing the motion to vacate. “I’m giving my conference time. I’m being respectful to my conference. But many members in my conference agree, even though it’s uncomfortable, it’s a process none of us want to go through, it has to happen.”

[…]

Standing on the House steps Friday afternoon, shaking his head at a press scrum around Greene, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) called the motion to vacate Johnson “idiotic.”

“I think it does nothing to actually further the conservative agenda, and in fact, once again actually undermines the conference,” Lawler told reporters.

“The American people elected a House Republican majority to serve as a check and balance to govern,” he continued, “and unfortunately, what we’re seeing is a continuation of what occurred last year, where some members of the conference would rather grandstand and create chaos than actually govern.”

Apparently the hardliners are up in arms because Johnson had to keep the government open with the help of Democrats. Boo hoo hoo.

That alone is a black mark for GOP hardliners; making matters worse, the spending bill vote represented the first time this Congress that GOP leadership has failed to win a majority of Republicans on a vote.

Greene’s play is similar to what then-Rep. Mark Meadows did in 2015 to then-Speaker John Boehner. Meadows filed a motion to vacate the chair but never noticed it as privileged, so no vote happened—though Boehner eventually stepped down from the job.

In October of last year, Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) filed the motion to vacate McCarthy as privileged, resulting in his ouster swiftly afterward.

Gaetz’s motion passed with the backing of seven other Republican defectors and unanimous Democratic support. This time around, Democrats are less likely to align against Johnson.

This guy jumped the gun already marking himself as a useful idiot:

Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY)—who recently replaced former Rep. George Santos—called Greene’s motion “stupid.” He said that if a vote to remove Johnson materializes, he would protect the speaker.

That may happen of course. But you don’t just announce it before you get something in return!

Other Democrats signaled they are open to bailing out Johnson if conservatives move forward with a vote, but their backing might have strings attached. Support from many Democrats could depend on Johnson advancing a foreign aid package with funding for Ukraine.

Exactly. I’m not sold on the idea of bailing out this theocratic wierdo anyway but if they do it they’d better get something for it because the voters don’t have a clue about the details of this insanity and they won’t be rewarded for being “the grown-ups.” They have to get something tangible for it.

Some of the Republicans are saying the quiet part out loud:

Short List

Published by digby on March 22, 2024

The beltway press is very excited about the possibility that Marco Rubio might be tapped for VP (which he has said he’d be honored to accept.) Obviously Trump thinks this is going to boost his standing with Latinos and maybe he’s right. Blue collar Americans, including blue collar Latinos, do seem to like him more than they used to even though all he really did during his first term was give vast sums to rich people like himself.

Anyway, maybe it will happen. Rubio is showing real talent for energetic boot licking so he may be the perfect choice. But I think this guy, who is on the short list for Attorney General could be a bit of a problem. To say the least:

If the Republicans take the Senate this nut could be confirmed. Sound good?

They Still Won’t Leave Her Alone

Published by digby on March 22, 2024

I’m already seeing commentary that says this wasn’t good enough. They demand to know ALL the details and what exactly they are doing for her and what the kids said when they told them and how William feels and blah, blah, blah.

Leave them the fuck alone.

A Little Hopium From An Unlikely Source

Published by digby on March 22, 2024

I would not characterize Brian Beutler as a super optimistic fellow and certainly not one to blow smoke about the Democrats. But in today’s newsletter he shares a little bit of good news which, coming from him, is reassuring.

The short version is that over the past couple weeks President Biden has caught up with Donald Trump, as depicted in the Economist’s polling average above.  

Now that’s not the whole story, or even an entirely good story, as I’ll detail momentarily. But deeper in the tea leaves, most recent developments are also pretty favorable to Biden and (thus) bad for Trump. 

Consistent with the head-to-head polls, Biden’s approval ratings have ticked up (or, for copium abstainers, his disapproval rating has ticked down) while Trump, who has been more popular of late than in many years, has seen his numbers fall.

But to me, the best case for optimism lies outside the realm of survey data. It’s better for Biden to be slightly ahead than slightly behind, but what he needs more than anything is upside potential to open a large lead. And as mainstream-media fixation on his age has faded, his real long-run advantages have become clearer.

Since American elections are zero-sum, you can spot Biden’s upside potential in two buckets. Anything that’s good news for Biden is good news for Biden (QED); but anything that’s bad news for Trump is also good news for Biden.

There’s good news for Biden in both buckets. 

-The economy is bullish and charging, with growth driven by productivity while inflation falls—a recipe for election-year interest-rate cuts, which should keep the economy humming and improve economic sentiment. 

-Because this boom really is, to a large extent, a product of Biden’s economic policies, it feeds dream retail-politics coups like this: announcing an $8.5 billion grant to build an Intel microchip plant in Arizona. 

-Relatedly, we’ve reached the point where “are you better off than you were four years ago” comparisons are insanely favorable to Biden. Congratulations, you’ve made it four years since Trump lied about and (thus) exacerbated the COVID-19 pandemic.

-Biden and Democratic leaders have detached themselves from Bibi Netanyahu, even making clear they believe Israelis should oust him. 

-He and the party are on sound financial footing.

The good news for Biden in Trump’s misfortune is much less theoretical. 

-Trump’s small-dollar fundraising numbers suck.

-His desperation for cash is driving him into the arms of Republican billionaires who expect him to deliver (and thus not pretend to oppose) toxically unpopular policies. 

-The money he and the RNC raise will cover Trump’s legal and campaign bills before the party as a whole gets a cut, driving dissension and deprivation through his already fractured party.Share Off Message

-Barring an act of unexpected mercy, he’s also about to either lose tons of marquee properties—a consequence of committing serial financial fraud—or receive some kind of politically toxic bailout. 

-To the extent he’s campaigning at all, rather than simply trying to dodge accountability under the law, Trump’s campaigning on insurrection, and inviting known crooks back into his inner circle.

-Relatedly, a critical number of Republican and independent voters still don’t want Trump to be the GOP nominee, including the almost 20 percent of Arizona GOP primary voters who cast ballots for Nikki Haley, a candidate who suspended her campaign weeks ago. 

-This is all before factoring in the electoral consequences Trump will face for raping E. Jean Carroll, overturning Roe v. Wade, losing the endorsements of his former vice president, former national security adviser, and former chief of staff among others, and possibly facing multiple felony convictions before election day.

There’s plenty to quibble with here. I personally wish Biden et al would simply assert that people are better off than they were four years ago instead of relying on wry implication. We in the media have become so focused on whether Trump will secure a bailout that we’ve lost sight of the outrageous fraud he actually committed—something voters deserve to know more about. But if a campaign is like a construction project, Biden’s got real brick and mortar, while Trump’s got a water-warped set of Jenga blocks.

He goes on to lay out some of the obstacles as well but I’ll let you subscribe to his great newsletter to see them. He reminds us that Biden has to win the popular vote by a big margin just to eke out a close win in the electoral college (once again putting the lie to the idea that our vaunted democracy is all that democratic.) And he warns about dirty tricks, Russian interference, Elon Musk and the whole array of corrupt actors who are aligned with Trump. It’s a lot. But around the political sphere the upside is what’s starting to get traction and I think it’s important to be aware of that too.

Trump’s J6 Martyrs

Published by digby on March 22, 2024

He’s following the Goebbels playbook to the T

You get the feeling that among the jaded beltway establishment there is a belief that the horrified reaction against Trump’s Hitler analogies is just a bit overwrought. Sure it’s discussed and analysed but there’s a perfunctory vibe about it that makes it seem as if it’s just another of those “Trump says the darnedest stuff” things. And sure, the idea that he’s been studying Hitler’s speeches because he once had a book of them is a stretch (and even though he has said that Hitler “did some good things”) because Trump doesn’t study anything. But he is an instinctive autocrat and he’s got a few people around him who do understand the power of fascist imagery. Contrary to popular belief, much of the most outrageous rhetoric he spews at his rallies isn’t off the cuff. It’s scripted.

So now we’ve all absorbed the comments about immigrants “poisoning our country” and calling his political opponents “vermin.” He said that if he doesn’t win there will be a bloodbath and everyone responded that it was taken out of context, as if he doesn’t promise political violence if he loses (or is convicted of one of his many crimes) all the time.

But if there’s one thing that absolutely validates the concerns of many of us and demonstrates that this isn’t just about Trump’s usual verbal incontinence—his glorification of the January 6th rioters as patriots. He now opens every rally with a recording of the so-called “January 6th choir” — a group of inmates held in the DC jail on felony charges related to the insurrection — singing the National Anthem with a voice over by Trump himself. (They actually released it as a recording and a bunch of deluded cultists bought it.)

He used this version of the anthem at his very first rally in this cycle, which he held in Waco Texas, the site of one of the right’s most infamous clashes with the government, the Branch Davidian standoff back in 1993 (which I wrote about last year.) They weren’t subtle about the message. They played footage of the insurrection on the big screens behind Trump with the discordant strains of the inmate choir over it while everyone held their hands over their hearts. This was not a coincidence. They understood the symbolism of choosing that location to proclaim the January 6th criminals to be martyrs to the MAGA cause.

Simply put, this is how it’s done. Fascism, that is.

Lately he’s taken to saluting when they play the J6 version of the Star Spangled Banner rather than putting his hand over his heart in the usual manner. And at a recent rally in Ohio, this absurd ritual was introduced by what sounded like a WWE announcer bellowing “Ladies and gentlemen, please rise for the horribly and unfairly treated Jan. 6 hostages.” I’m only surprised the man didn’t yell, “let’s get ready to ruuumble!” as Trump strutted around the stage. ‘

Trump has called for their release on numerous occasions, and if he wins the election, he said he’s committed to pardoning them on his first day in office. This rank political bastardization of the Star Spangled Banner by exalting criminals who beat police officers and sacked the US Capitol, from the man who ranted endlessly about NFL players taking a knee during the National Anthem may be the most audacious troll ever attempted.

But it’s more than just another Trump troll. By creating martyrs out of insurrectionists Trump is deploying a very potent propaganda tool, one that was perfected by yes, Adolph Hitler during his rise to power exactly a hundred years ago.

In 1923, Hitler led a violent uprising which we all know as the Munich beer hall putsch. Four cops were killed along with 16 of Hitler’s followers, known as “brownshirts’ (not to be confused with Mussolini’s “blackshirts” — or Trump’s “red hats.”) For years they were held up as martyrs to the Nazi cause just as Trump is now selling the January 6th criminals as “hostages” (which he only started to do after October 7th in the most grotesque inversion of Nazi propaganda ever.)

But the most famous Nazi martyr, the Ashli Babbit of his day if you will, was a young anti-communist brownshirt by the name of Horst Wessel who was a known violent brawler in the pitched street battles between left and right during those days. He was shot by a couple of his Communist enemies and died later in the hospital of blood poisoning. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Stephen Miller/Steve Bannon, made him famous by filming his PR stunt funeral march and distributing it all over the country. He became a household name through the “The Horst Wessel song”, which became an alternate German National Anthem. Goebbels even got the churches to play it because young Horst was such a good Christian and a downright great Nazi.

Those of you who’ve seen Leni Riefenstahl’s movie about Hitler’s biggest rally at Nuremberg, “Triumph of the Will” will recognize it as the song they all sing at the ecstatic climax. Trump’s rallies aren’t as elegantly staged nor are the crowds as big. (Don’t tell him that.) But the intention is the same. He may not have actually read that book of Hitler speeches but he didn’t need to. He’s a natural.

Salon

Trump: “Blame It On Me, Please”

Published by Tom Sullivan on March 22, 2024

What we’ve got here is failure to legislate

“Morning Joe” Scarborough today gave Donald “91 Counts” Trump exactly what he asked for: blame for chaos at the southern border. Trump demanded Republicans in Congress kill the bipartisan border bill. He owns this morning’s New York Post headline.

Remember (Washington Post, January 28):

Republican front-runner Donald Trump said he wants to be held responsible for blocking a bipartisan border security billin the works in the Senateas President Biden seeks emergency authority to rein in a record surge of unauthorized border crossings.

Trump told a Las Vegas rally, “I’ll fight it all the way. A lot of the senators are trying to say, respectfully, they’re blaming it on me. I say, that’s okay. Please blame it on me. Please.”

American Bridge issued this video and statement on February 5:

As president, Trump publicly urged Congress to send him a comprehensive, bipartisan bill to address immigration reform and border security. Now, during a presidential election year, Trump is leading MAGA Republicans in Congress to kill any attempt at addressing immigration reform.  

Still image from Cool Hand Luke (1967).

What we’ve got here is failure to legislate.

Meanwhile, the Freedom Caucus is eating their own:

The right-wing House Freedom Caucus voted to oust Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) on Tuesday, just days before he’s set to leave Congress, several sources confirmed to Axios.

Why it matters: It’s the second time this congressional session the group has kicked out a member who diverged from them ideologically — the first being Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) last summer.

  • Buck’s removal was first reported by The Hill.

They’re still at it.

As Dan Pfeiffer reminds readers in his “The Case for 2024 Optimism” this morning, “Anything that’s good news for Biden is good news for Biden (QED); but anything that’s bad news for Trump is also good news for Biden.”

Don’t let Republicans spin border chaos as Biden’s doing. Hang it around their necks.

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