MAGANOT!, AMERICAN DISEASE, CRACKERS, DISTRACTIONS

Last week there was another school shooting, this time at a Catholic church adjacent to its school, and as usual Republicans were offering their usual thoughts and prayers. Or as Mitch McConnell is noted for saying, “Mmpfa, mupha, phanfa b-bank suphapah, too soon,” or something similar — we may never know — gapha gapha ekphi debubba! Fox talking head, and former GOP congressman, Trey Gowdy crossed the MAGANOT! line later by suggesting that it might be time to start talking about gun control, despite his raking in wads of cash from the NRA during his term in office to speak out against a sensible gun safety plan. A new dawn may have found Gowdy tarred-and- feathered and looking for a new job — if only he could get past the FBI and armed National Guardsmen now stationed outside his home environs. Bad Trey dared to say on the ‘Outnumbered’ panel show, “Our system is reactive. Something bad happens, we react to it. And what people are crying for now is how can we prevent this? How can we stop it? And if the only way to stop it is to identify the shooter ahead of time or keep the weapons out of their hands. I mean, how many school shootings does it take before we’re going to have a conversation about keeping firearms out?” Critics immediately jumped onto social media to call him ‘not conservative,’ and they ‘despised him,’ — ‘shameful.’ That’s the routine the country goes through after every mass shooting with victims and families crying, as they follow the wailing sirens on the emergency vehicles — and politicians tweeting, emailing, or calling for ‘thoughts and prayers’ in their interviews. If that works for anyone in the moment, fine. But what about the next time? What comfort is there if you know the next gunman is caressing his or her fully-loaded weapon, ready to launch into yet another round of bloodshed? Names and places change, but the blood on the floor after unspeakable violence remains the same.

Michael Cohen writes on MeidasTouch, “The truth is, America has stopped even pretending to look for answers. Politicians point fingers, advocacy groups dig into their trenches, and the rest of us are left with a toxic cocktail of rage and resignation. We know the script. We’ve seen it too many times. And yet, the body count keeps climbing. How many more mothers need to bury their children before someone in Washington grows a spine? How many fathers will hold their son’s baseball glove, never to see him step up to the plate again? How many of these tragedies need to unfold before we admit that ‘thoughts and prayers’ are not policy? Why is this topic so untouchable? Why is the right to own an arsenal more sacred than the right of a child to sit safely in a classroom, or a worshipper to bow their head in peace?” Cohen goes on to say that we live in a nation where there are more guns than people — every citizen could be armed, and still weapons would be left unclaimed. “If that doesn’t tell you something is broken, you’re not paying attention,” he says. Any compromise is regarded as blasphemy, and any reference to common-sense reform invites outrage, attack ads, and threats, a path to surrender. Melania Trump was compelled to speak out for a call to action — a sincere, heartfelt response which will only be ignored. Columbine? Sandy Hook? Las Vegas? Uvalde? Park Avenue? Minneapolis? Nothing changes! Apathy and campaign contributions take hold.

Cohen chides Americans, saying, “It should shame us that we’ve let it get this far. That we’ve allowed gun violence become the background noise of American life. That parents now rehearse active shooter drills the same way past generations practiced fire drills. That worshippers look for exits when they walk into a sanctuary. That teachers keep bandages and tourniquets next to textbooks.” Steve Schmidt writes on his ‘The Warning’ blog, the words of the Minneapolis shooter, “‘I don’t want to do it spread a message. I do it to please myself. I do it because I am sick.'” Schmidt recalls Fox News’ Laura Ingraham as she reported the violence in Minneapolis: “Look at the evil etched on her face. Look at the menace in her smirk as she uses the death of children to celebrate her bigotry, indicting every transgender person in American as a danger. Her hate is her evidence that all are guilty of a sick person’s crime. Collective guilt is not justice. It is the rallying cry of a mob. The Trump mob was out in full force with a curated indictment, making sure in the main to leave out the big parts of the story. It’s always inconvenient when the events don’t fit perfectly in the demagogue’s box. Those dead kids in Minnesota were killed by an American disease, and the people who spread it want you to know a transgender person did it.”

The day after the mass shooting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt attacked former press secretary Jen Psaki’s comments about ‘thoughts and prayers,’ saying, “I think they’re incredibly insensitive and disrespectful to tens of millions of Americans of faith across this country who believe in the power of prayer, who believe that prayer works, and who believe that in a time of mourning like this, it’s utterly disrespectful…ummm…to deride the power the power of prayer in this country.” Psaki had expressed her frustrations that “half the politicians in our country have little more to offer than thoughts and prayers,” saying, “We have seen this play out over and over again. There is a shooting, then come the thoughts and prayers, and then comes the attempt to shift the focus. This is what always happens. Prayer is not freaking enough. Prayer does not end school shootings. Prayers do not make parents feel safe sending their kids to school. Prayer does not bring those kids back. Enough with thoughts and prayers.” Like clockwork, the GOP and their pro-gun allies pivoted to mental health and transgender rights, ignoring the obvious truth that the only factor that separates the US from other countries is the sheer number of guns. As Walter Einenkel writes on Daily Kos, “At least one White House secretary knows how to tell the truth.”

Psaki further criticized the Trump administration’s deployment of National Guard troops in Washington, DC, amid reports that they have been seen mulching down planted areas and picking up trash. “When kids are getting shot in their pews at a Catholic school mass and your crime plan is to have National Guard troops mulch around DC, maybe you should rethink your strategy,” she zinged. VP Vance also berated Psaki for her “bizarre” declaration that “prayer is not freaking enough.” Catholic convert Vance defended the power of prayer, saying, “We pray because our hearts are broken. We pray because we know God listens. We pray because we know that God works in mysterious ways, and can inspire us to further action.” Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey rejected the standard response in his speech, saying, “Don’t just say this is about thoughts and prayers right now — these kids were literally praying. It was the first week of school, they were in church.” Democrats and liberal pundits in particular have seen expressions of thoughts and prayers, particularly coming from the GOP and prominent commentators on the right, as an empty gesture when uncoupled with specific actions on gun control to prevent mass shootings. Democrats argue that the debate over the usefulness or appropriateness of prayer is an unhelpful distraction from what they see as the root cause of mass shootings: Ease of access to guns. “On this, Republicans are trying to own the space of faith just like they do patriotism. Scripture says faith without works is dead. The difference between us and them is we follow our thoughts and prayers up with action and they do not.” This would be in the vein of the oft-quoted West African proverb: “When you pray, move your feet.”

It seems that our vice president is becoming all too familiar with getting harshly booed and heckled in public appearances — quite satisfying for the participants and those who oppose the administration, and Trump’s policies. Michaela Bramwell of BuzzFeed says one habit of Vance, which is growing tiresome to many, “his single most obnoxious characteristic” to one person, is his constant demand for gratitude from those he opposes — one person calling it “straight-up whiny,” as in whiny fascism. We all remember the viral argument he initiated with Ukraine’s President Zelensky in the Oval Office a few weeks back, demanding a “thank you.” His most recent attack was on New York City mayoral candidate, Zohran Mamdani, who Vance accuses of “attacking” the country “for all its problems,” when he should be showing “a sense of gratitude.” The candidate’s defenders say he ran the “most positive possible campaign” about New York City, and another agreed that Mamdani’s “brand is loving New York and celebrating that it’s an awesome place to live.” Another writer suggests that Vance tackle comments made by his orange-hued boss, such as, calling the US a “failing nation,” “a garbage can,” and “no better than Russia.” A Fran Lebowitz quote might be applied to our two fearless leaders: “The conversational overachiever is someone whose grasp exceeds his reach. This is possible but not attractive.” Or, as Mitch McConnell might say, “Dagso rab micle tacis plal.”

A post on social media poses, “Imagine if the MAGAs reacted to mass shootings with the same passion and outrage as when Cracker Barrel changed their stupid logo.” The Daily Dose of Democracy site snakily posted: “In these tenuous and truly exceptional times, it’s comforting to know the Trump regime is laser focused on the critical issues of the day that clearly matter most to Americans, like…chain restaurant logo rebranding. Lord Goldemort’s goon squad claimed it was the president’s Truth Social post lambasting the new logo that helped the famed restaurant chain finally see the light and ditch their woke-ass, anti-racist, gender-bending, homosexual lifestyle-approving new logo and return to their pious, Cracker (next to a) Barrel roots. And to think, there are people out there that still don’t think this man deserves the Nobel Peace Prize!” Cartoonist Nick Anderson captured the idiocy of the Cracker Brouhaha in his drawing of a team of red-hatted, googly-faced MAGAs raising a sign with the original Cracker Barrel logo — a la the WWII photo of US troops raising the US flag over Iwo Jima. So not only did corporate roll back the drab, characterless, new logo — it went a step further and ditched its webpage boasting its support for the LGBTQ+ community. “In connection with the Company’s brand work, we have recently made updates to the Cracker Barrel website, including adding new content and removal of out-of-date content,” the company told Fox News, touting a ‘Culture and Belonging’ page in place of ‘Bringing the Porch to Pride’ page.

On August 19, Cracker Barrel announced a modernized, simplified, barrel-shaped logo, removing the ‘Old Timer’ leaning against a barrel, as a way to appeal to the younger clientele, which MAGA took to be conspiratorial attack on American culture, a “woke” rebranding relating to the chain’s past affiliation with Pride parades and their bugaboos of diversity, equity, and inclusion. After much social media criticism, President Trump stepped in saying, “Cracker Barrel should go back to the old logo, admit a mistake based on customer response, and manage the company better than ever before.” Hours later, the company announced the reversion, even calling Trump to thank him for weighing in on the issue — but it really simply boils down to doing what is best for the bottom line, especially in light of the stock’s plunge on Wall Street. The Atlantic Daily quotes Ted Gioia on the phoniness of the Cracker Barrel brand and the absurdity of MAGA’s fake outrage over the new logo. “Cracker Barrel’s biggest shareholder is BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager, headquartered in New York City. Did you think it was Dolly Parton or Willie Nelson?” The article continues, “The fried chickens have come home to roost. Cracker Barrel is reverting to its old logo, fewer than ten days after announcing a new, stripped-down version. The ensuing controversy has been at once a welcome distraction from other news and an outgrowth of all the most annoying impulses in American life.” Hardly an avatar of small-town southern authenticity — more of a simulacrum of rural life, a corporate behemoth masquerading as a mom-and-pop lunch counter, intended to capitalize on nostalgia for a way of life that was already disappearing when it first opened it 1969. But all this background failed to stop Florida Congressman Byron Donald’s post on X: “It’s time to Make Cracker Barrel Great Again.”

D. Earl Stephens writes in Rolling Stone magazine: “I have grown sick and tired of the word, ‘distraction.’ And if you are a patriot doing what you can to fight against the most anti-American administration in our nation’s history, I bet you know exactly what I am talking about. I am done being lectured to by so-called ‘influencers’ and Democratic ‘operatives’ and politicians that everything the America-attacking Donald Trump and his odious fascists are doing today, is just a mere ‘distraction’ from something they did yesterday. Every terrible thing they did yesterday, is but a mere ‘distraction’ from some gruesome thing they did last week…note to all of these people: Please shut up. You are insulting as hell, are part of the problem, and are giving me a headache. The word ‘distraction’ is being thrown all over the Internet in response to Trump’s FBI search of the home of his former national security adviser, John Bolton. The search is allegedly just a ‘distraction’ from any of the other 227 terrible things Trump and his panting hyenas have afflicted on this country the past decade. Was the search of Bolton’s home chilling? Yes, of course. Was it predictable to anybody paying even the slightest amount of attention, and who has managed not to get ‘distracted’ by what has been going on in this country the past ten years? Of course it was. Was it any more chilling than rounding up US citizens and shipping them off to God knows where? Of course not. Was it merely a ‘distraction’ to drag attention away from whatever is happening with the elusive Epstein Files? Please…stop insulting us with all this crap. We aren’t distracted, you nitwits, we are wide awake, and furious about ALL OF IT, and wondering when the hell it is people like you will stop worrying about us being ‘distracted.'”

Stephens lists several items which have been called “distractions”: 1)Turning our military loose on OUR streets, 2) Trump’s visiting military bases to sell cheap memorabilia while criticizing political opponents, 3) Firing non-partisan, non-political experts for delivering job numbers Trump doesn’t like, 4) Killing life-saving vaccine, 5) Attacking safeguards on clean air and water, 6) Posting videos of a kneeling Barack Obama being placed in handcuffs, 7) Re-writing our nation’s history to minimize caging, beating and owning other human beings. “NONE of these things, or the scores of other gruesome events perpetrated on American citizens by this heinous administration, are mere ‘distractions.’ They are awful, intentional attacks, many of which used to be crimes in this country. Taken separately any of these things would have been threatened to bring down entire presidential administrations. Now they are being treated as just another cloudy afternoon in America,” he says. Continuing with his gut-punching, Stephens writes, “But if you are one of these feeble, simple-minded people, who are easily confused, and have a problem with all these ‘distractions’ maybe I can help: Trump declared war on the USA on January 6, 2021, when he refused to accept the results of an election he lost by more than seven million votes. It was an attempted insurrection, in which law enforcement officers were savagely beaten with rebel flag poles, clubs, stanchions, bats, and anything else Trump’s mob could get their filthy hands on. Millions of dollars of damage was done to OUR capitol building, where politicians — Republicans and Democrats — were hunted down and threatened with hanging and/or death. Instead of stopping the attack, Trump sequestered himself in the White House for more than three hours and rooted for its success. When it failed, he grudgingly stalked out on the White House lawn, and told his homegrown terrorists to surrender and go home, but not before telling them: ‘We love you, you’re very special.’ Read that again…”

Stephens wraps it up with: “EVERYTHING Trump has done since that terrible day has been designed around exactly ONE thing: rebuilding his anti-American army, exacting revenge on American patriots who are standing up for our country, and putting an end to our 249-year Democracy, so Republicans never relinquish power again. Got it? Good! Now try concentrating on only this, and stop lecturing the rest of us about being ‘distracted.'”

Illegitimi non carborundum – Don’t let the bastards grind you down.