Ironies

26 September 2021

There are many ironies with Trump/Republicanism and a related set for Christianity in its “public” form (a few others thrown in for interest).

These are not in any particular grouping or order. I have tried to put reference words at the beginning to ease searches and interest.

Voter/Election fraud:

The only people who have been charged with voter fraud are Republicans. They constantly say that there is rampant voter fraud by Democrats but have no proof and offer none. If one looks at the Heritage Foundation a right-wing think tank. Their website has numbers on voter fraud. It looks ominous.1333 cases of voter fraud with 1146 convictions. Wow. But then you go lower on the page is see state by state. Let’s choose Washington state, where I am from, and you see the numbers cover the last two decades (2004) and the last time there was fraud in Washington state was 2010. Not so interesting anymore.

Then there is South Carolina where the election fraud was so bad they had to have another election for the office. Interesting the whistle blower was the son of the Republican candidate who was committing the fraud. There are several articles on various Republican voter fraud concerning such topics as voter on behalf of dead parents to putting oneself forth as replacement Republican electoral college members.

Then there is Trump, “On January 2, 2021, during an hour-long conference call, then-U.S. President Donald Trump pressured Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to change the state’s vote totals from the 2020 presidential election.” Sited in Wikipedia and Graham, Senator Graham’s call with Georgia official part of election probe: Washington Post.

None of this, if Democrats had done it as Republicans claim, would come close the 2016 total of 3 million votes Trump/Republicans claimed were fraudulent (in an election they won, a strange irony in itself complaining about fraud in an election you won) or the amazing claim, still going on at this writing in September of 2021, that 11 million voted fraudulently. The stretch of logistical “reasoning” to accomplish this is staggering.

The other irony, because of Trump/Republican rhetoric about fraud and all the attempts by Republicans to intimidate and make it difficult for the poor and minorities to vote created the largest turnout in modern American history—almost a guarantee of Republicans losing—and this was the most vetted election in American history and thus the least fraud events ever. This has not stopped Republicans from claiming all elections are fraudulent even before the ballots are cast.

Ukraine and election interference:

In this case where Trump tried to blackmail the Ukrainian leader to make up or investigate dirt on Hunter Biden, the candidate’s son, was asking for election interference by a foreign country which is illegal. Trump was completely open about having done this and released parts of the conversation which proved he had done this while saying it was, “a perfect call”.  He was impeached, the first time, for this, though not removed from office by the Republican senate.

Ukraine Conspiracy:

Trump was impeached, the first time, for believing a conspiracy theory about Biden and his son that was proven false–in fact invented by a Republican propaganda group. “Conspiracy theories related to the Trump–Ukraine scandal” Then Trump used this theory that was false, made up by his own people, to try to blackmail Ukraine. Hoist by his own petard. The irony is Republican lies got their own President impeached.

Denial of the rule of law: The week of September first Green and McCarthy (Republicans) both threatened businesses if they complied with House subpoenas about Trump and the insurrection he caused, and they abetted, on 6 January 2021 to overthrow the election and give the presidency back to Trump. This led to Trump’s second impeachment which, again, was not upheld by the Republican senate. At this time Green and McCarthy are both under suspicion as having helped plan and encourage the insurrection and are afraid people will prove this with these subpoenas. One irony hear is the Republicans claim to the be the supporters of the rule of law but seem only to believe this when it is about convicting Democrats or minorities.

The PC society:

Another irony of the above is the party that voted for Trump, it often claimed, because he was not for the PC society is trying to control thought and business by forcing companies to comply with Republican demands. This irony has manifested itself on many different levels. One, the Christians who liked Trump because he was rude, mean and obnoxious. Two, the mind control of the base through lies and manipulation. Three, the mind control of the politicians who were all doing what Trump wanted because he was going to out-them on twitter and help their primary opponents if they did not comply.

Free Market:

Republican’s claim to be all for free markets. Of course free markets have never existed—see my blog (Pardon the arrogance of quoting myself) on this from 2019 “The Myth of the Free Economy” What Republicans mean by this is free do destroy markets they do not want, e.g. clean energy, and help markets that make them money, e.g. oil and guns. Examples: one, recently, ca. August 2021, the Republican governor of Florida made a ruling that cruise ships entering Miami could not require masks on board their vessels. This is government interference in a private company. Two, the hubbub created when twitter banned Trump. This too is a private company, but Republicans screamed about guarantees of free speech in the constitution which does not apply to private companies. Companies have the right to policies like, no shirt, no shoes, no service and the like.

Masks:

Republicans have argued masks don’t work and that it is some kind of control thing by the government. This, with their vaccine propaganda, the Trump cure of animal deworming and injecting ammonia have all created the pandemic of the unvaccinated which is, you guessed it, killing their own constituency.

Trickle down:

The idea of trickle-down economics is now fairly old and debunked. The manifestation of tax cuts for the rich is still with us in every Republican administration. The only significant legislation managed by the Trump/Republican majority in his term of office. The irony is the counterproductive nature of the policy.  Rich people getting richer and poor people getting poorer has been an American phenomenon since the early 70’s. The question, the crux, of the issue is, when the poor become more and more poor who will buy the goods the rich are selling? By the very policy the rich get richer but fewer people can afford to buy the goods being sold and eventually the economy will collapse and the rich will no longer be making themselves rich.

The Moral majority:

Jerry Falwell started the moral majority, showing Republicans that the right has political clout, because Jimmy Carter (an actual Christian) did an interview with playboy magazine where he admitted to lust. Move on to today with Jerry Falwell jr. taking a picture of himself, his wife, and Donald Trump whom he supported whole heartedly. On the wall in the background is the Donald on the cover of playboy. Of course, we later learn that Falwell Jr. likes to watch his wife having sex in bed with other men—but that seems par for the Public Christian course.

Moral Leadership:

The Christian, what I call “public Christians” as apposed to actual ones, are supporting Trump while they should be nagged by their own standards leadership. When I quote the scriptures (1 Timothy)  to some they come back with the “give unto Caesar that which is Caesars” (this is about taxes) like this means we do not need to care at all about the moral quality of our leaders as long as they are not our pastors. An unfathomable disconnect. I think, again, with public Christians the issues are abortion, anti-gay rights, and prayer in school/creationism and nothing else. They have gotten to the point where all things, literally anything, that will “accomplish” these is “good in God’s eyes”. As is often the case with self-righteousness they are fine with laws against things they will never have to experience.

The ultimate irony here is they are becoming the very thing they have always hated most, the Roman Catholic Church. They are becoming ‘the power at all costs’ people they have always referred to as the anti-Christ, i.e., the popes of the fifteenth-century. I find it painful to watch. They are creating hate against Christianity and religion in general and thus bringing about a more secular society that they do not want at all. Then, they dig in further.

Unintended consequences:

The protests of the 1950’s and 60’s led to unexpected consequences for society. Victim status became the goal of all races, classes, and types of people. With Trump the final group finally achieved this and put him into office—white males.

Election Turn-out:

The irony is all the push by Trump/Republicans to say the election would be crooked actually led to the highest turn out in modern American history and the most vetted election ever.

Vigilante:

The Republican party has been the party of “law and order” since Nixon used this rhetoric to win in 1968. Trump used this argument to argue that liberals would destroy the rule of law. But what has happened since he lost in 2020? The Florida legislature passed a law that people who run their cars into groups of protesters would not be facing any criminal charges; Texas passed an antiabortion bill that pays plaintiffs 10K plus court costs to sue those that help someone have an abortion; Bush II encouraged and rewarded people for turning in their neighbors who they suspected were terrorists—this meant brown people since it included in the common mind Sikhs and Muslims.

High Tech:

The irony of Steve Jobs not giving his kids an iPad. There are so many messages in this. This brings up the idea that the computer industry promotes itself as a solution but they do not actually believe it. Or, that the founders of our computer society remember what it was like without and think the ideas were more free flowing before?  

Private Servers:

That Republicans  went ape shit for years about Hillary’s private server. The one that Colin Powell told her was a good idea and Condoleezza Rice also had. That Trump, his kids, and others in his administration are all using private servers and private cell phones, no Republican seems to think that is a problem.

Democrats would give:

Trump supporters want universal health care. Trump said he had a plan, before he said it was really complicated—no plan has ever appeared. The Democrats have a plan (mostly old Republican plans in fact) but Trumpians vote for Republicans who have spent the last twelve years trying to destroy it. Trumpians want the rich to pay more taxes or at least more fairness in the tax code but Republicans always cut taxes for the rich. Irony. Vote Democrat get what you actually want.

Media:

Trump, like Nixon before him and others, took to criticizing the media. In Trump’s case he was trying to limit the negative news his followers could see and to limit their source of information. Ultimately the limitation strategy worked wonders for his misinformation. The irony is that the subscriptions to major newspapers like the NY Times and the mainstream media became stronger for the time. This is the usual result of banning books.

Authority:

The right thinks we should not trust authority, yet they will say and do anything Fox or Trump say. They do not believe any media other than Fox Entertainment. Politicians do not believe the people are intelligent but only the elite should make decisions (of course the “elite” is themselves but they forget to mention that). At the same time they say do not believe authorities.

Stand your ground, Et Al:

Republican policy like, stand your ground laws, end up killing their own believers more often than the blacks they want it to. Republicans encourage the antivaxxers and the non vaccinated are dying faster than any other part of the population. The stats are that antivaxxers are overwhelmingly for Trump.

Democrats eat themselves:

Democratic policy since the mid-sixties has been inclusive. The result of this inclusivity is a coalition of separate interests. Thus, they get power and then tear themselves apart from within. At the moment, September 2021 Joe Manchon is refusing to support Democratic legislation and jeopardizing the tie in the senate. . Irony, the inclusivity is made ineffective by the factions that it includes.