Damn. They are really going to do it.

[vicman]

Trump, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul and the rest of their soulless bastards coalition are going to work their asses off this year to destroy everything that made the United States of America a powerful, benevolent, and wise nation before they get clobbered in the November elections. What is it with these people?!? Are they really only going to be happy when they can step over the bodies of starving grandmothers and children while going to their jobs in the Hallowed Halls of the Capitol? Can such monsters even exist? I used to think this was all a sick joke but now it's real. They want this!! So disappointed and depressed with the nation I love right now.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. 1. Filibusters

2. Susan Collins will have to vote according to how pissed she claims she is. That's 50-50. One more vote needed.

[chuckstevens]

15. I don't believe Susan Collins for a second: Deeds, not words!

[louis c]

20. Right now, without McCain present and voting, only one Republican is need to switch

[getagrip_already]

27. actually...

Since Mccain isn't expected to make it back for votes, it's 49-50. With one republican switching votes it's 50-49 and we prevail.

If cochran finally goes the same route, we will be 49-49 just looking at party line seats available to vote. Of course pence is still around if it ends in a party line tie, but they really can't lose anyone.

It's down to one lost vote. Well, as long as we can keep our team together, which is never a given.

[Stuart G]

40. Let's say two Repulicans switch parties to become Democrats

Then it is 51 to 48..(without Mccain) ..Is that correct? 51 D .. 48 R....?

[getagrip_already]

41. well yeah, but.....

This has come up before. Where a mid term shift in seats either occurred or was possible, where it was brought up that it wouldn't automatically cause a shift in power. The new majority wouldn't get the reigns of power.

It has to do with the arcane rules of the senate. So "if" that is true, we wouldn't gain an advantage beyond being able to stop nominations or bad bills..

But that is unlikely to happen. No gop senator is going to join the d's. They'd sooner renounce their citizenship and move to france. And they might have to after fox beats the war drums.

[TheyAreDeplorble]

2. There have always been evil fucks who wanted power for themselves. Humanity had been doing

better at denying them power, until recently.

The shocker is not Trump.
It is that so many agree with him.

That condemns us as a nation.

Think of how the world still thinks of Germans, even 70 years after WWII.

Will the term "good American" take on a new meaning historically, the same that "good German" has today?

[CrispyQ]

4. They will keep 'ugly American." It will just encompass more ugliness.

This:

The shocker is not Trump.
It is that so many agree with him.

[sharedvalues]

8. Its the propaganda from Fox and Limbaugh

Stop right wing propaganda, fix the country. (We’ll do social media next. For now: Fox and Limbaugh)

Tell everyone you know that watching Fox is unamerican. That right wing radio exists only to get votes for billionaires.

[tblue37]

11. Don't forget Breitbart and the others. nt

[CrispyQ]

14. The dems/left have ignored hate radio for over three decades & still do.

I don't understand this blind spot they have on this issue.

[zipplewrath]

28. Not much they can do

They have a strong belief in free speech. Air America was tried and failed. And the more you fight them, the more you enable them.

[CrispyQ]

35. "And the more you fight them, the more you enable them."

Seriously?

You enable them by not challenging them. In the 80s the right started financing think tanks to craft their message, & they bought up radio stations to broadcast it, while the dems ran as fast as they could from the word liberal, cuz some two-bit actor poked fun at them for it. Air America didn't start until 2004. Talk about behind the 8-ball.

[zipplewrath]

37. I was thinking more in terms of "blocking" them

You can confront them to some extent. But things like trying to re-instate the Fairness doctrine and boycotting their advertisers tend to only rile up their base and establish them as having power and credibility. I do think poking fun at them tends to undermine them however.

[sharedvalues]

7. Its propaganda from billionaires that did it

GOP donor billionaires built a huge propaganda machine to divide america.

Their goal: destroy government to cut taxes on the rich.

People only side with GOP now because of the propaganda.
This is a Democratic-majority country. 10% if he population are the hardcore deplorables.

The rest are reachable. Go fight propaganda - tell all your friends and family to Resist Fox And Limbaugh.

If we break the hold of GOP billionaire-funded propaganda we will fix the nation.

[mahina]

19. Agreed 100%. I started just yesterday, always thought why exchange ideas with them, till now.

(PS, AND register voters, AND organize our communities, AND volunteer. Yes, we can!)


https://www.democraticunderground.com/100210223044
Talk to the Fox News Facebook video comments section. Thats where to reach the right.

I just had a dialogue with a man (he said he was a man anyway) who freely expressed his loathing for us and determined view that we are harming our country.

I said I trust that he is a patriot who loves his country. I made my points, shared some good links, solidly and respectfully refuted some bullshit, asked some questions. He cast aspersions on my asperagus. I asked him: if the things you think you know were actually false, would you want to know? How about if the future of our country depended on it?

I got a peek into the Fox News echo chamber on Facebook videos. Got there through a Fb Arkansas good government page.

First, it’s amazing to see things edited to fit their views. It’s all very compelling. Representative Luis Gutierrez didn’t just leave the SOTU for an interview, he “stormed out”. Our Democratic Congress didn’t just choose not to applaud, they didn’t applaud for a patriot’s memorial.

Before I take a bath and burn some sage I wamted to tell you guys. We can get through. All they hear is Fox News. They think we hate this country.

Defeatists to the right, no-hopers to the left. Anybody with a few minutes to spare and a thick skin, you know what to do. See you there.

[mac56]

16. This.

And welcome.

[PatSeg]

26. Yes, that is what is so shocking

Apparently, most of them never really did have any core beliefs. The fact that they "agree" with Trump is humorous, as he often does not agree with himself. He never really had a true agenda, aside from racism and of course, self promotion.

History will not be kind to Trump and his followers.

Welcome to DU!

[strangedaysindeed]

3. what we're witnessing

is mental illness on a grand scale.

Every once great empire died like this in the end;

with a powerful faction killing it's own people.

that Is "the power and the glory" the prayer speaks about.

[sharedvalues]

9. Its propaganda. Goebbels, 1984, same as today.

[RandomAccess]

12. Is that historically true?

I am pretty severely history-challenged (hated it as a kid, and now wish I knew more but no time for history when present is so damned compelling), so is this literally historically accurate:

Every once great empire died like this in the end; with a powerful faction killing it's own people.

[TNNurse]

24. Not mental illness, it is EVIL.

[cilla4progress]

5. This is sad, but, I think this is driven by

the intuition that with our exploitation and exhaustion of our home planet, days are numbered and may as well grab all you can on the way down.

This is no future for our kids and grandkids, anyway...all is short-term.

[bigbrother05]

13. Not sure about the death of the planet, but they see their last chance for rule

Changing demographics make it clear that even their most draconian attempts at voter suppression, gerrymandering, ballot fixing, and fake news will soon be overcome.

They hope to lock in financial advantages that can't be reversed so that even when elections go against them, they'll have their hooks into any politician on the Hill.

The donor class doesn't care about the GOP voters, just elections that look enough like they are fair to keep the rabble from rising up with pitchforks and torches to drag them from their warm beds to be thrown on the bonfires of hades.

[hueymahl]

21. You speak the truth

I think there are a few true believers mixed in there, but for the most part, we are witnessing the death-rattle of white conservative rule. The ones with any brains know this and are doing exactly as you say.

[mn9driver]

6. They are doing what their owners want them to do.

Voters used to be the ones who gave politicians their marching orders. That is no longer true.

Beteeen the construction of an entirely separate right wing media reality and the Citizens United decision, the big money can now do what they want. They own reality, and they own the politicians. Enough people will vote the way they are told to, perpetuating the oligarchy. All it takes is money.

President Carter basically said this very thing in a recent interview. Al Gore predicted it in his book, The End Of Reason. It is real.

It is here.

[sharedvalues]

10. Yes exactly!

[niyad]

17. powerful, benevolent, and wise ?????? the first word, yes. ask the indigenous people

about it and the second one. ask any nation in whose affairs this country interfered.

read Howard Zinn's "People's History". and Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz "Indigenous People's History"

but the rest of your post is quite accurate.

[Johnny2X2X]

18. Social Security

Their ultimate goal is to take every single penny that's in the SSI trust fund and give it away to their rich friends.

[Cryptoad]

22. Just isn't right ,,,,

all these poor folk having all that money$,,,,,,,,they dont even know how to grease it and corrupt anybody!..........

[hueymahl]

23. FYI - the "trust fund" does not exist

It never did. If we did real accounting in this nation, it would show a big 'ole empty sack where a trust fund should be. Looted long ago to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.

[byronius]

30. I remember Al Gore's 'lockbox' idea being roundly derided by conservatives.

Like they deride all sensible governance.

[Sophia4]

32. The trust fund identifies money that is owed, that has to be repaid.

Each generation pays for the currently retired generation.

Employers decide in various ways how long we work and how soon we retire. Our health also helps decide who early we retire.

[hueymahl]

38. True, but it is not a trust fund

It is just general debt. It is a fraud, start to finish. Every penny of the excess funds collected from the current generation has been spent on general governmental obligations. Replaced by IOUs.

[Sam McGee]

25. Asked and answered

You ask: "Can such monsters even exist? "

Answer: They can, they do, they are here, and they are in charge.

[world wide wally]

29. Dems have the biggest fight of their lives over the next 9 months

They better win it!

[RKP5637]

31. These people are sociopaths and sadists, and I seriously mean that. Some would enjoy

stepping/driving over dead bodies, and also watching people withering in sickness. Germany had them, why is the US any different. There are lots of very sick people in the world and many of them migrate to politics to satisfy their control and domination desires. History is filled with people like this, and we have them right here in the US!

[hueymahl]

39. I am coming to the same conclusion

Truly sad.

[Saviolo]

33. It is cartoonish.

I remember growing up watching shows like Captain Planet and The Smoggies and stuff like that. The bad guys were (obviously) cartoon villains. They were hell-bent on polluting just for the sake of it! Gotta burn more fuel for this contraption to work! Gotta keep this sludge flowing into the oceans for this money machine to continue making money! And I sort of laughed it off. These are exaggerations, they're caricatures of people who pollute carelessly to make money or people who are only negligent in their pursuit of profits over people.

... but here we are. The GOP, the Kochs, the Mercers, they are cartoonishly evil. They are polluting because they can. Oil companies are spilling and leaking because they've paid lobbyists to make sure that regulations are voluntary and self-governed. They are giving a tax break to 25 unbelievably wealthy families and taking health care and food away from millions of poor families. If I were reading a story about this government, I wouldn't believe it for being too outlandishly cartoonishly evil. It's absurd.

We live in a completely absurd time.

[sarcasmo]

34. Every appointment from the jump, Carson, Perry, Devos was meant to destroy Government.

[old guy]

36. Actually, they don't think they are going to lose.

What with voter suppression, gerrymandering, Russian help, and a whole butt load of millionaire donors, they feel they can win no matter what they do. Full speed ahead!!

[ChoppinBroccoli]

42. Did You Call Thom Hartmann Today?

Because I swear somebody called the Thom Hartmann show this afternoon and said the exact same thing almost verbatim.

[Stardust1]

43. It's scary.

Russia is currently ruled by a few rich families and a ton of nepotism. The majority of its people suffer while a few elites live in luxury.

The elites there are trying to extend their influence to the rest of the world through misinformation and confusion of the mass public and also by forming alliances with other rich families around the world that share their greedy interests.

Call me paranoid, but I find it more then a little concerning that popular right-wing politicians in western countries are all echoing very Putin-like ideology.