Misusing the F-word
To effectively combat today’s far right we must begin by rejecting lazy analogies. Jack Conrad calls for clear historical thinking
Liberal and left opinion has been in part horrified, in part dumbfounded by the repeated electoral successes of the far right: Narendra Modi and the BJP in India, Rodrigo Duterte in the Philippines, Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil; Russia, Japan, Turkey, Sri Lanka and Israel can also be mentioned. Above all, though, there was and remains Donald J Trump. Although soundly beaten in the electoral college and in the popular vote on November 3 2020, he still got 74 million votes. This surpassed the previous record set by Barack Obama by more than seven million, giving him the highest vote of any sitting president in US history.
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Home » Viewpoint » America’s breath of fresh air and President Joe Biden’s many rivers to cross
America’s breath of fresh air and President Joe Biden’s many rivers to cross
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By Godknows Igali
The inauguration of Joseph Robinette Biden as the 46th President of the United States of America is perhaps now trite, but news on the afterward continues to dominate global attention. The 78-year old took his oath of office foreshadowed by a rather unnerving national outlook from the uptight events of the preceding days.
Biden became the 8th US President to take office on the customary 20th day of January, since after the Ratification of the 20th Amendment of the country’s Constitution on January 23, 1933. That law specifies that the investiture holds exactly at midday on January 20, after the “lame-duck period” of four months from the Presidential elections, which statutorily holds on 3rd November.
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Re “House votes to strip Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of committee assignments” (Feb. 4): Thursday’s House vote confirms once and for all: the Grand Old Party is the party of Donald Trump. It’s been obvious for years and the fact 147 Republicans in Congress voted to overturn a presidential election put the icing on the cake. And Thursday’s vote to remove a QAnon supporter and school shooting denier from her congressional committees, including an educational panel, is the candles on the cake.
We saw 199 Republican House members vote to keep her on the committees despite overwhelming evidence she is a conspiracy supporter of everything from assassinating political leaders to laser beams from outer space starting forest fires as a Jewish conspiracy. And plenty of armed insurrection warnings.
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The previous Republicans in Congress eagerly came under the spell of their president and no longer need to to think for themselves. When the president summoned his minions to Washington, then cajoled them into raiding the Capitol, most thinking people would consider that a crime. But the Trumpians didn’t have to think about it, they instinctively knew their Dear Leader could do no wrong.
So there is no chance the Trumpians in the Senate can find President Trump guilty of sedition. Furthermore, the Trumpians won’t cooperate in any way with the current president for four years while they await the Second Coming.