Arthur Camins, retired science and technology educator, knows that Democrats must do a better job of reaching out and persuading nearly half of voters that we all have a stake in a better, fairer society.
He writes:
Celebrate! Breathe a very, very big sigh of relief. Among the record number of Americans who went to the polls and mailed in their ballots, over half voted for Joe Biden to reject and decisively defeat Donald Trump!! At least five million more. I wish it was a landslide, but still, big, big whew!
However, don’t stop worrying. Be vigilant. Organize.
Roughly 47% of voting Americans, (including 58% of exit-polled whites) were willing to accept an openly racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, corrupt, wealth-protecting tax cheat, as well as his many elected Republican sycophantic supporters. The causes go way back and continue to this day. We ignore that history and current precipitants at our grave peril. The depth of racism, appeal of authoritarianism, and continued of be-out-for-yourself cynicism will not fade away soon. The danger of armed right-wing violence is ever-present.
This deep polarization is unacceptable, he writes. We must find a way forward that changes the mindset of those who fail to see that our society rises or falls together. He has some suggestions.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
Diane and Arthur I have already suggested here a couple of times that “campaign” money and/or public monies (legislation?) should go into SUSTAINED and well-made public service announcements for the next four years (at least). If there isn’t an office and staff already set up for it, there should be. . . . not necessarily PARTY driven, but bi-partisan democracy-ordered INFORMATION driven, and comprehensive all forms of communication.
No one in America who uses any form of electronic communications should go for more than a week without hearing something about what public-service government is doing for their and their family’s well-being. CBK
To the typical Trump voter, the mainstream media has focused on the wrong threat. It is not the authoritarian ruler they fear, it is the permissive (think those democrat mayors letting those mobs tear things up) government that lets criminals rule society.
Today, I heard a talk show on the radio in which a person was arguing that Detroit was filled with voter fraud, Trump voters see cities as dark and bloody places to fear. Socialism is a thing to fear. Immigrants are a thing to fear.
Fearful people are the ones who do not think they have control. Trump voters fear crowds of people, out of control. So if you want to persuade Trump voters to support good ideas, you are going to have to produce ideas that no one can argue are things to fear. An entire network of opposition leaders will be trying to convince you there is something to fear.
Unfortunately, bare knuckle politics works in their favor.
And bare knuckle politics should work against them . How do you convince people who rely on the social safety net more than they realize that these programs are the dreaded socialism.
Where does the state get the right to tell an employer / employee who he can negotiate wages with. Hold on tight Janus was child play.
Roy-
Speaking of Detroit and the presidential election, Monica Palmer (Chair of the Wayne County Board of Canvassers) voted to certify the suburb’s votes but, not Detroit’s. Her critics label the vote, racist. She’s not new to controversy. An ethics complaint was filed last summer concerning her operation of a dark money PAC promoting candidates for the Gross Pointe school board election. Btw- her bio shows a stint as treasurer at a charter school.
A person’s “fear” evokes possible sympathy and may give bigotry a legitimacy it doesn’t deserve.
“It is not the authoritarian ruler they fear, it is the permissive (think those democrat mayors letting those mobs tear things up) government that lets criminals rule society.”
Yet these are the same Republican/Libertarians who want LESS government in their lives! Civics Education is the only answer to this problem. People have very little knowledge about how government works “for the people”…..they only know that they voted, but didn’t get what they wanted as the outcome (=BAD government). It’s also become very confusing since lawyers have come into the system and “loopholed” legislation (in favor of the wealthy) that normal people are unable to understand. Government has become too cozy with Wall Street and has left Main Street to pull itself up by its own bootstraps.
It’s fascinating, don’t you think? Logical pretzels.
Have you ever tried to persuade a close family member to stop smoking? Well, it’s going to be 10 times harder than that. Just for starters it is necessary to recognize just how addictive some belief systems can be.
“Just for starters it is necessary to recognize just how addictive some belief systems can be.”
Yes sir!
With the most addictive, using all the psychological hooks mankind has thought up, being faith-belief systems, especially the three Abrahamic ones.
To grasp the power of the addiction we have to begin with Max Weber’s thesis in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and take the dynamic he identifies to its enantiodromic limit.
Which religion’s leaders are cozy with Charles Koch?
UnKochMyCampus.org has info. at its site about a collective response against Koch’s latest subterfuge, his new book.
“I wish it was a landslide, but still, big, big whew!” If Trump or any other GOP hack (Bush #2) had garnered those numbers, they would be screaming from the rooftops that it was a landslide and that it amounted to a mandate to enact whatever heinous legislation that they had in mind for the American public. Legislation like slashing taxes for the rich and slicing and dicing the social safety net. The GOP is still working overtime to invalidate and cripple the election process; thankfully their efforts are failing in the courts and the Trumpers are even being challenged and defied by some GOP state officials. Trump still has not conceded and he is still getting support from too many GOP flame throwers. People like Bernie Kerik who has a radio show on WABC-770, one of the most powerful radio stations in NYC. Who’s Bernie Kerik (40th Commissioner of the NYC Police Department and convicted felon when Giuliani was mayor) from wikipedia: However, Kerik soon withdrew his candidacy, explaining that he had employed an undocumented immigrant as a nanny. His admission touched off state and federal investigations. In 2006, Kerik pleaded guilty in Bronx Supreme Court to two unrelated misdemeanor ethics violations and was ordered to pay $221,000 in fines. In 2009, Kerik pleaded guilty in the Southern District of New York to eight federal felony charges, and in February 2010, he was sentenced to four years in federal prison.[3][4] On February 18, 2020, President Donald Trump granted Kerik a full pardon.[5] end quote
Kerik was standing behind Giuliani at that Four Seasons Lawn Care fiasco. How do these fascist pigs get away with this blatant incompetency?! What is the matter with too many Americans!!!!!
Flash back to 2004: 2004-11-05 04:00:00 PDT Washington — President Bush proclaimed his election as evidence that Americans embrace his plans to reform Social Security, simplify the tax code, curb lawsuits and fight the war on terror, pledging Thursday to work in a bipartisan manner with “everyone who shares our goals.”
Bush staked his claim to a broad mandate and announced his top priorities at a post-election news conference, saying his 3.5 million vote victory had won him political capital that he would spend enacting his conservative agenda. end quote
Bush’s plans to kill off Social Security flopped, thank goodness. Biden beat Trump by 5,808,677 million popular votes and still counting. Biden should say that he won by a landslide and that he has a mandate to restore sanity to the USA and to strengthen the social safety net and to enact the Green New Deal, for openers.
Biden is approaching 7 million votes . He may get closer to 8 million . Depending on NY and late arriving ballots in states that allow it . It is a landslide.
The House and Senate races have yet to be explained . Some of those lost House seats should never have been won in in 18 . They were won by razor thin margins in Red districts that Trump voters stayed home in .
A landslide in my view would be getting at least 2/3rds of the vote, not a 52-47% margin.
Of course Biden could lie like Georgie the Least or the tRump about their supposed popular mandates.
It’s way too early to say “whew”.
We are in so much danger and the fact that we are in danger DESPITE the incompetency of Giuliani and company tells you how huge this danger is.
If Biden takes office, then we can say “whew”. Much too early. Right now I will not be surprised if the election is overturned. And I say that as one of the few people who thought that the non-stop attacks on the dems in 2016 were a huge problem and would result in the election of Trump and a right wing Supreme Court and be dangerous to democracy. I feel the same way now.
In 2016 the only thing I wanted was to be proved wrong and tell all the folks criticizing me for worrying that they were right. And that’s how I feel now. I will be thrilled to hear “I told you so” and admit I was wrong.
But we are in very dangerous times right now, and what is frightening is that Giuliani can be as laughable and incompetent as he is and it doesn’t matter because the danger is that enormous.
Trump may very well serve another 4 years, with “elections” and democracy looking like they do in Putin’s Russia.
Is it wise for Camins to presume that the religious leaders of 40% of the population are far removed from the decisions to vote (and, from the concerns/objectives that he cites)?
I guess so, because that would explain the topic’s blackout.
Defending the omission is made a tad more difficult, given that trump pumps up the GOP base by saying Democratic voters are anti-Christian…no reply from Dems, point for the GOP.
Here is a refreshing thought you appeal to the Trump voter about as much as the Republicans have appealed to the Black or His[panic voter, to women , to gays …
You don’t bother, you solidify your growing base including young and minority voters and educated voter. While you wait for those you have not a chance in hell to change, to die off. With each election they will be further marginalized as their number shrink.
Unfortunately with the Republicans in charge of the Senate. They will not allow those “Socialist “(Not) programs to ever pass.
Ceding the platform of patriotism and religion to the GOP- would that be a new or old Dem strategy?
The GOP has also commandeered the platform of capitalism.
Linda
A party and their supporters who could support an authoritarian demagogue who loves other authoritarian leaders and calls soldiers who sacrificed for their nation suckers. While he berates parents and wives of those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice . As he allowed American troops to be attacked in Syria by Russians and bounties to be placed by Russia on American forces in Afghanistan; all with out a peep to Putin. Can hardly be called Patriotic.
A party that tolerates infants ripped from their mothers arms while it rants about the unborn but ignores the plight of the living hardly be called religious .
As for capitalism that died long ago. The Federal reserve on numerous occasions now has shown no hesitancy to own the means of production. I was taught that was Socialism.
Joel,
I read your alternet story link from a different post and thank you! I agree.
I grew up in so-called Trump country and see Facebook discussions. And I can confirm that the Trump supporters don’t even believe in any truth if it is coming from their Republican friends who they grew up with and share the same values! It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if a good friend who is a lifetime Republican tries to tell them the truth because they prefer to believe what they “hear” from Trump or their right wing “sources”. They still have a high opinion of their Republican friend who shares all the same values — it’s just that they are absolutely certain that he is the deluded one and they know the “truth”. They do not seem reachable. They are in a cult.
But it is good that this goes beyond party or even values — there are pro-life Republicans who still believe in truth. And there are those on the left who are as blinded as the Trump supporters. Democracy is falling and they are already screaming that Biden is corrupt and dishonest because he appointed leader of the Black Congressional Caucus Cedric Richmond to lead the White House Office of Public Engagement.
I don’t think Biden will be inaugurated – Trump will serve another term. I dearly hope I am wrong.
Linda, I agree 100% about not ceding patriotism, religion, and capitalism. Instead, we have to work to change these definitions: patriotism means defending the right to burn the flag, not the flag; religions teach that taking care of the most vulnerable is a virtue, and capitalism works fine if balanced with Quality of Life (which we dems need to talk about more often) and the influence of corporations on our government is minimized.
John-
I like your succinct statements. The points you’ve made should be emphasized, not avoided in Dem messaging.
As an example, when the GOP strategy includes geofencing a religion’s churches, the Dems should be there before and after.
The pivotal states (electoral college) sported throughout, a huge number of clustered yard signs with recurring themes, signs that said, “Jesus is my savior”, “religious freedom”, “protect the unborn”, coupled with large American flags and pro-Trump signage.
Gotta love the new KKKumbaya movement http://wikipediareview.com/smilys0b23ax56/default/yecch.gif
The 2020 election is the Beer Hall Putsch. Unsuccessful, but. . . .
You might say, but, but Trump is going to jail. From your mouth to all the gods’ ears, but. . . .
Hitler, too, went to jail between that and the Enabling Act. Who will ghostwrite his Mein Kampf? Miller and McInany? What disreputable publisher will publish it?
Trump and his spawn and the architects of Trumpism behind them (Bannon, Miller, Barr, McConnell) are already laying their plans for developing and building upon the breathtaking success (Yes, 47.5 percent of the electorate is a success) of their wannabe fascist program. The Trumps, ofc, think that this is THEIR brand, and they are already laying their plans for a media network and for a future presidential run, but Jabba the Trump is losing it and will doubtless be in no shape to run in 2024, and it’s hard to imagine that Donnie or Ivanka or Eric will have the staying power, but. . . .
it was hard to imagine that anyone would have been fool enough to take Trump seriously back in 2016, wasn’t it? Could Donnie or Ivanka actually command the same following? I’ve said, “That’s preposterous” before. I did it way back when candidate Reagan was running around saying the Social Security was a Communist plot. Surely this guy hasn;t a snowball’s chance, but. . . .
The next Trump will most likely be someone who attains squatter’s rights to the House that Trump Built. Someone even more dangerous–with the same Trump amorality and racism and fascism and classism but younger, prettier, more articulate, more knowledgeable, more persuasive.
It can happen here, folks. it is happening. We have two things on our side–most young people aren’t Trumpeteers, and the demographics of the country are changing (which is one of the reasons for the success of Trumpism, alas, to begin with). But again, the 2020 election was not a decisive victory over this whiteness darkness. I’ll try to avoid the war analogy, though I will say, gird up for our fight for the minds and hearts of the young voters coming up.
Is there an American Bolsonaro? An American Vorlov?man American Modi? An American Putin?
Hitler might not be possible in a modern state. But who is to say that something more pernicious might arise?
I don’t think that “might” is the word, Roy. I think that this is pretty darned close to a certainty.
Those who care about preserving Democracy need to take a cue from the anti-fascist propaganda videos created by the U.S. government during World War II. Something like those are needed to keep the fascist movement in America from gaining in the coming years.
A lot of this is education. Many Americans bought the line fed Trump by Bannon, Sessions, and Miller, when they picked him to carry their White Supremacist banner forward. These three demons created and coronated Trump. And what was his successful shtick? America is rotting at its core. It’s run by people who don’t care about average working folk. I’ll put you back to work, and I’ll keep out those immigrants who are stealing your jobs, and I’ll return us to our days of glory and pride. The old fascist song and dance, but it worked like a charm. It’s these things that we must teach young people about to inoculate them against the pandemic of Trumpism (yes, it’s global). They need to understand that the US is an immigrant nation. They need to understand that there is simply no truth to the notion that immigrants, undocumented and otherwise, lead to a net decrease in jobs for American workers. And they need to understand how fascists in the past have used these same appeals and the horrific consequences of buying what they were selling.
Well stated. The fascist message would not have resonated so well if we had a more equitable society.
“Education”
Bannon geofenced the churches of the protected religion and delivered GOP messages to the congregants.
One of the primary political sites affiliated with the protected religion experienced exponential growth in 2020. That same site praised Hungary’s strong man and rhetorically asked if Orban’s policies could be implemented in the U,S.
Arthur, Trump voters I know view anti-Trump voters as destroying the nation, separatist, setting race against race, etc., you will not “convince” them of their error, just as it is unlikely they will convince you .. Biden’s success may cool the temperature.. remember Republicans gained seats in the House
I have precisely zero interest in engaging Trump voters. I want the young voters coming up. That’s where we need to be putting our energy and money.
The young voters coming up and our growing communities of color.
Trumpeteers: I have no interest in converting you, not in the short term, though I am interested in changing the conditions under which you suffer. I am interested in teaching your children. And you aren’t going to like what I teach them. You aren’t going to like it one bit. I’m not going to make any apologies for that.
I have several friends whose children have at least for now rejected their parents’ reactionary attitudes
Well, maybe the route to persuasion is not direct. Maybe Democrats fighting for and making some progress on basic issues like affordable housing, healthcare, and education is persuasive. The Affordable Care Act made a material difference in the lives of many people, but it fell far short of helping enough people to shift their thinking. It was perceived by too many as “helping them with my tax dollars.” It failed in its don’t demand what is unrealistic comprise ahead of time framing.
Peter,
Rhetorically, does your “etc.” include trump telling his base that Biden voters are anti-Christian?
If Dems are going to cede message categories and imagery to the GOP, like the patriotic label, can they draw the line on ceding the entire segment who identify as Christ’s followers to the GOP? Maybe, the Dems’ messaging could have a goal of claiming part of the religion label for Dems?
Arthur, Trump voters I know view anti-Trump voters as destroying the nation, separatist, setting race against race, etc., you will not “convince” them of their error, just as it is unlikely they will convince you .. Biden’s success may cool the temperature.. remember Republicans gained seats in the House
Democrats need to work together to win elections. While the loss of seats in the House resulted in finger pointing, all factions of the Democratic Party need to stay united as they did in the election. Democrats need working people to win elections, and they have made too many empty promises while they have embraced Wall St and Silicon Valley’s money. Democrats lost a lot of voters in the heartland when they abandoned labor. They have ignored staggering income inequality, and such policies do not work for working families. In order to deliver what working families need, they are going to have to win bigger. Otherwise, they will continue to be the party of broken promises. They need to deliver viable ways for people to earn a living and stand against vulture capitalism. If Democrats can deliver a more equitable economy with strong social safety nets and quality public education, they will draw in some traditional, blue collar conservatives from the Republican Party while increasing their base. Democrats must deliver in order to grow.
My opinion-
For Dems to gain votes in the heartland they’ve got to effectively counter religious leaders’ messaging.
Ignoring the religious vote in the south and west, in light of the growth in Hispanic voting, is unwise.
The deprivation imposed by income inequality can increase religiosity.
Charles Koch and other billionaires sought advantage by pairing with a religious sect.
But, if blog commenters think avoiding religion has been working for the Dems, never mind. Btw, a small segment within a larger religious sect that labels itself, ____’s for Biden, could be working for his opponent. In Ohio, a few years ago, media reported about anti-abortion individuals taking over some of the counties’ Democratic parties.
Linda Like Trump and the rest, keep whipping up that fear. CBK
Biden won without the red states and without red counties in blue states(except for flip of AZ and GA). A creature as foul as Trump was Biden’s advantage, but no bounce down-ballot where Trump was not. Dealing in long term with the Trump 47% is a long-term project. Joel Herman’s take above makes sense. The Trump phenomenon erupted after 45 years of patient politiciking at all levels of govt and industry to smother the mass movements, democratic opposition, and emerging socialism from the protest cultures of the the 60s/70s. Right-wing super-rich began investing in the revanchist agenda widely circulated as the “the Powell Memorandum”(Aug. 1971), a panoramic ultra-conservative business-based program to overwhelm dissidents/progressives. Decade by decade the right-wing campaign advanced, inciting and consolidating disparate fractions like gun rights, anti-abortion, evangelicals, anti-feminists, white supremacist, declining white male workforces, etc., using right-wing talk radio dispersed across the nation along with cable news. The making of Trump’s 47% began with Powell, slowed by Nixon’s forced resignationin 74 after which Dems held Congress, SCOTUS and Carter WH. An immense left-of center majority now just barely contends with the immense Trump base. A majoritarian policy enriching families from the bottom up can give an edge, but more will be needed too, like political leadership able to speak conversationally to everyday folks.
“Will you shut up, man?” Biden spoke for everyone sick of the tyrannical toddler. Joe Biden knows how to talk to regular people, but he still needs to deliver a fairer economy for working people. It is hard to make good on a better economy without Congress in your corner.
“but he still needs to deliver a fairer economy for working people.”
I wish, but I don’t see that happening. He’s bought and paid for by the banksters, large corporations and health insurance industry. He knows who lines his pockets. He won’t bite the hand that feeds him.
Which then, in failing “to deliver a fairer ecomony for working people” he will help usher in the next Rethuglican regressive reactionary authoritarian president who is a far more capable a administrator. Although the tRump hasn’t done a bad job of destroying the good parts of the government and environment. Pretty soon we will be running into the wall that few talk about. . . yep, global warming, whether man-made or not at this point.
Dwayne, the economy you want that works for all working people depends on people, all of us, organizing especially at the local level, around common issues of concern to people that make a difference in their lives. Electing people follows. Legislation that helps people follows. That will true no matter who gets elected. So, yeah, I wish we elected a more progressive president. Now let’s move on with the opportunity we’ve won.
I still can’t understand how a party that favors tax breaks for the 1% beats a party that favors raising the minimum wage and providing healthcare for all or almost all.
This!
If voters cared that they weren’t getting anything from Democrats, they would also care that they weren’t getting anything from Republicans!
But we saw huge turnout and yet Republicans won Senate and House races, and local races as well.
How come the Republicans keep winning?
Winning doesn’t seem to have any connection to doing anything for voters. It’s almost like people are saying that voters want to be abused by their politicians, so they vote for Republicans because they blatantly abuse them, while the Democrats just don’t give them more of what they want.
One of the reasons Republicans attract voters is that a lot of Republicans are tribal. They are tethered to the party. It is like their security blanket. I don’t get it either. Republicans, as Obama recently said, do a much better job on messaging. They repeat the same talking points over and over until it becomes the accepted norm, even when it is a lie like claiming that the Democrats are socialists. Conservatives convinced Latinos in Florida that the country would become Venezuela if they voted blue. Democrats don’t like to brag about their accomplishments. Republicans will brag about Democratic accomplishments and claim that Republicans built the stronger economy, and everyone seems to accept their version of reality.
I heard on the radio today that a new poll shows that 1/3 of the public thinks Biden stole the election. This is the fruit of Trump’s attacks on the election. Surprised the number is not higher. The old “stabbed in the back” lie.
Exactly, Diane! The old lie!
…providing healthcare for all or almost all.
A Trump supporter told me that Medicare for All is socialism and we don’t want to be like Venezuela. Trump, of course, has produced a much cheaper and much better healthcare plan than ACA.
I was asked if I was a Marxist.
Why vote for socialism when Trump can fix everything? If you believe Trump on everything you know better days are coming. He won the election. Just ask all who show
up for Trump’s ego rallies…assuming he can get out of his depressed mood.
I have a friend in Florida who has no health insurance and is working a low paying job that is so stressful that she will have to quit. She is seeing a doctor today and will charge it on her credit card. She is throwing up blood and it is in her stools. She doesn’t know how to pay off her credit card and most likely won’t have enough left on the card to pay for whatever test is required. After the test, she has to see a doctor who will give her a prescription for what she thinks is a bleeding ulcer. She’s hoping this prescription and the next doctor won’t charge her anything. Florida is one of the states that did not sign up for ACA or the expansion of Medicaid.
Look at articles like this. There is something seriously wrong with media that can lie with abandonment…and destroy this country.
………………………………………………………….
Bernie’s Socialism Is The Same Kind That Destroyed Venezuela
Sanders Calls Himself a Democratic Socialist
…Chavez and Sanders are cut from the same ideological cloth. They are both socialists, and both tried very hard to differentiate their versions of socialism from that of Karl Marx by using a different name.Marx defined socialism as an economic system in which the government controls the majority of the means of production: capital, labor, and resources. A very limited private ownership would still be allowed in a socialist society, but a central authority would determine what is produced, distributed, and consumed. Marx believed socialism was a transitional stage between capitalism and communism, although he often used communism and socialism interchangeably….
Today, Venezuelans still have access to free health care, except they don’t receive much care. The country suffers an 85 percent shortage of medicine and a 90 percent deficit of medical supplies. Infant mortality and maternal mortality rates are higher than those in war-torn countries such as Syria. The list prices of basic food items at government-run stores are cheap, although Venezuelans can’t get them because most shelves are empty. Electricity is still affordable, except blackouts occur several times a week…
https://thefederalist.com/2020/03/05/bernie-sanders-democratic-socialism-is-the-same-kind-that-destroyed-venezuela/#.X7ZhcEZtADM.gmail
Ira,
What religion are all of the SCOTUS conservative justices, including the most significant, prior conservative judge, Scalia?
What religion was Paul Weyrich, who co-founded the religious right and ALEC?
What religion is Leonard Leo, who like William Barr, received an award from an organization within the same religion for his success leading the Federalist Society?
Which religion has leaders from 15 major cities as signers of the Manhattan Declaration?
Which religion are most of the Fox on-air right wingers, e.g. Hannity and Laura Ingraham?
Which religion has the largest lay organization in the world, an organization that welcomed Trump for a photo op at its D.C. shrine?
The repeated attribution of political power to “anti- abortion evangelicals”, with a blinder to the other dominant American religion
would be puzzling if it wasn’t so consistent.
The Administrator of the GSA who is blocking the Biden transition- graduate of Villa Duchesne and Oak Hill School, a religious school
linked to the network of Sacred Heart schools. Maybe Emily W. Murphy will receive an award like Leo and Barr.
Linda is our in-house conspiracy theorist. If you went to a Catholic-‘linked’ school, you MUST BE a Catholic Zombie. CBK
You do you, Linda! Your factual, accurate comments are much needed in the age of cults.
GregB “You do you, Linda! Your factual, accurate comments are much needed in the age of cults.”
Your comment shows that, in the midst of an otherwise sharp consciousness, anyone can endorse half-truths and one-view distortions . . . IF those half-truths and distortions match their own biases . . . something like what Trump followers are doing. CBK
CBK,
May I suggest again that you do not get drawn into defending your faith. Not necessary.
You have valuable insights on many public issues.
Don’t be distracted.
Diane I imagine you are in a similar position with this site as Mark Zuckerberg is with Facebook . . . trying to moderate the tension between freedom of speech and the constant purveyance of damaging and misleading propaganda. In this case, as always with propaganda, some truth is offered; but also with consistent distortions and omissions associated with ignorance and bias, again, in this case, against religion in general and specifically against Catholicism, evangelicals broad-brushing ALL with the brush of bias. . . . like “let’s get rid of welfare because some abuse the system.”
. . . No one that I know wholly supports the old Catholic Doctrine, and few if any support what organizations like The Federalist Society are doing. Nor do they engage in zombie-type thought that Linda portrays about all religious people with her constant innuendo; for instance, putting scare quotes around a reference to Catholic churches doing “good” and searching everyone’s background for a hint of Catholic teaching for an implied GOTCHA moment.
**My thought is that, when even good information–and some of it is–consistently turns into an foghorn for obsessive anti-religious propaganda, someone should at least point it out and offer others a different and fuller view. If it bothers you, of course I will leave. However, note that the general theme is not merely Catholicism, but religion as such.
Thank you for all you do, CBK
Diane My reply went to moderation. CBK
Maybe it would make more sense to focus on the near-third of the voting-eligible population who don’t vote at all.
They might be easier to convince because they did not vote forTrump.
Of course, they also did not vote for Biden, but at least you don’t have to convince them that it’s totally irrational to vote for someone like Trump because they already know it.
Yo just gave to convince them that there is a reason to vote.
Until there is a radical change in electoral politics away from the oligarchic duopoly we have, there will be at least a third of the eligible electorate that won’t vote as they know what they would like to see cannot be delivered by a Dim or Rethug.
Agree Poet, but, it’s a steep climb. Stacey Abrams is awesome.
I presume that LeBron James, mid-40’s, voted for the first time this year because Trump was overtly race baiting.
Just to be clear, I’m not imagining some new magic way to “persuade” Trump voters that their vote was somehow misguided and that progressives, or for that matter moderate Democrats, have the truth. Any shift will happen slowly when we do the hard work of organizing people around issues of direct concern, win some battles, and make an appreciable difference in people’s lives. And let’s not forget that while shifting the allegiance of white working class voters is important, it was the work of youth and people of color that won the election. Of course, I am relieved that Biden won and that may give us space to do the work. However, we won’t move forward, I think, with a primary focus on presidential elections.
File under, you can’t make this stuff up.
Via nbcnews:
Dan Zak
@MrDanZak
·
20h
Update from U.S. district court in Williamsport, Pa., one of the Trump campaign’s last stands:
GIULIANI: “I’m not sure what ‘opacity’ means. It probably means you can see.”
JUDGE BRANN: “It means you can’t.”
As if Giuliani’s performance at the “4 Seasons” wasn’t ridiculous enough and now the above clunker. When does Trump fire this idiot? Oh wait, they are idiots of a feather and the flock together.
Poor Rudy. He’s an over the hill shyster carrying water for one of the worst people in the country.
Rudy has demanded $20,000 a day to lead the Trump legal battles. That makes him the highest paid lawyer in the country.
I agree that if we wish to continue this great social experiment in democracy called the USA, we must all try somehow, to bridge this great political divide. But- when politics and government is now viewed by a wide swath of the population as a combat sport ( divided into “winners” and ” losers”) and “us vs. them”, what would be some ways to change the hearts and minds of our citizenry? IMO- we really need to get back to some sense of feeling that we are all Americans again. And- not opposing political enemy camps. My two cents…
There are plenty of state lawsuits to take care of Trump. Biden should put his energies toward working to undo the damage that Trump has done to this country.
………………………
Biden Planning to Discourage Criminal Investigations of Trump
By Carol E. Lee, Kristen Welker and Mike Memoli, NBC News
18 November 20
Biden has told aides that he’s concerned that investigations would divide the country but that he would leave decisions up to an independent Justice Department.
resident-elect Joe Biden has privately told advisers that he doesn’t want his presidency to be consumedby investigations of his predecessor, according to five people familiar with the discussions, despite pressure from some Democrats who want inquiries into President Donald Trump, his policies and members of his administration.
Biden has raised concerns that investigations would further divide a country he is trying to unite and risk making every day of his presidency about Trump, said the sources, who spoke on background to offer details of private conversations.
They said he has specifically told advisers that he is wary of federal tax investigations of Trump or of challenging any orders Trump may issue granting immunity to members of his staff before he leaves office. One adviser said Biden has made it clear that he “just wants to move on.”
Another Biden adviser said, “He’s going to be more oriented toward fixing the problems and moving forward than prosecuting them.”
Any decisions by Biden’s Justice Department regarding Trump, his staff, his associates, his business or his policies wouldn’t affect investigations by state officials, including Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr., who has fought to obtain Trump’s tax returns…
https://readersupportednews.org/news-section2/318-66/66286-focus-biden-planning-to-discourage-criminal-investigations-of-trump
I’m watching a DVR recording of Frontline: American Voices: A Nation in Turmoil.
A speaker is in front of a group of Trump supporters who are waving large Trump flags and clapping. Don’t see anyone wearing a mask.
“We are very much in a spiritual battle right now because Christ is the way we’re going to triumph over evil.”
How does anyone fight this type of thinking? There is nothing factual, just hard wired belief in the goodness of Trump. How is this nonreligious con man able to persuade people so well?
I seriously doubt that these people can have their beliefs changed. Our best hope is that they don’t start carrying guns to their protest rallies that will be encouraged by Trump. I’m sure he will continue to have rallies, unless city planners get tired of being stiffed by never receiving money to pay for these events.
You’re right, Carol. But, Trump doesn’t do it alone. Religious leaders help him, like the Nevada bishop who stoked fear about voting irregularities.
Linda: I get furious at religious leaders who insist that going to church is more important that worrying about catching COVID-19.
The Catholic bishops in Indianapolis told parishioners that they didn’t need to go to church because of the high rate of infections. [I also wouldn’t want a bishop to decide for me what is correct behavior…but they did give decent advice.]
Respectfully, Carol, the construct that “fair and balanced” requires ferreting out situations to praise an organization each time an inconvenient truth is revealed, may warrant examination.
Lots of organizations are doing what’s right relative
to Covid, too many to list, including churches, mosques, temples, etc.
Back to the topic of Trump support from pulpits, high visibility media reports when it is done in evangelical churches (just as they report when evangelical churches defy Covid protocols).
I observe a bias apparent in Ira Shor’s comment at 1:38 which is not an anomaly. Rhetorically, are defenses, “balance”, and praise reserved for the protected religion and are its critics vilified?
Rub this in the noses of everyone who, despite being warned repeatedly, chose to vote against their own best interests, as if they were just screwing over people they hate: “Trump Administration Finalizing Last-Minute Safety Net Cuts” https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-administration-disability-food-stamp-cuts_n_5fb33cf2c5b6aad41f728c7a
Let’s take food stamps away from single mothers trying to feed their children in a pandemic, another historic move from team Trump.
Yes, and school lunches and breakfasts from poor kids, those of them who are in school.
Getting poor people to vote is difficult for a number of reasons, not the least of which is GOP efforts to keep them from voting and from having their votes matter (gerrymandering).
The problem is exacerbated by the religious who message for the GOP, while simultaneously being in poor communities to “help” them.
Linda Your are uninformed. Catholic churches DO help. So you can take help out of quotes. CBK
“Settlements and bankruptcies… payments to victims…cover-ups”
Linda All Catholics are completely evil zombies who never do any good for others or in the world. CBK
Wasn’t referring to people who did not vote, but rather, to folks who did vote and decided Trump & the GOP were the ticket to run with again. When Trump campaigned in 2016, he said he was the only one in the GOP who would protect Social Security, but he later said the first thing he’d do in his second term was provide cuts to the safety nut — including entitlements (earned benefits), such as Social Security, Disability & Medicare, as well as Medicaid, Food Stamps, etc. I personally know a lot of poor people who receive those benefits that voted for him, even though a friend and I advised them repeatedly of what they personally had on the line by doing so.
But yes, they continued to demonstrate unwavering support of Trump primarily due to the influence of their clergymen. However, they were neither Protestant nor Catholic.
What is the faith of their “clergymen”?
(Clever turn of phrase, educator, given conservative religion’s bias against women.)
Trump promised to eliminate the payroll tax, which funds Social Security. He said it would mean more money in take home pay for working people. It would also destroy Social Security.
They are Orthodox Jews, a sect that also does not have female clergy, though there are other Jewish sects that do, such as Reform Jews.
For Trump, the bit about helping working people was a ruse. Eliminating the Payroll Tax keeps more money in the pockets of employers, such as himself, since they would no longer be required to make contributions to that.
I have been very ill and unable to function for weeks, but a friend who has been helping me told me that a lot of those people have been really freaking out about Trump not continuing to be their president…
homelesseducator: I’m so sorry to learn that you are not feeling well. Hope your situation improves quickly and so that you can tell us all that now you feel great. I’m not big on prayers but do want you to get well really soon.
One Trump supporter won’t speak to me if I ever say anything bad about Trump. Another said that if I send any emails against him that she will just delete them…don’t bother sending any more. I’ve already reported that my brother knows I’m being influenced by Satan because I vote for evil politicians.
It is impossible to send facts because they all come from ‘fake news’. It has to be a cult sickness.
CarolMalaysia, Thank you so much for your kind words! I am making improvements each day (Thank God, as a teacher, I learned long ago to appreciate baby steps.)
I read about Muslims who voted for Trump, as well as Mexicans in Texas by the border. It will be a huge challenge to get through to people who are religious, yet are totally enamored by him and his celebrity. I really don’t get how they are able to support such a hateful, immature, uninformed, unethical, Godless, con-artist, who’s spent his life flaunting how he gets around laws and who so obviously has no regard for the Constitution or for anyone except himself –and the Nazis who he thinks are fine people (plus the KKK).
At least, I think we can look forward to the day when we don’t feel like we have to keep a constant vigil and babysit a tyrant long-distance, in order to be sure we still have a democracy.
Best to you!
homelesseducator: Glad to hear that you are doing better. Yes, baby steps in the right direction do make a difference. Keep us posted on your journey.
A lot has been said about the religious people who support Trump. I also find it hard to understand why anyone who believes in Jesus would support a person who does nothing but brag about how great he is and then continue to harm almost everyone with his horrible Executive Orders and continuing lies to create and expand chaos and hatred.
Here is information from Franciscan Action Network, a Catholic group. I was a hospice worker in a Franciscan hospital until COVID came. Imagine a catholic group that says Biden must enact democracy reform; have reduction in gun violence and demand that Arctic drilling be stopped. i sent this to my brother and an ardent Evangelical Trump fan.
I was raised a Catholic but dropped out years ago.
…………………………………………
God, you know those things in my heart that I barely dare to hope for, today I give them to you, I trust them to you, and ask that you because I know that you can do more than I could ever guess, imagine or request in wildest dreams (Eph 3:20). God, you are my hope and I trust you. Amen.
Take Action: President-elect Joe Biden & Congress must enact democracy reform
In 2021, President-elect Joe Biden will have many important issues to address: from combating climate change and gun violence, to overcoming the coronavirus pandemic and dismantling systemic racism in America. But in order for effective movement to happen on any of the issues we care about, we need to build a stronger and more representative democracy.
In March 2019, the For the People Act (HR 1) passed the House with unanimous support from the Democratic caucus, and is supported by every Democrat in the Senate — yet the Senate Majority Leader refuses to bring it up for a vote. FAN has joined with our good governance and Faithful Democracy partners in promoting this petitionurging the Biden Administration to make passing this important legislation a top priority. This bill would transform our political system into one that is more inclusive, responsive, and representative of the American people. HR1 would expand and protect voting rights, put ordinary Americans ahead of Big Money donors, and end gerrymandering. Read more about it here.
We urge our members and friends to sign the petition demanding a democracy that works for all of us.
The Public Health Approach to Gun Violence Prevention
The Educational Fund to Stop Gun Violence (Ed Fund) released a report last week, “The Public Health Approach to Gun Violence Prevention,” which outlines how a public health approach can be applied to reducing the U.S. epidemic of gun violence.
In recent years, nearly 40,000 people have been killed and more than 71,000 injured by firearms annually in the United States. The Ed Fund uses a public health and equity lens to identify and implement evidence-based policy solutions and programs to reduce gun violence in all of its forms.
By comparing the public health successes of car safety regulations with similar policy measures that could reduce gun violence, the report lays out a means of reducing the epidemic of gun violence by addressing both firearm access and the factors that contribute to and protect from gun violence. The full report is available online by clicking here.
Take Action: Demand Arctic Drilling be Stopped
Last week, the Trump administration moved a step closer toward developing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The outgoing administration on Tuesday published a “call for nominations” on parcels of the refuge that could be offered for lease to oil and gas companies. As Franciscans who care for all of God’s Creation, we must advocate on behalf of the wildlife and indigenous people who call that area home.
The refuge is located in northern Alaska, east of the oil fields in Prudhoe Bay. The Arctic lands were established as a refuge in 1960 as the area provides critical habitat for polar bears. Indigenous Peoples who depend on their traditional lands and waters in the Arctic to sustain their way of life would be hit by both dangerous, dirty drilling and a rapidly changing climate. More oil drilling will compound the devastating impacts already being felt from climate change throughout the Arctic. We must tell the Bureau of Land Management that the Arctic Refuge is not for sale.
There is a public comment period on the potential leases that runs until Dec. 17th and we devised this tool for leaving comments. We urge our members and friends to write a comment opposing the development of this land. Each comment submitted must be individualized to count, so be sure to change the wording to make the comment your own!
Thanks for the info, CarolMalaysia!
My mom got a truly excellent high school education at a Catholic boarding school for girls, even though she had no Catholic background. (She was excused from religion classes but studied Latin.)
My doctoral training was at a Jesuit university and I was very impressed with their commitment to social justice. For example, in the mid 90s, I had several extremely impressive Catholic professors, all of whom warned against the dangers of charter schools long before those cooncerns surfaced in the mainstream media. I imagined the negative impact of charters on Catholic schools and envisioned the latter turning into charters –which did eventually happen in my neck of the woods– but their concerns were primarily about the impacts on public education.
Sorry for any typos. I’ve had to stay off the computer so I dictated & my friend typed, but I should have read before okaying they be sent.
Due to the debate above, I just wanted to point out that, in my experience, Catholics are not closed minded extremists who are only concerned about themselves. Unlike some other religious sects, Catholic Charities helps anyone, regardless of religion, too.
Back to recuperating away from the computer… Have a happy Thanksgiving!
Trump remains bunkered in the White House as the world spins on [Bunker Boy is sulking]
(CNN)President Donald Trump’s agenda listed “no public events” on Tuesday — the 10th time since the election that those words have appeared on his daily schedule.
He has answered no questions from reporters, invited no cameras into the Oval Office and ventured no further than his namesake golf course, 25 miles from the White House in Virginia…
Trump has even canceled his plans to travel to Mar-a-Lago for Thanksgiving, administration officials told CNN. The President and first lady were scheduled to spend the holiday at their South Florida resort, but have decided to stay in Washington instead.
“It feels like bunker mentality,” a White House official said before the decision was circulated…
When he looks out his north-facing windows, he can see the reviewing stand for Biden’s inaugural parade — the same one he sat in four years ago — being re-erected on his front lawn.
When he ventures downstairs for meetings in the Oval Office, he often remains late into the evening conferring over his chaotic legal efforts and wondering why more of his lawyers aren’t on television defending him.
During a particularly heated session last Thursday, his deputy campaign manager accused his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, who was on speakerphone, of being a “fking ahole.”…
His three public appearances since November 3 have amounted to a lie-filled appearance in the briefing room, a rain-soaked wreath laying at Arlington National Cemetery and remarks in the Rose Garden about the coronavirus vaccine, all of which ended without any questions.
Even Trump’s publicly listed but closed-press events have been spare. He has twice had lunch with Vice President Mike Pence, and met with his secretaries of the State Department and Treasury Department last Thursday. But his schedule has not included a classified intelligence briefing in more than a month, even as his administration is denying those briefings to the President-elect, who convened his own non-governmental national security meeting on Tuesday and invited cameras in for a photo-op…
Trump has mostly stopped phoning US allies, particularly as they move toward recognizing Biden’s win. The last foreign leader the White House said Trump spoke with was French President Emmanuel Macron, who he dialed on October 30 after a terrorist attack in Nice. On Tuesday, two of Trump’s closest global friends, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, placed congratulatory calls to Biden.
He has sent smoke signals through some members of the conservative media. His friend Geraldo Rivera, a correspondent at Fox News, said Trump described himself as a “realist” when they spoke last week.
“Time coming soon to say goodbye with grace & dignity,” Rivera tweeted. Trump spent the ensuing weekend making false claims that he “won the election,” including in all capital letters, that social media outlets labeled disinformation…
Yet Trump has demonstrated little interest in adding more to his schedule, people familiar with the matter said, and few aides have raised the idea with him because of his dark mood and preoccupation with his loss.
Even as Biden carries out daily public appearances focused on governing, Trump hasn’t felt obliged to keep pace — though he has watched the former vice president’s activities from the White House.
Instead, he is spending mornings in the residence watching television, arriving to the Oval Office later in the afternoon and remaining into the evening. He goes back-and-forth between the office and his adjoining dining room, which is equipped with a large television and where newspapers and magazines are strewn across the table.
When members of his coronavirus task force briefed governors Monday on a nationwide surge in cases from the basement White House Situation Room, Trump was upstairs following developments in Georgia and Pennsylvania, where his team is struggling to gain legal traction in efforts to challenge the election results…
The President has yet to comment on the deaths of the Americans, who were killed last Thursday while serving as part of a peacekeeping force in Egypt. He has not tweeted about the crash or made any other public comments about it….
Despite an edict from Trump’s personnel chief that anyone caught looking for work would be immediately fired, many resumes from the White House have arrived on Capitol Hill in the past week as staffers look to secure jobs…
“We’re going to have an orderly transfer from this administration to the next one,” McConnell said. “What we all say about it is, frankly, irrelevant.”
For now, Trump remains intent on pushing ahead with his legal challenges, brooding over ever-more-conspiratorial theories on why the votes did not go his way. When he has emerged into public, he has sought out only the most familiar venues…
This piece is written by a Muslim man.
‘Reach Out to Trump Supporters,’ They Said. I Tried.
By Wajahat Ali
Contributing Opinion Writer
I give up.
73 million Americans voted for Donald Trump. He doubled down on all his worst vices, and he was rewarded for it with 10 million more votes than he received in 2016.
The majority of people of color rejected his cruelty and vulgarity. But along with others who voted for Joe Biden, we are now being lectured by a chorus of voices including Pete Buttigieg and Ian Bremmer, to “reach out” to Trump voters and “empathize” with their pain.
This is the same advice that was given after Trump’s 2016 victory, and for nearly four years, I attempted to take it. Believe me, it’s not worth it.
The Quran asks Muslims to respond to disagreements and arguments “in a better way” and to “repel evil with good.” I tried. “You might not like me, and I might not like you, but we share the same real estate. So, here’s me reaching out across the aisle. American to American,” I said in a video message to Trump supporters published the day after the election…
I did my part. What was my reward? Listening to Trump’s base chant, “Send her back!” in reference to Representative Ilhan Omar, a black Muslim woman, who came to America as a refugee. I saw the Republican Party transform the McCloskeys into victims, even though the wealthy St. Louis couple illegally brandished firearmsagainst peaceful BLM protesters. Their bellicosity was rewarded with a prime time slot at the Republican National Convention where they warned about “chaos” in the suburbs being invaded by people of color. Their speech would have fit well in ”The Birth of a Nation.”
We cannot help people who refuse to help themselves. Trump is an extension of their id, their culture, their values, their greed. He is their defender and savior. He is their blunt instrument. He is their destructive drug of choice.
Don’t waste your time reaching out to Trump voters like I did. Instead, invest your time organizing your community, registering new voters and supporting candidates who reflect progressive values that uplift everyone, not just those who wear MAGA hats, in local and state elections. Work also to protect Americans against lies and conspiracy theories churned out by the right wing media and political ecosystem. One step would be to continue pressuring social media giants like Twitter and Facebook to deplatform hatemongers, such as Steve Bannon, and censor disinformation. It’s not enough, but it’s a start.
Or, you can just watch “The Queen’s Gambit” on Netflix while downing your favorite pint of ice cream and call it a day.
Doesn’t look like McConnell is giving up.
……………………………………….
I need your immediate support to stop Chuck Schumer
Mitch McConnell (Iphone) newsletter@wethepeopledaily.com via cp20.com
7:35 AM (26 minutes ago)
to me
Chuck Schumer can see a victory approaching.
And no, that unfortunately isn’t a typo.
Some races are currently still too close to call, making the future of the Senate UNKNOWN, but as of now there is a real chance that Democrats could have COMPLETE CONTROL of the Senate come January.
I need to ask you to rush an emergency contribution to FIGHT BACK right now. DONATE using this secure link: https://secure.winred.com/mitch-mcconnell/mcconnell-election-schumer- [my email address]
If Schumer manages to pull off victories in these CRITICAL battleground states, then our conservative movement is the ONLY THING that can stop him.
He’ll try to pack the Supreme Court with radical Justices, raise taxes for hard working Americans, and implement the dangerous Green New Deal. Will you please make a contribution of $150, $50, or $35 to prevent that from happening?
RUSH DONATE TODAY TO STOP SCHUMER
YOUR HELP IS NEEDED TODAY
It would truly be a shame if all of our work over the past four years was for NOTHING.
But you have the ability to make sure that our conservative agenda is protected, which is why my Senate colleagues and I are hoping you’ll chip in HERE>>>
Thank you,
Mitch McConnell
Sent from my iPhone
Text MITCH to 47360 to receive mobile alerts! Team Mitch is happy to help at 1 800-403-1744. Reply HELP for help, STOP to end. Message frequency may vary. Msg&DataRatesMayApply. Terms and Conditions HERE.
To grasp the power of the addiction we have to begin with Max Weber’s thesis in The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism and take the dynamic he identifies to its enantiodromic limit.
I’ve discussed this many times over the years, more recently in comments on the following blog:
https://socialsystemstheory.com/2020/10/21/the-trump-cult-as-body-without-organs/#comments
It is necessary to understand the group psychology and the psychopathology of cults. What does the cult leader give his followers, his ultimate victims, that they will give up everything else in exchange?
How do we reach out to people like this?
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MAGA Truthers Make Desperate Last Stand at Miami Church Vigil
The election’s over, and oh yeah, the coronavirus is real. Just don’t tell this crowd.
MIAMI—On Wednesday night, Alberto Delgado strolled onto the stage of Alpha & Omega, the Miami-area Evangelical megachurch where he serves as senior pastor, and promised nearly 200 MAGA diehards that Donald Trump would serve another term as president.
Despite an avalanche of court rulings rejecting Trump’s fact-free claims of voter fraud, Delgado—a snow-haired, natty-dressed preacher with a baritone voice and who serves as a religious adviser to Trump—assured his flock that the fight for the White House was just getting started.
“God can do great things for Donald Trump if you believe,” Delgado said in Spanish. “Trump is the man God has chosen for these times. This is why I am telling you we have not lost.”
The crowd, most of them sitting side-by-side in the first six rows but all wearing masks, burst into applause. Two women near the back unfurled Trump flags as a man next to them shouted, “Four more years! Four more years!”
After the audience collectively recited the pledge of allegiance and sang the national anthem, an olive-skinned woman in a black blouse and black jeans named Maria Martinez bowed her head and closed her eyes. Her husband, Ariel Martinez, stood at her side. “We recognize that we need you, Father, to intervene in favor of our nation,” Maria said in Spanish. “That you protect our President Trump.”.
“We ask you, Father, to use your powers during these investigations and amid this fraud that is being attempted by these evildoers who want to destroy our nation, destroy our faith and to remove you from your throne.”
— Maria Martinez
“The leftist media uses the risks of catching the coronavirus to scare us,” Martinez said, falsely. “I am not afraid of this virus. It’s a Chinese invention meant to damage the United States.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/maga-truthers-make-desperate-last-stand-at-miami-church-vigil?source=email&via=desktop
Let’s hope that Trump lands in prison. He has done criminal things his whole life and should pay. It would be a great service to the U.S. to dissolve the IRA.
Ivanka reported receiving payments from a consulting company she co-owned, totaling $747,622.
I worry about any case that now goes before the Supreme Court. Trump has put into position people who will support him. Was there a ‘gentleman’s’ agreement to get the job?
“Lock them up!”
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Trump Tax Write-Offs Are Ensnared in 2 New York Fraud Investigations
Inquiries into the president and his businesses, one criminal and one civil, are now looking at tax deductions taken on consulting fees. Some of the payments appear to have gone to Ivanka Trump.
By Danny Hakim, Mike McIntire, William K. Rashbaum and Ben Protess
Nov. 19, 2020
Two separate New York State fraud investigations into President Trump and his businesses, one criminal and one civil, have expanded to include tax write-offs on millions of dollars in consulting fees, some of which appear to have gone to Ivanka Trump, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
The inquiries — a criminal investigation by the Manhattan district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., and a civil one by the state attorney general, Letitia James — are being conducted independently. But both offices issued subpoenas to the Trump Organization in recent weeks for records related to the fees, the people said.
The subpoenas were the latest steps in the two investigations of the Trump Organization, and underscore the legal challenges awaiting the president when he leaves office in January. There is no indication that his daughter is a focus of either inquiry, which the Trump Organization has derided as politically motivated.
The development follows a recent New York Times examination of more than two decades of Mr. Trump’s tax records, which found that he had paid little or no federal income taxes in most years, largely because of his chronic business losses.
Among the revelations was that Mr. Trump reduced his taxable income by deducting about $26 million in fees to unidentified consultants as a business expense on numerous projects between 2010 and 2018.
Some of those fees appear to have been paid to Ms. Trump, The Times found. On a 2017 disclosure she filed when joining the White House as a presidential adviser, she reported receiving payments from a consulting company she co-owned, totaling $747,622, that exactly matched consulting fees claimed as tax deductions by the Trump Organization for hotel projects in Hawaii and Vancouver, British Columbia…
Few details have been publicly disclosed about the district attorney’s investigation, the only known active criminal case involving Mr. Trump. Mr. Vance’s office began the inquiry more than two years ago, initially focusing on the Trump Organization’s role in hush money paid during the 2016 presidential campaign to Stormy Daniels, a pornographic film actress who claimed to have had an affair with Mr. Trump.
The investigation has been stalled since last fall, after the president filed a lawsuit to block a subpoena for his tax returns and other financial records.
The legal fight is before the United States Supreme Court for a second time, with a ruling expected soon. Prosecutors have suggested in court filings that their investigation has expanded far beyond the hush money and is focused on a number of potential financial crimes, including insurance and bank-related fraud, tax evasion and grand larceny.
Ms. James’s civil investigation is focused on the Trump Organization’s business practices, though she can make a criminal referral and can seek authority from Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration or the state comptroller to bring charges on her own.
Her inquiry began last year in March, after Michael D. Cohen, the president’s former lawyer, told Congress that Mr. Trump had inflated his assets in financial statements to secure bank loans and understated them elsewhere to reduce his tax bill. In August, the attorney general’s office asked a judge to force the president’s son Eric Trump to testify in the inquiry, and he did so last month. Eric Trump is an executive vice president at the Trump Organization, running its day-to-day operations.
Investigators in Ms. James’s office have scrutinized a widening array of transactions. One of them is a 2010 financial restructuring of the Trump Hotel & Tower in Chicago, when the Fortress Credit Corporation forgave debt worth more than $100 million. The attorney general’s office said in court documents filed in August that the Trump Organization had thwarted efforts to determine how that money was reflected in its tax filings, and whether it was declared as income, as the law requires in most instances. The Times’s analysis of Mr. Trump’s financial records found that he had avoided federal income tax on almost all of the forgiven debt.
The attorney general’s office is also examining whether the Trump Organization used inflated appraisals when it received large tax breaks for promising to conserve land where its development efforts faltered, including at its Seven Springs estate in Westchester County, N.Y.
“The outcome of the election will have no impact on our investigations,” Ms. James said in a television interview this month, adding: “No one is above the law. We will just follow the facts and the evidence, wherever they lead us.”
Mr. Trump has frequently assailed Ms. James, the latest in a string of New York attorneys general with whom he has clashed. Ms. James presided over the final stages of an investigation that led to the closing of his scandal-marred charitable foundation. She is also seeking to dissolve the National Rifle Association, a key ally of the president…
The examination of fees apparently paid to his older daughter is likely to arouse even more vitriol from the outgoing president. And it raises questions about whether the payments were a tax-deductible way for him to compensate his children, or avoid gift taxes he might incur from transferring wealth to them, something Mr. Trump’s father had done through legally questionable schemesuncovered by The Times in 2018…
Sen. Mitt Romney, one of Trump’s most vocal Republican critics, tweeted, “It is difficult to imagine a worse, more undemocratic action by a sitting American President.”
Republican Sen. Ben Sasse went after Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani: “Rudy and his buddies should not pressure electors to ignore their certification obligations under the statute. We are a nation of laws, not tweets.”
AP FACT CHECK: Trump legal team’s batch of false vote claims
Despite a lack of evidence of widespread irregularities or fraud, President Donald Trump’s legal team used a Thursday press conference to go through a laundry list of far-fetched, thoroughly debunked claims on the 2020 election.
Trump attorney Sidney Powell spun fictional tales of election systems flipping votes, German servers storing U.S. voting information and election software created in Venezuela “at the direction of Hugo Chavez” — the late Venezuelan president who died in 2013. She also said Trump beat Democrat Joe Biden “by a landslide,” which he decidedly didn’t — Biden was the clear winner…
POWELL: “One of (the software’s) most characteristic features is its ability to flip votes. It can set and run an algorithm that probably ran all over the country to take a certain percentage of votes from President Trump and flip them to President Biden.”
THE FACTS: That didn’t happen. There’s no evidence that any of Dominion’s systems switched votes for Trump to count as votes for Biden. A statement released by the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency, a federal agency that oversees U.S. election security, says there’s no truth to claims that votes cast for Trump were switched to count for Biden or deleted…
https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-ap-fact-check-joe-biden-donald-trump-technology-5f71f47de73ae6257532fad04c1b3221
carolmalaysia Here’s the core of conspiracy theories: If it CAN have happened, then it MUST have happened. In that light, the below puts the last nail in the coffin of democracy:
POWELL: “One of (the software’s) most characteristic features is its ability to flip votes. It can set and run an algorithm that probably ran all over the country to take a certain percentage of votes from President Trump and flip them to President Biden.” CBK
No evidence for that conspiracy theory. None. Nada. Zero.
Diane “No Evidence.” That’s the point . . . they believe it anyway . . . like the guy who drove to shoot up Hillary’s pizza place. Someone told him, so he believed it. With conspiracy theories, evidence or the call for it just gets in the way of the bias. . . CBK
It doesn’t help when Fox, or some other far R media, continues to spread the lie saying, “Trump won the election.” I never heard of NewsMax, but I’m sure they are saying Trump won the election.
Media experts from CNN reported Wednesday that regular Fox News viewers have been switching to Newsmax after Fox declared Biden won the election.
WATCH: Top Trump advisor Peter Navarro says the president ‘won the election’
November 13, 2020
10:05 am
In an interview Friday on Fox Business, Peter Navarro, a top Trump advisor, made the claim that the White House is proceeding under the “assumption of a second Trump term,” and that President Trump “won the election.”…
According to CNN, Navarro declined to provide any proof when pressed on the legal argument.
https://www.radio.com/wwl/news/politics/op-trump-advisor-says-the-president-won-the-election?utm_campaign=sharebutton&utm_medium=email&utm_source=www.radio.com%2Fwwl&utm_term=WWLAM
carolmalaysia In my view Trump WON’T QUIT. Either a group of R’s, or the military with the capitol police, or his own staff, or a BUNCH of Americans, are going to have to stop him, physically if necessary. One of the talking heads said he and his followers just keeps “failing upwards,” as Trump has always done. But he’ll keep pushing, and dragging Biden into it, as long as he draws a breath. CBK
Americans Need To Stand Up To The GOP
Nov. 19, 2020 4:53 pm
By Thom Hartmann A…
America is confronting a crisis like we haven’t seen since 1930, and, just as happened during the Republican Great Depression (yes, that’s what they called it in the 1930s), the GOP is committed to making it worse.
The Republican Party’s latest 2020 scam gives Trump a tiny chance of hanging onto the White House while doing massive, permanent damage to American democracy and, as if they consider it a bonus, kneecapping and, in some cases, killing working class and poor Americans.
Covid diagnoses and deaths are exploding across the country; millions of Americans will lose unemployment benefits, eviction protection, and a pause in student loan payments the week after Christmas; and all Mitch McConnell will do is push more unqualified rightwing judges through the Senate.
Meanwhile, Trump is shifting his strategy to hang onto power and become America’s first dictator away from challenging vote counts to asking Republican legislators in a few swing states to simply award him the presidency through the Electoral College, a strategy that held for three hours in Michigan.
He figures that even if he can’t pull that off and stay in the White House, his scam has already convinced about 80% of Republican voters that he’s a martyr, so they’ll continue to follow him politically and keep sending him millions of dollars a month in the small donations.
The House of Representatives passed legislation back in May that clearly and quickly addresses most of the crises American families are facing, from ongoing unemployment payments and help for small businesses, to funding for hospitals and first responders in the states and cities to deal with Trump’s Covid crisis.
Mitch McConnell, however, refuses to even allow a conversation about that legislation in the US Senate. And only four of his Republican members have acknowledged Joe Biden’s victory, suggesting the rest are willing to go along with Trump’s power grab and post-presidency fundraising scam.
If you are represented by any Republicans at the state or federal level, there has never been a more important time than now for you to reach out and demand that they fulfill their oath of office and stand up for the Constitution and the American people.
-Thom
For anyone interested, here is a link and a snip from Commonweal Magazine that reflects the more searching, secularist in the sense of distinguishing, but still faithful (or liberal) views of religious people. CBK
SNIP: “The Week at Commonweal . . . This week at Commonweal, we’re highlighting Anthony Domestico’s interview with the poet Rosanna Warren. Warren discusses her biography of Max Jacob, a painter and poet whose art emerged from a series of fundamental tensions. He was Jewish and Catholic; he was a painter and a poet; he was a gay man who saw his desire as both a torment and a mystical route to God. According to Warren, “In his Catholicism, this meant adopting practices of devotion and a theology—which for him was an esoteric set of stories and symbols—then radically changing his life to live into the meaning of those stories.” Read the whole interview here.
“Next, Valerie Sayers discusses Marilynne Robinson’s latest novel, Jack, the fourth in the Gilead series. One of the satisfactions of the Gilead series is its deep immersion into our complicated national history, as well as racial justice and how it coincides with faith. Another is Robinson’s boundless affection for her characters and for the natural world that surrounds them, even in the urban settings of the novel. Sayers writes, “In her intertwined explorations of appalling history and religious, political, and philosophical questions, Robinson resembles no other contemporary American novelist so much as Toni Morrison.” Read all of ‘The Possibility of Love’ here.”
https://www.commonwealmagazine.org/
NBC news reported yesterday that the archdiocese of N.Y. filed a lawsuit against the NYC Dept. of Ed…
evidence of Paul Weyrich’s “parallel schools”, advancing the libertarian agenda by taking the public’s money and starving the common goods. The bishop of N.Y., Dolan, praised Trump’s leadership during the 2020 election cycle.
Gotta Love the New KKKumbaya Movement, but with all due respect to Camins & Merrow & the whole Let’s Talk gang, here in Michigan we’re still fighting just to keep our Gov out of harm’s way and to keep XLV from talking our Gerrymandering Obstruction Party out of doing their most basic constitutional jobs …
I sure hope this is happening. It’s about time.
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More conservatives break with Trump over election claims
A growing number of conservative Republicans are breaking with President Trump and his legal team over what they view as a dangerous effort to overturn the election results by promoting conspiracy theories.
GOP lawmakers, conservative lawyers and key figures in rightwing media say it is time for his legal team to either back up their claims about fraud or concede defeat to President-elect Joe Biden.
The voices range from Fox News’s Tucker Carlson to Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) to conservative lawyers and thought leaders such as Karl Rove.
For many, the tipping point was Thursday’s press conference at the Republican National Committee headquarters led by Rudy Giulianiand Sidney Powell, in which they spun an elaborate tale about how a bloc of communist countries had hijacked the nation’s voting machines by installing an algorithm to flip a percentage of Trump votes over to Biden.
The lawyers have not taken that claim to court and have not provided any evidence to support it.
“This is delusional,” said Mark Braden, the former chief counsel at the RNC. “I’m a professional Republican so it’s not easy for me to have to deal with my friends on this. Look – voter fraud occurs. I’ve seen it. It happens. But you have to be realistic about the size and scope of it.”
Republican lawyers interviewed by The Hill said Trump’s early legal challenges on voter fraud were defensible and reasonable, even if they had no chance of changing the outcome of the election. But they’re disturbed by the dark turn things have taken, and worried that Trump’s claims are undermining democracy and misleading millions of his own supporters.
“The Venezuelans didn’t screw around with the voting machines,” Braden said. “That’s 100 percent total nonsense. I don’t know what’s going on here. It’s very dangerous that we’re undermining the system. Democracy isn’t a God-given right. It’s a fragile process. The two most important things are that the person with the most lawful votes wins, and that the people who voted for the losing side also believe their candidate lost. This is undermining that idea and it’s a dangerous thing.”
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who has been largely supportive of the president, fumed at Powell’s unsubstantiated claim that candidates in both parties paid money to the company that makes voting machines to flip ballots.
“That is an offensive comment,” Ernst said.
“To insinuate that Republicans and Democratic candidates paid to throw off this election I think is absolutely outrageous, and I do take offense to that.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), a staunch Trump ally, said Friday on Fox & Friends that it’s past time for lawyers and politicians to be making their claims at press conferences or on cable news.
“This is not the time for politicians or press conferences,” Cotton said. “That was during the election. This is a time for evidence in court.”…
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/526938-more-conservatives-break-with-trump-over-election
Reinstating crowd limits and please wear a mask is the best that Gov. Holcomb [R-IN] can do. Religions don’t have to abide by any restrictions. He seems to be following Trump as closely as possible. Do next to nothing and maybe it will disappear.
The surge started right after Holcomb set up Stage 5, which is everything totally normal except for asking people to wear a mask.
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Saturday, November 21, 2020 1:00 am
Virus hospitalizations top 3,000
State sees record high, up 277% since late September
Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS – More COVID-19 patients were being treated in Indiana hospitals’ intensive care units Thursday than at any other point in the pandemic, state health officials reported Friday.
Indiana hospitals were treating 3,077 COVID-19 patients as of Thursday – a 277% increase since late September, the Indiana State Department of Health said in its daily statistics update. Of those hospitalized, 898 were in intensive care – the largest number Indiana has seen since officials began releasing those counts last spring, early in the pandemic.
More than 78% of Indiana’s ICU beds were in use Thursday, leaving 2,153 beds available.
The health department also added 63 more coronavirus-related deaths to Indiana’s pandemic toll. Indiana has recorded 5,206 coronavirus deaths, including both those with confirmed and presumed infections.
The new deaths bring the state’s seven-day rolling average of COVID-19 deaths to 43 per day. Indiana had been averaging about 10 daily deaths in late September when the current surge of new infections and hospitalizations began.
The 6,912 new coronavirus infections the health department reported Friday give Indiana more than 45,000 confirmed cases in one week’s time, or about 16% of all such infections since Indiana’s first case was confirmed about 81/2 months ago. The state’s moving seven-day average of new infections is about seven times higher than in September, when Gov. Eric Holcomb lifted nearly all business and crowd size restrictions…
Holcomb reinstated crowd limits last week and has appealed for people to abide by the statewide mask mandate as steep increases in COVID-19 patients are straining hospitals around the state…
https://journalgazette.net/news/local/20201121/virus-hospitalizations-top-3000
carolmalaysia This tweet from K. Morressey on “The Funniest Tweets From Women.”
“Spreading disease over the Thanksgiving holiday? That’s sooo 1621.”
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/20-funniest-tweets-from-women-nov-14-20_n_5fb31a2dc5b6a46646703cb2??ncid=newsltushpmgvoices_FunniestTweetsFromWomen
Catherine King; I go out shopping and wear my “dressy” tee shirt and stretchy “dress” jeans.
I loved them. One of my favorites is:
Christie
@ChristieNold
·
Nov 18
Tomorrow is second Monday, buuuuut it’s also second pajama day
carolmalaysia In my mailbox every week . . . a real joy break. CBK
The Hill:
An Economist/YouGov poll conducted earlier this week found that 84 percent of Republican voters do not believe Biden’s election victory to be legitimate. Such a high number is a major problem, given that democracies only function when there is a widespread consensus on such basic facts as the outcome of elections.
Fundraising email wake-up this morning from President Trump’s joint fundraising committee with the RNC.
During an appearance yesterday in the White House press room to make remarks about prescription drug prices, Trump referred to “the campaign — which I won, by the way. But, you know, we’ll find that out. Almost 74 million votes.”
Reality check: Yes, he got nearly 74 million votes. The problem is that the other guy got nearly 80 million.
Trump cares nothing about the damage he is doing to this country. He is putting revenge on everything to make Biden’s term more difficult. How many people will die or be hurt because of Trump’s hatred and ignorance? Trump is a man/baby having another temper tantrum. Will he have to be dragged out of the WH by security people? It’s totally
possible. Trump supporters will be out with their flags and guns shouting obscenities about our corrupt system.
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Trump Using Last Days to Lock In Policies and Make Biden’s Task More Difficult
At a wide range of departments and agencies, Mr. Trump’s political appointees are going to extraordinary lengths to try to prevent Mr. Biden from rolling back the president’s legacy.
Some of Mr. Trump’s actions are all but permanent, like the nomination of judges with lifetime appointments or the naming of his supporters to government panels with terms that stretch beyond Mr. Biden’s likely time in office. Once done, there is little that the new president can do to reverse them.
But they are not the only nominees administration officials are trying to rush through.
Among the others are two nominees to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors who would serve until 2024 and 2030 respectively, a trio of possible members to the Federal Election Commission to serve six-year terms, as well as nominees to the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, who, if confirmed, would prevent Mr. Biden from installing majorities on those bodies until well into 2021.
Trump officials are also working to impose new sanctions on Iran that may be difficult for Mr. Biden to reverse, out of a fear of opening himself up to charges that he is soft on one of the country’s most dangerous adversaries.
The sanctions could also undermine any move by Mr. Biden to return to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, a step that would require providing Iran with economic breathing room after years of Mr. Trump’s constrictions.
“I think you’re going to see a pretty rapid clip of new actions before January 20,” said Mark Dubowitz, the chief executive of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, who often consults with the Trump administration on Iran…
Similarly, Trump officials continue to take punitive actions against China that are likely to further strain the tense relationship with Beijing that Mr. Biden will inherit. Last week, Mr. Trump issued an executive order barring Americans from investing in Chinese companies with ties to China’s military. Administration officials say more steps are in the works.
Mr. Mnuchin’s shutdown of emergency lending programs this week could also have long-lasting implications for Mr. Biden as the new president struggles to contain the economic fallout of the pandemic. The pandemic-era programs are run by the Fed but use Treasury money to insure against losses.
Mr. Mnuchin defended his decision on Friday, insisting that he was following the intent of Congress in calling for the Fed to return unused money to the Treasury. But it will be Mr. Biden who will be left to deal with the consequences. And restoring the programs would require new negotiations with a Congress that is already deadlocked over Covid relief…
The Environmental Protection Agency is rushing to try to complete work on a new rule that will change the way the federal government counts costs and benefits, an adjustment that could make it harder for Mr. Biden to expand certain air or water pollution regulations.
At Health and Human Services, the agency moved just after Election Day to adopt a rule that would automatically suspend thousands of agency regulations if they are not individually confirmed to be “still needed” and “having appropriate impacts.” The agency itself called the plan radical — realizing it would tie the hands of the next administration.
Brian Harrison, the agency’s chief of staff, called it “the boldest and most significant regulatory reform effort ever undertaken by H.H.S.”
Calls grow for Trump to accept election loss and begin transition
With his legal challenges failing to produce evidence of widespread election fraud, President Donald Trump is facing increased pressure to begin the transition process.
More than 100 CEOs today will send a letter to the Trump administration, urging it to acknowledge Biden as the winner, Forbes reports. The executives warn that a chaotic transition could further damage the economy.
“Every day that an orderly presidential transition process is delayed, our democracy grows weaker in the eyes of our own citizens and the nation’s stature on the global stage is diminished,” the executives wrote. [Forbes]
The calls come as Trump’s legal team recently distanced itself from lawyer Sidney Powell, who pushed a conspiracy theory about voter fraud in Georgia that involved Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, the CIA and former Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, who died in 2013. [AP]
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a Trump confidant, called the legal team a “national embarrassment.” [CNBC]
Meanwhile, Trump has privately told advisers and confidants that he might announce a 2024 campaign before the end of the year. [Washington Post]
I sent this to several people, including my brother and a Trump lover. This message will not go over well, just because Trump is the “greatest president ever”. [Ugh. It hurts to even type that.]
Notice that this is a message put out in Singapore.
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America is back’: Biden’s picks for Cabinet signal that days of ‘America First’ are over
Straits Times Singapore
WASHINGTON – US President-elect Joe Biden’s picks for the top foreign policy and national security spots in his administration sent a clear message: the days of America First are over and America will take up the mantle of global leadership again.
“America’s back. We’re at the head of the table once again,” said Mr Biden in an interview with NBC, aired hours after he introduced six top officials he wants in his Cabinet on Tuesday (Nov 25), the most senior among them being his nominee for Secretary of State Tony Blinken.
His picks, who will have to be confirmed by the Senate next year, will build coalitions and work with allies to counter terrorism and extremism, deal with the climate crisis, and combat nuclear proliferation and other threats, said Mr Biden…
“It’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back. Ready to lead the world, not retreat from it. Ready to confront our adversaries, not reject our allies. And ready to stand up for our values,” said Mr Biden at the media appearance in his hometown of Wilmington, Delaware…
Political watchers said the selection made clear that Mr Biden would be a liberal internationalist president, a departure from the more isolationist foreign policy of the incumbent Donald Trump…
https://str.sg/JbEn
Saw this on Eric Zorns column, Chicago Tribune, and thought it was worth repeating:
“Joe Biden has a coronavirus team…Trump’s team has coronavirus”
Trump looks SICK. Poor Trump, now he is an official ORANGE LOSER! Giuliani is nuts.
Click on the link and see the photo. His Orangeness isn’t having a good day.
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Rudy Giuliani and Pennsylvania GOPers Plan ‘Hearing’ on Election ‘Issues,’ With Trump Expected to Attend
Blake MontgomeryReporter
Published Nov. 25, 2020 12:52AM ET
Reuters
Trump lawyer Rudy Giuliani and Pennsylvania State Senate Republicans are planning a public event in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania on Wednesday to discuss supposed voting irregularities in the 2020 presidential election, and President Trump is expected to attend, according to multiple reports and an event announcement. They have designated the event a “public hearing,” but it will take place in a hotel. Republican leaders have to date produced no evidence of widespread voter fraud despite weeks of claims of a stolen election. Though Trump’s administration has authorized the start of a transition to Joe Biden’s presidency, the president himself has said he “will never concede to fake ballots.” Trump has tried to overturn the results of the election in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, but his lawsuits have overwhelmingly failed, and the state certified its voting tally and Biden’s win on Tuesday.
Read it at PA Senate GOP
https://www.thedailybeast.com/rudy-giuliani-and-pennsylvania-republicans-plan-hearing-on-election-issues-with-trump-expected-to-attend?source=email&via=desktop