The Trump administration’s white nationalist project was on full display this weekend at the 62nd Munich Security Conference that took place from February 13 to 15, 2026.
"Unless the people, through unified action, arise and take charge of their government, they will find that their government has taken charge of them. Independence and liberty will be gone, and the general public will find itself in a condition of servitude to an aggregation of organized and selfish interest." —Calvin Coolidge
"After all, the chief business of the American people is business". Another rather infamous quote from then President Calvin Coolidge, on January 17, 1925, only some years before the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression years.
Republican administrations are so good at wrecking the economy while siphoning so much of the wealth and tax breaks to the elites and corporations. It's why Heather often has to restate that: "extremist Republicans attacked their opponents as socialists even as their tax cuts and deregulation were moving money dramatically upward: at least $50 trillion moved upward from the bottom 90% to the top 1% between 1975 and 2020."
I attended the MSC this weekend, except for time out to go to a Demonstration from One Billion Rising against violence towards Girls, Women and LGBTQ+ people. Then, I watched a livestream of AOC speaking at the Technical University in Berlin on Sunday evening. Here is a piece I wrote on her conversation there, which was very powerful. It includes a video of the talk.
She rightfully points to the need for alliances to stand up to the far right populists. She also points out that we need to have a politics that takes working people into account. Her differentiating good populists from bad is something that Jefferson Cowie talked about in a speech he made last winter, which my book club watched on livestream. We were unclear how he was using the term populist and invited him to talk to us at Democrats Abroad, which he gracefully did. He says that populists just want to do what is popular, but that a successful candidate will appeal to the 2/3 of Americans who do not have a university degree. So, he is not saying that people appealing to the working class are populists if this is their platform and what they believe in, which is not the case for Trump. AOC sees these people are left wing populists, not something different with some populist ideas. Interesting.
Kimberly, and Trump has been helping the Christian Nationalists to make this a nation of uneducated people and to destroy the careers of educated people in the sciences and all fields by decreasing the funding. A woman I know is looking to get a job in tech in Japan now. While Japan may not be known as a haven for women, the fact that they have a women president points to changes that they have made that we have not. They certainly seem to be willing to fund research in ways that the US is not.
Trump of course is not only trying to destroy the careers of educated women but trying to disenfranchise them with his demand for the last name on ID to match the name on the birth certificate. So all those good Republican women who changed their name at marriage are going to be left out in the cold with a “household vote” where they try to influence their husbands but in the end have to go with what he wants, since he retains his vote. For those feminist women who kept their names, we will be able to vote. But they will figure out a way to disenfranchise us too, no doubt. They are probably working on it right now in some dark corner of the People’s House.
I did not change my name when I married for the first time back in the early 1980's. My explanation to the many negative comments was that it was too much hassle to go through all the name-change document crap. In reality, I think I instinctively felt uncomfortable subsuming my identity into that of my husband's. (We divorced after a few years.) When I remarried, I still kept my maiden name even though I knew "this one" was a keeper, and his conservative parents did not approve. We have been married for 37 wonderful years, and gave our child my husband's last name.
Given all the hassle friends have gone through to continually updating documents through multiple marriages, and the current attacks on women's' right vote, not changing my name was one of the best choices I ever made.
I married twice and would not change my name either time. I just couldn't do it, much to the chagrin of my husbands and family. I would not change my name and identity for a man. I did not understand why other women did it so readily. It wasn't necessarily feminist because I don't think I understood feminism when I was younger. I was just stubborn I guess.
Working on it? JD Vance has come out strong in favor of women losing the vote. I do think any official, including females, who defies the Constitution should be disenfranchised and held to account, starting with Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi. And Vance's opinion on women voters and so very much else that's unconstitutional should be disqualifying him for the Presidency.
You have just substantiated my worst fears about disenfranchisement. I did not get married until I was 63 and was happy to change my name, because I very much wanted to lose my maiden name (for good reasons). As it is, my name on both my driver's license and my passport includes my maiden name, but from what you've said even that, plus having all relevant documents would not enable me to vote.
They would love to go back to the 1800s. If you haven't already, I recommend reading The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore; it seems prescient.
Linda, I see a brain drain going in the opposite direction Why would anyone looking for a job in science or tech come here. In fact, I am now wondering why anyone would come here. We have a friend who has a German friend coming to visit in April. Last trip no problem. This time she has to submit genetic info. And just she just missed by a couple weeks having to submit the names, addresses, etc. of everyone she knows or has known in the US for the last ten years. My husband looked this up and found it in the Federal Register. This is our state department under Rubio doing part of the work of compiling a vast database on everyone that they can. Personally, I would not submit genetic material and would not come. I find this insidious.
Michelle, I know. I was thinking that no German journalists can come because they cannot actually legally give up all this information. I would absolutely not do it. Many dual US-German citizens that I know here are planning on giving up their US citizenship because they have had enough. Rubio is a little shit, and he is doing Trump's dirty work for him. As Newsom said at MSC, he is so changed from 10 years ago he would not recognize himself. Now Rubio is slinking around in Hungary sucking up to Orban ! These people are all sickening. But, Trump probably didn't want to not send anyone who is in the Epstein files, or the European press would eat them alive. So, Rubio it is.
We should never forget that Trump, his efforts to legitimize white-male-supremacist racist and misogynistic genocide, the resultant ChristoNazi conquest and its MAGAstapo terrorism is the triumph of a multi-generation, bi-partisan scheme more than a century in the making, To learn of the carefully hidden roots of the crisis, the documentation of which include a PBS film about the enormous support for Hitler here in the '30s and additional, meticulously footnoted documentation of the plutocracy's support for Nazism, go here: https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/january-25-2026?utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=205274486
Deep breaths, James. No idea where you got the idea that anyone was talking about only educated people. Too bad you can’t see the forest for the trees. I wonder if you think that any of the $10 trillion imaginary new investments that other countries have been trolling Trump with is actually going to be trickling down to anyone below the top 1%? If so, you probably need to look further. I am so curious what you really think. Also, I hope you can express yourself more rationally. Thanks for no capital letters in this note. I’m also glad you are so watchful for condescension and dumbness. You might want to watch your own notes for those things, too.
My evangelical parents would disagree. Failure to obey is still disobedience. They also believed that failure to tell the truth is lying. Maybe I should have clarified that my previous comment was written from the christofascist point of view.
We should recognize the sexual victimization of terrorized children by the Trumpstein Cult is the immediate predecessor, perhaps even a test run, of the terror the MAGAstapo is now unleashing on anyone who refuses to kowtow to the ChristoNazi theocracy. Thus the vital, know-our-enemy relevance of the full text of the Jane Doe lawsuit against Trump and Epstein -- later withdrawn by the plaintiff in response to credible death threats: https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Johnson_TrumpEpstein_Lawsuit.pdf
A step back to the 50's, when the ideal role of women (wife) was to stay home to raise the children and clean the house? OMG, we're bring back Leave it the Beaver? And that's going to us great again? Who's buying this? I smell desperation.
Another imbecilic Trump Regime move, sending the whip beaten, submissive puppy dog Lil Marco to deliver “any” forceful announcement of policy intent is tone deaf in total, especially when the message carries the declaration “You will all be better off when The King controls your freedom, so get with the program”
As much as I would LOVE a woman VP or POTUS, I personally believe unless the primaries show an absolute mandate for a female candidate, I think the Dems are slitting their throats to run a female.
Please don't yell or argue with me, I'd be THRILLED to vote for a ticket with BOTH a female VP and POTUS. However, I think there is still too much misogyny in this country. YES, Hilary did get the popular vote, but until we eliminate the electoral college, well, I just don't see it happening. I would be delighted to be proven wrong.
Also, I'd like to hear from any Californians reading here--Newsome in the press darling because he taunts Trump and goes against him. Pardon me, I didn't follow California politics very closely, but wasn't he very unpopular at one point? People wanted him OUT? I find his tweets very funny, but I need to see platform and policies.
Californian here. The "people" didn't want Newsom out- the republicans did. They ran a recall and lost. I like Newsom and here are a few reasons why. As mayor of San Francisco he was very supportive of unions. San Francisco is a strong union town so any political leader needs to be pro-union but I feel that he has been consistent in his pro-union stance (for the most part) as governor. He championed gay marriage and, despite Charlie Kirk's ignorant scoffing remark, faced a great deal of opposition to that. He is an excellent communicator and listener. He was giving regular factual updates concerning COVID which we didn't get anywhere else and was proactive in trying to remedy the vast shortages in hospital supplies in California. All in all, he takes his job seriously. Those are a few things about him that stand out to me.
Please forgive my old rationalization that it couldn't be much harder than electing Black president. I'm so disappointed that it should seem so surprisingly impossible, but makes me more determined than ever to make it possible to elect the truly most competent, qualified, and ethical person of any race or gender identification.
Would another FDR and Frances Perkins be needed to reopen the path to the Presidency?
Frances Perkins was born as Fanny Perkins but changed her name to Frances to project a more serious image, made it a point to dress as much like a mother to the men she influenced, and carefully studied each man to find the way each had to be led to get her sterling goals achieved. The most telling to me being the stubborn insistence to FDR that Social Security had to be a tax so that it couldn't be eliminated as easily as other benefits.
Jim, I think the same, and yet, we couldn't get Hilary elected. In my mind, she was one of the most qualified candidates ever. She was the wife of a POTUS and a governor, so she knew exactly what the jobs entailed at both a state and national level. She was a Senator and Sec of State. She is an attorney. She worked extensively on health care LONG before it became a crisis in the US.
And even with the popular vote, she still wasn't elected.
Dave Dalton, that pair would be very powerful and enlightening for all of us. I was literally just saying to a friend: I wonder where Ocasio- Cortez will go next? Senate? Cabinet? As VP I think she’d be able to transform that into
samani, I was seeing her as P and him as VP based on their understandings of the Working class which will be all that we have in the US when Trump gets done.
I think a coalition of Democrats should combine and run as a team. Buttigieg, Raskin, Acasio Cortez, Newsome Pritzger, et al. Announce as a new way of political strength
Thank you for this coverage of AOC in Munich. Am frequently confused when politicians try to differentiate voters based on level of education. For example, in Florida, social workers employed by this state are not very well-remunerated, considering how many years they spent in school and how much that cost them. The majority of working people are certainly not rich like the 1%. Everybody needs a social safety net like affordable housing, healthcare, education. They want children to feel safe. Few, educated or not, want what is happening now.
I agree Ayesha that everyone needs a social safety net. That is why I am in Germany now. I got tired of hearing the Republicans in the US threaten social security and medicare. As it stands I am not getting the medicare that I paid into, but have health insurance that will be there for me now. I also don't know if we will get the Social security that we have paid into, but I hope so. If not, we have to sell things.
GJ, I am glad you were able to sleep well. I hope that is in part because you saw an elected US leader who is representing your concerns about our country. In Solidarity! ✌🏾
Thank you, Linda, for the AOC link. I most emphatically urge all here to watch it and listen carefully to its message. Indeed -- especially in terms of providing an accessible framework within which we can (successfully) unite to rise up angry -- I believe it may be the most important link anyone has ever posted here.
We DEFINATELY "need to have politics that that takes working people into account." Even more, politics that does not denigrate them as I saw happen in Michigan under Gov. Granholm. Thank You for your world view!
Yes. I totally agree MaryPat! We need to get rid of the Plutocracy that we have under this regime in the USA. Whitmer is a breath of fresh air. Honest and honorable.
To me, it shows a common set of principles and actions that can guide a more careful coalition of international interests to goals I have long thought could never be reached in putting some restraints on over privatization and monetizing everything imaginable.
The video has an unusually good auto-generated transcript, too. I pretty much just toggled time stamps off, copied the text into Word, then searched for [period, space, ^P] (for the paragraph mark) and replaced it with [period, ~, ^P] so I could then search for [space, ^P] and replace it with just [space] to get rid of all the simple line breaks and see sentences separated into paragraphs.
A meaningful small sample of the 2hr 3min (from around 1:25:00)
"...Uh one of the critiques that we have of capitalism is that it is its goal is isolation and they want the one of the last frontiers that they want to commodify is human relationship and connection.
They don't want your friend to drive you to the airport because they want you to give money to an Uber.
um they don't want you to uh care for your friend's children because they all of these things the fragmenting of community is where you can make money.
And so when we defy that uh in small acts like driving your friend to the airport uh or in larger acts like what we saw in Minneapolis where these were just everyday people coming out and buying a vest and putting it on and blowing a whistle when they saw an ICE agent.
All of this scaffolds on one another.
Uh, and especially in a moment where right-wing populace populism is ascendant, it it prays on communities not being in connection with one another..."
So much of what is not covered in US media seems brought together (far beyond just the commodification) is covered in a way that compliments Heather's letter, especially the second to last paragraph of this Feb 15 letter, in an international audience more familiar with working class issues we can from coalesces around on the similar issues.
Thank you, Mr. Young, for reposting the AOC link; we should periodically do that throughout this thread and on future threads for our readers' convenience and to ensure its maximum dissemination.
Linda: thank you for this link and for your reporting from Germany. AOC was terrific, especially in encouraging the young people in the audience to not be overwhelmed or discouraged by the cascade of events to think that their actions, no matter how small, can't make a difference. She used the metaphor of small individual drops of water, when combined with tens, hundreds, and eventually millions of others, can form a mighty wave. She said it more eloquently, of course. She, herself, got into politics because she couldn't just sit back and let things happen to her and this country.
The American politicians would be more useful here, trying to get Congressional Republicans to vote with us on stuff like Epstein files, tariffs, abuse of war powers, etc.
The governors of California and Michigan have nothing to do with national security, but there are enough House Republicans from those states who can be pressured to get the subpoena power.
Congress is on vacation. Today is a literal holiday. Nothing is being done in DC and won't be until next week. Seems to me like they have the right to spend their time off doing what the heck ever they want.
California and Michigan are smart to keep their networking contacts. California is one of the largest economies in the world. After the breakup they are going to need allies... for trade and security.
Embracing common ground is not irrelevant. Demonstrating that America is indeed a contradicton, not a monolith that supports The Felon is essential. Build bridges, not walls.
I'd argue AOC got a chance to do more to layout current problems and how coalitions of working class people can find common causes, the stuff Platforms would benefit from, and is great on the Epstein Files answer she gave at https://www.youtube.com/live/L5V-XkjqBLc?t=1189s
That portion of the transcript:
"...1:51:27 And um [applause] The question I wanted to ask is is rather serious because I've been um in the past couple of weeks I've been so sickened by what's happening with the Epstein files and uh thank you.
[applause] I mean, I could I could rant for hours about Pam Bondi and those people, but what I really wanted to ask you is what do you think might be the next steps in uncovering the whole truth because it's I mean it's just unimaginable and I think we should really make sure that all these people are prosecuted and um yeah, how do we do that? Thank you.
Thank [applause] you. You know, um, thank you for that question and, uh, it really is, it is just a shock to all of our senses, seeing some of the things that have been unveiled in the Epstein files, the people who knew, the connections that are involved, uh, it is shocking.
One avenue of hope that I have around this is that um despite all of the shocking things that have happened and transpired in the past, uh for some reason um I think you know for a lot of reasons this scandal over the Epstein files is kind of breaking the cultish grip that the right has had over some in its base.
And so this actually is not a partisan the response to this has not necessarily been partisan.
Uh and that I think is where we have a lot of hope.
Uh there are a lot of just everyday people who voted for Republicans who are demanding accountability and answers on this, and Pam Bonti stood there in front of the Congress of the United States and had the audacity to say in response to what are we doing about child these child predators to say well the Dow Jones is above 50,000 or whatever it is that she said.
Um it is giving it is it the response that she had was so inappropriate.
It almost is as though the feeling of implication is quite broad.
You have Howard Lutnik knowingly brought his family to Epstein's Island after he was convicted of child sex trafficking.
This has to go all the way to the top.
It does go all the way to the top.
And um my hope is that the growing uh the the growing disgust over this will not be able to hold in the Republican party.
Um but there has to be accountability.
It is shocking uh the amount of power that we have that that has been held by predators.
And um and not only that, but these were the people that were making decisions over governments, over massive companies and corporations.
Um and I think the important thing to also communicate here is that there is a connection between the concentration of wealth that we are seeing, the concentration of political power that we are seeing and what is transpiring in the Epstein files.
I can say that as a survivor of sexual assault myself, but many uh people know that crimes of sexual assault, of rape, of abuse are not about sexuality.
They are about power.
They are about abuse of power.
It is about the ability to feel that you can subjugate another human being and violate their agency.
And it is not a coincidence that perpetrators of sexual abuse and perpetrators of rape and assault are also people that have deep complexes about power and the acquisition of power in the world.
And this is why you know people think of domestic abuse and sexual assault as a gender issue.
It is a canary in the coal mine issue, people who often are engaged in sexual assault and abuse are twice as likely to be involved um you know if there's a if there's a gun crime you know mass shooters uh in the United States often have track records of gender violence and gender- based violence there is a direct connection here around a sense of impunity the acquisition of power and sexual abuse And it is to me uh deeply pervasive.
And when we hold sexual crimes to account, I actually believe that it is a pillar of any anti-corruption platform and outcome that we desire to have as a society.
And it's why we have to do it on an interpersonal level because it goes all the way to the top.
And um and it's just shocking uh to see all of this and we cannot let it go and we cannot allow them to desensitize us to this.
It does not surprise me that the same authors of the quote unquote anti-cancel culture movement, right? All of these people who have been trying to tell us that basic humanity and upholding standards of dignity is cancel culture.
It's not surprising to me that they say, "Oh, you can't speak out against this or that.
You can't hold that person accountable because it's cancel culture." Now, I'm sure they don't want us to hold pedophilia accountable, and they think having an anti-pedophilia stance would be cancel culture.
That's the erosion in culture, morality that that is being hinted at here.
When Pam Bondi says there's no more work here to be done, really, you are the attorney general of the United States of America and you don't want to hold any one of these pedophiles accountable, resign or be impeached.
[applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] I want to thank the audience for this amazing discussion and um let me add from my perspective I think it's important that we stay in conversation.
We take your anger and your criticism, but we do not take your apathy.
So stay engaged, stay in conversation.
We have to build a big coalition against the dangers of the far right as we have discussed today.
But to end maybe on a more hopeful note, Alexandria, you spend now a few days here.
What gives you hope? [sighs and gasps] you all.
[laughter] Um I know that um in many ways for so many of us uh our lives, as challenging as they may feel, are an impossible dream of so many of the people that came before us.
And it is only through um our belief in one another that we're able to make miraculous things happen..."
Oh come now ... in what universe are the current Republicans in the Congress ever gonna vote with Democrats? The collective goal of the Republican congress is to amass limitless power and to crush Democrats, with bonus points for cruelty. It really doesn't matter how much legislation benefits them; if Democrats are for it, they'll vote against it. Except in situations (such as the Epstein files) in which the administration can slow-walk adopted legislation into oblivion.
I believe we have more opportunities to resist the autocracy in the actions in international fora (to remind others that Project 2025 is not synonymous with all of USA's leaders), in Blue states collectively adopting protective compacts (such as the interstate compact on the electoral college), in influencing local and state governments, and in large mass protests.
Daniel It is irrelevant when we read that the world is moving on without the US. In past years it was relevant. Have you attended it and looked at the wide range of things that are being discussed? Deals are made here, and I am sure that people were all wanting to sit with Gavin at the table and talk about deals between his state and theirs, or their country. Maybe with Whitmer too.
Here we see Dean Blundell telling us what Carney is doing.
From Jeff Tiedrich we see a graph that tells us that what Carney is doing is helping the Canadian stock market do better than what Trump is doing is helping the US stock market.
So, at Munich the Europeans banded together and said we can work with the US if it is civil and rules based, but we are not changing for the US. Governors understand that national security is tied to their states, and economic security. Also, another secuirty that was not discussed, but should have been is health care security.
Quotes out of context are misleading. As you demonstrate. Coolidge of course didn't mean "the people" in an expansive way. Or "power to the people" in the sense of government privileging ordinary people's participation in decision making, providing for their essential and emergency needs, or protecting them from commercial exploitation.
Coolidge, in the vein of Republican ChristoFascists today, such as Bill Barr and Leonard Leo, was a Christian moralist who believed the Declaration of Independence was an essentially spiritual and religious, rather than political, document. Expressed today as a newly invented notion of "religious conscience" trumping the Constitution's protections from government impositions of religious creed.
"In 1926, Coolidge was president during the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In a speech on July 5, Coolidge characterized the Declaration as “a great spiritual document.” He noted that the nation had been founded on the principles of the equality of men, on their possession of inalienable rights and on their right to self-government. Tracing such ideals back to early colonists, Coolidge observed that “(i)n order that they might have freedom to express these thoughts and opportunity to put them into action, whole congregations with their pastors had migrated to the Colonies.” "
Leonard Leo's acceptance speech at the 2017 Canterbury Medal Gala Beckethttps://becketfund.org/leonard-leo-speech-2017-canterbury-medal-gala/.
Coolidge also wrote "Neither political nor industrial democracy can relieve mankind from the requirement of obedience. There is no substitute for virtue. Too much emphasis has been put on the desire to rule and too little on the obligation to obey. More and more all social problems must be worked out in accordance with this principle. An obedient nation would possess supreme power. The law of life, the law of progress, is the law of obedience, the law of service."
"As governor, he became best known for sending in the National Guard and breaking a policeman’s labor union strike in Boston in 1919 during the first Red Scare period when many Americans were fearful of a communist takeover."
The first Red Scare (1917 to 1921) had raised fears of communists and radicals that persisted into the succeeding Republican nominations. Early in Coolidge’s presidency, Congress adopted the 1924 Immigration Act that discriminated against southern and eastern European immigrants."
Yes but sometimes quotes do ring a bell. But context and the person in history’s entire cv of life needs to be seen in full. Coolidge was not at all unintelligent and therefore many of his actions are more wrought than not. Thanks and maybe folks should compile CVs of Life for all our historical people so we have a full snapshot of context.
lin, in appreciation of your reminder that history is far more akin to an ever-emerging stew than a singular clarified broth. Think back a couple of days ago to the rich commentary we all generated to HRC's recent post on TR's awful Valentine's Day as readers shared elements of his persona, and embeddedness in a complex times (yes, plural) and evolution over time unfolded for him and America. Thank you.
In bitter truth, the United States government has always been a criminal organization. Just ask the First Nations people. Or the striking coal miners it attacked with field artillery and bombing planes. Or the ghosts of the Triangle Shirtwaist dead, who still haunt the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place, where they died after leaping from windows to escape the fire and falling eight or 10 storeys to splatter on the pavement.
Rubio’s speech in Munich reveals what this administration is actually optimizing for: a white supremacist fantasy past that never existed, wrapped in “western civilization” rhetoric while abandoning every value that made democratic societies worth defending.
He erased Indigenous Americans, Black Americans who built the cultural bedrock he claims to protect, and his own family’s migration story to construct a pure white Christian narrative.
This isn’t preserving civilization. This is rejecting the actual multicultural history that created American strength in favor of autocratic imperialism.
Germany’s response was perfect: “We know where this path leads. We went down it to the bitter end.” The administration isn’t building anything.
They’re demolishing 80 years of architecture that prevented global war, enabled prosperity, and protected human rights, all to serve an Epstein Class that profits from chaos and authoritarianism while calling it patriotism.
“ Marco Rubio’s address was an insult to American values and an embarrassment to the American people. It was a repudiation of our values and the sacrifices of those who fought, struggled and died so that we may live in freedom, peace and prosperity.
The Europeans who clapped were cheering for the philosophy that nearly destroyed the world.
Marco Rubio is a cynical man in a cynical age, serving an evil cause that he once professed to despise for power and privilege.
Call it whatever you want, but it isn’t “measured.” It isn’t “reassuring,” and it damn sure isn’t American.
It is American fascism. Patriotic Americans will send it back to the ash heap of history.
Little Marco speaks for Donald, not the American people.”
Rich to see Marco Rubio (whose family history includes illegal immigration from the Southern hemisphere) in service of Donald Trump (whose family history includes chain migration from Slovenia) castigating Europeans for allowing immigration to threaten their White Western Culture. Of course, we know the Trump administration views illegal immigration from the Southern Hemisphere and also chain migration - as diluting "American" culture. Similarly to how the Nazis, who Trump is emulating, considered Slavs as subhuman.
This administration makes my head spin. IMO, Vance used Usha to navigate his way into the lawyer world. Now, he talks against brown people--which his wife AND children are, and against non-Christians, which his wife and inlaws are.
THIS Christian thinks Vance (and many other MAGA, ESPECIALLY Johnson) sold their souls to Satan.
The Germans acknowledge and learn from their past. Americans (well, certain Americans) refuse even to acknowledge our country's history of slavery and imperialism. let alone learn from it.
Rubio’s speech was lifted directly from Alexandr Dugin’s discredited fourth political theory of eternal feudalism as the natural state of mankind, overlayed on selective decontextualized “supporting anecdotes” intended as propaganda content for delivery to the uneducated masses.
American / European shared cultural history is anchored, not in these tribal tales, but in mutual advancements against tyranny over centuries in the form of some of these great legacies:
- History of Athenian Democracy
- Magna Carta
- Mayflower Compact
- The enlightenment / scientific progress
- Suffolk Resolves
- Declaration of Independence
- U.S. Constitution
- Bill of Rights
- 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th etc amendments.
- United Nations founding documents, etc.
An actual historian could, no doubt, put together a more robust counterpoint to little brown Rubio’s white supremacist conquistador drivel. If David McCullough were still with us it would be fascinating to hear his response. Alas.
Hopefully someone with serous clout will pick up the torch in a formal way, as these spurious arguments should not be allowed to stand.
One thing I caught: SecState Rubio rcognized that the American Century is over by saying that 'we' (i.e., Europe and the United States; ¿what about our Pac-Rim democratic allies?) can work together for another "Western Century". I am hoping against hope that the SecState inserted that ethnocentric scheiße into the speech to placate King Baby.🤞🏼
"Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half-an-hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years." –Edmund Burke, ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’; 1790.🤔
My take on what happened in Munich is that it exposed a deeper ideological shift, not just a diplomatic dispute. The Munich Security Conference exists because Europe learned, at catastrophic cost, what follows when ethno nationalist mythology replaces democratic cooperation. It was designed to defend pluralism, alliance, and a rules-based international order. To stand on that stage and amplify rhetoric shaped by grievance, bloodline identity, and civilizational hierarchy was not a policy adjustment. It was a statement of alignment. The signal was that the United States may be drifting from democratic leadership toward a politics influenced by white Christian nationalism, a worldview that treats diversity as decay and secular democracy as disposable.
This is not about tariffs or troop levels. It is about moral direction. When the United States under Donald Trump echoes themes central to white Christian nationalist movements, casting global politics as a struggle to restore a supposedly lost Christian civilization, democracy becomes secondary to cultural dominance. That narrative narrows who counts as fully American and which nations count as legitimate partners.
The post-1945 order rejected racial hierarchy and the fusion of church and state. Undermining that foundation in favor of civilizational nationalism does not strengthen the republic. It isolates it. Munich made that contradiction unmistakable.
It is a sad state of affairs that the US apparently either did not learn the futility of an ethno nationalist mythology when it comes to a rules-based national order or has supped at the trough of Christian Nationalism to the degree that it is gorged on mythology and has no room for facts.
I hear you. It is troubling to watch mythology crowd out facts in public life.
At the same time, I am not sure this had to be Christian nationalism in particular. It could have been another ideology. People chasing power usually grab whatever story they think will work at the moment, whatever stirs fear, loyalty, and money. If one narrative had not mobilized voters, they likely would have tried another. Evil deed doers are always opportunistic.
But maybe we are learning, just painfully slow, and with a few big steps back every once in a while. Ally, I think we tend to fall back into long periods of complacency after a decade or so of awakening and turmoil, with each subsequent period of status quo complacency being a tad better than the last. The turmoil of the moment is so reminiscent of the 60's with anti-war protests, freedom riders, an advance in the women's movement. The far right was just as ugly, with Lester Maddox and his ax handles, which actually got him elected governor, and the seemingly weekly murders of prominent leaders in 68, but which had been happening to regular folks uninterrupted since the Civil War. I am convinced that once on the other side of this current round of madness we will be a little bit better off than we were during the era that is now behind us.
I wish I shared your optimism. In the 1960s there was a bulwark of norms-based integrity in the Congress, presidents who were willing to sign and then enforce the Voting Rights Act, and a Supreme Court led by Earl Warren, in a time of prolific recognition of individual human rights.
I'm not arguing that the 60s were great, but in comparison with the present day, in those days the Constitution was not considered optional. It was applied in highly biased fashion; but we were moving, albeit slowly, in a direction that supported the civil and human rights of individual Americans.
Moreover, Congress was not hell-bent on destroying people on opposite sides of the aisle. In the early 1970s, when Nixon was building his Enemies List, the congressional resistance was largely bipartisan, and he resigned in part because of the strength of norms of integrity that perfused the Congress. Those days are long-gone, as is the integrity.
In short, in the 60s there was a whole lot of bad stuff happening, but the Federal government, though wrong about Vietnam, got a lot of other things right. Not now: the federal government has become a corrupt, oppressive, white-supremacist swamp.
I attended the MSC this weekend, except for time out to go to a Demonstration from One Billion Rising against violence towards Girls, Women and LGBTQ+ people. Then, I attended AOC speaking at the Technical University in Berlin on Sunday evening. Here is a piece I wrote on her conversation there, which was very powerful. It includes a video of the talk.
I'm glad some intelligent people from the US went to Munich to counter the raving lunacy and single-minded vileness of the US Government and the Republican Party, which is now truly and completely the Party of Trumpist White Autocratic Technocracy.
What an absolutely great place to counter the lunacy of the American people
Are you outside? Your mind gail. Stop being such a racist by the way, he got more black boat and an Hispanic boat than any president and recent history on the right side of the aisle. Ooooops. And his policies will this year give blacks and Hispanics the most benefit if they are amongst the low end of the economic spectrum.
I should clarify. When I talk about “Republicans” on this site, I’m referring to Republican leadership, the current administration, and elected officials who engage in anticonstitutional attempts to destroy the fabric of this country, the entire election system, basic Constitutional freedoms, the separation of powers, and all the other illegal shenanigans they are up to right now.
If I want to talk about Republican voters, I say “Republican voters.” In the comment above, I said “Republicans.” Of course, you couldn’t know this distinction because I didn’t state it at the time, so it’s understandable that you mistook my anti-Republican (as in “anti the Republican Party and its concerted efforts to destroy this country”) for racism against Republican voters. My apologies. I’ll try to be clearer next time.
By the way, how do you think these Republican leadership got into power in the first place maybe you’ve forgotten about election elections. Like the one for Donald Trump T. W. I. C. E
Would you like to give some examples gail or just keep spewing it nonsense? By the way, your protestations are about to end as all the Epstein evidence is now out and the 300 names of the most famous are produced credible names of both Democrats and Republicans, but the Democrat Democrats wow. Can you imagine Gloria Allred of all people Michael Wolf holy shit John Brennan, George Clooney Xavier Becerra I think my favorite though is Ro khans and Ted Lieu.
I enjoy going on Substack.com and checking out the memes and other postings.
To lighten the mood here is a joke I saw.
In 2036 a man saw an ad in NYC -- "Piss on Trump's grave for $10 with a QR code."
When he went to sign up, the AI bot responded with a date and time and a place in LA where he should go. He asked to AI why he had to go to LA when Trump was buried in NY.
The AI bot replied - "Because that's the end of the line."
A member of the Reagan Administration sincerely praised Calvin Coolidge in a 1982 interview I conducted for a DC-based news service. At first I thought he was joking, but he pressed the point. And here we are: democracy crippled, republican government emasculated, and the general public "in a condition of servitude to an aggregation of organized and selfish interest” (aka billionaires).
This one's for you JB and many other others I'm gonna repost it
By the way tonight, it was released that at least 2100 Americans have been killed by illegal criminals in 2025 and over 5000 suffered sexual assaults by the same illegals. And all the left talk about is the two people that were shot because they got in the way 7000 families are suffering because these illegals killed and raped and trafficked American women or even better foreign women who lived in fear and this is who you're supporting unconscionable
Come out of your cave and out of the real world and see what it’s really like.
The only reason you call democracy crippled is because it’s not voting in your direction that’s because it’s been in your direction for far too long in certain ways like the Department of Education for example would you like to know more JB
I am probably the least partisan human human being on these threads
In 1979 when the Department of Education was first formed by Jimmy Carter, we were number one in the world in the quality of education in the United
Then the Department of Education was born and 20 simple years later after being controlled completely by the Democrat party we were now number 18 and 20 years after that like today we are now 40th and thank goodness Trump dismantled it and one of the reasons it felt like it did is because you don’t believe in free choice in education. You believe firmly in inculcation. And now that we have choice or we will have choice for a while parents don’t have to pull their children out of school in the multitudes that they’ve been doing for the past eight years or so they now can go to another school and learn fairly and equally. And no longer be taught more about genitalia at age 6, then they are taught about math or science
"Unless the people, through unified action, arise ..."
Use/share this spreadsheet created by Megan Rothery: (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Did you see the nest of names in the epstein files there Richard did you see them? I’ve got all 300 and I bet you saw them pretty well divided along political lines wouldn’t you say? Some people on here were a shock to me, but it’s all conversation and meaningless and what all you’ve been waiting for is now ready for the toilet or the trashcan.. or for a liberal denial
Some people, without a shred of verifiable proof, believe in the existence of a soul, life after death, a personal transcendental God, and more. I have no doubt that Donald Trump is a major player in the Epstein files. Will we see them? Maybe. Maybe not. But I retain the "faith." Trump is guiltier than sin.
Well, that was a very nice ethereal meaningless post there richard
If you want to compare the belief in a soul after death to American justice, then go for it, man. YIKES .. HOLY CRAP AND CAN YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE THIS? LOL Unfortunately, one is a theory, and the other is based in fact As our justice system attempts to do all the time Got any other meaningless theories or posts? Keep them coming, but you can only be buried so far until it doesn’t pay to continue burying the corpse any further
Did you hear Obama today? It’s like he heard the words out of my mouth and he said them verbatim. Democrats need to stop living in the past. You need candidates who are not dragging up past crap past irrelevant wellness and deal with Life today. It’s almost like I got my hand at his back and I’m moving his mouth.
By the way, there’s 50 or more since then which are actually bigger than those as he continues to win globally as well as domestically and once again richard if this was not a border security issue caused by Joe Biden Donald Trump wouldn’t have to be enforcing the law that shouldn’t have needed to be enforced in the first place but when 25,000 people a day came across the border illegally different story, especially when they lied about it and said the border was secure
Bullet points of Trump’s wins .. this is the assertion as I read articles from various publications.1. Closed the border in only 75 days when AOC and Mayorkas and Harris (aka the border czar) said that the NOY ONLY THAT THE BORDER WAS SECURE, but only way to do it was legislation/aka mass amnesty) which, of course would take years. It didn’t fall the public when 10 to 15,000 illegals cross the border every day while the people in the administration continue to tell the story of the border being secureAnd as well, the Democrats attempted to allow these folks to vote.Attempted in many local precincts, including 800,000 people/non-citizens in New York City given permission to vote and only ceased by the highest court in the state of New York.2. Removing/deporting/arresting over 1,000,000 illegals that were brought in by Biden and the Democrats in order to get them to be able to vote. ( and there is proof of that)3. The precision, annti- Iran nuclear strike. TACO pseudonym up in smoke. Using tension on the entire world, fearful of a nuclear Iran. While it’s proxies now remain quiet, on the Global stage4. Three Trump assisted peace/cease fire deals. Iran/ Israel, Pakistan/ India. Somalia/ethiopia5. The NATO increase in defense deal, including purchasing unique weaponry from the US to dissuade Russian aggression , well the leaders of NATO looked up to Trump and even called him, Daddy and thanked him for having pushed them to increase their funding to protect them against Russia, while the left and Legacy media called it bullying .6. Despite economic specialists, liberal congress leadership, legacy media, boasting impending economic doom, rampant inflation (currently lowest in four years), global tariff and trade war nightmares, stock market crash, unemployment spikes, all unrealized thus far, and all wrong so far and now admitting they were wrong so far.7. Doge.finding much fraud, waste, and abuse… further details in bullet point coming later. But all leading to the $9 billion recission bill.8. THE OBBB… finding one of the only ways to assist the middle and lower income folks by eliminating tax on tips tax on Social Security and tax on overtime..for the time being… while increasing our defense budget, perhaps acquiring our own golden dome like Israel’s iron dome against foreign aggression… creating the permanent tense cuts of the first Trump administration, and including a large tax for the middle and working class. A $12.5 billion bill for modernization of our air traffic control system.Many incentives for small business9. The $9 billion rescission bill eliminating the federal government from funding, left-wing networks, and eliminating other sources of waste, fraud and abuse. 4 men pleading guilty to $500 million fraud at USA ID and another find is $2.7 billion fraud against Medicare. That would’ve grown to almost 14,000,000,000, had it not been detected10. Job growth, exceeding expectation and estimates.11. Eliminating the Department of education and sending education back to the states.12. Referring Rowe v Wade back to the states where the voters have a voice not just nine Supreme Court justices.13. Hey Siri of favorable Supreme Court rulings, stopping local justices rampant attempts to stop legislation …as an example from nationwide injunctions. Deportation rulings, deportation rulings, defund USAID, and the Dept of Education, and a few more of a personal nature14. Stock market Ascension. Despite persistent assertions by the left and other economic pundits, the NASDAQ hit an all-time high. While the S&P also hit an all-time high and had the longest upward trajectory in the last 20 years. Well, the Dow is also threatening to beat its all-time high, which was in December 2024 after Trump’s election.15. A major unexpected occurrence in June having to do with the deficit for the first time in 20 years for the month there was a budget surplus of $27 billion. Personally, I don’t imagine that will continue despite the tremendous amount of tariff income.16. Somewhere between 10 and $13 trillion of additional investment in the USA by foreign entities as well as American companies, expanding their businesses here in America versus ou
Well, I did that back at me in June but I have a lot more to add, but I’ll send it what I did already. I’m not gonna repeat myself. I’ll send it out to you right now just to give you some examples and these are role. Keep in mind it’s spent a lot more robust indication of their success since then. here’s a small example and there’s been another 40 or 50 since then
I’m going to have to send it in a separate response But I’ll try to send it now And keep in mind this was a place in time
Or the corporations -doing the business of America: business per Coolidge - will take over the government or align themselves with the government, as in fascism. Either way the people and democracy are the losers.
It’s literally a waste of time now commenting on Heather’s posts. She’s literally gone off the left deep end and into never never land. I love how she starts her post all the time I get the first line, fully red, and I can’t stop laughing for a few minutes.
What it is that affects the blindness of many MAGA folks (IMO) , is what the ancient Greeks called Amathia - willful ignorance, intentional stupidity. I think that it is more than that - it is a blind spot, a need to believe something so strongly that entertaining another possibility is impossible. An example are the two billion people in the world who believe that an angel named Gabriel dictated the contents of the Qur'an to an illiterate desert dweller named Muhammad over a 23-year period and that Muhammad dictated it all back to scribes, word for word. Try to convince them that that never happened. Or, take Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. and Co-Chair of the Human Genome Project. If anyone understands DNA, it is Francis Collins. All life on earth (plants, animals, insects) share the same DNA, meaning that all life on earth has a common ancestor going back 3.5 billion years (LUCA - Last Universal Common Ancestor.) We humans share 50% of our DNA with bananas and 90% with pigs. Yet, Collins is a fundamentalist Christian, even though not one word in the New Testament was written by anyone who ever saw, spoke with or listened to Jesus say a word. It's all hearsay, written decades later in a language that the supposed Jesus didn't speak - Greek. So, why do people believe that such a profoundly flawed person such as Donald Trump gives a flip for them? It's the racism, the misogyny, the homophobia, the xenophobia that is so deeply ingrained in their essence, as it is in Trump's, that they can't see the glaring obvious - Trump is a would-be dictator that will crush them if and when he gains total power.
Wow, richard you have taken the words right out of my mouth. I have used the words willful ignorance to you and your group time and time again. It’s perfect for you. Why don’t you venture to Mars and talk about Mars and try to make that germane to the conversation today. Omg. Here I’m gonna post this again for you so you can rebel in every belief and every hook that you want to hang your hat on these days here it is or should I say here they are
The problem you have also is a dictionary problem. You have to look up the difference between a dictator and a leader. One takes control by himself the other gets elected by his peers TWICE OOOOOOPS AND THEN HE LEADS, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT TRUMP IS DOING, AND LEADING US ALL TO THE PROMISED LAND ECONOMICALLY PEACEFULLY, AND MEETING THE NEEDS OF EVERYBODY HE CAN AT THE SAME TIME THIS YEAR HE ESPECIALLY FOCUSED ON THE POOR AND THE NEEDY WITH THE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL YOU HAVE A NICE DAY THERE RICHARD IT’S GOING TO BE A GREAT THREE YEARS AND THIS YEAR IS GOING TO BE THE BEST OF THE THREE
Poor rich , the people like you, Donald Trump doesn’t give a shit if you respect him or support him or not because you’re simply just a liberal , American hater like all the rest here pretty much. George Bush is probably one of the most decent human beings that we’ve had in the White House in the century barely gave them a pass. Lmao. He was dumb, but he loved America unlike you.
Here’s a special analysis of the issues and everybody else here and I’m going to display it all day long today…I’m here. I’m just gonna give you an overview and then the rest of the day I’m gonna give it a detail.
How’s the quality of life? EPSTEIN. How are gas prices? EPSTEIN
How is inflation compared to Biden? EPSTEIN
How are prescription drug prices? EPSTEIN How are the 5 peace deals working That Trump created? EPSTEIN
How many illegals has Trump arrested or caused to go home?EPSTEIN
how is that $13 trillion of additional investment into America by foreign and US investors going? EPSTEIN
how’s the stock market? EPSTEIN? How much money are the tariffs bringing in? EPSTEIN.
How is IRAN doing since Trump destroyed their nuclear arsenal and their threats to the world? EPSTEIN.
How is trumps deal with NATO going to advise them to triple the amount they are depositing for the own protection against Russia? EPSTEIN
How is the big beautiful bill working….including less taxes for the most needy with no tax on tips no tax on overtime and no tax on Social Security? EPSTEIN
What happened to that impending doom but all the little pond is predicted recession, depression, stock, market collapse, inflation, increase. ? EPSTEIN
lots more to come, but for right now I’ll just say. you have a nice day ..ya heyah
Oh, and if you would like some links to find out how things really are, I’d be more than happy to provide them, but I’m gonna have to warn in advance… you’re gonna hate everyone.
It is literally a waste of time now commenting on Rick Sender’s posts. They have literally gone off the right deep end and into never never land. I love how they start their posts all the time with some nebulous, unfounded goofy sentence. :-) Lol.
Elizabeth, Rick is a little complicated, a mixture of things: Denialist for certain, resulting perhaps from a case of Amathia. For those so afflicted, their adoration of Trump's racism and his cruelty toward the "hated ones" is so visceral, so deep, so profound, that they are incapable of rational discernment. They don't know what they don't know. In these instances their brains are a worthless 3 lbs. of organic matter.
My vitriol as against closed minded people like yourself and many others here that hate Trump not for any of his policies because of their realistic with his policies they’d all be cheering for him. And if Joe Biden hadn’t let all these people in, they wouldn’t have anything to complain about Trump. Stop being so close minded open your mind. Take it in realize what I posted about why you hate Trump right now it’s all about epstein unfortunately but epstein has nothing to do with the presidency no matter who’s president
Yes, "Rick Sender" could be a bot or a paid troll, but I doubt that a bot would be that deficient in forming rational responses. I think that Rick is a human.
Richard, thank you for that designation. I have felt pretty much human in my whole life lol but thank you for the support.
I’m just a middle of the road independent that likes to see both sides of an issue strictly about the issue and not about a lot of the residual or perfunctory nonsense that doesn’t relate to how policies and laws affect Americans in the positive
Trolls can be human, just not humane :-). I love to troll him back! He absolutely froths at the mouth :-). Although I do believe that every human has the potential to change and see the truth in an instant, so we always have to allow for that. But his ranting is so bad for his health.
Let me translate that for Elizabeth when you have no answers and so we’d rather deflect and duck and hide. It’s not a waste of time if you have a right answer, but seemingly you have none because of your left minded close minded way of thinking imagine if a republican were on here what they would say ? I’m a middle of the roader
And I’m gonna crack out of turn here because I think you need to see this before you read the rest of my post Here is a accurate succinct direct no holes barred description of the Democrat party today
Poor Liz and the people like you, , Donald Trump doesn’t give a shit if you respect him or support him or not because you’re simply just a liberal , American hater like all the rest here pretty much. George Bush is probably one of the most decent human beings that we’ve had in the White House in the century barely gave them a pass. Lmao. He was dumb, but he loved America unlike you.
Here’s a special analysis of the issues and everybody else here and I’m going to display it all day long today…I’m here. I’m just gonna give you an overview and then the rest of the day I’m gonna give it a detail.
How’s the quality of life? EPSTEIN. How are gas prices? EPSTEIN
How is inflation compared to Biden? EPSTEIN
How are prescription drug prices? EPSTEIN
How are the 5 peace deals working That Trump created? EPSTEIN
How many illegals has Trump arrested or caused to go home?EPSTEIN
how is that $13 trillion of additional investment into America by foreign and US investors going? EPSTEIN
how’s the stock market? EPSTEIN? How much money are the tariffs bringing in? EPSTEIN.
How is IRAN doing since Trump destroyed their nuclear arsenal and their threats to the world? EPSTEIN.
How is trumps deal with NATO going to advise them to triple the amount they are depositing for the own protection against Russia? EPSTEIN
How is the big beautiful bill working….including less taxes for the most needy with no tax on tips no tax on overtime and no tax on Social Security? EPSTEIN
What happened to that impending doom but all the little pond is predicted recession, depression, stock, market collapse, inflation, increase. ? EPSTEIN
lots more to come, but for right now I’ll just say. you have a nice day ..ya heyah
Oh, and if you would like some links to find out how things really are, I’d be more than happy to provide them, but I’m gonna have to warn in advance… you’re gonna hate everyone.
I have asked hundreds of time for some to tell me what’s wrong with the way The country is running right now and all they can mention is one thing which I’ve told you time and time again but I’ll do it one more time just for SNG.
Almost every single marker that indicates success of a country is right here in the United States right now. And this year is gonna be even better And I bet you know why and you don’t like it But since I haven’t spoken to you in a while, let me help you in the rest of the anti-Trump for no reason, other than hate/contempt, and the fact that you’re not in control, and when the liberals are not in control, they go apeshit when the Department of Education was disbanded holy hell broke loose, but it was a great move and maybe if anybody wants to know why it was a great move. I’d be more than happy to tell them in the next post. In the meantime …. TBC.
“Poor Liz (whoever SHE is), Trump doesn’t care if you support him….etc”Poor Rick, Trump doesn’t care about you or those like you either! I at least know that he doesn’t care about me. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself and his .1%. Get with it!
Yeah, that tell that To the big beautiful Bill, you arrogant ass
That only helps those that can’t help themselves under the current tax legislation. But it only helps the poor and needy How else can you help people that don’t pay taxes in the first place and just so you know it Elizabeth since you’re incredibly ignorant about most things you post about the bottom 50% of income earners pay 3% of the income income tax tax While the one percent at the top pay 40% of the income tax
And as I’ve said, you won’t find Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos working a few extra hours to gain that overtime without tax and you won’t see Nancy Pelosi waiting tables so that she doesn’t have to declare her tips It’s only to the needy. It’s only to the poor that’s who benefits by these policies no one else.
Thanks for your note, Rick. You sound like the guy on Saturday Night Live who always ended up screaming, “you ignorant slut” at the person who he was “discussing” the news with. Have you spent time on Saturday Night Live?
Thank you for this quote from one of our presidents who we take for granted as unremarkable. We forget about the contributions of those who do not stand out in history as Washington or Lincoln.
By the way tonight, it was released that at least 2100 Americans have been killed by illegal criminals in 2025 and over 5000 suffered sexual assaults by the same illegals. And all the left talk about is the two people that were shot because they got in the way 7000 families are suffering because these illegals killed and raped and trafficked American women or even better foreign women who lived in fear and this is who you're supporting unconscionable
"“We need a national security and foreign policy that looks like America and has the experiences of the American people [with] partnerships that are rooted in fairness and that deliver for working-class folks everywhere.” This is what we need to achieve. By the way, who is J. Crow? Is he a senate from CO?
A frequent commenter on Heather’s here is Linda Weide – who was also in Munich.
In Linda’s Substack today she reported as has Heather now, and I want to quote from it, where Linda summed up key things from AOC in Munich:
“She tied their ruthless capitalism to their ruthless sexual violence of children in the way that George Monbiot and Peter Hutchinson tie ruthless capitalism to fascism in ‘Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism.’ These things are intertwined, and she called for Bondi’s removal or impeachment over her handling of these vicious crimes.”
I hope Linda expands on this in her comments on Heather’s Letter today. Anand Giridharadas has been speaking to this same theme as now have AOC, Linda, and Heather – on these same tentacles emanating from the monstrosity in the U.S. and internationally where our most cynical, highest-placed elites for all the worst conspire and overlap.
I listened to Anand speaking with Ezra Klein today on Klein's podcast. As heather so eloquently summarizes the speeches by Rubio and earlier, Vance at the Security Conference, and the words of our Democratic leaders critique of those speeches, the overarching consensus it seems, is that we the people are in a battle for the "soul of America" to quote Jon Meacham. The global elite of which the majority seem to be in the U.S. have abandoned the concept of our founding and of our collective understanding of democracy.
Of course, too, these serpentine, treacly machinations were funded and fit together in quasi-hidden but maniacally devious ways ever since the Powell memo of 1971.
Please remember, too, that the first target, all through the '70s, was education, both K-12 and "higher." Once Americans could be blinded, anesthetized (humanities sidelined, or removed from schools), true evil had little competition.
Munich has taken on a new meaning in the age of Trump. It is now the symbol of America betraying the values of democracy.
Our former allies have called us out for what we are far down the path to becoming: a rogue state on the path to full-on fascism and oligarchy.
Many European leaders joined in condemning the US. The majority of EU and NATO nations are rapidly re-arming and forming free trade agreements that exclude the US.
But not all. I watched Rubio's speech. He got a standing ovation. The moderator actually called the speech "reassuring" for Europe.
Rubio is visiting Hungary and Slovakia on this trip, the leaders of the pro-Putin anti-democratic regimes that are now coming out as anti-Ukraine as well. Trump’s America First is now clearly aligning with Putin and his European minions. We are joining the might-makes-right coterie of aggressor countries.
Rubio is one of the sneakiest of them all. In contrast to Vance, he comes across as reasonable and even likable once in awhile. But I firmly believe he traded his soul and his awareness of right vs wrong for the power he has now. You can see it in his dead, lifeless eyes at times. It's nauseating.
Rubio is no different than the JD Vances and Lindsey Grahams. They are shape shifting lizards who ridiculed and condemned Trump - until they realized that the Trump Train was headed for the big station. Then they reversed themselves and jumped on the Train to Hell.
Georgia, I watched the MSC all weekend except for going to a Demo. While the people were saying it was reassuring to hear Rubio, Greenland did not say they can be sure that taking Greenland is off the table, as their PM was in a talk that I watched. Europeans rightly said, we need to stick to our values and not be vulnerable to influence by others who do not share their values, which meant Trump and his tariffs and weapons, and military from what I understand. Also, AOC was a big hit at the conference. She was the most articulate US speaker that I saw. I also saw her speak Sunday night on a livestream of her having a conversation at the Technical University in Berlin. Here is a piece I wrote on it, that includes a video of her talk.
I like best, Linda, that AOC shared stage (world stage) with Gretchen Whitmer.
Loved the former's focus in Berlin on Americans getting caught up on the real-life, practical, immediate and long-term needs of our working classes.
Can Dems put together many such duos, trios, and quartets across the U.S. in the next few months -- including bold appearances, too, in many "red" parts of America which fool Dem elites have otherwise given up on:
Phil, dems need to be doing that. I saw Elissa Slotkin, Chris Coons, Gavin Newsom and a few others at MSC as well. AOC was reminding me of Jefferson Cowie whose book "Freedom's Dominion" my book club read last year, and then heard him speak on a livestream about populism and it being needed to win in the US where candidates need to include the 2/3 of Americans without a university degree in their vision of America. AOC does this.
I wrote 2 pieces on what Cowie said, and in many ways AOC shares his vision, but she does not have his same definition of populist. I think that it would be great to get her together with Jefferson Cowie too. I wrote 2 pieces on what he said. One after each talk.
Yes, for sure, voting rights are critically necessary, as are free, fair and open elections, whose integrity is now at risk by the Trump regime. The Trumpsters are going to cheat. Believe it.
Linda, how can we get these ideas of yours and Phil’s into the hands of the individual people and the media outlets? I don’t know enough about this to help out, but getting these people out there into the red areas is so important.
Phil, what a great list! Have you sent copies of your comment to these individual people? Don’t bother sending it to the irrelevant DNC — we will have to rebuild from the ground up. But we really have an abundance of amazing thinkers and speakers.
Agree, Elizabeth, as to the irrelevance of the DNC.
They excel at two things: 1) shining spotlights on celebrities and 2) sending dunning letters for money, money, and more money.
Yes as to how "we really have an abundance of amazing thinkers and speakers." If and when they get some coordination, I'd love to see them mostly in red states and red parts of blue states, speaking with rural and working class voters as if we were all fellow Americans, all wanting good health care, much better educations, much more housing workers can afford, and much better alliances with our fellow democracies.
Gary, I am a social democrat in the US, and something else in Germany. Perhaps AOC could not get elected in the USA, unless it changes a lot, which is certainly is going to do with the fascist at the helm.
Funny how we the people are the soul of America. Still. And always. America is the blood , the sweat, and the tears. She is the nurturing hope of a future for all her children. No one said it would be fair or easy. No one said the journey from youth to old age meant for some but not others. What we said was one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Those who condemn us to be shot in the face and shot in the back are not worthy. Those shooting us in the face and in the back must in time face the soul of America and her terrible swift sword. No one, not democrats not republicans and not independents, not the wealthy and not the poor, not the powerful nor the meek, no American has been excused from the obligations which bind us up in to the soul of America.
I do feel that AOC communicated this idea that Americans are not all for Trump, in her talks at the MSC and at the Technical University in Berlin last night. In fact, that most are not for Trump. I don't know if this is true. No one I know here in Germany is for Trump. But, I know that someone in Democrats Abroad did debate a Republican at a German talk and that the German group had a hard time finding an American who was Republican. They apparently hang out in different social circles. Also, most of the Americans I know here in Germany who were Republicans did not vote for Trump and now consider themselves Independents. All of the people that I am friends with are actively involved in working to save American democracy and to get out the American vote in our countries.
This is where you say, "Those shooting us in the face and in the back must in time face the soul of America and her terrible swift sword."
I reserve Orwell instead who observed, in "Politics and the English Language," how masses who live in slogans, cliché, and groupthink never will, never can face any human reality. They've already blinded, anesthetized themselves. And they will contribute to damage, real hurt to others, which they also cannot see due to the language deadness they inhabit.
If you are a realist, you need to see both sides of this situation. The power of the American People and the patterns of self-destruction that we as an entire race keep repeating over and over. This rise of authoritarianism, totalitarianism in this case, is a common destructive pattern in the USA, but also in Europe. Hitler was in Europe and they have seen through that for now but totalitarianism has shifted into the USA, which expressed in in the slave south in our past. And there is the whole of European history, as evinced in people like Putin and Orban who keep repeating those ancient patterns of cruelty, starvation, and domination. The ancient pattern--the rise of these behaviors and their enactment against all and sundry. The constant uptick of fighting. And now the uptick in nuclear weapons to fight with. There are those fighting for the rights of all the People in the USA, and those seeking to kill and harm anyone they wish, like Trump and crew. How do we break this pattern?
Teresa, I agree with you that there are these cycles and that there are many revisits to ideas that we were hoping to leave behind in a less enlightened past.
In my observations of Germany, where I am currently living, and have been visiting and sometimes living here back and forth all my life, I have observed the country with the eyes of a female in Brown skin. It has been clear to me that when things are going well Germans are more outward looking and kind and inclusive, and when things are not going well they seek people to blame and an uglier side is revealed. I see this in the US as well.
While I watched the MSC, I did not hear anyone talking about the impacts Covid has had on our world and our global security, yet, my friends and I talk about it all the time because those of us who are teachers noticed the impact in our students and our own children. Social emotional growth etc... There is a health component to Security that was not included in the ways that it should be. I guess the only good thing about it not being included is that we were not subjected to a buffoon like Kennedy giving a scary speech.
I have also noticed the scars and fear Covid has left on our world. It is why I thought people would reject Trump for a second term, because we have not healed from the scars that covid wrought on our sense of well-being. I was actually incredulous that Putin would start a war when his country as well as the rest of the world had not put Covid behind them. I did not think the world could bare this much. But as I convinced my daughter, who has been seriously ill for a week, but after visiting the doctor is on the mend, she could get through her finals and would pass. That should could bare being ill and in finals.
This is all I asked. Are we passing in a post covid world? I would say some of us are passing in that we have held on to our humanity and reason, and others have not. AOC made me feel like she has a road map for us to passing and it will require us to be in for the long haul.
It seems Mother Earth may break the pattern for us, as extreme weather events increase since the US is now hastening climate change by erasing science-based pollution controls. In addition we will lose more people to disease and hunger (for all the obvious reasons too numerous to list here). In short, we shall reap that which we sow.
What you say is so. You break their legs by the weight of experience, by the preponderance of history, by that which has served our needs, our hopes, our expectations for improvement. If a wheels starts squeaking you grease it, fix the worn bearing or improve its strength. I hated building the same house over and over. There had to be improvements that owners could measure. You pore over the blueprint add in the concerns and find a better way.
We are all the race of humans, the only race of humans in this giant Universe. We live on this one planet, and nowhere else. We can't get off world and breed humans. Maybe someday. But, certainly not yet. We need each other, all of us. Some of us know this. Some of us have always sensed it. Perhaps the simultanious realization of how big the Universe is, and how we live on only this one planet in that giant system, and that we can't get off this rock if we don't figure out how to live together without killing anyone we disagree with, we won't make it. It will be our fault. Perhaps this will at last wake us up. We will start to work together instead of killing and hurting each other to reach some kind of utopia that never comes. Killing each other will never work. We need to get this through to people like Trump, Putin, Orban, and all the other totalitarian killers on Earth. Can we do it? Getting through to someone is very different than excluding them if they don't listen.
Teresa, I am convinced that the pattern cannot be broken. First, I stipulate that humans are part of the animal world on Earth, and I use "animal" with respect, not pejorative. However, we are animals with the highest level of intellect (that we know of). As I have often said and written, "the greatest strength is also the greatest weakness."
With few exceptions, all other animals experience fear. Their response is fight or flight, and preferably avoidance. Even predators do not hate their prey. They simply kill and eat their prey as a matter of survival, not malice.
As animals with the most advanced intellect, we humans are the only species capable of hate. Hate originates in fear, but hate must be taught. As long as we humans are capable of hate, there will always be a cycle of one group hating the other, seeking to enslave or eliminate them.
It does look that way to me too. As a result, I can't like your response, but I basically agree with it. It doesn't leave the human race much wiggle room, as Earth groans under our boots, does it?
That is a great answer. To become more human, more community-oriented, more loving of others and Earth and our place in the Universe. AI is a good tool, but its only a tool. We need to love ourselves as human, and each other! Humanities is a good place to start, as is essay writing! Thanks!
Phil, tomorrow tonight our book club is discussing the Appendix of Orwell's "1984" and the language of "Newspeak." One of our members is both a professor of Russian and Slavic Studies and Linguistics. She will certainly provide interesting insights. We will be returning to the non-fiction genre after two novels, "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin, which influenced our current reading of "1984.
JustRavin, I hope you have a good discussion. Our book club reads books slowly since we meet weekly and also talk about politics. I will be interested to hear what you think.
Phil, this is so well said, and yet we have to remember that even cultists can have a revelation of the truth. With humans there is always a chance. We have to keep our eyes on that!
Don’t know about your masses in Japan, Phil, cause my world isn’t ethereal. After Nam I only had one good eye left so perhaps I neatly fit your file cabinet. I could cloak my reason in rhyme and rhetoric which adorns sophomoric college dorm walls becoming that which you decry or I could leave that to your capable imagination. Me I’m too busy to cloister up shit for the sake of your entertainment. I do enjoy your repetitive sincerity and hope you will stay with that cadence. I accept my animitive deadness and your inimitive facade. I eat hamburger and I use catsup. I’ll tell you a joke which only you can appreciate, Phil. As we say hereabouts, beware of the blind horse because hereabouts we say he don’t look too good.
J. You need to see AOC speaking after the MSC to 1000+ students at the Technical University in Berlin to which all Berlin students were invited. Here is a piece I wrote about it, which includes the video of her conversation.
The definition of capitalism I took away from college had to do with reinvestment of profit; but whatever the thing may be, I think that, as usual, the devil is in the details. My impression is that there is plenty of capitalism in Sweden, or at least there was a lot of buying and selling everywhere I went; and yet the there are contrasts of values between their economy and ours. Profit per seems to have respectable uses, and respectable ways to be earned; and of course, there are also there are unacceptable ways to profit, such as slavery, such as extortion, such as fraud, etc, that are clearly malignant; and also some of the knock-on effects of some ways of collecting money are harmful enough to individuals and society as a whole to be proscribed.
It seems in the realm of "common sense" and common safety that many ways of profiting should be regulated; but for several decades politicians have preached that commerce should be uniquely exempted from regulation and from accountability to society, with millions have been gulled into supporting that. That's where the $50 trillion went.
And also, that's why popular, even vital policies and projects get vetoed by the power of Big Money.
There has always been plenty of capitalism in Sweden. And the world's most profitable mobile phone manufacturer -- Nokia -- is based in Finland.
What makes American morons really want to tear off their panty hose in fury about Scandinavia is high taxes. Swedes pay up to about 40% (or higher) in local taxes in order to maintain their cradle-to-grave social protection and public insurance system, and most Swedes are happy to pay because it benefits the whole, not just one part of it -- a concept MAGA Land simply cannot wrap its little head around.
What there also is in Scandinavia is clean government -- squeaky-clean, non-corrupt, transparent government with a highly regulated private sector and firm, clear boundaries between the two (Denmark always scores either first or second in Transparency International's annual corruption perception indices). Which is why the recent revelations about the former Prime Minister of Norway's friendship with Epstein have shocked Norwegians more than most of us can even imagine (to say nothing about revelations that their idiot Crown Princess continued to befriend him even after 2012).
None of this has to do with schools, by the way, but with human corruptibility, as old as the very concept of 'who shall watch the watchers themselves?'
I imagine that epstein et al would have taken Scandinavias squeaky clean transparency as a challenge; much like the innocence of the children they raped.
You are so right, ICTT, corruption leading to great wealth and a desire to amass more wealth is the spiral we have been in since the 1980s. It is possible to crack into it with better education, matched with a leader or leaders who call it out for what it is. Education can give the base for doing better, but needs to exist in an atmosphere that supports it. We need to remember that not everyone will be susceptible to that education — in my family of five siblings brought up by very liberal parents and great schools, we had three fall out on the right and two on the middle left. Very interesting. I had never thought of it quite that way.
Except, too, it has morphed so diabolically in recent decades, more or less in tandem with U.S. and international public figures having been bought and schools zapped of humanities formerly key to them.
Yes, that $50 trillion stolen from the working classes and bestowed on the already rich. But pair that with the death of so many thousands of formerly decent, working-class communities from which the tens of millions of jobs got extracted, again to float the unconscionable rich.
Bill, I agree with AOC that AG Pam Bondi should be impeached and her behavior towards the women who survived the horrid Epstein sexual slave trade is unconscionable. We should be making it really uncomfortable to keep her around. Any suggestions.
Linda, always appreciate your posts and look forward to reading your account of MSC and watching the AOC video.
Regarding Bondi⬇️
Per Ron Filopowski/Meidas Touch…Gary Lesser, President of the Florida Bar: “I worked with Pam Bondi when she was in Tallahassee, but this conduct is disgraceful and not befitting the Attorney General of the United States, regardless of the questions being asked.”
We could deluge Florida Bar(again… but perhaps they will act now?) Florida does not have reciprocity with other states so if she loses her license,that’s it.
Of course, continually calling our legislators about booting Bondi..📲
And there’s always the tactic of using humor against the humorless.Jay Kuo had some great memes/videos to share about Bondi’s “performance”.My fave was..”if Bondi was a waitress”.📣
I wrote to the FL Bar several months ago, demanding she be disbarred; they replied that they do not take action on federal appointees. So there you have it. The crony protection racket.
Kathy thanks for reminding me that I need to catch up on Meidas and Kuo. I am trying to catch up on local German news and national German news as well. In my city of Bremen there is a scandal involving a member of the State Court who was recommended from the Left Party, which is part of the coalition that governs our City-State. However, I do not know if the scandal is because the German government designated a benign left group as terrorist, or because it really has done or advocates violence. They claim that they don't agree with Federal Government's designation. Something Americans are going to need to decide when Trump designates something as Terrorist because it is "Antifa," a word that is part of his language of "Doublespeak. "
A friend will assist this week with it. In essence, I will try to promote my book. I will announce that “The New Donald Trump Orchestra will perform the brand spanking new symphony’Rape of the Sabine Girls’ every weekend and those with tickets can dine in the new Donald Trump Restaurant featuring Kentucky Fried Chicken on the menu and a great addition to the evening will be to watch the run away best seller ‘Melania.’
Bill, yours is the first comment that I have seen regarding that comment. I think it shows the depth of critical analysis that the AG is able of articulating. <double snarky sarcasm>
Capitalism tempered by socialism looks different than unfettered capitalism where the purpose of the government is to support business so we can have a large GDP, but sacrifices the quality of life of many people in the process. The Swedish capitalism is one where the government is still supposed to take care of the people and part of doing this is making sure that the economy is healthy enough to employ them. While the US may accomplish this, under Trump it is not a goal.
Honestly Gary, I consider dividing the world into Capitalism, Socialism and Communism as economic theoretical ideas that need to be updated, and something that better fits what we see going on in the world should be proposed. Someone who does that should get the next Nobel Prize in Economics. Of course, if they are not white Trump is going to want one too.
These systems can have variations, but the foundations of how they operate is standard. Socialism is an authoritarian system, it cannot exist without the threat to personal liberty, something we should wish to avoid.
Capitalism, fettered and regulated, has proven to be the system that allows for the greatest personal liberty and general welfare. Note the success of the Scandinavian countries, The Nordic model of capitalist countries with strong social welfare programs.
Gary, I just don't agree. I was very influenced by the book Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchinson. They tied capitalism to eventual fascism because of the greed. We are certainly seeing that come to fruition.
Volans Group - Regerative Economics is symbiotic with turning away from fascist mafia oligopolists domination and integrating civic & environmental focus on hyper-local organization based on the geography of drainage basins. It leads to individual and group cognitive soveriegnty staying focused on balancing fundamentals.
A friend told me about "compassionate capitalism" which, as I see it, is a load of crap. Maybe that was true of Ben & Jerry's (ice cream) but it mostly seems to be crass capitalism, crony capitalism, corrupt capitalism in 2026.
The pendulum has swung back to the crony capitalist style, which has been the goal of the republicans and the Trump administration with their attacks on wokeness, DEI, etc. people will eventually get sick of it and it will swing back the other way. I’m just not sure how long that will take.
What you are describing, JL, is "capitalism with conscience." That's what you get when capitalism is but a component of a culture. To my knowledge, the United States is unique in that capitalism is the sum and substance of our culture. It has been since the founders first created a government with the primary goal of protecting their assets and promoting their ability to acquire more.
When commerce is a culture's core value, there's little room for conscience.
Thank you Phil Bella. I joined LINDA WEIDE's platform yesterday. I was already rewarded by a detailed report on AOC speech in Munich. AOC has always been a on-the-ground, person-to-person communicator.
And, Heather thank you greatly for calling out the powerful Blues Power of Howling Wolf..: 🎶 Don't you hear me calling. Smokestack Lightning⚡ 🎶
I hear Linda, Heather, AOC & this 2.8 Million LFAA community that the Professor built calling out, clear & loud.
And as we as a society did in response to the elevated exploitation and corruption of the "Gilded Age", we need to find ways to put a lid back on plutocracy.
That’s what I really hated about those dog damned bears. After they drug your elk quarters from hell to breakfast they buried them in the dirt and pissed all over everything.
The problem with your highly simplistic statement "we need to get him out of power" is that there is no real way to do that which is legal. He can be impeached but that would take 2/3 of the Senate to remove him from office and his own party currently controls the debate 53-47. In the best possible election results for 2026 democrats MIGHT take back the control but only by a small margin, maybe 52-48 or so. No where near the 67 votes required to remove Trump and unless he actually committed murder in broad daylight himself you will see very few if any defections to oust him. And even if it happened, we'd have Jd Vance, hardly much of an improvement.
Resign? He will never resign.
25th amendment? That takes 2/3 of BOTH the House and Senate. Not going to happen.
So short of his death there is no rational or practical way to remove him.
Jon, even if the Orange Goblin King would commit murder in broad daylight, the Republicans will still support him, as will his minions. Heck, he could rape a six-year old in the middle of Washinton squate, and kill the child afterwards, and _still_ his cultists would worship him. So, no, he will never be removed from power. Save, as you wrote, by death.
Perhaps I should have used a different phrase than "out of power." Much of what you say is true, though miracles do happen. However if he runs out of power, like a car that runs out of gas, that could help!
You can say St. Donold is legal? Really. Give him what he accords no one? He is illegal. Shoot him in the face or the back like his gang does. What goes around comes around. Steal my water, steal my cows. Dog help you if you shoot my children. Sure we can wait out the IRS, I remember shooting at the bastard that I caught stealing my water. My neighbor shot the cattle rustler in the head as he sat down to a stolen steak. 3-7-77. What does it mean Justice is blind? I guess it means I’m a lousy shooter.
Duh. I’m not an advocate. How in hell do you think I could miss four times in a row at 50 yards when I can shoot a snuice can lid at 400 meters? Although he succeeded in ruining my hay crop I was able to save the grain and the slime puke never stole my water again. We went the court route cost me 5000 dollars and my water right was upheld. The sheriff warned him to cease and desist. I convinced him. Most people are nice and while they want the bastard dead they want someone else to do the dirty work. The bastard stealing Mrs. T’s beef was on his second go around. At 85 she always carried a 30-30 in her jeep. Enough said. Out in the hinterlands we have to deal with predators. I mean real sneaky killers. The code is shoot shovel and shut up. SSS.
You know Gary I have been charged 13 times now by grizzly bears. Shit yes I was afraid. I had a 44 magnum revolver on my hip on several incidents, but I never shot a single bear. I mean to tell you they are protected. You couldn’t shoot a bear. I was once knocked down and sat on by a massive 9 footer. He became enamored of the pepperoni sticks in my shirt pocket. I can shoot that bear if I catch him attacking a friend. Some did. I managed to squirm out from under him and beat a retreat. My gun stayed safely in my pg bag. That was before bear spray. Now the bears carry the spray. I’m all ears for your plan of containment. ????
Okay you need to be a big dog I get it. He also likes to blow up helpless people in boats. He also likes to starve brown and black skinned children to death. His start up protocol makes him the target. That doesn’t give me any rights whatsoever. Got it. You should be a poster child. You win the debate. That is while you watch it all burn. No buts about it, you get to go to heaven. I get hell. Good on Gary. I would rather be shot to death charging the enemy than while standing in the trench I just dug. So, really you want to be in the center of the flock. My dog and I will do what we can to preserve you. And then you can hang us. That is if by some miracle you get out of the trench.
I live in Munich and had an opportunity to meet several people who had participated in the conference. Participants heard Rubio’s friendlier tone and were initially relieved. Only after his talk ended and they had a few moments to digest what he said at the end of his speech did they realize that he was telling Europe to behave like vassals and just follow what Trump says. About one hour later, news articles appeared summarizing Rubio’s real message.
Europe has now clearly seen that the US cannot be trusted and they need to stand alone. They are still trying to figure out how to proceed within the EU framework which is reminiscent of the US under the articles of confederation.
The attitude towards America has changed radically in the past months. Little old ladies that hear my accent tell me how sad they are to see how fast America has gone downhill. Others are saying that Brand America is over and people are starting to avoid US brands. Trips to the US are being canceled as well.
The idea that 'global trade has wrecked the American economy' is so ludicrously false it couldn't pass a simple giggle test. It contradicts the history of the past 80 years in its entirety. Since the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), trade has been WONDERFUL for America (and Europe). After the 1980s in particular (and 1994 when the World Trade Organization replaced GATT), it has also been wonderful for China, helping hundreds of millions there and elsewhere to escape poverty. THAT is what sticks in Rubio's little craw.
Most experts agree that it is true that China has taken advantage of the WTO to lower costs and cement its most-favored nation trading status. Those same experts will also point out that GATT also greatly benefited the United States -- and for a longer period of time. Those who set the rules of the game almost always benefit -- there is absolutely nothing new, novel or earth-shattering in that.
What these people cannot tolerate is an interdependent global system where many benefit, not just one. They deny the very existence of a positive-sum world where the whole vould actually be greater than the sum of its parts. If others gain, we must be getting screwed --the view of Trump, the view of a psychotic child grown up to be a greedy, stupid, delusional adult. No, there’s room for only us at the top. If they do well, that means we must be losing. This -- the stupid bullshit that forms basis of their 'worldview.' And they're clearly willing to blow it all up to go back to some mythical time in history when that was so.
But there never was any such mythical time and place when that was so. Tariffs, protectionism, beggar-thy-neighbor trade policies, colonialism -- these were the forces that propelled Europe into two world wars with countless millions dead as a result. There isn't a single historian out there that would disagree with that.
These people simply do not know WHAT they are talking about.
Hi Mark. Thank you for sharing your real-time experience. As 2025 progressed I grew increasingly worried about how my fellow American ex-pats are being treated. My friends who are citizens of other countries sometimes fill me in; I also reach out to Norwegians, Dutch et al. who have posted on sites I read to ask how I can understand (and help) what the Americans living in their countries are going through. This doesn't seem to concern Americans here, since I never see comments about it. How goes it in Munich? I'd appreciate your time in sharing what you've seen and heard. Thanks again.
Thanks for this, Mark Clark. I am horrified that participants reacted so warmly to Rubio. The only thing that makes sense to me is that he ISN'T behaving like Trump which reassures them that there's still some sanity in the administration. I hope, as you indicated, that once they thought about his words the reassurance fizzled.
Being a fly on the wall during some international meetings (without the US) would be SO interesting. Watching us crumble so severely has to be wild.
But, we don’t give up.
Be LOUD. These are unprecedented times 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Tips for reaching out to those outside of your state -
My first round of emails last spring from the contact me links had a lot bounce back saying I wasn't a constituent so it either didn't get sent or basically wouldn't be read. So I changed the way I sent messages. I use one of their own in state addresses (listed on my spreadsheet to help with this) on the address line because technically it doesn't say "my" address. I also don't want to misrepresent myself any more than that, so in my messages I typically put (at the bottom) that while I'm not a constituent, I am reaching out because (insert name) does represent me on the (insert committee that fits the topic my message is about).
Another thing I do is call after hours. I don't leave my name or address/zip code so my voice doesn't go towards a count, but the more they hear from us, the better.
I also send faxes using faxzero.com (5 free/day). I don't send a lot of letters, but when I do I put the same “while I’m not a constituent” blurb I do in my emails.
I’m a postcard sender and travel a fair amount. Whenever I’m in a different state, I’ll send postcards to that state’s Senators and Representatives. That way, they have an in-state postmark and hopefully get counted. I use 5Calls for my scripts.
Presidents’ Day is supposed to be about leadership. Not vibes. Not branding. Not grievance as a governing philosophy. Leadership.
Instead, we mark it under Donald Trump, a president who has turned public life into a running argument with reality. The office was designed to steady the republic. Under him, it lurches. The Constitution becomes a prop, accountability becomes persecution, and scrutiny becomes an insult.
If you want a snapshot of the moment, look at the Epstein files fight.
This is not about gossip. It is about trust. The Epstein case touches power, money, exploitation, and the uncomfortable truth that the wealthy and connected often move in circles most people never see. In a healthy democracy, that kind of case demands clarity. Transparency is not optional. It is oxygen.
The Justice Department has released large volumes of material in response to transparency legislation. That is a fact. There are millions of pages, multiple tranches, and public repositories. It is also true that these releases include redactions, privacy protections for victims, and references to names that do not imply wrongdoing. Being mentioned in a document is not proof of guilt.
But here is the problem. When public confidence is already depleted, partial releases and legal caveats do not calm the room. They amplify suspicion. Critics allege mishandling or political shielding. Supporters insist everything is being handled appropriately. The word cover up circulates, whether justified or not. And in the middle of it all, the presidency feels less like a source of clarity and more like another fog machine.
That perception is the humiliation.
Presidents’ Day asks us to think about Washington giving up power. Lincoln holding the Union together at a staggering moral cost. The idea that the office is larger than the person inside it. Trump offers the inverse. Power as personal possession. Loyalty as the highest virtue. Oversight as betrayal.
He does not lower the temperature. He raises it. He does not rebuild trust. He exploits its absence. Every development becomes a chance to deflect, attack, or claim victimhood. The headlines pile up. The country gets tired. The baseline shifts.
This is how erosion works. Not with a dramatic collapse, but with a steady drip. A norm dismissed. A guardrail mocked. A watchdog discredited. Over time, what once felt shocking becomes routine. Presidents’ Day starts to feel like historical fiction.
And there is a deeper layer. White Christian nationalism is not a side show. It is a central force in the current political coalition. When political power fuses with religious certainty and ethnic grievance, dissent becomes suspect. Journalists are enemies. Courts are obstacles. Pluralism is a weakness. The Constitution is respected only when convenient.
In that environment, secrecy thrives. Not because every redaction hides a crime, but because opacity becomes culturally acceptable. If your movement treats the leader as anointed, then accountability looks like blasphemy.
The Epstein files saga lands inside that framework. Even if every procedural decision is legally defensible, the atmosphere is combustible. A presidency already surrounded by controversy cannot afford ambiguity. Yet ambiguity is what we get. And ambiguity, in an age of institutional distrust, reads as rot.
Meanwhile, the daily spectacle continues. Social media broadsides. Legal entanglements. Performative outrage. It is governance by confrontation. The chaos is not accidental. It is a strategy. Exhaust the public. Blur the lines. Make everything feel equally scandalous so nothing feels decisive.
Presidents’ Day used to be a civic pause. A moment to ask what kind of character deserves power. Now it feels like contrast therapy. Marble busts staring down at a political culture that confuses dominance with strength and volume with conviction.
Leadership is not domination. It is not the ability to insult critics faster than they can respond. It is not surviving scrutiny through noise. Leadership is discipline. It is transparency when secrecy would be easier. It is treating the public as adults who deserve answers.
This holiday should not be a sentimental ritual. It should be a measuring stick.
If we are serious about honoring presidents, then we should be serious about demanding standards. Full disclosure where possible. Clear explanations where limits exist. Respect for institutions even when they are inconvenient. A rejection of sectarian power grabs dressed up as patriotism.
Presidents’ Day, in this moment, is not just about the past. It is about whether we still recognize the difference between stewardship and spectacle.
The lights are flickering. The question is whether we intend to fix the wiring or just get used to the dark.
''Being a fly on the wall during some international meetings (without the US) would be SO interesting. Watching us crumble so severely has to be wild.''
Sorry, gleeful was definitely not my intention, but more of a shake my head and be utterly amazed at what’s happening as well as curious how it’s being talked about behind closed doors abroad.
Megan, I for one would be very gleeful to see the end of US hegemony. We have abused our position and the wealth of our resources to dominate less privileged peoples in the interests of the wealth elites.
What is really amazing is how we could “abuse our position and the wealth of our resources to dominate less privileged peoples in the interests of the wealth elites” and yet the world has never had a period of such peace and prosperity (not saying perfect peace and prosperity, just relative to other times in world history). Imagine how things would have gone if that $50 trillion had been more evenly distributed! Wow!
A good way to be that fly on the wall is to subscribe to Le Monde. It’s an excellent paper and cost me 50 bucks for an annual subscription last year. Once I dumped WaPo and the New York Times, I searched for a European paper, choosing Le Monde over El País. Excellent journalism and a great way to understand how they see us abroad.
Thanks for the suggestion, Dana. A subscription to my local newspaper (a Gannett rag) will cost me $127 for a digital subscription on their discount rate.
Yeah; that is for a digital subscription. It is awful. I hate not subscribing to my home town newspaper, but holy moly! It used to be $25 which I thought was too high.
I just looked at his pic. Cold, dead eyes that seemed to pierce through the ages. Scary and reincarnated in our current crop, especially SMiller. He wasn’t assassinated soon enough.
Not gonna happen. He'll be in some place that doesn't have an extradition treaty or agreement with the US. Maybe we can get the CIA to do an Eichmann-style operation. Mossad will be busy elsewhere.
Remember that the US doesn't recognize the world criminal court at the Hague so we would never send someone not even a slug like Miller to be prosecuted there. As long as he stays in the US he is safe from that fate.
Agreed, Jon. I wonder what his options will be when there’s regime change here in the US. Will states hold him liable for crimes that occurred through his instigation within their jurisdictions? Trump, of course, will pardon him for any federal offenses (assuming he’s still capable of holding a pen while his handlers direct his hands). And did the destruction of USAID and the consequent loss of life come at his direction, or was it Musk? Maybe some aggrieved international person could request ICC charges be laid and, if he’s hiding out in some international luxury spot, arrange for his “transportation” to the Hague (remember Radko Mladic, who is still imprisoned, I believe).
I think Miller is not going to be subject to any state charges. His work has been almost exclusively federal and if some state tries to charge him with state crimes, that will be struck down by the US Supreme Court. That is less clear for others (for instance, the ICE agents who killed the two civilian citizens in Minnesota could definitely be subject to state charges of murder if the state chooses to pursue that (which apparently they are considering). Where there has clearly been state criminal violations, the states will have the option of bringing charges. Its just that at the high levels of the federal government, that is difficult to isolate (for instance, Pam Bondi will obviously be pardoned for any federal crimes, and while she has been totally outrageous, I doubt anything she has done actually violates specific state criminal laws).
Good observation. Brings back disturbing memories of that Australia case from a few years ago. Though I suspect the baby Jesus would turn such a situation to his own advantage and make it a teaching opportunity. :-)
Worse than faux, it seems pretty much the toxic opposite of the reported tenets of Jesus of which I am familiar, which I don't necessarily follow but respect. How can you unleash grave cruelty to the impoverished and homeless. and claim allegiance to Jesus? Worship the wealthiest? Pursue war? It's Orwellian madness.
My standard of late is that I compare a person to the Jesus I regard as my friend and secular mentor. Does the holy Speaker of the House remind me of Jesus? Nope. Does AOC remind me of Jesus? Yes, and without invoking his name.
Not really sure what little Marco was referring to there or what the Rolling Stones reference was about. But I think it might be more of a 'Sympathy for the Devil' tone coming from him and the demented demon Donold that he is in league with. False prophets, great deceivers, a killing joke of jackals, an antichristian regime...
Hi Christine — having grown up in a fundamentalist Christian cult where my parents were members of the Plymouth Brethren, I am now also in the non-believer category. What a relief!
And for those that say Jesus was so great, they overlook his statements such as “I come not to send peace, but a sword” (Matthew 26:11). He also threatened people with hell for not believing in “God.” He also appears to be ok w cruelty to animals, as with the 2,000 swine that he was ok with killing ((Mark 5: 12-13). He promises violence in Matthew 13: 41-42 (“and there shall be weeping, and the gnashing of teeth”).
After fighting w my family for decades, I finally reached escape velocity from my fundamentalist upbringing and published a book about it last year. It’s not easy reading but, I think, does show how fundamentalist believers, of all stripes, “know” not only what’s best for them and their children, but for everybody else, too. And since the god they worship is a violent god, they are ok with violence. — If you happen to be interested, the title of the book is “Truth and Fear: Breaking Free from Religious Fundamentalism.”
Alexia Ocasio-Cortez was impressive in Munich and at a University in Berlin. She spoke ex-tempore, clearly and convincingly. She looked, shall I say it, Presidential!
I think AOC will eventually be elected President. The big lift is whether or not blockhead Americans can be persuaded to vote for a woman of any color. I was born in the late 1940s. I hope to live long enough to see President AOC.
She's great but I agree she's not ready nor is the country. I'd love to see her take VP with Mark Kelly but she may prefer to stay in the Congress for a while. If we win in 2028 (go Kelly!) I'd see her ruin in 2036.
She is impressive and worthy of the presidency. I'm just glad that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is such a great and inspiring Congress member at this moment when it's so needed. She's so smart, brave and well spoken. There are some others too, just wish there were a majority of them in Congress to stop the Trump regime disaster from causing further and irreparable damage.
Message to Rubio who was sent out to München by Trump because Vance, who even got booed at the Olympics, is clearly persona non grata in Europe.
As a European I can say to little Marco that I and many like me have absolutely no "shared heritage" with the gang led by his orange faced master and that horrible duo Miller-Vought.
I have no "shared heritage" with little Marco's maga world for I trust science and despise conspiracy thinking. I respect the laws instead of breaking them. I am not a racist and I help those in need. I want affordable healthcare for all, not only for the gilded few.
The list of our differences is very long little Marco......
Little Marco can go back to his pedophile protecting boss and continue to praise the sleeping orange faced one during the next North-Korean style "government" meeting.
The reasonable worth of the USA on the world stage has been gutted. Those of us who were spawned in world War 2 know we will never live to see decency, tolerance, kindness and love for others on the world stage emanating from the USA again. I hope millenials and 21st century children and adults will erase the evil this psychopath in the White House has carried to us. Lies, viciousness, self aggrandizement and crudeness are the sine qua non of MAGA and Trump.
Hang in there, Frank. This aging Baby Boomer lives in hope to see those four qualities once again coming forth from our county, once we have kicked the evil that MAGA has become into the gutter. (And then carefully picked up its decomposing corpse, ground it up, and dumped the putrid mess into the toxic waste dump of history.)
Certainly a lot of the better angels of our nature remain alive and well, at least for now, in this society. The need more air time. The ghouls are hogging the stage.
Yeah, and Putin is laughing his balls of. Putting that Orange Goblin in the White House was the best investment he ever made: he can sit back, enjoy the show and watch how his once greatest enemy is destroyed from within. Vlad doesn’t even have to lift a finger….
In "a number of elected Democrats traveled to Munich, where they tried to counter administration officials’ message" I feel like I am finally seeing the beginning of the shadow government so many people imagined at least three quarters of a year ago - urged be formed to maintain a thread of what America is supposed to be. It took too long, but this sounds to me like a skeleton of the shadow governmental body is forming and I wonder how we can support this development so it does not dissipate once they return home. I believe we will need this very badly over the next nine months.
I would like very much to see a shadow government, who could say out loud what so many of us are thinking. They could describe a better world we know is possible, without fear of being voted out of office in the next election.
Timothy Snyder has advocated for this - a shadow cabinet . The key though is whether or not this shadow government will get the media attention it needs to reach a large segment of the public - not just on the podcasts and MSNOW - for it to be persuasive.
Trump stated clearly in his first term that Europe was the foe. But no one seemed to pay attention or understand that foe means enemy. Now, ...'he cozied up to Arab monarchs and Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.' The man a number of European nations hold directly accountable for the poison murder of Navalny. Not a good look for the coming midterms.
That's exactly how I think of them. In Texas, the ads denigrate democrats as doing exactly what chump and company are doing. It drives me more bonkers than W/Dickie did. They are deliberately trying to destroy us with evil machinations and verbiage. Really hard to take most days as Cornyn and Paxton wear their halos...
Back in the day, Will Rogers spoke of our financial dilemma. “The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover didn’t know that money trickled up. Give it to people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow’s hands.”
Mr. Hoover may not have known that money trickled up but the vipers of today certainly do. And they don’t want any poor slob to get a whiff.
As the greed is good mantra spreads around the globe, the worst nightmare of humanity is on the horizon…
< Note: This conversation was recorded on Tuesday, Feb. 10. On Thursday, Feb. 12, Kathryn Ruemmler announced she would be resigning from her role as chief legal officer and general counsel at Goldman Sachs.>
Just as important as all of the issues of globalization, capitalism, free trade, equal rights, free speech, and free elections, is the growing power of the international, interdependent, unethical, immoral dealings of unrestrained elites around the world. Read Ezra Kline in today’s NYT about how the Epstein elite traded favors, money, power, women, knowledge, and secrets with no interference from any government. A sad story of how lonely billionaires and intellectuals gave up their integrity so they could feel special, even though millions would suffer.
US foreign policy may have lost its leadership role in Europe or at least we can hope. It is good to hear from Congressional leaders in Munich even if they are silenced in Washington, and California has an economy that equals most countries, so the opposition may register. European history is full of white Christian nationalism and its results. The US is known for historical ignorance but hopefully the Europeans were paying attention. Stephen Miller’s might makes right may appeal to the ambitious weak as well as the strong but cooperation and solidarity work better for everyone generally. Greed is a bad master. Watching a senile narcissist and his followers destroy the common good is not the best role of the western world. Democracy and fair dealing need to save the climate, the alliances, and respect for humanity. Pray the world is up to it and vote Blue.
If Americans don't see Joseph Göbbels speaking to them in form of Stephen Miller, I assure you Germans do. Virtually nobody in Europe doesn't see that. And most in what used to be Eastern Europe also understand that Trump is in bed with the one man determined to re-create Stalin's hegemonic view of exactly how far Moscow's power should extend.
It was reported a couple of days ago that at least 10 major European research institutes and countries all concur -- the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was killed with epibaltidine -- dart frog poison. When Navalny died, he was convulsing and vomiting. This after the first nerve agent attack against him in 2020 -- at Putin's 'request' of course.
The face of what Europe is up against is clear -- at least to them. We're the only ones who have let massive greed permit us to pretend we don't see that as well.
"Unless the people, through unified action, arise and take charge of their government, they will find that their government has taken charge of them. Independence and liberty will be gone, and the general public will find itself in a condition of servitude to an aggregation of organized and selfish interest." —Calvin Coolidge
"After all, the chief business of the American people is business". Another rather infamous quote from then President Calvin Coolidge, on January 17, 1925, only some years before the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression years.
Republican administrations are so good at wrecking the economy while siphoning so much of the wealth and tax breaks to the elites and corporations. It's why Heather often has to restate that: "extremist Republicans attacked their opponents as socialists even as their tax cuts and deregulation were moving money dramatically upward: at least $50 trillion moved upward from the bottom 90% to the top 1% between 1975 and 2020."
I attended the MSC this weekend, except for time out to go to a Demonstration from One Billion Rising against violence towards Girls, Women and LGBTQ+ people. Then, I watched a livestream of AOC speaking at the Technical University in Berlin on Sunday evening. Here is a piece I wrote on her conversation there, which was very powerful. It includes a video of the talk.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/aoc-had-a-berlin-audience-eating?r=f0qfn
She rightfully points to the need for alliances to stand up to the far right populists. She also points out that we need to have a politics that takes working people into account. Her differentiating good populists from bad is something that Jefferson Cowie talked about in a speech he made last winter, which my book club watched on livestream. We were unclear how he was using the term populist and invited him to talk to us at Democrats Abroad, which he gracefully did. He says that populists just want to do what is popular, but that a successful candidate will appeal to the 2/3 of Americans who do not have a university degree. So, he is not saying that people appealing to the working class are populists if this is their platform and what they believe in, which is not the case for Trump. AOC sees these people are left wing populists, not something different with some populist ideas. Interesting.
The Christian Nationalist’s next target is educated women.
Kimberly, and Trump has been helping the Christian Nationalists to make this a nation of uneducated people and to destroy the careers of educated people in the sciences and all fields by decreasing the funding. A woman I know is looking to get a job in tech in Japan now. While Japan may not be known as a haven for women, the fact that they have a women president points to changes that they have made that we have not. They certainly seem to be willing to fund research in ways that the US is not.
Trump of course is not only trying to destroy the careers of educated women but trying to disenfranchise them with his demand for the last name on ID to match the name on the birth certificate. So all those good Republican women who changed their name at marriage are going to be left out in the cold with a “household vote” where they try to influence their husbands but in the end have to go with what he wants, since he retains his vote. For those feminist women who kept their names, we will be able to vote. But they will figure out a way to disenfranchise us too, no doubt. They are probably working on it right now in some dark corner of the People’s House.
I did not change my name when I married for the first time back in the early 1980's. My explanation to the many negative comments was that it was too much hassle to go through all the name-change document crap. In reality, I think I instinctively felt uncomfortable subsuming my identity into that of my husband's. (We divorced after a few years.) When I remarried, I still kept my maiden name even though I knew "this one" was a keeper, and his conservative parents did not approve. We have been married for 37 wonderful years, and gave our child my husband's last name.
Given all the hassle friends have gone through to continually updating documents through multiple marriages, and the current attacks on women's' right vote, not changing my name was one of the best choices I ever made.
I married twice and would not change my name either time. I just couldn't do it, much to the chagrin of my husbands and family. I would not change my name and identity for a man. I did not understand why other women did it so readily. It wasn't necessarily feminist because I don't think I understood feminism when I was younger. I was just stubborn I guess.
Working on it? JD Vance has come out strong in favor of women losing the vote. I do think any official, including females, who defies the Constitution should be disenfranchised and held to account, starting with Kristi Noem and Pam Bondi. And Vance's opinion on women voters and so very much else that's unconstitutional should be disqualifying him for the Presidency.
Pre mid-1970s there was no question of women changing their names. It was expected. I regret changing my name in the "olden days."
You have just substantiated my worst fears about disenfranchisement. I did not get married until I was 63 and was happy to change my name, because I very much wanted to lose my maiden name (for good reasons). As it is, my name on both my driver's license and my passport includes my maiden name, but from what you've said even that, plus having all relevant documents would not enable me to vote.
They would love to go back to the 1800s. If you haven't already, I recommend reading The Woman They Could Not Silence by Kate Moore; it seems prescient.
It is all laid out in P2025.
DESTROYING WOMEN? Is this a joke?
CALLING BULLSHIT.
CNN POLL 76% of Blacks
82% of Hispanics
86% of Whites
ALL FAVOR VOTER ID.
Of course you think its sexist. You see everything as sexist.
Linda, I see a brain drain going in the opposite direction Why would anyone looking for a job in science or tech come here. In fact, I am now wondering why anyone would come here. We have a friend who has a German friend coming to visit in April. Last trip no problem. This time she has to submit genetic info. And just she just missed by a couple weeks having to submit the names, addresses, etc. of everyone she knows or has known in the US for the last ten years. My husband looked this up and found it in the Federal Register. This is our state department under Rubio doing part of the work of compiling a vast database on everyone that they can. Personally, I would not submit genetic material and would not come. I find this insidious.
Just a note, we have an active troll this am.
Michelle, I know. I was thinking that no German journalists can come because they cannot actually legally give up all this information. I would absolutely not do it. Many dual US-German citizens that I know here are planning on giving up their US citizenship because they have had enough. Rubio is a little shit, and he is doing Trump's dirty work for him. As Newsom said at MSC, he is so changed from 10 years ago he would not recognize himself. Now Rubio is slinking around in Hungary sucking up to Orban ! These people are all sickening. But, Trump probably didn't want to not send anyone who is in the Epstein files, or the European press would eat them alive. So, Rubio it is.
OMG, Michele! Submit genetic info? That is absolutely disgusting. I agree that it would be much better to stay away from here.
We should never forget that Trump, his efforts to legitimize white-male-supremacist racist and misogynistic genocide, the resultant ChristoNazi conquest and its MAGAstapo terrorism is the triumph of a multi-generation, bi-partisan scheme more than a century in the making, To learn of the carefully hidden roots of the crisis, the documentation of which include a PBS film about the enormous support for Hitler here in the '30s and additional, meticulously footnoted documentation of the plutocracy's support for Nazism, go here: https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/january-25-2026?utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=205274486
What a condescending dumb comment.
Uneducated people are stupid is that your thesis? They need to be told what to by people like you?
Trump has brought in $10 Trillion in new investments by tech companies and AI. Who do you think you are bullshitting.
Deep breaths, James. No idea where you got the idea that anyone was talking about only educated people. Too bad you can’t see the forest for the trees. I wonder if you think that any of the $10 trillion imaginary new investments that other countries have been trolling Trump with is actually going to be trickling down to anyone below the top 1%? If so, you probably need to look further. I am so curious what you really think. Also, I hope you can express yourself more rationally. Thanks for no capital letters in this note. I’m also glad you are so watchful for condescension and dumbness. You might want to watch your own notes for those things, too.
$10 Trillion in investments in what? What are they investing in?
Spot on comment. Thank you.
Kimberly, I agree, and would add that educated women are disobedient women. And that's a real problem for white christian men.
We don't 'dis-obey', we just don't necessarily obey. The right doesn't think we are entitled to our own opinions.
My evangelical parents would disagree. Failure to obey is still disobedience. They also believed that failure to tell the truth is lying. Maybe I should have clarified that my previous comment was written from the christofascist point of view.
Next target? Their words and actions demonstrate the attack is already underway.
We should recognize the sexual victimization of terrorized children by the Trumpstein Cult is the immediate predecessor, perhaps even a test run, of the terror the MAGAstapo is now unleashing on anyone who refuses to kowtow to the ChristoNazi theocracy. Thus the vital, know-our-enemy relevance of the full text of the Jane Doe lawsuit against Trump and Epstein -- later withdrawn by the plaintiff in response to credible death threats: https://cdn.factcheck.org/UploadedFiles/Johnson_TrumpEpstein_Lawsuit.pdf
barefoot and pregnant ( only whites though). Didn't Vance suggest such a thing. What a hypocrite, married to a Hindu woman who works.
Fat chance those cretins will succeed!
A step back to the 50's, when the ideal role of women (wife) was to stay home to raise the children and clean the house? OMG, we're bring back Leave it the Beaver? And that's going to us great again? Who's buying this? I smell desperation.
Another imbecilic Trump Regime move, sending the whip beaten, submissive puppy dog Lil Marco to deliver “any” forceful announcement of policy intent is tone deaf in total, especially when the message carries the declaration “You will all be better off when The King controls your freedom, so get with the program”
I’m sensing a Newsome/Ocasio ticket in 2028
As much as I would LOVE a woman VP or POTUS, I personally believe unless the primaries show an absolute mandate for a female candidate, I think the Dems are slitting their throats to run a female.
Please don't yell or argue with me, I'd be THRILLED to vote for a ticket with BOTH a female VP and POTUS. However, I think there is still too much misogyny in this country. YES, Hilary did get the popular vote, but until we eliminate the electoral college, well, I just don't see it happening. I would be delighted to be proven wrong.
Also, I'd like to hear from any Californians reading here--Newsome in the press darling because he taunts Trump and goes against him. Pardon me, I didn't follow California politics very closely, but wasn't he very unpopular at one point? People wanted him OUT? I find his tweets very funny, but I need to see platform and policies.
Californian here. The "people" didn't want Newsom out- the republicans did. They ran a recall and lost. I like Newsom and here are a few reasons why. As mayor of San Francisco he was very supportive of unions. San Francisco is a strong union town so any political leader needs to be pro-union but I feel that he has been consistent in his pro-union stance (for the most part) as governor. He championed gay marriage and, despite Charlie Kirk's ignorant scoffing remark, faced a great deal of opposition to that. He is an excellent communicator and listener. He was giving regular factual updates concerning COVID which we didn't get anywhere else and was proactive in trying to remedy the vast shortages in hospital supplies in California. All in all, he takes his job seriously. Those are a few things about him that stand out to me.
Alison, thank you for that. I appreciate your insights on his policies.
Please forgive my old rationalization that it couldn't be much harder than electing Black president. I'm so disappointed that it should seem so surprisingly impossible, but makes me more determined than ever to make it possible to elect the truly most competent, qualified, and ethical person of any race or gender identification.
Would another FDR and Frances Perkins be needed to reopen the path to the Presidency?
Frances Perkins was born as Fanny Perkins but changed her name to Frances to project a more serious image, made it a point to dress as much like a mother to the men she influenced, and carefully studied each man to find the way each had to be led to get her sterling goals achieved. The most telling to me being the stubborn insistence to FDR that Social Security had to be a tax so that it couldn't be eliminated as easily as other benefits.
Jim, I think the same, and yet, we couldn't get Hilary elected. In my mind, she was one of the most qualified candidates ever. She was the wife of a POTUS and a governor, so she knew exactly what the jobs entailed at both a state and national level. She was a Senator and Sec of State. She is an attorney. She worked extensively on health care LONG before it became a crisis in the US.
And even with the popular vote, she still wasn't elected.
I don't know what it takes.
Other countries have misogeny and manage to get in women leaders. We cannot accept not having a woman if we have a good candidate.
Dave Dalton, that pair would be very powerful and enlightening for all of us. I was literally just saying to a friend: I wonder where Ocasio- Cortez will go next? Senate? Cabinet? As VP I think she’d be able to transform that into
something more impactful.💫
samani, I was seeing her as P and him as VP based on their understandings of the Working class which will be all that we have in the US when Trump gets done.
Sounds good to me Dave.
I think a coalition of Democrats should combine and run as a team. Buttigieg, Raskin, Acasio Cortez, Newsome Pritzger, et al. Announce as a new way of political strength
How about Newsom/Kelly or my favorite wish going back to 2016... (Admiral) McRaven 2028
Not to mention his blatantly racist and anti-science rhetoric.
Thank you for this coverage of AOC in Munich. Am frequently confused when politicians try to differentiate voters based on level of education. For example, in Florida, social workers employed by this state are not very well-remunerated, considering how many years they spent in school and how much that cost them. The majority of working people are certainly not rich like the 1%. Everybody needs a social safety net like affordable housing, healthcare, education. They want children to feel safe. Few, educated or not, want what is happening now.
I agree Ayesha that everyone needs a social safety net. That is why I am in Germany now. I got tired of hearing the Republicans in the US threaten social security and medicare. As it stands I am not getting the medicare that I paid into, but have health insurance that will be there for me now. I also don't know if we will get the Social security that we have paid into, but I hope so. If not, we have to sell things.
Thank you Linda, I'll definitely check that out. I love AOC, so glad you got to watch her and attended the Munich Security Conference.
Thank you Linda for your reporting. I read your piece right before I went to bed and for once, I slept well. I highly recommend it.
GJ, I am glad you were able to sleep well. I hope that is in part because you saw an elected US leader who is representing your concerns about our country. In Solidarity! ✌🏾
Thank you, Linda, for the AOC link. I most emphatically urge all here to watch it and listen carefully to its message. Indeed -- especially in terms of providing an accessible framework within which we can (successfully) unite to rise up angry -- I believe it may be the most important link anyone has ever posted here.
This was a very impressive speech. I am more and more impressed with The Squad’s fighting spirit.
Me too Elizabeth!
We DEFINATELY "need to have politics that that takes working people into account." Even more, politics that does not denigrate them as I saw happen in Michigan under Gov. Granholm. Thank You for your world view!
Yes. I totally agree MaryPat! We need to get rid of the Plutocracy that we have under this regime in the USA. Whitmer is a breath of fresh air. Honest and honorable.
The especially useful link is to A Conversation with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at TU Berlin at: https://www.youtube.com/live/L5V-XkjqBLc?t=1189s
To me, it shows a common set of principles and actions that can guide a more careful coalition of international interests to goals I have long thought could never be reached in putting some restraints on over privatization and monetizing everything imaginable.
The video has an unusually good auto-generated transcript, too. I pretty much just toggled time stamps off, copied the text into Word, then searched for [period, space, ^P] (for the paragraph mark) and replaced it with [period, ~, ^P] so I could then search for [space, ^P] and replace it with just [space] to get rid of all the simple line breaks and see sentences separated into paragraphs.
A meaningful small sample of the 2hr 3min (from around 1:25:00)
"...Uh one of the critiques that we have of capitalism is that it is its goal is isolation and they want the one of the last frontiers that they want to commodify is human relationship and connection.
They don't want your friend to drive you to the airport because they want you to give money to an Uber.
um they don't want you to uh care for your friend's children because they all of these things the fragmenting of community is where you can make money.
And so when we defy that uh in small acts like driving your friend to the airport uh or in larger acts like what we saw in Minneapolis where these were just everyday people coming out and buying a vest and putting it on and blowing a whistle when they saw an ICE agent.
All of this scaffolds on one another.
Uh, and especially in a moment where right-wing populace populism is ascendant, it it prays on communities not being in connection with one another..."
So much of what is not covered in US media seems brought together (far beyond just the commodification) is covered in a way that compliments Heather's letter, especially the second to last paragraph of this Feb 15 letter, in an international audience more familiar with working class issues we can from coalesces around on the similar issues.
Thank you, Mr. Young, for reposting the AOC link; we should periodically do that throughout this thread and on future threads for our readers' convenience and to ensure its maximum dissemination.
Thank you for posting this, such a great interview, venue and question & answer from audience members and AOC!
Linda: thank you for this link and for your reporting from Germany. AOC was terrific, especially in encouraging the young people in the audience to not be overwhelmed or discouraged by the cascade of events to think that their actions, no matter how small, can't make a difference. She used the metaphor of small individual drops of water, when combined with tens, hundreds, and eventually millions of others, can form a mighty wave. She said it more eloquently, of course. She, herself, got into politics because she couldn't just sit back and let things happen to her and this country.
I'm sorry, but the conference is irrelevant.
The American politicians would be more useful here, trying to get Congressional Republicans to vote with us on stuff like Epstein files, tariffs, abuse of war powers, etc.
The governors of California and Michigan have nothing to do with national security, but there are enough House Republicans from those states who can be pressured to get the subpoena power.
Our world is far too small and far too interconnected for that kind of denial.
Yes, we have much work to do here at home, but we are not and cannot be divorced from the rest of that world.
It's not the friggin' UN. Not even a legilative body.
We fall for hype.
That misses my point.
Seriously?
Congress is on vacation. Today is a literal holiday. Nothing is being done in DC and won't be until next week. Seems to me like they have the right to spend their time off doing what the heck ever they want.
California and Michigan are smart to keep their networking contacts. California is one of the largest economies in the world. After the breakup they are going to need allies... for trade and security.
Embracing common ground is not irrelevant. Demonstrating that America is indeed a contradicton, not a monolith that supports The Felon is essential. Build bridges, not walls.
I'd argue AOC got a chance to do more to layout current problems and how coalitions of working class people can find common causes, the stuff Platforms would benefit from, and is great on the Epstein Files answer she gave at https://www.youtube.com/live/L5V-XkjqBLc?t=1189s
That portion of the transcript:
"...1:51:27 And um [applause] The question I wanted to ask is is rather serious because I've been um in the past couple of weeks I've been so sickened by what's happening with the Epstein files and uh thank you.
[applause] I mean, I could I could rant for hours about Pam Bondi and those people, but what I really wanted to ask you is what do you think might be the next steps in uncovering the whole truth because it's I mean it's just unimaginable and I think we should really make sure that all these people are prosecuted and um yeah, how do we do that? Thank you.
Thank [applause] you. You know, um, thank you for that question and, uh, it really is, it is just a shock to all of our senses, seeing some of the things that have been unveiled in the Epstein files, the people who knew, the connections that are involved, uh, it is shocking.
One avenue of hope that I have around this is that um despite all of the shocking things that have happened and transpired in the past, uh for some reason um I think you know for a lot of reasons this scandal over the Epstein files is kind of breaking the cultish grip that the right has had over some in its base.
And so this actually is not a partisan the response to this has not necessarily been partisan.
Uh and that I think is where we have a lot of hope.
Uh there are a lot of just everyday people who voted for Republicans who are demanding accountability and answers on this, and Pam Bonti stood there in front of the Congress of the United States and had the audacity to say in response to what are we doing about child these child predators to say well the Dow Jones is above 50,000 or whatever it is that she said.
Um it is giving it is it the response that she had was so inappropriate.
It almost is as though the feeling of implication is quite broad.
You have Howard Lutnik knowingly brought his family to Epstein's Island after he was convicted of child sex trafficking.
This has to go all the way to the top.
It does go all the way to the top.
And um my hope is that the growing uh the the growing disgust over this will not be able to hold in the Republican party.
Um but there has to be accountability.
It is shocking uh the amount of power that we have that that has been held by predators.
And um and not only that, but these were the people that were making decisions over governments, over massive companies and corporations.
Um and I think the important thing to also communicate here is that there is a connection between the concentration of wealth that we are seeing, the concentration of political power that we are seeing and what is transpiring in the Epstein files.
I can say that as a survivor of sexual assault myself, but many uh people know that crimes of sexual assault, of rape, of abuse are not about sexuality.
They are about power.
They are about abuse of power.
It is about the ability to feel that you can subjugate another human being and violate their agency.
And it is not a coincidence that perpetrators of sexual abuse and perpetrators of rape and assault are also people that have deep complexes about power and the acquisition of power in the world.
And this is why you know people think of domestic abuse and sexual assault as a gender issue.
It is a canary in the coal mine issue, people who often are engaged in sexual assault and abuse are twice as likely to be involved um you know if there's a if there's a gun crime you know mass shooters uh in the United States often have track records of gender violence and gender- based violence there is a direct connection here around a sense of impunity the acquisition of power and sexual abuse And it is to me uh deeply pervasive.
And when we hold sexual crimes to account, I actually believe that it is a pillar of any anti-corruption platform and outcome that we desire to have as a society.
And it's why we have to do it on an interpersonal level because it goes all the way to the top.
And um and it's just shocking uh to see all of this and we cannot let it go and we cannot allow them to desensitize us to this.
It does not surprise me that the same authors of the quote unquote anti-cancel culture movement, right? All of these people who have been trying to tell us that basic humanity and upholding standards of dignity is cancel culture.
It's not surprising to me that they say, "Oh, you can't speak out against this or that.
You can't hold that person accountable because it's cancel culture." Now, I'm sure they don't want us to hold pedophilia accountable, and they think having an anti-pedophilia stance would be cancel culture.
That's the erosion in culture, morality that that is being hinted at here.
When Pam Bondi says there's no more work here to be done, really, you are the attorney general of the United States of America and you don't want to hold any one of these pedophiles accountable, resign or be impeached.
[applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] I want to thank the audience for this amazing discussion and um let me add from my perspective I think it's important that we stay in conversation.
We take your anger and your criticism, but we do not take your apathy.
So stay engaged, stay in conversation.
We have to build a big coalition against the dangers of the far right as we have discussed today.
But to end maybe on a more hopeful note, Alexandria, you spend now a few days here.
What gives you hope? [sighs and gasps] you all.
[laughter] Um I know that um in many ways for so many of us uh our lives, as challenging as they may feel, are an impossible dream of so many of the people that came before us.
And it is only through um our belief in one another that we're able to make miraculous things happen..."
Oh come now ... in what universe are the current Republicans in the Congress ever gonna vote with Democrats? The collective goal of the Republican congress is to amass limitless power and to crush Democrats, with bonus points for cruelty. It really doesn't matter how much legislation benefits them; if Democrats are for it, they'll vote against it. Except in situations (such as the Epstein files) in which the administration can slow-walk adopted legislation into oblivion.
I believe we have more opportunities to resist the autocracy in the actions in international fora (to remind others that Project 2025 is not synonymous with all of USA's leaders), in Blue states collectively adopting protective compacts (such as the interstate compact on the electoral college), in influencing local and state governments, and in large mass protests.
Daniel It is irrelevant when we read that the world is moving on without the US. In past years it was relevant. Have you attended it and looked at the wide range of things that are being discussed? Deals are made here, and I am sure that people were all wanting to sit with Gavin at the table and talk about deals between his state and theirs, or their country. Maybe with Whitmer too.
Here we see Dean Blundell telling us what Carney is doing.
https://open.substack.com/pub/deanblundell/p/breaking-mark-carney-is-quietly-building?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
From Jeff Tiedrich we see a graph that tells us that what Carney is doing is helping the Canadian stock market do better than what Trump is doing is helping the US stock market.
https://open.substack.com/pub/jefftiedrich/p/shitwits-nitwits-and-fuckwits-your?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web
So, at Munich the Europeans banded together and said we can work with the US if it is civil and rules based, but we are not changing for the US. Governors understand that national security is tied to their states, and economic security. Also, another secuirty that was not discussed, but should have been is health care security.
Those granstanders have nothing to do with US policy or making "deals."
Linda, thank you for this informative post.
ThankYou.
Quotes out of context are misleading. As you demonstrate. Coolidge of course didn't mean "the people" in an expansive way. Or "power to the people" in the sense of government privileging ordinary people's participation in decision making, providing for their essential and emergency needs, or protecting them from commercial exploitation.
Coolidge, in the vein of Republican ChristoFascists today, such as Bill Barr and Leonard Leo, was a Christian moralist who believed the Declaration of Independence was an essentially spiritual and religious, rather than political, document. Expressed today as a newly invented notion of "religious conscience" trumping the Constitution's protections from government impositions of religious creed.
"In 1926, Coolidge was president during the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. In a speech on July 5, Coolidge characterized the Declaration as “a great spiritual document.” He noted that the nation had been founded on the principles of the equality of men, on their possession of inalienable rights and on their right to self-government. Tracing such ideals back to early colonists, Coolidge observed that “(i)n order that they might have freedom to express these thoughts and opportunity to put them into action, whole congregations with their pastors had migrated to the Colonies.” "
.https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/calvin-coolidge/.
A threat to democracy': William Barr's speech on religious freedom alarms liberal Catholics | William Barr | The Guardian
.https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/19/william-barr-attorney-general-catholic-conservative-speech.
Notre Dame had a right to host Barr — but his talk was ridiculously stupid | National Catholic Reporter
.https://www.ncronline.org/opinion/distinctly-catholic/notre-dame-had-right-host-barr-his-talk-was-ridiculously-stupid.
Leonard Leo's acceptance speech at the 2017 Canterbury Medal Gala Beckethttps://becketfund.org/leonard-leo-speech-2017-canterbury-medal-gala/.
Coolidge also wrote "Neither political nor industrial democracy can relieve mankind from the requirement of obedience. There is no substitute for virtue. Too much emphasis has been put on the desire to rule and too little on the obligation to obey. More and more all social problems must be worked out in accordance with this principle. An obedient nation would possess supreme power. The law of life, the law of progress, is the law of obedience, the law of service."
The Meaning of Democracy
https://coolidgefoundation.org/resources/the-meaning-of-democracy/#:~:text=The%20disappointment%20which%20has%20been,nation%20would%20possess%20supreme%20power.
"As governor, he became best known for sending in the National Guard and breaking a policeman’s labor union strike in Boston in 1919 during the first Red Scare period when many Americans were fearful of a communist takeover."
The first Red Scare (1917 to 1921) had raised fears of communists and radicals that persisted into the succeeding Republican nominations. Early in Coolidge’s presidency, Congress adopted the 1924 Immigration Act that discriminated against southern and eastern European immigrants."
.https://firstamendment.mtsu.edu/article/calvin-coolidge/.
Yes but sometimes quotes do ring a bell. But context and the person in history’s entire cv of life needs to be seen in full. Coolidge was not at all unintelligent and therefore many of his actions are more wrought than not. Thanks and maybe folks should compile CVs of Life for all our historical people so we have a full snapshot of context.
lin, in appreciation of your reminder that history is far more akin to an ever-emerging stew than a singular clarified broth. Think back a couple of days ago to the rich commentary we all generated to HRC's recent post on TR's awful Valentine's Day as readers shared elements of his persona, and embeddedness in a complex times (yes, plural) and evolution over time unfolded for him and America. Thank you.
In bitter truth, the United States government has always been a criminal organization. Just ask the First Nations people. Or the striking coal miners it attacked with field artillery and bombing planes. Or the ghosts of the Triangle Shirtwaist dead, who still haunt the corner of Greene Street and Washington Place, where they died after leaping from windows to escape the fire and falling eight or 10 storeys to splatter on the pavement.
Rubio’s speech in Munich reveals what this administration is actually optimizing for: a white supremacist fantasy past that never existed, wrapped in “western civilization” rhetoric while abandoning every value that made democratic societies worth defending.
He erased Indigenous Americans, Black Americans who built the cultural bedrock he claims to protect, and his own family’s migration story to construct a pure white Christian narrative.
This isn’t preserving civilization. This is rejecting the actual multicultural history that created American strength in favor of autocratic imperialism.
Germany’s response was perfect: “We know where this path leads. We went down it to the bitter end.” The administration isn’t building anything.
They’re demolishing 80 years of architecture that prevented global war, enabled prosperity, and protected human rights, all to serve an Epstein Class that profits from chaos and authoritarianism while calling it patriotism.
—Johan
From Steve Schmidt’s Substack
“ Marco Rubio’s address was an insult to American values and an embarrassment to the American people. It was a repudiation of our values and the sacrifices of those who fought, struggled and died so that we may live in freedom, peace and prosperity.
The Europeans who clapped were cheering for the philosophy that nearly destroyed the world.
Marco Rubio is a cynical man in a cynical age, serving an evil cause that he once professed to despise for power and privilege.
Call it whatever you want, but it isn’t “measured.” It isn’t “reassuring,” and it damn sure isn’t American.
It is American fascism. Patriotic Americans will send it back to the ash heap of history.
Little Marco speaks for Donald, not the American people.”
He wasn’t as bad as Vance. That’s why people applauded (I suspect).
But I also think he agrees with Vance.
Rich to see Marco Rubio (whose family history includes illegal immigration from the Southern hemisphere) in service of Donald Trump (whose family history includes chain migration from Slovenia) castigating Europeans for allowing immigration to threaten their White Western Culture. Of course, we know the Trump administration views illegal immigration from the Southern Hemisphere and also chain migration - as diluting "American" culture. Similarly to how the Nazis, who Trump is emulating, considered Slavs as subhuman.
This administration makes my head spin. IMO, Vance used Usha to navigate his way into the lawyer world. Now, he talks against brown people--which his wife AND children are, and against non-Christians, which his wife and inlaws are.
THIS Christian thinks Vance (and many other MAGA, ESPECIALLY Johnson) sold their souls to Satan.
The Germans acknowledge and learn from their past. Americans (well, certain Americans) refuse even to acknowledge our country's history of slavery and imperialism. let alone learn from it.
Rubio’s speech was lifted directly from Alexandr Dugin’s discredited fourth political theory of eternal feudalism as the natural state of mankind, overlayed on selective decontextualized “supporting anecdotes” intended as propaganda content for delivery to the uneducated masses.
American / European shared cultural history is anchored, not in these tribal tales, but in mutual advancements against tyranny over centuries in the form of some of these great legacies:
- History of Athenian Democracy
- Magna Carta
- Mayflower Compact
- The enlightenment / scientific progress
- Suffolk Resolves
- Declaration of Independence
- U.S. Constitution
- Bill of Rights
- 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th etc amendments.
- United Nations founding documents, etc.
An actual historian could, no doubt, put together a more robust counterpoint to little brown Rubio’s white supremacist conquistador drivel. If David McCullough were still with us it would be fascinating to hear his response. Alas.
Hopefully someone with serous clout will pick up the torch in a formal way, as these spurious arguments should not be allowed to stand.
Spot on. Thanks for this commnet.
One thing I caught: SecState Rubio rcognized that the American Century is over by saying that 'we' (i.e., Europe and the United States; ¿what about our Pac-Rim democratic allies?) can work together for another "Western Century". I am hoping against hope that the SecState inserted that ethnocentric scheiße into the speech to placate King Baby.🤞🏼
"Rage and frenzy will pull down more in half-an-hour than prudence, deliberation, and foresight can build up in a hundred years." –Edmund Burke, ‘Reflections on the Revolution in France’; 1790.🤔
My take on what happened in Munich is that it exposed a deeper ideological shift, not just a diplomatic dispute. The Munich Security Conference exists because Europe learned, at catastrophic cost, what follows when ethno nationalist mythology replaces democratic cooperation. It was designed to defend pluralism, alliance, and a rules-based international order. To stand on that stage and amplify rhetoric shaped by grievance, bloodline identity, and civilizational hierarchy was not a policy adjustment. It was a statement of alignment. The signal was that the United States may be drifting from democratic leadership toward a politics influenced by white Christian nationalism, a worldview that treats diversity as decay and secular democracy as disposable.
This is not about tariffs or troop levels. It is about moral direction. When the United States under Donald Trump echoes themes central to white Christian nationalist movements, casting global politics as a struggle to restore a supposedly lost Christian civilization, democracy becomes secondary to cultural dominance. That narrative narrows who counts as fully American and which nations count as legitimate partners.
The post-1945 order rejected racial hierarchy and the fusion of church and state. Undermining that foundation in favor of civilizational nationalism does not strengthen the republic. It isolates it. Munich made that contradiction unmistakable.
It is a sad state of affairs that the US apparently either did not learn the futility of an ethno nationalist mythology when it comes to a rules-based national order or has supped at the trough of Christian Nationalism to the degree that it is gorged on mythology and has no room for facts.
I hear you. It is troubling to watch mythology crowd out facts in public life.
At the same time, I am not sure this had to be Christian nationalism in particular. It could have been another ideology. People chasing power usually grab whatever story they think will work at the moment, whatever stirs fear, loyalty, and money. If one narrative had not mobilized voters, they likely would have tried another. Evil deed doers are always opportunistic.
I think that the tenets of Christian nationalism were ready-made for the authoritarian power grab in the US.
But maybe we are learning, just painfully slow, and with a few big steps back every once in a while. Ally, I think we tend to fall back into long periods of complacency after a decade or so of awakening and turmoil, with each subsequent period of status quo complacency being a tad better than the last. The turmoil of the moment is so reminiscent of the 60's with anti-war protests, freedom riders, an advance in the women's movement. The far right was just as ugly, with Lester Maddox and his ax handles, which actually got him elected governor, and the seemingly weekly murders of prominent leaders in 68, but which had been happening to regular folks uninterrupted since the Civil War. I am convinced that once on the other side of this current round of madness we will be a little bit better off than we were during the era that is now behind us.
I wish I shared your optimism. In the 1960s there was a bulwark of norms-based integrity in the Congress, presidents who were willing to sign and then enforce the Voting Rights Act, and a Supreme Court led by Earl Warren, in a time of prolific recognition of individual human rights.
I'm not arguing that the 60s were great, but in comparison with the present day, in those days the Constitution was not considered optional. It was applied in highly biased fashion; but we were moving, albeit slowly, in a direction that supported the civil and human rights of individual Americans.
Moreover, Congress was not hell-bent on destroying people on opposite sides of the aisle. In the early 1970s, when Nixon was building his Enemies List, the congressional resistance was largely bipartisan, and he resigned in part because of the strength of norms of integrity that perfused the Congress. Those days are long-gone, as is the integrity.
In short, in the 60s there was a whole lot of bad stuff happening, but the Federal government, though wrong about Vietnam, got a lot of other things right. Not now: the federal government has become a corrupt, oppressive, white-supremacist swamp.
Well-said.
I attended the MSC this weekend, except for time out to go to a Demonstration from One Billion Rising against violence towards Girls, Women and LGBTQ+ people. Then, I attended AOC speaking at the Technical University in Berlin on Sunday evening. Here is a piece I wrote on her conversation there, which was very powerful. It includes a video of the talk.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/aoc-had-a-berlin-audience-eating?r=f0qfn
I regret that I did not see Jason Crow and will look to see which talk he was in and will hope to find a video of it.
I'm glad some intelligent people from the US went to Munich to counter the raving lunacy and single-minded vileness of the US Government and the Republican Party, which is now truly and completely the Party of Trumpist White Autocratic Technocracy.
What an absolutely great place to counter the lunacy of the American people
Are you outside? Your mind gail. Stop being such a racist by the way, he got more black boat and an Hispanic boat than any president and recent history on the right side of the aisle. Ooooops. And his policies will this year give blacks and Hispanics the most benefit if they are amongst the low end of the economic spectrum.
I should clarify. When I talk about “Republicans” on this site, I’m referring to Republican leadership, the current administration, and elected officials who engage in anticonstitutional attempts to destroy the fabric of this country, the entire election system, basic Constitutional freedoms, the separation of powers, and all the other illegal shenanigans they are up to right now.
If I want to talk about Republican voters, I say “Republican voters.” In the comment above, I said “Republicans.” Of course, you couldn’t know this distinction because I didn’t state it at the time, so it’s understandable that you mistook my anti-Republican (as in “anti the Republican Party and its concerted efforts to destroy this country”) for racism against Republican voters. My apologies. I’ll try to be clearer next time.
By the way, how do you think these Republican leadership got into power in the first place maybe you’ve forgotten about election elections. Like the one for Donald Trump T. W. I. C. E
Would you like to give some examples gail or just keep spewing it nonsense? By the way, your protestations are about to end as all the Epstein evidence is now out and the 300 names of the most famous are produced credible names of both Democrats and Republicans, but the Democrat Democrats wow. Can you imagine Gloria Allred of all people Michael Wolf holy shit John Brennan, George Clooney Xavier Becerra I think my favorite though is Ro khans and Ted Lieu.
His laissez faire approach sorta led to the Great Depression.
Yup, but he spoke the truth on that occasion.
Cool.
At this point, if you still support Trump or any Republican, you are either very racist, very wealthy and/or just plain stupid.
Copied from a substack meme
...or perhaps all 3?
I enjoy going on Substack.com and checking out the memes and other postings.
To lighten the mood here is a joke I saw.
In 2036 a man saw an ad in NYC -- "Piss on Trump's grave for $10 with a QR code."
When he went to sign up, the AI bot responded with a date and time and a place in LA where he should go. He asked to AI why he had to go to LA when Trump was buried in NY.
The AI bot replied - "Because that's the end of the line."
I have said when he dies, his grave needs to be surrounded by a moat to accommodate the number of people who want to piss on it.
🤣
Wisdom from a time when distraction was a good book.
Looking forward to the Meachum book. It drops tomorrow.
A member of the Reagan Administration sincerely praised Calvin Coolidge in a 1982 interview I conducted for a DC-based news service. At first I thought he was joking, but he pressed the point. And here we are: democracy crippled, republican government emasculated, and the general public "in a condition of servitude to an aggregation of organized and selfish interest” (aka billionaires).
This one's for you JB and many other others I'm gonna repost it
By the way tonight, it was released that at least 2100 Americans have been killed by illegal criminals in 2025 and over 5000 suffered sexual assaults by the same illegals. And all the left talk about is the two people that were shot because they got in the way 7000 families are suffering because these illegals killed and raped and trafficked American women or even better foreign women who lived in fear and this is who you're supporting unconscionable
Come out of your cave and out of the real world and see what it’s really like.
The only reason you call democracy crippled is because it’s not voting in your direction that’s because it’s been in your direction for far too long in certain ways like the Department of Education for example would you like to know more JB
I am probably the least partisan human human being on these threads
In 1979 when the Department of Education was first formed by Jimmy Carter, we were number one in the world in the quality of education in the United
Then the Department of Education was born and 20 simple years later after being controlled completely by the Democrat party we were now number 18 and 20 years after that like today we are now 40th and thank goodness Trump dismantled it and one of the reasons it felt like it did is because you don’t believe in free choice in education. You believe firmly in inculcation. And now that we have choice or we will have choice for a while parents don’t have to pull their children out of school in the multitudes that they’ve been doing for the past eight years or so they now can go to another school and learn fairly and equally. And no longer be taught more about genitalia at age 6, then they are taught about math or science
"Unless the people, through unified action, arise ..."
Use/share this spreadsheet created by Megan Rothery: (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) as a resource to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Want a peek at the Epstein files? Jmail.world.
Did you see the nest of names in the epstein files there Richard did you see them? I’ve got all 300 and I bet you saw them pretty well divided along political lines wouldn’t you say? Some people on here were a shock to me, but it’s all conversation and meaningless and what all you’ve been waiting for is now ready for the toilet or the trashcan.. or for a liberal denial
Some people, without a shred of verifiable proof, believe in the existence of a soul, life after death, a personal transcendental God, and more. I have no doubt that Donald Trump is a major player in the Epstein files. Will we see them? Maybe. Maybe not. But I retain the "faith." Trump is guiltier than sin.
Well, that was a very nice ethereal meaningless post there richard
If you want to compare the belief in a soul after death to American justice, then go for it, man. YIKES .. HOLY CRAP AND CAN YOU ACTUALLY BELIEVE THIS? LOL Unfortunately, one is a theory, and the other is based in fact As our justice system attempts to do all the time Got any other meaningless theories or posts? Keep them coming, but you can only be buried so far until it doesn’t pay to continue burying the corpse any further
Rick, can you set out in numerical form the reasons why you support Donald Trump and his actions as U.S. President.
Having trouble reposting. But will do.
Did you hear Obama today? It’s like he heard the words out of my mouth and he said them verbatim. Democrats need to stop living in the past. You need candidates who are not dragging up past crap past irrelevant wellness and deal with Life today. It’s almost like I got my hand at his back and I’m moving his mouth.
By the way, there’s 50 or more since then which are actually bigger than those as he continues to win globally as well as domestically and once again richard if this was not a border security issue caused by Joe Biden Donald Trump wouldn’t have to be enforcing the law that shouldn’t have needed to be enforced in the first place but when 25,000 people a day came across the border illegally different story, especially when they lied about it and said the border was secure
Bullet points of Trump’s wins .. this is the assertion as I read articles from various publications.1. Closed the border in only 75 days when AOC and Mayorkas and Harris (aka the border czar) said that the NOY ONLY THAT THE BORDER WAS SECURE, but only way to do it was legislation/aka mass amnesty) which, of course would take years. It didn’t fall the public when 10 to 15,000 illegals cross the border every day while the people in the administration continue to tell the story of the border being secureAnd as well, the Democrats attempted to allow these folks to vote.Attempted in many local precincts, including 800,000 people/non-citizens in New York City given permission to vote and only ceased by the highest court in the state of New York.2. Removing/deporting/arresting over 1,000,000 illegals that were brought in by Biden and the Democrats in order to get them to be able to vote. ( and there is proof of that)3. The precision, annti- Iran nuclear strike. TACO pseudonym up in smoke. Using tension on the entire world, fearful of a nuclear Iran. While it’s proxies now remain quiet, on the Global stage4. Three Trump assisted peace/cease fire deals. Iran/ Israel, Pakistan/ India. Somalia/ethiopia5. The NATO increase in defense deal, including purchasing unique weaponry from the US to dissuade Russian aggression , well the leaders of NATO looked up to Trump and even called him, Daddy and thanked him for having pushed them to increase their funding to protect them against Russia, while the left and Legacy media called it bullying .6. Despite economic specialists, liberal congress leadership, legacy media, boasting impending economic doom, rampant inflation (currently lowest in four years), global tariff and trade war nightmares, stock market crash, unemployment spikes, all unrealized thus far, and all wrong so far and now admitting they were wrong so far.7. Doge.finding much fraud, waste, and abuse… further details in bullet point coming later. But all leading to the $9 billion recission bill.8. THE OBBB… finding one of the only ways to assist the middle and lower income folks by eliminating tax on tips tax on Social Security and tax on overtime..for the time being… while increasing our defense budget, perhaps acquiring our own golden dome like Israel’s iron dome against foreign aggression… creating the permanent tense cuts of the first Trump administration, and including a large tax for the middle and working class. A $12.5 billion bill for modernization of our air traffic control system.Many incentives for small business9. The $9 billion rescission bill eliminating the federal government from funding, left-wing networks, and eliminating other sources of waste, fraud and abuse. 4 men pleading guilty to $500 million fraud at USA ID and another find is $2.7 billion fraud against Medicare. That would’ve grown to almost 14,000,000,000, had it not been detected10. Job growth, exceeding expectation and estimates.11. Eliminating the Department of education and sending education back to the states.12. Referring Rowe v Wade back to the states where the voters have a voice not just nine Supreme Court justices.13. Hey Siri of favorable Supreme Court rulings, stopping local justices rampant attempts to stop legislation …as an example from nationwide injunctions. Deportation rulings, deportation rulings, defund USAID, and the Dept of Education, and a few more of a personal nature14. Stock market Ascension. Despite persistent assertions by the left and other economic pundits, the NASDAQ hit an all-time high. While the S&P also hit an all-time high and had the longest upward trajectory in the last 20 years. Well, the Dow is also threatening to beat its all-time high, which was in December 2024 after Trump’s election.15. A major unexpected occurrence in June having to do with the deficit for the first time in 20 years for the month there was a budget surplus of $27 billion. Personally, I don’t imagine that will continue despite the tremendous amount of tariff income.16. Somewhere between 10 and $13 trillion of additional investment in the USA by foreign entities as well as American companies, expanding their businesses here in America versus ou
Well, I did that back at me in June but I have a lot more to add, but I’ll send it what I did already. I’m not gonna repeat myself. I’ll send it out to you right now just to give you some examples and these are role. Keep in mind it’s spent a lot more robust indication of their success since then. here’s a small example and there’s been another 40 or 50 since then
I’m going to have to send it in a separate response But I’ll try to send it now And keep in mind this was a place in time
Or the corporations -doing the business of America: business per Coolidge - will take over the government or align themselves with the government, as in fascism. Either way the people and democracy are the losers.
It’s literally a waste of time now commenting on Heather’s posts. She’s literally gone off the left deep end and into never never land. I love how she starts her post all the time I get the first line, fully red, and I can’t stop laughing for a few minutes.
What it is that affects the blindness of many MAGA folks (IMO) , is what the ancient Greeks called Amathia - willful ignorance, intentional stupidity. I think that it is more than that - it is a blind spot, a need to believe something so strongly that entertaining another possibility is impossible. An example are the two billion people in the world who believe that an angel named Gabriel dictated the contents of the Qur'an to an illiterate desert dweller named Muhammad over a 23-year period and that Muhammad dictated it all back to scribes, word for word. Try to convince them that that never happened. Or, take Francis Collins, M.D., Ph.D. and Co-Chair of the Human Genome Project. If anyone understands DNA, it is Francis Collins. All life on earth (plants, animals, insects) share the same DNA, meaning that all life on earth has a common ancestor going back 3.5 billion years (LUCA - Last Universal Common Ancestor.) We humans share 50% of our DNA with bananas and 90% with pigs. Yet, Collins is a fundamentalist Christian, even though not one word in the New Testament was written by anyone who ever saw, spoke with or listened to Jesus say a word. It's all hearsay, written decades later in a language that the supposed Jesus didn't speak - Greek. So, why do people believe that such a profoundly flawed person such as Donald Trump gives a flip for them? It's the racism, the misogyny, the homophobia, the xenophobia that is so deeply ingrained in their essence, as it is in Trump's, that they can't see the glaring obvious - Trump is a would-be dictator that will crush them if and when he gains total power.
Well said!
Wow, richard you have taken the words right out of my mouth. I have used the words willful ignorance to you and your group time and time again. It’s perfect for you. Why don’t you venture to Mars and talk about Mars and try to make that germane to the conversation today. Omg. Here I’m gonna post this again for you so you can rebel in every belief and every hook that you want to hang your hat on these days here it is or should I say here they are
The problem you have also is a dictionary problem. You have to look up the difference between a dictator and a leader. One takes control by himself the other gets elected by his peers TWICE OOOOOOPS AND THEN HE LEADS, WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT TRUMP IS DOING, AND LEADING US ALL TO THE PROMISED LAND ECONOMICALLY PEACEFULLY, AND MEETING THE NEEDS OF EVERYBODY HE CAN AT THE SAME TIME THIS YEAR HE ESPECIALLY FOCUSED ON THE POOR AND THE NEEDY WITH THE BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL YOU HAVE A NICE DAY THERE RICHARD IT’S GOING TO BE A GREAT THREE YEARS AND THIS YEAR IS GOING TO BE THE BEST OF THE THREE
Poor rich , the people like you, Donald Trump doesn’t give a shit if you respect him or support him or not because you’re simply just a liberal , American hater like all the rest here pretty much. George Bush is probably one of the most decent human beings that we’ve had in the White House in the century barely gave them a pass. Lmao. He was dumb, but he loved America unlike you.
Here’s a special analysis of the issues and everybody else here and I’m going to display it all day long today…I’m here. I’m just gonna give you an overview and then the rest of the day I’m gonna give it a detail.
So how’s the country running now? EPSTEIN… how’s the economy?EPSTEIN. How is the crime? EPSTEIN.https://x.com/chicago1ray/status/1956162669800521925?s=43
How is the crime in Washington DC now?EPSTEIN
How’s the murder rate in the US? EPSTEIN
How’s the quality of life? EPSTEIN. How are gas prices? EPSTEIN
How is inflation compared to Biden? EPSTEIN
How are prescription drug prices? EPSTEIN How are the 5 peace deals working That Trump created? EPSTEIN
How many illegals has Trump arrested or caused to go home?EPSTEIN
how is that $13 trillion of additional investment into America by foreign and US investors going? EPSTEIN
how’s the stock market? EPSTEIN? How much money are the tariffs bringing in? EPSTEIN.
How is IRAN doing since Trump destroyed their nuclear arsenal and their threats to the world? EPSTEIN.
How is trumps deal with NATO going to advise them to triple the amount they are depositing for the own protection against Russia? EPSTEIN
How is the big beautiful bill working….including less taxes for the most needy with no tax on tips no tax on overtime and no tax on Social Security? EPSTEIN
What happened to that impending doom but all the little pond is predicted recession, depression, stock, market collapse, inflation, increase. ? EPSTEIN
lots more to come, but for right now I’ll just say. you have a nice day ..ya heyah
Oh, and if you would like some links to find out how things really are, I’d be more than happy to provide them, but I’m gonna have to warn in advance… you’re gonna hate everyone.
It is literally a waste of time now commenting on Rick Sender’s posts. They have literally gone off the right deep end and into never never land. I love how they start their posts all the time with some nebulous, unfounded goofy sentence. :-) Lol.
Yeah, those unfounded goofy sentences are called evidence truth, and fact you should try those for a change
Elizabeth, Rick is a little complicated, a mixture of things: Denialist for certain, resulting perhaps from a case of Amathia. For those so afflicted, their adoration of Trump's racism and his cruelty toward the "hated ones" is so visceral, so deep, so profound, that they are incapable of rational discernment. They don't know what they don't know. In these instances their brains are a worthless 3 lbs. of organic matter.
Or, he could be a bot or a paid troll. That would at least explain his vitriol.
My vitriol as against closed minded people like yourself and many others here that hate Trump not for any of his policies because of their realistic with his policies they’d all be cheering for him. And if Joe Biden hadn’t let all these people in, they wouldn’t have anything to complain about Trump. Stop being so close minded open your mind. Take it in realize what I posted about why you hate Trump right now it’s all about epstein unfortunately but epstein has nothing to do with the presidency no matter who’s president
Yes, "Rick Sender" could be a bot or a paid troll, but I doubt that a bot would be that deficient in forming rational responses. I think that Rick is a human.
Richard, thank you for that designation. I have felt pretty much human in my whole life lol but thank you for the support.
I’m just a middle of the road independent that likes to see both sides of an issue strictly about the issue and not about a lot of the residual or perfunctory nonsense that doesn’t relate to how policies and laws affect Americans in the positive
Trolls can be human, just not humane :-). I love to troll him back! He absolutely froths at the mouth :-). Although I do believe that every human has the potential to change and see the truth in an instant, so we always have to allow for that. But his ranting is so bad for his health.
Let me translate that for Elizabeth when you have no answers and so we’d rather deflect and duck and hide. It’s not a waste of time if you have a right answer, but seemingly you have none because of your left minded close minded way of thinking imagine if a republican were on here what they would say ? I’m a middle of the roader
And I’m gonna crack out of turn here because I think you need to see this before you read the rest of my post Here is a accurate succinct direct no holes barred description of the Democrat party today
Poor Liz and the people like you, , Donald Trump doesn’t give a shit if you respect him or support him or not because you’re simply just a liberal , American hater like all the rest here pretty much. George Bush is probably one of the most decent human beings that we’ve had in the White House in the century barely gave them a pass. Lmao. He was dumb, but he loved America unlike you.
Here’s a special analysis of the issues and everybody else here and I’m going to display it all day long today…I’m here. I’m just gonna give you an overview and then the rest of the day I’m gonna give it a detail.
So how’s the country running now? EPSTEIN… how’s the economy?EPSTEIN. How is the crime? EPSTEIN.https://x.com/chicago1ray/status/1956162669800521925?s=43
How is the crime in Washington DC now?EPSTEIN
How’s the murder rate in the US? EPSTEIN
How’s the quality of life? EPSTEIN. How are gas prices? EPSTEIN
How is inflation compared to Biden? EPSTEIN
How are prescription drug prices? EPSTEIN
How are the 5 peace deals working That Trump created? EPSTEIN
How many illegals has Trump arrested or caused to go home?EPSTEIN
how is that $13 trillion of additional investment into America by foreign and US investors going? EPSTEIN
how’s the stock market? EPSTEIN? How much money are the tariffs bringing in? EPSTEIN.
How is IRAN doing since Trump destroyed their nuclear arsenal and their threats to the world? EPSTEIN.
How is trumps deal with NATO going to advise them to triple the amount they are depositing for the own protection against Russia? EPSTEIN
How is the big beautiful bill working….including less taxes for the most needy with no tax on tips no tax on overtime and no tax on Social Security? EPSTEIN
What happened to that impending doom but all the little pond is predicted recession, depression, stock, market collapse, inflation, increase. ? EPSTEIN
lots more to come, but for right now I’ll just say. you have a nice day ..ya heyah
Oh, and if you would like some links to find out how things really are, I’d be more than happy to provide them, but I’m gonna have to warn in advance… you’re gonna hate everyone.
I have asked hundreds of time for some to tell me what’s wrong with the way The country is running right now and all they can mention is one thing which I’ve told you time and time again but I’ll do it one more time just for SNG.
Almost every single marker that indicates success of a country is right here in the United States right now. And this year is gonna be even better And I bet you know why and you don’t like it But since I haven’t spoken to you in a while, let me help you in the rest of the anti-Trump for no reason, other than hate/contempt, and the fact that you’re not in control, and when the liberals are not in control, they go apeshit when the Department of Education was disbanded holy hell broke loose, but it was a great move and maybe if anybody wants to know why it was a great move. I’d be more than happy to tell them in the next post. In the meantime …. TBC.
“Poor Liz (whoever SHE is), Trump doesn’t care if you support him….etc”Poor Rick, Trump doesn’t care about you or those like you either! I at least know that he doesn’t care about me. He doesn’t care about anyone but himself and his .1%. Get with it!
Yeah, that tell that To the big beautiful Bill, you arrogant ass
That only helps those that can’t help themselves under the current tax legislation. But it only helps the poor and needy How else can you help people that don’t pay taxes in the first place and just so you know it Elizabeth since you’re incredibly ignorant about most things you post about the bottom 50% of income earners pay 3% of the income income tax tax While the one percent at the top pay 40% of the income tax
And as I’ve said, you won’t find Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates or Jeff Bezos working a few extra hours to gain that overtime without tax and you won’t see Nancy Pelosi waiting tables so that she doesn’t have to declare her tips It’s only to the needy. It’s only to the poor that’s who benefits by these policies no one else.
Thanks for your note, Rick. You sound like the guy on Saturday Night Live who always ended up screaming, “you ignorant slut” at the person who he was “discussing” the news with. Have you spent time on Saturday Night Live?
Thank you for this quote from one of our presidents who we take for granted as unremarkable. We forget about the contributions of those who do not stand out in history as Washington or Lincoln.
Or Kennedy
A Republican, no less.
By the way tonight, it was released that at least 2100 Americans have been killed by illegal criminals in 2025 and over 5000 suffered sexual assaults by the same illegals. And all the left talk about is the two people that were shot because they got in the way 7000 families are suffering because these illegals killed and raped and trafficked American women or even better foreign women who lived in fear and this is who you're supporting unconscionable
"“We need a national security and foreign policy that looks like America and has the experiences of the American people [with] partnerships that are rooted in fairness and that deliver for working-class folks everywhere.” This is what we need to achieve. By the way, who is J. Crow? Is he a senate from CO?
A frequent commenter on Heather’s here is Linda Weide – who was also in Munich.
In Linda’s Substack today she reported as has Heather now, and I want to quote from it, where Linda summed up key things from AOC in Munich:
“She tied their ruthless capitalism to their ruthless sexual violence of children in the way that George Monbiot and Peter Hutchinson tie ruthless capitalism to fascism in ‘Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism.’ These things are intertwined, and she called for Bondi’s removal or impeachment over her handling of these vicious crimes.”
I hope Linda expands on this in her comments on Heather’s Letter today. Anand Giridharadas has been speaking to this same theme as now have AOC, Linda, and Heather – on these same tentacles emanating from the monstrosity in the U.S. and internationally where our most cynical, highest-placed elites for all the worst conspire and overlap.
I listened to Anand speaking with Ezra Klein today on Klein's podcast. As heather so eloquently summarizes the speeches by Rubio and earlier, Vance at the Security Conference, and the words of our Democratic leaders critique of those speeches, the overarching consensus it seems, is that we the people are in a battle for the "soul of America" to quote Jon Meacham. The global elite of which the majority seem to be in the U.S. have abandoned the concept of our founding and of our collective understanding of democracy.
Bingo, J. -- you've got it.
Of course, too, these serpentine, treacly machinations were funded and fit together in quasi-hidden but maniacally devious ways ever since the Powell memo of 1971.
Please remember, too, that the first target, all through the '70s, was education, both K-12 and "higher." Once Americans could be blinded, anesthetized (humanities sidelined, or removed from schools), true evil had little competition.
Munich has taken on a new meaning in the age of Trump. It is now the symbol of America betraying the values of democracy.
Our former allies have called us out for what we are far down the path to becoming: a rogue state on the path to full-on fascism and oligarchy.
Many European leaders joined in condemning the US. The majority of EU and NATO nations are rapidly re-arming and forming free trade agreements that exclude the US.
But not all. I watched Rubio's speech. He got a standing ovation. The moderator actually called the speech "reassuring" for Europe.
Rubio is visiting Hungary and Slovakia on this trip, the leaders of the pro-Putin anti-democratic regimes that are now coming out as anti-Ukraine as well. Trump’s America First is now clearly aligning with Putin and his European minions. We are joining the might-makes-right coterie of aggressor countries.
Is this who we want to be as a nation?
Rubio is one of the sneakiest of them all. In contrast to Vance, he comes across as reasonable and even likable once in awhile. But I firmly believe he traded his soul and his awareness of right vs wrong for the power he has now. You can see it in his dead, lifeless eyes at times. It's nauseating.
Rubio Sneaky? You are too kind :)
Rubio is no different than the JD Vances and Lindsey Grahams. They are shape shifting lizards who ridiculed and condemned Trump - until they realized that the Trump Train was headed for the big station. Then they reversed themselves and jumped on the Train to Hell.
Agreed. The sellout of his Cuban heritage, preferring to go back to Spain and Italy for his roots was disgusting.
Georgia, I watched the MSC all weekend except for going to a Demo. While the people were saying it was reassuring to hear Rubio, Greenland did not say they can be sure that taking Greenland is off the table, as their PM was in a talk that I watched. Europeans rightly said, we need to stick to our values and not be vulnerable to influence by others who do not share their values, which meant Trump and his tariffs and weapons, and military from what I understand. Also, AOC was a big hit at the conference. She was the most articulate US speaker that I saw. I also saw her speak Sunday night on a livestream of her having a conversation at the Technical University in Berlin. Here is a piece I wrote on it, that includes a video of her talk.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/aoc-had-a-berlin-audience-eating?r=f0qfn
I like best, Linda, that AOC shared stage (world stage) with Gretchen Whitmer.
Loved the former's focus in Berlin on Americans getting caught up on the real-life, practical, immediate and long-term needs of our working classes.
Can Dems put together many such duos, trios, and quartets across the U.S. in the next few months -- including bold appearances, too, in many "red" parts of America which fool Dem elites have otherwise given up on:
Jamie Raskin, Mallory McMorrow, Katie Porter, Raphael Warnock;
Sheldon Whitehouse, Gretchen Whitmer, Ro Khanna, Robert Garcia;
Pete Buttigieg, Eric Swalwell, Tammy Baldwin, Amy Klobuchar;
Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Elissa Slotkin;
Liz Warren, Jared Moskowitz, Josh Shapiro, Abigail Spanberger;
Dan Goldman, Gavin Newsom, Adam Schiff, Gretchen Whitmer;
JB Pritzker, Chris Coons, Jasmine Crockett, James Talarico.
Becca Balint, John Ossoff, Pramila Jayapal, Seth Moulton.
Phil, dems need to be doing that. I saw Elissa Slotkin, Chris Coons, Gavin Newsom and a few others at MSC as well. AOC was reminding me of Jefferson Cowie whose book "Freedom's Dominion" my book club read last year, and then heard him speak on a livestream about populism and it being needed to win in the US where candidates need to include the 2/3 of Americans without a university degree in their vision of America. AOC does this.
I wrote 2 pieces on what Cowie said, and in many ways AOC shares his vision, but she does not have his same definition of populist. I think that it would be great to get her together with Jefferson Cowie too. I wrote 2 pieces on what he said. One after each talk.
The first is about populism.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/is-populism-the-way-to-go?r=f0qfn
The second is about voting rights being the most important of all.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/voting-rights-come-before-all-others?r=f0qfn
Cowie was brilliant and so is AOC, and it seems like Berlin is inviting brilliant Americans to come and participate in their intellectual life.
Yes, for sure, voting rights are critically necessary, as are free, fair and open elections, whose integrity is now at risk by the Trump regime. The Trumpsters are going to cheat. Believe it.
Linda, how can we get these ideas of yours and Phil’s into the hands of the individual people and the media outlets? I don’t know enough about this to help out, but getting these people out there into the red areas is so important.
Phil, what a great list! Have you sent copies of your comment to these individual people? Don’t bother sending it to the irrelevant DNC — we will have to rebuild from the ground up. But we really have an abundance of amazing thinkers and speakers.
Agree, Elizabeth, as to the irrelevance of the DNC.
They excel at two things: 1) shining spotlights on celebrities and 2) sending dunning letters for money, money, and more money.
Yes as to how "we really have an abundance of amazing thinkers and speakers." If and when they get some coordination, I'd love to see them mostly in red states and red parts of blue states, speaking with rural and working class voters as if we were all fellow Americans, all wanting good health care, much better educations, much more housing workers can afford, and much better alliances with our fellow democracies.
Yet AOC could never win a national election any time in the next decade or so.
The problem is her adherence to socialism.
The problem with Republicans is everything is socialist.
The problem with Progressives is everything is socialist.
Scuse me, Gary, the problem is that she is a female. The other problems are minor compared to that one.
I agree with Elizabeth: I think it is the female thing. Which pains me, but it is what it is.
Gary, I am a social democrat in the US, and something else in Germany. Perhaps AOC could not get elected in the USA, unless it changes a lot, which is certainly is going to do with the fascist at the helm.
Thanks so much for the links to AOC. Will listen later today.
You're welcome Georgia.
I can only answer for myself. NO!!!
Funny how we the people are the soul of America. Still. And always. America is the blood , the sweat, and the tears. She is the nurturing hope of a future for all her children. No one said it would be fair or easy. No one said the journey from youth to old age meant for some but not others. What we said was one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Those who condemn us to be shot in the face and shot in the back are not worthy. Those shooting us in the face and in the back must in time face the soul of America and her terrible swift sword. No one, not democrats not republicans and not independents, not the wealthy and not the poor, not the powerful nor the meek, no American has been excused from the obligations which bind us up in to the soul of America.
I do feel that AOC communicated this idea that Americans are not all for Trump, in her talks at the MSC and at the Technical University in Berlin last night. In fact, that most are not for Trump. I don't know if this is true. No one I know here in Germany is for Trump. But, I know that someone in Democrats Abroad did debate a Republican at a German talk and that the German group had a hard time finding an American who was Republican. They apparently hang out in different social circles. Also, most of the Americans I know here in Germany who were Republicans did not vote for Trump and now consider themselves Independents. All of the people that I am friends with are actively involved in working to save American democracy and to get out the American vote in our countries.
Thank you All for your service, Linda!!
In Solidarity MaryPat! ✌🏾
I balk at one spot here, Pat.
This is where you say, "Those shooting us in the face and in the back must in time face the soul of America and her terrible swift sword."
I reserve Orwell instead who observed, in "Politics and the English Language," how masses who live in slogans, cliché, and groupthink never will, never can face any human reality. They've already blinded, anesthetized themselves. And they will contribute to damage, real hurt to others, which they also cannot see due to the language deadness they inhabit.
If you are a realist, you need to see both sides of this situation. The power of the American People and the patterns of self-destruction that we as an entire race keep repeating over and over. This rise of authoritarianism, totalitarianism in this case, is a common destructive pattern in the USA, but also in Europe. Hitler was in Europe and they have seen through that for now but totalitarianism has shifted into the USA, which expressed in in the slave south in our past. And there is the whole of European history, as evinced in people like Putin and Orban who keep repeating those ancient patterns of cruelty, starvation, and domination. The ancient pattern--the rise of these behaviors and their enactment against all and sundry. The constant uptick of fighting. And now the uptick in nuclear weapons to fight with. There are those fighting for the rights of all the People in the USA, and those seeking to kill and harm anyone they wish, like Trump and crew. How do we break this pattern?
Teresa, I agree with you that there are these cycles and that there are many revisits to ideas that we were hoping to leave behind in a less enlightened past.
In my observations of Germany, where I am currently living, and have been visiting and sometimes living here back and forth all my life, I have observed the country with the eyes of a female in Brown skin. It has been clear to me that when things are going well Germans are more outward looking and kind and inclusive, and when things are not going well they seek people to blame and an uglier side is revealed. I see this in the US as well.
While I watched the MSC, I did not hear anyone talking about the impacts Covid has had on our world and our global security, yet, my friends and I talk about it all the time because those of us who are teachers noticed the impact in our students and our own children. Social emotional growth etc... There is a health component to Security that was not included in the ways that it should be. I guess the only good thing about it not being included is that we were not subjected to a buffoon like Kennedy giving a scary speech.
I have also noticed the scars and fear Covid has left on our world. It is why I thought people would reject Trump for a second term, because we have not healed from the scars that covid wrought on our sense of well-being. I was actually incredulous that Putin would start a war when his country as well as the rest of the world had not put Covid behind them. I did not think the world could bare this much. But as I convinced my daughter, who has been seriously ill for a week, but after visiting the doctor is on the mend, she could get through her finals and would pass. That should could bare being ill and in finals.
This is all I asked. Are we passing in a post covid world? I would say some of us are passing in that we have held on to our humanity and reason, and others have not. AOC made me feel like she has a road map for us to passing and it will require us to be in for the long haul.
It seems Mother Earth may break the pattern for us, as extreme weather events increase since the US is now hastening climate change by erasing science-based pollution controls. In addition we will lose more people to disease and hunger (for all the obvious reasons too numerous to list here). In short, we shall reap that which we sow.
What you say is so. You break their legs by the weight of experience, by the preponderance of history, by that which has served our needs, our hopes, our expectations for improvement. If a wheels starts squeaking you grease it, fix the worn bearing or improve its strength. I hated building the same house over and over. There had to be improvements that owners could measure. You pore over the blueprint add in the concerns and find a better way.
We are all the race of humans, the only race of humans in this giant Universe. We live on this one planet, and nowhere else. We can't get off world and breed humans. Maybe someday. But, certainly not yet. We need each other, all of us. Some of us know this. Some of us have always sensed it. Perhaps the simultanious realization of how big the Universe is, and how we live on only this one planet in that giant system, and that we can't get off this rock if we don't figure out how to live together without killing anyone we disagree with, we won't make it. It will be our fault. Perhaps this will at last wake us up. We will start to work together instead of killing and hurting each other to reach some kind of utopia that never comes. Killing each other will never work. We need to get this through to people like Trump, Putin, Orban, and all the other totalitarian killers on Earth. Can we do it? Getting through to someone is very different than excluding them if they don't listen.
Teresa, I am convinced that the pattern cannot be broken. First, I stipulate that humans are part of the animal world on Earth, and I use "animal" with respect, not pejorative. However, we are animals with the highest level of intellect (that we know of). As I have often said and written, "the greatest strength is also the greatest weakness."
With few exceptions, all other animals experience fear. Their response is fight or flight, and preferably avoidance. Even predators do not hate their prey. They simply kill and eat their prey as a matter of survival, not malice.
As animals with the most advanced intellect, we humans are the only species capable of hate. Hate originates in fear, but hate must be taught. As long as we humans are capable of hate, there will always be a cycle of one group hating the other, seeking to enslave or eliminate them.
It does look that way to me too. As a result, I can't like your response, but I basically agree with it. It doesn't leave the human race much wiggle room, as Earth groans under our boots, does it?
How, Teresa? Schools.
Remove standardized testing from them and put back humanities and essay writing centered on the human with human themes (and themes from nature).
That is a great answer. To become more human, more community-oriented, more loving of others and Earth and our place in the Universe. AI is a good tool, but its only a tool. We need to love ourselves as human, and each other! Humanities is a good place to start, as is essay writing! Thanks!
Phil, tomorrow tonight our book club is discussing the Appendix of Orwell's "1984" and the language of "Newspeak." One of our members is both a professor of Russian and Slavic Studies and Linguistics. She will certainly provide interesting insights. We will be returning to the non-fiction genre after two novels, "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin, which influenced our current reading of "1984.
I just (barely) started reading "We" by Yevgeny Zamyatin, in an online book club on Discord! https://discord.gg/bookclub
JustRavin, I hope you have a good discussion. Our book club reads books slowly since we meet weekly and also talk about politics. I will be interested to hear what you think.
Phil, this is so well said, and yet we have to remember that even cultists can have a revelation of the truth. With humans there is always a chance. We have to keep our eyes on that!
Don’t know about your masses in Japan, Phil, cause my world isn’t ethereal. After Nam I only had one good eye left so perhaps I neatly fit your file cabinet. I could cloak my reason in rhyme and rhetoric which adorns sophomoric college dorm walls becoming that which you decry or I could leave that to your capable imagination. Me I’m too busy to cloister up shit for the sake of your entertainment. I do enjoy your repetitive sincerity and hope you will stay with that cadence. I accept my animitive deadness and your inimitive facade. I eat hamburger and I use catsup. I’ll tell you a joke which only you can appreciate, Phil. As we say hereabouts, beware of the blind horse because hereabouts we say he don’t look too good.
J. You need to see AOC speaking after the MSC to 1000+ students at the Technical University in Berlin to which all Berlin students were invited. Here is a piece I wrote about it, which includes the video of her conversation.
https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/aoc-had-a-berlin-audience-eating?r=f0qfn
Superb Linda.
Thank you Bryan Sean.
Puerto Rico won the Super Bowl 🤗 Thanks for the link!
It was a fun comment.
Yes, Linda. Saw it. Love her. Her with Bernie. Her with Gretchen. Many others.
The definition of capitalism I took away from college had to do with reinvestment of profit; but whatever the thing may be, I think that, as usual, the devil is in the details. My impression is that there is plenty of capitalism in Sweden, or at least there was a lot of buying and selling everywhere I went; and yet the there are contrasts of values between their economy and ours. Profit per seems to have respectable uses, and respectable ways to be earned; and of course, there are also there are unacceptable ways to profit, such as slavery, such as extortion, such as fraud, etc, that are clearly malignant; and also some of the knock-on effects of some ways of collecting money are harmful enough to individuals and society as a whole to be proscribed.
It seems in the realm of "common sense" and common safety that many ways of profiting should be regulated; but for several decades politicians have preached that commerce should be uniquely exempted from regulation and from accountability to society, with millions have been gulled into supporting that. That's where the $50 trillion went.
And also, that's why popular, even vital policies and projects get vetoed by the power of Big Money.
There has always been plenty of capitalism in Sweden. And the world's most profitable mobile phone manufacturer -- Nokia -- is based in Finland.
What makes American morons really want to tear off their panty hose in fury about Scandinavia is high taxes. Swedes pay up to about 40% (or higher) in local taxes in order to maintain their cradle-to-grave social protection and public insurance system, and most Swedes are happy to pay because it benefits the whole, not just one part of it -- a concept MAGA Land simply cannot wrap its little head around.
What there also is in Scandinavia is clean government -- squeaky-clean, non-corrupt, transparent government with a highly regulated private sector and firm, clear boundaries between the two (Denmark always scores either first or second in Transparency International's annual corruption perception indices). Which is why the recent revelations about the former Prime Minister of Norway's friendship with Epstein have shocked Norwegians more than most of us can even imagine (to say nothing about revelations that their idiot Crown Princess continued to befriend him even after 2012).
None of this has to do with schools, by the way, but with human corruptibility, as old as the very concept of 'who shall watch the watchers themselves?'
I imagine that epstein et al would have taken Scandinavias squeaky clean transparency as a challenge; much like the innocence of the children they raped.
Whoa! Men wear panty hose too!
You are so right, ICTT, corruption leading to great wealth and a desire to amass more wealth is the spiral we have been in since the 1980s. It is possible to crack into it with better education, matched with a leader or leaders who call it out for what it is. Education can give the base for doing better, but needs to exist in an atmosphere that supports it. We need to remember that not everyone will be susceptible to that education — in my family of five siblings brought up by very liberal parents and great schools, we had three fall out on the right and two on the middle left. Very interesting. I had never thought of it quite that way.
So true as you say of Big Money, J L.
Except, too, it has morphed so diabolically in recent decades, more or less in tandem with U.S. and international public figures having been bought and schools zapped of humanities formerly key to them.
Yes, that $50 trillion stolen from the working classes and bestowed on the already rich. But pair that with the death of so many thousands of formerly decent, working-class communities from which the tens of millions of jobs got extracted, again to float the unconscionable rich.
Republicans call minimum wage "job killing", but offshoring, perma-temps, gigifying, and automating is just good business.
But the Dow Jones is past 50,000 dol…. Points/S
Bill, I agree with AOC that AG Pam Bondi should be impeached and her behavior towards the women who survived the horrid Epstein sexual slave trade is unconscionable. We should be making it really uncomfortable to keep her around. Any suggestions.
Linda, always appreciate your posts and look forward to reading your account of MSC and watching the AOC video.
Regarding Bondi⬇️
Per Ron Filopowski/Meidas Touch…Gary Lesser, President of the Florida Bar: “I worked with Pam Bondi when she was in Tallahassee, but this conduct is disgraceful and not befitting the Attorney General of the United States, regardless of the questions being asked.”
We could deluge Florida Bar(again… but perhaps they will act now?) Florida does not have reciprocity with other states so if she loses her license,that’s it.
https://www.floridabar.org/about/contact/
Of course, continually calling our legislators about booting Bondi..📲
And there’s always the tactic of using humor against the humorless.Jay Kuo had some great memes/videos to share about Bondi’s “performance”.My fave was..”if Bondi was a waitress”.📣
https://open.substack.com/pub/statuskuo/p/just-for-skeets-and-giggles-21426?
I wrote to the FL Bar several months ago, demanding she be disbarred; they replied that they do not take action on federal appointees. So there you have it. The crony protection racket.
Kathy thanks for reminding me that I need to catch up on Meidas and Kuo. I am trying to catch up on local German news and national German news as well. In my city of Bremen there is a scandal involving a member of the State Court who was recommended from the Left Party, which is part of the coalition that governs our City-State. However, I do not know if the scandal is because the German government designated a benign left group as terrorist, or because it really has done or advocates violence. They claim that they don't agree with Federal Government's designation. Something Americans are going to need to decide when Trump designates something as Terrorist because it is "Antifa," a word that is part of his language of "Doublespeak. "
lol. No. I have all I can do to get a new web site up since I bought the domain name: DonaldTrumJohnKennedyCenter.org. I got that idea from a satirist who took:TrumpKennedyCenter.org
A friend will assist this week with it. In essence, I will try to promote my book. I will announce that “The New Donald Trump Orchestra will perform the brand spanking new symphony’Rape of the Sabine Girls’ every weekend and those with tickets can dine in the new Donald Trump Restaurant featuring Kentucky Fried Chicken on the menu and a great addition to the evening will be to watch the run away best seller ‘Melania.’
So I have my hands full.
Good for you Bill! I believe in making good trouble. My high school German teacher could tell you about it.
Very funny, Bill. I mean pathetically so for all the rich in their bubbles.
They're all tuned out from the real humanity across America, except for yet seeking ways to steal more from them, widen their wealth gap.
Bill, yours is the first comment that I have seen regarding that comment. I think it shows the depth of critical analysis that the AG is able of articulating. <double snarky sarcasm>
Why thank ya. I can’t wait to get my new domain connected to web up: DonaldTrumpJohnKennedyCenter.org
I’m not the first but I’ll be the most devastating.
LOL, Bill Katz. Thanks!
Capitalism tempered by socialism looks different than unfettered capitalism where the purpose of the government is to support business so we can have a large GDP, but sacrifices the quality of life of many people in the process. The Swedish capitalism is one where the government is still supposed to take care of the people and part of doing this is making sure that the economy is healthy enough to employ them. While the US may accomplish this, under Trump it is not a goal.
Capitalism tempered by socialism?
No such thing. Fettered capitalism with strong social welfare programs? Sure.
The problem with Republicans is every social program is socialism.
The problem with Progressives is every social program is socialism.
Honestly Gary, I consider dividing the world into Capitalism, Socialism and Communism as economic theoretical ideas that need to be updated, and something that better fits what we see going on in the world should be proposed. Someone who does that should get the next Nobel Prize in Economics. Of course, if they are not white Trump is going to want one too.
I lean toward being careful what we ask for.
These systems can have variations, but the foundations of how they operate is standard. Socialism is an authoritarian system, it cannot exist without the threat to personal liberty, something we should wish to avoid.
Capitalism, fettered and regulated, has proven to be the system that allows for the greatest personal liberty and general welfare. Note the success of the Scandinavian countries, The Nordic model of capitalist countries with strong social welfare programs.
Gary, I just don't agree. I was very influenced by the book Invisible Doctrine: The Secret History of Neoliberalism by George Monbiot and Peter Hutchinson. They tied capitalism to eventual fascism because of the greed. We are certainly seeing that come to fruition.
Volans Group - Regerative Economics is symbiotic with turning away from fascist mafia oligopolists domination and integrating civic & environmental focus on hyper-local organization based on the geography of drainage basins. It leads to individual and group cognitive soveriegnty staying focused on balancing fundamentals.
John, the Volans Group sounds like a good direction in which to go.
A friend told me about "compassionate capitalism" which, as I see it, is a load of crap. Maybe that was true of Ben & Jerry's (ice cream) but it mostly seems to be crass capitalism, crony capitalism, corrupt capitalism in 2026.
The pendulum has swung back to the crony capitalist style, which has been the goal of the republicans and the Trump administration with their attacks on wokeness, DEI, etc. people will eventually get sick of it and it will swing back the other way. I’m just not sure how long that will take.
And therein lies the rub. I hope I live long enough to see the spark go full fuego and get us back on track!
What you are describing, JL, is "capitalism with conscience." That's what you get when capitalism is but a component of a culture. To my knowledge, the United States is unique in that capitalism is the sum and substance of our culture. It has been since the founders first created a government with the primary goal of protecting their assets and promoting their ability to acquire more.
When commerce is a culture's core value, there's little room for conscience.
Thank you Phil Bella. I joined LINDA WEIDE's platform yesterday. I was already rewarded by a detailed report on AOC speech in Munich. AOC has always been a on-the-ground, person-to-person communicator.
And, Heather thank you greatly for calling out the powerful Blues Power of Howling Wolf..: 🎶 Don't you hear me calling. Smokestack Lightning⚡ 🎶
I hear Linda, Heather, AOC & this 2.8 Million LFAA community that the Professor built calling out, clear & loud.
Linda's Link is posted above.🙏
Yes to the blues, Bryan.
More to the point, yes to all tints of color people who've enriched all the other tints of color.
Smokestack Lightning (1959) -- a smooth, fun chair-boogie wakeup, Thanks Bryan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ri7TcukAJ8
MmmmMmmm! Now doing my morning stretches to it!! Thanks!
That's a good wake up call 😉 Ready to rock the day
Thanks Phil. I have peppered comments throughout this letter, but mostly I wrote my thoughts in my piece.
Thank you, Phil
Trump is self destructing, but not fast enough, and he’s taking the country with him. We need to get him out of power before we are lost.
And as we as a society did in response to the elevated exploitation and corruption of the "Gilded Age", we need to find ways to put a lid back on plutocracy.
What he cannot destroy he desecrates.
That’s what I really hated about those dog damned bears. After they drug your elk quarters from hell to breakfast they buried them in the dirt and pissed all over everything.
The problem with your highly simplistic statement "we need to get him out of power" is that there is no real way to do that which is legal. He can be impeached but that would take 2/3 of the Senate to remove him from office and his own party currently controls the debate 53-47. In the best possible election results for 2026 democrats MIGHT take back the control but only by a small margin, maybe 52-48 or so. No where near the 67 votes required to remove Trump and unless he actually committed murder in broad daylight himself you will see very few if any defections to oust him. And even if it happened, we'd have Jd Vance, hardly much of an improvement.
Resign? He will never resign.
25th amendment? That takes 2/3 of BOTH the House and Senate. Not going to happen.
So short of his death there is no rational or practical way to remove him.
So what are you thinking we should do?
Jon, even if the Orange Goblin King would commit murder in broad daylight, the Republicans will still support him, as will his minions. Heck, he could rape a six-year old in the middle of Washinton squate, and kill the child afterwards, and _still_ his cultists would worship him. So, no, he will never be removed from power. Save, as you wrote, by death.
Perhaps I should have used a different phrase than "out of power." Much of what you say is true, though miracles do happen. However if he runs out of power, like a car that runs out of gas, that could help!
You can say St. Donold is legal? Really. Give him what he accords no one? He is illegal. Shoot him in the face or the back like his gang does. What goes around comes around. Steal my water, steal my cows. Dog help you if you shoot my children. Sure we can wait out the IRS, I remember shooting at the bastard that I caught stealing my water. My neighbor shot the cattle rustler in the head as he sat down to a stolen steak. 3-7-77. What does it mean Justice is blind? I guess it means I’m a lousy shooter.
Advocating assassination is usually not a good idea.
Duh. I’m not an advocate. How in hell do you think I could miss four times in a row at 50 yards when I can shoot a snuice can lid at 400 meters? Although he succeeded in ruining my hay crop I was able to save the grain and the slime puke never stole my water again. We went the court route cost me 5000 dollars and my water right was upheld. The sheriff warned him to cease and desist. I convinced him. Most people are nice and while they want the bastard dead they want someone else to do the dirty work. The bastard stealing Mrs. T’s beef was on his second go around. At 85 she always carried a 30-30 in her jeep. Enough said. Out in the hinterlands we have to deal with predators. I mean real sneaky killers. The code is shoot shovel and shut up. SSS.
"I’m not an advocate."?
"You can say St. Donold is legal? Really. Give him what he accords no one? He is illegal. Shoot him in the face or the back like his gang does."
You know Gary I have been charged 13 times now by grizzly bears. Shit yes I was afraid. I had a 44 magnum revolver on my hip on several incidents, but I never shot a single bear. I mean to tell you they are protected. You couldn’t shoot a bear. I was once knocked down and sat on by a massive 9 footer. He became enamored of the pepperoni sticks in my shirt pocket. I can shoot that bear if I catch him attacking a friend. Some did. I managed to squirm out from under him and beat a retreat. My gun stayed safely in my pg bag. That was before bear spray. Now the bears carry the spray. I’m all ears for your plan of containment. ????
Okay you need to be a big dog I get it. He also likes to blow up helpless people in boats. He also likes to starve brown and black skinned children to death. His start up protocol makes him the target. That doesn’t give me any rights whatsoever. Got it. You should be a poster child. You win the debate. That is while you watch it all burn. No buts about it, you get to go to heaven. I get hell. Good on Gary. I would rather be shot to death charging the enemy than while standing in the trench I just dug. So, really you want to be in the center of the flock. My dog and I will do what we can to preserve you. And then you can hang us. That is if by some miracle you get out of the trench.
Who will be the human sacrifice to speak truth to the insane? And has the time passed?
I wonder this myself. It would only take one or two and others would follow—and say they felt this way all along!
I live in Munich and had an opportunity to meet several people who had participated in the conference. Participants heard Rubio’s friendlier tone and were initially relieved. Only after his talk ended and they had a few moments to digest what he said at the end of his speech did they realize that he was telling Europe to behave like vassals and just follow what Trump says. About one hour later, news articles appeared summarizing Rubio’s real message.
Europe has now clearly seen that the US cannot be trusted and they need to stand alone. They are still trying to figure out how to proceed within the EU framework which is reminiscent of the US under the articles of confederation.
The attitude towards America has changed radically in the past months. Little old ladies that hear my accent tell me how sad they are to see how fast America has gone downhill. Others are saying that Brand America is over and people are starting to avoid US brands. Trips to the US are being canceled as well.
Avoid us like the plague that we have become, until we can exile the vipers to a planet out of our solar system.
The idea that 'global trade has wrecked the American economy' is so ludicrously false it couldn't pass a simple giggle test. It contradicts the history of the past 80 years in its entirety. Since the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), trade has been WONDERFUL for America (and Europe). After the 1980s in particular (and 1994 when the World Trade Organization replaced GATT), it has also been wonderful for China, helping hundreds of millions there and elsewhere to escape poverty. THAT is what sticks in Rubio's little craw.
Most experts agree that it is true that China has taken advantage of the WTO to lower costs and cement its most-favored nation trading status. Those same experts will also point out that GATT also greatly benefited the United States -- and for a longer period of time. Those who set the rules of the game almost always benefit -- there is absolutely nothing new, novel or earth-shattering in that.
What these people cannot tolerate is an interdependent global system where many benefit, not just one. They deny the very existence of a positive-sum world where the whole vould actually be greater than the sum of its parts. If others gain, we must be getting screwed --the view of Trump, the view of a psychotic child grown up to be a greedy, stupid, delusional adult. No, there’s room for only us at the top. If they do well, that means we must be losing. This -- the stupid bullshit that forms basis of their 'worldview.' And they're clearly willing to blow it all up to go back to some mythical time in history when that was so.
But there never was any such mythical time and place when that was so. Tariffs, protectionism, beggar-thy-neighbor trade policies, colonialism -- these were the forces that propelled Europe into two world wars with countless millions dead as a result. There isn't a single historian out there that would disagree with that.
These people simply do not know WHAT they are talking about.
Oh, but they believe, so hard, in what they think is true.
Hi Mark. Thank you for sharing your real-time experience. As 2025 progressed I grew increasingly worried about how my fellow American ex-pats are being treated. My friends who are citizens of other countries sometimes fill me in; I also reach out to Norwegians, Dutch et al. who have posted on sites I read to ask how I can understand (and help) what the Americans living in their countries are going through. This doesn't seem to concern Americans here, since I never see comments about it. How goes it in Munich? I'd appreciate your time in sharing what you've seen and heard. Thanks again.
Thanks for this, Mark Clark. I am horrified that participants reacted so warmly to Rubio. The only thing that makes sense to me is that he ISN'T behaving like Trump which reassures them that there's still some sanity in the administration. I hope, as you indicated, that once they thought about his words the reassurance fizzled.
Being a fly on the wall during some international meetings (without the US) would be SO interesting. Watching us crumble so severely has to be wild.
But, we don’t give up.
Be LOUD. These are unprecedented times 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Comments/reactions help keep this bumped ✊
Tips for reaching out to those outside of your state -
My first round of emails last spring from the contact me links had a lot bounce back saying I wasn't a constituent so it either didn't get sent or basically wouldn't be read. So I changed the way I sent messages. I use one of their own in state addresses (listed on my spreadsheet to help with this) on the address line because technically it doesn't say "my" address. I also don't want to misrepresent myself any more than that, so in my messages I typically put (at the bottom) that while I'm not a constituent, I am reaching out because (insert name) does represent me on the (insert committee that fits the topic my message is about).
Another thing I do is call after hours. I don't leave my name or address/zip code so my voice doesn't go towards a count, but the more they hear from us, the better.
I also send faxes using faxzero.com (5 free/day). I don't send a lot of letters, but when I do I put the same “while I’m not a constituent” blurb I do in my emails.
This is brilliant. I appreciate your work and always benefit from reading your strategies—it helps me push things further. Thank you!
Thank you Megan. We all have to do this work now before the Fall elections.
I’m a postcard sender and travel a fair amount. Whenever I’m in a different state, I’ll send postcards to that state’s Senators and Representatives. That way, they have an in-state postmark and hopefully get counted. I use 5Calls for my scripts.
Thanks again Megan for this great resource!
Brilliant and Impactful!
Thanks for the added tips Megan! Brilliant! ❤️👏👍🏻
''Presidents’ Day With the Lights Flickering''
Presidents’ Day is supposed to be about leadership. Not vibes. Not branding. Not grievance as a governing philosophy. Leadership.
Instead, we mark it under Donald Trump, a president who has turned public life into a running argument with reality. The office was designed to steady the republic. Under him, it lurches. The Constitution becomes a prop, accountability becomes persecution, and scrutiny becomes an insult.
If you want a snapshot of the moment, look at the Epstein files fight.
This is not about gossip. It is about trust. The Epstein case touches power, money, exploitation, and the uncomfortable truth that the wealthy and connected often move in circles most people never see. In a healthy democracy, that kind of case demands clarity. Transparency is not optional. It is oxygen.
The Justice Department has released large volumes of material in response to transparency legislation. That is a fact. There are millions of pages, multiple tranches, and public repositories. It is also true that these releases include redactions, privacy protections for victims, and references to names that do not imply wrongdoing. Being mentioned in a document is not proof of guilt.
But here is the problem. When public confidence is already depleted, partial releases and legal caveats do not calm the room. They amplify suspicion. Critics allege mishandling or political shielding. Supporters insist everything is being handled appropriately. The word cover up circulates, whether justified or not. And in the middle of it all, the presidency feels less like a source of clarity and more like another fog machine.
That perception is the humiliation.
Presidents’ Day asks us to think about Washington giving up power. Lincoln holding the Union together at a staggering moral cost. The idea that the office is larger than the person inside it. Trump offers the inverse. Power as personal possession. Loyalty as the highest virtue. Oversight as betrayal.
He does not lower the temperature. He raises it. He does not rebuild trust. He exploits its absence. Every development becomes a chance to deflect, attack, or claim victimhood. The headlines pile up. The country gets tired. The baseline shifts.
This is how erosion works. Not with a dramatic collapse, but with a steady drip. A norm dismissed. A guardrail mocked. A watchdog discredited. Over time, what once felt shocking becomes routine. Presidents’ Day starts to feel like historical fiction.
And there is a deeper layer. White Christian nationalism is not a side show. It is a central force in the current political coalition. When political power fuses with religious certainty and ethnic grievance, dissent becomes suspect. Journalists are enemies. Courts are obstacles. Pluralism is a weakness. The Constitution is respected only when convenient.
In that environment, secrecy thrives. Not because every redaction hides a crime, but because opacity becomes culturally acceptable. If your movement treats the leader as anointed, then accountability looks like blasphemy.
The Epstein files saga lands inside that framework. Even if every procedural decision is legally defensible, the atmosphere is combustible. A presidency already surrounded by controversy cannot afford ambiguity. Yet ambiguity is what we get. And ambiguity, in an age of institutional distrust, reads as rot.
Meanwhile, the daily spectacle continues. Social media broadsides. Legal entanglements. Performative outrage. It is governance by confrontation. The chaos is not accidental. It is a strategy. Exhaust the public. Blur the lines. Make everything feel equally scandalous so nothing feels decisive.
Presidents’ Day used to be a civic pause. A moment to ask what kind of character deserves power. Now it feels like contrast therapy. Marble busts staring down at a political culture that confuses dominance with strength and volume with conviction.
Leadership is not domination. It is not the ability to insult critics faster than they can respond. It is not surviving scrutiny through noise. Leadership is discipline. It is transparency when secrecy would be easier. It is treating the public as adults who deserve answers.
This holiday should not be a sentimental ritual. It should be a measuring stick.
If we are serious about honoring presidents, then we should be serious about demanding standards. Full disclosure where possible. Clear explanations where limits exist. Respect for institutions even when they are inconvenient. A rejection of sectarian power grabs dressed up as patriotism.
Presidents’ Day, in this moment, is not just about the past. It is about whether we still recognize the difference between stewardship and spectacle.
The lights are flickering. The question is whether we intend to fix the wiring or just get used to the dark.
https://essayx.substack.com/p/presidents-day-with-the-lights-flickering
''Being a fly on the wall during some international meetings (without the US) would be SO interesting. Watching us crumble so severely has to be wild.''
An oddly gleeful observation.
Sorry, gleeful was definitely not my intention, but more of a shake my head and be utterly amazed at what’s happening as well as curious how it’s being talked about behind closed doors abroad.
Megan, I for one would be very gleeful to see the end of US hegemony. We have abused our position and the wealth of our resources to dominate less privileged peoples in the interests of the wealth elites.
What is really amazing is how we could “abuse our position and the wealth of our resources to dominate less privileged peoples in the interests of the wealth elites” and yet the world has never had a period of such peace and prosperity (not saying perfect peace and prosperity, just relative to other times in world history). Imagine how things would have gone if that $50 trillion had been more evenly distributed! Wow!
Thank You, Megan.
A good way to be that fly on the wall is to subscribe to Le Monde. It’s an excellent paper and cost me 50 bucks for an annual subscription last year. Once I dumped WaPo and the New York Times, I searched for a European paper, choosing Le Monde over El País. Excellent journalism and a great way to understand how they see us abroad.
Is there an English language version available? My French is too poor to make sense of articles in a newspaper.
𝕀𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕖𝕕! I read the English version.
Thanks for the suggestion, Dana. A subscription to my local newspaper (a Gannett rag) will cost me $127 for a digital subscription on their discount rate.
That cost! Mon Dieu! Le Monde has an English version.
Yeah; that is for a digital subscription. It is awful. I hate not subscribing to my home town newspaper, but holy moly! It used to be $25 which I thought was too high.
I wonder when Stephen Miller (who looks like a cross between Joseph Goebbels and Roy Cohn) will sit in Nuremberg. Or will it be The Hague.
A cross between Goebbels and Roy Cohn. The very definition and image of evil.
Take a look at Reinhard Heydrich, author of the Holocaust. The resemblance is remarkable.almost like a reincarnation.
I just looked at his pic. Cold, dead eyes that seemed to pierce through the ages. Scary and reincarnated in our current crop, especially SMiller. He wasn’t assassinated soon enough.
I did too. Scary stuff.
Add a bit of Nosferatu in the mix, Mike, and I’d agree!
Not gonna happen. He'll be in some place that doesn't have an extradition treaty or agreement with the US. Maybe we can get the CIA to do an Eichmann-style operation. Mossad will be busy elsewhere.
Remember that the US doesn't recognize the world criminal court at the Hague so we would never send someone not even a slug like Miller to be prosecuted there. As long as he stays in the US he is safe from that fate.
Agreed, Jon. I wonder what his options will be when there’s regime change here in the US. Will states hold him liable for crimes that occurred through his instigation within their jurisdictions? Trump, of course, will pardon him for any federal offenses (assuming he’s still capable of holding a pen while his handlers direct his hands). And did the destruction of USAID and the consequent loss of life come at his direction, or was it Musk? Maybe some aggrieved international person could request ICC charges be laid and, if he’s hiding out in some international luxury spot, arrange for his “transportation” to the Hague (remember Radko Mladic, who is still imprisoned, I believe).
I think Miller is not going to be subject to any state charges. His work has been almost exclusively federal and if some state tries to charge him with state crimes, that will be struck down by the US Supreme Court. That is less clear for others (for instance, the ICE agents who killed the two civilian citizens in Minnesota could definitely be subject to state charges of murder if the state chooses to pursue that (which apparently they are considering). Where there has clearly been state criminal violations, the states will have the option of bringing charges. Its just that at the high levels of the federal government, that is difficult to isolate (for instance, Pam Bondi will obviously be pardoned for any federal crimes, and while she has been totally outrageous, I doubt anything she has done actually violates specific state criminal laws).
Afraid you’re right, but a man can dream.😝
I always seem to HATE when I'm right LOL! :-). I'd really love to be completely wrong here, but sadly I think I am right :-)
I’m sorry to hear that since Jack Smith was prosecuting some bad actor at The Hague, he’s got experience and Miller’s number.
Take Bannen, too.
If this is “Christian faith “ I am glad I fall into the non believer category.
Jesus has been hijacked by jackals
Good observation. Brings back disturbing memories of that Australia case from a few years ago. Though I suspect the baby Jesus would turn such a situation to his own advantage and make it a teaching opportunity. :-)
How succinct! How articulate! Perfect! Jackals!
It isn't. It's Christianism - faux Christianity, without Christ.
Worse than faux, it seems pretty much the toxic opposite of the reported tenets of Jesus of which I am familiar, which I don't necessarily follow but respect. How can you unleash grave cruelty to the impoverished and homeless. and claim allegiance to Jesus? Worship the wealthiest? Pursue war? It's Orwellian madness.
My standard of late is that I compare a person to the Jesus I regard as my friend and secular mentor. Does the holy Speaker of the House remind me of Jesus? Nope. Does AOC remind me of Jesus? Yes, and without invoking his name.
Not really sure what little Marco was referring to there or what the Rolling Stones reference was about. But I think it might be more of a 'Sympathy for the Devil' tone coming from him and the demented demon Donold that he is in league with. False prophets, great deceivers, a killing joke of jackals, an antichristian regime...
Not a speck of this has anything to do with Christianity of course, so I don't think you need worry about your category.
Hi Christine — having grown up in a fundamentalist Christian cult where my parents were members of the Plymouth Brethren, I am now also in the non-believer category. What a relief!
And for those that say Jesus was so great, they overlook his statements such as “I come not to send peace, but a sword” (Matthew 26:11). He also threatened people with hell for not believing in “God.” He also appears to be ok w cruelty to animals, as with the 2,000 swine that he was ok with killing ((Mark 5: 12-13). He promises violence in Matthew 13: 41-42 (“and there shall be weeping, and the gnashing of teeth”).
After fighting w my family for decades, I finally reached escape velocity from my fundamentalist upbringing and published a book about it last year. It’s not easy reading but, I think, does show how fundamentalist believers, of all stripes, “know” not only what’s best for them and their children, but for everybody else, too. And since the god they worship is a violent god, they are ok with violence. — If you happen to be interested, the title of the book is “Truth and Fear: Breaking Free from Religious Fundamentalism.”
Alexia Ocasio-Cortez was impressive in Munich and at a University in Berlin. She spoke ex-tempore, clearly and convincingly. She looked, shall I say it, Presidential!
I think AOC will eventually be elected President. The big lift is whether or not blockhead Americans can be persuaded to vote for a woman of any color. I was born in the late 1940s. I hope to live long enough to see President AOC.
She's great but I agree she's not ready nor is the country. I'd love to see her take VP with Mark Kelly but she may prefer to stay in the Congress for a while. If we win in 2028 (go Kelly!) I'd see her ruin in 2036.
She said some interesting things at a student assembly in Berlin. It was extemporaneous. https://youtu.be/L5V-XkjqBLc
She may be attractive to the far left so-called Progressive, but her adherence to socialism will keep her on the side lines.
Extremism from either rend of the political spectrum never ends well.
She is impressive and worthy of the presidency. I'm just glad that Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is such a great and inspiring Congress member at this moment when it's so needed. She's so smart, brave and well spoken. There are some others too, just wish there were a majority of them in Congress to stop the Trump regime disaster from causing further and irreparable damage.
OK, I like some of what she says, but "worthy".
Aside from talk what has she accomplished? What executive experience has she had? What proposals of hers have born fruit?
She may be inspiring, yet we should have learned from recent experience what falling in love with a politician can bring.
Message to Rubio who was sent out to München by Trump because Vance, who even got booed at the Olympics, is clearly persona non grata in Europe.
As a European I can say to little Marco that I and many like me have absolutely no "shared heritage" with the gang led by his orange faced master and that horrible duo Miller-Vought.
I have no "shared heritage" with little Marco's maga world for I trust science and despise conspiracy thinking. I respect the laws instead of breaking them. I am not a racist and I help those in need. I want affordable healthcare for all, not only for the gilded few.
The list of our differences is very long little Marco......
Little Marco can go back to his pedophile protecting boss and continue to praise the sleeping orange faced one during the next North-Korean style "government" meeting.
The reasonable worth of the USA on the world stage has been gutted. Those of us who were spawned in world War 2 know we will never live to see decency, tolerance, kindness and love for others on the world stage emanating from the USA again. I hope millenials and 21st century children and adults will erase the evil this psychopath in the White House has carried to us. Lies, viciousness, self aggrandizement and crudeness are the sine qua non of MAGA and Trump.
Hang in there, Frank. This aging Baby Boomer lives in hope to see those four qualities once again coming forth from our county, once we have kicked the evil that MAGA has become into the gutter. (And then carefully picked up its decomposing corpse, ground it up, and dumped the putrid mess into the toxic waste dump of history.)
Certainly a lot of the better angels of our nature remain alive and well, at least for now, in this society. The need more air time. The ghouls are hogging the stage.
Yeah, and Putin is laughing his balls of. Putting that Orange Goblin in the White House was the best investment he ever made: he can sit back, enjoy the show and watch how his once greatest enemy is destroyed from within. Vlad doesn’t even have to lift a finger….
Exactly so, Dutch Mike. ffpotus has done the work for him.
In "a number of elected Democrats traveled to Munich, where they tried to counter administration officials’ message" I feel like I am finally seeing the beginning of the shadow government so many people imagined at least three quarters of a year ago - urged be formed to maintain a thread of what America is supposed to be. It took too long, but this sounds to me like a skeleton of the shadow governmental body is forming and I wonder how we can support this development so it does not dissipate once they return home. I believe we will need this very badly over the next nine months.
A shadow government that can be effective opposition is something I can donate to.
I would like very much to see a shadow government, who could say out loud what so many of us are thinking. They could describe a better world we know is possible, without fear of being voted out of office in the next election.
Timothy Snyder has advocated for this - a shadow cabinet . The key though is whether or not this shadow government will get the media attention it needs to reach a large segment of the public - not just on the podcasts and MSNOW - for it to be persuasive.
Don’t join the group Elizabeth don’t be as I put it very famous
NIA.
Trump stated clearly in his first term that Europe was the foe. But no one seemed to pay attention or understand that foe means enemy. Now, ...'he cozied up to Arab monarchs and Russia’s president Vladimir Putin.' The man a number of European nations hold directly accountable for the poison murder of Navalny. Not a good look for the coming midterms.
Vlad is a murderer, chump is claiming more bodies every day. They are two rancid peas in a pod of puke.
Ew!
🤮
That's exactly how I think of them. In Texas, the ads denigrate democrats as doing exactly what chump and company are doing. It drives me more bonkers than W/Dickie did. They are deliberately trying to destroy us with evil machinations and verbiage. Really hard to take most days as Cornyn and Paxton wear their halos...
Back in the day, Will Rogers spoke of our financial dilemma. “The money was all appropriated for the top in the hopes that it would trickle down to the needy. Mr. Hoover didn’t know that money trickled up. Give it to people at the bottom and the people at the top will have it before night, anyhow. But it will at least have passed through the poor fellow’s hands.”
Mr. Hoover may not have known that money trickled up but the vipers of today certainly do. And they don’t want any poor slob to get a whiff.
As the greed is good mantra spreads around the globe, the worst nightmare of humanity is on the horizon…
Epstein Files Are an X-Ray of How Power Works | Ezra Klein & Anand Giridharadas
https://youtu.be/eBnQ6qxoMr8
GREAT 90-minute interview!
(2/13/26) *turn on closed-captioning*
.
< Note: This conversation was recorded on Tuesday, Feb. 10. On Thursday, Feb. 12, Kathryn Ruemmler announced she would be resigning from her role as chief legal officer and general counsel at Goldman Sachs.>
YES, especially that. See below.
Just as important as all of the issues of globalization, capitalism, free trade, equal rights, free speech, and free elections, is the growing power of the international, interdependent, unethical, immoral dealings of unrestrained elites around the world. Read Ezra Kline in today’s NYT about how the Epstein elite traded favors, money, power, women, knowledge, and secrets with no interference from any government. A sad story of how lonely billionaires and intellectuals gave up their integrity so they could feel special, even though millions would suffer.
Without empathy, the inclinations run amok. Do we need more proof. Elon and chump are the poster bullies
US foreign policy may have lost its leadership role in Europe or at least we can hope. It is good to hear from Congressional leaders in Munich even if they are silenced in Washington, and California has an economy that equals most countries, so the opposition may register. European history is full of white Christian nationalism and its results. The US is known for historical ignorance but hopefully the Europeans were paying attention. Stephen Miller’s might makes right may appeal to the ambitious weak as well as the strong but cooperation and solidarity work better for everyone generally. Greed is a bad master. Watching a senile narcissist and his followers destroy the common good is not the best role of the western world. Democracy and fair dealing need to save the climate, the alliances, and respect for humanity. Pray the world is up to it and vote Blue.
If Americans don't see Joseph Göbbels speaking to them in form of Stephen Miller, I assure you Germans do. Virtually nobody in Europe doesn't see that. And most in what used to be Eastern Europe also understand that Trump is in bed with the one man determined to re-create Stalin's hegemonic view of exactly how far Moscow's power should extend.
It was reported a couple of days ago that at least 10 major European research institutes and countries all concur -- the Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was killed with epibaltidine -- dart frog poison. When Navalny died, he was convulsing and vomiting. This after the first nerve agent attack against him in 2020 -- at Putin's 'request' of course.
The face of what Europe is up against is clear -- at least to them. We're the only ones who have let massive greed permit us to pretend we don't see that as well.
I hadn’t read that about Navalny. Thank you for that.