Welcome to Trump's 'Propaganda Factory'

Since election day, Donald Trump has explained his popular vote loss to Hillary Clinton by claiming that millions of people committed voter fraud and cast their ballots illegally.

This is a lie, but it's what the Nazis called a "big lie" - a lie you repeat enough times that people start believing it's true.

Big lies always serve a purpose, and for Trump and the Republicans, the big lie of voter fraud has always been a way for them to justify voter suppression.

This was proven once again today when Donald Trump announced the creation of a federal election integrity commission led by a guy Greg Palast has dubbed the Al Capone of voter suppression.

White House Spokesperson, Sarah Huckabee Sanders described this election integrity commission as follows:

"The bipartisan commission will be made up of around a dozen members, including current and former Secretaries of State, with Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach serving as vice chair. It will also include individuals with knowledge and experience in elections, election management, election fraud detection, and voter integrity efforts."

She makes this commission sounds very straightforward and rational, but it's really anything but that.

Isn't this a glorified voter purge?

Comments

Outback 5 years 45 weeks ago
#1

Thom, what the DNC did to Sanders was an outright voter purge. That is, they stold the Democratic nomination for Hillary and, as a direct result, many independents and some Democrats that might have come out to vote stayed home because they couldn't stomach either candidate. We now have a sociopathic delusional megalomaniac in the White House. I hate to belabor this, but you seem to be incapable of seeing beyond the corrupt two party system. The Democratic Establishment has lost a large portion of the base by resorting to the same dirty politics you demonize the Republicans for. The ONLY thing the political establishment in this country cares about anymore is raw power, and Main Street be damned! Why don't you use your formidable podium to champion REAL change, and by that I mean a third viable progressive alternative? Open your eyes!

Arrgy's picture
Arrgy 5 years 45 weeks ago
#2

Hi, I coined "the nazi coup" back in 03-04, when I was studying Karl Rove.

If you want to know the right's next move, turn the page of the Nazi play book.

WTH is the story of Trump sneaking in the Russions and barring the US press, while he lets the Russian press take pictures and then LEAK THEM? Arrrrgggg!

Arrgy's picture
Arrgy 5 years 45 weeks ago
#3

I'm all with that, Outback! It was the most manipulated presidential race/election in history.

bollivar 5 years 45 weeks ago
#4

Definition of Trumptard: A supporter of Donald Trump. Someone so f^(ing stupid that they ignore obvious hypocrisy and flat-out lies; they are closet racists, and are happy that there is finally a presidential candidate who publicly expresses their ignorant hatred. Source: Definition of Snowflake: Referring to someone, usually the Alt-Right, Yiannopoulos, And Nazi Sympathizers (A.K.A. ARYANS), whose immense white fragility causes a meltdown when confronted with the most minute deviation from orthodox White Supremacy. They often cry bloody murder when expected to give the most modest expression of basic human decency. Urban Dictionary

Greg Kramer's picture
Greg Kramer 5 years 45 weeks ago
#5

Outback,

Amen.

Greg Kramer's picture
Greg Kramer 5 years 45 weeks ago
#6

bollivar:

I have family members that voted for Trump and they are not rasist so your blanket assertion that Trump voters are closet rasists is not accurate. When someone throws out terms such as closet rascist for an electorate that cast almost 63 million votes for Trump you have stretched the rubberband of credulity.

I also have friends that voted for Trump and they are not stupid.

stecoop01's picture
stecoop01 5 years 45 weeks ago
#7

This country has a huge deficit, but it has an even bigger deceit.

kentw's picture
kentw 5 years 45 weeks ago
#8

Another member of this commission is Kenneth Blackwell, who removed minority voters from the Ohio rolls and arranged for fewer precincts in minority areas, resulting in long lines and discouraging voters in those areas.

2950-10K's picture
2950-10K 5 years 44 weeks ago
#9

Has anyone thought about why the Tea Party isn't a third Party? Does a conservative third Party exist? My theory: The billionaire/fascists realize they would get their asses kicked if a conservative third party existed.

I'm onboard with Bernie and the progressive caucus. In fact, after over 40 years of voting independent, I had to register with the Democratic Party last year so I could vote for Bernie in the primary....I didn't want to register as a Democratic Party citizen, but the difference between the democratic progressives and the conservative teabaggers is so extreme I just had to do what I had to do to vote for Bernie.

2950-10K's picture
2950-10K 5 years 44 weeks ago
#10

I also have family members and friends who voted for Trump based entirely on foxaganda, and I have have told them to their faces that they don't know sht about political reality/truth...my exact words to them. I warned them long before they voted to judge Trump on what he actually does, not what he says he will do in the future....they didn't listen and now we we're all fffd.

2950-10K's picture
2950-10K 5 years 44 weeks ago
#11

Kobach's interstate crosscheck has been blacked out by the corpse media so well that Trump hasn't even had a chance to call it fake news yet. Crosscheck, Putin, voter suppression, digital vote flipping, all reasons to have NATO oversee the re-election after the last one is declared invalid.

rg711's picture
rg711 5 years 44 weeks ago
#12

Hartmann, if your ok with your dumocrats in congress wasting time and money chasing after russian pixie dream-hackers, then you should be ok with the effort to root out fraudulent voting

deepspace's picture
deepspace 5 years 44 weeks ago
#13

Well said, 2950-10K! I was all in for Bernie too. In hindsight, since the Democratic leadership torpedoed his campaign anyway, he might have had a real shot at winning with a third party.

Even though he couldn't flesh out his stance on foreign policy to my satisfaction (no doubt because of our pervasive war-mongering culture), I'm convinced that, given an empathetic nature coupled to a tough-minded political intelligence, he would have seriously worked toward world peace. Those efforts would have resulted in that illusive "peace dividend" and freed up our budget, so that we could have concentrated on fulfilling a healthy domestic agenda, which is not the agenda of the ruthless transnational billionaires. Instead, we are in the grip of a madman.

One of the least discussed yet most consequential patterns of American foreign policy, which both major parties and most of the electorate always rally around despite their internal divisions, is imperialistic militarism. Start a war, kill an enemy, and people cheer -- Republicans and Democrats alike. Our government is the greatest purveyor of violence in the world, which instills pride and patriotism here at home while striking fear and unrest in the world, ensuring an endless supply of "enemies." It's a self-feeding loop that's only getting worse.

Brief interludes of peace are aberrations of human history, abstract notions now relegated to the Sunday pulpit and the idealistic minds of the naive. Nevermore, it seems, will those in power give peace a chance, if they have ever. A constant state of warfare intoxicates the masses, and economic oppression is the price we willingly pay. Death's-head is our calling card.

Laying claim to more and more of the world's dwindling resources to maintain economic dominance by a tiny class of oligarchs impoverishes the world and guarantees the ultimate collapse of civilization. We are nearly there. Global warming will only exacerbate our violent instincts and hasten the end. The rise and fall of Homo sapiens will be but a moment in time.

Stephen Hawking estimates another hundred years. A massive movement of widespread awareness -- derived from the serious introspection of each individual -- is humankind's one last chance at peace and survival. As the sand in the hourglass rapidly runs out, that possibility is as remote as ever.

Legend 5 years 44 weeks ago
#14

Control the vote. Control the Media. Pick who is going to conduct your Russian ties investigation. This one is so bad that AG Sessions, who recuesed himself from this case, because he lied to Congress about Russian meetings, picks the FBI replacement. It goes on and on everyday something new.

Radical's picture
Radical 5 years 44 weeks ago
#15

Ther ought to be a fund put together to put Greg Palasts latest film which explains all about Inter-state crosscheck or the Republicans stealing elections on prime time Tv. there ought to be a petitionwith millions of signatures sent to MSNBC which touts itself as a progressive TV Station that unless they discuss Kris kobachs interstate cross check program and how it stole the Presidency and the US Senate for the republicans in2016 and I mean at length constantly and consistently with numerous appearances by Greg Palast that we will never watch their Network ever again.

deepspace's picture
deepspace 5 years 44 weeks ago
#16

That's right; Greg Palast investigations and Interstate Crosscheck should be the front-and-center political issues, repeated every day in every news cycle until Republican election fraud is outed, the system is reformed from top to bottom, and free and fair elections can be guaranteed and monitored by the U.N.

...And that's exactly why it will never happen; the United States is no longer a functioning representative democracy!

Of all the reasons why Democrats got clobbered -- screwing Bernie over, not focusing on workers' issues, right-wing lies, the email scandal, Comey's big fat mouth, Russian hacking, Trump's collusion, unequal airtime, Obama pushing TPP, Hillary's Wall Street paid speeches, her poorly run campaign, yada, yada, yada -- the Republicans' massive effort to suppress and purge millions upon millions of Democratic voters in 30-plus states, especially in Electoral College key states, is by far the number one reason.

But most people still don't know who Greg Palast is, what Interstate Crosscheck is, or even what the difference between "voter fraud" and "election fraud" is.

Where ... the ... f**k ... is ... the ... Democratic ... Party!?

Why are they letting it ride? And, most importantly, why is the Congressional Progressive Caucus still consigned to B-Team status???

Simply waiting for Trump and the Republicans to implode is not a winning strategy! Corporate media and election fraud will keep the Party of Liars in power f-o-r-e-v-e-r!

Arrgy's picture
Arrgy 5 years 44 weeks ago
#17

Rg, clearly you don't know wtf you're talking about. Where there is nothing is between your ears. Fox has totally Focked your head. Now you, a driveling idiot, want to tell us what's what? Puleeezzzz What good are you?

Dianereynolds's picture
Dianereynolds 5 years 44 weeks ago
#18

Not quite Christmas morning because Mr. Ed left out his usual feedbag of pejoratives but most of the rest of you with your outburst of bile did contribute to making it a wonderful mothers day.

Thanks, from all the capitalist anti depressant manufacturers that you clearly keep in business.

deepspace's picture
deepspace 5 years 44 weeks ago
#19

Whoa, you left out your usual "leftie/socialists" chant! Good for you! Heeding sage advice from liberals must be a humbling experience for an old right-wing troll, but it's a baby step on that long journey to credibility. Now, quit watching Faux News and add a touch of substance to your nags. It's Mother's Day; think of your grandchildren and their future.

2950-10K's picture
2950-10K 5 years 44 weeks ago
#20

deepspace: Good point about our insane military industrial spy complex spending/budget. Can you imagine if even just 25% of that money got redirected to a single- payer health insurance program?

How many trillions have been wasted on the Cheney/Bush war? ...and then the Teapublicans have the audacity to blame the federal debt on the democratic party. Why the hell didn't the republicans just write a check out to Cheney and Halliburton for a few billion instead of going to war? That's all they wanted anyway....a few billion. Instead we killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people...still are..... and it's costing trillions. Thanks Dickwood!

I'm sure that Diane in her foxmerized alternative reality blames Obama for it all.

It'll be more than pissed off progressives on medications when the market crashes Diane. Panic will set in and Trump, or probably Pence by the time it happens, will be helpless...the Tea Party will block all legislation to stop a Great Depression...mark my word. Watch how well your free market works then? LMAO

Legend 5 years 44 weeks ago
#21

You are wasting your breathe. Diane is incapable of thinging in the future tense.

Dianereynolds's picture
Dianereynolds 5 years 44 weeks ago
#22

Hey, not only am I, but I am thinging into the future right now.

Thinging about the departure of justice Ginsburg and Kennedy.

Thinging about how the leftie/socialists will dream up today's engineered drama.

Lot's of stuff to thing about.

deepspace's picture
deepspace 5 years 44 weeks ago
#23

Yup, a waste of breath. Arrogant, insolent, ignorant -- the embodiment of Foxed-up Republicanism. "Idiot, incompetent, liar" -- the three most common words the American people use to describe the fake president (Quinnipiac's latest poll). In this case, correlation does imply causation.

Thom's Blog Is On the Move

Hello All

Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.

Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.

From Screwed:
"The powers that be are running roughshod over the powers that OUGHT to be. Hartmann tells us what went wrong — and what you and I can do to help set American right again."
Jim Hightower, National Radio Commentator, Writer, Public Speaker, and author of the bestselling Thieves in High Places
From Cracking the Code:
"In Cracking the Code, Thom Hartmann, America’s most popular, informed, and articulate progressive talk show host and political analyst, tells us what makes humans vulnerable to unscrupulous propagandists and what we can do about it. It is essential reading for all Americans who are fed up with right-wing extremists manipulating our minds and politics to promote agendas contrary to our core values and interests."
David C. Korten, author of The Great Turning: From Empire to Earth Community and When Corporations Rule the World and board chair of YES! magazine
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"With the ever-growing influence of corporate CEOs and their right-wing allies in all aspects of American life, Hartmann’s work is more relevant than ever. Throughout his career, Hartmann has spoken compellingly about the value of people-centered democracy and the challenges that millions of ordinary Americans face today as a result of a dogma dedicated to putting profit above all else. This collection is a rousing call for Americans to work together and put people first again."
Richard Trumka, President, AFL-CIO