As GOP authoritarianism hardens into its full-blown revealed form, the elites lust for vengeance is not hidden. A NYT article exemplifies the seething hate and urge for payback in the wake of DJT’s 34 felony convictions that elite Republican authoritarians are now publicly expressing:
The G.O.P. Push for Post-Verdict Payback:‘Fight Fire With Fire’
Republican leaders in and out of government are publicly pushing to prosecute Democrats as legal retribution for Donald Trump’s felony conviction
Republican allies of Donald J. Trump are calling for revenge prosecutions and other retaliatory measures against Democrats in response to his felony conviction in New York.
Within hours of a jury finding Mr. Trump guilty last week, the anger congealed into demands for action. Since then, prominent G.O.P. leaders in and out of government have demanded that elected Republicans use every available instrument of power against Democrats, including targeted investigations and prosecutions.
The intensity of anger and open desire for using the criminal justice system against Democrats after the verdict surpasses anything seen before in Mr. Trump’s tumultuous years in national politics. What is different now is the range of Republicans who are saying retaliation is necessary and who are no longer cloaking their intent with euphemisms.
Stephen Miller, a former senior adviser to Mr. Trump who still helps guide his thinking on policy, blared out a directive on Fox News after a jury found Mr. Trump guilty of falsifying financial records to cover up a 2016 campaign hush-money payment to a porn actress. Mr. Miller posed a series of questions to Republicans at every level, including local district attorneys.
“Is every House committee controlled by Republicans using its subpoena power in every way it needs to right now?” he demanded. “Is every Republican D.A. starting every investigation they need to right now?”
“Every facet of Republican Party politics and power has to be used right now to go toe-to-toe with Marxism and beat these Communists,” Mr. Miller said, using the catchall slurs Trump allies routinely use against Democrats.
Stephen K. Bannon, the former chief strategist to Mr. Trump, said in a text message to The New York Times on Tuesday that now was the moment for obscure Republican prosecutors around the country to make a name for themselves by prosecuting Democrats.
Mr. Bannon was convicted in a federal prosecution for failing to comply with a congressional subpoena in the Jan. 6 investigation, and faces trial in September in a New York state court — before the same judge who oversaw Mr. Trump’s trial — in a charity fraud case.
As usual, elite authoritarian Republican rhetoric is loaded with insulting, divisive dark free speech. Blatantly false allegations Marxism and Communism are now standard lies and slanders among radicalized, anti-democracy GOP elites and propagandists.
As I have postulated before, maybe there is a silver lining to unleashing the lawyer-dogs of political vengeance war. At the very least, it should scare essentially all Democratic Party politicians into becoming seriously law-abiding people. Not sure how Republicans would change, in any at all. regardless, Democrats should do the same to Republicans. Also, when false charges are prosecuted, those falsely accused should counter sue for false prosecution. Yes, that could get messy. But in the long run, maybe democracy and the rule of law will benefit. Or, maybe not.
But it would be an interesting experiment in defending democracy and the rule of law. At least the lawyers would like it.😊
Authoritarian liar, thug & criminal Bannon wants
revenge prosecutions against Democrats
Fun Bannon note: Bannon himself is literally contemptuous of the rule of law as applied to himself, and presumably authoritarian Republicans generally. Reporting in May 2024, MSNBC wrote: Trump White House aide Steve Bannon loses appeal of contempt of Congress conviction -- A federal appeals court on Friday upheld the criminal contempt of Congress conviction of Trump White House senior advisor Steve Bannon. Bannon was convicted in connection with refusing to testify and provide documents to the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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Another NYT article comments about how DJT sees the vengeance thing: Trump says he might ‘have to’ prosecute his political opponents. -- Former President Donald J. Trump again suggested his political opponents could face prosecution on Tuesday, saying in an interview with Newsmax that it might “have to happen to them” following his conviction by a jury in New York. “You know, it’s a very terrible thing. It’s a terrible precedent for our country. Does that mean the next president does it to them? That’s really the question,” Mr. Trump said in response to a question from the host, Greg Kelly, about whether the conviction could help him politically.
Good grief. DJT is such a shameless, transparent liar. He obviously would be overjoyed to enthusiastically prosecute Democrats for their real or imagined crimes.
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America’s alleged ally Israel quietly fired up its propaganda machinery in the US last year. It wanted to suck more cash out of the US for Israel to use in its apparently spreading war against everyone in the neighborhood:
Israel Secretly Targets U.S. Lawmakers
With Influence Campaign on Gaza War
Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs ordered the operation, which used fake social media accounts urging U.S. lawmakers to fund Israel’s military, according to officials and documents about the effort
The covert campaign was commissioned by Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora Affairs, a government body that connects Jews around the world with the State of Israel, four Israeli officials said. The ministry allocated about $2 million to the operation and hired Stoic, a political marketing firm in Tel Aviv, to carry it out, according to the officials and the documents.
Targeted US politicians included Ritchie Torres, left,
and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries
Last week, Meta and OpenAI published reports attributing the influence campaign to Stoic. Meta said it had removed 510 Facebook accounts, 11 Facebook pages, 32 Instagram accounts and one Facebook group tied to the operation. OpenAI said Stoic had created fictional personas and biographies meant to stand in for real people on social media services used in Israel, Canada and the United States to post anti-Islamic messages. Many of the posts remain on X.
X [free speech “absolutist” Elon Musk] didn’t respond to a request for comment.
On its LinkedIn page, Stoic has promoted its ability to run campaigns backed by A.I. “As we look ahead, it’s clear that A.I.’s role in political campaigns is set for a transformative leap, reshaping the way campaigns are strategized, executed and evaluated,” it wrote.*
* Meaning AI will be used to lie, distract and deceive in political campaigns and corporate propaganda programs and dark free speech from AI will be evaluated for effectiveness.
An Israeli news source commented: Report: Israeli fake social media accounts targeted US Congress for military funding -- The covert operation was allegedly commissioned by the Diaspora Affairs Ministry, which allocated approximately $2 million and hired a Tel Aviv-based political marketing company [a/k/a/ professional liars] to execute it. The accounts targeted over a dozen members of Congress, with a focus on Black and Democratic representatives such as Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader from New York, and Senator Raphael Warnock of Georgia. “Israel's role in this is reckless and probably ineffective,” Achiya Schatz, the executive director of FakeReporter, an Israeli misinformation watchdog, told the Times. “That Israel ran an operation that interferes in US politics is extremely irresponsible.”
Maybe extremely irresponsible, but what the heck? Who cares? There is no repercussion for Israel merely participating in the America’s pay-to-play political system. It is open to everyone to play any way they want, e.g., setting up fake social media accounts and using them to deceive and influence US politicians, as long as they pay someone. It is just constitutionally protected free speech!
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