Messaging again: a new messenger who speaks to many in red states: James Talarico

 There is a new messenger who speaks the language of many in red states...James Talarico, a state legislator in Texas. He is a devout Christian who actually reads the Bible and who puts his politics into how he sees it related to the religion that is the compass for his very fundamentalist belief. He sees as the most important message Jesus delivered: Love God with all your heart and treat your neighbor as you would like to be treated. That is not only a standard for his life as a preacher in training and the son of one, but he ties his beliefs to issues of the time.. He is a super articulate, young, and attractive spokesperson for his point of view.

Above all, Talarico is the polar opposite of the current leader of the GOP/MAGA movement, Donald Trump. Trump has no moral compass but is a self-serving, self-identified transactional person. That is his standard for life's decisions: to get the best deal to keep his power and wealth and gain more of both using his political office to do it. By inference, if people followed his unmoored, self-centered interest, they, too, will become richer and more powerful. Trump is a person who uses fear of his power to keep his followers and everyone he can in line, including cruelty and lack of empathy for how his policies harm "the least of these" and those trying to keep their daily lives above water.

MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: For those who want to put into perspective a profound amorality of the MAGA movement. Updated 5/8/2025

Trump's followers and some powerful cohorts think empathy is the sign of a failing society, but it is empathy that keeps community from lapsing into tribal chaos and dog-eat-dog conflict. It is the glue that keeps civilization from falling...the fate of nearly every civilization in history with a written record. Bravo, Talarico...you got my attention and admiration.

From my July 2 blog post:Was it moral and OK that Elon Musk cut US Aid in his chainsaw attack in search of ways to cut government funding so Trump could cut taxes to the ultra-rich?  Not only is USAID dead this month, which is now, but also millions who will die without that aid in the next few years.  No problem in Musk's value system, and he was famously quoted that 'The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.'"I believe in empathy, like I think you should care about other people," Musk said as part of the same discussion on Joe Rogan's podcast, "but you need to have empathy for, for civilization as a whole, and not commit to a civilizational suicide." ( fact checked on Snopes). So he must mean sharing our abundance as the richest country in the world with the poorest, and funding the methods of distribution is the US committing suicide? 

Christianity should be outraged. In some twisted religious minds, it is not.. In Trump's world of Christianity, empathy and charity are now to be reviled by some preachers. Empathy  is now a dirty word, "walking in others' shoes", is a sign of feminizing churches because women are so vulnerable to appeals for charity,  so it is no longer a Christian value to some professed Christians,  per a report on NPR

  https://www.npr.org/2025/03/22/nx-s1-5321299/how-empathy-came-to-be-seen-as-a-weakness-in-conservative-circles 

 

youtube.com

Joe Rogan Experience #2352 - James Talarico

James Talarico is a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representa

A memorable quote: "Fear is the tool of tyrants" and how Trump rules by fear

 The most memorable quote of the past week was contained in a letter written by a fired Department of Justice prosecutor, Maurine Comey, warning those left in the DOJ not to succumb to the rule of fear by Trump: "Fear is the tool of tyrants".     Comey's contribution to the concept of Trump as a tyrant was that she condensed the concept that rule by fear is how tyrants control both opponents and their masses and stated it in those six memorable words.  Maurene Comey's farewell after firing: 'Fear is the tool of a tyrant' - ABC News.  The concept has deep roots from the Greeks to Machiavelli to 20th century dictators, and Trump often uses fear as a tool.

This is how Trump is using fear as a tool, like a tyrant.  He mongers fear against his opponents and controls his supporting masses in many ways: fear of primaried, fear of prosecution, fear of losing federal funding, losing government contracts, fear with threats of being prosecuted with a crime by his Department of Justice without evidence of probable cause, fear of being called degrading names used to turn his MAGA base against someone he sees as a past, current, and using fear of active army displays of power to suppress demonstrations against him. Above all, he has promoted fear of brown migrants from south of the border because they are murderers and rapists," and we must remove them from us because they will "adulterate our blood" ...phrases well documented as uttered by Trump himself by many sources.

Trump's mongering fear of brown people has become the mantra that has fueled the approval of his MAGA base to violate human and civil rights and the due process clauses of the 4th and 14th amendments, to be cruel about the method of detaining and deporting them, whether or not they had a criminal record. The issue of ICE snatching anyone from the street or fields who looks "Mexican" or speaks Spanish or English with an accent has been temporarily halted by a federal judge and will eventually make it to the Trump-favoring Supreme Court.

The concept that tyrants rule by fear, per a brief Google AI search, goes back to ancient Greeks, Machiavelli.  The Declaration of Independence called what the King was doing to the states was "tyrannical".Hannah Arendt noted that, unlike previous tyrannies that used terror against opponents, modern dictatorships used it to rule even the obedient masses. How King George III acted like a tyrant was spelled out in a 'bill of particulars' in the 1776 Declaration..

Fear is one half of the tool tyrants can use: the other half is favor...favorable treatment of sycophants, and loyalists, to the disadvantage of others. One example of that is Trump's appointments to his cabinet and his firing of Department of Justice employees who had anything to do with investigating Trump and the prosecution of those convicted for January 6, either by jury or by admission that they had committed a crime, attacking law enforcement or the equivalent in peacetime of 

Trump's use of fear backed up with violence has left a long trail leading to this day

 From the beginning of his political career, Trump has been promoting violence to give credibility to his use of fear, which he sees as a powerful tool to get his way. Posting on his social page a photo created  picture of Biden tied up in the back of a pickup truck with Trump's thumbs up in approval truly got attention on March 30. Those who ignore his threats of fear and violence, keep silent, and waive them off as just bloviating are his enablers. They also help unleash the unhinged violent actors and give them cover to carry out the threat on Trump's behalf. Even worse: He gives cover for others who normally would never let exhortation of violence to cross their tongues. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/tom-cotton-s-tweets-about-violence-against-protesters-are-alarming

Trump names and fingers the targets in public of who should be the victims of violence on his behalf, a presiding trial judge's daughter, for example, the day before the vile pickup truck meme. He stands by, or as on January 6, reveling in the TV images of violent acts committed under his banners for hours before calling them off. He calls them patriots and hostages he will release from jail if he gets re-elected. The head of the husband of a political opponent is bashed in with a hammer in his name, and his supporters laugh as he recounts that attack on Nancy Pelosi's husband.  Violent acts committed in his name are not considered crimes, or they are ignored or become a joke, like the recent pickup truck meme. Fear his promise of revenge and retribution if he gets re-elected because he is not kidding, which means more power to a "strong leader" his followers hope he will be.  

One indelible image comes from January 6 of an actual scaffold and hangman's noose standing by.  Pence got the message, yet he bravely refused to perform the coup and will not support Trump in 2024, citing the threat of violence to which he was subjected and blaming Trump for it.  Whichever it is. innate, nurtured, or naturally cunning, this country has never had such a person with this behavior profile in the Oval Office until now, and he is trying to get into power once again now that he has learned why and how he failed the first time. 

Loyalty to Trump means fear of the consequences if you fail to show it in your words or deeds.  Is he just kidding, snarling a threat? Is he just an angry, uncontrolled, unhinged mouth blowing off steam, or is he doing it intentionally to scare an official to behave a certain way or to back off holding himself,  Trump,  accountable for breaking the law? It is both, but it is more one of intent and conscious use of fear as a tool for power and support of violence that gives the threat credibility. Fear as a tool to better power was admitted to Bob Woodward in 2016 and reported by Woodward in his 2028 book "Fear," based on interviews with staff in the White House. He referenced Trump's statement that "Real power is, I don't even want to use the word, fear."  

I particularly relate to threats of violence as a former election official myself. Trump and his minions are still perpetuating the big lie, and it has violent results. It fuels intimidation and attacks on our election processes. It is close to home in Colorado as our secretary of state felt it necessary to go public and the high profile given the recent ballot issue initiated by GOP and independent never-Trumpers.  Here is what it means. It is an attack on democracy itself. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5iMjxrIN-8  Violent threats increase 600%, and she will not be intimidated.  How many profiles of courage like that are out there? Jena Griswold Sees 600 Percent Spike in Threats Since Trump Challenge (rollingstone.com)

For his use of violence as a political tool in Trump's past, and documented,  go to https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2020/08/trump-fans-flames-of-violence-yet-calls.html

Trump uses fear in another way. " Fear what I tell you to fear "even though you probably never met an immigrant, for example, or never was a victim of a crime committed by an immigrant. "You could be" is enough for the paranoid and those hateful of others to fear them.  "They bring disease, will contaminate your blood, and rape your daughters. And they are so foreign they don't speak English or some language..."   These are simple messages that appeal to those who do not indulge in thinking objectively or care about facts and data. (Violent crimes are down under Biden, for example, and cities filled with migrants actually have less crime)  .https://www.thebulwark.com/p/biden-won-the-war-on-crime  in general

The use of law and order to control his threatening, violence-supporting behavior has failed to keep him in check. Law and order are only respected if they serve their purpose.  In MAGAland, killing Blue, who put up the resistance on Jan. 6 by those committing the violence on Trump's behalf, does not count as breaking the law. It just makes them patriots, not perps, in Trump's openly expressed view. Holding up the death of a cop at the hands of an immigrant means all immigrants are like that, so that is an example of fear of them and calls for more law and order. 

 Attempts to hold him accountable for inciting Jan.6 standing by for hours before calling them off are explained away to his followers with judges who rule against him because they hate Trump,  are corrupt, are black women, family members are never Trumpers, etc".It is not just a life-long bully speaking and channeling others' support of violence. He is the instigator, and he knows there always will be those who will pull the trigger or deliver a threatening message in his name.   

 The kind of power wielded by Putin is so admired so often by Trump, and a knot of Putin-loving GOP House members needs to be firmly rejected in November. Democracy is at stake. It is not the soothing kind of dictatorship Orban has constructed in Hungary, the darling of CPAC and entertained last month in Mar-a-Lago by Trump himself.  It is a violent one based on fear of retribution and the use of the executive branch and the Department of Justice as its weapon of implementation.  Political violence is  a Trump's approved and promoted tool of enforcement.   https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/03/whats-difference-between-orban.html  It is closer to the Putin model, and alarming is Trump's attempt before the Supreme Court now to get total immunity for any crimes he committed or will commit while in office.   It is that kind of a dictatorship for which he lusts. In his anger over his frustration in trying to overturn the 2020 election, he proposed to rewrite the Constitution. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/4168261-trump-called-for-termination-of-parts-of-constitution-in-december/

Some personal notes:

I have to admit I have a particularly strong revulsion to dictatorships of any kind, fascist or communist. Few have ever had hands-on experience with dictatorship where fear of revenge or retribution backed up by actual physical violence or fear of it permeates all society, but take it from me, I have. Been there and done that firsthand.  It not only affects high-level dissidents like Navalny, it dictates a way of life for ordinary people living daily, watching their tongue, scared to complain about wrongdoing, for fear their co-workers and neighbors will report them, and they will lose the next promotion at best,  a backing for political office or a chance to become a medical student (as it happened to my husband to be when he was a student), or at worse, the knock on the door at night with government operatives searching for a long-gone family member (as experienced by my husband as a teenager). He knew they had the power to cart you off to "interrogation" and conduct a warrantless search while the paddy wagon waited outside. The rule of law or civil rights protections were nonexistent in practice, though they existed, useless, on paper. All arms of government power, legislative, judicial, executive, and police, were dedicated to Drug (Comrade) Tito, and positions were only filled with loyalists.  It is not unlike the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/03/why-trump-only-needs-to-be-dictator-on.html  Ideology is different, but the result is the same: control of the levers of power

 A true story about how fear works and a true trauma. 1972, Yugoslavia, Split Airport. Dictator Tito was still following much of the Stalinist governing model, though moderating a bit, so we had taken a chance to visit my husband's mother, whom he had left behind nearly 15 years before, and introduce her to the grandchildren.  He was an emigre from that dictator-run Communist country; we met in Berlin during my junior year abroad, and he was now a US citizen, an MD in private practice,  residing in the US.  As we were on the plane to leave after a happy visit, my husband was yanked off the plane with three wailing children, and an equally frightened me were left in their seats as our bags were searched on the tarmac. They found nothing threatening. Safely back in Italy, my husband had a nightmare in which the police gave him the choice of being shot in the front or in the back.  Fear is a powerful emotion.

 I fear in my soul that some ignorant fools want to trade democracy in for an "autocracy" as a way to get their agenda implemented.

https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2024-03-29/trump-posts-video-with-an-image-of-a-hog-tied-biden-drawing-a-rebuke-from-democrats-campaign

 https://siepr.stanford.edu/news/mythical-tie-between-immigration-and-crime  

https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/15/us/border-migrants-crime-cec/index.html

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trumps-claims-crime-rates-clash-police-data-rcna145353

https://mufticforumblog.blogspot.com/2024/03/after-four-futile-years-of-trying-to.html

 https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/article/trump-paul-pelosi-gop-18404812.php

https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2024-03-29/da-suggests-donald-trump-violated-gag-order-with-post-about-daughter-of-hush-money-trial-judge

How would being anti-woke unify the country? Updated 9 5 23

Updated: 9/5/2023

 I am puzzled. I often hear from GOP wannabe nominees for president claim that if they get elected, the country would be unified. A  unified country is a lovely idea, but what is their definition of unified? How would they accomplish it? Explain? What and why is woke considered evil and anti-woke their ideal?  Do not let them get away with such platitudes. The answers to these questions are keys to the future of this country. Will it be peace and prosperity or conflict, violence, chaos, and uncertainty? This is probably the most important blog posting I ever wrote.

Our nation is somewhere around a 50-50 split, deeply divided on cultural issues and listening only to their preferred media outlets. We will, in a short time, be a nation of what is now a minority of black and brown that will soon be a majority. We have candidates who dog whistle to fellow white nationalists and even to those who have not identified themselves as such intellectually but who respond to fear, fear of immigrants, fear of those of different religions or races, or even sexual identity, and support candidates who channel and give voice to their inner-selves they know is not politically correct. There is loose talk about civil war, retribution, and the ending of democracy, as we have known it, as well.  The Trump factor and the MAGA control of the GOP,  and even defining what is woke and anti-woke, fascism, and democracy on the ballot, are currents swirling around the run-up to the 2024 presidential election. These are not just idle talk, but debates and elections will profoundly shape how we will be governed after 250 years of the great experiment in democracy.   Discussion follows.

THE TRUMP FACTOR

.We have a past president, now the leading candidate for their party's nomination for president,   Donald Trump, who has a long history of supporting violence to accomplish a political goal, and pledges to pardon, the perpetrators of January 6, and failed even to summon the national guard while the riot raged.. Street violence committed by white people is fine, but violence committed by black people and their supporters should be put down by active military, as the George Floyd Summer and Lafayette Square illustrated. His fellow travelers, the MAGAs,  applaud his view of violence. His favored political tools: fear and retribution.These are the ones who  have identified the enemy as "woke."  How does electing them or leader Trump bring our country together? Their approach lays the groundwork for more strife, violence, and racial conflict, not unification. Trump, if the GOP candidate in 2024 and loses, his view of unification of the country of the loser was not only exhibited in 2020, his view is to fight like hell and defy peaceful transition of power.  He is the opposite of a unifier, the singular exception since 1860.  All others delivered acceptance of the outcome of the election for the purpose of honoring the peaceful transfer of power. 

THE MAGA GOP FACTOR 

It isn't just Trump:So explain to me, GOP wannabe presidents, most who pledge to support Trump if he is convicted of a crime and if he is the party candidate, what you mean by national unity. I see some possibilities, some more likely than others, and they are ugly. It involves suppression and violence, the election of a "strong man".  Some even claim civil war will erupt if they do not get their way. Maybe, GOP presidential hopefuls, you can give me a more positive spin.  Here are the uglies:

a.  Elect a strong man to run the country. Eliminate institutional liberal democracy. Choose one who believes he is not bound by any laws. He'll take care of the protestors just like Putin does.  That approach is the one to fear the most, but there are other,  more likely possibilities.

b. Elect a strong man like Viktor Orban who achieves a dictatorship by consensus of his 99% pure ethnic Huntary by buying out opposition media so he can continue hiding the corruption of those supporting him without nosy investigative reporters. It is mind control of the willing. The GOP, now Maga GOP, fawns over the Orban prospect and holds conferences in Hungary to favor that approach. While the US is hardly 99% ethnic or racially pure, many long for such purity that mirrors themselves, and there are many fellow travelers motivated by business interests and taxation advantages. There are those with blue-ribbon education who seek political power with the zeal and talent of modern-day demagogues.. They know their constituents and exploit them for political gain. There are others who do not care and who ignore or who are ignorant of the lessons of such history. They are in real danger of being groomed by those who manipulate the education system so that history as it really happened is no longer taught. There is a  correlation between deep red states and the low education level of their populace, as well.   

c. Control the executive branch by purging opposition and eliminating civic service, gerrymander even more, keeping the dark campaign money flowing as they honor Citizen's United, which gives coverage to secret contributions by our own  US version of oligarchs. Suppress opposition voters by manipulating existing election structures. Undermine confidence in an independent judiciary system or sabotage it with appointees loyal to one ideology or leader instead of following laws. Hmmm.  That sounds familiar. It should. It is happening now before our very American eyes. It is how the Orbans and Erdogans of the Western world got power and are keeping it despite democratic institutions and safeguards.  This is mostly the brainchild of the Heritage Foundation who, after gaining control of the Supreme Court, now are want to control the executive branch, returning to a spoils system, and eliminating civial service. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/conservative-groups-draw-up-plan-to-dismantle-the-u-s-government-and-replace-it-with-trump-s-vision/ar-AA1g0dTK?rc=1&ocid=winp1taskbar&cvid=b3e3db3ba23e4af09b5ce90592832212&ei=12  This also echoes prior statements of intent by Trump to eliminate career and civil service in the executive branch and to use the DOJ to get "retribution" against those who have opposed him.   https://www.google.com/search?q=trump+proposed+ending+civil+service&sca_esv

WHAT IS A WOKE PERSON?

 As a person who falls into the "woke" category, I am white,  of the silent generation, a straight, protestant woman who sees being "woke" as the only way to achieve peace or domestic tranquility .In 85 years, history is not abstract to me.. I have lived it. I don't get it. this anti-woke talk.. I believe the anti-woke is making sure in the future that if they have their way, domestic peace is not on the agenda. On the other hand,  the woke provides an ethic, an approach to tolerate and respect differences, and a path to get along together in a fractured,  racially and demographically diverse future.

While I am not a great fan of memes, I saw this one defining what being "woke" means.  It is a pretty good definition of the positive attributes of being "woke" and  gives some substance why being woke has a better chance of unifying the country than trying to accomplish it with an iron fist of defanging the "woke" by whatever means possible (A,B, or C)     

Another factor that underlies all of this is a growing divide in the education level between Democrats and Republicans.. It is a reverse of years of Democrats appealing to the blue-collar, high school educated while Republicans had more support from those with higher degrees. It is the opposite now. It has happened recently and quickly.  Why and how this has happened will be the subject of many opinions and academic dissertations, but my own theory is that the more education you have, the more you can put matters into perspective and, indeed learn from history. Education increases the ability to use critical thinking.   MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Critical thinking: a misunderstood term that fueled the obsession with CRT     This is why Desantis' anti-woke campaign and the attempts at revisionism of history he advocates and implements in Florida schools is so dangerous.  It is a way of shaping future minds, painting a false view of slavery, is a way of combatting the "woke". The approach is the brainchild of Praeger U. It is also now spreading to other states, including Oklahoma.

CIVIL WAR?

What is this talk about civil war? I was startled by conversations with my late 20s, something grandchildren. They fear the country may break apart with violence sometime in the future, not because they would be the perpetrators but because the racist white nationalists would gain the upper hand.    I had only heard advocacy of a civil war from the current ultra-right wing, but never predicted by those I thought were "woke," as my grandchildren are. Their attitude is, yes, we'll vote, but it won't stop anything, so why do more. It is kismet. Needless to say, they got a stern lecture from me, as I also accused them of being nihilists. Here is how they rationalize their attitude: We don't talk to others directly. We are captive of algorithms and social media. We are just a speck and are powerless. Thoughts run through my head. They have to be watching too many doomsday movies and sci-fi,  yet both can know much and hear snatches of conversations among their peers. Yowwwser.  Organize, activate, I said. Two can play the social media game. Just don't vote, but get your fellow generalists together. We are not a dictatorship yet. You still have a chance, so do it now while you can. You can still head off doomsday. I will not be here on this earth much longer, but I am counting on you, zoomers, I say.

  The 1860 election of Abe Lincoln resuledt in a civil war, as five southern states formed the confederacy.  In that conflict, 360,222 Union and 258,000 Confederate fighters died. {Wikipedia) 

https://wapo.st/44zBbiB   The Only US ‘Civil War’ Will Be a War on Democracy - The Washington Post

Trump appears to break with 124-year history of concession speeches, experts discuss - YouTube

Who's signed the GOP loyalty pledge? - ABC News

Trump Just Broke Through the Last Level of Neo-Fascism (yahoo.com)

 MUFTIC FORUM BLOG: Trump fans the flames of violence, yet calls himself the law and order president updated

, The GOP candidates were asked if they would support Trump as the presidential nominee if he was convicted. Here's how they responded. - CBS News

https://time.com/4665755/donald-trump-fear/

Majority minority in the United States - Wikipedia

 https://www.politico.com/interactives/2022/midterm-election-house-districts-by-education/

What Is PragerU: Controversial Conservative Platform Entering Classrooms In Florida And Oklahoma (forbes.com)

 

. 

Trump's power tools: hate, fear and lies. On October 24 there were consequences.

Updated  of a prior posting on October 24. Trumps  words of hate, fear and lies have consequences. His oratory of hate was heard by someone who used his words to target his  letter bombs exactly  to his most  frequently named  subjects  of his angry, degrading  rhetoric.  It  happened October 24. Trump then blamed in a tweet the fake mainstream media he called the enemy of the people. For what? For reporting his  own words on video and in live coverage?
Donald Trump wants the November 6 midterms to be a referendum about him.  If that is so,  bring it on. Trump  has faith in the gods of hate and fear that will rally to his cause as he summons them with lies and racist and sexist code words and calls the free press an enemy of the people.   If that is the president we want to continue to empower, that is the president we get.  My faith lies with the hope that  most Americans  see America greater than that, a shining city on the hill, the beacon of freedom and democracy, in Ronald Reagan's stirring words. We are becoming two countries: one mired in yearning for a past where racism was not tempered by the rule of  law and political correctness  and patriarchy reigned unchallenged.  There is another America driven  by changing demographics and remembered idealism of our founding fathers who warned us of a return   to kings and despots led by populist demagogues .  In 2018 and 2020, this country has the opportunity to choose which country it will be for years to come.

We have been there before when  hyping  hate and fear were in your face political tactics.  In the late 1930's the US was swept with isolationist fever and a rise of Nazi sympathizers. America Firsters led by Charles Lindbergh as their chief spokesperson wanted peace at any cost and advocated for the US  to stay out of the Nazi advancement in Europe.   22,000 American  filled Madison Square Garden to mimic Hitler's Nuremberg rallies.   Franklin Delano Roosevelt was running for an unprecedented third term which he won in a landslide in 1940, dimming the lights of the American Nazis and the American Firsters. Nonetheless less, the GOP Senate  isolationists were strong enough to keep us from sending troops to Europe to help the English and the French.  The Day of Infamy, Pearl Harbor, delivered the final blow to both the American Nazi movement and the political isolationists..  The folly of our disengagement  with the world was revealed in a smoldering, mangled fleet in a Hawaiian harbor.  Isolationism remained  out of fashion until 2016 when another generation of GOP American Firsters revived it and hate and fear became a core rally message  delivered by Donald Trump.

Charlottesville, Virginia  has been the scene  of two pivotal declarations:   FDR, in an address to University of Virginia law school graduates in June of 1940, called out the Nazi aggressors  as "the gods of war and hate".  Donald Trump, orating from afar, called the neo Nazi, White Nationalists,  tiki torch bearers chanting Nazi slogans in German and in English in that very  same city in the summer of 2018, as some" fine people".  That was no slip of the tongue, but a continuation of his racism and campaigns of coded appeals to a large group of core supporters, who feared brown and black people would end their domination. The rest of his party either tolerates, ignores  his hate filled tweets and oratory, splits tickets,  or changes party affiliation. Shouted chants of "build the wall" at his anger filled rallies  were and are  code words  for his  racially tinged anti immigrant campaign aimed at keeping Mexicans who he lied " were murderers and rapists "from flooding into America . While Nazi tiki torch marchers were fine, women who flooded the streets in revulsion of his amoral, woman grabbing boasting,  his  anti women rights, his anti #me too movements, were mobs to be deplored and feared as a bunch of hysterical, emasculating females. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh became the symbolic  martyr of the counter attack by white males frightened by  such an out of control challenge of demonstrators and were  told by Trump  wing media those mobs of women  were  obviously organized and  paid by George Soros.  Soros has been a frequent  right wing scapegoat. That  fact checker three Pinocchios lie  was a twofer: it appealed to both fearful white males and anti-Semites.

It is a oft repeated truism that fear is the greatest  political motivator .  Candidate Donald Trump himself in an  interview with journalists  Bob Woodward and Robert  Costa  in  April 2016  opined that"real power was fear. "  If there was not enough fear to turn out his voters, his contribution to that strategy of fear was to tell lies so that he could  cause  even more intense fear.  Brown immigrants, murderers and rapists and gang members  were not flooding the border, as he claimed; in fact, illegal immigration was at its lowest  in years and nearly all  were women and children fleeing gang warfare in Central America. That mid easterners, gang members, and Democrats comprise a caravan of migrants are fact checked as lies: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ap-fact-check-trump-on-migrants-saudis-and-the-hispanic-vote  He tells you Democrats want open borders.That too is a lie . He rejected the Democrat's offer of a compromise on immigration (the famous Chuck and Nancy sit down)  this summer that provided for greater border security. Those minority voters were not voting illegally ,either.. Voter fraud was a myth and Trump's commission to prove his point was shut down when, embarrassingly, no evidence was found. Nonetheless, in the name of voter fraud, dirty tricks were launched from South Carolina to North Dakota to suppress Democratic votes, constructing voter ID conditions impossible to meet, failing to process 53,000 voter registrations of mostly African American, strategically removing poll sites from minority neighborhoods, dropping less frequent voters too quickly  from registration rolls.  The Trump administration's inhumane policy concocted to scare off migrants  by separating families at the border resulted in  12,800  young migrant kids in tent gulags and shelters.  That  cruelty was  condemned world wide as a violation of human rights. Donald Trump has pulled the plug on the light of that shining city on the hill.

; https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/23/nazi-german-american-bund-rally-madison-square-garden-215522

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-rally-violence_us_5bd121b1e4b055bc94882565?ncid=engmodushpmg00000003

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-doubles-down-on-blaming-media-as-suspicious-packa

https://www.yahoo.com/news/shep-smith-methodically-fact-checks-090230287.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/23/us/politics/nationalist-president-trump.html

Trump ramps up fear and hate with lies in advance of midterms: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/ap-fact-check-trump-on-migrants-saudis-and-the-hispanic-vote

https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-revolution-of-1940-americas-fight-over-entering-world-war-two
Lindbergh America First
Joseph P Kennedy...JFK father...Ambassador to Great Britain
https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-revolution-of-1940-americas-fight-over-entering-world-war-tw


https://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/07/the-debate-behind-us-intervention-in-world-war-ii/277572/  FDR: June 10 1940  "Gods of War and Hate" Charlottesville

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/08/23/nazi-german-american-bund-rally-madison-square-garden-215522

Trump has said the real power is fear. "https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/02/transcript-donald-trump-interview-with-bob-woodward-and-robert-costa/?utm_term=.df1ec3bf6177
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2018/09/11/bob-woodward-donald-trump-fear-time-feel-afraid/1255246002/

https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/America_is_a_shining_city_upon_a_hill

https://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/09/04/president-trump-has-made-false-or-misleading-claims-days/?utm_term=.228b6545036f

Examples of recent Trump lies to raise hatred  and fear levels and scapegoating:
In appealing to anti Semitism and fear of women rising in mobs,  George Soros paid them:https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2018/10/05/no-george-soros-isnt-paying-kavanaugh-protesters/?utm_term=.833096f3d39d
https://www.thedenverchannel.com/newsy/factchecking-the-suggestion-george-soros-paid-kavanaugh-protesters
https://www.snopes.com/tag/george-soros/
Immigrants are murderers and rapists:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2015/07/08/donald-trumps-false-comments-
Caravans of Mexicans etc swarming the border.  Truth: illegal immigration at new lows..down 18% in past years;https://www.wral.com/trump-renews-fiery-immigration-rhetoric-as-midterms-near/17927212/
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/defend-his-immigration-agenda-trump-points-riots-dont-exist?cid=sm_fb_maddow

Democrats want open borders to let in these rapists and murderers and get more Democrativ votes
false:   https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/us/politics/fast-check-donald-trump-democrats-open-borders.html   "

"Democrats have argued that building a wall on the southwestern border is ineffective and a waste of resources, and rejected hard-line proposals to limit legal immigration. But Mr. Trump is grossly exaggerating Democrats’ positions when he conflates their opposition to his signature campaign promise and immigration priorities as “open borders.” And there is no evidence that they “want anybody,” including MS-13, to enter the United States freely.

While criticizing Mr. Trump’s immigration policies, the Democratic National Committee has committed to improving border security.

Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leaders, have rebutted the president’s charges. Additionally, their aides cited several examples of legislation that are supported by Democrats and would have provided border security funding."

http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/trump-rejects-yet-another-bipartisan-compromise-immigration
https://www.vox.com/world/2018/6/20/17483738/trump-family-separation-border-trudeau-may-reaction
On Trump lies about sanctuary cities...https://www.yahoo.com/news/twitter-agog-trump-whopper-californians-055804686.html?.tsrc=jtc_news_index

Trump lies re Dem support of opoid legislation:
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/policy/healthcare/senate-sends-opioid-package-to-trumps-desk

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/27/us/politics/fast-check-donald-trump-democrats-open-borders.html

Praises a candidate for bodyslamming a reporter who asked hard questions while helping Saudi Arabia put the best foot forward of being caught killing and dismembering a dissident journalist. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/montana-rally-president-trump-praises-greg-gianforte-body/story?id=58596529

And without need to document because it has become an every day occurrence or oratory: Trump's rise to power on bitherism, claiming Obama was born in Kenya and turning Kavanaugh into the poster child of male patriarchy under attack.. His claim that all press and media criticizing him are "fake news", regardless of facts, proof, and corroboration, a common technique of  demagogues rising to dictatorships.  Praises a candidate for bodyslamming a reporter who asked hard questions while helping Saudi Arabia put the best foot forward of being caught killing and dismembering a dissident journalist.
 Calling those who accuse men of sexual missdeeds liars.  Calling women who threaten him with power pigs, horse faces, confused, mobs, an empty bag.. Men are the victims.  Neo Naxis are some fine people who march with torches and giving white nationalist and Nazi salutes.

https://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/statements/byruling/false/

Backing  and campaigning those who officials who use dirty tricks  to suppress African Americans and Native Americans votes.https://www.politifact.com/georgia/article/2018/oct/19/georgias-exact-match-law-and-its-impact-voters-gov/
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/native-americans-north-dakota-fight-protect-voting-rights/story?id=58585206
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/20/trump-georgia-republican-brian-kemp-stacey-abrams

Trump's disdain for the rule of law, contending he has a right to pardon himself if charged with crimes.

Examples of promises made and not kept:  Better cheaper health care for all (and backing  law suits and candidates advocating overturn of Obamacare and coverage of pre-existing conditions, as well as legislation backed by the GOP in Congress).    Tax cuts for all became a sham cover for giving tax breaks to the rich and corporations; the middle class has already figured that one out and now the GOP is afraid to run on his tax programs.  That the trillian dollar  tax cut would pay for itself by increasing growth and income to the treasurty has resulted in ballooning debts and deficits.  Going it alone without alliances, trade or otherwise, would make America greater in the world, yet Trump has become the laughing stock at the UN and his world approval ratings have tanked, the exact opposite from Obama's.

For sometime I have felt that there was something irrational at play during this election cycle. A recent  article  in The Atlantic puts a name to it: fear. Mostly supporters of Trump are the most fearful..and it is not just fear of economic problems, it is the racial, cultural changes and indeed recent iincreased immigration that is the driver. Trump has tapped onto it regarding immigration. Hillary has tapped into the fear factor, too, with the danger of his temperament causing even more danger, especially in foreign relations. 

My take on this: This is where the battle for the undecided is taking place and it may even explain why usually Republican women in suburbs are swinging away from Trump due to his racially charged, anti minority tones. They see this as causing more violent and emotionally disturbing conflict in the future in their communities and in the world, not less. By nature, women are peacemakers and peace makes their families even more secure. .They see Trump as causing more conflict with his hateful rhetoric than resolving it.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/donald-trump-and-the-politics-of-fear/498116/