Category Archives: Republican

Some Trump supporters, meanwhile, are blaming the violence on Antifa

Jan 7th 2021

IT IS SHOCKING to think that an American president would end his time in office by inciting his supporters to storm the Capitolespecially one who in his re-election campaign played on fears that his rival would let America lapse into lawlessness. Shocking, but not surprising. Even after a mob of his supporters overwhelmed police to ransack the legislature on January 6th, President Donald Trump continued to stoke the conspiracy theories that motivated them, insisting that Novembers presidential election was stolen and fraudulent.

Such ambivalence about the mayhem that unfolded in Washington, DC, yesterday, in which one woman was shot dead and three others reportedly died from medical emergencies, seems to be shared by many who voted for Mr Trump. In a survey of 1,397 American voters by YouGov, a pollster, more Republicans said they supported the actions of the pro-Trump extremists than opposed them (45% to 43% respectively). In contrast, nearly every Democrat polled, and two out of three independents, said they opposed the rampage (see chart). The two sides were split, not just on their opinions about the news, but on their understanding of the underlying facts. Videos showed rioters attacking police officers and breaking windows; guns, pipe bombs and Molotov cocktails were found after the event. Yet 58% of Republican respondents said the protest was more peaceful rather than more violent. Just 4% of Democrats thought the same.

Republican voters opinion may change in the coming days as they are exposed to the narrative being pushed by right-wing media. Commentators on Fox News and Newsmax, two conservative cable-news networks, have not denied that violence took placebut have instead raised doubts about the true identities of the perpetrators. These people dont look like Trump supporters, said Greg Kelly, a Newsmax host. Id like to know who the agitators were, said Sean Hannity during his programme on Fox. Several Republican politicians have made similar claims. And Mo Brooks and Matt Gaetz, two Republican congressmen, have both alleged that members of the left-wing Antifa movement, masquerading as Trump supporters, were to blame.

It is an extraordinary argument to have about an event that was promoted by the president himself. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th, Mr Trump tweeted on December 19th. Be there, will be wild!.

Read the original here:

Daily chart - Nearly half of Republicans support the invasion of the US Capitol | Graphic detail - The Economist

As she was being evacuated to safety on Wednesday afternoon, Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming said she couldnt believe the rioters violently storming the US Capitol could be Trump supporters.

Thousands of Donald Trumps supporters staged an attempted coup at the Capitol Wednesday, while Congress was in the process of certifying Joe Bidens presidential victory, causing an evacuation of members of Congress, staff, and reporters.

I hope its not Trump supporters that are involved in the mayhem, Lummis told a reporter as they were escorted to a safe location, according to a pool report. It seems like other forces like antifa were advocating violence.

The presidents supporters held Trump signs and Blue Lives Matter flags and chanted pro-Trump slogans as they stormed the building, breaking through barricades of police officers and breaching the building's doors. The rioters smashed windows and forced their way into the House chamber, triggering an armed standoff with Capitol police and the release of tear gas into the building. They later breached the Senate chamber as well.

The attempted coup occurred at the urging of President Trump. He has since tweeted a message to his followers urging them to support the Capitol police and to stay peaceful!

As Lummis was escorted out, the senator told the reporter that in her previous experience with Trump supporters they have been peaceful demonstrators, happy people, very patriotic, pro-America, she said. So now if that has changed, I will be heartbroken.

Since the election, Trump's supporters have held two other smaller gatherings in Washington that also grew violent. On Tuesday night, Trump's supporters clashed with police in DC.

See the original post here:

A Republican Senator Said She Couldnt Believe Trumps People Were Violent As She Was Evacuated From The Capitol - BuzzFeed News

Supporters of President Donald Trump stormed the US Capitol earlier this afternoon to protest lawmakers certifying Joe Bidens election victory. According to initial reports, one person was shot and killed and at least one explosive device was found in the area.

A YouGov Direct poll of 1,397 registered voters who had heard about the event finds that most (62%) voters perceive these actions as a threat to democracy. Democrats (93%) overwhelmingly see it this way, while most (55%) Independents also agree. Among Republicans, however, only a quarter (27%) think this should be considered a threat to democracy, with two-thirds (68%) saying otherwise.

In fact, many Republicans (45%) actively support the actions of those at the Capitol, although as many expressed their opposition (43%).

Among all voters, almost two-thirds (63%) say that they strongly oppose the actions taken by President Trumps supporters, with another 8% say they somewhat oppose what has happened.

Overall, one in five voters (21%) say they support the goings-on at the Capitol. Those who believe that voter fraud took place and affected the election outcome are especially likely to feel that todays events were justified, at 56%.

The partisan difference in support could be down to differing perceptions of the nature of the protests. While 59% of voters who are aware of the events at the Capitol perceive them as being more violent than more peaceful (28%), the opposite is true of Republicans. By 58% to 22%, Republicans see the goings on as more peaceful than more violent.

Who is responsible for what is happening at the Capitol?

Republican Senator Mitt Romney laid the blame for the breach squarely at President Trumps feet, saying This is what the president has caused today, this insurrection.

Most voters agree. A majority (55%) say that President Trump is a great deal to blame for the actions of those who charged the Capitol, with another 11% saying he is somewhat to blame. About four in ten (42%) also say that the Congressional Republicans who said that they would vote against certifying the election results are a great deal to blame, and another 20% think they are somewhat to blame.

Far fewer voters think President-elect Joe Biden is a great deal (17%) or somewhat (9%) to blame. That being said, Biden is the biggest culprit in the eyes of Republicans, at 52%, compared to 28% for Donald Trump and 26% for the Congressional Republicans who opposed certification of the election results.

Democratic lawmakers including Ayanna Pressley and Ilhan Omar have called on Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove President Trump from office in light of todays events.

Half (50%) of voters agree, saying they think it would be appropriate for Donald Trump to be removed from office immediately because of what happened today. Another 42% believe that such an action would be inappropriate. Republicans (85%) are especially likely to say they believe this would be inappropriate.

Are those in the Capitol building extremists, terrorists or patriots?

Those on both sides of the dispute are at odds in their descriptions of those currently occupying the US Capitol. NPR tweeted guidance that they would not be referring to them as protestors, but rather as pro-Trump extremists, and what they are doing as insurrection. (In this they are mirroring Romneys assessment of the situation).

About half (52%) of voters agree with the extremist label, the most commonly selected of all the terms we put to respondents. Nearly as many (49%) think domestic terrorists is an appropriate title, and 41% consider them criminals.

The presidents daughter, Ivanka Trump, tweeted earlier in the day referring to those at the Capitol as patriots. The tweet has since been deleted. Only about one in seven (15%) agreed with the patriot label, although this rises to 30% of Republicans and 40% among those who think there was enough fraud at the election last year to change the outcome.

See topline and table results.

Methodology: YouGov polled 1,448 registered voters, including 1,397 who were aware of the events at the Capitol. The survey was conducted on January 6, 2021 between 5:17 p.m. and 5:42 p.m. Eastern time. The survey was carried out through YouGov Direct. Data is weighted on age, gender, education level, political affiliation and ethnicity to be nationally representative of adults in the United States. The margin of error is approximately 3.3% for the overall sample.

Image: Getty

Continue reading here:

Most voters say the events at the US Capitol are a threat to democracy - YouGov US

Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous nights highlights that lets you sleep and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Were all stuck at home at the moment, so here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.

The late-night hosts were still reeling along with the rest of the country on Thursday, the day after a Trump-incited mob stormed the Capitol.

Well, guys, its been a pretty epic 24 hours, Jimmy Fallon said at the top of The Tonight Show. Joe Biden was certified as our next president, several staffers have resigned from the White House, Trumps social media accounts were banned, and yet, compared to yesterday, its a slow news day.

He also got blocked from posting to Facebook and Instagram indefinitely. YouTube pulled his video address to the rioters, citing election misinformation, and Amazon banned him from ordering Pixy Stix because they get him too wound up before bedtime. STEPHEN COLBERT

In other news, guess who doesnt want to ban TikTok anymore. JIMMY FALLON

Julien Baker performed her timely new song Faith Healer on Thursdays Late Show.

More here:

Late Night Is Unimpressed by Titanic-Fleeing Republicans - The New York Times

Today, the sedition caucus includes at least 140 members of the Housethat is, some two-thirds of the House GOP membershipand at least 10 members of the Senate. Their challenge comes after weeks of insistence that the 2020 election was rigged, plagued by fraud, and even subverted by foreign powers. The president and his minions have filed, and lost, scores of lawsuits that ranged from minor disputes over process to childlike, error-filled briefs full of bizarre assertions.

Instead of threatening to gavel these objections into irrelevance, as Biden did four years ago, Vice President Mike Pence welcomes these challenges. Pences career is finished, but he could have stood for the Constitution he claims to love and which he swore to defend. However, cowardice is contagious, and no mask was thick enough to protect Pence from the pathogen of fear.

Perhaps the sedition caucus didnt mean to go this far. Its members began by arguing that we all just needed to humor President Trump, to give him time to process the loss, and to treat the president of the United States as a toddler who was going home empty-handed. He wouldnt be a dead-ender, they assured us, because that would be too humiliating. The Republican Party would never immolate itself for a proven loser.

But for Trump, there is no such thing as too much humiliation. The only shame in Trump world lies in admitting defeat. And so Trump doubled down, as anyone who had watched him for more than 10 minutes knew he would. And then he tripled, quadrupled, quintupled down. And just as they have done for the past four years, elected Republicans tried to convince themselves that if they supported this outrage, it would be the last time they would be required to surrender their dignity; that this betrayal of the Constitution would be the last treachery demanded of them. That if they complied one more time, they would be allowed to go back to their privileged lives far from the districts they claim to representplaces few of them really want to live after tasting life in the Emerald City.

It is possible that the sedition caucus knew that all these challenges would fail. It is possible that they know their last insult to American democracy, on Wednesday, will go nowhere, as well. This is irrelevant: Engaging in sedition for insincere reasons does not make it less hideous. Arguing that you betrayed the Constitution only as theater is no defense.

Indeed, shredding the Constitution purely for personal gain is perhaps the worst of the sins of the sedition caucus. It would almost be a relief to know that these Republicans really believe what theyre trying to sell, that they are genuine fanatics and ideologues who have at least paid us the respect of pitting their sincere beliefs against our own.

But we are, in the main, dealing with people who are far worse than true believers. The Republican Party is infested with craven opportunists, the kind of people who will try to tell us later that they were just asking questions, that they were defending the process, and of course, that they were merely representing the will of the people. Senators Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz are not idiots. These are men who understand perfectly well what they are doing. Senator Mitt Romney sees it clearly, noting that his GOP colleagues are engaged in an egregious ploy to enhance political ambition.

View original post here:

Worse Than Treason - The Atlantic

Whens the last time you got on a plane? If your last flight was before the pandemic, youre not alone. Industry statistics show worldwide air travel is down by more than 85% from 2019, according to the Associated Press in August 2020. Fears about catching COVID-19 in a crowded airport combined with regional lockdowns, border closures, and stay-at-home orders made many people think twice before hopping on a flight in 2020. Those who did travel by air during the pandemic were met with a significantly different experience. Airlines implemented mask requirements, swapped in-flight meals for prepackaged snacks, halted certain routes, and even blocked off middle seats to try to create a socially distanced experience at 35,000 feet.

The recent changes, while radical, are just the latest in a series of adjustments air travel has gone through since the first scheduled commercial flight in the U.S. took place in Florida in 1914. Early air travel was incredibly bumpy, somewhat dangerous, and had very few frills. But once Americans started jetting around the country in greater numbers, airlines upped the ante to compete for their business. Passengers would dress up for the occasion to enjoy bottomless cocktails, live entertainment, multicourse meals complete with fine china and white tablecloths, and other pleasures in the sky during the Golden Age of flying.

Since then, though, its been a mostly downhill experience for air passengers. To squeeze every last dollar of profit from every flight, airlines have shrunk seat pitches, charged all sorts of new fees, and stopped offering free meals on many flights. The 9/11 terrorist attacks also prompted sweeping new security measures, requiring passengers to remove shoes, limit their liquids, and walk through full-body scanners before getting on a flight. Todays air travel feels like a world away from the glamour of yesteryear.

So how did air travel get to this point? To find out, Stacker looked at various news articles and websites to compile this timeline of some of the most significant changes in air travel over the last century, ranging from in-flight meals and entertainment to diversity in pilots, changes in fare categories, and frequent flier programs.

Keep reading to see how air travel has changed over the last 100 years.

You may also like: 10 toxic cleaning products and their natural alternatives

Read more:

50 ways air travel has changed over the last 100 years - Buffalo News

The space economy in the last few years has been in large part driven by the increasing cadence and reliability of launch services, and while that market will continue to grow, the new economy enabled by those launches is only just beginning to take off. If you thought the launch boom was big, just wait for when it combines with the private satellite boom.

The consensus among experts, company leadership and investors in the space sector is that launch has commanded an outsize share of both money and attention, both because its so broadly appealing and because it was a prerequisite to any kind of space-based economy.

But as weve seen over the last year, and as is expected to be further demonstrated in 2021, the launch industry is moving from investor-subsidized R&D and testing to a full-fledged service economy.

To date the launch industry has received 47% of the industrys venture capital, even though its less than 2% of the global space economy, said Meagan Crawford, managing partner at SpaceFund, at TC Sessions: Space last week. We feel like thats a problem thats been solved, or thats being solved. What we want to know is what is enabled by launch, right? What are the new things that can happen now, the new business models that close today that didnt close three years ago when launch was not as frequent, reliable and low cost?

Within the launch industry this view seems to be shared, even at companies that have yet to take a payload to orbit. Their focus is not just on proving their launch vehicle can do it, but taking their place in a massively supply-constrained (on the launch side) market by differentiating and appealing to new business models. That involves far more than building a working rocket.

Its not just about mass to orbit, said Mandy Vaughn, president of VOX Space. Its about all those other elements of, how can we react quickly? How can we design and produce something quickly, as well as deploy that capability, maybe in a unique way from an unexpected location? In terms of the investment landscape, its not just about the technology of one rocket, or whats your ISP [in-space propulsion] compared to anothers. It really is, what is the complete vertical infrastructure and business model beyond just mass to orbit?

Tim Ellis, founder and CEO of Relativity Space, which will launch its first fully 3D-printed rocket in 2021, concurred in a conversation we had outside the conference.

The thing were watching closest is not, while its fun, the different launch providers, but how many new satellite companies are getting to orbit, he said. Were still seeing the market growing faster than the launch vehicle companies have been able to keep up with.

Excerpt from:

As launch market matures, space opportunities on the ground take off - TechCrunch

Sign up for the Guardians First Thing newsletter

In November, Donald Trump became the first president in American history to try to hold on to power that voters had given to someone else in the course of a national election.

The plot did not unfold in one dramatic scene. Instead, Trump lured Republicans to commit a series of coercive acts on his behalf under a false banner of non-existent election fraud the attempted steal masquerading as a security measure.

It might have worked. Many Republicans went along actively or silently. These included well-known national figures such as Rudy Giuliani, Newt Gingrich, Lindsey Graham and most other Republican senators.

But to succeed, Trumps plot depended not only on the top Republicans he dominates but also on the cooperation of hundreds of state and local officials. Over three crucial weeks in November, some of those officials made individual decisions that could have seen the plot through, while others thwarted it.

Here is an incomplete list of some of the lesser-known Republican friends and foes of US democracy who emerged in the historic November 2020 battle over its fate.

To stay in power, Trump needed to prevent states from certifying the results of their 3 November votes, or to convince Republican legislators to try to throw out state results. Trumps key targets included officials in Michigan and Pennsylvania. He found some ready accomplices.

Norman Shinkle

A former state senator in Michigan who refused to certify the states result despite independent certifications by all 83 Michigan counties and no evidence of fraud to cast doubt on Bidens 154,000-vote win in the state. Shinkle said he thought the result in majority-Black Detroit needs to be looked at. One county clerk called Shinkles abstention shocking and disgusting.

Monica Palmer and William Hartmann

Republican canvassers in Wayne county, Michigan, who sought to reverse their certification of the election result after Trump made a phone call to Palmer. She demanded an audit of the Detroit vote before the certification of its result, in defiance of law. She later said she was unaware of the law.

Mike Shirkey and Lee Chatfield

Republican leaders of the Michigan state senate and house who accepted an invitation to visit Trump at the White House as the president tried to prevent the state from certifying Bidens 82,000-vote win. In the Oval Office, Shirkey and Chatfield received a telephone briefing by Rudy Giuliani about fake election fraud. They later lied and said the meeting with Trump was about Covid-19 economic relief. They were photographed drinking Dom Prignon at Trumps hotel in Washington DC after their meeting.

Joe Gale

A Republican board of elections member in the Philadelphia suburbs who refused to certify a 27-point Biden win in his county. I believe the US supreme court should review the travesty that has happened in Pennsylvania, Gale said. Trumps campaign never presented any evidence of voter fraud to Pennsylvania courts, which threw out almost every Trump case.

Keith Gould and Joyce Dombroski-Gebhardt

Republican members of the board of elections in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, were so committed to Trumps election fraud fairytale that they refused to certify the vote in a county Trump won by 14 points. Three Democrats on the board outvoted them to certify Trumps win in the county.

Kayleigh McEnany

After an almost two-month absence from the White House briefing room, the press secretary appeared 17 days after the election to spread Trumps lie about election fraud. There are very real claims out there that the campaign is pursuing, she said. Separately she lied about Trumps meeting with Michigan legislators saying it was not an advocacy meeting, there will be no one from the campaign there he routinely meets with lawmakers from all across the country.

Ronna McDaniel

The chair of the Republican national committee and Michigan native appeared at a news conference two days after the election and spread lies about discrepancies and irregularities, demanding an audit of the Michigan vote before certification in defiance of state election law. Under her leadership, the Republican national party spread wild and conspiratorial claims that Trump had actually won in a landslide. A majority of Republican voters now tell pollsters they believe the election was fraudulent.

Opposite those state and local officials who refused to certify election results were Republican officials who certified Bidens win.

Never in American history has such an action been interpreted as the stuff of heroism with election results always routinely certified no matter who won, as the constitution would have it.

But in 2020 these officials had to withstand a pressure campaign by Trump, who named many of them in tweets, leading to death threats against them and their families.

Al Schmidt

A Republican election commissioner in Philadelphia who stood up to Trump. The weekend after the election, Schmidt went on 60 Minutes and said Trumps claims about fraud in Philadelphia were bogus.

At the end of the day, we are counting eligible votes cast by voters. The controversy surrounding it is something I dont understand, Schmidt said. Counting votes cast on or before election day by eligible voters is not corruption. It is not cheating. It is democracy.

From the inside looking out, it all feels very deranged.

Aaron Van Langevelde

Republican vice-chair of a state canvassing board who voted to certify Bidens win in Michigan. Langevelde broke what would have been a deadlock caused by Shinkles perfidy. We have a duty to certify this election based on these returns, that is very clear, he said.

We must not attempt to exercise power we simply dont have, Langevelde continued. As John Adams once said, we are a government of laws, not men. This board needs to adhere to that principle here today. This board must do its part to uphold the rule of law and comply with our legal duty to certify this election.

Christopher Krebs

The former director of the cybersecurity and infrastructure security agency, fired by Trump for defying the presidents vote fraud lies. Nine days after the election, Krebss agency issued a statement beginning, The November 3rd election was the most secure in American history. Krebs was fired a week later, but he continued speaking out about election integrity. After a Trump campaign lawyer said Krebs should be taken out at dawn and shot, Krebs said he would sue.

Gabriel Sterling

A Republican official who oversaw the implementation of the state of Georgias new voting system, Sterling delivered an impassioned speech warning about death threats against election workers and saying Trump is inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence.

Addressing Trump, Sterling said:

Were investigating, theres always a possibility, I get it. You have the rights to go to the courts. What you dont have the ability to do and you need to step up and say this is stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence. Someone is going to get hurt, someone is going to get shot, someone is going to get killed, and its not right. Its not right.

Brad Raffensperger

The Republican secretary of state in Georgia who stood up to Trump and insisted that Bidens upset victory in the state was legit. Im a conservative Republican. Yes, I wanted President Trump to win. But as secretary of state we have to do our job, Raffensperger said in an interview with the Guardian. Im gonna walk that fine, straight, line with integrity. I think that integrity still matters.

In reply, Trump said of Raffensperger: Hes an enemy of the people.

Read more from the original source:

The Republican heroes and villains of Trump's attempt to steal the election - The Guardian

Santa will not be pleased. Not to mention Jesus. That guy is gonna be pissed. When they find out whats happened here, America is going to be in for a very dark Christmas indeed.

I am not one of the unfortunates so poisoned by capitalisms warped inhalation of the holiday season that they have grown cynical about the entire enterprise. My family takes Christmas very seriously. From a very young age I learned that this time of year was not about orgies of shopping or stewing in your contempt for your far-flung relatives, but rather about putting our dormant innate generosity into practice. The Christmas spirit is love. Our bitter cynicism should properly be oriented not at the Christmas spirit itself, but rather at those who corrupt it.

Three hundred thousand Americans have died from Covid this year. Well over 200,000 of them died unnecessarily. Had our government managed this public health crisis in a mature and rational way, the deaths would be a fraction of what they are. Our government chose not to do so. Our leering and stupid leader chose to make the wearing of masks into a defining political issue not out of necessity, or for any financial gain, or out of adherence to any philosophy, but out of aggressive stupidity, laziness and self-rationalization. Usually, the Republican party screws regular people because someone stands to get rich on it. In this case, it was only because they formed a cowards puppet line behind an awful leader with a loud voice. In every community in America, there are people lying dead because their elected officials were scared of being tweeted at by a former reality show host.

Merry Christmas, America.

Tens of millions of Americans lost their jobs this year through no fault of their own. Tens of thousands of small businesses, each one representing the dreams and ambitions of a human being and the employment of many others, have failed this year through no fault of their own. The money that our government appropriated to carry all of these people and businesses through this natural disaster ran out months ago, and nothing more has been forthcoming, even as we watch our friends and neighbors sink into bankruptcy and food insecurity and desperation.

Many other nations have paid workers to stay home, relieving financial pressures on employers and employees alike. Republicans in Congress have refused to do this, because the stock market has stayed high, and also because they dont care. Our incompetent and callous Republican leaders have ordered shutdowns without providing an adequate safety net, thus causing predictable public backlash against the shutdowns, which Republicans have been happy to encourage, because it directs public ire away from them and on to public health professionals. Idiocy in the White House has combined with the wealth-worshiping Republican Senate to produce the worst of both worlds: a raging preventable public health disaster and an economic catastrophe from which the very rich have been insulated.

Your loved ones can die, your business can collapse, your job can evaporate, your unemployment benefits can dry up, your stimulus checks can disappear, and in return your elected leaders will offer you sneering jokes about masks and lies about who won the election. The rest, they will mostly ignore.

Merry Christmas, America.

Donald Trump is a vapid and pathetic man controlled in every case by his own worst impulses, but he is not the biggest villain of 2020. Without the entire superstructure of the Republican party behind him voting for him, campaigning for him, debasing themselves before him, praising his stupid ideas and supporting him politically he would not be in a position to cause hundreds of thousands of deaths. There is a long, straight line that runs from the wink-and-nod racist Southern Strategy of Richard Nixon through the deregulation and union-busting of Reagan and up to the deadly narcissism of Trump. When a political party is willing to tell any lie and demonize anyone in order to protect the right of the rich to have everything, it will eventually find that it has become the home of cranks and fascists. The Republican party has spent decades stoking malignant ignorance in service of greed, and it has now been devoured by it. What afflicts us now is not just a virus, but a national philosophy lovingly tended by many generations of conquerors that prizes avarice and calls it individualism.

We are all in this pandemic together. Sickness passes from person to person with no regard for identity. Economic decline seizes every city and state at once. Overwhelming crises like these can be catalysts for unity. Shared pain is also an opportunity for shared love. Suffering so widespread can open everyones eyes to the common fate of humanity, and our responsibility to support one another in good times and bad.

But that is not what America is getting out of this crisis. We are getting the suffering without the sharing, and the pain without the promise of mutual support. Christmas celebrates the birth of Jesus, a man who told people to love their neighbors and give their wealth to the poor; it is embodied by Santa, a man who rewards generosity with more generosity, and vows to carry gifts to the homes of everyone no matter who they are. And yet the people who are loudest about Christmas those showing off the biggest tree, carrying the most ostentatious Bible are the same people who have chosen to allow hundreds of thousands of us to die, rather than do what needs to be done for public health, and have chosen to allow millions of us to sink into poverty, rather than do what needs to be done for public welfare. They have chosen this because they believe that this is the path that will maximize their own power. That is their present to you, and they really dont care if you like it.

Yes, Virginia, there is a War on Christmas. But the Republicans are the ones waging it. And the Christmas spirit, Im sorry to say, is losing.

See the original post:

The Republican party has ushered in a dark Christmas, indeed. We deserve better - The Guardian

Catherine A. Sanderson, Opinion contributor Published 5:00 a.m. ET Dec. 23, 2020

Early intervention against low-level aggression applies in all sorts of situations. Sweating the small stuff works. Republicans should try it sometime.

Only 27 congressional Republicans were willing to acknowledge the results of the November election in a Washington Postsurvey this month.A majority of Republicans in Congress backed a lawsuit filed by the attorney general of Texas to overturn President-elect Joe Bidens victory. Multiple news outlets reported that on Friday, President Donald Trump discussed invoking martial law and appointing a conspiracy theorist to investigate voter fraud.On Sunday, he asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse three Pennsylvania Supreme Court rulings on ballots cast there.

Many have been shocked by the silence and even support of so many elected members of the GOP in response to Trumps increasingly outlandish claims. But their behavior isnt at all surprising to social psychologists: Its a perfect demonstration of how toxic environments grow gradually, as problematic behavior starts with something small that then continues and expands.

Francesca Gino and Max Bazerman at the Harvard Business School designed a series of studies to test whether people would be less likely to report bad behavior if it built up gradually. They asked participants to serve as auditors and to accept or reject estimates of the number of pennies in a jar. In some cases the estimators gradually inflated their numbers over time increasing by just 40cents a round. In others they made more abrupt changes,jumping by $4.Over half (52%) of the gradual change auditors approved the estimates, compared with only 24%of those in the abrupt change group.The authors attribute this difference to the boiling frog effect.

And this slippery slope isnt unique to the political world.It happens in all types of environments, from fraternity houses to corporate boards.

In the fall of 2018,the psychological community was stunned when they heard that current and former students of Dartmouth Colleges Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences had filed a lawsuit accusing three well-known faculty members of engaging in inappropriate behavior including sexual harassment and assault over more than 16years.(In August 2019, Dartmouth settled the lawsuit for $14million, although the college did not admit liability.)

As Leah Somerville, director of the Affective Neuroscience and Development Laboratory at Harvard University, wrote abouther own experience as a graduate student at Dartmouth: If you are steeped in an environment with toxic norms, it is likely that you cant even see it for yourself. For example, while I was there it was common for certain faculty members to joke about details of trainees sex lives in the lab and public settings. At first, this made me very uncomfortable. But as those types of exchanges happened regularly and became more egregious, they seemed less and less scandalous.

U.S. Capitol building on Dec. 20, 2020, in Washington, D.C.(Photo: Samuel Corum/Getty Images)

Real-world cases of corporate fraud provide similar evidence of the slippery slope of problematic behavior. Interviews with financial executives indicted for accounting fraud reveal that their conductin virtually all cases escalated gradually. Heres how one former chief financial officer described it: Crime starts small, it progresses very slowly. First you work off the books. Some people say its not a crime, OK, well rationalize it and say its not a crime. And once you start down this path, its really hard to pull yourself out.

What can we do to avoid following in the footsteps of so many in the Republican Party in our own personal and professional lives?

Strangers to me: I used to cover Republicans who are cowering to Trump. I don't recognize them now.

First, increase self-awareness.We all like to think of ourselves as good peoplewho do the right thing.Subtle reminders of our own behavior can therefore push us toward more ethical behavior.A study by researchers at Harvard Business School found that 37%of students who sign an honor code before completing a financial form ultimately cheat but that number climbs to 79%when students sign their name only after completing the form.

And it's not just college students who show greater honesty when first asked to affirm a commitment to ethical behavior.Car insurance customers who are asked to sign a statement verifying the information they provide is true before completing the form report higher car mileage (and thus greater premiums) than those who sign only at the end of the form. These small cues that increase self-awareness like signing your name can push people toward more ethical behavior. Its precisely why I make all students in my classes sign a pledge at the start of each exam I give.

Another subtle strategy for pushing people toward ethical behavior is to ask people to reflect on a time when they did not behave honorably and which they now regret. Research by Ayelet Fishbach at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and Oliver Sheldon at Rutgers Business School demonstrates that asking people to reflect on their own bad behavior in the past reduces their willingness to do so again. Why? This step at least pushes us to think about the choice we are making, before we head down that slippery slope.

Former NH GOP chair: Texas lawsuit was the last straw. I'm leavingRepublicans.

Finally, when we find ourselves in a tricky situation, its really important to take a single step in the right direction.For example, the anti-bullying program Steps to Respect trains teachers and students to call out subtle forms of aggression like name-calling and ostracism, instead of waiting for behavior to escalate to physical violence. Responding to low-level types of bullying helps people gain skills that make it easier to respond more effectively to more overt acts of bullying. But more important, stopping low-level aggression mightchange the school climate to one where fewer students feel ostracized and there is less bullying later on.

This same process of early intervention applies in all sorts of daily situations, from calling out a friend for making a racist joke, reporting hazing on an athletic teamto confronting a colleague who falsifies expense reports.This is precisely the approach used in the most effective programs shown to prevent bullying in schools, harassment in the workplace, and police misconduct.In other words, do sweat the small stuff. Republicans should think about trying it.

Catherine A. Sanderson,the Poler Family Professor and Chair of Psychology at Amherst College, isthe author of "Why We Act: Turning Bystanders into Moral Rebels."Follow her on Twitter:@SandersonSpeaks

Autoplay

Show Thumbnails

Show Captions

Read or Share this story: https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2020/12/23/surrender-to-donald-trump-republicans-slippery-slope-column/3989411001/

The rest is here:

Slippery slopes and the boiling-frog effect: How the Republican Party succumbed to Trump - USA TODAY