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President Donald Trump's weekend allegations of a "Nixon/Watergate" plot to wiretap his 2016 campaign confused intelligence analysts, befuddled members of Congress and created fresh work for fact-checkers. Within 24 hours of his allegations, made on Twitter, the administration conceded that the president was basing his claim not on closely held information, but on a Breitbart News story quoting the conservative radio host and author Mark Levin.

But in conservative media, where the claim originated, Trump has gotten credit for cracking open a plot by a "deep state" of critics and conspirators to bring down his presidency. And the perpetrator is former president Barack Obama.

"It would [seem] that the 'Russia hacking' story was concocted not just to explain away an embarrassing election defeat, but to cover up the real scandal," wrote Breitbart's senior editor-at-large Joel Pollak.

"Trump confounds these people because he's always a step or two ahead," Rush Limbaugh told his listeners on Monday. "It's a direct line to the Democrat Party and Obama and members of the Obama administration that Trump is signaling, 'You don't face the usual feckless bunch of opponents who never fight you back.'"

Trump's wiretap allegations completed a feedback loop that started during the presidential campaign and has gotten sturdier since. The president's media diet includes cable television news shows, like "Fox and Friends," where guests and hosts regularly defend him. On Twitter, he frequently elevates stories that grew in conservative talk radio, or on sites like Breitbart News and InfoWars, out of view of a startled mainstream media. Monday's news cycle demonstrated just how strong the loop was, as Levin himself appeared on Fox News for 12 barely interrupted minutes to share his theory that the alleged wiretapping was a political hit job.

"Donald Trump is the victim. His campaign is the victim," said Levin, as a Fox News "alert" scrolled over the screen. "These are police state tactics. If this had been done to Barack Obama, all hell would break loose. And it should."

A spokesman for the former president denied that Obama or a White House official requested surveillance of a U.S. citizen. And FBI Director James Comey asked the Justice Department to issue a statement refuting President Trump's charge (it has not thus far).

Republicans in Congress tend to give the president the benefit of their doubt. In interviews and comments since Saturday, they have suggested that Trump overstated what was known - conflating, for example, media reports on wiretapping with a growing theory that the Obama administration seeded operatives throughout the government to undo his presidency. But they have paired that critique with promises to study what he's alleged.

"The president has at his fingertips tens of billions of dollars in intelligence apparatus," said Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, in a Monday interview with CBS News. "I think he might have something there, but if not, we're going to find out."

"The good news is there's a paper trail, there's a warrant, there's an application, there's judicial review," said Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., in a Monday interview with radio host Laura Ingraham, a die-hard Trump supporter. "And right now the Justice Department is not controlled by President Obama. It's controlled by Jeff Sessions."

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, in a tweet to the president, went even further, saying that Trump "needs to purge Leftists from executive branch before disloyal, illegal and treasonist (sic) acts sink us."

That story line was building long before Trump embraced it. Its origins were relatively banal. One week after the 2016 election, Obama told members of his campaign group, Organizing for America, that the Trump years would be boom times for activism.

"Now is the time for some organizing," Obama said, according to a transcript published by the White House at the time. "An election just finished, so it's not going to be straight political organizing, but it is going to be raising awareness; it's going to be the work you're doing in nonprofits and advocacy and community-building. And over time, what's going to happen is, is that you will reinvigorate and inform our politics in ways that we can't anticipate."

Since then, OFA, which has spent years as a punching bag for Democrats who thought it diverted resources from the party, has earned surprising new status as a boogeyman. The rebuilt group has helped promote and organize protests and raucous town hall meetings to pressure Republican members of Congress. On Feb. 18, New York Post columnist Paul Sperry tied together what was publicly known to pin the protests on Obama and OFA.

"It's a radical [Saul] Alinsky group," Sperry told Fox News's Sean Hannity after the story ran. "It's got a lot of money. And they're training an army of agitators to sabotage Trump and his policies, while at the same time protecting Obama's legacy, like 'Obamacare' and the DREAMers. And here is OFA listed prominently on Obama's new Web site, OFA Organizing for Action."

In the days after that broadcast, as OFA watched, its Facebook page started to receive angry comments and threats.

"If they ever come to my town I'll be eagerly awaiting with my 12 gauge loaded with ball and buck," wrote one commentator, Gary Whitson.

"This site is an American Terrorist site degrading our intelligence with misinformation," wrote a critic named Don Whitehall. "No shadow government in America"

"OFA is a nonprofit group dedicated to grassroots organizing, which is exactly what we've been doing since 2013," said communications director Jesse Lehrich. "We have volunteer-led chapters around the country who are working to engage their friends and neighbors to enact positive change in their communities. These conspiracy theories swirling through the conservative media-verse aren't just perplexing, they're dangerous."

The former president has given his blessing to the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, a project created to help his party undo Republican-drawn legislative maps. He made calls to help his former Secretary of Labor Tom Perez become chair of the Democratic National Committee, and congratulated him when he won. And he recorded a video for his post-presidential foundation, telling supporters "true democracy is a project that's bigger than any one of us."

Apart from that, Obama has maintained a low profile in the post-election world, with allies acknowledging that he's been absent as protests have built against his successor. At a Tuesday media briefing, former Attorney General Eric Holder said that the former president was ready to become a "more visible" supporter of the project.

"It's coming. He's coming," said. "And he's ready to roll."

That comment caused a minor frenzy with the online right. InfoWars, the conspiracy news site run by Alex Jones, republished a story about the comment, and followed it with rumors about the new activity. "Obama's goal to 'oust' Trump from presidency via impeachment or resignation," wrote InfoWars commentator Paul Joseph Watson on Thursday. On Friday, the site blew up a report about banks settling with nonprofit groups after fraud lawsuits to tell readers that Obama had "funneled billions to liberal activist groups."

More mainstream sites have also stoked theories that Obama was pulling strings. Last Wednesday, the Daily Mail published an interview with an unnamed "close family friend," who claimed that former White House adviser Valerie Jarrett had moved into Obama's D.C. home to help "mastermind the insurgency" against Trump.

"The Daily Mail story is completely false," said Kevin Lewis, a spokesman for the former president.

But the Jarrett story went viral on the right; on a Fox Business segment over the weekend, the radio host Tammy Bruce cited as an "under-covered" revelation that demonstrated the forces arrayed against Trump. In her Monday interview with Gowdy, Ingraham argued that a Watergate-level scandal was building - but at one point, she suggested, hopefully, that the president was not simply basing his rhetoric on what was in conservative media.

"He must know something beyond what's on Breitbart," Ingraham said.

"I would hope," said Gowdy, "given the fact that he's the leader of the free world."

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Trump and Republicans see a 'deep state' foe: Barack Obama - Chicago Tribune

As Trump throws wild, flimsy shots at American institutions, who other than Ben Sasse will stand up to him?

The day Donald Trump took office, I wrote a column arguing that what was new and frightening here was that he had no reverence for the civic and governmental institutions of this country. This had never been true of a president before, at least in the modern era. George W. Bushs administration twisted facts to get their war in Iraq. But even Dick Cheney understood that it had to appear as if everything was above board, as if the intelligence agencies were arriving at their conclusions independently.

Trump and the people advising him just dont care. He is interested in our institutions only insofar as they can be used to help Trump. And the flip side was on display this weekend in his reckless Saturday morning tweets about Barack Obama. Hell say anything about anyone without giving the slightest thought to how those words might damage these institutions and demoralize the people within them.

Because not only did he accuse Obama of something terrible and illegal, with no evidence to support the charge, but he also accused the law-enforcement and intelligence communities of colluding with the outgoing president to do something obviously illegal. Only a person with no respect for any of those institutions could make such a charge.

But its time now to focus not only on Trump and his psyche (although just quickly, before I turn away from that topic, I have to note that the most plausible theory I heard all weekend about why Trump did what he did was the hypothesis that he was miffed that the Obamas got that joint $65 million book advance; thats just so Trump in every way).

But lets talk about the Republicans.

When will they stand up to this guy? With one lone exception that I saw, most Republicans responses over the weekend were pathetically weak. Lets start with this especially lame one, from Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton. After saying he knew of no evidence to support Trumps claim, it must have struck him that someone in the White House might get mad at him, because he added: It doesnt mean that none of these things have happened, just means I havent seen them yet. Ah. Thanks for that, Tom.

Others sounded less pliant but substantively were little better. Lindsey Graham has built up a lot of cred in this department, and understandably so, because hes been a pretty tough Trump critic at times. But this, at a town hall over the weekend, where he obviously didnt want to face a chorus of catcalls, was from weaseltown: Im very worried that our president is suggesting the former president has done something illegal. Id be very worried if in fact the Obama administration was able to obtain a warrant lawfully about Trump campaign activity with foreign governments. Its my job as United States senator to get to the bottom of this.

No, its your job to say that unless he has evidence that he is ready adduce yesterday, a president of the United States has no business saying anything like this.

And heres erstwhile stand-up comic Marco Rubio: Ive never heard that before. And I have no evidence or no ones ever presented anything to me that indicates anything like that But again, the president put that out there, and now the White House will have to answer as to exactly what he was referring to.

The lamest of all was House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, who vowed to look into Trumps claims. Yes, this is the same Devin Nunes who said recently that his committee will not look into any claims that Trump may have spoken with former National Security Adviser Mike Flynn about the latters contacts with Russia. Likewise, House Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz said that while hed seen no evidence to support Trumps claim (thats the part of his comments that was more widely picked up), he also added that his committee would take a hard look at Trumps allegations.

The only statement by a Republican that was even somewhat informed by principle was the one issued by Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse. He used far sharper rhetoric than any of his colleagues to put the onus on Trump to deliver some proof: The president today made some very serious allegations, and the informed citizens that a republic requires deserve more attention. He demanded that if there was a court order authorizing a wiretap of Trump, the president obtain and copy of it and show it to the public or at least to the Senate.

Sasse is getting plaudits for saying what he said, and yes, comparatively speaking, he was a veritable Cincinnatus here. But its pretty pathetic that his statement stood out. What Trump did here was unbelievable. What will he say next about somebody, on the basis of no evidence? Obama is a former president who has millions of people who adore him and will have his back. But what will happen when Trumpthe president of the United States, the most powerful man in the worldsays something unsubstantiated about a judge, or a civil-liberties or immigration lawyer, or a journalist, or who knows, any citizen who gets on his bad side?

This is what despots do. In the olden days, when a despot said X committed a crime, poor X was usually led away to the stockade. That cant happen here today. We think. Or can it? If Republicans dont take a standnot in defense of Obama, but in defense of our civic institutions and normswe may yet find out.

Continue reading here:
Republicans Just Watch as Donald Trump Goes Wild - Daily Beast

The nonviolent civil war between irreconcilable ideologies, Collectivism vs. Individualism, Big Government vs. Limited Government, Democratic Socialism vs. Capitalism is no more.

Protest rallies have morphed into violent, bodily assaulting, property destructive riots; no doubt, more to come.

The progressive's histrionic jolt at Hillary's loss to the inconceivable Trump victory is understandable. The historic upset of Trump's victory is an exclamation mark to the substance of his win, a major economic, political and social revolution that will fundamentally move America in closer proximity to our founding, and progressives understand this.

The palpable anguish apparent with progressives at large has much to do with their fears of losing the dependent class they have so successfully cultivate over the past many decades.

Progressives accuse Republicans of being anti-immigrants, conveniently leaving out the modifier illegal.

Think about it. If the economy were to grow beyond the tepid rates of the last eight years to a rate aptly described as a robust economy, and American workers could now proudly claim being self-sufficient, getting off the welfare rolls, what handouts could the progressives offer then? They lost their once invincible "blue wall" of white working class Americans.

Considerably reducing the role, if not eliminating entirely, of our dysfunctional public education system in exchange for parents having the moral right to select the schools of their choice for their children will mean a stake in the heart of the teacher's unions and the money historically lavished on the Democrat reelection campaigns and the loss of their central role of indoctrinating our young.

In light of this, one can understand their unhinged rage. But there is a more disturbing tell in all this, progressive interest on the hold of political power at the expense of the general welfare of our country.

President Trump's temporary ban on immigrants from the seven (or, now six) designated countries is constitutionally authorized. These countries were designated by Congress and President Obama as war-torn countries with governments hostile to America, or no government at all, which makes it virtually impossible to determine the true intentions of their immigrants towards America.

ISIS has stated its intention of infiltrating this immigrant/refugee pool with terrorists intent on taking the lives of Americans. Ignoring this, progressives, blinded by their obsessive opposition to Trump, claim Establishment and Due Process rights to these immigrants on foreign soil, and place supposed damage to universities on a higher plane than the security and lives of Americans.

Progressives accuse Republicans of being anti-immigrants, conveniently leaving out the modifier "illegal." Wanting to control and get a handle on the tide of illegal immigrants is, according to progressives, "racist." Never mind the negative consequences of the illegal immigrant tide. In California alone, the costs of illegal immigration is estimated to exceed $25 billion a year. This is not an insignificant sum. Add to this the crime and drugs directly related to this class of immigrants, and it clearly makes common sense to want to get a handle on this.

But so what, the illegals are progressive sympathizers, some of whom may very well be represented in our voter registration rolls; "build bridges not walls" what in hell does this mean?

The tsunami of regulations placed on the business community over the decades is estimated to cost the economy $2 trillion a year, an amount that exceeds the government's confiscatory take in federal taxes. With Obama's considerable addition to the regulatory roster during his eight years, is it any wonder why we haven't seen economic growth even hit 3 percent? Trump's moratorium on new regulations, and scaling back existing regulations is the much-needed life preserver thrown into the tumultuous sea of regulations. This, coupled with tax reform will inexorably mean economic growth we haven't seen in quite some time.

Progressives had their chance in Obama's first term with the executive and Congress in their control, and they focused instead on further building their dependent class with their (un)Affordable Care Act; "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it," Nancy Pelosi intoned.

Progressives need victims just as the addict needs drugs. Politics and victimhood is their life blood. And they need the power of our government institutions to correct this, that, and whatever social injustice they can conjure up.

Progressives are in constant search of kindling for their progressives match to stoke the flames of social injustice, so they can represent themselves as the much needed firefighters to douse the flames.

Progressives, please, live and let live.

Manny Montes lives in Auburn.

Continue reading here:
Manny Montes: Progressives stoking the flames - The Union of Grass Valley

March 7, 2017 4:31 PM

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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) Progressives are responding to Florida Governor Rick ScottsState of the State and they appear to be ready to tangle with him.

Governor Scott promised to fight for economic-incentive money, business tax cuts and conservative education reforms but despite a lack of influence in Republican-dominated Tallahassee, progressives and Democratic lawmakers were having it.

A coalition of labor, environmental, LGBT-rights, and other left-leaning groups under the banner Awake the State organized more than a dozen rallies across Florida to coincide with the first day of the 2017 legislative session, including an event at the Capitol.

Their message: Scott and Republican leaders are not fighting for us.

The governor, and frankly the Speaker (Richard Corcoran), are living in an alternative reality, said Sen. Gary Farmer, D-Fort Lauderdale, following Scotts speech.

Its like the foxes are in the henhouse when it comes to this administration, said longtime liberal activist Barbara DeVane, who lobbies for the National Organization for Women.

Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, a Democrat running for governor in 2018, was raising money off the State of the State address even before Scott took the rostrum.

Empty claims and promises about Floridas economic future, the same kind hes been making for years while he continues to pursue policies that favor the wealthy and leave the rest of us behind, was Gillums appraisal in an email appeal.

Scott drew upon his experiences as a child growing up in poverty to bolster his arguments against cutting funding for the economic-development agency Enterprise Florida and tourism-marketer Visit Florida, funding that has been derided by critics on the left and right as corporate welfare.

I will admit that it is probably more difficult for people who have never gone hungry, or gone through foreclosure, or seen their family car repossessed to understand this. If you never lived through these experiences, it may be harder to understand the urgency here, Scott said. I will just leave it like this: I am fighting for our states job programs because I am fighting for the families just like mine growing up.

But advocates for labor, immigrants rights and other groups were clearly not buying it.

In this years legislative session, Gov. Scott and his allies are planning yet another big giveaway to corporate special interests while the priorities of everyday Floridians are sidelined, said Mark Ferrulo, executive director of Progress Florida, which helped organize the statewide rallies.

Democratic lawmakers sounded equally skeptical of Scotts economic-development plans.

From conservative think tanks to top economists, theres widespread agreement that the way to lure the top companies with the top-paying jobs isnt just dangling tax dollars in front of them, said Senate Minority Leader Oscar Braynon, D-Miami Gardens, delivering a formal response to Scotts address.

Hannah Willard of the gay-rights group Equality Florida also panned Scott for discussing last summers Orlando Pulse nightclub massacre at length Scott praised the heroism of local police and SWAT team officers without making mention of the fact that most of the 49 victims were LGBT.

Thoughts and prayers are not enough, Willard said. Our leaders need to take action to defend our community.

Francesca Menes of the Florida Immigrant Coalition counted nine bills she said aimed to restrict the rights of undocumented immigrants and their children.

Weve got a lot of fights this year, said Menes, who ran for the state House last year, narrowly losing to Democrat Roy Hardemon in a seven-way primary. Were not going to let them take us and our communities apart.

(The News Service of Floridas Ryan Ray contributed to this report.)

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Progressives Push Back After Gov. Scott State Of The State Speech - CBS Miami

In the months since the 2016 election, progressive organizations around the country, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have been holding seminars to provide information about becoming an activist. Many are modeling their efforts on the grassroots Tea Party playbook that made that movement so effective in 2009.

KCBX attended a seminar held last Saturday by the newly formed organization San Luis Obispo County Progressives.

In the parking lot outside Trinity Hall, a community gathering space in the small agricultural town of Edna, you can see cars, like any old parking lot. But this particular lot has a high number of cars stamped with sassy political bumper stickers, like Fossil fuels are for dinosaurs. Many are adorned with the now outdated Bernie 2016 and the blue capital H with an red arrow across its horizontal line. One truck sports a large Hillary sticker now covered with a smaller sticker saying Resist in all caps.

Last June, SLO Progressives members came together to promote what they see as progressive values. Theres been a push for more educational outreach on how to become an activist and become more involved in campaigning.

Co-Chair Nick Andre says the number of members has risen from around 100 to about 1,500 since November.

A lot of these people have never been active in politics before. Never been active in a political party. Not even in non-profit spaces or anything. So were bringing them a little bit of direction, Andre said.

Thats why the group is holding this Activism 101 training. Sandy Dexter came here with her daughter

Lauren Platte. Dexter says she was somewhat active in local campaigns in years past, but this is the first time she is seriously getting into activism.

So many things have opened my eyes to how the political process works. And it feels personal.. And I think that for my daughter and granddaughter and grandson, I would feel bad if I didnt stand up for the things I believe in, Dexter said.

During the seminars, local politicians, lobbyists and congressional staffers speak about how to get in touch with representatives and how to lobby for agendas they believe in.

Former 24th District Congressional Candidate Bill Ostrander spoke about how to appeal to people who who have differing opinions.

But if I came up here and said, Youre all a*****es! Give me five bucks! Where are we going to go with that? Nowhere. So as much as we dislike and are disgusted by things that will cause harm, things that where people are getting hurt, you must reserve yourself to find the belief system of the person youre talking about, Ostrander said.

Andre said the group is trying to do more to reach out to the more conservative areas of north and south San Luis Obispo County.

And what we want to do is go in there and spread our message. Talk to these people and convince them that the goals and policies that were bringing forward are going to benefit them economically, socially, and every part of their life, Andre said.

KCBX asked Andre about the some of the stereotypes of modern liberals. Some locals have expressed attitudes that progressives are condescending towards people working in blue collar industries and dont do enough listening to others who dont agree with them.

That was a big difference in the Bernie campaign. I think Bernie was one of the few high-level Democratic

politicians that really hammered in a working class message. Its all about income inequality. In helping unions, unionizing people. So I think theres a way to win that crowd back, Andre said. And its through Bernies message.

Here are some resources to start getting more politically involved in your community, no matter which candidate you checked on your ballot:

The rest is here:
SLO Progressives aim to spur grassroots activism - KCBX