Faces of Desperation: The Republican Party's Melt Down

It hasn't been fun to watch.

The Republican Party has become a cult in the last seven years. 

All vestiges of what the party once stood for have disappeared and have been replaced with sheer lunacy.

The Trump cult has stripped away the Law-and-Order mantra that began with Ronald Reagan. Now they attack lawmakers and the judicial system daily.

Here's three faces of desperation within the cult that's trying to take America hostage.

Donald J. Trump.

Our former twice-impeached president is desperately running for re-election to stay out of jail.

He's been indicted in four criminal cases that add up to 91 felony charges. State and Federal jurisdictions.

He's made it clear he wants to change the Constitution, if elected, and turn the country into an authoritian hellscape. 

To think that elected lawmakers have jumped to the dark side like spineless jellyfish and are backing him is truly disheartening.

Ron DeSantis.

This is a man with no soul who smiles like a robot about to take a dump. He desperately wants to be president. 

See Ron run. 

See Ron make an ass of himself during the GOP Primary debates by claiming (if he's made president) that the first thing he would do would be to send in military special forces into Mexico after the drug cartels.

Doesn't Ron know that would really piss-off Mexico and could possibly start a war with our southern neighbor? 

See Ron attack Mickey Mouse. 

See Ron turn the state's school systems into MAGA indoctrination centers. 

Watch the libraries burn thanks to Ron. 

See how Ron has rigged the election system in Florida and how he disenfranchises LGBTQ and minority communities.

All for power. He's so desperate that he's running for president against his role model Trump who is crushing him in the polls. 

See Ron court Trump's base by acting like a tough guy.

Kevin McCarthy.

This pathetically weak-minded excuse for a man is the Speaker of the House who has sold his soul and who also sold out the majority of Americans by being a MAGA puppet.

He's slimier than a fish in a crude oil spill and is known for his flip flopping on everything from Trump to stripping Social Security. 

But McCarthy will forever be known as the weakest speaker the House has ever seen. Watching him licking the boots of the so-called Freedom Caucus or bigly Trump defender Marjorie Taylor Greene is enough to gag a maggot.

Desperation pours from his brows every time he holds a press conference and claims he's got the goods on Hunter Biden and President Biden.

These three characters are joined by many others in the GOP willing to destroy democracy in order to put Trump in charge of our country.

They are all desperate and dangerous. None of them have any guard rails of reason or honesty to go by. They are all shameless. 

As it stands, the death knell of the real Republican Party starting ringing in 2017.

Americans are Being Consumed by a Moral Pandemic

After surviving a medical pandemic Americans are now faced with a moral pandemic fueled by hate that is poisoning hearts and minds.

Evidence of this moral pandemic can be seen in increased hate crimes against LGBTQ and other minority communities.

Censorship is spreading like a disease and has led to attacking innocuous forms of entertainment and expression, including books and drag shows.

Extremist politicians are having a field day passing restrictive laws and policies that erase LGBTQ people from school curricula and library shelves. Transgender people are denied access to public facilities, sports teams, and even potentially life-saving health care.

The contagion has left millions in jeopardy and a state of emergency. The LGBTQ community faces real, tangible threats every day.

The Human Right Campaign recently issued a national state of emergency for the first time in the organization's history. It's proof that a nightmare is growing among us.

Pride flags have become targets for the far-right as evidenced by a recent murder in a little town (Cedar Glen) not far from the big city of Los Angeles.

Laura Ann Carleton was shot down by an extremist in the front of her boutique because she flew a pride flag outside the store. Despite not identifying as LGBTQ Laura was a strong advocate and committed ally. She was married for 28 years and shared a "blended family."

The man who shot her, Travis Ikeguchi, confronted her outside her store (where her pride flag waved) with homophobic slurs that ended up in shooting Laura to death. He was later shot and killed by police.

Laura paid the ultimate price for her acceptance of others. The pride flag is not a frivolous adornment; it is a concrete and powerful marker that the LGBTQ community won't bow down to bullies.

The pride flag is a symbol of hope and promise that all are welcome here, even if they aren't welcome everywhere.

As it stands, sadly, this pandemic doesn't have a vaccine to combat it like the last one.

Time for Justice: Trump Surrenders in Georgia

It's hard to believe that a former president is being indicted for state and federal felonies for the fourth time in one year.

When Trump surrendered to Fulton County authorities on 13 charges including racketeering he made history - in the annuals of crime in America.

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* Trump replaces top Georgia lawyer today 

* Mark Meadows booked

* Trump's bond agreement

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Watching on live television as Trump's plane landed and following his motorcade to the Fulton County Jail was a silent spectacle for the history books.

Reporters constantly noted that it was one of the worst jails in the country and that Trump was experiencing a taste of reality as he was being booked after spending time behind bars.

It took four indictments, but Trump finally got his mug shot.

 

Expect Democrats to have a field day with it. Because Trump is shameless, he'll use it in fundraising efforts to pay off his legion of lawyers.

There's nothing in American history to compare with what's happened with Trump's corrupt regime and his efforts to steal an election he lost. No precedent. 

That's because the founders never counted on a rogue president threatening our democracy. 

Trump's control over GOP lawmakers has never been more apparent than now. They've become his second defense team and are doing their best to keep Trump out of jail.

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House Judiciary Committee launches inquiry into Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis

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In retrospect historians will mark this time in our history "the great sorrows" when the country was so divided the United States of America was no longer united.

As it stands, this passion play has still got a long way to go.

With a Friend Like Trump Who Needs Enemies?

He's gone from being America's Mayor to being indicted for multiple crimes, including election interference in Georgia.

Now Rudy Giuliana is so broke that he can't pay his lawyer's and court fees. So, what is a corrupt lawyer (whose already had his law license revoked) supposed to do?

Oh! That's right! Go to Trump for financial help because he promised to help him out in the past. 

After dragging his feet and leaving Rudy dangling from a cliff for a while, Trump announced he's going to have a $100,000 per person fundraiser to rescue him financially.

This out of character charitable effort by The Boss is deceiving. I guarantee Trump didn't have a Road to Damascus moment. He's not built that way.

So, what's up?

First off, the fundraiser is not really so much a defense fund as it's a "don't flip on Donald" defense fund.

Secondly, and just as important to Trump, it's going to be another vehicle to siphon funds from to pay for his ever-swelling lawyer bills.

I have one question about this fundraiser; what kind of slime slithers to an event like this and flips out a fortune to save crazy Rudy? They must be even crazier than him.

Here's a hard fact about being Trump's friend; be prepared to be thrown under the bus, or at the very least dragged around like a rag doll and discarded when he gets bored or thinks you're not loyal to him. 

One iffy comment can leave you adrift in the wake of his verbal attacks on social media and right-wing news outlets. 

When deciding to be a friend of Trump it's necessary to give up your dignity, lie prolifically, and to live in an alternate universe that worships him regardless of the hateful things he does.

As it stands, as the old saying goes, "With friends like that who needs enemies?"

The Great American Hangover: Enough is Enough!

Stop already!

My head is pounding with political trash talk that's had the effect of drinking too much hard liquor for too long on my weary brain.

I'm sure there are millions of Americans who are experiencing the same thing - a hangover.

Exhaustion with constant tribal warfare is settling into the national scene like rot gut whiskey on an ulcer.

There are no support centers in the country where people can go to get cured. The Great American Hangover is here and in the foreseeable future.

MAGA morons are drunk with power in Congress as they push for an authoritarian regime under a president for life - Donald J. Trump. 

Normally a hangover will go away after the booze dissipates but our national hangover isn't showing any signs of going away soon. It just increases as the days, months, and years stagger by like drunken sailors on a never-ending shore leave.

One of the worst effects of our mutual hangover is anger. People get really pissed off easily. 

Compromising is impossible when someone's demons get in the way. It's like putting a match in a bottle of high-octane scotch. Nothing good will happen.

As it stands, if, and when, the country sobers up someday we'll find out if we still have republic.

Corporate America's Wet Dream is Coming True

Imagine an America where most of the country's regulatory agencies don't exist anymore and CEO's set the rules.

This is a warning.

The Supremely Conservative Court plans on addressing the topic this fall, and a decision is probably going to be announced next spring. It could fulfill Bannon's and Trump's promise to dismantle - or at least eviscerate - most of America's regulatory agencies.

This is a case that that could fundamentally transform America from a modern, well-functioning nation into a third-world backdrop where massive corporations and billionaires get richer.

Some background. The Legacy.

It was a Supreme Court judge's mother who set the ball rolling when she was appointed by Ronald Reagan to be in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency. (EPA)

Anne Gorsuch quickly set out to gut the EPA. She dialed back restrictions on expansion of factories and other operations that were already polluting the atmosphere.

There was a Supreme Court challenge that overruled her and the Reagan Administration.

Nevertheless, Gorsuch continued to hammer away at the agency and in her first year there was a 79 percent decline in enforcement cases, and a 69 percent drop in cases the EPA referred to the Justice Department for prosecution.

It took Congress years to overturn her cuts to the "Clean Air Act" on everything from automobiles to furniture manufactures.

Finally, Gorsuch resigned her office to avoid prosecution for what Newsweek described as a "Nasty scandal involving political manipulation, Superfund mismanagement, perjury, and destruction of subpoenaed documents," among other things.

Her son Neil was in college at the time and was enraged that she resigned. He, like Trump later on, believed in plowing through scandals and not resigning regardless of how severe the charges.

Years later, Trump appointed Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court, and the mission of revenge for his mommy was underway.

To achieve Neil's goal, he and at least three other Republicans on the court appear hell-bent for leather to turn regulatory agency rule-making upside-down.

The first strike came in June 2022 when a group of right-wing justices, including Neil, overturned rules made by the EPA about CO2 emissions from power plants in the West Virginia Vs EPA decision.

The coal-, oil-, and natural gas-fired power plant industry has been celebrating ever since.

With Amy Coney Barrett (appointed by Trump) whose father was a lawyer for Shell Oil for decades, we have John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh (appointed by Trump) who are all on the court in part because of support from a network funded by the fossil fuel billionaires and their industry (among others).

We must not forget "on the take" Clarence Thomas who flip-flopped on the subject for a while before joining his corrupt peers.

More to come.

In an upcoming case the Supreme Court is explicitly preparing to expand their victory by blowing up the entire Chevron defense (a law protecting the EPA's rights) out of the water.

The Biden administration has stepped up the EPA's defense. They have a hard fight ahead against a corrupt Supreme Court that has chosen to sell out average Americans for their sick ideology and greed.

As it stands, you probably aren't going to hear much about this issue until a decision is made next year. By then it'll be too late to do anything about it.

Up Next: The Strangest GOP Primary in History

        Since I was eligible to vote in 1971, 

I've followed presidential elections and primaries. Without a doubt the August 23 GOP primary is already proving to be the strangest yet and it's not even showtime.

Before reflecting on who is going to be at the Republicans first primary debate let's take a step back and look at what's been happening right up until today.

I've never seen a political debate where all the candidates are afraid to say anything bad about one candidate that their all competing against. It's like watching a hologram of a school of shark's circling around the biggest one with fear and respect. 

You know why? Trump is too cowardly to attend the debate, but his presence has already paralyzed the so-called competition.

Thus far eight candidates have met the qualifications to be on stage in Milwaukee. They are Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Tim Scott, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum, and Mike Pence.

Here's who hasn't qualified yet:

Asa Hutchinson, Larry Elder, Perry Johnson, and Will Hurd. 

Back to why this primary is so strange.

The participants are all supposed to be signing a pledge promising to support the winning nominee. 

That's not been the case yet according to candidate Chris Christie who says no one asked him to sign anything.

I haven't seen any other candidates waving pens and declaring they'll go along with that promise. And Trump, of course, wouldn't consider it even if he did suddenly grow a set and attend the debate.

Instead, Trump has chosen to do a pre-recorded interview with right-wing lunatic Tucker Carlson to be aired at the same time as the debate. Aired where? That I couldn't tell you and probably wouldn't if I thought it would encourage viewership.

I can't imagine what those poor idiots on stage are going to talk about. Most of them are afraid of their own shadow and hardly inspiring speakers.

The only one that will speak about the orange elephant not on the stage will probably be Chris Christie but be prepared for a bigly surprise - like several others taking cheap shots and hoping they don't get spanked by Trump's followers for heresy.

With seemingly no way to win against Trump who is dominating the polls despite being indicted in four felony cases, a reasonable person has to wonder why they're even having a debate?

Which leads to the strangest thing of all...

... a former twice-impeached president, convicted sexual abuser, tax cheat, and traitor for stealing top security documents and trying to overturn the 2020 election is the Republican's likely candidate for president in 2024.

As it stands, that's Outer Limits, Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock material in any fiction writer's book.