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Friday, December 11, 2020

A Sense of Doubt blog post #2124 - It's no longer enough to be anti-Trump- The GOP is broken - lynching threats and Twitter roundup

 


A Sense of Doubt blog post #2124 - It's no longer enough to be anti-Trump- The GOP is broken - lynching threats and Twitter roundup

INAUGURATION COUNTDOWN

40 DAYS to inauguration

What is an "acceptable" reaction to lynching threats and an assault, an onslaught of racist hate-filled messages even if someone is an elected official?

Welcome to the STATE OF THE HATE NATION.

First in our litany of outrage-producing issues and events is an article from Mother Jones by Kevin Drum that makes a similar argument to being anti-racist rather than just against racism: It's is not enough to just ne anti-Trump; instead, we must be actively anti-GOP, against this no-longer "Grand" Old Party and its craven politicians and power-hungry weasels.

Following a long collection of varied messages from Twitter that I sent again or added comments of my own. 

And then, the article from NPR on how Michigan representative received many lynching threats and vicious harassment after her fierce criticism during the "hearing" Michigan held to appease Trump's legal team and corona virus spreading lawyer Rudy Guiliani. 

And so she responded with videos on Facebook because... after all, what is AN ACCEPTABLE reaction to being told that she should be lynched for doing her job, for speaking out with truth to reality after the circus show that Guiliani trotted out wasting the time of government officials for baseless accusations about voter fraud that never took place.

And then, this craven, integrity-less, GOP PUNISHES her for speaking out against being threatened with LYNCHING.

What is the "acceptable" response to such threats?

What about her family?

What about all the voters she represents? The black voters for whom lynching means a great deal more than just a death threat (and is anything "just" a death threat?).

And so these gutless wonders called her "unamerican" and punished her by removing her from her committee assignments.

But where is their outrage? Where is their promise of justice in finding those who threatened and harassed their colleague with racist, hate-filled, and violent messages. Where is their condemnation of racism and death threats and their support for their colleague?

They paid some lip service to the threats suffered by Johnson as well as those directed at Governor Whitmer and Secretary of State Benson, but their "violence and intimidation are not appropriate in politics" was not nearly strong enough.

Gutless politicians who abide gun-toting protestors to enter the state legislature and scream threats at elected officials WHILE HOLDING GUNS do not get to decide what is "acceptable" and then PUNISH a representative for reacting to being threatened with lynching.

And such a public "punishment" like disciplining an unruly child is unprofessional, cowardly, and undemocratic.

We must fight it.

That's the subject of the first article. WE must be more than just ANTI-TRUMP. We must actively and with purpose oppose this hateful, unamerican, cowardly, dishonest, and vile ideology that has infected our country.

IT

MUST 

STOP.


https://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2020/12/its-no-longer-enough-to-be-merely-anti-trump/

It’s No Longer Enough To Be Merely Anti-Trump


Let our journalists help you make sense of the noise: Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily newsletter and get a recap of news that matters.

As you know, 17 states with Republican attorneys general have sued four other states in an effort to overturn the election results. Their arguments are farcical and the Supreme Court is highly unlikely to hear the case, but that hasn’t stopped plenty of Republican lawmakers from piling on:

That’s more than half of all Republicans in the House. Half! And they’re signing onto a brief that reads like it was written by a ten-year-old, all for no reason except to demonstrate a slavish hatred of Democrats to their base. They aren’t signing it because they’re otherwise afraid of retribution from Donald Trump—he’s a powerless lame duck at this point—they’re signing it because they’ve created both a base and an entertainment complex that will punish them if they don’t continue to feed it ever larger and bloodier chunks of red meat.

Things like this make it clear that it’s no longer enough to simply denounce Donald Trump. Or even to denounce Trumpism. From the very start the big question about Trump has been how it was possible for the Republican Party to nominate him in the first place. But the answer doesn’t depend on anything to do with Trump himself; it lies in how the party evolved during the decades from the Gingrich revolution to Trump’s eventual nomination and election. That means dealing with Gingrich himself; with Whitewater; with Fox News; with endless money raising scams; with Iraq; with “voter fraud”; with growing toleration of white racism; with Benghazi; with Hillary’s emails; and with everything else that the GOP has become over the years.

Anyone opposed to Trumpism needs to deal brutally and honestly with all this, including their own roles in it. That’s not easy, but there’s no denying what the Republican Party has become today and there’s no denying how it got here. Every lurch down that road, many of which probably seemed harmless at the time, eventually created a monster that no one could control. Until you face up to this, you’re still just fooling yourself about what happened to post-Reagan conservatism.































































Michigan GOP Sidelines Democrat For Her 'Unacceptable' Response To Lynching Threats

Michigan state Rep. Cynthia Johnson, a Black Democratic lawmaker who faced lynching threats and harassment following an Oversight Committee hearing last week where she leveled fierce criticism against President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, has been punished by House Republican leaders for a video she posted to Facebook on Tuesday. Republicans say that's because in the video she appears to threaten supporters of the president.

Johnson has been stripped of her committee assignments, including her position on the House Oversight Committee.

In the short but rambling three-minute and 10-second Facebook post, it's not clear exactly what Johnson means when she issues her "warning to you Trumpers. Be careful. Walk lightly." She also says, "And for those of you who are soldiers, you know how to do it. Do it right. Be in order. Make them pay."

Johnson posted a second video later.

In a statement, Republican leaders called Johnson's comments "unacceptable and un-American." Republicans also said they are looking into further action as investigations are ongoing. The statement continued: "We have been consistent in our position on this – violence and intimidation is never appropriate in politics. We have said that about threats against Gov. [Gretchen] Whitmer, Secretary [Jocelyn] Benson, Rep. Johnson herself, and others. That applies to threats made toward public officials, and it must also apply when the threats come from public officials."

Johnson could not be reached for comment regarding the loss of her committee assignments or a threat of sanctions in the coming House term.

House Democratic Leader Christine Greig and Democratic Leader-elect Donna Lasinski also issued a joint statement: "There is no doubt that this election cycle has been rife with hyper-partisan political rhetoric, theatrics, and dangerous threats of violence toward elected and public officials and their loved ones, which continue to escalate amid the most significant public health crisis in our state and country."

But they said the action against Johnson will only increase tensions:

"The overheated language of the statement issued by [House] Speaker [Lee] Chatfield and Speaker-elect [Jason] Wentworth, illustrates that the Republicans prioritize partisan politics and political theater over healing the wounds of division, preserving the well-being of the Legislature as an institution, protecting the safety of members, and acting on the needs of the people of Michigan."

The House is expected to adjourn for the year at the end of this week. Johnson will return for her second term when the Legislature's new session begins in January.

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2012.11 - 10:10

- Days ago = 1988 days ago


- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I plan to continue Hey Mom posts at least twice per week but will continue to post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.

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