There’s nothing like a great slogan: “Win One For The Gipper!” inspired thousands of young athletes. “Black Lives Matter!” is inspiring millions across the world. “Make America Great Again!” got a churl elected to the Presidency of the United States. “Defund The Police!” not so much. Why?
When you chant something that may have serious consequences and a half million people pick it up, you better be right! More important, you better know what the hell you’re talking about and that’s where the problem is with “Defund The Police.”
It looked good as a mural in D.C, and a shitload of people picked up on it but do any of them know what it means? Can any of them define it? Actually I bet a lot of them know what it means to them, and just as big a group can define it in a way that benefits them or at least helps them achieve some goal. But that’s not good enough. Not for something that is already becoming a big noise on the political and social scenes.
Yesterday the tube was overrun by an assortment of nuts and formerly astute commentators, all giving us their versions of the flavor of the day, “Defund The Police.”
From what I can gather, it goes all the way from shifting a few bucks from police overtime to community service, to closing down police departments entirely. That’s quite a span, even in this nutsy version of America that we currently inhabit. In Minneapolis the City Counsel seems to have voted to close down the police department entirely, a really brilliant move by a ridiculous group that needs to be replaced as quickly as possible. Even Joe Biden felt called upon to make a statement in which he rejected the concept of defunding police departments but suggested looking at them under a new, more community favoring, lens. Of course that led the Fat Liar in the White House to immediately issue a wholly false series of statements accusing Joe of being soft on crime. As usual, the Fat Liar trumpets (pun intended) any bizarre concept that worms its way into his tiny brain.
But the Democrats should take that behavior as a warning. They shouldn’t fear the lies but they should certainly expect them and be armed to deal with them. And one of the ways they must deal with them is to be guarded about what they say in circumstances like the one in which they now find themselves. When smart people like Eddie Glaude Jr., Kamala Harris and Maya Wylie allow themselves to push the unexplored territory of undefined sloganizing and appear to pick up on what the nuts are saying, they don’t help the process of getting rid of Trump or even that of better policing, all they do is help fuel the lies that the far right will use to attract the, always timid, moderate vote.
The vast majority of Democrats are for Law and Order. Let’s not let a few immoderate voices make it seem otherwise in a time leading up to the most important election of our lifetime. I know we say that about almost any election, but America has never, at least not in my lifetime, been threatened by a multi-times proven disaster like Donald Trump. If you don’t see the ways in which he has harmed America, if you don’t see the complete absence of morals or character he displays on a daily basis, if you don’t see the monumental incompetence of the man and his administration, buddy you just ain’t paying attention.
*****
What the fuck is wrong with Kentucky? Yeah they have the Derby and mint juleps and a lot of grass that’s the wrong color but they also have Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell as their Senators and that’s so wrong it should be unconstitutional. We all know that Moscow Mitch has run the Senate like a crooked Banana Republic but not too many realize that Paul is even worse than his Moscowness. His latest fiasco is being the single vote to hold up an anti-lynching bill in the Senate. Only someone as determinedly stupid as Rand Paul could support lynching. Rand is lucky his neighbor doesn’t share his views. He only beat him up.
These two thieves have led Kentucky, a beautiful state that would be even more beautiful if they could somehow get the coal industry out, to some of the lowest national rankings imaginable. They are 44th in healthcare, 38thin education, 39th in economy and 45th in fiscal stability under the reign of these two clowns even as they have both become millionaires. The state ranked 44th in economic opportunity for those who live there, and just so the citizens can’t breathe too deeply, 36th in pollution in what is mostly a rural state.
If you live in Kentucky and you haven’t sucked in too much of the coal dust produced by an industry that eagerly kicks in to both Senator’s campaigns, you might want to consider that when voting in November. Who knows, you might even elect someone who has your best interests instead of theirs at heart.
*****
I don’t know why, but Bill Maher keeps going back to the idiocy of the idea that Trump, when he loses, will never leave the White House. By now a number of his guests have pointed out that once Trump loses he will no longer be the President and that the new President will be able to just kick him out. But Maher keeps harping on how Trump will invoke the military. Well he can invoke all he wants, but that’s not going to do him any good. Yes, he is the Commander-in-Chief of the military now, but once he loses the election he won’t be commander of anything, and from what I’ve seen lately a huge majority of the military just can’t wait.
One of the news programs ran a list of former military commanders who have condemned Trump’s nonsense and it runs as long as your arm. Members of the military take an oath to the constitution at every step of their career. They know what it means, just as they know what honor means. Those who have a modicum of intelligence understand that Trump has no honor, no concept of what it means and no moral compass to lead him to that knowledge.
The same oath goes for the D.C. Police and the Federal Marshall Service. If what is going on now is any example; they will be fighting each other for the privilege of dragging his fat ass out of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue the second the clock hits midnight on 1/20/21
*****
I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the Lincoln Project but if you haven’t it’s time you looked it up. It’s composed of a bunch of very clever conservatives (read former Republicans) who have formed a Super Pac that is in the hunt for Trump’s ass. As such they have been publishing very truthful ads about Trump on Fox News. This creates a couple of interesting points. First is that even though the ads are anti-Trump, Fox, the strongest of Trump supporters, still airs them, thereby proving that Fox and its owner Rupert Murdoch are sleazy scum that will kiss any ass to make a buck. The other is that if you think like a Republican, which the Lincoln Project members do, you are in a perfect position to act like one, and that allows you to publish anything as long as it does a sufficient amount of damage.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not impugning the Lincoln Project people, just pointing out a salient fact. What has happened as a result of the Lincoln Project ads is that Trump has once again gone off the deep end. Reports of him raging through the White House flow from every source in the building. In order to calm him enough to show his orange face in public the administration powers have been forced to create over $400,000 worth of ads to counter the Lincoln Project ads and show them in D.C.
Now why would they show these counter-ads in D.C. a seriously blue area? The answer is simple. The campaign committee that created these ads has only one viewer in mind. Yup, the Prez! These clowns have wasted over four hundred grand just to make the Fat Liar happy. What’s it like fellas, to be working for a four-year-old?
*****
Based on any number of problems including the Lincoln Project ads discussed above, Donald Trump has turned into more of a raving maniac than usual and is chomping at the bit to get back out on the road to the rallies he loves more than his kids. I’m speaking, of course, of the MAGA rallies where he can lie as much as he likes, attack cripples and heroes and still get cheers from the great unwashed when he brags about phantom accomplishments of which only he is aware.
But what will these rallies be like now that the virus has ravaged America? Does one really think that the same morons that support white supremacy, racism and misogyny will show up at these conventions of ignorance wearing facemasks and keeping six feet apart? How can they? You can’t attack a liberal heckler from six feet away. You have to get right up close where words and logic just don’t matter.
Up until now there has been no road map of contagion for the doctors to follow. Each case had to be individually traced back to wherever it had come from but now Trump’s speaking itinerary will be a clear and obvious tracking device as even a small handful of infected individuals will be able to spread the infection to hundreds or even thousands of MAGA hats who will be more easily traceable as they create their own roadmap.
It really isn’t clear how Trump’s rallies are going to be a benefit to the GOP since before the election date arrives, large percentages of each rally will probably no longer be with us; to vote or do anything else. Remember, every vote counts, especially when they’re too dead to get to the polls.