Loves his country while hating 93% of the people

Mark Sumner of Daily Kos discussed the nasty guy’s implied promise.

Trump is an unrepentant bully. That alone is enough to make him appealing to many, for the same reason third-grade bullies have henchmen. But it’s not the big pull. The big pull, the thing that turned Trump from a clown on a gaudy yellow staircase into a nightmare in the White House, is that he holds out the same offer to his followers that he enjoys: the promise of cruelty without consequence.

Sumner lists many of the people the nasty guy pardoned. The crimes of those pardoned included fraud, contempt of court, illegal campaign contributions, lying to investigators, securities fraud, money laundering, and murder. The nasty guy has already announced categories of people he will pardon if he ever gets back to the White House.

It’s been said many times that in the modern Republican Party, cruelty is the point, But Donald Trump’s real promise is that those who follow his path get to be cruel—and never pay for it. ... Trump himself keeps complaining that if the government can come after him, they can come after anyone, and in a way that's true: If Trump has to pay, then his promise to his supporters falls apart. Only by seeing that Trump receives punishment on the scale of anyone else charged with the same crimes can his supporters be convinced that their bully can’t protect them. That the next pardon won’t have their name on it. That eventually, everyone has to pay for their actions. That lesson had better be taught. It had better be clear. And it had better be soon.

Sumner also reported the nasty guy did an interview on Fox News, though this time, anchor Bret Baier didn’t lob softball questions to make his subject look good. Baier actually asked substantial questions about the “best people” the nasty guy hired that are now considered by the boss as being actually quite bad, about the results of the 2020 election, and about the stolen documents and the multitude of excuses. Alas, Baier couldn’t keep up with the lies. Sumner wrote the discussion of those documents is a confession of the crime. The nasty guy didn’t hand over the boxes because they also contained golf shirts? If a viewer happened to catch the interview live they may have heard the questions and spew of lies (though they may not have recognized them as such). But replays or streaming of the interview are now buried under many layers of spin. Mike Luckovich tweeted a cartoon of the nasty guy standing in front of several opened boxes of the Monopoly game with the contents strewn about and the shop security telling him, “Hand over the ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ cards.” Joel Pett tweeted a cartoon of a woman standing in a library with a protest sign. She says:

I’m here to exercise my parental rights to control, judge, frighten and intimidate other people’s kids.

In a Ukraine update Kos of Kos discussed the difference between strategy, the overall goal of an operation, and tactics, the steps to get there. Kos says Ukraine understands this and Russia clearly does not. The big example over the last few months is Russia’s grinding take of Bakhmut. Early in the war Russia had the strategy of a pincer movement, one side coming through Bakhmut, the other coming from Izyum. It could have surrounded perhaps up to 50% of Ukraine’s army. But Izyum was liberated back in September and that strategy was moot. Russia didn’t develop another. But the tactic of conquering Bakhmut, now with no military value, continued another eight months with a considerable cost in lives. And with Bakhmut conquered those holding the city are sitting ducks to Ukrainian bombardment. Kos described another example of a lack of strategy that’s happening now as Ukraine’s counteroffensive is underway. Russia seems to be holding onto a particular village. But that left Kos screaming – why would Russia send multiple waves to fight in the open when they have perfectly good prepared defenses just a few kilometers south? Ukraine doesn’t need to advance to the trenches as long as the Russians are coming towards them. Easy pickings. Kos included a video of what appears to be a high school graduation that continued during an air raid. Kos wrote:

Life goes on, but it doesn’t. Those boys will all go into the Ukrainian military. A good percentage of them won’t be with us in one year.

There was speculation that one reason Russia blew the dam upstream from Kherson was that the flooding would prevent Ukrainian troops from advancing from that direction. But, as Kos reported, the reservoir behind the dam is emptying out. Soon the Dnipro River will be a normal size river and the mud left behind will dry. And Ukrainian troops could cross what had been a strong barrier. Of course, Russia hasn’t put up defenses on the far shore. If they do now it only takes resources from elsewhere. Wrote Kos:

Would be ironic if Russia’s bizarre decision to blow the damn doesn’t just cost their precious Crimea its water supply, but also allows Ukraine to bypass many of their defenses.

In honor of Juneteenth Chris Britt tweeted a cartoon of a character labeled “Mitch” riding an elephant and calling out “Happy Juneteenth!” while the elephant has its foot on the back of a black man reaching for a votting booth. Dennis Draughon tweeted a cartoon of a voting booth at the far end of a maze with an elephant lableled NC GOP saying “Vote Suppression? Don’t be silly... This is designed for ‘Election Integrity’!” Mrs. Betty Bowers tweeted a cartoon from 55 years ago that originally appeared in MAD Magazine and is still relevant. It shows a man dressed in stars and stripes. I’ll include the start and end of the caption, though one can easily fill in the rest.

See the Super Patriot. Hear him preach how he loves his country. Hear him preach how he hates “Liberals”... And “Moderates”... and “Intellectuals”... ... He’s someone who loves his country While hating 93% of the people who live in it.

There is a content warning on the cartoon, but really no reason for it. Qasim Rashid tweeted a cartoon (I don’t know who created it) that shows a dialog between a child and mother:

What’s that mark on your arm, Mama? My smallpox vaccine scar! Why don’t I have one? Because it worked.

Just so you know as you continue your activism... Written by Hanna tweeted:

If you are arrested or detained, the police are legally within their right to compel you to unlock your phone if you use face recognition or finger print. However if you use a passcode or pattern you are within legal right to not give it to them.

And why might you need to continue your activism? Elon Musk tweeted “Perhaps we just need a modern day Sulla.” Helen Kennedy responded:

I didn't believe this was real but I went to look and it is. Sulla the Dictator is remembered two thousand years later as a terrifying butcher - the first man to seize power in Rome by force. Thousands died in his bloody purges - on a whim, or so he could take their property.

Simon Rosenberg added:

Every Western democracy and everyone here on Twitter needs to see this tweet, and consider what it means, who Elon has become. This is no own-the-libs s---. It's a direct call for the ending of American democracy by force, a violent coup against a sitting American President.

And... Informal Economy tweeted the Liberal Democracy index for 2022. The top ten are Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Switzerland, Estonia, New Zealand, Belgium, Ireland, Costa Rica, and Finland. A few others are: USA at 23rd, Brazil at 58th, Mexico at 93rd, India at 97th, Russia at 159th, and China at 172nd. Garth German tweeted a cartoon suggesting a way to significantly reduce gun sales – paint the guns in rainbow colors. Alas, our news isn’t always so fun. In a pundit roundup for Kos Chitown Kev quoted Charles Blow of the New York Times:

According to research by the Clark University professor Abbie Goldberg published in January by the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law, which surveyed 113 parents in Florida who are L.G.B.T.Q. in the wake of the passage of Florida’s Don’t Say Gay law, “56 percent of parents considered moving out of Florida and 16.5 percent have taken steps to move out of Florida.”

Some are already saving money and looking for jobs elsewhere. But others are conflicted because they love their friends and communities. Others say a move is impossible because they are caring for older family members or have jobs they can’t find elsewhere. They shouldn’t have to make the choice.