batshi*t crazy-as$ nutball

I just cut and pasted this and the hyperlinks may or may not work – so do not blame me:

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You may have seen a recent Daily Kos post from the always-on point Walter Einenkel, where a batshi*t crazy-as$ nutball—and believe me, that doesn’t come close to capturing the depths of this woman’s Trumpian ignorance—talked about how the teachers’ union is “grooming our children for sexual predators.” Oh, and did I mention that they are apparently doing this in a coalition with (I’ll give you three guesses) “the CDC, Planned Parenthood, and Black Lives Matter incorporated”—it was very important to mention the incorporated part.

I posted this on Facebook, with the following commentary: “This is what you get on Fox News. This is why people who believe what they see on Fox News are so extreme. This is a prime time show, and the host is on the same page with the guest. …This is why America is where it is today.” Most of my Facebook friends responded positively, but one friend—who, I will note, is not a member of either party and who comes down on the liberal side of issues such as reproductive rights and the separation of church and state—essentially said, well, the Democrats are just as bad, just as extreme, etc. I decided to not let that stand.

Here’s my response:

Not even a little bit. There is no comparison and there is no “both sides are doing it.” There is only one side that has completely broken with reality. This is not the party of John McCain or Mitt Romney or Bob Dole. It is a cult in thrall to a madman who rejects science, truth, and democracy, not to mention our Constitution. Joe Biden is a relative moderate, and he’s the one the most committed Democrats chose to represent them. In 2016, the most committed Republicans chose Trump from a field of 17, including many highly qualified conservatives. That movement is intellectually, culturally, and spiritually bankrupt.

Additionally, Biden is a normal human being, and shows humane qualities like empathy. Trump, in terms of personal qualities, is clearly one of the worst human beings in America.

Finally, let’s talk performance, and be objective here. The last two Republican presidents gave us: the most disastrous foreign policy blunder in our history (Bush invading Iraq in 2003), the most incompetent response to a natural/weather disaster in our history (Bush, Katrina—although Trump and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico isn’t much better), the worst economic crash since the Depression (Bush, 2008), and now, COVID—where we have, by far, the worst death rates in the developed world, to a large degree because our federal government played politics with our health (Trump).

These were all things that, unlike, say, 9/11, were completely within our control, and all followed Republican control of the White House and Congress. By comparison, Clinton’s presidency had no major blunders to speak of, and he turned the largest deficits in history into surpluses—which his successor blew. Obama turned around the worst economic crash since the Depression—handing his successor a job-creating machine of an economy, oh, and expanded health care to millions of people. Both Democrats avoided getting into any new wars, for what it’s worth. There is no way I can see avoiding the conclusion that today’s Democratic party produces far better results for the American people than the Republican party does.

That was just off the top of my head. How’d I do?

Ian Reifowitz is the author of The Tribalization of Politics: How Rush Limbaugh’s Race-Baiting Rhetoric on the Obama Presidency Paved the Way for Trump (Foreword by Markos Moulitsas)

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