Shortly after midnight last night, the Justice Department released special counsel Jack Smith’s final report on former president Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Paradoxically, the worse things get, the more optimistic I become. I know things can go south – a miscalculation among these bumbling idiots and the whole human project perishes. But if we survive that and things get very bad . . . well, things are often bad until they are not. There are Black Swan events that can topple regimes. Assad was going to go on forever . . . until he didn’t. The Soviet Union and Eastern Block were nowhere near collapse . . . until they were. Hitler and the Wehrmacht were invincible . . . until they were not.
A wig-maker’s apprentice comes to collect a bill from a British soldier in Boston and we are no longer a British colony. A few bad harvests in France and Louis XVI’s head comes off. A volcanic eruption in the sixth century, and the Arabs soon transform Rome’s and Persia’s empires – and history. Rome’s western Empire was going to be imperium sine fine, until a series of unfortunate events conspired against them between 378 and 407 CE.
You get the picture. Things can change, the unforeseen become the inevitable. A searing assassination. An indiscrete massacre. A charismatic leader who expresses our collective "Enough!"
History says anything is possible. We just lived that with the pandemic. Expect the unexpected. And I hold that just as the Eastern Block was de facto Soviet, until it was not, the US may well be the US, until it is not. I cannot help but wonder how long people in blue states will tolerate seeing their resources handed out to red, without reciprocity and with gross mockery and abuse. And what will the breaking point be and look like ? Perhaps Tuberville and California are just the beginning.
While the Confederacy might for a moment have a stranglehold on our government, hold space for enormous change. Barring nuclear "pique", not even Trump controls history’s tide. He merely rides it with the rest of us.
Some time ago I stood where Hitler stood at the rally ground in Nuremberg. It is now the site of all manner of diversity initiatives and festivals throughout the year. The vision that monster had for Germany was a spring that only coiled against him. A long view, yes, but that is history, is it not? A very long game indeed, and one damn thing after another.
Thank you. I've often thought that the US might need to "hit bottom" which reminds me of your comment, "the worse things get, the more optimistic I become." So many people in the US might be in denial and are enabling this insanity. I hope the "bottom" comes soon.
We never know what the bottom looks like, until we do. This is why history is so frustrating - it doesn't repeat as precisely as we would like. It's rather like Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, "All happy family's are alike, but unhappy family's are unhappy in their own particular way", (to paraphrase). What will the bottom look like for the US? Mass unemployment like the 30s? Crematoria? Bombed out cities? Or are we nearly there? I don't know. And I don't dare predict.
Exactly! All I know is that I plan on enjoying as much Schadenfreude as I can muster when it comes to the morons who arrogantly voted for this disgusting insanity.
I hate to think of myself as a cruel person, and I don't want to take any perverse pleasure in someone else's suffering, but I have come to the conclusion that too many in this country won't fully understand the ramifications of their actions unless they personally feel the full effects. They seem more than happy foisting cruel and unnecessary acts (i.e., cutting Medicaid and SNAP, deportation) on others, as long as they don't impinge on them. When the chickens come home to roost, maybe just maybe, they will see the light.
You're not cruel . . . I'm much more so as I want horrible weather on January 20th in D.C. and all the trumpsters at the "inauguration" to get the norovirus that is going around!!
They don't know what they don't know. Facts and reason are lost on them. Try to convince a dedicated Christian, or Muslim, that there are no verifiable facts to prove their beliefs and one runs into a brick wall. The "want-to-believe" is stronger, in many cases, than the ability to be objective. I think that that is the case with Trump: most important to his followers is his promise to crush and punish the undesirables: gays, immigrants, women's rights advocates, Muslims, transgender folks, and the like. "Who voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election and Why?" Critical Sociology, Feb. 2018. Google it.
You are not a cruel person for being angry because ignorant people are dragging you down with them. Some people change only when they hit rock bottom--I see this with my mental health clients all the time. When all the menial workers are deported resulting in food scarcity, food will be imported and tariffed at 25%. We will still be able to eat, but it won't be fun watching fellow citizens, even those who voted for all of this, scavenge for food. It makes me sick to think about it....
Every community will be affected immediately because there will be homeless people on the streets and crimes increase. Only those living in gated communities may be unaffected but the numbers are few. I am more disheatened that American finally has a president who broke laws and lied.
I'm not a cruel person, Kathleen, and still I share Jessie S.'s schadenfreude. Let them enjoy the regime they voted for. If they don't love it, however, they'll never blame the First Felon for tricking them - they'll blame the dems and/or the woke.
I have had the same kinds of thoughts. It's always a mistake to believe the other side has no weaknesses. And, who knows what things will look like on the other side of our defeat? You simply can't predict. The only certainty for me is that the electorate cannot be trusted to vote to preserve traditional American constitutional values - they have succumbed to the brainwashing of the oligarchy via the media they control. The electorate is either largely indifferent to democracy or inimical.
This was coordinated from the top. How do we lowly voters combat billionaires hell bent on control and fascism? How do we fight corrupt supreme court members on the take? How do we fight epic levels of lies and misinformation and deep fakes?
Look at the French who resisted Vichy and the Germans starting in WWII. The French Resistance, often discounted, helped make possible the success of the D-Day invasion. But it began with small acts by individuals and small groups, many of whom gave their lives for acts that gave courage to others. We must not give in to Putin/Trump/Musk.
Reading William L. Shirer’s book on France in the 1930’s is a start as it resembles our current situation with Republicans in Congress.
Ah, therein lies the rub. People do care... even if it's the sniveling little f**k of a man, the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (R-LA). He cares enough to want to put restrictions on aid to California. That is not indifference, that's just mean, and vile.
PLEASE remember the ⅓ of us who care a lot and voted for Harris and wrote postcards, went door to door , did everything in our power to elect Harris/Walz.
I have to believe it found a willing audience that was ripe for the messaging. It never went away, not after the Civil War, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Era, the Southern Strategy, and now, MAGA. It has just become more blatant and unafraid to show its true colors. Always blaming the wrong actors, but with a deep-seated fear and disdain of people of color and worship of wealthy and powerful men - the true culprits of their economic misery. When will they learn?
"largely indifferent to democracy or inimical" NO, that is not true. Even if you use 'the electorate' to mean all those eligible to vote. Considering those registered to vote (161+ million) and vote totals of over 153 million in 2024 (AP stats) I don't see their indifference or their distaste for democracy.
C'mon Kerry, I doubt that anyone in what you refer to as the "electorate" is cognitively "indifferent" to democracy. They are simply in this for themselves. And as far as being "inimical" consciously, they don't know the word. Their behavior is just the way they're wound. They are shallow people, who attract shallow people. So, don't expect their shallow decisions to hold water. So, I would say, the "electorate" is indeed a shallow bunch, and easily manipulated (weakness!).
For decades I have thought "Surely after this one the public will see that Republican plutocrats are not their friends", only to see the latest outrage "normalized".
But I also know an avalanche can start out small, and alas, go either way. Also, that solidarity, the common bond that enables diversity, has toppled many tyrant; and I remain hopeful, if there is still enough time.
Ditto JL; I thought the same. They cover their 'tracks' extremely well - they have the means to make sure of that by any and all means, and most of them don't run their yaps like tfg - far preferring to pull all the strings behind the scenes.
The way to defeat lies is not by telling the truth. The way to defeat lies by telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. That involves being specific about how to distinguish between the wise and the unwise.
We all seek the truth until we get close enough to recognize it’s going to be inconvenient. That’s when the wise keep going and the unwise turn away. This comment is for the wise.
A deadly disease can infect a body, and no one will notice, so we don’t respond until its symptoms appear. The initial response involves treating the symptoms. “Treating symptoms” and “lessening symptoms without understanding the disease” are different phrases expressing the same meaning. The ultimate response involves understanding the disease. “Understanding the disease” and “curing the body by eradicating the disease” are different phrases expressing the same meaning.
The deadly “authoritarian” disease has infected the body politic. The time has come to understand the disease. Understanding the disease involves making unspoken cultural paradigms explicit and then separating the wheat from the chaff.
I subscribe to this newsletter because I am not an expert in history or journalism, nor do I want to be, and nor do I need to be because of people like Heather. I am an expert in understanding the authoritarian disease.
I’m asking for the opportunity to demonstrate the usefulness of my expertise, and I’d like to share that expertise by initiating a conversation about how we make the world a better place for everyone, including future generations. So, I am asking those who want to engage with me in that conversation to subscribe to my weekly newsletter. I’m not charging a subscription fee. I am planning on publishing weekly and I’ll try to keep each edition under 1,200 words.
I'm in. Not sure why. I don't need more deliveries in my inbox - it's getting overwhelming! Curiosity and your brevity, perhaps. I did read the teaser section of your book. I am impressed with the "perspective".
However, in your first edition of the new project, you mention that the skyscrapers of Manhattan are built on bedrock. Which is true except they are also built on trash and reclaimed land (fill from the waterways and wherever).
Good luck with the newsletter. I am reading much less from MSM and more from thinkers.
But until you can cure the disease you surely must try and alleviate the symptoms - another way of saying that the best can sometimes be the enemy of the good. There are plenty of like-minded people for you to engage with in whatever way you can. Myself, I'm currently reading Hannah Ritchie's uplifting 'Not the End of the World'. Hans Rosling's 'Factfulness' is also a good antidote to despair. And remember, Trump is not the United States - there are many cities in the US that are committed to progressive policies, irrespective of the direction of national government; and the US is not the world. There's a saying that it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. I'm sure that's true, but (I suspect) like you I'm for doing both.
I agree. "Symptom treating" is necessary and insufficient, "disease curing" is necessary and insufficient, and both together are necessary and sufficient.
thanks. I am not a "expert" as Heather, but because of her letter, I can say I am much more knowledgeable to the tune of nearly a hundred books on the subject. I too have a substack and would love for you to engage with it.
That's a belief shared by many about alcoholics: they have to hit bottom before they are amenable to treatment. He has to define bottom, just as we have to define bottom. Trump and his cabinet nominees are bottom, and we need to understand that soon.
As a conservative Indie, one thing I do know: pointing out just how low we are and how little the majority of M.A.G.A. voters benefit can elevate the bottom so we hit it sooner. 😰
The problem is I have been anticipating, hoping for a blue wave in 2018 (no); 2020 (starting); 2022 (no way); and, 2024 (w.t.f.). So I no longer trust my 'instincts'; I feel badly for that. 💔
In the meantime, we will have to live through and undergo public pronouncements for years that will be delusional on subjects as divers as race, economics, national identity and our constitutional history. The problem with such tyrants is that they embrace many other life-destroying myths, requiring the continual use of propaganda for their maintenance, which deviates from the honest dissemination of information that we expect from a liberal democracy. These are not champions of reason or responsibility or respect........
If trump's actions mirror his words bottom is around the corner. Undocumented immigrants are already fleeing fearing detention camps. Mass deportation will decimate the infrastructure workforce. Farmer's and food producers are saying that their businesses would collapse if this happens. What really terrifies me is that if all of these bozos get confirmed there will be no national security. Glad you're warm and cozy--I'm buckling my seatbelt....
I don't know what to think, Jack. What I do know is that all of this has proved former Pres. G.W. Bush to be absolutely correct when at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on 3/31/2001 he said: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on."
Trump knew this and we need to learn it, that is, to launch a campaign to dismantle their lies, disinformation, misinformation and misdirection lures, such as abortion, DEI, women's and gay's rights, immigration, etc. The wealthy use this to sucker the ordinary folks to vote against their own best economic interests. Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and Heather Cox Richardson, "How the South Won the Civil War."
There is a young man an hour’s drive away that’s paralyzed for life by polio. How long would people tolerate an outbreak? Bird flu is mutating as we speak. An ineffectual response though not as deadly as Covid will be Deja vu all over again. Cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, SOCIAL SECURITY are not going to go down well with huge swaths of the population. Things can go south very quickly with midterm elections not far away. All these rats will abandon ship just as fast as they got on board. We’re still a young country let’s call it growing pains.
That might be true if elected officials were actually responsive to voters. With the current lopsided, gerrymandered structure, the voters have been chosen by the map designers, so for the GOP the determinant races are the low-turnout primaries in which the more extremist, the better.
Someone said WWIII will be fought with nuclear weapons and WWIV will be fought with sticks and stones, so I hope you are correct. I don’t want to see either in my lifetime.
Peggy you summarize what I always say about felon 34 an the maga orde and the 1%billionaires. The werse the better. Our senators should fight every inch every nomination and expose the consequences for certification, but should let the Republicans own the mess they'll create . They will bring our country to our weaker point in history but we will survive. Let them expose themselves and let the voters feel the pain of their decisions and don't let the subsequent lies justification and blaming someone else prevail.
I've been listening to the examination of Pam Bondi for AG. No doubt about it, trouble lies ahead - she will enforce Trump's will before enforcing the law.
We are on the brink of being a lawless nation. I have nothing but ridicule for Biden for allowing this to occur. You may love the gentle old senior for pulling us out of the great pandemic. But he had no understanding of how ruthless and poisonous his adversary was. A military coup by the good generals would be ironically the better alternative. I would take my chances with them.
Biden set his presidential sights on protecting our population from the virus, restoring our place within the world, recovering our economy and giving those of us not in the 1% a better shot at financial security. He accomplished a lot for us in four years.
I don’t dump on his doorstep the overreach of the wealthy players who want to punish us all for some fucking reason. I blame all that on an obviously stupid electorate who has allowed themselves to be the mark of the world’s s (likely) most gifted con man of our time.
Example: women voting for a man who assaults women……..TWICE‼️
I’ve been railing on that shit for TEN YEARS‼️. My husband will no longer attend his family events with me in tow because there’s a dozen women there who have experienced my hatred of any woman who feeds at trumps trough.
No, Joe Biden can’t be expected to fix this kind of stupid.
Amen. My spouse, also, has nothing but incredulity at, and disdain for, any woman who would vote for T**** and his Republican minions. I cannot fathom their reasoning. Thankfully, my daughter-in-law, the mother of my three granddaughters, is doing a good job of raising them to think for themselves. She has a low bs threshold.
A Russian friend once told me that an important part of Putin’s base is made up of women over 45. They seem to like this he-man sham, and his « charm » (yeah, I know). I imagine that the majority of white American women who voted for Trump must feel the same.
Absolutely agree with you. If Biden had spent too much time criticizing Trump, we'd be criticizing Biden for spending too much time on Trump. I didn't have to agree on every policy (eg. student loan forgiveness), but he tackled areas that needed legimate oversight, reform or improvement....
Once a week I drive on a piece of interstate that, prior to the Infrastructure Act, was like driving on a railroad track. For that small benefit, I’m very grateful. My government at work for me.
Actually Bill, we are already a lawless nation - we only lack mayhem, disorder, and anarchy. If one man can be above the law, there is no law respectable.
It is so very convenient to blame Biden for the disaster that is occurring. Excuse me, but it is the REPUBLICANS especially Mitch McConnell that along time ago decided to put party over country and refused to impeach Trump. Biden and his cabinet worked hard and tirelessly for an ungrateful American people.
A fascist and an authoritarian always has an advantage over someone who defends democracy, because some weapons are forbidden democracies. But democracy can win - it has to be better organised and not so dependent on billionaires and their private interests.
Thank you for your comments. I believe that 2 things can be true at the same time. Biden did many great things and failed to see the ruthless and poisonous Donny and his minions. Garland should have done more in the beginning to bring him to justice. Why did he wait so long???
Garland is a Republican and chosen to show nonpartisanship, which he did. The problem of bringing a knife to a gun fight. We failed to reelect Biden or elect Harris. That is the problem.
Bill, if you read the first part of the final report, you will get a way better picture of the obstructions the DOJ was up against, that are up precious time.
I don’t agree with you about Biden. The president can only do so much the maga Senators are more to be blamed for their role in where the country is today. And the butt kissing Mike Johnson, who can’t stand on his own as the same integrity or lack of integrity as the orange man.
I disagree with you here. We needed Biden’s steady hand during the pandemic crisis and the return to normalcy. The other choice was Trump for goodness sake. Biden and those around him erred in thinking he could last another term and not giving someone else a chance to build momentum.
Peggy, for some the bottom has already arrived, but the Rs are and will blame liberal woke policies and too many have and will buy into this nonsense. That is clear from the results of the election. LA is a case in point. Public officials there are doing their best as are the firefighters who come from all over including other countries. But we have death star and his minions lying about what is happening and soaking up energy that belongs to the firefighting efforts as officials have to take time to answer the lies. Here in Oregon we sent several firefighter companies who stopped in Sacramento for a wildfire safety check. But the conspiracy theorists said they were being turned away and stopped because of CA environmental rules. This is a lie and several officials have had to take time to answer it. Once I had a principal who constantly stirred the pot and practiced dividing the staff. What happened is that energy that should have gone to students went to him. I see much of what is happening on the national level as the same.
The "bottom" will only be reached after much suffering, especially by those least able to survive: those in ill health, in poverty, no health insurance, no housing, LGBTQ, and immigrants, documented and undocumented. (And I'm sure I've left out others.)
I was too young to fear , raised in a safe and loving home..such a blessing for any child. But atom bomb drills we had and war movies were popular with sound scores perfect ..we didn’t hear the deafening blasts or see the blood and guts displayed….like the children of today have in so many mass shootings, drive by gang initiations, nor the bodies strewn about in the holocaust pictures .
That came later.
It appears later than half the population thinks …they figured out how to pull it off…liars, cheaters, con artists , even white collar crime beat fairness and the dream of so many.
Just lie, repeat it ,it’s waterboarding in disguise , it’s won …for now.
As history repeats itself incessantly…enjoy your heyday while it lasts… as the bottom fodder or is that feeders…strut their stuff.
True J L but by winning this nomination battle in the senate they loose. We have to fight then but they will prevail in 90% of the confirmation. What we need to do is anticipate and expose publicly the consequences of those confirmations abd who is going to be responsible.
I write to my representative, Jamie Raskin, often. I have encouraged him to urge his fellow dems to build a better backbone, to sell and explain their policies, because the republicans will always distort the dems programs on many platforms and win. Eg. Obamacare - he never sold it, never explained its benefits, and the republicans explained on insufficient evidence....
I hear you - Raskin is amazing. I live in Maryland and wish we had more like him. We need to bang the drum constantly and put this mess at their feet. Not only do they need to be LOUD, they cannot bail them out any more. I know it hurts Americans, but it masks the true architects of this awful Project 2025 if we keep helping them out and then they take credit for the good stuff. And they continue to frame the narrative of who WE are... Hoping the next chair of the DNC takes this on full steam.
Brilliant response Philoctetes! The tides can indeed turn on a whim. I’m reminded of David and Goliath and how one seemingly insignificant person can change the world - the likes of Greta Thunberg.
Yeah, between Hitler and current diversity initiatives lie between 68,000,000-84,000,000 dead people. Those living in the present need to take actions to avoid being a statistic while waiting generations for the 'arc of history' to bend. Silence is acceptance of the status quo.
We’ll see… Apparently, there is no stronger power in the world than the power of denial. An orange kid refuses to accept he lost a game, and the largest democracy of the world slides off into autocracy…
You admit things can go south with the whole human project perishing. Jon Stewart pointed out that as a convicted felon, Trump cannot own a gun. Yet he will soon have the nuclear codes. Is this a great country or what?!
English is a German dialect. Perhaps we need to be less stuck on what nationalities were once Fascist/Nazi or military/Right/Left authoritarian and more on what people are doing now around the world. Is Javier Milei German? His father was Calabrian, once a part of Graecia Magna and the Kingdom of Sicily, and a light of civilisation, but latterly poor and battered by history, an agrarian society open to Fascism in the 1920s. But the Fascism of Calabria was very much about support to farmers and agrarian reforms, a far cry from the libertarian populism of the Thatcherite economist Milei. Milei is a socially conservative libertarian populist that’s pure Argentina. Without the decades of Peronism- another kind of Argentinian demagoguery- he’d not have had a chance.
Trump is also homegrown. Regardless of his ancestry, he’s pure United States - and more: pure New York. A hustler whose methods to get ahead are populism and authoritarianism.
Nazism caused more than 60 million dead and at least one full-bore genocide. Stalinism about the same. My continent has barely recovered from the Second World War and not yet from the Cold War. I’d just as soon another Axis led by the US and Russia not cause more horror this century. At the moment, I’m as horrified looking at the USA as Americans of goodwill must have felt in January 1933 when a Nazi was inducted into the German chancellery. It’s really up to you now not to let history repeat itself.
The “strongmen” you speak of certainly met their maker (not Assad…yet), however, their demise only came after they inflicted tremendous harm and agony to many people. It will take a slew of like-minded folks to combat these villains and not necessarily the ones we elected in Congress. This is our Civil War now and I ask: “Are we prepared?”
I hope it never comes to outright civil war. but I think the reenactment of the Revolutionary war that many MAGA have fantasized about is largely just that, fantasy. The rules have changed dramatically; though one thing that I think is a constant is public sentiment being the foundational key to a contest of wills. Could it be that, at least in that department, we have neglected our message while plutocrats have carpet bombed for decades with Weapons of Mass Propaganda? Remember when Nixon was told that Republicans were ready to convict him? For "The Coverup"? That was a whole different landscape than we face today.
I am not suggesting that we play the game by the devil's rules. They have the home court advantage; but maybe we can learn something from their constant repetition of message, which can be a legitimate tool of learning as well as a Big Lie technique. I believe it takes a lucid and persistent effort for light to penetrate demagogic smoke screens. Sustained momentum over erratic bursts, and focus on a "prize" to be won or lost.
Workers rights? Women's rights? Minority rights? Human Rights? Enduring matters of struggle for centuries, and seemingly never won completely nor for all time. Isn't that struggle always what Lincoln called "common right of humanity" vs abusive, unaccountable power?
While I take sone solace in your post and the daily posts Dr Richardson in her placing historical perspective to the current events.
Yes we and the world have been in places similar to these times and yes the world has come through not as it appeared it would be.
But it all cases you mention...it took time....and bloodshed.
So the fear I have is not as much that trumpism will spread its dark cloud of the nation and perhaps the world - but at what cost until it is defeated?
What chills me to the bone in trumps phoenix like rising - an evil phoenix at that- is the circle of support.
He is but one man. A man who when you read his word rather than listen, can see the gibberish that exudes from his addled and venal mind.
American corporations are cowering before him - fearful that he, as in his first term will issue edicts that will close or punish their companies - whereas before they saw them as idle threats not capable of being implemented because of , well , checks and balances of power - they now see, perhaps clearer than the 70 million odd people that voted for him - that he is surrounded by people who will carry out these threats. They see a population ( the American public ) who will turn a blind eye or find a self delusional excuse to justify these actions.
My fear is not the madness of trump, my fear is the madness of my neighbors. While Philocetes brings hopeful context to our current state through recounting past incidents, I too am reminded of previous incidents, Bosina / Sarajevo, Tutsi and Hutu, Sunni and Shia - the list is endless.
Yes light does appear eventually, but the cost is great - and as I watch the so called conservative and learned Senators in the GOP, submit to each mad word of the Mango Monster , how I watch Bezos destroy the WaPo and kiss trumps diaper, and Zuckerberg, spineless and fawning to trumps every word and I worry about the power of Musk - which may be the real wolf at our door.
One need only read the comments to any article in the WSJ that dares saying anything - no matter how true that is negative to Trump or Musk and it is window into a very scary place in America.
It's not that I am totally hopeless - as much as this missive may sound - but we, the American people, need to find a way to pull the shades from the eyes of our neighbors. Not sure how
In my social and business world I am in contact with successful people. These are not men and women, who struggle to make ends meet and so are frustrated with the status quo and so grasp at change. These are highly educated people, who's fortunes have grown over the last four years and yet - they to a one , they talk of the ' nightmare of the last four years" They make it sound like, jan 6 never happened, COVID was addressed with success by trump and bleach, and that everything was great.
They'er deepest fear is taxes, trans people ( who before the run up to the election they never even though about ) and the swarming immigrants that are invading every town and city in America with military weapons - save for those that clean their houses, bus their tables, and mow their lawns.
Today's Politics Chat (7 hour old as I write this) is a great and timely expansion on the Hegseth appointment criticality, I wish people would force all their Senators be prepared to defend if they dare vote for his confirmation.
"3. Nominees. Trump is good at directing media attention this way and that. And he needs to do so, given that many of his nominees for high office, especially those with responsibility for national security, are incompetent and much worse. As I have written elsewhere, it is ludicrous to imagine that Tulsi Gabbard is a reasonable choice to direct American intelligence agencies, that Pete Hegseth should run the defense department, or that Kash Patel should direct our national police force (the FBI). These people are entirely bereft of qualifications for these positions. And that should be more than enough to disqualify them. What stands out about them is something that transcends even their total incompetence: their notorious positions in favor of destroying international and domestic legal order. Gabbard is known for nothing around the world beyond her defense of Assad and Putin. Hegseth believes that America should be fighting a "Holy War" against itself. Patel has argued for arresting Americans for their political views. As we approach their nomination hearings, we should be thinking about what kind of America, and world, will be created if such people are allowed the run some of the most powerful institutions of violence in the history of the world. All the talk of Greenland and the rest has been shielding them. It distracts the media. And it makes chaos seem normal. It should be pointed out, in fairness, that these people will not help to actually fight wars abroad. If Trump's nominees are confirmed, what we can actually expect is conflict within the United States. Trump is opening the world for Russian and Chinese expansion in this way as well. If we follow the logic of this hypothesis, we would circle back to the first logic: that Trump's fake American imperialism is just there to enable real Russian and Chinese imperialism. "
You can't combat it. That is simply a part of the human condition. Read Dietrich Bonhoeffer's one page essay from prison On Human Stupidity. As I said, we might survive it, we might not. Something good may come out at the other end, but who knows.
A long game indeed, and so much pain and strain ahead. When we could have a vibrant society and not a tribute to evil. My daughter and grands will have to endure the long game, with one damn thing after another…
I agree with much of what you say - however regarding the Roman Empire - I would suggest that it never died, it just transformed into the Roman Catholic Church, and is still going strong worldwide.
I would agree. If you are interested you should read Peter Heather's wonderful books - about a half dozen now and counting - on the transition from Late Antiquity to the Christian Middle Ages.
And of course we now have the Christian Nationalists. Mike Johnson. Bill Barr was one. J.D. Vance a recent Catholic convert. Several supreme court justices. It has nothing to do with religion. Everything to do with power.
I would start with The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians, then move to Empires and Barbarians, then The Restoration of Rome.
This is a very Good Comment... What is different now is Global Climate-Change, and A.I. ...
A.I. has been Weaponized in the Ukraine, and Gaza... The Israelis use A.I. for targeting, and is essentially Semi-Autonomous which Accounts for the Immense Destruction, and loss of Life... Hospitals, Aid-Workers, and Medical Staff are Targeted... I saw last Week on Fareed Zakaria's GPS that in some respects, that the Kurweil Singularity has been crossed by A.I. .... Think 'Skynet'... Are Silicon-Based Lifeforms, the next Evolutionary Step?
Maybe, but I'm not giving up on carbon just yet. Might we repel the predators if enough of us acted with collaborative focus? Have we been lulled to sleep with an overdose of commercial media? We still have choices.
And our choices continue to expand while interest in corporate media declines. In less than 48 hours, The Contrarian has over 175,000 subscribers. And word is still getting out. What a mistake it was for Bezos to piss off the WAPOs lead journalists. The corporate media are losing their best journalists by kow-towing to Trump and the Republicans. So what they are left with are mediocre unknowns who people don't even read or watch.
Billionaires who buy major media firms seem more driven by controlling information (and politics) than running it for profit. That certainly seems to be the case with Musk. Recall that before things got so crazy there were restrictions on concentrated ownership of media in any given market, and far more serious efforts to enforce antitrust. How many of the leading American corporations in the middle of the Twentieth Century are now no more than brands of gigantic mega-corps? How much of the ownership and control of of the assets of our nation as a whole has been hoovered into fewer hands? How did we get here?
The DNC should act on Senator Whitehouse's requests for an Offensive (I add Defensive) Coordinator role NOW. They have resisted for three years, he said on Bullwark. Why, who has paid them off to sit by, inactively?
The DNC, if it is to Survive... Needs to Realize that we are in a 'Warm' Civil War... No outright Physical Violence Yet, Thankfully... The Other Side is Playing for Keeps... When Joe Biden leaves on 20-Jan-2025, a Chapter in American Governance Ends... The DNC must promote those such as Seth Moulton, Jasmine Crockett, and AOC into the Leadership... We need 'John Connors', and 'Winston Churchills'.... Fighters, and not Appeasers... A New MSM may also be needed.... Today was a Good Day... A Ceasefire in Gaza.... Richard Engels of NBC gave a very balanced Review of the Gaza War... CNN started to conduct some Real Time Fact-checking on the Confirmation Hearings... Sane People should become Alarmed, and Properly Fearful as to what the New Era Holds for Good People....
For sure, as a fight is coming either way. Democrats need to be forward-looking and retain small "c" conservatism in the sense of prudent, but also bold and ready for a fight. It's a waste of time to focus on not rocking the boat when "the Ship of State" is facing a tempest.
I agree completely as you may have deduced from my commentary for months now. Not to nitpick, but we have already had plenty of physical and emotional violence.
As Al Gore said climate change is "an inconvenient truth" as is the reality that mass deportations will likely present. The interplay between Republican budget hawks and tax cuts with cuts to social programs may bring things home to many more. Bringing this information to the MAGA faithful will be a challenge, but I hope some reality will hit home.
Beautifully written, and helpful. I never thought that in my later years I would be witness to the end of our democracy but I do believe in cosmic transitions. Dark things have been coming into alignment and change is in the air. We often miss the signs as we live our busy lives, but there has been unrest at the edges for decades. Now things are coming at us like a freight train. May we all have the strength to weather the storm. And may another time of peace be on the other side for our kids and grandkids.
"But Hegseth refused to meet with Democrats on the committee, and they made it clear that they will not make the vote easy for Republicans" - the Democrats AND Republicans must not allow confirmation of such an unqualified unskilled person for one of the most crucial positions in the government!
Unfortunately with Joni Ernst having capitulated to Trump today, unless someone comes forward with a true smoking gun to testify against Hegseth, he will probably be approved by a partisan line 53-47 vote. A tragic result for the country IMHO
I believe you are correct. But how many (true) smoking guns does it take? This nominee has been deemed unqualified for many good reasons. Same as his possibly future boss by the way. And yet.... A tragedy indeed.
As an incorrigible Pollyanna, I would have hoped that with all the shortcomings of this severely unqualified individual being pointed out, SOME of those elected officials would have the guts to say NO at confirmation time. All spineless self-serving cowards?
(Sorry, Marli, don't mean to be abrupt. I'm a nerd and evidence-oriented scientist. At some point we need to acknowledge our democracy has in fact fallen to a coup, and like a chicken with its head cut off, the body doesn't realize it is dead.
Until we can face the truth, we won't be dealing with it properly.
This am, a UPS driver, having breakfast at my old man's diner in Madison WI (referring to me, not my Dad :) cited a Mark Twain quote: "It is easier to FOOL someone, than to CONVINCE them they've been fooled."
We have a LOT of work ahead. Most Americans WILL realize eventually (by 2026? 2030?)) they have been fooled. It is our job to facilitate that. Facilitation entails listening to R's a LOT, asking non-snarky questions. Keeping simple (non-polemic) facts at hand for when they eventually ask us questions back.
It REALLY matters HOW soon moderate R's realize they've screwed the Republic, and that they have allies on this front in the D's.)
No Marli, they are severely afraid of the trump mafia. And that's no way to government. They are planting the seeds of their own destruction. We have to use the water to grow them wisely .
She's a Republican. Trump and his henchmen are threatening every GOP congress critter (and that nickname is especially appropriate now!) Is toeing the line because they are afraid. They have no alternative plan that will work.
Joni even admitted she had been raped but still voted for Kavanaugh and any number of sexual predators.
Years ago I sent a letter to Susan Collins complaining about a Federal judge nominated by Trump to fill a vacancy in TN. I complained because he had made several disparaging comments on several radio shows against blacks, Muslims and women.
Her reply was essentially that character doesn't matter. And she voted for him.
What we need is someone to offer Joni a reason to fight for what she believes in. If I were her and going to be primaries for voting no, I’d spend the next two years fighting for what’s right. She thinks they aren’t going to primary her anyway? Delusional. Someone needs to offer her safety
They are capitulating SO fast; suspect they are ALL compromised (entire remaining GOP) and that TFG now has the goods on all, or a motivating threat - via the surveillance tools available to centa billionaires, if not via the old-fashioned Epstein video stash.
He clearly wants NO ONE in gov't that he doesn't own.
Gotta wonder what’s in it for them to vote party line at this point. They’ll get to keep their job licking Trumps boots while he destroys the country and so many people? Is there no care at all that they are complicit? Sure… they’ll get theirs until there is nothing left to get. Or until Trump decides he doesn’t like them or finds an even more self-loathing boot-licker.
I’m voice texting and apparently you can figure it out so you might even have the ability to reason. Very good. I give you a B+.
If you think this is grammar school, and I need to worry about being graded by my teacher on my syntax spelling sentence construction, parts of speech, dangling, participles, etc. You’re in the wrong room.
Try this concept, John. Content over form try that for the rest of your life then you won’t need to be so anal.
At a bare minimum, I want / need to see some real ferocity from the dems in these confirmation skirmishes; And from any old school republicans with any ounce of honor, votes of good conscience for country over party. I want to see much more than just "not making confirmation easy" for those favoring the grossly unqualified.
It’s too late for any of that. The Monster has never been held to account, and it looks like he never will be. All the guard rails have failed. Waiting for some performance art by Democrats is just silly. American exceptionalism? Seems like your country has decided to go fuck itself, and so goes the rest of the world. Unforgivable, what you people have allowed to happen. Unforgivable.
I am an American and agree with every word you have written. I am ashamed of how democracy was quickly destroyed. I will never forgive those who made this happen.
So very sadly, I cannot disagree with anything you've stated Mike. I am deeply ashamed and angry; and, and, and. I do hope that despite your disappointments, that you'll still be pulling for our better angels.
73 million of us still believe in Democracy and we're never going to throw in the towel and give up. I don't believe in having a defeatist attitude. As long as we have independent writers, journalists, podcasts and independent tv networks and attorneys exposing the truth about the corruption of Trump, we must keep on fighting for our Democracy and freedom. Once people began to see that Trump lied to them about bringing prices down on the cost of food and rent and strip away their benefits to survive, then Democrats will have a chance during the midterm elections to win the house and the senate. Sure , we will be in hell for 2 years but we will never give up our Democracy and our freedom. Besides, Trump and his party are fighting amongst themselves which is an advantage for us.
I see silver lings of hope to save our Democracy, it take time but we will prevail.
By educating people. Informing them that there are independent news outlets and writers, journalists that are out there telling the real truth about what is happening to this country. Telling them that our news is being controlled by billionaires and it's nothing but propaganda and lies like Russia. Telling them to get involved by networking with people who are knowledgeable.
D4N, when we need to be ferocious is in the coming battle about aid package to California. We can't let them extort city and state leaders and submit them to interminable congressional investigations as they did with Hillary Clinton and so many other democrats.
Don't accept any precondition and no embarrassment in Congress. That battle wil be the first of many coming and we should fight and prevail.
Jamie is my Representative and I think he’s great, but times have changed. In ‘54, Welch finally punctured McCarthy and exposed his mean-spirited lies with the simple phrase, “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” Now, our leading politicians HAVE no sense of decency. Trump “joked” about having the right, as a wealthy man, to grab women by the pussy. Hegseth had sex (he says it was consensual) with a woman other than wife #3 just two months after wife #3 gave birth to their daughter. He got wife #3 pregnant while still married to wife #2. Traditional Republicans would have been throwing around the word “adulterer” but Trumpublicans don’t, when it’s THEIR nominee. In the months after the Welch take down, McCarthy spiraled into alcoholism and died in office. Hegseth, who obviously has drinking problems of his own, will run an agency with a $800 billion + annual budget. What could possibly go wrong?
"Old school republican with any ounce of honor..."
SURELY SURELY YOU JEST!
I think you need to look in the American Museum of Natural History for one of those. They are kept in the Cretaceous Period room, along with the T Rex.
We hadn't thought about a two to four year "vacation" in Canada, but are now more dedicated than ever to getting passports like our other relatives here in Maine.
If they would have us, I think it an advantage to be Canadian citizens able to travel to more parts of the world, too.
If push comes to shove on the US trying to take Canada by force, I imagine I'd be going to their side if we ever got to a point where we'd be attacking our best friends.
That would seem to push me beyond just becoming a conscientious objector.
He would be a threat to this country and the security of the people if he is confirmed.
Republicans better think twice before voting for this man for this high rank position. He gave me the impression that he's hungry to start a war at any cost. He thinks like a dictator and has no remorse for humanity. He is completely unhinged and unfit like Trump. May God help us. 🙏
This entire fiasco within the governing body of the United States of America is unbelievable....YET, here we are!!!!
There must be a major STOP GAP!!! This is the United States of America!!!!
How is it possible that Hegseth is allowed NOT to meet with Democrats on the committee?
He is unqualified, unskilled and to cover it all...IMMORAL!.....so are the minions who approve him....especially those who insult the position of leadership within the highest positions occupied inside the government of the USA!!!! The persons chosen to serve within the highest positions of our government must be of great character and ability. Their decisions will affect the world...governments, flow of commerce, healthcare, emergency management ie disaster relief.
Can you not see the horrible results of our supporting Netanyahu??? He is using is!! Our support has not brought the hostages home!!! We are responsible for the death and starvation and destruction of our fellow humans in Gaza and in other parts of the middle east! How much longer will it take for others to bomb us...to kill and injure our children...destroy our schools and hospitals?
How are these "criminals" going to govern the United States of America? Right...we know the past...."death threats"...ruining careers....etc. Trump and his minions are thirsting for these "opportunities"!
What of the trust we have built with our family of nations throughout the world???
This group of infidels will threaten us with taking our property, prison and or starvation! The lives of our children and elderly and infirm are each and all at risk!!!
The ignorance and amazing ability to accept lies over truth within our population is infinite!!!! I never imagined in my life that major institutions would have become so weak.
This assault on our nation is nothing less than what is happening in Gaza. You think NOT!
The great "holy" nation of Israel has used us to starve to death innocent men, women and children who have done nothing to deserve such a fate!!! We have been used to increase poverty and hatred!
Rather than improving education opportunities, providing needed health care for each and all of our citizenry...we have spent more time working to divide one another....and the world!
Satan has a great record of accomplishments as well....I will not vote for him...but he does have great ability to disguise himself....he often deceives us.....he knows how to become an acceptable, even respected image.
You LOST the election because of this type of narcissism. Biden’s and Democratic governance was a trainwreck: inflation, the border, stupid foreign policy.
Your answer to everything is Trump is evil he is Hitler. Nice try.
Get ready for the encore sheet show friends. Promises made create expectations. Beginning with the 1/6 felons in prison who won’t be magically released, the immigrants not deported, and the myriad of other lies unveiled, this monster will not meet the end his houseflies voted for. His cognitive decline is being accelerated by his “win”. Pause from the mayhem when you can, and watch him self destruct to the end. Maybe his friend Hannibal will have him over for dinner, heh, heh!
I wouldn't hold my breath. He will release every Jan 6 convict I am certain of that. And he will deport a LOT of undocumented immigrants maybe 500,000 or so. Not 10 million but still a ton.
It would take 5 R’s 1) who are not radicalized and 2) who have a spine. Are there any left with a spine, or better said, the balls to stand up for what’s right?! We shall see
I don’t oppose the will of the people: I oppose the imposition of incompetence on the citizens. No Republican has EVER been able to question the credentials of a cabinet-appointee of a Democrat on the basis of their credentials.
The bar has been lowered.
The BEST candidate Trump has is a nominal-military vet who was ousted from a veterans’ organization for being a fuck-up drunk. The sycophants think this individual, a Fox-host flunkie, is the BEST choice to oversee 3.2 MILLION service members?
I hope many active and former members of our proud military speak up and object to this uniquely unqualified person being in charge.
The only way to combat incompetence is to call it out for what it is. Hegseth shouldn’t be in charge of a Salvation Army bucket at a Walmart, nevermind the ENTIRE Defense Deparment. This should be nothing but obvious.
Alan, well stated. Hegseth refused to “cram” for what was probably the most important entrance exam of his career. Presidents depend on their Defense Secretary to know details about global defense agreements and the policy within the departments to get assignments done. Tammy Duckworth showed that Hegseth knows nothing about being Defense Secretary. He will not be able to offer Trump the advice and counsel needed to keep us safe.
"The defense secretary oversees about 1.3 million active-duty troops and another 1.4 million in the National Guard and employed in Reserves and civilian positions, as well as a budget of more than $800 billion."
And how many billion are controlled by the small but very powerful coterie of billionaires in Trump's orbit? Checks and balances? Maybe at the bank.
Obvious of course but you need to remember that the Ds are in the minority in the Senate. Political power is extremely insulated from logical intelligent arguments. The GOP hold 53 votes to appoint Hegseth. I only had 2 potential "no" votes on Hegseth from the GOP where 4 are needed. With the capitulation of Ernst, the best possible vote I can see is 52 for 48 against. He only needs 50 (as JD Vance week cast the deciding vote of our is a 50 50 tie. )
Hegseth will be approved in the absence of some truly smoking gun in the next week. All we can hope for is that his incompetence will be quickly clear and Trump will have to remove him.
But I wouldn't stay up nights thinking this might happen.
We also imagined we would have at least a reasonable amount of support from reluctant allies.
Now we have a situation where my old party wants to install the exact opposite of the reluctant leaders we had back then.
I ordered but haven't been able to read Deadly Betrayal: The Truth About Why the United States Invaded Iraq by Dennis Fritz (with Foreword by Larry Wilkerson). I always trusted Larry Wilkerson.
I'd suggest our Senators never approve anyone so less credible and less likely to be trusted by those he is supposed to lead than Hegseth
I worked at a much lower level in Space Command than Dennis Fritz, now retired Air Force Command Chief Master Sargent, and couldn't come close to the insights he gained in working with such high level officials.
"...Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and retired Air Force Command Chief Master Sergeant Dennis Fritz, a former Pentagon insider, as they explore the extremely important insights in Fritz’s new book, Deadly Betrayal, which uncovers the ugly truths behind the Iraq War in 2003. Drawing from dramatic evidence, Fritz explains how a group of high-level Pentagon officials (a “cabal” in Fritz’s description) in the Bush Jr. Administration manipulated intelligence, pressured other nations, and swayed Congress and public to support a disastrous war.
Together, they delve into the astounding evidence that Fritz uncovered during his work at the Pentagon while examining the documentary record of the war. Fritz discovered three reasons for the utterly misguided Iraq War: to restore American “credibility” in the Middle East, to go to war on Israel’s behalf, and to deliver “democracy” at gunpoint. The results were a massive failure on all counts.
The lessons of the Iraq War remain crucial for our own time, as various lobbies continue to try to manipulate the US into still more unnecessary and reckless wars..."
The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org.
Do you think anyone will actually take orders from him? Shoot peaceful protesters? I’m sure many in the military understand that this administration has disdain for them and will use them as “cannon fodder” as Putin and North Korea have used their young men.
I carpooled to rehearsal last night with my flute playing friend, a 20 year USMC Veteran (JAG corps, but did see action in Somalia). We had a discussion about leadership and power, and her comment was that both of tcf's Defense Secretaries Mattis and Esper had "dust on their boots" having led both Marines and Army soldiers in combat. We were in agreement that the personality and command attributes that make a good enlisted leader are often not those that make a good commander of larger divisions as an officer; two very different skill sets with very different missions. Couple that with the personality traits that someone who is a drunk, rapist, racist has, that man is in NO WAY qualified to command anything.
There is no greater responsibility than command of troops in combat.
Five days from now, a serial felon, insurrection inciter, coup conspirator, sexual abuser, six-time declarer of bankruptcy, pathological liar, lifelong con man, and twice-impeached, four-times-indicted former president of the United States – a five-time draft dodger who called service members who gave their lives for our country "suckers" and "losers" – will again take power in America, as a fascist strongman.
How appalling.
My father, who earned a Silver Star, our nation's third-highest medal for valor, as an Army Air Forces bombardier against the Nazis in World War II, and whose best friend was one of the more than a thousand Marines who died fighting the Japanese at Tarawa, didn't live long enough to witness this unconscionable perversion of our democracy, and I don't know exactly what he would say if he had.
My Dad was a Meteorologist Technician, his top award was for setting up the weather station that allowed the planes to fly "over the hump"; different arena than your Dad, and a different role. He would be spitting mad (his favorite term for losing his temper, which he seldom did) at what has happened today. I think he and your Dad would be on the same page.
Yes, Heather -- and the capture is near total. Too much, too much has failed.
And having convicted criminal as head of state still looms.
Would matter less if we had healthy universities. But it’s the opposite. In higher ed more major by far in finance and business than anything else – triple all health majors, humanities nearly zero. So George Packer’s “The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America” cannot gild one fact: “the default force in American life, organized money.”
A criminal at the top might sting less with rule of law for all. We have that? All in public office take an oath to the Constitution – which disqualifies any and all insurrectionists. Congress by 2/3 in each house may free any of this disqualification, but neither house has held any vote.
Does it matter an insurrectionist be immune to law? A U.S. head of state be a convicted felon? Adjudicated rapist? Friend to world dictators? A fraud whom a federal court found long and massively fraudulent?
Too much has failed: the schools, Congress, courts, legacy media. So doesn’t a criminal president piquantly underline “the default force in American life, organized money”?
What hasn’t failed is the lack of principle in the Republicans. They keep shoving bigger and bigger idiots to the front, and every time you think “my God, they couldn’t openly, consciously support THIS guy, right?” But every time, they do. It really helps having no principles at all, that way everybody falls in line in the end.
Mark, your list of organizers is way too short. I don't blame you though. A complete list would take a few weeks to finish and you'll end up with carpal tunnel. 😄
The spinelessness and contorted thinking of Republican Senators is as distressing as it is shocking. They have become a sinister cabal determined to undo democracy. As Heather has pointed out, they are not conservatives, but radicals devoted to a disordered individual. I fear how low they can drag the country down.
And, HCR is spot on in that observation; They are Not conservative republicans. They are purely extremist anarchists, play acting for votes. Their masters are not their voters.
Deper than you think Carmen but we need a megaphone 24/7 to keep people aware of where are they taking us. They own the mess that we tried to prevent. We have a messaging war going on simultaneously and that's the one we need to win
When Jack Smith was given the task of the January 6 case I knew he would not fail. As odd as it seems he won against the incoming President. Jack Smith got in the last word. He persisted in maneuvering through the complex legal roadblocks and produced a damning document just in time for inauguration. It might look like they are winning at every turn but if you look closely there are still battles being won. This is one of those battles.
I am now in my eighth decade and I remember the ranting of the right claiming that every progressive idea was part of or inspired by the "communist and red menace" and watch while they wrapped themselves in the American flag and claimed to be conservative. It was hard to ignore at that time that their label of conservatism was those that did not agree with them political legitimacy. We are now seeing that these same people are now and have been engaged in the overthrow of the government and now moving the country in a direction that is contrary to those values that they pretended to hide behind for so many years.
Thank you for this excellent piece, Heather. My evening doesn’t end until I’ve digested your latest letter. I love the way you weave together the former and the present Lost Cause - with a suggestion that, by their actions, the current insurgents and the “dust on his boots” Hegseth are spiritual descendants of the Confederate, slave-owning members of the government. Somehow, I feel better after reading your rational, historical perspective!
Factual information about real time history delivered by Professor Richardson in accurate historical context is not only important but imperative for 2025 & beyond. This evenings LFAA is another good example.
Per Casey Newton's Platformer on 1/14/25: [META] built effective systems to reduce the reach of false news. Last week [Zuckerberg] shot them down.
Brace yourself for more "Pope Francis Endorses Trump" and remember take downs are easy while doing the necessary harder work of rebuilding & strengthening our democracy.
The real connect not to be ignored is how trump started right after he lost the election. No one shut him up for 4 years. The Dems need to. Start now campaigning
Sorry that comment about hand counts is nonsense. 150 million votes were cast.
Have YOU ever done a hand count of a complex election ballot like in 2024? I have several years ago in just one precinct in California with 2000 voters and it took almost 20 hours for 4 of us to accomplish the task. That's almost 2 minutes per ballot.
Do you have any idea what it would cost and the number of people required to hand count 150 million ballots? It would take over a year.
Our machine counting systems are incredibly accurate. Almost all hand recounts NEVER show a different winner.
Trump won. I don't like it. I assume you don't either, but it is a total waste of time and effort to do hands recounts in almost every election unless the voting differential is less than .1%, i.e. 1 in 1000 votes.
That is an imposssible task. The Republicans like to reduce an election results to how the votes are counted. This is an evasion of the larger picture of a massive disinformation enacted courtesy of russia and MAGA. It discounts the effects of voter suppression and gerrymandering. It dismisses the negative affect of Citizens United.
Although, the ongoing attempt in NC to snatch away the vote for a democratic NC Supreme Court Justice IS an attempt to not count 60,000 mail-in and absentee voters through no fault of the voters.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson. I started reading Jack Smith's report online. but have ordered a hard copy to arrive Friday. As you said most of he evidence presented we already have seen and know, especially those of us who watched the entire attack on OUR Capitol Building from when the left the White House until the Electoral College votes were finally counted and Biden declared formally as winner.
The thing that worries me most about that loose cannon, Hegseth, is what if trump decides to attack one of our allies, (with urging from his buddy, Putin) What can we do? Some members of the military who are true Americans may warn us and our ally of the pending action, but NATO nations will have no choice but to declare war against us. It will be Hitler all over again with an even more incompetent leader at the helm.
We can only hope that the cadre of senior officers will follow the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) and refuse to obey unlawful orders. That is what they will be dealing with: unlawful orders.
That too, Susan. I just hope they don't fire (or somehow dismiss) all the current military leaders. Military leaders from the late 18th century to today have always sworn allegiance to the Constitution, not to the flag, or to the President. What's more they have a rule that if a junior officer thinks an order is wrong based on the Constitution, that have a duty to refuse to obey that order.
If they get their dictatorship approved,. we're done for.
"It is hard to preserve public confidence in the rule of law after the last eight years. But Smith seemed to be appealing to an idea we’ve touched on frequently—not letting Donald Trump drag everyone else down to his level. In that regard, even if they didn’t get to take their cases to trial, Smith believes his team succeeded. Many people have lost confidence in the sine qua non of our democracy, that no man is above the law. Smith wrote, “That is also why, in my decision-making, I heeded the imperative that ‘[n]o man in this country is so high that he is above the law.’” In Smith’s view, as he related his team’s work, this principle was of primary importance as they pursued the case, more than Trump’s ultimate fate. It’s a very different take. Trump may have made a mockery of the system, but in Smith’s view, prosecutors treated him like everyone else and that counts for something. It was the Supreme Court and ultimately the voting public that failed, not the prosecution."
One problem, Barbara (in my opinion): the christofascists see the Felon in Chief as a tool of retribution and the coming of the End Times. Rule of law is a hugely important ideal and one that, in Anglo-American law, has its origins a century before the 1215 Magna Carta, which was a document designed to curb a king who was considered to be overreaching. But it cannot stand before the kinds of anti-legal, anti-secular designs of people who are determined to use their tool of retribution as a push toward the Apocalypse. The issue is the derangement of the christofascists, who also support the obliteration of the Palestinians because that, too, will help to usher in the end times, when all the Jews will be lost in the burning fires of hell after the Antichrist appears. The sheer insanity of these positions should freak people out and yet they are usually met with yawns. And the rule of law has no defense against them.
Or Barbara, maybe we have to become the monster in order to beat him. The problem is that in treating Trump like everyone else, Smith fell for a guy that treats no-one equal, as others that had to be taken down somehow were subject to innovative legalizing (I'm Thinking of Al Capone). These demented humans are nothing like anyone else, the need to be put down.
Heather, did you not pick up on the fact that Jack Smith put blame on Garland for not acting sooner? After all, he said T should’ve been charged in 2020. If anyone will recall, the Mueller report was stopped by the second AG, Billy Barr. Barr obstructed justice, as much as T did, in my opinion. I had high hopes for Merrick Garland but boy, he botched this case for us but good!
I know people are giddy thinking about how Dems will change things up in the midterms but I am not. I was so certain that Kamala Harris would win and that Sherrod Brown would be victorious. I have lived in this delusional bubble for too long to fake realism. T didn’t win handily but we didn’t either. Yeah, there’s a slim majority in the House but not in the Senate. The majority of people in our country feel extremely let down by our party even though Joe and Kamala have produced a ton of jobs and have brought badly needed infrastructure back. But look at our miserable healthcare system where people have to wait for months to get a doctor’s appointment or they just die because their insurance company denies their claims. They’re apathetic towards CEOs who make millions and rightfully so! I am not condoning killing them but I completely understand the reason why. We have lost our way and we cannot ride the coattails of Black people who have fought tirelessly for our country. Their literal blood, sweat, and tears built this country and the racists/fascists want them out of the way. It is going to get very ugly, worse than we could ever imagine. It’s up to all of us to save one another.
Marlene I'm with you. I was not quite as confident but I thought that we might have crossed that particular sexist and racist Rubicon. We had not. And now we are here. Urf.
Please do a deep dive into the christian nationalists. Read "The Power Worshippers" by Katherine Stewart for starters and help your supporters understand what is behind these people who think the USA was meant to be run by (their version) of christianity. This is closely tied to the Southern Baptists and their influence. Many of these people still think that "god" wants white men to be "in charge" of everything. It is important for everyone to know and understand how powerful these people are.
I really think the whole Garland appointment was us trying to play their game and it failed miserably. McConnell blocked Garland’s appointment to SCOTUS and then we ended up with the court we now have. Appointing Garland to AG was an attempt to stick a thumb back in their eye. But we didn’t do our homework on what type of AG he would really be. And so the tit-for-tat backfired. He will and should go down as the worst AG in the history of this nation.
The justice department didn’t charge Trump with insurrection for fear of damaging the larger case —- what the hey!
This living in fear is disastrous for our country.
It caused Merrick Garland to blow the entire situation. It has caused Democrats to lose elections and stupidly lose negotiations with a much more aggressive Republican adversary.
When I think of the Democrats I think of the feckless Corporate Old Guard which has brought us to this horrible position.
I look to people like Elizabeth Warren, AOC and Katie Porter as the kind of leadership our country needs.
I like her a lot as well Marlene and supported her. I hope she runs again soon and wins. I wish she hadn't run against Schiff as I like him a lot as well.
I wish CA was actually fairly represented in the Senate by having about 10 Senators instead of 2 but that isn't going to happen. Why aren't DC or PRa states? Obviously a rhetorical question, that no-one dares to ask out loud.
For many decades the US has not admitted a new state without admitting a second one which will "vote right-wing" -- most recently, Hawaii, left-leaning, and Alaska, right-leaning. There aren't any right-wing-voting candidates to counter DC or PR.
Love her, too, and supported her. But she should have been more aware of the race, and of the odds in taking on Schiff (whom I also admire). Wish she had decided to keep her seat.
A good prosecutor only brings the cases they can win. Insurrection would have been a distraction. As Smith said, he could have won the charges they did bring and it would have been enough - had he been hired a year or two before he was.
As always thank you for this history, Professor!
Paradoxically, the worse things get, the more optimistic I become. I know things can go south – a miscalculation among these bumbling idiots and the whole human project perishes. But if we survive that and things get very bad . . . well, things are often bad until they are not. There are Black Swan events that can topple regimes. Assad was going to go on forever . . . until he didn’t. The Soviet Union and Eastern Block were nowhere near collapse . . . until they were. Hitler and the Wehrmacht were invincible . . . until they were not.
A wig-maker’s apprentice comes to collect a bill from a British soldier in Boston and we are no longer a British colony. A few bad harvests in France and Louis XVI’s head comes off. A volcanic eruption in the sixth century, and the Arabs soon transform Rome’s and Persia’s empires – and history. Rome’s western Empire was going to be imperium sine fine, until a series of unfortunate events conspired against them between 378 and 407 CE.
You get the picture. Things can change, the unforeseen become the inevitable. A searing assassination. An indiscrete massacre. A charismatic leader who expresses our collective "Enough!"
History says anything is possible. We just lived that with the pandemic. Expect the unexpected. And I hold that just as the Eastern Block was de facto Soviet, until it was not, the US may well be the US, until it is not. I cannot help but wonder how long people in blue states will tolerate seeing their resources handed out to red, without reciprocity and with gross mockery and abuse. And what will the breaking point be and look like ? Perhaps Tuberville and California are just the beginning.
While the Confederacy might for a moment have a stranglehold on our government, hold space for enormous change. Barring nuclear "pique", not even Trump controls history’s tide. He merely rides it with the rest of us.
Some time ago I stood where Hitler stood at the rally ground in Nuremberg. It is now the site of all manner of diversity initiatives and festivals throughout the year. The vision that monster had for Germany was a spring that only coiled against him. A long view, yes, but that is history, is it not? A very long game indeed, and one damn thing after another.
Thank you. I've often thought that the US might need to "hit bottom" which reminds me of your comment, "the worse things get, the more optimistic I become." So many people in the US might be in denial and are enabling this insanity. I hope the "bottom" comes soon.
The "bottom" is years and years out.
We never know what the bottom looks like, until we do. This is why history is so frustrating - it doesn't repeat as precisely as we would like. It's rather like Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, "All happy family's are alike, but unhappy family's are unhappy in their own particular way", (to paraphrase). What will the bottom look like for the US? Mass unemployment like the 30s? Crematoria? Bombed out cities? Or are we nearly there? I don't know. And I don't dare predict.
Exactly! All I know is that I plan on enjoying as much Schadenfreude as I can muster when it comes to the morons who arrogantly voted for this disgusting insanity.
I hate to think of myself as a cruel person, and I don't want to take any perverse pleasure in someone else's suffering, but I have come to the conclusion that too many in this country won't fully understand the ramifications of their actions unless they personally feel the full effects. They seem more than happy foisting cruel and unnecessary acts (i.e., cutting Medicaid and SNAP, deportation) on others, as long as they don't impinge on them. When the chickens come home to roost, maybe just maybe, they will see the light.
This is the result of the uneducated running the country! When you repeatedly cut funding for education this is what happens!
You're not cruel . . . I'm much more so as I want horrible weather on January 20th in D.C. and all the trumpsters at the "inauguration" to get the norovirus that is going around!!
They don't know what they don't know. Facts and reason are lost on them. Try to convince a dedicated Christian, or Muslim, that there are no verifiable facts to prove their beliefs and one runs into a brick wall. The "want-to-believe" is stronger, in many cases, than the ability to be objective. I think that that is the case with Trump: most important to his followers is his promise to crush and punish the undesirables: gays, immigrants, women's rights advocates, Muslims, transgender folks, and the like. "Who voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election and Why?" Critical Sociology, Feb. 2018. Google it.
You are not a cruel person for being angry because ignorant people are dragging you down with them. Some people change only when they hit rock bottom--I see this with my mental health clients all the time. When all the menial workers are deported resulting in food scarcity, food will be imported and tariffed at 25%. We will still be able to eat, but it won't be fun watching fellow citizens, even those who voted for all of this, scavenge for food. It makes me sick to think about it....
Every community will be affected immediately because there will be homeless people on the streets and crimes increase. Only those living in gated communities may be unaffected but the numbers are few. I am more disheatened that American finally has a president who broke laws and lied.
Kathleen, we hope. But unfortunately, they will watch Fox or go to some far right wing nut site and that will be their truth.
I'm not a cruel person, Kathleen, and still I share Jessie S.'s schadenfreude. Let them enjoy the regime they voted for. If they don't love it, however, they'll never blame the First Felon for tricking them - they'll blame the dems and/or the woke.
If those roosting chickens don't show them the light, nothing will.
I don't know what Schadenfreude is, but it sounds like taking satisfaction at seeing the trumpers get what they voted for.
I have had the same kinds of thoughts. It's always a mistake to believe the other side has no weaknesses. And, who knows what things will look like on the other side of our defeat? You simply can't predict. The only certainty for me is that the electorate cannot be trusted to vote to preserve traditional American constitutional values - they have succumbed to the brainwashing of the oligarchy via the media they control. The electorate is either largely indifferent to democracy or inimical.
This was coordinated from the top. How do we lowly voters combat billionaires hell bent on control and fascism? How do we fight corrupt supreme court members on the take? How do we fight epic levels of lies and misinformation and deep fakes?
Look at the French who resisted Vichy and the Germans starting in WWII. The French Resistance, often discounted, helped make possible the success of the D-Day invasion. But it began with small acts by individuals and small groups, many of whom gave their lives for acts that gave courage to others. We must not give in to Putin/Trump/Musk.
Reading William L. Shirer’s book on France in the 1930’s is a start as it resembles our current situation with Republicans in Congress.
The other side has many weaknesses, glaringly so at times. However, they also have one great strength.
PEOPLE JUST DON'T CARE.
Ah, therein lies the rub. People do care... even if it's the sniveling little f**k of a man, the Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson (R-LA). He cares enough to want to put restrictions on aid to California. That is not indifference, that's just mean, and vile.
⅓ of the people just dont care.
PLEASE remember the ⅓ of us who care a lot and voted for Harris and wrote postcards, went door to door , did everything in our power to elect Harris/Walz.
I care. You care. A lot of us care and need to say it everyday with action.
The result of being uneducated! No civics lessons! No history of USA!
“PEOPLE JUST DON’T CARE”…or until - and hopefully not sadly - they have to - and it’s not too late!
They have been entertained to death by Rupert.
And I keep asking: how did we get here? Well, a slow eroding of trust, truth, an embrace of hedonism rather than the hard work of knowing.
I have to believe it found a willing audience that was ripe for the messaging. It never went away, not after the Civil War, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Era, the Southern Strategy, and now, MAGA. It has just become more blatant and unafraid to show its true colors. Always blaming the wrong actors, but with a deep-seated fear and disdain of people of color and worship of wealthy and powerful men - the true culprits of their economic misery. When will they learn?
"largely indifferent to democracy or inimical" NO, that is not true. Even if you use 'the electorate' to mean all those eligible to vote. Considering those registered to vote (161+ million) and vote totals of over 153 million in 2024 (AP stats) I don't see their indifference or their distaste for democracy.
⅓ of the elctorate voted for tRump. He did not win in a landslide.
C'mon Kerry, I doubt that anyone in what you refer to as the "electorate" is cognitively "indifferent" to democracy. They are simply in this for themselves. And as far as being "inimical" consciously, they don't know the word. Their behavior is just the way they're wound. They are shallow people, who attract shallow people. So, don't expect their shallow decisions to hold water. So, I would say, the "electorate" is indeed a shallow bunch, and easily manipulated (weakness!).
Uneducated!
For decades I have thought "Surely after this one the public will see that Republican plutocrats are not their friends", only to see the latest outrage "normalized".
But I also know an avalanche can start out small, and alas, go either way. Also, that solidarity, the common bond that enables diversity, has toppled many tyrant; and I remain hopeful, if there is still enough time.
I think we need a look at priorities.
Lived your first paragraph for decades, repubs played the long game and bamboozled the cult nuts. Deprogramming or Ike needed now.
Heather’s chat yesterday was uplifting.
Ditto JL; I thought the same. They cover their 'tracks' extremely well - they have the means to make sure of that by any and all means, and most of them don't run their yaps like tfg - far preferring to pull all the strings behind the scenes.
The way to defeat lies is not by telling the truth. The way to defeat lies by telling the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. That involves being specific about how to distinguish between the wise and the unwise.
We all seek the truth until we get close enough to recognize it’s going to be inconvenient. That’s when the wise keep going and the unwise turn away. This comment is for the wise.
A deadly disease can infect a body, and no one will notice, so we don’t respond until its symptoms appear. The initial response involves treating the symptoms. “Treating symptoms” and “lessening symptoms without understanding the disease” are different phrases expressing the same meaning. The ultimate response involves understanding the disease. “Understanding the disease” and “curing the body by eradicating the disease” are different phrases expressing the same meaning.
The deadly “authoritarian” disease has infected the body politic. The time has come to understand the disease. Understanding the disease involves making unspoken cultural paradigms explicit and then separating the wheat from the chaff.
I subscribe to this newsletter because I am not an expert in history or journalism, nor do I want to be, and nor do I need to be because of people like Heather. I am an expert in understanding the authoritarian disease.
I’m asking for the opportunity to demonstrate the usefulness of my expertise, and I’d like to share that expertise by initiating a conversation about how we make the world a better place for everyone, including future generations. So, I am asking those who want to engage with me in that conversation to subscribe to my weekly newsletter. I’m not charging a subscription fee. I am planning on publishing weekly and I’ll try to keep each edition under 1,200 words.
Here’s a link to the first edition: https://substack.com/home/post/p-154848354
I'm in. Not sure why. I don't need more deliveries in my inbox - it's getting overwhelming! Curiosity and your brevity, perhaps. I did read the teaser section of your book. I am impressed with the "perspective".
However, in your first edition of the new project, you mention that the skyscrapers of Manhattan are built on bedrock. Which is true except they are also built on trash and reclaimed land (fill from the waterways and wherever).
Good luck with the newsletter. I am reading much less from MSM and more from thinkers.
Analogies are always a bit risky, but you get my point. Thank you for your attention. I'm confident you'll be happy with the ROI.
Thank you. I am amazed at how folks respond to disasters, and I always look for leaders and helpers. I just subscribed.
But until you can cure the disease you surely must try and alleviate the symptoms - another way of saying that the best can sometimes be the enemy of the good. There are plenty of like-minded people for you to engage with in whatever way you can. Myself, I'm currently reading Hannah Ritchie's uplifting 'Not the End of the World'. Hans Rosling's 'Factfulness' is also a good antidote to despair. And remember, Trump is not the United States - there are many cities in the US that are committed to progressive policies, irrespective of the direction of national government; and the US is not the world. There's a saying that it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness. I'm sure that's true, but (I suspect) like you I'm for doing both.
I agree. "Symptom treating" is necessary and insufficient, "disease curing" is necessary and insufficient, and both together are necessary and sufficient.
thank you . I just subscribed.
So did I....
thanks. I am not a "expert" as Heather, but because of her letter, I can say I am much more knowledgeable to the tune of nearly a hundred books on the subject. I too have a substack and would love for you to engage with it.
https://substack.com/@rickeywoody
Thanks Rickey. I'll have things to say about high school science education in a future newsletter, so stay tuned.
Thanks James.
Pacific Palisades?
That's a belief shared by many about alcoholics: they have to hit bottom before they are amenable to treatment. He has to define bottom, just as we have to define bottom. Trump and his cabinet nominees are bottom, and we need to understand that soon.
Interesting list of ingredients.... crematoria.... really???
As a conservative Indie, one thing I do know: pointing out just how low we are and how little the majority of M.A.G.A. voters benefit can elevate the bottom so we hit it sooner. 😰
https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7259852498906025984/ 😢
The problem is I have been anticipating, hoping for a blue wave in 2018 (no); 2020 (starting); 2022 (no way); and, 2024 (w.t.f.). So I no longer trust my 'instincts'; I feel badly for that. 💔
In the meantime, we will have to live through and undergo public pronouncements for years that will be delusional on subjects as divers as race, economics, national identity and our constitutional history. The problem with such tyrants is that they embrace many other life-destroying myths, requiring the continual use of propaganda for their maintenance, which deviates from the honest dissemination of information that we expect from a liberal democracy. These are not champions of reason or responsibility or respect........
Sometimes the "bottom" is death.
History does not shy away from this truth…
If trump's actions mirror his words bottom is around the corner. Undocumented immigrants are already fleeing fearing detention camps. Mass deportation will decimate the infrastructure workforce. Farmer's and food producers are saying that their businesses would collapse if this happens. What really terrifies me is that if all of these bozos get confirmed there will be no national security. Glad you're warm and cozy--I'm buckling my seatbelt....
I don't know what to think, Jack. What I do know is that all of this has proved former Pres. G.W. Bush to be absolutely correct when at the White House Correspondents' Dinner on 3/31/2001 he said: "You can fool some of the people all of the time, and those are the ones you want to concentrate on."
Trump knew this and we need to learn it, that is, to launch a campaign to dismantle their lies, disinformation, misinformation and misdirection lures, such as abortion, DEI, women's and gay's rights, immigration, etc. The wealthy use this to sucker the ordinary folks to vote against their own best economic interests. Thomas Frank, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and Heather Cox Richardson, "How the South Won the Civil War."
Bingo
There is a young man an hour’s drive away that’s paralyzed for life by polio. How long would people tolerate an outbreak? Bird flu is mutating as we speak. An ineffectual response though not as deadly as Covid will be Deja vu all over again. Cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, SOCIAL SECURITY are not going to go down well with huge swaths of the population. Things can go south very quickly with midterm elections not far away. All these rats will abandon ship just as fast as they got on board. We’re still a young country let’s call it growing pains.
That might be true if elected officials were actually responsive to voters. With the current lopsided, gerrymandered structure, the voters have been chosen by the map designers, so for the GOP the determinant races are the low-turnout primaries in which the more extremist, the better.
Someone said WWIII will be fought with nuclear weapons and WWIV will be fought with sticks and stones, so I hope you are correct. I don’t want to see either in my lifetime.
And many can survive or even prosper, many many will suffer a lot.
Peggy you summarize what I always say about felon 34 an the maga orde and the 1%billionaires. The werse the better. Our senators should fight every inch every nomination and expose the consequences for certification, but should let the Republicans own the mess they'll create . They will bring our country to our weaker point in history but we will survive. Let them expose themselves and let the voters feel the pain of their decisions and don't let the subsequent lies justification and blaming someone else prevail.
I've been listening to the examination of Pam Bondi for AG. No doubt about it, trouble lies ahead - she will enforce Trump's will before enforcing the law.
We are on the brink of being a lawless nation. I have nothing but ridicule for Biden for allowing this to occur. You may love the gentle old senior for pulling us out of the great pandemic. But he had no understanding of how ruthless and poisonous his adversary was. A military coup by the good generals would be ironically the better alternative. I would take my chances with them.
Biden set his presidential sights on protecting our population from the virus, restoring our place within the world, recovering our economy and giving those of us not in the 1% a better shot at financial security. He accomplished a lot for us in four years.
I don’t dump on his doorstep the overreach of the wealthy players who want to punish us all for some fucking reason. I blame all that on an obviously stupid electorate who has allowed themselves to be the mark of the world’s s (likely) most gifted con man of our time.
Example: women voting for a man who assaults women……..TWICE‼️
I’ve been railing on that shit for TEN YEARS‼️. My husband will no longer attend his family events with me in tow because there’s a dozen women there who have experienced my hatred of any woman who feeds at trumps trough.
No, Joe Biden can’t be expected to fix this kind of stupid.
Amen. My spouse, also, has nothing but incredulity at, and disdain for, any woman who would vote for T**** and his Republican minions. I cannot fathom their reasoning. Thankfully, my daughter-in-law, the mother of my three granddaughters, is doing a good job of raising them to think for themselves. She has a low bs threshold.
A Russian friend once told me that an important part of Putin’s base is made up of women over 45. They seem to like this he-man sham, and his « charm » (yeah, I know). I imagine that the majority of white American women who voted for Trump must feel the same.
As I have said, women who voted for Trump are self loathing.
Idiots as well. The men? Disgusting.
🤢
Revolting thought Sophie.
I guess they are the vapid, fish lipped, plastic women. The rest of us are horrified!
Witness Joni Ernst, a veteran and sexual assault victim, endorsing Hegseth. Threats and money can overcome a lot.
Creepy display of cowardice, plain and simple.
Absolutely agree with you. If Biden had spent too much time criticizing Trump, we'd be criticizing Biden for spending too much time on Trump. I didn't have to agree on every policy (eg. student loan forgiveness), but he tackled areas that needed legimate oversight, reform or improvement....
Once a week I drive on a piece of interstate that, prior to the Infrastructure Act, was like driving on a railroad track. For that small benefit, I’m very grateful. My government at work for me.
Unfortunately he was too old and in decline to fight for and last another four years.
I agree, except for one thing. Merrick Garland was a mistake.
Robin, it was two mistakes, to hire him and then to keep him.
Absolutely
Amen!
Yes.
Biden showed his true colors when he threw Anita Hill under the bus. She should be sitting in the chair currently occupied by Clarence Thomas.
Not his true colors but a disaster we still pay the price for.
Actually Bill, we are already a lawless nation - we only lack mayhem, disorder, and anarchy. If one man can be above the law, there is no law respectable.
It is so very convenient to blame Biden for the disaster that is occurring. Excuse me, but it is the REPUBLICANS especially Mitch McConnell that along time ago decided to put party over country and refused to impeach Trump. Biden and his cabinet worked hard and tirelessly for an ungrateful American people.
Absolutely Elizabeth, but started with Newt Gingrich. If those two compete about who was the worse for America, it would be a tie score.
A fascist and an authoritarian always has an advantage over someone who defends democracy, because some weapons are forbidden democracies. But democracy can win - it has to be better organised and not so dependent on billionaires and their private interests.
Thank you for your comments. I believe that 2 things can be true at the same time. Biden did many great things and failed to see the ruthless and poisonous Donny and his minions. Garland should have done more in the beginning to bring him to justice. Why did he wait so long???
Read the final report for some answers.
Garland is a Republican and chosen to show nonpartisanship, which he did. The problem of bringing a knife to a gun fight. We failed to reelect Biden or elect Harris. That is the problem.
Bill, what do you suggest that Biden should have done that wouldn't have started a civil war?
His AG should have been fired and replaced with one who would have acted authoritatively instead of do nothingism.
Bill, if you read the first part of the final report, you will get a way better picture of the obstructions the DOJ was up against, that are up precious time.
I don’t agree with you about Biden. The president can only do so much the maga Senators are more to be blamed for their role in where the country is today. And the butt kissing Mike Johnson, who can’t stand on his own as the same integrity or lack of integrity as the orange man.
He should have stuck to his guns and stayed in the running for 2nd term. He had more chance to win than Kamala. IMHO.
Possibly since he is a male he would have that advantage.
I disagree with you here. We needed Biden’s steady hand during the pandemic crisis and the return to normalcy. The other choice was Trump for goodness sake. Biden and those around him erred in thinking he could last another term and not giving someone else a chance to build momentum.
I understand.
The “hit bottom” metaphor is appropriate because we have been drunk on fossil fuel….
Peggy, for some the bottom has already arrived, but the Rs are and will blame liberal woke policies and too many have and will buy into this nonsense. That is clear from the results of the election. LA is a case in point. Public officials there are doing their best as are the firefighters who come from all over including other countries. But we have death star and his minions lying about what is happening and soaking up energy that belongs to the firefighting efforts as officials have to take time to answer the lies. Here in Oregon we sent several firefighter companies who stopped in Sacramento for a wildfire safety check. But the conspiracy theorists said they were being turned away and stopped because of CA environmental rules. This is a lie and several officials have had to take time to answer it. Once I had a principal who constantly stirred the pot and practiced dividing the staff. What happened is that energy that should have gone to students went to him. I see much of what is happening on the national level as the same.
The "bottom" will only be reached after much suffering, especially by those least able to survive: those in ill health, in poverty, no health insurance, no housing, LGBTQ, and immigrants, documented and undocumented. (And I'm sure I've left out others.)
I was too young to fear , raised in a safe and loving home..such a blessing for any child. But atom bomb drills we had and war movies were popular with sound scores perfect ..we didn’t hear the deafening blasts or see the blood and guts displayed….like the children of today have in so many mass shootings, drive by gang initiations, nor the bodies strewn about in the holocaust pictures .
That came later.
It appears later than half the population thinks …they figured out how to pull it off…liars, cheaters, con artists , even white collar crime beat fairness and the dream of so many.
Just lie, repeat it ,it’s waterboarding in disguise , it’s won …for now.
As history repeats itself incessantly…enjoy your heyday while it lasts… as the bottom fodder or is that feeders…strut their stuff.
Be sure to thank them while cleaning up the mess
Project 2025 is about permeance for generations.
Yes Peggy,much like an alcoholic and the Tr**P adminastration is "Drunk" with power.
The “bottom” is approaching fast and will take many forms.
The rest of that phrase is '''the more optimistic I become, it can get worse".
Fantastic and well-informed comment… thanks!
The problem is the prices that were paid by innocents in these historic upheavals.
Yes, the Germans only slipped up once since 1918, but at the cost of 60 million lives.
And that was before giant nuclear arsenals were pointed at the head of humanity, on hair-trigger alert…
For sure the alarm bells are ringing and it's not a drill.
True J L but by winning this nomination battle in the senate they loose. We have to fight then but they will prevail in 90% of the confirmation. What we need to do is anticipate and expose publicly the consequences of those confirmations abd who is going to be responsible.
We need a coordinated Offense/defense in the DNC, sooner rather than later.
I write to my representative, Jamie Raskin, often. I have encouraged him to urge his fellow dems to build a better backbone, to sell and explain their policies, because the republicans will always distort the dems programs on many platforms and win. Eg. Obamacare - he never sold it, never explained its benefits, and the republicans explained on insufficient evidence....
I hear you - Raskin is amazing. I live in Maryland and wish we had more like him. We need to bang the drum constantly and put this mess at their feet. Not only do they need to be LOUD, they cannot bail them out any more. I know it hurts Americans, but it masks the true architects of this awful Project 2025 if we keep helping them out and then they take credit for the good stuff. And they continue to frame the narrative of who WE are... Hoping the next chair of the DNC takes this on full steam.
I have MAGA reps. Big supporters of tfg. My son asked me last night why Dems had pulled back from their President Musk campaign.
Stephanie, lucky you! I live across the Bay and have a “Freedom
Caucus” nut as our Rep. He wins every two years, again rural voters, ugh.
💯 % Bruce, 💯 % right.
The price is always paid by innocents
I hit “like” but I need to clarify that I believe it to true that those who struggle to survive in life pay the price.
Brilliant response Philoctetes! The tides can indeed turn on a whim. I’m reminded of David and Goliath and how one seemingly insignificant person can change the world - the likes of Greta Thunberg.
Yeah, between Hitler and current diversity initiatives lie between 68,000,000-84,000,000 dead people. Those living in the present need to take actions to avoid being a statistic while waiting generations for the 'arc of history' to bend. Silence is acceptance of the status quo.
Should we not 'be the noise' ? Isn't that what tfg and the maga gop did and won ?
The win was bought….
And the receipts are coming due.
Noise and action, yes.
We’ll see… Apparently, there is no stronger power in the world than the power of denial. An orange kid refuses to accept he lost a game, and the largest democracy of the world slides off into autocracy…
Reality always wins, but it can be brutal, especially for the ill prepared.
You admit things can go south with the whole human project perishing. Jon Stewart pointed out that as a convicted felon, Trump cannot own a gun. Yet he will soon have the nuclear codes. Is this a great country or what?!
I’m going to borrow this!
- Pulled Quote -
''It’s as if the Confederates’ descendants have captured the government of the United States.''
And did so speaking German...
And Russian.
English is a German dialect. Perhaps we need to be less stuck on what nationalities were once Fascist/Nazi or military/Right/Left authoritarian and more on what people are doing now around the world. Is Javier Milei German? His father was Calabrian, once a part of Graecia Magna and the Kingdom of Sicily, and a light of civilisation, but latterly poor and battered by history, an agrarian society open to Fascism in the 1920s. But the Fascism of Calabria was very much about support to farmers and agrarian reforms, a far cry from the libertarian populism of the Thatcherite economist Milei. Milei is a socially conservative libertarian populist that’s pure Argentina. Without the decades of Peronism- another kind of Argentinian demagoguery- he’d not have had a chance.
Trump is also homegrown. Regardless of his ancestry, he’s pure United States - and more: pure New York. A hustler whose methods to get ahead are populism and authoritarianism.
Nazism caused more than 60 million dead and at least one full-bore genocide. Stalinism about the same. My continent has barely recovered from the Second World War and not yet from the Cold War. I’d just as soon another Axis led by the US and Russia not cause more horror this century. At the moment, I’m as horrified looking at the USA as Americans of goodwill must have felt in January 1933 when a Nazi was inducted into the German chancellery. It’s really up to you now not to let history repeat itself.
The “strongmen” you speak of certainly met their maker (not Assad…yet), however, their demise only came after they inflicted tremendous harm and agony to many people. It will take a slew of like-minded folks to combat these villains and not necessarily the ones we elected in Congress. This is our Civil War now and I ask: “Are we prepared?”
We are going to have to be smart about it, and better organized.
Yes, precisely right.
you betcha!
And they have most of the arsenal.
I hope it never comes to outright civil war. but I think the reenactment of the Revolutionary war that many MAGA have fantasized about is largely just that, fantasy. The rules have changed dramatically; though one thing that I think is a constant is public sentiment being the foundational key to a contest of wills. Could it be that, at least in that department, we have neglected our message while plutocrats have carpet bombed for decades with Weapons of Mass Propaganda? Remember when Nixon was told that Republicans were ready to convict him? For "The Coverup"? That was a whole different landscape than we face today.
I am not suggesting that we play the game by the devil's rules. They have the home court advantage; but maybe we can learn something from their constant repetition of message, which can be a legitimate tool of learning as well as a Big Lie technique. I believe it takes a lucid and persistent effort for light to penetrate demagogic smoke screens. Sustained momentum over erratic bursts, and focus on a "prize" to be won or lost.
Workers rights? Women's rights? Minority rights? Human Rights? Enduring matters of struggle for centuries, and seemingly never won completely nor for all time. Isn't that struggle always what Lincoln called "common right of humanity" vs abusive, unaccountable power?
While I take sone solace in your post and the daily posts Dr Richardson in her placing historical perspective to the current events.
Yes we and the world have been in places similar to these times and yes the world has come through not as it appeared it would be.
But it all cases you mention...it took time....and bloodshed.
So the fear I have is not as much that trumpism will spread its dark cloud of the nation and perhaps the world - but at what cost until it is defeated?
What chills me to the bone in trumps phoenix like rising - an evil phoenix at that- is the circle of support.
He is but one man. A man who when you read his word rather than listen, can see the gibberish that exudes from his addled and venal mind.
American corporations are cowering before him - fearful that he, as in his first term will issue edicts that will close or punish their companies - whereas before they saw them as idle threats not capable of being implemented because of , well , checks and balances of power - they now see, perhaps clearer than the 70 million odd people that voted for him - that he is surrounded by people who will carry out these threats. They see a population ( the American public ) who will turn a blind eye or find a self delusional excuse to justify these actions.
My fear is not the madness of trump, my fear is the madness of my neighbors. While Philocetes brings hopeful context to our current state through recounting past incidents, I too am reminded of previous incidents, Bosina / Sarajevo, Tutsi and Hutu, Sunni and Shia - the list is endless.
Yes light does appear eventually, but the cost is great - and as I watch the so called conservative and learned Senators in the GOP, submit to each mad word of the Mango Monster , how I watch Bezos destroy the WaPo and kiss trumps diaper, and Zuckerberg, spineless and fawning to trumps every word and I worry about the power of Musk - which may be the real wolf at our door.
One need only read the comments to any article in the WSJ that dares saying anything - no matter how true that is negative to Trump or Musk and it is window into a very scary place in America.
It's not that I am totally hopeless - as much as this missive may sound - but we, the American people, need to find a way to pull the shades from the eyes of our neighbors. Not sure how
In my social and business world I am in contact with successful people. These are not men and women, who struggle to make ends meet and so are frustrated with the status quo and so grasp at change. These are highly educated people, who's fortunes have grown over the last four years and yet - they to a one , they talk of the ' nightmare of the last four years" They make it sound like, jan 6 never happened, COVID was addressed with success by trump and bleach, and that everything was great.
They'er deepest fear is taxes, trans people ( who before the run up to the election they never even though about ) and the swarming immigrants that are invading every town and city in America with military weapons - save for those that clean their houses, bus their tables, and mow their lawns.
How does one combat that irrationality?
Today's Politics Chat (7 hour old as I write this) is a great and timely expansion on the Hegseth appointment criticality, I wish people would force all their Senators be prepared to defend if they dare vote for his confirmation.
See (soon): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7H-cYpfy3OA
And this from Timothy Snyder today:
"3. Nominees. Trump is good at directing media attention this way and that. And he needs to do so, given that many of his nominees for high office, especially those with responsibility for national security, are incompetent and much worse. As I have written elsewhere, it is ludicrous to imagine that Tulsi Gabbard is a reasonable choice to direct American intelligence agencies, that Pete Hegseth should run the defense department, or that Kash Patel should direct our national police force (the FBI). These people are entirely bereft of qualifications for these positions. And that should be more than enough to disqualify them. What stands out about them is something that transcends even their total incompetence: their notorious positions in favor of destroying international and domestic legal order. Gabbard is known for nothing around the world beyond her defense of Assad and Putin. Hegseth believes that America should be fighting a "Holy War" against itself. Patel has argued for arresting Americans for their political views. As we approach their nomination hearings, we should be thinking about what kind of America, and world, will be created if such people are allowed the run some of the most powerful institutions of violence in the history of the world. All the talk of Greenland and the rest has been shielding them. It distracts the media. And it makes chaos seem normal. It should be pointed out, in fairness, that these people will not help to actually fight wars abroad. If Trump's nominees are confirmed, what we can actually expect is conflict within the United States. Trump is opening the world for Russian and Chinese expansion in this way as well. If we follow the logic of this hypothesis, we would circle back to the first logic: that Trump's fake American imperialism is just there to enable real Russian and Chinese imperialism. "
You can't combat it. That is simply a part of the human condition. Read Dietrich Bonhoeffer's one page essay from prison On Human Stupidity. As I said, we might survive it, we might not. Something good may come out at the other end, but who knows.
A long game indeed, and so much pain and strain ahead. When we could have a vibrant society and not a tribute to evil. My daughter and grands will have to endure the long game, with one damn thing after another…
Philoctetes - I must say how much I always enjoy your comments. Enough to get the brain chewing - but not so much as to induce catatonia!
I agree with much of what you say - however regarding the Roman Empire - I would suggest that it never died, it just transformed into the Roman Catholic Church, and is still going strong worldwide.
I would agree. If you are interested you should read Peter Heather's wonderful books - about a half dozen now and counting - on the transition from Late Antiquity to the Christian Middle Ages.
And of course we now have the Christian Nationalists. Mike Johnson. Bill Barr was one. J.D. Vance a recent Catholic convert. Several supreme court justices. It has nothing to do with religion. Everything to do with power.
Thanks - that's a new name for me. There must be a dozen of his books on Amazon - and every one has at least 4.5 stars! Yum-yum!
Can you recommend which book of Peter Heather to read first?
I would start with The Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians, then move to Empires and Barbarians, then The Restoration of Rome.
Thank you for your recommendation!
This is a very Good Comment... What is different now is Global Climate-Change, and A.I. ...
A.I. has been Weaponized in the Ukraine, and Gaza... The Israelis use A.I. for targeting, and is essentially Semi-Autonomous which Accounts for the Immense Destruction, and loss of Life... Hospitals, Aid-Workers, and Medical Staff are Targeted... I saw last Week on Fareed Zakaria's GPS that in some respects, that the Kurweil Singularity has been crossed by A.I. .... Think 'Skynet'... Are Silicon-Based Lifeforms, the next Evolutionary Step?
Maybe, but I'm not giving up on carbon just yet. Might we repel the predators if enough of us acted with collaborative focus? Have we been lulled to sleep with an overdose of commercial media? We still have choices.
And our choices continue to expand while interest in corporate media declines. In less than 48 hours, The Contrarian has over 175,000 subscribers. And word is still getting out. What a mistake it was for Bezos to piss off the WAPOs lead journalists. The corporate media are losing their best journalists by kow-towing to Trump and the Republicans. So what they are left with are mediocre unknowns who people don't even read or watch.
Billionaires who buy major media firms seem more driven by controlling information (and politics) than running it for profit. That certainly seems to be the case with Musk. Recall that before things got so crazy there were restrictions on concentrated ownership of media in any given market, and far more serious efforts to enforce antitrust. How many of the leading American corporations in the middle of the Twentieth Century are now no more than brands of gigantic mega-corps? How much of the ownership and control of of the assets of our nation as a whole has been hoovered into fewer hands? How did we get here?
Where is our 'John Conner'? It will take Organization, Resources, and Focus...
The DNC should act on Senator Whitehouse's requests for an Offensive (I add Defensive) Coordinator role NOW. They have resisted for three years, he said on Bullwark. Why, who has paid them off to sit by, inactively?
The DNC, if it is to Survive... Needs to Realize that we are in a 'Warm' Civil War... No outright Physical Violence Yet, Thankfully... The Other Side is Playing for Keeps... When Joe Biden leaves on 20-Jan-2025, a Chapter in American Governance Ends... The DNC must promote those such as Seth Moulton, Jasmine Crockett, and AOC into the Leadership... We need 'John Connors', and 'Winston Churchills'.... Fighters, and not Appeasers... A New MSM may also be needed.... Today was a Good Day... A Ceasefire in Gaza.... Richard Engels of NBC gave a very balanced Review of the Gaza War... CNN started to conduct some Real Time Fact-checking on the Confirmation Hearings... Sane People should become Alarmed, and Properly Fearful as to what the New Era Holds for Good People....
"Fighters, and not Appeasers..."
For sure, as a fight is coming either way. Democrats need to be forward-looking and retain small "c" conservatism in the sense of prudent, but also bold and ready for a fight. It's a waste of time to focus on not rocking the boat when "the Ship of State" is facing a tempest.
I agree completely as you may have deduced from my commentary for months now. Not to nitpick, but we have already had plenty of physical and emotional violence.
Senator Woodhouse? Do you mean Whitehouse maybe?
So sorry, my bad. A but foggy in the head today. Thanks for the correction!
As Al Gore said climate change is "an inconvenient truth" as is the reality that mass deportations will likely present. The interplay between Republican budget hawks and tax cuts with cuts to social programs may bring things home to many more. Bringing this information to the MAGA faithful will be a challenge, but I hope some reality will hit home.
Beautifully written, and helpful. I never thought that in my later years I would be witness to the end of our democracy but I do believe in cosmic transitions. Dark things have been coming into alignment and change is in the air. We often miss the signs as we live our busy lives, but there has been unrest at the edges for decades. Now things are coming at us like a freight train. May we all have the strength to weather the storm. And may another time of peace be on the other side for our kids and grandkids.
"But Hegseth refused to meet with Democrats on the committee, and they made it clear that they will not make the vote easy for Republicans" - the Democrats AND Republicans must not allow confirmation of such an unqualified unskilled person for one of the most crucial positions in the government!
Unfortunately with Joni Ernst having capitulated to Trump today, unless someone comes forward with a true smoking gun to testify against Hegseth, he will probably be approved by a partisan line 53-47 vote. A tragic result for the country IMHO
I believe you are correct. But how many (true) smoking guns does it take? This nominee has been deemed unqualified for many good reasons. Same as his possibly future boss by the way. And yet.... A tragedy indeed.
The GOP LIKES " smoking guns", they even keep them in their gun closets.
Yes , I agree. Another disaster within our newly elected government waiting to happen.
How can you possibly say that this person is unqualified when you allow Joe Biden to run for president.
You are a f**king idiot. Believe me no one here has any interest in your idiotic opinion. Crawl back into the hole you came from.
Awwwww. But you do know there were always two sides to a story
And currently you’ll be on the losing end of the story for the next 4 to 12 years As we ALL have been on the losing end for the for the past four
ROTFLMAO. You are so stupid and ignorant that it is amusing to see you flail around. Get lost.
How could ALL 53 be so misguided and braindead! What do they see in this truly 'lamebrain' showoff? Are they all being paid off by the trump mafia?
You mistake why these people vote.
No surprises any more; no more pretense to defend the constitution.
They serve & protect themselves not us.
As an incorrigible Pollyanna, I would have hoped that with all the shortcomings of this severely unqualified individual being pointed out, SOME of those elected officials would have the guts to say NO at confirmation time. All spineless self-serving cowards?
Count’em.
(Sorry, Marli, don't mean to be abrupt. I'm a nerd and evidence-oriented scientist. At some point we need to acknowledge our democracy has in fact fallen to a coup, and like a chicken with its head cut off, the body doesn't realize it is dead.
Until we can face the truth, we won't be dealing with it properly.
This am, a UPS driver, having breakfast at my old man's diner in Madison WI (referring to me, not my Dad :) cited a Mark Twain quote: "It is easier to FOOL someone, than to CONVINCE them they've been fooled."
We have a LOT of work ahead. Most Americans WILL realize eventually (by 2026? 2030?)) they have been fooled. It is our job to facilitate that. Facilitation entails listening to R's a LOT, asking non-snarky questions. Keeping simple (non-polemic) facts at hand for when they eventually ask us questions back.
It REALLY matters HOW soon moderate R's realize they've screwed the Republic, and that they have allies on this front in the D's.)
I think his MO has been blackmail (and threat) (a la his former BFF Epstein).
He’s too cheap to buy people he can intimidate (has no compunctions about either).
But I suppose with his new BFF Elon, buying people (and still, threats) is now the most flexible and fungible MO.
No Marli, they are severely afraid of the trump mafia. And that's no way to government. They are planting the seeds of their own destruction. We have to use the water to grow them wisely .
It might be that T**** has dirt on all of them; or he might be threatening to have them ‘primaried’.
Fear is a most powerful driver.
They are all racists pigs
I don't think it will be 53-47. Probably 51-49 with Collins and Murkowski voting against.
Gary, have Collins and Murkowski said they would oppose? I guess I've been asleep on this one.
Then again, 51, 53, what does it matter? It would take 4 GOP votes to beat him IF the entire Dem coalition holds.
The chances of defeating ANY of them is pretty slim.
Looks like Matt Gaetz ran away too soon. (Sorry about that, not at all what I Really think!)
Apparently Matt Gaetz hasn’t run away from Florida…
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/former-congressman-matt-gaetz-considering-governor-run-he-says-2025-01-08/
o_m_g_
They are politicians. They slither like sloths with no backbones.
Remember Carter. There ARE decent and great politicians, if not welcome in their own country, or time.
But yes, the higher the tower of power, the more rarified the breath of virtue.
If you continue to tar all politicians with the same brush we will never have any chance of getting better ones.
With all of her supposed bonifides of military service…turns out she’s the weakest woman amongst women.
Why would she go along with Hegseth? Is there a good reason? Does anyone know?
She's a Republican. Trump and his henchmen are threatening every GOP congress critter (and that nickname is especially appropriate now!) Is toeing the line because they are afraid. They have no alternative plan that will work.
Tragically sad.
Cowards
Joni even admitted she had been raped but still voted for Kavanaugh and any number of sexual predators.
Years ago I sent a letter to Susan Collins complaining about a Federal judge nominated by Trump to fill a vacancy in TN. I complained because he had made several disparaging comments on several radio shows against blacks, Muslims and women.
Her reply was essentially that character doesn't matter. And she voted for him.
The character thing is gone in Repub land.
That does not surprise me in the least. Spine is not something Collins has.
Character is disqualifying for the GOP. Liz Cheney? Taken out like yesterday’s trash.
Requiring conditions on aid to Californians who lost everything? What a fine bunch of “Christians”.
Money. Fear of losing her cherished Senate seat in the next election. Disgusting.
$$$$
Completely bought off. $$$ has won the day again for the spineless R's. It's as if they fear they couldn't find another job! Really?!
She does not want to loose her pension, as rump threatened to all unloyal civil servants.
She is just another Susan Collins.
What we need is someone to offer Joni a reason to fight for what she believes in. If I were her and going to be primaries for voting no, I’d spend the next two years fighting for what’s right. She thinks they aren’t going to primary her anyway? Delusional. Someone needs to offer her safety
5 million dollars outa do it.
You are just missing how sycophantic the GOP has become. No one will buck Trump.
They are capitulating SO fast; suspect they are ALL compromised (entire remaining GOP) and that TFG now has the goods on all, or a motivating threat - via the surveillance tools available to centa billionaires, if not via the old-fashioned Epstein video stash.
He clearly wants NO ONE in gov't that he doesn't own.
Gotta wonder what’s in it for them to vote party line at this point. They’ll get to keep their job licking Trumps boots while he destroys the country and so many people? Is there no care at all that they are complicit? Sure… they’ll get theirs until there is nothing left to get. Or until Trump decides he doesn’t like them or finds an even more self-loathing boot-licker.
Power, even relative power, is a compellingly powerful addiction (most particularly for those weakest in character).
Capitulated? You mean woke up.
Careful your cage handler (Trump) hates the word "woke".
Especially when it’s used correctly on the Democrats and although left-wing ding bat groups
You can't even write understandable English. Did you manage to get out of grade school, idiot?
I’m voice texting and apparently you can figure it out so you might even have the ability to reason. Very good. I give you a B+.
If you think this is grammar school, and I need to worry about being graded by my teacher on my syntax spelling sentence construction, parts of speech, dangling, participles, etc. You’re in the wrong room.
Try this concept, John. Content over form try that for the rest of your life then you won’t need to be so anal.
At a bare minimum, I want / need to see some real ferocity from the dems in these confirmation skirmishes; And from any old school republicans with any ounce of honor, votes of good conscience for country over party. I want to see much more than just "not making confirmation easy" for those favoring the grossly unqualified.
It’s too late for any of that. The Monster has never been held to account, and it looks like he never will be. All the guard rails have failed. Waiting for some performance art by Democrats is just silly. American exceptionalism? Seems like your country has decided to go fuck itself, and so goes the rest of the world. Unforgivable, what you people have allowed to happen. Unforgivable.
I am an American and agree with every word you have written. I am ashamed of how democracy was quickly destroyed. I will never forgive those who made this happen.
Democrats who stayed home!
Democracy was destroyed? Are you delusional? 150 Million Americans just voted. That sounds like democracy.
Because you don't like the result is offensive.
Sorry James. 40 years ago i would agree. With fascist and oligarchs?
Never. Because this time is not about policy, it is about our nation, democracy.
Please, do not be so shallow, thank you.
So very sadly, I cannot disagree with anything you've stated Mike. I am deeply ashamed and angry; and, and, and. I do hope that despite your disappointments, that you'll still be pulling for our better angels.
73 million of us still believe in Democracy and we're never going to throw in the towel and give up. I don't believe in having a defeatist attitude. As long as we have independent writers, journalists, podcasts and independent tv networks and attorneys exposing the truth about the corruption of Trump, we must keep on fighting for our Democracy and freedom. Once people began to see that Trump lied to them about bringing prices down on the cost of food and rent and strip away their benefits to survive, then Democrats will have a chance during the midterm elections to win the house and the senate. Sure , we will be in hell for 2 years but we will never give up our Democracy and our freedom. Besides, Trump and his party are fighting amongst themselves which is an advantage for us.
I see silver lings of hope to save our Democracy, it take time but we will prevail.
Patricia, I so hope you are correct! My fear is that the “news” these
citizens listen to is what caused this catastrophe.
How do we change this?
By educating people. Informing them that there are independent news outlets and writers, journalists that are out there telling the real truth about what is happening to this country. Telling them that our news is being controlled by billionaires and it's nothing but propaganda and lies like Russia. Telling them to get involved by networking with people who are knowledgeable.
D4N, when we need to be ferocious is in the coming battle about aid package to California. We can't let them extort city and state leaders and submit them to interminable congressional investigations as they did with Hillary Clinton and so many other democrats.
Don't accept any precondition and no embarrassment in Congress. That battle wil be the first of many coming and we should fight and prevail.
Absolutely agree Ricardo.
After being elected it took Hitler 54(?) days to legally deconstruct the Weimar Republic - believe this is the number.
Someone please correct me.
That sounds approximately correct Mark. Shocking thought is it not.
Indeed. May have been 54 days, 8 hours, and 20 minutes- and the 20 minutes mattered, as I recall.
There may not be much time left before the remaining semblances of democracy are gone.
From what I’ve been reading things might go rather quickly from here.
Hitler? This is exactly why you list the election.
Yep. Just shot out response to a local on-line columnist who said we should never refer to Trump as a Nazi.
I suggested “Fascist”may be more palatable to him?
WTH?
Agree tfg’s not ANY kind of socialist, national- or otherwise.
Socialists care for & about people (or pretend to).
But fascist?
The dictionary says ‘see tfg’.
Who used the justice system to imprison their enemies? Censored
speech?
Yes Biden was a facist
I want to hear what Jamie Raskin has to say on this. We desperately need another Joseph N. Welch.
Jamie is my Representative and I think he’s great, but times have changed. In ‘54, Welch finally punctured McCarthy and exposed his mean-spirited lies with the simple phrase, “Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last?” Now, our leading politicians HAVE no sense of decency. Trump “joked” about having the right, as a wealthy man, to grab women by the pussy. Hegseth had sex (he says it was consensual) with a woman other than wife #3 just two months after wife #3 gave birth to their daughter. He got wife #3 pregnant while still married to wife #2. Traditional Republicans would have been throwing around the word “adulterer” but Trumpublicans don’t, when it’s THEIR nominee. In the months after the Welch take down, McCarthy spiraled into alcoholism and died in office. Hegseth, who obviously has drinking problems of his own, will run an agency with a $800 billion + annual budget. What could possibly go wrong?
Real ferocity from the Dems, dare I hope.
We might need a new cast..
And a new script
"Old school republican with any ounce of honor..."
SURELY SURELY YOU JEST!
I think you need to look in the American Museum of Natural History for one of those. They are kept in the Cretaceous Period room, along with the T Rex.
😀
What a stupid comment - ARE YOU A MORON? Hegseth, an officer who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan
is a graduate of Princeton, and has post graduate degree from Harvard. He has written on the department of defense, worked in think tanks.
Know your facts.
Watch Time Kaine grilling Hegseth.
https://apple.news/A0qP-UmKdSFu1mXUmmaJzUA
Thank you for that. Having spent my last two vacations in Canada, I appreciate the humor. I guess I'm a Canadian at heart.
We hadn't thought about a two to four year "vacation" in Canada, but are now more dedicated than ever to getting passports like our other relatives here in Maine.
If they would have us, I think it an advantage to be Canadian citizens able to travel to more parts of the world, too.
If push comes to shove on the US trying to take Canada by force, I imagine I'd be going to their side if we ever got to a point where we'd be attacking our best friends.
That would seem to push me beyond just becoming a conscientious objector.
...and the Pacific states.
SVP :')
And the world.
Too late. You should’ve thought of that before they let Biden run for president.
He would be a threat to this country and the security of the people if he is confirmed.
Republicans better think twice before voting for this man for this high rank position. He gave me the impression that he's hungry to start a war at any cost. He thinks like a dictator and has no remorse for humanity. He is completely unhinged and unfit like Trump. May God help us. 🙏
Marli,
This entire fiasco within the governing body of the United States of America is unbelievable....YET, here we are!!!!
There must be a major STOP GAP!!! This is the United States of America!!!!
How is it possible that Hegseth is allowed NOT to meet with Democrats on the committee?
He is unqualified, unskilled and to cover it all...IMMORAL!.....so are the minions who approve him....especially those who insult the position of leadership within the highest positions occupied inside the government of the USA!!!! The persons chosen to serve within the highest positions of our government must be of great character and ability. Their decisions will affect the world...governments, flow of commerce, healthcare, emergency management ie disaster relief.
Can you not see the horrible results of our supporting Netanyahu??? He is using is!! Our support has not brought the hostages home!!! We are responsible for the death and starvation and destruction of our fellow humans in Gaza and in other parts of the middle east! How much longer will it take for others to bomb us...to kill and injure our children...destroy our schools and hospitals?
How are these "criminals" going to govern the United States of America? Right...we know the past...."death threats"...ruining careers....etc. Trump and his minions are thirsting for these "opportunities"!
What of the trust we have built with our family of nations throughout the world???
This group of infidels will threaten us with taking our property, prison and or starvation! The lives of our children and elderly and infirm are each and all at risk!!!
The ignorance and amazing ability to accept lies over truth within our population is infinite!!!! I never imagined in my life that major institutions would have become so weak.
This assault on our nation is nothing less than what is happening in Gaza. You think NOT!
The great "holy" nation of Israel has used us to starve to death innocent men, women and children who have done nothing to deserve such a fate!!! We have been used to increase poverty and hatred!
Rather than improving education opportunities, providing needed health care for each and all of our citizenry...we have spent more time working to divide one another....and the world!
ARE YOU A MORON? Hegseth, an officer who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan
is a graduate of Princeton, and has post graduate degree from Harvard. He has written
on the department of defense, worked in think tanks, and veteran affairs
James A,
Satan has a great record of accomplishments as well....I will not vote for him...but he does have great ability to disguise himself....he often deceives us.....he knows how to become an acceptable, even respected image.
We each and all need to be on guard.
Satan? Are you talking about Joe Biden?
You LOST the election because of this type of narcissism. Biden’s and Democratic governance was a trainwreck: inflation, the border, stupid foreign policy.
Your answer to everything is Trump is evil he is Hitler. Nice try.
You have NO reason to sanctimonous.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7gGDzRBj8s
Get ready for the encore sheet show friends. Promises made create expectations. Beginning with the 1/6 felons in prison who won’t be magically released, the immigrants not deported, and the myriad of other lies unveiled, this monster will not meet the end his houseflies voted for. His cognitive decline is being accelerated by his “win”. Pause from the mayhem when you can, and watch him self destruct to the end. Maybe his friend Hannibal will have him over for dinner, heh, heh!
I wouldn't hold my breath. He will release every Jan 6 convict I am certain of that. And he will deport a LOT of undocumented immigrants maybe 500,000 or so. Not 10 million but still a ton.
It's majority Republican vote, pure and simple, and they are supporting him.
Isn't there something in the Constitution re nominating qualified people for the job. ? I cant find the source
ROTFLMAO! Don't spend any time looking for that. It isn't there.
It would take 5 R’s 1) who are not radicalized and 2) who have a spine. Are there any left with a spine, or better said, the balls to stand up for what’s right?! We shall see
No. Souls sold, spines and courage (in whatever organ it is stored) completely gone.
Whatever organ! Love that. I am afraid you are correct. 😢
“He’s not qualified for the job.”
~Senator Duckworth.
“Nothing needs to be said beyond that.”
~H. Alan Kantrud
I don’t oppose the will of the people: I oppose the imposition of incompetence on the citizens. No Republican has EVER been able to question the credentials of a cabinet-appointee of a Democrat on the basis of their credentials.
The bar has been lowered.
The BEST candidate Trump has is a nominal-military vet who was ousted from a veterans’ organization for being a fuck-up drunk. The sycophants think this individual, a Fox-host flunkie, is the BEST choice to oversee 3.2 MILLION service members?
I hope many active and former members of our proud military speak up and object to this uniquely unqualified person being in charge.
The only way to combat incompetence is to call it out for what it is. Hegseth shouldn’t be in charge of a Salvation Army bucket at a Walmart, nevermind the ENTIRE Defense Deparment. This should be nothing but obvious.
Alan, well stated. Hegseth refused to “cram” for what was probably the most important entrance exam of his career. Presidents depend on their Defense Secretary to know details about global defense agreements and the policy within the departments to get assignments done. Tammy Duckworth showed that Hegseth knows nothing about being Defense Secretary. He will not be able to offer Trump the advice and counsel needed to keep us safe.
Trump is more concerned with keeping Putin Safe, and...
...and one would hope that he wouldn't have had to cram. If he took pride in being well-informed, he would have known about ASEAN, for instance.
Well said Alan; Please forward your thoughts to All senators of any persuasion.
Those that you described A4N are less than 50 and in every case,after the full name it says ( D) and the state they represent. You can't go wrong.
"The defense secretary oversees about 1.3 million active-duty troops and another 1.4 million in the National Guard and employed in Reserves and civilian positions, as well as a budget of more than $800 billion."
And how many billion are controlled by the small but very powerful coterie of billionaires in Trump's orbit? Checks and balances? Maybe at the bank.
Obvious of course but you need to remember that the Ds are in the minority in the Senate. Political power is extremely insulated from logical intelligent arguments. The GOP hold 53 votes to appoint Hegseth. I only had 2 potential "no" votes on Hegseth from the GOP where 4 are needed. With the capitulation of Ernst, the best possible vote I can see is 52 for 48 against. He only needs 50 (as JD Vance week cast the deciding vote of our is a 50 50 tie. )
Hegseth will be approved in the absence of some truly smoking gun in the next week. All we can hope for is that his incompetence will be quickly clear and Trump will have to remove him.
But I wouldn't stay up nights thinking this might happen.
Back in 2002, many of us, like I believe my son (a C-130 Crew Chief) and I reluctantly thought we had to trust the leadership like the also seemingly reluctant Colin Powell that the Iraq intervention was required. See Susan Collins reluctance at: https://www.collins.senate.gov/newsroom/statement-senator-susan-m-collins-authorization-iraq
We also imagined we would have at least a reasonable amount of support from reluctant allies.
Now we have a situation where my old party wants to install the exact opposite of the reluctant leaders we had back then.
I ordered but haven't been able to read Deadly Betrayal: The Truth About Why the United States Invaded Iraq by Dennis Fritz (with Foreword by Larry Wilkerson). I always trusted Larry Wilkerson.
I'd suggest our Senators never approve anyone so less credible and less likely to be trusted by those he is supposed to lead than Hegseth
I worked at a much lower level in Space Command than Dennis Fritz, now retired Air Force Command Chief Master Sargent, and couldn't come close to the insights he gained in working with such high level officials.
See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OjvEnYrCcw
"...Join Professor Jeffrey Sachs and retired Air Force Command Chief Master Sergeant Dennis Fritz, a former Pentagon insider, as they explore the extremely important insights in Fritz’s new book, Deadly Betrayal, which uncovers the ugly truths behind the Iraq War in 2003. Drawing from dramatic evidence, Fritz explains how a group of high-level Pentagon officials (a “cabal” in Fritz’s description) in the Bush Jr. Administration manipulated intelligence, pressured other nations, and swayed Congress and public to support a disastrous war.
Together, they delve into the astounding evidence that Fritz uncovered during his work at the Pentagon while examining the documentary record of the war. Fritz discovered three reasons for the utterly misguided Iraq War: to restore American “credibility” in the Middle East, to go to war on Israel’s behalf, and to deliver “democracy” at gunpoint. The results were a massive failure on all counts.
The lessons of the Iraq War remain crucial for our own time, as various lobbies continue to try to manipulate the US into still more unnecessary and reckless wars..."
The Book Club with Jeffrey Sachs is brought to you by the SDG Academy, the flagship education initiative of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Learn more and get involved at bookclubwithjeffreysachs.org.
Do you think anyone will actually take orders from him? Shoot peaceful protesters? I’m sure many in the military understand that this administration has disdain for them and will use them as “cannon fodder” as Putin and North Korea have used their young men.
I carpooled to rehearsal last night with my flute playing friend, a 20 year USMC Veteran (JAG corps, but did see action in Somalia). We had a discussion about leadership and power, and her comment was that both of tcf's Defense Secretaries Mattis and Esper had "dust on their boots" having led both Marines and Army soldiers in combat. We were in agreement that the personality and command attributes that make a good enlisted leader are often not those that make a good commander of larger divisions as an officer; two very different skill sets with very different missions. Couple that with the personality traits that someone who is a drunk, rapist, racist has, that man is in NO WAY qualified to command anything.
There is no greater responsibility than command of troops in combat.
Five days from now, a serial felon, insurrection inciter, coup conspirator, sexual abuser, six-time declarer of bankruptcy, pathological liar, lifelong con man, and twice-impeached, four-times-indicted former president of the United States – a five-time draft dodger who called service members who gave their lives for our country "suckers" and "losers" – will again take power in America, as a fascist strongman.
How appalling.
My father, who earned a Silver Star, our nation's third-highest medal for valor, as an Army Air Forces bombardier against the Nazis in World War II, and whose best friend was one of the more than a thousand Marines who died fighting the Japanese at Tarawa, didn't live long enough to witness this unconscionable perversion of our democracy, and I don't know exactly what he would say if he had.
But I have a fairly good idea.
My Dad was a Meteorologist Technician, his top award was for setting up the weather station that allowed the planes to fly "over the hump"; different arena than your Dad, and a different role. He would be spitting mad (his favorite term for losing his temper, which he seldom did) at what has happened today. I think he and your Dad would be on the same page.
What are your qualifications?
Yes, Heather -- and the capture is near total. Too much, too much has failed.
And having convicted criminal as head of state still looms.
Would matter less if we had healthy universities. But it’s the opposite. In higher ed more major by far in finance and business than anything else – triple all health majors, humanities nearly zero. So George Packer’s “The Unwinding: An Inner History of the New America” cannot gild one fact: “the default force in American life, organized money.”
A criminal at the top might sting less with rule of law for all. We have that? All in public office take an oath to the Constitution – which disqualifies any and all insurrectionists. Congress by 2/3 in each house may free any of this disqualification, but neither house has held any vote.
Does it matter an insurrectionist be immune to law? A U.S. head of state be a convicted felon? Adjudicated rapist? Friend to world dictators? A fraud whom a federal court found long and massively fraudulent?
Too much has failed: the schools, Congress, courts, legacy media. So doesn’t a criminal president piquantly underline “the default force in American life, organized money”?
What hasn’t failed is the lack of principle in the Republicans. They keep shoving bigger and bigger idiots to the front, and every time you think “my God, they couldn’t openly, consciously support THIS guy, right?” But every time, they do. It really helps having no principles at all, that way everybody falls in line in the end.
Has been the scenario for decades
This: “the default force in American life, organized money.”
And it is organized BY convicted felons and a predatory carny barker mobster, chum of Epstein.
Time to review your second amendment rights.
Mark, your list of organizers is way too short. I don't blame you though. A complete list would take a few weeks to finish and you'll end up with carpal tunnel. 😄
So many good points.
The spinelessness and contorted thinking of Republican Senators is as distressing as it is shocking. They have become a sinister cabal determined to undo democracy. As Heather has pointed out, they are not conservatives, but radicals devoted to a disordered individual. I fear how low they can drag the country down.
And, HCR is spot on in that observation; They are Not conservative republicans. They are purely extremist anarchists, play acting for votes. Their masters are not their voters.
Deper than you think Carmen but we need a megaphone 24/7 to keep people aware of where are they taking us. They own the mess that we tried to prevent. We have a messaging war going on simultaneously and that's the one we need to win
When Jack Smith was given the task of the January 6 case I knew he would not fail. As odd as it seems he won against the incoming President. Jack Smith got in the last word. He persisted in maneuvering through the complex legal roadblocks and produced a damning document just in time for inauguration. It might look like they are winning at every turn but if you look closely there are still battles being won. This is one of those battles.
I am now in my eighth decade and I remember the ranting of the right claiming that every progressive idea was part of or inspired by the "communist and red menace" and watch while they wrapped themselves in the American flag and claimed to be conservative. It was hard to ignore at that time that their label of conservatism was those that did not agree with them political legitimacy. We are now seeing that these same people are now and have been engaged in the overthrow of the government and now moving the country in a direction that is contrary to those values that they pretended to hide behind for so many years.
Thank you for this excellent piece, Heather. My evening doesn’t end until I’ve digested your latest letter. I love the way you weave together the former and the present Lost Cause - with a suggestion that, by their actions, the current insurgents and the “dust on his boots” Hegseth are spiritual descendants of the Confederate, slave-owning members of the government. Somehow, I feel better after reading your rational, historical perspective!
Her wry use of the word "surprising". Nobody else writes like HCR.
Yes; She tickles me sometimes and I find myself wondering if she intended to do so.
She certainly does.
Factual information about real time history delivered by Professor Richardson in accurate historical context is not only important but imperative for 2025 & beyond. This evenings LFAA is another good example.
Per Casey Newton's Platformer on 1/14/25: [META] built effective systems to reduce the reach of false news. Last week [Zuckerberg] shot them down.
Brace yourself for more "Pope Francis Endorses Trump" and remember take downs are easy while doing the necessary harder work of rebuilding & strengthening our democracy.
Be Safe All.
The real connect not to be ignored is how trump started right after he lost the election. No one shut him up for 4 years. The Dems need to. Start now campaigning
The Democrats do not control the media.
The Dems need THREE WORD party slogan(s).
And we should of kept the election open till a vetted hand count was done.
Sorry that comment about hand counts is nonsense. 150 million votes were cast.
Have YOU ever done a hand count of a complex election ballot like in 2024? I have several years ago in just one precinct in California with 2000 voters and it took almost 20 hours for 4 of us to accomplish the task. That's almost 2 minutes per ballot.
Do you have any idea what it would cost and the number of people required to hand count 150 million ballots? It would take over a year.
Our machine counting systems are incredibly accurate. Almost all hand recounts NEVER show a different winner.
Trump won. I don't like it. I assume you don't either, but it is a total waste of time and effort to do hands recounts in almost every election unless the voting differential is less than .1%, i.e. 1 in 1000 votes.
All that time would be better spent on the millions of ninnies who sat this one out.
I’m looking at YOU, my sistas‼️
Rupert won, nobody seems to realize that. And Vlad, of course
That is an imposssible task. The Republicans like to reduce an election results to how the votes are counted. This is an evasion of the larger picture of a massive disinformation enacted courtesy of russia and MAGA. It discounts the effects of voter suppression and gerrymandering. It dismisses the negative affect of Citizens United.
It is not how the votes are counted.
Although, the ongoing attempt in NC to snatch away the vote for a democratic NC Supreme Court Justice IS an attempt to not count 60,000 mail-in and absentee voters through no fault of the voters.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson. I started reading Jack Smith's report online. but have ordered a hard copy to arrive Friday. As you said most of he evidence presented we already have seen and know, especially those of us who watched the entire attack on OUR Capitol Building from when the left the White House until the Electoral College votes were finally counted and Biden declared formally as winner.
The thing that worries me most about that loose cannon, Hegseth, is what if trump decides to attack one of our allies, (with urging from his buddy, Putin) What can we do? Some members of the military who are true Americans may warn us and our ally of the pending action, but NATO nations will have no choice but to declare war against us. It will be Hitler all over again with an even more incompetent leader at the helm.
We can only hope that the cadre of senior officers will follow the UCMJ (Uniform Code of Military Justice) and refuse to obey unlawful orders. That is what they will be dealing with: unlawful orders.
It’s a frightening thought, Fay.
I am more concerned about Trump using the military to attack American citizens.
That too, Susan. I just hope they don't fire (or somehow dismiss) all the current military leaders. Military leaders from the late 18th century to today have always sworn allegiance to the Constitution, not to the flag, or to the President. What's more they have a rule that if a junior officer thinks an order is wrong based on the Constitution, that have a duty to refuse to obey that order.
If they get their dictatorship approved,. we're done for.
https://joycevance.substack.com/p/jack-smiths-report-and-beyond#:~:text=Jack%20Smith%27s%20Report%20%26%20Beyond
Another excellent on the Jack smith case.
"It is hard to preserve public confidence in the rule of law after the last eight years. But Smith seemed to be appealing to an idea we’ve touched on frequently—not letting Donald Trump drag everyone else down to his level. In that regard, even if they didn’t get to take their cases to trial, Smith believes his team succeeded. Many people have lost confidence in the sine qua non of our democracy, that no man is above the law. Smith wrote, “That is also why, in my decision-making, I heeded the imperative that ‘[n]o man in this country is so high that he is above the law.’” In Smith’s view, as he related his team’s work, this principle was of primary importance as they pursued the case, more than Trump’s ultimate fate. It’s a very different take. Trump may have made a mockery of the system, but in Smith’s view, prosecutors treated him like everyone else and that counts for something. It was the Supreme Court and ultimately the voting public that failed, not the prosecution."
One problem, Barbara (in my opinion): the christofascists see the Felon in Chief as a tool of retribution and the coming of the End Times. Rule of law is a hugely important ideal and one that, in Anglo-American law, has its origins a century before the 1215 Magna Carta, which was a document designed to curb a king who was considered to be overreaching. But it cannot stand before the kinds of anti-legal, anti-secular designs of people who are determined to use their tool of retribution as a push toward the Apocalypse. The issue is the derangement of the christofascists, who also support the obliteration of the Palestinians because that, too, will help to usher in the end times, when all the Jews will be lost in the burning fires of hell after the Antichrist appears. The sheer insanity of these positions should freak people out and yet they are usually met with yawns. And the rule of law has no defense against them.
We ignore this impending armageddon at our peril.
Or Barbara, maybe we have to become the monster in order to beat him. The problem is that in treating Trump like everyone else, Smith fell for a guy that treats no-one equal, as others that had to be taken down somehow were subject to innovative legalizing (I'm Thinking of Al Capone). These demented humans are nothing like anyone else, the need to be put down.
Heather, did you not pick up on the fact that Jack Smith put blame on Garland for not acting sooner? After all, he said T should’ve been charged in 2020. If anyone will recall, the Mueller report was stopped by the second AG, Billy Barr. Barr obstructed justice, as much as T did, in my opinion. I had high hopes for Merrick Garland but boy, he botched this case for us but good!
I know people are giddy thinking about how Dems will change things up in the midterms but I am not. I was so certain that Kamala Harris would win and that Sherrod Brown would be victorious. I have lived in this delusional bubble for too long to fake realism. T didn’t win handily but we didn’t either. Yeah, there’s a slim majority in the House but not in the Senate. The majority of people in our country feel extremely let down by our party even though Joe and Kamala have produced a ton of jobs and have brought badly needed infrastructure back. But look at our miserable healthcare system where people have to wait for months to get a doctor’s appointment or they just die because their insurance company denies their claims. They’re apathetic towards CEOs who make millions and rightfully so! I am not condoning killing them but I completely understand the reason why. We have lost our way and we cannot ride the coattails of Black people who have fought tirelessly for our country. Their literal blood, sweat, and tears built this country and the racists/fascists want them out of the way. It is going to get very ugly, worse than we could ever imagine. It’s up to all of us to save one another.
Marlene I'm with you. I was not quite as confident but I thought that we might have crossed that particular sexist and racist Rubicon. We had not. And now we are here. Urf.
Still wading in the Rubicon, I'm afraid.
Please do a deep dive into the christian nationalists. Read "The Power Worshippers" by Katherine Stewart for starters and help your supporters understand what is behind these people who think the USA was meant to be run by (their version) of christianity. This is closely tied to the Southern Baptists and their influence. Many of these people still think that "god" wants white men to be "in charge" of everything. It is important for everyone to know and understand how powerful these people are.
Jeannette...very good article in The Atlantic recently. I'm gifting here: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/02/new-apostolic-reformation-christian-movement-trump/681092/?gift=1Ox86a92XSR5HQqRL88M11BfxKwzEThGBGC8k_UyeiY&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share
If you want the real deal on how christian nationalism works go to and support Andra Watkins.
If the shoe was on the other foot, Biden would be in jail right now.
The Democrats spend too much time playing nice...and Garland is out of his league.
Way WAY our of his league. Garland isn't even playing in the same kind of ball game.
I really think the whole Garland appointment was us trying to play their game and it failed miserably. McConnell blocked Garland’s appointment to SCOTUS and then we ended up with the court we now have. Appointing Garland to AG was an attempt to stick a thumb back in their eye. But we didn’t do our homework on what type of AG he would really be. And so the tit-for-tat backfired. He will and should go down as the worst AG in the history of this nation.
No, there were worse (do you remember Ed Meese? Or John Mitchell?) But he certainly will never make anyone's top twenty list either!
Maybe but Garland failed to meet the moment and the nation may never be the same because of it.
I did not disagree. Like you, I think Garland did an awful job as AG.I just don't think he was the worst ever.
Garland was in the wrong position, and unlike Chris, I don't think it was as much "playing their game" as it was throwing Garland a bone.
Sadly, the insurrection had already happened, and we needed an AG that was a prosecutor and not a judge.
The justice department didn’t charge Trump with insurrection for fear of damaging the larger case —- what the hey!
This living in fear is disastrous for our country.
It caused Merrick Garland to blow the entire situation. It has caused Democrats to lose elections and stupidly lose negotiations with a much more aggressive Republican adversary.
When I think of the Democrats I think of the feckless Corporate Old Guard which has brought us to this horrible position.
I look to people like Elizabeth Warren, AOC and Katie Porter as the kind of leadership our country needs.
I so wish Katie Porter had won for Senator in CA rather than Schiff. I like him but I love Katie!
I like her a lot as well Marlene and supported her. I hope she runs again soon and wins. I wish she hadn't run against Schiff as I like him a lot as well.
She should have kept her seat. Really pissed me off. Dems are so short sighted
I wish CA was actually fairly represented in the Senate by having about 10 Senators instead of 2 but that isn't going to happen. Why aren't DC or PRa states? Obviously a rhetorical question, that no-one dares to ask out loud.
For many decades the US has not admitted a new state without admitting a second one which will "vote right-wing" -- most recently, Hawaii, left-leaning, and Alaska, right-leaning. There aren't any right-wing-voting candidates to counter DC or PR.
Love her, too, and supported her. But she should have been more aware of the race, and of the odds in taking on Schiff (whom I also admire). Wish she had decided to keep her seat.
A good prosecutor only brings the cases they can win. Insurrection would have been a distraction. As Smith said, he could have won the charges they did bring and it would have been enough - had he been hired a year or two before he was.