It’s Sunday.
Today, I’d like to talk about something Ben Shapiro said on Real Time with Bill Maher. And no, it’s not the he comforts himself on his bed of money…quip that I spoiled in the Night Owl…
But this…
Anyhoo, they are discussing Shapiro’s latest book; The Authoritarian Moment: How the Left Weaponized America’s Institutions Against Dissent Hardcover – July 27, 2021
This is part of the Amazon blurb:
According to the establishment media, the intelligentsia, and our political chattering class, the greatest threat to American freedom lies in right-wing authoritarianism. We’ve heard that some 75 million Americans who voted for Donald Trump represent the rise of American fascism; that conservatives have allowed authoritarianism to bloom in their midst, creating a grave danger for the republic.
But what if the true authoritarian threat to America doesn’t come from the political right, but from the supposedly anti-fascist left?
There are certainly totalitarians on the political right. But statistically, they represent a fringe movement with little institutional clout.
Amazon.
Maher (19 seconds): Your thesis is, the authoritarian moment is coming from the left. And I must say, when I read the book, I don’t disagree with a lot of what you’re saying—I’ve certainly made that case myself… I just wanted to know, where’s the other half of the book? Yes, I agree with you: Woke Twitter has power… it’s just soft power. I just find it perverse that you find that less alarming than the kind of old-school authoritarianism that Trump and his ilk are going for.
Maher adds that Twice Impeached 45 is only not President today because his plan to overturn the election via government power didn’t work. He then cites a poll that says 47 percent of Republicans feel the time is right to take power into their own hands. He says to Shapiro “that isn’t more alarming to you?”
Shapiro says (1:25): Clearly that is alarming to me. I think when it comes to Republicans suggesting that it’s time to take the law into our own hands the answer is we do have a democracy in this country, we do have elections in this country and the point of the book is, really is that, for all of (maybe, he talks super fast in a run on sentence way at a noise level even dogs can’t hear well)… **Donald Trump’s attempts to overturn the elections, the institutions did not stand with him, there is not a single major institution in American life that stood with **Donald Trump, when it came to the riots last year every single institution mobilized on behalf of Black Lives Matter. (he speaks very fast again, so I missed some of it, something about VP Harris asking for bail money donations to rioters)…
Shapiro con’t: The question is not whether authoritarianism exists on all sides I think there are plenty of authoritarians on all sides. The question is where does the institutional power lie. If the answer is that **Donald Trump tweeting and being a jerk is the essence of authoritarianism as opposed to say Joe Biden President of the United States saying this week that he doesn’t care whether it’s Constitutional for the CDC to extend the eviction moratorium he’s going to do it anyway.
He mumbles something as Maher says something, but you get the idea, the riots of last summer are equal to the President and his supporters attempting to overthrow the government…
We are only mad cause Twice Impeached 45 was mean on Twitter…
See, I think it’s fair to say that yes, the left assholes exist, the issue isn’t that, of course they do, I believe AOC and her Squad of Jewish hating assholes, needs treated the same as MTG and her Squad of Jewish hating assholes. and fired by their district voters.
I think it’s safe to criticize President Biden for saying:
Q: Mr. President, we’re learning that your administration is about to announce a new partial eviction moratorium, COVID related. Can you tell us any more about that? And are you sure it’s going to pass Supreme Court muster?
President Biden: The answer is twofold. One, I’ve sought out constitutional scholars to determine what is the best possibility that would come from executive action, or the CDC’s judgment, what could they do that was most likely to pass muster, constitutionally. The bulk of the constitutional scholarship says that it’s not likely to pass constitutional muster. Number one. But there are several key scholars who think that it may and it’s worth the effort. But the present — you could not — the Court has already ruled on the present eviction moratorium.
White House. 08/03/2021.
If you find fault in his words. In fact, if you want to bag on President Biden for wearing his tan suit to mock Fox News, the other day, more power to you.
But, and yeah, there always is one. That is not same/same as a sitting President who lost an election attempting to use his power as President to stay in power against the will of the majority of American’s that fired his Impeached Twice 45 ass.
I get so fucking tired of being told, my hate of Twice Impeached 45 was because he meanly tweeted. I hear it, every time I talk to my son. Every time I talk to any cult 45’s…to be fair. And that is simply not accurate.
Just since July 30th, 2021, we’ve learned:
On July 30th, 2021, the House Oversight Committee released hand written notes: Today, Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, the Chairwoman of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, released handwritten notes taken by then-Acting Deputy Attorney General Richard P. Donoghue of a December 27, 2020, phone call with former President Donald J. Trump and former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. These notes reveal attempts by former President Trump to directly pressure the two most senior officials at the Department of Justice (DOJ) to overturn the certified results of the 2020 election or risk losing their jobs.
ABC News reported on August, 3rd, 2021: The emails [obtained by ABC News], dated Dec. 28, 2020, show the former acting head of DOJ’s civil division, Jeffrey Clark, circulating a draft letter — which he wanted then-acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen and acting deputy attorney general Richard Donoghue to sign off on — urging Georgia’s governor and other top officials to convene the state legislature into a special session so lawmakers could investigate claims of voter fraud.
Goodman has a thread, to discuss his time line, I linked the first two dates, as I didn’t see those linked. That doesn’t mean they weren’t, just means, I didn’t see them.
And remember while Twice Impeached 45 was doing that, via the Department of Justice, he was also calling Secretary of States and inviting lawmakers from states he lost to the White House…
It doesn’t matter that our Democracy held, if one key player hadn’t held our world today in America would look vastly different than it does. Just one person could have helped Twice Impeached 45 succeed. Just one. If not for the character of some men and women, having a line they finally wouldn’t cross.
This is an Open Thread.
