‘I will never support Nazis,’ GOP congressman with ties to white nationalists writes in post against US support for Ukraine Rep. Paul Gosar, a Republican from Arizona, condemned America’s ‘support and military aid to Nazis’ https://forward.com/fast-forward/543343/paul-gosar-republican-nazis-ukraine/
‘Putin’s puppet’ Trump refuses to say if Ukraine should win the war against Russia https://www.independent.co.uk/news/...ics/putin-ukraine-war-trump-cnn-b2336935.html
Russia expands its list of banned Americans to include some of those responsible for prosecuting Jan 6th insurrectionists as well as the Georgia officials who refused to give Trump extra votes and many others who support democracy over dictatorships.
Kremlin’s New Sanctions Are Openly Campaigning for Trump Not satisfied with sanctions on pro-Ukraine think tankers and politicians, Moscow’s new list of personae non grata includes many anti-Trumpers who have no connection to Ukraine or Russia. https://www.kyivpost.com/opinion/17355
Trump and Putin Are in Deep Trouble and Need Each Other More Than Ever Russia’s getting battered by Ukraine, and the law is finally catching up with Trump. As 2024 approaches, the two disgraced allies have common interests. https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-and-putin-need-each-other-more-than-ever
The entire MAGA wing of the GOP is a pro-Russian front. GOP Presidential Candidate Calls for 'Major Concessions' to Putin (newsweek.com) But we knew that already.
Opinion Why can’t Republicans give up Trump? The former president’s playground dominance game clearly still appeals to Republican voters; it seems to have succeeded in undermining DeSantis. Francis Wilkinson Updated Jul 18, 2023 https://www.afr.com/world/north-america/why-can-t-republicans-give-up-trump-20230718-p5dp72 After starting the year polling almost even with former president Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis began losing ground in March and continued sinking through the spring. Notably, the decline began before Trump’s first indictment. A July Economist/YouGovAmerica poll shows Trump at 49 per cent and DeSantis at 20 per cent in a multi-candidate GOP primary, which is similar to the polling averages. A Morning Consult poll released last week has Trump at a hefty 56 per cent and DeSantis a dismal 17 per cent. Former President Donald Trump speaking in June. AP Fortunes can still change. The complaints about the DeSantis campaign often sound generic. He lacks the special sauce to catapult from statewide office to the presidency. He has no charisma. His staff isn’t presidential calibre. His message is too insular and online. Maybe all these things are more or less true. Even so, there’s something odd about this campaign, which started with momentum, money and palpable enthusiasm from Republican elites and grassroots alike. Yet, the oddness may have less to do with the personal awkwardness of DeSantis, or with any of his (thus far non-fatal) missteps, and more to do with the bizarre mental map of the Republican primary electorate. DeSantis had carefully positioned himself to be the right-wing avenger that much of the Republican base seems to crave. He proved he would attack the enemies of the GOP’s white nationalist base and smite anyone seeking to displace white Christian conservatives from atop the nation’s political and social hierarchies. Migrants, trans kids, librarians, college professors – the entire woke industrial complex – would be made to suffer under a DeSantis presidency. He would deliver Trumpism’s authoritarian menace, but without the ignorance, chaos, criminality, and incompetence that defined Trump’s presidency. Why isn’t that pitch working? New York Times columnist David French offered one smartly compelling suggestion last week. DeSantis, he said, feeds the rage of the GOP base but doesn’t capture the joy of hobnobbing with one’s Make America Great Again brethren. Trump boat parades, Trump tailgates, Trump rallies – “while countless gallons of ink have been spilled analysing the MAGA movement’s rage, far too little has been spilled discussing its joy,” French wrote. A date with an insult comic It’s true that Trump is uniquely entertaining. But it’s also true that his typical performance is saturated with lies and vitriol. Part of the rollicking good time comes at the expense of those outside the MAGA pale. A Trump rally is a date with an insult comic, and most of the insults are directed at people far more honest, competent, and decent than Trump could ever be. Yet, like a moon held in orbit by the superior gravity of a more massive body, the entire GOP continues to revolve around Trump’s jagged ego. The presidential primary offers a variety of escapes. Some candidates – Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, former vice-president Mike Pence – appear eager to chart a road back to democracy for those who miss the dull, predictable days when Republicans supported the rule of law. Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie offers anti-Trumpism with Trumpy characteristics. Rich guy Vivek Ramaswamy offers a mystery voyage to parts unknown. Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley offers whatever the instant demands. Any one of these people, perhaps even the inexperienced Ramaswamy, would be a less destructive leader than Trump. (DeSantis promises a political variation on a neutron bomb; he would destroy liberal America while leaving all the MAGA monuments untouched.) Yet, the GOP electorate remains hesitant to leave its dank MAGA basement and walk into even partial sunlight. Perhaps one-third of the GOP has crossed a psychological border into a Trump cult. Focus groups conducted by Republican (anti-Trump) pollster Sarah Longwell convey the alternate universe in which this group lives, where each day is opposites day. “I like the guy because everything he says is true,” one focus group participant said of the most flagrant – and most obviously flagrant – liar ever to operate at the presidential level of American politics. Others discuss Trump, who contributed to the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans because he thought lying about a deadly pandemic would work better for him politically, as a selfless hero who sacrificed his lavish lifestyle and thriving business to enter politics and protect the little guy. The cult is bizarre and frightening. But it’s still a minority of the party. “There’s a ‘never Trump’ faction that’s about 10 per cent of the party, not much more,” Republican pollster Whit Ayres said. “There’s an ‘always Trump’ faction that’s about a third of the party, call it 35 per cent. There’s a ‘maybe Trump’ faction of people who voted for him twice and supported him when he was president and would vote for him again against Biden in a heartbeat. But they’re worried that he carries too much baggage, that too many people hate him, that he won’t be able to win in 2024. So, they’re at least open to alternatives. [But] they haven’t seen the alternative that they want to rally around yet.” In other words, the critical mass of the party, a decisive majority, which recognises that Trump is a flawed vessel for their hopes, nonetheless remains open to Trump. And they may yet support the cult in rallying to the indicted former president. Frenzy is in the air Republican debates start in August, and perhaps the dynamics on stage will alter perceptions and possibilities. Perhaps DeSantis will figure out how to make the sale for Trumpism without Trump, or someone else will shine. But Trump’s playground dominance game clearly still appeals to Republican voters; it seems to have succeeded in undermining DeSantis’ stature, which will be hard to reclaim. “No one has figured out how to combat a full-blown Trump barrage, where he questions not only your character and your record, which is par for the course, but your appearance, your background, makes veiled allegations about paedophilia – I mean, Trump has absolutely no lines,” Ayres says. With one-third of the party occupying MAGA homesteads on planet Trump, and most of the rest of the party still contemplating putting down roots there, it seems that Trump personally might be more attractive to the bulk of GOP voters than a less outlandish, more competent, conveyor of Trumpism. It’s hard to know what to think of that. On one hand, a weak attraction to Trumpism might be a good vital sign for democracy in the long run, suggesting that authoritarianism without Trump’s peculiar circus has limited appeal. On the other hand, tens of millions of Americans remain infatuated with an obviously crooked, plainly damaged, and damaging, demagogue. Frenzy is in the air, with perhaps more madness to come.
'Most alarming political ad': Pro-Trump activists release disturbing campaign message Brandon Gage, Alternet July 25, 2023 https://www.rawstory.com/if-i-was-t...ts-release-disturbing-campaign-ad-2662374482/ Conservative pollster Frank Luntz on Tuesday shared a disturbing digital campaign spot to Twitter's rebranded X that alleges a vast conspiracy orchestrated by "the deep state" to hoodwink the American people. The one-hundred-ten-second video — which concludes by crediting the "Dilley Meme Team" and former President Donald Trump's "online war machine" — contains sinister male-voiced narration declaring that most significant events and major domestic issues in recent memory were lies. "This is the most alarming political ad I've seen this year," wrote Luntz, who urged users to post their reactions. The project's ten proclamations are virtually indistinguishable from indicted criminal defendant Trump's grievance-saturated attempt to return to the White House: If I was the deep state and I wanted to destroy America, I would rig the election with a puppet candidate, one that was so compromised that they would never say a word about it. I would create a false flag that allows for mail-in ballots. I would be in charge of the ballot-counting machines. I would create a false flag to blame all who question the results of the election. If I was the deep state, I would prosecute anyone that went against me. I would sue and prosecute anyone that spoke up about the fraudulent election. I would use my powers to shut down all your internet businesses and bankrupt you. If I was the deep state, I would make everyone an example why you should never question a Democrat ever winning an election. I would imprison my foes. I would use my corrupt das and blackmail judges to destroy you. I would make sure all crimes I ever committed never happened. I would prosecute my biggest competition. I would make sure they could never run for office ever again. If I was the deep state, I would convince everyone that Ukraine Nazis were good and women are men. If I was the deep state, I would own every politician that mattered. If I was the deep state, I would push my pedophilia ambitions on you. If I was the deep state, you'd question your sexual identity, but not the medical establishment. If I was the deep state, you would fear to ever resist me. If I was the deep state, you would wish I was really the devil. If I was the deep state, I would say mission accomplished.