Author: Thom Hartmann

Leaning into the Culture War: Why it remains so politically profitable to hate on racial minorities

Ron DeSantis, the most likely GOP candidate for president in 2024, has gone to war with trans people and Disney, saying he was doing so to protect Florida’s children. It is a slick trick that seems to be working for him and his Republican colleagues, and is thus spreading to other states. Authoritarian politicians in electoral democracies typically exploit people’s fear to gain political power, and then use that power to destroy the democracy itself from within. But first they have to create that fear by building up a straw-man villain. Republicans today are running that strategy to try...

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Oil over Electric: Understanding who profits from the bizarre political efforts to cripple the U.S. Post Office

The Republicans are about to win a major battle in their war on electric vehicles, this time with the second largest vehicle fleet in America owned by the U.S. Postal Service. It is an outrageous story that most Americans do not know a thing about. To understand what is going on with the Post Office right now, we first must know the backstory that, it seems, most media outlets are not interested in discussing. It is an issue that is hitting millions of Americans right now. One of our kids, for example, recently became the first member of our family to...

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Countdown to Chaos: Understanding the active movement within America trying to start a Civil War

Congressman Adam Kinzinger is worried about a second American civil war. “I don’t think that’s too far of a bridge to recognize,” he said, adding, “It’s going to be armed groups against armed groups, targeted assassination and violence.” There is an active movement within the United States trying to start a civil war. They are armed and serious, having already tried to kidnap and murder the Governor of Michigan and the Vice President of the United States. You may not recall names like Pat Crusius, Anders Breivik or James Fields, but members of a dozen different White supremacist groups in...

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A Party built on Fascism: When 63 Republicans take Putin’s side of the war and vote against NATO

The Republican Party is committed to tearing America apart by pitting us against each other. Why would they do this? Here is a clue: 63 Republicans voted this week against a resolution in support of NATO. Yes, they voted for Putin’s side of the war. Seriously. Although it has been largely ignored by American TV media, you can read all about it over at The Washington Post in an article by Aaron Blake titled: Why 30 percent of the House GOP voted against reaffirming NATO support. Their unflinching support of Putin comes shortly after Koch Industries announced they would be...

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When the core beliefs of the “Culture Wars” produce more suffering for people living in Red States

According to a popular meme, comedian Noel Casler asked, “How come everything the Republican Party stands for involves other people dying?” He then went on to note GOP support for assault weapons, opposition to masks and vaccines, opposition to saving the environment, and their all-out war on Obamacare and Medicare-for-All. Casler may have just been being glib, doing the written equivalent of a standup routine, but his question deserves a serious answer, so we should examine the evidence. It is undeniably true that Republican-controlled “Red” states, almost across the board, have higher rates of: spousal abuse, obesity, smoking, teen pregnancy, sexually...

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Patriotic Propaganda: Staying silent as a choice when what is seen does not match with what is believed

I have repeatedly heard American TV commentators wonder out loud how it is that average Russians do not believe the horrors their government has inflicted on Ukraine and its people. The most common story is of Ukrainian refugees or people under bombardment who have tried to tell friends or relatives back in Russia what is going on and gotten a disbelieving response. “How could average Russians be so stupid?” seems to be the main line of inquiry. Another line of questioning wonders out loud if Putin’s lock on Russian TV and radio is so complete that, like the old Soviet...

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