Time magazine’s interview with President-elect Donald Trump, published yesterday, revealed a man who was so desperate to be reelected to the presidency that he constructed a performance that he believed would woo voters, but who has no apparent plans for actual governance.
Stop listening to Trump. Stop reacting to everything he says he is going to do. Look at what he does. Keep an eye on the crimes that need investigation and prosecuting. Keep an eye on the nefarious policies he puts into place. But stop reacting to every stream of consciousness drivel that oozes from his reptilian brain.
Polio vaccines need to stay in place. Social Security and Medicare need protecting. Conflicts of interest and graft need to be catalogued, investigated, and prosecuted.
Stay focused on what is done and being done. Not on what is said.
I do not subscribe to any newspapers nor watch any network news. I cannot stand the sight or the voice of this disgusting person. He’s turned the presidency into a crime syndicate, and it’s revolting. I will continue to say out loud exactly how I feel about the Trump Crime Family.
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt began a series of informal radio chats to the American public during a turbulent time in the 1930s. The radio back then was to communicating as Twitter is today. Here is an excerpt:
“My fellow Americans, it is whispered by some that only by abandoning our freedom, our ideals, our way of life, can we rebuild our defenses adequately, can we match the strength of the aggressors. …I do not share these fears.”
Trump demands a quaint, televised, fireside chat to compete with FDR. Here is a sneak preview:
“My friends, Hillary Clinton will never see the inside of the White House again as long as I live.
“You people love me so much that I know you want to keep me as your president for life. The Constitution now allows this extended appointment of the executive branch. Our blessed homeland needs me to lead it. I have authorized The Enabling Act, borrowed from German Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s proposal to restrict powers of the Reichstag in 1933. His SS troops made legislators give up their civil liberties and transfer state powers to the Reich government. I’m pleased to tell you that the Democrats will sign away their legislative powers while my ICE agents surround the House of Representatives. I have the power to dissolve Congress and allow my Cabinet to pass much needed laws to Make America Great Again. And I pledge to you that all fake impeachment activity to convict me has ended.
“I also pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. And we will remove all undocumented immigrants that are poisoning the blood of our country. And we will remove the portrait of African-born Barack Hussein Obama from the White House wall.
“My first act tomorrow will be to have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Shiftless Adam Schiff picked up for questioning to ascertain their patriotism for the United States.
“I know I’ve been accused of a quid pro quo with Ukraine. There is nothing wrong with finding the truth about liars and cheats like Slow Joe Biden. And there’s nothing wrong asking a nation to help with uncovering wrongdoing by a corrupt man. As your President for Life, I will always tell you the truth. When I make a promise to you, I keep it.
“This concludes the first of my fireside chats. I can’t wait to tell you what I have in store for other scum Trump haters.”
No, I can't believe he penned that with his own thumb. His new word "honor" is missing. I suppose his fireside is fuelled by the cherry-wood chopped up by young George with his little hatchet.
I’m guessing by your post that you don’t agree with free speech. If you don’t like what I say, just block me or whatever you can do on the site I am relatively new to it. Someone sent me a stray email that got me here OK I soon noticed there is no opposing opinion on this website which means it’s kind of like a bubble So all I did is it and all I do is I have my thoughts you’re welcome to disagree with them. Hate them discard them or whatever. In the meantime, many people here need another perspective, but they’re not getting from outside the bubble. I have given the number of Californians this advice, and once they took it of actually worked to a great degree. Go spend some time with people and flyover country see what they think about California because you don’t see it from inside California and they were quite surprised and have mellowed since.
In fact, there’s one pretty famous actor who’s renowned left-wing liberal and his life that his mother was a schoolteacher and he had to do a film in Nebraska or Kansas something like that he had to spend a couple months shooting the movie when he left there he went these people are not what we thought they were so nice and friendly. They care about each other to help each other and not the dummies on the ogres we thought they were. And since then, he’s been much less vocal about his political bias. For whatever it’s worth
Questioning Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi would be essentially letting them off the hook. In my opinion Adam Schiff home should be rated at 6 o’clock in the morning like they did to Roger Stone. And I would be willing to bet that Adam Schiff will receive a nice pardon, but I’m not sure that will still let him off the hook for what he did for 3 1/2 years with the Russia BS
Yeah, Eric trump braggs about the great business deals coming at them and President Biden was forced to pardon his son for no crime. In the meantime, while the trump crime syndicate is getting richer, the maga Congress says it will keep investigating Hunter Biden despite the presidential pardon.
Indeed, a crime syndicate—though most syndicates boast more competent criminals. Some might assume Trump’s ability to avoid prison and ascend to the presidency reflects exceptional skill. In reality, his success relied heavily on luck and a system ripe for exploitation. By leveraging delays in justice and bending the rules, he avoided accountability. Now, his aim isn’t just survival—it’s dismantling the very system he manipulated to serve his own interests.
Legacy is the wrong way to characterize media. They are functionally spouting corporate political rhetoric and policies. Example: lionizing the murdered UHC CEO is a strong message to suppress popular demand to reform for profit health coverage.
I don’t approve of murder, but the media seem to ignore the fundamental public sense that all of our institutions have failed us. The responses to the CEO’s death reflected people’s anger at arbitrary denials by their insurers, and the execs have enough money for excessive salaries and to use our premiums to contribute to politicians to preserve the status quo.
Oligarchy’s media. Corptocracy. Thats what we have in power regardless of who is in the WH. President Biden stood up to those special interest and succeeded for us, the middle class. That is why he lost. Because he was winning for us. Read other professors, HCR is just one of many. Read THE GUARDIAN, the Atlantic . watch Democracy Now.
HST said that republicans called anything that helped all the people “socialism.” Now it’s that vitriol on steroids and half the people agree. Enough that the vipers will be racing to the finish line before another election is even contemplated.
We can pinpoint the moment when it turned. Chump was whining about Joe dropping out and then, almost overnight, the campaign turned to racism and misogyny with a vengeance, and muskrat appeared to seal the deal. It gave me whiplash. But the MSM was enthralled…but not enough to point out what was happening.
I am also banned for life from the WAPO comment section for calling someone a "troll." This person or bot or whatever it was had been commenting without being called out by WAPO for several days in several different articles (sound familiar), I chose to call it a troll. Banned for life.
Last week the WAPO offered me a year's subscription for $13 and I ignored it as I do for The NY Times sniveling offers. And now that Paul Krugman has written his last column for The NY Times, I don't see any reason to return.
I'll stick with HCR, the Guardian and Rolling Stone. And, of course various Substack posts and Progress Radio.
I'm not banned, I just unsubscribed. HCR often quotes Jennifer Rubin, and that'll do. I won't be taking them up on any of their special offers either. Were it only $3 a year.
I’m permanently banned from WaPo after once stating I would take a crap on the Capital steps the day Trump is waked inside after eating a bucket of Kuntucky Fried Chicken. And I suggested that CNN would zoom in on my performance and interview me from jail.
I’ll ask them to let me back in and if they say yes, I won’t go.
I am from Kentucky. There are cities in Kentucky who vote Democrat. We have a Democratic Governor Beshear who was being mentioned as a VP possibility for Harris. I live in a City with a Democratic Mayor. My family have been Democrats for generations. Being a vegetarian, I don't eat Kentucky Fried Chicken. Fried chicken is also used as a racist symbol. Could be why you got banned.
Bill. I gave you the respect of thinking about your comment in WaPo and giving you feedback. There was no judging or criticizing.
How about giving the acid comments, the mean knee jerk reactions a break? People in Dr. Richardson's site are like refugees. We need a break from hatred.
Medias Touch Network,an independent news org with ZERO outside financial investors, is shining the spotlight on the grift.Substack is a major part of their growth so subscribe(available for free), like or share. 📣
They’ve also hit over 5 billion YouTube views and getting more daily than Fox. Obviously MAGA people are not happy and delivering death threats ( via the cowardliness of the keyboard,of course) which only motivates MTN to keep growing the network.
But they are attracting morons who are not cult nuts, yet. Making the problems worse. Granted they are all vying for the Fox runner up, and have become truly the enemy of the people. Free speech has become the mantra for trolls, and the fools, and the vipers…
Start taking notes, as Josh Marshall pointed out this morning. First promise already broken: he admits after promising to bring grocery prices down during the campaign that he can't. We can add that to the (falsely named) law and order party supporting Kash Patel who wants to break the FBI. Good luck stopping that next terrorist attack or investigating the growth of white supremacist terrorist organizations in the US.
Trump’s groupies are blissfully unaware that he is both the “deep state” and the “swamp.” These are both terms he uses to refer to governmental institutions he doesn’t personally control. I can guarantee that when he does bring them under his control, he will misuse them and get away with it. The SCOTUS majority has ignored 235 years of constitutional precedent and put Trump above the law. To paraphrase Frank Wilhoit’s comment, Trump is someone whom the law protects but does not bind, but ordinary citizens are persons whom the law binds but does not protect.
Philoctetes > Thank you for imput tonight. You were spot on. After I surfed thru all tonights comments, I circled back to give you Kudos. HCR has many good people in her orbit. ✅
Or…with no FBI, good luck finding the next shooter in a country awash in weapons and gun rights advocates. Looks like NOT defunding the police doesn’t apply to the FBI….or the Capitol Police for that matter
What a delightful group of posts here based on one of the most biased, outlandishly deceptive, pulling excerpts of remarks riddled with half truths , incorrect information , and over the top severely biased opinion.
I don’t even know where to begin. Even from her first paragraph, she emotes that Trump no longer has a plan for governance. I believe those were her words.
He has laid out specifically what his plans are, and Heather should know that because of how she describes the cabinet that he has chosen. He has even made public exactly what he’s gonna do on January 20. If you doubt that, please watch the interview on “MEET THE DEPRESSED” with Kristen Welker, which refutes much of what Heather writes in her letter
She claims that Trump was desperate for election in order to avoid his trials for his crimes. I believe is what she said I’ll have to go back and check, but I think that was the essence unfortunately there are no crimes left they’ve all been destroyed as they should’ve never been brought in the first place. And worse, new material came out yesterday and today about the January 6 event which brings into. Doubt , the work of the January 6 committee and the let’s call them lies OR omissions of their involvement
He made the statement many times that he wished Biden did a great job and then he wouldn’t feel compelled to run again however that was not the case. And the overwhelming election results confirm that when 49 of 50 states became redder to the utter chagrin of the liberals , Democrats, and Legacy media who have now lost about 40% of their audience for lying to the public for so long and towing the line of the Democrat party like lemmings.
And the Republicans managed to keep both the Senate and the house and won the popular vote, which hasn’t happened in over 20 years. Aka the Democrat coup de etat did not work . Imagine the people that said that Trump was a threat to democracy and yet the Democrats actually pulled off a coup in the United States of America just like they do in other autocratic/oligarch-run countries.
You wrote “What a delightful group of posts here based on one of the most biased, outlandishly deceptive, pulling excerpts of remarks riddled with half truths , incorrect information, and over the top severely biased opinion.”
Gotta hand it to you Rick, you are the absolute master of projection - attributing to others what you yourself do.
Well, TDS isn’t diagnosed in Republicans only in Democrats along with the newly found metastasized growth called TRDS Trump Russia derangement syndrome.
The Mega-Minds, the DOGE Brothers, want to abolish the FDIC... That would be Horrible... Conceivably, Millions could lose their Life-Savings... Don't forget that the Billionaires are Asset Diversified and Off-Shored...
I’m not a fan of crypto and I’m not a fan of anyone who is a single item voter. Presidency is a huge complex of issues. We shall see what happens with crypto it’s out of my control for sure.
by the way, I’m 75 years old and I take one pill that I’ve been taking for 30 years for a hiatal hernia. So no medication’s to adjust. I’m sorry to say hope I didn’t disappoint you.
I’m in pretty good shape as well. Was an athlete my whole life scratch golfer never been one much for combat. Oral jousting is fine, but there’s no need for combat when people can discuss their ideas and thoughts. In an amicable way.
Quite an interesting statement there Apache. I saw a quote that pretty much mirrored my sentiments to what you say above. and here it is.
I don’t like Donald Trump. What I like is every one of his policies that lifted all boats during his administration Not many in this blog, if any of all have actually done the following Googled Trump administration, accomplishments, and see what you see Submiss what you like refute what you like but at least do it so you have an idea?
R.S. I doubt that You have had a Elevated Security Clearance... Taking Classified Documents Home, and Obstructing Justice in order to Hide them invariably results in Prison Time... I also doubt that You have ever Served this Country in Uniform... I come from a Family that has been on this Continent for over 10.000 Years... Every Generation has sent it's Men to Fight For This Land...
Nope, I’ve never had a security clearance in government that is, but I have had one in private corporate business.
So can you please tell me why Joe Biden is not in prison he was actually worse than Trump. He had them in open boxes in his garage for about 10 years, but Mr.HUR said he was too feeble to stand trial, but he could be president of the United States at the same time lol. Kinda like Hillary was allowed not to stand trial.
And I’ve tried to learn the lesson not to assume anything and risk offending someone who is not due that offense. Served six years in the military here as a medic and a dialysis and an x-ray tech, but I never saw combat. Not sure what point you were trying to make.
RS, You breathlessly declare “ So can you please tell me why Joe Biden is not in prison he was actually worse than Trump. He had them in open boxes in his garage for about 10 years,…”
Those were left over from when he was Vice president in the late 20th century in boxes packed by aides and not looked at since. He immediately turned them over when found in a search he has allowed as a matter of course.
Trump by contrast, intentionally took huge quantities of material that was not his to take, lied about having it at all, tried to hide it and intentionally violated court orders to hand it back to the rightful owners,!the American people as represented by the National Archives.
Hit and his report acted disgracefully and he, his actions and report were relegated to the trash heap.
Uncle Joe invited the FBI to his home when he discovered them... He did not try to hide them... Try Leading Men in Combat, and try explaining to their Families of those that don't return...
If I were you, I would throw away that crystal ball and Ouija board and go buy yourself a new one. The one you Have is not working. I don’t need a dime Need a dime I’ve been a great success in my life and I’m very proud of what I’ve done. I probably created AT LEAST 1000 millionaires and 50,000 jobs. So GO On with your bad self. I could insult you as well, but I won’t. You’re doing that yourself.
Go back to listening to Fucx News. You'll never be able to admit to yourself how wrong you are. Sad. You lack the perspective needed to comment intelligently when the truth is spelled out right in front of you. I thank the universe everyday that I wasn't born dumb enough, insecure enough, hateful enough to have grown up to become one of those MAGATS. A buh-bye.
Well, that’s a pretty erudite and intelligent post. Temper temper.
Also pretty assumptive What I see in you is that you may be needing a mirror and a conscience. Perhaps some introspection. Try this first, but you won’t Trump administration accomplishments and I don’t know what I’m wrong about but are you saying that 77 million people are also wrong but the same people were right about Joe Biden the same dumb people People on the writer, not hateful and obviously you don’t follow the news or you would know that people on the right didn’t call Biden Hitler. They didn’t call him fascist. They attacked his policies, which had this country headed in the wrong direction and 68% of people agreed with that based on a CNN. Poll So let me say something since you won’t go Google that Trump accomplishments page try this
Minds are like parachutes they work better when they’re open
My goodness. This guy must be paid on a dollar-per-comment basis. With all the time it takes to write these hundreds of comments every day, it’s impossible to have a real job besides…
You're right. Trump cultists want to be just like their idol: narcissistic, the center of attention, and grabbing money and pussies without any consequences.
Wow, you must be writing from an alternate universe. Keep drinking that Trump Kool Aid. Enjoy your fantasy world, you are soon to be in for a very rude awakening. It amazes me that people like you have no clue that Trump cares about absolutely no one but himself. Whatever.
No one is going to win with this guy. He is full of delusions and projections. Nothing he has said is based on facts. Trump had no accomplishments in his first term and he knows it. He knows that the accusations against President Biden have been proven to be baseless and false. Trump clearly violated the Presidential Records Retention Act. May have violated the law against espionage based on some of the documents he retained. Stop wasting your time trying to have a serious conversation with him. He’ll undoubtedly will react to my comments. I won’t waste my time responding to him.
Oh, then again, I will tell you something Catherine that you won’t like and you won’t do but that you should to be a even minded person google Trump administration, accomplishments But you won’t do it because it might disrupt the feeling that Trump only cares for himself
What the hell does he need the presidency for? He’s got all the money in the world. He’s already been president got shot once got almost shot again law fair against him. That is now all gone the legacy media, calling him Hitler and fascist, etc. which didn’t work and was inappropriate And yet he ascended to the presidency once again Quite an accomplishment in of itself. The poor billionaire with hotels and golf course courses all over the world 22,000 employees social media website that’s worth 10 billion. And now supported by the richest man in the world that used to be a hero to the left when he was a Democrat and now they demonize him because he has an R in front of his name very sad indeed Elon Musk should be elected leader of the free world
One of the Salient Characteristics of DJT is Impatience... This is still over a Month Away from Inauguration... From HCR: "Time magazine’s interview with President-elect Donald Trump, published yesterday, revealed a man who was so desperate to be reelected to the presidency that he constructed a performance that he believed would woo voters, but who has no apparent plans for actual governance.
Trump deliberately patterned the Republican National Convention where he accepted the party’s nomination for president on a professional wrestling event, even featuring a number of professional wrestlers. It appears now that the campaign itself was, similarly, a performance—possibly, as Tom Nichols of The Atlantic suggested, simply to avoid the threat of conviction in one of the many federal or state cases pending against him. In the Time interview, Trump called his campaign “72 Days of Fury.”
In Addition: "If there is one major continuity between Trump’s campaign and plans for his administration, it is that his focus on shock and performance, rather than the detailed work of governing, still plays well to the media."
Why is anybody surprised from DJT walking away from his promises? Did anyone believe that DJT took his Oath-Of-Office seriously to Uphold the Laws of Congress?... DJT is Predatory, and Opportunistic...
Net: Because of his Sycophantic Picks in the 'Power Branches' of the U.S. Gov., from Day One of Trump 2.0. expect 'Shock & Awe' Everyday... The 'Trump Show' is back... An Interesting note that reinforces what we already knew... Most of the U.S. is in a local News Desert that is not serviced by local Journalism... These places went 91% for DJT... They are mostly serviced by Right-Wing 'Bro-Casts, and Media... Remember over1/2 of the Country now doesn't Read, and Comprehend at a 6th Grade-Level, and can't do Basic Arithmetic... This Ignorance Is Getting Deadly...
Oh. That was a campaign? Those random ambles up and down the stage, pointing? the jokes? the songs? I thought he'd just given up because he knew he was beaten, but no, he knew that Musk had taken things in hand and there was no further problem with money. Or principles.
Hello Anne-Louise... Look at the Intended Audience... The Popular Vote that DJT won with was the smallest winning Percentage since Clinton '92... It is arguable that if RFK hadn't been bribed to join the DJT Campaign, DJT would have lost... Kamala should have Distanced herself from Joe Biden more... 'Gaza' may have cost her in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.... OBW: Have You Noticed That DJT Has Never Released His Medical Records? Maybe DJT Doesn't Think That He Has Much Time Left....
"The Popular Vote that DJT won with was the smallest winning Percentage since Clinton '92"
Done caring. That Trump could hand in the performance he did in his first term and run the campaign he ran and still get more than 25% of the vote is an indictment of America, not of Trump.
Obviously it wasn’t a campaign to you but apparently it was the 77 million Americans and 49 or 50 states that went redder. And even though musk was part of Trump’s campaign, Trump was out spent five to one.
In Maine, the most of the rural vote is for Trump while much of the coastal vote went for Kamala. The Republicans put up a candidate for Congress that was a former Nascar driver that had no college education. And he was 30 years old and served in the legislature for two years only showing up over 1/2 the time. And he almost beat the incumbent.
I've lived in 10 states and voted in multiple cities or towns in many of them. He was, far and away the most unqualified Congressional candidate I have ever seen.
Many of the communities you mention have recently received high speed Internet for the first time. Maybe that will make a difference on how they vote because they will have access to information sources they've never had.
What is significant about this election is the number of swing States (except Arizona) who elected him by the slimmest of margins but had significant wins in their State and Local races. People are really scratching their heads about this phenomena of people voting for a straight Democratic ticket and then switching to him. Also. those razor thins margins.
I will say it again. this election smells.
Watch Hakeem Jeffries allude to this fact in a Press Conference.
You only hope he walks away from his promises, but to your utter chagrin it’s not gonna happen. If you watch the Kristen Welker interview you’ll see what he’s going to do day one and then the first hundred days are gonna be more impactful than anything you’ve ever seen because he realizes he doesn’t have time.
Now you should go watch his interview with Kristen Welker on meet the depressed. Were Trump answered every offensive question he was given
And I love when you people go this route, talking about the stupidity of the electorate Did the electorate become stupid before or after Biden’s presidency as he was elected by the same electorate. ? Yikes and oooops guess the ignorance wasn’t so deadly when they elected Biden. Sigh
Again and again this mantra is surfacing. Don’t repeat their words. Just …well I guess focus on their actions? I am not convinced. These words…snake tongued …have real world consequences when the snakes are in control. They hiss; we scuttle. Or at least the likes of Bezos, Zuck, and Morning Joe do and the ripples are real. Think about the unpapered immigrants, the cis gender teens, seniors dependent on social security. Words …their words…have repercussions.
But remember - this is the point: flood the zone with distractions so that we take our eyes off of the dangerous real world effects of policies they put into place. And we need to prioritize: transgender rights are vital, but deporting 10 million immigrants, if it starts to happen, or getting rid of polio vaccines, as RFK would like, will have far more dangerous and deleterious consequences. We cannot be distracted and as they flood the zone, need to prioritize. Full disclosure: I live in France so don't get my information from the now unreliable US media, but from European press which is far more diverse and with a tradition of criticism and intellectualism that simply does not exist in the US. To say everyone over here is appalled would be an understatement. The US will wear this election for generations like a ball and chain.
Philoctetes, As someone who resides in the States, I would suggest the folks viewing us from the outside not underestimate the power of the ever expanding resistance currently organizing under the auspices of seasoned and determined grassroots leaders who are showing us how to resist the infiltration of the MAGA agenda into our states and communities. Quoting two prominent leaders, “Our best chance to get through this era with some amount of democracy intact is to hang on until 2026 and win big in the midterms—breaking Trump’s hold on Congress and making sure election deniers and saboteurs aren’t in charge of the 2028 election. We’ve boiled it down to three big plays…” For more from these two former congressional aids, visit indivisible.org
Barbara get ready for a surprise somewhere past Trump’s halfway in his presidency that might even anoint his vice president in the White House for the next 12 years or so.
Actually, Barbara, I think it’s going the other way. If you succeeded in doing what his campaign promises was fighting back will be futile
And why would you fight back against the president? That’s doing a good job on behalf of American citizens? I come here and there’s so many people who are depressed and pessimistic and fatalistic and negative in advance. Patience… why don’t you see what he does instead of thinking of what he will or might do.
I thought Kennedy was one of the best presidents we’ve ever had, and it was the worst day of my life at that time when he was shot. But that doesn’t mean his personal life was any different than that of Donald Trump or Bill Clinton And somebody made the point of Trump giving positions in his administration and I thought of Bobby Kennedy. And that year was one of the worst years in political history, . Along with Martin Luther King, who most of the Democrats have forgotten.
Trump is going to start off by screwing the farmers who voted for him. They won’t be able to sell their products abroad due to tariffs, and Trump will deport the people who pick their crops.
Kathy, the tariffs might even not have to happen. And by the way, if the tariffs don’t work, why did Joe Biden keep almost all of Trump’s and even added a few of his own. Tariffs do a number of things as they did to Canada and Mexico. It’s a negotiating tool. It helped to Mexico and Canada come to their senses about illegal immigrants crossing our border. And they got the message loud and clear without the tariff being imposed. If the people are here picking the crops are legal or have a temporary visa. They’ll stay exactly where they are. Maybe you’d like to talk to the mother of Lake and Riley or the 13-year-old who is raped and murdered by two Venezuelan gang members. ?
Yes, I too am in Europe and have a variety of news sources. As Barbara points out, being geographically removed I am keenly aware that I have a an inadequate grasp of the groundswell in the US. I just have observed that the foreign press also must wrestle with the rhetoric from the Trump 2.0 team. I just don’t think that this messaging is meant to distract ….and I believe that the sticks and stones rhyme applies…these words can really hurt those who are in the cross hairs.
I split my time between the US and Germany. The Guardian is a fairly reliable source, but for issues concerning the struggle to maintain Constitutional Democracy, I would highly recommend Verfassungsblog. Much of their work is in German, but there is a great deal of solid material in English. https://verfassungsblog.de/
What is it with you people that look so negatively in advance I’ve never seen anything like it put away your crystal balls and your Ouija boards and wait to see what happens because you have no other choice but to see what happens. Can tell you from my opinion he will be the most involved president in your lifetime.
How can Heather write this article without mentioning Putin? Putin brags that he tilted the election and says he expects a quid pro quo!
Biden needs to report on Russian interference ASAP! We are the victims of the Russian war on the USA. An admission is dispositive and is actionalble and constitutes an emergency.
Right now, we are trying to drink from a firehose of Trump's crazy to do what Philoctetes is suggesting.
We each have individual issues at the top of our "biggest fears" list. We need to keep track of those so we can start to oppose them most effectively.
The way to do that is to use a news consolidator like https://feedly.com/. You can search for specific topics and get to the original source, usually Reuters and AP. You can also look at White House press releases, C-SPAN, and the Congressional Record.
The chat capabilities here and on Bluesky may be the best way to develop micro-communities of interest and share what we have learned with others who have common hot-button issues.
This is the only way to avoid the selective filtering and slanted coverage of news that is now going on with the degradation of previous sources like the NYTimes and WaPo. Trump's performance is a cover and distraction from the real danger. We must combat the avalanche of changes that Project 2025 will try to implement. The real enemy is not Trump; it is those highly motivated implementers of the agenda from the truly unholy alliance of oligarchs and white Christian nationalists.
Another point. We need to add intelligent, well informed discussions to Substack, Bluesky and other burgeoning communities. I am glad to see Bluesky reacting quickly to trolls and disinformation. Dr. Richardson recommends ignoring trolls.
So let’s see we’re all deciding to fight back in advance of what we think is gonna happen. Cool. Well thought out and designed thought process. I have never seen a group of people more negative in advance. Maybe you should be listening to Stephanie ruhle a little bit more. Can’t remember if she’s on the communist news network or if MSRIP network But she said Democrats need to stop the histrionics and start realizing that 80% of what they think is gonna happen never happens.
I’ve been writing about Project 2025 since the month it was released. The prior version was the basis for more than 70% of the legislative agenda in Trump’s first administration.
You can obfuscate and try to suck energy out of this forum all you want but you can’t hide the truth. The danger is real. People are dying and will die because of these policies. Life is going to be harder.
I won’t respond further to your continued trolling. I don’t think anyone else here should waste the energy either. Go peddle your bullshit back on the ever shrinking X. I am one lib you will not own.
First, why do you think X is shrinking? would you like to know why?
It’s really simple it’s people like you that don’t want to hear both sides of the story. Twitter used to be 69% Democrat 31% Republican now that it’s 50-50 blue sky is what we now call ex for cowards. You can just sit there and cry in your own misery, and have everybody commiserate with you. Do you see your social network called red sky anywhere? Nope
And Why the hell would you think I want to Own you?
Well, let’s see what was buried in project 25 like a strong military only citizens can vote. Hopefully we can all agree on that . It’s got some bad things I assume and it has some good things in it don’t pigeonhole it. I’ve never seen it, but I’ve heard there’s those two things that are there. And I get the people that I’ve been on this site for a while abhor project 2025. I guess I’ll have to familiarize myself with it a little bit more.
But it is not Trump’s playbook. Trump’s playbook is in his head and has been in his head since his first coming down the escalator, he doesn’t need help from project 25 or anyone else in that regard. Go watch the meet the press with Kirsten Welker where he answers. Every offensive question she asks.
I said to someone earlier, some people read the Bible some people don’t
I doubt that everyone that reads it believes everything in it. Project 25 is no different other than it may have some offensive things that I may disagree with as well and probably would. Because I said to someone else, you need to wait to see actions because actions speak a lot louder than words.
And to your utter chagrin, if not for Covid, Trump would be leaving office now not getting into it.
Philocetes, yes, stay focused on what he does. And when he “appoints” unqualified persons to cabinet positions, contact your senators in as many ways as possible to protest with the facts. If those in favor of the “appointments” let their wishes be known and we do not, the senators will believe that the majority of their constituents are in favor.
this guy you are replying to is spamming the comments section. If people stop replying to him he will be eliminated. There was another troll who everyone ignored and he eventually gave up.
And Louise I can’t stop laughing. I’m sorry. What are you gonna say when they all get approved? And after all the talk about recessed appointments when they probably won’t need any, maybe one.
So who are the people here that can determine whether his cabinet posts are unqualified? Any presidents here blogging ? Do you all imagine that Biden‘s cabinet and Obama‘s cabinet and bushes cabinet were the perfect people? And were qualified.? Wow. It’s the prerogative of any president to pick his choice of cabinet and to have him go through the process of approval advise and consent.
Joe Biden not only got approval of all the incompetents in his administration but got a lot of support from Republicans
"Stop listening to Trump!" I agree for your mental health." Watch what he does to destroy America!" I disgaree, beause you become so upset, depressed from hopelessness. "What can we do? Where is any hope? How can we fight?"
Yes, and also keep focusing on the positive world we want. At the core is a just energy transition which, when that fully occurs a lot of this bullshit will go away….
"If there is one major continuity between Trump’s campaign and plans for his administration, it is that his focus on shock and performance, rather than the detailed work of governing, still plays well to the media."
Philoctetes, you're right about staying focused on what is done, but we need to go beyond that. We need to focus on what is said and what is done, and then ask ourselves what that says about what interest is being served. If it says the interest being served is a part of the greater good at the expense of the greater good, that's bad.
Our highest responsibility is to serve the greater good at the expense of its parts, including when we are part of the part paying the price. Otherwise, bad people are implicitly asking us why we're saying it's not okay for them to be bad while implying it's okay for us to be bad, and we're implicitly saying they need to stop because they're better at it than we are. It's not a strong argument.
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." —Aristotle
......drivel that oozes from his reptilian brain. A great line. Trump is an idiot savant. His genius is his ability to appeal to, as he has said, to the uneducated. Unless you have a financial stake in his presidency, you would have to have accepted all his BS as valid, which required zero critical thinking. I hope we survive to be able to rid us of this insanity in the next elections if we have any.
Quite right and on target but what is painful to read in HCR's column is that trump' focus on shock and performance rather than the detailed work of governing still plays well to the media.
Here, yet again, are the second and third entries in a notebook I opened in November 2016, immediately after the election.
Both still seem actual.
By comparison, most of what I have written on the matter since then has been a waste of breath and the time has come to sign off.
*
GREAT AGAIN?
Democracy? Democracy? Where's that? I see only oligarchy.
Chances are DT will bankrupt oligarchy, as he’s bankrupted all he touches, and try for the only thing he (thinks he) understands: dictatorship.
But will the Republic survive the attempt?
*
SYRIA—DRESS REHEARSAL?
It all began, not with an armed uprising, but with protest demonstrations. As in Russia in 1905, it was the regime’s violent response that set fire to the powder keg.
Now here’s the question: is this war the dress rehearsal for what will befall whoever dares resist oligarchy?
*
We have now to concentrate on just being ourselves and staying true to ourselves, regardless of the antics of the merciless savages, mostly white, "whose warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions". Let us all have a care to preserve ourselves from their poison.
Farewell, then. I shall miss this civilized company.
To all, wishes for peace, freedom, lasting happiness!
Bankrupt all he touches, huh. I love when people start pointing that out. It’s pretty funny. A list of people who have gone bankrupt and become successful. Here’s a highlights. H.J. Heinz, Steve Jobs, PT Barnum Henry Ford, Walt Disney George Foreman Clarence, Saunders of Piggly Wiggly Milton Hershey. Oh, and Donald Trump.
The American people elected a con man who who only wants to stay out of jail and get back at his enemies. This is not a politician, but he is now in the Oval Office. This mistake by the voters (assisted by still un investigated machinations by Putin and the Republican Party that may have Altered the results of the election overall) will go down as the greatest tragedy in America since the start of the Civil War, if not greater 
“Mistake” doesn’t convey the magnitude of the error. Everyone who voted for Trump committed an unforgivable crime against humanity. Every last one of them is someone the world would be better off without. No exceptions.
All we can do at this point is hunker down, watch for windows of possible wins and take care of our families. I just can't bring myself right now to get psyched about the DNC and the National Democratic Party Leaders. The States' Democrats though did an amazing job.
Not supremely evil, just a mob boss with no human characteristics. As an old dictionary described “trump’er.y. N.; deceit, fraud; anything calculated to deceive by false show; things worn out and of no value; worthless finery, intrinsically of little value…” Well, I would say more, but pretty descriptive and makes fools of many Americans who live in the shadow of human evil.
My resigned and bitter hope is that the next two years are NOT SO BAD as to damage the republic permanently but MORE THAN BAD ENOUGH to turn popular opinion away from Trump to catalyze much needed reforms for financial transparency of political contributions, not to mention promulgating strict limits on amounts of money contributed. 😱🤞🤬🖖🥳
EDIT: P.S., that would be the start of a much longer process of unravelling and redressing corruption.
His appointees to critical institutions like the DOJ and FBI will have a huge impact on how bad things will get. Here is clip from Democracy Dockett with congressman Dan Goldman that lays out how important it is that these appointments DO Not get approved.
Amen Ned! Democracy can survive grift, incompetence, lying and misinformation. As long as polio vaccine can be obtained, even if a bit harder and not mandated, we'll be ok. 'Investigating' opponents in the name of revenge weakens our democracy, but again it will survive so long as innocent people are not convicted. This guy is highly likely to trigger a recession, ok not good but we can survive it. I'd keep an eye on things that undermine/destroy the ability of our democracy to function. Those things are a bit harder to discern especially in 'real time'. E.g. Nixon sabotaging Muskie and other Dems, unknown at the time, may have changed history in an anti-democratic manner.
Most of us can survive a drop in the use of vaccines, but the mandated vaccines are often the ones covered by insurers and public health agencies. It takes a relatively modest drop in the percentage of those immunized, so called herd immunity, to unleash rounds of disease that can kill or permanently disable many people.
With Donald Trump, it's all about the show, it's all about the spectacle, it's all about the ratings – free of any thoughtful substance or, for that matter, any conscience whatsoever. Always has been. Always will be. To him, the con, the grift, the chaos and, of course, the suffocating, insatiable ego are paramount.
Far more than any public figure in this reader's memory, going as far back as the mid-1950s, Trump has orchestrated a dumbing down, coarsening and vulgarization of American life that previously had been unimaginable. But it's not that we weren't warned. In 1985, NYU Professor Neil Postman published the book "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business." Although it was too early to cite Trump specifically, the emphasis was on our overall trivializing of what ought to be serious.
Author Aldous Huxley "believed with H. G. Wells that we are in a race between education and disaster, and he wrote continuously about the necessity of our understanding the politics and epistemology of media," Postman explained. "For in the end, he was trying to tell us that what afflicted the people in 'Brave New World' was not that they were laughing instead of thinking, but that they did not know what they were laughing about and why they had stopped thinking."
Trump is a creature of media, ensuring the dominance of infotainment over credible journalism. The fact he was elected president not just once but twice doesn't speak well of America's prevailing values.
What Comes to Mind: The Emperor Has No Clothes and Dorothy's discovery that the Wizard of Oz was literally a fraud, a little man hiding behind a curtain and using special effects to create an illusion of grandeur.
It’s kinda like we’re going to have some sort of “concept” of a government. This group of people are much scarier than the Wizard or a naked Emperor. Let’s bring back polio and diphtheria, dirty water, graft and chaos. It certainly sounds like a concept for a horror film.
Check this interactive map of all of Trump's 79 nominees including Kari Lake, Harmeet Dhillon and Kimberly Guilfoyle. Click on any face for details and links to more information. Search by name? Position nominated for? Connected to FOX? Is a major donor? Related to Trump? Billionaire? Who has been accused of sexual assault?
Well. We knew it was going to be awful. So here we are. I haven't heard him speak in many years. I never follow mainstream media. Monitor how much of this nightmare you are willing to absorb on any given day.
My husband keeps saying”some good will come from this”. He hasn’t been wrong in 34 years. Trump’s first term was so awful, the real good that came from that was Joe Biden and ALL the good he miraculously created in 4 years for this country and the world. Let’s not forget that. Trump was created after wonderful Obama, and predictably again after Biden. Wealthy dark players want dark patsies. . It’s America’s pattern, so it seems. Let’s focus on great leaders to replace Trump and his kind in 2-4 years.And then again. There are plenty ready and willing.
I keep waiting for the public to say "enough is enough" and demand real change, but I have now been waiting for decades. I have not given up, and Trump seems bent on proving just how awful he can be. I hope he does not pull the whole "ship of state" down with him.
Meanwhile, who remembers the "Gilded Age"? It's been a secret in plain sight that the "Robber Barons" have been Striking Back for some time now. Monopolization of money and political power has menaced humanity for centuries, yet we strike at the branches rather than the roots. We as a society made hard won uneven progress it that direction in the last century with a resultant growing middle class and several moves toward broadening social justice, yet tossed much of that away for slick and misleading sloganeering.
Follow the money! It's The One Ring to Rule Them All.
The convicted criminal's shtick "still plays well to the media"?
Yes, but we're talking media who've all been to college, and so been stripped of any humanities to be in touch with any of the tens of millions who've been so hurt as they have been by the U.S. money classes.
We're also talking that convicted criminal deftly having played those tens of millions who all got their jobs offshored, their communities abandoned.
Billionaires line up, giving millions to the new king, hoping to curry favor. Ha ha, the joke’s on them. He will take their gold, frankincense, and myrrh and screw them all!
So this is what happens when maladjusted rich boys grow tired of their most common play toys…they then decide to move on to making America and Americans lives their new play toy?
Why haven’t you commented on Time magazine choosing him as the man of the year? I was pretty shocked by that. Talk about propaganda! I haven’t looked at it. Was he just allowed to lie and lie and lie right there in time magazine?
I'm not religious, but I pray every night I'll wake up in the morning with my news feed announcing that Fatso Fatass at the fatal hamberder and is now laid out as the rotting corpse he is.
I actually did a similar thing—every morning I grabbed my phone, hoping that something had happened to him during the night. I guess it’s time to do it again.
This "Laundering" list is nothing new. However, a dive has begun into where over a billion dollars went during VP Harris' battle for the presidency. Again, the Dem. Campaign was awash in money. This, in no way, condones what Trump is doing, but it does place a spotlight on the power of the world's most powerful drug: money and how all are addicted to it in one way or another. RFK Jr., for example, has vowed to take corn syrup out of US food products. The response from the US farmers was quick: No way! I am not here to provide cover for the incoming Trump administration! Trump is and will destroy as many guardrails as he can get away with. However, as Jon Stewart brilliantly noted, we must focus on norms and loopholes. We must understand that the Democracy and Republic are no longer hand in hand. They have long lost touch with each other. Biden provided his list of accomplishments for all to remember, which are worth remembering. However, the public has lost faith in the government. Trump will either force citizens to rejoin the hands of Democracy and the Republic or, as Ben Franklin said, after the convention was over as if announcing the birth of a child: It's a Republic if we can keep it. Trump may force us to answer: Do we want to keep it.
Stop listening to Trump. Stop reacting to everything he says he is going to do. Look at what he does. Keep an eye on the crimes that need investigation and prosecuting. Keep an eye on the nefarious policies he puts into place. But stop reacting to every stream of consciousness drivel that oozes from his reptilian brain.
Polio vaccines need to stay in place. Social Security and Medicare need protecting. Conflicts of interest and graft need to be catalogued, investigated, and prosecuted.
Stay focused on what is done and being done. Not on what is said.
Yup. And stop watching legacy media, stop interacting with them at all. This aberration is THEIR fault.
I do not subscribe to any newspapers nor watch any network news. I cannot stand the sight or the voice of this disgusting person. He’s turned the presidency into a crime syndicate, and it’s revolting. I will continue to say out loud exactly how I feel about the Trump Crime Family.
A Fireside Chat
President Franklin Delano Roosevelt began a series of informal radio chats to the American public during a turbulent time in the 1930s. The radio back then was to communicating as Twitter is today. Here is an excerpt:
“My fellow Americans, it is whispered by some that only by abandoning our freedom, our ideals, our way of life, can we rebuild our defenses adequately, can we match the strength of the aggressors. …I do not share these fears.”
Trump demands a quaint, televised, fireside chat to compete with FDR. Here is a sneak preview:
“My friends, Hillary Clinton will never see the inside of the White House again as long as I live.
“You people love me so much that I know you want to keep me as your president for life. The Constitution now allows this extended appointment of the executive branch. Our blessed homeland needs me to lead it. I have authorized The Enabling Act, borrowed from German Chancellor Adolf Hitler’s proposal to restrict powers of the Reichstag in 1933. His SS troops made legislators give up their civil liberties and transfer state powers to the Reich government. I’m pleased to tell you that the Democrats will sign away their legislative powers while my ICE agents surround the House of Representatives. I have the power to dissolve Congress and allow my Cabinet to pass much needed laws to Make America Great Again. And I pledge to you that all fake impeachment activity to convict me has ended.
“I also pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country. And we will remove all undocumented immigrants that are poisoning the blood of our country. And we will remove the portrait of African-born Barack Hussein Obama from the White House wall.
“My first act tomorrow will be to have House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Shiftless Adam Schiff picked up for questioning to ascertain their patriotism for the United States.
“I know I’ve been accused of a quid pro quo with Ukraine. There is nothing wrong with finding the truth about liars and cheats like Slow Joe Biden. And there’s nothing wrong asking a nation to help with uncovering wrongdoing by a corrupt man. As your President for Life, I will always tell you the truth. When I make a promise to you, I keep it.
“This concludes the first of my fireside chats. I can’t wait to tell you what I have in store for other scum Trump haters.”
(From "Donald's Vanity Tantrums.")
No, I can't believe he penned that with his own thumb. His new word "honor" is missing. I suppose his fireside is fuelled by the cherry-wood chopped up by young George with his little hatchet.
Satire
What else is there left to us?
Bill, you could be a playwright. Lol
3 dots on right
shuts you up!
I’m guessing by your post that you don’t agree with free speech. If you don’t like what I say, just block me or whatever you can do on the site I am relatively new to it. Someone sent me a stray email that got me here OK I soon noticed there is no opposing opinion on this website which means it’s kind of like a bubble So all I did is it and all I do is I have my thoughts you’re welcome to disagree with them. Hate them discard them or whatever. In the meantime, many people here need another perspective, but they’re not getting from outside the bubble. I have given the number of Californians this advice, and once they took it of actually worked to a great degree. Go spend some time with people and flyover country see what they think about California because you don’t see it from inside California and they were quite surprised and have mellowed since.
In fact, there’s one pretty famous actor who’s renowned left-wing liberal and his life that his mother was a schoolteacher and he had to do a film in Nebraska or Kansas something like that he had to spend a couple months shooting the movie when he left there he went these people are not what we thought they were so nice and friendly. They care about each other to help each other and not the dummies on the ogres we thought they were. And since then, he’s been much less vocal about his political bias. For whatever it’s worth
Rick can post what he likes as long as it’s not vulgar. Also reporting just means that the comment is removed from your screen nothing more.
Well done!!!
Did you substitute names from Goebbels tirades
Questioning Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi would be essentially letting them off the hook. In my opinion Adam Schiff home should be rated at 6 o’clock in the morning like they did to Roger Stone. And I would be willing to bet that Adam Schiff will receive a nice pardon, but I’m not sure that will still let him off the hook for what he did for 3 1/2 years with the Russia BS
3 dots on the right.
Shuts you up ;)
No it only shuts you out.
Bill's post is satire.
More than a few folks here reminded me yesterday not to feed the troll RS.
Yes, we know and Bill and I have a special relationship I actually complimented him and told him that he could be a playwright. 😁
Yeah, Eric trump braggs about the great business deals coming at them and President Biden was forced to pardon his son for no crime. In the meantime, while the trump crime syndicate is getting richer, the maga Congress says it will keep investigating Hunter Biden despite the presidential pardon.
A dog will never relinquish his bone. They may resurrect Bengazi. Hate is the driver, revenge the goal. Apologies to dogs
No crime RU kidding? Buying crack buying a gun cheating on taxes no crime? But he still needed a pardon.
I feel the same way. Didn’t like him long before he ran for president. Smarmy!,,
Indeed, a crime syndicate—though most syndicates boast more competent criminals. Some might assume Trump’s ability to avoid prison and ascend to the presidency reflects exceptional skill. In reality, his success relied heavily on luck and a system ripe for exploitation. By leveraging delays in justice and bending the rules, he avoided accountability. Now, his aim isn’t just survival—it’s dismantling the very system he manipulated to serve his own interests.
He’s not president yet so don’t get ahead of yourself
Legacy is the wrong way to characterize media. They are functionally spouting corporate political rhetoric and policies. Example: lionizing the murdered UHC CEO is a strong message to suppress popular demand to reform for profit health coverage.
I don’t approve of murder, but the media seem to ignore the fundamental public sense that all of our institutions have failed us. The responses to the CEO’s death reflected people’s anger at arbitrary denials by their insurers, and the execs have enough money for excessive salaries and to use our premiums to contribute to politicians to preserve the status quo.
Oligarchy’s media. Corptocracy. Thats what we have in power regardless of who is in the WH. President Biden stood up to those special interest and succeeded for us, the middle class. That is why he lost. Because he was winning for us. Read other professors, HCR is just one of many. Read THE GUARDIAN, the Atlantic . watch Democracy Now.
HST said that republicans called anything that helped all the people “socialism.” Now it’s that vitriol on steroids and half the people agree. Enough that the vipers will be racing to the finish line before another election is even contemplated.
the nation came close to being saved for one brief moment.
We can pinpoint the moment when it turned. Chump was whining about Joe dropping out and then, almost overnight, the campaign turned to racism and misogyny with a vengeance, and muskrat appeared to seal the deal. It gave me whiplash. But the MSM was enthralled…but not enough to point out what was happening.
Which hopefully inspires a generation.
WaPo is very earnestly trying to entice former "commenters" back into the fold.
I am also banned for life from the WAPO comment section for calling someone a "troll." This person or bot or whatever it was had been commenting without being called out by WAPO for several days in several different articles (sound familiar), I chose to call it a troll. Banned for life.
Last week the WAPO offered me a year's subscription for $13 and I ignored it as I do for The NY Times sniveling offers. And now that Paul Krugman has written his last column for The NY Times, I don't see any reason to return.
I'll stick with HCR, the Guardian and Rolling Stone. And, of course various Substack posts and Progress Radio.
I'm not banned, I just unsubscribed. HCR often quotes Jennifer Rubin, and that'll do. I won't be taking them up on any of their special offers either. Were it only $3 a year.
I pay $4 per month for NYT. I don’t mind that price for Eva other news source.
I wonder if FB and T would take me back. Banned four years ago for saying that chump was a Hitler wannabe. Piss on both…
Me too!
I’m permanently banned from WaPo after once stating I would take a crap on the Capital steps the day Trump is waked inside after eating a bucket of Kuntucky Fried Chicken. And I suggested that CNN would zoom in on my performance and interview me from jail.
I’ll ask them to let me back in and if they say yes, I won’t go.
Banned? for that? but did they publish it first, to see if circulation improved?
They published it then deleted. I wish I had screen shot it first. He will die before me and I will get my wish at his place of burial.
I am from Kentucky. There are cities in Kentucky who vote Democrat. We have a Democratic Governor Beshear who was being mentioned as a VP possibility for Harris. I live in a City with a Democratic Mayor. My family have been Democrats for generations. Being a vegetarian, I don't eat Kentucky Fried Chicken. Fried chicken is also used as a racist symbol. Could be why you got banned.
Bill this reads like hate speech. If you talk like this frequently then that got you banned.
Well gosh darn, it is hate speech. I hate Trump. So get me banned gere
Bill. I gave you the respect of thinking about your comment in WaPo and giving you feedback. There was no judging or criticizing.
How about giving the acid comments, the mean knee jerk reactions a break? People in Dr. Richardson's site are like refugees. We need a break from hatred.
Nah, too late
Medias Touch Network,an independent news org with ZERO outside financial investors, is shining the spotlight on the grift.Substack is a major part of their growth so subscribe(available for free), like or share. 📣
They’ve also hit over 5 billion YouTube views and getting more daily than Fox. Obviously MAGA people are not happy and delivering death threats ( via the cowardliness of the keyboard,of course) which only motivates MTN to keep growing the network.
https://open.substack.com/pub/meidastouch/p/resistance-hq-bulletin-25-121224?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
I have stopped.
Sometimes you have to watch the circus to see when the flamethrower Burns himself.
AND not provide anything to put out the fire 🔥
But they are attracting morons who are not cult nuts, yet. Making the problems worse. Granted they are all vying for the Fox runner up, and have become truly the enemy of the people. Free speech has become the mantra for trolls, and the fools, and the vipers…
Addendum:
Start taking notes, as Josh Marshall pointed out this morning. First promise already broken: he admits after promising to bring grocery prices down during the campaign that he can't. We can add that to the (falsely named) law and order party supporting Kash Patel who wants to break the FBI. Good luck stopping that next terrorist attack or investigating the growth of white supremacist terrorist organizations in the US.
Trump’s groupies are blissfully unaware that he is both the “deep state” and the “swamp.” These are both terms he uses to refer to governmental institutions he doesn’t personally control. I can guarantee that when he does bring them under his control, he will misuse them and get away with it. The SCOTUS majority has ignored 235 years of constitutional precedent and put Trump above the law. To paraphrase Frank Wilhoit’s comment, Trump is someone whom the law protects but does not bind, but ordinary citizens are persons whom the law binds but does not protect.
Well put
Philoctetes > Thank you for imput tonight. You were spot on. After I surfed thru all tonights comments, I circled back to give you Kudos. HCR has many good people in her orbit. ✅
Will, Rupert report, if he won’t MSM won’t either. Dems have no megaphone. Or even ears
Or…with no FBI, good luck finding the next shooter in a country awash in weapons and gun rights advocates. Looks like NOT defunding the police doesn’t apply to the FBI….or the Capitol Police for that matter
What a delightful group of posts here based on one of the most biased, outlandishly deceptive, pulling excerpts of remarks riddled with half truths , incorrect information , and over the top severely biased opinion.
I don’t even know where to begin. Even from her first paragraph, she emotes that Trump no longer has a plan for governance. I believe those were her words.
He has laid out specifically what his plans are, and Heather should know that because of how she describes the cabinet that he has chosen. He has even made public exactly what he’s gonna do on January 20. If you doubt that, please watch the interview on “MEET THE DEPRESSED” with Kristen Welker, which refutes much of what Heather writes in her letter
She claims that Trump was desperate for election in order to avoid his trials for his crimes. I believe is what she said I’ll have to go back and check, but I think that was the essence unfortunately there are no crimes left they’ve all been destroyed as they should’ve never been brought in the first place. And worse, new material came out yesterday and today about the January 6 event which brings into. Doubt , the work of the January 6 committee and the let’s call them lies OR omissions of their involvement
He made the statement many times that he wished Biden did a great job and then he wouldn’t feel compelled to run again however that was not the case. And the overwhelming election results confirm that when 49 of 50 states became redder to the utter chagrin of the liberals , Democrats, and Legacy media who have now lost about 40% of their audience for lying to the public for so long and towing the line of the Democrat party like lemmings.
And the Republicans managed to keep both the Senate and the house and won the popular vote, which hasn’t happened in over 20 years. Aka the Democrat coup de etat did not work . Imagine the people that said that Trump was a threat to democracy and yet the Democrats actually pulled off a coup in the United States of America just like they do in other autocratic/oligarch-run countries.
I will continue a second post now
You wrote “What a delightful group of posts here based on one of the most biased, outlandishly deceptive, pulling excerpts of remarks riddled with half truths , incorrect information, and over the top severely biased opinion.”
Gotta hand it to you Rick, you are the absolute master of projection - attributing to others what you yourself do.
Surely 'believing your own bullshit' at the level of which MAGA cultists display is a diagnosable mental health condition.
Well, TDS isn’t diagnosed in Republicans only in Democrats along with the newly found metastasized growth called TRDS Trump Russia derangement syndrome.
Rick, what possible rationale could justify the movement of classified documents to Mar a Lago and the refusal to give them back?
Dream on
He now will commence dictating into his cell for the rest of the morning. Watch don’t say I didn’t tell you so.
R.S. Maybe It It Is Time To Adjust Your Medications... If You Love DJT So Much., Put Your Money In His Crypto... Good Luck As We Said In Vietnam...
Cryptocurrency and its lack of regulation will cause Great Depression 2.0.
The Mega-Minds, the DOGE Brothers, want to abolish the FDIC... That would be Horrible... Conceivably, Millions could lose their Life-Savings... Don't forget that the Billionaires are Asset Diversified and Off-Shored...
I’m not a fan of crypto and I’m not a fan of anyone who is a single item voter. Presidency is a huge complex of issues. We shall see what happens with crypto it’s out of my control for sure.
by the way, I’m 75 years old and I take one pill that I’ve been taking for 30 years for a hiatal hernia. So no medication’s to adjust. I’m sorry to say hope I didn’t disappoint you.
I'm Older Than You, And Still Combat Effective...
I’m in pretty good shape as well. Was an athlete my whole life scratch golfer never been one much for combat. Oral jousting is fine, but there’s no need for combat when people can discuss their ideas and thoughts. In an amicable way.
Quite an interesting statement there Apache. I saw a quote that pretty much mirrored my sentiments to what you say above. and here it is.
I don’t like Donald Trump. What I like is every one of his policies that lifted all boats during his administration Not many in this blog, if any of all have actually done the following Googled Trump administration, accomplishments, and see what you see Submiss what you like refute what you like but at least do it so you have an idea?
R.S. I doubt that You have had a Elevated Security Clearance... Taking Classified Documents Home, and Obstructing Justice in order to Hide them invariably results in Prison Time... I also doubt that You have ever Served this Country in Uniform... I come from a Family that has been on this Continent for over 10.000 Years... Every Generation has sent it's Men to Fight For This Land...
And brother, let us hope that Biden pardons Leonard Peltier.
EXCELLENT!!! I knew one of the FBI Agents that was on Pine Ridge at that time, 1/2 Lakota, and he thought that Leonard's Prosecution was unjust...
Nope, I’ve never had a security clearance in government that is, but I have had one in private corporate business.
So can you please tell me why Joe Biden is not in prison he was actually worse than Trump. He had them in open boxes in his garage for about 10 years, but Mr.HUR said he was too feeble to stand trial, but he could be president of the United States at the same time lol. Kinda like Hillary was allowed not to stand trial.
And I’ve tried to learn the lesson not to assume anything and risk offending someone who is not due that offense. Served six years in the military here as a medic and a dialysis and an x-ray tech, but I never saw combat. Not sure what point you were trying to make.
RS, You breathlessly declare “ So can you please tell me why Joe Biden is not in prison he was actually worse than Trump. He had them in open boxes in his garage for about 10 years,…”
Those were left over from when he was Vice president in the late 20th century in boxes packed by aides and not looked at since. He immediately turned them over when found in a search he has allowed as a matter of course.
Trump by contrast, intentionally took huge quantities of material that was not his to take, lied about having it at all, tried to hide it and intentionally violated court orders to hand it back to the rightful owners,!the American people as represented by the National Archives.
Hit and his report acted disgracefully and he, his actions and report were relegated to the trash heap.
Uncle Joe invited the FBI to his home when he discovered them... He did not try to hide them... Try Leading Men in Combat, and try explaining to their Families of those that don't return...
You crowed “ Nope, I’ve never had a security clearance in government that is, but I have had one in private corporate business.”
Of course you have - a king in the castle of your mind. . [guffaw, snicker, chuckle]
You addressed the wrong one.
Rick Sender, buy my book Donald’s Vanity Tantrums” and you will be rewarded with truth like you never saw before. And laugh like hell.
Bill, I just now picked up your book on Kindle. Looking forward to reading it. I am always looking for humor.
Bill keep at it. You’re wearing me thin lol
This guy pays money to come here and be a jackass.
How desperate is THAT?
If I were you, I would throw away that crystal ball and Ouija board and go buy yourself a new one. The one you Have is not working. I don’t need a dime Need a dime I’ve been a great success in my life and I’m very proud of what I’ve done. I probably created AT LEAST 1000 millionaires and 50,000 jobs. So GO On with your bad self. I could insult you as well, but I won’t. You’re doing that yourself.
Go back to listening to Fucx News. You'll never be able to admit to yourself how wrong you are. Sad. You lack the perspective needed to comment intelligently when the truth is spelled out right in front of you. I thank the universe everyday that I wasn't born dumb enough, insecure enough, hateful enough to have grown up to become one of those MAGATS. A buh-bye.
Well, that’s a pretty erudite and intelligent post. Temper temper.
Also pretty assumptive What I see in you is that you may be needing a mirror and a conscience. Perhaps some introspection. Try this first, but you won’t Trump administration accomplishments and I don’t know what I’m wrong about but are you saying that 77 million people are also wrong but the same people were right about Joe Biden the same dumb people People on the writer, not hateful and obviously you don’t follow the news or you would know that people on the right didn’t call Biden Hitler. They didn’t call him fascist. They attacked his policies, which had this country headed in the wrong direction and 68% of people agreed with that based on a CNN. Poll So let me say something since you won’t go Google that Trump accomplishments page try this
Minds are like parachutes they work better when they’re open
My goodness. This guy must be paid on a dollar-per-comment basis. With all the time it takes to write these hundreds of comments every day, it’s impossible to have a real job besides…
This is his entertainment. He loves the attention. He is similar to Trump. This man-child should not be entertained, period.
You're right. Trump cultists want to be just like their idol: narcissistic, the center of attention, and grabbing money and pussies without any consequences.
Wow, you must be writing from an alternate universe. Keep drinking that Trump Kool Aid. Enjoy your fantasy world, you are soon to be in for a very rude awakening. It amazes me that people like you have no clue that Trump cares about absolutely no one but himself. Whatever.
No one is going to win with this guy. He is full of delusions and projections. Nothing he has said is based on facts. Trump had no accomplishments in his first term and he knows it. He knows that the accusations against President Biden have been proven to be baseless and false. Trump clearly violated the Presidential Records Retention Act. May have violated the law against espionage based on some of the documents he retained. Stop wasting your time trying to have a serious conversation with him. He’ll undoubtedly will react to my comments. I won’t waste my time responding to him.
Oh, then again, I will tell you something Catherine that you won’t like and you won’t do but that you should to be a even minded person google Trump administration, accomplishments But you won’t do it because it might disrupt the feeling that Trump only cares for himself
What the hell does he need the presidency for? He’s got all the money in the world. He’s already been president got shot once got almost shot again law fair against him. That is now all gone the legacy media, calling him Hitler and fascist, etc. which didn’t work and was inappropriate And yet he ascended to the presidency once again Quite an accomplishment in of itself. The poor billionaire with hotels and golf course courses all over the world 22,000 employees social media website that’s worth 10 billion. And now supported by the richest man in the world that used to be a hero to the left when he was a Democrat and now they demonize him because he has an R in front of his name very sad indeed Elon Musk should be elected leader of the free world
The collapse function is a beautiful thing. Enjoy your hatred.
I believe is free speech. Sadly yours is pure nonesense and babble.
3 dots to the right
One of the Salient Characteristics of DJT is Impatience... This is still over a Month Away from Inauguration... From HCR: "Time magazine’s interview with President-elect Donald Trump, published yesterday, revealed a man who was so desperate to be reelected to the presidency that he constructed a performance that he believed would woo voters, but who has no apparent plans for actual governance.
Trump deliberately patterned the Republican National Convention where he accepted the party’s nomination for president on a professional wrestling event, even featuring a number of professional wrestlers. It appears now that the campaign itself was, similarly, a performance—possibly, as Tom Nichols of The Atlantic suggested, simply to avoid the threat of conviction in one of the many federal or state cases pending against him. In the Time interview, Trump called his campaign “72 Days of Fury.”
In Addition: "If there is one major continuity between Trump’s campaign and plans for his administration, it is that his focus on shock and performance, rather than the detailed work of governing, still plays well to the media."
Why is anybody surprised from DJT walking away from his promises? Did anyone believe that DJT took his Oath-Of-Office seriously to Uphold the Laws of Congress?... DJT is Predatory, and Opportunistic...
Net: Because of his Sycophantic Picks in the 'Power Branches' of the U.S. Gov., from Day One of Trump 2.0. expect 'Shock & Awe' Everyday... The 'Trump Show' is back... An Interesting note that reinforces what we already knew... Most of the U.S. is in a local News Desert that is not serviced by local Journalism... These places went 91% for DJT... They are mostly serviced by Right-Wing 'Bro-Casts, and Media... Remember over1/2 of the Country now doesn't Read, and Comprehend at a 6th Grade-Level, and can't do Basic Arithmetic... This Ignorance Is Getting Deadly...
Oh. That was a campaign? Those random ambles up and down the stage, pointing? the jokes? the songs? I thought he'd just given up because he knew he was beaten, but no, he knew that Musk had taken things in hand and there was no further problem with money. Or principles.
Hello Anne-Louise... Look at the Intended Audience... The Popular Vote that DJT won with was the smallest winning Percentage since Clinton '92... It is arguable that if RFK hadn't been bribed to join the DJT Campaign, DJT would have lost... Kamala should have Distanced herself from Joe Biden more... 'Gaza' may have cost her in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania.... OBW: Have You Noticed That DJT Has Never Released His Medical Records? Maybe DJT Doesn't Think That He Has Much Time Left....
"The Popular Vote that DJT won with was the smallest winning Percentage since Clinton '92"
Done caring. That Trump could hand in the performance he did in his first term and run the campaign he ran and still get more than 25% of the vote is an indictment of America, not of Trump.
Obviously it wasn’t a campaign to you but apparently it was the 77 million Americans and 49 or 50 states that went redder. And even though musk was part of Trump’s campaign, Trump was out spent five to one.
Hear here Apache. Excellent post.
In Maine, the most of the rural vote is for Trump while much of the coastal vote went for Kamala. The Republicans put up a candidate for Congress that was a former Nascar driver that had no college education. And he was 30 years old and served in the legislature for two years only showing up over 1/2 the time. And he almost beat the incumbent.
I've lived in 10 states and voted in multiple cities or towns in many of them. He was, far and away the most unqualified Congressional candidate I have ever seen.
Many of the communities you mention have recently received high speed Internet for the first time. Maybe that will make a difference on how they vote because they will have access to information sources they've never had.
What is significant about this election is the number of swing States (except Arizona) who elected him by the slimmest of margins but had significant wins in their State and Local races. People are really scratching their heads about this phenomena of people voting for a straight Democratic ticket and then switching to him. Also. those razor thins margins.
I will say it again. this election smells.
Watch Hakeem Jeffries allude to this fact in a Press Conference.
Exactly! Bewildering results, hopefully an explanation will be forthcoming.
I doubt it. The excellent news is that the Democrats have created very strong State Governments.
You only hope he walks away from his promises, but to your utter chagrin it’s not gonna happen. If you watch the Kristen Welker interview you’ll see what he’s going to do day one and then the first hundred days are gonna be more impactful than anything you’ve ever seen because he realizes he doesn’t have time.
collapsed.
Now you should go watch his interview with Kristen Welker on meet the depressed. Were Trump answered every offensive question he was given
And I love when you people go this route, talking about the stupidity of the electorate Did the electorate become stupid before or after Biden’s presidency as he was elected by the same electorate. ? Yikes and oooops guess the ignorance wasn’t so deadly when they elected Biden. Sigh
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Again and again this mantra is surfacing. Don’t repeat their words. Just …well I guess focus on their actions? I am not convinced. These words…snake tongued …have real world consequences when the snakes are in control. They hiss; we scuttle. Or at least the likes of Bezos, Zuck, and Morning Joe do and the ripples are real. Think about the unpapered immigrants, the cis gender teens, seniors dependent on social security. Words …their words…have repercussions.
But remember - this is the point: flood the zone with distractions so that we take our eyes off of the dangerous real world effects of policies they put into place. And we need to prioritize: transgender rights are vital, but deporting 10 million immigrants, if it starts to happen, or getting rid of polio vaccines, as RFK would like, will have far more dangerous and deleterious consequences. We cannot be distracted and as they flood the zone, need to prioritize. Full disclosure: I live in France so don't get my information from the now unreliable US media, but from European press which is far more diverse and with a tradition of criticism and intellectualism that simply does not exist in the US. To say everyone over here is appalled would be an understatement. The US will wear this election for generations like a ball and chain.
Philoctetes, As someone who resides in the States, I would suggest the folks viewing us from the outside not underestimate the power of the ever expanding resistance currently organizing under the auspices of seasoned and determined grassroots leaders who are showing us how to resist the infiltration of the MAGA agenda into our states and communities. Quoting two prominent leaders, “Our best chance to get through this era with some amount of democracy intact is to hang on until 2026 and win big in the midterms—breaking Trump’s hold on Congress and making sure election deniers and saboteurs aren’t in charge of the 2028 election. We’ve boiled it down to three big plays…” For more from these two former congressional aids, visit indivisible.org
Barbara get ready for a surprise somewhere past Trump’s halfway in his presidency that might even anoint his vice president in the White House for the next 12 years or so.
Rick, Perhaps you’re the one who will be surprised as increasingly more people summon the power to fight back—and win.
Actually, Barbara, I think it’s going the other way. If you succeeded in doing what his campaign promises was fighting back will be futile
And why would you fight back against the president? That’s doing a good job on behalf of American citizens? I come here and there’s so many people who are depressed and pessimistic and fatalistic and negative in advance. Patience… why don’t you see what he does instead of thinking of what he will or might do.
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To see the once-revered name of Kennedy in such a context!
I thought Kennedy was one of the best presidents we’ve ever had, and it was the worst day of my life at that time when he was shot. But that doesn’t mean his personal life was any different than that of Donald Trump or Bill Clinton And somebody made the point of Trump giving positions in his administration and I thought of Bobby Kennedy. And that year was one of the worst years in political history, . Along with Martin Luther King, who most of the Democrats have forgotten.
This reads like it was cobbled together from an FSB propaganda Playbook. Intentional or not.
Please do better.
Why do you talk to this guy? Dr. Richardson recommends ignoring trolls.
Lol but I don’t cobble. Better than what ? I’ve made my point you disagree. That’s fine with me. Have a nice evening.
Trump is going to start off by screwing the farmers who voted for him. They won’t be able to sell their products abroad due to tariffs, and Trump will deport the people who pick their crops.
Kathy, the tariffs might even not have to happen. And by the way, if the tariffs don’t work, why did Joe Biden keep almost all of Trump’s and even added a few of his own. Tariffs do a number of things as they did to Canada and Mexico. It’s a negotiating tool. It helped to Mexico and Canada come to their senses about illegal immigrants crossing our border. And they got the message loud and clear without the tariff being imposed. If the people are here picking the crops are legal or have a temporary visa. They’ll stay exactly where they are. Maybe you’d like to talk to the mother of Lake and Riley or the 13-year-old who is raped and murdered by two Venezuelan gang members. ?
Yes, I too am in Europe and have a variety of news sources. As Barbara points out, being geographically removed I am keenly aware that I have a an inadequate grasp of the groundswell in the US. I just have observed that the foreign press also must wrestle with the rhetoric from the Trump 2.0 team. I just don’t think that this messaging is meant to distract ….and I believe that the sticks and stones rhyme applies…these words can really hurt those who are in the cross hairs.
What media sources in Europe do you recommend? I follow BBC news but would like to follow other news outlets as well.
I split my time between the US and Germany. The Guardian is a fairly reliable source, but for issues concerning the struggle to maintain Constitutional Democracy, I would highly recommend Verfassungsblog. Much of their work is in German, but there is a great deal of solid material in English. https://verfassungsblog.de/
The Guardian.
The socialist BBC? because that’s the only one there is.
It’s worse than Italy’s Berlusconi :/
I think the man is going to play a lot of golf and let his minions run riot.
What is it with you people that look so negatively in advance I’ve never seen anything like it put away your crystal balls and your Ouija boards and wait to see what happens because you have no other choice but to see what happens. Can tell you from my opinion he will be the most involved president in your lifetime.
I assume you mean trans gender teens?
By the way you hear Republicans attack transgender people, you would never know that transgender people are at most 1% of the American population.
How can Heather write this article without mentioning Putin? Putin brags that he tilted the election and says he expects a quid pro quo!
Biden needs to report on Russian interference ASAP! We are the victims of the Russian war on the USA. An admission is dispositive and is actionalble and constitutes an emergency.
See and here we have a victim, Daniel you’re back with TRDS.
Right now, we are trying to drink from a firehose of Trump's crazy to do what Philoctetes is suggesting.
We each have individual issues at the top of our "biggest fears" list. We need to keep track of those so we can start to oppose them most effectively.
The way to do that is to use a news consolidator like https://feedly.com/. You can search for specific topics and get to the original source, usually Reuters and AP. You can also look at White House press releases, C-SPAN, and the Congressional Record.
The chat capabilities here and on Bluesky may be the best way to develop micro-communities of interest and share what we have learned with others who have common hot-button issues.
This is the only way to avoid the selective filtering and slanted coverage of news that is now going on with the degradation of previous sources like the NYTimes and WaPo. Trump's performance is a cover and distraction from the real danger. We must combat the avalanche of changes that Project 2025 will try to implement. The real enemy is not Trump; it is those highly motivated implementers of the agenda from the truly unholy alliance of oligarchs and white Christian nationalists.
Another point. We need to add intelligent, well informed discussions to Substack, Bluesky and other burgeoning communities. I am glad to see Bluesky reacting quickly to trolls and disinformation. Dr. Richardson recommends ignoring trolls.
So let’s see we’re all deciding to fight back in advance of what we think is gonna happen. Cool. Well thought out and designed thought process. I have never seen a group of people more negative in advance. Maybe you should be listening to Stephanie ruhle a little bit more. Can’t remember if she’s on the communist news network or if MSRIP network But she said Democrats need to stop the histrionics and start realizing that 80% of what they think is gonna happen never happens.
I’ve been writing about Project 2025 since the month it was released. The prior version was the basis for more than 70% of the legislative agenda in Trump’s first administration.
You can obfuscate and try to suck energy out of this forum all you want but you can’t hide the truth. The danger is real. People are dying and will die because of these policies. Life is going to be harder.
I won’t respond further to your continued trolling. I don’t think anyone else here should waste the energy either. Go peddle your bullshit back on the ever shrinking X. I am one lib you will not own.
He already has made this site unbearable. Too many respond and he rejoices.
First, why do you think X is shrinking? would you like to know why?
It’s really simple it’s people like you that don’t want to hear both sides of the story. Twitter used to be 69% Democrat 31% Republican now that it’s 50-50 blue sky is what we now call ex for cowards. You can just sit there and cry in your own misery, and have everybody commiserate with you. Do you see your social network called red sky anywhere? Nope
And Why the hell would you think I want to Own you?
Well, let’s see what was buried in project 25 like a strong military only citizens can vote. Hopefully we can all agree on that . It’s got some bad things I assume and it has some good things in it don’t pigeonhole it. I’ve never seen it, but I’ve heard there’s those two things that are there. And I get the people that I’ve been on this site for a while abhor project 2025. I guess I’ll have to familiarize myself with it a little bit more.
But it is not Trump’s playbook. Trump’s playbook is in his head and has been in his head since his first coming down the escalator, he doesn’t need help from project 25 or anyone else in that regard. Go watch the meet the press with Kirsten Welker where he answers. Every offensive question she asks.
I said to someone earlier, some people read the Bible some people don’t
I doubt that everyone that reads it believes everything in it. Project 25 is no different other than it may have some offensive things that I may disagree with as well and probably would. Because I said to someone else, you need to wait to see actions because actions speak a lot louder than words.
And to your utter chagrin, if not for Covid, Trump would be leaving office now not getting into it.
Philocetes, yes, stay focused on what he does. And when he “appoints” unqualified persons to cabinet positions, contact your senators in as many ways as possible to protest with the facts. If those in favor of the “appointments” let their wishes be known and we do not, the senators will believe that the majority of their constituents are in favor.
It seems very unlikely that he'll appoint any qualified persons. Does he know any?
this guy you are replying to is spamming the comments section. If people stop replying to him he will be eliminated. There was another troll who everyone ignored and he eventually gave up.
And Louise I can’t stop laughing. I’m sorry. What are you gonna say when they all get approved? And after all the talk about recessed appointments when they probably won’t need any, maybe one.
So who are the people here that can determine whether his cabinet posts are unqualified? Any presidents here blogging ? Do you all imagine that Biden‘s cabinet and Obama‘s cabinet and bushes cabinet were the perfect people? And were qualified.? Wow. It’s the prerogative of any president to pick his choice of cabinet and to have him go through the process of approval advise and consent.
Joe Biden not only got approval of all the incompetents in his administration but got a lot of support from Republicans
"Stop listening to Trump!" I agree for your mental health." Watch what he does to destroy America!" I disgaree, beause you become so upset, depressed from hopelessness. "What can we do? Where is any hope? How can we fight?"
The group 'Indivisible' has a game plan. Here is the link:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o1gSdFWIUpw41O5zbaxedVsr6Xik5XpPd9FwqvXYu40/preview?tab=t.0
So you’re still at it posting stuff, but never respond when you find out that your posts need a lot more research
Better yet start putting out success of democrats and Biden. We will not win until we tell our story.
Yes, and also keep focusing on the positive world we want. At the core is a just energy transition which, when that fully occurs a lot of this bullshit will go away….
- Pulled Quote -
"If there is one major continuity between Trump’s campaign and plans for his administration, it is that his focus on shock and performance, rather than the detailed work of governing, still plays well to the media."
Good news? Maybe. What do you think?
Philoctetes, you're right about staying focused on what is done, but we need to go beyond that. We need to focus on what is said and what is done, and then ask ourselves what that says about what interest is being served. If it says the interest being served is a part of the greater good at the expense of the greater good, that's bad.
Our highest responsibility is to serve the greater good at the expense of its parts, including when we are part of the part paying the price. Otherwise, bad people are implicitly asking us why we're saying it's not okay for them to be bad while implying it's okay for us to be bad, and we're implicitly saying they need to stop because they're better at it than we are. It's not a strong argument.
"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts." —Aristotle
......drivel that oozes from his reptilian brain. A great line. Trump is an idiot savant. His genius is his ability to appeal to, as he has said, to the uneducated. Unless you have a financial stake in his presidency, you would have to have accepted all his BS as valid, which required zero critical thinking. I hope we survive to be able to rid us of this insanity in the next elections if we have any.
Because everything that comes out of his mouth is a lie!!
All vaccines need to stay place. Call your senators and congressman. Refuse RFK jr confirmation.
Quite right and on target but what is painful to read in HCR's column is that trump' focus on shock and performance rather than the detailed work of governing still plays well to the media.
Looks like the presidency is just Trump’s side gig—and governance takes a backseat to grift and chaos
Expecting anything other than chaos and division from a sociopath is what’s really crazy.
Here, yet again, are the second and third entries in a notebook I opened in November 2016, immediately after the election.
Both still seem actual.
By comparison, most of what I have written on the matter since then has been a waste of breath and the time has come to sign off.
*
GREAT AGAIN?
Democracy? Democracy? Where's that? I see only oligarchy.
Chances are DT will bankrupt oligarchy, as he’s bankrupted all he touches, and try for the only thing he (thinks he) understands: dictatorship.
But will the Republic survive the attempt?
*
SYRIA—DRESS REHEARSAL?
It all began, not with an armed uprising, but with protest demonstrations. As in Russia in 1905, it was the regime’s violent response that set fire to the powder keg.
Now here’s the question: is this war the dress rehearsal for what will befall whoever dares resist oligarchy?
*
We have now to concentrate on just being ourselves and staying true to ourselves, regardless of the antics of the merciless savages, mostly white, "whose warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions". Let us all have a care to preserve ourselves from their poison.
Farewell, then. I shall miss this civilized company.
To all, wishes for peace, freedom, lasting happiness!
Bankrupt all he touches, huh. I love when people start pointing that out. It’s pretty funny. A list of people who have gone bankrupt and become successful. Here’s a highlights. H.J. Heinz, Steve Jobs, PT Barnum Henry Ford, Walt Disney George Foreman Clarence, Saunders of Piggly Wiggly Milton Hershey. Oh, and Donald Trump.
Governance? Oh, that. Office staff are there to take care of that.
Exactly!
👍
Same as last time
Hardest, working president in your lifetime watch and learn.
The American people elected a con man who who only wants to stay out of jail and get back at his enemies. This is not a politician, but he is now in the Oval Office. This mistake by the voters (assisted by still un investigated machinations by Putin and the Republican Party that may have Altered the results of the election overall) will go down as the greatest tragedy in America since the start of the Civil War, if not greater 
“Mistake” doesn’t convey the magnitude of the error. Everyone who voted for Trump committed an unforgivable crime against humanity. Every last one of them is someone the world would be better off without. No exceptions.
All we can do at this point is hunker down, watch for windows of possible wins and take care of our families. I just can't bring myself right now to get psyched about the DNC and the National Democratic Party Leaders. The States' Democrats though did an amazing job.
And I’m not at all confident that the US can recover from the assault.
I think we are permanently damaged.
After all I’ve seen, I’m seriously considering the possibility that Rump is the Antichrist…
I believe he is.
The descriptions sure seems to fit...
Nations go through this. We are either going to pull through to the other side right now or wait generations for change.
Not supremely evil, just a mob boss with no human characteristics. As an old dictionary described “trump’er.y. N.; deceit, fraud; anything calculated to deceive by false show; things worn out and of no value; worthless finery, intrinsically of little value…” Well, I would say more, but pretty descriptive and makes fools of many Americans who live in the shadow of human evil.
My resigned and bitter hope is that the next two years are NOT SO BAD as to damage the republic permanently but MORE THAN BAD ENOUGH to turn popular opinion away from Trump to catalyze much needed reforms for financial transparency of political contributions, not to mention promulgating strict limits on amounts of money contributed. 😱🤞🤬🖖🥳
EDIT: P.S., that would be the start of a much longer process of unravelling and redressing corruption.
His appointees to critical institutions like the DOJ and FBI will have a huge impact on how bad things will get. Here is clip from Democracy Dockett with congressman Dan Goldman that lays out how important it is that these appointments DO Not get approved.
https://youtu.be/k0QDFO_zB1U?si=Dr00b9GxERWF4UYd
Amen Ned! Democracy can survive grift, incompetence, lying and misinformation. As long as polio vaccine can be obtained, even if a bit harder and not mandated, we'll be ok. 'Investigating' opponents in the name of revenge weakens our democracy, but again it will survive so long as innocent people are not convicted. This guy is highly likely to trigger a recession, ok not good but we can survive it. I'd keep an eye on things that undermine/destroy the ability of our democracy to function. Those things are a bit harder to discern especially in 'real time'. E.g. Nixon sabotaging Muskie and other Dems, unknown at the time, may have changed history in an anti-democratic manner.
Most of us can survive a drop in the use of vaccines, but the mandated vaccines are often the ones covered by insurers and public health agencies. It takes a relatively modest drop in the percentage of those immunized, so called herd immunity, to unleash rounds of disease that can kill or permanently disable many people.
With Donald Trump, it's all about the show, it's all about the spectacle, it's all about the ratings – free of any thoughtful substance or, for that matter, any conscience whatsoever. Always has been. Always will be. To him, the con, the grift, the chaos and, of course, the suffocating, insatiable ego are paramount.
Far more than any public figure in this reader's memory, going as far back as the mid-1950s, Trump has orchestrated a dumbing down, coarsening and vulgarization of American life that previously had been unimaginable. But it's not that we weren't warned. In 1985, NYU Professor Neil Postman published the book "Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business." Although it was too early to cite Trump specifically, the emphasis was on our overall trivializing of what ought to be serious.
Author Aldous Huxley "believed with H. G. Wells that we are in a race between education and disaster, and he wrote continuously about the necessity of our understanding the politics and epistemology of media," Postman explained. "For in the end, he was trying to tell us that what afflicted the people in 'Brave New World' was not that they were laughing instead of thinking, but that they did not know what they were laughing about and why they had stopped thinking."
Trump is a creature of media, ensuring the dominance of infotainment over credible journalism. The fact he was elected president not just once but twice doesn't speak well of America's prevailing values.
The election of 2024 provides incontrovertible evidence that the U.S. is no longer a serious country.
What Comes to Mind: The Emperor Has No Clothes and Dorothy's discovery that the Wizard of Oz was literally a fraud, a little man hiding behind a curtain and using special effects to create an illusion of grandeur.
It’s kinda like we’re going to have some sort of “concept” of a government. This group of people are much scarier than the Wizard or a naked Emperor. Let’s bring back polio and diphtheria, dirty water, graft and chaos. It certainly sounds like a concept for a horror film.
RFK, Jr. is not the man his father was, and he wants to make vaccine preventable disease great again.
He’s damaged and hateful, bad combo
Check this interactive map of all of Trump's 79 nominees including Kari Lake, Harmeet Dhillon and Kimberly Guilfoyle. Click on any face for details and links to more information. Search by name? Position nominated for? Connected to FOX? Is a major donor? Related to Trump? Billionaire? Who has been accused of sexual assault?
https://embed.kumu.io/bc8545ebfc1ab2db211d4bfd3d855b48#trump
Fox loves them, so does MSM now
Well. We knew it was going to be awful. So here we are. I haven't heard him speak in many years. I never follow mainstream media. Monitor how much of this nightmare you are willing to absorb on any given day.
My husband keeps saying”some good will come from this”. He hasn’t been wrong in 34 years. Trump’s first term was so awful, the real good that came from that was Joe Biden and ALL the good he miraculously created in 4 years for this country and the world. Let’s not forget that. Trump was created after wonderful Obama, and predictably again after Biden. Wealthy dark players want dark patsies. . It’s America’s pattern, so it seems. Let’s focus on great leaders to replace Trump and his kind in 2-4 years.And then again. There are plenty ready and willing.
I keep waiting for the public to say "enough is enough" and demand real change, but I have now been waiting for decades. I have not given up, and Trump seems bent on proving just how awful he can be. I hope he does not pull the whole "ship of state" down with him.
Meanwhile, who remembers the "Gilded Age"? It's been a secret in plain sight that the "Robber Barons" have been Striking Back for some time now. Monopolization of money and political power has menaced humanity for centuries, yet we strike at the branches rather than the roots. We as a society made hard won uneven progress it that direction in the last century with a resultant growing middle class and several moves toward broadening social justice, yet tossed much of that away for slick and misleading sloganeering.
Follow the money! It's The One Ring to Rule Them All.
We have to go back to taxing the oligarchs again and making their campaign finance bribery and dark money illegal.
The convicted criminal's shtick "still plays well to the media"?
Yes, but we're talking media who've all been to college, and so been stripped of any humanities to be in touch with any of the tens of millions who've been so hurt as they have been by the U.S. money classes.
We're also talking that convicted criminal deftly having played those tens of millions who all got their jobs offshored, their communities abandoned.
Sure, the oligarchy now moves in.
Billionaires line up, giving millions to the new king, hoping to curry favor. Ha ha, the joke’s on them. He will take their gold, frankincense, and myrrh and screw them all!
That is what sociopaths do. It’s all a game.
Assuming they do not have United Health insurance, I'd suggest they get gonad transplants.
So this is what happens when maladjusted rich boys grow tired of their most common play toys…they then decide to move on to making America and Americans lives their new play toy?
…and the Earth and all living creatures on it.
It’s not just us. Most living creatures can’t post…
Why haven’t you commented on Time magazine choosing him as the man of the year? I was pretty shocked by that. Talk about propaganda! I haven’t looked at it. Was he just allowed to lie and lie and lie right there in time magazine?
"Man of the Year" doesn't always mean influential in a good way. Don't forget that Adolf Hitler was Man of the Year once.
Also, Stalin – twice.
I'm not religious, but I pray every night I'll wake up in the morning with my news feed announcing that Fatso Fatass at the fatal hamberder and is now laid out as the rotting corpse he is.
I actually did a similar thing—every morning I grabbed my phone, hoping that something had happened to him during the night. I guess it’s time to do it again.
Unfortunately JD what’s his name is his life insurance policy
The next four years will be an era of graft, corruption, revenge, and deceit like nothing we have ever seen.
This "Laundering" list is nothing new. However, a dive has begun into where over a billion dollars went during VP Harris' battle for the presidency. Again, the Dem. Campaign was awash in money. This, in no way, condones what Trump is doing, but it does place a spotlight on the power of the world's most powerful drug: money and how all are addicted to it in one way or another. RFK Jr., for example, has vowed to take corn syrup out of US food products. The response from the US farmers was quick: No way! I am not here to provide cover for the incoming Trump administration! Trump is and will destroy as many guardrails as he can get away with. However, as Jon Stewart brilliantly noted, we must focus on norms and loopholes. We must understand that the Democracy and Republic are no longer hand in hand. They have long lost touch with each other. Biden provided his list of accomplishments for all to remember, which are worth remembering. However, the public has lost faith in the government. Trump will either force citizens to rejoin the hands of Democracy and the Republic or, as Ben Franklin said, after the convention was over as if announcing the birth of a child: It's a Republic if we can keep it. Trump may force us to answer: Do we want to keep it.