A Party Composed Entirely of ‘Kellyanne Conways’

There is no United States of America; in fact, there is no civilized society without the truth. The truth is everything, and it is pure on its own. It cannot be embellished, and it means nothing if it is not complete, offered in its entirety. Half-truths are the most dangerous lies of all.

During Donald Trump’s illegitimate presidency, his well-known paid liar, Kellyanne Conway, created a new term for lies. She called them “alternative facts.” Unfortunately for the professional spin doctor, facts share the same restrictions with the truth. In fact, they are synonyms. For all good people, those who always try to do the right thing, respect is given only to those who earn it. Once good people are lied to, respect is not possible.

I believe that all Americans should be Independent voters. Political parties have agendas frequently outside of the purpose of elections, which involves each voter choosing the candidate whose position on the issues is most closely aligned with their own.

I am not a Democrat, but I am a progressive. I won’t claim that all Democrats tell the absolute truth every time they face the television cameras, but “the truth lives here,” and I can tell you that today’s Republicans, in name only, have become a party composed entirely of “Kellyanne Conways.”

The dumbing down of conservative voters began in 1988 when Rush, “so far right, he was always wrong,” Limbaugh signed his first radio contract. He continued dividing our nation and spreading lies until December 2020 and died from cancer in 2021.

Limbaugh created an early form of right-wing propaganda. His entire show was filled with disparaging comments about Democrats and Independents. His lies caused great damage to hard-working, loyal Americans with his own version of “alternative facts” until his death. For his efforts to destroy democracy, Trump awarded him the Medal of Freedom in 2021. I can’t make this s**t up.

In 1995, print billionaire Rupert Murdoch and an unscrupulous Republican strategist, Roger Ailes, followed Limbaugh’s example and created a television network dedicated to the destruction of anyone on the left side of the aisle and dividing our nation’s people with the sole intent of electing right-wing extremists. Most voters support progressive candidates, and without outside help, Republicans would not win elections.

Fox News became the right-wing’s propaganda machine and had been harming our nation with lies and conspiracy theories for the last 27 years. This anti-American fake news broadcast has brainwashed millions of weak-minded Americans for far too long. For more than two-and-one-half decades, fake journalists, including Bill O’Reilly, Megyn Kelly, Sean Hannity, Tucker Carlson, Laura Ingraham, Jeanine Pirro, and others, stared into the television cameras and performed the job they were paid to do, lying to the American people, and increase advertising revenue by any means possible.

Conway became “one of the team” when billionaire Robert Mercer brought her, his money, and Steve Bannon to Trump’s failing campaign in August of 2016.

Those who call themselves “Republicans” today are not. They have no principles and no interest in the future of our country. Their only interest is winning elections. They lie constantly, telling their ignorant voters what they want to hear. When elected, they accept bribes from special interests and vote the way they are instructed, without a single consideration of how their votes might affect the majority of our nation’s people. “Republicans” have become the enemy of the American people and of the Constitution of the United States of America.

Remember this when you go to the polls on November 8th and again on November 5, 2024. This is your country.

Op-ed by James Turnage, Novelist

Sources:

Salon: Secrets of the GOP science war: How spin-masters and pundits confuse conservatives about facts; by Paul Rosenberg
The Week: How Kellyanne Conway became the greatest spin doctor in modern American history; by Lili Loofbourow
Rolling Stone: How Roger Ailes Built the Fox News Fear Factory; by Tim Dickerson

Featured and Top Image Courtesy of Gage Skidmore’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Inset Image Courtesy of The All-Nite Images’ Flickr Page – Creative Commons License