alternet--2020-12-13--Insiders at this Trump-favored charity are cashing in — and its financial reporting is questionable

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This election , one of President Donald Trump 's most influential advocates is 26-year-old Charlie Kirk , who has developed a unique bond with the first family .
The conservative star dines with the president at Mar-a-Lago and rang in the new year there .
During each of the last two winters , he used the club to hold a formal fundraiser for his nonprofit , Turning Point USA , that featured Donald Trump Jr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the president , addressing the crowd , said , “ Let us also show our appreciation to my good friend , Charlie .
I 'll tell you , Charlie is some piece of work who is mobilizing a new generation of pro-American student activists . ''
On a Turning Point webpage soliciting donations , Trump Jr. , a close friend of Kirk 's , is quoted as saying , “ I 'm convinced that the work by Turning Point USA and Charlie Kirk will win back the future of America . ''
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ to educate “ students about the importance of fiscal responsibility , free markets , and capitalism . ''
As its profile has risen , its revenue has ballooned , reaching $ 28 million , a sevenfold increase in four years .
But behind the scenes , Turning Point USA has entered into questionable financial arrangements , particularly involving Kirk 's mentor , William Montgomery , the lesser-known co-founder who is credited with discovering Kirk .
Montgomery , 80 , an Illinois entrepreneur and onetime Tea Party activist , is one of three Turning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ from the group to handle its printing , payroll processing and fundraising .
The nonprofit has also made misleading assertions about its finances to state and federal regulators , according to interviews and an examination of tax and business records .
Charities are required to conduct annual independent audits certifying their books are sound in order to fundraise in more than a dozen states .
But the accounting firm Turning Point uses has engaged in multiple business relationships with Montgomery , who for years served as the nonprofit 's treasurer .
The dynamic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ undermines the credibility of Turning Point 's financial statements , including its federal tax returns — an issue of significance at a moment when more and more cash is flowing into the organization 's coffers .
“ This raises real questions about the legitimacy of the return , '' Philip Hackney , a University of Pittsburgh School of Law professor who formerly worked in the IRS ' chief counsel 's office , told ProPublica .
“ It makes it difficult to trust what is reported and begins to raise the possibility that it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ IRS requires , under the penalty of perjury , that charities attest whether they received an independent audit .
Both Kirk and the co-founder have signed off on Turning Point 's filings .
In response to questions from ProPublica , Sally Wagenmaker , an attorney for the nonprofit , said that payments to businesses belonging to organization officials “ provided a compelling operational benefit in Turning Point 's best and other interests , '' and that they were “ in full compliance with TPUSA 's IRS-compliant conflict of interest policy . ''
Andrew @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said the business relationship between the group 's auditor and its former treasurer is not significant and maintained the accounting firm is indeed an independent company .
Another potential issue , ProPublica found , is that the license of the firm expired in late 2018 , though the one that personally belongs to the firm 's managing partner has not .
Turning Point was founded in 2012 by Kirk , then 18 , and Montgomery , who invested in the young activist after hearing him speak at a small college in the state @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Kirk met Trump Jr. and would soon accompany him on the road as an assistant .
As Turning Point has thrived , Kirk 's salary has grown from $ 27,000 to nearly $ 300,000 , and he no longer lives with his parents — last May he bought a $ 855,000 two-bedroom , two-bathroom oceanfront condo in Longboat Key , Florida , county property records show .
Over the last year , the president has delivered remarks at the organization 's conferences threeseparatetimes .
At the group 's December 2018 Mar-a-Lago affair @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it haul in nearly $ 5 million , tax records show .
Recently , Kirk published a book called “ The MAGA Doctrine , '' which Trump and his son promoted on Twitter .
For his part , Montgomery , whose Facebook profile picture features him posing with Trump Jr. , left Turning Point last April , when , Kolvet said , his term as a board member ended .
Two months later , Kirk effusively praised Montgomery in a blog post , celebrating his unmatched contributions to the nonprofit .
“ To @ @ @ @ @ @ @ videos , podcast , TPUSA , our chapters , literature , events , conferences , field programs , or any speeches I have given , '' Kirk wrote , “ you have Bill Montgomery to thank for investing in an 18-year-old with a vision — when everyone else thought it was impossible , foolish , and deemed for failure . ''
Turning Point amplifies White House messaging by regularly tweeting memes and one-liners supportive of Trump administration policies or politics to hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers , and it retweets similar messages @ @ @ @ @ @ @ by nearly 2 million people .
Meanwhile , Kirk 's and the group 's tweets are often retweeted by the president , promoting the young leader 's incendiary statements to more than 82 million followers , including his description of COVID-19 as the “ China virus . ''
Kirk cultivates the image of a young , serious executive , favoring button-down shirts and sport coats in public .
He revels in provoking left-leaning activists and students on everything from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the effects of “ white privilege , '' which he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Turning Point promotes clips of his campus confrontations on social media , typically boasting that Kirk has “ destroyed '' an unworthy adversary .
Turning Point says it now has `` a presence '' on more than 2,000 campuses , 272 employees and an affiliated nonprofit largely focused on supporting Trump .
Yet as the organization has expanded , it has on occasion been the center of controversy .
Politico found that Turning Point has fabricated its influence on college elections .
And in 2017 , The New Yorker drew attention to an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and indifferent to laws that prohibit charities from engaging in express political advocacy .
The magazine obtained text messages written by the group 's former field director that said , “ I HATE BLACK PEOPLE .
Like fuck them all ...
I hate blacks .
End of story . ''
( The sender of the text resigned and Kirk told the magazine , “ Turning Point assessed the situation and took decisive action within 72 hours of being made aware of the issue . ''
) ProPublica 's examination of Turning Point 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the group is run , the reliability of its public disclosures and its approach to regulations governing nonprofits .
Turning Point is registered to fundraise in dozens of states across the country .
Because of the group 's size , attorneys general and secretaries of state in 15 states — including New York , Pennsylvania , New Mexico and Kansas — require it to file audits to remain in good standing .
The work , each state 's statute invariably specifies , must be carried out by “ an independent certified public accountant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ such an audit , but it asks about the audit 's status .
On Turning Point 's last four federal tax returns , consistent with its state filings and spanning a period that covers July 2015 through June 2019 , the group asserts that its financial statements are “ audited by an independent accountant . ''
But Turning Point 's accounting firm , the Stapleton Group , based in Orland Park , Illinois , has a significant tie to the charity .
Montgomery , the charity 's co-founder , has served as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , helping to bring clients to the firm .
The company 's managing partner , Robert Stapleton , who handles Turning Point 's returns , has worked as Montgomery 's personal tax preparer , according to Stapleton .
The firm , which employs a handful of people , was incorporated by the same suburban Chicago lawyer who , records show , formed a business entity Montgomery used to collect rent and make political contributions .
Robert Stapleton and the Stapleton Group did not respond directly to ProPublica .
Instead , the firm provided @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Point 's auditor after Montgomery introduced the firm to the organization , a referral for which Montgomery was n't compensated , Stapleton said through the spokesman .
On his LinkedIn page and in a biography that once lived on Turning Point 's website , Montgomery identifies his connection to Stapleton 's firm ; on the former , it states the affiliation began in 2010 and has continued to the present .
Montgomery received “ no remuneration '' from the firm and “ acted in a business development capacity in his spare time and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ according to Stapleton .
Turning Point , Kolvet said , “ is confident in the independence of any services provided by The Stapleton Group . ''
In a statement , the firm said , “ The Stapleton Group upholds the highest levels of integrity and independence while conducting audits and reviews for many businesses and organizations of all sizes . ''
Until the spring of last year , records show , Montgomery served on Turning Point 's board and as its secretary and treasurer , giving him oversight of Turning Point 's financial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , according to the group 's bylaws .
At one point , he was solely responsible for fundraising and the spending of Turning Point 's cash , according to charity records filed in New Mexico .
“ If Montgomery has a strong relationship with the auditor , then there is a clear conflict there , '' said Tzachi Zach , an Ohio State University accounting professor .
“ Other than the auditor being hired , there should be no other relationship between the auditor and the nonprofit . ''
James Fishman , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York attorney general 's office , said that , on the question of independence , Turning Point 's audit arrangement “ does not pass the smell test .
If an attorney general looked closely , they would find it was n't independent . ''
In a letter dated July 7 , and provided by Kolvet , Robert Stapleton wrote to Montgomery on company letterhead asking him to “ immediately correct '' his LinkedIn profile that claimed he is “ associated with the Stapleton Group . ''
The letter was dated two weeks after @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to the accounting firm ; Montgomery 's LinkedIn profile still identifies him as a “ business development advisor '' for Stapleton .
The nonprofit 's most recent publicly available audit , signed by the “ The Stapleton Group '' in May 2019 , presents an additional issue .
The firm 's license to practice expired in late 2018 , according to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation , the state agency that regulates occupational licenses .
In Illinois , state law prohibits certified public accounting firms with an expired license from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ is aware and is in the process of rectifying the issue , '' and through Kolvet provided a copy of his personal CPA license to ProPublica .
Wagenmaker , the Turning Point attorney , would n't provide a copy of the group 's most recent audit , which is not yet public and captures the nonprofit 's finances through last July .
She also would n't confirm whether it was carried out by the Stapleton Group .
During Montgomery 's time at Turning Point , he personally benefited from several of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 2017 and June 2019 , tax records show , Turning Point paid more than $ 430,000 to a printing shop owned by Montgomery , and gave him an additional $ 25,000 for the rental of a small office space .
The compensation was on top of the direct income he received from Turning Point , which earned him close to $ 200,000 during the same period .
Doug De Groote , the organization 's board secretary , said the vendor payments to Montgomery “ represent fair market value or lower for the trade @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ These decisions were made with Mr. Montgomery recused and with the organization 's best interest paramount . ''
Turning Point similarly said it was getting a better deal by using the payroll processing firm owned by the organization 's current treasurer , Tom Sodeika .
In late 2018 , the nonprofit tapped the services of his small , Illinois-based company , Precision Payroll of America .
Turning Point paid Precision $ 51,072 for its services from late 2018 through last July , according to tax records .
The amount , Kolvet said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ below market rates and in full compliance with Turning Point conflict-of-interest policy . ''
In January , Sodeika sold the company and relinquished all executive positions there .
Turning Point would not say how much Sodeika sold Precision for or to whom he sold it , but Kolvet told ProPublica that “ prior to the sale of the company '' it provided services to Turning Point “ at discounted market rates . ''
Turning Point 's treasurers are not the only insiders who have reaped financial rewards from the nonprofit .
It also @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a highly paid employee through limited liability companies , business records show .
Stacy Sheridan , Turning Point 's “ senior advancement director , '' receives a salary of more than $ 180,000 , according to the group 's latest tax filings , which also show over $ 200,000 flowing to two business entities — GSM Strategy LLC and Lionrock Ventures LLC — that were paid for fundraising .
The return does not disclose who is behind both companies , neither of which has a website .
But corporate records for GSM and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ associated with her .
When asked about the LLC payments , neither Kolvet nor Sheridan provided a comment .
On their own , the veiled arrangements may pass legal muster , but Hackney , the former IRS official , said they could be part of a larger , troubling pattern .
“ As the number of self-interested transactions go up , '' he said , “ the potential goes up for the possibility that the organization is being operated for the private interests of those who control the organization . ''

ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Sign up for The Big Story newsletter to receive stories like this one in your inbox.
This election, one of President Donald Trump's most influential advocates is 26-year-old Charlie Kirk, who has developed a unique bond with the first family. The conservative star dines with the president at Mar-a-Lago and rang in the new year there. During each of the last two winters, he used the club to hold a formal fundraiser for his nonprofit, Turning Point USA, that featured Donald Trump Jr.
At a Turning Point event in June, the president, addressing the crowd, said, “Let us also show our appreciation to my good friend, Charlie. I'll tell you, Charlie is some piece of work who is mobilizing a new generation of pro-American student activists." On a Turning Point webpage soliciting donations, Trump Jr., a close friend of Kirk's, is quoted as saying, “I'm convinced that the work by Turning Point USA and Charlie Kirk will win back the future of America."
The tax-exempt charity says its mission is to educate “students about the importance of fiscal responsibility, free markets, and capitalism." As its profile has risen, its revenue has ballooned, reaching $28 million, a sevenfold increase in four years.
But behind the scenes, Turning Point USA has entered into questionable financial arrangements, particularly involving Kirk's mentor, William Montgomery, the lesser-known co-founder who is credited with discovering Kirk. Montgomery, 80, an Illinois entrepreneur and onetime Tea Party activist, is one of three Turning Point insiders who have won lucrative deals from the group to handle its printing, payroll processing and fundraising.
The nonprofit has also made misleading assertions about its finances to state and federal regulators, according to interviews and an examination of tax and business records.
Charities are required to conduct annual independent audits certifying their books are sound in order to fundraise in more than a dozen states. But the accounting firm Turning Point uses has engaged in multiple business relationships with Montgomery, who for years served as the nonprofit's treasurer. The dynamic, experts say, imperils independence and undermines the credibility of Turning Point's financial statements, including its federal tax returns — an issue of significance at a moment when more and more cash is flowing into the organization's coffers.
“This raises real questions about the legitimacy of the return," Philip Hackney, a University of Pittsburgh School of Law professor who formerly worked in the IRS' chief counsel's office, told ProPublica. “It makes it difficult to trust what is reported and begins to raise the possibility that it's a fraudulent statement."
The IRS requires, under the penalty of perjury, that charities attest whether they received an independent audit. Both Kirk and the co-founder have signed off on Turning Point's filings.
In response to questions from ProPublica, Sally Wagenmaker, an attorney for the nonprofit, said that payments to businesses belonging to organization officials “provided a compelling operational benefit in Turning Point's best and other interests," and that they were “in full compliance with TPUSA's IRS-compliant conflict of interest policy."
Andrew Kolvet, a Turning Point spokesman, said the business relationship between the group's auditor and its former treasurer is not significant and maintained the accounting firm is indeed an independent company. Another potential issue, ProPublica found, is that the license of the firm expired in late 2018, though the one that personally belongs to the firm's managing partner has not.
Turning Point was founded in 2012 by Kirk, then 18, and Montgomery, who invested in the young activist after hearing him speak at a small college in the state. At the 2016 Republican National Convention, Kirk met Trump Jr. and would soon accompany him on the road as an assistant. As Turning Point has thrived, Kirk's salary has grown from $27,000 to nearly $300,000, and he no longer lives with his parents — last May he bought a $855,000 two-bedroom, two-bathroom oceanfront condo in Longboat Key, Florida, county property records show.
Over the last year, the president has delivered remarks at the organization's conferences threeseparatetimes. At the group's December 2018 Mar-a-Lago affair, the president's eldest son helped it haul in nearly $5 million, tax records show. Recently, Kirk published a book called “The MAGA Doctrine," which Trump and his son promoted on Twitter.
For his part, Montgomery, whose Facebook profile picture features him posing with Trump Jr., left Turning Point last April, when, Kolvet said, his term as a board member ended. Two months later, Kirk effusively praised Montgomery in a blog post, celebrating his unmatched contributions to the nonprofit. “To anyone who has been impacted by my videos, podcast, TPUSA, our chapters, literature, events, conferences, field programs, or any speeches I have given," Kirk wrote, “you have Bill Montgomery to thank for investing in an 18-year-old with a vision — when everyone else thought it was impossible, foolish, and deemed for failure."
Montgomery, Kolvet told ProPublica, “remains a friend of the organization."
Turning Point amplifies White House messaging by regularly tweeting memes and one-liners supportive of Trump administration policies or politics to hundreds of thousands of Twitter followers, and it retweets similar messages sent by Kirk, who is followed by nearly 2 million people. Meanwhile, Kirk's and the group's tweets are often retweeted by the president, promoting the young leader's incendiary statements to more than 82 million followers, including his description of COVID-19 as the “China virus."
Kirk cultivates the image of a young, serious executive, favoring button-down shirts and sport coats in public. He revels in provoking left-leaning activists and students on everything from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the effects of “white privilege," which he calls a “racist lie." Turning Point promotes clips of his campus confrontations on social media, typically boasting that Kirk has “destroyed" an unworthy adversary.
Turning Point says it now has "a presence" on more than 2,000 campuses, 272 employees and an affiliated nonprofit largely focused on supporting Trump. Yet as the organization has expanded, it has on occasion been the center of controversy. Politico found that Turning Point has fabricated its influence on college elections. And in 2017, The New Yorker drew attention to an organizational culture that appeared plagued with racism and indifferent to laws that prohibit charities from engaging in express political advocacy. The magazine obtained text messages written by the group's former field director that said, “I HATE BLACK PEOPLE. Like fuck them all...I hate blacks. End of story." (The sender of the text resigned and Kirk told the magazine, “Turning Point assessed the situation and took decisive action within 72 hours of being made aware of the issue.")
ProPublica's examination of Turning Point's finances raises additional questions about the way the group is run, the reliability of its public disclosures and its approach to regulations governing nonprofits.
Turning Point is registered to fundraise in dozens of states across the country. Because of the group's size, attorneys general and secretaries of state in 15 states — including New York, Pennsylvania, New Mexico and Kansas — require it to file audits to remain in good standing. The work, each state's statute invariably specifies, must be carried out by “an independent certified public accountant."
The IRS does not require such an audit, but it asks about the audit's status. On Turning Point's last four federal tax returns, consistent with its state filings and spanning a period that covers July 2015 through June 2019, the group asserts that its financial statements are “audited by an independent accountant."
But Turning Point's accounting firm, the Stapleton Group, based in Orland Park, Illinois, has a significant tie to the charity. Montgomery, the charity's co-founder, has served as a “business development advisor" for Stapleton, helping to bring clients to the firm. The company's managing partner, Robert Stapleton, who handles Turning Point's returns, has worked as Montgomery's personal tax preparer, according to Stapleton. The firm, which employs a handful of people, was incorporated by the same suburban Chicago lawyer who, records show, formed a business entity Montgomery used to collect rent and make political contributions.
Robert Stapleton and the Stapleton Group did not respond directly to ProPublica. Instead, the firm provided comments through Kolvet.
Stapleton became Turning Point's auditor after Montgomery introduced the firm to the organization, a referral for which Montgomery wasn't compensated, Stapleton said through the spokesman. On his LinkedIn page and in a biography that once lived on Turning Point's website, Montgomery identifies his connection to Stapleton's firm; on the former, it states the affiliation began in 2010 and has continued to the present.
Montgomery received “no remuneration" from the firm and “acted in a business development capacity in his spare time and on commission only" in 2011, according to Stapleton. Turning Point, Kolvet said, “is confident in the independence of any services provided by The Stapleton Group."
In a statement, the firm said, “The Stapleton Group upholds the highest levels of integrity and independence while conducting audits and reviews for many businesses and organizations of all sizes."
Until the spring of last year, records show, Montgomery served on Turning Point's board and as its secretary and treasurer, giving him oversight of Turning Point's financial books and custody over its corporate records, according to the group's bylaws. At one point, he was solely responsible for fundraising and the spending of Turning Point's cash, according to charity records filed in New Mexico.
“If Montgomery has a strong relationship with the auditor, then there is a clear conflict there," said Tzachi Zach, an Ohio State University accounting professor. “Other than the auditor being hired, there should be no other relationship between the auditor and the nonprofit."
James Fishman, a former assistant attorney general in the New York attorney general's office, said that, on the question of independence, Turning Point's audit arrangement “does not pass the smell test. If an attorney general looked closely, they would find it wasn't independent."
In a letter dated July 7, and provided by Kolvet, Robert Stapleton wrote to Montgomery on company letterhead asking him to “immediately correct" his LinkedIn profile that claimed he is “associated with the Stapleton Group." The letter was dated two weeks after ProPublica first inquired about Montgomery's ties to the accounting firm; Montgomery's LinkedIn profile still identifies him as a “business development advisor" for Stapleton.
The nonprofit's most recent publicly available audit, signed by the “The Stapleton Group" in May 2019, presents an additional issue. The firm's license to practice expired in late 2018, according to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, the state agency that regulates occupational licenses. In Illinois, state law prohibits certified public accounting firms with an expired license from conducting audits.
Stapleton said his firm “is aware and is in the process of rectifying the issue," and through Kolvet provided a copy of his personal CPA license to ProPublica. Wagenmaker, the Turning Point attorney, wouldn't provide a copy of the group's most recent audit, which is not yet public and captures the nonprofit's finances through last July. She also wouldn't confirm whether it was carried out by the Stapleton Group.
Montgomery hasn't responded to calls and emails seeking comment.
During Montgomery's time at Turning Point, he personally benefited from several of the group's business arrangements. Between July 2017 and June 2019, tax records show, Turning Point paid more than $430,000 to a printing shop owned by Montgomery, and gave him an additional $25,000 for the rental of a small office space. The compensation was on top of the direct income he received from Turning Point, which earned him close to $200,000 during the same period.
Doug De Groote, the organization's board secretary, said the vendor payments to Montgomery “represent fair market value or lower for the trade services received." He added, “These decisions were made with Mr. Montgomery recused and with the organization's best interest paramount."
Turning Point similarly said it was getting a better deal by using the payroll processing firm owned by the organization's current treasurer, Tom Sodeika. In late 2018, the nonprofit tapped the services of his small, Illinois-based company, Precision Payroll of America. Turning Point paid Precision $51,072 for its services from late 2018 through last July, according to tax records. The amount, Kolvet said, was “at a significant discount below market rates and in full compliance with Turning Point conflict-of-interest policy."
In January, Sodeika sold the company and relinquished all executive positions there. Turning Point would not say how much Sodeika sold Precision for or to whom he sold it, but Kolvet told ProPublica that “prior to the sale of the company" it provided services to Turning Point “at discounted market rates."
Turning Point's treasurers are not the only insiders who have reaped financial rewards from the nonprofit. It also appears to have steered extra cash to a highly paid employee through limited liability companies, business records show.
Stacy Sheridan, Turning Point's “senior advancement director," receives a salary of more than $180,000, according to the group's latest tax filings, which also show over $200,000 flowing to two business entities — GSM Strategy LLC and Lionrock Ventures LLC — that were paid for fundraising. The return does not disclose who is behind both companies, neither of which has a website. But corporate records for GSM and Lionrock include Sheridan's name and addresses associated with her.
When asked about the LLC payments, neither Kolvet nor Sheridan provided a comment. On their own, the veiled arrangements may pass legal muster, but Hackney, the former IRS official, said they could be part of a larger, troubling pattern.
“As the number of self-interested transactions go up," he said, “the potential goes up for the possibility that the organization is being operated for the private interests of those who control the organization."


alternet--2020-12-12--'It's not over': Newsmax has a  bizarre response to SCOTUS rejecting Texas' election lawsuit

Following the U.S. Supreme Court 's decision to reject Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton 's election lawsuit , Newsmax host Greg Kelly quickly fired back with a delusional rebuke of the court 's ruling .
To make matters worse , he dangerously continued to perpetuate a sense of false hope for his viewers by declaring that the election is still `` not over , '' according to The Daily Beast .
On Friday evening , Kelly opened `` The Greg Kelly Show '' with remarks about the court 's ruling .
`` First off , it 's not over , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Supreme Court did turn down the Texas case . ''
Before offering details about the ruling , Kelly focused on what he believes is a slight glimmer of hope .
`` We have the situation in Pennsylvania that has not been settled .
We have Georgia that has not been settled , we have Michigan that has not been settled , independent of this lawsuit from Texas . ''
During the show , Newsmax White House Correspondent Emerald Robinson also agreed with Kelly 's claim about the election not being over .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ for conservatives is the fact that all three of the Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justices ' —Amy Coney Barrett , Brett Kavanaugh , and Neil Gorsuch— ruled against the case .
Apparently , they assumed the Trump-appointed justices would automatically side with the president even without evidence .
Since they opted to uphold the Constitutional oath they took to protect America 's democracy , Kelly and Robinson surmised that they must not `` understand the gravity of the situation . ''
`` What I 'm hearing from a lot of conservatives is that they @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and the new justice , Amy Coney Barrett , actually understand the gravity of the situation , '' Robinson said .
She added , `` The president put three Supreme Court justices on the bench during his first term , yet none of those that he put on the bench—at the recommendation of the Federalist Society—were with the team , or with Alito and Thomas , in actually deciding to hear the case .
They chose not to .
They sided with the liberal judges . ''
Sadly , it appears Robinson @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an objective lens .
It was never about siding with a political party .
The ruling was always centered on upholding the law .

Following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to reject Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's election lawsuit, Newsmax host Greg Kelly quickly fired back with a delusional rebuke of the court's ruling.
To make matters worse, he dangerously continued to perpetuate a sense of false hope for his viewers by declaring that the election is still "not over," according to The Daily Beast.
On Friday evening, Kelly opened "The Greg Kelly Show" with remarks about the court's ruling. "First off, it's not over," a distressed Kelly began. "The Supreme Court did turn down the Texas case." Before offering details about the ruling, Kelly focused on what he believes is a slight glimmer of hope.
"We have the situation in Pennsylvania that has not been settled. We have Georgia that has not been settled, we have Michigan that has not been settled, independent of this lawsuit from Texas."
During the show, Newsmax White House Correspondent Emerald Robinson also agreed with Kelly's claim about the election not being over. What appears to have been most surprising for conservatives is the fact that all three of the Trump-appointed Supreme Court Justices' —Amy Coney Barrett, Brett Kavanaugh, and Neil Gorsuch— ruled against the case.
Apparently, they assumed the Trump-appointed justices would automatically side with the president even without evidence. Since they opted to uphold the Constitutional oath they took to protect America's democracy, Kelly and Robinson surmised that they must not "understand the gravity of the situation."
"What I'm hearing from a lot of conservatives is that they wonder if Justice Gorsuch, Justice Kavanaugh, and the new justice, Amy Coney Barrett, actually understand the gravity of the situation," Robinson said.
She added, "The president put three Supreme Court justices on the bench during his first term, yet none of those that he put on the bench—at the recommendation of the Federalist Society—were with the team, or with Alito and Thomas, in actually deciding to hear the case. They chose not to. They sided with the liberal judges."
Sadly, it appears Robinson failed to look at the ruling through an objective lens. It was never about siding with a political party. The ruling was always centered on upholding the law.


alternet--2020-12-13--Trump allies in Wisconsin legislature are stiffing Dane, Milwaukee Co's $3 million recount costs

It appears that the Trump campaign 's promise to pay for the work of Wisconsin ballot workers for the added costs incurred in unnecessary and pointless vote recounts Trump demanded as part of his futile effort to overturn the 2020 election has gone the way of that equally imaginary $ 200 `` Medicare Card '' promised to seniors , just before they went to the polls in November .
As reported in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel : The money owed to reimburse the time spent by Dane and Milwaukee counties in complying with Trump 's fantasy-based demands is apparently being held @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , unidentified Republican member of the state 's finance committee who has `` objected '' to paying the counties the money they are owed .
Analiese Eicher , Board Chairwoman for Dane county , provided a copy of the letter the County has received from the state 's Republican-led Joint Committee on Finance : A number of facts need to be clarified .
First , it is apparent that the money was in fact `` put up '' for the recount by the Trump campaign , in some format , or the recounts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unclear who from the GOP-led Wisconsin legislature is causing the funds to be held back , or whether it is a collaborative effort on the part of the state 's Republican caucus .
It 's also unclear what , if any influence the Trump campaign has had in this matter , for example , whether the objections to disbursing the money are being urged by Donald Trump or a member of his campaign apparatus , or whether this is simply a rogue action by one deadbeat Wisconsin Republican legislator to express his or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As reported by USA Today , by law any portion of the $ 3 million designated as prepayment but not needed for the recount would be returnable to the Trump campaign .
Donald Trump is certainly no stranger to stiffing his contractors , both before and during his tenure in the Oval Office .
The Center for Public Integrity reported that as of June , 2019 , the Trump campaign had stiffed at least ten cities for the costs incurred in covering his rallies .
So this behavior , whether he or his @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , is perfectly in character with what Americans have come to expect from any venture or business with which Trump associates himself .

It appears that the Trump campaign's promise to pay for the work of Wisconsin ballot workers for the added costs incurred in unnecessary and pointless vote recounts Trump demanded as part of his futile effort to overturn the 2020 election has gone the way of that equally imaginary $200 "Medicare Card" promised to seniors, just before they went to the polls in November.
As reported in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:
MADISON - The Republican-led Legislature's budget committee is holding up reimbursements to two counties for their recount costs.
President Donald Trump's campaign paid $3 million for recounts in Dane and Milwaukee counties, Wisconsin's two most Democratic areas.
But two top Republicans said Friday they were withholding the money from the counties for now. They did not explain why.
The money owed to reimburse the time spent by Dane and Milwaukee counties in complying with Trump's fantasy-based demands is apparently being held up for unspecified reasons by a single, unidentified Republican member of the state's finance committee who has "objected" to paying the counties the money they are owed.
Analiese Eicher, Board Chairwoman for Dane county, provided a copy of the letter the County has received from the state's Republican-led Joint Committee on Finance:
A number of facts need to be clarified. First, it is apparent that the money was in fact "put up" for the recount by the Trump campaign, in some format, or the recounts would not have proceeded. It's unclear who from the GOP-led Wisconsin legislature is causing the funds to be held back, or whether it is a collaborative effort on the part of the state's Republican caucus. It's also unclear what, if any influence the Trump campaign has had in this matter, for example, whether the objections to disbursing the money are being urged by Donald Trump or a member of his campaign apparatus, or whether this is simply a rogue action by one deadbeat Wisconsin Republican legislator to express his or her dissatisfaction with the election results.
As reported by USA Today, by law any portion of the $3 million designated as prepayment but not needed for the recount would be returnable to the Trump campaign.
Donald Trump is certainly no stranger to stiffing his contractors, both before and during his tenure in the Oval Office. The Center for Public Integrity reported that as of June, 2019, the Trump campaign had stiffed at least ten cities for the costs incurred in covering his rallies. So this behavior, whether he or his campaign are responsible for it or not, is perfectly in character with what Americans have come to expect from any venture or business with which Trump associates himself.


alternet--2020-12-13--Michael Flynn, who pushed for Trump martial law, says Americans will 'not allow' Biden inauguration

Disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Sunday insisted that Americans will `` not allow '' President-elect Joe Biden 's `` false inauguration '' to go forward .
Flynn , who has previously suggested that the current president should declare martial law , told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that there is a `` 10 out of 10 '' chance that President Donald Trump will be the next commander-in-chief .
`` Why not look into this if in fact the evidence that we have is true ? ''
Flynn opined .
`` We definitely believe that it is true @ @ @ @ @ @ @ evidence . ''
He added : `` And so what we have to stop doing is saying [ there is ] nothing to see here , you know , we 're going to continue to march down the road towards a false inauguration , which the country will not allow that right now . ''
Flynn also argued that the Georgia Senate runoff elections are `` a falsehood that people should n't even be considering right now . ''
Watch the video below from Fox News .
Michael Flynn says Americans will 'not @ @ @ @

Disgraced former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn on Sunday insisted that Americans will "not allow" President-elect Joe Biden's "false inauguration" to go forward.
Flynn, who has previously suggested that the current president should declare martial law, told Fox News host Maria Bartiromo that there is a "10 out of 10" chance that President Donald Trump will be the next commander-in-chief.
"Why not look into this if in fact the evidence that we have is true?" Flynn opined. "We definitely believe that it is true. And there is clear, clear evidence."
He added: "And so what we have to stop doing is saying [there is] nothing to see here, you know, we're going to continue to march down the road towards a false inauguration, which the country will not allow that right now."
Flynn also argued that the Georgia Senate runoff elections are "a falsehood that people shouldn't even be considering right now."
Watch the video below from Fox News.


alternet--2020-12-13--Internet slams 'groveling' Brian Kilmeade for allowing Trump to spew 'lie after lie' in Fox News int

Internet slams 'groveling' Brian Kilmeade for allowing Trump to spew 'lie after lie' in Fox News interview

Americans who watched Fox News ' Brian Kilmeade interview President Donald Trump are outraged at the `` Fox & Friends '' co-host 's `` groveling '' and `` allowing '' the president to spew `` lie after lie after lie . ''
Americans have grown accustomed to watching President Trump lie repeatedly , and while they are still outraged daily by those lies , they expect members of the press to definitively correct the record in real time when he does .
Not only did Kilmeade let Trump spew falsehoods with abandon in his Fox News interview that aired Sunday @ @ @ @ @ @ @ himself .
The outrage is so palpable `` Kilmeade '' is trending on social media .
It 's rare when journalists attract more anger than the President , but Kilmeade 's refusal to tell the public the truth appeared to be a turning point for even some Republicans .
For example , in this clip Kilmeade poses a question noting that when Trump was sworn in to office the military 's budget had been cut by 25 % .
Much of those cuts were forced by Republicans via sequestration , a fact Kilmeade @ @ @ @ @ @ @ But worse , he used Trump 's repeated lie , falsely saying that military was `` out of bullets , '' as a basis for his question .
That dangerous lie has been disproved countless times , including today by retired lieutenant general Russel L. Honore ' ( below , in a tweet . )
Kilmeade also let Trump get away with this lie : `` The Supreme Court , all they did is say we do n't have standing . ''
That 's false .
In that case , filed by the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ others states and 126 GOP members of Congress , the Supreme Court voted 7-2 to decide they did not have standing – but said unanimously if they had taken the case they would have voted against it .
Kilmeade ignored that most important fact , allowing Trump 's dangerous lies to continue , lies that are now leading to violence on America 's streets .
Here 's how many are reacting :

Americans who watched Fox News' Brian Kilmeade interview President Donald Trump are outraged at the "Fox & Friends" co-host's "groveling" and "allowing" the president to spew "lie after lie after lie."
Americans have grown accustomed to watching President Trump lie repeatedly, and while they are still outraged daily by those lies, they expect members of the press to definitively correct the record in real time when he does.
Not only did Kilmeade let Trump spew falsehoods with abandon in his Fox News interview that aired Sunday morning, Kilmeade actually spun the lies himself.
The outrage is so palpable "Kilmeade" is trending on social media. It's rare when journalists attract more anger than the President, but Kilmeade's refusal to tell the public the truth appeared to be a turning point for even some Republicans.
For example, in this clip Kilmeade poses a question noting that when Trump was sworn in to office the military's budget had been cut by 25%. Much of those cuts were forced by Republicans via sequestration, a fact Kilmeade didn't bother to tell viewers. But worse, he used Trump's repeated lie, falsely saying that military was "out of bullets," as a basis for his question. That dangerous lie has been disproved countless times, including today by retired lieutenant general Russel L. Honore' (below, in a tweet.)
Kilmeade also let Trump get away with this lie: "The Supreme Court, all they did is say we don't have standing."
That's false. In that case, filed by the Texas attorney general and joined by 17 others states and 126 GOP members of Congress, the Supreme Court voted 7-2 to decide they did not have standing – but said unanimously if they had taken the case they would have voted against it.
Kilmeade ignored that most important fact, allowing Trump's dangerous lies to continue, lies that are now leading to violence on America's streets.
Here's how many are reacting:


alternet--2020-12-13--Republicans plot attempt to deny presidency to Biden on floor of the House if Trump gives the word

According to a report from the New York Times , hardcore supporters of Donald Trump who serve in the House are willing to attempt to deny the transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden if Donald Trump gives them a thumbs-up to proceed .
With the president insisting on Saturday during a Fox News interview that `` It 's not over , '' and Biden would be an `` illegitimate president , '' a few Republicans are making plans to use the rules of the House to contest the election results .
`` As the president continues to refuse to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ most loyal backers in Congress are plotting a final-stage challenge on the floor of the House of Representatives in early January to try to reverse Mr. Biden 's victory , '' the Times reports .
`` Constitutional scholars and even members of the president 's own party say the effort is all but certain to fail .
But the looming battle on Jan. 6 is likely to culminate in a messy and deeply divisive spectacle that could thrust Vice President Mike Pence into the excruciating position of having to declare once and for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the election . ''
According to the report , the effort is being led by Rep. Mo Brooks ( R-AL ) who has amplified the president 's accusations of voter fraud despite a complete lack of evidence .
`` We have a superior role under the Constitution than the Supreme Court does , than any federal court judge does , than any state court judge does , '' the conservative GOP lawmaker explained .
`` What we say , goes .
That 's the final verdict . ''
As the report points out @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act of 1887 , their challenges must be submitted in writing with a senator 's signature also affixed , '' with the likelihood that either Sens .
Ron Johnson ( R-WI ) or Rand Paul ( R-KY ) might step up .
`` Once an objection is heard from a member of each house of Congress , senators and representatives will retreat to their chambers on opposite sides of the Capitol for a two-hour debate and then a vote on whether to disqualify a state 's votes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Both the Democratic-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate would have to agree to toss out a state 's electoral votes — something that has not happened since the 19th century . ''
' That , in turn , could put Vice President Mike Pence — with an eye on his own political future — on the spot .
`` The dilemma is particularly acute for Mr. Pence , who is eyeing his own presidential run in 2024 .
As president of the Senate , he has the constitutionally-designated task of opening and tallying envelopes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their electoral results , '' the Times reports .
`` But given Mr. Trump 's penchant for testing every law and norm in Washington , he could insist that Mr. Pence refuse to play that role .
And either way , it will call for a final performance of the delicate dance Mr. Pence has performed for past four years , trying to maintain Mr. Trump 's confidence while adhering to the law . ''
Adding to that , an attempt to throw out the election results and defy the will of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Republican Party whether it works or not .
As for Republican Brooks , `` It remains unclear how broad a coalition he could build .
More than 60 percent of House Republicans , including the top two party leaders , joined a legal brief supporting the unsuccessful Texas lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to overturn the election results .
But it is one thing to sign a legal brief and another to officially contest the outcome on the House floor . ''
You can read more here .

According to a report from the New York Times, hardcore supporters of Donald Trump who serve in the House are willing to attempt to deny the transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden if Donald Trump gives them a thumbs-up to proceed.
With the president insisting on Saturday during a Fox News interview that "It's not over," and Biden would be an "illegitimate president," a few Republicans are making plans to use the rules of the House to contest the election results.
"As the president continues to refuse to concede, a small group of his most loyal backers in Congress are plotting a final-stage challenge on the floor of the House of Representatives in early January to try to reverse Mr. Biden's victory," the Times reports. "Constitutional scholars and even members of the president's own party say the effort is all but certain to fail. But the looming battle on Jan. 6 is likely to culminate in a messy and deeply divisive spectacle that could thrust Vice President Mike Pence into the excruciating position of having to declare once and for all that Mr. Trump has indeed lost the election."
According to the report, the effort is being led by Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) who has amplified the president's accusations of voter fraud despite a complete lack of evidence.
"We have a superior role under the Constitution than the Supreme Court does, than any federal court judge does, than any state court judge does," the conservative GOP lawmaker explained. "What we say, goes. That's the final verdict."
As the report points out, "Under rules laid out in the Constitution and the Electoral Count Act of 1887, their challenges must be submitted in writing with a senator's signature also affixed," with the likelihood that either Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) or Rand Paul (R-KY) might step up.
"Once an objection is heard from a member of each house of Congress, senators and representatives will retreat to their chambers on opposite sides of the Capitol for a two-hour debate and then a vote on whether to disqualify a state's votes," the report notes. "Both the Democratic-controlled House and Republican-controlled Senate would have to agree to toss out a state's electoral votes — something that has not happened since the 19th century."'
That, in turn, could put Vice President Mike Pence — with an eye on his own political future — on the spot.
"The dilemma is particularly acute for Mr. Pence, who is eyeing his own presidential run in 2024. As president of the Senate, he has the constitutionally-designated task of opening and tallying envelopes sent from all 50 states and announcing their electoral results," the Times reports. "But given Mr. Trump's penchant for testing every law and norm in Washington, he could insist that Mr. Pence refuse to play that role. And either way, it will call for a final performance of the delicate dance Mr. Pence has performed for past four years, trying to maintain Mr. Trump's confidence while adhering to the law."
Adding to that, an attempt to throw out the election results and defy the will of the voters could cast a cloud over the Republican Party whether it works or not.
As for Republican Brooks, "It remains unclear how broad a coalition he could build. More than 60 percent of House Republicans, including the top two party leaders, joined a legal brief supporting the unsuccessful Texas lawsuit asking the Supreme Court to overturn the election results. But it is one thing to sign a legal brief and another to officially contest the outcome on the House floor."
You can read more here.


alternet--2020-12-13--DC Cops meet Proud Boys' violent rampage with polite request to 'please stop'

A Black policewoman was injured and at least four people stabbed when a day of demonstrations in support of President Donald Trump 's election delusions ended in violence Saturday night in Washington D.C .
Many have linked the violence to the white nationalist group the Proud Boys who Trump told to `` stand back and stand by '' during the presidential debate Sept. 29 , 2020 .
Apparently , no longer standing by , they are shown in multiple videos attacking counterprotesters , burning a Black Lives Matter banner , and generally ignoring police orders with much-delayed punishment from authorities @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Post obtained , white men in `` America Strong '' hats and wearing painted gold laurel wreaths associated with the Proud Boys attacked a man in all black , telling him to leave and shoving him when he tried .
`` Get out !
Get the f -- - outta here ! ''
they shouted outside of Harry 's Bar , a gathering spot for the Proud Boys The Washington Post reported .
When shoved , the man took out a knife to protect himself and tried to run away , the New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ass ! ''
someone in the crowd shouted .
Police response as the targetted man vanished into the crowd was : `` Stop guys stop — please stop . ''
`` Today I saw proud boys attack legal observers , call people cockroaches , and mace and assault random people .
They can call themselves whatever they want , but they 're the new KKK .
They 're domestic terrorists , '' Black Lives Matter protester Joshua Potash tweeted early Sunday .
He also compared police reaction to the violence with their response @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the wake of George Floyd 's death .
Floyd , a Black man , was killed when a white Minneapolis cop kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes on May 25 .
At least eight people were partially blinded the same day police went on a rampage targeting protesters on May 30 .
`` I 've been at BLM marches all summer and fall where people are attacked and arrested by cops just for standing in the street .
Tonight in DC dozens of Proud Boys maced and attacked people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' Potash said in another tweet .
Victims of the violence endured potentially life-threatening injuries D.C. fire spokesman Doug Buchanan told The Washington Post .
D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham told protesters : `` We 're doing the best we can . ''
He told the Post officers were deployed throughout downtown to keep Trump supporters and counterprotesters separated , but portions of the crowd seemed `` intent on conflict . ''
By 9 p.m. , 23 people were arrested and one person had an unauthorized Taser , police said .
In total @ @ @ @ @ @ @ moderate injuries and six others suffered injuries of unknown severity , the Post reported .
Bree Newsome Bass , a grassroots organizer , asked in one tweet : `` Is there a point at which all the people saying `` I never thought this could happen '' start listening to the people who 've been saying for years that this was going to happen ? ''
Author Wajahat Ali tweeted : `` I ca n't even imagine hundreds of armed Muslims burning flags , beating up people , stabbing people in the streets @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of folks being shot and killed by the police .
Meanwhile it 's Springtime for Proud Boys and White Supremacy right now . ''

A Black policewoman was injured and at least four people stabbed when a day of demonstrations in support of President Donald Trump's election delusions ended in violence Saturday night in Washington D.C. Many have linked the violence to the white nationalist group the Proud Boys who Trump told to "stand back and stand by" during the presidential debate Sept. 29, 2020. Apparently, no longer standing by, they are shown in multiple videos attacking counterprotesters, burning a Black Lives Matter banner, and generally ignoring police orders with much-delayed punishment from authorities. In a video the New York Post obtained, white men in "America Strong" hats and wearing painted gold laurel wreaths associated with the Proud Boys attacked a man in all black, telling him to leave and shoving him when he tried.
"Get out! Get the f--- outta here!" they shouted outside of Harry's Bar, a gathering spot for the Proud Boys The Washington Post reported. When shoved, the man took out a knife to protect himself and tried to run away, the New York Post reported. "Get his ass!" someone in the crowd shouted. Police response as the targetted man vanished into the crowd was: "Stop guys stop — please stop."
"Today I saw proud boys attack legal observers, call people cockroaches, and mace and assault random people. They can call themselves whatever they want, but they're the new KKK. They're domestic terrorists," Black Lives Matter protester Joshua Potash tweeted early Sunday. He also compared police reaction to the violence with their response to Black Lives Matter protesters and journalists in the wake of George Floyd's death. Floyd, a Black man, was killed when a white Minneapolis cop kneeled on his neck for more than eight minutes on May 25. At least eight people were partially blinded the same day police went on a rampage targeting protesters on May 30. "I've been at BLM marches all summer and fall where people are attacked and arrested by cops just for standing in the street. Tonight in DC dozens of Proud Boys maced and attacked people and cops didn't do shit," Potash said in another tweet.
Victims of the violence endured potentially life-threatening injuries D.C. fire spokesman Doug Buchanan told The Washington Post. D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham told protesters: "We're doing the best we can." He told the Post officers were deployed throughout downtown to keep Trump supporters and counterprotesters separated, but portions of the crowd seemed "intent on conflict." By 9 p.m., 23 people were arrested and one person had an unauthorized Taser, police said. In total, two police officers were hospitalized with moderate injuries and six others suffered injuries of unknown severity, the Post reported.
Bree Newsome Bass, a grassroots organizer, asked in one tweet: "Is there a point at which all the people saying "I never thought this could happen" start listening to the people who've been saying for years that this was going to happen?" Author Wajahat Ali tweeted: "I can't even imagine hundreds of armed Muslims burning flags, beating up people, stabbing people in the streets of the nation's capital without dozens of folks being shot and killed by the police. Meanwhile it's Springtime for Proud Boys and White Supremacy right now."
Journalist David Leavitt tweeted:
"The proud boys are domestic terrorists
The proud boys are domestic terrorists
The proud boys are domestic terrorists
The proud boys are domestic terrorists
The proud boys are domestic terrorists
The proud boys are domestic terrorists
The proud boys are domestic terrorists"
I concur.


alternet--2020-12-13--Texas AG explains his 'Plan B' to overturn election 'state by state' after Supreme Court rejection

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ( R ) on Sunday outlined President Donald Trump 's path to victory after the @ @ @ @ @ that sought to overturn the 2020 election .
During an interview on Fox Business , @ @ @ @ @ if he had a `` Plan B '' for contesting the election results .
`` @ @ @ @ @ the Trump campaign is taking our arguments that we tried to get in front of @ @ @ @ @ they are now going to take those , I think , state by state , @ @ @ @ @ Because I think they are legitimately good constitutional arguments that do n't depend on actually @ @ @ @ @ fraud . ''
Watch the video below from Fox News .

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) on Sunday outlined President Donald Trump's path to victory after the Supreme Court dismissed a lawsuit that sought to overturn the 2020 election.
During an interview on Fox Business, host Maria Bartiromo asked Paxton if he had a "Plan B" for contesting the election results.
"Going forward, I think the Trump campaign is taking our arguments that we tried to get in front of the U.S. Supreme Court, they are now going to take those, I think, state by state," Paxton explained. "Because I think they are legitimately good constitutional arguments that don't depend on actually proving every little instance of fraud."
Watch the video below from Fox News.


alternet--2020-12-13--The cosmological emptiness of liberalism: Right-wingers have a theory of human nature. Democrats hav

The cosmological emptiness of liberalism: Right-wingers have a theory of human nature. Democrats have failure

The post-election hangover that has accompanied the Democrats ' failure to reclaim the Senate and the prospect of four more years of partisan gridlock and culture warfare largely results from the sense that Democrats have , in the cosmic drama of our time , once again played the fool .
The failure was not in the Senate outcomes themselves .
It was in the catastrophic misapprehension of human nature which led , as in 2016 , to delusional magical thinking and overconfidence concerning the rationality and coherence of voter behavior ( evidenced by trust , once again , in `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and persistent blindness to the political and cultural dynamics that energize political psychology and drive election outcomes .
Indeed , the failings of liberal democracy since the end of the Cold War lie squarely in the donut hole of the Democratic Party in particular and liberalism in general .
This donut hole emerges from what one might call the `` cosmological emptiness '' of the Democratic Party 's organization and program , and of its governing principles and ideology .
What do I mean by this somewhat grandiose term ?
By cosmological emptiness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of any animating set of principles and beliefs about human nature , history , society and politics which is grounded in the mystery of creation itself .
Say what one will about the take-no-prisoners , animal energy of the Trump insurgency , with its play to the darkest impulses of its religious and rural bases .
Christian conservatives within the Republican Party take that mystery seriously , and have articulated and organized a coherent strategy that fully exploits its subdural power .
We have heard much talk in recent decades about the `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ means end-times conflict between Christianity and Islam , or Christianity and `` godless liberalism '' ( which used to be `` godless communism '' ) , or between `` nationalists '' and `` globalists , '' or between `` the West '' and `` the Rest . ''
In reality , the civilizational clash that promises to be the most likely axis of conflict in the next century will be the struggle between the creator-centered faiths and creation-centered science ( using both terms broadly ) — a struggle to define and hold onto @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of technological imperialism and environmental , ecosystem , and nation-state collapse .
The battle between religion and science is ultimately a contest between competing and colliding cosmologies , an attunement to non-linear narratives of origins , epistemologies , forces , transitions and relationships in the universe , and on our planet , that frame and control specific perspectives on politics and power .
Democrats keep missing the target because party elites — and , to varying degrees , the liberal and progressive bases of the party — lack a cosmology of any kind @ @ @ @ @ @ @ constrained and less exalted stage of possibility , one that is specifically geared to short-term appeasement of interest groups , fractional change and limited audience engagement , and which lacks any clear narrative arc .
Suspicious of power , fearful of bias , inhibited in their language , addicted to procedure and politesse , liberal and progressive avatars of the Democratic Party embrace everything , commit to nothing and routinely , predictably , miss the forest for the trees .
But the forest is ablaze ( literally ) and in the absence of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , stakes , significance and path through this conflagration — which are really the only things that justify and legitimate the exercise of power — we relinquish the limited agency we may have to forces that are more directly inclined to carve irremediably destructive paths into the future .
In times of `` normal '' politics in the United States — taking `` normal '' to mean the American-schoolbook `` consensus , '' `` pluralist '' or `` interest group '' images of politics that prevailed for several decades after World War II @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is in the interest of politicians and their parties , along with the organizations and groups and populations they represent , to compromise and take half a loaf in order to live to fight another day .
The premise of these `` liberal '' images of politics has been that people are mostly pragmatic rather than idealistic , and that bargaining and deal-making can hold the nation together because most people are fundamentally alike , at least in the sense that they are all rational agents who speak the same language and can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ words mean and how they represent the world .
These agent-based notions are the mother 's milk of our citizen identity , reinforced historically and culturally through our political and civic associations ( including the media ) , our common law traditions , and our supposedly shared Enlightenment values .
The strength ( and weakness ) of these political habits and beliefs is that they are process-driven , not outcome-driven .
We associate Enlightenment ideals of representative democracy , individual freedom , legal equality and political justice with rule-driven attributes and standards of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The container matters more than the content .
This liberal political culture owes an enormous amount to the historically specific claims of the Enlightenment , in combination with English common law traditions , on the American founders .
Indeed , when one reads `` The Federalist , '' despite the significant and meaningful differences in the political visions of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton , and between the Federalists and the Antifederalists , all parties communicate a deeply rooted commitment to the shared identity of humans bound together and lifted up by a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ deduce consequences , gather evidence and share knowledge .
Baseline commitments to process ( and progress ) within our political culture depend on the Enlightenment assumption of epistemic coherence , meaning the shared notion that knowledge about the world objectively exists , and that we can discover and share this knowledge with each other .
The problem is that when we experience abnormal or disjunctive political moments — such as , most recently , 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina or Wall Street run amok or global pandemic or racial fracturing — we discover that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ incoherence ensues .
We become strangers to each other .
Irruptions from below disclose a chaotic , Bosch-like underworld that disputes almost every dimension of the reality our political institutions take for granted and require – that our votes matter , that our efforts matter , that science matters , that government helps us more than it harms us , that media seeks and tells the truth .
In those moments , unfairly disproportionate or unexpectedly unequal social outcomes shred the process container , and in the chaos that ensues we experience not @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but the extent to which the rational Enlightenment vision on which they depend remains inaccessible and alien and threatening and illegitimate to vast layers and segments of the American population .
At that moment , we no longer recognize ourselves .
Shortly after the 2016 election , when liberals such as Nicholas Kristof wasted way too much ink writing that we need to give Donald Trump a chance , what they were really communicating was that we needed to give America a chance .
They were insisting that we should continue to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ institutions and the vitality of our spirit as a nation .
We must trust our belief that we are the exceptional nation .
This belief in American exceptionalism extends beyond the actual arrival of European settlers to the American strand .
( Consider the idea of `` utopia , '' for instance , in the westward-gazing imaginings of Thomas More , early in the 16th century . )
But in the past century , particularly following World War II , this idea assumed more specific ( if divergent ) meanings .
In `` @ @ @ @ @ @ @ published some 65 years ago , Harvard professor Louis Hartz argued that the United States is exceptional because it is the product of unique and favorable historical and geographic circumstances that have insulated and sheltered its populations from the tectonic forces of class and creed that shaped the European experience .
`` The Liberal Tradition in America '' remained the canonical statement on American exceptionalism until the 1980s , when Ronald Reagan ( along with speechwriters such as Peggy Noonan ) subtly reframed the argument , mostly by repurposing the Puritan vision of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' According to Reagan , America is an exceptional nation because our ( Western , Judeo-Christian ) circumstances , beliefs , traditions and institutions make us better than other nations that lack such a privileged foundation and divinely authored spirit .
Particularly since 9/11 , conservative advocacy organizations such as the Heritage Foundation have evangelized this somewhat more mystical ( and certainly more smug ) understanding of American exceptionalism .
They have also infused it with a dark , brooding , menacing , paranoid and toxic energy — the energy that powered Donald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , American exceptionalism is a creedal statement that it can not happen here .
That `` it '' might include : War .
Genocide .
State failure .
Economic collapse .
Civil strife .
Boorish descent to the Hobbesian state of nature .
Except it has happened here .
The prophets of American exceptionalism never had it right .
Louis Hartz carefully elided the nation 's traumatic experiences with racial conquest and civil war in order to sustain his consensus vision ( for contemporary perspectives , see this New York Review of Books @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the deepest and most enduring meaning of John Winthrop 's lovely and profound City on a Hill sermon , `` A Model of Christian Charity '' : Well , we have dealt falsely in our beliefs , with ourselves if not necessarily with our God .
and liberal democracy has paid the price .
Louis Hartz plumbed ( and then released ) his own personal demons to write `` The Liberal Tradition in America .
( Reagan was simply not terribly bright . )
But the scorched-earth politics that have consumed our nation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have unleashed very smart , well-organized , technologically savvy and preposterously well-funded tribal movements in this country that have outmaneuvered ordinary , well-meaning liberals at nearly every turn , particularly in the past 15 years .
Demographic shifts aside , the coalescence of these groups around a newly transfigured commitment to `` Western civilization '' in 2016 ( that which had originally `` made America great '' ) represented a pure will to power , difficult to define , pin down , understand and address because its raison d'etre has nothing to do @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and reason that continue to blinker the Democratic Party .
Not just in 2016 , but since 2001 ( and , truly , since the early 1970s ) , the Democratic Party has been fighting the wrong war .
Trump remains a freak of nature , but those who have attached themselves to him — the Steve Bannons and Stephen Millers of the world — are cynical , instrumental and ruthless .
They are cunning , not wise , arrogant , not humble .
Their currency is fear .
And they have no @ @ @ @ @ @ @ One definition of an exceptional nation — not so different from — is that it is somehow prelapsarian and has no experience with or true knowledge of evil .
Well , if that blessed state were ever ours in the United States , it is no longer .
But truly , that blessed state never even was .
Those who would like to consider how thinkers and actors in less sheltered times and places addressed the irruption of evil into their world , and the undoing of all they imagined to be enduring @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ) with the insights of Albert Camus , Hannah Arendt and Reinhold Niebuhr .
We might also remember J.R.R .
Tolkien , who in the trenches of the Western Front during World War I , and wrote `` The Lord of the Rings '' as an allegory of `` power exerted for domination . ''
That work also instructs us in the dialectics of power and the capacity of `` small '' people , in dark times , to find within themselves hidden caverns of strength , resourcefulness , wisdom and love that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ This is a strategy , in our dark times , to which hope can attach itself .
But as Tolkien 's Oxford counterpart , Philip Pullman ( no great fan himself of Tolkien ) , and his rival medieval-mythical fabulist , George R.R .
Martin , both take pains to emphasize , Tolkien 's own world founders within its own massive donut hole ( ) , and the that fills its void is usually misplaced , a kind of willful blindness or weakness .
Winter is always coming .
One of the most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mad Men '' occurs when Don Draper and his family are picnicking by a lake near their house .
When they are done eating and return to their car , they leave behind a from their lunch .
This pre-Earth Day moment discloses so much about the ways in which we manufacture and package virtue ( civil and otherwise ) , but the moment fascinates us because it also captures the essential mystery of our condition as a species – the windblown detritus an image of everything we leave behind , the tailings @ @ @ @ @ @ @ gone .
Several years earlier ( in Don Draper time , not ours ) , in the preface to the revised edition of `` The Sea Around Us , '' Rachel Carson had written about another , far more lethal sort of litter , the barrels of atomic waste the U.S. government had been dropping into the ocean , a new chapter in the story of `` man 's ability to change and to despoil '' earth 's natural resources .
A representative of the Atomic Energy Commission had conceded to Carson that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to maintain their integrity for very long and might possibly rupture under pressure at depths of little more than several hundred fathoms .
She concluded : In this poignant elegy Carson bears witness to both the inestimably marvelous flux and complexity of ocean ecosystems , to their fragility and resilience , and ultimately to the unfathomable mysteries they contain and secure , no matter the degree to which we might irradiate their depths .
The starting point , in all of her inquiries , is this mystery of creation born of complexity — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and the awe we experience when confronted with it , is complexity .
A cosmology starts with this mystery and awe , perhaps resolved through a reliance on myth and superstition ( as with religion ) or through exploration and inquiry ( as with science ) , but in either case never lacking awareness of worlds and meanings beyond our ken .
Liberalism 's cosmological emptiness has been the source of liberalism 's great failure — a failure of imagination .
As Trump 's Republicans ratchet up their existential assault on American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ well to ask themselves why they have so reliably underestimated and miscalculated this threat , under the grievously mistaken assumption that these attacks happen to other nations but not to us .
They would do well to acknowledge the intellectual challenge encoded within this rancorous insurgency : Serious conservatives navigate by the stars of a well-mapped cosmology .
What comparably robust and detailed cosmology guides you ?
Indeed , we do n't need to travel abroad to tear the scales from our eyes .
We never did leave .
The Enlightenment , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all , never did occur .
We have always been fallen .
And the question has always only been : What will we do with that knowledge ?

The post-election hangover that has accompanied the Democrats' failure to reclaim the Senate and the prospect of four more years of partisan gridlock and culture warfare largely results from the sense that Democrats have, in the cosmic drama of our time, once again played the fool. The failure was not in the Senate outcomes themselves. It was in the catastrophic misapprehension of human nature which led, as in 2016, to delusional magical thinking and overconfidence concerning the rationality and coherence of voter behavior (evidenced by trust, once again, in "the polls"), a pathetic and persistent blindness to the political and cultural dynamics that energize political psychology and drive election outcomes.
Indeed, the failings of liberal democracy since the end of the Cold War lie squarely in the donut hole of the Democratic Party in particular and liberalism in general. This donut hole emerges from what one might call the "cosmological emptiness" of the Democratic Party's organization and program, and of its governing principles and ideology.
What do I mean by this somewhat grandiose term? By cosmological emptiness, I am referring to the absence of any animating set of principles and beliefs about human nature, history, society and politics which is grounded in the mystery of creation itself. Say what one will about the take-no-prisoners, animal energy of the Trump insurgency, with its play to the darkest impulses of its religious and rural bases. Christian conservatives within the Republican Party take that mystery seriously, and have articulated and organized a coherent strategy that fully exploits its subdural power.
We have heard much talk in recent decades about the "clash of civilizations," which often means end-times conflict between Christianity and Islam, or Christianity and "godless liberalism" (which used to be "godless communism"), or between "nationalists" and "globalists," or between "the West" and "the Rest." In reality, the civilizational clash that promises to be the most likely axis of conflict in the next century will be the struggle between the creator-centered faiths and creation-centered science (using both terms broadly) — a struggle to define and hold onto conceptions of humanity in an unprecedented era of technological imperialism and environmental, ecosystem, and nation-state collapse. The battle between religion and science is ultimately a contest between competing and colliding cosmologies, an attunement to non-linear narratives of origins, epistemologies, forces, transitions and relationships in the universe, and on our planet, that frame and control specific perspectives on politics and power.
Democrats keep missing the target because party elites — and, to varying degrees, the liberal and progressive bases of the party — lack a cosmology of any kind, and therefore act upon a more constrained and less exalted stage of possibility, one that is specifically geared to short-term appeasement of interest groups, fractional change and limited audience engagement, and which lacks any clear narrative arc. Suspicious of power, fearful of bias, inhibited in their language, addicted to procedure and politesse, liberal and progressive avatars of the Democratic Party embrace everything, commit to nothing and routinely, predictably, miss the forest for the trees. But the forest is ablaze (literally) and in the absence of any anchoring cosmology to establish the meanings, stakes, significance and path through this conflagration — which are really the only things that justify and legitimate the exercise of power — we relinquish the limited agency we may have to forces that are more directly inclined to carve irremediably destructive paths into the future.
* * *
In times of "normal" politics in the United States — taking "normal" to mean the American-schoolbook "consensus," "pluralist" or "interest group" images of politics that prevailed for several decades after World War II — the center holds because ultimately it is in the interest of politicians and their parties, along with the organizations and groups and populations they represent, to compromise and take half a loaf in order to live to fight another day.
The premise of these "liberal" images of politics has been that people are mostly pragmatic rather than idealistic, and that bargaining and deal-making can hold the nation together because most people are fundamentally alike, at least in the sense that they are all rational agents who speak the same language and can build trust around their understanding of what words mean and how they represent the world. These agent-based notions are the mother's milk of our citizen identity, reinforced historically and culturally through our political and civic associations (including the media), our common law traditions, and our supposedly shared Enlightenment values.
The strength (and weakness) of these political habits and beliefs is that they are process-driven, not outcome-driven. We associate Enlightenment ideals of representative democracy, individual freedom, legal equality and political justice with rule-driven attributes and standards of process fairness, consistency and coherence. The container matters more than the content. This liberal political culture owes an enormous amount to the historically specific claims of the Enlightenment, in combination with English common law traditions, on the American founders.
Indeed, when one reads "The Federalist," despite the significant and meaningful differences in the political visions of James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, and between the Federalists and the Antifederalists, all parties communicate a deeply rooted commitment to the shared identity of humans bound together and lifted up by a capacity to reason, employ logic, deduce consequences, gather evidence and share knowledge. Baseline commitments to process (and progress) within our political culture depend on the Enlightenment assumption of epistemic coherence, meaning the shared notion that knowledge about the world objectively exists, and that we can discover and share this knowledge with each other.
The problem is that when we experience abnormal or disjunctive political moments — such as, most recently, 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina or Wall Street run amok or global pandemic or racial fracturing — we discover that the process coefficient breaks down and epistemic incoherence ensues. We become strangers to each other. Irruptions from below disclose a chaotic, Bosch-like underworld that disputes almost every dimension of the reality our political institutions take for granted and require – that our votes matter, that our efforts matter, that science matters, that government helps us more than it harms us, that media seeks and tells the truth.
In those moments, unfairly disproportionate or unexpectedly unequal social outcomes shred the process container, and in the chaos that ensues we experience not simply the frailty of our political institutions, but the extent to which the rational Enlightenment vision on which they depend remains inaccessible and alien and threatening and illegitimate to vast layers and segments of the American population. At that moment, we no longer recognize ourselves.
* * *
Shortly after the 2016 election, when liberals such as Nicholas Kristof wasted way too much ink writing that we need to give Donald Trump a chance, what they were really communicating was that we needed to give America a chance. They were insisting that we should continue to trust in the strength of our democratic institutions and the vitality of our spirit as a nation. We must trust our belief that we are the exceptional nation.
This belief in American exceptionalism extends beyond the actual arrival of European settlers to the American strand. (Consider the idea of "utopia," for instance, in the westward-gazing imaginings of Thomas More, early in the 16th century.) But in the past century, particularly following World War II, this idea assumed more specific (if divergent) meanings. In "The Liberal Tradition in America," published some 65 years ago, Harvard professor Louis Hartz argued that the United States is exceptional because it is the product of unique and favorable historical and geographic circumstances that have insulated and sheltered its populations from the tectonic forces of class and creed that shaped the European experience.
"The Liberal Tradition in America" remained the canonical statement on American exceptionalism until the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan (along with speechwriters such as Peggy Noonan) subtly reframed the argument, mostly by repurposing the Puritan vision of the "City on a Hill." According to Reagan, America is an exceptional nation because our (Western, Judeo-Christian) circumstances, beliefs, traditions and institutions make us better than other nations that lack such a privileged foundation and divinely authored spirit.
Particularly since 9/11, conservative advocacy organizations such as the Heritage Foundation have evangelized this somewhat more mystical (and certainly more smug) understanding of American exceptionalism. They have also infused it with a dark, brooding, menacing, paranoid and toxic energy — the energy that powered Donald Trump to the presidency.
* * *
Bottom line, American exceptionalism is a creedal statement that it cannot happen here. That "it" might include: War. Genocide. State failure. Economic collapse. Civil strife. Boorish descent to the Hobbesian state of nature. Except it has happened here. The prophets of American exceptionalism never had it right. Louis Hartz carefully elided the nation's traumatic experiences with racial conquest and civil war in order to sustain his consensus vision (for contemporary perspectives, see this New York Review of Books article). Ronald Reagan entirely ignored the deepest and most enduring meaning of John Winthrop's lovely and profound City on a Hill sermon, "A Model of Christian Charity":
If we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world.
Well, we have dealt falsely in our beliefs, with ourselves if not necessarily with our God. and liberal democracy has paid the price. Louis Hartz plumbed (and then released) his own personal demons to write "The Liberal Tradition in America. (Reagan was simply not terribly bright.) But the scorched-earth politics that have consumed our nation since the end of the Cold War have unleashed very smart, well-organized, technologically savvy and preposterously well-funded tribal movements in this country that have outmaneuvered ordinary, well-meaning liberals at nearly every turn, particularly in the past 15 years.
Demographic shifts aside, the coalescence of these groups around a newly transfigured commitment to "Western civilization" in 2016 (that which had originally "made America great") represented a pure will to power, difficult to define, pin down, understand and address because its raison d'etre has nothing to do with the conceptions of interest, logic and reason that continue to blinker the Democratic Party. Not just in 2016, but since 2001 (and, truly, since the early 1970s), the Democratic Party has been fighting the wrong war. Trump remains a freak of nature, but those who have attached themselves to him — the Steve Bannons and Stephen Millers of the world — are cynical, instrumental and ruthless. They are cunning, not wise, arrogant, not humble. Their currency is fear. And they have no respect or affinity for the truth.
One definition of an exceptional nation — not so different from Alexis de Tocqueville's original conception — is that it is somehow prelapsarian and has no experience with or true knowledge of evil. Well, if that blessed state were ever ours in the United States, it is no longer. But truly, that blessed state never even was. Those who would like to consider how thinkers and actors in less sheltered times and places addressed the irruption of evil into their world, and the undoing of all they imagined to be enduring, might start (but not end) with the insights of Albert Camus, Hannah Arendt and Reinhold Niebuhr.
We might also remember J.R.R. Tolkien, who found Mordor in the trenches of the Western Front during World War I, and wrote "The Lord of the Rings" as an allegory of "power exerted for domination." That work also instructs us in the dialectics of power and the capacity of "small" people, in dark times, to find within themselves hidden caverns of strength, resourcefulness, wisdom and love that evil can subdue but not destroy. This is a strategy, in our dark times, to which hope can attach itself. But as Tolkien's Oxford counterpart, Philip Pullman (no great fan himself of Tolkien), and his rival medieval-mythical fabulist, George R.R. Martin, both take pains to emphasize, Tolkien's own world founders within its own massive donut hole ( the elision of sexuality ), and the hyperbaric hope that fills its void is usually misplaced, a kind of willful blindness or weakness. Winter is always coming.
* * *
One of the most brilliant moments in the TV series "Mad Men"occurs when Don Draper and his family are picnicking by a lake near their house. When they are done eating and return to their car, they leave behind a trail of trash and litter from their lunch. This pre-Earth Day moment discloses so much about the ways in which we manufacture and package virtue (civil and otherwise), but the moment fascinates us because it also captures the essential mystery of our condition as a species – the windblown detritus an image of everything we leave behind, the tailings of our existence, forgotten but not gone.
Several years earlier (in Don Draper time, not ours), in the preface to the revised edition of " The Sea Around Us ," Rachel Carson had written about another, far more lethal sort of litter, the barrels of atomic waste the U.S. government had been dropping into the ocean, a new chapter in the story of "man's ability to change and to despoil" earth's natural resources. A representative of the Atomic Energy Commission had conceded to Carson that these atomic waste containers would be unlikely to maintain their integrity for very long and might possibly rupture under pressure at depths of little more than several hundred fathoms. She concluded:
The truth is that disposal has proceeded far more rapidly than our knowledge justifies. To dispose first and investigate later is an invitation to disaster, for once radioactive elements have been deposited at sea they are irretrievable. The mistakes that are made now are made for all time.
In this poignant elegy Carson bears witness to both the inestimably marvelous flux and complexity of ocean ecosystems, to their fragility and resilience, and ultimately to the unfathomable mysteries they contain and secure, no matter the degree to which we might irradiate their depths. The starting point, in all of her inquiries, is this mystery of creation born of complexity — the idea, indeed, that mystery, and the awe we experience when confronted with it, is complexity.
A cosmology starts with this mystery and awe, perhaps resolved through a reliance on myth and superstition (as with religion) or through exploration and inquiry (as with science), but in either case never lacking awareness of worlds and meanings beyond our ken.
Liberalism's cosmological emptiness has been the source of liberalism's great failure — a failure of imagination. As Trump's Republicans ratchet up their existential assault on American democracy, liberals and progressives would do well to ask themselves why they have so reliably underestimated and miscalculated this threat, under the grievously mistaken assumption that these attacks happen to other nations but not to us. They would do well to acknowledge the intellectual challenge encoded within this rancorous insurgency: Serious conservatives navigate by the stars of a well-mapped cosmology.What comparably robust and detailed cosmology guides you?