What Will Happen When Red States Need Help with Covid-19?

By many accounts Donald Trump has played political favoritism in doling out coronavirus aid and has bad mouthed governors of blue states yet at some point the virus crisis is going to engulf red states - many of which have been slow to enact stay home orders and other measures to slow the spread of the virus. Some red states still have not taken such measures.  While Trump hasn't paid a price as yet since blue states won't vote for him anyway, the equation could rapidly change as red states find themselves slipping into crisis mode.  Suddenly, Trump's failed leadership and ego driven reaction to the crisis could have serious political consequences.  A piece in The Atlantic looks at what may transpire in the near term.  Here are excerpts:

On Sunday morning, President Donald Trump got on the phone with Mayor Bill de Blasio to discuss what New York City needs to survive a white-hot outbreak that is only getting worse. De Blasio asked him to send more ventilators and military personnel, warning that in a week’s time, the health-care system could be overwhelmed.  

Until recently, de Blasio told me, none of his calls to the upper reaches of the White House were returned. Two weeks ago, the Democratic mayor said publicly that Trump was “betraying” his native city by not sending more life-saving medical equipment. Ever sensitive to criticism, Trump said, in turn: “I’m not dealing with him.”

Defeating a pandemic is hard enough, but Trump has introduced another layer of complexity: He has personalized the battlefield. He calls COVID-19 “the invisible enemy,” but he also seems fixated on the visible variety—all Democratic leaders, who in his view have been insufficiently grateful for the federal government’s response.

But Democrats can be useful foils for only so long—the virus is already moving beyond blue-state hot spots into the rural red states that are the pillars of Trump’s support. As more people become infected in broader swaths of the country, Trump will face a fresh wave of calls for ventilators, masks, and money. It won’t be so easy to demonize a handful of discontented governors and mayors. Complaints will be coming from friends.Trump has called Washington Governor Jay Inslee a “snake” and said he won’t speak to him. Inslee’s team sounds utterly baffled about what to do. “We’re trying to act as if we’re interacting with a normal president, or at least a normal Republican president,” an aide in Inslee’s administration told me.

“The administration’s response in general has been an abysmal failure, and he compounds that failure by regularly attacking the governors to whom he has passed the buck,” Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, told me. “I just don’t think we can allow ourselves to normalize a president who is politically attacking the very governors who are trying to save lives right now in the absence of real federal leadership.”

Inside the White House, there seems to be little sympathy for some of the Democratic governors who have complained the loudest. . . . . Trump, though, is sensitive to anything he sees as ingratitude. If his administration sends planeloads of ventilators—a national resource—he wants a thank you, not a complaint about why it didn’t come sooner.

“It’s unprecedented that a president in the middle of something like this would ask you to bow down and kiss his you-know-what in order to get things that every citizen in the United States should get right now,” Jim Ananich, the Democratic leader of the Michigan state Senate, told me.

The virus’s spread will create political pressures Trump has so far escaped. At first the disease took root in densely packed blue states where many residents travel internationally and to which tourists flock. Trump seized on that fact, pointing to red states that have had comparatively few infections.

Conservative pundits have amplified Trump’s message. “These spreads are mainly in the blue states,” the author Dinesh D’Souza said in a recent Fox News appearance. “What I find kind of interesting is these blue-state governors and mayors, they’re criticizing Trump, but they also have the outstretched hand.”

Over time, though, Trump may find even some of his closest political allies demanding more help from the White House. Republicans’ traditional aversion to government intervention and economic aid will face a severe test as more and more of their constituents fall ill. Health experts expect infections to appear more widely as people living in red America travel out of state and then return home, and as people in stricken areas venture out.

“New York is the hardest-hit state right now only because New York has been doing more testing per capita pretty much than anyone else, and New York has a much higher population density, which is what we would expect,” Michael LeVasseur, an epidemiology and biostatistics professor at Drexel University, told me.

Before long, Republicans may be the ones with the outstretched hands. How Trump responds will prove revealing. Will he see pleas for help as more legitimate when they’re coming from red states rather than blue?

Trump Allies Attack and Intimidate Journalists

Taking another page from the Nazi regime in Germany in the early 1930's, Trump minions and sycophants are now actively targeting journalists and legitimate news outlets that report on the misdeeds and corruption of Donald Trump, a/k/a Der Trumpenführer on this blog, and his cronies and cabinet officials.  The goal is to intimidate the press and impose a form of self-censorship that is a direct attack on democracy and the role of the free press in exposing official corruption and wrongdoing.  Anyone who cares about democracy and the U.S. Constitution should be very afraid of what this organized campaign says about Trump's contempt for the rule of law and desire to rule as an authoritarian. Do NOT fall for Trump's claims that he is not directly involved in this effort. Here are highlights from the New York Times, one of the targeted news outlets, on this dangerous and sinister development:

A loose network of conservative operatives allied with the White House is pursuing what they say will be an aggressive operation to discredit news organizations deemed hostile to President Trump by publicizing damaging information about journalists.

It is the latest step in a long-running effort by Mr. Trump and his allies to undercut the influence of legitimate news reporting. Four people familiar with the operation described how it works, asserting that it has compiled dossiers of potentially embarrassing social media posts and other public statements by hundreds of people who work at some of the country’s most prominent news organizations.

The group has already released information about journalists at CNN, The Washington Post and The New York Times — three outlets that have aggressively investigated Mr. Trump — in response to reporting or commentary that the White House’s allies consider unfair to Mr. Trump and his team or harmful to his re-election prospects.

The research is said to extend to members of journalists’ families who are active in politics, as well as liberal activists and other political opponents of the president. . . . . Some involved in the operation have histories of bluster and exaggeration. And those willing to describe its techniques and goals may be trying to intimidate journalists or their employers.

[A]mong the central players in the operation is Arthur Schwartz, a combative 47-year-old conservative consultant who is a friend and informal adviser to Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son. Mr. Schwartz has worked with some of the right’s most aggressive operatives, including the former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon.

“If the @nytimes thinks this settles the matter we can expose a few of their other bigots,” Mr. Schwartz tweeted on Thursday in response to an apologetic tweet from a Times journalist whose anti-Semitic social media posts had just been revealed by the operation. “Lots more where this came from.”

The information unearthed by the operation has been commented on and spread by officials inside the Trump administration and re-election campaign, as well as conservative activists and right-wing news outlets such as Breitbart News. In the case of the Times editor, the news was first published by Breitbart, immediately amplified on Twitter by Donald Trump Jr. and, among others, . . .

The Trump campaign said it was unaware of, and not involved in, the effort, but suggested that it served a worthy purpose. “We know nothing about this, but it’s clear that the media has a lot of work to do to clean up its own house,” said Tim Murtaugh, the campaign’s communications director.

The campaign is consistent with Mr. Trump’s long-running effort to delegitimize critical reporting and brand the news media as an “enemy of the people.” [Trump] The president has relentlessly sought to diminish the credibility of news organizations and cast them as politically motivated opponents.  Journalism, he said in a tweet last week, is “nothing more than an evil propaganda machine for the Democrat Party.”

[U]sing journalistic techniques to target journalists and news organizations as retribution for — or as a warning not to pursue — coverage critical of [Trump] the president is fundamentally different from the well-established role of the news media in scrutinizing people in positions of power.

“If it’s clearly retaliatory, it’s clearly an attack, it’s clearly not journalism,” said Leonard Downie Jr., who was the executive editor of The Post from 1991 to 2008. Tension between a president and the news media that covers him is nothing new, Mr. Downie added. But an organized, wide-scale political effort to intentionally humiliate journalists and others who work for media outlets is.

A. G. Sulzberger, the publisher of The Times, said in a statement that such tactics were taking the president’s campaign against a free press to a new level.  “They are seeking to harass and embarrass anyone affiliated with the leading news organizations that are asking tough questions and bringing uncomfortable truths to light,” Mr. Sulzberger said. “The goal of this campaign is clearly to intimidate journalists from doing their job, which includes serving as a check on power and exposing wrongdoing when it occurs. The Times will not be intimidated or silenced.”

In a statement, a CNN spokesman said that when government officials, “and those working on their behalf, threaten and retaliate against reporters as a means of suppression, it’s a clear abandonment of democracy for something very dangerous.”

Trump’s Dangerous Belief the Media Can’t Criticize Him

Back during the 2017 Virginia gubernatorial campaign now Governor Ralph Northam described Donald Trump as a "narcissistic maniac."  When challenged about the comment, Northam replied: “You know, I’m a pediatric neurologist, there’s a lot of overlap between psychiatry and neurology, and I would invite the viewers to look up the criteria for narcissism … I think they’ll see some familiarity with what they’ll see.”  Back in July, Northam recounted the episode to the husband and I while we were at the Executive Mansion.  He seems to be standing by his medical assessment and rightly so in light of Trump's vitriolic reaction to any criticism, especially by the mainstream media which has an obligation, in my view, to keep public officials accountable and to expose their lies.  If anything, Trump's attacks on critics is becoming more maniacal and completely consistent with his unbridled narcissism.  A piece in New York Magazine looks at this dangerous, malignant narcissist behavior.  Here are excerpts:

The news of a wave of mail bombs sent to various critics of President Trump was a genuinely frightening moment, and in such moments modern Americans instinctively turn to the president to perform the office’s role of ceremonial head of state. Much of the cable-news chatter focused on whether, or for how many minutes, Trump could stick to the dignified script of denouncing violence and advocating civility. The unsurprising answer was: not very long.

But the important issue here is not Trump’s inability to convincingly advocate civility for an entire news cycle. Indeed, civility is not really the question at all. The issue is Trump’s conviction that he should not be subjected to any scrutiny or criticism.

That view came through despite Trump’s attempt to deliver a scripted denunciation of political violence. “The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and stop the endless hostility and constant negative and oftentimes false attacks,” Trump announced last night. A morning tweet completed the thought: A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!

[Trump] is developing what is a long-standing belief among conservatives: that the mainstream news is irredeemably biased, and should be ignored altogether in favor of an alternate ecosystem of party-controlled media.

But what has given Trump’s version of it unusual virulence is his belief that the media should be an uncritical conduit for his lies. This is the true through line of his entire career. Media manipulation, along with fraud and secret money infusions from his father, is the secret sauce of his career.

The corollary to Trump’s expectation that the news media unquestioningly transmit his lies is his demand that it refrain from criticism of any kind. He was fanatical about intimidating reporters with legal threats. He would wring apologies out of any skeptics, or even get them fired — not despite the fact the criticism was true but because it was true.

In his incarnation as a political candidate, Trump has mostly lost his ability to intimidate the media with legal threats. (Politicians have a prohibitively high standard for libel in the United States.) But his expectation and worldview are the same. Any news outlet not controlled by his loyalists is “fake news” and an “enemy of the people.”

The mail-bomb threats are the leverage he craves. They are the threat that can make good on his demand, the consequence facing the media for failing to submit to his orders.

It is a supreme irony that Trump used his speech last night to delegitimize criticism. “No one should carelessly compare political opponents to historical villains.” But the issue is that Trump, in his psychological makeup and aspirations, is precisely such a historical villain.

Trump Celebrates Assault Of Reporter

Donald Trump has been an apologist for the brutal Saudi regime that by all evidence had Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi murdered and dismembered. And, as the Washington Post is reporting, Trump supporters have mounted a whispering campaign against Jamal Khashoggi that is designed to protect President Trump from criticism of his handling of the dissident journalist’s alleged murder by operatives of Saudi Arabia. These efforts include highlighting his association with the Muslim Brotherhood in his youth and raising conspiratorial questions about his work decades ago.  The goal?  To telegraph the message that his murder was justified.  It is all part and parcel with Trump’s contempt for the free press which is the last backstop to keeping dishonest politicians and authoritarians honest and accountable.  If you doubt this, look at Trump's praise for Congressman Greg Gianforte's physical assault on a reporter at a rally last night in Montana.  Just as frightening, the crowd cheered.   All of this is reminiscent of Hitler's war against the free press as he rose to power - as is the behavior of far too many Americans who ought to know better if they are the moral people they pretend to be.  Here are highlights from ABC News on Trump's foul behavior:

Donald Trump kicked off a western tour in Montana on Thursday ostensibly to support Matt Rosendale as he attempts to unseat Sen. Jon Tester, but it was his praise for Congressman Greg Gianforte's physical assault on a reporter that stole the show.

Gianforte is running for re-election as the state’s lone seat in the House of Representatives, and made national headlines during a special election for assaulting a reporter in a moment caught on audio tape.

"Any guy that can do a body slam, he is my type!" Trump said to cheers.  "I was in Rome with leaders when I heard about it, and I heard that he body-slammed a reporter," Trump said.  Trump said he was afraid Gianforte would lose after the moment, but then recalled, "Wait a moment, I know Montana."

Gianforte pleaded guilty and was sentenced to community service for the incident. He apologized on the night of his election victory, saying, "When you make a mistake you have to own it."

For Trump, the Montana Senate race is personal. Trump came to Montana on the attack against Tester, a two-term Democratic senator, who is in a close race against Matt Rosendale, the current state auditor.

[Trump] The president has made it his mission to unseat Tester, whose office publically released information about alleged misconduct that led to White House physician Adm. Ronny Jackson’s failed nomination to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. Jackson denied allegations of misconduct and that he overprescribed medications, but eventually withdrew his name from consideration. Trump never forgot.

[Trump] The president spoke at length about immigration and falsely said that Democrats are supporting a caravan of immigrants traveling up from Central America. . . . “As you know, I’m willing to send the military to defend our Southern border if necessary all because of the illegal immigration onslaught brought by the Democrats because they refuse to acknowledge or to change the laws -- they like it,” Trump said. While Trump comfortably won the Big Sky state by 20 points, Tester, a moderate Democrat, maintains a slight lead in what has become one of the most expensive political contests in the small state’s history as millions of dollars have poured into Montana. It’s the president’s third trip to Montana, and Tester is only a few points ahead of Rosendale in recent polls.

Praising violence against journalists and playing on racial hatred - all perfectly fine with Trump supporters, including evangelical Christians who like the Pharisees of the Bible make a show of their feigned religiosity even as they betray Christ's message.  

The Trump Presidency is an Obscenity

With each passing day we witness more batshit crazy and vulgar behavior from the occupant of the White House, be it the man's coarseness in general or his gratuitous attacks on news anchors and now a video of himself wrestling with CNN.  None of this behavior is normal and the burden is to not allow it to so desensitize the population that such behavior becomes "acceptable" or normalized. Trump, of course , has man accomplices in the form of Vichy Republicans who will happily trash the constitution and all standards of normal political decency to cling to power. No one should be surprised with what we are witnessing: Trump had a lengthy track record in the media and on reality TV that should have warned anyone other than those eager to embrace his calls to racism, hatred and xenophobia that his election would be a disaster.  A column in the New York Times presses home the need to not be numbed by the barrage of insanity and to continue to resist the normalization of the obscene and abnormal.  Here are column excerpts:

Every now and then we are going to have to do this: Step back from the daily onslaughts of insanity emanating from Donald Trump’s parasitic presidency and remind ourselves of the obscenity of it all, registering its magnitude in its full, devastating truth.

There is something insidious and corrosive about trying to evaluate the severity of every offense, trying to give each an individual grade on the scale of absurdity. Trump himself is the offense. Everything that springs from him, every person who supports him, every staffer who shields him, every legislator who defends him, is an offense. Every partisan who uses him — against all he or she has ever claimed to champion — to advance a political agenda and, in so doing, places party over country, is an offense.

We must remind ourselves that Trump’s very presence in the White House defiles it and the institution of the presidency. Rather than rising to the honor of the office, Trump has lowered the office with his whiny, fragile, vindictive pettiness.
The presidency has been hijacked.

Last week, when Donald Trump attacked two MSNBC hosts, people were aghast. The condemnation came quickly and from all quarters.

But his words shouldn’t have shocked. His tweet was just another pebble on a mountain of vulgarities. This act of coarseness was in fact an act of continuity. Trump was being Trump: the grossest of the gross, a profanity against propriety.
 Republicans have bound themselves up with Trump. His fate is their fate. They have surrendered any moral authority to which they once laid claim — rightly or not. If Trump goes down, they all do.

It’s all quite odd, this moral impotence, this cowering before the belligerent, would-be king. A madman and his legislative minions are holding America hostage. . . . . It is what it is and has been from day one: The most extraordinary and profound electoral mistake America has made in our lifetimes and possibly ever.

We must say without ceasing, and without growing weary by the redundancy, that what we are witnessing is not normal and cannot go unchallenged. We must reaffirm our commitment to resistance.

We must remember that we now have a president exerting power to which he may only have access because a foreign power hostile to our interests wanted him installed. We must remember that he has not only praised that foreign power, he has proven mysteriously averse to condemning it or even acknowledging its meddling.

We must remember that there are multiple investigations ongoing about the degree of that interference in our election — including a criminal investigation — and that those investigations are not constrained to collusion and are far from fake news. These investigations are deadly serious, are about protecting the integrity of our elections and the sovereignty of our country and are about a genuine quest for truth and desire for justice.

Every action by this administration is an effort to push forward the appearance of normality, to squelch scrutiny, to diminish the authority and credibility of the ongoing investigations.

Donald Trump is depending on people’s fatigue. He is banking on your becoming overwhelmed by his never-ending antics. He is counting on his capacity to wear down the resistance by sheer force.

We must be adamant that that will never come to pass. Trump is an abomination, and a cancer on the country, and none of us can rest until he is no longer holding the reins of power.

Thoughts on the Shooting in Alexandria on Wednesday

Shooting victim Steve Scalise at a white supremacist gathering.

To avoid any misunderstanding, I am utterly opposed to the use of violence to solve political differences.  Thus, I abhor the shooting of Congressman Scalise this morning along with two members of the Capitol police and several Congressional staffers.   The gunman, whom authorities have identified him as James T. Hodgkinson, 66, from Belleville, Ill., a suburb of St. Louis, obviously should not have been allowed to possess an automatic rifle given his checkered history of violence, including misuse of firearms and violence against women.  Nonetheless, Hodgkinson reportedly had acquired and owned the weapons involved legally.   So who has championed unrestricted gun ownership?  Congressional Republicans, of course.  Today, they got a taste of the results of their self-prostitution to gun manufacturers.  Despite this Republican drive to abolish common sense gun control laws - a hearing had been set for today to loosen restrictions on buying gun silencers - many on the right are blaming the shooting on too much anger among Democrats and the media.  The hypocrisy is stunning for several reasons. First, Steve Scalise of all people has not standing to complain about fanning hatred.  As I reported more than two years ago, Scalise has an ugly history of supporting white supremacist groups.  And then there is the mushrooming of right wing hate that has been legitimized by Der Trumpenführer. For Republicans to whine about fanning hatred and gun violence is to ignore their role in fostering the atmosphere for violence and unlimited guns in the hands of those who should not have them.  A piece in Think Progress looks at the GOP hypocrisy.  Here are excerpts:

Republicans in Congress and the White House have been attacking the media all year, but one House member just tried to pin the blame for a mass shooting on the fourth estate.

Rep. Jack Bergman (R-MI) told Fox News Wednesday afternoon that “the media is complicit” in acts of violence like the mass shooting targeting members of Congress “if they keep inciting, as opposed to informing.”

Fox News anchor Melissa Francis then played a clip from Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) who said some of his best friends are Democrats and that the House passes a lot of bipartisan legislation, “but it’s the major issues that lead to political discourse that has in my opinion, led to such an uptick in just hateful, hateful rhetoric of all sides, and I stand here today and say stop. We have to stop.”

Bergman was attempting to pin the blame for the shooting on the media without offering much proof. The media, as a group, has been abused and demonized by Bergman’s party.

Greg Gianforte, who will still join Bergman’s caucus despite the fact he pled guilty to physically assaulting a journalist the day before, is the latest and most direct example of politicians attacking the media for doing their jobs. 

Texas Governor Greg Abbott (R) joked about shooting reporters at a gun range last month. Rep. Rodney Davis (R-IL) traced the violence that happened on Wednesday in another Fox News interview to “political rhetorical terrorism.”

Before and after becoming president, Donald Trump has used rallies to deliver brutal attacks on the media. He has baselessly accused the media of purposely covering up extremism attacks it didn’t want people to know about. He’s attacked them as his “opposition party,” and at rallies, directed the overflowing rage of his supporters at the media pen, causing some journalists to get direct threats. Trump’s Twitter attacks targeting journalists like Megyn Kelly and Katie Tur resulted in death threats. He defended his then-campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, when he was arrested for simple battery of a Breitbart reporter. The NRA, of all groups, has recently mimicked Trump’s rhetoric, telling members its job is to give “the media the big fat black eye it so often richly deserves.”

It is most ironic that these remarks were made to Fox News, a purveyor of lies, alt-right misinformation and fake news.   As I said above, perhaps the Republican Party is reaping the fruits of what it has sown for many years now and since the beginning of the Trump campaign in particular.  My best wishes to the staffers and police who were injured.  Perhaps the staffers may want to reconsider who and what they are working for.

Trump is Following the Authoritarian/Fascist Playbook

New York University history professor, Ruth Ben-Ghiat ,whose most recent book looks at fascism in Italy in the 1920-1930's has an op-ed at CNN that notes some dangerous aspects about Donald Trump (a/k/a, Der Fuhrer on this blog).  As she notes in the op-ed, she has spent decades studying authoritarian and fascist regimes and disturbingly sees in Trump a deeply familiar figure based on her studies: the strongman who cultivates a bond with followers based on loyalty to him as a person rather than to a party or set of principles.  What is distressing to me is the inability - deliberate refusal might be a better description - of many Americans to recognize the danger signs that Trump has been exhibiting for many years before he launched his presidential campaign.  Whether one voted for Trump or against him, her op-ed should be required reading.  History can and does repeat itself unless we oppose it.  Here are op-ed highlights:

In less than a week, America will embark on a new political experience: rule by an authoritarian President. Donald Trump won the Electoral College but lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million. So, for every American who looks forward to the Trump era, there is likely another who fears he will lead us into ruin.

What can we expect from Donald Trump, based on his words and actions over the 19 months since he declared his candidacy?

Many Americans were initially confused by Trump and his unorthodox behavior, or dismissed him as a joke. I have spent decades studying authoritarian and fascist regimes and saw in Trump a deeply familiar figure: the strongman who cultivates a bond with followers based on loyalty to him as a person rather than to a party or set of principles.

Such individuals inevitably seek to adapt the political office they inhabit to serve their needs. They are clear from the start about this intention, refusing to submit to shared customs and norms -- such as releasing tax returns -- that would mean they were submitting to the will of the political class. Anyone who believes that Trump will morph into anything resembling a traditional politician will be sorely disappointed. Authoritarians never pivot.
 He has been open and unconcerned about his most provocative character traits -- his penchant for aggression and for serial untruths -- from the start of his campaign. Two years ago, he boasted that he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and not lose any voters -- and voters still rewarded him with the GOP nomination and the presidency. What incentive does he have to change now?

Trump has followed the authoritarian playbook in targeting the media. And once in power he's very likely to step up his attempts at intimidation.

Strongmen show aggression to the press as part of a slow-drip strategy of discrediting all information that is not dispensed by their close allies. Many were surprised at Trump's rude treatment of CNN at his recent press conference. Calling the media outlet "fake news," he refused to allow reporter Jim Acosta to ask a question. This was classic authoritarian posturing.

Trump was delivering a lesson: anyone, no matter how powerful, can be humiliated and deprived of access if they displease him. No wonder Trump's Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan praised him for putting Acosta "in his place."

We can hope that Trump does not follow Erdogan's criminalization of the media (thousands of Turkish journalists have been arrested). But recall the fencing-off of journalists at Trump's campaign rallies and his incitement of the crowd to treat them in a hostile manner. This does not bode well. The media must push back strongly now or pay a heavy price later.

Strongmen also target the judiciary, since it stands in the way of their "reforms" that often veer into extra-legality. Those with a history of legal troubles can be particularly focused on this sector. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, whose conflicts of interest and legal involvements were so numerous that they have their own Wikipedia pages, spent enormous energy attacking the Italian judiciary.

So look forward to Trump administration efforts to tar individual judges who seem to block the fulfillment of GOP agendas or interfere with Trump's personal interests.

One more thing: Authoritarians love to think they are making history, and never hesitate to rewrite the past to suit their political agendas. Trump's use of racism as a campaign tool laid the foundations for what will be a concerted effort to delegitimize the history of civil rights struggles in our country.

Trump often levies tweet-attacks on those who criticize him, but his denigration of Representative John Lewis on the Martin Luther King holiday weekend sends a message that he intends to fulfill promises to his white voters to try and reverse the course of racial emancipation.

"Be courageous or be complicit," Representative Cedric Richmond recently stated in his testimony against Senator Jeff Sessions. The Trump administration promises to test that wisdom.

Each of us can stand our ground in our own way, but the lessons that come to us from a century of authoritarian rule around the world -- and the civil rights movement in America -- meet up in one phrase: Do not lose hope. Do not hide away. Be visible and be heard, on the street and in phone calls to your elected officials.

Some of us have taken our freedoms for granted. We now have a reason to value them all the more. We also have a chance to decide what side of history we want to be on. 

Yes, many "friends" who voted for Trump do not want to admit that they made a huge mistake.  At some point in the near future, however, I suspect they will have to decide if they will stand with fascism or with the U.S. Constitution. Personally, I have no intention to act like a 1933 German who through inaction and/or active support of the reprehensible helped to elevate the Nazi regime. 

Russian Hackers' Cyber Attacks On New York Times

It increasingly seems that whoever or whatever institution is a perceived enemy of Donald Trump - i.e., anyone or any publication that doesn't only report glowing stories about the Donald - is becoming a target of Russian cyber hackers.   First it was the DNC, then Hillary Clinton's campaign, and now it is the New York Times which has been producing much needed exposure of Trump's seamy underbelly and unflattering coverage of Trump's perhaps house of cards real estate empire.  Indeed, Trump has invited Russian hackers to go after his political enemies.  The Washington Post looks at this unsettling cyber attack.  One can only wonder what's the next target or targets.  Here are story highlights:

Donald Trump insists he has "nothing to do with Russia" — but Russia's recent moves sure make it look as if it is trying to do something for him.

CNN reported Tuesday afternoon that hackers whom U.S. officials believe to be working for the Russian government have launched cyberattacks against the New York Times and other news outlets.

The Times followed up with a slightly different account Tuesday evening, reporting an attack on its Moscow bureau and adding that "there is no evidence that the hackers, believed to be Russian, were successful." The Times also reported that the FBI is investigating the attempted hack but is not looking into similar incidents involving other news agencies.

Trump has famously invited the Kremlin to go after emails that Hillary Clinton deleted, citing privacy.

"Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing," Trump said at a news conference last month.  But during the same event, he called the idea that he can tell Russian hackers where to aim "so far-fetched."

Still, it could be possible for Trump to influence the selection of targets without knowing it, especially if Russia would prefer to see him in the White House. Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised Trump as "a really brilliant and talented person," and Trump has lauded Putin as a "strong leader." Former U.S. ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul wrote in The Washington Post last week that "Putin not only has strong motives for wanting Trump to win over Clinton but also has some means to try to influence our presidential vote."

Cyberattacks are among the means, McFaul noted, pointing to the release of hacked Democratic National Committee emails shortly before the party's national convention. U.S. intelligence officials said they think Russia was behind the breach, which embarrassed Trump's political foes.

If Russian hackers were to take cues from Trump, media companies — and the New York Times, specifically — would surely be on the hit list. The business executive often rails against the "failing" New York Times and the "scum" in the media. He has vowed to "open up" libel laws, if elected, to make it easier to sue news organizations over negative coverage.  In short, Trump treats journalists as political opponents.

There is still plenty we don't know about this attempted media hack, but it is hardly a stretch to say that a candidate who would "love to have" the power to direct Russian hackers also would probably love to see them infiltrate the digital networks of the media companies he views as enemies. Journalists unsettled by his blacklisting of certain outlets, including The Post, and Trump's recent hiring of the lawyer who helped drive Gawker into bankruptcy certainly won't feel any more at ease now.