Paul Manafort walking onto the floor of the Republican National Convention yesterday illustrated that the Republican Party under Trump has become thoroughly corrupted into an authoritarian party aligned with foreign dictators.
Rather than being paralyzed with fear, take action—-all actions big or small mean you are not giving in to defeat and still have hope. All those combined positive actions will bring success.
Thanks Heather for tonight’s letter. The entire world order is shifting as we speak. There has been too much hate and greed and that is causing this shift. The best I can tell is to stay grounded and centered through meditation or quiet times for reflection and bring as many people with you as possible to cast your vote in November. And I still believe in President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris. Fear destroys all hope. We must focus on saving our nation and doing what we can. United we can do this 🇺🇸🗽🗳️🕯️🥁💙
If the Democrats, and their Russian bot friends aka the Press were not so focused on sabotaging Biden-Harris, they could focus on Trump. This is exactly what Putin does not want them doing. I am shocked that so many people are falling for the narratives being spun against the Biden-Harris ticket. This is Russian Bot work at its best. Too many Americans are on social media. They need to get off of it, and start spreading the word about Project 2025. There is at least some piece that might interest your friends and neighbors.
I'm dismayed at the dems for abandoning Biden - zero loyalty for a man who has done so much in 4 years. I've been a reluctant democrat bc I see how ineffectual they are, afraid to speak up, afraid to have a real platform of reform that will truly be on the side of the working class. Ever since Clinton they've been courting corporations to the detriment of the people and the party. They need to do much better. I'm afraid the abandonment of Biden will usher in another election of the convicted felon rapist fascist liar.
It won’t happen if all vote BLUE up and down the ticket everywhere. Trump is not strong, never was. It is those who he associates with who are running this show. The felons he has pardoned.
I’m not disputing what you’re saying, but consider the difference between parties. The Democrats permit the flow of ideas and always have—though now I wish they’d quit flowing and shut up instead of leaking out loud ad infinitum. Let us know when the decisions are made. Meantime, tfg has effectively silenced any negativity, or even objectivity, by threats as serious as threats to life. Everyone is afraid, which is just how he likes it.
Even since SCOTUS decided corporations and billionaires could pump as much money in to politics as they cared to, Dems have had to court big biz just to stay even in the money game. Change Congress, change the laws, change the country
I agree with you, Terry. Biden has been a great president as he fulfilled his late son's wish that he take up the call. What's troubling to me is how Jill Biden and his closest advisors clearly witnessed his decline and continued to support his second run for the White House. He should have passed the torch to a younger, more vigorous nominee. Now, if he remains in the race and loses, his legacy will be tainted.
As a nation, we have NEVER (that I know of) been in a position where the president has been asked to drop out of the campaign) LBJ was eligible to run for another full term but dropped out; having members of his own party challenging a sitting president.
Then came Nixon.
So I have NO idea how the Dems think they're going to pull off a win by removing Biden from the equation.
Terry, I am with you. I can't believe their lack of forward vision. If they would back off, Biden's popularity would skyrocket. They are holding him down and making things worse for him. The news is saying 2/3 of Democratic voters will not vote... I find that SO hard to believe. I can't believe ANYONE would vote republican... they really don't understand the situation.
It has nothing to do about loyalty to Biden and everything to do with loyalty to the country. We need to beat trump and that means we need the votes. Harris can do it if we can get behind her and defeat trump and his fascist and Russian friends.
Its the donors who are giving Democratic voters the finger.
They've strong armed Democratic leadership. Biden is right the voters should decide. But that's not the leftist way. They love power more than Democracy.
Terry I do not consider seeking another Democratic presidential candidate is an ‘abandonment’ of President Biden. I greatly admire his accomplishments over to years, especially as president.
To me, he is a baseball pitcher who has given his all. Now is the time to call in a ‘relief pitcher.’ Given the time constraints, Kamala Harris, Biden’s veep choice, seems the most likely replacement.
She has a distinguished service record prior to become vice president. She is an intimate member of the Biden team . She has ‘seasoned’ over the past four years.
She is anathema to the ‘white male evangelicals.’ (So was Biden). Overall, I find her appealing to the critical ‘undecided’ electorate who seek an alternative to Trump’s authoritarianism.
Another Terry who agrees with you. And while my grassroots work keeps me from despairing about all the elections around the country, I don't know what to do about the Dems who are leaking that they want Biden to step down. Stupid polls! Do they talk to real people?
Terry, I wouldn't be so hard on the Dems who are encouraging Joe Biden to step aside. They are looking at polls that are trending more and more toward the Orange Monster. Even worse for them, the donors have stopped giving and this is really bad for down-ballot Dems. I have heard respected pollsters say that Biden has very little chance of winning. As much as I appreciate all the good Joe Biden has done, the problem is electability. Even before the disastrous debate, a large percentage of Dems were saying that they would prefer a younger candidate. Yes, Joe Biden knows more about foreign relations and domestic policy than DT, but he just can't generate the enthusiasm that is needed to win another election. Considering the great job he has done this is a sad fact. The problem is that it is the fact.
If you are sitting behind a bus driver and it's clear that there are problems, replacing them is not "abandoning." On sports teams, when performance falls off, players and even coaches are replaced. What bugs me is that this should have happened a few months back.
My suggestion is for Kamala and Joe to switch places on the ticket. Let Joe "coach."
Project 2025 should have nailed their coffin shut. But still they rise like vampires at dusk. It’s time to kill the monsters, metaphorically of course.
Very much agree Linda. I wish every American could take a class in propaganda methods. The New York Times and Washington Post are leading the charge to unseat President Biden from the campaign and possibly from his Office as President.
I have never seen anything like it. And I quit believing anything that is written with a few exceptions. Jennifer Rubin is a bright light.
Barbara, I can't describe just how furious I am with two newspapers I used to trust, and their weird coverage of Biden vs. Trump. Trump somehow gets all kinds of coverage, some of it rightly pointing out his myriad of flaws, but most of it almost glowing accounts of his brief moments of being "presidential." Then, Biden is a doddering old fool who can't even dress himself or walk (OK, he does ride a bike, but they don't mention that except for the time he hit something and fell - he did get up and go on.) The "Post," NYT, and a few other papers of former renown are fully corporate. They no longer fully embrace covering the truth as it comes to them through investigative reporting; now, it's covering what works for the corporation and it is clear truth takes second place, occasionally raising its little head, but often ignored. When Democrats get into office again, we need to make some changes about things like money being speech and corporations being persons. Neither of those things is true! John Robberts and his Court knew that, but had to please their donors and did and we are all feeling the pain of that really bad decision. It seems the Roberts Court is going to be known for the really bad decisions they made because they made so few good ones.
Wealthy players are using their money to push Biden out because the chaos will weaken the Dems and they’ll get their golden calf in DJT and the Rs who will do their bidding.
I've just finished, Linda, reading the 7-11-24 People Magazine article "What is Project 2025? Inside the Far-Right Plan Threatening Everything from the Word 'Gender' to Public Education." It is easy to read and understand. The first sentence describes the Project. "Trump's allies started Project 2025 as a blueprint for marrying church and State at the highest levels of government if he's elected." https://people.com/what-is-project-2025-inside-far-right-plan-trump-presidency-8622964 Chilling to say the least.
Sandra, I think it is great that so many places and people are starting to inform the public about Project 2025. Another person who makes what is in it plain to understand and who clarifies the goals of the Christian Nationalists and The New Apostolic Reformation if you are not either, is Andra Watkins with her Substack" How Project 2025 Will Ruin YOUR Life helpful. Here is a link to the section for new people to articles on both.
Linda, I agree with you regarding the Democrats sabotaging Biden/Harris and listening to the rabid press. I also do not trust the “polling points” the politicians keep alluding to. This is all being done with no supporting documentation. Who’s actually responding to these “polls”? Are they vetted?
The other thing that is really alarming is all that these 20 Democratic Congressional Reps and 1 Senator can do is sing the “Woe is me” song as they wring their hands about Biden stepping down.
In the mean time no one on Congress appears to be raising a big, red flag and raising the alarm about the extremists on the Supreme Court who have already started implementing Project 2025 with their decisions: Presidential Immunity (that supports a fascist leader), and the Loper Bright Enterprises vs Raimondo that ends the ability of our federal agencies, who follow the science, to regulate corporations. Any issues raised regarding Immunity & Corporate Regulations will go to the Judiciary to decide. Hmmm - what could possibly go wrong?
Heather's last paragraph sums up where I am. This is our country and it's our fight. I am very disappointed by those politicians and media people who are not doing their jobs for America. However, there are many who are fighting the good fight, including Democratic Reps and Senators, and both commercial and independent news media reporters, analysts and commentators. And then there's us. Among other things, I am sharing all the facts and fact based info I can. Because so many have fallen down, this existential fight has been left to the rest of us and I'm all in, peacefully of course. And I see that President Biden has greater core strength than nearly anyone else I've ever known of. Look at all he's gone through and came out stronger for. And look at all he's done as president despite mountains of opposition and interference. I'm gonna keep swinging with him till I see his death certificate. He's a fighter and a winner. United, we win.
I am appalled by MAGA authoritarianism, and I'm appalled by the ineffective response of the Democratic Party, but I also know that we as individuals are all doing what we believe is the right thing, it's just that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. So, what do we need to do differently? Here's my suggestion. Follow Albert Einstein's "everything must be as simple as possible and no simpler" advice.
Last night, I turned my anger and frustration into the following "Politics for Preschoolers" idea. Whoever likes the idea, take it and use it in whatever way you see fit.
Imagine you’re taking one of two tour buses, that one bus driver has a valid driver’s license and a stellar driving record, and the other driver doesn’t have a valid beginner’s license because he failed the knowledge test. Which bus do you take?
The first lesson is called "Politics for Preschoolers," which is to think of politicians the way we think of tour bus drivers, that voting is like choosing which bus to get on, that the first criterion is whether the driver has a valid license, and that the first thing the driver must do to have a valid license is earn a beginner's license by passing a knowledge test.
Fortunately, the “Politician’s Knowledge Test” is easy to understand and easy to evaluate because it has precisely one question, precisely two options, and precisely one correct answer, as per the following:
Who matters? Choose one of the following two options (hint: Option 1 is the right answer):
Option 1: Everyone.
Option 2: Not everyone.
The second lesson is called "Politics for Elementary School Students," which is about how the politician earns a full license, and that is by passing the road test, an evaluation of whether the driver is behaving according to the driver’s knowledge. Joe Biden has a full license with a stellar driving record, and Donald Trump is pathologically incapable of passing the knowledge test. So, we’ll start the second lesson when the Republican Party chooses a POTUS nominee with a valid license.
Sorry, I am not a bot, and no friend of Putin, but I believe that Joe Biden should make one more sacrifice for his country and step aside. Although it is late in the day, I believe that Kamala Harris has the best chance to defeat Trump and his co-conspirators. I might be wrong about that, but that is my best judgment. I abhor the way the media has treated Joe Biden, but ascribing the present debate in the Democratic Party to some cabal or conspiracy is killing the messenger. Are there legitimate concerns about Joe Biden’s ability as a candidate, and as a president? Yes. Are there serious questions about his ability to change things around and beat Trump? Yes. Challenging the motives of those who raise those issues, particularly when they are longtime Democratic activists like me, is a way of avoiding those hard questions. That is not productive. It actually aids the other side.
Saying, I am not a bot does not, not a bot make! Well I believe differently. I am a brown skinned woman. I don't believe Harris has as good a chance of winning as Biden. In fact, the best chance the Democratic Party has of winning is not being the party of chaos. Biden was democratically elected together with Harris to be our candidate. Spending energy on this other thing is magical thinking, or Bot thinking. Either way you are functioning as a Bot. Who benefits from the chaos that not 100% backing our candidate 3 months before the election? Do We the People Benefit?NO! Do Democratic candidates now aligned with the party of weak convictions and doubt and chaos win? NO! Does Trump win? YES! Does Putin win? YES! So what is the role of a Bot? That is the role you are taking.
Jon, I am a white suburban woman who has witnessed some really awful racism in my life. Though now retired, I worked in a multi-cultural hospital, and I can tell you that there are PLENTY of white people who would whisper to me about someone of darker skin, all the while being quite pleasant to them in their daily worklife. Is this a good thing--that they could suspend it to work with others, or did they do it because our place of employment put a big emphasis on diversity?
I absolutely believe that there are Pro-Nikki people who will vote for Biden, but WILL NOT VOTE FOR A BLACK/ASIAN WOMAN. Period.
I can only speak for myself (well, and for some like minded friends) but I am NOT worried about Biden's age or abilities because A) HE IS DOING THE JOB RIGHT NOW and B) should he lack that in a few months, or anytime in his second term, I BELIEVE IN OUR CONSTITUTION and that Harris and his cabinet will invoke the 25 IR AND WHEN it is necessary.
So--in other words, like others have said--I'll vote for him even if he is on life support, as I think there is no clear candidate to replace him.
I hope everyone reading thus far will take the time to watch this, as Beau explains in a way I have not seen or read anywhere else.
This is from his Thursday/Sunday "The Roads with Beau" channel, which is a longer format than his daily clips, but this longer one goes into a deep dive and is truly worthy of the watch.
I feel a little bit better. I called the Congressional Switchboard 3X & left messages for Rep. Jeffries, Rep Pelosi, & Sen. Schumer. "If it's true that you are trying to get Pres. Biden to step down, STOP. The press is covering your infighting when they should be hearing unified Dem. messages challenging the terrifying nonsense that's come out of the RNC. Forget the polls; talk to the grassroots Americans who are working so hard for Biden & all Dems. If God forbid something does happen to the pres. we have VP Harris to step in. PLEASE STOP!" Congressional Switchboard number can connect to anyone in House or Senate. 202-224-3121
I was wondering how the Dems were going to F this election up…and here it is. Along with the press…thanks MSNBC for continually harping on Biden while letting that man go completely unchallenged…it’s really beyond belief…
I think it was photo-shopped..., that 1/8000th os a second shutter-click catching that 'supposed bullet' whizzing past #45... where did it go? Biden - Harris.., Maintain course!
This scares me too.We need to be unified now more than ever behind Biden/Harris if they are to be our candidates.The DNC is doing us no favors with no plan in place before us to proceed but proceed we must.I am staying behind Biden until he tells me otherwise.A disjointed Dem party plays right into Putin’s plan for democracy to fail.The Rs have a very extreme, authoritarian plan for this country and We The People have to stop it pronto.
If the Democrat National Convention is all in on Kamala and (Newsome, Wittmer, Buttigieg, etc.) then they can flip the age script on Trump suggesting he get out of the race. And they can also push the fact that several "fossils" are running for the Senate and House on the Republican side of things.
Gary, "Democrat" is a noun, "Democratic" is the adjective. I know that using "Democrat" as an adjective has seeped into the common usage, but I hate it, since it was spawned by Limbaugh, along with "feminazis" which I despise.
Kathy, Biden remaining guarantees a loss, which is why the drumbeat for him standing down continues. The American people who elect a President are in the middle, and sadly, they vote on feel and momentum of the candidate. Biden cannot regain momentum as he is considered too old and has proven it. The excitement of a new candidate, not Harris, may turn the tide by focusing on his/her life, vision and speaking skills vs the Trump/GOP vision. Without something new and hopeful, the democrats will lose this critical election. And the Biden legacy will be as the last President of the old era of America. Bucking up for Biden won’t do it.
Chip - Don't you think the drumbeat for Biden to stand down is much like putting the cart before the horse. IMO Some of our Dem leaders are in the throes of "Chicken Little" and hand wringing responses.
I don't know about you, but I was taught to shut the hell up unless I have a concrete solution, and throwing names out to see if they stick is not the solution.
WHO WILL BE EXCITED? Not the millions of people who have slogged in the trenches for the Biden-Harris ticket. You are throwing the loyal voters and workers out, in case the most unreliable people get excited. I would say as someone who has taught hundreds of children, and studied human psychology, no excitement from those unwilling to commit for this or that reason. They do not know. That means they have too much going on. Well, what could get them excited if they were not distracted by the party of chaos and all the noise people are creating is learning about Project 2025. Everyone should be reading it, or discussions of it and sharing it. If you do, you will see that there is no need for the Democratic party to overthrow the democracy that they are supposedly supporting, by getting rid of the democratically elected candidate because the Russian bot accounts who are influencing the polls, and the media are influencing them too. Do not fall for the BOTS! Stand up for Democracy. We do not win democracy when we use autocratic methods. That is what you are suggesting. You are part of the voice trying to push a democratically elected candidate out.
See the problem here. Dems are never of one mind, even fighting an existential foe that will change the world, not only for us but for generations to come.
Chip, please let's not talk of "guaranteeing a loss". We must support whomever the nominee is with our strength in numbers. To assume a loss is to depress turnout. Nobody can predict the outcome with certainty, unless Dems and Independents fail to show up.
I disagree, and this clip is much more persuasive than anything I could say. I've been reading/commenting on the LFAA for years, and your name is new to me.
I totally agree with you. Dems such as Obama and Pelosi are doing more damage than they realize. And they are playing right into the hands of the MAGA cult.
The Dems are playing into the hands of the Trump campaign because the wealthy are threatening to withhold dollars. Money trumps everything-even freedom.
Kathy, my problem is I honestly don't know which is the better option -- Biden or someone else. If we lose in November, one faction will point fingers and hurl nasty allegations at the other. We have *no way* of knowing the outcome -- all we can do is observe the process until the decision is made, and get behind that nominee with all our strength, and VOTE! We mustn't give in to predictions of losses, as that will depress turnout.
Agree, and I’m actually pulling my financial support on those who have publicly criticized Biden. This is a closed door topic not to be share with the media.
Yes, Tutone! They continue to demonstrate why that belief is there. Not even the President, who is physically old and frail - he knows why he must do this. He needs moral support, not somebody to help him pull out his chair so he can sit down.
Thank you Tutone for these words of encouragement. I am scared to death at the moment and finding it difficult to remain hopeful. My fear lies with all the fellow Democrats saying Biden should drop out of the race. I personally don’t see this as an option unless Michele Obama or Taylor Swift are going to take President Biden’s place on the ticket. We are too close to the election for a no-name Democrat to be nominated next month.
Dr Richardson, if you read these comments, please pass this message onto the President, please stay in the race, stay the course. There are not only so many American’s counting on him but so is the rest of the free world.
If the Biden campaign focuses on policies not the person, (i.e. focus on the Trump policy of Project 2025 and the Kremlin policy of his previous administration) then Biden will disarm him by not giving Trump the attention he needs to survive.
For example, this morning while at the Dr’s office, unfortunately I caught a glimpse of last night’s Republican convention (the woman at the front desk couldn’t find the remote control) and what performance of insanity. Very creepy Trump kissing the gear of the fireman killed at the rally. And what’s up with the white ear patch?? Did God tell him it was a good look?
Trump being Trump did not disappoint his audience and that is what his small universe is ~ a bunch of angry, hateful people who have such deep rooted feeling of scarcity they are all consumed by hate. Seeing Trump’s fellow convicts on stage supporting him, his repeated threats and lies paints a picture of what the next Trump administration would be. If the waiting room is any indication, people were rolling their eyes and whispering. I got the feeling it wasn’t one of “Yeah!! Go Team Trump” Rather, it was “UGH, here we go again” While I was watching this, all I could hear inside my head was my parents/grandparents saying “tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are” ~ last night was quite a revelation.
My spidy senses tell me the more Trump and his campaign drone on and on about their national abortion ban, massing immigration, hateful rhetoric towards gays and women, etc. people are taking notice and will quietly vote again him in November. Due to the volatility of the subject, people don’t want to talk about the election or politics anymore.
My two cents, which won’t get you on a subway, at this point in time, Biden is the only one who can beat Trump.
Repubs have used fear to unite the MAGAts. They want the bully on their side. The threat is real, Yvette. But keep on trucking. Would be nice if we had leaders who were going in the same direction.
I'm afraid that money talks and that Biden will be forced to walk away to lured many of the big donors back into the tent.
But, I am ALL IN, on Kamala, if Joe does leave the race. As I recall, during the Democrat debates in 2020 she had Biden's number, but did it in a respectful way.
And how easy it will be to flip the age card on Trump while pointing out his message of HARRM (Hate, Anger, Resentment, Revenge and Misinformation).
I believe in the current administration too. My fear is the media is bigger than the admin and the rest of us and are winning the fight.
Has anyone done a deep dive about who, what entity exactly is paying the media to corrupt democracy? Is there solid proof? Can anything be done to reverse course?
Amen! I also can't handle when they start talking about Joe stepping aside. I loved Bernie's interview on Morning Joe....I hope that will bring more people around...on age. When Mika said something about him being 81 and he said I am 82! She was taken back and shocked. There isn't a lot of difference between 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86.... as long as you stay engaged. Joe and Bernie want us to keep our democracy and not move to the other authoritarian side. We need more Democrats to get elected and remove those MAGA brats! Vote Blue....and tell your neighbors!
Instead of "fear destroys all hope," how about this: Fear can destroy all hope, or it can combine with hope and lead us to action that can overcome the thing that we fear. I know we agree. I'm just being a stickler for language.
As the Old Navy Chief once said to me as a young sailor, "When you're so scared you've pissed your pants and crapped your drawers, and you still do your job, that's being a hero." Do you think the guys who landed on Omaha Beach weren't terrified? And still they did it.
Exactly so. I had to use cleaner language: Feel the fear and move beyond it. Control it, don't let it control you.
If you are somewhere between "concerned" and "abject terror" at the proposition of the election of fpotus YOU CANNOT GIVE UP. We must win this election, and for the Democrats and the Democratic Party (two different things, for what it is worth) to continue to engage in perfecting the circular firing squad is suicide.
Being a lawyer, you have a better appreciation of the perilous depth of the risks now before us. Young voters age 18-27yo grew up listening to Trump lies and those 28-35yo have known nothing but GOP lies-obstruction-torture-profiteering first from W Bush and then against Obama in addition to Trump-MAGAism. Young voters think this is 'normal' and are thus inclined not to vote. Terrifying!
Don’t tell your over-generalization to the various GenZ organizations and influencers working to register new voters and Get Out The Vote. To name a few, folks can support
In an interview by Simon Rosenberg on Hopium, Jon Della Volpe said, "With this [young] generation, they feel like they want to be perfect, and want to have all of their homework done and understand not just the office, but each of the candidates who are vying for that local office. And if they don't feel comfortable, they're going to leave that blank."
Ellie, you are the reason I started writing letters and postcards years ago.
Since I consider you to be knowledgeable, perhaps you can answer a question that I posted here a few weeks ago, to which I got no response.
Back when Obama was running the first time, I recall hearing about an online survey that you could take which would indicate which candidate you should vote for. There were a number of questions and I can't recall if there were just two choices to each question, it might have been more like 4. For example, you'd be asked: do you think abortion should be 1)always illegal 2)legal up to 15 weeks 3)legal only if the womans health was endangered or 4) always legal.
This might not be the best example, but you get the gist.
Anyhow, it went through and the computer model calculated your answers and suggested who best fits your answers. I think--perhaps I am just wishing this?--but after it gave your answer, I think it stated the policy of each candidate and highlighted the one that most closely matches you.
I wish that this was out there somewhere! As "Beau of the Fifth Column" frequently points out, when someone is polled about an issue and the PARTY is not attached to it, generally, people favor the liberal/democratic candidate.
I think that some people are so entrenched in personality, it might be eye opening to see the answers they get. Everyone at my workplace took it, and there was one person whose result stated that they could vote either way!
If you know of something like this that exists out there, please let us all know and help it go viral.
If not, and anyone reading this is involved in a group that could recreate this, please do so!
I am not betting against them, long run they will do a better job than Baby Boomers. But polls show extreme apathy and they have the power to decide the election. Taylor Swift for VP?
Young voters have been very engaged in elections the past few years. And they vote Democratic. Please don't underestimate younger people. I talk with younger people a lot. They are extremely savvy and know exactly who trump is.
Half of those young American voters are female and many more of them are of complicated cultural heritage and all of them face a future marred by unfolding man made ecocide and economic iniquity and chaos. In my experience, many of the educated young, be they auto didact or college graduate, see all politicians as merely shills for the corrupt corporate billionaire class. They don’t see any self interest in voting for anyone. Those who are politically involved have been, as you say, raised within a purely material transactional strong man political landscape. They are certainly like to be far worse than their ‘fathers’. However, their self interested motives to conform mean they are entirely ignorant and therefore unprepared for the groundswell grassroots rebellion against MAGA tyranny by the disenfranchised young intelligentsia that will happen sooner or later. The idea of America can not be extinguished as it is not a fixed ideal but a perpetually reinvented dream. This attempt to fix it into a Christo fascist autocracy will serve to strengthen its renewal.
Yes, taking action is neither diminishing nor distracting from the fear at this point, but I continue to plug along with postcards and letters and hope there are at least ten thousand others doing the same. 😣
I am doing Letters to Voters with lists for under-35 registered voters in AZ, GA and NC. Once I finish them, I'll begin on WI and maybe others (if my 80-year-old hands hold out!). Letters are easier than postcards for old hands like mine - check out votefwd.com We have 2+ months to prepare hundreds of letters to mail between Oct. 1-29. I plan to have my packs ready to go on October 1.
Yvette-we can replace fear with faith. Even after centuries of enslavement African Americans held fast to faith for generations. There’s even a song entitled “We’ve come this far by faith”. Dems can win if we keep the faith and stop beating Joe up.
Convert the fear into effective action in supporting brilliant Harvard students effectively registering tens of thousands of 18s to 29s only in "competitive" Congressional Districts and "competitive" Senate states to support abortion rights and IVF; gun safety; and to fight climate change: www.TurnUp.US
Neita, we don't have to let them stay ignorant. We could produce some political ads for TV and social media that show the contrast and ask questions like "Would you prefer to make decisions about your own body with your doctor or let some old ignorant white men in state legislatures make the decisions for you?" Republicans want everyone to stay ignorant and are trying to take over our public schools to that end. We all need to be highly motivated and keep them out of power at every level; it's the only way to maintain any semblance of our democracy.
Those men want to take America back to pre-Revolutionary War times. They don't seem to comprehend that a war was fought to separate the colonies from the king. They are evil, scared little creatures.
I agree but instead a few in the Democratic Party are sabotaging our chances. Instead of spending their time promoting all that the president has done and will continue to do, they try and convince him to drop out. They(democrats) have never been able to pull it together. I’m sick of all of them.
But who will effectively denounce the tribalism and lies (as HCR does) or even more importantly, who will listen, and who will represent the Democrats on the ticket in November and will they be able to go beyond denouncing and inspire voting ? That’s a lot of ‘ands’ and ‘ifs to work on!
Even if the perfidy doesn’t get understood, the Eisenhower quote is one to share widely, btw!
But not enough finding the fact checks and understanding them. Just 5-6 families control a media that by design is not doing the necessary investigative reporting or publishing it prominently. Suppressing access to information is a form of voter suppression.
Me too. And now President Biden having Covid makes him look even even weaker and less able to govern, let alone win in November, despite all the governing he is still managing to do.
I don’t care who the Dem nominee is. I don’t care if Biden is the nominee while in a coma. I’m voting for them. And every other Dem candidate on the ballot.
Me, too. Politics and government is more than one person. The Republican Party are a good example of this. Trump couldn't have done this on his own and Biden isn't any different. Democrats on all levels, all the way.
My fear is that the democratic process in the US is doomed.
1. The playing field is not level. Many states, (AL, FL, NC, OH,...) have gerrymandered their election districts to reduce the Democratic voting power in those districts and the courts have upheld those efforts.
2. As we saw in 2020, our election officials and polling places can be subjected to all sorts of intimidation - death threats, physical intimidation by firearm-carrying self-appointed posses, etc.
3. And even if the Democrats did get a plurality of votes, we will, again, hear about the stolen election.
The video from the RNC of hundreds (thousands?) of Trump supporters chanting, praying, and even crying during speeches by the Trumps (plural intened) does not give me any confidence that a second January 6 can be avoided.
Reminded me of a holy rollers revival tent. They are the true believers in a cult that deifies party ambitions as the will of God. Fortunately they are few. But Nazis were not a majority, not even close, and they took over a country that at the time was better educated than the present USA. Our country is being taken over by this cult.
He'll get over Covid all the quicker if he knows he's not being abandoned. As the BBC radio news said, "In spite of an outstandingly effective presidency..."
Anne-Louise, I still don't get it. It is definitely showing us all just how ageist this nation is. There are lots of folks in their '80s and beyond who are still working and doing a great job. There are rumors that Biden might have Parkinson's. If he does, so what! A lot of people have it and are living full lives. It reminds me of the lies about vaccines causing autism. The thing that bothered me so much was the idea that autism is so horrible people would put whole communities at risk to keep their kids from getting it. We really do not like people who are old or disabled or differently abled in any way. I guess rich white able-bodied men up to about age, say 55 are great and everyone else is not.
It’s not about his age. It’s about how poorly he’s performing. He was a very good President. Past tense, though. For the good of the nation he should step down. Two out of three Democrats agree.
David, nonsense! Where is the evidence. I think this whole dump Biden is a Republican plant to divide our party and a whole bunch of ageist reps got on board, then some senators who wanted their names out there as somehow being at the forefront of something important joined them. It would be great if they would just stop the anti-Biden stuff and jump on board because we don't have much time to let the American people know we can handle making the best moves for the American people all the way around and Biden is the one to lead the charge with Kamala Harris right beside him and the rest of the terrific team around them. That's what a dedicated intelligent political party does; it does not undermine the guy who has made the most progress in this country in decades. Sorry, but that is what it is about, undermining Biden so Democrats look weak. That is nuts if we really care about winning.
FDR had polio and was weak and sick and could barely walk in the last 3 years before his death in 1945. He carried on his presidential duties in spite of his illness. President Biden is in much better health than FDR ever was during his 4 terms. FDR had to be propped up during his speeches.
Did you not watch the debate? Have you not seen President Biden's interviews afterwards? Even when he is speaking off the teleprompter he gets confused. I love Joe Biden. He's been a good & consequential President. But he does not have the strength, vigor, stamina & mental acuity to campaign for the presidency & win this election. And the Democrats must win in 2024.
The evidence for his performance is apparent every time you watch a speech or an interview, or watch him move. Like it or not, the polls are what they are (including the fact most Dems want him to step down). Why do you think the trump team is praying Biden stays? Wishful thinking and denial of the facts is going to cause us to lose, and lose big. At this point if Republicans are doing anything it’s working to keep Biden.
David, sorry, but that's nonsense, no real evidence of anything, except ageism on your part and on the part of a bunch of people and donor interference on the part of a bunch of other folks who have an agenda that is definitely not clear and needs to be overridden. Biden has never been the greatest interviewee, but so what! He is an effective leader and there is no one but Harris ready to take over and being a woman of color, will not pass the OMG gotta be a male test. Let's get behind Biden. If anything should happen to him while he is in office, which I doubt, Kamala Harris will be right there ready to jump in. It really is that simple!
Biden took an antiviral and will likely be over COVID soon. A visiting relative passed it to me a couple weeks ago, but between vaccines and anti-viral pills it was not so bad. I am exactly one year younger than Trump (who got COVID also). There are never certain outcomes where heath is concerned, but modern medicine gives us an edge.
Same, 2 years ago for me. Took the edge of and lessened the symptoms and duration. Staying current with boosters is also key. Covid mutates twice as fast as influenza, it will be with us now for a long time.
They gave my family Molnupiravir. We each started feeling better, nit cured but not suffering much either, pretty right a way and symptoms faded from there. My bother in law, who first had the exposure, has issues for which Paxlovid was contraindicated.
Remember Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan. He was the Dem nominee for US Senate in 2000 (back when MO was a purple state). In mid October 2000 he died in a plane crash. He still won his election a few weeks later over the GOP nominee John Ashcroft. Vote for the Dem candidates!!
As someone who now lives in Missouri (a transplanted New Yorker) I can tell you that the running joke at the time was that Missourians hated Ashcroft so much "they voted for the dead guy." Alas, those days are over . . .
There was one time it wasn't. When FDR went to Honolulu in the summer of 1944 to work out the strategy of the Pacific War between MacArthur and Nimitsz, he visited the naval hospital there, where the kids who had lost arms and legs were. He had himself wheeled through the wards in his chair, pausing to talk to each of them. The fact the President was one of them meant their lives weren't over.
The reason it was hidden does not speak well of our priorities as a self governing society; but I guess it proved something about what it takes to govern. For all the drama, I have yet to see evidence of genuine disability on Biden's behalf. I worry some that about optics, and I worry that age, far more for some than others, though we all expire in the end; but while I have not admired all of Biden's decision, I don't see incompetence so many are talking about. I most certainly see the opposition party as vile.
Nor have I seen any evidence of genuine disability. I've seen a few repeats of issues he came in with, like his battle with stuttering for instance with all that entails; *gaffs. I've seen him wear himself ragged to lead-by-example. I've seen him get ill. ...! OMG, Joe Biden is human ! (lol)
It crazy that we even allow oligarch donors. It's corrupt even with benign intent, and patently ant-democratic. As for the press, they are inured, even protective of the thumb on the scales of public process, and treat as an legitimate pillar of "electability". That madness explains a who lot about what the former "Republican Party" has become. BIG money has proved to be the One Ring that rules them all, (ask Clarence) but while the public, for the most part, doesn't like it, we have yet to make it a top priority.
Susan, it is true Roosevelt was not shown in his wheelchair, but everyone knew he used one. My teachers and family members who grew up with Roosevelt in office said everyone knew but it wasn't important. They knew he had had polio and couldn't walk. They participated in collecting money for polio research over the years after FDR passed in honor of his struggle.
Not the polio/paralysis. In 1944 FDR had other health issues that went undisclosed and he died te following spring. His opponents were from NY and Ohio.
I seem to remember that FDR’s handlers went to great lengths to conceal his physical condition. Unfortunately in this day and age it is difficult to conceal Biden’s mental condition. 😩
The President is fine. There was a full Medical Report released. He is being treated like any other COVID patient, myself included, in 2024. There are medications available now and we have been vaccinated to help with the healing. That does not mean weakness. We must unite and support him. Vote 💙🌊
Mim, our media are working really hard to make Biden look weak and have been doing it for quite some time. I keep wondering whose money is behind this and the constant reporting on Trump and Kump as though they have anything positive to offer anyone, particularly the media which they regularly call "fake news" when it is they who are providing the fake news. Trump had COVID and it didn't make him any crazier than he already was which means Biden should come out of this just as qualified as he has been all along, and he has been working hard for We the People. Maybe more of us need to call the Biden haters out on their whining to maybe keep us from having a steeper run to November than we ought to have. We need unity as a party and as a nation.
Ruth, thanks for your thoughtful posts. I see this pile on Biden as a gross betrayal of the most effective president of my lifetime. He does not deserve this, and nor do we. The last few weeks have only served to make our path in November harder, and that is so stupid that I’m flabbergasted.
I don’t think the questions about Biden’s age and fitness are completely misplaced, but the time for doing that was in the primary season, not now. Doing it now just weakens the entire democratic field. I get that we’re all scared trump might win. But why are we helping make that happen?
As I have posted on other days, I do not care if Biden is unable to complete a second term. He has a great VP and team who stand ready when the torch is passed - but we have the responsibility to make sure the torch is still lit, instead of blowing it out ourselves.
All that said, despite my fury at some in the Democratic Party, I will vote for whoever the D nominee is, but I’m angry about this.
100% Karen. I feel the same. Why? It makes no sense. It’s like fear takes over people do easily. The sky is not falling around Joe. He and admin is doing great! Let’s give them a Dem Congress/both houses to really improve things. They deserve that from us!
Opponents and the execs in charge of press outlets. CNN is owned by a Republican. I think Allan Lichtman is correct that we don’t have much chance of defeating Trump without Biden, and I concur. Dr. Lichtman is a government instructor at American University who has a great track record at predicting election winners. I think the big donors got scared at the President’s first debate and so wanted to toss the President out of the running.
But why is a physical description between the two equivalent for leadership? Trump has no positive leadership values whatsoever vs Biden’s lifetime of service, empathy/compassion and political experience in every category of governance. Right?
Maybe he needs one of those $7,000 haircuts, or a Hollywood make up job. Seems that a phony image is all that matters. Really popular is one that spews bull Schitt non stop
Kathy-I think the big donors are more concerned about Joe’s focus on monopolies, taxes and consumer protections. They need someone who will accept their “gratuities” and stop
Having cancelled my cable tv....I can devote more time to the MeidasTouch.....Stephanie Miller......other progressives that give basic truths, hope and a positive vision of a Kotex Jesus free future. They are actually starting use each others reporting.............a very very good thing indeed
Billionaires like Musk, Russian meddling bots and amplifying doubt and discord, big media needs drama to sell advertising, keeping the outrage high and viewership high. The race wasn’t close, isn’t close, so create a false narrative to make it seem so. The zone is turned into a sewar filled with so much bullshit, nobody knows what’s real and true anymore. This is our Epistemological Crisis of the Information Age. Too much information. Overload the system, lots of overlap by competing and non competing interests. Biden will win even if in a coma.
It depends on the individual. Many of us have compassion and empathy for other people. Too many do not. That quality of character may be a good litmus test for which political party we vote for. The Democrats are more likely to want to lend a helping hand to those who are impoverished, or disabled, or in dire straits. The Republicans would say "Get a job, lazy slacker!"
The Democrats are more likely to describe America as President Lincoln characterized us, as a self-governing nation, of, by, and for the People. The Republicans are more likely to follow President Reagan's characterization of the government as separate and divorced from the people.
But some of us clearly do kick a man when he's down.
Hi Anne-Loiuse, has the latest TNE arrived over with you yet? Its one of their best yet. The prevailing view over here ( for what it is worth) is that Biden has given his all but should now hand over the reins to his VP , and let his successor(s) carry on the struggle. Which can yet be won.
I appreciate everybody’s responses to my comment. I said that Covid makes Biden “look even weaker,” meaning to those who already think he is weak. It is unfortunate that his lifelong propensity for gaffes and his manner of speaking, due to his stutter, make him a less than eloquent speaker while the lying bully appears vigorous. I join everyone who is dismayed at the situation we are in. Whatever Biden chooses to do, we all must respect his decision, thank him for his decades of service to the country, and rally behind whoever is at the top of the ticket and every Democrat on the ballot.
I agree that somehow Biden coming down with COVID is being portrayed as a weakness. (Not sure how that can be when people of all ages all over the world are dealing with COVID. ) Why doesn’t the press make more of an issue of Trump falling asleep multiple times during his own convention?
Why does the press repeatedly cover all real and perceived weakness exhibited by Biden making a big deal of his age while ignoring Trump’s? Biden is 81, Trump is 78. Not that much difference. If Biden drops out and loses the distinction of being the oldest person to ever run for US president, won’t that honor fall to Trump?
Do one small thing. Donate to a candidate or campaign. Write 5 postcards to get out the vote. Encourage other people to vote. Have heart. Action of the smallest sort will make a difference in your fear. Read something other than corporate media whose job is to get keep you anxious and scared so you'll keep clicking.
Amen! I have been giving small amounts to Democratic challengers in red districts all across the country. I gave up eating out and shopping generally. We have to not just fight for the top of the ticket but all the way down!
I am doing Letters to Voters with lists for under-35 registered voters in AZ, GA and NC. Once I finish them, I'll begin on WI and maybe others (if my 80-year-old hands hold out!). Letters are easier than postcards for old hands like mine - check out votefwd.com We have 2+ months to prepare hundreds of letters to mail between Oct. 1-29. I plan to have my packs ready to go on October 1.
Yvette, I have posted here in the past a quote from Susan Sontag: “Courage is as contagious as fear”. Let us remember that and swell our courageous feelings/intent in the face of what we fear. “Let’s roll” [Todd Beamer’s last words on Flight 93 to take down the hijackers]….so, in that spirit, let’s gather our collective courage and “roll”.
Yvette, far better to be scared than to be sleepwalking. When you are scared, there is a possibility that you will react by fighting back—if you’re sleepwalking, you are unaware of the danger. Far too many of us were willing to believe that both main parties were, at a minimum, wanting to preserve the Constitution and the rule of law. Now courageous historians and journalists have pulled back the curtain and we realize that the knight in white armor is not coming to save us—we must get together and save ourselves. We are the majority and it’s damn well time that we act like it.
What is even scarier, is that in reading Project 2025, The section White House Office, the person who wrote this is a former assistant Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn. He starts off by making the Chief of Staff the most important person working for the President, and most people are reporting to him. I see he wrote this role for himself. The way it is worded, and the discussion of the President signing documents, either himself or with the AUTOPEN, I see the Chief of Staff setting things up to start signing for the president. So, it sounded to me like they see the "President" as their useful idiot and the Chief of Staff exists to carry out the Heritage Foundation's project 2025. Trump, like most dictators may not end up being their useful idiot, but it sounds like they plan to get around Trump if he does not do what they want, after they consolidate all of the power with him, but really it will go to his Chief of Staff.
Linda-Remember the stack of Executive Orders that Trump made a show of signing? We haven’t seen anything yet. With Project 2025 this nation will devolve into chaos very quickly (although if he doesn’t win we’ll have chaos too).
Try to harness that feeling into something positive to combat it. I strive to get young women registered to vote - women who come into the clinic where I work who haven't given politics a second thought. There are so many out there who aren't registered yet, who are young and have their whole lives ahead of them. I point out what the future holds if the R's take power and that we have the power to prevent that if everyone who can gets out there and votes. You will find you have empowered yourself, a good way to turn your fear into determination.
Only 80 years ago, anti-nazi partisans were living in the forests of Ukraine fighting for their freedom and their lives.
They channeled their fear into action and helped push back the Panzer divisions back accross the borders from where they came. Today, they are doing the same thing, and holding the line
against tyranny.
The Orange Cult is preparing its invasion of the USA.....2025. France and England also know tyranny and rejected it last month.
Especially when their Agenda 47 was released the day trump was "shot".
A little distraction while they put together which is a range of priorities if he’s elected, including stricter rules for schools, more hardline immigration policies, scrapping climate regulations and creating entirely new “freedom cities.”
I only hope I have a bit of bravery to do what the French did during the Vichy gov't of France during WWII
On the business of so-called being shot, with a theater background in props I could tell you that you can make a combination that looks like blood, of glycerin and Carmine and put it in a capsule and perhaps tape it behind an ear to be suddenly slapped as you fall to the ground supposedly wounded. Thus a very weird looking bandage that acts like a badge of supposed courage. This is not conspiracy talk, it's a thought.
It’s such an obvious photo op. Bannon knows all the tricks of Hollywood, and none of repubs have any qualms about collateral damage. And really, he needed to kneel down to put on shoes. Investigate those SS types who were with him. The same ones who erased text messages on Jan 6? Questions need to be answered. Are there one or two investigative journalists still around. Ben Bradley is long gone, and Jeff Bezos is busy admiring his penis-shaped rocket. So any questions will likely be ignored. Wish it weren’t so…
There is too much that we have zero evidence about. I saw a photo today on Axios from the gop pep rally with - left to right, Dana White, tfg, and Kid Rock posed for a picture, and tfg not sporting the envelope / bandage on his right ear; no visible wound nor discoloration. (????)
I listened to a few minutes of Trump's speech, and it is clear that he was keeping the fact checkers busy. Same lies, same dystopian vision, same narcissistic, self-congratulatory list of putative achievements. We'd best make a gargantuan effort to share reality with others to encourage them to vote blue, no matter who the Dem nominee is.
I tried to listen to his whole speech which was mind numbing. I actually got sidetracked, he was spewing out so much bull pucky, as Rachel Maddow like to say, that it made me realize I needed to clean my kitty's litter box & throw out her little turds! Would that I could scoop the turds out of the country as easily as clumpable litter makes it to scoop out the litter box. Meow >^..^<
Oooh….oooh….love the term “Trump Turds” for his little/big lies. Too bad they don’t have him standing on a platform of kitty litter to speak, so as to “catch” all the turds falling from his butt-lips (sorry for the visual). 🤮
Saw some of the Trump rant too because the local news had some outage caused by a Microsoft hack or something to that effect. It caused problems at airports, some banks, even as far away as Australia, apparently.
What was much better was Senator Bernie Sanders on Colbert tonight. I highly recommend watching it. Really a great interview, so cogent and well spoken and he's 82. He's still supporting Biden too.
If the Dems don't disable themselves with contention over Biden's leadership. At this point, i think more post-debate damage has been done, by far, by ongoing bids for Biden to quit, while the campaign leadership has stressed continuation. Replacement may leave the party more "broke" than ever. I was amazed at how much eg MSNBC/CNN spent going over the Biden/Dem problem at the RNC the last few nights than nailing the GOP outrageous lies and exaggerations ongoing through the whole convention.
Strongly agree. There was way too much talk about the Biden candidacy and the Democratic leaders who are hurting the campaign by saying Biden is too old to run and can’t win. The hosts at MSNBC seemed biased against Biden, except for the most experienced one, Lawrence O’Donnell. They were covering the RNC and should have been critiquing it instead of Biden. I wondered why they were even in Milwaukee!
Also, Heather omitted the fact the during the Mueller probe, Manafort’s deputy campaign manager in the 2016 campaign, Rick Gates, testified Manafort gave the campaign’s internal polling data to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian intelligence operative who worked for Oleg Deripaska, who in turn was running the Russian election interference unit. Manafort did that to help the Russians better target their social media campaign to influence voters. This is collusion and was detailed in the Mueller Report.
The meetings took place in the bar at the top of 666 Fifth Avenue, the building owned by Jared Kushner.
Agree with you both also. Not enough time to get another winning candidate in place anyway. Sounds like a disastrous scenario about to unfold for the Democratic convention only 1 month away.
Thanks for the further details about the Russian election interference too.
What an appropriate venue for such a diabolical meeting to take place!
I remember being a little shocked as a kid seeing the 666 Fifth Avenue location on Warner Bros. record labels in the 70s and 80s.
Alexander, if "the hosts at MSNBC seemed biased against Biden," he has lost. That's like in 2020 when the conservative flagship Wall Street Journal published very negative stories about Trump, and in 1968 when Walter Cronkite of CBS News criticized Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policies. "If I've lost Walter, I've lost the country," LBJ said, and withdrew from the campaign shortly after that. Or if Fox News starts broadcasting criticism of Trump, you know he's lost. These are bellwethers.
Apologies if it was hard to like this comment although I know you're probably right. It's all for the Democrats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory now, and we must win this one in November. So let's hope Fox News starts the criticism of Trump that you mentioned because it is just too unbearable to think what 2025 will be like if a Democrat is not elected as president on November 5.
Eisenhower also famously said, in a comment that today applies to the rise of the likes of J.D. Vance and Elon Musk, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
Barry, Eisenhower was the first president I became aware of as a child and recall positive feelings/opinions from adult family members about him (and seeing him on our old B&W TV). My impression was a stand-up & do-right guy who had seen/experienced much & imparted wisdom as a result. Some years back I emailed a friend on the east coast that Eisenhower was the last Republican president I could admire & she responded that she’d just made the same comment to her young adult daughter—the both of us being rather politically progressive. I really am saddened that it seems the Grand Old Party seems to have lost its bearings completely….hopefully, someday, they will recover their stasis.
I'm glad to be able to say that my first vote at age 21 was for Gen. Ike's 2nd term; I had read my way through WW2, particularly after D-Day and knew his role in bringing the war to a successful end. If he could run a war that well and with valor and discernment, he could run a country.
I fear that the Republican Party has completed its transition to an authoritarian party. HCR has documented much of the shift that has occurred since Eisenhower left office, and a gradual shift to a new standard began in the Nixon years. From Trump's emergence as a political entity in 2015 until now, the transition from a party grounded in democracy to one pushing autocracy and possible dictatorship has become obvious. The Republican party of old is no more and a steady state of privileged power has been achieved. Trump has succeeded in dividing us. Whether we can remain a democratic republic depends on keeping the flame of the self-evident truths alive.
"Not everybody is comfortable with the idea that politics is a guilty addiction. But it is. They are addicts, and they are guilty and they do lie and cheat and steal - like all junkies. And when they get in a frenzy, they will sacrifice anything and anybody to feed their cruel and stupid habit, and there is no cure for it."
We should, and I do mean should, be looking very closely at the intersection of developmental psychology, politics, voter education from very early, media education also early, and qualifications for running for office at every level in every community as well. People need to prove ahead of time in some important way that they can do the job they are running for, by example, by experience, by provable background. Let's smarten ourselves up shall we?
My impression is that for the people Hunter Thompson describes politics is a means to an end for what they really crave: power, fame, control, alliances with other powerful people, personal validation, wealth, meaning, and the occasional surge of adrenaline and endorphins.
In the essay by Will Bunch that Heather quotes, there is mention of Hunter Thompson:
"The bubble of disinformation walled off in downtown Milwaukee from the rest of America by a maze of concrete barriers could be suffocating at times. I kept wondering one thing: What would the great gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson have made of all of this? How long before he started seeing hideous green lizards crawling from underneath the MAGA hats of these rhinestone cowboys before the numbing conformity revealed the psychedelic terror of the grim American future that crawls just underneath the surface?"
It’s NOT voting which allows crazy, power-mad Americans like Trump to take the power and commit crimes, crimes which go unpunished.
Remember 2016. Trump only won because 40 million Dems refused to vote. They thought they were protesting Hillary. They realized only too late that they had elected Trump.
Remember January 6.
Obama and the others pressuring President Biden to quit is the craziest, anti-democracy act imaginable.
Our votes will decide who gets the Presidency for the next 4 years.
The Convention is sickening. They are in a pseudo-religious ecstasy, ear bandages, adoring faces, arms raised while Billy Graham's son sermonises and Trump either prays or dozes, you can't tell which. He's being presented festooned with loving grandchildren. I kept going back to it because I wanted to hear Trump's voice when he addressed the Convention. Has he had an epiphany? No, he hasn't. Not the time for President Biden to give up - the people are with him, does he know this? He needs to know it, urgently.
I think Joe knows who is with him, which is why IMO he is doubling down on his status as the nominee for the Democratic Party.
Ohio Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who represent approx 120 million people, speaks to Roland Martin of Roland Martin Unfiltered on YouTube:
Thank you for continuing to support the truth of today and the past. Your work has helped us to sustain and prevail over these times, and I want to thank you for doing this. You give me hope to continue and know we are the right side of history. To history, I will always salute!
You've coherently explained that so much of what took place in Trumps first term was caused or corrupted by Russia Russia Russia aka Putin's designs on Ukraine. Unfortunately it spilled over into Biden's presidency and we are living it. Most people are not familiar with how and why Putin & Trump aligned. You've provided a public service by explaining it so clearly.
I'm not convinced that Russian corruption has directly affected Biden's presidency. Russian influence, via propaganda and disinformation, is omnipresent on the internet. I think Biden's hesitancy in the fact of Russian aggression in the Ukraine was driven by the age in which he (and many of us here) grew up. We were told that the USSR was a mighty military power, not to be provoked. There is still a lot of that thinking in people our age.
It goes both ways, to some extent. Chairman Mao Zedong of the Communist Party of China was fond of describing the US as a "paper tiger." Chairman Nikita Khruschev of the USSR is said to have responded, "but the paper tiger has nuclear teeth." Putin has abandoned that kind of discretion in pursuit of his imperial dream, despite the exposure by the Ukrainians of the hollowness of the Russian military. He thinks he can restore the USSR by bluff while NATO remains diffident.
The Republicans are awash in a sea of corruption and a contagion of lies. Their power and methods rival the Nazi machine. They cannot be stopped with reason or elections. They have no decency. They cannot be shamed. Something else will have to happen to end this disaster.
It’s an extremely difficult and frightening time. The Democratic Party have put themselves on the defensive—not a good place to be. The authoritarianism of Trump has been in effect for quite some time. People are afraid. We have been warned in Timothy Snyder’s book, “On Tyranny”. “Do not obey in advance”.
🇺🇸 Today I created a graphic for posting the Republican Project 2025 to Facebook, and it has the links to both the 922-page Project 2025 and the Democracy Now 48-page easy-to-understand Project 2025 brochure, for public consumption:
Yes, James, "Something else will have to happen to end this disaster."
Dems will have to unite by quoting each other -- the way Heather specifies history in her columns here, the way Jamie Raskin cites various registers of great American English in his valedictory to Joe Biden.
Best for Jamie's letter to him -- leaving the door open for Joe to reign as father figure over all these Dems, fitting the ways he so well led Dem achievements recently, when he was at his peak, so much-needed for the rest of us.
Thank you, Professor. New ideas? It’s sad to say that they have no ideas. I can’t grasp what they are gaining for themselves, the base I mean. Do they not realize that they are not really thought about in the greater scheme of things. May we all stand strong and stay blue and true to our country and the constitution for all people. For all people. Peace and love always.
Does anyone actually think that they realize anything with any reason at all? Let's not make the error of believing that they are rational beings, or you would not be seeing what you're seeing. It's self-evident as one of our founding fathers said..
there are, as some on the far-right contend, ‘heritage Americans,’” native-born Americans who have a deeper understanding than newcomers of what this country means.
I *am* a "heritage American" - the tenth eldest male of eldest male back to the first to come here, in 1680. And I *do* have a deeper understanding than the descendants of the transported English pig fornicators (widdle Juvenile Delinquent Vance) and a German pimp like the Trumps, of what this country means.
My name, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, is three family surnames, and the name represents the three reasons people came (and still come) to America. John Thomas was a Welsh farmer forced off his land by the Enclosure Movement in Britain (the man who stole a goose from the Commons was transported to America, while the man who stole the Commons from the goose was transported to Parliament); he was an economic refugee. James McKelvey was a Scots-Irish refugee, a participant in "The '99", the only Irish rebellion involving both Protestants and Catholics, who arrived "a hop and a skip ahead of Lord Cornwallis' rope"; he was a political refugee. Peter Klebber, (the name changed to Cleaver after the Revolution when we all started speaking English) was a German Quaker refugee from the European religious wars; he was a religious refugee.
As to a deeper understanding of what the country means, Peter Klebber was a leader of the Germantown Quakers, who in 1688 became the first group of Europeans on the planet to make the non-ownership of slaves a condition of membership in their community, beginning Quaker Abolitionism. Peter's fourth great grandson - my sixth great grandfather - Isaac Cleaver left the Quaker church to fight in the Revolution and was one of the few left in December 1776 to cross the Delaware with General Washington and save the Revolution. Isaac's four times great grandson Alem Cleaver spent his 16th birthday atop Little Round Top, saving the Union.
I submit my "legacy American" family has been more involved in what America is really about than has the grandson of a German pimp, Donald Trump, who never gave a day's service to the country he claims to love.
And there are more of us than there are of these jumped-up pieces of shit.
Thank you for sharing that fascinating family background. My family ancestors and many contemporaries are all 20th century immigrants, paternal grandfather, mother, and wife. (1901, 1946, and 1975 respectively). They were, and one still is, better Americans than the Abomination and his spawn.
A little genealogy would teach the cretins a thing or two, but they are averse to learning anything. The majority of people swamping our shores believe the words on the Statue of Liberty. The “entitled”heritage Americans would erase it in a nanosecond. Erase that “equality” from our founding words, and see who gets booted. And who gets to serve the “plantation owners.” Be careful what you wish for MAGAts.
TC, I love your family history. I really don't have much.... I am a direct descendent of "Tom House, a farmer from New York" (according to the paternal side's research into proving that we are descendents of Alfred the Great through the patrilineal line, so "Tom House" New York, 1791 is mentioned exactly that much since it was his wife that got us there). That is the only tie that I can firmly trace. My Mom's paternal ancestry fades after 3 generations into it, when most of them came over from Ireland in the 1870's; her mother's line is all but untraceable.
How long your family has been here has no relationship to your understanding of America. The earliest people to arrive in North America came tens of thousands of years ago. Even the first Europeans to come to what became the U.S. came long before 1680.
Being a direct descendant of the original Mayflower by a young man not old enough to sign the compact and young enough to survive that winter, 10 back, and not having done much to outline as you do, I still get a deep sense of commitment to this country's founding and ongoing quality development. In this way I feel I owe my service to keep us going in a healthy direction. Just probably why I am a healer as well.. It must be hard to not have ancestors that you know of to honor, in fact much worse if they were dishonorable. Being true on that would mean you would try to improve the history I would think and hope
It's very interesting. Every time I run across one of we "legacy Americans," that person is almost always involved in doing something that promotes the country. Like you. I wonder if it's in our DNA?
I seem to have inherited a directional tendency towards breaking through boundaries of many sorts also on both sides: ggg'mother was friends with Susan B. Anthony and invented the more modern version of the corset that came just before the girdle, to free women's breathing and ribs; my ggfather raised bond $ for Pres. Lincoln when the union was running out of money; my father was the first to introduce a 6wk municipal recycling
process for making compost for nearby farmers (near Peekskill NY); my maternal G'mother homesteaded with four young kids in Montana 1912 after my grandfather died. He was a teenage Jewish immigrant 1856 who later contracted and built the diamond exchange near Wall Street. On it goes.
I'll bet you some DNA researchers are on that track and we might have go by inference for now. Before I knew much at all and certainly not the above I was already oriented this way, possibly by my first 4 years which included my father but I have no actual memory of his talking to me about our roots. And I get it from both sides as well, lots of New England and a little bit of Virginia colony. Some senators, reps etc. It feels planted.
Oh my this is so powerful so frightening If only all in this country would read this they could clearly see the threat of a T presidency and would turn their back on this deceit and evil and vote for Biden and a congress led by democrats who care and do their job for we the people all of we the people
Yes he would. He was always critical of those that thought they were better than others just because of birth or they were from a founding family versus an immigrant family. This was early in his career.
“There are some that believe that are the family of the lion and the tribe of the Eagle.” -1838 Linsecum Speech. Meaning some believe they are fit to be the rulers. We can see this in the new GOP. The W stuff and MAGA are the ruled and fooled.
Wonderful synthesis of some appalling facts. This is a dreadful cast of characters, and it will require very great determination to vanquish it. No more half measures. Get out the armor.
Susan, stagger breathe. Take a break, do what soothes your soul. Garden, run, knit, play pickleball/tennis/racquetball, pet the cat/dog, meditate. We'll hold the note while you recharge. Come back in when you can.
(Tuba players and choristers use stagger breathing when there is a looooooonnnnnnngggg sustained note that is impossible to produce without help within a section. My sectionmate and I are "even and odd"; he breathes on even measures, I breath on odd measures. It works.)
I’m terrified. Seriously scared.
Rather than being paralyzed with fear, take action—-all actions big or small mean you are not giving in to defeat and still have hope. All those combined positive actions will bring success.
I’m not paralyzed by it. I Feel the fear but take action anyway. The fear is still there.
Thanks Heather for tonight’s letter. The entire world order is shifting as we speak. There has been too much hate and greed and that is causing this shift. The best I can tell is to stay grounded and centered through meditation or quiet times for reflection and bring as many people with you as possible to cast your vote in November. And I still believe in President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris. Fear destroys all hope. We must focus on saving our nation and doing what we can. United we can do this 🇺🇸🗽🗳️🕯️🥁💙
If the Democrats, and their Russian bot friends aka the Press were not so focused on sabotaging Biden-Harris, they could focus on Trump. This is exactly what Putin does not want them doing. I am shocked that so many people are falling for the narratives being spun against the Biden-Harris ticket. This is Russian Bot work at its best. Too many Americans are on social media. They need to get off of it, and start spreading the word about Project 2025. There is at least some piece that might interest your friends and neighbors.
I'm dismayed at the dems for abandoning Biden - zero loyalty for a man who has done so much in 4 years. I've been a reluctant democrat bc I see how ineffectual they are, afraid to speak up, afraid to have a real platform of reform that will truly be on the side of the working class. Ever since Clinton they've been courting corporations to the detriment of the people and the party. They need to do much better. I'm afraid the abandonment of Biden will usher in another election of the convicted felon rapist fascist liar.
It won’t happen if all vote BLUE up and down the ticket everywhere. Trump is not strong, never was. It is those who he associates with who are running this show. The felons he has pardoned.
I’m not disputing what you’re saying, but consider the difference between parties. The Democrats permit the flow of ideas and always have—though now I wish they’d quit flowing and shut up instead of leaking out loud ad infinitum. Let us know when the decisions are made. Meantime, tfg has effectively silenced any negativity, or even objectivity, by threats as serious as threats to life. Everyone is afraid, which is just how he likes it.
Even since SCOTUS decided corporations and billionaires could pump as much money in to politics as they cared to, Dems have had to court big biz just to stay even in the money game. Change Congress, change the laws, change the country
I agree with you, Terry. Biden has been a great president as he fulfilled his late son's wish that he take up the call. What's troubling to me is how Jill Biden and his closest advisors clearly witnessed his decline and continued to support his second run for the White House. He should have passed the torch to a younger, more vigorous nominee. Now, if he remains in the race and loses, his legacy will be tainted.
As a nation, we have NEVER (that I know of) been in a position where the president has been asked to drop out of the campaign) LBJ was eligible to run for another full term but dropped out; having members of his own party challenging a sitting president.
Then came Nixon.
So I have NO idea how the Dems think they're going to pull off a win by removing Biden from the equation.
Terry, I am with you. I can't believe their lack of forward vision. If they would back off, Biden's popularity would skyrocket. They are holding him down and making things worse for him. The news is saying 2/3 of Democratic voters will not vote... I find that SO hard to believe. I can't believe ANYONE would vote republican... they really don't understand the situation.
It has nothing to do about loyalty to Biden and everything to do with loyalty to the country. We need to beat trump and that means we need the votes. Harris can do it if we can get behind her and defeat trump and his fascist and Russian friends.
Its the donors who are giving Democratic voters the finger.
They've strong armed Democratic leadership. Biden is right the voters should decide. But that's not the leftist way. They love power more than Democracy.
Terry I do not consider seeking another Democratic presidential candidate is an ‘abandonment’ of President Biden. I greatly admire his accomplishments over to years, especially as president.
To me, he is a baseball pitcher who has given his all. Now is the time to call in a ‘relief pitcher.’ Given the time constraints, Kamala Harris, Biden’s veep choice, seems the most likely replacement.
She has a distinguished service record prior to become vice president. She is an intimate member of the Biden team . She has ‘seasoned’ over the past four years.
She is anathema to the ‘white male evangelicals.’ (So was Biden). Overall, I find her appealing to the critical ‘undecided’ electorate who seek an alternative to Trump’s authoritarianism.
Another Terry who agrees with you. And while my grassroots work keeps me from despairing about all the elections around the country, I don't know what to do about the Dems who are leaking that they want Biden to step down. Stupid polls! Do they talk to real people?
Terry, I wouldn't be so hard on the Dems who are encouraging Joe Biden to step aside. They are looking at polls that are trending more and more toward the Orange Monster. Even worse for them, the donors have stopped giving and this is really bad for down-ballot Dems. I have heard respected pollsters say that Biden has very little chance of winning. As much as I appreciate all the good Joe Biden has done, the problem is electability. Even before the disastrous debate, a large percentage of Dems were saying that they would prefer a younger candidate. Yes, Joe Biden knows more about foreign relations and domestic policy than DT, but he just can't generate the enthusiasm that is needed to win another election. Considering the great job he has done this is a sad fact. The problem is that it is the fact.
If you are sitting behind a bus driver and it's clear that there are problems, replacing them is not "abandoning." On sports teams, when performance falls off, players and even coaches are replaced. What bugs me is that this should have happened a few months back.
My suggestion is for Kamala and Joe to switch places on the ticket. Let Joe "coach."
My sentiments exactly.
No kidding! Fickle or what?
Project 2025 should have nailed their coffin shut. But still they rise like vampires at dusk. It’s time to kill the monsters, metaphorically of course.
One would think, right? But as Trump himself said, he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue and get away with it.
Very much agree Linda. I wish every American could take a class in propaganda methods. The New York Times and Washington Post are leading the charge to unseat President Biden from the campaign and possibly from his Office as President.
I have never seen anything like it. And I quit believing anything that is written with a few exceptions. Jennifer Rubin is a bright light.
Barbara, I can't describe just how furious I am with two newspapers I used to trust, and their weird coverage of Biden vs. Trump. Trump somehow gets all kinds of coverage, some of it rightly pointing out his myriad of flaws, but most of it almost glowing accounts of his brief moments of being "presidential." Then, Biden is a doddering old fool who can't even dress himself or walk (OK, he does ride a bike, but they don't mention that except for the time he hit something and fell - he did get up and go on.) The "Post," NYT, and a few other papers of former renown are fully corporate. They no longer fully embrace covering the truth as it comes to them through investigative reporting; now, it's covering what works for the corporation and it is clear truth takes second place, occasionally raising its little head, but often ignored. When Democrats get into office again, we need to make some changes about things like money being speech and corporations being persons. Neither of those things is true! John Robberts and his Court knew that, but had to please their donors and did and we are all feeling the pain of that really bad decision. It seems the Roberts Court is going to be known for the really bad decisions they made because they made so few good ones.
Wealthy players are using their money to push Biden out because the chaos will weaken the Dems and they’ll get their golden calf in DJT and the Rs who will do their bidding.
I quit The NY Times. Couldn’t stand their BS.
I've just finished, Linda, reading the 7-11-24 People Magazine article "What is Project 2025? Inside the Far-Right Plan Threatening Everything from the Word 'Gender' to Public Education." It is easy to read and understand. The first sentence describes the Project. "Trump's allies started Project 2025 as a blueprint for marrying church and State at the highest levels of government if he's elected." https://people.com/what-is-project-2025-inside-far-right-plan-trump-presidency-8622964 Chilling to say the least.
Sandra, I think it is great that so many places and people are starting to inform the public about Project 2025. Another person who makes what is in it plain to understand and who clarifies the goals of the Christian Nationalists and The New Apostolic Reformation if you are not either, is Andra Watkins with her Substack" How Project 2025 Will Ruin YOUR Life helpful. Here is a link to the section for new people to articles on both.
https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/project-2025-new-start-here
After reading these articles I was able to understand Project 2025 better. I am currently reading the section on Intelligence Community.
Linda, I agree with you regarding the Democrats sabotaging Biden/Harris and listening to the rabid press. I also do not trust the “polling points” the politicians keep alluding to. This is all being done with no supporting documentation. Who’s actually responding to these “polls”? Are they vetted?
The other thing that is really alarming is all that these 20 Democratic Congressional Reps and 1 Senator can do is sing the “Woe is me” song as they wring their hands about Biden stepping down.
In the mean time no one on Congress appears to be raising a big, red flag and raising the alarm about the extremists on the Supreme Court who have already started implementing Project 2025 with their decisions: Presidential Immunity (that supports a fascist leader), and the Loper Bright Enterprises vs Raimondo that ends the ability of our federal agencies, who follow the science, to regulate corporations. Any issues raised regarding Immunity & Corporate Regulations will go to the Judiciary to decide. Hmmm - what could possibly go wrong?
Heather's last paragraph sums up where I am. This is our country and it's our fight. I am very disappointed by those politicians and media people who are not doing their jobs for America. However, there are many who are fighting the good fight, including Democratic Reps and Senators, and both commercial and independent news media reporters, analysts and commentators. And then there's us. Among other things, I am sharing all the facts and fact based info I can. Because so many have fallen down, this existential fight has been left to the rest of us and I'm all in, peacefully of course. And I see that President Biden has greater core strength than nearly anyone else I've ever known of. Look at all he's gone through and came out stronger for. And look at all he's done as president despite mountains of opposition and interference. I'm gonna keep swinging with him till I see his death certificate. He's a fighter and a winner. United, we win.
I am appalled by MAGA authoritarianism, and I'm appalled by the ineffective response of the Democratic Party, but I also know that we as individuals are all doing what we believe is the right thing, it's just that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. So, what do we need to do differently? Here's my suggestion. Follow Albert Einstein's "everything must be as simple as possible and no simpler" advice.
Last night, I turned my anger and frustration into the following "Politics for Preschoolers" idea. Whoever likes the idea, take it and use it in whatever way you see fit.
Imagine you’re taking one of two tour buses, that one bus driver has a valid driver’s license and a stellar driving record, and the other driver doesn’t have a valid beginner’s license because he failed the knowledge test. Which bus do you take?
The first lesson is called "Politics for Preschoolers," which is to think of politicians the way we think of tour bus drivers, that voting is like choosing which bus to get on, that the first criterion is whether the driver has a valid license, and that the first thing the driver must do to have a valid license is earn a beginner's license by passing a knowledge test.
Fortunately, the “Politician’s Knowledge Test” is easy to understand and easy to evaluate because it has precisely one question, precisely two options, and precisely one correct answer, as per the following:
Who matters? Choose one of the following two options (hint: Option 1 is the right answer):
Option 1: Everyone.
Option 2: Not everyone.
The second lesson is called "Politics for Elementary School Students," which is about how the politician earns a full license, and that is by passing the road test, an evaluation of whether the driver is behaving according to the driver’s knowledge. Joe Biden has a full license with a stellar driving record, and Donald Trump is pathologically incapable of passing the knowledge test. So, we’ll start the second lesson when the Republican Party chooses a POTUS nominee with a valid license.
Sorry, I am not a bot, and no friend of Putin, but I believe that Joe Biden should make one more sacrifice for his country and step aside. Although it is late in the day, I believe that Kamala Harris has the best chance to defeat Trump and his co-conspirators. I might be wrong about that, but that is my best judgment. I abhor the way the media has treated Joe Biden, but ascribing the present debate in the Democratic Party to some cabal or conspiracy is killing the messenger. Are there legitimate concerns about Joe Biden’s ability as a candidate, and as a president? Yes. Are there serious questions about his ability to change things around and beat Trump? Yes. Challenging the motives of those who raise those issues, particularly when they are longtime Democratic activists like me, is a way of avoiding those hard questions. That is not productive. It actually aids the other side.
Saying, I am not a bot does not, not a bot make! Well I believe differently. I am a brown skinned woman. I don't believe Harris has as good a chance of winning as Biden. In fact, the best chance the Democratic Party has of winning is not being the party of chaos. Biden was democratically elected together with Harris to be our candidate. Spending energy on this other thing is magical thinking, or Bot thinking. Either way you are functioning as a Bot. Who benefits from the chaos that not 100% backing our candidate 3 months before the election? Do We the People Benefit?NO! Do Democratic candidates now aligned with the party of weak convictions and doubt and chaos win? NO! Does Trump win? YES! Does Putin win? YES! So what is the role of a Bot? That is the role you are taking.
Jon, I am a white suburban woman who has witnessed some really awful racism in my life. Though now retired, I worked in a multi-cultural hospital, and I can tell you that there are PLENTY of white people who would whisper to me about someone of darker skin, all the while being quite pleasant to them in their daily worklife. Is this a good thing--that they could suspend it to work with others, or did they do it because our place of employment put a big emphasis on diversity?
I absolutely believe that there are Pro-Nikki people who will vote for Biden, but WILL NOT VOTE FOR A BLACK/ASIAN WOMAN. Period.
I can only speak for myself (well, and for some like minded friends) but I am NOT worried about Biden's age or abilities because A) HE IS DOING THE JOB RIGHT NOW and B) should he lack that in a few months, or anytime in his second term, I BELIEVE IN OUR CONSTITUTION and that Harris and his cabinet will invoke the 25 IR AND WHEN it is necessary.
So--in other words, like others have said--I'll vote for him even if he is on life support, as I think there is no clear candidate to replace him.
I hope everyone reading thus far will take the time to watch this, as Beau explains in a way I have not seen or read anywhere else.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPRxuOWkr1E
This is from his Thursday/Sunday "The Roads with Beau" channel, which is a longer format than his daily clips, but this longer one goes into a deep dive and is truly worthy of the watch.
Why do you and others see KH as the best tool to beat tfg? I am not seeing or understanding this.
Right on Linda. It is a Russian talking point.
We need every vote in November.
I'm not asking people to like Joe Biden, I just want them to vote against Trump's Authoritarian Project 2025. That's all.
Until Trump is beaten, can we all just row the boat in the same direction please.
After that you may resume your petty internecine squabbles.
I feel a little bit better. I called the Congressional Switchboard 3X & left messages for Rep. Jeffries, Rep Pelosi, & Sen. Schumer. "If it's true that you are trying to get Pres. Biden to step down, STOP. The press is covering your infighting when they should be hearing unified Dem. messages challenging the terrifying nonsense that's come out of the RNC. Forget the polls; talk to the grassroots Americans who are working so hard for Biden & all Dems. If God forbid something does happen to the pres. we have VP Harris to step in. PLEASE STOP!" Congressional Switchboard number can connect to anyone in House or Senate. 202-224-3121
Re Rep. Jeffries: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/19/2255681/-Anonymous-Lies-Again-House-Minority-Leader-Jeffries-Says-He-s-Team-Biden-Harris?pm_campaign=trending&pm_source=sidebar&pm_medium=web
And ditto to pols believing polls. Stupid! Putin and bots everywhere.
This is also American Corporate Big Boy Donors flexing their power.
I was wondering how the Dems were going to F this election up…and here it is. Along with the press…thanks MSNBC for continually harping on Biden while letting that man go completely unchallenged…it’s really beyond belief…
My thoughts exactly. I feel so frustrated each new Dem name I hear is trying to persuade the president to step down.
They should be answering all the lies from the RNC!!
I think it was photo-shopped..., that 1/8000th os a second shutter-click catching that 'supposed bullet' whizzing past #45... where did it go? Biden - Harris.., Maintain course!
The damn NYT and copycat Globe and their headlines above the fold.. always about Biden dropping out and never about Trump.
My concern is over people wanting the President to step down, because it guarantees a loss.
This scares me too.We need to be unified now more than ever behind Biden/Harris if they are to be our candidates.The DNC is doing us no favors with no plan in place before us to proceed but proceed we must.I am staying behind Biden until he tells me otherwise.A disjointed Dem party plays right into Putin’s plan for democracy to fail.The Rs have a very extreme, authoritarian plan for this country and We The People have to stop it pronto.
If the Democrat National Convention is all in on Kamala and (Newsome, Wittmer, Buttigieg, etc.) then they can flip the age script on Trump suggesting he get out of the race. And they can also push the fact that several "fossils" are running for the Senate and House on the Republican side of things.
Gary, "Democrat" is a noun, "Democratic" is the adjective. I know that using "Democrat" as an adjective has seeped into the common usage, but I hate it, since it was spawned by Limbaugh, along with "feminazis" which I despise.
George Conway has started a Psycho-PAC to showcase tfg’s mental incompetence. https://www.psychopac.org/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Kathy, Biden remaining guarantees a loss, which is why the drumbeat for him standing down continues. The American people who elect a President are in the middle, and sadly, they vote on feel and momentum of the candidate. Biden cannot regain momentum as he is considered too old and has proven it. The excitement of a new candidate, not Harris, may turn the tide by focusing on his/her life, vision and speaking skills vs the Trump/GOP vision. Without something new and hopeful, the democrats will lose this critical election. And the Biden legacy will be as the last President of the old era of America. Bucking up for Biden won’t do it.
Chip - Don't you think the drumbeat for Biden to stand down is much like putting the cart before the horse. IMO Some of our Dem leaders are in the throes of "Chicken Little" and hand wringing responses.
I don't know about you, but I was taught to shut the hell up unless I have a concrete solution, and throwing names out to see if they stick is not the solution.
There is no one out there with the experience of Biden-Harris and people know it. Exactly who would you prefer Chip??
WHO WILL BE EXCITED? Not the millions of people who have slogged in the trenches for the Biden-Harris ticket. You are throwing the loyal voters and workers out, in case the most unreliable people get excited. I would say as someone who has taught hundreds of children, and studied human psychology, no excitement from those unwilling to commit for this or that reason. They do not know. That means they have too much going on. Well, what could get them excited if they were not distracted by the party of chaos and all the noise people are creating is learning about Project 2025. Everyone should be reading it, or discussions of it and sharing it. If you do, you will see that there is no need for the Democratic party to overthrow the democracy that they are supposedly supporting, by getting rid of the democratically elected candidate because the Russian bot accounts who are influencing the polls, and the media are influencing them too. Do not fall for the BOTS! Stand up for Democracy. We do not win democracy when we use autocratic methods. That is what you are suggesting. You are part of the voice trying to push a democratically elected candidate out.
See the problem here. Dems are never of one mind, even fighting an existential foe that will change the world, not only for us but for generations to come.
Absolutely needs to be Harris
Chip, please let's not talk of "guaranteeing a loss". We must support whomever the nominee is with our strength in numbers. To assume a loss is to depress turnout. Nobody can predict the outcome with certainty, unless Dems and Independents fail to show up.
No. (This was directed at Chip. Substack moved the comment.)
🤬
I agree completely.
I disagree, and this clip is much more persuasive than anything I could say. I've been reading/commenting on the LFAA for years, and your name is new to me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPRxuOWkr1E
I totally agree with you. Dems such as Obama and Pelosi are doing more damage than they realize. And they are playing right into the hands of the MAGA cult.
The Dems are playing into the hands of the Trump campaign because the wealthy are threatening to withhold dollars. Money trumps everything-even freedom.
Kathy, my problem is I honestly don't know which is the better option -- Biden or someone else. If we lose in November, one faction will point fingers and hurl nasty allegations at the other. We have *no way* of knowing the outcome -- all we can do is observe the process until the decision is made, and get behind that nominee with all our strength, and VOTE! We mustn't give in to predictions of losses, as that will depress turnout.
This weekend I am going to make the time to email demand critic senators and governors about this very thing. It’s worth the time.
Agree, and I’m actually pulling my financial support on those who have publicly criticized Biden. This is a closed door topic not to be share with the media.
Democratic, not demand critic.
I respect your view - but I feel that the opposite is true. Whoever it winds up being - that decision has to be made soon.
The elder statesmen (and women) evidently think his continuation guarantees us a loss
Yes, Tutone! They continue to demonstrate why that belief is there. Not even the President, who is physically old and frail - he knows why he must do this. He needs moral support, not somebody to help him pull out his chair so he can sit down.
Thank you Tutone for these words of encouragement. I am scared to death at the moment and finding it difficult to remain hopeful. My fear lies with all the fellow Democrats saying Biden should drop out of the race. I personally don’t see this as an option unless Michele Obama or Taylor Swift are going to take President Biden’s place on the ticket. We are too close to the election for a no-name Democrat to be nominated next month.
Dr Richardson, if you read these comments, please pass this message onto the President, please stay in the race, stay the course. There are not only so many American’s counting on him but so is the rest of the free world.
If the Biden campaign focuses on policies not the person, (i.e. focus on the Trump policy of Project 2025 and the Kremlin policy of his previous administration) then Biden will disarm him by not giving Trump the attention he needs to survive.
For example, this morning while at the Dr’s office, unfortunately I caught a glimpse of last night’s Republican convention (the woman at the front desk couldn’t find the remote control) and what performance of insanity. Very creepy Trump kissing the gear of the fireman killed at the rally. And what’s up with the white ear patch?? Did God tell him it was a good look?
Trump being Trump did not disappoint his audience and that is what his small universe is ~ a bunch of angry, hateful people who have such deep rooted feeling of scarcity they are all consumed by hate. Seeing Trump’s fellow convicts on stage supporting him, his repeated threats and lies paints a picture of what the next Trump administration would be. If the waiting room is any indication, people were rolling their eyes and whispering. I got the feeling it wasn’t one of “Yeah!! Go Team Trump” Rather, it was “UGH, here we go again” While I was watching this, all I could hear inside my head was my parents/grandparents saying “tell me who your friends are and I’ll tell you who you are” ~ last night was quite a revelation.
My spidy senses tell me the more Trump and his campaign drone on and on about their national abortion ban, massing immigration, hateful rhetoric towards gays and women, etc. people are taking notice and will quietly vote again him in November. Due to the volatility of the subject, people don’t want to talk about the election or politics anymore.
My two cents, which won’t get you on a subway, at this point in time, Biden is the only one who can beat Trump.
Ditto
Repubs have used fear to unite the MAGAts. They want the bully on their side. The threat is real, Yvette. But keep on trucking. Would be nice if we had leaders who were going in the same direction.
I'm afraid that money talks and that Biden will be forced to walk away to lured many of the big donors back into the tent.
But, I am ALL IN, on Kamala, if Joe does leave the race. As I recall, during the Democrat debates in 2020 she had Biden's number, but did it in a respectful way.
And how easy it will be to flip the age card on Trump while pointing out his message of HARRM (Hate, Anger, Resentment, Revenge and Misinformation).
I believe in the current administration too. My fear is the media is bigger than the admin and the rest of us and are winning the fight.
Has anyone done a deep dive about who, what entity exactly is paying the media to corrupt democracy? Is there solid proof? Can anything be done to reverse course?
Amen! I also can't handle when they start talking about Joe stepping aside. I loved Bernie's interview on Morning Joe....I hope that will bring more people around...on age. When Mika said something about him being 81 and he said I am 82! She was taken back and shocked. There isn't a lot of difference between 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86.... as long as you stay engaged. Joe and Bernie want us to keep our democracy and not move to the other authoritarian side. We need more Democrats to get elected and remove those MAGA brats! Vote Blue....and tell your neighbors!
Instead of "fear destroys all hope," how about this: Fear can destroy all hope, or it can combine with hope and lead us to action that can overcome the thing that we fear. I know we agree. I'm just being a stickler for language.
There will always be hate. It's part of being a human. Meditation is for staying in a storm and not freaking out. It's not a magic pill.
I invite you to take a look at my substack where I talk about these things.
🩵🇺🇸🩵🇺🇸🩵
As the Old Navy Chief once said to me as a young sailor, "When you're so scared you've pissed your pants and crapped your drawers, and you still do your job, that's being a hero." Do you think the guys who landed on Omaha Beach weren't terrified? And still they did it.
We are so unworthy to even reference them. What a bunch of cowards the repubs are, with Dems nipping at their heels. Rise up grassroots
Exactly so. I had to use cleaner language: Feel the fear and move beyond it. Control it, don't let it control you.
If you are somewhere between "concerned" and "abject terror" at the proposition of the election of fpotus YOU CANNOT GIVE UP. We must win this election, and for the Democrats and the Democratic Party (two different things, for what it is worth) to continue to engage in perfecting the circular firing squad is suicide.
If you are not fearful, you are delusional.
Being a lawyer, you have a better appreciation of the perilous depth of the risks now before us. Young voters age 18-27yo grew up listening to Trump lies and those 28-35yo have known nothing but GOP lies-obstruction-torture-profiteering first from W Bush and then against Obama in addition to Trump-MAGAism. Young voters think this is 'normal' and are thus inclined not to vote. Terrifying!
Don’t tell your over-generalization to the various GenZ organizations and influencers working to register new voters and Get Out The Vote. To name a few, folks can support
https://www.thecivicscenter.org/
https://dreamforamerica.org/
https://civicinfluencers.org/
Tour to Save Democracy
https://youtu.be/5eTsdi_gmnk?si=PnKKeOSYqKCIjHlN
This from a 4-minute video from Blue Voter Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QCesU7vyaM.
In an interview by Simon Rosenberg on Hopium, Jon Della Volpe said, "With this [young] generation, they feel like they want to be perfect, and want to have all of their homework done and understand not just the office, but each of the candidates who are vying for that local office. And if they don't feel comfortable, they're going to leave that blank."
But this is not just for young people! https://bluevoterguide.org/
Ellie, you are the reason I started writing letters and postcards years ago.
Since I consider you to be knowledgeable, perhaps you can answer a question that I posted here a few weeks ago, to which I got no response.
Back when Obama was running the first time, I recall hearing about an online survey that you could take which would indicate which candidate you should vote for. There were a number of questions and I can't recall if there were just two choices to each question, it might have been more like 4. For example, you'd be asked: do you think abortion should be 1)always illegal 2)legal up to 15 weeks 3)legal only if the womans health was endangered or 4) always legal.
This might not be the best example, but you get the gist.
Anyhow, it went through and the computer model calculated your answers and suggested who best fits your answers. I think--perhaps I am just wishing this?--but after it gave your answer, I think it stated the policy of each candidate and highlighted the one that most closely matches you.
I wish that this was out there somewhere! As "Beau of the Fifth Column" frequently points out, when someone is polled about an issue and the PARTY is not attached to it, generally, people favor the liberal/democratic candidate.
I think that some people are so entrenched in personality, it might be eye opening to see the answers they get. Everyone at my workplace took it, and there was one person whose result stated that they could vote either way!
If you know of something like this that exists out there, please let us all know and help it go viral.
If not, and anyone reading this is involved in a group that could recreate this, please do so!
They may surprise you.
I am not betting against them, long run they will do a better job than Baby Boomers. But polls show extreme apathy and they have the power to decide the election. Taylor Swift for VP?
Young voters have been very engaged in elections the past few years. And they vote Democratic. Please don't underestimate younger people. I talk with younger people a lot. They are extremely savvy and know exactly who trump is.
Half of those young American voters are female and many more of them are of complicated cultural heritage and all of them face a future marred by unfolding man made ecocide and economic iniquity and chaos. In my experience, many of the educated young, be they auto didact or college graduate, see all politicians as merely shills for the corrupt corporate billionaire class. They don’t see any self interest in voting for anyone. Those who are politically involved have been, as you say, raised within a purely material transactional strong man political landscape. They are certainly like to be far worse than their ‘fathers’. However, their self interested motives to conform mean they are entirely ignorant and therefore unprepared for the groundswell grassroots rebellion against MAGA tyranny by the disenfranchised young intelligentsia that will happen sooner or later. The idea of America can not be extinguished as it is not a fixed ideal but a perpetually reinvented dream. This attempt to fix it into a Christo fascist autocracy will serve to strengthen its renewal.
Same for me - I’m taking action but the fear and anxiety are ever present
Another me too
Yes, taking action is neither diminishing nor distracting from the fear at this point, but I continue to plug along with postcards and letters and hope there are at least ten thousand others doing the same. 😣
I am doing Letters to Voters with lists for under-35 registered voters in AZ, GA and NC. Once I finish them, I'll begin on WI and maybe others (if my 80-year-old hands hold out!). Letters are easier than postcards for old hands like mine - check out votefwd.com We have 2+ months to prepare hundreds of letters to mail between Oct. 1-29. I plan to have my packs ready to go on October 1.
Yvette-we can replace fear with faith. Even after centuries of enslavement African Americans held fast to faith for generations. There’s even a song entitled “We’ve come this far by faith”. Dems can win if we keep the faith and stop beating Joe up.
Like true soldiers. Convert the fear into courage, and don't cower.
Somebody or other said "Courage is action in the face of fear".
Convert the fear into effective action in supporting brilliant Harvard students effectively registering tens of thousands of 18s to 29s only in "competitive" Congressional Districts and "competitive" Senate states to support abortion rights and IVF; gun safety; and to fight climate change: www.TurnUp.US
Just looked up TurnUp. Impressive group. Godspeed!
The dad said that in the live action Mulan
Yes, but I heard it decades before live action Mulan.
Plato said this. I forget which dialogue. Probably in The Republic.
Fear? NAME a single trump policy that is authoritarian?
John Wayne was once asked if he was ever afraid. He replied, “Sure, but I just get on the horse and ride.”
I am too. Too many people have no idea! No real reporting in MSM of their lies contrasted with the truth will keep much of the population ignorant.
Neita, we don't have to let them stay ignorant. We could produce some political ads for TV and social media that show the contrast and ask questions like "Would you prefer to make decisions about your own body with your doctor or let some old ignorant white men in state legislatures make the decisions for you?" Republicans want everyone to stay ignorant and are trying to take over our public schools to that end. We all need to be highly motivated and keep them out of power at every level; it's the only way to maintain any semblance of our democracy.
This is a powerful 1 min ad to share from the Seneca Project showing old (and young) white men making decisions about our bodies.📣
https://x.com/senecaprojectus/status/1810372496878874790
That video and those men are absolutely chilling. FYI-they are no more Christian than my dog.
I bet your dog is more loving and kind that any of these dirt bags, so full of themselves. What woman would want to be with them?
That video needs to get out more, open our eyes people… we can’t give up now.
Those men want to take America back to pre-Revolutionary War times. They don't seem to comprehend that a war was fought to separate the colonies from the king. They are evil, scared little creatures.
I agree but instead a few in the Democratic Party are sabotaging our chances. Instead of spending their time promoting all that the president has done and will continue to do, they try and convince him to drop out. They(democrats) have never been able to pull it together. I’m sick of all of them.
But who will effectively denounce the tribalism and lies (as HCR does) or even more importantly, who will listen, and who will represent the Democrats on the ticket in November and will they be able to go beyond denouncing and inspire voting ? That’s a lot of ‘ands’ and ‘ifs to work on!
Even if the perfidy doesn’t get understood, the Eisenhower quote is one to share widely, btw!
Check into the Seneca Project. Senecaproject.us. Tara Setmayer just started this organization to galvanize women to help win in November.
Thank-you for the link.I subscribed to them.
There's a lot of fact-checking going on.
But not enough finding the fact checks and understanding them. Just 5-6 families control a media that by design is not doing the necessary investigative reporting or publishing it prominently. Suppressing access to information is a form of voter suppression.
Check into the Senecaproject.us. Tara Setmayer just started it yo help galvanize women to win in November.
Me too. And now President Biden having Covid makes him look even even weaker and less able to govern, let alone win in November, despite all the governing he is still managing to do.
I don’t care who the Dem nominee is. I don’t care if Biden is the nominee while in a coma. I’m voting for them. And every other Dem candidate on the ballot.
Same here, Yvette. A vote for trump is a vote to lose our freedom!
Me, too. Politics and government is more than one person. The Republican Party are a good example of this. Trump couldn't have done this on his own and Biden isn't any different. Democrats on all levels, all the way.
‼️ DAMN STRAIGHT ‼️
My fear is that the democratic process in the US is doomed.
1. The playing field is not level. Many states, (AL, FL, NC, OH,...) have gerrymandered their election districts to reduce the Democratic voting power in those districts and the courts have upheld those efforts.
2. As we saw in 2020, our election officials and polling places can be subjected to all sorts of intimidation - death threats, physical intimidation by firearm-carrying self-appointed posses, etc.
3. And even if the Democrats did get a plurality of votes, we will, again, hear about the stolen election.
The video from the RNC of hundreds (thousands?) of Trump supporters chanting, praying, and even crying during speeches by the Trumps (plural intened) does not give me any confidence that a second January 6 can be avoided.
Reminded me of a holy rollers revival tent. They are the true believers in a cult that deifies party ambitions as the will of God. Fortunately they are few. But Nazis were not a majority, not even close, and they took over a country that at the time was better educated than the present USA. Our country is being taken over by this cult.
I wonder what polling would show if it was, generic Democrat versus the traitor?
He'll get over Covid all the quicker if he knows he's not being abandoned. As the BBC radio news said, "In spite of an outstandingly effective presidency..."
Anne-Louise, I still don't get it. It is definitely showing us all just how ageist this nation is. There are lots of folks in their '80s and beyond who are still working and doing a great job. There are rumors that Biden might have Parkinson's. If he does, so what! A lot of people have it and are living full lives. It reminds me of the lies about vaccines causing autism. The thing that bothered me so much was the idea that autism is so horrible people would put whole communities at risk to keep their kids from getting it. We really do not like people who are old or disabled or differently abled in any way. I guess rich white able-bodied men up to about age, say 55 are great and everyone else is not.
It’s not about his age. It’s about how poorly he’s performing. He was a very good President. Past tense, though. For the good of the nation he should step down. Two out of three Democrats agree.
David, nonsense! Where is the evidence. I think this whole dump Biden is a Republican plant to divide our party and a whole bunch of ageist reps got on board, then some senators who wanted their names out there as somehow being at the forefront of something important joined them. It would be great if they would just stop the anti-Biden stuff and jump on board because we don't have much time to let the American people know we can handle making the best moves for the American people all the way around and Biden is the one to lead the charge with Kamala Harris right beside him and the rest of the terrific team around them. That's what a dedicated intelligent political party does; it does not undermine the guy who has made the most progress in this country in decades. Sorry, but that is what it is about, undermining Biden so Democrats look weak. That is nuts if we really care about winning.
FDR had polio and was weak and sick and could barely walk in the last 3 years before his death in 1945. He carried on his presidential duties in spite of his illness. President Biden is in much better health than FDR ever was during his 4 terms. FDR had to be propped up during his speeches.
Hear, hear, Ruth!
Did you not watch the debate? Have you not seen President Biden's interviews afterwards? Even when he is speaking off the teleprompter he gets confused. I love Joe Biden. He's been a good & consequential President. But he does not have the strength, vigor, stamina & mental acuity to campaign for the presidency & win this election. And the Democrats must win in 2024.
The evidence for his performance is apparent every time you watch a speech or an interview, or watch him move. Like it or not, the polls are what they are (including the fact most Dems want him to step down). Why do you think the trump team is praying Biden stays? Wishful thinking and denial of the facts is going to cause us to lose, and lose big. At this point if Republicans are doing anything it’s working to keep Biden.
Poor performance? According to biased polls? The media? Russian propaganda? BOTS?
I don’t agree with you!!
We will lose if another candidate take over right now.
Please give us some examples of how poorly he's performing other than that one-night debate. I disagree absolutely with your perspective
All the rebuttals to my point are moot. Biden is dropping out, for the good of the country. Now let’s do this thing!
David, sorry, but that's nonsense, no real evidence of anything, except ageism on your part and on the part of a bunch of people and donor interference on the part of a bunch of other folks who have an agenda that is definitely not clear and needs to be overridden. Biden has never been the greatest interviewee, but so what! He is an effective leader and there is no one but Harris ready to take over and being a woman of color, will not pass the OMG gotta be a male test. Let's get behind Biden. If anything should happen to him while he is in office, which I doubt, Kamala Harris will be right there ready to jump in. It really is that simple!
Biden took an antiviral and will likely be over COVID soon. A visiting relative passed it to me a couple weeks ago, but between vaccines and anti-viral pills it was not so bad. I am exactly one year younger than Trump (who got COVID also). There are never certain outcomes where heath is concerned, but modern medicine gives us an edge.
Paxlovid will do u good when u catch Covid.
Saved my ass last year.
Same, 2 years ago for me. Took the edge of and lessened the symptoms and duration. Staying current with boosters is also key. Covid mutates twice as fast as influenza, it will be with us now for a long time.
That's what they've given him.
If he’s on Paxlovid, he’s not on a statin — another sign of hood health.
Statins can be paused while taking Paxlovid.
They gave my family Molnupiravir. We each started feeling better, nit cured but not suffering much either, pretty right a way and symptoms faded from there. My bother in law, who first had the exposure, has issues for which Paxlovid was contraindicated.
Well, it's good that the nit was cured as well.
I took that too after I realized I’d had COVID 3 weeks after I had a bad upper respiratory infection with extreme fatigue.
I just went to bed for a fortnight. My neighbour knocked on my door with a bowl of chicken soup. It's all true what they say about chicken soup...
Remember FDR....
Remember Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan. He was the Dem nominee for US Senate in 2000 (back when MO was a purple state). In mid October 2000 he died in a plane crash. He still won his election a few weeks later over the GOP nominee John Ashcroft. Vote for the Dem candidates!!
As someone who now lives in Missouri (a transplanted New Yorker) I can tell you that the running joke at the time was that Missourians hated Ashcroft so much "they voted for the dead guy." Alas, those days are over . . .
Too bad his son is now our Secretary of State. He’s even worse.
Oh don’t I know it.
FDR, steadfast to the very end, wheelchair and all.
Exactly. 1944 election. Lots of similarities
FDR’s disability was hidden from the American people. Not really a parallel…
There was one time it wasn't. When FDR went to Honolulu in the summer of 1944 to work out the strategy of the Pacific War between MacArthur and Nimitsz, he visited the naval hospital there, where the kids who had lost arms and legs were. He had himself wheeled through the wards in his chair, pausing to talk to each of them. The fact the President was one of them meant their lives weren't over.
Now that moistened my eyelids. That's what we were fighting for.
The reason it was hidden does not speak well of our priorities as a self governing society; but I guess it proved something about what it takes to govern. For all the drama, I have yet to see evidence of genuine disability on Biden's behalf. I worry some that about optics, and I worry that age, far more for some than others, though we all expire in the end; but while I have not admired all of Biden's decision, I don't see incompetence so many are talking about. I most certainly see the opposition party as vile.
Optics rule, FDR didn’t have the MSM vipers at his back. Some did fall for Nazi bull Schitt, but Japan put a stop to that.
More proof that optics rule, an ear bandage over an injury verified by NOBODY
I don't doubt that Trump's ear is injured but he obviously used the biggest bandage he could get without looking like mummy-man.
Remember Queen Elizabeth- actively and effectively governing into her 90s
Nor have I seen any evidence of genuine disability. I've seen a few repeats of issues he came in with, like his battle with stuttering for instance with all that entails; *gaffs. I've seen him wear himself ragged to lead-by-example. I've seen him get ill. ...! OMG, Joe Biden is human ! (lol)
His courage was real, and not hidden.
His disability was largely irrelevant to his competence.
When, how, or why is a physical disability relevant to moral leadership l and sound political decision making for the people’s benefit?
Equally true with Biden and his age and physical carriage.
And his own party operatives were not trying to back-stab him under pressure of his party's oligarch donors.
It crazy that we even allow oligarch donors. It's corrupt even with benign intent, and patently ant-democratic. As for the press, they are inured, even protective of the thumb on the scales of public process, and treat as an legitimate pillar of "electability". That madness explains a who lot about what the former "Republican Party" has become. BIG money has proved to be the One Ring that rules them all, (ask Clarence) but while the public, for the most part, doesn't like it, we have yet to make it a top priority.
Susan, it is true Roosevelt was not shown in his wheelchair, but everyone knew he used one. My teachers and family members who grew up with Roosevelt in office said everyone knew but it wasn't important. They knew he had had polio and couldn't walk. They participated in collecting money for polio research over the years after FDR passed in honor of his struggle.
Not the polio/paralysis. In 1944 FDR had other health issues that went undisclosed and he died te following spring. His opponents were from NY and Ohio.
I seem to remember that FDR’s handlers went to great lengths to conceal his physical condition. Unfortunately in this day and age it is difficult to conceal Biden’s mental condition. 😩
The President is fine. There was a full Medical Report released. He is being treated like any other COVID patient, myself included, in 2024. There are medications available now and we have been vaccinated to help with the healing. That does not mean weakness. We must unite and support him. Vote 💙🌊
Mim, our media are working really hard to make Biden look weak and have been doing it for quite some time. I keep wondering whose money is behind this and the constant reporting on Trump and Kump as though they have anything positive to offer anyone, particularly the media which they regularly call "fake news" when it is they who are providing the fake news. Trump had COVID and it didn't make him any crazier than he already was which means Biden should come out of this just as qualified as he has been all along, and he has been working hard for We the People. Maybe more of us need to call the Biden haters out on their whining to maybe keep us from having a steeper run to November than we ought to have. We need unity as a party and as a nation.
Ruth, thanks for your thoughtful posts. I see this pile on Biden as a gross betrayal of the most effective president of my lifetime. He does not deserve this, and nor do we. The last few weeks have only served to make our path in November harder, and that is so stupid that I’m flabbergasted.
I don’t think the questions about Biden’s age and fitness are completely misplaced, but the time for doing that was in the primary season, not now. Doing it now just weakens the entire democratic field. I get that we’re all scared trump might win. But why are we helping make that happen?
As I have posted on other days, I do not care if Biden is unable to complete a second term. He has a great VP and team who stand ready when the torch is passed - but we have the responsibility to make sure the torch is still lit, instead of blowing it out ourselves.
All that said, despite my fury at some in the Democratic Party, I will vote for whoever the D nominee is, but I’m angry about this.
100% Karen. I feel the same. Why? It makes no sense. It’s like fear takes over people do easily. The sky is not falling around Joe. He and admin is doing great! Let’s give them a Dem Congress/both houses to really improve things. They deserve that from us!
"....but we have the responsibility to make sure the torch is still lit, instead of blowing it out ourselves." Wow; well stated KR !
Well said.
Opponents and the execs in charge of press outlets. CNN is owned by a Republican. I think Allan Lichtman is correct that we don’t have much chance of defeating Trump without Biden, and I concur. Dr. Lichtman is a government instructor at American University who has a great track record at predicting election winners. I think the big donors got scared at the President’s first debate and so wanted to toss the President out of the running.
Kathy, yes, pushing Biden toward out of the race because of one ridiculous debate is a weird kind of perfectionism but also a huge helping of ageism.
I agree, and President Biden still looks better physically and mentally than Trump.
But why is a physical description between the two equivalent for leadership? Trump has no positive leadership values whatsoever vs Biden’s lifetime of service, empathy/compassion and political experience in every category of governance. Right?
Maybe he needs one of those $7,000 haircuts, or a Hollywood make up job. Seems that a phony image is all that matters. Really popular is one that spews bull Schitt non stop
Ruth-Biden’s age is just an excuse. There’s a lot more underlying these moves to oust him. The media is SO complicit!
Kathy-I think the big donors are more concerned about Joe’s focus on monopolies, taxes and consumer protections. They need someone who will accept their “gratuities” and stop
trying to uplift the “common good”.
Having cancelled my cable tv....I can devote more time to the MeidasTouch.....Stephanie Miller......other progressives that give basic truths, hope and a positive vision of a Kotex Jesus free future. They are actually starting use each others reporting.............a very very good thing indeed
Billionaires like Musk, Russian meddling bots and amplifying doubt and discord, big media needs drama to sell advertising, keeping the outrage high and viewership high. The race wasn’t close, isn’t close, so create a false narrative to make it seem so. The zone is turned into a sewar filled with so much bullshit, nobody knows what’s real and true anymore. This is our Epistemological Crisis of the Information Age. Too much information. Overload the system, lots of overlap by competing and non competing interests. Biden will win even if in a coma.
My dream
Trump had Covid and landed in the hospital then rode in a car with other people not masked showing total disregard for the health of others.
Yes!
While the media slams Biden he has been governing. And campaigning.
What more does this man have to prove to people?
His opponent walks around with an envelope taped to his ear, playing golf and spouting gibberish.
It's part of the British ethos that you don't kick a man when he's down. Not in America?
Anne-Louise,
It depends on the individual. Many of us have compassion and empathy for other people. Too many do not. That quality of character may be a good litmus test for which political party we vote for. The Democrats are more likely to want to lend a helping hand to those who are impoverished, or disabled, or in dire straits. The Republicans would say "Get a job, lazy slacker!"
The Democrats are more likely to describe America as President Lincoln characterized us, as a self-governing nation, of, by, and for the People. The Republicans are more likely to follow President Reagan's characterization of the government as separate and divorced from the people.
But some of us clearly do kick a man when he's down.
Thoughtful answer. Thanks, David.
Dems do
Hi Anne-Loiuse, has the latest TNE arrived over with you yet? Its one of their best yet. The prevailing view over here ( for what it is worth) is that Biden has given his all but should now hand over the reins to his VP , and let his successor(s) carry on the struggle. Which can yet be won.
I appreciate everybody’s responses to my comment. I said that Covid makes Biden “look even weaker,” meaning to those who already think he is weak. It is unfortunate that his lifelong propensity for gaffes and his manner of speaking, due to his stutter, make him a less than eloquent speaker while the lying bully appears vigorous. I join everyone who is dismayed at the situation we are in. Whatever Biden chooses to do, we all must respect his decision, thank him for his decades of service to the country, and rally behind whoever is at the top of the ticket and every Democrat on the ballot.
I agree that somehow Biden coming down with COVID is being portrayed as a weakness. (Not sure how that can be when people of all ages all over the world are dealing with COVID. ) Why doesn’t the press make more of an issue of Trump falling asleep multiple times during his own convention?
Why does the press repeatedly cover all real and perceived weakness exhibited by Biden making a big deal of his age while ignoring Trump’s? Biden is 81, Trump is 78. Not that much difference. If Biden drops out and loses the distinction of being the oldest person to ever run for US president, won’t that honor fall to Trump?
Do one small thing. Donate to a candidate or campaign. Write 5 postcards to get out the vote. Encourage other people to vote. Have heart. Action of the smallest sort will make a difference in your fear. Read something other than corporate media whose job is to get keep you anxious and scared so you'll keep clicking.
Amen! I have been giving small amounts to Democratic challengers in red districts all across the country. I gave up eating out and shopping generally. We have to not just fight for the top of the ticket but all the way down!
Take some sort of action every day. It is like a job. I have several democratic candidates that I donate to, rotating monthly.
I am doing Letters to Voters with lists for under-35 registered voters in AZ, GA and NC. Once I finish them, I'll begin on WI and maybe others (if my 80-year-old hands hold out!). Letters are easier than postcards for old hands like mine - check out votefwd.com We have 2+ months to prepare hundreds of letters to mail between Oct. 1-29. I plan to have my packs ready to go on October 1.
Yvette, I have posted here in the past a quote from Susan Sontag: “Courage is as contagious as fear”. Let us remember that and swell our courageous feelings/intent in the face of what we fear. “Let’s roll” [Todd Beamer’s last words on Flight 93 to take down the hijackers]….so, in that spirit, let’s gather our collective courage and “roll”.
Absolutely. They knew what their choices were, and took the courageous way.
Let's roll!!!
Yvette, far better to be scared than to be sleepwalking. When you are scared, there is a possibility that you will react by fighting back—if you’re sleepwalking, you are unaware of the danger. Far too many of us were willing to believe that both main parties were, at a minimum, wanting to preserve the Constitution and the rule of law. Now courageous historians and journalists have pulled back the curtain and we realize that the knight in white armor is not coming to save us—we must get together and save ourselves. We are the majority and it’s damn well time that we act like it.
True enough. Our institutions are failing, so we must not fail ourselves.
Breathe deeply and clean the rust off of your steel.
Same…
What is even scarier, is that in reading Project 2025, The section White House Office, the person who wrote this is a former assistant Chief of Staff Rick Dearborn. He starts off by making the Chief of Staff the most important person working for the President, and most people are reporting to him. I see he wrote this role for himself. The way it is worded, and the discussion of the President signing documents, either himself or with the AUTOPEN, I see the Chief of Staff setting things up to start signing for the president. So, it sounded to me like they see the "President" as their useful idiot and the Chief of Staff exists to carry out the Heritage Foundation's project 2025. Trump, like most dictators may not end up being their useful idiot, but it sounds like they plan to get around Trump if he does not do what they want, after they consolidate all of the power with him, but really it will go to his Chief of Staff.
Chilling thoughts, Linda.
Linda-Remember the stack of Executive Orders that Trump made a show of signing? We haven’t seen anything yet. With Project 2025 this nation will devolve into chaos very quickly (although if he doesn’t win we’ll have chaos too).
Your ancestors here have faced worse. Buck up.
Move. The mind needs a physical reminder that everything will be ok. Movement relieves stress. Breathe. Move. Act.
Try to harness that feeling into something positive to combat it. I strive to get young women registered to vote - women who come into the clinic where I work who haven't given politics a second thought. There are so many out there who aren't registered yet, who are young and have their whole lives ahead of them. I point out what the future holds if the R's take power and that we have the power to prevent that if everyone who can gets out there and votes. You will find you have empowered yourself, a good way to turn your fear into determination.
Only 80 years ago, anti-nazi partisans were living in the forests of Ukraine fighting for their freedom and their lives.
They channeled their fear into action and helped push back the Panzer divisions back accross the borders from where they came. Today, they are doing the same thing, and holding the line
against tyranny.
The Orange Cult is preparing its invasion of the USA.....2025. France and England also know tyranny and rejected it last month.
The truth will set you free.......
You and me both. And I'm taking lots of actions. Still scared.
Remember that all the heroes you respect from World War II were terrified when they did what they did.
@Yvette: FIGHT BACK. Register new Democrats' to send Republicans packing.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Yesterday, we sent out over 46K texts and we’ll be sending more tomorrow in the #textbanking https://www.fieldteam6.org/fund-the-mission
Especially when their Agenda 47 was released the day trump was "shot".
A little distraction while they put together which is a range of priorities if he’s elected, including stricter rules for schools, more hardline immigration policies, scrapping climate regulations and creating entirely new “freedom cities.”
I only hope I have a bit of bravery to do what the French did during the Vichy gov't of France during WWII
On the business of so-called being shot, with a theater background in props I could tell you that you can make a combination that looks like blood, of glycerin and Carmine and put it in a capsule and perhaps tape it behind an ear to be suddenly slapped as you fall to the ground supposedly wounded. Thus a very weird looking bandage that acts like a badge of supposed courage. This is not conspiracy talk, it's a thought.
It’s such an obvious photo op. Bannon knows all the tricks of Hollywood, and none of repubs have any qualms about collateral damage. And really, he needed to kneel down to put on shoes. Investigate those SS types who were with him. The same ones who erased text messages on Jan 6? Questions need to be answered. Are there one or two investigative journalists still around. Ben Bradley is long gone, and Jeff Bezos is busy admiring his penis-shaped rocket. So any questions will likely be ignored. Wish it weren’t so…
There is too much that we have zero evidence about. I saw a photo today on Axios from the gop pep rally with - left to right, Dana White, tfg, and Kid Rock posed for a picture, and tfg not sporting the envelope / bandage on his right ear; no visible wound nor discoloration. (????)
I listened to a few minutes of Trump's speech, and it is clear that he was keeping the fact checkers busy. Same lies, same dystopian vision, same narcissistic, self-congratulatory list of putative achievements. We'd best make a gargantuan effort to share reality with others to encourage them to vote blue, no matter who the Dem nominee is.
I tried to listen to his whole speech which was mind numbing. I actually got sidetracked, he was spewing out so much bull pucky, as Rachel Maddow like to say, that it made me realize I needed to clean my kitty's litter box & throw out her little turds! Would that I could scoop the turds out of the country as easily as clumpable litter makes it to scoop out the litter box. Meow >^..^<
Oooh….oooh….love the term “Trump Turds” for his little/big lies. Too bad they don’t have him standing on a platform of kitty litter to speak, so as to “catch” all the turds falling from his butt-lips (sorry for the visual). 🤮
Mental turds.
Hey ! tRump stinks, dropping not just mental turds. Narcissism makes him think it's OK.
Are you one of the cat ladies that Vance said are running the country?
I am! So get ready for a national holiday for cats!!!!
>^••^< meow!!!!
Dog lady here, but I can celebrate cats, too
I love dogs too.
Face it! Fuzzy faces family members are the best!
lol ~
Doing that just now, shortly, as the kitty has just finished scratching.
Saw some of the Trump rant too because the local news had some outage caused by a Microsoft hack or something to that effect. It caused problems at airports, some banks, even as far away as Australia, apparently.
What was much better was Senator Bernie Sanders on Colbert tonight. I highly recommend watching it. Really a great interview, so cogent and well spoken and he's 82. He's still supporting Biden too.
If the Dems don't disable themselves with contention over Biden's leadership. At this point, i think more post-debate damage has been done, by far, by ongoing bids for Biden to quit, while the campaign leadership has stressed continuation. Replacement may leave the party more "broke" than ever. I was amazed at how much eg MSNBC/CNN spent going over the Biden/Dem problem at the RNC the last few nights than nailing the GOP outrageous lies and exaggerations ongoing through the whole convention.
Strongly agree. There was way too much talk about the Biden candidacy and the Democratic leaders who are hurting the campaign by saying Biden is too old to run and can’t win. The hosts at MSNBC seemed biased against Biden, except for the most experienced one, Lawrence O’Donnell. They were covering the RNC and should have been critiquing it instead of Biden. I wondered why they were even in Milwaukee!
Also, Heather omitted the fact the during the Mueller probe, Manafort’s deputy campaign manager in the 2016 campaign, Rick Gates, testified Manafort gave the campaign’s internal polling data to Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian intelligence operative who worked for Oleg Deripaska, who in turn was running the Russian election interference unit. Manafort did that to help the Russians better target their social media campaign to influence voters. This is collusion and was detailed in the Mueller Report.
The meetings took place in the bar at the top of 666 Fifth Avenue, the building owned by Jared Kushner.
Agree with you both also. Not enough time to get another winning candidate in place anyway. Sounds like a disastrous scenario about to unfold for the Democratic convention only 1 month away.
Thanks for the further details about the Russian election interference too.
What an appropriate venue for such a diabolical meeting to take place!
I remember being a little shocked as a kid seeing the 666 Fifth Avenue location on Warner Bros. record labels in the 70s and 80s.
Alexander, if "the hosts at MSNBC seemed biased against Biden," he has lost. That's like in 2020 when the conservative flagship Wall Street Journal published very negative stories about Trump, and in 1968 when Walter Cronkite of CBS News criticized Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policies. "If I've lost Walter, I've lost the country," LBJ said, and withdrew from the campaign shortly after that. Or if Fox News starts broadcasting criticism of Trump, you know he's lost. These are bellwethers.
Apologies if it was hard to like this comment although I know you're probably right. It's all for the Democrats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory now, and we must win this one in November. So let's hope Fox News starts the criticism of Trump that you mentioned because it is just too unbearable to think what 2025 will be like if a Democrat is not elected as president on November 5.
Circular firing squad: Democrat's "go to" conflict resolution method.
Eisenhower also famously said, in a comment that today applies to the rise of the likes of J.D. Vance and Elon Musk, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.”
Barry, Eisenhower was the first president I became aware of as a child and recall positive feelings/opinions from adult family members about him (and seeing him on our old B&W TV). My impression was a stand-up & do-right guy who had seen/experienced much & imparted wisdom as a result. Some years back I emailed a friend on the east coast that Eisenhower was the last Republican president I could admire & she responded that she’d just made the same comment to her young adult daughter—the both of us being rather politically progressive. I really am saddened that it seems the Grand Old Party seems to have lost its bearings completely….hopefully, someday, they will recover their stasis.
I'm glad to be able to say that my first vote at age 21 was for Gen. Ike's 2nd term; I had read my way through WW2, particularly after D-Day and knew his role in bringing the war to a successful end. If he could run a war that well and with valor and discernment, he could run a country.
I liked Ike
I fear that the Republican Party has completed its transition to an authoritarian party. HCR has documented much of the shift that has occurred since Eisenhower left office, and a gradual shift to a new standard began in the Nixon years. From Trump's emergence as a political entity in 2015 until now, the transition from a party grounded in democracy to one pushing autocracy and possible dictatorship has become obvious. The Republican party of old is no more and a steady state of privileged power has been achieved. Trump has succeeded in dividing us. Whether we can remain a democratic republic depends on keeping the flame of the self-evident truths alive.
It also means electing the Biden/Harris ticket along with a long list of dmocrats to both Houses of Congress and democratic governors this November!
I think Madison added something like that to the Federalist Papers.
Republicans love to drag military, police, and guns onto their stages as evidence of..??? Maybe that they support America.
"Not everybody is comfortable with the idea that politics is a guilty addiction. But it is. They are addicts, and they are guilty and they do lie and cheat and steal - like all junkies. And when they get in a frenzy, they will sacrifice anything and anybody to feed their cruel and stupid habit, and there is no cure for it."
~ Hunter S. Thompson
Thank you Professor ⭐
We should, and I do mean should, be looking very closely at the intersection of developmental psychology, politics, voter education from very early, media education also early, and qualifications for running for office at every level in every community as well. People need to prove ahead of time in some important way that they can do the job they are running for, by example, by experience, by provable background. Let's smarten ourselves up shall we?
My impression is that for the people Hunter Thompson describes politics is a means to an end for what they really crave: power, fame, control, alliances with other powerful people, personal validation, wealth, meaning, and the occasional surge of adrenaline and endorphins.
Power tends to corrupt, sans accountability.
Absolutely
In the essay by Will Bunch that Heather quotes, there is mention of Hunter Thompson:
"The bubble of disinformation walled off in downtown Milwaukee from the rest of America by a maze of concrete barriers could be suffocating at times. I kept wondering one thing: What would the great gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson have made of all of this? How long before he started seeing hideous green lizards crawling from underneath the MAGA hats of these rhinestone cowboys before the numbing conformity revealed the psychedelic terror of the grim American future that crawls just underneath the surface?"
It's a great essay.
https://www.inquirer.com/opinion/milwaukee-rnc-cult-donald-trump-20240718.html
I read a lot of newspapers daily. In my opinion Will Bunch is the dean.
That’s why we the people have the vote.
Voting and not voting regulates politicians.
It’s NOT voting which allows crazy, power-mad Americans like Trump to take the power and commit crimes, crimes which go unpunished.
Remember 2016. Trump only won because 40 million Dems refused to vote. They thought they were protesting Hillary. They realized only too late that they had elected Trump.
Remember January 6.
Obama and the others pressuring President Biden to quit is the craziest, anti-democracy act imaginable.
Our votes will decide who gets the Presidency for the next 4 years.
Trump will be as disloyal to his current rich supporters as Putin was to his backers.
Dems haven’t stooped that low yet.
Seems to me like they're on their way, especially after what I read yesterday.
They are indeed
The Convention is sickening. They are in a pseudo-religious ecstasy, ear bandages, adoring faces, arms raised while Billy Graham's son sermonises and Trump either prays or dozes, you can't tell which. He's being presented festooned with loving grandchildren. I kept going back to it because I wanted to hear Trump's voice when he addressed the Convention. Has he had an epiphany? No, he hasn't. Not the time for President Biden to give up - the people are with him, does he know this? He needs to know it, urgently.
100% Biden 💪
I think Joe knows who is with him, which is why IMO he is doubling down on his status as the nominee for the Democratic Party.
Ohio Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, a member of the Congressional Black Caucus who represent approx 120 million people, speaks to Roland Martin of Roland Martin Unfiltered on YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzNsVxjsLBs
In defense of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, Danielle Moodie gives a PSA on Instagram to "White Establishment Democrats" (colorful language is used):
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9iirz9u5iJ/?hl=en
Jessica Craven's "Hey White Dudes" message on YouTube (more colorful language!):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptRSoR1CKnk
Jasmine Crockett as well!
https://x.com/jasmineforus/status/1814095826752549164?s=61&t=-jR3JSYfH5ncrYZd4PfdRA
THANKS, Lynell - and also for those links.
Until I hear Jim Clayburn say anything, I'm staying with Joe.
Morning, Lynell! These links are GOLD!!
Morning, Ally!
If you're on FB you might appreciate a picture Janis Ian posted of the red-hats kneeling before the golden idol https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1026559698834882&set=pb.100044425839641.-2207520000
Pretty sure he wasn’t praying!
The expression on the face of the woman in the foreground of the photo of all the attendees with giant white goobers on their ears is CREEPY!!!
All of a sudden, BINGO !
After that 90+ minutes-long pathetic speech of Trump’s, President Biden is looking so much better.
Don’t give up, Joe. We got this.
Thank you for continuing to support the truth of today and the past. Your work has helped us to sustain and prevail over these times, and I want to thank you for doing this. You give me hope to continue and know we are the right side of history. To history, I will always salute!
The political cartoon on the front page of Daily News, (wish I could post it)
July 17, 2017
OPEN TREASON
Fifth Avenue, NY
Putin and the orange one hold hands
Red tie dangles, while the felon
Shoots Uncle Sam in the head.
We have know these connections for a long time, and let it slip away amid his constant crudeness.
So far, he has been able to shoot someone on 5th Avenue, and get away with it.
You've coherently explained that so much of what took place in Trumps first term was caused or corrupted by Russia Russia Russia aka Putin's designs on Ukraine. Unfortunately it spilled over into Biden's presidency and we are living it. Most people are not familiar with how and why Putin & Trump aligned. You've provided a public service by explaining it so clearly.
Thank you.
I'm not convinced that Russian corruption has directly affected Biden's presidency. Russian influence, via propaganda and disinformation, is omnipresent on the internet. I think Biden's hesitancy in the fact of Russian aggression in the Ukraine was driven by the age in which he (and many of us here) grew up. We were told that the USSR was a mighty military power, not to be provoked. There is still a lot of that thinking in people our age.
It goes both ways, to some extent. Chairman Mao Zedong of the Communist Party of China was fond of describing the US as a "paper tiger." Chairman Nikita Khruschev of the USSR is said to have responded, "but the paper tiger has nuclear teeth." Putin has abandoned that kind of discretion in pursuit of his imperial dream, despite the exposure by the Ukrainians of the hollowness of the Russian military. He thinks he can restore the USSR by bluff while NATO remains diffident.
The Republicans are awash in a sea of corruption and a contagion of lies. Their power and methods rival the Nazi machine. They cannot be stopped with reason or elections. They have no decency. They cannot be shamed. Something else will have to happen to end this disaster.
It’s an extremely difficult and frightening time. The Democratic Party have put themselves on the defensive—not a good place to be. The authoritarianism of Trump has been in effect for quite some time. People are afraid. We have been warned in Timothy Snyder’s book, “On Tyranny”. “Do not obey in advance”.
Excellent book, and more important than many of us realize. I had our book club read it.
Brian Klass’ Substack today address this: https://open.substack.com/pub/brianklaas/p/how-tyrants-fall?r=em19s&utm_medium=ios
Heather,
Another great story from history!
🇺🇸 Today I created a graphic for posting the Republican Project 2025 to Facebook, and it has the links to both the 922-page Project 2025 and the Democracy Now 48-page easy-to-understand Project 2025 brochure, for public consumption:
The People's Guide (48-page) to Project 2025
https://democracyforward.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/2024-05_Peoples-Guide-Pro-2025.pdf
2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL
https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
Thanks!!!!
Yes, James, "Something else will have to happen to end this disaster."
Dems will have to unite by quoting each other -- the way Heather specifies history in her columns here, the way Jamie Raskin cites various registers of great American English in his valedictory to Joe Biden.
Best for Jamie's letter to him -- leaving the door open for Joe to reign as father figure over all these Dems, fitting the ways he so well led Dem achievements recently, when he was at his peak, so much-needed for the rest of us.
Thank you, Professor. New ideas? It’s sad to say that they have no ideas. I can’t grasp what they are gaining for themselves, the base I mean. Do they not realize that they are not really thought about in the greater scheme of things. May we all stand strong and stay blue and true to our country and the constitution for all people. For all people. Peace and love always.
Does anyone actually think that they realize anything with any reason at all? Let's not make the error of believing that they are rational beings, or you would not be seeing what you're seeing. It's self-evident as one of our founding fathers said..
Mike, it is a cult. When you look at it in that context it makes all kinds of sense.
there are, as some on the far-right contend, ‘heritage Americans,’” native-born Americans who have a deeper understanding than newcomers of what this country means.
I *am* a "heritage American" - the tenth eldest male of eldest male back to the first to come here, in 1680. And I *do* have a deeper understanding than the descendants of the transported English pig fornicators (widdle Juvenile Delinquent Vance) and a German pimp like the Trumps, of what this country means.
My name, Thomas McKelvey Cleaver, is three family surnames, and the name represents the three reasons people came (and still come) to America. John Thomas was a Welsh farmer forced off his land by the Enclosure Movement in Britain (the man who stole a goose from the Commons was transported to America, while the man who stole the Commons from the goose was transported to Parliament); he was an economic refugee. James McKelvey was a Scots-Irish refugee, a participant in "The '99", the only Irish rebellion involving both Protestants and Catholics, who arrived "a hop and a skip ahead of Lord Cornwallis' rope"; he was a political refugee. Peter Klebber, (the name changed to Cleaver after the Revolution when we all started speaking English) was a German Quaker refugee from the European religious wars; he was a religious refugee.
As to a deeper understanding of what the country means, Peter Klebber was a leader of the Germantown Quakers, who in 1688 became the first group of Europeans on the planet to make the non-ownership of slaves a condition of membership in their community, beginning Quaker Abolitionism. Peter's fourth great grandson - my sixth great grandfather - Isaac Cleaver left the Quaker church to fight in the Revolution and was one of the few left in December 1776 to cross the Delaware with General Washington and save the Revolution. Isaac's four times great grandson Alem Cleaver spent his 16th birthday atop Little Round Top, saving the Union.
I submit my "legacy American" family has been more involved in what America is really about than has the grandson of a German pimp, Donald Trump, who never gave a day's service to the country he claims to love.
And there are more of us than there are of these jumped-up pieces of shit.
Thank you for sharing that fascinating family background. My family ancestors and many contemporaries are all 20th century immigrants, paternal grandfather, mother, and wife. (1901, 1946, and 1975 respectively). They were, and one still is, better Americans than the Abomination and his spawn.
I'm certain they are.
A little genealogy would teach the cretins a thing or two, but they are averse to learning anything. The majority of people swamping our shores believe the words on the Statue of Liberty. The “entitled”heritage Americans would erase it in a nanosecond. Erase that “equality” from our founding words, and see who gets booted. And who gets to serve the “plantation owners.” Be careful what you wish for MAGAts.
Project 25 MAGAns
TC, I love your family history. I really don't have much.... I am a direct descendent of "Tom House, a farmer from New York" (according to the paternal side's research into proving that we are descendents of Alfred the Great through the patrilineal line, so "Tom House" New York, 1791 is mentioned exactly that much since it was his wife that got us there). That is the only tie that I can firmly trace. My Mom's paternal ancestry fades after 3 generations into it, when most of them came over from Ireland in the 1870's; her mother's line is all but untraceable.
How long your family has been here has no relationship to your understanding of America. The earliest people to arrive in North America came tens of thousands of years ago. Even the first Europeans to come to what became the U.S. came long before 1680.
True, but splitting hairs is a task for the bored, is it not.
Being a direct descendant of the original Mayflower by a young man not old enough to sign the compact and young enough to survive that winter, 10 back, and not having done much to outline as you do, I still get a deep sense of commitment to this country's founding and ongoing quality development. In this way I feel I owe my service to keep us going in a healthy direction. Just probably why I am a healer as well.. It must be hard to not have ancestors that you know of to honor, in fact much worse if they were dishonorable. Being true on that would mean you would try to improve the history I would think and hope
It's very interesting. Every time I run across one of we "legacy Americans," that person is almost always involved in doing something that promotes the country. Like you. I wonder if it's in our DNA?
I seem to have inherited a directional tendency towards breaking through boundaries of many sorts also on both sides: ggg'mother was friends with Susan B. Anthony and invented the more modern version of the corset that came just before the girdle, to free women's breathing and ribs; my ggfather raised bond $ for Pres. Lincoln when the union was running out of money; my father was the first to introduce a 6wk municipal recycling
process for making compost for nearby farmers (near Peekskill NY); my maternal G'mother homesteaded with four young kids in Montana 1912 after my grandfather died. He was a teenage Jewish immigrant 1856 who later contracted and built the diamond exchange near Wall Street. On it goes.
(We can PM if you like)
Let's do so.
I'll bet you some DNA researchers are on that track and we might have go by inference for now. Before I knew much at all and certainly not the above I was already oriented this way, possibly by my first 4 years which included my father but I have no actual memory of his talking to me about our roots. And I get it from both sides as well, lots of New England and a little bit of Virginia colony. Some senators, reps etc. It feels planted.
Hell yeah TC!
Oh my this is so powerful so frightening If only all in this country would read this they could clearly see the threat of a T presidency and would turn their back on this deceit and evil and vote for Biden and a congress led by democrats who care and do their job for we the people all of we the people
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. “ -Abraham Lincoln
Lincoln would be horrified at today’s Republicans.
Yes he would. He was always critical of those that thought they were better than others just because of birth or they were from a founding family versus an immigrant family. This was early in his career.
“There are some that believe that are the family of the lion and the tribe of the Eagle.” -1838 Linsecum Speech. Meaning some believe they are fit to be the rulers. We can see this in the new GOP. The W stuff and MAGA are the ruled and fooled.
Podcast on Lincoln s best speeches.
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/econtalk/id135066958?i=1000662281032
Ah, the truth.
If ...
Lincoln had to be one of our smartest. So detailed, and mastery of both logic and persuasion.
Wonderful synthesis of some appalling facts. This is a dreadful cast of characters, and it will require very great determination to vanquish it. No more half measures. Get out the armor.
Dr. Richardson, I deeply appreciate your work. AND I’m coming down with horror/disgust/revulsion fatigue….
Susan, stagger breathe. Take a break, do what soothes your soul. Garden, run, knit, play pickleball/tennis/racquetball, pet the cat/dog, meditate. We'll hold the note while you recharge. Come back in when you can.
(Tuba players and choristers use stagger breathing when there is a looooooonnnnnnngggg sustained note that is impossible to produce without help within a section. My sectionmate and I are "even and odd"; he breathes on even measures, I breath on odd measures. It works.)