Vice President Kamala Harris continues her momentum toward the 2024 presidential election since President Joe Biden’s surprise announcement on Sunday that he would not accept the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination.
The total reversal of energy among the pro-democracy coalition in these past 72 hours has been nothing short of an astonishment, as if a defibrillator has been applied to the body politic.
Americans who were were dreading a rematch are now jumping at the chance to make history. Watching the VP's Milwaukee rally today was beyond invigorating. That crowd of devoted Dems sounded practically ravenous, even hundreds of miles away through my desktop speakers. Harris herself surpassed all expectations, and that is the key to success here: Americans love a story of someone rising to meet the moment. Indeed, she has waited, watched, and learned, and now boy ever is she rising. Sensible people could posit it would have been preferable for her to become the nominee earlier this year through a regular primary. Yet sensible people rarely create BIG POP CULTURAL MOMENTS, which is what America loves more than anything and which Joe's big exit created, ironically enough. We are likely living in one of those future "remember when?" moments, an unprecedented tipping point everyone feels compelled to be a part of.
Joe has given us so much, but he couldn't give us that. Thank goodness he was big enough to give us a chance to give it to ourselves.
Honestly, I wonder if he is mostly happy, or at least relieved. Biden came out of retirement because of Trump, what happened at Charlottesville, and the promise he gave his son Beau to stay involved. I would bet that if Mitch McConnell and the chicken sh*t R senators had done their job and convicted Trump with at least that second impeachment, so he could not run again, Biden would have announced he was only going to be in it for 1 term then, and let the next generation have at it.
At moments I promise myself I will go dance on Mitch McConnell’s grave. That poisonous old man cannot exit the national scene fast enough to suite me.
I'll be there with you, dancing on the grave of that scheming weasel. I'll never forgive Moscow Mitch for sabotaging U.S. democracy so heavily, so effectively, and with so much malicious intent.
Dutch Mike, I too will be pleased when McConnell is off the scene. He is corrupt while pretending he is some kind of "good guy." It takes a lot of nerve to do that, but not much courage. He ran the Senate like his own fiefdom and his Republican buddies went along with all his actions which should have been seen as unconstitutional, but somehow, Republicans just can't do the right thing and when they have someone like McConnell pushing forward (backward), they think they can't lose. Well, I hope the American people have had enough of Republican bullying, lying, deceit, and anti-American activity and will vote as many out as they can in November and beyond.
The Republicans have tunnelled themselves into a radical "pro-life" agenda, and its accompanying white nationalist christian aspirations, not to mention its intended gutting of the modern administration state with its social support and regulatory frameworks, aided and abetted by a severely right-slanted SCOTUS. A radical minority wants to call the shots over the rest of the American population. This needs to blow up in their face come Nov.
Ruth and others, count me in as someone who loathes the nefarious Mitchy. He has had a large role in the Supreme Court as it now is and he did all of it in plain sight. And then there is Randy....poor Kentucky with those two.
Don't forget the moment we're in right now! Trump, who has planted himself big on the horizon all these years, to the point where I've been wishing for him to die so that he would become inconsequential, is now dying politically, thanks to Biden's sacrifice and Harris's grand appearance on the stage! I can't remember when I've felt so relieved. (Gotta remind myself to keep reminding myself to keep fighting for our Democracy!)
I agree that Biden saw his most important role as preserving democracy in the most powerful nation on Earth. And if that's what he thought, then he was right. And he's always underestimated. Joe Biden always gets the job done one way or the other.
Cathy Pyron, you are absolutely right, McC also killed the Garland nomination for SCOTUS. His reward was having t-rump call his wife chow-chow. Many of rumps closest advisors have gone to jail and Giulliani is totally disgraced and bankrupt.. So apprentices beware.
I had trouble figuring out whether Grover Norquist or Mitch McConnell did the most damage to our Democracy for a while (after Newt Gingrich and Frank Luntz). Both Norquist and McConnell seemed incredibly able to ignore the damage they were doing but McConnell gets the prize for the most hypocritical in the blocking of even hearings for Garland for the better part of a year then lighting speed in confirming Coney-Barret.
Then there was the Senate Impeachment trial that seemed a cut and dried case until his even worse betrayal of our Democracy in declaring it was too late to try him for the crimes he implied were outrageous.
Any statue of him should have him strong arming Themis (the goddess of Justice). as he puts his full weight on one side of the scales of Justice.
Mitch delighted in thwarting President Obama in every way he could, including appointing judges, etc. Disgustingly, he wore an expression of glee as he did it.
Cathy, dance on both Mitch McConnell’s and James Comey’s graves for me, please. I feel that Comey’s decision to announce the Hillary Clinton investigation twice (while following the rules and keeping quiet about the cooperation of Trump’s campaign with the Russians) sunk her campaign in the critical background states and gave us Trump.
We must remember that Hillary won the popular vote. The electoral college gave Trump the victory as it did for W when Gore won. Getting rid of the Electoral College is the goal. The R's have done a good job gerrymandering so that most states appear to be Red and appoint electors accordingly. They will try that again for certain. The only antidote for now is a Blue Wave of extraordinary numbers.
I don't believe Moscow-Mitch, and the other 'Rs' could convince DJT to do anything that DJT doesn't want to do... Even if he did, DJT wouldn't stick to his agreements... Remember DJT was sent to New York Military Academy were he was reprimanded for wearing Medals & Ribbons that he didn't earn... The Washington 'R's just follow the Money, as does DJT...
The ground above Moscow Mitch's grave is likely to be quite compacted (and possibly a bit muddy) from so many folks dancing (and doing other things) on it . . . Well deserved.
Ahmagerd. Haven't seen John Sméagol around for a while, and now we have a "MadRussian" hopping around here? Another troll who has his subscription paid by Putin to copy-paste-spam the comment section?
The timing of Biden's decision to bow out after the RNC convention was sound. The RNC line was locked into painting Biden as forgetful and old. Biden's late decision gives the GOP limited time to get out a new anti-Kamala message. Let's lock in Kamala's message to undecided Independents!
Yes, his age is not negotiable. The one thing that Dems could not dispute. However, his political savvy is undiminished. Also, the debate performance could not be erased. It just cemented the Repub view in a way. So I guess the circuitous route to where we are makes me think of this. All journeys have a destination of which the traveler is unaware. Forgot who said it, but what a month???
JD, the following quote (one of my favorites) is often attributed to Confucius: "If we don't change our direction, we will likely end up where we are headed."
Just told this to my grand girl who was disappointed over an unexpected happening. Had so many in my life. Some fortuitous, some not so much, but all consequential in ways not obvious at the time. I guess why history has to chime in as time clarifies and reveals…. Thanks for attribution
Patricia, I have seen more anti DEI stuff in the last 48 hours than I have in the last year. That is their new "bogeyman" since they lost the age wedge.
When the Key Bridge collapsed and someone called Baltimore Mayor Scott a DEI hire he responded, yes I am a "Duly Elected Incumbent." Great comeback, then and now.
Ally, Rs now have to have a very loud dog whistle so that their cult can hear it and repeat it. The very idea that women, people who are not white, and those who are not straight should have any rights or say so in our country causes a lot of the hatred. The election of Obama was such an affront to them. He didn't have to step off the sidewalk for them or live on the wrong side of town. He had the highest office in the land. When we were in Chicago, our tour went to Hyde Park and the U of Chicago and we saw what little of his house was visible from the bus. One of the jerks on the tour asked while we were in that area why we didn't see the areas that he saw on TV, the all black part. Even when we were in Peace Corps training at George Williams College (near the U of Chicago)in 1965, Hyde Park was a diverse thriving area. The cutoff line was Cottage Grove, west of that was all black. Did our teacher training at Wendell Phillips High School near the White Sox Park at 3500 South. Training there was quite the adventure.
Yesterday, someone reversed DEI to define Trump, something like,"Devious, Egregious, and Insipid." (My words, but someone else's idea) Remember when police were called Pigs, Ally? They nipped that in the bud with the acronym Pride, Integrity, Guts.
‘There was a palpable energy apparent as she walked onto the stage…’
This is the orchestration of timing plus genuine dedication …and remembering surprises often come in small packages.
America is captured by the moment and its time has come to fruition.
I am going to re-applaud the many who paved the wave by wearing pearls ,Ruth.
By the patient stand by ,waited near breathless in the wings, hardly heard cheering us on Moms, secretaries, Albrights or ‘just’ housewives…who stood long but proudly without the fanfare or true appreciation.
Sisters…Kamala one and all , wear the pearls well. Let the icing on the cake be marvelous.
AND...didn't he time it perfectly!?! Brilliantly waiting until the repub Convention was over, the lemmings committed to going off the cliff together with their decidedly old, crazy and babbling candidate, he did what needed to be done. Stunning maneuver, President Biden!
Biden (to me, anyway) didn't seem to be all about power and keeping it. He was trying to help people; and perhaps, he realized that he didn't have the physical strength to do another four years.
I wonder what he thought when he looked at the debate Joe. It seemed like a different man. Of course, none of us are ON all the time. But that could not be erased or overcome. Not even a month ago… strange world
He did give us that ...by the timing of his exit. He gave us a BIG POP CULTURAL MOMENT by holding off, then stepping down. Even his timing of the day...he waited until the big political pundit shows of the day were over, so they couldn't have a free-for-all dissecting the move, telling us what to think about it and his endorsement of Kamala. That space, without media's false equivalencies, allowed his base to take in the crushing moment he stepped down and embrace the possibility Kamala brings to our nation.
And everything about Kamala is a slippery slope to try to attack!
She's not a mom-but a beloved step mom. She's not white- but she's not African American either-with parents from Asia and the Caribbean. She's not a career politician- but a career prosecutor. She's youthful and joyful- who doesn't love youth and joy? She's not religiously affiliated or beholden-and her family is Jewish. She is an effective and experienced public speaker who did not have the luxury of speechwriters her whole career. She's spoken her own thoughts out loud her whole life.
And then Joe does the most confusingly selfless, patriotic and politically perfect act of generosity.
It's all so perfectly designed for us I'm weak with gratitude.
Will, from Cal, You always express so well, exactly what needs to be commented. If Joe had to step aside, I am so glad he did it with a full-throated endorsement of Harris. For anyone not familiar enough with Harris, Politics Girl posted this video even before Biden stepped aside to educate voters about Harris. I hope anyone wanting a cool perspective on Harris to give it a watch: https://youtu.be/DJeltMiTZXo?feature=shared
Thanks for posting. Most voters who hear about her vast international experience will say HUH ? because the main stream media, including msnbc, ignored her and focused on trump’s trash mouth lies. When will they start focusing on reporting news rather than trying to make news? Donnie lied constantly through the “dismal debate” and mostly ignored the questions to spew lies. Moderators were failures and should have turned off his mic when he didn’t answer the question asked. Kamala knows his type and he’s scared. 🤬💩🤡🎃
I'm pretty sure she's an expert at rhetorical whiplash. Likely Trump will "refuse" to debate... she will counter-bullet him to the floor... OH, i hear he's accepted a debate with her! tba!
Your link to the ‘Who is Kamala Harris’ YouTube was great - Thank You MLRGMI.
And more subscribers to HCR fantastic print and video journalism- please make suggestions to what our younger generation is anchoring to. We need to fight for all out democratic diversity, especially our young people. Otherwise, the Climate Crisis is cheating the future generations out of a prosperous future. 🦋
Climate change is a creeping, mega tsunami there is very little anything governments, institutions are doing, even the most pro-active, to ,make a difference for the time being. Fossil fuel usage globally continues to rise and likely will so through the 2020s before levelling off in the 2030s for oil assuming EV does a pickup. Trump et al mind you want to get rid of ev subsidies, and as for oil etc drill baby drill. A lot of fossil fuel demand increase is now driven by Asian countries , now eg the world's largest coal burners, despite being much lower per capita consumption than USA. Switching to gas is good, but it's still a greenhouse gas adder. I do agree that pressures for reduction are a must, Kathaleen. I'm not sure what to make of the repeatedly broken reduction pledges, or "as much as we can" at Climate conferences, with a lot of finger pointing by developing nations, as they continue to crank up. 1.5C IS going to be surpassed. And you know, even the best climate models are imprecise on cumulative impact. Sorry if this sounds like a rant.
Thanks for the link! I will have to check that out. Over dinner last night, my husband and I watched Kamala Harris's entire speech in Milwaukee on CNN. Fantastic.
Good link. I decided to follow that creator. But she got one thing wrong: Harris is not a Progressive. She's a no nonsense common sense leader.
I think I'm relatively conservative and yet the Biden/Harris policies have been successful because they're common sense and data-driven (mostly). They've spoken directly to my sense of what it means to he an American. That VP Harris will continue to implement such policies give this old curmudgeon comfort that our children will have a more hopeful future.
Excellent iv. A breath of fresh air. No wonder the response has been overwhelming. She talks about what we are FOR - a novel concept around the world never mind our backyard.
Watched this when it came up - just watched it again. Watching the rally in Wisconsin should scare these RW doofuses out of their little pea-brained skulls!
Will, you get it. The hand wringing over "how late in the cycle" Biden's announcement and Harris's ascension came ignores modern culture and the speed of life today.
In fact, the timing was perfect. The real campaign begins on Labor Day - always has. There is a huge swath of America that doesn't pay much attention to politics - until something really dramatic happens. It just did - and people are now ready to listen to a new younger vigorous voice. In fact, whether they knew it or not, they were hungry for this.
And for most of our history the nominee was chosen at a summer convention. In 1880, the Republicans selected a candidate who had not even asked for the job. Garfield went on to win the presidency. And there was no internet to propel a political message with lightning like speed.
And it will be women - angry women - who will take us to victory. Forget their political party. Try telling a woman she has no control over whether to carry a soon to be dead child to term - with all the health terror that comes with that. Try telling a woman that Republicans want to restrict birth control? Good grief.
I believe that "younger America" is awakening like a sleeping dragon. Soon she will fly and roast the enemy. Can you hear the music?
It struck me as I read last night's letter to wonder if people at other pivital points in history have understood, at the time, that they were IN a pivital point in history? Outside of full-on war time, I mean?
As Robert Hubbell’s reader David H. noted, “President Biden has passed the torch to all of us.” Now we have 100 days to get the job done. Find your super power. Find your tribe!
Well said, Will! If she'd become the nominee earlier, the rabid R's would have been beating her up the past several months or years. Now their hysterical criticism of her makes them look stupid.
People watched what they could stomach of the RNC convention thst was poorly attended, with Dear Leader with a cut up Depends on his head, and his idiot co-conspirator bought and paid for by Peter thiel VP nominee.
I absolutely love every word you posted here! ❤️ I am one who has been very upset and angry about what seemed to be underhanded machinations to push Joe out. But I don't know anywhere near all the facts, and though my heart breaks for the pain this decision must have caused Joe, I admire and respect him even more for having the guts to look at both himself and the situation honestly, and to relinquish his position and support a younger candidate whom he knows well and knows is very capable of defeating our homegrown fascists and continuing the work of bringing our country into the future, and closer to the ideal of freedom, liberty and justice for ALL!!
Yes, it is such a juxtaposition to feel grief for our lovely president whilst feeling utter joy at the this igniting moment for our country and world. President Biden has selflessly passed the torch to a wonderful woman who is a powerful speaker, prosecutor and can hold the torch for Liberty and well as for Justice. She will undergird and help us repair all the groping and abuse the rethuglicans have done to America and Decency and Democracy, Checks and Balances.
“ The total reversal of energy among the pro-democracy coalition in these past 72 hours has been nothing short of an astonishment, as if a defibrillator has been applied to the body politic.”
Like HCR said Sunday night in her brief video, Biden's timing remains impeccable.
Biden waited 'til tfg locked in his worst choice for his VP pick Biden before he gave the country a selfless gift. He likely never would have picked JDV if Harris was opposing him.
As stressed out as I was I had no idea just how stressed I was until relief came when Biden stepped down. AND I did not wish for Biden to pass the baton.
I completely agree. I love Joe and felt terrible about him being pushed out, but when he made his decision and brilliantly made sure that Kamala would have the best chance to be his successor, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted. My husband and I agreed that Sunday night was the first decent night’s sleep we had had in 3 weeks. And now I’m beginning to feel the stirrings of actual hope and optimism! So grateful for our current and future presidents!
Will, You are a gorgeous writer who brilliantly has captured the intense transformation of this moment. Given your talent, I imagine you have garnered a broad public reach.
Make a wave! Help register new Democrats in swing states. FT6 has a database containing 9 million unregistered likely Democrats in swing states. The basis for all digital outreach! FT6 uses every outreach method there is: email, text, phone, geofencing, direct mail, targeted ads, social media storms, postcards, and live voter drives.
THANK YOU DONALD TRUMP!!! Because of you, a female, kinda ethnic/Black/whatever is now absolutely acceptable, downright desirable!, to become the next President of the U.S. of A.
J. D. Vance wrote “Hillbilly Elegy” to posture as if he knew U.S. Appalachia.
But the book’s actual message is his bitterness at working class America – it has just too many just too lazy for not going to Harvard as he did.
Harvard? Ivy League? Half their majors are biz ed, where life reduces to nothing more than the abstractions and living dead units for billionaires to package. Appalachia? Long America’s easiest pickings for our predator rich. As commenter Gary Loft here has written, it also adjoins all “the MAGA South that the Heritage Foundation wants to expand across the entire country.”
To make up for how Vance, like MAGA, has dehumanized, let’s just note some of the truest Appalachian humanities for the rest of us:
James Agee, “A Death in the Family”;
Harry Caudill, “Night Comes to the Cumberland”;
Davy Crockett, many tall tales;
Wilma Dykeman, “The French Broad” (Rivers of America series), “Return the Innocent Earth,” and more novels citing mountain/valley working realities;
Davis Grubb, “Night of the Hunter”;
George Washington Harris, the Sut Lovingood tales;
I was working as a library page when that book came out and absolutely every scared-and-guilty white liberal with a B.A. felt compelled to pick it up to get more of an understanding for those people whose neglect had left them no choice but to stray toward facism. Boy was I chastised for not only refusing to take part in the wearing of the hair-suits, but for having the gall to actually point out that people were obviously getting played by a poseur. There was no there there besides opportunism and apologia.
My sister lives in Central PA and when you get up in the hills/mountains to the west of I-81 it is pretty bleak economically. My niece delivered pizzas south of Harrisburg for several years and she saw many things she'll never be able to unsee.
If Trump wins the election, it may be time to split the nation into several smaller nations.
The climate deniers are going to suck up billions of dollars trying to rebuild on the East Coast south of the Mason-Dixon Line. What is the upside to rebuilding time and again?
And the Christian-Nationalists who authored Project 2025 will continue to support the patriarchy as well as the oligarchs.
The map accompanying this article shows how the US and Canada really has 11 separate 'nations' with entirely different cultures.
Gary Loft, I can't see any benefit to that except for oligarchs who would be delighted to own their countries and compete and war with the other countries. It would be their dream and our nightmare. We are more protected from domestic and foreign oligarchs as united states in a large region than as smaller fish, easy prey for predator oligarchs. In fact, I just read an article about Theil's friend, Yarvin, a wealthy tech guy, who proposes splitting our country up into smaller corporate owned nations. What could possibly go wrong? As sick of the division as we both probably are, the only way forward is to unite. It's no accident that their greatest strategy is divide,, divide and conquer, as old as time.
Hah.. 1954, I was in public school, 4th Grade, in Atlantic Highlands (NJ) when we shifted from "one nation "indivisible" to a nation "under god".. ! That, quite simply, was the beginning of 'the end'. Whoa.., is that too extreme for you gentle readers? I understand. Hows-about I use the word 'beginning'? As in, the beginning of the quagmire of religious-paralysis we're stuck in? It would have been better if it read One nation under Ford.., or One nation under General Motors, or maybe it shoulda been left alone.., "indivisible".
I fully admit that splitting up the US would a logistics nightmare and the winners would be the large corporations and oligarchs -- at least initially.
One can hope for Nirvana, but the unintended consequences are way beyond my imagination.
If we divide as a nation, we’ll end up dividing loyalties with other countries. Red Republicans will align with Russia and other authoritarian nations plus some others who need resources from those states.
We won’t have peace. We’ll end up as “meat” for stronger countries to take.
While we’re dreaming, I’ll repeat my dream: Canada++ = West Coast + Mexico + Canada, with Canada’s political and legal systems. World’s third largest economy and a force for good governance and a green new deal.
Rex Page (Left Coast), P.S., it feels like so much innocence has been lost these last eight years, or maybe I was just in a state of ignorance is bliss. I don't know. The world is all upside down.
Rex Page (Left Coast), sadly, the last eight years of our propaganda on steroids from the top down has also awakened a strong vein of yearning for dictatorship by some in Canada. It is, I suspect, not as strong but even a few degrees of separation is still bad.
i think the mindset of corporate owned is already with us (unfortunately). Seems since the 70’s or 80’s the paradigm most folks are operating from is a business one. Everything is for sale and efficiency uber important. Return on investment is being applied to everything including for example healthcare and education. Everything measured and quantified. Yes, a nightmare.
I think we need to reform capitalism to protect life essentials from speculation. Creativity and innovation are being hamstrung by our operating out of a business paradigm for everything. No wonder people feel unhappy. There is only room for the businessman’s perspective. Ridiculous waste of human potential. I think we need to stop counting everything and measuring what’s in this for me. All this counting is not leaving room for anything else. Corporate nations may indeed replace the current nations and governments if we don’t reform and put other values besides money first. Profit first is a divider. I think people first is needed for us to unite.
Mary Ellen Spicuzza, you have explained it well. Robert Reich refers to it as our demise of stakeholder capitalism (everyone mattered, shareholders, ceo's, executives, employees, customers, community, and the common good of the nation) replaced by shareholder capitalism (only shareholders, ceo's and other executives matter, profit only goes to them).
Mary, In the absence of industry and manufacturing, the goal of that side and corporate democrats, is to "peddle" the myths of "self-made" folks, and the glory of some "gig" economy. It's all horsecrap ! Don't get me started....
Perhaps we need to redefine "business". The phrase "it's business", translates into "I can do anything I want regardless of the consequences, as long as I make a profit". That doesn't have to be the only way to understand business. It could mean, an activity that is designed to make it possible for people to have a good life, while also considering environmental factors. Business without ethics is what's destroying us.
60 years ago I was 17 years old and hitch-hiking all over this map. I felt no cultural divisions (okay, I was 17), only excitement at a country with so much diversity, variety, human and natural.
With the exception of a certain war that interrupted things (and changed me), I just continued to absorb the novels, songs, films, and other arts that informed, suffused this great land.
Even today, imaginatively, I cannot accept -- can scarcely even register -- the sheer vulgarity of those who just cannot even begin to love the America I was so blessed then and since profoundly to love.
Even though my parents lived in one house for 53 of their 55 years of marriage, my mother insisted we take a vacation every year -- usually 2 to 3 weeks long.
From Omaha, we could travel to much of the country in a couple of days in our 1962 powder blue 3 on the tree Chevy Bel-Air station wagon. It was packed to the gills with canned meat, cereal, fruit and other ready made drive down the road meals. We would drive until sunset the first day, and my dad would ALWAYS be grumpy. And then my mom would yell at him for being grumpy.
We would set up our tent roll out the sleeping bags and my mom would set up the camp stove to make coffee in the morning.
We met people in campgrounds from all over the US and once in a while from other countries. And my mom always made us tour some business. One year we toured the Swift Meatpacking Plant in Albert Lea, MN. The first stop on the tour was the hog kill line. I was 9 at the time and my sisters were 12 and 5. All 3 of us kids can still recall every detail of that tour. And I'm suspect from hearing the Covid-19 stories of the conditions in the meatpacking plants little has changed in the 60 years since that tour.
Those vacations were an education that I cherish, even though I haven't eaten Spam or Vienna sausage since. And the people we met, were all so real and nice.
I've lived in 10 states and worked in almost 40 states and 5 foreign countries. I have learned so much about people yet I know so little. How lucky are we to live in the US and have the freedom to travel almost anywhere in the world.
like yours, my family traveled 3 weeks every summer, al over the US. (Well, not south, in our un air-conditioned Ford wagon,Mom vetoed that!) Staying in a tent in national parks, and seeing the greatness of our country. We met people from all over, and made friends no matter where they wre based. An unparalleled education.
We can't let the haters Win Phil, we just can't. I happened across the perfect meme for this age we find ourselves in; I'll set to searching for it in my files, then share it with you and our friends here.
I read Colin Woodward's book you mentioned, as well as his book, American Character. Both books raise similar interesting points. I highly recommend them.
Thanks Gary for sharing this. Once again I am discovering a new idea from a fellow Substack reader. Not saying I think it is a good idea mind you but it sure is interesting to see the breakdown on that map.
Insulted! Yes. And since 2016, our worthiness as citizens of this great country has been under duress together with our intelligence being continually insulted by #45 and his surrogates (u-name-them). Vance, fits right in. I can only hope that the Harris campaign grabs those two bozos right by the nuts and shakes them till their teeth fall out.
I use Glasshouse as the example of what Reaganomics/trickle down did to a well functioning union based industry that had its money sucked out of it and good paying jobs sent to China. The decline of that town is the failure of trickle down.
I'd not have seen this, Kathy, but for your kindness in posting.
My favorite lines:
"Vance’s policy approach is not very resonant. He specializes in weak-man politics. His claim is that government is always impotent. This does not work together with Trump’s strong-man fantasy."
My take-away from the book was the author’s unfathomable devotion to a family of deeply deplorable dunces. When the white working class that Vance pretended to champion went all in on continuing the French colonial war in Vietnam, I lost most of my respect for them. When they put a union-busting racist in the White House in 1980, I lost the rest of it. They’ve gotten steadily worse since then. Not all of them, of course. Twenty or thirty percent of them are decent human beings. Whatever problems the white working class might have are their own damn fault for voting for rethugs.
Vance' book became popular as an explanation of Trump's appeal to the White rural poor. A NY Times review suggested that stereotyping those poor as despairing rather than indolent was an improvement. And a Brookings report noted that Vance's "account anecdotally confirmed the report's conclusion that family stability is essential to upward mobility."
However. Vance grew up in suburban Ohio. His grandparent's had left Appalachia (Kentucky) in their 20s.
"Jared Yates Sexton of Salon criticized Vance for his "damaging rhetoric" and for endorsing policies used to "gut the poor". He argues that Vance "totally discounts the role racism played in the white working class's opposition to President Obama." Sarah Jones of The New Republic mocked Vance as "the false prophet of Blue America," dismissing him as "a flawed guide to this world" and the book as little more than "a list of myths about welfare queens repackaged as a primer on the white working class." Historian Bob Hutton wrote in Jacobin that Vance's argument relied on circular logic and eugenics, ignored existing scholarship on Appalachian poverty, and was "primarily a work of self-congratulation." Sarah Smarsh with The Guardian noted that "most downtrodden whites are not conservative male Protestants from Appalachia" and called into question Vance's generalizations about the white working class from his personal upbringing. . . The book provoked a response in the form of an anthology, Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy, edited by Anthony Harkins and Meredith McCarroll. The essays in the volume criticize Vance for making broad generalizations and reproducing myths about poverty." When it was published, many from Appalachia rejected it. Today, the rejection of Vance's appropriation and misrepresentations by both residents and scholars of Appalachia continues.
JD Vance took a route to privilege and wealth through the military. (Where he served in a PR unit.) Which gave him entree to an Ivy league education. Like Trump, Vance's business ventures failed. Instead of his way being smoothed by his father's wealth and influence, Vance's rise was smoothed by Ohio Yale classmate Peter Thiel's wealth and influence.
"From giving Vance a job in Silicon Valley to funding his Ohio Senate campaign — and introducing him to a network of tech billionaires who could give him more money — Thiel helped propel Vance into the MAGA-verse and onto the ballot, simultaneously bringing the agenda of the New Right into mainstream politics. The New Right is a post-Trump movement of young and elite conservatives that essentially believe federal institutions and current democratic systems have failed the United States and must be dismantled."
Peter Thiel is intellectually brilliant, but seems to believe his brilliance should be highly rewarded. He seems to think he should be able to buy anything, his own politician for example. His ideas are very scary.
I don't know where you are unless I know your latitude and longitude. One without the other is useless. Likewise, I don't know who you are unless I know your intelligence and your wisdom. One without the other is useless.
Q: Is exceptional intelligence an asset?
A: It depends. Exceptional intelligence in a wise person is an asset, and exceptional intelligence in an unwise person is a liability. Thank God Citizen Donald is an evil idiot and not an evil genius.
I am uncomfortable with disparagement of "MSM" This is a GOP trope which has tainted public discourse. And is unfair to the many good journalists at outlets such as WaPo and the NY Times. And exactly what does the term "MSM" encompass? NPR? The New Yorker, The Atlantic etc?
These are samples of early criticisms. Recent ones abound.
WaPo 2017:
I was born in poverty in Appalachia. ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ doesn’t speak for me.
lin°, that's a good point. When I say MSM, i think mainly of the three major television networks and their online sites. I separate the press, cable, NPR and PBS in my mind. My criticism of MSM is on a continuum of criticisms/motives. Go to the extreme right and you find generalization of all the MSM with the motive to destroy it and any press, cable, and publicly funded programming who questions them or disagrees with them. My motive is expounding a truth that the MSM fell all over themselves to glorify his book. And around its release, there wasn't a glut of questioning of some of his premises by the MSM.
"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." —George Orwell.
My suggestion is we distinguish between real journalism, public relations, and phony journalism. Every journalist must engage in public relations to survive, and the purpose of real journalism is to inform. The problem is phony journalism: public relations that harms by misinforming.
Q: Does a journalist tell people what they want to hear because it's profitable, or tell people what they need to hear because that's journalism?
Q: Do I consume media because it's telling me what I want to hear, or do I consume media because it's telling me what I need to hear?
Same answer to both questions: Do no harm. I think it's safe to assume that every subscriber to this newsletter understands that implicitly.
James R. Carey, yes it really comes down to motive, both overarching and for each individual story. Are you trying to inform the audience, with facts that point to the truth or manipulate the audience, with omission of facts that point away from the truth?
Hunter Thompson is from Louisville, KY. Not Appalachia, but still wish he had a chance to confront Vance! I recall him coming to Daytona in '84. Queried on which Dem he liked among the seven contenders at the time: "I don't give a shit as long as we get these profit taking bastards out of the White House."
Louisville, Kentucky (Hunter Thompson's birthplace), is far west of Appalachia, Rich.
My mother's family is from Beaver Creek, part of the Clinch river watershed where they built the first T.V.A. dam when my mother was first entering school in the nearby city of Knoxville.
When I knew my great-grandfather, he was retired from the Southern Railroad, and living in a large old wooden house on Fort Saunders hill, just west of the L&N rail yards along Knoxville's old downtown
There'd been a great Civil War battle one nasty November morning on that hill, where Longstreet's Johnny Rebs could not dislodge the entrenched bluecoats.
Same hill, described so poignantly by James Agee in "Knoxville: Summer, 1915" (prologue to "A Death in the Family."
Guess we all owe it to Heather for her good work allowing this site of hers to be of some remedial help to us who've otherwise missed, not known of, so much worth knowing.
and WE, the tax payers, paid for that Harvard schooling if he used the GI bill. If that is the case, Harris's campaign needs to highlight that as his exploitive ways. Make him defend his grifting.
I am from Kentucky. The Appalachian Mountains are exquisite and the people are a beleaguered population isolated and abused by coal corporations. Their culture is old and a powerful part of American history.
Here is what our Governor Andy Beshear said about Vance:
" “If somebody calls you on that, what you do is at least listen. And I want America to know what a Kentuckian is, and what they look like, because let me just tell you that J.D. Vance ain’t from here. And the nerve that he has, to call the people of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky, lazy. Listen, these are the hard-working coal miners that powered the industrial revolution, that created the strongest middle class the world has ever seen, powered us through two world wars. We should be thanking them, not calling them lazy. So today was both an opportunity to support the vice president but also to stand up for my people. Nobody calls us names, especially those who have worked hard for the betterment of this country.”
Your governor's response described what I saw making nurse home visits in West Virginia in the late 70's. Proud, family focused, hard working, give you the shirt off your back people. I hated Vance's book. Feel the same way about the author.
I have really enjoyed "Dirt Road Revival" by Chloe Maxmin and Canyon Woodward, https://www.dirtroadrevival.com/ Chloe won office in the reddest county in Maine. "Democrats can win back and empower overlooked communities that have been pushing politics to the right." How they did it is relevant to any state.
Thank You, Phil. In 1979 on my first day at work in a West Virginia clinic, the director handed this Michigander a copy of Caudil's "Night Comes to the Cumberland" and said, "Read this." Best orientation ever.
Apparently Vance does what many Republicans do, which is to blame individuals for system failures. Poverty is the result of political policy decisions. And human beings caught up in poverty have a whole array of responses to their circumstances, depending largely on their family structure and function, genetic predisposition and the social environment they live in. Some people are undone by poverty, while others have the wherewithal to overcome the impact of it and every possible response in between. Vance seems to have mistaken depression and despair for "indolence". But not all succumbed to what is actually a public health crisis of poverty by becoming depressed.
Here's what I said yesterday on another site. Vance as the hitman for the campaign. Think Spiro Agnew. Not just women. Trump wants to play the victim of unrestrained targeted prosecutions and Harris was a lifetime prosecutor.
I heard Black Lung cases for 20 years mostly in Appalachia and grew up with that Wheeling Feeling, exposed to the culture. Fire in the hole! If he checks out who the Reagan Democrats in Macomb County Michigan, were, most of their antecedents took that Hillbilly Highway to get work in Detroit city. Same for every industrial area in the Midwest.
To a hillbilly, Vance ain't no hillbilly. "He is playing into the stereotype of the lazy, violent mountaineer who can't quite be trusted to take care of themselves." https://www.npr.org/2024/07/20/nx-s1-5043772/appalachian-writer-revisits-j-d-vances-hillbilly-elegy J.D. Vance Never Was and Never Will Be the Voice of Appalachiahttps://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/jd-vance-never-was-and-never-will-be-the-voice-of-appalachia. The voice of Appalachia these days is Governor Andrew Graham Beshear, who just last year flipped counties that went 70%-30 for Trump twice. He speaks the language. Her's a lay Decuples of Christ preacher who know the lyrics of all the hymns and Bill Monroe songs and knows what it takes to make burgoo.
Vance is a guy who married an Indian, gave his kids Indian names. His opponent is also partly Indian. I bet they eat the same food and it ain't burgoo. I bet he doesn't put syrup on his samosas and pakoras. On his naam bread. I bet he doesn't eat Martha White biscuits and chew Mail Pouch.
This is also a guy who has been, as I have written previously, the spokesman for the Putin position in Ukraine, despite the fact that 70,000 Ukrainians live in Ohio, not to mention folks interested in preserving democracy in Baltic and other European countries threatened by Russia.
BTW Vance lost the Republican childless cat woman vote. Trump hates dogs. Vance hates cat women, be they Democrat or Republican.
"This is also a guy who has been, as I have written previously, the spokesman for the Putin position in Ukraine, despite the fact that 70,000 Ukrainians live in Ohio, not to mention folks interested in preserving democracy in Baltic and other European countries threatened by Russia." Big part of the Vance moment.
“Audubon: a Vision”. A tour de force of American poetic imagination. Red studied Audubon’s journals. Then as if possessed by his ghost, he imagines the early American wilderness and its inhabitants as Audubon must have surely seen them but declined to elaborate upon. And it is haunting.
RPW was born in Guthrie, Kentucky, went to high school in eastern Tennessee, Clark County. Then went to Vanderbilt, Berkeley, Yale, and Oxford, achieving honors and distinction at every turn. I took to rereading All the Kings Men a few years back. There is this passage from then end of the first chapter, loosely from memory.
“As they were leaving, the Boss said, “Go to work on the Judge. Find something. “But what if I don’t find nothing” Jack replied. I know the Judge. There ain’t nothin on him. He’s clean. To which the Boss replied. “Jack, there is always something. Man is conceited in sin and born in iniquity. And he passes from the stink of the ditty to the stench of the shroud. There is always something”.
Please, don't blame him on Harvard. He went to YALE. Harvard has enough questionable fruits in it's basket ie, bad apples. Don't saddle it with this sour, and rotten lemon. He's Yale and Ohio State.
"MAGA Republican representative Andy Ogles (R-TN) has taken a different angle: he introduced an impeachment resolution against Harris, while others are demanding that the House should investigate Harris and demand the Cabinet remove President Biden under the 25th Amendment. "
If "Republicans" had something of value to offer, they would not have to try every dirty trick in the book in order to rig the election.
J.L., I'm worried Trump and his flunkies will find a way to use the corrupt SCOTUS to mess with the Democrats' campaign against the former coglione. I'm not too worried about the lower courts, but with financing from jackasses like Musk and the other "billies " they might manage to get some sort of game-changing decision from Alito, Thomas and the bros. The more I think about it, the recent SCOTUS gift of practically unlimited immunity for the former dimwit in chief is the single most important event in my lifetime.
But I think Kamala Harris will lead us to the promised land while leaving Trump face down in some obscure mud puddle. The great landslide of '24.
JD, Musk withdrew his pledge of giving $45MM/months to the Trump campaign, coinciding with a 45% drop in expected Tesla revenues because of price cuts. Apparently the libs he both so disdains and yet depends upon aren't buying his vehicles (or his BS.)
Cry me a river Elon, you couldn’t give me one. NASA will regret depending on Jeff or Elon for what they need. They may be smart but they have $ signs instead of eyes. Sort of like Boeing does these days.
It seems now there is reason to doubt Elon will be so "generous" to Trump. I can't really afford one, but when the Tesla came out, I wanted one. Now I wouldn't touch it.
Modern Republicans who shtick is to use the law to sabotage the law, sort of how a virus hijacks a cell's genetic processes. I hope that Harris's prosecutorial background prove to be an asset in countering those machinations. She claims to know the type.
Presidential immunity is for whoever is in the office of the president. Therefore Biden or Harris (if she wins) has immunity for "official acts" of office. I wonder if the Supreme Court majority thought that ruling through.
Nailed it, Will. They ruled that the presidential immunity is subject to their scrutiny - the way I read it, is that they will give leeway to the president they like, or the one who bribed, er, gifted, them with the most money; probably, this will be the same person.
I'm no lawyer, but I believe that SCOTUS has the final word as to what constitutes an "official" act by the President and will be able to confirm or overturn any lower court decisions based on their own ideologies. Clearly they are now making the law, not merely applying or interpreting it.
One of the first things to be done after soundly defeating Trump and the GOP will be to amend the Constitution and line it up better with The Declaration of Independence. No more electoral college, clear rules regarding certain kinds of behavior by elected officials and Supreme Court justices, a one person/one vote standard of democracy, and the list is longer than this.
It's from the popular fantasy books and movies "Lord of the Rings" about good, evil and magic. The specific finger ring would bestow unlimited power to a despotic evil sorcerer, and the "Hobbits' " duty is to destroy it.
...if Trump can be defeated while SCOTUS is still standing. They are making the law, they can simply rule that Harris' election is unfair/stolen/cheated/whatever and hand the victory to Trump. And I still can't see a way to stop them from doing that...
Unfortunately, tragically, there is no easy way out of a constitutional crisis when one of the contending parties is the supposed arbiter. Can the executive branch arrest and confine the judicial branch without setting off a civil war? Your guess is as good as mine.
Lack of compunction is a crooks superpower, but we want rule of law, and therefore don't dare indulge some otherwise open options. That said, in trying to foil justice for one client and grant impunity to others, the $COTUS is weaving a very tangled web that may entangle themselves in the face of some public sentiment and empirical legal reasoning.
My hope is that Harris allows us to continue the opportunity to make the Promise Land our functional reality. She will come and go. WE must always realize democracy IS US. She is definitely a shot of adrenaline many, many people needed to see to allow us to continue forward with this American Experiment. Don’t get me wrong. I am all in for Harris. But I have come to realize there are so saviors coming for us. Democracy means we have to save ourselves. That reality I recognized when trump came down the escalator. Heather Cox Richardson has been so awesome is keeping us sane, and educated for the fight of our political lives.
" Government of the people, by the people, for the people". What if we made that a yardstick by which to evaluate (and triage) all governmental decisions, policies, candidates, and laws? Not either/or individual rights or common good, but realizing they are the macro/micro nature of the very same thing? It it is implicit in the (real) Constitution and its amendments. We elect "representatives", not overseers or even saviors. Democratic leadership (grass roots or elected) can field ideas to clarify and further our collective agendas, action plans submitted to the "boss" (i.e., We the People) to gather support around,, or maybe not, but the dream of a "Father (or even Mother) Knows Best" who sweeps in and rights every wrong is dangerous wishful thinking, as history illustrates. When we practice to deceive we are killing the blessings of liberty. Democracy is the rougher road, the one less traveled by, but is, if noting more, the least worst (as Churchill put it) form of governance there is, and that's just for starters. Good faith and due diligence required.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." - Lincoln
Indeed. Trump had only three days to bask in the glory of the RNC before Biden upstaged him with his announcement. Since then Trump and cronies are doing their utmost to regain the spotlight. LOL!!
Anything the far-right majority (disliked by most Americans) of the SCOTUS does can be ignored by President Biden and then President Harris. Ignoring the extremists and enlarging the SCOTUS could all be considered “official acts,” no?
I’m taking that comment back. Musk’s non-denial denial was double speak. He is fascist to the core and doesn’t care how poorly Vance is polling, he will do all he can to get him into office, and trump should stay away from open windows.
Also, if Joe were to exit, this would make Kamala the 47th President, thereby leaving Trump holding the bag on a metric tonne of useless, Chinese manufactured "47" merch and marketing materials. THAT would make me smile. Laugh, even!
Frank, why, they'd have to ship that merch to Africa, along with the FJB flags and T-shirts, to be worn by people living in what CF45 called "S4ithole countries"! I love it!
I don't know what criteria they use, but Trump is clearly sub-basement. Biden may not be a "Great" president but like Carter (who was also not telegenic) he seems way under-rated. I see Reagan consistently rated WAY too high in my opinion. Besides Iran-Contra (is it OK just because he got away with it?) and sabotaging an Iran hostage deal, his logically and historically bogus "Reaganomics" set the ball rolling toward Trump and Project 2025. It was never really "government" that Reagan was so dismissive of, it was the people-centered goverment of Lincoln, and for that matter, the Constitution, for which the Party once founded with the help of Lincoln, brims with contempt (barring the holy 2nd Amendment).
I've been paying attention to Lichtman and the Keys to the White House model. The incumbent party is still well under losing 6 of the keys even with Biden leaving the race. I think it's 3 right now. I don't see 3 more dropping between now and November.
MK, a quick read of the article (written a couple days ago) gives me continued hope that this race is ours (although I take nothing for granted, believe me.)
As I commented on another post, "If we don't change our direction, we will likely end up where we are headed." And that's back to the White House!
I love how they have been harping on nothing but Biden's supposed senility since his inauguration, and now that he actually does seem a bit frail after 3.5 years at the world's hardest job, they are proclaiming there was a giant "deep state" cover-up about the state of his health. It takes a special kind of cover-up to be so hush-hush that everyone could see what was supposedly being covered and wouldn't ever stop yakkin' about it!
Peter Thiel wants to do to the Executive what Charles Koch has done to the Judiciary. JD Vance, like Clarence Thomas, has exploited his background while rising through the self interest of friends with money. As Thomas is an hypocritical GHW Bush Affirmative Action appointment, Vance is a perverted Thiel/Trump DEI appointment for poor Whites. Both Thomas and Vance are intent on kicking down the ladder for those who actually have to work their way up with the help of government protections and programs instead of personal patrons.
Love how they want a “fair race” but want to kneecap so many before they can even get to the starting line. In fact, if the zygote lovers really were pro-life, they would help fund pre natal care and want to protect women from spousal abuse. Not, as Vance promotes, stay with an abusive spouse, and “stand by their man.” In fact, from my experiences, I would suggest that many women in marriages to Republican men may already suffer from coercion on some level. And then there are the Ginni Thomas types who might prove the rule by exception.
Unfortunately for us in Tennessee, our "representatives" don't have anything of value to offer. My "representative", Tim Barnjacket Burchett, attacked Kamala as a DEI hire. That's how he "helps" his constituents. He never met a culture war issue he would not use!🤑😤
I expect some terrible misogyny and racism will continue to arise, and Trump will feel truly threatened. This should energize the youth vote to counter all this hatefulness. Forward VP Harris .
The misogynoir will fly fast and furious from the Trump camp. The one thing he can’t stand is being bested by intelligent Black women like the VO, AG Letitia James, and Judge Tanya Chutkan.
And dangerous, facing prison stamps him as a LOSER. He will stop at nothing. Maybe another rally coming up. The last one did the FBI in. But the FBI should investigate the ones on chump’s SS detail.
“For voters of an older generation, the brat meme is a combination of edgy coolness, with a bit of teenage rebelliousness thrown in. It is the younger-generation equivalent of “Dark Brandon glasses.” Robert Hubbell
Gail, so strange. I love the video of VP Kamala laughing and dancing and posted on several Substacks Just checked and still able to be viewed on those sites.
Regarding Facebook, Deepak Puri of Democracy Labs posted this week:
Why is Facebook censoring Andra's research about the people behind Project 2025? Ask the Republican operatives working there! Hint: Joel Kaplan, Facebook VP of Global Policy helped Kavanaugh into the Supreme Court.
Most likely, Trump was hit by shards of shattered teleprompter and plexiglass shields, the same as several police officers standing close to him. If he had actually survived an assault weapon bullet, the medical evidence would have been on full display. Instead, after a week of nothing, we get a statement from his disgraced former doctor who lied for him previously and was demoted by the Navy after investigating allegations of drunkenness, sexual harassment, and drug distribution during his time as White House physician.
Can you imagine what a split screen is going to look like if Trump really does debate her? On one side, hate and sullenness. On the other side, optimism and joy.
Tom I am waiting for Harris to state “We both took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States. I have honored it. You have trashed it. Have you no sense of decency?” [This is what Welch finally said to Joe McCarthy at the 1954 Army hearings.]
Someone needs to remind Trump he has not an ounce of decency, has an advanced case of satyriasis, he’s a malignant narcissist and sociopath, and is dedicated to pursuing every one of the Seven Deadly Sins. There is not one ounce of virtue in him.
Had to look that up. I don’t think that it’s sexual desire so much as power and hate directed at women. It’s a tool sick men use to flaunt dominance. And he’s a sick puppy.
It may have been true when tffg was younger but most likely it was always about power over women, especially impressionable young women, like those in his beauty contests, or the trapped underage girls he abused with help from Epstein.
Kathy Thanks! Trump looks like he has satyriases. Is that what stormy Daniels was referring to when she said ‘he had a little pecker that couldn’t rise to the occasion?’
Personally, I don't think she should waste breathe even debating him. It won't be good faith, and he already is trying to get out of it by changing the venue etc. She needs to spend time talking directly to people and campaigning. Trump is a known quantity.
Forget debates. Trump doesn’t debate. We thought with Biden’s last attempt that the “rules” favored a real debate. But when CNN threw out real-time fact-checking, and just allowed a word-salad vomit of lies from trump, the reality of “debates” being a worthy thing was jettisoned. It would be “must-watch-tv”, but to my recollection, no one has stood opposite trump in a “debate” and actually had the opportunity to debate. It’s WWE. If that’s what people want Harris to do, that’s one thing. But I hesitate to want that.
Republicans are always complaining that we treat them like they're morons, then they go out and provide all the proof necessary that they are indeed drooling morons.
Another well-researched LFAA from Professor Heather Cox Richardson on the vast difference between a dystopian chaotic Trump/Vance Project 2025/Agenda47 Administration and the stability and hope offered by a Harris Presidency.
Until now I didn’t realize that Trumpublicans had a (bizarre) sense of humor.
These are the guys who sought to trash the Constitution and democracy by trying to reject the Electoral College results, were defeated in 60 judicial decisions, and waged a January 6th insurrection in which over 140 guards were killed or wounded.
Now they are claiming (suing?) that it is ‘undemocratic’ for President Biden to step down as presidential candidate and that another candidate [Harris] be named by delegates to the Democratic presidential convention.
Having read Project 2025, I find it a handbook for authoritarian rather than democratic government.
There is nothing ‘democratic’ about seeking to use the Justice Department and the FBI to impose revenge against political opponents. Also, in a democracy, isn’t the objective to encourage voters rather than to intimidate them?
Yep, and I got banned from FB and T for saying that in Nov 2020. Now they are loud and proud. Could be that they will regret putting it in writing. I heard that chump never wanted his name on shady dealings. But I don’t think that they planned on so much scrutiny
I am in Berlin. Last night we visited the East Side Gallery, a 1 km long outdoor gallery with graffiti art painted on a preserved length of the Berlin Wall. The most well known painting is entitled " The Mortal Kiss" by the late Dimitri Vrubel, showing Leonid Brezhnev and GDR President Erich Honecker in a warm mouth to mouth embrace..please Google it. I wish we could have a similar version of this but instead showing Trump and Putin kissing. To me this is the most dangerous aspect of the MAGA movement. Trump wants to stop supporting Ukraine and wants to hand over 1/3 of the Ukrainian east to Russia. He wants to weaken NATO. He will be the Neville Chamberlain of our era. But Putin will never stop, just as Hitler never stopped.
For history enthusiasts, Berlin is a good idea. Give yourself at least 4 days
In our grateful elation over the past few amazing uplifting days, do not lose sight of the fact right wing extremists including Thomas & Alito, suddenly faced with the tables turned & strong possibility of losing the election, are frantically fine tuning their plan to overthrow our government that would make J6 look like a cakewalk. This is reality, not hypothesis.
- Pulled Quote -
Clinton'' wrote, and “[w]ith Ms. Harris at the top of the ticket leading the way, this movement may become an unstoppable wave.”''
Harris (and Democracy win in November)
The total reversal of energy among the pro-democracy coalition in these past 72 hours has been nothing short of an astonishment, as if a defibrillator has been applied to the body politic.
Americans who were were dreading a rematch are now jumping at the chance to make history. Watching the VP's Milwaukee rally today was beyond invigorating. That crowd of devoted Dems sounded practically ravenous, even hundreds of miles away through my desktop speakers. Harris herself surpassed all expectations, and that is the key to success here: Americans love a story of someone rising to meet the moment. Indeed, she has waited, watched, and learned, and now boy ever is she rising. Sensible people could posit it would have been preferable for her to become the nominee earlier this year through a regular primary. Yet sensible people rarely create BIG POP CULTURAL MOMENTS, which is what America loves more than anything and which Joe's big exit created, ironically enough. We are likely living in one of those future "remember when?" moments, an unprecedented tipping point everyone feels compelled to be a part of.
Joe has given us so much, but he couldn't give us that. Thank goodness he was big enough to give us a chance to give it to ourselves.
He gave us a gift that he could not have given by staying. That is sacrifice for country.
Honestly, I wonder if he is mostly happy, or at least relieved. Biden came out of retirement because of Trump, what happened at Charlottesville, and the promise he gave his son Beau to stay involved. I would bet that if Mitch McConnell and the chicken sh*t R senators had done their job and convicted Trump with at least that second impeachment, so he could not run again, Biden would have announced he was only going to be in it for 1 term then, and let the next generation have at it.
At moments I promise myself I will go dance on Mitch McConnell’s grave. That poisonous old man cannot exit the national scene fast enough to suite me.
I'll be there with you, dancing on the grave of that scheming weasel. I'll never forgive Moscow Mitch for sabotaging U.S. democracy so heavily, so effectively, and with so much malicious intent.
Dutch Mike, I too will be pleased when McConnell is off the scene. He is corrupt while pretending he is some kind of "good guy." It takes a lot of nerve to do that, but not much courage. He ran the Senate like his own fiefdom and his Republican buddies went along with all his actions which should have been seen as unconstitutional, but somehow, Republicans just can't do the right thing and when they have someone like McConnell pushing forward (backward), they think they can't lose. Well, I hope the American people have had enough of Republican bullying, lying, deceit, and anti-American activity and will vote as many out as they can in November and beyond.
The Republicans have tunnelled themselves into a radical "pro-life" agenda, and its accompanying white nationalist christian aspirations, not to mention its intended gutting of the modern administration state with its social support and regulatory frameworks, aided and abetted by a severely right-slanted SCOTUS. A radical minority wants to call the shots over the rest of the American population. This needs to blow up in their face come Nov.
Ruth and others, count me in as someone who loathes the nefarious Mitchy. He has had a large role in the Supreme Court as it now is and he did all of it in plain sight. And then there is Randy....poor Kentucky with those two.
Don't forget the moment we're in right now! Trump, who has planted himself big on the horizon all these years, to the point where I've been wishing for him to die so that he would become inconsequential, is now dying politically, thanks to Biden's sacrifice and Harris's grand appearance on the stage! I can't remember when I've felt so relieved. (Gotta remind myself to keep reminding myself to keep fighting for our Democracy!)
Road Trip!!!
Errr ahh..., "Chow down" there Mike, hahahaaahhhaaa.
I agree that Biden saw his most important role as preserving democracy in the most powerful nation on Earth. And if that's what he thought, then he was right. And he's always underestimated. Joe Biden always gets the job done one way or the other.
And as Hillary Clinton said, "I have not seen a more pure act of patriotism in my lifetime.!"
Cathy Pyron, you are absolutely right, McC also killed the Garland nomination for SCOTUS. His reward was having t-rump call his wife chow-chow. Many of rumps closest advisors have gone to jail and Giulliani is totally disgraced and bankrupt.. So apprentices beware.
Lord, he has been so effectively evil that he is about unparalleled in political circles. And that’s a high hill to climb
I had trouble figuring out whether Grover Norquist or Mitch McConnell did the most damage to our Democracy for a while (after Newt Gingrich and Frank Luntz). Both Norquist and McConnell seemed incredibly able to ignore the damage they were doing but McConnell gets the prize for the most hypocritical in the blocking of even hearings for Garland for the better part of a year then lighting speed in confirming Coney-Barret.
Then there was the Senate Impeachment trial that seemed a cut and dried case until his even worse betrayal of our Democracy in declaring it was too late to try him for the crimes he implied were outrageous.
Any statue of him should have him strong arming Themis (the goddess of Justice). as he puts his full weight on one side of the scales of Justice.
Mitch delighted in thwarting President Obama in every way he could, including appointing judges, etc. Disgustingly, he wore an expression of glee as he did it.
Ripping the arms right off of Themus in broad daylight at the intersection of “Constitution” and “Justice” ! That sly smirk of his still grates.
Hear! Hear!
Cathy, dance on both Mitch McConnell’s and James Comey’s graves for me, please. I feel that Comey’s decision to announce the Hillary Clinton investigation twice (while following the rules and keeping quiet about the cooperation of Trump’s campaign with the Russians) sunk her campaign in the critical background states and gave us Trump.
We must remember that Hillary won the popular vote. The electoral college gave Trump the victory as it did for W when Gore won. Getting rid of the Electoral College is the goal. The R's have done a good job gerrymandering so that most states appear to be Red and appoint electors accordingly. They will try that again for certain. The only antidote for now is a Blue Wave of extraordinary numbers.
And if anyone wants to take a deeper dive into just how vile Mitch McConnell is, this podcast from Hysteria gives a good overview: https://youtu.be/EH8UShIX5EM?si=G5N3xlItYRn8TJgb
Yeah..., and take Chow with him - Go live on 'some' island in the S. China Sea. (Ms Chow, another Federal free-loader)
I don't believe Moscow-Mitch, and the other 'Rs' could convince DJT to do anything that DJT doesn't want to do... Even if he did, DJT wouldn't stick to his agreements... Remember DJT was sent to New York Military Academy were he was reprimanded for wearing Medals & Ribbons that he didn't earn... The Washington 'R's just follow the Money, as does DJT...
Call me for the dancing festivities-it’ll be GRAND!
VOTE 💙💙💙💙
The ground above Moscow Mitch's grave is likely to be quite compacted (and possibly a bit muddy) from so many folks dancing (and doing other things) on it . . . Well deserved.
Ahmagerd. Haven't seen John Sméagol around for a while, and now we have a "MadRussian" hopping around here? Another troll who has his subscription paid by Putin to copy-paste-spam the comment section?
Hope you 'knocked on wood' with the declaration Mike.
Yeah, but who wants to stand in line that long?
Yeah..., and take Chow with him - Go live on 'some' island in the S. China Sea. (Ms Chow, another Federal free-loader)
The timing of Biden's decision to bow out after the RNC convention was sound. The RNC line was locked into painting Biden as forgetful and old. Biden's late decision gives the GOP limited time to get out a new anti-Kamala message. Let's lock in Kamala's message to undecided Independents!
Yes, his age is not negotiable. The one thing that Dems could not dispute. However, his political savvy is undiminished. Also, the debate performance could not be erased. It just cemented the Repub view in a way. So I guess the circuitous route to where we are makes me think of this. All journeys have a destination of which the traveler is unaware. Forgot who said it, but what a month???
JD, the following quote (one of my favorites) is often attributed to Confucius: "If we don't change our direction, we will likely end up where we are headed."
And that is a good place.
Today it is. Love that quote too. But the first one sort of defines my life. Lots of twists and turns.
But isn't is always the case that we end up where we're headed, even if we do change direction?
JD Chilcutt: Martin Buber: “All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware.”. Fine quote.
Just told this to my grand girl who was disappointed over an unexpected happening. Had so many in my life. Some fortuitous, some not so much, but all consequential in ways not obvious at the time. I guess why history has to chime in as time clarifies and reveals…. Thanks for attribution
Thx to the crooked media.
Patricia, I have seen more anti DEI stuff in the last 48 hours than I have in the last year. That is their new "bogeyman" since they lost the age wedge.
DEI is something Kamala should own proudly. Diversity, Equity, Inclusion.
Agreed. Diversity here is strength, not weakness.
When the Key Bridge collapsed and someone called Baltimore Mayor Scott a DEI hire he responded, yes I am a "Duly Elected Incumbent." Great comeback, then and now.
Ally, Rs now have to have a very loud dog whistle so that their cult can hear it and repeat it. The very idea that women, people who are not white, and those who are not straight should have any rights or say so in our country causes a lot of the hatred. The election of Obama was such an affront to them. He didn't have to step off the sidewalk for them or live on the wrong side of town. He had the highest office in the land. When we were in Chicago, our tour went to Hyde Park and the U of Chicago and we saw what little of his house was visible from the bus. One of the jerks on the tour asked while we were in that area why we didn't see the areas that he saw on TV, the all black part. Even when we were in Peace Corps training at George Williams College (near the U of Chicago)in 1965, Hyde Park was a diverse thriving area. The cutoff line was Cottage Grove, west of that was all black. Did our teacher training at Wendell Phillips High School near the White Sox Park at 3500 South. Training there was quite the adventure.
Indeed they do, Michele. And I bet that teacher training was quite an adventure!
Yesterday, someone reversed DEI to define Trump, something like,"Devious, Egregious, and Insipid." (My words, but someone else's idea) Remember when police were called Pigs, Ally? They nipped that in the bud with the acronym Pride, Integrity, Guts.
‘There was a palpable energy apparent as she walked onto the stage…’
This is the orchestration of timing plus genuine dedication …and remembering surprises often come in small packages.
America is captured by the moment and its time has come to fruition.
I am going to re-applaud the many who paved the wave by wearing pearls ,Ruth.
By the patient stand by ,waited near breathless in the wings, hardly heard cheering us on Moms, secretaries, Albrights or ‘just’ housewives…who stood long but proudly without the fanfare or true appreciation.
Sisters…Kamala one and all , wear the pearls well. Let the icing on the cake be marvelous.
Love, care, and the woman’s touch has come…
💙💙VOTE ALL THE HO-Hum COMPLICITS OUT💙💙
Time for another Me Too campaign
Me Too …FRUITION ! Put yer pearls on🫶
Exactly what was missing from Patricia's great statement!!
TY🫶
Hopefully we will take the house and keep the senate and impeach the Supremes! If anyone can do this we can w Harris at the top of the ticket!
Country over party, what a concept…
For Joe Biden it has been a lifelong guide.
What a fine man he is‼️
AND...didn't he time it perfectly!?! Brilliantly waiting until the repub Convention was over, the lemmings committed to going off the cliff together with their decidedly old, crazy and babbling candidate, he did what needed to be done. Stunning maneuver, President Biden!
Joe needs to be lauded by all. He has done the rarest of political deeds.
As Hillary wrote, "The most pure act of patriotism I've seen in my life time!"
Agree, but I did think that Al Gore did same
That is it in a nutshell, JD.
Seems to me
Biden (to me, anyway) didn't seem to be all about power and keeping it. He was trying to help people; and perhaps, he realized that he didn't have the physical strength to do another four years.
I wonder what he thought when he looked at the debate Joe. It seemed like a different man. Of course, none of us are ON all the time. But that could not be erased or overcome. Not even a month ago… strange world
He did give us that ...by the timing of his exit. He gave us a BIG POP CULTURAL MOMENT by holding off, then stepping down. Even his timing of the day...he waited until the big political pundit shows of the day were over, so they couldn't have a free-for-all dissecting the move, telling us what to think about it and his endorsement of Kamala. That space, without media's false equivalencies, allowed his base to take in the crushing moment he stepped down and embrace the possibility Kamala brings to our nation.
Truly, he is a genius.
And everything about Kamala is a slippery slope to try to attack!
She's not a mom-but a beloved step mom. She's not white- but she's not African American either-with parents from Asia and the Caribbean. She's not a career politician- but a career prosecutor. She's youthful and joyful- who doesn't love youth and joy? She's not religiously affiliated or beholden-and her family is Jewish. She is an effective and experienced public speaker who did not have the luxury of speechwriters her whole career. She's spoken her own thoughts out loud her whole life.
And then Joe does the most confusingly selfless, patriotic and politically perfect act of generosity.
It's all so perfectly designed for us I'm weak with gratitude.
And ... she can dance!
A very interesting read comparing Kamala's Christian point of view vs. tRumps. https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/kamala-harris-christian-faith-religious-freedom-rcna163011
Thank you Eileen I'm glad I read that! Fascinating!
Exactly right Susan. Joe is a genius.
And trump is a "jeanius."
And the rained on 'Wounded Ears' (Rick Wilson's name for tfg) post convention moment.
Laughing out loud at work….
That Rick Wilson….
Ahhhhh! So perfect!!
Bingo I felt the exact same
Will, from Cal, You always express so well, exactly what needs to be commented. If Joe had to step aside, I am so glad he did it with a full-throated endorsement of Harris. For anyone not familiar enough with Harris, Politics Girl posted this video even before Biden stepped aside to educate voters about Harris. I hope anyone wanting a cool perspective on Harris to give it a watch: https://youtu.be/DJeltMiTZXo?feature=shared
Excellent Politics Girl compilation of Kamala’s accomplishments. Definitely worth the 10 minutes to watch.
Dawn Erickson and MLRGRMI, second that and SEND OUT!
Thanks for posting. Most voters who hear about her vast international experience will say HUH ? because the main stream media, including msnbc, ignored her and focused on trump’s trash mouth lies. When will they start focusing on reporting news rather than trying to make news? Donnie lied constantly through the “dismal debate” and mostly ignored the questions to spew lies. Moderators were failures and should have turned off his mic when he didn’t answer the question asked. Kamala knows his type and he’s scared. 🤬💩🤡🎃
The msm needs to be dissected after this election and taken to the woodshed. Since 2016 they have let us down utterly.
I'm pretty sure she's an expert at rhetorical whiplash. Likely Trump will "refuse" to debate... she will counter-bullet him to the floor... OH, i hear he's accepted a debate with her! tba!
Your link to the ‘Who is Kamala Harris’ YouTube was great - Thank You MLRGMI.
And more subscribers to HCR fantastic print and video journalism- please make suggestions to what our younger generation is anchoring to. We need to fight for all out democratic diversity, especially our young people. Otherwise, the Climate Crisis is cheating the future generations out of a prosperous future. 🦋
Climate change is a creeping, mega tsunami there is very little anything governments, institutions are doing, even the most pro-active, to ,make a difference for the time being. Fossil fuel usage globally continues to rise and likely will so through the 2020s before levelling off in the 2030s for oil assuming EV does a pickup. Trump et al mind you want to get rid of ev subsidies, and as for oil etc drill baby drill. A lot of fossil fuel demand increase is now driven by Asian countries , now eg the world's largest coal burners, despite being much lower per capita consumption than USA. Switching to gas is good, but it's still a greenhouse gas adder. I do agree that pressures for reduction are a must, Kathaleen. I'm not sure what to make of the repeatedly broken reduction pledges, or "as much as we can" at Climate conferences, with a lot of finger pointing by developing nations, as they continue to crank up. 1.5C IS going to be surpassed. And you know, even the best climate models are imprecise on cumulative impact. Sorry if this sounds like a rant.
Or any future at all.
Thanks. I too posted that video in my social media. Spread the word!
MLRGRMI, thanks for this link. I need to send it to a friend who needs to see it!
Great, positive messaging from Politics Girl.
Thanks for the link! I will have to check that out. Over dinner last night, my husband and I watched Kamala Harris's entire speech in Milwaukee on CNN. Fantastic.
Good link. I decided to follow that creator. But she got one thing wrong: Harris is not a Progressive. She's a no nonsense common sense leader.
I think I'm relatively conservative and yet the Biden/Harris policies have been successful because they're common sense and data-driven (mostly). They've spoken directly to my sense of what it means to he an American. That VP Harris will continue to implement such policies give this old curmudgeon comfort that our children will have a more hopeful future.
Listen to this video too with Politcs Girl and non-Trump Republican Michael Steel https://youtu.be/8Ov4NDu0UjU?si=qmGpRucQW1lrnJDs
This is such a great video! Thank You Lisa for sharing it!!!!!!!
Excellent iv. A breath of fresh air. No wonder the response has been overwhelming. She talks about what we are FOR - a novel concept around the world never mind our backyard.
MLRGRMI, thank you so much for the link! I thought I knew all she was doing, but Politics Girl taught me a thing or two.
Watched this when it came up - just watched it again. Watching the rally in Wisconsin should scare these RW doofuses out of their little pea-brained skulls!
Will, you get it. The hand wringing over "how late in the cycle" Biden's announcement and Harris's ascension came ignores modern culture and the speed of life today.
In fact, the timing was perfect. The real campaign begins on Labor Day - always has. There is a huge swath of America that doesn't pay much attention to politics - until something really dramatic happens. It just did - and people are now ready to listen to a new younger vigorous voice. In fact, whether they knew it or not, they were hungry for this.
And for most of our history the nominee was chosen at a summer convention. In 1880, the Republicans selected a candidate who had not even asked for the job. Garfield went on to win the presidency. And there was no internet to propel a political message with lightning like speed.
And it will be women - angry women - who will take us to victory. Forget their political party. Try telling a woman she has no control over whether to carry a soon to be dead child to term - with all the health terror that comes with that. Try telling a woman that Republicans want to restrict birth control? Good grief.
I believe that "younger America" is awakening like a sleeping dragon. Soon she will fly and roast the enemy. Can you hear the music?
I bet a musician I know just might be writing something...
Beyoncé singing “Freedom”!
😉
I love that the GOP/RNC were played so beautifully with his announcement. Timing.
Indeed…..
And they’re doing a lot of huffing and puffing and foot stomping.
It struck me as I read last night's letter to wonder if people at other pivital points in history have understood, at the time, that they were IN a pivital point in history? Outside of full-on war time, I mean?
As Robert Hubbell’s reader David H. noted, “President Biden has passed the torch to all of us.” Now we have 100 days to get the job done. Find your super power. Find your tribe!
https://open.substack.com/pub/roberthubbell/p/president-biden-has-passed-the-torch?r=6pp8t&utm_medium=ios
Well said, Will! If she'd become the nominee earlier, the rabid R's would have been beating her up the past several months or years. Now their hysterical criticism of her makes them look stupid.
He DID give us that! He had impeccable timing.
People watched what they could stomach of the RNC convention thst was poorly attended, with Dear Leader with a cut up Depends on his head, and his idiot co-conspirator bought and paid for by Peter thiel VP nominee.
So pathetic.
And then Joe took away all their air.
Godspeed, Joe Biden.
Onward, Kamala!
I absolutely love every word you posted here! ❤️ I am one who has been very upset and angry about what seemed to be underhanded machinations to push Joe out. But I don't know anywhere near all the facts, and though my heart breaks for the pain this decision must have caused Joe, I admire and respect him even more for having the guts to look at both himself and the situation honestly, and to relinquish his position and support a younger candidate whom he knows well and knows is very capable of defeating our homegrown fascists and continuing the work of bringing our country into the future, and closer to the ideal of freedom, liberty and justice for ALL!!
Yes, it is such a juxtaposition to feel grief for our lovely president whilst feeling utter joy at the this igniting moment for our country and world. President Biden has selflessly passed the torch to a wonderful woman who is a powerful speaker, prosecutor and can hold the torch for Liberty and well as for Justice. She will undergird and help us repair all the groping and abuse the rethuglicans have done to America and Decency and Democracy, Checks and Balances.
Yes, sensible people could posit an earlier withdrawal by Biden, but then the Republicans wouldn’t have Vance. Heh heh.
And here is a substack newsletter from Timothy Snyder about Vance :https://snyder.substack.com/p/veep-stakes
Will, a paragraph for the ages
“ The total reversal of energy among the pro-democracy coalition in these past 72 hours has been nothing short of an astonishment, as if a defibrillator has been applied to the body politic.”
💯
Kamala "rising to meet the moment" -- love this, Will!
Like HCR said Sunday night in her brief video, Biden's timing remains impeccable.
Biden waited 'til tfg locked in his worst choice for his VP pick Biden before he gave the country a selfless gift. He likely never would have picked JDV if Harris was opposing him.
As stressed out as I was I had no idea just how stressed I was until relief came when Biden stepped down. AND I did not wish for Biden to pass the baton.
I completely agree. I love Joe and felt terrible about him being pushed out, but when he made his decision and brilliantly made sure that Kamala would have the best chance to be his successor, it felt like a huge weight had been lifted. My husband and I agreed that Sunday night was the first decent night’s sleep we had had in 3 weeks. And now I’m beginning to feel the stirrings of actual hope and optimism! So grateful for our current and future presidents!
Will, You are a gorgeous writer who brilliantly has captured the intense transformation of this moment. Given your talent, I imagine you have garnered a broad public reach.
Make a wave! Help register new Democrats in swing states. FT6 has a database containing 9 million unregistered likely Democrats in swing states. The basis for all digital outreach! FT6 uses every outreach method there is: email, text, phone, geofencing, direct mail, targeted ads, social media storms, postcards, and live voter drives.
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
ThankYou for your diligent emphasis on voter registration. Truly you cannot say it enough times. And ThankYou for providing the links to FT6.
Every check your own voter registration to be sure there are no problems.
600 postcards going out to Ohio. We are almost ready to get more- any swing state.
I watched Team Field 6 video. I’m going to get involved!! Thanks for sharing.
Hillary put a crack in the ceiling, now Kamala can push through! I’m excited. Vote Blue
Hillary Clinton is a class act and puts country above herself, like President Biden.
I’m reminded of Will smith’s quote in Men In Black… Trump- old and busted. Harris- new hotness.
THANK YOU DONALD TRUMP!!! Because of you, a female, kinda ethnic/Black/whatever is now absolutely acceptable, downright desirable!, to become the next President of the U.S. of A.
Yippee!!
J. D. Vance wrote “Hillbilly Elegy” to posture as if he knew U.S. Appalachia.
But the book’s actual message is his bitterness at working class America – it has just too many just too lazy for not going to Harvard as he did.
Harvard? Ivy League? Half their majors are biz ed, where life reduces to nothing more than the abstractions and living dead units for billionaires to package. Appalachia? Long America’s easiest pickings for our predator rich. As commenter Gary Loft here has written, it also adjoins all “the MAGA South that the Heritage Foundation wants to expand across the entire country.”
To make up for how Vance, like MAGA, has dehumanized, let’s just note some of the truest Appalachian humanities for the rest of us:
James Agee, “A Death in the Family”;
Harry Caudill, “Night Comes to the Cumberland”;
Davy Crockett, many tall tales;
Wilma Dykeman, “The French Broad” (Rivers of America series), “Return the Innocent Earth,” and more novels citing mountain/valley working realities;
Davis Grubb, “Night of the Hunter”;
George Washington Harris, the Sut Lovingood tales;
Barbara Kingsolver, “Demon Copperhead”;
Cormac McCarthy, “The Orchard Keeper.”
I was working as a library page when that book came out and absolutely every scared-and-guilty white liberal with a B.A. felt compelled to pick it up to get more of an understanding for those people whose neglect had left them no choice but to stray toward facism. Boy was I chastised for not only refusing to take part in the wearing of the hair-suits, but for having the gall to actually point out that people were obviously getting played by a poseur. There was no there there besides opportunism and apologia.
Today, I am smug and I am not sorry.
I wasn’t impressed with the book when it came out, and neither were scholars of Appalachia.
My sister lives in Central PA and when you get up in the hills/mountains to the west of I-81 it is pretty bleak economically. My niece delivered pizzas south of Harrisburg for several years and she saw many things she'll never be able to unsee.
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-11-nations-of-the-united-states-2015-7?op=1
If Trump wins the election, it may be time to split the nation into several smaller nations.
The climate deniers are going to suck up billions of dollars trying to rebuild on the East Coast south of the Mason-Dixon Line. What is the upside to rebuilding time and again?
And the Christian-Nationalists who authored Project 2025 will continue to support the patriarchy as well as the oligarchs.
The map accompanying this article shows how the US and Canada really has 11 separate 'nations' with entirely different cultures.
Gary Loft, I can't see any benefit to that except for oligarchs who would be delighted to own their countries and compete and war with the other countries. It would be their dream and our nightmare. We are more protected from domestic and foreign oligarchs as united states in a large region than as smaller fish, easy prey for predator oligarchs. In fact, I just read an article about Theil's friend, Yarvin, a wealthy tech guy, who proposes splitting our country up into smaller corporate owned nations. What could possibly go wrong? As sick of the division as we both probably are, the only way forward is to unite. It's no accident that their greatest strategy is divide,, divide and conquer, as old as time.
Hah.. 1954, I was in public school, 4th Grade, in Atlantic Highlands (NJ) when we shifted from "one nation "indivisible" to a nation "under god".. ! That, quite simply, was the beginning of 'the end'. Whoa.., is that too extreme for you gentle readers? I understand. Hows-about I use the word 'beginning'? As in, the beginning of the quagmire of religious-paralysis we're stuck in? It would have been better if it read One nation under Ford.., or One nation under General Motors, or maybe it shoulda been left alone.., "indivisible".
MadRussian12A, I don't know how it got added, but it clearly violates separation of church and state.
To separate the United States from the atheist commies and socialists in the Soviet Union
That is a notable memory of mine as well!
I fully admit that splitting up the US would a logistics nightmare and the winners would be the large corporations and oligarchs -- at least initially.
One can hope for Nirvana, but the unintended consequences are way beyond my imagination.
If we divide as a nation, we’ll end up dividing loyalties with other countries. Red Republicans will align with Russia and other authoritarian nations plus some others who need resources from those states.
We won’t have peace. We’ll end up as “meat” for stronger countries to take.
While we’re dreaming, I’ll repeat my dream: Canada++ = West Coast + Mexico + Canada, with Canada’s political and legal systems. World’s third largest economy and a force for good governance and a green new deal.
Rex Page (Left Coast), P.S., it feels like so much innocence has been lost these last eight years, or maybe I was just in a state of ignorance is bliss. I don't know. The world is all upside down.
Rex Page (Left Coast), sadly, the last eight years of our propaganda on steroids from the top down has also awakened a strong vein of yearning for dictatorship by some in Canada. It is, I suspect, not as strong but even a few degrees of separation is still bad.
Cascadia! California, Oregon, Washington, and BC!
Yes! We're even willing to drag the eastern sides along so they don't become the responsibility of Idaho.
For our enemies friendly adversaries, and competitors. Power abhors vacuums as well as nature and other 'things.'
i think the mindset of corporate owned is already with us (unfortunately). Seems since the 70’s or 80’s the paradigm most folks are operating from is a business one. Everything is for sale and efficiency uber important. Return on investment is being applied to everything including for example healthcare and education. Everything measured and quantified. Yes, a nightmare.
I think we need to reform capitalism to protect life essentials from speculation. Creativity and innovation are being hamstrung by our operating out of a business paradigm for everything. No wonder people feel unhappy. There is only room for the businessman’s perspective. Ridiculous waste of human potential. I think we need to stop counting everything and measuring what’s in this for me. All this counting is not leaving room for anything else. Corporate nations may indeed replace the current nations and governments if we don’t reform and put other values besides money first. Profit first is a divider. I think people first is needed for us to unite.
Mary Ellen Spicuzza, you have explained it well. Robert Reich refers to it as our demise of stakeholder capitalism (everyone mattered, shareholders, ceo's, executives, employees, customers, community, and the common good of the nation) replaced by shareholder capitalism (only shareholders, ceo's and other executives matter, profit only goes to them).
Bob Reich, in my view has always had his crap together.
Mary, In the absence of industry and manufacturing, the goal of that side and corporate democrats, is to "peddle" the myths of "self-made" folks, and the glory of some "gig" economy. It's all horsecrap ! Don't get me started....
Perhaps we need to redefine "business". The phrase "it's business", translates into "I can do anything I want regardless of the consequences, as long as I make a profit". That doesn't have to be the only way to understand business. It could mean, an activity that is designed to make it possible for people to have a good life, while also considering environmental factors. Business without ethics is what's destroying us.
Thank you for the map, Gary.
60 years ago I was 17 years old and hitch-hiking all over this map. I felt no cultural divisions (okay, I was 17), only excitement at a country with so much diversity, variety, human and natural.
With the exception of a certain war that interrupted things (and changed me), I just continued to absorb the novels, songs, films, and other arts that informed, suffused this great land.
Even today, imaginatively, I cannot accept -- can scarcely even register -- the sheer vulgarity of those who just cannot even begin to love the America I was so blessed then and since profoundly to love.
Thank you for your comment Phil.
Even though my parents lived in one house for 53 of their 55 years of marriage, my mother insisted we take a vacation every year -- usually 2 to 3 weeks long.
From Omaha, we could travel to much of the country in a couple of days in our 1962 powder blue 3 on the tree Chevy Bel-Air station wagon. It was packed to the gills with canned meat, cereal, fruit and other ready made drive down the road meals. We would drive until sunset the first day, and my dad would ALWAYS be grumpy. And then my mom would yell at him for being grumpy.
We would set up our tent roll out the sleeping bags and my mom would set up the camp stove to make coffee in the morning.
We met people in campgrounds from all over the US and once in a while from other countries. And my mom always made us tour some business. One year we toured the Swift Meatpacking Plant in Albert Lea, MN. The first stop on the tour was the hog kill line. I was 9 at the time and my sisters were 12 and 5. All 3 of us kids can still recall every detail of that tour. And I'm suspect from hearing the Covid-19 stories of the conditions in the meatpacking plants little has changed in the 60 years since that tour.
Those vacations were an education that I cherish, even though I haven't eaten Spam or Vienna sausage since. And the people we met, were all so real and nice.
I've lived in 10 states and worked in almost 40 states and 5 foreign countries. I have learned so much about people yet I know so little. How lucky are we to live in the US and have the freedom to travel almost anywhere in the world.
like yours, my family traveled 3 weeks every summer, al over the US. (Well, not south, in our un air-conditioned Ford wagon,Mom vetoed that!) Staying in a tent in national parks, and seeing the greatness of our country. We met people from all over, and made friends no matter where they wre based. An unparalleled education.
Yeah, we didn't head south either. It was hot enough in Nebraska and no air.
We traveled on a shoe string. My mom kept the till. A few times we had major car trouble like the clutch going out. It was touch and go after that.
Your Mom was wise beyond her years Gary..
🙂
We can't let the haters Win Phil, we just can't. I happened across the perfect meme for this age we find ourselves in; I'll set to searching for it in my files, then share it with you and our friends here.
I read Colin Woodward's book you mentioned, as well as his book, American Character. Both books raise similar interesting points. I highly recommend them.
Thanks Gary for sharing this. Once again I am discovering a new idea from a fellow Substack reader. Not saying I think it is a good idea mind you but it sure is interesting to see the breakdown on that map.
I can't imagine a time when things would get so bad that we would split up as a country, but if we did, maybe it wouldn't just be into 2 countries.
G K Chesterton wrote The Napoleon of Notting Hill in 1904
about London being turned into separate countries!!!
Sky high insurance costs, for themselves - and us all, as those 'costs trickle down' it would seem.
Totally! I was astounded that anyone found the book worthy of any praise, it was insulting, now even more so!
Insulted! Yes. And since 2016, our worthiness as citizens of this great country has been under duress together with our intelligence being continually insulted by #45 and his surrogates (u-name-them). Vance, fits right in. I can only hope that the Harris campaign grabs those two bozos right by the nuts and shakes them till their teeth fall out.
Before then MR12A, but, I digress. It hit high gear with that cretin; that's how I would put it.
Same here. Found the book poorly written and its characters one dimensional and its story line weak tea.
I bought the book as I also own The Glass Castle. I now realize they could be promoted the same, but they are not.
I use Glasshouse as the example of what Reaganomics/trickle down did to a well functioning union based industry that had its money sucked out of it and good paying jobs sent to China. The decline of that town is the failure of trickle down.
I think both books are more about the devastation poor parenting heeps on children, than about regions.
The state of Vance from a respected substacker, Timothy Snyder : https://snyder.substack.com/p/veep-stakes
I'd not have seen this, Kathy, but for your kindness in posting.
My favorite lines:
"Vance’s policy approach is not very resonant. He specializes in weak-man politics. His claim is that government is always impotent. This does not work together with Trump’s strong-man fantasy."
Thank You, Kathy.
Ditto..
My take-away from the book was the author’s unfathomable devotion to a family of deeply deplorable dunces. When the white working class that Vance pretended to champion went all in on continuing the French colonial war in Vietnam, I lost most of my respect for them. When they put a union-busting racist in the White House in 1980, I lost the rest of it. They’ve gotten steadily worse since then. Not all of them, of course. Twenty or thirty percent of them are decent human beings. Whatever problems the white working class might have are their own damn fault for voting for rethugs.
Too much of it doesn't add up.
Vance' book became popular as an explanation of Trump's appeal to the White rural poor. A NY Times review suggested that stereotyping those poor as despairing rather than indolent was an improvement. And a Brookings report noted that Vance's "account anecdotally confirmed the report's conclusion that family stability is essential to upward mobility."
However. Vance grew up in suburban Ohio. His grandparent's had left Appalachia (Kentucky) in their 20s.
"Jared Yates Sexton of Salon criticized Vance for his "damaging rhetoric" and for endorsing policies used to "gut the poor". He argues that Vance "totally discounts the role racism played in the white working class's opposition to President Obama." Sarah Jones of The New Republic mocked Vance as "the false prophet of Blue America," dismissing him as "a flawed guide to this world" and the book as little more than "a list of myths about welfare queens repackaged as a primer on the white working class." Historian Bob Hutton wrote in Jacobin that Vance's argument relied on circular logic and eugenics, ignored existing scholarship on Appalachian poverty, and was "primarily a work of self-congratulation." Sarah Smarsh with The Guardian noted that "most downtrodden whites are not conservative male Protestants from Appalachia" and called into question Vance's generalizations about the white working class from his personal upbringing. . . The book provoked a response in the form of an anthology, Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy, edited by Anthony Harkins and Meredith McCarroll. The essays in the volume criticize Vance for making broad generalizations and reproducing myths about poverty." When it was published, many from Appalachia rejected it. Today, the rejection of Vance's appropriation and misrepresentations by both residents and scholars of Appalachia continues.
JD Vance took a route to privilege and wealth through the military. (Where he served in a PR unit.) Which gave him entree to an Ivy league education. Like Trump, Vance's business ventures failed. Instead of his way being smoothed by his father's wealth and influence, Vance's rise was smoothed by Ohio Yale classmate Peter Thiel's wealth and influence.
"From giving Vance a job in Silicon Valley to funding his Ohio Senate campaign — and introducing him to a network of tech billionaires who could give him more money — Thiel helped propel Vance into the MAGA-verse and onto the ballot, simultaneously bringing the agenda of the New Right into mainstream politics. The New Right is a post-Trump movement of young and elite conservatives that essentially believe federal institutions and current democratic systems have failed the United States and must be dismantled."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillbilly_Elegy
https://www.salon.com/2024/07/22/jd-vance-owes-almost-everything-to-peter-thiel-a-pro-billionaire-and-new-right-ideologue/
Peter Thiel is intellectually brilliant, but seems to believe his brilliance should be highly rewarded. He seems to think he should be able to buy anything, his own politician for example. His ideas are very scary.
I don't know where you are unless I know your latitude and longitude. One without the other is useless. Likewise, I don't know who you are unless I know your intelligence and your wisdom. One without the other is useless.
Q: Is exceptional intelligence an asset?
A: It depends. Exceptional intelligence in a wise person is an asset, and exceptional intelligence in an unwise person is a liability. Thank God Citizen Donald is an evil idiot and not an evil genius.
Intelligence and riches have never equated with character.
lin°, thanks for the robust list of criticisms for the book. I never heard those from MSM.
ThankYou.
I am uncomfortable with disparagement of "MSM" This is a GOP trope which has tainted public discourse. And is unfair to the many good journalists at outlets such as WaPo and the NY Times. And exactly what does the term "MSM" encompass? NPR? The New Yorker, The Atlantic etc?
These are samples of early criticisms. Recent ones abound.
WaPo 2017:
I was born in poverty in Appalachia. ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ doesn’t speak for me.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/i-grew-up-in-poverty-in-appalachia-jd-vances-hillbilly-elegy-doesnt-speak-for-me/2017/08/30/734abb38-891d-11e7-961d-2f373b3977ee_story.html
NYTimes 2019:
‘Hillbilly Elegy’ Had Strong Opinions About Appalachians. Now, Appalachians Return the Favor.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/books/review-appalachian-reckoning-region-responds-hillbilly-elegy.html
lin°, that's a good point. When I say MSM, i think mainly of the three major television networks and their online sites. I separate the press, cable, NPR and PBS in my mind. My criticism of MSM is on a continuum of criticisms/motives. Go to the extreme right and you find generalization of all the MSM with the motive to destroy it and any press, cable, and publicly funded programming who questions them or disagrees with them. My motive is expounding a truth that the MSM fell all over themselves to glorify his book. And around its release, there wasn't a glut of questioning of some of his premises by the MSM.
"Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed. Everything else is public relations." —George Orwell.
My suggestion is we distinguish between real journalism, public relations, and phony journalism. Every journalist must engage in public relations to survive, and the purpose of real journalism is to inform. The problem is phony journalism: public relations that harms by misinforming.
Q: Does a journalist tell people what they want to hear because it's profitable, or tell people what they need to hear because that's journalism?
Q: Do I consume media because it's telling me what I want to hear, or do I consume media because it's telling me what I need to hear?
Same answer to both questions: Do no harm. I think it's safe to assume that every subscriber to this newsletter understands that implicitly.
James R. Carey, yes it really comes down to motive, both overarching and for each individual story. Are you trying to inform the audience, with facts that point to the truth or manipulate the audience, with omission of facts that point away from the truth?
"Front page and narrative repetition" lin. That's the cause and effect of MSM generalized failings. I 'get' your reluctance though
Lin, great information here, thank you. Why are we not hearing any of this from MSM?
ThankYou. Please see my reply to M Tree above (on Hillbilly Elegy.) Now I will focus of Vance -Thiel.
I fear so many reflexively dismiss "MSM" that they don't see what's out there. Even when HCR cites the reporting.
Early examples. Current are too numerous to cite
WaPo 2022
Why a secretive tech billionaire is bankrolling J.D. Vance
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/05/05/peter-thiel-bankrolling-jd-vance-reactionary-nationalism/
Bloomberg 2022
Peter Thiel and Donald Trump Win One for JD Vance in Ohio
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-04/jd-vance-trump-focus-overlooks-peter-thiel-s-role
I wonder if he used AI.
Used any and every tool available Tyler. AI is not as 'new' as one might think.
Check, check, and check lin; happy that you added what I chose not to.
Hunter Thompson is from Louisville, KY. Not Appalachia, but still wish he had a chance to confront Vance! I recall him coming to Daytona in '84. Queried on which Dem he liked among the seven contenders at the time: "I don't give a shit as long as we get these profit taking bastards out of the White House."
Louisville, Kentucky (Hunter Thompson's birthplace), is far west of Appalachia, Rich.
My mother's family is from Beaver Creek, part of the Clinch river watershed where they built the first T.V.A. dam when my mother was first entering school in the nearby city of Knoxville.
When I knew my great-grandfather, he was retired from the Southern Railroad, and living in a large old wooden house on Fort Saunders hill, just west of the L&N rail yards along Knoxville's old downtown
There'd been a great Civil War battle one nasty November morning on that hill, where Longstreet's Johnny Rebs could not dislodge the entrenched bluecoats.
Same hill, described so poignantly by James Agee in "Knoxville: Summer, 1915" (prologue to "A Death in the Family."
Hey Phil, love this post, it has the making of a Steve Earl song 😀cheers!
Hillbilly Highway. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0BxFfAxJYvw
Like Sonny, I, too, thank you, Daniel.
Guess we all owe it to Heather for her good work allowing this site of hers to be of some remedial help to us who've otherwise missed, not known of, so much worth knowing.
haha I really didnt know he wrote a song like that! Thanks for the link
and WE, the tax payers, paid for that Harvard schooling if he used the GI bill. If that is the case, Harris's campaign needs to highlight that as his exploitive ways. Make him defend his grifting.
Rickey, I wonder what Project 2025 thinks of government-financed education? 🤔 (Don't worry, I know the answer.)
Awesome point Rickey ! You are a genius in the making ! Force some 'truth telling'.
I am from Kentucky. The Appalachian Mountains are exquisite and the people are a beleaguered population isolated and abused by coal corporations. Their culture is old and a powerful part of American history.
Here is what our Governor Andy Beshear said about Vance:
" “If somebody calls you on that, what you do is at least listen. And I want America to know what a Kentuckian is, and what they look like, because let me just tell you that J.D. Vance ain’t from here. And the nerve that he has, to call the people of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky, lazy. Listen, these are the hard-working coal miners that powered the industrial revolution, that created the strongest middle class the world has ever seen, powered us through two world wars. We should be thanking them, not calling them lazy. So today was both an opportunity to support the vice president but also to stand up for my people. Nobody calls us names, especially those who have worked hard for the betterment of this country.”
In other words, “Lemme at him.”
Your governor's response described what I saw making nurse home visits in West Virginia in the late 70's. Proud, family focused, hard working, give you the shirt off your back people. I hated Vance's book. Feel the same way about the author.
That's a perfect response by Bashear, Barbara. I hope it plays as well in KY as it does in my mind.
We really love Beshear here. He was amazing during covid.
Sharing Bashear's MSNBC interview!
https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/andy-beshear-kamala-harris-vp-rcna163228
Thank you MaryPat....
Thank You MaryPat. I really enjoyed this.
Andy Bashear for Vice President!
Thank you Barb; Outstanding contribution here !
Thank you. We are Kentucky Proud!
As you very well should be Barb. Likewise, I have no shame about my roots - after all, I've grown into a tree.
Well then you would enjoy the book:
THE ISLAND OF MISSING TREES
by Elif Shafak
I have really enjoyed "Dirt Road Revival" by Chloe Maxmin and Canyon Woodward, https://www.dirtroadrevival.com/ Chloe won office in the reddest county in Maine. "Democrats can win back and empower overlooked communities that have been pushing politics to the right." How they did it is relevant to any state.
Thank You, Phil. In 1979 on my first day at work in a West Virginia clinic, the director handed this Michigander a copy of Caudil's "Night Comes to the Cumberland" and said, "Read this." Best orientation ever.
Don't forget "The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek" by Kim Richardson
Have my copy here!
Apparently Vance does what many Republicans do, which is to blame individuals for system failures. Poverty is the result of political policy decisions. And human beings caught up in poverty have a whole array of responses to their circumstances, depending largely on their family structure and function, genetic predisposition and the social environment they live in. Some people are undone by poverty, while others have the wherewithal to overcome the impact of it and every possible response in between. Vance seems to have mistaken depression and despair for "indolence". But not all succumbed to what is actually a public health crisis of poverty by becoming depressed.
Harvard? No! Yale, twice. Harvard,particularly Harvard Law, one of my alma maters, has much to answer for, but not for Vance.
How about two more dishonorables like DeSantis and Cruz to add to your list.
Robert 🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🤓
His academic career post high school: Ohio State, Yale. I agree that he's smug, untrustworthy and potentially more dangerous than DJ Trump.
There is also an epic poem of early frontier life by Robert Penn Warren. Forget the title. But it’s gripping. Hard times, come again no more.
Here's what I said yesterday on another site. Vance as the hitman for the campaign. Think Spiro Agnew. Not just women. Trump wants to play the victim of unrestrained targeted prosecutions and Harris was a lifetime prosecutor.
I heard Black Lung cases for 20 years mostly in Appalachia and grew up with that Wheeling Feeling, exposed to the culture. Fire in the hole! If he checks out who the Reagan Democrats in Macomb County Michigan, were, most of their antecedents took that Hillbilly Highway to get work in Detroit city. Same for every industrial area in the Midwest.
To a hillbilly, Vance ain't no hillbilly. "He is playing into the stereotype of the lazy, violent mountaineer who can't quite be trusted to take care of themselves." https://www.npr.org/2024/07/20/nx-s1-5043772/appalachian-writer-revisits-j-d-vances-hillbilly-elegy J.D. Vance Never Was and Never Will Be the Voice of Appalachiahttps://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/story/jd-vance-never-was-and-never-will-be-the-voice-of-appalachia. The voice of Appalachia these days is Governor Andrew Graham Beshear, who just last year flipped counties that went 70%-30 for Trump twice. He speaks the language. Her's a lay Decuples of Christ preacher who know the lyrics of all the hymns and Bill Monroe songs and knows what it takes to make burgoo.
Vance is a guy who married an Indian, gave his kids Indian names. His opponent is also partly Indian. I bet they eat the same food and it ain't burgoo. I bet he doesn't put syrup on his samosas and pakoras. On his naam bread. I bet he doesn't eat Martha White biscuits and chew Mail Pouch.
This is also a guy who has been, as I have written previously, the spokesman for the Putin position in Ukraine, despite the fact that 70,000 Ukrainians live in Ohio, not to mention folks interested in preserving democracy in Baltic and other European countries threatened by Russia.
BTW Vance lost the Republican childless cat woman vote. Trump hates dogs. Vance hates cat women, be they Democrat or Republican.
_
"This is also a guy who has been, as I have written previously, the spokesman for the Putin position in Ukraine, despite the fact that 70,000 Ukrainians live in Ohio, not to mention folks interested in preserving democracy in Baltic and other European countries threatened by Russia." Big part of the Vance moment.
“Audubon: a Vision”. A tour de force of American poetic imagination. Red studied Audubon’s journals. Then as if possessed by his ghost, he imagines the early American wilderness and its inhabitants as Audubon must have surely seen them but declined to elaborate upon. And it is haunting.
RPW was born in Guthrie, Kentucky, went to high school in eastern Tennessee, Clark County. Then went to Vanderbilt, Berkeley, Yale, and Oxford, achieving honors and distinction at every turn. I took to rereading All the Kings Men a few years back. There is this passage from then end of the first chapter, loosely from memory.
“As they were leaving, the Boss said, “Go to work on the Judge. Find something. “But what if I don’t find nothing” Jack replied. I know the Judge. There ain’t nothin on him. He’s clean. To which the Boss replied. “Jack, there is always something. Man is conceited in sin and born in iniquity. And he passes from the stink of the ditty to the stench of the shroud. There is always something”.
More or less.
Please, don't blame him on Harvard. He went to YALE. Harvard has enough questionable fruits in it's basket ie, bad apples. Don't saddle it with this sour, and rotten lemon. He's Yale and Ohio State.
"Night of the Hunter": both a favorite movie and a cherished book.
I’ll add author Sharyn McCrumb. Wonderful books, mostly mysteries, celebrating the history and folklore of Appalachia.
Thanks for all the book recommendations! Much appreciated.
"MAGA Republican representative Andy Ogles (R-TN) has taken a different angle: he introduced an impeachment resolution against Harris, while others are demanding that the House should investigate Harris and demand the Cabinet remove President Biden under the 25th Amendment. "
If "Republicans" had something of value to offer, they would not have to try every dirty trick in the book in order to rig the election.
J.L., I'm worried Trump and his flunkies will find a way to use the corrupt SCOTUS to mess with the Democrats' campaign against the former coglione. I'm not too worried about the lower courts, but with financing from jackasses like Musk and the other "billies " they might manage to get some sort of game-changing decision from Alito, Thomas and the bros. The more I think about it, the recent SCOTUS gift of practically unlimited immunity for the former dimwit in chief is the single most important event in my lifetime.
But I think Kamala Harris will lead us to the promised land while leaving Trump face down in some obscure mud puddle. The great landslide of '24.
Never forget how corrupt and single-minded they are. Alito and Musk are not dummies. Fools with money and empty souls, but have a devil’s ethics
JD, Musk withdrew his pledge of giving $45MM/months to the Trump campaign, coinciding with a 45% drop in expected Tesla revenues because of price cuts. Apparently the libs he both so disdains and yet depends upon aren't buying his vehicles (or his BS.)
Cry me a river Elon, you couldn’t give me one. NASA will regret depending on Jeff or Elon for what they need. They may be smart but they have $ signs instead of eyes. Sort of like Boeing does these days.
It seems now there is reason to doubt Elon will be so "generous" to Trump. I can't really afford one, but when the Tesla came out, I wanted one. Now I wouldn't touch it.
Same, J L.
Modern Republicans who shtick is to use the law to sabotage the law, sort of how a virus hijacks a cell's genetic processes. I hope that Harris's prosecutorial background prove to be an asset in countering those machinations. She claims to know the type.
Great analogy
Presidential immunity is for whoever is in the office of the president. Therefore Biden or Harris (if she wins) has immunity for "official acts" of office. I wonder if the Supreme Court majority thought that ruling through.
Oh, they will have no compunction about "narrowing" and "clarifying" their prior decision if a Democrat tries to take advantage.
About to call the 6 SCOTUS traitors a name that I only mutter to myself when I feel double-crossed.
Nailed it, Will. They ruled that the presidential immunity is subject to their scrutiny - the way I read it, is that they will give leeway to the president they like, or the one who bribed, er, gifted, them with the most money; probably, this will be the same person.
About to call the 6 SCOTUS traitors a name that I only mutter to myself when I fell double-crossed.
Doublethink, Doublespeak, Double Dealing, Doublecross.
It's the modern "GOP" M.O.
YES!
Yes, I think they thought it through.
I'm no lawyer, but I believe that SCOTUS has the final word as to what constitutes an "official" act by the President and will be able to confirm or overturn any lower court decisions based on their own ideologies. Clearly they are now making the law, not merely applying or interpreting it.
One of the first things to be done after soundly defeating Trump and the GOP will be to amend the Constitution and line it up better with The Declaration of Independence. No more electoral college, clear rules regarding certain kinds of behavior by elected officials and Supreme Court justices, a one person/one vote standard of democracy, and the list is longer than this.
The One "Ring" to rule them all.
JL, I always find your comments interesting and useful, but... what's the Ring reference?
It's from the popular fantasy books and movies "Lord of the Rings" about good, evil and magic. The specific finger ring would bestow unlimited power to a despotic evil sorcerer, and the "Hobbits' " duty is to destroy it.
David H: Here! Here!
...if Trump can be defeated while SCOTUS is still standing. They are making the law, they can simply rule that Harris' election is unfair/stolen/cheated/whatever and hand the victory to Trump. And I still can't see a way to stop them from doing that...
Unfortunately, tragically, there is no easy way out of a constitutional crisis when one of the contending parties is the supposed arbiter. Can the executive branch arrest and confine the judicial branch without setting off a civil war? Your guess is as good as mine.
Difficult to say if that's possible... We must admit that the billionaires played the game via their Repub puppets very well.
They qualified their ruling I heard. They are the arbiters
Exactly! They get to decide if the president in question really gets immunity.
They knew to make sure that they had the “final answer.”
Yep.
Yes, they did when they left open the door that they get to decide the "official act"
Lack of compunction is a crooks superpower, but we want rule of law, and therefore don't dare indulge some otherwise open options. That said, in trying to foil justice for one client and grant impunity to others, the $COTUS is weaving a very tangled web that may entangle themselves in the face of some public sentiment and empirical legal reasoning.
My hope is that Harris allows us to continue the opportunity to make the Promise Land our functional reality. She will come and go. WE must always realize democracy IS US. She is definitely a shot of adrenaline many, many people needed to see to allow us to continue forward with this American Experiment. Don’t get me wrong. I am all in for Harris. But I have come to realize there are so saviors coming for us. Democracy means we have to save ourselves. That reality I recognized when trump came down the escalator. Heather Cox Richardson has been so awesome is keeping us sane, and educated for the fight of our political lives.
THIS ^^
" Government of the people, by the people, for the people". What if we made that a yardstick by which to evaluate (and triage) all governmental decisions, policies, candidates, and laws? Not either/or individual rights or common good, but realizing they are the macro/micro nature of the very same thing? It it is implicit in the (real) Constitution and its amendments. We elect "representatives", not overseers or even saviors. Democratic leadership (grass roots or elected) can field ideas to clarify and further our collective agendas, action plans submitted to the "boss" (i.e., We the People) to gather support around,, or maybe not, but the dream of a "Father (or even Mother) Knows Best" who sweeps in and rights every wrong is dangerous wishful thinking, as history illustrates. When we practice to deceive we are killing the blessings of liberty. Democracy is the rougher road, the one less traveled by, but is, if noting more, the least worst (as Churchill put it) form of governance there is, and that's just for starters. Good faith and due diligence required.
"As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy." - Lincoln
(Laughter) Not the kind of landslide tfg thought he was going to have.
Indeed. Trump had only three days to bask in the glory of the RNC before Biden upstaged him with his announcement. Since then Trump and cronies are doing their utmost to regain the spotlight. LOL!!
More evil. More evil, Johnson!
Were giving 'er all we've got Captain!
Shades of Yertule.
Do not forgot this statement: We have all the votes we need...
I haven't, Rickey. That's been a concern -- what tricks do they have up their white robe sleeves?
Whatever form shamelessness may come in.
Anything the far-right majority (disliked by most Americans) of the SCOTUS does can be ignored by President Biden and then President Harris. Ignoring the extremists and enlarging the SCOTUS could all be considered “official acts,” no?
If SCOTUS gets involved, Biden will have to use his new found presidential immunity
She will not lead us to the promised land. It's up to us to do everything in our power to get her there.
Exactly.
It was reported yesterday that Musk has recalled his donation to trump and said he was too old.
I’m taking that comment back. Musk’s non-denial denial was double speak. He is fascist to the core and doesn’t care how poorly Vance is polling, he will do all he can to get him into office, and trump should stay away from open windows.
Especially windows in tall buildings - Putin's favorite elimination method.
I'd also avoid private jets.
Oh, and salad.
If they apply the 25th Amendment, Harris would be an incumbent president, giving her one of the keys to victory using Alan Lichtman's analysis. https://www.thenationalnews.com/future/technology/2024/07/22/will-kamala-harris-win-2024-us-election-poll-predictor-allan-lichtman-assesses-the-race/
Also, if Joe were to exit, this would make Kamala the 47th President, thereby leaving Trump holding the bag on a metric tonne of useless, Chinese manufactured "47" merch and marketing materials. THAT would make me smile. Laugh, even!
Frank Aronson, thanks for the laugh!
😂😂😂👏🏻👏🏻😎
Thanks for the laugh, Frank!!
Frank, why, they'd have to ship that merch to Africa, along with the FJB flags and T-shirts, to be worn by people living in what CF45 called "S4ithole countries"! I love it!
Right!! Hadn't thought of that! I enjoyed the joke that "45" was his ranking as president!😁
It actually is his ranking by a group of 145 scholars. Biden #14, trump the bottom.
I don't know what criteria they use, but Trump is clearly sub-basement. Biden may not be a "Great" president but like Carter (who was also not telegenic) he seems way under-rated. I see Reagan consistently rated WAY too high in my opinion. Besides Iran-Contra (is it OK just because he got away with it?) and sabotaging an Iran hostage deal, his logically and historically bogus "Reaganomics" set the ball rolling toward Trump and Project 2025. It was never really "government" that Reagan was so dismissive of, it was the people-centered goverment of Lincoln, and for that matter, the Constitution, for which the Party once founded with the help of Lincoln, brims with contempt (barring the holy 2nd Amendment).
25th Amendment? Isn't that a move by the President's cabinet, not Congress? If so, it will never happen.
House Republicans would never endorse her replacement so that would place Mike Johnson second in command. We don’t want that.
Since her nomination is not being contested, she wins that key.
I've been paying attention to Lichtman and the Keys to the White House model. The incumbent party is still well under losing 6 of the keys even with Biden leaving the race. I think it's 3 right now. I don't see 3 more dropping between now and November.
MK, a quick read of the article (written a couple days ago) gives me continued hope that this race is ours (although I take nothing for granted, believe me.)
As I commented on another post, "If we don't change our direction, we will likely end up where we are headed." And that's back to the White House!
I doubt that formula is foolproof, but it may be a useful guideline.
I love how they have been harping on nothing but Biden's supposed senility since his inauguration, and now that he actually does seem a bit frail after 3.5 years at the world's hardest job, they are proclaiming there was a giant "deep state" cover-up about the state of his health. It takes a special kind of cover-up to be so hush-hush that everyone could see what was supposedly being covered and wouldn't ever stop yakkin' about it!
The same could be said about trump.
And how he's "OLD". Now what? Modern Republicans are indifferent to truth. (Well, not ashamed to lie in defense of treachery, 'cause the truth hurts).
But dirty tricks is their area of expertise. They have forgotten, if they ever knew, anything of value
Roger Stone. Paul Manafort.
Nixon's original Dirty Tricksters.
Still at it for Trump.
Peter Thiel wants to do to the Executive what Charles Koch has done to the Judiciary. JD Vance, like Clarence Thomas, has exploited his background while rising through the self interest of friends with money. As Thomas is an hypocritical GHW Bush Affirmative Action appointment, Vance is a perverted Thiel/Trump DEI appointment for poor Whites. Both Thomas and Vance are intent on kicking down the ladder for those who actually have to work their way up with the help of government protections and programs instead of personal patrons.
Love how they want a “fair race” but want to kneecap so many before they can even get to the starting line. In fact, if the zygote lovers really were pro-life, they would help fund pre natal care and want to protect women from spousal abuse. Not, as Vance promotes, stay with an abusive spouse, and “stand by their man.” In fact, from my experiences, I would suggest that many women in marriages to Republican men may already suffer from coercion on some level. And then there are the Ginni Thomas types who might prove the rule by exception.
Exactly so.
Shouldn’t take too many brain cells to see that, if only they were “woke.”
Delusionally misfiring from an overdose of GOP.
Oh Crow, won'tcha' biuy me a fancy RV?
And maybe I night on the town??
Welfare queen
Willie Horton
swift boat
e-mails
I remember all, and still want payback
That's the only way they can win.
Yep!
Robert🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🤪
Unfortunately for us in Tennessee, our "representatives" don't have anything of value to offer. My "representative", Tim Barnjacket Burchett, attacked Kamala as a DEI hire. That's how he "helps" his constituents. He never met a culture war issue he would not use!🤑😤
That mug shot says it all.
I expect some terrible misogyny and racism will continue to arise, and Trump will feel truly threatened. This should energize the youth vote to counter all this hatefulness. Forward VP Harris .
The misogynoir will fly fast and furious from the Trump camp. The one thing he can’t stand is being bested by intelligent Black women like the VO, AG Letitia James, and Judge Tanya Chutkan.
A threatened Trump is an unattractive sight. Even more unattractive.
And dangerous, facing prison stamps him as a LOSER. He will stop at nothing. Maybe another rally coming up. The last one did the FBI in. But the FBI should investigate the ones on chump’s SS detail.
Definitely!
VP Kamala is on 🔥, the youth are energized…and the RNC is attacking her laugh.
Let’s all embrace her laugh ! I can’t stop watching this video.
⬇️
https://x.com/ryanlong03/status/180851007938298287
“For voters of an older generation, the brat meme is a combination of edgy coolness, with a bit of teenage rebelliousness thrown in. It is the younger-generation equivalent of “Dark Brandon glasses.” Robert Hubbell
The post has been deleted. I wonder by whom? I shared several yesterday on FB. I’ll have to check to see if they, too, disappeared.
Just saw that. Must be kinda good if the xitter deleted it.
Gail, so strange. I love the video of VP Kamala laughing and dancing and posted on several Substacks Just checked and still able to be viewed on those sites.
Regarding Facebook, Deepak Puri of Democracy Labs posted this week:
Why is Facebook censoring Andra's research about the people behind Project 2025? Ask the Republican operatives working there! Hint: Joel Kaplan, Facebook VP of Global Policy helped Kavanaugh into the Supreme Court.
https://thedemlabs.org/2024/07/22/facebook-meta-censors-news-about-project-2025/
😳😳😳 Deepak does an amazing job!
Stephen, I am seeing more anti-DEI stuff from the MAGAts than I've ever seen. That's their new "issue", since Ms. Harris is younger than their guy.
“hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s type.” That lines does not get old to me. I love it.
Most likely, Trump was hit by shards of shattered teleprompter and plexiglass shields, the same as several police officers standing close to him. If he had actually survived an assault weapon bullet, the medical evidence would have been on full display. Instead, after a week of nothing, we get a statement from his disgraced former doctor who lied for him previously and was demoted by the Navy after investigating allegations of drunkenness, sexual harassment, and drug distribution during his time as White House physician.
Not in my lifetime (I'm 76), maybe in 50 years.
for Kamala (which means lotus)
lotus flower rise
moored above the mired muck
in serenity
Lotus for POTUS!
Beautiful!!!
Made my day!
Can you imagine what a split screen is going to look like if Trump really does debate her? On one side, hate and sullenness. On the other side, optimism and joy.
Wait till she tells him to shut up and stop acting like an over the hill juvenile delinquent for once in his life.
Tom I am waiting for Harris to state “We both took an oath to support the Constitution of the United States. I have honored it. You have trashed it. Have you no sense of decency?” [This is what Welch finally said to Joe McCarthy at the 1954 Army hearings.]
Someone needs to remind Trump he has not an ounce of decency, has an advanced case of satyriasis, he’s a malignant narcissist and sociopath, and is dedicated to pursuing every one of the Seven Deadly Sins. There is not one ounce of virtue in him.
Had to look that up. I don’t think that it’s sexual desire so much as power and hate directed at women. It’s a tool sick men use to flaunt dominance. And he’s a sick puppy.
It may have been true when tffg was younger but most likely it was always about power over women, especially impressionable young women, like those in his beauty contests, or the trapped underage girls he abused with help from Epstein.
Kathy Thanks! Trump looks like he has satyriases. Is that what stormy Daniels was referring to when she said ‘he had a little pecker that couldn’t rise to the occasion?’
That's it. She won't.
Look at Kamala Harris' take down of Brett Kavanaugh.
https://youtu.be/D2y6dKIkF7k?si=apO0DAc3lUSCSzhI
Lin This is better than watching a British murder mystery. As in Foyle, Kamala nails her culprit.
That. Is. GOLD.
Truly GOLD.
Personally, I don't think she should waste breathe even debating him. It won't be good faith, and he already is trying to get out of it by changing the venue etc. She needs to spend time talking directly to people and campaigning. Trump is a known quantity.
Forget debates. Trump doesn’t debate. We thought with Biden’s last attempt that the “rules” favored a real debate. But when CNN threw out real-time fact-checking, and just allowed a word-salad vomit of lies from trump, the reality of “debates” being a worthy thing was jettisoned. It would be “must-watch-tv”, but to my recollection, no one has stood opposite trump in a “debate” and actually had the opportunity to debate. It’s WWE. If that’s what people want Harris to do, that’s one thing. But I hesitate to want that.
Just had this discussion yesterday. There is no such thing any longer as a policy debate.
He’s already prepared to call it a fake election…The fear in me has not totally faded…What has he got up his sleeve?
Republicans are always complaining that we treat them like they're morons, then they go out and provide all the proof necessary that they are indeed drooling morons.
Another well-researched LFAA from Professor Heather Cox Richardson on the vast difference between a dystopian chaotic Trump/Vance Project 2025/Agenda47 Administration and the stability and hope offered by a Harris Presidency.
Until now I didn’t realize that Trumpublicans had a (bizarre) sense of humor.
These are the guys who sought to trash the Constitution and democracy by trying to reject the Electoral College results, were defeated in 60 judicial decisions, and waged a January 6th insurrection in which over 140 guards were killed or wounded.
Now they are claiming (suing?) that it is ‘undemocratic’ for President Biden to step down as presidential candidate and that another candidate [Harris] be named by delegates to the Democratic presidential convention.
Having read Project 2025, I find it a handbook for authoritarian rather than democratic government.
There is nothing ‘democratic’ about seeking to use the Justice Department and the FBI to impose revenge against political opponents. Also, in a democracy, isn’t the objective to encourage voters rather than to intimidate them?
I am proud that my party is Democratic.
Accuse the opposition of what you do. Goebbels best advice.
Now they put it in writing and published it - Project 2025
Yep, and I got banned from FB and T for saying that in Nov 2020. Now they are loud and proud. Could be that they will regret putting it in writing. I heard that chump never wanted his name on shady dealings. But I don’t think that they planned on so much scrutiny
Yep. The cockiness of the pale male just bit them in the posterior.
Gail Almost Shakespearean! “Get thee to a buttery.”
😂👏
Oh, cry me a river
JD I have crocodile tears for our cult crock.
I am in Berlin. Last night we visited the East Side Gallery, a 1 km long outdoor gallery with graffiti art painted on a preserved length of the Berlin Wall. The most well known painting is entitled " The Mortal Kiss" by the late Dimitri Vrubel, showing Leonid Brezhnev and GDR President Erich Honecker in a warm mouth to mouth embrace..please Google it. I wish we could have a similar version of this but instead showing Trump and Putin kissing. To me this is the most dangerous aspect of the MAGA movement. Trump wants to stop supporting Ukraine and wants to hand over 1/3 of the Ukrainian east to Russia. He wants to weaken NATO. He will be the Neville Chamberlain of our era. But Putin will never stop, just as Hitler never stopped.
For history enthusiasts, Berlin is a good idea. Give yourself at least 4 days
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20160518-what-does-the-trumpputin-kiss-really-mean
It already exists.
Mary , Great sleuthing!!!
What are leaders of other counties saying about Harris ?
We also delighted in that image while in Berlin!
In our grateful elation over the past few amazing uplifting days, do not lose sight of the fact right wing extremists including Thomas & Alito, suddenly faced with the tables turned & strong possibility of losing the election, are frantically fine tuning their plan to overthrow our government that would make J6 look like a cakewalk. This is reality, not hypothesis.
I agree totally, kathleen. This is now a doubly dangerous time.
Some of my same fears, sadly.
Help to register 9 million new voters in battleground states:
https://www.fieldteam6.org/
Republican leaders should recognize their own DEI status. They are Deranged, Evil, and Ignorant.
Ha!
HCR, you are the BEST at this. THANK YOU.
I don’t think cheetolini will debate Harris. Time will tell…
\hear me when I say: I know Donald Trump’s type."
He would be forced to reserve the right to decline to answer because it might tend to incriminate him.