[Update — the Oath Keepers are guilty! Stewart Rhodes and four co-defendants just got found guilty by the jury.]
The fallout from Trump’s Dinner With Fuentes continues. I didn’t think it was that much of a departure from his past behaviors to have caused this much of a ruckus. At TPM Josh Marshall posts a letter from a reader who argues that this wouldn’t have been a big deal before the midterms. TPM notes that a right-wing group called the Zionist Organization of America, which has supported Trump all along, is now shocked (!) over his association with Fuentes. The TPM reader comments,
Now? Now they turn on Trump? Oh yeah, it was a bridge too far to be with West and Fuentes. Give me a break. Even Michael Oren figured this out 3 years ago. They smell the stench of a loser on him just like some of these others, that’s all. There are tons of ex-neoconish Republicans out there who are the hard core of #NeverTrump who are so exactly because of his constant footsie playing with antisemites, among other things. It’s not like this was some massive deception we are only now awake to.
Trump’s dinner has been criticized by some Republicans but not other Republicans. The other Republicans tend to be those who might challenge Trump for the nomination in 2024, and also Herschel Walker, who is still in campaign mode and arguing that the use of pronouns decreases military readiness. The other Republicans have either said nothing or else released some boilerplate rhetoric condemning anti-Semitism without naming Trump. Or else they blame Trump’s staff, not Trump. For example,
Among those Republicans who have been silent on the matter so far, the most conspicuous is Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, where the dinner took place. DeSantis is often eager to jump into national political controversies. But he’s also Trump’s rival for control of the Republican Party and eager to court (and win) the former president’s supporters.
Further,
You’ll notice, in all of this, that while Republicans are willing to condemn Fuentes and Ye and Trump’s decision to eat dinner with them, they are not willing to go so far as to draw any conclusions about Trump himself. Even Pence — who had, in this group, the strongest words for Trump — took care not to impute any malice to his former boss. “I don’t believe Donald Trump is an antisemite. I don’t believe he’s a racist or a bigot,” he said. “I think the president demonstrated profoundly poor judgment in giving those individuals a seat at the table.”
Republicans who might want to run for office in the future can’t piss off Trump or his base. They don’t want to totally alienate anti-Semites or White supremacists, either. Sometimes they have to say something, but they have to make statements bland and fuzzy enough so that various factions can hear in them what they want to hear.
I honestly didn’t know who Nick Fuentes was until last week. Have you caught some of the videos of him ranting about how white male Catholics should rule the world? What a pathetic, whiny little man-baby. He and pathetic, whiny man-baby Trump probably did hit it off. Peas in a pod.
The irony here is that in spite of all their long-standing criticism of identity politics, it’s the Republicans who are pretty much exclusively practicing identity politics. It’s all about catering to various factions of bigots and signaling to them that the party is on their side against those other people.
See also Greg Sargent, How Trump is handing white supremacists huge propaganda victories.
Have you caught some of the videos of him ranting about how white male Catholics should rule the world?
Other than the ranting and publicly announcing it, how is Fuentes different than Sam Alito in wanting the world to be ruled by white male Catholics?
All of the knashing of teeth over The Donald being racist and anti-semitic is because that is easier on the ego than having to publicly acknowledge that your prior ‘willful igorance’ was not really ignorance.
Oath Keepers boss guilty of seditious conspiracy in 1/6 case (msn.com)
Yea!
My standard observation whenever Rhodes is mentioned:
YALE LAW!
I kinda view it as a nurseryman planting seeds and watching his seedlings springing from the soil to see which seedlings are showing the best signs of growth potential. Except in Trump's case he's planting the seeds for obiedence to his racist agenda and he's checking to see which of his GOP minions are beginning to grow a spine in opposition to his racist/antisemitic agenda.
Rhodes going down for Sedition is great news. He was convicted of that with one other while three were acquitted of that charge. All were convicted of interfering with an official proceeding. Sentencing won't happen til next year and I think it will dampen the enthusiasm for a Civil war. I'm reminded of the moronic woman fleeing the Capital Building with her eyes streaming with tears, "We came for a Revolution and they tear-gassed me in the face." Nobody told her revolution is a full-contact bloodsport. It's dawning on some of them there's likely to be a cost.
Related to those words, "there's likely to be a cost" is the three-day non-stop whine-fest by TFG. He's never been held accountable in his life and he's facing (likely) criminal charges for a crime that he recently admitted he did. The admission was paired to the false assertion that all presidents do what he did. World-class stupid because the prosecution will be able to prove that Obama and Bush did NOT do what Trump did but Trump's admission that he did will survive.
MTG is the self-appointed spokesperson for Trump declaring Trump is completely behind the J6 insurrectionists and couldn't have pardoned anyone before they were charged. IMO, MTG is trying to signal Trump how she wishes he would/will react to the Oath Keepers' convictions. IMO, Trump is now pitching to the most radical factions of his fan club and he WILL declare they should be pardoned. We shall see.
The observation that potential candidates aren't denouncing white power and anti-Semitism is true but may miss the actual problem. These groups are feeling empowered and welcome. Tell them they are no longer welcome and they won't wander off quielty, any more than Trump will. What they WILL do is demand more authority with the GOP or else. Else being – the destruction of the GOP as a viable political force. If they can't control policy, they can form their own party to punish the GOP for being scorned. I think the GOP knows the inmates have the keys to all locks in the asylum and they won't be locked up or suppressed.
Years ago, the GOP decided to include the bigots because the GOP thought they could control the crazy while harvesting their votes. For a time, it was useful to have a reliable block of voters whose only interest was opposing the Democrats. The GOP planted the seeds of their own destruction – the beast they fed grew up and is more powerful than the establishment that fed and nurtured the crazy. The GOP is only trying to survive.
I've noticed that for some time. The entitlement is strong with these people.
Trump has already said that if he's president again he'll pardon everyone connected with Jan. 6. He's just flat-out going for it.
If only there had been some indication at some point in the last seven years that this country isn't even in his top five. Like, if he praised murderous dictators and called this country "stupid" on live TV. Multiple times. You know, something like that.
I wonder if when tRUMP met Fuentes, he said to himself, "THIS, Lord Donald, is the kind of son I always wanted! Instead, I got Jr, Eric, and whatever Melanoma's kids name is."
As for the Rhodes and his gang of Oath Breakers (the shitheels who were in the military swore an oath to defend our Constitution, but broke their oath), the finding by the jury that 2 of them were guilty of seditious conspiracy should be a clear signal that these seditious MFers are NOT patriots, but instead, are treasonous vermin, and losers!
Enjoy your 20 years in a Fed prison – a supermax? – you treasonous dumbasses!
whatever Melanoma's kids name is.
I'll give you a hint…In a perfect world his name is what Donald Trump's mother should have been.
Cautiously sitting here with fingers crossed, hoping disarray among the Rs means we can squeeze out another Senate seat in Georgia…
We are not out of danger until tRump is either unable to run in 2024 or get's his tail kicked by even more than 7,000,000 votes. I think we all know the many ways another tRump residency in WH will be toxic to American and the majority of people that dare speak out in all media formats including blogs. I am not posting to be debbie downer — I am worried.
Good points in this post. I am sure the comment thread will have more. I pray (more like lawyers use this term than to Al Franken's Supply Side Jesus) that Jack Smith is finally tbe real deal. There is reason to hope.
I knew Nixon was a crook and created the Southern Strategy, Reagan normalized racism and was a puppet with serious cognitive damage after the near assassination, and the Bush family is evil. Scott Walker implemented tbe Koch playbook of Divide and Conquor.
Never though a sham billionaire given a platform by NBC to scream "Your FIRED!" would be promoted by tbe media to tbe WH. N
Just sickening — we can't give up. Thanks for letting me vent.
That's what the blog is for.
If you’re like me, your inbox has been filled with orgs begging for donations (when did this “Giving Tuesday” become a national holiday?).
Nonetheless, Timothy Snyder (professor at Yale, who has written extensively about fascism) has teamed up with President Zelensky of the Ukraine to crowd-fund a drone defense system (as bizarre as that sounds). As you probably know, the Russians are destroying the Ukraine’s power grid, which will both freeze and starve the population this winter, and destabilize the European electrical grid.
Read more about it at the Guardian, there’s a link in the article to United24, the Ukraine’s site to receive donations.
Fuentes is just one of the very fine people Trump has always loved. I think maybe the Rs know indictments are coming and that is why they are speaking.
The irony here is that in spite of all their long-standing criticism of identity politics, it’s the Republicans who are pretty much exclusively practicing identity politics.
Bingo
Been true since Nixon at least.