MAGA Republicans Are A Threat To Our Democracy

[Rick Plant]

New polling says:

The majority of Americans say that MAGA Republicans are threatening the foundations of democracy.

These 58% of Americans, which is the majority of the country, is certainly not going to be voting Republican in November when they believe MAGA Republicans are a threat and danger to democracy.   

[Rick Plant]

New polling shows that the majority of Americans say MAGA Republicans are a threat to our democracy which coincides with democracy being the #1 issue on the ballot in November.

MAGA Republicans are more than just a threat to our democracy...they already tried to end our democracy on January 6th with a violent coup to illegally keep Trump in power.

Trump unleashed his MAGA mob to storm the Capitol where his supporters beat Capitol Police officers and broke inside the Capitol trying to stop the certification of Joe Biden's victory from happening.

147 MAGA Republicans in the House of Representatives voted to overturn a free and fair election because they didn't like the results and wanted to illegally keep Trump in power taking away the will of the majority of Americans.

Read: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/01/07/us/elections/electoral-college-biden-objectors.html

The right wing media and MAGA Republicans pushed blatant voter fraud lies trying to steal an election from the American people. Their lies and conspiracy theories is a threat to our democracy and our free and fair elections.

This was all a coordinated effort by MAGA Republicans to steal the election from the American people.

These are the same treasonous traitors that want to take over our government crafting laws that take away our rights and freedoms like they have been doing against women and groups of people they don't like for this entire year.

Political violence is what you see in fascist regimes where they attempt a coup to illegally seize power. This is exactly what MAGA Republicans attempted on January 6th.         

This is MAGA and why they are a danger to democracy.

 
Pro--Trump rioters beat and stomped DC police officer with American flag pole

WUSA9

Watch:

[Joe Elliott]

New polling says:

The majority of Americans say that MAGA Republicans are threatening the foundations of democracy.

These 58% of Americans, which is the majority of the country, is certainly not going to be voting Republican in November when they believe MAGA Republicans are a threat and danger to democracy.   

I think the real numbers are over 90 % of Americans believe MAGA Republicans are threatening the foundations of democracy. MAGA people sense that with the changing demographics working against them, with minorities getting a higher and higher percentage of the population, the only way to keep whites in control in the long run is to jettison democracy.

I don't buy that the MAGA people, deep down, have been fooled into thinking the 2020 election was stolen from them. I think they are upset that the election was not stolen, from Biden. But they won't admit to that. That is why they so readily accept Trump's claims about the election, even the most obviously false ones. Like Dominion Voting Systems had rigged software, a claim, that if true, could have easily been proven by requesting a manual recount of the ballots. Which they did in only a few counties which found the Dominion count matched quite closely the manual recounts (machine counts and manual recounts are never totally identical).

Trump is still the overwhelming favorite among the MAGA people. Not despite Trump's obvious threat to democracy, but because of it. That is why MAGA politicians like DeSantis have such a hard time overtaking Trump as the 2024 Presidential favorite among Republicans. DeSantis agrees and will follow all Trump's policies. All, with the possible exception of one. Doing whatever it takes to keep MAGA politicians in power after 2028, and permanently thereafter. Trump will strive hard to do that, everyone knows that. Perhaps DeSantis would do that. Perhaps not. Nobody knows. For my part, I will vote against and try to warn people about DeSantis or anyone else who supports the '2020 Stolen Election' claim. Maybe they are doing this so the Trump's base doesn't turn against them. Maybe not.

[Rick Plant]

Majority sees Trump MAGA movement as threat to democracy: poll

A majority of Americans believe former President Trump and his “Make America Great Again” movement poses a threat to democracy, according to a new Reuters-Ipsos poll.

The new poll, published on Wednesday, found that 58 percent of respondents believe that the MAGA movement is a threat to U.S. democracy.

One in 4 Republicans agreed that the party’s MAGA wing is a threat to democracy, while 60 percent said they don’t believe Trump’s movement represents the majority of their party, the poll said.

The new poll comes in the wake of President Biden’s “Soul of the Nation” address last week, in which he warned that the MAGA wing of the GOP was pushing anti-democratic ideas, such as its continued claims the 2020 election was stolen.

“Not every Republican, not even a majority of Republicans, are MAGA Republicans. Not every Republican embraces their extreme ideology,” Biden said in his prime-time speech.

“But there’s no question that the Republican Party today is dominated, driven and intimidated by Donald Trump and the MAGA Republicans. And that is a threat to this country.”

Read More Here:

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/most-americans-see-trumps-maga-threat-democracy-reutersipsos-2022-09-07/

[Rick Plant]

MAGA Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert said she is "tired of this separation of church and state junk".

People who read that quote from her on Twitter said, "she is ignorant and never read the Constitution". That's probably a correct assessment since she is a High School drop out and never graduated High School, but her comment is more dangerous than her just being ignorant and her lack of education.

MAGA Republicans like Lauren Boebert hate our democracy and our Constitution.

MAGA Republicans like her want to rewrite our Constitution into how THEY want it to be based on their own extreme evangelical religion.

MAGA Republicans do not believe in a separation of church and state, they want their "church" to govern America and they want to implement laws based on their own extreme evangelical religion.

We already see this happening with Republicans banning abortion forcing women to give birth based on their radical extreme religious beliefs. MAGA Republicans feel that their religious beliefs are superior to anyone else and we all have to follow what they believe. They want to force us to live our lives based on how they want us to live. And the majority of Americans agree this MAGA extremist movement is a threat to our democracy and our lives.

So, what if you belong to another religion? MAGA Republicans do not care. They believe their Christian Nationalism is superior to your religion and you have to go by what they tell you.

What if you don't have a religion? MAGA Republicans do not care. They believe their Christian Nationalism is superior to you not having a religion. In fact, MAGAs despise people who don't have a religion. They are on the record as calling those people "demons".     

MAGA Republican and QAnon supporter Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene says she is a proud "Christian Nationalist" and spoke at white supremacist conventions preaching her extreme religious views.

Christian Nationalism is basically white supremacy through religion with Christian Nationalists believing their religion is superior to any other religion.

Christian Nationalists are not afraid to use violence to achieve their goals as most of them belong to the QAnon conspiracy cult. We saw them use violence on January 6th to attempting to overthrow the government. So yes, these people are a danger to our democracy because they already tried to end it once.

Our Constitution makes very clear that there is to be a "separation of church and state" but these MAGA extremist Republicans want to end that making their church be the state we all have to follow.

MAGA Republicans like Lauren Boebert have made very clear in their speeches they no longer want a "separation of church and state". And the extreme laws MAGA Republicans are passing is based on religion as they are going against our democracy and what is written in our Constitution.

If MAGA Republicans ever controlled Congress, they will be passing extreme religious laws that we would all have to follow which is the end of our democracy as we know it. That's what's on the line in November. 

Again, that's why the majority of Americans say MAGA Republicans are a threat to our democracy.


Lauren Boebert complains that she is "tired of this separation of church and state junk"

"The church is supposed to direct the government"



Far-right politician Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., won her primary by nearly 30 points on Tuesday night after calling for an end to the separation of Church and State. Boebert, who has been a steadfast supporter of right wing conspiracy group QAnon, gave a speech at the Cornerstone Christian Center in Basalt, Colo., on Sunday claiming that the constitution does not support a government free from Christian influence.

Instead, Boebert called for the opposite. "The church is supposed to direct the government. The government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our founding fathers intended it," she said.

Boebert has built her political career around taking radical stances on national issues beginning with her surprising defeat of five-time incumbent Rep Scott Tipton, R-Colo., back in 2020. In her first term as a congresswoman, Boebert introduced a bill to abolish the U.S. Department of Education. Earlier this year, Boebert made national headlines when she and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, R-Ga., repeatedly heckled President Joe Biden during his State of the Union address.

Now making national news again, the video of Boebert's speech has gone viral, having been shared on Twitter over 770,000 times.

“I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk.”

Lauren Boebert went full theocracy, and proclaimed, “The church is supposed to direct the government” per the founding fathers.

Watch Video Here: https://twitter.com/i/status/1541508454740885511

Her speech falls in line with an overall push from the Republican Party, most notably by the conservative-dominated Supreme Court, to chip away at the Constitution's Establishment Clause.

"I'm tired of this separation of church and state junk — that's not in the Constitution. It was in a stinking letter, and it means nothing like they say it does," Boebert said in her Sunday speech.

While many cite the Constitution's First Amendment stating that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" as grounds for separation of church and state, Boebert is among the group of right-wing individuals that disputes this interpretation.

The letter that Boebert is referring to is a private note written by Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association in Connecticut in 1802 in which he states that "religion is a matter which lies solely between Man & his God" and that the American people have chosen to build a "wall of separation between Church & State."

In accordance with Boebert's understanding of the non-constitutional origins of the separation between church and state, the Supreme court ruled earlier this month that Maine cannot prohibit religiously affiliated schools from participating in a taxpayer-funded tuition program.

In May, the Supreme Court again ruled in favor of the church, stating that the Boston City Council had acted unconstitutionally when they prohibited a Christian organization from hanging their flag in the city hall.

And while Friday's Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization ruling does not mention religion as grounds for the verdict, many conservatives attribute their anti-abortion political beliefs to the Bible. Referring to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, Boebert applauded members of the Church for fighting against abortion. "Look at what happened this week. This is the fruit of your labor, of your votes and of your prayers – this is your harvest," she said.

https://www.salon.com/2022/06/29/lauren-boebert-complains-that-she-is-tired-of-this-seperation-of-church-and-state-junk/

[Rick Plant]

MAGA Extremism in Schools: Republican-Led States Are Banning Books, Not Guns

In 2022, Democratic-led states focused on passing laws to keep kids safe in schools, while Republican-led states focused on banning books.



As students return to schools across the country, many are entering classrooms in states where it is now easier to carry a gun than it was earlier in the year. In 2022 alone, five states with Republican leadership—Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, New Hampshire, and Ohio—passed laws to eliminate firearm permitting requirements, and across the country, Republican-led states have enacted more than 20 bills to weaken gun laws this year.

Weak gun laws are driving increases in violent crime, and children and teenagers are often the most vulnerable. In 2020, the 10 states with the highest rates of gun deaths among children and teenagers all received an “F” grade for their weak gun laws, according to the latest scorecard from Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. The same year, the rate of gun homicides among children and teenagers rose by 40 percent, making guns the No. 1 killer of children in America.

Republicans have made it easier for shooters to access guns, but they’ve made it harder for students to access books. Since fall 2021, Republican-led states have banned more than 1,000 books in schools, including through legislation in Florida, Missouri, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah. In Missouri, one of the few Republican-led states with a legislature open at the time of the Uvalde shooting, lawmakers took no action on gun crime but did manage to ban Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. While countless studies show stronger gun laws keep kids safe, no study has established a causal link between student safety and book banning.

While Republicans passed laws that exacerbate gun crime, Democratic-led states have taken steps to lower gun violence and keep communities safe. In the wake of tragic mass shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, Democratic-led states passed more than 30 bills to reduce gun crime.

When it comes to school safety, Republicans have taken action to prevent kids from reading books but to increase access to guns in their states, while Democrats have acted to protect children from gun violence in their schools.

Republican-led states banned more than 1,000 books in schools in recent months

According to data collected by PEN America, Republican-led states banned more than 1,000 books from fall 2021 through March of 2022. There were 27 school shootings across the country during the same period.

- All book ban legislation passed in 2022 occurred in Republican-led states: Florida, Georgia, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Utah.

- In Missouri—one of the few Republican-led states with a legislature in session at the time of the Uvalde shooting—lawmakers refused to take any action on the issue of gun crime. They did find time to ban literature classics such as Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye.

GOP-led states enacted more than 20 bills to weaken gun laws in 2022

This year alone, Republican-led states have enacted more than 20 bills to weaken gun laws, including in Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming:

- Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, and Ohio, all passed bills that will allow anyone to carry a firearm in public without getting a license or any training from the state.

- In New Hampshire, Republican legislators made it more difficult for law enforcement to work in collaboration with federal agencies to solve gun crimes.

MAGA Republicans nationwide are targeting their efforts to increase guns in schools

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Republicans have introduced more than 100 pieces of legislation to increase the presence of guns in schools since the Parkland, Florida, shooting:

- In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) responded to the Uvalde shooting by signing into law legislation allowing teachers to carry guns in classrooms after receiving just 24 hours of training.

- In Arizona, the Republican-led state House of Representatives passed a bill to require all children in sixth through 12th grade to take a National Rifle Association (NRA) gun safety course in school.

- In Tennessee, the Republican-led state House of Representatives passed a bill supported by the gun lobby to lower the age for people to own a handgun to 18, giving high schoolers the ability to legally possess guns.

- In Arkansas, Republican-led school districts are implementing policies to increase guns in schools, including a recommended goal to ensure an armed presence on every campus at all times.

- In North Carolina, one Republican-led school district is storing high-powered rifles, ammunition, and other equipment in six schools.

MAGA Republicans tout their support for law enforcement but pass bills that put police in danger

- In 2022, four states with Republican leadership—Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, and Ohio—passed permitless carry legislation despite the objections of law enforcement. Weakened permitting laws have been shown to increase violent crime rates by 13 percent to 15 percent—putting officers and the public at increased risk.

- An additional six Republican-led states, including Texas, passed similar legislation in 2021.

- In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp (R) signed a law that will allow anyone in the state to carry a gun concealed without a license. Republicans passed this policy over the objections of law enforcement officials from across the state, including from Macon-Bibb County, Muscogee County, Savannah, and Mercer University law enforcement.

- In Alabama, Gov. Kay Ivey (R) signed a similar permitless carry bill into law over the opposition of law enforcement organizations, including the Alabama Sheriffs Association. Alabama also passed a law this year that would forbid state law enforcement from enforcing federal gun laws.

- In Indiana, Gov. Eric Holcomb (R) signed the state’s permitless carry law, despite state sheriffs openly stating that it could make law enforcement’s jobs considerably harder.

Democratic-led states are working to lower gun crime

- According to CAP Action’s analysis, all 13 Democratic-trifecta states with legislative sessions in 2022 enacted proven solutions to reduce gun crime, including gun violence prevention legislation and funding for community violence intervention.

- Multiple states enacted ghost gun bans this year, including Illinois, Delaware, and Washington, making it more difficult for people—particularly children—who should not have firearms from gaining access to them. In 2019, a 16-year-old in California killed two students and injured three more using a ghost gun. Earlier this year, a 13-year-old in Maryland brought a ghost gun to school.

- In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy (D) signed a new bill into law that allows the state attorney general to sue gun manufacturers and hold them accountable for infractions related to the sale or marketing of firearms.
Oregon enacted H.B. 4045 to support public health approaches to gun violence and provide additional funding for community violence intervention programs.

- Delaware passed legislation to prohibit the sale and transfer of assault weapons, along with five other significant gun reforms following the Uvalde shooting.

Democratic- and Republican-led states had extremely different responses following the Uvalde and Buffalo mass shootings
Seventeen states had legislative sessions ongoing at the time of the Buffalo and Uvalde mass shootings.

Seventeen states had legislative sessions ongoing at the time of the Buffalo and Uvalde mass shootings. Of these, six had a Republican trifecta: Arizona, Iowa, Missouri, New Hampshire, Ohio, and South Carolina; five had a Democratic trifecta: California, Delaware, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island; and six had split power: Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

In states led by Democrats, legislators passed more than 30 gun safety bills to protect children and communities following mass shootings:

- California, New Jersey, and New York improved law enforcement’s ability to solve gun crimes.
Delaware, Rhode Island, and New York raised the minimum age to purchase certain types of guns, including the weapons used in Buffalo and Uvalde.

- Delaware and Rhode Island limited large-capacity magazines.

- Delaware banned assault weapons.

- New Jersey and New York increased firearm training requirements for purchasers.

Not a single Republican-led state took action to keep kids safe in the wake of Buffalo and Uvalde—but two states actively made it easier for dangerous people to access guns:

- Four of the six states with Republican governors and majorities in both chambers in session at the time of the mass shootings—Arizona, Iowa, Missouri, and South Carolina—ignored skyrocketing gun crime and refused to act.

- The two Republican-led states that did act—Ohio and New Hampshire—increased access to guns. In Ohio, Republican lawmakers made it easier to bring guns into schools and in New Hampshire, Republican legislators made it more difficult for police to solve gun crimes.

2 tragedies, 2 responses: How New York and Texas responded to mass shootings in their states 

In the days following the shooting in Buffalo, the New York Legislature and governor passed 10 substantial gun reforms into law.

The new laws will reduce gun crime by raising the age from 18 to 21 for the purchase of semi-automatic rifles like those used in the shooting and by strengthening the state’s extreme risk law, which keeps guns out of the hands of those who are at risk of harming themselves or others. The laws will also enhance information sharing across law enforcement agencies to support police in preventing and responding to gun crime.

In the days following the shooting in Uvalde, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ignored calls for a special session to pass reforms that could have prevented the Uvalde mass shooting. Instead of taking action, Gov. Abbott attended a campaign fundraiser the night of the Uvalde shooting.

Just days later, Gov. Abbott and other Republican state lawmakers welcomed the NRA convention to Texas, where they called for expanded access to firearms.

Conclusion

Democrat-led states are working to prevent gun violence in schools by passing commonsense gun safety legislation and holding the gun lobby accountable. Meanwhile, extreme MAGA Republicans are making it easier for dangerous people to access guns and undermining law enforcement’s attempts to respond when gun violence breaks out. Instead of working to keep kids safe in schools, Republican-led states have focused on keeping books out of classrooms.

https://www.americanprogressaction.org/article/maga-extremism-in-schools-republican-led-states-are-banning-books-not-guns/

[Rick Plant]

CAP Action @CAPAction

This is extremism like we’ve never seen before—and MAGA Republicans won't stop at abortion rights.

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1568253082039107591



Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowski

A man who walked into a Demont, PA Dairy Queen, wearing a vest, rainbow wig, and a loaded firearm was arrested. He said he was “working to restore Trump as President King of the US” and was going to “kill Democrats and liberals.”

Watch: https://twitter.com/i/status/1569864620801753090

https://twitter.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1569864620801753090

[Rick Plant]

MAGA rioter who committed bloody attacks on police takes plea deal calling for up to 8 years



A Georgia man who attacked Capitol Police on January 6 and told one “you’re gonna die tonight” has pleaded guilty to assaulting officers with a dangerous weapon.

Jack Wade Whitton, 32, of Locust Grove, Georgia, entered the plea to one of the more serious felony charges to date among the 870 defendants arrested in connection with the riot at the U.S. Capitol. His plea deal, if accepted by a federal judge, would carry either sentencing range from 63 to 78 months, or 78 to 93 months.

“Whitton was part of a mob that confronted law enforcement officers at the Archway leading into the Capitol Building from the Lower West Terrace,” according to a Department of Justice news release. After another rioter kicked an office guarding the Capitol, Whitton jumped in.

“Whitton kicked at this officer, who was still on the ground. He then grabbed another MPD officer, first by his baton, then by the helmet and the neck of his ballistic vest. He pulled him down and started to drag the officer down a set of steps in a prone position. Others joined him in dragging this officer into the crowd, where other rioters beat the officer with weapons, including a flagpole and baton.”

As reported last year at Raw Story, “Whitton, allegedly told an officer, "You're going to die tonight," and later boasted in a text message that he had "fed him (an officer) to the people."

"Idk (I don't know) his status," Whitton wrote in the text message to a friend, referring to the officer. "And (I) don't care tbh (to be honest)."

According to court documents, the attack left one of the officers with head wounds that required staples to close. This was after rioters "ripped off his helmet, maced him, took his gas mask and MPD-issued cell phone, kicked him, struck him with poles, and stomped on him."

He used a metal crutch to beat one Capitol Police officer and kicked another. Afterward, he boasted of his bloody hands and that he “fed an officer to the people,” according to court documents.

https://www.rawstory.com/j6-jack-wade-whitton/