(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Hogan's 'Heroics' Can Only Help Trump's Cult [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-09-23 Disclosure: I’ve followed Presidential elections since 1964. All that time (as my late father, a WWII vet, ominously suggested), the specter of some forked-tongued, red-fanged Joe “Big Lie” McCarthy (US Senator, R-WI) type winning the White House and wrecking the country has loomed YUGE. Not to say Maryland’s two-term ex-governor Larry Hogan (R) inherently smacks of the smear machine they called “Low Blow Joe.” But look. The head of the party/cult to which Hogan somewhat stealthily (not to say disingenuously) belongs openly runs not for President, but for “Dictator.” Four years ago to the day (as these words are written), Donald Trump vowed to “get rid of the [electoral] ballots” that might not suit him. Plainly enough, we’re down to ONE non-despotic, law-abiding major party. Hence, choosing blue over red this fall should prove no more arduous than, say, opting for sweets-not-spoor. And yet we Dems STILL don’t play well in Peoria. Or even on some supposedly solid blue turf near the Potomac and the Patapsco Rivers. In fact, Maryland now roils with a race that may well determine control of the Senate. Aptly enough, wrapping up a third six-year term, 80-year-old Ben Cardin (D-MD) looks forward to retiring. (As Pulitzer laureate Garry Trudeau points out, what good are laurels if you can’t rest on them?) Trouble is, Cardin’s pending exit has opened the door for a rabid tusker in sheep’s clothing. Granted, in 2016 Hogan grandly refused to endorse The Donald. Fine- in and of itself. But there’s more. Rather than salute the one person who could defeat the six times bankrupt, lyin’ scion from Queens (namely, the able, distinguished, oft-smeared Hillary Clinton), Hogan styled himself ‘above the fray.’ Ethereally wafting, he effectively pontificated ‘a pox on both houses’ (as if such self-serving smarm could mend our GOP-gouged political landscape). It gets worse. In the GOP primaries that year, the not-so-nonpartisan Hogan touted the hard-right, scandal-steeped Chris ‘Bridge Troll’ Christie. After being blown away by Trump, Christie bucked for a slot in the ensuing Trump regime; only after being turned down did the Garden State Gargantua deign to start telling some hard truth about Agent Orange. (On Christie’s part, call it ‘flip-flopportunity.’ On Hogan’s, think of a leopard denying it has spots.) To connect such YUGE dots, you need not be Euclid. Einstein. Or Georges Seurat. (Hmm. Hogan… Christie… Trump. Not exactly four-dimensional geometry!) Right off the bat, a recent Hogan flyer acknowledges “PAID FOR BY MARYLAND REPUBLICAN PARTY.” (That is, by a mid-Atlantic outpost of the org that OFFICIALLY endorses J6 as “legitimate political discourse.”) Next comes Larry’s pitch. “I’m running for the Senate,” he chirps, “not to serve one party but to fix our nation’s broken politics.” (Don’t look now, but that’s tantamount to sneering, ‘I’m funded by Pyros-Writ-Large. So, buy your fire insurance from me, me, me! Bwa-ha-ha-ha-ha!’) If that sounds harsh, let’s recall how some fellow tuskers have (fleetingly) disparaged Trump. Faced ritual humiliation from him. And soon, bloodied and bowed, wound up kowtowing servilely ever after. For instance, who could forget such momentarily rogue Senate toadies as Lindsey “Tell Trump To Go To Hell” Graham? Ted “Trump Is Amoral” Cruz? Or the viciously chastened “Little” Marco Rubio? Would-or-could Hogan, if elected, trump Trump? Give me a break. (Frankly, ‘Larrupin’ Larry’ may as well claim that an ant can stop an elephant stampede.) * * * * * * Speciously to a fare-thee-well, said flyer pins what Trump hath wrought on “the far left” as well as “the far right.” That fake equivalence connotes a lie as gross as any of Trump’s. As if to highlight Hogan’s deceit, from newly released film we now learn how, on J6, Maryland native Nancy Pelosi rightly pegged the Trump-touting, noose-toting, Pelosi-hunting lynch mobs INSIDE OUR CAPITOL “domestic enemies.” Bothsidesing till the cowed come home, the not-so-nonpartisan Hogan’s ‘all who disagree with me are extreme’ shtick effectively strives to whitewash the GOP’s violent, seditious putsch-pushers as no more out of line than their targets. (Three words: SHAME ON HIM.) Sigh. Are Dems up against it? You bet. In a new flyer, sans evidence, reason, or logic, Hogan effectively smears his capable, decent, worthy opponent as “just another career politician.” Smack on its face, that’s Trumpy toxin. Any way you slice it, Hogan’s no hero. From Angela Alsobrooks to Pelosi to Cardin to Maryland’s hoi polloi to Peoria and beyond, to try to save our still Trump-besieged body politic, can we (better late than never) launch a last-ditch stand against ALL allies of the Ochre Ogre’s J6 juggernaut? Granted, to muster the mojo to curb Lyin’ Larry won’t be easy. Perhaps we can motivate ourselves by resolving where nice, blue pols have tended to finish. And hence that we have no real choice but to oppose-not-appease. Should we demur and/or fail, Trump stands to wreak what he calls “vengeance” on “vermin”- that is, on his political foes. If you believe Hogan can (or would want to) foil such stuff, please. Read/watch less Big Corporate News... and check out Daily Kos all the more! [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/9/23/2272310/-Hogan-s-Heroics-Can-Only-Help-Trump-s-Cult?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/