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The day after the 2024 election, George T. Conway lll published the following in The Atlantic November 6, 2024

The man elected president last night is a depraved and brazen pathological liar, a shameless con man, a sociopathic criminal, a man who has no moral or social conscience, empathy, or remorse. He has no respect for the Constitution and laws he will swear to uphold, and on top of all that, he exhibits emotional and cognitive deficiencies that seem to be intensifying, and that will only make his turpitude worse. He represents everything we should aspire not to be, and everything we should teach our children not to emulate. The only hope is that he’s utterly incompetent, and even that is a double-edged sword, because his incompetence often can do as much as harm as his malevolence. His government will be filled with corrupt grifters, spiteful maniacs, and morally bankrupt sycophants, who will follow in his example and carry his directives out, because that’s who they are and want to be.

FULL STORY

A collection of recent reports of Trump's subversion of the Constitution and the rule of law.

The gutting of American institutions has led to Trump gutting America itself

-Trump’s wholesale dismissal of inspector generals violates the law

-The dismissals sit alongside a much broader disruption in how the country is governed. A range of spending freezes have been implemented, for example, again likely in violation of the law.

-Systems that have been unaffected by past presidential transitions this time find themselves interrupted and likely reconsidered, a sharp disruption of how the government works.

Democracy under siege as Trump's reign of terror begins

-On the first day of his reign of terror, the sick, vengeful king released 1,500 dangerous thugs, who beat the life out of cops and tried to set fire to our country, by violently stopping the certification of our election.

-We simply cannot survive this obscene level of anti-Democratic lawlessness from the fascist White House, and that makes it incredibly important how this moment in history is framed for the public.

 

How Trump Will Fail

-Trump has gone all 19th century on us. He seems to find in this period everything he likes: tariffs, Manifest Destiny, seizing land from weaker nations, mercantilism, railroads, manufacturing and populism.

-…the movement Trump leads today…a band of arrivistes, establishment-haters, money-seekers and unreconstructed nationalists.

-The problem with populism and the whole 19th-century governmental framework is that it didn’t work.

(TO BE CONTINUED!)

Trump not only pardoned the legally convicted criminals who viciously attacked Capitol policemen in their mob assault on Jan 6, 2021. He also set free the drug kingpin Ross Ulbricht, creator of the web site Silk Road marketplace, one of the biggest illegal drug markets in American history. In 2015 he was convicted of engaging in a continuing criminal enterprise, distributing narcotics by means of the internet, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to traffic fraudulent identity documents, and conspiracy to commit computer hacking.

In short, Ulbricht was the equivalent of a leader of a Mexican drug cartel, the "vermin" that Trump and his Republicans so vehemently denounce as enemies of the people.

 

FULL STORY:
"I Prosecuted the Capitol Rioters. They Have Never Been More Dangerous."
IndieDems Comment:

A former prosecutor of the Jan 6 criminal rioters spells out how their pardon by Trump paves the way for them to become violent vigilante groups bent on revenge. She states the logical conclusion: Trump and the Republicans know full well what the groups’ intentions are. When asked on January 21 if groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers had a legitimate political role to play, Trump said, “We’ll have to see…these were people that actually love our country.”

On January 10 the judge in Trump's hush money case reached a decision making Trump a convicted felon. He had been found guilty in May of falsifying business records. The judge decided "out of respect for the presidency" to give Trump an unconditional discharge, allowing him to go free without serving any time in jail.

IndieDems Comment:
When assessing Trump’s felony conviction, remember his other displays of contempt for Christian principles and common morality:
-Committed wanton violations of God’s Commandments against lying, committing adultery, and stealing
-Sexually assaulted a woman and slandered her for telling the truth
-Mocked a handicapped person
-Called U.S. soldiers losers and suckers
-Called women fat, ugly, of low intellect, Miss Piggy, bimbo, & dog
-Gratuitously pardoned convicted felons, including some found guilty of violent crimes.
It defies human imagination that many Americans consider this immoral cretin fit to be President. I ask you Republicans who support him: how do you tell your children Trump is their role model, and then send them to church to learn to be faithful to God's Ten Commandments and Jesus' admonitions to "love they neighbor as thyself" and "do unto others as you would have them do unto you." Where in God's name is any of Jesus' Golden Rule in anything Trump has said or done? Give us some specific quotes from Trump's own words, please.

In nine years of bring a politician, Trump, by his own words and deeds, has proven he is a congenital liar, a criminal, and a rapist. He stole classified files in the biggest breach of our national security in our country's history. He incited an insurrection. He wants to tear up the Constitution. He is a classic narcissist, loyal to no one but himself, and totally lacking a moral conscience or empathy. He has repudiated the rule of law by calling those who participated in the Jan 6, 2021 insurrection “patriots,” and stating his intention to pardon any of them found guilty in a court of law. He spews character assassination and insults with reckless abandonment. He has wrecked the lives of ordinary Americans and destroyed the careers of some for simply telling the truth about him.

Simple Google searches will provide the evidence backing up every word in that paragraph above. But there is an even simpler, quicker way to get a comprehensive summary of Trump’s own words that reveal him to be an immoral cretin.  Read my report: “The Republican Screed: What It Takes to be a Republican, According to Donald Trump.” Trump actually escalated his malicious diatribes in the closing days of his campaign.

You would have thought Trump’s reputation as an immoral cretin had been signed, sealed, and delivered. But not surprisingly, an apologia for Trump is already underway. Some of its propagators have given it an additional twist by claiming that Democrats treated Trump with false charges and extremist rhetoric.

Not surprisingly, the mainstream media—the same instruments that back in 2015-16 fueled the political career of the novice Trump with tons of free publicity—are in the forefront of the apologia crowd.  Their poster boy has to be Shadi Hamid, author of a Washington Post column on November 25, “Why the Resistance Went Quiet After Trump’s Victory: The fight against supposed fascism is not much of a fight, and that’s a good thing.” Hamid tells us that the criticism of Trump’s malicious lies, insults, and personal attacks—much less calling him a fascist—was wildly exaggerated, alarmist language. Some excerpts:

In my opinion, this is one of the worst commentaries  the Post has ever published. The headline prepares the reader to for comments centered on Trump’s explicitly pro-authoritarian, anti-democratic, violence-inciting statements. But any reference to Trump’s drumbeat of extremist diatribes quickly disappears, and Hamid launches attacks on virtually the whole of the Democratic agenda.

The first four paragraphs of the article—summarized in my first three bullet points—are an insult to honest journalism. They reach new heights of obfuscation. Hamid actually mocks the proudest legacy the Democrats led by Biden and Harris bequeathed America: the peaceful transfer of power. His depiction of their adherence to the law and tradition as “a dishonorable surrender” and a “sudden softening” of their position on Trump’s extremism is a disgrace.

Hamid seems to admire the opposite approach taken by Trump and the Republicans in 2020-2021, when they showed their contempt for the Constitution, the rule of law, & democracy, by falsely claiming the 2020 election was stolen, and unleashed an attack on the Capitol and used other criminal acts to try to overturn the lawful results.

In the Post’s comment section on Hamid’s article, LJWALKER offered this eloquent statement:

A Prominent Conservative Speaks

New York Times columnist David Brooks, one of the last real American conservatives with a prominent platform, has also taken a stand on the apologia cabal arguing for dropping the denunciation of Trump’s lying racist, xenophobic, misogynistic diatribes and treating him as a normal person. Excerpts from Brook’s article “The Moral Challenge of Trumpism:”

Brooks quotes another prominent observer of American morals, David Linker, from his recent Substack essay:

“Trumpism is seeking to advance a revolutionary transvaluation of values by inverting the morality that undergirds both traditional conservatism and liberal institutionalism. In this inversion, norms and rules that counsel and enforce propriety, restraint and deference to institutional authority become vices, while flouting them become virtues.”

One of our current Featured Stories is “The Republican Screed: What It Takes to be a Republican, According to Donald Trump.” There follows 100 bullet points showing nothing but the words and deeds of Donald Trump. No commentary by me or anyone. Totally shielded from any charge of “fake news.” Just Trump’s words showing his racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, and hate-filled agenda.

My purpose for producing this article on the Republican Screed goes beyond its mere existence. It is meant to serve a practical goal. We Democrats know we seriously misjudged the tenor of the American people. The reasons are multi-dimensional and have been discussed in a tsunami of commentaries, op-eds, articles, etc. I’m trying to deal with only one. I knew that practical issues like inflation, immigration, & abortion would play a major role in determining how people voted. But I thought that Trump’s moral character would be at least about equal. I thought that by about the end of September, the man’s total lack of a moral conscience and his reliance on lies, demagoguery, insults, and character assassination had alienated most average Americans. And then came the last three weeks or so, in which he actually doubled or tripled down on all the above, and started speaking pure gibberish, to boot. Few Americans, I believed, would want this immoral cretin to be President of the United States and a role model for their children.

History records how wrong I was. Trump’s deeply flawed and warped character did not amount to a pitcher of warm spit in determining the outcome. As a somewhat prolific writer, I have always obeyed the adage to avoid cliches, but there is one that so aptly describes the Democrats situation, it’s hard to avoid: looking to the future, we have to be careful to avoid throwing the baby out with the bath water. The bath water that gets thrown out: the Democrats failure to articulate solutions to practical problems like inflation and immigration, or to champion policies that appeal to the average American.

The baby to keep: no compromise with the racist, demagogic, authoritarian, misogynistic agenda that lies at the heart of MAGA. Let’s not assume that all the people who voted for Trump are as morally flawed as he is. I believe a significant number of those Trump supporters are unaware of the extent of the maliciousness in what Trump has said, and they do not grasp the meaning of a great deal of what they have heard or read.

Let me get to some  practical examples. A universal refrain among we progressives, because it is a universal truth, is: the Trumpists only watch Fox News. Fox News covers Trump’s speeches, interviews, and social media comments, but no in-depth analysis is needed to reach the conclusion: people who watch mostly Fox News are not going to get an objective, accurate view of Trump’s moral character.

Let me bring in more revelations of the different universes inhabited by progressives, on the one hand, and Trump voters on the other. The Washington Post reported:  In Arizona, Democrat Ruben Gallego, a Latino with working-class roots, won his Senate race in a battleground state that Donald Trump flipped, and will become the first Latino to represent Arizona in the Senate. He did so, he says, in large part by targeting Latino men. And how did he enjoy so much strength in the Latino community?

Latino men, he said, are “not politically engaged. They do not watch TV. They don’t read the newspaper. They hardly listen to any politics. They don’t even have cable [TV]. They’re largely getting politics through, like, vibes of what’s going on out there.” Gallego added that many are distrustful of politicians.

This level of being “tuned out” of the news is probably severe, but In my opinion, this attitude toward politics in general is shared by a much larger share of the American electorate—including Democrats—than a lot of Democrats realize.  People who get most of their news on podcasts, CNN or MSNBC; read major national newspapers like the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal; and/or listen to pundits like Rachel Maddow, are outliers in modern America. The “who gives a damn” outlook is closer to the norm.

In 2016, in the midst of Trump’s first run for president, an audio was leaked from a conversation between Donald Trump and TV host Billy Bush in which Trump was bragging and joking about sexually assaulting women by touching their private parts without their consent. You would have thought these words would hang around Trump’s neck like an albatross. But by the 2024 election, they were largely forgotten. According to media reports, many young Americans learned about the tape for the first time on TikTok, and they were shocked by the former president’s words and confused why the episode wasn’t a dealbreaker in 2016.”  “I don’t think any of my friends had heard it,’ said Kate Sullivan, a 21-year-old student in Ohio who heard the tape for the first time on TikTok. “We all felt equally shocked.”

Columnist Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post on 11/21/24 took note of the declining influence of mainstream media and the growing influence of social media, and went on to say: “It is not merely this shrinkage in conventional news consumption that should be alarming. The preponderance of voters who get no news whatsoever suggests the very notion of an ‘informed electorate’ might become a thing of the past.”

New York Times columnist David French has also addressed the issue of the media’s efficacy in informing the public. (He used the game of curling to make his point. His spiel is too long to summarize here but worth checking out: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/10/opinion/harris-trump-campaign-curling.html). French argues that “The underlying dynamics of an election cycle (the economy, the popularity of the president, national events driving the news cycle)” are always the determining forces in an election. The candidates and his team can influence those forces,  but they don’t control them.

The media, says French, spend far too much time talking about the candidates’ efforts to influence—using things like ad campaigns, ground games and messaging—and far too little time talking about the underlying forces. The forces in 2024 were the usual ones: peace and prosperity. Harris’ mistake, French says, was to argue that there was a different force—democracy and the rule of law—in play that was more important than peace and prosperity. But the electorate once more made its traditional choice for the latter.

The Way Forward

My conclusion from all the above: A  major reason Donald trump’s words are not shaping public opinion about him is because his words are not being heard or read enough by most Americans.  Even his most inflammatory statements at most receive attention for a few days, and are quickly relegated to the archives. In my opinion, we anti-Trumpists have failed to keep Trump’s damning words in the forefront of voters’ attention.

I have prepared this compilation of Trump’s statements as a step towards remedying that inattention. I hope it will be widely quoted. Just about any one of the bullet points, for example, provides the basis for a contribution on X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok. Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, who won re-election by less than one percentage point, summed it admirably: “Democrats must wrap our arms around online connection and communication.”

An example of how to blend the old and the new. Suppose this was the day Trump unleashed a torrent of insults of Kamala Harris. This could be a contribution to X or Instagram:

Trump today called Harris “retarded,” “mentally disabled,” and a “sh—vice president.”  Same Trump who has called women fat, ugly, of low intellect, Miss Piggy, bimbo, and dog and told Congresswomen of color to go back where they came from.

(You still have 41 more characters to use).

Example #2:

Trump’s former Chief of staff Gen. John Kelly has confirmed that Trump described U.S. soldiers in disparaging terms, including “suckers” and “losers.” Same draft-dodging Trump who demeaned the military service of John McCain.

We Democrats easily forget: Most Americans don’t give a damn about our opinions  of Donald Trump. No matter how racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, libelous, or hate-filled Trump’s words, Republicans have proven they will be unmoved. Criticism based on appeals to logic and facts fall on deaf ears.

We need to use Trump’s own words to draw the noose around Republicans’ necks and keep squeezing. Trump’s plethora of lies and malicious, insulting, racist, libelous, slanderous statements of the past nine years should not already be relegated to the archives. They should be quoted as often as possible.

Some general guidelines to follow. The examples below are based on a select few  of some of his more malicious statements. There are more of each type among the 100.

Don’t say “Trump is a racist.” Say:

Don’t say “Trump is a misogynist.” Say, “Trump has:

Don’t say “Trump is a malicious xenophobe.” Say, “Trump has:

The Tone: More in Sorrow Than in Anger

Remember: Imagine that you are talking to a family member, a friend, or a co-worker who practically worships Donald Trump. You know that nothing you say is going to change their minds, but you want to maybe at least make them feel a little uncomfortable about their position. Have a number of those bullet points in mind. Remember: the person you are talking too almost certainly does not know what Trump has actually said about the subject at hand. Speak as many of Trump’s own words as you can. Hold back on offering your own opinion, and don’t use labels like “fascist,” “extremist,” or “stupid.”

Remember: you do not have to exhibit anger or speak angrily or shout to make your point. Remain calm, cool, and collected while you cite Trump’s damaging words.

Here is my suggestion of how to engage with trump’s fans, using the name Frank as an example. “Frank, I’m highly baffled by matters involving Trump. And my bafflement has nothing to do with political issues. For example, Trump once stood up in public and mocked a handicapped person. And he has bragged about sexually assaulting women (tickling their private parts, you may recall), and called various women fat, ugly, Miss Piggy, bimbo, and dog. My problem, Frank, is how anyone would reconcile these words with Jesus’ call to “love they neighbor as thyself” and “do unto others as you would have them do unto you?” Trump seems absolutely contemptuous of the Golden Rule, Frank. Can you explain to me how you can claim to follow Jesus while praising Trump?”

Frank, I’m perplexed as to how anyone who calls themselves a Christian can support Trump for president, in light of his absolute contempt for no less than three of God’s Ten Commandments: the ones that forbid lying, committing adultery, and stealing. Trump’s public record shows he has wantonly violated all three. It’s not just a one-on about Trump. A President is, inherently, something of a role model. What kind of message are we sending our children, when we preach to them about obeying the Ten Commandments, and then elect as President someone who has no regard for God’s words whatsoever?

The Republican Party Screed 2025, as Stated by Donald Trump

The words of the guru that reveal the heart and soul of the modern Republican Party. Here’s what it takes to be a Republican in the Age of Trump

Raphael Warnock is a United States Senator from Georgia, but he also remains a pastor at the Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. In his Sunday sermon on November 10, he spoke words about the election outcome that take us beyond the usual political yackety-yak and got to the heart and soul of what is happening in America. Warnock said:

“…this is about so much more than an election. It’s about the character of the country. I said before the election that this election is not about who he is, or who she is, but about who we are. Clearly, we got some spiritual work to do.”

Nail hit solidly on the head. America is not just facing a political crisis. America is in the midst of a profound moral crisis. Yes, there is no doubt that Democrats made serious mistakes and blunders about how to deal with Donald Trump. Yes, Democrats have seriously misjudged the tenor of the American people, not just MAGATs. Democrats’ blindness and deafness made Trump’s overwhelming victory and the Republican sweep almost inevitable. They will have to make far-reaching changes in policy and practice if they are to make a comeback.

But let’s not allow the Democratic political blunders to obscure another lesson from the elections: the American people went to the polls and elected an immoral cretin as their president. I do not use those words as an attention-getting exaggeration. I mean them as a legitimate definition of who Trump is. Trump’s own words and deeds over the span of nine years have proven he holds the most fundamental values and traditions of our democracy, our Constitution, even our military, in contempt. Trump is a “depraved and brazen pathological liar, a shameless con man, a sociopathic criminal, a man who has no moral or social conscience, empathy, or remorse.”

Right now, we anti-Trumpists face a harsh dilemma. Those average Americans whose support we need are firmly in the Trumpist camp. And we cannot ignore the blunt reality: they knew exactly what they were doing when they voted for Trump and his Republican acolytes. They want the America that Republicans are eagerly putting in place. Two columnists have published an insightful look at this phenomenon:

USA Today: Trump wins 2024 election. America needs to admit it's not 'better than this.'
Washington Post: Stop Pretending Trump Is Not Who We Are

(For a deeper look at the implications of Trump’s re-election see: Commentator Provides Scathing Analysis of Trump’s Re-election)

In short, Democrats have to tread carefully when attacking Trump on moral grounds—even though, to us, that seems his weakest point. Above all, when commenting on social media, avoid labels, like fascist—or immoral cretin. The better approach: use and emphasize his own words, and make your point in terms of a question. Examples: don’t just label him a misogynist. Point out that Trump has called women fat, ugly, of low intellect, Miss Piggy, bimbo, and dog. And ask the question: how can anyone support a person who has used this language? Or, “Trump mocked a handicapped person. How can you”…etc.

But Rev. Warlock has laid the groundwork for a universal response to the gross immorality of Trump and his Republican followers. It’s time to emphasize: it’s about who we are. And lots of Americans seem to need some spiritual work. Being angry about inflation or illegal immigration does not mean you are justified in supporting a politician who has advocated killing former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Milley; called opponents vermin; talked about a firing squad for Liz Cheney; used vulgar, filthy language—to name a few specific examples of Trump’s total lack of a moral conscience.

My question is: where are our other Christian leaders on this issue? Why aren’t our pulpits ringing with denunciation of someone who treats the Christian religion with as much contempt as he treats the Constitution, the rule of law, and other basic American values? Where is there one iota of “love thy neighbor as thyself” or “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” in anything Donald Trump has ever said or did? Why do our major Christian denominations remain silent as Trump wantonly violates the three Commandments against lying, committing adultery, and stealing?

The Democrats’ priority right now is to put in place an agenda that addresses Americans’ concerns about issues like inflation, immigration, climate warming, etc. But Trump’s gross immorality cannot be ignored, and must someday soon be treated as the threat it poses to the survival of American democracy.

Every minute, the Democratic Party is displaying its support of democracy, the Constitution, & the rule of law, by its unqualified commitment to a lawful, peaceful transfer of power. Biden and Harris, by their words & deeds since Nov. 5, are in the forefront of that commitment. The Republican Party, of course, in 2020 and since proved its commitment to exactly the opposite: contempt for the Constitution, the rule of law, & democracy, by its false claim of a stolen 2020 election and its use of criminal acts and harassment tactics to try to overturn the lawful results.

(For a deeper look at the implications of Trump’s re-election see: Commentator Provides Scathing Analysis of Trump’s Re-election)