Just one word in the title says it all. I don’t need to say who, nor need I describe why. There is no avoiding the rather obvious big news item of the week.
For the first time in history, an American president will be on criminal trial in multiple venues — federal and state — during a presidential campaign in which he will be the presumptive nominee of the Republican Party for the Presidency of the United States of America. US democracy has been transformed from being an inspiration into a deeply embarrassing spectacle, not just because of him, but because so many are stupid enough to still support him and his big lie.
The really good news is the clarity of what he now faces …
- He can’t fight it on constitutional grounds, such as 1A, because he isn’t being indicted for what he said, but instead for what he did.
- He can’t challenge the validity of the laws he has broken. They are clear and have been successfully applied to numerous cases.
- He is being indicted for his deceitful actions. These will be attested to by his own lawyers, his inner circle, his own people.
- No speculation, no vague inferences, just total clarity with no wiggle room at all, just the facts.
The only card he has left is the well worn path of public opinion manipulation and legal evasion. Right now his sycophants are dishing out disinformation by the bucketload to anybody willing to broadcast them. Unfortunately for him, popularity will not cut it in a court of law.
“No no no“, scream the usual talking heads, “He is being persecuted, this is a blatant abuse of power, the DOJ is corrupt“. Trump’s very own Attorney General Bill Barr will happily explain that such claims are total BS …
Also for the “If they can do that to him, then they can do it to any of us” crowd, here you go …
Finally, it is all catching up to him, and we are indeed all here for it.
I do wonder if he truly grasps how deep his legal peril actually is right now and if he thinks he can wiggle out of it once again.
Moving on, below you will once again find my usual selection of some truly bizarre and extreme claims that have popped up during the last 7 days. Each is laced with my snarky commentary.
With my usual hat tip to my various sources, let’s once again dive into this very murky pool of absurdity and crass stupidity.
Christian Nationalism
Christian nationalist worship leader Sean Feucht held a service outside the Idaho state capitol last Sunday where he bragged about gathering with elected officials beforehand to declare that “this state belongs to Jesus.”
- “My Kingdom is not of this world” … was said by somebody that grifter Sean does not apparently know.
- Since we are on a quote roll, then how about this one … “And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by others.” … said by, well, you know who.
Last Month Sen. Josh Hawley was pilloried when he posted a fake Christian nationalist quote from Patrick Henry. That did not in any way give Christian nationalist worship leader Sean Feucht any pause from posting the exact same fake quote himself this past week on Aug 2nd
- As was very wisely noted by Jesus within the Sermon on the Mount … “Blessed are those who don’t make up fake quotes on the internet“
- Nobody has ever actually accused the Ramen Shaman of being bright, but what does appear to be true is that “truth” is a topic that he is not on speaking terms with. This is driven by his deep desire to weaponise religious belief and rally a mob of village idiots to his cause.
Floyd Brown insists that right-wing “Christians could control America” in a snap if they simply start taking over “county after county”: “The way we do it is by starting at the local level and building out and then taking over the country.”
- “Christians taking over” … is so very 1623, but this is 2023.
The Cult of Trump
Mark Burns claims that former President Donald Trump is “literally the modern-day Julius Caesar.”
- Er … Gaius Julius Caesar was a dictator who took power by force, it was not bestowed upon him. It is really not great timing to be using this illustration.
Shane Vaughn tells his viewers not to be worried about former President Donald Trump’s myriad legal problems because Trump will simply delay them until he gets reelected and then “his protégé will be the next president, who will completely pardon him of all charges.”
- Thanks Shane for confirming that Trump is really guilty … only guilty people need a pardon.
- Reminder: As for “legal problems“, convicted fraudsters and preacher Shane Vaughn is a subject matter expert – he want to jail for fraud a few years back.
Also in the news this past week …
- Kyle Cheney @ Politico: Georgia judge skewers Trump’s bid to derail potential charges.
- Marita Vlachou @ HuffPost: Trump Is ‘The Most Ethical American I Know,’ His Legal Spokesperson Gushes.
- Zachary Petrizzo @ The Daily Beast: Inside the Battle to Be the Trumpiest Streaming Channel.
- Nicole Narea @ Vox: Trump was just indicted for trying to steal the 2020 election.
- Paul Blumenthal @ HuffPost: Who Are The Co-Conspirators In Trump’s Jan. 6 Indictment?
- Colby Hall @ Mediaite: ‘561 YEARS in Prison’: Trump Fundraising Off of Recent Indictment With Dire Warning YOU Could Be ‘Thrown in Jail for 6 LIFETIMES.’
- John Knefel and Jacina Hollins-Borges @ Media Matters: Right-wing media call for “revenge tour” in response to Trump’s indictment for attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
Let’s also roll with a few “Indictment” specific items
Lauren Witzke says that the judge overseeing Trump’s latest case is “a Jamaican immigrant with no understanding of true American patriotism or love of country.”
- … says the QAnon fanatic who admits to having been a drug runner for a Mexican Cartel, and promotes the claim that the earth is flat.
Meanwhile, Mike Pence is finally learning to be a bit more honest now …
“The Judge is biased, we need a new Judge“, says the senator who voted to confirm the judge …
Aliens are really Demons
The cherry on this cake of weirdness is the following quote … “I don’t believe in other planets…“.
Homophobia on Steroids
Scott Lively remains a die-hard supporter of Russian president Vladimir Putin: “It’s been more than a decade since Obama restarted the Cold War to punish the Russians for banning ‘gay’ propaganda to children, when every story began to paint him as a ‘brutal monster’ – to the point that even many conservatives (who have zero reason to trust that same media on anything) seem to agree. I’m one of the few who swims against that tide.”
- Since Scott is so mesmerised by his beloved Putin, a guy he once wrote an open love letter to, then I can only suggest that he might find that he would be a lot happier if he moved there … permanently. I’ll happily help him to pack and even offer to give him a free ride to the airport.
Charlie Kirk warns that public school teachers “are grooming your kids”: “They’re coming after them and they’re turning them gay and trans in a way that you might not believe.”
- Charlie Kirk is as usual lying, you can’t “turn anybody gay“, that’s literally not how it works, it’s not a choice.
Actions have consequences …
Holocaust Denialism
America First activist Dalton Clodfelter insists that the Holocaust never happened.
- When you are a literal Nazi then rejection of the overwhelming historical evidence to the contrary becomes part of your daily propaganda
- In many ways this claim is akin to the claim made to the parents of slaughtered kids at Sandy Hook that their dead kids never existed. If you can begin to imagine how those parents felt being faced with that, then you can perhaps also begin to grasp the true repugnancy of Holocaust denialism.
Then there was also this “Christian Love” in action this past week …
David Barton is still promoting his lies
David Barton baselessly claims that the Founding Fathers modeled our government on “the Hebrew Republic” found in the Bible: “There’s so many clauses of the Constitution that we put in there to model the Hebrew republic.”
- Literally none of that is true.
- You might be wondering what the hell the “Hebrew Republic” is. It’s a concept dreamed up in the 1500s by a guy who did not know Hebrew and so used a Latin translation of the OT that had rather a lot of problems. Hint: Israel was an absolute monarchy, not a Republic.
Child Brides
Nick Fuentes declares that there should be no such thing as an age of consent because girls should be married off as soon as they reach “a reproductive age”: “I think the age of consent should be lowered. I don’t even really believe in the concept.”
- … says the guy who has his eye on yet another box from his Taliban TO-DO list he really wants to tick off.
Deeply Weird
Abby Johnson still can’t believe that Christians might support Vivek Ramaswamy’s presidential campaign: “The amount of Christian conservatives saying they will vote for a candidate who believes in and worships false Gods is truly astounding to me. The One, True God is a jealous God and He will not be mocked.“
- Yet she has no problem with the guy who cosplays being “Christian”, and then mocks them behind their backs, and also literally demonises Biden, the guy who faithfully goes to church every single week.
It is 2023 and Joseph Farah is still writing about former President Barack Obama’s birth certificate.
- As the conspiracy-nutter-in-chief of WND which is better known as Wing-nut Daily, I can only speculate that writing whacky nonsense is simply part of his job description.
- No doubt he will be once again digging up the Clinton Vince Foster conspiracy claim from 1993 for next week (he was also rather fond of that silly claim as well)
Andrew Torba is … “pro hate speech because hate speech is just free speech that my enemies don’t like.“
- Least you wonder who Mr Torba is, he is the founder of Gab, a “safe space” for hate and disinformation. Mr Torba is not exactly a “nice guy”
- Fact Check: The term “hate speech” is well-defined, and is also well-understood to be a prerequisite for atrocities such as genocide.
Oh, and speaking of hate speech and blatant disinformation, Anna Perez believes that the Obamas’ private chef, who passed away last week, was actually murdered because “he probably saw Michelle’s d*ck.”
- This is what now passes as “Christian broadcasting” these days … and they also seriously wonder why so many are quitting religion.
America First leader Nick Fuentes insists that “sex is a gay act” and therefore “if you seek sex, you will become gay.” That is why the straightest people are those who remain celibate, like priests.
- One can only wonder if he explained this to Trump when he had dinner with him last Nov. Probably not, because Ye is quoted as saying after it that … “Trump is really impressed with Nick Fuentes,”
Some Churches really push the boat out to draw the crowds in, such as the Life.Church doing an “At the Movies” theme …
- Basically hook your kids in with “cool” stuff then they get you to start donating
More tapes also landed this past week from the former assistant of Mr Giuliani. Yes, that’s of course the same Giuliani who is now also known to many this week as “Co-conspirator 1″…
Meanwhile in other weird news items this past week …
- Joe Jervis: Dennis Prager: Our “Indoctrination” Is The Good Kind.
- Ali Breland @ Mother Jones: White Nationalists Are Big Fans of Elon’s “White Genocide” Tweets.
- David Badash @ The New Civil Rights Movement: News ‘We’re Gonna Start Slitting Throats on Day One’: DeSantis Makes New Deep State Pledge in Campaign Reboot.
- Roger Sollenberger @ The Daily Beast: The Fake Church Behind Sarah Palin’s Crusade Against Voting.
- Keerti Gopal @ Mother Jones: Mike Huckabee Is Now Peddling Climate Misinformation to Children.
The False Profit$
Shortly before former President Donald Trump was indicted (for the third time) Tuesday, self-proclaimed “prophet” Nathan French declared that God told him that President Joe Biden is going to get “yanked out” of the White House and “Trump, the rightful president, is about to get reinserted.”
- You would think that by now these “prophets” would have burnt themselves enough times upon the Trump altar to learn a few lessons … but apparently not.
- Can somebody remind me what the biblical penalty for false prophets is and when is it going to be deployed? … they do believe the Bible don’t they, or are they going to just skip that bit?
Rachel Hamm reports that she and her husband “both had dreams last night about Trump and a bear that was stalking its prey.” Apparently, these dreams are prophetic, though Hamm isn’t sure exactly what they mean.
- Reminder: This is the lady whose son was told by Jesus in a closet that she should run for office. She did and she lost.
Self-appointed “Prophet” Lance Wallnau led the “FlashPoint” audience in praying for former President Donald Trump: “I pray that you will sovereignly interrupt the news cycle of Hell with the intervention of Heaven.”
- Jesus responds to Lance …
Meanwhile …
One can only wonder what could have possibly happened just prior to 1866 to motivate the passing of the Civil Rights Act.
Bonus Item: You can Hide the X and get Twitter back on IOS
I gave this a go … it really works.