Don't Kill The Messenger...And Pay Attention To The Message

In a recent piece in Vanity Fair, Rep. Jasmine Crockett [D-TX], attracted some controversy with her accusation of many Hispanic voters having a “slave mentality” for supporting the Orange Sewer Rat.

As an Hispanic myself—first generation American, in my case—I was disheartened and dismayed by the criticism of representative Crockett and her slave mentality comments by some brown folks in the media. The only point I disagree with the congresswoman is her blanket statement, limiting that mentality to us brown folk and not including black, Asian, etc. (She did accuse black of men of bowing down to misogyny, re Kamala Harris.) Otherwise, she is so on point it’s heartbreaking.

We have to get away from for being apologists for people who voluntarily stab themselves with a political knife. Despite all the racism, anti-immigrant rhetoric, vulgarity, misogyny, the disrespect for the rule of law—a convicted felon is a law and order POTUS? Give me a f’n break!—not to mention Project 2025 and many, many other vile measures to come, our people chose to vote for the one who represents all of it. And the rest of us are supposed to condone and defend that? That is inexcusable at the very, very least.

Are we going to blame Kamala Harris and the Democrats for this? Was it they who voted for this orange turd nightmare and reinstalled it in the White House? Of course not. In the simplest of terms, our people had a choice between a shit sandwich and a bland chicken sandwich and chose the former. Period. There is no way around it. There is no excusing it and I am sick and tired of people being apologists for those who exercise self loathing at the voting booth. 

Interestingly, I got a response from a respected Hispanic journalist who criticized Rep. Crockett and went on to say that we shouldn't be calling people in our community ignorant and uninformed. Or let folks from outside our community do it, either. I respectfully told him that those who piss in the drinking water need to be called out, regardless of the community or race either side belongs to. This isn't charm school for debutantes, but politics. And politics can be life or death. In that scenario, we can't be too worried about hurt feelings. Otherwise, we get more of this insanity.

As I said before, with the exception of congresswoman Crockett maintaining that her remarks were exclusive to the brown, Spanish-speaking folk, she is so right it hurts. And it does. She spoke truth. One that our people who voted against every single one of their interests, need to hear.

Worst. Monday. Morning. Quarterbacking. Ever.

I’m talking about as little as possible about what’s on the horizon because I get into an uncontrollable rage when I discuss it or even think about it. And, believe it or not, the GOP is the least of my irritants right now.

A few hours after the Orange Sewer Rat’s victory was still hot off the electoral grill Sen. Bernie Sanders declared that Democrats have abandoned the working class. I must’ve not been paying attention when Kamala Harris proposed to gut Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid; destroy Obamacare; throw into the dustbin of history all kinds of labor protection laws (including child labor laws, which have been relaxed in some red states lately); divorcing herself from environmental regulations; or when she lied about subsidizing entrepreneurial endeavors and giving families an extra tax credit. Not to mention her vow to repeal the numerous benefits for working class people that Democrats have championed and fought for over the last hundred years, while the Republican party has opposed every single one of those and is still, looking to destroy all of it. So I guess Harris really screwed up huh? Not to mention that under Joe Biden’s administration we have had the best post-pandemic recovery of any nation in the world and unemployment is at 4%. But no, Democrats hate working people.

Her campaigning with Liz Cheney drew ire in certain circles, as that last name does not evoke, let’s say, warm and fuzzy feelings among Democrats. As someone who marched and protested against the Bush – Cheney administration, I get it. But the threat of Mongo Mussolini was too great to not establish a coalition with people with a shared mission which was, in this case, to avoid him becoming president again. Sometimes you make alliances that might not feel comfortable, but are necessary. Unfortunately, this one failed. But I’m not gonna knock it otherwise and neither should any rational Democrat. Grow up.

“Build a big tent,” was the exhortation given by Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat from Connecticut. I don’t know if the senator has been informed, but the Democratic Party is nothing but a big tent. One of the problems we have in getting things done is that there are so many different ideologies and perspectives within the Democratic Party. It’s not like over on the GOP side, who can ostensibly just decide one day that ‘From now on all Republicans must smoke Marlboro Red. If you smoke something else or if you just don’t smoke, leave right now’and have 99% respond, ‘Done. Immediately.’

And of course, nothing brings out internal Democratic warring factions like “the far left and wokeness alienated the voters.” (Betcha senators Sanders and Murphy don’t see eye to eye on that one. )

Well, I call bullshit. But you know what? Let’s say for the sake of argument that these factors did alienate American voters and pushed them towards the orange-hued traitor and rapist and misogynist and sexist and xenophobe they voted for.

Any working class person who believed “wokeness“ was a bigger ill or threat to them than losing their rights and benefits by handing over the nation to an inept, twice indicted and multiply charged criminal and wannabe dictator, who already derailed the economy once before, then they deserve the world of pain that’s in store for them. I’ll save my empathy for those who did not vote for this unmitigated and, soon to be, unrelenting disaster, but will be hurt by it, anyway.

Of course the biggest irony is that, seemingly, the only prominent Democrat out there making sense is Rep. Dean Phillips: yeah, the one with a failed run against Biden in the primaries. Phillips was asked by WaPo what Democrats as a party need to do from here on in: “We have a good product but terrible packaging and distribution.”

‘Wrong!', say both the spineless scaredy cat Democrats and DINOs. ‘It was wokeness and all that empathy for threatened groups that got us in trouble. Now we must show the voters that we can be Republican-lite and hate the vulnerable, too.’

Worst. Monday. Morning. Quarterbacking. Ever.

Biden/Harris Blamers and MAGAt Apologists: Go F Yourselves

Let’s cut the bullshit, OK?

There was a chicken sandwich and a shit sandwich to choose from and tens of millions PURPOSELY chose the shit sandwich. “Dems were too woke!” Fuck that noise!

What are you saying? “Dems were too woke and that’s why the old and sick instead voted for the guy who's gonna eliminate the ACA/cut Medicare and Social Security and make the price of their meds go sky high.” Is that it?

Fuck no.

Tens of millions saw themselves in the orange sewer rat and voted accordingly. They weren't duped: make no mistake, they voted for corruption, discrimination, injustice and racism, because that's exactly what they wanted.

Go explain this to the people of Ukraine, whose days are numbered now. Ask the folks in Gaza if their prospects got better on our election night. Fuck every last single one of these MAGAts. The quicker they die from not being able to afford their meds, the better. Maybe we can have another pandemic they don't believe in and it kills them all off.

September 11th: Then, Now And Tomorrow

With the caveat that I would like nothing more than to be wrong and have to eat my words, I must say, that the hope of uniting this country as it was in the aftermath of September 11, 2001, is no longer a possibility. Why? Because we had a an even greater and grimmer and deadlier event a mere four years ago which placed in stark relief the chasm between us as a country. 

Back in 2001, I remember vividly when, immediately after the attacks, unrequested volunteers showed up from all over the country to aid us in our time of need here in New York City. All across the country, “We’re all New Yorkers” was the mantra.

 

Fast forward to 2020 and red state folks wishing further death upon us, as a global pandemic ravaged my beloved Gotham City. So, to answer your question, I firmly believe another September 11 would fail to unite us, seeing as a more deadly event has already exposed the extent of our polarization.

 

Which dovetails with the subject of the political choices of those who, on the surface, seem to align themselves with those purveying a platform contrary to their benefit.

 

The reason I have cut out 99% MAGAt family or friends from my life, is not merely the political differences between us. No. It’s that I have come to the conclusion and realization that the preference for this Orange Monster and the ideology of those around him and supporting him, betrays a deep rooted evil that goes way beyond any sort of political inclination or thought. At their core is a lust for the destruction and ultimate demise of all those who do not think or look like them. They have renounced their loyalty to country, Constitution and civility, all in the name of punishing those who dare not only disagree, but who they feel threaten their centuries-long privilege and protected status with diversity, equality and inclusion and, more importantly, justice.

 

I fully and completely respect however others who share my political ideology decide to conduct themselves within this regard. But let me humbly state that if I were them, I’d stay away from these people as best as humanly possible. Unless your plan involves growing eyes in the back of your head.

The Lefties Are Getting Restless

When a bunch of prominent Republicans—including a former congressman, a former Lieutenant Governor and a member of the #TRE45ON cabinet—spoke at the DNC, I knew certain people would start to get nervous.

Then, 200+ aides, advisers, etc to prominent GOP figures of the past wrote an open letter pledging their allegiance to Kamala Harris. The nervous people were starting to sweat.

But when former congresswoman and House leader, Liz Cheney, publicly announced that her father—Darth Vader himself—Dick Cheney, would be voting for Harris, I knew I had to reach out to the nervous, sweaty people before they lost their minds. 

So this is for them:

I know you’re freaked out that a bunch of Republicans who don’t share our views on a myriad of policies, particularly domestic ones, have now lined up to support and even endorse the Democratic Party presidential ticket. But this alliance doesn’t mean we’re changing who we are. This is more about them, recognizing that their party is wrecked and the only way to salvage it is to deliver a pronounced defeat to the cancer that has eaten away at their party. And so they are willing to help us win so they can tear down their own house and rebuild it. They’re not changing who they are and neither are we. We just share the common goal of getting rid of the Orange Turd.

And I know you’ve been uneasy about this from the moment The Lincoln Project showed up. But I’ll repeat what I said then: it doesn’t matter who we ride the bus with as long as we are going towards the same destination. When we get there, then we’ll figure it out.

Listen, just because I welcome their alliance so we can reach a similar goal doesn’t mean I have forgotten who they are. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger voted in sync with Trump more than 90% of the time when they were in Congress; The Lincoln Party’s head honcho, Rick Wilson, was a very close advisor for Ted Cruz; Steve Schmidt worked for George W. Bush and most famously was campaign manager for the late John McCain’s 2008 presidential aspirations. These are people who worship Ronald Reagan. ‘Nuff said.

With the exception of Schmidt—who has become a registered Democrat—I can assure you these folks are still thinking along the same lines as they did 10, 20 years ago in terms of policy and whatnot. So, yeah, definitely not our kind of people, in terms of political ideology. And while I welcome them in our shared goal of ridding ourselves of Mango Mussolini, I’m sleeping with one eye open. The ones who are supporting Harris and even campaigning for her, I appreciate and thank them for the effort, but I am in no way under the illusion that these aren’t the people who I have deep differences in terms of how we want to move the country forward. The difference between them and the MAGAts is that the MAGAts are OK with an Orange dictatorship and the classic Republicans are not. And that is a very important distinction at this moment in time. One we should take advantage of, but always remember who it is that we’re partnering with in this particular endeavor.

Yes, at the end of the day Republicans are Republicans. And we’ll be on the alert. But, for now, let’s chill and not freak out about who it is that we are siding with and work on getting the job done. We can figure out the rest of it later, when Harris and Walz are in the White House.

It'll be alright. Let's just get this done, OK?

The Enemy Is Us

Can we be honest here? We can attack #TRE45ON and his sycophantic minions for their decidedly unAmerican, fascist dreams of a theocratic dictatorship all we want, but they’re not really the problem here. Nope.

It’s the millions of everyday Americans who want to establish a White Nationalist “Christian” state in which PoC, Jews, LGBTQ  and women are second class citizens; same sex and interracial marriage are outlawed; a nationwide abortion ban is put into effect; undocumented migrants—or even first generation Americans who don’t fall in line—are kept in concentration camps; political protest is illegal; the EPA is abolished; the U.S. civil service is gutted; the DoJ is a puppet organization dedicated to prosecuting political enemies; plus the demise of NATO and the rise of the Soviet Union 2.0.

Millions of our fellow Americans—including some of your family and friends—are not only fine with all of the above, they feverishly want to see it become reality.

And so, when faced with such an inescapable fact, what is there to do? Every election can’t be do or die, that’s just unsustainable. So what’s the answer? What is the long term solution?

I will say this: as I humbly see it, the biggest obstacle we face in avoiding the above is the arrogance and complacency that comes with American exceptionalism. In other words, we are so confident in the “it can’t happen here, that’s in *those* countries” axiom that it’s become a dangerous mantra that fails to take into account that the corrupt and the gullibly ignorant—as well as evil, of course—are everywhere and we’re nowhere near from being exempt of their pernicious thoughts and deeds.

“Well, our American institutions are strong and…”

Are they? A failed former POTUS—who lost the popular vote—and a vulgar ignoramus sowing division and actively furthering enmity among our citizens, is the presidential candidate for the opposition party, despite the fact that this individual incited an insurrection with the goal to interrupt the peaceful transfer of power; hoarded boxes and boxes of classified documents with the likely intention to offer them up to the highest bidder; owes approximately half a billion dollars in fines due to having engaged engaged in massive bank fraud; and has made it clear he will govern as much of a dictator as possible. So, how’s that working out?

Whatever the way out is, we need to find it. And soon. Maybe it actually might be too late. At least I hope not.

STEPHEN A. SMITH: AN UTTER DISGRACE

From what I understand, ESPN has internal rules about anchors not discussing politics on the air, as well as not broaching the subject publicly elsewhere. So, how does this jibe with Stephen A. Smith going on Faux News to praise and defend the Orange Turd? 

 

(Btw, Smith’s appearance on the infamous rightwing network coincided with one by Newt Gingrich, in which the disgraced former Speaker compared the Orange Turd’s legal woes to the plight of beaten, brutalized and murdered Civil Rights activists of the 1960s. Yeah, he went there.)

The cries of "sellout!" from prominent members of the African American community were expected...until you see Smith's appearance on Hannity's show. It's much worse than you think and to call him a useful idiot is to be kind to the man: Smith spewed a smorgsabord of ignorance, false equivalency, disinformation and GOPee talking points. 

He's a fucking disgrace.