Hartmann Report

Here the fascists are again, this time calling themselves MAGA. And they're using the classic fascist tactic of the Big Lie, just like Hitler and Mussolini did… Donald Trump has made good use of the propaganda technique known as the Big Lie, but he didn't invent or popularize it. While the strategy has been around as long as humanity's had psychopaths trying to seize power over others, the Big Lie was really brought into pop consciousness in the 1930s. I was going through my old audio library yesterday afternoon and found this short clip from President Franklin D. Roosevelt talking specifically about the Big Lie. FDR, of course, was the man who saved America from the Republican Great Depression (what they used to call it), created Social Security, the right to unionize, the minimum wage, unemployment insurance, and fought and won against the Nazis in World War II even as he was so disabled by polio that he hadn't walked in decades. As you'll hear, it was as if FDR could see Trump using the Big Lie today. Which makes perfect sense, because FDR fought with his own Nazis and fascists in America in the 1930s and 1940s. They even tried to assassinate or kidnap him, but were stopped by a brave Marine general, Smedley Butler.

Conservative commentator Brit Hume noted, in a 1999 interview with PBS, “This operation [Fox News] loses money. It doesn’t lose nearly as much as it did at first, and it’s—well, it’s hit all its projections in terms of, you know, turning a profit, but it’s—it will lose money now, and we expect for a couple more years. I think it’s losing about $80 million to $90 million a year.” But that loss wasn’t viewed by these right-wing billionaires as a “loss”—rather, it was an investment.

The Best of the Rest of the News. — As the wealth of the American 1% hits a record $44 trillion, Republican billionaires are saluting Trump. — Will Jared Kushner’s billion-dollar grift finally get investigated? — Kentucky Republicans strip that state’s Democratic governor of his power to appoint Mitch McConnell’s successor should Mitch leave office early. — Liz Cheney is warning the Supreme Court about their current attempt to give Trump all the delay he wants. — Why this year’s House map is looking more Republican. — Hunter in a Farmer's World Alert! ADHD: Have a “Clutter Place” That You Periodically Clean Out. — Europe is now deeply concerned about rightwing extremism in politics. — Crazy Alert! Why the new RNC chair is breaking out in song.

Words. Speeches. News conferences. Rallies. Media. Money. And they all point in one direction: violence in service of the fascist leader. Fascism doesn't typically take over countries by military means (WWII's temporary order notwithstanding); instead, it relies on rhetoric. Words. Speeches. News conferences. Rallies. Media. Money. And they all point in one direction: violence in service of the fascist leader. The rhetorical embrace and appreciation of violence is one of the cardinal characteristics of fascism, and a big step was taken this week in a New York City courtroom to push back against the current fascist campaign being waged by Donald Trump against our American form of government.

There is no movement advocating political violence on the American left. It is entirely confined to the American right & the media needs to admit that, and the FBI needs to recalibrate their efforts… Donald Trump and his sons put a bullseye on the Hispanic daughter of New York Supreme Court Judge Juan Merchan this week, identifying her by name and picture in repeated posts on his Nazi-infested social media site. Predictably, she's now receiving threats of violence, as is her Colombian-born father. The stock-in-trade of fascists is violence and the threat of violence.

So, what the heck is the Comstock Act and why are Republicans trying to revive it before the Supreme Court? Yesterday's Supreme Court session was a loud and persistent warning: America needs to pay attention. During oral arguments, the Comstock Act was invoked repeatedly by Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas, and Erin Hawley, the wife of Republican Senator Josh Hawley, who was arguing before the Court that the abortion drug, Mifepristone, should be banned nationwide. Now that it's fairly clear the "sad doctors" argument before the Court yesterday was so pathetically weak they can't use it to ban Mifepristone, anti-abortion activists are talking about finding a case they can push up to the Court next year that will allow it to ban all abortions in the nation, and most birth control pills and devices as a bonus.

Hundreds of working class people who answered Donald Trump's call on January 6th are sitting in prison today, but the ringleader, the guy without whom those people would not be in jail, walks free… In America today, if you can afford at least $50 million in lawyers fees, you can get away with rape, massive financial fraud over decades, ripping off people who just wanted to go to college, stealing from children's Cancer charities, paying off porn stars to influence an election, and leading a treasonous insurrection against your own country that results in the death of at least six people plus 3 police officers (with over 100 police officers ending up in the hospital, many with life altering injuries) without ever spending a night in jail.

Putin's language of escalation highlights the danger that the GOP's embrace of Trump and Trump's ties to Putin have put the US and the entire democratic world in… On Saturday I published a "breaking news" op-ed here on Hartmann Report about the possible consequences of Putin using Friday's theater attack in a Moscow suburb the same way Hitler used the burning of the Reichstagsgebäude to end democracy and civil rights in Germany; Bush used 9/11 to attack Iraq and push the PATRIOT Act; Putin used a different theater attack in 2002 to destroy and seize Chechnya; LBJ used the phony Gulf of Tonkin incident to accelerate the Vietnam War; and Netanyahu is using the October 7 Hamas attack to stay in power and out of prison. In other words, might Putin be preparing to use the ISIS-K attack on the theater as an excuse to do something draconian? Would that mean he substantially escalates his war against democracy in Ukraine? Might that escalation lead to a confrontation with NATO? And where would that take the world?

"Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." —Thomas Jefferson in 1786, to his close friend Dr. James Currie In 1983, 90% of the American media landscape (including magazines, books, music, news feeds, newspapers, movies, radio, and television) was dominated by 50 conglomerates. Just 36 years later in 2019, a mere five conglomerates dominated 90% of the media that Americans consume (Time Warner, Disney, Murdoch’s News Corporation, Bertelsmann of Germany, and Viacom).

Like Hitler, Netanyahu, and Bush all did, Putin just claimed that up is down, that the terrorist attack he knew was coming was an unprovoked surprise, and that it came from Ukraine, not ISIS-K... Normally, I'd push this article out on Monday morning, as I publish these free "Daily Takes" every weekday and I usually write Monday's piece over the weekend. But this situation is so critical and the stakes are so high that I didn't want to wait. I welcome your comments in the comments section below. Keep in mind, what I'm suggesting is merely my speculation at this moment. But we all need to keep a careful eye on events as they unfold: Putin using the theater attack to start WWIII is not without precedent. Friday, a group of ISIS extremists claimed credit for the attack on a Moscow theater that killed at least 133 people and left the building a smoldering ruin. But Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his public comments today, didn't mention ISIS-K: instead, he placed the blame on Ukraine. As The New York Times headline after Putin's remarks laid out: "In First Remarks on Attack, Putin Tries to Link Assailants to Ukraine." The article's lede says it all: "President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia laid the groundwork on Saturday for blaming Ukraine for the Moscow concert hall attack. And in making his first remarks on the assault more than 19 hours after it began, he pledged to punish the perpetrators, 'whoever they may be, whoever may have sent them.'" We've seen this movie before, both here, in Israel, and Germany, and it never ends well.