“2016 was the year when the elite capture of the Republican Party by Russia was completed.”—Dr. Michael MacKay
2023 is the year when the elite capture of the Republican Party by Russia should be obvious to anyone remotely paying attention to American politics. The party is embracing ‘fascist tactics right in front of us’, as Dean Obeidallah wrote today.
The elitely captured Republican Party is engaged in a massive criminal cover up for its role in stoking the violent January 6 Insurrection, and the party leader’s legal entanglements are staggering.
For some time, we have been witnessing the party’s escalation of desperation.
With the latest news that an appeals court rejected Trump’s effort to block Party Reputation Washer Mike Pence from appearing before a grand jury investigating the events preceding the Insurrection at the Capitol, it’s getting real for the criminals involved in the cover up. Do recall, many of the plotters and blabbermouths instigating the Insurrection pleaded the Fifth when under oath in front of the January 6 Committee.
As I predicted, the traitors are getting overly desperate.
This desperocity in the upside down is natural. When one’s entire act is built on lies as cover for treason and corruption, it’s a race to stay out of prison.
Trump and his allies, like Putin and his allies, created a world that doesn’t exist, and forced people to live in it. It is a world of lies - lies being the weapons detonated on people’s minds to wear them down away from reality, to create an unreality that clears the way for authoritarian capture.
None of these traitors are fit to serve in any capacity in any America that holds truth to be self-evident.
As we learned from Ruth Ben-Ghiat, “Propaganda is never just words, and it goes beyond lying. It is a system of organizing belief so people come to see the world in ways that benefit the leader and his party.”
Ever since RadPod’s interview with Alex Alvarova and Josef Holy - who Bette members will have a chance to meet next weekend at our ‘Speakeasy’ - I have been thinking a lot about what Alex said about people in the Czech Republic being ‘sick a little bit’ due to the relentless poison of disinformation, repetition, and onslaught.
Americans have been ingesting disinformation daily at toxic levels for a decade, through anonymous emails, social media platforms bullhorning lies by foreign enemies and domestic traitors, and via Russian propaganda channels posing as patriotic news channels.
Twitter, it appears, has always been a platform that boosted unreality over facts.
Recall, Trump allies retweeted Russian troll farm lies. His family members and associates retweeted accounts that were lying about America all the way from St. Petersburg, Russia.
Russians were making up lies to wedge Americans away from truth and to deny us our first female president and guess what, it worked. And Trump’s people - including members of his ‘administration’ - were tweeting those lies.
“2016 was the year when the elite capture of the Republican Party by Russia was completed.”—Dr. Michael MacKay
In 2023, it should be obvious how to spot the traitors. When a governor is passing Russian-style anti-gay, anti-trans, anti-abortion, anti-humanity laws and targeting beloved companies, while having democratic leaders arrested for peacefully protesting, that is Un-American. When that governor’s campaign director and former press secretary is a registered foreign agent, that is Un-American. I am of the opinion that Florida has already been invaded by the Russians tbh.
When chaos agents with ties to Russian oligarchs populate the halls of Congress, that is Un-American.
When a party tried to overthrow the government, surely, that is Un-American.
The question remains - what are we going to do about these traitors?
Are we going to allow insurrectionists to still serve in Congress? Distracting and promoting lies in fealty to foreign enemies?
Are we going to give corporate media a pass for covering the candidacy of a violent insurrection leader as politics as usual?
The Department of Justice indicted and convicted American traitors this past week - traitors who worked for the Russians.
Will the Big Traitor roll up occur before those who are left speaking truth to power are silenced by lawfare or worse?
I have said for months that 2023 is the year we find out if we are still a rule of law country.
I would like to find out before summer, so I can plan a party for freedom.
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Bette Dangerous is a reader-funded magazine. Thank you to all monthly, annual, and founding members. Thank you as well to all those who support my work with your generous coffee tips and who buy my ebooks. A private link to group activist discounts available upon request by emailing bettedangerous@gmail.com.
More info about Bette Dangerous - This magazine is written by Heidi Siegmund Cuda, an Emmy-award winning investigative reporter, author, and veteran music and nightlife columnist. She is the cohost of RADICALIZED Truth Survives, an investigative show about disinformation and is part of the Byline Media team. Thank you for your support of independent investigative journalism.
Save the date! The next Bette Dangerous ‘Speakeasy’ Zoom for paid members is Sunday, May 7, 4 pm PT, featuring ‘Canaries in the Net’ podcast team Alex Alvarova and Josef Holy, who can offer insights into disinformation campaigns targeting the Czech Republic and Eastern Europe, the overlap in America and the West, and how we inoculate ourselves against disinformation. Paid members will also receive invites to our new weekly Bette’s Happy Hour, a wellness checkin. The next Happy Hour is this Tuesday, 5 pm PT.
We have a membership gifting program so if you’re bucks up and wish to adopt a member, you can learn more about that here. My generous benefactors have awarded eight gift memberships in the past week. If you would like to be added to the next gifting lottery, please reach out to the email address above. Thank you all, truly.
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“I say a silent prayer of thanksgiving as I walk upon the earth.”-Audrey Peterman.
“May the viral hope for truth and humanity wash away the chaos of these years.”-S.C., Bette community member
“Something Sacred never dies in almost all of us, who can hear the invitation of Truth…”-words written by a member of Bette’s community