Author: Thom Hartmann

If hate continues to dominate GOP politics then another “Trump” will always lurk in the shadows

Suddenly, it seems, the American mainstream media has figured out, or thinks they have been given permission to discuss, the fact that Donald Trump is a fascist. That he literally wants to imprison and even execute his enemies including other politicians like Adam Schiff, Nancy Pelosi, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris and former employees who have betrayed him, including General Mark Milley. Multiple commentators (including me) have wondered out loud if the defeat of Trump this fall will chasten Republicans and cause the Party to revert to its old “merely corporate and billionaire friendly” form, or if Trump has...

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Upgrade to the Big Lie: How Trump uses phony claims of “voter fraud” to stop Americans from voting

Get ready. Donald Trump has made good use of the propaganda technique known as the Big Lie 1.0, famously claiming that the 2020 “election was stolen” from him. And now he is preparing to use Big Lie 2.0 to shut down our government this fall, believing it will hurt the Biden administration and thus the Harris/Walz campaign. That second weapon — this Big Lie 2.0 — is the false allegation of widespread “voter fraud” in America. He intends to use it to try to bring the Biden administration to its knees. And, as a bonus, if it works, he...

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Victims of intimidation: Trump’s toxic political culture has created a nation overrun by bullies

On his eponymous TV show, Joe Scarborough pointed out recently how angry and toxic Xitter has become recently. I have seen the same thing, as have many others; quitting Xitter has become a thing, largely as a result of the venomous culture that has taken hold there. This seems to be more closely connected to it being taken over by a morbidly rich South African immigrant who seems to delight in bullying his own child (and others) than to the political season; previous election cycles did not see similar reports of such widespread hostility and bullying behavior that was...

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The conservative model: When a perfect storm of fanatics strives to build a nation of uneducated serfs

Republican politicians and the rightwing billionaires who fund them want a nation of uneducated, compliant serfs in their workforce, not a nation of well-educated union-conscious people who are willing to strike to get better pay and benefits. Which means Job One is to get America’s kids out of the clutches of those evil unionized teachers. Education, after all, is a liberal value. The conservative vision is “quality education for the children of the wealthy, while ending child labor laws for all the rest.” And they are getting their way. Florida and Arizona are well on the way to destroying...

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Overturning Roe v. Wade: How newborn babies became latest victims in Republican’s ongoing War On Women

Newborn babies are the latest victims in the ongoing War On Women™ by Republicans. The most recent deadly aspect of the crisis started with Donald Trump proudly putting three anti-abortion Catholics on the Supreme Court, promising America that they would overturn Roe v Wade. He sure delivered on that, it was probably the only promise he kept in his entire life. Multiple pregnant Red state women have, over the past year or so, told harrowing stories about almost dying before doctors were willing to give them healthcare for fear of going to prison because of draconian state abortion bans....

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Only one true God: How religious schools use taxpayer dollars to promote their extremist ideology

Twenty-eight states, nearly all Republican-controlled, are now spending billions of taxpayer dollars to support indoctrinating children in religion through voucher programs that can be used for mostly Christian schools. Five Republican-controlled states are in the process of letting vouchers ghettoize their entire public-school systems. As The Washington Post noted: “Billions in taxpayer dollars are being used to pay tuition at religious schools throughout the country, as state voucher programs expand dramatically and the line separating public education and religion fades.” Meanwhile, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, flies an “Appeal to Heaven” flag outside his official...

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