Bill Barr makes his case for political interference in investigations

[Alli]

these people smell like Brown Shirts.
exactly how Hitler used henchmen later to form the Sturm Abteilung (SA) to intimidate, to force their way.

then, it was too late.

And that’s why I get so angry at people who get even angrier when they hear comparisons between Trump and Hitler.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

And that’s why I get so angry at people who get even angrier when they hear comparisons between Trump and Hitler.

I used to think that this was overstating matters - not least, because an awful lot of people, and it really is extraordinarily intellectually lazy - reach for the comparison with Hitler at will and casually apply it to a great many areas where it has no place (in history or, in politics, or, in logic) appearing - but now, unfortunately, I see the comparison as increasingly, uncannily and unnervingly apt.

 

[Eric]

You get the feeling he's holed up just waiting for it to end. Trump's supporters have gone full blown terrorist right now, it's just not safe to be anywhere around them.

 

[Scepticalscribe]

You get the feeling he's holed up just waiting for it to end. Trump's supporters have gone full blown terrorist right now, it's just not safe to be anywhere around them.

And he - the loathsome Mr Trump - is loud and vulgar, crass and cruel, in his support of them.

Saw a piece in today's Guardian where the US editor had to advice his staff (some of whom had sought to acquire body armour so that they could report on what they expect will be a violent aftermath to this election - body armour for journalists reporting on an election in a country with the First Amendment that is supposed to be a western democracy! The only places where I have ever had to wear body armour were Somalia and Afghanistan - when I attended meetings in their offices with security officials, diplomats, or government ministers - when I worked there for the EU in a diplomatic capacity as a political analyst) to take safety precautions.

And Mr Trump's pronouncements on that incident yesterday in Texas where the Democrat bus was blocked and threatened are grotesquely irresponsible, risible and outrageous. The man delights in cruelty, sadism, viciousness, violence and trashing the constitution.

 

[lizkat]

And he - the loathsome Mr Trump - is loud and vulgar, crass and cruel, in his support of them.

Saw a piece in today's Guardian where the US editor had to advice his staff (some of whom had sought to acquire body armour so that they could report on what they expect will be a violent aftermath to this election - body armour for journalists reporting on an election in a country with the First Amendment that is supposed to be a western democracy! The only places where I have ever had to wear body armour were Somalia and Afghanistan - when I attended meetings in their offices with security officials, diplomats, or government ministers - when I worked there for the EU in a diplomatic capacity as a political analyst) to take safety precautions.

And Mr Trump's pronouncements on that incident yesterday in Texas where the Democrat bus was blocked and threatened are grotesquely irresponsible, risible and outrageous. The man delights in cruelty, sadism, viciousness, violence and trashing the constitution.

I have read and re-read since 2016 a particular contribution back then to a WaPo series on the Obama legacy. The author of that article, Peniel Joseph, is a professor of history and director of the Center for the Study of Race and Democracy and the LBJ School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. From the wrap of his piece:

Even a black president, perhaps especially a black president, could not untangle racism’s Gordian knot on the body politic. Yet in acknowledging the limitations of Obama’s presidency on healing racial divisions and the shortcomings of his policies in uplifting black America, we may reach a newfound political maturity that recognizes that no one person — no matter how powerful — can single-handedly rectify structures of inequality constructed over centuries.

What strikes me now is that we did not --maybe even could not-- imagine just four years ago quite the depths to which a subsequent US president, Donald Trump, not only could but would sink in seeking to stir pots of racism, xenophobia and inequality of opportunity, rather than attempt to help us all try together to examine and to overcome the impact of systemic attitudes that undermine us as a nation.

Further, it never occurred to me that any US President would seek to associate his own party publicly and firmly with the extreme views of white supremacists, much less that the Republicans who supported his nomination --some perhaps reluctantly and because their demographic base of support was shrinking-- would eventually not only tolerate but embrace Trump's divisiveness in the name of "so much winning".

And now on the eve of a presidential election four years later, where are the voices of Republican officials beholding these Trump caravans and their intimidating "road rallies"? When does free speech in the USA become incitement to violence?

Shall we ask a newly packed Supreme Court to weigh in on that? Hell no, they're too busy with "emergency" requests by the GOP in assorted counties and states to support dubiously legal attempts to suppress legitimate absentee voting and vote-counting during the time of the coronavirus.

If there was ever a time for Republican members of the House and Senate to distance themselves not only from that white supremacist base but from the Divider in Chief, then this past weekend and the one day remaining before Election Day are in that window of time. But one hears not much of anything from Mitch McConnell and Kevin McCarthy, and only crude tweets of encouragement from Trump himself. This version of the Republican Party deserves a blue tsunami in lieu of a decent burial.

 

[Yoused]

You would think these jackasses would learn that working for Trump is a very bad idea. It looks like at least one person is white knighting it up for Barr though.

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1322657190738616321/

Clearly the other three horsemen were busy elsewhere. Only Pestilence was able to make it.

 

[thekev]

Clearly the other three horsemen were busy elsewhere. Only Pestilence was able to make it.

If you stack bales of hay, the others might show up. It's worth a try.

 

[lizkat]

People wondering what's up w/ Barr. Favorite response in this Twitter thread was the one that said "It's like when the kids are quiet. Something is being destroyed."

https://www.twitter.com/i/web/status/1324543417309786113/