Donald Trump Perfectly Illustrates How Stupid Our Political System Has Become

Both Republicans and Democrats are absolutely horrified at the latest remarks from Donald Trump concerning banning Muslims from the United States. Until this election cycle, anyone who proposed any of the things Trump has would have watched their campaign crash and burn. Party officials and political pundits alike would castigate them, but the reaction from the GOP leadership and conservative media has been cowardly this time around.

Remember 2008 Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo? No? That's because he barely registered in the polls, thanks in part to his extreme views on race and immigration. In 2016, Tom Tancredo has told Donald Trump to tone down his rhetoric, which illustrates just how far the GOP has slid to the fringe in the past 8 years. When the GOP's leading candidate is embraced by Neo-Nazis, there's no further doubt that our national political dialogue is in complete shambles.



Donald Trump continues to remain popular, because he is appealing to the most ignorant people in America. If I were to guess, I'd say that the average Trump voter barely understands how politics work, and really thinks if you type "Amen!" under a picture on Facebook, that little girl will be cured of cancer. These people are all around us, we all know at least one person who truly believes and shares stuff from conservative clickbait media sites that claim Michelle Obama is really a man - or that they have the exclusive scoop on President Obama's plan to confiscate guns.

Right-wing politics has always relied on the fear of foreigners, intellectuals, gays, etc. The Know Nothing Party flourished on the hatred towards Irish immigrants and Catholics. The KKK has been reincarnated a number of time to oppose blacks, Jews, communists and immigrants. The John Birch Society is still alive and well today, enjoying the support of Ron Paul devotees and Glenn Beck followers.

However, the internet and social media especially have made spreading hatred and misinformation easier - and more profitable than ever before. It used to be that the unhinged rants of conspiracy nuts were mostly confined to newsletters or low watt radio stations, but now all you have to do is tap your Facebook app and find that your gullible aunt is sharing stuff from David Icke, David Avocado Wolfe or websites claiming you can cure autism with bleach.

In other words, the crazy has gone mainstream. Bloggers have found that they can make a lot of money with headlines along the lines of "Barack Obama DESTROYS Every GOP Talking Point In EPIC Smackdown!" or "The SHOCKING Truth About Guns Liberals Don't Want YOU To Know!" Too many people don't read beyond the headline, and pass an article along as being true, without fact-checking both the story and the source.

As much as liberals want to claim that they are smarter than conservatives, there are many folks on the left who believe that George W. Bush will be tried for war crimes or that the FCC can pull Fox News' broadcasting license - simply because they saw it on a website that calls itself liberal.

The danger of Donald Trump being the Republican nominee or even being elected as our next president should not be laughed off. When you have people claiming to be Bernie Sanders supporters who have stated they will not vote for Hillary Clinton, or Clinton supporters saying they will not vote for Sanders, there is a very real possibility that Donald Trump or Ted Cruz could eek out a win in 2016.

Elections are not won based on viral videos or Moveon.org petitions, they are won by educating and motivating voters. Unfortunately, the American public has been dumbed down more than ever before over the last few years, thanks in part to social media. This is how Donald Trump has become as popular as he is, and this may be how the GOP hold on America becomes complete in 2016.

Bobby Jindal Exits The Presidential Race, To Screw Over David Vitter

It's been a fun run mocking Bobby Jindal. As a resident of Louisiana since 2010, I've watched his mismanagement the state up close and personal, and it's no surprise that his failed brand of conservatism just wasn't going to attract big money donors like the Koch Brothers.

The clown show that is the Republican primary campaign will go on, but it will go on without Bobby Jindal, who suspended his bid for the White House today.

Honestly, I thought he would hold out until at least New Hampshire, but I was wrong. I'm also very disappointed because I had a lot of fun running the Bobby Jinderp Facebook page with some friends - now who are we going to mock?

Bobby Jindal's exit from the race was inevitable, but as my friend Lamar White, Jr pointed out, it came just days before the election in which his fellow Republican David Vitter faces off with John Bel Edwards in the governor's election here in Louisiana.

It's no secret in Louisiana political circles that David Vitter and Bobby Jindal despise each other. Even though both are Republicans, Jindal has refused to endorse Vitter in his campaign to replace Jindal who is term-limited as governor.

Jindal is extremely unpopular here in Louisiana, and his legacy of Republican failure hangs over David Vitter who will have to clean up his mess if elected. The problem for Vitter is that he has been abandoned by other members of the GOP, and even Republican lieutenant governor has endorsed Democrat John Bel Edwards instead.

Bobby Jindal's exit from the race overshadows Vitter's campaign in the media, and it perfectly illustrates the failure of Republican politics in a state as red as Louisiana. Jindal could have held off on his relentless pandering to GOP voters until after Saturday's election, but he has done it now for no other reason to sink Vitter's ship - and Democrats should thank Jindal for this parting gift.

Trickle down economics doesn't work

This quote has been going around the internet, often not attributed to me. While I appreciate the message being disseminated, I don't appreciate the plagiarism. This quote and image were originally created on August 3rd, 2012.

"The next time someone tells you that Obama is destroying the economy, remind them that the stock market is close to an all-time high and that corporate profits are as well.

When they tell you that that hasn't helped them any, remind them they've just admitted trickle-down economics doesn't work." ~ Whiskey and the Morning After Blog

This is not "class warfare"

Asking that those who spend more on private jets and catering than they do on taxes to pay more in taxes is not "class warfare". Demanding a fair wage from a company that posts profits quarter after quarter, yet balks at giving their workers any kind of raise, that's not fucking "class warfare".

So, what is "class warfare"? I'll tell you what it is. The real class warfare is billionaires shoveling unlimited dollars into political campaigns without disclosure. It is media outlets taking in billions in advertising from companies like Boeing, Northrup Grumann, BP and other heavy hitters to continue their siphoning of tax dollars for military contracts and subsidies. It is the constant cacophony of talk radio bigots persuading long haul truck drivers, overnight security guards and retirees that labor unions, immigrants and liberals are to blame for all of their problems, not the 1% or the constant race to the bottom for cheaper goods and labor.

Listen sometime, if you can bear it, to rightwing talk radio from time to time. Step outside your comfortable Twitter and Facebook feeds from Moveon.org, thinkprogress.com, or the left's version of Glenn Beck, addictinginfo.org. Listen to the pompous windbag Limbaugh, Mark Levine, Michael Savage and really pay attention to what they're selling, figuratively and literally. The advertisements are for testosterone replacement drugs, survivalist gear, gold investments and hair loss therapies. Who is this target audience? Think about it. What are they selling? Fear, ego, and greed.

Convincing people to vote against their own interests, then getting them to believe that someone other than their corrupt representative is to blame, that is classwarfare. Getting people to give up their rights to a safe workplace and and an honest wage, that is class warfare. Tricking people into thinking that if they just vote for one more tax cut for folks who make more in a month than they will in a lifetime, that the manufacturing job they lost 10 years ago will come back, that is fucking class warfare.

Look, I will never, ever begrudge someone who made their millions honestly what they've lawfully earned. If you've worked all of your life to create a product that people want, without pulling strings to eliminate your competition, without getting a politician to earmark you some subsidies or a bailout when you tank, then good for you. You deserve to have your millions and there's very few people who think your lifetime's hard work should be taken away from you in the name of the fictional "wealth redistribution", despite what the pundits at Fox News will tell you repeatedly.

However, don't forget that every business uses our infrastructure, our roads, our highways and workers, all financed at some point or another by our tax dollars. You didn't get here solely on your own, especially if your money was handed to you by the work of your ancestors. So when it comes time to pay your taxes, which by the way, just happen to be the lowest since the institution of income taxes, stop bitching about "Taxed Enough Already" and pay your damn share already.

The end of the Third Great Empire

"The Republic will not end when ordinary people find they can vote themselves money from the Public Treasury, but when corporations find that government influence can be bought, sold and manipulated like derivatives on Wall Street".

~Whiskey and The Morning After Blog

Paul Ryan

True conservatism and the moral bankruptcy of the Tea Party

As the saying goes, "The only thing evil needs to triumph is the indifference of good men". Last night, I saw the most disgusting display of absolute selfish callousness when the hypothetical question was posed to Ron Paul about an uninsured person and whether they should be allowed to die. I know Ron Paul is consistent in his ideology of Libertarianism and while I don't agree with him, I at least salute his consistency even if he is wrong.

I know there are many, many decent people out there who call themselves conservatives and Republican, or Libertarian. I know some of them personally and again, I don't agree with them but I know that in a crisis, they'll help those around them. Yet, there are those people who are so neurotically morally deficient, clinging to the notion that everyone who is poor or sick, deserves what they have because somehow they didn't try hard enough. The craziest thing is that many of these people call themselves "Christians" and justify their position by claiming that "God helps those who help themselves", a quote which is NOT in the Bible.

I actually agree with true conservatives on to some extent on issues which include limited government (and I am almost completely Libertarian when it comes to civil liberties), the death penalty (and not just for violent murders but child rape, etc.) and gun rights (within reason). I have no issue with war, when justified and I believe that those people who succeed should be held up as an example to others. I believe in small business, fair immigration policy and responsible capitalism.

Yet, those people in the GOP have been incredibly silent and allowed the rabid people like Bachmann, Palin, Beck, Santorum and other loonies to drive the bus and dictate policy. These are people who call for making government "inconsequential" in our lives, unless you happen to make lifestyle choices they don't agree with. They are all for letting people raise and educate their kids in religiously nutcase environments but God forbid you want to smoke a joint in the privacy of your own home. They believe that if you are baptized as a baby into their religion, you can't change that but somehow being gay is a choice. They believe that someone born over 2,000 years ago was the Son of God but someone born 50 years ago in a US state isn't an American. They think it is perfectly acceptable to spend trillions of dollars on failed foreign policy and prop up dictators or people like Bin Laden who eventually turn on us, but it is a travesty to use tax dollars to take care of our own people or rebuild our infrastructure. They oppose abortion, yet simultaneously oppose birth control or sex education that would prevent that pregnancy from happening in the first place. They call themselves "pro-life" but clamor for the death of prisoners or even people who can't afford healthcare. Believing that you are not your brother's keeper is the greatest hypocrisy of those who wrap themselves in a flag and wave a cross.

"Screw you, I got mine" is not true conservatism, that's not working class or Middle America values and if the GOP ever wants to get back to possibly gaining my vote, they need to realize that. I know there are good, decent people who call themselves Republicans yet they are allowing the nutcases to speak for them. I don't know if it has become a majority or just a rabid and shrill minority that has come to dictate policy but the reasonable people need to take the wheel back before it is too late. My fear is that it is indeed, too late.

The GOP Nigerian scam

I used to be a "scambaiter", someone who would pretend to be a potential victim or even another scammer in order to waste the time of internet fraudsters. Although wasting their time was my original intent, I became trusted enough by some of them for them to share information on their victims, including sending me emails from their "magas" (Nigerian slang for "fools") which I was able to use to warn those people.

Some folks were suspicious and after being warned, dropped contact with the scammer. The resulting moaning and groaning from the "lads" (a scambaiter name for the scammers) was always a sign that they had lost another source of ill-gotten income. However, many people were so emotionally and financially invested in the scam that no amount of warning could dissuade them, including visits from local police or even members of the clergy. I talked to some that had well over 6 figures worth of income now sitting in the bank account of some "oga" (Nigerian slang for "boss") in Lagos, Nigeria. I suppose the decision to keep their heads in the proverbial sand, even in the face of overwhelming evidence and bankruptcy, was preferable to dealing with the crushing reality that they had been scammed. Emotionally they'd prefer to go on sending money and believing that with that one last payment, they would finally get that huge payment from that inheritance left to them by that previously unknown distant relative who mysteriously died and left all their money to them.

I know voters who have also been duped the same way, whether it be on social issues or the economy. They continue to believe that if they keep voting for the GOP and their policies, they'll finally become rich and can move into that gated community they were previously only allowed into to cut the grass or fix the plumbing. They believe that if we give tax cuts to their wealthy bosses, they'll get raises and more people will be hired to ease the workload they're currently under. They're convinced that just one more election and somehow abortion will be totally banned across the country with some executive order, completely ignoring the fact that only a Supreme Court ruling, in complete violation of precedent and the Constitution, would actually accomplish that fact. Yet, the American "maga" goes to the polls every year and votes for politicians and policies that continue to push us as a nation towards bankruptcy, both financially and morally. This is the perfect example of insanity, doing the same thing over and over again, yet still somehow expecting the outcome to be different.

I miss scambaiting and warning but now I just do warnings, except it isn't to people sending the last of their life's savings to Nigeria, it is to the millions of American voters holding out for a windfall that will never come.

The American Berserkers

"Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn." Alfred Pennyworth - The Dark Knight

That pretty much sums up dealing with religious fundamentalists and hardline political ideologists. Whether it is the Tea Party, Christian Dominionists/Reconstructionists, Al-Qaeda or the Taliban; you are not dealing with rational, sane people who can be negotiated with. These are people who make demand, after demand, after demand and then still execute the hostage once it is over. They are not motivated by money, they are motivated by the looney idea that they are on a mission from God and only the complete destruction of the enemy is an acceptable conclusion to the crusade. Like a Viking berserker, folks like Rick Santorum set off political rampages that have the end goal of installing theocracy, dismantling the parts of the Constitution they don't like and replacing it with their strict (and surprisingly inconsistent) interpretation of the Bible. The only real difference between them and the Taliban is one wears sweater vests, the others wear suicide vests.

These are the people responsible for grabbing the wheel of the GOP bus every election year for the past 3 decades and steering it as hard to the right as they possibly can. The mistake the GOP and Wall Street made in 2010 is letting them drive, thinking they could be controlled and making concessions to them. They played to the hard right like never before last cycle because they knew they had to in order to get their votes. Evangelicals and fundamentalists had been repeatedly given just token pieces of anti-abortion legislation and if they weren't given what they wanted this time around, they were going to walk and take their Tea Party with them.

I remember standing on the floor of the Virginia state GOP convention in 1993 and listening to the likes of Ralph Reed and Michael Farris thunder on about how we were a "Christian nation", while watching the homeschool lobby act like we were at a Pentecostal service. Even "middle of the road" candidates (by evangelical standards) like George Allen or Oliver North knew they had to at least pay lip service to the attendees who showed up in their 15 passenger family vans and raised their hands towards the sky like God was going to handpick the nominee right there and then. This isn't a group that can be usually bought off with earmarks, special considerations, or anything like that. They want the end of government as we know it. They want a "Christian" version of Afghanistan under Taliban rule. They would have their own version of the "morality police" to ensure that only married heterosexual couples were having sex and probably only for the purposes of procreation.

I know it sounds nutty to some people but if you've been behind the lines, which I was up until around the age of 17, you know exactly what I'm talking about. I know the inner workings, I know the unwavering faith that these useful idiots have that they are doing what God wants. And if they don't get what they want, they'll be happy to watch the world burn.