For all the talk of “America First” and how great we all are, exceptional etc, the Republicans, Fox, and other right wing pundits are painting the US as a country made up of idiots. Joe Biden has a real job in front of him trying to say “America is back.” It seems only part of America is back. The rest is somewhere in koo koo land. The problem it is a dangerous koo koo land.

Meanwhile the press interview these crazies and amplify their insane statements. I guess it makes good TV. BUT it’s about time they answered to those crazies to their face that they are in fact crazy. Don’t let them get away with their insane statements.

When Hilary Clinton said “basket of deplorables” she was right. Her mistake was apologizing for saying it. She should have doubled down and say that’s indeed what they are.

Funny that Fox is now criticizing President Biden for not being tough on Russia when we all know that it was the previous President that was famously soft on Russia. Not only soft on Russia and Putin, but undermined US allies, NATO and the like. A conspiracy inclined person would think he was working for Putin, a “Manchurian Candidate”. As usual, Fox has no consistency, and no shame.

It appears that Fox and other right wing media are dedicated to be against anything President Biden and the Democrats are for. To sell their position they are happy to encourage the conspiracy theories and Trump talking points which for the most part were outright lies or at best highly exaggerated. A year ago one could say the same thing about MSNBC, CNN or what is termed as the “main stream media” spending time criticizing everything Trump was doing. They too relied on lies and exaggerations – however the difference is that back then they were relying on real Trump lies and exaggerations. The “right wing” today relies on made up lies and exaggerations. Trump accused the “left” of being “anti American”. Today it is Fox and the right wing that is “anti American”.

The tragedy is that today there are two clear sides and they talk in different boxes and only to the people that agree with them. The media has helped this along – in a way Trump was right. The media has become “the enemy of the people”. What he was wrong about is choosing the wrong media as the enemy of the people. It’s hard to deny that Fox, Newsmax and the internet have helped build the divide and separate Americans into two camps. Freedom of the Press never had to face the reality that money talks. Hannity gets paid a fortune to push bullshit. Who can blame him? His legacy, and others like him will not be good. But then he will be buried and long gone. Let’s hope that is not the fate of American Democracy. 

Palestinians would do well to listen to the recent statements by Bill Maher on his HBO TV program. As an avowed atheist he does not support Israel because “it is their land” as espoused in the Old Testament (which he presumably would consider a bullshit book written by people with an agenda). His opinions are therefore based on what he thinks are a rational understanding of the situation. He has a point that firing thousands of rockets willy-nilly into Israel that have no way of targeting non civilians must give the defending Israelis the right to fight back. Agreed. He also states that Jews have lived there for thousands of years. Also true. But lets not forget that there were people in the area before the Jews arrived, and there were people there during Roman times that were not Jewish AND more relevant, it is estimated that 1/3 of the Jewish population when Rome kicked out the Jews simply converted so they would not have to leave. Presumably those people now are what makes up the Palestinian population. That there was no actual Palestinian state in the past is basically irrelevant. So the “rights to the land” issue is at best highly confusing.

The point that Bill Maher misses is that the “left” comments we hear today that are critical of Israel are simply a realization that Israel is not that pure country of high ideals that the US has rightly blindly supported for decades.  They can be just as shitty as the rest of us. As the Israeli press itself often makes a point of. AND that the Palestinians do have a point. If you treat people like shit – you will get shit. And it is pretty apparent that the Israeli Government has and does often treat the Palestinians like shit. That some or a lot of it is deserved is not the point. There are bad Palestinians just like there are bad Israelis, good and bad Americans etc etc.

Bill Maher’s comment that if you were a Texan and thousands of rockets were fired at you from Mexico wouldn’t you have a right to fight back is correct on the face of it. By the same token if you were being kicked out of your home to make room for what you consider an outsider wouldn’t you also have a right to fight back as well? That is actually how the recent fight between Israel and the Palestinians started. Arab family’s were being ethnic cleansed from the West Bank to make room for Israeli settlers. We can call Hamas a terrorist group, Bill Maher can site unfortunate realities of the politics of Gaza, Arabs can site unfortunate realities of Israelis, but at the end of the day there are no clear good guys and bad guys – just grey as usual. 

What is clear is that the US has to be more even handed if there is ever going to be a resolution to the conflict (which I don’t see happening to be honest) – that is essentially what the “left” is arguing for. Blind support for Israel therefore is NOT a winning strategy for any of the parties long term, most of all the USA.