I thought he was more about helping the poor and the sick, welcoming the stranger, and AGAINST the money changers in the temple.

I'm agonistic and accepting of personal religious beliefs, but it my view these rightwingers who call themselves Christians are using religion as a false flag of morality to justify their bigotry and greed.

Today's Republican Party, first and foremost, serves Mammon. They purport to be the champions of God and country, and have been very successful in deceiving tens of millions of gullible voters.

But actions speak louder than words. Those who hold sincere beliefs can nevertheless be duped into acting against the highest principles they claim to revere. In this era of Trumpism, that is painfully obvious.

Does the "conservative" SCOTUS majority sincerely believe they are serving both God and American ideals? If so, they and others like them who pull the levers of power are the most dangerous enemies we face.

In the wake of 9/11, I too displayed flag symbols in the all too brief spirit of national unity. Then GW Bush and the neocons rode that wave and a systematic campaign of misinformation to launch their predetermined war of choice in Iraq. That's when I joined DU, a great source of information exposing those lies and the PNAC agenda ignored by the mainstream media. I remember all the flags displayed in my neighborhood in support of that war, and the conflicting emotions I felt seeing that proud symbol associated with something I passionately protested against.

But that was nothing compared to this era of Trumpism. Now my beloved American flag is most ostentatiously displayed by the MAGA hordes, sometimes alongside confederate and nazi flags. When their cult leader hugs the Stars & Stripes, I feel our flag is being assaulted like one of his female victims. When I see a pickup truck driving down the street proudly flying the flag I feel nothing but revulsion, knowing the driver supports the most un-American POtuS ever to threaten everything our flag is supposed to represent.

How did it ever come to this?

The malefactors of great wealth who finance the Republican Party have long been crafting a poisonous ideology which cloaks unfettered greed in the American flag and claims the moral high ground by usurping the Christian religion to serve Mammon. Their politicians and pundits are skilled at manipulating the fear, bigotry, and ignorance of voters whose inadequate education and narrow minded culture made them useful idiots.

It was only a matter of time before a foreign adversary like Russia learned how to exploit and widen this rift in American democracy. Putin's asset Donald Trump, despite his ignorance and mental pathologies, boiled the poisonous ideology down to its base elements and beat all the Republican lackey candidates at their own game. This grifting con man spewed a cavalcade of lies his audience was eager to believe. He liberated their inner Deplorable, and they love him for it. The boundaries and norms which the GOP establishment had steadily been pushing rightward were utterly smashed and carried to new extremities which have since become the key to success in Republican primaries.

The American people have not been so bitterly divided since the Civil War. Putin's asset did not create the poisonous ideology, so the "invasion" was initially an inside job, but it provided an opening for the tool of a former KGB agent to further pry apart a divided America into a seemingly irreconcilable chasm.

A house divided against itself cannot long stand. The question is whether an ideology built on a foundation of greed and lies and hatred born of ignorance can survive long enough to tear the house down.

The answer depends on each and every one of us. Complacency is not an option. Voting is mandatory.

Same goes for Constitutional rule of law and the highest ideals upon which our nation was founded.

George Washington set a vital precedent by rebuffing any suggestion he be made king and by conducting the first peaceful transfer of power.

Donald Trump is the first president in our nation's history to resist the peaceful transfer of power by conspiring to overturn the election and by fomenting a violent assault on our nation's capitol.

He seeks to place himself above the law and above our Constitution. His willful retention of highly classified national security documents belonging to our government and obstruction of attempts to retrieve them are further examples of his utter disregard for laws which protect our nation.

Others have been convicted and imprisoned for less egregious violations of the Espionage Act, a necessary means to keep highly sensitive intel out of the hands of foreign adversaries.

Those who support the former president in his attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power and the return of national security documents are at best misguided fools. Regardless of what they believe, they pose a very real threat to the Constitutional republic founded by true patriots.

They are trying (and succeeding all too often) to manipulate gullible voters in order to sieze power for themselves and more wealth for the billionaires who fund their political careers.

Manipulate
America's
Gullible
Assholes

Their formula is fairly simple:

Tax cuts for the rich drive up huge budget deficits.

Then they scream we have to cut spending so much on "entitlements" the nation can no longer afford.

It's should be obvious to anyone capable of critical thought this is a brazen scheme to transfer wealth from working Americans into the pockets of millionaires & billionaires who finance the political careers of these Rethuglicans.

The phrase I remember was Dick Nixon before he dicks you.

Without a doubt I felt satisfaction when Tricky Dick resigned, but I understand why your father found it depressing that a president of the United States would engage in such deceitful illegal condut. Shouldn't integrity and honor be an absolute requirement for the highest office in our land?

Which brings us to the case of Donald Trump. That such an egregiously unfit creature could be elected president in the first place is depressing, appalling, and alarming.

His crimes and brazen hubris are unsurprising, but as much as I have long despised the Republican Party it breaks my heart that it and roughly 40% of my fellow citizens have morphed into a cult worshipping at the feet of a malignant narcissist whose incessant lies are obvious to any person capable of critical thought.

Our Constitutional democracy is in an existential crisis, with no end in sight.

Concessions do not consist of having only some of your demands met in a manufactured crisis.

A concession in a "deal" outside normal annual budgetary negotiations means giving up something you already have in previously legislated policy.

The federal budget and deficit have two sides of the ledger: taxes and spending.

President Biden gave concessions with spending cuts and/or caps to existing programs Democrats fought for and enacted into law.

What did McCarthy give up in terms of rescinding at least a portion of the huge tax cuts for millionaires and wealthy corporations which drove the record highest deficit during a one term presidency, as they unquestionably raised the debt ceiling three times?

As I stated earier, this was not the normal legislative budgetary process. The Republican House majority was essentially holding hostage the full faith and credit of the United States -- along with the American and world economies -- to extract concessions outside the normal budgetary process.

All of which is not to criticise President Biden. He very likely averted a catastrophe which the nihilists in the "freedom caucus" were perfectly willing if not eager to inflict on the American people and the world. I have little doubt that our president through his wisdom and skill and long experience produced the best possible outcome.

What I am trying to do here is provide some necessary perspective.

This is a victory only to the extent that a terrible catastrophe was averted and that, hopefully, public perception accrues more to Democrats in the 2024 election.

But McCarthy and his gang extracted concessions without making any concessions of their own. Reducing the extent of their unreasonable demands is not a concession. Paying our nation's bills (which they have yet to do) is not a concession.

Negotiating with hostage takers and giving in to ANY of their demands is not a good thing.

Though, perhaps, necessary.

And that is a sad testament to the state of our nation.

Tears again well up for this incredibly beautiful and loving testament to the sacrifices our citizen soldiers are called upon to make.

Let us resolve never to demand such sacrifices for anything less than a true and necessary cause the like of which Sullivan Ballou was willing to give his last full measure of devotion.

It is appalling and alarming to see so much progress in equal rights for and public acceptance of the LGBTQ community being marched back in the 3rd decade of the 21st century.

Why is this happening?

The Republican Party is stoking fear and hatred for political gain. They can't win on government policy issues that truly serve the interests of the vast majority of people because they are in the pockets of the one percenters who increasingly hoard the wealth produced by the combined efforts of all Americans.

So they distract and divide voters with culture wars, convincing religious folk and ignorant bigots that gender minorities are an evil threat to children. They claim the moral high ground while fostering cruelty and violence, twisting and perverting Christianity for greed and power.

This has got to stop. The LGBTQ community aren't the only Americans being threatened. In their march to transform America from the world's leading democracy into a Christo-fascist state. Blacks, Jews, Muslims, liberals, and anyone who stands up for the highest ideals upon which our nation was founded are being targeted in a deliberate campaign of stochastic terrorism, inciting poisoned minds with eastly access to high powered firearms to acts of violence and mass murder.

This has got to stop.

The political strategy and poisoned ideology of today's Republican Party has to be shown for what it is and resoundingly defeated with ballots, not bullets. Truth must triumph over lies. Kindness has to defeat cruelty. Love must conquer hate. We all need to embrace the better angels of our nature along with indefatigable determination and strength of spirit.