The delirious WSJ hack and troll Barton Swaim needs to return to reality if he wants to be taken seriously. That would include checking why two Fox News contributors (conservative writers Stephen Hayes and Jonah Goldberg) have severed their ties with the network over psycho snot Tucker Carlson’s glorification of Jan. 6. And this transpired at exactly the moment when more than 150 scholars are sounding a loud, clanging alarm about the future of our democracy. I have also sounded such alarms in my recent blog posts based on too many voters no longer able to discern the dire threat from the Trump cult of traitors, liars and brigands, e.g.
- Anti-Intellectualism In The U.S. - A Real Concern...
- American Voters Submerged In Malaise & Depression ...
If they did so discern, they wouldn't vote for these disreputable maggots. Carlson's crime? This Goebbels Jr. traitor has objected to the depiction of January 6th's insurrection as an alternate history “false flag” designed to create a pretext to persecute conservatives. This is the most execrable degenerate rot. Stephen Hayes in particular told the NY Times he was alarmed by Carlson’s propaganda recasting the federal prosecutions of the rioters as a “domestic war on terror” against the right. (Hayes noted that he was disturbed by Carlson’s comparison of Jan. 6 defendants to terrorism suspects tortured by the United States, and his suggestion that “half the country is going to be subject to this kind of treatment.”) This is insane and comes right out of the Nazi playbook, as when Hitler and Goebbels accused Germany's Left (and the Jews) of stoking hate against the National Socialist agenda to prevent German renewal and the desired Lebensraum.
My fear again is too many citizens - even outside the warped MAGA universe- are so blinded by skewed information and self interest they fail to perceive vast swatches of the Reep right condone political violence. News organizations have already published searing examinations of the right’s descent into this abyss and GOP complicity with it.
These nonchalant (i.e. non-outraged, bleh) voters are also, de facto operating at Trump's behest- cooperating unintentionally (maybe even unconsciously) with a verminous campaign to delegitimize and destroy our political system. In the case of Swaim his degenerate adherence to propaganda and lies, e.g.
precedes him. In the latest iteration of his ongoing mind fuck program ('The Impossible Insurrection' WSJ. p. A13, Nov. 21-22), Swaim reaches new lows in spouting disinformation regarding Trump, the sane citizens' reaction to him, and the January 6th insurrection the orange fungal roach instigated. He also, at the beginning of his essay, babbles incoherent claptrap about "conservatives" in the past - like William Buckley - knowing full well they are not a patch with the likes of Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert, Marjorie Taylor Green, and Paul Gosar. Those being the "stars" of today's pro -Trump Repuke cult and what passes for a deformed, degenerate aberration of historical conservatism.
This twerp Swaim also isn't averse to spewing bollocks about liberals and liberalism, especially with the aim of trying to portray the Right as the tenders of moral values. Consider, for example, this offering:
"Liberalism faces political opposition from time to time; its march has been interrupted by the election of people determined to stop it. But even in politics it has eventually triumphed everywhere: Traditional moral values have long since fled from the public square, every new constituency claiming persecution has received special political rights, the welfare state is in a permanent state of growth, and there is no obvious limit to what the federal government will spend in pursuit of liberal aims."
Why is this? Well, because liberalism promotes human welfare and decency instead of a survival of the fittest, Social Darwinist world promoted by the Right. I.e. no basic health care provided for families with kids, no government- sponsored child care - despite moralistic thundering about abortion. And god help you if you mention government support - like free housing for the homeless! You are a socialist or "commie" for sure!
The take on Trump isn't much better, turning the traitor's candidacy and reign into a plus, but also intellectually failing to grasp why the Republican party has remained "static" i.e.
"Mr. Trump gave the party an attitudinal assertiveness it never had before. But on policy the Republican Party has remained mostly static. In 2021 the GOP holds about the same positions it held 40 years ago. Republicans favor lower personal and corporate taxes, reform of entitlement programs, less government spending (at least when Democrats are in charge), a traditional lock-’em-up approach to law enforcement, broad restrictions on abortion, higher military spending and a more hawkish foreign policy. In part for these reasons conservatives don’t figure prominently among the U.S. cultural elite, media class and tenured professoriate. "
The imp's lowbrow- leaning brain here fails to process the GOP has "remained mostly static" and isn't interested in developing actual policy positions anymore because it mutated into a personality cult - of Donald Trump. It somehow discovered, way back when, that most sensible Americans were aghast at the actual GOP policy positions - like trying to destroy Obamacare when it finally addressed the matter of covering pre-existing conditions. Realizing this, and that it couldn't win elections unless it lied or distorted its positions, it turned to Trump. The rest as they say is history and we are now living with a destructive domestic political cancer in the form of a malignant personality cult that aspires to power at all costs. Damn the policy!!
The twit goes on to yap about the Right being a force in politics because "it turns on elections" adding "because there are a lot of conservative voters in various locations". Failing to distinguish true conservatives from the MAGA horde, and also that the latter is now dedicated to destroying our elections and democracy. Exaggeration? Look no further than the NY Times report on Saturday ('Wisconsin Republicans Push to Take Over State's Elections'):
Republicans in Wisconsin are engaged in an all-out assault on the state’s election system, building off their attempts to challenge the results of the 2020 presidential race by pressing to give themselves full control over voting in the state.
The Republican effort — broader and more forceful than that in any other state where allies of former President Donald Trump are trying to overhaul elections — takes direct aim at the bipartisan Wisconsin Elections Commission, an agency Republicans created half a decade ago that has been under attack since the chaotic aftermath of last year’s election.
The onslaught picked up late last month after a long-awaited report on the 2020 results that was ordered by Republican state legislators found no evidence of fraud but made dozens of suggestions for the election commission and the GOP-led Legislature, fueling Republican demands for more control of elections. And last week Sen. Ron Johnson said the GOP state lawmakers should unilaterally assert control of federal elections, claiming that they had the authority to do so even if Governor Tony Evers- a Democrat - stood in their way. .
In the light of these facts, Swaim's soft soaping, dismissive approach to the Right is mind boggling, but nothing compared to his further disinformation on Trump's presidency and the insurrection. Neither of which he treats much differently from a minor political hiccup. He writes, for example:
"Trump won the nomination in 2016, and even more his election to the presidency, was an anguished outcry against decades of aggressions. It wasn’t wise or sensible, but it was understandable as a frantic attempt to stay the hand of an uncompromising cultural leftism. The leftward-inclining elites who dominate American institutions didn’t interpret it that way. They classified it, as they had classified the tea-party revolt of 2009–10, as an expression of racism and hatred, thus relieving themselves of any responsibility to take it seriously or to discern its meaning. They employed every conceivable tool in an effort to remove Mr. Trump from office.
Intellectuals and commentators called him a fascist; top-drawer authors blamed him for coronavirus deaths; officials of the Federal Bureau of Investigation worked with political operatives and for-hire spies to frame him as a Russian asset; the U.S. media accepted and publicized the hoax wholesale; former military and intelligence officials openly called him a traitor;
Let's get it straight here that - Swaim's caterwauling aside- ALL the above were manifestly real and justified! Especially over 300,000 coronavirus deaths owing to Trump's lies, downplaying - even mocking masks! (Openly admitted in Bob Woodward's book, 'Rage'.) The man's racist DNA was also evident from when he called the Nazis and white supremacists who marched in Charlottesville (2017) "some very fine people".
Trump from the get go was a degenerate and clear traitor, who merited all the scrutiny he received- and then some - as well as being impeached twice. The only regret in the latter? The Repuke Senate was too cowardly to remove this pustule from the body politic. Further, there was no 'framing' as a Russian asset, given he was a cooperating one, in Putin's back pocket. Further it was Trump in cahoots with toady Bill Barr who concocted the phony Durham probe - to get back at the investigators - who had every right to probe him, see e.g.
The Durham Indictment Fuels the Real Russia Hoax – Mother Jones
And:
Swaim doesn't stop with the above misrepresentations but digs in further:
"Mr. Trump’s postelection claims of election theft were not worse than his enemies’ attempts to delegitimize his 2016 election by pretending the outcome was a consequence of Vladimir Putin’s machinations. But his claims were false and without excuse, and his maniacal repetition of them led directly to the disgrace of the Capitol riot."
No, NO and NO! What we know now, the facts of the insurrection - is that the January 6th events were genuine and horrific. The worst attack on our Capitol since the Brits raided it during the War of 1812. What kind of drugs is Swaim on anyway that he is capable of barking such insanity? That he can claim with a straight face that Trump's abominable lies about any 2020 election fraud- to undermine and destroy faith in our election system- were "worse" than the fanciful Durham 2016 election investigation predicate. I.e. that the whole Russian investigation by Robert Mueller was a "hoax" designed merely to persecute the orange maggot Trump.
Swaim again, his brain fueled by some combo of shrooms, MJ candies and god knows what else:
"The former president’s cultured despisers fail to appreciate, however, is that four years of subversion, slander and scorched-earth resistance made his cockamamie claims sound credible to a large audience of otherwise sane and sensible Americans."
Absolutely not! Those Americans were plainly gullible, semi-educated and susceptible to FOX News lies, and misinformation. Just as many so-called "sophisticated" readers of the Journal will be after being exposed to Swaim's toxic rubbish. As for Swaim's claims of "slander" of Trump, what slander? That he screwed Stormy Daniels and then tried to cover it up by paying her off out of 2016 campaign money? Absolutely true! That he made nice with white supremacists marching in Charlottesville? Absolutely true! That he was Putin's bitch and sought to undermine and subvert American democracy - which he is STILL attempting? Absolutely true! That he had two Russkie whores piss on the bed Obama and Michelle once slept in - at the Moscow Ritz Carlton? Absolutely true!
There wasn't a damned thing "scorched earth" about any of those claims and Swaim damn well knows it. And then to top it off, Swaim spouts this twaddle:
"The idea that the Capitol rioters threatened the American republic is a fantasy. Even to pose such a threat, they would have needed to do far more than break into an unguarded Capitol building and stop Vice President Mike Pence from certifying the count of the Electoral College. To stage a coup, these renegades would have needed the backing of the military; and to govern afterward they would have needed cooperation from other institutions, including the news media and the federal bureaucracy."
Absolute balderdash! And it shows just how disingenuous Swaim is that he could even attempt to pass this hog swill off on his readers. (Though mayhap he knows them better than they know themselves.) We now know that former acting Deputy AG Jeffrey Clark was only a few micro-steps from concocting a quasi-legal basis to over turn the results of the 2020 elections - in selected swing states - and toss the election to Trump. This would have been done by removing the state electors for Biden and replacing them with Trump electors. No intervention by a military or para-military force was required. All that was needed was a cover legal basis and Clark was in the process of getting it, see e.g.
John Eastman and Jeffrey Bossert Clark may face consequences for their coup attempt. (slate.com)
Excerpt:
"No lawyers did more than John Eastman and Jeffrey Bossert Clark to try to hand Trump an unearned second term. Eastman developed and promoted the theory that Vice President Mike Pence could reject Joe Biden’s victory, then endorsed it at the Jan. 6 rally that fomented the insurrection. Clark urged his Justice Department superiors to pressure several legislatures into awarding their electoral votes to Trump even though Biden carried their states..."
Not yet deterred, the impetuous imp Swaim goes on to conclude:
"Even so the riot will live on in the public consciousness as an “insurrection” and attempted “coup” because it encourages the left’s irrational fear of conquest by the right. The danger is that this paranoia keeps liberals from understanding their own dominant position—and acknowledging how illiberally they often exploit it."
Showing how deluded this misfit is, failing to grasp that a "dominant" cultural position will not translate into a dominant governance position given the way the GOP Trump cult is exploiting minority rule. Not only in is relentless gerrymandering but also the 300 + voter suppression laws over 25 Reep- governed states have passed, and the way state voter boards have been perverted to allow officials to overturn the voters' will.
There is no danger in liberals' "paranoia" in failing to understand their "dominant position" - given they have none in an archaic Electoral College system geared to minority rule - and overlayed by gerrymandered GOP states. State that have also successfully passed hundreds of voter suppression laws.
The real danger lies in intelligent citizens failing to grasp that an attempted crime (insurrection) is still a crime, and that there is zero equivalence between an attempted overthrow of government and a hoax claim about investigating and persecuting Trump. The most existential danger, indeed, is putting Trump back into any public office again - or any of his sycophant cult members.
Swaim's disinformation and propaganda is but one step removed from Tucker Carlson's claiming there is a "domestic war on terror" and "they" (DOJ, Jan. 6th committee) are "coming for half the country". The subtext being that the government is "targeting patriotic Americans with the same tools used to target Al Qaida".
This is deranged horse manure, given none of the insurrection traitors are being water-boarded, electro-shocked on genitals or dispatched to Guantanamo.
And as Hayes and Goldberg noted there are Americans who will believe and act on it. People need to bear in mind what Winston Churchill said regarding the start of World War II: "The malice of the wicked was aided by the weakness of the virtuous."
In today's context the latter applies fully to those who pretend the insidious collapse of our democracy isn't happening and that the Trumpification of the Right can't be that bad - even when rightwingers call for the wholesale slaughter of Democrats, i.e. saying on Telegram, “The left won’t stop until their bodies get stacked up like cord wood.”
See Also:
by Nancy Braus | November 23, 2021 - 7:56am | permalink
And:
by Amanda Marcotte | November 23, 2021 - 9:00am | permalink
And:
by Alex Henderson | November 23, 2021 - 8:26am | permalink
And:
by Meaghan Ellis | November 21, 2021 - 7:40am | permalink
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