United Healthcare Group pays off Trump in 3, 2, 1…

I propose a new term - “malscurrocracy” - government by evil clowns.

Mm… yeah. I should’ve stipulated that nobody is doing anything to stop him (or even really to slow him down).

The Supreme Court and virtually the entirety of the Republican party - federal, state and local - are actively aiding and abetting him, which, yeah, does count as doing something.

Just the latest in an ever-growing string of obviously corrupt acts involving this obviously corrupt politician.

In less than a year, the US has gone from a nation that at least punished the most egregious corruption to a nation in which the highest elected office in the land is held by the most brazenly and openly corrupt politician in modern US history, and nobody is doing a thing about it.

The US is circling the drain.

Unleashing the Gestapo, right on schedule.

One of the defining characteristics of this era is the legacy media from time to time timidly noting the possibility of something that’s been recognized as at least nearly certain down here in the trenches for months or even years.

Of course Russia is co-opting far right groups to attack western democracies. Any honest person who’s been paying attention should’ve figured that out by now - it’s not like they’ve been subtle about it or anything. And it’s been commonly recognized for months now (and less commonly asserted for years).

But at this late date, along comes the Guardian, hesitantly saying, "Um… well… you know… it might just barely be sort of possible that maybe…

That’s a seriously creepy face.

There’s a bubbling cauldron of naked rage not quite managing to hide behind those clamped-down features.

In a world gone Onion, that’s easily the most Onion’ish true story I’ve seen. So far…

They’re literally suing the company for not being evil enough.

That’s so insane that merely taking part in that suit should be seen as grounds for a psych hold.

That’s always been the basic GOP agenda - they’re just more brazen about it now, since they have an unapologetic wannabe dictator taking the lead.

But particularly from Reagan on, their exact strategy has been to win angry, stupid people over with bigotry, fear and hatred, then spend their time in office fucking over the common people (including the angry, stupid ones who voted for them) in order to expand the privilege of the wealthiest few.

They - and the angry, stupid people who vote for them - are the reason we’re where we are today.

Nazi works, but if he’d prefer something else, “technofascist” and “neo-feudalist” are both arguably even more accurate.

Or we could go a different way - “psychopathic douchebag” has a nice ring to it, or maybe “delusional fuckhead.”

Right - it has nothing to do with the fact that Israel has been trying to goad Syria into a war for years now - the nation of minority oppressors is suddenly all worried about someone else’s oppressed minority. Uh huh.

If only it was that simple…

At the least, some considerable part of the problem is that angry, stupid bigots who used to be mostly limited to cringey drunken solo rants are now able to network with each other and cheer on each other’s anger and stupidity and bigotry.

I was with you right up until the end.

Hillary’s gender is a weak excuse that the DNC and the establishment Dems trot out to try to duck the blame for sabotaging a sincere progressive in order to run a neolib weasel who gives paid speeches to international bankers and idolizes Kissinger.

That thread is creepy.

Trump not only promised to bring down prices, but promised to do so “on day one.” In fact, in the final days of the campaign, that was likely the promise he repeated the most.

So not only is he somewhere between delusional and dishonest (which I already knew), but every single person who responded to insist rising prices is indeed what they signed up for is also somewhere between delusional and dishonest.

Why? What compels them? What do they expect to gain?

I’m beginning to suspect that there’s some environmental factor or something in the US that makes people delusional, angry and stupid, because this has gone way beyond anything that can be explained by political partisanship alone.

Discworld, no contest.

It’s particularly cynically amusing when Trump and the Republicans apoarently go out of their way to grant themselves abuses of power directly reminiscent of the Nazis.

And still the people who most pride themselves on their patriotism line right up to cheer it on.

This is the era of the angry, stupid American. and their King Donald.

He probably meant to.

Imagine that - an office dedicated to countering foreign disinformation somehow ends up being accused of censoring conservative views.

That reminds me of when I saw a mouse in my kitchen, so I set a trap snd caught it, snd somehow that also stopped the ragged holes that were inexplicably appearing in food packages in the cupboards.

Just one of life’s mysteries I guess…

Sorry Mike, but one of the good things that’s come out of the internet is that it’s made people far more aware of just how much of the value their labor creates goes to paying for the privileged lives of worthless shitheels like you.