As this Russian attack becomes clearer

[SHRED]

It's going to be more and more difficult for Republicans in the House and Senate to defend their covering for DT.

Fixed Noise and all the RW talk shows will look more and and more like the traitors they are.

Thank you Mr. Mueller for the unmasking.

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Depends on if they can still win elections by only having 40% of the vote

by gerrymandering, voter suppression etc.

Their base would much rather have Putin running the country than any democrat.

[SHRED]

2. I think it's more like 20%

That's the percentage that traditionally are authoritarians.

But yeah...we need to GOTV in overwhelmingly historic numbers.

[Eliot Rosewater]

4. Of the population, and the important part is while one out of two non

authoritarians vote regularly, ALL authoritarian types vote, it is part of their condition.

So that 20% is in reality 40.

[SHRED]

5. Good point

[poboy2]

15. true.

[traladeda]

16. word

Bob Altemeyer says @ 30 percent, similarly How Democracies Die authors also say @ 30 percent. But really whatever the number -- 20, 30, or 40 percent -- it gives the right a helluva head start.

There are so many prongs to address it can be overwhelming. First, the people who want to vote but can't because of suppression. Then the devaluing of votes for Democrats from gerrymandering. Then the Orwellion language and lies of the Right Wing media machine, and since the MSM is so utterly useless in the face of repub machinations, we might as well throw them in with the right wing media cabal. The 4th estate is a joke. They work for access, not voters. And they are so afraid of the right wing, they use false equivalence and false balance to obfuscate just how radical the right has become.

Which leads to (but isn't the sole cause of) apathy. The apathetic masses of reasonable people need to vote. Every single time. Because as noted, authoritarian followers do. Otherwise, we are deeply fucked. Like with Obama, there must be overwhelming numbers so the Grand Old Party of Putin can't rig elections. Certainly, the strategies employed by the right will never work on the left. We've got loads of data to support that conclusion. But what about the center? What works on the apathetic moderates? Scare the shit out of them? Piss them off? Appeal to aspirations? Stage ridiculous stunts ala Newt so the media has to pay attention? Or will we NEVER be able to count on them?

I am continually flabbergasted at the disinterest of people. How come everyone isn't running around like their hair is on fire? How come we're not in the fucking streets? How can they say "meh" and shrug their shoulders at the Russian attack? If the media would report the truth and stop soft-peddling it with "collusion" or "interference" etc. Call it a fucking act of war. Call it an attack. (I realize the media isn't the sole cause of anything, but it is a particular point of outrage for me, so I always end up ranting about it.)

Similarly, one would expect people would be motivated to vote if they knew how a well-organized minority has successfully usurped the will of the nation. If they knew how religious zealots and extremist libertarians have and will continue to legislate private morality and deregulate everything that protects people and creates a civilized society?

But they don't. Or maybe because we don't have an echo chamber, it doesn't sink in.

I think I wandered away from my point. But in so doing, made my point? (with that sort of shoddy reasoning, I might be an authoritarian follower too.) The point is, it's a huge problem. A unified strategy that addresses each prong of the attack is needed, a means of disseminating and repeating it is also needed, but since Democrats aren't authoritarian followers, and since the majority of American's aren't authoritarian followers (thank be, and also fuck, there goes democracy) we're never gonna see the left distribute daily talking points and marching orders that the faithful will carry out.

Everybody has an opinion and in a Democracy, you get to have it. Democracy is slow and messy. Authoritarianism is single-minded and its consequences swift.

So the question is then, what can I do? And will it be enough? (And did I wander away from the point again?)

[OhNo-Really]

17. We need to mobilize the college FIRST VOTERS this fall.

imo

[pangaia]

18. Wow, that is an insightful statement.

Write more, run for something..tell dem politocis...

[SHRED]

20. Great post

[global1]

6. And Further Help From The Russians....nt

[oberliner]

3. Remember when RT (Russia Today) was posted here all the time

Do you think that was part of it?

[global1]

7. You Can Be Sure Those Repugs That Still Defend Trumo....

are in it up to their necks themselves. We need to call those Repugs out and ask them who are they really defending -Trump or yourself.

[Sneederbunk]

8. Not bullets but ballots will stop the Rethugs.

[Botany]

9. This goes wide and deep /Manafort (Russian agent) picked Pence for V.P.

The Russians needed people inside of the U.S. to help run their scams and found them in
Team Trump, Fox News, the NRA, and the GOP.

BTW how did McConnell know that if he blocked Garland he would get somebody else to
vote for the SCOTUS?

*******

http://www.newsweek.com/mike-pence-was-handpicked-paul-manafort-696412

Russia is way deep into the Republican party.


Before Trump formally announced Pence as his vice presidential candidate, it was Manafort who made sure it happened, The New York Times reported last year.

Trump had hesitated to settle on Pence, who was governor of Indiana. Trump was fielding last-ditch appeals from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and publicly said he had not made a “final, final decision” until advisers like Manafort reminded him of the importance of uniting the GOP around conservative Christian values.

CBS News reported that Pence was Manafort's "first choice" and that Manafort even lied about mechanical problems on Trump's plane to make the soon-to-be GOP nominee stay an extra day in Indiana to get to know Pence. In a phone call, Manafort assured Trump that Pence was the right choice and made a case that won over the real estate tycoon.

Manafort would later downplay his behind-the-scenes choice, telling the Times that Trump never seriously doubted Pence.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

10. Continue welding GOP-Republican brand to Trump. He is culmination of 40 years of their efforts. . nt

[tanyev]

11. I wonder if Muellers indictments were the real reason Rachel Brand bailed.

[SHRED]

13. Why would that make her?

[tanyev]

14. I'm not saying it changes why she resigned, but it may have affected her timing on resigning.

She was appointed by Trump and yet accounts I've read said she was a conscientious lawyer. If she knew or sensed something like this was coming down the pike, it's an easy assumption that this would have angered Trump so much that he would have fired Rosenstein, leaving her in charge. If she didn't want to be Trump's puppet, but didn't quite have the fortitude to stand up to him, then she needed to find another option.

[OnDoutside]

19. It's hard to escape the suspicion of moral cowardice on her behalf. This is the time for people

of character to stand up for the USA. The optics don't look good for her.

[SHRED]

21. Exactly

[BamaRefugee]

12. As the Russian attack CLEARLY CONTINUES

It's crystal clear why Republicans won't, and WILL NOT do anything about it, the Russians have assured them that they are going to remain in control after the next election, and so there is NO NEED to deviate from their planned program to dismantle American democracy...The Russians will probably be 300% more knowledgeable about hacking and brainwashing than they were in 2016.

I know it's a dark prediction, but I see it going as far as Russians organizing gun mobs online, while monitoring people like *US* making plans to protest in the streets, to gun progressives down when they gather, then suddenly melt away into the crowd, probably to SUBWAY for a cool drink, then McDonalds, cuz, you know, killing works up an appetite, while the Republicans offer their thoughts and prayers to those who died in the centers of their towns.