A discussion with Rone Tempest, former national and foreign correspondent for the L.A. Times and co-founder of the the Wyoming nonprofit public policy news site, Wyofile.
That strikes me as a microcosmic view of what is happening in numerous states — Christofascists becoming central players. It also strikes me as antithetical to most all things American. Didn’t our forefathers flee the theocratic monarchical oppression of yesteryear Europe brilliantly drafting our Constitution and developing our democratically legislated constitutional republc all couched in the pursuit of liberty and justice for all..?
Except for one small thing: “What to do if a trump emerges!!” That makes me punch walls every single day that this odious orange stinker is on STILL the loose…
So true! Every time I see that wretched head, hair and corporeal self of his—it’s down to my 8 1/2 year old vomitorium that is now completely overflowing..
I agree, Dock. I think if a small group of people monomaniacally focus on one little issue it can have massive impact, is what we've seen. Like Leonard Leo and his "pack the courts with radical weirdos" obsession. These people need to find better hobbies.
The Wyofile article was great. I don't understand how the Heritage Foundation can get by with calling themselves a non-profit.
Kevin Roberts is a paper intellectual. His own notions of his own self importance are amplified in his bullshit word salads. Anyone who says they're a Christian and embraces Agent Orange to pursue their own autocratic dreams says more about the bottom falling out of their morality bucket.
A race historian??? Please! J.D. Vance and Roberts have a lot in common.
Sometimes, when one experiences childhood poverty, there seems to be a spirit of poverty that lingers. No matter the education, wealth, or status, that spirit is always there. A reminder of vulnerabilities. Loss of control. Like those who suffered from the Great Depression. I saw it in my grandparents.
Does that spirit of poverty invoke their fucking moral high ground? Fix the lead in the water. But, they don't give two-shits about that. Go after a trans teenager instead. Fuckwads.
It's hypocrisy. Which is why, even as a no-longer-practicing Catholic, I am infuriated that they hide behind the Church to do this fascist stuff. We are supposed to help the most vulnerable. That's my takeaway from 18 years of going to church. How is anything they do helping the most vulnerable? (They would say a blastocyst is the most vulnerable, which is beyond stupid.)
I totally agree. I gave up the God thing years ago. I see God as a malignant narcissist/psychopath. It's never enough praying, tithing, giving all the credit to a ghost. Last time I looked I did that work and was left holding the bag.
Here's a story, a Holocaust survivor was telling another survivor that when he gets to heaven he has a Holocaust joke for God. He dies and goes to heaven. He tells God the joke. God says, "that's not funny." The Holocaust survivor says, "yeah, I guess you had to be there."
Religion is used to justify crimes against humanity. It's used to control the masses. That's why narcissists love it. Worship me!! It's a fucking grift. More children are raped and abused in the name of God. It's all about CONTROL.
I've long bemoaned trumps permission to let one's worst feelings, prejudices, hatred out in public. Now I'm wondering if there is also another thing he typifies: self-righteousness. The feeling that your views are the righteous ones is very addicting. It doesn't have to spring from religion, though the religious are certainly very much a prey to it. And trump OOZES self righteousness. Or perhaps blasts it out. Can't find the right verb at the moment.
When I look at "laid back" states like Wyoming going through the changes Tempest describes I wonder if that willingness to believe your own way is the only right way--whatever your own way is-- is a large part of the appeal of trumpism.
Yes, there is truth to that, but as far as Trump goes, he doesn't believe his bullshit, Like any con artist, he knows what the people want to hear. He doesn't have any allegiance to truth whatsoever - has lied so long he doesn't know the difference.
Yes. His world is himself and himself only. I keep thinking about Mary Trump's line that if he weren't rich and pampered by his dad and then the WHite House and now MAGA, he'd have to be in an institution, because he can't care for himself.
I keep praying that his personal institutional "keepers" will start talking, with evidence. I know Noah Casler has done so, but it just hasn't gotten much traction. Maybe someone could take secret photos of him without his hair and makeup in place? A picture says a thousand words. Brian Butler was a start. Let the avalanche begin!
I agree that he only thinks of himself, but that of course is the SOURCE of his self-righteousness. Self-righteousness sort of by definition rejects any truth but what one thinks is one's own. I do think he deeply believes that he is a persecuted victim. He resonates with the Evangelical Right because that fervent belief and constantly voiced cries of it align him as a Christian martyr facing the lions of anything to the left of, say, Liz Cheney or Romney.
I do think his life shows a history of overt racism when it means "protecting" one's wealth, but it was subdued for the most part prior to the elevator ride. His evil genius was to recognize the power of it, when let out, and the power his APPROVAL of that letting go created--the power that gave him amongst those ready to spurt it all out. It is irrelevant now whether he actually is as racist as his pronouncements--they are a tool, and that's all that's needed for him to wield it.
I agree, Susan. My friend LB has been saying this for years, that Trump turned over the rock and out they came, and now that they've been granted permission to air their grievances, and hijacked the attention of the world, they will give it all up to keep it going. As she said, they would surrender indoor plumbing and poop in a Folgers can rather than go back under he rock.
Indignation is one of the words. They were like that about the Trump/Russia stuff. "How DARE you suggest we were meeting with Russians! The nerve of you! Now excuse me, I'm due for brunch with Sergei and Ivan."
There needs to be minimum population for a state to be a state. Wyoming has less than 600,000 people, and California has almost 39 million, yet they each get two Senators. Either give California and other high population states extra Senators, or force states to merge until they reach a certain population, say two or three million.
Don't get me started. The whole system is SO FUCKED UP. And it's impossible to change.
A billionaire lefty should start a company in Lander or Laramie and build housing and import democrats and turn the state blue. How many people would it take? 60k is a enth the entire population...
Clearly real history is not taught to us in school. They don't tell us about the rich collusion that conspired to defeat William Jennings Bryan, or about the Jekyl Island coup, or the attempt to overthrow FDR. They don't tell us about War Plan Red, or how tenuous our relationship was with Great Britain in the early 1900s. They don't explain the origin of CIA, or relationship with Galen Org. They lied about Gulf of Tonkin. They don't tell us about Admiral Kimmel's testimony from Pearl Harbor. They don't tell us how Truman regretted formation of CIA, after Kennedy assasination. However, they are quite willing to feed us bullshit, such as Columbus discovered America, and oil comes from fossilized dinosaurs. Absolutely ponderous. The fact is, there are unreported trillionaires in this world, the marionettes of billionaire puppets, with vast power and resources. Woke to me, is about people waking up to the fact that we have been lied to for far too long. The fact that the $$$ owned media does not report that, but tries instead to redefine and obfuscate the meaning of woke is very telling. The promotion of civil war is disturbingly under way by $$$ TPTB.
Slavery, is the answer. The Founders had to bend over backwards to appease the enslavers. That was pure evil, and now we are paying the price for that original sin.
The Crown required special consideration for the area, for the $$ it loaned, including some Constitutional provisions IIRC, which prohibited the right to vote at one time. However your point is valid Maureen, in a few other states the population disparities for representation with 2 Senators is equally disturbing!
Meanwhile, France adds a Women’s Rights To Choose to their Constitution. 🗽 Vive La France!
Vive la France!
Egalite🗽
TGIF🎉🎉🎉
That strikes me as a microcosmic view of what is happening in numerous states — Christofascists becoming central players. It also strikes me as antithetical to most all things American. Didn’t our forefathers flee the theocratic monarchical oppression of yesteryear Europe brilliantly drafting our Constitution and developing our democratically legislated constitutional republc all couched in the pursuit of liberty and justice for all..?
Except for one small thing: “What to do if a trump emerges!!” That makes me punch walls every single day that this odious orange stinker is on STILL the loose…
It is inexplicable, frustrating, nauseating, and makes me question my sense of reality.
A
So true! Every time I see that wretched head, hair and corporeal self of his—it’s down to my 8 1/2 year old vomitorium that is now completely overflowing..
Exactly Dock!
I agree, Dock. I think if a small group of people monomaniacally focus on one little issue it can have massive impact, is what we've seen. Like Leonard Leo and his "pack the courts with radical weirdos" obsession. These people need to find better hobbies.
Yes they do!
The Wyofile article was great. I don't understand how the Heritage Foundation can get by with calling themselves a non-profit.
Kevin Roberts is a paper intellectual. His own notions of his own self importance are amplified in his bullshit word salads. Anyone who says they're a Christian and embraces Agent Orange to pursue their own autocratic dreams says more about the bottom falling out of their morality bucket.
A race historian??? Please! J.D. Vance and Roberts have a lot in common.
Sometimes, when one experiences childhood poverty, there seems to be a spirit of poverty that lingers. No matter the education, wealth, or status, that spirit is always there. A reminder of vulnerabilities. Loss of control. Like those who suffered from the Great Depression. I saw it in my grandparents.
Does that spirit of poverty invoke their fucking moral high ground? Fix the lead in the water. But, they don't give two-shits about that. Go after a trans teenager instead. Fuckwads.
Bravo, Lisa59!
Right, Lisa!
It's hypocrisy. Which is why, even as a no-longer-practicing Catholic, I am infuriated that they hide behind the Church to do this fascist stuff. We are supposed to help the most vulnerable. That's my takeaway from 18 years of going to church. How is anything they do helping the most vulnerable? (They would say a blastocyst is the most vulnerable, which is beyond stupid.)
I totally agree. I gave up the God thing years ago. I see God as a malignant narcissist/psychopath. It's never enough praying, tithing, giving all the credit to a ghost. Last time I looked I did that work and was left holding the bag.
Here's a story, a Holocaust survivor was telling another survivor that when he gets to heaven he has a Holocaust joke for God. He dies and goes to heaven. He tells God the joke. God says, "that's not funny." The Holocaust survivor says, "yeah, I guess you had to be there."
Religion is used to justify crimes against humanity. It's used to control the masses. That's why narcissists love it. Worship me!! It's a fucking grift. More children are raped and abused in the name of God. It's all about CONTROL.
I never gave much thought to the term American Revolution, but I can readily agree that it was instead a war to achieve independence.
Me neither. We just sort of call it the Revolution and I don't much think about what the word really means.
I've long bemoaned trumps permission to let one's worst feelings, prejudices, hatred out in public. Now I'm wondering if there is also another thing he typifies: self-righteousness. The feeling that your views are the righteous ones is very addicting. It doesn't have to spring from religion, though the religious are certainly very much a prey to it. And trump OOZES self righteousness. Or perhaps blasts it out. Can't find the right verb at the moment.
When I look at "laid back" states like Wyoming going through the changes Tempest describes I wonder if that willingness to believe your own way is the only right way--whatever your own way is-- is a large part of the appeal of trumpism.
Yes, there is truth to that, but as far as Trump goes, he doesn't believe his bullshit, Like any con artist, he knows what the people want to hear. He doesn't have any allegiance to truth whatsoever - has lied so long he doesn't know the difference.
Yes. His world is himself and himself only. I keep thinking about Mary Trump's line that if he weren't rich and pampered by his dad and then the WHite House and now MAGA, he'd have to be in an institution, because he can't care for himself.
I keep praying that his personal institutional "keepers" will start talking, with evidence. I know Noah Casler has done so, but it just hasn't gotten much traction. Maybe someone could take secret photos of him without his hair and makeup in place? A picture says a thousand words. Brian Butler was a start. Let the avalanche begin!
That or a used car salesman in a blue leisure suit selling cars without their titles all the while trying to bang everyone's wives and girlfriends.
I agree that he only thinks of himself, but that of course is the SOURCE of his self-righteousness. Self-righteousness sort of by definition rejects any truth but what one thinks is one's own. I do think he deeply believes that he is a persecuted victim. He resonates with the Evangelical Right because that fervent belief and constantly voiced cries of it align him as a Christian martyr facing the lions of anything to the left of, say, Liz Cheney or Romney.
I do think his life shows a history of overt racism when it means "protecting" one's wealth, but it was subdued for the most part prior to the elevator ride. His evil genius was to recognize the power of it, when let out, and the power his APPROVAL of that letting go created--the power that gave him amongst those ready to spurt it all out. It is irrelevant now whether he actually is as racist as his pronouncements--they are a tool, and that's all that's needed for him to wield it.
I agree, Susan. My friend LB has been saying this for years, that Trump turned over the rock and out they came, and now that they've been granted permission to air their grievances, and hijacked the attention of the world, they will give it all up to keep it going. As she said, they would surrender indoor plumbing and poop in a Folgers can rather than go back under he rock.
Indignation is one of the words. They were like that about the Trump/Russia stuff. "How DARE you suggest we were meeting with Russians! The nerve of you! Now excuse me, I'm due for brunch with Sergei and Ivan."
There needs to be minimum population for a state to be a state. Wyoming has less than 600,000 people, and California has almost 39 million, yet they each get two Senators. Either give California and other high population states extra Senators, or force states to merge until they reach a certain population, say two or three million.
Don't get me started. The whole system is SO FUCKED UP. And it's impossible to change.
A billionaire lefty should start a company in Lander or Laramie and build housing and import democrats and turn the state blue. How many people would it take? 60k is a enth the entire population...
Clearly real history is not taught to us in school. They don't tell us about the rich collusion that conspired to defeat William Jennings Bryan, or about the Jekyl Island coup, or the attempt to overthrow FDR. They don't tell us about War Plan Red, or how tenuous our relationship was with Great Britain in the early 1900s. They don't explain the origin of CIA, or relationship with Galen Org. They lied about Gulf of Tonkin. They don't tell us about Admiral Kimmel's testimony from Pearl Harbor. They don't tell us how Truman regretted formation of CIA, after Kennedy assasination. However, they are quite willing to feed us bullshit, such as Columbus discovered America, and oil comes from fossilized dinosaurs. Absolutely ponderous. The fact is, there are unreported trillionaires in this world, the marionettes of billionaire puppets, with vast power and resources. Woke to me, is about people waking up to the fact that we have been lied to for far too long. The fact that the $$$ owned media does not report that, but tries instead to redefine and obfuscate the meaning of woke is very telling. The promotion of civil war is disturbingly under way by $$$ TPTB.
So much money in the hands of so few people, and those people seemingly impervious to consequences.
Thanks for another brilliant article Greg, you’re spot on!
How does a state with a population the size of Milwaukee or Albuquerque get two senators, but DC is not a state? This is wrong on so many levels.
Slavery, is the answer. The Founders had to bend over backwards to appease the enslavers. That was pure evil, and now we are paying the price for that original sin.
So many of our worst national outcomes descend (pun intended) from that original sin.
Hence the Electoral College nonsense.
The Crown required special consideration for the area, for the $$ it loaned, including some Constitutional provisions IIRC, which prohibited the right to vote at one time. However your point is valid Maureen, in a few other states the population disparities for representation with 2 Senators is equally disturbing!
Here’s a link to the history Maureen
https://www.history.com/news/washington-dc-statehood-reconstruction