MAGA's sellout of America and Western democracy
And why the GOP is a severe national security threat in November.
TGIF TAT readers,
I was planning on something lighter today but considering the headline that I just read in the Associated Press, now the “gloves are off.” If you don’t want to hear about a treasonous and un-American party, it would be good to stop reading here. Today will be a broadside based on deep research and some of TAT’s previous work, which will be linked throughout. I do this because what today’s piece represents, is part of my next book on defending America and Western Liberal Democracy.
Background: The real Axis of Evil in the US is Russia, the MAGA controlled GOP and spineless Republican voters, putting party over country. (truthaboutthreats.com)
This is not a defense of the other side of the aisle, but a truthful account of the threat imposed on us by a party given over to Putinesque oligarchical autocracy. I simply have nothing good to say about any big money political party but only today’s MAGA controlled GOP is a threat and an acute one at that.
Today, like the upcoming new book, will address the acute, critical vulnerabilities of the US citizenry to malign foreign and domestic influencers. CV or Critical Vulnerability has a special meaning to US military planners. In lay language, it is, the one or more elements that if successfully attacked by adversaries, that could potentially be decisive in your defeat. In today’s world, it is our vulnerability to malign influence by foreign and domestic influencers, often that work collaboratively. The most pointed example is the cooperation of Russian influence operations and the GOP, before, during and since the 2016 election cycle.
There is earlier history as well going back to the early Bolsheviks after the Russian Revolution beginning in 1917. Now they aren’t selling communism, but oligarchical, far-right authoritarian oppression with far-right ideology, replacing Communism.
I write to build resilience against the ongoing thuggism of global, authoritarian, far-right dictators, despots, authoritarians and their oligarchical enablers. Yes, this includes Trump and the MAGA controlled GOP. Their victims… you, me and the working people of the free world. The book will be out in later Spring in order to help people know what our November election is really about, not what the abusers claim.
Today’s piece will be essentially introductory remarks followed by earlier posts that go into detail about supporting topics to the overall premise. This way, it will be easier reading for those wishing to break up this exhaustive work into digestible segments.
Time to put our minds to work and digest a far more complete narrative than the treason flowing out of today’s GOP. As goes the popular saying, “they don’t even try to hide it anymore.”
Treason or not to Treason
Here, from Cornell Law School, is what I am referencing when I use the word, “treason.”
Trump’s campaign for the 2016 election in my lay but informed opinion, already met this standard and the evidence can be found in the SSCI/ Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Republican led 3 1/2-year investigation into the Russian interference in the 2016 election. The investigation was broken up into 5 volumes with VOL 5, the CI/ Counterintelligence report of 966 pages being beyond damning.
Even in this heavily redacted public version, the cooperation between Russian intelligence and the Trump campaign leaves no doubt to the cooperation. Those found guilty of federal crimes like long-time Putin protege’, Paul Manafort, Trump’s campaign manager, was pardoned by Trump.
The title references Active Measures, what the Soviets and now the Russians call influence operations. Chief objectives are to divide the West via fractures in Western societal structures like race, income disparity, region, immigration, war and Kompromat. Think of Active Measures as the “dirty tricks handbook.” The primary methodology for accomplishing this is called “Reflexive Control,” In simple terms, this is being able to trigger a predictable response to stimuli by “conditioning,” like Pavlov conditioned his dog in his famous, breakthrough study in Psychology.
Well, it is no mystery that FOX News has spent 30 years conditioning GOP voters and part of that conditioning is to predictably respond to how they have shaped the concept of patriotism. The way that most GOP members see patriotism today is the exact opposite of true American values but still, they are conditioned to respond to the stimuli/ triggers that they are immersed in, via far-right media. This is exactly what the Soviets/ Russians have always desired. Now, what Republican voters see as patriotic is best defined as, isolationist, oligarchical and theocratic along the lines of WCN/ White Christian Nationalism.
The links below are deep dives into Russian influence operations, the failures of our own national security community and the “brainwashing” of GOP voters.
Without factoring "brainwashing" into the equation for 2024, we're doomed to another far-right, extremist administration, no matter what pollsters say. (truthaboutthreats.com)
Being a Republican today, doesn’t make you a Conservative (truthaboutthreats.com)
The Western corporate community is undermining US and Western National Security (truthaboutthreats.com)
Protecting our nation from Mis and Disinformation, requires true expertise at Ethical Influence (truthaboutthreats.com)
Libertas, Justitia, Veritas - by Paul Cobaugh (truthaboutthreats.com)
FOX News is an acute, national security threat that the Pentagon and national security community allows to be viewed in offices, bases, ships and commands. (truthaboutthreats.com)
FOX NEWS is a national security threat. - by Paul Cobaugh (truthaboutthreats.com)
So, what does the new Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson and the GOP led House of Representatives, have to do with the treason and sellout of American democracy… lots!
First and foremost, Johnson has a NAR, New Apostolic Reformation flag hanging outside his office in the Capital. NAR is an extreme, WCN/ White Christian Nationalist movement that plays on and abuses the goodness in Christianity. It refutes much of the Bible and its concepts, including the preeminence of Jesus. Alleged new prophets, that are more like Jim Jones of Kool Aid infamy, pretty much do as they please and call it divine inspiration. This is true whether it actually is supported by religious text or not.
Johnson has spent his less than impressive career, pandering to right-wing extremist, WCN/ White Christian Nationalism, via efforts to see his WCN in schools, as the oppressor of minorities and sucking up to large oligarchical donors that would further his fake conservatism.
Here are some deep dives into the WCN theocracy underpinning today’s GOP. Spoiler alert, it is not Christian.
Christian Nationalism and theocracy are the antithesis of democracy, not the foundation, as Putin and the US right would have us believe (truthaboutthreats.com)
John Roberts’ SCOTUS, is legalizing a Confederacy 2.0 (truthaboutthreats.com)
White Christian Nationalism is the official ideology of the Texas Republican Party. (truthaboutthreats.com)
MAGA is pure blasphemy, pursuing theocracy and the evil adversary of democracy. (truthaboutthreats.com)
The GOP in the Trump era and their symbiotic bond with today’s MAGA GOP.
It is no secret or mystery that Trump worships Putin and his version of dictatorship. In fact, Trump loves pretty much all dictators and puts their interests repeatedly, over the needs and security of the American people. Truth be told, Trump puts his dictatorial bros, over the needs and security of all democracies. When Trump is in power, as he still is with the GOP, they do as he says, believe as he dictates and support who he says to support. Just yesterday, he demanded that Republicans in Congress, not pass legislation that would add to border security and the far greater need, funding Ukraine.
The threat to democracy is but one issue, but without democracy, nothing else matters. Here’s some of the reasoning.
First and foremost, the intended theocracy based on oligarchism is precisely the opposite of our brilliant and courageous founders’ vision for our nascent republic. In fact, our founders for their time, were progressives that threatened the status quo of monarchy, largely based on large landowners, the most prominent oligarchs of their time. Revolutionary ideas revolving around democracy were storming the world stage, where it could catch its breath.
France, a beacon of self-rule and based largely on French, revolutionary philosophical concepts, inspired Franklin and Jefferson immensely. Even Madison, considered the “father of our Constitution and rightly so, gave Jefferson full rein to acquire, regardless of cost and to be reimbursed by Madison, the most forward-thinking writing on self-rule in French philosophy. These purchases, including ancient texts as far back as the Greek and Roman history regarding democracies and republics, were part of his research and analysis that shaped our constitution.
Spoiler alert, what serves as the GOP platform would have our founders rolling in their graves.
Below is the background for these claims:
Our third POTUS, “Father of our Constitution” is rolling in his grave with the current GOP and their SCOTUS ideologues, dismantling his work. (truthaboutthreats.com)
Our Founding Fathers were "Woke" and also... radical progressives, for their time. (truthaboutthreats.com)
Being a Republican today, doesn’t make you a Conservative (truthaboutthreats.com)
Without a core, shared, national identity, there is no national security. (truthaboutthreats.com)
Finally, how do we back away from the precipice, or save ourselves with a recommitment to the national identity of a real American, not the made up, conditioned fake patriotism of MAGA? It is the sellouts like Trump, Johnson and the rest of the GOP politicians nationally, that are actually attempting to push American democracy off the cliff to its destruction.
Even every single Veteran GOP, elected official in Congress, is selling out their oaths to both the military and congress/ the nation. That oath states that they are obligated to protect the nation and our constitution from all enemies, both foreign and domestic.
For example, all House Republicans voted for impeaching President Biden knowing and even stating publicly, that there was no evidence. Impeachment means to “bring charges” which in the US means, that there must be a compelling case already established in order to bring impeachment proceedings. This is pretty much what grand juries are for outside of Congress. You cannot just hope to find something and hold an investigation.
Tragically, our activist SCOTUS, doesn’t bother to hobble these purely immoral and illegal impulses in the era of fake reality for Republicans.
It’s no longer Liberal vs. Conservative… It’s reality vs detachment from it. (truthaboutthreats.com)
Another issue at hand that is extremely dangerous is that in supporting Putin, the GOP is also supporting tangentially, Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah and of course, Xi sitting pretty there in China at the head of the pack of thuggery. Putin is starting conflicts and building coups in several hotspots around the globe, in order to distract the West from Ukraine support.
Additionally, in this long war of attrition where Putin’s logistics are always on their last leg, Western engagement in another war would diminish support for Ukraine. Ukraine is doing the fighting and dying while that all that they ask, is for what the military calls “beans and bullets” to sustain their fight against a genocidal Putin. This is why it is sound reasoning to not engage in a second war against Iran at this time. By defeating or stopping Putin, it automatically lessens the threat from these other thugs.
Still, none of these matters, so long as Mike Johnson and his MAGA horde continue to deny funding to Ukraine. This is Defacto support for Putin and the rest of the so-called, Axis of Evil. With Ukraine’s erosion of the Russian military, it gives us a low-cost advantage, including NATO, that we have never had since the end of the Cold War. It is also a good time to wonder how much danger Trump imposed on us by sharing some of our most sensitive intelligence with our adversaries. This alone will haunt the US and NATO national security communities for at least a generation.
Another acute threat that is harder to get one’s head around, is that a shared and moral national identity, is the key to resilience. The Russian attack on our 2016 election, was the first time in US history that no matter how divided we were, that we did not come together to fight an external foe. This is the depth of brainwashing that poses a threat now, in November.
Three dangerously related national security threats, 1. Putin's genocide, 2. Iran and Hamas' attempts at genocide and 3. the distraction Putin desires from western support for Ukraine. (truthaboutthreats.com)
Trump, is a grave, national security risk - by Paul Cobaugh (truthaboutthreats.com)
Our most severe National Security threat is our failure to protect our true National Identity (truthaboutthreats.com)
When you assemble the wide variety of threats that the GOP, Russia, China and all of their combined, oligarchical support and a brainwashed domestic GOP, what you have is a complex threat, equal to what our nation experienced leading up to and throughout WW II. This time though, the domestic threat, eerily similar to the pre-war GOP, is far worse due to the cognitively impaired GOP crowd, conditioned to believe that they are patriots but are actually, the antithesis.
Hyper-partisanship, even when it doesn’t include the cognitive impairment of today GOP, is brutally dangerous. In our modern case, it has the potential to be lethal… to democracy.
Hyper partisanship will sink our Republic, especially when one side has fully abandoned honesty, integrity and morality. (truthaboutthreats.com)
Without a core, shared, national identity, there is no national security. (truthaboutthreats.com)
Iran, Mike Flynn and MAGA, Christian Nationalists or.... (truthaboutthreats.com)
I find it bizarre that the media, even those considered respectable media, still call the GOP, “conservatives, when their behaviour is clearly far-right extremism. Organizations, like people are what they do, not what they say. Every action of today’s GOP is far-right extremism. Media, ever conscious of add dollars, refuses to alienate the oligarchs and patronage of the right, no matter how extremist that they behave. That is not journalism but profiteering at the expense of national security.
US media, please stop calling the MAGA crowd conservatives (truthaboutthreats.com)
Revisiting the topic of Media, still calling the current version of the GOP… “conservative” (truthaboutthreats.com)
We are in dire straits, my friends and fellow citizens. Most Americans have been intentionally polarized by the enormous sums of money associated with elections and political party operations. At least today’s left mostly keeps their efforts between our constitutional guardrails. On the other side of the aisle, democracy is walking through a field of landmines, all potentially fatal to American democracy.
Finding our way through this minefield will take leadership and a national security community that is willing to toss aside, the forty years of failed concepts around the idea of ethical influence operations. Domestically, these ideas terrify government lawyers and send extreme thinkers on both sides screaming. They simply do not understand though, that the mess we are in, is because that we allow false narratives to go unchallenged and we have almost zero ability to preemptively promote western values at home, or abroad.
During the Cold War, influence was the weapon of choice for both sides. What the hell happened to the national security community, after the Berlin Wall fell? They completely dropped this critical profession and replaced it with four decades of absolute failed thinking and almost no campaigning. Yes, it is true that in niche communities within the community, expertise exists but these are normally not evident to the public. With forty years of practice, failure is now far worse.
Our current national security CV/ Critical Vulnerability is a direct descendent of this failure and there is zero hope on the horizon, based on my expertise in this field. During the Cold War, we managed to rally domestic support for opposing communism while concurrently waging a cognitive war against our adversaries. Today, there isn’t the proverbial, “snowball’s chance in hell, “that we could deliver any of the same results. Back at the beginning, I talked about Soviet era, Active Measures. Today’s GOP is exhibit A, that they succeeded while we simply gave up.
Combat ineffective, the rusted, broken hulk of US Influence Operations (truthaboutthreats.com)
The US National Security community is incapable of managing mis/ disinformation threats (truthaboutthreats.com)
Without factoring "brainwashing" into the equation for 2024, we're doomed to another far-right, extremist administration, no matter what pollsters say. (truthaboutthreats.com)
My election season’s insights with Reed Galen of THE LINCOLN PROJECT, from the 2022 Midterms. (truthaboutthreats.com)
PbA or...Paralysis by Analysis, the insanely expensive and often fruitless contributions to US national security. (truthaboutthreats.com)
The US National Security Community has left us a critical vulnerability in US national security. (truthaboutthreats.com)
The final word on today’s exhaustive look at the perils of our upcoming election is that November 2024 is perilous, potentially lethal to American democracy.
The only way to avoid this fate lies in a couple of common-sense recommendations such as:
Demand that media stop referring to far-right extremism as “conservative.” Accurate reporting is crucial
The US national security community must admit failure and start over, in order to:
Actively promote US and Western values effectively and in sustained effective campaigning. This is currently impossible.
Demand that Homeland Security stop ignoring the need to talk to the American people. Coordinate outreach that discusses national security issues at the local level to preemptively interdict false narratives spewed daily by foreign influencers and their domestic colleague.
Transparent campaign finance legislation for every dollar spent and by whom
Prosecute those who do not comply. The law must work equitably for all citizens
Cease and desist with the absolute insanity, that there is a technological solution to our mis/ disinformation critical threat.
Hold politicians accountable for spreading conspiracy theories. For example, most Republican politicians refuse to denounce the craziness that the 2020 election was “stolen”
My friends, it is crunch-time and democracy hang in the balance. Trump and his MAGA crowd have already declared that they will weaponize the Federal Government if elected. This will lead to Civil War. This is not hyperbole. Those who study and know how to analyze and assess the NI/ Narrative Identity of people, nations and organizations, know this without doubt. Millions more voted for Trump in 2020 than in 2016 after four years of chaos, injustice, racism and the sellout of US and NATO national security. We are already failing to support our treaty requirements to NATO by failing to do our part in Ukraine, due to Mike Johnson and the GOP Putin supporters in the House.
To close, I will admit that this is a lot and that it is more than a little complicated. I hope that breaking some of this into sections, along with background links, help to improve the readability of all this. If you are like me, you also want your grandchildren to grow up in an America that respects our true values, protects our constitution and stops authoritarianism in its evil tracks. If we don’t, our future will be defined by oligarchical theocracy and beholden to thugs like Xi, Putin and Iran.
So long as today’s GOP is dominated by MAGA, any vote for any Republican, is a vote for Putin and company and worse, a vote to destroy the very democracy that our courageous and brilliant founders, envisioned for a free people.
As we get closer to November, you may want to refresh with some of the critical points in today’s TAT. In the meantime, enjoy your weekend.
Paul
Bravo! Make no bones about it (you don't) that the house is on fire, in this brilliant essay.