Bullying has now become the trademark behavior of the GOP, the result of Donald Trump’s entrance on the scene in 2015 when he successfully bullied and cowed every other GOP presidential candidate...
Your title says it all. The other day I was in a Zoom meeting w/ the men’s group I belong to.
Once again one of the members invoked the myth of the “decent” Republican magically breaking fever and realizing the error of their ways.
I stated that easily since Goldwater, Republicans have been in bed w/ the John Birch Society whose cancerous influence has metastasized into the core beliefs of today’s Republicans, be they Young Republicans, Tea Party, or any other faction.
Deluding ourselves into the hope that they won’t continue to push toward a Fascist/Theocracy is literally going to destroy Democracy.
I just have to add a respectful footnote comment regarding blaming AG Garland and President Biden for the criminality of the tRump cabal and “ Trump getting away with it all “. No one owns the mess of the traitorous Republican shi** show more than the jellyfish Republicans who could have voted for impeachment twice but towed the party line thus giving the rabid traitor- in - chief free reign to continue his criminal activities and attempts at the destruction of our democracy. From Billy Corrupt Barr all the way down the Republicans ran interference for their mafia boss tRump. They broke it- they own their fetid mess. The investigation into J6 is the biggest and most widespread ever in American history- thousands of insurrectionists investigated and hundred + indictments, working from the bottom feeders up to the ring leaders is a monumental process with more arrests in the barrel. Considering that the new administration in 2021 had tRump trash to clean out and was obstructed by unhelpful tRump holdovers it’s a wonder so much has been accomplished ( as well as Garland not officially in position until 3/21). And then the destruction of a life altering virus to add to the chaos. I believe while not “ perfect “ President Biden is doing a better job steering our country away from the edge of the cliff that we were on the verge of going over due to Republican malfeasance and mismanagement.
"...you can never actually negotiate with a bully: you can only contain or defeat them." Much of the USA just does not get this. Every Trump supporter I personally know IS a bully and the have been enabled and encouraged by Trump, which is why they love him. When I was in middle school, my mentally ill brother would beat me up the minute my parents left the house, which was nearly every night. After years of this, and after a particularly brutal beating, I grabbed a cross bar that had fallen from a chair and, without thinking, I whirled around and hit him in the shins as hard as I could. It must have hurt like hell. He wailed for 20 minutes, but never hit me again. In the Air Force, I had a friend who was both brilliant and kind; yet he was a fighter pilot. I asked him how he squared his occupation with his kind personality. I will never forget his reply, in a slow southern drawl, "The only thing some people understand, is the threat of physical violence. The only thing." I would add "prison," to the threat of physical violence. Republicans who have and are aiding and abetting Trump should be in jail.
Boy oh boy is this both timely and urgent! With your permission will be sharing. Thank you again, Thom; THR is one of the best investments I've made as a human.
In regard to teaching children, I've realized bullying denies belonging, a crucial human need, and that those who bully have felt or feel they don't belong.
When it gets to the adult level and in this huge degree that it exists, I agree we must stand up to it, larger now, it mainly about power, perhaps that and $, turning those who had even felt they belonged?? (Trump deeply mistreated and bullied by his father, however, and taught he must always be right.)
It also shows us how early and deeply we must ensure belonging and well-being for All, lest we further the existence of bullies, it often persisting through life.
Then also comes to mind, the documentary nominated for an Academy award this year "standing at the gate," is it called (afraid to leave here to check), wherein a former marine, anti-to Arabs, plans to attack an Arab Mosque, but was met instead by enormous acceptance and love entering there, this rescuing the man's humanity and goodness. We have our work to do, it appears, in both ways.
The question, it seems to me, is how does one take on a bully without becoming a bully oneself?
Since bullying by definition implies some form of violence, whether physical or psychological, what are alternatives to beating up the bully, or out insulting the bully?
Popular models of resisting bullies--Billy Jack, The Karate Kid, High Noon, Die Hard, etc,--consists of beating the bully at his own game. Such resistance is exhilarating to those witnessing the comeuppance the bully receives. However, the response is one of degree, not of kind.
How do decent people resist indecency without becoming indecent themselves? This seems to me to be an important issue. When you believe there are rules to the game, how do you play the game with those who believe that winning is the only rule?
And it looks like the US lamestreet media will be covering the biggest bully non stop and reporting the lies one right after another without a real stance against the lies. Chaos!!
On another topic, John Perkins and you were discussing Chinese rise during the last 40 years and them becoming the biggest economy in the world soon.? Not a mention of our US trade agreements which allowed corporations to flee this country in search of cheap labor in China and other Asian countries. I would say American politicians and conglomerate American Corporations and we the people built China of today.
The Eddy comment about warfare reminded me of the term 'stochastic warfare/terrorism'. A relevant definition from dictionary.com: the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted.
It seems this tells us about the favorite tactic of bullies against their enemies (real or imagined). We have examples of course with the fascist attack engineered for 6th Jan as well as in the recent attacks from that bully DeSantis against LGBGT and Drags. This warfare technique also provides that needed level of deniability. Note that 'statistically probable' is not 'proof beyond reasonable doubt'. So, the entire scheme has built-in legal protection. The US legal system is being played by political bullies all running the same algorithm.
I cannot imagine expressing the problem as clearly and completely as you have with this article Thom. This is a great example of being addicted to power and money and the wide categories of people who are the victims of this abuse, and their reactions to this abuse.
This is who we’ve become.
Like it or not.
It creates constant chaos, anger at being abused, feeling powerless to stop the abuser.
But I believe that Bullies are so terribly insecure at their baseline, it gives them great pleasure to believe and see their destruction as power.
The fact is republicans have been bullying for years.
They cheat at everything to get their way. Al Gore was elected president.
Instead the republicans bullied the Supreme Court ( for one) to ‘ stop counting’ votes as it became clear that Gore was winning.
Another injustice , but why did we Democrats not see a way out at the time. We didn’t fight it to any great degree.
So we were primed to accept Trump as our supreme bully .
You’ve mentioned who’s who in bullying .
I think now , De Santis is creating another far reaching and bold bullying of LGBTQ folks and children . Many of these bullied kids are attempting and succeeding at suicide.
It s about as bullied as we can get.
Minorities in America are and have been bullied forever. I think of all the cases of police bullying that have ended in death of African Americans for non existent violations.
We must change this Culture of bullying.
No longer accepting it from these imposter Congress both men and women . MJ T , J J , Kevin Mc allows it and encourages it . Trump must be prosecuted for every crime he’s committed . Stop the BS that Democrats are “ setting him up” . Tucker Carlson should be silenced, ‘Liar w largest audience’.
I genuinely believe President Joe Biden should use, yes, his bully pulpit to clearly lay out for the American people that the current GOP is no longer negotiating on behalf of all Americans and are using bullying, violence, & intimidation thru inhumane laws to take more & more social territory. They have become an enemy of democratic norms and they are proud of it. This is yet another crisis moment in our history. I truly fear that maybe Americans need to lose what we have-which is true freedom compared to most of the world-for something far more dark and restrictive. It’s heartbreaking to think it maybe a necessary chapter but up to 40% of our population now believes a different set of facts and think democracy maybe a bad idea.
"The bomb threat came in an email full of spelling mistakes. News10NBC received the email just after 8:30 a.m. It describes the reasons behind the threat:
“There is nothing more vile and disgusting than violating a child’s innonence [sic] and that is exactly what this school system has done. They allow and encourage children to read sexual content such as the book “this book is gay”, a book which contains graphic sexual content and encourages children to use hook up apps. This book is not even designed for teenagers but kids. You are disgusting degenerates that belong on cross. We will ensure all of you degenerates are killed which is why we placed a bobm [sic] in those people’s houses, they are responsible for the grooming of our children. It has been known for all of human history that [sic] the innonence [sic] of children is sacred. Anyone who violates that has forfeit their right to life, we will end you and purify our land of you degenerates and make our country great, we will stop you from causing the collapse of our civilization one step at a time. Evacuate the school and the houses nearby those addresses. No innonecent [sic] people will die today. Each location has 1-3 pipebombs [sic].”"
Sick, and a new kind of GOP extremist bullying. This disease has come to New York.
Little bush faked his national guard service and started a war against a country which did NOT contribute any citizens to the 9/11 hijacking terrorists! Little bush defines the adage ‘all hat and no cattle’! Mission accomplished! NOT! Defenders of war criminal Putin point to Little bush’s UNPROVOKED war in Iraq!
This is my favorite report thus far. I've been saying this to whomever would listen since the liar con man bully stepped onto the elevator.
Personally, I believe bullies are people with "Daddy Issues". Clearly this doesn't suggest an antidote, but it might inspire some research into the connection.
Behind every act of bullying is fear; False Evidence Appearing Real. These bullies perceive a threat and respond by fighting/bullying. Trump is afraid he'll be exposed for the fraud he is; an incompetent business person who couldn't make a buck legally. He was a laughing stock in NYC in the 90's, no bank would touch him so he had to go bottom-feeding to the Russians. MTG? Just a mess. Huge child abuse/psychological issues there; personality disorder, my guess. My Grandfather (Momo) worked with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone. Momo was in FL back in the 1920's where Henry Ford had charged him with keeping Edison on task to invent synthetic rubber. Edison's mind tended to wander. So Ford, through my Momo was bullying Edison. Ford was a real.... Funny story; one evening, Ford and Firestone were out in a small boat off of Ft. Myers. The evening was calm and they were telling dirty jokes and laughing - heard by the 100 people at a tent party on-shore. My Momo had to row out in another boat and tell them to 'shut the heck up' the ladies were offended.
Truly on point about the brain eating disease of the Republican mindset. If they can’t get their way, then lie, cheat, steal and bully your opponents. All under the “American patriot “ guise of spewing total BS. By threatening prosecutors and judges, private citizens and political figures that disagree with their agenda, they have abdicated the rule of law in favor of authoritarian whack a mole governance while trying to herd the rest of us, who are the majority, into subservience. There is, unfortunately, in our two party system only the Democrats left who abide by the rule of law and are looking out for Americans. As they say about fireworks-the “safe and sane “ party is left to advance this country and fight the uphill battle of undoing the damage of Republican governance. Unfortunately political violence and bullying is in our country’s DNA due to the disease of racism mixed with misogyny and hate as the guiding force.
Your title says it all. The other day I was in a Zoom meeting w/ the men’s group I belong to.
Once again one of the members invoked the myth of the “decent” Republican magically breaking fever and realizing the error of their ways.
I stated that easily since Goldwater, Republicans have been in bed w/ the John Birch Society whose cancerous influence has metastasized into the core beliefs of today’s Republicans, be they Young Republicans, Tea Party, or any other faction.
Deluding ourselves into the hope that they won’t continue to push toward a Fascist/Theocracy is literally going to destroy Democracy.
I just have to add a respectful footnote comment regarding blaming AG Garland and President Biden for the criminality of the tRump cabal and “ Trump getting away with it all “. No one owns the mess of the traitorous Republican shi** show more than the jellyfish Republicans who could have voted for impeachment twice but towed the party line thus giving the rabid traitor- in - chief free reign to continue his criminal activities and attempts at the destruction of our democracy. From Billy Corrupt Barr all the way down the Republicans ran interference for their mafia boss tRump. They broke it- they own their fetid mess. The investigation into J6 is the biggest and most widespread ever in American history- thousands of insurrectionists investigated and hundred + indictments, working from the bottom feeders up to the ring leaders is a monumental process with more arrests in the barrel. Considering that the new administration in 2021 had tRump trash to clean out and was obstructed by unhelpful tRump holdovers it’s a wonder so much has been accomplished ( as well as Garland not officially in position until 3/21). And then the destruction of a life altering virus to add to the chaos. I believe while not “ perfect “ President Biden is doing a better job steering our country away from the edge of the cliff that we were on the verge of going over due to Republican malfeasance and mismanagement.
"...you can never actually negotiate with a bully: you can only contain or defeat them." Much of the USA just does not get this. Every Trump supporter I personally know IS a bully and the have been enabled and encouraged by Trump, which is why they love him. When I was in middle school, my mentally ill brother would beat me up the minute my parents left the house, which was nearly every night. After years of this, and after a particularly brutal beating, I grabbed a cross bar that had fallen from a chair and, without thinking, I whirled around and hit him in the shins as hard as I could. It must have hurt like hell. He wailed for 20 minutes, but never hit me again. In the Air Force, I had a friend who was both brilliant and kind; yet he was a fighter pilot. I asked him how he squared his occupation with his kind personality. I will never forget his reply, in a slow southern drawl, "The only thing some people understand, is the threat of physical violence. The only thing." I would add "prison," to the threat of physical violence. Republicans who have and are aiding and abetting Trump should be in jail.
Boy oh boy is this both timely and urgent! With your permission will be sharing. Thank you again, Thom; THR is one of the best investments I've made as a human.
Terribly, all so true.
In regard to teaching children, I've realized bullying denies belonging, a crucial human need, and that those who bully have felt or feel they don't belong.
When it gets to the adult level and in this huge degree that it exists, I agree we must stand up to it, larger now, it mainly about power, perhaps that and $, turning those who had even felt they belonged?? (Trump deeply mistreated and bullied by his father, however, and taught he must always be right.)
It also shows us how early and deeply we must ensure belonging and well-being for All, lest we further the existence of bullies, it often persisting through life.
Then also comes to mind, the documentary nominated for an Academy award this year "standing at the gate," is it called (afraid to leave here to check), wherein a former marine, anti-to Arabs, plans to attack an Arab Mosque, but was met instead by enormous acceptance and love entering there, this rescuing the man's humanity and goodness. We have our work to do, it appears, in both ways.
Thank you, Thom.
Thom,
The question, it seems to me, is how does one take on a bully without becoming a bully oneself?
Since bullying by definition implies some form of violence, whether physical or psychological, what are alternatives to beating up the bully, or out insulting the bully?
Popular models of resisting bullies--Billy Jack, The Karate Kid, High Noon, Die Hard, etc,--consists of beating the bully at his own game. Such resistance is exhilarating to those witnessing the comeuppance the bully receives. However, the response is one of degree, not of kind.
How do decent people resist indecency without becoming indecent themselves? This seems to me to be an important issue. When you believe there are rules to the game, how do you play the game with those who believe that winning is the only rule?
And it looks like the US lamestreet media will be covering the biggest bully non stop and reporting the lies one right after another without a real stance against the lies. Chaos!!
On another topic, John Perkins and you were discussing Chinese rise during the last 40 years and them becoming the biggest economy in the world soon.? Not a mention of our US trade agreements which allowed corporations to flee this country in search of cheap labor in China and other Asian countries. I would say American politicians and conglomerate American Corporations and we the people built China of today.
Thanks. A great report.
The Eddy comment about warfare reminded me of the term 'stochastic warfare/terrorism'. A relevant definition from dictionary.com: the public demonization of a person or group resulting in the incitement of a violent act, which is statistically probable but whose specifics cannot be predicted.
It seems this tells us about the favorite tactic of bullies against their enemies (real or imagined). We have examples of course with the fascist attack engineered for 6th Jan as well as in the recent attacks from that bully DeSantis against LGBGT and Drags. This warfare technique also provides that needed level of deniability. Note that 'statistically probable' is not 'proof beyond reasonable doubt'. So, the entire scheme has built-in legal protection. The US legal system is being played by political bullies all running the same algorithm.
I cannot imagine expressing the problem as clearly and completely as you have with this article Thom. This is a great example of being addicted to power and money and the wide categories of people who are the victims of this abuse, and their reactions to this abuse.
This is who we’ve become.
Like it or not.
It creates constant chaos, anger at being abused, feeling powerless to stop the abuser.
But I believe that Bullies are so terribly insecure at their baseline, it gives them great pleasure to believe and see their destruction as power.
The fact is republicans have been bullying for years.
They cheat at everything to get their way. Al Gore was elected president.
Instead the republicans bullied the Supreme Court ( for one) to ‘ stop counting’ votes as it became clear that Gore was winning.
Another injustice , but why did we Democrats not see a way out at the time. We didn’t fight it to any great degree.
So we were primed to accept Trump as our supreme bully .
You’ve mentioned who’s who in bullying .
I think now , De Santis is creating another far reaching and bold bullying of LGBTQ folks and children . Many of these bullied kids are attempting and succeeding at suicide.
It s about as bullied as we can get.
Minorities in America are and have been bullied forever. I think of all the cases of police bullying that have ended in death of African Americans for non existent violations.
We must change this Culture of bullying.
No longer accepting it from these imposter Congress both men and women . MJ T , J J , Kevin Mc allows it and encourages it . Trump must be prosecuted for every crime he’s committed . Stop the BS that Democrats are “ setting him up” . Tucker Carlson should be silenced, ‘Liar w largest audience’.
I genuinely believe President Joe Biden should use, yes, his bully pulpit to clearly lay out for the American people that the current GOP is no longer negotiating on behalf of all Americans and are using bullying, violence, & intimidation thru inhumane laws to take more & more social territory. They have become an enemy of democratic norms and they are proud of it. This is yet another crisis moment in our history. I truly fear that maybe Americans need to lose what we have-which is true freedom compared to most of the world-for something far more dark and restrictive. It’s heartbreaking to think it maybe a necessary chapter but up to 40% of our population now believes a different set of facts and think democracy maybe a bad idea.
What should the Democrats do at this point?
This happened this morning in a village about 20 minutes north of my home:
https://www.whec.com/top-news/hilton-central-school-district-is-being-evacuated-after-bomb-threat/?utm_source=zetaglobal&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=morning&bt_ee=OIssxBxtUJPKfQZRWi9lsU%2FNyzrNvaeq1A7fdVtvIznw2V32AP6eKXQMukgP0FTA&bt_ts=1679498453221
"The bomb threat came in an email full of spelling mistakes. News10NBC received the email just after 8:30 a.m. It describes the reasons behind the threat:
“There is nothing more vile and disgusting than violating a child’s innonence [sic] and that is exactly what this school system has done. They allow and encourage children to read sexual content such as the book “this book is gay”, a book which contains graphic sexual content and encourages children to use hook up apps. This book is not even designed for teenagers but kids. You are disgusting degenerates that belong on cross. We will ensure all of you degenerates are killed which is why we placed a bobm [sic] in those people’s houses, they are responsible for the grooming of our children. It has been known for all of human history that [sic] the innonence [sic] of children is sacred. Anyone who violates that has forfeit their right to life, we will end you and purify our land of you degenerates and make our country great, we will stop you from causing the collapse of our civilization one step at a time. Evacuate the school and the houses nearby those addresses. No innonecent [sic] people will die today. Each location has 1-3 pipebombs [sic].”"
Sick, and a new kind of GOP extremist bullying. This disease has come to New York.
Little bush faked his national guard service and started a war against a country which did NOT contribute any citizens to the 9/11 hijacking terrorists! Little bush defines the adage ‘all hat and no cattle’! Mission accomplished! NOT! Defenders of war criminal Putin point to Little bush’s UNPROVOKED war in Iraq!
This is my favorite report thus far. I've been saying this to whomever would listen since the liar con man bully stepped onto the elevator.
Personally, I believe bullies are people with "Daddy Issues". Clearly this doesn't suggest an antidote, but it might inspire some research into the connection.
Behind every act of bullying is fear; False Evidence Appearing Real. These bullies perceive a threat and respond by fighting/bullying. Trump is afraid he'll be exposed for the fraud he is; an incompetent business person who couldn't make a buck legally. He was a laughing stock in NYC in the 90's, no bank would touch him so he had to go bottom-feeding to the Russians. MTG? Just a mess. Huge child abuse/psychological issues there; personality disorder, my guess. My Grandfather (Momo) worked with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Harvey Firestone. Momo was in FL back in the 1920's where Henry Ford had charged him with keeping Edison on task to invent synthetic rubber. Edison's mind tended to wander. So Ford, through my Momo was bullying Edison. Ford was a real.... Funny story; one evening, Ford and Firestone were out in a small boat off of Ft. Myers. The evening was calm and they were telling dirty jokes and laughing - heard by the 100 people at a tent party on-shore. My Momo had to row out in another boat and tell them to 'shut the heck up' the ladies were offended.
Truly on point about the brain eating disease of the Republican mindset. If they can’t get their way, then lie, cheat, steal and bully your opponents. All under the “American patriot “ guise of spewing total BS. By threatening prosecutors and judges, private citizens and political figures that disagree with their agenda, they have abdicated the rule of law in favor of authoritarian whack a mole governance while trying to herd the rest of us, who are the majority, into subservience. There is, unfortunately, in our two party system only the Democrats left who abide by the rule of law and are looking out for Americans. As they say about fireworks-the “safe and sane “ party is left to advance this country and fight the uphill battle of undoing the damage of Republican governance. Unfortunately political violence and bullying is in our country’s DNA due to the disease of racism mixed with misogyny and hate as the guiding force.
“Thanks, Obama! The hilarious reason why a judge just blocked Wyoming’s abortion ban.”
https://www.vox.com/politics/2023/3/23/23653183/abortion-wyoming-obamacare-barack-obama-supreme-court-johnson