Last night at a rally in New Hampshire, former president Trump repeatedly confused former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who is running against him for the Republican presidential nomination, with Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), the former speaker of the House.
Thank you for this clear and accurate description of what Trump and the Republican Party are trying to do to our institutions and to our republic. God help us.
I don't know if Biden writes his own speeches but HCR has regularly highlighted some eloquent and pointed lines. I would like to see them provoke attention in more places than here. Many of our circumstance are demanding adult responses, and the "GOP" is certainly not providing them.
I send to 14 friends each day, some of whom really appreciate the wisdom, and a few of whom are willfully ignorant, but I'm hoping that at some point they manage to digest the threat we're under.
I've been posting every day to Twitter X and FB with a pull quote from Heather's text and a photo from her sources. It feels like a sacred obligation at least until Nov 2024. Thank you Heather!
Promoting the truth and bringing light into the now darkened corners of our nation is a sacred trust and a constant obligation, or we run the risk of losing our precious democracy.
Yes, please forward Heather's marvelous daily essays every way you can. The Washington Post's motto, which it doesn't always adhere to, is instructive: "Democracy Dies in Darkness." As Anthony and Nancy and Terry and many others here have commented, we must spread the word, the truth, like wildfire so that we can say to all that America democracy is alive and strong.
Let's replace the pernicious misinformation and hatred-laden words of Trump and his misguided followers with truth and light and thereby grant the continuation of an ever-stronger democracy to our kids and grandkids and their grandkids.
Let's not be the generation that stood aside and watched our precious democracy replaced by vicious authoritarianism.
"The attempt to create distrust of large financial institutions is part of a larger attempt to destabilize the institutions of democracy."
HCR wants us to TRUST Big Money that pollutes and corrupts our political system.
However, HCR does usefully point out that Trump's brain, like that of Biden, is turning into mashed potatoes. Lock them both up, in a minimum security nursing home.
(But never fear, the same corrupt Establishment that is running both Trump and Biden is prepping Neo Nikki and Ron Con to be our next team in the White House.)
I think that you would agree that a Trump win in November is a worst case scenario? Assuming that, what should the Democratic party (or an independent) do in your opinion to better assure that. Who should be the candidate that will win the electoral college? At this point, the DNC believes its best chances are with Biden/Harris. Not everyone agrees, but I do. It appears HCR does too. Would I rather see a much younger Bernie-type in there? Yes. But I don't know who that person is, and just do not see a way forward that betters the odds come November. What I want is for Trump and the Republicans to be defeated - period. I'd be interested in knowing your thoughts.
Joe "Cocaine Nose" Biden is worse than Trump. Trump is a loose cannon who makes dirty deals with the Establishment that is running our country into the ground. Biden IS the Establishment.
HCR is an intellectual prostitute who puts in late nights whoring for Biden.
Nasty name-calling only shows your ignorance. Griping about what you think is wrong doesn't help either. Unless you have a solution to what you think the matter is, most of us would prefer you shut the fk up!
Good grief man - I tried. You appear to be in the (thankfully small) group that would see this country burn to the ground so that it can be rebuilt. People who would just as soon see Trump in there, knowing full well he would indeed burn it to the ground. And then something (I don't know what) rises up from the ashes. Is that your preference? My preference is to build on what we have and not go backwards. And just so you know - I personally am a single issue voter. Climate change. That's my hot button, and for good reason. Putting Trump back in there is existential for that reason alone, not to mention the myriad of other reasons.
I'd like Trump and the Trumpians to be completely and totally defeated. I think there are a few Republicans left but they have to work in a bully culture.
Trolling the banks in toto, John? Regardless whether you think they and other corporates run just on greed, they provide wide ranging, vital services. Heather's point was very focussed. Stick to the point.
I think this has been a recurrent issue. You'd think he'd be happier with more of his own kind, as opposed to trolling this site. Some users have sometimes found his opinions to their liking, but i find he just can't help battering at those who challenge him, with citations on his clip notes galore. I had a "friend" who's ultra conservative Catholic who once could not help signing up to a local atheist dump on religion site then contesting everything that crossed his path. I think he finally quit, but he was definitely a troll here. He belonged to a Holy Mother of God kind of place, just NOT Pope Francis kind of place. lol. I think some people who feel strongly about something sometimes become "man" the fortress kind of folk, who just seek out opposition to "hold them at bay" or something like that.
I did, for the second time. I really don't know what it's going to take for the admin to remove him from the site. We all pay to come here and learn and converse with others who actually want to find solutions to these issues. This person continues to be rude and nasty, and never seems to make a valid point on anything.
It is just as wrong headed to say all financial institutions are bad as it is to say they are all good. While I don’t like the idea that financial services make too much money from other people’s money, there is a definite need for them to exist and provide the services they render. Attacking entrenched institutions and replacing them with chaos does not preserve us. We need to make them better at serving all of us.
I have to agree. I would start by re-instituting the Roosevelt-era "Glass-Steagall" firewall between commercial banking (home mortgages and small business loans) and Wall Street investment banking.
The next step is to dry out the insane derivatives market, whose eventual implosion (if left unattended) will bring the whole system crashing down.
p.s. I suspect that the members of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee are well aware of the threat, but Congress is gridlocked as the House Republicans consume themselves.
p.p.s. perhaps you remember the Reagan-era Savings and Loan crisis, when the S & Ls were forced by law to buy junk bonds, which eventually ruined them. Your tax dollars at work...
"The era of zombie central banks is upon us. And it’s set to pose a political challenge for central banks that is unlike anything they’ve ever faced.
"In economics, something becomes a zombie when, despite having negative profits as far as the eye can see, it continues to exist. Economists have documented the existence of zombie firms. They’ve even identified a few types, such as zombie banks, that recur throughout the world’s economies, like character archetypes recurring throughout the world’s folktales. The central bank is a new arrival to this taxonomy of economic zombies....
"The United States punts the financial burden to the future. When the Fed runs operating losses, it starts a tab with itself. The Fed then has to pay itself back with future profits before it can remit anything back to the Treasury Department. The Federal Reserve’s tab is now around $90 billion, and it’s growing. That is a burden for future generations already facing challenges ranging from entitlement reform to climate change."
Our banks are turning into zombies, as Biden and the Vampire Liberals suck money out of foreign countries to pay for Worthwhile Programs, adding to the ever-growing pile of Unpayable Debt, using the imperial power of the Almighty Dollar to steal from the rest of the world until the whole rotten system collapses.
On one hand, you are right: the same wealthy cohort runs the country no matter what party is in the White House (see: The Creature for Jekyll Island, and Thirteen Bankers, for example). On the other hand, the real problem Trump poses is that Trump wants to throw it all away and become a dictator. And his Christian Nationalists want to regress society back to the way it was in the Middle Ages: where there are a few wealthy land barons, everyone else are peasants, and the Church runs everything. At that point, there would be NO investment in fission or any advancement of science at all. There would be total climate denial, total abandonment of international commitments and the US would become an ally of Russia and China. All personal freedoms would be lost. That is the promise of MAGA.
I have to ask if what you wrote is a collection of boogeyman talking points designed to impress the simple-minded.
Trump could never become a dictator except with the whole-hearted support of the Establishment in a time of extreme crisis, which perhaps is what they intend. But Biden is and always has been a creature of the Establishment; Delaware is a suburb of Wall Street.
Have you read his plan for 2024? Have you been following what has happened in Hungary and Poland, not to mention Brazil and Turkey? People have been working out a pretty good blueprint for how to transition a democracy to an authoritarian state. And, even though Trump himself may no longer be up to the intellectual challenge, his sycophants have been paying attention and studying the playbooks. Don't be lulled into complacency.
Sure, the oligarchy needs to be removed from public power, they already have enough power in the marketplace, they don't need more in governance. The question is how to most effectively wrest power from them and return it to the people? Trump is definitely not the way to go. He is turning the whole power over to them.
Your scurrilous description of President Bidens brain turning to mashed potatoes despite any evidence to the contrary reveals your real standards. Take your weasels self out if here, back to Trumplandia.
I'm not a Republican or a Trump supporter. If you google "Biden confused," you will see that Trump recently had a "Biden moment" when he confused Haley with Pelosi. Both Trump and Biden are unfit to be President.
We're in for mashed potatoe moments as far as the eye can see...
Thanks. After reading that article (free 7 day subscription) I don't think its author proves either of his points: 1) Christie didn't conflate Assad with Yemen, he just ran two ideas together, and 2) Nowhere does Christie say he'd put US boots on the ground in the Mideast. I don't like him, but I think Bruce would talk some sense into him, if, heavens forbid, Biden and Kamala come up short and Trump's brain liquifies in time.
We all are responsible for passing HCR's messages on to 'more places.' If you have fifty friends and relatives, make sure you pass her words on to each one of them, and tell them to do the same.
Yes, JL, I was captured by the lines quoted from President Biden's speech. The words felt as poetic and memorable as many of President Lincoln's. They should be further shared and memorialized during his presidential campaign, and beyond.
Poetic yes, and I think there is a element of poetry in all human speech, even technical writing, but also memorable are those lines that identify and underline indispensable truths, and while I don't always think that Biden has been wise, we are seeing some gems from him amid the usual political pablum. What if we took "government of the people, by the people, for the people" absolutely seriously? And triaged the current configuration into compliance?
It's as shame that he can't speak more clearly and powerfully. It would make a big difference. Maybe some TV ads where his speech has been improved electronically?
Biden is a conversational speaker rather than a dynamic orator or "showman." His brand of deeply patriotic sincerity doesn't play well in media environment built on rah-rah hype. His cabinet is filled with people who are, like their boss, competent and low-key. The damage that the media has done in its persistent carping on Biden's age hasn't helped the cause either.
Our President Joe Biden is someone of experience . He has given his life to serve within this country. His positions have been assigned to him over and over again. His decisions have not always been perfect....he continues to grow in experience. He listens to his advisers and to us.
He loves this country....He is a great leader.
Jill Biden is a wonderful partner...still working....teaching....listening to our younger citizens. They are a great team!!!
Don’t like this idea—it would backfire. His speech is fine. He speaks thoughtfully. You have to listen to hear him, which is a good thing, rather than him ranting and raving like some people we are only too familiar with!
"The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits."
-Milton Friedman
We have allowed that to become law. If we have unalienable human rights we also, as a consequence logic if not honor, have human responsibilities. The "Chicago School" is a rubber stamp for sociopathy, as we are seeing.
Should be required reading for all. Even for those who may bother and still naysay.
Sure we have been here before with greed and racism using ignorance and hate to fuel their fights. But not this close. He Trumpf had a run at it and has learned a little about what not to do or to do faster. WE MUST STOP Him!
If America fails I believe all democracies will shrivel. Pick a candidate or two and support with all that you can afford. Sign up to register voters and even work the polls in you area. Always take advantage of any opportunity to speak the truth and show this importance of voting and yes voting democratic and why.
The Democratic Party and it’s leaders need our help.
I finished this book a while back a bedtime, and I'm very glad I did! It was definitely depressing to read at bedtime, but the book went fairly quickly after all.
Regarding your second to last paragraph, I think European democracy will be just fine if US democracy fails. But with that said, the US in the present administration at least supports NATO and gives military aid to Ukraine. Europe will definitely have to rally if Trump wins.
My point, as discussed on the other side of that link, is that HCR's effort to promote "trust in our banks and financial institutions" is dangerously misguided.
I love what Simon is doing at Hopium. I have heeded his call for support in critical races all around the country. It’s very heartening to be a part of collaborative actions making steadfast difference. THIS is the work to reclaim our democracy.
Goodness gracious, when I read critical races my mind went immediately to "critical race theory". Along with "woke", these are the dumb rallying terms used by the right.
Me too. When I get discouraged with the news media meaningless polls, Simon perks me back up and charges me with (small) things I can do. Sharing Simon’s blogs and videos is one thing EVERYONE can do. :)
Of crucial importance, to assure that all our votes will be accepted and counted will require each individual voter to scope out and PLAN just by what means she or he will place their vote.
Learn the deadlines pertaining to HOW YOU WILL VOTE.
Months in advance (NOW?) everyone should inquire within your local voting district, to confirm that your name is still on the voter rolls! (Among the many techniques employed by Republicans in recent years to suppress voting has been to remove thousands of voters from the voter rolls. If your name is not on your local voter roll, you will probably not be able to place your vote. If you learn that your name has fallen off the voter rolls where you will vote, you will need to re-register right away because could it take months for your new registration to take effect!)
I welcome further suggestions or organization on this crucial topic.
Trump and his minions are furiously tearing the fabric of our society apart. They are seeking to sow distrust in every institution. Of course, the Not Freedom Caucus and the unethical, bought and paid for SCOTUS make matters even worse.
TFFG attacks anyone and everyone whether they are national heroes or just criticize him for something he said, like "de-bank". This is the cofeveve of 2024. He is unable to keep his adversaries straight anymore -- Nancy & Nikki, Biden & Obama...
His Christmas message of "MAY THEY ROT IN HELL" was barely mentioned by the press and certainly not by the MAGANAZIs or the cowards in the GOP.
Imagine any other person saying those words and they would be incessantly criticized and ostracized.
Cofeveve ,is the epitome word , huh IPad! Truly encapsulates the disarray. A myriad of people try squeezing the blood out of the turnip . Others trying to make sense of nonsense.
Me thinks the oxygen ratios sucked up by all the MAGA din has caused world mental chaos.
Is there a stabilizing pole left?
A whole lot of shaking (up) going on...too much for me today.
Those who seek to destroy democracy must have a Plan B. That is, a Trump replacement. The billionaires who want authoritarian rule now know Trump is likely toast - legally, mentally, or physically (or all three).
If Trump crashes and burns in NH, will they be content to back Haley? Or is there some other plan that involves No Labels?
My fear is that, with or without TFG, Project 2025 will be implemented when the Republicans are in power again. It is in all of our best interests to see that never comes to pass.
Hopefully TFFG will implode once and for all right after Super Tuesday when he has either come close to or secured the nomination.
Nikki has already said she would pardon TFFG and would sign a national 6 week abortion ban. Plus she is a woman which is disqualifying to many in the patriarchy.
And if their plan B is Desantis, he is even further to the right and has no personality.
“Interesting” is not the word I would use! I’ve begun asking my hardcore republican friends what they will do if TFG is the nominee. There are many who don’t like him, nor do they care for any of the other possibilities. I have lost empathy for many because they say they will support their party, and I’ve given up being nice about it.
Desantis hasn’t placed any ads in New Hampshire, and canceled his appearances on today’s news shows. Does he have Covid? Is he out of money? Or maybe he’s about to end his campaign despite beating Haley to a distant second in Iowa. Something is going on there.
Desantis = Dead man walking. Not from Covid. Not from his radical right policy proposals. Desantis ran one of the worst campaigns experts have ever seen. On top of that, his awkward wet-dish-rag personalty engages no one.
I have an advantage over you when it comes to DeSantis. He was my Congresscritter from 2013-2015 until he was gerrymandered away by the Medicare/Medicaid convicted defrauder Rick Scott. I attended 3 of his town halls where he displayed his lack of personality. And his heartless wife would stand in the back of the room scowling the entire time.
I would sometimes run into Casey at the grocery store in Ponte Vedra and she was still the same bitch never smiling or saying hello to anyone. She was even rude to the checkout clerks.
As I said above, the same corrupt Establishment that is running both Trump and Biden is prepping Neo Nikki and Ron Con to be our next team in the White House. See
p.s. When decrepit Biden also gets hauled off to the glue factory, perhaps there will be a "draft Newsom" effort at the convention. But didn't he pledge not to run for President?
It isn't just God...WE have to do the work needed to keep him out of office, and we need to remove those in Congress who seek to end democracy through inaction and misinformation.
These specific attacks on our institutions need to be shared with the general public more..we hear the large issues but not the specifics enough..it is really hard to ignore JPMorgan standing up against the group who won’t show their financials and one judge helping Trump and being safe from his rants..and some starting a school using a curriculum from 1776
If we believe for a nano-second that GOD, whoever she may be, has anything to do with this, we are too deep in the doo-doo to extract ourselves. As Joyce McCallister affirms, this baby's on us.
Heather, Thank you for this stellar overview of right-wing/GOP anti-democracy goals. I encourage everyone to read ON TYRANNY: TWENTY LESSONS FROM THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, a short and powerful book by historian Timothy Snyder. The book tells us how to fight the insidious horrors that Heather describes. We have our work cut out for us this year, but we can defeat Trump, MAGA, and authoritarian wannabes. Yes we can!
After repeated suggestions by frequent commenter here, Sandy Lewis, I purchased and read it. It should be handed out to every voter in the US. It's that powerful.
Bingo! Most bad governments begin when a person believes that the slow, messy, rules-based government is too slow; that it relies on hired experts, and that true power is diffused into committee. That person would rather pull in power by getting rid of the experts; replacing fellow lawmakers through disinformation; and break the checks and balances to pull all the power and influence to himself. It is quick and easy, and it’s simplicity resonates with people who crave clarity over justice.
Please let’s all remember that Hitler, Mussolini, and Arafat all went into office as winners of legitimate elections. Of course two of them then decided that future elections were a needless distraction.
In 1933, as Roosevelt took office, he was confronted not only by the Depression, but by a landscape of dictators. Much of Europe, the industrial portions of East Asia, much of South America, Turkey and the Soviet Union. For a time, only the U.K., Canada, and on good days, Mexico were reliable democratic partners. There were many in the U.S. government who were convinced that had Hoover served a second term, a fascist takeover awaited this country.
In other words, things have been far worse in this country. If we rally behind this election, if we all work hard to turn out Biden voters, if we keep the Senate and win the House, we can put another four years into restoring decent government.
Let’s all commit to organized calling, texting, door-knocking—and if we can, small donations—toward this end.
We have to aim our efforts toward the half-dozen or so states that will make the difference.
Snyder’s written work, along with his UTube series of lectures and interviews are all terrific resources in understanding the scope and sources of fascism.
A much more powerful, and pertinent recommendation, for voters would be for everyone to read Sheldon Wolin’s book ‘Democracy Incorporated’ - Managed Democracy and the Spector of Inverted Totalitarianism. Trump is a symptom, not of Hitler’s fascism, as Snyder fallaciously asserts, but of institutional failure.
Yes, Trump attacks institutions, but why do his attacks have resonance for so many millions of Americans? Because those institutions are failing, and we all know it. Hell, even the commenters here know it; there are daily references to media failure (journalism), congressional failure (government), financial failure (banks and hedge funds), the court(s) (justice), etc., all couched in tribal critique, but institutional failure, nonetheless.
We mitigate the monied interest control of government, or we’ll remain stuck in a continual slide into serfdom. Elections are political theater. Until a large enough majority of the American citizenry recognizes that the work that most affects our lives, and our ‘democracy’, happens in the weeks after elections rather than before, the oligarchs will keep laughing at our immersion in the illusion they perpetuate: that we actually have a say in policy creation and implementation.
Ditto; C.S. is one of a kind. *edit in > And I do mean that in all the best senses of those words. I don't know him personally, mores the pity. I don't pay any mind to identity names and so forth. I listen closely to content, context, consistency, and other errata that makes logical sense to my somewhat dyslexic, OCD brain. In a word, from the nothing I know for certain, I like and admire him. Just to be clear; hopefully without flogging the point to death.... lol.
ON TYRANNY is a great book ! I bought extra copies and began leaving them in neighborhood Library Kiosks ... you can also leave them in coffee shops, local barber shops/hair salons or extract important points and make a two sided flyer to leave at places also ... the point is to keep the attention of those who are quickly becoming burned out from the constant barrage in the news by a 78 year old toddler with his mouth always opened spewing recycled poison. Please don't let the lives of our brave men and women in uniform who believed they were fighting for freedom and democracy become only cheap slogans. There are so many, many more of us military veterans who DO NOT drink his tea and see the deep-deep danger we are quickly sliding into. One big obstacle of this information/propaganda overload and the growing feeling of helplessness ... it ain't over yet folks, cause the Fat Lady hasn't even warmed up -- but the time is quickly passing for the MINORITY of those traitors in office who need to have their doors shut to their prison cells for Treason ... call your congressional representatives, write op-eds in your local papers, say your peace and demand the paychecks these folks receive from tax payers is earned and not stolen! If that is too much, volunteer during elections to ensure there isn't any bullying or start a book club with these type of books to read and discuss. Yes! Take time to watch the sunset or rise, laugh, dress in silly ways, enjoy good company and lovely wine --- just DO NOT GIVE UP -- KEEP SPEAKING YOUR TRUTH -- even when you shake in your boots! Remember, the D. Toddler lost by more than 7 Million votes and they just found 4 thousand more for President Biden!
ALL my congressional reps signed the amicus brief asking SCOTUS to allow tfg to remain on the ballot. (I think everyone who signed is afraid of having their own butts removed under Amendment 14 if tfg is removed.)
Oh, ML ... right, right, right ... if you haven't -- I highly recommend Lynn Cheney's book, Oath and Honor -- OMG there are close to 100 of them that could/should be in jail for Treason ... I hadn't thought that one out -- unless you cc the AG in your state to investigate the insurrectionists and supporters ... now that I wrote that, I believe I shall do that as well ... thanks for doing and saying so. Good luck, don't forget to breathe!
Great! I must add that in my initial response I missed the word that should have been placed first followed by Treason; he stirred up his base to do the violence for him like a good (wanna-be) authoritarian/dictator does = Sedition.
Great recommendation LaurieOregon. Also, to inform our fellow commenters here on the forum: Timothy Snyder suggests we understand that we have a method to actionably help Ukraine even though the gop House is thwarting the American people’s majority wish to pass funding on to them. United24 is a donation platform to help the people of Ukraine pay for defensive drone technology, as well as humanitarian efforts in this fight. I have donated twice. And thought others may like to know there is a way to directly help. Hopefully this link will get interested donors to the site: https://u24.gov.ua/
Fantastic book! Timely and easily understandable. Can be read in about 1 ½ hours. Please pass info on to as many people as possible...especially those not inclined to vote!
"The first is that Trump always blurts out whatever is uppermost in his mind, suggesting he is worried by the fact that large banks will no longer lend to him"
Is there room in there for an upper and lower? I think his ego consumes every bit of the oxygen.
It does. And this also shows his mental decline. I mean I can tell the difference between Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi and I am older that he is. Also I refuse to worry about being debanked.
By confusing these particular women it seems to me that somehow in his pea brain, these women are personally viewed by him as similar. I wonder what exactly the similarity is? After all, women aren’t supposed to be strong or wield power, are they?
He’s sometimes aware when he glitches. Often he can’t remember what he was supposed to be saying and that’s when he goes off script in his addled attempt to correct what he just said. That’s when the word salad comes out. He seems vaguely aware that he goofed, doesn’t know how, and can’t fix it. That doesn’t come out when you read his speeches, but it’s apparent if you watch.
I despise the man, but it is profoundly sad that no one who loves him (is there someone who loves him?) hasn’t intervened. This is dementia. Worse than Reagan, and belongs nowhere near our presidency, even if he weren’t already rendered unworthy by his actions and words.
I cannot imagine how he would perform if he were to testify tomorrow, or in a debate with Biden. Or, God forbid, as president.
There are rumors that TFG has tertiary syphilis which, among other things, impairs cognitive ability. He keeps veering off the path in his speeches as well as having physical issues (i.e., two-handed cup holding). His time is limited.
Thank You Michele for raising the mental health issues which has become quite observable & thank you David Holman for the usatoday link in the on-going failure of the APA, American Psychology Association refusal to step up.
Wreck is starting to refer to Nikki Haley as "Nimbra" her first name (sic). Per AP's Bill Barrow in a New Hampshire rant, Wreck repeated her alleged first name "Nimbra" 3 successive times. Wreck may believe he is running against Obama as noted on 'Morning Joe' this morning as the topic focused on the fact that Wreck had lost "4 or 5" steps'
Mental Health professional must & will step up Wreck's cognitive degeneration must be addressed frankly & accurately.
I think more people will be talking about trump's decline now that Nikki Haley has brought it up. It's now part of the media's beloved horse race coverage.
Thanks David. I do see articles about his mental decline on Palmer and yes, I know some don't like that site. Then this week, an article showed up on Huffpost. About time.
Bill Palmer....the Palmer Report. If you look it up, you will get a very biased and negative assessment of it. It is unabashedly for Ds and liberal and the headlines are hyperbolic, but it good at getting past of the main stream media hysteria and explaining how the legal system works. It has been speaking of death star's mental decline for some time. The best essays are written by Palmer and Robert Harrington. It also includes a list of the best people to support with donations who are in swing districts where we need to concentrate our efforts. Some places are so deep red, it is throwing money down a black hole.
Thank you so much, David, for sharing this article FROM ALMOST 5 YEARS AGO. There is no way our governmental systems should have let this go on. Why can't our government hold its officials to account? Help!!
Noting that the USA Today article is from 2019, one can only surmise what might have happened since. I wish they'd do another one, because their readership is ideally situated to make a difference.
Michele, Trump's problem is he debanks into his pants frequently now so he has to wear a diaper. But, once he debanks into the diaper, he refuses to change it so his smell is awful.
Maybe this is the reason Melania refused to ride with him in the same car. I did think about that. It would be like having a baby with an unchanged diaper in the vehicle.
Remember, J. L., his is an entertainer's ego -- of the lowest, most crass, most vulgar sort.
And all the frisson comes from out of that -- all the delight from MAGA-land for putting the middle finger to the banks, the courts, the media, the military, the schools.
America's first writers, as distinct from those 200 years ago still following Brit models, all did then as Trump has been now. They wrote most often in pseudonyms -- Davy Crockett being the first great exception -- pen names to hide the vulgarity in which they reveled. They attacked everything that was proper then, everything that was good manners, all the good and decent institutions Trump has been doing with a vengeance since. (Originally, from Davy, to Mike Finn, to Sut Lovingood, to Bret Rabbit, Twain, and Faulkner.)
Add now the goofy noises and gestures the orange barbarian adds to his appearances. His total unconcern for facts. His insouciant delight in lying. His success in getting most all his Republican enablers in the House to suck up to him, to drink the Kool Aid with him.
American elites made this easy for him. They all dropped humanities, so none any longer were in touch with the working class Americans who got their jobs by the million offshored, who got their housing no longer built, who got their kids' schools turned into machine-gradable standardized testing assembly lines, and the colleges and universities turned over to the neutered silos, the idiot personal identity zones, the banks and student loan insanity.
I think you are right about the vicarious middle finger raising. Trumps thing has always been breaking the rules and getting away with it, like Abbott's trying to do now. Try and make me. It can feel like power, but it puerile. Being aimless, it is easily exploited. Trump is skating on thinner ice as this year opens.
He did obtain loans from a small San Diego bank. This story is available from The Washington Post.
Trump needed $225 million. A little-known bank came to the rescue.
Gregory Garrabrants, a GOP donor and CEO of online Axos Bank, approved the loans after the former president’s main lender had cut ties.
By Michael Kranish
July 27, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
The two loans are secured by Trump Tower in NYC and Doral Country Club in FL.
If Letitia gets her judgment for $370 million, TFFG will have to start dumping assets. What will buyer's uncover when they do their due diligence before purchasing TFFG's assets.
Jamie Dimon is one of the most admired (by the banking elite) figures in business today. He is not stupid. And he HAD a reputation for being politically neutral. How in the world did he arrive at this place? Just as Trump is revealing his rapid mental decline...?
And then there is the bigger question. The guy is a billionaire. He's set. Why would he need to endorse anyone? I just don't get it.
Is this the clue that we use to actually believe there IS something in the water? The Kool Aid theory is real? I am stunned.
Bill, I continue to attempt to find who is behind the curtain, pulling the levers that get an entire political party to abandon rational thinking to support MAGA Trumpism; presumably some form of blackmail or personal threat. Trump is certainly not J Edger Hoover. The question becomes, “Who is?”
Perhaps, but that would mean that’s its all about who gets campaign funding. I’m thinking that the threats need to go beyond just money; threats to personal safety and that of their families. If that were the case, why are Democrats not targeted too? As I admit, I’m baffled as to the identity of “the pressure bearer”
I think you are on to something. The billionaire boys know the way to control all the levers of governmental control -thus suppress the will of the people to be more than indentured servants and wage slaves- is to sit tight through the gop demolition of our current system. It’s their answer to the thought experiment: “How could the Robber Barons have succeeded?” Trump is their bull-in-the-china-shop/Barnum and Bailey circus clown car spectacle to divert the attention away from the real rape of democratic norms/policies/laws/rights. The billionaire boys ask: Who needs “WE The People”? I ask: Do we need billionaires?
"The world’s richest 1% own 59% of all global financial assets – including stocks, shares and bonds, plus stakes in privately held business. In the UK, the richest 1% own 36.5% of all financial assets, with a value of £1.8tn.
Aleema Shivji, Oxfam’s interim chief executive, said: “These extremes cannot be accepted as the new norm, the world can’t afford another decade of division. Extreme poverty in the poorest countries is still higher than it was pre-pandemic, yet a small number of super-rich men are racing to become the world’s first trillionaire within the next 10 years."
Hoarding that much wealth while so many suffer is cruel and brutally insensitive. How do they have the nerve to show their faces in public? Time for a clawback - a redistribution. Will they see some light before one of them says: "Let them eat cake?"
There’s an excellent opinion piece under “Perspectives “ in today’s L.A. Times byMichael Hiltzik discussing Dimon and Davos. Title is quite apt: “ Where the rich and powerful show their ignorance.”
Saw Oppenheimer this evening and Killers of the Flower Moon a few days ago. At heart the two films are about the same thing - the corruption of powerful people. Oppenheimer goes one step further talking about how nuclear weapons pretty much have single handedly made our lives untenable. The A-bomb never caused the atmospheric chain reaction that some scientists feared would destroy the earth. But, it did bring on massive expenditures for war both actual and in the name of preventing it. I was shocked when I heard that the recent Congressional budget agreement was based on an estimated $800+ billion for the military and $700+ billion for everything else. No wonder we can’t take care of human needs when more than half of the money allocated to the Federal government is for war (“defense”). Trump and his MAGA buddies are becoming more unhinged, but we need to be honest and recognize that American politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, are trapped in old ways of thinking that benefit those who traffic in, and profit from actual and moral death and destruction.
I saw those numbers and had the same reaction. We could gradually shift them in the right direction with the right leaders...with the correct values. We could...
I'd start by doing a fresh audit of the entire military budget. How many systems are needed? Are they out of date? Introduce more competitive bidding...?
I believe the solution is to replace the boogeyman view of international relations that focuses on real and manufactured differences with a view that focuses on the existential threats all nations and all of their citizens face from the climate disaster to the consequences of extremist politics fostered by the wealthy. There has to be a redistribution of wealth so that a very small number of people can’t control so much of what happens in the world. In the end such a redistribution is likely to even be in the interest of those very people. I often ask myself who those people will continue to derive their wealth from if most of us are dead from increasing climate catastrophes and political extremism and the ensuing violence. The movie “Don’t Look Up” pretty much sums up the consequences of letting our current situation continue. The earth is destroyed and the “Elon Musks” and President of the US who escape from the destruction by flying to Mars wind up being beheaded by a strange bird. If you didn’t sit through all the end titles, you missed the bird beheading Meryl Streep. :o) Sorry for the long winded reply. I expected to write one sentence.
There have been multiple attempted audits of DOD. All have failed. We have so much off-book covert spending going on, and the CIA and DOD are so incestuous now, we’ll never have true accountability until the CIA is reined in, in serious fashion.
Good luck with that. JFK lost his life over that endeavor.
I’ve been thinking about the Nikki thing. Those who might be considering a vote for her and don’t pay attention, might think she actually did all of that (it’s a pack of lies in any case), and then decide to vote for him in their primary. So I think it was deliberate and also serves another purpose. Should he lose the general election, he can try to get out of some of the cases against him on the grounds that he is clearly not of sound mind. I might be wrong but I don’t think he does anything accidentally. Another point when he says Obama is the president now, conspiracy people conclude that Obama is making the decisions, not President Biden. He planted that seed. Deliberately.
I often wonder if he is being fed this by his handlers or as Heather suggests he riffs on what's in his pea brain. I think part of it is mental decline and I don't know how much credit to give him.
He's a riffer, a handler's nightmare. I've met a few people like DT, who say whatever they are thinking, usually what they are most worried about. Clearly, due to the word salad multitude of issues, that is quite a lot.
Steve, I think we've all met people like Trump who have no filter, but I don't think we were prepared to endure a president of the United States who has no integrity, who can spout off insane and dangerous rhetoric, AND be embraced by so many people who condone his unhinged actions.
Trying to understand what’s going on in trump’s mind is probably part of the distraction-game plan. Our attention is being played. Our attention is our greatest weapon against the maneuvers of the forces behind trump. When we deplete it by following clickbait, clown-car craziness, we lose valuable attention to things we can actionably do to push back.
He stinks at strategy, but he is a master at pushing the reptile buttons; the weird power of a sociopath. The mountain of money he was born on means he tended to get his way even burdened by his clumsy grifts. Whatever his intellectual potential, he seems like a habitually lazy thinker who makes it up as he goes and depends on his money and appeals to prejudice to win approval. I saw film of him as a younger man, when he was still a grifter, but spoke as if more cellls were firing in his brain. Apart from pushing his gimmicks, he really doesn't seem like he tries to think any more.
George Conway - who was on "The Weekend" this morning - made a very cogent argument that Trump has no "strategy." He goes with what comes off the top of his mind at the moment. That and the fact he is developmentally frozen as a severely damaged 5 year old. You're right about "making it up as he goes along."
"Trump is the figurehead for that attempt, but it is larger than him, and it will outlast him." That has been my calculation; he's an avatar and a useful tool owing to his natural, deeply seated and irreparable character defects. While he (it's) got the spotlight, it's hoped we won't look or see what else is under assault behind the curtains, like our guardrails, etc. Along the way he also picks up the 'protest votes', by sticking his puny thumb in the eye of anything that appears "establishment." That aspect of itself, tweaks a taproot of our boomer generation - protest, even though misguided, it strikes that chord and feels familiar. Cognitive decline; sure pile that on too, but I feel like what we see is a 5 year old mentality in 77 year old spoiled brat, melting down as his lifelong grift ain't growing like he stubbornly insists. He (it) gets and rehearses red meat 'key words' for the aggrieved base, yet fumbles as he adlibs for the angry adolescence possessed, common audience. Egads... *edit in > At the end of any day though, he (it's) is still useful to the real wizards as a, or the 'center ring distraction' occupying outsized attention, while 'our pockets are picked.'
As soon as I saw the bathroom where he stored some of our most sensitive documents, it was clear to me that he's a hoarder. The judge who's protecting him should be embarrassed.
But what could be more stupid? Top secret documents in the bathroom? What? Talk about cognitive decline!
But let's talk about practical law. If I had been someone's assistant to the assistant director of something in the White House and took boxes of government documents home and stuffed them in a guest bathroom, where would I be today? It's all just insane. If wrote this as a script for a Netflix series it would be turned down as too stupid....
I lost track of it, but someone put together newspaper clippings of underlings who faced dismissal and sometimes jail for far less serious, far more forgivable lapses of custody.
Hoarding is one thing, though it can become predatory with respect to money, but the utter irresponsibility or storing such sensitive (and these documents are said to be more that just technically sensitive) so causally speaks volumes about Trump's character.
Brrrrrr. That's vivid. Yes, our species has been falling for these reprobates for eons worshiping "the devil", the anthropomorphized projection of our own Mr. Hydeien nature. How much easier to blame the hard stuff of immigrants, or Jews, or witches or sex, of not properly propitiating the uber-wealthy. It all about power and subjugation, our real "original sin".
Shortly after TFFG became President in 2017, there was an interview with Roger Stone did where Roger Stone said that TFFG's strategy is simple -- "attack, attack, attack, deny, deny, deny."
TFFG has denied almost everything that happened under his watch. Except once in a while he slips up and claims credit for ending abortion.
His rallies are mostly about blame and revenge. Ideaology? Not so much.
“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”— Frank Wilhoit
The book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," was released Tuesday and details a White House is chaos. Woodward spoke to dozens of current and former officials for the book on background, meaning their names weren't used.
The book includes a conversation between Trump and a "friend who had acknowledged some bad behavior toward women." The friend was not named, but the president, who has been accused by more than a dozen women of inappropriate sexual behavior, offered some advice.
(...)
"You've got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women," Trump said, according to Woodward. "If you admit to anything and any culpability, then you're dead. That was a big mistake you made."
Trump said the key was showing no hesitancy in denying accusations and instead, be on the attack and push back.
"You didn't come out guns blazing and just challenge them. You showed weakness," Trump told the friend, according to Woodward. "You've got to be strong. You've got to be aggressive. You've got to push back hard. You've got to deny anything that's said about you. Never admit."
"...pushing the reptile buttons.." JL Graham was certainly 'tickling' around the edges of it there, but to my mind it all has had for a very long time, more defining characteristics that led me to conclusions more than a decade ago. I long ago concluded that understanding much, pointed to examination of the alchemy, dark arts and sciences of 'weaponized marketing' - a discipline much studied with treasuries of money applied by commerce and business to entice as many humans as possible to rush to market and open your wallet; subverted to voting, fealty, etc. Think of it; the study of any and all human characteristics, foibles, psychology, behavior manipulation, subconscious planting - all of that and more is applied to that service. Who has not seen the super bowl commercials; like the one with Clydesdales and lost dogs and didn't yearn and forever at least remember the product ? On some level, we are all more or less vulnerable. Some, moreso than others; I'd bet there exist scientific data to that end. I'd beg you to consider all that for more than a moment.. *edit> Is voting, campaigning, and choosing candidates somewhat more or less similar to a marketing campaign ? 'Who' studies marketing science ? Not statesmen and women, or would be's; they study laws, ideals, philosophy, etc. How often is it said, "Government should be run like a 'business' ? *Also, briefly; Certain truthful narratives with evidence, prove that our institutions have been failing for a very long time while we all slept, or in some cases, couldn't be listened to. Those truth narratives, documented carefully, as I've opined here a little, were offered to 'champions', another glaring failure in and of itself. There's plenty of blame to go around; but that's never been the point and blame is anti constructive.
Pushing the reptile buttons...that may be the best explanation for his weird power to read people I’ve ever read. Trump’s “genius” lies in his uncanny ability to drill down to people’s most basic fears: in this case the undercurrent of resentment that many of us (myself to be sure) missed. And how broad it was/is. All other attempts to understand the absolute loyalty of his base fail because they search for a logic that isn’t there.
The great Roy Blount, Jr., who is a fellow subscriber here at LFAA (and he honors me as a subscriber at TAFM), read tonight's post and posted the following at his Substack, "Take Another Piece of My Heart":
"Heather Cox Richardson is the Walker Cronkite of today. Her post today about Trump’s cognitive decline is the equivalent of Cronkite’s signal that the Vietnam War was no longer viable."
I keep saying to my readers that 2024 is the most important worst year of our lives. Every time the orange menace opens his mouth, he proves again there is no bottom to him.
What she has described here tonight sounds a lot like the description of Germany 1930-33 described to me by a certain "Hollywood Legend" I was privileged to know who saw it all firsthand. This is right out of what Dr. Snyder talks about describing how a fascist takes power and destroys a democracy.
Thanks, TC, for quoting the great Roy Blount, Jr: "Heather Cox Richardson is the Walter Cronkite of today." YES! Now how do we get all of America to "tune in" every night to read her?!
We still have Dan Rather to cherish. Cronkite was not the only one telling and showing America, uncomfortable truths. In Vietnam as TC and through Blount conveys, Cronkite told truths. So did Rather, and he braved the same bullets that we did in service to truth; I know he did.
Oh yes he did, we watched his reporting every night over dinner. Steady is still telling it like it is. But, Rupert tried very hard to discredit Dan from the git go. Dan and Bill Moyers were on Ailes and Murdoch’s hit list way back. But they had already made a loyal fan of me and I recognized who the propaganda masters were. And still are.
I've got more I'd care to share on that Jeri; Please, if I should forget, would you please 'poke me' ? You are so right. You'll never hear from Dan a whine nor complaint about all that mistreatment he endured; I deeply identify with him, and to this day, whether it's mutual or not, I call him 'dear friend' and that's what I feel and know.
One approach to defeating TFG is to plant information inside the MAGAt camp. For example (to the gun crowd):
“Trump has said many times that he will be a dictator. The first thing a dictator must do when seizing power is crush opposition and potential (future) opposition. As a dictator he will come after your guns. He will mobilize the military as Commander-in-Chief to disarm his potential opponents. If you love the Second Amendment, you must never let Trump win the White House!”
Who knows how well it would work? Maybe not at all but it’s a thought.
An inspiring aspiration but at best a hope, not a strategy. If a million of us contribute to the effort, we might eke out a government that won’t collapse into a facist nightmare. Let’s apply ourselves with solid contributions to getting out the vote. We can win, just barely, if we succeed in that project, despite the mountain of obstacles we face.
I think we're in better shape. If we get out the effort, we can win by a big margin! And that's what we should do! Plus, Trump's dementia is worsening.
And our broken humanity. We still have choices, as individuals and as a species. We can still exit the highway to hell even if the exit ramp is rockier.
I am starting to think the MAGA crowd would vote for Trump even if he were in a coma. If Kubrick were still alive he could make a great movie about it. But then so much is at stake I don’t think I would enjoy it.
Being in a coma would be a gift to the gop because they all long for him to shut up. It’s going to be interesting as the months go on toward Eletion Day 2024, and Trump becomes more full-wing-nut. Watch the senators who are bending their knees to him now really squirm when the word-salad becomes full Bass-o-matic BS lunacy. We ain’t seen nothin yet.
Amen to "We ain't seen nothing yet." And if he starts to lose in the Republican primaries, it'll be way worse; he'll go stratospheric. He can't stand losing, especially when he's trying to keep his smelly bottom out of jail by winning.
Many of them would vote for him if he were dead. They might believe he could be resurrected. After all, the top minister in Iowa was telling PBS that Trump was an "instrument of God..."
Yes, "Dr. Strangelove and How I Learned to Stop Worrying and to Love the Con"
"Tearing apart the fabric of democracy invites an authoritarian to convince his followers that democracy is weak and that only a strongman can govern."
According to Masha Gessen's The Future is History this is the Putin strongman takeover playbook in a nutshell. The Orange Grump's mentor.
It sort of serves Jamie Dimond right..there he was just supporting Trumps ‘rotten’ accomplishments…fresh out of Davos and in 24 hours you have Trump going after the top bank/system in the US …pure retribution in this MAGA MESS….also a reflection of TRUMPS current ‘troubles’ with banks in his revolting fiscal mess….hes such a child
Jamie doesn't always make sense either. His comments are inconsistent with those of most economists. Of course, inflation "could" rise further and will, but deflation has been occurring throughout the global economy as well. Rarely, during an economic recovery will you only have inflation.
This from an interview with CNN on 11/29/23.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon issued a stark warning to Wall Street on Wednesday: Inflation could rise further and recession is not off the table.
“A lot of things out there are dangerous and inflationary. Be prepared,” he said at the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit in New York. “Interest rates may go up and that might lead to recession.”
What did he expect? If Dimon had actually gotten an education, rather than training in finance, a little history, some humanities, he'd realize this is how everyone who's like him has surrendered to every crazy would-be emperor since the Romans were bowing and scraping to Caligula while he nominated his horse to be a Senator. And they all "got theirs" in the end. Every time, with every one of these monsters.
I think the last thing Jamie Dimond is worried about is losing MAGA business, especially TFG’s business. Everyone knows it’s a losing proposition for the lender.
Jamie Dimond’s goal with TFG is looser bank regulations, something he’d never get with Biden.
Or to get MAGA world to back off the banks. This letter brings a different perspective to Dimond - it's not just about the tax cuts that he's profiting from
An analysis I read today said (how I wish I could identify the author) be cautious about saying his misspeaking is a cognitive deficit. More likely he pointedly and intentionally named Nikki Haley three times because he knows his followers don’t need context. They just need to hear his rage speech in order to identify the enemy. He also intentionally mispronounces her given name as a form of mockery. And remember Ted Cruz was called Rafael by Trump. DeSantis is DeSanctimonious. It’s trump playing to his base’s angry, bullying, mocking attitudes. They really couldn’t care less what his point is. They just want to see him behave badly.
It is quite the letter, starting out with death star's mental decline, confusing Haley with Pelosi, and talking about debanking. But the heart of the letter is about how the party of death is trying to destroy every institution that makes our democracy work and ends with words from Biden about doing our best to save our country. So, we have our marching orders.
Too bad it didn’t start off at the notification of his death. I pray real hard, really really hard that this maniac is not granted to breathe our air until he’s Henry Kissinger’s age!!
The curse of the fatal hamberder, delivered mid-rant in front of the Seething Inadequates, landing face first dead as the proverbial doornail before them.
I hate TFFG with a passion as well as his fellow criminals Roger Stone, Paul Manafort and Stephen Miller, but I'm not sure the timing is right. Maybe a stroke the day after Super Tuesday where he might be able to wrap up the nomination.
Nikki and DeSantis both have so much baggage that I don't think either could beat TFFG.
I love that you named the three worst of the worst as the ones right there with that monster as the greatest danger to our form of government. Oh that their just desserts could be served up soon.
I confess I often tell him to drop dead when I see him on TV...it is muted of course. I think the timing has to be right for that. He does look like hell where he belongs.
I just had to mention that because those Saturday nights off are always a wonder to look at. But We made a good start the last couple of nights among the comentators threads. WE know we have be on it NOW.
Thank you for this clear and accurate description of what Trump and the Republican Party are trying to do to our institutions and to our republic. God help us.
WE help us, Nancy! That’s our charge. We have a lot of work to do, and we are up to the challenge.
I don't know if Biden writes his own speeches but HCR has regularly highlighted some eloquent and pointed lines. I would like to see them provoke attention in more places than here. Many of our circumstance are demanding adult responses, and the "GOP" is certainly not providing them.
We must do our part by sharing these reports with any who might be uninformed.
I send to 14 friends each day, some of whom really appreciate the wisdom, and a few of whom are willfully ignorant, but I'm hoping that at some point they manage to digest the threat we're under.
I've been posting every day to Twitter X and FB with a pull quote from Heather's text and a photo from her sources. It feels like a sacred obligation at least until Nov 2024. Thank you Heather!
Promoting the truth and bringing light into the now darkened corners of our nation is a sacred trust and a constant obligation, or we run the risk of losing our precious democracy.
Yes, please forward Heather's marvelous daily essays every way you can. The Washington Post's motto, which it doesn't always adhere to, is instructive: "Democracy Dies in Darkness." As Anthony and Nancy and Terry and many others here have commented, we must spread the word, the truth, like wildfire so that we can say to all that America democracy is alive and strong.
Let's replace the pernicious misinformation and hatred-laden words of Trump and his misguided followers with truth and light and thereby grant the continuation of an ever-stronger democracy to our kids and grandkids and their grandkids.
Let's not be the generation that stood aside and watched our precious democracy replaced by vicious authoritarianism.
History has shown us where those two roads lead.
Yes, we must fight fire with fire! Spread the word like wildfire!
Called a "back fire" set in front of a raging wildfire, so when the two meet, the fuel is gone.
HCR writes:
"The attempt to create distrust of large financial institutions is part of a larger attempt to destabilize the institutions of democracy."
HCR wants us to TRUST Big Money that pollutes and corrupts our political system.
However, HCR does usefully point out that Trump's brain, like that of Biden, is turning into mashed potatoes. Lock them both up, in a minimum security nursing home.
(But never fear, the same corrupt Establishment that is running both Trump and Biden is prepping Neo Nikki and Ron Con to be our next team in the White House.)
I think that you would agree that a Trump win in November is a worst case scenario? Assuming that, what should the Democratic party (or an independent) do in your opinion to better assure that. Who should be the candidate that will win the electoral college? At this point, the DNC believes its best chances are with Biden/Harris. Not everyone agrees, but I do. It appears HCR does too. Would I rather see a much younger Bernie-type in there? Yes. But I don't know who that person is, and just do not see a way forward that betters the odds come November. What I want is for Trump and the Republicans to be defeated - period. I'd be interested in knowing your thoughts.
And as each day passes, we have less time to do anything different.
Joe "Cocaine Nose" Biden is worse than Trump. Trump is a loose cannon who makes dirty deals with the Establishment that is running our country into the ground. Biden IS the Establishment.
HCR is an intellectual prostitute who puts in late nights whoring for Biden.
Nasty name-calling only shows your ignorance. Griping about what you think is wrong doesn't help either. Unless you have a solution to what you think the matter is, most of us would prefer you shut the fk up!
Good grief man - I tried. You appear to be in the (thankfully small) group that would see this country burn to the ground so that it can be rebuilt. People who would just as soon see Trump in there, knowing full well he would indeed burn it to the ground. And then something (I don't know what) rises up from the ashes. Is that your preference? My preference is to build on what we have and not go backwards. And just so you know - I personally am a single issue voter. Climate change. That's my hot button, and for good reason. Putting Trump back in there is existential for that reason alone, not to mention the myriad of other reasons.
What a hilarious comment!
Please, please--stop feeding this troll.
🙄
I'd like Trump and the Trumpians to be completely and totally defeated. I think there are a few Republicans left but they have to work in a bully culture.
Go away, troll.
Please report him.
I have done!
...said Biden Bigot the Troll as he looked in the mirror and thought he saw a troll.
Your reaction only proves the truth of my comment.
Trolling the banks in toto, John? Regardless whether you think they and other corporates run just on greed, they provide wide ranging, vital services. Heather's point was very focussed. Stick to the point.
Please report him.
I think this has been a recurrent issue. You'd think he'd be happier with more of his own kind, as opposed to trolling this site. Some users have sometimes found his opinions to their liking, but i find he just can't help battering at those who challenge him, with citations on his clip notes galore. I had a "friend" who's ultra conservative Catholic who once could not help signing up to a local atheist dump on religion site then contesting everything that crossed his path. I think he finally quit, but he was definitely a troll here. He belonged to a Holy Mother of God kind of place, just NOT Pope Francis kind of place. lol. I think some people who feel strongly about something sometimes become "man" the fortress kind of folk, who just seek out opposition to "hold them at bay" or something like that.
I did, for the second time. I really don't know what it's going to take for the admin to remove him from the site. We all pay to come here and learn and converse with others who actually want to find solutions to these issues. This person continues to be rude and nasty, and never seems to make a valid point on anything.
In toto?
I made the point that moral hazard is now baked into the system. Stick your head in the sand, if you really want to.
HCR wants us to TRUST a corrupt system that has institutionalized moral hazard, with the Federal Reserve continuing to prop up undead "zombie banks":
https://www.economist.com/leaders/2023/03/30/america-risks-propping-up-zombie-banks
It is just as wrong headed to say all financial institutions are bad as it is to say they are all good. While I don’t like the idea that financial services make too much money from other people’s money, there is a definite need for them to exist and provide the services they render. Attacking entrenched institutions and replacing them with chaos does not preserve us. We need to make them better at serving all of us.
I have to agree. I would start by re-instituting the Roosevelt-era "Glass-Steagall" firewall between commercial banking (home mortgages and small business loans) and Wall Street investment banking.
The next step is to dry out the insane derivatives market, whose eventual implosion (if left unattended) will bring the whole system crashing down.
p.s. I suspect that the members of the Senate Banking Committee and the House Financial Services Committee are well aware of the threat, but Congress is gridlocked as the House Republicans consume themselves.
https://financialservices.house.gov/
p.p.s. perhaps you remember the Reagan-era Savings and Loan crisis, when the S & Ls were forced by law to buy junk bonds, which eventually ruined them. Your tax dollars at work...
She isn’t saying that. She’s explaining tfg’s fears and attacks by crazy right wingers.
Malware risk.
And then there is the global problem of zombie CENTRAL banks including the Federal Reserve:
https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/08/23/central-banks-interest-rates-zombies-federal-reserve-finance-losing-money/
"The era of zombie central banks is upon us. And it’s set to pose a political challenge for central banks that is unlike anything they’ve ever faced.
"In economics, something becomes a zombie when, despite having negative profits as far as the eye can see, it continues to exist. Economists have documented the existence of zombie firms. They’ve even identified a few types, such as zombie banks, that recur throughout the world’s economies, like character archetypes recurring throughout the world’s folktales. The central bank is a new arrival to this taxonomy of economic zombies....
"The United States punts the financial burden to the future. When the Fed runs operating losses, it starts a tab with itself. The Fed then has to pay itself back with future profits before it can remit anything back to the Treasury Department. The Federal Reserve’s tab is now around $90 billion, and it’s growing. That is a burden for future generations already facing challenges ranging from entitlement reform to climate change."
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
Our banks are turning into zombies, as Biden and the Vampire Liberals suck money out of foreign countries to pay for Worthwhile Programs, adding to the ever-growing pile of Unpayable Debt, using the imperial power of the Almighty Dollar to steal from the rest of the world until the whole rotten system collapses.
On one hand, you are right: the same wealthy cohort runs the country no matter what party is in the White House (see: The Creature for Jekyll Island, and Thirteen Bankers, for example). On the other hand, the real problem Trump poses is that Trump wants to throw it all away and become a dictator. And his Christian Nationalists want to regress society back to the way it was in the Middle Ages: where there are a few wealthy land barons, everyone else are peasants, and the Church runs everything. At that point, there would be NO investment in fission or any advancement of science at all. There would be total climate denial, total abandonment of international commitments and the US would become an ally of Russia and China. All personal freedoms would be lost. That is the promise of MAGA.
I have to ask if what you wrote is a collection of boogeyman talking points designed to impress the simple-minded.
Trump could never become a dictator except with the whole-hearted support of the Establishment in a time of extreme crisis, which perhaps is what they intend. But Biden is and always has been a creature of the Establishment; Delaware is a suburb of Wall Street.
Have you read his plan for 2024? Have you been following what has happened in Hungary and Poland, not to mention Brazil and Turkey? People have been working out a pretty good blueprint for how to transition a democracy to an authoritarian state. And, even though Trump himself may no longer be up to the intellectual challenge, his sycophants have been paying attention and studying the playbooks. Don't be lulled into complacency.
Sure, the oligarchy needs to be removed from public power, they already have enough power in the marketplace, they don't need more in governance. The question is how to most effectively wrest power from them and return it to the people? Trump is definitely not the way to go. He is turning the whole power over to them.
This is a bot. Ignore it.
...said Botley the Troll
John has conversations with with Jesus.
https://www.facebook.com/710547829/posts/10159776547627830/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
And with Earth:
https://theplanetsspeak.substack.com/p/messages-from-earth-part-2?utm_medium=reader2
Your scurrilous description of President Bidens brain turning to mashed potatoes despite any evidence to the contrary reveals your real standards. Take your weasels self out if here, back to Trumplandia.
I'm not a Republican or a Trump supporter. If you google "Biden confused," you will see that Trump recently had a "Biden moment" when he confused Haley with Pelosi. Both Trump and Biden are unfit to be President.
We're in for mashed potatoe moments as far as the eye can see...
An astute friend suspects former Gov. Chris Christie will make a successful end run. Not sure how good THAT would be?
It seems to me that, while DeSantis is a stealth neo-con, Christie is open and up-front about his blood lust:
https://www.nj.com/opinion/2023/03/chris-christie-carves-out-a-neocon-niche-for-a-possible-presidential-run-mulshine.html
Thanks. After reading that article (free 7 day subscription) I don't think its author proves either of his points: 1) Christie didn't conflate Assad with Yemen, he just ran two ideas together, and 2) Nowhere does Christie say he'd put US boots on the ground in the Mideast. I don't like him, but I think Bruce would talk some sense into him, if, heavens forbid, Biden and Kamala come up short and Trump's brain liquifies in time.
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha
We all are responsible for passing HCR's messages on to 'more places.' If you have fifty friends and relatives, make sure you pass her words on to each one of them, and tell them to do the same.
Yes, JL, I was captured by the lines quoted from President Biden's speech. The words felt as poetic and memorable as many of President Lincoln's. They should be further shared and memorialized during his presidential campaign, and beyond.
Poetic yes, and I think there is a element of poetry in all human speech, even technical writing, but also memorable are those lines that identify and underline indispensable truths, and while I don't always think that Biden has been wise, we are seeing some gems from him amid the usual political pablum. What if we took "government of the people, by the people, for the people" absolutely seriously? And triaged the current configuration into compliance?
Wooo. Scary.
It's as shame that he can't speak more clearly and powerfully. It would make a big difference. Maybe some TV ads where his speech has been improved electronically?
Biden is a conversational speaker rather than a dynamic orator or "showman." His brand of deeply patriotic sincerity doesn't play well in media environment built on rah-rah hype. His cabinet is filled with people who are, like their boss, competent and low-key. The damage that the media has done in its persistent carping on Biden's age hasn't helped the cause either.
MisTBlu
Our President Joe Biden is someone of experience . He has given his life to serve within this country. His positions have been assigned to him over and over again. His decisions have not always been perfect....he continues to grow in experience. He listens to his advisers and to us.
He loves this country....He is a great leader.
Jill Biden is a wonderful partner...still working....teaching....listening to our younger citizens. They are a great team!!!
You have no argument from me. The problem is that those qualities are no longer valued by a populace conditioned to bluster and hype.
Do we want governance or entertainment?
And do we want democracy or authoritarianism/fascism?
“Deeply patriotic sincerity”??
His cabinet is filled with people who are, like their boss, duplicitous corporate whores. Fify.
But that’s nothing unusual in a broken political and governmental system owned by monied interests.
Add fanatical Zionists, though the categories often overlap.
Don’t like this idea—it would backfire. His speech is fine. He speaks thoughtfully. You have to listen to hear him, which is a good thing, rather than him ranting and raving like some people we are only too familiar with!
The mainstream media is failing us daily...their job is to report on all news that is worthy not just the latest thing Trump said.
"The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits."
-Milton Friedman
We have allowed that to become law. If we have unalienable human rights we also, as a consequence logic if not honor, have human responsibilities. The "Chicago School" is a rubber stamp for sociopathy, as we are seeing.
The GOP???? Surely you jest. The ironies.
HCR’s book Democracy Awakening
Should be required reading for all. Even for those who may bother and still naysay.
Sure we have been here before with greed and racism using ignorance and hate to fuel their fights. But not this close. He Trumpf had a run at it and has learned a little about what not to do or to do faster. WE MUST STOP Him!
If America fails I believe all democracies will shrivel. Pick a candidate or two and support with all that you can afford. Sign up to register voters and even work the polls in you area. Always take advantage of any opportunity to speak the truth and show this importance of voting and yes voting democratic and why.
The Democratic Party and it’s leaders need our help.
I finished this book a while back a bedtime, and I'm very glad I did! It was definitely depressing to read at bedtime, but the book went fairly quickly after all.
Regarding your second to last paragraph, I think European democracy will be just fine if US democracy fails. But with that said, the US in the present administration at least supports NATO and gives military aid to Ukraine. Europe will definitely have to rally if Trump wins.
I give a contrary view here:
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-20-2024/comment/47768381
Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha
How not surprising. Contrary described you well.
My point, as discussed on the other side of that link, is that HCR's effort to promote "trust in our banks and financial institutions" is dangerously misguided.
Perhaps you disagree?
👎
Watch the latest Hopium video. Simon Rosenberg makes it very clear what each of us can do. We are up for it, Nancy. Together.
https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/with-democrats-things-get-better-73e?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I love what Simon is doing at Hopium. I have heeded his call for support in critical races all around the country. It’s very heartening to be a part of collaborative actions making steadfast difference. THIS is the work to reclaim our democracy.
Goodness gracious, when I read critical races my mind went immediately to "critical race theory". Along with "woke", these are the dumb rallying terms used by the right.
Me too. When I get discouraged with the news media meaningless polls, Simon perks me back up and charges me with (small) things I can do. Sharing Simon’s blogs and videos is one thing EVERYONE can do. :)
Can’t recommend Hopium strongly enough for those of us who want realistic analysis plus meaningful actions that make a difference.
Thank You Juliette.
Juliette: This was great! Thank you so much for sharing.
Thank you so much for sharing this website it was very insightful and perfectly laid out. I plan to share that with a few of my Republican friends.
We're gonna wash that man right out of our hair and send him on his way.
Absolutely.
Yes
https://johnadamsingram.substack.com/p/nh-gop-voters-may-defeat-the-indicted
Let's destroy them at the ballot box this November!
Of crucial importance, to assure that all our votes will be accepted and counted will require each individual voter to scope out and PLAN just by what means she or he will place their vote.
Learn the deadlines pertaining to HOW YOU WILL VOTE.
Months in advance (NOW?) everyone should inquire within your local voting district, to confirm that your name is still on the voter rolls! (Among the many techniques employed by Republicans in recent years to suppress voting has been to remove thousands of voters from the voter rolls. If your name is not on your local voter roll, you will probably not be able to place your vote. If you learn that your name has fallen off the voter rolls where you will vote, you will need to re-register right away because could it take months for your new registration to take effect!)
I welcome further suggestions or organization on this crucial topic.
The League of Women Voters (which welcomes men -- I am a member) maintains an immensely helpful web site:
vote411.org
where you can not only check your voter registration status but find out about other actions we can take.
It's terrific!
Just checked it out, Bob. Easy to use! I am also periodically advising friends to check their registrations.
Good advice.
Spread the word.
I live in Washington state where everyone votes by mail.
You can go down to your city hall and tell them you would like volunteer. They should connect you from there.
We can do that Tuesday : https://johnadamsingram.substack.com/p/nh-gop-voters-may-defeat-the-indicted
Trump and his minions are furiously tearing the fabric of our society apart. They are seeking to sow distrust in every institution. Of course, the Not Freedom Caucus and the unethical, bought and paid for SCOTUS make matters even worse.
TFFG attacks anyone and everyone whether they are national heroes or just criticize him for something he said, like "de-bank". This is the cofeveve of 2024. He is unable to keep his adversaries straight anymore -- Nancy & Nikki, Biden & Obama...
His Christmas message of "MAY THEY ROT IN HELL" was barely mentioned by the press and certainly not by the MAGANAZIs or the cowards in the GOP.
Imagine any other person saying those words and they would be incessantly criticized and ostracized.
If anyone rots in hell, it’ll be Trump!
By the way he looks and sounds, he's rotting away now!
Sure would be nice if we could count on a HELL!
🤣 Gary , my first laugh this morning.
Cofeveve ,is the epitome word , huh IPad! Truly encapsulates the disarray. A myriad of people try squeezing the blood out of the turnip . Others trying to make sense of nonsense.
Me thinks the oxygen ratios sucked up by all the MAGA din has caused world mental chaos.
Is there a stabilizing pole left?
A whole lot of shaking (up) going on...too much for me today.
Be your Sunday a day of rest. 🥰
Enjoy.
Snuggle up under a comforter.
Be happy.
🫶
I have several "stabilizing poles:" HCR and other substack newsletters: Robert Hubbell, Simon Rosenberg, Mary Trump, Tim Snyder.
I always -- always! -- read with a critical eye, but these sources have been immensely helpful.
Especially including the fact that they occasionally admit to an error and issue a correction.
Yes, they are comforts to me , since the get go. Thanks , Bob🫶
Patricia I love the visual of us all snuggled up under our comforters learning, doing and saving democracy! Thank you!
~signed by a lady snuggled up under her comforter
21 Jan 24
DEFEAT him at New Hampshire’s ballot box on Tuesday : https://johnadamsingram.substack.com/p/nh-gop-voters-may-defeat-the-indicted
@JennSH from NC
We will stand fast against the Trumpunklicans and repair damage to the fabric of our society.
Those who seek to destroy democracy must have a Plan B. That is, a Trump replacement. The billionaires who want authoritarian rule now know Trump is likely toast - legally, mentally, or physically (or all three).
If Trump crashes and burns in NH, will they be content to back Haley? Or is there some other plan that involves No Labels?
My fear is that, with or without TFG, Project 2025 will be implemented when the Republicans are in power again. It is in all of our best interests to see that never comes to pass.
Sadly this makes sense. What doesn't make sense is the Repubs would ever be voted back into office!
Except there are ppl who could “NEVER” vote for a democrat (commie, socialist).
Hopefully TFFG will implode once and for all right after Super Tuesday when he has either come close to or secured the nomination.
Nikki has already said she would pardon TFFG and would sign a national 6 week abortion ban. Plus she is a woman which is disqualifying to many in the patriarchy.
And if their plan B is Desantis, he is even further to the right and has no personality.
This could get very interesting very quickly.
“Interesting” is not the word I would use! I’ve begun asking my hardcore republican friends what they will do if TFG is the nominee. There are many who don’t like him, nor do they care for any of the other possibilities. I have lost empathy for many because they say they will support their party, and I’ve given up being nice about it.
Me too, I have simply detached from these fools.
Desantis hasn’t placed any ads in New Hampshire, and canceled his appearances on today’s news shows. Does he have Covid? Is he out of money? Or maybe he’s about to end his campaign despite beating Haley to a distant second in Iowa. Something is going on there.
Desantis = Dead man walking. Not from Covid. Not from his radical right policy proposals. Desantis ran one of the worst campaigns experts have ever seen. On top of that, his awkward wet-dish-rag personalty engages no one.
And... he’s out.
And indeed, Desantis is out and has endorsed Trump.
No personality?? DeSantis is the fine fellow who wants to "slit some throats."
What a guy!
I have an advantage over you when it comes to DeSantis. He was my Congresscritter from 2013-2015 until he was gerrymandered away by the Medicare/Medicaid convicted defrauder Rick Scott. I attended 3 of his town halls where he displayed his lack of personality. And his heartless wife would stand in the back of the room scowling the entire time.
I would sometimes run into Casey at the grocery store in Ponte Vedra and she was still the same bitch never smiling or saying hello to anyone. She was even rude to the checkout clerks.
So yeah, he doesn't get my vote and never will.
https://johnadamsingram.substack.com/p/nh-gop-voters-may-defeat-the-indicted
As I said above, the same corrupt Establishment that is running both Trump and Biden is prepping Neo Nikki and Ron Con to be our next team in the White House. See
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/january-20-2024/comment/47768381
p.s. When decrepit Biden also gets hauled off to the glue factory, perhaps there will be a "draft Newsom" effort at the convention. But didn't he pledge not to run for President?
Enjoy the fringes
"Meet me at the edge of the world, to watch it all burn..."
https://youtu.be/vWbFFUlCnlc?si=dWL5qeS2PnZhsMQL
https://youtu.be/Wz4YuEvJ3y4?si=qZ3ih4WwwbQI35h6
Trump and the Maga-ites are modeling the characteristics of FASCISM from day one of the former administration. That is NOT an alternate fact.
Presumably https://www.project2025.org/ is deployed even if there is a Republican winner who isn't Trump.
It isn't just God...WE have to do the work needed to keep him out of office, and we need to remove those in Congress who seek to end democracy through inaction and misinformation.
These specific attacks on our institutions need to be shared with the general public more..we hear the large issues but not the specifics enough..it is really hard to ignore JPMorgan standing up against the group who won’t show their financials and one judge helping Trump and being safe from his rants..and some starting a school using a curriculum from 1776
Insurrectionist Trump. Always use the adjective. Convicted rapist. Convicted of income tax fraud and lying to banks.
Ironic, “god help us….”.
Letting one’s brain believe in her is wishful, without data, over millennia.
We real people are responsible for our actions,
Kudos to Heather again and agree Nancy but I am becoming speechless--so depressing!
If we believe for a nano-second that GOD, whoever she may be, has anything to do with this, we are too deep in the doo-doo to extract ourselves. As Joyce McCallister affirms, this baby's on us.
21 Jan 24
https://johnadamsingram.substack.com/p/nh-gop-voters-may-defeat-the-indicted
Heather, Thank you for this stellar overview of right-wing/GOP anti-democracy goals. I encourage everyone to read ON TYRANNY: TWENTY LESSONS FROM THE TWENTIETH CENTURY, a short and powerful book by historian Timothy Snyder. The book tells us how to fight the insidious horrors that Heather describes. We have our work cut out for us this year, but we can defeat Trump, MAGA, and authoritarian wannabes. Yes we can!
After repeated suggestions by frequent commenter here, Sandy Lewis, I purchased and read it. It should be handed out to every voter in the US. It's that powerful.
And part of every high school curriculum, as part of a renewed effort teaching civics - which should be a required course in every region.
Bingo! Most bad governments begin when a person believes that the slow, messy, rules-based government is too slow; that it relies on hired experts, and that true power is diffused into committee. That person would rather pull in power by getting rid of the experts; replacing fellow lawmakers through disinformation; and break the checks and balances to pull all the power and influence to himself. It is quick and easy, and it’s simplicity resonates with people who crave clarity over justice.
Please let’s all remember that Hitler, Mussolini, and Arafat all went into office as winners of legitimate elections. Of course two of them then decided that future elections were a needless distraction.
In 1933, as Roosevelt took office, he was confronted not only by the Depression, but by a landscape of dictators. Much of Europe, the industrial portions of East Asia, much of South America, Turkey and the Soviet Union. For a time, only the U.K., Canada, and on good days, Mexico were reliable democratic partners. There were many in the U.S. government who were convinced that had Hoover served a second term, a fascist takeover awaited this country.
In other words, things have been far worse in this country. If we rally behind this election, if we all work hard to turn out Biden voters, if we keep the Senate and win the House, we can put another four years into restoring decent government.
Let’s all commit to organized calling, texting, door-knocking—and if we can, small donations—toward this end.
We have to aim our efforts toward the half-dozen or so states that will make the difference.
Snyder’s written work, along with his UTube series of lectures and interviews are all terrific resources in understanding the scope and sources of fascism.
A much more powerful, and pertinent recommendation, for voters would be for everyone to read Sheldon Wolin’s book ‘Democracy Incorporated’ - Managed Democracy and the Spector of Inverted Totalitarianism. Trump is a symptom, not of Hitler’s fascism, as Snyder fallaciously asserts, but of institutional failure.
Yes, Trump attacks institutions, but why do his attacks have resonance for so many millions of Americans? Because those institutions are failing, and we all know it. Hell, even the commenters here know it; there are daily references to media failure (journalism), congressional failure (government), financial failure (banks and hedge funds), the court(s) (justice), etc., all couched in tribal critique, but institutional failure, nonetheless.
No politics but class politics. HJR-54. MoveToAmend.org
We mitigate the monied interest control of government, or we’ll remain stuck in a continual slide into serfdom. Elections are political theater. Until a large enough majority of the American citizenry recognizes that the work that most affects our lives, and our ‘democracy’, happens in the weeks after elections rather than before, the oligarchs will keep laughing at our immersion in the illusion they perpetuate: that we actually have a say in policy creation and implementation.
Ditto; C.S. is one of a kind. *edit in > And I do mean that in all the best senses of those words. I don't know him personally, mores the pity. I don't pay any mind to identity names and so forth. I listen closely to content, context, consistency, and other errata that makes logical sense to my somewhat dyslexic, OCD brain. In a word, from the nothing I know for certain, I like and admire him. Just to be clear; hopefully without flogging the point to death.... lol.
I just bought the Kindle version.
I highly recommend On Tyranny as well.
I recommend it as well.
We are great fans of Snyder in this house and have several of his books. He also has a blog or substack which we get.
There is a wonderful illustrated version of “On Tyranny” as well.
ON TYRANNY is a great book ! I bought extra copies and began leaving them in neighborhood Library Kiosks ... you can also leave them in coffee shops, local barber shops/hair salons or extract important points and make a two sided flyer to leave at places also ... the point is to keep the attention of those who are quickly becoming burned out from the constant barrage in the news by a 78 year old toddler with his mouth always opened spewing recycled poison. Please don't let the lives of our brave men and women in uniform who believed they were fighting for freedom and democracy become only cheap slogans. There are so many, many more of us military veterans who DO NOT drink his tea and see the deep-deep danger we are quickly sliding into. One big obstacle of this information/propaganda overload and the growing feeling of helplessness ... it ain't over yet folks, cause the Fat Lady hasn't even warmed up -- but the time is quickly passing for the MINORITY of those traitors in office who need to have their doors shut to their prison cells for Treason ... call your congressional representatives, write op-eds in your local papers, say your peace and demand the paychecks these folks receive from tax payers is earned and not stolen! If that is too much, volunteer during elections to ensure there isn't any bullying or start a book club with these type of books to read and discuss. Yes! Take time to watch the sunset or rise, laugh, dress in silly ways, enjoy good company and lovely wine --- just DO NOT GIVE UP -- KEEP SPEAKING YOUR TRUTH -- even when you shake in your boots! Remember, the D. Toddler lost by more than 7 Million votes and they just found 4 thousand more for President Biden!
ALL my congressional reps signed the amicus brief asking SCOTUS to allow tfg to remain on the ballot. (I think everyone who signed is afraid of having their own butts removed under Amendment 14 if tfg is removed.)
Oh, ML ... right, right, right ... if you haven't -- I highly recommend Lynn Cheney's book, Oath and Honor -- OMG there are close to 100 of them that could/should be in jail for Treason ... I hadn't thought that one out -- unless you cc the AG in your state to investigate the insurrectionists and supporters ... now that I wrote that, I believe I shall do that as well ... thanks for doing and saying so. Good luck, don't forget to breathe!
Her book is excellent. My AG is probably a candidate for tfg’s AG—he’s that reactionary.
Fabulous idea. I will do the same. We must get this info out there.
Great! I must add that in my initial response I missed the word that should have been placed first followed by Treason; he stirred up his base to do the violence for him like a good (wanna-be) authoritarian/dictator does = Sedition.
Read it, re-, read it and bought copies for my adult children
Great idea!! "copies forr adult children!"
Tim is spot on.
Great recommendation LaurieOregon. Also, to inform our fellow commenters here on the forum: Timothy Snyder suggests we understand that we have a method to actionably help Ukraine even though the gop House is thwarting the American people’s majority wish to pass funding on to them. United24 is a donation platform to help the people of Ukraine pay for defensive drone technology, as well as humanitarian efforts in this fight. I have donated twice. And thought others may like to know there is a way to directly help. Hopefully this link will get interested donors to the site: https://u24.gov.ua/
Need to read it again. Highlight, outline, share, act...
It is an excellent book, yes!
He's brilliant.
I just downloaded it. Thanks for the suggestion.
Fantastic book! Timely and easily understandable. Can be read in about 1 ½ hours. Please pass info on to as many people as possible...especially those not inclined to vote!
Will check it out! Thank you!
"The first is that Trump always blurts out whatever is uppermost in his mind, suggesting he is worried by the fact that large banks will no longer lend to him"
Is there room in there for an upper and lower? I think his ego consumes every bit of the oxygen.
It does. And this also shows his mental decline. I mean I can tell the difference between Nikki Haley and Nancy Pelosi and I am older that he is. Also I refuse to worry about being debanked.
He may be worried that when he goes to debank there won't be any more of demoney. (sorry)
Won’t be any more of demony. Please don’t be sorry. Relishing a much needed laugh.
Also demon-y.
OK, I admit it. I LOL’d
That's OK Don. We need a little humor right now. Truly, when humor is gone we're doomed.
Hey, I laughed, too....thanks for a moment of hilarity!
🤣🤣🤣
I needed that.
I am just reading this, Don, and haven't had even a sip of coffee, so am not spitting it out in laughter. Excellent.
Too much bad cofefe.
🤣😂
🤣😂🤣
By confusing these particular women it seems to me that somehow in his pea brain, these women are personally viewed by him as similar. I wonder what exactly the similarity is? After all, women aren’t supposed to be strong or wield power, are they?
Female opponents is probably enough.
Female, both first names start with N.
He’s sometimes aware when he glitches. Often he can’t remember what he was supposed to be saying and that’s when he goes off script in his addled attempt to correct what he just said. That’s when the word salad comes out. He seems vaguely aware that he goofed, doesn’t know how, and can’t fix it. That doesn’t come out when you read his speeches, but it’s apparent if you watch.
I despise the man, but it is profoundly sad that no one who loves him (is there someone who loves him?) hasn’t intervened. This is dementia. Worse than Reagan, and belongs nowhere near our presidency, even if he weren’t already rendered unworthy by his actions and words.
I cannot imagine how he would perform if he were to testify tomorrow, or in a debate with Biden. Or, God forbid, as president.
Won’t be Melania who wouldn’t let him in the SUV at her mother’s funeral.
The funny thing is his supporters will now believe it was Nikki. His mental decline is his secret weapon.
There are rumors that TFG has tertiary syphilis which, among other things, impairs cognitive ability. He keeps veering off the path in his speeches as well as having physical issues (i.e., two-handed cup holding). His time is limited.
Here's an article about Trump's mental decline from 2019. Very interesting.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2019/04/09/does-donald-trump-have-dementia-we-need-know-psychologist-column/3404007002/
Thank You Michele for raising the mental health issues which has become quite observable & thank you David Holman for the usatoday link in the on-going failure of the APA, American Psychology Association refusal to step up.
Wreck is starting to refer to Nikki Haley as "Nimbra" her first name (sic). Per AP's Bill Barrow in a New Hampshire rant, Wreck repeated her alleged first name "Nimbra" 3 successive times. Wreck may believe he is running against Obama as noted on 'Morning Joe' this morning as the topic focused on the fact that Wreck had lost "4 or 5" steps'
Mental Health professional must & will step up Wreck's cognitive degeneration must be addressed frankly & accurately.
Actually, "Nimbra" is not her first name - it's the best the Fatassed Dimbulb can come up with.
Nimarata Nikki Randhawa
I think more people will be talking about trump's decline now that Nikki Haley has brought it up. It's now part of the media's beloved horse race coverage.
Unlike so much of what the media covers, they SHOIULD cover Trump's mental decline.
And the article was four years ago!
Almost five years!
Watch “Unfit” free on YouTube.
Thanks David. I do see articles about his mental decline on Palmer and yes, I know some don't like that site. Then this week, an article showed up on Huffpost. About time.
I'm not familiar with Palmer. What's that? Thanks, Michele
Bill Palmer....the Palmer Report. If you look it up, you will get a very biased and negative assessment of it. It is unabashedly for Ds and liberal and the headlines are hyperbolic, but it good at getting past of the main stream media hysteria and explaining how the legal system works. It has been speaking of death star's mental decline for some time. The best essays are written by Palmer and Robert Harrington. It also includes a list of the best people to support with donations who are in swing districts where we need to concentrate our efforts. Some places are so deep red, it is throwing money down a black hole.
Sharp Michele. That's what you do as a Trial Attorney. Focus on the admissible & probative facts, You are on fire; thank you.
Thank you so much, David, for sharing this article FROM ALMOST 5 YEARS AGO. There is no way our governmental systems should have let this go on. Why can't our government hold its officials to account? Help!!
You're welcome, Julia. He seems to be getting a lot worse of late.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGTJy1Ij4Qk&t=1s
True that, Michele.
Oh for the halcyon days of yore, when we could all have a yuk or two about George W. Bush confusing "Slovakia" with "Slovenia"!
Noting that the USA Today article is from 2019, one can only surmise what might have happened since. I wish they'd do another one, because their readership is ideally situated to make a difference.
Excellent point, progwoman!
Michele, Trump's problem is he debanks into his pants frequently now so he has to wear a diaper. But, once he debanks into the diaper, he refuses to change it so his smell is awful.
No joke.
Maybe this is the reason Melania refused to ride with him in the same car. I did think about that. It would be like having a baby with an unchanged diaper in the vehicle.
And TFFG isn't worried about his comments being debunked.
Autocorrect wanted to change debanked to debunked. Now it lets me type the former, but gives me the red underline.
Remember, J. L., his is an entertainer's ego -- of the lowest, most crass, most vulgar sort.
And all the frisson comes from out of that -- all the delight from MAGA-land for putting the middle finger to the banks, the courts, the media, the military, the schools.
America's first writers, as distinct from those 200 years ago still following Brit models, all did then as Trump has been now. They wrote most often in pseudonyms -- Davy Crockett being the first great exception -- pen names to hide the vulgarity in which they reveled. They attacked everything that was proper then, everything that was good manners, all the good and decent institutions Trump has been doing with a vengeance since. (Originally, from Davy, to Mike Finn, to Sut Lovingood, to Bret Rabbit, Twain, and Faulkner.)
Add now the goofy noises and gestures the orange barbarian adds to his appearances. His total unconcern for facts. His insouciant delight in lying. His success in getting most all his Republican enablers in the House to suck up to him, to drink the Kool Aid with him.
American elites made this easy for him. They all dropped humanities, so none any longer were in touch with the working class Americans who got their jobs by the million offshored, who got their housing no longer built, who got their kids' schools turned into machine-gradable standardized testing assembly lines, and the colleges and universities turned over to the neutered silos, the idiot personal identity zones, the banks and student loan insanity.
I think you are right about the vicarious middle finger raising. Trumps thing has always been breaking the rules and getting away with it, like Abbott's trying to do now. Try and make me. It can feel like power, but it puerile. Being aimless, it is easily exploited. Trump is skating on thinner ice as this year opens.
JL, maybe the thin ice will break soon.
He is so asking for it.
Born and named David not Davey.
He did obtain loans from a small San Diego bank. This story is available from The Washington Post.
Trump needed $225 million. A little-known bank came to the rescue.
Gregory Garrabrants, a GOP donor and CEO of online Axos Bank, approved the loans after the former president’s main lender had cut ties.
By Michael Kranish
July 27, 2023 at 6:00 a.m. EDT
The two loans are secured by Trump Tower in NYC and Doral Country Club in FL.
If Letitia gets her judgment for $370 million, TFFG will have to start dumping assets. What will buyer's uncover when they do their due diligence before purchasing TFFG's assets.
Debanked and debunked. What a world. What a world.
So strange to read this after Jamie Dimond’s support for Trump.
Jamie Dimon is one of the most admired (by the banking elite) figures in business today. He is not stupid. And he HAD a reputation for being politically neutral. How in the world did he arrive at this place? Just as Trump is revealing his rapid mental decline...?
And then there is the bigger question. The guy is a billionaire. He's set. Why would he need to endorse anyone? I just don't get it.
Is this the clue that we use to actually believe there IS something in the water? The Kool Aid theory is real? I am stunned.
Bill, I continue to attempt to find who is behind the curtain, pulling the levers that get an entire political party to abandon rational thinking to support MAGA Trumpism; presumably some form of blackmail or personal threat. Trump is certainly not J Edger Hoover. The question becomes, “Who is?”
Leonard Leo and crew?
Perhaps, but that would mean that’s its all about who gets campaign funding. I’m thinking that the threats need to go beyond just money; threats to personal safety and that of their families. If that were the case, why are Democrats not targeted too? As I admit, I’m baffled as to the identity of “the pressure bearer”
Trump’s too stupid to do this alone
Leonard Leo
I think you are on to something. The billionaire boys know the way to control all the levers of governmental control -thus suppress the will of the people to be more than indentured servants and wage slaves- is to sit tight through the gop demolition of our current system. It’s their answer to the thought experiment: “How could the Robber Barons have succeeded?” Trump is their bull-in-the-china-shop/Barnum and Bailey circus clown car spectacle to divert the attention away from the real rape of democratic norms/policies/laws/rights. The billionaire boys ask: Who needs “WE The People”? I ask: Do we need billionaires?
Billionaire yes, but not yet a trillionaire.
"The world’s richest 1% own 59% of all global financial assets – including stocks, shares and bonds, plus stakes in privately held business. In the UK, the richest 1% own 36.5% of all financial assets, with a value of £1.8tn.
Aleema Shivji, Oxfam’s interim chief executive, said: “These extremes cannot be accepted as the new norm, the world can’t afford another decade of division. Extreme poverty in the poorest countries is still higher than it was pre-pandemic, yet a small number of super-rich men are racing to become the world’s first trillionaire within the next 10 years."
https://www.theguardian.com/inequality/2024/jan/15/worlds-five-richest-men-double-their-money-as-poorest-get-poorer
Hoarding that much wealth while so many suffer is cruel and brutally insensitive. How do they have the nerve to show their faces in public? Time for a clawback - a redistribution. Will they see some light before one of them says: "Let them eat cake?"
Such disparity is unsustainable.
There’s an excellent opinion piece under “Perspectives “ in today’s L.A. Times byMichael Hiltzik discussing Dimon and Davos. Title is quite apt: “ Where the rich and powerful show their ignorance.”
Saw Oppenheimer this evening and Killers of the Flower Moon a few days ago. At heart the two films are about the same thing - the corruption of powerful people. Oppenheimer goes one step further talking about how nuclear weapons pretty much have single handedly made our lives untenable. The A-bomb never caused the atmospheric chain reaction that some scientists feared would destroy the earth. But, it did bring on massive expenditures for war both actual and in the name of preventing it. I was shocked when I heard that the recent Congressional budget agreement was based on an estimated $800+ billion for the military and $700+ billion for everything else. No wonder we can’t take care of human needs when more than half of the money allocated to the Federal government is for war (“defense”). Trump and his MAGA buddies are becoming more unhinged, but we need to be honest and recognize that American politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, are trapped in old ways of thinking that benefit those who traffic in, and profit from actual and moral death and destruction.
I saw those numbers and had the same reaction. We could gradually shift them in the right direction with the right leaders...with the correct values. We could...
I'd start by doing a fresh audit of the entire military budget. How many systems are needed? Are they out of date? Introduce more competitive bidding...?
Ike was right.
I believe the solution is to replace the boogeyman view of international relations that focuses on real and manufactured differences with a view that focuses on the existential threats all nations and all of their citizens face from the climate disaster to the consequences of extremist politics fostered by the wealthy. There has to be a redistribution of wealth so that a very small number of people can’t control so much of what happens in the world. In the end such a redistribution is likely to even be in the interest of those very people. I often ask myself who those people will continue to derive their wealth from if most of us are dead from increasing climate catastrophes and political extremism and the ensuing violence. The movie “Don’t Look Up” pretty much sums up the consequences of letting our current situation continue. The earth is destroyed and the “Elon Musks” and President of the US who escape from the destruction by flying to Mars wind up being beheaded by a strange bird. If you didn’t sit through all the end titles, you missed the bird beheading Meryl Streep. :o) Sorry for the long winded reply. I expected to write one sentence.
There have been multiple attempted audits of DOD. All have failed. We have so much off-book covert spending going on, and the CIA and DOD are so incestuous now, we’ll never have true accountability until the CIA is reined in, in serious fashion.
Good luck with that. JFK lost his life over that endeavor.
Right on, Barry.
"War, ain't nothing but a heartbreaker; good only for the undertaker"! (And Boeing, Halliburton, Tesla, etc.)
Old ways are unsustainable.
Nah. Only Democrats give a fig about the safety net. Big difference.
A rotten fig. Fify.
I hear you singing the International again, Tom. A bit off-key, but that's OK.
I hear you singing the Grand Bargain again, James. Totally off-key, but expected.
Aries ascendant.
I’ve been thinking about the Nikki thing. Those who might be considering a vote for her and don’t pay attention, might think she actually did all of that (it’s a pack of lies in any case), and then decide to vote for him in their primary. So I think it was deliberate and also serves another purpose. Should he lose the general election, he can try to get out of some of the cases against him on the grounds that he is clearly not of sound mind. I might be wrong but I don’t think he does anything accidentally. Another point when he says Obama is the president now, conspiracy people conclude that Obama is making the decisions, not President Biden. He planted that seed. Deliberately.
I prefer to think he's on the slow slide to the memory care unit in a nursing home.
But with a microphone and a camera.
The MAGA Flat Earth Society
I often wonder if he is being fed this by his handlers or as Heather suggests he riffs on what's in his pea brain. I think part of it is mental decline and I don't know how much credit to give him.
Think Heather is right…doubt if his ‘handlers’ can even get ‘through’….
He's a riffer, a handler's nightmare. I've met a few people like DT, who say whatever they are thinking, usually what they are most worried about. Clearly, due to the word salad multitude of issues, that is quite a lot.
Steve, I think we've all met people like Trump who have no filter, but I don't think we were prepared to endure a president of the United States who has no integrity, who can spout off insane and dangerous rhetoric, AND be embraced by so many people who condone his unhinged actions.
Maybe. I like your comment but trying to understand what’s going on in Donald Trump’s mind makes me feel crazy.
I’m only guessing. I don’t want to dive too deep in there. Too dark.
Trying to understand what’s going on in trump’s mind is probably part of the distraction-game plan. Our attention is being played. Our attention is our greatest weapon against the maneuvers of the forces behind trump. When we deplete it by following clickbait, clown-car craziness, we lose valuable attention to things we can actionably do to push back.
So there seems to be a method to his madness.
He stinks at strategy, but he is a master at pushing the reptile buttons; the weird power of a sociopath. The mountain of money he was born on means he tended to get his way even burdened by his clumsy grifts. Whatever his intellectual potential, he seems like a habitually lazy thinker who makes it up as he goes and depends on his money and appeals to prejudice to win approval. I saw film of him as a younger man, when he was still a grifter, but spoke as if more cellls were firing in his brain. Apart from pushing his gimmicks, he really doesn't seem like he tries to think any more.
George Conway - who was on "The Weekend" this morning - made a very cogent argument that Trump has no "strategy." He goes with what comes off the top of his mind at the moment. That and the fact he is developmentally frozen as a severely damaged 5 year old. You're right about "making it up as he goes along."
"Trump is the figurehead for that attempt, but it is larger than him, and it will outlast him." That has been my calculation; he's an avatar and a useful tool owing to his natural, deeply seated and irreparable character defects. While he (it's) got the spotlight, it's hoped we won't look or see what else is under assault behind the curtains, like our guardrails, etc. Along the way he also picks up the 'protest votes', by sticking his puny thumb in the eye of anything that appears "establishment." That aspect of itself, tweaks a taproot of our boomer generation - protest, even though misguided, it strikes that chord and feels familiar. Cognitive decline; sure pile that on too, but I feel like what we see is a 5 year old mentality in 77 year old spoiled brat, melting down as his lifelong grift ain't growing like he stubbornly insists. He (it) gets and rehearses red meat 'key words' for the aggrieved base, yet fumbles as he adlibs for the angry adolescence possessed, common audience. Egads... *edit in > At the end of any day though, he (it's) is still useful to the real wizards as a, or the 'center ring distraction' occupying outsized attention, while 'our pockets are picked.'
As soon as I saw the bathroom where he stored some of our most sensitive documents, it was clear to me that he's a hoarder. The judge who's protecting him should be embarrassed.
Hoarder for sure. Yes, the judge is a puppet.
But what could be more stupid? Top secret documents in the bathroom? What? Talk about cognitive decline!
But let's talk about practical law. If I had been someone's assistant to the assistant director of something in the White House and took boxes of government documents home and stuffed them in a guest bathroom, where would I be today? It's all just insane. If wrote this as a script for a Netflix series it would be turned down as too stupid....
Makes you wonder how they were stored in the White House. Clearly, he had a separate stash.
Hoarder ??? I wish it were that simple.
I lost track of it, but someone put together newspaper clippings of underlings who faced dismissal and sometimes jail for far less serious, far more forgivable lapses of custody.
Hoarding is one thing, though it can become predatory with respect to money, but the utter irresponsibility or storing such sensitive (and these documents are said to be more that just technically sensitive) so causally speaks volumes about Trump's character.
Hoarder ??? I wish it were that simple.
Brrrrrr. That's vivid. Yes, our species has been falling for these reprobates for eons worshiping "the devil", the anthropomorphized projection of our own Mr. Hydeien nature. How much easier to blame the hard stuff of immigrants, or Jews, or witches or sex, of not properly propitiating the uber-wealthy. It all about power and subjugation, our real "original sin".
You and I are on very similar 'wavelengths' JL; I've known that since... oh, maybe the second time we 'chatted' - and that 'feeling' has only grown.
Shortly after TFFG became President in 2017, there was an interview with Roger Stone did where Roger Stone said that TFFG's strategy is simple -- "attack, attack, attack, deny, deny, deny."
TFFG has denied almost everything that happened under his watch. Except once in a while he slips up and claims credit for ending abortion.
His rallies are mostly about blame and revenge. Ideaology? Not so much.
Trump's ideology?
Try. If it's mine, it's mine. If it's yours and I can stiff, delude, and/or mislead you, it's mine also.
Poster child for modern "GOP" Ideology:
“Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to wit: There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”— Frank Wilhoit
Predatory power.
The book, "Fear: Trump in the White House," was released Tuesday and details a White House is chaos. Woodward spoke to dozens of current and former officials for the book on background, meaning their names weren't used.
The book includes a conversation between Trump and a "friend who had acknowledged some bad behavior toward women." The friend was not named, but the president, who has been accused by more than a dozen women of inappropriate sexual behavior, offered some advice.
(...)
"You've got to deny, deny, deny and push back on these women," Trump said, according to Woodward. "If you admit to anything and any culpability, then you're dead. That was a big mistake you made."
Trump said the key was showing no hesitancy in denying accusations and instead, be on the attack and push back.
"You didn't come out guns blazing and just challenge them. You showed weakness," Trump told the friend, according to Woodward. "You've got to be strong. You've got to be aggressive. You've got to push back hard. You've got to deny anything that's said about you. Never admit."
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/09/11/donald-trump-bob-woodward-book-fear-deny-accusations-women/1269617002/
"...pushing the reptile buttons; the weird power of a sociopath."
Boy, is that statement descriptive and accurate.
"...pushing the reptile buttons.." JL Graham was certainly 'tickling' around the edges of it there, but to my mind it all has had for a very long time, more defining characteristics that led me to conclusions more than a decade ago. I long ago concluded that understanding much, pointed to examination of the alchemy, dark arts and sciences of 'weaponized marketing' - a discipline much studied with treasuries of money applied by commerce and business to entice as many humans as possible to rush to market and open your wallet; subverted to voting, fealty, etc. Think of it; the study of any and all human characteristics, foibles, psychology, behavior manipulation, subconscious planting - all of that and more is applied to that service. Who has not seen the super bowl commercials; like the one with Clydesdales and lost dogs and didn't yearn and forever at least remember the product ? On some level, we are all more or less vulnerable. Some, moreso than others; I'd bet there exist scientific data to that end. I'd beg you to consider all that for more than a moment.. *edit> Is voting, campaigning, and choosing candidates somewhat more or less similar to a marketing campaign ? 'Who' studies marketing science ? Not statesmen and women, or would be's; they study laws, ideals, philosophy, etc. How often is it said, "Government should be run like a 'business' ? *Also, briefly; Certain truthful narratives with evidence, prove that our institutions have been failing for a very long time while we all slept, or in some cases, couldn't be listened to. Those truth narratives, documented carefully, as I've opined here a little, were offered to 'champions', another glaring failure in and of itself. There's plenty of blame to go around; but that's never been the point and blame is anti constructive.
Pushing the reptile buttons...that may be the best explanation for his weird power to read people I’ve ever read. Trump’s “genius” lies in his uncanny ability to drill down to people’s most basic fears: in this case the undercurrent of resentment that many of us (myself to be sure) missed. And how broad it was/is. All other attempts to understand the absolute loyalty of his base fail because they search for a logic that isn’t there.
Please see my attached comments in this thread if you will Susan, just for consideration.
I did and find them confusing.
I'm sorry. A lot of the communications herein are cumulative in nature. Glad you're here Susan !
Or a madness to his method. 😉
Thanks for this perspective, Gigi; it's one I hadn't thought of but seems very plausible.
Interesting, and good morning, Lynell!
Good grief, Ally, the smeckle is everywhere today. I supposedly "blocked" him but he is everywhere!
My thought that he is unhinged enough that he WILL do something crazy. I can see him as a modern day Ted Kaczynski. Wait and see.
Morning, Ally!
But he was perfectly sane from election day 2020 to J6!
The great Roy Blount, Jr., who is a fellow subscriber here at LFAA (and he honors me as a subscriber at TAFM), read tonight's post and posted the following at his Substack, "Take Another Piece of My Heart":
"Heather Cox Richardson is the Walker Cronkite of today. Her post today about Trump’s cognitive decline is the equivalent of Cronkite’s signal that the Vietnam War was no longer viable."
I keep saying to my readers that 2024 is the most important worst year of our lives. Every time the orange menace opens his mouth, he proves again there is no bottom to him.
What she has described here tonight sounds a lot like the description of Germany 1930-33 described to me by a certain "Hollywood Legend" I was privileged to know who saw it all firsthand. This is right out of what Dr. Snyder talks about describing how a fascist takes power and destroys a democracy.
Thanks, TC, for quoting the great Roy Blount, Jr: "Heather Cox Richardson is the Walter Cronkite of today." YES! Now how do we get all of America to "tune in" every night to read her?!
Keep sharing LFAA.
There needs to be an organized movement to counter the lies perpetrated by the orange clown show.
How I have missed Walter, and yes, she “tells it like it is.”
We still have Dan Rather to cherish. Cronkite was not the only one telling and showing America, uncomfortable truths. In Vietnam as TC and through Blount conveys, Cronkite told truths. So did Rather, and he braved the same bullets that we did in service to truth; I know he did.
Oh yes he did, we watched his reporting every night over dinner. Steady is still telling it like it is. But, Rupert tried very hard to discredit Dan from the git go. Dan and Bill Moyers were on Ailes and Murdoch’s hit list way back. But they had already made a loyal fan of me and I recognized who the propaganda masters were. And still are.
I've got more I'd care to share on that Jeri; Please, if I should forget, would you please 'poke me' ? You are so right. You'll never hear from Dan a whine nor complaint about all that mistreatment he endured; I deeply identify with him, and to this day, whether it's mutual or not, I call him 'dear friend' and that's what I feel and know.
Poke
Ditto Jeri
Pleasantly surprising but not shockingly so, given his unquenchable curiosity, among other various qualities. That makes me very happy TC.
One approach to defeating TFG is to plant information inside the MAGAt camp. For example (to the gun crowd):
“Trump has said many times that he will be a dictator. The first thing a dictator must do when seizing power is crush opposition and potential (future) opposition. As a dictator he will come after your guns. He will mobilize the military as Commander-in-Chief to disarm his potential opponents. If you love the Second Amendment, you must never let Trump win the White House!”
Who knows how well it would work? Maybe not at all but it’s a thought.
Bill, from what I know of my MAGAt friends, they'd say "Nope. We're his Army". They really don't get it.
Cult nuts will never get it. Logic never comes from the Amygdala
Agreed
Let’s hope we “can heal our broken land” 🙏
An inspiring aspiration but at best a hope, not a strategy. If a million of us contribute to the effort, we might eke out a government that won’t collapse into a facist nightmare. Let’s apply ourselves with solid contributions to getting out the vote. We can win, just barely, if we succeed in that project, despite the mountain of obstacles we face.
I think we're in better shape. If we get out the effort, we can win by a big margin! And that's what we should do! Plus, Trump's dementia is worsening.
Possibly, if Dobbs has legs, which so far it seems to. We can’t count on it, though. We have to pedal as fast as we can.
If the Dems get out the vote they can win by 300 electoral college votes. If they get out the votes.
And our broken humanity. We still have choices, as individuals and as a species. We can still exit the highway to hell even if the exit ramp is rockier.
Thanks for writing this piece Heather.
You've framed the major facets of the all-out assault on our democracy by the republican party.
Let's destroy them at the ballot box this November.
That was my reaction as well. She couldn't have been clearer.
This one, Dr. Richardson, should be printed on the front page of the NYT, the Washington Post and every newspaper in the land. Thank you.
I am starting to think the MAGA crowd would vote for Trump even if he were in a coma. If Kubrick were still alive he could make a great movie about it. But then so much is at stake I don’t think I would enjoy it.
Being in a coma would be a gift to the gop because they all long for him to shut up. It’s going to be interesting as the months go on toward Eletion Day 2024, and Trump becomes more full-wing-nut. Watch the senators who are bending their knees to him now really squirm when the word-salad becomes full Bass-o-matic BS lunacy. We ain’t seen nothin yet.
And Stephanic for VP. Quadmired is the GOP.
I think we're already there.
Amen to "We ain't seen nothing yet." And if he starts to lose in the Republican primaries, it'll be way worse; he'll go stratospheric. He can't stand losing, especially when he's trying to keep his smelly bottom out of jail by winning.
Many of them would vote for him if he were dead. They might believe he could be resurrected. After all, the top minister in Iowa was telling PBS that Trump was an "instrument of God..."
Yes, "Dr. Strangelove and How I Learned to Stop Worrying and to Love the Con"
"Tearing apart the fabric of democracy invites an authoritarian to convince his followers that democracy is weak and that only a strongman can govern."
According to Masha Gessen's The Future is History this is the Putin strongman takeover playbook in a nutshell. The Orange Grump's mentor.
And our Dementor...
I wonder what Trump acolyte Jamie Dimond will think, of his bank being attacked by MAGA.
It sort of serves Jamie Dimond right..there he was just supporting Trumps ‘rotten’ accomplishments…fresh out of Davos and in 24 hours you have Trump going after the top bank/system in the US …pure retribution in this MAGA MESS….also a reflection of TRUMPS current ‘troubles’ with banks in his revolting fiscal mess….hes such a child
Whenever Dimon stupidly opens his mouth on politics he immediately shuts up. Now that's the mark of a savvy banker. Buy JPM.
Jamie doesn't always make sense either. His comments are inconsistent with those of most economists. Of course, inflation "could" rise further and will, but deflation has been occurring throughout the global economy as well. Rarely, during an economic recovery will you only have inflation.
This from an interview with CNN on 11/29/23.
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon issued a stark warning to Wall Street on Wednesday: Inflation could rise further and recession is not off the table.
“A lot of things out there are dangerous and inflationary. Be prepared,” he said at the 2023 New York Times DealBook Summit in New York. “Interest rates may go up and that might lead to recession.”
Dimon should have dinner with Robert Reich - get some schooling on the REAL causes of inflation.
Or Paul Krugman...
My comment had to do with Dimon's political remarks, not his economic outlook, which also can be off the mark.
What did he expect? If Dimon had actually gotten an education, rather than training in finance, a little history, some humanities, he'd realize this is how everyone who's like him has surrendered to every crazy would-be emperor since the Romans were bowing and scraping to Caligula while he nominated his horse to be a Senator. And they all "got theirs" in the end. Every time, with every one of these monsters.
The debankers are coming. The debankers are coming.
One if by land, two if by C note!
Time for the country-folk to be up in arms.
It was two by the village clock
When he came to the revolutionary war airports
Why didn't Paul just do a group text?
Love this!
debankers are coming to take demoney.
You betcha.
What is a DE-BANKER? I’m totally clueless!
ALSO
CHURCHILL FAMOUSLY SAID THE BEST ARGUMENT AGAINST DEMOCRACY WAS A FIVE MINUTE CONVERSATION WITH THE AVERAGE VOTER…
ID ALTER THAT TO THE BEST ARGUMENT AGAINST DEMOCRACY IS A FIVE-MINUTE CONVERSATION WITH A REPUBLICAN VOTER ABOUT ANYTHING TRUMP HAS SAID.
Churchill made a really good point!
I think the last thing Jamie Dimond is worried about is losing MAGA business, especially TFG’s business. Everyone knows it’s a losing proposition for the lender.
Jamie Dimond’s goal with TFG is looser bank regulations, something he’d never get with Biden.
Or to get MAGA world to back off the banks. This letter brings a different perspective to Dimond - it's not just about the tax cuts that he's profiting from
Exactly right, Ralph!
Who here doesn't read the letter as a battle cry and want to grab a spear and follow HCR into battle?!?
Metaphorically speaking, of course.
I do! I want to be with our Amazonian women fighting for truth and rights for all!
An analysis I read today said (how I wish I could identify the author) be cautious about saying his misspeaking is a cognitive deficit. More likely he pointedly and intentionally named Nikki Haley three times because he knows his followers don’t need context. They just need to hear his rage speech in order to identify the enemy. He also intentionally mispronounces her given name as a form of mockery. And remember Ted Cruz was called Rafael by Trump. DeSantis is DeSanctimonious. It’s trump playing to his base’s angry, bullying, mocking attitudes. They really couldn’t care less what his point is. They just want to see him behave badly.
I'm not sure why it can be both. His decline seems unmistakable, but reflexively, he resorts to what has always succeeded for him.
What, a Saturday night letter? Hallelujah...haven’t read it yet, just saw it drop in the inbox...am I blessed or what?!😃
It is quite the letter, starting out with death star's mental decline, confusing Haley with Pelosi, and talking about debanking. But the heart of the letter is about how the party of death is trying to destroy every institution that makes our democracy work and ends with words from Biden about doing our best to save our country. So, we have our marching orders.
Too bad it didn’t start off at the notification of his death. I pray real hard, really really hard that this maniac is not granted to breathe our air until he’s Henry Kissinger’s age!!
The curse of the fatal hamberder, delivered mid-rant in front of the Seething Inadequates, landing face first dead as the proverbial doornail before them.
TC, DeSantis just announced he’s dropping out of the run!! 👏🏼👏🏼
I hate TFFG with a passion as well as his fellow criminals Roger Stone, Paul Manafort and Stephen Miller, but I'm not sure the timing is right. Maybe a stroke the day after Super Tuesday where he might be able to wrap up the nomination.
Nikki and DeSantis both have so much baggage that I don't think either could beat TFFG.
I love that you named the three worst of the worst as the ones right there with that monster as the greatest danger to our form of government. Oh that their just desserts could be served up soon.
I confess I often tell him to drop dead when I see him on TV...it is muted of course. I think the timing has to be right for that. He does look like hell where he belongs.
“Let us add our own work and prayers to the unfolding story of our nation,” Biden said.
Well, when we begin resorting to prayers you know things are getting bad. On the other hand, prayers work....
We do need energy, prayers or otherwise, for the hard work before us.
Well said, Michele.
Indeed we do.
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👍👍
The weather must be too bad for a photogenic night off.
I didn’t think of that, but it fits!
I did think about what I call the serenity photo, but I think Heather decided on a very large detailed wake up call.
I just had to mention that because those Saturday nights off are always a wonder to look at. But We made a good start the last couple of nights among the comentators threads. WE know we have be on it NOW.