I’m getting sick of the right-wing people who are constantly telling us via tweets, news conferences, editorials, and more, that the question of the sexual assault allegations against Donald Trump was answered by “the people” in the 2016 election.

Somehow, Trump is innocent of all the allegations because he won the Electoral College.

If that’s the case, it’s also time for them to shut up about Bill Clinton’s shenanigans. After all, he won an election too, and he got the popular vote as well as the Electoral College.

Oh, and as Hillary Clinton got a much greater share of the vote than The Donald, she’s in the clear too. I don’t think she’s done anything illegal myself, but surely winning the popular vote means she’s out of the woods on any charges made before the election? That’s the logic at work when Sarah Sanders says “the people” answered that question.

And there’s no need to investigate whether the Trump campaign was in collusion with the Russians either. Trump’s win in the election means no one cares whether he did or not. (Actually, I think they’d agree with that one.)

Give me a break.

Winning an election doesn’t put you above the law. Being president doesn’t put you above the law. That’s one of the things the Republic was built on – the rule of law for every body. The president is not a king, though Trump clearly sees himself that way.

It is clear there was a massive attempt by the Russian government to influence US voters to vote for Trump. The only question is whether the Trump campaign was part of the efforts. There are pointers that they were aware of it. There is evidence they were willing to collude. So far, the general public hasn’t seen a smoking gun. We don’t, however, know if the Mueller investigation can say the same.

What’s also interesting is the number, especially on the right, who say there’s no evidence Russia’s interference had any influence on the result of the election. That’s like asking people how much advertising influences them.

We know that the Russian fake news campaign had it’s focus on states like Wisconsin and Michigan. Those states went to Trump largely because reliable Clinton voters didn’t cast a ballot. It’s understandable why they didn’t too. There was an avalanche of negative media about her.

Towards election day, even I had moments of doubt about Hillary Clinton. When James Comey came out and said there were more emails, I began to think I was wrong about her. Of course, a few days later came the announcement that all the emails were copies of ones the investigation saw earlier.

Remember, I was getting almost none of the anti-Hillary social media. When I saw it, it was usually part of a debunking story. For example, I had absolutely no idea about the pizza shop child prostitution story until the man with the gun turned up to rescue the kids. That’s not a story I would have ever thought true, but then I wasn’t the target audience. There was some extreme sophistication in the audience selection for the messages, and there were, and are, plenty of believers. Many still think the Deep State is hiding the truth.

We are still seeing that people will believe almost anything if you package it right. Most Republican voters didn’t believe the pizza-gate story. However, plenty of otherwise intelligent, reasonable Republicans were and are ready to believe the Uranium One story. So are plenty of others.

Ever since his announcement he was running for election, Donald Trump has been in a battle with the “main-stream” media. He calls it the “enemy of the people” and goes out of his way to make people distrust it. Instead, people are told to trust his tweets. I find it very concerning that this message is successful with a pretty large portion of the US population. I saw them during the election. In interviews they said things like, “I thought Donald Trump was a liar. Then I went to one of his rallies and I found out he is the one telling the truth. He wouldn’t saw all those things direct to the people if they were lies.”

So when the truth does come out in mostly reliable the “main-stream” media, and if that truth is that Trump is a sexual predator who colluded with the Russians, a huge chunk of USians has been conditioned not to believe it. And they won’t. If and when that happens, in a country that is already strongly divided along partisan lines, we could see social uproar.

 

Political Tweets

I wrote today’s homily before I saw this tweet. I can’t believe this is still going on! But what a brilliant job of dismantling the Republican attempt to deceive!
(Via Ann German.)

 

How the GOP Tax Plan works:
(Via Ann German.)

 

Yeah.
(Via Ann German.)

This is truly nauseating. It reminds me of a third-world dictator requiring his subordinates to constantly praise him.

 

Sound familiar?
(Via Ann German.)

 

Mueller Time Tweets

The plot thickens.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Just Plain Worrying Tweets!

(All via Ann German.)

 

 

I agree with this response to the above tweets:

 

There are more reasonable voices, and we can only hope that they carry the day. (The video is 12 minutes long, but worth listening to if you have the time.)
(Via Ann German.)

 

Human Rights Tweets

Some nice news for a change.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Very cool.
(Via Ann German.)

 

More good news. I hope he gets to be a barber like he wants.

 

Space Tweets

Sensible Canada.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Very cool indeed.

 

Also very cool indeed!

 

Funny Tweets

AF?

 

If only …
(Via Ann German.)

 

Oh dear …

 

Weather Tweets

Investigating climate change in Antarctica.

 

Other Animals Tweets

A lovely short (c. six minutes) film about the Norfolk Broads. (There’s a lot more in here that just “other animals”!)

 

Adorable!

 

Otters are still cute.

 

Reptile Tweets

Beautiful? No. Still as effing scary as ever!!!
(Via Ann German.)

 

Insect Tweets

Wow!

 

Bird Tweets

Lovely swan rescue.

 

Who knew?
(Via Ann German.)

 

Dog Tweets

The Far Side cartoons are so good!
(Both via Ann German.)

 

Tastes like chicken?

 

This made me laugh!

 

Cat Tweet

Wow!!!!!
(Via Ann German.)

 

Moshow spreads some pawsitivity.
(Via Ann German.)

 

Loving Christmas!

 

Poor kitty!

 

I think this is photo-shopped, but it’s cute all the same.

 

It doesn’t look real!

 

A cat’s view!

 


 

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