America’s March to Facism

josevolution

Halifax2TheMax said:

josevolution said:

MAGA II march to celebrate 1/6 in support of jailed tourists this Saturday 9/18! Don’t the PBoys know there’s a PJ show happening? 

It might be why there seem to be a lot of spares floating around?

lol maybe 

Halifax2TheMax

Well on its way. Posted this in the POOTWH thread as well.

This is a long read and worth the cost of a WaPo subscription, written by a neocon. I can't post the whole commentary but I encourage you to seek it out and read it. It'll give you chills. It draws parallels to the rise of other fascist leaders and how POOTWH and his enablers are laying the groundwork for establishing an autocratic regime. A big piece of it is the Big Lie and White Grievance coupled with "legal" voter suppression. Keep that passport valid, you may very well need it. And some thought it couldn't happen here.

Robert Kagan is an American neoconservative scholar and critic of U.S. foreign policy and a leading advocate of liberal interventionism. A co-founder of the neoconservative Project for the New American Century, he is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Wikipedia

September 23, 2021 at 3:32 p.m. EDT

“Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation.”

— James Madison

The United States is heading into its greatest political and constitutional crisis since the Civil War, with a reasonable chance over the next three to four years of incidents of mass violence, a breakdown of federal authority, and the division of the country into warring red and blue enclaves. The warning signs may be obscured by the distractions of politics, the pandemic, the economy and global crises, and by wishful thinking and denial. But about these things there should be no doubt:

First, Donald Trump will be the Republican candidate for president in 2024. The hope and expectation that he would fade in visibility and influence have been delusional. He enjoys mammoth leads in the polls; he is building a massive campaign war chest; and at this moment the Democratic ticket looks vulnerable. Barring health problems, he is running.

Second, Trump and his Republican allies are actively preparing to ensure his victory by whatever means necessary. Trump’s charges of fraud in the 2020 election are now primarily aimed at establishing the predicate to challenge future election results that do not go his way. Some Republican candidates have already begun preparing to declare fraud in 2022, just as Larry Elder tried meekly to do in the California recall contest.

Meanwhile, the amateurish “stop the steal” efforts of 2020 have given way to an organized nationwide campaign to ensure that Trump and his supporters will have the control over state and local election officials that they lacked in 2020. Those recalcitrant Republican state officials who effectively saved the country from calamity by refusing to falsely declare fraud or to “find” more votes for Trump are being systematically removed or hounded from office. Republican legislatures are giving themselves greater control over the election certification process. As of this spring, Republicans have proposed or passed measures in at least 16 states that would shift certain election authorities from the purview of the governor, secretary of state or other executive-branch officers to the legislature. An Arizona bill flatly states that the legislature may “revoke the secretary of state’s issuance or certification of a presidential elector’s certificate of election” by a simple majority vote. Some state legislatures seek to impose criminal penalties on local election officials alleged to have committed “technical infractions,” including obstructing the view of poll watchers.

The stage is thus being set for chaos. Imagine weeks of competing mass protests across multiple states as lawmakers from both parties claim victory and charge the other with unconstitutional efforts to take power. Partisans on both sides are likely to be better armed and more willing to inflict harm than they were in 2020. Would governors call out the National Guard? Would President Biden nationalize the Guard and place it under his control, invoke the Insurrection Act, and send troops into Pennsylvania or Texas or Wisconsin to quell violent protests? Deploying federal power in the states would be decried as tyranny. Biden would find himself where other presidents have been — where Andrew Jackson was during the nullification crisis, or where Abraham Lincoln was after the South seceded — navigating without rules or precedents, making his own judgments about what constitutional powers he does and doesn’t have.

Today’s arguments over the filibuster will seem quaint in three years if the American political system enters a crisis for which the Constitution offers no remedy.

Most Americans — and all but a handful of politicians — have refused to take this possibility seriously enough to try to prevent it. As has so often been the case in other countries where fascist leaders arise, their would-be opponents are paralyzed in confusion and amazement at this charismatic authoritarian. They have followed the standard model of appeasement, which always begins with underestimation. The political and intellectual establishments in both parties have been underestimating Trump since he emerged on the scene in 2015. They underestimated the extent of his popularity and the strength of his hold on his followers; they underestimated his ability to take control of the Republican Party; and then they underestimated how far he was willing to go to retain power. The fact that he failed to overturn the 2020 election has reassured many that the American system remains secure, though it easily could have gone the other way — if Biden had not been safely ahead in all four states where the vote was close; if Trump had been more competent and more in control of the decision-makers in his administration, Congress and the states. As it was, Trump came close to bringing off a coup earlier this year. All that prevented it was a handful of state officials with notable courage and integrity, and the reluctance of two attorneys general and a vice president to obey orders they deemed inappropriate.

Continues

Opinion | Our constitutional crisis is already here - The Washington Post

Poncier

mickeyrat said:

curmudgeoness said:

There are a number of groups that have popped up in recent months, founded by various disillusioned Republicans/ former Republicans. LP is one; others (I can't remember all the names) -- Republican Accountability Project -- now called Republican Voters Against T***p, and... Country Over Party? You'll see a lot of them on MSNBC, especially during Nicolle Wallace's hours, but think: Charlie Sykes, Bill Kristol, people writing for The Bulwark (Sykes again, Tim Miller, Mona Charen), David Frum (who, frankly, reads pretty liberal nowadays, given his stances on marriage equality, environmental issues, and gun violence -- maybe he differs in *how* to address some of these things, but just acknowledging the issues is enough to get booted out of CPAC, I think), George Conway ("Mr. Kellyanne"), Miles Taylor, Max Boot, Jennifer Rubin, Evan McMullin.

Michael Steele

mickeyrat

Poncier said:

mickeyrat said:

curmudgeoness said:

There are a number of groups that have popped up in recent months, founded by various disillusioned Republicans/ former Republicans. LP is one; others (I can't remember all the names) -- Republican Accountability Project -- now called Republican Voters Against T***p, and... Country Over Party? You'll see a lot of them on MSNBC, especially during Nicolle Wallace's hours, but think: Charlie Sykes, Bill Kristol, people writing for The Bulwark (Sykes again, Tim Miller, Mona Charen), David Frum (who, frankly, reads pretty liberal nowadays, given his stances on marriage equality, environmental issues, and gun violence -- maybe he differs in *how* to address some of these things, but just acknowledging the issues is enough to get booted out of CPAC, I think), George Conway ("Mr. Kellyanne"), Miles Taylor, Max Boot, Jennifer Rubin, Evan McMullin.

Michael Steele

that doesnt look like a balding black man in his sixties

Halifax2TheMax

And we've been told by some that it couldn't happen here. If you support or vote(d) for POOTWH, this is what you supported. A party full of hate, how Christian. "Look up in the sky! Its a Jewish space laser starting forest fires!" Soros and Gates are the root of all evil, yea sure.

Top Republicans rub shoulders with extremists in secretive rightwing group, leak reveals

A leaked document has revealed the membership list of the secretive Council for National Policy (CNP), showing how it provides opportunities for elite Republicans, wealthy entrepreneurs, media proprietors and pillars of the US conservative movement to rub shoulders with anti-abortion and anti-Islamic extremists.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), which monitors rightwing hate groups, describes the CNP as “a shadowy and intensely secretive group [which] has operated behind the scenes” in its efforts to “build the conservative movement”.

The leaked membership list dates from September last year, and reveals the 40-year-old CNP put influential Trump administration figures alongside leaders of organizations that have been categorized as hate groups.

The group was founded in 1981 by activists influential in the Christian right, including Tim LaHaye, Howard Phillips and Paul Weyrich, who had also been involved in founding and leading the Moral Majority. Initially they were seeking to maximize their influence on the new Reagan administration. In subsequent years, CNP meetings have played host to presidential aspirants like George W Bush and 1999 and Mitt Romney in 2007, and sitting presidents including Donald Trump in 2020.

In videos obtained by the Washington Post in 2020, the CNP executive committee chairman, Bill Walton, told attendees of the upcoming election: “This is a spiritual battle we are in. This is good versus evil.”

The CNP is so secretive, according to reports, that its members are instructed not to reveal their affiliation or even name the group.

Heidi Beirich, of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, said in an email that “this new CNP list makes clear that the group still serves as a key venue where mainstream conservatives and extremists mix”, adding that CNP “clearly remains a critical nexus for mainstreaming extremism from the far right into conservative circles”.

The document – which reveals email addresses and phone numbers for most members – shows that the CNP includes members of SPLC-listed hate groups.

They include leaders of organizations listed as anti-Muslim hate groups, including:

• Frank Gaffney, founder and executive chairman of the Center for Security Policy (CSP)

• Brigitte Gabriel, founder and chairman of Act For America (AFA)

They also include several founders or leaders of groups listed anti-LGBTQ+ hate groups, such as:

• Michael P Farris, president and CEO of the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

• Brad Dacus, founder and president of the Pacific Justice Institute

• Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council

• Matthew Staver, founder and chairman of Liberty Counsel

• Tim Wildmon, president of the American Family Association

Also, there are members of organizations listed as anti-immigrant hate groups, including James and Amapola Hansberger, co-founders of Legal Immigrants For America (Lifa).

Additionally, the list includes members of groups that have been accused of extremist positions on abortion. They include Margaret H Hartshorn, chair of the board of Heartbeat International, which has reportedly spread misinformation worldwide to pregnant women.

Several high-profile figures associated with the Trump administration, or conspiracy-minded characters in Trump’s orbit, are also on the list, such as Jerome R Corsi, who has written conspiracy-minded books about John Kerry, Barack Obama and the September 11 attacks. Corsi is listed as a member of CNP’s board of governors.

A newcomer to the group since a previous version of the member list was exposed is Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), a conservative youth organization.

Although TPUSA works hard to make inroads into mainstream culture with stunts and on-campus events, Kirk has recently staked out more hard-right positions, saying recently that Democratic immigration policies were aimed at “diminishing and decreasing white demographics in America”, a day after Tucker Carlson ventilated racist “great replacement” conspiracy theories on his Fox News program.

The CNP is so secretive, reports say, that members are told not to reveal their affiliation or name the group

Conservative movement heavyweights in the group include Lisa B Nelson, chief executive of the American Legislative Exchange Council; Eugene Mayer, president of the Federalist Society; Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Return; Daniel Schneider, executive director of the American Conservative Union, which organizes the CPac conference; and L Brent Bozell III, the founder of the Media Research Center and a member of the Bozell and Buckley dynasties of conservative activists.

Other members include pillars of the Republican political establishment, including former GOP congressional majority leader, Tom DeLay; former Wisconsin governor Scott Walker; Reagan administration attorney general Edwin Meese III; and former RNC chair and Trump White House chief of staff Reince Priebus.

Pro-gun groups are also represented, with NRA chief executive Wayne LaPierre and Gun Owners of America founder Tim Macy each listed as members.

Top Republicans rub shoulders with extremists in secretive rightwing group, leak reveals (msn.com)

Halifax2TheMax

Scapegoating vulnerable populations, check

Constant victimhood whining, check

Calls for deportations, check

Votes to secede, check

Massive propaganda outlets allowed to stir the masses with misinformation and lies, check

Leading perpetrators not held to account, check

Mainstreaming of all of the above by one of the two major political parties and their leadership and candidates, check

How much longer?

static111

Halifax2TheMax said:

Scapegoating vulnerable populations, check

Constant victimhood whining, check

Calls for deportations, check

Votes to secede, check

Massive propaganda outlets allowed to stir the masses with misinformation and lies, check

Leading perpetrators not held to account, check

Mainstreaming of all of the above by one of the two major political parties and their leadership and candidates, check

How much longer?

Sometimes I think you are actually looking forward to this outcome.

Halifax2TheMax

static111 said:

Halifax2TheMax said:

Scapegoating vulnerable populations, check

Constant victimhood whining, check

Calls for deportations, check

Votes to secede, check

Massive propaganda outlets allowed to stir the masses with misinformation and lies, check

Leading perpetrators not held to account, check

Mainstreaming of all of the above by one of the two major political parties and their leadership and candidates, check

How much longer?

Sometimes I think you are actually looking forward to this outcome.

I fear it and if repubs don’t wake the fuck up, we may very well be living it.

Have you noticed the hate out there? Did you see where Lindsey Flimsy Flip Flop Faloozy is going to introduce legislation to enable the US to attack Mexico? Hmmmmm, who else predicated an attack on a bordering nation? I wonder who it might have been? Hmmmmmmmm?

josevolution

Halifax2TheMax said:

static111 said:

Halifax2TheMax said:

Scapegoating vulnerable populations, check

Constant victimhood whining, check

Calls for deportations, check

Votes to secede, check

Massive propaganda outlets allowed to stir the masses with misinformation and lies, check

Leading perpetrators not held to account, check

Mainstreaming of all of the above by one of the two major political parties and their leadership and candidates, check

How much longer?

Sometimes I think you are actually looking forward to this outcome.

I fear it and if repubs don’t wake the fuck up, we may very well be living it.

Have you noticed the hate out there? Did you see where Lindsey Flimsy Flip Flop Faloozy is going to introduce legislation to enable the US to attack Mexico? Hmmmmm, who else predicated an attack on a bordering nation? I wonder who it might have been? Hmmmmmmmm?

Yes I saw that damn! 

mickeyrat

Halifax2TheMax said:

static111 said:

Halifax2TheMax said:

Scapegoating vulnerable populations, check

Constant victimhood whining, check

Calls for deportations, check

Votes to secede, check

Massive propaganda outlets allowed to stir the masses with misinformation and lies, check

Leading perpetrators not held to account, check

Mainstreaming of all of the above by one of the two major political parties and their leadership and candidates, check

How much longer?

Sometimes I think you are actually looking forward to this outcome.

I fear it and if repubs don’t wake the fuck up, we may very well be living it.

Have you noticed the hate out there? Did you see where Lindsey Flimsy Flip Flop Faloozy is going to introduce legislation to enable the US to attack Mexico? Hmmmmm, who else predicated an attack on a bordering nation? I wonder who it might have been? Hmmmmmmmm?

well, it wouldnt be the first time.

static111

mickeyrat said:

Halifax2TheMax said:

static111 said:

Halifax2TheMax said:

Scapegoating vulnerable populations, check

Constant victimhood whining, check

Calls for deportations, check

Votes to secede, check

Massive propaganda outlets allowed to stir the masses with misinformation and lies, check

Leading perpetrators not held to account, check

Mainstreaming of all of the above by one of the two major political parties and their leadership and candidates, check

How much longer?

Sometimes I think you are actually looking forward to this outcome.

I fear it and if repubs don’t wake the fuck up, we may very well be living it.

Have you noticed the hate out there? Did you see where Lindsey Flimsy Flip Flop Faloozy is going to introduce legislation to enable the US to attack Mexico? Hmmmmm, who else predicated an attack on a bordering nation? I wonder who it might have been? Hmmmmmmmm?

well, it wouldnt be the first time.

Lol I wonder if we will get our asses kicked at the Alamo again?

PJ_Soul

I really wasn't sure what thread to drop this in, but then I spotted this one, and thought hell, sure, this probably works! Because god knows where stuff like this can lead. There is a paywall to the WaPo article about this unfortunately. If anyone can gift the whole article that would be awesome.

Steps from the Capitol, Trump allies buy up properties to build MAGA campus

Steps from the Capitol, Trump allies buy up properties to build MAGA campus

By Paul Schwartzman
March 15, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. EDT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/15/dc-maga-campus-patriots-row-meadows/

"SNIP.......

At first glance, the flurry of real estate sales two blocks east of the U.S. Capitol appeared unremarkable in a city where such sales are common. In the span of a year, a seemingly unrelated gaggle of recently formed companies bought nine properties, all within steps of one another.

But the sales were not coincidental. Unbeknown to most of the sellers, the limited liability companies making the purchases — a shopping spree that added up to $41 million — are connected to a conservative nonprofit led by Mark Meadows, who was chief of staff to President Donald Trump. The organization has promoted MAGA stars like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).

The Conservative Partnership Institute, as the nonprofit is known, now controls four commercial properties along a single Pennsylvania Avenue block, three adjoining rowhouses around the corner, and a garage and carriage house in the rear alley. CPI’s aim, as expressed in its annual report, is to transform the swath of prime real estate into a campus it calls “Patriots’ Row.”

The acquisitions strike some Capitol Hill regulars as puzzling, considering that Republicans have long made a sport of denigrating Washington as a dysfunctional “swamp,” the latest evidence being a successful GOP-led effort to block local D.C. legislation to revise the city’s criminal code.

Halifax2TheMax

PJ_Soul said:

I really wasn't sure what thread to drop this in, but then I spotted this one, and thought hell, sure, this probably works! Because god knows where stuff like this can lead. There is a paywall to the WaPo article about this unfortunately. If anyone can gift the whole article that would be awesome.

Steps from the Capitol, Trump allies buy up properties to build MAGA campus

Steps from the Capitol, Trump allies buy up properties to build MAGA campus

By Paul Schwartzman
March 15, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. EDT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/15/dc-maga-campus-patriots-row-meadows/

"SNIP.......

At first glance, the flurry of real estate sales two blocks east of the U.S. Capitol appeared unremarkable in a city where such sales are common. In the span of a year, a seemingly unrelated gaggle of recently formed companies bought nine properties, all within steps of one another.

But the sales were not coincidental. Unbeknown to most of the sellers, the limited liability companies making the purchases — a shopping spree that added up to $41 million — are connected to a conservative nonprofit led by Mark Meadows, who was chief of staff to President Donald Trump. The organization has promoted MAGA stars like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).

The Conservative Partnership Institute, as the nonprofit is known, now controls four commercial properties along a single Pennsylvania Avenue block, three adjoining rowhouses around the corner, and a garage and carriage house in the rear alley. CPI’s aim, as expressed in its annual report, is to transform the swath of prime real estate into a campus it calls “Patriots’ Row.”

The acquisitions strike some Capitol Hill regulars as puzzling, considering that Republicans have long made a sport of denigrating Washington as a dysfunctional “swamp,” the latest evidence being a successful GOP-led effort to block local D.C. legislation to revise the city’s criminal code.

I read this yesterday. Sounds like a fraternity for repubs where they'll play grabby ass and generally act against all of those "family values" they profess. I look forward to the videos of drag and blackface parties that I'm sure they'll host. More concerning is the ability to launder money via PACs, "think tanks" and Non-profits into and through real estate. Gee, where have we heard that from before?

Here you go:

https://wapo.st/3ZWG7g4

PJ_Soul

Halifax2TheMax said:

PJ_Soul said:

I really wasn't sure what thread to drop this in, but then I spotted this one, and thought hell, sure, this probably works! Because god knows where stuff like this can lead. There is a paywall to the WaPo article about this unfortunately. If anyone can gift the whole article that would be awesome.

Steps from the Capitol, Trump allies buy up properties to build MAGA campus

Steps from the Capitol, Trump allies buy up properties to build MAGA campus

By Paul Schwartzman
March 15, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. EDT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/15/dc-maga-campus-patriots-row-meadows/

"SNIP.......

At first glance, the flurry of real estate sales two blocks east of the U.S. Capitol appeared unremarkable in a city where such sales are common. In the span of a year, a seemingly unrelated gaggle of recently formed companies bought nine properties, all within steps of one another.

But the sales were not coincidental. Unbeknown to most of the sellers, the limited liability companies making the purchases — a shopping spree that added up to $41 million — are connected to a conservative nonprofit led by Mark Meadows, who was chief of staff to President Donald Trump. The organization has promoted MAGA stars like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).

The Conservative Partnership Institute, as the nonprofit is known, now controls four commercial properties along a single Pennsylvania Avenue block, three adjoining rowhouses around the corner, and a garage and carriage house in the rear alley. CPI’s aim, as expressed in its annual report, is to transform the swath of prime real estate into a campus it calls “Patriots’ Row.”

The acquisitions strike some Capitol Hill regulars as puzzling, considering that Republicans have long made a sport of denigrating Washington as a dysfunctional “swamp,” the latest evidence being a successful GOP-led effort to block local D.C. legislation to revise the city’s criminal code.

I read this yesterday. Sounds like a fraternity for repubs where they'll play grabby ass and generally act against all of those "family values" they profess. I look forward to the videos of drag and blackface parties that I'm sure they'll host. More concerning is the ability to launder money via PACs, "think tanks" and Non-profits into and through real estate. Gee, where have we heard that from before?

Here you go:

https://wapo.st/3ZWG7g4

Thanks!

I don't quite agree with your assessment of the situation. This tells us that they are getting very well organized financially, which is a really bad sign IMO. Yes, there are doors for some kind of financial crime here, but that doesn't mean they will choose to do that. For me, the main takeaway is that there are a LOT of these extremists organizing in a way that will be far more effective than what the misfits in those crazy right wing militia camps call organizing, and they are setting up shop right there at the Capitol to do it. I know these people are bizarre and awful, but I don't underestimate them in terms of what they might be willing to do to undermine the current system of government. And contrary to appearances, they aren't all stupid. To me, this comes off as a fairly bold first step in a large, organized plan to... well, build fascism, not that they would call it that.

Halifax2TheMax

PJ_Soul said:

Halifax2TheMax said:

PJ_Soul said:

I really wasn't sure what thread to drop this in, but then I spotted this one, and thought hell, sure, this probably works! Because god knows where stuff like this can lead. There is a paywall to the WaPo article about this unfortunately. If anyone can gift the whole article that would be awesome.

Steps from the Capitol, Trump allies buy up properties to build MAGA campus

Steps from the Capitol, Trump allies buy up properties to build MAGA campus

By Paul Schwartzman
March 15, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. EDT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/03/15/dc-maga-campus-patriots-row-meadows/

"SNIP.......

At first glance, the flurry of real estate sales two blocks east of the U.S. Capitol appeared unremarkable in a city where such sales are common. In the span of a year, a seemingly unrelated gaggle of recently formed companies bought nine properties, all within steps of one another.

But the sales were not coincidental. Unbeknown to most of the sellers, the limited liability companies making the purchases — a shopping spree that added up to $41 million — are connected to a conservative nonprofit led by Mark Meadows, who was chief of staff to President Donald Trump. The organization has promoted MAGA stars like Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.).

The Conservative Partnership Institute, as the nonprofit is known, now controls four commercial properties along a single Pennsylvania Avenue block, three adjoining rowhouses around the corner, and a garage and carriage house in the rear alley. CPI’s aim, as expressed in its annual report, is to transform the swath of prime real estate into a campus it calls “Patriots’ Row.”

The acquisitions strike some Capitol Hill regulars as puzzling, considering that Republicans have long made a sport of denigrating Washington as a dysfunctional “swamp,” the latest evidence being a successful GOP-led effort to block local D.C. legislation to revise the city’s criminal code.

I read this yesterday. Sounds like a fraternity for repubs where they'll play grabby ass and generally act against all of those "family values" they profess. I look forward to the videos of drag and blackface parties that I'm sure they'll host. More concerning is the ability to launder money via PACs, "think tanks" and Non-profits into and through real estate. Gee, where have we heard that from before?

Here you go:

https://wapo.st/3ZWG7g4

Thanks!

I don't quite agree with your assessment of the situation. This tells us that they are getting very well organized financially, which is a really bad sign IMO. Yes, there are doors for some kind of financial crime here, but that doesn't mean they will choose to do that. For me, the main takeaway is that there are a LOT of these extremists organizing in a way that will be far more effective than what the misfits in those crazy right wing militia camps call organizing, and they are setting up shop right there at the Capitol to do it. I know these people are bizarre and awful, but I don't underestimate them in terms of what they might be willing to do to undermine the current system of government. And contrary to appearances, they aren't all stupid. To me, this comes off as a fairly bold first step in a large, organized plan to... well, build fascism, not that they would call it that.

I don't disagree. But what they're doing is no different than in the past. What is different is the Citizens United ruling and the amount of dark money that's in politics. Where do those organizations that buy buildings for these purposes get their money? Who knows and they don't have to disclose it if they're not a 501C3 or whatever the non-profit tax exempt number designation is. Remember Hillary and the Clinton Global Foundation and the purported "influence" it exerted through "donations?" Difference being, their donations were listed on their tax filings. Heck, I'm still waiting for her to be indicted.

You're going to have a hostile neighbor on your border within the next 7 to 10 years.

Halifax2TheMax

But it can’t happen here.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CqeQYaKsi3T/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Halifax2TheMax

You have to ask yourself, where is the money coming from?

No Labels group raises alarms with third-party presidential preparations

It has money and name-brand political backers, and declines to describe either President Biden or Donald Trump as acceptable candidates

Former senator Joe Lieberman knows better than most the impact third-party bids can have on presidential elections. His 2000 Democratic campaign for vice president fell just 537 Florida votes short of victory, in a state where Ralph Nader, the liberal activist and Green Party nominee, won more than 97,000 votes.

But that didn’t stop the Connecticut Democrat turned independent from joining a meeting Thursday in support of plans by the centrist group No Labels to get presidential ballot lines in all 50 states for 2024. The group calls its effort an “insurance policy” against the major parties nominating two “unacceptable” candidates next year.

Asked if President Biden, his former Senate colleague, would be unacceptable, Lieberman said the answer was uncertain.

“No decision has been made on any of that. But we’re putting ourselves in a position,” Lieberman said. “You know, it might be that we will take our common-sense, moderate, independent platform to him and the Republican candidate and see which one of them is willing to commit to it. And that could lead to, in my opinion, a No Labels endorsement.”

Uncertainty over the $70 million No Labels ballot effort has set off major alarm bells in Democratic circles and raised concerns among Republican strategists, who have launched their own research projects to figure out the potential impacts. As Lieberman spoke, the Arizona Democratic Party filed a lawsuit to block No Labels from ballot access in that state on procedural grounds. Matt Bennett of the centrist Democratic think tank Third Way has argued that the plot is “going to reelect Trump,” and Adam Green of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee has accused No Labels of wanting “to play the role of spoiler.”

“The only way you can justify this is if you really believe that it doesn’t really matter if it is Joe Biden or Donald Trump,” said Stuart Stevens, a former presidential campaign strategist for George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney, who now works with the anti-Trump Lincoln Project. “So it is sort of a test. If you live in a world where it doesn’t matter, this is kind of harmless. If you live in a world where it does matter, it is dangerous.”

Splits have also emerged inside the organization. William Galston, a Brookings Institution policy scholar, said last week that he would separate himself from No Labels, which he helped found, over its 2024 planning for a third-party campaign to challenge Biden and Trump.

Continues.......................

No Labels group raises alarms with third-party presidential preparations - The Washington Post

Halifax2TheMax

And if it doesn't concern you that the money may be coming from Russian oligarchs or billionaire 'Muricans with a Christo-fascist agenda, please do us all a favor and turn the lights out upon leaving.

This plan for a third-party presidential bid in 2024 is dangerous

Jonathan Cowan is president of Third Way, Rahna Epting is executive director of MoveOn and Patrick Gaspard is CEO of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.

As leaders of three groups that represent various segments of the Democratic Party coalition, we don’t always agree on policy or politics. But lately, we find ourselves strongly united on one alarming issue: the possibility of a well-financed third-party presidential campaign that could help elect a MAGA extremist president in 2024.

Our country is staring down a series of once-in-a-generation threats that strike at the heart of American democracy — corruption on our nation’s highest court, fundamental rights tested at the ballot box and, of course, the Jan. 6, 2021, coup attempt. Yet instead of responding to these attacks with clear-eyed determination to protect our country, the organization known as No Labels is spearheading an effort to put a third-party ticket on the ballot in every state.

The group — founded in 2010 to combat rising political polarization — has said it is raising at least $70 million for the effort and is planning a convention in Dallas for April 2024. No Labels has condemned Donald Trump and Joe Biden as equally extreme and claims that their likely nominations by the major parties require another choice.

We understand the sentiment that has driven donors to the No Labels banner. But there is simply no equating a party led by Biden to today’s MAGA Republican Party. One side believes in American democracy, while the other has attacked it. One is governing from the mainstream, while the other champions extremism. One seeks to work collaboratively on the issues; the other has given way to conspiracy theorists and cranks.

Moreover, No Labels has yet to say what makes Biden an “unacceptable” candidate. The group’s members say they value cross-party compromise — and Biden has shepherded into law major bipartisan legislation on infrastructure, domestic manufacturing, climate change, gun safety, protecting our troops and veterans, protecting same-sex and interracial marriage, election integrity, and more. No Labels says it wants leadership — and Biden has rallied the free world to respond to Russia’s barbaric aggression in Ukraine. It seeks mainstream values — and Biden is a man of abiding decency, faith and respect for the law. The contrast with someone like Trump hardly needs to be detailed.

Despite this glaring hole in its argument, No Labels is forging ahead. It claims to be in it to win it and has released a map purporting to show that its ticket could take nearly 40 states, including Biden’s home state of Delaware.

Such an outcome is sheer fantasy. No third-party candidate has ever come remotely close to winning, including Theodore Roosevelt, running on a Progressive Party ticket just four years after leaving office as an enormously popular Republican president. In fact, no third-party candidate has won a single electoral vote since 1968.

Though it can’t win the race, No Labels can affect the outcome. In 2016, Trump won the battleground states of Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. In 2020, his share of the vote in each actually increased, but he lost all three. The reason? Biden won the votes of those who had chosen Jill Stein, Gary Johnson or another also-ran in 2016 by a 30-point margin. Such voters have peeled away before, and, if given the choice, they could certainly do so again, especially if lured by a well-funded campaign.

No Labels insists that it doesn’t want to field a spoiler candidate. But spoiling is what third-party candidates do. In 2000, Ralph Nader won 97,000 votes in Florida, the decisive state Al Gore lost by just 537 votes. And Nader, Stein and Johnson swung the outcome of their races with tiny war chests. Between them, Stein and Johnson spent less than $16 million, and Nader spent a bit over $9 million. With $70 million or more, the No Labels candidate is nearly certain to outperform all three, increasing the odds of serving as a stalking horse for an extreme MAGA Republican.

Moreover, No Labels is obviously targeting blue states and Democratic voters. The organization’s map gives away the game: two-thirds of its electoral votes would come from Biden states. Republicans know it. As one GOP operative put it, “If Trump is the nominee, the No Labels coalition certainly hurts the Democratic candidate on the ballot.” And Rich Lowry, editor of the conservative National Review, has written in Politico that the No Labels candidate would be “most likely to help elect Trump.”

No Labels is offering an illusion, not a choice. At a time when our nation is being tested, this organization could help defeat a mainstream president and elect or reelect a radical and vindictive MAGA Republican. For the sake of our country, leaders across the political spectrum should call on No Labels to stand down.

Opinion | A No Labels third-party bid in 2024 is dangerous - The Washington Post

Halifax2TheMax

Halifax2TheMax said:

This is how it happens. Top down, bottom up. Stuck in the middle with some of you. Good luck.

https://www.propublica.org/article/heeding-steve-bannons-call-election-deniers-organize-to-seize-control-of-the-gop-and-reshape-americas-elections

Almost four years ago but nobody listened. Sigh.

Halifax2TheMax

static111 said:

Halifax2TheMax said:

Scapegoating vulnerable populations, check

Constant victimhood whining, check

Calls for deportations, check

Votes to secede, check

Massive propaganda outlets allowed to stir the masses with misinformation and lies, check

Leading perpetrators not held to account, check

Mainstreaming of all of the above by one of the two major political parties and their leadership and candidates, check

How much longer?

Sometimes I think you are actually looking forward to this outcome.

Yup, always had a death wish but it’s hard to do with nothing more than boxes of stuff in your mother’s basement. But I did find some smutt from like 1980 or so, and I don’t know, the pictures are nice and all, but I wonder, what might happen if I read the articles? Like, that’s why it’s there, right? For the articles, right? That’s why everyone has them, right? For the articles. That’s what Jerry said anyway I think.