January 6, Trump, and White Supremacist Terrorism

We don't know all the things about last year's January 6 assault on the Capitol. We don't know how many of the people who stormed the Capitol arrived in Washington with plans to do just that. We know some people planned the attack--I mean, you don't "just happen" to bring gallows to a peaceful demonstration--but we don't know how many.  We know Donald Trump sat and watched things unfold, having stoked up the crowd and promised to march to the Capitol himself, we know Trump long cultivated a following among White supremacist terrorists, and we know that for hours he ignored pleas from his allies and his appointed officials to stop the violence, but we don't know whether he actually planned for the attack himself. We also don't know how many high level officials, some elected, or how many of Trump's close political advisors planned or facilitated the assault.

So there's a lot we don't know. But one thing we know absolutely and for sure: right-wing terrorists, many of them White nationalists, helped plan the attack and instigated it. As FBI Director Christopher Wray told Congress last year, January 6 was a terrorist attack on the United States.

And let us not forget Donald Trump's role in convening those terrorists, working up the larger crowd, and legitimating their actions. His political allies were closely tied to extremists on and around January 6. Proud Boys provided security for Roger Stone. Pretorians guarded Michael Flynn. Nor may we forget the role of elected Republicans in trying to erase the memory of those events.

We need to better understand there right-wing movements. They are diverse. Some of them are accelerationist: they want to create escalating waves of violence that will lead to civil war. Some of them are conspiracy nuts. Many are overt White supremacists. All are authoritarians.

I'd like to share five thought pieces that provide a deeper dive into the threat, how it constantly evolves, and why we should be alarmed.

Clint Watts is a national security expert who's been testifying before Congress for quite some time. Here's his analysis of how domestic extremism has been evolving. 

Lawfare is a national security law think tank running with the Brookings Institution. Here's an account of why extremist groups are mixing and mingling even across sharp ideological differences. 

Here's a New York Times story concerning a militant group, the First Amendment Praetorians, I'd never even heard of that was also involved in January 6.

Here's a CBC (Canadian public broadcasting) podcast concerning how accelerationist groups recruit, plot, and adapt. White Hot Hate.

Sociologists Samuel Perry and Andrew Whitehead analyzing the Christian nationalist dimension of the threat.

What Is This Dangerous Game?

It looks very much like Donald Trump and his allies are stoking violence as a last-ditch response to his election loss. Consider a three examples from Monday and Tuesday.

Fox News host Lou Dobbs interviewed rogue lawyer Sidney Powell. Dobbs said, "This is no longer about just voter fraud or electoral fraud. This is something much bigger." Dobbs then called Trump to take "drastic action" because of "the crimes that have been committed against him and against the American people." (As summarized by CNN's Brian Stelter.)

Lin Wood, an attorney who filed suit to block the certification of election results in Georgia along with former/present? attorney Sidney Powell, tweeted this Tuesday morning: 

Good morning.

Our country is headed to civil war. A war created by 3rd party bad actors for their benefit - not for We The People.

Communist China is leading the nefarious efforts to take away our freedom.

@realDonaldTrump

 should declare martial law.

Looks like Michael Flynn, recently pardoned by Trump, is calling for martial law as well. 

Trump election attorney Joe diGenova, also a Fox personality, had some things to say about Chris Krebs, the Trump appointee responsible for election cybersecurity. Trump fired Krebs recently after Krebs insisted upon the election's security. For his part, Krebs did a compelling 60 Minutes interview in which he accused Trump of undermining democracy. So diGenova:

Anybody who thinks the election went well, like that idiot Krebs who used to be the head of cybersecurity. That guy is a class A moron. He should be drawn and quartered. Taken out at dawn and shot.

This is a lawyer who represents the President of the United States. He can say he was using hyperbole. He can say, "Of course, I wasn't threatening anyone." 

But comments like these fit a pattern. Trump supporters have taken arms to state capitols. They have attempted to kidnap governors and stage televised executions of public officials. Trump himself has claimed he had the support of all the tough people. 

Maybe Trump is trying to stage a coup. Maybe he's building up funds to maintain his political influence and run a shadow government: he's raised $150 million for election legal fees, little of which will be spent on legal fees. Maybe he's using his supporters to stir up violence in the streets. We don't know what his game is, but it's dangerous as hell.

In a press conference Tuesday, Georgia election official Gabriel Sterling, a Trump supporter, spoke directly to Trump.

Stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get shot, someone is going to get killed. And it’s not right.

Just Makin Ish Up Now

Donald Trump has always been a liar. He's always made stuff up. We knew that before he ran for president, before he was a birther even. Sports journalist Rick O'Reilly named it for what it was back in 2004.

But we're in a new moment with this race thing. Trump wants you to believe that entire cities are convulsed with violence when that simply isn't the case. Last week I was in a conversation with someone I truly love. Some of it went something like this.

He: I was talking with a friend from Portland last night, and he said everything's pretty much normal. The rioting is just about three blocks.

I: I know that. It's being reported all over the place, and I have friends in Portland too. 

He: Yeah, but nobody really cares how many Blacks are killing each other in Chicago. There are all these riots, but nobody's doing anything about Chicago.

It's chilling, the effect Fox News has on people. And Trump is counting on it. 

In an interview with Laura Ingraham last night, Trump went into full-on Nazi/Stalinist/Trumpist fabrication mode. Here are samples, provided by CNN.

Portland has been burning for many years. For decades, it's been burning, but now it's gotten to a point they don't want to do -- I watched the mayor try and get in with these people.

 Having said you'd be surprised who controls Joe Biden, Trump followed up: People that you've never heard of, people that are in the dark shadows.

We had somebody get on a plane from a certain city this weekend. And in the plane, it was almost completely loaded with thugs wearing these dark uniforms, black uniforms with gear and this and that. They're on a plane.... I'll tell you sometime, but it's under investigation right now. But they came from a certain city, and this person was coming to the Republican National Convention. And there were like seven people on the plane like this person and then a lot of people were on the plane to do big damage. 

It's not just Trump, it's administration policy. In Kenosha today Attorney General William Barr said that "prior to the rioting in the city last week, federal agents stationed in Chicago picked up information that 'violent instigators' from California, Washington state and Chicago were traveling to Kenosha to carry out attacks against law enforcement." (Quotation not from Barr himself but a paraphrase by ABC's Alex Mallin.)

Clearly we're at the "They'll make up anything" stage when it comes to stirring up racial animosity. And people believe it. Two months to go, and it's getting nothing but uglier. 

By the way, in Kenosha today Trump asked where Rance Priebus was. You know, Trump's FIRST chief of staff? "Where's my Rance?"

Uglier and Uglier, Redux

We don't know how bad things will get. We know they'll get worse, much worse, as Donald Trump and his minions desperately try to save his election chances. We know racism will play a massive role in the story. We know our souls will be tried.

Protests continue in Kenosha, Wisconsin, after police fired seven rounds into the back of Jacob Blake, a Black man who was unarmed and presenting no threat. It looks like Blake will live with paralysis. His three sons witnessed the shooting from close range.

While people are protesting police violence, let's remember that Donald Trump has emboldened police violence. In 2017 he offered this encouragement to an audience of police members:

Please don't be too nice. Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head, you know, the way you put their hand over? You can take the hand away, OK?

Wednesday night a 17 year-old decided to "protect" Kenosha from the protesters. Armed with an AR-15, he wound up killing two people and maiming a third. 

The shooter, who wanted to be a police officer and identified himself as a pro-police vigilante, was a big Trump supporter. He may have been part of a group of armed people who asked Kenosha officials to deputize them--so there are more like him.

And let me say this plainly: this white boy walked right by police with his rifle across his body after a shooting while people shouted at police that he was the killer. Walked right by. Police had already tossed water bottles to the kid and other vigilantes, thanking them for their support--after curfew.

But here's what's scary. The right wing is rushing to defend this kid who rushed into conflict with a deadly weapon. Fox luminaries Tucker Carlson and Ann Coulter publicly expressed their sympathies for the shooter, Coulter tweeting, "I want him as my president."

These people realize public violence gives Trump a shot. Kellyanne Conway said so:

The more chaos and anarchy and vandalism and violence reigns, the better it is for the very clear choice on who’s best on public safety and law and order.

This is a strong signal that things are intensifying. Coulter is a Trump critic. But she's also a racist menace. When you have public figures expressing support for a vigilante murderer, you're looking at a plan to stir up violence. That's where we are.

Flashing Red Lights

Let's say you're visiting the NASA Command Center in Houston during a space launch. You notice a flashing warning signal coming from a technician's computer screen. The technician gets activated, and you know a problem needs to be solved. But then two, three, four other screens light up, and pandelirium ensues. You go from concerned to scared. It's one thing to address a problem on a space mission. That's complicated enough. But what chance do you have when multiple problems flare up at the same time?

That's Donald Trump's presidency. Way too many flashing red lights. And today was one of those days.

First, all day long Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat, was flashing lights about the intelligence his committee was receiving on Russian election interference in 2020. Yes, Blumenthal's a Democrat, but he's usually fairly measured.

Tactics & techniques described frighteningly in this global report make past Russian disruption look quaint & rudimentary—like child’s play.

So 2016 was bad, but it was just child's play compared to what the Russians are already cooking up. But he can't share it because it's classified.

Then the Republicans announce that Trump may make his Republican Party nomination acceptance speech from the Rose Garden, almost surely an illegal use of government resources for campaign purposes according to the Hatch Act. Asked about that today, Trump replied:

There is no Hatch Act because it doesn't pertain to the president.

He's not entirely wrong. There are certainly technicalities. But we've never had a president use the White House as a campaign prop in the ways Trump does.

Earlier in the day, Trump was saying vote by mail is okay in Republican-run states because they're managed well, but no way in Democratic states. He : 

You'll never know who the winner is, but the winner's going to be me.

How comforting, right? The Russians are cheating, but the Republicans don't want us to know. And Trump is cheating. So it's all good. 

Of course we're still in a pandemic. As his press conference was ending, more news broke out: for the first time, Facebook took down a Trump post because it was, well, a lie. Trump told Fox News that children are "almost immune" from Covid-19, then posted the clip on social media. Facebook and Twitter both took it down.

During today's coronavirus press briefing Trump had already said, "“It’s going away. It’ll go away. Things go away."

Poof. Like magic.

One more item. Yesterday, and with zero evidence, Trump told reporters the massive explosion in Beirut was likely a terrorist attack. It's hard to overestimate the irresponsibility of this claim, which Trump attributed to generals. As experts began ruling out that theory, today Trump lowered his claim essentially to, some people say this, and some people say that. That left it to Defense Secretary Mark Esper--how does he still have a job?--to correct Trump: although the US is "still getting information on what happened," "most believe" the explosion "was an accident, as reported."

In some ways Trump is dumber than a box of rocks. But do not underestimate him. 

1. Maybe he's dumb in some ways, but he still has a certain kind of crocodile intelligence that allows him to amass power and money. He's still considered charismatic by his followers.
2. Trump is surrounded by people who are less stupid and quite strategic. They give him advice.
3. Republican politicians are terrified of Trump and will back him up on every point. 
4. Sometimes it's accidental. And sometimes it's strategic. But every day Trump sets off so many fires that nobody can keep up. That makes him very dangerous.

Update: Reports indicate that Deutsche Bank has complied with NY prosecutors, sending them Trump's financial records. 

"Extensive and Protracted Criminal Conduct"

Seeking Donald Trump's tax records, New York DA Cyrus Vance cited public reports of "extensive and protracted criminal conduct at the Trump Organization." According to a court filing,

These reports describe transactions involving individual and corporate actors based in New York County, but whose conduct at times extended beyond New York’s borders. This possible criminal activity occurred within the applicable statutes of limitations, particularly if the transactions involved a continuing pattern of conduct.

Prosecutors 

cited several newspaper articles, including one in the Washington Post examining allegations that Trump had a practice of sending out financial statements to potential business partners and banks that inflated the worth of his properties by claiming they were bigger or more potentially lucrative than they were.

It really is about the corruption, which continues through government even now.

Deutsche Bank is conducting an internal investigation of the banker who supplied "favorable" loans to Trump and to Jared Kushner, including why said banker bought a $1.5 million apartment from a company partially owned by Kushner.

In June Trump thanked Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn for blocking legislation that would require campaigns to report receiving foreign assistance. 

After the Senate refused to act on Trump's nomination of retired Gen. Anthony Tata as Defense undersecretary for policy, Trump simply appointed him as "the official Performing the Duties of...."

Trump is using the coronavirus to advance the concerns of his super-rich cronies. 

All skeevy, all the time. 

It's taken the pandemic to sour key supporters on Trump, opening the space for people to see just how corrupt his government is. In current pandemic news,

• Today the FDA "revoked the emergency use authorization (EUA) that allowed for chloroquine phosphate and hydroxychloroquine."
• Barron Trump's private school announced online-only learning for the time being while Trump cajoles schools into opening. 
• Most alarming, yesterday Dr. Deborah Birx told CNN's Dana Bash that we're in a world of hurt. "What we are seeing today is different from March and April. It is extraordinarily widespread. It's into the rural as equal urban areas." She even advised people who live with elderly relatives to wear masks in the home.
• Finally, just read this by an Arizona public school superintendent. 

And isn’t it fun to check this out? Once busted, Trump deleted his ridiculous tweet.

 

 

Hold On to Your Democracy

Every day is a new shock or an aftershock from a day before. The center of our attention now has to lie with voting.

The big threat today is Trump's attack on the US Postal Service. Recent decisions by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, a huge Trump donor, have slowed down deliveries, leading to a backlog. Alarm bells are going off, alerting us to the threat that Trump may be undermining mail-in voting in an attempt to skew election results. During a pandemic, no less.

There's a context for this fear. Trump is doing everything he can to undermine the legitimacy of the election.

A little over a week ago Donald Trump started the shenanigans by threatening not to honor the election results "if" he loses. Asked by Congress, Attorney General William Barr offered no assurances to the contrary--he'll leave office "if the results are clear"--and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held Trump's back as well. 

Then Trump tweeted the suggestion that we might postpone the election due to the coronavirus. Some commentators maintain we shouldn't be anxious, since the Constitution doesn't allow Trump to make that call. I'm not so sure. Congressional Republicans generally haven't stood up to Trump on such matters, and his action could undermine the election's credibility. Remarkably, Steven Calabrisi, co-founder of the Federalist Society, spoke out to declare Trump's tweet both fascistic and impeachable. Those were his words. 

We need to be vigilant about voting. The White House is laughing about it. Today Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany condemned the Hong Kong government for delaying their election. One day after Trump threatened our own election.

Making things worse, the DHS indicates foreign enemies could "mislead" the public based on unproven claims of voter fraud--like those promoted by Trump and Barr. (Just seen on CNN.)

On the horizon: Vanity Fair has a big story on the vanishing of Jared Kushner's big push to promote a national testing plan. The big stink: the White House decided the pandemic was a blue state problem. According to one source, 

The political folks believed that because it was going to be relegated to Democratic states, that they could blame those governors, and that would be an effective political strategy.

We already knew Trump was letting blue state folks die because he said out loud that he wouldn't fulfill requests from blue state governors. Maybe some die-hard Trumpsters won't care, but most Americans won't stand for a government that chooses who lives and dies according to voting patterns. 

We'll see. The CDC says we're gonna lose 30,000 more Americans in the next 3 weeks. 

Buying Love

Donald Trump isn't wrong about everything. He might have a point about our country's need to build a stronger manufacturing base so that we can employ more people and be more self-reliant. 

And he might be right about how to save his election chances. Before we get into all that, you have to remember the pattern: Trump generally promises things he doesn't deliver. But when it does deliver, it's window dressing. It looks like he's taking an initiative that will benefit ordinary working Americans. Among that larger group, only the white ones still support Trump.

But when the dust clears, we see that he didn't really make things better. Take the massive tax cuts of 2017. Our economy was still growing as it bounced back from the recession, but it needed some caffeine to keep expanding. The tax cuts were just the drug: they indeed stimulated the economy, unemployment went down, and real wages actually began climbing. 

But who really benefited from the tax cut? The rich are still getting lots--and lots-- richer, while ordinary Americans are still muddling around. 

And who's hurt? For decades Republicans will tell us we can't do anything constructive because we've run up such massive deficits. They'll even blame Democrats. We all know this.

So what now? 

Trump released several executive orders with the stated intention of lowering drug prices--a 2016 campaign promise he hadn't delivered on. He's probably not wrong about that. In fact, Democrats are saying he needs to do more. Matter of fact, Big Pharma stock prices tanked in response. 

Chaser? These price cuts won't take effect for a very long time, if they do so at all. Because it's Trump, right? Per NPR,

However, this order includes a section that says that before it can take effect, the secretary of health and human services needs to confirm that the order won't cause federal spending, premiums or patients' total out-of-pocket costs to increase. Since one of these is bound to result from the executive order, it likely will never go into effect.

The other thing? Having quit on the coronavirus, Trump has finally listened to his advisers: You're hurting OUR people. He's finally speaking out for masks. He revived the press briefings. Why now?

In the past couple of weeks, senior advisers began presenting Trump with maps and data showing spikes in coronavirus cases among “our people” in Republican states, a senior administration official said. They also shared projections predicting that virus surges could soon hit politically important states in the Midwest — including Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, the official said.

Right. Trump's uniquely horrid (ok, Brazil) coronavirus response has him way, way behind Joe Biden in the polls.

Meanwhile, the usual corruption continues. Trump says of child sex trafficker Ghislaine Maxwell, "I wish her well." And the money. Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold continues doing the hard work of chasing the money. He tweets:

We still don’t know how much taxpayer $ has been paid to 

@realdonaldtrump

’s company.

How much data is missing? Here are the most recent records released by 

@DeptofDefense

 on its spending at Mar-a-Lago. April 2017.

BUT...they promise to produce new records this week. Stay tuned.

 

How Hot Is It?

One problem with Trumpism: it feels like it's getting hotter every day. Assaults on democracy big and small raise the pressure, raise the temperature, and it's hard to know when you've crossed the line and headed toward emergency.

There's a reason for that confusion. We crossed the emergency line a long time ago, so everything that happens now feels out of perspective.

Take what's going on in Portland. Unmarked vehicles with unmarked armed men pick people up off the street and detain them. You can't complain because you have no idea who assaulted you. (Yes, that's an assault.) They fire dangerous flash-bangs at totally peaceful protesters. They give ridiculous rationales like it's Soviet block Czechoslovakia. "We sent in the troops because somebody put graffiti on a building." Unconfirmed reports say the same things are happening in other towns.

Making things worse, an internal HHS memo indicated these "federal forces"--

wait a damn minute

what are "federal forces"?--

these "federal forces" weren't trained to deal with protests.

It's like we're living in Putin's Russia, but we won't rise up and squash the outrage.

Or Trump's interview with Fox Reporter Chris Wallace. Wallace fact checks Trump over and over. 

The coronavirus is getting worse; more people are dying. No, says the Black Knight, it's just a flesh wound. Dr. Fauci was too alarmist. 

People should wear masks. “No, I want people to have a certain freedom.... And I don’t believe in that, no. I don’t believe in the statement that if everyone wore a mask, everything disappears.” 

No, Joe Biden doesn't want to defund the police. Yes he does. I have his statement. Can't find defunding the police because it's not there. Well, he wants to defund the police, but he just uses other words.

And like it's 2016, No, I won't commit to honoring the election results. Scary antidemocratic words from a candidate. Outright treason by a president.

But we're all distracted because Trump mentor Roger Stone, fresh off having his prison sentence commuted by Trump, muttered "I can’t believe I’m arguing with this Negro" during an interview with Mo'Kelly. Stone denies it, of course. But there's a long record of Roger Stone's public racism and misogyny. 

Yes, it's essential to protest the stench of white nationalism that assaults us from Donald Trump and his minions. It's also essential to keep our eye on the thermometer. We've got a few months to hold on to this democracy, what's left of it anyway. We'd best be on point.

Meanwhile, read the transcripts available from Chris Wallace's Fox News interview with Donald Trump. It's evident you're dealing with someone at once vicious and uninformed. (So far the transcripts are incomplete.) It's hard to pick a sample more dumbfounding than the rest. I'll offer this.

WALLACE: You said our children are taught in school to hate our country. Where do you see that?

TRUMP: I just look at – I look at school. I watch, I read, look at the stuff. Now they want to change -- 1492, Columbus discovered America. You know, we grew up, you grew up, we all did, that’s what we learned. Now they want to make it the 1619 project. Where did that come from? What does it represent? I don’t even know, so.

WALLACE: It’s slavery.

TRUMP: That’s what they’re saying, but they don’t even know. They just want to make a change. Cancel culture – I hate the term, actually, but I use it

WALLACE: But are they teaching people to hate America?

TRUMP: Oh, I think so yeah, I think so. Look at the professors. Look at what’s going on in the colleges. If a conservative goes on a college – and look, we have as many as them. Excuse me, I think to the best of my knowledge, we’re sitting at the White House and the Oval Office is right behind me. We have as many as them.

Oh.  

Never Can Tell

With Trump, you never can tell the serious things from the distractions.

For example, lots of us cheered yesterday when the Trump administration backed off its initiative to expel international students who are forced to take online classes because of the coronavirus. But how serious were they anyway? The policy attacked two of Trump's favorite enemies: internationals and educational institutions, but it had little chance of holding up in court. So they folded. Did they ever mean to win?

Then there's the story that the administration has told hospitals they don't need to report statistics to the CDC. Just send it on to Health and Human Services. According to CDC Director Robert Redfield,

I do think the fall and the winter of 2020 and 2021 are going to be the probably one of the most difficult times that we experienced in American public health.

So the CDC thinks things are serious. Is Mike Pence serious? He said,

We don't want CDC guidance to be a reason why people don't reopen their schools.

 

Trump followed a disastrous CBS interview with a truly illegal Rose Garden press conference. Trump told CBS it is a "mistake" for Los Angeles to begin the school year online. When the CBS interviewer asked him what he'd tell parents and teachers who feel unsafe about going back to school, Trump had this gem.

You should find yourself a new person whoever is in charge of that decision because it’s a terrible decision.

Because he's compassionate like that.

The press conference was illegal because you can't campaign on federal property. Which is exactly what Trump did, 30 minutes of anti-Biden propaganda that led CNN to cut away from the event. I don't think the event helped Trump any. For example, I doubt it helped when he trashed Europe: "Europe, which has never treated us well." And I doubt it helped when he said his polling--"not the suppression polls"--was looking good.

It probably did help that he announced action against China for suppressing freedom in Hong Kong. Except his policy is stupid: he's punishing Hong Kong more than he is China.

We're in uncharted territory. We always are. The closer we get to the election, the more desperate Trump becomes. And therefore the more unpredictable.

But hey, there's always CNN's Jim Acosta. Anderson Cooper asked him, "Jim, is there anyone left in the administration who shakes their head when they hear the president rambling in the Rose Garden?" 

"No, Anderson, we are down to Kool-Aid drinkers and next of kin."

 

Those Trumpy-Foxey People in Your Life

A friend suggested that I should publish a piece about how to deal with people around us who are all Trump, all the time. The ones who watch Fox News, and therefore loaded for argument on the basis of disinformation. The Christians who say the Bible, speaking of the Persian king Cyrus, was somehow talking about Trump.

How do you respond effectively to those people?

I do not know. I don’t know anyone who knows. Simple as that.

I do know stories from friends who have lost or broken contact with family members and friends they really care about. Documentaries have been made about the pain of losing a loved one through Fox News. Serious journalists have covered the phenomenon. Folks have chronicled the reports. And people have tried to answer the question: Can Fox News watchers, can Trumpers, come back? 

Wait. I do know the answer, It’s in Proverbs.

Do not answer fools according to their folly,
    or you will be a fool yourself.
Answer fools according to their folly,
    or they will be wise in their own eyes. (26:4-5, NRSV)

Proverbs may be my least favorite book of the Bible. Well, there’s 2 Peter.  But I tend not to think of Proverbs because it offers so many formulaic answers: “Do the right thing, and you’ll prosper. Do the wrong thing, and you’ll come to grief.”

Not so here. Verse 4 and verse 5 directly contradict one another. That’s not an accident. True wisdom doesn’t always follow set rules. True wisdom requires discernment: in some contexts, speak up; in other contexts, let it go.

In other words, we may find freedom in knowing there’s no simple formula.

I welcome any wisdom someone wants to share. For the time being, these are some thoughts I have based on zero expertise whatsoever. I generally fail.

1. Rational argumentation has little chance of changing the dynamics. Let’s face it. It’s hard for us to change our minds quickly: why would we expect it to work differently for others? Remember, the person who watches several hours of Fox per day is receiving deep scripts. They can’t say, “protestors,” they have to say “rioters.” Taxes are socialism. Only their sources of information can be trusted. 

2. It’s okay to say, “I’ve looked into this, and I disagree with you.” Or, “That doesn’t make any sense to me.” And just move on. You may feel like the person you’re engaging is diminishing your integrity with their “Obama spied on Trump” bullshit. You can speak up for yourself without getting sucked in.

3. Be attuned to anger. Notice how Trumpism and Fox trade in anger. Watch 10 minutes of Fox News, and you’ll see how much of their energy is devoted to stoking outrage, fear, and resentment. I’ve noticed people I genuinely like, once the conversation moves to social issues, slide quickly into anger. Social psychologists have researched how conservative and liberal minds work: watch out for disgust. And if someone insults you, you have every right to stand up for yourself. In fact, you should. But ask yourself if fighting is the way?

4. Be attuned to yourself. When someone is directing anger at us, the fight/flight response kicks in. I’m not saying it’s never good to be angry. I am saying it’s often unhelpful. If you can disengage, disengage.

4b. I don’t know why Trumpy-Foxey people sometimes can’t let go of talking politics. It’s like a compulsion. Sometimes you can’t disengage. I’ve had several conversations where I’ve said, “I really don’t want to keep talking about this,” and the person just insisted. I’ve been insulted. 

5. Ask yourself what’s at stake. Do I need to remain present in this conversation? Is there someone here who needs my support? What’s the broader context? Is injustice happening in this very moment? Do I need to name the racism, homophobia, you name it?

It’s very painful to care about someone whose core values offend us. And it’s very, very hard to be our best selves. We have responsibility in those moments. Rarely is it helpful to have the argument.

Tough Days for Donald Trump, Dangerous Days for Us All

Let the whining commence. Today the Supreme Court ruled, and by a 7-2 margin, that New York prosecutors must have access to Donald Trump's tax returns. Putin's MiniHandsMe responded with a Twitter tantrum.

The he goes back to "prosecutorial misconduct" under Obama and Biden.

If I remember correctly, Trump's first big lie to the American people was his promise to deliver his tax returns. He also said he had no business dealings with Russia and that he would remove himself from his businesses.

But Trump never delivered those tax returns. Instead, he's fought tooth and nail to prevent them from being seen. We all know he never intended us to know what his filings look like, precisely for the reasons New York is looking into them.

It's all about corruption, all the way down. Story after story reveals how Trump's cronies benefited from the coronavirus relief package, money that was supposed to float vulnerable businesses and individuals during the crisis. 

It's all about corruption. This week ICE unveiled a wicked policy that would force students studying in the US on visas to return home if their institutions were offering only online classes. But Trump and his cronies never hide their motivations for long. Sure enough, Citizenship and Immigration Services acting director Ken Cuccinelli told CNN the policy isn't about immigration. It's designed to force colleges & universities to open, regardless of public health concerns.

It's all about corruption. Former NSC staffer Rich Higgins was booted from the office for promoting conspiracy theories about Trump's "adversaries." Here's the document that led to his dismissal. Now Trump wants him to be undersecretary for policy in the Defense Department. 

All these things hold together in one simple way: Donald Trump wants to effectively end democracy in the US. He's turning the government into a vehicle that will give him and his cronies more power and more access to money. The New York case exposes Trump to legal jeopardy, a risk he simply cannot tolerate. So things will get worse, way worse, before they get better. 

Trump will continue his racist messaging. His Mount Rushmore speech included this line, straight from the white nationalist textbook. (I've shared it before.)

Seventeen seventy-six represented the culmination of thousands of years of Western civilization and the triumph not only of spirit, but of wisdom, philosophy and reason.... Our nation is witnessing a merciless campaign to wipe out our history, defame our heroes, erase our values and indoctrinate our children.

It's right there. "Our history" is "Western civilization." That's white nationalism.

And democracy simply doesn't matter. I was surprised to see Jeff Sessions, once our attorney general and now running for his old Senate seat in Alabama, basically explaining why his flavor of Christianity trumps democracy. Some excerpts.

A banker I know from Greece, he said you could go to Aleppo, you could do business deals, you could even buy whiskey. Cross Assad, you’re in big trouble, but you could do business. There’s a difference between freedom and democracy. You need to understand this....

And you know who we want to run Syria? Assad. We are hoping that somehow he can get back in control. And there was no terrorism, no ISIS when he ran the place. He’d kill ’em. And if you didn’t cross him, he wouldn’t kill you. And he protected Christians; they were a part of his coalition....

You asked how Christians could support Trump. [Speaking of Egypt’s Christian minority under president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Egypt's] not a democracy — he’s a strongman, tough man, but he promised to protect them. And they believed him, because they didn’t want the Muslim Brotherhood taking over Egypt. Because they knew they’d be vulnerable. They chose to support somebody that would protect them. And that’s basically what the Christians in the United States did. They felt they were under attack, and the strong guy promised to defend them. And he has.

There's a difference between freedom and democracy, Sessions says, even or especially when the government is corrupt.