I'm not so sure. Corbyn built the biggest political party membership in Western Europe, and polling in the US indicates that Bernie Sanders' policies are popular across party divides (when those questioned don't know whose policies they are). In both cases the establishment came out in force against them, and they are both subject to bias from propaganda (both current and leftover from the Cold War). Regardless, with very few exceptions, politicians in the US are tools of corporate interests and lobby groups. There is a similar revolving door between politics and business in the UK, though we try to keep the vulgar displays of it a bit more under the rug.
How were the mob allowed to over run Congress so easily ? Contrast this with the way BLM supporters were confronted . Maga v BLM: how police handled the Capitol mob and George Floyd activists – in pictures
I would very much like you to be completely right, and you are, the key is keeping the media on side, and as it ended up, He was slandered by using his biggest strength against him, hence why they claimed he's a racist, but a party should be bigger then one person, indeed it has to be to avoid what's happening with trump right now. I'm not really sure what my point is, apart from the fact I'm so disappointed with people as a group, individually I'm sure your all great, but as a group humans are terrible animals. I should also really stop reading Diogenes.
Wasnt Robert Welch jr the trump prototype, and inventor of most of the trump playbook? Luckily he wasn't a reality TV star so he didn't get that far, he was also a failure business man and grifter though, so he has a lot on common with Trump. Robert W. Welch Jr. - Wikipedia John Birch Society - Wikipedia
The Congressperson who oversees the Capitol Police was one of those endangered when the Capitol was overrun yesterday, he's livid, and a full investigation is coming. Expect terminations at minimum. “I’m livid about the whole thing because I had conversations with the sergeant-at-arms and the chief of the Capitol Police [and got] assurances that every precaution was being taken and we had enough manpower, that we were going to keep people completely away from the Capitol,” Ryan, an Ohio Democrat, said during a press call. “We were told no one was going to be anywhere close to the Capitol in the protests, and next thing you know, you turn on the TV and they’re swinging from the Capitol with flags and putting a lot of people’s lives in danger.” Congress Will Investigate Capitol Police Failures, Selfies
Because the cops let them in: Former Capitol police chief shares thoughts on why officers appeared to let rioters in Then took selfies with them: Police officer filmed posing for selfie with pro-Trump rioter Also, the Department of Defence refused the DC mayor's request to deploy the national guard: DC Council Statement on the Department of Defense's Denial of DC's National Guard Deployment Request • Council of the District of Columbia
This was an attempted coup, there is no other way to describe a violent mob storming government buildings in order to overturn an election result. However, it was never going to go anywhere without the support of some military brass. It was a piece of theatre directed by Trump - one last tantrum before he has to relinquish power. The scary part isn't Trump; the scary part is what could happen if someone with cunning and strategy should come along to re-energise the base he built up. The Handmaid's Tale doesn't seem that far-fetched right now.
Radio 4 said that in polling 45% of republicans agreed with the storming of the building. Which is an insane amount of people. How do we come back from this? Most voters say the events at the US Capitol are a threat to democracy | YouGov
The Republicans I know (who are not part of that 45%) are really struggling with that. How do they get the party back to being the party of Bush, McCain, and Romney, and away from the brink upon which they currently stand? It's not an easy question.
Here's a slightly different perspective on the Capitol Police issue. Sixty officers were injured, fifteen hospitalized, one in critical condition. So while some officers were disturbingly chummy with the insurgents, many others were clearly not. A full inquiry needs to be done, but it's definitely not as clear-cut as some of the initial takes on the issue.
For sure. I've seen footage of Proud Boys verbally abusing Capitol Police. I wonder if Trump and others who incited this stunt feel any remorse for the dead and injured. Probably not, but I do hope that the FBI investigation extends to Trump and those in the Trump-aligned media who incited it.
There is no end to the lies put out by these people: No, antifa did not invade the Capitol today, despite what Trump supporters say
These insurgents are now cop killers. The officer who was smashed in the head with a fire extinguisher has died.
So one of Trump's advisers finally got it through his skull that killing cops might harm his brand. I don't think his condemnation will please anyone. It's too little too late for his detractors and a contradictory message for his supporters. I feel sorry for the dupes who thought they were fighting a revolutionary war for their glorious leader. They must be suffering mental turmoil now. Maybe they think the deep state got to their hero, or more likely they think he is playing a game to lull his enemies into a false sense of security.
Just saw this as well, this is really terrible news. The capital police answer to congress and not the president though, so there definitely needs to be an investigation into why they were so unprepared for this. It does seem strange that they went as far as shooting and killing someone entering and then also there’s photos where they are posing for photographs with protesters/rioters. I look forward to following those developments.
Trying to stay positive given the dire gravity of all this, so here's a pick me up perfectly timed for a Friday.
The FBI and others are now combing through the copious evidence these morons left behind and making arrest after arrest after arrest. The guy who stole Pelosi's mail was visited by a team of FBI agents and will be enjoying free room and board at a federal facility for a while. Pro-Trump rioter photographed in Pelosi's office arrested in Arkansas This West Virginia state legislator who took part in the attempted coup was found by an FBI team hiding out at his grandma's house. FBI arrests Republican lawmaker who stormed Capitol with pro-Trump mob Both rioters carrying zip-tie handcuffs have now been identified. I'm sure the nice men and women of the FBI will come visit them soon. https://nypost.com/2021/01/09/air-force-vet-identified-as-rioter-with-zip-ties/
I was looking at the "medical emergencies" Although not confirmed, at least two of them were the immediate direct result of their own actions, with noone else involved. I won't post them here as nothing is official yet, and real people died.
This whole episode has overshadowed last weeks impeachable offence, when Trump tried to strongarm the Georgia Governor into " finding" 11,780 votes to overturn the result in the state. This surely helped swing the vote in the Georgia congressional run off in the Democrats favour, the situation going forward now would look very different if the Republicans had retained control. I liked the description of Trumps morning after 'apology' speech as sounding like a hostage tape - scripted and made under duress. Likewise the public capitulation by some of his most fervent GOP supporters is all about political pragmatism. Somehow truth must find a toehold again in American politics, unfortunately the Trump far right/Qanon/evangelist base is of the flat earth persuasion - lack of evidence enforces the belief. How do you counter that ?
About a year ago I joined a karate club. Chatting over coffee I discovered that one of the instructors was an NHS psychologist with two areas of expertise, cognitive behavioural therapy, a very pragmatic, results orientated, approach to improving the habits of health, and existential psychology, something that I had never even heard of. Existential psychology apparently deals with the “airy fairy” problems of reconciling oneself to the great unanswerable questions of existence. At the time I remember thinking “what is the real world point of that?” This year we all got to find out. It seems that when people are faced with the knowledge that they are in a situation that they cannot control many of them deny that it is happening. This denial is much more than covering your ears and saying “la, la, la, can’t hear you”. It is a fundamental conflict. When reality threatens to destroy the deepest beliefs and aspirations of the psychological self, it can be as if the self is threatened with death. So the self pulls the plug on any incoming information that might cause a problem. The denial that covid is real. The denial of climate change. The denial that of 30 years of systematic failure in political leadership from all sides in the UK and US politics has brought us to the current political situation. The denial that a problem that took decades to create cannot be solved overnight by voting for one president or another, or by leaving the EU. Upon a more, happy note. Here is a picture of a cat. This is not a denial. It is just an acknowledgement that life is not all bad.
