RELIGIOUS COERCION, TOURBILLONS, INANITIES & DISINHIBITION

Steve Schmidt on his The Warning blog hosted by Substack, writes, “George Washington did not have the insight to realize that all men are created equal, despite fighting for a cause that declared it an unalienable truth. That said, he certainly had the foresight to see the danger of political parties to warp patriotism into tribalism. In his farewell address on September 17, 1796, he said this:

‘However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion, as they accuse entire peoples of stealing and eating their neighbors pets.'”

Okay, okay…he didn’t say that last part nor did Schmidt write it, but Washington COULD have, had he given his farewell speech in 2024. Schmidt says, “the quote that defines a generation (‘They’re eating dogs!’), and an era that is exhausted, stale, ludicrous and coming to an end. Someday, someone somewhere is going to closely examine the inanity that occurred on CNN during the two hours that preceded the debate (with Kamala Harris) during which Trump psychologically decomposed on national television, and realize the scale of idiocies dressed up as commentary describing he greatest threat to freedom in America since 1860. Trump is most certainly an unserious man, but he is covered by a bevy of unserious people whose smugness blinds them to the reality that they make MAGA grow by fertilizing fascism with so much curiosity, wonder, and detachment. Standing for the proposition that what is cannot be, is as delusional as the fulminations from the deranged gentleman foaming at the mouth about immigrants eating dogs.”  Schmidt accuses CNN in the hours leading up to the debate of heralding Trump as Muhammad Ali incarnate, with Harris being mocked as an empty vessel. MAGA VP candidate, JD Vance, had claimed that Haitian migrants were “causing chaos all over Springfield, Ohio,” by abducting and eating pets, so naturally the former president spouted that charge during the debate. Cue up the bomb threats by crazies toward schools and public buildings in Springfield!

Schmidt takes Ohio Governor Mike DeWine to task over an editorial he wrote defending Battlefield Springfield and its residents, with Schmidt’s calling his piece a struggle between the lie and truth. DeWine describes how he was born in the town, tells of his familiarity with businesses, churches and events, and mentions a rich history of providing refuge for the oppressed and being a place of opportunity, and how it hit tough times in the ’80s and ’90s. He feels Springfield has a very bright future, praising the Haitians who arrived there to make their dreams come true…the American story. He expresses his disappointment that it is now the epicenter of vitriol over the national immigration policy, but here is where DeWine veers off-track according to Schmidt. “Understanding what has happened is materially and significantly different from how it happened, no matter what the event may be. Why is DeWine willing to tell the truth about what is happening…the people being smeared, but afraid to tell the truth about how it happened and why it happened?” he asks. DeWine writes, “As a supporter of former President Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance, I am saddened by how they and others continue to repeat claims that lack evidence and disparage the legal migrants living in Springfield. This rhetoric hurts the city and its people, and it hurts those who have spent their lives here.” Schmidt goes for the jugular, “Come again? Repeating claims? That’s what happened? Really? Why won’t Mike DeWine tell the truth about Donald Trump and JD Vance?…a career public servant, a governor, a father of eight, grandfather of 28, great-grandfather of one, husband of 56 years…in his last years of public life, pushing 80 years old, and not defending his hometown from the men assaulting it? What does Trump have on him?”

Schmidt says that DeWine’s choice is common and typical, a perfect specimen of a fascist apologist…a little man in a job too big for him when courage is in retreat and viciousness is the only virtue that matters within a party led by a rapist and criminal promising retribution, revenge, and violent mass arrests and deportations against his enemies…a hollow man kneeling to a vicious man. If we ever want to know what really happened in Springfield, and everything that mattered in ten years of MAGA, read DeWine’s essay. National Review’s editor-in-chief, Rich Lowry, explains: “Banking on evil is the strategy, and Mike DeWine has played his part. He is an appeaser and a weakling.”

On Fox News’ Media Buzz program, Democratic strategist Tim Hogan pointed out that Biden’s Homeland Security removed a higher percentage of arrested border crossers in its first two years than the Trump administration did in its last two. “You had Karl Rove on this network yesterday talking about the numbers on immigration. Yes, it’s still an advantage for Trump, but that is sliding away from him in some battleground states…in Arizona. But also, nationally, so I think it is smart to go at some of his advantages, and also, when he talks about the issue, sometimes he slips into lunacy,” he charged. “Lunacy?” questioned host Howard Kurtz. Hogan reminded Kurtz, “We saw it during the debate where he’s talking about losing cats and dogs.” Kurtz had to admit, “Well, yeah, and that one I can’t defend.”

Finally, The New York Times has come to its senses, with the editorial board endorsing Kamala Harris for president, claiming that Trump’s “first term was a warning and that a second term would be much more damaging and divisive” than his first stint. Kamala is described as a “dedicated public servant” with “a set of thoughtful plans to help American families,” with the November election being about something “more foundational” than two candidates’ competing visions for the country. The editorial board concludes, “It is about whether we invite into the highest office in the land a man who has revealed, unmistakably, that he will degrade the values, defy the norms and dismantle the institutions that have made our country strong,” adding, “It is hard to imagine a candidate more unworthy to serve as president of the United States than Donald Trump,” a man who “has proven himself morally unfit for an office that asks its occupant to put the good of the nation above self-interest.” The Times says, “He rambles, he repeats himself, he roams from thought to thought…some of them hard to understand, some them unfinished, some of them factually fantastical. He voices outlandish claims that seem to be made up out of whole cloth. He digresses into bizarre tangents about golf, about sharks, about his own ‘beautiful body.’ He relishes ‘a great day in Louisiana’ after actually spending a day in Georgia. He expresses fear that North Korea is ‘trying to kill me’ when he presumably means Iran. As late as last month, Mr. Trump was still speaking as if he were running against President Biden, five weeks after Biden’s withdrawal from the race.” In an interview, he vividly recounted how the audience at his debate with VP Harris was on his side…“they went crazy.” Only problem being it was in an empty hall…no audience to go crazy or otherwise!

A computer analysis conducted by The New York Times in cooperation with ChatGPT reveals that Trump speeches now drone on for 82 minutes on average, compared to 45 minutes in 2016, and proportionately, he uses 13% more all-or-nothing terms like “always” and “never” than in 2016. In the same vein, he uses 32% more negative words than positive words currently, as compared to his first run for office, an indicator of cognitive change; plus, he uses swearwords 69% more often, a trend experts would call ‘disinhibition.’ His comparing Joe Biden’s physique in a bathing suit to that of Cary Grant’s at the same age? Let’s not go there, and let’s skip his claim about his own body – “You have never seen a body so beautiful.” His expertise on any subject is his pride and joy, being well-versed on “nuclear” because “my uncle…yada, yada yada…” Claiming that Venezuelan gangs are arming themselves “with MK-47s…I know that gun very well” since “I’ve become an expert on guns.” Probably meant AK-47s, you think? A Times reporter is annoyed that “it’s not possible to really cover him because he challenges news media process daily, has for years. The systems were not built to deal with somebody who says things that are not true as often as he does or speaks as incoherently as he often does.”

Jon Shore, who identifies himself as a psychotherapist, asks on Quora, “Does Trump’s peddling $100,000 gold and diamond watches make him more relatable to the middle class?” Jon has looked over the website for the Trump watches, reading the fine print, and doing some research, which has led him to these conclusions: The watches don’t exist at this moment; watches not guaranteed to look like product in the photos (for illustration purposes only); watches aren’t returnable; not Swiss made, Chinese made; sold by a fake company in Sheridan, WY, a lawyer’s office from which Trump tchotchkes are hawked, along with sex toys and various other products by unnamed companies; and, watches shipped worldwide. So, if you want to send Donald Trump $100,000, order as many as you wish…doesn’t matter if the product is real, fake or non-existent…just send lots of money. Shore is calling it a typical Trump scam. He doesn’t have to disclose buyers, whether they are Russian oligarchs, Saudi princes or even Elon Musk…it’s simply ‘personal funds’ for unlimited campaign cash. Where’s the Justice Department when you need…oh yeah, never mind!

A distinctive and anachronistic feature of the Trump watch is the use of a tourbillon (a French word for ‘whirlwind’), an 18th century invention used for improving timekeeping accuracy by suspending the components in a rotating cage, therefore counteracting the effects of gravity. The device is no longer functionally necessary with advances existing in today’s watches. But Swiss brands such as Patek Phillipe and Audemars Piguet have used them for years to signify status and success, with their brands costing $250,000 plus, so Trump is touting his watches as “not just any watch; it is one of the best watches made.” TAG Heuer offers one of its versions for less than $25K, and Seagull Watch Company in China sells one for around $1,700. Vintage-watch dealer, Mike Nouveau, calculated the value of some of the watch’s parts, coming up with a reckoning far below the retail price of $100K, saying that any company can order a tourbillon off the shelf and stick it in their watch. The 200 grams of gold and the 100 diamonds might give the Trump watch an added value of $16K, and with fabrication added, the final cost to make each is probably between $20K and $30K. The timepiece’s movement is actually Swiss-made by Olivier Mory of OM Mechanics but the company making the purchase will be producing the final product elsewhere, with Mory not concerned about his movements being used by a brand tied to Trump. He remarked, “I don’t have to be interested by a foreign politician…I don’t see any reason to be ashamed as movement producer. The US political system is like coming from another planet.” Only with if Trump’s name is on the dial face!

The real border crisis in America raised its ugly head last week…the one between church and state…when Oklahoma Superintendent of Schools, Ryan Walters, submitted a request for $3M from the Department of Education to buy 55,000 Bibles for placement in the state’s classrooms. Not only is he pushing Bibles, he’s mounting a scheme to enrich Donald Trump with taxpayer dollars. Seems that the requirements laid down by Walters fit only the Trump-endorsed ‘God Bless the USA Bible’ which raised cries of ‘corruption and manipulation.’ The Oklahoma Watch reported on a fresh wave of criticism in several areas, one of which pounced on the former president’s grifting, in particular with Bibles. Broad efforts have been ongoing by Christian nationalist organizers to assert themselves into the state GOP, encouraging that taxpayer monies be spent to place religious books in public school classrooms. The vendors who bid on the contract for the classroom Bibles must specifically provide the King James Version, with Old and New Testaments, must include copies of the Pledge of Allegiance, Declaration of Independence, US Constitution, and the Bill of Rights, with a binding of leather or leather-like material. One vendor carries 2,900 Bibles, but none fit the specs…only one fills the bill…Lee Greenwood’s God Bless the USA Bible, endorsed by Donald Trump, who gets a fee for lending his name to the cesspool. Superintendent Walters said, “We are going to be so proud here in Oklahoma to be the first state in the country to bring the Bible back to every single classroom and every state should be doing this…President Trump praised our efforts. President Trump has been a leader on this issue.” Well, gaaaahly, gee whiz! Why would that be? Prior to the Trump Bible issue, civil rights groups had spent months sounding the alarm over Walters’ push to mandate Christian teachings in public schools.

Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United, released a statement saying, “Oklahoma taxpayers should not be forced to bankroll Superintendent Walters’ Christian nationalist agenda. His latest scheme is a transparent, unlawful effort to indoctrinate and religiously coerce public school students. Not on our watch. Public schools are not Sunday schools.” Experts are warning that contract specifications might actually represent a breach of state law, since they seem to target only one edition of the Bible…the Greenwood/Trump publication. “It appears to me that this bid is anything but competitive,” former state Attorney General Drew Edmondson told The Oklahoman newspaper. “It adds to the basic specification other requirements that have nothing to do with the text. The special binding and inclusion of government documents will exclude almost all bidders. If the bid specs exclude most bidders unnecessarily, I would consider that a violation.” The Atlantic’s David Graham calls the situation “incredible grift,” and Talking Points Memo’s Josh Marshall declared it “somewhere between hilarious and grotesque.”  While you’re at it, why not go for the watches too, Oklahoma? Those tourbillons will fit right into your very essence!