February 25, 2023

The MAGA GOP is doomed to be the Edsel of American politics.

By Hal Brown

The Ford Motor Company wanted to develop Edsel as a fourth brand to compete with Chrysler and GM. The attempt failed dismally for a number of reasons in addition to the fact that many people thought the grill design was ugly. A popular joke at the time, Edsels "resembled an Oldsmobile sucking a lemon".

Those of use who remember the car recall the front grill. However, the rear was ugly too:

You can read all of the reasons on Wikipedia for the failure here.

Wikipedia's explains:

The name "Edsel" became synonymous with the real-life commercial failure of the predicted "perfect" product or product idea.

I noted the use of the word "perfect" since this is one of Trump's favorite words to describe himself and everything he does.

Wiki notes that "similar ill-fated products have often been colloquially referred to as "Edsels".

Flash forward from the late 1950's to the early 2020's and into the world of American politics. MAGA is the brand name for the Republican Party and people who identify with the brand are called MAGA's.

Anyone who believes in small D democracy views the MAGA product as ugly on the inside, and sometimes on the outside. I won't inflict photos of Donald Trump and Marjorie Taylor Greene screaming on you since these images are already easily imagined.

I will, however share a video of an run-of-the-mill MAGA cultist:

The woman also mispronounces ignoramus three times in a row.

Update: Since I posted the blog an hour ago the number of views of this video increased to 1.8 million.
This is probably because it was the subject of this Raw Story article. I am sure that almost all of those who watched it were appalled by this woman's behavior since Raw Story is a progressive website.

I would have worried every time this racist woman reached into her purse for fear she had a pistol there. Perhaps she did.

She is why the GOP MAGA faction now in control of the party is doomed to become Edsels. These people are their base. The woman here doesn't seem to be mentally ill. She seems to be in total control of her faculties. Her beliefs are baked in. She represents the base that MAGA politicians appeal to.

While there are millions of people like her, there aren't enough to swing all but select House elections in deeply red districts, and perhaps a few Senate elections and state governor and legislature elections. She and her brethren are doomed to become Edsels.

This is currently the numb er one trending article on Raw Story.

Addendum: The person who posted this video has a book which made The Washington Post list of recommended books to read in 2023: I Still Believe: The Immigrant Sergeant Who Defended Democracy by Sgt. Aquilino Gonell with Susan Shapiro

DeSantis deserves to be called Ron DeSatan so why hasn't Trump called him that?"

By Hal Brown

Public Domain, Wiki Commons, Hal Brown

About the image above.

If you think this story from this morning is bad...

Click above to read

... and this from early this month:

What in the hell is wrong with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis?

This top of the HUFFPOST website story describes the poisonous icing on the already toxic cake that is Ron DeSantis

Click. above to read

Of course there's nothing particularly original about calling this sadistic bully DeSatan. For example:

Click above for link

What I wonder is why Trump hasn't picked up on this obvious nickname as he tries to demonize his most likely, and most formidable, primary opponent. Satan is considered literally the chief demon.

Trump has reportedly been spitballing nicknames since Ron DeSantimonous didn't catch on. He denied considering Meatball Ron and has used Ron DeSanctus which makes no sense. He hasn't used Ron DeAnus but I wouldn't be surprised if he's thought of it.

Why then not the obvious Ron DeSatan?

While DeSantis actually just allowed someone who arguably shouldn't have been put to death to be killed by the state, and his Covid policies may have led to more deaths, perhaps Trump is savvy enough not to open himself to being called out for his own satanic policies.

Both Trump and DeSantis are classic sadistic bullies. I wrote about such people here.

Comment:

Ben Kalom said...

Nice article.

Well said.

Musicality is duly noted. Too bad it is dissonant, cacophonic, constant staccato, with much too much reverb.

Also
"...more cowbell!"

SNL viewers and fans will understand.

It is not anger control issues. It is "Look-a-me!" issues. All these folks want is to move away from being not seen to being always seen.

We already give them too much attention. All of this is behaviorally "Cluster B" and Cluster A mixed in.

Apparently, being seen, receiving attention, being fawned over is akin to the dopaminergic quality of cocaine. They think they're funny. They think they're "Somebody!"

Back to music: the Billy Joel song "Big Shot" comes to mind.

Music says it all.

I would very much prefer to hear "The Sound of Silence" from them...

Mostly, they're a collection of Sid Vicious and the Sex Pistols..

Addendum:

This is a comment from the HUFFPOST article with another nickname:

13 minutes ago
After getting rid of the weak and the elderly during covid, DeathSantis now goes after the mentally disabled.
Nobody's safe, including your children!
After all, they don't work, live from handouts and are therefore useless according to maggat economic theory.

Greater Idaho Movement: A proposal to trade parts of Oregon with Idaho

An earlier map didn't include Bend in Oregon. Since it is a Democratic leaning city I have adjusted the borders.

By Hal Brown

While Marjorie Talor Greene is making the news for wanting to reinstate the Confederacy those in Oregon and Idaho are following the greater Idaho movement. This is a proposal that has gained traction in Idaho and the very conservative mucho-MAGA eastern Oregon.

Click above for website

Click above to enlarge. The county Bend is in is Democratic, the county to the east leans Republican.

How red is Idaho. Consider this story:

Here's another example:

Idaho House votes to prohibit use of student IDs to verify identity for voting

Then there's this:

Click above to read

One of my very best friends going back to childhood lives in Sun Valley. I visited him once when I drove to Portland where I now live.

Sun Valley is truly a beautiful place to live. At least nine celebrities live there year round or part-time. It has even been called New North Hollywood.

Sun Valley is considered a premier winter resort:

Click above for Visit Sun Valley website

You are surrounded by mountains, but you are also surrounded by hoards of people who would enjoy watching you hang from the gallows if you are politically progressive.

The Political Climate in Sun Valley, ID is Somewhat liberal.
Blaine County, ID is Very liberal. In Blaine County, ID 67.1% of the people voted Democrat in the last presidential election, 30.3% voted for the Republican Party, and the remaining 2.5% voted Independent.
In the last Presidential election, Blaine county remained overwhelmingly Democratic, 67.1% to 30.3%.
Blaine county voted Democratic in every Presidential election since 2000 (reference)

Boise the state capitol leans conservative but is not really hardcore MAGA.

There's no way that Oregon would vote to give away a huge portion of the state to Idaho. The population is highly weighted towards the western part of the state which is Democratic.

I have a proposal for a trade. It isn't original. However I made a map to go with it as to how the borders could be redrawn.

This would give both states the most unusual shapes, but so what. The boundary would be about a mile wide along the main route from the Portland area to Ketchum, where my friend lives, which is in Sun Valley:

Click above to enlarge

The roadways would be patrolled by the Oregon State Police. Nobody would have to worry about being arrested for bringing marijuana, which is legal in Oregon, into Idaho.

Last year Idaho banned abortion after six weeks.

There would be enough room along the corridor for Planned Parenthood and other groups to open family planning clinics which would legally provide abortion services. Centers could be opened in Boise (pop. aprox. 240,000) and Twin Falls (pop. aprox. 50,000)

Of course Idaho and Oregon would have the same number of Senators. It is possible, but not a certainty, that Idaho would gain more members of the House since Oregon could redraw a congressional district to include the area along the corridor. Idaho currently has only two members of the House. It would be one of the most unusual shaped congressional districts but that would be the way the cookie crumbled.

If Oregon wanted to play hardball they could gerrymander like this and make it likely they would gain one or more Democratic members of the House. Idaho now has two members of the US House while Oregon has six. No doubt the people behind the Great Idaho Movement want to gain one or more members of the US House at the expense of Oregon losing one or more.