Dog catches car

 "If the Republic is saved just because the people trying to steal it are dumb, I'll take it," Charlie Pierce wrote about some idiocy at what he calls Camp Runamuck, a/k/a the Trump White House.  Probably the best thing we have going for us at this point is the aggressive dumbness of the entire Republican cult, usually bolstered by its belief in its own vast smartness.  I present:

On Friday Barack Obama tweeted, "Today, the Supreme Court not only reversed 50 years of precedent, it relegated the most intensely personal decision someone can make to the whims of politicians and ideologues -- attacking the essential freedoms of millions of Americans."  John Cornyn re-tweeted this, chortling, "Now do Plessy vs Ferguson/Brown vs Board of Education."  Because short of using the n-word Republicans are proud to share their racism with the world.  

Not to mention their ignorance.  Cornyn is in disgrace with the other Christofascists since he negotiated the new gun "control" bill, so he decided to step up and show off.  What he doesn't know is that Plessy mandated segregation (on public transportation), exactly the opposite of Brown, which overturned it (in public schools).  I assume they don't teach so good in Texas.  Shame on the University of Virginia Law School, which gave this schmuck a degree.  I learned this stuff in high school, but that was in New Jersey, mid-Sixties.  We didn't appreciate it enough at the time.

So what the senior senator and former associate justice of the Texas Supreme Court would like to see is a return to second-class citizenship for Black Americans, and he doesn't care who knows it.  He and his co-conspirators already salivate at the thought of making same-sex marriage illegal, contraception unobtainable, superstition enforced on all and democracy a thing of the past.  It could happen.  They enemy will re-convene on the first Monday in October.

No sentient being can harbor any doubts that racism, misogyny, homophobia and religious bigotry come in the same fetid package.  In Illinois Trump's chosen candidate for the 15th district, Mary Miller, declared the end of Roe "a historic victory for white life" and praised the former Russian puppet as he smirked over her shoulder.  Others praised him in roughly the same terms as Jesus, but all is not as it seems.  According to Rolling Stone Trump takes credit for everything but privately worries that suburban women in particular will resent having to travel to other lands for their abortions, even neighboring ones.  (Justin Trudeau called the decision "horrific" and said Canadian clinics will try to cope with the additional demand.  American women are already seeking abortions in Mexico.)  A recovering Republican named Sarah Longwell calls it "the dog that caught the car."  Attacking abortion appeals to voters, banning it does not.  Don't ask me to explain it.  Fascism eventually overreaches.  Had he never invaded Poland Hitler could have died of old age, like Franco.

In the era of Tommy Tuberville and Ron Johnson there's no such thing as "too dumb to be a Senator," but if there were, one symptom would be the inability to tell when someone is lying.  Three people who should never serve on a jury are Susan Collins, Joe Manchin and Lisa Murkowski, all of whom helped put Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Barrett where they are.  After the infamous leaked draft, Murkowski said her "confidence in the Court has been rocked."  Imagine, the nominees sat right there and swore to tell the truth and then...oh, get some pearls so you can clutch them.  You too, Joe.  (Say, I wonder if that Dr. Ford could have been right after all.)  Expecting anything Trump-adjacent to be truthful is like expecting your hamster to sing Winterreise in Carnegie Hall.

Of course the people peaceably assembled to petition for redress of grievances.  Of course post-Roe America encountered post-Trump America.  In Providence Jeann Lugo, a police officer running for the state senate, punched Jennifer Rourke, the Democratic candidate for the same seat.  In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the male driver of a Ford truck rammed a group of women, sending one to the hospital.  (The driver is unidentified but the license plate WRAPTOR may be a clue.)  Protesters at the Arizona senate so frightened the legislators that tear gas had to be deployed, just as it wasn't when fake electors invaded the place in 2021.  DHS expects "violence for weeks," but not this kind -- they're worried about poor judges and government officials.  Imagine if they had to endure unpleasant phone calls and drive-by shouting, like Rusty Bowers.  The horror.  

The most recent target of Rightzi wrath (apart from educators and librarians) has been district attorneys accused of being too liberal (Chesa Boudin in San Francisco, George Gascon in Los Angeles, Larry Krasner in Philadelphia), so it's heartening than eighty prosecutors have already issued a statement that "criminalizing and prosecuting individuals who seek or provide abortion care" is not how they plan to allocate scarce resources.  The Texas Democratic Party has called on sheriffs, mayors, DAs and others not to enforce "new laws passed by our extremist Republican-controlled legislature."  Fort Sumter II has not been fired upon, but the artillery is in position.