It’s not  the whispering voice of Shoeless Joe Jackson whifting through Iowa cornfields this time.  It’s the unabashed invitation from Shameless Don Trump, and his message is “If you beleive me, I am saved.”  Well, crapo.  That doesn’t work.  Whoever heard Trump whisper? That’s more of a Joe Biden thing. There is something eerie going on though.  More logically, it has to do with the Des Moine Register.  Recently reported information by that paper bolsters my above invented quote, and comes across  a lot quieter- because reading a newspaper is usually muted,  if read at all anymore.

In case you missed it, (and honestly people, you really should pay more attention to your local newspaper than the shit you gravitate to on social media) this very prestigious newspaper provided polling information that, to me anyway, is kind of astonishing.  Taking into account all the anti-democratic, vitriolic comments Trump has spewed recently, here is a synopsis of what the reporting found:

One forth of those polled affirmed that Trump’s quest for vengence makes it more likely they will vote for him.  14% were more inclined to support Trump based on his lies alleging fraud in the 2020 election, believing terminating parts of the constitution is justified.  50% said Trump’s plans for “sweeping raids, giant camps, and mass deportations” made him a more atractive candidate and a solid 43% were more likely to vote for Trump based on his comments that  “the radical thugs that live like vermin” in the country need to be rooted out. Pretty much the same percentage are fine with Trump’s comments about immigrants poisening our blood.

Regarding that last insult, no doubt we need comprehensive immigration reform.  Our southern border is a hot mess.  But we have been living with intermittent border chaos through six presidential administrations.  It’s jaw dropping to hear members of congress criticizing any president for immigration policy failures when the long term fix is up to them.  We need more robust border control, and we definately need immigrants to do the shit no one else wants to do and supplement our tax base, something that is becoming increaseing more critical as our population ages.  And consider this.  When a Trump supporter says something like “He tells it like it is,” they have landed right into Trump’s web of deceit.  His scare tactics, fear of  the “other,” are a huge part of his political magnetism.  My own mother fell into that trap. Fear begets hate.  Freaked out liberals and a few conservatives keep trying to mulify our hateful divisiveness by saying “this is not who we are.”  But the Des Moine Register, with its whispering ways, is telling us it is exaclty who we are. Trump’s political ascendancy didn’t create the current acerbity and angst.  Prejudice, racism and senseless hatred are a sad legacy of this country.  However, since the civil rights movement and  legislation of the 1960’s, I always had the feeling that we were slowly but certainly making progress towards equality and social acceptance.  Then Trump happened and the undercurrent of incivility burst through its fragile containment.

Trump knows he has to win the presidency again, or hope some Republican does who will pardon him.  Otherwise he will very likely become a convicted criminal, and possibly even go to jail.  He is getting more despirate by the day, but his repetitive lies that wail loudly in the wind are somehow working for him. The Des Moines Register made that clear.

I am not sure how or even if we want to reestablish “who we are” as a country, but I know to make it possible basic facts have to be accepted as truth.  Our media and politicians from both parties have to have the courage to tell the truth.  And it wouldn’t hurt to use the Trumpian playbook.  Repeat the truth over and over, and not with any kind of whispering voice, but screaming like a banshee.

You have to hand it to Rick Santorum and Brandon Prichard.Too Many Voters and Spilling the Beans .  Like a slippery bout of amebic dysentery, sometimes the truth just can’t be contained.  If the Republican Party continues down the straight and narrow  MAGA path, voter suppression, judicial tampering and flat out obstruction of laws and election outcomes are what we should expect from it.  Santorum and Prichard are speaking the quiet part out loud.  Democracy is just not compatible with the Republican Party as it currently exists.

As appalled as I am about the lack of courage of Republican legislators, no doubt being primaried and even physically threatened for any criticism of Donald Trump is a reality.  But what we heard from Santorum and Prichard is also a reality within the Republican Party.  It is apparent hanging on to party political power, no matter what the cost to the country, is as compelling as individual political and physical survival.   All this voting stuff just isn’t working out for them.  Logically then Republicans aren’t about to criticize Trump for blatantly declaring if he is elected he will lock up his political opponents and shut down any news media company that is critical of him. Putin’s Pupil

Just what does the Republican Party stand for now anyway?  To eliminate the confusion, maybe change the name to the White Christian Nationalist Party.  The Christian part will be a problem for Trump though.  It will be interesting to view the vacillation when he is confronnted with the abortion issue during a direct debate.  The Flat Out Facsist Party might make more sense.

If you’re like me you dial up your state representatives on occasion, tell them  to get their shit together for a change and actually do something.  And as is normally the case, all the complaining never seems to get the job done.  To protect this democracy that the majoriy of us want to hang on to, maybe we should make a concerted effort to initiate more state ballot measures.  Seems like you get somewhere doing that. Let our political representatives clearly understand what the general public really prefers.  And we should get going before Republican state legislators start mucking up the referendum and initiative procedures.  Banning assault weapons, demanding electoral districts be drawn by independent supervisors, even replacing the electoral college with popular vote, are all issues that have a good chance of majority approval at state level.  More on that last one later.

I am not sure how they did it, but the Republican party somehow plumbed the depths of their scum covered pond of Maga wing-nuts and yanked Jim Jordan to the surface to serve as their next man up for the House Speakership position.  You gotta admit their selection is quite possibly the perfect man to champion  what the present Republican party represents.  Jimmy Gym is a promoter of the Big Lie, was alledgedly involved in plotting an insurrection, covered up a sexual abuse scandal when he was an assistant wrestling coach at Ohio State, defied a congressional subpoena, and has never, in his decade and one half of serving in congress, had any bill enacted.

He is Trump’s guy and the Republican party is Trump’s party.  Jordan has apparently learned from the best.  Like Trump, he has Fox “news” henchman Sean Hannity at his side, sending out intimidating emails to Republican congressmen who dared not to vote for Jimmy Gym on first balloting.  Trump seems willing to donate the sevices of his lunatic fringe also.  The wife of Nebraska congressman Don Bacon received anonymous, menacing texts from someone pressureing her to push her husband to vote for Jordan.

Jordan’s pressure campaign will either backfire on him, or, as has been the malaise infected history of the disjointed House Republicans, enough of them will roll over and Jimmy Gym will be second in the line of succession for President of the United States. Of course the first scenario will require a meager amount of courage on the part of  recalcitrant Republican holdouts. Holy smokes!  Look out Joe and Kamala.  Better increase your security detail.

I know Trump’s power is his shamlessness, but this is a new level of anti-social behavior. You Can’t Spin This    Someone who posts veiled threats on social media, let alone immediatly after he has been warned by a judge in crimal court about bribing or influencing witnesses, has no business running as a legitimate candidate for President of the United States.  This is intimidation and witness tampering plain and simple.  Anyone else would  likely be facing a prison sentence.

In what is emerging as an apparent twist to Fox News support of White Supremacy ,Replacement Parts Are On the Way   Laura Ingraham, once a devoted advocate of Restricting Muslim Immigration  Lock Them Out, now publicly acknowledged their usefullness. Laura Likes the Look

Obviously impressed with the Muslim youths included in this episode of her program, Ms. Ingrham was later asked if she might not be afraid some of them would be radicalized and blow her up some day. Scary Brown People   Ms. Ingraham said she was confident if any such radicalization did occur, it was now obvious to her that if there will be any blowing up going on by these youngsters, it would be in a gay night club so there really should be nothing to worry about.

When asked if she had any concerns about Sharia Law usurping US constitutional law, Ms. Ingraham replied absolutley not.  “Like all cultures and countries, laws change.  Look at Roe-Wade and affirmative action.  Its obvious Muslims have a lot of good laws that are in common with our laws that support good Christian values.  It’s very comforting to realize Muslims and Christians share this common bond of viceral hatred of the LGBTQ community.”

Fox News viewers likely heaved a collective sigh of relief with the recent revelation  by the weekend crew of Fox and Friends that racism in the United States  has officially been extinguished.

During a recent program Fox News host Rachel Campos-Duffy assured her audience  that America is the least racist country in the world, and called President Biden a liar by suggesting racism is still problematic. Fox News Drives Stake Into Heart of Racism Co-hosts Pete Hegseth and Will Cain were in total agreement.

With visions of the Confederate flag being waved in the U.S. Capitol Building during the insurrection still etched into many American minds, not to mention the recent hate crimes committed  just since January of this year, like 150 members of the Patriot Front marching down the streets of DC, the  murder indictment dismissal by a Mississippi grand jury  of the woman responsibel for the torture and death of Emmett Till, torchings of synagogues in Austin TX and Bloomfiield NJ, and a mosque in Minneapolis, multiple attacks on poeple of Chinese decent in various cities, a white supremacist sentenced for shooting into two different conveniance stores because in one he saw a Black man and in another he thought he saw a Muslim, a Florida man attacking a group of Black men who were surveying along a public road, a prison sentence for a man who set a cross on fire in a Black neighbor’s yard, as well as books about  Black life being banned from school libraries and whitewashing Black history in textbooks,  all of which had one nosey reporter wondering how Fox News personnel get their own news.

As luck would have it, he chanced upon all three as they were leaving Fox News headqurters, so he pointedly asked them the question: “How do you guys get your own news?”

“Well, Fox News, of course,” answered Ms. Campos-Duffy.

“Same here'” replied Mr. Hegseth

“I get all my information from Fox News” said Mr. Cain

“Oh.  I see,” said the reporter.