In rereading our posts on CPAC from 2018, 2019, and 2020, it would seem like the script of the movie Groundhog Day where certain scenes are repeated over and over again with a minor twist. Sheesh, these people have no ability to think other than to worship their "golden calf". It is really a sick, sick, sick cult. And today their messiah will take the podium again to wild cheering as he goes off on how Biden stole the election.

I watched Mary Trump this morning on Velchi's program. She said Trump will pretend to run again in 2024 because he is making more money now from campaign contributions than he ever made as president. As long as the "golden calf" is there to worship for another four years, they will donate and donate and donate. Mary Trump's only reservation about how effective his money raising campaign will be is how the various criminal investigations and indictments could affect the money spigot.

We'll all see excerpts from Trump's address to CPAC today. It will be Groundhog Day version 6 or 7...I lose count.

Majority of Americans support $15 minimum wage, Reuters/Ipsos poll shows

Some 59 percent of Americans support increasing the minimum wage to $15 per hour. That includes a lot of Republicans. However, Congressional Republicans are nearly unanimously against it calling it a "job killer". What many of these millionaire Republicans in Congress do not like is having to pay household staff a living wage.

Of course, raising the wage will effect some jobs, child care being one of them. However, at the same time it will increase consumer spending because those making the minimum wage are more likely to spend it rather than save or invest it.

CNBC: How raising minimum wage to $15 per hour could affect workers and small businesses

Overall, the pluses outweigh the minuses.

From someone who has been labeled the "most hated man in the Senate", what does it say for the Texans that voted for him? The guy is so arrogant and brazen, it's hard to see where he gets his support.

On the other topic of "blame" for the energy shutdown, Abbott and his cronies have no problem shifting the blame to the renewable energy sources...another big lie. The gullibility of the Texans is being tested.

I watched most of the trial. The impeachment managers did an outstanding job...a slam dunk in my mind. However, as other have pointed out, the die-hard loyal Trump Republicans will never be swayed. It's in their genes to be attracted to someone like Trump. It's happened before in history.

I watched only only part of the Trump lawyers on Tuesday and was not impressed with either. But that's okay...it hurt Trump, and from what I read, Trump wasn't happy with his lawyers either. We'll see on Friday what adjustments will be made.

Obama's More Perfect Union speech of 2016 addresses many of the same society problems being addressed by President Biden as he continually says he will be a president for all Americans. However, the words also need to be put into the context of the economic and societal conditions at the time. Obama was acknowledging the grievances of part of the white electorate that saw their blue collar jobs, primarily in the Rust Belt, disappear largely to technological advancements, but also global competition. The "blame game" at the time was not only outsourcing of jobs overseas, but also immigrant labor. Obama's initiatives for job retraining didn't seem to make much difference.

Today, it is harder to tell exactly what the grievances are given the make-up of the rioters who stormed the Capitol, many of them white affluent professionals and businessmen believing in Qanon outrageous conspiracy theories. Their only grievance seems to be directed at anyone who questions the motives of their "messiah". It is a cult in which fascism seems to be a driving political factor.

Trump cannot be trusted with intelligence. However, what would be interesting is to feed Trump some bogus information and see if it crops up in Russian intelligence.

Trump always looks for ways to enrich himself, and sharing some intelligence with Russia in exchange for Russia "going easy" on his outstanding loans is a distinct possibility. It's called quid pro quo.

As Michael Cohen said, Trump speaks in code:

"COHEN: That's how he speaks. he doesn't give you questions, he doesn't give you orders. he speaks in code. I understand his code because I've been around him for a decade."

All those rioters knew what Trump wanted. And they attacked.

And now, most Republicans also understand what Trump wants. Why in the hell is Kevin McCarthy going to Mar-A-Logo to meet with Trump? Has he been summoned by Trump? Sorry, but I cannot help feel that Trump has leverage over most Republicans, and it goes deeper than just the fear of being primaried in the next election. Look for dirt to start smearing those that vote to convict. McCarthy is probably there to be reminded of what happens when people cross Trump.

Center for Media and Democracy, January 27, 2021: ALEC’s Numerous Ties to the Capitol Insurrection and “Big Lie”

The article discusses ALEC's deep ties to the Trump organization. Arizona has some of this in prior posts and threads, but this article is a summary of it all.

"Shortly after Trump took office, ALEC CEO Lisa Nelson told ALEC funders and members that the Trump administration has “the potential to be an ALEC administration. It is full of the people and ideas we’ve advanced since 1973…. Now is our time. And ALEC is ready.”"

"At a February 2020 meeting of the Council for National Policy (CNP), a hyper-secretive Christian Right network, Nelson told a room of donors and activists that ALEC was working with three GOP attorneys on “action items that legislators can take to question the validity of an election.”"

“Obviously we all want President Trump to win and win the national vote,” said Nelson, who is also a CNP member. “But it’s very clear from all the comments and all the suggestions up front that really what it comes down to is the states and the state legislators.”

"Nelson assured her audience that ALEC was working with Heritage Foundation’s master of election misinformation Hans Von Spakovsky, former FEC member Brad Smith, and now-disgraced attorney Cleta Mitchell on a strategy for “questioning the validity of an election.”

"Mitchell notoriously served as Trump’s counsel on a potentially illegal call with Georgia’s Secretary of State where Trump urged officials to “find” more votes to flip the election in his favor, and backed Trump’s election fraud lies.

"In fact, Mitchell served as private chair of ALEC’s secretive “Political Process Working Group” at the same time that she went all-out to manipulate the voting rules and results in Trump’s favor."

==================================

There's more...mind boggling.