Author: admin

Over the past few days, I have heard some of the weirdest, most insane theories and ideas coming from people in positions of authority. For instance, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green (R-GA) opined that the solar eclipse is God’s way of communicating with us. In a tweet (Are they still called tweets?) on X (formerly Twitter), MTG wrote:

“God is sending America strong signs to tell us to repent.
Earthquakes and eclipses and many more things to come.
I pray that our country listens.”

X, to their credit, added this community note to her post:

“Monday’s eclipse was predicted hundreds of years ago, it will not have been caused by contemporary actions.  Earthquakes occur naturally and happen (on average) more than 30 times a day across the world, although many are too subtle to feel.”

MTG then doubled down when she received pushback to her post. In a subsequent tweet, she said:

“Many have mocked and scoffed at this post and even put community notes.

Jesus talked about that in Luke 12:54-56.*

Yes eclipses are predictable and earthquakes happen and we know when comets are passing by, however God created all of these things and uses them to be signs for those of us who believe.”

I don’t mean to besmirch MTG’s religious beliefs, but I would point out that if a prehistoric caveman or members of the Inca Empire had said these same things, we would shake our collective heads at their ignorance. Bless her heart.

Perhaps we should not be surprised by MTG’s posts. Afterall, at various times she has contended that the 9/11 terrorist attack was a hoax, wildfires in California were caused by Jewish space lasers, the school shooting in Parkland, FL was a red flag operation, the 2020 election was stolen, the January 6 insurrection was caused by Antifa and the FBI, and many more wild and wacky conspiracy theories. But MTG is not alone.

Over the weekend, Brian Perras, a Republican candidate for Congress in Florida, accused President Biden of molesting children and claimed that Ukraine was behind the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore. Not to be outdone, Donald Trump himself accused Biden of being high on cocaine during the State of the Union Address, said inflation is currently 50%, and claimed that countries around the world are emptying their prisons and sending the convicts to the United States..

I could give many more examples, but I think you get the point. There is a segment of the population that is Republican, is part of the MAGA movement, and is utterly disconnected from reality. These people routinely market in misinformation and disinformation, primarily for political purposes. They use mis/disinformation to stoke the culture wars, keep their supporters angry and ignorant, and to create a state of chaos in the country that they then complain about and claim only they can fix.

It’s easy to point out these crazy beliefs on the right. They are so numerous, obvious, and ridiculous. But there are also beliefs on the left that are disconnected from reality. They are not as obvious, but they still exist.

For instance, consider the belief that the country and our democracy is going to be saved from Donald Trump’s authoritarian movement by the justice system. It sounds nice. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the judiciary stood up to Trump and held him accountable for both his civil and criminal wrongdoing? However, is there any evidence to suggests this is going to happen?

I know that most of us view the justice system as fair and impartial, and I’d like to think that’s true in most cases. However, our judicial system was not designed for the circumstances we find ourselves in currently. Rather than fair and impartial justice, we have seen courts bend over backwards to accommodate Trump. They’ve allowed him to post lower bonds than other defendants would be required to post. They’ve allowed him to threaten and denigrate judges, prosecutors, potential witnesses, and their families. No other defendant would be allowed to say a fraction of the things Trump has said and published without being jailed for contempt. Courts have issued “gag orders,” but they’ve not seriously enforced them. And Trump has been allowed to delay trials in ways no other defendant would be allowed to do, and which has effectively denied justice to the government and the people they represent.

A civil court found Trump liable for sexual assault and defamation, yet he has not been forced to pay a judgement. Trump’s company was found to have committed fraud, yet he has not paid a penalty and will likely draw the case out until the judgement is meaningless. He was indicted on 91 criminal counts in four different jurisdictions, yet only one of those cases even has a trial date. Even if they go to trial, Trump will likely be allowed to delay and appeal until he either becomes president again, giving him the power to end some of the cases against him, or he dies and the charges simply go away.

I don’t mean to sound hopeless. Neither do I want to suggest that authorities shouldn’t bother to pursue charges against Trump. They absolutely should, and the prosecutions should be vigorous and unrelenting. What I do want to say though is that we should not count on the courts to save us. It is highly unlikely that they will or can.

The only thing that is going to stop the Trump train from reaching the station is if all people of good faith get out and vote in November and if we are diligent in our defense of our democracy. At every opportunity, we must stand up for our democratic way of life and governance.

It’s an overused phrase, but we are literally fighting for the soul of our country. Are we going to remain a democracy that honors the Constitution and the rule of law, or are we going to become an authoritarian regime, headed up by a buffoonish cult leader, run by a group of right-wing extremists, and featuring a legal system that acts at the whim of the leader and is designed to protect the few and punish the many? That is the choice we face.

But before we can get there, we must start being serious about the problem and realistic about the solution. Let’s get realistic, then let’s fight to preserve our democracy, our rights, and our way of life.

*The Bible verse MTG points to doesn’t really say what she claims it says. Here is the verse:

“54 He said to the crowd: ‘When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky.”

 

This is a series of posts involving Dr. Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny. In the book, Snyder, a professor at Yale University who specializes in the history of tyrannical movements, shares twenty lessons on how to address and defeat tyranny.

Each lessons contains a short amount of text as well as a video featuring Snyder expanding on the text. This is lesson #6:

Lesson #6: Be Wary of Paramilitaries

“When the men with guns who have always claimed to be against the system start wearing uniforms and marching with torches and pictures of a leader, the end is nigh. When the pro-leader paramilitary and the official police and military intermingle, the end has come.”

This is a series of posts involving Dr. Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny. In the book, Snyder, a professor at Yale University who specializes in the history of tyrannical movements, shares twenty lessons on how to address and defeat tyranny.

Each lessons contains a short amount of text as well as a video featuring Snyder expanding on the text. This is lesson #5:

Lesson 5: Remember Professional Ethics

“When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important. It is hard to subvert a rule-of-law state without lawyers, or to hold show trials without judges. Authoritarians need obedient civil servants, and concentration camp directors seek businessmen interested in cheap labor.”

This is a series of posts involving Dr. Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny. In the book, Snyder, a professor at Yale University who specializes in the history of tyrannical movements, shares twenty lessons on how to address and defeat tyranny.

Each lessons contains a short amount of text as well as a video featuring Snyder expanding on the text. This is lesson #4:

Lesson #4: Take Responsibility for the Face of the World

“The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away, and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.”

 

This is a series of posts involving Dr. Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny. In the book, Snyder, a professor at Yale University who specializes in the history of tyrannical movements, shares twenty lessons on how to address and defeat tyranny.

Each lessons contains a short amount of text as well as a video featuring Snyder expanding on the text. This is lesson #3:

Lesson #3: Beware the One Part State

“The parties that remade states and suppressed rivals were not omnipotent from the start. They exploited a historic moment to make political life impossible for their opponents. So support the multi-party system and defend the rules of democratic elections. Vote in local and state elections while you can. Consider running for office.”

This is a series of posts involving Dr. Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny. In the book, Snyder, a professor at Yale University who specializes in the history of tyrannical movements, shares twenty lessons on how to address and defeat tyranny.

Each lessons contains a short amount of text as well as a video featuring Snyder expanding on the text. This is lesson #2:

Lesson #2: Defend Institutions

“Follow the courts or the media, or a court or a newspaper. Do not speak of ‘our institutions’ unless you are making them yours by acting on their behalf.
Institutions don’t protect themselves. They go down like dominoes unless each is defended from the beginning.”

This is a series of posts involving Dr. Timothy Snyder’s book On Tyranny. In the book, Snyder, a professor at Yale University who specializes in the history of tyrannical movements, shares twenty lessons on how to address and defeat tyranny.

Each lessons contains a short amount of text as well as a video featuring Snyder expanding on the text. This is lesson #1:

Lesson #1: Do Not Obey in Advance

“Much of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then start to do it without being asked. You’ve already done this, haven’t you? Stop. Anticipatory obedience teaches authorities what is possible and accelerates unfreedom.”

I often refer to things Dr. Timothy Snyder says. Snyder is a history professor at Yale University who specializes in the history of fascistic and authoritarian movements around the world. He has been a welcome and important voice at a time when the United States is witnessing attacks on our democracy from the Republican Party, both within and outside of government.

Snyder recently took to X (formerly Twitter) to talk about comments made by Donald Trump during a political rally in Dayton, OH last weekend. In his speech, Trump referred to people imprisoned for their role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol as “political prisoners” and “hostages.” He even stood and saluted while a revamped version of the “National Anthem” played over loudspeakers. The alternative version of the “National Anthem,” re-named “Justice for All,” was sung by the J6 Prison Choir and featured the voice of Trump himself reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

It’s hard to put into words how sickening and un-American this all is, but Trump wasn’t finished yet. During his address to the gathered crowd, Trump predicted that there would be a “bloodbath” in the country if he does not win the Presidential Election this November. Snyder recognized the scene as something straight out of Nazi Germany. Here’s what he said:

“The thing Trump did in Dayton – celebrating his fascist movement’s dubious “martyrs” – is exactly what Goebbels and Hitler did between the Nazis’ failed coup and their seizure of power. Their song was called the Horst Wessel Song. 

“The Nazis were obsessive about being the victims. Once in power they put up monuments to their “martyrs.” They sang their Horst Wessel Song as they conquered countries and killed millions to say that they, the Nazis, were the real victims and therefore always innocent. 

“Trump’s claim that his people are hostages and political prisoners is meant to justify endless revenge on whomever he wishes as soon as he is in power. That is how this martyrdom thing works. We know it from the history of fascism.

“Trump promised a ‘bloodbath for the country’ if he’s not elected president. Then followed the predictable bout of (self-)deception, claiming Trump’s bloodbath (comment) was out of context…Trump is telling them (and us) that he doesn’t really plan to win the election. As he did in 2016, as he did in 2020, he is telling us that the vote count does not decide the issue for him.”

In his book, On Tyranny, Snyder lays out a 20-point plan to address and defeat the type of anti-democratic efforts being put forth by Trump and his supporters. He begins his book with these words:

“Americans are no wiser that the Europeans who saw democracy yield to fascism, Nazism, or communism. Our one advantage is that we might learn from their experience. Now is a good time to do so.”

In the coming weeks, I will share the 20 lessons Snyder includes in his book. Each lesson will be accompanied by a video Snyder did designed to expand his thoughts and further explain each lesson.

Although I’m incredibly grateful to Snyder for writing the book and creating the video lessons, I’m heartbroken and horrified that we in the United States find ourselves at a place where such a book and video lessons are necessary.

The series on fighting tyranny will begin on Monday, March 25. Each Monday for the next ten weeks, I’ll feature two of Snyder’s 20 lessons. I hope you’ll follow along.

Recently, you may have seen Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) in front of a microphone stumping for former President Donald Trump and asking the gathered crowd, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” Stefanick has been mentioned as a potential choice as Trump’s Vice-President, so you can imagine her answer to that question. But she is not alone in asking it. Trump himself recently took to Truth Social asking the same question. And some version of the question has been asked on practically every news program and in every newspaper and magazine that includes political coverage.

The answer should be obvious. Four years ago, in 2020, we were in the middle of a global Covid pandemic. Schools were closed, we were required to wear masks in most public places. Grocery store shelves were depleted, toilet paper was in short supply, millions of non-essential workers were laid-off from their jobs, and countless businesses were shuttered, many of them permanently.

Weddings had to be cancelled. People couldn’t attend family funerals. And those that were hospitalized—many of them sick with Covid—died alone because visitors were not allowed.

Healthcare professionals were forced to re-use masks because the Trump Administration nearly exhausted the nation’s strategic supply and didn’t make arrangements to restock it. In large cities, refrigerated trucks were used to store corpses, since morgues and funeral homes were over capacity with the bodies of those who had died. Sadly, four years ago at this time, deaths from Covid had just begun. We were counting deaths in the hundreds. Very soon, we would be counting them in the millions.

I’m 64-years old, and in my lifetime, I have never seen a more desperate, horrible time in the United States. To make matters worse, the President and many of his party faithful lied to us, simultaneously claiming that Covid was a hoax, it would go away quickly, it was no worse than the flu, and that it was a biological weapon unleashed on the United States by China. Thanks to Trump’s divisive nature, the reality of Covid and how best to treat it became a political issue as much as a healthcare issue. As a result, the virus impacted the United States much more severely than it did other countries.

Now, four years later, we have weathered the worst of the Covid storm. While still a concern, we now have supplies, treatments, and protocols in place to handle Covid, in schools, the workplace, and in public.

Since those dark days of 2020, our nation has rebounded economically. According to The Economist magazine, economic growth in the United States has outpaced the economy of every other G7 country. Entrepreneurship in the United States is booming. During the first two years of the Biden Administration, new business applications increased 33% over the number filed during the final two years of the Trump Presidency.

Inflation is currently at a reasonable 2% and unemployment remains at record lows. There is a job for any American that wants one. More importantly, wages have grown for 80% of Americans. The only group that has witnessed a wage decrease is the top 20% wealthiest Americans, helping to reduce wealth inequality that had been growing at a significant pace in recent years.

The stock market has also hit record highs in recent months. Although the average American does not own individual stocks, many do have retirement savings (pensions, 401(k)s, IRAs) that are invested in the stock market. These gains may not put food on the table for most Americans, but they do provide peace of mind and the promise of a more comfortable retirement.

Not everything is rosy. Immigration still poses a challenge to the nation, although it isn’t the mess Republicans would have you believe. In fact, the Senate passed a bi-partisan immigration bill—the toughest in our nation’s history—but Trump has asked Republicans not to take up the bill in the House so he can use immigration as a political issue in his campaign to re-take the White House.

We also see a rise in neo-Nazism, white supremacy, Christian Nationalism, fascism, and other attacks on our democracy. In his campaign for President, Trump has detailed a plan for further attacks on our democracy and on our freedoms, embracing political violence and the un-American values espoused by these groups.

On the world stage, NATO has never been stronger, yet we (the United States) are currently failing to help Ukraine in their battle to repel Russia’s unprovoked attack. In addition, the situation in the Middle East worsens and China continues to be a threat to Taiwan, but Republicans in the House refuse to do more than issue strong statements and condemnations.

Even with these challenges, it is clear that the vast majority of Americans are objectively better off today than they were four years ago. That is an inconvenient truth for Donald Trump and his surrogates who preach doom and gloom as a campaign strategy. Despite their claims, by almost any metric, both domestically and internationally, we are in a far better place today than we were in 2020. I don’t want to go back. How about you?