The Seditionists Among Us

Posted: January 31, 2022 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , | 3 Comments

The United States Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol, commonly referred to as the 1/6 Committee, was formed via a House resolution on 30 June 2020. Its membership was finalized on 25 July after the Speaker of the House added Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-ILL) to the committee. It consists of seven Democrats and two Republicans (there are only two after Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) refused Republican participation over a dispute as to membership), and is chaired by Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS). We do not know the full extent of the information that they have collected to date, but it is known that they have interviewed over 300 witnesses and collected well over 35,000 documents. They are known to have subpoenaed 78 people, some of whom have testified, others are fighting it and some are under investigation or indictment for contempt of Congress. While the final report is not expected until late this coming summer, the committee has shared some information through carefully crafted subpoena letters and through media interviews. A lot of what we know now we instinctively or intuitively knew around the time of the events. What is coming out of the committee’s investigation is an understanding of the depth and breadth of the ex-president’s efforts to execute a coup to keep himself in office. It was a carefully thought out effort and not the disjointed and seemingly spurious or spontaneous collection of individual events that it at first appeared to be.

Think about that for a minute. A President of the United States tried to execute a coup to keep himself in office after what his own Attorney General and administration officials called the most secure and fair election in the history of the United States.

Not content to merely attempt a coup that failed at the time — mostly by luck it appears, as key people decided to uphold the Constitution rather than swear allegiance to one man — the ex-president continues to try to create the conditions to overthrow the current president. With the support of the majority of his party, an ex-president is purposely undermining our democratic ideals a year after leaving office and he continues to claim that he is the real president.

Apparently, the bulk of the Republican Party is okay with that.

Some of what they planned to do to retain Trump in power was obvious and heavy handed. Some of it was more subtle, with behind the scenes maneuvers to manipulate the certification process in the Congress. Here is some of what we have learned so far about the coup that may not be so obvious to casual observers:

  • Professor and Trump adviser John Eastman put together a memo (now called the Eastman Memo) that uses unprecedented interpretations of the 12th Amendment and Electoral Count Act to convince Vice President Mike Pence to decide in favor of Trump electors from key states and to disregard the official certified electors from states that President-elect Biden won.
  • This memo was the basis for electors in key swing states to put together an “alternative” slate of electors to substitute for, or at least to compete with, those submitted to certify Mr. Biden’s election. The Select Committee subpoenaed representatives from seven states that submitted alternate slates (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, New Mexico, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin). Not surprisingly, all of the documents have identical wording, font, paper and format — as though it was formulated elsewhere and sent to those “electors.” These forged documents were sent to the Senate and to the National Archives.
  • Key Republican members of Congress were coached on raising concerns over electors in those key states and were encouraged to substitute the Trump slates, or to have the official slates for Mr. Biden thrown out. Representative Jim Jordan (R-OH) self-identified himself as one of those encouraging the Vice President to call the votes for Mr. Biden “unconstitutional” and have them thrown out.
  • An alternative plan was briefed in the Oval Office and to several Republican members of Congress that was outlined in a 38 page power point presentation by Colonel Phil Waldron USA (ret) that would have the sitting president declare a national security emergency prior to 6 January. That declaration would preclude the counting of the Electoral College ballots. They would then reject all machine counted ballots from November and mobilize the National Guard to seize all of the machines and paper ballots. The National Guard would be tasked to recount the ballots or to hold new elections in certain key states.
  • Among other documents, there is a draft 17 December 2020 Executive Order to seize all election related materials for “national security” reasons. A similar letter outlined plans for all Republican elected officials at the state and federal levels to ignore the “fraudulent” vote count and to “certify the duly-elected President Trump.”
  • The entire effort leading up to the 6 January insurrection was intended to either delay the certification of Mr. Biden, or to prevent it from happening through Trump allies in Congress. This is the reason for the 147 members of the Sedition Caucus in Congress to vote against certifying Mr. Biden’s election.
  • The insurrection itself was one of several steps aimed at stopping or delaying the certification process in order to at least keep Trump in office beyond 20 January, if not to keep him in office for a second term.

There is more. Much more. You get the idea. There was a vast, organized effort to keep Trump in office. A coup.

And now, this.

In his usual unhinged style, this past weekend Trump held a rally in Texas where he continued to rant and rave over the “stolen election.” Only this time it was worse.

Trump called for the “biggest protest” the country has ever seen in New York, Atlanta, and Washington DC. These are the very places where Attorneys General are investigating his coup attempt and his shady business practices from before 2016. He called the AGs “racist” — they all happen to be African-American and two are African-American women. For good measure he called them “mentally sick.” He also wondered aloud why the Supreme Court and other courts are not giving him “protection.” He lost every court case so far concerning the election and the release of his tax returns.

Ominously, he opined that the 6 January insurrectionists are being treated “unfairly” and that if necessary to be fair, he would pardon them all when he takes office in 2024.

So let’s put this all together. He has called for protesters to take to the streets in his support over a “rigged” election, given an undisguised dog whistle to white supremacist groups by calling black AGs racist, and said that he would pardon insurrectionists. If you need a green light from an ex-president to further incite violence and undertake a forceful coup, you just got it.

We cannot in good faith allow his blatant attempts to undermine our democracy to continue unchallenged. Where are all the “good” Republicans? How can people, as Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) did recently, as have other Republicans in Congress, say that if he is their candidate in 2024 they will vote for him? When does it stop?

There is no “both sides.” There is no “this is just politics.” This is not “what about Biden and taxes.” This is about nothing more fundamental than whether or not one supports the Constitution of the United States. If an elected official takes the oath to defend the Constitution and supports Trump, then they lied in saying “I do” and are unfaithful to their oath.

Let’s get to the bottom line.

Last night Trump released an “official” statement commenting on attempts to refine and update the Electoral Count Act where he denigrates the effort. It read in part:

“Actually, they are saying that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!”

Any doubt about his intentions a year ago? Or now?

Any elected official that swore an oath to defend the Constitution and still supports Trump is un-American, un-patriotic and aiding and abetting sedition. They must choose between their oath and their allegiance to one man.

We can no longer pretend that he is irrelevant or just crazy and can be ignored. He is a maniac intent on overthrowing our democratic values and installing himself in office. It was an attempted coup and the effort continues. Wake up America!

There is no longer a question and it is no longer hypothetical. Trump is a threat and he and his accomplices are accountable under the law — ex-president or not.

Stop The Revolution

Posted: October 7, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , | 2 Comments

All revolutions are impossible until they happen. Then they become inevitable.

— Albert “Albie” Louis Sachs

It has been quite a long time since I have written in this space. The reasons for it are many, but primarily it is because I find the current state of our nation to be so perilous that I seriously wonder if our course can be corrected to avoid the shoals. It is overwhelming. One hardly knows where to start. Seemingly everyday we are bombarded with bad news.

  • Despite over 705,000 Americans (that is roughly 1 out of every 468 of us) dying from COVID-19 we still have millions of yahoos that deny the efficacy of vaccines and violently protest having to wear a mask.
  • The Supreme Court allowed the implementation of a Texas law that monetizes vigilantism. The ability to spy on your neighbor and earn 10,000 dollars for doing so comes on top of a “gun rights” law that allows anyone to carry a weapon without a license, training, background check or any other common sense limitation.
  • State legislatures in several states are banning the teaching of “critical race theory” — a concept that they do not understand. They only want to teach the “positive” aspects of American history and not “embarrass” or “traumatize” students by also including such upsetting facts that the Founding Fathers included many slave owners, there was a Civil War fought over slavery as an institution and the Ku Klux Klan terrorized Black Americans for decades. The term “in Order to form a more perfect Union” (striving for, not already in place) and Lincoln’s “that this nation — under God — shall have a new birth of freedom” (we need to do better and live up to “all men are created equal”) apparently does not mean anything to those pushing the legislation. Probably because they never got a good education, so their legacy is to pass down their ignorance.

Unfortunately, I could go on and on. Our country is doing some really bonkers things. Almost everything pales in comparison to the real threat to our future. Our democracy and the future of our Republic is under attack. Not from a foreign enemy or an outside terrorist threat. It is under attack by one of the two major political parties crucial to the functioning of our democracy. Republicans have become a direct threat to our democratic future. Only one party — Democrats — is interested in governing. The other is hell-bent on upending our traditions and norms in the pursuit of absolute power. This is both exceedingly sad and completely distressing. I don’t write these words carelessly. It is not about policy or “politics as usual” or differences in opinion or differing outlooks on what is good for our future. The majority of Republican elected officials at all levels of government are working day and night to subvert our elections and to solidify their control over the country. I am not sure we have ever faced this development — certainly not since the Civil War.

On one level, Senator Mitch McConnell (R?-KY), in lock step with his caucus, is willing to destroy the US economy and seriously damage the world’s economy for a short term political gain in the 2022 elections. Despite voting 32 times — and three times under the ex-president with the Democrat’s support — to extend the country’s debt limit, he suddenly decides it’s a Democrat problem rather than a national problem. The debt limit (as anachronistic as it is) allows the government to pay the bills for what was already spent, not future spending. The ex-president ran up an additional 7.8 billion dollar tab on top of the national debt in four years and now the Republicans say it is the Democrat’s problem. Today a temporary truce to extend the issue until December was agreed upon, but this is going to come up again. More to the point, every single Republican in Congress voted against raising the limit knowing the consequences. And for the first time that I know about, they did not just vote against it, they invoked the filibuster, making it almost impossible to overcome. Don’t talk to me about any “moderates” in their caucus.

(Footnote: Contrary to popular myth and propaganda, every single Republican president since 1960, except for Richard Nixon, added to the national debt. Every single Democrat president since 1960, except for Barack Obama, lowered the national debt. In today’s world, as we well know, facts don’t matter anymore.)

All of this takes a back seat to the real battle underway. I am sad to report that, understandably or not given all that individuals and families are dealing with today, most Americans are blissfully unaware that their ability to elect their government representatives is slipping away. States are enacting laws that suppress the vote — especially for the poor and minorities — and rigging the certification of the results if the suppression does not work.

This is all part of a larger plan.

For months after the 2020 election I thought that the loser of that election was a whiny complainer that could not face reality. As more and more information becomes available, I realize just how close we came to his pulling off a coup and that in fact, even as he complains about 2020, it really isn’t about that election anymore. He and his cohorts are laying the ground work to successfully steal the election in 2024. It’s no longer about the past, it is about the future. If the ex-president doesn’t run, or cannot run because he is in jail, then someone like him will use the tactics, techniques and procedures that are being put into place now to make sure that a Republican is named president (whether actually elected or not). Democrats won the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. Think about that. Only President George H.W. Bush won the popular vote in 2004 by about 3 million votes. (Remember that President Joe Biden won the popular vote by about 7 million and many express the opinion that the other guy “barely” lost.) The Republicans know that it will only get harder for them to win a national election, therefore, they are working hard to ensure that they can overcome their deficit in, you know, actual votes.+

We do not yet know everything involving the 2020 election shenanigans and the events surrounding the 6 January assault on the Capitol in an attempted coup. It appears that the then president did everything in his power to stay in office. Basically, without going into every detail, he had a three part plan. The big picture plan was:

  • Get state officials to change the official vote counts. Famously, the ex-president or his flunkies badgered officials in Georgia, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Michigan and elsewhere to change the votes or to decertify the results in order to allow “alternate” presidential electors to be counted.
  • Throw the election certification in Congress to the House of Representatives to resolve — where under the rules of one state one vote he would have prevailed. How to do this was specifically spelled out in the “Eastman memo” which was written by a legal adviser to the president and provided a six step plan on how to declare the 2020 election results as invalid and thereby give the Vice President the opportunity to declare the incumbent the winner. Constitutional scholars deride the legal reasoning in the memo, but the fact remains that despite the perception that they were “winging it”, there was an actual plan. It also appears that Vice President Pence is not quite the hero that many made him out to be on 7 January. In fact, it appears that he looked for a way to satisfy his boss and throw the election his way until it became apparent that there just was no way that he could reasonably do so. But imagine the chaos had he tried, especially as the majority of the Sedition Caucus in the Congress voted to invalidate the results.
  • Send hooligans, miscreants, ignoramuses, and staunch supporters to the Capitol to overthrow the government on 6 January. The full story of how this came to be will be uncovered in future months but already roughly 600 people have been arrested with many in jail and others awaiting trial. So far they have all been “soldiers” in the coup. I cannot wait until some of the “colonels” and “generals” (in the Congress and the White House and the campaign) get to do the perp walk. All involved need to be held accountable.

They had a plan. As I wrote in this space often last year, they told us what the plan was. They just failed to execute it because a few state and local officials — of both parties — refused to go along. What to do? Put people in place for the next time that will go along. This is the purpose behind the candidacy of numerous state and local officials throughout the country and the changes to laws in numerous states as to who can certify election results. If all else fails, states such as Arizona, the legislature reserves unto themselves the ability to over-ride the announced results and send the “approved” slate of electors to the Congress — regardless of the popular vote. This is the purpose of all the sham audits now taking place, along with the rallies, statements and other popular messaging. They are indoctrinating voters into the belief that they cannot trust the system, therefore we will decide for you what the results are. They are laying the groundwork to overturn the next election.

Many of us may think “impossible.” It cannot happen here. Too many safeguards are in place. It did not work in 2020 so why would it work in the future? Because of what I explained above, which is only the tip of the iceberg of the efforts underway to ensure that the next election results in the Republican candidate’s victory. Period.

Many comparisons are being made to Hungary, Turkey, and other “western” NATO democratic countries. All of them claim to be democracies, but in fact, their leaders have stacked the deck so heavily in every area of the society that the rules preclude anyone from winning an election that the controlling powers do not want to win. Likewise, the 6 January coup attempt is alternately compared to Hitler’s Beer Hall Putsch in 1923 or the Russian Revolution of 1905. Both failures. Both were effectively “dress rehearsals” for later successful government take-overs.

I am more fascinated by a possible comparison to Uruguay in 1973, which in some ways was reflective of events throughout Latin America in the years before and after. I was briefly in the country just before the pandemic and had the opportunity to visit a museum dedicated to the nation’s long legacy of democracy and democratically elected presidents. Knowing the basic history of South American military dictatorships, I asked our guide whether or not such a thing occurred in Uruguay, since it wasn’t mentioned in the museum. The answer was “yes.” But they do not like to talk about it and consider it an anomaly. When I asked why it did happen, the short answer — my interpretation, not a direct quote although some of the same words were used — was that “everyone” was afraid that the “socialists” and “communists” would take over and there would be a dictatorship. The same justification for coups given throughout much of South America in that period. So, a right wing military dictatorship was better than a socialist government, or so they thought.

I think of that every time I hear Senator McConnell, or the former guy, or any number of Republican Senators and Representatives give prepared remarks excoriating the “socialist Democrats” and the “communist Democrats.” Over and over and over. Of course some call Democrats “fascists” and “communists” in the same phrase, but they cannot help it if they are ignorant. More to the point, thanks to their repetitive accusations, millions of people think that the Biden Administration is socialist, or worse, communist and is the equivalent of an autocracy because, after all, aren’t all socialists and communists dictators? Couple that barrage of propaganda with the Big Lie that the election was stolen and it is not hard to understand why our democracy is in trouble. Millions of people believe it. Earlier this year the American Enterprise Institute did a survey where one in three Americans believe that force is justified to “save our way of life.” Roughly two-thirds of Republicans in that same poll believe that the 2020 election had wide spread voter fraud.

If you want to understand what has happened and is happening, I recommend that you read Robert Kagan’s essay “Our Constitutional Crisis Is Already Here.” It is sobering to say the least.

There is a way out. Several bills passed by the House and pending in the Senate will give fundamental base lines for voting rights and the conduct of national elections across the 50 states. Again, the entire Republican caucus opposes these laws. Once again, as I have said before, if there is nothing else worth getting rid of the filibuster, this is it. At least for bills relating to basic voting rights.

If we lose our ability to participate in our democracy, we lose our country. There is nothing else more important. Not infrastructure, not budgets, not tax cuts or increases, nothing else can be accomplished unless we have free and fair elections where everyone that can vote is able to do so.

A revolution is underway. Republicans have become a subversive operation in the thrall of one man who strives mightily to be our first autocrat, king, or strongman. Pick your euphemism. He wants to gain unfettered power. Only we, the people, can stop the revolution.

What Is Happening?

Posted: July 25, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , | 1 Comment

“If I was going to do a coup, one of the last people I would want to do it with is General Mark Milley.”

— Donald J. Trump in a 15 July 2021 statement.

It is nice to know that the ex-president would not use the current Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) to lead a coup, but his statement above begs the question as to who his first choice might be.

The pronouncement is a reaction to an excerpt from the book I Alone Can Fix It by Pulitzer Prize winning journalists Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker of the Washington Post. In the book, General Milley is reported to have been deeply concerned that the ex-president would attempt a coup after he lost the election. The CJCS spoke of the ex-president following the “gospel of the Fuhrer” and creating a possible “Reichstag moment” in the wake of the ex-president’s Big Lie about the election. (Regular readers of this blog will recall that my 11 December 2020 post expressed the same concerns. Although I did not know of the CJCS worries at that time, it was obviously a wide-spread fear.)

I must say that in the days since the 6 January insurrection, my apprehensions about the future of our democracy have only grown deeper. I think that we are in a real crisis.

It is easy for me to ignore the incoherent rantings of a demented ex-president who spends his time scamming his followers and relieving them of their hard earned dollars. What I cannot ignore is the concerted, coordinated effort of elected Republican leaders at all levels of government to continue to push the Big Lie, spread concern over the safety of the Coronavirus vaccine, and work to divide our country for their own personal ego, power and monetary gain.

Our democracy was attacked on 6 January 2021 with the aim of overthrowing an election and extending the reign of a budding autocrat in a clear violation of our Constitution. As the criminal investigation continues, it is ever more clear that the goal of the majority of the rioters that entered the Capitol building was to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States. Without the protection of the Capitol Police and Metropolitan Police (DC), sprinkled with a heavy dose of luck, law makers would have been severely injured or killed, and, in my view, the loser candidate would have invoked the Insurrection Act and sent the active duty military into the streets. That was certainly General Milley’s concern and he had a front row seat to the inner workings of the administration.

If there is any doubt about that, consider another passage of I Alone Can Fix It where the authors report that the ex-president’s only regret is that he did not send troops into American cities during the Black Lives Matter demonstrations last summer. Not the National Guard. Active duty military forces. He was willing to use the American military against American citizens in order to silence their protests because he feared he looked weak. His only regret. Not the hundreds of thousands of people that died from the mishandling of the pandemic, not the refusal of people to take the vaccine because they think it is some kind of badge of loyalty to him, not the insurrection he fomented to bring down our democracy. Only that he did not use American military might in the streets of American cities.

Now Republicans of various stripes (perhaps down the middle of their backs?) are working hard to change the narrative surrounding the insurrection. In typical Orwellian fashion, Senate Republicans blocked a bipartisan commission to investigate the events surrounding 6 January which included everything the Republicans wanted — including a co-equal chairmanship, bipartisan agreement on subpoenas, and on, and on. As a result, the Speaker of the House moved forward with a House Select Committee to investigate. Immediately came the howls of “partisanship” “politics” and other accusations that would be laughable if not so serious. They blocked a bipartisan effort! But now it is partisan. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Tr-CA) appointed five members to the Committee, of which two were clearly installed to disrupt and distract from the serious proceeding. When the Speaker took the highly unusual step of blocking those two individuals, Mr. McCarthy withdrew all of his nominees. He now intends to have his own, Republican only, inquiry into the insurrection. The intent of that move will be to create a circus to divert attention from what really happened. The current Republican mantra is that Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is the real cause of the attack. (Remember, logic and fact-based reality no longer apply to anything 90% of Republican officials say these days, which I find subversive and un-American because they know better. Mr. McCarthy thinks that he will be Speaker of the House after the 2022 elections and he will do anything to achieve that goal. God Bless America if he becomes Speaker because we will certainly need it.)

While Mr. McCarthy’s investigative committee will be partisan, at least two Republicans will be on the official Select Committee. Representative Liz Cheney (R-WY) was on the original appointee list (Speaker Pelosi gave her one of the Democrat’s slots) and today we learned that the Speaker appointed Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-ILL) to the committee. It will be bi-partisan. Politically, there is little to nothing that I agree on with those two Representatives, but I admire their courage and willingness to put the Constitution and our country above raw politics.

While I am 100 percent in favor of the Select Committee doing a thorough investigation, I have little hope that they will be able to accomplish all that we might expect had the original bi-partisan commission been able to do its work. I deeply suspect that members of Congress and/or their staff members were involved to varying degrees in the events of that day. Although the committee will have subpoena power, a lesson learned from the previous administration is that individuals can ignore Congressional subpoenas with impunity. The Congress has no real method to force people to testify other than by going to the courts. In recent years, we learned that even if individuals eventually get ordered by the courts to testify, it could be two or three years of court fights before they are so ordered. Even then there is nothing to compel them to talk. We may even find that the Biden Department of Justice protects some of the high ranking officials of the previous administration because they do not want to set a precedent of undermining Executive Privilege. I believe that our country needs to fully understand what happened and hold those responsible accountable. In the current political climate, we may never fully know who did what.

Meanwhile, the Big Lie continues to spread. There may be no bigger threat to our democracy. The 2020 election was the safest, most secure in our nation’s history. Yet, millions of people think that the election was “stolen” and that President Biden is not the legitimate leader of our country. Once people lose faith in the election process, and thus think that any election that does not turn out as they would like is fraudulent, they will take action as they did in January to “restore” what they think was stolen.

In another Orwellian twist, the only way to change the proliferating election laws resulting from the Big Lie is to vote out those people that are implementing them, but the laws are designed to keep them in power. There will be challenges in the courts, but meanwhile elections continue under the new laws. Even should voters succeed in dumping the old gang, the laws are written such that legislatures or other partisan officials can overturn the will of the people if they decide they don’t like the results. So first they are trying to suppress the vote to stay in charge, but should that fail, measures are in place to overturn the elections.

These are turbulent times. What is happening is not “politics as usual.” It doesn’t have anything to do with politics. It is a direct assault on our way of governing. Most people are not really paying attention to what is going on around our country with changes to election laws, fake audits of the 2020 election, and active measures to undermine the vote. Misinformation, disinformation and pure unadulterated lies are being used to curtail our right to vote and to end the peaceful transfer of power.

Perhaps the assault on the Capitol was more like the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch than the 1933 Reichstag Fire. We must remain ever vigilant to keep history from repeating itself.

The Quiet Part Out Loud

Posted: May 3, 2021 | Author: | Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: , , | 1 Comment

Watching the politicians of the Republican Party struggling to outdo each other in their devotion to Trumpism reminds me of the last years of the Know Nothing Party in the 1850’s. Their official name was the American Party, but as it was originally a secret society, adherents would claim that they “knew nothing” when asked about the elements of their beliefs. In fact, they were an anti-immigrant, anti-Catholic, populist movement that put “Americans First” (meaning the descendants of the original colonists) and were known for their violent activity against their opponents. By the late 1850’s, they ceased to be a political force.

Sound familiar?

Last month, a number of Republicans in the House of Representatives started to form the “America First Caucus.” Its aim was to promote “Congressional policies that are of the long-term benefit of the American nation.” Due to its offensive nature, once their platform became public, Republicans could not distance themselves fast enough, including those that called themselves the founders of the caucus. Unfortunately, the document still exists and to me, it espouses what most Republican politicians today believe. It is worth taking a look at their key points.

The America First Policy Platform contains fourteen basic issues. (Read it for yourself here.) I will summarize them briefly in order to bring home their core beliefs.

  • Election Fraud. The 2020 election was a failure and we have lost electoral integrity. Voting machines were compromised and illegally accessed. Mail-in voting is fraudulent. They will work to implement new nationwide procedures to eliminate the “mass voter fraud” perpetrated in 2020.
  • Sovereignty. Washington D.C. bureaucrats and the “elites that control them” have formed a new oligarchy. They aim to eliminate “deep state actors,” regulations, and most bureaucracies.
  • Big Tech. Silicon Valley corporations have weaponized data against conservatives and allowed terrorists and pedophiles to organize on their sites. This is a direct attack on our First Amendment freedoms.
  • Immigration. The U.S. must show it is a product of our “uniquely Anglo-Saxon” traditions. Certain immigrants threaten “the existential future of America as a unique country with a unique culture.” Birthright citizenship [what we call the 14th Amendment in the Constitution] must be abolished.
  • Infrastructure. Our infrastructure needs work, therefore we should not send money overseas for other countries to improve their infrastructure. Our domestic infrastructure should reflect the values that “befits the progeny of European” roots.
  • Foreign Aid. Whether for humanitarian or military purposes, sending money outside the U.S. is “unwise” and of little benefit. The U.S. citizenry can contribute to charity in order to help people outside of our country rather than have “corrupt bureaucrats play around with it.”
  • National Security. The U.S. can no longer afford to be the “world’s policeman.” Our allies refuse to pull their weight and our overseas wars only serve to enrich defense contractors.
  • Coronavirus. Health mandates to stop the spread of the virus are “socially conditioning the culture and behavior of Americans.” All restrictions must be lifted and the caucus will work to ensure that the government does not “over react” to future pandemics.
  • Trade. Free trade accomplishes the same “nefarious economic goals” that immigration does. There should be a new approach to trade that puts Americans first and that may require the imposition of tariffs and restrictions to stop others from taking advantage of us.
  • Environment. The Paris Climate Accord cripples our manufacturers. The Green New Deal is a “wasteful social justice program.” Balance recreational opportunities with necessary manufacturing to preserve our way of life.
  • Energy. We must preserve our environment but not use that as an excuse to destroy the energy industry.
  • Protecting the Value of American Savings. American currency is under attack by “Keynesian economists” and globalist institutions. Cryptocurrencies and other things such as gold and silver should be the key to wealth.
  • America First Education. Our education system has declined and works to “undermine pride in America’s great history.” It is now focused on “progressive indoctrination and enrichment of an out-of-control elite oligarchy.”
  • The Chinese Communist Party. China presents a threat to our civilization like no other since the demise of the USSR. The U.S. must be prepared to compete economically and militarily.

Why did I take so much of your time outlining the rantings of a fringe group in Congress? Because they are not a fringe group. The Caucus Platform could be the current platform for the Republican Party. Indeed, they should adopt it because in the 2020 election, they literally had no platform. At all. (“Resolved, That the 2020 Republican National Convention will adjourn without adopting a new platform until the 2024 Republican National Convention.”)

The problem is that the America First Caucus said the quiet part out loud. They put down on paper what many Republicans now consider to be their core beliefs, but it is too obvious that the above is mostly unpatriotic rantings that if adopted will lead to an oligarch taking power, the subjugation of minorities, and the end of our Republic.

Too much for you?

Consider what is actually going on in our country. The Big Lie continues to dominate Republican thinking. It is now a litmus test for the party. If one does not support the allegation that the 2020 election was stolen and that President Joe Biden is not actually the president, then you are accused of being a traitor or at least a “RINO.” (Republican in Name Only.) Eight Senators and 139 Representatives voted to over turn the election. They still will not publicly recognize that Mr. Biden won. Still! And then they complain that the Biden Administration won’t work with them in a bipartisan way? Really? Republican legislatures are significantly rewriting election laws in numerous states in order to inhibit the vote. If you can’t win, cheat!

There is currently a “recount” ongoing in Maricopa County (Phoenix) Arizona to prove that there were irregularities in the last election. The effort is being conducted by a company called Cyber Ninjas. The CEO was very vocal in claiming that the election was stolen. It is not a county or state sanctioned recount and the company is unable to articulate the methods that they are using to “investigate” the ballots. Republican county and state officials have already held valid recounts and verified the original results. The only reason for this Cyber Ninja effort is to rile up the Trumpists and get them to continue to support a twice impeached, one term president. It is dangerous.

Why do they continue to push this alleged conspiracy? Because it is lucrative. A lot of politicians are making a lot of money by keeping the Big Lie alive.

Pushing the Big Lie and firing up people’s emotions is what directly lead to the insurrection at the Capitol on 6 January. Any accusations of nefarious activity in Arizona is going to rally the same white supremacists, Q-anon believers, and die hard right wing radicals to again take action.

Oh by the way, try and talk to any Republican in Congress about the insurrection, with the exception of too few such as Representative Liz Cheney (WY) and Senator Mitt Romney (UT) and a a handful of others. The majority want to “move on” “look to the future” and not to “dwell in the past.” Really? A mob tried to over throw the government, hang the Vice President and kill the Speaker of the House at the behest of the president and we should forget about it? No way. In my view all 147 members of Congress that supported overturning the election should be kicked out of Congress. The topic should come up any time those people are on TV or radio or hold any kind of press availability. Rub their noses in it. Hold them responsible.

Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA) is willing to hang Representative Cheney out to dry but continues to support Representatives Matt Gaetz (FL) and Marjorie Taylor-Greene (GA) and other wing nuts. What a profile in courage.

I think that Donald J. Trump is a has-been. Toast. But he unleashed a movement that brings out the worst in America. As one pundit recently put it, for four years we thought Republicans avoided condemning Trump’s worst actions and words because they were afraid of him. Not true. They stayed quiet because they agreed with him. They liked what he was saying. They are unleashed to do what they want.

So, yeah. Maybe the America First Caucus is a small minority, but I don’t think so. I think they reflect their party and roughly 70% of self-identified Republicans throughout the U.S.A. We can only hope that they end up like the Know Nothings. Perhaps a new Republican Party will emerge from the ashes. I hope so. Right now we only have one party that is willing to govern.

It is a dangerous game. I worry about the future of our great country. I worry that factions of our fellow citizens will act on the lies that they have come to believe.

“Uniquely Anglo-Saxon traditions.” It isn’t hard to understand the code.