Republicans Love to be Bullied

Well I finally got to hear what I’ve wanted to hear from day one regarding Republican politicians’ views concerning some of Donald Trump’s abhorrent behaviors.  I knew it all along, but I wanted someone to finally say it out loud.  And that someone was Ted Cruz, one of the top spineless members of Congress, who after Trump called his wife ugly and accused his father of participating in a plot to kill J.F.K., has still consistently supported him.  Most individuals would have never done that after such insults and insinuations, but then again it’s all about politics; to hell with your loved ones.

In a recent interview, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas was asked, “Why are your Republican peers hesitant to criticize former President Donald Trump about anything?” Cruz’s response was, “If they do, Trump turns around and punches them in the face."

He went on again to say, “It's a number of things, (because) unlike many people in politics, if someone criticizes him, he turns around and punches them in the face."

Cruz said he witnessed meetings in which "different Republican senators would criticize Trump, who would then spend the whole meeting just slamming them with a stick.”  However, “I like what we accomplished under Trump. I think there's an incredible record of policy victories.”

And finally Cruz added, “I disagree with a lot of the things Donald Trump says. And I made a decision that I wasn't going to be giving color commentary on MSNBC for every tweet or every statement that was obviously indefensible." In other words, he would remain silent about the indefensible ones.

So there we have it, Cruz’s admission, along with I suspect the mantra of many other Republican politicians, to embrace being bullied, and reinforce it.  

Sadly, one has to wonder if these individuals even know they have accepted Donald Trump as their bully. According to the Merriam-Webster on line dictionary a bully is “a blustering, browbeating person; especially one who is habitually cruel, insulting, or threatening to others who are weaker, smaller, or in some way vulnerable.”

So I guess now we can assume that the key to Donald Trump’s success in avoiding any fellow Republicans’ criticisms is his perception that they are, in fact,  ‘weaker, smaller, or in some way vulnerable.’  Quite pathetic,  but then again it’s mostly likely insignificant in importance to them in the world of politics. I just laugh at it all.

Maybe it’s time for some members of both parties to grow a spine and gain some self-respect, because it is definitely a scarce commodity now among many of them. I don’t have much in life, but it least I have self-respect.

Fascists vs Semi-Fascists

I must admit just when I thought that the political scene in the our country couldn’t go any lower, President Biden’s referral to MAGA Republicans as ‘semi-Fascists’  appeared to take it even lower.  MAGA Republicans, Republicans, and even some Democrats were up in arms about the disrespect these individuals were shown by the President.  Sadly, their memories conveniently failed them because this horrible event was, in fact, the second occurrence of the ‘Fascist’ term being slung around.  A perusal of the web turned up a 2020 video clip of Donald Trump exclaiming that Democrats want to, "replace American freedom with left-wing fascism. Fascists, they are fascists."

So there it is, we have one President declaring that all  Democrats are ‘Fascists’, and we have another President who claims some Republicans, known as MAGA Republicans, are ‘semi Fascists’.  One has to wonder, do either of these supposedly enlightened individuals even know what a ‘Fascist’ is?

According to Merriam/Webster on line dictionary a ‘Fascist’ is “someone that supports or promotes a political system headed by a dictator who typically rules by forcefully and often violently suppressing opposition and criticism.”  To further clarify the last point, these rulers often ‘arrange’ for those in opposition to ‘just disappear.’

I leave the judgement to each of you to consider if either U.S leader was correct in their assessment.

However, one thing is certain surrounding all of this, namely, that our politicians need to grow up and stop acting like entitled babies.  In particular, Donald Trump needs to stop using someone’s past behavior as justification for his present behavior.  And we as citizens also need to stop enabling Trump's present aberrant behaviors by justifying them based on finding examples of similar consequence-free behaviors by others which occurred in the past.

Just how can we progress as a society of the free world if we continue to make excuses for present behaviors that are clearly unacceptable, or worse, illegal?  Such behaviors SHOULD have been intolerable resulting in consequences when they occurred back then, and certainly shouldn’t be tolerable now without consequences.

Maybe we all just need to grow up and stop living in the past, and strive to make things better for the future.

I, for one, don’t care who did something unethical or illegal in the past and wasn’t held responsible for his/her actions.  That doesn’t justify ignoring it in the present and allowing the individuals to suffer no consequences for their latest actions.  I always thought the goal of a society was to improve on the past.

Pathetically, Republicans waste most of their societal time by attempting to defend the present indefensible actions of Trump by offering up examples of similar past actions that, for whatever reasons, eluded consequences or punishment.  No accountability then, so same rules should apply now?  Remember the old saying “Two wrongs don’t make a right?”  Grow up, and take it to heart.

So to all the self-indulgent politicians, engaging in unethical or illegal behaviors, man up and accept the consequences for your present actions; and we, as Americans, should demand they receive those consequences.

It was unjustifiable and unacceptable for Trump to make his statement in 2020 and the same is true regarding Biden’s current statement.  One does not logically justify the other.

It is important that we as a nation act more mature and rise above the childish behavior of each of these individuals.  Hopefully, we as a nation can also move on from the childishness of both in 2024.