A while ago, a classical music composer named Frank Wilhoit posted something on what was then Twitter back in 2018 that might be one of the most astute statements about American politics I have ever seen. He said this about the right/GOP, that is “consists of exactly one proposition, there must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”

It’s hard not to see what is going on in Minnesota as the ultimate culmination of such thinking, the path we have been heading towards since the days of Nixon, which picked up steam during the days of Reagan, and accelerated during the days of Dubya. The rank-and-file became increasingly extreme and violent, which I wrote about here.

Parallel to this was an increase in lying. Politicians have long been known for lying, but for Republicans it became the air they breathe. For example, the Bush administration made nearly 1,000 false statements to support the Worst Foreign Policy Mistake in American History (So Far) in the two years following 9/11.

People want to remember Dubya in somewhat fond ways because compared to Trump he looks like Lincoln but the blatant lying was a springboard for Trump to lumber onto and propel himself into a White House built on lies. If we thought Trump I was bad for lies, well, Trump II raised the bullshit bar. The lying is in service to the right-wing proposition mentioned above.

Also, when you toss aside things like honesty, caring about fact, making sense, etc., it’s very freeing. You can say what you want. Problem for Trump people, this is not turning out to be the slam-dunk political strategy they thought it was.

I really don’t need to post examples here. They are just so many, and if you even paid a passing bit of attention to the news over the last few months, you know the constant stream of lies about the murders of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. They are horrifying. In both cases, they claim they are domestic terrorists. With Renee Good, this was ridiculous, with Alex Pretti, this is beyond ridiculous. The problem for Professional Terrible Liars Kristi Noem, Karoline Leavitt, Gregory Bovino, Donald Trump, et al, is that Pretti worked as a nurse at a VA hospital.

None of this is to say if they were accountants, McDonalds workers, professional boxers, whatever, that they were more deserving of being shot in the face or blasted nine times. Also, given they both are white, it goes without saying that if they were Somali or anything other than of white European descent, there probably would be less outrage. But this is especially bad for the right. And oh by the way, Pretti was in deed armed and had an open carry license, but the video clearly shows the gun being removed before he was murdered.

This led to a conundrum where Trump officials are talking about how he deserved to be shot for bringing a gun to a protest. As if we haven’t seen countless images of MAGA chuds with automatic rifles at liberal protests. And given their whole obsession with the Second Amendment, let’s just say that’s really rich.

I’ll close by saying that it should be a very long time before we trust Republicans. This includes politicians AND regular people. Why would anyone think, given how much they love lying, that they wouldn’t do this in their life outside of politics? While this may seem harsh, they have no one to blame for this but themselves.

The last word goes to Three Dog Night.