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The GOP's "Lock Her Up" Redux Shows Trump Has Truly Hypnotized Them [1]

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Date: 2024-06-07  

The Grand Old Party has officially leaped into the abyss of self-parody and absurdity. In the wake of their cult leader, Donald Trump, being convicted of multiple felonies in New York and facing a trifecta of additional indictments on federal and state charges, prominent Republicans are now calling for the mass prosecution and jailing of Democrats. Because, of course, they are.

It's the classic Trumpian "no you!" defense taken to its most ludicrous extreme. The man who mastered projecting his misdeeds onto others has indoctrinated his followers so thoroughly that they've adopted his pathology. Rather than acknowledge the reality that their standard bearer is an accused criminal currently charged with nearly 100 felonies by multiple jurisdictions, they've decided the rational response is to scream, "But what about the Democrats?!" and demand mass partisan persecutions.

It takes a unique brand of cognitive dissonance and shamelessness to watch your leader become the first President ever indicted on criminal charges and conclude that the real victims here are...the Republicans. But that's the true genius of the Trump phenomenon. He's hypnotized his followers into such a dazed stupor they'll gladly abandon every purported core principle they once claimed to cherish. Free markets? Gone - replaced by nationalist economic populism. Family values? Out the window, thanks to Stormy Daniels. Upholding the rule of law? Please...that's so 2015.

No, in 2024, the prime directive is protecting the cult leader from all consequences of his alleged criminal actions at all costs. If that means jettisoning every shred of credibility and integrity, so be it! The Republican Party has gone full Jonestown, proudly slurping down the Kool-Aid by the barrel.

The sheer depths of their delusion are almost impressive in a macabre sort of way. Here we have a former president who has now been formally accused by no less than four separate legal jurisdictions of conduct ranging from business fraud, sexual assault, defamation, mishandling classified documents, and attempting to overturn a free and fair democratic election through lies and violence. A man who has been impeached twice, paid hush money to a porn star, fomented an insurrection, and seen his real estate corporation and himself convicted of a criminal fraud scheme at trial.

And somehow, the Republican response is to lash out at the persecutors, accusing them of being the real criminals engaged in a "witch hunt" despite overwhelming evidence and bipartisan juries/judges confirming guilt. The man who literally tried to steal the 2020 election is now the apotheosis of their warped reality, the perceived victim of a vast Marxist-Clinton-Soros-Deep State cabal hellbent on destroying America. Somehow, it is Trump and Republicans who are the true patriots being unfairly persecuted by seditious Democrats drunk on power. The lack of self-awareness and grasp of objective reality is simply staggering.

Which brings us to the latest deranged call by GOP figures like Reps. Mike Collins and Charlie Kirk to start "indicting the Left" and using the power of friendly prosecutors in ruby red states as a form of political retaliation. Because in 2024, in Republican parlance, prosecuting one's political opponents is now being conflated with basic law enforcement upholding the rule of law when applied to a member of their tribe.

The sheer absurdity of this authoritarian tit-for-tat mindset cannot be overstated. In the GOP's twisted reality, the Manhattan DA prosecuting Trump for alleged violations of New York state law has become an unprovoked act of war against conservatism itself, which must be met with equal force against their enemies. Never mind that the former President stands accused by separate grand juries in three other jurisdictions of similarly shady conduct spanning tax fraud, hush money schemes, lies to federal investigators, and potentially inciting a violent insurrection. In the MAGA mindset, he's an innocent martyr under attack for his political beliefs alone.

Honestly, this "Lock Her Up!" part deux is truly the natural endpoint of the Republican descent into slavish sycophancy for all things Trump. Despite their constant whining about being unfairly victimized, it's impossible to ignore the comical lack of self-awareness. Trumpism is a political movement that has spent the past 6-plus years endlessly chanting "Lock Her Up!" about Hillary Clinton without ever providing a shred of credible evidence that she committed an actual crime. Yet now that Lord Dampnut has been criminally convicted and indicted a combined five times, their response is to decry the partisan injustice and declare open season on Democrats. It's almost impressive how utterly lacking in any sense of irony or self-reflection Republicans are.

But I digress. The salient point is that the Republican lurch toward banana republic authoritarianism is now complete. When your response to the criminal indictment of a former president is to demand the jailing of your political opponents, you have officially fallen into the cult of personality trap. Democracy and the rule of law are now hindrances to be circumvented rather than civic ideals to be upheld. It's a reactionary tantrum fueled by years of childishly lapping up Trump's endless stream of persecution-complex lies.

And let's be clear - this isn't some hypothetical or isolated fringe of the GOP making these comments. These calls for mass partisan prosecutions are coming from sitting members of Congress and influential conservative personalities from sea to shining sea. The idea of wielding the justice system as a blunt partisan instrument against one's enemies is now dangerous, mainstream Republican dogma.

I suppose we shouldn't be surprised. After all, this is the same clown car of election liars and conspiracy theorists who have spent two years railing about the supposedly "rigged" and "stolen" 2020 election without a shred of credible evidence. Having shrugged off democratic norms and abandoned fact-based reality long ago, why wouldn't they see prosecuting their opponents as a legitimate expansion of those authoritarian mindsets?

Still, it's breathtaking to see it stated so overtly and casually. The "party of law and order" is now fully embracing the ethos of tin-pot dictatorships that imprison the opposition under dubious pretexts — all in service to a bloated, insecure little man who has spent decades conning everyone around him while constructing an elaborate mythology about his business successes and personal virtues. The delusion is staggering, and the irony of projecting their idol's myriad flaws onto others is richer than a Michelin-rated sauce béarnaise.

So, party on Republicans. Revel in your martyrdom fantasies, your conspiracy theories, your authoritarian fever dreams of jailing the opposition to protect Dear Leader. Stay drunk on that opium and maintain your death grip on the belief that you, the champions of "law and order," are the REAL victims here rather than a disgraced ex-president accused of innumerable improprieties and crimes by bipartisan legal authorities across the country.

Double, triple, and quintuple down on the gaslighting and bad-faith denialism. History will indeed look upon your actions with admiration for the way you protected American democracy by undermining the rule of law to defend a crooked demagogue. Yes, on second thought, you should continue down this path. I eagerly await the Republican strategy of "Lock HER Up 2: This Time It's Admitted Projection" to save the day.

~Dunneagin ~

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/7/2245103/-The-GOP-s-Lock-Her-Up-Redux-Shows-Trump-Has-Truly-Hypnotized-Them?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web

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