To no one's surprise, the powerful toy with the powerless

Humans are a cruel bunch, just as a matter of fact, but sometimes our cruelty goes over the top. The whole shipping immigrants applying for sanctuary in the U.S. thing is the most recent example.

Political stunts are par for the course, but DeSantis and Texas governor Abbott fooling some desperate people into agreeing to board planes and buses only to be dropped off without any preparation in D.C. and Martha's Vineyard -- after alerting Fox News, duh -- must be turning off some percentage of even the most rabid Angry White People Party members. 

You can count on this: soon untold billions of damage from fall hurricanes will occur in both Florida and Texas, and those same governors will be grabbing for every scrap of federal support they can get. The pitiful stories of people left homeless and businesses damages will dominate the news... at least, once we can move past Queen Elizabeth's funeral. 

And blue states will provide most of the tax dollars that will help our neighbors.

Many Republican candidates are trying to appeal to their supporters' worst instincts, and maybe they will succeed. As I stated in the beginning, we humans are a cruel species.

For me, the most sickening image was of DeSantis smugly rationalizing his cruelty while assorted smirking and laughing white supporters stood behind in view of the cameras, rejoicing at his clever misuse of power to torture some non-white fellow human beings. 

Some political commentators seem to think that DeSantis will be a more "normal" form of Trump, but the video from yesterday's press conference convinces me that this is a silly thought. 

There are no depths some "leaders" will avoid. There is no end to their willingness to use the poor and powerless to expand their own power. There are still so many angry whites who would find a way to rationalize Trump's boast about being able to shoot someone in broad daylight and get away with it. 

Colorado wacko Lauren Boebert continues to spew Christian Nationalism, proclaiming that God made Trump president and that the nation will soon end (unless, of course, Christians like her are given total authority).

We are getting to the point where the easiest way to distinguish among Americans politically is to measure the amount of needless cruelty each party will accept.

Right now, Republicans are all in on cruelty (unless they are the ones needing help). 

But excessive cruelty often sobers people up, at least after the first glow of "victory," and my hope is that enough voters will feel a bit of disgust at the whole spectacle that moderation will prevail, if only barely.

Angry White People Party candidates are deleting their most extreme comments on abortion and backing away from claiming the 2020 election was rigged... but not until they secure their party nominations in their primaries. 

How sad that they must choose the cruelest positions to move on in their races, and how disgusting that they feel free to immediately renounce those cruel positions when they first feel safe in doing so. 

And how worrying to think that their most extreme positions are exactly what they will try to implement if enough voters choose them.

So much hypocrisy.