"Liberal Fascism" ? It's An Oxymoron. Trump Is The Real Fascist - Along With His Cult Of Thugs

"Fascism now, fascism tomorrow (if I get re-elected) and fascism forever! Heil Trump!"

Trump endorsing fascism is nothing new as we've beheld it hundreds of times in his tweets, public statements and actions - from  teargassing peaceful protesters in D.C. so he could do a bible pose, to vowing to send in the military to break up protests, to entertaining fantasies about limiting free expression, and even endorsing Chinese concentration camps against the minority Uyghur Muslims,  gleaned from John Bolton's just released book ('The Room Where It Happened').  

But in his pathetic Mt. Rushmore July 4th (actually 3rd)  event this walking, squawking human sewage outdid himself, with his batshit crazy claims.  This, even as his own radical Right minions will now face charges in federal court pertaining to targeting law enforcement as well as legitimate protesters in the wake of George Floyd's killing, e.g.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/alleged-followers-of-boogaloo-movement-face-charges-linked-to-protests-11592920008

 The piece from June 23, p. A4, details how assorted right wing renegades  (including Steven Carrillo, facing charges for murdering a Santa Cruz sheriff's deputy)  have now been apprehended and will be held to account, including members of the "Boogaloo Bois" I'd earlier cited as the real fascist culprits AG Bill Barr ought to be turning his spotlight on, e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2020/05/american-tinderbox-blame-white.html

As opposed to the members of Antifa, who Barr - reckless with accusations as usual (even creating an anti-government task force")-   sought to turn into the nation's No. 1 Public Enemy and Boogeyman Even triggering hysteria amongst the Red state dregs, i.e.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/17/opinion/antifa-protests.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=OpEd%20Columnists

At his Mount Rushmore culture war slime fest, which would have done Hitler proud (in one of his dozens of bellicose efforts), Trump barked:

"We will expose this dangerous movement, protect our nation's children, end this radical assault, and preserve our beloved American way of life."

And:

"In our schools, our newsrooms, even our corporate boardrooms, there is a new far left fascism that demands absolute allegiance."

The preceding just two samples of the tons of palpable brain sewage hurled out by the man of sewage.  A disingenuous and ignorant maggot buffoon who clearly has no remote idea of fascism.     As a CNN piece  by Chris Cillizza aptly  replied:

"I   looked up the definition of "fascism." It's this: "A political philosophy, movement, or regime (such as that of the Fascisti) that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition."

And let me complement that with this earlier 1983 American Heritage Dictionary  definition:

"A system of government that exercises a dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of state and business leadership, together with belligerent nationalism."

Which fits Trump and his reprobates to a tee, including Bill Barr. But why be surprised when this traitor with pretensions to extending his reign (and forging a real fascist dictatorship)  doesn't even read his critical daily intel briefs, e.g.

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2020/06/why-cias-best-really-have-little-use.html

The man, then, is merely the embodiment of  fascist slime,  a Divider- in- chief, and seamless traitor to boot. A low class demagogue grifter and psychotic who needs to feed his deplorable base  incessant hate and division to have any chance at staying in office and not being put turfed into the nearest federal prison for his crimes.  A pestilence who yet seeks to use the office to enrich himself at the expense of the people, i.e.

Shock Doctrine in Action: Trump Friends, Former Staff Cash in on Covid-19 Crisis

Even as he lets Americans perish by the tens of thousands from his inaction on the virus.  

Incredibly, the WSJ editorial yesterday  ('Trump at Mount Rushmore', p. A16) remains in a delusional bubble even within its own paper, babbling:

"Dark? In most respects Trump's speech was a familiar Fourth Of July ode to liberty and U.S.  achievement that any President might have delivered.."

Adding:

"Contrary to the media reporting, the America Mr. Trump described is one of genuine racial equality and diversity, as he highlighted the central ideals of the Declaration of Independence that 'all men are created equal'"

Which reinforces my take that tunnel vision in the service of ideology - especially on the op-ed pages dictated by Rupert Murdoch - can be an effective means to blind both the author(s) and the public ingesting this piffle.  First, because it is directly contradicted by the WSJ's main story on the event (p. A4 yesterday) which pointedly noted (for the benefit of the Journal's editorial nabobs who likely didn't read it):

"The president's effort to exploit cultural divides is a familiar tactic, recalling the 'American carnage' he described in his inaugural address."

Further it is preposterous for the WSJ editors to try to portray Trump  "defending America's founding principles" when at the same time he's viscerally and deliberately denouncing one group of citizens to another  - and employing, lies, historical distortion and monumental (no pun intended) dog whistles and gaslighting to do so.  Absolutely, this was not any speech any other president might have delivered. No way in hell. It was a performance - more like a red meat for a rally -   demagogue swill, that a Hitler or Jim Jones might have let loose. It was, when all is said and done, an insult to all the preceding decent presidents, as well as to the soldiers (like  my Revolutionary War ancestors) who fought for the real principles underlying the Declaration.   Which this fungal-infested orange garbage has not the slightest inkling of.

So there is little doubt in my mind, both Conrad and Jockel Brumbaugh - if they beheld his performances the past week - would see him for what he is:


And want him hung from the nearest tree.  They'd know that all the authoritarian or fulsome faux patriot banter disgorged by this orange -tinted Turd can't disguise he is a traitor.   


See also:

Donald Trump

Trump Is a Traitor

by Lucian K. Truscott IV | July 5, 2020 - 7:23am | permalink

And:

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/04/politics/donald-trump-mount-rushmore-south-dakota-speech-lines/index.html

And:

http://brane-space.blogspot.com/2014/04/liberal-fascism-is-oxymoron-it-doesnt.html

And:

• Trump's sad, empty and tragic July 4th 

Excerpt:

"We are now reduced to bitterly watching a small, stupid, petulant excuse of a man conjuring up racial bogeymen for the cynical purpose of turning Americans against each other.

The fact that Donald Trump would travel to Mt. Rushmore for yet another opportunity to fan the flames of racism to an audience of white supporters frothing at the mouth at his culture-war catcalls is more than simply dispiriting—it’s pathetic. The fact that he and yet another of his stupid Republican lackeys—this one occupying the South Dakota Governor’s Residence—would make a point of pride out of the fact that this audience would not be burdened with taking any health precaution, in the midst of a pandemic that has already erased 130,000 American lives isn’t just perverse—it’s pitiable.

The fact that Trump barely mentioned the worst public health crisis to strike this country in over a century to an audience crammed together on zip-tied folding chairs, breathing, coughing and shouting in each other’s faces isn’t just sick—it’s malignant. The fact that he twisted a nation, riven for weeks by protests against police injustice, into an argument for white supremacy and more violence isn’t just disgusting—it’s revolting. "

Jeff Sharlet's Article: "Trump The Chosen One To Run America" - Yeah, From Hell

"Donald Trump is Satan. The Satan in question is perhaps the greatest literary character in the finest epic poem in the English language, John Milton’s Paradise Lost. .. Trump as Satan: you might think it’s absurdly over-the-top, or want to celebrate it as a (literally) epic takedown, but this is not a political statement hurling invective. It’s an analytical statement describing what is happening – what will happen – and why, aided by the Miltonic intervention. Great literature helps us understand the world. Both politicians and literary critics do their jobs best when they’re willing to use literature to think about life."-  Jeffrey R. Wilson, Spectator USA

Jeff Sharlet on 'All In' last night painted an even more horrific picture of Trump and his worshipping zombie hordes  than most of us believed possible. This as we face the spectacle of his first rally of the summer tonight in Tulsa, which is sure to be a "super spreader" event in the new pandemic surge.   What insights Sharlet shared with Chris Hayes were mostly in his Vanity Fair article: 'He's The Chosen One To Run America:  Inside The Cult of Trump, His Rallies Are Church And He Is The Gospel',  e.g.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/06/inside-the-cult-of-trump-his-rallies-are-church-and-he-is-the-gospel

Sharlet began by comparing the "new dark era of Trumpism"  to the esoteric Gnostic gospels, averring  that like the Gnostics, the Trumpers  " believe all knowledge is hidden and the elites are in this vast conspiracy against us. "   I.e. to prevent them from gaining this precious, hidden knowledge.

But to even roughly liken the idiotic QAnon conspiracy claptrap to the Gnostic Gospels is to commit a grievous false analogy.  (QAnon believes "deep state" elites are hiding knowledge regarding reality and the political universe from them and other dregs.  In fact they simply aren't intelligent or industrious enough to access any  genuine knowledge on their own.)

This essential point needs to be clarified before we go on to the main core of Sharlet's thesis which actually holds some weight.   First , based on the research of religious scholar Elaine Pagels e.g.


We learn that the essence of these gospels was based on esoteric, early Christian  traditions,  i.e.  teachings proclaiming that one needn't depend on an orthodox dogma or an external Christ for salvation, rather one could become a Christ in his own right. In this way, the Gnostics exhibited a remarkable resonance of beliefs with Buddhism. Little known at the time is that they were massively persecuted and oppressed by the likes of Paul and some of his fellow orthodox cohort. Some scholars believe many of the Gnostics were put to death by these bigots, so their own little fairy stories could prevail. And in fact that’s pretty well what happened.  ("History is written by the victors" as one saying goes.)

The Gnostics themselves, as Marvin Meyer points out ('The Secret Teachings of Jesus: Four Gnostic Gospels', p. xvii- Intro.) emphasized a quest for understanding, and because they placed more import on fostering spiritual lifestyles - as opposed to paying homage to the received wisdom of the authorities of the day-   they were regarded as dissidents and outcasts.  All this is totally different from Trumpism which is much more like the crap cult teaching of the Rev. Jim Jones with his "People's Temple" in Guyana. 

Jones convinced his captive cultists that the "outside world" was against them and he held secrets to their identity and existence that only he could really share - but which could liberate them from the pressures, designs and "wickedness" of those "enemies"  arrayed against them.   He also imbued in them the belief that the U.S. government was out to get them (hence the move to Guyana), just as Trump has convinced his own deplorables  that a deep state "conspiracy" is out to get them and HIM. Oh,  a theme of paranoia also ran through Jones' teachings, and that there was "an enemy within"  that had to be destroyed, echoing what Trump tells his minions now. 

Chris Hayes then compared  the mush of the QAnon -Trumpie beliefs to a kind of  false consciousness.   But what really shows these freaks are in need of  serious psychotherapeutic intervention is when Sharlet noted their conviction that every Trump tweet contained gist for interpretation: every typo,  misspelling,  every capitalized word- contained a hidden message from Trump- pregnant with meaning. That is, if the Trumper was just clever enough it would be revealed- else s/he would be in a similar position to the John Nash character in "A Beautiful Mind" -  trying to make sense of  dozens of random news clippings pinned to a wall.

In his Vanity Fair article Sharlet writes:

"Many followers deploy a familiar Christian-right formula for justifying abuses of power, declaring Trump a modern King David, a sinner nonetheless anointed, while others compare him to Queen Esther, destined to save Israel—or at least the evangelical imagination of it—from Iran. Still others draw parallels to Cyrus, the Old Testament Persian king who became a tool for God’s will. ...Lance Wallnau, a founding member of Trump’s evangelical coalition, dubs him “God’s chaos candidate”: “the self-made man who can ‘get it done,’ enters the arena, and through the pressure of circumstance becomes the God-shaped man God enables to do what he could never do in his own strength.”


And even more nutso:

"In Trump’s case, divine backing is more about smiting than healing. When Rep. Elijah Cummings died last October shortly after sparring with Trump about Baltimore, Peterson declared on his radio show, “He dead”—like Trump enemies John McCain and Charles Krauthammer, Peterson noted. “That’s what happens when you mess with the Great White Hope. Don’t mess with God’s children.”

Carrying the post hoc, ergo propter hoc  fallacy  to a preposterous excess.  I.e. whatever follows x, y or z event was caused by x, y or z event.    But this is all of a piece with the con Jim Jones also pulled on his followers in Guyana making them believe he could smite  any foe who dared try to bring his kingdom down. (Including killing CA Rep. Leo Ryan in an ambush when he tried to help several followers escape.)  According to one member (Walt Jones) quoted in the book, 'The Suicide Cult' (p. 69),  what most held members in line was that:

"Jones was a master manipulator"

Much like Trump, he promised his followers the Earth, Moon and sky if they'd just believe and follow him, into hell as it turned out, e.g. this photo of some of the 900 -odd bodies recovered at Jonestown,  from the book:

 In the same way, or perhaps now by way of a huge Covid spike,  Trump will bring his banshees to their knees literally - but even then they may not be able to see beyond his machinations and manipulations. Another huge difference with Gnostic Christians, since as Elaine Pagels points out (op. cit. p. 106):  "Those who were enlightened were able to discriminate for themselves what was true, and what was false."

But as with the case of Jim Jones,  the Trumpie followers and cultists opt not to think for themselves but only accept what Trump tells them - which is why they're flocking to the Tulsa rally tonight. And oh yeah. like Jim  Jones' followers they believe the virus won't touch them- after all they are under the protection of the Donald, errr...the Dotard.  The "Chosen One" (sic) from whatever Hell Jones (and Hitler)  also came from.

In another paragraph Sharlet writes with some prescience:

"For the past four years, Trump has systematically done what Barack Obama refused to do: played directly to his base, whipping his followers into fury. His rallies transcend live events. .. And the fury will be there as we approach the pivotal moment in November, when our future may well hinge on these passion plays."

For sure there will be "passion plays" galore - especially as Trump sees the hangman's noose approaching.  We  just need to ensure this charlatan criminal and con man grifter swine doesn't get too many of the rest of us to swallow his kool aid.

See also:

• Tulsa is under curfew and COVID-19 infections are exploding ahead of Trump's campaign rally 

And:

Donald Trump

Overt Shades of Hitlerism in Trump's Speech Yesterday

And:

Donald Trump

Our Long National Nightmare Is Almost Over — or Not

"Moscow Mitch" McConnell Gets Outplayed by Nancy Pelosi In Senate Trial Showdown

"I mean, what  the Senate majority leader McConnell  said was nonsense, and he didn't discuss any of the facts. It was a pretty hard act to follow, because for someone who wasn't in the weeds it may have sounded reasonable.  But I think Chuck Schumer was up to the occasion, and simply asked 'what are they afraid of?' - Prof. Lawrence Tribe last night, on Last Word, MSNBC

"I heard some of what Mitch McConnell said today, and it reminded me of our founders who wrote the Constitution.  They suspected there that there could be a rogue president.  I don't think they suspected we could have a rogue Senate leader too."  - Nancy Pelosi yesterday, in response to Mitch McConnell

"The president of the United States attempted to use his political power to coerce a foreign leader to harass and discredit one of the president’s political opponents. That is not only a violation of the Constitution; more importantly, it is profoundly immoral.”  -   Mark Galli, the editor in chief. of  Christianity Today

Let's get to the point:   Irrespective of the corporate media's hopelessness in covering Trump and his antics (Last night I heard Chris Cuomo spout - during a break in the CNN Dem debate - that Trump was "killing them" with his tweets that "they're afraid of a Senate trial ),  everyone else with a grain of sense knows Nancy Pelosi has simply outmaneuvered Moscow Mitch.  This is the Russian Puppet we have as Senate leader, who already declared - for the benefit of Vlad Putin and his overseer Trump - that he will not be nonpartisan in any upcoming Senate trial. Nope, this slime ball with a face like an inebriated guppy just plans to hold his own mock trial ("Potemkin trial" in the words of Lawrence Tribe)  absent any witnesses (like John Bolton or Mick Mulvaney) to just 'phone it in' for Vlad and Dotard.

Moscow Mitch  has openly confessed that he is co-ordinating every step with the White House – which means by extension he's doing the same with Moscow and Putin. Indeed, at his annual press conference on Thursday, following Mitch's lead, Putin poured scorn on the articles of impeachment – the equivalent of congressional charges or indictments – saying they were based on “made-up reasons” and offering the opinion that Trump would almost certainly be acquitted at trial in the Senate.  Mitch  and most of his GOOP Goobers would be proud to agree, and he has in the manner in which he's so brazenly spurned a real Senate trial - as opposed to say, an old Soviet-style show trial.

 So now we know the head of the jury is in cahoots with the defendant – and has rebuffed Democratic demands that key witnesses-  including the former national security adviser John Bolton -  be called to testify.  The very admission, let us note, is a violation of an oath he is to take prior to the Senate trial, i.e. to be unbiased and nonpartisan.   It is also why Harvard law professor Lawrence Tribe wrote his compelling op-ed Monday in the Washington Post, 'Don't Let Mitch McConnell Conduct a Potemkin Impeachment Trial'.  ("Potemkin" is derived from "Potemkin Village" -  where a  "Potemkin village" signifies any deceptive or false construct, conjured often by cruel regimes to deceive both those within the enclave and those peering in from outside.)

So though ignorant pundits and yappers like Chris Cuomo have hissy fits, it was actually a Harvard Law professor who is one of the architects of the sensible plan to refuse to transmit the charges to the Senate.  This is at least until McConnell and his Russkie apparatchiks get serious about a Senate trial.

But Nancy  Pelosi - in line with Prof. Tribe's suggestion - called Moscow Mitch's shameless bluff.  .Using a move right out of LBJ's "break their knees" playbook, she is withholding sending the Articles of impeachment over to the Senate. Not out of any "fear" as the clueless media Babbits (like Chris Cuomo) or twits like Trump claim, but because she is not going to prematurely  deliver  House impeachment articles simply to be used as Moscow Mitch's playthings.  To serve the Russians' interests, or Traitor Trump's. (Who in a parallel universe would have been hung by now.)

How do we know the move is superbly strategic? Because it has the semi-human dumpster fire in the White House going batshit frantic as he belches demands for an "immediate Senate trial".  Why? Because he yearns for a mythical "exoneration"  and "vindication"  and knows Moscow Mitch and his other useful idiots- like Lindsey Graham- will merely hold a kangaroo court to acquit the bastard. Then he can use such treasonous acquittal to falsely claim vindication. And exoneration.  But like the case of O.J. Simpson, we know that will not hold up.

Moscow Mitch, like the Soviet propagandists of old, bellowed out his own bollocks, i.e.

“House Democrats may be too afraid to even transmit their shoddy work product to the Senate.  Looks like the prosecutors are getting cold feet in front of the entire country, and second guessing whether they want to do the trial.”

Of course, this is cow manure- level codswallop. The House Dems actually produced an impeachment inquiry for the ages, calling dozens of high profile witnesses to testify including Fiona Hill, Gordon Sondland, Kurt Volker, David Holmes, Marie Yovonavitch, William Taylor, and many others.  All of them produced devastating direct testimony of Trump's criminal acts, to do with shaking down Volodymyr Zelenskiy to announce an investigation of the Bidens - in return for nearly $400 m of military aid to Ukraine. (Now threatened by the Russians in the Domass region).

Ask yourself then why Moscow Mitch is called that by so many, when a bit of logical process reveals that if he protects Trump - and the Senate trial is a sham - Trump (and pal Vlad) may be emboldened to strike again.  Very likely in next year's election. So Mitch is serving two masters - Putin and Trump - along with his retinue of GOP comrades....errr....collaborators.  Hence, we must call a spade a spade: he's Moscow Mitch and Trump's bitch.  He must be the latter too if he is turning over his power to properly oversee a Senate trial to Trump


But wait!  We must also conclude that Moscow Mitch is a first class moron, if he really believes the Articles approved are the "thinnest and weakest" in American history, This in opposition to over 500 constitutional scholars who have attested (in a letter) to the precision and high quality. In the words of Harvard constitutional professor Noah Feldman, for example:

"All you need to know to realize Trump actually committed these crimes, is the memorandum of the phone call he had with Volodymor Zelenskiy - which makes it super clear he abused the office of the presidency to gain a personal advantage in the 2020 election.  And the letter where the president directed his White House Counsel to say 'I'm stonewalling the whole impeachment inquiry.'  Which shows Trump is impeding or obstructing congress..

If you've got those things that's all the proving you need. It makes these very simple, clear and explicit articles of impeachment."

But look, this guppy drool, i.e.  that the case is "the thinnest and weakest" and is "shoddy work" - proves Mitch lacks the IQ to  discern quality when it's evident.  Indeed, Prof. Lawrence Tribe - who I'd argue knows a tad more than Mitch - argued the two articles were among the strongest he's seen, and certainly stronger than the ones the Reeps hung on Bill Clinton, for lying about a sexual affair.  (This was last night on Last Word with Lawrence O'Donnell)  Thus, we must conclude Mitch  is also a useful idiot, or better, Vladimir Putin's useful idiot  but ensconced in the U.S. Senate.  

Pelosi said on Thursday morning that the reaction of Republicans: “Reminded me that our founders, when they wrote the constitution, they suspected there could be a rogue president. I don’t think they suspected we could have a rogue president and a rogue leader in the Senate at the same time.”

Trump’s line of attack, judging from an early morning tweet, was to underline and reinforce the overwhelming partisan divide. He seized on the fact that no Republican had broken ranks in the dual impeachment vote. "100% Republican Vote,” Trump tweeted. “That’s what people are talking about. The Republicans are united like never before!"

Well, united in gross stupidity, treachery and intransigent rejection of facts and reality. One huge reason why the impeachment could not be other than one-sided - or "partisan" (as Ivanka whined on CBS this morning) because the other supposedly serious party prefers to wallow in fantasies, denial and psychotic, debunked conspiracy ideations.

 What Trump praises  is more an indictment of the whole Reep party which has basically mutated into Trump's cult. Much like Jim Jones' cult in Guyana - in the 1970s- had tricked so many followers to worship him as a kind of demigod, ultimately leading to their mass suicide in a "white night" in November, 1978, e.g.
See also:

Donald Trump

Trump as Jim Jones?

To quote author Jon Meacham - in his own observations following the impeachment votes and the dust settling:

"What we've just spent hours absorbing is the existential question of our time: Is the law more important or is partisanship?  The Democratic party did the right thing in this case. The Republican party decided their partisan passion was more important than their brains, and their hearts. Appetites is what won the day for them."

And the take from commentator Chris Matthews the same night was no less damning:

"Here's a president being accused of horrible things, of selling out his office and the public trust for personal gain.  And yet all day long, with all the Republicans speaking-    able to say whatever they wanted all day long - not one stood in that well and defended this president's character. Not one said he's an honest man. Not one person said he's a good man. Not one person said he couldn't have done something like this. That is powerful stuff. That a party felt they could play all the games today- talk about tactics ad style - but they never defended the man, the person in the White House, his character.  This is extraordinary."

So what Trump praises as a virtue, is in fact a monstrous defect: the spectacle of one whole American political party losing its moral compass to become the appendage of the most brazen criminal president in American history.  Or to put it in more colorful terms, Trump has led this party to mutate into a 'Jim Jones' style political cult.  Nancy Pelosi. meanwhile - as Nicole Wallace put it yesterday, now controls the "whip hand" to drive the process forward, whether Moscow Mitch knows it or not.

Lastly, it's clear to me we have to start calling CBS "Trump TV Two"  - after several occasions having dedicated Trumpsters on to spew garbage and lies - including Reince Priebus, Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham yesterday morning, and Ivanka today.   With twaddle like that being disseminated compliments of CBS' useful media idiots, it's little wonder almost half the country has little clue what's going on and many believe the Dems are simply "out to get" poor Trump.

On the positive side,  we saw a blistering editorial on Thursday evening, from a prominent evangelical magazine, Christianity Today, which called for Trump to be removed from office. The move was long overdue and a welcome departure from the vast majority of Trump’s white evangelical base-  which has ceaselessly glorified him- almost as the 2nd coming of Yeshua..

See also:

Donald Trump | Impeachment | Mitch McConnell | Ukraine

How Deep Will Moscow Mitch Sink in Trump's Ukraine Cover-up?

And:

Impeachment | Mitch McConnell

No, McConnell, Biased Jurors and No Witnesses Do NOT Make for a Fair Trial

And:

Donald Trump | Impeachment | Republicans

Republicans Defend Trump With "Four Facts" That Are Fake

And:

Impeachment | John Roberts

It's in Roberts' Court

by Al Franken | December 21, 2019 - 6:47am | permalink

Excerpt:

"The impeachment trial of a president brings together all three branches of the federal government for this solemn process. So solemn that there is a special oath for members of the Senate who (I swear to God) will swear to God that they “will do impartial justice according to the Constitution and laws.”

Mitch McConnell has already told us that he will violate the oath. Actually, violating the oath is itself grounds for impeaching a U.S. Senator. That probably won’t happen. But then, things have gotten extremely weird of late."

And:

Donald Trump | Impeachment | Republicans

After Impeachment and Acquittal, Expect a Vicious Republican Counterattack