After "Shithole-gate" the Right Loves Trump More than Ever

Trump apoligist and enabler, Senator Tom Cotton

The last post looked at Grundy and Buchanan County, Virginia - Trump country, if you will - and the mindset that keeps the area in an economic death spiral.   Sadly, I suspect Der Trumpenführer recent "shithole" comments denigrating certain countries and the entire continent of Africa played well in Grundy.  Indeed, as a piece in Vanity Fair notes, the crass racist remarks - and that's being polite - played very well among the right wing and much of the Republican Party base. "Friends" who vote Republican can assure themselves that they are not racist bigots, but the company they keep tells a very different story.  The base of the Republican Party is now a toxic cesspool visible to except those who refuse to open their eyes to reality - or who subscribe to the white supremacist/Christofascist agenda of the GOP.   Here are highlights from the Vanity Fair piece: 

For much of the sentient world, Donald Trump’sderanged and appalling reference to Haiti, El Salvador, and African countries as “shithole” nations during a White House meeting on immigration reform, last Thursday, became the latest evidence of, among other things, the president’s mental instability, the possibly irreparable descent of our democracy into an abysmal cesspool, and the chilling extent to which we have reversed decades of racial progress . . . . Even the president appeared to understand, on some level, that he had spoken with woeful ignorance.

By Sunday, Senators Tom Cotton and David Perdue, both Trump loyalists, said that they couldn’t quite recall the word being used in the meeting, and attempted to publicly walk back the remark by proxy. As the weekend drew to a close, likely sensing the need to open a new front on their war with the media, the White House accused The Wall Street Journal of misquoting the president regarding his amorous relationship with erratic warmonger Kim Jong-Un.

On the far right, however, the president’s use of the word “shithole” was largely celebrated as Trumpism in its purest, most puerile form. “Donald Trump’s first instinct that ‘shithole’ would play well with his base was spot on,” Kurt Bardella, a longtime Republican press relations professional and the former spokesman for Breitbart News, told me. “No issue throughout the past two decades has had a more energizing and mobilizing effect on the conservative base and media than immigration.”

Indeed, the digital redoubts of the far-right were buzzing with excitement to see all their favorite adversaries—Democrats, celebrities, CNN anchors—so apoplectic. Responses ranged from from the farfetched and bizarre, like Fox News host Jesse Watters, who noted, “this is how the forgotten men and women in America talk at the bar,” to much, much worse. Some, such as one Infowars editor, rejoiced that Trump had validated their beliefs that such countries were dumps. . . . . an editor at the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer wrote, calling Trump’s comments “encouraging and refreshing.”

Breitbart, meanwhile, gleefully published stories about outraged, reliably liberal Hollywood celebrities (singling out Sean Penn at one point), as well as a host of triggered journalists from the “Shithole of Fake News.”

They all seemed to share a similar strategy. Given the inarguable ghastliness of Trump’s comments, the far right focused less on the indefensible statement itself than how seriously the left and media were taking the incident, a collective behavior that they attempted to portray as sanctimonious umbrage. . . . “I can tell you this is all faux rage…It is made up,” Rush Limbaugh seethed to his listeners, in a segment that was temporarily pushed on Breitbart’s front page. 

Trump’s base has always been a strange amalgamation of people who would normally never associate with each other: liberal-leaning populist-nationalists and evangelical, anti-gay alleged pedophiles; pro-Israeli businessmen and neo-Nazi Holocaust deniers; Republican war hawks and ardent isolationists. They remain united largely by disgust toward various liberal totems, and the fact that the vast and balkanized rightwing digital universe allows them to vaguely agree without ever meeting. 

Again, my mother always warned us as children that we would be judged by the company that we kept.  It's far past time that Republicans who still have some decency about them walk away from the Republican Party.  Otherwise, they deserved to be judged no better than the ugliest elements of Trump's base.  They do not get to have it both ways.  

White Supremacist Hate Group Leader Donated to Paul, Cruz and Santorum

Up until the aftermath of last weeks murders in Charleston by Dylann Storm Roof and the discovery of Roof's blog, many Americans had likely never heard of the Council of Conservative Citizens ("CCC") even though it has regularly had Republicans and hate merchants like FRC's Tony Perkins address its meetings.  Sadly, CCC and groups like it represents a growing  faction within the GOP base.  A faction that Republican candidates often court through dog whistle racist statements.  Now, it turns out that CCC's president has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republican candidates, including presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum.  The Guardian looks at the situation.  Here are highlights:

The leader of a rightwing group that Dylann Roof allegedly credits with helping to radicalise him against black people before the Charleston church massacre has donated tens of thousands of dollars to Republicans such as presidential candidates Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Rick Santorum.

Earl Holt has given $65,000 to Republican campaign funds in recent years while inflammatory remarks – including that black people were “the laziest, stupidest and most criminally-inclined race in the history of the world” – were posted online in his name.

After being approached by the Guardian on Sunday, Cruz’s presidential campaign said it would be returning all money the senator had received from Holt.

Holt, 62, is the president of the Council of Conservative Citizens (CofCC), a Missouri-based activist organisation cited by the author of a manifesto-style text that was posted on a website registered in Roof’s name along with photographs of the gunman. The FBI said on Saturday it was investigating the website.

Holt said it was “not surprising” that Roof was apparently informed by the group’s website as it reported race relations “accurately and honestly”. However, he added: “The CofCC is hardly responsible for the actions of this deranged individual merely because he gleaned accurate information from our website.”

Holt has since 2012 contributed $8,500 to Cruz, the Texas senator running for the Republican presidential nomination, and his Jobs, Growth and Freedom Fund political action committee, according to Federal Election Commission (FEC) filings. On some filings Holt’s occupation was listed as “slumlord”.

He has also given $1,750 to RandPAC, the political action committee of Paul, the Kentucky senator and presidential contender, and he gave $2,000 to the 2012 presidential campaign of Mitt Romney. . . . . A further $1,500 was donated by Holt to Santorum . .

Holt has also distributed tens of thousands in campaign contributions among prominent Republicans in congress, such as Representative Steve King of Iowa ($2,000), Se

nator Tom Cotton of Arkansas ($1,500) and Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona ($1,000). He also gave $3,200 to the former Minnesota congresswoman and presidential candidate Michele Bachmann.

See the full article for some of the foul propaganda Holt disseminates.   One truly needs to consider what these Republicans truly stand for if Holt is so willing to give money to them.. In my view, all are extremists and push a conservative - read subtly racist - right wing agenda and believe that only white conservative Christians are "real Americans.".

AmericansTrust Obama More than Congressional GOP on Iran Deal

A new survey reveals that a majority of Americans have more trust in Barack Obama to handle the nuclear deal with Iran than than the Congressional Republicans.  The spread is 12 points in favor of Obama.  And as with most things, a high percentage of Republicans - i.e., the aging, racist and religious extremist crowd - favored the delusional Congressional Republicans such as Arkansas village idiot, Tom Cotton, who things a couple of days bombing Iran would settle the matter.  A majority of Americans do believe that Iran's nuclear ambitions are a threat. Elderly Americans are most concerned about the perceived threat.  Here are the findings via MSNBC:

A majority of Americans – 54% – trust Barack Obama to do a better job handling an agreement with Iran over its nuclear program, compared to 42% who say they trust the Republicans in Congress. But nearly 7 in 10 Americans say that Iran is not likely to abide by the agreement that has been reached—and that mistrust may have a lot to do with one’s age.

The latest NBC News Online Survey conducted by SurveyMonkey found that half of Americans say they have been following the Iran nuclear talks somewhat or very closely, and nearly the same number think that Iran’s nuclear program is a major threat to the United States (53%).

There is a stark difference in opinion on how closely Americans are following this issue by age as well as how they evaluate Iran as a threat. Those who were witnesses to the Iranian hostage crisis of 1979-81 – Americans who are 45 years old and up – have followed this issue much more closely – with more than 6 in 10 following it very or somewhat closely. Attention among younger Americans between the age of 18 and 44 drops by nearly half (35% say they have followed it closely). Six in 10 Republicans say they are closely following the news of the negotiations, compared to about half of Democrats and independents.

Perceptions of Iran’s nuclear program as a threat also divides by age. About 6 in 10 older Americans perceive Iran to be a major threat, whereas about 4 in 10 of those under 45 think that Iran is a major threat.

Americans are divided over the president’s handling of the situation with Iran, with 48% approving and 50% disapproving. The poll also found the president’s overall approval rating similarly divided (51-48), while his handling of the economy was 7 points higher on the approval side (53-46).

Do I trust Iran's leadership?  Definitely, not.  But I see another insane Middle East war that America cannot win as an even larger threat.   Those in favor of endless war forget that, in addition to the rise of Christianity, one of the downfalls of the western Roman Empire was the incessant strain of war on too many fronts.  Oh, and let's not forget the decline of the Roman middle class. 

Tom Cotton and the Republican/Christofascist Cavalcade of Hate

One aspect of the controversy over the "license to discriminate laws" being pushed by the Christofascists and their political whores in the Republican Party is that perhaps at last the general public and self-loathing gays who still vote Republican may finally understand just how foul the Republican Party and the "godly folk" have become.  Leading the charge of hate and loathing is GOP Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas who stated that gays needed to "get some perspective" and realize that discrimination should impliedly be acceptable since we are being executed as in Iran.  Meanwhile, after the Indiana GOP and Mike Pence have hurriedly enacted a "fix" to Indiana's "religious freedom restoration act," the godly folk have been spewing anti-gay hate and attacking the businesses that condemned Indiana's foul legislation.  First, here are highlights from The New Civil Rights Movement on Tom Cotton's unbelievable statement:

Freshman Republican U.S. Senator from Arkansas, Tom Cotton, made headlines recently when he convinced 46 of his GOP colleagues to sign an open letter to the leaders of Iran, essentially denouncing President Barack Obama and his attempts to secure a nuclear deal.   That of course ended disastrously for the GOP.

Now, Sen. Cotton is making headlines again, this time for telling gay people they're lucky to be alive.  "I think it’s important we have a sense of perspective about our priorities,” Sen. Cotton told CNN's Wolf Blitzer Wednesday. "In Iran, they hang you for the crime of being gay."

Think Progress, which first reported on the story, notes that "While Cotton is correct that LGBT people in America are not routinely executed, violence against LGBT Americans remains a significant problem."

And in an Editor's blog post titled "Really Stupid People," Talking Points Memo publisher Josh Marshall called Cotton "a one-noter."

Cotton, in his Iran comment, seemingly only stated what the "godly folk" would like to do to gays.   Fanning the flames of hate are some of the usual suspects from "Christian" organizations.  Meanwhile, others in the GOP piled on.  Here is a sampling:

Mike Huckabee:  Huckabee told FRC president Tony Perkins, the host of the program, that the gay community has turned the controversies surrounding “religious freedom” legislation in Arkansas and Indiana into a “phony crisis.”

Perkins contended that gay people who are denied service by a business should simply try to find another shop that will serve them rather than filing a lawsuit against discriminatory business owners. “Where will it stop?” he asked Huckabee.

“It won’t stop until there are no more churches, until there are no more people who are spreading the Gospel,” Huckabee replied, “and I’m talking now about the unabridged, unapologetic Gospel that is really God’s truth.”


Mat Staver: Mat Staver once again compared gay rights advocates to terrorists, telling WND radio host Greg Corombos that the LGBT community won’t stop until it wins a “special, protected, preferred status for homosexuality” and “then if they get that, boy are they going to come and hammer you hard with it.”

“Their agenda doesn’t stop until they are completely dominating anybody who ultimately does not not only agree but promote and affirm their lifestyle,” Staver said. “Their agenda will not stop, it will ultimately result in fines and prosecution. This is an intolerant agenda.” He went on to liken gay rights supporters to the Hamas terrorists.

Pat Robertson: Hampton Roads' own village idiot again shot off his mouth to the embarrassment of the entire region:.   Pat Robertson repeated his criticism of the gay community in the wake of the controversy surrounding a new Indiana law which gives businesses the right to deny service to LGBT customers, among others. 

This led Robertson to a tirade about how gay people will force others to embrace anal sex and bestiality.  “It doesn’t matter what custom you’ve got, it doesn’t matter what holy thing that you worship and adore, the gays are going to get it,” Robertson said. “They’re going to make you conform to them. You are going to say you like anal sex, you like oral sex, you like bestiality.

There are many more chilling and/or insane quotes.  The take away?  There is little wonder that 33% of Millennials have walked away from religion.  Frankly, I cannot blame them.  It is far, far past time that religious belief and the "godly folk" cease to be afforded any deference whatsoever.

Tom Cotton: Dumber than Michele Bachmann?

GOP Senator Tom Cotton - the numb nuts who dreamed up the Senate Republican letter to Iran - seems to be on a mission to (i) prove he's even dumber than Michele Bachmann and (ii) destroy any pretense the GOP may have had that it was the superior party when it comes to foreign policy.  On Face the Nation yesterday, Cotton proved he seemingly know little or no geography and is likely challenged when he tries to walk and chew gum at the same time.  All he needs to do now is learn to mimic the Bachmann "crazy eye" stare and he will truly be the male version of Bachmann - which, of course, will make him the darling of the knuckle draggers of the GOP base.  An article in The Raw Story looks at Cotton's idiocy on display.  Here are excerpts:

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) on Sunday cited Iran’s control of their own capital, Tehran, as a reason that the country had to be stopped from obtaining a nuclear weapon. 

In a interview on CBS, Face the Nation host Bob Schieffer pointed out that Cotton’s letter to Iran, which was also signed by 46 other Republican senators, may have undermined President Barack Obama’s ability to get a nuclear deal with Iran.

“Moreover, we have to stand up to Iran’s attempts to drive for regional dominance,” he continued. “They already control Tehran and, increasingly, they control Damascus and Beirut and Baghdad. And now, Sana’a as well.”

Cotton told Schieffer that he had “no regrets at all” about sending the letter to Iran. 

 As I have said before, to be a Republican nowadays, one must be (i) insane, (ii) a religious fanatic, (iii) white supremacist, and/or (iv) have had a lobotomy.   Cotton seems to meet both categories (i) and (iv).

Army General Trashes Tom "Male Michele Bachmann" Cotton

With Michele Bachmann no longer in Congress - although she continues to utter batshit crazy remarks - it increasingly seems that not ready for prime time Senator Tom Cotton is the new Bachmann substitute.  All he has to do is get down the crazy eye stares to complete the package.  If he wants to perfect his village idiot persona, he can bleach his hair blond so that we can call him a blond bimbo as well.  Retired Army Major Gen. Paul D. Eaton is none too happy with Cotton and while stopping short of calling him a traitor suggested that he was leading a "mutiny."  A piece in the Washington Post looks at the general's trashing of Cotton.  Here are excerpts:

The open letter to the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran signed by 47 senators and instigated by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) was a stunning breach of protocol. One so outrageous that my former colleagues at the New York Daily News dubbed the signers “traitors.” While it is indeed a slap in the face of President Obama and an affront to the presidency, I’m not sure I would go that far, especially since Cotton is an Army veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. So, I turned to retired Major Gen. Paul D. Eaton for perspective. He wouldn’t say Cotton and Co. were “traitors,” either. He had a better word.

“I would use the word mutinous,” said Eaton, whose long career includes training Iraqi forces from 2003 to 2004. He is now a senior adviser to VoteVets.org. . . . they defied the chain of command in what could be construed as an illegal act.” 

Eaton certainly had stern words for Cotton. “What Senator Cotton did is a gross breach of discipline, and especially as a veteran of the Army, he should know better,” . . .
to directly engage a foreign entity, in this way, undermining the strategy and work of our diplomats and our Commander in Chief, strains the very discipline and structure that our foreign relations depend on, to succeed.”

 The consequences of Cotton’s missive were plainly apparent to Eaton. “The breach of discipline is extremely dangerous, because undermining our diplomatic efforts, at this moment, brings us another step closer to a very costly and perilous war with Iran,” he said. . . .  “I think Senator Cotton recognizes this, and he simply does not care,”. . . . 

“I expect better from the men and women who wore the uniform,” Eaton said of Cotton. And the American people deserve better from the Senate.

Mutineers are typically court martialed and imprisoned - an idea I find attractive for Mr. Cotton.  And should his stunt lead us to war with Iran, he should be forced to resign his seat in the Senate and go to the front - preferably leading at the front of a charge like the civil war generals (who suffered a very high mortality rate).  Perhaps all 47 Republicans should have to do the same.  Just saying  . . . 

The Iran Letter and the GOP's Inability to Govern

If one has watched the transformation of the Republican Party from a political party where a decent, moral person who values knowledge, logic and contending with objective reality could feel at home to today's insane asylum controlled by extremists and fanatics, two trends are easily seen.  The first is the rise of the Christofascists and all the poison that has brought.  The second is the change in focus of GOP elected officials from actually looking out for the best interests of America and seeking to govern to a place where the sole focus is on appealing to the hate, bigotry and delusions of the party base.  There is no long term plan and no vision of governing.  It's all about self-prostitution to religious whack jobs and racists with a strong dash of pandering to the wealthy.  A piece in the Washington Post by a conservative columnist laments the GOP's growing unfitness to govern.  Here are excerpts:

The true scandal of the Tom Cotton letter to Iranian leaders is the manner in which the Republican Senate apparently conducts its affairs. 

The document was crafted by a senator with two months of experience under his belt. It was signed by some members rushing off the Senate floor to catch airplanes, often with little close analysis. Many of the 47 signatories reasoned that Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s endorsement was vetting enough. There was no caucus-wide debate about strategy; no consultation with Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who has studiously followed the nuclear talks (and who refused to sign).

This was a foreign policy maneuver, in the middle of a high-stakes negotiation, with all the gravity and deliberation of a blog posting. In timing, tone and substance, it raises questions about the Republican majority’s capacity to govern. 

The exact shape of a possible Iran deal remains unknown. I’m on record predicting that it may be a bad one — a very unlikely throw of the dice that a terror-sponsoring, clerical regime will become a minimally responsible regional power.

But the half-baked Cotton letter was a poor instrument to express concern. First, the bleedingly obvious: If Republican senators want to make the point that an Iran deal requires a treaty, they should make that case to the American people, not to the Iranians. Congress simply has no business conducting foreign policy with a foreign government, especially an adversarial one. Every Republican who pictures his or her feet up on the Resolute Desk should fear this precedent.

[T]he main result is not a weakened presidency but a weakened legislature. Corker has been toiling with the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), to craft legislation that would require Senate approval of an Iran deal. Before the Cotton letter, Corker was two votes away from a veto-proof, bipartisan majority. Now Obama and Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) are using the letter to argue that Republicans are engaged only in partisan games. 

A final objection to the Cotton letter concerns not institutional positioning but grand strategy. The alternative to a bad nuclear deal is not war; it is strong sanctions and covert actions to limit Iranian capacities until the regime falls (as it came close to doing in 2009) or demonstrates behavior change in a variety of areas. But this approach depends on the tightening of sanctions in cooperation with Europe, as well as Russia and China. And this effort can be held together only by the impression that the United States has negotiated with Iran in good faith.

The Cotton letter creates the impression that Senate Republicans are rooting for negotiations to fail — which would complicate our attempt to maintain strong sanctions if negotiations end up failing. 

[J]ustifying a bad idea by recounting a history of bad ideas is a particularly bad way to conduct foreign policy. It is the crutch of a partisan, not the argument of a statesman. This is presumably the reason we have a Senate, not only a House. A six-year term should ensure an extra 30 minutes to read a document and think through its implications.

Tom Cotton - A Male Michele Bachmann?

I will admit that I cannot help myself when it comes to piling on GOP Senator Tom Cotton.  The man seems hell bent to become the male replacement for the seriously unhindered Michele Bachmann.  Like Bachmann, Cotton seems to revel in his ignorance and willing to say literally anything required in order to thoroughly prostitute himself to the ugliest elements of the GOP base.  A piece in Talking Points Memo looks at Cotton's effort to out crazy Bachmann.   Here are highlights:

Cotton actually has as much in common with the Frank Gaffney/Crazy Town Steve King/Michele Bachmann world. Related yes, but not precisely the same. Here's the lead quote from that MoJo [Mother Jones] article. "Groups like the Islamic State collaborate with drug cartels in Mexico who have clearly shown they're willing to expand outside the drug trade into human trafficking and potentially even terrorism. They could infiltrate our defenseless border and attack us right here in places like Arkansas."  Sound familiar?

Cottonites think the (Barack Hussein) Obama White House is infiltrated by the Muslim Brotherhood and is bringing down the border fence to facilitate incursions by the Mexican Drug Cartel/Hezbollah/ISIS alliance to launch the decisive attack your local convenience store.

Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton - Insane Batshitery is Now the GOP Normal

Sen. Tom Cotton - traitor or brainless idiot?

In the wake of the infamous letter to Iran signed by 47 Republican Senators, all kinds of accusations of treason and lesser offenses are being thrown at the Republican cretins who signed the letter - most probably in a quest to prostitute themselves to the white supremacist base of the party.   Meanwhile, even more focus is coming to bear on Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton who was behind the letter in the first place.  And the picture of Cotton which is emerging is not pretty.  Deliberate lies, extremism and a disregard for truth and veracity seem to be the norm for Cotton.  As The Raw Story is reporting, Cotton even told one uninsured constituent not to sign up for coverage under the Affordable Health Care Act because, if she did, Russian mobsters would steal her identity.  Here are story highlights:

Arkansas Republican Senator Tom Cotton has been in the news for spearheading a coalition of 47 Senators who are trying to kill any deal with Iran by warning its leadership that Obama is only in office for another 21 months.

But long before Cotton had fame and his seat in the Senate, he was a little-known member of the House of Representatives. On November 23rd, 2013, he held a town hall meeting in his district in Hot Springs, Arkansas at the Clarion Lake Resort. The meeting was organized primarily to discuss the Affordable Care Act, most specifically the mishaps with the websites governing the health insurance exchanges.

At one point, a constituent submitted a question mentioning that her insurance plan had been cancelled and she refuses to utilize the exchanges that Obama, who she calls a liar, set up.  Rather than telling her that she has an obligation for her own health to seek insurance, Cotton goaded her on, telling her that he himself wouldn’t use the exchange website because “Russian mobsters” may steal his identity.

COTTON: I have to say I share Tammy’s concerns about her personal information. I have to buy any kind of insurance plan that I might buy through the exchange. And I am certainly not going on the exchange to shop right now. I  did in early October just because I knew that it would crash and I would prove a point. But I certainly wouldn’t put my Social Security number or my tax information in there right now until I’m 100% confident that it’s not going to be stolen by Russian mobsters and I’d have my identity stolen and sold on the black market internationally.

For a man who has railed on a supposed threat from the dangers of Iran, he is awfully comfortable subjecting his own constituents to the dangers of no health coverage.

In short, as more information comes out, it becomes increasingly obvious that Cotton is unfit to even hold a high school student council position much less a U.S. Senator.  All of which, of course, means that Cotton is perfectly fit to be a darling of the GOP base.  Once upon a time - e.g., before the take over of the GOP by the Christofascists/Tea Party - someone like Cotton would never has risen to hold a u.S. Senate seat.  Now, mental midgets and extremists like Cotton are the norm in today's GOP.  My Republican ancestors must be spinning in their graves. 

The Delusional World of Republicania.

Sen. Tom Cotton - would be traitor?

In some ways the letter sent to Iran by 47 Republican senators is the logical outcome of the rise of the Christofascists (including those hiding under the Tea Party moniker) within the Republican Party.  The "godly folk" consistently see them selves as above the laws and practices that govern the rest of us and consistently put their "deeply held religious beliefs" over science and objective reality.  Thus, it should be little surprise that those in the U.S. Senate who have prostituted themselves to the embrace of ignorance and bigotry demanded by the GOP base would act as they have.  As a piece in the Washington Post notes, it is all part of the Christofascist/Republican desire to form a break away nation state where their batshitery reins supreme.  Here are column excerpts:

The New York Daily News branded Senate Republicans “TRAITORS” in large type across its cover Tuesday, saying, “GOPers try to sabotage Bam nuke deal.”

That’s not quite right. It’s true that 47 Republican senators did their level best to bring us closer to war by writing a letter to Iran’s mullahs, attempting to scuttle nuclear talks with the United States. But Republicans aren’t exactly subverting the United States. It’s more as if they’re operating their own independent republic on Capitol Hill. Call it the State of Republicania. 

Its prime minister, John Boehner, invited his Israeli counterpart, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to criticize U.S. foreign policy last week before a joint meeting of the Republicania parliament. The American president wasn’t consulted.  


Mitch McConnell, the Republicania home secretary, wrote an op-ed last week in the Lexington Herald-Leader explicitly urging states to refuse to implement a major new power-plant regulation issued by the U.S. government.

And now we have Tom Cotton, Republicania’s young foreign minister, submitting “An Open Letter to the Leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” counseling Iran’s leaders that any agreement reached by the United States but not ratified by Republicania could be undone “with the stroke of a pen” (assuming the next president comes from Republicania).

But why stop there? . . . Jim Inhofe, Republicania’s environment minister, could undo recent efficiency improvements at the Capitol Power Plant, and the Capitol Police could become Republicania’s military, under the command of John McCain as defense minister.

[T]he breakaway republic could abandon church-state separation and everything else in the Bill of Rights except for the Second Amendment). Thus could Republicania become a happy little city-state — a Luxembourg on the Anacostia. 

Cotton provided a clue about his motives: He’d had a breakfast date with the National Defense Industrial Association — a trade group for Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing and the like. 

You’re not allowed to know what Cotton said to the defense contractors. The event was “off the record and strictly non-attribution.” But you can bet it was what Dwight Eisenhower meant when he warned of the military-industrial complex.

If Senate Republicans blow up nuclear talks, it makes war with Iran that much more likely — and nobody would benefit as much from that war as military contractors.

Cotton, who after just two months on the job has led his colleagues to break with more than two centuries of foreign policy tradition.

Cotton, appearing on CNN on Tuesday morning, maintained that his effort was not political. “Nor do I believe this letter is unprecedented,” he said — although the Republicania national archivists have not found a precedent. . . . Republicania archivists are unlikely to locate such documents, because they were never written. 

Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), one of just seven Republican senators not to sign Cotton’s letter to the ayatollahs, said she thought it “more appropriate for members of the Senate to give advice to the president” and U.S. negotiators.  Spoken like a true American — which, in the corridors of Republicania these days, is nigh unto treason. 

Yes, the piece is satire in some ways, but it gets to a truth that the majority of Americans need to grasp and soon: today's GOP is unfit to govern and needs to become a permanent minority party unless and until it permanently exiles the Christofascists and their minions to the political wilderness and again embraces science, logic, reason and objective reality.  Like its delusional base, the GOP has now become a threat to America.  As for Tom Cotton, if the GOP gets its wish and involves America in another Middle East war, lets make him resign from the Senate and send his sorry ass in the first wave of ground troops in Iran.