You’re so accurate in your depiction of the Trump branch of the GOP! Serial liars describes them perfectly. They have no shame and will do anything to attain power!
I think this is the result of living through the past 6 years where lying became a matter of course rather than an exception.. I get that politicians - all of them - tell lies or exaggerate. That's the name of the game, but when we fail to use our own visceral sense that when someone smiles only from the mouth and not the eyes, the words are disingenuous, we are in trouble.
Trump and his propaganda machine at Fox produced such an avalanche of lies, voters must have become numb and lost faith in their own moral compasses and then, in order to keep one Republican vote, the rest have to cover up.
You represent a voice of clarity in the fog, Ruth. I'm sorry for the folks who are still living in it. They must be exhausted on some level at having to hold the tension of these opposites.
Thank you for the provocative and spot-on essay Ruth. The NYT article on Elise Stefanik highlights other “acceptable” politician behaviors including singleminded pursuit of office and complete ideological flip flopping, of power and of renown (infamy?)
This Republican party never explicitly states that it is above the law, but it disparages all efforts to investigate and prosecute its members’ crimes as partisan and/or hoaxes, while also denigrating and weakening law enforcement and our systems if justice. So they can claim to be the party of law and order while refusing accountability.
Thanks for posting these with readings, I like to read along as they are read. That has always been the most effective way for me to learn matierial =]
No question that in the age of Trump, conning your way to winning elections with lies and fraud is the path to success. More and more as lying and fraud become the norm, the Republican party finds itself mired knee deep in Trump's vulgar, squalid, fascism.
In the GOP we see deceitfulness, failure to conform to social norms, lack of remorse, lack of empathy, guile, a cold nature, narcissism/grandiosity, manipulation, unlawfulness, cruelty, a lack of conscience and rage. All of these traits are seen in sociopathy (secondary psychopathy). Once sociopathic behavior becomes normalized by any major group in society, that society suffers badly. The Trump clones like Santos have adopted Trump's sociopathic behavior. Can you imagine anyone, having as their hero, a sociopath? Most authoritarian rule has involved this sort of sick symbiosis.
Just an update on George Santos the fraud: After local authorities began investigating him for his finances and citizenship , now "Brazilian authorities reopened fraud charges against Santos for a 2008 case in which he apparently stole checks from an elderly man. The case had been dormant because authorities had not been able to find Santos" as HCR reports.
Santos has become a poster boy for the Republican Party, an absurd, exhausting serial liar who can't keep his own fabulist stories straight. I'd like to think the man represents the culmination of the Trumpian scam, yet the defense by MTG--lets's give Santos a chance--bookended by the GOP's general silence, leads me to believe this is merely another disgusting chapter in the Republican manual, 'Business as Usual.'
No surprise then that the Republican-led House is planning to gut the Ethics Committee. Who needs a Committee for something that no longer exists?
On a brighter note, once the circus starts rolling the American public will have a daily reminder of what non-governance looks and sounds like. Performative politics and endless conspiracy theories might be headline getters, but they will fail in getting anything constructive done.
I expect the People's Business will be on hold for the next two years. Instead, we'll witness the Season of Vendettas and Grievance.
For me, there is no excuse for the mainstream media's failure to investigate and report on the Republican's to use and weaponize white-Christo fascism over the last 30 years. The Republicans have compiled a mountain of lies and hypocrisy that is blatant and obvious. Trump did not hijack the Republican Party; the Republican Party gave him power and legitimized him at every turn. When Trump ran for president in 2016, the MSM went out of its way to treat him as a legitimate Republican contender - maybe he was a little rough around the edge, but he was interesting to report on and sold subscriptions. Trump was a populist with a populist message. The hypocrisy of the NYT was mind-jarring given they had reported on Trump and his father before him for decades. They knew better than anyone that he was grifter, liar and scam artist who was so damaged there wasn't a bank in the US that would give him a loan. They knew he was completely unqualified to be president and a clear and present danger to our form of government. Contrast that with how they reported on Hillary and Bill Clinton. Now, I'm not suggesting there were no negative news reports on Republicans or Trump, but none of them did the in-depth reporting and analysis that we get every week from Ruth Ben-Ghiat and many others. The Fourth Estate has been hijacked by the rich and powerful and demonstrated time and again that they cannot be relied on to represent the best interests of their readers/subscribers. They are an abysmal failure and have been for all of our lifetimes.
Then there is the Democrats and their lackluster, even feckless defense and counter-offense against the Republican barrage. They too had access to a mountain of damning facts and information against the Republicans. Everything Ruth covered in this, and countless other articles is/was readily available to Democratic politicians to use to unmercifully attack the Republicans. Why didn't the Democratic opponent to Santos uncover this information? Why wasn't Santos's charade laid bare to the voting public? As I understand this was not hard to uncover and wasn't it strange that it came to light right after the election ended? WTF! Does the Democratic Party no longer do even cursory investigations into political opponents. (We all know Republicans dig until they get some dirt on their opponent, even if it is manufactured nonsense.)
You can blame this on the power of the right-wing media but as I already pointed out, the MSM is complicit as well in failing to investigate and report on the immoral, anti-democratic and corrupt Republican Party and some deeply disturbed if not dangerous members of Congress. Trump exists more because of the failure of the MSM than the success of the right-wing media. You can also blame Mitch McConnell and his cohorts for perverting governance to push their agenda. To that I say, two can play that game but Democrats would rather "take the high road." I don't think you can find one person in America who will tell you that taking the high road against the Republicans has been effective. If the Republicans have learned a lesson, it's that Democrats are a pushover. You can't ever win a fight if you don't fight back. Too many millions of lives have been irreversibly ruined because Democrats refuse to fight back against the Republican packing of the Supreme Court.
We are in a fight for the future of this country. Most people frame this as defending democracy. This is a fight for the control of the country. It is the 99% against the wealthiest 1%. Politics has degenerated into a struggle for supreme power - authoritarian control. The winner takes all mentality has resorted to inciting deeply divisive politics. In America, we are in a war that is lose-lose for the 99% and win-win for the 1%. As always, the Golden Rule prevails. The rich are unstoppable unless the 99% demands that both parties work to reverse income and wealth inequality. That's never going to happen in the current system.
I believe that Ruth will be the first to point out that every one of these strongman governments is under the control and influence of the wealthiest people in the world. All that matters is Money and Power!
The Golden Rule - those who have the gold, make the rules.
That's what makes the world go around and we are all paying dearly for giving them this power through political systems of which many are democratic in name only. How many more generations will needlessly suffer until a true representative democracy is fully and firmly installed in every country throughout the world?
Time is running out. The population continues to grow as resources deplete. Climate change doesn't care if we ignore the science. It's happening and it will be devastating to mankind. The wealthy will survive. They may find themselves lonely living underground, but they will survive. The rest of us - that is nowhere a given. Time is running out quickly* and some believe it is too late barring a miracle. Personally, I'm at the end of my life. If I was younger and thinking about bringing a child into a dying world, I would think twice. The reality is unless critical mass is achieved, nothing will change no matter what any one of us do.
If one elects liars, cheaters and bullies into government, don't complain if your government lies to you , cheats you and bullies you .... Santos fits the mold of the current GOP perfectly....
My takeaway: As Heidi Cuda observes, Santos represents "theatre craft, a form of Russian active measures that introduces new characters as if in a play whose role is to distract from the more important headlines."
You’re so accurate in your depiction of the Trump branch of the GOP! Serial liars describes them perfectly. They have no shame and will do anything to attain power!
From today’s essay: “ Long an outcast who left behind a string of bad situations and broken relationships, Santos has at last found his tribe.”
This sums it up perfectly.
I think this is the result of living through the past 6 years where lying became a matter of course rather than an exception.. I get that politicians - all of them - tell lies or exaggerate. That's the name of the game, but when we fail to use our own visceral sense that when someone smiles only from the mouth and not the eyes, the words are disingenuous, we are in trouble.
Trump and his propaganda machine at Fox produced such an avalanche of lies, voters must have become numb and lost faith in their own moral compasses and then, in order to keep one Republican vote, the rest have to cover up.
You represent a voice of clarity in the fog, Ruth. I'm sorry for the folks who are still living in it. They must be exhausted on some level at having to hold the tension of these opposites.
We are I very deep. The new Co guess begins s today. Too many criminals are in it.
Thank you for this essay
Thank you for the provocative and spot-on essay Ruth. The NYT article on Elise Stefanik highlights other “acceptable” politician behaviors including singleminded pursuit of office and complete ideological flip flopping, of power and of renown (infamy?)
This Republican party never explicitly states that it is above the law, but it disparages all efforts to investigate and prosecute its members’ crimes as partisan and/or hoaxes, while also denigrating and weakening law enforcement and our systems if justice. So they can claim to be the party of law and order while refusing accountability.
Thanks for posting these with readings, I like to read along as they are read. That has always been the most effective way for me to learn matierial =]
No question that in the age of Trump, conning your way to winning elections with lies and fraud is the path to success. More and more as lying and fraud become the norm, the Republican party finds itself mired knee deep in Trump's vulgar, squalid, fascism.
In the GOP we see deceitfulness, failure to conform to social norms, lack of remorse, lack of empathy, guile, a cold nature, narcissism/grandiosity, manipulation, unlawfulness, cruelty, a lack of conscience and rage. All of these traits are seen in sociopathy (secondary psychopathy). Once sociopathic behavior becomes normalized by any major group in society, that society suffers badly. The Trump clones like Santos have adopted Trump's sociopathic behavior. Can you imagine anyone, having as their hero, a sociopath? Most authoritarian rule has involved this sort of sick symbiosis.
Just an update on George Santos the fraud: After local authorities began investigating him for his finances and citizenship , now "Brazilian authorities reopened fraud charges against Santos for a 2008 case in which he apparently stole checks from an elderly man. The case had been dormant because authorities had not been able to find Santos" as HCR reports.
Santos has become a poster boy for the Republican Party, an absurd, exhausting serial liar who can't keep his own fabulist stories straight. I'd like to think the man represents the culmination of the Trumpian scam, yet the defense by MTG--lets's give Santos a chance--bookended by the GOP's general silence, leads me to believe this is merely another disgusting chapter in the Republican manual, 'Business as Usual.'
No surprise then that the Republican-led House is planning to gut the Ethics Committee. Who needs a Committee for something that no longer exists?
On a brighter note, once the circus starts rolling the American public will have a daily reminder of what non-governance looks and sounds like. Performative politics and endless conspiracy theories might be headline getters, but they will fail in getting anything constructive done.
I expect the People's Business will be on hold for the next two years. Instead, we'll witness the Season of Vendettas and Grievance.
For me, there is no excuse for the mainstream media's failure to investigate and report on the Republican's to use and weaponize white-Christo fascism over the last 30 years. The Republicans have compiled a mountain of lies and hypocrisy that is blatant and obvious. Trump did not hijack the Republican Party; the Republican Party gave him power and legitimized him at every turn. When Trump ran for president in 2016, the MSM went out of its way to treat him as a legitimate Republican contender - maybe he was a little rough around the edge, but he was interesting to report on and sold subscriptions. Trump was a populist with a populist message. The hypocrisy of the NYT was mind-jarring given they had reported on Trump and his father before him for decades. They knew better than anyone that he was grifter, liar and scam artist who was so damaged there wasn't a bank in the US that would give him a loan. They knew he was completely unqualified to be president and a clear and present danger to our form of government. Contrast that with how they reported on Hillary and Bill Clinton. Now, I'm not suggesting there were no negative news reports on Republicans or Trump, but none of them did the in-depth reporting and analysis that we get every week from Ruth Ben-Ghiat and many others. The Fourth Estate has been hijacked by the rich and powerful and demonstrated time and again that they cannot be relied on to represent the best interests of their readers/subscribers. They are an abysmal failure and have been for all of our lifetimes.
Then there is the Democrats and their lackluster, even feckless defense and counter-offense against the Republican barrage. They too had access to a mountain of damning facts and information against the Republicans. Everything Ruth covered in this, and countless other articles is/was readily available to Democratic politicians to use to unmercifully attack the Republicans. Why didn't the Democratic opponent to Santos uncover this information? Why wasn't Santos's charade laid bare to the voting public? As I understand this was not hard to uncover and wasn't it strange that it came to light right after the election ended? WTF! Does the Democratic Party no longer do even cursory investigations into political opponents. (We all know Republicans dig until they get some dirt on their opponent, even if it is manufactured nonsense.)
You can blame this on the power of the right-wing media but as I already pointed out, the MSM is complicit as well in failing to investigate and report on the immoral, anti-democratic and corrupt Republican Party and some deeply disturbed if not dangerous members of Congress. Trump exists more because of the failure of the MSM than the success of the right-wing media. You can also blame Mitch McConnell and his cohorts for perverting governance to push their agenda. To that I say, two can play that game but Democrats would rather "take the high road." I don't think you can find one person in America who will tell you that taking the high road against the Republicans has been effective. If the Republicans have learned a lesson, it's that Democrats are a pushover. You can't ever win a fight if you don't fight back. Too many millions of lives have been irreversibly ruined because Democrats refuse to fight back against the Republican packing of the Supreme Court.
We are in a fight for the future of this country. Most people frame this as defending democracy. This is a fight for the control of the country. It is the 99% against the wealthiest 1%. Politics has degenerated into a struggle for supreme power - authoritarian control. The winner takes all mentality has resorted to inciting deeply divisive politics. In America, we are in a war that is lose-lose for the 99% and win-win for the 1%. As always, the Golden Rule prevails. The rich are unstoppable unless the 99% demands that both parties work to reverse income and wealth inequality. That's never going to happen in the current system.
I believe that Ruth will be the first to point out that every one of these strongman governments is under the control and influence of the wealthiest people in the world. All that matters is Money and Power!
The Golden Rule - those who have the gold, make the rules.
That's what makes the world go around and we are all paying dearly for giving them this power through political systems of which many are democratic in name only. How many more generations will needlessly suffer until a true representative democracy is fully and firmly installed in every country throughout the world?
Time is running out. The population continues to grow as resources deplete. Climate change doesn't care if we ignore the science. It's happening and it will be devastating to mankind. The wealthy will survive. They may find themselves lonely living underground, but they will survive. The rest of us - that is nowhere a given. Time is running out quickly* and some believe it is too late barring a miracle. Personally, I'm at the end of my life. If I was younger and thinking about bringing a child into a dying world, I would think twice. The reality is unless critical mass is achieved, nothing will change no matter what any one of us do.
Quickly is relative but was best put into perspective in a Robert Hubbell Substack letter recently. You can check it out here: https://roberthubbell.substack.com/p/perspective?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Today's GOP is like M&Ms, but nothing to do with candy. Think "Misfits & Mayhem" instead!
If one elects liars, cheaters and bullies into government, don't complain if your government lies to you , cheats you and bullies you .... Santos fits the mold of the current GOP perfectly....
My takeaway: As Heidi Cuda observes, Santos represents "theatre craft, a form of Russian active measures that introduces new characters as if in a play whose role is to distract from the more important headlines."