Category: politics

Via Washington Post:

“We are living in a post-Constitutional time,” Vought wrote in a seminal 2022 essay, which argued that the left has corrupted the nation’s laws and institutions. Last week, after a jury convicted Trump of falsifying business records, Vought tweeted: “Do not tell me that we are living under the Constitution.”

Vought aims to harness what he calls the “woke and weaponized” bureaucracy that stymied the former president by stocking federal agencies with hardcore disciples who would wage culture wars on abortion and immigration. The proposals championed by Vought and other Trump allies to fundamentally reset the balance of power would represent a historic shift — one they see as a needed corrective.”

Don’t get me wrong — this is bad. Trump and his handlers like Vought are a true threat to our country. But even if Trump loses, the danger they represent remains, lurking in the background and waiting for the next opportunity to seize power. The Christofascist threat is real and they will not stop until all of us are subservient to their ideology of hate.

Sometimes I get political fundraising texts:

Don’t tease me like this, you’re giving me hope.

Via Politico:

Having lost high-stakes, expensive races for the Senate, House and governor, there has been a wave of finger-pointing and second-guessing across the party.

In Pennsylvania, several potential candidates are rumored to be thinking about challenging the current state GOP chair, Lawrence Tabas, whose term is up in 2025. And Republicans there are questioning everything from their disdainful approach to mail voting; to whether the state party should have endorsed candidates in the primary; to, yes, Trump himself.

I’ll believe it when I see it. The Trump rot in the GOP runs deep and it’s probably too late to save it. Sane and sensible Republicans have either been defeated or cast out of the party, leaving actual conservatives without a political party to call home.

Trump: ‘Take the guns first, go through due process second’ | TheHill:

President Trump on Wednesday voiced support for confiscating guns from certain individuals deemed to be dangerous, even if it violates due process rights.

“I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida … to go to court would have taken a long time,” Trump said at a meeting with lawmakers on school safety and gun violence.

“Take the guns first, go through due process second,” Trump said.

In the world before 13 months ago, this would have sent the House into immediately drawing up articles of impeachment, right?

Does this really surprise anyone?

Many police officers were surprised to find that not only the armed school resource officer but 3 other Broward County sheriff’s deputies were outside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School during the shooting crisis and hadn’t entered, sources tell CNN https://t.co/wTZKYXlBlc pic.twitter.com/hSckUZWzS8

— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) February 23, 2018

I’m not going to pretend to know what combination of solutions is necessary to fix this crisis. And it is most certainly a crisis in every sense of the word. I will say there is overwhelming evidence, like the above, that the “let’s just arm the teachers!” argument is bullshit.

If that is the solution, then no more half-measures. Let’s have the full militarization of our schools and public places. Blockades and security checkpoints; student and faculty background checks; random searches; roving security patrols; full SIGINT. We’ll also need to develop HUMINT in the classrooms, probably starting around 2nd grade.

That is the logical conclusion to the “arm the teachers” argument. And it is a bullshit fallacy which makes us no safer. As the military and other protective services frequently demonstrate, arms and training are not enough to prevent tragedy. Not when the attacker can be anyone at any time.

In Politico today:

With the GOP’s agenda at a virtual standstill on Capitol Hill, the party is contending with a hard reality. Some of the party’s most elite and influential donors, who spent the past eight years plowing cash into the party’s coffers in hopes of accomplishing a sweeping conservative agenda and undoing Barack Obama’s legislative accomplishments, are closing their wallets.

Here’s some Real Talk: you spent the last decade-plus funding candidates who treat conservative ideology more like a religion than a governing philosophy. When there is no room for compromise, even within our own party, and those who are willing to make deals which might otherwise conflict with their ideology are labeled “RINOs” in primary ads, then this is the disfunction you get.

Some exasperated givers are turning to Steve Bannon, Trump’s hard-charging former chief strategist and a McConnell nemesis, to vent. Bannon met with several contributors who were in Washington this week for an RNC gala and has eagerly stepped into the role of donor-whisperer. He is looking to establish his own finance network to fund an effort to unseat Senate Republican incumbents in 2018.

Hahahahahahaha. Yeah, Bannon is the answer to building a functioning majority. Sure. Don’t forget, Bannon backed this guy.