After Trump exit, Biden and Democrats rejoin world community

Russia, where we can expect a big change between Trump and Biden

Of all of Donald Trump‘s boneheaded and dangerous moves, some of the worst involved America’s place in the world. Specifically, Trump cozied up to our adversaries such as Russia, he withdrew from crucial international agreements such as the Paris Agreement on climate change and the Iran Nuclear Agreement, and he alienated our longtime allies such as our fellow NATO nations. Now, President Joe Biden and the Democrats who control both houses of Congress have begun the difficult work of repairing America’s tarnished image and restoring some safety to the world.

Trump vs. McConnell: Republican Civil War breaks out again

Splits are good for bananas, but not for political parties

It is often said that everything Donald Trump touches dies, and now that is happening to the Republican Party. We’ve been noting for a long time that that GOP is having an intra-party civil war, one that is frequently under-reported in the media. At this time, however, the Republican Civil War is getting difficult to ignore. After Trumps second impeachment trial ended last Saturday, Republican U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who had just voted to acquit Trump, tried to have it both ways by bashing Trump in a speech on the Senate floor. According to McConnell:

Former President Trump’s actions preceding the riot were a disgraceful dereliction of duty…. The people who stormed this building believed they were acting on the wishes and instructions of their President. And their having that belief was a foreseeable consequence of the growing crescendo of false statements, conspiracy theories, and reckless hyperbole which the defeated President kept shouting into the largest megaphone on planet Earth. The issue is not only the President’s intemperate language on January 6th….  It was also the entire manufactured atmosphere of looming catastrophe; the increasingly wild myths about a reverse landslide election that was being stolen in some secret coup by our now-President…. The leader of the free world cannot spend weeks thundering that shadowy forces are stealing our country and then feign surprise when people believe him and do reckless things…. This was an intensifying crescendo of conspiracy theories, orchestrated by an outgoing president who seemed determined to either overturn the voters’ decision or else torch our institutions on the way out.

On Tuesday, Trump blasted back at McConnell in a written statement released by his “Save America” PAC. According to Trump’s statement:

The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political “leaders” like Sen. Mitch McConnell at its helm. McConnell’s dedication to business as usual, status quo policies, together with his lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality, has rapidly driven him from Majority Leader to Minority Leader, and it will only get worse. The Democrats and Chuck Schumer play McConnell like a fiddle—they’ve never had it so good—and they want to keep it that way!…. He [McConnell] doesn’t have what it takes, never did, and never will…. Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack, and if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again.

It’s not like the Republican Party to destroy itself with such open attacks by GOP politicians against each other. Often the media have quite the opposite narrative of “Democrats in Disarray,” while the Republicans like to march in lockstep to party authority. This time, however, the tables are turned, thanks to Donald Trump. Let us not forget that under Trump, the Republicans have lost the U.S. House, the U.S. Senate and the White House, all within the span of just two years. As we stated after the Trump-incited terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6:

[M]any Republican politicians quickly had to make a choice: is their future political career or legacy safer siding with or against Trump?

A significant number of Republicans indeed got fed up, and formed groups such as Republican Voters Against Trump and The Lincoln Project, with some even abandoning the Republican Party, saying it had “become the party of Trump.” There is now talk of the GOP splitting apart, and a third party being formed (possibly headed by Trump), which would likely throw presidential and Congressional elections to the Democrats for years. With Trump out of office, the question is whether Republicans will continue to let him take their party down, or whether sanity will prevail in the GOP.

Photo by Sodanie Chea, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/rlHwFV

Democrats present powerful case in Trump impeachment trial

Protesters call for Donald Trump’s impeachment and removal

After two days of Donald Trump‘s second impeachment trial (Tuesday was the argument over whether the trial is constitutional, and Wednesday was the first day of substantive arguments), we have a very sharp contrast between the parties.

The Democratic House Impeachment Managers who are presenting the case against Trump, especially Reps. Jamie Raskin and Joe Neguse, effectively used video and slides to show that, after a months-long campaign of lies about a “stolen election,” Donald Trump incited his militant supporters to attack the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, at the very moment the Congress was meeting to certify Joe Biden‘s Electoral College victory, and that these terrorists immediately followed Trump’s orders and attacked. Trump then pathetically tried to cover up his incitement with a statement and a tweet hours after the fact, telling the terrorists to go home in peace, but not until after telling them, “we love you. You’re very special.”

The speech that set off the MAGA terrorists — in 1992

Right wing terrorists erect gallows and noose at U.S. Capitol, Jan. 6, 2021

If you do not recognize the name Patrick Buchanan, he is the right wing Republican extremist who years ago helped motivate the MAGA types whose successors are harming America and threatening U.S. government officials today. Buchanan’s long background in Republican politics encompasses work for GOP presidents from  Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan. This work included writing speeches filled with red meat for the Republican base, and coining the term “Silent Majority” for Nixon, a white power dog whistle. In between these White House stints, Buchanan was the co-host of CNN‘s Crossfire (note: the author worked on the Crossfire program), pioneering the “food fight” format that is so prevalent on cable TV news today, where Buchanan bullied many liberal guests. When Buchanan went to work for President Ronald Reagan, he caused controversy by criticizing Israel “and its amen corner in the United States,” and continued a long-running apology campaign for Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. The Buchanan Nazi apology tour reached its nadir when Buchanan encouraged Reagan to visit a cemetery in Bitburg, Germany where members of the Waffen-SS were buried, and to say that these Nazi soldiers “were victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps.”

Time for a Liberal Shock Doctrine on COVID

Republicans may soon be feeling the Liberal Shock Doctrine

In her 2007 book The Shock Doctrine, author Naomi Klein explains how Republican leaders, especially George W. Bush, imposed conservative economic plans, including laissez-faire and privatization, upon the people of Iraq, the residents of New Orleans, and others who were shell-shocked from wars or other disasters. We have argued that, if Republicans can impose their Shock Doctrine when bad things happen and they are in power, then Democrats can do so too, with Democratic, progressive policies. The COVID pandemic presents just such an opportunity for President Joe Biden and the Democrats who now control both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate. Sure enough, there are signs that a liberal, or Democratic, Shock Doctrine is about to be put into practice:

Biden inauguration: America gets a reboot

One thing we’ll have less of in the Biden Oval Office

With a new year and the inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris tomorrow, many Americans are looking forward to getting a fresh start. In modern terms, we can call it a “reboot” for America. Here are some areas where we will get a much-needed reboot with President Biden:

COVID — we hardly need to recount the Trump administration’s failures to address the COVID pandemic. Those failures continue today, with vaccine distribution woefully inadequate, and Trump officials predictably lying to cover their negligence (or worse). However, Joe Biden and his team have a plan to hit the ground running, from better vaccine distribution to a nationwide mask mandate. There can be little doubt that Biden will improve the Coronavirus situation.

Republican political hopefuls must gamble for or against Trump

The reality that is splitting Republicans apart

After the tumultuous events of last week, including Donald Trump‘s Mafia phone call to Georgia‘s Secretary of State to try to overturn their 2020 presidential election results, the shocking Democratic U.S. Senate runoff election sweeps in Georgia, the certification in the Congress of the Electoral College victory by Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and the deadly right wing terrorist invasion of the U.S. Capitol that temporarily halted such certification, many Republican politicians quickly had to make a choice: is their future political career or legacy safer siding with or against Trump? In other words, do these Republicans follow Donald Trump down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories, rejecting and trying to overturn state-certified elections, and even inciting terrorism and sedition against the United States? Or do Republican politicians retain a basic belief in reality, government institutions, the 2020 election results, and democracy itself? Here’s where some of these Republicans have lined up in recent days:

Republicans run distraction playbook on Trump Georgia phone call

Donald Trump busted acting like a Mob boss on the phone

One of the go-to tactics in the Republican playbook is distraction. In particular, when Republicans are caught doing something wrong, they try to distract the media and the public by focusing not on the substance of their wrongdoing, but on who leaked the story of the wrongdoing. We saw that, for example, in 1997, when Republican U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich was caught on an intercepted cell phone call coordinating his response to ethics charges with Republican House leaders Richard Armey, John Boehner and others, in violation of Gingrich’s ethics case settlement. The Republican distraction by focusing on the interception of the call rather than improper call itself, was a success in that instance.

On Sunday, something similar happened with Donald Trump. The Washington Post released the recording of a recent telephone call from Trump to Georgia‘s Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, on which Trump begs, cajoles and even threatens Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes” to change the certified result of the 2020 presidential election in Georgia.

What’s your favorite nickname for the exiting Donald Trump?

Best nickname for this guy?

What comes to mind when you think of presidential nicknames? Honest Abe? Tricky Dick? It’s fair to say that, over the past four years, Donald Trump is “winning” when it comes to the number of nicknames applied to a White House resident. However, many Trump nicknames are not exactly complimentary. Nevertheless, most of them are colorful, some are descriptive of actions Trump has taken, and quite a few are funny. Therefore, to celebrate Donald Trump’s impending departure from the White House, here’s a sampling of Trump nicknames mentioned over the past four years. If you have a favorite, or more to add to the list, please let us know in the comments!

If you don’t like the COVID relief bill, blame Republicans

Thanks to Republicans, stimulus checks are cut in half and come very late

At long last, Congress is has passed a $900 billion follow-up COVID relief bill. The last such legislation, the CARES Act, was passed and signed into law in March, and totaled $2.2 trillion. The CARES Act featured, among other things, “stimulus” payments to many individuals of up to $1200, loans to “small” businesses (with up to 500 employees), and additional unemployment benefits for three months. By mid-May, House Democrats had already passed a follow-up bill, the HEROES Act, often referred to as a “second stimulus,” to provide more assistance as the initial CARES Act relief was running out for almost everyone. However, as with most House legislation, the HEROES Act has languished on Republican U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell‘s desk all this time.

Finally and very late, McConnell and Republican Senators have decided to move forward with new COVID relief legislation. The agreement between Democrats and Republicans provides for the following:

–direct “stimulus” payment checks of up to $600 per adult and child

–further loans to small businesses

–$300 per week in extra unemployment benefits

–mere one-month extension on eviction moratorium

–funding for COVID vaccine distribution, testing contact tracing

–expanded tax deductibility for business meals, a/k/a the “Three Martini Lunch” provision, sought by Donald Trump and Republicans

What did not make it into the legislation were some things sought by Republicans, such as widespread corporate immunity from legal liability, and some things sought by Democrats, such as a larger ($1200) direct stimulus payment, and aid to state and local governments to offset things like lost tax revenues due to decreased tourism. But note the difference in which party sought what.