SUMMARY: Today we’ll look at two situations that highlight the GOP’s commitment to undermining democracy. The first situation involves Senator Tuberville blocking military appointments and the Republican Senators’ attempt to blame Democrats for not getting them approved anyway. The second situation focuses on Wisconsin Republicans’ gerrymandering tactics to maintain control over the legislature and the state supreme court indefinitely. Both cases exemplify gaslighting tactics used by the GOP to deceive the public and manipulate perceptions. In order to protect our democracy from their toxicity, we must recognize and counter these tactics with truth.
KEY WORDS: Tommy Tuberville, Military Appointments, Chuck Schumer, GOP, Gaslighting, Wisconsin, Gerrymandering, Democracy, Republican Control, State Legislature, State Supreme Court, Republican Tactics, Deception, Manipulation, Political Perception, Protecting Democracy.
Senate Republicans are beginning to squeal that the hundreds of military appointments that Senator Tuberville (R-Dumbassery) has been blocking are REALLY REALLY HONEST YOU GOTTA BELIEVE ME — ready for it? — the Dems’ fault, specifically Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer. I guess the public pushback by the Joint Chiefs and various senators that the blockade is degrading military readiness has started to have an affect.
Meanwhile, over in Wisconsin, the evil geniuses of the GOP state legislature have hatched a plan to maintain Republican control of the legislature and the state supreme court forever.
Both of these situations tell us what should already be painfully clear: the GOP is all out of fucks to give for democracy and will use any means necessary to taxidermy our democratic institutions, stuffing them with autocratic oligarchic apparatchiks. They will gaslight the public with twisted reasoning, excuse making, projection, and lies in order to steal elections and destroy our democracy because they really really do hate our freedoms, especially our freedom to vote for anyone other than a Republican candidate supporting the transfer of wealth to the 10% as quickly as possible.
We’re going to review each situation in more detail and annotate it with indications of how it is gaslighting in the hopes that (a) anyone reading the post will not be suckered into believing their lies, which I know is none of my regular readers, but hopefully will be some of the folks that your recommend the post to. And (b) you can make successful arguments when you encounter this bullshit IRL or your social media life.
What is Gaslighting?
Gaslighting is a form of emotional abuse in which the abuser denies plainly obvious events, emotions, thoughts, perceptions, and behaviors in an attempt to intimidate, confuse, control, or otherwise manipulate the target of the abuse. When applied to large groups as in nations, it is a two-step process. First, the politics of the nation must be sportified so that we are behaving like sports fans who support their favorite team no matter what and the trash-talk the other side. And then, follow-the-leader politics takes over in which the political supporters then just parrot whatever their favoritest politician says, like you know Russia is good, voting is bad, unless of course it is one of the reified issues of our politicalscape like abortion or gun rights or Trump. Once you’ve achieved those two conditions, your supporters will believe all your farts smell like chocolate and that they wanted you to grab them by the pussy.
Recovering From Gaslighting
If you find yourself triggered by all this talk of gaslighting, and, let’s face it, we’ve all been traumatized in the fight against the fascisting of America, please follow this link to find resources to help you maintain.
Tommy Tuberville and the Great Military Appointment Blockade of 2023
For the past six months Tommy Tuberville (R-Post-Concussion Syndrome) has been blocking any and all military appointees requiring senate approval because the military won’t promote forced birth and enduring poverty for women. I don’t know where he got the crazy idea that just because the senate has traditions and ways of doing things like providing nominees with confirmation hearings that can just be ignored when inconvenient or thought to be politically expedient. Perhaps, Merrick Garland has a few words he’d like to share with us on the subject.
Anywho, forced birth is obviously much more important than military readiness because Tuberville has a sincerely held religious belief that any participation in anything other than forcing pregnant women to have the babies they conceived no matter what the cost to them or society will damn his miserable petty small-minded soul to hell or purgatory because the god he believes in is as small-minded and petty as he is.
The military folks are alarmed at the roadblock and the effect it is having on their ability to defend the country and its interests, and they are saying so out loud to the press. Given the bandy-legged running about that Republican senators have engaged in during the past week, I think it is having an effect. Perhaps, they’ve been hearing from constituents or they just don’t like the bad press.
At any rate, they’ve scratched their collective ass, smiled at the resulting stench on their collective fingers, and came up with a foolproof novel way of defending themselves from the accurate accusation that they crippled the military: it’s the Democrats fault.
You see, there is an obscure rule known only to senators that any issue can be brought to before the senate for a floor vote by the full body. All Schumer has to do is schedule these hundreds of military nominations one-by-one to be voted on by the full senate, and he’s refusing to do it because time or some such weak excuse.
This is gaslighting because the senators are trying to convince you that these plainly obvious events, facts, and perceptions are not true so that they can manipulate and control you:
- It is plainly obvious that it is Tuberville who is causing the problem.
- Party membership means that the party leadership should be able to influence the behavior of its members.
- McConnell condones the abuse of the senate rules to cripple regular order and prevent a Democrat-controlled government from functioning.
- It’s Republican problem, so Republicans should fix it.
Republicans are doing what they always do when they face a politically risky decision: (1) They don’t make the decision. (2) They try to force the Democrats to make the choice. And (3) they try to take political advantage of Democrats fixing their mess.
I guess as long as MAGA delivers sufficient votes to keep them in office, then that plan will continue to work for them, which brings us to Wisconsin Republicans.
The Wisconsin GOP’s Plan to Steal the State Gov’t
Gerrymandering their way to a Permanent Majority
The Republican controlled state legislature has so severely gerrymandered their legislative districts that they cannot possibly ever lose control of either state house:
- In 2016, Republicans won 52 percent of the votes but 64 of 99 seats (64% for those not willing to do the math), while Dems won 48 percent of the vote and 35 seats (23% of the seats).
- In 2018, a Democrat wave election, Republicans won 46% of the vote and 62 seats or about 64% of them! While Dems won 54% of the vote, about 36 seats or 37% of them. Please note that the Republicans won about the same number of seats as they did in 2016 but with the percentage of votes that the Dems had in 2016. Hmm…
- In 2020, Republicans won 54% of the vote but 61 seats or 62%, leaving Dems with 56% of the vote and 38 seats or 38%.
- In 2021, Republicans won 53% of the vote giving them 64 seats or a 65% majority, and Dems won 57% of the vote, 35 seats, or 35%.
- Remarkably consistent, isn’t it? No matter how the vote turns out, the Republicans end up with a majority of the seats. In fact, they end up with a super majority enough to override vetoes and impeach and convict judges as long as everyone is there.
- That buggars the question, how great of a percentage of the state vote do the Democrats need to win before the gerrymandering is broken and the Republicans no longer win an majority. If a 54-46 split doesn’t do it, would a 60-40, 70-30, 80-20 split do it? Somebody out there must have an answer to this question. If you know, please please please mention it in the comments.
The Wisconsin Lege’s Plan to Garland Protasiewicz
Wisconsin state law provides that any impeached state official, including judges, including Supreme Court judges, cannot continue operating in their official capacity until they are acquitted by the senate. The GOP could just McConnell Protasiewicz by impeaching her in the House, which they have the votes to do on straight party vote, and then just never hold the trial in the Senate even though they have the votes there to convict on a straight party vote. If they convicted and removed her, it would give Gov. Evans (D) the opportunity to appoint a new judge, defeating the purpose of the impeachment, obv.
For Protasiewicz ten-year term on the court, she could be spent as an impeached and not yet tried judge not able to hear or vote on cases.
Partisans will be thrilled with the super genius plan to circumvent democracy and the will of the people, but it ain’t democracy. A functional democracy means that we engage in good faith efforts to govern with whoever else is elected, follow the laws, and refrain from making raw political power moves that cynically use the rules of our governing bodies to thwart legitimate office holders from fulfilling their duties as they see fit.
The gaslighting here is that the state leg will control the state supreme court by denying a legally elected judge who has not even heard a case yet, the right to assume her duties in contradiction to the basic principle of democracy.
There is some hope, though. There is Supreme Court precedent — stop laughing, precedent still matters, so it is possible — in which they ruled that judges running for election can voice their opinion on matters of the day because judges have opinions. If not, they really couldn’t be judges. Interestingly, the plaintiff in that case was a Republican.
Of course, with the Roberts Court all bets are off. Nothing matters except what serves the Republican cause, which in itself is a form of gaslighting. SCOTUS “promises” to apply the law fairly and evenly and follow precedent, so every decision is fair and accepted by the general public. If those decisions were brazenly partisan, then people would be less likely to abide by them, so the Republican appointees make brazenly partisan decisions while swearing that isn’t what they’re doing. Classic gaslighting.
If you enjoyed this post, please help spread the word and encourage Ye Olde Blogge to continue!
- SHARE this post on your favorite social media platform, re-blog it to your favorite blog, or tell your favorite friend, family member, or complete stranger about it!
- LIKE or RATE this post using the buttons at the top and bottom of the post. It’s easy and it’s fun, and you don’t even need a WordPress account to rate a post!
- COMMENT on the post telling us about your opinions of the dastardly deeds done dirt cheap by the Republicans!
- FOLLOW the blog or join our email list:
Image Attribution
“Gaslight sunset, Liverpool” by Picture Esk is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Share this:
Categories: Emotional Abuse
The Psy of Life 
Let’s just face it, Jack…. Every word that proceeds forth out of the mouth of a radical right wing American Conservatard is a lie, a deception or a manipulation of truth to be used to advance their own Orwellian agenda and to crush and dismember, disassemble or annihilate everything that opposes their ideal of the First Right Wing Reich in The United States.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy John!
Couldn’t agree more. The only remaining question is what do we, the 70% who don’t support the fascisting of America do about it?
Psychology tells us that the way you resist the bystander and Milgram (just following orders) effects is by knowing about them. We’ve got to give rise to discordant and dissenting voices so that the periphery of the MAGA base can be peeled off and we can attract enough of the white middle class low-information occasional voting public to defeat Republicans up and down the ticket in 2024.
It looks likely to happen in Wisconsin. We may pull it out in South Carolina and Virginia. We’ll see.
All of us with any platform at all have to speaking out against this flagrant anti-democratic nonesense.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
I am sure, but cannot say for certain, there must have been scores of German citizens back in 1938-1940 who had the exact same ideas concerning the rise of The Third Reich. We all know that story now, don’t we?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy John!
Yes, there are similarities between contemporary America and pre-Nazi Germany, but there are differences, too. First, we have a longer tradition of democracies. It is important because when a radically different form of government takes over, the country tends to revert to its “traditional” way of government. Egypt is a good example. The Arab Spring occurred, a democratically elected government was installed. The Muslim Brotherhood won elections and was replaced by a military-backed dictator as has been the tradition over the past seventy odd years.
Trump will die in the next ten years. Probably sooner rather than later. The Republican Party is in disarray. There are no solid candidates to replace him. No one who has the stature and gravitas needed to command the party and run for president. Someone may turn up between now and then, but the Republicans are attracting personality disorders who have difficulty doing things well for long.
My point is, even if Trump wins the election and succeeds in doing away with future elections, we are likely to revert to a democracy after he is gone and there is no one on the right who can take his place. I accept that someone is likely to rise to the occasion. Nature abhors a vacuum after all. But, it isn’t all doom and gloom.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
I appreciate your words of encouragement so much I would love to have your permission to post them on Liming’s Lynkz as a stand-alone post.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, I’d be happy for you to use it.
Jack
LikeLike
The fox is in the henhouse, but the guard dog is dead! The blind farmer thinks the fox is the dog!
LikeLiked by 1 person
A question comes to me: How far from clearly observable reality does a gaslighter have to get to break the spell? I imagine that it must be rather far, such as saying it’s dark out when the sun is shining. Still, the GOP have had enough success with their gaslighting that they no longer care if they get caught, thinking that they can gaslight it away with one more twist or lie. Tuberville’s stunt and the attempt to blame the other party is an example,
The Wisconsin situation also has that, “We don’t care that you can see what we’re doing to thwart the will of the voters.” feature. The question is whether that will seriously piss off enough voters to the point that they turn out to vote in numbers enough to break the gerrymander.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy Bob!
Did you ever watch Star Trek: The Next Generation? There was an episode where Picard was captured by somebody and tortured, and the scene was him standing before somebody who was demanding that he count the number of lights behind him (there were three). When Picard answered three, the torture continued. If he were to agree with the other fellow and say two, it would stop.
Asche’s line study revealed that there are two types of conformity, normative and informative. Normative conformity is a change in behavior but not belief. You know you’re going along to get along. Informative conformity is a change in belief and behavior. You think you’re wrong and everyone else is right.
The GOP is doing it all out in the open, which means, anyone who remains in the Republican Party is an active supporter of what they’re doing. No one in the GOP can be considered democratically aligned. What is left to support in the Republican Party if not just an outright move to fascist dictatorship? Their last few platforms have been, whatever Trump wants.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
I don’t recall that Next Gen episode, but that is the problem with using torture for interrogation, it yields garbage, or, at least no surprising information.
As for the GOP, this piece says it well: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/8/2192200/-There-s-Nothing-Patriotic-about-Today-s-Republicans
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy Bob!
That Thomas Hartman gets it right again. He’s someone worth following and reading.
The GOP primary can be described as running to be the first dictator of America. The few who are harshly criticizing Trump are still Republicans. The few who are espousing somewhat reasonable policy positions are still Republicans. Unless they are willing to broaden the scope of their criticism and vow to lead the Republican Party back into the fold of democracy, we must assume they are committed fascists.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
At this point, the choice on that side seems to be between the In Your Face fascists and the Pseudo Democracy Under the Table fascists.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy Bob!
I remember all the folks back in 2016 who were saying that there was little difference between Clinton and Trump, so it didn’t matter whether you voted or not. I wonder if those same people still think that. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather have a world where Roe were still the law of the land and Amy Coathangers Barrett, Book-K, and Gosuck weren’t sitting on the Court no matter how oligarchical Democrats can be. If we’re going to have a government that is only responsive to corporations and moneyed interests, then I’d rather they retain the more liberal social policies.
However, I think there is little difference in the Republican field. I think that with the level and thoroughness of fascism that the GOP has achieved, it doesn’t matter if it is Chris Christie or Donald Trump delivering over their permanent majority and institutionalization of an apartheid state.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
The 2025 Agenda from the Heritage Society and adopted by the party leadership says it all. Once you get behind the legalese gaslighting, the goals, ways and means are clear.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I just can’t get over how completely and openly the GOP has turned against democracy. I just feel so lied to during my secondary education. We’ve known that there is a large minority of anti-democratists vying for control of the country since the beginning of the country, but we never taught it. It just leaves me feeling stunned and outraged.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
That element was definitely missing. The focus of any talk of “defending democracy” has always been on external enemies, their subversive agents and “fellow travelers”, and later foreign terrorists. A long standing anti democratic movement or power structure native to the country only ever came up when suppression of Black civil rights was blatantly and violently obvious.
Here’s an interesting development to ponder: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/12/2192972/-Wisconsin-GOP-to-pursue-nonpartisan-redistricting-to-avoid-having-state-justices-toss-maps
They must have gotten some polling about the scale of the backlash that would come if they actually were to impeach a state supreme court judge, only recently elected by a large margin, to stop the court from throwing out their gerrymandered maps.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy Bob!
My first thought is that it is a trick. They’re lying. It’ll be just another smoke and mirrors badly veiled attempt to retain their gerrymander while acting like they are drawing non-partisan lines.
It they got polling that suggested that they were going to lose the 2024 elections, then they had to have found that they couldn’t gerrymander their way to a majority in the legislature and House delegation. There has got to be a percentage of vote that is against you that you can’t gerrymander a majority.
But, even if it is a trick. They’ve blinked. And, it gives an opportunity to take Wisconsin back.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
The definitely do seem to have blinked. I’m not familiar enough with the system in Iowa to judge what results it would yield in Wisconsin in terms of who winds up with the majority. Still, I have to consider that Iowa is a much more solidly Red state. The results of the same system could be less friendly to the GOP in Wisconsin.
One thing that may have gotten their attention was the outcome of the cases in which other states were ordered to redraw maps and tried to pull a fast one on the court.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy Bob!
I just posted about the reasons the state GOP might have at least feinted on the whole gerrymander thing. The electorate has been trending against them since 2018. They can’t win state wide. The supreme court judge that has them so freaked out won by 10% on a platform of being pro-choice and anti-gerrymandering. I think they realized they had to do something to avoid catastrophic losses. I suspect it is turn to the only page in their playbook: lie.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
That seems to be so. The independent redistricting plan is looking like a trial balloon that fell flat with the party, which is not a surprise. Now they’re falling back on the Big Lie about 2020.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your original observation was largely correct, though. The GOP realized that they are at risk of losing bigly, as the kids say nowadays, in 2024. Their reaction is to take big risks. The more likely and spectacular the loss, the bigger the risks they’ll be willing to take.
Their supreme court candidate losing by ten %, Baldwin winning by eleven percent, Evers, four percent and Johnson by one percent, must be very concerning. True there are other races that are being decided by two percent and less of the vote, but the trend is clearly against them and when abortion and gerrymandering is involved, it is very much against them. They’ve got to be scared.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
There is one risk they are not willing to take, that of honestly trying to win based on their actual policies and goals, if they even understand what those are anymore, having been so long focused simply holding on to power however they can.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Howdy Bob!
When your national political platform for the last three election cycles has been whatever Trump wants, it is hard to have articulated policies and goals to run on. When your only real belief is that you should be transferring wealth to the one percent as quickly as you can, it is hard to have policies and goals that anyone else would want to vote for. That makes it hard to be a faithful partner in governing and running.
Huzzah!
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
As the “Freedom Caucus” gang are continuously proving, governing is just not on their agenda, and if they got the ruling by decree system they seem to want, the kind of behavior they have been doing would soon get them packed off the a Gulag.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Depending on who they are directing it towards. The role of the legislative body in an autocracy is to rubber stamp the ruler’s decrees and go after enemies of the state. Are the current limelight and bomb throwing addicts in the Freedom Caucus going to be satisfied with that role? Probably not, so it means they’d have to go in the new regime.
No one is safe in an autocracy.
Jack
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yes, trouble makers are useful in getting to an autocracy, and tend to be discarded once it is established.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s what happened to the Brownshirts.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Or, if there happens to be a war, they get sent to the front lines.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Some of whom are foolish enough to want to go…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Especially when it is understood that the civilians on the other side are fair game.
LikeLiked by 1 person