Blackmail? A bribe? Or a third option

What makes people — like Speaker Johnson — suddenly change course?

People are speculating about Speaker Mike Johnson’s total capitulation to the military industrial complex after Saturday night’s stomach-turning display of submission and surrender to the Deep State which culminated in a feverish flag-waving ceremony on the House floor.

The only problem was that it wasn’t the American flag.

Congress authorized a virtually endless supply of cash and weapons for Ukraine on April 20, 2024, but no money to build even basic fence — to say nothing of actual wall — at the US-Mexico border.

Lots of people seem to think that Mike Johnson from Louisiana broke his campaign promises because he was bribed or blackmailed. Maybe.

But the faster easier way to induce compliance is to threaten harm to whoever the person loves most. And Mike Johnson is a devoted father and a husband.

Now of course there’s a fourth option too. People seem to become remarkably cooperative after prolonged torture as well.

But when we love someone, we become weak and pathetic, as Sean Davis so eloquently put it in his tweet (see screenshot above). Our love compels us to act. Or to stand down. To speak up and out. Or to stay silent. We would do anything — whatever it takes — to protect the people we love from harm. Reverse course. Hurt others. Lie. Go back on our word. Risk imprisonment. Go to prison.

How simple it is to manipulate an otherwise decent human being with an intact moral compass by showing them how easily someone could gain access to their spouse or to their kids. So simple, so efficient.

Our knee-jerk reaction is often to assume that the deep state defaults to blackmailing or bribing a politician when the fastest (and may I also point out, much cheaper) way to force obedience is to hang the threat of lifelong sadness over their head. Grief. Despair. Hey, Congressman, you wouldn’t want to spend the rest of your life grieving the loss of a loved one, would you? Hey, no one wants to watch a casket get lowered into the ground — we know. Make it easy on yourself. Just vote no on the bill. It was nice chatting. Take care of yourself and that beautiful family of yours.

The anguish washes over you. Backed into a corner, you know you have no choice. And they know you know. Your stomach hurts, and there’s an ache in your chest where your heart beats. You nod and try not to cry. It really is that rigged. And that simple.

We need more unmarried childless elected officials. The ones who have a spouse and kids are sitting ducks.

I’ll tell you what I’ve been doing in response to the horror of late. I have been refusing demoralization. Not theoretically. Specifically. I actively give thanks for the absence of bad things. I’m thankful my debit card still works because it means the grid hasn’t gone down. I’m glad my apartment building’s indoor plumbing — including my kitchen sink, toilet, and shower — still works because it means infrastructure hasn’t been sabotaged. I’m thankful for 15 minute breaks basking in the sun with my sweet rescue dog Lilly because it means I don’t live in a war zone. I am so grateful.

Robin Williams once said, “I don’t know how much value I have in this universe but I do know that I made a few people happier than they would have been without me.”

Sometimes the situation doesn’t have enough room left for actual happiness, for bringing others the emotion joy, in which case we may find ourselves merely reducing each other’s pain. (I don’t think we’re there yet — there’s still room for joy!) But when I read Robin Williams’ quote, I am reminded that I have made a few people feel less alone in their awareness of the insanity that plagues our world. Yes, Sarah sees it too. Your subscription — that is to say, the fact that about 400 people will read this post and a few will comment of 675 total subscribers — reminds me that I am not alone either, that you all see it too. Thank you.

Demoralization requires isolation. In a sea of people, we have to believe that we are alone in our detection of deception. We aren’t. And maybe we can find it in our hearts to put ourselves in Mike Johnson’s shoes and give him the benefit of the doubt. I posit to you that the most patriotic thing we can do as Americans is give someone the benefit of the doubt of their guilt. And presume their innocence, unlike a monarch or dictator who would deny a trial and lock someone up just for publicly protesting the government’s abuse of power. And if the evidence overwhelmingly points to their guilt (as in Speaker Johnson’s case), still we ought to ask ourselves if the motive behind their actions isn’t as cut and dried as it appears, if the complex human condition doesn’t merit a bit more detective work and a lot more compassion.

Thank you for reading, dear substack subscribers!

Feel like putting on your King Solomon hat and looking at who has less motivation to cut the baby in half, so to speak? Read my post on who’s lying, the Trump campaign or the RFK Jr campaign, about Trump asking RFK Jr to be his running mate? Click here!

More on the sabotage of the RFK Jr campaign from within and his “former” CIA covert operative daughter-in-law who is now managing his campaign for President in an upcoming post.

Want to read about my thoughts on the gun control psy-op? Click here.

Want to read about the glass of life being half filled with water and half filled with air? Click here.

Check out my post “You aren’t pro-choice or pro-privacy rights if you don’t oppose forced personal medical history disclosure (which means we have to discuss The Truth About HIPPA)” here

Remember, if you’re going through hell, keep going!

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St Francis of Assisi prayer

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
and where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console;
to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive;
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned;
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

Amen.