Today is Presidents Day, a somewhat vague holiday placed in 1968 on the third Monday in February, near the date of George Washington’s birthday on February 22, 1732, but also traditionally including Abraham Lincoln, who was born on February 12, 1809.
Same. The grievance blinds them to see only strength and power wielding as legitimate, a cult of personality has taken over. Russians applaud as Trump seeks to save them, and the Russians see Trump as our Gorbevchev, the guy that will destroy the country and splinter it into powerless pieces.
In all our years of existence as the greatest nation on earth, the envy of all, we have had great presidents, and we've had not-so-great presidents, but we have never had a president that exemplifies, to the extreme, the absolute opposite of what George Washington, and all of the founders of our nation, had envisioned the United States of America to develop into.
Spot on Mr. Fox. The Founders would abhor the current occupant of The White House and the authority this Supreme Court states that the President has. The SC intentionally misreads our history at the beginning to imbue powers to the presidency that the Founders to a man would eschew.
The Roberts Court is a travesty with several of them having no business deciding anything to do with the Constitution. They are better suited to refereeing one of those fake wrestling matches.
I have returned to my home state of Texas after a 64-year absence. I am writing my two MAGA U.S. Senators (Cornyn and Cruz) almost daily to be brave and to remain faithful to their oath of office, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Judging by their actions during their time in office, neither Cruz nor Cornyn have a brave bone in their bodies. Remember how brave Cancun Cruz was when the Texas power grid went down?!
Michael, we have never had a president who has no redeeming human characteristics, who instead is a monstrous festering cancer who has no idea of serving anyone other than himself. As for muskrat, he is another festering cancerous ego who is using his loathsome minions to make sure no one stands in his way and to take revenge on anyone who does. He drinks heavily at the public trough, yet people are concerned about what amounts to hangnails as he removes hearts. I do note that some who voted for death star are very angry because it is beginning to affect them directly. And not only does it affect them, but also their communities and states. I note that some spineless Rs are begging to have their states exempted.
He's a little shit in a big-boy body! The King of the Sewer Circus! And is enacting terror on employees, women, children, families, hurting human beings without a care in the world! And he has help! The help is the worst! Minions...
After living in a country I have felt proud of most of my life, seen as an exemplary beacon by the rest of the world, I am not used to feeling embarrassed by same said country for exactly the reasons you gave....
“The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.” (Thucydides). That's where you're currently headed.
I don't see too many scholars in the Trump administration and he's firing experts in the NOAA and the EPA. Most of his cabinet are climate deniers. If he's creating a meritocracy as he claims then he's using some pretty odd criteria.
The struggle is never over. HCR's book is brilliant. I have recommended it to everyone. It's capital vs. labor, always has been. Karl Marx, Das Kapital (1867) Right now capital is winning, the current surge beginning with Reagan in 1981.
Please. The shape of the world and history would be entirely different. What will protect us in the end as we struggle through immense cultural differences and strains is Lincoln's firm commitment to the Union. California may not leave and the South may not leave. E pluribus unum.
Where else would the vaulted theory that "a company's only social responsibility is to increase profits for its shareholders" lead us?
ONLY. Nothing else.
Milton Friedman's cruel outlook, espoused in the NYT in 1970 to an enthralled elite, at the peak of our hubris and hegemony, could be said to be the beginning of the end.
Friedman's Nobel Prize Winning cut throat free market (for you not us) manifesto unleashed the Trumps and Musks and Zuckerbergs of the world, reveled in their consolidation of wealth by any means, and rewarded them with less "red tape" and smaller government (for the people) and Bigger government for weapons and surveillance tech, from google to Raytheon, and low lower lowest taxes.
Permission granted to be a total "dick,"
in the immortal-for-15-minutes words of Rep. Robert Garcia.
Much like Trump re- opened the cellar door of racism and male supremacy and gave all the demons a stage.
The Oligarchs are much better planners. And their long-held security and wealth afforded them patience, rewarding stealth and incremental destruction of democracy.
We sunk slowly and quietly, and now loudly and lightning fast.
Hopefully TOO FAST for the corporatocracy - though this is what they wanted. Perhaps they will save us from the worst
by turning their Supreme Court against their Trumpenstein and his infinitely more dangerous new friend.
No matter what, we will feel pain.
Looks like it'll all go to hell in a hand basket real fast, and we will need to rely on each other. Maybe we focus on That, protecting the targets, keeping ourselves in tact.
As well as marches, boycotts, distress calls, and support for Planned Parenthood (and safe, clandestine abortion care) and Public Citizen and the ACLU.
We may lose the internet, but we can use it to organize for now.
Ted, you've expressed yourself so well! I'm especially struck by your observation that the Russians see Trump as the destroyer of the United States because, as I understood him, Timothy Snyder said the same thing in his Substack post of Feb. 13, "The Weak Strongman."
Snyder points out Trump is charismatic to a large subset of Americans. He is good at playing "...a strongman on television." Plus, he and that repulsive gang of traitors with him (Musk and the authors of Project 2025) are showing fair promise as Destroyers of our democratic form of government. But, with each department Musk invades and ruins, Trump also destroys the source of his own power. If our government comes to ruin completely, what strength will he then have to menace other nations and play any role among the power brokers of the world? As Snyder put it, his, "...own weakness cannot magically become strength in the wider world. Quite the contrary." But, while we may console ourselves thinking Snyder's scenario will come to pass (I believe it will), it could also leave our country devastated, less prosperous, and no longer in the first rank of nations in the world.
The tagline on my emails these days ---- taken from a comment on this substack (apologies for not having noted from whom!): "Trump is a poor person's idea of a rich man, a weak person's idea of a strong man, and a stupid person's idea of a smart man.”
Alan, I am glad you referenced Snyder's The Weak Strongman which i thought was excellent and recommend that people try to read it in full. Yesterday there was a post from a local person who is active locally and was at the protest here in Salem yesterday. He is against continuing to help the Ukrainians and gave a detailed history of the Russian favoring people in eastern Ukraine. I understood what he was saying, but then he ended by saying that Putin poses no threat to the rest of Europe which left me agape. I didn't have time to dispute that, but my oh my.
I've known or known of many Ukrainians, all of whom I've appreciated since they have been the ones that went through periods of having to pick who were their worst enemies and having portions of them fight on different sides, some against Russians, some Against Nazis, and some who thought Nazis were liberators and helped them before realizing they were worse. Then they joined the ones fighting the Nazis and hoped to become a more Independent Ukraine again.
To me, the latest Russian invasion had a similar response as we had with our 1941 version of the America First crowd. Their minds changed overnight after Pearl Harbor.
Jim, thank you for this post. My WWII knowledge can be hazy and also eastern Europe. I don't like to contest from ignorance. I have read Snyder's books one eastern Europe and a few other things. I admit to coming to a real fascination with the steppes based on reading history long past. Anyway, I support Ukraine in their fight. I wanted to dispute his last sentence, but I was helping out a friend dealing with some smug posts from MAGA who claims that all those USAID have a longer expiration date and will somehow get to the people who need them.. Uh, don't they need them now. Also we shouldn't be negative. Pfft.
I'll have to read more of Snyder's works, as I've mostly gone by my mother's descriptions and a retired Professor who went looking for what he called Volga Deutsche ancestors (like John Denver's). One of my guys working in the maintenance shop at the Space Systems Command and Control School, was an Honor Guard at John Denver's father's funeral, which led us into looking at his father's history, see https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Deutschendorf-11
The people have changed in ways that should be appreciated, such as the way they treat Russian and North Korean prisoners now, compared to how Russians treat them.
When I look back at the politically fomented hatred of targeted groups like Jews throughout so much of Europe (reminded by going through the memorabilia from the 1950 Oberammergau Passion Play, that Hitler had made even more antisemitic), I'm still very appreciative of the progress made there and throughout most of the world. It may seem still carelessly tolerated, but still should be promoted more and any backsliding limited as much as possible. The more humanely we treat our enemies the fewer new enemies we, and the rest of the world, will have
Cat feeding in the morning has become as chaotic as Trump running the executive branch. Frankly I would rather work at the White House than go through the machinations of providing catfood plates assigned to each. For some unknown reason, they now scatter and mooch on each other’s plate. Two of them simply walk away without eating and I must now bring two plates into the dining room. Ringo, the only cat who gets the privilege to sit on the kitchen drafting table, is a slow poke and I need to add forti flora to enhance the taste to get him to eat faster or Babe, who eats like crazy then jumps up to mooch on Ringo’s plate. I need to guard his plate.
Oh, was I supposed to be commenting on the downfall of the Great American Republic?
I only deal with 4, but one has both lymphoma and early stage renal disease. She must eat a prescription super-specialized kibble which is formulated for her requirements of a novel hydrolyzed protein for the cancer, and for her kidneys. She gets a bit of hydrolyzed rabbit to encourage her to eat. Thankfully, this is improving her kidney function and she is thriving. But this is very expensive food, and the other three would love to have some!
I know you make your own food, and when the kibble was out-of-stock nationwide, in desperation I attempted to find out how one "hydrolyzes" protein--assuming I could even find rabbit. (Lots of coyotes by me, I hardly ever see rabbits anymore. Most of the butcher shops in the area have closed. I consulted with a friend whose daughter owns a restaurant, to no avail) I'm a retired medical laboratorian, so I thought I could try. I discovered you do it by either "high heat" or preferably, the natural way via enzymes. Thankfully, I was able to secure a precious bag of the food ($75 for a 6.6 # bag, btw) and another when that one was almost gone.
They do like to mooch from each other, sometime bully each other, but they are worth their weight in gold for the diversion they provide.
lol Bill, i have two kitties who eat from adjacent bowls, i have always encouraged or nudged each to eat from "his or her" bowl, and often they do, but on refeeds both of them check out the "other" bowl. Seems to work out!
I like this analogy. In spite of their common oath to support the US Constitution (breakfast), getting all 3 branches all three branches of government to focus on their oath is like herding cats
Russell, thanks for your post. I hesitated to comment. I think we lost a great opportunity to turn the Soviet towards capitalism. Communism failed and they needed to move towards socialism with some help from the west.
Russia was moving toward capitalism, until the Revolution(1905?); Germany was moving forward until hitler; the USA was beginning to make changes until the hitler wannabe was elected. We know that capitalism, with a conscience, works. In my opinion, capitalism based on greed and power is a disaster.
It appears that Trump's first gift to Putin and Tha new Russian Empire will be Ukraine. He is working to weaken and damage the United States as much as he can. To quote Alan Paton: Cry the beloved country.
It's racism, misogyny, xenophobia and white Protestant nationalism, i.e., the KKK agenda. Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" (2004) and Heather Cox Richardson, "How the South Won the Civil War" (2020) and "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" Critical Sociology, Feb. 2018 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0896920517740615
Richard, I would also throw in Fever in the Heartland for some more perspective and I know you have referenced that one in earlier posts on Heather's letter. I am a native Hoosier and knew some of the history, but that book left me aghast.
"A Fever in the Heartland," by Timothy Egan, is brilliant and helped me realize that MAGA is 21st century KKK. Access to the full article referenced above is no longer available without paying $37.50. The following is the summation of the two professors: .
What, then, is Trumpism? Many liberals have hoped that 2016 was an aberration, that many middle-of-the-road voters cast their ballots for Trump without really sharing his views. Proponents of the “white working class” thesis, in particular, say that many Rust Belt factory workers, left behind by globalization, voted for Trump in the hope that he was sincere about his populist rhetoric.36 If that were true, then winning these voters back to the liberal fold would be fairly
Trump’s fidelity to Wall Street would soon disillusion them. Other liberals have hoped that a good many voters, in the sluggish aftermath of the 2008 recession, were simply fearful about the uncertain future and willing to gamble on a risk-taker. Still others have hoped that hostility to Clinton and the Democratic leadership was the key to Trump’s appeal, and that this hostility can be overcome by well-crafted and appealing initiatives.
These scenarios strike us as unrealistic. Most Trump voters cast their ballots for him with their eyes open, not despite his prejudices but because of them. Their partisanship, whether positive (toward Trump and the Republicans) or negative (against Clinton and the Democrats), is intense.
This partisanship is anchored in anger and resentment among mild as well as strong Trump voters.37 Anger, not fear, was the emotional key to the Tea Party (Banks, 2014),38 and that seems to be true for Trumpism as well. If so, the challenge for progressives is greater than many people have
imagined. Hostility to minorities and women cannot be wished away; nor can the wish for domineering leaders. The anger games are far from over.
Excellent post, Richard, thank you and i agree. Anger and resentment toward women and minorities. I have been thinking about this for a few years now. I understand male resentment, but I am sometime baffled by women who go along with this. I guess I shouldn't surprised because I heard my female relatives make some racist remarks that left my mouth hanging open. We were treated to two women making racist remarks, guests or our neighbors, a couple summers ago. I wanted to tell them that you can't alway tell a book by its cover as one person there has Native American ancestry. Reading Fever made me wonder if I had ever met any of the Hoosier KKK types. Now I read today that the children's book about freckles is banned in American military schools. Sigh.
I think that mothers make all the difference. When I was in the 2nd grade I had to go to school barefoot because my only pair of shoes had holes in them and were at the repair shop. Sending me off for the 2 mile walk to school my mom said to me, “Richard, remember that you must be concerned for those less fortunate than you.” WOW. Nine of us, parents and seven children, living in a one-room house with a screened-in porch, no plumbing, no utilities, and she’s instructing me to care for those less fortunate. Perhaps she knew something that I didn’t. Ultimately I earned a Ph.D and a J.D. , both from Harvard. Along the way my mother told me that I was the best Christian that she knew, though she knew that I was an atheist. What I was was my mom’s creation.
I believe this is the Tech Bros and Heritage Foundation’s end game: re-create the fall of the Soviet Union here. Drive the nation’s economy into the ground, dismantle its institutional infrastructure, then divide up the most valuable national assets amongst the billionaires at fire-sale prices. Trump desperately wants to be Putin (although he’s not intelligent enough) and Musk et al want to become oligarchs in the mold of the Russian elite, an elite which has gutted that nation’s economic prosperity and international standing. It’s probably only a matter of time before Musk/Trump et al look to start a war, once the dissatisfaction with their kleptocracy starts to kick in at a higher intensity…
I worry for the US too. I think people need to begin looking at how to protect themselves from what is going on as well as resisting. Here is a piece I wrote on this.
I mentioned to MAGA relatives this issue a few months back, just before the election - the idea that virtue and democracy have a symbiotic relationship - and to vote for a felon sans virtue and no foundational understanding of democracy meant the voter lacked virtue, created a tidal wave of anger by them. I stand by that statement - it appears virtue does not matter in America - ethnic cleansing - no problem, more lies than hours in a day, no problem, cheating and stealing, no problem, insurrection - just a typical day, sex offenses, boy will be boys. Until Americans decide virtues matter we will see nothing but chaos and 350 million different defenses in what it means to be saving our country.
The Gas-lighters are the enemy of the Republic, the Truth and the People. Who are the gas lighters? Among others: Fox news. The whole radical right media, the radicals on Scotus, and now virtually the entire GOP.
When in power again 2026 and 2028 The Democrats must promise to: hell, call it "Contact with America".
1.) Supreme Court: Promise to Impeach Supreme Court Justices who gaslight as "originalists". Citizens United was the beginning of the corruption of dark big money into politics, and now we have Elon Musk spending 1/4 billion dollars under false pretenses to help Trump get elected. Now we have a thoroughly ignorant and incompetent Administration nominating the likes of Hegseth, Kennedy, Gabbard and others. " The term "Originalists" is gas lighting. Corporations are not mentioned in the Constitution. A Corporation can not be drafted and sent to war. A corporation cannot vote. A corporation is a legal entity created by imagination.. It icertalinly is not a citizen. "Three-fourths of survey respondents want to kill Citizens United by Amendment including 66 percent of Republicans back a constitutional amendment ." Promise to overturn Citizens United decision . Justices have been bribed in the common understanding of the term. Some have broken the law by refusing to recuse themselves from cases as is required by 28 U.S. Code § 455. Promise to overturn "Presidential Immunity" decision, another gas lighting decision by the radical majority in SCOTUS. And call it gas lighting! If failing to convict Justices on impeachment , promise to expand the court and put in real ethics rules with punishments for past transgressions.
2.) Impeach Trump again.
3.) Impeach Judges like Eileen Cannon for all too obvious reasons. Put teeth in judicial review.
4.) Demand now that Federal Employees , especially the Military not follow executive orders that have been ruled illegal by the courts, under penalty of law.
5.) Take a tough, rational stand on immigration. We need serious criminal penalties and fines for those who employ illegals. Bring back seasonal visas or short term visas for laborer's. This was formerly the case and was better for us and better for the stability of Central and South American Countries. Attract the best and brightest young students and scientists to immigrate. We need immigrants to grow. Revisit birthright Citizenship which is being abused.
6.) Promote a large tax cut for most people, paid for by a hefty tax on the Oligarchs, taxing extreme wealth via tax on loans against stock as ordinary income and tighten and raise inheritance taxes at the extreme. The poor white MAGA voters have nothing in common with Oligarchs economically. Press the divides and conquer by exploiting divisions within the GOP.
7.) Promise a Federal Law guaranteeing Women's reproductive rights
8.) Run ads promising the Contract with America on popular GOP viewed TV shows. Ads showing Jan 6th violence with later Trump calling them Patriots. Keep holding press conferences on the crimes these people Trump pardoned committed before and after he pardoned them. Ads showing Trump lying about Trump University. and tie it to all his other lies.
9.) Tell MAGA always and often that Trump is gas lighting them about the 2020 election and knows it. To combat the Dunning Kruger effect ,prevalent in MAGA, , repetition and evidence has shown to be the anecdote. "Are you a sucker like the Trump University suckers". He lied to you about project 2025, which is all about raising your cost of living via government spending cuts and tariffs which increase corporate profits by making it possible for them to charge you more. , and giving tax breaks to himself and his billionaire friends.
9.) Get rational about Gender identity. People care about this despite how miniscule the numbers are. There are men and women and "tweeners". If you are a tweener it does not make you special, and so deserving of some special treatment or a change in nomenclature. Just a minority that should be protected,
10.) Raise and spend Democratic money advertising these promises. Spend on TV ads where people can see their money being spent. Virtuous circle of more ads begets more money.
11.) Impeach Trump everytime he breaches his oath to uphold the Constitution. Easily once a month.
Landed upside down after going to Canada. I hope this isn’t a metaphor for Americans fleeing to Canada but bringing the topsy-turvy infection of MAGA-Muskism with them. We have a Trump mini-me , Pierre Poilievre, leading the opposition Conservative Party of Canada. He’s got his problems these days because there is a burgeoning patriotic anti-Trump nationalism growing in Canada from coast to (Arctic) coast to coast because of Trump’s interest in annexing Canada into the US, a concept that is very unpopular. So Poilievre is trying to ride a patriotic wave with the slightly-revised Trump battle cry of “Canada First” which means he’s trying to skate in two different directions at once. Nice to see him squirm.
NLTownie, as a (once) proud American (a name I was recently chided for using -- what else to call ourselves -- "Uniteds"? "Statesians"?) I took glee in some Canadians booing the playing of our national anthem last weekend at the Four Nations hockey tournament game between our 2 teams. I'll be watching the US-Canada final on Thursday out of Boston, it will need interesting to hear if there are any boos when Oh Canada is played. (Perhaps there'll be a few, but I hope not.)
My personal hero, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, was annoyed 'way back in the 1930s by the apparent hubris of the U.S. populace calling themselves "Americans," as if Canadians, Mexicans and all the people of Central and South America didn't exist.
In response, he coined "Usonia" as a new name for the United States. He preferred to describe his architecture as "Usonian."
Dale, I've heard of Wright’s Usonian, but not as it pertains to the US. Mexico's citizens are Mexicans, citizens of Canada are Canadians — I have no problem accepting the name American, which we've been for over 250 years.
And Wright was an iconoclastic architect whose work I love, but he was not a good person, or a good husband as far as I recall from Ken Burns’ (one of my personal heroes) film about him. But iconoclasts tend to have their foibles.
Doug, I have a whole library of books about Wright, and learned about the origins of Usonia from reading them.
It's true that Wright was not a saint, but I think it might be a bit harsh to say that he was "not a good person." Indeed, he was unfaithful in his marriage, but we only have public knowledge and gossip to inform us about what life was like with Kitty Wright. Her refusal to grant him a divorce for years after they separated suggests that she might have had some "issues."
Wright ran away with Mamah Cheney who was married to one of his clients, so as we judge Wright, let's also judge Mamah. As far as we know, he was faithful to Mamah until she was killed in a fire set by one of the house staff. Who knows how long they'd have been together absent that tragedy? Wright was then briefly married to Miriam Noel, whose cocaine addiction wrecked that marriage. Wright then lived with Olgivanna Hinzenburg before marrying her. He was faithful to her until his death.
It's likely that Frank and Kitty were a bad fit and puritanical marriage law of the era made it difficult to correct that mistake. Wright was reputed to be a flirt, but I think that was part of his celebrity schtick. His subsequent relationships were faithful but cut short by circumstances beyond his control.
Yes, considerable come back for the Libs in the polls, esp with Carney taking the helm, but it's still quite a climb. Poilievre had been taking up the anti- "woke" banner of late. The guy is a slick medicine man. Carney is the exact opposite, business like to his toes, measured and thoughtful. Going to be an interesting election in Canada before long, mixed in with the TT madness. Libs will benefit the most from Trump's Ugly American stance i think. I guess i shouldn't try to urge T 2.0 to "keep it up" they will anyway!
Not only that but inside out.. Is half the country so stupid? Shutting down agencies and health care and everything else to allow more money into the pockets of millionaires and billionaires.
Petulant Grievance! punishing your parents for making you brush your teeth! No guardrails for these toxic males! They believe they have been anointed to 'Rape and Pillage' to their hearts content...Just try and stop us! And rape is a horrible and harsh word...but ever more fitting! When will the courts or congress act! The key right now is media attention, protests, people...would love if someone hire Pete B. to be the quick response guy!
Hey all! I occasionally print-out one of HCR’s LFAAs if it strikes a deep chord in me; this is one I’ll print. I am making printed copies to keep in an old notebook-paper binder. I am handwriting my own current thoughts related to Heather’s focus of the day in the margins. With the old binder in hand, my grandchildren may someday share HCR’s erudite thoughts, and some of my less erudite, related, musings, with their kids…
Two of my grandkids live 5 hours from D.C. They went with their Marine dad this President’s Day 2025 weekend to sightsee in Washington. My grandson and granddaughter, age 10 and 7 respectively, think that their dad hung the moon. They often go on adventures with him where deep learning takes place. First stop on Saturday was to see the two new galleries opened in 2024 at the Marine Museum in Quantico, Virginia. Then they sloshed in the very cold rain, which will surely enhance the memories, to several museums and monuments in Foggy Bottom in Washington.
Like all grade-school kids today, they are aware of the chaos surrounding the current president and the different opinions of him that they hear from the adults in their lives.
I can imagine the lively conversation these two grands and their dad shared while walking over 8 miles that day about our constantly evolving, unique “American History”…who knows what that will be called in 100 years?!?…
I am proud of my son-in-law for spending this President’s Day 2025 with his two children forming life long memories and teaching them about American History as it is being made. Heather is likewise teaching us about our ever evolving understanding of leadership during this new era playing out in our lifetime. George Washington’s dad gratefully knew even as he was raising a young man over two hundred fifty years ago:
I do not think honesty has been reframed from a virtue to weakness. If, so only temporary. Honesty is a facet of Truth. God is Truth. I believe in God and he will prevail.
Rebel, I saw a suggestion that the DNC do something bold…create an official Office of a National Press Secretary and have Pete Buttigieg provide truthful updates from the Washington DC opposition. The press pool would include the AP and other fact based media outlets
Another bold idea… putting together a shadow cabinet similar to what is done in the UK:
“The Shadow Cabinet is the team of senior spokespeople chosen by the Leader of the Opposition to mirror the Cabinet in Government. Each member of the shadow cabinet is appointed to lead on a specific policy area for their party and to question and challenge their counterpart in the Cabinet. In this way the Official Opposition seeks to present itself as an alternative government-in-waiting.” Parliament-UK
We need strong leadership and organization providing direction for our resistance. Phone calls, letters, marches , even the Courts can’t do it alone.
Can you imagine how essential and dynamic AOC would be if she had been chosen as the next ranking Democratic of the House Oversight Committee in this moment? Instead she was shot down by Nancy Pelosi and the Old Guard, scolded and told to wait her turn. What a short-sighted waste of talent. And it sends such a negative message about the Democratic Party just at this critical moment that cries out for dynamic leadership.
AOC needed to mature. She was like Trump at first, an arrogant amatuer who thought she was a godsend. Unlike Trump she seems to learn from her mistakes. Give her some time, she still needs a bit more experience. Her time will come.
No more time as we don’t have any time left!! She is dynamic and so is Jasmine Crockett. We need to get our heads out of OUR asses and promote progressive and decent warriors like these two. Plus Maxwell Frost, Pete Buttigieg, Ossoff, Raskin, Moskowitz, Gwen Moore, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Joe Neguse, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Lauren Underwood, Ritchie Torres, Lateefah Simon, etc etc….
Gary, The PM of Iceland is 36 and a woman. Can we be mature enough to accept that kind of leadership? I watch her interviews on the more youthful of the Democratic sort of podcasters. I have been hearing from the millennials that I know that they cannot stand establishment dems. I see her as understanding the times, and what needs to be done, and not hemming and hawing as she lets everyone know she does not know what to do, because she does know what to do.
Yes I can. However, Trump is going after her by saying she might be violating immigration laws by helping teach people their rights. I am sure her taxes will be found lacking, or some other horrendous stuff.
Harold Meyerson and David Dayen or anyone at the American Prospect for labor. Lina Khan And Jon Kanter or Rohit Chopra for Anti-trust. Anyone at the Economic Policy Institute for economic and industrial policy........
Hey, I will be in full retirement come April and would be available to serve in this shadow ( I have spent most of my life in the shadows) government- perhaps making coffee, doing some dusting or caring for their companion animals. What wonderful company to be a part of.
The complaints that I am hearing is that they are more interested in fundraising and being mainstream than taking on this situation and this is not a play by the book fight anymore and only people who understand this can lead us out of the situation.
Agreed that fundraising isn’t “where it’s at.” The ex-middle class (I know, I am one—confession sold Exxon after EXXON Valdese, so rest of portfolio went too) after years of trickle down then Covid and inflation, has to go door knocking, marching, and writing postcards to voters. It’s the billionaires who have most of the money and are hanging on to it.
They can be made to understand because both have middle class roots.
Yes, worse than that, I would call what leadership is doing pandering to the very wealth class we are fighting. Jeffries met with 150 Silicon Valley political donors including Andreessen and Zuck to "mend fences" and he assured them Dems would be "reaching toward the center" for the 2026 elections. So...
If you hadn’t named Timothy Snyder, I would. It’s amazing that it was only 10 days ago. Such chaos and destruction in so short a time. The Congress needs to stand up and govern as outlined for them. Instead, the Republicans have become sheep following the wolf and allowing themselves to be eaten alive by an unelected oligarch.
I think it might be even more diabolical than that to be honest. I think the coup orchestrators have offered them a place on the monarchy's council and/or threatened a stick of what is going to be happening to us, the everyday folks they detest, will be thrust upon them when/if this succeeds.
Thank you for this link. I just subscribed and read Mr. Snyder's article. Can the democrats, et al get their act together and their spine stiffened, become the alpha primates in order to proceed with such an important oppositional entity? This is the only way I will get a good night's sleep going forward!
Except we like having Pete back home with us in Northern Michigan! I do think he should be a regular on Fox TV,, though. And from here, he could also put together "The People's Cabinet", Tim Snyder's new name for the British "Shadow Cabinet."
I think it’s because we have taken so much guff that we must get our act together. The new party chair looks promising, but as we have little middle class money to depend on post trickle down, it’s going to be everyone’s boots on the ground and for this 90-yr old, postcards to voters. (Dependent on Medicare, I will shill for stamps!)
Check out the recent podcast from Joe Trippi and Resolute Square for a discussion of holding the Democrat primary soon (nothing in the rules says primaries have to happen in election years). We could coalesce behind our primary winner to take on t***p directly. The “shadow cabinet” would be our cabinet in waiting.
People's Primary. And even if they don't do it, maybe we could. Look at the discussion we've already been having. Might not be all that hard to set up online, sort of like those match up things you see for basketball tournaments or favorite song except with much more discussion and invitations to those we're talking about to weigh in and make their case.
I agree John…we need to get some energy behind this. Share with your Congressional folks.
I keep thinking, “What does President Obama and others think about our country? Do they have any suggestions or plans for taking ahold of this wild situation?”
Gjay, I also do not know about this shadow cabinet. I would very much like to read about it. I am ex Military, special operations and would be very interested in learning about it.
Love this. It's quite evident that Donald was running a shadow government during the Biden administration. In the interest of fighting fire with fire, Democrats should do the same, only less shadowy and more in-your-face. Discarding the shroud of secrecy would embolden the truth-tellers and expose any attempts to silence them.
Wholeheartedly agree. One additional thing I have been asking of folks with presidential potential is to not just respond to the regimes horrific statements on things like the DC crash, but to start getting out statements as if they were the president now so all can see what direct match up of what we have now and what we could, and deserve, to have. And honestly, such a thing could help we non-regime supporters begin to flesh out who would be the best to go up against them in the presidential race that frankly needed to have begun the day after the election.
Agreed. After the DC crash, I responded to a number of our representatives with presidential potential including PB to not just respond to the horrific messages from the regime but to also begin to put out statements as if they were our president responding to things happening so people can see a direct match up of what we have now and what we could have.
Indeed, he qualifies, but there are others. Here is a growing list of heroes and organizations striving toward honesty, and speaking truth to power. Consider:
[Updated Mon. 2-17-25] Nixon's "Saturday Night Massacre"--where two lawyers resigned in protest--became famous as part of Tricky Dick's own forced departure. Trump now has his own enhanced, explosive "Thursday Afternoon Massacre" where not two but seven DOJ lawyers resigned in their protest against dropping the quid pro quo criminal action against NY Mayor Adams. This week's heroes ("Lighthouses in the Storm" h/t Armand Beede@Blue Note) are: Danielle Sasson, John Keller, Kevin Driscoll, Rob Heberie, Jenn Clarke, Marco Palmieri, and Hagen Scotten. They resigned after Acting deputy Attorney Emil Bove issued a directive to drop the Adam's case.. These heroes in pursuit of justice and the rule of law are now included in the lionhearted below fighting against authoritarianism, Trump cruelty, and for pre Trump/Musk. democracy.
Numerous undaunted truth-to-power fighters have been added per viewer's inputs and recent Trump and DOJ actions. Besides upstanding lawyers and law-abiding honorable (present and former) judges, here's a growing list of Profiles in Courage men, women, and advocacy groups who refuse to be cowed or kneel to the force of the Trump/Musk intimidation.]
These heroes in pursuit of justice and the rule of law are now included in the lionhearted below fighting against authoritarianism, Trump cruelty, and for democracy--pre Trump/Musk.
I'll begin, again, with Missouri's own undaunted Jess[ica] (à la John Lewis's "get in good trouble") Piper. Then, in no particular order, Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Karen Pence, Pope Francis (re cruel migration treatment) , Ruth Ben-Ghait, Dan Rather, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Chris Hayes, Robert Reich, Jim Acosta, Jen Rubin and the Contrarians, Steve Brodner, Brian Tyler Cohen, Jonathan Bernstein, Simon Rosenberg, Rachel Coyle, Jessica Craven, Sharon McMahon, Scott Dworkin, Ron Filipkowski!, Anne Applebaum, David Frum, Susan H. Glassser, Jane Mayer, Lucian Truscott IV, AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Chris Murphy, Elizabeth Warren, Tim Snyder, Harry Litman, Jay Kuo, Robert B. Hubbell, Ben Meisellas, Steve Schmidt, David Pepper, Judd Legum, Kristin Du Mez, Jeff Tiedrich, Josh Marshall, Paul Krugman, Andy Borowitz, Rich Wilson, Jeff Danziger, Ann Telnaes,͏ ͏Juan Cole, Will Bunch, Cher, Kevin Costner, Jon Hamm, Bennie Thompson, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Tristan Snell, Rebecca Gordon/TomDispatch, The Dean's List/Dean Obeidallah; American Bar Association, Blue Missouri, Indivisible, Sunrise Movement, Third Act, Democracy Forward, Public Citizen, Democracy Index, Democracy Docket, Democracy Now, ACLU, America, America/Steven Beschloss, David Pepper/ Saving DemocracyThe Action Network, The Freedom Academy et al. (Suggestions welcome.)
And, as Joyce Vance says, "We're in this together"--or via Jess Piper, from rural Missouri: "Solidarity." FIGHT BACK! WE ARE NOT ALONE WE GROW BY THE MINUTE--Every time Trump/Musk tries to destroy our Democracy.
( Google any name above for more info if you are unfamiliar.)
Your growing list of heroes and organizations is the most amazing thing I have read since the "election". Thank you fir your words of wisdom for the gladden my heart! 🇺🇸🇺🇦🌻
Larry, here is my view of OUR current crisis. Please advise me if I am accurate. Be aware, I often assess a situation from a Military standpoint
In times of crisis what did countries do to protect themselves? They put Military Leaders, Good Generals in charge, why? Because they are men of action not words! Why did the European leaders hold an immediate conference in Paris?, because they have seen this play before, during WWII. Wake up America, we are at war! In 1976, I was in a Special Operations Group, formed covertly, to protect U.S. citizens from water poisoning at our reservoirs in the U.S. No one knew of our missions, nor did the press have any right to. During 911, many Special Operators, were also called upon to guard our borders as well as vial interests to the U.S. Why, to ensure our Liberty.Military leaders at that time, felt we were under attack as a Nation. We are now there AGAIN! Time to revisit the past and regroup. Call General Milley back in a (Closed Meeting),put him in charge of a select group of Operators and arrest trump, vance and especially musk.Label them as Domestic Terrorists, deny them their common rights and throw them in jail under the Domestic Terror Act. STOP DOGE ASAP! At the same time, Shut down all false news agencies and Press, such as Fox and X. What the American people don't know sometimes, is a good thing; especially when they need Special Ops groups to function swiftly and effectively. The American People are about results, not so much as the action required to achieve said results.
I am not advocating war. I am merely stating that force is necessary to remove a dictator, ask any combat soldier!
I am an old man now at near 70 however, I would still suit up and serve to protect this country from ANY THREAT FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC! My oath to the U.S.A. DOES NOT EXPIRE!
We need Men of Character and Honor, not those who cater to the highest bidder!
the country needs people like Mayor Pete to step up very publicly now. An idea floated recently that has real merit is for the D to deliver and support bi-weekly press conferences about the state of the nation. PB might be an excellent person to deliver them.
I received a message from someone with a different perspective on PB and it plus all this discussion have prompted me to consider that we would do well to primary respective candidates for our People's Cabinet, People's etc. in either an actual DNC-sponsored early primary as someone here recommended or our own People's Primary. You know, do it in the democratic way in stark and evident contrast to the current autocratic way. I also encouraged the person who sent the message to include their thoughts here.
Orwell was a democratic socialist (he remained one all his life) who was describing Communism put into practice, but his criticisms of Communism also apply to fascism and theocracy as well.
Amen. A lifelong novel reader, didn’t realize until recently how important it is to read fiction. That’s how I learned who Putin is from a fictional account of MGB training school.
President Washington found a strong precedent in Cincinnatus, from two millennia before, of stepping back in favor of a peaceful transfer of power. One thing many of us forgot is that a President, first and foremost, sets the moral tone of the country. Trump is demoralizing us all.
I thought of that same name, Cincinnatus, and recalled my high school Latin teacher's pronunciation of his name (the 'c' was pronounced as a hard c, or 'k': kin kin at us, according to her. Parochial schools taught Latin back in the '50s). Somewhere I have the textbook I used; it probably has the story of the general, in Latin, of course.
My two oldest children were fortunate enough to take Latin in parochial school in the early years of this century, but alas Latin teachers are hard to find (and keep) so my youngest didn’t get that opportunity.
I had two years of Latin in a poor public school in the 1950’s. The first year was particularly good. Learning cases and tenses in a formal way sets up later language learning. Never forget: “if you don’t know the Latin ya gotta do the hackin’ and the hewin.’” (Monty Python)
Either pronunciation, I am from Pittsburgh and, therefore, detest the Bengals and the Reds. 😉 Seriously, thank you for an interesting observation. 💡Too bad that Latin went out with civics classes. 💔
My Italian husband had five years of both Latin and ancient Greek in high school (high school is longer there). When he speaks Latin, you can hear the living language, and it’s beautiful.
While he knows Cicero was probably pronounced Kikero, he says Chichero following Italian pronunciation rules.
Thank you, K. R., Kimberly, Virginia, Gregg, and James for your memories of schooling with the R.C.s and your studying Latin. I hit the wall with Caesar and Catullus. 🤝
My mother taught for several years in a parochial school and, during her tenure, the percentage of African-American children, who were not R.C.s, increased substantially. ✌🏽
Black families who were beginning to accumulate some wealth could not afford the fashionable private schools but could afford the parochial schools. 🙏
Catholic schooling provided an alternative to public education. My impression is that the parents of these students valued the discipline and studying required. ✍️
Three cheers for Catholicism getting some things right! 🥳
One thing that really put me off the study of American history in the early 1960s was the tendency of the schools to portray America's past as a series of morality tales and its presidents as paragons of virtue. I found this hagiographic approach to US history so distasteful that when I did my undergraduate degree in history, I specialised in mediaeval European history, a subject far removed from my high school history lessons. One thing I enjoy so much about Heather's letters is her clear-eyed, realistic portrayal of America's past and its people, an approach I think the schools would do well to emulate.
The Civil Rights Movement was something that we learned about in school, but Ihad learned about it as a kid when I read Coretta Scott King’s memoir. Since then, I’ve read many books to familiarize myself with the less savory aspects of our history. It’s not a coincidence that people like DeSantis and Chris Rufo aren’t interested in an honest accounting of our history.
I appreciate the way this Substack ties the present to the past se we can learn from it and fight the ignorance that seems to permeate our society today.
I too received a pretty DIsneyfied version of American History and a lot of lore that just wasn't true. That said, I appreciated the notion that virtue was a requirement for good leadership. The closer we come to perceiving and respecting realty the better, and the reality of this country and our society is quite a grab bag of worthy of both honor and regret. I think that, in fits and starts, the overall direction of American society has been toward expanding justice, the very thing narcissistic plutocrats are conspiring to reverse.
Talia, I agree. Relate the fullness, point more closely to the truth. A person, a group, we humans can do great things but we can also cause and neglect suffering. Question it all. With a zoom and a big picture lens. What is great? What isn't great? Who and what are we glorifying? And why? Are we seeing the full picture or being myopic about just certain qualities or actions? What are the patterns of behavior? What ones do I value? Which ones do I think are good for a healthy society to value? Why? Etc. Etc.
Teaching each other to question narratives, others' and our own, is a sign of health and evolution rooted in a quest for truth.
Happy V N M, I suppose it could. I define woke as being awake to and aspiring to understand the suffering of others and ourselves. The suffering caused by human egos, including our own. Working to diminish the ego, conditioned thought and emotional patterns, in ourselves allows room for compassion and wise action to grow within us, which will take us far toward the "promised land", Dr. King spoke of.
I do not disagree with your explanation at all; however, for me it captures a sense of awareness that brings the ego into check thereby allowing the development of empathy and an appreciation for the suffering of others. Sometimes with that awareness comes change at an individual level that ripples out to others.
Happy V N M, yes, I agree with you. Turning away from and doing away with d e i wouldn"t be possible if people had more awareness. It is really quite sad for everyone. Stunting and chaining all of our hearts has never freed anyone, though it may look to be so for some, but it is only a surface illusion.
Read Jill Lepore's These Truths, who reveals the importance of truth and evidence. It's over 900 pages, so you know she included every sordid detail from the country's earliest moments.
I graduated from high school in 1965. A lot had been going on in our country around that time. My father was the vice-principle of my school and it was his voice that came over the loudspeaker in the middle of my band rehearsal to announce that JFK had been shot. I decided to keep my high school history book, thinking it would be interesting to look at it later. I actually had a very old history book from my father’s early years, and the way Native Americans were portrayed was difficult to read. Unfortunately, all these years later, I have no idea where that book ended up. Not long after I left the nest, the Civil Rights movement, women’s rights movement, and protests against the war in Viet Nam were in full swing. That’s what I was paying attention to. I wonder what those history books said about all that! A paragraph here, a paragraph there.
If we look in the mirror...I can only take it once a day to make sure I did not leave toothpaste on my nose and that my hair is neatly contained....We See America."
Whether we are American Indian, India Indian, English, French, German, Russian, Austrian, Japanese, Chinese, Irish, Mexican, from Central America, or South America, African, the Middle East, Japan, China, Belgium, Scandinavia, Greenland.....whether our family came from Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Cameroon, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Australia, Thailand, Taiwan, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, etc....we have chosen to be one people...AMERICANS! We celebrate different cultures, we enjoy one another's music...thank you Jamacia/ from gospel to reggae...sooo....wonderful!!! The words engraved on the "Statue of Liberty" speak to each and all..."welcome!" We have come to this place, rich or poor...seeking HOPE and most often we have received it but we need to continue fighting for one another that that hope will never be subdued by the lesser, small minded, "control frisks"!!! ....those who imagine we will bow the knee to them...those who would steal the very soul of America!!!
Whether we judge our differences...and we DO!!!, we have chosen to come together when it was/is important...ie...giving our lives for freedom...not only for ourselves and the future of our children but for our neighbors throughout the world.
I am so thankful that we can live out our chosen faith or no faith...freely. I am so thankful that we work at accepting one another. I am so thankful that we can choose to admire and appreciate our differences and learn from one another.
We can choose to celebrate different holidays...we have almost EVERYONE'S special religious dates on our calendars.....certain leader's birthdates are celebrated.....dates in which we have defeated enemies with our life's blood are celebrated, etc...
If we choose, we can continue learning to appreciate one another's heritage AND FULLY BE
AMERICAN CITIZENS!!!!!
Our country and each person is worthy to live in freedom and to have the opportunity to work if possible, to continue to achieve, to be appreciated and accepted. We are stronger when we lift one another up.
We are weaker when we say "my way or the highway". We dishonor our Creator when we treat persons of color or persons who struggle in this world for whatever reasons, disrespectfully. We did not get to choose the color of our skin or if we live with mental or physical disabilities. We did not get to choose our parents or our country of birth.
So many Americans have used their struggles, their disabilities to inspire each of us. So many humans from other nations have given their lives to protect us.
So many persons from other countries have shared their beautiful languages and cultures and art and foods with us. Our world is made closer, our joys are increased when we take time to love and not hate ....to appreciate rather than reject.
I was raised in Puerto Rico in the 60s. My education included the (real) history of the Carribean, among other eye opening things. It also helped that I quickly learned Spanish and could talk to the adults and seniors who had lived through it. That lit the fuse that led to my interest in real history, not the plain vanilla ones taught by nationalists.
Talia, while I was never a history scholar, I regarded the kind of history education you mentioned as appropriate for grammar school, while recognizing that adults enjoyed the tradition and right to freely complain about our leaders and the president in particular. The current occupant of the Whitehouse is the first one I've seen who expects to be worshipped, or at least considered to be a king, and thinks that loyalty is deserved only unto himself. Most of us outgrew the whole worshipping thing, even though some indoctrination usually remains.
I took a course on the US Presidency when I was in grad school that focused largely on the expansion of Presidential powers over the course of our history. This was way back in the early’80s and it already seemed alarming how much power had been assumed by one person. We now see the logical outcome of that trend. The most diabolical aspect of the way the Presidency has been carefully crafted over time is that the power of enforcement has been vested exclusively in the executive branch.
Indeed, Congress has been giving up its power and placing it in the hands of the President for quite some time. Especially relating to going to war and the ability to raise tariffs. Those are Legislative Branch powers, and I think we need a Constitutional Amendment that says branches cannot give away fundamental powers to another branch.
I wrote an article on substack asking if the Department of Justice needs to be independent of the Executive branch. Obviously it does, but I'm probably not the one to make the case.
I thought about this but it raises the question does that create another branch of government with powers equal to Congress and the Executive? Would the Attorney General then be equal to the President? Is clear that the DofJ can't be part of the judiciary because there job is to be the prosecutors in front of the judiciary and reporting to the courts would create issues that might be complicated and unresolvable.
In the end I am torn. Having the DofJ under the President works well when we have honest Presidents but can became very complicated with dishonest ones.
I understand the conundrum. It seems to me that the set criteria for AG, appointed by the President and confirmed by Congress is appropriate. What we are seeing now is a miscarriage of justice and a travesty of justice. It betrays the very foundations of our country.
agreed, Jon ... I should have read down a little before posting my reaction. Nonetheless, your point is on the mark. The constitution assumes that honourable and ethical MEN shall be elected as president and that Congress will not be driven by partisan politics. That assumption is incorrect and outdated. Maybe the US does need a 4th branch.
This parallels what I wrote in a comment yesterday. The U.S. Constitution was written by aristocratic men with no imagination. At the time they wrote it, women and people of color were regarded as lesser beings, firearms were muzzle-loaded, bombs had a destructive radius of about 100 feet, moral rectitude was esteemed, and as you mentioned, political parties were frowned upon.
The Constitution needs to be revisited, but honestly, I don't think there are enough adequately educated, imaginative, ethical individuals available to do a decent job. Imperfect as it is, the Constitution we have is likely better than anything that could be written today.
It's certainly supposed to be. However, Ken Martin, a conservative activist lawyer who has consistently defended the January 6 storming of the Capitol has been nominated by Donald Trump to serve as the permanent top federal prosecutor in the city where it happened. He recently reposted a comment from another conservative activist who asked, “Where does it say in the Constitution that the Department of Justice is independent from POTUS?” I'm afraid he's right - there is no constitutional guarantee of its independence. Another reason perhaps to think about writing a constitution for modern times and abandoning the document written ages ago by a bunch of slave owners when only Native Americans lived west of the Mississippi and urban populations were widely dispersed.
Indeed, Matt. In my HS Civics class (yes, they taught that in 1966) we had an inspiring discussion about whether the Attorney General would better be a separately elected position with that office and the DOJ having an independent portfolio. It seemed to be a good idea even at that time. It would be hard to achieve as it would required somesort of constitutional amendment to expand the checks and balances. Likely it would not be necessary IF folks paid serious attention to the constitution but ... And now the prexy is saying that he who saves the country breaks no law ... and he controls the branch that brings charges of breaking the law. Thus, what is considered to be 'saving the country' has no independent backing.
If our feckless Congress would do its job according to the constitution, it might impeach any Executive who was misusing the powers of the Justice Department for "high crimes and misdemeanors."
Some of us got our lessons on the expansion of the power of the presidency from none other than Richard M. Nixon. I can still remember the uniforms that were proposed for the capitol police when he was in office: they appeared to be modeled after those worn by Hitler's SS, and were roundly panned. The start of the long decline in Republicans who have occupied that office since Eisenhower. I think we've reached the bottom of that slide.
That any “normal, average” person thinks that Trump, Musk (who hasn’t been elected to anything), Vance, Hegseth, etc., has their interests in mind is beyond naive. The only thing that helps me at this time is having the awareness that global powers have waxed and waned as long as humans have roamed this planet Earth. God willing enough people around the world have tasted enough freedom to know that the fascism and authoritarianism that’s sweeping the world is not “normal” or “natural”, and they/we will rise up to protect ourselves, our freedom, and our beloved planet.
I’ve found a lot of comfort listening to podcasts on history, particularly periods of turmoil and despair. It sounds macabre, but it’s so helpful to hear stories of human resilience. It’s also interesting how humans don’t really change all that much!
Jeannette, I too take comfort in history. Our human ability to survive with the help of one another gives me comfort. That we humans (not all but many) rise to help one another in times of tragedy and despair reminds me of our goodness deep down, not visible often on the surface.
Thanks Heather. Just watched your interview with Jen Rubin on The Contrarian, on the subject. Very insightful.
Your point on the people demanding the sort of president, that produced Lincoln at the time, was powerful. I couldn't help thinking that people will need to see how bad this will truly get, for that demand to happen at the level required.
Cuts to the FAA, to Nuclear Security let alone all of the rest, will have consequences which won't immediately present. But present they will. Along with inflation driven by tariffs etc. The consequences may just focus the demand. Let's hope.
Giving up power? Americans had presidents with honor, with decency?
When sheer lawlessness, threats to democracies now come our convicted criminal -- and from our fascist quartet.
And they align: the fat orange convicted criminal, Putin, Musk, and Vance.
They all depend on U.S. billionaires allied with others nihilist as them worldwide. All come from schools equally void of the human, set instead to the moneyed classes' schemes for abstractions, group packaging, categorical logic, and malign labeling.
Their standardized tests measure such depersonalized reductions of life. Never the human, the personal.
All who stew in such schools, without skills for anything non-machine-like, are all the more vulnerable to group fears, group manipulation.
Worst? That the U.S. tens of millions dumbed-down are also numbed so they can neither see nor imagine the malignancy from our fascist quartet.
Any way, our criminal and his ilk are giving us historic, relentless criminality.
Phil, I do respect you and your opinions, even when we disagree, but I do ask that you remove the pejorative word "fat" from your description of the orange felon.
You probably have no real understanding of how using that word as a descriptive slur hurts people who are overweight, and as someone who claims loudly about how important humanities are. I would hope you would be sympathetic to refraining from that non humanistic description of people of size.
"Fact" is, "The Bobcaster," at his criminal arraignment he claimed he weighed 215.
That was the weight of Arnold Schwarzenegger at his slim prime. The obese orange monstrosity easily hit the scales 50 pounds heavier, waddled around that much more overweight, than the "fact" he claimed.
The last time we had a go-round, you were denying the seriousness of how more and more American teachers face youth who just will not, cannot read any full book.
You challenged my evidence for that.
So I sent you links to very good articles by reputable others, articles with stats, survey data, and observations by well-respected educators. Teachers subscribing to Heather's columns also chimed in, with their own experiences vouching for this ominous trend.
You ought to have apologized for your daring me to produce evidence, as I did. You ought to have indicated that you'd read the evidence, and might countenance the import and extent of problems you could not and will not take seriously.
The Founders bequeathed so much good to us, primarily the framework for a nation that ended up lasting 248½ years as a democracy. They were visionary in many ways yet surprisingly naïve in others, most of all the assumption that civic virtue would be the principal motivator for what they considered public servants at the highest levels of government. Wise as they were, for the most part, they failed to envision the possibility that our country would someday have a two-headed monster as president, a subservient Congress, and a corrupt, intellectually dishonest supermajority of the U.S. Supreme Court.
They built corrections into the balance of power and were not naive. They didn’t conceive of Congress people who would give power away for ease of keeping their positions or a public that would vote against their own interests to personally spite members of the opposition.
They also didn’t envision one political party misusing the antimajoritarian structures of the Constitution to undercut citizens of another party and establishing themselves as hostile to the very idea of government of, for and by the people.
The Constitution spells out two high crimes for which any civil officer can be removed from office. Bribery and treason. I don't think that they expected a bought and paid for corrupted court to legalize de facto bribery by other names, nor that a bought and paid for Congress would go quite this far to shield treachery. I don't think they understood the scale of impacts on democracy of extreme economic inequality that would emerge from slave agriculture, the industrial "Gilded Age", and today's largely unfettered corporate consolidation.
I am not suggesting blaming them for this mess. They produced an inspirational document for the time (with some gargantuan flaws), but you clearly need a new constitution for modern times and a new jurisprudence that is less like reading the Bible literally.
I was thinking of the doctrine of originalism, a deference to a 230-year-old document that is as bizarre as biblical literalism. Trump claims to have a lot of bibles but doesn't appear to have read any of them. His evangelical base doesn't seem to have got beyond the Old Testament the way they carry on.
I think it's a charade; mystic Ouija Board attributions of government by men, not laws. That's exactly how the Bible is used to justify such moral horrors as genocide and slavery. Key to the Enlightenment was a trust in evidence and reason over holy writ, and Enlightenment thinking strongly influenced our founding republic. The Constitution is a recipe, but we the people are it's final source of authority, and each inheriting generation bakes the cake.
"I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
Your Constitution is over 200 years old. I don't think there's anything particular radical about suggesting that it might not have aged well. There have been quite a lot of amendments and some of them have generated furious controversy, like the scope of the 14th Amendment for example. People's mores and the whole world has changed since then in ways that could not have been foreseen by the framers and America has not been successful in dealing with its deep-seated problems - race, sexual discrimination and inequality. Right now, you're going backwards not forwards, driven by executive action rather than representative democracy. It seems to me that even something as fundamental as separation of powers is no longer seen as necessary or relevant and this presents grave dangers to your democracy.
Jefferson believed that "the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint; the public judgment will correct false reasonings and opinions, on a full hearing of all parties; and no other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable liberty of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness.", but notice that is conditional. Presses abounded in early America, while today certain sources dominate. In keeping with that we once maintained a "fairness doctrine" and limited domination of ownership in media markets. who get heard in pay-to-play America, and who does not? The courts are supposed to be structured to provide a " a full hearing of all parties "to correct false reasonings and opinions". It's not a perfect system, but we have yet to devise one that is fundamentally better. Curiously citizens who are called upon to speak in court are required to tell the truth, while those who make, administer, and judge the law are not; and that's a serious problem.
Where there to be, as a matter fact, an adequately FULL hearing or ALL parties, would that have made a difference in electoral outcomes? If one person can spend well more than a quarter of a billion dollars to amplify their electoral agenda while millions cannot afford that luxury at all, is that a fair and free election? If the money was not buying someone;s desired results, why would they ever spend it? And does that mean that control of government is up for sale?
Gene saved himself with the question at the end. I like it! There was no guarantee. If only they had added an advisory that some maintenance and participation was required 😉
Kathleen, I was talking about far more than that. Yes, the Founders were visionary, but it was never meant to be a one and done deal. Remember Benjamin Franklin's quote "a republic IF YOU CAN KEEP IT".
We can't keep it without adhering to and demanding good faith. Extreme partisanship is tearing apart the union, as it did in the Civil War, and once again, big money and feudaloid lust for autocratic power is driving that agenda. We are born to learn, but we keep making a lot of the same mistakes, over, and over. and over.
Exactly JL. And ironically, in an age when communication is easier than it has ever been, misinformation and disinformation are everywhere, many choose not to even vote, when that is easier to do than ever (in most places).
Perhaps they’re in a cycle. Elons i were fascists, the Canadian Technocracy Party was pro Nazi, just like America First party. We should look at Germany as inspirational and aspirational. Education and anti hate laws, build a culture that is anti racist, anti lie, anti aggressive war.
Yes. You need a new constitution and electoral system so that elections are no longer decided by 2% of the population who can be persuaded by those with lots of money.
The late Maryanne Trump Barry knew Trump was cultivating Christian Nationalists by pretending to religious feeling he doesn’t have, and Mary Trump recalled discussing this with her aunt, who was disgusted with her brother’s behavior. Christian Nationalism is an oxymoron that uses the trappings of religion to protect people who think they have some divine mandate to lord it over us. They don’t.
The one problem that is the basis for many more of our problems sort of slapped me in the face today. Had conversations with several people in neighboring red county and was shocked that they knew nothing of what is happening in our government. We have no message that is reality based and heard by all. Substacks have multiple messages (most don’t know what that is), MSM is running scared and spewing sports stats, entertainment and weather, Fox (and clones) continues to blast hate speech and sanewash the traitors, religion has become prosperity gospel, and some ignore all these things. A 17 year old had no clue, saying that she and her friends didn’t talk about stuff like that (politics). We have a whole group of ostriches and brain-washed fools. There was a time when Walter told us how it was and people didn’t dispute every syllable. Now it’s a cacophony of 90 decibel propaganda or nothing. And the nothing is like a siren’s song to many. What a recipe for disaster. What I don’t know can’t hurt me. History will say it ain’t so…
All this is true but it also ignores that much of what was reported as "truth" 50 and 75 and 100 years ago was highly distorted and just as much a product of big money control of media, particularly television, as is true today.
Yes Walter C was a soothing voice to us all but he didn't always report the truth. I grew up in the 50s and 60s and my family talked truth at the dinner table. But when I took some of those views I had into school, like maybe WE were the ones in the wrong during the Bay of Pigs and in the Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam war (early on) I was called a "commie" and worse.
We have always been a country that sugar coated our worst inclinations and bowed to power, is not a new thing, just much worse than before.
Not so sure “happy” is the right word for what we have as a president now.
Having a known felon and pay to play, Musk, in charge of rooting out fraud, waste, and corruption is like the proverbial fox guarding the hen house. It is not corruption they are finding. It is programs designed to protect consumers, civil rights, safety, and ethical standards.
It is a calamity that will turn into a conflagration as the cretins redefine values and people no longer recognize the truth as truth. Orwell told us, we didn’t seem to think it applied to us. Now we are redefined as well. The world doesn’t recognize America, nor do I…
I’ve seen some POTUS lies in my time. Nixon’s I am not a crook, Regan saying he knew nothing about selling arms to Iran for arms to Nicaragua rebels , Clinton’s about Ms Lewinsky, GWB lie about Iraq having WMD, but the Trump administration has created an alternate reality with their non stop lies.
There is a refreshing humbleness to both Washington and Lincoln that is totally absent from Trump. This is an unequivocal differentiation that cannot be bridged and defines the sham of a true leader that Trump totally fails to represent.
Both Washington and Lincoln cared about the common good, about more than their own infantile egos. What Joseph Welch called "decency". Not saints but not predators.
Heather tells us a great deal about George Washington and yet there is another fact that should not be lost to the history books. When he was done being president, washington gave a farewell address in which he argued against the creation of separate political parties. He knew they would divide the country. And that they sure did. For all the love people had for Washington as a leader, those around him failed in this one essential - and we now know today fatal - instance to heed his advice. They created political parties, and here we are today … a nation destroyed.
The world is turned upside down, indeed. Honesty has been reframed from a virtue into weakness. Propaganda and grievance rule. I weep for us.
Same. The grievance blinds them to see only strength and power wielding as legitimate, a cult of personality has taken over. Russians applaud as Trump seeks to save them, and the Russians see Trump as our Gorbevchev, the guy that will destroy the country and splinter it into powerless pieces.
Trembling for my country has turned into grief.
We have sunk to letting the worst among us govern, and the results were entirely predictable.
In all our years of existence as the greatest nation on earth, the envy of all, we have had great presidents, and we've had not-so-great presidents, but we have never had a president that exemplifies, to the extreme, the absolute opposite of what George Washington, and all of the founders of our nation, had envisioned the United States of America to develop into.
Spot on Mr. Fox. The Founders would abhor the current occupant of The White House and the authority this Supreme Court states that the President has. The SC intentionally misreads our history at the beginning to imbue powers to the presidency that the Founders to a man would eschew.
The Roberts Court is a travesty with several of them having no business deciding anything to do with the Constitution. They are better suited to refereeing one of those fake wrestling matches.
I have returned to my home state of Texas after a 64-year absence. I am writing my two MAGA U.S. Senators (Cornyn and Cruz) almost daily to be brave and to remain faithful to their oath of office, to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
Judging by their actions during their time in office, neither Cruz nor Cornyn have a brave bone in their bodies. Remember how brave Cancun Cruz was when the Texas power grid went down?!
Michael, we have never had a president who has no redeeming human characteristics, who instead is a monstrous festering cancer who has no idea of serving anyone other than himself. As for muskrat, he is another festering cancerous ego who is using his loathsome minions to make sure no one stands in his way and to take revenge on anyone who does. He drinks heavily at the public trough, yet people are concerned about what amounts to hangnails as he removes hearts. I do note that some who voted for death star are very angry because it is beginning to affect them directly. And not only does it affect them, but also their communities and states. I note that some spineless Rs are begging to have their states exempted.
He's a little shit in a big-boy body! The King of the Sewer Circus! And is enacting terror on employees, women, children, families, hurting human beings without a care in the world! And he has help! The help is the worst! Minions...
After living in a country I have felt proud of most of my life, seen as an exemplary beacon by the rest of the world, I am not used to feeling embarrassed by same said country for exactly the reasons you gave....
Hi! Do you thinks these MAGAs are POD PEOPLE?
We have a kakistocracy.
“The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools.” (Thucydides). That's where you're currently headed.
Have we made that distinction?
I don't see too many scholars in the Trump administration and he's firing experts in the NOAA and the EPA. Most of his cabinet are climate deniers. If he's creating a meritocracy as he claims then he's using some pretty odd criteria.
To wit: Trump is the upper left peak on the Dunning-Kruger curve. SMH...
https://photos.app.goo.gl/WtyJ5KDXMAGrm9ni6
Dealing with this situation will not be a sprint but a trumuskathon.
Which is turning into a catastrophe…
I want to be that word with kaka.
HCR: Some states do not celebrate "Presidents Day. And, that would be the following:
Florida
Georgia
Indiana, Iowa
Kansas, Kentucky
Louisiana
New Mexico ... er sorry ... New America, North Carolina
Rhode Island
Wisconsin
* Delaware
Delaware gets an asterisk because in 2009 DE went to 2 "floating holidays"
Never should have fought the civil war. They should have been allowed to leave…
How the South Win the Civil War by Heather Cox Richardson.
This is a great book. Reconstruction. Retribution. The rule of law breaking down. Beware the one party state. 75 years of Jim Crow.
The book informs us of the current privilege and the unholy alliance of the billionaire techno christo fascism we are living through today.
The struggle is never over. HCR's book is brilliant. I have recommended it to everyone. It's capital vs. labor, always has been. Karl Marx, Das Kapital (1867) Right now capital is winning, the current surge beginning with Reagan in 1981.
Please. The shape of the world and history would be entirely different. What will protect us in the end as we struggle through immense cultural differences and strains is Lincoln's firm commitment to the Union. California may not leave and the South may not leave. E pluribus unum.
If we fail at this time, democracy around the world will crumble.
Think you got it right Michael. I do have a neighbor & her very polite young daughter who flew out to South Korea yesterday.
I was able to give them a proper Goodbye.
Now that is a very interesting thought. 💭
Terrible idea
Good one Brian...
Does North Carolina know? : )
I don’t think so. I live in NC and was not aware that NC does not observe Presidents Day. Because of a Republican legislature me thinks.
Me thinks too. : --- )
So Lord Acton was right then.
The hope that elected officials will have good character is a flimsy foundation for a nation.
Where else would the vaulted theory that "a company's only social responsibility is to increase profits for its shareholders" lead us?
ONLY. Nothing else.
Milton Friedman's cruel outlook, espoused in the NYT in 1970 to an enthralled elite, at the peak of our hubris and hegemony, could be said to be the beginning of the end.
Friedman's Nobel Prize Winning cut throat free market (for you not us) manifesto unleashed the Trumps and Musks and Zuckerbergs of the world, reveled in their consolidation of wealth by any means, and rewarded them with less "red tape" and smaller government (for the people) and Bigger government for weapons and surveillance tech, from google to Raytheon, and low lower lowest taxes.
Permission granted to be a total "dick,"
in the immortal-for-15-minutes words of Rep. Robert Garcia.
Much like Trump re- opened the cellar door of racism and male supremacy and gave all the demons a stage.
The Oligarchs are much better planners. And their long-held security and wealth afforded them patience, rewarding stealth and incremental destruction of democracy.
We sunk slowly and quietly, and now loudly and lightning fast.
Hopefully TOO FAST for the corporatocracy - though this is what they wanted. Perhaps they will save us from the worst
by turning their Supreme Court against their Trumpenstein and his infinitely more dangerous new friend.
No matter what, we will feel pain.
Looks like it'll all go to hell in a hand basket real fast, and we will need to rely on each other. Maybe we focus on That, protecting the targets, keeping ourselves in tact.
As well as marches, boycotts, distress calls, and support for Planned Parenthood (and safe, clandestine abortion care) and Public Citizen and the ACLU.
We may lose the internet, but we can use it to organize for now.
I'm also learning the art of Ham Radio.
Ted, you've expressed yourself so well! I'm especially struck by your observation that the Russians see Trump as the destroyer of the United States because, as I understood him, Timothy Snyder said the same thing in his Substack post of Feb. 13, "The Weak Strongman."
Snyder points out Trump is charismatic to a large subset of Americans. He is good at playing "...a strongman on television." Plus, he and that repulsive gang of traitors with him (Musk and the authors of Project 2025) are showing fair promise as Destroyers of our democratic form of government. But, with each department Musk invades and ruins, Trump also destroys the source of his own power. If our government comes to ruin completely, what strength will he then have to menace other nations and play any role among the power brokers of the world? As Snyder put it, his, "...own weakness cannot magically become strength in the wider world. Quite the contrary." But, while we may console ourselves thinking Snyder's scenario will come to pass (I believe it will), it could also leave our country devastated, less prosperous, and no longer in the first rank of nations in the world.
The tagline on my emails these days ---- taken from a comment on this substack (apologies for not having noted from whom!): "Trump is a poor person's idea of a rich man, a weak person's idea of a strong man, and a stupid person's idea of a smart man.”
Yes.
Alan, I am glad you referenced Snyder's The Weak Strongman which i thought was excellent and recommend that people try to read it in full. Yesterday there was a post from a local person who is active locally and was at the protest here in Salem yesterday. He is against continuing to help the Ukrainians and gave a detailed history of the Russian favoring people in eastern Ukraine. I understood what he was saying, but then he ended by saying that Putin poses no threat to the rest of Europe which left me agape. I didn't have time to dispute that, but my oh my.
I've known or known of many Ukrainians, all of whom I've appreciated since they have been the ones that went through periods of having to pick who were their worst enemies and having portions of them fight on different sides, some against Russians, some Against Nazis, and some who thought Nazis were liberators and helped them before realizing they were worse. Then they joined the ones fighting the Nazis and hoped to become a more Independent Ukraine again.
To me, the latest Russian invasion had a similar response as we had with our 1941 version of the America First crowd. Their minds changed overnight after Pearl Harbor.
You could say they are now far more fully woke.
Jim, thank you for this post. My WWII knowledge can be hazy and also eastern Europe. I don't like to contest from ignorance. I have read Snyder's books one eastern Europe and a few other things. I admit to coming to a real fascination with the steppes based on reading history long past. Anyway, I support Ukraine in their fight. I wanted to dispute his last sentence, but I was helping out a friend dealing with some smug posts from MAGA who claims that all those USAID have a longer expiration date and will somehow get to the people who need them.. Uh, don't they need them now. Also we shouldn't be negative. Pfft.
I'll have to read more of Snyder's works, as I've mostly gone by my mother's descriptions and a retired Professor who went looking for what he called Volga Deutsche ancestors (like John Denver's). One of my guys working in the maintenance shop at the Space Systems Command and Control School, was an Honor Guard at John Denver's father's funeral, which led us into looking at his father's history, see https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Deutschendorf-11
His grandfather came from a village about 35 miles north of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant and 45 miles southwest of Dnipro. I'm sure Snyder may be the much better source of German Mennonites areas of settlement and timelines to go with the waves of settlements, but a good start for me seems to be at https://www.alternatehistory.com/forum/threads/catherine-ii-accidental-or-not-germanisation-of-russia.470973/
The people have changed in ways that should be appreciated, such as the way they treat Russian and North Korean prisoners now, compared to how Russians treat them.
When I look back at the politically fomented hatred of targeted groups like Jews throughout so much of Europe (reminded by going through the memorabilia from the 1950 Oberammergau Passion Play, that Hitler had made even more antisemitic), I'm still very appreciative of the progress made there and throughout most of the world. It may seem still carelessly tolerated, but still should be promoted more and any backsliding limited as much as possible. The more humanely we treat our enemies the fewer new enemies we, and the rest of the world, will have
Absolutely 👍
Cat feeding in the morning has become as chaotic as Trump running the executive branch. Frankly I would rather work at the White House than go through the machinations of providing catfood plates assigned to each. For some unknown reason, they now scatter and mooch on each other’s plate. Two of them simply walk away without eating and I must now bring two plates into the dining room. Ringo, the only cat who gets the privilege to sit on the kitchen drafting table, is a slow poke and I need to add forti flora to enhance the taste to get him to eat faster or Babe, who eats like crazy then jumps up to mooch on Ringo’s plate. I need to guard his plate.
Oh, was I supposed to be commenting on the downfall of the Great American Republic?
I only deal with 4, but one has both lymphoma and early stage renal disease. She must eat a prescription super-specialized kibble which is formulated for her requirements of a novel hydrolyzed protein for the cancer, and for her kidneys. She gets a bit of hydrolyzed rabbit to encourage her to eat. Thankfully, this is improving her kidney function and she is thriving. But this is very expensive food, and the other three would love to have some!
I know you make your own food, and when the kibble was out-of-stock nationwide, in desperation I attempted to find out how one "hydrolyzes" protein--assuming I could even find rabbit. (Lots of coyotes by me, I hardly ever see rabbits anymore. Most of the butcher shops in the area have closed. I consulted with a friend whose daughter owns a restaurant, to no avail) I'm a retired medical laboratorian, so I thought I could try. I discovered you do it by either "high heat" or preferably, the natural way via enzymes. Thankfully, I was able to secure a precious bag of the food ($75 for a 6.6 # bag, btw) and another when that one was almost gone.
They do like to mooch from each other, sometime bully each other, but they are worth their weight in gold for the diversion they provide.
Sounds like my morning. The reward is, when I am done, I go back to my warm bed with my hot cup of coffee, and read Heather.
lol Bill, i have two kitties who eat from adjacent bowls, i have always encouraged or nudged each to eat from "his or her" bowl, and often they do, but on refeeds both of them check out the "other" bowl. Seems to work out!
There was once law and order in the Katzel at one time but it has devolved into a free for all even as I stand guard sipping my coffee.
The Katzel- ha!
the kitty version of "the grass is always greener", with you as the fence.
I like this analogy. In spite of their common oath to support the US Constitution (breakfast), getting all 3 branches all three branches of government to focus on their oath is like herding cats
Kitty! Kitties!
That's a little unfair on Mikhail Gorbachev. Your country could do with a bit of glasnost right now.
Russell, thanks for your post. I hesitated to comment. I think we lost a great opportunity to turn the Soviet towards capitalism. Communism failed and they needed to move towards socialism with some help from the west.
Russia was moving toward capitalism, until the Revolution(1905?); Germany was moving forward until hitler; the USA was beginning to make changes until the hitler wannabe was elected. We know that capitalism, with a conscience, works. In my opinion, capitalism based on greed and power is a disaster.
I agree. Yeltsin was never the answer to Russia's problems and he allowed Russia to sink into anarchy.
It appears that Trump's first gift to Putin and Tha new Russian Empire will be Ukraine. He is working to weaken and damage the United States as much as he can. To quote Alan Paton: Cry the beloved country.
It's racism, misogyny, xenophobia and white Protestant nationalism, i.e., the KKK agenda. Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" (2004) and Heather Cox Richardson, "How the South Won the Civil War" (2020) and "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" Critical Sociology, Feb. 2018 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0896920517740615
Richard, I would also throw in Fever in the Heartland for some more perspective and I know you have referenced that one in earlier posts on Heather's letter. I am a native Hoosier and knew some of the history, but that book left me aghast.
"A Fever in the Heartland," by Timothy Egan, is brilliant and helped me realize that MAGA is 21st century KKK. Access to the full article referenced above is no longer available without paying $37.50. The following is the summation of the two professors: .
What, then, is Trumpism? Many liberals have hoped that 2016 was an aberration, that many middle-of-the-road voters cast their ballots for Trump without really sharing his views. Proponents of the “white working class” thesis, in particular, say that many Rust Belt factory workers, left behind by globalization, voted for Trump in the hope that he was sincere about his populist rhetoric.36 If that were true, then winning these voters back to the liberal fold would be fairly
Trump’s fidelity to Wall Street would soon disillusion them. Other liberals have hoped that a good many voters, in the sluggish aftermath of the 2008 recession, were simply fearful about the uncertain future and willing to gamble on a risk-taker. Still others have hoped that hostility to Clinton and the Democratic leadership was the key to Trump’s appeal, and that this hostility can be overcome by well-crafted and appealing initiatives.
These scenarios strike us as unrealistic. Most Trump voters cast their ballots for him with their eyes open, not despite his prejudices but because of them. Their partisanship, whether positive (toward Trump and the Republicans) or negative (against Clinton and the Democrats), is intense.
This partisanship is anchored in anger and resentment among mild as well as strong Trump voters.37 Anger, not fear, was the emotional key to the Tea Party (Banks, 2014),38 and that seems to be true for Trumpism as well. If so, the challenge for progressives is greater than many people have
imagined. Hostility to minorities and women cannot be wished away; nor can the wish for domineering leaders. The anger games are far from over.
Excellent post, Richard, thank you and i agree. Anger and resentment toward women and minorities. I have been thinking about this for a few years now. I understand male resentment, but I am sometime baffled by women who go along with this. I guess I shouldn't surprised because I heard my female relatives make some racist remarks that left my mouth hanging open. We were treated to two women making racist remarks, guests or our neighbors, a couple summers ago. I wanted to tell them that you can't alway tell a book by its cover as one person there has Native American ancestry. Reading Fever made me wonder if I had ever met any of the Hoosier KKK types. Now I read today that the children's book about freckles is banned in American military schools. Sigh.
I think that mothers make all the difference. When I was in the 2nd grade I had to go to school barefoot because my only pair of shoes had holes in them and were at the repair shop. Sending me off for the 2 mile walk to school my mom said to me, “Richard, remember that you must be concerned for those less fortunate than you.” WOW. Nine of us, parents and seven children, living in a one-room house with a screened-in porch, no plumbing, no utilities, and she’s instructing me to care for those less fortunate. Perhaps she knew something that I didn’t. Ultimately I earned a Ph.D and a J.D. , both from Harvard. Along the way my mother told me that I was the best Christian that she knew, though she knew that I was an atheist. What I was was my mom’s creation.
I believe this is the Tech Bros and Heritage Foundation’s end game: re-create the fall of the Soviet Union here. Drive the nation’s economy into the ground, dismantle its institutional infrastructure, then divide up the most valuable national assets amongst the billionaires at fire-sale prices. Trump desperately wants to be Putin (although he’s not intelligent enough) and Musk et al want to become oligarchs in the mold of the Russian elite, an elite which has gutted that nation’s economic prosperity and international standing. It’s probably only a matter of time before Musk/Trump et al look to start a war, once the dissatisfaction with their kleptocracy starts to kick in at a higher intensity…
I'm still in the trembling phase, Ted. With a healthy dose of fear added.
I'm sure when little Donald was 6 years old he responded to his father: "I cannot tell the truth, I cannot tell the truth..."
I feel certain that he was taught to never apologize for anything.
Mary L. Trump, who is in a position to know, has confirmed your certainty in her book.
His father taught him to lie and cheat. Children learn what they live, and his father taught him well.
And Roy Cohn seconded those lack of emotions.
MaryPat, ah yes, what a mentor Cohn was. Despicable man.
Don’t forget his father (KKK) grew a real racist too!
Fred Trump would never have asked the question. The Trump household operated under a profound absence of even the slightest semblance of morality.
And his father was pleased.
I worry for the US too. I think people need to begin looking at how to protect themselves from what is going on as well as resisting. Here is a piece I wrote on this.
https://open.substack.com/pub/lindaweide/p/a-plan-c-for-catastrophe?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
You're in good company, Linda. - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/18/donald-trump-global-collapse-wildfires-pandemic-financial-crisis
Russell I rely on the Guardian too. Great article.
Good read. I just subscribed to the Guardian. Thanks!
I used to take much hope from the Guardian. Like everything else in our through-the-looking-glass world, it too is changing. Worth a read: https://broligarchy.substack.com/p/it-is-a-coup?r=14opg7&utm_medium=ios&triedRedirect=true&fbclid=IwY2xjawIhc-9leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHcPr2JAcD1L38VCI_Ypfkj0AneRVPGuznfkXI7jNGdkmuheNUSN1NcTsag_aem_JiGSiR-Jad1GDv0-uZGg2g
It's not like one is spoiled for choice, John.
Weep, then act.
👊🇺🇸👊🇺🇸👊
If effective action was only clear.
Where did I just read last night…there are no heroes, only heroic acts…
I mentioned to MAGA relatives this issue a few months back, just before the election - the idea that virtue and democracy have a symbiotic relationship - and to vote for a felon sans virtue and no foundational understanding of democracy meant the voter lacked virtue, created a tidal wave of anger by them. I stand by that statement - it appears virtue does not matter in America - ethnic cleansing - no problem, more lies than hours in a day, no problem, cheating and stealing, no problem, insurrection - just a typical day, sex offenses, boy will be boys. Until Americans decide virtues matter we will see nothing but chaos and 350 million different defenses in what it means to be saving our country.
The Democrats Manifesto:
The Gas-lighters are the enemy of the Republic, the Truth and the People. Who are the gas lighters? Among others: Fox news. The whole radical right media, the radicals on Scotus, and now virtually the entire GOP.
When in power again 2026 and 2028 The Democrats must promise to: hell, call it "Contact with America".
1.) Supreme Court: Promise to Impeach Supreme Court Justices who gaslight as "originalists". Citizens United was the beginning of the corruption of dark big money into politics, and now we have Elon Musk spending 1/4 billion dollars under false pretenses to help Trump get elected. Now we have a thoroughly ignorant and incompetent Administration nominating the likes of Hegseth, Kennedy, Gabbard and others. " The term "Originalists" is gas lighting. Corporations are not mentioned in the Constitution. A Corporation can not be drafted and sent to war. A corporation cannot vote. A corporation is a legal entity created by imagination.. It icertalinly is not a citizen. "Three-fourths of survey respondents want to kill Citizens United by Amendment including 66 percent of Republicans back a constitutional amendment ." Promise to overturn Citizens United decision . Justices have been bribed in the common understanding of the term. Some have broken the law by refusing to recuse themselves from cases as is required by 28 U.S. Code § 455. Promise to overturn "Presidential Immunity" decision, another gas lighting decision by the radical majority in SCOTUS. And call it gas lighting! If failing to convict Justices on impeachment , promise to expand the court and put in real ethics rules with punishments for past transgressions.
2.) Impeach Trump again.
3.) Impeach Judges like Eileen Cannon for all too obvious reasons. Put teeth in judicial review.
4.) Demand now that Federal Employees , especially the Military not follow executive orders that have been ruled illegal by the courts, under penalty of law.
5.) Take a tough, rational stand on immigration. We need serious criminal penalties and fines for those who employ illegals. Bring back seasonal visas or short term visas for laborer's. This was formerly the case and was better for us and better for the stability of Central and South American Countries. Attract the best and brightest young students and scientists to immigrate. We need immigrants to grow. Revisit birthright Citizenship which is being abused.
6.) Promote a large tax cut for most people, paid for by a hefty tax on the Oligarchs, taxing extreme wealth via tax on loans against stock as ordinary income and tighten and raise inheritance taxes at the extreme. The poor white MAGA voters have nothing in common with Oligarchs economically. Press the divides and conquer by exploiting divisions within the GOP.
7.) Promise a Federal Law guaranteeing Women's reproductive rights
8.) Run ads promising the Contract with America on popular GOP viewed TV shows. Ads showing Jan 6th violence with later Trump calling them Patriots. Keep holding press conferences on the crimes these people Trump pardoned committed before and after he pardoned them. Ads showing Trump lying about Trump University. and tie it to all his other lies.
9.) Tell MAGA always and often that Trump is gas lighting them about the 2020 election and knows it. To combat the Dunning Kruger effect ,prevalent in MAGA, , repetition and evidence has shown to be the anecdote. "Are you a sucker like the Trump University suckers". He lied to you about project 2025, which is all about raising your cost of living via government spending cuts and tariffs which increase corporate profits by making it possible for them to charge you more. , and giving tax breaks to himself and his billionaire friends.
9.) Get rational about Gender identity. People care about this despite how miniscule the numbers are. There are men and women and "tweeners". If you are a tweener it does not make you special, and so deserving of some special treatment or a change in nomenclature. Just a minority that should be protected,
10.) Raise and spend Democratic money advertising these promises. Spend on TV ads where people can see their money being spent. Virtuous circle of more ads begets more money.
11.) Impeach Trump everytime he breaches his oath to uphold the Constitution. Easily once a month.
Even your planes are landing upside down.
Landed upside down after going to Canada. I hope this isn’t a metaphor for Americans fleeing to Canada but bringing the topsy-turvy infection of MAGA-Muskism with them. We have a Trump mini-me , Pierre Poilievre, leading the opposition Conservative Party of Canada. He’s got his problems these days because there is a burgeoning patriotic anti-Trump nationalism growing in Canada from coast to (Arctic) coast to coast because of Trump’s interest in annexing Canada into the US, a concept that is very unpopular. So Poilievre is trying to ride a patriotic wave with the slightly-revised Trump battle cry of “Canada First” which means he’s trying to skate in two different directions at once. Nice to see him squirm.
With Trump calling Canadians drug-pushing freeloaders he has got a problem trying boost Trumpism there.
NLTownie, as a (once) proud American (a name I was recently chided for using -- what else to call ourselves -- "Uniteds"? "Statesians"?) I took glee in some Canadians booing the playing of our national anthem last weekend at the Four Nations hockey tournament game between our 2 teams. I'll be watching the US-Canada final on Thursday out of Boston, it will need interesting to hear if there are any boos when Oh Canada is played. (Perhaps there'll be a few, but I hope not.)
Wouldn't it be lovely if people stood and CHEERED for our neighbor, Canada?!?!
I bet some will, Miselle. I wish I had gotten tickets — if I were there, I'd be cheering their anthem (but not their team.)
My personal hero, architect Frank Lloyd Wright, was annoyed 'way back in the 1930s by the apparent hubris of the U.S. populace calling themselves "Americans," as if Canadians, Mexicans and all the people of Central and South America didn't exist.
In response, he coined "Usonia" as a new name for the United States. He preferred to describe his architecture as "Usonian."
Dale, I've heard of Wright’s Usonian, but not as it pertains to the US. Mexico's citizens are Mexicans, citizens of Canada are Canadians — I have no problem accepting the name American, which we've been for over 250 years.
And Wright was an iconoclastic architect whose work I love, but he was not a good person, or a good husband as far as I recall from Ken Burns’ (one of my personal heroes) film about him. But iconoclasts tend to have their foibles.
Doug, I have a whole library of books about Wright, and learned about the origins of Usonia from reading them.
It's true that Wright was not a saint, but I think it might be a bit harsh to say that he was "not a good person." Indeed, he was unfaithful in his marriage, but we only have public knowledge and gossip to inform us about what life was like with Kitty Wright. Her refusal to grant him a divorce for years after they separated suggests that she might have had some "issues."
Wright ran away with Mamah Cheney who was married to one of his clients, so as we judge Wright, let's also judge Mamah. As far as we know, he was faithful to Mamah until she was killed in a fire set by one of the house staff. Who knows how long they'd have been together absent that tragedy? Wright was then briefly married to Miriam Noel, whose cocaine addiction wrecked that marriage. Wright then lived with Olgivanna Hinzenburg before marrying her. He was faithful to her until his death.
It's likely that Frank and Kitty were a bad fit and puritanical marriage law of the era made it difficult to correct that mistake. Wright was reputed to be a flirt, but I think that was part of his celebrity schtick. His subsequent relationships were faithful but cut short by circumstances beyond his control.
Yes, considerable come back for the Libs in the polls, esp with Carney taking the helm, but it's still quite a climb. Poilievre had been taking up the anti- "woke" banner of late. The guy is a slick medicine man. Carney is the exact opposite, business like to his toes, measured and thoughtful. Going to be an interesting election in Canada before long, mixed in with the TT madness. Libs will benefit the most from Trump's Ugly American stance i think. I guess i shouldn't try to urge T 2.0 to "keep it up" they will anyway!
Not only that but inside out.. Is half the country so stupid? Shutting down agencies and health care and everything else to allow more money into the pockets of millionaires and billionaires.
Please everyone--take heart from what our tribeman, TC, has posted on his Substack~
news media will not cover this, so please post it, forward it, share it with all!
https://tcinla757.substack.com/p/no-kings-day-protest-in-los-angeles/comments
you are not weeping alone, Linda
Petulant Grievance! punishing your parents for making you brush your teeth! No guardrails for these toxic males! They believe they have been anointed to 'Rape and Pillage' to their hearts content...Just try and stop us! And rape is a horrible and harsh word...but ever more fitting! When will the courts or congress act! The key right now is media attention, protests, people...would love if someone hire Pete B. to be the quick response guy!
Me, too, Linda. Me, too.
The below is bitter to read, but it totally exemplifies what you said:
https://www.salon.com/2025/02/18/his-mission-is-to-eradicate-woke-jesus-how-money-lies-and-religion-are-abused-to-gut-democracy/
High Character. That's what this is about. A lost art.
Hey all! I occasionally print-out one of HCR’s LFAAs if it strikes a deep chord in me; this is one I’ll print. I am making printed copies to keep in an old notebook-paper binder. I am handwriting my own current thoughts related to Heather’s focus of the day in the margins. With the old binder in hand, my grandchildren may someday share HCR’s erudite thoughts, and some of my less erudite, related, musings, with their kids…
Two of my grandkids live 5 hours from D.C. They went with their Marine dad this President’s Day 2025 weekend to sightsee in Washington. My grandson and granddaughter, age 10 and 7 respectively, think that their dad hung the moon. They often go on adventures with him where deep learning takes place. First stop on Saturday was to see the two new galleries opened in 2024 at the Marine Museum in Quantico, Virginia. Then they sloshed in the very cold rain, which will surely enhance the memories, to several museums and monuments in Foggy Bottom in Washington.
Like all grade-school kids today, they are aware of the chaos surrounding the current president and the different opinions of him that they hear from the adults in their lives.
I can imagine the lively conversation these two grands and their dad shared while walking over 8 miles that day about our constantly evolving, unique “American History”…who knows what that will be called in 100 years?!?…
I am proud of my son-in-law for spending this President’s Day 2025 with his two children forming life long memories and teaching them about American History as it is being made. Heather is likewise teaching us about our ever evolving understanding of leadership during this new era playing out in our lifetime. George Washington’s dad gratefully knew even as he was raising a young man over two hundred fifty years ago:
Character Matters!!!
Thx, HCR!
I do not think honesty has been reframed from a virtue to weakness. If, so only temporary. Honesty is a facet of Truth. God is Truth. I believe in God and he will prevail.
What honesty?
That Biden was fit and ready for duty? That inflation was transitory?
That the border was secure? That trans women are women?
You are delusional
No Hiro is not. You're just full of shit!
What gripping analysis.
Did you think that up yourself?
How about you roll your window down, put down the bong and tell everyone where I’m wrong.
That would of course require some brain power. However as I’ve found, most Democrats couldn’t think their way out of a paperbag.
While reading this I wondered who in our politics today is like this? One name came to mind even before I finished the question -- Pete Buttigieg.
Rebel, I saw a suggestion that the DNC do something bold…create an official Office of a National Press Secretary and have Pete Buttigieg provide truthful updates from the Washington DC opposition. The press pool would include the AP and other fact based media outlets
Another bold idea… putting together a shadow cabinet similar to what is done in the UK:
“The Shadow Cabinet is the team of senior spokespeople chosen by the Leader of the Opposition to mirror the Cabinet in Government. Each member of the shadow cabinet is appointed to lead on a specific policy area for their party and to question and challenge their counterpart in the Cabinet. In this way the Official Opposition seeks to present itself as an alternative government-in-waiting.” Parliament-UK
We need strong leadership and organization providing direction for our resistance. Phone calls, letters, marches , even the Courts can’t do it alone.
This was suggested by Prof. Timothy Snyder about a week and a half ago on his substack page.
I think AOC and Jasmine Crockett need to be voices in the Shadow government, as well as Raskin, Warren, Sanders, Frost and others.
Can you imagine how essential and dynamic AOC would be if she had been chosen as the next ranking Democratic of the House Oversight Committee in this moment? Instead she was shot down by Nancy Pelosi and the Old Guard, scolded and told to wait her turn. What a short-sighted waste of talent. And it sends such a negative message about the Democratic Party just at this critical moment that cries out for dynamic leadership.
Agree, NL. The Ds MUST step forward into the future with enthusiasm.
AOC needed to mature. She was like Trump at first, an arrogant amatuer who thought she was a godsend. Unlike Trump she seems to learn from her mistakes. Give her some time, she still needs a bit more experience. Her time will come.
No more time as we don’t have any time left!! She is dynamic and so is Jasmine Crockett. We need to get our heads out of OUR asses and promote progressive and decent warriors like these two. Plus Maxwell Frost, Pete Buttigieg, Ossoff, Raskin, Moskowitz, Gwen Moore, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Joe Neguse, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, Lauren Underwood, Ritchie Torres, Lateefah Simon, etc etc….
Gary, The PM of Iceland is 36 and a woman. Can we be mature enough to accept that kind of leadership? I watch her interviews on the more youthful of the Democratic sort of podcasters. I have been hearing from the millennials that I know that they cannot stand establishment dems. I see her as understanding the times, and what needs to be done, and not hemming and hawing as she lets everyone know she does not know what to do, because she does know what to do.
https://youtu.be/Bi64F1T4K5o?si=c7Gq6BLGzeta8JCH
i don't think she was ever for one second in any way reminiscent of Donald Trump.
Yes I can. However, Trump is going after her by saying she might be violating immigration laws by helping teach people their rights. I am sure her taxes will be found lacking, or some other horrendous stuff.
Could be, not informed enough on the behind the scenes.
Don’t forget Senator Chris Murphy. Gov Gretchen Whitmer. Who else are we forgetting??
Harold Meyerson and David Dayen or anyone at the American Prospect for labor. Lina Khan And Jon Kanter or Rohit Chopra for Anti-trust. Anyone at the Economic Policy Institute for economic and industrial policy........
Hey, I will be in full retirement come April and would be available to serve in this shadow ( I have spent most of my life in the shadows) government- perhaps making coffee, doing some dusting or caring for their companion animals. What wonderful company to be a part of.
Go for it, Gjay! bring along your Pledge and a nice wipe
🧹🧽🧺
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/the-logic-of-destruction?r=3ff5b&utm_medium=ios
Linda Weide,
Agree with you list.
True leaders are rising to the surface. They need to know we support them.
We need to work to find ways to help them. I need to contact my local Democratic office and ask for specific ways I can "DO SOMETHING!!!"
Excellent. Adding Amy Klobuchar and Kamala Harris, who should be involved if it’s not too unsafe.
The complaints that I am hearing is that they are more interested in fundraising and being mainstream than taking on this situation and this is not a play by the book fight anymore and only people who understand this can lead us out of the situation.
Agreed that fundraising isn’t “where it’s at.” The ex-middle class (I know, I am one—confession sold Exxon after EXXON Valdese, so rest of portfolio went too) after years of trickle down then Covid and inflation, has to go door knocking, marching, and writing postcards to voters. It’s the billionaires who have most of the money and are hanging on to it.
They can be made to understand because both have middle class roots.
Yes, worse than that, I would call what leadership is doing pandering to the very wealth class we are fighting. Jeffries met with 150 Silicon Valley political donors including Andreessen and Zuck to "mend fences" and he assured them Dems would be "reaching toward the center" for the 2026 elections. So...
Jared Moskowitz!!!
I was trying to remember his name. He is great!
Great! I add some members of Biden’s Cabinet-they know the job!
Let's not forget Melanie Stanisbury.
Correction Melanie Stansbury
If you hadn’t named Timothy Snyder, I would. It’s amazing that it was only 10 days ago. Such chaos and destruction in so short a time. The Congress needs to stand up and govern as outlined for them. Instead, the Republicans have become sheep following the wolf and allowing themselves to be eaten alive by an unelected oligarch.
They’ve allowed it because they approve of it.
I think it might be even more diabolical than that to be honest. I think the coup orchestrators have offered them a place on the monarchy's council and/or threatened a stick of what is going to be happening to us, the everyday folks they detest, will be thrust upon them when/if this succeeds.
I don’t think all of them “approve” it; they’re afraid of being primaried.
Too bad. They didn’t win a lifetime appointment, they are supposed to be representing us. Grow a spine!
Thanks for the source, Marlene! It’s time! We need this type of organization from our tried and trusted leaders.
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/an-alternative-cabinet?r=9vmv5&utm_medium=ios
Thank you for this link. I just subscribed and read Mr. Snyder's article. Can the democrats, et al get their act together and their spine stiffened, become the alpha primates in order to proceed with such an important oppositional entity? This is the only way I will get a good night's sleep going forward!
Why is the DNC not doing this sensible and potentially very effective move????
Nancy, the Dem in the house of rep now has a fast or rapid response force. Not sure who’s in it. Perhaps WE need to choose/ propose a shadow cabinet?
I agree heartily about Pete Buttigieg.
Except we like having Pete back home with us in Northern Michigan! I do think he should be a regular on Fox TV,, though. And from here, he could also put together "The People's Cabinet", Tim Snyder's new name for the British "Shadow Cabinet."
I think it’s because we have taken so much guff that we must get our act together. The new party chair looks promising, but as we have little middle class money to depend on post trickle down, it’s going to be everyone’s boots on the ground and for this 90-yr old, postcards to voters. (Dependent on Medicare, I will shill for stamps!)
Maybe it's time we refocused our phone calls for a bit to include pressuring our Dems to do this.
Maybe because it might look too much like the British Parliamentary Tradition and, you know, King George III and all that.
Timothy Snyder now calls it "The People's Cabinet" modeled after Britain's "Shadow Cabinet" but without the implied darkness.
The People’s Cabinet! 😊
Here’s a free link to another Substack with the same thoughts.
https://open.substack.com/pub/wileynickel/p/what-should-democrats-do-now-form?r=9vmv5&utm_medium=ios
Hi Marlene, where can I find this suggestion by Professor Synder? It would be interesting reading for me.
Thanks in advance Gary
g.p.audet@comcast.net
Marlene, you can also see what I wrote to Larry McGinnity below.
thanks so much TTUL.
Gary, right here: https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/the-logic-of-destruction?r=3ff5b&utm_medium=ios
These are both excellent ideas that need to become reality soon. I will be contacting my dem rep and the DNC to encourage this to happen.
Check out the recent podcast from Joe Trippi and Resolute Square for a discussion of holding the Democrat primary soon (nothing in the rules says primaries have to happen in election years). We could coalesce behind our primary winner to take on t***p directly. The “shadow cabinet” would be our cabinet in waiting.
https://resolutesquare.com/podcasts/6KL0VBEzUoJbYdwXxPHjTD/heres-something-to-fight-for
"The People's Cabinet."
People's Primary. And even if they don't do it, maybe we could. Look at the discussion we've already been having. Might not be all that hard to set up online, sort of like those match up things you see for basketball tournaments or favorite song except with much more discussion and invitations to those we're talking about to weigh in and make their case.
So good to see Joe Trippi’s name. One of my heroes from ‘way back.
I just saw this, Kari, after posting a similar suggestion. This is a helluva an idea. I hope something this sort comes to be.
I agree John…we need to get some energy behind this. Share with your Congressional folks.
I keep thinking, “What does President Obama and others think about our country? Do they have any suggestions or plans for taking ahold of this wild situation?”
A “Heroes for Democracy” list!! Of course Heather belongs at the top of the list!!! How could I have neglected to mention that????
Totally agree. Counter play and for heaven's sake, stick to factual information, allowing for some well placed colouring.
Thank you . I did not know about this shadow cabinet
Gjay, I also do not know about this shadow cabinet. I would very much like to read about it. I am ex Military, special operations and would be very interested in learning about it.
Thanks in advance
g.p.audet@comcast.net
Love this. It's quite evident that Donald was running a shadow government during the Biden administration. In the interest of fighting fire with fire, Democrats should do the same, only less shadowy and more in-your-face. Discarding the shroud of secrecy would embolden the truth-tellers and expose any attempts to silence them.
Don't forget Katie Porter. I hated it that she was pitted against Adam Schiff running for the Senate.
I like this idea. However, would this “shadow” cabinet have any real power?
Maybe but at least this would be a "soft power" move toward winning the PR battle that we are sorely losing right now.
I wonder if we might be better served if we the people choose this People's Cabinet.
Wholeheartedly agree. One additional thing I have been asking of folks with presidential potential is to not just respond to the regimes horrific statements on things like the DC crash, but to start getting out statements as if they were the president now so all can see what direct match up of what we have now and what we could, and deserve, to have. And honestly, such a thing could help we non-regime supporters begin to flesh out who would be the best to go up against them in the presidential race that frankly needed to have begun the day after the election.
Agreed. After the DC crash, I responded to a number of our representatives with presidential potential including PB to not just respond to the horrific messages from the regime but to also begin to put out statements as if they were our president responding to things happening so people can see a direct match up of what we have now and what we could have.
Several spring to mind. AOC, Katie Porter, Jasmine Crocket, Senator Whitehouse, Elizabeth Warren…
Jamie Raskin, Adam Schiff, Elissa Slotkin , Jared Moscowicz, even Liz Cheney and Adam Kitzinger.
Indeed, he qualifies, but there are others. Here is a growing list of heroes and organizations striving toward honesty, and speaking truth to power. Consider:
[Updated Mon. 2-17-25] Nixon's "Saturday Night Massacre"--where two lawyers resigned in protest--became famous as part of Tricky Dick's own forced departure. Trump now has his own enhanced, explosive "Thursday Afternoon Massacre" where not two but seven DOJ lawyers resigned in their protest against dropping the quid pro quo criminal action against NY Mayor Adams. This week's heroes ("Lighthouses in the Storm" h/t Armand Beede@Blue Note) are: Danielle Sasson, John Keller, Kevin Driscoll, Rob Heberie, Jenn Clarke, Marco Palmieri, and Hagen Scotten. They resigned after Acting deputy Attorney Emil Bove issued a directive to drop the Adam's case.. These heroes in pursuit of justice and the rule of law are now included in the lionhearted below fighting against authoritarianism, Trump cruelty, and for pre Trump/Musk. democracy.
Numerous undaunted truth-to-power fighters have been added per viewer's inputs and recent Trump and DOJ actions. Besides upstanding lawyers and law-abiding honorable (present and former) judges, here's a growing list of Profiles in Courage men, women, and advocacy groups who refuse to be cowed or kneel to the force of the Trump/Musk intimidation.]
These heroes in pursuit of justice and the rule of law are now included in the lionhearted below fighting against authoritarianism, Trump cruelty, and for democracy--pre Trump/Musk.
I'll begin, again, with Missouri's own undaunted Jess[ica] (à la John Lewis's "get in good trouble") Piper. Then, in no particular order, Heather Cox Richardson, Joyce Vance, Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde, Karen Pence, Pope Francis (re cruel migration treatment) , Ruth Ben-Ghait, Dan Rather, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Chris Hayes, Robert Reich, Jim Acosta, Jen Rubin and the Contrarians, Steve Brodner, Brian Tyler Cohen, Jonathan Bernstein, Simon Rosenberg, Rachel Coyle, Jessica Craven, Sharon McMahon, Scott Dworkin, Ron Filipkowski!, Anne Applebaum, David Frum, Susan H. Glassser, Jane Mayer, Lucian Truscott IV, AOC, Jasmine Crockett, Chris Murphy, Elizabeth Warren, Tim Snyder, Harry Litman, Jay Kuo, Robert B. Hubbell, Ben Meisellas, Steve Schmidt, David Pepper, Judd Legum, Kristin Du Mez, Jeff Tiedrich, Josh Marshall, Paul Krugman, Andy Borowitz, Rich Wilson, Jeff Danziger, Ann Telnaes,͏ ͏Juan Cole, Will Bunch, Cher, Kevin Costner, Jon Hamm, Bennie Thompson, Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Tristan Snell, Rebecca Gordon/TomDispatch, The Dean's List/Dean Obeidallah; American Bar Association, Blue Missouri, Indivisible, Sunrise Movement, Third Act, Democracy Forward, Public Citizen, Democracy Index, Democracy Docket, Democracy Now, ACLU, America, America/Steven Beschloss, David Pepper/ Saving DemocracyThe Action Network, The Freedom Academy et al. (Suggestions welcome.)
And, as Joyce Vance says, "We're in this together"--or via Jess Piper, from rural Missouri: "Solidarity." FIGHT BACK! WE ARE NOT ALONE WE GROW BY THE MINUTE--Every time Trump/Musk tries to destroy our Democracy.
( Google any name above for more info if you are unfamiliar.)
Your growing list of heroes and organizations is the most amazing thing I have read since the "election". Thank you fir your words of wisdom for the gladden my heart! 🇺🇸🇺🇦🌻
Katherine Clark, minority whip US House of Representatives
NO “likes” just “LOVES” and YES! to all of these critical names, bless them all with our support and appreciation!
Great list of leaders we need to help organize this resistance. I’d add some members of Biden’s cabinet as well. They know the job!
Thank you Larry McGinnity for highlighting these truth- tellers
Larry, here is my view of OUR current crisis. Please advise me if I am accurate. Be aware, I often assess a situation from a Military standpoint
In times of crisis what did countries do to protect themselves? They put Military Leaders, Good Generals in charge, why? Because they are men of action not words! Why did the European leaders hold an immediate conference in Paris?, because they have seen this play before, during WWII. Wake up America, we are at war! In 1976, I was in a Special Operations Group, formed covertly, to protect U.S. citizens from water poisoning at our reservoirs in the U.S. No one knew of our missions, nor did the press have any right to. During 911, many Special Operators, were also called upon to guard our borders as well as vial interests to the U.S. Why, to ensure our Liberty.Military leaders at that time, felt we were under attack as a Nation. We are now there AGAIN! Time to revisit the past and regroup. Call General Milley back in a (Closed Meeting),put him in charge of a select group of Operators and arrest trump, vance and especially musk.Label them as Domestic Terrorists, deny them their common rights and throw them in jail under the Domestic Terror Act. STOP DOGE ASAP! At the same time, Shut down all false news agencies and Press, such as Fox and X. What the American people don't know sometimes, is a good thing; especially when they need Special Ops groups to function swiftly and effectively. The American People are about results, not so much as the action required to achieve said results.
I am not advocating war. I am merely stating that force is necessary to remove a dictator, ask any combat soldier!
I am an old man now at near 70 however, I would still suit up and serve to protect this country from ANY THREAT FOREIGN OR DOMESTIC! My oath to the U.S.A. DOES NOT EXPIRE!
We need Men of Character and Honor, not those who cater to the highest bidder!
the country needs people like Mayor Pete to step up very publicly now. An idea floated recently that has real merit is for the D to deliver and support bi-weekly press conferences about the state of the nation. PB might be an excellent person to deliver them.
…and he makes no bones about his love of the democratic Republic. How about them apples?
...with a cherry on top!
I received a message from someone with a different perspective on PB and it plus all this discussion have prompted me to consider that we would do well to primary respective candidates for our People's Cabinet, People's etc. in either an actual DNC-sponsored early primary as someone here recommended or our own People's Primary. You know, do it in the democratic way in stark and evident contrast to the current autocratic way. I also encouraged the person who sent the message to include their thoughts here.
When we stop to reflect, we can clearly see a great list of “Heroes for Democracy”.
Sign seen at a recent anti-Trump demonstration in New Milford, Connecticut;
“Make lying wrong again.”
Desperately needed. Need a tee with that. I have one that says “make racism wrong again.”
there is one going around saying "Make Orwell fiction again"
Orwell was a democratic socialist (he remained one all his life) who was describing Communism put into practice, but his criticisms of Communism also apply to fascism and theocracy as well.
He called it totalitarianism.
A lot of books of fiction are actually a mirror of reality.
Amen. A lifelong novel reader, didn’t realize until recently how important it is to read fiction. That’s how I learned who Putin is from a fictional account of MGB training school.
MOFA. It has a good ring to it.
Great tee shirt or ball cap slogan.
President Washington found a strong precedent in Cincinnatus, from two millennia before, of stepping back in favor of a peaceful transfer of power. One thing many of us forgot is that a President, first and foremost, sets the moral tone of the country. Trump is demoralizing us all.
I thought of that same name, Cincinnatus, and recalled my high school Latin teacher's pronunciation of his name (the 'c' was pronounced as a hard c, or 'k': kin kin at us, according to her. Parochial schools taught Latin back in the '50s). Somewhere I have the textbook I used; it probably has the story of the general, in Latin, of course.
My two oldest children were fortunate enough to take Latin in parochial school in the early years of this century, but alas Latin teachers are hard to find (and keep) so my youngest didn’t get that opportunity.
I had two years of Latin in a poor public school in the 1950’s. The first year was particularly good. Learning cases and tenses in a formal way sets up later language learning. Never forget: “if you don’t know the Latin ya gotta do the hackin’ and the hewin.’” (Monty Python)
That is how my latin teacher would pronounce it. With a hard C!
Either pronunciation, I am from Pittsburgh and, therefore, detest the Bengals and the Reds. 😉 Seriously, thank you for an interesting observation. 💡Too bad that Latin went out with civics classes. 💔
My Italian husband had five years of both Latin and ancient Greek in high school (high school is longer there). When he speaks Latin, you can hear the living language, and it’s beautiful.
While he knows Cicero was probably pronounced Kikero, he says Chichero following Italian pronunciation rules.
I keep mispronouncing our peerless leader's (i.e., Trump's) name. 🤭 I do not mean to call him an a**hole; 🤫 a problem with the phonetics, I suppose. 😉
Well, 'T's' can be hard,but the last 4 letters shouldn't be much of a problem!
Hahahaha good one! I call him that too, but with a descriptor in front of it that starts with an F.
followed by with a fat farting ass
Thank you, K. R., Kimberly, Virginia, Gregg, and James for your memories of schooling with the R.C.s and your studying Latin. I hit the wall with Caesar and Catullus. 🤝
My mother taught for several years in a parochial school and, during her tenure, the percentage of African-American children, who were not R.C.s, increased substantially. ✌🏽
Black families who were beginning to accumulate some wealth could not afford the fashionable private schools but could afford the parochial schools. 🙏
Catholic schooling provided an alternative to public education. My impression is that the parents of these students valued the discipline and studying required. ✍️
Three cheers for Catholicism getting some things right! 🥳
One thing that really put me off the study of American history in the early 1960s was the tendency of the schools to portray America's past as a series of morality tales and its presidents as paragons of virtue. I found this hagiographic approach to US history so distasteful that when I did my undergraduate degree in history, I specialised in mediaeval European history, a subject far removed from my high school history lessons. One thing I enjoy so much about Heather's letters is her clear-eyed, realistic portrayal of America's past and its people, an approach I think the schools would do well to emulate.
The Civil Rights Movement was something that we learned about in school, but Ihad learned about it as a kid when I read Coretta Scott King’s memoir. Since then, I’ve read many books to familiarize myself with the less savory aspects of our history. It’s not a coincidence that people like DeSantis and Chris Rufo aren’t interested in an honest accounting of our history.
I appreciate the way this Substack ties the present to the past se we can learn from it and fight the ignorance that seems to permeate our society today.
I too received a pretty DIsneyfied version of American History and a lot of lore that just wasn't true. That said, I appreciated the notion that virtue was a requirement for good leadership. The closer we come to perceiving and respecting realty the better, and the reality of this country and our society is quite a grab bag of worthy of both honor and regret. I think that, in fits and starts, the overall direction of American society has been toward expanding justice, the very thing narcissistic plutocrats are conspiring to reverse.
Talia, I agree. Relate the fullness, point more closely to the truth. A person, a group, we humans can do great things but we can also cause and neglect suffering. Question it all. With a zoom and a big picture lens. What is great? What isn't great? Who and what are we glorifying? And why? Are we seeing the full picture or being myopic about just certain qualities or actions? What are the patterns of behavior? What ones do I value? Which ones do I think are good for a healthy society to value? Why? Etc. Etc.
Teaching each other to question narratives, others' and our own, is a sign of health and evolution rooted in a quest for truth.
I especially like your last paragraph. It actually describes what it is to be “woke” now such a distasteful word for many.
Happy V N M, I suppose it could. I define woke as being awake to and aspiring to understand the suffering of others and ourselves. The suffering caused by human egos, including our own. Working to diminish the ego, conditioned thought and emotional patterns, in ourselves allows room for compassion and wise action to grow within us, which will take us far toward the "promised land", Dr. King spoke of.
I do not disagree with your explanation at all; however, for me it captures a sense of awareness that brings the ego into check thereby allowing the development of empathy and an appreciation for the suffering of others. Sometimes with that awareness comes change at an individual level that ripples out to others.
Happy V N M, yes, I agree with you. Turning away from and doing away with d e i wouldn"t be possible if people had more awareness. It is really quite sad for everyone. Stunting and chaining all of our hearts has never freed anyone, though it may look to be so for some, but it is only a surface illusion.
Read Jill Lepore's These Truths, who reveals the importance of truth and evidence. It's over 900 pages, so you know she included every sordid detail from the country's earliest moments.
Stephanie, thank you. I wasn't aware of this. The length sounds quite intimidating but very worthwhile.
Lepore has a new book coming out in Sept........"WE the People"
Jill Lepore is an amazing writer of history!! Likewise (or accordingly) she is a captivating writer!
I graduated from high school in 1965. A lot had been going on in our country around that time. My father was the vice-principle of my school and it was his voice that came over the loudspeaker in the middle of my band rehearsal to announce that JFK had been shot. I decided to keep my high school history book, thinking it would be interesting to look at it later. I actually had a very old history book from my father’s early years, and the way Native Americans were portrayed was difficult to read. Unfortunately, all these years later, I have no idea where that book ended up. Not long after I left the nest, the Civil Rights movement, women’s rights movement, and protests against the war in Viet Nam were in full swing. That’s what I was paying attention to. I wonder what those history books said about all that! A paragraph here, a paragraph there.
If we could only learn from history, ugly history would be cast aside as the nation moved forward. Sigh!
Talia Morris,
If we look in the mirror...I can only take it once a day to make sure I did not leave toothpaste on my nose and that my hair is neatly contained....We See America."
Whether we are American Indian, India Indian, English, French, German, Russian, Austrian, Japanese, Chinese, Irish, Mexican, from Central America, or South America, African, the Middle East, Japan, China, Belgium, Scandinavia, Greenland.....whether our family came from Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Cameroon, Burundi, Burkina Faso, Australia, Thailand, Taiwan, New Zealand, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkey, etc....we have chosen to be one people...AMERICANS! We celebrate different cultures, we enjoy one another's music...thank you Jamacia/ from gospel to reggae...sooo....wonderful!!! The words engraved on the "Statue of Liberty" speak to each and all..."welcome!" We have come to this place, rich or poor...seeking HOPE and most often we have received it but we need to continue fighting for one another that that hope will never be subdued by the lesser, small minded, "control frisks"!!! ....those who imagine we will bow the knee to them...those who would steal the very soul of America!!!
Whether we judge our differences...and we DO!!!, we have chosen to come together when it was/is important...ie...giving our lives for freedom...not only for ourselves and the future of our children but for our neighbors throughout the world.
I am so thankful that we can live out our chosen faith or no faith...freely. I am so thankful that we work at accepting one another. I am so thankful that we can choose to admire and appreciate our differences and learn from one another.
We can choose to celebrate different holidays...we have almost EVERYONE'S special religious dates on our calendars.....certain leader's birthdates are celebrated.....dates in which we have defeated enemies with our life's blood are celebrated, etc...
If we choose, we can continue learning to appreciate one another's heritage AND FULLY BE
AMERICAN CITIZENS!!!!!
Our country and each person is worthy to live in freedom and to have the opportunity to work if possible, to continue to achieve, to be appreciated and accepted. We are stronger when we lift one another up.
We are weaker when we say "my way or the highway". We dishonor our Creator when we treat persons of color or persons who struggle in this world for whatever reasons, disrespectfully. We did not get to choose the color of our skin or if we live with mental or physical disabilities. We did not get to choose our parents or our country of birth.
So many Americans have used their struggles, their disabilities to inspire each of us. So many humans from other nations have given their lives to protect us.
So many persons from other countries have shared their beautiful languages and cultures and art and foods with us. Our world is made closer, our joys are increased when we take time to love and not hate ....to appreciate rather than reject.
We have GOOD WORK TO DO!!! LET'S DO IT!!!!
I was raised in Puerto Rico in the 60s. My education included the (real) history of the Carribean, among other eye opening things. It also helped that I quickly learned Spanish and could talk to the adults and seniors who had lived through it. That lit the fuse that led to my interest in real history, not the plain vanilla ones taught by nationalists.
Your critical thinking was way better than mine. I believed it.
Talia, while I was never a history scholar, I regarded the kind of history education you mentioned as appropriate for grammar school, while recognizing that adults enjoyed the tradition and right to freely complain about our leaders and the president in particular. The current occupant of the Whitehouse is the first one I've seen who expects to be worshipped, or at least considered to be a king, and thinks that loyalty is deserved only unto himself. Most of us outgrew the whole worshipping thing, even though some indoctrination usually remains.
I took a course on the US Presidency when I was in grad school that focused largely on the expansion of Presidential powers over the course of our history. This was way back in the early’80s and it already seemed alarming how much power had been assumed by one person. We now see the logical outcome of that trend. The most diabolical aspect of the way the Presidency has been carefully crafted over time is that the power of enforcement has been vested exclusively in the executive branch.
Indeed, Congress has been giving up its power and placing it in the hands of the President for quite some time. Especially relating to going to war and the ability to raise tariffs. Those are Legislative Branch powers, and I think we need a Constitutional Amendment that says branches cannot give away fundamental powers to another branch.
Never mind handing the power of the purse to Elon Musk!
I wrote an article on substack asking if the Department of Justice needs to be independent of the Executive branch. Obviously it does, but I'm probably not the one to make the case.
I thought about this but it raises the question does that create another branch of government with powers equal to Congress and the Executive? Would the Attorney General then be equal to the President? Is clear that the DofJ can't be part of the judiciary because there job is to be the prosecutors in front of the judiciary and reporting to the courts would create issues that might be complicated and unresolvable.
In the end I am torn. Having the DofJ under the President works well when we have honest Presidents but can became very complicated with dishonest ones.
I understand the conundrum. It seems to me that the set criteria for AG, appointed by the President and confirmed by Congress is appropriate. What we are seeing now is a miscarriage of justice and a travesty of justice. It betrays the very foundations of our country.
agreed, Jon ... I should have read down a little before posting my reaction. Nonetheless, your point is on the mark. The constitution assumes that honourable and ethical MEN shall be elected as president and that Congress will not be driven by partisan politics. That assumption is incorrect and outdated. Maybe the US does need a 4th branch.
This parallels what I wrote in a comment yesterday. The U.S. Constitution was written by aristocratic men with no imagination. At the time they wrote it, women and people of color were regarded as lesser beings, firearms were muzzle-loaded, bombs had a destructive radius of about 100 feet, moral rectitude was esteemed, and as you mentioned, political parties were frowned upon.
The Constitution needs to be revisited, but honestly, I don't think there are enough adequately educated, imaginative, ethical individuals available to do a decent job. Imperfect as it is, the Constitution we have is likely better than anything that could be written today.
It's certainly supposed to be. However, Ken Martin, a conservative activist lawyer who has consistently defended the January 6 storming of the Capitol has been nominated by Donald Trump to serve as the permanent top federal prosecutor in the city where it happened. He recently reposted a comment from another conservative activist who asked, “Where does it say in the Constitution that the Department of Justice is independent from POTUS?” I'm afraid he's right - there is no constitutional guarantee of its independence. Another reason perhaps to think about writing a constitution for modern times and abandoning the document written ages ago by a bunch of slave owners when only Native Americans lived west of the Mississippi and urban populations were widely dispersed.
I think you mean Ed Martin, Ken Martin is the new DNC chair.
Yes, thanks.
Nice catch Martha! While I am confident in retribution in the one, confidence in leadership by the other remains to be seen.
Indeed, Matt. In my HS Civics class (yes, they taught that in 1966) we had an inspiring discussion about whether the Attorney General would better be a separately elected position with that office and the DOJ having an independent portfolio. It seemed to be a good idea even at that time. It would be hard to achieve as it would required somesort of constitutional amendment to expand the checks and balances. Likely it would not be necessary IF folks paid serious attention to the constitution but ... And now the prexy is saying that he who saves the country breaks no law ... and he controls the branch that brings charges of breaking the law. Thus, what is considered to be 'saving the country' has no independent backing.
If our feckless Congress would do its job according to the constitution, it might impeach any Executive who was misusing the powers of the Justice Department for "high crimes and misdemeanors."
Some of us got our lessons on the expansion of the power of the presidency from none other than Richard M. Nixon. I can still remember the uniforms that were proposed for the capitol police when he was in office: they appeared to be modeled after those worn by Hitler's SS, and were roundly panned. The start of the long decline in Republicans who have occupied that office since Eisenhower. I think we've reached the bottom of that slide.
"way back in the eighties" don't you just love it! ;-)
Let's HOPE we've reached bottom!!
And if only Joe Biden realized that we would not be suffering under the liar in chief.
That any “normal, average” person thinks that Trump, Musk (who hasn’t been elected to anything), Vance, Hegseth, etc., has their interests in mind is beyond naive. The only thing that helps me at this time is having the awareness that global powers have waxed and waned as long as humans have roamed this planet Earth. God willing enough people around the world have tasted enough freedom to know that the fascism and authoritarianism that’s sweeping the world is not “normal” or “natural”, and they/we will rise up to protect ourselves, our freedom, and our beloved planet.
I’ve found a lot of comfort listening to podcasts on history, particularly periods of turmoil and despair. It sounds macabre, but it’s so helpful to hear stories of human resilience. It’s also interesting how humans don’t really change all that much!
Jeannette, I too take comfort in history. Our human ability to survive with the help of one another gives me comfort. That we humans (not all but many) rise to help one another in times of tragedy and despair reminds me of our goodness deep down, not visible often on the surface.
Bravo!! Well said...
Very well said indeed, @MTree
Thanks Heather. Just watched your interview with Jen Rubin on The Contrarian, on the subject. Very insightful.
Your point on the people demanding the sort of president, that produced Lincoln at the time, was powerful. I couldn't help thinking that people will need to see how bad this will truly get, for that demand to happen at the level required.
Cuts to the FAA, to Nuclear Security let alone all of the rest, will have consequences which won't immediately present. But present they will. Along with inflation driven by tariffs etc. The consequences may just focus the demand. Let's hope.
Giving up power? Americans had presidents with honor, with decency?
When sheer lawlessness, threats to democracies now come our convicted criminal -- and from our fascist quartet.
And they align: the fat orange convicted criminal, Putin, Musk, and Vance.
They all depend on U.S. billionaires allied with others nihilist as them worldwide. All come from schools equally void of the human, set instead to the moneyed classes' schemes for abstractions, group packaging, categorical logic, and malign labeling.
Their standardized tests measure such depersonalized reductions of life. Never the human, the personal.
All who stew in such schools, without skills for anything non-machine-like, are all the more vulnerable to group fears, group manipulation.
Worst? That the U.S. tens of millions dumbed-down are also numbed so they can neither see nor imagine the malignancy from our fascist quartet.
Any way, our criminal and his ilk are giving us historic, relentless criminality.
Phil, I do respect you and your opinions, even when we disagree, but I do ask that you remove the pejorative word "fat" from your description of the orange felon.
You probably have no real understanding of how using that word as a descriptive slur hurts people who are overweight, and as someone who claims loudly about how important humanities are. I would hope you would be sympathetic to refraining from that non humanistic description of people of size.
I prefer to use pejoratives that are fact-based, not based on subjective measurements.
"Convicted felon" just rolls off my tongue these days. There are others.
Bad example Bobcaster, because that's a fact, not fact based. You must be misinformed. By definition it is not a pejorative and doesn't need quotes.
It's only the sentencing that remains in question, thanks to our corrupted Supreme Court.
"Fact" is, "The Bobcaster," at his criminal arraignment he claimed he weighed 215.
That was the weight of Arnold Schwarzenegger at his slim prime. The obese orange monstrosity easily hit the scales 50 pounds heavier, waddled around that much more overweight, than the "fact" he claimed.
'Fart' would be more appropriate (with apologies to the flatulent).
No, Jon. No respect from you.
The last time we had a go-round, you were denying the seriousness of how more and more American teachers face youth who just will not, cannot read any full book.
You challenged my evidence for that.
So I sent you links to very good articles by reputable others, articles with stats, survey data, and observations by well-respected educators. Teachers subscribing to Heather's columns also chimed in, with their own experiences vouching for this ominous trend.
You ought to have apologized for your daring me to produce evidence, as I did. You ought to have indicated that you'd read the evidence, and might countenance the import and extent of problems you could not and will not take seriously.
..but I think you need to get comfortable with your size.
The Founders bequeathed so much good to us, primarily the framework for a nation that ended up lasting 248½ years as a democracy. They were visionary in many ways yet surprisingly naïve in others, most of all the assumption that civic virtue would be the principal motivator for what they considered public servants at the highest levels of government. Wise as they were, for the most part, they failed to envision the possibility that our country would someday have a two-headed monster as president, a subservient Congress, and a corrupt, intellectually dishonest supermajority of the U.S. Supreme Court.
But who *could* have?
They built corrections into the balance of power and were not naive. They didn’t conceive of Congress people who would give power away for ease of keeping their positions or a public that would vote against their own interests to personally spite members of the opposition.
And I don't think they envisioned centralized ownership of mass media.
Probably not in the modern economic political sense of market consolidation i would suppose. They knew the importance of the press though.
They also didn’t envision one political party misusing the antimajoritarian structures of the Constitution to undercut citizens of another party and establishing themselves as hostile to the very idea of government of, for and by the people.
We have fallen quite short on that one.
The Constitution spells out two high crimes for which any civil officer can be removed from office. Bribery and treason. I don't think that they expected a bought and paid for corrupted court to legalize de facto bribery by other names, nor that a bought and paid for Congress would go quite this far to shield treachery. I don't think they understood the scale of impacts on democracy of extreme economic inequality that would emerge from slave agriculture, the industrial "Gilded Age", and today's largely unfettered corporate consolidation.
Or of Faux News.
I am not suggesting blaming them for this mess. They produced an inspirational document for the time (with some gargantuan flaws), but you clearly need a new constitution for modern times and a new jurisprudence that is less like reading the Bible literally.
re "a new jurisprudence that is less like reading the Bible literally":
Especially when it's the Trump "Bible," which reeks of Christonationalism and Christofascism.
I was thinking of the doctrine of originalism, a deference to a 230-year-old document that is as bizarre as biblical literalism. Trump claims to have a lot of bibles but doesn't appear to have read any of them. His evangelical base doesn't seem to have got beyond the Old Testament the way they carry on.
I think it's a charade; mystic Ouija Board attributions of government by men, not laws. That's exactly how the Bible is used to justify such moral horrors as genocide and slavery. Key to the Enlightenment was a trust in evidence and reason over holy writ, and Enlightenment thinking strongly influenced our founding republic. The Constitution is a recipe, but we the people are it's final source of authority, and each inheriting generation bakes the cake.
But it's a recipe for grub that no one eats any more, if you'll pardon my extension of your metaphor.
"I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfections had better be borne with; because, when once known, we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means of correcting their ill effects. But I know also, that laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors."
- Jefferson's to Samuel Kercheval, worth a read. https://teachingamericanhistory.org/document/letter-to-samuel-kercheval/
Your Constitution is over 200 years old. I don't think there's anything particular radical about suggesting that it might not have aged well. There have been quite a lot of amendments and some of them have generated furious controversy, like the scope of the 14th Amendment for example. People's mores and the whole world has changed since then in ways that could not have been foreseen by the framers and America has not been successful in dealing with its deep-seated problems - race, sexual discrimination and inequality. Right now, you're going backwards not forwards, driven by executive action rather than representative democracy. It seems to me that even something as fundamental as separation of powers is no longer seen as necessary or relevant and this presents grave dangers to your democracy.
Jefferson believed that "the press, confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint; the public judgment will correct false reasonings and opinions, on a full hearing of all parties; and no other definite line can be drawn between the inestimable liberty of the press and its demoralizing licentiousness.", but notice that is conditional. Presses abounded in early America, while today certain sources dominate. In keeping with that we once maintained a "fairness doctrine" and limited domination of ownership in media markets. who get heard in pay-to-play America, and who does not? The courts are supposed to be structured to provide a " a full hearing of all parties "to correct false reasonings and opinions". It's not a perfect system, but we have yet to devise one that is fundamentally better. Curiously citizens who are called upon to speak in court are required to tell the truth, while those who make, administer, and judge the law are not; and that's a serious problem.
Where there to be, as a matter fact, an adequately FULL hearing or ALL parties, would that have made a difference in electoral outcomes? If one person can spend well more than a quarter of a billion dollars to amplify their electoral agenda while millions cannot afford that luxury at all, is that a fair and free election? If the money was not buying someone;s desired results, why would they ever spend it? And does that mean that control of government is up for sale?
Gene saved himself with the question at the end. I like it! There was no guarantee. If only they had added an advisory that some maintenance and participation was required 😉
That was what the amendment process was supposed to do. But the amendment process doesn't make for a quick turnaround.
Kathleen, I was talking about far more than that. Yes, the Founders were visionary, but it was never meant to be a one and done deal. Remember Benjamin Franklin's quote "a republic IF YOU CAN KEEP IT".
We can't keep it without adhering to and demanding good faith. Extreme partisanship is tearing apart the union, as it did in the Civil War, and once again, big money and feudaloid lust for autocratic power is driving that agenda. We are born to learn, but we keep making a lot of the same mistakes, over, and over. and over.
Exactly JL. And ironically, in an age when communication is easier than it has ever been, misinformation and disinformation are everywhere, many choose not to even vote, when that is easier to do than ever (in most places).
Many on the far right are saying we are moving to a post-constitutional period of governance.
I say we are living in a post-truth regime.
I wonder what the readers children will learn from 20 years from now will be like. What Trumpian "virtues" will they extol?
Perhaps they’re in a cycle. Elons i were fascists, the Canadian Technocracy Party was pro Nazi, just like America First party. We should look at Germany as inspirational and aspirational. Education and anti hate laws, build a culture that is anti racist, anti lie, anti aggressive war.
I like the "F-Elon" sign I saw at an Indivisible demonstration.
Yes. You need a new constitution and electoral system so that elections are no longer decided by 2% of the population who can be persuaded by those with lots of money.
Sad to think that any parent would raise a child to admire a bully and, greedy lying bastard, who is also a joke as a Christian.
The late Maryanne Trump Barry knew Trump was cultivating Christian Nationalists by pretending to religious feeling he doesn’t have, and Mary Trump recalled discussing this with her aunt, who was disgusted with her brother’s behavior. Christian Nationalism is an oxymoron that uses the trappings of religion to protect people who think they have some divine mandate to lord it over us. They don’t.
Christian nationalism is a political movement.
But Trump will gladly sell you a Bible on-line. What's the going price now? $60?
Might even autograph it for an extra fee, um, donation.
"Money, money, money... THAT'S the ticket!"
I need to know the history of government retirement vs. social security. I’m ignorant about this stuff.
Much of what the far right does comes from their determination to keep people from thinking critically and encouraging ignorance.
Brainwashing by Fox over the years.
Their main virtue is evil. It started as just greed.
Georgia, sad thoughts.
The one problem that is the basis for many more of our problems sort of slapped me in the face today. Had conversations with several people in neighboring red county and was shocked that they knew nothing of what is happening in our government. We have no message that is reality based and heard by all. Substacks have multiple messages (most don’t know what that is), MSM is running scared and spewing sports stats, entertainment and weather, Fox (and clones) continues to blast hate speech and sanewash the traitors, religion has become prosperity gospel, and some ignore all these things. A 17 year old had no clue, saying that she and her friends didn’t talk about stuff like that (politics). We have a whole group of ostriches and brain-washed fools. There was a time when Walter told us how it was and people didn’t dispute every syllable. Now it’s a cacophony of 90 decibel propaganda or nothing. And the nothing is like a siren’s song to many. What a recipe for disaster. What I don’t know can’t hurt me. History will say it ain’t so…
All this is true but it also ignores that much of what was reported as "truth" 50 and 75 and 100 years ago was highly distorted and just as much a product of big money control of media, particularly television, as is true today.
Yes Walter C was a soothing voice to us all but he didn't always report the truth. I grew up in the 50s and 60s and my family talked truth at the dinner table. But when I took some of those views I had into school, like maybe WE were the ones in the wrong during the Bay of Pigs and in the Cuban missile crisis and the Vietnam war (early on) I was called a "commie" and worse.
We have always been a country that sugar coated our worst inclinations and bowed to power, is not a new thing, just much worse than before.
And watching sports often takes them to Fox channels.
Not so sure “happy” is the right word for what we have as a president now.
Having a known felon and pay to play, Musk, in charge of rooting out fraud, waste, and corruption is like the proverbial fox guarding the hen house. It is not corruption they are finding. It is programs designed to protect consumers, civil rights, safety, and ethical standards.
It is a calamity that will turn into a conflagration as the cretins redefine values and people no longer recognize the truth as truth. Orwell told us, we didn’t seem to think it applied to us. Now we are redefined as well. The world doesn’t recognize America, nor do I…
Imagine trying to function after an untrained surgeon cuts into your body and removes a few parts.
I’ve seen some POTUS lies in my time. Nixon’s I am not a crook, Regan saying he knew nothing about selling arms to Iran for arms to Nicaragua rebels , Clinton’s about Ms Lewinsky, GWB lie about Iraq having WMD, but the Trump administration has created an alternate reality with their non stop lies.
There is a refreshing humbleness to both Washington and Lincoln that is totally absent from Trump. This is an unequivocal differentiation that cannot be bridged and defines the sham of a true leader that Trump totally fails to represent.
Both Washington and Lincoln cared about the common good, about more than their own infantile egos. What Joseph Welch called "decency". Not saints but not predators.
Heather tells us a great deal about George Washington and yet there is another fact that should not be lost to the history books. When he was done being president, washington gave a farewell address in which he argued against the creation of separate political parties. He knew they would divide the country. And that they sure did. For all the love people had for Washington as a leader, those around him failed in this one essential - and we now know today fatal - instance to heed his advice. They created political parties, and here we are today … a nation destroyed.
https://constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution/historic-document-library/detail/george-washington-farewell-address-1796