It’s time for another batch of short items. NYT and LAT (before the assassination attempt) think Trump unfit; items about the Ten Commandments, Fly Me to the Moon, conspiracies, a comment on TV about how democracy should work; and how Republicans are using the assassination attempt to deflect all criticism of Trump and his authoritarian policies. Another Trump judge dismisses a case against Trump, what a surprise. Zack Beauchamp, a name to look for. And others.
My take-away from among all these: that comment on TV about how democracy should work.
- Just a couple days before the assassination attempt, both NYT and LAT published similar pieces — as if responding to criticism of the the media for continually harping on Biden, rather than Trump.
- LA Times, 11 Jul 2024: Editorial: One candidate is patently unfit for the White House. It’s not Biden
- NY Times, Donald Trump Is Unfit to Lead. This piece, coincidentally, was published in print on Saturday.
- And the day before that: Boing Boing, Mark Frauenfelder, 10 Jul 2024: New book reveals why MAGA cult adores Trump: he’s “openly corrupt, a liar, racist, and sadistic”. But nothing really new here: “it’s because their tribe demands a corrupt authoritarian leader.”
- Another gloss on conservative morals? Salon, Amanda Marcotte, 10 Jul 2024: The grift behind Project 2025: Leader John McEntee made an app to hustle cash from lonely MAGA men, subtitled “In Trump world, there’s always money to be made by sowing the destruction of American society”
- From Raw Story, via JMG, 6 Jul 2024: Trump Again Claims Credit For Law Signed By Obama. In 2020, when called out on the lie by a reporter, Trump simply turned and walked out of the room. Four years later, he’s still saying it.
- Salon, Paul Rosenberg, 7 Jul 2024: Ten Commandments gone wild! The Christian right’s latest toxic distraction, subtitled “A tale of the evangelical right, the least religious president ever and Cecil B. DeMille’s phony list from God.” The question always is, as they pick and choose the version of the commandments they prefer, what is their basis for making their decisions? Apparently, according to this, they’re using the version from the 1956 film starring Charlton Heston. So much for Biblical fidelity!
- Slate, Dana Stevens, 11 Jul 2024: Channing Tatum and ScarJo Made a Rom-Com About Faking the Moon Landing. Houston, We Have a Problem., subtitled “Fly Me to the Moon is a $100 million disaster.” And it strikes me as irresponsible to make such a film. What’s next, a movie about faking 9/11? (Also, as someone on Fb noted, the review fails to mention the much earlier film with a very similar premise, Capricorn One.)
- Slate, William Hogeland, 11 Jul 2024: Is the Age of the Resistance Historian Coming to an End?, subtitled “People who study the past don’t always have special insight into politics. Recent events have made that crystal clear.” This seems to be a critique of Heather Cox Richardson in particular, as an historian who (according to the piece) is always finding historical precedents to ‘explain’ current politics. I haven’t read this closely enough to form an opinion.
- Washington Post, 12 Jul 2024: Biden is resistant to taking a cognitive test. Try a short one yourself., subtitled “This isn’t a real cognitive test, but it should give you an understanding of how simple screenings work.”
- Center for Inquiry, Benjamin Radford, 10 Jul 2024: Boeing Admits to Conspiracy; Conspiracists Don’t Care. We’ve seen this before. Conspiracy theorists are interested only in purported plots that support their paranoid world-view.
- Friendly Atheist, 12 Jul 2024: Democrats to IRS: Investigate right-wing groups that pretend to be “churches”, subtitled “Non-profit groups shouldn’t be allowed to call themselves churches to ‘avoid public accountability,’ say House Dems”. We’ve seen this over and over. You’d think, if any group might be more honorable and honest than all other groups, it would be the religious, who claim to follow the directives of their god. But in fact, that’s rarely the case.
Now we’re up to today’s items.
- First, a comment I heard last night on one of the TV news shows, somewhere amidst the endless commentary about the attempted Trump assassination. I’m paraphrasing: “A democracy is not about getting everyone to agree. That will never happen. A democracy is about rules for allowing everyone to live alongside others who don’t agree.”
- Slate, Emily Tamkin, 15 Jul 2024: What the Republicans Blaming Democrats for Trump’s Shooting Are Really Up To, subtitled “This response is a trap. Don’t fall for it.” What is the trap?
Vance and Co. were encouraging the very thing that they’re pretending to criticize: division and targeting of political enemies. What’s more, the comments are an attempt to use political violence to chill criticism of a political ideology that has itself inspired or been connected to violence.
That is, criticizing Trump for being a would-be dictator is now taken as incitement to political violence. A strategy to silence criticism.
- Same point: Salon, Chauncey DeVega, 15 Jul 2024: Attack on Trump exploited: “An opportunity to shame dissenters from the MAGA movement into silence”, subtitled “‘Republicans will exploit the assassination attempt to emphasize Trump’s near-martyrdom,’ Steven Beschloss predicts”
- And this. Vox, Eric Levitz, 14 Jul 2024: Yes, it’s still fair to call Trump a threat to democracy, subtitled “The attempt on his life shouldn’t cow his critics.”
- Salon, 15 Jul 2024: Marjorie Taylor Greene blames “evil” Democrats for shooting by registered Republican, subtitled “The Congresswoman’s words come amidst calls from the President to ‘lower the temperature'”
- Vox, Zack Beauchamp, 15 Jul 2024: This is how you get escalation, subtitled “Political leaders should try to douse the flames. The right’s leaders are fanning them.” It begins: “Roughly two hours after the assassination attempt on Donald Trump, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) blamed President Joe Biden.”
- The same guy, Zack Beauchamp, was on KQED’s Forum radio program this morning, with Mina Kim: The Trump Assassination Attempt and How ‘The Reactionary Spirit’ is Threatening Democracy Worldwide. Very well-spoken and provocative. He has a new book out, but I already have so many books….
- JMG, 15 Jul 2024: Alabama GOP Refiles Bill To Arrest Public Librarians. Because, Protect the Children!
- Slate, 15 July 2024: Keeping Up With the Trump Trials: Wow, Aileen Cannon Really Dismissed the Classified Documents Case!, subtitled “She’s following Clarence Thomas’ lead.” Another Trump-appointed judge lets Trump off the hook! Amazing how that works.
- JMG, 15 Jul 2024: Matt Walsh: The Deep State Is Behind Rally Shooting. Walsh recites the implausibility of that 20-year-old got into the position he did. –Actually, I think that now-iconic photo of Trump, blood dripping down the side of his face, pumping his fist and shouting “fight! fight!”, is as staged as anything the “deep state” conspiracy theorists could imagine. So there.
