"So I'd like it to be clear: a 'republican' vote is a vote for continuing the Trump agenda, in all its profane ghastliness. Those who cast those votes should have to answer for the consequences, and not be given a pass because they didn't realize that it also means supporting advocates of torture, war, pollution, corporate crime and midnight round-ups."

Yep.

"There was a malicious undertone to the Trump vote that I can't shake."

Double-yep.

Okay, but they're hardly innocent lambs, either. Most knew perfectly well what Trump stood for when they voted for him, and, if the polls are to be believed, most of them are just fine with it now.

So I'd like to settle for, "Wow, that was stupid", too, but just can't. There was a malicious undertone to the Trump vote that I can't shake. Norman Lear called Trump, "the extended middle finger of the American Right", and subsequent examples, like Tucker Carlson's assertion that he likes to fill his water glass 'with the tears of liberals', and Trump's own decision to fill his cabinet with secretaries dedicated to dismantling their own departments, including (but not limited to) vital services like the EPA and education, have convinced me that this is less like a political debate and more like nearly half the population waging war by a thousand cuts against the other half.

This coming November (only 7 months away now), millions of Americans will go to the polls, and in many cases, all that they'll know about the candidates will be that some are Democrats, and some are Republicans.

So I'd like it to be clear: a 'republican' vote is a vote for continuing the Trump agenda, in all its profane ghastliness. Those who cast those votes should have to answer for the consequences, and not be given a pass because they didn't realize that it also means supporting advocates of torture, war, pollution, corporate crime and midnight round-ups.

good idea!

JL

that's offensive, and not entirely true. almost half the country voted for the guy, and there aren't THAT many nazis in the whole world, much less the united states. i personally think it was an incredibly poor decision, but the people who made it ought not be painted with such a broad and godwin-esque brush.

JL

Yep.

This one though, is one of the oldest tricks in the book: intimidate a minority population to the point of paranoia, then ask that same community to help make a list that can be used for further intimidation.

Trump didn't even bother waiting for some sort of 'Krystalnacht' type event - some outrage that would be used as an excuse for mass deportation and harassment - because his excuse for doing so was embodied by the very first assertion that he made as a candidate: that Mexican illegals are "rapists and murderers (and sometimes, good people)".

The truly sad part of all this is that if immigrants from south of the border had entered the country and then started voting reliably republican (like the Cubans did), none of this would be happening.

Bush, I think, once had a brief opportunity to shepherd a sizeable portion of the hispanic community into the republican fold by playing the 'cultural values' card, but was overridden by nativists in his own party.

But nowadays, whenever Trump says "illegal immigrants" he might as well be saying, "Juden", because the distinction between the two in the minds of his followers isn't very much.

Love Bell’s sense of style!

https://twitter.com/bellvisuals/status/979153500734218243

*LOL*