Day 1187 Happy St Stephen’s Day

Wednesday December 26, 2019

318 Days until the 2020 election and 399 days until the Inauguration

December 26^th is St. Stephen’s Day. How do I know this? I went to St. Stephen’s Church in Ridgefield Connecticut for years, that’s how.

Moving on. There’s a solar eclipse. It’s in India. I won’t catch it. Bummer.

There are a lot of wrap up shows going on. One that caught my attention was a show that highlighted news items you may not have heard of due to the impeachment and Trump in general taking up all the oxygen in the news cycles. However, lo and behold there’s still more Trump, even in the “stories that don’t get much press coverage.”

Like the emails of Stephen Miller being published that show he’s a staunch died in the wool white supremacist (died white, I guess.) These emails show he’s referencing all kinds of nutty white supremacist BS. Like “Camp of the Saints” which I had never heard of before. It’s an idea, popular in white supremacist circles, that non-whites are going to infiltrate and subsume white nations so one must restrict these people coming to the shores of the white nations. The last time this kind of thing came up was when Calvin Coolidge signed a white racist idea into law, which prevented the Jews of Europe from escaping Hitler. This is apparently why white supremacists like Coolidge, and natch, Miller refers to him heroically. There’s lots of these kind of weird white supremacist references in Miller’s emails. This is the guy Trump has in charge of immigration.

Then there’s the money Trump has been forced to pay out for various frauds he’s been convicted of: notably, Trump University and The Trump Foundation. What I don’t understand is why he hasn’t had to serve time in jail for these crimes.

Then there’s the impeachment. Turns out Trump has given money to four Senators. Isn’t that bribery? There’s also a Senator implicated in the crimes of Trump. There’s McConnell who says he’s working with The White House on the impeachment and he will deliver a quick acquittal, and there’s Linsey Graham who has said he doesn’t need to see any evidence – he’s going to acquit. This is all in stark contrast to what they said during the Clinton impeachment. Then they puffed out their Constitutional chests and spoke of wanting to see all the evidence and “let the chips fall where they may” etc.

Several people I know post things that have these lurid headlines, accusing the Democrats or the Clintons, or George Soros, or the New York Times, of some dark conspiracy or hidden agenda when in fact the sources they usually quote have the hidden agenda. Well, it’s not even hidden. All you have to do is do a basic google search. The sources are “conservative” or Republican operatives, or alt-right and I ask my friends “what do you expect?” or “Have you ever seen this source publish something positive about [fill in the blank]” Of course you haven’t because they are bent on making stuff up or showing it in the worst possible light for their target. Yet, they want to accuse the New York Times of some terrible bias.

It’s interesting to me that Roger Stone has had to admit in court that he lied. Typical of these sidekicks to bullies is that they then play the victim card. Stone claims he was mislead by InfoWars. What? InfoWars is in the business of misleading. You were a willing victim. That’s the problem with these people who post this stuff saying basically “well they do it too.” The they being the New York Times, the Clintons, the fill-in-the-blank. To which I say, “No they don’t.” Yes, you can make a case that someone said something incorrectly or what they said turned out not to be true or they took it right up to the line (while their right wing counterparts trampled the line) but there was not the drumbeat of “out to get” someone or something, or some dark conspiracy.

Recently, when someone posted an article about Trump lying the rejoinder was “Well Obama did it too. He lied about being able to keep your health care!” Wow. Really? Or was it that the bill he introduced would have allowed you to keep your health care but the Republicans fought and mangled it in the Senate and the final bill was different, and oh yes, if you had a health care plan that was ripping you off the insurance companies were forced to provide a better plan? That’s a far cry from what Trump has done for health care. Currently, he is being fought in the courts to try and allow 130,000,000 to keep their health care, which he is trying to take away.

This brings me to bullying and what happens when bullies are confronted. It seems that the first thing they do is to gaslight (ie deny that what they are doing is what they are doing.) When that doesn’t work they play the victim. When that doesn’t work they may begrudgingly do whatever they are ordered to do.

It’s true with Trump. It’s true with Stone. It’s true with bullies and their sycophantic followers.

Hopefully, “We’re better than that” to quote Elijah Cummings.

Hopefully.

318 Days until the 2020 election and 399 days until the Inauguration