We’re Mostly Communists Now

“The more times Trump gets indicted, the more times people realize that the Biden administration is a communist regime.” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene

It’s not just the neo-Birchers and nut cases anymore. The ideological creep of what once was the Republican party has gone past the point where the words liberal and progressive are no longer strong enough pejoratives to reference those who aren’t following the dictates of Dear Leader. 

If you're not in the cult, you’re a communist. This is supposed to be more fear-inducing for the stochastic wanna-be heroes crowd, who haven’t risen up as indictments drop, but are considered to be on standby if the current president happens to be defeated by the former president.  

Now, I’d be willing to bet my bottom dollar that none of these clowns could actually provide a realistic definition of the c-word or contrast it with the world envisioned by most of their current crop of leaders. 

A condensed version of how we got here… Those who might have opened up a history book -even the Rah! Rah USA!-leaning chronicles– should know that the communism of the Cold War era has its origins in the Bolshevist overthrow of Tsarist rule. 

The resulting regime(s), created despite international animosity, were totalitarian versions of experiments in governance that ultimately were bound together by rulers who cloaked their power around a very elastic ideology.

The Communist Party USA campaigned for many things we consider commonplace today, foremost among them ending racial discrimination and unions as a counterweight to vast wealth. 

Individuals involved in “the Party” pledged their allegiance to Soviet Russia, seeking to keep up with its ideological twists and turns, along with taking actions against the US government.  

The movie Oppenheimer provides a better-than-usual lens into the Party’s heyday. 

Nowadays, the basis for being a true anti-communist boils down to a desire to roll back social progress achieved since the New Deal. The right characterized FDR’s reforms as communist back in those days and now embraces those stances as a war against “wokeness.” 

I suppose the righties are hoping to invoke deep seated fears of a totalitarian enemy bent on conquest of all who stood in its way. They are also seeking to “otherize” people who do not embrace their views.

In reality, the saw about GOP/far-right accusations actually being confessions is a fact of life. A complacent media by-and-large downplays or trivializes ongoing anti-democratic actions, whether engaged in by local governments or extremist cadres.

The example that comes to mind is the election taking place in Ohio this week. Reactionaries, knowing that a general election ballot measure aimed at liberalizing abortion would garner a majority vote, called for a special election for voters to consider a measure raising the bar on the definition of majority to 60%.

Based on photos of thousands of people standing in line this weekend to cast early ballots, I think this attempt at undermining democracy will fail.

Changing the definition of electoral success to allow 40% of voters to defeat questions of governance brought before them is about as undemocratic as it gets. Look around and you’ll see changing electoral rules is a common tactic used to maintain an ideological outlet. 

And, yes, California is part of the problem, ranging from enshrining austerity to requiring ⅞ of the legislation to modify a measure aimed at suppressing wages for gig workers.

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While what-used-to-be-defined as fringe politicians are calling (the majority of) people’s political aspirations as a step towards destroying the country, they are busy using their toolkits to undermine government as we know it on many fronts.

There’s ample evidence to lead fair-minded people that wealthy partisans have effectively bought the Supreme Court. Scandal after scandal, often involving wealthy citizens with interests in court decisions, has plagued the Supreme Court.

More than half (53%) of Americans have little or no trust in the Supreme Court to act in the best interests of the nation, an increase of 22 percentage points since 2019.

A single US Senator (Tuberville) from Alabama has blocked hundreds of military promotions in an attempt to prevent service women from getting abortions. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky blocked all diplomatic assignments for two months based on what he judged to be an inadequate response to conspiracy-related questions on the origins of COVID. 

As of Friday, there were currently 62 nominees awaiting confirmation in the Senate, of which 38 were for ambassadorial roles across multiple continents. After it was revealed last week that the lack of an Ambassador to Niger was standing in the way of a coordinated response to a coup, Paul relented in his effort to punish the State Department.

I don’t know what to make of claims about Republican obstructionism hurting our national defense. But I do know half the joint (Army, Navy, Marines) chiefs of staff are temporary stand-ins, and hundreds of military officers are awaiting increased pay and responsibility while an Alabama cracker fiddles away.

At Public Notice, David R Lurie suggests that the right’s war on woke may have stepped in it with their provocations affecting the military, making note of the similarities in actions between the current House Speaker and a once-upon-a-time Wisconsin Senator with the same last name:

• The vehicle for McCarthy’s attack on the military is the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), an $886 billion piece of legislation that includes the budget of, and sets forth the expenditures allowed to, the entire Defense Department. The annual bill is typically passed on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis. And that is just what happened this year in the House Armed Services Committee and full Senate after months of negotiations. 

• But immediately prior to a vote on the bill by the entire House, McCarthy allowed members of his caucus to add a veritable wish list of amendments that were transparently calculated to pander to every current right-wing preoccupation, and to antagonize, and outright harm, huge swaths of the nation’s service members…

• …In sum, the GOP rewrote the carefully negotiated NDAA in a manner patently designed to antagonize, and express antipathy, if not outright bigotry, toward virtually every non-white, non-straight, and non-male member of the armed forces. But history teaches that such attacks do not end well.

Despite some declines in approval in recent years, voters see the Armed Forces in high regard, better than law enforcement, the medical system, and organized religion. While few, if any, of the House Republican’s amendments will get past the Senate, extremists are saying they are willing to force a government shutdown.

Making the military into an ideological punching bag was Joe McCarthy’s Waterloo; this time it could sink a host of down ballot contests in a presidential election year.

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Perhaps you’re wondering: if Republicans are against libraries, schools, the military, etc., what are they for?

Well, hang on buckaroos, the Heritage Foundation is out with Project 2025, a battle plan for the first 180 days of GOP rule. With sections on the Executive Branch, Defense, and virtually every Department, readers can grasp the likely goals should the GOP capture the oval office and have a strong enough presence in the legislative branch.

The New York Times reported on the 2025 plan’s climate strategy.

• The blueprint throws open the door to drilling inside the pristine Arctic wilderness, promises legal protections for energy companies that kill birds while extracting oil and gas and declares the federal government has an “obligation to develop vast oil and gas and coal resources” on America’s public lands.

• Notably, it also would restart a quest for something climate denialists have long considered their holy grail: reversal of a 2009 scientific finding at the Environmental Protection Agency that says carbon dioxide emissions are a danger to public health.

• Erasing that finding, conservatives have long believed, would essentially strip the federal government of the right to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from most sources.

The bottom line of all this nihilism disguised as policy is that Republicans (every accusation is a confession party) intend to “weaponize” the government to attack just about everybody and force their beliefs upon the country.

So if you have been happy about this year’s heat waves and superstorms, you’ll be thrilled about what the party of Lincoln has in store.

While we are apparently now living under communism, can somebody nationalize Twitter (X) and give us universal access to health care?

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My Monday Media Musings

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Newsom-DeSantis debate is about the future of America by former Republican strategist Steve Schmidt 

• The forthcoming debate between Gavin Newsom and Ron DeSantis, hosted by Sean Hannity on Fox News, will humiliate Ron DeSantis. It will demonstrate how extreme Florida politics has become, and effectively end Ron DeSantis’s life in national politics.

• Gavin Newsom, on the other hand, will emerge from the Fox lion’s den unscathed and victorious with his national stature cemented.

• MAGA extremists have no idea how to handle California’s razor sharp and habitually underestimated second term governor, who is a first rate communicator, fearless on issues of liberty and freedom, and aggressive on the debate stage. Newsom will maintain an affable bearing and friendly smile, while skewing the absurdities and delusions of the Tallahassee Mussolini, who seeks the presidency of the United States to “slit throats.”

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As deputy leaves jail for sexual assaults, taxpayers have now paid nearly $10 million to his victims Via San Diego Union-Tribune.  (There’s a handy-dandy chart in the UT showing 20 cases that have been settled, plus one still pending).

• Richard Fischer walked out of jail last week, an electronic bracelet fastened to his ankle, but San Diego County taxpayers are still paying for the sins of the former sheriff’s deputy.

• County officials have now paid out cash settlements to plaintiffs in at least 21 separate civil lawsuits filed by women who say he sexually assaulted, groped, fondled and otherwise abused them while in uniform and on duty.

• The most recent settlements push the total amount paid to Fischer’s victims to nearly $10 million — not including the more than $1 million the county paid to the private attorney defending Fischer in the civil litigation.

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Antiabortion zealots are out to sabotage America’s successful global fight against HIV Via Michael Hiltzik at the Los Angeles Times

• Heritage accused Biden of using PEPFAR to promote “abortion and the LGBTI agenda” (meaning LGBTQ+). Its report cited Biden’s stated policy of supporting “women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights in the United States, as well as globally,” as if that is a bad thing.

• Heritage instructed its followers that “on the Left, ‘sexual and reproductive rights’ and ‘reproductive health services’ are code for abortion.”

• Right-wing antiabortion groups took up Heritage’s cry. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and the right-wing Family Research Council, a Christian think tank, have announced that any legislator voting for the full five-year reauthorization would be marked lower on their legislator scorecards — a scary prospect for any Republican hoping to run on antiabortion bona fides.

• Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), was one who fell immediately into line. As recently as Jan. 28, Smith, chair of the House subcommittee on global health, global human rights and international organizations, praised the program as “the most successful U.S. foreign aid program since the Marshall Plan.”