Post Context: In 2006, the Arizona Cardinals played the Chicago Bears in a football game. The Cardinals led by 20 points at halftime and ended up letting the Bears stage an epic comeback to defeat the Cardinals 27-26. After the game, the Cardinals coach Dennis Green held a standard postgame press conference. Visibly upset, he ranted and eventually uttered what has become a memorable phrase in sports (and a generally used meme as well): “They are who we thought they were. and we let them off the hook!”
Now, let’s review some of the happenings within the Trump Administration and from sycophantic Republicans over the past couple of days.
_______________________________
Let’s start with perhaps the highlowlight of the week.
Livestreamed Executions!
Look - the guy killed 13 people at Fort Hood. It was despicable and horrific. There is a significant price to pay. Notwithstanding my post on the death penalty the other day, turning his potential execution into a Roman spectacle is morally and ethically debased and bankrupt, and also just gross. I’m with Wajahat Ali on this one:
_______________________________
Next up - F*ck the International Order:
Much like recent votes in the United Nations on condemning Russia for invading Ukraine and even on boosting international cooperation on Chernobyl, we now stand with some of the most repressive governments in the world in denying election observers to watch our elections for fairness and potential impropriety. Of course, this is on top of coming after and trying to dismantle the International Criminal Court (because who wants to get indicted by a bunch of foreigners)
_______________________________
How about some more voting repression/restrictions?
How is it illegal or impermissible to simply allow voter to cast provisional ballots in person just in case their mail ballots are not delayed and not received in time? doesn’t this give the U.S. Postal Service - currently overseen by a Trump appointed board - incentive to do just that?
Combine the consistent and unrelenting efforts by the Trump Administration (supported by a corrupt SCOTUS) in attempting to restrict and repress voting - focused mainly on groups of people they think won’t vote for them - with our rejection of international institutions, and the U.S. is quickly becoming a pariah nation when it comes to democracy and international cooperation.
_______________________________
Let’s move on to Trump-style cabinet meetings:
Trump Is the Only Person Who Can Save America, According to His Cabinet
“The cabinet has historically advised the president on a variety of matters, but in President Trump’s second term, it appears to have taken on a new mandate: flattery.
Marathon cabinet meetings, lasting one to three hours, have become a hallmark of Mr. Trump’s second presidency, … Often televised, those meetings provide an opportunity for cabinet officials to credit him for their department’s accomplishments while still trying to claim some of the spotlight for themselves.”
In the headline above, Bessent says, “You have saved this country…”, Lutnick says, “You have changed America and created the golden age.” and Rubio says, “…he’s the only leader in the world that can.”
This is some North Korea-type shit. ‘Nuff said.
_______________________________
How about demonizing groups of people just because:
This is, to put it bluntly, disgusting. “Enemy combatants”?! “Rounded up”?! These are the words of anti-democracy and bigoted demagogues throughout history. Perhaps the dishonorable Representative Emmer has forgotten these events in our past?
From the Library of Congress about non-acceptance of Italian immigrants
Under Attack
Anti-immigrant groups demonized, and sometimes physically attacked, Italian Americans.
Or this:
Or this:
Emmer is a racist and ethno-nationalist. Which can pretty much describe the entire Trump Administration (for Stephen Miller on down) and most of the federal Republican Party electeds. Of course, they' are ignorant of our history or just don’t care. Frankly, it doesn’t matter which. They simply want to blame others for their own shortcomings and the jisery they have created in the U.S. through their misguided and venal policies.
_______________________________
As we wind down, let’s take a quick look at what our vaunted legal system and Department of Justice is doing:
Justice Dept.’s Civil Rights Division Is Investigating Star Witness Against Trump
It was a highly unusual move by Justice Department leadership to direct a case that appears to involve accusations of lying to Congress to a division that normally focuses on civil rights abuses.
From the NY Times article (bold emphasis mine):
The Justice Department has assigned its civil rights division to investigate Cassidy Hutchinson, a former White House aide who outraged President Trump four years ago after her testimony before Congress implicated him in the violence that erupted at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, according to four people familiar with the matter.
The move was a highly unusual one by Justice Department leadership, directing a criminal case that appears to involve accusations of lying to Congress to a specialized unit that normally focuses on systemic civil rights abuses like police misconduct and racial discrimination.
And yet the decision was in keeping with the administration’s bid to find new ways to use the powers of the federal government to target Mr. Trump’s political opponents. Those efforts persist even though the department has struggled to carry out the president’s demands for retribution and has increasingly hit roadblocks from judges, grand juries and even some of its own prosecutors.
Using the power of government for retribution against one’s political opponents and those who disagree with the current people in power is both a hallmark of Trump’s Administrations and a hallmark of - shall we say - rulers and regimes that have distain for democracy and government of the people, for the people and by the people.
_______________________________
Finally, the Pièce de résistance. take a gander at this photo:
And compare it to the previous Department of defense seal:
Combined with the Dr. Evil looking sartorial choice of Pete Hegseth in the first photo and that picture looks like he is the evil protagonist of the evil empire in a science fiction film set in the distant future. Literally. But its real and it is happening today.
_______________________________
Add this altogether and in the immortal words of Dennis Green, “They are who we thought they were.”
And “who we thought they were” is, yes, in fact, an evil, pseudo-religious, power hungry, anti-democratic and anti-American, wannabe authoritarian, fascist empire. They are not shy about who they are, and it’s time we believe them.
The ultimate question remains - to paraphrase the second part of Green’s epic rant - “Will we let them off the hook?”
