title:  Bette Midler Sums Up The Republican Party In One Amazing Tweet Everyone Should Read (IMAGE)
text: It really is perfect.And it s from a book that was published in 1961.When Joseph Heller wrote Catch-22 over 50 years ago, he had no idea that a particular passage in his classic novel would one day be the EXACT description of the Republican Party.But Twitter user Maris Kreizman certainly noticed the similarities, which is why she shared the discovery, only for it to then be shared worldwide by singing and acting icon Bette Midler.In a post last month that seems to have gone largely unnoticed for some reason, Midler posted the passage, aiming particularly at Donald Trump. However, the paragraph really can be be applied to the GOP in general. It was miraculous. It was almost no trick at all, he saw, to turn vice into virtue and slander into truth, impotence into abstinence, arrogance into humility, plunder into philanthropy, thievery into honor, blasphemy into wisdom, brutality into patriotism, and sadism into justice. Anybody could do it; it required no brains at all. It merely required no character.  ~Joseph Heller, Catch-22Here s the tweet via Twitter.With credit. pic.twitter.com/8wrCbwEY49  Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) January 4, 2016For years, Republicans have been hypocrites when it comes to lawbreaking, claiming that it s okay when white conservatives use their guns to seize federal property or use their bibles as an excuse to violate the rights of others. In other words, they want us all to think of these vices as virtues.The  slander into truth  part is pretty easy since Republicans have been lying about liberals and liberal policies throughout the last eight years while insisting that they are telling the truth.Republicans have also disguised arrogance as humility, although they really aren t hiding it anymore.The way conservative donors like the Koch brothers use pretended philanthropy to give themselves more power is one of the more disgusting aspects of Republicans today, and it was perfectly described by Heller.Republicans have also pretended for decades that stealing from the poor to give to the wealthy is honorable, but it s only caused great suffering among the American people as the middle class shrinks and families struggle to put food on the table.Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have made it very clear during the GOP primary that they intend to bring back torture, which they think is a patriotic and just way of fighting the war on terror. For years, Republicans have displayed fake patriotism while at the same time sending our troops to their deaths in wars for profit and once our troops come home, they refuse to take care of them. This is evident in their blockage of bills that would aid veterans and first responders.And finally, the conservative support of the death penalty and cops who kill unarmed black men are the ultimate examples of how Republicans see sadism as justice.Make no mistake, this paragraph from Joseph Heller is downright prophetic, and Bette Midler did us all a favor by bringing it to our attention. Featured image from Twitter