Martin Eden
Martin Eden's JournalHe was a con man before he became a fascist. Now he's both.
Is his vile rhetoric calculated, pathological, or both?
Breaking all bounds and norms of civil discourse with streams of bald-faced lies and vulgar insults was a big part in gaining a huge cult of devoted followers who propelled him to the White House.
In the closing weeks of this campaign his rhetoric has grown even more vile, insulting a wider swath of the electorate.
Is that calculated to gain more support from undecided voters, or is it a manifestation of mental pathologies in the declining brain of a malignant narcissist sensing his impending defeat?
I think the latter is more likely.
Trump is an orange shit stain on the Republican Party -- a stench that will linger long after he's gone
They saw him for what he was, and tried to prevent him from crashing their party. Lindsay Graham called him a kook, unfit for office. Ted Cruz said Trump lies all the time.
But they all fell in line when he beat them at their own game by winning over the voters that rightwing propaganda had been indoctrinating for decades. The groundwork had been laid for a reality show con man unconstrained by norms, boundaries, or actual reality.
The Republican establishment had its opportunity in the 2nd impeachment trial to rid itself of this vile creature once and for all. Those who still had a shred of fealty to the US Constitution were horrified by the violent insurrection incited by Trump. McConnell and McCarthy both blamed him for the assault and desecration of our nation's Capitol.
But they lacked the courage to hold him accountable -- because they would then be held accountable by their voters who believed the lies of a stolen election and were still enthralled by their orange idol.
This will be the last election for the orange shit stain whose foul odor hangs over all of our country. Either he will be rejected next week or will die in office.
They forfeit their "People of conscience" moniker if their actions tip the balance for Trump's election
By their own actions they will have made things worse for Palestinians suffering in Gaza, and for the world.
That's not a matter of principle; it's a measure of stupidity.
Especially since the decisions were not in the hands of Kamala Harris. In terms of what she says during this election campaign, it's a no-win situation. She's not going to throw Joe Biden under the bus -- but if she did by saying we should have stopped sending bombs to Israel, the political backlash from Jewish groups and "terrorist sympathizer" rhetoric from R's would have have been more damaging.
I'm shocked -- shocked I tell you -- to learn there is political calculation going on in the Biden/Harris administration! Unfortunately, political reality must be taken into account in order to govern effectively and to win elections.
Does the AbandonHarris group think the disaster of a 2nd Trump term will shake things up so much that when the dust settles Palestinians will somehow be better off?
I don't think they've thought things through that far.
I understand the justifiable anger and grief at the horrible carnage being wrought upon civilians in Gaza with bombs made in the USA. As the numbers rose beyond 100, 200, 300 times the death toll of Oct 7, I concur witholding those bombs was the right thing to do.
But punishing Kamala Harris and helping to put a deranged fascist who hates Muslims back in office is the wrong thing to do.
Absolute power corrupts absolutely
Our nation's Founders had the wisdom to understand this aspect of human nature, which is why they created our Constitution with checks & balances and bestowed upon citizens the right to vote for their representatives in Congress.
Of course the Founders were not without flaws and had to make compromises to stitch our fledgling nation together. Long struggles were required before slavery was ended and women could vote, and fulfilling the highest ideals embodied in our Constitution is still a work in progress -- but it has proven more durable and successful in upholding the "inalienable rights" of The People than any other system of government.
It was indeed an uncertain experiment. Would George Washington rule as a king? He set the precedent by stepping down with a peaceful transfer of power, which every president thereafter has followed -- until Donald Trump in 2020.
Now the former president who attempted a coup seeks power again, with a much younger ambitious vice president who postulates the idea that a deliberate lie which illustrates a greater "truth" is justified.
Oh, what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.
Every idea, in practice, requeries context. Donald Trump's attempted coup and current quest for regaining power are both predicated on the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen from him. All his other lies, big and small, are too numerous to list here.
The tangled web of deceit being further woven by JD Vance can only be the practice of those who believe (or need others to believe) that their ends are justified by any means.
The greater truth here is they reject one of the most sacred ideals in our Constitution -- informed consent of the governed. When the path to power is of necessity paved by deliberate lies, neither they nor their purported ends can be trusted.
Unless We The People see this clearly and vote accordingly, our great experiment in Constitutional government is very likely to end.
Violence would only bring more severe retribution
Violence from the left would not persuade moderates, and fascist propaganda would shout that Trump was right all along.
I also have to question the efficacy of civil disobedience and peaceful mass protests, which could be violently dispersed. Think of Kent State x1000.
We have to be smart about this. If Trump wins (which I doubt) it will be a very slim margin due to low turnout and non-maga low information voters who didn't understand or grossly underestimated the consequences of a Trump/Vance presidency.
Those consequences will negatively impact a large majority of Americans, which could be enough to convince them in the 2026 midterms and 2028 election to reject what the Republican Party has become. Hell, even big business will be hurt when the economy tanks. Some Republicans have already come out against Trump in this election, and that could escalate.
A lot depends on how effectively red states continue to suppress the vote and succeed in overturning outcomes. The current Supreme Court is unlikely to curb such illegal activities. It's a question of how quickly the R-fascists can dismantle our democratic institutions.
It also depends on how many citizens of good conscience become actively engaged in saving our republic, and how well an intelligent strategy can be coordinated. If elections are still mostly intact, we have to win by large margins.
The consequences of Trumpism will ultimately spell its demise, one way or another -- but if it isn't kicked to the curb quickly the damage will be severe and recovery very difficult.
Undecided voters are not clear on the facts
Vance is a very slick speaker and gaslighter, sounding very reasonable and well spoken. He knows how to repeat lies in a way that sounds like they have a real basis in fact.
He kept referring to "the Harris wide open border policy" and asserting the economy was much better under Trump. Both statements are flatly untrue, but to the low information voter Walz did not effectively refute those lies.
Unfortunately, these televised "debates" with no fact checking are not about who has a better command of the facts. "Winning" is a matter of how it affects public perception among undecided voters. From what I saw, this televised event likely helped the Trump ticket.
On the basis of facts, Biden destroyed Trump in their "debate." The felon spewed a gish gallop of lies that should be utterly disqualifying for any candidate. But we all know it was an utter disaster for Joe Biden, necessitating his dropping out of the race.
Vance is a very skilled smooth talking liar. Walz is a very honest, competent, and decent man. In my opinion he was too nice and did too much to normalize his opponent by saying they had much to agree upon. I'm sorry, but a liar like Vance who has no moral ties to the truth is not a colleague with whom you simply disagree on some issues. Vance is tied to Donald Trump, the greatest domestic threat to our Constitutional republic in our nation's history.
Walz needed to be more effective in spelling out the severity of Trump’s crime -- that the BIG LIE of a stolen election inflamed the passion of the mob that attacked Congress on that day. He told that crowd they had to "fight like hell" or they "wouldn't have a country anymore" -- then he sent them to our nation's Capitol and they fought like hell against the police, sending many of them to the hospital and forcing our nation's elected representatives to flee for their lives.
What did Trump do during this unprecedented assault on our democracy? He watched it on television for three hours while his own staff pleaded with him to make it stop.
Republican Senate leader Mitch McConnell said Trump was practically and morally responsible for the assault. The attempted violent coup might have succeeded if Mike Pence had not taken a principled stand to uphold our Constitution.
Vance, on the other hand, stated he would have done what Pence refused to do -- accept the fake electors to overturn a free and fair election.
I'm sorry, but Tim Walz fell far short of articulating to undecided voters the severity of Trump’s crime and the very real threat he poses to our democracy.
If I could type this off the top of my head after a few hours of restless sleep, our candidate for Vice President should have been able to nail Vance's hide to the wall with it.
I have great respect and admiration for Tim Walz, but in my opinion he missed a big opportunity last night to persuade undecided voters that the Trump ticket is completely unacceptable.
C: the God of Nature and Natural Consequences
She is coming down hard on the species that is poisoning the beautiful life sustaining planet with which we have been blessed.
We can only begin to save ourselves and our beloved Earth by using our Constitutional power -- while we still have it -- to reject the Felon and his accomplices who are poisoning both our natural ecosystems and the soul of America.
This threat on two fronts should be enough to motivate every decent citizen to take action -- if not for our children and future generations, then for their own best interests.
But, alas, I fear that Human Nature has not evolved in its capacity for enlighted self interest enough to keep pace with our technological capacity to destroy ourselves.
Nov 5, 2024 will be a barometer of our evolution and the soul of America. We must all do our best to push the needle.
These "Christians" cry PERSECUTION when they're not allowed to impose their narrow minded beliefs on everyone else
I put "Christians" in quotation marks because their so-called "Christian values" include thinly veiled racism, patriarchy, and greed. They ally themselves with the money changers in the temple while short-changing the poor and the sick and villifying the stranger.
They are free to practice their own religion as they please, but actively persecute those who don't conform to their intolerant version of morality in their crusade against the rights of LGBTQ people. The fear and hatred they generate drives kids to suicide and results in violence against those who've long struggled to be recognized as human beings with the same rights as everyone else.
Their assault against women's bodily autonomy and healthcare is putting lives at risk, and further traumatizing victims of rape and incest. Forced pregnancy may lead women away from the family they would have started, and now they're making it harder by criminalizing IVF services.
These rightwing "Christians" have demonstrated more worship for The Fascist Grifter than the teachings of Jesus Christ. They claim to be "patriots" while actively trying to subvert our Constitution and turn America into an authoritarian state ruled by a mentally and morally deranged dictator.
They put the short term profits of polluters ahead of people whose health is destroyed by environmental toxins, while jeopardizing the future of children who will inherit a planet ravaged by catastrophic climate change.
They feel persecuted as more and more people reject their religion, and are utterly blind to the truth that they are their own worst enemies. Good people are turned off by hypocrisy and bigotry, and will stand up against grave threats to our health and our freedoms.
We all must stand together to defeat the existential threats embodied by the likes of TFG and Samuel Alito.
"CALLED BY GOD" -- God's voice in their head, or their own ego?
The article cites the call to spread the word and to convert, but does not reference biblical passages calling for use of the sword or other means to force their religion onto others.
THAT is the calling of their own self righteousness and EGO, which is a manifestion of their sense of superiority over the judgment and the rights of others.
It is narrow minded zealotry, and un-American. Religious freedom is the right to worship the faith of our choosing, or none at all -- NOT forcing our own beliefs onto others.
I understand that many Evangelicals sincerely believe, however misguided, their efforts to make America a "Christian" nation is doing God's work and is necessary for the salvation of our country.
Their efforts might engender less hostility if not for the sheer hypocrisy of the political ideology and monied intetests they have embraced.
They are NOT "Pro Life" in so many of the policies they support and push. The latest IVF issue can deter couples from starting families, and forcing women to full term with unviable and unwanted pregnancies including by rape can threaten women's lives and change their course away from having subsequent children. Their intolerance for LGBTQ people has driven youngsters to suicide, and fostered violence against them.
Evangelicals also support policies which favor the rich over the poor, and deregulating polluting industries which spew environmental toxins that shorten lives and cause myriad afflictions especially hazardous to the embryo and fetus they ostensibly care so much about.
Finally, they essentially worship the would-be dictator who is eager to turn America into an authoritarian state like that of his idol, Vlad Putin. Our freedoms are threatened on multiple fronts by holier-than-thou Evangelicals. If they are actually doing "God's work" then I want nothing to do with such an evil entity.
No, I didn't
Nowhere in my post did I explicitly state or imply, in the least, that "Palestinians are singularly bloodthirsty."
In order for someone to logically infer such intent on my part would require a written passage in my post comparing Palestinians to other groups in similar situations who do not have a long record of terrorist attacks. I would be hard pressed to find a situation sufficiently analogous (within the historical context of the Middle East and the holy city of Jerusalem) to the generational oppression of Palestinians by the state of Israel, systematically dispossessing them of their homeland.
Such analogies are always flawed, at least to some extent. I feel it necessary to point out that in your first response to me you cited the example of our war in Vietnam and that they did not commit acts of terrorism against us after the American military finally left their country. At face value your analogy is more "pejorative" towards the Palestinians, since the Vietnamese refrained from terrorism whereas the Palestinians have not. However, I don't think that was your intent. And apparently it's necessary to point out that our conflict with the Vietnamese essentially ended with our departure, while the I/P conflict goes on.
I understand you took issue with my question citing the possibility that the slaughter and trauma inflicted upon the Palestinian people by the Israeli military could recruit more terrorists among survivors filled with hatred and a thirst for revenge for their family members who were killed.
I was taken somewhat aback by your inference that I was somehow trying to paint Palestinians as "singularly bloodthirsty." On the contrary, I believe hatred and revenge are a natural human response to seeing family members including women and children blown to bits when all they're trying to do is flee the violence and live their lives. Of course, you and I would never know how we would feel and respond to such devastating trauma, and I hope we never will.
But history, as well as current events, have shown that some groups engage in terrorism with far less provocation and personal trauma. For example, rightwing acts of domestic terrorism in our own country have been carried out by people who have lives of comfort and freedom compared to the horrors experienced by Palestinians in Gaza.
If what I've written here has not convinced you I had no intent to imply, whatsoever, that Palestinians are more inherently inclined towards terrorism, then I really don't know what else to say.
Peace,
Martin
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Gender: MaleHometown: Chicagoland
Member since: 2002
Number of posts: 13,397