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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThere's a Nefarious Plot Underway Around the State of the Union Address
Multiple Republicans, from former NRA spokespersons and rightwing talkshow hosts, to Republican congressional candidates, to the rightwing media are speaking out, loudly, about their concern that Joe Biden has not yet held a State of the Union address.
There are so many demands and tweets that David Badash over at The New Civil Rights Movement compiled a list of some in his article about this topic.
Why, suddenly, are all these right wingers demanding that all the members of the House and Senate, the Vice President and the President all gather together in the Capitol building to hear a speech right away?
Why has this suddenly become such a big issue on the right?
Why is rightwing talk radio talking about it almost nonstop?
After all, the Constitution doesnt even require the president to give such a speech: Thomas Jefferson used to submit them in writing, and he would know the Framers intent.
And the Constitution doesnt require any particular time or date; it doesnt even require that they be done annually.
Nonetheless, the clamor for President Joe Biden to convene a Joint Session of Congress to bring all of our federally elected officials together in the Capitol building has gotten so loud that USA Today felt obligated to issue a fact check, explicitly pointing out that there is no set date or even annual requirement for a State of the Union address.
Nonetheless, right wingers are loudly complaining about the lack of a timely State of the Union address. Some suggest that Joe Biden is too weak or frail to pull it off, an apparent attempt to egg him on. Others simply lie and say that its required in February but hes ignoring it.
So why are all these Republicans and right-wingers demanding a State of the Union address as soon as possible?
We may have gotten a clue yesterday when the acting head of the Capitol Police, Yogananda Pittman, told Congress that the same groups who attacked the Capitol on January 6 are very, very, very interested in the State of the Union address.
We know that members of the militia groups that were present on January 6, she testified, have stated their desires that they want to blow up the Capitol and kill as many Members as possible, with a direct nexus to the State of the Union.
The Confederacy that declared war against America in 1861 was all about using violence to enforce white supremacy. They promoted their lost cause fantasy for over 150 years to keep white rule in place in America, particularly across the South.
To this day, white supremacist Republican politicians fight any attempt to improve the lives of their poorest people, from opposing expanding Medicaid to opposing increases in the minimum wage, all because those efforts could benefit Black people.
I just sent off the manuscript for the next book in my hidden history series, The Hidden History of American Healthcare, and in my research found that literally every single effort to provide Americans with a national healthcare system, from the late 19th century right up to the passage of Medicare in 1965, was opposed by white southern conservatives who repeatedly and openly bragged they were against it because they didnt want any such benefit to go to Black people.
In my first book in the series, The Hidden History of Guns and the Second Amendment, I lay out how the Second Amendment was written the way it was, at the time it was, to preserve the slave patrols in Virginia and South Carolina, and the basis of much of todays gun culture is rooted in white rage and white fear.
As I pointed out in The Hidden History of the War On Voting, the 19th century Confederate losers and their white supremacist followers to this day fought and fight every effort to make it easier to vote so they can continue to suppress the Black vote. Its why several hundred pieces of legislation making it harder to vote have been introduced in over 30 Republican-dominated state legislatures just in the last ten weeks.
Thus, its no coincidence that the people who attacked the Capitol on January 6th were carrying Confederate flags along with their Nazi memorabilia and T-shirts proclaiming that 6 million wasnt enough.
Americans of good conscience know that Donald Trumps MAGA movement pretty much begins and ends with white supremacy. From build a wall to putting brown children in cages to the Kung flu and the Muslim ban, virtually everything Donald Trump and his followers have pushed flows back to trashing non-white people.
And the one legislative achievement of Trumps four years in office was a massive tax cut that almost singularly benefited the very, very rich, who are overwhelmingly white.
Black Capitol Police officers on January 6 were beaten, spit on, and repeatedly called racial slurs by the pro-Trump MAGA crowd who were trying to end Americas democratic republic and replace it with white supremacist strongman rule.
The belief that only white people should hold power or wealth in the United States has been at the core of conservative ideology since our founding. It animated nominations for judicial candidates and senior officials throughout the Trump administration, and continues to be a primary value for the mostly white Republican Party.
Some among them want to continue the work that Tim McVeigh started of tearing down a multiracial, pluralistic America with death and violence; their project is now carried on by readers of The Turner Diaries and followers of social media conspiracy theories.
As I lay out in The Hidden History of American Oligarchy, there have been two attemps by American oligarchs to overthrow the US government and install authoritarian, white supremacist regimes in its place.
The first culminated in the Civil War; the second happened with an attempted coup against FDR that was interrupted by General Smedley Butler. The first was about 80 years after the founding of our republic; it was followed roughly 80 years later by the attempt on Roosevelt. And now here we are again, 80 years after FDRs death.
The CPAC conference in DC this weekend is celebrating Trumps Big Lie that he won the November election.
The Trump coup attempt is ongoing, while multiple Republican elected officials think they can ride this tiger safely. They are wrong.
Qanon conspiracy believers are promoting another rally in DC on March 4th, the date they think Donald Trump will be proclaimed President of the World. The Trump Hotel in the nations Capitol has already raised their room rates for that date in anticipation of a crowd.
And now Capitol Police have intelligence that some Trump followers want to use the State of the Union address to reprise their deadly January 6th attempt to assassinate Americas elected officials, so they can replace them with Trump and whichever cronies he brings along with him.
America is at a point of maximum peril as the Republican Party has almost entirely embraced Trumps white supremacist ideology and is using his Big Lie to push massive voter suppression, encourage more political violence and end the American experiment.
The remaining Republicans who actually believe in American values must step forward and speak out now, or the window in time and history for their party to return to sanity may close forever.
original URL: https://thomhartmann.medium.com/theres-a-nefarious-plot-underway-around-the-state-of-the-union-address-65173df22c35
Response to thomhartmann (Original post)
USALiberal This message was self-deleted by its author.
sfstaxprep
(9,998 posts)Trueblue1968
(17,217 posts)THESE EVILS WANT TO ASSASSINATE PRESIDENT BIDEN
judesedit
(4,438 posts)Your voice is appreciated by millions of us. Please don't stop.
live love laugh
(13,104 posts)lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Rural_Progressive
(1,105 posts)Delmette2.0
(4,164 posts)It wouldn't have to be zoom. Just gather up the regular TV networks and present from the Oval office. He can have the VP and Speaker of the House with him on stage. The rest is just applause and shaking hands.
orleans
(34,051 posts)bdamomma
(63,845 posts)wrong with that. Covid is still lingering.
MagickMuffin
(15,937 posts)He can give a fireside chat "State of the Union" speech. There is no formal protocol like you said, so why endanger the Members of Congress.
Fear and violence is all they got . . . . apparently!
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,340 posts)MagickMuffin
(15,937 posts)especially since they don't have any except to stop ours.
triron
(22,001 posts)Auggie
(31,167 posts)MagickMuffin
(15,937 posts)I've become accustomed to them being as uncivil as possible.
Apparently they "think" they are superior but we all know that they only work with limited resources, not much brain power up there to begin with.
Auggie
(31,167 posts)OldBaldy1701E
(5,126 posts)Let someone read it to Congress if they want to get together to hear a speech. Hire a celebrity or something. Any ideas who to get?
MagickMuffin
(15,937 posts)Better to stay clear of the Capitol.
OldBaldy1701E
(5,126 posts)I was not clear on that. I did not mean they should actually get together in the Capitol, I meant as a body. My bad.
Generic Brad
(14,274 posts)It would be memorable and Republican hecklers would be dealt with post haste.
GopherGal
(2,008 posts)Not sure we should pay, though.
Given what the Inaugural did for Amanda Gorman's profile, someone should be willing to do it for the exposure. (Not that kind of exposure, Jeffrey Toobin!)
jmowreader
(50,557 posts)He is a very well-spoken man, and he takes no shit off anyone - especially GQP members.
BComplex
(8,049 posts)And what worries me is that we are still under trump's DOJ and FBI, and both of those PLUS THE MILITARY have to be purged of those who would overturn our government with everything they've got.
triron
(22,001 posts)Rural_Progressive
(1,105 posts)really, really, dislike T****
highplainsdem
(48,975 posts)tetedur
(820 posts)2. The GOP wants the State of the Union speech. Because you know, they just can't wait.
Dustlawyer
(10,495 posts)I would like to see Democrats focus on the root causes of most of our problems instead of fighting the symptoms, maybe you could bring this up more as you have spoken about it in the past.
I am talking about our campaign (bribe) system and the media propaganda that has given us the radical right. The corporate overlords control the media with their ad dollars and the politicians with their campaign money. The MSM will not talk about it for obvious reasons, so I believe the message has to come from people like you to start a grass roots push to demand the reform we need to get out from under the corporate control we have been living under.
Either way love your show and the great work that you do!
Alex4Martinez
(2,193 posts)Chakaconcarne
(2,446 posts)Just to intimidate....my guess.
Dakota Flint
(219 posts)Before that, starting with Washington, each State of the Union was a written report sent to congress.
Caliman73
(11,736 posts)I think that we have all collectively buried our heads in the sand regarding how deeply White Supremacy is baked into our institutions and social fabric. With conservative politicians and talking heads constantly pointing the finger at activists of color and White allies as "race baiting" or "race hustling" when the topic is brought up.
I watched a video on Antifa by Oliver Thorn on YouTube which discussed why there is such an over reaction to "violence" perceived from the left and that of right wing extremists. While the violence on the right is dangerous and potentially deadly, it serves the purpose of maintaining the status quo, OR pushing it toward the "natural ends" of conservatism which is this White, Wealthy, Male, Protestant Christian hierarchy of power. Whereas, leftist activism is typically about upending that system. Republicans in power, are fine using Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and other extremists as foot soldiers because it means they are more fully in charge.
I am not sure that there are any Republicans who believe in "American Values" as conservatism itself believes in this hierarchy.
matt819
(10,749 posts)So, what now?
Another poster noted that the pandemic would make a SOTU address actually dangerous. So there's that very reasonable explanation for not having one. Reasonable explanations don't resonate amount the nutjob demographic, but neither does truth or reality, so, really, why the fuck should anyone care about their response to a "fireside chat" or some other kind of address, like, maybe, a speech from the Oval Office.
I have to ask this question again (and again and again and. . . ): What now? How do you cut the head off of this monster, especially when there are multiple monsters. If there was ever a single, individual Q, that's almost irrelevant. It has morphed into a multi-cellular beast with weapons. Whether it's the proud boys or the 3 percenters or the oathkeepers, even a small number working even slightly in concert can do tremendous damage, especially having learned the lessons of the January 6 attempted coup. And even with the hundreds of arrests, there is no one leader whose arrest might "arrest" the development of these violent plans. Sound familiar? How many "leaders" or "second in commands" of Al Qaeda or the Taliban have been killed or captured? And yet al Qaeda and the Taliban are still at it.
Look at CPAC. How many thousands are attending, soaking up irrational hate, anger, fear, and so much more? Every one of them is a potential terrorist. Seriously, how do you undo the damage, when every event is a potential target and when more than a few are already in Congress? How do you undo the damage when so many of those supporting the coup attempt were themselves current members of law enforcement. Thom Hartmann suggests that the remaining republicans who are not cultist converts should step forward now, or the window closes. Frankly, with the cancel culture attacks on Romney and Cheney, and the absolute about-face demonstrated by Mitch McConnell this week, I think that window is closed.
So, once more, what now?
OldBaldy1701E
(5,126 posts)Time to make some arrests and apply some consequences. What is the consequence for treason? They freaking tried to murder members of the governmental body and install a despot. Why is this not being done? As usual, if you want something to stick, you have to drive it in with a hammer, not brush at it with a feather.
matt819
(10,749 posts)The fact that the arrests have taken place all over the country seems to have a dampening effect on media coverage. So, there may have been several hundred arrests, but the coverage is dispersed. It's almost as if those arrested don't exist. And the charges, while they carry substantial penalties, don't really reflect the nature of the actions that precipitated the arrests. There's no crime for attempting a coup. And there are no domestic terrorism statutes. Plus, we haven't seen any knock-on effects of the arrests. The white supremacists are still with us and, as far as I can tell, have suffered little for the arrests of their co-conspirators.
Also, while it has been less than 2 months, I haven't seen any reports of trials being held or pleas being bargained. It's almost as if there's a gag order on reporting on these issues.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Or some custom mix of all?
Just keep in mind if you haven't read it yet that the brain often stores input as information, stripping away not just doubts but often complete awareness of untruth. And GIGO's real. That's what happened to the right.
mezame
(295 posts)so they'll ALL be at CPAC, eh?
Hmmmmm.....
I have visions of SWAT teams circling in, truckloads of handcuffs, Miranda blaring everywhere, and would somebody please get that fuckin' gold monstrosity outta here...
MCU, are you listening?
ananda
(28,858 posts)Sheesh
Liberal In Texas
(13,548 posts)Thom Hartmann is a national treasure.
Traildogbob
(8,731 posts)Certainly, we need to trust the likes of McConnell, Hawley, GYM Jordan, Cruz, hell, any of them. Like trusting your 18 year old daughter alone in a Trump bedroom. Any Trump. So take down the fences, send guards home, disregard the known threats about the capital and gather all the Dems in one spot,
I trust drinking Bleach straight from the jug.
We are under attack from GQP. The most dangerous enemy we have ever faced. Supported by Fox and Jesus. (Their warped Jesus)
Ford_Prefect
(7,895 posts)But there are very few of them these days.
There are a number of former Republicans and that number seems to be growing. But the Cult of Trump still owns the trademark and will continue to until indictments and convictions put enough of them in jail.
The key issue will be how much of the Dark money lines up behind them and stays there. The key to GOP politics still rides on white class privilege however much they deny it. There is NO GOP anywhere that does not. Dark money depends on being able to manipulate the GOP voters to elect politicians who will engineer government to favor their desire to own and consume the planet. There is NO independent GOP to represent American voters of any culture or degree of conservative philosophy.
scipan
(2,350 posts)I wonder if it will split between the Koch types and the more traditional big business heads.
world wide wally
(21,742 posts)No need to see this year's
drmeow
(5,017 posts)She can make a statement (not safe). Have Biden record it and schedule a time when it airs. Tell Republicans they can watch it from wherever they want but Dems will be staying safe from COVID and insurgents.
dalton99a
(81,475 posts)Amaryllis
(9,524 posts)imagine approval for congress, SCOTUS, POTUS, et all under one roof.
ZonkerHarris
(24,223 posts)The usual procedure is that there is no state of the union in the first year of a presidency
The president who is assuming office has just given an inaugural speech that hasnt been in power so a state of the union give them nothing to brag about usually it is given at the end of their first year and subsequently throughout their term. And it gives them a chance to brag on what theyve done in the past year. That is the point of a modern State of the Union
Make7
(8,543 posts)They are not formally State of the Union Addresses, but rather are speeches outlining the goals of their incoming Administration.
newdayneeded
(1,955 posts)2018 for his first address
Make7
(8,543 posts)JudyM
(29,236 posts)a bit more transparent to many who are actually paying attention.
JI7
(89,248 posts)because they are such shitty people with a shitty agenda .
Rebl2
(13,498 posts)the impression the first year in office the president doesnt give a state of the union address. trump didnt and I dont think Obama did either. They may give a joint session speech and its usually latter in the first year I thought. Maybe since there is a threat from pandemic and outsiders wanting to attack the capital, it should just be a speech that is pre-recorded and just shown in prime time.
George II
(67,782 posts)He gave a speech to a joint session of Congress, but it wasn't billed as the "state of the union address".
Plus, he gave in on February 28, which would be tomorrow. Why are republicans being assholes again? (no need to answer, we all know, it's their DNA!!)
ancianita
(36,053 posts)We don't need no SOTU. Especially with the state of the "union" the way it now is.
Lookin' at you, "alt-right."
Harker
(14,015 posts)insurrectionists who shout, "freedom!" are making the public aspects of governance increasingly difficult.
JohnnyRingo
(18,628 posts)...that would make you wet yourself.
It all makes perfect sense to me though, because I know some supporters who swear Trump will be president on March 4th. They offer no details, only that they know. On the other hand, we'll have them all in one place and security ready for such action.
Scary stuff Thom.
Thanx for posting.
BobTheSubgenius
(11,563 posts)Ligyron
(7,632 posts)Most people would still be figuring out where the light switches are.
I guess we could just use the occasion to point out what a disaster Trump's presidency has been and what a mess the SOTU is thanks to him and his enablers.
But do it pre recorded at a secure location virtually. They'd not be too thrilled with the shade he could throw on their attempts at WS rule while also using the occasion to tell all Americans how we intend to tangibly improve their lives starting with stimulus money.