And it’s ALWAYS someone else who’s whizzing in the cornflakes. It’s Obama, it’s Hillary, it’s (gasp!) socialism, it’s the “Democrat Party” (sic), it’s “union thugs,” it’s the “communists” (a classic), it’s John McCain, it’s “government schools,” it’s Jeff Sessions’ recusal, it’s the CARAVANS of murderous barbarians headed this way, it’s the “liberal colleges that crank out more liberals,” it’s “death panels”....Any one of us could go on and name many more RW-paranoia-borne hobgoblins that they can never stop yapping about.

Think how MISERABLE it must be to have hitched your misery-wagon to 45’s dim star. Hate this, hate that, get all ginned up while listening to Rush and Hannity, just chugging down a steady stream of rage and being “informed” about how OTHER people (make them African American, for greater effect) are getting free stuff, all paid for by YOUR TAXES! Blah, blah...blah...

I do not underestimate the danger posed to our country by those who actually believe these whacked-out ideas. But their victimhood is second to none. Every day brings another wave of anger and fear to them. Snowflakes? They’re absolute slush.

It’s reached the point where Democrats are stuck in the roles of caretakers/civic minders for these folks when they do insane shit like start wars or elect Trump. Think of the heavy lifting done in these past two-plus years, just trying to hold the line, playing for time, (still) hoping that our democratic republic will survive this wild ride of lawlessness, corruption, and an authoritarian, white nationalist “government.” Thankfully, least some brakes were applied to this insane administration by re-taking the House.

Where does it go from here? Every day brings another crisis, gaffe, embarrassment, outrage, and always more worry about a free and fair election in 2020. So we continue to hold fast, and push back as hard as humanly possible. It’s all we can do, for now.

Not that he would, but imagine Barack Obama wanting to put high-profile liberals on the Federal Reserve board, with the sole qualification being that they’re “good guys” and “friends of mine.”

Or holding rallies in Oakland, Detroit and Chicago, where the audiences were predominantly POC— Obama up in front, ripping Republicans for two hours-plus every time, calling them “sick, very sick people.”

Or installing his family in positions requiring security clearances.

Or saying, “I could shoot somebody and not lose voters.”

Or eating cheeseburgers in bed, while talking nightly to a network “news” personality who can further his agenda while on-air.

Or tweeting insane shit in the dead of night.

Just pick anything off the Trump menu of “behavior,” and Obama would have been crucified for it. As it was, Republicans treated him like shit, stonewalled him, criticized him for wearing a tan suit, blocked his SCOTUS pick, dug around endlessly for birth certificates, harassed his Secretary of State for years, etc. And the ACA was characterized as a ”power grab...trampling the Constitution.”

And there’s Trump, idiotically hobnobbing with the world’s worst (and most lethal) dictators, sometimes behind closed doors with no witnesses. Doing something outrageous every day— what Steve Bannon called “flooding the zone with shit.”

This is NOT okay. None of it is okay. Under Trump, America has been transformed into the world’s bully: xenophobic, racist to the core, intolerant of dissent, dismissive of women, belligerent toward long-term allies.

Why does Trump get to be the freest man in America (for now)? Because he’s THE world’s biggest white “victim” of (gasp!) imagined liberal oppression?

Would begin mpeachment proceedings in a Republican-controlled house?

And this is only a portion of what this cult “thinks.” They’d really go for a *real* right-wing dictator, like ducks to water.

There’s now such a major ideological and social divide on numerous issues, and a completely different way of perceiving events and interpreting reality. Trump has turned Americans against Americans by being the ugliest American on the planet. He’s also making Americans deepen their resolve on both sides.

And what does it say about America, where 36%-44% of its citizens actually still back this sicko?

There is ONE thing that Democrats/progressives should learn from Republicans— discipline. Sticking together. Not tearing into one another in public forums or in the press. Supporting the Democratic candidate (or incumbent), even with flaws, because what the opposition has to offer is 1,000 times worse. It weakens the overall message, it weakens otherwise strong Democratic candidates, and it weakens the Party itself.

Worse, lack of discipline results in Republican victories, where laws are ignored and the courts get stacked with right-wing asshole judges.

Remember in 2014, when many Democrats distanced themselves from President Obama as a ”winning strategy,” instead of touting the ACA and other accomplishments? That fiasco resulted in a GOP takeover of congress, where Obama’s SCOTUS pick, Merrick Garland, was shunned and completely ignored. Running away from the Democratic president directly affected the balance of the Supreme Court.

Remember Democrats and progressives abandoning Al Franken—one of our strongest voices— after he was blitzed with a politically motivated right-wing organized hit? He wasn’t even allowed a chance to tell his side of of the story. He was kicked out and dropped like a hot rock.

Liberals, progressives, Democrats— we’re a tough bunch to wrangle. We think for ourselves, and have critical minds. It’s harder for us to stay on-message, because we’re tolerant of differing viewpoints, and we often feel that something’s not right with the message itself.

While all this is well-intentioned, it’s a big reason why Democrats come up short: no discipline, no sticking together, no looking out for our own.

The only reason Trump is still standing is because his party backs him to the hilt, no matter how much damage he does to our democratic republic and its institutions.

Imagine Democrats having a strong, charismatic candidate in 2020, with full, unwavering support from the left and center-left. S/he would destroy Trump and his criminals. (Assuming there will actually be a free and fair election in 2020; with 45 at the wheel, anything’s possible.)

Remember Merrick Garland? An experienced, moderate judge whose qualifications were superb? In fact, he was such a perfect fit for SCOTUS that Mitch McConnell and the Republicans deliberately chose to ignore the nomination altogether, including shunning the nominee completely; no interviews, nothing, as if the man didn’t exist. The nomination remained before the Republican-controlled Senate for 293 days, the longest nomination process in the history of Supreme Court nominations.

It was the damnable Republicans who threw nitro into the politically-motivated selection of judges.

And now we’re supposed to feel shame for calling a right-wing activist judge a “Reagan judge,” in some strange inversion of political correctness? In fact, Judge Ellis III hampered, stalled, ignored the prosecution, and was showing extreme bias seven months ago, as reported in the Washington Post:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/opinions/the-extraordinary-bias-of-the-judge-in-the-manafort-trial/2018/08/16/aca48040-a16c-11e8-83d2-70203b8d7b44_story.html
The extraordinary bias of the judge in the Manafort trial
The Washington Post
By Nancy Gertner
August 16, 2018
<snip>
- - - - - -
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/29/624467256/what-happened-with-merrick-garland-in-2016-and-why-it-matters-now
What Happened With Merrick Garland In 2016 And Why It Matters Now
NPR June 29, 2018
Supreme Court picks have often been controversial. There have been contentious hearings and floor debates and contested votes. But to ignore the nominee entirely, as if no vacancy existed?

There was no precedent for such an action since the period around the Civil War and Reconstruction. No Democratic president had made an appointment while Republicans held the Senate since 1895.
<snip>
In a speech that August in Kentucky, McConnell would say: "One of my proudest moments was when I looked Barack Obama in the eye and I said, 'Mr. President, you will not fill the Supreme Court vacancy.' "

McConnell was not alone. The 11 Republican members of the Senate Judiciary Committee signed a letter saying they had no intention of consenting to any nominee from Obama. No proceedings of any kind were held on Garland's appointment.
<snip>

This is a favorite chestnut over at Fox, Breitbart, etc.; Trump himself has used it, and it’s terribly dismissive of the State of California, as if it were a mere snap-on piece of the map, an accessory that can just be removed and thus some kind of “real picture” of America emerges with liberal California subtracted and out of the way.

While it’s technically mathematically correct in numbers only, when it’s used to prove some point, it’s grossly inconsiderate of the nearly 40 million Americans who live, work, pay (heavy) taxes and vote here.

One could just as easily pick any state or region, and add or subtract its votes to make some case for this-or-that trend, but somehow, it seems that California gets picked on first, primarily because it’s a powerhouse liberal state, and knocking it is a right-wing staple.

In case you haven’t guessed, I’m a native Californian, and my beef is the lack of representation for this state.

Take the six predominantly Republican States of Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, North Dakota and South Dakota. Six states, population about 4 million, 12 senators.
And California? Population 40 million, just two senators. 36 million more people, but no additional representation.

There is NOTHING that would make Trumpists turn away from their leader.

The right-wing feedback system (Fox, hate radio, Russian trolls, etc.) reinforces daily their delusional beliefs, with non-stop florid tales of the latest attacks to malign and undermine their heroic, embattled Leader, who is fighting a desperate, defensive campaign against the Soros-funded, Obama/Clinton-led, godless, “Deep State” Democrat (sic) pedophile Armies of Darkness.

Sound insane? Of course it does, because it is. Sound far-fetched? Spend an hour reading Breitbart, or watch 10 minutes of Hannity. Take a dervish-spin through social media, using the search terms “patriot” and “liberty,” and read the unbridled, bottomless hatred in the user comments.

If you do, you’ll see that my first paragraph above is actually the lighter fare. American democracy is in deep trouble.