Focused Read in 3 minutes
📎 Note:
Rick Wilson is a longtime Republican political operative and, in my opinion quite a distasteful operative -- not someone who I'd typically feature on Network For #StrongerTogether but, I find his provocative take on Trump refreshingly straightforward and important to hear as many Democratic Party elected officials are working their way out of the woods, i.e. severely Gerrymandered and/or low information districts and states and, due to circumstances, may be being a bit more, understandably, circumspect. (See link to story that will tell you more about Wilson below.)
"Trump Shoves Nationalist Needle Into His Followers’ Veins
While the 70-year-old Queens racist with authoritarian statist leanings has long clad them in nationalist rhetoric, Monday (October 24, 2018) was the first time the word escaped his blubbery lips.
(By Rick Wilson)
By “nationalism” I mean first of all the habit of assuming that human beings can be classified like insects and that whole blocks of millions and tens of millions of people can be confidently labeled “good” or “bad.”—George Orwell, Notes on Nationalism (1945)
On Monday night, Donald Trump shoved the nationalist needle into the veins of millions of his followers, and slammed the plunger home.
He finally said what we’ve known all along: He’s a nationalist.
He sent a signal to his alt-right allies that it’s time to rally to his side once again, just ahead of the midterm elections.
It was one more knife into the moldering corpse of the GOP, which with every Trump rally has looked more and more like some clapped-out third-world claque of the Glorious Leader’s sycophants, and less like a modern political institution.
Even for a president who loves to disrupt traditional institutions, boundaries, and national mores, Trump’s full and open embrace of nationalism Monday night crossed a bright new line.
We’ll likely read about Oct. 22, 2018, in our history books, for as much as Trump has consistently acted like a 70-year-old Queens racist with authoritarian statist leanings clad in nationalist rhetoric, last night was the first time the word escaped his blubbery lips. ...
After two years of Trump’s shock politics, many Americans have long since despaired that this president has neither the intention nor the ability to honor the fundamental traditions of our Republic. ...
That could be a fatal mistake for America as we’ve known it.
The moment the first American president of the modern era embraced nationalism shouldn’t just prick your conscience, it ought to set every alarm bell inside of your head ringing.
... The newly self-declared nationalist is influenced and advised by people like alt-right thought leader Steve Bannon, who since his disgrace and banishment from American politics has been driving around Europe in a rusted-out serial killer van rallying pseudo-, neo- and crypto-Nazis to his banner.
And Trump is still surrounded by people like Stephen Miller who bring overtly racialized policymaking to the forefront every day...Miller is rubbing his bony hands together while visions of traumatized children separated from their parents dance in his head.
From the very beginning, Trump’s nationalist politics reflected a deep, abiding racial and ethnic animus.
Trump’s raging barn-fire hatred of Hispanic immigrants and refugees reached a dehumanizing endpoint this spring with kids in cages and a deliberate theater-of-cruelty family separation policy,
to say nothing of the moment of national shame when he equated the alt-right terrorist murderers in Charlottesville with the protesters there to stand against them.
Trump’s attack on Humayun Khan and his family before that were overtly based on their faith and ethnicity. Nationalism resolves down to ethnicity, time and again.
Our Founders built a robust system, flawed as it was on the matter of slavery, that created our propositional nation.
We’re not a volk ( "a motto of Nazi Germany." ). We’re not a rodina ( "Russian for the Motherland." ) We’re not a race or a single tribe.
Our constitutional example wasn't tuned to one ethnic heritage.
... Too many supposed conservatives have already abandoned centuries of principle for moments of Trump’s ephemeral approval.
It isn’t feckless, PC social justice-warrior hand-wringing to remind you how dangerous nationalism is as a tool in the hands of those who believe racial identity defines a nation.
The 20th century is replete with examples where nationalism slips down a long, bloody trough to violence, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.
In some ways, however, Trump’s just acknowledging the reality of himself as a nationalist warlord.
He fails every single test as a civic and political leader, so why not go straight to the fancy uniforms and missile parade?
Orwell, who nailed nationalism to the wall, wrote this in the post-World War II era: “Every nationalist is capable of the most flagrant dishonesty, but he is also—since he is conscious of serving something bigger than himself—unshakably certain of being in the right.”
Sound familiar? It should. Trump’s two years of twisting truth after truth past each one’s breaking point have led to a trillion pixels spilled calling out his serial deceptions out, with so far zero political consequences.
Nationalist leaders frame themselves as singular warriors in an existential fight for the survival of the country.
They aggrandize themselves in ways familiar to even the most casual observer of Trumpish self-fellation.
There’s a reason that “I alone can fix it” sounds like a cut from The Authoritarians’ greatest hits album.
This is a very old story, told in rallies to an audience tuned to a daily blast of propaganda designed to stoke the deepest fears and resentments of the disaffected, the resentful, and the shallow.
It’s a story where the wicked “they” have suppressed and insulted the working volk.
“They” have a different face in every iteration of this grim dirge. Sometimes, they’re Tutsi.
Sometimes, they’re the educated class. Sometimes, they’re Jews.
You’ll hear the catalog of excuses until the last.
“It’s just Trump being Trump.”
“Take him seriously, not literally.”
“It’s just part of the show.”
It’s not just the leaders of nationalist campaigns who change from small-d democrats or small-r republicans.
Their followers change, and history tells us they change swiftly.
Civilized, educated, urbane Germans slipped swiftly into a darker, deadlier mode in a few short years.
Nationalism deafens its adherents to appeals to the better angels of our nature.
Nationalism excuses their hatreds, their resentments, and ultimately their violence…
and that violence is the almost inevitable endpoint of most successful nationalist movements in the last hundred years."
Focused Thought in 30 seconds
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"The Government Is Trying to Silence 21 Kids Hurt by Climate Change
The U.S. has a climate policy, and it wants the Supreme Court to enforce it. That policy: No such thing.
(By, Garrett Epps
Professor of constitutional law at the University of Baltimore)
On July 18, 2018, a crowd of young people demonstrated in front of the federal courthouse in Eugene, Oregon, to call attention to their lawsuit against the federal government. ...
... No one event—fire, flood, storm can be attributed to climate change, but the science is clear:
Rising temperatures are lengthening fire season, intensifying storms, and raising sea levels. Climate change is wreaking havoc on lives across the country and across the world.
Virtually everyone with eyes—or, indeed, a nose—understands this, with the exception of a few leaders in Washington. That group of course includes President Trump, who recently said he thought the climate would “change back again.”
Those young people in Eugene have already been harmed by America’s environmental blindness. They want a chance to prove in court that government actions are hastening climate change, which, according to a United Nations panel report, will render much of Earth uninhabitable within their lifetimes.
But the government wants them out of court. Now. Before any testimony is heard.
This week, the government for the second time asked the Supreme Court to stop the young people’s lawsuit.
In July, in an order signed by Justice Anthony Kennedy, the high court refused the same demand from the government. But this time, with Kennedy gone and Justice Brett Kavanaugh sitting in his place, the government may face better odds.
On Friday, Chief Justice Roberts temporarily blocked the trial and asked the plaintiffs’ lawyers to file a response. That brief was filed Monday.
The plaintiffs argue that much of the federal government’s energy policy violates two sections of the Constitution—the due-process and equal-protection components of the Fifth Amendment, and the “unenumerated” Ninth Amendment “right to be sustained by our country’s vital natural systems.”
They also claim that climate policy violates the common law “public trust doctrine,” which requires government to preserve public property, including lands and waters, for the use of future generations. Environmental lawyers and scholars have argued for decades that “public trust” law requires the government to maintain a livable environment.
The plaintiffs ask that the court order the government to “prepare and implement an enforceable national remedial plan to phase out fossil fuel emissions and draw down excess atmospheric CO2.”
Under the law as it stands, Juliana v. United States is a long shot.
... Our world is burning in front of our eyes, and what Juliana tells us is that our children know it.
The government fears these 21 children; it asks the Supreme Court to tell them they do not even deserve a chance to fail.
The U.S. has a climate policy,
and it asks the Supreme Court to enforce it.
That policy is: Donald Trump says there is no such thing as climate change. The rest of us, young and old, need to shut up and burn."
You can read more here
Focused Monthly Inspiration
( #itsNovember2018now )
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What's in the book:
→ Direct sources & resources for Democrats:
* ( Personal favored and most informative follows are also shared here with the understanding that readers will always apply their own critical thinking to any information provided anywhere by anyone. #StrongerTogether does not share sources of information lightly but -- no one is perfect! -- so always #DistrustAndVerify -- even if it's me. I am using a star rating that is strictly based on my situational experience with the work of the media personality specifically in relation to issues of interest to me. )
The Democratic Party Website
Also, NOT exactly a Democratic Party specific source under a GOP majority but a good place for to hear and to watch speeches & hearings directly C-SPAN
Democratic National Committee's Team Blue!
"The Blue Wave 
🌊 won't happen unless we all pitch in to help elect Democrats across the country. We've partnered with a number of organizations to make sure we're covering ground in every single community 👣. Join Team Blue to volunteer to get out the vote 
🗳️ in your community..."
🌊 won't happen unless we all pitch in to help elect Democrats across the country. We've partnered with a number of organizations to make sure we're covering ground in every single community 👣. Join Team Blue to volunteer to get out the vote 🗳️ in your community..."
You can email your two Senators and your Representative in Congress in one email here
"Postcards to Voters are friendly, handwritten reminders from volunteers to targeted voters giving Democrats a winning edge in close, key races coast to coast.
What started on March 11, 2017 with sharing 5 addresses apiece to 5 volunteers on Facebook...
Now, we consist of over 20,000+ volunteers in every state (including Alaska and Hawaii) who have written close to 3 million postcards to voters in over 100+ key, close elections."
You can find Postcards to Voters here
→ Some of my favorite, most active organizations -- some existing & some developing to elect Democrats:
Born from conversations between Governor Howard Dean and Secretary Hillary Clinton in the aftermath of the 2016 election, Onward Together was established to lend support to leaders — particularly young leaders — kicking off projects and founding new organizations to fight for our shared progressive values. here
Since #StandOnEveryCorner has grown, it’s become a stand by all of us to protect our democracy from corruption and treason...A stand not at your State Capitol, but in your own backyard. Not once every few months, but as often as you can here
→ Fact checking organizations courtesy of the Society of Professional Journalists
in alphabetical order...
→ Some of my favorite, most informative
follows on Twitter include:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ US Intelligence | Author | Navy Senior Chief | NBC/MSNBC
⭐⭐⭐ Federal Government Operations | Vanity Fair | Newsweek | MSNBC Contributor | Author
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Voting Rights/Voter Suppression | Author | Mother Jones
→ Some of my favorite, highly credible media -- at the moment:
📰📰📰 Mother Jones
📰📰📰📰 The Washington Post
→ Some of my favorite Talking Heads -- at the moment -- and their Twitter handles:
→ Some of my favorite media/panelists -- at the moment -- and their Twitter handles:
✅✅✅✅ Joan Walsh national affairs correspondent for The Nation; CNN political contributor
✅✅✅ Heidi Przybyla USA TODAY Senior Political Reporter
✅✅✅✅ Jennifer Rubin Conservative blogger at @ WashingtonPost's Right Turn,MSNBC contributor
✅✅✅ Natasha Bertrand Staff writer @ The Atlantic covering national security & the
intel community. @ NBCNews/@ MSNBC contributor
→ Some of my favorite Democrat Party Leaders to follow on Twitter, not in elected office but proving knowledge & experience are positives & not negatives are:
Former First Lady Michelle Obama
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton
Former Labor Secretary/Today's DNC Chair Tom Perez
Note: I rarely get involved in primary races -- outside of those in my own area and unless there is a glaring reason that can not be ignored, I support Democratic Party nominees in general elections. I don't support bashing Democrats.
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(Linked) "...is our 2016 platform...a declaration of how we plan to move America forward. Democrats believe that cooperation is better than conflict, unity is better than division, empowerment is better than resentment, and bridges are better than walls.
It’s a simple but powerful idea: We are stronger together."
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Owned, Created and Curated by Gail Mountain, this blog is often gently edited and/or excerpted for quick reading, with occasional personal commentary in the form of the written word and/or in the form of emphasis noted. Network For #StrongerTogether ! is not affiliated with The Democratic Party in any capacity. This is an independent blog and the hope is you will, at a glance, learn more about the Party and you will, with a click or two, also take action on its behalf as it is provided!
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See the League of Women Voters website:
Vote411 here
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...for Networking for Democrats today!
g. (Unapologetic Democrat)
✊ Resisting "Fake News"
g. (Unapologetic Democrat)
✊ Resisting "Fake News"
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