Late last night, just before a court deadline, former president Trump’s lawyers requested that his trial for illegally keeping national security documents be postponed indefinitely. While the lawyers argued that they were interested in protecting American democracy, falsely accusing President Biden of advancing the case in hopes of weakening his “chief political rival,” in fact the desire to push off the trial suggests that Trump realizes he’s in big trouble. His advisors have told reporters that he expects to end that trouble by winning the election. In the filing, his lawyers warned that as the “likely Republican Party nominee,” he would not have enough time to manage a trial.
It disturbs me greatly that one Senator, Sinator (sic) Tuberville, can stop the confirmation of 250 military officers including the next Commandant of the Marines! All because the usual way to confirm them is by unanimous consent. Otherwise its a long, long process to confirm each one by a vote. Maybe they should amend the Senate rules to be near unanimous consent like 98% is enough. Sounds like the Senate rules need to put in some checks and balances to prevent one senator having inordinate power like Sinator Manchin for another example. It really is a sin to have people who put personal power over the good of the nation and its People in Congress.
And now, obviously, real evidence against Trump is proving that his corruption has gone waaay up the ladder of Republicans even through the Supreme Court! "When law makers break the law, there is no law" said Billy Jack (Anyone remember that movie??)
I remember that there was such a movie, though I did not see it. What a nail-on-the-head statement though; something an authentic democrat and an authentic republican would agree on. That would apply to law enforcers and law interpreters as well. We all have responsibilities to our society's democratically rendered social contract, but those paid and trusted to promote and protect the public's interests and unalienable human rights have accepted critical additional duties. Those who substantially and deliberately abuse that trust, e.g., corruption, are effectively traitors.
IMO, Tuberville is committing what I call Constitutional Original Sin. He is imposing his RELIGIOUS beliefs on the nation, on the people, on the military. That is anti-American. That is totalitarianism. Which is weakening our nations defense. How is that defensible?
Everyone has a right to a personal view of abortion, marriage or how to brew beer at home. But nobody has the right to force those beliefs on others.
Why is the Democratically controlled Senate so quiet about this monster? Why aren't they changing the rules? Manchin, Sinema? Where are the military personnel? Where are the veterans?I am hearing crickets.
My sentiments exactly regarding FB. I ditched them over a year ago and I am much happier. I get my news from credible news sources such as the Guardian, Means Morning News, The Seattle Times and of course Heather. All while loathing FB and Twitter.
with FB, as is often the case on any site, what you learn, the information you share and receive from others has lot to do with what you yourself present or say. I've ended up connecting with some amazing, very intelligent activists, artists, writers..many of them are very successful in what they do, and very gifted.
I really wish that all ppl, agencies, companies & orgs could kick the habit. They are cutting me and many others who are not addicted to those despicable sites off of their info.
Try listening to younger, independent newscasters (who are also lawyers!) on the Midas Touch network. They are unapologetic-ally PRO-democracy!!! Especially Michael Popock and Glenn Kirschner - check them out!!
Bill, as a vet I agree that we have to keep the best leadrship confirmed and what Tubby is doing is disgraceful, but the D's just are two votes short to change the rules as I suspect both Manchin and Sinema are holding back---so it's not the whole Senate that is complicit--just Rs
I hear you. I understand the mechanics of this. But sometimes an outrageous and insulting situation presents such a threat to our nation that a powerful statement should be made. I would like to see the Democrats in the Senate lose some decorum. Lay down in the aisles, throw tomatoes, rally vets and the families of service members to protest. Something to make it clear that the Republicans are now NOT the party of patriotism.
OK, I'll calm down. Maybe this will be one of the key campaign issues that brings us the Blue Tsunami and Blue Trifecta November 2024. Irony of ironies is that Alabama has several military bases. Will Tommy Tuberville be the campaign gift that keeps on giving?
Remember when Republicans portrayed themselves as the party of national security and law and order? Now they are the party of craven surrender and criminality.
In voting for "The Old Ball Coach", the military forces in Alabama got just what they wanted, a dik-headed monster. They man doesn;t care one wit about the oath he took to defend our country. We have every reason to charge him with treason!
What Alabamians got was, number one, an ex-football coach including a long stint at Auburn. That alone would sway a large swath of Alabama voters. Number two - he's a "good ole boy" - doesn't say it outright, even denies it, but is racist nonetheless and white folks down there know it. He'll do what he can to keep the blacks in their place. Third - he is (or claims to be) an evangelical Christian. That gets a ton of votes in deep south states for sure. Doug Jones, during the brief time he was Senator, was just what Alabama needed in the Senate. A semi-conservative with a brain. A way to show that progress is being made in Alabama to join the country rather than represent the Confederacy. But no - Alabamians showed their true colors by rejecting a fine Senator (Jones) and inserting a wholly unqualified bigot (Tuberville) instead. That dolts like him keep finding their way into our national government continues to enrage me, and reminds me that all my life I was mistaken about the special position American voters deserved.
Treason is the only crime defined in the Constitution, and his offenses don’t fit it. But he is the stupidest member of the Senate, maybe in the past 100 years.
True, Tuberville's conduct doesn't amount to treason, but what Trump did with those missing 48 documents, and more, might. How to explain the sudden deaths last summer of some who were close to Putin? Were they informants? Did Putin learn this from documents given to him by Trump? Is it just a coincidence?
trump took the documents in January of 2021. In October and November of 2021 a large number of CIA agents were outed. A coincidence? trump would sell his daughter for the right price.
I agree and I think that U.S. Intelligence knows it. I am hoping that they have disclosed this info to Judge Cannon so that she will give TFG no leeway. If TFG's treason were disclosed there would be a huge eruption in this country and those 50 million supporters would not change their allegiance to him. We're in a very serious and dangerous pickle.
Definitely sedition on Jan. 6, seditious conspiracy. But, the documents, particularly the missing ones, that could well be a different crime. Giving aid and comfort to the enemy is treason. Even Jan. 6 could qualify as treason, an attempt to overthrow the lawful government of the U.S. Obviously, I think the absolute worst of Trump but not without reason.
We don't know why he held onto the documents, but I'm inclined to believe that he handled them so carelessly because he didn't understand their potential value. That could be why he dug in his heels, decided to turn it into a Trump as Victim scenario, and it snowballed. He might then have decided that he'll fight the charges and that no jury in Florida would ever convict him.
Love this! He’s been my “favorite “ Congressional idiot for years. Not one lick of sense or actual recognition of facts has ever been exhibited by him.
Yeah really Cathy. Usually there are good reasons for Senate rules or norms. I would like to have someone explain just why unanimous consent is a good idea.
If we can pass a 'budget' comprised of a couple of thousand pages and involving trillions of dollars, I don't understand why we couldn't put all 265 names in one bill and pass them. Sometimes the 'rules' that the Senate notionally operates under seem more like reasons not to take any action that might engender responsibility for the results.
Here’s a suggestion: if everyone online here plus your friends called his office in DC and SC often and express yourselves as to how you are disturbed by his disgraceful penalty to our military, it might provide him with a reason to stop his disgraceful conduct
It’s getting clearer day by day that entire federal democracy is on the line in Nov 24! Trump is more deranged than ever and when Fani Willis delivers, he will go stark crazy as well as Lindsey (my prediction he will be among those indicted)! So the answer is, my friends, our youth, women 18 to 35, and as a new poll indicates--conservative women in suburbs relatively near big cities and aged 35 to 44 who are justifiably worried about the health and lives of their daughters! Makes sense?
So we desperately need all your help; please go to www.turnup.us/ to help these brilliant young Harvard students register the young men and women and their conservative mothers and TURN THEM Out! Please? Our democracy depends on them! Many thanks all!
Ira, I hope that you’re right about Lindsey! Once he lost his rudder (John McCain), he was ready to become a pilot fish for TFG. He got fed up for about 5 minutes on January 6, but he’s been loyal since then (even when his leader humiliated him at a rally in his own state).
Ira, While your reasoning is sound, this far out, I’m hesitant to draw any final conclusions as to which segments of the population will be most critical in 24. On an other matter, as someone who, for some time, has followed TurnUP, has held them in high regard, and has contributed whenever I can, I greatly appreciate your repeated plugs.
Voting engagement per capita is least among the young, so there is a lot of potential there, especially as self-absorbed policies mess with their future.
@J L, I agree with your assessment and also would note that registering voters when they first become eligible to vote correlates with increasing youth voter turnout. Hence, the immeasurable contribution of organizations such as TurnUP and The Civics Center.
Thank you Pat--I too am a League of Women Voters member and we have a very active group that goes to our St. Louis area high schools to register seniors. It is the one thing that gives me some hope in the future that the state of Misery (aka Missouri) might become sane again.🗽
I too am a member. Just asked the Missoula group about this program. I am wonder if the EChurches have caught onto this & registering voters after services
Thanks for the turnup compliment; as to segments of the population, I think there is no question that all youth 18 to 25 in cities, burbs, community and tech colleges, women 25 to 35, and some carefully researched conservative mothers to age 44 are undeniably the keys in 24 on nonpartisan C3 appeals to vote on abortion, guns and climate as well as student debt--the older folks are more predictable but not enough votes to win anything without the young and in 26-28, the absolute majority shifts to the younger entirely
Ira, I wouldn’t dispute any of your analysis. Still, because the general election season is nearly a year away, I believe it behooves all of us to track developments we might not have anticipated that could be consequential.
I’m right with you on this and am already writing postcards to young people through Seniors Taking Action that partners with several groups including Field Team 6, Tony the Democrat, and The Civics Center. Would love to learn more about your group 😊
Susan, here's a little exercise for us, the difference that Supply Side Economics and Demand Side Economics and how each affects our economy. An example of Supply Side Economics (Trickle Down Economics) is the $2.0 trillion tax break that TFG and the Republican-controlled Congress doled out to the large corporations and the wealthy in 2017. What effect did this have on the national economy, on our national debt? And then Demand Side Economics where Pres. Biden wanted to forgive $1.6 trillion of student debt. There are 40 million with student debt. Had the Biden plan gone through, 40 million would have arguably had an average of $40,000 each to spend. What would this have done for the U.S. economy?
We have a group that meets every Tuesday evening to write postcards, send texts and more. The group's name is The Snowflakes, a moniker adopter after TFG said that we'd melt like snowflakes. I bake brownies for the group. It's great for socializing. Best to connect with the local Democratic Party or one of its clubs.
I am involved with several different clubs here in Imperial Polk County, Florida (this used to be the headquarters of the KKK) as well as the Democratic Executive Committee, the Democratic Party for Polk County.
Their funding is big R donors and dark money; Manchin might bite and run but hard to see more than 5% or so but you are right as it would bite into moderate Rs who won't vote for T---but a long way to go with many twists in the road!
The stories of Republicans imploding are spreading. A physical fight at a meeting of Michigan GOP leaders, the Arizona Republican Party running out of money, and so on. The so-called Freedom Caucus, hell-bent to paint Biden as a criminal, are making fools of themselves with wild allegations that blow up in their faces at scam hearings. They're all floundering, which of course makes them all the more dangerous and unpredictable. The saving grace? They're half as clever as they think they are and as bright as a burned out bulb.
While you are worried about Republican usual tantrums (which I agree with you sometimes they are barbaric, undemocratic, and out of common sense), I am worried about the ineffective use of economic sanctions in the US foreign policy. Today, HCR told us that surprisingly Turkey's President Endogan has soften his stand to the surprise of the allies, perhaps in anticipation of the sale of military weapons from the US. While this can be an opportunity for US soften its stand and revive a new path, this move will stand to benefit Turkey albeit for a short-term. President Tyyp Erdogan seems to be saying "let me see how you receive me when I call on you." This can be a turn-around approach for US in its relations with Turkey, but the overall plan of foreign policy is no longer as effective as as had been in the past. In the 20th century, while US had banned the use of economic sanctions, Europeans embraced it fully. But, today, the reverse is true with US dishing out as many economic weapons of sanctions as much as possible. Every slightest uproar from North Korea to Russia, America runs to the store of economic sanctions. Europe no longer value so much about economic sanctions even in NATO and they are reluctant to implement, but the US has remained rigid in its tactics.
European Union wants to protect its trade with Iran
Africa has started cordial relationships with Iran (Today, Iranian President is in Kenya).
In response, support Africa where feasible, continue to build NATO and alliances, sanctions have hurt Russia and Iran, but allowing dictatorships in Africa to thrive isn't healthy and if necessary. We are already sending help to the people of Africa in many nations and there are organizations which supply food for undernourished. How much can the US do? A lot more if we tax corporations and the wealthy!
China's and Russia's courting of Africa is reaching its limits--Africa is starting to realize what the cost is to have China come in and build infrastructure. The extreme exploitation of the raw minerals and metals is the price the price paid. Also, eternal war with Wagner types propping up warlords, again for a price. Nothing soft about that. Of course, it takes time to shake off these parasites.
You complain and complain. What do you think all the different European countries and all the different African countries and the US and Canada and Mexico do? I am interested in your proposed solutions, not just the problems you see. Thanks!
Yet millions of American voters will vote for them in 2024. Look at the harm they have done in our State legislatures. Watch how the Freedom Caucus Republicans will all get re-elected. There must be an antidote for the poisons spread through social media that nourish the lies that get people to vote for them. It has been said that 'knowledge is power.' Well, ignorance also has power in determining election results ... and we all suffer the consequences.
Someone has to think up all that BS, but you are partly right: the republican rank & rabble don't think. They just repeat what they hear, and that's usually false.
It's funny how the extreme right calls democrats "communists." They do not realize that the engine of the Soviet State was run on crazy propaganda, much like the Republican party today.
That notion is an unforced error of the Left. Republicans 'thought' enough of capturing the Supreme Court that they united a disparate right wing to vote for Donald Trump. And that took Republicans up and down the line and across the nation thinking up effective tactics to grab hold the levers of political power.
Thank you Prof Richardson for the upbeat finale to this day’s very mixed report. I’d say President Biden is leaning into his years of deep relationship building w many powerful leaders from a broad and deep array of different histories and cultures each of whom live in democracies w various National “flavors”.
Simply put, I want our President to feel our support and revel in his expertise.
If anyone wants to defend tuberville by doubting that he understands what white nationalism means, I am willing to stipulate to it. The poor man obviously isn't very bright.
Other than that, I think he probably is a racistic screwball too.
My husband suggested a "Beau of the Fifth Column" video on Tuberville and military promotions. The upshot is that Tuberville really does not understand how the checks and balances of power in the government work. While his Right-wing supporters think he is making a "stand" on military policy, in actuality he has handed complete control of the command structure of the military to Biden, who can appoint say, an Acting Commandant to the Marines who will be obeyed in the chain of command the same as if he were confirmed.
It’s just a thought, but in my opinion, Biden is a believer in the balance between the three branches of gov’t and would prefer it to act/run routinely. I think he dislikes being put in the position of having to appoint “acting” leadership positions—regardless of branch of gov’t, unless Congress will not/chooses not to do its duty. I think he will, if necessary, appoint such positions but realizes the implications and will not be an opportunist. Unlike Trump who, apparently, preferred to appoint positions as “acting” so he could bypass scrutiny/confirmation of candidates by Congress and install whomever he wished even if the person was unsuited/ill equipped to do the job. I appreciate Biden’s steady hand and adherence to the balance-of-power traditions that guides us.
Ah… now I understand: he’s throwing a Hail Mary pass, typically made in desperation and with little chances for success (alas, it’s working for him so far).
It's beyond me why tfg is not under house arrest waiting for his various trials, but still allowed to run around holding rallies and spewing his vile lies. How can he be busy with campaigning and no time for standing overdue trial? Is there anybody that cannot see through his continuing delay tactics that are pretty much proof that he is guilty?
In my humble opinion, i think TUMP should have been jailed pending trial... I knew he was going to try to delay, delay, delay... that's his best defense... let him rot in jail for all i care.
That's what Trump does, delay, delay, pontificate, procrastinate but has plenty of time run all.over holding rallies and DON'T FORGET GOLFING. Holy cow, the poor, poor Trump is really under a lot of pressure. Too bad.
Ha, just as I read your comment, a movie image popped to mind…I think it was of Anthony Hopkins playing Hannibal Lecter & he had a gag/face mask thingy on….yeah, let’s get one of those for TFG….we can even customize it and color it orange…..(oh, and maybe the straight jacket too!)
Makes me wonder what would have happened if Al Capone had been an indicted political candidate. Would the judicial system have accommodated his campaign schedule?
This is not an original thought, but remember that running for president is tfg’s choice, being indicted for crimes against our democracy is not. Why should our legal system bow to his choice?
Sounds like a poorly made up excuse to me. Trump's lawyers are grasping at straws. Trump does not manage a trial, his lawyers manage Trump's legal trial and legal problems. Who do his lawyers think they are kidding? Trump hasn't got enough brains to manage a trial let alone one of his golf courses.
Again, President Biden’s keen negotiating skills and his extensive international experience shine through. This needs to be lauded in the main media. Being President of the United States is complicated; Biden is doing a stellar job.
The criminally indicted Trump whose ignorant incoherence about any presidential responsibility never had a clue from day to day; he lied about everything, promising followers everything they wanted but never came through — except for tax gifts to the very rich.
The contrast could not be clearer: a highly competent, experienced President who understands the complications of the most difficult job in the world and does excellent work versus an increasingly demented sociopath who knows nothing and cares for nothing, except manipulating people to “further his own interests”, the snake oil con man.
It’s another masterpiece. Hard on the gut, though. Still as disturbing a mass of data as we have seen in a while. I keep wondering if the F-16’s are for the Kurds and if yes, will there be a response. We have already betrayed them three times. Will we again?
Yes, I remember when Trump walked out on the Kurds in Syria leaving our Kurdish Allies holding the bag. And Trump had the audacity to say that our military didn't leave any functioning oil wells as they left. Those oil wells were allowed to spill oil all over the ground leaving devastation upon the inhabitants of Syria. Nice guy, The Trump.
Excellent point, Virginia. Erdogan is a brutal, anti-democratic autocrat (sorry for the redundancy) in the same vein as MBS, Netanyahu, Orban, Putin, Duterte, Trump etc. The Kurds are truly history's scrappy, always beleaguered and frequently betrayed underdogs. American foreign policy has supported them while simultaneously exploiting them in recent years, while in the past has indirectly oppressed them by supporting the horrific governments in Iran, Iraq, Syria and to a lesser extent in pre-Erdogan Turkey, all countries wherein the Kurdish minority is systematically oppressed. Since Erdogan has been in power, he has increased Kurdish oppression.
We should neither be providing F-16s to Turkey, nor providing the horrific weapons of war criminals, cluster bombs, to Ukraine.
"Betrayal" is always so subjective (to Virginia's initial word). RTE is in a tough spot, as any leader straddling the Asia/European border is. Many in that space regard the U.S as that which you assign Erdogan: it is a matter of perspective. Turkey has had a history of being forced to pick allies for decades, and has mostly chosen the West for its security against the threat from the east and south. The US has reflexively ignored internal issues. We do it all the time with China, but ignore most of what we want to make as an issue (with Turkey) based on not-interrupted trade and populating our, "Dollar General" stores...
Our, "picking and choosing," by public opinion and acceptance of who is and who is not a, "brutal, ant-democratic autocrat," seems to be subjective at best and not tied to coherent international policy. It always seems to devolve into assessments of imposing Western ideals into situations that the West would like to impose ideals on, but have no business in doing so.
The US has a poor track-record in imposing Democracy and human rights on the rest of the World, even, ostensible when it helps to topple, "dictators." Many times it comes at the cost of many lives when the ask is to support the change that was hoped-for in the sense that we never stay and see it through. That lack of long-term commitment is obvious In many developing countries that the US historically, "incubated," democracy in and this is collectively known as, "blowback." Many of our efforts around the globe suffer from it...
Yet, it should be noted that prior to Erdogan, Turkey was arguably the most democratic nation state in the Moslem world, save for its perpetually terrible treatment of the Kurds. Erdogan turned what was once a model of semi-West/semi-East democracy into a semi-theocracy and a rogue, albeit sophisticated state.
I often wonder how things would be if we basically took all of our "allies" in the region to the proverbial woodshed, cut off significant amounts of financial assistance, and informed them in no uncertain terms that reforms are necessary. Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and a few more
And yet, it seems that if this stupid war goes on and on untill Ukraine has exhausted all it's troops, we will have accomplished Putin's goak: kill them all. I'd rather do without the Kremlin than Ukraine. War is justvsloopy population control in order to rob other countries resources.
We continue to support Ukraine militarily, but not with weapons that are in and of themselves war crime vectors and vehicles. The idea that Ukraine will be overrun in the absence of these horrific weapons is preposterous. It's up there with the myth that we would not have defeated the Japanese in WWII without committing the greatest war crime in history, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Do you ANY suggestion AT ALL as to how else Ukraine is to be aided in responding to the ultimate war crime, waging aggressive war against a sovreign state? Or does international law mean nothing at all to you?
I don't understand your question. I thought I provided a suggestion. And how could you paradoxically insinuate that international law means nothing to me while I am defending it?
I don't know how y'all feel, but I sure find that HCR's and JWV's perspectives often complement one another and form something greater than just the sum of the two.
Each new day seems worse for Trump. If Judge Cannon keeps the trial on a tight schedule — a very big if — then Trump likely faces campaigning while awaiting sentencing to federal prison. That on top of other likely serious criminal charges.
What happens if his fragile, demented psyche breaks amid the crushing onslaught of justice? Will he last through the election or open the door earlier for another vile Republican?
The most vile Fascist Rethuglican would be, Death DeSatan. He has already made the state of Florida a Fascist state. If he was elected, he would do the same to the United States.
I do agree, he would slouch around on a golf course, or stay holed up in his Mar a Lardo crap hole. Death DeSatan would be even a worse Dictator than TUMP would.
I'm usually very liberal, however lately I see a pattern. This is my opinion that I sent my local newspaper: My 2 cents
As a daughter of a Navy Veteran, grandmother of 7 (almost 8), I am at the point now where I believe the charge of treason and censorship needs to be directed to Senator Tuberville and members of the far right that are stopping the promotions of the military and defense spending threatening the security and integrity of the United States. It is fine to have disagreements. The process of discussion is healthy, but the ability of a few to destroy the integrity of the United States is what is destroying thisemocracy. It’s the reason that the Supreme Court is now taking away 50-60 years of rights that we have protected and wanted. It has created a division of the diversity of this progressive, beautiful country. They need to be stopped now. When it starts to take away law and order on which the constitution is based and of the ability to retain talented service personnel, it’s time to look at censorship/treason charges as that is the effect of their actions. PS Senator Tuberville is not on a football field where winner takes all. He needs to grow up. Write your legislators!
Thank you Dr.; Richardson. I am still reeling from the New York Times report of Trump's lawyers request for an indefinite stay of trial. I have started a response on my Newsletter. But it is the most horrific thing I have read in days.
...yet entirely predictable Fay! That has been tRump's tactic in every legal mess he has gotten into. Why would this one (and the next and the next) be any different?
Virginia Witmer used the phrase "hard on the gut," referencing HCR's letter. Very true, and what baffles me is that the various MAGA positions and demands create strife, uncertainty, and the goal of an authoritarian gov't diametrical to a constitutional republic. Their leader would be a dicktater in this case, not smart enough to be a classical dictator, and the very voters who installed him in a lifetime ruling position would be the ones who pay the piper.
We frequently are treated to photos and video interviews with this crowd, ambassadors of a culture representing a seemingly non-existent educational system, a lack of civility, and on and on.
Why do they want an overthrow of our gov't? Why do they think times would be better for them? I asked a Vietnam vet the question as he displayed his Trump commemorative gold coin, and all I got for a response was minor name-calling and sputtering about communism.
Try as I might, I can conjure up no valid, positive explanation for their behavior other than to stick it to the current administration, and create a new society which welcomes random vigilanteism, against their minority group du jour. The prospects are hard on the gut alright, and on the mind, well, I can't find the words. Devastating for certain, but that isn't enough. Cataclysmic?
I am leaving off my sense that the roots of these threats run back to Eisenhower's warning about a military-industrial complex, through Nixon, Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, and the most recent disaster number 45.
Jobs? It doesn't appear that many of them even work. The border? Can we accomodate Nationalism and Global Capitalism together? Immigrants? Who else creates a thriving economy? Florida is the petri dish for that experiment. Regarding that state (of confusion,) Farmers Ins and others are withdrawing from the homeowner market there, citing losses, corruption with contractor lawsuits, weather damage, etc. If a homeowner loses coverage, will banks issue protection for their mortgages, or will mortgages become unavailable? I just do not know.
I ponder this too, Ed, and I appreciate your articulate agonizing expressed tonight. I don't know the "answer", assuming there is one answer either.
Sometimes I think that it is no coincidence that Trump followed the Presidency of the first African American President, a man who was everything Trump wasn't and could never be. Polished, handsome, bright, deliberative, thoughtful, empathetic, bearing the map of America on his very persona and loving it while recognizing its flaws.
Race is definitely a big part of the MAGA appeal, but I don't think it's the whole thing. Maybe it's the fact that in recent years a hard and true mirror has been placed before our collective faces, and we see the Dorian Gray-esque fissures and fragments that we have buried for so long in our collective flag waving, over confident subconscious. Maybe it's because, as James Baldwin once said when asked why people hate, "Because they can't stand the pain".
I concur with your assessment that 45's election was no coincidence, and/but he has not won the popluar vote either time. If coincidence is not a factor, then either the 2016 effort was regression to the mean, or, more likely, revenge. I slept on this for a while, and revenge permeates every aspect of their outlook, their attempts to deny Biden's victory, and so on.
Do you think that they feel pressure by "equality for all, justice for all, room at the trough for all," diminishing the millenial run of white power and white supremacy? But WS does not explain the efforts to exclude Dems from participation in gov't or the New Christian church either. So it must be that Dems are viewed as more accepting of minorities, giving away "their rightful stuff," which they don't even earn themselves.
Does the resentment devolve from those red states being net receptors of funds and services that blue states provide? I am more baffled now.
I think the Repubs know that they are in demise, losing party members, losing elections. So, instead of finding the last shred of wisdom deeply buried somewhere in their ranks, they turn up their old favorite: fear mongering. They are in full defensive mode, all-out attacks, because that's all they have. No policies, no plan for a future America. It's all "tear it down" because that's all they got.
Remember the Russian interference in 2016, the disinformation and trolls and bots, all done with or at the behest of republicans who desperately want to win no matter -- ala Newt Gingrich who's still around peddling the ease with which politicians can and should lie.
Times *would* be better for a lot of the people who are driving MAGA outrage. For certain white and religions that are already in the seats of power flipping the levers, it would seal their powers and let their offspring continue to prosper at unprecedented rates. As for the less wealthy MAGAs whose economic prospects have been sliding backwards in the more rural areas and red states, they get a sense of community, self-righteousness, get to feel superior to the libtards, women, and LGBTQIA, and can be the heroic 'happy' warriors, with no real consequences for their hate and violence. All of this goes back to the Civil War, and our incomplete absorption of the South--all Nixon did with his Southern Strategy and Reagan with his trickle-down economy was exploit what was always there in us.
Ed, I have long felt the same confusion and bafflement about MAGA. All of your questions and explanations have been in my head as well. Yesterday I read Dan Rather’s substack, Steady, and perhaps found some coherence. The newsletter is titled “The MAGA Party” and basically asserts that the party atmosphere and MMA-style competition are the appeal to many. All of the cynically crafted theater (and we can guess who the puppet masters are) is intended to sate the desire for real life to imitate that theater.
Mr. Rather cites work from New York Times columnist David French, a libertarian evangelical living in Tennessee who left the Republican Party over Donald Trump. Mr. Rather states, “ French is getting at an important consideration of Trump’s power. He is a showman and a provocateur. His rhetorical techniques tend toward mean-spirited humor over thunderous condemnation. And his “jokes” resonate with his audience.”
We don't appreciate or understand how much of trump's appeal came from the WWE and the Apprentice show. He was shown as some sort of super hero and many people bought into it. I never realized from where his following came because I never watched those shows but they were enormously popular.
I have also been wondering about this. It's like they do not see where this is going, or that they see it and they want to be on the ship before it sails so they don't end up being the plebes when the plutocrats take control of the government. In the end, it comes down to ignorance in my opinion, and I think it has always been the case that the ignorant crave a benevolent king who will provide for them and keep them safe. That way, they can resign themselves to debauchery and an apathy to anything regarding a concern for the humanity of others who may not look or think like them. Smart people scare them, so they don't listen and they don't want to know. It's a pretty scary thought, and it's why we fight against it.
Intelligence scares a lot of people, as if "smart folks" - WAIT a Minute! You just gave me an idea! Maybe smart people are thought to have some sort of x-ray vision, who can see right through their machinations, their meanness, nastiness, vindictiveness, and be able to judge and dismiss them. Maybe they feel naked and exposed .
Maybe they clump together to reinforce and reassure themselves that someone else feels the way they do. Their problem, their giveaway, is that they are incoherent when trying to dress up their emotions in public, hence the interesting interviews where they sound like like they never even drove past a school, much less stepped into one.
Maybe they were raised to believe that a person of a minority could not possible achieve much, certainly much less than the average cracker white person, and THAT is where their god has failed them. So they gravitate toward a new Christian Nationalist god who speaks only to them, who can help them "purify" this country.
I recall sitting at an upscale bar during a Friday happy hour in 1980, and listening to joe average talking to the well-dressed black man next to him. Joe said he was concerned about an ophthalmology appointment the next day, and that he had heard the surgeon was away. Joe said to the black man, who was encouraging, "what if he's replaced by a n***r? The black man just nodded. I still would like to have seen joe the patient's look when he found out the next day that guess who the replacement was? Yep, that very black man.
If anyone thinks there are easy answers to relations between Russia, Ukraine, and NATO countries, they don’t know history.
“Liana Fix, European fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations about President Biden : “For Europe, he represents a nostalgia for the 20th century, which was based on shared values, when the West was strong and the relations were clear with the Cold War.” There’s more than the Cold War between Russia and countries it’s battling, including Lithuania. My relatives escaped Kiev and Vilnius and the Czar in the early 1900s. The battle for land and power is centuries old. Once Czars and Cossacks. Now Putin and modern and the deadliest of war machines. Including land mines/cluster munitions used in other wars including Vietnam. These are permanent because they do not all explode and often remain where the civilians, especially children may be injured, maimed or killed. There are military reasons for providing and using these weapons. But it looks like endless war and a land that will be dangerous for generations. I’m sickened by the war mentality on the road to Peace. Is Peace forever a Dream? There’s a song of course. Find the music online. We know it all by heart.
Russians have been using their cluster bombs on Ukrainian cities, schools, markets, and hospitals, like they did in Syria, Georgia, and Chechnya. Sometimes, it is necessary to escalate the violence to end it. Cluster munitions will demoralize as many Russian soldiers as they kill. Which should hasten their defeat. I think this is the only way to deal with Putin.
Ted, I understand the strategy. And that there is a strategy. It’s the dilemma and history and predictably that are so heartbreaking and accepted. Especially the death of children and a land. And a country and the “collateral damage.” War never ends.
At the very least, we can be on the right side of history here, as in WW2. Presuming the west was divided and weak was Putin's error. Will his occupation outlast the the NATO coalition's support all the way through the next electon cycles? Or will we stop him prior to those upcoming election? The longer the war the more Ukrainian civilans will die by Russian bombs. The shorter the war more Russian soldeirs need to die and more territory taken back. I'm taking the lesser of the two evils.
It disturbs me greatly that one Senator, Sinator (sic) Tuberville, can stop the confirmation of 250 military officers including the next Commandant of the Marines! All because the usual way to confirm them is by unanimous consent. Otherwise its a long, long process to confirm each one by a vote. Maybe they should amend the Senate rules to be near unanimous consent like 98% is enough. Sounds like the Senate rules need to put in some checks and balances to prevent one senator having inordinate power like Sinator Manchin for another example. It really is a sin to have people who put personal power over the good of the nation and its People in Congress.
It really is a sin to have people who put personal power over the good of the nation and its People in Congress.
AKA "corruption".
And now, obviously, real evidence against Trump is proving that his corruption has gone waaay up the ladder of Republicans even through the Supreme Court! "When law makers break the law, there is no law" said Billy Jack (Anyone remember that movie??)
I remember that there was such a movie, though I did not see it. What a nail-on-the-head statement though; something an authentic democrat and an authentic republican would agree on. That would apply to law enforcers and law interpreters as well. We all have responsibilities to our society's democratically rendered social contract, but those paid and trusted to promote and protect the public's interests and unalienable human rights have accepted critical additional duties. Those who substantially and deliberately abuse that trust, e.g., corruption, are effectively traitors.
I remember the movie, Billy Jack. The song from the movie, One Tin Soldier, still brings a tear to my eye.
Billy Jack was huge in in our area near Palestine, TX.
We all saw it at the former outdoor theatre there.
It was also huge in our area of North Central Texas, (Denison). I live in San Antonio now.
Unfortunately he’s not the only one.
IMO, Tuberville is committing what I call Constitutional Original Sin. He is imposing his RELIGIOUS beliefs on the nation, on the people, on the military. That is anti-American. That is totalitarianism. Which is weakening our nations defense. How is that defensible?
Everyone has a right to a personal view of abortion, marriage or how to brew beer at home. But nobody has the right to force those beliefs on others.
Why is the Democratically controlled Senate so quiet about this monster? Why aren't they changing the rules? Manchin, Sinema? Where are the military personnel? Where are the veterans?I am hearing crickets.
Heather addressed the why in her talk on Tuesday.
Thanks. I won't visit FB - I can't support the platform that brought us nightmare after nightmare.
I know about the Senate dynamics. But what I am not hearing is enough outrage and demands for this Senators objections to be overridden.
Here is a link from the DOD describing how bad this is.
https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/3453605/senate-nominations-hold-stalls-hundreds-of-military-leader-appointments/
Over 100 million people have signed up for Threads. What a shame. We need more social media like a damn hole in the head.
And Tuberville is about as intelligent as the average garden slug.
My sentiments exactly regarding FB. I ditched them over a year ago and I am much happier. I get my news from credible news sources such as the Guardian, Means Morning News, The Seattle Times and of course Heather. All while loathing FB and Twitter.
with FB, as is often the case on any site, what you learn, the information you share and receive from others has lot to do with what you yourself present or say. I've ended up connecting with some amazing, very intelligent activists, artists, writers..many of them are very successful in what they do, and very gifted.
Me neither. I refuse to use it. I would rather pound my thumb with a hammer...
It was an excellent talk! I am so happy that the video was available later.
Is it on YouTube?
Where is the video available? Thank you
Facebook, Heather Cox Richardson page
No way will I use Facebook, Twitter, or Threads. I despise their bosses
I AM ABOUT A YEAR FREE OF FECEBOOK & TWITS.
I really wish that all ppl, agencies, companies & orgs could kick the habit. They are cutting me and many others who are not addicted to those despicable sites off of their info.
Heather is the only reason I am on fb. I can't find her on you tube , not recent ones anyway.
Try listening to younger, independent newscasters (who are also lawyers!) on the Midas Touch network. They are unapologetic-ally PRO-democracy!!! Especially Michael Popock and Glenn Kirschner - check them out!!
Bill obvious Manchin and Sinema-- they have only 49 votes
One cannot call oneself a patriot while undermining the military. The entire Senate is complicit.
Bill, as a vet I agree that we have to keep the best leadrship confirmed and what Tubby is doing is disgraceful, but the D's just are two votes short to change the rules as I suspect both Manchin and Sinema are holding back---so it's not the whole Senate that is complicit--just Rs
I hear you. I understand the mechanics of this. But sometimes an outrageous and insulting situation presents such a threat to our nation that a powerful statement should be made. I would like to see the Democrats in the Senate lose some decorum. Lay down in the aisles, throw tomatoes, rally vets and the families of service members to protest. Something to make it clear that the Republicans are now NOT the party of patriotism.
OK, I'll calm down. Maybe this will be one of the key campaign issues that brings us the Blue Tsunami and Blue Trifecta November 2024. Irony of ironies is that Alabama has several military bases. Will Tommy Tuberville be the campaign gift that keeps on giving?
Just charge him with treason or censor him so he can't vote and it won't matter if he holds out.
ABOVE THE LAW
Censure.
Remember when Republicans portrayed themselves as the party of national security and law and order? Now they are the party of craven surrender and criminality.
In voting for "The Old Ball Coach", the military forces in Alabama got just what they wanted, a dik-headed monster. They man doesn;t care one wit about the oath he took to defend our country. We have every reason to charge him with treason!
What Alabamians got was, number one, an ex-football coach including a long stint at Auburn. That alone would sway a large swath of Alabama voters. Number two - he's a "good ole boy" - doesn't say it outright, even denies it, but is racist nonetheless and white folks down there know it. He'll do what he can to keep the blacks in their place. Third - he is (or claims to be) an evangelical Christian. That gets a ton of votes in deep south states for sure. Doug Jones, during the brief time he was Senator, was just what Alabama needed in the Senate. A semi-conservative with a brain. A way to show that progress is being made in Alabama to join the country rather than represent the Confederacy. But no - Alabamians showed their true colors by rejecting a fine Senator (Jones) and inserting a wholly unqualified bigot (Tuberville) instead. That dolts like him keep finding their way into our national government continues to enrage me, and reminds me that all my life I was mistaken about the special position American voters deserved.
Also notice another football state (Ohio) that has Jim (Gym) Jordan representing Republicans. Very SAD!!!!!
I couldn’t agree more.
Treason is the only crime defined in the Constitution, and his offenses don’t fit it. But he is the stupidest member of the Senate, maybe in the past 100 years.
True, Tuberville's conduct doesn't amount to treason, but what Trump did with those missing 48 documents, and more, might. How to explain the sudden deaths last summer of some who were close to Putin? Were they informants? Did Putin learn this from documents given to him by Trump? Is it just a coincidence?
trump took the documents in January of 2021. In October and November of 2021 a large number of CIA agents were outed. A coincidence? trump would sell his daughter for the right price.
I agree and I think that U.S. Intelligence knows it. I am hoping that they have disclosed this info to Judge Cannon so that she will give TFG no leeway. If TFG's treason were disclosed there would be a huge eruption in this country and those 50 million supporters would not change their allegiance to him. We're in a very serious and dangerous pickle.
I think you might mean sedition, for what he did on Jan 6th. I think that until we're sure about why he kept the documents, the less said the better.
Definitely sedition on Jan. 6, seditious conspiracy. But, the documents, particularly the missing ones, that could well be a different crime. Giving aid and comfort to the enemy is treason. Even Jan. 6 could qualify as treason, an attempt to overthrow the lawful government of the U.S. Obviously, I think the absolute worst of Trump but not without reason.
We don't know why he held onto the documents, but I'm inclined to believe that he handled them so carelessly because he didn't understand their potential value. That could be why he dug in his heels, decided to turn it into a Trump as Victim scenario, and it snowballed. He might then have decided that he'll fight the charges and that no jury in Florida would ever convict him.
Exactly right. Thanks.
As we blather…
Kennedy from LA might give him a run for his money.
Oh thats a really high bar.
Its a shame there isnt a crime defining stupidity - that would certainly clear out much of the deadwood in Congress at this point!
Republican deadwood - SAD!
How about seditions then?
Treason? You're exaggerating. We should be asking why he's doing this and who put him up to it.
Sinister Gooberville and Sinister Manchin,
Louie Gomer is Rep Gooberville.
That man was a judge in Texas. I’d forgotten about that representative gooberville
You know, there can be an entire Gooberville family in Congress.
Love this! He’s been my “favorite “ Congressional idiot for years. Not one lick of sense or actual recognition of facts has ever been exhibited by him.
Seriously? HE was a judge????????????????????
It time to send Diogenes into the Republican Party. I’m afraid his search would fail. The arrogance of ignorance rules the party.
Tuberville and the rest of The Republican Christian Fascists are even willing to destroy our Military in order to get their way.
Yeah really Cathy. Usually there are good reasons for Senate rules or norms. I would like to have someone explain just why unanimous consent is a good idea.
If we can pass a 'budget' comprised of a couple of thousand pages and involving trillions of dollars, I don't understand why we couldn't put all 265 names in one bill and pass them. Sometimes the 'rules' that the Senate notionally operates under seem more like reasons not to take any action that might engender responsibility for the results.
Good idea. Wonder why they have done it already...
I dunno, maybe they're not bright enough to figure it out.
Here’s a suggestion: if everyone online here plus your friends called his office in DC and SC often and express yourselves as to how you are disturbed by his disgraceful penalty to our military, it might provide him with a reason to stop his disgraceful conduct
You cover all those bases so incredibly well. Thank you. Again and again.
It’s getting clearer day by day that entire federal democracy is on the line in Nov 24! Trump is more deranged than ever and when Fani Willis delivers, he will go stark crazy as well as Lindsey (my prediction he will be among those indicted)! So the answer is, my friends, our youth, women 18 to 35, and as a new poll indicates--conservative women in suburbs relatively near big cities and aged 35 to 44 who are justifiably worried about the health and lives of their daughters! Makes sense?
So we desperately need all your help; please go to www.turnup.us/ to help these brilliant young Harvard students register the young men and women and their conservative mothers and TURN THEM Out! Please? Our democracy depends on them! Many thanks all!
Ira, I hope that you’re right about Lindsey! Once he lost his rudder (John McCain), he was ready to become a pilot fish for TFG. He got fed up for about 5 minutes on January 6, but he’s been loyal since then (even when his leader humiliated him at a rally in his own state).
Did you hear The Bulwark story on Graham?
https://www.thebulwark.com/podcast-episode/ep-1-the-corruption-of-lindsey-graham-2/
They provide a pdf format too.
The Sunday shows at one time consistently featured Graham and Lieberman. At the time I questioned the wisdom of not getting more viewpoints.
A list of lifetime politicians who have not contributed materially to the good of the people would be interesting.
I just read the first chapter. Thank you for sharing this.
Read it! Worth reading for sure!!!
I read the piece when it came out and am now listening to the audio. It’s excellent.
Trump probably threatened to Out him. He's such a Queen!
Ira, While your reasoning is sound, this far out, I’m hesitant to draw any final conclusions as to which segments of the population will be most critical in 24. On an other matter, as someone who, for some time, has followed TurnUP, has held them in high regard, and has contributed whenever I can, I greatly appreciate your repeated plugs.
Voting engagement per capita is least among the young, so there is a lot of potential there, especially as self-absorbed policies mess with their future.
https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2017/comm/voting-rates-age.html
@J L, I agree with your assessment and also would note that registering voters when they first become eligible to vote correlates with increasing youth voter turnout. Hence, the immeasurable contribution of organizations such as TurnUP and The Civics Center.
https://www.lwv.org/educating-voters/high-school-voter-registration
Join League of Women Voters program to educate high schoolers amd register them to vote!
Thank you Pat--I too am a League of Women Voters member and we have a very active group that goes to our St. Louis area high schools to register seniors. It is the one thing that gives me some hope in the future that the state of Misery (aka Missouri) might become sane again.🗽
Wonderful! Not the Misery part, though. All the Best to Missouri!
I too am a member. Just asked the Missoula group about this program. I am wonder if the EChurches have caught onto this & registering voters after services
Thank you, MaryPat, for adding the League of Women Voters to the list.
Absolutely and the key issues directly involve their personal issues
"Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you. " - Pericles
Me, too, Barbara Jo!
Thanks for the turnup compliment; as to segments of the population, I think there is no question that all youth 18 to 25 in cities, burbs, community and tech colleges, women 25 to 35, and some carefully researched conservative mothers to age 44 are undeniably the keys in 24 on nonpartisan C3 appeals to vote on abortion, guns and climate as well as student debt--the older folks are more predictable but not enough votes to win anything without the young and in 26-28, the absolute majority shifts to the younger entirely
Ira, I wouldn’t dispute any of your analysis. Still, because the general election season is nearly a year away, I believe it behooves all of us to track developments we might not have anticipated that could be consequential.
Absolute;y!
Thanks for always keeping this critical action item at the forefront, Ira.
Ira, I’m a monthly donor after you brought the group to my attention in this forum a while back. Keep on plugging TurnUp!
Wonderful Becky
I’m right with you on this and am already writing postcards to young people through Seniors Taking Action that partners with several groups including Field Team 6, Tony the Democrat, and The Civics Center. Would love to learn more about your group 😊
Susan, here's a little exercise for us, the difference that Supply Side Economics and Demand Side Economics and how each affects our economy. An example of Supply Side Economics (Trickle Down Economics) is the $2.0 trillion tax break that TFG and the Republican-controlled Congress doled out to the large corporations and the wealthy in 2017. What effect did this have on the national economy, on our national debt? And then Demand Side Economics where Pres. Biden wanted to forgive $1.6 trillion of student debt. There are 40 million with student debt. Had the Biden plan gone through, 40 million would have arguably had an average of $40,000 each to spend. What would this have done for the U.S. economy?
We have a group that meets every Tuesday evening to write postcards, send texts and more. The group's name is The Snowflakes, a moniker adopter after TFG said that we'd melt like snowflakes. I bake brownies for the group. It's great for socializing. Best to connect with the local Democratic Party or one of its clubs.
I am involved with several different clubs here in Imperial Polk County, Florida (this used to be the headquarters of the KKK) as well as the Democratic Executive Committee, the Democratic Party for Polk County.
Please go to our website and read about their successes. Thanks. Www.turnup.us/
Their (and our) efforts could go down in flames. There is a movement afoot to have a middle-of-the-road party. https://mail.aol.com/d/folders/1/messages/AGlqq6MQjUiFZK8SrAHFINr2h6s
This would be an almost certain guarantee (as with Ralph Nader) that the Republicans would squeak out a win. There is simply no cure for stupid.
Their funding is big R donors and dark money; Manchin might bite and run but hard to see more than 5% or so but you are right as it would bite into moderate Rs who won't vote for T---but a long way to go with many twists in the road!
You are absolutely right and supporting the youth is critical to winning in 2024. Our democracy is literally hanging in the balance.
Absolutely thanks
Them that think Republicans think, don't.
The stories of Republicans imploding are spreading. A physical fight at a meeting of Michigan GOP leaders, the Arizona Republican Party running out of money, and so on. The so-called Freedom Caucus, hell-bent to paint Biden as a criminal, are making fools of themselves with wild allegations that blow up in their faces at scam hearings. They're all floundering, which of course makes them all the more dangerous and unpredictable. The saving grace? They're half as clever as they think they are and as bright as a burned out bulb.
While you are worried about Republican usual tantrums (which I agree with you sometimes they are barbaric, undemocratic, and out of common sense), I am worried about the ineffective use of economic sanctions in the US foreign policy. Today, HCR told us that surprisingly Turkey's President Endogan has soften his stand to the surprise of the allies, perhaps in anticipation of the sale of military weapons from the US. While this can be an opportunity for US soften its stand and revive a new path, this move will stand to benefit Turkey albeit for a short-term. President Tyyp Erdogan seems to be saying "let me see how you receive me when I call on you." This can be a turn-around approach for US in its relations with Turkey, but the overall plan of foreign policy is no longer as effective as as had been in the past. In the 20th century, while US had banned the use of economic sanctions, Europeans embraced it fully. But, today, the reverse is true with US dishing out as many economic weapons of sanctions as much as possible. Every slightest uproar from North Korea to Russia, America runs to the store of economic sanctions. Europe no longer value so much about economic sanctions even in NATO and they are reluctant to implement, but the US has remained rigid in its tactics.
European Union wants to protect its trade with Iran
Africa has started cordial relationships with Iran (Today, Iranian President is in Kenya).
Russia is infiltrating Africa
China is softly courting Europe and Africa
What should US do?
In response, support Africa where feasible, continue to build NATO and alliances, sanctions have hurt Russia and Iran, but allowing dictatorships in Africa to thrive isn't healthy and if necessary. We are already sending help to the people of Africa in many nations and there are organizations which supply food for undernourished. How much can the US do? A lot more if we tax corporations and the wealthy!
China's and Russia's courting of Africa is reaching its limits--Africa is starting to realize what the cost is to have China come in and build infrastructure. The extreme exploitation of the raw minerals and metals is the price the price paid. Also, eternal war with Wagner types propping up warlords, again for a price. Nothing soft about that. Of course, it takes time to shake off these parasites.
You complain and complain. What do you think all the different European countries and all the different African countries and the US and Canada and Mexico do? I am interested in your proposed solutions, not just the problems you see. Thanks!
I think his purpose is to open this up to discussion.
Yet millions of American voters will vote for them in 2024. Look at the harm they have done in our State legislatures. Watch how the Freedom Caucus Republicans will all get re-elected. There must be an antidote for the poisons spread through social media that nourish the lies that get people to vote for them. It has been said that 'knowledge is power.' Well, ignorance also has power in determining election results ... and we all suffer the consequences.
Good point: "ignorance is power", as well.
Lol, a burned out small appliance bulb
The people in the video look and act like old hookers and bar bouncers. They don't fit with my perhaps antiquated idea of Republicans.
But not a spent force as yet. Money keeps keeping on.
Backed into a corner & even more vicious.
Candidate quality is a huge problem with the idiots republicans have backed.
Someone has to think up all that BS, but you are partly right: the republican rank & rabble don't think. They just repeat what they hear, and that's usually false.
It's funny how the extreme right calls democrats "communists." They do not realize that the engine of the Soviet State was run on crazy propaganda, much like the Republican party today.
you can be called a "communists" & woke in the same rant.
"Them that think Republicans think, don't."
That notion is an unforced error of the Left. Republicans 'thought' enough of capturing the Supreme Court that they united a disparate right wing to vote for Donald Trump. And that took Republicans up and down the line and across the nation thinking up effective tactics to grab hold the levers of political power.
LOL
Couldn’t be more clear
Thank you Prof Richardson for the upbeat finale to this day’s very mixed report. I’d say President Biden is leaning into his years of deep relationship building w many powerful leaders from a broad and deep array of different histories and cultures each of whom live in democracies w various National “flavors”.
Simply put, I want our President to feel our support and revel in his expertise.
Exactly and well said, Carol.
If anyone wants to defend tuberville by doubting that he understands what white nationalism means, I am willing to stipulate to it. The poor man obviously isn't very bright.
Other than that, I think he probably is a racistic screwball too.
No question about it! Remember this is the guy who thought that the House and the Senate were two of the branches of government.
My husband suggested a "Beau of the Fifth Column" video on Tuberville and military promotions. The upshot is that Tuberville really does not understand how the checks and balances of power in the government work. While his Right-wing supporters think he is making a "stand" on military policy, in actuality he has handed complete control of the command structure of the military to Biden, who can appoint say, an Acting Commandant to the Marines who will be obeyed in the chain of command the same as if he were confirmed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfzzB-DgE7A
Your husband is brilliant! I wonder why Biden hasn't been more active. Do you have any thoughts or information about that?
It’s just a thought, but in my opinion, Biden is a believer in the balance between the three branches of gov’t and would prefer it to act/run routinely. I think he dislikes being put in the position of having to appoint “acting” leadership positions—regardless of branch of gov’t, unless Congress will not/chooses not to do its duty. I think he will, if necessary, appoint such positions but realizes the implications and will not be an opportunist. Unlike Trump who, apparently, preferred to appoint positions as “acting” so he could bypass scrutiny/confirmation of candidates by Congress and install whomever he wished even if the person was unsuited/ill equipped to do the job. I appreciate Biden’s steady hand and adherence to the balance-of-power traditions that guides us.
Very well explained. Thank you.
I forgot that! 🙄🙄🙄🫣😂😂
And I thought MTG was stupid...
She still is.
LOL!
Not very bright and also totally oblivious of his white male over-privilege.
Oh, I think he’s well aware of it! This is all completely in preservation of it.
He was a football coach...and he's getting away with the winning hand unless senators censor him or charge him with treason...
Ah… now I understand: he’s throwing a Hail Mary pass, typically made in desperation and with little chances for success (alas, it’s working for him so far).
Excellent description!
"As the 'likely Republican Party nominee,' he would not have enough time to manage a trial." !!!!! As I used to say in my teens, "tough shitski!"
It's beyond me why tfg is not under house arrest waiting for his various trials, but still allowed to run around holding rallies and spewing his vile lies. How can he be busy with campaigning and no time for standing overdue trial? Is there anybody that cannot see through his continuing delay tactics that are pretty much proof that he is guilty?
In my humble opinion, i think TUMP should have been jailed pending trial... I knew he was going to try to delay, delay, delay... that's his best defense... let him rot in jail for all i care.
I agree, though he's pretty well rotted through already.
LOL!!
That's what Trump does, delay, delay, pontificate, procrastinate but has plenty of time run all.over holding rallies and DON'T FORGET GOLFING. Holy cow, the poor, poor Trump is really under a lot of pressure. Too bad.
So, another delay. Will he get away with this one too? If so, why? How can this be justified?
He needs a gag order as inciting violence should not be tolerated. Obama address was the last straw for me.
I thought that he had one. Why is it not being enforced, though?
Ha, just as I read your comment, a movie image popped to mind…I think it was of Anthony Hopkins playing Hannibal Lecter & he had a gag/face mask thingy on….yeah, let’s get one of those for TFG….we can even customize it and color it orange…..(oh, and maybe the straight jacket too!)
LOL! I like your idea about the straight jacket. Sounds like it would "suit" him perfectly.
Hahahaha….that’s so punny!
Any other person would be in prison already.
Yes his priorities are bass-ackwords: he should be busy clearing his name before he runs for any office.
Clearing his NAME?? You must be kidding, Susan. He is SO over. Gone, Done, fried, baked, you name it….😎
Sorry, I succumbed to sarcasm
He's so far down the tube, he'll never the Light.
He knows that he can't. And the only way to avoid jail is to be the President.
Let’s hope Aileen Cannon does …
He should be put in jail for doxxing Obama and endangering his and is family's lives.
Makes me wonder what would have happened if Al Capone had been an indicted political candidate. Would the judicial system have accommodated his campaign schedule?
This is not an original thought, but remember that running for president is tfg’s choice, being indicted for crimes against our democracy is not. Why should our legal system bow to his choice?
Or cite the "Corporate Doctrine": To wealthy to prosecute.
Sounds like a poorly made up excuse to me. Trump's lawyers are grasping at straws. Trump does not manage a trial, his lawyers manage Trump's legal trial and legal problems. Who do his lawyers think they are kidding? Trump hasn't got enough brains to manage a trial let alone one of his golf courses.
It gives him a pretext to claim he's the world's biggest victim when his bonkers requests are denied.
J L Graham: Yes--It's all part of the time honored "Razzle 'Em Dazzle 'Em Effect" so piquantly conveyed in "Chicago"
"Give 'em the old double whammy --
Daze and dizzy 'em --
Back since the days of old Methuselah --
Everyone loves the big bambooz-a-ler"
The perplexing lure of "False Profits".
Lol….”False Profits”….have to remember this one!
Diana Olsen: It's a deliberate tactic -- part of the act. His lawyers know exactly what they are doing.
Or toughski shitski!
Lol!
LOL!!!
I suspect that the court will say much the same; but in Latin.
A Latin savy Troll got on to the court's PACER platform & posted, "lenta cacas. DENIED".
Hmmm, a Latin savy troll, a Catholic clergy?
Where is Hercules when you need him?
😆😂😆😂😆
LOL! True!
Yes! Although Shakespeare didn't include it, "Toughskius Shitskius" is exactly what Brutus retorted after Caesar's pitiful, "Et tu, Brute?"
I'm going to file to run for county DA before I murder my husband.
HILARIOUS!!!
Lol!
Again, President Biden’s keen negotiating skills and his extensive international experience shine through. This needs to be lauded in the main media. Being President of the United States is complicated; Biden is doing a stellar job.
The criminally indicted Trump whose ignorant incoherence about any presidential responsibility never had a clue from day to day; he lied about everything, promising followers everything they wanted but never came through — except for tax gifts to the very rich.
The contrast could not be clearer: a highly competent, experienced President who understands the complications of the most difficult job in the world and does excellent work versus an increasingly demented sociopath who knows nothing and cares for nothing, except manipulating people to “further his own interests”, the snake oil con man.
Mass Media - do your journalistic job!!!
Karen, I couldn’t agree more. Well said!
Karen Borst-Rothe: Yes. Exactly. Elmer Gantry vs Atticus Finch . . .
Joanne, you are on a roll, don't stop.:)
Rasputin vs Mr. Rogers???? ;)
Easy Mr. Rogers ...
I asked Alexa : What is Mr Rogers most famous quote : " There are 3 ways to success:
"The 1st way is to be kind ...
"The 2nd way is to be kind ...
"The 3rd way is to be kind ...
( loved his mellow sweater) :)
It’s another masterpiece. Hard on the gut, though. Still as disturbing a mass of data as we have seen in a while. I keep wondering if the F-16’s are for the Kurds and if yes, will there be a response. We have already betrayed them three times. Will we again?
Yes, I remember when Trump walked out on the Kurds in Syria leaving our Kurdish Allies holding the bag. And Trump had the audacity to say that our military didn't leave any functioning oil wells as they left. Those oil wells were allowed to spill oil all over the ground leaving devastation upon the inhabitants of Syria. Nice guy, The Trump.
So don’t like
Excellent point, Virginia. Erdogan is a brutal, anti-democratic autocrat (sorry for the redundancy) in the same vein as MBS, Netanyahu, Orban, Putin, Duterte, Trump etc. The Kurds are truly history's scrappy, always beleaguered and frequently betrayed underdogs. American foreign policy has supported them while simultaneously exploiting them in recent years, while in the past has indirectly oppressed them by supporting the horrific governments in Iran, Iraq, Syria and to a lesser extent in pre-Erdogan Turkey, all countries wherein the Kurdish minority is systematically oppressed. Since Erdogan has been in power, he has increased Kurdish oppression.
We should neither be providing F-16s to Turkey, nor providing the horrific weapons of war criminals, cluster bombs, to Ukraine.
"Betrayal" is always so subjective (to Virginia's initial word). RTE is in a tough spot, as any leader straddling the Asia/European border is. Many in that space regard the U.S as that which you assign Erdogan: it is a matter of perspective. Turkey has had a history of being forced to pick allies for decades, and has mostly chosen the West for its security against the threat from the east and south. The US has reflexively ignored internal issues. We do it all the time with China, but ignore most of what we want to make as an issue (with Turkey) based on not-interrupted trade and populating our, "Dollar General" stores...
Our, "picking and choosing," by public opinion and acceptance of who is and who is not a, "brutal, ant-democratic autocrat," seems to be subjective at best and not tied to coherent international policy. It always seems to devolve into assessments of imposing Western ideals into situations that the West would like to impose ideals on, but have no business in doing so.
The US has a poor track-record in imposing Democracy and human rights on the rest of the World, even, ostensible when it helps to topple, "dictators." Many times it comes at the cost of many lives when the ask is to support the change that was hoped-for in the sense that we never stay and see it through. That lack of long-term commitment is obvious In many developing countries that the US historically, "incubated," democracy in and this is collectively known as, "blowback." Many of our efforts around the globe suffer from it...
Hard to argue with most of your point.
Yet, it should be noted that prior to Erdogan, Turkey was arguably the most democratic nation state in the Moslem world, save for its perpetually terrible treatment of the Kurds. Erdogan turned what was once a model of semi-West/semi-East democracy into a semi-theocracy and a rogue, albeit sophisticated state.
I often wonder how things would be if we basically took all of our "allies" in the region to the proverbial woodshed, cut off significant amounts of financial assistance, and informed them in no uncertain terms that reforms are necessary. Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and a few more
Check: I agree with you as well. It is then that I temper my point accordingly.🙏🏼
And yet, it seems that if this stupid war goes on and on untill Ukraine has exhausted all it's troops, we will have accomplished Putin's goak: kill them all. I'd rather do without the Kremlin than Ukraine. War is justvsloopy population control in order to rob other countries resources.
I fear you are correct, and yet, what do we do about Ukraine?
We continue to support Ukraine militarily, but not with weapons that are in and of themselves war crime vectors and vehicles. The idea that Ukraine will be overrun in the absence of these horrific weapons is preposterous. It's up there with the myth that we would not have defeated the Japanese in WWII without committing the greatest war crime in history, in Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Do you ANY suggestion AT ALL as to how else Ukraine is to be aided in responding to the ultimate war crime, waging aggressive war against a sovreign state? Or does international law mean nothing at all to you?
I don't understand your question. I thought I provided a suggestion. And how could you paradoxically insinuate that international law means nothing to me while I am defending it?
Apparently I misunderstood what you wrote. If that is the case, I apologize.
Just drop a bag of silver. It'll be forgiven.
For some further discussion and explanation of the latest events in the Carroll and Mar-a-Lago documents cases, see this evening's post from Joyce Vance: https://joycevance.substack.com/p/two-legal-issues?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email.
I don't know how y'all feel, but I sure find that HCR's and JWV's perspectives often complement one another and form something greater than just the sum of the two.
Me too! I also added Neal Katayal's recently!
Now, to have enough time to read them all...
Yes!!
Each new day seems worse for Trump. If Judge Cannon keeps the trial on a tight schedule — a very big if — then Trump likely faces campaigning while awaiting sentencing to federal prison. That on top of other likely serious criminal charges.
What happens if his fragile, demented psyche breaks amid the crushing onslaught of justice? Will he last through the election or open the door earlier for another vile Republican?
We’re heading into The Great Uncertainty.
But will she?? I'm extremely concerned about what she'll do.
The most vile Fascist Rethuglican would be, Death DeSatan. He has already made the state of Florida a Fascist state. If he was elected, he would do the same to the United States.
I don't think he really wants to campaign, and if he won, he would not serve.
I do agree, he would slouch around on a golf course, or stay holed up in his Mar a Lardo crap hole. Death DeSatan would be even a worse Dictator than TUMP would.
I'm usually very liberal, however lately I see a pattern. This is my opinion that I sent my local newspaper: My 2 cents
As a daughter of a Navy Veteran, grandmother of 7 (almost 8), I am at the point now where I believe the charge of treason and censorship needs to be directed to Senator Tuberville and members of the far right that are stopping the promotions of the military and defense spending threatening the security and integrity of the United States. It is fine to have disagreements. The process of discussion is healthy, but the ability of a few to destroy the integrity of the United States is what is destroying thisemocracy. It’s the reason that the Supreme Court is now taking away 50-60 years of rights that we have protected and wanted. It has created a division of the diversity of this progressive, beautiful country. They need to be stopped now. When it starts to take away law and order on which the constitution is based and of the ability to retain talented service personnel, it’s time to look at censorship/treason charges as that is the effect of their actions. PS Senator Tuberville is not on a football field where winner takes all. He needs to grow up. Write your legislators!
And you've sent it? Terrific! Watch for results.
Thank you Dr.; Richardson. I am still reeling from the New York Times report of Trump's lawyers request for an indefinite stay of trial. I have started a response on my Newsletter. But it is the most horrific thing I have read in days.
...yet entirely predictable Fay! That has been tRump's tactic in every legal mess he has gotten into. Why would this one (and the next and the next) be any different?
Reagardless, any lower Court decision will likely be appealable. But, I will defer to Neal Katyal.
Virginia Witmer used the phrase "hard on the gut," referencing HCR's letter. Very true, and what baffles me is that the various MAGA positions and demands create strife, uncertainty, and the goal of an authoritarian gov't diametrical to a constitutional republic. Their leader would be a dicktater in this case, not smart enough to be a classical dictator, and the very voters who installed him in a lifetime ruling position would be the ones who pay the piper.
We frequently are treated to photos and video interviews with this crowd, ambassadors of a culture representing a seemingly non-existent educational system, a lack of civility, and on and on.
Why do they want an overthrow of our gov't? Why do they think times would be better for them? I asked a Vietnam vet the question as he displayed his Trump commemorative gold coin, and all I got for a response was minor name-calling and sputtering about communism.
Try as I might, I can conjure up no valid, positive explanation for their behavior other than to stick it to the current administration, and create a new society which welcomes random vigilanteism, against their minority group du jour. The prospects are hard on the gut alright, and on the mind, well, I can't find the words. Devastating for certain, but that isn't enough. Cataclysmic?
I am leaving off my sense that the roots of these threats run back to Eisenhower's warning about a military-industrial complex, through Nixon, Reagan, Bush I, Bush II, and the most recent disaster number 45.
Jobs? It doesn't appear that many of them even work. The border? Can we accomodate Nationalism and Global Capitalism together? Immigrants? Who else creates a thriving economy? Florida is the petri dish for that experiment. Regarding that state (of confusion,) Farmers Ins and others are withdrawing from the homeowner market there, citing losses, corruption with contractor lawsuits, weather damage, etc. If a homeowner loses coverage, will banks issue protection for their mortgages, or will mortgages become unavailable? I just do not know.
I ponder this too, Ed, and I appreciate your articulate agonizing expressed tonight. I don't know the "answer", assuming there is one answer either.
Sometimes I think that it is no coincidence that Trump followed the Presidency of the first African American President, a man who was everything Trump wasn't and could never be. Polished, handsome, bright, deliberative, thoughtful, empathetic, bearing the map of America on his very persona and loving it while recognizing its flaws.
Race is definitely a big part of the MAGA appeal, but I don't think it's the whole thing. Maybe it's the fact that in recent years a hard and true mirror has been placed before our collective faces, and we see the Dorian Gray-esque fissures and fragments that we have buried for so long in our collective flag waving, over confident subconscious. Maybe it's because, as James Baldwin once said when asked why people hate, "Because they can't stand the pain".
Maybe.....
Thank you Daniel for your kind reply.
I concur with your assessment that 45's election was no coincidence, and/but he has not won the popluar vote either time. If coincidence is not a factor, then either the 2016 effort was regression to the mean, or, more likely, revenge. I slept on this for a while, and revenge permeates every aspect of their outlook, their attempts to deny Biden's victory, and so on.
Do you think that they feel pressure by "equality for all, justice for all, room at the trough for all," diminishing the millenial run of white power and white supremacy? But WS does not explain the efforts to exclude Dems from participation in gov't or the New Christian church either. So it must be that Dems are viewed as more accepting of minorities, giving away "their rightful stuff," which they don't even earn themselves.
Does the resentment devolve from those red states being net receptors of funds and services that blue states provide? I am more baffled now.
I think the Repubs know that they are in demise, losing party members, losing elections. So, instead of finding the last shred of wisdom deeply buried somewhere in their ranks, they turn up their old favorite: fear mongering. They are in full defensive mode, all-out attacks, because that's all they have. No policies, no plan for a future America. It's all "tear it down" because that's all they got.
Remember the Russian interference in 2016, the disinformation and trolls and bots, all done with or at the behest of republicans who desperately want to win no matter -- ala Newt Gingrich who's still around peddling the ease with which politicians can and should lie.
Times *would* be better for a lot of the people who are driving MAGA outrage. For certain white and religions that are already in the seats of power flipping the levers, it would seal their powers and let their offspring continue to prosper at unprecedented rates. As for the less wealthy MAGAs whose economic prospects have been sliding backwards in the more rural areas and red states, they get a sense of community, self-righteousness, get to feel superior to the libtards, women, and LGBTQIA, and can be the heroic 'happy' warriors, with no real consequences for their hate and violence. All of this goes back to the Civil War, and our incomplete absorption of the South--all Nixon did with his Southern Strategy and Reagan with his trickle-down economy was exploit what was always there in us.
Ed, I have long felt the same confusion and bafflement about MAGA. All of your questions and explanations have been in my head as well. Yesterday I read Dan Rather’s substack, Steady, and perhaps found some coherence. The newsletter is titled “The MAGA Party” and basically asserts that the party atmosphere and MMA-style competition are the appeal to many. All of the cynically crafted theater (and we can guess who the puppet masters are) is intended to sate the desire for real life to imitate that theater.
Mr. Rather cites work from New York Times columnist David French, a libertarian evangelical living in Tennessee who left the Republican Party over Donald Trump. Mr. Rather states, “ French is getting at an important consideration of Trump’s power. He is a showman and a provocateur. His rhetorical techniques tend toward mean-spirited humor over thunderous condemnation. And his “jokes” resonate with his audience.”
What do you think?
https://steady.substack.com/p/the-maga-party?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=247881&post_id=134329116&isFreemail=true&utm_medium=email
We don't appreciate or understand how much of trump's appeal came from the WWE and the Apprentice show. He was shown as some sort of super hero and many people bought into it. I never realized from where his following came because I never watched those shows but they were enormously popular.
Thanks, I will get to this later today with my thoughts. I appreciate your response.
I have also been wondering about this. It's like they do not see where this is going, or that they see it and they want to be on the ship before it sails so they don't end up being the plebes when the plutocrats take control of the government. In the end, it comes down to ignorance in my opinion, and I think it has always been the case that the ignorant crave a benevolent king who will provide for them and keep them safe. That way, they can resign themselves to debauchery and an apathy to anything regarding a concern for the humanity of others who may not look or think like them. Smart people scare them, so they don't listen and they don't want to know. It's a pretty scary thought, and it's why we fight against it.
Intelligence scares a lot of people, as if "smart folks" - WAIT a Minute! You just gave me an idea! Maybe smart people are thought to have some sort of x-ray vision, who can see right through their machinations, their meanness, nastiness, vindictiveness, and be able to judge and dismiss them. Maybe they feel naked and exposed .
Maybe they clump together to reinforce and reassure themselves that someone else feels the way they do. Their problem, their giveaway, is that they are incoherent when trying to dress up their emotions in public, hence the interesting interviews where they sound like like they never even drove past a school, much less stepped into one.
Maybe they were raised to believe that a person of a minority could not possible achieve much, certainly much less than the average cracker white person, and THAT is where their god has failed them. So they gravitate toward a new Christian Nationalist god who speaks only to them, who can help them "purify" this country.
I recall sitting at an upscale bar during a Friday happy hour in 1980, and listening to joe average talking to the well-dressed black man next to him. Joe said he was concerned about an ophthalmology appointment the next day, and that he had heard the surgeon was away. Joe said to the black man, who was encouraging, "what if he's replaced by a n***r? The black man just nodded. I still would like to have seen joe the patient's look when he found out the next day that guess who the replacement was? Yep, that very black man.
If anyone thinks there are easy answers to relations between Russia, Ukraine, and NATO countries, they don’t know history.
“Liana Fix, European fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations about President Biden : “For Europe, he represents a nostalgia for the 20th century, which was based on shared values, when the West was strong and the relations were clear with the Cold War.” There’s more than the Cold War between Russia and countries it’s battling, including Lithuania. My relatives escaped Kiev and Vilnius and the Czar in the early 1900s. The battle for land and power is centuries old. Once Czars and Cossacks. Now Putin and modern and the deadliest of war machines. Including land mines/cluster munitions used in other wars including Vietnam. These are permanent because they do not all explode and often remain where the civilians, especially children may be injured, maimed or killed. There are military reasons for providing and using these weapons. But it looks like endless war and a land that will be dangerous for generations. I’m sickened by the war mentality on the road to Peace. Is Peace forever a Dream? There’s a song of course. Find the music online. We know it all by heart.
”Last night I had the strangest dream
I ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war.”
Russians have been using their cluster bombs on Ukrainian cities, schools, markets, and hospitals, like they did in Syria, Georgia, and Chechnya. Sometimes, it is necessary to escalate the violence to end it. Cluster munitions will demoralize as many Russian soldiers as they kill. Which should hasten their defeat. I think this is the only way to deal with Putin.
Ted, I understand the strategy. And that there is a strategy. It’s the dilemma and history and predictably that are so heartbreaking and accepted. Especially the death of children and a land. And a country and the “collateral damage.” War never ends.
At the very least, we can be on the right side of history here, as in WW2. Presuming the west was divided and weak was Putin's error. Will his occupation outlast the the NATO coalition's support all the way through the next electon cycles? Or will we stop him prior to those upcoming election? The longer the war the more Ukrainian civilans will die by Russian bombs. The shorter the war more Russian soldeirs need to die and more territory taken back. I'm taking the lesser of the two evils.
Another masterful gathering of the myriad threads woven into an increasingly dense web. Thanks, Professor!