We are fighting the wrong enemy.

[kentuck]

One enemy stands out above all the others.

Above ICE agents.
Above Iran.
Above Russia.
Even above Donald Trump.

That enemy is the Republican Party. I am not talking about the average Republican voter. I am talking about elected Republicans in Washington DC. None of the above would be able to do what they are doing without the approval of elected Republicans.

Why are they the enemy? Because they want this country to become fascist. They want to destroy our democracy. They vote and support the cruel policies of Donald Trump, Elon Musk, Ice agents, and to destroy our Constitution. They want to take away your vote.

In my opinion, they are domestic enemy #1.

Tell me where I am wrong? And why?

Is it really just a difference in political opinions? I don't think so.

They are the enemy of the people, and the people, including Republicans, need to know it. We need to protest the Republican Party. It is obvious they do not seek to work in any bi-partisan way. They want to destroy what America has fought and died for. They have the perfect frontman in Donald Trump. But that is all he is. It is the Republican Party that is pulling the strings. They are not doing it out of fear or cowardice. They are doing it out of malice and forethought.

Between now and November of next year, we need to speak up for all the people that want to keep our Constitution and our democracy. Our only hope is to change our Congress and our Senate. And that is only the beginning.

[JI7]

1. The average Republican voter is who puts the elected Republicans in office

[kentuck]

2. Because, like the average Democrat, they do not understand the true culprit.

We blame Trump, Musk, ICE agents, etc.

Instead of placing the blame squarely where it lies. We just accept it as inevitable.

[JI7]

4. No idea what you are talking about

The average Republican supports Trump and they vote for people that do the same.

Republicans that go against Trump face primary challenges.

The average Republican voter votes for this shit.

[kentuck]

7. Exactly!

The "average Republican" believes what their Republican Congress and Senate tell them. Which are usually lies. That's why they support "the Big Beautiful Bill". That is why they support Trump in the numbers that they do. That is why they hate Democrats.

[Gimpyknee]

19. Do you realize that you are contradicting yourself?

[kentuck]

20. How so?

Please explain yourself?

[bucolic_frolic]

3. All true.

Are there also foreign backers? Do we know where all the bad actors and terrorists disappeared to post WWII? Strongmen oppose democracy as a matter of ideology, principle. Some former royal houses probably do.

[unblock]

5. Even the Republican Party has its bosses

The modern Republican politician is a political agent for hire.

A group of billionaires bought them out, just as they bought out the media.

Small wonder the media works overtime to amplify right-wing voices, they're basically affiliates.

But it's certainly true that the stench is bigger than just donnie, and we need to pin all the current evil on the whole Republican Party, not just one man they could eventually claim to "pivot" away from.

[kentuck]

8. That is true, but...

....even with all their money, they do not cast the votes to codify it. If we become a Fascist dictatorship, we can look directly at the elected Republicans, and their leaders.

[unblock]

10. Agreed, but we must fight to replace them, not convince them

They are paid to have certain views. They cannot respond to pressure or logic or data or shame. Their job is to say and do whatever it takes to get those billionaire tax cuts and other nonsense for the rich.

They're basically living bots. They might seem real, but really they're just programmed to parrot certain talking points and spread propaganda and vote for unconscionable acts of government cruelty.

They can't be convinced. But they can be destroyed. Hopefully it's not too late....

[kentuck]

11. Yes, we must fight to replace them, but...

...we are not fighting them. We are fighting their agents. We are not directing enough energy toward the leaders of that Party. They feel very little heat.

[unblock]

13. Yeah, we're always on defense. Each politician struggles just to keep their own seat.

We need our own billionaires. Soros doesn't give anything near what the right wing pretends he gives.

Then we need a more comprehensive media strategy, and we need it 24/7/365, not just for a couple months during campaign season.

[kentuck]

14. I don't think money is the primary problem of the Democratic Party.

We spent over $2 billion dollars in the last election cycle.

I think we need to work from the top down. We need to attack the Republican leaders of this fascist movement unmercifully, and not focus all our attention on Trump, etc., in my opinion.

[samplegirl]

73. I agree but Ohio

Is so corrupt were I live. It's gerrymandered to hell.
And run by the Republican Mob!

[Auggie]

17. This

[BigMin28]

6. You have to include

republican voters. They believe in most of what is being done in Washington. They certainly back Felon 47. You can't have one without the other. But yes, I consider them a threat to all of us.

[Hotler]

9. The orange one and his minions in Washington are a reflection of the hate 80 million repug voters have for us. nt

[kentuck]

12. I do not think the country is that evenly split, between haters and non-haters.

In fact, I think there is probably more in common between average Democratic and average Republican voters than we are led to believe. We are all victims of the propaganda fed into our heads.

We tend to believe our leaders. They tend to believe their leaders. But, in my opinion, their leaders are dependent upon lies to survive.

[Keepthesoulalive]

58. You have not been paying attention to their message

Why do people keep supporting people who do nothing for them? Because they are buying what they are selling. Please stop pretending these are some poor naive waifs who are being misled. They have a responsibility to investigate who they are voting for and make an informed decision. The democrats in New York made an informed decision and rejected Cuomo. If you continue to vote for the face eating leopard you will continue to send our country into a failed state as you have for the last 50 plus years. Stop giving them a pass and hold them accountable for their stupid, myopic and hateful decisions.

[kentuck]

63. They believe what their brains are being fed.

I cannot believe that 80 million Americans would vote for fascism if they knew what it was. If that was the case, we would not have a country worth fighting for.

[Keepthesoulalive]

65. They take pride in their hate

If he was a monster the first time putting children in cages. Why would any thinking, feeling human being vote for him ? Charlottesville unite the right, clearing Streets for a photo op with an upside down bible. Chaos for 4 years and they chose to ignore it. Fox News is a choice, Marjorie Green is a choice.
Stop giving people who choose to hate and feel superior to others a pass. We are responsible for our vote and one group of Americans took it seriously and voted for a better world. I am not going to absolve them of their responsibility to use their brains and their hearts.

[kentuck]

67. Haters are going to hate...

But we cannot overlook the power of propaganda on a lot of these folks, and the belief that the Democratic Party is the Party of Satan. It is evil to them and these voters rationalize that most of what they hear is "fake news" and are willing to overlook it, rather than to believe the evil Democrats. Yes, we are all responsible for our vote, even if it is a brainwashed vote. Eventually, reality will intervene and the longer we believe the delusion, the tougher will be the reality.

[Keepthesoulalive]

68. Why aren't people of color who have been here for centuries

Buying the propaganda? The most loyal democrats since the civil rights movement are people of color. When Regan restarted the southern strategy many people started voting against their interests and started voting for people who understood their culture. Ron Desantis is not fooling anyone, they like what they see. Why is it that woke DEI and all the other buzzwords help them to win elections? Please tell me why Mississippi which is one of the poorest states in America continues to vote for politicians who keep them mired in poverty and almost last in everything that might make their lives better. If it makes you feel better to believe the dominant culture is feeble minded go ahead. But a lot of people of color see them as the people who would hang us from trees and have a picnic.

[kentuck]

69. We live in a "tribal" society, moreso than anytime I can remember...

It's like rooting for your old high school football team. The tribe is always right. They will follow that tribe until it affects them or their family in a very harmful way. They see it as more of "their team" than their "political Party". As John Prine once said of his Grandfather, "He voted for Eisenhower 'cause Lincoln won the war".

[whopis01]

74. What it is you suggest we do?

I am not saying you are wrong, and I don't mean this as a challenge to what you are saying - I'm just trying to think it fully through.

I agree that people have a responsibility to use their brains and their hearts when choosing the direction for our country and society. But what do we do when someone doesn't take on that responsibility? What does it mean to stop giving them a pass?

If I know someone running a business is a Trump/MAGA/Right-wing whatever, I am not going to do business there. But I know that will be used by the right-wingers running for election. They'll say that leftists want to destroy business. They will say that this is a war on American/Traditional/Christian/Whatever values. They will work hard to convince that person to hate me and hurt me even more.

I would love to say that the correct thing to do is reach out to these people to try to help them understand what is going on - but I never see that having much success either.

If you come at them aggressively, ready to fight back against their BS, it just strengthens their resolve and supplies fuel for the propaganda machine. If you come with an olive branch, they laugh at you and get the first swing in the fight.

Meanwhile those running the show sit back and do whatever they want while we fight amongst each other.

At least that is how it feels to me.

So, back to my original question - what do you suggest we do?

[Keepthesoulalive]

79. I suggest you get involved with your party on a local level

Go to meetings meet you representatives local and federal. Boycotting Target is having an effect. Stop looking at mass media and find like minded folks outside of twitter and Facebook. Buy local as much as possible, some folks are buying only the essentials that they need to feel comfortable. Donate to worthy causes.
Small things matter, people want to make grand sweeping changes. That is not going to work. It took years of propaganda and burying our heads to get to this point. It will take years and hard work to fix this.

[whopis01]

81. There is nothing there I am not already doing

I don’t see how that addresses the issue of giving or not giving a pass to certain people.

[Keepthesoulalive]

82. You are not going to change people's minds who are in a cult

When people take joy in other people’s suffering, the old folks would say you just have to leave them alone. Hispanic people speaking of deporting criminals meaning Hispanics who don’t look like them.
This man is a disaster and still he is supported by the dominant culture. You can help make sure democrats can get to the polls and be able to vote. I have no sympathy for people who want to destroy my people, my culture my access to jobs , healthcare and education. If you feel there is redemption go for it. I am tired of the excuses for their bigotry and fanaticism.

[whopis01]

83. I said nothing about redemption

I gave no excuses for bigotry and fanaticism.

I said nothing about sympathy for them.

Please don’t imply that I did otherwise. I merely asked what you suggested for “not giving them a pass”. You have suggested a lot of good things - bet they generally have nothing to do with giving or not givigg by a pass to them. Which is fine - I just thought you might have some other suggestions. That’s all.

I’m not looking for confrontation or argument here. Just trying to have a conversation about it.

[Keepthesoulalive]

84. In high school we were taught about propaganda

My teachers who were Jewish and they were trying to teach us to beware of people trying to manipulate you to do things that are horrible , that word is not an adequate description of Nazi Germany. To see it here is not something I would have imagined, not in America we are too smart for propaganda to take hold. I am not a psychologist or sociologist or a minister so I do not have answers for the madness that has taken over this country. But I see how the atrocities of the Nazis occurred and many people just went along with it. The heavy handed response by this admin against anyone who questions them or their actions, the cowardice of the media and the capitulation of the business titans is something I can’t believe I’m seeing. We will resist as best we can and watch this play out. The history books might help you with your quest.

[Beowulf42]

15. They have been the enemy since RR.

[kentuck]

16. Yes, and we have not attacked their leaders in the same way they have attacked our leaders.

The way they attacked Nancy Pelosi, for example.

"We" attack "Maga Mike" but our leaders do not.

[YepYep]

29. Fairness Doctrine

RR’s end of the fairness doctrine lead to outright propaganda. The Supreme Court allowed big money to flow into the repugs furthered the propaganda. They were willingly brainwashed. Heck, there are political ads on my tv saying the Adam Gray, member of congress from California, is monster who is going to raise your taxes sky high. It’s not campaign season yet. There are no elections yet. It is flat out propaganda. BTW the idea is that Gray is a monster for not voting for the big beautiful bastard of a bill.

[republianmushroom]

18. You nailed it.

Dumb trump hasn't done all this by his little lonesome.

[kentuck]

22. Basically, I think our criticism and attacks are disproportionately directed.

We need to expose the leaders at the top in Congress and Senate. But, it is up to our leaders to do that job, in my opinion. Not "keyboard warriors" or even, the media.

[SARose]

21. My MAGA family

I was at a funeral recently surrounded by my MAGA family when I realized

1) they don’t read - anything;

2) most have never been to college and sincerely believe they don’t need higher education to succeed;

3) they are small business owners;

4) they’ve only been to Colorado and Orlando - most have never been more than 25 miles from their hometowns;

5) their news comes exclusively from Fox;

6) they are 100% white;

7) they see the country headed in the wrong direction on issues like abortion, transgender rights, and more.

8) they will never vote for a woman or a person of color;

9) they believe some folks are just lazy. They believe in working hard. They believe hunger is a great motivator. They believe poverty is a personal moral failure.

10) they want a strong white man to protect them from apocolyptic zombies, the Illuminati, chemtrails, the Trilateral Commision, and eagerly await the Second Coming.

11) they believe the Bible is without error, the earth is 6,000 years old, and they are convinced they (and only their religions) will be raptured - don’t ask.🙄

That’s who they are and that’s why they vote against their own self interests.

I have no idea how to reach them. I fear Trump and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 will bring them to their knees.

[kentuck]

24. We might have to accept that some people are unreachable?

But, there is so much social media out there that it is almost impossible to escape it completely.

[DENVERPOPS]

26. Awesome comprehensive commentary SA

You dun good.............

[SARose]

60. Thank you

I also listened to them talking about their struggles.

1) cotton is up and growing - no rain. Same with millet, sorghum and feed corn.

2) general contractors can’t find roofers, insulation installers and general laborers.

3) real estate agents can’t sell existing homes. Prices and interest rates are too high mostly driven by investors.

4) my physician assistant cousin works in a tiny clinic (2 other employees) in a tiny Texas town with no doctors and no hospital. She is inundated with Federal paperwork while she is busy treating patients with high blood pressure, diabetes and various farm equipment injuries.

And many of them (including us) have grandkids who cannot qualify for a $250,000 starter home mortgage.

Meanwhile the governor and Dan Patrick are squabbling over CBD and squandering billions at the border.

One of my cousins just had a $200,000 grant pulled by Trump. This money was partial payment for a new combine. Old combine is 25 years old.

Texas Dems need to be in these communities listening to these folks. Go to the coffee shops and diners and listen. Their grandkids are leaving for Dallas, Houston, New York, and Tokyo because they can’t make a living in small town Texas.

Our party needs to listen and develop actual solutions to these problems. They aren’t worried about social issues - they are worried about drought. They already thinned their herds last year. Their kids are struggling with 2-3 jobs and their grandchildren are leaving. They are watching their towns die and they are scared.

[DENVERPOPS]

66. How about this

I have a Russian Friend who is a naturalized citizen. He stays in contract with friends and family back in Russia. I asked him what they were all saying about the U.S. Putin, and Trump.

He said that they were all laughing at how easily Putin has PLAYED Trump and Republicans. They commented at how Putin has succeeded at using Trump and Republicans to DESTROY the U.S. Economy, the U.S. Constitution, and the U.S. citizens FROM THE INSIDE.....WITHOUT STARTING A WAR WITH US, WITHOUT FIRING A SINGLE ROCKET OR BOMB......

[SARose]

70. 100% agree

He sold us out for what? A pee tape? A golf course? Another hotel with his name on it?

But the real question is what did the Republican Party receive for burying their heads in the sand and attempting to make Trump King?

Republicans Senators and Representatives OWN this and we need to take the fight to them. These Republicans didn’t do their job on tariffs - nope give that to Trump. They didn’t do their job with their power of the purse - Trump can spend whatever he wants. They let Trump eviscerate agencies established and funded by Congress and lay off thousands of Federal workers.

We have met the enemy and he is us - Pogo.

[kentuck]

71. They abdicated everything...

...including the health, safety, and the rights of all their voters. They have betrayed us all.

[DENVERPOPS]

72. All Trump had to say

to the Repub Senators and House members was:

I GO DOWN, YOU GO DOWN..................Whatever Kompromat Putin had on Trump, he certainly had on many other Politcians in the Repub Party.
Probably supplied by Epstein in the form of Videos and 8 x 10 Color Glossies......

Look at how fast Lindsay flipped from loathing Trump to praising him with just one golf game with Trump......

[Starbeach]

75. Diary

Perhaps a diary with these observations?

[-misanthroptimist]

23. The Republican Party truly believes...

...that Russia has the right idea. They believe that society should be run by wealth and brutality. They want to travel back in time to when we had kings and even further to when there was little to no science or free thought.

In short, the believe that Western Civilization is a failure, despite the fact that it is the most successful system in human history.

[Jedi Guy]

80. "...they believe that Western Civilization is a failure..."

That doesn't really track with a lot of the rhetoric coming from their side, though, does it? The Proud Boys, for instance, were founded as an explicitly Western chauvinist organization that glorifies Western culture and civilization as exactly what you describe, the most successful system in human history. I can see the argument being made that the Proud Boys have strayed from those roots and are now little more than a paramilitary group or a mob of brutes looking to smash heads, but still, their genesis was "Western civilization good, everything else bad".

That's very much a right-wing position. They believe that Western culture and morality are superior to other ideological systems and they explicitly reject the notion of moral relativism. They reject the notion that other cultures have things of value to offer. Your average Republican voter probably can't have an intelligent conversation about the seeds of Western civilization in ancient Greece and how it's gradually gone through permutations throughout history until we end up with it as it exists today... but to be honest, I doubt your average Democratic voter could have an intelligent conversation about it, either. Your Average Joe/Jane likely isn't conversant on Athenian democracy, the Magna Carta, the Protestant Reformation, the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, etc., given the state of our educational system.

I would say that your average Republican voter probably has a much higher likelihood of tolerating autocracy, so perhaps that was more what you were thinking about when making the comparison to Russia. I don't know any American conservatives who would countenance the idea of an American king, though they're inclined more towards "strongman" type leadership than the left is, broadly speaking, and Trump is evidence of that inclination.

Even your observation about conservatives wanting "little to no science or free thought" isn't necessarily accurate, in my opinion. Most conservatives are fiercely supportive of the First Amendment, whereas there are folks on the left, some of them right here on DU, who have advocated for "hate speech" laws to ban speech they find objectionable, which is another way of saying speech with which they disagree.

Those same conservatives who will fiercely defend the First Amendment, though, will nod and smile when Donnie Dipshit attacks the media as the "enemy of the people" and advocates for media organizations he dislikes to be punished or shut down, which goes back to a stronger inclination towards autocracy and more than a little hypocrisy in the bargain. On the other hand, how many threads have there been here on DU advocating for right-wing media outlets to be shut down? Yes, it's one thing for a President to advocate it and quite another for a private citizen on the net to do the same, but the idea isn't a good one regardless of who's expressing it.

The rejection of science isn't solely a trait of the left or the right, either, not in the current state of our society. There's a very human tendency to dismiss science and experts in favor of our "gut feelings" or pre-existing beliefs. That's utterly rampant in society right now. If Dr. Expert on the news says X and you think X sounds odd, you can hop on the net and find twenty other people saying X is ridiculous and Y is the truth. Once upon a time, society agreed on a basic set of facts. Individual interpretations of what those facts meant certainly occurred, but the bedrock facts were at least agreed upon. Those days are over.

Even the greater inclination towards autocracy isn't necessarily just an issue on the right. In the aftermath of the 2024 election, there were people here on DU saying Biden should reject the results, refuse to leave office, and all kinds of other wacky things. You know, the kinds of autocratic things Trump talked about and did. They were okay with the idea of an autocratic leader/government as long as it was one they agreed with. Yes, I will grant that those voices were far, far less numerous on the left than they ever were on the right, but it's disturbing that they existed at all, on the left or the right.

This is just a (very) long-winded way of saying that I think there are deep problems with our society at this moment in time, and of course those problems make themselves felt in politics. I just don't think those issues can be conveniently boiled down to left vs. right. I think it's across the board.

Our society is broken in some fundamental way and the problems aren't getting better.

[-misanthroptimist]

85. There's a lot to unpack there

So, I will ignore the OT comments.

My statement in the previous post can best be supported by asking ourselves, "What will society look like if the Republicans get everything they want?" So, here goes:

Will there be freedom of expression? No.
Will there be justice for all? No.
Will there be free and fair elections? No.
Will there be a free press? No.
Will there be freedom of religion? No.
And so on.

All of these are the bedrock of Western Civilization. My statement stands, though we can quibble about terminology FWIW.

[Jedi Guy]

86. I'll grant you that society will look much different if Republicans got all their wishlist items.

I'm simply disputing your interpretation that it's because they look down on Western civilization and consider it a failure. Most Republicans would align more with the initial ideology of the Proud Boys and hold Western civilization to be superior to everything else.

The core issue as I see it is the tolerance of autocracy. That's where the rubber meets the road. We're in a place as a society where a nonzero portion of the population is okay with an autocratic government as long as it aligns with their ideology.

To engage in some understatement, that's really not a great place for society to be if we're hoping for good things to happen.

[-misanthroptimist]

87. The number in favor of autocracy has always been non-zero.

And how does that work? The Proud Boys destroy the core concepts of Western civilization while they hold it "to be superior to everything else." Your assertion is self-contradictory.

In point of fact, they don't care about anything except white people being in charge -no matter how that is accomplished.

[Nigrum Cattus]

25. You have it half correct -

It's the goddamn white christian nationalists, project 2025.
They want a "christian" theocracy, period, full stop.
Just look at project 2025 & all their other writings -
https://www.statementonchristiannationalism.com/

[Qutzupalotl]

27. We might be witnessing a hostage situation

where a number of Republicans don't actually want a theocracy or to throw out the Constitution, but are afraid to speak up or step out of line.

We know Russia hacked both DNC and RNC emails in 2016, but only released one — the theory being that withholding release the other can be used as leverage.

[Initech]

28. The propagandists are how we got here.

And yes I'm talking about the Sean Hannitys and Laura Ingrahams of the world. And then there's the even worse, more extreme tin foil hat conspiracy theory psychopaths like your Alex Joneses and your Tucker Carlsons and your Benny Johnsons and your Charlie Kirks, and your Ben Shapiros, and so on. Worse than that are your average megachurch pastors who are using their pulpits to preach hate to scare people into voting for the GOP.

This is a truly massive problem. What makes matters worse is that these scumbags are abusing their free speech privileges and getting away with it. We can't silence them and I'm not advocating for that. But something must be done. We have to address the problem with propaganda in this country or it's going to get worse. The real enemies of democracy are the people that own the media - Steve Bannon, Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk, Patrick Soon-Shiongh, Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg. These are some really bad guys. They're brainwashing the masses and getting away with it.

[yonder]

44. Agree.

The right has very good conductors forcing an out-of-tune and time orchestra to play the shitty symphony composed by their musically illiterate benefactors.

While much of the audience has left, at least one out of three remain, in tone deaf wonder, believing what they're hearing is music for the ages.

[Initech]

57. It's all so the billionaires can get richer while the authoritarians hold onto their power.

And they scare the middle and lower class - us - into voting against our best interests every single time.

Personally I want an America that embraces freedom and diversity, and is free of these billionaire white supremacist scumbags who are only in it for the money.

[mgardener]

30. I consider Elise Stefanik

A traitor.
To NY 21 and the country.
She has betrayed her oath of office.

[kentuck]

31. Basically, someone in Democratic leadership needs to speak out against these Republican leaders.

There is too much comity (not comedy) in this Democratic Party, in my opinion. There is no bi-partisanship to work with when you are up against fascists. It's time to start stepping on some toes and bringing some heat to these traitors of our Democracy.

[LiberalArkie]

32. The Greedy Ol' Party will fight any one who against that greed. If Trump decided to not end medicaid or

just said that he was going to fight for non wealthy, he would be impeached that very day.. He is the continuation of the "Greed Is Good" of the Reagan, Bush, Bush era.

[live love laugh]

33. REPUBLICAN is a dirty word. It should be used as such and in place of TRUMP.

[chowder66]

61. Trump and the republicans should be tied to one another in every sentence.

[Martin Eden]

34. Republicans serve the Oligarchy that finances their political careers

The same oligarchy that owns so much of the corporate media which deceives low information voters into believing the Republican Party is a champion for God, country, and the well being of American families.

It is an entire ideology dressed up in convincing rhetoric, built on a foundation of lies.

Donald Trump is an ignorant sociopath, but he's also a skilled con man astute enough to expand on the lies. He broke established boundaries, shattered norms, and pushed the emotional buttons of grievance in voters smart enough to know they've gotten a raw deal but dumb enough to believe the lies.

He liberated those whose expressions of bigotry and misogyny were inhibited during the era of political correctness, and they LOVE him for it.

So, who is THE enemy?

I blame ignorance and human nature, which is damn hard to fight.

But fight we must. Since victory requires winning elections, it is the Republican Party we must defeat.

[kentuck]

37. Good points.

It is the Republican Party leaders that carry the water, for all of them.

[Cheezoholic]

35. You are right. I posted this a couple months ago. I'm tired of hearing about FatAss. He's too stupid to do this alone

He is the front man of a rabid autocratic politburo. All of this, every damn bit of it, can be laid at their feet.

[kentuck]

38. Absolutely!

Trump is everything we say he is and more. But it is the Republican Party that gives him the oxygen to do what he does. We seem to have lost sight of that?

[ancianita]

36. Yes. You're absolutely right.

Thanks for your thoughts! because we tend to momentarily forget more and more until we mistake theater for the enemy. The Republican Party is the enemy that literally funds, votes, and literally chooses to believe the media lies of fascism.

[kentuck]

40. We need a leader that can step forth and defend democracy over autocracy...

...and over those that want to destroy our democracy for fascism and authoritarianism. Someone that can re-direct the Democratic Party for a new America. The people are saying, "we did not vote for this". They must understand that they are voting for the fascists.

[ancianita]

46. You're onto the Big Response strategy from here on out, so thank you. I just posted more on this in GD.

Focus, firmness and fortitude is the future way forward.

[kentuck]

49. Thank you

[PatrickforB]

39. Well, you're not wrong...quite. But I would drill down even just a bit further.

I am an economist who sometimes feels like Galadriel, who told Frodo she had 'fought the long defeat' for three ages.

I have long touted economic policies like childcare assistance, national healthcare, defined benefit pensions and so on that actually HELP people like you and me. But one by one the greed of the few has ended those and left us all worse off.

The Republicans are the face of this worsening, for sure, because they enact policies.

BUT WHO DRIVES THESE POLICIES?

The billionaires. Indeed, if you peel the onion back layer by layer to its core, you will invariably see an old, white, male, liver-spotted hand grasping for more PROFITS.

The enemy is the billionaire parasites. They have been waging a successful class war on us for the 95 years since the New Deal came to be in 1935. The deterioration began in earnest in 1971 when Nixon Supreme Court pick Lewis Powell penned 'An Attack on American Free Enterprise' at the behest of the US Chamber of Commerce. This was because we were beginning to win, to have real social change - the civil rights movement, the anti-war movement, the women's movement, and finally when Ralph Nader wrote 'Unsafe at any Speed,' which forced Detroit to put seatbelts in cars, Wall Street financiers and billionaires had enough. So Powell's 'manifesto' laid out the plan for a corporate takeover of this republic. WHICH HAS HAPPENED.

Then, at the behest of Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld, Ronald Reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine in 1987 and at the same time deregulated the cable industry. This allowed Fox News and AM right-wing talk radio to metastatize throughout the country using sophisticated brainwashing techniques. Note that we get biased news because all our public 'news' media outlets are publicly traded - Comcast, Disney and so on. So the fiduciary responsibility of senior producers in these media 'news' shows is always and only generating shareholder profits - there is nothing in the charter about truth in news. So it is biased, and designed to drive wedges.

In the 1970s and 80s, the culture wars were born when the Coors family bankrolled the Moral Majority.

The Tea Party was not organic either. the Koch brothers bankrolled that.

Then you had Grover Norquist, and the Chicago School of economics touting the trickle down (supply side) approach. Everyone knew it was a lie when Reagan slithered into the White House with it, because he said, "Oh, if we cut taxes for corporations and wealthy people, increased payroll tax revenue from all the jobs they created would more than cover the tax shortfall."

But carry this to its logical conclusion and we see the burden of FUNDING government programs has increased for individual taxpayers from generating ~45% of the government's tax revenue to over 80% now, while the corporate 'contribution' went from ~35% to its current 9%. At least the last time I checked, but you get the idea.

And W tried in 2004 to privatize the Social Security trust fund so that Wall Street financiers and today's new Robber Barons could speculate with it. Fortunately that did not happen, but look at today's efforts to undermine Social Security through DOGE, and Medicare by forcing people all onto the privatized 'advantage plans.'

The Wall Street/Billionaire machine is relentless. They have fought the long game of raw greed and lust for temporal power since 1935.

Bottom line, the entire earth GROANS under the weight of the raw greed of these billionaire parasites.

They are the real enemy. Of all of us.

[kentuck]

43. I do not disagree.

How do we fight these "billionaire parasites"?

The only way I have seen that works is to control the amount of wealth they are permitted to acquire in a laissez-faire system. That is via the tax system.

[PatrickforB]

59. We fight them through policies touted by the progressives. Because those are the policies that

should be implemented.

Corporate media has driven us so far right that the progressive left, like AOC and Bernie, David Hogg and the rest, are actually center. But note that the catchphrase for them is always 'far-left.' That is the label that has been assigned by the billionaires and Wall Street to sap their credibility and they do this through fear. So they call them socialists and communists because there is still a great swath of older Americans who were propagandized to have a knee-jerk reaction to progressive policies.

I mean try touting even raising taxes on billionaires on social media and you will find yourself surrounded by people who tell you to get a job, or accuse you of wanting them to support you. This is because they have been brainwashed as part of Powell's 1971 plan.

I mean look at Vought, the author of Project 2025 - "The coup will be bloodless if the left lets it be."

And think about the 2024 campaign. We donated over a $billion to Harris and God only knows how many more billions to downticket Dems and the billionaire parasites matched us dollar for dollar.

And who benefited? SHAREHOLDERS in the media companies because if huge ad revenue. Certainly not us.

I get dozens of texts and emails every day from Dems asking for donations so they can 'fight' for me. I'm not donating any more. The reason is the institutional Democrats. They are fine. Their big donors are fine. So they content themselves with 'strongly worded letters' and continue to talk about how these cuts will 'hurt' Americans.

News flash - the billionaire don't give one solitary single shit whether we live or die, and they would be much happier with docile fearful wage slaves. I mean think about your early school days. I'm 66 - we had hootenanies in elementary school where we sang songs like Blowin in the Wind and If I Had a Hammer. We learned Aesop's fables. This was moral instruction, and part of Powell's 1971 plan was to insert 'concerned parents' into school boards and drive wedges that gradually reduced this moral instruction. This left younger generations without that moral compass and particularly vulnerable to the sophisticated propaganda coming from the right-wing news outlets (they learned these techniques from the Chinese, who used this our our guys captured in the Korean War), and our descent into a 'consumer society.'

Remember when W got asked how we could help, what sacrifices our people should be making in the 'war on terror?'

Remember what he said? Keep spending. Keep buying stuff. Ignore the war.

See what I mean?

I guess I'm getting tired of cooperating. I'm getting old and no longer fear death quite as much. Because fear is the main chain they are trying to bind us all with - fear of losing our jobs, fear of deprivation, fear of 'commies,' 'sosh-a-lists,' transgender people, gays, Muslims, Jews, fear of suffering, fear of not having enough. Those are the chains Wall Street and billionaires have forged to bind us, link by link, yard by yard.

So I guess, stop being afraid. Speak out. Don't cooperate. Resist. Use your vote for progressives. Be active in your local community. Build community. I don't know what else to say because our two-party system has been so corrupted by the raw greed of a few parasites that it isn't working now. So do good, obey the laws, but build community because we have to get out of this fear and start caring for one another.

[Beartracks]

41. Agreed. The Republican party has aided and abetted Trumpism from the beginning.

Last edited Wed Jun 25, 2025, 02:27 PM - Edit history (1)

As a party, they cannot be trusted with democracy and public service, as they have shown us time and time again in their ever-increasing authoritarian evolution. Even the so-called "good Republicans" -- if there are any left -- are part of the headcount of Republican majorities in local, state, and Federal legislatures, and need to be voted out to rob Republicans of their majorities and keep the levers of power away from conservative extremists -- not just once, but every time there's an election. Every. Time.

=================

[rickyhall]

42. The party should be destroyed entirely.

Like Egypt did Akhenaten.

[Prairie_Seagull]

45. The new "bosses" are increasing their numbers day by day.

Last edited Wed Jun 25, 2025, 01:19 PM - Edit history (1)

We did get fooled.

[kentuck]

48. If we want to be the majority...

...then we have to defeat the present majority. They are the only ones that can legitimize what is happening to our country.

[Joinfortmill]

47. Completely agree.

[kentuck]

50. We need to do this because that is the only way to penetrate right-wing media.

They will report any attacks upon their Party leaders.

[jgmiller]

51. The old adage "All politics are local" is appropriate here

Yes the true enemy are the average GOP politicians who support the truly evil GOP politicians. They do this because of a combination of greed, fear and agreement with them.

However as others have pointed out the problem is really the people that vote for them and this is where the "all politics are local" comes in to play. We need to understand what local means, it doesn't always mean the district or city it can mean just the individual person or small group of friends and family. They vote a certain way because they don't care about ICE raids because they are white or they live in an area where it doesn't affect them. They don't care if the Kennedy Center is turned into a joke because they don't like musical theater. They don't care if inner city youth go hungry because they don't live in a big city or they have never been impacted by hunger themselves.

I could go on and on with examples but what these voters do care about is what impacts them. They might care that a member of the state assembly got a street light installed near their house so now it's safer to cross the street so when that assembly person runs for congress they remember that and vote for them. They don't care or even notice that the same person wants to ban 2,000 books from the local library.

They vote based on what they need and see in their own lives. When we run around and call the GOP facists we are right but that doesn't impact them so they keep falling for the GOP's lies and vote for them. We need to understand that and work this at the local levels. Grand sweeping plans and fights are great and get headlines but the way you win is at the very local level.

[kentuck]

55. I agree with your points....

...but we cannot win without exposing those Congressmen at the district or local level. We have to tell the people, at the local level, exactly what their Reps are doing. I do not disagree with your points but local level politics do not get the same attention in the "propaganda" system as do the national leaders. However, it is necessary to work at the local level, I would agree.

[jgmiller]

56. Completely agree with you

I should have added that to my post. We need to expose the local politicians and what they are doing that damages things locally.

[Festivito]

52. Good thing the re-publicans in Congress are not alive to see this!

This being either the mess our country is in, or your spot-on OP.

[spanone]

53. K&R

[orchidlady]

54. YESSSSS!!!!!!!

THIS!!! INFINITE LEVELS OF THIS!!!!!

been saying this very thing for a quarter century, and it all comes down to them, don't it?

the party of "whatevertheFwecangetawaywith" and "all about winning, F the voters," which translates as
"WE WANT ALL THE MONEY&POWER!!!"

since newt turned congress into a battlefield (F a bunch of courtesy & dignity), and roger ailes built his damn propaganda machine with rupert, right thru the theft of 2000 from gore, 2004 from kerry, their ravaging of obama, and now this...this... THIS GD IMPOTENT NASTY TROLL who most of them really despise IRL!

sold their souls to the devil, and now the devil will take them.
GOOD RIDDANCE!!!

but, yes, we must truly muster all our spirit and righteous weight and HEAVE HO them right the hell OUTA HERE!!

we really really really need to invert their demonization of the DEMS and expose them for the EVIL they ARE!!

no shrugging, no eye-rolling, no hesitation, no prevarication!!!

LET'S JUST DO THIS!!!!

GOP SUCKS!!!!!

[chowder66]

62. 100%. I've been saying this for a long time. More focus and pressure needs to be put on every republican.

[kentuck]

64. Trump is like a lightning rod...

He takes all the hits for his Republican and corporate bosses. Which, by the way, should not stop. But not so disproportionately to let the Republican leaders slide out of target range? They act like bystanders.

[OC375]

76. Common Ground

If we don't find common ground, as a civilization/country/society, we are doomed. Someone will eventually come along, exploit that, take all our stuff, and then we'll have to do whatever they tell us to do. This how the world works, as long as we're involved with it.

[kentuck]

77. How do you find common ground with fascists?

Don't call them fascists??

[OC375]

78. No Idea

No idea, but I hope someone comes up with a way before Mother Earth does it for us.