Feb. 12, 2024 - GOPers buck Trump

Feb 12, 2024

GOPers Rebel Against Trump’s Rebellion Against NATO

Eighteen Republicans in the Senate voted yesterday to spend an additional $95 billion on weapons for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan — even after D4FRFP1 Donald Trump spent the weekend barraging them with a fusillade of social-media posts telling them not to.

The bill isn’t final yet, as it’s still got to get through the amendment process, which can be almost as baffling and crazy-making as the other thing it’s got to get through, the U.S. House of Representatives.

Some senators are saying they won’t pass the bill unless it includes measures to combat illegal immigration so it more closely resembles the deal they demanded last year and then killed last week.

Yesterday’s vote represented a dramatic escalation in the ongoing war against Trump by a shrinking pocket of GOP resistance. Despite the counter-attack against Trump, the rebellious GOP senators remain gravely outnumbered and risk having their supply lines cut off as Republican donors are fucking sick of all this shit.

The senators were retaliating after Trump’s broadside on Saturday, when he posted, “From this point forward, are you listening U.S. Senate (?) No money in the form of foreign aid should be given to any country unless it is done as a loan, not just a giveaway.”

Trump’s post was part of a two-pronged assault. During a rally Saturday, he described an exchange with an unnamed leader of an unnamed European country. Quoting his anonymous and hypothetically real friend, Trump relayed the not-at-all imaginary conversation:

"’If we don't pay and we're attacked by Russia, will you protect us?' I said, 'You didn't pay, you're delinquent.' He said, 'Yes, let's say that happened.' 'No, I would not protect you.' In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You got to pay. You got to pay your bills."

As you might imagine, the military-industrial-Politico complex erupted in outrage and horror. Trump’s remarks were widely interpreted as an invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin to just grab France by the Pussay. When there’s no NATO, they just let you!

But let’s unpack this, shall we?

Trump’s remarks were seen as confirmation of the years-old Trump-Putin military alliance predating his presidency. But it’s not exactly clear whether Trump’s forces are coordinating directly with the Russian military.

It’s also not clear why Putin would’ve waited until Trump was no longer in office to invade Ukraine. Unless we’re supposed to think Putin has pee tapes of Pres. Joe Biden, too, which would just add incontinence to the “he’s old” list.

But Trump didn’t say he flat-out wouldn’t honor America’s NATO obligations. He said the U.S. wouldn’t help if the invaded nation hadn’t paid its way militarily. And even then, Trump did say he’d be willing to lend the money. And is that really so bad?

Ukraine and Israel could actually benefit from such a loan, if they got terms similar to those under which Trump has taken out loans: Specifically, simply stiffing whatever fucking moron was stupid enough to keep lending to him, rendering the loans effectively giveaways.

And even if they did pay the U.S. back, Trump obviously wouldn’t mind if Ukraine and Israel got favorable interest rates by dramatically overstating the value of their cheesy-ass luxury estates.

But there’s an even bigger part of this which you probably didn’t see because I can’t find it in most of the mainstream coverage even though you would THINK the full text of a U.S. presidential candidate’s alleged invitation for World War III MIGHT just merit more than a mere pull quote. Anyway, this seems to be a possibly credible full account of what Trump wrote:

“From this point forward, are you listening U.S. Senate? No money in the form of foreign aid should be given to any country unless it is done as a loan, not just a giveaway.
“It can be loaned on extraordinarily good terms, like no interest and an unlimited life, but a loan nevertheless.
“The deal should be contingent that the U.S. is helping you, as a nation, but if the country we are helping ever turns against us, or strikes it rich sometime in the future, the loan will be paid off and the money returned to the United States.
“We should never give money anymore without the hope of a payback, or without "strings" attached. The United States of America should be "stupid" no longer!”

Got that? Trump has invented the no-interest, infinite loan. Also known as a giveaway.

And by the way, when we talk about the money NATO countries need, the vast majority of what we’re talking about is the percentage of GDP that they’re obliged to spend on their own military. The U.S. doesn’t make up the difference, those countries just have…less military.

So, in reality, Trump is talking about de facto giving NATO countries money to make up that shortfall … which is MORE than the U.S. does now!

Does he mean it? Who the hell knows. What is “meaning” anyway? And what part of “Trump” do you not understand?

The point isn’t whether Trump meant it in the nano-second during which it emerged from his brain place. The point of Trump welcoming Russia into Europe — the way Taylor Swift isn’t welcome at the Super Bowl in her own country where her own damn boyfriend is actually playing in the game — isn’t that Trump wants Russia to have Europe. He and his voters don’t actually give a shit. They’re simply lazy motherfuckers who are tired of being told to think about and care about countries that care more for their people than ours does for them or than I do for tracking my pronouns.

JEWISH REBELLION Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) yesterday pushed back against the new military aid for Israel, not because he’s self-hating, but because he’s other-valuing.

Sanders has opposed the illegally unconditional U.S. aid to Israel so far — due to how it’s illegally killing civilians and all — and last night posted, “Does Congress really want to provide military aid to Netanyahu so that he can annihilate more innocent people? Do we want to give even more support to the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, to a man who wants to kill the prospects of a two-state solution?”

Spoiler: Yes.

Israel Rescues Two Hostages in Military Offensive That Kills 100+

Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) targeted the Gaza city of Rafah — where Israel had directed Palestinian civilians to evacuate — with airstrikes and shelling overnight into this morning.

The death toll from the operation had topped 100 as of this writing, but was hailed by Israel as a success due to the successful liberation of two hostages, a 60-year-old man and a 70-year-old man, both kidnapped from a kibbutz on Oct. 7.

The IDF said the bombardment that killed 100 began just one minute after the covert operation launched to free the two hostages. TFN can confirm that 100 is more than two, according to sources close to math.

Before the overnight military stuff, Pres. Joe Biden spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone. Biden reportedly warned Netanyahu that Israel’s promised ground offensive into Rafah would be bad without a military plan that would both prevent civilian deaths and violate the laws of physics.

Netanyahu has said there is a “detailed plan” to evacuate Palestinians for their safety from the deadly place they were told to evacuate to for their safety.

The Palestinian death toll is now at more than 28,000, and an estimated 80% of Gaza’s two million people have fled their homes and become refugees. On the other hand, two hostages were liberated. So.

Oh and Egypt meanwhile is warning that it may end the decades-old peace treaty with Israel if Netanyah rolls into Rafah to steamroll Rafah. It’s not a threat of war, but without the treaty, Israel will likely feel compelled to redeploy troops away from the Gaza assault(s) to border-defense positions. Just in case.

Israel Invades Super Bowl

While Israel’s military was dropping bombs from the air on Rafah, Israel’s marketing department was dropping propaganda on the air in America. Specifically, Israel used some of the money it apparently doesn’t need for weapons to pay for an ad during the Super Bowl to boost American support for spending money on weapons for Israel.

Israel’s refusal to engage in even a temporary cease-fire has produced a groundswell of opposition in the U.S. against unconditional funding of more weaponry. Ironically, Israel’s ad appeared during a break in the fighting between the Kansas City Chiefs and the San Francisco ‘49ers.

Maybe Israel will agree to a cease-fire if we can book Usher and Alicia Keys to perform?

The Pakistan Shit Everybody Including I Are Ignoring

Y’know what’s wild about Pakistan? They’re a nuclear power. They’re constantly on the verge of all-out war with India, another nuclear power. They’ve been literally trading lethal fire with Iran lately. And then there’s that whole Taliban-buddies contingent. In short, what’s wild about Pakistan is many many things.

And now they’re counting votes to determine who’s gonna be in charge. Former colleague Ryan Grim of The Intercept has a super-accessible writeup of what’s going on there and why it’s amazing in, amazingly, a not-bad and actually even good way! Highest recommendation.

GOP Unveils Strategy for Defeating Diversity

The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) recently unveiled a bold, forward-thinking strategy to defeat Democrats hellbent on pushing the “woke” goals of diversity, equity, and inclusion. (The NRCC is the party’s leading organization for recruiting and funding House candidates.)

According to the AP, NRCC Chair Richard Hudson shared details of the plan with reporters. The party, Hudson explained, is not to run just “run-of-the-mill generic Republicans” for House seats.

Hudson gave two reasons for actively seeking a broader range of candidates to defeat “woke” Democrats who want the workplace to reflect America. One reason, Hudson said: “We want our Congress to reflect America.”

Democrats have argued that diversity ensures that the nation and any diverse organization is stronger than it would be otherwise. Diversity, in other words, isn’t just fair and equal, it works. Hudson explained that the second reason he’s pushing back on diversity with a broad range of candidates is that it works.

In 2020, for instance, Hudson said, “We beat 15 Democrats and every one of those we beat with a woman, a minority candidate or a veteran.”

When reporters asked Hudson, a run-of-the-mill generic Republican, whether he was aware that he had proudly made diversity the foundation of his anti-diversity strategy, he responded, “I just haven’t given a lot of thought to that.” TFN has confirmed Hudson’s claim.

Hudson also argued that comparing the Democratic efforts for diversity to his own efforts for diversity was “apples and oranges.” (Trying to think of a word for a group that includes both apples and oranges...)

Campaign Watch

KENNEDY A super PAC backing Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s independent-party bid for president paid $7 million to air an ad for him during last night’s Super Bowl. To show that Kennedy offers new ideas and a new direction from the two parties, the ad used exactly the same ad Kennedy’s uncle used in 1960 during his Democratic campaign running on new ideas, except the ad slapped Kennedy’s face over his uncle’s…to show that Kennedy offers new ideas.

The purpose of the ad was to woo Democratic voters by drawing attention to the striking parallels between the two men. As historians have noted, it’s not merely that both are Kennedys who sought higher office. Both also tragically lost their brains as Americans watched in horror.

Three Quickies

House Republicans are going to try again tomorrow to impeach Homeland [sic] Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas for his refusal to stop being Latino.

Tomorrow’s the special election to fill the seat of former Rep. George Santos (R-NY), who could now be anywhere posing as someone close to you. The race pits former Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY) against Republican county legislator Mazi Pilip. Suozzi is a conservative Democrat but if he wins it shaves a crucial vote off the slim Republican majority led by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).

Jon Stewart returns as the (Mondays-only) host of The Daily Show tonight, because what even is linear time?

TCB

I will not be joining Nicole Sandler on her radio program tonight, but should be back next Monday and every Monday because why should Jon Stewart have all the (Mondays-only) fun? Thanks again to Michelangelo Signorile for having me on his SiriusXM radio show on Thursday. SiriusXM subscribers can check it out here.

Remember you can find me on Twitter and Facebook. And I’m even starting to dip my toe into Bluesky and Mastodon. Why? Because I don’t know what I’m doing.

Go get ‘em, kids…!

D4FRFP = Disgraced, quadicted, fraudster, rapist, former President.