I'm disgusted with this open admission that the right assumes that we're supposed to tolerate

[Baitball Blogger]

the abusive and criminal behavior from their leaders. From Lauren Ingraham to De Santis, they don't hide the fact that they believe they are above the law. Literally, they calculated that Democrats would do "what's best for the country" and cave before prosecuting them.

The thing is, there is no end to their ambitions and nefarious objectives. The country that we would turn into if we don't hold them accountable, will not be worth living in.

[emulatorloo]

1. ++++ Excellent Post.

[gab13by13]

2. The only way they can hold on to power

is to destroy our democracy.

[unblock]

3. Note that they don't police themselves

Republicans will simply never tell their leader hey, that's unacceptable, you need to step aside.

Donnie really good shoot someone one fifth Avenue and the Republican Party would cry "political persecution" if anyone even called the police.

And shame on the media for not calling them out on their lack of ethics or standards. no Republican is saying hey, having a potential nominee be someone under indictment on 30 counts is a bad look for the party, and that's a big scandalous story, imho.

Instead the media tells us how an indictment is actually good for Donnie and the party

[Baitball Blogger]

5. About Republicans not policing themselves...

Agree that they don't criticize each other in public, but someone like Trump does seem to frighten them. And I don't think it's just because of the damage he can do to them within the political circles, but because, when he was president, he also could provide pardons.

[unblock]

12. They do keep themselves in line, but it's all about power

Their discipline revolves entirely around supporting the top dog. Ethics? Law-abiding? Ha! The only thing rule they follow is support the top dog.

[Baitball Blogger]

15. Yup. All about power. And they use fear to shut anyone who questions concepts of integrity, honesty

morality or ethics.

[Mr.Bill]

11. You know who else doesn't police themseves?

The police.

At least not very well.

[housecat]

14. SCOTUS

[Mr.Bill]

17. Correct. n/t

[Timewas]

4. We should

Do "what's best for the country" and prosecute them to the full extent of the law.

[onecaliberal]

6. Hear, hear.

[markodochartaigh]

16. I'm jumping on the Hear, Hear Bandwagon

[summer_in_TX]

19. Amen to that!

[MayReasonRule]

24. Indeed!!! Prosecute!

Hear hear!!!

[Baitball Blogger]

9. +1

[Marcus IM]

8. It'll be worth living in for the crooks and scoundrels, racists and bigots, and ammosexuals. n/t

[Baked Potato]

10. They are vulnerable to votes and overwhelming people against them.

All the terrible rhetoric and outright lawlessness is meant to cause a reaction from those who they perceive as the “Enemy.”

That Enemy to them is Democracy.

Democrats are on the right path.

It is important to maintain a calm and peaceful resolve to crush the demons knocking at the doors.

[Septua]

21. Vulnerable to votes...exactly.

We can continue to vote them out, for the most part. Trump lost the popular vote both times and has lost a lot of his fizz with the goonies. 2018 and 2022 midterms were a disaster for the fascist crowd. So far as the 4 or whatever seat number majority in the House, they can't do anything but bluster. Listening to MTG, McCarthy etc is an infuriating experience with their the overt lies, hypocrisy and projection but, it's old, weary theatrics and nobody expected otherwise.

[Baked Potato]

40. Not to sound Alarmist, but they want a shooting war.

They must be denied this.

[Martin68]

13. Scumbags, one and all.

[live love laugh]

18. "... there is no end ..." 👈🏽👈🏽👈🏽👈🏽👈🏽👈🏽👈🏽👈🏽👈🏽 THIS !!

[Ferrets are Cool]

20. And, the open admission that it is acceptable for children to be murdered in classrooms

rather than have sensible gun laws.

[roamer65]

22. Fascists always want a free pass on their nefarious journey into power.

Italy, Germany, RuZZia, etc, etc.

[DAngelo136]

23. Why Is Anybody Surprised?

The right wing, has told you this from the beginning. I'm going to quote from something that I found from DU years ago and is still relevant today:

"Liberals in the United States have been losing political debates to conservatives for a quarter century. In order to start winning again, liberals must answer two simple questions: what is conservatism, and what is wrong with it? As it happens, the answers to these questions are also simple:

Q: What is conservatism?
A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.
Q: What is wrong with conservatism?
A: Conservatism is incompatible with democracy, prosperity, and civilization in general. It is a destructive system of inequality and prejudice that is founded on deception and has no place in the modern world.

These ideas are not new. Indeed they were common sense until recently. Nowadays, though, most of the people who call themselves "conservatives" have little notion of what conservatism even is. They have been deceived by one of the great public relations campaigns of human history. Only by analyzing this deception will it become possible to revive democracy in the United States."

https://pages.gseis.ucla.edu/faculty/agre/conservatism.html

And if you want to find out what motivates Trump supporters here's this:

"America’s problems can be reduced to the following. White Americans want America to be a failed state — and that is its fundamental, deep, and long standing problem. That is how America ended up here — more than half a century of white hostility to any kind of social progress whatsoever — which resulted in social collapse, and culminated in Trumpism. White people made America a failed state."

https://eand.co/americas-problem-is-that-white-people-want-it-to-be-a-failed-state-bac24202f32f

They're not invincible; they suck at government and they know it. They do it on purpose. "Why?" you may ask:
"Have you got three minutes. Because that's all you need to learn how to defeat the Republican Right. Just read through this handy guide and you'll have everything you need to successfully debunk right-wing propaganda.

It's really that simple. First, you have to beat their ideology, which really isn't that difficult. At bottom, conservatives believe in a social hierarchy of "haves" and "have nots" that I call "corporate feudalism". They have taken this corrosive social vision and dressed it up with a "respectable" sounding ideology. That ideology is pure hogwash, and you can prove it."

https://www.filmsforaction.org/articles/defeat-the-right-in-three-minutes/

[MayReasonRule]

28. Insulting Generalities Deride & Divide: "White Americans want America to be a failed state..."

Regardless of skin color Malevolence and Delusion define membership of the GOP.

Regardless of skin color Goodwill and Reason define all the membership of the Democratic Party.

Delusion divides and destroys.
Reason restores and rebuilds.

May we be united in reason as reason rules.

[IronLionZion]

25. Oh they boast of it openly

they gloat about getting away with tax evasion, that's a common one. They encouraged their supporters to disobey COVID guidance to harass workers and local officials.

But if someone they don't like even exists, then their existence is illegal and deserving of punishment.

It's a deplorable way of thinking.

[MayReasonRule]

26. "...no end to their ambitions and nefarious objectives." Incarceration, Intimidation, Extermination

Incarceration, intimidation and extermination of anything or anybody that dare impeded their Nat-C Fascist depravity defines their "...ambitions and nefarious objectives." part and parcel.

You're correct that if reason desists, our freedoms cease to exist.
There is no freedom in the absence of reason.

Which is why reason never desists, reason always resists.

These are the same three goals of the historical German Nazis.
Same as it ever was.

May reason rule.

[jaxexpat]

27. The "old guard" Republicans know one fact.

If they are forced to play in a legitimate arena, they'll never win a single contest.

[Paladin]

29. Exceptionally well put.

If we don't fight these bastards for our country, we're going to lose it.

[Tommy Carcetti]

30. Popper's Paradox

I.e., intolerance can't be tolerated.

[D23MIURG23]

31. They are signalling, once again, that they won't ever put principle over power.

The ones who are arguing that prosecuting Trump will desrtroy the country may well be right, but not because it's inherently wrong to prosecute criminal politicians.

The potential to destroy the country comes from the fact that given a choice between ditching Trump and attacking the rule of law, most of the Republican party is going to choose to attack the rule of law. I hope the courts hold, because they are the only bullwark we have standing in the way of their march towards Putinism.

[quakerboy]

32. Why would they assume otherwise?

Is there a history of accountability for the powerful in America that i am unaware of?

[barbtries]

33. getting there very quick.

never imagined it would be this way. i just never did, guess i grew up in a bubble.

[Evolve Dammit]

36. It wasn't. Last 8 years. You could certainly say it started earlier but 45 put the cherry on it. nt

[barbtries]

37. i would argue that it started earlier.

specifically with reagan, end of the fairness doctrine, money in politics, dumbing down of America, and so on. But also if Nixon had been prosecuted we likely would never have gotten here.

just yesterday i was talking with my 30-year-old son and trying to express just how different it is now from when I was growing up (he's 30). Republicans were not fascist crazy people, fringe people were relegated to the fringe and not given prime time interviews on network television.

anyhow. tfg is the sort of culmination of all that I suppose but he is so abnormal. his behavior is that of a child. he has multiple personality disorders and an absolute absence of anything resembling empathy or love inside him. yet he's the leader of a cult of millions of people, who have terrified any and all once sane republicans, among the most feckless and craven assholes on the face of the earth, into submission.

and the media just goes along for the ride acting as if this is ... normal. it's maddening.

[Evolve Dammit]

39. maddening is right. And I totally agree with the historical facts. All true. "Once sane."

[NullTuples]

34. This is the sort of thing the KGB & CIA promoted in countries they wanted to destabilize.

I'm not saying this is what is happening on the larger scale, but it should be recognized that so many GOP have alligned themselves with Putin & Russia, an enemy nation that wants nothing more than to destabilize the United States of America.

"The Cold War isn't over until I say it's over" and all that...

[ananda]

35. As of now, and I don't see anything changing, the left is tolerating...

all the rightwing bullshit.

If we weren't tolerating it, it wouldn't be happening.

[UpInArms]

38. What is best for the country

Is to hold them all accountable

[Caliman73]

41. Unfortunately, they have some precedence.

Nixon was not held accountable for his actions sabotaging the Peace Talks in Vietnam in 1968. He was pardoned for Watergate for "national healing" by Ford. Reagan was never held to account for sabotaging the negotiations to release the hostages in Iran and for the Iran-Contra scandal that followed. All perpetrators were pardoned by Bush Sr. at Bill Barr's behest. Cheney and Bush Jr. were never held accountable for lying the US into the war in Iraq. Again, for the sake of "moving on".

All of those incidents lead to Trump. Since they got away with it every time and even though Nixon was forced to resign in disgrace, Roger Ailes and Pat Buchanan swore, that never again would a Conservative be held accountable and created the right wing media ecosystem that we have today, that has convinced at least 30% of the population that Trump did nothing wrong, and at least another 20% to 30% that holding people accountable will lead to "horrible" things.

Our track record in the US, for holding powerful people to account, is not great.