Part II: The GOP Is No Longer "Using" QAnon: The GOP Now IS QAnon-- What Does This Mean?
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The GOP Is No Longer "Using" QAnon: The GOP Now IS QAnon-- What Does This Mean?
Part II—The GOP Repurposes QAnon's “Blood Libel” Into A New Culture War, Version 2.0
[“President Trump addressed the baseless, far-right QAnon conspiracy theory directly for the first time on Wednesday, saying he didn't know much about the online community and its followers other than "they like me very much."
"I heard that these are people who love our country," Trump added in response to a question about the conspiracy community during a press briefing at the White House.
When a reporter partially summed up the conspiracy theory to him — that it revolves around a false narrative that Trump is leading a secret, government-led charge against pedophiles, cannibals and satanic worshippers — Trump responded: "Is that supposed to be a bad thing?"
"If I can help save the world from problems, I'm willing to do it," Trump said.”]
The above quote from an August 19, 2020 White House press conference by Trump, as reported by NPR’s “Politics” column, should have been seen and heard at the time as his official declaration of intent to launch a Hitler-style Putsch and civil conflict, in order to overturn the election and install himself as a dictator for life. But it wasn’t. It was covered as just another piece of “Trump News,” unhinged, nuts, unbelievable. Just more of the usual nonsense which described him as a clown, fated to lose re-election and desperate enough to pander to any extremist outfit for support.
Part of this failure by the mainstream press was the standard form of corporate corruption, an editorial policy to not “burn bridges” with Trump, his spokespeople, or advertisers favorable to the GOP. Some of it was plain cowardice or ignorance on the part of the writers, who treated this like everything else he said, ie; as that day's news dump of Trump related celebrity gossip. “Oh my god, did you hear what he said today, he’s nuts, right?” (with haha's, and lots of lol’s and giggles)
But more importantly was the willful blindness or misguided opinion of many pundits to the actual nature of QAnon itself, often mischaracterized as an arcane, esoteric and informal fringey group of eclectic internet conspirophiles. This kind of phenomena has been normalized by the current status of the internet as a lawless “Wild West,” with virtually no guardrails for protecting the public from outright lies and disinformation. “Just a bunch of kooks they are” was the refrain. The actual reality was that our Intelligence Community, including West Point's "Center For Terrorism" had already classified them as a serious and possibly foreign influenced terror threat.
https://ctc.westpoint.edu/the-qanon-conspiracy-theory-a-security-threat-in-the-making/
In retrospect, what should jump out at the reader, especially those with some basic background on the history of the 20th century, was that this cavalier dismissal of the Trump/QAnon threat parallels almost exactly that of the western news media a century ago, in regard to a similarly labeled small and fringey political party of oddball conspirophiles in Germany. One which adopted as its leader a pathetically small but fanatically anti-semitic, self-promoting, narcissistic publicity seeker, a bohemian type vagrant and former postcard painter who no one took seriously in politics, named Adolph Hitler.
That was until he recruited one of the most decorated and charismatic German military leaders to his cause, the Michael Flynn of his day, Erich Von Ludendorff.
Some would argue that this is a false equivalence, or even claim that the use of historical parallels is itself not a valid method for describing modern events. They might ask, how many Jews has Trump or QAnon killed? What wars have they started, what crimes against humanity were carried out? To a thinking person, the answers should be obvious. First, were Trump to return to power, given his full alignment with QAnon now, his previous track record of 1 million negligent homicides through his policies on covid, combined with his already stated public policy pronouncements, we would soon enough see for ourselves how not a false equivalence it is to compare them to the Nazis, as their high crimes would clearly become self-evident. That is, for those myopic fools who need such confirmation.
Also unavoidable is that the QAnon conspiracy theory, which was endorsed by Trump repeatedly even after the above cited quote, itself derived from the centuries old anti-semitic “Blood Libel,” which motivated Hitler and his Nazis to commit the crimes they did. The malignant narcissist Trump embraced them openly because he stood at the center of their worldview, the "savior" of America's children who would come to power and arrest their enemies in secret, then have them executed. This fed Trump's revenge fantasies and meshed well with his oedipal rage. This we thoroughly documented in Part I of this article.
https://therosenreport.blogspot.com/2022/10/the-gop-is-no-longer-just-using-qanon.html
We are not the ones making the parallel, they themselves have done so by virtue of their existence and willing adoption of this belief structure.
Donald Trump’s “Night Of The Long Sharpies”--
Having come to the White House in January 0f 2017, there were a number of things which he neglected to bring with him from New York City. In fact, they were things which he never had, such as an historical identity, an attention span, empathy, knowledge of how government should work with an intent to be President for all Americans, and the willingness to consider opposing viewpoints. In other words, he brought none of those qualities of personal leadership, intellect or selflessness which would qualify him for the presidency. One might even say that he was likewise never qualified to sell real estate or run a casino.
That said, he hired and relied upon a small coterie of trusted associates for advice on picking his team, based on one criteria above all-- loyalty. Every leading figure in his administration was brought in to meet privately, and made to swear loyalty to him personally as the substance of their interview, secondary to whether they shared his racist anti-government views. It was a process reminiscent of Hitler's demand that the German military swear a loyalty oath to him called the "Fahneneid," or the popularly known oath of the Italian Mafia, the "Omerta," the vow of silence.
This was why, for example, he immediately fired FBI Director James Comey and planned to fire his new Attorney General Jeff Sessions, when it became evident that neither would be his "Haldeman and Erlichmann" or John Mitchell in helping to cover up the Russian gambit from the campaign. Sessions was expected by Trump to act as his personal lawyers and legal shield, the role previously played by mob lawyer Roy Cohn, and later the reprobate lawyer Michael Cohen.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/06/donald-trump-loyalty-staff-217227/
This was also why he brought in so many completely unqualified sycophants and idiots like Kellyanne Conway, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and Sean Spicer to run his press shop, because they were nothing but vacuous Parrots and compliant "court flatterers" in his presence.
This meant that for Trump, family came first, in the worst sense, ie; the "Corleone" sense of the word. This of course had implications we are all aware of, in terms of how Trump, his family business, his grifter daughter and son-in-law, all used the presidency to steal from the public and engage in foreign financial dealings which made them as much as an estimated $3 bn. dollars in one term, between the Trump Organization, Ivanka's businesses, and Kushner's profiteering. (Although in a strict sense, Trump never considered Kushner family, due to his Jewish background and Trump's own beliefs in genetic theories of superiority. Kushner was to Trump a sort of business partner he never wanted to take on, but was forced to) But family to him also meant something else.
As many insiders have described, fundamentally Trump trusts no one. Not his wife, kids, long time associates, no one. He controls them using the pleasure-pain principle, meaning bribes and inducements, or conversely leverage, the threat of retaliation, ostracization and annihilation. Even with family. Remember it is documented that Trump indulges in a fantasy role-playing fetish as a Mafia kingpin, as depicted in the aforementioned fictional "Godfather" trilogy. Those who know the story are aware that Michael Corleone waited until his father's death to kill not only the Family's enemies, but his own traitorous close friends and family, including his brother-in-law Carlo, and his actual brother Fredo. The fictional character of Michael is one of Trump's personal models, which is why he often uses the term "Fredo" as his leading term of denigration.
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2019/10/the-white-houses-godfather-fantasy.html
The Trump "children" were not set up financially by him growing up. This is an odd fact. They were put through school and given introductions to their father's connections, and an allowance. They have shares and income from their positions in the Trump Organization. "And why is this the case" you may be asking? Because he is paranoid. He wants to insure they have nothing to gain by ratting him out. Since they are each benefactors of his criminal family business, they would all go down with him if they are prosecuted. They don't have the incentive to cooperate with investigators and serve up "Daddy" to the Feds . And it is how he plays the rivalries between them, each trying to prove their greater loyalty to remain in his good graces, to remain in his Will, and to insure they never unify against him. It is truly Shakespearian "court politics" which runs the show.
In short, he ran his businesses, his campaigns, his administration, and his own family like a Medieval potentate, domineering, authoritarian, paranoid, arbitrary, with both his treasurer and executionioner always close by at hand. He indulges his favorites, like his accountant Weisselberg, but uses the leverage he has over him in the form of illegally enriching his family to control him. Anyone who crosses him could wake up the next day to see their entire lives splashed on the front page of a New York tabloid, and a process server at their front door, courtesy of "The Donald".
https://www.theguardian.com/media/2018/aug/06/david-pecker-donald-trump-national-enquirer-profile
That has always been his way. In that sense, his pursuit of unchecked power and exertion of arbitrary authority in his business model should have been evident from his "Reality TV" persona, as we observed the sadistic cruelty of his perpetually revolving door in hiring and firing. He even once fired Steve Bannon.
And one by one, those handpicked members of the GOP establishment who were vetted and placed in Trump's White House to "manage" him were purged, because they never fully had their ticket punched for admission to Trump's "circle of trust."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Trump_administration_dismissals_and_resignations
He was always a lunatic, reaping the fruits of a financial system and corporate culture which rewards the most unprincipled and brutal. People who voted for him knew what they were getting. It is futile at this point to pretend otherwise. In effect, the GOP nominated a person who was an obscene hybrid of "Wall Street's" greed-driven character Gordon Gekko, and the greatest of all liars, Nazi Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels.
They. Knew.
The Oedipal Prince Who Let The Devil Out Of Hell- "Junior"
Donald Trump knows his sons Donald Jr. and Eric better than anyone, which is why he has basically shunned them, instead favoring his "princess" Ivanka to the point of embarrassment. He is currently estranged from "Melania's son" Barron, (Trump's term for him, not mine) and daughter Tiffany has little connection at all to his immediate family. We have this story from Mary Trump and others who have had the misfortune of involvement in his personal life.
He uses them of course, as he attempts to with everyone in his periphery. This is one reason Melania has constructed a seperate life in New York with son Barron, who, it is reported, despises his father now, and therefore is shielded from him by the distance.
Don Jr. and Eric are seen by their father as pathetic preppies, (not driven like him) weak, prone to addictions, and who are less worthy of respect than their golddigger wives, who are at least honest about what they are after. His sons' judgment has always been questionable, and he picks and chooses carefully what responsibilities to give them such that the damage they can cause is minimal.
This was especially the case after Junior's reckless campaign operation around the infamous Trump Tower wing-ding with Russian intelligence operatives in conjunction with Manafort, ostensibly about the Magnitsky Act restrictions on Russian adoptions. But, as most are well aware, in actuality the meeting was to negotiate a "quid pro quo" agreement to lift Russia's sanctions in exchange for dirt on Hillary Clinton. What enraged Trump the most was not the fact of the meeting. It was his son leaving a digital trail in the form of explicit e-mails stating what the meeting was about. This meant that "Daddy" had a virtual landfill of unwanted garbage to clean up after his son's blunder, in which Junior apparently forgot the number one rule of business. "Don't do the crime, if you don't have the time to shred, burn, flush, delete, and cover your tracks." You can just imagine the tirade Junior was hit with afterward; "haven't you learned a f**king thing from me, ever, you idiot?" Blah blah blah. The result of this monumental gaffe was the Mueller probe. (Which inexplicably never once interviewed Junior)
So, Junior f**ked up. He blew up his marriage, was dropped in "Daddy's" pecking order, and was apparently dealing with a serious substance issue which led to the rumor that he asked his father if they could trade the state of Vermont for Peru. (A joke, but not so far fetched) Thus, the Crown Prince of Trumpworld had some work to do in gaining back his father's trust. And that's how it happened that QAnon was given a White House pass, metaphorically speaking.
https://okmagazine.com/news/aubrey-oday-slams-donald-trump-jr-twitter-drug-claims/
The Social Media Heart Of Darkness--
August 11th and 12th, 2017 were turning points in US history. It was the day of the infamous "Unite The Right Rally" of Neo-Nazis and Confederate sympathizers, there to defend the Confederate war heroes' statues which civil rights activists were campaigning to remove. In the course of peaceful counter-demonstrations, one person named Heather Heyer was killed through vehicular homicide and several others injured. It was that day's events which provoked Joe Biden to run for President, and as a personal aside, the day I decided to "unretire" from politics.
Make no mistake, those who defended Trump's "I'm sure there are really fine people on both sides" statement afterward are liars by omission. Trump endorsed this and other such demos as "defending America's heritage," thereby legitimizing both the Confederate slave-owners rebellion and its elevation by the extreme alt-right Nazis and racists who turned out for them. According to first hand reports, Trump did not want to condemn either the violence or the Nazis who brought it, because he said "no, those are MY people."
So, this was Junior's opportunity to redeem himself in "Daddy's" eyes, by becoming essentially the official White House "Walmart greeter" for the most extreme pro-Nazi or religious neo-Confederates of the hardcore alt-right, who dwelled in the various corners of internet social media platforms which were Nazi-conspirophile friendly. These included Gab, Parler, Telegram, and up until the worst phases of Trump's covid disinformation, even Twitter and Facebook. (January 6th and the election "Big lie" were the final straw for the latter two)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/04/08/trump-jr-conspiracy-theories-far-right-506795
Junior began cultivating relationships with the very outfits which Trump defended after Charlottesville, some of which he had been promoting anyway in order to beat the anti-immigrant drum during the campaign. Trump pardoned the racist Maricopa County Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio, and then several convicted war criminals who had committed war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan, both those which were done by enlisted soldiers and by Blackwater private contractors. The latter was a favor for the brother of his Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, Blackwater head Erik Prince. (Who was one of Trump's backchannels to Putin as well)
Junior focused on harvesting the most extreme content, that which effusively praised his father and which was also sufficiently stupid for their base, including the most vile attacks and conspiracy theories about his father's enemies, and then retweeted them to his father's Twitter account. (This included the Moonie connected "Rod of Iron" AR-15 cults, the militias such as Oathkeepers, 3 Percenters and Proud Boys, and political candidates such as his buddy Eric Greitens in Missouri, with histories of extreme racism, misogyny and domestic violence)
Trump in turn would frequently retweet them from his own account, either disregarding or avoiding any input from his press staff, advisers, or his social media admins. This was how Trump repeatedly posted racist and anti-semitic memes and cartoons without any regard for PR, such as the one with Hillary Clinton depicted as a crooked tool of Wall Street with a Jewish Star Of David superimposed. Trump later claimed he thought it was a Sheriff's badge, which no one seriously believed, then or now.
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It is vital to understand the dynamic in play at this time. Trump was increasingly surrounded by litigation, Federal and State investigations, defections from his own team, tell-all books by his former friends, employees, even family, and accusations of everything from rape to theft, treason, and incest, most of which were grounded in reality. His rage level and desire for retribution were unquantifiable, and he intended to use his social media account as his primary weapon. He would use Twitter exactly as Adolph Hitler used the new invention of radio in Germany in the 1930's. To make himself the sole "Voice of the State" and its authority, eventually to replace and dominate any opposition press. He openly praised the state-run media systems of North Korea and Russia which each Propaganda networks for autocratic dictators. He intended as well to use Twitter to target selected individuals for harassment, violence or worse, as he has since the first days he had such an account. No lie, deception, or disinformation was off limits, as Trump knew that his core supporters were similarly violent in tone and malignant as he, and were, above everything, heavily armed and waiting for a green light.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/goebbels-hitler/
Junior thus saw his opening to insinuate himself as the emissary for his father to the various militia groups, religious cults, and conspirophile political formations which were his most devoted acolytes. This was his springboard to recovering favored status with "Daddy." And the fastest growing activist group, the one which had elevated Trump to an almost god-like status as protector of America's children was QAnon.
Also to be clear, Donald Junior did not recruit his father to support the "alt-right" admirers of fascism through social media. That support was already there, but Junior saw this as an opportunity to ingratiate himself further. His father had a nearly life-long predisposition and admiration for Hitler and his rise to power as dictator, as has been documented by his deceased ex-wife Ivana, and former Chief of Staff General John Kelly.
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/07/donald-trump-hitler-good-things
Trump during the events around George Floyd's murder became so enraged, paranoid and untethered, that he descended deeper into his physical and emotional bunker and tried to declare martial law. Psychologically he snapped, because he is fundamentally a vain physical coward, notwithstanding his attempts to pose as an "Alpha Male," bone spurs and all.
At this point, he saw the approaching triple threat of a civil uprising against him, the covid pandemic popping his stock market bubble (which was the pride of his so-called economic success), and the growing encirclement of prosecutors and litigators closing in. At that point, if some mad scientist had somehow dug up the remains of Adolph Hitler from under his Berlin Reichschancellory, and reanimated him to come to the US, Trump would endorse him for the US Senate on the grounds that "he likes me." However, since "The Führer" was for the moment unavailable during that turbulent Summer of 2020, he was left with only the remaining followers of Hitler's "Blood Libel" to ally with.
Hence, after Trump's praise for QAnon, the GOP did what the German conserative parties did, and rolled out the red carpet for a growing terrorist movement, one which will most assuredly be turned against them in the end as happened with Hitler's "Night Of The Long Knives" purge of his own movement. This is what the "America First" Freedom Caucus of QAnon leaders Marjorie Taylor Greene, Paul Gosar and Matt Gaetz represents today. Have no doubt about this, they are QAnon, and sit beside Trump at his right hand.
https://therosenreport.blogspot.com/2020/07/today-in-history-june-30-1934-adolf.html
In the meantime, the bizarre conspiracies and culture war policies of QAnon and the Republican Party leadership are now one and the same. Anytime you read or hear of a campaign statement or speech which centers on some Democratic Party instigated threat to children, unborn or not, that is the signature of QAnon, and is now the sum and substance of their "culture war".
This reality will be the subject of Part III,
Next-- "Pro-Life" Fundamentalists, Incels, Nazi Militias, And Fox TV- How So-called "Children's Safety" Is The Rallying Cry For The Coming QAnon Campaign Of Bloody Terror
