The theater of the absurd performed by Trump and supporters as they abuse power and the legal system

Sometimes I get the feeling that politics is the Theatre of the Absurd, as drama and playacting fuel hyperbolic lies, half-truths, outrageous, unproved, unevidenced accusations, manufactured issues, show-trial-like hearings, and crises to grab headlines. It just adds to the frustration and feeling that politics is hopeless and bewildering, and makes you feel anxious, so why bother to care or counter?  Despite this, those who support the rule of law have no choice but to soldier on and call out such abuses of power and the legal system if democracy is to survive intact.

Case in point: The hearing held recently in which  Dr. Anthony Fauci and MAHA locked horns was the GOP at their"performative" best to cater to the hardcore supporters of the anti-vaxx movement. Nothing substantive was accomplished, and by taking the 5th, Dr. Fauci avoided traps the GOP tried to lay for him to make a statement they could use and manipulate in a state court hearing.  That's what the initial spat at the beginning of the hearing, resulting in removal of Fauci's attorney, was about.  There are still MAHA-inspired cases accusing Fauci of unevidenced wrongdoing pending in state courts, even though Fauci has the protection from federal cases due to the pardons Biden provided. He is not shielded from state laws.  Not to let go of this debacle, the GOP is planning to hold Fauci in contempt, compounding one abuse of power with another one.

 https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jul/29/anthony-fauci-senate-covid-hearing-takeaways

 Like so much of Trump's revenge tour, with nearly all such accusations presented without supporting evidence or legal basis being thrown out by judges, it is just another tool to use in political propaganda warfare. It is used to make a point and to punish the disloyal to Trump and MAGA by forcing their targets to spend emotional energy and money on their defense. The practice is plain and simple: an abuse of power to which the judicial system has wised up to and is referring Trump's attorneys to local bar associations for disbarment. 

 Since the 2020 election, judges have not tolerated the political theatre of the absurd in their courtrooms, though disciplinary action takes time. Disbarment of lawyers has resulted,, first in the wake of 2020's "stop the steal" ,  and now again in numerous cases in Trump's second term.

 https://www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/trump-2020-attorneys-face-disbarment-suspension-ahead-of-2024-election/     

 Last month, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche’s alleged misbehavior was referred to the New York State Bar for disciplinary review regarding a pending "fraud upon the court" inquiry.  A separate IRS litigation ruling and complaints also targeted Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward at the District of Columbia Bar. 

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/09/26/rudy-giuliani-disbarred-washington-00181183

"Theatre of the Absurd, dramatic works of certain European and American dramatists of the 1950s and early ’60s who agreed with the Existentialist philosopher Albert Camus’s assessment, in his essay “The Myth of Sisyphus” (1942), that the human situation is essentially absurd, devoid of purpose. The term is also loosely applied to those dramatists and the production of those works. Though no formal Absurdist movement existed as such, dramatists as diverse as Samuel Beckett, Eugène Ionesco, Jean Genet, Arthur Adamov, Harold Pinter, and a few others shared a pessimistic vision of humanity struggling vainly to find a purpose and to control its fate. Humankind in this view is left feeling hopeless, bewildered, and anxious." Enclopedia Britannica.     

Some personal reflections on the anti vaxx movement

Here is my view of MAHA anti-vaxxers. Some diseases can kill or leave you seriously disabled if you survive. Millions have been saved by vaccines. I spent summers confined to a few in my immediate neighborhood in my youth to avoid polio, and only after the vaccine could I again attend movies, go swimming, and even go to church gatherings. In my membership beginning in the 1990's in Rotary, there were still members who were survivors of polio, so Denver Rotary led Rotary's worldwide attempt to stamp out the disease with our Polio Plus project carried forth by Rotary International.. We did, and the Gates Foundation helped, but now some want to reverse that. It is sure insanity. Fauci almost single-handedly broke through and found the treatments for AIDS. However, MAHA wants you to risk your lives because of a few paranoid, uneducated science deniers, parents looking for a culprit other than themselves or their own DNA to blame for the learning disabilities of their kids, and then launch a disinformation campaign to duck data and research results  that debunked their theories or find someone to blame... If they want to put their own children in danger, that is their choice, but to try to force us to swallow their dangerous BS is the problem. Some people do not believe in science or have other motivations, religious, or just plain failed high school biology, or forgot or never learned anything about viruses.(When I was a child, we did not even know about viruses.) They, the uneducate and those looking for an explanation that makes them feel good about themselves, are the victims of this anti-vaxxing proselytizers. Then there are those like political opportunists who ride this issue because it is another one they can falsely lob at those who do not support Trump. They were on display at these recent hearings. Rand Paul is a libertarian who never found a government program he liked and is an ophthalmologist, but he puts his ideologically based politics first and ignores whatever he learned in med school. The eyes may have got it, but infectious diseases, viruses, seemed to have been forgotten. 

What I do appreciate is the ability and freedom to refuse a vaccine to which I am allergic...and my allergist told me not to get: the flu vaccines based on eggs.I am allergic to eggs...seriously. The result would be worse than the flu. I learned that he wasn't kidding when I took the swine flu vaccine. That was the last flu shot I ever took. The new methods used for COVID that avoid the egg stuff are a savior. I am so grateful that mNRA technology works.(MAHA paranoids fear this one) I am high risk for COVID, mostly due to my advanced age, and I had no reaction at all. MNRA may also let me take a flu vaccine someday. Each to his own, but what is good for you and me should be based on recommendations of a person's physician, not on some politically motivated anti-science advocate looking for a political opportunity to thump the table and mislead the public because it serves a political purpose, as it was in that disgusting hearing attempt the other day.. Trump's greatest accomplishment was the fast-track COVID vaccine, but he cannot even boast about it because of the MAHA ideological and science-deniers involved in politics who are so grateful for RFK, Jr. spreading the same dangerous message..

So far as searching for blame for a child's learning disabilities, a parent's time is better spent in providing therapy and help and a whole lot of patience and understanding.  Leave that search for cause in the hands of professionals, instead. 

Stop blaming yourself or trying to find someone else to blame.  It is a far better way to spend time and effort to concentrate on helping a child and other children succeed than to be off on a blame crusade..  I fear that motivates much of the anti-vaxxer's interests.  I can say that because as a mother of 3 and 4 grandchildren, I have been there with diagnosis and therapy at a time before and during the discovery of such disabilities in my own family. They may not turn out to be your ditto or what you wished, but success and talents come in many different packages.

I saw a time when a child tested so low, she was considered "a slow learner, learning challenged" in the terms of the time. But with new techniques of diagnosis and with intense therapy privately and in specialized schools, and the use of the ADA disabilities act, she graduated from public high school and later from a 4-year college. She found a profession where her disabilities were an asset, and she had compensated with other talents::  focus, memory, patience, learning from watching what others were doing, creativity,  and applying these to her own tasks.

She was fortunate: we had the means to afford what seemed best therapy at the time....and for that reason, I am such an advocate for such publicly funded schools that provide those alternative ways to learn, such as the Montessori methods, and for learning disabled specialists to be on hand at all schools. I am particularly grateful for the ADA legislation that permitted her to take exams in ways that let her use her compensating talents to show she had indeed learned the subject matter. 

 

Why GOP leaders use ugly anti-semitism to explain away Trump's indictment.

 From my Facebook posting today: GOP political leaders in America have a very effective propaganda weapon: set up bogeymen, demonize them, and then paint any public policy issue they oppose or think they can use to make political hay with the same distasteful brush. They did that with Fauci, who is blamed for spreading COVID with his vaccine and pro-science remarks. Now they are using ugly anti-semitism to push their agenda: It is one of the oldest tricks in the political trade to shorthand a political position by painting someone with the evil of another in order to get support to counter bad news without sounding like something really bad, stupid, or off the wall.

The Blog continues.

It is a dog whistle to anti-semites.

One of the oldest tropes in the world led to the rise of Hitler and the ovens.. anti-Semitism directed at Jewish bankers. Why did DeSantis call the New York DA, a Soros DA? This trope is in play again in the GOP reaction to Trump's indictment by the NY DA. Remember history? The ones the Nazis said were causing Germany's economic pain pre-world war II were Jewish bankers (not the worldwide depression or the debt allies put on Germany for starting WWI). It played well in a country like Germany with a tradition of anti-Semitism and looking for something to blame for their troubles other than starting World War I. Now we are hearing from GOP leaders that the reason Trump was indicted in New York was that the DA received campaign contributions from George Soros, a Jewish International banker who contributes to liberal causes and reformists. That explains everything to some supporters who are already anti-Semites and are looking for a way to exonerate Trump.

Is Trump himself anti-semitic?. Who knows?. There is good evidence that Trump himself believes anti-Semites are his constituents. and they were among the "fine people" he praised in the Charleston neo-Nazi march. https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/12/07/electoral-logic-behind-trumps-antisemitism-00072661 That then explains to Trump's followers why innocent Trump gets accused of crimes. Semites did it. Anyone tagging the NY DA as a Soros DA risks sounding like a 1930s Nazi, just as DeSantis and large numbers in the GOP did.

Why DeSantis and many other GOP leaders would join in the anti-semitic tactic is risky, given the huge number of Jewish residents in Florida, but perhaps they also do not believe either DeSantis or Trump are anti-semites themselves. It makes sense to the Trump followers among them that the more who support Trump of any ilk, the better for the cause they support. Whatever works.

Nonetheless, ignoring the NY DA indictment of Trump still sounds right to some on the right regardless of any known facts, forgetting earlier in a federal indictment Trump in a similar case was named as Individual One. They were also ignoring the reasons that 23 citizens in the Grand Jury deduced their judgment from sworn testimony and evidence that there was probable cause to believe a crime (s) had been committed and it was appropriate to have a jury trial so Trump could defend himself. In the American justice system, a person accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Trump is not exempt from following the law and every citizen like him should have his day in court. Just having Trump go through the process supports the American judicial system whether he is found guilty or not. It is a lesson for any other politicians in the future that they, too, risk this if they try to grab power and scoff at the law in doing it. It sets in history an important precedent that protects democracy for the future from wannabe autocrats.

Update 4/3/23: I did get a protest on a private facebook page from someone who objected to calling US nazis, Nazis, by way of blunting any comparisons I made. Note above: those spouting anti semitic messages to nazis looked like they were 1930's nazis. Here is the exchange and my response:

(HIs objection to the 1930's comment) There's no such thing as nazis. Nazis were National socialists in germany. These are what's called larpers. And they definitely aren't conservative.

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  Felicia Muftic

  Trying to define what and who someone is by their formal name is very deceptive. What they do and how they act is better. When the current crop in the US even hoists and wear the same or similar swastika flag, it becomes an indication of how they view themselves. Right: terrorists and neo-nazis and what they do, act, and out are not conservative. We agree., However, conservatives are complicit if they do not act or speak out or consider them their constituent whose votes they need in the next election.

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  Felicia Muftic

   https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../charlottesville-videos/

  

  WASHINGTONPOST.COM

  Deconstructing the symbols and slogans spotted in Charlottesville

  Deconstructing the symbols and slogans spotted in Charlottesville

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  Felicia Muftic

  From the Wapo article: the National Socialist Movement traces its roots to the American Nazi Party, which was founded in 1959. The National Socialist Movement is the largest active neo-Nazi organization in America, openly reveres Adolf Hitler, and its members often protest in Nazi uniforms complete with swastika armbands.

The indictment and attack on the rule of law were enough to motivate the former governor of Arkansas to jump into the 2024 primary and oppose Trump. Maybe it is not too much to ask him to speak out against anti-semitism while he is at it. https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2023/04/02/ex-arkansas-gov-asa-hutchinson-running-for-president-in-2024

https://news.yahoo.com/trump-desantis-and-other...

https://www.msn.com/.../ron-desantis-responds.../ar-AA18RsmC

https://thehill.com/.../3915008-republicans-at-odds-over.../

ADL.ORG

The Antisemitism Lurking Behind George Soros Conspiracy Theories

A caricature of George Soros as a tentacled monster has appeared o