Is *every* Republican a Nazi? Really?
I’m back to 3 topics this episode, and all, in some way, semi-sorta-related to the recent, peaceful transfer of power in the United States. I talk about the Left running out of adjectives for Donald Trump, given how they’ve misused those adjectives over the decades. I talk about how the outgoing President Obama commuted the sentence of someone who gave Wikileaks a huge treasure trove. And I talk about the closing of a prominent charity, and why it might be closing.
And don’t forget, I want to hear you talk about what you think. Comment here, or look at the sidebar for other ways to get in touch.
Mentioned links:
Attacked by Trump, Lewis acknowledges he boycotted Bush inauguration, too
Episode 160: Relief and Concern Over President-Elect Trump
Tapper Notes How White House Used to Be ‘Angry’ and Outraged’ by Manning Crimes
Silence From Networks as Clinton Global Initiative Shuts Down
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Show transcript
The era of Trump has begun. And it has begun as it has with so many other Republicans; with whining and dire predictions by Democrats.
Let’s start with John Lewis, civil rights icon. He marched with Martin Luther King in Selma, Alabama. He’s represented most of the city of Atlanta in the US House since 1987. And he is a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat.
He recently announced that he would not attend the inauguration of Donald Trump, because Lewis considered Trump’s win “illegitimate”. He said that this was something he’d never done before; an unprecedented move. Well, not really. The precedent was set in 2001 when he did not attend the inauguration of George W. Bush, and for the same reason; illegitimacy.
This is a microcosm of what has been going on for decades in the Democratic Party. They have been calling Republicans illegitimate, or Nazis, or evil, or sexist, or racist. There’s been all this wolf-crying, so that when a guy like Trump comes along, they have nowhere left to go. They can’t ratchet up the rhetoric, because it’s already over-the-top. How can they go over-over-the-top without sounding like self-parody? Frankly, I think they already sound like that.
And don’t forget just a couple months ago when this podcast highlighted comments that were made when Reagan was elected that sounded a lot like what we’re hearing today about Trump. There was so much fear-mongering with references to the KKK and the obligatory invocation of Der Fuehrer.
The problem for Democrats during a Trump administration is going to be trying to keep the scare tactics up while not having comparisons drawn to how they described Republicans since … forever. According to them, Adolph Hitler has been reincarnated every 4 years, and (if the Republican won the election) strolled around Washington, DC starving old people and kicking puppies.
I’ve even heard Facebook friends who are Democrats all of a sudden pine for Dubya. “At least he wasn’t this bad!” Yeah, well, based on the rhetoric back then, who could tell?
One of the things Presidents do near the end of their term is to pardon or commute the sentences of various people. They have full authority to do so, and it’s often been rather eyebrow-raising some of the choices they make.
This President’s is no exception. I’m sure there will be a list that comes out later (there’s over 1,700 of them), but I want to highlight just one; the commutation of the sentence of Chelsea Manning. As Bradly Manning, before the sex change, he was responsible for giving classified information to Wikileaks and was tried as a spy, and sentenced to 37 years in prison. He’s been in prison for 7, and Jake Tapper of CNN, speaking to Bloomberg’s Margaret Talev, is shocked that this happened, given the White House’s reaction to the leak at the time.
[Jake Tapper audio]
Seven years isn’t that much of an example. And maybe it’s the cynic in my trying to get out, but I wonder if he’d still be in there if not for the sex change. Obama has certainly been trying to curry favor with the LGBTQ community ever since he conveniently flipped on same-sex marriage. Trump is being savaged for nice things he said about Wikileaks’ Julian Assange, and yet Obama pardons one of Wikileaks’ big sources with hardly a sneeze directed his way.
The Clinton Global Initiative, that bastion of charitable giving, which helped poor and sick children the world over, is closing its doors. It filed notice in New York on January 12th.
I would only note, though I’m sure that the two events are not related in any way, that Hilary Clinton lost the presidential election last November. Cynics would say that now that there is no longer power to be sold, there is no need to keep the CGI around. Cynics would also point to the hacked emails showing a pay-for-access scheme that was in place. Cynics would then draw a line between that and the shuttering of the foundation 2 months later. Cynics would round out their argument that the mainstream media have been rather silent on the issue.
Bad cynics! No treat for you! (Although clearly, you’ve already had one.)