Trump era: Fascist dawn, or road to liberation?

[Lilou]

My sense these last few days is: chaos is coming.

My sentiments exactly. It seems the scales have tipped past the point of return. Sites like Rense are stoking the anti muslim/ban refugees rhetoric so much, it is just sickening. As Laura said, Trump is just a reflection of Americas mindset and nothing good can come of it. The laws are in place for the perfect storm.

 

[mkrnhr]

I agree. Americans deserve Trump: he is the reflection of the majority of them and he will bring on the destruction of America. And not because he is a bad person or because the left is good; neither assessment is remotely true. The left HAS gone evil and the Right does have legitimate concerns; they've just lost all capacity for rational thought on both sides.

My sense these last few days is: chaos is coming.

That's my sentiment as well, and it hit me during the latest weeks that at this point there is only destructive chaos ahead. The spread of psychosis is chilling. What amazes me is the notion of liberal arts including at its core grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and not a shred of any of these can be encountered in the actual liberal discourse.

 

[Alada]

Over the last few months, I've been spending quite a lot of time on FB and Twitter trying to get the truth out there, to counter the false news that is being spread. And we seem to have reached the point where it seems such a waste of time. . What strikes me is just how many people have actually gone insane. They have suspended their critical thinking faculties, their ability to go and read and find out the truth. They WANT to believe the lies, want to believe that Trump is Hitler reincarnated. They believe what the MSM reports is the gospel, and they love to hate.

The viciousness, the bitterness, the hate expressed to anyone who deviates from the official view is visceral. In fact, they will willingly interpret anything that happens as showing that Trump is evil, twisting the truth, believing lies. It's just downright depressing. It really feels like we have almost passed the point of no return, that so many of these people cannot and will not, in fact don't want, to come back to sanity.

It is enough to make you weep.

Same here too. I’m finding you have to be more and more mindful of what and how you share or frame questions. People can’t get past the headline > reaction, so as to dig deeper and consider details. If trump is playing both sides so as to then wind the position back and get what he wanted from the outset, I wonder if it’s a dangerous game if folk get too sensitized along the way and get stuck in a permanently stressed emotional state then. CEOs might be able to think their way through the tactics of overblown opening positions and come to solutions in full possession of their faculties, but when whole nations are exposed to it I’m not sure things would get so easily resolved.

I wonder as well on the anti-Trump side, whether there might be some kind of Stockholm Syndrome type of thing going on as well. I mean it makes no sense how people can’t see the things that Obama has already done, as opposed to what Trump has said, yet they still defend and justify Obama. Maybe it’s too much of an ask, that in order to wrench themselves out of that reality a lot of truths would have to hit home. The reality of just what they’d been 'held captive' by. Meanwhile a whole lot of folk are protesting for its comforting return. Crazy.

 

[angelburst29]

The Huff-Po has pulled out all stops in it's character assassination towards Trump. The articles in the last few days have been relentless in emotional psychological ploys and extremely vicious. Now the Huff-Po is leading the choir towards a Trump Impeachment!

The Inevitability Of Impeachment
_http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-inevitability-of-impeachment_us_588e8d52e4b0b065cbbcd09f

Quote:
Two weeks ago, in this space, just based on what we witnessed during the transition, I wrote a piece calling for a citizens impeachment panel, as a shadow House Judiciary Committee, to assemble a dossier for a Trump impeachment, and a citizens’ campaign to create a public impeachment movement.

In the two weeks since then, Free Speech for People has launched a citizens’ campaign to impeach Trump. About 400,000 people have already signed the impeachment petition.

The bipartisan group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, (CREW)
has been conducting a detailed investigation. Senior legal scholars associated with CREW have filed a detailed legal brief in their lawsuit, documenting the several ways Trump is in violation of the Emoluments Clause, which prohibits a president from profiting from the actions of foreign governments.

There are already plenty of other grounds for impeachment, including Trump’s putting his own business interests ahead of the country’s and his weird and opportunistic alliance with Vladimir Putin bordering on treason.
A lesser-known law that goes beyond the Emoluments Clause is the STOCK Act of 2012, which explicitly prohibits the president and other officials from profiting from non-public knowledge.

Impeachment, of course, is a political as well as a legal process. The Founders designed it that way deliberately. But after just a week in office, not only has Trump been deserting the Constitution; his partisan allies are deserting him.

Despite his creepy weirdness, Republicans at first thought they could use Trump for Republican ends. But from his embrace of Putin to his sponsorship of a general trade war, this is no Republican. One can only imagine the alarm and horror being expressed by Republicans privately.

In 1984, the psychiatrist Otto Kernberg described a sickness known as Malignant Narcissism. Unlike ordinary narcissism, malignant narcissism was a severe pathology.

It was characterized by an absence of conscience, a pathological grandiosity and quest for power, and a sadistic joy in cruelty.

Given the sheer danger to the Republic as well as to the Republicans, Trump’s impeachment will happen. The only question is how grave a catastrophe America faces first.

 

[RedFox]

I wonder as well on the anti-Trump side, whether there might be some kind of Stockholm Syndrome type of thing going on as well. I mean it makes no sense how people can’t see the things that Obama has already done, as opposed to what Trump has said, yet they still defend and justify Obama. Maybe it’s too much of an ask, that in order to wrench themselves out of that reality a lot of truths would have to hit home. The reality of just what they’d been 'held captive' by. Meanwhile a whole lot of folk are protesting for its comforting return. Crazy.

I was thinking the same. Fighting to go back to sleep with the comfortable lie that 'You live in a progressive liberal democracy and everything is fine. As long as your leaders keep repeating the lie, you're safe'.
I can't imagine any situation in which people would be able to question the lie they have believed in, given how big it is.

 

[Windmill knight]

Over the last few months, I've been spending quite a lot of time on FB and Twitter trying to get the truth out there, to counter the false news that is being spread. And we seem to have reached the point where it seems such a waste of time. . What strikes me is just how many people have actually gone insane. They have suspended their critical thinking faculties, their ability to go and read and find out the truth. They WANT to believe the lies, want to believe that Trump is Hitler reincarnated. They believe what the MSM reports is the gospel, and they love to hate.

The viciousness, the bitterness, the hate expressed to anyone who deviates from the official view is visceral. In fact, they will willingly interpret anything that happens as showing that Trump is evil, twisting the truth, believing lies. It's just downright depressing. It really feels like we have almost passed the point of no return, that so many of these people cannot and will not, in fact don't want, to come back to sanity.

It is enough to make you weep.

Same here too. I’m finding you have to be more and more mindful of what and how you share or frame questions. People can’t get past the headline > reaction, so as to dig deeper and consider details. If trump is playing both sides so as to then wind the position back and get what he wanted from the outset, I wonder if it’s a dangerous game if folk get too sensitized along the way and get stuck in a permanently stressed emotional state then. CEOs might be able to think their way through the tactics of overblown opening positions and come to solutions in full possession of their faculties, but when whole nations are exposed to it I’m not sure things would get so easily resolved.

My thoughts exactly. Trump can be read as playing the shock-negotiator card (like Scott Adams says), which in the business world may have given him lots of dividends in the past, and which is reassuring in the sense that there is reason behind the 'madness' and he is really trying to do his job, in his own way. However, I am afraid that this bold strategy will awaken quite a bit of social and political demons domestically and externally that he may not be able to handle and will result in chaos.

 

[Hesper]

Over the last few months, I've been spending quite a lot of time on FB and Twitter trying to get the truth out there, to counter the false news that is being spread. And we seem to have reached the point where it seems such a waste of time. . What strikes me is just how many people have actually gone insane. They have suspended their critical thinking faculties, their ability to go and read and find out the truth. They WANT to believe the lies, want to believe that Trump is Hitler reincarnated. They believe what the MSM reports is the gospel, and they love to hate.

The viciousness, the bitterness, the hate expressed to anyone who deviates from the official view is visceral. In fact, they will willingly interpret anything that happens as showing that Trump is evil, twisting the truth, believing lies. It's just downright depressing. It really feels like we have almost passed the point of no return, that so many of these people cannot and will not, in fact don't want, to come back to sanity.

It is enough to make you weep.

Same here too. I’m finding you have to be more and more mindful of what and how you share or frame questions. People can’t get past the headline > reaction, so as to dig deeper and consider details. If trump is playing both sides so as to then wind the position back and get what he wanted from the outset, I wonder if it’s a dangerous game if folk get too sensitized along the way and get stuck in a permanently stressed emotional state then. CEOs might be able to think their way through the tactics of overblown opening positions and come to solutions in full possession of their faculties, but when whole nations are exposed to it I’m not sure things would get so easily resolved.

My thoughts exactly. Trump can be read as playing the shock-negotiator card (like Scott Adams says), which in the business world may have given him lots of dividends in the past, and which is reassuring in the sense that there is reason behind the 'madness' and he is really trying to do his job, in his own way. However, I am afraid that this bold strategy will awaken quite a bit of social and political demons domestically and externally that he may not be able to handle and will result in chaos.

I agree. The media was adding massive amounts of energy into the system with the whole 'Trump's Hitler' propaganda. Then Trump just stormed right in 'guns a blazing' (as they probably expected he would), and now we're at a steady boil and rising.

It's an ugly situation that the US has neither the intelligence nor the desire to see resolved. So I guess we'll get more of what they ask for. Not pretty. Like FlashGordon said, it's enough to make you weep.

 

[Alejo]

Yeah, the most shocking of all I've seen thus far is not the lies by the media. It's people's lack of desire to get to the truth that is available if you do your research.

People are completely invested in what they believe that they will fight to protect it. I made a comment somewhere on Facebook that the US seems to be getting the same treatment that Venezuela gets and got under Chavez. And if that's the case, we're inevitably headed in the same direction.

Where the population will be completely polarized and divided into two groups. One that thinks that everything evil happens due to Trump, and another that thinks that everything evil happens because of his opposition. The truth in that case is the first thing that gets sacrificed.

I've thought about the Stockholm syndrome as well, and it may be a factor. The only thing that gives me hope (and not so much) is how much the media hates Trump. If he had conceded and given in they would immediately change their rethoric. But they haven't, which means they're still trying to reel him in at no avail. I mean he hasn't gone two days without a scandal. It's almost as if they're trying to beat him into submission.

But then it got me thinking, what if the media isn't reactive? What if it's scripted? What if the role of the media is to hate him and spread division regardless of what he does or whether he concedes or not a la Venezuela? And talking about Venezuela, a color revolution isn't needed when the population can be controlled without firing a weapon. From their experience we learn that, if a country is dumbed down in scarcity and yet they're unable to speak to each other and get past their beliefs and ideologies to work things out, you don't need a coup, you've just become an inanimate object.

I could be completely off here, but things do seem bleak from where I stand. Regardless of Trump being a good person or not, or good for the country or not. I think it's irrelevant, because the people that like him won't see anything wrong with his doings, and the people that hate him won't ever see anything right about his deeds.

 

[Alejo]

Just to add a few thoughts that occurred to me after writing my last post and going out for a cigarette.

And I don't mean to change the topic of discussion here. But, I realized that the problem we're witnessing in the US today isn't political, it's a psychological problem. I was reminded of Andrew Lobaczewski's experiences in Political Ponerology, and they could all describe exactly what we see today with tremendous accuracy. Hysteria, paramoralisma, lack of critical faculties and so on.

It's incredible!

 

[JGeropoulas]

Just to add a few thoughts that occurred to me after writing my last post and going out for a cigarette.

And I don't mean to change the topic of discussion here. But, I realized that the problem we're witnessing in the US today isn't political, it's a psychological problem. I was reminded of Andrew Lobaczewski's experiences in Political Ponerology, and they could all describe exactly what we see today with tremendous accuracy. Hysteria, paramoralisma, lack of critical faculties and so on.

It's incredible!

Yes, it's very disheartening, but true--and quite obvious. As I believe Gurdjieff said, most people are asleep, with some perhaps dreaming they're awake...but until they're truly awake, they're nothing more than machines which react to stimuli.

 

[A Jay]

I agree. Americans deserve Trump: he is the reflection of the majority of them and he will bring on the destruction of America. And not because he is a bad person or because the left is good; neither assessment is remotely true. The left HAS gone evil and the Right does have legitimate concerns; they've just lost all capacity for rational thought on both sides.

My sense these last few days is: chaos is coming.

That's my sentiment as well, and it hit me during the latest weeks that at this point there is only destructive chaos ahead. The spread of psychosis is chilling. What amazes me is the notion of liberal arts including at its core grammar, logic, and rhetoric, and not a shred of any of these can be encountered in the actual liberal discourse.

Same here. The media lies are nothing new, but the foaming at the mouth lunacy that has been triggered in average people is absolutely spine chilling.

It seems to me like those people protesting in the streets seem to be clamoring for chaos, because they don't know how to deal with the realities in front of them. They need something external to do battle with, because they don't know how or don't want to 'do battle' within. But as the saying goes, 'Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true.'

 

[bjorb]

[quote author= A Jay]It seems to me like those people protesting in the streets seem to be clamoring for chaos, because they don't know how to deal with the realities in front of them. They need something external to do battle with, because they don't know how or don't want to 'do battle' within. But as the saying goes, 'Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true.'[/quote]

They want chaos, otherwise Trump isn't the new Hitler, they want him to enforce martial law. They want this nightmare to come true, because otherwise. They have to admit to themselves and the World, that they have just been a bunch of hysterical lunatics.

I reckon they prefer the first option of destruction and death. Since the human condition hates admitting that they could be wrong. And since they have placed all their bets on Trump being the new Hitler. It better be the case, the humiliation of being wrong is to painfull.

Not that their machine-state condition is aware of this.

Anyhow, it's just another theory to partly describe the madness.

my 2 cents.

 

[Glenn]

Maybe I am a little bit more optimistic, as I see what is happening as perhaps a necessary, natural cycle. The enemy, if you want to call it that, is being flushed out, for all to see. Perhaps this is a shock that most need to see. Even for us. We are seeing wishful thinking on steroids right now. And of course it is not pretty. But we know what happens with wishful thinking....


_http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2017/01/29/soros-on-ropes.html

Soros on the Ropes

Although multi-billionaire hedge fund tycoon and international political pot-stirrer George Soros lost big with the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States and the victory of the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom, he stands to lose further ground, politically and financially, as the winds of political change sweep across the globe.

Soros, who fancies himself as the master of placing short put options on stocks, often cleaning up to the tune of billions of dollars in the process when the stock values collapse, has been dealt a few financial body blows. Recently, the Dutch securities market regulator AFM «accidentally» revealed on line all of Soros's short trades since 2012. Soros's trades were revealed on AFM's website and were removed after the regulator realized the «error». However, the Soros data had already been captured by automatic data capturing software programs operated by intelligence agencies and brokerage firms that routinely scour the Internet looking for such «mistakes».

Among the bank shares targeted by Soros was the Ing Groep NV, a major institution and important element of the Dutch economy. After campaigning against Brexit, Soros bet against the stock of Deutsche Bank AG, which he believed would fall in value after Britain voted to leave the EU. Deutsche Bank stock fell 14 percent and Soros cleaned up. But Soros’s celebration was temporary. With Trump's election, Soros lost a whopping $1 billion in stock speculation. Surrounded by his fellow financial manipulators, Soros explained his recent losses while attending the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Soros’s mega-wealthy cronies placed their own bets against smaller Dutch firms. Those firms included Ordina, an information technology firm; Advanced Metallurgical Group; and the real estate group Wereldhave N.V.

Beware the Ides of March

The Soros data release comes at a particularly sensitive time in Dutch politics. The center-right government led by Prime Minister Mark Rutte is on the political ropes as it tries to fend off, in an election scheduled for March 15, a serious challenge by the right-nationalist Party for Freedom (PVV) of anti-migrant and anti-European Union leader Geert Wilders. An ally of Donald Trump, Wilders is likely to make political hay out of the fact that Soros, the champion of European open borders and mass migration, bet against Dutch banks. The Ides of March looks favorably upon a Wilders victory, an event that will drive another nail into the coffin of the European Union and Soros’s mass migration and open borders dream.

The Netherlands has not been particularly friendly to Soros and his goals. In November 2016, Soros's Open Society Foundations, and two groups funded by Soros - the European Network Against Racism and Gender Concerns International - advertised job openings for Dutch youth «between the ages 17-26» who are Muslim immigrants and the children or grandchildren of Muslim immigrants to campaign against parties like those of Wilders and Rutte.

Prime Minister Rutte recently issued a warning to migrants who refuse to assimilate into Dutch society. Of course, Rutte was not referring to the thousands of migrants from former Dutch colonies in the Dutch East and West Indies who had no problem adopting Dutch culture, religion, and social manners. Rutte, who faces a 9-point lead by Wilders’s PVV, had some pointed words for the Muslim migrants in the Netherlands. In an interview with «Algemeen Dagblad», Rutte, in what could have been a speech by Wilders, said:

«I tell everyone. If you don’t like it here in this country, get out, get out! That’s the choice you have. If you live in a country where the ways of dealing with others annoys you, you have a choice, go away. You do not need to be here.» Rutte had particular disdain for those who «don’t want to adapt… who attack gay people, shout at women in short skirts, or call ordinary Dutch people racist». Rutte left very little doubt about to whom he was referring, the recently-arrived Muslim migrants, «There have always been people who exhibited deviant behavior. But something has come to pass in the last year where we, as a society, should have an answer. With the arrival of large groups of refugees, the question arises: will the Netherlands still be the Netherlands?»

Coming from a one-time committed Euroatlanticist supporter of NATO, the EU, and the World Bank, Rutte’s words about migrants must have come as a complete shock to Soros and his minions.

The exposure of Soros's financial manipulation of the Dutch economy is sure to enrage Dutch citizens already weary of migrants and diktats by the European Union. In April 2016, Dutch citizens overwhelmingly rejected the EU-Ukraine treaty that called for closer ties between the EU and the Kiev regime. The outcome enraged Soros, who is one of the Kiev regime's principal puppet masters.

NGO «Santa Claus» now faces many closed doors

Europe once praised Soros as some sort of benevolent «Santa Claus,» who handed out millions for «good deeds» to one-world government proponents and other starry-eyed utopians. However, the veneer of Soros is wearing thin.

Russia was the first to call out Soros for his interference in Russian politics. The Soros plan to destabilize Russia, dubbed the «Russia Project» by Soros's Open Society Institute and Foundation, foresaw the outbreak of Ukrainian-style «Maidan Square» uprisings in cities across Russia. In November 2015, the Russian Prosecutor-General's office announced the proscription of activities of the Open Society Institute and the Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation for endangering Russia’s constitutional order and national security.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban now leads the anti-Soros groundswell in Europe. The optics of Orban becoming the first European Union leader to go after the Hungarian-born Soros and his destabilization operations has not been lost on other EU leaders, including those in Poland and the Czech Republic. Orban has accused Soros of masterminding the migrant invasion of Europe. In retaliation for these and other moves by Soros, Orban has warned that the various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) backed by Soros risk being expelled from Europe altogether.

Orban has been joined in venting his anger about Soros by former Macedonian prime minister Nikola Gruevski, who was forced from office and an early election after Soros-inspired demonstrations in his country took place amid a massive influx of Muslim migrants from Greece.

Referring to Soros's global political operations, the former Macedonian prime minister said in a recent interview, «He is not doing that just in Macedonia, but in the Balkans, across Eastern Europe, and now, most recently, in the United States. Secondly, from what I’ve read about him, in some countries he does it for material and financial reasons, to earn a lot of money, while in others for ideological reasons».

In Poland, where Soros has been very influential, a Member of Parliament for the ruling right-wing Law and Justice Party (PiS), Krystyna Pawłowicz, recently demanded that Soros be stripped of Poland's highest honor for foreigners, the Commander with Star of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland. Pawłowicz considers Soros's operations in Poland to be illegal. She also believes that Soros's organizations are «financing the anti-democratic and anti-Polish element with a view to fight Polish sovereignty and indigenous Christian culture».

Czech President Milos said, in a 2016 interview, «some of his [Soros's] activities are at least suspicious and they strikingly remind of interferences in [countries'] internal affairs. The organizing of what is known as color revolutions in individual countries is an interesting hobby, but it brings more harm than benefit to the countries concerned». Zeman claimed Soros was planning a color revolution for the Czech Republic.

Aivars Lembergs, the mayor of Ventspils, Latvia and a leader of the Union of Greens and Peasants, wants Soros and his NGOs banned from Latvia. Lembergs argues that two Soros publications in Latvia - Delna and Providus – have propagandized in favor of Latvia receiving Muslim migrants. Lembergs sees the migrants and Soros's support for them as endangering Latvian state security. The mayor believes that «George Soros must be outlawed in Latvia. He must be banned from entering the country».

In neighboring Lithuania, the Labor Party has also questioned Soros's activities in the country. The party and its parliamentary allies have asked Lithuania's security services to investigate the «financial schemes and networks» of Soros because of the threat they pose to national security. The Lithuanian parties claim that Soros groups specialize at «not consolidating, but dividing, society».

It is no longer easy being a meddlesome multibillionaire who overthrows governments with the snap of a finger. Soros has not only alienated the President of Russia and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom but now the President of the United States. Soros is also enemy number one among the leaders of China. With such an array of enemies, it is doubtful Soros will have any more political successes like Ukraine or Georgia. With all of his billions, Mr. Soros now only commands a «paper doll army».

 

[angelburst29]

US President Donald Trump stated that big problems at US airports were caused by the Delta Air Lines computer malfunction and protests, not by so called "travel ban."

Delta Computer Outage, Protesters Caused Problems at US Airports, Not Entry Ban
https://sputniknews.com/us/201701301050158934-us-travel-trump-ban/

The problems at US airports were caused by the Delta Air Lines computer malfunction and protests, rather than by the US presidential administration's move to ban refugees and citizens of seven Muslim-majority states from traveling to the country, President Donald Trump said Monday.

"Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage, protesters and the tears of Senator Schumer. Secretary Kelly said that all is going well with very few problems. MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!" Trump wrote on his Twitter.

[...] On Sunday night, Delta Air Lines canceled about 150 domestic flights because of the system outage.

President Donald Trump has had enough of the constant criticism coming from senior Republicans John McCain and Lindsey Graham, blasting the Senators and saying that they should focus their efforts on important issues concerning US national security "instead of always looking to start World War III."

Trump Goes Ballistic, Calls Out McCain & Co for 'Always Looking to Start WWIII'
https://sputniknews.com/us/201701301050157863-trump-vs-graham-mccain-comments/

Trump made the comments Sunday on Twitter, responding to the latest tirade by McCain and Graham over the presidential executive order on immigration. The President called the senators' statement on immigration "weak" and "wrong," adding that they "should focus their energies on ISIS [Daesh], illegal immigration and border security" instead of constantly looking to start global conflicts.

The tweets were a response to a joint statement put out by the senior Republican lawmakers, in which they condemned Trump's executive order placing a travel ban on seven predominantly Muslim countries. The senators accused the Trump administration of failing to "properly vet" the executive order, and said it would harm Muslims who call America home, as well as refugees. "Ultimately, we fear this executive order will become a self-inflicted wound in the fight against terrorism," the statement said.

Over the weekend, Donald Trump defended his 'Protecting the Nation From Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States' executive order, which he signed Friday, telling reporters that "to be clear, this is not a Muslim ban, as the media is falsely reporting."

After the Inauguration, the Obama's left for Palm Springs, California for vacation. Interesting, the Koch brother's just held a three-day biannual retreat with 500 Republican donors ( ultra-rich activists ) that plan to combat moves that run afoul of their policy goals in their network.

More than 500 Republican donors gathered on Saturday at a luxury hotel in the California desert hosted by billionaires Charles and David Koch, where they made it explicitly clear that even with their party man in the White House, they are not ready to be yes-men for lawmakers in Washington and plan to combat moves that run afoul of their policies.

US Moneybags Prepared to Spend Millions on Pressuring Trump Through His Circle
https://sputniknews.com/us/201701301050145052-us-koch-network-trump/

The influential policy and political network led by billionaires Charles and David Koch have revealed their plans to spend millions on politics and policy in the 2018 US Senate election cycle.

More than 500 Republican donors invited by the Kochs for a three-day biannual retreat at a luxury resort near Palm Springs, California were "plotting their next two-year plan, including how to keep Trump and his congressional allies accountable," according to The Time website.

In November 2018, 33 of the 100 seats in the US Senate will be contested in regular elections. The winners will serve six-year terms from January 2019 to January 2025.

The Senate is currently composed of 52 Republicans, 46 Democrats, and 2 independents, both of whom caucus with the Democrats.

"The Koch network can claim some credit for that Republican comeback, having spent $250 million during the 2016 election, including in eight frontline Senate races," notes RealClearPolitics (RCP), a Chicago-based political news and polling data aggregator.

In 2018, Democrats are expected to have 23 seats up for election, additionally 2 independents are also facing the end of their current term. Republicans are expected to have 8 seats up for election.

According to reports, the network now plans to ramp up its spending on politics and policy in the 2018 election cycle, with plans to spend between $300 million and $400 million, up from $250 million spent in the 2016 cycle. That spending applies to state- and federal-level efforts.

Each of the attracted donors is reportedly willing to donate at least $100,000 each year to the various conservative political and policy groups backed by the Koch brothers.

Interestingly enough, the network refused to support their party man Trump in the run-up to his election, raising questions about both his readiness for the job and his dedication to conservative principles.

Hence the announced increase on 2018 Race spending was "the latest sign that, even with Republican majorities in both chambers of Congress and Donald Trump in the White House, these ultra-rich activists are not ready to be yes-men for lawmakers in Washington and plan to combat moves that run afoul of their policy goals," The Time concluded.

 

[hesperides]

Quote from Flashgordonv

Over the last few months, I've been spending quite a lot of time on FB and Twitter trying to get the truth out there, to counter the false news that is being spread. And we seem to have reached the point where it seems such a waste of time. . What strikes me is just how many people have actually gone insane. They have suspended their critical thinking faculties, their ability to go and read and find out the truth. They WANT to believe the lies, want to believe that Trump is Hitler reincarnated. They believe what the MSM reports is the gospel, and they love to hate.

The viciousness, the bitterness, the hate expressed to anyone who deviates from the official view is visceral. In fact, they will willingly interpret anything that happens as showing that Trump is evil, twisting the truth, believing lies. It's just downright depressing. It really feels like we have almost passed the point of no return, that so many of these people cannot and will not, in fact don't want, to come back to sanity.

It is enough to make you weep.

Totally agree with you, Flashgordonv. Now it seems so many people only feel they belong to society or part of their own family as a whole when expressing their darkest emotions right and left. Sadly enough, they are oblivious to the fact they are reinforcing their own brain pathways into believing they are fighting for their rights, when they are actually just triggering in themselves ongoing toxic and useless alarm clocks which dictates defensive actions should be taken at all cost, independently whether their fantasy has taken them over reality or not. It´s a VOLUNTARY induced-like survival mode with no fighting for real values at best. What a contradiction and slippery nightmare.

Recently, I watched again one of my favourite movie, "Truth":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_(2015_film) which was released in 2015.

It´s based on true facts, or so I presume since all real data about most of our latest leaders can´t scarcely show up in a movie, but in any case it shows how controlled and misled courageous journalists in search of true info about Bush´s service in the air were -also known as the Killian document controversy-, and how cleverly they would be put under serious pressure by the ptb during the first Bush election campain in 2004. That was already thirteen years ago, the same year facebook was launched among the public, which means thirteen years of reshaping a common global new worldview solely based on purported discriminatory ability the majority of users take for granted. Proof of it, the increasing rate of followers on their twitter. Even certain tv programmes are semi-based on tweets, and more amazingly daily news of main tv channels do report them as well, as real facts per se and without specifying further contexts.

I see that now FB and further social media´s current are confirming the once unfathomable prediction made by some left power: give them all they want, and they will destroy each other.