A few thoughts on July's Republican get-togethers in Penn and Milwaukee

Needless to say, I’m not going within 75 miles of that cesspool in Milwaukee in the next few days. Especially given that a Walker/WisGOP-era law allows for Meal Team Six types to walk down the streets a few blocks from the FiServ Forum with guns in this time of elevated tension.

Plus, while I still despise Republicans in general, I’m more disgusted with the pathetic people in the DC media and their vapid Insider Club that thinks politics is all a game and that somehow they will be spared from the disastrousness of another lawless Trump presidency - this time with more competent and fascist dweebs in charge! I’d be more likely to want to berate those soulless elitists in alleged political journalism than I would for a lot of the GOP politicians that will be walking around town.

Not that many Republican politicians aren't soulless, mind you, but many are also weak, whiny trash in over their heads, with no skill beyond shamelessness. It's the media that gives legitimacy to GOP idiocy and repression, because you gotta get that access (to the cocktail parties) somehow.

I’ll move over to the shooting in Pennsylvania at a Trump rally over the weekend. I don’t view it as anything different than when some young white guy shoots up a grocery store parking lot, or a school, or shoots into a crowd at other public gatherings. It could have been a Biden rally or a local high school football game, and this guy would have been fine with using the event to take his AR-15 and become (in)famous on his way off this earth.

I think the fact that this shooting happened at a political rally had a lot more to do with delusions of grandeur and “blaze of glory” BS from a 20-year-old guy living in Dad’s basement than any politics whatsoever. But that didn’t stop Republicans from trying to claim it was, including this far-too-quick response from Trump's VP candidate barely an hour after the shooting.

Today is not just some isolated incident.

The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs.

That rhetoric led directly to President Trump's attempted assassination.

— J.D. Vance (@JDVance1) July 14, 2024

The real message that I take from that tweet is that GOPs want to use this incident to try to make Dems stop talking about the GOP agenda and Project 2025. Telling the truth about those things were clearly landing blows on Republicans at all levels, and Biden had shown signs of recovering any support he had lost in after his bad debate 2 ½ weeks ago.

Know what else Republicans aren't going to want to talk about after this? The fact that it's GOP laws and the GOP crooks on the Supreme Court that allowed this country to get to a place where a 20-year-old freak is able to walk around with an AR-15, just waiting to use it. Thoughts and prayers, guys.

Always know that when GOPs start pleading for “unity” in light of incidents like the shooting in Pennsylvania, it’s a one-way street to them. And New Republic editor Alex Shephard says it is no different this time.

…[W]e know how Donald Trump thinks America should be united: by reelecting him and allowing him and his cronies to ransack the country’s institutions. Indeed, Trump was back to his old tricks on Monday. After a loyalist federal judge threw out the case alleging that he illegally retained classified documents after leaving the White House, he posted this missive:

As we move forward in Uniting our Nation after the horrific events on Saturday, this dismissal of the Lawless Indictment in Florida should be just the first step, followed quickly by the dismissal of ALL the Witch Hunts — The January 6th Hoax in Washington, D.C., the Manhattan D.A.’s Zombie Case, the New York A.G. Scam, Fake Claims about a woman I never met (a decades old photo in a line with her then husband does not count), and the Georgia “Perfect” Phone Call charges. The Democrat Justice Department coordinated ALL of these Political Attacks, which are an Election Interference conspiracy against Joe Biden’s Political Opponent, ME. Let us come together to END all Weaponization of our Justice System, and Make America Great Again!

This brief statement contains an attack on the legal system, a defense of insurrectionists, and the suggestion that his political opponent is leading a sinister plot to destroy him. It is vintage Trump.

That’s the real (and really depressing) takeaway from Saturday’s events. Nothing has changed. Trump remains the biggest threat to democracy in this country. He will continue to encourage political violence in service of his political project, which is built on hatred and retribution. The attempted assassination has left him and his devotees emboldened as they attack their rivals and attempt to shut down dissent. There is no effort to lower the temperature—only to justify one side’s political attacks while silencing the other’s. And the longer Democrats cower in the wake of Saturday’s shooting, the stronger the autocrat becomes.

And how dare the GOP start complaining about tone after the last 15 years of their winks, nods, and outright support of violence against Democrats and anyone else that opposed them. There is a great post on Daily Kos that goes over 40 times Donald Trump encouraged others to physically hurt and/or kill others as a way of resolving issues.

In addition, Republicans in Congress sure like to pose with guns and call Democrats Satan in order to show how they will "fight” against….national health care and equal rights?

This morning, Speaker Mike Johnson called on politicians to “turn the rhetoric down."

“We’re all Americans, and we have to treat one another with dignity and respect.”

A leading member of his caucus six hours later: pic.twitter.com/b1loIEmFLM

— Mike Hixenbaugh (@Mike_Hixenbaugh) July 14, 2024

Mike Collins' ad when he first ran for congress features him holding an AR-15 and spewing stolen election conspiracy theories before blowing up a target.

But, please, go on about inciting violence. https://t.co/9N8ZGbrGvl pic.twitter.com/nvU28l8cUZ

— Blue Georgia (@BlueATLGeorgia) July 14, 2024

“Among those likely to make an [RNC] appearance is Kyle Rittenhouse, the 21-year-old gun rights figure who gained national attention in August 2020 when the then-17-year-old fatally shot two men and wounded a third during protests in Kenosha, Wis.”https://t.co/pG7aX9KQjB

— scot ross (@rossacrosswi) July 14, 2024

remembering how Donald Trump’s folks reacted the last time someone tried to assassinate a political leader pic.twitter.com/YY6MS3lPrd

— Armand Domalewski (@ArmandDoma) July 14, 2024

When it comes to acceptance and encouragement of violence, it ain’t close to the same galaxy between the two parties.

And Dems cannot listen to “concerns” given by pro-Trump corporate media, and instead should ask why media is even trying to “both sides” a tone debate. In this case, I’d argue Dems have not been nearly harsh enough on GOPs, given the horrible stuff Trump and GOPs would like to do, while GOPs are allowed to get away with (in some cases literally) condoning/encouraging violence and murder.

If I hear GOPs shed crocodile tears and say “We need to calm things down”, the Dems response should be “Oh yeah, GOP? You first.” And Dems cannot back down from telling the TRUTH about the repression and fascism that is associated with Project 2025 and the retribution that Trump promises to impose on those who called out his crookedness and hateful garbage. Dems need to be doing this today, all throughout this week, and for the next 3 ½ months, non-stop.