If It Looks Like A Duck …

Posted on by under Election 2022, Election 2024, Free Press Issues, Global Issues, History, Political commentary, Racism & Bigotry, voting rights

If it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.  That’s an old saying that doesn’t need any further explanation.

The Republican Party has frequently given us hints that they are the party of white supremacy seeking to implement an autocracy here in the U.S. if they can manage to gain a majority in both chambers of Congress this year, and in the executive branch in 2024.  Donald Trump made no secret that his goal was to rule, not to preside, and that he has no use for any who are not white-skinned, straight Christian males.  When the Republicans invited Viktor Orbàn, dictator (official title is Prime Minister) of Hungary, to be their keynote speaker at the annual CPAC convention being held this week in Dallas, Texas, there could be little doubt left.  But any remaining shred of doubt was washed away when Orbàn, gave a speech talking his usual racist, homophobic trash-talk and thousands of Republicans gave him a standing ovation.  A standing ovation, my friends.

WHAT THE HELL IS THE MATTER WITH THESE PEOPLE?????

Are they bored with a system where, at least theoretically, every person can vote, every vote is counted, and in this manner We the People elect the members of government who we believe will best serve our interests?  Are they tired of the relative stability of life in the U.S. as compared to countries like Turkey, Russia, DPRK, and Hungary?  Do they no longer support a free press, the freedom to believe or not believe in any or no deity?  Do they truly wish to return to a nation of slave-owners?  They claim to worship the flag, and to stand strong by the expression in the national anthem, “Land of the brave and home of the free”, and yet they would happily … enthusiastically even, give up that freedom in exchange for an authoritarian rule.

Is it requisite for a strong-arm authoritarian to be obese and show his fist often?

Orbàn recently came under fire in his own nation for a speech in which he declared “we do not want to become peoples of mixed-race.”  That speech led to outrage among his critics and the very public resignation of a long-time advisor who characterized Orbàn’s speech as “a pure Nazi text worthy of Goebbels.”  Anybody care to call me an alarmist for the many times I’ve compared Trump and others to Adolf Hitler?

Orbàn told the audience that they need to “coordinate our troops” in the fight against liberalism, exhorting them to gear up to remove Joe Biden from office (“you have two years to get ready”). The stakes, in his telling, are the very future of our civilization.  I’m surprised, actually, that he didn’t tell them they should overthrow the Biden administration.

“The West is at war with itself. We have seen what kind of future the globalist ruling class has to offer. But we have a different kind of future in mind. The globalists can all go to hell. I have come to Texas.”

The crowd cheered and gave him a standing ovation.  Disgusting.

Freedom of the press is gone in Hungary since Orbàn took over in 2010.  Immigrants are not welcome and Orban built a heavily patrolled barbed wire fence along a stretch of 325 miles that completely cuts off access from three countries:  Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia.  Hungary, once ranked a democracy, has been downgraded to a “hybrid regime” by Freedom House.  There are still elections, but they are heavily manipulated to ensure Orbàn and his cronies remain in charge of the government.  According to Wikipedia …

Orbán has passed laws, amended the constitution, and finally written a new constitution, allowing him to do what he wanted to do. Civic institutions such as courts, universities, and the apparatus necessary for free elections remain, but have been “patiently debilitated, delegitimatized, hollowed out”, controlled by Orbán loyalists. Domination of the media by Orbán prevents the public from hearing critics point of view. In 2022, Orbán’s opponent was given but five minutes on the national television “to make his case to the voters”.

And this is, apparently, what the ‘conservatives’ in this country would like the United States to look like within a few years.  Nothing … not one thing … that I have heard from the mouths of any Republican politicians, has convinced me that they aren’t seeking an authoritarian government where they make all the rules and our freedoms, our fair elections, our voices … simply disappear.

Yes, my friends, I believe it IS a duck.

56 thoughts on “If It Looks Like A Duck …”

  2. As I wrote over on Nan’s newest post Christian Nationalism…

    Nan,

    I’ve been in Dallas all weekend, leaving tomorrow for Kerrville. Sadly and with much disgust, I’ve been surrounded—even worse than in the Texas Hill Country—by CPAC attendants overrunning downtown Dallas and the Hilton Anatole and all nearby restaurants, bar & grills, and nearby establishments. It is all very sickening. As you know, I am an 8th-generation Texan. My maternal and paternal families were here when Texas was only a lone Republic. We know what Texas was, has been, and is today. None of what Texas is today is anything like it was from 1963–2022 (my lifetime). My two family generations ahead of me still alive, all say the same thing too. This state is unrecognizable to us now. 😔

    But far too many here in Texas have gone off the reservation and require much effort and proper education of our democracy’s creation and founding principles and laws codified in our Five Founding documents. An appropriate song for our current (temporary?) state of mind and condition:

    We are poor little lambs
    Who have lost our way.
    Baa! Baa! Baa!
    We are little black sheep
    Who have gone astray.
    Baa! Baa! Baa!

    Liked by 3 people

    • No state in this country is completely free of the magats (maggots), but Texas is one of the worst, if not THE worst at the moment. I cannot even begin to imagine what it was like to be in Dallas this weekend … I think I’d have stayed holed up in my hotel room … or no … WAIT … I would have put on my Barack Obama t-shirt and gone about my business, daring anybody to say a word! You are right when you say that Texas and Texans have lost their way, but so has much of the nation. Sigh.

      Liked by 2 people

  3. I don’t think all Republicans are as awful as Trump but unfortunately his way has shown to work and has deeply resonated with a segment of the American population so the tactics are being more widely employed and used. It became so ugly during the Trump years and I dread what the next few years bring us again.

    Liked by 4 people

    • Not all, but far too many are, especially the politicians, members of Congress, state governors, and party leaders. The people, the average Republican is like a lamb being led to slaughter, believing the lies for they don’t know any better. Like you, I truly dread what the next 4-8 years will mean for this nation. I often hope not to last long enough to see it, but I’m a fighter and I cannot simply give up … not yet, anyway.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Yes, “lamb” is a great word to use the blind followers. Truly awful. Hang in there. Everything is cyclical and will swing back to the better world again one day. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

        • You’re quite right, and if the human species doesn’t extinct itself, this too will pass, eventually the pendulum will swing back. But, I’m 71 years old and not in good health, so I think I probably won’t be around to see it.

          Liked by 1 person

            • Oh, it does! Every Wednesday I go in search of ‘good people’ for my Wednesday a.m. posts and I’m always amazed by how many truly good, compassionate people there are in the world. We just don’t see them as much, for they aren’t what sells ad copy, and in the news business, “If it bleeds, it leads.”

              Liked by 1 person

  4. The irony here is that it is the globalists that are controlling the messages and these ignorant sheeples are just along for the ride.

    I’ve always said that it isn’t BIG GOVERNMENT that the GOP hates; it’s DEMOCRACY! Government is how they milk their fortunes from the coffers of the Treasury! Democracy just gets in the way, making it difficult to have to feign care about the opinions and issues of others. As we can see with gun control legislation, veterans health issues, etc., they really couldn’t care less about the opinions of others. They’ve been boldly voting this way in the face of their constituents and guess what? They get re-elected, time after time, by the Army of the Willfully Ignorant!

    Liked by 5 people

    • To me, globalism is accepting that we are all as one, all on the same team, all sharing the same planet, and that we should be working toward a common goal.

      I agree … it is only recently that I’ve come to realize that they don’t support democracy, for they are greedy, they want a system where the rich get richer and the poor simply die off. If we don’t fight that at the ballot box, then we deserve what is coming down the road.

      Liked by 3 people

      • Exactly Jill!
        Globalism is a lie, it was derailed long ago and fell into the wrong hands. Now it stands for global suppression, global power, global dictatorship.

        Like

  5. ““The West is at war with itself. We have seen what kind of future the globalist ruling class has to offer. But we have a different kind of future in mind. The globalists can all go to hell. I have come to Texas.””
    As much as I used to hate him, that was a perfect quote everybody should subscribe to. Immediately. Globalists are the most imminent danger to the planet!

    Liked by 2 people

    • Ah, well, then I suppose I am among the most imminent danger to the planet, for I believe that every person on earth is equal and that if we all work together, forget ‘nations’ and ‘nationalism’, we could make the world a much better place.

      Liked by 4 people

      • Jill, isn’t it funny and peculiar that people like Orca who see you, me, and hundreds of thousands or millions of rational, well-educated, peaceful Americans, who are politically moderate (typically), and tolerant of those different than us while TRYING to understand them finding common ground, etc, etc,… are (erroneously) viewed as “imminent danger to the planet”!? As “globalists”!? 😆

        From my closing paragraph blog-post Our Family Reunion (Jan. 2013), where we humans CLEARLY have more in common together than we do not:

        While orbiting the Earth inside the International Space Station 250 miles up, Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev said while looking down at our home planet, “from space you do not see any borders… you feel yourself part of humankind, not just man from one country or one city.”

        Krikalev could not be more accurate. As if from a height of incredible omniscience, Sergei points out that Earth is not a child’s sandbox to be selfishly divided and toys hoarded by the biggest bullies. On the genetic level of inner space to the orbit of outer space, mankind is really the same. What we are capable of accomplishing in collaboration with each other is now demonstrated from the molecular to the cosmos without interruption thanks in part to The Genographic Project.

        It is not at all uncommon for the best of America to be falsely, blatantly, and intentionally maligned by an array of wild ridiculous accusations (“Globalists”) from those projecting their own misgivings, arrogance, and toxicity. Besides, if you, me, and about 170–180 other WP bloggers I know are globalists by what we say, do, and write virtually, publicly, and privately… and I know there are many many more like us (Kansas vote recently?)… then WTH, I’ll sure take that misnomer any day! 😄 😉

        Liked by 3 people

        • It is indeed funny … mind-boggling, in fact, Prof! It seems that if you aren’t a greedy, arrogant bigot, you’re considered a danger, a threat, an anomaly. Ah well … I live with my conscience and while I have certainly done some things throughout my life I regret, overall I just try to be a decent person and thus I get to go to bed with a clear conscience at night.

          I love what Krikalev said! If only everyone could see only people, no skin colour, no religion … rather like John Lennon imagines in his song, “Imagine”. Hmmmm … ’bout time for me to redux that one!

          Like you, I don’t really care what they call me. I’ve been called a ‘libtard’, a ‘snowflake’, and a ‘communist bitch’. I just laugh, for the name-calling is a sure sign that they don’t have a legitimate point of any sort and must resort to name-calling to try to win an argument.

          Liked by 2 people

        • “Orca who see you … as “imminent danger to the planet”!? As “globalists”!? 😆”
          No I don’t. I see the current WH inhabitants as imminent danger to the planet, as globalists. Yeah. Coz that’s what they are. Biden and his crew of warmongers even more so than Trump and hit nitwits. Trump was at least not fukin around internationally as much as Biden but very self-centered and focussed on America First and such nonsense. Not a friend. But manageable. The current WH crew otoh are wild cards, unreliable liars and bullies.
          I don’t see neither you nor Jill or any of the American people as a threat. Coz you don’t count! You don’t matter, you’re insignificant. Same as all your American folks, me and 300 million EU citizens and the rest of the planet. We’re in the hands of a small miserable bunch of egomanics who don’t have a life and spend all their time bickering among each other and sacrificing their younglings and toy armies.
          When I complain about all the terrible things America did in the last 70 years I’m always talking about the White House, not the single country pumpkin sitting on his porch and shootin’ little children or whatever Americans do for fun. Because, no matter what a teribble ahole he is, he’s not my biziniz.
          What I do is called “Differentiate”. Why aren’t you able to differntiate?

          Like

          • Then you need to greatly improved your articulation in the beginning Orca, for example, THIS reply here should’ve been your very first one. There’s nothing wrong with typing up a 500-1000 word rebuttal in comments, IF you have—to borrow your phrase—

            …more convincing arguments against him than his obesity, you just lifted that ahole up to hero status.

            And so by default you need to provide reliable support, evidence, facts, data, testimony, etc, to back up your views Orca. Simple. 🙂

            Liked by 1 person

  6. “The crowd cheered and gave him a standing ovation. Disgusting.”

    His demeanour maybe disgusting, his words are often misinterpreted although very wise. He’s one of the very few independent thinkers left in the EU, strongly opposing the streamlining and brainwashing … and blindly following Washington’s bad example. And that is the reason why he gets so much negativity from the mainstream propaganda outlets.
    If you don’t have more convincing arguments against him than his obesity, you just lifted that ahole up to hero status. 😦

    Liked by 2 people

    • His ideology disgusts me … his blatant racism, his belief that skin colour matters, that immigrants are somehow worth less than his own sort. I have no room for such bigots. And no, I didn’t “lift him” to hero status with my smirky comment … I have much against him that has nothing to do with the fact that he eats a horse every day! And you know that … you know me well enough by now to know that I don’t respect ANYBODY who is racist, or bigoted in any form or fashion. I do not respect authoritarians or those who would wield power over those who are not wealthy, those who are different somehow.

      Liked by 2 people

      • Ya, I know you well enough to know you mean well. But you achieve the opposite of what you wanted, coz you’re joining the choir, which is rarely a good thing. Orban’s racism, if real or imagined and glued onto him in order to tarnish his image is indeed another fog grenade by the mass media. Nobody cares about racism, we’re talking hard politics here, and Orban is as much a fukn populist as the next politico.

        What he’s really about is fighting for an Hungarian image of sovereignty and independence. His relatively poor country was bearing the most impact from the “Syrian” refugees without much help from Brussels/Washington. His people got angry and he has to balance it all out.
        The EU was happy to use Hungary as a wall to protect us from the unlimited stream of “Syrian” refugees who – shock, horror – turned out not to be the announced medical doctors and scientists and scholars most of ’em. Neither were they from Syria.

        Bigots are shit. You’re right. You don’t have to love Orban, nobody does. But he was voted into his seat by the people, in a democratic election. And his alleged racism has nothing to do with his job and Hungary’s role in geopolitics.

        Liked by 1 person

    • If you don’t have more convincing arguments against him than his obesity, you just lifted that ahole up to hero status. 😦

      From the Pew Research Center, a renown and highly respected nonpartisan, nonprofit organization of 26-years that provides factual social, public, demographic trends as well as provide public opinion polling, demographic research, and content analysis based on empirical social sciences. Here’s what they say about Viktor Orbàn’s DIVIDED Hungary:

      Hungarians differ in their evaluations of democracy under Orban’s leadership

      • About four-in-ten Hungarian adults (38%) say their country has become less democratic since Orban became prime minister. A third say it has become more democratic, and about two-in-ten (21%) say it has not changed.

      • Indicators from the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance show a significant backslide in democracy in Hungary (76% unfavorable to his party Fidesz) since 1998, when Orban took office and 15% of those favorable to Fidesz now say Hungary has declined in democracy.

      • Only 57% of Hungarians approve Orban’s PM performance [a noticeable drop from his election success in 1998]

      • In 2019, Pew Research Center asked Hungarians and other Europeans how much confidence they had in Orban to do the right thing regarding world affairs. In that survey, 45% of Hungarians said they were confident in their prime minister. But across the 14 European Union member countries in the survey, a median of just 27% of adults said the same.

      — Source: https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/08/03/hungarians-differ-in-their-evaluations-of-democracy-under-orbans-leadership/

      This is by no means or fashion a good overall performance by Orbán, much less a stellar one. The New Yorker magazine in August 2021 had this sub-headline for him: A sociologist explains why the country’s Prime Minister [Orbán] is “the ultimate twenty-first-century dictator.” The New Yorker is a long established objective, humanitarian, and cultural media source for 53% of American readers. And get this, only 52% of their readers hold liberal political values. What does that math say in reciprocal?

      Taking and having your own nation (Hungary) divided is NOT part of the repertoire of good or great leader. Not ever in human history. Orbán wins elections by strong emotional campaign rhetoric. But words or speeches do not govern people and nations. Universal principles coupled with extensive experience in equality, justice, legislation, social compassion, and charity (not greed) unites people, allowing them to become a civilized whole, a nation. Orbán lacks severely in ALL of these qualities and for a decade now has shown he does not possess the repertoire of a good leader, much less a great one.

      Btw, my knowledge and research of Orbán scratches a small surface of what’s vastly available for critically-thinking, objective, smart reasonable readers. It isn’t difficult to find, unless one has already made up their mind they will not do any equitable analysis and research from many multiple sources. Investigative journalism by a truly free Press and public libraries have critical benefits to citizenry in monitoring leaders, politicians and governments, especially the very bad, self-absorbed, corrupt ones. I recommend you eagerly try it for several or many years. 🙂

      Liked by 3 people

      • The problem with your post is that you made it personal, Prof Tab. There is no place and time in geopolitics for small personized games. This shit makes us lose the oversight, we get lost in details (he an ahole or not?) while around us the true powers that be are working on reducing our human rights and sending us back to a medieval mindset where they can easily lead us into the slaughterhouses of holy wars.

        And everyone crying out “You fukkaz, wot are you doing! OMG!” will end up dead or left to rot in solitary confinement like Julian Assange. And we’ll even cheering our leaders on and spitting our hatred on Assange, Orban, Putin, Gadaffi, Castro, Maduro etc.

        Like

        • Please REREAD my comment-response to you. I answered your unfounded accusation to Jill, which was:

          If you don’t have more convincing arguments against him than his obesity, you just lifted that ahole up to hero status. 😦

          I gave you a quick introduction of just 2-3 reliable reports of Viktor Orban’s first decade as PM of Hungary. That was not the least bit personal to you. Perhaps you took my brief research on Orban’s performance personally. If so, that’s your mistake here. I clearly was answering your weak rebuttal to Jill.

          After your first two sentences I was no longer interested in the rest of your wrong comprehension or interpretation of my ANSWER to your (wrong) claim to Jill. Now, what I AM very interested in from YOU Orca… is what you have found, discovered on Orban’s first decade as Hungarian PM. Please do share it. 🙂

          Liked by 1 person

  7. Hello. I have long said the republicans want power not to do for others or even the country but to serve themselves. The republicans want a single party rule as long as they are that ruling party. They want complete control. DeathSantis in Florida shows what they want to be. He rules Florida like a feudal lord, like a gang thug. He insults, belittles and attacks anyone that disagrees with him. He fires good people doing their jobs and hires people that are 100% loyal and willing to do whatever he wishes. For example the underqualified Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo. If Republicans cannot get power by democracy, they will ditch it and go with whatever gives them power, such as gerrymandering and preventing people from voting. It is a very scary time in the US. Hugs

    Liked by 3 people

    • Yes, no argument from me there. They are now the party that seeks an autocracy, an authoritarian rule … and that includes the likes of DeSantis, Abbott, and many, many more. I don’t know what they think they have to gain from it, but for the moment, they are useful pawns in a greater scheme, I think. Hugs

      Liked by 3 people

  8. Jill, I cannot emphasize this enough for younger readers. CPAC used to be considered too extreme by the Republican Party and no Republican president dared speak to that group. Until Donald Trump broke with that stance and went because of his pursuit of more extremists. By going he validated them just as he did when he made it safer for the David Duke’s of the world to feel more comfortable in public. The GOP is adrift untethered to the truth. With them inviting Orbán to the CPAC meeting, those Republicans in attendance have validated an autocrat plain and simple. Keith

    Liked by 4 people

    • It’s easy for even people of my age to forget, for these days CPAC is nearly synonymous with the Republican Party! Donald Trump may have been the one to start the ball rolling, but others seem happy enough to now be associated with the extreme right-wing ideology of the Conservative Political Action Committee. MTG was a key figure in this week’s events, even playing a role that … nobody in their right mind would have done. It is frightening for those of us who care about this nation, who care about the average John Doe, who are humanitarians, who … well, who hope this nation has a future.

      Liked by 3 people

      • Jill, it is all about demographics dating back to those Koch projections in the late 1990s which looked at future declining pool of voters. If the GOP cannot woo enough voters, they must change the rules – restrict voting, gain power and restrict it some more. Dems are far from perfect, but this is what we must guard against, in my view. To be a viable entity, the GOP cannot run the CPAC flag up the pole. We need the GOP to be better than that. Keith

        Liked by 4 people

        • No political party is, or will ever be, perfect, but from my view as an Independent, I see the Democratic Party as having far more integrity, working for the entire population rather than a small sliver of the ultra-wealthy. I’ve given up on the GOP returning to the position of a viable party … they have drank too much of the Kool Aid to turn back now. I think it is up to we the voters to show them the door, then build another major party, or rebuild the GOP with people who care, who have values, who will put the nation ahead of their own interests, and ahead of their party.

          Liked by 2 people

    • Good question, Tony! It was only a couple of months ago they had a big conference in Hungary where, again, Orbàn was the keynote speaker. This one in Dallas is their official annual meeting, as I understand it, but I’m not sure what all the others are! And yes, they DO seem like cult meetings … but the fact is that the GOP seems very much like a cult these days.

      Liked by 3 people

  11. The duck saying reminds me that I was told this by a sober/recovering alcoholic while I was dating a deranged active alcoholic (my rebound from hell.) I was vulnerable and blind but woke up after a year. I hope more republicans wake up, and soon. I suspect there may be a few republicans who have some sense. What do you think about Liz Cheney, and Mitt Romney?

    Liked by 3 people

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