Studies have shown that there is a direct correlation between cruelty to animals and cruelty to children. In fact, sociopathic mass-killers and school-shooters often begin their nasty little “careers” by torturing small animals.
This kind of animal and child abuse has deep roots in the right-wing conservative and evangelical movements, and it seems that we are seeing evidence of its horrible effects as those abused children grow into a broken middle age and begin their own nasty careers as, say, Republican Vice Presidential Hopefuls.
Republicans like Governor Kristi Noem are now unabashedly boasting of their animal cruelty stories in an effort to curry favor with the followers of an impeached, indicted insurrectionist, fascist wannabe dictator, current felony trial defendant, and court-adjudicated rapist who routinely boasted that he could sexually abuse women *or shoot someone in the street* and get away with it.
Donald Trump has taken the cruel and abusive Republican Party from 5th Avenue to the Gravel Pit faster than a speeding bullet. They are ready and willing to prove to him that they can be just as nasty as he is because that is the *only* path forward for them.
We must do better or we will lose our humanity.
Republican Cruelty by the Spoonful.