When, on the same night, on different shows, you have both presidential historian Michael Beschloss and presidential campaign genius David Plouffe say that "the question of whether this country will be a democracy in 2025 is a coin flip," you know we're not in Kansas anymore. It's starting to get clear even to a lot of people I had listed under "Vichy French Morons" that the republic is in danger, and that the guy lighting matches in the fireworks factory is Trump.
Now if we could just get him arrested at dawn this coming Thursday, so that when his "press conference" is held (which should be boycotted by CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, and every other reputable outlet) they announce that he's on a plane being taken to DC for arraignment for "conspiracy to commit treason against the United States," things would be Looking Good.
Although I have been reading Timothy Snyder and Anne Appelbaum to educate myself about the slippery slope toward autocracy in the last few years, the comments by Plouffe and Beschloss made me shudder as well.
Americans had been lulled into complacency with the inaccurate thought that our democracy was fait accompli and no longer needed our individual participation other than to show up and vote. I desperately hope that enough of us will act on the urgency of active participation in defending our democratic process this year and beyond.
I have read Timothy Snyder, and his writing terrifies me because it is so accurate. But what really scares me is how very, very fragile our system of government is. Our Constitution was a cobbled together agreement among some colonies to protect themselves against foreign powers. Trump revealed the many cracks our government has and how dependent we have been on the good character of elected officials.
Our situation reminds me of the break up of Yugoslavia after Tito’s death. Milosovic and others tore that country apart and WORKED to divide the population against one another using religion as as pretext. People who had gotten along began to kill one another.
Now we have people who are ready to kill based on the lies of of a mentally unstable “f@&?ing moron” to quote Rex Tillerson.
Outlined by the Constitution, there are three simple requirements to serve in the House of Representatives. In order to become a representative, candidates must be:
At least 25 years of age
A citizen of the United States for at least seven years
A resident of the state they wish to represent at the time of election
The requirements for president and elected officials definitely needs to be updated and fine-tuned as does most of the pillars of our democracy and justice system that protect the wealthy and whack jobs. Can you imagine, if you are a business owner or running a large corporation hiring a narcissistic liar who does not pay his bills or taxes and has been sued for running a fake university and gone bankrupt multiple times, being the CEO of your company?
Well, America, you did it, even if it the entire election in 2016 corrupted and filled with propaganda all the way through. And the media stroked the orange money/optics-whore for the past six years...for what? Money.
Which brings me to the notion that republicans belch about small government, but they are willing to spend obscene amounts of money (including from hostile foreign entities) on elections and propaganda/lies to push their people/agendas through. We have so many things to fix-- all at the same time. Voting Rights and republicans tampering with them are the most important issue right this minute.
So many of us over the decades haven’t BOTHERED to show up and vote, to participate even that much in Democracy.
“My vote doesn’t make any difference.”
“I hate both parties. I refuse to vote for either of them.”
“I don’t even know who’s running.”
“Why should I vote? Nothing changes.”
In many ways, I understand. Let’s hope after the past hellacious few years the VAST majority of citizens now get it: Your vote DOES matter. “Bad people get elected when good people don’t vote,” says a 2016 button.
We don’t have to win over any particular voters to save Democracy. We just need to get all those good, solid, forgotten Americans to the polls. Maybe this existential crisis will turn out to be a blessing: Awakening or reawakening citizens to the importance of what we could have here in the U.S. if we pull together and claim it for the people — We the People, All of Us this time.
That apathy is part of their GOO plan. Creating it is part of their strategy. It is as much of their long game as the Southern Strategy and issues like guns and abortion. Then, as an alternative party they offer to the apathetic “Libertarianism” as an alternative. Disgusting.
The system is rigged now to discount the opinions of the majority of citizens with the uncontrolled influence of money in elections and in influencing policy position votes, ie no gun safety reform for decades despite the uniquely American crisis of GV deaths, no sensible limits on drug prices despite the fact that Americans pay 3-5x more than Europeans for medications, no meaningful legislation to address climate change for decades while the science has been clear on the CO2 greenhouse effect. All of these are supported by 70% or more of Americans but also have the most special interest political spending obstructing political action. It takes a lot to motivate voters to go back to the polls after the years long message that they can't win against big money but hopefully they will.
Marie, I would add that even on George Stephanopoulos “This Week” the conservatives on the round table were continuing to belch out, “there are good people / bad people on both sides“ Type of argument. Trying to draw parallels between black lives matters demonstrations and the unfortunate accompanying destruction of property by some as equal to the insurrection. What reality are they living in?
Yes, Robin The what-aboutism false equivalency propaganda is vile. They are living in political spin world where many of their voters only listen to the 10 sec sound bite or get most of their 'news' from the
Marie I do believe from what I’m seeing and reading the work to save our Democracy is @ 24/7 365 effort. I don’t believe even the Repubs want a Putin like country. Seeing it going on all over the Globe brings it closer to our own reality of vision. We can all do something however small.
"I don't believe even the repubs want a putin like country", Really? They've put bounties on women's heads, They've rigged our state elections, and the cult followers still adore their putin-like ex leader.
Yes. White male dominance. They fear all the intelligent women and POC rising to such high levels across our country. The backlash and final straw against President Obama's eloquency, education and decency...and being born in our country. Do NOT underestimate what the brainwashed wolf pack mentality is capable. We have three hours of violence against our country on Jan. 6th where the sitting, so-called POTUS did nothing after inciting the seditious insurrection and violence. And, we STILL pay the salaries of those in our government who supported that coup against our country. Depose all of them— they mean our republic NO GOOD. Fear not if we wish to keep wannabe dictators out of our Oval Office.
I just asked my local Democrat club if there's anything that can be done to get rid of the annoying let's go Brandon flags flying in the neighborhood? we got the nazi flag down by screaming at the homeowner, and he took it down. Now, we have this bullshit.
100% agree that we can all do something. I'm not confident yet that enough will recognize that the time is NOW. I've been active in grassroots work to achieve a constitutional amendment to rein in uncontrolled big money in politics for 4 yrs, a long term goal to be sure (HJ Res 1/SJ Res 25). 76% of all Americans agree that the skyrocketing amounts of money in our elections needs to be reduced. Yet, with Covid and the political struggle of the last 5 yrs, many volunteers have 'hit the wall'.
Marie, I hear you. But when push came to shove, and sometimes it was physical . We got Biden elected didn’t we. On 1/6 I was watching the Repubs debate the election. Mostly it was the accommodations due to CoVid that was their gripe. Like Mail in Voting that TFG did himself. Now they are into bigger and better things so they ‘Actually can Steal an Election.All I can say is “ No pain, No Gain.” But some of what they are trying to change is not going to pass if it infringes on others ability and availability to vote. Biden can have the National Guard at the polls if need be also.
As a "person of integrity".... I view to "do something however small", akin to making a piss-hole in the snow. A somewhat co-local xpresshun here in Maine, Ms Heather is surely familiar with (sp - my choice:)).
And THAT attitude, my friend, is how THEY win. If you fail to make trouble - good trouble - by whatever collective efforts possible, you are an accessory to the crime.
Yeah, my daily emails and phone calls are tiny, minor acts. I know that. But if my Senators receive thousands of such protests, they know what their constituents want. Besides, it feels good to rant at a politician. Try it, you'll like it.
In the time it has taken you to type a few comments here, you could have added your voice to the growing chorus of outrage by letting your elected reps know what you care about. Wouldn't it feel good to scream at Susan Collins? And if you don't join others in a serious effort to stop him, you will have Paul LePage savaging your state again. Get to work! Mainers are not lazy.
Don't eat the yellow snow. There is a lot of it now...
Sorry Bill, I was in no way referring to the actions you cite. But, you certainly could not know that. And, I stand proud to say that I am quite guilty of engaging in every one you cite. By "Small" I refer to the "Mueller" debacle. By small, I'm referring to the pitiful little criticsm leveled at the Repubs for "proven" cheating in W.VA. and other places. Or, hammering home the demand for witness protection during the trial of the Supreme Ct Dushbag to enable more to testify. Or, demanding that the REAL transcript be released of Numbnutz's conversation with the poor president. These Bill, I consider to have been huge, but to me they were handled so poorly, all the morons did was laugh. So if those things couldn't be acted more heavily upon, then smaller lesser issues of significance might as well have been just a "pisshole in the snow". And, to me, from what I see on the street, the "Dems", "lib-tards", Commies, Socialists, pedophiles, cancel-culturists, etc are the Joke Du Jur. Time to turn that around, and THAT is the new approach I want to see.
I feel your frustration. I hear what you say. My wife just expressed something similar. My approach is twofold: Make noise with our elected officials and make noise in numbers. I'll be at a vigil Thursday night because I want to be part of the millions who are demanding justice.
Second. I don't care what the whacko wing nuts think. They are long past redemption. Gone, baby, gone.
But there is a HUGE section of America that do not get as involved emotionally as we do. They work, they feed kids, they sleep, repeat, repeat, repeat. They need to hear the truth. We need to be loud. We need to scare them with what is unfolding.
And that's why I will be standing in the cold in a crowd Thursday night. (I Hate Crowds).
WE are the heavy lifters and can only get it off the ground as a unified group.
Yupp.. unfortunately if we think that 50,000,000 (mowrons) are going to be scared into changing their minds(?) by reading historical utterings by Mssr's Plouffe and Beschloss, we are delusional.
This is true. The "base" of TFG will always be what they are: ignorant and/or bitter about being "replaced" by others. They would follow Mussolini if he showed up tomorrow. Remember that leading up to Pearl Harbor, a huge percentage of Americans were "America Firsters" who wanted NO involvement with the World War that was slaughtering people all across the globe.
But consider this:
"Gallup. On December 17, 2020, Gallup polling found that 31% of Americans identified as Democrats, 25% identified as Republican, and 41% as Independent."
You can see why the GQP is worried. Their numbers are dwindling, so they must cheat to preserve power. But there WILL be voting rights legislation. And there WILL be a reassertion of democracy in America. Let's all do our part. Contact your Senators and demand a change in the filibuster and an immediate passage of Voting Rights!
In my dreams, I see dopey don losing the 2024 election by a landslide! Then I realize that he probably will get that number of votes as you note, 50,000,000 down from the 70,000,000 votes in 2019! Tragic that many people have a very distorted version of democracy!
Tim Snyder recently wrote in his substack that the USSR once had a huge prison population but that the US now has the largest in the world. Even though I already knew about the size of the US prison population the comparison to the Soviet prison system struck me as very alarming.
Marie, exactly! I was complacent. Never in my life did I believe we would or could lose our democracy! I keep saying there are more of us that want to keep our democracy intact but if our congress doesn’t work to safeguard our voting rights, will all of our voices and actions be enough? 🙏🏻
As Bill Alstrom said above "my daily emails and phone calls are tiny, minor acts. I know that. But if my Senators receive thousands of such protests, they know what their constituents want." In the 1st months of 2017, when cabinet nominations were being voted on, I led visits to my Senators office organized through MoveOn. The phones were literally ringing off the hook & we had between 25 and 70 voters meet with the in-district staff each week. It convinced our centrist Senator that supporting nominations as a 'courtesy' was NOT acceptable. The Senate needs to hear from us all in the same way for voting rights now!
There are those of us who have been walking around since the 2017 inauguration with a pit in our stomach knowing our Democracy was under siege.
On September 21, 2021 Jon Meacham said this to Brian Williams on Williams' 11th Hour program: "Jon Meacham: "Democracy is hanging by a thread... to paraphrase President Kennedy, I really do believe this is democracy's hour of maximum danger."
So it is with deep gratitude and relief to see others begin to take up this rallying cry as Beschloss and Plouffe have. I am further excited that Liz Cheney stood for many Sunday show interviews yesterday. Her firm, clear voice and patriotic conviction in stating the facts rang loud and clear.
If you haven't already read it here is the link to the New York Times article:
Yes! I heard an author about Stop the Steal speaking on show and how STS and fomenting election distrust started in 2016, organized by Roger Stone, in Colorado. I had no idea. I guess it seems like a farfetched scheme back in this good old days. But Trump kept spinning distrust throughout his presidency. We need MSM to connect those dots and plaster the front pages.
There is no polite word for Roger Stone, so I'll refrain. He was also behind the Brooks Brothers riot that stopped the recount in Fla. after the 2000 election. Which ultimately led to the presidency of GW Bush, and all the wonders that cursed administration brought to the world. I try not to speak Stone's name, because I always have to spit when I do.
Roger Stone… he looks like a villain, he walks like a villain, he talks like a villain. The fact that he was allowed to be pardoned by tfg is another flaw in our “rule of law”. There should be a check on a president’s pardon power.
We know that Al Gore requested a recount of a few counties after the "hanging chad" debacle. He was found to have lost by a little more than one hundred votes, and so he conceded. The SCOTUS had declared Bush president. However, and I hope I recall this correctly, The St Petersburg Times organized a recount of the entire state's ballots with the help of other newspapers. The recount found Gore had won. The Republicans have played loosey-goosey with elections forever. It's their MO and it is primarily geared to canceling POC votes.
With the blessings of future SCOTUS judges (all sent to Florida by the Republican party for the W. Bush/Gore recount) Roberts, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett..
“So it is with deep gratitude and relief to see others begin to take up this rallying cry as Beschloss and Plouffe have.” Yes Barbara, thank God more are speaking up. I sure hope it isn’t too late.
They also hold the insurance polices which will pay out an inflated amount when it burns down. Just ask yourself, if the poop really hits the propeller who benefits?
Heather’s article was filled with explosive reporting today. All in all, a barnburner.
It seems to me that the Committee has been very purposeful by seizing the New Year and framing it thus on the Sunday shows. They came out swinging, essentially showing a “trailer” for the upcoming public hearings. Revealing that they have such an inside source gives them an added dollop of credibility - credibility which they have been diligently building since Day 1.
This is, in my mind, a sudden and highly aggressive move, designed to spook anybody sitting on the fence about testifying. It is a grim pleasure to see the other side wrong-footed for once.
It’s clear that they are throwing the dice on the upcoming hearings tilting the country against Trump decisively. This is their one shot at the king and they are unafraid to take it.
In some ways it seems now to be a good thing that an independent committee was shit-canned by the Republicans. Had one been brought into being, it might have been as cautious and institutionalist as the Mueller team was. As diligent as its work was, it ultimately failed to drive Trump into disgrace and Barr easily managed to “disappear” it in the public eye.
This Committee is Democratic, but its credibility has been vastly enhanced by Republicans Adam Kinzinger and, especially, Liz Cheney. It has had from the start a fight on its hands to establish that it would not simply produce a partisan hack job. It has done so by dint of extraordinarily good planning in framing what to go for, undying work to get it, and an unabashedly strategic approach to producing a blockbuster report, worthy of the deep infamy they have clearly uncovered.
There remain big hurdles to navigate. How will the Supreme Court rule on contentious issues? What new tactics will the scofflaws come up with to delay the Committee out of existence? Will they come up with evidence sufficient for the DOJ to indict?
This latter remains highly problematic. There was an excellent episode on the podcast Cafe Insider on which prosecutors Joyce Vance and Barbara McQuaid discussed this point. They noted that federal prosecutions have a success rate of ~95% - and the reason for that is that the DOJ does not move unless it has a case which is a virtual lock. What can appear obvious to the ordinary citizen may not be acted on if the DOJ does not believe its evidence is bulletproof.
The Committee is doing much of the investigating for the DOJ. It seems obvious that they want to go further than issuing a report that will occupy a few news cycles. Their goal is to make the DOJ an offer it can’t refuse.
"Vichy French Morons" - that's really good. It won't play in Peoria, where I'm afraid it will most likely be confused with fillet minot, but still very good none the less.
Never going to happen.He doesn’t need to be in the Presidency to be in Ppl’s head either. The Indians used to have a saying about our Gov. “ Two wings of the same bird”. I really believe that was TFG’s goal.That being more powerful and fearsome than all of them. And he is isn’t he.
Unfortunately, this strategy sounds like yelling "lock im up". Hahh.. even an illiterate (by legal standards) script by Sydnee Poww-ell would keep him from being escorted to the "plane". Next?
While in general I do not agree with Liz Cheney on her political stance on many fronts , on her service on the Jan 6 Committee her work and words have been exemplary. I wish she would show that same toughness when it comes to things like the BBB act and the voting rights legislation. In memory of the late Ms Betty White a quote "Why do people say "grow some balls"? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you wanna be tough, grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding.”
Thanks, Gus! We're back in Mérida where it's "icy"*... cool (70°F) & drizzling. Frankly, we're relieved that the elephant in the room was finally called the elephant in the room and we're free of it.
*I swear to you, icy is what "cool" weather is called here. Imagine my surprise when, my first winter here, I went into stores to find parkas, sweaters and other cold weather gear on sale.
Been holding you in safe travel thoughts. Could feel you in the States. Finally getting a cool weather front for a few days in Florida. Rummaging for my jackets. Only thing “cool” in FL. DeSantis still MIA.
Pamela, considering childbirth, and what makes that necessary, you will get no arguments from me. Neither did my wife of 50 years and 15 days. You win! My spherical equipment avoids pounding at all costs....
The more we (learned people) preach that 'line'.., the more the 50,000,000 (mowrons) feel empowered to defend THEIR convenient understanding of "the Constitution"...as provided (of course) to them by the Sydney Powells and Margie Greens and Candace Owens of our world. It's time we "People of Integrity" recognize that a 'new approach' is needed.
Heather provides further evidence of the Trump-led conspiracy behind the BIG LIE and the 1/6 Capitol Hill insurrection. I am increasingly confident that the Department of Justice, based on the ‘smoking gun’ evidence being assembled by the Hous 1/6 committee and the diligent work of over 40 staffers and former federal prosecutors, will issue criminal indictments of some of the perpetrators by Spring, while the 1/6 committee public hearings are being conducted. One or more of the scum bags are likely to seek a John Dean-type deal to spill the beans to avoid or lessen a prison sentence.
While a criminal indictment of Jabba the Hutt seems politically unlikely, in Watergate, though Nixon was spared indictment, many of his sycophants squealed and/or went to the slammer. The House 1’6 committee should move swiftly, long before the November elections. I write as someone who was privileged to be on the Nixon White House Enemies List.
While indictment of Trump seems politically unlikely, I think it is needed so others understand that no one is above the law. I think between the Committee and the DOJ they probably have enough or close to enough to take him and his co-conspirators down. This wasn't just a burglary.
What we are witnessing is that the rule of law is selective, and being rich and powerful allows for the lawless to be their own prosecutor and jury. The Judges, the Gang of Six, have already demonstrated their partisan intent via loyalty to their benefactor. Pip hangs his head
Except, for most us "People of Integrity", the Nation will applaud 'the Court' for finding Numbnutz "not guilty" and wish him well as he departs for a private island with Ivanka, on Trump Won. So soon we forget the Kyle R. trial, huh?
No, the nation would not applaud if it came back not guilty and I don't think the majority applauded the Rittenhouse verdict. He skated by on the self defense law as written in Wisconsin.
So was my mother, a housewife in an Ohio village, who during WWII as a college student had gone on a lecture tour across the US as the Irish Catholic with a Japanese American, a Black and a Jewish woman, pleading for tolerance. I think about that when I wonder who among us is on the Trump Enemies List.
Could you or someone else please explain why “a criminal indictment of [the man who served as 45th President] seems politically unlikely”?
I am at a complete loss to understand what sounds like an admission of America's political incompetence owing to ingrained hypocrisy and lack of principle.
Is it not the protection of the country's political institutions that is at stake? Surely, the issue is one of preserving the office of Presidency and protecting it from criminal abuse, past, present and above all future? The President is the keystone of the rule of law. How can constitutional government survive if a man who gains the highest office in the land turns autocrat and flouts the law because he thinks he owns and controls it? Is not the President the highest servant of the Law?
Republic—res publica, the public thing—cannot be the bauble of a boss. That negates the very principle of the republic. If Americans really want to relinquish republican government and replace it with an Empire and an Emperor, let this be openly proclaimed and so be it.
But what we are now seeing is an attempt to gain such ends through the subversion and destruction of republican governance. May foreigners be forgiven for having believed that America’s institutions mean more than placing hand on heart and pronouncing a republican creed? Surely there’s more to it than mere mumbo-jumbo!
'Will Donald Trump Get Away With Inciting an Insurrection?'
Dec. 23, 2021, Essay in The New York Time (excerpts)
'By Laurence H. Tribe, Donald Ayer and Dennis Aftergut'
'Mr. Tribe taught constitutional law at Harvard for 50 years. Merrick Garland was one of his students. Mr. Ayer oversaw criminal prosecutions and investigations as Ronald Reagan’s U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California. He later served as deputy attorney general. Mr. Aftergut handled a number of complex investigations and prosecutions as a federal prosecutor in San Francisco.'
'Mr. Trump himself sat back for three hours while his chief of staff was barraged with messages from members of Congress and Fox News hosts pleading with him to have the president call off the armed mob whose violent passion he had inflamed. That evidence, on its own, may not be enough to convict Mr. Trump, but it is certainly enough to require a criminal investigation.'
''And yet there are no signs, at least in media reports, that the attorney general is building a case against these individuals — no interviews with top administration officials, no reports of attempts to persuade the foot soldiers to turn on the people who incited them to violence. By this point in the Russia investigation, the special counsel Robert Mueller had indicted Paul Manafort and Rick Gates and secured the cooperation of George Papadopoulos after charging him with lying to the F.B.I. The media was reporting that the special counsel’s team had conducted or scheduled interviews with Mr. Trump’s aides Stephen Miller and Mr. Bannon, as well as Attorney General Jeff Sessions.'
'Of course, there is no way to know for sure whether Mr. Garland’s Department of Justice is investigating the leaders of the attack behind closed doors. Justice Department policy does not permit announcing investigations, absent exceptional circumstances. Mr. Garland, unlike his predecessor William Barr, plays by the book, keeping quiet about investigations until charges are filed. But the first of the rioters to plead guilty began cooperating with the Justice Department back in April. If prosecutors have been using their cooperation to investigate the top officials and operatives responsible for the siege of the Capitol and our democracy, there would likely be significant confirmation in the media by now.'
'It is possible that the department is deferring the decision about starting a full-blown investigative effort pending further work by the House select committee. It is even conceivable that the department is waiting for the committee’s final report so that federal prosecutors can review the documents, interviews and recommendations amassed by House investigators and can consider any potential referrals for criminal prosecution.'
'But such an approach would come at a very high cost. In the prosecution business, interviews need to happen as soon as possible after the events in question, to prevent both forgetfulness and witness coordination to conceal the truth. A comprehensive Department of Justice investigation of the leadership is now more urgently needed than ever.'(Essay, NY Times) See link below
In an Oct. 4, 2021 CNN Politics interview with Tierney Sneed, Merrick Garland stated: "We are doing everything we can to ensure that the perpetrators of January 6 are brought to justice," Garland said. "We will follow the facts and the law where they land." That is enough for me to relax a little knowing they are working on this but we cannot see all the threads of this tapestry from our view. I am willing to be a bit more patient. A lot is coming out that people had no idea of...and the coup is deep. The hearings will help the world understand much of what transpired. Nothing can be refuted or lied about like Bill Barr did after the Mueller investigation. Please take heart and everyone put out that justice will prevail. And gag the orange one on Jan 6th. He deserves absolutely NO PODIUM during the infamous day of his coup on our country... THAT to me is critical: keep the propagandist lips of the lead insurrectionist, who was the supposed head of our country last Jan. 6th, zipped. He deserves no rights to freedom of anything anymore.
With all due respect to the enormous intellect of Lawrence Tribe, he is one of the best examples of what Blackstone said, "the law sharpens the mind by narrowing it." When it comes to speaking in political terms, Professor Lawrence Tribe's opinion on politics is as meaningful as any comment here. "Practical politics" is a subject of which he has no knowledge. This is the problem with annointing people as "experts" or "geniuses." Yes, they may well be, in their field; but outside that they're just another drunk carrying on at the bar. This very good article completely ignores the fact that Donald Trump isn't Joe Schmoe.
TC, your reply to Peter perfectly captured the situation. I haven't ever harped on Garland because I realized that proper justice in this case appears to be in a locked box. It isn't impossible to have enough evidence, yet the kind of absolute certainty required may not exist. Tremendously high risk all around. His cult wants blood, and we're trapped.
It could be that the constant threats of civil war by the MAGATS makes the powers that be think twice, but think they must. Then DO something along the line of consequences. The clock is ticking…
I am also at a loss for why people continually say "seems politically unlikely." There is enough evidence, and, as Glenn Kirshner repeats, "Justice matters." These strange seeds of expecting nothing are so irritating after six years of insanity. If any of us normal Americans did what we have witnessed these anti-Americans do, who still remain in our government, we would already have been locked up.
Peter My heart fully agrees that Trump, like his fellow Mafioso, Al Capone, should be indicted and sent to the slammer. I would love to see this occur. It would be a prolonged effort to indict and then try Jabba the Hut with likely violence from his cultist gang. Just as I thought that President Nixon should be indicted for his despicable, criminal actions, Trump should be indicted, tried, and convicted. Love to seer it happen.
It comes down to the ancient rule, "If you strike the king, you must kill him." If they bring a case against him, it has to be absolutely air tight. Can you imagine the power he would have if he were indicted and tried, and got off? There is the additional problem that, as soon as he announces he's running again, a prosecution will be seen as "purely political because they're afraid of him" which would cede even more power to him. Basically, it's "Catch-22"
As a German judge once reminded me, one who had to flee his country because he was Jewish, the case against Hitler was airtight after the 1923 Munich putsch, but he got away with it.
Such is the material power of the United States that it must under no circumstances be allowed ever again to fall into such hands. People may find this hard to get their minds around but that would be far more dangerous than the Third Reich. You don't need such an embodiment of evil as the Fuehrer to destroy the world, any fool or narcissistic pervert will do.
Sorry, I detest wasting my time and that of others and fear that I may be doing just that with my contributions to this thread. Hence a strong desire to cut this line of communication because, unlike too many persons whose names are best not mentioned, I am not into entertainment. Leave that to your damned Pied Piper.
It is never safe to play with fire but America is doing just that -- hence our shared anxiety.
Let us think of the young and of the world's children and be guided by that. And let us leave off being guided by ridiculous ideas about what is and is not possible, both in a positive and in a negative sense. We have seen and are seeing too much of the worst that is possible, why add to that with deadening prejudices about the supposed impossibility of the best?
The one thing we can all do is to hold out for the best we are able to imagine, come what may. An attitude that will have effects, however long and hard the intervening winter.
Sounds as though you're speaking of Charles I who ended up on the scaffold because he considered that he owed allegiance -- and his word -- only to God, and not to his subjects.
It doesn't seem appropriate to compare men who follow the dictates of their conscience, however misleading those dictates may be, with beings totally devoid of any conscience or of a duty to anyone or anything but their inflated ego.
Peter Richard III shouted “My kingdom for a horse” (before being killed). Modern day I would delight in having Trump, as his troubles mount, shout “My kingdom for a hearse.”
It would have helped if you'd referred to James I of Scotland -- not James VI of Scotland and I of England... Beyond that, I don't follow the obscure reference to a capable ruler murdered by aristocratic traitors who soon met their deserts.
This is precisely why we are at a Continental Divide. Will we flow in the direction of the Democracy those of us following Dr Richardson want? Or will our country fall the other way, to become an autocracy or oligarchy or banana republic? If too many elected officials are following Trump like lemmings, and we can’t change the filibuster, and the DOJ cannot indict Trump fast enough, we could end up on the River to Hades.
At one time, I would have argued the those who control corporate America And the stock market would never allow the country to devolve into a banana republic.
However, with the control of our economy and government in the hands of radical libertarian billionaires, I suspect they would welcome a benevolent despot’ who siphons billions off the top, but allows them to pursue their greed!
Beware, those who betray the ‘despot’ will have their businesses ‘nationalized’!
Welp.. quite simply. Numbnuts was Cmdr In Chief, to 50+ milllion (mowrons). He will terstify thusly: "(Under God) I was 'sitting peacefully' in a room amongst my closest 'friends', and as I recall, I was in deep thought with great concern for our Nation.., a Nation where a election was stolen (from me) and people were justifiably upset". DONE! If, sweetness Ivanka, was sitting on his lap, or in an armchair, it will have no bearing on things. Numbnutz will be found NOT-guilty of the most serious charge, ie dereliction, and will be acquitted of all other un-conclusive issues. He will then depart via Trump Won to an island where he and Ivanka will be assured of an ever-lasting privacy, to be enjoyed by his private (paid by US) Security Detail. Boy would I like to be on that Op...whew :))
I was also on J. Edgar Fruitfly's COINTELPRO list. Where they went after my father, a government scientist, and my father-in-law, a retired Marine working at a bank, with public visits to them at work about their offspring's "problems."
TC It wasn’t difficult to get on cross dresser J. Edgar’s dance card. I had a Top Secret Code Word security clearance at the State Department when I took and passed the Foreign Service Exam. I got a call from State Department Security (obviously housed in the basement). I said “You don’t have high enough security clearance to come to my office, so I’ll come down.” This gum shoe was hung up on the fact that I had met Communists while researching NASSER’S NEW EGYPT: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS.
He didn’t take kindly to my suggestion that it seemed helpful to know our ‘enemy.’ He was a NYET numb skull, until a miracle. He was taking a class on Soviet skullduggery with Professor Stefan Possany, who was a board member of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, for whom I had written my book. Once I shared insider info on Stefan’s mistress, I got my security clearance. (Tom Lehrer could have sung a lovely limerick about this.)
SL I was surprised that you wonder ‘how many transvestites might be hurt or disgusted or disappointed by [my] thoughtless comments.’ As a professional historian I was simply referring to an apparent dichotomy in J. Edgar Hoover’s personal history. At a time when he was applying the FBI’s massive power against people who were gay, the media was investigating what his relationship was with the man who was constantly in his life. Some reports mentioned that, in private, Hoover was a cross dresser. This is historical reporting on the 1950s. I don’t consider it offensive, nor does it reflect my personal beliefs.
Jeri Some of the State Department’s finest Asian experts were drummed out of the Foreign Service with such ‘Security’ bull shit. Ditto with the Black List and the hearings before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Without my ‘Stefan link,’ I most probably have been black balled from the Foreign Service.
It was a moment when he was considering a project I was part of and the meeting wasn't "jelling." I suddenly remembered him being on the list and brought it up in the conversation, identifying myself as also on the list (much further down) and the result was a "connection" and the meeting improved. Desperation breeds creativity.
my father wrote as-told-to biographies of several movie folk in the '50s --Barrymore, Sennett, Astaire -- so as Democrats living in lily-white, ultra-Republican Glendale, we were considered and called communists. He taught my sister and me to ignore this and keep a sense of humor. Easier then than it would be now.
Amen. They must move quickly or we will end up with lawyers vs. lawyers vs. lawyers vs. lawyers, and on. That will cost precious time in resolving this before the mid-terms.
BTW, congrats for being "on the Nixon White House Enemies List." Well done.
ScannyDo The names on the Nixon White House Enemies List dribbled out, with focus on the famous enchiladas. I saw my name in a New England newspaper, which listed me as Keith Wheelock, Lincoln, MA. I was completing my MIT Sloan Fellowship at that time (before I worked with Gary Hart on the McGovern campaign). I surmise that I got on the list because Benjamin Welles of the NYT wrote an article based on my MIT thesis. As a recent Foreign Service Officer I had managed to get Overseas Private Investment Corporation’s (OPIC) internal documents that were not available to the general public.
I highlighted that a majority of this investment insurance was provided to American extractive companies (oil, minerals). The stunner was my statement that Anaconda had been reimbursed despite not having paid its insurance premium in the year that Chile had nationalized the American copper companies. I was at our embassy just after the nationalization announcement when a stunned Anaconda Vice President came to our office. He blurted out ‘Anaconda corporate had decided not to pay the insurance premium this year.’ Either this was the truth or he deserved an Academy Award for acting. OPIC subsequently agreed to compensate Anaconda, despite its lapsed insurance. The Nixon administration claimed that my reporting was false. The NYT asked me if I would stand behind my facts. I did. This issue subsequently was played out in the Columbia Journal of World Affairs, where OPIC’S president called me a liar. I guess that this is the background for me being on the Nixon White House Enemies List.
I am also increasingly confident in the DOJ, and especially in AG Merrick Garland who has been targeted (hmm, Russian style) for "not reassuring" the American people that his department is investigating and indicting the bad guys. 750 insurrectionists have been investigated, 165 have pled guilty. The U.S. House is investigating the big bad guys, which the DOJ will follow up with indictments. And possibly more important, the House Committee is influencing the court of public opinion (which hopefully will include my Republican congressperson), convincing them that t-Rump's ship is sinking and it is time to jump off.
MaryPat,I read that those who were given house arrest went before their Judges in Nov.to ask permission to travel to see ‘family ‘ and all were granted permission. I know with 100% surety that would NOT happen in a State court. These were out of state visits ?
Wow, what an honor. You may be on the list being compiled by Ginni Thomas for chump resistors in the government or not. As I heard, don’t remember where, one goal was to be able to pick off civil service people who expressed opposition to chump. Chump was well on his way to do just that. Breaking the union was step one.
Keith, C'mon, criminal indictment, it can be done. You call him Jabba, I call him 'The Loser', and he's left enough detritus around to poison the Trump Party.
Mary Pat I was delighted to be a sardine swimming along the marlin and swordfish on the Nixon White House Enemies List. Initially, it seemed more a list of extinction than distinction. How the worm turned!
They were actually able to do things that hurt. IRS audits, lose your paperwork when you apply for a GI Bill home loan (that happened to me). They could make the gears of life get very "sticky."
Scary! Were you on Nixon’s Enemies List as well? I still think you have Intelligence work in your past! Have you ever seen Enemy of the State with Gene Hackman and Will Smith?
I see further down that you WERE on that list, among others. 😊. I have often wondered if I would be brave if ever called to be. I still don’t feel I’ve ever really had to be. You have! Along with Keith Wheelock and Mary Blaine Campbell’s mom. Thank you.
I actually shared this NYT editorial this morning on my Facebook page and opined that I think it should be required reading of every American citizen. I even pulled some of the same quotes that HCR did! Sadly, as one commenter noted, the "plea to Republican Party leaders to be honest with their voters is a noble call to an ignoble faction. There is no hope in that direction." Too true. The Republicans have become so radicalized nothing will phase them. It's up to Democrats. Get this reality call to all Americans. "Republican Party propaganda has poisoned minds of too many Americans. We need the truth told widely, loudly, boldly," as one commenter put it. Can we? I want to be hopeful in the New Year, but that gets harder and harder...
Thank Faux News for the propaganda and its widespread dissemination. Zuckerberg's deal with Trump brokered by Peter Thiel was right out of Goebbels' propaganda playbook.
...and don't forget how both Google and Apple caved to Putin asking that they pull the plug on the Russian Opposition's apps just before their elections started.
I missed this story! So frustrating how people in positions of power and influence cave. It makes me think the Tennis Association’s stand against China is even braver than I first thought. I haven’t heard how that’s going for them or about that young tennis player who disappeared is, come to think of it.
They didn’t do that because they wanted to, the Russians made clear that they were going to arrest and imprison with all that implied, the people that worked for them, so they were faced with a terrible choice, it’s one thing to make that choice on a personal level, it’s a totally different thing to make it for someone else.
Then Google and Apple should have gone public (or at least to U.S. intelligence) with these threats. But Google and Apple weren't about to give up their Russian market$.
I am not the sports junkie that I once was; I was embarrassed that I had not heard of this event. I only watched a couple minutes of last nights Packers / Vikings game. Rogers has turned me off the Packers, and the Vikings looked hapless.
Been making that connection (chump and Goebbels) for five years; FB and Twitter didn’t like it. Zuckerberg and Thiel are traitorous worms in my book, clear from the start. Now If Rupert would have a truth telling day…. Sorry, dreaming again.
Peter Thiel, who founded PayPal, was Trump's "special consultant" (liaison) to the tech industry (such as Larry Ellison who founded Oracle). Peter Thiel is also one of Mark Zuckerberg's few BFFs, and sits on the Board of Directors of FB. Peter Thiel, Zuckerberg, and Trump had what was apparently a famous--but observed--dinner in 2018 out of which Zuckerberg pledged total hands off to anything Trump and his immediate people posted, and as much hands off as possible for his supporters/allies posted on FB. In 2015, Steve Bannon and Mark Zuckerberg became close work buddies as Bannon brought the British Cambridge Analytica's algorithms to FB, which is supposed to have increased FB's profitability by 30% -- and why FB simply turned over all its user data to Bannon for free.
Many of the young & wealthy in Silicon Valley are "sorta" Libertarian in their thinking--fiscally conservative on low taxes and deregulation--but extremely liberal on cultural issues. They don't support the Republican position on the environment and student loans or register as Republican--with a few exceptions like Peter Thiel and Larry Ellison--but as NPPs (No Party Preference). NPPs are the fastest growing cohort of registered voters in CA.
In the scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter what a Canadian thinks. But we are neighbours, and mostly, good ones at that. It is horrifying to see what is happening to your country, and a great turnoff to the rest of the world. Good luck, be brave and for heavens sake call the instigators to account….even with your right wing Supreme Court.
It matters to me what you and all Canadians think, Patsi. A boundary line does not diminish the energy of support that countrywomen feel for each other. Thank you!
"not an attorney" indeed. Thankfully, you are not an attorney, but a truthful, literate, compassionate historian! Dear Dr. Richardson, I am breathlessly awaiting your words of wisdom, your synthesis of events and information, your lifeline to democracy every day.
I am filled with gratitude for your courage in the face of fascism. Endless blessings upon you.
Well, I was a lawyer for over 30 years in the Federal Northern District of California with trials in the CA State Courts ringing the Bay Area. Felony obstructing an "official proceeding" (up to 20 years) -is now DOJ battle tested in DC Federal Court. Amended complaints, plea bargains, sentencing, criminal trials are set & more than 300 new cases are now under active DOJ investigation. "Watch this space."
"We’ll see where this goes, but to this historian and non-lawyer (!) it does seem like he’s coming perilously close to being called out for leading a conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. "
Currently, from my perspective, Trump is, in fact, being "called out" for his progressively well understood role in that Jan 06 event.
However, the way he is being called out is similar to the way some folks might "call out" a bully who just beat up some kid smaller than him in the hallway, by going to tell the principal.
That never, ever works.
What works is if someone steps in before all the teachers and principal shows up and beats on the bully enough to make him remember that next time a little kid looks tasty. With intent to hurt. I hate to write this. But, I know from experience that "callling out Trump" by writing in the NY Times, or on this page, or even serving him up subpoena's will make zero difference to him.
Finding a place where he can be hurt (not physical pain to be clear in this case) and then hitting that place hard enough to hurt? That is what is needed.
Foreclose on Mara Lago and evict him.
Foreclose on his two Scottish Golf courses obtained with laundered Russian money.
Lock the bank account that is receiving millions of dollars a day from suckers sending him money for his "campaign".
Post the FBI around Mara lago in an visual and open way that says: We are coming.
Because, Dr. Richardson, Trump, like any bully, LAUGHS when the principal warns him that "next time".........
The Bully could not care one whit about what the Principal might do because: He knows the principal can do nothing.
You speak truth: there is only one language the bully understands, and that is domination by peers who finally get to the point where they've had enough, and go after him. The government is us, and we must go to him in this way. Take his stuff. Lock him up.
Unless the bank takes action there is no foreclosure on Mar a Lago. Scotland's prosecutor will decide whether to pursue investigating money laundering on the Scottish golf courses and on what grounds can you close off his PAC's bank accounts? The FBI is an investigative branch of our many law enforcement branches and I don't think it is legal to try and intimidate citizens in the manner you propose.
Also, did you see that Trump, Ivanka and Junior have been subpoenaed by the NY Attorney General. Things are moving along quite nicely.
Rep Cheney also promoted the voting rights legislation to stave off further anti-democratic voting laws written by red states last year. She sees that as much as a threat as what happened on 1/6. She is also imploring Republicans to drop and run from Trump if they can.
The 1/6 investigation will dovetail nicely with the debate on voting rights. This is the time to question your representatives about what happened that day, and whether they still defend their decision to stall the inevitable by repeating
Does her support of the Voting Rights Act mean that she, and maybe a couple of other Republicans might vote for it and enable the Dems to jettison Manchin and Sinema if we find a carveout of the filibuster?
First, she is in the House, and they will get a majority with or without her. I do believe she will be more effective in cornering Trump-following Republicans still claiming that voter fraud is the reason they refuse to support voting rights laws. Hopefully, these hearings will make many politicians uncomfortable.
Yes, but she hasn't broken rank since Biden became president Jan. 20. She has voted against everything, no matter how just or merciful or rational or merely useful. I too admire her consistency on the issue of the Former Guy's lawlessness, am just pointing out that she remains who she always was. An enemy, but the kind we're not used to having any longer--an honorable one.
I wouldn’t vote for her if she was running in my district, but this is as bi-partisan as we can get right now. In fact, it’s her extreme conservatism that lends credibility to the committee, for those who are Republican but haven’t decided about Trump. Like it or not, without Liz Cheney, it’s just another Trump WITCH HUNT.
Yes, I don't disagree. This sub-thread is in response to Nancy Fleming's point that she might vote for the Voting Rights Act. I was just pointing out the unlikeliness of that.
Yes, as a friend said this Christmas when I said to her that Cheney was after all "a deplorable": no, "unlike the deplorables, she sincerely believes in her right-wing Republican ideas."
Cheney is in the House, not the Senate, so can not vote on the filibuster. However, from her position on the Jan. 6th committee , she may be able to influence Republican Senators to let go of t-Rump as his ship is sinking.
The time came when -- yesterday, last year, 5 years ago...? Some have said the trouble began 50, 45, 40 years ago. 'IT' is the decline of the United States of America. The decline that ushered in a cheap, sleazy real-estate conman with a terrible reputation, and he was a perfect match for what America had become only he made it worse.
'We know now that top Republican lawmakers and right-wing media figures privately understood how dangerous the riot was and pleaded with Mr. Trump to call a halt to it, even as they publicly pretended otherwise. We know now that those who may have critical information about the planning and execution of the attack are refusing to cooperate with Congress, even if it means being charged with criminal contempt' (NY Times)
Can the American people so worn out by the Pandemic, so disappointed with the promises to them that weren't kept come together? Can Americans believe again? Can President Biden, his administration, a great team of civil servants, other Democrats, the Free Press, Teachers, Nurses, Doctors, Construction Workers, Office Workers, Service Workers, Business Leaders -- will we pull together? That's what we are going be doing this year and next for as long as it takes. Get out your grassroots contacts, friends, family, everyone you can think of. WE have a mountain to climb, and we will climb it. Yes, we can!
We got sh_t to do in '22. We need an emotional appeal to rank-and-file Democrats, Independents, and moderate/responsible Republicans. Emotions win over logic and policy every time. Obama knew that and used it in a positive way - "Hope" and "Yes we can!" Trump used it in a negative way to beat the most qualified person to ever run for the office.
I posit that Trump really lost in 2020 because he mishandled the pandemic, and people reacted very negatively to that, not because he is a criminally-minded incompetent.
Biden will suffer the same fate, I'm afraid. Most leaders who preside over natural disasters, even if they handle them well, do not retain their positions when the crisis is over. Thia is because of the negative emotions associated with most disasters get projected onto the leader.
We, and by that I mean a coalition to save the republic, need to get the public emotionally invested in the crime against America that 1/6/21 represents (and make it stick to the Trumpists), get the public excited about all the cool stuff in pending legislation such as BBB and voting rights, call out Republican inaction on ALL this and make the dysfunction stick to them, and have fun while we do it. A little behavioral science can go a long way here :)
Great post smiley Steve. I would call Trump, however, a Criminally Active ex president, who, when president, was guilty of crimes against the people of the United States, the laws of the land, the institutions of democracy, the functions of government, the environment and the dignity of all.
Agree Steve. My group working hard in FL with candidates for office all over the United States. I think the more Dems work nationally, the better party it is. Repubs are almost myopic in their state focus. I say pass them up quickly with a forum of national pride and focus. Issues that affect people everywhere.
Yes. And most of the trumpsters are a lost cause. Their minds are made up, convinced that lib-coms and the Democratic party have got to go. This bunch is not going to be persuaded to ever vote democratic. They don't need stupid conspiracy theories, or providing healthcare for illegals, or redistribution of wealth or elimination of plastic bags in Wal-mart, as reasons to skewer liberals with. Electric powered pick-up trucks and more silently... removal of confederate flags and statues has been reason enough. So, if you think you're gonna change that mindset, better bring yer lunch.
"The decline that ushered in a cheap, sleazy real-estate conman with a terrible reputation, and he was a perfect match for what America had become only he made it worse."
Trump is a mirror to what we have become. ( as is the satirically real film DON'T LOOK UP).
Fern, you are right to call us to attention and action despite our being drama & Covid weary. I believe, with you, that we can climb that looming mountain but we could use some help from the still functioning parts of our government to cut some paths over the rocks!!
If every criminal peon around him falls into a heap and tfg remains unscathed, there is no justice!
I'd often wondered if Naziism could happen in the US. I don't wonder anymore, given the behavior of so many GOPers.
I wish there were more Liz Cheneys among the Republicans. Even though I probably disagree with her on the vast majority of policies, I have a lot of respect for her, and I suspect that had she been an adult in Nazi Germany she would have been saving Jews.
Spot on David! When tfg got elected and there was the daily crisis which was ignored by the masses, I thought "now I understand how people were brainwashed by Hitler"--but man oh man, I REALLY see it now!!
Yes, it is. Some of them are so radicalized that they will stoop to anything. Death star broke the ice and all the scum underneath has floated into full view. One of the scum is on the Salem-Keizer school board and is also a Marion County Commissioner. And of course, the poor thing is a victim when people call for her to resign or be recalled.
Oh yeah. Such a hypocrite and liar. Thankfully, we elected four progressives to the school board which dilutes her power; the Marion County Commissioners are another story.
The January 6 committee is doing masterful work . . . but faces a critical danger: the elections. If Republicans retake the House this fall, their first order of business will be to disband the committee. So if the Justice Department isn't rolling out indictments and arrests by late summer, we should appoint a special prosecutor to carry the ball into the end zone. I'd love to see the GOP get the Ken Starr treatment . . .
William, That's probably the backup plan, if it doesn't look too good. And the R's have probably guessed that it would be really bad for their precious 2024. I'm thinking that if indictments begin to materialize there will be R's that break away from the monolith to save their own skin. Rats seldom stay with the boat....forgive the mixed metaphors, I'm trying to make a point here....
I have used that analogy plenty of times in the past year, but these rats don't seem to know what might actually be good for them in the long run. Must be terrified of King Orange Rat who demands that they stay on board.
An unanswered question about Jan 6: why wasn't TFG in the bunker for his security during the attack? Presumably, it was because the WH knew he was in no danger- the insurrectionists were doing his bidding.
I hope that the first hand witness to TFG actions on Jan 6 has explained why the Secret Service did not perceive the invasion of the Capitol as an imminent threat to POTUS that required him to be in the bunker during the attack?? Or if they did try to secure him, how he acted in refusing that precaution be taken? After all, the next 3 officials in the presidential line of succession were under attack in the insurrection and had been whisked away by Secret Service.
When, on the same night, on different shows, you have both presidential historian Michael Beschloss and presidential campaign genius David Plouffe say that "the question of whether this country will be a democracy in 2025 is a coin flip," you know we're not in Kansas anymore. It's starting to get clear even to a lot of people I had listed under "Vichy French Morons" that the republic is in danger, and that the guy lighting matches in the fireworks factory is Trump.
Now if we could just get him arrested at dawn this coming Thursday, so that when his "press conference" is held (which should be boycotted by CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, and every other reputable outlet) they announce that he's on a plane being taken to DC for arraignment for "conspiracy to commit treason against the United States," things would be Looking Good.
Although I have been reading Timothy Snyder and Anne Appelbaum to educate myself about the slippery slope toward autocracy in the last few years, the comments by Plouffe and Beschloss made me shudder as well.
Americans had been lulled into complacency with the inaccurate thought that our democracy was fait accompli and no longer needed our individual participation other than to show up and vote. I desperately hope that enough of us will act on the urgency of active participation in defending our democratic process this year and beyond.
I have read Timothy Snyder, and his writing terrifies me because it is so accurate. But what really scares me is how very, very fragile our system of government is. Our Constitution was a cobbled together agreement among some colonies to protect themselves against foreign powers. Trump revealed the many cracks our government has and how dependent we have been on the good character of elected officials.
Our situation reminds me of the break up of Yugoslavia after Tito’s death. Milosovic and others tore that country apart and WORKED to divide the population against one another using religion as as pretext. People who had gotten along began to kill one another.
Now we have people who are ready to kill based on the lies of of a mentally unstable “f@&?ing moron” to quote Rex Tillerson.
Here is an excellent interview with Carville along the same lines pf the moron statement.
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2021/12/10/james_carville_i_have_a_phd_in_white_trash-ology_but_i_cant_explain_boebert_gaetz_and_gosar.html#:~:text=James%20Carville%3A%20I%20Have%20%22A%20PhD%20In%20White%2DTrashology%22%20But%20Boebert%20And%20Taylor%20Greene%20Could%20Be%20The%20Subject%20Of%20A%20Dissertation
Carville is spot on.
One of my very favorite political operatives.
I get what he's saying but what are the laws/rules that prevent people being in Congress? DO we need to fine tune those?
Outlined by the Constitution, there are three simple requirements to serve in the House of Representatives. In order to become a representative, candidates must be:
At least 25 years of age
A citizen of the United States for at least seven years
A resident of the state they wish to represent at the time of election
The requirements for president and elected officials definitely needs to be updated and fine-tuned as does most of the pillars of our democracy and justice system that protect the wealthy and whack jobs. Can you imagine, if you are a business owner or running a large corporation hiring a narcissistic liar who does not pay his bills or taxes and has been sued for running a fake university and gone bankrupt multiple times, being the CEO of your company?
Well, America, you did it, even if it the entire election in 2016 corrupted and filled with propaganda all the way through. And the media stroked the orange money/optics-whore for the past six years...for what? Money.
Which brings me to the notion that republicans belch about small government, but they are willing to spend obscene amounts of money (including from hostile foreign entities) on elections and propaganda/lies to push their people/agendas through. We have so many things to fix-- all at the same time. Voting Rights and republicans tampering with them are the most important issue right this minute.
Thank you Barbara. And, OK, that's concerning.
Damn weak qualifications. Time for a reboot!
Maria HK - Add Masha Gessen to Tim Snyder and Anne Applebaum - and add Hannah Arendt - she was first and incredibly good.
Good suggestions! I have read some of their work as well.
Sandy, add Dr. Barbara F. Walter. Her book is coming soon. “How Civil Wars Start”
So many of us over the decades haven’t BOTHERED to show up and vote, to participate even that much in Democracy.
“My vote doesn’t make any difference.”
“I hate both parties. I refuse to vote for either of them.”
“I don’t even know who’s running.”
“Why should I vote? Nothing changes.”
In many ways, I understand. Let’s hope after the past hellacious few years the VAST majority of citizens now get it: Your vote DOES matter. “Bad people get elected when good people don’t vote,” says a 2016 button.
We don’t have to win over any particular voters to save Democracy. We just need to get all those good, solid, forgotten Americans to the polls. Maybe this existential crisis will turn out to be a blessing: Awakening or reawakening citizens to the importance of what we could have here in the U.S. if we pull together and claim it for the people — We the People, All of Us this time.
That apathy is part of their GOO plan. Creating it is part of their strategy. It is as much of their long game as the Southern Strategy and issues like guns and abortion. Then, as an alternative party they offer to the apathetic “Libertarianism” as an alternative. Disgusting.
The system is rigged now to discount the opinions of the majority of citizens with the uncontrolled influence of money in elections and in influencing policy position votes, ie no gun safety reform for decades despite the uniquely American crisis of GV deaths, no sensible limits on drug prices despite the fact that Americans pay 3-5x more than Europeans for medications, no meaningful legislation to address climate change for decades while the science has been clear on the CO2 greenhouse effect. All of these are supported by 70% or more of Americans but also have the most special interest political spending obstructing political action. It takes a lot to motivate voters to go back to the polls after the years long message that they can't win against big money but hopefully they will.
Marie, I would add that even on George Stephanopoulos “This Week” the conservatives on the round table were continuing to belch out, “there are good people / bad people on both sides“ Type of argument. Trying to draw parallels between black lives matters demonstrations and the unfortunate accompanying destruction of property by some as equal to the insurrection. What reality are they living in?
Yes, Robin The what-aboutism false equivalency propaganda is vile. They are living in political spin world where many of their voters only listen to the 10 sec sound bite or get most of their 'news' from the
info-tainment platforms of Fox & OANN.
Marie I do believe from what I’m seeing and reading the work to save our Democracy is @ 24/7 365 effort. I don’t believe even the Repubs want a Putin like country. Seeing it going on all over the Globe brings it closer to our own reality of vision. We can all do something however small.
"I don't believe even the repubs want a putin like country", Really? They've put bounties on women's heads, They've rigged our state elections, and the cult followers still adore their putin-like ex leader.
Yes. White male dominance. They fear all the intelligent women and POC rising to such high levels across our country. The backlash and final straw against President Obama's eloquency, education and decency...and being born in our country. Do NOT underestimate what the brainwashed wolf pack mentality is capable. We have three hours of violence against our country on Jan. 6th where the sitting, so-called POTUS did nothing after inciting the seditious insurrection and violence. And, we STILL pay the salaries of those in our government who supported that coup against our country. Depose all of them— they mean our republic NO GOOD. Fear not if we wish to keep wannabe dictators out of our Oval Office.
And TFG "religiously" took advice from Putin, who, no doubt, also watched the melee on Jan. 6 from a comfortable position.
I just asked my local Democrat club if there's anything that can be done to get rid of the annoying let's go Brandon flags flying in the neighborhood? we got the nazi flag down by screaming at the homeowner, and he took it down. Now, we have this bullshit.
100% agree that we can all do something. I'm not confident yet that enough will recognize that the time is NOW. I've been active in grassroots work to achieve a constitutional amendment to rein in uncontrolled big money in politics for 4 yrs, a long term goal to be sure (HJ Res 1/SJ Res 25). 76% of all Americans agree that the skyrocketing amounts of money in our elections needs to be reduced. Yet, with Covid and the political struggle of the last 5 yrs, many volunteers have 'hit the wall'.
Marie, I hear you. But when push came to shove, and sometimes it was physical . We got Biden elected didn’t we. On 1/6 I was watching the Repubs debate the election. Mostly it was the accommodations due to CoVid that was their gripe. Like Mail in Voting that TFG did himself. Now they are into bigger and better things so they ‘Actually can Steal an Election.All I can say is “ No pain, No Gain.” But some of what they are trying to change is not going to pass if it infringes on others ability and availability to vote. Biden can have the National Guard at the polls if need be also.
He had better, it will be a fracas
As a "person of integrity".... I view to "do something however small", akin to making a piss-hole in the snow. A somewhat co-local xpresshun here in Maine, Ms Heather is surely familiar with (sp - my choice:)).
And THAT attitude, my friend, is how THEY win. If you fail to make trouble - good trouble - by whatever collective efforts possible, you are an accessory to the crime.
Yeah, my daily emails and phone calls are tiny, minor acts. I know that. But if my Senators receive thousands of such protests, they know what their constituents want. Besides, it feels good to rant at a politician. Try it, you'll like it.
In the time it has taken you to type a few comments here, you could have added your voice to the growing chorus of outrage by letting your elected reps know what you care about. Wouldn't it feel good to scream at Susan Collins? And if you don't join others in a serious effort to stop him, you will have Paul LePage savaging your state again. Get to work! Mainers are not lazy.
Don't eat the yellow snow. There is a lot of it now...
Sorry Bill, I was in no way referring to the actions you cite. But, you certainly could not know that. And, I stand proud to say that I am quite guilty of engaging in every one you cite. By "Small" I refer to the "Mueller" debacle. By small, I'm referring to the pitiful little criticsm leveled at the Repubs for "proven" cheating in W.VA. and other places. Or, hammering home the demand for witness protection during the trial of the Supreme Ct Dushbag to enable more to testify. Or, demanding that the REAL transcript be released of Numbnutz's conversation with the poor president. These Bill, I consider to have been huge, but to me they were handled so poorly, all the morons did was laugh. So if those things couldn't be acted more heavily upon, then smaller lesser issues of significance might as well have been just a "pisshole in the snow". And, to me, from what I see on the street, the "Dems", "lib-tards", Commies, Socialists, pedophiles, cancel-culturists, etc are the Joke Du Jur. Time to turn that around, and THAT is the new approach I want to see.
I feel your frustration. I hear what you say. My wife just expressed something similar. My approach is twofold: Make noise with our elected officials and make noise in numbers. I'll be at a vigil Thursday night because I want to be part of the millions who are demanding justice.
Second. I don't care what the whacko wing nuts think. They are long past redemption. Gone, baby, gone.
But there is a HUGE section of America that do not get as involved emotionally as we do. They work, they feed kids, they sleep, repeat, repeat, repeat. They need to hear the truth. We need to be loud. We need to scare them with what is unfolding.
And that's why I will be standing in the cold in a crowd Thursday night. (I Hate Crowds).
WE are the heavy lifters and can only get it off the ground as a unified group.
BTW, thanks for the thoughtful response. Peace.
Yupp.. unfortunately if we think that 50,000,000 (mowrons) are going to be scared into changing their minds(?) by reading historical utterings by Mssr's Plouffe and Beschloss, we are delusional.
This is true. The "base" of TFG will always be what they are: ignorant and/or bitter about being "replaced" by others. They would follow Mussolini if he showed up tomorrow. Remember that leading up to Pearl Harbor, a huge percentage of Americans were "America Firsters" who wanted NO involvement with the World War that was slaughtering people all across the globe.
But consider this:
"Gallup. On December 17, 2020, Gallup polling found that 31% of Americans identified as Democrats, 25% identified as Republican, and 41% as Independent."
You can see why the GQP is worried. Their numbers are dwindling, so they must cheat to preserve power. But there WILL be voting rights legislation. And there WILL be a reassertion of democracy in America. Let's all do our part. Contact your Senators and demand a change in the filibuster and an immediate passage of Voting Rights!
In my dreams, I see dopey don losing the 2024 election by a landslide! Then I realize that he probably will get that number of votes as you note, 50,000,000 down from the 70,000,000 votes in 2019! Tragic that many people have a very distorted version of democracy!
Exactly right!
It was Ben Franklin who told us something like this: "Democracy is the best government, but we must work to keep it."
Tim Snyder recently wrote in his substack that the USSR once had a huge prison population but that the US now has the largest in the world. Even though I already knew about the size of the US prison population the comparison to the Soviet prison system struck me as very alarming.
Marie, exactly! I was complacent. Never in my life did I believe we would or could lose our democracy! I keep saying there are more of us that want to keep our democracy intact but if our congress doesn’t work to safeguard our voting rights, will all of our voices and actions be enough? 🙏🏻
As Bill Alstrom said above "my daily emails and phone calls are tiny, minor acts. I know that. But if my Senators receive thousands of such protests, they know what their constituents want." In the 1st months of 2017, when cabinet nominations were being voted on, I led visits to my Senators office organized through MoveOn. The phones were literally ringing off the hook & we had between 25 and 70 voters meet with the in-district staff each week. It convinced our centrist Senator that supporting nominations as a 'courtesy' was NOT acceptable. The Senate needs to hear from us all in the same way for voting rights now!
YES! YES! YES! We each have to use our individual voice and collectively our voices will be heard!
There are those of us who have been walking around since the 2017 inauguration with a pit in our stomach knowing our Democracy was under siege.
On September 21, 2021 Jon Meacham said this to Brian Williams on Williams' 11th Hour program: "Jon Meacham: "Democracy is hanging by a thread... to paraphrase President Kennedy, I really do believe this is democracy's hour of maximum danger."
So it is with deep gratitude and relief to see others begin to take up this rallying cry as Beschloss and Plouffe have. I am further excited that Liz Cheney stood for many Sunday show interviews yesterday. Her firm, clear voice and patriotic conviction in stating the facts rang loud and clear.
If you haven't already read it here is the link to the New York Times article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/01/opinion/january-6-attack-committee.html#:~:text=Every%20Day%20Is%20Jan.%206%20Now
Yes! I heard an author about Stop the Steal speaking on show and how STS and fomenting election distrust started in 2016, organized by Roger Stone, in Colorado. I had no idea. I guess it seems like a farfetched scheme back in this good old days. But Trump kept spinning distrust throughout his presidency. We need MSM to connect those dots and plaster the front pages.
Don't forget Roger Stone was the original "rat f**ker" during Nixon's disgraceful administration.
There is no polite word for Roger Stone, so I'll refrain. He was also behind the Brooks Brothers riot that stopped the recount in Fla. after the 2000 election. Which ultimately led to the presidency of GW Bush, and all the wonders that cursed administration brought to the world. I try not to speak Stone's name, because I always have to spit when I do.
Roger Stone… he looks like a villain, he walks like a villain, he talks like a villain. The fact that he was allowed to be pardoned by tfg is another flaw in our “rule of law”. There should be a check on a president’s pardon power.
We know that Al Gore requested a recount of a few counties after the "hanging chad" debacle. He was found to have lost by a little more than one hundred votes, and so he conceded. The SCOTUS had declared Bush president. However, and I hope I recall this correctly, The St Petersburg Times organized a recount of the entire state's ballots with the help of other newspapers. The recount found Gore had won. The Republicans have played loosey-goosey with elections forever. It's their MO and it is primarily geared to canceling POC votes.
With the blessings of future SCOTUS judges (all sent to Florida by the Republican party for the W. Bush/Gore recount) Roberts, Kavanaugh and Coney Barrett..
Kim, The plastering can't begin soon enough! Good call.
“So it is with deep gratitude and relief to see others begin to take up this rallying cry as Beschloss and Plouffe have.” Yes Barbara, thank God more are speaking up. I sure hope it isn’t too late.
Barbara, absolutely true. This didn't begin on January 6th.
Barbara, that's exactly how I've felt!
Someone is supplying the matches.
Indeed....
They also hold the insurance polices which will pay out an inflated amount when it burns down. Just ask yourself, if the poop really hits the propeller who benefits?
And teaching him how the magic sticks work....
Too funny
Mike Flynn?
Much much higher than Mike. And wealthier.
Heather’s article was filled with explosive reporting today. All in all, a barnburner.
It seems to me that the Committee has been very purposeful by seizing the New Year and framing it thus on the Sunday shows. They came out swinging, essentially showing a “trailer” for the upcoming public hearings. Revealing that they have such an inside source gives them an added dollop of credibility - credibility which they have been diligently building since Day 1.
This is, in my mind, a sudden and highly aggressive move, designed to spook anybody sitting on the fence about testifying. It is a grim pleasure to see the other side wrong-footed for once.
It’s clear that they are throwing the dice on the upcoming hearings tilting the country against Trump decisively. This is their one shot at the king and they are unafraid to take it.
In some ways it seems now to be a good thing that an independent committee was shit-canned by the Republicans. Had one been brought into being, it might have been as cautious and institutionalist as the Mueller team was. As diligent as its work was, it ultimately failed to drive Trump into disgrace and Barr easily managed to “disappear” it in the public eye.
This Committee is Democratic, but its credibility has been vastly enhanced by Republicans Adam Kinzinger and, especially, Liz Cheney. It has had from the start a fight on its hands to establish that it would not simply produce a partisan hack job. It has done so by dint of extraordinarily good planning in framing what to go for, undying work to get it, and an unabashedly strategic approach to producing a blockbuster report, worthy of the deep infamy they have clearly uncovered.
There remain big hurdles to navigate. How will the Supreme Court rule on contentious issues? What new tactics will the scofflaws come up with to delay the Committee out of existence? Will they come up with evidence sufficient for the DOJ to indict?
This latter remains highly problematic. There was an excellent episode on the podcast Cafe Insider on which prosecutors Joyce Vance and Barbara McQuaid discussed this point. They noted that federal prosecutions have a success rate of ~95% - and the reason for that is that the DOJ does not move unless it has a case which is a virtual lock. What can appear obvious to the ordinary citizen may not be acted on if the DOJ does not believe its evidence is bulletproof.
The Committee is doing much of the investigating for the DOJ. It seems obvious that they want to go further than issuing a report that will occupy a few news cycles. Their goal is to make the DOJ an offer it can’t refuse.
This will be a tense time for America.
I concur with your analysis. Sunday's shows were a 'shaping operation'. Their interviews are not unscripted.
"Vichy French Morons" - that's really good. It won't play in Peoria, where I'm afraid it will most likely be confused with fillet minot, but still very good none the less.
Never going to happen.He doesn’t need to be in the Presidency to be in Ppl’s head either. The Indians used to have a saying about our Gov. “ Two wings of the same bird”. I really believe that was TFG’s goal.That being more powerful and fearsome than all of them. And he is isn’t he.
Amen 🙏 brother 😎
If only TC, if only...
Indeed.
Exactly.
Unfortunately, this strategy sounds like yelling "lock im up". Hahh.. even an illiterate (by legal standards) script by Sydnee Poww-ell would keep him from being escorted to the "plane". Next?
Amen, indeed.
TCinLA, Yes, that would be good. But I question your use of the word 'reputable' for those corporate networks.
YES. Where is the DOJ??
https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/one-year-jan-6-attack-capitol
I’m trying to find the Plouffe and Beschloss quotes you mention. Can you tell me what night was this same night and what the shows were? Thanks.
While in general I do not agree with Liz Cheney on her political stance on many fronts , on her service on the Jan 6 Committee her work and words have been exemplary. I wish she would show that same toughness when it comes to things like the BBB act and the voting rights legislation. In memory of the late Ms Betty White a quote "Why do people say "grow some balls"? Balls are weak and sensitive. If you wanna be tough, grow a vagina. Those things can take a pounding.”
That reminds me of the old quote "Balls," said the Queen, "If I had two, I'd be King."
Made me laugh! Thank you Pamela, and thank you Betty White, a treasure. Truth.
Thank you!
Daria, are you home?
Pam, yes! We got in early yesterday morning safe and sound. I'm truly glad to be home.
Glad you're back. We'll be down that way at the end of the month.
Thanks, Ally! We'll see you then. Safe travels.
👍 I'm sure you're glad to be home. Glad you had safe travels.
Thanks, Pam. Me too!
Welcome home Daria! Wherever that is .... I know some bridges were torched, but that will pass.
Thanks, Gus! We're back in Mérida where it's "icy"*... cool (70°F) & drizzling. Frankly, we're relieved that the elephant in the room was finally called the elephant in the room and we're free of it.
*I swear to you, icy is what "cool" weather is called here. Imagine my surprise when, my first winter here, I went into stores to find parkas, sweaters and other cold weather gear on sale.
Been holding you in safe travel thoughts. Could feel you in the States. Finally getting a cool weather front for a few days in Florida. Rummaging for my jackets. Only thing “cool” in FL. DeSantis still MIA.
I’ll remember that one. Betty White was a force to be reckoned with.
Elaine, you can just hear Betty saying that gem out loud, can't you? They'll never replace her.
Pamela, considering childbirth, and what makes that necessary, you will get no arguments from me. Neither did my wife of 50 years and 15 days. You win! My spherical equipment avoids pounding at all costs....
You are a gentleman most sublime, Gus!
BWAHAHAHA!
Thanks for the belly laugh, Pamela!
God bless Betty White!
fabulous!
“The Republican Party “can either be loyal to Donald Trump or we can be loyal to the Constitution, but we cannot be both.”
Nailed it Ms. Cheney!
To dumb it down: we can have presidents, or we can have dictators, we can't have both.
The more we (learned people) preach that 'line'.., the more the 50,000,000 (mowrons) feel empowered to defend THEIR convenient understanding of "the Constitution"...as provided (of course) to them by the Sydney Powells and Margie Greens and Candace Owens of our world. It's time we "People of Integrity" recognize that a 'new approach' is needed.
Just what “new approach” would THAT be, MadRussian12A?
Heather provides further evidence of the Trump-led conspiracy behind the BIG LIE and the 1/6 Capitol Hill insurrection. I am increasingly confident that the Department of Justice, based on the ‘smoking gun’ evidence being assembled by the Hous 1/6 committee and the diligent work of over 40 staffers and former federal prosecutors, will issue criminal indictments of some of the perpetrators by Spring, while the 1/6 committee public hearings are being conducted. One or more of the scum bags are likely to seek a John Dean-type deal to spill the beans to avoid or lessen a prison sentence.
While a criminal indictment of Jabba the Hutt seems politically unlikely, in Watergate, though Nixon was spared indictment, many of his sycophants squealed and/or went to the slammer. The House 1’6 committee should move swiftly, long before the November elections. I write as someone who was privileged to be on the Nixon White House Enemies List.
While indictment of Trump seems politically unlikely, I think it is needed so others understand that no one is above the law. I think between the Committee and the DOJ they probably have enough or close to enough to take him and his co-conspirators down. This wasn't just a burglary.
If trump is not indicted for his many criminal actions against the country, there is no rule of law.
What we are witnessing is that the rule of law is selective, and being rich and powerful allows for the lawless to be their own prosecutor and jury. The Judges, the Gang of Six, have already demonstrated their partisan intent via loyalty to their benefactor. Pip hangs his head
Agreed.
Except, for most us "People of Integrity", the Nation will applaud 'the Court' for finding Numbnutz "not guilty" and wish him well as he departs for a private island with Ivanka, on Trump Won. So soon we forget the Kyle R. trial, huh?
No, the nation would not applaud if it came back not guilty and I don't think the majority applauded the Rittenhouse verdict. He skated by on the self defense law as written in Wisconsin.
So was my mother, a housewife in an Ohio village, who during WWII as a college student had gone on a lecture tour across the US as the Irish Catholic with a Japanese American, a Black and a Jewish woman, pleading for tolerance. I think about that when I wonder who among us is on the Trump Enemies List.
Was she really? How did you find out? How courageous and wonderful of her and her fellow Humanitarian Activists!
Could you or someone else please explain why “a criminal indictment of [the man who served as 45th President] seems politically unlikely”?
I am at a complete loss to understand what sounds like an admission of America's political incompetence owing to ingrained hypocrisy and lack of principle.
Is it not the protection of the country's political institutions that is at stake? Surely, the issue is one of preserving the office of Presidency and protecting it from criminal abuse, past, present and above all future? The President is the keystone of the rule of law. How can constitutional government survive if a man who gains the highest office in the land turns autocrat and flouts the law because he thinks he owns and controls it? Is not the President the highest servant of the Law?
Republic—res publica, the public thing—cannot be the bauble of a boss. That negates the very principle of the republic. If Americans really want to relinquish republican government and replace it with an Empire and an Emperor, let this be openly proclaimed and so be it.
But what we are now seeing is an attempt to gain such ends through the subversion and destruction of republican governance. May foreigners be forgiven for having believed that America’s institutions mean more than placing hand on heart and pronouncing a republican creed? Surely there’s more to it than mere mumbo-jumbo!
'Will Donald Trump Get Away With Inciting an Insurrection?'
Dec. 23, 2021, Essay in The New York Time (excerpts)
'By Laurence H. Tribe, Donald Ayer and Dennis Aftergut'
'Mr. Tribe taught constitutional law at Harvard for 50 years. Merrick Garland was one of his students. Mr. Ayer oversaw criminal prosecutions and investigations as Ronald Reagan’s U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of California. He later served as deputy attorney general. Mr. Aftergut handled a number of complex investigations and prosecutions as a federal prosecutor in San Francisco.'
'Mr. Trump himself sat back for three hours while his chief of staff was barraged with messages from members of Congress and Fox News hosts pleading with him to have the president call off the armed mob whose violent passion he had inflamed. That evidence, on its own, may not be enough to convict Mr. Trump, but it is certainly enough to require a criminal investigation.'
''And yet there are no signs, at least in media reports, that the attorney general is building a case against these individuals — no interviews with top administration officials, no reports of attempts to persuade the foot soldiers to turn on the people who incited them to violence. By this point in the Russia investigation, the special counsel Robert Mueller had indicted Paul Manafort and Rick Gates and secured the cooperation of George Papadopoulos after charging him with lying to the F.B.I. The media was reporting that the special counsel’s team had conducted or scheduled interviews with Mr. Trump’s aides Stephen Miller and Mr. Bannon, as well as Attorney General Jeff Sessions.'
'Of course, there is no way to know for sure whether Mr. Garland’s Department of Justice is investigating the leaders of the attack behind closed doors. Justice Department policy does not permit announcing investigations, absent exceptional circumstances. Mr. Garland, unlike his predecessor William Barr, plays by the book, keeping quiet about investigations until charges are filed. But the first of the rioters to plead guilty began cooperating with the Justice Department back in April. If prosecutors have been using their cooperation to investigate the top officials and operatives responsible for the siege of the Capitol and our democracy, there would likely be significant confirmation in the media by now.'
'It is possible that the department is deferring the decision about starting a full-blown investigative effort pending further work by the House select committee. It is even conceivable that the department is waiting for the committee’s final report so that federal prosecutors can review the documents, interviews and recommendations amassed by House investigators and can consider any potential referrals for criminal prosecution.'
'But such an approach would come at a very high cost. In the prosecution business, interviews need to happen as soon as possible after the events in question, to prevent both forgetfulness and witness coordination to conceal the truth. A comprehensive Department of Justice investigation of the leadership is now more urgently needed than ever.'(Essay, NY Times) See link below
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/23/opinion/trump-capitol-riot-january-6th.html
In an Oct. 4, 2021 CNN Politics interview with Tierney Sneed, Merrick Garland stated: "We are doing everything we can to ensure that the perpetrators of January 6 are brought to justice," Garland said. "We will follow the facts and the law where they land." That is enough for me to relax a little knowing they are working on this but we cannot see all the threads of this tapestry from our view. I am willing to be a bit more patient. A lot is coming out that people had no idea of...and the coup is deep. The hearings will help the world understand much of what transpired. Nothing can be refuted or lied about like Bill Barr did after the Mueller investigation. Please take heart and everyone put out that justice will prevail. And gag the orange one on Jan 6th. He deserves absolutely NO PODIUM during the infamous day of his coup on our country... THAT to me is critical: keep the propagandist lips of the lead insurrectionist, who was the supposed head of our country last Jan. 6th, zipped. He deserves no rights to freedom of anything anymore.
With all due respect to the enormous intellect of Lawrence Tribe, he is one of the best examples of what Blackstone said, "the law sharpens the mind by narrowing it." When it comes to speaking in political terms, Professor Lawrence Tribe's opinion on politics is as meaningful as any comment here. "Practical politics" is a subject of which he has no knowledge. This is the problem with annointing people as "experts" or "geniuses." Yes, they may well be, in their field; but outside that they're just another drunk carrying on at the bar. This very good article completely ignores the fact that Donald Trump isn't Joe Schmoe.
TC, your reply to Peter perfectly captured the situation. I haven't ever harped on Garland because I realized that proper justice in this case appears to be in a locked box. It isn't impossible to have enough evidence, yet the kind of absolute certainty required may not exist. Tremendously high risk all around. His cult wants blood, and we're trapped.
Exactly right.
It could be that the constant threats of civil war by the MAGATS makes the powers that be think twice, but think they must. Then DO something along the line of consequences. The clock is ticking…
I am also at a loss for why people continually say "seems politically unlikely." There is enough evidence, and, as Glenn Kirshner repeats, "Justice matters." These strange seeds of expecting nothing are so irritating after six years of insanity. If any of us normal Americans did what we have witnessed these anti-Americans do, who still remain in our government, we would already have been locked up.
Peter My heart fully agrees that Trump, like his fellow Mafioso, Al Capone, should be indicted and sent to the slammer. I would love to see this occur. It would be a prolonged effort to indict and then try Jabba the Hut with likely violence from his cultist gang. Just as I thought that President Nixon should be indicted for his despicable, criminal actions, Trump should be indicted, tried, and convicted. Love to seer it happen.
It comes down to the ancient rule, "If you strike the king, you must kill him." If they bring a case against him, it has to be absolutely air tight. Can you imagine the power he would have if he were indicted and tried, and got off? There is the additional problem that, as soon as he announces he's running again, a prosecution will be seen as "purely political because they're afraid of him" which would cede even more power to him. Basically, it's "Catch-22"
As a German judge once reminded me, one who had to flee his country because he was Jewish, the case against Hitler was airtight after the 1923 Munich putsch, but he got away with it.
Such is the material power of the United States that it must under no circumstances be allowed ever again to fall into such hands. People may find this hard to get their minds around but that would be far more dangerous than the Third Reich. You don't need such an embodiment of evil as the Fuehrer to destroy the world, any fool or narcissistic pervert will do.
That is the bomb Americans must defuse.
Exactly right.
Sorry, I detest wasting my time and that of others and fear that I may be doing just that with my contributions to this thread. Hence a strong desire to cut this line of communication because, unlike too many persons whose names are best not mentioned, I am not into entertainment. Leave that to your damned Pied Piper.
It is never safe to play with fire but America is doing just that -- hence our shared anxiety.
Let us think of the young and of the world's children and be guided by that. And let us leave off being guided by ridiculous ideas about what is and is not possible, both in a positive and in a negative sense. We have seen and are seeing too much of the worst that is possible, why add to that with deadening prejudices about the supposed impossibility of the best?
The one thing we can all do is to hold out for the best we are able to imagine, come what may. An attitude that will have effects, however long and hard the intervening winter.
Sounds as though you're speaking of Charles I who ended up on the scaffold because he considered that he owed allegiance -- and his word -- only to God, and not to his subjects.
It doesn't seem appropriate to compare men who follow the dictates of their conscience, however misleading those dictates may be, with beings totally devoid of any conscience or of a duty to anyone or anything but their inflated ego.
Peter Richard III shouted “My kingdom for a horse” (before being killed). Modern day I would delight in having Trump, as his troubles mount, shout “My kingdom for a hearse.”
I'd love it if he ended up buried under a parking lot, as they discovered a few years ago had happened to Richard III.
Unfortunately, the result is the same.
It would have helped if you'd referred to James I of Scotland -- not James VI of Scotland and I of England... Beyond that, I don't follow the obscure reference to a capable ruler murdered by aristocratic traitors who soon met their deserts.
I don't think we want to go where dealing with the Stuarts sent the English.
This is precisely why we are at a Continental Divide. Will we flow in the direction of the Democracy those of us following Dr Richardson want? Or will our country fall the other way, to become an autocracy or oligarchy or banana republic? If too many elected officials are following Trump like lemmings, and we can’t change the filibuster, and the DOJ cannot indict Trump fast enough, we could end up on the River to Hades.
And I might try to emigrate to Canada.
Greece is not bad. They have gone through all this stuff already and sorted it out.
A banana republic?
Interesting non-system of governing!
At one time, I would have argued the those who control corporate America And the stock market would never allow the country to devolve into a banana republic.
However, with the control of our economy and government in the hands of radical libertarian billionaires, I suspect they would welcome a benevolent despot’ who siphons billions off the top, but allows them to pursue their greed!
Beware, those who betray the ‘despot’ will have their businesses ‘nationalized’!
Hey! Wait for me!!!
Tragically, those in dopey don’s cult perceive us as destroying democracy, we stole their election!!! The big lie metastasizes!
Rupert needs a truth serum. Maybe TC can pull that off
Welp.. quite simply. Numbnuts was Cmdr In Chief, to 50+ milllion (mowrons). He will terstify thusly: "(Under God) I was 'sitting peacefully' in a room amongst my closest 'friends', and as I recall, I was in deep thought with great concern for our Nation.., a Nation where a election was stolen (from me) and people were justifiably upset". DONE! If, sweetness Ivanka, was sitting on his lap, or in an armchair, it will have no bearing on things. Numbnutz will be found NOT-guilty of the most serious charge, ie dereliction, and will be acquitted of all other un-conclusive issues. He will then depart via Trump Won to an island where he and Ivanka will be assured of an ever-lasting privacy, to be enjoyed by his private (paid by US) Security Detail. Boy would I like to be on that Op...whew :))
Hey, so was I! A mark of honor if anything ever was.
I once had the privilege of comparing notes on that with Paul Newman, a better-known list member.
I knew I loved you for a reason...
I was also on J. Edgar Fruitfly's COINTELPRO list. Where they went after my father, a government scientist, and my father-in-law, a retired Marine working at a bank, with public visits to them at work about their offspring's "problems."
What a lineage to which you live up !
Yeah, my own. :-)
I am curious how your father and father-in-law handled that? And if they were with you! You don’t have to share all that but ..wow.
Oh Lordy, old J Edgar is mostly forgotten these days with so many MAGAt worms among us.
MAGAts, how did I miss that?
I stole that saying from a friend of mine some time ago. It fits.
“J. Edgar Fruitfly.” 😂🤣🤣🤣
TC It wasn’t difficult to get on cross dresser J. Edgar’s dance card. I had a Top Secret Code Word security clearance at the State Department when I took and passed the Foreign Service Exam. I got a call from State Department Security (obviously housed in the basement). I said “You don’t have high enough security clearance to come to my office, so I’ll come down.” This gum shoe was hung up on the fact that I had met Communists while researching NASSER’S NEW EGYPT: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS.
He didn’t take kindly to my suggestion that it seemed helpful to know our ‘enemy.’ He was a NYET numb skull, until a miracle. He was taking a class on Soviet skullduggery with Professor Stefan Possany, who was a board member of the Foreign Policy Research Institute, for whom I had written my book. Once I shared insider info on Stefan’s mistress, I got my security clearance. (Tom Lehrer could have sung a lovely limerick about this.)
I wonder how many transvestites we have among LFAA commenters. And how many might be hurt or disgusted or disappointed by thoughtless comments.
SL I was surprised that you wonder ‘how many transvestites might be hurt or disgusted or disappointed by [my] thoughtless comments.’ As a professional historian I was simply referring to an apparent dichotomy in J. Edgar Hoover’s personal history. At a time when he was applying the FBI’s massive power against people who were gay, the media was investigating what his relationship was with the man who was constantly in his life. Some reports mentioned that, in private, Hoover was a cross dresser. This is historical reporting on the 1950s. I don’t consider it offensive, nor does it reflect my personal beliefs.
Incredible, to put it mildly
Jeri Some of the State Department’s finest Asian experts were drummed out of the Foreign Service with such ‘Security’ bull shit. Ditto with the Black List and the hearings before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Without my ‘Stefan link,’ I most probably have been black balled from the Foreign Service.
Epithets can be spot-on and hilarious, but we must be very careful of collateral damage.
Sizzlin’ as usual, TC.
I love comparing notes with well known people who are, after all, just like me.
Bragging AGAIN!! Get it all out TCinLA!
It was a moment when he was considering a project I was part of and the meeting wasn't "jelling." I suddenly remembered him being on the list and brought it up in the conversation, identifying myself as also on the list (much further down) and the result was a "connection" and the meeting improved. Desperation breeds creativity.
You've even won my heart, temporarily.
I'll take that as my major accomplishment, Fern who never lets anything get past her. :-)
We need to talk about Tom Paine this week.
my father wrote as-told-to biographies of several movie folk in the '50s --Barrymore, Sennett, Astaire -- so as Democrats living in lily-white, ultra-Republican Glendale, we were considered and called communists. He taught my sister and me to ignore this and keep a sense of humor. Easier then than it would be now.
Congrats on your shared ignomity!!
"The House 1’6 committee should move swiftly..."
Amen. They must move quickly or we will end up with lawyers vs. lawyers vs. lawyers vs. lawyers, and on. That will cost precious time in resolving this before the mid-terms.
BTW, congrats for being "on the Nixon White House Enemies List." Well done.
I’m so curious how those of you on that esteemed list found out? Thank you for your service to America through getting into Good Trouble.
ScannyDo The names on the Nixon White House Enemies List dribbled out, with focus on the famous enchiladas. I saw my name in a New England newspaper, which listed me as Keith Wheelock, Lincoln, MA. I was completing my MIT Sloan Fellowship at that time (before I worked with Gary Hart on the McGovern campaign). I surmise that I got on the list because Benjamin Welles of the NYT wrote an article based on my MIT thesis. As a recent Foreign Service Officer I had managed to get Overseas Private Investment Corporation’s (OPIC) internal documents that were not available to the general public.
I highlighted that a majority of this investment insurance was provided to American extractive companies (oil, minerals). The stunner was my statement that Anaconda had been reimbursed despite not having paid its insurance premium in the year that Chile had nationalized the American copper companies. I was at our embassy just after the nationalization announcement when a stunned Anaconda Vice President came to our office. He blurted out ‘Anaconda corporate had decided not to pay the insurance premium this year.’ Either this was the truth or he deserved an Academy Award for acting. OPIC subsequently agreed to compensate Anaconda, despite its lapsed insurance. The Nixon administration claimed that my reporting was false. The NYT asked me if I would stand behind my facts. I did. This issue subsequently was played out in the Columbia Journal of World Affairs, where OPIC’S president called me a liar. I guess that this is the background for me being on the Nixon White House Enemies List.
I am also increasingly confident in the DOJ, and especially in AG Merrick Garland who has been targeted (hmm, Russian style) for "not reassuring" the American people that his department is investigating and indicting the bad guys. 750 insurrectionists have been investigated, 165 have pled guilty. The U.S. House is investigating the big bad guys, which the DOJ will follow up with indictments. And possibly more important, the House Committee is influencing the court of public opinion (which hopefully will include my Republican congressperson), convincing them that t-Rump's ship is sinking and it is time to jump off.
N0 hope of that in TX, magats at ALL levels
😔
MaryPat,I read that those who were given house arrest went before their Judges in Nov.to ask permission to travel to see ‘family ‘ and all were granted permission. I know with 100% surety that would NOT happen in a State court. These were out of state visits ?
Wow, what an honor. You may be on the list being compiled by Ginni Thomas for chump resistors in the government or not. As I heard, don’t remember where, one goal was to be able to pick off civil service people who expressed opposition to chump. Chump was well on his way to do just that. Breaking the union was step one.
Keith, C'mon, criminal indictment, it can be done. You call him Jabba, I call him 'The Loser', and he's left enough detritus around to poison the Trump Party.
BIGGEST LOSER
I am in awe, Keith! Only the BEST people made Nixon's Enemies List!
Mary Pat I was delighted to be a sardine swimming along the marlin and swordfish on the Nixon White House Enemies List. Initially, it seemed more a list of extinction than distinction. How the worm turned!
Way more on chump's list, even his "allies."
Keith, I agree. Somewhere in that sack of sick puppies, one will cave bigly. Then it will be a scramble to CYA before the US Marshalls arrive.
my dream, to see the BIGGEST LOSER go down
That’s the big difference between Nixon and TFG. No one was on Nixons friend list and No one feared him.
They were actually able to do things that hurt. IRS audits, lose your paperwork when you apply for a GI Bill home loan (that happened to me). They could make the gears of life get very "sticky."
Scary! Were you on Nixon’s Enemies List as well? I still think you have Intelligence work in your past! Have you ever seen Enemy of the State with Gene Hackman and Will Smith?
I see further down that you WERE on that list, among others. 😊. I have often wondered if I would be brave if ever called to be. I still don’t feel I’ve ever really had to be. You have! Along with Keith Wheelock and Mary Blaine Campbell’s mom. Thank you.
I actually shared this NYT editorial this morning on my Facebook page and opined that I think it should be required reading of every American citizen. I even pulled some of the same quotes that HCR did! Sadly, as one commenter noted, the "plea to Republican Party leaders to be honest with their voters is a noble call to an ignoble faction. There is no hope in that direction." Too true. The Republicans have become so radicalized nothing will phase them. It's up to Democrats. Get this reality call to all Americans. "Republican Party propaganda has poisoned minds of too many Americans. We need the truth told widely, loudly, boldly," as one commenter put it. Can we? I want to be hopeful in the New Year, but that gets harder and harder...
Thank Faux News for the propaganda and its widespread dissemination. Zuckerberg's deal with Trump brokered by Peter Thiel was right out of Goebbels' propaganda playbook.
...and don't forget how both Google and Apple caved to Putin asking that they pull the plug on the Russian Opposition's apps just before their elections started.
I missed this story! So frustrating how people in positions of power and influence cave. It makes me think the Tennis Association’s stand against China is even braver than I first thought. I haven’t heard how that’s going for them or about that young tennis player who disappeared is, come to think of it.
They didn’t do that because they wanted to, the Russians made clear that they were going to arrest and imprison with all that implied, the people that worked for them, so they were faced with a terrible choice, it’s one thing to make that choice on a personal level, it’s a totally different thing to make it for someone else.
Then Google and Apple should have gone public (or at least to U.S. intelligence) with these threats. But Google and Apple weren't about to give up their Russian market$.
?
I had not heard of this either. Here's what I learned, although the NYT story may be behind a paywall.
https://www.espn.com/tennis/story/_/id/32671331/photos-missing-chinese-tennis-star-peng-shuai-posted-online
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-11-24/disappearance-tennis-player-peng-shuai-china-fragile-superpower/100642532
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/01/sports/tennis/wta-china-peng-shuai.html
Good morning Ally, thanks for the quick follow up.
I am not the sports junkie that I once was; I was embarrassed that I had not heard of this event. I only watched a couple minutes of last nights Packers / Vikings game. Rogers has turned me off the Packers, and the Vikings looked hapless.
Been making that connection (chump and Goebbels) for five years; FB and Twitter didn’t like it. Zuckerberg and Thiel are traitorous worms in my book, clear from the start. Now If Rupert would have a truth telling day…. Sorry, dreaming again.
More details on that, please.
Peter Thiel, who founded PayPal, was Trump's "special consultant" (liaison) to the tech industry (such as Larry Ellison who founded Oracle). Peter Thiel is also one of Mark Zuckerberg's few BFFs, and sits on the Board of Directors of FB. Peter Thiel, Zuckerberg, and Trump had what was apparently a famous--but observed--dinner in 2018 out of which Zuckerberg pledged total hands off to anything Trump and his immediate people posted, and as much hands off as possible for his supporters/allies posted on FB. In 2015, Steve Bannon and Mark Zuckerberg became close work buddies as Bannon brought the British Cambridge Analytica's algorithms to FB, which is supposed to have increased FB's profitability by 30% -- and why FB simply turned over all its user data to Bannon for free.
Many of the young & wealthy in Silicon Valley are "sorta" Libertarian in their thinking--fiscally conservative on low taxes and deregulation--but extremely liberal on cultural issues. They don't support the Republican position on the environment and student loans or register as Republican--with a few exceptions like Peter Thiel and Larry Ellison--but as NPPs (No Party Preference). NPPs are the fastest growing cohort of registered voters in CA.
Holy Schitt. And “community standards” nailed the anti-trumpers. What traitors to any decent social media
That last sentence could have stopped at the word "traitors" IMHO.
Ty
and repeatedly.
In the scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter what a Canadian thinks. But we are neighbours, and mostly, good ones at that. It is horrifying to see what is happening to your country, and a great turnoff to the rest of the world. Good luck, be brave and for heavens sake call the instigators to account….even with your right wing Supreme Court.
In the scheme of things, the thoughts of America's neighbors and allies matter significantly.
It matters to me what you and all Canadians think, Patsi. A boundary line does not diminish the energy of support that countrywomen feel for each other. Thank you!
Or “continentwomen” as the case may be.
"not an attorney" indeed. Thankfully, you are not an attorney, but a truthful, literate, compassionate historian! Dear Dr. Richardson, I am breathlessly awaiting your words of wisdom, your synthesis of events and information, your lifeline to democracy every day.
I am filled with gratitude for your courage in the face of fascism. Endless blessings upon you.
Well, I was a lawyer for over 30 years in the Federal Northern District of California with trials in the CA State Courts ringing the Bay Area. Felony obstructing an "official proceeding" (up to 20 years) -is now DOJ battle tested in DC Federal Court. Amended complaints, plea bargains, sentencing, criminal trials are set & more than 300 new cases are now under active DOJ investigation. "Watch this space."
You and Rachel, what a team!
At an earlier time, Rachel was one heckuva of an Aids Activist out of Castro Valley. Bay Area.
Are you referring to reader Tim Devine's citation of 18 U.S. Code § 1512?
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1512
Dr. Richardson:
"We’ll see where this goes, but to this historian and non-lawyer (!) it does seem like he’s coming perilously close to being called out for leading a conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding. "
Currently, from my perspective, Trump is, in fact, being "called out" for his progressively well understood role in that Jan 06 event.
However, the way he is being called out is similar to the way some folks might "call out" a bully who just beat up some kid smaller than him in the hallway, by going to tell the principal.
That never, ever works.
What works is if someone steps in before all the teachers and principal shows up and beats on the bully enough to make him remember that next time a little kid looks tasty. With intent to hurt. I hate to write this. But, I know from experience that "callling out Trump" by writing in the NY Times, or on this page, or even serving him up subpoena's will make zero difference to him.
Finding a place where he can be hurt (not physical pain to be clear in this case) and then hitting that place hard enough to hurt? That is what is needed.
Foreclose on Mara Lago and evict him.
Foreclose on his two Scottish Golf courses obtained with laundered Russian money.
Lock the bank account that is receiving millions of dollars a day from suckers sending him money for his "campaign".
Post the FBI around Mara lago in an visual and open way that says: We are coming.
Because, Dr. Richardson, Trump, like any bully, LAUGHS when the principal warns him that "next time".........
The Bully could not care one whit about what the Principal might do because: He knows the principal can do nothing.
The other students have to handle this.
You speak truth: there is only one language the bully understands, and that is domination by peers who finally get to the point where they've had enough, and go after him. The government is us, and we must go to him in this way. Take his stuff. Lock him up.
Totally agree! Kudos !
Unless the bank takes action there is no foreclosure on Mar a Lago. Scotland's prosecutor will decide whether to pursue investigating money laundering on the Scottish golf courses and on what grounds can you close off his PAC's bank accounts? The FBI is an investigative branch of our many law enforcement branches and I don't think it is legal to try and intimidate citizens in the manner you propose.
Also, did you see that Trump, Ivanka and Junior have been subpoenaed by the NY Attorney General. Things are moving along quite nicely.
Making Trump "hurt" may produce some delightful schadenfreude, but it won't stop the next guy waiting to take his place.
Rep Cheney also promoted the voting rights legislation to stave off further anti-democratic voting laws written by red states last year. She sees that as much as a threat as what happened on 1/6. She is also imploring Republicans to drop and run from Trump if they can.
The 1/6 investigation will dovetail nicely with the debate on voting rights. This is the time to question your representatives about what happened that day, and whether they still defend their decision to stall the inevitable by repeating
THE BIG LIE.
Does her support of the Voting Rights Act mean that she, and maybe a couple of other Republicans might vote for it and enable the Dems to jettison Manchin and Sinema if we find a carveout of the filibuster?
First, she is in the House, and they will get a majority with or without her. I do believe she will be more effective in cornering Trump-following Republicans still claiming that voter fraud is the reason they refuse to support voting rights laws. Hopefully, these hearings will make many politicians uncomfortable.
Jane, my fuzzy thinking and fatigue prompted my question. See my response to Kathy, above, and I agree with your analysis of Cheney and the hearings.
She hasn't broken ranks in any vote this year.
She voted to impeach Trump.
Yes, but she hasn't broken rank since Biden became president Jan. 20. She has voted against everything, no matter how just or merciful or rational or merely useful. I too admire her consistency on the issue of the Former Guy's lawlessness, am just pointing out that she remains who she always was. An enemy, but the kind we're not used to having any longer--an honorable one.
I wouldn’t vote for her if she was running in my district, but this is as bi-partisan as we can get right now. In fact, it’s her extreme conservatism that lends credibility to the committee, for those who are Republican but haven’t decided about Trump. Like it or not, without Liz Cheney, it’s just another Trump WITCH HUNT.
Yes, I don't disagree. This sub-thread is in response to Nancy Fleming's point that she might vote for the Voting Rights Act. I was just pointing out the unlikeliness of that.
That is the scary part...and the part not often elucidated.
There's no question that she's a Republican - just one with a modicum of integrity.
Yes, as a friend said this Christmas when I said to her that Cheney was after all "a deplorable": no, "unlike the deplorables, she sincerely believes in her right-wing Republican ideas."
And I suspect she'll run for President when the wheels fall off the Trump train.
That's what I thought, too, but considered I'd missed something about supporting the bill.
would that not be wondrous?
It passed the House in August. Cheney voted nay.
I must have been in a coma to have asked that question. Of course, she's in Congress, not the Senate, and I do recall that she voted against the bill.
Cheney is in the House, not the Senate, so can not vote on the filibuster. However, from her position on the Jan. 6th committee , she may be able to influence Republican Senators to let go of t-Rump as his ship is sinking.
Mary Pat, on most other days, I'd never have made that gaffe. I agree that her position on the Congressional Committee can have immense benefit.
These are dizzying times. And I had to double check myself - She seems like a seasoned senator.
I'll take the hit for this - dizzy me! She does, though, act more like a senator - must be her family background. Thanks.
And supporting The the BIGGEST LOSER
The time came when -- yesterday, last year, 5 years ago...? Some have said the trouble began 50, 45, 40 years ago. 'IT' is the decline of the United States of America. The decline that ushered in a cheap, sleazy real-estate conman with a terrible reputation, and he was a perfect match for what America had become only he made it worse.
'We know now that top Republican lawmakers and right-wing media figures privately understood how dangerous the riot was and pleaded with Mr. Trump to call a halt to it, even as they publicly pretended otherwise. We know now that those who may have critical information about the planning and execution of the attack are refusing to cooperate with Congress, even if it means being charged with criminal contempt' (NY Times)
Can the American people so worn out by the Pandemic, so disappointed with the promises to them that weren't kept come together? Can Americans believe again? Can President Biden, his administration, a great team of civil servants, other Democrats, the Free Press, Teachers, Nurses, Doctors, Construction Workers, Office Workers, Service Workers, Business Leaders -- will we pull together? That's what we are going be doing this year and next for as long as it takes. Get out your grassroots contacts, friends, family, everyone you can think of. WE have a mountain to climb, and we will climb it. Yes, we can!
We got sh_t to do in '22. We need an emotional appeal to rank-and-file Democrats, Independents, and moderate/responsible Republicans. Emotions win over logic and policy every time. Obama knew that and used it in a positive way - "Hope" and "Yes we can!" Trump used it in a negative way to beat the most qualified person to ever run for the office.
I posit that Trump really lost in 2020 because he mishandled the pandemic, and people reacted very negatively to that, not because he is a criminally-minded incompetent.
Biden will suffer the same fate, I'm afraid. Most leaders who preside over natural disasters, even if they handle them well, do not retain their positions when the crisis is over. Thia is because of the negative emotions associated with most disasters get projected onto the leader.
We, and by that I mean a coalition to save the republic, need to get the public emotionally invested in the crime against America that 1/6/21 represents (and make it stick to the Trumpists), get the public excited about all the cool stuff in pending legislation such as BBB and voting rights, call out Republican inaction on ALL this and make the dysfunction stick to them, and have fun while we do it. A little behavioral science can go a long way here :)
Great post smiley Steve. I would call Trump, however, a Criminally Active ex president, who, when president, was guilty of crimes against the people of the United States, the laws of the land, the institutions of democracy, the functions of government, the environment and the dignity of all.
Agree Steve. My group working hard in FL with candidates for office all over the United States. I think the more Dems work nationally, the better party it is. Repubs are almost myopic in their state focus. I say pass them up quickly with a forum of national pride and focus. Issues that affect people everywhere.
Yes. And most of the trumpsters are a lost cause. Their minds are made up, convinced that lib-coms and the Democratic party have got to go. This bunch is not going to be persuaded to ever vote democratic. They don't need stupid conspiracy theories, or providing healthcare for illegals, or redistribution of wealth or elimination of plastic bags in Wal-mart, as reasons to skewer liberals with. Electric powered pick-up trucks and more silently... removal of confederate flags and statues has been reason enough. So, if you think you're gonna change that mindset, better bring yer lunch.
"The decline that ushered in a cheap, sleazy real-estate conman with a terrible reputation, and he was a perfect match for what America had become only he made it worse."
Trump is a mirror to what we have become. ( as is the satirically real film DON'T LOOK UP).
Fern, you are right to call us to attention and action despite our being drama & Covid weary. I believe, with you, that we can climb that looming mountain but we could use some help from the still functioning parts of our government to cut some paths over the rocks!!
If every criminal peon around him falls into a heap and tfg remains unscathed, there is no justice!
Carol, Our spirits rise with a firm sense of what we must do now. Salud!
Fern, am daily trying to levitate my spirits!!! Your rallying cry helps. Thanks.
We Shall Not Fold, Fern!!!
That so many Republicans refuse to stand with Rep. Liz Cheney is beginning to look very worrisome.
I'd often wondered if Naziism could happen in the US. I don't wonder anymore, given the behavior of so many GOPers.
I wish there were more Liz Cheneys among the Republicans. Even though I probably disagree with her on the vast majority of policies, I have a lot of respect for her, and I suspect that had she been an adult in Nazi Germany she would have been saving Jews.
I don't wonder at all. I spent some time yesterday reading the whole story of how Hitler got to be Chancellor in 1933.
It wasn't from "winning" the election, as the Nazis always claimed.
Scary, isn't it. The caller is in the house....
Wonder no more, and all for another version of the BIGGEST LOSER
Spot on David! When tfg got elected and there was the daily crisis which was ignored by the masses, I thought "now I understand how people were brainwashed by Hitler"--but man oh man, I REALLY see it now!!
Yes, it is. Some of them are so radicalized that they will stoop to anything. Death star broke the ice and all the scum underneath has floated into full view. One of the scum is on the Salem-Keizer school board and is also a Marion County Commissioner. And of course, the poor thing is a victim when people call for her to resign or be recalled.
Don't you just love that?
Oh yeah. Such a hypocrite and liar. Thankfully, we elected four progressives to the school board which dilutes her power; the Marion County Commissioners are another story.
So true. At least we've avoided that debacle in Lane County (so far).
Republicans can smell the money of a Federal Reserve under the total control of Trump.
Yes, that is very telling.
Wait. Watch.
Why not just say it: The present Republican Party is operating as a criminal organization and needs to be treated as such.
And since political parties are not government agencies but private organizations, I'd wager the GOP could be RICO'd like the Gambino family it is.
The January 6 committee is doing masterful work . . . but faces a critical danger: the elections. If Republicans retake the House this fall, their first order of business will be to disband the committee. So if the Justice Department isn't rolling out indictments and arrests by late summer, we should appoint a special prosecutor to carry the ball into the end zone. I'd love to see the GOP get the Ken Starr treatment . . .
William, That's probably the backup plan, if it doesn't look too good. And the R's have probably guessed that it would be really bad for their precious 2024. I'm thinking that if indictments begin to materialize there will be R's that break away from the monolith to save their own skin. Rats seldom stay with the boat....forgive the mixed metaphors, I'm trying to make a point here....
As former Prez Shrub once remarked "...I'm using a mexed mitaphors here..."
I’m imagining a political cartoon with Republicans as rats scurrying away from the sinking ship! Love that.
I have used that analogy plenty of times in the past year, but these rats don't seem to know what might actually be good for them in the long run. Must be terrified of King Orange Rat who demands that they stay on board.
I hope you are right...
I think the committee plans to have completed their work before the midterms. I agree about a special counsel - we should have had one last January!
An unanswered question about Jan 6: why wasn't TFG in the bunker for his security during the attack? Presumably, it was because the WH knew he was in no danger- the insurrectionists were doing his bidding.
I hope that the first hand witness to TFG actions on Jan 6 has explained why the Secret Service did not perceive the invasion of the Capitol as an imminent threat to POTUS that required him to be in the bunker during the attack?? Or if they did try to secure him, how he acted in refusing that precaution be taken? After all, the next 3 officials in the presidential line of succession were under attack in the insurrection and had been whisked away by Secret Service.
I believe some in the SS were sympathetic to trump, not opposed to him.
If they can make the hearings into a reality tv show, maybe they can win over those who elected a reality tv star.
Excellent point, chump still won’t accept the finale, but maybe we can rewrite it.