Republican self-immolation

benfell

Gilead

Donald Trump

Coup attempt


Fig. 1. “Jake Angeli (Qanon Shaman), seen holding a Qanon sign at the intersection of Bell Rd and 75th Ave in Peoria, Arizona, on 2020 October 15.” Photography by TheUnseen011101 [pseud.], October 15, 2020, via Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Perhaps, to borrow a phrase, [Herschel Walker, a former football star] got tired of winning, because today he is known for his humiliating campaign for U.S. Senate from Georgia. The debacle — which featured allegations of his abandoned children, terrorized mates, brandished firearms, fictionalized achievements and secret funding of girlfriends’ abortions — ended on Tuesday [December 6] with Walker’s opponent, Sen. Raphael G. Warnock (D), reelected in a runoff.[1]

David Von Drehle summarizes Herschel Walker’s loss, writing, “It’s one thing for a deeply flawed person to accept admiration for his former athletic magnificence, but it’s quite another for him to seek a role in leading the country.”[2] Aaron Blake weighs in, writing,

[Herschel] Walker now becomes the fourth [Donald] Trump-backed candidate to lose a very winnable Senate race, next to Arizona’s Blake Masters, Nevada’s Adam Laxalt and Pennsylvania’s Mehmet Oz. Masters also performed worse than any other statewide Arizona Republican, while Laxalt lost despite a Republican winning the governor’s race. Oz did better than the GOP gubernatorial candidate but still lost a battleground state. (And that list doesn’t include New Hampshire’s Don Bolduc, whom Trump did not back in the primary but who ran a very Trump-y campaign and lost, even as Republican Gov. Chris Sununu was cruising to reelection.)

In the end, candidates Trump backed in the primary lost in Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and Pennsylvania, while winning in another swing state, North Carolina. They also won in Ohio, but it was a big night for Ohio Republicans generally, and Senate candidate J.D. Vance far underperformed other Republicans.[3]

In multiple ways, what Blake writes, apart from the bit about Democratic control of the U.S. Senate, boils down to one point, that the result “reinforced everything we already knew about Trump and the 2022 election, which is that the former president and Trump-y candidates cost the GOP — including the Senate majority.[4]

I understand that Donald Trump’s backers comprise a significant portion of the Republican electorate. But it does absolutely zero good for a candidate to win the primary if they can’t win the general.

What compels a person to shower in gasoline and light up a cigar? In [Herschel] Walker’s case, it is a familiar story. He came into the orbit of that serial destroyer of other people’s reputations, Donald Trump.[5]

As Von Drehle alludes, we can’t just say this of Walker.[6] We can say it, rather, of far too many Republican politicians.[7]

Tina Nguyen, “Has Trump Already Lost ’24?” Puck News, November 30, 2022, https://puck.news/has-trump-already-lost-24/

Tierney Sneed, “Appeals court halts special master review of documents seized at Mar-a-Lago in major defeat for Trump,” CNN, December 1, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/01/politics/mar-a-lago-special-master/index.html

Kristen Holmes, “Trump expresses support for Capitol rioters as he continues to embrace extremist groups,” CNN, December 2, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/02/politics/donald-trump-january-6-rioters-support/index.html

Bess Levin, “Donald Trump, Running for President in 2024, Defends Violent Mob That Broke Into the Capitol Over His 2020 Loss,” Vanity Fair, December 2, 2022, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/12/donald-trump-defends-january-6-rioters

Karoun Demirjian and Toluse Olorunnipa, “White House rebukes Trump’s suggestion to suspend Constitution over 2020 election,” Washington Post, December 3, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/03/trump-constitution-truth-social/

Kristen Holmes, “Trump calls for the termination of the Constitution in Truth Social post,” CNN, December 4, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/03/politics/trump-constitution-truth-social/index.html

Ruth Marcus, “Trump’s call for suspending the Constitution is too dangerous to ignore,” Washington Post, December 4, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/04/ruth-marcus-donald-trump-latest-outrage-is-too-dangerous-ignore/

Martin Pengelly, “Biden rebukes Trump for saying constitution should be ‘terminated’” Guardian, December 4, 2022, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/dec/04/biden-trump-us-constitution-terminated-election-fraud

Amy B. Wang, “GOP lawmakers largely silent after Trump suggests ‘termination’ of Constitution,” Washington Post, December 4, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2022/12/04/trump-constitution-republicans/

Caleb Ecarma, “Republicans Apparently Have No Red Line With Trump—Not Even His Desire to Terminate the Constitution,” Vanity Fair, December 5, 2022, https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/12/republicans-trump-terminate-constitution

Jeremy Roebuck, “Rudy Giuliani doubles down on false Pennsylvania election fraud claims in disciplinary hearing,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 5, 2022, https://www.inquirer.com/news/rudy-giuliani-dc-disciplinary-board-hearing-bar-pennsylvania-election-20221205.html

Aaron Blake, “4 takeaways from the Georgia Senate runoff,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/06/takeaways-georgia-runoff-2022-warnock-walker/

Sara Murray, Annie Grayer, and Zachary Cohen, “House January 6 committee has decided to make criminal referrals, chairman says,” CNN, December 6, 2022, https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/06/politics/january-6-committee-criminal-referrrals/index.html

Jenny Jarvie, “Warnock defeats Walker in Georgia runoff, giving Democrats a 51-seat Senate majority,” Los Angeles Times, December 6, 2022, https://www.latimes.com/politics/story/2022-12-06/sen-raphael-warnock-defeats-herschel-walker-in-georgia-senate-runoff

David Von Drehle, “The tragedy of Herschel Walker,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/06/herschel-walker-reputation-georgia-football-politics-senate-trump/

Jacqueline Alemany et al., “Trump team searches two of his properties amid court battle with DOJ,” Washington Post, December 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2022/12/07/trump-tower-bedminster-records-search/

Twitter


Fig. 2. “Elon Musk shared a video of his entrance on his Twitter account.” Photograph attributed to Elon Musk, October 26, 2022, via the New York Post,[8] fair use.

It’s been a while since I’ve been to Sixth and Market Streets in San Francisco, where Twitter’s headquarters are located. I remember it as far from a desirable neighborhood—indeed, I considered the two blocks of Sixth Street between Market and Howard as likely the two worst blocks in The City. Apparently, Elon Musk has installed bedrooms there and this might be in violation of building codes.[9]

As I recall, there are a number of single room occupancy “residential hotels” in the area. Perhaps Musk could take up residence in one of those.

Joe Burn, “Twitter HQ Bedrooms Investigated by SF Officials After Complaint,” San Francisco Standard, December 6, 2022, https://sfstandard.com/business/twitter-hq-bedrooms-investigated-by-sf-officials-after-complaint/

Faiz Siddiqui, “Amazon, Uber ads appear on Twitter pages of white nationalists restored by Musk,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/12/06/twitter-ads-elon-musk/

COVID-19 Pandemic


Fig. 3. Photograph by author, November 8, 2022.

Would we, on account of religious belief, sacrifice virgins? No, because there can be no legitimacy whatsoever to any belief or ideology that allows adherents to harm others.

We do not permit them to take child brides. We do not permit them to abuse their children. We do not permit them to kidnap people for indoctrination. We don’t even permit them to take multiple wives.

The lawsuit [filed by Pittsburgh Regional Transit employees and ex-employees against the agency] includes claims for religious discrimination, violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act and wrongful termination.

It alleges that 75 employees were terminated for failing to be vaccinated and that their requests for religious or medical exemptions were summarily denied.[10]

Assuming the veracity of the complaint that Pittsburgh Regional Transit (then the Port Authority[11]) summarily dismissed requests for medical exemptions,[12] I, too, would view such requests with extreme prejudice. I’ve seen quacks. I know that they somehow manage to get medical degrees and licenses to practice medicine. And no, I do not trust a storefront doctor in Pennsylvania to issue such an exemption. A more rigorous policy was amply warranted.

For very much the larger part, we can take vaccine refusal 1) as a sign of white Christian nationalism and 2) as a danger to white Christian nationalists and others in multiple ways. Padded cells and straitjackets pending frontal lobotomies for the lot of them.[13] My patience with this shit was blown long ago.[14]

Katy Stech Ferek and Lindsay Wise, “Lawmakers Agree to Rescind Military’s Covid-19 Mandate in Defense Deal,” Wall Street Journal, December 6, 2022, https://www.wsj.com/articles/lawmakers-spar-over-marijuana-energy-permits-in-defense-bill-talks-11670355641

Paula Reed Ward, “Pittsburgh Regional employees sue over covid-19 vaccine mandate,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 6, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-regional-employees-sue-over-covid-19-vaccine-mandate/

Christian Shepherd, “China eases covid testing and health code rules in wake of protests,” Washington Post, December 7, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/12/07/china-covid-easing-restrictions/

  1. [1]David Von Drehle, “The tragedy of Herschel Walker,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/06/herschel-walker-reputation-georgia-football-politics-senate-trump/↩
  2. [2]David Von Drehle, “The tragedy of Herschel Walker,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/06/herschel-walker-reputation-georgia-football-politics-senate-trump/↩
  3. [3]Aaron Blake, “4 takeaways from the Georgia Senate runoff,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/06/takeaways-georgia-runoff-2022-warnock-walker/↩
  4. [4]Aaron Blake, “4 takeaways from the Georgia Senate runoff,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/12/06/takeaways-georgia-runoff-2022-warnock-walker/↩
  5. [5]David Von Drehle, “The tragedy of Herschel Walker,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/06/herschel-walker-reputation-georgia-football-politics-senate-trump/↩
  6. [6]David Von Drehle, “The tragedy of Herschel Walker,” Washington Post, December 6, 2022, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/12/06/herschel-walker-reputation-georgia-football-politics-senate-trump/↩
  7. [7]David Benfell, “Republican politicians out of touch?” Not Housebroken, December 7, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/12/06/republican-politicians-out-of-touch/↩
  8. [8]Thomas Barrabi, “Elon Musk barges into Twitter HQ as deal nears: ‘Let that sink in,’” New York Post, October 26, 2022, https://nypost.com/2022/10/26/elon-musk-barges-into-twitter-headquarters-as-deal-nears/↩
  9. [9]Joe Burn, “Twitter HQ Bedrooms Investigated by SF Officials After Complaint,” San Francisco Standard, December 6, 2022, https://sfstandard.com/business/twitter-hq-bedrooms-investigated-by-sf-officials-after-complaint/↩
  10. [10]Paula Reed Ward, “Pittsburgh Regional employees sue over covid-19 vaccine mandate,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 6, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-regional-employees-sue-over-covid-19-vaccine-mandate/↩
  11. [11]Ed Blazina, “Goodbye Port Authority, hello Pittsburgh Regional Transit: Agency unveils new name, branding,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, June 9, 2022, https://www.post-gazette.com/news/transportation/2022/06/09/port-authority-allegheny-county-new-name-pittsburgh-regional-transit-prt-pat-buses-t-light-rail/stories/202206090131↩
  12. [12]Paula Reed Ward, “Pittsburgh Regional employees sue over covid-19 vaccine mandate,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, December 6, 2022, https://triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-regional-employees-sue-over-covid-19-vaccine-mandate/↩
  13. [13]David Benfell, “It might be time to bring back frontal lobotomies,” Not Housebroken, October 27, 2022, https://disunitedstates.org/2022/10/25/it-might-be-time-to-bring-back-frontal-lobotomies/↩
  14. [14]David Benfell, “Lock up the anti-vaxxers,” Not Housebroken, August 7, 2021, https://disunitedstates.org/2021/07/27/lock-up-the-anti-vaxxers/↩

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