{"id":634,"date":"2024-11-17T17:22:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-17T22:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/?p=634"},"modified":"2024-11-17T18:21:05","modified_gmt":"2024-11-17T23:21:05","slug":"the-maga-wall-is-cracking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/2024\/11\/17\/the-maga-wall-is-cracking\/","title":{"rendered":"The MAGA Wall Is Cracking"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Major cracks are appearing in the MAGA wall, and we\u2019re not even getting started good.<\/div>\n<div>One crack is the election of John Thune (R-S.D.) as Senate majority leader.\u00a0 Trump had strongly backed Rick Scott (Fla.), because Scott promised to recess the Senate to allow Trump to make recess appointments to his Cabinet. That way, Trump would not have to parade his appointees before Senate hearings, hearings that that would be televised to the nation.\u00a0 That\u2019s the last thing Trump wanted, so getting Scott elected was major.<\/div>\n<div>But Thune won, and Thune is an institutionalist who will not allow Trump to evade those hearings.\u00a0 So now we\u2019ll get to examine Trump\u2019s appointees, whom he has tried his utmost to keep us from seeing, and it becomes obvious why he did not want anyone to see them. Here are five:<\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Mike Huckabee, Ambassador to Israel. <\/b>Huckabee supports<b> <\/b>Israel annexing the West Bank and resettling Gaza with Israeli citizens. He\u2019s also said that there \u201cisn\u2019t such a thing\u201d as a Palestinian.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div><b>\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Pete Hegseth, Secretary of the Department of Defense<\/b>. \u00a0Hegseth, a Fox entertainer and former national guard officer, was barred from serving as part of a national guard security detail in Washington, D.C., for Joe Biden\u2019s inauguration because he has tattoos that are popular with white nationalist anti-Muslim groups in the US. \u00a0Hegseth claims that the tattoos are \u201creligious symbols\u201d, but he wrote in a 2020 book that \u201cJust like the Christian crusaders who pushed back the Muslim hordes in the twelfth century, American Crusaders will need to muster the same courage against Islamists today.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Matt Gaetz, Attorney General.\u00a0 <\/b>As I write this, The House ethics committee had not decided whether to release a report on charges that Gaetz had sex with an underage girl and that he crossed state lines to do so, and that he used illicit drugs.\u00a0 He resigned from Congress to prevent that release so that we would not see it.\u00a0 But even if we don\u2019t see it, we know that he believes that the January 6 insurrection was incited by the U.S. government; and that he was involved in the attempted coup to prevent the count of electoral ballots by the Joint Session of Congress, and that he <span> <u><a title=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/2b2ffd86-a578-47dc-8fc2-f01b8acc4bdb\" href=\"https:\/\/substack.com\/redirect\/2b2ffd86-a578-47dc-8fc2-f01b8acc4bdb\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">invited a Holocaust denier<\/a><\/u><\/span>\u00a0to be his guest at the 2018 State of the Union, and that he supports the pardoning of January 6 defendants, and that he promises to take a wrecking ball to the DOJ and the FBI to help destroy evidence of Trump&#8217;s past crimes, and that will use the DOJ to target Trump&#8217;s political enemies.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence.\u00a0 <\/b>Vladimir Putin could not have hoped for anything better.\u00a0 Gabbard has a long affinity for Putin (and Syrian dictator Assad).\u00a0 She has championed Russia\u2019s interests against the U.S. and our allies. She has blamed NATO and the U.S. for Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine, has repeated Russian propaganda claims that the U.S. has set up secret bioweapons labs in that country, and has argued that the U.S. is wholly responsible for Putin\u2019s nuclear brinkmanship.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div><\/div>\n<ul>\n<li><b>Robert F. Kennedy Jr., \u00a0Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.\u00a0\u00a0<\/b>Kennedy\u2019s appointment stunned medical professionals because he believes in conspiracy theories. For one, he believes, without offering any evidence, that vaccines cause autism. He also believes, again without offering any evidence, that no vaccine exists that is safe. All medical research says he is wrong, but he doesn\u2019t listen. He also opposes fluoridation of water. One physician said Kennedy believes his own theories over established science.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div>These appointments are so outrageous that they have even infuriated some of his top backers.\u00a0 Those backers can see that Trump is tossing softballs to the Democrats with these choices. \u00a0Can you imagine what well-prepared Democratic senators can and will do when they have a chance to drill into those appointees with pointed, soul-searching questions?<\/div>\n<div>It will only take three or four Republican senators to see this for what it is and reject every one of Trump\u2019s appointments, and it shouldn\u2019t be hard to find them. \u00a0At least two senators, maybe three, are on the brink now, and others may become emboldened by what should be a huge groundswell of infuriated Democrats \u00a0and, one would hope, a lot of Republicans.\u00a0 Some senators might be starting to feel they can oppose Trump and survive unscathed. \u00a0A large number of rejections would be a major, humiliating defeat for him.<\/div>\n<div>There is a real possibility that Trump will withdraw some of his nominations before any hearings occur to prevent that humiliation.\u00a0 But even if he does, he still would be admitting publicly that he knew they didn\u2019t have a chance if light shined on them.\u00a0 Admitting that would be a devastating defeat for him.\u00a0 \u00a0Either way, Trump is seriously weakened before he even begins.\u00a0 He won\u2019t even start with the Cabinet he so wanted.<\/div>\n<div>There is plenty more good news just around the corner.\u00a0 When MAGAs realize how Trump\u2019s tariffs will impact their manufacturing jobs, their take-home pay, and their cost of living; when they understand that brown-skinned farm laborers being driven out of the country are causing them to pay more at the grocery store and inflation to rise; when they see their wives and daughters bleeding out in hospital emergency rooms because MAGA legislators forbid their doctors to help them; when they realize that Project 2025 is not a horror dream but a horrible reality; when they see Medicare, Medicaid and Obamacare, which they depend on, vanishing; when they see their Social Security weakened; when they come to grips with the fact that Trump doesn\u2019t give a damn about them, then they may finally understand that we liberals have been fighting for them all along and they will stand with us and defeat the real enemy within.<\/div>\n<div>Trump will enter office facing other headwinds as well. The gap between what he has promised his supporters and what his voters want is wide.\u00a0 Trump wants to ban abortions, but 65 percent of his voters want abortion rights.\u00a0 He wants to deport all undocumented immigrants, but his own voters want them to have a path to citizenship.\u00a0 Trump\u2019s people claim he was stopped from putting the full MAGA agenda into place in his first term because he did not move quickly enough and they vow that will not happen again, but rapidly imposing those extremist policies risks alienating the more moderate voters who just put them in power.<\/div>\n<div>More good news: lawyers are ready to do important work.\u00a0 Lawyers for immigrants have a blueprint of Trump\u2019s plans to deport millions of undocumented people and they have been preparing for months for the possibility that he will follow through with it.\u00a0 They are ready, eager and able to act.<\/div>\n<div>And the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has informed Trump directly that it will \u201cchallenge you in the courts, at state legislatures, and in the streets.\u201d\u00a0 It reminded him in a public letter that it brought 434 legal actions against him during his last presidency and won landmark cases against him, such as those on family separation, the U.S. Census, and immigrants&#8217; rights.\u00a0 Some of those were decided by judges he appointed. \u00a0ACLU also mobilized the power of more than a million card-carrying members into the streets, at airports and in state capitals.<\/div>\n<div>Bottom Line:\u00a0 The pendulum has swung as far right as it can, reaching its apex on election day, and now has begun its return trip.\u00a0 All we have to do is nudge it along.<\/div>\n<div>All of us can do something.\u00a0 Even if we are burdened with work, we can find time to make a telephone call or write an email. Letters to lawmakers have impact. If you do\u2019t tell them how you feel, they will never know.\u00a0 They also may come to understand that not one Democrat is likely to become a MAGA, a lot of voting MAGAs are likely to walk away from Trump once they realize what they\u2019ve done to themselves.\u00a0 But they won\u2019t know how we feel unless we tell them, so please write a letter or make a phone call.\u00a0 It will have an\u00a0 impact.\u00a0 And if you don\u2019t know your senator or congressperson or how to reach them, <span><b><i><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usa.gov\/elected-officials\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">click here<\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/span><\/div>\n<div>The way forward is through unity. \u00a0We have real work to do.\u00a0 We have a nation to save.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0We are not powerless, but we must act. Please do something &#8212; today.<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<div class=\"su-note\"  style=\"border-color:#d7d0d0;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><div class=\"su-note-inner su-u-clearfix su-u-trim\" style=\"background-color:#F1EAEA;border-color:#ffffff;color:#333333;border-radius:3px;-moz-border-radius:3px;-webkit-border-radius:3px;\"><strong>A FEW RELATED READINGS<br \/>\ncurated by the folks at GrowPurpose.com<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.counterpunch.org\/2024\/11\/15\/looming-fascism-and-the-question-of-hope\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Looming Fascism and the Question of Hope<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.americamagazine.org\/politics-society\/2024\/11\/07\/hope-resistance-trump-election-249210\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">What happens now: Hope and resistance after the election<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/archive.today\/YFNqg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Opinion: What should Democrats do now? Form a shadow cabinet.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/culture\/critics-notebook\/documentaries-of-dissent\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Documentaries of Dissent<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/open.substack.com\/pub\/dgardner\/p\/is-this-the-end-of-an-era-or-even\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Is this the End of an Era? Or even a Watershed of History?<\/a><\/li>\n<li>ICYMI: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationofchange.org\/2024\/11\/05\/10-ways-to-be-prepared-and-grounded-if-trump-wins\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10 ways to be prepared and grounded if Trump wins<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul><\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.usa.gov\/elected-officials\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-640\" src=\"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/CONTACT-ELECTED-OFFICIALS.jpg\" alt=\"CLICK IMAGE to find and contact your elected representatives\" width=\"700\" height=\"444\" srcset=\"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/CONTACT-ELECTED-OFFICIALS.jpg 700w, https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/CONTACT-ELECTED-OFFICIALS-300x190.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Major cracks are appearing in the MAGA wall, and we\u2019re not even getting started good. One crack is the election of John Thune (R-S.D.) as Senate majority leader.\u00a0 Trump had strongly backed Rick Scott (Fla.), because Scott promised to recess the Senate to allow Trump to make recess appointments to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":637,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=634"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":644,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/634\/revisions\/644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/growpurpose.com\/skipjack\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}