Behind the horse race–type coverage of the contest for presidential nominations, a major realignment is underway in United States politics. The Republican Party is dying as Trump and his supporters take it over, but there is a larger story behind that crash. This moment looks much like the other times in our history when a formerly stable two-party system has fallen apart and Americans reevaluated what they want out of their government.
In deciding to take the immunity case today, with its sweeping, overly broad question and setting a very slow timetable, SCOTUS pretty much assured that Trump won’t go to trial before the election. During the months of delay, he’ll get to continue trying his case in the court of public opinion where he has the main stream media facilitating his doing that. SCOTUS has shown itself in even starker terms to be corrupt, in Trump’s pocket. They know what this delay means that they are effectively declaring Trump immune.
We need to fight back. What are the ways open to us? At the least, we should ALL be writing letters to the Court, our Congress people, the media. Flood them with letters. I would love to hear what others think and what else we can be doing.
It’s so hard to have another battle to fight when we have so many.
We know we have to win -- and win big – at the ballot box, but in the meantime, let’s flood SCOTUS etc with letters of outrage.
I agree Biden must win (the more overwhelming, the better but any win is a win) or we become a country most people will not want to live. Unfortunately, the SCOTUS doesn't pay attention to "we the people".
And with all that it isn't only Biden who must win, it's the Dem in every state and local election. A good place to begin would be the race to replace Mitch McConnell.
The replacement for Minority Leader McConnell lies with the minority party of the Senate. This group is not an ally of democracy, but align solely with trump. This group MUST stay in the minority of the population, and therefore the US Senate.
True... however those in the Senate are able to chastise and condemn... sanction, I believe is the word. When I wrote the comment I had not checked to see if the Wild Mitch was up for re-election or not, my mistake. It appears the US is going to continue to have the pleasure of his typically Republican selfishness until 2027. Sad.
Mitch McConnell is not leaving the senate. His term doesn't end until January 2027. We don't get to replace him and when he is replaced he will likely be replaced by a Republican. Kentucky is a very red state.
If Kentucky is such a red state, why did Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, get reelected by a good margin last fall? If there are enough dems to reelect a good dem for governor, surely there are enough dems to elect a good US Senator. Am I wrong? What am I missing?
You are not wrong. Many of us can send an overwhelming message in just a few days on Super Tuesday by making a huge turnout. Super Tuesday is this coming Tuesday, March 5. If you have a mail in ballot hanging around, fill it out and take it to an official mailbox or City Hall. Too late to mail it. There’s loads of local information at USvotefoundation.org.
Turnouts in states that have voted so far are only in the teens. That’s not how to keep our freedoms. 💙👍🏻💪🏻🇺🇸🙏🏼
Yes - VOTE! And ask at least 3 friends or family members to vote, while adding how important it is to let their voice be heard. Then ask them to ask 3 friends or family members to vote…that’s the best way to increase voter turnout. 🇺🇸💙🇺🇸
NH already had both parties' primaries on Jan 23. The DNC in their "infinite wisdom" (S/) decided to call our First in the Nation status not "legal" We've been FITN since about 1920 & it was passed by NH Law in 2023. (This was a Write In campaign due to the DNC's action) I did vote and Biden got 63.9% of the Dem votes. Phillips got 19.6%. (he's an ally of the CEO of the "No Labels" dark money group BTB.) Williamson got 4%. Other write ins totaled 8.3 %There were about 10 other Dem candidates; 2 of them had fake names, one of whom was "Vermin Supreme and the other was "Paperboy Prince (!)" Alll of those below Williamson got 2% or less of the votes.
Andy Beshear is the exception that proves the rule. He may have won reelection handily, but he 1) only got into office very narrowly 2) by beating likely the most unpopular governor in the country 3) in one of the best cycles for Dems ever 4) largely through virtue of family name recognition. Even he would be unlikely to win a federal election rather than a state one. The governor of Vermont is a Repub, but I don't think we are seriously considering the notion that the Land of Bernie will be a swing state soon.
Gerrymandering. We had an amazing rep in one district. Very popular. The legislators, knowing that, changed her district before the next election. They ran her against a black man campaigning with Dem points. She did win…..35 votes. It was a big victory.
By gamer do you mean obstructionist? He has blocked so much legislation that would help the underprivileged and much of the 99%. He is responsible for Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Comey-Barrett becoming Associate Justices and for Merritt Garland becoming AG instead of an AJ.
He has cemented the rules so the minority party has power to control the fate of legislation.
Sure, they could pick a worse minority or majority leader in the Senate, but it's going to take someone like Trump's little Johnson to squeeze under it.
Allow me to add one name to the ‘he is responsible list..’ trump! Twice Mitch caved when he could have ended the career of the cancerous boil called trump! Two different impeachment trials and he cowered!
Gary, you have hit it on the head, so to speak, with "Trump's little Johnson!" That may be an even better appellation than "Howdy-Doody" which I fear doesn't speak to most anyone born after 1960.
Certainly Mitch’s obstruction skills stand out. But he has a knack for creative strategies that seldom have negative unforeseen consequences to himself or his party. He just knows how to manipulate the system better than everyone else. He knows the system and he knows the voters. And he’s also a master dissembler, promoting twisted rationalizations as obvious truth. His immediate about face after his initial J6 outrage was a big “of course.” It’s interesting that despite having been such a villain for so long, his party has careened into a course—with denying Ukraine the support it needs—he’s not willing to oversee. He’s still willing to conclude the permanent far right takeover of the government, he’s just not willing to promote allowing Russia to go unchecked. I didn’t know there was a line anywhere he wouldn’t cross.
Sadly, the reality is that my beloved and beautiful home state will likely produce a radical MAGA-aligned candidate to replace Mitch in November 2026. There seems to be an endless supply of Comers and Pauls to choose from. But hope springs eternal - we do have a very popular Democrat governor and he was re-elected this past cycle. Whoever his replacement is, though, will not automatically wield the power that Mitch spent decades amassing. That’s a good thing.
You need to make sure you vote for every Democrat that's running for state office. They can't can't gerrymander those races either. We Dems let Republicans take those seats every election cycle and it drives me to distraction.
Thank you, Tracy. Down ticket races are so important. I plan to spend my time until election day working in the local Democratic Party headquarters doing whatever is needed to make certain that Democrats in my state maintain their majority in the legislature. Governors, state attorneys general, and sectetaries of state must be Democrats (although those races in many states may not be until 2026). I'll help register voters. I'll volunteer for the League of Women Voters. None of that is glamorous work but it iscessential.
Thank you, Marcia! I am in Blue California. I phone bank with the Bay Area Coaliton of over 30 activist groups (Swing Left, Indivisible, Sister District et al). I was on a couple of Zoom phone banks to New York (with 80 other phone bankers) to help elect Souzzi to Congressional District 3. He prevailed handily. The work may not be glamorous but it is absolutely essential, and absolutely rewarding!! I am an avid promoter of phone banking. It invariably lifts my spirit to work with like minded activist volunteers and to talk with people in elections that make a difference. There are endless opportunities to help, to have an impact. We all need to plug in where we feel useful wherever we are, and to do so as often as possible. This is not a fire drill. This is the real fire. Folks in blue states can help in the swing states. Onward!
It’s really still surprises me , as back in the day - I saw this coming . How to avoid the inevitable was a back-to-the-land hippie manifest ,an ideological movement labeled utopian by many , we threw up our hands and tuned out. Later some turned Yuppies and ‘fought’ for equality as the separation widened. The right . The left. The Right has methodically placed , planned and now persecutes . Pleasing and likely backed by Putinites , some actually admit this and push autocracy. The Left strives to keep equality alive, love our neighbor, fair balances-taxes/table manners/truth/time honored rights.
Correct?
So how did it get to here?
By NOT voting. By believing our vote didn’t count. By NOT showing up. By believing it didn’t matter.
We WERE #1 in the world ….the stats tell it , have for a decade or more …only 35-40% vote . Wake up started late the question is …too late? The factions controlling have be bought , if you don’t know by whom , that’s a clue ……cause they’re the ones wanting MORE….
The fact the battle is NOW and guaranteed to be long … wiggle room is NONE….and is from complacency
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
..the only alternative so far surpasses speculation it’s unthinkable
Mitch and the MAGAcultists like to think they have it in the bag.... but as long as YOU and YOU and YOU get out the vote, mark your ballot and get everyone you know to vote the Mitch and MAGAkind do not have it locked up. For the R's maybe, but the D's continue to be stronger and more of them.... if the D's would just get out and VOTE!
and that belief is true.... if YOU and YOU and YOU allow it! It is and as long as we have a democracy it always will be up to us. And you got it, I'm pointing my finger at YOU Linda!
Agreed! the voting to replace the MAGA and their cult leader must start at the very bottom. County or borough councils, Commissioners, parashes leaders, state legislators, governors... all the way from the bottom up the chain to the very top... get out the vote. And VOTE!
Elections at a local level determine who is in the Senate and House. At an even more local level are the people who institute abortion bans, dumbing of education, and discrimination. All levels must be addressed.
A Biden win would be empty without the Senate and House, especially. The Libertarian extremists there exalt in their destruction of our laws and democracy. Biden alone can’t overcome those forces, as we have witnessed. We have to boot them all out to such a degree that we can expand the Supremely biased Court in ‘24.
A Biden win would be [absolutely necessary and a joyous relief to the world, if not cause for the transformative change we crave] without the Senate and House, especially.
I totally agree with you. I misspoke that it would be empty. It’s essential!! And for the sake of world sanity, we urgently need a Dem Senate and House to complete the resurrection of our country before it’s too late. We can’t take another four years of inept GOP obstruction and lies.
Although I have zero faith in this SCOTUS to do the right thing, from what I've been reading and hearing, it's highly likely they'll not rule in trompy's favor. This charade is all about a thumbs-on-the-scale delay to avoid a trial this year, giving trompy a bit of an edge come election day, so that Thomas and Alito can retire in 2025. Trompy would get 2 more picks (at least.) How shamefully craven.
Our only saving course of action is to defeat Trump soundly, electing Biden. Otherwise, all hope for saving the USA from self-induced political and economic destruction is lost.
That was brought up last night on MSNBC. (One has to wonder if TFG or other U.S. oligarchs gave them some money to delay the hearing ...especially considering how much they've been given by other ultra rich friends.
I for one don't have to wonder if the SC is corrupt, I predicted just what happened. The details of the corruption is up for grabs, sure. Legal experts in general have felt a need to be less outspoken on their predictions if corruption, but everything I know I "read in the papers". We here can maybe afford more outspokenness. Will Rogers and the papers are now fond memories.
Have you also heard that with the courts in several states faced with immunity claims, there might be conflict between states and thus the SCOTUS decided to hear the case to set precedent for all states to follow?
Kathy, aren't you confusing the SC cases? Yesterday's decision to hear the immunity case is different than the CO insurrection case which is also before the Court. The latter one does have applicability, in my understanding, to Maine, Illinois etc. -- i.e., whether a State can declare that a candidate is disqualified from federal elective office. The former deals with post-presidential immunity.
Speaking of Libertarians, I never hear never trumpers talk about how they cozied up to Libertarians before trump. They apologize for trump but not for that move.
There was a time when a "conservative" and a "liberal" could walk into a bar and have a heated exchange about such things as tax policy and the size of government - whether our social safety nets were crutches or essentials. The voice volume could get loud. But then one of them would crack a joke and the other would order another round. The conversation could flow to family stuff and probably sports. They could be best friends and loyal neighbors.
And then the "movement" cons infiltrated. Newt and Rush rolled a snowball that became an avalanche of hate and fascism.
So there is no longer a SCOTUS, rather is there another Trump-created belligerent to beware of and certainly not to expect justice from. It can be restored, but that's going to take more time than is available.
Fortunately, SCOTUS doesn't control what is happening in New York.
New York and other states can still sue Trump in civil litigation as can private citizens like the Capitol police.
But the best news is that TFFG is obviously getting more and more demented by the day. Won't a debate be fun when they ask him to recall an event and he has absolutely no idea who the people involved in the event are. And even if he does, will be get their name right.
As Biden quipped to Seth Meyers the other night - "At least I know my wife's first name."
In such a debate, Biden could smile a lot and roll his eyes as Donald Word Salad embarrasses himself. But those shows are not really debates. They are ranting performances with zero control by the moderators. If they had any plans to keep the event civil and balanced, the mute button would be a simple timer.
Best to skip the whole idea of a "debate". They are more like a cage match and just feed the stupid horse race approach to our election processes. JMO.
Reminds me of the sneering comment by Reagan, ‘cheerleader in chief’, during the debate with the real saint President Carter!…’there you go again!’ Chided grade B actor Ronnie!
Bill- You are right. Savannah Guthrie did the best job of controlling TFFG and make him appear to be an ignorant stalker. Otherwise, TFFG will wander around the stage like a wrestler in a cage match. The mute button would help but TFFG would be ready for it.
You're right. Last time is fresh in memory. Biden, rolling eyes, snort of laughter, "Oh, come ON, man!" And then of course the on-stage stalking of Hillary, as she spoke confidently and brilliantly.
But the media will report such happenings as "Biden walked slowly to the podium, his voice weak, although his responses to questions posed by Kristian Welker were carefully, if slowly, phrased. Trump's presence loomed large on the stage as his voice bellowed his grievances..."
I hate to say it, because I like Biden, but his leadership in the Senate's Judiciary Committee has responsibility for allowing Thomas to sit on SCOTUS. How naïve were they to let the pubic hair on the coke can slide?? Why in the HELL did the Senate allow drunk sexual abuser Kavanaugh wear the robe? What were they thinking when the Senate took his and Coney Barrett's word that they would respect precedence? Are they all secret concerned Senator Collinses?
Keeping Bork from the seat on SCOTUS was the most important consideration, as I remember. As for Kavanaugh, don’t we look at Republicans and the Heritage Foundation? That’s another institution that must be brought to heel. How do we fight Leo and all that money? How do we get fair taxation? Time for a blue Congress to undo Putin/Trump.
Let’s start this Tuesday if you live in a Super Tuesday state. You will get the media’s attention with a huge turnout instead of the usual 10% Usvotefoundation.org
or your local town official website has tons of info. Turn in your mail in ballot today. Think of your children and grandchildren.
The bigger the win, the better. We already know Trump and his minions will claim they actually won the election, but a huge win -- HUGE -- makes that harder for "the silent majority" to believe their lies. Don't forget that 70% of All Republicans believe Biden won in a not-quite-kosher election. 70% of All Republicans.
We are fast becoming a country who reneges on their pledges. We assured Ukraine assistance if attacked. Now what is happening? I would not want to have the republican party as a partner in war. When the tough gets going, they would leave me hanging. They do not have my back.
I am astonished that my fellow peeps in the reality-based community keep falling into this trap. Remember how Superman of Integrity Robert Mueller was going to vanquish the monster for us? (Didn't happen. Wasn't gonna happen.) The legal system and rule of law not going to save us. We are going to save the rule of law. Remember, the saying is: "A republic, if you can keep it." Not: "A Republic, if you can keep it, unless you don't trust your fellow citizens enough and would like an easy Hollywood way out, in which case Jack Smith and his crack team of Super Lawyers will save it for you through sheer smarts!"
The current Supreme Court should always be counted on to do the wrong thing. Every single time. Any exceptions are a red herring. If you actually thought they weren't gonna mess this one up because it was so obvious, I dunno what to tell y'all.
Will, Contrary to your view, my understanding is that the Founders sought to establish structures of government and to balance their powers in a way meant to protect the country from the misdeeds and machinations of any one branch. It is of note that they understood the need for constant checks and balances against the excesses of any one power center and enacted such. Regrettably, one thing they didn’t anticipate was a Congress and judiciary subsumed under the dictates of a presumptive presidential nominee eager to consolidate power, wherein the rule of law could be subjugated to an individual.
Admittedly, given said fatal weakening of American civic institutions, despite our founders best efforts to enlist guardrails, we’re all we have left to try and protect the remnants of democracy we’ve managed to preserve.
All true. No one anticipated an Impeachment Trail so crooked that the Articles Impeachment did not stand a chance of an open and fair hearing. Not once but twice. A DOJ afraid of its own shadow. Then a Supreme Court packed with Right Winged Justices. In the meanwhile, Republican Congressional Leaders saying the Judicial System will sort the Trump mess out. Guess not. Too much for one branch of government to untangle.
We got fat, dumb and happy and now our way of life, the shining citadel on the hill, may live in darkness until we vote democracy back in power. They say we are sleepwalking into Fascism. For many it’s a nightmare unfolding before our very eyes. Congress members washing their hands of the mess they dodged and now blaming others.
Handwashing and blame shifting has only but begun. This is only going to get uglier and uglier until MAGA draws its last breath and vacates their offices of political power.
Joe, Your synopsis of how we got here, however painful, also could be instructive, amplifying that no one any longer can just sit and wait and watch. Instead, we must train ourselves, acquire enough knowledge and strength to resist falling prey to the adage There’s nothing to be done because nothing can be done.
Agreed & Thank You. So much is at stake and the ticking clock of the electoral calendar favors another go at a federal general election. Here is hoping democracy wins over fascism once again. 🙏🙏🙏
Joe, As for hope, I take heart from the presence of virtually every participant in this forum. I am grateful for the daily reminder that none of us is alone in this fight.
CONservatives have always reacted very badly when the justice department comes after them. The DOJ was founded to combat the KKK. When it has gone after congressional members, it has always been vilified. Read PREQUEL, where seditionists in congress walked.
While I agree with you BJK in terms of the ideals of the framers of the structure of government in the Constitution, that structure, and Democracy itself (which the actually did not want, btw), has always been dependent on (as Blanche Dubois said) "the kindness of strangers." What I mean by that is that the judiciary has been coopted by the Forces of Evil numerous times in the 250 or so years of the USA--Dred Scott? Silence or agreement with the Indian Removal Acts? The entire era of Andrew Jackson? Virtually all the antebellum laws governing enslaved people? The anti-humanist, anti-egalitarian, anti-female, anti-democracy systems were embedded in our country from its inception by people who really preferred an oligarchy to a true democracy, and used everyone's reverence for the Roman Republic (which was an oligarchy, make no mistake about that) as a way of introducing antidemocratic systems into the mix. And the life-term judiciary is an excellent example of that. The only way those systems get dragged, kicking and screaming, into modernity is through the action of citizens, who vote out the totalitarians, the bigots, the misogynists, and replace them with others, DESPITE a rampantly reactionary judiciary. We have been unfortunate in that our electorate is now significantly less well educated (TFG "loves the poorly educated") and far less savvy about what is actually going on, than at any other time in our history. Despite the lower access to public education in the past, the educational systems in place 50 years ago and farther back actually taught stuff. That changed under Shrubby Bush. So now we are dependent on the actions of people we hope desperately will figure it out and show these [4 syllable expletive] the door. But we also know that many of them will remain in place to do their dirty work.
There is a good reason why the "Cato Institute" calls itself that, although claiming to be "Libertarian" is an oxymoron, as Cato was anything but a libertarian. He was the model for 20th-century Italian fascism. Rome was not a "democracy" of any kind. The word "democracy" comes from the Greek demos=people and cratos=rule. Republic comes from Latin: res=stuff (literally: things, stuff, business), publica=out in the open, public. So it doesn't refer to an actual political structure you can hang your hat on. It means the stuff people (read: men of a certain elite social class) do in public. That can be anything. So that is where we are.
Linda, great synopsis. Thank you for that assessment of how we got where we are, and acknowledging that our foundation is based in oligarchy, not democracy. We've tried like heck to make it democratic, but the oligarchs are winning.
Sigh. Alas, yes. And there was no Cornelia (mother of the Gracchi and daughter of Scipio Africanus) to smack people upside the head for being dumbasses, although Abigail Adams did try. There was a very good reason why Cato hated her (and her sons).
Linda, While I don’t dispute your knowledgeable and well-reasoned commentary, overall, we do hold different views of a then-revolutionary promise of a Republic convened in 1787. My understanding is that its founders, generally speaking, desperately desired representative government by popular consent, albeit initially white male property owners. As for its evolution, as with virtually all of America’s historical movements that have met with repeated frustration and failure, one idea wherein our roots have remained fundamentally grounded is that we can be better.
Hence, however bad things are at any given moment, I bank on our galvanizing a critical mass to work as well as we can to shape a more generous common future.
Thomas should recuse himself from any discussion based on his conflict of interest with his low-life wife. And why hasn't Thomas been indicted for tax evasion? He should have declared the written off loan with Crowe as income.
Gary, While holding Thomas accountable is necessary, because we’re so far down the rabbit hole, said remedies are not nearly sufficient. Accordingly, I’m beyond expecting anyone but ourselves to resuscitate the roots of our democracy.
Barbara, I typically appreciate and often agree with Will's opinions, but today's rang with a cynicism that I believe *was* unfounded (at least until yesterday's decision to grant cert.). You are correct, in that we were right to have faith in the system that has served us for so long.
Sadly, we can no longer depend on the institutions, as they are crumbling. It's up to us to buttress them by our votes -- both you and Will are right in that regard.
Will, you are correct. Democracy is not a spectator governing system. Those of us that have faith in the rule of law have been confident that would always be the case, while the conservatives and libertarians have been plotting the Lewis Powell Memo implementation. Just look at how the conservatives have been assaulting the law through the courts. They are working to strike down the administrative state that keeps order in the country and prevents exploitive actions.
He is literally going to trial and facing time in less than a month in NY. There is also no reason at least one of the other cases would not be heard this summer.
Furthermore, there is no reason that Scotus *has to* rule on this at the end June. Even if they waited until then, and the judge in DC chose not to expedite, the trial would at least be ongoing by the election, which would be a nice little continuing reminder to voters.
Will, Americans are not ready to admit that something sinister has completely replaced one entire branch of government; “that can’t be, we have laws!!!” And yet here we are, with judges who cannot even say out loud that “no president is above the law”. Succumbing to Illegitimate Authority will increase
Will, The Gang of Six did not mess up this decision. It is going exactly as planned, as they were hired to do. Giving them benefit of the doubt for getting their homework wrong simply acknowledges that The Republic has already been stolen; we just don’t know it yet
Will, here's the problem as i see it: the only control the electorate has over SCOTUS' decision making is who we elect to the Senate and Presidency. The Prez picks and the Sen confirms, so the only remedy now is to vote the bluest progressives we can run into those offices. Use a hopefully 60-seat majority in the Senate to get rid of or severely limit the use of the filibuster. Expand the Supremes to counteract the disingenuity of the Trump picks.
If we can also flip the House, pass fed laws to preserve the original language of the Voting Rights Act, make a law that absolutely places health care decisions in the hands of the people whose health is at stake. Ban assault weapons permanently (why did the Brady bill expire anyway?), Make a law that automatically expands the debt ceiling as needed.
At the state level vote in legislators and judges that will put districting into the control of non-partisan bodies.
Get Whitmer and Shapiro or maybe Bashear Inslee, or Newsom lined up to run for the top spot in '28. These are things only voters can do. Once those offices are filled, we have much less power over how they legislate or decide anything.
Yes, we should not be waiting for "something to happen" that will remove citizen trump from the scene. We should be organizing, writing our letters and postcards, seeking like friends, calling out disinformation and Putin, and showing up to vote or help run elections, with friends in hand.
We can win big if we mobilize in our communities to register voters, remind them to vote, support honest election officials, and do all we can to actively defeat MAGA candidates and Trump.
"We need to fight back. What are the ways open to us?"
This from our rural Maine Hancock County Democratic Committee (city folk can adapt items to their circumstances.) Where we've helped elect and keep in office a Democratic House candidate from a Congressional District which went for Trump twice.
Build Community and Organizing: Join your city/town, county, and state Democratic committees. Be a state delegate to the state Democratic convention. Get on board with the League of Women voters and with voter registration drives.
Get Democrats elected:
Ballot petitions. Clean elections. Yard/house parties. Sign brigades. Drive team to help local candidates canvass your area. Parades, walk with your candidate. Event info tabling crew. Post card crew. Canvass crew. Calls & texts team.
And I'd add.
1. Attend local government meetings. Participate. Volunteer for committees. And consider running for office.
2. And if you are older, be allies to the next generations of candidates.
***FIGHT FOR RANKED CHOICE VOTING AT EVERY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT***
I agree that reversing the perversion of "Citizens United" is paramount. The oligarchs are fueling the fringe to extract more power and money from the peasants. Feudalism on steroids.
But RCV is a completely different project that addresses two issues effectively. It negates the corrosive impact of a third party spoiler. And it expands our ability to build on a minority vision. I would love to vote for a "Green" ticket to express my alarm at a Planet being destroyed - but not if it means a Democrat losing to a "CONservative".
That's just what happened in Maine. An independent spoiled the governors race. The "Con" won with just 36% of the vote. TWICE! We suffered through eight years of embarrassment, and the dismantling of intelligent government programs. After we moved away to MA, the state wisely adopted RCV. And is now led by a very intelligent and experienced Democrat. (BTW, the "independent" who spoiled the election TWICE was recently busted for child porn.)
any move to weaken the money influence would help RCV could help, but like term limits, the need to raise money is the real problem. Read Pepper's book, if you have not. Spelled out rather clearly.
There is no doubt that Citizens United has corrupted the political system in order to cement corporate power. This was set in motion by the 1971 Powell Memorandum, Justice Powell's decisions on the high court and Charles Koch's court capture through Leonard Leo, Mitch McConnell, and Donald Trump. But as important as that is, it is only one element of the problem. Tunnel vision suppresses taking useful steps to address other elements. Such as the GOP using racial data to institute racist gerrymanders, as per Thomas Hofeller. For one.
The Dems were out spent the off year election last fall, when Kochscum desperately tried to keep our school board they lost Billy. I don't think the old money rules necessarily apply. And all the rethug money is going to drumpf inept lawyers.
Please do not underestimate anything that has to do with Trump. His lawyer in the Georgia case is actually a respected pit bull defense lawyer. And not all of 'drumpf's' lawyers are arguing before the bench. Many are sitting on the bench.
Not necessarily. As you say, ranked choice has many advantages. It worked in Alaska and now voters will decide whether to keep it or not with opposition led by, of course, Sarah Palin.
I have a friend who did all the things you outline, lin+, for 15 years in New Mexico. I worked with her there until I moved to Mexico in '21. She's currently buying a house in Costa Rica. I'm not saying our work (more hers than mine) was utterly useless, but it is an enormous uphill slog, and it often fails because of the ignorance and/or bigotry of our neighbors.
I think we have to educate our young people to think critically and wait for the older generations to die out. I'm a boomer from Chicago, and I remember the street fighting and police overreach at the '68 democratic convention. The severe issues we face today began with Nixon's southern strategy and got consolidated by Reagan's affiliations and policies. We can't unwind a top that started spinning 75 years ago in one or two election cycles. Maybe we should use our campaign funds to hire the inception team. Too bad Christopher Nolan's a Brit, or we could run him for President.
Grass roots activism is important and to be nurtured, but the most important initiative is to get everyone to observe the golden rule and mind their own business. I have never understood why anyone cares what goes on in someone else's bedroom, for example. What other people get up to privately has zero effect on my life, and is therefore not my concern. America needs a citizenry that is passionate about Emma Lazarus-style justice - welcome everyone and leave personal bias out of the equation. After all, leftist extremism is every bit as intrusive and inappropriate as rightist.
I 'spose if they can do it, so can we. Thank you for your dedication to the cause. And as you characterize those righties responsible for the current pickle, we on the left have to guard against our social justice warriors making everything about nomenclature and perceived misogyny and racism. Words and attitudes matter, but extremism in any cause is a pain in the ass. Also destructive to the obtainable goals of a progressive agenda.
Some of you may have noticed that I have been writing screeds against this Supreme Court for at least two years. Now, they have once again, shown that they are one of the major, if the not THE major threat to democracy in America. Yesterday, they announced that Trump’s crimes should not be prosecuted before the election. They told Jack Smith to go sit in the corner; they were not going to let him get to their man Trump. I wonder how much influence Clarence had on that decision. Almost every problem that has divided and upset America has either been created or encouraged by this court. Women’s rights, voting rights, workers’ rights, guns for everyone, ok to destroy the environment, their religion over the Constitution, rich people win, poor people lose -always, and many more. They can take bribes if they wish. They can openly support the insurrection and protect the person who lead it. Who is going to stop them?
It needs to be us. We need to begin to do it now. We need to take down this court, peacefully but firmly. It won’t be easy, since they are protected by the Constitution that they often choose not to follow. Send emails and letters to every Congressperson, newspaper, web site, including state legislators and local organizations. Repeat this every day. Otherwise, no matter who gets elected, this court will continue to ruin the country.
oaitw, I made the argument in 2016 that the election was nominally for President, but was really about the Supreme Court. I hate it that I was right, and I have nothing but disdain for the "Bernie Bros" and the "Unicorn Wishers" who still say their "principles" were more important in that election that the SCROTUS that we have today.
I hope to find your post tomorrow, to add some conclusions to flesh out a bit more, perhaps add some of the insights I suspected beginning in 1991, that have grown to more as the years have passed. I just am too spent to offer more this late evening. Your outline though is correct Alex; we yet have much to do.
If the November elections go the way HCR hints at, Democrats might have enough of a majority in the Senate to eliminate the filibuster and add five more Justices to the Supreme Court. While they’re at it, they could consider imposing ethics rules on said court.
Id love to have been a fly on the wall to hear what the liberal members of the Court had to say about this. It does sound like a torpedo effort by the right-wing majority. But i also like what Lawrence O'Connell said, he had no doubt that Trump would NOT become president. I get the impression Heather is almost suggesting as much. AND, she's implicitly issuing a clarion call for voter turnout plus. For sure on flooding SCOTUS "with outrage"! I can't, as a foreign national that'd be election interference, literally. The LAST thing most Canadians want is Trump 2.sick. Not that we don't have MAGA aspirationalists in the country.
Letters of outrage addressed to whom? How can we the little people let this extreme court know how out of line they are? Can only attorneys file amicus briefs? Can law students? Deluge the SC with them!!! Protest outside the building ! When Biden wins, I wonder if these justices have thought about what happens then? Their reputations in the annals of law will be trashed & Roberts court will be looked down forever in the hx books.
I think the Roberts court is pretty immune to public opinion. If they weren't they couldn't overlook the corruption in their own ranks or have ever decided as they did on Dobbs. Or the Voting Rights Act. Or Citizens United.
Another reminder of why we fight back. I've belatedly learned of Project 2025 (from a Commenter here, ThankYou.) Sounds like a Teneo Network production. I'm playing catch up here.
From Greg Olear.
Project 2025: The "Cowboy Catholic" & the Conservative Counter-Reformation
This is a brilliant comment to go along with Heather’s incredibly well-reasoned column today. We are so lucky to have her putting out these summaries night after night without missing a beat.
The news about SCOTUS feels like a breaking point for me -- one way or another. I am no scholar of jurisprudence but their brazen decision yesterday has got to be one of the worst the American Supreme Court has inflicted on its citizens in history.
Not only did they decide to hear the case, they waited a substantial amount of time before they announced it.
Not only did they inflict that delay, they held back hearings until April 22.
Not only did they delay the case that long, they reframed the question so that the question will be heard in its broadest sense. This means that the clock will not automatically start ticking on July 1 (should Trump lose - not a safe bet). By framing it this broadly, it invites a challenge to be brought as to whether Trump is guilty in some aspect of their decision. This would be heard by a lower court, presumably during the summer.
It is safe to conclude that NO case except the Manhattan one will be heard by the court before the election. In other words Trump got his Get Out of Jail Free card yesterday.
I am disheartened beyond belief. Like Alexandra I feel that Americans who care about their country should mobilize against the Court in a way that is unprecedented in scope. We now know that the rot in the Supreme Court knows no bounds and could care less about American democracy. Five judges were needed to call for the case to be heard. Those five promptly showed up.
The foundations of American democracy are being whittled away piece by piece. The Supreme Court is simply one example. The other side is emboldened to hack away at the tree, not at night when we are watching, but right in front of us as well. They have (correctly) observed Trump’s success in mowing down accepted principles of a liberal democracy and have concluded that no action is to brazen to ignite outrage and thus be stopped.
And the Democrats? In the blink of an eye Biden has gone from being a stunningly effective politician to a demented old man. This characterization has long been a push point for the Republicans, but now the poison has seeped into the tent, and fearful Democrats are playing with the idea and giving it more fuel.
Ezra Klein of the NYT has framed an entire series of podcasts around the idea that Biden should be replaced. His rationale is both two-faced and hair splitting - it seems that Biden is not too old to be a great President, but IS too old to campaign effectively. Klein is extremely influential and he has pushed the Democratic Party into a corner exactly when it most needs to unify behind Biden. Clicks for him and love from the scared sheep. Lovely. It comes just when we need to mount a furious assault on every aspect of the Republican Party. Instead we are sitting around like a group of Chickens Littles, fretting about Biden’s age, blackmailing him by holding back votes in the Michigan primary, fretting about other ways he is apparently losing this election.
Enough. Enough. We’ve been fucked over by a prissy, frightened AG who held back investigation of Trump’s insurrection in such a way that Republican lawyers and the Supreme Court simply had to exploit the yawning holes in the legal system to free Trump forever. All he has to do now is win. He undoubtedly has multiple ways of cheating to win the election, but now he is getting our help.
America, you are fast reaching the stage where you deserve to lose your democracy. I apologize for ranting to the choir. I know this is a fighting group here. But the Democratic elite and its base are a disgrace. Biden does not deserve to be savaged from behind when he is the last hope left to slay Goliath.
Yes , you are right when you say we have to fight back, “ to do something “.Writing and calling our Congresspeople and the media are good ideas.I don’t know what else we could do either but we need to get a plan.Voting in gargantuan numbers is a must so that the numbers will wither Trumps claim of “ Witch Hint” and voter fraud which we know will certainly happen if he loses.What do others here think?
I would like to know the specific judges that voted to take the case. It took at least 5. So, who are they? I know Alito and Thomas are two of the at least 5. However, I also wonder how much their taking the case shows real fear of the crowd that backs Trump. They were so afraid of the protesters against their abortion decision that they had extra security and barricades put up around the court. They all have homes and families which I am sure are being threatened. In every way possible it is politically more dangerous to be a Republican with fascist treacherous-treasonous-traitor-Trump capturing and galvanizing the crazies of this country, of which there are way too many. I will send a letter of outrage to SCOTUS, but would like more details if they are available.
Only 4 are required to ensure the case is heard. Alito and Thomas are given. I wonder if the SC pulled another ruling like the Colorado one where even the liberals on the Court supported letting the voters decide.
It’s not just the decision to hear Trump’s motion, it’s dragging it out that’s so revealing and the willingness to let one of their own (Thomas) flout the need to recuse.
Voters in November will need to protect Democracy. The Supreme Court has chosen to play Pontius Pilate.
This morning Joyce Vance discussed this. What she said is, "We don’t know how a specific Justice votes on a cert grant. But we do know that at least five Justices voted to hear this case because while it only takes four votes to grant cert, it take five to grant a stay, and the Court’s order, above, continues the stay in the trial court while the appeal is underway." So, that is why I said, at least 5 justices. I would like to know who they are. I hope that someone has access to this information. Of course, is the leak guarded? Are the members of SCOTUS getting personal threats or to their family members? It is highly likely given the modus operandi of Quadruple-T (Treacherous-Treasonous-Traitor-Trump)!
I don't think the issue is so much that SCOTUS opted to take the case, but that they're slow walking it. They could have decided to hear oral arguments next week and made a decision by the end of March. That's according to notably conservative Judge Luttig on Deadline Whitehouse yesterday.
I am not sure. I think the fact that they imply that it has merits and they are ready to override what states have said about their ballots is big. I can see why they would slow walk it, because the appearance of haste is not going to appease the crazy crowd that follows Trump. Since they are unappeasable, I wonder why we are still trying. I am glad I am not an elected official when Putin's Partner Trump is trying to run our country just like Putin has been doing to carry on the Soviet Union dictatorship in Russia. These autocrats want what they want and are used to getting it. Trump is no different. He has his hatchet-people willing to die to kill for him. He is the treacherous-treasonous-traitor-Trump!
I understand your frustration and ire, Linda. I share them. If it helps, I tell myself that yesterday's decision doesn't imply anything about their eventual decision. I think it's more likely they'll go with the 11th District's finding than give double 0 45 (reference to James Bond, but also he's a double nothing) a license to kill, I imagine they want their stamp on it, both because it's a momentous constitutional case and because they maybe hope to recover some of their credibility by slapping it down, Not Thomas or Alito, of course, but I'll take a 7-2 finding against it and laugh at the contortions T & A go through in their dissent.
In the alternative, it will give Biden permission to take out a hit on the hideous gasbag and everyone else that stands in his administration's way. Not that kindly old Uncle Joe would do such a thing, but I enjoy the image of him in his aviator shades driving his BMW 3 by Maralardo, AK blazing.
Maybe then the Congressional MAGAts will be afraid of him and restore the Brady bill.
They may have overplayed their hand this time and it is our job as citizens to take it on. We can no longer rely on the courts and justice system. VOTEBLUE
When a respected judge like Michael Luttig says there’s no basis whatsoever for the Supreme Court to hear Trump’s immunity claim, four chilling words come to mind: The fix is in.
I think this forum is massively overestimating how much this court cares about tfg and the election (little, if at all), and massively underestimating the need these incredibly self-important people have to be the final word on everything (all-consuming). They frequently hand down unanimous or lopsided decisions that reaffirm a lower court. Why bother taking that case then? Because they can and need to always remind us of that.
They will most likely hand down a near-unanimous ruling that the President is not a king, and the applause and attention this will get will create a briefly distracting sentiment of "see, *sometimes* they rule for the other side!" right before they rule that machine guns are OK in public parks or declaring the real purpose of the EPA is to send Exxon Valentines or whatever insanely destructive crap they have up their sleeves this year.
Will, I find one significant lapse in an otherwise well-reasoned argument. Were the High Court solely invested in having the last word, it simply would have agreed, via the required 4 votes, to hear the case. Instead, despite the option just to take the case but not grant the stay, there had to be a 5th vote to admit the stay, allowing for a continuation of the pause on all pre-trial proceedings. Said delay virtually ensures the case won’t be tried before the election.
I mean, correct me if I am wrong, but it would seem a bit unworkable to me to allow a case to proceed to trial when the central pre-trial question has yet to be decided. It would be like putting something in the oven and *then* checking the cookbook to make sure you were not missing an ingredient. They should have dismissed this entirely, but I feel like they would have to dismiss the case or accept it *and* grant stay, no?
Will, In response to your comment, I would note, while claims of immunity were being decided, that certain pre-trial filings (i.e., arguments over requests for documents and records or over appeals for preventing certain witnesses from testifying) could still move forward to keep the case on track to meet its scheduled trial date. Additionally, precedent exists for matters like claims of immunity to be heard post-conviction on appeal.
So . . . Gorsuch , Kavanaugh (I’m still wondering who paid off his credit card & mortgage debts) & Barrett have repaid their debt to tRUmp, and, along with Thomas (he’ll never recuse) & Alito are looking to install “il Duce!”
...and once he's elected, both Alito & Thomas will promptly retire in order to make sure there are 2 more Repugnants on the (un)Supreme Court and there will be no more justice in this country.
Agreed. The SCOTUS justices must realize they would become nothing more than a MAGA rubber stamp should DT and his supporters re-take control of the executive branch, no matter how invested 6 of them are in the current culture wars.
Once again proving that a minority (the small guy, the weak, the underappreciated, the brilliant autocrat) can and will win over the evil that we are ( goodness, integrity, actually live by the intent of the laws we pass, affect,fairness).
Later in the program Neal Katyal advanced the idea that the Supreme Court may feel compelled to rule because, in the Mar-a-lago case, 45 has claimed immunity as well.
That’s correct. The appellate decision was in relation to the facts in the DC case.
An interesting aspect of today’s Order is that they dismissed Trump’s application for a stay as moot. Rather, they directed the Appellate Court to continue to withhold their mandate until the Supremes “send down” their judgment. One of their criteria for granting a stay is that a majority believe there is substantial likelihood the appellant would prevail on the merits if cert is granted. By dismissing the application for stay as moot, they explicitly state that they are not “expressing a view on the merits.”
Do you think that might also mean that they didn’t have the 5 votes needed for a stay, but were desperate to delay the trial and this was what they came up with?
Just a guess, but I’d like to believe that there aren’t five who think it’s likely to succeed on the merits. Had they granted a stay (as requested in this application) there might have been a en banc appeal delay and then another delay for an application for cert.
TFFG's lawyer's claim that he removed the documents while he was still President.
They are not arguing that he has immunity from prosecution for the obstruction claims.
And the other two doofeses will likely spend a considerable amount of time behind bars. TFFG may be forced to pick out his own clothes or maybe Mercedes will do it for him. /S
I heard Judge Luttig say this, right after the Supreme Court published their decision to hear the Trump appeal. It was clear that this esteemed legal scholar, whom I certainly admire, was and is profoundly troubled by the Supreme Court's willingness to engage with this Trump case. It remains to be seen , of course, but it may result in many of the legal charges against Trump being washed away like soap suds in your morning shower.
The three recent Federalist Society justices perjured themselves in their nomination hearings. They joined Alito, Roberts, and Clarence, who in 2010 gave U.S. billionaires their Citizens United. The six together sicced American women and their families to Handmaid’s Tale tyranny.
These billionaires already killed humanities in America’s schools. Offshored millions of working-class jobs. Allied worldwide with dictators and nationalists. Grew the gap between the U.S. richest 1% and its 99%.
To the evident perjury, bribery, and corruption for U.S. billionaires, we can now add the court’s illiteracy, as it cannot read the clear English of section three, article 14 in the Constitution to which its justices all swore oaths.
U.S. Dems still cue Pollyanna strategists such as Simon Rosenberg, whose whistling how Republicans are “imploding” excuses Dems to do no more than their status quo of ringing doorbells, phoning, floating postcards.
No. Our best Dems – many of them – need to unite and appear in public, in groups of three and four, and quote, celebrate each other’s recent and current work. There’s so much to be done while the U.S. throws away democracy to the billionaires and their Clarence court.
It's not the current Court that is corrupt. The entire Republican't party is corrupt. They have no interest in governing, despite that being the reason they were ostensibly elected. The are unable to craft legislation, or even to discuss compromising on legislation that others have crafted. They threw out the compromise that the Senate painstakingly put together. And why? After having maintained for ages that something needed to be done to address the chaos at our southern border, they nixed the plan so that Trump could run on immigration. Not, it is not just the Court that is corrupt, When a political party becomes a cult, putting their oath to the Constitution, the good of the country, and their former party's long-held principles in the trash for the good of one man (add your own adjectives), the rot is total.
Interesting surmise. I'm guessing that most of the members of the cult of Trump don't think very often, if at all, of Putin. He may be the puppet-master of the useful idiots, but I don't think that he is the object of the cult.
Putin is not the object of the cult, but he is the object of Trump. And Trump and right wing media have been promoting Putin so that many MAGA cult members now look positively at Putin and negatively at Zelensky.
Sorry, Bruce, but the NYT denies me access unless I re-subscribe.
It has an insulting, atrocious commenting venue. Often many hours before one's comment appears, commenter interaction with each other virtually impossible.
The MAGA Court appears to see their survival interest as identical with that of their Leader. But none of this is solid. It’s all built to dissolve into air at a moment’s notice. We’re a long way from November, and the game (combination of chess and Texas hold ‘em) is just warming up.
It’s horrifying that Putin and the other oil tyrants are at the table, and the loss of life will be hard to take. Win or lose, this will be costly. But the stakes are existential.
I see no reason to pillory Democratic activists for nationalizing time honored grass roots strategies to get out the vote, now that web based organizing, text messaging and other tools can bring broader influence to bear on specific House districts and other local/state elections. Rosenberg is pretty transparent about his goals and is marshaling money and volunteers at a rate that can make a difference in races around the country. Canvassing by any means is far more than status quo for most voters, who can hardly be motivated to show up at the polls when the weather is a bit challenging. He is absolutely distinct from the hoards of hand-wringing pundits who can't imagine a reason to favor someone with the experience and track record of our current president for a second term. Biden helped us past Covid, and God willing, he'll help us past the would-be Orange Emperor.
I'm afraid, "Just Sayin'," of Republicans, dark money, corrupt court, and their Russian backers.
Their alliance includes the Heritage Foundation, ALEC, the Hoover Institution, the Federalist Society, the Claremont Institute, and dozens more far right foundations stoked by billionaires to do billionaire (and Clarence court ideologue and Russian aggression) bidding.
In-person grass roots strategies can make some dent in all this, but why not get our star power out there, they also in-person in public, celebrating the good programs democracy still needs:
Again, not to pick on you Phil, but... you are exemplifying the mindset of "Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line" that led to catastrophic losses in 2010 and 2014. Everything FELT fine, because we had the ultimate STAR POWER that was Obama, but everything was not fine because we were neglecting the grunt work and structural organization that are how long-term political power is built.
The idea that we need less relational organizing and more exposure for the crowd-pleasing voices of unity that are... Ilhan Omar and Ro Khanna (?!?!?!?!) is not an idea that jives with me.
I picked those names, Will, because each stands for specific programs democracy needs.
Obama might have had star power focus on him, but these Dems I list have real programs really needed across the land and -- if organized well to cite each other and each other's programs -- could well energize for practical pay-offs.
Could you elaborate on how each of these people (or at least some of them) actually has an original policy proposal for a social program unique to them, rather than the others? Pretty much every single Democrat stands for the same basic programs, and unless you are in a major leadership role you are in no position to actually formulate nor direct the specifics of a major new policy proposal.
Hey Just Sayin', Will, from Cal and Phil Balla - you are all on my list of favorite commenters here. And I just want to shout that you are all absolutely correct. :)
I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time - and maybe spit on a fascist simultaneously.
Here's my take: the Dobbs decision layered with the insanity of embryo person hood is THE issue that will put us over the top. Many people are one issue voters. Witness the Michigan Gaza rebellion. People in general vote on emotions. Most Americans and certainly most women are angry about the loss of reproductive rights (even in red states!) and it also is a terrifying sign of government overreach.
Add to that the boiling up of anti LGBTQ+ laws and rhetoric - and the puss of anti-semitism... we should have every reason to see a huge resistance to the MAGA mania.
Gotta go buy some packs of gum to hand out. As Joyce always says...we're in this together.
I don't think Bernie Sanders can be trusted in the kind of program you are suggesting. Bernie Sanders only really supports Bernie Sanders; he shares narcissistic tendencies with trump.
Mary Ellen Harris, Bernie toured the country stumping for Biden/Harris in 2020 campaign. And he has for years been shouting from the rooftops, trying to wake the public up to the corruption of big money donors and the political parties rigging the system against the people. He has been jeered and treated with contempt for doing so. But he kept and keeps at it. You can see narcissism in him. That may be. I don't know. I see patriotism. A great patriot, courageously telling the truth long before anyone else was.
There is a distinct difference between one person being a self-absorbed narcissist, and another person having the courage and intellect to stand up and fearlessly say what needs to be said.
RFK is an anti-science lunatic. You and his wife could consider "Curbing Your Enthusiasm" for somebody who says modern vaccines cause autism and that 5G causes "leaky brain".
RFK is not a serious person. He was...he did a lot of good environmental work. Then he lost his mind. His family is still searching for it.
John Daigle, RFk Jr is a shill for the Republicans. Look closer at his speeches, interviews, and platform and you will see that he is not a man of the people.
RFK JR is nooooo Bernie Sanders. All one must do is listen to RFK's interviews, as difficult as they are to listen to. I cant help but think that if people do not hear the warning signs in these speeches and interviews, we are encountering the same phenomena that we did with tfg's stumping....poor analysis, overly generous benefit of doubt and a tank full of wishful thinking.
In his 2016 campaign, Bernie had great support from working class America.
They felt he supported needed programs for them, Mary Ellen. He's always been very specific in naming those needs of so many Americans.
In a sad note also to 2016, many Bernie working class supporters ended up voting Trump, feeling Hillary too close to bankers and other elites, out of touch with working Americans.
It was a nice experiment while it lasted, -- democracy. But it depended on all of our respect for others as individuals, all with largely free, open lives, possibilities. Depended, too, on public schools to keep our public space healthy -- all with respect for "others," aside from tribes, groups, sects and whatever demographics whereby the billionaires sic standardized testing on all to number, categorize, confine all.
Very appropriate. I am especially concerned about the people who want to vote for RFK Jr. or other third-party candidates... it'll only take votes away from Biden.
Hear, hear on grass roots strategies to get out the vote. It works. As Nancy Pelosi says, "Don't agonize. Organize." This is what we have. Let's do it!
"Dems still cue Pollyanna strategists such as Simon Rosenberg" Um... isn't the whole reason Simon's profile got raised is he was one of the only ones to get the midterms right by NOT being gloomy?
"whistling how Republicans are “imploding” excuses Dems to do no more than their status quo of ringing doorbells, phoning, floating postcards." You literally just dismissed the only ways most people can get involved. What other ways are there to communicate with voters large-scale? Mass hypnosis via specialty chemtrails? Grassroots actions are the reason Dems have won almost every race since 2018.
"Our best Dems – many of them – need to unite and appear in public, in groups of three and four, and quote, celebrate each other’s recent and current work." This is literally what politicians do on a daily basis. When Good Ole Joey B. visits some newly-built bridge outside Pittsburg, do you think he goes alone and talks to himself?
No, Will, our politicians do not do what you claim they do.
And certainly not "on a daily basis."
Yes, they appear together at rallies, and applaud each other. But specifically lauding, quoting each other's programs? No, that requires some research -- background staff who can amass the stats, record the votes, cite the funding and pay-off from that.
I think you take for granted quoting skills which Americans might have if American schools still had humanities which students learned to quote (directly, indirectly) in the literate contexts humanities and good teachers can enable.
I mean, I doubt a day goes by where either the President or several state governors, or a coterie of congressmembers is holding some public events talking about their accomplishments and goals, with press present. The problem is that major national media does not cover these things, does not see profit in covering these things, and if they do not then most people are not aware.
Again, I totally see and respect where you are coming from. In the world I wish to live in this would work. However, when you say we should do more to "amass the stats, record the votes, cite the funding and pay-off from that," that is exactly what any political strategist worth their salt will tell you to do *less* of. Granular, practical detail causes most voters' eyes to glaze over. Proving you have a wide variety of ideas just dilutes the overall message in most peoples' minds of "what you stand for." What people respond to is clearly emotional framing, basic values, and a consistent party line repeated constantly. I wish they were about the *how* but they're not, and attempting to get them to think this way in an insistence of elevating the discourse is a sure way to lose elections, which we cannot afford to do.
Let's qualify "what any political strategist worth their salt will tell you to do *less* of."
Here is exactly where the humanities come in. Yes, if our public officials speak together in coherent panels in public, and anything appears as wonk, that's when humanities may humanize, keep things personal, in touch with the room.
That's when one of the public officials cites Barbara Kingsolver's "Demon Copperhead," or the movie "Winter's Bone."
That's when another public official can cite Walter Mosely's "Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned," or anything from hip hop which Ari Melber may provide.
When another can cite the movie "The Verdict" on how dangerously corrupt U.S. courts and lawyers may be in serving the rich, or getting bribes and pay-offs to Clarence and Alito.
Your last statement, Phil, is sorta Pollyannish. For some reason, I learned the Gettysburg Address by heart when I was in school. As a teacher, when I assigned it to a student to learn, (6th grade), who needed some assignments to take with him on an extended vacation mid-school year, his parents rebelled, and complained to the principal. Everyone involved learned that memorizing quotations could or could not be meaningful.
I like Phil, but he is assuming that teaching someone something means that they will actually learn it, which is not actually true, *especially* in school.
I would love for civics and humanities to be prominent in schools again, simply because it is the right thing to do. However, older generations who had mandatory civics and humanities seem to be currently voting in a much less humane and civically-minded way than the younger ones that were deprived of them. I will just leave it at that.
To answer, let's go to the word "anodyne." Wikipedia defines it as "intended to avoid causing offence or disagreement, especially by not expressing strong feelings or opinions.
To be most charitable, this is what happened to all textbooks, and all standardized tests, especially those touching on anything human -- according to Diane Ravitch in her 2003 work, "The Language Police." Everything got whitewashed, neutered, homogenized. Or, turned anodyne.
Didn't happen by accident. The far-right foundations begun with the Powell memo absolutely hated all humanities. Absolutely wanted the human to be swept up in far right plans for commercialism, for more powers for the rich and the corporate, for humanity to be reduced to numbers, units, such as fit for their packaging.
They won, Will. Turned American ed inside out. In K-12 the worst forms of standardized testing forced out everything else, forced all schools to teach to the test only. The human? Writing essays as if people were personally involved in anything? Dead. Gone. Writing essays with any view to larger contexts? Nope. Finished. Impossible.
Elites all turned blind to what the commercial classes then did in the offshoring of the American working classes. Elites had no human reference to anything anymore. No citing of novels, films, or music -- though we had greats arts yet well in touch with the great pain our billionaire classes were wrecking on the land.
Yes, Will, I'm for humanities -- but with the highest standards of essay writing restored.
Ringing doorbells, phoning and writing postcards sounds small, but individual citizens have limited options and those are 3 things that do help. That and strategically and thoughtfully financing candidates and organizations that are fighting for our country's survival. And, yes, our leaders need to be heard loudly and repeatedly defending our democracy and touting what Democrats are doing in defense of the people, and of our country.
So, too, does writing letters to one's own public officials in office.
But please, let's not limit ourselves when the game has changed so much, when the Clarence court, Russian agents, U.S. dark money, social media algorithms, and Fox News trumpeting Trump lies all ally in ways never seen before.
One is that our best public officials, in public, in small groups on stage, could refer soberly and enthusiastically to programs each has championed -- and which still need work to enact. This means the "quoting literacy" which our public officials do not now have.
This leads me to number two of the things in which we sadly limit ourselves. And that's humanities.
Our schools gutted them (goaded on by far-right foundations organized and aiming to do that since the Powell memo set that up beginning 1971). When we lost our humanities, and lost the urge to make wider public use of them, we lost more than the extra citations we could have made. We lost the literacy to embrace wider contexts, to see personal predicaments of "others" informing our communities.
In losing that literacy, we got instead the group identity silos and group hatreds billionaire social media engineered for us. Very much reduced literacy. Reduced sympathy. Communities reduced to divisiveness, shouting matches, epithet-hurling, stochastic terrorism.
Exactly so, Phil. "...unite and appear in public, in groups of three or four <as diverse as possible> and quote, celebrate each other's recent and current work." Perfect!
I agree with your last paragraph. However, for a great many of us in the ranks, “floating “ postcards, canvassing, supporting local, county, state candidates is what we are able to do to get people to the polls to help save our democracy. It’s not wishful think; it’s action from the bottom.
Rachel Maddow's, Chris Hayes', Lawrence O'Donnell's, and Attorney Luddig's gobsmack, disbelief commentary on MSNBC this evening regarding SCOTUS was spot on. There is only one thing that "we the people" can do and that is to vote for Joe Biden and give him an overwhelming win. trump must never again occupy the WH or this country will be a frightful place and not where anyone with one functioning brain cell would want to live. For the past 9+ years we have been living with the Sword of Damocles over our heads because of the chaos and destruction of the evil that is trump.
We must vote, and we must volunteer starting now to get others to vote. Me voting is not enough. I need to get others to vote. We all need to get busy. We have work to do.
I am on part 9 of the Entirety of CONservative Leadership Must Go. My next article will be about CONservatives have attacked the justice department since its founding.
I watched msnbc all afternoon and was demoralized. But I eventually started once again to see that things don’t really look good at all for Trump… or the Supreme Court. They’re all taking big chances that they won’t be impeached and replaced after Biden wins. I firmly believe that we will gain back the House and keep the Senate, as well. Laws will be changed to prevent many of these things the founders never anticipated would need to be addressed. We all have to remain active, vigilant, and involved. It’s so hard! But this is our moment and we simply can’t give in or give up.
As Joyce Vance stated it tonight, the best (and only slightly decent) face that the Supreme Court can put on this decision is that by delaying the decision until after the primaries and conventions—and possibly after voting has opened in some states—they are “letting the voters decide.” https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-supreme-court-disappoints/comments
IOW, when the central tenet of our Country, equality before the law, is before them, the Court is kicking the can down the road. Any 6th grade civics course student could do better. Oh, wait, I forgot that civics is not taught in our schools any more.
While history is not on the side of this Frankenstein-monster which was formerly known as the Republican Party, untold damage will be done before their day ends. Prepare for a long and bitter fight. Do not lose heart. Never surrender.
Supreme Court History Replay: The same folks who made Bush President now tip the scales for Trump. This infographic shows how John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Ted Cruz, Joel Kaplan, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alioto helped stop the vote recount in Florida to get Bush Jr. elected. Surprised by their decision to tilt the scales for Trump?
This is the same court that declared corporations are persons, scrap voting rights, women’s health do not matter, and soon: federal agencies do not have the right to regulate. Fascism in action.
Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Comey Barrett were not yet on the court that made George W. Bush president. Thomas was nominated by GHW Bush, Alito by GW Bush.
Now, with court delays virtually inevitable, our only recourse is to do everything in our power to get a trifecta in November in order to save our democracy. The alternative is horrifying.
(Oh J.L., please tell me you were going for the "Charlie the Tuna" style quote: ".....Republicans want sneakers that taste good.") Especially where they have to do so much licking of Trump's footwear.
The slow moving attemped coup continues. Our leaders' various responses just don't seem terribly effective so far at countering it. I'd like to see more action. It's as though everything is stuck in molasses.
No one can predict when they are going to die, unless it's by suicide.
RBG was working for "we the people" until she couldn't.
This is on McConnell and Leonard Leo for ramming through a theocratic woman who belongs to a Catholic cult that thinks women should be subservient to men. This should have been Biden's nomination and Gorsuch should have been Obama's.
If you have to blame something blame McConnell and Leo before you blame one of the best jurists every to be part of SCOTUS.
I am not blaming RBG. She was absolutely one of the very best jurists we've ever had. She also had cancer. Unfortunately she could not hang on long enough to have her fervent wish to be replaced by the next president, Joe Biden. She took a risk by staying. I wish she had not. And, yes, hindsight is twenty twenty.
And, I wonder what might have happened if she had stepped down, and Republicans still blocked the Obama nominee. She would have gone to her grave regretting it.
We cannot rely on the courts to stop Trump. We must stop him by registering voters, educating the undecided (don't waste your breath on MAGArats), turning out the vote and voting ourselves. Donate to Democratic candidates and PACs, ignore the polls and the media. Be resolute, organize and fight for our nation!
Thank you. I just deleted my comment on this because it was leading me to more and more disturbing information on Roberts. I still, however, find it hard to believe that he wants HIS court to go down in history as the anti-American, anti-democracy, pro-authoritarianism -- never mind unconstitutional -- that would, if something doesn't happen right quick, destroy this country as we know it. But apparently, I'm naive.
Roberts, like Rehnquist, is an old hand in election rigging. You must realize that Justices live in the weeds, the words. They can't see the book for all those words. The Republican Party today is the most corrupt entity ever to have meaningful power in the United States. They must be purged. It will take a long time. And yes, you are naive to give Roberts credit for anything.
Yes, I am naive. Much less so that eight years ago, but I'm still not facing certain things. I did not think they would hear this case. I did not think they would want that to be their legacy. I still cannot believe it as I write this. Do they not realize that these anti-democratic power grabs will one day destroy them too? THAT is what I come back to over and over.
Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't be naive at all. Your concern is completely reasonable, as is your expectation of sensible legal review. Now, with all this knowledge descending on you, you will understand the depth and power of corruption. And the source of all that corruption is the realization by the oligarchs that we are coming for their money, which we paid to them, which makes it our money. They know a democracy can tax them and regulate them. They will fight to the death, kill anyone, support any killer (Putin), to preserve their unjustifiable wealth. They might not even be aware of it, but they are running scared. At some point they will lose, and we will win. That's why they bought the R party and the Supreme Court. Pure fascist corruption.
And when we win, the Court will be expanded and perhaps, Thomas will resign or risk being removed or impeached, Ginni will face the music, Alito will resign or also be fired. They will be replaced! Actually, when Biden-Harris wins, all of those justices in question will freak out because Sheldon Whitehouse and Dick Durbin are coming to get them. They are small potatoes in comparison to their lord and master, Leonard Leo. Whitehouse has been working on convicting Leonard Leo for tax evasion and setting up shell companies to launder money since, I believe, 2016.
I'd LOVE to see Clarence Thomas impeached and Ginni brought to court on charges...but even more than that I would purely ADORE seeing Lennie Leo convicted and put in prison for the rest of his born days.
James Burnham, great summary of the fears of the oligarchs and their by any means necessary
reactions. Unconsciously, it seems like a death threat to the ego to have to diminish their power/wealth in any way, and as you say, they will fight to the death.
It is a scary thought.
I love your word, unjustifiable wealth. It's perfect.
Nomi Lubin, that is my feeling about it, too. Why can't even the Federalist trained Justices see that giving Trump immunity--or even giving him support by considering the case, makes the Court rather obviously biased and lowers their credibility to the vanishing point.
This is quite fine, as always, thank you. Comprehensive, explanatory, and clear. Would you please write a column on the historical precedents you alluded to? (“the other times in our history when a formerly stable two-party system has fallen apart and Americans reevaluated what they want out of their government”) I have come to appreciate so much your ability to inform current events with your historical expertise, that I missed it dreadfully in this column. Thanks again.
She's written about it before, and frequently discusses it in her "Politics and History" chats. Several of the "Now and Then" podcasts that she and Joanne Freeman did covered this.
In deciding to take the immunity case today, with its sweeping, overly broad question and setting a very slow timetable, SCOTUS pretty much assured that Trump won’t go to trial before the election. During the months of delay, he’ll get to continue trying his case in the court of public opinion where he has the main stream media facilitating his doing that. SCOTUS has shown itself in even starker terms to be corrupt, in Trump’s pocket. They know what this delay means that they are effectively declaring Trump immune.
We need to fight back. What are the ways open to us? At the least, we should ALL be writing letters to the Court, our Congress people, the media. Flood them with letters. I would love to hear what others think and what else we can be doing.
It’s so hard to have another battle to fight when we have so many.
We know we have to win -- and win big – at the ballot box, but in the meantime, let’s flood SCOTUS etc with letters of outrage.
I agree Biden must win (the more overwhelming, the better but any win is a win) or we become a country most people will not want to live. Unfortunately, the SCOTUS doesn't pay attention to "we the people".
And with all that it isn't only Biden who must win, it's the Dem in every state and local election. A good place to begin would be the race to replace Mitch McConnell.
The replacement for Minority Leader McConnell lies with the minority party of the Senate. This group is not an ally of democracy, but align solely with trump. This group MUST stay in the minority of the population, and therefore the US Senate.
True... however those in the Senate are able to chastise and condemn... sanction, I believe is the word. When I wrote the comment I had not checked to see if the Wild Mitch was up for re-election or not, my mistake. It appears the US is going to continue to have the pleasure of his typically Republican selfishness until 2027. Sad.
Mitch McConnell is not leaving the senate. His term doesn't end until January 2027. We don't get to replace him and when he is replaced he will likely be replaced by a Republican. Kentucky is a very red state.
If Kentucky is such a red state, why did Governor Andy Beshear, a Democrat, get reelected by a good margin last fall? If there are enough dems to reelect a good dem for governor, surely there are enough dems to elect a good US Senator. Am I wrong? What am I missing?
You are not wrong. Many of us can send an overwhelming message in just a few days on Super Tuesday by making a huge turnout. Super Tuesday is this coming Tuesday, March 5. If you have a mail in ballot hanging around, fill it out and take it to an official mailbox or City Hall. Too late to mail it. There’s loads of local information at USvotefoundation.org.
Turnouts in states that have voted so far are only in the teens. That’s not how to keep our freedoms. 💙👍🏻💪🏻🇺🇸🙏🏼
Participating states in 2024: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Virginia
Thank you for the link, Gigi.
Yes - VOTE! And ask at least 3 friends or family members to vote, while adding how important it is to let their voice be heard. Then ask them to ask 3 friends or family members to vote…that’s the best way to increase voter turnout. 🇺🇸💙🇺🇸
NH already had both parties' primaries on Jan 23. The DNC in their "infinite wisdom" (S/) decided to call our First in the Nation status not "legal" We've been FITN since about 1920 & it was passed by NH Law in 2023. (This was a Write In campaign due to the DNC's action) I did vote and Biden got 63.9% of the Dem votes. Phillips got 19.6%. (he's an ally of the CEO of the "No Labels" dark money group BTB.) Williamson got 4%. Other write ins totaled 8.3 %There were about 10 other Dem candidates; 2 of them had fake names, one of whom was "Vermin Supreme and the other was "Paperboy Prince (!)" Alll of those below Williamson got 2% or less of the votes.
I’ve already mailed mine in. All blue. From California.
You are indeed right. I stand corrected. Thank you, Shelia! We will have a chance in Kentucky in 2026 if Democrats are still allowed to vote in 2026.
Andy Beshear is the exception that proves the rule. He may have won reelection handily, but he 1) only got into office very narrowly 2) by beating likely the most unpopular governor in the country 3) in one of the best cycles for Dems ever 4) largely through virtue of family name recognition. Even he would be unlikely to win a federal election rather than a state one. The governor of Vermont is a Repub, but I don't think we are seriously considering the notion that the Land of Bernie will be a swing state soon.
Gerrymandering. We had an amazing rep in one district. Very popular. The legislators, knowing that, changed her district before the next election. They ran her against a black man campaigning with Dem points. She did win…..35 votes. It was a big victory.
Praying you’re correct
And very likely a Republican who is even farther right than Mitch is. Fortunately, it probably won't be someone who is as good a gamer.
By gamer do you mean obstructionist? He has blocked so much legislation that would help the underprivileged and much of the 99%. He is responsible for Gorsuch, Kavanaugh and Comey-Barrett becoming Associate Justices and for Merritt Garland becoming AG instead of an AJ.
He has cemented the rules so the minority party has power to control the fate of legislation.
Sure, they could pick a worse minority or majority leader in the Senate, but it's going to take someone like Trump's little Johnson to squeeze under it.
Allow me to add one name to the ‘he is responsible list..’ trump! Twice Mitch caved when he could have ended the career of the cancerous boil called trump! Two different impeachment trials and he cowered!
Gary, you have hit it on the head, so to speak, with "Trump's little Johnson!" That may be an even better appellation than "Howdy-Doody" which I fear doesn't speak to most anyone born after 1960.
Gary, that's the best moniker I've seen in a long, long time...
"Trump's little Johnson" is rich in imagery!
Certainly Mitch’s obstruction skills stand out. But he has a knack for creative strategies that seldom have negative unforeseen consequences to himself or his party. He just knows how to manipulate the system better than everyone else. He knows the system and he knows the voters. And he’s also a master dissembler, promoting twisted rationalizations as obvious truth. His immediate about face after his initial J6 outrage was a big “of course.” It’s interesting that despite having been such a villain for so long, his party has careened into a course—with denying Ukraine the support it needs—he’s not willing to oversee. He’s still willing to conclude the permanent far right takeover of the government, he’s just not willing to promote allowing Russia to go unchecked. I didn’t know there was a line anywhere he wouldn’t cross.
Gary, nicely put. I have been looking for a name for the Speaker.
Cornyn is TX. Reminds me of the Republican in the next car when Kennedy was shot. It’s only appearance, so waiting for reality.
Maybe not. Look at Georgia, and Tennessee
I think people are fed up,
A very red state with a Democrat as Governor.
Very good point, Steve. I stand corrected. Red state, but not quite spilled blood red.
KY's governor is a Democrat.
Sadly, the reality is that my beloved and beautiful home state will likely produce a radical MAGA-aligned candidate to replace Mitch in November 2026. There seems to be an endless supply of Comers and Pauls to choose from. But hope springs eternal - we do have a very popular Democrat governor and he was re-elected this past cycle. Whoever his replacement is, though, will not automatically wield the power that Mitch spent decades amassing. That’s a good thing.
You need to make sure you vote for every Democrat that's running for state office. They can't can't gerrymander those races either. We Dems let Republicans take those seats every election cycle and it drives me to distraction.
Thank you, Tracy. Down ticket races are so important. I plan to spend my time until election day working in the local Democratic Party headquarters doing whatever is needed to make certain that Democrats in my state maintain their majority in the legislature. Governors, state attorneys general, and sectetaries of state must be Democrats (although those races in many states may not be until 2026). I'll help register voters. I'll volunteer for the League of Women Voters. None of that is glamorous work but it iscessential.
Thank you, Marcia! I am in Blue California. I phone bank with the Bay Area Coaliton of over 30 activist groups (Swing Left, Indivisible, Sister District et al). I was on a couple of Zoom phone banks to New York (with 80 other phone bankers) to help elect Souzzi to Congressional District 3. He prevailed handily. The work may not be glamorous but it is absolutely essential, and absolutely rewarding!! I am an avid promoter of phone banking. It invariably lifts my spirit to work with like minded activist volunteers and to talk with people in elections that make a difference. There are endless opportunities to help, to have an impact. We all need to plug in where we feel useful wherever we are, and to do so as often as possible. This is not a fire drill. This is the real fire. Folks in blue states can help in the swing states. Onward!
This is the bottom line. Thank you Tracy. Whether Dems show up and VOTE at his party , in 24> and hold their feet to the fire is the ONLY way. 💙VOTE💙
It’s really still surprises me , as back in the day - I saw this coming . How to avoid the inevitable was a back-to-the-land hippie manifest ,an ideological movement labeled utopian by many , we threw up our hands and tuned out. Later some turned Yuppies and ‘fought’ for equality as the separation widened. The right . The left. The Right has methodically placed , planned and now persecutes . Pleasing and likely backed by Putinites , some actually admit this and push autocracy. The Left strives to keep equality alive, love our neighbor, fair balances-taxes/table manners/truth/time honored rights.
Correct?
So how did it get to here?
By NOT voting. By believing our vote didn’t count. By NOT showing up. By believing it didn’t matter.
We WERE #1 in the world ….the stats tell it , have for a decade or more …only 35-40% vote . Wake up started late the question is …too late? The factions controlling have be bought , if you don’t know by whom , that’s a clue ……cause they’re the ones wanting MORE….
The fact the battle is NOW and guaranteed to be long … wiggle room is NONE….and is from complacency
💙💙VOTE ALL THE COMPLICIT OUT💙💙
..the only alternative so far surpasses speculation it’s unthinkable
Yes, emphasis on the yes. There are no exceptions, every vote counts, every race matters. Red state? Let's see about changing that.
Mitch has already rigged that. As it now stands, only a R can replace him. If the Democrats would fight the Koch money (The Bluegrass Institute)
What do you mean? A statewide election is not legitimately riggable, is it?
Mitch and the MAGAcultists like to think they have it in the bag.... but as long as YOU and YOU and YOU get out the vote, mark your ballot and get everyone you know to vote the Mitch and MAGAkind do not have it locked up. For the R's maybe, but the D's continue to be stronger and more of them.... if the D's would just get out and VOTE!
Bill, it isn't up to us. It will be one that the Trump Party, formally GOP, will chose.
and that belief is true.... if YOU and YOU and YOU allow it! It is and as long as we have a democracy it always will be up to us. And you got it, I'm pointing my finger at YOU Linda!
Agreed! the voting to replace the MAGA and their cult leader must start at the very bottom. County or borough councils, Commissioners, parashes leaders, state legislators, governors... all the way from the bottom up the chain to the very top... get out the vote. And VOTE!
Elections at a local level determine who is in the Senate and House. At an even more local level are the people who institute abortion bans, dumbing of education, and discrimination. All levels must be addressed.
A Biden win would be empty without the Senate and House, especially. The Libertarian extremists there exalt in their destruction of our laws and democracy. Biden alone can’t overcome those forces, as we have witnessed. We have to boot them all out to such a degree that we can expand the Supremely biased Court in ‘24.
A Biden win would be [absolutely necessary and a joyous relief to the world, if not cause for the transformative change we crave] without the Senate and House, especially.
FIFY. (but agree with the rest).
I totally agree with you. I misspoke that it would be empty. It’s essential!! And for the sake of world sanity, we urgently need a Dem Senate and House to complete the resurrection of our country before it’s too late. We can’t take another four years of inept GOP obstruction and lies.
If the SCOTUS gives a POTUS immunity, Biden could just go all autocrat. He would not, but he could.
Although I have zero faith in this SCOTUS to do the right thing, from what I've been reading and hearing, it's highly likely they'll not rule in trompy's favor. This charade is all about a thumbs-on-the-scale delay to avoid a trial this year, giving trompy a bit of an edge come election day, so that Thomas and Alito can retire in 2025. Trompy would get 2 more picks (at least.) How shamefully craven.
Our only saving course of action is to defeat Trump soundly, electing Biden. Otherwise, all hope for saving the USA from self-induced political and economic destruction is lost.
That was brought up last night on MSNBC. (One has to wonder if TFG or other U.S. oligarchs gave them some money to delay the hearing ...especially considering how much they've been given by other ultra rich friends.
I for one don't have to wonder if the SC is corrupt, I predicted just what happened. The details of the corruption is up for grabs, sure. Legal experts in general have felt a need to be less outspoken on their predictions if corruption, but everything I know I "read in the papers". We here can maybe afford more outspokenness. Will Rogers and the papers are now fond memories.
Have you also heard that with the courts in several states faced with immunity claims, there might be conflict between states and thus the SCOTUS decided to hear the case to set precedent for all states to follow?
Kathy, aren't you confusing the SC cases? Yesterday's decision to hear the immunity case is different than the CO insurrection case which is also before the Court. The latter one does have applicability, in my understanding, to Maine, Illinois etc. -- i.e., whether a State can declare that a candidate is disqualified from federal elective office. The former deals with post-presidential immunity.
It's hard to keep up with all his court cases.
Excellent point! He could order the imprisonment of the amoral orange creature! Perhaps send trump to Guantanamo!
I like him in a cage prominently displayed in front of the Capitol Building. Preferably gagged and bound so his tongue and tweets are silenced.
I agree and refuse to leave office...like tfg would do! Only then we would be an autocrat democracy! Do unto others as they would do unto you! Right!
Speaking of Libertarians, I never hear never trumpers talk about how they cozied up to Libertarians before trump. They apologize for trump but not for that move.
I should add as I always say, is never, never, never vote for a republican!
CONservative. Conservatism today IS NOT the conservatism of the past.
There was a time when a "conservative" and a "liberal" could walk into a bar and have a heated exchange about such things as tax policy and the size of government - whether our social safety nets were crutches or essentials. The voice volume could get loud. But then one of them would crack a joke and the other would order another round. The conversation could flow to family stuff and probably sports. They could be best friends and loyal neighbors.
And then the "movement" cons infiltrated. Newt and Rush rolled a snowball that became an avalanche of hate and fascism.
We finally know what they want to ‘conserve’…white supremacy and white nationalism!
Don't forget the so called religious Hypocrites
I really like the moniker one of the earlier commenters came up with for the Speaker, (who is one of that ilk): Trump's little Johnson!)
As McConnell said, white faces like the Republican Party, or was it the other way around?
Except for Republican Governor Phil Scott in Vermont. He continues to try to prevent the General Assembly from driving Vermonters to the poorhouse.
So there is no longer a SCOTUS, rather is there another Trump-created belligerent to beware of and certainly not to expect justice from. It can be restored, but that's going to take more time than is available.
Fortunately, SCOTUS doesn't control what is happening in New York.
New York and other states can still sue Trump in civil litigation as can private citizens like the Capitol police.
But the best news is that TFFG is obviously getting more and more demented by the day. Won't a debate be fun when they ask him to recall an event and he has absolutely no idea who the people involved in the event are. And even if he does, will be get their name right.
As Biden quipped to Seth Meyers the other night - "At least I know my wife's first name."
In such a debate, Biden could smile a lot and roll his eyes as Donald Word Salad embarrasses himself. But those shows are not really debates. They are ranting performances with zero control by the moderators. If they had any plans to keep the event civil and balanced, the mute button would be a simple timer.
Best to skip the whole idea of a "debate". They are more like a cage match and just feed the stupid horse race approach to our election processes. JMO.
Reminds me of the sneering comment by Reagan, ‘cheerleader in chief’, during the debate with the real saint President Carter!…’there you go again!’ Chided grade B actor Ronnie!
Bill- You are right. Savannah Guthrie did the best job of controlling TFFG and make him appear to be an ignorant stalker. Otherwise, TFFG will wander around the stage like a wrestler in a cage match. The mute button would help but TFFG would be ready for it.
Mute button and sudden outage would help even more.
You're right. Last time is fresh in memory. Biden, rolling eyes, snort of laughter, "Oh, come ON, man!" And then of course the on-stage stalking of Hillary, as she spoke confidently and brilliantly.
But the media will report such happenings as "Biden walked slowly to the podium, his voice weak, although his responses to questions posed by Kristian Welker were carefully, if slowly, phrased. Trump's presence loomed large on the stage as his voice bellowed his grievances..."
Sadly you are 100% accurate, Doug.
Well, we see that all the time. Pre-prepared set of adjectives and qualifiers. We're about to get a spectacle in Texas.
Does Trump have to debate Biden? He wasn't involved with his party's debate.
Rethugs don't have to do anything. And you can bet drumpf will weasel out. Rembrandt the stand back and stand by exhortation?
He would show how insane he is. Biden is wise and skilled and would have drumpf foaming at the mouth in minutes. More popcorn.
Which neither party understood - they neither stood back nor by. He'd already promised them, "Be there. Will be wild." Now, that's a leader.
TFFG will weasel out of any and all debates.
If there were still any rules, he wouldn't have to. And let's remember that according to the Big Lie, he's already on his second presidency .
(And which wife - when it gets up to three a little confusion is understandable in an elderly man)
🤣🤣🤣
I would be shocked out of my toe socks if there is a “debate.” Please don’t hold your breath!
I hate to say it, because I like Biden, but his leadership in the Senate's Judiciary Committee has responsibility for allowing Thomas to sit on SCOTUS. How naïve were they to let the pubic hair on the coke can slide?? Why in the HELL did the Senate allow drunk sexual abuser Kavanaugh wear the robe? What were they thinking when the Senate took his and Coney Barrett's word that they would respect precedence? Are they all secret concerned Senator Collinses?
Keeping Bork from the seat on SCOTUS was the most important consideration, as I remember. As for Kavanaugh, don’t we look at Republicans and the Heritage Foundation? That’s another institution that must be brought to heel. How do we fight Leo and all that money? How do we get fair taxation? Time for a blue Congress to undo Putin/Trump.
My suspicion, but I need to keep it to myself for now.
Why do you need to stay mum? Does Susan Collins read your blog? None of my business, just curious.
I don't want to say anything, here or anywhere, that might lead to a Dem vote being lost, that's all.
Let’s start this Tuesday if you live in a Super Tuesday state. You will get the media’s attention with a huge turnout instead of the usual 10% Usvotefoundation.org
or your local town official website has tons of info. Turn in your mail in ballot today. Think of your children and grandchildren.
The bigger the win, the better. We already know Trump and his minions will claim they actually won the election, but a huge win -- HUGE -- makes that harder for "the silent majority" to believe their lies. Don't forget that 70% of All Republicans believe Biden won in a not-quite-kosher election. 70% of All Republicans.
Biden needs a blow-out.
Biden has to win big. Remember, Hilary won 3 million more popular votes than Trump, but he still won.
Nor the Constitution.
We are fast becoming a country who reneges on their pledges. We assured Ukraine assistance if attacked. Now what is happening? I would not want to have the republican party as a partner in war. When the tough gets going, they would leave me hanging. They do not have my back.
I am astonished that my fellow peeps in the reality-based community keep falling into this trap. Remember how Superman of Integrity Robert Mueller was going to vanquish the monster for us? (Didn't happen. Wasn't gonna happen.) The legal system and rule of law not going to save us. We are going to save the rule of law. Remember, the saying is: "A republic, if you can keep it." Not: "A Republic, if you can keep it, unless you don't trust your fellow citizens enough and would like an easy Hollywood way out, in which case Jack Smith and his crack team of Super Lawyers will save it for you through sheer smarts!"
The current Supreme Court should always be counted on to do the wrong thing. Every single time. Any exceptions are a red herring. If you actually thought they weren't gonna mess this one up because it was so obvious, I dunno what to tell y'all.
Will, Contrary to your view, my understanding is that the Founders sought to establish structures of government and to balance their powers in a way meant to protect the country from the misdeeds and machinations of any one branch. It is of note that they understood the need for constant checks and balances against the excesses of any one power center and enacted such. Regrettably, one thing they didn’t anticipate was a Congress and judiciary subsumed under the dictates of a presumptive presidential nominee eager to consolidate power, wherein the rule of law could be subjugated to an individual.
Admittedly, given said fatal weakening of American civic institutions, despite our founders best efforts to enlist guardrails, we’re all we have left to try and protect the remnants of democracy we’ve managed to preserve.
All true. No one anticipated an Impeachment Trail so crooked that the Articles Impeachment did not stand a chance of an open and fair hearing. Not once but twice. A DOJ afraid of its own shadow. Then a Supreme Court packed with Right Winged Justices. In the meanwhile, Republican Congressional Leaders saying the Judicial System will sort the Trump mess out. Guess not. Too much for one branch of government to untangle.
We got fat, dumb and happy and now our way of life, the shining citadel on the hill, may live in darkness until we vote democracy back in power. They say we are sleepwalking into Fascism. For many it’s a nightmare unfolding before our very eyes. Congress members washing their hands of the mess they dodged and now blaming others.
Handwashing and blame shifting has only but begun. This is only going to get uglier and uglier until MAGA draws its last breath and vacates their offices of political power.
Joe, Your synopsis of how we got here, however painful, also could be instructive, amplifying that no one any longer can just sit and wait and watch. Instead, we must train ourselves, acquire enough knowledge and strength to resist falling prey to the adage There’s nothing to be done because nothing can be done.
Agreed & Thank You. So much is at stake and the ticking clock of the electoral calendar favors another go at a federal general election. Here is hoping democracy wins over fascism once again. 🙏🙏🙏
Joe, As for hope, I take heart from the presence of virtually every participant in this forum. I am grateful for the daily reminder that none of us is alone in this fight.
CONservatives have always reacted very badly when the justice department comes after them. The DOJ was founded to combat the KKK. When it has gone after congressional members, it has always been vilified. Read PREQUEL, where seditionists in congress walked.
"For many it is a nightmare unfolding before our very eyes."
While I agree with you BJK in terms of the ideals of the framers of the structure of government in the Constitution, that structure, and Democracy itself (which the actually did not want, btw), has always been dependent on (as Blanche Dubois said) "the kindness of strangers." What I mean by that is that the judiciary has been coopted by the Forces of Evil numerous times in the 250 or so years of the USA--Dred Scott? Silence or agreement with the Indian Removal Acts? The entire era of Andrew Jackson? Virtually all the antebellum laws governing enslaved people? The anti-humanist, anti-egalitarian, anti-female, anti-democracy systems were embedded in our country from its inception by people who really preferred an oligarchy to a true democracy, and used everyone's reverence for the Roman Republic (which was an oligarchy, make no mistake about that) as a way of introducing antidemocratic systems into the mix. And the life-term judiciary is an excellent example of that. The only way those systems get dragged, kicking and screaming, into modernity is through the action of citizens, who vote out the totalitarians, the bigots, the misogynists, and replace them with others, DESPITE a rampantly reactionary judiciary. We have been unfortunate in that our electorate is now significantly less well educated (TFG "loves the poorly educated") and far less savvy about what is actually going on, than at any other time in our history. Despite the lower access to public education in the past, the educational systems in place 50 years ago and farther back actually taught stuff. That changed under Shrubby Bush. So now we are dependent on the actions of people we hope desperately will figure it out and show these [4 syllable expletive] the door. But we also know that many of them will remain in place to do their dirty work.
There is a good reason why the "Cato Institute" calls itself that, although claiming to be "Libertarian" is an oxymoron, as Cato was anything but a libertarian. He was the model for 20th-century Italian fascism. Rome was not a "democracy" of any kind. The word "democracy" comes from the Greek demos=people and cratos=rule. Republic comes from Latin: res=stuff (literally: things, stuff, business), publica=out in the open, public. So it doesn't refer to an actual political structure you can hang your hat on. It means the stuff people (read: men of a certain elite social class) do in public. That can be anything. So that is where we are.
Linda, I learn so much from your comments. Thank you.
Linda, great synopsis. Thank you for that assessment of how we got where we are, and acknowledging that our foundation is based in oligarchy, not democracy. We've tried like heck to make it democratic, but the oligarchs are winning.
Sigh. Alas, yes. And there was no Cornelia (mother of the Gracchi and daughter of Scipio Africanus) to smack people upside the head for being dumbasses, although Abigail Adams did try. There was a very good reason why Cato hated her (and her sons).
Linda, While I don’t dispute your knowledgeable and well-reasoned commentary, overall, we do hold different views of a then-revolutionary promise of a Republic convened in 1787. My understanding is that its founders, generally speaking, desperately desired representative government by popular consent, albeit initially white male property owners. As for its evolution, as with virtually all of America’s historical movements that have met with repeated frustration and failure, one idea wherein our roots have remained fundamentally grounded is that we can be better.
Hence, however bad things are at any given moment, I bank on our galvanizing a critical mass to work as well as we can to shape a more generous common future.
Thomas should recuse himself from any discussion based on his conflict of interest with his low-life wife. And why hasn't Thomas been indicted for tax evasion? He should have declared the written off loan with Crowe as income.
Gary, While holding Thomas accountable is necessary, because we’re so far down the rabbit hole, said remedies are not nearly sufficient. Accordingly, I’m beyond expecting anyone but ourselves to resuscitate the roots of our democracy.
he will never recuse. NEVER.
Where's my laugh emoji? Thomas recusing would be an admission his wife is a criminal since he is too, he'll keep up the con.
Barbara, I typically appreciate and often agree with Will's opinions, but today's rang with a cynicism that I believe *was* unfounded (at least until yesterday's decision to grant cert.). You are correct, in that we were right to have faith in the system that has served us for so long.
Sadly, we can no longer depend on the institutions, as they are crumbling. It's up to us to buttress them by our votes -- both you and Will are right in that regard.
Will, you are correct. Democracy is not a spectator governing system. Those of us that have faith in the rule of law have been confident that would always be the case, while the conservatives and libertarians have been plotting the Lewis Powell Memo implementation. Just look at how the conservatives have been assaulting the law through the courts. They are working to strike down the administrative state that keeps order in the country and prevents exploitive actions.
We may yet see that mf in jail. But we have to make sure he goes to trial. Sadly, it won't happen before Biden is re-elected.
He is literally going to trial and facing time in less than a month in NY. There is also no reason at least one of the other cases would not be heard this summer.
Furthermore, there is no reason that Scotus *has to* rule on this at the end June. Even if they waited until then, and the judge in DC chose not to expedite, the trial would at least be ongoing by the election, which would be a nice little continuing reminder to voters.
Don't depend on the courts to dampen support for him. We need to actively work to defeat him at the ballot box.
Will, Americans are not ready to admit that something sinister has completely replaced one entire branch of government; “that can’t be, we have laws!!!” And yet here we are, with judges who cannot even say out loud that “no president is above the law”. Succumbing to Illegitimate Authority will increase
Like but don’t agree about Mueller
the CONservatives worked to undermine him from the start. No amount of evidence would change their minds.
Will, The Gang of Six did not mess up this decision. It is going exactly as planned, as they were hired to do. Giving them benefit of the doubt for getting their homework wrong simply acknowledges that The Republic has already been stolen; we just don’t know it yet
Will, here's the problem as i see it: the only control the electorate has over SCOTUS' decision making is who we elect to the Senate and Presidency. The Prez picks and the Sen confirms, so the only remedy now is to vote the bluest progressives we can run into those offices. Use a hopefully 60-seat majority in the Senate to get rid of or severely limit the use of the filibuster. Expand the Supremes to counteract the disingenuity of the Trump picks.
If we can also flip the House, pass fed laws to preserve the original language of the Voting Rights Act, make a law that absolutely places health care decisions in the hands of the people whose health is at stake. Ban assault weapons permanently (why did the Brady bill expire anyway?), Make a law that automatically expands the debt ceiling as needed.
At the state level vote in legislators and judges that will put districting into the control of non-partisan bodies.
Get Whitmer and Shapiro or maybe Bashear Inslee, or Newsom lined up to run for the top spot in '28. These are things only voters can do. Once those offices are filled, we have much less power over how they legislate or decide anything.
Yes, we should not be waiting for "something to happen" that will remove citizen trump from the scene. We should be organizing, writing our letters and postcards, seeking like friends, calling out disinformation and Putin, and showing up to vote or help run elections, with friends in hand.
Agree with you, Will.
Saving democracy is our herculean task. And we can do it. The ocean consists of drops of water. That's us in October/November.
In fact, isn't it a good idea to have checks and balances on every officer of government?
We can win big if we mobilize in our communities to register voters, remind them to vote, support honest election officials, and do all we can to actively defeat MAGA candidates and Trump.
"...wake up to the reality that the system has been hijacked and begin to reclaim their government. "
When they do wake up to that reality, it'll be forward march. Bravo, Hunter Biden, and those who reported.
Indeed Ann, that would be the favorite quote from our dear doctor that I would have highlighted, and just so, on it's own to stand so ably. Brava ~
"We need to fight back. What are the ways open to us?"
This from our rural Maine Hancock County Democratic Committee (city folk can adapt items to their circumstances.) Where we've helped elect and keep in office a Democratic House candidate from a Congressional District which went for Trump twice.
Build Community and Organizing: Join your city/town, county, and state Democratic committees. Be a state delegate to the state Democratic convention. Get on board with the League of Women voters and with voter registration drives.
Get Democrats elected:
Ballot petitions. Clean elections. Yard/house parties. Sign brigades. Drive team to help local candidates canvass your area. Parades, walk with your candidate. Event info tabling crew. Post card crew. Canvass crew. Calls & texts team.
And I'd add.
1. Attend local government meetings. Participate. Volunteer for committees. And consider running for office.
2. And if you are older, be allies to the next generations of candidates.
***FIGHT FOR RANKED CHOICE VOTING AT EVERY LEVEL OF GOVERNMENT***
With rank choice, I see advantages, but until the money need is removed nothing matters.
I agree that reversing the perversion of "Citizens United" is paramount. The oligarchs are fueling the fringe to extract more power and money from the peasants. Feudalism on steroids.
But RCV is a completely different project that addresses two issues effectively. It negates the corrosive impact of a third party spoiler. And it expands our ability to build on a minority vision. I would love to vote for a "Green" ticket to express my alarm at a Planet being destroyed - but not if it means a Democrat losing to a "CONservative".
That's just what happened in Maine. An independent spoiled the governors race. The "Con" won with just 36% of the vote. TWICE! We suffered through eight years of embarrassment, and the dismantling of intelligent government programs. After we moved away to MA, the state wisely adopted RCV. And is now led by a very intelligent and experienced Democrat. (BTW, the "independent" who spoiled the election TWICE was recently busted for child porn.)
Yes. This, exactly
ThankYou (from CD2).
(Yup shout out to LePage's BFF Eliot Cutler. No surprise, abusively self indulgent in his public and private life.)
Why is it always child porn with these freaking losers???
Thank you for your information. I can see its benefits and it might just help with the money issue, but until that is gone......
"until the money need is removed nothing matters"
RCV matters a lot!
One issue focus and defeatism are forms of voter suppression. Every step taken by every person matters. Every one.
any move to weaken the money influence would help RCV could help, but like term limits, the need to raise money is the real problem. Read Pepper's book, if you have not. Spelled out rather clearly.
There is no doubt that Citizens United has corrupted the political system in order to cement corporate power. This was set in motion by the 1971 Powell Memorandum, Justice Powell's decisions on the high court and Charles Koch's court capture through Leonard Leo, Mitch McConnell, and Donald Trump. But as important as that is, it is only one element of the problem. Tunnel vision suppresses taking useful steps to address other elements. Such as the GOP using racial data to institute racist gerrymanders, as per Thomas Hofeller. For one.
"Tunnel vision suppresses taking useful steps to address other elements."
The Dems were out spent the off year election last fall, when Kochscum desperately tried to keep our school board they lost Billy. I don't think the old money rules necessarily apply. And all the rethug money is going to drumpf inept lawyers.
'drumpf inept lawyers.'
Please do not underestimate anything that has to do with Trump. His lawyer in the Georgia case is actually a respected pit bull defense lawyer. And not all of 'drumpf's' lawyers are arguing before the bench. Many are sitting on the bench.
Not necessarily. As you say, ranked choice has many advantages. It worked in Alaska and now voters will decide whether to keep it or not with opposition led by, of course, Sarah Palin.
But of course she's leading that crusade. I hope it dies on the vine.
I have a friend who did all the things you outline, lin+, for 15 years in New Mexico. I worked with her there until I moved to Mexico in '21. She's currently buying a house in Costa Rica. I'm not saying our work (more hers than mine) was utterly useless, but it is an enormous uphill slog, and it often fails because of the ignorance and/or bigotry of our neighbors.
I think we have to educate our young people to think critically and wait for the older generations to die out. I'm a boomer from Chicago, and I remember the street fighting and police overreach at the '68 democratic convention. The severe issues we face today began with Nixon's southern strategy and got consolidated by Reagan's affiliations and policies. We can't unwind a top that started spinning 75 years ago in one or two election cycles. Maybe we should use our campaign funds to hire the inception team. Too bad Christopher Nolan's a Brit, or we could run him for President.
Grass roots activism is important and to be nurtured, but the most important initiative is to get everyone to observe the golden rule and mind their own business. I have never understood why anyone cares what goes on in someone else's bedroom, for example. What other people get up to privately has zero effect on my life, and is therefore not my concern. America needs a citizenry that is passionate about Emma Lazarus-style justice - welcome everyone and leave personal bias out of the equation. After all, leftist extremism is every bit as intrusive and inappropriate as rightist.
Yes. A slog.
It took racist right wing religious extremists decades of hard work at every level of government to remake the GOP in their image.
I 'spose if they can do it, so can we. Thank you for your dedication to the cause. And as you characterize those righties responsible for the current pickle, we on the left have to guard against our social justice warriors making everything about nomenclature and perceived misogyny and racism. Words and attitudes matter, but extremism in any cause is a pain in the ass. Also destructive to the obtainable goals of a progressive agenda.
Some of you may have noticed that I have been writing screeds against this Supreme Court for at least two years. Now, they have once again, shown that they are one of the major, if the not THE major threat to democracy in America. Yesterday, they announced that Trump’s crimes should not be prosecuted before the election. They told Jack Smith to go sit in the corner; they were not going to let him get to their man Trump. I wonder how much influence Clarence had on that decision. Almost every problem that has divided and upset America has either been created or encouraged by this court. Women’s rights, voting rights, workers’ rights, guns for everyone, ok to destroy the environment, their religion over the Constitution, rich people win, poor people lose -always, and many more. They can take bribes if they wish. They can openly support the insurrection and protect the person who lead it. Who is going to stop them?
It needs to be us. We need to begin to do it now. We need to take down this court, peacefully but firmly. It won’t be easy, since they are protected by the Constitution that they often choose not to follow. Send emails and letters to every Congressperson, newspaper, web site, including state legislators and local organizations. Repeat this every day. Otherwise, no matter who gets elected, this court will continue to ruin the country.
oaitw, I made the argument in 2016 that the election was nominally for President, but was really about the Supreme Court. I hate it that I was right, and I have nothing but disdain for the "Bernie Bros" and the "Unicorn Wishers" who still say their "principles" were more important in that election that the SCROTUS that we have today.
Totally agree!
I hope to find your post tomorrow, to add some conclusions to flesh out a bit more, perhaps add some of the insights I suspected beginning in 1991, that have grown to more as the years have passed. I just am too spent to offer more this late evening. Your outline though is correct Alex; we yet have much to do.
What the Supreme Court has put on its docket is the most basic question of all: Do we have, in John Adams’ words, a government of laws and not of men?
If the November elections go the way HCR hints at, Democrats might have enough of a majority in the Senate to eliminate the filibuster and add five more Justices to the Supreme Court. While they’re at it, they could consider imposing ethics rules on said court.
Id love to have been a fly on the wall to hear what the liberal members of the Court had to say about this. It does sound like a torpedo effort by the right-wing majority. But i also like what Lawrence O'Connell said, he had no doubt that Trump would NOT become president. I get the impression Heather is almost suggesting as much. AND, she's implicitly issuing a clarion call for voter turnout plus. For sure on flooding SCOTUS "with outrage"! I can't, as a foreign national that'd be election interference, literally. The LAST thing most Canadians want is Trump 2.sick. Not that we don't have MAGA aspirationalists in the country.
Alexandra I am flooding. A tidal wave.
Thank you....
Letters of outrage addressed to whom? How can we the little people let this extreme court know how out of line they are? Can only attorneys file amicus briefs? Can law students? Deluge the SC with them!!! Protest outside the building ! When Biden wins, I wonder if these justices have thought about what happens then? Their reputations in the annals of law will be trashed & Roberts court will be looked down forever in the hx books.
I think the Roberts court is pretty immune to public opinion. If they weren't they couldn't overlook the corruption in their own ranks or have ever decided as they did on Dobbs. Or the Voting Rights Act. Or Citizens United.
Your voice counts. Still or yet. Support Jon Tester.
ps.
Another reminder of why we fight back. I've belatedly learned of Project 2025 (from a Commenter here, ThankYou.) Sounds like a Teneo Network production. I'm playing catch up here.
From Greg Olear.
Project 2025: The "Cowboy Catholic" & the Conservative Counter-Reformation
https://open.substack.com/pub/gregolear/p/project-2025-the-cowboy-catholic?r=dvsxz&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
It is frightening. The list of the supporting groups is a Dark Money trail.
This is a brilliant comment to go along with Heather’s incredibly well-reasoned column today. We are so lucky to have her putting out these summaries night after night without missing a beat.
The news about SCOTUS feels like a breaking point for me -- one way or another. I am no scholar of jurisprudence but their brazen decision yesterday has got to be one of the worst the American Supreme Court has inflicted on its citizens in history.
Not only did they decide to hear the case, they waited a substantial amount of time before they announced it.
Not only did they inflict that delay, they held back hearings until April 22.
Not only did they delay the case that long, they reframed the question so that the question will be heard in its broadest sense. This means that the clock will not automatically start ticking on July 1 (should Trump lose - not a safe bet). By framing it this broadly, it invites a challenge to be brought as to whether Trump is guilty in some aspect of their decision. This would be heard by a lower court, presumably during the summer.
It is safe to conclude that NO case except the Manhattan one will be heard by the court before the election. In other words Trump got his Get Out of Jail Free card yesterday.
I am disheartened beyond belief. Like Alexandra I feel that Americans who care about their country should mobilize against the Court in a way that is unprecedented in scope. We now know that the rot in the Supreme Court knows no bounds and could care less about American democracy. Five judges were needed to call for the case to be heard. Those five promptly showed up.
The foundations of American democracy are being whittled away piece by piece. The Supreme Court is simply one example. The other side is emboldened to hack away at the tree, not at night when we are watching, but right in front of us as well. They have (correctly) observed Trump’s success in mowing down accepted principles of a liberal democracy and have concluded that no action is to brazen to ignite outrage and thus be stopped.
And the Democrats? In the blink of an eye Biden has gone from being a stunningly effective politician to a demented old man. This characterization has long been a push point for the Republicans, but now the poison has seeped into the tent, and fearful Democrats are playing with the idea and giving it more fuel.
Ezra Klein of the NYT has framed an entire series of podcasts around the idea that Biden should be replaced. His rationale is both two-faced and hair splitting - it seems that Biden is not too old to be a great President, but IS too old to campaign effectively. Klein is extremely influential and he has pushed the Democratic Party into a corner exactly when it most needs to unify behind Biden. Clicks for him and love from the scared sheep. Lovely. It comes just when we need to mount a furious assault on every aspect of the Republican Party. Instead we are sitting around like a group of Chickens Littles, fretting about Biden’s age, blackmailing him by holding back votes in the Michigan primary, fretting about other ways he is apparently losing this election.
Enough. Enough. We’ve been fucked over by a prissy, frightened AG who held back investigation of Trump’s insurrection in such a way that Republican lawyers and the Supreme Court simply had to exploit the yawning holes in the legal system to free Trump forever. All he has to do now is win. He undoubtedly has multiple ways of cheating to win the election, but now he is getting our help.
America, you are fast reaching the stage where you deserve to lose your democracy. I apologize for ranting to the choir. I know this is a fighting group here. But the Democratic elite and its base are a disgrace. Biden does not deserve to be savaged from behind when he is the last hope left to slay Goliath.
Yes , you are right when you say we have to fight back, “ to do something “.Writing and calling our Congresspeople and the media are good ideas.I don’t know what else we could do either but we need to get a plan.Voting in gargantuan numbers is a must so that the numbers will wither Trumps claim of “ Witch Hint” and voter fraud which we know will certainly happen if he loses.What do others here think?
I agree that voter turnout is essential. Dems have always won when there were massive numbers of voters, Messaging is good, but voters are better.
I would like to know the specific judges that voted to take the case. It took at least 5. So, who are they? I know Alito and Thomas are two of the at least 5. However, I also wonder how much their taking the case shows real fear of the crowd that backs Trump. They were so afraid of the protesters against their abortion decision that they had extra security and barricades put up around the court. They all have homes and families which I am sure are being threatened. In every way possible it is politically more dangerous to be a Republican with fascist treacherous-treasonous-traitor-Trump capturing and galvanizing the crazies of this country, of which there are way too many. I will send a letter of outrage to SCOTUS, but would like more details if they are available.
Only 4 are required to ensure the case is heard. Alito and Thomas are given. I wonder if the SC pulled another ruling like the Colorado one where even the liberals on the Court supported letting the voters decide.
It’s not just the decision to hear Trump’s motion, it’s dragging it out that’s so revealing and the willingness to let one of their own (Thomas) flout the need to recuse.
Voters in November will need to protect Democracy. The Supreme Court has chosen to play Pontius Pilate.
The Pontius Pilate comment is brilliant Paul.
I wonder if a minority of white faux-Christian Nationalists think Pontius Pilate is an exercise program? /S
OK, Gary, that is good. Portentous Pilates?
This morning Joyce Vance discussed this. What she said is, "We don’t know how a specific Justice votes on a cert grant. But we do know that at least five Justices voted to hear this case because while it only takes four votes to grant cert, it take five to grant a stay, and the Court’s order, above, continues the stay in the trial court while the appeal is underway." So, that is why I said, at least 5 justices. I would like to know who they are. I hope that someone has access to this information. Of course, is the leak guarded? Are the members of SCOTUS getting personal threats or to their family members? It is highly likely given the modus operandi of Quadruple-T (Treacherous-Treasonous-Traitor-Trump)!
It took 5 votes to keep in place the stay, holding Smith’s prosecution in abeyance.
More clear evidence that they are giving voters the chance to vote to give us Barabas.
Frame that closing sentence.
Meanwhile, in the House...
I don't think the issue is so much that SCOTUS opted to take the case, but that they're slow walking it. They could have decided to hear oral arguments next week and made a decision by the end of March. That's according to notably conservative Judge Luttig on Deadline Whitehouse yesterday.
I am not sure. I think the fact that they imply that it has merits and they are ready to override what states have said about their ballots is big. I can see why they would slow walk it, because the appearance of haste is not going to appease the crazy crowd that follows Trump. Since they are unappeasable, I wonder why we are still trying. I am glad I am not an elected official when Putin's Partner Trump is trying to run our country just like Putin has been doing to carry on the Soviet Union dictatorship in Russia. These autocrats want what they want and are used to getting it. Trump is no different. He has his hatchet-people willing to die to kill for him. He is the treacherous-treasonous-traitor-Trump!
I understand your frustration and ire, Linda. I share them. If it helps, I tell myself that yesterday's decision doesn't imply anything about their eventual decision. I think it's more likely they'll go with the 11th District's finding than give double 0 45 (reference to James Bond, but also he's a double nothing) a license to kill, I imagine they want their stamp on it, both because it's a momentous constitutional case and because they maybe hope to recover some of their credibility by slapping it down, Not Thomas or Alito, of course, but I'll take a 7-2 finding against it and laugh at the contortions T & A go through in their dissent.
In the alternative, it will give Biden permission to take out a hit on the hideous gasbag and everyone else that stands in his administration's way. Not that kindly old Uncle Joe would do such a thing, but I enjoy the image of him in his aviator shades driving his BMW 3 by Maralardo, AK blazing.
Maybe then the Congressional MAGAts will be afraid of him and restore the Brady bill.
They may have overplayed their hand this time and it is our job as citizens to take it on. We can no longer rely on the courts and justice system. VOTEBLUE
When a respected judge like Michael Luttig says there’s no basis whatsoever for the Supreme Court to hear Trump’s immunity claim, four chilling words come to mind: The fix is in.
I think this forum is massively overestimating how much this court cares about tfg and the election (little, if at all), and massively underestimating the need these incredibly self-important people have to be the final word on everything (all-consuming). They frequently hand down unanimous or lopsided decisions that reaffirm a lower court. Why bother taking that case then? Because they can and need to always remind us of that.
They will most likely hand down a near-unanimous ruling that the President is not a king, and the applause and attention this will get will create a briefly distracting sentiment of "see, *sometimes* they rule for the other side!" right before they rule that machine guns are OK in public parks or declaring the real purpose of the EPA is to send Exxon Valentines or whatever insanely destructive crap they have up their sleeves this year.
Will, I find one significant lapse in an otherwise well-reasoned argument. Were the High Court solely invested in having the last word, it simply would have agreed, via the required 4 votes, to hear the case. Instead, despite the option just to take the case but not grant the stay, there had to be a 5th vote to admit the stay, allowing for a continuation of the pause on all pre-trial proceedings. Said delay virtually ensures the case won’t be tried before the election.
I mean, correct me if I am wrong, but it would seem a bit unworkable to me to allow a case to proceed to trial when the central pre-trial question has yet to be decided. It would be like putting something in the oven and *then* checking the cookbook to make sure you were not missing an ingredient. They should have dismissed this entirely, but I feel like they would have to dismiss the case or accept it *and* grant stay, no?
Will, In response to your comment, I would note, while claims of immunity were being decided, that certain pre-trial filings (i.e., arguments over requests for documents and records or over appeals for preventing certain witnesses from testifying) could still move forward to keep the case on track to meet its scheduled trial date. Additionally, precedent exists for matters like claims of immunity to be heard post-conviction on appeal.
So . . . Gorsuch , Kavanaugh (I’m still wondering who paid off his credit card & mortgage debts) & Barrett have repaid their debt to tRUmp, and, along with Thomas (he’ll never recuse) & Alito are looking to install “il Duce!”
Alito will likely write the opinion quoting medieval writings from some obscure theologian.
In his (hopefully) dissent, he would point out that *originally* the Founding Father's were loyal English subjects to a mad king.
May Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Barrett and Kavanaugh burn in hell with Mitch, Trump and all the MAGATS in Congress. Did I miss anyone?
...and once he's elected, both Alito & Thomas will promptly retire in order to make sure there are 2 more Repugnants on the (un)Supreme Court and there will be no more justice in this country.
And, would they be willing to Crown Biden?
My faith in even the overweening egos of the SC is waning.
Oh, there are some intense egos there, to be sure.
Hmm. My faith in the overweening egos of the SC is waxing.
Interesting take, Will. Your last paragraph is a zinger!
Agreed. The SCOTUS justices must realize they would become nothing more than a MAGA rubber stamp should DT and his supporters re-take control of the executive branch, no matter how invested 6 of them are in the current culture wars.
The federalist society bought SCOTUS justices are showing that they are supporting Trump and his fascism!
Once again proving that a minority (the small guy, the weak, the underappreciated, the brilliant autocrat) can and will win over the evil that we are ( goodness, integrity, actually live by the intent of the laws we pass, affect,fairness).
Later in the program Neal Katyal advanced the idea that the Supreme Court may feel compelled to rule because, in the Mar-a-lago case, 45 has claimed immunity as well.
But SCROUTS could have just affirmed the very solid decision of the appellate court which would have made it apply nationwide.
Instead, the corrupt partisan hacks on the Robert’s Kangaroo court played Cheetolini’s game and delayed any chance of justice.
They are BEYOND contempt and utterly undeserving of respect.
Plus they could have heard the case next week. But they are probably going on a retreat to Fiji on some billionaires's dime.
Neal Katyal said that the appellate court ruling would not apply nationally.
That’s correct. The appellate decision was in relation to the facts in the DC case.
An interesting aspect of today’s Order is that they dismissed Trump’s application for a stay as moot. Rather, they directed the Appellate Court to continue to withhold their mandate until the Supremes “send down” their judgment. One of their criteria for granting a stay is that a majority believe there is substantial likelihood the appellant would prevail on the merits if cert is granted. By dismissing the application for stay as moot, they explicitly state that they are not “expressing a view on the merits.”
Do you think that might also mean that they didn’t have the 5 votes needed for a stay, but were desperate to delay the trial and this was what they came up with?
Just a guess, but I’d like to believe that there aren’t five who think it’s likely to succeed on the merits. Had they granted a stay (as requested in this application) there might have been a en banc appeal delay and then another delay for an application for cert.
Exactly. Thus Scrotus could/should have simply affirmed it, thus making it apply nationwide.
I don't get how immunity would apply in the classified documents case. He wasn't president when he refused to return the documents.
Neal didn’t elaborate—I would imagine that it might apply to his taking them down there in the first place.
TFFG's lawyer's claim that he removed the documents while he was still President.
They are not arguing that he has immunity from prosecution for the obstruction claims.
And the other two doofeses will likely spend a considerable amount of time behind bars. TFFG may be forced to pick out his own clothes or maybe Mercedes will do it for him. /S
I heard Judge Luttig say this, right after the Supreme Court published their decision to hear the Trump appeal. It was clear that this esteemed legal scholar, whom I certainly admire, was and is profoundly troubled by the Supreme Court's willingness to engage with this Trump case. It remains to be seen , of course, but it may result in many of the legal charges against Trump being washed away like soap suds in your morning shower.
Judge Luttig, like the rest of us, keeps learning that this Supreme Court is like no other. Norms? What norms?
And we are in a fix. Unbelievable.
I think you’re right, unfortunately 😡
... "We" herein doubted that for one hot second ?
Totally corrupt, the Clarence court.
The three recent Federalist Society justices perjured themselves in their nomination hearings. They joined Alito, Roberts, and Clarence, who in 2010 gave U.S. billionaires their Citizens United. The six together sicced American women and their families to Handmaid’s Tale tyranny.
These billionaires already killed humanities in America’s schools. Offshored millions of working-class jobs. Allied worldwide with dictators and nationalists. Grew the gap between the U.S. richest 1% and its 99%.
To the evident perjury, bribery, and corruption for U.S. billionaires, we can now add the court’s illiteracy, as it cannot read the clear English of section three, article 14 in the Constitution to which its justices all swore oaths.
U.S. Dems still cue Pollyanna strategists such as Simon Rosenberg, whose whistling how Republicans are “imploding” excuses Dems to do no more than their status quo of ringing doorbells, phoning, floating postcards.
No. Our best Dems – many of them – need to unite and appear in public, in groups of three and four, and quote, celebrate each other’s recent and current work. There’s so much to be done while the U.S. throws away democracy to the billionaires and their Clarence court.
It's not the current Court that is corrupt. The entire Republican't party is corrupt. They have no interest in governing, despite that being the reason they were ostensibly elected. The are unable to craft legislation, or even to discuss compromising on legislation that others have crafted. They threw out the compromise that the Senate painstakingly put together. And why? After having maintained for ages that something needed to be done to address the chaos at our southern border, they nixed the plan so that Trump could run on immigration. Not, it is not just the Court that is corrupt, When a political party becomes a cult, putting their oath to the Constitution, the good of the country, and their former party's long-held principles in the trash for the good of one man (add your own adjectives), the rot is total.
"When a political party becomes a cult . . . for the good of one man."
I'm guessing, Betsy, that one man is Putin.
Interesting surmise. I'm guessing that most of the members of the cult of Trump don't think very often, if at all, of Putin. He may be the puppet-master of the useful idiots, but I don't think that he is the object of the cult.
Betsy, Putin is the “shadow-puppet” so many do not discern….and yet he is there pulling the strings far and wide w/in the Republican milieu.
Putin is not the object of the cult, but he is the object of Trump. And Trump and right wing media have been promoting Putin so that many MAGA cult members now look positively at Putin and negatively at Zelensky.
I think Republicans think they are allying with Putin and I think Putin thinks, nay knows, he is playing them for fools.
7 Mountains.
Phil, This Op piece was in the NYT today. What do you think about it?
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/02/opinion/education-humanities-college-value.html?smid=url-share
Sorry, Bruce, but the NYT denies me access unless I re-subscribe.
It has an insulting, atrocious commenting venue. Often many hours before one's comment appears, commenter interaction with each other virtually impossible.
Yeah, they haven't done that to me yet, I guess I will be with you at the beginning of March.
McConnell is corrupt! Money and Power are all that matters.
Certainly money and power are all that matters to the "GOP" 's wealthy patrons and they get the party they have paid for.
The MAGA Court appears to see their survival interest as identical with that of their Leader. But none of this is solid. It’s all built to dissolve into air at a moment’s notice. We’re a long way from November, and the game (combination of chess and Texas hold ‘em) is just warming up.
It’s horrifying that Putin and the other oil tyrants are at the table, and the loss of life will be hard to take. Win or lose, this will be costly. But the stakes are existential.
Robert's seemed to be saying on one occasion that no authority is higher than SCOTUS. DO they really want to enable an absolute emperor? I'm not sure.
Neither am I.
They have no interest in conventional administrating; they want absolute power.
Yes, Betsy. I have been writing about the entirety of conservative leadership needs to be voted out from dog catcher to the congress.
I see no reason to pillory Democratic activists for nationalizing time honored grass roots strategies to get out the vote, now that web based organizing, text messaging and other tools can bring broader influence to bear on specific House districts and other local/state elections. Rosenberg is pretty transparent about his goals and is marshaling money and volunteers at a rate that can make a difference in races around the country. Canvassing by any means is far more than status quo for most voters, who can hardly be motivated to show up at the polls when the weather is a bit challenging. He is absolutely distinct from the hoards of hand-wringing pundits who can't imagine a reason to favor someone with the experience and track record of our current president for a second term. Biden helped us past Covid, and God willing, he'll help us past the would-be Orange Emperor.
I'm afraid, "Just Sayin'," of Republicans, dark money, corrupt court, and their Russian backers.
Their alliance includes the Heritage Foundation, ALEC, the Hoover Institution, the Federalist Society, the Claremont Institute, and dozens more far right foundations stoked by billionaires to do billionaire (and Clarence court ideologue and Russian aggression) bidding.
In-person grass roots strategies can make some dent in all this, but why not get our star power out there, they also in-person in public, celebrating the good programs democracy still needs:
Jamie Raskin, Mallory McMorrow, Katie Porter;
Sheldon Whitehouse, Gretchen Whitmer, Ro Khanna, Justin Jones;
Pete Buttigieg, Eric Swalwell, Jasmine Crockett, Amy Klobuchar;
Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Ilhan Omar, Maxwell Frost;
Liz Warren, Raphael Warnock, Josh Shapiro, Zoe Lofgren;
Dan Goldman, Gavin Newsom, Ted Lieu, Madeleine Dean;
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Wes Moore, Gary Peters, Robert Garcia;
Maxine Waters, Hakeem Jeffries, Jerry Nadler, Richard Blumenthal;
Chris Coons, Abigail Spanberger, Summer Lee, Jared Moskowitz;
Adam Schiff, Shontel Brown, Mikie Sherrill, Pramila Jayapal.
Again, not to pick on you Phil, but... you are exemplifying the mindset of "Democrats fall in love, Republicans fall in line" that led to catastrophic losses in 2010 and 2014. Everything FELT fine, because we had the ultimate STAR POWER that was Obama, but everything was not fine because we were neglecting the grunt work and structural organization that are how long-term political power is built.
The idea that we need less relational organizing and more exposure for the crowd-pleasing voices of unity that are... Ilhan Omar and Ro Khanna (?!?!?!?!) is not an idea that jives with me.
I picked those names, Will, because each stands for specific programs democracy needs.
Obama might have had star power focus on him, but these Dems I list have real programs really needed across the land and -- if organized well to cite each other and each other's programs -- could well energize for practical pay-offs.
Could you elaborate on how each of these people (or at least some of them) actually has an original policy proposal for a social program unique to them, rather than the others? Pretty much every single Democrat stands for the same basic programs, and unless you are in a major leadership role you are in no position to actually formulate nor direct the specifics of a major new policy proposal.
Hey Just Sayin', Will, from Cal and Phil Balla - you are all on my list of favorite commenters here. And I just want to shout that you are all absolutely correct. :)
I think we can walk and chew gum at the same time - and maybe spit on a fascist simultaneously.
Here's my take: the Dobbs decision layered with the insanity of embryo person hood is THE issue that will put us over the top. Many people are one issue voters. Witness the Michigan Gaza rebellion. People in general vote on emotions. Most Americans and certainly most women are angry about the loss of reproductive rights (even in red states!) and it also is a terrifying sign of government overreach.
Add to that the boiling up of anti LGBTQ+ laws and rhetoric - and the puss of anti-semitism... we should have every reason to see a huge resistance to the MAGA mania.
Gotta go buy some packs of gum to hand out. As Joyce always says...we're in this together.
Walk, chew, and spit simultaneously. I think I can, I think I can. Good convo. Thanks Bill (and all!)
^^^
What Bill said.
I don't think Bernie Sanders can be trusted in the kind of program you are suggesting. Bernie Sanders only really supports Bernie Sanders; he shares narcissistic tendencies with trump.
Mary Ellen Harris, Bernie toured the country stumping for Biden/Harris in 2020 campaign. And he has for years been shouting from the rooftops, trying to wake the public up to the corruption of big money donors and the political parties rigging the system against the people. He has been jeered and treated with contempt for doing so. But he kept and keeps at it. You can see narcissism in him. That may be. I don't know. I see patriotism. A great patriot, courageously telling the truth long before anyone else was.
There is a distinct difference between one person being a self-absorbed narcissist, and another person having the courage and intellect to stand up and fearlessly say what needs to be said.
And, that distinction is ..."YUGE".....
And hey, he’s “old” too!
Annie Weeks, too old our arses. I agree. Bernie has passion for what is just and fair. That is timeless wisdom.
And he's been seen wearing MITTENS.
And RFKJR is the closest thing to what Bernie stands for- We the people.
RFK is an anti-science lunatic. You and his wife could consider "Curbing Your Enthusiasm" for somebody who says modern vaccines cause autism and that 5G causes "leaky brain".
RFK is not a serious person. He was...he did a lot of good environmental work. Then he lost his mind. His family is still searching for it.
John Daigle, RFk Jr is a shill for the Republicans. Look closer at his speeches, interviews, and platform and you will see that he is not a man of the people.
RFK JR is nooooo Bernie Sanders. All one must do is listen to RFK's interviews, as difficult as they are to listen to. I cant help but think that if people do not hear the warning signs in these speeches and interviews, we are encountering the same phenomena that we did with tfg's stumping....poor analysis, overly generous benefit of doubt and a tank full of wishful thinking.
In his 2016 campaign, Bernie had great support from working class America.
They felt he supported needed programs for them, Mary Ellen. He's always been very specific in naming those needs of so many Americans.
In a sad note also to 2016, many Bernie working class supporters ended up voting Trump, feeling Hillary too close to bankers and other elites, out of touch with working Americans.
They were skilfully fed those feelings about Hillary. That was easy Russia fodder.
Bernie shoulda been veep.
Bernie wasn't specific enough about the needs of working class Americans to clearly come out in support of Hillary.
We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
And the idiots in Michigan haven’t learned that. The one touting “uncommitted” said they would prefer trump to Biden in Nov.
Tribalism trumps all, Jeri.
It was a nice experiment while it lasted, -- democracy. But it depended on all of our respect for others as individuals, all with largely free, open lives, possibilities. Depended, too, on public schools to keep our public space healthy -- all with respect for "others," aside from tribes, groups, sects and whatever demographics whereby the billionaires sic standardized testing on all to number, categorize, confine all.
Very appropriate. I am especially concerned about the people who want to vote for RFK Jr. or other third-party candidates... it'll only take votes away from Biden.
You’re right: there is that.
Hear, hear on grass roots strategies to get out the vote. It works. As Nancy Pelosi says, "Don't agonize. Organize." This is what we have. Let's do it!
"Dems still cue Pollyanna strategists such as Simon Rosenberg" Um... isn't the whole reason Simon's profile got raised is he was one of the only ones to get the midterms right by NOT being gloomy?
"whistling how Republicans are “imploding” excuses Dems to do no more than their status quo of ringing doorbells, phoning, floating postcards." You literally just dismissed the only ways most people can get involved. What other ways are there to communicate with voters large-scale? Mass hypnosis via specialty chemtrails? Grassroots actions are the reason Dems have won almost every race since 2018.
"Our best Dems – many of them – need to unite and appear in public, in groups of three and four, and quote, celebrate each other’s recent and current work." This is literally what politicians do on a daily basis. When Good Ole Joey B. visits some newly-built bridge outside Pittsburg, do you think he goes alone and talks to himself?
No, Will, our politicians do not do what you claim they do.
And certainly not "on a daily basis."
Yes, they appear together at rallies, and applaud each other. But specifically lauding, quoting each other's programs? No, that requires some research -- background staff who can amass the stats, record the votes, cite the funding and pay-off from that.
I think you take for granted quoting skills which Americans might have if American schools still had humanities which students learned to quote (directly, indirectly) in the literate contexts humanities and good teachers can enable.
I mean, I doubt a day goes by where either the President or several state governors, or a coterie of congressmembers is holding some public events talking about their accomplishments and goals, with press present. The problem is that major national media does not cover these things, does not see profit in covering these things, and if they do not then most people are not aware.
Again, I totally see and respect where you are coming from. In the world I wish to live in this would work. However, when you say we should do more to "amass the stats, record the votes, cite the funding and pay-off from that," that is exactly what any political strategist worth their salt will tell you to do *less* of. Granular, practical detail causes most voters' eyes to glaze over. Proving you have a wide variety of ideas just dilutes the overall message in most peoples' minds of "what you stand for." What people respond to is clearly emotional framing, basic values, and a consistent party line repeated constantly. I wish they were about the *how* but they're not, and attempting to get them to think this way in an insistence of elevating the discourse is a sure way to lose elections, which we cannot afford to do.
Thank you, Will -- again from you, most well-put.
Let's qualify "what any political strategist worth their salt will tell you to do *less* of."
Here is exactly where the humanities come in. Yes, if our public officials speak together in coherent panels in public, and anything appears as wonk, that's when humanities may humanize, keep things personal, in touch with the room.
That's when one of the public officials cites Barbara Kingsolver's "Demon Copperhead," or the movie "Winter's Bone."
That's when another public official can cite Walter Mosely's "Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned," or anything from hip hop which Ari Melber may provide.
When another can cite the movie "The Verdict" on how dangerously corrupt U.S. courts and lawyers may be in serving the rich, or getting bribes and pay-offs to Clarence and Alito.
Your last statement, Phil, is sorta Pollyannish. For some reason, I learned the Gettysburg Address by heart when I was in school. As a teacher, when I assigned it to a student to learn, (6th grade), who needed some assignments to take with him on an extended vacation mid-school year, his parents rebelled, and complained to the principal. Everyone involved learned that memorizing quotations could or could not be meaningful.
I like Phil, but he is assuming that teaching someone something means that they will actually learn it, which is not actually true, *especially* in school.
I would love for civics and humanities to be prominent in schools again, simply because it is the right thing to do. However, older generations who had mandatory civics and humanities seem to be currently voting in a much less humane and civically-minded way than the younger ones that were deprived of them. I will just leave it at that.
You've fingered something most vital here, Will.
What did happen to our civics and humanities?
To answer, let's go to the word "anodyne." Wikipedia defines it as "intended to avoid causing offence or disagreement, especially by not expressing strong feelings or opinions.
To be most charitable, this is what happened to all textbooks, and all standardized tests, especially those touching on anything human -- according to Diane Ravitch in her 2003 work, "The Language Police." Everything got whitewashed, neutered, homogenized. Or, turned anodyne.
Didn't happen by accident. The far-right foundations begun with the Powell memo absolutely hated all humanities. Absolutely wanted the human to be swept up in far right plans for commercialism, for more powers for the rich and the corporate, for humanity to be reduced to numbers, units, such as fit for their packaging.
They won, Will. Turned American ed inside out. In K-12 the worst forms of standardized testing forced out everything else, forced all schools to teach to the test only. The human? Writing essays as if people were personally involved in anything? Dead. Gone. Writing essays with any view to larger contexts? Nope. Finished. Impossible.
Elites all turned blind to what the commercial classes then did in the offshoring of the American working classes. Elites had no human reference to anything anymore. No citing of novels, films, or music -- though we had greats arts yet well in touch with the great pain our billionaire classes were wrecking on the land.
Yes, Will, I'm for humanities -- but with the highest standards of essay writing restored.
Ringing doorbells, phoning and writing postcards sounds small, but individual citizens have limited options and those are 3 things that do help. That and strategically and thoughtfully financing candidates and organizations that are fighting for our country's survival. And, yes, our leaders need to be heard loudly and repeatedly defending our democracy and touting what Democrats are doing in defense of the people, and of our country.
Yes, of course, Avery. They "do help."
So, too, does writing letters to one's own public officials in office.
But please, let's not limit ourselves when the game has changed so much, when the Clarence court, Russian agents, U.S. dark money, social media algorithms, and Fox News trumpeting Trump lies all ally in ways never seen before.
When you say “don’t limit ourselves”, what precisely are you thinking about?
I'm thinking two things, both related, Avery.
One is that our best public officials, in public, in small groups on stage, could refer soberly and enthusiastically to programs each has championed -- and which still need work to enact. This means the "quoting literacy" which our public officials do not now have.
This leads me to number two of the things in which we sadly limit ourselves. And that's humanities.
Our schools gutted them (goaded on by far-right foundations organized and aiming to do that since the Powell memo set that up beginning 1971). When we lost our humanities, and lost the urge to make wider public use of them, we lost more than the extra citations we could have made. We lost the literacy to embrace wider contexts, to see personal predicaments of "others" informing our communities.
In losing that literacy, we got instead the group identity silos and group hatreds billionaire social media engineered for us. Very much reduced literacy. Reduced sympathy. Communities reduced to divisiveness, shouting matches, epithet-hurling, stochastic terrorism.
We've become very, sadly limited, Avery.
Fix by Nov 5
That memo is the root of Project 2025.
Exactly so, Phil. "...unite and appear in public, in groups of three or four <as diverse as possible> and quote, celebrate each other's recent and current work." Perfect!
I agree with your last paragraph. However, for a great many of us in the ranks, “floating “ postcards, canvassing, supporting local, county, state candidates is what we are able to do to get people to the polls to help save our democracy. It’s not wishful think; it’s action from the bottom.
Rachel Maddow's, Chris Hayes', Lawrence O'Donnell's, and Attorney Luddig's gobsmack, disbelief commentary on MSNBC this evening regarding SCOTUS was spot on. There is only one thing that "we the people" can do and that is to vote for Joe Biden and give him an overwhelming win. trump must never again occupy the WH or this country will be a frightful place and not where anyone with one functioning brain cell would want to live. For the past 9+ years we have been living with the Sword of Damocles over our heads because of the chaos and destruction of the evil that is trump.
And we must vote for Senators who support democracy and our constitution. Down state and local elections are also important. VOTE!
We must vote, and we must volunteer starting now to get others to vote. Me voting is not enough. I need to get others to vote. We all need to get busy. We have work to do.
Never, never, never vote for a republican!
Just straightforwardly well put, Janet - the stakes are incalculable.
I am on part 9 of the Entirety of CONservative Leadership Must Go. My next article will be about CONservatives have attacked the justice department since its founding.
Would be nice if Dems helped.
But RFKJR is a better choice to restore democracy and governance to “we the people “Biden hasn’t done that because his hands are tied.
Vote for Alex Jones idiocy
I watched msnbc all afternoon and was demoralized. But I eventually started once again to see that things don’t really look good at all for Trump… or the Supreme Court. They’re all taking big chances that they won’t be impeached and replaced after Biden wins. I firmly believe that we will gain back the House and keep the Senate, as well. Laws will be changed to prevent many of these things the founders never anticipated would need to be addressed. We all have to remain active, vigilant, and involved. It’s so hard! But this is our moment and we simply can’t give in or give up.
With you 100%. We have work to do starting now. Lots of work. Lots of volunteering. This is now our mission.
As Joyce Vance stated it tonight, the best (and only slightly decent) face that the Supreme Court can put on this decision is that by delaying the decision until after the primaries and conventions—and possibly after voting has opened in some states—they are “letting the voters decide.” https://joycevance.substack.com/p/the-supreme-court-disappoints/comments
IOW, when the central tenet of our Country, equality before the law, is before them, the Court is kicking the can down the road. Any 6th grade civics course student could do better. Oh, wait, I forgot that civics is not taught in our schools any more.
Joyce Vance also said in her Substack tonight that "Justice delayed is justice denied."
While history is not on the side of this Frankenstein-monster which was formerly known as the Republican Party, untold damage will be done before their day ends. Prepare for a long and bitter fight. Do not lose heart. Never surrender.
Marshall, my “anthem” as I have posted here numerous times…and it’s danceable! Keep on keepin’ on! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bmzimxfqgfw
These Days, one can hope The Pretender(s) are Running on Empty.
I'll show myself out.
And you are tangled up in blue like Bob Dylan said.
Supreme Court History Replay: The same folks who made Bush President now tip the scales for Trump. This infographic shows how John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett, Ted Cruz, Joel Kaplan, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alioto helped stop the vote recount in Florida to get Bush Jr. elected. Surprised by their decision to tilt the scales for Trump?
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/02/28/maga-supreme-court-justices-tip-the-scales-for-trump/
This is the same court that declared corporations are persons, scrap voting rights, women’s health do not matter, and soon: federal agencies do not have the right to regulate. Fascism in action.
Roberts, Kavanaugh, and Comey Barrett were not yet on the court that made George W. Bush president. Thomas was nominated by GHW Bush, Alito by GW Bush.
They were all on the legal teams who supported the Florida vote count stoppage.
Now, with court delays virtually inevitable, our only recourse is to do everything in our power to get a trifecta in November in order to save our democracy. The alternative is horrifying.
Thank you Professor ⭐
Many have said it:
everything he touches dies.
The “merde” touch to be sure! (Not so much the “Midas touch”…..hahahaha).
Well said. 🤪
Those sneakers were DOA for sure
I saw a great photo of those gawdawful shoes:
"Reebok is fast. Nike is faster. But these are the Fascist."
Ally, there is also one with an ankle bracelet attached!!
🤣
Republicans don't want sneakers with good taste, Republican, ... Oh never mind.
(Oh J.L., please tell me you were going for the "Charlie the Tuna" style quote: ".....Republicans want sneakers that taste good.") Especially where they have to do so much licking of Trump's footwear.
And feet in mouths.
☺️
🤣🤣🤣
Damn the Clarence led Supreme Court…I’m incensed but that rage needs to be directed into action…
The slow moving attemped coup continues. Our leaders' various responses just don't seem terribly effective so far at countering it. I'd like to see more action. It's as though everything is stuck in molasses.
Maybe the best description of the nightmare so far today.
It is a nightmare.
But nightmares have a beginning... and an end.
Awakening. Return to life.
RBG, we miss you.
If only she had stepped down when Obama tried to get her to.
No one can predict when they are going to die, unless it's by suicide.
RBG was working for "we the people" until she couldn't.
This is on McConnell and Leonard Leo for ramming through a theocratic woman who belongs to a Catholic cult that thinks women should be subservient to men. This should have been Biden's nomination and Gorsuch should have been Obama's.
If you have to blame something blame McConnell and Leo before you blame one of the best jurists every to be part of SCOTUS.
I am not blaming RBG. She was absolutely one of the very best jurists we've ever had. She also had cancer. Unfortunately she could not hang on long enough to have her fervent wish to be replaced by the next president, Joe Biden. She took a risk by staying. I wish she had not. And, yes, hindsight is twenty twenty.
And, I wonder what might have happened if she had stepped down, and Republicans still blocked the Obama nominee. She would have gone to her grave regretting it.
Amen.
We cannot rely on the courts to stop Trump. We must stop him by registering voters, educating the undecided (don't waste your breath on MAGArats), turning out the vote and voting ourselves. Donate to Democratic candidates and PACs, ignore the polls and the media. Be resolute, organize and fight for our nation!
Shame on Chief Justice Roberts. He has caved to the right wing justices. Our constitution is dying.
Roberts had a long history of suppressing voting rights. He is no better than Thomas or Alito.
Thank you. I just deleted my comment on this because it was leading me to more and more disturbing information on Roberts. I still, however, find it hard to believe that he wants HIS court to go down in history as the anti-American, anti-democracy, pro-authoritarianism -- never mind unconstitutional -- that would, if something doesn't happen right quick, destroy this country as we know it. But apparently, I'm naive.
Roberts, like Rehnquist, is an old hand in election rigging. You must realize that Justices live in the weeds, the words. They can't see the book for all those words. The Republican Party today is the most corrupt entity ever to have meaningful power in the United States. They must be purged. It will take a long time. And yes, you are naive to give Roberts credit for anything.
Yes, I am naive. Much less so that eight years ago, but I'm still not facing certain things. I did not think they would hear this case. I did not think they would want that to be their legacy. I still cannot believe it as I write this. Do they not realize that these anti-democratic power grabs will one day destroy them too? THAT is what I come back to over and over.
Under normal circumstances, you wouldn't be naive at all. Your concern is completely reasonable, as is your expectation of sensible legal review. Now, with all this knowledge descending on you, you will understand the depth and power of corruption. And the source of all that corruption is the realization by the oligarchs that we are coming for their money, which we paid to them, which makes it our money. They know a democracy can tax them and regulate them. They will fight to the death, kill anyone, support any killer (Putin), to preserve their unjustifiable wealth. They might not even be aware of it, but they are running scared. At some point they will lose, and we will win. That's why they bought the R party and the Supreme Court. Pure fascist corruption.
And when we win, the Court will be expanded and perhaps, Thomas will resign or risk being removed or impeached, Ginni will face the music, Alito will resign or also be fired. They will be replaced! Actually, when Biden-Harris wins, all of those justices in question will freak out because Sheldon Whitehouse and Dick Durbin are coming to get them. They are small potatoes in comparison to their lord and master, Leonard Leo. Whitehouse has been working on convicting Leonard Leo for tax evasion and setting up shell companies to launder money since, I believe, 2016.
Since we can still dream, let's dream big!
I'd LOVE to see Clarence Thomas impeached and Ginni brought to court on charges...but even more than that I would purely ADORE seeing Lennie Leo convicted and put in prison for the rest of his born days.
James Burnham, great summary of the fears of the oligarchs and their by any means necessary
reactions. Unconsciously, it seems like a death threat to the ego to have to diminish their power/wealth in any way, and as you say, they will fight to the death.
It is a scary thought.
I love your word, unjustifiable wealth. It's perfect.
Thank you.
Nomi Lubin, that is my feeling about it, too. Why can't even the Federalist trained Justices see that giving Trump immunity--or even giving him support by considering the case, makes the Court rather obviously biased and lowers their credibility to the vanishing point.
I'm going to watch Schitt's Creek now before I go to sleep. It's fabulous, btw.
My briefest response to the current state of things:
"Ew, David. Ew."
You are not naive. We have never seen this level of corruption at the Supreme Court
This is quite fine, as always, thank you. Comprehensive, explanatory, and clear. Would you please write a column on the historical precedents you alluded to? (“the other times in our history when a formerly stable two-party system has fallen apart and Americans reevaluated what they want out of their government”) I have come to appreciate so much your ability to inform current events with your historical expertise, that I missed it dreadfully in this column. Thanks again.
She's written about it before, and frequently discusses it in her "Politics and History" chats. Several of the "Now and Then" podcasts that she and Joanne Freeman did covered this.