Locked in.

 

(3 minute read)

 Bodings

            The 2022 midterms are upon us.  Republicans and Democrats have both put forth some questionable candidates on the ballot in years past.  However, this year there are some astonishing Trump Republican MAGA Head candidates on the ballot in various states.  I’m not real sure that all of them are literate.  “Questionable” doesn’t begin to touch some of these candidates.

            Half of the Republicans running for Senate[1] and Governors[2] are election deniers.  Half!  They along with 61% of MAGA Head Republicans don’t believe that Trump lost the election.[3],[4]  (It was 70% back in June of this year.)[5]  Couple this with the projection that over half the House is predicted to be election deniers after the midterms and it doesn’t bode well for our Republic.[6] 

            Eleven of the MAGA Republicans seeking the office of Secretary of State are election deniers.[7]  These people will be in charge of elections if they win.  So, people that don’t believe in our system of government will be in charge of counting the vote.  (As a refresher point, I have stated previously that all three branches of our government upheld the validity of the 2020 election including state government officials in charge of the election.)

Oh yes, I should give an honorable mention to the wife of a Supreme Court Injustice being involved with the seditionists attempt to overthrow our government and says that she still believes the election was stolen.  She says it with a big ‘ol smile too.[8]  She testified before the January 6 Committee,[9]  Supreme Court Injustice Clarence Thomas was the only dissenting vote against releasing White House documents to the January 6 Committee.[10] 

            What comprises the list of Trump MAGA heads that are seeking high office in our land along with, you know, just not believing in our form of government.  Well, we have a former football player.  A talking head snake oil salesman.  A veteran that lied about where he served.  Q Anon crazies.  White Supremacist and Nationalist sympathizers.  Great Replacement Theory believers.[11]  You know, the theory that white people are being replaced by minorities and immigrants like the people that founded America.  Incidentally, the theory is anti-Semitic.

            Then there’s Dark MAGA.[12]  They advocate a vengeful Trump rising to destroy his enemies.  And they mean destroy in the very real physical sense.  They want opposition to Trump hung.  From the beginning there has been a pervasive theme of violence that emanates from MAGA Heads.

None of this bodes well for America.

Locked in

            In general Democrats are locked in as to how they will vote as are Republicans.  Trump Republicans don’t care who the candidate is.  They have one qualification in their job description for those seeking office—be a Trump cult member and be loyal to Trump.  In the 2022 election we saw that the never Trump Republicans still voted for other Republicans in the down ballot.  Even though those very same people were the enablers of the MAGA movement.  Trump just killed a few too many oldster friends and family because of how he handled the pandemic for them to vote for him.[13] 

They’ll get over it.

Who’s being courted?

            The hopes of the nation reside with the Independents that, even with all that has happened, don’t know who they’re going to vote for yet.[14]  Hard to believe I know at this point but here we are.  Indications are that they are breaking against the crazy train candidates that I mentioned previously by a couple of percentage points.[15] 

But the crazies with their conspiracy driven beliefs are changing their positions now that they have won their Republican primaries.  They’re scrubbing their campaign material and flipping positions in order to appear more normal. 

They aren’t.

 

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[1] https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/14/politics/fact-check-republican-senate-nominees-2020-election/index.html

[2] https://www.cbsnews.com/philadelphia/news/doug-mastriano-gop-governor-nominees-have-questioned-or-denied-the-legitimacy-of-the-2020-election/

[3] https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/09/28/nearly-700-days-later-most-republicans-still-believe-trumps-big-lie/?lctg=75845185

[4] https://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/meetthepressblog/poll-61-republicans-still-believe-biden-didnt-win-fair-square-2020-rcna49630

[5] https://www.poynter.org/fact-checking/2022/70-percent-republicans-falsely-believe-stolen-election-trump/

[6] https://www.mediaite.com/politics/more-than-half-of-republican-house-members-in-next-congress-will-be-election-deniers-predicts-fivethirtyeight/

[7] https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/11/politics/fact-check-republican-secretary-of-state-nominees-2020-election/index.html

[8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1na4WENZRM

[9] https://www.npr.org/2022/09/29/1125886442/ginni-thomas-wife-supreme-court-justice-testifies-jan-6

[10] https://www.vox.com/2022/3/29/22999755/supreme-court-clarence-thomas-voting-rights-democracy-elections-ginni

[11] https://www.britannica.com/topic/replacement-theory

[12] https://gnet-research.org/2022/04/05/from-orange-to-red-an-assessment-of-the-dark-maga-trend-in-far-right-online-spaces/

[13] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHxwn5Z5BCc

[14] https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2019/05/15/facts-about-us-political-independents/

[15] https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Custom-Crosstabs-Combine-Q4-and-Q5-combined.pdf

69%

 

(3 minute read)

Whaaaaaat?

            According to the recent NY Times/Siena College national poll 69% of Trump Republicans think that America is the greatest country in the world.[1]  On top of that 24% of Trump Republicans think America is a great country just not the greatest.[2]  So, in all, 93% of Trump Republicans think America is in great shape.  Of voters having a high school degree or less 59% think America is numero uno.  I wrote about whether that was true or not < here >.  https://yadayadayadablahblah.blogspot.com/2022/08/are-we-really.html  Keep in mind that President Biden has been in office now for almost 2 years.

Irony.

Having the cake

            The above poll doesn’t really jive with the red hat MAGA slogan, does it?  Make America Great Again and by the way we’re already the greatest.  Perhaps MAGA Heads mean, well I don’t really know what they mean since they seem willing to believe just about anything at any given time including positions that are diametrically opposed.  I’ll see something truly outrageous pop at a right-wing site and then it’s popping up in conservative posts on the Facebook. 

            Trump Republicans are campaigning on President Biden having already destroyed the country while simultaneously believing that America is the greatest country in the world.  That isn’t a reality-based argument.  Nevertheless,

MAGA Heads eat it up.

That explains a lot.

            Some parts of the poll aren’t grabbing a lot of air.  The question was asked if people thought that white people are being discriminated against.  It came as a surprise to me, though it shouldn’t have, that 27% of Democrats thought that white people faced discrimination.  A lot, 4%.  Some, 23%.  Whereas 76% of Republicans thought that white people were being discriminated against.  A lot, 16%.  Some, 60%.  Pretty big split there.

            Want to take a wild guess about what the Trump Republican feelings are concerning Black Lives Matter?  Go on take a guess.  Did you guess that 21% (Total) of Trump Republicans had a favorable impression compared to 84% (Total) of Democrats?  If you did then you’d be right.

            I watched a video of a Trump Republican MAGA Head threatening some KKK members that showed up at a Trump rally.[3]  It reminded me of the Trump supporter standing outside the Capitol insurrection saying this isn’t who we are.[4] 

Then they stormed the Capitol.

Black and White

            After the 2016 election I called a friend that I had disagreed with over the issue of racism that exists in America to tell them that they were right and that I was wrong.  Until that election I had no idea of the depth of racism in this country.  It’s deep, wide and all-encompassing.  The above-mentioned poll demonstrates the reason that so many white racist groups flocked to Trump’s messaging.  Trump serves as their victim example and validates their beliefs that they are the real people being discriminated against. They are the victims and Trump knows this and shares their collective misery.

            It’s the reason that the Trump Republican MAGA Heads will never be less than loyal to any claim that Trump makes and why elected Trump Republicans go along with him. 

I would normally be posting all of my sourcing for these statements about MAGA Heads but the list would be ridiculously long.  Too many have joined white supremacist events as both attendees and speakers.  They have attended meetings with right wing European leaders.  White supremacists were outed as being members of the Trump Administration.  They support both Christian and White Nationalism.  They make racist statements against immigrants.  They are fountains of fascism.  And yes, they do have a minority of people of color that follow them.  But MAGA Heads are predominantly white,

And proud of it.

 

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[1] https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/NYT-Siena-National-PR-9-19-22-FINAL.pdf

[2] https://scri.siena.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Custom-Crosstabs-Combine-Q4-and-Q5-combined.pdf

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgAVA-tHRp4

[4] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNhii_kfBzE