Hartmann Report

Because fascism trickles down from fascist leadership, it's what Trump's cult members are dreaming of, too. As are his toady lawyers… Trump dreams of revenge. It's what fascists do. Because fascism trickles down from fascist leadership, it's what Trump's cult members are dreaming of, too. As are his toady lawyers. Yesterday, for example, Trump's lawyer argued before the DC Appeals Court that if Trump became president again he could order Seal Team Six to assassinate Joe Biden or Liz Cheney and nobody could do anything about it

What is the opposite of diversity, equity, and inclusion? Whites-only communities, whites-only jobs, and racial segregation... As one of Georgia's most high-profile racists (a high bar in that state), Marjorie Taylor Greene has a reputation to uphold. Which is probably why this week she posted an attack on the Blackrock investment firm for having DEI or Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs at that company. "Corporate communists believe they have to force behaviors," Greene wrote on her Xitter feed. "They only need to remember as a corporation or business their ONLY job is to SERVE THEIR CUSTOMER with the best job possible to make their customers happy! It's not about gender, sex, race and blah blah blah." In this, Greene is channeling centuries of racist rhetoric that argued it was inappropriate for government or companies to have any concerns about racial fairness or equity. After all, the white customers of Georgia's segregated 1960s lunch counters were "happy!" What else is necessary? There's a reason why America's white supremacist Republican politicians like Greene and Stefanik are pushing so hard to get rid of DEI and to fire Black people in academia and the Pentagon: it wins them votes. From the geriatric Fox "News" followers, to white nationalist militias, to the preachers in all-white evangelical churches, the browning of America has provoked a collective freak-out.

Republicans are pushing our country: no social safety net, corrupt regulatory and police agencies, politicians and legislation for sale, and absolute immunity for the morbidly rich… Donald Trump and his fellow rightwing billionaires have a plan for America. They want to turn the United States from a prosperous, middle-class nation into a country of paupers, where bribery is common and the wealthy can get away with anything. The latest example of this comes from the House Oversight Committee’s report last week documenting how Donald Trump took at least $7 million in bribes in exchange for changes to US foreign policy when he was president. Most of the world already operates the way Republicans are pushing our country: no social safety net, corrupt regulatory and police agencies, politicians and legislation for sale, and absolute immunity for the morbidly rich.

The core argument of the “government is bad” crowd is that government is, itself, a monopoly. Since everybody knows that monopolies are bad things, so, too, government must be an intolerable affront that reduces the quality of life for its citizens. This meme has been incredibly destructive to America’s working people, who’ve become hostile to government while losing their wariness of corporate monopoly. There’s one type of monopoly that’s actually good, with a single caveat. That’s called a “natural monopoly,” and for it to work properly, it generally requires government. Consider your home. While you can buy a new stove or sofa or rug from many different companies, you’ll be hard-pressed to buy your water, electric, or septic from more than one single vendor. There’s only one power line, water line, and sewer line attached to your home. Thus, power, water, and septic are generally referred to as “natural monopolies.”

The Best of the Rest of the News. — Trump's foreign cash scandal is, to paraphrase Bernie, "YUGE!" — Wisdom School Alert! The #1 Lesson to Become a Brilliant Writer Revealed — Breaking News: New evidence shows Trump's campaign "directly orchestrated" the criminal fake elector plot to steal the White House in 2020 — A new report says Trump killed 17,000 Americans by pushing his fake covid cures — Crazy Alert! Florida's crackpot surgeon general calls Covid vaccines "the anti-Christ." Really!? — Florida is set to follow Ohio and secure abortion rights, although Republicans are playing dirty — Help California close the money loophole! — Geeky science! Hearing aids can extend your life!

Into the void steps the "pink slime journalism" newspapers and websites, funded by multiple rightwing billionaires, peddling lies and hate to get rightwing Republicans elected to office… It's an election year, so get ready: here comes "pink slime journalism." Pink slime, of course, is the ground up gristle that's colored red and sold as meat or a meat additive, but the term has come to mean anything that purports to be one thing but in fact is something quite different. In this case, these are rightwing propaganda outlets that purport to be local newspapers. They're taking advantage of the tragic reality that since Reagan stopped enforcing antitrust laws in 1983 and Clinton did away with ownership limits for news outlets in 1996, over 2,100 local newspapers in America have gone out of business. Into that void have stepped the "pink slime journalism" newspapers and websites, funded by multiple rightwing billionaires, peddling lies and hate to get rightwing Republicans elected to office.

Will excluding pregnant women (but not their fetuses) from EMTALA be the proverbial straw that breaks the back of the 38-year-long GOP scam? Ronald Reagan's strategy to kill an early Medicare For All campaign just came back to haunt America's pregnant women, particularly those without insurance or a fat bank account who live in Republican-controlled states. By putting fetuses at an equal footing with pregnant people, this bizarre decision will cause American women to die. As a result, it could signal a turning point in our national discussions about both abortion and healthcare in general.

The white Republican base has been so lied to and abused over the past forty or so years that they’ve become easy marks for the predators in both big business and the GOP… While many trace the beginning of the modern rightwing fascist-friendly MAGA-type movement to the 1954 Brown v Board decision and the way it put the John Birch Society on steroids, another interesting origin story for today’s GOP base is grounded in the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In the years immediately leading up to the 1970 creation of the EPA, pollution in America had gotten so bad it was impossible to ignore and was quickly becoming a political issue.

White supremacists have gagged teachers, and now even kids are afraid to bring up the topics or complain when they’re harassed by christian nationalist bullies… The news has been all over Nikki Haley’s inability to say “slavery” before she was called out on it, but few are pointing to the larger issue: the institutionalization of racism through American law that has happened in 16 Red states now as well as in hundreds of smaller towns and individual schools. From Florida to Texas to little towns like Temecula, California, legislatures and school boards across America have been banning what they call “Critical Race Theory (CRT).” They’re doing it in a desperate attempt to freeze what’s left of America’s historic racial hierarchy, with whites in charge, in place.

To a large extent, this debate is really meta to a larger debate western civilization has been having since the days of Plato: are leaders made through experience & circumstance, or born to greatness? “No great man lives in vain. The history of the world is but the biography of great men.” —Thomas Carlyle When Donald Trump fails or falls, are there other standing-in-the-wings fascist Republicans capable of taking his place?