We are building up to a major confrontation in this country and maybe the First Amendment is going to be the hill that we die on. So be it. Let’s put the battle there and let’s get it there now. While the First Amendment is a cherished freedom for obvious reasons, because dissenting opinions can be heard without government suppression, which makes it a cornerstone of our democracy, another amendment may need to be added to draw the line where the First Amendment apparently cannot, to the daily broadcast of sedition for profit.

Doubtlessly the framers of the constitution thought that people of good will would be protected by the First Amendment and they didn’t envision entities like Fox News and others, which deliberately abuse the amendment for profit, solely, while inflicting a toxic and corrosive effect on this society. Rupert Murdoch is not an American. He doesn’t care about us or our way of life. He cares about his vast wealth and power.

Disagreeing with the sitting president of the United States is fine. There is plenty of room for that in our culture, always has been. But what’s going on with Tucker Carlson and the GOP Putin shills every day of the week is something different. The GOP has an extremist fringe that is undermining the party in power and siding with the interests of a vicious dictator. That is a horse of an entirely different color. What we have seen in the past is advocacy by media outlets for the party out of power. Never, ever, have we seen advocacy for a foreign dictator that seeks to destroy us and our way of life. And we need to wake up to this and start doing something about it. Now.

Here’s one of the stars of Fox News and other right-wing outlets, lying through her ignorant teeth, as usual, on right-wing media.

That is exactly right. This what Garry Kasparov has to say and if anybody sees this with crystal clarity and beyond it is this man.

“Putin openly treats the United States as an enemy.” Yet there are sitting members of Congress, in both chambers, and media outlets that treat Vladimir Putin as their friend and mentor. Listen to this treasonous asshole, who thankfully will most likely not get elected but he has no business running in the first place if supporting Putin is his main objective.

This is as plain as the nose on your face and this is what Kasparov has articulated. It’s really something that we need a Russian to tell us what the Russians are doing, but maybe we have become that jaded, that stupid and that dumbed down in this country to where that is the case.

We are a nation of bread and circus, we have short attention spans and most of us, let’s face it, lack critical thinking skills, but at least we all used to be in agreement that Russia was the bad guy. No more. And Vladimir Putin knows it. And he’s got his shills working 24/7 promoting his agenda. Charlie Sykes, the Bulwark:

What we can know, however, is that Putin is fully aware that he faces a divided U.S., and that influential voices on the right have been channeling much of his own propaganda.

By now the cast of Putin’s useful idiots is familiar, ranging from Tucker Carlson and Josh Hawley to Candace Owens, MTG, and Maria Bartiromo.

Fiona Hill, the former senior director for Europe and Russia at the National Security Council, calls them “the ultimate stooges,” but at least for now, these right wing voices do not speak for most congressional Republicans, who have tended to take a far more hawkish stance.

But Putin can be forgiven if he thinks his “conservative” allies represent the sentiment of MAGAWorld, coming as they do from some of Trump’s most loyal acolytes. And he may be especially emboldened if he believes that Trump himself may actually return to the Oval Office.

And here are Fiona Hill’s ultimate stooges, ladies and gentlemen, if you haven’t noticed.

The loudest defender of the Kremlin’s view is, of course, the loudest voice in right wing media, Tucker Carlson, whose anti-Ukraine commentary has become a running feature of Russian State television.

“Vladimir Putin does not want Belgium,” explains Tucker. “He just wants to keep his western borders secure. That’s why he doesn’t want Ukraine to join NATO, and that makes sense.”

As for Ukraine? “It’s run by a dictator who’s friends with everyone in Washington,” Carlson said.

The Russian are, of course, thrilled.

“Having elected him the first time, we can manage to do it again.” Yes, we’re quite sure of that. With the help of Fox News and right-wing media ginning up the crazies and bald faced lying, we could have Trump back in the White House and we could lose the country. This is not inconceivable. The United States could become a colony of Russia.

And listen to this. I hope you’re sitting in a sturdy chair. This is from the woman who carried Jason Miller’s love child and who used to go on TV defending Donald Trump against sexual harassment charges.

Isn’t that something? We need Vladimir Putin to straighten us out, to keep us in line? Sweet Jesus Christ.

This is somebody with a J.D. from Harvard, just like Kayleigh McEnany. And J.D. Vance went to Yale. So did Josh Hawley. If this is what our brightest and our best minds are saying, then we are lost. I am serious. We are lost.

What they are banking upon, is that fascism is going to be a very good thing — for them. They’re going to make out because Vlad will take care of them for making it possible. They’re all in favor of the tyranny of the minority, that’s why they’re Republicans in the first place. And if proselytizing fascism pays, and if destroying the GOP pays, and it seems to, then the almighty dollar will become the impetus that galvanizes a few selfish individuals to sell out their birthright and sell America down the river.

We need to see what has changed in the past five years or so in this country. We used to have disputes between Republicans and Democrats but we were all Americans. We put those values first and foremost. And we all agreed to what the facts were.

Now, we live in a Tower of Babel world with twin narratives of reality playing concurrently on different channels of the TV and radio, and we have sitting members of Congress who have abandoned their oaths of office and are supporting a fascist dictator’s agenda instead.

But maybe there is hope. This man is a data journalist. Maybe this poll is accurate and things aren’t as catastrophic — yet — as they could be.

If this is accurate and most of America is still thinking straight, then I’ll postpone popping a vessel for a few more days.

That said, I cannot overstate how alarming it is that we have sitting members of Congress operating as Vladimir Putin’s agents. I will never get over the horror and amazement at that and all I can do is hope and pray that this matter gets addressed in the next two or three elections and set right.

We need to listen to Fiona Hill, Alexander Vindman and Garry Kasparov. They are right.

 

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5 COMMENTS

  3. Ursula,
    Thank you for expressing so well what I am feeling.
    It’s absolutely terrifying to read or hear how these ignorant people support Putin!

  4. Imagine if Charles Lindberg had access to Rupert Moloch in 1940-41… Where might we be now?
    Sprechen Sie Deutsch? Sind Sie eine Jude?

  5. Hey Ursula, guess by now you have also hear that the DUMPF himself as already checked in on this event, calling Putin “savvy” for making the move into eastern Ukraine. Saw it yesterday at night. Just what we might expect from the sycophant-in-chief to dictators throughout the world.

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