The man’s a convicted criminal. Adjudicated fraud. Rapist.
So when we have a national tragedy, he’s going to behave humanly?
Of course not. He’s trapped in his cycles of venomous poisons, one of which is his hatred for diversity, equity, and inclusion (D.E.I.).
Reptilian, his auto-reactions always take over, whether his D.E.I. hatreds his phobia for windmills, his racism toward immigrants of color, or his bing-bing-boing-bong skit on toilets and showers insufficient for cleaning, storing, or ridding the hoard of classified documents he stole or his junk food need for enormous craps.
Yes, Pete Buttigieg correctly uses the adjective despicable, Tim Kaine the adjective sickening, and Heather her ref to "their enthusiasm for breaking things" for this criminal, fraud, rapist, reptile.
And he has already committed several "face plants."
Musk and his Project 2025 buddies are making him look even worse than he did in 2017. How long before Trump kicks either of both of them out on their ear -- or can he?
Exactly. Let us also look at our immigration actions right now. This is our avoid being Nazis moment in how we insist on humans being treated with dignity. Here is Leeza Miller laying out what the EOs mean and what their impacts are as well as how they tie to past administrations. https://youtu.be/Ccwk8qvp14U?si=SKX9tztDrQL374Sx
There as so many issues that directly affect people, I can say White people in the USA, that it is easy to ignore the immigration issues, but they are going to have implications for everyone with our military.
Absolutely, his bombastic, outrageous moves are going to blow up in his face. He and his regime are so dumb, they don't even consider what might be the flow-on effect of their mass firings and money freezes. You can barely run a pizza shop short-staffed, let alone a major city's air traffic control tower. Maybe when the planes start dropping out of the sky, and the vegetables start disappearing from the shelves, and eggs are a hundred dollars a piece because bird flu has killed all the chickens...maybe then he'll be carted off to the looney bin where he belongs - hopefully before polio comes back to town.
With so much chaos and cruelty coming out of this administration by the minute day after day, I miss HCR's well deserved day of rest and a peaceful picture .
Just wait until ICE agents start raiding our K-12 schools. I know I would have been terrorized if a group of Federal agents raided my junior high or high school.
Are we really going to allow them to do this? If so, let's raid the hometown schools of the Republican Senators and Congresscritters and see how well that goes over.
ICE agents have started showing up at high schools. Yesterday, they arrived at least 3 Baltimore City Public Schools: Baltimore City College, Patterson Park HS, and Mervo Technical HS. They weren’t allowed in at City College.
So instead of going after the “violent criminals”, ICE is terrorizing kids at school. In the blue state of Maryland.
Being a rapist or conspiracy theorist, or Christian Nationalist or all 3 seems to be criteria for a job in the Trump administration. I think Putin can easily slip his agents into our government this way, particularly since Trump does not seem to want the FBI doing a background checks on people he is hiring.
And pay attention to this comprehensive video on immigration.
Trump also hates people who are smarter and more skilled than he is - it adds to his delight he can attack and subjugate them to his wishes.
I encourage everyone to watch a chilling interview on January 29 with Nancy MacLean about the radical right's plan to transform the US into an autocracy. The Trump administration's response to this tragic air crash is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. Here's the link to the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQuS9vJHPzs/
I recommend her chilling book, 'Democracy in Chains'. Also the New Yorker's Jane Mayer's book, 'Dark Money'. This has been a project with a long gestation.
I strongly second those two book recommendations. What we're seeing today are the fruits of the poison trees planted some 75 years ago by Fred Koch and nurtured by Charles and David Koch and a coterie of far-right extremist billionaires. The big money was dark 'til Citizens United, then the doors got blown off and the oligarchs were empowered and emboldened like never before. Now we have asshole mega-billionaires openly buying the presidency and giving Nazi salutes.
Don't forget Koch bagman and Opus Dei acolyte Leonard Leo. Who is pushing the narrative that Catholics are being persecuted - so when you hear Republicans putting that into many statements, it's for Leo. Over 40% of Project 2025 funding came from Leo affiliates. Leo, Vought et al are using Trump as their test crash dummy for Project 2025.
Yes, Leo, the Federalist Society kingpin and Opus Dei member, has been a major player in the capture of the judicial system. Six of nine SCOTUS justices are Roman Catholic, and at least two, possibly three, justices are reportedly members of Opus Dei.
Sonia Sotomayor is Catholic, and definitely not Opus Dei. There are many of us Catholics who detest what Trump is doing, we can’t stand OD, and we don’t like Leonard Leo’s agenda.
Saying "I understand..." without providing a citation means that your post is meaningless.
Here are some actual facts: "Of the total $1.9 billion spent by America’s richest families on all federal campaigns, $1.36 billion (72%) went to support Republicans while Democrats were buoyed by about $413 million (22%)."
He considers empathy, sympathy, and humility to be signs of weakness. When you hold none of those virtues, you surely hate the people who do. In his not very deep psyche, he knows he has no strength or wisdom. Projection and self-loathing propel him.
I think the clear and objective fact that Trump is a sociopath is something that a frightening percentage of the general public, irrespective of political position, simply fails to grasp. The despicable and loathsome statement he felt compelled to make today in the wake of the tragic plane crash is yet another example of his sociopathy. This is akin to his desecration of the fallen soldiers at Arlington last year with his preposterous photo ops.
The only semi-silver lining in the perpetually dark Trumpian sky is that he will continue to decline mentally and psychologically, and will begin to repulse enough people that he will be wheeled off ala Salieri in "Amadeus".
Then again, we'd be left with Peter Thiel's boy toy as President at that point.
Daniel, you've said exactly what I think every day. The clear and objective fact that he's a sociopath and an unbelievable percentage of the general public fails to grasp it.
I also think that it will be harder and harder for his team of sociopaths to conceal his decline.
Vance is despicable, but he is not the anointed one and people will fall away when he expires.
Thank you for this great interview with Nancy MacLean by Patt Morrison (one of the last bastions of integrity at the LA Times). For what we can do, Nancy mentions Project 2025:
1. Scroll through their list of over 350 affiliate organizations for a heartening reminder of our grassroots and legal forces.
2. Donate to Project 2025 and/or their 501(c)3 Democracy Forward—who filed one of the first lawsuits against Trump Admin’s funding freeze.
Nancy observed that like trans people today, Jews in 1930s Germany comprised a small percentage of the population (only about 1%), so were easy to scapegoat for riling up the masses.
As Nancy points out, the time to save ourselves is now.
"Trump and Musk ... comprise a new ideological oligarchy that has erased the line between capital and decision-making. Zuckerberg and Bezos, for all the eyebrows their moves are raising, belong to the old vanguard of oligarchs—they are defending their own interests, and, as evidenced by their previous support of liberal politicians, are ready to move in either direction to do so. The danger we face is of a new breed of ideologically-motivated billionaires, ones who believe that democratic institutions have lost purpose in our world, and are ready to use their wealth and connections to advance their own alternative vision." [Garry Kasparov, Jan 29, 2025, The New Oligarchs]
Call me crazy, Phil, but I feel like it’s already well-established how despicable Trump and his cronies are. Can we move on to what we’re doing to stop him? Thanks
Get active with Indivisible.org, which has well-thought out strategy and tactics, and 1000+ local groups around the country. Call your Members of Congress to find out what they're doing and tell them what you want them to do. They need to hear from constituents. Write letters to the editor. Post on social media. Support pro-democracy groups with time and money. Start an Indivisible group where you are. Read ON TYRANNY: TWENTY LESSONS FROM THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. Do not obey in advance. Stay courageous and hopeful. Onward!
Thanks, Laurie - I find Indivisible's Action page has great action items that you can copy and paste bullet points from to create quick letters of outrage to your reps: https://indivisible.org/take-action-now
Great minds think alike! I am a big fan of Timothy Snyder and I have taken his points in "on tyranny" to heart. As a historian of eastern Europe, he knows a little something about authoritarianism. Also reaching out to my local Indivisible chapter.
Trump is Commander in Chief of the armed forces. His first duty to fallen soldiers and their families is one of fairness and consolation. Instead he throws them in front of the bus. Point this out to every service person you know: any suspect order, anything that goes wrong he'll blame you and toss you to the wolves. The lowest private will see the logic of this latest awful example.
We've got to put the personal back in schools -- humanities, essay writing to see and celebrate individuals, their cultures, their complications.
Right now standardized testing has a stranglehold on all the schools, by design from the 1971 Powell memo on stressing the impersonal, the neutered, the abstracted and categorical.
More immediately, read "Stolen Pride," by Arlie Russell Hochschild. It will let you see how having shed the personal from schools let all those tens of millions damaged by the offshoring of their jobs all feel abandoned, unseen, disrespected and betrayed by our university-educated elites.
You see, Riversong, you err when you imagine "it's already well-established ow despicable Trump and is cronies are."
No, Riversong. They, the far-right, are winning with their scenarios of victimization, group hate, and hostility (which gets programmed for them by the social media billionaires flanking, buoying their orange felon). They have the White House, the Senate, the House, and the Clarence court. They are the "well-established," particularly so long as all the schools follow the death trip of other billionaires' standardized testing.
Wasn't China let into the WTO in 2003 under the G.W.Bush Admin?... I read once that over 10,000 Factories in the USA were closed-down, or off-shored during the GWB Adnin... Besides having a Disastrous Foreign Policy, GWB had a Disastrous Domestic Policy... To His Great Credit, Joe Biden Tried To Reverse Both...
I agree. What does society do with the dementia soaked people we isolate them from hurting anyone else including themselves. Impeachment yet a third time and including Vance and Johnson. Deport Musk. Election of Democrats to replace any post on left open by a result of working for Trump. Remove the current administration people who are enforcing project 2025.
Exactly! E-freaking-nuff with the clinical dianosisee's's's! It's also clear, according to the most recent enlightenment that our education "system" has failed in the "reading" department. So, the kids don't understand those words like sociopath or fascist. Nor do they know where Hungary is, or Phoenix, for that mattter.
Yes we need to move into more action and I'm not sure what that means. I've email Oregons Senators and their boxes are so full the message may never get thru. Oh yes it will but in time. I also remember the days when we met in neighbors homes and addressed postcards
It's so frustrating that we don't get context like this in the coverage of mainstream media. Most stories mentioned Trump blaming others but how many informed their readers at the same time about this. None that I saw.
"Whitaker resigned the day Trump took office. That same day, the administration froze the hiring of all federal employees, including air traffic controllers, although the U.S. Department of Transportation warned in June 2023 that 77% of air traffic control facilities critical to daily operations of the airline industry were short staffed. The next day, January 21, Trump fired Transportation Security Administration (TSA) chief David Pekoske, and administration officials removed all the members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which Congress created after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Trump administration vacated the positions with an eye to “eliminating the misuse of resources.”
Well said, Phil. What’s the over under on either CFT or the US democracy not lasting out his first year in office? Despite the cluster fu*k of his first ten days, I’m still leaning toward the collapse of the US as a world class democracy.
The U.S. could do untold damage to all our democratic allies, just as it is poised to worsen climate change and thumb its nose at the collective work necessary at WHO (mass pandemic of bird flu, anyone?) It could hand over Ukraine to Putin and let Netanyahu commit final, Gaza-style genocide in the West Bank.
And Dem elites, void of humanities, still haven't got the slightest clue as to what's been happening to American working classes.
This very comprehensive video on what is going on with immigration in the US is helpful for us to understand what is going on, and is the story they want you to ignore while you are looking at all the other outrages that seem to directly affect you, but they are wrong.
The bottom line with Trump is he wrongly thinks nothing is ever his fault or responsibility, and everyone else is to blame. This is how sociopaths like Trump think.
Utterly disgusting. When condolences are appropriate for the tragic loss of life from the plane crash last night, instead, we got a rant from the President of the United States blaming the two former Democratic Presidents, the DEI policy, and whoever he chose to blame for the tragedy. I had to turn off my television to grieve. I live in Charlotte, NC. The flight crew was from here. Meteorologist James Scott WCCB · Follow
5h ·
We’ve confirmed the names of the four Charlotte-based crew members on American Eagle Flight 5342. They are as follows:
Thank you, Vicki. I have commercial pilots in my family: sister-in-law is a captain with FedEx. Niece is an FO with United, her fiancé is a captain with Horizon. Airline crashes hit home.
As a former pilots wife, it really does hit different and hard! We suffered over the years the stress of wondering and worrying. Knowing too much. We divorced years ago and he’s since retired. But you’re right! It’s a grief I wouldn’t want anyone to suffer through. The few we knew who lost their lives to plane accidents were so heartbreaking! Children growing up without their father. Families who never got to say goodbye or say I love you one last time. You just feel all over again when another tragedy happens.
My daughter’s in laws were very much involved with 911! A family of public servants several were at Ground Zero. None were lost that day but an uncle died of cancer from exposure during the cleanup. Their stories are nothing short of miraculous and spine tingling!
Amazing! My sister lives in Manhattan. She was on a plane to Pittsburg when the Pittsburg plane went down. Since 9/11, she has flown only one time and has never gone to Ground Zero. That day was horrible for me and my family. My kids stayed home from school. I couldn’t find out which plane my sister was on. The lines were down. Suddenly, my phone rang at 3:30pm. I picked up and it was my sister asking what happened! I started sobbing and between tears, I told her. She said her plane was diverted to Boston but they were still on the tarmac. Fortunately she had friends she was able to stay with there. She said once they were allowed to disembark, they entered the terminal and all of the screens or boards were solid black. She later took a train back to NYC and that’s how she travels now…by train. **Our mother, who always watched the news at 10 decibels, for some reason never turned her television on that day and I never called her to tell her what happened!**
That had to be such an overwhelming relief! I can’t imagine what you went through!
My husband had just come from Boston the weekend before from flight training. We had a million calls that day of family checking on him. I don’t know why, but my mother also hadn’t turned on the news that day. Very strange for her! Then his flight was the first one out of DFW when they opened up again. I had to drive him to and from the airport. He slept for two days after he got home.
... And at a moment such as this, when families are living their worst nightmares, what some see as a 'leader' of our nation can only spout such vile, self - serving hogwash !
Female pilots! DEI hires! Too emotional, too affected by hormones, not smart enough! Only good for receiving white male sperm (whether they like it or not) and gestating babies who will help us colonize Mars after denuding our own planet of all usable resources. We are moving ever closer to a dystopian mashup of Handmaid’s Tale, 1984, and Brave New World.
Do you personally believe that the midterm elections won’t be stolen? I’m holding onto that belief myself in order to stay sane, but with each passing day it feels increasingly naive.
First we have to undo the voter suppression tactics that have disenfranchised millions of voters. That's what rigging an election really looks like, and we saw how well it worked in 2024.
You are so right Celia. Cutting down number of days to vote, cutting number of polling places, bomb threats by Russians which closed polling places, early results by AP before all ballots are counted, cutting back mail-in voting and number of ballot boxes to use and Lies lies lies. They are eating cats and dogs etc. fat thumb on the scales of Justice…. Act local is a good way to start.
Yes ! And, how about including an omnibus voter referendum from coast to coast to coast regarding the elevation of voters rights and a failure proof rebuttal measure to Citizens United. *Calling all constitutional lawyer patriots if we have any !! In a democracy, securing the rights of voter must be the highest calling; above presidents, legislators, judges, and the 1 or 2 percent who effectively rule over all of us as though their wealth merits them more than their singular votes.
There is so much that we have to undo, and Citizens United is one of the worst decisions in terms of taking power out of people's hands. But I guess the 1% figured that they bought that Supreme Court fair and square, so they deserve it.
Yeah, the repubs have been working against voters for decades. The south just picks up where it left off in Jim crow times. All the MAGAts want to party like it's 1899!
One thing I gotta give them, they've been working long and hard to bring to back their dreams of the good ole days, so we've got to work harder and longer. People say "where's the resistance?" but personally I realize it's not going to cut it to put on a pussy hat and go to a couple marches. But maybe as a white person, I'm used the system working for me. We should study the Civil Rights movement, and be inspired by how black folks persevered for centuries to get their rights.
That reminds me of the 1619 project. I listened to the podcast... inspiring! I want to read the book. Her message is powerful, and best of all, it freaks out all the white supremacists!
All I'm saying is that if we want our country to reach its true promise, we need to be patient, learn from history, and make common cause with everyone else who's had to struggle against injustice.
Sadly, for now it seems they've assembled a winning coalition; Wealth, broadcast media, religious zealots, white supremacists; enough of which to harness and steer long simmering anger, disappointment, and resentments among large enough numbers. Add in the voter disenfranchisement, gerrymandering, and there it is.
They didn’t have to mess with any machines, simply keep targeted people from voting. It’s shameful we call ourselves a free nation when we keep so many of our fellow citizens from voting or having their votes counted. Voting should be considered a fundamental right of citizenship, and we need to reeducate our students and adults about American government.
That's an enormous task, especially considering the fact that in the 2024 presidential election, with the stakes so high and our fragile democracy hanging precariously in the balance, 36.1% of registered voters – more than a third – DIDN'T VOTE. Disgraceful. The "winner"? Autocracy.
One reason many didn't was because they were "purged" from the voter rolls. Others did vote, but their ballots were challenged and discarded. Voter suppression in action. Let's focus on that first.
But also non-participation. Voting is essential to establishment and preservation of a just democratic republic. I ran across a motto that said "Bad politicians are elected by good people who don't vote." It's not the whole story, but it's major.
"The president made the comments as he dismissed a Democratic-led push for reforms such as vote-by-mail, same-day registration and early voting as states seek to safely run elections amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Democrats had proposed the measures as part of the coronavirus stimulus. They ultimately were not included in the $2.2tn final package, which included only $400m to states to help them run elections.
“The things they had in there were crazy. They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again,”
Pretty soon (I’m hoping) voters will see what they voted for & what they stayed home for. I’m hoping for incentive - and a miracle, I know - I’m holding out for hope, Gene. We have to do that - AND the work involved.
Getting out the vote is important for sure, but what can be done to pierce the pall of misinformation and a certain lack of caring about governance? Clone Ms Richardson? Oh to be so articulate
I don't know how we do it. I've written postcards, letters, supported Vote.org and other organizations, contributed to various campaigns. More than a million people didn't vote in this last election. How do we move the needle? I don't know. Unless people are affected in a negative way, and that is not my wish, will they go out and vote? Add to that voter suppression, gerrymandering, and all the other garbage thrown at would-be and regular voters, I'm bewildered as to how we will move the needle. I agree with you that we have to work on this. I think the Democrats have some serious work to do. Democratic "leaders" seem to be bewildered as to what to do. We need some serious leadership. We need some serious pushback as to what has happened since January 20th. We cannot afford to waste another day.
Focus on a small number of swing districts. Flip them, and with them, flip Congress Democratic so they start acting like a co-equal branch of government again.
It shouldn't be hard to find enough swing districts that have buyer's remorse over their shiny new MAGA Republican representation. And it's much harder for oligarch money to swing single local elections that everyone in the country can pay attention to, instead of being able to manipulate a few of the more than five hundred races that will be happening simultaneously during the midterms.
Want a real-world example, on a small scale? On January 28, a special election in Iowa State Senate District 35 put Democrat Mike Zimmer over his Republican opponent. He won by 4 points in a district that voted for Trump by a 21 point margin in November. And Iowa is about as red as states get.
If it can happen in a state Senate race, it can happen in the House of Representatives. It would require recalling a MAGA representative, but given current and developing sentiments about our government, that probably wouldn't be a heavy lift either.
There is no provision in the Constitution for recall elections for the president or members of the House or Senate. State by state, some states allow recalls of state/local officials under certain circumstances, but a lot don't.
This election was stolen from voter roles purging in the swing states for one. They are now in power and they will never go away unless we remove them other than through the ballot box. We are totally naïve to believe that we are going to have a free and fair election ever again. That is not how autocracy works. We need to all wake up and figure out another way.
Apologies if you have heard this before, but it's more relevant than ever. Another thing the loyal opposition does is an idea Timothy Snyder (who wrote On Tyranny) has been pushing for a People's (shadow) cabinet. Imagine if we had Pete speaking as people's transportation sec today! Or AOC as people's attorney general, or pick-your-favorite as people's health sec.
If anyone feels like it, you can sign this petition and >please repost< the following:
Democrats, we must get louder to respond forcefully to the administration and make them own their unpopular actions. Let's form a Democratic People's Cabinet, our best folks speaking out. Please sign and repost! Over 2.5K signed so far.
Pete was great! Tim and Rachel were great! How do we encourage cowards to change their strips? By calling them out! Letters, phone calls…to every GOP governor! And more Pete!
Yes, when we were talking about “mini-primary” ideas there were ways floated to have quick elections within the Democratic party. Or the grassroots could just vote and draft people!
Ideally, the Democratic National Committee would play a role such as this, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards. Seems that the people's party will have to be guided by the people.
Are you the Steve Engel who has worked for DJT since 2016? Please let us know who you are working for. I am very much in favor of a Peoples Cabinet, but I do need to know that you are not the one working for DJT. Or if someone else knows who this is. I have not been able to confirm that it is not.
Have you gone to his bio? He is not an attorney. All you have to do is click on his picture and it will take you to his bio. Then you don't ask questions that are ummm embarrassing in the charged political climate.
Some of us are technologically challenged and may not know how to do that - click on the photo to go to the person's bio. For younger people, it's intuitive, but for some of us born many decades ago it's not always easy to know how to navigate and find out things.
"And they put politics at a level that nobody has ever seen, because this was the lowest level. Their policy was horrible and their politics was even worse."
Trump continues his signature pathological mirroring, identifying his own horrific behaviors as that of his perceived rivals. Every candidate nominated for POTUS should be subject to a thorough and comprehensive mental health exam.
I don't know. I'm sitting here in front of the fire. When we don't pay attention, it starts to go out, but when we miss the warmth and the flames, we put on another log and use the bellows to make some of the embers reignite, and then the new log bursts into flame. I don't know how long it will take, but I'm guessing that disgruntlement may turn from an ember into a burning log into a raging fire. It depends on how many people get hurt by this administration and, to mix my metaphors, where their boiling point is.
A million people died of COVID on US alone. He totally mismanaged it. Inject bleach—. Ugh. Just remembered he was cured of Covid by drs he’s trying to downsize. 🤮
Ridiculous! Whom will they blame when Trump fails to act against bird flu, because Dr. Fauci has now retired. There will be another pandemic, this time it will be bird flu, and they are completely unprepared for it, and want RFK, Jr. in as head of HHS. He vaccinated his own kids, but makes a lot of money from telling people not to vaccinate their own kids. Disgusting!
Bird flu was gonna be his next opportunity to shit the bed but the first midair collision since 1978 jumped the line. And he will continue to blame every disaster on his watch on his personal boogeymen, DEI, Biden, Obama, etc like a misbehaving toddler. At some point, these own goals will reach a tipping point, and the Emperor’s fat naked body will be seen by all.
How will the people who voted for him find out whose fault the redultant destruction is? They will never learn it from Trump and his cohorts, who will always blame the Democrats--and Fox News will amplify the blame.
What accountability? The 51 people that signed the letter saying Hunter Biden's Laptop with Russian's disinformation should be in Jail for Election Interference.
The 51 signers admitted to not knowing the authenticity of the Laptop. They were perfectly justified in stating that releasing the story a month before the 2020 election seemed like a Russian disinformation operation.
Paragraph 5...
"We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement -- just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case."
That doesn't seem jail-worthy to me. There was nothing ever disclosed on that Laptop to implicate Joe Biden... so how would this have affected the election if the truth had come out?
Hunter Biden didn't know then that the Laptop was his. The FBI, who had the computer at the time, was legally required not to disclose information that could affect an election (though granted, they had broken that policy in 2016 in announcing an investigation into Hillary Clinton's stolen emails - which was, in fact, a Russian disinformation campaign.)
Hunter Biden's Laptop is a nonstory. It was always a nonstory to everyone but Hunter, who was convicted of his crimes or admitted to his faults. The political use of that Laptop was a gross invasion of his privacy and a warning to us all never to leave our personal property in the hands of those we can't trust.
The 51 signers (and if you read it, you will see that there were nine additional ICs who supported the assessment - so 60 total - get it straight) were all former Intelligence officials who served under Presidents of both parties. They were patriots then, and they are patriots now.
I'm being lazy, but here's what I posted on a Boston Globe column about the chaos on all levels:
How can our Congress confirm a slate of unqualified people to run our government?
How can anyone support a "leader" who can barely utter a statement of sympathy for the families and friends of those who died in yesterday's crash before erroneously blaming his predecessors and DEI for the deadly event?
What sort of lawless, wannabe dictator thinks that he can get away with impounding funds dedicated by Congress to making the lives of Americans better?
What kind of people support the evident cruelty of the man they elected to be our president?
Yes, elections have consequences, but those who voted because they expected action to lower the price of eggs did not expect the consequences that we have been seeing or the consequences yet to come.
Because they believed his lies even though many, many people were calling out his lies yet there is never any accountability…Only ridiculous complaints about “in real time”fact checking. What a world !!!
People died and Donny used this opportunity to score points..apparently thinking Pete was still in charge…God I wish! The poor traffic controller would have been cared about and not worried about being fired! Imagine you are a disabled controller striving to do a good job and you learn the president, your boss, thinks you are less than human? How would you feel?
Remember his 2016 campaign where he very visibly and creepily made fun of a disabled journalist?!? As I stated earlier, his sociopathy is getting worse and manifesting itself more and more
A reporter challenged his accusatory rant earlier today, pointing out that we didn’t yet even the names of the victims & this should be a time for grieving, not blaming. Trump replied, “What do the names matter”?!?!?! No words…
This deadly crash is what Project 2025 looks like. How tragically appropriate that it happened at Reagan, because ever since Reagan busted the union air traffic controllers have been working under impossible conditions. This is just a foretaste of what decimating the federal workforce and gutting regulatory agencies looks like. Please call every Republican on the Budget Committee to vote no on Vought.
🙏I found that out in the past, always call the local offices to leave a comment if can’t get thru to Washington. Especially important on Vought. I think he is actually the most dangerous, the biggest ideologue of the whole group.
(☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞ Thank you,Lin. I just took a screenshot of all the numbers and links to follow up in the morning and the next day and the next day and the next day. This is what Rachel Maddow was talking about. We all have to step up, step in, and save this country from evil.
Thank you for this. This is the action we all need to drill down on. For every DJT/Vance/Musk/Hegseth/Patel/Gabbard offence, the people need to remind these folks who the government is for and who they work for. Pitting their ambition against each other might help shift or slow down the senator's obeyance. And if enough are subjected to this, then the primary threat won't matter if we decide to primary them ourselves.
I will meet Senator Merkley this Sunday at a town hall meeting in Salem. I am planning to ask him about Donald Trump's ominous message to evangelical Christians during the campaign: “Get out and vote. Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore.” Trump does not speak idly.
As Rachel Maddow pointed out, the explosion of one of Musk’s SpaceX rockets recently caused multiple passenger planes to have to suddenly divert in flight to avoid falling wreckage. The head of the FAA that resigned the day Trump took office had grounded SpaceX rockets due to safety concerns .
“MeidasTouch posted: ‘Trump's handling of this situation should be treated as one of the biggest scandals in presidential history.’”
After reading stories about Trumpists’ handling of the D.C. air disaster, I wrote to the editors of The NY Times and Washington Post that they should publish editorials urging opponents of Trumpism in the US House of Representatives to bring forward the first call for impeachment of Trump. It won’t be voted on given the make up of the House, but it will be the first shot across the bow of Trumpism’s leaky wooden boat.
Trump will never admit the truth—his first instinct is always to deflect, blame, and fabricate. The real tragedy isn’t just the disaster itself, but the fact that we have a president who prioritizes self-preservation over real leadership. It’s up to the rest of us to make sure the facts don’t get buried under his lies.
It's a new low but as between Nixon, Andrew Johnson undoing the Civil War and Trump it's hard to distinguish the all time worst. BUT Trump has another 1460-10.5 days to separate himself from that crowd.
I said that about Ted Cruz after seeing his smarmy face after he was elected. My brother, who detests Trump & Co. as much as I do, says, what do you have against weasels? He thought it an insult to weasels to compare them to Cruz.
The man’s a convicted criminal. Adjudicated fraud. Rapist.
So when we have a national tragedy, he’s going to behave humanly?
Of course not. He’s trapped in his cycles of venomous poisons, one of which is his hatred for diversity, equity, and inclusion (D.E.I.).
Reptilian, his auto-reactions always take over, whether his D.E.I. hatreds his phobia for windmills, his racism toward immigrants of color, or his bing-bing-boing-bong skit on toilets and showers insufficient for cleaning, storing, or ridding the hoard of classified documents he stole or his junk food need for enormous craps.
Yes, Pete Buttigieg correctly uses the adjective despicable, Tim Kaine the adjective sickening, and Heather her ref to "their enthusiasm for breaking things" for this criminal, fraud, rapist, reptile.
When you elect a rapist who nominates rapists is it any surprise that they want to rape the country?
Point well taken!
Rapist.., felon..., Lies.., lying.., fascist.., c'mon we've worn those out. Besides, we all know what he is. A POS.
And he has already committed several "face plants."
Musk and his Project 2025 buddies are making him look even worse than he did in 2017. How long before Trump kicks either of both of them out on their ear -- or can he?
Very good questions, Gary!
That sums it up nicely and succinctly, Joanna.
Exactly. Let us also look at our immigration actions right now. This is our avoid being Nazis moment in how we insist on humans being treated with dignity. Here is Leeza Miller laying out what the EOs mean and what their impacts are as well as how they tie to past administrations. https://youtu.be/Ccwk8qvp14U?si=SKX9tztDrQL374Sx
There as so many issues that directly affect people, I can say White people in the USA, that it is easy to ignore the immigration issues, but they are going to have implications for everyone with our military.
Absolutely, his bombastic, outrageous moves are going to blow up in his face. He and his regime are so dumb, they don't even consider what might be the flow-on effect of their mass firings and money freezes. You can barely run a pizza shop short-staffed, let alone a major city's air traffic control tower. Maybe when the planes start dropping out of the sky, and the vegetables start disappearing from the shelves, and eggs are a hundred dollars a piece because bird flu has killed all the chickens...maybe then he'll be carted off to the looney bin where he belongs - hopefully before polio comes back to town.
With so much chaos and cruelty coming out of this administration by the minute day after day, I miss HCR's well deserved day of rest and a peaceful picture .
Just wait until ICE agents start raiding our K-12 schools. I know I would have been terrorized if a group of Federal agents raided my junior high or high school.
Are we really going to allow them to do this? If so, let's raid the hometown schools of the Republican Senators and Congresscritters and see how well that goes over.
ICE agents have started showing up at high schools. Yesterday, they arrived at least 3 Baltimore City Public Schools: Baltimore City College, Patterson Park HS, and Mervo Technical HS. They weren’t allowed in at City College.
So instead of going after the “violent criminals”, ICE is terrorizing kids at school. In the blue state of Maryland.
Thanks Linda, take it in a little later, subscribed in any case.
Being a rapist or conspiracy theorist, or Christian Nationalist or all 3 seems to be criteria for a job in the Trump administration. I think Putin can easily slip his agents into our government this way, particularly since Trump does not seem to want the FBI doing a background checks on people he is hiring.
And pay attention to this comprehensive video on immigration.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ccwk8qvp14U&si=itnqRyZHpxShUZcn
Of course. Putin and other oligarchs own Trump.
Putin doesn’t have to slip them in - they’ll just walk right in the front door
Sometimes you just have to look at what's right in front of your eyes. Bravo.
Trump also hates people who are smarter and more skilled than he is - it adds to his delight he can attack and subjugate them to his wishes.
I encourage everyone to watch a chilling interview on January 29 with Nancy MacLean about the radical right's plan to transform the US into an autocracy. The Trump administration's response to this tragic air crash is straight out of the authoritarian playbook. Here's the link to the interview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQuS9vJHPzs/
I recommend her chilling book, 'Democracy in Chains'. Also the New Yorker's Jane Mayer's book, 'Dark Money'. This has been a project with a long gestation.
I strongly second those two book recommendations. What we're seeing today are the fruits of the poison trees planted some 75 years ago by Fred Koch and nurtured by Charles and David Koch and a coterie of far-right extremist billionaires. The big money was dark 'til Citizens United, then the doors got blown off and the oligarchs were empowered and emboldened like never before. Now we have asshole mega-billionaires openly buying the presidency and giving Nazi salutes.
Don't forget Koch bagman and Opus Dei acolyte Leonard Leo. Who is pushing the narrative that Catholics are being persecuted - so when you hear Republicans putting that into many statements, it's for Leo. Over 40% of Project 2025 funding came from Leo affiliates. Leo, Vought et al are using Trump as their test crash dummy for Project 2025.
Yes, Leo, the Federalist Society kingpin and Opus Dei member, has been a major player in the capture of the judicial system. Six of nine SCOTUS justices are Roman Catholic, and at least two, possibly three, justices are reportedly members of Opus Dei.
Sonia Sotomayor is Catholic, and definitely not Opus Dei. There are many of us Catholics who detest what Trump is doing, we can’t stand OD, and we don’t like Leonard Leo’s agenda.
I understand that 85 billionaires donated to Kamala Harris's campaign so I guess they're not interested in politics so much as power.
Saying "I understand..." without providing a citation means that your post is meaningless.
Here are some actual facts: "Of the total $1.9 billion spent by America’s richest families on all federal campaigns, $1.36 billion (72%) went to support Republicans while Democrats were buoyed by about $413 million (22%)."
https://americansfortaxfairness.org/billionaire-clans-spend-nearly-2-billion-2024-elections/
You could have looked it up yourself. I think I heard this figure quoted on Stephen Colbert's show. However, Forbes puts the figure at 83 (https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/10/30/kamala-harris-has-more-billionaires-prominently-backing-her-than-trump-bezos-and-griffin-weigh-in-updated/). The point I was making, which you appear to have ignored, is that both parties depend heavily on donations from rich individuals and that's not good for your democracy. I trust that you will have less difficulty discerning my meaning now.
dead on pts, you can certainly thank the Supremes for their vital contribution to financing this morass
Undoubtedly true. I believe he also hates people who are more humane, more empathetic and sympathetic than he.
He considers empathy, sympathy, and humility to be signs of weakness. When you hold none of those virtues, you surely hate the people who do. In his not very deep psyche, he knows he has no strength or wisdom. Projection and self-loathing propel him.
Excellent point, Margaret.
I think the clear and objective fact that Trump is a sociopath is something that a frightening percentage of the general public, irrespective of political position, simply fails to grasp. The despicable and loathsome statement he felt compelled to make today in the wake of the tragic plane crash is yet another example of his sociopathy. This is akin to his desecration of the fallen soldiers at Arlington last year with his preposterous photo ops.
The only semi-silver lining in the perpetually dark Trumpian sky is that he will continue to decline mentally and psychologically, and will begin to repulse enough people that he will be wheeled off ala Salieri in "Amadeus".
Then again, we'd be left with Peter Thiel's boy toy as President at that point.
Daniel, you've said exactly what I think every day. The clear and objective fact that he's a sociopath and an unbelievable percentage of the general public fails to grasp it.
I also think that it will be harder and harder for his team of sociopaths to conceal his decline.
Vance is despicable, but he is not the anointed one and people will fall away when he expires.
Yes, a Vance presidency is frightening. His reptilian obsequiousness, among other things.
Vance worships Peter Thiel and Curtis Yarvin’s antihuman social philosophies.
This how Trump thinks as he’s a malignant narcissist and sociopath.
Yes. And he doesn't understand them either.
That’s everybody
Thank you for this great interview with Nancy MacLean by Patt Morrison (one of the last bastions of integrity at the LA Times). For what we can do, Nancy mentions Project 2025:
1. Scroll through their list of over 350 affiliate organizations for a heartening reminder of our grassroots and legal forces.
2. Donate to Project 2025 and/or their 501(c)3 Democracy Forward—who filed one of the first lawsuits against Trump Admin’s funding freeze.
https://www.democracy2025.org/
Nancy observed that like trans people today, Jews in 1930s Germany comprised a small percentage of the population (only about 1%), so were easy to scapegoat for riling up the masses.
As Nancy points out, the time to save ourselves is now.
Done.
*Democracy2025
"Trump and Musk ... comprise a new ideological oligarchy that has erased the line between capital and decision-making. Zuckerberg and Bezos, for all the eyebrows their moves are raising, belong to the old vanguard of oligarchs—they are defending their own interests, and, as evidenced by their previous support of liberal politicians, are ready to move in either direction to do so. The danger we face is of a new breed of ideologically-motivated billionaires, ones who believe that democratic institutions have lost purpose in our world, and are ready to use their wealth and connections to advance their own alternative vision." [Garry Kasparov, Jan 29, 2025, The New Oligarchs]
https://substack.com/home/post/p-156053497?utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Call me crazy, Phil, but I feel like it’s already well-established how despicable Trump and his cronies are. Can we move on to what we’re doing to stop him? Thanks
Get active with Indivisible.org, which has well-thought out strategy and tactics, and 1000+ local groups around the country. Call your Members of Congress to find out what they're doing and tell them what you want them to do. They need to hear from constituents. Write letters to the editor. Post on social media. Support pro-democracy groups with time and money. Start an Indivisible group where you are. Read ON TYRANNY: TWENTY LESSONS FROM THE TWENTIETH CENTURY. Do not obey in advance. Stay courageous and hopeful. Onward!
Thanks, Laurie - I find Indivisible's Action page has great action items that you can copy and paste bullet points from to create quick letters of outrage to your reps: https://indivisible.org/take-action-now
Great minds think alike! I am a big fan of Timothy Snyder and I have taken his points in "on tyranny" to heart. As a historian of eastern Europe, he knows a little something about authoritarianism. Also reaching out to my local Indivisible chapter.
thanks for this website
I just signed up for info on indivisible.
Trump is Commander in Chief of the armed forces. His first duty to fallen soldiers and their families is one of fairness and consolation. Instead he throws them in front of the bus. Point this out to every service person you know: any suspect order, anything that goes wrong he'll blame you and toss you to the wolves. The lowest private will see the logic of this latest awful example.
It's a long slough, Riversong.
Above all else, the schools.
We've got to put the personal back in schools -- humanities, essay writing to see and celebrate individuals, their cultures, their complications.
Right now standardized testing has a stranglehold on all the schools, by design from the 1971 Powell memo on stressing the impersonal, the neutered, the abstracted and categorical.
More immediately, read "Stolen Pride," by Arlie Russell Hochschild. It will let you see how having shed the personal from schools let all those tens of millions damaged by the offshoring of their jobs all feel abandoned, unseen, disrespected and betrayed by our university-educated elites.
You see, Riversong, you err when you imagine "it's already well-established ow despicable Trump and is cronies are."
No, Riversong. They, the far-right, are winning with their scenarios of victimization, group hate, and hostility (which gets programmed for them by the social media billionaires flanking, buoying their orange felon). They have the White House, the Senate, the House, and the Clarence court. They are the "well-established," particularly so long as all the schools follow the death trip of other billionaires' standardized testing.
Wasn't China let into the WTO in 2003 under the G.W.Bush Admin?... I read once that over 10,000 Factories in the USA were closed-down, or off-shored during the GWB Adnin... Besides having a Disastrous Foreign Policy, GWB had a Disastrous Domestic Policy... To His Great Credit, Joe Biden Tried To Reverse Both...
Chump is continuing the horror of the W/Dickie mess but on steroids. Wonder if Dickie has regrets…
I agree. What does society do with the dementia soaked people we isolate them from hurting anyone else including themselves. Impeachment yet a third time and including Vance and Johnson. Deport Musk. Election of Democrats to replace any post on left open by a result of working for Trump. Remove the current administration people who are enforcing project 2025.
They rule, can’t remove them yet…
Sometimes people need to rant. People here have lots of ideas of what to do.
Exactly! E-freaking-nuff with the clinical dianosisee's's's! It's also clear, according to the most recent enlightenment that our education "system" has failed in the "reading" department. So, the kids don't understand those words like sociopath or fascist. Nor do they know where Hungary is, or Phoenix, for that mattter.
Yes we need to move into more action and I'm not sure what that means. I've email Oregons Senators and their boxes are so full the message may never get thru. Oh yes it will but in time. I also remember the days when we met in neighbors homes and addressed postcards
He was never anything but the viper he is today.
Phil, beautifully said, thank you!
It's so frustrating that we don't get context like this in the coverage of mainstream media. Most stories mentioned Trump blaming others but how many informed their readers at the same time about this. None that I saw.
"Whitaker resigned the day Trump took office. That same day, the administration froze the hiring of all federal employees, including air traffic controllers, although the U.S. Department of Transportation warned in June 2023 that 77% of air traffic control facilities critical to daily operations of the airline industry were short staffed. The next day, January 21, Trump fired Transportation Security Administration (TSA) chief David Pekoske, and administration officials removed all the members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which Congress created after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. The Trump administration vacated the positions with an eye to “eliminating the misuse of resources.”
It was all there. See the links on the post from HRC.
*Don't feel bad; I've been in a hurry too. HRC is Hilary Rodham; HCR is 'our' Prof. Lol !
I believe that's what Bonny is referring to.
No more doing the right thing!
stop insulting reptiles🤪
As through this world you travel, and in this world you stay
You will never see a reptile
Destroy the FAA.
Ha !
I think you can add “hatred for anything American.”
I'm sticking with narcissistic criminal sociopath, but I am entertaining other adjectives that are more concise and/or appropriate.
What did anyone expect? Don’t you remember his advice to drink bleach?
Well said, Phil. What’s the over under on either CFT or the US democracy not lasting out his first year in office? Despite the cluster fu*k of his first ten days, I’m still leaning toward the collapse of the US as a world class democracy.
Could be as you suspect, Maureen.
The U.S. could do untold damage to all our democratic allies, just as it is poised to worsen climate change and thumb its nose at the collective work necessary at WHO (mass pandemic of bird flu, anyone?) It could hand over Ukraine to Putin and let Netanyahu commit final, Gaza-style genocide in the West Bank.
And Dem elites, void of humanities, still haven't got the slightest clue as to what's been happening to American working classes.
This very comprehensive video on what is going on with immigration in the US is helpful for us to understand what is going on, and is the story they want you to ignore while you are looking at all the other outrages that seem to directly affect you, but they are wrong.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=Ccwk8qvp14U&si=itnqRyZHpxShUZcn
This comment reflects badly on reptiles.
The bottom line with Trump is he wrongly thinks nothing is ever his fault or responsibility, and everyone else is to blame. This is how sociopaths like Trump think.
He learned that early
Please don't insult reptiles. Lots of them are cute and all of them less harmful than Mr. Trump and his cronies.
Utterly disgusting. When condolences are appropriate for the tragic loss of life from the plane crash last night, instead, we got a rant from the President of the United States blaming the two former Democratic Presidents, the DEI policy, and whoever he chose to blame for the tragedy. I had to turn off my television to grieve. I live in Charlotte, NC. The flight crew was from here. Meteorologist James Scott WCCB · Follow
5h ·
We’ve confirmed the names of the four Charlotte-based crew members on American Eagle Flight 5342. They are as follows:
Jonathan Campos - Pilot
Sam Lilley - First Officer
Danasia Elder - Flight Attendant
Ian Epstein - Flight Attendant
May their memories always be a blessing. 🕊️
This will never be normalized.
Trump is Trash. Never forget that,
And yet he has fans who defend his every word. Quite a few.
For sure.
Hi Vicky, I had just written a reply in our local on line paper about how utterly devastated
my family is. Young skaters with their parents, the crew and all others,
US Army out of Fort Belvoir, where I-was born right after it opened…..
and the “the President” condemns Biden, Obama, gays, women, blacks…
I ask: what the hell are we willing to put up with? He is garbage and is
not only ruining this nation but subjugating everyone with fear. This is
not only disgusting but a test for everyone.
Right on, Deidre. It truly is time to rise up against this monstrous insult to everything our Nation stands for.
Brava Deirdre ! Push back... Every. Single. Opportunity - from here on out !
We flunked, the election was the test
Thank you, Vicki. I have commercial pilots in my family: sister-in-law is a captain with FedEx. Niece is an FO with United, her fiancé is a captain with Horizon. Airline crashes hit home.
As a former pilots wife, it really does hit different and hard! We suffered over the years the stress of wondering and worrying. Knowing too much. We divorced years ago and he’s since retired. But you’re right! It’s a grief I wouldn’t want anyone to suffer through. The few we knew who lost their lives to plane accidents were so heartbreaking! Children growing up without their father. Families who never got to say goodbye or say I love you one last time. You just feel all over again when another tragedy happens.
I imagine the families of the 9/11 and Lockerbie tragedies feel the same way too. It just cuts through our hearts.
My daughter’s in laws were very much involved with 911! A family of public servants several were at Ground Zero. None were lost that day but an uncle died of cancer from exposure during the cleanup. Their stories are nothing short of miraculous and spine tingling!
Amazing! My sister lives in Manhattan. She was on a plane to Pittsburg when the Pittsburg plane went down. Since 9/11, she has flown only one time and has never gone to Ground Zero. That day was horrible for me and my family. My kids stayed home from school. I couldn’t find out which plane my sister was on. The lines were down. Suddenly, my phone rang at 3:30pm. I picked up and it was my sister asking what happened! I started sobbing and between tears, I told her. She said her plane was diverted to Boston but they were still on the tarmac. Fortunately she had friends she was able to stay with there. She said once they were allowed to disembark, they entered the terminal and all of the screens or boards were solid black. She later took a train back to NYC and that’s how she travels now…by train. **Our mother, who always watched the news at 10 decibels, for some reason never turned her television on that day and I never called her to tell her what happened!**
That had to be such an overwhelming relief! I can’t imagine what you went through!
My husband had just come from Boston the weekend before from flight training. We had a million calls that day of family checking on him. I don’t know why, but my mother also hadn’t turned on the news that day. Very strange for her! Then his flight was the first one out of DFW when they opened up again. I had to drive him to and from the airport. He slept for two days after he got home.
... And at a moment such as this, when families are living their worst nightmares, what some see as a 'leader' of our nation can only spout such vile, self - serving hogwash !
❤️
Female pilots! DEI hires! Too emotional, too affected by hormones, not smart enough! Only good for receiving white male sperm (whether they like it or not) and gestating babies who will help us colonize Mars after denuding our own planet of all usable resources. We are moving ever closer to a dystopian mashup of Handmaid’s Tale, 1984, and Brave New World.
Oh Vicki…I didn’t know that. 😢
So very sad. 😢
Real people who others love and will miss them! They deserve our thoughts and prayers…We all do! My heart goes out!
The Charlotte Observer has a full article about the four crew members who died and one community member who died. Very real people who had full lives.
https://www.threads.net/@nc_governor/post/DFdfyHjJhmC?xmt=AQGz41COqsDxgxlmzcahQuc4FtvJaO6cMOFLVURAKtcsoA
NC Governor Josh Stein
"When condolences are appropriate for the tragic loss of life from the plane crash last night, "
A classic Trump performance though.
It gives me the chills to read their names. Your post makes the tragedy real. I am stunned, but shouldn't be, by the lack of any compassion. None.
Do you personally believe that the midterm elections won’t be stolen? I’m holding onto that belief myself in order to stay sane, but with each passing day it feels increasingly naive.
We’ve just got to get EVERYONE TO VOTE. Let’s work on that -
First we have to undo the voter suppression tactics that have disenfranchised millions of voters. That's what rigging an election really looks like, and we saw how well it worked in 2024.
You are so right Celia. Cutting down number of days to vote, cutting number of polling places, bomb threats by Russians which closed polling places, early results by AP before all ballots are counted, cutting back mail-in voting and number of ballot boxes to use and Lies lies lies. They are eating cats and dogs etc. fat thumb on the scales of Justice…. Act local is a good way to start.
Yes ! And, how about including an omnibus voter referendum from coast to coast to coast regarding the elevation of voters rights and a failure proof rebuttal measure to Citizens United. *Calling all constitutional lawyer patriots if we have any !! In a democracy, securing the rights of voter must be the highest calling; above presidents, legislators, judges, and the 1 or 2 percent who effectively rule over all of us as though their wealth merits them more than their singular votes.
There is so much that we have to undo, and Citizens United is one of the worst decisions in terms of taking power out of people's hands. But I guess the 1% figured that they bought that Supreme Court fair and square, so they deserve it.
Agreed.
Yeah, the repubs have been working against voters for decades. The south just picks up where it left off in Jim crow times. All the MAGAts want to party like it's 1899!
One thing I gotta give them, they've been working long and hard to bring to back their dreams of the good ole days, so we've got to work harder and longer. People say "where's the resistance?" but personally I realize it's not going to cut it to put on a pussy hat and go to a couple marches. But maybe as a white person, I'm used the system working for me. We should study the Civil Rights movement, and be inspired by how black folks persevered for centuries to get their rights.
That reminds me of the 1619 project. I listened to the podcast... inspiring! I want to read the book. Her message is powerful, and best of all, it freaks out all the white supremacists!
All I'm saying is that if we want our country to reach its true promise, we need to be patient, learn from history, and make common cause with everyone else who's had to struggle against injustice.
Sadly, for now it seems they've assembled a winning coalition; Wealth, broadcast media, religious zealots, white supremacists; enough of which to harness and steer long simmering anger, disappointment, and resentments among large enough numbers. Add in the voter disenfranchisement, gerrymandering, and there it is.
Agreed!
The gerrymandering must be outlawed also.
They didn’t have to mess with any machines, simply keep targeted people from voting. It’s shameful we call ourselves a free nation when we keep so many of our fellow citizens from voting or having their votes counted. Voting should be considered a fundamental right of citizenship, and we need to reeducate our students and adults about American government.
Spot On Nickie.
Over 60,000,000 qualified U.S. Voters did not vote in the November 2024 Election.
I recall Theodore Roosevelt, the rough rider's comment on the right & wrong things to do:
"In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the Right thing,
the next best thing you can do is the Wrong thing,
the Worst thing you can do is Nothing.
Exactly this - there is work to do.
Over 60 million?? I stand corrected!
Joanna, I was trying to use a conservative stimtae of 60M
I just checked two sources:
(1). The Florida Election Lab states there are 245 Million legible voter in the U.S. but, only 36% voted leaving 89 MILLION non-voters.
(2) I checked The Guardian's 12/13/24 "What a Circus" article which tallys 90,000,000.
So I stand corrected. 🧐
re "We've just got to get EVERYONE TO VOTE":
That's an enormous task, especially considering the fact that in the 2024 presidential election, with the stakes so high and our fragile democracy hanging precariously in the balance, 36.1% of registered voters – more than a third – DIDN'T VOTE. Disgraceful. The "winner"? Autocracy.
One reason many didn't was because they were "purged" from the voter rolls. Others did vote, but their ballots were challenged and discarded. Voter suppression in action. Let's focus on that first.
But also non-participation. Voting is essential to establishment and preservation of a just democratic republic. I ran across a motto that said "Bad politicians are elected by good people who don't vote." It's not the whole story, but it's major.
"The president made the comments as he dismissed a Democratic-led push for reforms such as vote-by-mail, same-day registration and early voting as states seek to safely run elections amid the Covid-19 pandemic. Democrats had proposed the measures as part of the coronavirus stimulus. They ultimately were not included in the $2.2tn final package, which included only $400m to states to help them run elections.
“The things they had in there were crazy. They had things, levels of voting that if you’d ever agreed to it, you’d never have a Republican elected in this country again,”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/30/trump-republican-party-voting-reform-coronavirus
Pretty soon (I’m hoping) voters will see what they voted for & what they stayed home for. I’m hoping for incentive - and a miracle, I know - I’m holding out for hope, Gene. We have to do that - AND the work involved.
Getting out the vote is important for sure, but what can be done to pierce the pall of misinformation and a certain lack of caring about governance? Clone Ms Richardson? Oh to be so articulate
Good question - don’t we all just have to do something- anything ? If we don’t, the consequence’s are dire .
I don't know how we do it. I've written postcards, letters, supported Vote.org and other organizations, contributed to various campaigns. More than a million people didn't vote in this last election. How do we move the needle? I don't know. Unless people are affected in a negative way, and that is not my wish, will they go out and vote? Add to that voter suppression, gerrymandering, and all the other garbage thrown at would-be and regular voters, I'm bewildered as to how we will move the needle. I agree with you that we have to work on this. I think the Democrats have some serious work to do. Democratic "leaders" seem to be bewildered as to what to do. We need some serious leadership. We need some serious pushback as to what has happened since January 20th. We cannot afford to waste another day.
I’m reading (on Substack) Joyce Vance, Heather Richardson Cox, MeidasTouch, Robert Reich for starters. Things are getting organized .
You can go to Substack, ‘subscribe’ to who you want to read - a paywall comes up , however you can chose ‘none’ instead of payment - it’s all good.
I don’t have a tv, and prefer reading the news (less words hitting the eardrums).
Ha, and I believe he and his fascist sidekick fixed this last election….
I think they rigged it in Pennsylvania… trump actually praised Musk’s great computer skills by saying “ look what he did in PA… we won!”
How about the rump precision ear wounding?
Worse than that, I don't have any confidence that a proper investigation of this event will be made under the current administration.
A great many of us out here aren't so sure the 2024 vote wasn't stolen or rigged via Starlink.
Three words: recall elections, NOW.
Focus on a small number of swing districts. Flip them, and with them, flip Congress Democratic so they start acting like a co-equal branch of government again.
It shouldn't be hard to find enough swing districts that have buyer's remorse over their shiny new MAGA Republican representation. And it's much harder for oligarch money to swing single local elections that everyone in the country can pay attention to, instead of being able to manipulate a few of the more than five hundred races that will be happening simultaneously during the midterms.
Want a real-world example, on a small scale? On January 28, a special election in Iowa State Senate District 35 put Democrat Mike Zimmer over his Republican opponent. He won by 4 points in a district that voted for Trump by a 21 point margin in November. And Iowa is about as red as states get.
If it can happen in a state Senate race, it can happen in the House of Representatives. It would require recalling a MAGA representative, but given current and developing sentiments about our government, that probably wouldn't be a heavy lift either.
MCRA (Make Congress Relevant Again).
True, you can't recall congresscritters, but there are off-cycle elections like the one in Iowa, and it'd be fun if the house went Democrat...
But even if they're not up for election, if we are having buyer's remorse, we should be asking our reps all the hard questions and make them squirm.
There is no provision in the Constitution for recall elections for the president or members of the House or Senate. State by state, some states allow recalls of state/local officials under certain circumstances, but a lot don't.
This election was stolen from voter roles purging in the swing states for one. They are now in power and they will never go away unless we remove them other than through the ballot box. We are totally naïve to believe that we are going to have a free and fair election ever again. That is not how autocracy works. We need to all wake up and figure out another way.
Apologies if you have heard this before, but it's more relevant than ever. Another thing the loyal opposition does is an idea Timothy Snyder (who wrote On Tyranny) has been pushing for a People's (shadow) cabinet. Imagine if we had Pete speaking as people's transportation sec today! Or AOC as people's attorney general, or pick-your-favorite as people's health sec.
If anyone feels like it, you can sign this petition and >please repost< the following:
Democrats, we must get louder to respond forcefully to the administration and make them own their unpopular actions. Let's form a Democratic People's Cabinet, our best folks speaking out. Please sign and repost! Over 2.5K signed so far.
www.change.org/shadowcabinet
(see https://snyder.substack.com/p/shadow-cabinet)
Tim Snyder's shadow cabinet is a VERY good idea. It could give us unity, a focal point.
We should have an "election" of shsdow cabinet officers
Pete was great! Tim and Rachel were great! How do we encourage cowards to change their strips? By calling them out! Letters, phone calls…to every GOP governor! And more Pete!
Yes, when we were talking about “mini-primary” ideas there were ways floated to have quick elections within the Democratic party. Or the grassroots could just vote and draft people!
I wish I could sign your petition, and invoke its operation. Great idea. Sadly I’m an innocent bystander 🇨🇦
So am I. Arguing with diehard Trump fans at the WSJ that a 25% tariff won’t benefit the US. I’m told it’s punishment for an “open border.”
Fraud, do they understand that they too are going to pay those tariff? Are they ever going to stop being morons?
You are a valuable ally. Thank you!
Me too!! Canadian but following enthusiastically!!!
We appreciate our allies. We got into this mess by arrogance and indifference.
ditto
Ideally, the Democratic National Committee would play a role such as this, but that doesn't seem to be in the cards. Seems that the people's party will have to be guided by the people.
I think they’re emotionally exhausted and traumatized. Once they feel the support, hopefully they’ll regroup…
They’re in dire need of new leadership and people with new and effective ideas.
Faiz Shakir seems to fit the criteria here. look him up.
Are you the Steve Engel who has worked for DJT since 2016? Please let us know who you are working for. I am very much in favor of a Peoples Cabinet, but I do need to know that you are not the one working for DJT. Or if someone else knows who this is. I have not been able to confirm that it is not.
Have you gone to his bio? He is not an attorney. All you have to do is click on his picture and it will take you to his bio. Then you don't ask questions that are ummm embarrassing in the charged political climate.
Some of us are technologically challenged and may not know how to do that - click on the photo to go to the person's bio. For younger people, it's intuitive, but for some of us born many decades ago it's not always easy to know how to navigate and find out things.
SE does write like a camelian.
This gives me hope!!! Calling on your best!!! Inspire them!!! I’m Canadian. We need to do that here as well!!!
10 days in and planes are already falling out of the sky.
Right ? !!!
"And they put politics at a level that nobody has ever seen, because this was the lowest level. Their policy was horrible and their politics was even worse."
Trump continues his signature pathological mirroring, identifying his own horrific behaviors as that of his perceived rivals. Every candidate nominated for POTUS should be subject to a thorough and comprehensive mental health exam.
Barry, no surprises there, we know the results before the exam.
Sadly, I’m sure it goes without saying that Trump will face no accountability for any of this. Disgusting.
I don't know. I'm sitting here in front of the fire. When we don't pay attention, it starts to go out, but when we miss the warmth and the flames, we put on another log and use the bellows to make some of the embers reignite, and then the new log bursts into flame. I don't know how long it will take, but I'm guessing that disgruntlement may turn from an ember into a burning log into a raging fire. It depends on how many people get hurt by this administration and, to mix my metaphors, where their boiling point is.
A million people died of COVID on US alone. He totally mismanaged it. Inject bleach—. Ugh. Just remembered he was cured of Covid by drs he’s trying to downsize. 🤮
One of thee gop talking points is to indict Fauci for Covid deathe.
Ridiculous! Whom will they blame when Trump fails to act against bird flu, because Dr. Fauci has now retired. There will be another pandemic, this time it will be bird flu, and they are completely unprepared for it, and want RFK, Jr. in as head of HHS. He vaccinated his own kids, but makes a lot of money from telling people not to vaccinate their own kids. Disgusting!
Bird flu was gonna be his next opportunity to shit the bed but the first midair collision since 1978 jumped the line. And he will continue to blame every disaster on his watch on his personal boogeymen, DEI, Biden, Obama, etc like a misbehaving toddler. At some point, these own goals will reach a tipping point, and the Emperor’s fat naked body will be seen by all.
How will the people who voted for him find out whose fault the redultant destruction is? They will never learn it from Trump and his cohorts, who will always blame the Democrats--and Fox News will amplify the blame.
Constant and continued calling out the lies must persiat and be easily retrievable for dialogue.
They never will. Their “information” sources will tell them the mis and dis information that feeds their souls.
This is my fear, too, Constance
Agree.
What accountability? The 51 people that signed the letter saying Hunter Biden's Laptop with Russian's disinformation should be in Jail for Election Interference.
George,
The 51 signers admitted to not knowing the authenticity of the Laptop. They were perfectly justified in stating that releasing the story a month before the 2020 election seemed like a Russian disinformation operation.
Paragraph 5...
"We want to emphasize that we do not know if the emails, provided to the New York Post by President Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani, are genuine or not and that we do not have evidence of Russian involvement -- just that our experience makes us deeply suspicious that the Russian government played a significant role in this case."
https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000175-4393-d7aa-af77-579f9b330000
That doesn't seem jail-worthy to me. There was nothing ever disclosed on that Laptop to implicate Joe Biden... so how would this have affected the election if the truth had come out?
Hunter Biden didn't know then that the Laptop was his. The FBI, who had the computer at the time, was legally required not to disclose information that could affect an election (though granted, they had broken that policy in 2016 in announcing an investigation into Hillary Clinton's stolen emails - which was, in fact, a Russian disinformation campaign.)
Hunter Biden's Laptop is a nonstory. It was always a nonstory to everyone but Hunter, who was convicted of his crimes or admitted to his faults. The political use of that Laptop was a gross invasion of his privacy and a warning to us all never to leave our personal property in the hands of those we can't trust.
The 51 signers (and if you read it, you will see that there were nine additional ICs who supported the assessment - so 60 total - get it straight) were all former Intelligence officials who served under Presidents of both parties. They were patriots then, and they are patriots now.
Tim
Wtf?
Ben ,he never did he never will. A travesty of the Rule of Law.
He avoids accountability like the plague.
I'm being lazy, but here's what I posted on a Boston Globe column about the chaos on all levels:
How can our Congress confirm a slate of unqualified people to run our government?
How can anyone support a "leader" who can barely utter a statement of sympathy for the families and friends of those who died in yesterday's crash before erroneously blaming his predecessors and DEI for the deadly event?
What sort of lawless, wannabe dictator thinks that he can get away with impounding funds dedicated by Congress to making the lives of Americans better?
What kind of people support the evident cruelty of the man they elected to be our president?
Yes, elections have consequences, but those who voted because they expected action to lower the price of eggs did not expect the consequences that we have been seeing or the consequences yet to come.
Because they believed his lies even though many, many people were calling out his lies yet there is never any accountability…Only ridiculous complaints about “in real time”fact checking. What a world !!!
Tuck Frump.
Screw you.
People Died, you idiot.
People died and Donny used this opportunity to score points..apparently thinking Pete was still in charge…God I wish! The poor traffic controller would have been cared about and not worried about being fired! Imagine you are a disabled controller striving to do a good job and you learn the president, your boss, thinks you are less than human? How would you feel?
Exactly, Ryan.
Remember his 2016 campaign where he very visibly and creepily made fun of a disabled journalist?!? As I stated earlier, his sociopathy is getting worse and manifesting itself more and more
It's called "cognitive decline." He now speaks on a 5th grader's level.
A reporter challenged his accusatory rant earlier today, pointing out that we didn’t yet even the names of the victims & this should be a time for grieving, not blaming. Trump replied, “What do the names matter”?!?!?! No words…
Sociopaths gonna sociopath.
But I was so surprised and happy to hear that reporter speak up!!! Brave!!! More of this please…
Like as a result of his 1/6/2021 insurrection? Get out of the cult.
The bigger the tragedy, the bigger the circus. Absolutely shameless.
And Trump is an unfunny clown leading the show.
This deadly crash is what Project 2025 looks like. How tragically appropriate that it happened at Reagan, because ever since Reagan busted the union air traffic controllers have been working under impossible conditions. This is just a foretaste of what decimating the federal workforce and gutting regulatory agencies looks like. Please call every Republican on the Budget Committee to vote no on Vought.
Please call everyone on the Budget Committee:
.https://www.budget.senate.gov/about/committee-members.
Chair Lindsey Graham
.https://www.lgraham.senate.gov/public/.
Washington, DC 20510
Office: (202) 224-5972
His DC phone mail box may be full, call other offices
Ranking Member Jeff Merkley
.https://www.merkley.senate.gov/connect/office-locations/.
Phone: (202) 224-3753
Senate Switchboard (202) 224-3121.
Will do👍😡
Sometimes their DC phone mailboxes are full, but the links to their websites have their state office numbers.
🙏I found that out in the past, always call the local offices to leave a comment if can’t get thru to Washington. Especially important on Vought. I think he is actually the most dangerous, the biggest ideologue of the whole group.
(☞ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)☞ Thank you,Lin. I just took a screenshot of all the numbers and links to follow up in the morning and the next day and the next day and the next day. This is what Rachel Maddow was talking about. We all have to step up, step in, and save this country from evil.
Thank you for this. This is the action we all need to drill down on. For every DJT/Vance/Musk/Hegseth/Patel/Gabbard offence, the people need to remind these folks who the government is for and who they work for. Pitting their ambition against each other might help shift or slow down the senator's obeyance. And if enough are subjected to this, then the primary threat won't matter if we decide to primary them ourselves.
I will meet Senator Merkley this Sunday at a town hall meeting in Salem. I am planning to ask him about Donald Trump's ominous message to evangelical Christians during the campaign: “Get out and vote. Just this time. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what? It’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine, you won’t have to vote anymore.” Trump does not speak idly.
As Rachel Maddow pointed out, the explosion of one of Musk’s SpaceX rockets recently caused multiple passenger planes to have to suddenly divert in flight to avoid falling wreckage. The head of the FAA that resigned the day Trump took office had grounded SpaceX rockets due to safety concerns .
It's too bad Elmo wasn't riding that rocket.
“MeidasTouch posted: ‘Trump's handling of this situation should be treated as one of the biggest scandals in presidential history.’”
After reading stories about Trumpists’ handling of the D.C. air disaster, I wrote to the editors of The NY Times and Washington Post that they should publish editorials urging opponents of Trumpism in the US House of Representatives to bring forward the first call for impeachment of Trump. It won’t be voted on given the make up of the House, but it will be the first shot across the bow of Trumpism’s leaky wooden boat.
If “DEI” is the reason for the plane collision, and if he hates people of color that much, why does he use spray tan **to make his skin look DARKER**?
Trump will never admit the truth—his first instinct is always to deflect, blame, and fabricate. The real tragedy isn’t just the disaster itself, but the fact that we have a president who prioritizes self-preservation over real leadership. It’s up to the rest of us to make sure the facts don’t get buried under his lies.
He doesn’t seem to think first. Just says whatever comes into his head.
That is because his instinct is to strike back first at others. He never accepts responsibility for anything.
I thought Nixon was the worst president I would ever see. Unfortunately, trump beats him a thousand times. Dispicable.
First Nixon, then Bush, Jr. Now Trump. The only worse person I can think of would be JD Vance.
You forgot Ronnie the Ray Gun, described perfectly by James Garner who worked with him in SAG: "amiable dunce."
Jane, I never thought it possible that any president could actually make Nixon look good. And yet, here we are. 🙄
I said that very thing tonight!!
👊🏻<fistbump>
👊
My dad has said Trump makes GWB look like a statesman.
And Jane, Trump will be the worst *2* presidents.
It's a new low but as between Nixon, Andrew Johnson undoing the Civil War and Trump it's hard to distinguish the all time worst. BUT Trump has another 1460-10.5 days to separate himself from that crowd.
In 'that' regard, I'm sure he will reign easily.
Deplorable…I love that word!!!
Trump and his minions are worse than last time. Last time was pretty bad. Woe is us.
Stephen Miller’s still with the team…wormtongue more than ever! God, he’s living slime!
100 percent. He's pulling the strings Rasputin incarnate.
The reincarnation of Reinhard Heydrich should re-experience his last departure, back in 1943...
It was a close run thing getting reinhardt on that departure flight ' but they did it.....!!
He really is such a weasel!!!
I said that about Ted Cruz after seeing his smarmy face after he was elected. My brother, who detests Trump & Co. as much as I do, says, what do you have against weasels? He thought it an insult to weasels to compare them to Cruz.