Our descent into vitriol began long before Trump — and Democrats are culpable too

Washington Post  "After a deranged Democrat living in his van nearly assassinated Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) firing more than 70 rounds at House Republicans practicing for the Congressional Baseball Game, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) declared it “outrageous” that anyone would blame Democrats’ rhetoric for inspiring the shooter. “How dare they say such a thing!” Pelosi thundered. Never mind that the shooter echoed Democratic vitriol against the president, ranting on Facebook that “Trump is Guilty & Should Go to Prison for Treason” and that “Trump Has Destroyed Our Democracy. It’s Time to Destroy Trump & Co.”
"Now Democrats are doing exactly what they condemned, blaming President Trump’s divisive rhetoric for the recent spate of mail bomb attacks and the massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue. The truth is they ceded the moral high ground years ago. Our descent into vitriol began long before Trump — and Democrats and their allies are as culpable as the president.
"Recall that in 2000, the NAACP spent millions on ugly ads accusing George W. Bush of moral equivalence with white supremacists who brutally lynched James Byrd in 1998. “My father was . . . beaten, chained, and then dragged three miles to his death, all because he was black,” said Byrd’s daughter, as the screen flashed grainy images of a chain dragging a body behind a pickup truck. “So, when Governor George W. Bush refused to support hate-crime legislation, it was like my father was killed all over again.”  
"Barack Obama set the tone for his 2008 campaign against John McCain when he declared, “If they bring a knife to the fight, we bring a gun.” Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) answered that call when he compared McCain to segregationist Alabama Gov. George Wallace and declared that McCain was replicating the climate of “hatred and division” that led to attacks on civil rights workers. Four years later, a pro-Obama super PAC ran ads showing GOP vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan pushing an old lady in a wheelchair over the side of a cliff, while another ran false ads blaming Mitt Romney for a woman’s death from cancer.
"During the 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton compared Republicans to Nazis, saying in regard to illegal immigrants they wanted to “round them up” and put them in “boxcars.” She also compared the GOP to terrorists, declaring, “Now, extreme views on women, we expect that from some of the terrorist groups, we expect that from people who don’t want to live in the modern world, but it’s a little hard to take from Republicans.” And she listed Republicans alongside the Iranians among the “enemies” she was most proud of making." . . .

The American Catholic

MSNBC Guest Elie Mystal: ‘I Want Pitchforks and Torches Outside’ Trump Donor’s House in the Hamptons   "Thursday on MSNBC’s “All In,” network regular and Above the Law executive editor Elie Mystal called for aggressive protesting outside of the home of Stephen Ross, the owner of SoulCycle and the Miami Dolphins, for holding a fundraiser for President Donald Trump." . . . MSNBC's Chris Hayes calls protester shouting threats against McConnell 'peaceful'



Tommy Lee’s Nasty Diatribe Against Conservatives: ‘You Trumpsters Better Pray Liberals Never Gain Control Of The White House Again’
. . . "Need more encouragement to vote red in 2020? Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee shows the damage drugs due to a brain and what he thinks liberals would really do if they had complete power."   Weasel Zippers

The Babylon Bee reports:  Dems Criticize Trump For Not Taking Ownership Of The Sinking Of The Titanic  Still awaiting verification of this story as to whether it is satire or not. We do rank the Bee above CNN and MSNBC for accuracy and honesty. TD

"Democratic leaders across the country have called on Trump to take responsibility for his part in the sinking of the Titanic, which occurred in April of 1912. 

" 'Until Trump admits that his hateful rhetoric led to this horrible tragedy, we will not be able to heal as a nation," said Rep. Adam Schiff of California. "We must get to the root causes of nautical disasters like this one, and we all know what the main root cause is: Donald J. Trump.' " . . .

Joe Biden and the soul of America

Joe Biden and the soul of America  A few excerpts:
. . . "Joe Biden claims to be in a battle for the soul of America. What we really need is an honest conversation about the soul of our federal government." . . .
. . . "Encouraging millions of people to invade a country by ignoring its immigration laws is dissolute." . . .
. . . "Cheering on and funding the murder of innocent unborn children is evil." . . .
. . . "Permitting a 29-year-old bartender to set public environmental policy is lunacy." . . .   . "Joe Biden has been in government service for forty years. His tenure of fraud, immorality, corruption, and greed has witnessed the destruction of any sense of civic duty or statesmanship our ruling class may once have held.

"Spare us your version of soul, Joe. "It’s as empty as the public checking account." . . .

Rob's Right

Outside Sen. McConnell's home: more signs of decline in American culture

Patterico's Pontifications (Language advisory)
. . . "Team Mitch posted a video of the protests, which resulted in a suspension from Twitter:

After sharing a video of a profanity-laced protest outside of the Kentucky Republican’s home in Louisville, the campaign Twitter account, Team Mitch, has been locked out.

“This morning, Twitter locked our account for posting the video of real-world, violent threats made against Mitch McConnell. This is a problem with the speech police in America today,” McConnell campaign manager Kevin Golden told the Courier Journal. “The Lexington Herald-Leader can attack Mitch with cartoon tombstones of his opponents. But we can’t mock it.

“Twitter will allow the words of “Massacre Mitch” to trend nationally on their platform, but locks our account for posting actual threats against us,” Golden added. “We appealed and Twitter stood by their decision, saying our account will remain locked until we delete the video.”

"The critical part of the video:

Black Lives Matter Louisville leader Chanelle Helm said in a live video of the protest that instead of falling and injuring his shoulder over the weekend, McConnell “should have broken his little raggedy, wrinkled-(expletive) neck.”

After a man makes a reference to a hypothetical McConnell voodoo doll, Helm replied, “Just stab the m—– f—– in the heart.”

"Further:

“Everybody needs to show up wherever this ho is at and make him just regret his fucking life, period,” she added.

"You can watch the relevant portion beginning at the :28 mark. Obviously, Twitter has taken down the original video:

In her book on Justice Brett Kavanaugh, ‘Justice on Trial,’ Mollie Hemingway warns of things to come

Kavanaugh’s nomination was finally approved, though his reputation was in ruins. He and his wife and daughters will never forget what happened. It was positively shameful.

Chicago Tribune  “ 'Carrie and I wanted to write this book because we knew that what happened last year was extremely important, the Kavanaugh confirmation and what happened to him but also what was happening to the very notion of justice itself,” Hemingway said “And so, we tied it to what has been going on with the Supreme Court in recent decades.”   

The Judge was used for cheap publicity photos

"Only a child, or a useful idiot, could look at our political life today and see the anger and constant emotional outrage and think it all began less than three years ago. It didn’t.

" 'Justice on Trial” takes us back to where much of it started for real, to the Supreme Court nomination of Judge Robert Bork, and the later nomination of Justice Thomas, and how they were shamed, mercilessly, by Democrats and media allies who viewed conservatives on the Supreme Court as threats to their power and influence.

"The late Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and his infamous, incendiary speech was one thing. They also lined up actor Gregory Peck, as if he were the real Atticus Finch, to trash Bork. Actor Clint Eastwood volunteered to cut a pro-Bork commercial in response, but the Reagan White House thought this would be unseemly.

“ 'Robert Bork’s own son tried to go on air to defend his father and was told no, that this would be out of the question,” Hemingway said. “But after Bork’s nomination is defeated there is a huge change in the conservative political movement, because they realized that if they don’t fight, they’re going to lose.” . . .

Reading it, you can hear today’s echoes in what happened last year, and you can hear how it will sound in the future, loud and desperate and angry, with reason drowned by emotion in the pursuit of power.

Are we at a tipping point from the infection in America’s political body?

That is tinfoil hat crazy, yet Figliuzzi not only has been given airtime on one of America’s formerly respected major media outlets, he’s a former high level FBI employee.

Bookworm Room 
The American body politic has been sick for decades, but the current insanity may signal that the raging political infection is getting better not worse.

A friend wrote me an email in a despairing tone. He fears that the craziness we’re seeing on the Left indicates a downhill slide in America from which there is no recovery. I currently incline towards a more optimistic, although gross, viewpoint.

"First off, I don’t think we can pretend that the Left hasn’t gone crazy. Exhibit A from today (emphasis mine):

"Frank Figliuzzi, the former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence and a regular contributor to NBC News, told MSNBC’s Brian Williams on Monday that President Trump’s decision to fly flags at half-staff until Aug. 8 may very well be a tip of the cap to white supremacist groups. Here’s what he said:

. . . The president says that we will fly our flags at half-mast until August 8, that’s 8/8. Now I’m not going to imply that he did this deliberately, but I am using it as an example of the ignorance of the adversary demonstrated by the White House. The numbers 8/8 are very significant in the neo-Nazi and the white supremacy movement. Why? Because the letter ‘H’ is the eighth letter of the alphabet, and to them, the numbers 8/8 stand for ‘Heil Hitler.’. . . 

.........................................................................................................................................................
Former FBI Asst. Director of Counter Intelligence Floats Conspiracy of President Trump Using Code Words To Trigger Nazis…
.........................................................................................................................................................
. . . "That changed in 2017. Starting with Trump’s inauguration and pussy hat marches, complete with women all over America dressing as giant vaginas, it was as if America started throwing out overt symptoms of this decades’ long infection. Think of them as a mass of disgusting, puss-filled boils suddenly breaking out all over." . . .

Mad World News

The 'Hate Trump' agenda by the Democrats has gone way too far

Tony Branco

The Hill    "In the aftermath of the horrific tragedies in El Paso and Dayton, we need to be elevating the things that bind us together, cherishing our values, helping others and holding our loved ones close. It is not the time for turning these acts of terror into weapons against political opponents.

"Both acts were pure evil. There is simply no rationale other than pure hate. One was a racist white supremacist who was in favor of population control and against drilling out of concern for climate change. The other was a socialist and a satanist who ranted against both police officers and white supremacists. This is not coherent. Both were sick, deranged, and evil.

"Yet the extremely twisted ideology of one shooter is getting the bulk of the media coverage because only one could be weaponized against President Trump. The media obsession that drives every news cycle to inflict damage against him has gone way too far. Instead of mourning the dead, the media is turning the horrific attack in El Paso, where the blame belongs only to the evil perpetrator, into a horrible politicized weapon.

"The Democrats immediately drew a direct line between President Trump and the unspeakable tragedy where families were gunned down while shopping for back to school. Beto O’Rourke labeled President Trump a “white nationalist,” connecting him to the slayings of over 20 innocent people. Unfortunately, O’Rourke was not alone in this. Numerous 2020 candidates tied the shootings to President Trump. For Cory Booker, it was not the shooter, but the president who must be “held responsible.' ” . . .

Nine Themes in El Paso Shooter’s Manifesto the Media Ignored to Blame Trump

Breitbart  . . . "Below are nine key sections of the manifesto that the news media are largely ignoring in a clear effort to link Trump to the shooter’s warped ideology.
. . .  "Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) went so far as to exclaim, “The manifesto that that guy wrote could have been written by the people that write Trump’s speeches.”

"A closer look at the manifesto attributed to shooting suspect Patrick Wood Crusius shows that the author did not have a coherent political viewpoint. While the text contains racist language targeting the Hispanic community, it also evidences hatred toward what the writer labeled “average Americans” and calls for a decrease in the general American population. Missing from much of the news media coverage is that the manifesto promotes far-left policy prescriptions including universal healthcare and a socialist-style “universal income.”

"While the news media have sought to portray the shooter as a Trump ideologue, perhaps the two main themes of the document are actually anti-corporatist and eco-extremist sentiment. The media coverage also largely ignores that the shooter actually blames the Trump administration for a spike in work visas and repeatedly labeled both Republicans and Democrats as sellouts to corporations on a host of issues." . . .

1 – The shooter stressed the environmental aspects of his motivations by naming the manifesto “The Inconvenient Truth,” clearly utilizing the namesake of Al Gore’s climate alarmist documentary.

2 – The screed ranted against Democrats and Republicans and specifically blamed corporations for allegedly fueling economic woes.

In short, America is rotting from the inside out, and peaceful means to stop this seem to be nearly impossible. The inconvenient truth is that our leaders, both Democrat AND Republican, have been failing us for decades. They are either complacent or involved in one of the biggest betrayals of the American public in our history. The takeover of the United States government by unchecked corporations. I could write a ten page essay on all the damage these corporations have caused, but here is what is important.

3 – One of the main themes inside the manifesto was anti-corporatist ideology. It repeatedly claimed that corporations were engaged in a conspiracy to replace human workers with “automation.” At one point, the shooter even writes that his life was ruined because of the purported move toward automation: “My whole life I have been preparing for a future that currently doesn’t exist,” he writes. “The job of my dreams will likely be automated.”

4 – The author repeatedly blamed corporations for “the destruction of our environment.”

. . .  Full article here.

Remember when we thought Democrats were laughable?

Will this give both left and right a clue as to what's in store for this nation?

When the horrific events in El Paso and Dayton occurred, many of them did not wait five minutes before blaming Trump.  At the same time, protestors were gathering at Sen. Mitch McConnell's home, shrieking all manner of hopes for his demise. 

. . .The American left sees itself as the hunters and assumes it will win this struggle against Trump. They must go down in metaphorical flames of defeat or the country will be lost." . . .

'The Hunt': A most dangerous game the Democrats are playing . . . "Today we learned that Universal Studios in May of 2018 greenlighted a film called The Hunt.  It is about "deplorables," Trump supporters, who are apparently drugged and kidnapped only to be stalked for sport by elite liberals.   Lovely.  Cookie-cutter versions of these same people, in the foulest of words, accuse President Trump of "extreme rhetoric" 24/7 on CNN and MSNBC, but, most likely, they love the idea of this film.  Promote violence against conservatives?  That's their game and they are proud of it.  They feel as justified calling for the murder of Trump supporters as Gen. Zaroff does, hunting men for sport.  This is how far off the reservation of civilized normalcy the left is today. " . . .   

Rosanna Arquette: ‘I’m Sorry I Was Born White and Privileged. It Disgusts Me’

. . . "Not to be outdone by Hollywood moonbats, many members of Congress are on the same bandwagon." :
 Joaquin Castro thought it would be clever to publish the names of Trump donors in his neck of the woods.  Clearly he was hoping people would show up at their homes and torment them.
. . . Rashida Tlaib's profane and vicious outbursts are as ill-considered as those of the terminally dumb Beto O'Rourke.
. . . The same goes, of course, for Ilhan Omar, the fraudster, liar and incestuous bigamist in the House.  These three would be the first to sign up for a game to hunt conservatives for fun.

Hollywood Film Depicts Trump Supporters Being Hunted for Sport by Liberals

The script for The Hunt features the red-state characters wearing trucker hats and cowboy shirts, with one bragging about owning seven guns because it's his constitutional right. The blue-state characters — some equally adept with firearms — explain that they picked their targets because they expressed anti-choice positions or used the N-word on Twitter. "War is war," says one character after shoving a stiletto heel through the eye of a denim-clad hillbilly.

. . . "How exactly did anyone think this was a good idea even before the El Paso and Dayton shootings? In June 2017, a Bernie Sanders supporter and left-wing activist shot at Republican members of Congress who were practicing for the annual Congressional Baseball Game for charity. The shooter had specifically inquired as to whether the team practicing was made of Republicans or Democrats. The same year, Senator Rand Paul was assaulted by his own neighbor and just this past week had part of his lung surgically removed because of injuries sustained in that attack. Apparently, some in Hollywood are more than willing to promote violence against Trump supporters. Meanwhile, Democrats and liberals in the media want us to believe that it's Trump’s rhetoric that needs to be toned down." . . .

 Peter Skurkiss: Heading for civil war

. . . "The media coordinates this campaign and amplifies the hate at every opportunity. Media twist every event, be it big or small, into a criticism of the president. The goal is always to present Trump in not just an unfavorable light but to make him appear too loathsome for polite society. And Trump is not the sole target of this demonization. It is directed at his supporters, too." . . . 

CIVIL WAR AS ENTERTAINMENT

The script for The Hunt features the red-state characters wearing trucker hats and cowboy shirts, with one bragging about owning seven guns because it’s his constitutional right. The blue-state characters — some equally adept with firearms — explain that they picked their targets because they expressed anti-choice positions or used the N-word on Twitter. “War is war,” says one character after shoving a stiletto heel through the eye of a denim-clad hillbilly.

Adding to the threats coming from Hollywood and academia we have CNN, MSNBC, among others. Do not think things will be more peaceful if Trump leaves the scene. The door is open and any conservative will be excoriated and threatened. Just ask Tucker Carlson, Justice Kavanaugh, and Senator McConnell. TD

Firearm Advocate Turns Tables On CNN Town Hall: ‘Do You Believe A Woman Has A Right To Choose’ Method Of Self-Defense?

Daily Caller

. . . "Referencing the argument made by many abortion-rights advocates, Inacker continued, “My question is do you believe a woman has a right to choose whether or not to defend her own body? And in the manner she chooses? And the government should not interfere with that decision?”

"Former Philadelphia police commissioner Charles Ramsey responded first, saying, “That’s a little off the topic here. But I do believe in a woman’s right to choose. Into the area about ‘any means she chooses,’ I don’t know what you mean by that. There are laws if you’re talking about deadly force. For example: You carry a gun or whatever. There are certain circumstances under which you can resort to deadly force,” he added, noting that using deadly force when the law was not on her side could result in legal trouble down the road.

“ 'Certainly if you’re assaulted or whatever, you have a right to defend yourself. When you talk about deadly force that’s different,” he concluded.

"Cuomo jumped in then, saying that she had made an interesting argument. “You’re playing on what we see with reproductive rights. In each case people who are making the impassioned argument what’s the concern? The concern is the well being of the person who winds up being the recipient of the act. Right? Talking about reproductive rights, which obviously isn’t what we’re talking about but still important. It’s what about the fetus? Or the baby? When is it a person? You’re thinking about who is going to be impacted by the decision that’s made. That’s the same thing here. I have a right to own a gun. I do. I do own a gun. My right has restrictions on it. Right?' ” . . .

Voter Intimidation: It’s a Democrat thing

But...but . . . he said that he just wanted to "start a conversation".

Dianny

Dianny of Patriot Retort

"Taking a page out of the Klan’s voter intimidation playbook, a United States Congressman tweeted out a list of San Antonio citizens who committed the unpardonable sin of donating the maximum to President Trump’s reelection campaign.  

"Joaquin Castro, chairman of his brother’s Presidential campaign, wrote in his accompanying tweet:

Sad to see so many San Antonians as 2019 maximum donors to Donald Trump — the owner of ‪[deleted by Dianny], owner of the [deleted by Dianny], realtor [deleted by Dianny], etc.

Their contributions are fueling a campaign of hate that labels Hispanic immigrants as ‘invaders.’

"The Democrat Party’s election strategy is the same today as it was a century ago: Voter Intimidation.

"What other possible reason would there be for publicizing on social media the names and employers of campaign contributors?

"What Joaquin Castro did is the social media equivalent of dragging them into the town square, shaving their heads and letting a frothing crowd taunt and harass them. And if the Democrats’ foot soldiers show up at their homes and threaten them, all the better, right? Sure, they’re not burning crosses on their front lawns anymore. Now they’ll just vandalize their property while banging on their doors and screaming threats.

"But this isn’t just voter intimidation targeting those specific donors. It has a broader objective as well." . . .

So will Joaquin Castro return all those donations he took from the Trump donors he doxxed?  . . . Anyone who believes that Castro is capable of a 'lament' is out to lunch. His series of tweets were pure malevolence, worsened by a barrage of bald-faced lies trying to make himself look like the good guy.

"It all went so swimmingly for him, too. Until Fox News turned up an uncomfortable fact:" . . .

Joaquin Castro Accidentally Outs One of His Own Donors While Shaming Trump Supporters  . . . “ 'People should not be personally targeted for their political views, period,” [House minority leader Steve] Scalise said. “This isn’t a game. It’s dangerous, and lives are at stake. I know this firsthand.' ” . . .

Yeah, in this great country of ours, you can support both Democrats in once cycle and Republicans in the next, which makes this move by Joaquin even more idiotic.
. . . "He quasi-doxxed his own supporters (via Fox News): . . ."

Maybe Trump should imitate Joaquin Castro  . . . "President Trump should release the names of every Democrat who accepted a campaign contribution from him.  In fact, there are quite a few on the list and some are calling him a "racist" today:    

Kamala Harris received money from Donald Trump as recently as six years ago. Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner hosted a Park Avenue fundraiser for Cory Booker. Kirsten Gillibrand took in Trump family donations three times across a seven-year period -- and then gave a similar amount of money to a nonprofit years later after the president mocked her in a tweet.

As the president gears up for his re-election fight, donor records show that six of the declared or potential Democrats itching to take him on have themselves been the beneficiaries of his -- or his daughter’s -- largesse.

. . . "However, he should point out that these Democrats never returned his money.  This is especially true given the calls that he is a racist or been associated with white [supremacists] over the years." . . .

A letter to our subscribers, from the New York Times

. . . We know if we aren’t delivering our best, every hour of every day, somewhere a Yale grad might lose an argument if she can’t reference our content as the final authority. The Times subscriber understands that reading about something makes you a better person than doing something.  . . .

Spectator USA via Hollywood Conservatives for Trump

The front page of the second edition of the New York Times

. . . "As some of you are aware, we failed in our commitment to ferociously guard the sanctity of your echo chamber this week. A headline appeared on our front page suggesting Orange Man spoke against racism. While the headline was factual, it was a flagrant betrayal of the service you expect us to provide and we literally stopped the presses to fix it.

"We listened to our readers on how to proceed from there. The headline writer was an elderly holdover from the days when we were a newspaper. But today’s lovepaper business is different. Inspired by the Texas revolutionary Joaquin Castro, our editorial board decided to take out a full page ad in our own paper to publish his home address and pictures of his family. Then we mobilized our 52,247 interns to brigade his employer, us, with phone calls to report that we have a racist in our ranks. The writer was immediately fired. Our interns, known as TimesHelpers, chucked milkshakes at him as he sadly strolled through the lobby with his little NPR tote bag full of desktop knick knacks. Just as he reached the door we unchained Sarah Jeong and watched gleefully as she dismembered and ate him alive. 

"Our customers’ pomposity and fragility are important to us. We don’t use words like ‘neurotic’ and ‘repellant’ to describe our readers the way shopkeepers, waiters, and dry-cleaners might. We think your quirkiness is the natural byproduct of the cosmopolitan, emotionally lavish life that you lead." . . .

Never Trump quandary: When you want Trump to lose but can't bear his Democratic opponents

. . . Only a few Never Trumpers would be able to support a Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, or Kamala Harris. Some would probably be happy with Joe Biden, but perhaps more the Biden of their memories than the man who will have to move far enough left to capture the Democratic nomination. So, with no hope of stopping Trump inside the GOP, and with Democrats moving in an unacceptable direction, what to do? . . .

Byron York  "The Democratic debates have been hard on Never Trumpers. The small but vocal group of Republicans and former Republicans who oppose President Trump has watched in horror as Democrats veered leftward, embracing "Medicare-for-all," virtually open borders, sky-high taxes, and other positions no conservative could ever accept. The Never Trumpers see disaster coming in the form of the president winning reelection over a Democrat who moved too far left for the American voter.

"So they issue warnings. The Democrats' performance in the most recent debate was "worse than farcical," the New York Times' Bret Stephens wrote. "It's tragic. It will make the Trump campaign's job of selling the president as the non-insane option in next year's election shamefully easy."

"Bill Kristol, the former Dan Quayle aide who founded the now-shuttered Weekly Standard, tweeted, "Best moment in this debate: 'It's time for closing statements.'"

"After the first debate — a widely watched event that gave voters across the nation their initial impression of the Democratic field — some Never Trumpers were deeply alarmed.

" 'Trump wants to portray Democrats as open-border socialists," wrote the Washington Post's Max Boot. "And in their eagerness to court progressive primary voters, the candidates are playing into his hands."

"The alarm sometimes felt personal, as when the Times' David Brooks issued a plea: "Dems, Please Don't Drive Me Away." The columnist announced that he could "never in a million years vote for Donald Trump" and plaintively asked Democrats: "Will there be a candidate I can vote for?"

"Maybe not. The fretting and complaining, coming from people who had been Republicans until Trump came along, set some liberals on edge." . . .

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