Trump and his administration are operating under the proposition that the responsibility of government is to balance the budget by eliminating any and all programs which improve the safety and security of society for the purpose of passing those savings along to those who have most benefited from the country's opportunities and economy. It's a formula for the collapse of democracy.
Ostensibly the plan is to reduce the deficit by increasing growth, but recent history shows that this sort of redistribution of income does not increase growth. In his first term, they didn't even cover the loss of revenue. The CBO calculates that the deficit will increase by $2.8 trillion.
Trump’s reconciliation bill is a more draconian version of the ‘trickle down’ economy theory which has proven to be an abject failure since it was first introduced in the 1930’’s under President Herbert Hoover. It has been implemented many times since then by Republican Presidents, each time with the effect of an upward transfer of wealth without a commensurate economic stimulus. What sets this latest iteration apart from previous versions is the naked destruction of entitlement provisions which provide minimal protections to the most needy in society. This political misery is rationalized by the thinnest and often ephemeral ‘evidence’ of fraud and cheating.
I agree. Trump says that the Act cuts $1.7 trillion of public expenditure and that people won't even feel it because it is just 'waste, fraud and abuse'. Of course, it's a lie - he recently didn't appear to know that Medicaid was being cut.
What people won't feel is the tax cuts because they are essentially just a continuation of the tax cuts from his first term. He claims that they're the largest tax cuts in US history, another whopper. In actual fact, they constitute the biggest transfer of wealth from the poor and middle classes to the rich in US history. 17 million Americans will lose their health insurance and two million people will lose access to food assistance programs to help fund $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for corporations and the ultra-rich.
Yes, it would appear that about 10 million would be kicked off of Medicaid because of new “busywork” red tape and requiring every recipient to reapply every six months, plus new work requirements - although a substantial portion of Medicaid recipients are already working: the working poor. The CBO has also changed the way that poverty level is assessed, by adding public benefits to their income; making them appear to have more net worth than they have. The other, up to 7 million people, may get knocked off of Obamacare due to the increased cost of policies. It is the domestic equivalent of destroying foreign aid. They don’t want anyone from anywhere receiving any aid, unless they are a crony loyalist to the dictator in chief. Let’s see whose request for emergency assistance gets an attention first: California, or Texas? It should be noted that the local and state officials in Texas have been debating the cost shares to build a modern alert system along the Guadalupe River (from Kerr County to the south), an area known as “flash flood alley”, for at least ten years. The state has said that they would not put up the full cost, or even most cost of such a system, even while they have a nice “rainy day fund”! This is the mentality of the Repugnican-controlled state of Texas, as well as every last GOP politician: Laissez faire: translated: I will ignore anything I want to ignore, and if You’re in Texas, You’re on You’re own! This of course now applies to the entire country.
It seems that according to Brooke Rollins, agriculture secretary, that one of those Medicaid work requirements will be replacing the undocumented farm and hospitality workers that are being deported.
So many people are going to get sick and/or die and/or get detained in concentration camps and used as slaves with slavery being run by our Federal government (probably ICE/DHS) as a result of this Administration and state and local officials and voters or residents who are like the -- e.g., In the case of this devastating flood, Texas state and local officials lacked willingness to spend state/local tax dollars to prevent the loss of life and/or to respond in a timely way because the National Weather Service actually did communicate flood watches and deadly flood warnings; but, it's the responsibility of state/local officials to ensure that communication reaches those at risk and to issue evacuation orders and provide support to do that in a timely enough way -- all of which Texas state/local officials, once again (e.g., Uvalde) did not do.
Heads up of one very important thing for us to watch out for: Are we heading towards state-controlled news/information such as what exists in Russia and China?
Oracle has made a deal with ByteDance, the owner of TikTok. The plan is for an app with the same format to become available for US users only. Having seen some of the content creators, I absolutely could see this regime/Administration wanting to restrict some content creators who’ve been on TikTok. Now that I know about the existence of a Silicon Valley tech billionaire cult that far exceeds Elon Musk – Palantir’s Peter Thiel, Trump’s AI and crypto czar David Sacks, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet (owner of Google) also owning Waymo self-driving cars in Los Angeles being used by ICE/Palantir to do surveillance there, which is why those cars were targeted for destruction, what I’m concerned about is:
1) Will the US version of TikTok, debuting this fall, continue to allow freedom of speech?
2) Although Silicon Valley tech billionaire Marc Andreessen, co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), has invested in Substack but does not have direct power to remove content creators from Substack, as a major investor, Andreessen could try to exert behind-the-scenes pressure. So, how secure is Substack for Heather Cox Richardson and so many other important content creators.
3) Ditto for YouTube, owned by Google.
4) What if any other platforms could content creators use to get accurate news and info to the public in the US via the Internet?
4) I had a friend, now deceased, who was highly educated (PhD in anthropology, retired professor), who was a very reasonable, dedicated environmental activist who told me stories about how some of her mail would arrive clearly having been opened before being delivered. That happened long before this Administration existed – before DeJoy and what’s happened to USPS since then.
Perhaps, this concern is yet another very good reason why we, who have the capacity to do so safely, need to participate in as many protests as possible so we can get accurate news and info via word of mouth if, indeed, our access to it changes in the future.
It seems evident that the Humpty Administration and the big tech companies, and other players want to institute a mass surveillance state here in America (and are well on the way of scaling that up). It won’t be long before DC has poles with dozens of cameras hanging off it in all directions like they have in Beijing or really, any city in China. There is now talk of “taking over” DC - is that the next destination of the U.S. military? To engage in gun battles with armed teenagers hopped up on street drugs? Coming Soon: Fresh new Posse Comitatus Act violations, to help normalize using our troops as domestic law enforcers and later, to round up dissidents who attempt to practice their rights of free speech and free assembly, much less redress of grievances. After they manage to kill a bunch of violent teenage criminals and “clean up the streets/restore order”, they think the people will welcome them as liberators (like Iraq did), or at least “they’ll get used to it” (Mitch Poverty Of Mind McConnell).
Yes, I know all of that. Thank you for articulating it so well.
If that’s what they think — that the people will welcome them to surveil all of us throughout the US via DOGE data and cameras everywhere — which are already there to a great extent + self-driving cars like Waymos and Tesla’s self-driving car — plus a Fed takeover of DC, which ALWAYS has been solidly Democrat, they are very sorely mistaken.
I highly doubt the President who’s the Commander in Chief of the US military has the capacity to lead our country’s military. Ditto for US Defense Secretary Hegseth. People talk — including active duty military personnel who have family and other relationships with veterans and others who have reminded them about their oath to protect and defend the US Constitution and reminded or taught them what happened during the Nuremberg Trials.
There are FAR more of us than people in the MAGA, Silicon Valley tech and Christian White Nationalist cults.
We need to BOYCOTT and plan for/organize a GENERAL STRIKE, starting w/ the teachers unions — NEA and AFT — 2 of the largest 5 unions in the country — and work from the grassroots up with local public servants — trash collectors, road repair workers, etc. to shut down the economy for however long it takes — just like we had to do during COVID. This authoritarian takeover is lot like COVID. Organizing people power is how we vaccinate and wear masks to protect ourselves and our democracy.
We also need to do what Gil Duran suggested and already has begun — Palantir Power Down — since Tesla Takedown was so successful. Protest at Palantir office locations and at The Pentagon, military bases, The White House, US Capitol, SCOTUS and every Federal office building nationwide in addition to every other customer of Palantir — e.g., Israel under Netanyahu.
''When Government Cuts Kill: The Real Cost of Dismantling Public Services''
At least 80 people have died in Central Texas flash floods after the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. While extreme weather is worsening with climate change, the scale of this tragedy is not just about nature, it is about governance.
The National Weather Service had issued warnings. But thanks to Trump-era budget cuts, there were too few staffers left to relay those warnings to local authorities. Kerr County had no alert system in place. Its top official admitted taxpayers “won’t pay for it.”
This disaster is one example of a broader MAGA strategy to gut public services. Project 2025 openly seeks to dismantle NOAA and the NWS. Trump’s 2026 budget eliminates weather and climate research altogether. Meanwhile, other vital agencies, FEMA, the NIH, and even USAID, have seen deep cuts, silencing experts, ending lifesaving programs, and paralyzing coordination.
The result? Flash floods become mass-casualty events. Measles outbreaks return. Climate science disappears from public view. And autocrats gain ground as democratic checks and balances are dismantled.
This is not efficiency. It is negligence disguised as ideology.
The Texas floods are not an isolated “act of God.” They are the predictable result of policies that treat public infrastructure as expendable. If we continue down this road, more lives will be lost, not to nature, but to the calculated destruction of the very systems meant to protect us.
The obvious purpose of the traitor Robert Kennedy Jr.'s appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services is to eliminate access of the regime's targets to life-sustaining vaccines and medical care in general. Robert the Reaper's reign as the department's Oberst-Gruppenführer is unquestionably intended to ensure the resultant New Holocaust is plausibly denial as "an unfortunate consequence of necessary austerity" rather than the deliberate genocide it is. Thus the denials are already reinforced by Medicaid and Medicare reductions to kill non-white and LGBTQ minorities and impoverished people first.
To make matters worse, a first responder in the area called emergency services at around 4am or so in the morning and urgently requested that a Cod Red alert be initiated as soon as possible. The dispatcher said “that will have to be approved by a supervisor”. It seems the requested alert was not initiated for about 90 minutes! That probably would have been enough time to move many, if not all of the now lost souls to higher ground. Sheer incompetence -reminds me of the big freeze and several of the mass shootings. I would avoid living in Texas until they clean house of their whole stupid Governor and legislature; since with the climate change they will hotly deny, it’s only going to get worse down there.
True. When the DOGElon slashed the NWS, they also fired the senior official at NWS who was responsible for communications during emergencies with local officials. So yeah, Governor Abbot can actually say that the Trumpty Administration bears responsibility for the tragedy - as much as he and the Texas Legislature do; and apparently as much as the local residents who won’t pay taxes for it do.
If we are too cautious in demanding change, we offer nothing worthwhile. Watered-down, colorless iced tea attracts neither rave reviews, nor votes. The cries of “Throw me something, Mister!” echo in my head from the crowd of the New Orleans Marti Gras parade. At least that crowd gets beads and doubloons. We get diddly-squat—because any rancor might get upset the proletariat. I am tired of timid.
Now is time to upset the proletariat as we approach the midterms of 2026. We must open these doors to begin the hard debate to flesh out and undergird our candidates in the 2028 election. A platform! Give me a platform!
Jennifer Rubin
“Democrats must convince millions of qualified but (as yet) nonvoting Americans to dispense with the fictions that “both parties are the same” or that their vote “won’t make a difference.” The choice now is not Democrat vs. Republican, or progressive vs. conservative; it is right vs. wrong, humane vs. cruel. Tens of millions of people will be harmed by this cruel legislation; tens of millions more will know someone who will be harmed. They are not just victims and witnesses, but foot soldiers in the battle to hold to account Republican tormentors.”
But for what shall they vote? Forge that platform! Lots they say can’t be forged as there are 3 good reasons it won’t fly. I say that was then! This is now. Single payer healthcare for instance. Put it on the last platform published before the greedy insurance and big money harms can mount a campaign against it.
Given that it was the "Democratic" (sic) Party's decades of post JFK treachery and betrayals that brought us to our denouement -- the Constitution nullified and the Republic dead -- it is utter idiocy to imagine they will do anything more than mouth meaningless protests behind which to hide as they cravenly collaborate with our Christonazi conquerors.
You are obviously in denial of three irrefutable truths:
(1)-That the slaying of the Republic and the repeal of the Constitution is the "triumph of will" the (irredeemably hateful) Christonazi white majority (sadistically) imposed as (intentionally permanent) change on 5 November;
(2)-That our resistance -- at the most three percent of the population -- is hopelessly undisciplined, permanently fragmented by identity politics, too egotistical to accept unifying leadership and too suicidally self-disarmed to (ever) be effective against Trump's ecogenocide-minded, ideologically lockstep minions and the huge do-nothing population already subjugated to permanent anti-resistance submissiveness by the cults of Mandatory Optimism, Prideful Ignorance or -- most commonly -- Self-Obsessed Morally Imbecilic Cowardice;
(3)-That with the Red Army forever gone, there is no longer any force on this planet with the subversive skill to intervene effectively from without, and even if there were -- which capitalism's mastery of global finance forever prohibits -- no force will ever dare challenge the longstanding U.S. "Better Dead Than Red" pledge to permanently destroy the planet with chemical, biological and thermonuclear weapons rather than face defeat and surrender.
That is the unprecedented magnitude of Evil -- literally Absolute Evil -- we face. It does not mean we surrender -- our honor as human beings obliges us to fight on against those who have rejected their humanity for nazism -- but we should recognize that, like the early French Resistance or the defenders of Wake Island and Fortress Brest, we have no rational hope of mercy or rescue.
Loren, starting your comment by proclaiming anyone is "in denial" of "irrefutable truths" sets an extremely high bar for you to clear, with clearly illustrated facts, logic, and a dash of humility acknowledging your self-righteous tone would be a welcome emollient.
Instead we get a sense that the world is coming to an end and nobody doing nor able to do about it. I appreciated your use of historical examples of abandonment and hopeless causes, but think you would get your point across better by just telling us in plain language what you are talking about.
From reading many comments on various Substacks, my
takeaway is that most commenters feel as you do -- this is not normal, situation dire, extraordinary measures required to save the Republic -- and many ask some variant of, "What is to be done?".
If the answer is "Organize!" than I'd have to ask, "To do what? Make better protest signs? Volunteer to be arrested? Throw our bodies under the APCs? Storm the Bastille?" What does "Resistance" mean to you? Looking for suggestions here.
Please understand that I'm not trying to disparage you, or your ideas, but just give you honest feedback. You are obviously passionate and I would like to know what concrete steps you think non-MAGA Americans should take to ensure the survival of our liberal democratic system of government.
The first step in building effective resistance is knowing enemy intentions and capabilities. This has three parts: (1)-recognition "our liberal democratic system" is dead, assaulted by the 1933 Bankers' Plot; mortally wounded by the coup of 22 November 1963; and slain by the voters on 5 November 2025; (2)-recognition the post-JFK deceptions and betrayals by the "Democratic" (sic) Party prove it as traitorous as the "Republican" (sic) Christonazi/Neoconfederate Party; that it will therefore continue its betrayal of the resistance, and that it is delusional to imagine it can be converted into an instrument of liberation; (3)-recognition that what assails us is not merely a U.S. resurrection of the Third Reich but a force of ecogenocidal Evil that has no precedent in our species' history; that its intent is to reverse every humanitarian advancement our species has ever achieved; and that it will do so with Christonazi/Neoconfederate theocracy enforced by real-world technological omnipotence including inescapable surveillance and apocalyptic chemical, biological and thermonuclear weaponry.
Then and only then -- properly equipped with the thorough, unflinching knowledge of the enemy advocated as vital precursor by Sun Tzu (and every other relevant human military theorist)-- can we develop effective strategy and tactics of resistance. Beyond that I will not presume to offer suggestions; besides which -- despite maximum vaccination -- I am terminally ill with incurable post-Covid organ failure, and according to my cardiologist, likely dead by September.
Loren, first of all, thank you for being open about your devastating health situation. I am sincerely sorry to hear of that, and hope that the cardiologist has got it wrong.
Thank you for taking the time to explain your thoughts on our present situation at greater length.
Time being of the essence here, I'll go straight to your 3rd point, and your recommendation that we "know the enemy." A good starting point; unfortunately for many liberals like me, getting to know the MAGA crowd has involved portions of the Heritage Fdn's "Project 2025", which is extremely aggravating, so I just say that their ideas are hateful and disgusting -- they are not my sort of people.
I would not call the MAGAs a "U.S. resurrection of the Third Reich" (another nauseating bunch, imo), as the Nazis were far better organized and bloodthirsty than our home-grown fascists.
Another classifier,"Neoconfederate", is catchy but not very well-defined; perhaps regionally applicable to the former secessionist states - is there really a modern secesh movement?? - and I assume politically has a "states' rights" vibe, but is it more than a vague idea or an actual movement? The ICE holding camps for deportees are not really analogous to the camps under the Nazis, though it is tempting to make the comparison.
The American extreme Right wing, whatever you care to call it, is the enemy of liberal democracy, but in your telling, disparate events are linked in a loosely-connected chain which does not, to my mind, explain how we got from post-WWI economic disruption/New Deal era to the anti-Liberal ideas that lump TradCons with the AntiGov, working class Populist movements that have become the MAGA supporters who put Trump in the White House.
I think your assessment of the strength and permanence of "the enemy" is overly pessimistic, but I agree with you (and many others) that humanity has caused an ecological crisis which threatens our fossil-fuel based civilization. The Right ha decided to put on blinders and stick pingers in ears in order to ignore all discussion of global warming/climate change and the need for immediate action.
Along with the prospect of nuclear self-destruction that has been with us since 1945, humanity is threatened by climate change, loss of agricultural lands through salinization, over-irrigation, rising sea levels, and the usual dangers of pestilence and disease (including the viral pandemics of the sort that have afflicted you). On this we can agree, I am sure.
Back to analyzing "the enemy", Iif you look at Naziism, what is distinctive about it was not its ideology per se -- racism and megalomania were not invented by A. Hitler & friends -- but its rapid rise and acceptance by not only the German people but so many similar groups in other countries during there 20's 40s.
Outside Germany, groups such as Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists, were splinter groups which sprang off from more mainstream right-wing conservative parties. I would say that the German-American Bund was different in that ethno-nationalism - i.e. German nationalism -- was an integral part of its organization, which was not a key element for Mosley, who I think was a precursor to the Nigel Farage and UKIP.
The election of Trump (both times) was made possible by the general voters' dissatisfaction with our political system combined with concerted efforts of wealthy propagandizers (Koch bros, Richard Mellon Scaithe, The Adelsons,et al), Anti-Tax crusaders (Howard Jarvis, Gordon Norquist) and of course "conservative" media outlets like Fox News and the legions of AM radio pundits and podcasters.
Newt Gingrich's 1990's Contract with America gave Republican politicians a 10-point conservative legislative agenda while the Tea Party Movement gave grass-roots organizers traction with a broad swath of disaffected right and conservative-leaning voters. I believe that is where Trump found his entry into the political arena.
Trump's first election in 1996 was not pre-ordained by any means - you could say it was a fluke, as he was a very flakey candidate. But it made MAGA seem respectable. If enough people vote for a candidate, their movement is legitimate because that's the way democracy works: a winning campaign confers legitimacy, no matter how unsuitable the candidate may be.
In order to effectively counter MAGA, defeating MAGA-supported candidates is not the only essential -- we have to reach the MAGA voters and change their ways of thinking. Trump does a lot of this work on his own. There have been stories, widely reported in mainstream media, of Trump voters who were surprised and disappointed when "their guy" enacted policies which negatively affected them: deporting their undocumented workers, not just hardened criminals (who seem to be far less numerous than Fox et al. have made people think) and levying tariffs (which hurt farmers and rural communities and raise prices for everyone), etc.
It is probably true that really hard-core MAGA supporters will NEVER believe that Trump is himself the problem. Like die-hard Confederates, they will continue to believe in The Cause until their dying day. But I believe most of the voters are not die-hards. Some are attracted by the Trump persona, some by the political bally-hoo and not so much the policy platform. The Macho-men -- the Proud Boys and their ilk -- soon to like the thrill of acting like Trump's Brownshirts, while others are just looking for alternatives to to same-old choices at the ballot box.
The immediate challenge for anti-Trump forces is how to block the implementation of the worst policies of the regime, while gathering support for winning the next election. I do believe in fighting through the courts, despite SCOTUS' rightward tilt. I do not believe in fighting in the streets. Yet, like all true American patriots, when despotism becomes intolerable, it is legitimate to take steps to overthrow their rule.
We aren't at that point now, and it would be counterproductive to pretend otherwise. But thinking about where we may be in a few years seems to me prudent and necessary.
It no longer is people are going to die because of all these cuts and this BBB bill passage has moved to people have died because of all this insanity. DJT, his cabinet and all GOP that have stood with this need to be held accountable as they truly have blood on their hands.
DO NOT REMAIN SILENT WE THE PEOPLE. Show the world we are fighting back and still be piece in democracy.
Sure looks like a fascist takeover in fine print instead out front, easily recognizable... purposeful confusion... as a takeover strategy... at every turn... that's what we're getting...
No; wrong. What it looks like is a (thus far) relatively bloodless rerun of the Original Nazi conquest of Poland, in either case, 1939 or 2025, the legitimate government destroyed, and replaced by gloating tyrants and the population reduced to de facto slavery.
Trump's consolidation of power seems to be based on "emergencies" or exceptional power granted to him by God, or at least the Supreme Court. When analyzing the rise of Hitler, Timothy Snyder quoted from "the most intelligent Nazi," Carl Schmitt: "The way to destroy all rules ... was to focus on the idea of exception." Well, here we are.
So, Trump calls the Texas deluge a once in a hundred-year event, but it seems to me that these events are happening monthly, weekly, even daily! He needs a better reason, excuse, person to blame, or play the "poor me" victim card! I'm not buying any of it! Keep up the good work of keeping us informed, Heather! Thank you so much.
Once again Heather’s essay left me hollowed out, and questioning what the common person can do. Write reps, call congressional leaders, march, send money, protest and remain attentive. I want to gather statistics on the number of people dead from his immigration policies, the diminishing of health and human services, FEMA cuts, the destruction of medicaid, and send Congress a postcard of a black coffin for each death. The pile will get in someone’s way.
Their goal is to bankrupt all the entitlement programs by deliberately driving up the national debt. They voted for a new debt ceiling of $5Trillion; far as I can see that’s just how much they’ll increase the national debt in one year, not three more. They timed the cuts to phase in After the midterms; and the worst effects to hit before the next presidential election. These are time bombs to plague the democrats after they win back the house (if given the opportunity); and to generate the same kind of economic malaise that got Humpty elected a second time.
Over at Belle of the Ranch, Belle revealed a certain county in Nebraska voted 80% for failed leader.
News broke, I guess yesterday, the counties only hospital is closing because it is already in money trouble and the management does not desire to wait to make other arrangements, instead acting while the hospital is still functional.
Trump and his administration are operating under the proposition that the responsibility of government is to balance the budget by eliminating any and all programs which improve the safety and security of society for the purpose of passing those savings along to those who have most benefited from the country's opportunities and economy. It's a formula for the collapse of democracy.
Ostensibly the plan is to reduce the deficit by increasing growth, but recent history shows that this sort of redistribution of income does not increase growth. In his first term, they didn't even cover the loss of revenue. The CBO calculates that the deficit will increase by $2.8 trillion.
Trump’s reconciliation bill is a more draconian version of the ‘trickle down’ economy theory which has proven to be an abject failure since it was first introduced in the 1930’’s under President Herbert Hoover. It has been implemented many times since then by Republican Presidents, each time with the effect of an upward transfer of wealth without a commensurate economic stimulus. What sets this latest iteration apart from previous versions is the naked destruction of entitlement provisions which provide minimal protections to the most needy in society. This political misery is rationalized by the thinnest and often ephemeral ‘evidence’ of fraud and cheating.
I agree. Trump says that the Act cuts $1.7 trillion of public expenditure and that people won't even feel it because it is just 'waste, fraud and abuse'. Of course, it's a lie - he recently didn't appear to know that Medicaid was being cut.
What people won't feel is the tax cuts because they are essentially just a continuation of the tax cuts from his first term. He claims that they're the largest tax cuts in US history, another whopper. In actual fact, they constitute the biggest transfer of wealth from the poor and middle classes to the rich in US history. 17 million Americans will lose their health insurance and two million people will lose access to food assistance programs to help fund $4.5 trillion in tax breaks for corporations and the ultra-rich.
Yes, it would appear that about 10 million would be kicked off of Medicaid because of new “busywork” red tape and requiring every recipient to reapply every six months, plus new work requirements - although a substantial portion of Medicaid recipients are already working: the working poor. The CBO has also changed the way that poverty level is assessed, by adding public benefits to their income; making them appear to have more net worth than they have. The other, up to 7 million people, may get knocked off of Obamacare due to the increased cost of policies. It is the domestic equivalent of destroying foreign aid. They don’t want anyone from anywhere receiving any aid, unless they are a crony loyalist to the dictator in chief. Let’s see whose request for emergency assistance gets an attention first: California, or Texas? It should be noted that the local and state officials in Texas have been debating the cost shares to build a modern alert system along the Guadalupe River (from Kerr County to the south), an area known as “flash flood alley”, for at least ten years. The state has said that they would not put up the full cost, or even most cost of such a system, even while they have a nice “rainy day fund”! This is the mentality of the Repugnican-controlled state of Texas, as well as every last GOP politician: Laissez faire: translated: I will ignore anything I want to ignore, and if You’re in Texas, You’re on You’re own! This of course now applies to the entire country.
It seems that according to Brooke Rollins, agriculture secretary, that one of those Medicaid work requirements will be replacing the undocumented farm and hospitality workers that are being deported.
So many people are going to get sick and/or die and/or get detained in concentration camps and used as slaves with slavery being run by our Federal government (probably ICE/DHS) as a result of this Administration and state and local officials and voters or residents who are like the -- e.g., In the case of this devastating flood, Texas state and local officials lacked willingness to spend state/local tax dollars to prevent the loss of life and/or to respond in a timely way because the National Weather Service actually did communicate flood watches and deadly flood warnings; but, it's the responsibility of state/local officials to ensure that communication reaches those at risk and to issue evacuation orders and provide support to do that in a timely enough way -- all of which Texas state/local officials, once again (e.g., Uvalde) did not do.
Heads up of one very important thing for us to watch out for: Are we heading towards state-controlled news/information such as what exists in Russia and China?
Oracle has made a deal with ByteDance, the owner of TikTok. The plan is for an app with the same format to become available for US users only. Having seen some of the content creators, I absolutely could see this regime/Administration wanting to restrict some content creators who’ve been on TikTok. Now that I know about the existence of a Silicon Valley tech billionaire cult that far exceeds Elon Musk – Palantir’s Peter Thiel, Trump’s AI and crypto czar David Sacks, Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, Alphabet (owner of Google) also owning Waymo self-driving cars in Los Angeles being used by ICE/Palantir to do surveillance there, which is why those cars were targeted for destruction, what I’m concerned about is:
1) Will the US version of TikTok, debuting this fall, continue to allow freedom of speech?
2) Although Silicon Valley tech billionaire Marc Andreessen, co-founder of the venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), has invested in Substack but does not have direct power to remove content creators from Substack, as a major investor, Andreessen could try to exert behind-the-scenes pressure. So, how secure is Substack for Heather Cox Richardson and so many other important content creators.
3) Ditto for YouTube, owned by Google.
4) What if any other platforms could content creators use to get accurate news and info to the public in the US via the Internet?
4) I had a friend, now deceased, who was highly educated (PhD in anthropology, retired professor), who was a very reasonable, dedicated environmental activist who told me stories about how some of her mail would arrive clearly having been opened before being delivered. That happened long before this Administration existed – before DeJoy and what’s happened to USPS since then.
Perhaps, this concern is yet another very good reason why we, who have the capacity to do so safely, need to participate in as many protests as possible so we can get accurate news and info via word of mouth if, indeed, our access to it changes in the future.
It seems evident that the Humpty Administration and the big tech companies, and other players want to institute a mass surveillance state here in America (and are well on the way of scaling that up). It won’t be long before DC has poles with dozens of cameras hanging off it in all directions like they have in Beijing or really, any city in China. There is now talk of “taking over” DC - is that the next destination of the U.S. military? To engage in gun battles with armed teenagers hopped up on street drugs? Coming Soon: Fresh new Posse Comitatus Act violations, to help normalize using our troops as domestic law enforcers and later, to round up dissidents who attempt to practice their rights of free speech and free assembly, much less redress of grievances. After they manage to kill a bunch of violent teenage criminals and “clean up the streets/restore order”, they think the people will welcome them as liberators (like Iraq did), or at least “they’ll get used to it” (Mitch Poverty Of Mind McConnell).
Yes, I know all of that. Thank you for articulating it so well.
If that’s what they think — that the people will welcome them to surveil all of us throughout the US via DOGE data and cameras everywhere — which are already there to a great extent + self-driving cars like Waymos and Tesla’s self-driving car — plus a Fed takeover of DC, which ALWAYS has been solidly Democrat, they are very sorely mistaken.
I highly doubt the President who’s the Commander in Chief of the US military has the capacity to lead our country’s military. Ditto for US Defense Secretary Hegseth. People talk — including active duty military personnel who have family and other relationships with veterans and others who have reminded them about their oath to protect and defend the US Constitution and reminded or taught them what happened during the Nuremberg Trials.
There are FAR more of us than people in the MAGA, Silicon Valley tech and Christian White Nationalist cults.
We need to BOYCOTT and plan for/organize a GENERAL STRIKE, starting w/ the teachers unions — NEA and AFT — 2 of the largest 5 unions in the country — and work from the grassroots up with local public servants — trash collectors, road repair workers, etc. to shut down the economy for however long it takes — just like we had to do during COVID. This authoritarian takeover is lot like COVID. Organizing people power is how we vaccinate and wear masks to protect ourselves and our democracy.
We also need to do what Gil Duran suggested and already has begun — Palantir Power Down — since Tesla Takedown was so successful. Protest at Palantir office locations and at The Pentagon, military bases, The White House, US Capitol, SCOTUS and every Federal office building nationwide in addition to every other customer of Palantir — e.g., Israel under Netanyahu.
''When Government Cuts Kill: The Real Cost of Dismantling Public Services''
At least 80 people have died in Central Texas flash floods after the Guadalupe River rose 26 feet in 45 minutes. While extreme weather is worsening with climate change, the scale of this tragedy is not just about nature, it is about governance.
The National Weather Service had issued warnings. But thanks to Trump-era budget cuts, there were too few staffers left to relay those warnings to local authorities. Kerr County had no alert system in place. Its top official admitted taxpayers “won’t pay for it.”
This disaster is one example of a broader MAGA strategy to gut public services. Project 2025 openly seeks to dismantle NOAA and the NWS. Trump’s 2026 budget eliminates weather and climate research altogether. Meanwhile, other vital agencies, FEMA, the NIH, and even USAID, have seen deep cuts, silencing experts, ending lifesaving programs, and paralyzing coordination.
The result? Flash floods become mass-casualty events. Measles outbreaks return. Climate science disappears from public view. And autocrats gain ground as democratic checks and balances are dismantled.
This is not efficiency. It is negligence disguised as ideology.
The Texas floods are not an isolated “act of God.” They are the predictable result of policies that treat public infrastructure as expendable. If we continue down this road, more lives will be lost, not to nature, but to the calculated destruction of the very systems meant to protect us.
Your last paragraph really grabbed me. Totally agree.
I understand a central premise of P2025 is 'culling of the herd'. Political alignment is somehow equated with genetic superiority.
The obvious purpose of the traitor Robert Kennedy Jr.'s appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services is to eliminate access of the regime's targets to life-sustaining vaccines and medical care in general. Robert the Reaper's reign as the department's Oberst-Gruppenführer is unquestionably intended to ensure the resultant New Holocaust is plausibly denial as "an unfortunate consequence of necessary austerity" rather than the deliberate genocide it is. Thus the denials are already reinforced by Medicaid and Medicare reductions to kill non-white and LGBTQ minorities and impoverished people first.
"an unfortunate consequence..." & "god's will". these are psychopaths that must be contained.
Can we call their intent “Eugenocide”?
Totally agree
To make matters worse, a first responder in the area called emergency services at around 4am or so in the morning and urgently requested that a Cod Red alert be initiated as soon as possible. The dispatcher said “that will have to be approved by a supervisor”. It seems the requested alert was not initiated for about 90 minutes! That probably would have been enough time to move many, if not all of the now lost souls to higher ground. Sheer incompetence -reminds me of the big freeze and several of the mass shootings. I would avoid living in Texas until they clean house of their whole stupid Governor and legislature; since with the climate change they will hotly deny, it’s only going to get worse down there.
So, it brings to mind the phrase “Nero fiddled while Rome burned”..in our case, it is “Trump sells merch while the country burns”.
Trump is crazy. FEMA and NWS have been evidersated. DOGE cuts to the US have been evil.
True. When the DOGElon slashed the NWS, they also fired the senior official at NWS who was responsible for communications during emergencies with local officials. So yeah, Governor Abbot can actually say that the Trumpty Administration bears responsibility for the tragedy - as much as he and the Texas Legislature do; and apparently as much as the local residents who won’t pay taxes for it do.
If we are too cautious in demanding change, we offer nothing worthwhile. Watered-down, colorless iced tea attracts neither rave reviews, nor votes. The cries of “Throw me something, Mister!” echo in my head from the crowd of the New Orleans Marti Gras parade. At least that crowd gets beads and doubloons. We get diddly-squat—because any rancor might get upset the proletariat. I am tired of timid.
Now is time to upset the proletariat as we approach the midterms of 2026. We must open these doors to begin the hard debate to flesh out and undergird our candidates in the 2028 election. A platform! Give me a platform!
Jennifer Rubin
“Democrats must convince millions of qualified but (as yet) nonvoting Americans to dispense with the fictions that “both parties are the same” or that their vote “won’t make a difference.” The choice now is not Democrat vs. Republican, or progressive vs. conservative; it is right vs. wrong, humane vs. cruel. Tens of millions of people will be harmed by this cruel legislation; tens of millions more will know someone who will be harmed. They are not just victims and witnesses, but foot soldiers in the battle to hold to account Republican tormentors.”
But for what shall they vote? Forge that platform! Lots they say can’t be forged as there are 3 good reasons it won’t fly. I say that was then! This is now. Single payer healthcare for instance. Put it on the last platform published before the greedy insurance and big money harms can mount a campaign against it.
https://hotbuttons.substack.com/p/forging-fate?r=3m1bs
So let me ask you the cost of an unhealthy workforce. See this post by Thom Hartmann. https://hartmannreport.com/p/chapter-11-the-american-dream-requires?r=3m1bs&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Given that it was the "Democratic" (sic) Party's decades of post JFK treachery and betrayals that brought us to our denouement -- the Constitution nullified and the Republic dead -- it is utter idiocy to imagine they will do anything more than mouth meaningless protests behind which to hide as they cravenly collaborate with our Christonazi conquerors.
Your denouement signals the lights on a hearse. I do not see the finality, and still call for a bold new platform that will rouse an army.
You are obviously in denial of three irrefutable truths:
(1)-That the slaying of the Republic and the repeal of the Constitution is the "triumph of will" the (irredeemably hateful) Christonazi white majority (sadistically) imposed as (intentionally permanent) change on 5 November;
(2)-That our resistance -- at the most three percent of the population -- is hopelessly undisciplined, permanently fragmented by identity politics, too egotistical to accept unifying leadership and too suicidally self-disarmed to (ever) be effective against Trump's ecogenocide-minded, ideologically lockstep minions and the huge do-nothing population already subjugated to permanent anti-resistance submissiveness by the cults of Mandatory Optimism, Prideful Ignorance or -- most commonly -- Self-Obsessed Morally Imbecilic Cowardice;
(3)-That with the Red Army forever gone, there is no longer any force on this planet with the subversive skill to intervene effectively from without, and even if there were -- which capitalism's mastery of global finance forever prohibits -- no force will ever dare challenge the longstanding U.S. "Better Dead Than Red" pledge to permanently destroy the planet with chemical, biological and thermonuclear weapons rather than face defeat and surrender.
That is the unprecedented magnitude of Evil -- literally Absolute Evil -- we face. It does not mean we surrender -- our honor as human beings obliges us to fight on against those who have rejected their humanity for nazism -- but we should recognize that, like the early French Resistance or the defenders of Wake Island and Fortress Brest, we have no rational hope of mercy or rescue.
Loren, starting your comment by proclaiming anyone is "in denial" of "irrefutable truths" sets an extremely high bar for you to clear, with clearly illustrated facts, logic, and a dash of humility acknowledging your self-righteous tone would be a welcome emollient.
Instead we get a sense that the world is coming to an end and nobody doing nor able to do about it. I appreciated your use of historical examples of abandonment and hopeless causes, but think you would get your point across better by just telling us in plain language what you are talking about.
From reading many comments on various Substacks, my
takeaway is that most commenters feel as you do -- this is not normal, situation dire, extraordinary measures required to save the Republic -- and many ask some variant of, "What is to be done?".
If the answer is "Organize!" than I'd have to ask, "To do what? Make better protest signs? Volunteer to be arrested? Throw our bodies under the APCs? Storm the Bastille?" What does "Resistance" mean to you? Looking for suggestions here.
Please understand that I'm not trying to disparage you, or your ideas, but just give you honest feedback. You are obviously passionate and I would like to know what concrete steps you think non-MAGA Americans should take to ensure the survival of our liberal democratic system of government.
The first step in building effective resistance is knowing enemy intentions and capabilities. This has three parts: (1)-recognition "our liberal democratic system" is dead, assaulted by the 1933 Bankers' Plot; mortally wounded by the coup of 22 November 1963; and slain by the voters on 5 November 2025; (2)-recognition the post-JFK deceptions and betrayals by the "Democratic" (sic) Party prove it as traitorous as the "Republican" (sic) Christonazi/Neoconfederate Party; that it will therefore continue its betrayal of the resistance, and that it is delusional to imagine it can be converted into an instrument of liberation; (3)-recognition that what assails us is not merely a U.S. resurrection of the Third Reich but a force of ecogenocidal Evil that has no precedent in our species' history; that its intent is to reverse every humanitarian advancement our species has ever achieved; and that it will do so with Christonazi/Neoconfederate theocracy enforced by real-world technological omnipotence including inescapable surveillance and apocalyptic chemical, biological and thermonuclear weaponry.
Then and only then -- properly equipped with the thorough, unflinching knowledge of the enemy advocated as vital precursor by Sun Tzu (and every other relevant human military theorist)-- can we develop effective strategy and tactics of resistance. Beyond that I will not presume to offer suggestions; besides which -- despite maximum vaccination -- I am terminally ill with incurable post-Covid organ failure, and according to my cardiologist, likely dead by September.
Loren, first of all, thank you for being open about your devastating health situation. I am sincerely sorry to hear of that, and hope that the cardiologist has got it wrong.
Thank you for taking the time to explain your thoughts on our present situation at greater length.
Time being of the essence here, I'll go straight to your 3rd point, and your recommendation that we "know the enemy." A good starting point; unfortunately for many liberals like me, getting to know the MAGA crowd has involved portions of the Heritage Fdn's "Project 2025", which is extremely aggravating, so I just say that their ideas are hateful and disgusting -- they are not my sort of people.
I would not call the MAGAs a "U.S. resurrection of the Third Reich" (another nauseating bunch, imo), as the Nazis were far better organized and bloodthirsty than our home-grown fascists.
Another classifier,"Neoconfederate", is catchy but not very well-defined; perhaps regionally applicable to the former secessionist states - is there really a modern secesh movement?? - and I assume politically has a "states' rights" vibe, but is it more than a vague idea or an actual movement? The ICE holding camps for deportees are not really analogous to the camps under the Nazis, though it is tempting to make the comparison.
The American extreme Right wing, whatever you care to call it, is the enemy of liberal democracy, but in your telling, disparate events are linked in a loosely-connected chain which does not, to my mind, explain how we got from post-WWI economic disruption/New Deal era to the anti-Liberal ideas that lump TradCons with the AntiGov, working class Populist movements that have become the MAGA supporters who put Trump in the White House.
I think your assessment of the strength and permanence of "the enemy" is overly pessimistic, but I agree with you (and many others) that humanity has caused an ecological crisis which threatens our fossil-fuel based civilization. The Right ha decided to put on blinders and stick pingers in ears in order to ignore all discussion of global warming/climate change and the need for immediate action.
Along with the prospect of nuclear self-destruction that has been with us since 1945, humanity is threatened by climate change, loss of agricultural lands through salinization, over-irrigation, rising sea levels, and the usual dangers of pestilence and disease (including the viral pandemics of the sort that have afflicted you). On this we can agree, I am sure.
Back to analyzing "the enemy", Iif you look at Naziism, what is distinctive about it was not its ideology per se -- racism and megalomania were not invented by A. Hitler & friends -- but its rapid rise and acceptance by not only the German people but so many similar groups in other countries during there 20's 40s.
Outside Germany, groups such as Sir Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists, were splinter groups which sprang off from more mainstream right-wing conservative parties. I would say that the German-American Bund was different in that ethno-nationalism - i.e. German nationalism -- was an integral part of its organization, which was not a key element for Mosley, who I think was a precursor to the Nigel Farage and UKIP.
The election of Trump (both times) was made possible by the general voters' dissatisfaction with our political system combined with concerted efforts of wealthy propagandizers (Koch bros, Richard Mellon Scaithe, The Adelsons,et al), Anti-Tax crusaders (Howard Jarvis, Gordon Norquist) and of course "conservative" media outlets like Fox News and the legions of AM radio pundits and podcasters.
Newt Gingrich's 1990's Contract with America gave Republican politicians a 10-point conservative legislative agenda while the Tea Party Movement gave grass-roots organizers traction with a broad swath of disaffected right and conservative-leaning voters. I believe that is where Trump found his entry into the political arena.
Trump's first election in 1996 was not pre-ordained by any means - you could say it was a fluke, as he was a very flakey candidate. But it made MAGA seem respectable. If enough people vote for a candidate, their movement is legitimate because that's the way democracy works: a winning campaign confers legitimacy, no matter how unsuitable the candidate may be.
In order to effectively counter MAGA, defeating MAGA-supported candidates is not the only essential -- we have to reach the MAGA voters and change their ways of thinking. Trump does a lot of this work on his own. There have been stories, widely reported in mainstream media, of Trump voters who were surprised and disappointed when "their guy" enacted policies which negatively affected them: deporting their undocumented workers, not just hardened criminals (who seem to be far less numerous than Fox et al. have made people think) and levying tariffs (which hurt farmers and rural communities and raise prices for everyone), etc.
It is probably true that really hard-core MAGA supporters will NEVER believe that Trump is himself the problem. Like die-hard Confederates, they will continue to believe in The Cause until their dying day. But I believe most of the voters are not die-hards. Some are attracted by the Trump persona, some by the political bally-hoo and not so much the policy platform. The Macho-men -- the Proud Boys and their ilk -- soon to like the thrill of acting like Trump's Brownshirts, while others are just looking for alternatives to to same-old choices at the ballot box.
The immediate challenge for anti-Trump forces is how to block the implementation of the worst policies of the regime, while gathering support for winning the next election. I do believe in fighting through the courts, despite SCOTUS' rightward tilt. I do not believe in fighting in the streets. Yet, like all true American patriots, when despotism becomes intolerable, it is legitimate to take steps to overthrow their rule.
We aren't at that point now, and it would be counterproductive to pretend otherwise. But thinking about where we may be in a few years seems to me prudent and necessary.
It no longer is people are going to die because of all these cuts and this BBB bill passage has moved to people have died because of all this insanity. DJT, his cabinet and all GOP that have stood with this need to be held accountable as they truly have blood on their hands.
DO NOT REMAIN SILENT WE THE PEOPLE. Show the world we are fighting back and still be piece in democracy.
God - it’s incredible how Pam Bondi is not disbarred.
Sure looks like a fascist takeover in fine print instead out front, easily recognizable... purposeful confusion... as a takeover strategy... at every turn... that's what we're getting...
No; wrong. What it looks like is a (thus far) relatively bloodless rerun of the Original Nazi conquest of Poland, in either case, 1939 or 2025, the legitimate government destroyed, and replaced by gloating tyrants and the population reduced to de facto slavery.
Trump's consolidation of power seems to be based on "emergencies" or exceptional power granted to him by God, or at least the Supreme Court. When analyzing the rise of Hitler, Timothy Snyder quoted from "the most intelligent Nazi," Carl Schmitt: "The way to destroy all rules ... was to focus on the idea of exception." Well, here we are.
Noem calling for firing of employees "that don't like us"?! O. M. G. These dysfunctional children have to be REMOVED from our Government NOW.
Yeah, well, I mean, see they, like, HATE America, so, y'know, we gotta do sumpin' to TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY!!! /s
So, Trump calls the Texas deluge a once in a hundred-year event, but it seems to me that these events are happening monthly, weekly, even daily! He needs a better reason, excuse, person to blame, or play the "poor me" victim card! I'm not buying any of it! Keep up the good work of keeping us informed, Heather! Thank you so much.
Once again Heather’s essay left me hollowed out, and questioning what the common person can do. Write reps, call congressional leaders, march, send money, protest and remain attentive. I want to gather statistics on the number of people dead from his immigration policies, the diminishing of health and human services, FEMA cuts, the destruction of medicaid, and send Congress a postcard of a black coffin for each death. The pile will get in someone’s way.
Good ideas. Thank you.
Such ignorant cruel administration. But for what end do all these cuts serve?
Their goal is to bankrupt all the entitlement programs by deliberately driving up the national debt. They voted for a new debt ceiling of $5Trillion; far as I can see that’s just how much they’ll increase the national debt in one year, not three more. They timed the cuts to phase in After the midterms; and the worst effects to hit before the next presidential election. These are time bombs to plague the democrats after they win back the house (if given the opportunity); and to generate the same kind of economic malaise that got Humpty elected a second time.
Over at Belle of the Ranch, Belle revealed a certain county in Nebraska voted 80% for failed leader.
News broke, I guess yesterday, the counties only hospital is closing because it is already in money trouble and the management does not desire to wait to make other arrangements, instead acting while the hospital is still functional.
Yikes. (I find myself saying that often these days.)