Fox News Will Kill You; The GOP Just Hates You

Ever since the pandemic settled in, I've wondered if the Republican Party is a death cult. I can't explain why would it lead people to deny the science, reject masks, and gather for mass rallies. 

Even today, though, Fox News is out front telling people not to trust the vaccines. Media Matters documents how their evening talk shows promote conspiracy theories and outright lies, even while they push the threat that the government is going to force people to be vaccinated. But why?

If it's all to make Joe Biden look bad, it's a horrible strategy. It works only on a few people who already hate Democrats. I just don't know.

Then there's Senator Marsh Blackburn. While we were first processing the news that a young White man had murdered 8 people, six of them Asian American women working in massage parlors, Blackburn takes advantage of the opportunity to tweet this:

Given the context, Blackburn essentially waved the, "I'm a racist" flag, indicating her disdain for Asian Americans and for all who hate racism.

Finally, Brian Taylor Cohen updates us on the House resolution to award a Congressional Gold Medal to the Capitol Police for protecting the Capitol during the January 6 insurrection. 

Remarkably, Blackburn was not among the Dirty Dozen. 

Southern Baptists Are Mean (the Denomination, That Is)

I'm sorry, but it needs to be said: meanness runs deep in the Southern Baptist Convention's DNA. I have some theories about why, but that's not super-important. What I want to say is, don't be surprised when you see otherwise inexplicable meanness from the SBC.

I met Jesus in a Southern Baptist church, where I received a great deal of love. I served a Southern Baptist church part-time in college, founded the Baptist Student Union there, served as a Southern Baptist Home Missionary, and graduated from THE Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I was even president of the Whitsitt Society for Baptist Freedom, the student resistance movement against the inevitable fundamentalist takeover. I met countless wonderful people and received an incredible amount of love. No one in the SBC ever came after me.

When my Mom was very sick and death was inevitable, the choir from her Southern Baptist church got on a bus and came to the house to sing hymns. I sobbed and sobbed. God bless them.

But the Southern Baptist Convention is mean. Always has been. Let me explain.

As everyone knows, the denomination was founded to defend the interests of slaveholders. It took a long time for other denominations that split over slavery to reconcile, however imperfectly, but Baptists never did. Founding moments tend to imprint themselves in your DNA. The only reason the SBC exists at all is hate.

C. H. Toy, lifted from Wikipedia

Southern Baptists embroiled themselves in one controversy after another. Southern Baptists almost universally embraced segregation until well into the modern Civil Rights Movement. In a college research project I learned that the denomination's national setting and its agencies began calling for civil rights long before congregations were on board. 

Southern Baptists did not escape the fundamentalist controversies. In 1879 they fired a professor for maintaining that Isaiah did not predict Jesus. Poor slob wound up taking a job at Harvard. Southern Seminary and the SBC publishing house faced dire threats in the 1960s when a professor published a study of Genesis that did not promote creationism. The professor, Ralph Elliott, was fired--and I double-dog guarantee you that the people who fired him mostly agreed with him. But it's a mean organization.

Lots of people are familiar with the fundamentalist takeover of the Southern Baptist Convention, which started in the 1970s and became complete in the 1990s. We'll get there, but not yet. I may offend some friends in saying this, but the fundamentalists had some legitimate grievances. Lots of Baptists resented the elitism of the SBC establishment, and it was real. Many are the times I saw SBC elites mock the people whose money fed their children for being naive, ignorant, and unsophisticated. There was indeed a spirit of hiding one's superior knowledge from the masses, lest one get fired. And there was a powerful good ole boy network that got people jobs, and better jobs, and sweet opportunities. 

I know. I was in the pipeline. Not in the middle of it, but close to people who were. I was set if I wanted to go that route. Even in my 50s, and decades removed from my SBC life, I've gotten a couple of calls.

No wonder the fundamentalists were mean. For that matter, the elites were mean in part because they were constantly under threat from the fundamentalists and had experienced hurt. But there was a meanness there too, even among some of the nicest people I've ever met.

Now, don't get me wrong. The fundamentalists, generally speaking, were assholes. That's being too nice. They were sadists. I could describe the trustee who mocked a woman professor for hyphenating her name. Or the megachurch pastor and SBC president who accused a seminary professor of heresy--but privately admitted he hadn't read the book in question. Or the trustee who expressed surprise when I told him that early Baptists had female deacons, offered me his address for me to send the evidence, and (of course) never replied when I did send a package. Or the megachurch pastor who insisted that divorced men were disqualified from pastoring... until his wife filed for divorce. He's still in the same pulpit.

We all know how mean those people are now. The two most influential figures in the takeover movement now live in shame. One has a documented track record of sexually assaulting younger men, and the other has a documented track record of sweeping sexual assault allegations under the rug and minimizing them, even advising wives to endure physical abuse if it's just occasional.

But you know how mean they were? They hired one of my friends to teach at an SBC seminary, replacing people they'd run off. I was disappointed that my friend would enable what they were doing, but I think he'd really convinced himself they were hiring him in good faith. He was "conservative enough" to work there. Within a few years, they'd fired that entire new first wave of new faculty members for not being "conservative enough." Mean.

If you're following religion on social media, it's amazing how quickly the SBC trolls come out. Some of them have figured out that the bigger an asshole you are, the faster you can gather a little following and maybe make some money. Today a colleague at an evangelical college voiced his support of LGBTQ+ students, and the backlash was immediate. Even some big names.

Two issues rival LGBTQ+ persons in their capacity to stir the trolls. So much as suggest that women might have distinctive and valuable gifts that the church should celebrate--I'm not even talking about ordination!--and men will just climb all over themselves to shout that down. And race? The Southern Baptist reaction against critical race theory has driven prominent Black churches out of the denomination--and you can absolutely tell that the condemnations of critical race theory come from people who have no idea what they're talking about. But that's another conversation. The point is, they're just mean.

So when you see Beth Moore leaving the SBC, remember: she experienced a lot of the same love I did back in the day. But she's also tolerated decades of meanness, and lately it's just crossed the line, overflowed the cup, injured the camel, you name it. Because meanness is in the SBC DNA. 

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.

What We're Not Seeing

Not one of us knows whether Trump is laying the foundation for a serious coup attempt or just raising hell because he's desperate. I'm alarmed, in part because some very wise people are apparently just as alarmed.

What I can say: we're not seeing the things we need to see that would reassure us. For every Larry Hogan, Mike DeWine, or other Republican who's saying out loud that the election was fair, Trump lost, and he needs to begin the transition, there are dozens of powerful Republicans calling the election rigged and hundreds keeping mostly quiet. 

The big story Monday: Last week Oklahoma Senator James Lankford said that if Trump didn't allow Biden to receive intelligence briefings by the end of the week, Lankford would step in and make that happen. Since Lankford chairs the committee that oversees the GSA, he'd have some clout.

Apparently somebody got to Jim Lankford. The Wall Street Journal reports that he reversed his strong position over the weekend.

I'm not in a hurry, necessarily, to get Joe Biden these briefings, it's been interesting how the media, the national media, not this network, but others have twisted this term "step in." I happen to chair the committee that oversees GSA, that is the entity that has to be able to make this call.

 He lied. Last week he specifically said

If that's not occurring by Friday, I will step in as well and be able to push and say, this needs to occur.

This is not a good sign. We're not seeing enough good signs, and that should bother us. Because meanwhile Donald Trump is literally stirring up street violence.

And while all that's going on, Georgia' Republican Secretary of State tells us about the pressure he's getting from other Republicans to change the election results there. I said Republican Secretary of State. He called Georgia Rep. Doug Collins a "liar" and a "charlatan" for levying false accusations, and he insinuated that Senator Linseed Lindsey Graham literally suggested tossing all mail-in ballots from certain counties.

Graham also asked whether Raffensperger had the power to toss all mail ballots in counties found to have higher rates of nonmatching signatures, Raffensperger said.

 Surely Graham wouldn't push something illegal?

Raffensperger said he was stunned that Graham appeared to suggest that he find a way to toss legally cast ballots. 

Oh. So while we're telling ourselves it's just a matter of time before Donald Trump heads back to Mar-a-Lago and Joe Biden's dogs make their home on Pennsylvania Avenue, maybe we should pause the premature chicken counting and watch what some really powerful people are doing to our democracy. 

Some of the effects are already evident. Political scientists Vin Arceneaux and Rory Truex have been tracking the opinions of Democrats, Independents, and Republicans concerning this past election, and the results are disturbing. 

Almost half of Republicans don't accept Biden's win as legitimate.

Most Republicans literally don't believe Biden won.

Numbers like that are a five-alarm fire for democracy. Hell, they're bad for Thanksgiving--and a good reason to avoid extended family. And they explain what we're not seeing: Republicans coming out to acknowledge Biden's win.

This is why we need more words like those of National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien. But he's alone.

If there is a new administration, they deserve some time to come in and implement their policies ... if the Biden-Harris ticket is determined to be the winner -- and obviously, things look that way now -- we'll have a very professional transition from the National Security Council.

Be Vigilant: This Ain’t Over

Sure, they called Arizona for Biden last night. I know Darth Vader Karl Rove says it’s time for Republicans to acknowledge the election. And yes, the DHS called the election the “most secure ever.” We all love it when Trump legal claims get just laughed out of court. 

None of that rules out the Republicans trying (again) to steal the election. First the theory, then the evidence. The theory is that Trump is an authoritarian who will not cede power unless he’s forced to do so.  He has stirred up millions and millions of followers to believe the election was rigged. I’ve spoken to them. You have too. These are otherwise competent people who also bought into hydroxychloroquine. Notice that key Republicans, like Mike Pompeo and Kevin McCarthy keep saying they don’t expect or they don’t know that Biden will be inaugurated.

It all looks like a storm stirred up to soothe Trump’s bruised ego, maybe an attempt to negotiate some leverage for his safe exit from power. I still think it’s highly likely things won’t escalate beyond this point. 

But vigilance is called for. Two GOP strategists from Michigan are sending up the alert: there’s a GOP scheme to void the popular vote in key states, handing them over to their Republican state legislatures. It would require enormous bad faith, maybe even criminal conduct, but it’s out there. And there are GOP legislators in Pennsylvania who are up for it. 

And here’s the risk. When have these Republicans ever shown the backbone to say no to Trump and his armies of highly dedicated supporters? The longer this lasts, the deeper the division that sets in, the more likely they are to step forward and cross the line.

The GOP committed itself to ruling as a minority years ago. Don’t assume it won’t cross the ultimate line.

I hope I’m wrong.

Happy Veterans' Day

 I was raised in Alabama, surrounded by men I loved and admired (all men in my case) who served in World War 2 and in Vietnam. I stood beside my Uncle Norman, born 1909, who stood ramrod straight when the band played the national anthem for high school football games, often with a tear breaking out and running down his cheek. You don't forget a thing like that. During my lifetime my Uncle Bernie flew active missions over Vietnam. I heard lots of the stories, not all of them grand or heroic.

As liberal as I am, I am a patriot. And I am grateful for our veterans and active service members. 

So let me share two stories. Military.com is reporting that GOP lists of Nevada "criminal" voter fraud cases include hundreds of active service members and family members. One, the wife of an Air Force major, says

To see my integrity challenged, along with other members of the military to be challenged in this way, it is a shock. And to be potentially disenfranchised because of these actions, that's not OK.

Meanwhile, Bill Kristol describes the scene at the Department of Defense as top-level officials, having been fired as retaliation for who knows what, left the building.

A sign of the loyalty-oath atmosphere now at DOD: When Jim Anderson was fired yesterday as Acting Under Secretary for Policy, he was given a "clap-out" as he left the building. The WH called to request names of any political appointees who joined in so they could be fired.

Remember, what Donald Trump is doing—withholding information from the Biden transition and disrupting the Department of Defense—is wreaking the country at an already-vulnerable moment. There’s no patriotism here.

Tell me again why you think Donald Trump loves the military. And tell me why you think he's not a fascist. 

Tell me those things because right now state legislators are contemplating reversing the election results. From Vox reporter Andrew Prokop.

They Really Are a Bunch of Fascists

National Republicans have been fighting democracy for a long time. It did not begin with Trump, though he's certainly released the hounds. He's also brought almost all elected Republicans under his thumb, even the ones who might have cared about democracy at one point in the past. But remember, Citizens United, the dismantling of the Voting Rights Act, and voter ID laws go back to when Republicans realized they could not win a democratic election.

What we're seeing now is just whirlwind of all the wind sowing they've been doing. They do not want democracy. They want white power.

Here in Pennsylvania, we have Republican lawmakers trying to open an investigation in to the voting process--they want not to review the election but to meddle with it while it's happening.

In Texas the governor is restricting drop-off spots for mail-in ballots to one location per county. Think how big a Texas county is. Remember that some Texas counties have populations as high as 3 million. One location. They call it an "election security measure."

The state director of Florida Latinos for Trump turns out to be a Proud Boy. Here he is flashing the white power sign with Roger Stone.

NBC reports that Trump administration officials were ordered to "make comments sympathetic to Kyle Rittenhouse," the white Kenosha, Wisconsin shooter who killed two protestors and maimed another. How does that sound in the light of Trump telling the Proud Boys to "stand back and stand by"? For some reason White House spokesperson Kayleigh McEnany could not bring herself to directly condemn white supremacy in response to a question from a Fox reporter.

So tell me they're not all fascists?

Some Very Bad Ish

While our eyes are focused on the Supreme Court, Donald Trump is rolling out other aspects of an authoritarian agenda, and quickly. Today the DOJ labeled Seattle, Portland, and New York as "anarchist jurisdictions," whateverthefuck that means, as a pretext for withdrawing federal funds. 

In response to FBI Director Christopher Wray saying the Russians at it again, and the CDC saying a vaccine will take a long time, we got this from Trump.

It goes on and on. This week the CDC posted, then pulled down, guidance that said the coronavirus passes not just in droplets but in aerosols--in other words, it spreads way farther than 6 feet, especially in indoor venues. This is bizarre because the WHO was on the case about this months ago. But apparently the CDC can't release scary news.

And it's still about Russia. Asked who he thinks poisoned Alexey Navalny with Russia's nerve agent of choice, Trump just couldn't say Putin. Not even in a whisper. "Uh... we'll talk about that at another time."

Russia, you say? Lawyers for WikiLinks founder Julian Assange told a British court that Trump offered Assange a pardon for clearing up the 2016 Russian interference story. Right? 

This one is probably silly, but Trump's latest campaign is to accuse Joe Biden of taking performance enhancing drugs. I mean, if he can drive a sports car and ride a bicycle, there must be some nefarious explanation, right? He trotted out that line at a Minnesota rally, where he also offered this gem straight from the Nazi Handbook of Modern Nephrology. This one's not so silly. It's damn terrifying.

You have good genes, you know that, right? You have good genes. A lot of it is about the genes, isn't it, don't you believe? The racehorse theory. You think we're so different? You have good genes in Minnesota.

You might say none of these is as big a deal as the Supreme Court. Maybe you're right. But remember, they take advantage of spotlights to do skeevy little things in the dark.

The Things You Said: A Rough Week for Trump

Donald Trump got to do his favorite thing this week, holding a mask-free rally in North Carolina. He tried to announce an election day vaccine, but the drug companies shockingly displayed some integrity and advised caution.

But two things came out this week that deeply hurt Trump. 

First, the Atlantic reported that during his messy trip to France in 2018, Trump refused to visit the graves of Americans who lost their lives in battle, partly because he didn't want the weather to muss his hair and partly because he doesn't respect soldiers who die or suffer serious injury in battle. He referred to American war dead as "losers" and "suckers." Moreover, he asked that military parades exclude wounded veterans because "Nobody wants to see that."

Ouch. For a guy who counts on the military--who won military votes in 2016, this struck a nerve. Trump and his allies lashed out immediately to deny the report.

But Fox News reporter Jennifer Griffin confirmed the Atlantic story, along with just about every other major news outlet. Trump called on Fox to fire Griffin, but he also took a very strange line with the military. In a Labor Day press conference Trump trotted out this line:

It's one of the reasons the military  — I'm not saying the military is in love with me; the soldiers are. The top people in the Pentagon probably aren’t because they want to do nothing but fight wars so that all of those wonderful companies that make the bombs and make the planes and make everything else stay happy.

All this when Trump's support among the military, commissioned and enlisted, is crumbling. A New Military Times poll has Joe Biden leading Trump by six points among the troops, 43-37. (In October 2016, Trump led Hillary by 20 points in the same poll.) Trump's favorability among the troops is now at -12, the worst of his presidency.

Trump went after the officers because the poll shows that 59 percent of them view Trump unfavorably, as opposed to "only" 47 percent of enlisted personnel. 

The second disaster for Trump involves reporting by Bob Woodward, who has Trump on tape from back in February admitting that he knew how bad the pandemic could get, he knew how deadly Covid-19 was, and yet he played down the threat. With 200,000 Americans dead, this quote won't play well.

I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down, because I don’t want to create a panic.

And a new study from the Institute of Labor Economics estimates that the Sturgis, SD, motorcycle rally has led to 250,000 coronavirus infections with estimated public health costs of over $12 billion. Dr. Evil would be impressed.

The corruption continues, of course. We've learned that Postmaster General Louis DeJoy illegally paid employees to donate to Republican candidates when he was still in the business world. And Attorney General William Barr plans to use DOJ resources to defend Trump in a civil case against a woman who claims he sexually assaulted her. You and I are paying Trump's personal legal defenses. And we're getting reports that Trump has discussed holding aid to California during its worst wildfire season ever because it's a blue state.

With Joe Biden over 50% in most national polls--territory Hillary Clinton never visited--it's gonna be very, very hard for Trump to redeem his chances. Largely because of things he's said himself.

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.