Democracy's fate will be decided by what happens with all the Trump gates. By Hal M. Brown

 

Yesterday I wrote “Crashgate, Donald Trump drives the economy into Herbert Hoover Hell” I began my “gate” series the day before with “What's next, Tarriffgate? Will Trump's presidency be known for its gates?”

These are the articles from RawStory shown in my illustration: 'Obama better get off the golf course!' CNN tees off with supercut as Trump works on swing and Trump buried by Dem vet for skipping event for fallen soldiers so he can play golf.

Loomer was the breaking story yesterday (White House fires multiple administration officials after president meets with far-right activist Laura Loomer) but RFK Jr. was also in the news with clips of his anti-vaccine statements when a vaccine expert working for the FDA resigned rather than be fired. He had a team working on vaccines that in addition to known diseases would be used for new diseases including those that had been weaponized. Futhermore, he had a team working on treatments and vaccines for cancer. (See Top vaccine official resigns from FDA, criticizes RFK Jr. for promoting 'misinformation and lies')

We’ve all heard RFK Jr. speak in his not-ready-for-radio (let alone TV) voice. I’d never heard Laura Loomer so I found this YouTube profile of her with her speaking:

You may recall she sued Bill Maher for suggesting she’d had sex with Donald Trump (reference).

Trump takes advice from two kinds of people with two, not mutually exclusive, psychiatric disorders. He has his group of sadistic psychopaths who wouldn’t know an empathetic feeling if it slapped them in the face. Stephen “Goebbels” Millerand Kash “Casket” Patel are the worst of these. Then he has Laura Loomer and RFJ Jr. who are conspiracy believers and may come close to being clinically delusional.

There are so many potential gates looming (sorry, that’s the appropriate word) down the road.

One comes to mind because my partner and I and some friends are attending one the many Hands Off! rallies this afternoon. (See website)

Threre are lots of suggestions offered for protesters who want to make signs. We thought we’d make “HandsOff! our Constitution” and “HandsOff! our Democracy.”

Because we are in a Portland suburb we worry that this may attract counter-protesters from the Proud Boys. Portland, because it is so progressive, has seen protests where the Proud Boys and Antifa squared off against each other. (See: “Who Are Antifa and the Proud Boys? Portland Protests Explained.”)

We have new friends we met yesterday (shoutout - they know who they are) who are going to a rally in Vancouver, Washington. An old friend is going to one on the waterfront near Plymouth Rock in Plymouth, MA. with her 14 year old daughter. Of course this is where a group of immigrants were met by the only real native Americans.

I don’t know what “gate” we could call it if one or more of this or another protest ends up in violence.

On MSNBC this morning Michael Steele said that there here are bad actors out there who want to cause trouble. He cautioned us to be smart and not “mess up” because Trump wants nothing more than an excuse to use the Insurrection Act to declare martial law. 

InsurrectionGate? Martial Lawgate? Police Stategate? On the later, I wish we had a federal police state where the police were really there to protect and serve rather than act as enforcers for a ruthless dictator.

I expect to see a large law enforcement presence at the Hands Off! protest and the more of our police I see the more reassured I will be. Oregon law enforcement does not cooperate with ICE, but I will be keeping an eye out for ICE thugs roaming the crowd demanding brown-skinned people prove they are citizens. (See: Portland police chief says bureau ‘does not engage’ in immigration enforcement amid federal crackdow.)

On the subject of ICE, another fascist police state travesty of the Trump administration is his deportations to the Salvadorian prison of both real gang members here illegally (who don’t deserve to be treated the way they are in that prison hellhole) and people, some here legally, who had never commited a crime beyond getting a traffic ticket. How Gestapo-like does something ICE does have to be for us to have an ICEgate? Already we have Joe Rogan and Ann Coulter breaking with Trump over ‘horrific’ deportation enforcement. (Article)

Trump, on his chaotic and rage fueled revenge juggernaut, seems intent on burning our democracy down as if he relishes creating one gate after another.

Read my previous Substacks here.

The concrete Trump poured to destroy democracy is beginning to cure. How long will it take to be as strong as Hoover Dam? By Hal M. Brown

 

Kids and others sometimes write or make impressions in newly poured concrete sidewalks. This is from the web about the constructon of Hoover Dam: 

Once the bottom of the bucket opened up, it disgorged 6.1 m3 of concrete which was, generally, only a layer a couple of centimeters thick in that particular column. All this was done between June 1933 and June 1935The Hoover Dam concrete would cure in 125 years by conventional or natural methods. Crews, however, used some innovative engineering methods to hasten the process. Nearly 600 miles of steel pipes woven through the concrete blocks significantly reduced the chemical heat from the setting for the concrete. 

The construction of the dam was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over 100 lives. You can look at my illustration and make you own analogy.

Above: Before and after drawings.

Trump has already poured the concrete which cements his role as a ruthless do-what-he-damned-well pleases dictator. Screw the courts, turn on the full-court press. (I don’t like to use sports metaphors, but this one was too good.)

He is testing the limits each and every day. All of those trying to stop him are like those who make their mark in cement sidewalks. The concrete will cure no matter what and whatever they did with court rulings in their favor or crowds at rallies like Bernie and AOC are holding or protests around the country. Democracy loving people are making their mark but the concrete is relentlessly hardening.

The inspiration for today’s Substack came from my comments to my friend Sabrina Haake’s Substack today: The Roberts Court created this monster.

Among the many other things which I wrote in the comments I wrote the following:

“Trump has poured the cement of his ruthless dictatorship. It is rapidly setting. Soon it will be as hard as the concrete in Hoover Dam. Before long nobody will bother taking Trump to court. Protests will not only be futile, they will dangerous.” 

Then I thought this was a good idea to expand on in my Substack.

Read my recent Substacks:

How people can look at the same person and see someone different, by Hal Brown, MSW

 

Who do you see in the photo above? Do you see a young or an old woman or both? If you only see one look at this version:

Here's an article about this optical illusion drawing.

The top drawing (click to enlarge) was used to illustrate an article in The Washington Post (you need a subscription to read it).

The article begins:

Forty years ago this month, the physics community was electrified by a remarkable paper that hinted at the realization of Albert Einstein’s long-held dream: a unified theory of physical reality. The new approach, called string theory, captured the attention of researchers worldwide, as its elegant mathematics offered the potential to reconcile the two most successful yet conflicting frameworks in physics: Einstein’s general theory of relativity, which governs the vast structures of the cosmos where gravity rules, and quantum mechanics, which governs particles populating the subatomic world.

Four decades and tens of thousands of research papers later, where do we stand? The answer lies not only in assessing scientific progress but also in understanding the profound influence of human nature, even in the ostensibly objective realm of science.

Scientists assess the validity of proposed theories by testing their predictions. The challenge for string theory is that it has yet to produce any definitive, testable predictions. This isn’t surprising. String theory diverges from conventional theories only under extreme conditions: where distances are unimaginably small and masses are extraordinarily large, such as in the core of a black hole or in the instant of the big bang. Unfortunately, exploring these realms is beyond our capabilities.

Even today with all the modern tools physicists have to attempt to provide proof for a universal theory of physical reality they have been unable to do so.

The drawing was used to illustrate this point:

Perhaps most important, string theory has realized the concept of duality: the idea that a single physical situation can be described by two distinct mathematical formulations, each offering insights that the other cannot provide. Much like the classic optical illusion that flits between a young socialite and an elderly woman, it is only by embracing both descriptions that we achieve a complete understanding.

In the political world we have people holding two views of the reality of Donald Trump that are incompatible with each other. Some look at Trump and see a beautiful man who will save their world. Others see a scowling man who will destroy our democracy.

Social scientists rather than physicists are tasked with explaining how this can be. Rather than trying to undersand cosmic black holes and how they hold clues to the intriquing and mysterious spooky action at a distance of quantum theory they try to look into the black hole of the minds of Trump supporters.

These black holes are not particularly mysterious. We understand how people's beliefs are influenced by prejudice, bigotry, and gullibility. We understand how some people want to have a leader they perceive as Superman strong and who will vanguish people they consider undesirable. We understand that some people are followers and want a father figure to look up to and make decisions for them.

We can understand all of this, but lamentably there's nothing we can do to change it. Slightly less than half of the country want Trump to be president again. Because of the Electoral College, gerrymandering, and the Trumper's planned dirty tricks to steal the election, they may win the day and Trump will have a second term.

Only those voters in the penumbra of Trump's opaque authoritarian shadow are open to seeing him for the danger to democracy that he is. They have the potential to move into the sunlight of the truth. Only they can make sure the United States doesn't fail the ambitious experiment called democracy which is referred to in the conclusion of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, that our  "government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the Earth."

Read all blogs here.

Milley, Miley, and Taylor too: Where pop culture and politics intersect: - Convincing people that MAGA is deadly for democracy

 

By Hal Brown

The idea that high profile people from two very different worlds are publically very much equating Donald Trump with dictatorship and anti-democracy may be what ultimately saves the country.

While Taylor has bumped Miley out of the media spotlight with her political activity and her dating Travis Kelce, it is worthwhile to recall how Miley made the news a few years ago with her 2019 comments about Trump:

Click to read

Now that Taylor Swift has gone into poltics, albeit in a more restrained way than her fellow chart-busting artist and close friend Miley Cyrus the two can be said to be political allies in the war against Trump and MAGA.

Click to read

I doubt my 10 year old unofficial granddaughter who knows the lyrics to many Taylor Swift songs and knows very well who Miley Cyrus is ever heard of Gen. Milley. That isn't the point. The point is that Trump is up against the predominate military culture which is removed from politics, and pop culture where with the exception of parts of country music stars are usually liberal.

While DeSantis invented the war against woke Trump has glommed onto it and neither of them understand that pop culture is decidely woke and it is incredibly powerful.

The realm of politics and pop culture can't be separated. Consider the fact that Rolling Stone which has always covered some politics from a very liberal position is now often breaking or writing about political news.

When Taylor Swift asked her fans to register to vote something like 35,000 did so within an hour. 

Whether or not the typical Trump cultist knows much about Gen. Milley they know what he looks like even though they don't read Politico or Military Times.

Read article

Read another article which used a photo from the same meeting

This is how Fox News covered the story online today with the photo from the article.

By now anyone in the cult camp who follows the news knows what Gen. Milley looks like. Appearance make a difference in how people are able to influence people.

The general may not be able to carry a tune (who knows?) but you can just look at him to take what he says seriously.

He doesn't scream like Trump does, but when he's deadly serious you can see it in his face.

Trump rules over a cult of personality who find him charismatic. The last American president to have anything one could call charisma is Barack Obama and you have to go back to JFK to find another president who could be described this way.

Alas, it's an oxymoron to juxtapose Joe Biden and charisma in the same sentence. Biden has only recent shown that he has the ability to express outrage:

Joe Biden Slams Plans By Trump And 'MAGA Extremists' To Gut Democratic Institutions

When it comes to generals supporting him, this is the best Trump can do:

Michael Flynn

As for musicians supporting Trump, you can't call Ted Nugent and Kid Rock pop stars.

People respond to messaging images whether they are used in advertising or politics. Without recognizing it their opinions and behaviors are shaped by images. Ads and commercials for Marlboro or Virgina Slims show how advertising gurus used this to sell the same deadly products to different groups.

Trump and the MAGA GOP  is no less deadly for democracy than cigarettes are for health. Hopefully people like General Milley, Miley Cyrus, and Taylor Swift can help break the hold Trump and other autocratic GOP candidates have on people who are unable to see this threat.

Addendum:

Unfortunately those watching Fox News this morning won't see President Biden paying trubute to Gen. Milley on his retirement. Instead they will see a replay about the debate.

They probably won't hear, or read, these words from Gen. Milley:

“We don’t take an oath to a king or a queen or to a tyrant or a dictator. And we don’t take an oath to a wannabe dictator. We don’t take an oath to an individual. We take an oath to the Constitution, and we take an oath to the idea that is America, and we’re willing to die to protect it.”

They won't see Biden expressing outrage with unusual vigor about how Tommy Tuberville (without calling him out by name) is holding up other military promotions and how the House is about shut down the government and how this will impact the military.

Updates: I wrote this before this was posted as the lead story on Salon:

Click to read

The article concludes:

I get that Swift is the center of the news cycle and Republicans hate when women have autonomy, but she is one person who is untouchable. As long as she can register thousands of voters by sharing a simple vote.org link to social media, she's also a threat. In this moment, Swift has amassed enough cultural power that angry men's opinions about her just don't matter, which just so happens to be something that she has worked toward her entire career. Between her frenzied fans, billion dollars and perfectly calculated every move, the right doesn't stand a chance and is backing themselves into an unpopular corner. Just ask Scooter Braun and Kanye West if they'd recommend going up against her. 

You need a subscription to The Washington Post to read this, but even without one you you get the idea here:

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