81 Comments
Jul 26, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

Greg, I got kicked off twitter for calling Elon a cunt when he said he would let Trump back on. Then I called him the same to "test" his "free speech." Amazing that one can call Rep Raskin a "hooked nosed jew", but "cunt" is over the top. Anyway! I am just dropping in to tell you that your essays bring me joy, from politics to prose. 🥰 Heather/aka Zorbathegirl.

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Excellent wrap up, Greg. Thanks. Sharing far and wide.

It chapped me raw when some arrant fool in the chat during the last Five 8 disparaged you and LB for trivializing the hearings by comparing them to long-form episodic TV story telling. Television is the most powerful communication device ever invented. Period. The end.

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Jul 26, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

Oh re Josh Hawley, next is "send them back to the states" Ted Cruz (ala Eastman.) Re that liar Miller - I think/guess he is cooperating w the DOJ. The silence is telling. Likewise, I think the DOJ has better plans for Meadows than contempt: Clarke, Eastman type raid/arrests.

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Jul 26, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

Great approach. We'll done!

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Jul 26, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

Greg's Cliff Notes! Well done.

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“January 6th was the worst attack on our democracy since Booth shot Lincoln.”

At first glance, I would argue “… since the CIA and mafia [or whoever was responsible] conspired to kill Kennedy.” But since JFK’s assassination is still shrouded in mystery, we continue to be uncertain of the exact nature of that attack on our democracy, so Lincoln’s assassination is the next most recent incident of comparable damage.

However, the assassination of one head of state might not even be a good comparison. Trump is the spearhead for a large revolt against the democratic functioning of the US. A large swath of reactionary accomplices, members of the J6 attack and Republican members of Congress and Republican legislatures, all conspired en masse to take down our institutions of democracy. Now the Supreme Court is jumping in too.

So I’m going with:

“January 6th was the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.”

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Solid analysis. I feel like we're watching a train wreck in slow motion

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Jul 26, 2022·edited Jul 26, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

Truly, Trump’s entire plan of action after Election 2020 begs comparisons to Adolf Hitler. A ruthless, power-hungry leader wants to run his racist version of a social order. He attacks every institution which does not conform to that racist model. He attacks every person who does not support that racist society.

The big difference in the stories between Hitler and Trump:

Hitler was attacking fledgling democratic institutions in a weakened country. Germany had just established a brand new democracy after World War I, prior to that time it was an autocracy of royalty like most European countries. So the legislature, the judiciary, all of it was fresh and new and relatively weak.

The United States has had its institutions for nearly 250 years. The momentum and weight and inertia of those institutions makes them far more durable, and more difficult to damage. Damage has definitely been done, but now, by the grace of the J6 committee, it is being repaired.

Remember also, Trump is by no means a lone figure.

“By attacking the House, then, Trump’s besiegers by extension attacked every single person in this country…”

*YES*

And here’s why I made the statement that the J6 Attack is the most important attack on the democratic institutions of the US since the Civil War:

Trump represents a large large swath of the American population, as I have said many times before, arguably nearly half of the US leans his way. 48% of the voters in the 2020 election voted for Trump. That explains why so many different elements of US officialdom (Republican officials at all levels) are contributing to the January 6 attack. Because Trump was our president, he represents all those Republicans and MAGA-ts and J6 attackers. He speaks for them, he acts for them. They want a fascist society which leaves whites in charge of everything, and men in charge of most things, to the exclusion of the members of society that those racists despise.

Trump IS those people. He speaks for them, he acts for them. During the period post the 2020 election, Trump was actively seeking means to stay in charge because that very large portion of the United States population which he represents WANTS the white-racist males-first Christian anti-gay society to remain. The John Eastmans and Jeffrey Clarks came out of the woodwork because Trump was actively looking for them.

In the US, the January 6 Attack on our Capitol is the worst damage our democracy has taken since the Civil War. But if you look elsewhere in the world, so many dictators have gone before. Hitler’s Germany certainly qualifies as an excellent comparison.

Finally, consider Putin. We know for a fact, especially here on Greg’s Channel, that Trump is in bed with Putin. Private discussions in Helsinki, etc. etc.

How much influence did Putin have in encouraging Trump to make that last ditch series of attacks after the 2020 Election?

Not that it really matters. Fuck Putin. Events will show that the USA’s institutions can recover perfectly well from some damage.

Now that I have made that statement about the head of the criminal Russian nation-state, watch who comes out of the cellar to reply here.

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Greg, I just want to say that this piece of yours is simply excellent.

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Keep this in mind:

Trump is a figurehead. He was a leader, the leader of a huge swath of America.

As a symbol for that huge swath of America, as a member of that enormous club, he was acting and speaking for them.

Trump did everything he could, turned over every stone, in his attempt to remain in charge. It’s true that he personally didn’t want to lose his position as president. But by no means is it all about The Donald.

The January 6 attack and all of the other attempts to keep him in power (from the election until the inauguration) are only the tip of the iceberg. The iceberg itself is the Old Social Order (Republican + MAGA + leftover Confederate ….) wanting to stay in power. Trump is just one member of that club. It’s the Whites First, Men-in-Charge, “Christian,” Heterosexuals-Only Club which has flocked to the Republican Party like flies to shit on a hot August day.

Trump is only one of those flies. He speaks for the entire pile of shit, and that pile constitutes something close to half of US society.

These days, the J6 committee hearings make it look like we are differentiating between the “good” Republicans and the “bad” Republicans. Adam Kinzinger. Liz Cheney. Rusty Bowers, Cassidy Hutchinson et al. Remember that these people are still diehard advocates for a Stone Age society where women, blacks, Latin Americans, non-Christians, and anyone who isn’t hetero are relegated to inferior status, with all the attendant lovely implications.

As a group, they elected Trump and Pence, and as a group their hopes and dreams were attempting to be realized through Trump’s actions.

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Much better than the TV Guide (is that still around?) and fun to boot.

Speaking of Twitter I'll re-tweet this as soon as I get out of jail. All I said was if the Tangerine Turd gets the electric chair McConnell should be sitting on his lap...seven days in the hole

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Jul 26, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

"As conceived by the Founders, the representatives in the House are exactly that—representatives; stand-ins for all of us, for We the People. By attacking the House, then, Trump’s besiegers by extension attacked every single person in this country—Democrat, Republican, Independent, third party. There were no exceptions." This realization is a gut-punch. If only every person in this country could understand the gravity of your statement.

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Jul 26, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

I'm late to the party again. There's really nothing I can add to the fantastic comments here.

I would point out though that yesterday, Garland was quoted as saying: "... a central tenant of the rule of law is that we do not do our investigations in public. This is the most wide-ranging investigation — and the most important investigation — that the Justice Department has ever entered into."

With no snark whatsoever, I do not mind that although AG Garland said the investigation is not for public consumption, he then confirmed that there is a HUGE investigation going on. That gives me some peace.

So, for the impatient, and I have been one of them, Garland IS investigating, and he MUST get this right. There must be no light between indicting Trump and convicting Trump. If I EVER have to hear Trump say, "TOTAL EXONERATION!!" again, just put a bullet in my head! Garland is AG until 01/20/2025. He has some time.

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Jul 26, 2022Liked by Greg Olear

Lest we forget. TFG fashions himself a ‘mob boss’. He is also a malignant narcissist. DeSantis is beginning to get top billing by Faux news. TFG might be losing support. But…TFG is a malignant narcissist (and possibly drug impaired). He cannot take failure. His psychopathy prevents him from taking failure. I am certainly not an authority about mob dynamics, but lived through some mob wars growing up near Boston. Someone will be taken out and my bet is on TFG. He is too unstable and DeSantis is brainier. This will be destabilizing for the Republican right wing. Get your popcorn and favorite libation ready. Things may get interesting.

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Overwhelmingly. The electric pulse of your righteous anger sparks through your writing. Well done. You know, just every once in a while, I wish Liz Cheney would refer to the private dining room in the White House as OUR private dining room we set aside for the executive, that he conducts OUR business in OUR Oval Office, and sleeps in OUR White House. None of it is his. Buckingham Palace is the queen’s. She actually owns it by inheritance. The White House and everything in it is OURS, and nothing in it ever belonged to Trump. He threw the food WE provided against OUR wall. He fought with OUR secret service agent. He screamed at OUR White House employees. He owned the administration because he chose them, but they were OUR employees. Of all Trump’s sins, his appropriation of OUR ownership puts him in the 8th ring of the Inferno, where thieves constantly steal one another’s identities.

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Dang. Wish I saw this exquisite summary before I spent several hours this morning wrestling to "prettify" my own scribbled notes! Much appreciation to the team for your collaborative efforts.

If I could suggest squeezing almost-fired-newly-installed-AG-Jeffrey Rosen in between Barr and the never-got-installed Clark, that would complete the DOJ circle, to my understanding.

Soon the work of the committee will come to an end. When it does, We, the People, All of Us This Time, will be called to do our part by going to the polls. Hopefully, most of us will stand behind what this committee has accomplished. Hopefully, there'll be enough democracy left for a free and fair election.

"Laws are just words on paper. They mean nothing without public servants dedicated to the Rule of Law; and they are held accountable by a public who believes that oaths matter more than party tribalism or the cheap thrill of scoring political points." Adam Kinzinger, July 21, 2022

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