A Vote For Trump Is A Vote For Radical Right Terrorism

A new poll by the Military Times of active-duty service members shows Trump job favorability underwater, just 38% saying he's doing a good job. Officers have the most unfavorable view of Trump-- 59.1% disapproving. As for voting... Biden's ahead among all service members by nearly 6 points.

And this was even before it came out that Trump has been knowingly been accepting at least 30 campaign contributions from American Nazi movement leader, Morris Gulett-- and other known Nazis. And before it came out that Trump has been stoking vigilantism and violence in American cities to cause chaos. Washington Post reporters David Nakamura, Matt Viser and Robert Klemko wrote Sunday that Trump spent the weekend fanning the flames of partisan tensions between his supporters and social justice protesters in Portland and Kenosha, underscoring the threat of rising politically motivated violence.

In tweeting a video of the caravan on the move, Trump called the participants “GREAT PATRIOTS!” The reaction marked a sharp contrast to his silence during a large and peaceful civil rights march on Friday in Washington that drew thousands to the Mall, where some speakers denounced his leadership.

In a statement Sunday afternoon, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden “unequivocally” condemned the Portland shooting and accused Trump of “fanning the flames of hate and division in our society and using the politics of fear to whip up his supporters.”

“We must not become a country at war with ourselves; a country that accepts the killing of fellow Americans who do not agree with you; a country that vows vengeance toward one another,” Biden said. “But that is the America that President Trump wants us to be, the America he believes we are.”

The violence has escalated as Trump has seized on the social justice protests as a campaign wedge, attempting to tie Biden to “radical” elements on the left. Eager to shift the political debate from the rising deaths and economic toll of the pandemic, Trump has relentlessly attacked Democratic mayors and governors for failing to quell protests, and he dispatched federal law enforcement authorities into cities to help arrest demonstrators.

...Trump aides, including White House senior adviser Kellyanne Conway, asserted recently that the violence and chaos will help his reelection bid.

“The only people to blame for the violence and riots in our streets are liberal politicians and their incompetent policies that have failed to get control of these destructive situations,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement. “This President has condemned violence in all its forms. Americans want peace in their streets and for their children to grow up in safe neighborhoods, and only President Trump has shown the courage and leadership to achieve law and order and deliver results.”

Trump’s conservative supporters, including Fox News host Tucker Carlson, have seized on Rittenhouse as a figure of sympathy, suggesting that he acted legally and in self-defense. The president on Sunday appeared to offer his support by liking a tweet from a self-described former liberal activist who cited Rittenhouse as a reason to vote for Trump.

Conservatives also rallied around the Trump caravan in Portland, where the man who was killed was wearing a hat bearing the words “Patriot Prayer,” the name of a far-right group organized in 2016 to bring pro-Trump rallies to liberal strongholds.

In a tweet, Trump referred to Biden as a “puppet” of “crazed leaders” on the left who envision the Portland chaos as emblematic of “Joe Biden’s America.”

“This is not what our great Country wants,” Trump wrote. “They want Safety & Security, and do NOT want to Defund our Police!”

Biden has stated that he does not support efforts of some liberals to drastically cut funding for local police departments and instead has outlined a proposal that would increase funding for community policing programs by $300 million as long as local departments agree to conditions such as adopting new use-of-force standards and increasing diversity among their ranks.

In recent months, Trump has increasingly used official White House events, along with campaign rallies, to vilify protesters as violent and to fan fears along racial lines.

During his renomination acceptance speech, delivered Thursday on the South Lawn of the White House for the Republican National Convention, Trump attacked Biden for failing to condemn “rioters and criminals spreading mayhem in Democrat-run cities” even though the former vice president had already spoken out against the violence and looting, saying the day before that “violence that endangers lives, violence that guts businesses and shutters businesses that serve the community-- that’s wrong.”

“Trump has been inciting violence for years and with deadly effects,” said author Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who studies authoritarian regimes. She pointed to a mass shooting in El Paso last summer by a gunman who cited anti-immigrant views with echoes of Trump’s rhetoric in a manifesto.

In 2018, Cesar Sayoc, a Trump supporter, mailed inoperative pipe bombs to Trump’s critics, a crime for which he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. And in 2017, a white nationalist in Charlottesville drove a car into a crowd, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer as she protested the extremist “Unite the Right” march-- a movement the president failed to condemn unequivocally.

“Now he’s trained his aim on Black Lives Matter protesters and antifa,” said Ben-Ghiat, referring to a loosely connected set of left-wing, anti-fascist groups. “So what is happening now with an escalation of violence is something beneficial to Trump. Strongmen leaders incite crises so they can pose themselves as the law-and-order solution.”

...Homeland security experts said the combustible mix of sharply polarized and ideologically minded agitators mixing on the streets in cities where law enforcement authorities are strained and, in some cases, inadequately trained is a recipe for potential violence.

“It’s important for government leaders at all levels to calm everyone and keep political rallies peaceful,” said Tom Warrick, an Atlantic Council expert who left government service last year after serving as a career official at the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.

“The problem is that things can quickly get out of control and the uncertainty and chaos become weapons in the fight,” Warrick said. “Merely the uncertainty that it will take days, or weeks, to sort out something that’s happening in itself becomes a tool for division of the country, rather than the unity.”

Yesterday, another Post team, Joshua Partlow and Isaac Stanley-Becker, reported that some local police departments-- which don't even try to screen out facsists and racists-- are supporting neo-Nazi Trump supporters, militants and vigilantes. Many people think officers in the Kenosha police department should be charged with abetting and encouraging the Kyle Rittenhouse murders in Kenosha.

The trio wrote that "As protesters march against racism and police violence in cities and towns across the nation, they are being confronted by groups of armed civilians who claim to be assisting and showing support for police battered and overwhelmed by the protests. The confrontations have left at least three people dead in recent days: In addition to the two protesters killed Tuesday in Kenosha, a man thought to be associated with a far-right group called Patriot Prayer was fatally shot late Saturday in Portland, Oregon. Both incidents have drawn complaints that local authorities abetted the violence by tolerating the presence of these self-appointed enforcers with no uniforms, varied training and limited accountability. The stated motives of these vigilante actors, who are virtually indistinguishable from one another once massed on the streets, range from protecting storefronts and free speech to furthering White supremacy and fomenting civil war."

Many sheriffs and police chiefs, including in Kenosha, have disavowed these armed civilians, saying police don’t want their help. Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth said he responded “hell no” when asked to deputize civilians. And Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian said this week, “I don’t need more guns on the streets in this city when we are trying to keep people safe.”

But elsewhere, local authorities have at times appeared to support people who took up arms against protests that have occasionally turned violent and provided cover for vandals and looters. In Snohomish, Washington, the police chief was ousted in June after welcoming dozens of armed men, including one waving a Confederate flag, who responded to false Internet rumors that “antifa” looters planned to ransack the town, referring to a loosely knit movement of far-left activists.

In Hood County, Texas, a constable in May encouraged the Oath Keepers-- an armed group that claims to have thousands of members of current and former law enforcement and military members-- to defend a Dallas hair salon after rumors of possible looting. And in Salem, Oregon, a police officer was captured on video in June advising armed men to “discreetly” stay inside while police began arresting protesters for violating curfew.

On other occasions, police officers have been photographed smiling or fist-bumping with members of far-right armed groups. Even in Kenosha, individual police officers seemed to welcome the help of armed civilians, including Rittenhouse, a member of police and fire cadet training programs who said on video before the shooting that it was “our job” to help people and protect property.

We were welcomed very warmly,” said Kenosha Guard leader Kevin Mathewson, 36, a former city alderman who summoned men with guns to gather in Kenosha on the night of the shooting. “I was at the entrance to my neighborhood. [Police] rolled down their windows and said, ‘Thanks for being here. We can’t be everywhere.’”

Mathewson has said that he does not know Rittenhouse. The teen, from the nearby town of Antioch, Ill., has been charged with first-degree homicide. His attorneys say he acted in self-defense after being “accosted by multiple rioters.”

In a letter last week to Kenosha officials, Mary B. McCord, legal director at Georgetown University Law Center’s Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection, said “the bloodshed . . . throws into sharp relief the danger posed when private and unaccountable militia groups take the law into their own hands.”

McCord has called on police and prosecutors to enforce laws that prohibit private militias from usurping law enforcement functions. In her letter, she noted that “several provisions of Wisconsin law prohibit private paramilitary and unauthorized law enforcement activity.”

Raul Torrez (D), the district attorney in Bernalillo County, N.M., agrees. In June, one person was shot after members of an armed group that calls itself the New Mexico Civil Guard clashed with protesters trying to tear down a monument to Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate in Albuquerque. Torrez filed suit against the militia, seeking to block it from assuming law enforcement duties.

“I don’t think a lot of Americans understand how fragile democracy is,” Torrez said. “One of the early signs of a troubled democracy is when people decide that they’re no longer going to address their political differences at the ballot box-- or in elected legislatures or in Congress-- but they’re going to do it on the street, and they’re going to do it with guns.”

“Police officers, district attorneys, leaders in law enforcement here and across the country have to make it unambiguously clear to anyone that it is not their job-- it is the role of law enforcement-- to” defend property, Torrez said. Militia groups are “not hearing that message from enough leadership in law enforcement. And this takes us down a very, very dangerous path.”

While racial justice protests typically condemn police behavior and include calls for defunding police departments, militia-style groups are predominantly pro-police and often rally behind slogans such as “Blue Lives Matter” and “Back the Badge.” In Portland and other places, law enforcement has been accused of treating far-right groups more leniently than leftist protesters.

“The vigilantes will come out, and their rally will be ‘Back the Blue,’” said Alexander Reid Ross, a doctoral fellow at the Center for Analysis of the Radical Right, a London-based group.

Ross has compiled a database of 497 public appearances of militias and far-right groups in about 300 U.S. counties since May, including 56 that he says suggest collaboration with police.

This summer, for instance, a commissioner in Bonner County, Idaho, called on residents to mobilize against a Black Lives Matter protest planned for Sandpoint, the county seat. His Facebook post asked people to “help counter anything that might get out of hand,” drawing a rebuke from Sandpoint Mayor Shelby Rognstad, who called it “grossly irresponsible.”

The commissioner, Dan McDonald, said he stood by his message, despite critics who derided the assemblage as “Dan’s private army.”

“Most of the guys that showed up-- I would bet because I know some of these folks-- are former law enforcement, former military,” he said. “They’re well trained and continue to train just for their own self-defense.”

Elsewhere, local officials have advised civilians to be prepared to use violence to defend themselves. At a June news conference responding to rumors on social media of possible riots, the sheriff in Polk County, Fla., warned would-be lawbreakers that local residents “have guns. I encourage them to own guns. And they’re going to be in their homes tonight, with their guns loaded.”

The sheriff, Grady Judd, also encouraged people to shoot intruders.

“Shoot them so much you can read the Washington Post through them,” he said in an interview last week, adding: “I want people to take matters into their own hands when they’re protecting their homes.”

...“Are we really surprised that looting and arson accelerated to murder?” Fox News host Tucker Carlson said last week. “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?”

Let me turn to the student newspaper of Louisiana State University, Reveille and writer Gabrielle Martinez, who had a few things to say over the weekend about Tucker's racism and hate-mongering on Fox. "With an average audience of 4.33 million viewers each night," she wrote, "frozen dinner heir and political pundit Tucker Carlson consistently spews hate through misinformation and misdirection as the host of the highest-rated program in U.S. cable news history, Tucker Carlson Tonight. A defining trait of the millionaire’s TV persona is his hatred for the American 'elite.' He repeatedly discusses his distaste for the 'pompous' rich, like Barack Obama, to an almost anti-capitalist degree; ironically, it’s estimated Tucker Carlson Tonight has sold $108.3 million in commercials alone this year, making up 16 percent of Fox’s billion-dollar ad revenue. Yet Carlson still attempts to portray himself as a figurehead of America’s working class. A supposed patriot, he wants the best for the United States-- or at least enough to relentlessly push Fox’s ultra-conservative narrative on their elderly white viewership."

To Carlson, "maintaining order” apparently means murdering two innocent people, a crime even our current president refuses to condemn. This is the result of Carlson’s inability to distance himself from radical far-right rhetoric in turn for higher ratings and publicity.

It’s becoming more and more clear that Carlson is intentionally pushing a narrative that he himself is writing. While it’s humorous to acknowledge as an outsider, it’s dangerous to the people who actually take his word seriously and believe the liberal left wants to destroy the American way of life.

While the left advocates for race equality and climate change, Carlson somehow twists these movements into what he views as socialist corruption. Instead of acknowledging things as they are, Carlson falsely portrays himself as a heroic character trying to save America from ruin. This tactic only heightens dramatics to further divide the country along race and party lines.

Oh, and John Oliver is... on fucking fire! Please do not miss this clip-- and all the way to the end!

It's All About The Racism... And Fear

A new poll for ABC News by Ipsos, isn't indicating that the conventions changed anyone's mind about Trump or Biden. Ipsos concluded that among all all Americans who watched at least some of the GOP convention-- about half of the voters-- responses to the RNC are more negative than the DNC. "Slightly more than one in three Americans (37%) approve of what the Republicans said and did at their convention, compared to 59% who disapprove. After the DNC, 53% approved of the Democrats’ message... Biden’s and Trump’s standings, along with their running mates, remains unchanged from after the DNC. Currently, 31% of Americans feel favorable toward Donald Trump, unchanged from last week (32%) and similar to his standing before both conventions (35%). The same is true for Joe Biden: 46% feel favorable, virtually the same as last week (45%). However, more Americans feel positive toward Biden than negative, an improvement from earlier in August. Just over a third of Americans (35%) approve of how Trump is handling the response to the coronavirus, unchanged from the end of July (34%)."

So what's a Republican operative class gonna do? Fear's worked for them in the past... and it's a natch for Trump. And racism... another Trump forte. NBC News had a cute report up late last week about how Twitter is trying to stop a Trump campaign spam operation that pushes messages from fake accounts about Black people abandoning the Democratic Party.

The fake accounts were purported to be run by Black people whose viral tweets received tens of thousands of shares in the past month. One of the accounts, @WentDemToRep, logged over 11,000 retweets on a single tweet that claimed that the user was a lifelong Democrat who was pushed to vote Republican by the Black Lives Matter movement. The tweet was posted shortly after the account was created Tuesday.

The WentDemToRep account quickly tagged two other accounts in a reply, @PeterGammo and @KRon619, which were suspended at the same time Tuesday. The Twitter spokesperson said all three accounts were suspended for spam and, "specifically, artificially manipulative behavior."

Disinformation experts and national security agencies are gearing up for the election, anticipating that social media platforms will continue to be central to foreign and domestic efforts to mislead voters.

The fake accounts, which used the images of Black men for their profile pictures, had five separate posts with at least 10,000 retweets. Recent attempts to co-opt the identities of African Americans to simulate support for President Donald Trump in the run-up to the election have had success online, researchers say.

The profile picture from WentDemToRep was stolen from the Instagram page of Nelis Joustra, a model who worked to get the fake account deleted.

...Brandi Collins-Dexter, a fellow at Color Of Change, an online racial justice nonprofit, said trolls' simulating the identities of African Americans is a coordinated practice that has been a common trope over the last decade for those trying to delegitimize social justice causes.

"The point is to provide ammunition against Black people for policymakers so they can point to things that are being said, allegedly from a Black person's account, to reinforce the idea that Black Lives Matter is a terrorist threat and put them on equal footing as white nationalists in terms of content moderation," Collins-Dexter said.

There is a decades-long history of non-Black actors posing as African Americans on social media. In 2016, Russia's Internet Research Agency "troll farm" targeted Black voters to depress turnout for Hillary Clinton, according to American intelligence agencies and bipartisan House and Senate reports.

Collins-Dexter also noted a coordinated campaign from the extremist website 4chan in April to pose as African Americans on Twitter who had just received COVID-19 stimulus checks. The fake accounts would thank the president for the checks, then brag about using them on alcohol, in "an effort to perpetuate the 'Welfare Queen' myth," Collins-Dexter said.

With Trump encouraging his KKK-like supporters to bring chaos and violence into the streets, in the hope of causing enough fear and backlash to reelect him, Biden barely understands how to push back at all. He seems torn and uncomfortable and might prefer taking a more rote "law and order" stance himself.

Frank Rich is a pretty perceptive observer of contemporary politics and he's come to the conclusion that Trump and his Republicans have decided their best shot at reelection is to just play the racist card-- heavy... and to the exclusion of anything else. Rich wrote that "During a week of police violence and vigilante murder in Wisconsin, in a year of preventable deaths and growing poverty, the Republican convention emphasized loyalty to Donald Trump, casting aside matters of policy and campaign law in favor of grievance. Was the convention just another concession to his outsize ego, part of the strategy to energize the party’s base in the run-up to November, or an attempt to win over undecided voters?" Like many Americans, Rich is worried that Trump could win and worried that if he loses "he would stop at nothing to take an already teetering country down with him."

The RNC was so boring Wednesday night that Tucker Carlson cut away early on, ditching the nattering Tennessee congresswoman Marsha Blackburn so he could launch into his now notorious defense of Kyle Rittenhouse’s killing spree in Kenosha: “How shocked are we that 17-year-olds with rifles decided they had to maintain order when no one else would?” At that instant, Carlson, implicitly speaking for Trump, the Republican Party, and its media enforcer, Fox News, crystalized what message mattered most about this convention and what message will matter most in Trump’s campaign over the crucial two months to come. As Trump would define it in a rare moment of focus during his endless drone of an acceptance speech, a vote for Joe Biden is a vote to “give free rein to violent anarchists and agitators and criminals who threaten our citizens.” The corollary, stated directly by Carlson and repeatedly embraced by Trump, is that arms-bearing white Americans can’t be faulted for wanting to take the law into their own hands.

For “anarchists and agitators and criminals,” read “Black people.” This racially tinged “law and order” message is nothing new either for Trump or a GOP that has been pursuing a “Southern strategy” since Richard Nixon codified it half a century ago. As many have noted, Trump is at a logical disadvantage in using it since, unlike Nixon, he is the incumbent president and the disorder he keeps decrying is happening on his watch. But what grabbed my attention on the convention’s sleepy third night was how Trump, on the ropes in summer polling, is nonetheless determined to take that message to a new and even more dangerous level by fomenting racial violence if need be. He will not only continue to boost arms-bearing white vigilantes as he has from Charlottesville to Portland, but, when all else fails, unabashedly pin white criminality on Black Lives Matter protesters.

Literally so. While the unrest in Kenosha was referenced repeatedly on Wednesday night, no one mentioned that the violence was all committed by white men: Rittenhouse, and Rusten Sheskey, the police officer who shot Jacob Blake seven times in the back while his three young sons looked on. Then along came Pence to raise the ante in his closing address. While trying to pound in the fear that Biden will coddle and encourage violent thugs, he brought up the ominous example of an officer who had been “shot and killed during the riots in Oakland, California.” The implication, of course, was that the officer had been killed by black rioters in that “Democratic-run city” when in fact the victim was murdered by a member of the far-right extremist movement known as “boogaloo” boys.

Next to this incendiary strategy, the other manifest sins of the week, though appalling, seem less consequential as we approach the crucial post–Labor Day campaign. They did keep those of us in the press busy. The news media were unstinting in calling out every lie and alternative fact in every speech as well as every violation of the Hatch Act. Full notice was paid to every shameless rhetorical feint and stunt contrived to create an alternative reality in which the coronavirus and mask-wearing are in the past tense, the decimated economy is about to skyrocket, and Trump is a champion of both immigration (even from what he calls “shithole countries”) and health care covering preexisting conditions. But aside from the 42 percent or so who consistently approve of Trump no matter what he or those around him do, most other Americans will see for themselves whether COVID-19 has evaporated or their economic security has improved this fall. Those are realities that Trump, for all his subterfuge, cannot alter. But racial animus is a less tangible and more enduring factor in America’s political fortunes, and it has been a toxic wild card in every modern election.

...Biden had it exactly right when he characterized this plan on Thursday by calling out Trump for “pouring gasoline on the fire” and “rooting for more violence, not less.” That was true from day one of the convention, when the gun-toting St. Louis couple, the McCloskeys, were given a prominent spot in the festivities. The rifle that Mark McCloskey pointed toward Black Lives Matter protesters in St. Louis, an AR-15, was the same that Kyle Rittenhouse fired at protesters in Kenosha the following night.

But it’s not enough for Biden to identify the strategy that is being unleashed to derail him, and it shouldn’t have taken him most of the week to get to the point. He’s in a fight for his and the country’s life. A Democratic campaign that was pitched most of all on targeting Trump’s criminally negligent response to the pandemic must now pivot to combat the most lethal of all American viruses, racism, in its most weaponized strain.

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.

-The infamous 14 Words slogan coined by David Lane, founder of the white supremacist organization known as The Order.

It's official, the KKK is broadcasting in plain sight, on national TV no less. Just compare the chyron in the screen capture above to the "14 Words" of the quote. KKK or FOX. Both stand for the same thing. I suppose we can be generous and give Tucker "Tiki Torch" Carlson credit for cutting the historic slogan down to his own "10 Words" or "best words." And, of course, for extra messaging, Tucker Tiki Torch combined his "10 Words" with the photos of two prominent non-caucasian American women who were elected to office by their constituents, one a Representative, the other a Senator. He literally called them vandals in order to terrify his republican audience. He even manages to verbally add his ongoing questioning of their patriotism, evilly and cynically glossing over the fact that one of them even gave both of her legs for this country. For this Mr. Tiki Torch says she doesn't love America. As an extra measure of his miniscule brain power, the irony of Tucker Tiki Torch preaching the gospel of the draft-dodging Cadet Bone Spurs while so denigrating a woman who sacrificed so much doesn't even occur to him or anyone else at FOX.

It's not like we needed any more evidence of the Murdoch family mission but FOX "News" is getting bolder by the week. No doubt they are operating in concert with our white supremacist president. We already know Traitor Don hires FOX "News alumni, talks directly with the current FOX people and has stepped up his white supremacist rhetoric, even channeling the words of Adolf Hitler in two speeches this past weekend as he decried, just like Tucker Tiki Torch, the very existence of the notion that Black Lives Matter. FOX "News" and the White House feed on each other's negativity, nihilism, and, most of all, racism. This is a Republican team approach. Already, many Republicans are talking up their Tiki Torch god as "presidential material" for 2024. This is who they are. This is the Republican Party brand, their platform is built on this.

The ratings for the Tucker Tiki Torch show are rising. Every night now, Mr. Tiki Torch sits there on camera and whines into the homes of America like some adolescent Grand Wizard. Republicans flock to their TVs for comfort and reassurance that someone is in their corner, a dark, dank, fetid, stinking corner at that. It's only a matter of time before Tucker Tiki Torch takes a pillow case from his last remaining sponsor, the My Pillow guy, cuts a couple of eye holes in it, puts it over his head, and broadcasts his show to the rapturous cheering and applause from every republican in the land. The rest of the FOX "News" staff will follow Tucker and President Trump in goose step. Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham will be kicking themselves for not doing the broadcasting in a hood thing first, even though they've obviously thought about it for years. If the current president gets another four years, the Murdochs will be giving him at least an hour of his own every night to read from his legendary well-worn book of Adolf Hitler's speeches.

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

An Update Of Yesterday's Midnight Meme Post:

In lieu of my usual Sunday Thoughts, I have decided to devote today's Midnight Meme Of The Day! to another form of Republican religion; FOX "News" and their primetime Jesus.

On Wednesday, some sponsors, emphasis some, began withdrawing their corporate sponsorship of FOX's Tucker Tiki Torch Carlson program. Among those were Papa John's, SmilDirectClub, T-Mobile, and ABC's traditionally far-right homophobic Disney. It's horrific enough that any corporation had ever supported Carlson's racist diatribes but Disney's press comment was particularly heinous. They claimed that their ads had been placed by a third party without their knowledge! Here's their statement.

The ABC advertisements were placed on the show without our knowledge by third party media buyers who were unaware that we do not advertise on the show, and they have been notified not to place any further ads.

Welcome to Neverland! Un-fucking believable! Can you imagine a corporation the size of ABC-Disney not knowing where their advertising is appearing? Yeah, me neither. In my career, I worked for 4 corporations. 3 of them were among the largest entertainment corporations in the world. I, and people in similar positions, approved the script, visuals and placement of every single advertisement for the things we were selling to the public. That included the show or publication, the frequency, and the time. Disney says they had no idea. Who knew? Give me a break!. Assholes!

The larger question is why does the corporate world advertise on ANY FOX "News" program let alone Carlson's but we know the answers to that one. No doubt, these, and other "very fine" corporations will continue to put money into the Murdoch family pockets by advertising on various FOX "News" programs as they continue to do the dance of death on the necks of any minority they see.

As for Mr. Tiki Torch himself, he continues and continues to venture further off the rails of sanity. On the same day that some advertisers began pulling their advertisements, he did a double down of sorts. I'll quote you this from FOX's own "news" site. If you want to read the whole thing you can click on the link but don't say I didn't warn you. It's more than jaw-dropping. Here's the first paragraph:

Tucker Carlson blasted Democratic leaders Wednesday night, accusing them of using the coronavirus pandemic and the unrest over George Floyd's death to distract the American public from the negative impacts of lockdowns.

Nice to see that FOX "News" now calls the pandemic a pandemic and no longer a hoax, eh? But, yeah, Mr. Tiki Torch went there. He used the death of George Floyd to attack proponents of saving American lives by sheltering in place and locking down. He did this while the numbers of cases and deaths are exploding in states, like Florida and Arizona, that re-opened way too early or otherwise didn't take the idea seriously. This is the stuff of a virulent sociopath.

Here's how Tucker Tiki Torch describes his own show. I guess self-awareness is not his forte-

Tucker Carlson Tonight is the sworn enemy of lying, pomposity, smugness and group think

Oh, and one more thing: Today is Trump's Birthday. Tweet him a nice picture of Obama. It's a thing. Millions are saying.

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

Black lives don't matter at FOX "News." That's something they have made clear time and time again, even before the Black Lives Matter phrase entered our lexicon. The idea that Black Lives Matter really sets them off. The fear of the very idea and their reaction to it is part of their sick religion of White Supremacy. I suppose we should give them credit for knowing their audience.

Right now, Tucker Tiki Torch has seized the title of FOX's High Priest Of White Supremacy. He's fought hard for that title and won. In the past, he's even publicly claimed, as cover, that White Supremacy is a hoax. Now, not even Sean Hannity or Laura Ingraham can top the Tiki Torch dude, although I'm sure Ingraham is in front of a mirror right now practicing her Hitler salutes for the upcoming RNC convention (wherever they finally decide to hold it) and Hannity is taking his KKK robe out of his closet and having the hems let out.

On Monday, Tucker Tiki Torch really jumped into the White Supremacists Only pool. He couldn't stop himself. He did everything to make the Murdoch family proud other than light up a cross on stage. You know that's coming sooner or later but here's Tucker on Monday talking about the protests that came in the wake of the murder of George Floyd:

This may be about a lot of things, this moment we're living through, but it's definitely not about black lives and remember that when they come for you, and at this rate, they will. Anyone who has ever been subjected to the rage of the mob knows the feeling. It's like being swarmed by hornets. You cannot think clearly. And the temptation is to panic. But you can't panic. You've got to keep your head and tell the truth... If you show weakness of any kind, they will crush you.

"This moment we're living through." "Remember that when they come for you." "They will." "Subjected to the rage." "Swarmed by hornets." "Cannot think clearly." "Temptation is to panic." "They will crush you." This is textbook paranoia and despite what Mr. Tiki Torch would have you believe, he is obviously panicking. Practically every fear-mongering phrase is grist for the master thesis of a budding shrink. Tiki Torch Tucker Carlson is screaming inside and it's coming out more and more. The next night, he even attacked Sesame Street because Elmo talked about racism. That's right. Tucker Tiki Torch and FOX are even afraid of Elmo, a furry red puppet. Well, Elmo's not white, so... The Murdoch family eggs its star on. FOX programming is the essence of Republicanism. You can just see the Murdochs high-fiving and saying "This is fabulous stuff, Tucker! Great! Tucker!" Meanwhile, CEOs of American corporations are throwing sponsorship dollars at Tiki Torch Tucker's feet.

There will be an update on Mr. Tiki Torch's antics, their insanity and their financial consequences tomorrow.

3 Governors Who Want To Kill Their Own Citizens

There are three governors who have been judged so dangerously incompetent that none can be singled out as the worst pandemic governor in America and all three share the spot: Kristi Noem of South Dakota, Ron DeSantis of Florida and Brian Kemp of Georgia. Because all have opposed sane social distancing policies, thousands of their states' citizens have been infected. California now has 865 confirmed COVID-19 cases per one million in the population. South Dakota-- compliments of Noem-- has 2,031 cases per million (up from 1,950 yesterday). Florida has 1,335 cases/million (up from 1,314 yesterday) and Georgia has 1,931 cases per million (up from 1,884). The governors of these three states have implemented policies that will absolutely steepen the curve instead of flatten it. It's as if Noem, DeSantis and Kemp were all homicidal maniacs intent on causing their own populations to become infected.

As Georgia hurtles towards the 20,000 cases mark-- another 482 confirmed infections and 24 more deaths yesterday-- Kemp has decided to re-open restaurants, movie theaters, hair salons, barber shops, tattoo parlors and gyms as well as other businesses in his state. He's using Georgians as an experiment in curve-steepening (and as a test of Darwin's "survival of the fittest" law).




Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms told ABC News that she's "extremely concerned about the announcement the governor made. I hope that he's right and I'm wrong because if he's wrong then more people will die." Watch her short interview above with CNN's Chris Cuomo yesterday. Cuomo mentioned that the curve seems to be starting to flatten in Atlanta. She noted that "If we're in a better position, it's because we have been aggressive in asking people to stay home... As I look at the data and as I talk with our public health officials, I don't see that it's based on anything logical."

Even the crazy right-wing senator next door, Lindsey Graham (R-SC), is hissing that Kemp is opening up too much and too soon, worried that the contagion from Georgia will engulf his ownstate.

Nabilah Islam, the hands down best of the dozen candidates running for the open 7th congressional district seat in the suburbs north of Atlanta, wasn't exactly thrilled with Kemp's latest stunt. "For someone who claims to be pro-life," she told me last night, "Kemp's decision to begin to reopening Georgia after only recently finding out that asymptomatic people can spread the novel Coronavirus is anything but. Governor Kemp was one of the last to issue a shelter in place and is one of the first to open. To no one's surprise, the businesses he's choosing to open first are traditionally minority-owned businesses-- barbershops, nail salons being predominantly owned by populations of the electorate that voted against him in 2018. He has no desire to protect lives. His only desire is profit as with the rest of the Republican Party. Putting people first is not on their list of prerogatives."

Fiends of mine in Texas have asked me not to leave out their state, where the Governor is a complete dolt. True, but the Lt. Governor, Dan Patrick, has more power and is an even bigger dolt. He was on Fox's Tucker Carlson Tonight Monday babbling away like an imbecile that "there are more important things than living." Money.





In at least one state, though, an increase in infections can't be blamed on the governor. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers, though hampered by a legislature firmly controlled by the Republican Party Death Cult, moved to flatten the curve with regulations and tried to prevent in-person voting. The legislature took the case in favor of infecting the citizens of the state to the state and national Supreme Court-- each controlled by the Republican Party Death Cult-- and each court, by narrow party-line votes, ruled in favor of the pandemic.

The April 7 primary was on a day when infections were dropping because of social distancing policies (138 new cases that day, down from 173 new cases the day before). The governor's executive order helped bring the rate of infection down to just 87 new cases on April 12. A week after the forced in-person election, the infection rate began spiking-- back up to 166 per day. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported that Milwaukee Health Commissioner Jeanette Kowalik has said that so far 7 new cases in the city have been traced to the forced election-- six voters and one poll worker.

"As you recall, there were people that were in line for a very long time to get their vote in, so if you figure out around a range of time when someone was there or in the polling sites or in the line, connect to someone who was an actual case, that's when we would do notifications," she said.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said about 3,500 voters came to each of the city's five voting sites and dozens of workers were there as well.

"This will tell you why we were so adamant about trying to not have this occur," he said, referring calls to cancel in-person voting.

Yesterday, the Washington Post released a new poll it did in conjunction with the University of Maryland. Scott Clement and Dan Balz reported that the poll shows governors winning "praise across the political spectrum for their leadership, which has sometimes put them sharply at odds with Trump and his administration."

I wish it broke that praise down by state. It's hard to imagine that incompetents like Kemp, Noem and DeSantis could be winning much praise for their pandemic skills. This seemed to be borne out by most Americans-- 54%-- giving Señor Trumpanzee negative marks for his handling of the pandemic. By contrast, 72 percent of Americans give positive ratings to the governors of their states for the way they have dealt with the crisis.

Personal health concerns are widespread, with 57 percent saying they are “very” or “somewhat” worried about becoming infected and seriously ill from the coronavirus, including at least 40 percent of people in every major demographic and political group. For those most concerned, the fear was enough to override partisanship when it comes to the safety of public gatherings, particularly for Republicans.

...[I]n contrast with that overt pressure to reopen the country, the poll finds a clear majority of Americans expect social distancing practices will be necessary until at least the beginning of the summer.

Asked when people expect the outbreak to be controlled enough that people can safely attend gatherings of 10 or more people, just 10 percent predict such gatherings would be safe by the end of April or earlier, while another 21 percent expect them to be safe by the end of May. More than twice as many-- 65 percent-- say it may take until June or later for people to safely gather in groups of 10 or more.

Partisans divide on this question, with 77 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents saying they expect public gatherings will not be safe until June or later, compared with 51 percent of Republicans and Republican leaners who say the same. Yet Republicans split depending on personal health concerns.

Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents who are less worried about becoming infected and seriously ill from the coronavirus, 60 percent expect public gatherings will be safe by the end of May or earlier. But among Republicans who are at least somewhat concerned about becoming seriously sick, 66 percent say this will take until June, not far from the share of all Democrats who anticipate such a delay.

Americans are also pessimistic about how quickly the economy will recover after the outbreak is under control. A 63 percent majority expect the economy will recover slowly, while 37 percent think it will recover quickly. Trump has predicted a rapid recovery once businesses reopen, and his optimism is shared by 55 percent of Republicans. Most independents and Democrats expect a slow recovery.

In the meantime, Americans are actively taking part in measures meant to stem the spread of the virus. Most-- 65 percent-- report wearing a mask or a face covering when leaving home in the past week. Another 17 percent say they did not leave home at all. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to say they had worn a mask or not left home at all.

The Republican Party-- even at a grassroots level-- is a death cult and is driven towards steepening the curve. If 82% of Americans say they wear a mask in public or don't leave their houses at all, that still leaves almost 20% of the population willing to risk death, risk infecting their loved ones, risk keeping the pandemic growing. They are a real danger. I was happy this week to see Louisiana psychopath-pastor Tony Spell arrested again. Hopefully this time they'll throw away the key instead of letting him out like they did last time. Unlike earlier reports that said he was arrested for encouraging large gatherings at his church so he could continue to fleece his flock, the money-hungry right-wing pastor was actually arrested for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon for attempting to back a bus into a protester.

Insider Trading Senator, Richard Burr, Sold $150,000 Worth Of Shares In Wyndham Hotels Just Before It Lost Two-Thirds Of Its Value-- Smart Move... Also Criminal

I've been posting Chris Martenson's COVID-19 podcasts-- and urging readers to subscribe themselves-- since February. Because of his early warnings-- he's usually a week or two ahead of the government/media-- I was able to understand the need to liquidate substantial positions in stocks in my retirement account. But that's different from what Richard Burr (R-NC), Kelly Loeffler (R-GA), Ron Johnson (R-WI), Jim Inhofe (R-OK) and Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) did. They were getting classified information that wasn't available to ordinary citizens-- although Intel Committee chair Burr did share the info with a handful of his top North Carolina supporters. And these senators bailed on stocks before the crash-- $1.6 million worth in Burr's case.

And at the same time they were selling stocks, the Republicans were publicly urging their constituents to just Trust Trump. The STOCK Act (Stop Trading on Congressional Knowledge) prohibits members of Congress from doing exactly what these 5 senators did-- insider trading. Burr voted against passage of the STOCK Act in 2012-- one of only 3 senators to do so. As they always do, establishment media outlets are minimizing and tamping down the criminal actions these senators took. ProPublica isn't. They're doing the kind of reporting that corporate outlets like CBS News (video above) would never consider:

Soon after he offered public assurances that the government was ready to battle the coronavirus, the powerful chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Richard Burr, sold off a significant percentage of his stocks, unloading between $628,000 and $1.72 million of his holdings on Feb. 13 in 33 separate transactions.

As the head of the intelligence committee, Burr, a North Carolina Republican, has access to the government’s most highly classified information about threats to America’s security. His committee was receiving daily coronavirus briefings around this time, according to a Reuters story.

A week after Burr’s sales, the stock market began a sharp decline and has lost about 30% since.

On Thursday, Burr came under fire after NPR obtained a secret recording from Feb. 27, in which the lawmaker gave a VIP group at an exclusive social club a much more dire preview of the economic impact of the coronavirus than what he had told the public.

“Senator Burr filed a financial disclosure form for personal transactions made several weeks before the U.S. and financial markets showed signs of volatility due to the growing coronavirus outbreak,” his spokesperson said. “As the situation continues to evolve daily, he has been deeply concerned by the steep and sudden toll this pandemic is taking on our economy.”

Burr is not a particularly wealthy member of the Senate: Roll Call estimated his net worth at $1.7 million in 2018, indicating that the February sales significantly shaped his financial fortunes and spared him from some of the pain that many Americans are now facing.

He was one of the authors of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Act, which shapes the nation’s response to public health threats like the coronavirus. Burr’s office did not respond to requests for comment about what sort of briefing materials, if any, on the coronavirus threat Burr may have seen as chair of the intelligence committee before his selling spree.

According to the NPR report, Burr told attendees of the luncheon held at the Capitol Hill Club: “There’s one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history ... It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic.”

He warned that companies might have to curtail their employees’ travel, that schools could close and that the military might be mobilized to compensate for overwhelmed hospitals.

The luncheon was organized by the Tar Heel Circle, a club for businesses and organizations in North Carolina that are charged up to $10,000 for membership and are promised “interaction with top leaders and staff from Congress, the administration, and the private sector.”

Burr’s public comments had been considerably less dire. In a Feb. 7 op-ed that he co-authored with another senator, he assured the public that “the United States today is better prepared than ever before to face emerging public health threats, like the coronavirus.” He wrote, “No matter the outbreak or threat, Congress and the federal government have been vigilant in identifying gaps in its readiness efforts and improving its response capabilities.”

Members of Congress are required by law to disclose their securities transactions.

Burr was one of just three senators who in 2012 opposed the bill that explicitly barred lawmakers and their staff from using nonpublic information for trades and required regular disclosure of those trades. In opposing the bill, Burr argued at the time that insider trading laws already applied to members of Congress. President Barack Obama signed the bill, known as the STOCK Act, that year.

Stock transactions of lawmakers are reported in ranges. Burr’s Feb. 13 selling spree was his largest stock selling day of at least the past 14 months, according to a ProPublica review of Senate records. Unlike his typical disclosure reports, which are a mix of sales and purchases, all of the transactions were sales.

His biggest sales included companies that are among the most vulnerable to an economic slowdown. He dumped up to $150,000 worth of shares of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts, a chain based in the United States that has lost two-thirds of its value. And he sold up to $100,000 of shares of Extended Stay America, an economy hospitality chain. Shares of that company are now worth less than half of what they did at the time Burr sold.

The assets come from accounts that are held by Burr, belong to his spouse or are jointly held.

National emergencies, like the current pandemic, bring out the best in people-- but, apparently, also the worst. Note that all five senators are conservatives, who, ideologically, believe in a grasping me-first perspective. Conservatives shouldn't be serving in government. And when it really matters is in times like this. These 5 should all resign. They won't. Inhofe and Loeffler  are up for election this cycle. Inhofe is 100% safe, since he is an accurate reflection of his constituents, but Loeffler-- who was never elected to anything the first place and just bought the office from a crooked governor--  has a steep uphill climb to be returned to the Senate.Pressure is mounting-- including from Republicans-- on Burr to resign and wait for criminal prosecution. Even Tucker Carlson is talking about resignations:

Midnight Meme Of The Day!

by Noah

I couldn't let Black History Month, go without acknowledging key Trump advisor and one of America's top racists, Tiki Torch Tucker Carlson. The smug trust fund baby and conservative icon, perhaps best known for tweeting and broadcasting white supremacist tropes holds down the 9:00pm prime time slot at FOX "News" and leads in to the higher rated fellow white supremacist and Trump advisor Sean Hannity. In addition to President Mental Case being a bigly fan, leading white supremacists such as Andrew Anglin, Richard Spencer and David Duke ("God Bless Tucker Carlson") honor him by calling him their "greatest ally" and the Neo-Nazi Daily Stormer's "favorite pundit." To them and other Republicans, Carlson is to be commended for "telling it like it is."

Tiki Torch Tucker is the prime time go-to guy for Republican voters who want to hear their favorite fairytales before they turn in for the night. Republicans can and do tune in to hear that even legal immigrants are responsible for most of the crime in America. Republicans can also count on Carlson to reassure them that it is foreigners who are causing terrorism. Yet, he goes silent when a white American shoots up a school, a mall, or any gathering of innocent Americans. Mr. Tike Torch's feelings about bad cops murdering African-Americans? Really? Do you have to ask? His radio show is, if possible, even worse. It features one hell of a manure pile of attacks on minority women and Muslims. His Daily Caller website is not to be confused with the aforementioned Neo-Nazi Daily Stormer but you can be easily forgiven if you did conflate the two. The Daily Caller is a little bit milder but it amounts to a kind of porn for conservatives and is where bigots of all stripes go when they've finished with their favorite Neo-Nazi websites. It was founded by Carlson and a former aide to Dick Cheney. It all serves as a 24 hour reinforcement of hate and other conservative viewpoints.

The screen grab used for tonight's meme captures one of the more ironic moments in broadcast history but if Sen. Bernie Sanders is nominated for president, it will probably be a matter of seconds before "What Does Racism Look Like?" is replaced by the words "Jews Will Not Replace Us!" As for the expression on Carlson's mug, I'm not sure why Tiki Torch Tucker always appears so flustered and confused. I guess he just can't understand human decency. By the way, some people are saying that that face as "The Most Punchable Face On Television."

Reasons To Be Cheerful, Reasons To Be Miserable... In The Age Of Trump

Christopher Ingraham wrote up a Gallup polling report for the Washington Post that shows "the Trump era has ushered in the largest happiness gap between white and nonwhite Americans in nearly two decades. More than 90 percent of white Americans," wrote Ingraham, "say they are 'very' or 'fairly' happy these days, a number that has held steady since the early 2000s. Seventy-seven percent of nonwhites can say the same, which is 11 percentage points lower than the last time Gallup posed the question, early in the Obama years."

For most of the past two decades, whites and nonwhites were generally a few points apart on happiness. That briefly changed around 2005, when the federal government’s botched response to Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans was interpreted by many black Americans as a sign of institutional racism. That year, nonwhites were 10 percentage points less likely to report being happy than whites. But today’s 14-point gap is even larger.

Looks like someone has a reason too be cheerful

Record nonwhite discontent in the era of a president who weaponizes racial resentment may not come as a particular surprise. In 2018, nearly half of American Latinos said their circumstances had worsened in the first year of the Trump administration. Last summer, 80 percent of black Americans and 55 percent of Hispanics told Quinnipiac they consider Trump a racist. The Trump era also has coincided with a surge in hate crimes, particularly against Hispanics.

The relative unhappiness of nonwhites has driven the overall level of American happiness to its lowest level in more than a half-century of polling. Overall, Gallup reports, 86 percent of Americans report being “somewhat” or “fairly” happy, marking the fifth time happiness has fallen below 90 percent in 23 readings since 1948. The share who say they’re “not too happy” has more than doubled since 2007.

Previous Gallup research has found that Americans have grown more stressed, worried and angry during the Trump era. Last year. the United Nations’ seventh World Happiness Report found the United States ranked 19th in the world for happiness, a slide of five places relative to 2017.

Letter of the week. Note the cc

The growing gloominess is at odds with many of the most closely watched economic indicators: U.S. stocks continue to break their own record highs; unemployment hovers near 50-year lows; and the United States is in the midst of its longest economic expansion in history.

For a time, many economists and policymakers assumed the top-line numbers could serve as a rough proxy for quality of life in America. This assumption made a fair amount of sense in the era of shared prosperity in the middle of the last century. Employee wages kept pace with shareholder profits. The necessities of life-- a decent home, a quality education, good medical care-- were more or less affordable for workers in the middle of the income distribution.

But in the past few decades, more and more of the economy’s spoils have flowed to the already wealthy, leaving less for everyone else. A surging stock market doesn’t mean much to the more than 50 percent of Americans who own no stocks. Unemployment may be low, but many workers find themselves stuck in low-paying jobs that don’t cover basic necessities.

Who will this make happier (other than KKK members)? The Trumpist Regime decided to celebrate Michelle Obama's birthday yesterday by substituting pizza and french fries for fresh vegetables in school menus. "The U.S. Department of Agriculture has taken another whack at former first lady Michelle Obama’s signature achievement: Establishing stricter nutritional standards for school breakfasts and lunches. And on her birthday. USDA Deputy Under Secretary Brandon Lipps announced new proposed rules for the Food and Nutrition Service that would allow schools to cut the amount of vegetables and fruits required at lunch and breakfasts while giving them the ability to sell more pizza, burgers and fries to students." Trump campaign contributors in the junk food industry were giddy at the prospect of millions more in profits while nutritionists and public health specialists condemned the move.

A savvy Democrat in Congress told me in a private conversation about a post of mine we were discussing last night that in 2016 "Trump won the Republican primary primarily on name-recognition, which is what 'low information' voters rely on. (Same thing with Biden now.) Trump 'won' the general election, though, on the basis of a well-informed choice between two major candidates who both had 100% name-ID. In that case, surprisingly few people voted for either candidate; the great majority of the votes were against one or the other.'None of the above' would have won in a landslide. So you really can’t put that one on the low-information voter. At this point, I think that it’s a competitive race largely because Trump does have a huge name-ID advantage. But in the general election, he’s almost certainly the candidate who most people will hate more, no matter whom the Democrats put up. The more worrisome things to me is that we ought to be able to get ourselves out of this lesser-of-two-evils thing now, but we can’t, because no one believes-- or cares about-- a damn thing we are saying. They care a lot more about some crazy 'caravan' thing that never even reaches the border (much less where they live) than they do about the cost of health insurance, or anything else that Democrats claim we can help with.  Basically, everyone on both sides is obsessed with what’s going to be taken away from them-- guns, the right to an abortion, whatever--because they absolutely don’t believe that anyone could possibly make things better."

Except Bernie: someone to believe in. Look at this tweet from Doctors For Bernie. They're bringing up something that is very real and very present in the lives of millions of people, if not about student debt, then medical debt or housing insecurity or endless wars or-- for younger people-- the Climate Crisis:

Now listen to this Rod Stewart classic (basically, classic for people in their 60s and 70s, Biden and Trump supporters):





This week Emerson released a new poll of New Hampshire Democratic voters, showing how Bernie has been surging and is now clearly in first place at 23% compared to 18% for Mayo Pete and 14% each for Status Quo Joe and Elizabeth Warren. To rationalize Bernie's dominance, they write it off to the kids, "defining young voters" as anyone under 50. Poll director Spencer Kimball wrote that "Looking at ideology, Sanders leads with voters who describe themselves as 'very liberal' with 34%, followed by Warren with 29%, Buttigieg with 18%, Yang with 8% and Biden with 5%. Among voters who describe themselves as 'somewhat liberal,' Sanders continues to lead with 26%, followed by Buttigieg with 21%, Warren with 15%, Biden with 13% and Klobuchar with 12%. And among voters who describe themselves as 'moderate' or 'conservative,' Biden leads with 18%, followed by Buttigieg with 16%, Sanders with 15%, Klobuchar with 12%, and Steyer with 8%."

New Hampshire Democrats say that healthcare is the most important issue and those people overwhelmingly back Bernie (35%) followed by a distant Mayo Pete (19%) and Status Quo Joe (17%). Among voters who say the economy is the most important issue, Bernie also leads. He gets 23% of that group, compared to 20% for Elizabeth Warren and Mayo Pete at 17%, followed by Status Quo Joe at 17%.

The national Ipsos poll that came out this week for Reuters doesn't seem to show a lot of shiny, happy people as far as I can see. 58% of registered voters say the country is headed in the wrong direction-- and that shoots up to 81% among registered Democrats.

Among registered voters, Trump's job approval is just 38% and his job disapproval is 56% (and 55% among Independent voters). 45% say Trump should be removed from office, 14% say he should be censured and 31% say charges against him should be dismissed. This doesn't sound like a cohort of people who can possibly he happy, at least not when they watch the evening news, regardless of channel. And now a version of all this from the wild fringes of the far, far right: