In case you hadn’t noticed, Trump is rotting on the vine. He’s shriveling in the heat from the Jan 6 commission. Truth is a bitch when your whole life has been a lie. The Grand Old Fascist Party continues to thrash in the throes of its death. Some Repubs even crossed over to vote on the infrastructure bill despite threats of primary opposition. Trump is seemingly unaware that his mojo has rapidly paled. He listens to the sycophants who insulate him, and they’ll tell him only what he wants to hear. There is no bravery in Trump World, only sad delusions of fascist sugar plums dancing in their heads. Trump is a political zombie, undead and unaware of it. mvd

“Revolution is an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.” —Ambrose Bierce

The attempted coup on January 6, 2021 assumed that if only Mike Pence refused to certify the indisputable election of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States, it would usher in—what?—the blissful reign of the new American emperor, Donald Trump?  Right.

Think of it.  Trump installed as monarch—not president, of course, because our presidents are elected—crowned to rule until he saw fit to relinquish the throne.  Imagine nitwits like Don Junior, Kevin McCarthy, Matt Goetz, and Jim Jordan plotting to rule the nation Trump-style.  Never has such a grifting, grabbing, stealing, lying, double-crossing, and mendacious gaggle of jerk-offs ever drawn breath.  Add in Moscow Mitch McConnell, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the My Pillow Guy, Mike Lindell, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for a self-defeating dynasty of authoritarian ignorance.  What could possibly go wrong?

A better question is what did this sad collection of bigoted boneheads think was going to happen?  That Lord Trump would benignly bestow fiefdoms and castles on them, reinstitute slavery, and sanction beheadings?  Would they jockey for position at the foot of the throne to back-stab one another for a smile from the Caliph of Combover?  Did they ever consider the vicious personality aberrations of Emperor Donald?  What about his habit of throwing anyone under the bus who disagrees or disobeys?  Or his penchant for playing his sycophants against one another for entertainment?  No, I think his fawning coterie of parasites never thought of that.  Hell, it was just too much fun planning the riot, ushering the rioters into the Capitol building, and cheering them on from their hidey holes.  

There are no answers to my questions.  But we can be thankful that the Jan 6th would-be insurgents never thought it all through, and that they were too inept to pull it off.  

Memo to the guys and gals who stormed the Capitol that day: you will pay a price for your blind stupidity.  You say you want a revolution?  You’d have been better off to stick with the one that got started in 1775. 

mvd

“Back to back and belly to belly, I don’t give a damn ’cause I done that already…”

Zombie Jamboree, The Kingston Trio

It has not been reported by any news outlet I’m aware of that Donald Trump and the Republican Party have become political zombies.  No one has been warned that although they died in the loss of the White House, Senate, and House of Representatives, their wights are roaming the country in search of unsuspecting humans whose brains they can eat.  Admittedly, there are fewer and fewer brains among the GOP rank and file that would make a decent meal.  But you can still see undead Repubs like Ted Cruz and Rand Paul shuffling around D.C. in search of new prey.  

The flesh of the GOP’s political rhetoric is rapidly decomposing.  The eyeballs of what used to pass for their vision for America are rotting out of their heads and rolling across the floor.  It’s a very distasteful sight, especially if you are trying to govern in spite of upright corpses like Moscow Mitch McConnell and Kevin “Please, Donald, let me kiss  your ass again!” McCarthy shambling around the Capitol.

Make no mistake, zombie Republicans (ZOP) are a clear and present danger.  Jim Jordan, once a mere wrestling coach proudly involved in a wrestling team sex scandal, had his brain devoured early on by the Great Walking Dead Trump.  So did Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia nincompoop—though it is unclear whether or not she had an actual brain to begin with.  Both have voracious appetites for raw ignorance and reflexive lying.  Both will do their damnedest to oppose voting rights, human rights, and vaccinations.  The entire Undead ZOP is dedicated to white supremacy, religious bigotry, and the destruction of women’s rights.  Oh, and eating brains.

Democrats beware.  We know zombies do not think.  A cursory look at the ZOP makes that obvious.  Judgement and honesty have long since been replaced by an insatiable hunger for toxic rhetoric and obstruction of any effort that might benefit the American people instead of uber-zombie fat cats.  They cannot be trusted.  They will pretend to negotiate in good faith, give you the okie-dokie, and then fuck you over when it comes time to keep a promise.  The only way to defeat zombies is beat them at their own game: be tough, uncompromising, and persistent.  Do not be fearful of pissing them off.  Do not be afraid to deliver the legislative killing stroke.  They will do it to you faster than you can say, “Hey, your arm just fell off.”  The top is already a dead party, a gibbering horde fixated on destruction of democracy and the creation of an authoritarian state ruled by the evil comb-over king of the Undead.  Don’t hesitate.  Use the majority, however slim it is, while we have it. 

mvd

I’ve been very critical of President Biden about not coming out forcefully against the filibuster.  It’s vital to end this Jim Crow relic and allow majority votes to pass legislation in the Senate.  That’s what democracy means.  But now it occurs to me that the president may be playing the long game.  

Listen.  If Biden can convince his two contrarian Democratic senators, Senema in Arizona and Manchin in West Virginia, to support a “carve out” of the filibuster that would allow a majority vote on voting rights, he may have won a greater victory than I imagined.  

The For the People Act will make sweeping changes to our voting system.  Among other things, it will make it difficult for Republican state legislatures to gerrymander voting districts to shut out Democrats; it will prevent states from putting undue restrictions on voting—particularly for seniors, minorities, and young voters—groups who normally lean toward Democratic candidates; it will overhaul campaign financing laws and eliminate dark money; and it will require presidents to disclose their tax returns.

The John Lewis Voting Act will reinstate key parts of the 1965 Voting Rights Act that were gutted by a Supreme Court decision.

Together these two pieces of legislation will create better opportunities for Democratic candidates to win elections in otherwise red states.  And that, my intuition tells me, is Biden’s long game.  Passing these two bills paves the way for more Democrats to get elected and effectively neutralizes the filibuster threat.  Once the Democrats strengthen their majority they can eliminate it if they want, or leave it in place for the next time they want to fuck with the Republicans.  Of course I’m only speculating, but President Joe Biden is a very smart politician, one who understands perhaps better than anyone in office today the arcane and mystifying craft of passing legislation.  I pray that he is working behind the scenes.  I could be wrong, but in case I’m not, remember you heard it here first

—mvd

I grew up during WWII.   I saw the Korean War, Vietnam, Gulf Wars 1 & 2, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  I’ve seen young men and women fighting and dying in wars they barely understood, they died out of duty.  One prays that their sacrifices were not wasted.  I never dreamed my country would face the crisis it does today.  Voting rights and the future of our democracy hang in the balance. The Democrats hold the White House, House, and Senate.  If we’re not willing to use this power to secure voting rights, fight climate change, and repair our doddering infrastructure, what on earth are we doing?  We dare not wait any longer. #mamievandoren