Republican candidates are not only pushing Trump's big lie, but three others. In these last days before the midterms, let's continue to spread the truth
Truth, hence trust, hence legitimacy, are the foundation of a nation's democracy. The Republicans today betray the truth, betray our trust, and are dismantling and betraying the legitimacy of institutions. If they prevail, our democracy will be in gravest peril, even worse than at the time of our historical Civil War!
Donald was an old pal of Vince McMahon of pro wrestling. The Republican Party is recklessly playing a stunt for the rubes, and it is working for them. They are carelessly putting the match to whatever is precious in American politics, and it entertains them when it causes us anguish.
In pro wrestling, the bad boys - who tend to have more fans than the good guys, or "babyfaces" - act in the most atrocious way towards other wrestlers, and the crowd eats it up. The wrestlers remain scrupulously in-character whenever they are in public-called kayfabe. Donald is a bigger-than-life bad guy, a "heel." I can't tell if he comprehends what a fake he is. But the party members don't care, they scream with delight.
The late Andy Kaufman loved pro wrestling "guerrilla theater." All of his notoriously nasty appearances in the ring were staged. The news media presented it as though he were being a real jerk, and was getting threatened and pounded by offended pro wrestlers. But it all was a stunt, even the pretend injuries. He kept the illusion for entertainment purposes.
Once Kaufman wrestled in Nashville. Before the match, he insolently showed a video to the Nashville audience on how to use soap, and performed to deafening screams of hate from the crowd. They sent him to the hospital with a broken neck - that was part of the script. The crowd didn't know it was phony. They loved it.
The not-so-bright MAGA crowd is using American politics for entertainment the same way. The crowd is delirious that Paul Pelosi was bonked by a hammer. "It was his gay lover!" It’s all as believable and real to them as wrestling, the neck-shattering piledrivers that are carefully rehearsed by the pro wrestlers before the show. These physical actors portray the illusion of physical harm while protecting the "opponent" actor from getting hurt. If the wrestlers are good, nobody really gets hurt.
This is the Republican game for delirious voters. They don’t want to hear about inflation or crime or Herschel Walker’s aborted fetuses. It’s just a game to them. They will tell you that Shoah (the Holocaust) was a hoax. They will tell you that the Democrats eat babies. They relish in their illusion that their guy will righteously crush the bad guy.
Wrestling makes money off the intellectual flaccidity and massive egos of these losers. So does the Republican Party. They've brought the Big Show to the big ring, and their followers are orgasmic with delight.
The idiot truly has the matches, and they will burn the house down. They really might get us killed. This is not a phony stunt by skilled actors, although professional liars like Kevin McCarthy, Ted Cruz, Marjorie Taylor Greene seem to believe that they all belong to a wrestling stable that allows them to preen and strut for the crowd, in order to get the big payoff.
Honestly, that is why they won't budge when faced with the truth. They have paid for their tickets, and expect a show. They are vicious, indifferent losers who play with our country like it's a stunt.
It is very entertaining to injure helpless things and watch them die. The childhood of most psychopaths is replete with animal cruelty.
“The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted.”
― D.H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature
I wish to dispute D.H. Lawrence, but I have no grounds to do so.
Robert Reich is one of the few people formerly in power with the Democrats who is able to articulate very complicated issues clearly and with great FORCE. Oh, how we need that!
If corporate media was more concerned with discussing and presenting the actual facts rather than pleasing their conservative owners, the GOP would be unmasked for who they really are: facists, liars and violent thugs.
Authoritarians figure out how people feel and construct messages they repeat. They use “alternative facts” to back up their messages.
Liberals (broadly defined) start with facts about complex situations so they can govern well. Difficult problems like climate change have many causes. So liberals sound the alarm with many different, uncoordinated messages. Those messages often don’t connect with voters’ immediate feelings. Or they may require an inconvenient solution. We are losing the messaging war.
We need to do this differently while still telling the truth. But we’re all over the place, so we’re not getting traction.
These aren’t what I’m worried about. These subjects aren’t what’s tearing our country apart.
What is wrong with the reasoning power of these people? Where is their head? If they think that these are the most important issues that are at steak here, then we ARE in big trouble.
Our country is not only divided as to the actual issues at hand, but also in reasoning power in general. I wish these were the only things that divide us; I would be truly grateful. Our problems go much deeper perhaps right down to humanity’s ability to change and grow with time. We appear to be the same old species that we were perhaps thousands of years in the past.
We are still fighting amongst ourselves.
We are still killing each other because our leaders tell us to.
We are still hoarding what we have.
The .05% are still controlling and enslaving us while they get rich off of our labors and at the same time, succeeding on making us grateful to be screwed.
Humanity in general behaves as if they were suspicious of those who seem different.
The majority of the humans are prejudice against someone based upon race, religion or ethnicity.
And many, if not most, still have issues about sex, or sexual orientation.
Yes, some have awakened from at least a few of these nightmarish beliefs and have decided to grow beyond, but how many? And how long will it take for the majority of humanity to get beyond these issues? We keep doing the same things over and over and over, and act as if we just don’t notice! A relative hand full of people will routinely kick up some dust over their favorite issues, but no one can even focus on what it is we’re all mad about at any given time! It’s as if some magician points in the opposite direction when he’s hiding the disappearing objects in his coat pocket. And the disappearing objects that are being hidden are our mind and heart.
Excellent point about all the lies. Also time to emphasize the hurt.
IMHO, in their closing messages, Dems need to publicize and emphasize to people (especially through targeted marketing) all the ways that Republican control of government will explicitly hurt them. Let’s start with Biden’s plan for college student debt relief. Over 22 million people have already applied, and up to 37 million people are eligible. The Repugs want to cancel that program, and 6 Republican states have already sued to stop it. If the Repugs succeed, that’s at least a $10,000 loss (and for many $20,000). That is a very tangible, and easily documentable, harm. (Note that this URL provides a CNBC site that shows the surprisingly large number of people eligible for student debt relief by state. Folks with active senate election contests might want to check that out.) https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/20/how-many-people-will-get-student-loan-forgiveness-in-each-state.html
Next up is the Republican plan to cut Social Security and Medicare. At a minimum, they want to raise the retirement age to 70. So for the tens of millions of people in their early 60’s, that would be a direct hit of easily tens of thousands of dollars lost. In their wildest dreams, Repugs want to end the guarantees of Social Security and Medicare, which would economically devastate many more tens of millions of people. (And of course the Social Security/Medicare hit also has direct implications for any younger people who care about parents that receive Social Security and Medicare.)
There are many other specific examples that would require more effort to specifically quantify (e.g., reversing the cap on insulin costs and on senior drug costs that Democrats passed; the economic impact on federal program recipients and other federal taxpayers of eliminating the 15% minimum corporate tax that Democrats passed; etc.). I fear that Dems can’t just rely on appeals to nice concepts like “saving Democracy”. Dems need to get in the trenches and show people how Republicans will HURT THEM!
Thank you to Inequality Media for publishing this online, I just hope it is reaching the MAGA population, I would think most Democrats are well aware of these lies.
Funny how the right never stops trying to sell supply side BS. It never worked, it was debunked upon arrival. But they keep repeating it and those who don't engage in critical thinking go for the bait.
It's a giveaway to the rich that bumps up the deficit. Programs in education, housing, health care and infrastructure provide jobs and shore up the tax base, knocking down the deficit.
I believe you are “preaching to the choir”. Those of us that will read of your valued thoughts are likely to be in full agreement. Surely, when we encounter such rhetoric, most thinking citizens have read enough to present argument but it seldom has any effect on the weak minded opposition.
Thanks for the video ... just one little thing: for me personally it would be better without background music ... as I get older I find it harder to catch the spoken text when their is background "noise"
Not enough people are politically informed. All around the board. We need to educate with our messaging. Uneducated voters are playing right into the republicans hands.
Truth, hence trust, hence legitimacy, are the foundation of a nation's democracy. The Republicans today betray the truth, betray our trust, and are dismantling and betraying the legitimacy of institutions. If they prevail, our democracy will be in gravest peril, even worse than at the time of our historical Civil War!
Donald was an old pal of Vince McMahon of pro wrestling. The Republican Party is recklessly playing a stunt for the rubes, and it is working for them. They are carelessly putting the match to whatever is precious in American politics, and it entertains them when it causes us anguish.
In pro wrestling, the bad boys - who tend to have more fans than the good guys, or "babyfaces" - act in the most atrocious way towards other wrestlers, and the crowd eats it up. The wrestlers remain scrupulously in-character whenever they are in public-called kayfabe. Donald is a bigger-than-life bad guy, a "heel." I can't tell if he comprehends what a fake he is. But the party members don't care, they scream with delight.
The late Andy Kaufman loved pro wrestling "guerrilla theater." All of his notoriously nasty appearances in the ring were staged. The news media presented it as though he were being a real jerk, and was getting threatened and pounded by offended pro wrestlers. But it all was a stunt, even the pretend injuries. He kept the illusion for entertainment purposes.
Once Kaufman wrestled in Nashville. Before the match, he insolently showed a video to the Nashville audience on how to use soap, and performed to deafening screams of hate from the crowd. They sent him to the hospital with a broken neck - that was part of the script. The crowd didn't know it was phony. They loved it.
The not-so-bright MAGA crowd is using American politics for entertainment the same way. The crowd is delirious that Paul Pelosi was bonked by a hammer. "It was his gay lover!" It’s all as believable and real to them as wrestling, the neck-shattering piledrivers that are carefully rehearsed by the pro wrestlers before the show. These physical actors portray the illusion of physical harm while protecting the "opponent" actor from getting hurt. If the wrestlers are good, nobody really gets hurt.
This is the Republican game for delirious voters. They don’t want to hear about inflation or crime or Herschel Walker’s aborted fetuses. It’s just a game to them. They will tell you that Shoah (the Holocaust) was a hoax. They will tell you that the Democrats eat babies. They relish in their illusion that their guy will righteously crush the bad guy.
Wrestling makes money off the intellectual flaccidity and massive egos of these losers. So does the Republican Party. They've brought the Big Show to the big ring, and their followers are orgasmic with delight.
The idiot truly has the matches, and they will burn the house down. They really might get us killed. This is not a phony stunt by skilled actors, although professional liars like Kevin McCarthy, Ted Cruz, Marjorie Taylor Greene seem to believe that they all belong to a wrestling stable that allows them to preen and strut for the crowd, in order to get the big payoff.
Honestly, that is why they won't budge when faced with the truth. They have paid for their tickets, and expect a show. They are vicious, indifferent losers who play with our country like it's a stunt.
It is very entertaining to injure helpless things and watch them die. The childhood of most psychopaths is replete with animal cruelty.
“The essential American soul is hard, isolate, stoic, and a killer. It has never yet melted.”
― D.H. Lawrence, Studies in Classic American Literature
I wish to dispute D.H. Lawrence, but I have no grounds to do so.
Lies = The Republican Party platform.
Robert Reich is one of the few people formerly in power with the Democrats who is able to articulate very complicated issues clearly and with great FORCE. Oh, how we need that!
If corporate media was more concerned with discussing and presenting the actual facts rather than pleasing their conservative owners, the GOP would be unmasked for who they really are: facists, liars and violent thugs.
Authoritarians figure out how people feel and construct messages they repeat. They use “alternative facts” to back up their messages.
Liberals (broadly defined) start with facts about complex situations so they can govern well. Difficult problems like climate change have many causes. So liberals sound the alarm with many different, uncoordinated messages. Those messages often don’t connect with voters’ immediate feelings. Or they may require an inconvenient solution. We are losing the messaging war.
We need to do this differently while still telling the truth. But we’re all over the place, so we’re not getting traction.
Republicans are great at bitching and blaming but they pose NO SOLUTIONS to any problem facing this nation.
11-6-22
Inflation, taxes, and crime? Really??
These aren’t what I’m worried about. These subjects aren’t what’s tearing our country apart.
What is wrong with the reasoning power of these people? Where is their head? If they think that these are the most important issues that are at steak here, then we ARE in big trouble.
Our country is not only divided as to the actual issues at hand, but also in reasoning power in general. I wish these were the only things that divide us; I would be truly grateful. Our problems go much deeper perhaps right down to humanity’s ability to change and grow with time. We appear to be the same old species that we were perhaps thousands of years in the past.
We are still fighting amongst ourselves.
We are still killing each other because our leaders tell us to.
We are still hoarding what we have.
The .05% are still controlling and enslaving us while they get rich off of our labors and at the same time, succeeding on making us grateful to be screwed.
Humanity in general behaves as if they were suspicious of those who seem different.
The majority of the humans are prejudice against someone based upon race, religion or ethnicity.
And many, if not most, still have issues about sex, or sexual orientation.
Yes, some have awakened from at least a few of these nightmarish beliefs and have decided to grow beyond, but how many? And how long will it take for the majority of humanity to get beyond these issues? We keep doing the same things over and over and over, and act as if we just don’t notice! A relative hand full of people will routinely kick up some dust over their favorite issues, but no one can even focus on what it is we’re all mad about at any given time! It’s as if some magician points in the opposite direction when he’s hiding the disappearing objects in his coat pocket. And the disappearing objects that are being hidden are our mind and heart.
The National Debt Clock is a Lie!
It’s the bigger lie, maybe the biggest. Rs are getting played, and the rest of us are collateral damage.
We have $135 Trillion net household wealth. Net.
$31 Trillion on the ‘debt clock’ is not even close.
This is what it’s all about: Hiding our wealth in plain sight to get lower taxes.
How? Cannot conceive.
Please, finally, get it out there!
best luck to US, b.rad
( source US Federal Reserve, quarterly, ‘distribution of household wealth’ plus many other very pertinent super pro web pages )
Disgraceful behavior of the Media. Sharing away!
Excellent point about all the lies. Also time to emphasize the hurt.
IMHO, in their closing messages, Dems need to publicize and emphasize to people (especially through targeted marketing) all the ways that Republican control of government will explicitly hurt them. Let’s start with Biden’s plan for college student debt relief. Over 22 million people have already applied, and up to 37 million people are eligible. The Repugs want to cancel that program, and 6 Republican states have already sued to stop it. If the Repugs succeed, that’s at least a $10,000 loss (and for many $20,000). That is a very tangible, and easily documentable, harm. (Note that this URL provides a CNBC site that shows the surprisingly large number of people eligible for student debt relief by state. Folks with active senate election contests might want to check that out.) https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/20/how-many-people-will-get-student-loan-forgiveness-in-each-state.html
Next up is the Republican plan to cut Social Security and Medicare. At a minimum, they want to raise the retirement age to 70. So for the tens of millions of people in their early 60’s, that would be a direct hit of easily tens of thousands of dollars lost. In their wildest dreams, Repugs want to end the guarantees of Social Security and Medicare, which would economically devastate many more tens of millions of people. (And of course the Social Security/Medicare hit also has direct implications for any younger people who care about parents that receive Social Security and Medicare.)
There are many other specific examples that would require more effort to specifically quantify (e.g., reversing the cap on insulin costs and on senior drug costs that Democrats passed; the economic impact on federal program recipients and other federal taxpayers of eliminating the 15% minimum corporate tax that Democrats passed; etc.). I fear that Dems can’t just rely on appeals to nice concepts like “saving Democracy”. Dems need to get in the trenches and show people how Republicans will HURT THEM!
Thank you to Inequality Media for publishing this online, I just hope it is reaching the MAGA population, I would think most Democrats are well aware of these lies.
Funny how the right never stops trying to sell supply side BS. It never worked, it was debunked upon arrival. But they keep repeating it and those who don't engage in critical thinking go for the bait.
It's a giveaway to the rich that bumps up the deficit. Programs in education, housing, health care and infrastructure provide jobs and shore up the tax base, knocking down the deficit.
I believe you are “preaching to the choir”. Those of us that will read of your valued thoughts are likely to be in full agreement. Surely, when we encounter such rhetoric, most thinking citizens have read enough to present argument but it seldom has any effect on the weak minded opposition.
Thanks for the video ... just one little thing: for me personally it would be better without background music ... as I get older I find it harder to catch the spoken text when their is background "noise"
Not enough people are politically informed. All around the board. We need to educate with our messaging. Uneducated voters are playing right into the republicans hands.