Trump

Don’t Help The One Percent…

by MyBaconPress

No, you’re right, I didn’t post anything yesterday, even though I normally do on Sunday. Why, you ask? (No, we didn’t.) Well, I took a tumble and broke two ribs. Yeah, that sucks. It’s going to suck for a while. But just to put a cherry on top, my computer decided on Saturday it never wanted to boot again. I’m capable of opening the thing up and seeing if there’s anything I can do to correct the situation but, because of the ribs, I can’t move it to get it somewhere I can work on it. It has NOT been a great weekend for me…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I keep seeing calls from my lefty friends to separate themselves from their MAGA, where ever MAGA might be. I would like to ask you to please reconsider that decision. I continue to believe MAGA is deceived. I continue to believe that, having achieved the goal for which they fought so hard, they’re about to find out, the hard way, what they actually voted for.

Consider this: the day after the election, the three most popular searches on Google were: ‘Can I change my vote,’ ‘Did Biden drop out,’ and ‘What are tariffs?’ Now, the ‘Did Biden drop out’ thing could be people trying to see if Biden dropped on his own or was pushed out. But I seriously doubt any rational Americans wanted to change their vote TO Trump and, for my money, ‘What are tariffs?’ tells a great deal of the story.

We have started hearing, for example, about companies letting their employees know they will NOT be receiving expected Christmas bonuses this year. Sure, it could just be an excuse for corporations to avoid bonuses. Of course it could. But the story is, in anticipation of Trump’s tariffs, companies are using bonus money to, instead, try to stockpile materials and supplies as much as possible.

When the workforce complains that the foreign company pays the tariff (like Trump said), the CEO has to explain that, no, the seller will pay the tariff and pass the cost on to the consumer. Sure, MAGA can lie – or express their honestly held but mistaken belief that the foreign company pays the tariff. But prices – and inflation – are going up whether MAGA acknowledges it or not.

I’ve heard MAGA say they don’t care if the Affordable Care Act (aka “Obamacare”) gets repealed because they have “Oregon Care” or “Covered California” or whatever name their state gave their program. They’re going to be very surprised to find their health care gone and no protection for preexisting conditions back on the table.
“Wait, I get my insurance from Covered California, not the Affordable Care Act.”
“Covered California IS the Affordable Care Act.”
“No, it isn’t.”
“Yes, it is. You lost your health insurance because YOU voted to lose your health insurance.” Doing ‘your own research’ AFTER the election? Too late..

I could point out these kinds of details all day and half of the night but MAGA isn’t going to believe it until MAGA lives it. It IS a bummer that ALL of us have to live it while they learn but that’s the way it is. By now, many people realize that the true fight is NOT left and right. It’s the One Percent vs the rest of us and, for the moment, the One Percent has won.

MAGA is about to discover how important they really were to Trump. He doesn’t need them anymore. He’s going to do what he wants to do and he’s not going to give two figs for what his small folk supporters think, want, or prefer. Sure, he will probably still hold rallies for awhile. He LOVES the adoration. But I suspect that as MAGA realizes what he’s doing to them, the crowds will get smaller and smaller and the rallies will come to an end.

The One Percent won this fight using a lesson Lincoln tried to tell us. A lesson HE got from the Bible, so I’ll go straight to the source. “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25) Turns out? Jesus was exactly right about that. So, the One Percent went to a LOT of trouble to divide our “house.”

They set up “Stink tanks,” like ‘The Heritage Foundation,’ The American Enterprise Institute,’ and ‘CATO,’ (among others) to intentionally feed misinformation to the masses. They used Fox Not-News. They didn’t care who bought the false message, just so long as people started buying the message. They funded seats in colleges in order to spread “the conservative message.” But it wasn’t the “conservative message.” It was the “One Percent message.”

In short, MAGA is deceived because the One Percent WANTED them to be deceived, thereby dividing the house against itself, and using that division to seize power. I’ve got to say, so far, it has worked brilliantly. BUT… in achieving their “victory,” they have effectively eliminated the opposition. EVERYTHING that happens because of Trump’s installment will clearly BE Trump’s doing. No more blaming others.

The thing is, conservative media won’t stand down. In fact, I would guess they’re going to double down. I suspect they’ll continue to blame others even though there are no others to blame. I think they’ll need to ramp up their message in order to keep people in the fold. But even MAGA will start to understand reality as it invades their world, and many will turn away. That will be an opportunity to reunite the house.

To be sure, some MAGA will stay loyal. There are always true believers. But some people who supported Trump are already feeling the betrayal and more and more will every day. The only way the One Percent can maintain their current standing is to KEEP us divided. If you distance yourself from your MAGA, you’re doing exactly what the One Percent want – no, need – you to do.

Don’t help the One Percent keep control. This is going to be an ugly fight. We’re going to need every person we can get – and that includes reformed MAGA. If we all retreat into our own little bubbles, we’ll never come back together and that, I fear, really will be the end…

Bummer…

by MyBaconPress

Well, that was…disappointing. Depressing, even. I hesitate to confess that because I know that MAGA takes great pleasure in lefty depression, but what the hell, right? It’s their day. They get their celebration. I suspect it will be short-lived. Whatever it is they’ve chosen to believe, reality will invade, and soon. So, congratulations, MAGA. The whole world is going to reap as you’ve sown and I genuinely believe it won’t be the utopia you’ve imagined.

I’ve got to say, I don’t really believe it. I mean, I’ll accept it. To be clear, I have no evidence of any kind of chicanery and I’m not leveling any charges. I just don’t believe it. It’s only a personal opinion. But I suspect Trump got a boost from his good friend and handler, Putin, who will now enjoy unfettered access to the American intelligence apparatus. I don’t think the machines are inherently corrupt – so stow your lawsuits. I just think they’re vulnerable to MAGA mischief. Something like, say, connecting the machines to the web early, allowing the Russians to dial in and “adjust” the outcome. It’s just an opinion, but it’s a firmly held opinion. And I should say, it’s possible I simply can’t accept that so many people could be so blind.

To me, the GOP “victory” just doesn’t pass the smell test, and I’ll tell you why: he “won” the popular vote. See, it has long-since been a political reality that large turnout favors the left. It always has – before this. And this wasn’t just “large” turnout. It was the second highest turnout in history. Yet, suddenly, huge turnout means nothing and Trump wins both the electoral college AND the popular vote? And he did that by pulling in large numbers of people from groups he promises to oppress, deport, or otherwise vilify?
“You suck, it’s all your fault, and I’m going to punish you!”
“Oh, you’re my guy. I’m voting for you.”
Yeah, that’s how people work…

See, Trump has NEVER won the popular vote before, and the left has mentioned that fact a time or two – or three or four or… When anyone mentions anything that might be viewed as a vulnerability, he needs to do something to prove it’s not true – especially if it is. Remember how hard he worked to convince people that nobody ever left his rallies, even as we all watched video of people leaving his rallies?

So this time, he doesn’t just arrange to “win” the electoral college. THIS time, he needs to “win” the popular vote, too. But winning the popular vote has a second, more sinister, motivation. It sets up the claim that they HAVE TO do the terrible things they want to do. They have a “mandate.” (True, someone had to explain to them that a “mandate” wasn’t two guys grabbing dinner and a movie, but still…)

At this point, the only thing I can think of that might serve as even a glimmer of a bright spot, is actually the success MAGA has enjoyed. What I mean is, now there are no Dems to stop them, assuming the GOP lead in the House holds. The GOP OWNS anything and everything that happens going forward. (Yeah, it ain’t much of a bright spot.) They’ll have no one to blame. The only place to point their fingers will be the mirror.

Maybe, just maybe, as things crash – and things will crash – the scales will fall from MAGA eyes and they’ll see what they’ve done – to themselves, if nothing else. Might the MAGA win be the beginning of the MAGA undoing? Maybe. Meanwhile, the only thing that remains for the left is the “neener, neener” factor. That is, we get to say “We told you so.” That’s small comfort, though. It’s like having the ocean lapping at your ankles on the deck of the Titanic and seeing someone you don’t like fall into the water first. Yeah, you can point your finger and laugh, but you’re headed for the drink, too. Small comfort.

Besides, I don’t think we should. The 2024 outcome is the culmination of decades of work by the One Percent against the rest of us. It has been slow, but it has been steady. It has been relentless. MAGA hasn’t been the driver, they’ve been the tool. As the scales DO fall from their eyes, I think we should welcome them back to the fold of humanity. We, the people, are going to need to work together to overcome what the One Percent has done to us.

As of now, they have us right where they want us – back to before FDR saved the country in the 1930’s with the New Deal. It was a good time to be rich back then. But it sucked for everyone else. It was the New Deal that made America great in the first place. We don’t make America great again by scrapping the New Deal…

Good Luck…

by MyBaconPress

Well, here we go, eh? I mean, I know voting started a while ago. I, myself, described the start of Trump’s coup attempt as being a few days ago. But today? Oh, today is the day the battle is joined. Everything has been theoretical until today. Now it’s real. Very, very real. Today is the day we begin to determine if MAGA gets the authoritarian dictatorship of their dreams, or if Americans can save what’s left of our democracy-on-the-brink.

There HAS been some attempted rigging but, so far, it has all come from Republicans. They’ve been flooding the information sphere with fraudulent polls to make it seem as though Trump is doing better than he is. Virginia started purging Democratic voters from their rolls as close to the election as possible (supposedly against the law but the SCKCOTUS said it was okay just this one time) so there was no time for the disenfranchised voter to correct the challenge.

Georgia even tried to make a rule that if the certification board didn’t like the results, they could just declare that vote invalid and substitute their preferred outcome. (Fortunately, that one didn’t make it.) But the most basic part of the rigging? Shouting about all the “election irregularities,” which MAGA has been doing since, well, 2020, right? Can you believe it? It’s about to get LOUDER!

As of now, the polling places are open on the east coast but not yet anywhere else. Has Trump declared victory yet? We know he’s going to. It’s part of the plan. Also as of right now, because of early voting, Kamala has a lead. She’s leading in all of the swing states and she even appears to have a lead in Nevada and Iowa. (Wow.) But, again, that’s the early, blue wave. We all know about THAT, too, and it has happened.

Now, today, comes the red wave that’s supposed to gain ground for Trump. The very moment he perceives he has pulled ahead in some state, he’ll declare victory. He’ll be lying and, because we all know the plan (I’m writing about it right now) we all expect it – and we’ll KNOW he’s lying. EVERYBODY will know it – because we all know the plan this time.

Bear in mind, this is not like the last time. The last time, MAGA was able to pretend (and convince themselves) that what happened was just a series of natural, spontaneous events that, unfortunately, spun out of control by January 6th. This time? Everybody knows the plan and cons who repeat the big lie will be active, knowing, co-conspirators. It was one thing to go along with the coup attempt when there was some possibility to convince oneself events just got out of control.

THIS TIME, everybody will know it’s just a part of the plan. MAGA will know – and be unable to deny – MAGA is actively attempting to overthrow a legal election because they didn’t get their way. I wonder if knowing they’re actively attacking the Constitution will dissuade any of them. These are NOT naturally occurring events – it’s a plan. MAGA is being used as the puppets to carry out the coup – and THIS time, they absolutely know it…

Frankly, I’ve been concerned about this election from the point of view of how the result will affect me. Yeah, a little selfish, I guess, but we’re supposed to vote our own interest and I expect a Trump win won’t be good for me, personally. But then I realized, if Trump “wins,” the result will be seriously bad for the vast majority of Americans. Even MAGA. We ALL suffer.

But then I thought about how that outcome affects Ukrainians. We all know Trump will tell his good buddy Putin to just have at it. That will be very bad for Ukraine. The US will cut off all aid in an effort to help Putin and it will be up to Europe from there. But…oh, yeah. Europe.

Trump, himself, said he had no idea what NATO was before becoming President. Now he wants us to leave NATO because, like most things, he doesn’t understand it. NATO has been the main stabilizing organization between nations in Europe. Trump thinks we should leave. And he plans to.

THEN, I thought about the Palestinians. I expect Trump to just tell his good buddy Netanyahu to have at it, too. Do what he wants. Go ahead, wipe out every Palestinian from the river to the sea. A Trump victory will be very, very bad for the Palestinians. But, oh, Jeez, I almost forgot.

The world. The whole, effing world. Trump wants to eliminate regulations, in general, but environmental regulations in particular. We, the species are already on incredibly shaky ground when it comes to climate change. With NO guardrails, Trump will put climate change on steroids. We’ll hit each tipping point in no time at all – until finally, most of humanity just…tips over.

So…good luck. Yes, to me. I don’t WANT to end up in a gulag for expressing my opinion.
Good luck to you. I presume you like the country as much as I do.
Good luck to every American (this obviously excludes anti-American MAGA) because most of us would suffer under Trump. (Hey, just like his wives and girlfriends!)
Good luck to Ukraine. You don’t deserve what Trump will allow Putin to do to you. In fairness, Trump, likely, won’t have any choice. He DOES as Putin tells him to do.
Good luck to all of Europe. You deserve better than an intellectually incurious imbecile like Trump, who only recently discovered there’s a thing called NATO.
Good luck to Palestinians. Your situation seems to be spiraling out of control and Trump simply doesn’t understand. Maybe, he just doesn’t care.
Good luck to the world. Please understand, we the people, the true American people, are doing what we can to stop this from happening. But there has been MUCH corruption inflicted on our once-great nation by MAGA and I really can not say if we can hold. I can only promise, we’ll try.

Good luck…

This Coup Brought To You By MAGA…

by MyBaconPress

Trump is running a campaign ad in California. It’s probably just a national buy since there’s no reason for him to waste money in the Golden State. Too many of us are FAR too smart. The thing I noticed, though, is that even his ad is chock full of lies. There’s only one I would like to address.

The ad says something to the effect of “Kamala broke it, and Trump will fix it.” Two lies in one. First, even if it HAD been this administration, this is the BIDEN administration. Kamala has been the Vice-President, not the President. We’re ALL pretending the VP is way involved in decisions made in the Oval Office.

The left is pretending in order give Kamala credit for work she hasn’t done, but it makes her look like she’s more ready to be President than she maybe is. The right is pretending in order to blame her for things Biden did. But we all know, and we have all long-since known, the Vice President is more of a placeholder.

The second lie is bigger. It was TRUMP that “broke it,” not Kamala OR Joe. The Biden administration has been working to fix it and they’ve done an amazing job. I know MAGA doesn’t know it, but it’s true. The reality is, we have an economy that Trump would be taking credit for if he were in office, but he isn’t – so he’s attacking.

The catalyst for the economic damage was Trump’s incredible mishandling of Covid-19. Not the illness, itself. We had a plan in place for exactly that eventuality and the Trump administration dismantled the program – to save money. THEN, when we DID get hit, Trump went into wish mode and tried to wish the thing away. Over a million Americans died.

That’s HOW Trump broke it. He left the nation in a shamble. Biden fixed it. Kamala will keep Biden’s economic programs and add her own. I’d rather have Kamala, who can do it, than Trump, who clearly can not…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There’s an article in the Guardian, this morning, titled, ‘What if Trump’s campaign is cover for a slow-motion coup?’ Well, duh. It hasn’t seemed like Trump cared, much, about the election for a while, now. A person running for office who, nevertheless, doesn’t care about the campaign is likely more focused on his after-election coup. He just NEEDS the election to happen so he can pretend horrible things happened. It’s not just cover, it’s catalyst.

They’re ALREADY screaming about problems in the election and lawsuits have already been filed. It suggests to me that Trump KNOWS he’s not popular enough to win an election on merit. He KNOWS he’s losing this thing but can not afford to lose this thing, so he has moved into desperation mode. I wouldn’t worry too much about it, except that so many deceived MAGA are right there with him.

Truthfully? I’ll never understand WHY so many people believe in this person but they do. Many of them are deceived. Their information sources have presented such heavily massaged “information,” they genuinely don’t know the facts about Trump. They honestly think THEY are the people defending the Constitution, even as they support the person most likely to destroy the Constitution.

Many would actually LIKE to have a dictator. These are not the brightest among us and they don’t grasp the reality of a dictator. They don’t understand what made America great in the first place. They think a dictator will be more efficient. They are comforted by the easy answers Trump promises (but never delivers).

The election is tomorrow but the actual fight starts Wednesday. We know Trump will declare victory early. Hell, maybe he already has. It’s part of his plan. The GOP flooded the media landscape with false “polls” intended to make Trump look competitive, if not actually winning. (He’s neither.) We ALL know how this thing proceeds. The only question is, do we let it?

My whole life, worries of the people have been addressed with the same answer: vote. Most of my life, that answer has been solid. I have voted. Most people I know have voted. We’ve DONE that part. We’ve been holding our collective breath trying to get to November 5th to put this debacle behind us, but November the 5th is a start, not a finish. It’s the start of Trump’s next coup attempt.

MAGA will tell you ‘no.’ MAGA will SCREAM ‘NOOOOO!’ MAGA will insist I’ve lost my mind, my perspective, my reason. Why, Trump would never, NEVER do anything like that. MAGA is wrong. Trump IS doing that, right now, in real time. MAGA is making it possible.

I have a friend who says he thinks when Trump loses, again, the GOP will be finally done with him, once and for all, and kick him to the curb. He thinks they’re just waiting for the election to play out, then they’ll collectively turn on Trump. I think my friend is overly optimistic. The GOP has had plenty of opportunities to dump Trump. They simply will not.

It’s going to be interesting to see how it plays out. We ALL know Trump is working to steal the election, even before election day. It’s plain and obvious. MAGA will deny it, but they know it, too. (Hell, they’re counting on it.) Americans are supposed to have that “revolutionary spirit.” WILL we fight for our country, or just tune in to the next episode of whichever program we’re into in the moment.

Allow me, please to state the obvious: I never thought I would find myself in this position. I’m guessing I’m not alone in that observation…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Win or lose, I hope Joe Biden pardons Hunter after the election. Hunter got caught up in a campaign event. He became a political pawn for the right and could end up in prison for it. Even the conservative prosecutor intending to smear Joe via the vindictive prosecution thought Hunter’s crime was not worth prison – until a conservative outcry. At the very least, Biden should do something about that…

…And So It Begins…

by MyBaconPress

Well, he’s starting already. I know, it can be hard to tell when his whining about the election being rigged “starts” since he never stopped lying about the LAST election. So, I’ll draw an imaginary line and say it “started” with his Mar-a-Lardo presser a few days ago. He OPENED with this, “I want to start by saying it’s going very well. Uh, there’s some bad spots in Pennsylvania where, uh, some serious things have been caught or in the process of being caught…” So there it is. We’ll just agree, that’s the opening salvo in THIS year’s coup attempt.

You see, it’s a lie. How can you know? His “reports” will always be generalized. He CAN’T present any details because details can be followed up. He wants to stir up his base so they’ll make all the right noise when he tells them to, so he lies. But if he provides specifics, there’s a risk – an infinitesimally small risk, but a risk nonetheless – that some MAGA might realize he’s lying.

So, he’ll tell you all about the problems (“…some serious things”). But he will NEVER define the problems in detail. He’ll mention a general region, even a whole state, but he’ll NEVER specify exactly where. That’s because he’s lying. There haven’t been any problems with voting in Pennsylvania. In fact, I’d say that the people kicking Donald to the curb are exercising excellent judgement and should be commended.

This kind of ambiguous lie is the same tactic the GOP has been using to deceive and terrify MAGA since long before MAGA was an identifier. Remember when they told the story about illegals coming across the border and cutting off farmer’s heads? That was a good, scary story until they got too specific about where. THEN, a reporter checked the facts (dammit!) and found the whole story was… wait for it… a lie!

So, cons get “Pennsylvania” instead of a detailed location. Pennsylvania is a big place. It’s hard to pin down “some serious things in Pennsylvania.” But I’d bet his supporters have already started to feel the outrage they’ve nurtured for so long. They’ve been training for this moment for years. They can summon up fear, anger, or outrage on demand the way an advanced Yogi can stop and start his own heart. It takes focus and years of training. They’re about to get outraged over something that’s not even happening – and calling the LEFT “delusional” and “deranged” the whole time…

I mentioned the “risk – an infinitesimally small risk, but a risk nonetheless – that some MAGA might realize he’s lying.” I say it that way because I’ve come to realize the most MAGA simply don’t believe Donald Trump when he says the things he says. They think he’s just riffing. They laugh and cheer because they can’t imagine he might actually do the things he’s promising to do but, they wonder, wouldn’t it be great if he did? (It wouldn’t. And the lower one is on the economic ladder, the less great is going to be.)

But it DOES happen. There are a LOT of Republicans out there who once supported Trump but have turned their backs on the guy and in most cases, it’s because something happened that caused the scales to fall from those people’s eyes. They, too, had been laughing and cheering at rallies – and then something like J6 happened and, despite their best efforts, they were just unable to pretend it was something else. For some reason, they saw what really happened and suddenly, they knew. This guy isn’t kidding. These aren’t jokes. He’s unstable. He’s dangerous to democracy.

Truthfully? I was kind of struck by the number of people. (They’ve formed a club.) I have long-since believed that one thing MAGA has in common is that, as a group, they’re deceived. Then I see all these Republicans who are STILL Republicans but intend to vote Harris because they see how dangerous Trump is. THESE, I believe, are true Americans. People who put country over party. It tells me that people can recover from MAGA. Yes, it’s a serious, life-threatening condition, but people CAN recover.

Unfortunately, there are still FAR too many people suffering from MAGA these days and he’ll get lots and lots of help from them in spreading his lies. Ask your infected MAGA for details. Demand details. Point out that they can’t provide details because there ARE no details. Keep pressing. Try to break through the delusion. If it’s true, there MUST be evidence that will hold up in court.

It’s going to be unpleasant. MAGA damages perspective. You’ll be seen, and treated, like the enemy. But they MUST see the lies to be freed. If you can make them understand that he’s NOT just riffing, he’s serious, and you can make them understand that the threats he’s issuing are real, you might succeed in purging the MAGA from their minds. Become a lifeline back to reality for MAGA. Help them see what they cannot see for themselves…

How Could You?!?

by MyBaconPress

Okay, so, who’s NOT laughing at this latest freakout in MAGA land? You know the one. In a recent ad, Julia Roberts spoke on behalf of Kamala, and told married women they have a right to choose their own candidates and they don’t have to vote how their husband tells them to vote. Roberts said women don’t even have to tell their husband where their votes went.

Some of the voices on the right have come out to decry such a notion, that a woman can have her own mind. Jesse Waters suggested a woman voting differently than her husband would be the exact same thing as having an affair. Charlie Kirk called it the “embodiment of the downfall of the American  family.” Jeez, hyperventilate much?

So, the thing is, she really DOES get to vote for whomever she wants. Not to put too fine a point on it, it’s actually in the US Constitution. You know the Constitution. That’s the document MAGA pretends to revere but plans to dismantle should they seize power again. But until then, she’s a free and independent human being and gets to vote her conscience.

Now, because she lives with a Neanderthal (no disrespect to the Geico caveman, of course) I can see her donning her MAGA gear (which is illegal but gives MAGA something else to bitch about) and head to her polling place, march into the booth shouting, “Trump, Trump, Trump,” pull the lever for Harris, and march out, STILL shouting, “Trump, Trump, Trump!”

Then, when Harris wins, she can sit with a quiet smile inside while commiserating with her backward husband. Just like she does with so many of his other boneheaded decisions as “head of the household” when he lays down some moronic edict. I mean, just because he’s an idiot, doesn’t mean she has to be one, too…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I saw a story in the Guardian that suggested that maybe, just maybe, the polling is off. They said, because pollsters have been so wrong in the past, they may be “adjusting” their results, fearful of under-reporting one candidate or the other.

Based on the way the ballots are coming in, right now, it doesn’t look like the race has been the close, neck and neck battle the pollsters have been broadcasting. But that’s just the start, right? We KNOW the cons will be coming out on Tuesday to vote in person. The race WILL tighten up. It’s only a question of how much.

Let’s just start with the Madison Square Garden fiasco. Trump has dismissed the anger, vitriol, racism, and misogyny at the Madison Square Garden rally as a “love fest.” That’s the same term he uses to describe his violent attempt to overthrow the government on January 6th, 2021 – a “love fest.” That particular rally seemed to launch a string of insanity we have not seen in politics in this country in a long time, maybe ever. It seems like the moment Trump decided to drop the facade and let the racism, hatred, and misogyny rip. One of his speakers pronounced Puerto Rico an “island of garbage.” THAT started a kerfuffle that Trump and his followers have tried to downplay.

Just since that rally, Trump has said he’s going to protect women whether they “like it or not.” This, from an adjudicated raper and a man with a LONG history of disrespect toward women. Oh, speaking of which, Jeffery Epstein (who totally did NOT kill himself) is STILL being paraded around, this time on audio recordings made in 2017 where he describes his very close friendship with Donald Trump and the way Trump and Epstein used to make bets about which one would get which girl first – including Princess Diana.

The recordings were made and released by author Michael Wolff, doing background for a book. On his podcast, Wolff said, “Here are these two guys both driven by a need to do anything they wanted with women: dominance and submission and entertainment. And one of them ends up in the darkest prison in the country and the other in the White House.”

According to Epstein in the tapes, Trump’s management style is to play one person off against another. “His people fight each other and then he poisons the well outside,” Epstein says. I don’t mean to bring up the Nazis again (apparently, I do) but do you know who ELSE, famously, pitted his generals off against each other as a way to keep them from uniting against him? That would be one Adolph Hitler.

It’s probably just a coincidence, but it IS weird how the only history Trump seems to know is about how Hitler came to power and then operated once on top. Worse, Trump seems to have missed the warnings inherent in those details. Hitler’s paranoia was one of the main factors in Germany losing WWII.

He pretended the start of the garbage comments did NOT come from his rally (they did) and put on an orange vest and rode in a pretend garbage truck in circles in a parking lot, apparently hoping to put to rest the “island of garbage” comment. Clearly, it didn’t work. (The media depicted that vest as “dressing like a garbage man.” When is the last time you saw a garbage man wearing a suit and tie covered with an orange vest?)

He talked about putting Liz Cheney in front of nine guns pointed at her face. Left leaning media is saying he meant a firing squad but he said he’d give HER a gun, too, and that’s not a normal detail of being executed by firing squad. I think HE meant he would put her in a very unfair, uneven fight, just to see how she liked it.

He said these things while criticizing her support for the military. It was quite surreal, listening to a known coward and draft dodger disparage someone else’s military record. (Besides, when Liz was the right age for combat, women weren’t allowed in combat.) Either way, Arizona has launched yet another investigation into a potential crime because of his threat.

He spends a LOT of time talking about all the things he’s going to do to his personal enemies and to “the enemies from within.” You know, people like Nancy Pelosi and Adam Schiff. He has simply disregarded decorum. Politicians have long since suggested that their opponent is not up to the job, but we didn’t hear “dumb-as-a-rock” or “low-IQ individual” – particularly ironic, coming from him – until Trump.

To MY view, he seems to be spinning out. He seems to be losing control of himself. He seems unable to maintain even the facade of decorum and he is just being his course, base, and ugly self. And the polls say the race is still even? The ballots that have been cast have been coming in at what appears to be a huge margin for Harris, but the polls say the race is still even? Trump is literally suffering a severe mental breakdown while the whole world watches, but the polls say the race is even.

At this point, if this election really does turn out to be close, I’m going to be so disappointed in my fellow Americans it’s going to take years to get over. How can anybody support this man?

Too Distracted To Save It?

by MyBaconPress

Well, I confess, I’m quite concerned about the outcome of this election. My mind STILL won’t accept the fact that the United States might really choose a racist, criminal, idiot with delusions of grandeur who wants the job, mostly, to shut down the criminal investigations that promise to convict him, and then enrich himself with stolen lucre while doing as he’s told by Vladimir Putin, of all people.

But we might.

The right is out screaming about how unfair it is that the left keeps comparing their beloved with Adolph Hitler. They do not see (Nazi?) the comparison and they’re just sure it’s over-the-top hyperbole. Is it though? Is it really? I suppose that depends on how well you know your history – and I think it has been QUITE well established that MAGA does NOT know their history. Of course they don’t see the comparison. But their ignorance won’t protect them from the onslaught of Trump.

MAGA thinks if they just toe the line and be good little MAGA, they’ll be fine. They’re not taking into account the economic wreckage he keeps promising, as if it might be a good thing. And another bit they don’t understand is that with a damaged personality like Trump’s “the line” they’re toeing will keep moving. They may well find themselves on the wrong side of that line having done nothing “wrong,” but because the line moved.

Meanwhile, they fear Kamala because she keeps promising to help people who need help – including them, by the way -and not the richest one percent who are doing just fine, thank you very much.

MAGA is scared of Kamala because they don’t understand things.
I’m scared of Trump because I do…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cons keeps asking, “Are you better off today than you were four years ago?” The other day, I was thinking about that. Guess what I remembered. I remembered the election of 2020. You know, the one Trump lost in a landslide? Do you remember that? Do you remember WHY Trump lost in a landslide? People were furious at his feckless and failed handling of Covid-19. Remember? People were dying so fast it was hard to keep count, and the misleader of our once great nation (Trump) just kept trying to wish it away.

The anger at Trump’s failure was white-hot and people came out in droves to vote against him. Record numbers, in fact. The highest numbers, the biggest numbers. We had never seen so many voters come out to vote against a guy. One voter, big voter, brave voter came up with tears in his eyes and said, “Sir, you’ve fucked up bigger than any President has ever fucked up and we’re literally dying to get you out of office.” It was a record turnout to vote against Trump because he was so bad at his job and had done so much damage.

The economy had crashed. People were “social distancing.” Most people were locked inside, with nowhere to go. His failed policies led to a crash in the supply chain that took months to straighten out – and only AFTER he was out of office. Oh, the economy has struggled under Biden? He inherited an economy that was basically dead and he has brought it back to record levels. I don’t argue it’s perfect in every way. I’m not delusional like a MAGA, who pretend America was a perfect utopia under Trump.

But THAT is the main thing I remember about Trump and his Presidency: the number of Americans who died as a direct result of his stupidity – and how angry the American people were about it. AM I better off today than I was four years ago? Well, the economy is humming along at record levels and medical staff aren’t stacking bodies in refrigerator trailers because they’re out of room in the morgues, anymore, so, yes, I’d say we’re all better off…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I interact with MAGA on a regular basis. The secret? Don’t talk politics. It works, but it can be tough, especially right now. Everyone is on edge about the election and that makes it hard to keep it off the table. But what I just wrote, there, is true. EVERYONE is on edge about the election. I find it odd that MAGA is just as scared of a Harris victory as Americans are of a Trump victory.

A MAGA recently shared a prediction with me: if Harris wins, there won’t be any adverse reaction from the right. If Trump wins, the left will pour out into the streets and riot. Obviously, I disagree with that prediction but not for the reasons my friend might think.

The cons may not riot in the streets, but Trump has been vocal about his “secret plan” with MAGA Mike the Johnson to just steal the election outright. The thing I fear is that the left may NOT riot in the streets if Trump “wins.” We already know Trump can’t win on the power of his dark and hateful message. But the level of underhanded and nefarious activities intended to steal the voices of the majority of Americans is almost mind-boggling.

MAGA has been doing everything in it’s power to disenfranchise as many Democrats as they possibly can. As an example, Virginia started purging Democrats from it’s voter roles a very short time ago, in violation of Federal law that says specifically, states can NOT purge voters too closely to an election because it’s too late for the victi-, er, voter to correct the action.

Of course, the Roberts Supremely Kangaroo Court has ruled against that common sense notion and harmed the United States, yet again. It’s just what they do. So now, not only Virginia, but other red states and the so-called “battleground” states controlled by cons can do the same thing. And you can bet your sweet bippy they will.

The whole world’s watching. Conservative efforts to simply disenfranchise voters is plain to everybody. EVERYBODY. Even if Trump were to “win,” how could ANYBODY take his “victory” seriously, knowing how much the Republicans cheated, lied, and stole to make it happen? When you manage to simply keep your opposition from voting, did you “win?”

Look, I didn’t like it when Trump won in 2016. I even think things were actually hinky in that election – in Trump’s favor. But nobody was ever able to prove anything and I accepted the result. (Grudgingly, I grant you.) This time? We don’t have to wait for after-the-fact proof of chicanery. We’re watching it happen in real life and in real time. We already know “Trump cheated.” He may cheat and still lose. He may cheat and be called the winner. But either way, he’s already cheating.

If Americans, true Americans, are going to suffer an election process destroyed enough to bring to power a man who is promising to dismantle the United States of America, the very least we can do is hit the streets. The cons think they’re fighting to save America. They’re exactly backwards, of course, but they believe it. It will be up to the left to ACTUALLY save America, and that might mean a fight. Does America still have that revolutionary spirit, or are we too engrossed in TikTok and other social media? We’re all about to find out…

Traveling Under A New Name…

by MyBaconPress

Well, he’s out now and proudly racist. He had a rally in Madison Square Garden. It looked very much like the Fascist rally that took place there in the late 1930’s. One guy at that rally promised that the racists would return America “to the people who founded it.” I presume the First Nations were happy, for a moment, before realizing the white European meant other white Europeans.

It’s weird, isn’t it, that Fascism seems to keep rearing it’s ugly head in America? But, at this point, the idea that Trump and his supporters are fascists is no surprise. Also, because of Trump’s history, his bigotry is no surprise. But I’ve got to tell you, I was surprised by the clips I’ve seen of that rally.

Trump’s team brought in “entertainment” for the crowd, a vile “comedian” (name withheld) who told a series of very racist “jokes.” Yeah, if YOU, TOO are a racist, you’ll laugh and laugh at those comments. If you’re decent (ergo, not MAGA), you were shocked and just shook your head. Here is just one example of the funny, funny lines he was pitching, “I don’t know if you guys know this, but there’s literally a floating island of garbage in the middle of the ocean right now. I think it’s called Puerto Rico…” Oh, how MAGA laughed…

Today, I expect to see a “poll” that shows how much more Puerto Ricans have come to love Trump since his Madison Square Garden rally. Every time he insults some group, there’s a new poll showing how much better he’s doing with that group.

Naked racism. A speaker hired BY TRUMP’S TEAM, to say things Trump is pretty sure his base wants to hear, and I’m pretty sure he’s right about that. A racist diatribe. Perhaps it’s just coincidence, but this is the rally, this racist, hate-filled, fever-nightmare event, in which Melania chose to come out of hiding and make an appearance. She was all smiles. Apparently, we’ve found her jam…

According to Trump, if you love America and want to see it preserved, you’re now “the enemy from within.” You’ll need to be punished. EVERYONE around him seems to need to be punished. But he’s looking forward to taking special interest in anyone he doesn’t like. I suspect my own blog is going to get me into trouble sooner or later. (The main saving grace is that very few people ever actually see my blog…)

Trump claimed – in Madison Square Garden, only a few blocks from Times Square – that a “savage Venezuelan prison gang” had taken over Times Square. At least some of those attendees must have passed through Times Square only an hour or two before. They never saw any signs of a “savage Venezuelan prison gang.” But now, because Trump said so, they just KNOW that a “savage Venezuelan prison gang” has taken over Times Square. (What a scary ride home, back through Times Square. I hope they made it.)

He promises to “launch the largest deportation program in American history.” Remember when Ron DeSantis successfully ran most of the undocumented workers out of Florida and then the farmers couldn’t find anybody to bring the crops in from the field, so they lost their crops? There’s your model for what the “largest deportation program in American history” might do to America at it’s hardest-working core.

This rally is being portrayed on the left as a major misstep by Trump, an event so startlingly, brazenly racist and hate-filled that Trump has destroyed his campaign and the thing amounted to “political suicide.” Don’t you believe it. MAGA loved it. The left KEEPS seeing things that SHOULD BE political suicide but never turn out to be. ‘Access Hollywood’ recording anyone? MAGA has been fully brainwashed and they’re all in. Hate? Sure. Racism? Absolutely. White Nationalism? Why would anybody want anything else?

At one point, Hulk Hogan came out to speak and said, “I don’t see no stinkin’ Nazis in here.” No, you don’t. These days, Nazis travel under a new name: MAGA…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trump just keeps crapping on his supporters and he expects them to just sit back and accept it. (Fortunately for him, they have no self-respect, so they do.) Remember a couple of weeks ago when he stranded his supporters after a rally by not having the buses come back to get them back to their cars? Yeah, he paid for the buses to get them there, but he HAD his photos of his “great crowd” and the rally was over and he didn’t need them anymore – so he just abandoned them. It’s not even the first time he’s pulled that cheap little stunt.

Now he has burned his own supporters in a new way. He scheduled a rally in Michigan. Thousands (he would say Billions) of his supporters showed up. They waited. And they waited. And they waited some more. THEN, after he was over an hour late already, he sent a video to be played, instead. The video told the people who had come out to support him at the rally his people set up and advertised, that he was going to be two hours later because he was going to go on the Joe Rogan podcast.

A rally that he was supposed to start at by 7:00 pm may or may not start until 10:00 pm, at best? Because he got a better offer? Yeah, as you can imagine, many of them left. He keeps doing things like that to his victi… er, supporters. They don’t care. They love the guy. He could pound their thumbs with a hammer and they’d just thank him for noticing them. Then, they’ll go into the voting booth, thumbs in splints, and cast their ballot for Trump. He doesn’t even care enough about them to hate them, but they love him so much he can do what he wants and not lose any support. Quite masochistic, if you ask me…

Cowardice, Straight Up…

by MyBaconPress

Not one, but TWO major, national newspapers, the LA Times and the Washington Post, have declined to endorse a candidate for President in this election? Since when? Oh, THIS election? Because the owners want Trump, but don’t want to SAY they want Trump, and when the editorial staff decided to endorse Harris, the owners just “decided” not to endorse anybody? Now the Times, at least, is losing subscribers and staff. Why, it’s almost as if the moment a newspaper decides to surrender objectivity, they surrender faith in their product, as well. I used to turn to the LA Times for slightly conservative but solid information, occasionally, but now they’re JUST “conservative” and I won’t trust them anymore…

People really should have paid more attention in History class. Rich people think they’re going to control Trump once he’s in office.
“Hey, isn’t that the same thing the power base in Germany thought about controlling Hitler once HE was in office?”
Yep.
“How’d that work out?”
Mostly? That “power base” did as they were told or suffered the consequences. Hitler couldn’t be controlled. Trump won’t be, either…

Cons won’t want to actually live in the America that will be after Trump seizes power. They just don’t know it, yet. Meanwhile, I think the LA Times and Washington Post have done serious, likely permanent, harm to their credibility…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ladies? Um…no pressure, but we’re going to need you to step in and clean up the mess we dudes made. Yes, again. You seem to be the main line of defense against the threat American faces, these days, from Trump and the GOP. Help us, OB/Gyn Kenobi. You’re our only hope…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Do you know who knows the damage Donald Trump will do if he gets back in power? Everyone! Everyone knows. There IS no mystery. EVERYONE knows! It’s just that some of us think the things he’ll do are bad, and some of us are celebrating the destruction…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, I need some help from MAGA, here. You’all maintain that Trump never makes mistakes and is the very best at, well, everything, really. Now Trump, himself, has gone on the Joe Rogan podcast and said that the ‘biggest mistake’ of his Presidency was picking ‘bad,’ ‘disloyal people.’ But, at the time, he said he always had the BEST people.

I need you to do some of that voodoo you do and help me understand how he could always have the BEST people, and yet he made the mistake of picking bad people who were disloyal. He had INCREDIBLY high turnover in his time because, apparently, he picked a LOT of bad people. According to him, anyway. It turns out, if they loved their country more than they loved Trump, he considered them bad people. What does THAT say about MAGA?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Republicans believe that mail in ballots are used more often by Democrats (and other lefties) than by Republicans. I believe that, too, so, hey, an area of agreement, right? In their ongoing effort to disenfranchise as many left-leaning voters as they possibly can – a hat tip to the notion that their ideas have extremely limited appeal – they created a lawsuit regarding a standard practice of mail-in ballots.

Sometimes, people mail their ballots just before election day. The postmark on the envelope made by the US Postal Service proves the date the ballot was mailed. Nationwide, in 18 states and Washington, DC, if the postmark is on or before election day, the ballot will be counted – even if it arrives at the registrar’s office a day or two after the election.

Cons saw an opportunity, there, and filed a lawsuit. If the ballot isn’t received by election day, they argued, it shouldn’t count. They filed this lawsuit in Mississippi because Mississippi allows ballots to be counted after being received and, crucially, is in the US 5th Circuit Court district – where they KNEW they would get a favorable ruling because that court, infamously, is so loyal to Trump, having been packed by Trump.

The District Judge who first heard the case, Louis Guirola Jr., rejected that argument. He pointed out, correctly in my view, that the Constitution specifically lets each state set their own rules for managing elections except where Congress has created Federal law. For MY part, I would argue that when the Founders started this once-great nation, the vast majority of ballots were not received by the the registrar ON election day. (They had to be collected and sent by horse. It took a while.) CLEARLY, they never had that as an intent.

Oh, but the Trump-loyal court has decided, randomly, that, nah, they don’t like that idea. It might allow too many lefties to vote. They just did that thing cons like to do; “The Constitution doesn’t say what it says, it says what we want to hear. Neener, neener.” Of course they didn’t SAY it that way. What they said was that a ballot was not considered “cast” when it was, you know, cast, that is, filled out and dropped into a box of some kind. Instead, that vote can’t be counted as “cast” until it arrives at the Registrar’s Office and if that’s after the date of the election, it’s too late.

Bear in mind, this ruling applies directly to Mississippi but will affect ALL 18 states and DC if it’s allowed to stand. It’s very likely it will disenfranchise most of the overseas military ballots, as well. They often arrive “late,” if that’s how one defines “late.” Their professed love of the military commonly has harmful affects for the military. Weird, that.

At this point, that “ruling” came from a three judge panel (standard practice for Appellate Courts) but can be reviewed by the full panel. It should be, but there’s no guarantee the full panel will make any better decision. It could go up to the Roberts Supremely Corrupt Kangaroo Court of the United States but, of course, “Supremely Corrupt” is right there in the name, these days. So, suddenly, eleven days before the election, a conservative court has handed MAGAGOPCORP just the ruling they need to a) disenfranchise mostly left leaning voters and b) create enough confusion about the election to give their claims of problems legitimacy.

It really irritates me that THEY create the problems, and then use the problems they create as excuses to wreak havoc on the election. Actually, the part that bothers me is that it works. The cons KNOW they can’t appeal to enough people to win an honest election. They KNOW they can’t get any more people to come aboard because their are only so many weak-minded (not stupid, just malleable) individuals to be had. They KNOW that if they can’t win, and they can’t broaden their appeal, the only way to gain power is to stop as many of their opponents from participating as they possibly can and they have sought trick after trick to accomplish that evil goal.

I’ll tell you this: If your ideas suck so badly that you couldn’t possibly win an election, you shouldn’t win the election. Period…

Louder Than The Lies…

by MyBaconPress

Here’s what we know. The cons will lie about anything, at any time. We KNOW they plan to lie about the election, should Kamala win. We KNOW they get away with the kind of crap they get away with because lefties still rely on decorum while the right has shuffled decorum off as a “weakness.” (Oh, how those wimps HATE “weakness.”) When they lie, we use euphemisms. We say, “That doesn’t comport with the facts.” We say, “The details don’t support what you’re saying.” We say, “The prevarications are endless.” Oh, and we KNOW the cons plan to lie about the outcome of the election in an attempt to just…install Trump in an end-run around the Constitution.

So, here’s the situation: this is an actual assault on the Constitution. YOU, as Americans, have an obligation to protect the Constitution from these usurpers. We’re not (quite) at the point of pulling out guns. This will be – start as, at least – a war of words. We cannot use euphemisms. We MUST keep it simple and keep it honest. Not just once. Over and over and over again, and LOUDLY!

So, when you hear a con saying the election had problems, call it a lie! Not, “I disagree.” Not, “There’s no evidence…” Not even “That’s not true.” Straight up, straight out, “That is a lie.” You can demand evidence. I plan to use, “Either bring the evidence or admit it’s a lie. Period.” It’s GOT to be clear, and because of who they are, simple. “That’s a lie.” “You’re lying.” We, the people, MUST shout them down. OUR insistence that their lies ARE lies MUST overpower the lies. Be prepared to shout, loud and long. It’s a war of words.

No detailed explanations, please. Cons don’t get that. They get insults, straight up. Keep it simple, but keep it honest. “That’s a lie!” or even “You’re a liar!” It will feel funny. Dems generally don’t do that. But wars make animals of people and, make no mistake, this IS a war – even if it IS a war of words…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m seeing stories creeping up suggesting that the independent voters in this world are being turned off by the negative words coming from the left. The story line is, the way the left is attacking Trump constantly is a real turn-off. Uh-huh…

I suspect the Russkies are at it again. Who, after all, is more negative than Trump/Vance? Who lodges more baseless attacks than Trump/Vance? Who has a darker vision of America than Trump/Vance? But Harris/Walz telling unpleasant truths about Trump/Vance is “turning independent voters off?”

The cons keep trying to do that with Harris identifying (correctly) Trump as a “Fascist.” Suddenly, saying something they don’t like about Trump somehow increases the risk of violence against Trump? Is NOW the time to mention that, so far, the people who have shot, tried to shoot, or been held for maybe WANTING to shoot Trump have all been cons? Either these guys are loyalists working to give Trump a new whine line, or Trump had better watch his flanks.

I’ll tell you this: If the truth makes people want to kill Trump, perhaps he should make less effort to thwart the truth and more effort reconsidering and improving his behavior…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hey, voter fraud DOES happen! I’ve noticed, it seems to be conservatives who keep getting caught doing it, but it DOES happen. I suspect that these particular cons have been told SO many times that the Dems cheat easily in these things, they decide to “even the scales.” If it’s so easy for the Dems to get away with it, why shouldn’t they? THAT is when they learn that a) the Dems DON’T get away with it, and b) neither did they. Now they’re going to pay the legal consequences of believing in Trump.

It always strikes me as rather amazing that there ARE legal consequences for believing in Trump, but it happens too often to be ignored (except by self-blinded MAGA, of course).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yes, the left IS nervous about the outcome of the election. EVERYONE should be, but MAGA lives in a world of pure imagination and have NO idea about what they’re supporting. The left knows, though. That’s WHY they’re nervous.

I think Harris will win an honest election. I find it disappointing and hard to believe that the race seems so close. I KNOW the cons have been flooding the aggregate polls with fake local polls to make the cons look like they’re doing better than they actually are. History says that high voter turnout always favors the left – and this vote, so far, has brought record high voter turnout.

Men are turning to Trump while women are turning to Harris? Not THIS man, and I know many others. Besides, there are more women than men, and women tend to be more diligent once they’ve set their minds to something. Are black people actually going to vote for a bigot who mostly dislikes – and has actually discriminated against – black people? Are people who support Palestine actually going to vote for the candidate (Trump) who has already said he thinks Israel should be doing more damage, not less? Are the vast majority of Latinos going to vote for the guy who intends to round up and deport their loved ones?

I’ll tell you this: EVERY person who votes for Trump gets what they deserve. The problem is, the rest of us will get what they deserve, too…