The GOP plan for universal access to affordable health care: if you ever get sick, just die already

11 Tuesday Sep 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in Claire McCaskill, Roy Blunt, social media, US Senate

Tags

ACA, Claire McCaskill, Josh Hawley, missouri, Obamacare, preexisting conditions, Roy Blunt, social media, Twitter, U.S. Senate

As it’s always been.

This evening:

Micheal Mahoney @KCMikeMahoney
Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt on GOP Senate pre-existing conditions bill, “That bill is not going anywhere. I am not supportive of it.” #RoyBlunt #MOSEN #JoshHawley #ClaireMcCaskill #kmbc
[….]
5:35 PM – 11 Sep 2018 from Kansas City, MO

Somebody forgot to tell Josh Hawley (r).

A comment:

@Meirabb Meira Bernstein
.@HawleyMO, call your office. #mosen
[….]
5:53 PM – 11 Sep 2018

Meira Bernstein wins the Internets today.

Sen. Roy Blunt (r): on the passing of John McCain

26 Sunday Aug 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in social media, US Senate

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

John McCain, missouri, Roy Blunt, social media, Twitter, U.S. Senate

Roy Blunt (r) [2016 file photo].

Senator Roy Blunt (r) commented, via Twitter, on the death of Senator John McCain:

Senator Roy Blunt @RoyBlunt
As I served with John McCain he became one of my heroes. We didn’t always agree but he was always motivated to do what he thought was the right thing.
9:16 PM – 25 Aug 2018

Some of the responses:

You could learn a lot from him, Senator.

Too bad that motivation did not rub off on you.

The public is notably sad at his passing because we don’t believe any of the remaining @GOP Senators have his strength of convictions for country over party. Including you, Roy.

You should try doing the right thing Roy. Why haven’t you marked up the bill to protect our upcoming election. Because the WH asked you to sit on it? Do what John would do, your own moral compass is broken.

Carry on his legacy. Do the right thing. Stand up for country over party.

You should be ashamed of yourself. McCain was a good man who did what was right, even if it wasn’t in his own best interest. You, sir, are no John McCain.

You are part of the reason term limits need to exist

The only time you see the right thing is over your shoulder as you run the opposite direction.

Honor him by emulating him.

Maybe you could quit being a spineless, corrupt member of the GOP and learn from him?

Then why aren’t you following in his footsteps?

John McCain was a man of honor and conviction. Americans are proud of his service and representation of “we the people”. His integrity, compassion and understanding of those he lived and loved among will be missed. Follow his lead. Preserve his legacy.

It’s a shame the president treated him with such disrespect.

You call him your hero but his integrity and ability to subjugate his personal agenda for a greater good have not seem to have rubbed off on you one bit.

John McCain will leave a legacy of service, honor, and integrity. @RoyBlunt will be a footnote under the asterisk next to Trump’s name as the only president to go directly from the Oval Office to prison. The footnote will just say “supporting cast of traitors”

hey Roy why don’t you strive to be more like him?

I assume y’all didn’t agree when it comes to protecting America. Johns thumbs down to stop you and your friends was heroic. But your a Trump partner in destroying America.

Yea that’s where you disagreed.

He was the only honorable remaining member of the #GOP. You can’t hold a candle to him.

Maybe you should give doing the right thing a try Roy! It’s ok your donors will understand….

Time to get right, Roy. Speak up against the lies, the racism, the hate mongering. Do it for Missouri.

I wish I could say the same of you. #MeanTweets

@clairecmc wrote a beautiful, loving tweet regarding her peer from the opposing Republican Party. Consider following her example.
God rest the brave soul of John McCain, a true American hero.

What are you motivated to do? Not the right thing, obviously.

So then why can’t you do the right thing, @RoyBlunt ??

Your disagreements were more about him following his patriotic sense of country and you following the biggest donor. You may be from the same party but history will remember you as being from different groups Patriots vs. Traitors

Your constituents are waiting for you to do the same. Please listen to them.

Yeah. We certainly can’t say the same for you.

Talk about faint praise. One man was a leader. One man is not.

You wish you were as patriotic is John McCain. He voted for what was right rather than what was best for his pocket unlike you.

I’m still waiting to see you do the right thing. Good thing I’m not planning on holding my breath.

If he is one of your heroes, you have long way to go to be anything like him. Actions speak louder than words , buster.

When I first read this, it bothered me for some reason, then I realized how disingenuous this comment truly is. Your like Mr. Trump, not genuine.

“what he thought was the right thing”? what kind of back-handed comment is that? are you even capable of commenting something positive about him? or are you not permitted?

We are waiting for you to emulate John McCain and do the right thing for the people of Missouri. Your loyality to Trump will be your downfall. You are #GOPCorrupt and #GOPComplicit.

One more thing Roy, You stood by and let Trump say some nasty things about John McCain and you said NOTHING!! If someone said something about my Hero, you can bet your ass I would be all over them. Save your BS for someone who gives a shit!

You do realize that YOUR president doesn’t agree with you, right?

I can’t imagine too many people agree with you. Your sole purpose is to line your pockets

Funny I did not see you stand up for your hero when tRump has been attacking him!

And on and on…

Previously:

Senator John McCain (1936-2018) (August 25, 2018)

Sen. Roy Blunt (r): ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

18 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in Roy Blunt, social media, US Senate

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

#TreasonSummit, Donald Trump, missouri, Roy Blunt, social media, Twitter

Ignoring the elephant in the room.

Roy Blunt (r) [2016 file photo].

This morning, via Twitter, from Senator Roy Blunt (r):

Senator Roy Blunt @RoyBlunt
The economy is strong
Americans are keeping more of their hard-earned paycheck
Unemployment is at an 18 year low
#Smallbiz confidence is at record high
10:58 AM – 18 Jul 2018

Oh, and we are a Russian client state.

Some of the responses to Roy Blunt (r):

Only one #Missouri senator holds a town hall, and it isn’t you.
Only one #MO Senator accepts $47,000.00 from the NRA, and it sure isn’t @clairecmc !
What did #Russia get for its money from you, @RoyBluntMO ? What will you do to protect this state’s free and fair #2018elections?

“Across the Heartland, #farmers, factory workers and business leaders are speaking out against the disastrous #TrumpTariffs that are costing American #jobs.”

Yet real wages are falling. Missourians are concerned about lgbt rights, separation of immigration families, the environment, climate change, govt corruption, pls hold a town hall your constituents would like to talk with you

Only @clairecmc does that. Roy is lucky to remember what state he (mis)represents.

i get an extra $6.20 a month. SO MUCH MONEY!!

Don’t waste it now, you know, on things like increased health care and food prices!!

Adjusted for inflation, wage growth is flat or falling. US debt setting records. Corps using tax cuts for stock buybacks. Opioid addiction in MO is high – and most now cannot afford health care. Hottest year on record. Gobal alliances are weakened.

Read the papers, Senator.

They’re a cult of complicit money whores, bought & paid for.

The few who aren’t have apparently bought stock in Kool Aid.

You are a United States Senator. One of my Senators. Stop using emojis. Running the government does not require elementary school graphics.

It was probably a staffer. That tells you a lot, too.

Hold the president accountable for his actions

and Republicans keep on committing treason

The treason is strong too.

Yeah that extra $1.50 is really helping my family. Plus it really helped my college educated friends with their minimum wage job!

So who cares if the president is in bed with Russia?

What we want to hear from you is that you stand for America and not Russia. That you are appalled at the Russian interference in our election and pledge to take EVERY possible action to stop it and prevent it. #TreasonSummit

Deficit at record high

All republicans consider that a feature, not a bug.

The forgotten people are still forgotten. Only the rich benefited from what you said.

Oh yeah, treason much?

You forgot to mention our reputation and influence is getting to an all time low around the world….

And ol’ Cash & Carry Blunt keeps collecting dollars from the NRA and other corporate sponsors. Makin’ out like a bandit, Roy.

And the president you blindly support is selling the US to Russia. Makes me wonder what Putin has on you, Roy…

Those paychecks are smaller and are not keeping pace with inflation. Meanwhile, the richest grow richer. #GOPTaxScam.

And our debt has increased a trillion dollars with this administration. Your failure to stand up to Trump is endangerong our country.

You need to rein In Trump

Yeah, average American is just seeing so much more. Whatever.

In what world is small business confidence high? And I’d gladly pay more taxes to have guaranteed healthcare and roads that don’t blow out tires and suspension. Those cost money too.

Emoji day is over, Roy. Americans’ wages are stagnant, despite massive corporate subsidies you gave away in January. Wealth & income inequality gaps have never been larger. Our President has proven over & over that he’s a puppet of an adverse foreign power. But you. Do. Nothing.

I still don’t want Vladimir Putin engineering and hijacking my vote and the election!

Meanwhile, my healthcare costs have gone up (& will skyrocket during next plan year with the destabilization of healthcare markets & drug costs) increased gas costs, higher interest rates, tariff wars. Any Tax savings are offset by a major rise in expenditures. Get back to work!

Gas is at an 8 year high, health insurance premiums have increased 40%, medication costs are up 20-100%, rural hospitals are closing, tariffs are costing farmers over 20% in losses and cutting Missouri companies to close. You cannot spin this. People KNOW they are worse off.

You know, Senator, administration figures show hourly pay stagnating or dropping slightly. I hope you and your donors aren’t suffering too much these days. The cost of living is going up. Will you all be OK?

Oh good grief. Surely you know that unemployment has been low for a long time and in fact should NOT go lower or else it will trigger inflation. UNDER employment is still rampant and not helped by the #GOP one whit.

Our “hard-earned” paychecks are smaller (real wages are down), insurance costs are rising due to your sabotage, and the deficit will hit $1 trillion.

If you try to distract from your complicity in treason, at least have the honesty not to cherry-pick your economic stats.

I’m not keeping more of my paycheck and my health insurance premium went up. Btw, why is Trump so chummy with Putin and when are the children of immigrants going to be reunited?

Wages are flat. Your tax policies don’t justify your support for a President that sided with Putin over America.

Some people are currently doing well, the voters you care about. Other Missourians are not faring so well under Trump. Also, OUR VERY DEMOCRACY IS IN DANGER because our president is beholden to Putin and nobody in your party sees fit to do anything.

Our president is committing treason ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Liar

Where are wages? Have you checked the data? And when are you going to get rid of @realDonaldTrump that Liar-in-Chief?

Wages are down and president is a traitor – recession likely on the way – thanks gop!!!

Goods are costing more due to tariffs and the monies in our accounts are less because of #TrumpTariffs. This is not an overall advancement of the people of America.

If the economy is so strong why are wages stagnant?

Treasonous acts at an all time high

And if you support Trump, you’re no better than he is.

And our president puts Putin first and you blindly go along with it

I get an extra $250 per month! Of course, that’s because I now pay for all of my own medical bills out of pocket, so…. Yeah. That’s not better at all.

You’re delusional and laughably out of touch, Blunt. I can’t wait to vote against you!

We have a Russian stooge in the White House. Step up – #Historyhasalongmemory

What will your legacy be? Will the history books reflect that YOU stood & defended our country from this petulant president…, Or YOU defended & stood with him?

Any little bit middle class got being eaten up by higher gas prices and rising prices because of trump and GOP tariffs. Pharmacy industry and rich people like you got the biggest share. Quit saying you are for middle class Americans

You can say this bullshit every day, but most working people live with the reality and stress of the current labor market.

Besides you’re a senator not a freaking hype man. There is a #tradewar and #traitor that you should be dealing with.

Farmers are hurting.
The rich keep getting richer.
The poor keep getting poorer.
POTUS just brown nosed the heck out of PUTIN.
But you keep feeding us those emojis, Blunt.

Our president is a traitor! Do something!!!

45 just handed our democracy to Putin. You need to get on the #rightsideofhistory and IMPEACH. #Treasonsummit #TrumpPutinSummit #HelsinkiSummit2018

…and our @POTUS is a traitor.

Touting the economy right now is a distraction from your man Trump making traitorous remarks overseas. Better keep up Roy, everyone else is paying attention.

Trump is a traitor. When are you going to defend democracy! That’s what you swore to do. #GOPComplicit

None of that would change if we get rid of the elephant in the room.
Once the elephant is gone we can all be confident in the future.

Shame on you Senator. The Traitor just committed a public act of Treason against the American People and you are carrying on like business as usual. You have a duty: protect the Republic. End this Presidency now.

Russia
Do something
Russia

You lie for a traitor.

And you’re fucking silent as our President sells us out to Russia.

Meanwhile, our pussy-grabbing President colludes with a murderous dictator. Tweet about that.

The president is a traitor
Americans are tired of your complacency
You are a puppet to the rich
#youdontworkforMO
#25thAmendmentNow

They seem to be a little upset.

Fake News Flash – Roy Blunt wins healthcare awards.

11 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

AfPA, Alliance for Patient Access, ALSIC, American Life Sciences Innovatoin Council, Champion of Health Care Innovation award, Champion of Medical Access award, healthcare, Lobbyists, Medical indusstries, missouri, Pharmaceutical industries, Roy Blunt

Yesterday I wrote about how gobsmacked I was to receive two glossy mailers asking me to thank GOP Senator Roy Blunt for “being a champion of Medicare access,” and for “being a 2018 champion of Health Care Innovation.” My reaction was due to the fact that Blunt has been a reliable foot-soldier in the GOP war against expanding healthcare access, including, as I noted, mumblecore disavowals of pre-existing conditions protections. He’s also expressed his distaste for Medicare in the past.

The next question is just who is trying to help Senator Blunt pull the wool over Missourians’ eyes? The mailers state that they are paid for by the American Life Sciences Innovation Council (ALSIC) and the Alliance for Patient Access (AfPA) respectively. So who do these groups represent? Not too hard to figure out when one consults the InterWebs:

The Alliance for Patient Access, featured in the brochure above, is a straight-out big pharma controlled entity that uses unwitting journalists and greedy or insecure politicians to push “platforms that help drug companies’ bottom lines”:

The AfPA offers cover for lawmakers who carry out the pharmaceutical industry’s agenda, some observers say. In one striking example, the group accepted $7.8 million in 2014 and 2015 to give Medicare “Patient Access Champion” awards to members of Congress, according to its IRS disclosures for those years. The AfPA annual report shows that 50 awards were presented. The awards appear to be a way to thank cooperative legislators while also pressuring them and others to enact the AfPA’s policy agenda. […]

Some say those awards […] shielded lawmakers from criticism for voting against Medicare cost controls, such as an independent rate-setting board and other measures.

The American Life Sciences Innovation Council, which awarded Blunt a similar “healthcare champion” award, isn’t the 501(c)(3) charitable, non-profit educational organization that it seems to be, but instead works to influence “the effects of government regulation on key factors that drive life science innovation,” which is to say, the bottom line of the medical and pharmaceutical companies whose creation it undoubtedly is. It spends the bulk of its income on activities such as robo-calls touting he “winners” of their awards, as well as mailers like the one above or newspaper ads pushing the same message (There have been several of these ads in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in recent months; I’d bet good money that they’ve appeared in other newspapers around the state.)

Upshot? It’s all fake. Senator Blunt is no healthcare hero or defender of Medicare. He’s just another good ol’ boy wallowing in the swamp.

Roy Blunt hustles to hide his healthcare history

10 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

healthcare, Josh Hawle, Medicare, missouri, Obmacare, Pre-existing conditions, Roy Blunt

I can remember back in the day, when Obamacare was just a gleam in the of the Democratic-majority congress and GOP Senator Roy Blunt was one of the point persons in the GOP House effort to preserve the status quo of the American healthcare mess. Nor do I remember that he bucked House or Senate leadership, or, more recently, the Trump administration in any of their efforts to destroy or destabilize healthcare delivery to Americans. He, in fact, continues to spout misleading and dishonest claims about the ACA.

All of which made me scratch my head in wonderment when I received a couple of glossy mailers touting Blunt, who was on the record as saying a few years ago that he thought Medicare was a mistake, as a “champion of Medicare access,” and as a “healthcare champion.” Whew! Do you, like me, think that somebody’s shoveling some of that old time barnyard fragrance producer that’s so prevalent in the GOP political world?

Maybe ol’ Roy heard the folks who were making all that noise when Trump and his collection of more or less ornamental GOP congressional garden gnomes actually went after the ACA last summer. Perhaps, as a result, he’s decided that he needs to make some adjustments to his messaging and cover his tracks.

Consider his message on coverage for pre-existing conditions back in 2010 when he was actively carrying water for GOP forces fighting against improved healthcare delivery:

Access for kids who have pre-existing conditions, who would be against that? But access for adults, who have done nothing to take care of themselves, who actually will have as I’ve just described every incentive not to get insurance until the day that you know that you’re going to have medical expenses, that’s, that’s a very different kind of story.

Now contrast that bit of flim-flam with ol’ Roy’s line in 2017:

Since my days in the House, I have supported providing insurance options for people with pre-existing conditions. As we move forward, I’ll work with my colleagues to be sure that no one is denied the care they need based on a pre-existing condition.

Admittedly, if you parse this phrase carefully, there’s lots of weasel language. But it’s equally hard to deny that he wants Missourians to believe that he supports the popular Obamacare provision. More importantly, it essentially contradicts his 2010 “personal responsibility” attempt to divert folks from the tragedies that typified healthcare for the millions of Americans suffering from chronic disease – through no fault of their own, contrary to Blunt’s claim.

So where does the “tight-lipped” (for a reason) Senator really stand? For instance, has anyone heard him endorse or condemn fellow-GOPer Josh Hawley’s participation in a court fight that would end protections for those with pre-existing conditions? Shouldn’t that be the next test for the wooden-faced guy who talks out of both sides of his mouth so adeptly.

Senator Roy Blunt (r): suffer the little children

20 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in Roy Blunt, US Senate

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

children, concentration camps, Donald Trump, Kansas City, missouri, protest, Roy Blunt, U.S. Senate

A mom got so fed up with Donald Trump’s decision to separate children from their families at the border that she took to social media to see if fifteen or so friends would join her in front of Senator Roy Blunt’s (r) office at Tenth and Walnut in Kansas City to express their concerns. That was on Monday. By this morning over four hundred individuals expressed their support and over one hundred people joined Wendy Baird in front of the building entrance at 10:00 a.m.

“[multiple voices]…We don’t have time for legislation. There’s over twenty-three hundred children, taken away from their parents. That’s a statement? You’re saying that’s untrue? The children taken away, that’s not a true number, is that what you’re saying? Okay. So you guys agree that they’re taking the children away and all he has to do is pick up the phone, but he’s refusing to pick up the phone. This is not a law and you guys know that. And so everybody here knows it. It’s not a law, it’s a policy. [crosstalk] Twenty-three hundred children who are crying for their parents. This is abuse. This is child abuse. I’m a mandated reporter. You’re a mandated reporter. We should call the hotline. Every one of us should call the hotline, we’re mandated reporters. It’s not ridiculous. Completely, no, they’re children. My children [crosstalk], what would she do? It’s an outrage. I know. Do you have children? This has got to hit here, right? Breastfeeding babies…”

“…[multiple voices] This [bill] needs to include an act to reunite these families, to get these children back to their parents, not just to stop it in the future. To reunite the six thousand, the eleven thousand children that are being detained. Right now. They need to be home with their families immediately. And right now there is no plan. There is no plan. There is no plan. These children, we’re basically creating orphans. Investigate the facilities. [cross talk][inaudible] A Texas non-profit got a half a billion dollars to take care of these children this week. They do not plan on reuniting them. That is sick. And they’re opening more facilities and they’re calling them tender age facilities. George Orwell talked about this kind of talk where you make words that don’t make sense and sound better than what they are. Tender age facilities are places for babies to be housed like jail…”

“…[multiple voices] What is your opinion. I would like to know as a fellow citizen what your opinion on this is. I’m here to take notes. I would like to know what your opinion is…”

Wendy Baird, speaking to Senator Roy Blunt’s (r) staff.

“[multiple voices]…That is a lie. It is not mandated. [crosstalk] It’s separation of families. Jeff Sessions said we’re gonna start this [crosstalk][inaudible]. He could do something. All he has to do is pick up the phone. Introduce it, legislation. I’ll pass it on to him. I, I would like him to take another look at Feinstein’s bill because I feel like this is not doing enough. Why do we have to have a new bill? [crosstalk] It’s clean and it doesn’t have anything to do with the wall and o they’re not going to have anything to do with it. Because they wanted to have the wall.[crosstalk] Are we creating state sponsored orphans…”

“[multiple voices]…When are we going to have a town hall meeting with Senator Blunt? There you go. Town hall meeting. [crosstalk]…”

“[chant]…Reunite the families. Reunite the families. Reunite the families…”

“[chant]…Hey, hey, ho, ho, this policy has got to go. Hey, hey, ho, ho, this policy has got to go. Hey, hey, ho, ho, this policy has got to go…”

Senator Roy Blunt’s (r) staff.

Previously:

Wendy Baird, a mom, age “thirty-something”, from Independence, Missouri and Senator Roy Blunt (r) (June 20, 2018)

Wendy Baird, a mom, age “thirty-something”, from Independence, Missouri and Senator Roy Blunt (r)

20 Wednesday Jun 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in Roy Blunt, social media, US Senate

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

concentration camps, Donald Trump, Kansas City, missouri, protest, Roy Blunt, social media, U.S. Senate

My money’s on Wendy Baird.

Wendy Baird.

Show Me Progress: …Why did you come here today?

Wendy Baird: We are here to ask, uh, Senator Roy Blunt to encourage President Trump to make one phone call to Home, to the Department of Homeland Security. It’s his cabinet member, he can ask her to stop this at any time. And that’s what we want him to do.

Show Me Progress: Uh, again, why you?

Wendy Baird: I’m just a thirty something stay at home mom. I had to do something. it broke my heart to hear about these poor kids. We know it’s traumatic for children to be in any kind of situation like that. It’s not good for them. it’s not good for their hearts, it’s not good for their brains, and there’s no reason for it. Um, no other administration would touch this with a ten foot pole. Um, but we’re doing it and apparently we’re all in. And we need to stop.

Show Me Progress: So, what was the reaction of people who you know as you started to organize this?

Wendy Baird: Um, they were fully behind it. Not everybody could come today. I understand, it’s ten o’clock on a weekday morning. Um, but we’re still gonna have a really good group I think. And those who couldn’t be here, they’re calling, they’re emailing, they’re contacting Senator Blunt and that’s, that’s all we can do.

Show Me Progress: How would you characterize, those, they people you know, as you’ve communicated with, their reaction to this?

Wendy Baird: It’s wrong.

Show Me Progress: It’s pretty universal?

Wendy Baird: I, I think so. I think it is pretty universal. Um, like two thirds of the country are against separating families. I don’t think it matters if you’re a Democrat or a Republican, it’s not who we are. We can do better. We don’t need to separate children from their families.

Building security and Police inside the building entrance.

Prompted by one hundred or so moms and their kids (and a few grandparents, too, probably)?

Since they couldn’t go up to Senator Blunt’s (r) office they spoke to two of his staff members who came down to listen to them. People were insistent, refused to accept bland assurances, and didn’t back down.

Speaking to Senator Roy Blunt’s (r) staff outside his office.

In Missouri we’re used to plain speaking people from Independence. You’d think Roy Blunt (r) would get that.

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): And…

18 Monday Jun 2018

Posted by Michael Bersin in Claire McCaskill, Roy Blunt, US Senate

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Claire McCaskill, concentration camps, Donald Trump, immigration, missouri, Roy Blunt, sociall media, Twitter, U.S. Senate

Where’s Roy?

Senator Claire McCaskill (D) [2018 file photo].

This morning, from Senator Claire McCaskill

Claire McCaskill @clairecmc
What she said.

Laura Bush @laurawbush
I live in a border state. I appreciate the need to enforce and protect our international boundaries, but this zero-tolerance policy is cruel. It is immoral. And it breaks my heart.

10:31 AM – 18 Jun 2018

Previously:

At this point even a Truth and Reconciliation Commission can’t save the American experiment (June 17, 2018)

Sen. Claire McCaskill (D): Keep those calls coming… (June 17, 2018)

The price of all our souls was a tax cut for billionaires (June 17, 2018)

At least he made the trains run on time …

20 Sunday May 2018

Posted by willykay in Uncategorized

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Donald Trump, Fascism, republicans, Roy Blunt

Wish I had a nickel, dime or whatever for every time I’ve heard somebody excusing Mussolini’s fascist coup by referring to those timely trains. Which may be why I was so gob-smacked by Republican Senator Roy Blunt’s comments when asked to react to the fact that the current occupant of the White House lies consistently. Blunt refused to engage with the substance, declaring that :

It would [be a problem] “if we weren’t getting things done,” Blunt responded. “What the regulators are doing. … The tax package, better than I would have expected. I think the foreign policy, the president was left with lots of problems. We had about eight years where we acted like the United States of America was basically any other country in the world. And a lot of things got off track during that eight years.”

So, as far as Blunt is concerned, Trump can do no wrong, he can lie, collude with Russians and curry favor from Vladimir Putin, and enrich himself with taxpayer money as long as he delivers on goodies that Blunt has been trying to get for his rich cronies. Because that’s what “getting things done” means.

Stop and think about that list of achievements: The justly unpopular and deficit-busting tax cut for the wealthy? Deregulation? Tell me in a few years how you like living in a country where basic health, consumer and social protections – air and water pollution and our food supply, for instance – are left to the tender mercies of corporate America. Foreign policy? You gotta be joking. – and don’t give me any backchat about Korea now that it seems more and more likely that the naive and egoistic Trump is getting played two ways to Sunday.

Funny thing is, the claim that Italian fascists managed to make the trains run on time is equally spurious. As Brian Cathcart put it in The Independent, “like almost all the supposed achievements of Fascism, the timely trains are a myth, nurtured and propagated by a leader with a journalist’s flair for symbolism, verbal trickery and illusion.”

Sounds a bit like that prominent liar that Blunt is so eager to defend, doesn’t it?

Meanwhile, folks like Madeleine Albright* are warning us that if the tendencies that Trump embodies are left unchecked, the U.S., like Italy, could also go the fascist route:

“The possibility that fascism will be accorded a fresh chance to strut around the world stage is enhanced by the volatile presidency of Donald Trump,” Albright warns. “Instead of standing up for the values of a free society, Mr. Trump’s oft-vented scorn for democracy’s building blocks has strengthened the hands of dictators. No longer need they fear United States criticism regarding human rights or civil liberties. On the contrary, they can and do point to Mr. Trump’s own words to justify their repressive actions,” she adds.

In order to save our democracy Albright recommends “defending the truth in the press, [and] recognizing that no one is above the law, ” both efforts that Blunt eschews because, under Trump, “we” are “getting things done.” I can hear that fascist choo-choo train pulling into the station right on time.

As Snopes observes about Mussolini and the ubiquitous trains trope, if you can’t – or won’t – govern to benefit the majority of the people, “the next best thing is to convince them that you have done something of benefit to them, even though you really haven’t.” Trumpism – and today’s GOP – in a nutshell.

*Typo corrected; Albrecht changed to Albright 5/20/18, 11:19.