​Wednesday evening’s “debate” among Republican vice presidential aspirants—since none of the Ethereal Eight laid a glove on the hefty elephant not in the room, they clearly are not running for president—was painful to watch. Personally, a couple of anesthesia-free root canals would have done just as well. The moderators—Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum—were pitiful, so intimidated by the raucous, live, MAGA audience that they dared not ask a question about Inmate No. P01135809 until well into the second hour, and then only when one of the rapidly shrinking candidates raised the matter. They moved away from the Trump questions as quickly as possible. They never asked a follow-up question on any subject, and they lost control of this farce in record time. Insurrections are not that big a deal at Fox. Surely even the GOP’s propaganda outlet can do better than these two spineless ciphers.
 
Assessing winners and losers is difficult when the traditional calculations don’t apply. If they did—assume a rational person seeking to vote for rational people—then Nikki Haley clearly prevailed. Her answers on a national abortion plan, runaway deficits, and foreign policy (where she undressed Vivek Ramaswamy), and her gravitas were impressive. In a pre-Trump Republican Party, she would be a star. If in fact two-thirds of Republicans are not MAGA (a suspect number I question), then she might have a distant shot.
 
But we no longer live in a rational world delineated by a respect for facts, truth or character. Instead, and this is the big problem in evaluating these candidates’ debate performance, we can only do so by putting ourselves in the MAGAverse and weighing the wannabes’ performances from the perspective of what appeals to the alternate universe in which Trump’s devotees percolate.
 
With that in mind, the clear winner was the obnoxious, irritating and off-the-wall Vivek Ramaswamy. He came out of nowhere, a biotech billionaire who views himself as a mini-Trump and models the latter’s abominable behavior. The live audience loved him. Like Trump, he was the only non-politician on the podium. In contrast to Trump, who inherited more than $400 million and gave new meaning to business failure, his wealth is self-made. Expect to see him jump in the polls, primarily at the expense of the rapidly fading Ron DeSantis, whose inexplicable debate strategy mirrored his baffling campaign tactics.
 
The other candidates seemed to realize that Vivek is the biggest threat to what dim hopes they may have. Thus, he was the object of most attacks while DeSantis, the current second choice, was largely ignored.
 
Governor Ron tried to be the tough guy, vowing to invade Mexico and leave drug smugglers “stone cold dead.” I doubt that even that loony position worked with the MAGA crowd.
 
When the moderators asked for a show of hands regarding whether the minnows would back a convicted felon, Ron nervously looked around to see whose hands went up before raising his. That tells you all you need to know about him, and the other five who had no problem with putting a confirmed criminal in the Oval Office. That in itself should disqualify all six from the presidency and any other public office. Leaders have a moral backbone. These people don’t.
 
I was surprised that Tim Scott did not attempt to distinguish himself. He basically had nothing of note to say. It’s not enough to be a nice guy, certainly not with this mob. For most of the evening, he looked like a deer in the headlights. Late-to-the-Never-Trump-party Chris Christie seemed to forget to focus most of his attention on blasting Trump, instead opting to go after Ramaswamy. Asa Hutchinson and Doug Burgum, zeroes on both the debate stage and elsewhere, have the combined charisma of a sidewalk. Speaking of charisma, I almost forgot Mike Pence, who is either a 13th disciple or a robot.
 
There were no egregious faux pas moments, e.g., Gerald Ford twice freeing Poland from Communist rule or Dan Quayle comparing himself to JFK. That, however, is only because the Republican Party has become so whacko and out of touch with reality that its candidates can say the zaniest things without shocking us anymore.
 
Dick Hermann
August 26, 2023

​While we observe, scrutinize, analyze and dissect the seemingly unending efforts to finally bring Donald Trump and his co-conspirators to account, we tend to overlook the tragic impact his depredations have on people.
 
His negative effects on people range far beyond the disgust and contempt that the majority of Americans register when contemplating him. His lies about Covid-19 and his inexcusable incompetence mismanaging the pandemic cost hundreds of thousands of lives and should have been more than enough to send him on the fast track to history’s rubbish heap. However, the damage he continued to do to everyday people did not stop there.
 
The 92-page, detailed Georgia indictment of Trump and 18 partners-in-(alleged)-crime plus 30 (thus far) unindicted co-conspirators elevates the devastating micro-effect of the character assassinations he so blithely hurls about, impulse control be damned, and fundamental human decency being a non-factor in his make-up. A few examples make the point:
 
Atlanta election workers Ruby Freeman and Wandrea “Shaye” Moss, mother and daughter, did their civic duty on election day and with respect to the ballot counting that followed. This is a selfless task that thousands of Americans undertake every election cycle, and is usually accomplished in total anonymity. However, instead of being commended for their non-partisan efforts, they found themselves in the center of the sh*t-storm of lies and false accusations hurled by Trump and his co-conspirators intent on overturning the actual election result. Trump mentioned one or both of them at least 18 times during his inflammatory speeches and rabble-rousing rallies. But the intimidation and harassment did not stop with the chief insurrectionist. Lapsed lawyer Rudy Giuliani accused them publicly of passing around USB ports “as if they were vials of heroin or cocaine” designed to “infiltrate the crooked Dominion voting machines” (they were actually sharing mints). They were also accused by both men of stuffing ballot boxes for Biden. Freeman was labeled “a known professional vote scammer and political operative.” She is neither.
 
These slanderous accusations turned both women’s lives upside down. They received a barrage of death threats and ever since fear going out in public. The costs to their mental health are incalculable.
 
During the course of a defamation lawsuit filed against Giuliani by Ms. Freeman, he admitted that he had defamed her and her daughter. The outcome of the case being no longer in much doubt, the sentence should hopefully reduce multi-millionaire Rudy to penury.
 
The lives of Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger and his family have also been turned inside out. Since Trump’s January 2, 2021 taped phone call to Raffensperger in which he threatened, cajoled and begged the Secretary to find him “just enough votes” to overturn the Georgia result, Raffensperger’s family has received innumerable death threats and has had to engage a security service just in order to go about their daily lives.
 
These are only a handful of examples of the devastation wrought by Trump and his accomplices on the lives of ordinary Americans. There are many more folks whose lives have been disrupted and destroyed by this criminal gang. Undeterred by warnings from the judges in his innumerable pending trials, he continues to defame and threaten judges, prosecutors et al. Meanwhile, his followers post the names of jurors and jeopardize their lives and safety as well. For this alone, the entire lot deserve to rot in prison for the rest of their unnatural lives.
 
I have to pinch myself every day when I wake up and realize that Donald Trump, one of the vilest and most reprehensible individuals on the planet, could very possibly be returned to the White House next year. What kind of country is it that can countenance such a horrendous possibility?
 
Dick Hermann
August 18, 2023

​No person shall…hold any office…under the United States,…who, having previously taken an oath,…as an officer of the United States,…to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof.
--US Constitution, 14th Amendment, §3
 
This reads as if it were written with coup leader Donald Trump in mind. However, the problem is the language of Section 5 of the 14th Amendment: The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.
 
There is no current legislation on the books that provides for enforcement of the disqualifying language of Section 3. Absent such legislation and despite his thus far failed attempts to overthrow the government, Donald Trump is free to run for and serve as president even if he is convicted of his numerous alleged crimes and finds himself in prison.
 
The nightmare of Trump back in office must be avoided at all costs. He came close to destroying the country his first time as President. If he is re-elected, then the survival of our democracy may not even be a close call. The American experiment could be over.
 
However, what is also relevant is language from the 1st Amendment:
 
Congress shall make no law…abridging the right of the people…to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
--US Constitution, 1st Amendment
 
We the people can invoke our 1st Amendment right to petition Congress for a redress of grievances. And what bigger grievance can there be than the threat of a second act of Trump’s horror show?
 
There is precedent for invoking this 1st Amendment right. The earliest nationally organized petition drive dates back to 1830 (a generation before ratification of the 14th Amendment). Harriet Beecher Stowe and other women leaders unsuccessfully petitioned Congress to stop the removal of Cherokee Indians from their ancestral lands. The most significant petitions were ones submitted in the 19th and early 20th centuries by women seeking the abolition of slavery and later the right to vote. The latter played a significant role in the women’s suffrage movement right up until passage of the 19th Amendment in 1920.
 
What is needed is a petition signed by tens of millions of Americans in which we ask Congress to invoke Section 5 and declare Trump ineligible for office.
 
The petition could be offered both online and door-to-door. It should shun sponsorship by any politically affiliated organizations.
 
I do not have any experience doing anything like this. I hope that some of my readers do, and would be willing to take the initiative to get this started.
 
It would likely require 60 votes in the U.S. Senate to bar Trump from running. The current lineup of 51 Democrats plus the four remaining Republicans out of seven who voted to impeach him following his failed coup d’état would be five votes short. We would also have to pick up at least four Republicans in the House. Daunting challenges, admittedly, but a worthwhile endeavor.
 
No one who did what Trump has done should ever be permitted anywhere near the presidency. A drive unprecedented in the number of signatories and coincident with the many indictments seeking to hold Trump accountable for his many criminal misdeeds may not induce Congress to act, but could have a major impact on public opinion as the election approaches. For that reason alone, it is worth the attempt.
 
Dick Hermann
August 11, 2023

​The third time’s a charm, but not so much if you are (1) a Groveling Old Party’s presidential hopeful, (2) a Capitol Hill clown, or (3) a Fox News propagandist.
 
Donald Trump’s third indictment generated the by now expected feverish overreaction by all three of these representatives of the neo-fascist wing of the American Right. It is telling that none of these three gaggles of grandiloquent gadflies bothered to offer an actual defense of any of the now 78 counts of wrongdoing the totally discredited 45th and hands-down worst-ever president is going to have to answer to at trial. There are two reasons for this: (1) there is no legitimate defense (except insanity) to the overwhelming and detailed evidence outlined in the indictments; and (2) asserting any defense would be an admission that there might be a criminal there there and risk any hope of political or media survival in the face of millions of Trump cultists whose delusions about the Orange Menace must be respected.
 
The Haleys, Scotts, Ramaswamys, DeSanti et al. fell all over one another in their haste to scramble to Trump’s side and proclaim that the pursuit of accountability for the party’s  frontrunner is but a nefarious political witch hunt by a weaponized Justice Department intent on neutering the formerly randy Republican. “Unfair!” “Double standard!” “What about Hunter Biden?” yelped the amoebae as they flagellated wildly, hoping against hope that a demonstration of blind fealty to the MAGA base delusions would somehow launch them out of the depths of Brownian ooze to percolate up in the polls (against overwhelming evidence to the contrary). This strategy is a mighty strange way to behave toward the guy they need to stomp in order to prevail in the primaries. No matter. They were history even before they threw their headgear into the circus ring. Their best hope at this point is either a Vice Presidential anointing or an obscure cabinet post such as Secretary of Utter Chaos or Director of Government Retribution in the Second Coming.
 
Republican House members have added a new dimension to America’s mental health crisis. This time they distinguished themselves in three wackadoodle ways: (1) reacting to Trump’s third indictment as one would expect: hysterical fuming about a two-tier justice system and how unfair it is to persecute America’s premier persecutor; (2) comparing Trump’s legal woes to those of Hunter Biden, which is akin to equating the known universe with a speck of sand; and (3) going completely bonkers with utterly preposterous hearings ranging from farcical attempts to prove that Joe Biden is an arch-criminal to taking seriously the idle ravings of a crazed witness who claims that the Biden administration is covering up the existence of the bodies of alien pilots at Roswell, NM and Area 51. Watching the hugely hapless committee chairs, James Comer (of the Kentucky Homer Simpsons) and Jim (“Gym”) Jordan, Ohio’s answer to Mulder and Scully, one could only either collapse into uproarious laughter, manifest shame before the shade of James Madison, or keep repeating the mantra, “you cannot make this stuff up.”
 
And then there was Fox News’ collection of GOP Goebbels clones. They gave new meaning to the term “strident” with their hare-brained conspiracy theories and propagandistic shrieks about the injustice of it all. As always, they could not tear themselves away from Nazi allusions that are completely out-of-touch and out-of-place given the current circumstances.
 
Oh, and I should also mention Ron DeSantis’s additional contribution to the Western canon. If elected (good luck with that), he wants to appoint the seriously unbalanced Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. head of either the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Food and Drug Administration. Ta ta American healthcare.
 
Rest assured, as the Republicans dig deeper into the political netherworld, it will get even zanier. Guaranteed.
 
Time to take a deep breath and fantasize about the Deep State.
 
Dick Hermann
August 6, 2023