CPAC - the Coup Continues

[Elixir]

Former members of the Republican party, now the Nazi Revolutionary Army (NRA), gathered this week to affirm their fealty to their Lord and Master.
The first agenda item was to pray to Trump, with each prominent Bishop of the Trump religion reiterating The Big Lie to elicit and ensure the Lord's blessing:

CPAC is promoting Donald Trump’s big lie of election fraud


Reverends Cruz, Hawley, Gaetz and a host of less likely hopefuls, all convinced that Lord Donald will not deign to run for President in 2024, are jockeying for position to inherit the earth - or at least the votes of the idiots who would have voted for Trump. The Lord's blessing is considered the only requirement to prevail in an NRA primary, and while a loss in the general election is a foregone conclusion, the Holy Day of 1/6/2021 gave credence to the belief that with proper force exerted at the proper time, the power of government can be theirs nonetheless.

Formerly self-identified as "Christians" that considered The Bible a Holy Text, NRA members are now wedded to equally inscrutable snippets of Trump speeches.
Once Holy symbols such as crucifixes have been supplanted by golden idols:

 

[GenesisNemesis]

Also the CPAC stage is shaped like a Nazi symbol- the Odal rune. Odd coincidence! Very odd.

 

[marc]

Also the CPAC stage is shaped like a Nazi symbol- the Odal rune. Odd coincidence! Very odd.

Better picture of the Odal rune

 

[Elixir]

Well yeah - a lot of thought went into that, obviously.

 

[Jarhyn]

Well yeah - a lot of thought went into that, obviously.

View attachment 32099

Holy shit. Just...

Holy shit.

So, a little story. "Love your neighbor as yourself" is supposed to be the most important rule of the whole bible. Christ was asked point blank what the most important law was and he said as much.

America First is not loving your neighbor as yourself. It is loving yourself first. Nationalism (my nation first) is this a direct and willful violation of that most important law.

Nationalism is Anti-christian.

Leaders of nationalist movements are anti-christian. Not just not christian but actively and enthusiastically violating it's most important law, right on the name of the tin.

What I can say, without invoking a No-True-Scotsman (as this is literal voice-of-the-author cannon), is that these people are not true christians. They are anti-christian. In an anti-christian cult, following a leader who is an anti-christ: they preach doing anti-the-thing-christ-said.

As to what Christian dogma says about those who are anti-christ I am not particularly concerned: I will fight these things for my own reasons, owing to the fact that such nationalism is deleterious in it's own right.

But for anyone who claims to be a christian, you need to get right with your god, and that means putting down nationalism.

 

[Treedbear]

Also the CPAC stage is shaped like a Nazi symbol- the Odal rune. Odd coincidence! Very odd.

... and in South Africa by the Anglo-Afrikaner Bond, the Boeremag

The Boeremag is the label given[by whom?] to a group of men convicted of treason in South Africa, whose government described them as a South African right-wing terrorist organization with white separatist aims. The Boeremag were accused of planning to overthrow the ruling African National Congress government and to reinstate a new Boer-administered republic reminiscent of the era when Boers administered independent republics during the 19th century following the Great Trek.

 

[Elixir]

Also the CPAC stage is shaped like a Nazi symbol- the Odal rune. Odd coincidence! Very odd.

... and in South Africa by the Anglo-Afrikaner Bond, the Boeremag

The Boeremag is the label given[by whom?] to a group of men convicted of treason in South Africa, whose government described them as a South African right-wing terrorist organization with white separatist aims. The Boeremag were accused of planning to overthrow the ruling African National Congress government and to reinstate a new Boer-administered republic reminiscent of the era when Boers administered independent republics during the 19th century following the Great Trek.

Yup. The Trump party has abandoned most of its pretense to any "American values". Its offer of authoritarian takeover of the American government, by violence if necessary, has been embraced by its 38% Faithful.
Now they are unafraid to go into the next presidential election cycle as sure losers, knowing that they can conduct a forceful coup attempt and suffer no consequences even if they fail. At this point they see no incentive to refrain from pursuing the aim of turning this country into a purely fascist State, replete with eugenics, slave labor, genocide of the "unwanted" and all the other trappings of "Germany First".

 

[Ford]

The thing that gets me about this whole circus (aside from the fascist imagery) is how deeply cynical it is.

There's going to be a lot of talk (from Trump mostly, but others) about the election being "stolen" from them. I'm still not sure if Trump honestly believes this (I'm leaning towards he really does), but the rest of the "leadership"f the GOP?

They know the truth. The truth that there was no widespread election fraud. How do we know this? Again, because if there were verifiable evidence that this massive voter fraud happened, the Republican Party would be able to use it to utterly destroy the Democratic Party for as long forever means.

Think about it. If they could really prove that the election was "stolen," they couldn't just re-litigate the 2020 election and possibly return Trump to the White House, but paint anyone who ran with a (D) next to their name as a candidate from the "party of election fraud." They'd be able to make very public arrests of everyone involved, probably throw some prominent Democrats in jail, and they'd be able to shout "see, we told you so!" from every rooftop.

It would be the biggest scandal in American political history by a long shot, and the Democrats would go from the party in control of the White House and Congress to the Whigs in an instant.

Yet the GOP is not actually pursuing the claims of fraud. Sure, they're making noise about it on the talk shows and at CPAC, but apart from rhetoric they're not doing a damned thing.

Because they know they don't have a case. The party that stands to gain the most from proving massive voter fraud is not actually trying to prove voter fraud. Because they know they can't.

What they CAN do is keep pushing the narrative to the base, and that's what they're doing. Somewhere at this conference, in a back room where the "base" aren't allowed, some of these folks higher up on the food chain are laughing at the rubes who bought into this massive lie. They're laughing at the fact that they don't have to prove anything to the unwashed masses. They just tell then there was fraud, and their people believe it without question. When folks like Schlapp and Scalise get cornered on the Sunday talk shows and refuse to admit the election was legitimate, the sheep get the message that "wink wink, this guy is on your side." They don't see someone denying reality. They see someone confirming their conspiracy theory on the down low.

In a way, I almost feel sorry for the rank and file people who fall for this shit. I almost want to pull one aside and say "you know these people you follow are lying to you, right? Steve Scalise doesn't really think the election was stolen, but he wants you to think he does, because he thinks you're stupid."

 

[Jarhyn]

The thing that gets me about this whole circus (aside from the fascist imagery) is how deeply cynical it is.

There's going to be a lot of talk (from Trump mostly, but others) about the election being "stolen" from them. I'm still not sure if Trump honestly believes this (I'm leaning towards he really does), but the rest of the "leadership"f the GOP?

They know the truth. The truth that there was no widespread election fraud. How do we know this? Again, because if there were verifiable evidence that this massive voter fraud happened, the Republican Party would be able to use it to utterly destroy the Democratic Party for as long forever means.

Think about it. If they could really prove that the election was "stolen," they couldn't just re-litigate the 2020 election and possibly return Trump to the White House, but paint anyone who ran with a (D) next to their name as a candidate from the "party of election fraud." They'd be able to make very public arrests of everyone involved, probably throw some prominent Democrats in jail, and they'd be able to shout "see, we told you so!" from every rooftop.

It would be the biggest scandal in American political history by a long shot, and the Democrats would go from the party in control of the White House and Congress to the Whigs in an instant.

Yet the GOP is not actually pursuing the claims of fraud. Sure, they're making noise about it on the talk shows and at CPAC, but apart from rhetoric they're not doing a damned thing.

Because they know they don't have a case. The party that stands to gain the most from proving massive voter fraud is not actually trying to prove voter fraud. Because they know they can't.

What they CAN do is keep pushing the narrative to the base, and that's what they're doing. Somewhere at this conference, in a back room where the "base" aren't allowed, some of these folks higher up on the food chain are laughing at the rubes who bought into this massive lie. They're laughing at the fact that they don't have to prove anything to the unwashed masses. They just tell then there was fraud, and their people believe it without question. When folks like Schlapp and Scalise get cornered on the Sunday talk shows and refuse to admit the election was legitimate, the sheep get the message that "wink wink, this guy is on your side." They don't see someone denying reality. They see someone confirming their conspiracy theory on the down low.

In a way, I almost feel sorry for the rank and file people who fall for this shit. I almost want to pull one aside and say "you know these people you follow are lying to you, right? Steve Scalise doesn't really think the election was stolen, but he wants you to think he does, because he thinks you're stupid."

But it would make them stupid to admit it. It would be proof by experience because being proved a useful idiot is proof you were an idiot. That does mean you did something pretty stupid.

Sometimes people fall for the sink cost fallacy and throw good money after bad, all the same. They don't see that when you stop being an idiot you stop picking up guilt that will follow you regardless.

 

[Wiploc]

There's going to be a lot of talk (from Trump mostly, but others) about the election being "stolen" from them. I'm still not sure if Trump honestly believes this (I'm leaning towards he really does),

That's not very Christian of you. Give him the benefit of the doubt; assume he's lying.

 

[Patooka]

This is just delicious:

The Golden Trump Statue Is the Talk of CPAC. It Was Made in Mexico.

“He’s wearing a business suit because he’s a business man. The red tie represents the Republican party, the red white and blue shorts represent the fact that he’s a patriot,” the artist Tommy Zegan told the New York Post. The sandals is the way Zegan chose to represent that Trump was in his golden years and could be “on the beach” if he wanted to.
Zegan told Politico that the fiberglass statue was made in Mexico over a period of six months in the resort town of Rosarito. He then took it to Tampa, where it was painted in chrome and then got a U-Haul to transport it to CPAC. “If someone offered me $100,000 I’d take it,” Zegan said.

How the fuck can you ridicule these people?

 

[Ford]

This is just delicious:

The Golden Trump Statue Is the Talk of CPAC. It Was Made in Mexico.

“He’s wearing a business suit because he’s a business man. The red tie represents the Republican party, the red white and blue shorts represent the fact that he’s a patriot,” the artist Tommy Zegan told the New York Post. The sandals is the way Zegan chose to represent that Trump was in his golden years and could be “on the beach” if he wanted to.
Zegan told Politico that the fiberglass statue was made in Mexico over a period of six months in the resort town of Rosarito. He then took it to Tampa, where it was painted in chrome and then got a U-Haul to transport it to CPAC. “If someone offered me $100,000 I’d take it,” Zegan said.

How the fuck can you ridicule these people?

It really ticks off several boxes that would infuriate the "Bible believing Christian patriots" if it were a statue of a Democrat.

"Thou shalt have no other gods before me." First Commandment? Broken!

It's a false idol. It's the Golden Calf of the Old Testament. Or Mooby from the movie Dogma, if you like. Second Commandment? Shattered!

It's a statue of a guy who is a walking, talking example of adultery and greed...7th and 10th? Busted!

It's breaking the Flag Code. I mean, these people freaked out when a football player didn't show sufficient reverence to the flag, but they're okay with it being used to cover up Golden Trump's nether regions.

It was made in Mexico.


But you know what? Someone is going to give him that 100 grand. Maybe even Trump himself.

 

[ZiprHead]

But you know what? Someone is going to give him that 100 grand. Maybe even Trump himself.

It;ll be a "campaign expense". Trump would never pay for that himself.

 

[Keith&Co.]

But you know what? Someone is going to give him that 100 grand. Maybe even Trump himself.

The Florida Man campaign, maybe. Not FM.

 

[Elixir]

There's going to be a lot of talk (from Trump mostly, but others) about the election being "stolen" from them. I'm still not sure if Trump honestly believes this (I'm leaning towards he really does),

That's not very Christian of you. Give him the benefit of the doubt; assume he's lying.

I might be missing it, but I think you are both being sarcastic to the point of being silly.
OF COURSE Trump knows it's a lie. He has operated from the start as if he knew it was a lie. He even ignored Putin's advice to go all in on the coup attempt, just in case it didn't work out.
Saying he believes The Big Lie like saying he "believes" that the value of X asset is $Y when he declares its taxable value AND "believes" it is worth $3Y when he takes out a loan against it.

 

[Ford]

That's not very Christian of you. Give him the benefit of the doubt; assume he's lying.

I might be missing it, but I think you are both being sarcastic to the point of being silly.
OF COURSE Trump knows it's a lie. He has operated from the start as if he knew it was a lie. He even ignored Putin's advice to go all in on the coup attempt, just in case it didn't work out.
Saying he believes The Big Lie like saying he "believes" that the value of X asset is $Y when he declares its taxable value AND "believes" it is worth $3Y when he takes out a loan against it.

From what I understand, Trump has made it clear that if you want the endorsement of the Golden Calf for 2022, you must agree with him that the election was "stolen" from him and that he actually won. If you don't, you'll never get invited back to Mar A Lardo. He's also attacked everyone who voted against the challenges on January 6th, and threw Mike Pence to the mercy of the mob when he didn't switch any electoral votes. There's also the brow-beating call to the Georgia Secretary of State, and I'm certain that wasn't the only call he made to a Republican state official attempting to overturn the results. Hell, he called AZ Governor Ducey while he was busy certifying the state's vote count. I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that his speech at CPAC is going to be a "the election was stolen from me" fest. He grasps the notion that he's not President anymore, and that he's not going to be President for at least the next 4 years, but I'm beginning to think he genuinely believes he won more votes than Biden, and that the result is due to massive fraud.

 

[TomC]

OF COURSE Trump knows it's a lie.

Never underestimate the power of denial.
Tom

 

[ideologyhunter]

If they will themselves into permanent lunacy, it is better than the alternative: finding halfway sensible issues that will draw in the independent voters.

 

[Elixir]

If they will themselves into permanent lunacy, it is better than the alternative: finding halfway sensible issues that will draw in the independent voters.

I would agree with that, if it were not for the fact that they have very nearly made electoral results irrelevant already. They know they can’t win an election, but now they also know that they can storm the Capitol and take over the government by force, at no risk.

 

[ZiprHead]

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These people are fucking nuts.