The most dangerous thing about authoritarianism is that it doesn’t stop at a nation’s borders.
Trump is dismantling the alliances, institutions, and rules that have restrained powerful nations for generations and replacing them with a world where power determines who gets to take what they want.
That isn’t America First. It’s the abandonment of everything America spent generations building.
And once the rules are gone, none of us gets to decide who breaks them next.
The man who spent years treating NATO like a protection racket now appears shocked that they didn’t rush to put on matching bomber jackets for his war with Iran. It’s the foreign policy equivalent of keying someone’s car, insulting their mother, refusing to split the bill, then wondering why they won’t help you move house. The real horror (besides the word salad) is that underneath all those mangled nouns is the GOP’s actual geopolitical strategy. A strategy running on nothing more than grievance, vanity and the emotional regulation skills of a wet cat. God help us.
The first two paragraphs of this post are mostly incoherent, and all of that comes from Trump**’s babbling. It is frightening to read the gibberish that spews from the mouth of the man who holds in his hands the well-being of this country.
I keep thinking that this fool is working out far far better for billionaires than they ever could have imagined, or planned. The Koch brothers (or Koch brother) must be laughing at the anarchy that's been created by this less than human epitome of ineptness. The more wealth, the more power they can and are amassing. Good luck in November. Way to go Graham F#*khead Platner.
Platner is just who he is. The blame belongs with the Democratic operatives who didn't fully vet him and tell him point blank, "You're toxic. You can't run."
The Democrats didn't vet him because they never wanted him and were extremely pissed off when he won. Heck instead of vetting him they spent their money on campaign ads against him.
The MDP (Maine Democratic Party) could not be happier with the recent turn of events. You should have seen the FB video they put out last night. *eyeroll They have made it plain that not only will they dump him but they will dump his platform.
Never let it be said that democrats can't snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Absolutely Dale, The "democrat" as viewed by the R'ss-holes is right down there with the creepy-crawler things like roaches. Simply a blight on this once great nation. The "democrat"..., a non-entity that needs to be dispatched (build more detention facilities for.., the democrat and any one who looks like a democrat, speaks like a democrat. You and me for example. And let's include people who claim to be socialists. They're in the same sandbox with the democrat. And look what just happened, the hidden money machine that digs dirt Pingree/Collins/Schumer/The DNC (huh??),and they've found a way to scarify Graham Platner at just the right moment. I wonder if Schumer ever had a strange piece of ass after a few drinks. Have you? I'm lucky no ex-girlfriend of mine ever decided to make "the rape call" on me. Match.dot.whatzup is full of women who really just want to get laid..., just like guys. Where'd this girl Rappi-court come from? And switching over to tattoos.., how about Segg-Breth, our secy of WAR??? POS. I haven't read the lurid details the dirt diggers have farmed-up on Platner, but aren't we so quick to believe what is given to us. Forget about Stormy's boobs and our pedo=pres. Let's throw Platner under the democrat garbage truck. Meanwhile Trump is going to "hit em again hard".., turn that land into a radioactive dust pile. I guess non of you have flown a helicopter gunship or a slick to clear a Vietnamese village of VC (?). Kill everything.., they're communists you know? And then have your door gunner get his guts blown out, while your co-pilot gets it in the chest and folds up, because the Cav didn't have enough political pull to get ballistic chest armor? Huh? That's what "hit em hard" means. People die - For what? Because we have B52's and they don't? So sick.
We need to remove this "President" from the sacred office he holds for the safety of all our citizens , young and old...for our future as a Democracy. His lack of character and self-serving nature is separating us from long term allies.
But we must also include disciplining those "leaders" who have made it possible, because of Trump's position to "line", not only Trump's pockets, but their own.
No amount of money can build up a person's character. Often it tempts people ...even the best, most thoughtful people to use "opportunities" for selfish gain.
The evidence is clear. We have never had a more corrupt administration.
What he holds in his hands, or at arms-length, is the nuclear suitcase. Iran has now learned that only a nuclear bomb keeps you safe in this moment. And we have learned that it's fairly easy for one person to disrupt the world order and take down the economy.
It just kills me that many thousands of smart, well meaning, well educated people all over the country and the planet continue to spend time and energy responding to this stuff as though it were response worthy. There ought to be a way of working on moving forward, with our backs turned to the source of the noise. Just give him the silent treatment. Pretend he's not there.
Clearly this is a cry of frustration, not a thought-out strategy, but I do think that it represents a missing kernel in the general approach we should take to the administration. Don't give them any more energy than they deserve.
How can any American ‘pretend that he’s not there’? He’s the President of the United States, a man directly impacting not only all Americans, but also tens of mliions around the world.
I understand your frustration, but ignoring him is not an option. On the contrary. Pointing out his madness is essential to our survival as a Republic.
Since it's impossible to report every stupid thing the moron in chief says, I think the point that Heather is making with the extended direct quote, is that the substance of this - the fact that the slow-rolling destruction of NATO is a very bad thing for the world - is worthy of our attention.
Completely agree. The gutting of NATO is about the worst international thing that could happen in this age. At the same time, the nature and incoherence of the reasons Trump keeps giving for initiating and abetting that gutting are equally important within the US.
The only thing that can put the necessary nails in the coffin of TRumpism is the realization on the part of those who support him that he is hurting that fully as much as they like to think he is hurting ‘the Dems” or the ‘the progressives’ or ‘the libs’.
I don’t think for a moment that Trump’s hard core supporters read Heather. But the more she reminds us, the more likely it is that ‘the word’ will reach those it most needs to reach through us.
I hope it's obvious that I didn't mean to suggest that the broader effects of Trump's cumulative blurts do not require emergency remedial attention. The point I was trying to make, such as it is, is that attempting to listen to and make sense of each of the many Trumpian "events" that happen each day is a fool's errand. It's nothing but a time suck. It's like jousting with Jell-O. It seems to me that a better approach is to pay attention only to the more durable among the policy changes that eventually happen as a consequence.
What I like is that our isolation is dispelled nationwide. That we communicate together makes us realize we have a massive presence in like minded cohort. Thank you all for turning on the lights. Let us continue to build resistance to the ugly jackass. Apologies to my many long eared mountain canary friendships. Even to the one who always kicked me twice.
Exactly! I agree! Unfortunately I forget to Deal with the shit show he’s creating/ created, forget it’s most important to counter it, to do whatever is necessary, but in the process ignore him. Not ignore what he does but ignore the person. He Loves Being the Center of Attention!! And in his twisted f’d up brain Even negative attention is better than no attention!! Let’s look for solutions, look for what we can do to stop the maga madness.
When I read HCR's verbatim quote of Donald's gripe-du-jour, I thought, "That's just how Mom sounded." I was thinking of the way my mother, in mid-stage dementia, was unable to finish a sentence, how she spoke in sentence fragments that were related to the topic at hand, but then would dart off to a different subject as her mind ricocheted from one matter to another, unable to focus for more than a few seconds.
Before dementia, Mom had been a brilliant, multi-lingual public school teacher. Even after she retired at age 83, she volunteered to teach ESL classes to families from around the world who had a family member studying at the U.S. Army War College.
Donald didn't start from such elevated baseline. He was born with a learning disability that was never addressed, other than having it papered over with large amounts of cash. As with everything Donald has done, his so-called "college education" is suspect. He has always been incoherent, but people didn't notice because conversational speech is never grammatically pristine. He employed a ghost-writer to produce his one book because he is functionally illiterate.
Starting from that baseline, I estimate that Donald is in early-stage dementia. He still has a long way to go before he loses his ability to speak entirely. But even now, he belongs in a memory-care facility, not the White House.
Perhaps goes without saying, but your mom was never given access to country's nuclear launch codes. I'm sure your family would never have allowed it...
The way it's punctuated it makes it seem vaguely coherent on first reading. Looking at it again, he jumps from grievance to grievance, doesn't finish a train of thought, and is practically babbling.
Trump went on to claim his beef with NATO began over Greenland, which he wants “because Greenland doesn’t help Denmark…but it’s an important part [He's looking for a word, can't think of it, says "part.'] for the United States. And it’s surrounded by China [He can't think of "Chinese," says "China."] ships and Russian ships. And that’s not going to happen. The ships is... It’s not going to happen. [He doesn't say what isn't going to happen. Something to do with the ships? Denmark won't give up Greenland? We know they won't but he's still obsessed with it.]
"It was Greenland that—in my [opinion?], and it continues to be ["my opinion"? He leaves that out]—that should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark. And when they wouldn’t go along with it... [He doesn't complete this thought and jumps to the grievance about NATO members not spending enough on their defense.]
And with all the money we spend to help them [He's forgotten about Denmark and Greenland and jumped to Europe.] with Russia... And we don’t have to spend any money, we could remove all of our soldiers out of Europe, because as you probably noticed, Europe’s a very different place than it was 20 years ago. A lot different. Much different. It’s a much different... [It seems to be the immigration that he's thinking of now, not the money.] And they better be careful with immigration and energy. If they’re not careful with those two things, you’re not going to have a Europe anymore. Okay. Thank you very much everybody.”
He can't put two consecutive sentences together to complete a thought. This is someone who, in my nonprofessional opinion as someone who's taken several cognitive tests, couldn't pass the simplest cognitive test.
The teachers, I was blessed to have during my education from 1st grade through college taught me well. History became my favorite subject. I am always learning and being reminded of our nation's beginnings as well as our relationships with other countries who are our friends and those who live under autocratic rule.
For the most part, we have had great if imperfect leaders as well as persons in Congress, as well as men and women, leading offices within our government that oversee the care of our nation in nearly infinite ways.
In all times but especially theses time, I give my thanks for their hard work and pray for their safety and the safety of their families.
If this is your idea of a clever retort, you should apply for a position as one of Grandpa Hitler's speech writers. . You make as much sense as whoever is advising him.
Just because you refuse to listen and understand her does not make her incoherent. Trump is the King of incoherence. Read the first couple of paragraphs again. They are nonsensical and empty. Intentionally.
He didn't consult allies. He didn't even warn them about the surprise attacks, either last September or in February. The Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto was left stranded in Dubai with his family when flights were suspended following the joint American and Israeli attack on Iran in February.
Their economies have been hard hit by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the global economy was put at risk of recession because of this reckless action by the US and Israel. Moreover, it has handed Iran a far more potent deterrent than a nuclear weapon namely the ability to hold the whole world to ransom and it's all because of Trump and Netanyahu.
His peevish complaints are both infantile and wholly unjustified and the world is losing patience with your man-baby president.
He is neither a man nor a baby but a barely functioning psychopath surrounded by toadies. We lurch from one disaster of his making to another. Now Greenland again ?
If only they would lose patience. For the life of me I can't understand why they still let him stand front and center and give him a mic to speak, as if he'll say anything worth hearing. He's repugnant. Maybe the US's membership in NATO should be suspended for the duration of his presidency.
Let us hope not. Other than the possibility that they are just content to watch the US destroy itself under the Heritage Foundation's plan, we have to be prepared to be attacked because we have offended every country in the world, and there has never been a time when we ARE so completely unprepared. The moron conveniently overlooks the fact that the only time NATO had to stand up was with the US after 9/11. We just might need them again.
Yes, you have a point, Slater. I still wish NATO would find a way to send him a message. "You are a creep. No one believes a word you say. No one respects you."
They have shown him that he is not welcome e. there are photos/videos of him at the G7. They were taking a group picture, and when the photo session was over, the crowd broke up and started talking to each other....except for Trump. He was left standing alone, not knowing where he was or what he was supposed to be doing. Not one of the leaders in G7 spoke to him. It was priceless.
The same at NATO. They just let him ramble and rave and ignore him .
It would be nice to hear a world leader actually say out loud what they all think.....that he is a nasty, demented old man, and that the US is nuts for allowing him to remain in the Presidency for one more day.
"this reckless action by the US and Israel" is exactly what Clinton, Bush, Obama and Biden said they would do. The only difference is that Trump did what they said they would do.
How does something nonpartisan become bad because you don't like the particular partisan who does what t he others say?
Whether you agree with the Iran war or not, consulting allies makes no sense when surprise is a factor. This isn't the 1940s when ambassadors at best used telegrams.
You literally haven't the FAINTEST idea what you are talking about. Clearly, diplomacy is not your area of expertise. Talk about pointless, ridiculous, irrelevant straw men.
You need to get your head out of Trump's ass. It actually doesn't smell like peaches and cream.
You know, I actually think you may give him too much credit. "Because Greenland doesn't protect Denmark..." is inane, nonsensical, deranged, demented, bibble-babbling blather. To say it doesn't make sense implies it was trying to in the first place. It's just syllables of slop strung together by a carnival-barker out of steam, out of hornswoggling, muttering weird half-forgotten incantation-syllables.
Beneath all those mangled nouns is nothing at all....save that whinybitchy, invisible concertina being pumped back and forth to stupefy people and make them pretend the syllables actually add up to something coherent.
Great commentary! The funny thing about it is that if trump tried to read it he wouldn't understand a word of it. I mean words like incantation, stupify, coherent may as well be written in the Cyrillic alphabet for all the understanding he might have of their meaning.
Trump is an idiot savant grifter/liar. Skilled at grifting and lying, but not much else. Sadly, too many people believe his lies and too many Republican politicians enable his grifting.
Please leave the feline population out of it. Now let me reverse my promise to not bring up the 2nd loser in American history; yes, Joe Biden, who loathed the United States of America to a 2nd rate conman mafia mentality. Yes, the selfishness of Joe Biden is astounding to me. He just had to be the president during the 250th birthday but losing during a debate as he slipped into a purple haze. I will never, ever, ever, ever forgive this man, Joe Biden, for all the destruction resulting for his loss of the presidency. Go anbead and criticize me I don’t care. I will not remain silent criticizing Joe Biden. Block me if you wish, America is lost . All we can do is try and rid the rot curtain the White House. But as a guiding light for other nations, it’s over, rover. I will do whatever I can with my writing and songs. I will economically boycott those who support the authoritarianism. For int, I need to not support private equity that is destroying the nation. Today I’m changing my ophthalmologist that is not owned by private equity. Hard to find but they are out there.
It was the American VOTERS who gave us Trump2. Those who would never vote for any woman, no matter how qualified. Those who stayed home because they were upset that Biden was NOT the candidate. Those who were just too damn lazy to exercise their duty to the country and vote. Those who bought into the myth of Trump as a “ business man” and believe the insane fallacy that government should be a “business”. Those who are motivated by resentment that their lack of education, lack of intelligence and their lack of work ethic should hamper their “right” to riches and an easy life.
It was not only Biden. It was the Democratic Party Establishment who stood around as usual and watched as certain disaster loomed.
In short…….It is way past time for women to take over running this country.
I'm not 100% sure that women, (being one myself), are the ultimate answer~ remembering Thatcher and listening/watching Noem, MTG and some others, I don't have a high regard for gender being much of a real answer to this insanity. . .
I am, of course thinking of women who are NOT in thrall to the stupid men who have held power throughout our history. The long held fallacy that women are incapable of being reasonable, logical or smart is because their hormones govern them. Have any men EVER admitted that THEIR hormones govern THEM 24/7/365 and get them in trouble on a very regular basis.
Ask Graham Platner, Matt Gates, Eric Swallwell, Kavanaugh, etc, etc, etc.
I definitely agree ~ on the whole women are NOT incapable of being rational, intelligent, and logical! There’s just a whole bunch of women who are “in thrall” as you say and that worries me. You’re absolutely correct about men who refuse to acknowledge the impact their hormones have on their behavior - we women certainly have experienced those impacts! There are wonderful intelligent, logical and reasonable women, many of whom hold positions of great influence, but we all continue to hear the negative messages in our culture and those messages weaken us as a group. I strongly support women who exemplify those traits - think Warren, Baldwin, Sotomayor, Kagan & Brown Jackson and many others! Please keep speaking out - your voice is important for us all to hear!
I think you’re suffering from a severe case of BDS. You should seek some help for that. if you want to be as pissed off at someone to the same degree you are at Biden for where we are now, train your howitzers on brain-dead marble-mouthed Mitchie McConnell. He let the demented criminal slip right through his fingers and then had the gall to tell us that his buddies on the Extreme Court would take care of him. Criminal justice system, my ass. And sure enough they did, squashing Jack Smith’s January 6th case and declaring that essentially nothing the criminal did in office would be prosecutable. You can rail about Uncle Joe all you want, but you’re pissing up the wrong tree. By the time Joe dithered too long in getting out of the race, the damage had already been done, thanks to Mitchie and John Roberts.
We are all mortals - we have strengths and failings. We are capable of doing amazing good and also messing up. Biden had the best cabinet in my life time. The tragedy of the Afghanistan exit haunts him, as does his hubris. He should have recognized he was a one term president. He failed the people, as have every president in my memory bank - including the beloved Obama (who drew a line in the sand and did not back up his statement with action). Criticize Biden's hubris? Sure and I will agree. However Bill, your condemnation is not measured and because I think you went way over the top, you lost me.
Bill, for all the good Joe did in trying to turn things around, I agree that he should have allowed better candidates to run against Don. It was definitely a mistake.
In reality the American People were given a choice between an obviously narcissistic racist sociopath and a poorly introduced normie democrat (thanks to Biden and DNC) . The People chose the sociopath. The People weren’t forced by Biden.
I can not get away from thinking that, were Trump better proportioned in intimate areas of his now indistinguishable anatomy, this scheiße show would not be on display. 🤫
Interestingly, Congress passed a bill in 2023, sponsored by Senators Kaine (D-Virginia) and Rubio (resident snow-lizard), requiring a two-thirds Senate vote or a new law authorizing the withdrawal from N.A.T.O. by the United States of America. President Biden, who had *respect *for, *and humility about, power, signed the law into effect.⚖️
In any case, the *underlying N.A.T.O. treaty requires a one-year withdrawal notification. See Article-13 of the treaty, though, as Dr Richardson observes, U.S. refusal to co-operate would undermine the alliance immediately. 😳
Lastly, Article-6 makes the treaty's scope and purpose quite clear; President BlunderBoy had zero-business in expecting N.A.T.O.'s support for the sneak attack against Iran, conducted during diplomatic talks.🖕
Edit pre-S.: DEAR PRESIDENT BLUNDER-BLUFF, read this . . . .The North Atlantic Treaty; Washington D.C. - 4 April 1949:
"Article 6
"For the purpose of Article 5, an armed attack on one or more of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack:
"on the territory of any of the Parties in Europe or North America, on the Algerian Departments of France, on the territory of Turkey or on the Islands under the jurisdiction of any of the Parties in the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer;
"on the forces, vessels, or aircraft of any of the Parties, when in or over these territories or any other area in Europe in which occupation forces of any of the Parties were stationed on the date when the Treaty entered into force or the Mediterranean Sea or the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer."
"Article 13
"After the Treaty has been in force for twenty years, any Party may cease to be a Party one year after its notice of denunciation has been given to the Government of the United States of America, which will inform the Governments of the other Parties of the deposit of each notice of denunciation."
====================================
"The United States was at peace with that Nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American Island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack." --President F.D. Roosevelt, 08dec41.
"It’s the foreign policy equivalent of keying someone’s car, insulting their mother, refusing to split the bill, then wondering why they won’t help you move house."
Interesting choice of metaphor. Perhaps something you've done in your undisclosed past?
And, the war goes on! It is not a red card anymore. And, Trump will have Greenland. Not the act of an ally. So, he does not understand war, he does not understand soccer and he does not understand being an ally.
Here is Erin Brockovich talking with Rick Wilson about AI Data Centers and what she is doing to fight them. This is Trump's America. AI Data Centers are inhumane. AI is not human. https://youtu.be/MRI_oSa41z8?si=cPmkUT1ioUyk_Eij
In the talk on the link I posted above they say Data Centers will probably be replaced with something else in the next 4 years. I saw that as the time frame Europe needs to stave them off, and I don't know what the US will do to get rid of them.
A German company that I saw presenting the idea of data chips that are room temperature, who was on a webinar that I attended last fall has a better idea environmentally than Nvidia.
I am actually working on a campaign to get off big US data gathering tech. We are starting with using alternatives ourselves. Nvidia is presenting solutions too late for the problems they are causing.
It does not deal with the land use and noise pollution and the mental health problems related to the noise pollution. That deafening noise 24/7 means that these should not be built. It is crazy.
Trump's NATO speech was another embarrassment to the entire country. For Republicans to allow Trump to continue debasing everything we stand and do absolutely nothing is beyond absurd.
Ukraine has become a superpower with an array of drones that killed or maimed over 28,000 Russians and their mercenaries in June alone, according to Zelenskyy's speech to NATO yesterday. Zelenskky said they have video evidence of everyone of the drone kills.
Ukraine has plunged most of Crimea into darkness and gas is only available to emergency personnel and delivery vehicles. Putin has ordered the evacuation of over 200,000 Russian civilians from Ukraine and the military bases and ports in Crimea have all been rendered useless. Over 35 power substations in Crimea have been destroyed so much of Crimea will be dark for weeks or even months. Ukraine has now hit every major refinery in Russia causing shortages of gas, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products.
Putin continues to bomb apartment buildings, hospitals, schools and transportation hubs throughout Ukraine, which are all war crimes. And the Trump administration refuses to provide Patriot missiles to protect the Ukrainians against the votes of Congress. Putin and Trump talk several times a week now. Don't be surprised if Putin pulls a Bibi and convinces Trump to bomb Ukrainian targets.
So much for Trump ending the War in Ukraine in 24 hours after becoming President.
It’s absurd and horrific that humankind has not evolved further than committing atrocities against one another to settle disputes. Sure, Zelenskyy has been given no other choice but it’s hard to rejoice in that awful list of destruction. Changing our outer circumstances ie power grab upon power grab has never changed anything. We need to change our collective thinking if we are to survive as a species on this planet. I mean really.
I was kicked out of a Methodist church open mic when I dared to explain the God made a terrible mistake allowing Man up the evolutionary trail. That the Lord of the Universe had designated the Bonobos and given them the tickets but when man saw this he grabbed the tickets from the Bonobos and ran like hell. The church didn’t want me back. And I thought the Catholics were the worst. And I should know because I was baptized one and went to catholic school. Fortunately I escaped molestation by the priests but Mrs. Henigan my 4th grade teacher put me under her desk for talking in class. And so I had a unique perspective of her fat thighs opening and closing while she taught class. Catholic School Daze. How I miss them.
Putin and Trump spoke at length before the NATO debacle. Isn't it obvious - crystal clear - that Trump is following Putin's directives?
The conventional "wisdom" is that Trump admires Putin. That is probably true. But it masks the probable fact that Trump was compromised by the KGB during all those visits to Moscow. When you work in a Moscow hotel that hosts foreign visitors you ARE KGB and some of you are watching the cameras in the rooms.
Americans think the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. All that changed was who got the money. Putin is laser focused on the destruction of the Western democracies. He is a highly trained soldier of espionage. He and Trump have two things in common. Plunder of the national treasure and revenge.
One day we may find out it was 'Agent Krasnov' all along. Or the infamous pee-pee tapes. Or the massive DeutscheBank loans. Or the shady Florida real estate deals. Or the 2016 election. Or some new thing nobody's yet discovered but which awaits the next generation of true investigative journalism. Or some combination of all of the above. But one way or another, we have a true Manchurian Cantaloupe in the White House, and a particularly stupid one at that.
Bill, as usual, conventional wisdom is a little off the mark. Donald "admires" Putin in the same way Republican politicians "admire" Donald. They have no choice. They owe their lives to their respective owners.
Exactly. I began writing my book, Donald’s Vanity Tantrums after watching the infamous confrontation with the media in 2016 in Trump Towers when reporters continually asked him about allegations of a golden shower in a Moscow hotel. At the end, Trump spoke, “You people should be ashamed of yourselves you know I am a germaphob.” And I wondered why no one responded that urine was an astringent not a germ. So began my writing journey.
It's not just Trump. It's also JD and Kegsbreath. Kegsbreath has impounded Congressionally approved funding for Ukraine and the cowardly Republicans and the MSM say nothing. They are all traitors to the US and our allies.
Looking past Trump's inanities with regard to Ukraine, even its recent astonishing successes in incapacitating Russia's war economy (I have seen videoclips of gas lines at least 3-4 miles long in Chita -- about 100 miles from the Mongolian border -- at least 2,500-3,000 miles from Ukraine) is the specter of Moscow's eventual rearmament against NATO.
Sources quoted in The Guardian claim Poland has been warned that Russia is planning some kind of major assault as early as 2027. Within the last week, Russia closed border crossings between itself and Finland, as well as Estonia. Less known, perhaps, is that border crossing are being closed to Kazakhstan, Armenia -- places of refuge for young men fleeing forced induction into the Russian Army which has suffered at least half a million deaths at Putin's hands the past four years. A new national conscription is coming -- Putin is that desperate to maintain his course of failure and pointless bloodshed.
Just today, Michael Kofman, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment's Center for Russian and Eurasian studies and the previous director for Russia Studies at the Center for Naval Analyses, writes of "The Next Russian Threat" emerging a few years after the current debacle in Ukraine.
Yes. I have been following what is going on in Ukraine with several sources both daily and weekly, including the Kiev Independent, Medusa in English, Martin Belderson (weekly reports) Iran War Dispatches with Tim Mak, Olga Lautmann, Martin Hoffmann's Missile Matters, and a few others dedicated to mostly Ukraine coverage.
It seems that both Putin and Trump like to pretend that they are not actually making war on another sovereign country. Instead it is something less than a war. Disinformation is a big part of both their shticks.
Robert Pape says Trump is in an escalation trap and cannot get out of it in Iran. Israel is happy because they resumed bombing Lebanon too. This is not ending well for the assailants, because like the US in the World Cup, they don't have enough people on their sides.
Heard the DT-Zelenskyy presser. Thank you for the details of the Ukrainian drone war. Has the NYT published the stats you give? If not, please send. We just might get protective missiles to Ukraine.
Virginia, let's hope that not only does NATO protect Greenland, but that Trump has consequences for all of his warmongering like with Venezuela and Iran. I think with Iran he is having natural consequences like he got us into a forever war, and if he does the ground troops on Kharg Island he is hopefully going to FAFO! I feel sorry for the troops under his and Hegseth's command.
It is unclear to me what Trump understands. It is clearer what he does not understand. He does not understand the red card in Soccer, and does not understand the game. In fact, he does not understand sportsmanship or playing fairly. He clearly does not. He also does not understand having allies or being one. Yikes! He is our president but he does not represent us. He is too busy representing himself.
He does understand representing himself, you are right, therefore understanding soccer, for example, is irrelevant to him. I base my opinion on years of watching his decision-making in NYC, and a couple of encounters with him. Here are two things I know that he doesn't understand--the heroism of someone who sacrifices for others, and get this, he does not understand himself.
He cannot just jump from Iran to Greenland. Now he has too much invested in Iran, and as Prof. Robert Pape says, he is stuck there in the Escalation Trap.
As Trump started bombing again, but supposedly signed the MOU to gain time and grace to get enough oil out of the SOH so that he could refill the strategic reserves and have enough fuel for war ships and war planes and tanks to start attacking again.
No surprises here. Even with our media lying, skewing, omitting and embroidering, we all know because we have an honest source. As repubs have planned, there is a cacophony of blather harking back to the Tower of Babel. Our pubescent bully is on stage performing as a legitimate spokesmodel but his forked tongue is like Pinocchio’s nose. He is now the face of America. The world shudders. America wrings its hands, seemingly powerless. It took Pearl Harbor to overcome the lethargy of the greatest generation, as history notes. If America does not clean house, the world is right to shudder. But it’s more than lethargy, Ametica has traitors within as well as partners in crime. The lines are blurred. Who will clarify, edify and kick arse.
Trump is, by far, the most dangerous and detestable human on planet Earth. His enablers are all traitors to America. This cabal of spoiled, self serving fascists need imprisonment. ASAP. Save the World.
In the "the most dangerous and detestable” competition, I would enter two death stars: Stephen Miller and Russell Vought. Probably more of the Heritage Foundation crew who authored Project 2025 would be in the running as well.
He is surrounded by some of the most detestable Americans on the planet. I would say there are other equally detestable people in other countries. My feelings about Putin are in that category.
Merrill, I agree with you only in the sense that a gun is dangerous. But a gun has no intelligence. Neither does Donald. Without a human to aim the gun and pull the trigger, the gun is no danger at all.
The humans aiming the Trump gun at all of us, in order of malice, are Russell Vought, Stephen Miller, John Roberts, Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Barrett, Mike Johnson, John Thune and the Republican Party.
They do not have to bother. Donald Trump and his collection of thieves are doing it themselves. We are going to find that we have a bankrupt country that is devoid of the talent in government to fix the damage, and a military that has been hollowed out to the least honest, least capable leadership.
Gloria, if a hijacker who does not know how to drive wrests the steering wheel from a bus driver, then drives the bus off the road and over a cliff, killing all the passengers, do we say the cliff killed the passengers?
Not alone of course, but Iran has allies too and they like their partners. Our allies understandably hate what chump is doing to us and them. Who knows where these tiddily winks will fall.
I watch Malcolm Nance's daily briefing on Iran when I can. He is former US Naval Intel and was in the region for a long time. He does it with Jacob Kaarsbo (former Danish Intel), Wajeeh Lion (Middle East Political analyst).
''Donald Trump Discovers NATO Is Not His Personal Group Chat''
Donald Trump arrived at the NATO summit in Ankara deeply wounded to discover that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is not, in fact, his personal customer service department for international mayhem.
Trump complained that NATO had failed to back his war on Iran, which he found terribly unfair because America has spent “trillions” protecting Europe, Canada, and “et cetera.” In Trump geography, “et cetera” may include Greenland, Venezuela, the moon, and any country he saw on television during breakfast.
The problem, as usual, is that Trump appears to think alliances work like Mar-a-Lago security. He points, everyone salutes, and someone else pays the invoice. But NATO is a defensive alliance, not a rewards program for regime change. Article 5 says members come to your aid if you are attacked. It does not say, “Please join every war started by a man who thinks diplomacy means shouting near flags.”
Then came Greenland, because every Trump foreign policy speech eventually becomes a Zillow listing. He wants Greenland not because Denmark has mistreated it, but because it exists, has strategic value, and has not yet been gold-plated. He warned of Chinese ships and Russian ships, then explained that “the ships is not going to happen,” a sentence future historians may classify as imperial gibberish with maritime garnish.
The larger issue is simple. Trump does not seem to want allies. He wants tenants. He does not want a rules-based international order. He wants a landlord-based order, where powerful countries roam the planet saying, “Nice sovereignty you’ve got there. Shame if something happened to it.”
NATO was built to deter aggression and defend democracy. Trump seems determined to find out whether the free world can survive being managed by a man who treats global security like a failed casino contract.
I don't know how you do this, Michael. Your wordsmithing is spot on. That last line says it all, although the quote of "the ships is not going to happen" is also priceless.
I agree—which is why I write about the Republican Party and the larger movement behind Trump all the time. I wrote an entire piece about exactly that: The Republican Party of Russia.
And where is the opposition Party? They are as fooled by the Trump Family as the national press corp is. No one likes to be fooled but for gosh sakes, Democrat.com and DNC and all the other Dem groups. Put up the truth mirror for Donald to see. He lives in a bubble of his own reality. We expect his paid loyalists to kowtow to him. But why is the Democratic Party not telling the truth about the Trump Family? Step back and look past the intended chaos and intentional distractions. If every Dem leader just told the truth, maybe a few Independents would vote to remove the crime family from our White House. The Trump Family is stealing from us. All the rest is distraction and deception to keep the con game going.
King Con has never, ever held onto a friendship with anyone. He has sycophants or useful tools or various female toys. In his "businesses", his "management" style was always to divide his employees and make them fight one another. Hence, every "business" ended in bankruptcy. He simply cannot understand why friendships and alliances are useful. So of course he wants to get rid of NATO. It's too complex for his very limited mind. And all of us are suffering under his mental deficiencies.
"President Donald J. Trump told reporters he was “very disappointed with NATO” because it had not backed its war on Iran."
At first, I thought, "Gee, this should read: 'President Donald J. Trump told reporters he was “very disappointed with NATO because it had not backed HIS war on Iran.'"
The I realized who that 'HE' was and decided, "No, 'its' makes sense in this case, since Trump extinguished his soul long ago, joining the illustrous ranks of Stalin, et al.
Yes! And thank you. Trump has no idea of anything but “gathering”money. His “thinking” is that of a 6-year old at his birthday party. His “cabinet” can best be described as mafia. Can ALL OF US please wake up and notice?
Europe may rescue US, but we must recognize the rescue and help in achieving it. Vote democratic in every election through November third.
It’s the “Might Makes Right” mentality of Stephen Miller. He’s behind the scenes pulling the strings making his mentality manifest through trump. He’s effectively using trump as a stooge for his agenda. Trump is an ignoramus and too stupid to pull this off on his own.
“….. replacing them with a world where power determines who gets to take what they want.”
Mr. Trump is acting without approval of voters. How an elected president can do such things? Can a president say anything to get electend and then do whatever he wants?
Everything he says about NATO sounds like Putin is making his mouth move. And thd part about Greenland is palpably insane.
As for Iran, continued hostilities belie the whole " war is over" narrative. As long as they can use this to distract from the attempt to throw the midterms and other skullduggery, there will be no peace.
It’s been obvious from the outset that Trump is a Russian asset. Putin has something on Trump, and whatever it is—embarrassing sex tapes, financial dealings, or illegal activity—Americans are paying a terrible price, and so is Ukraine.
The Trump family acknowledged money "pouring in from Russia" in the past. While it is likely that Putin has dirt on a dirty guy, I would also guess that Trump has been subsided.
Honestly, I doubt that Putin has anything on Trump. Rather, Trump is so mentally impaired that he is completely unable to correctly assess his (and our) relationships with anyone, including our allies. Frankly, he is dangerous.
Bonnie, there is enough published, corroborated material to indicate that Donald is compromised. It is a known fact that the Trump Organization has done business with Bratva-controlled firms in the NYC metro for decades, long before Donald took the reins. Bratva has always had a direct connection to the Kremlin. It is reasonable to assume that the Kremlin opened a file on the Trump family even before Donald took control of the business.
It is well-known that Donald accumulated so much debt and was so lax in payment that U.S. banks refused to loan him any more money, at which time wealthy Putin-associates stepped in and extended loans to cover Donald's outstanding debts. Don, Jr. boasted about it publicly.
We do not have a detailed accounting of what kompromat the Kremlin may have on Donald and his family, but there is enough available evidence to suggest that Donald's relationship with Vladimir is more than admiration.
Donald has always been mentally impaired, but he has always been able to keep track of his debts, so as to avoid paying them. However, Vladimir is a less tolerant creditor, known to serve up polonium cocktails or defenestrate persons who cross him. Donald knows this, too.
I have my doubts, too, although there's plenty there, there. The way MAGA is enthralled by Trump, Trump is enthralled by Putin and other authoritarians.
And since Katie Phang’s lawsuit threatens to expose more info from the Epstein files, they clearly need a big distraction, and in the Trump world, war is the answer. Their panties are in a knot.
The war with Iran, no friend of the US, is all about diverting attention from the Epstein files and what they reveal about his sordid character. Our attention span is limited, if you notice, Epstein has been put on the back burner for now. 🤬
Every nation that wished the US harm or to diminish US international influence when Trump came to power--Russia, China, Iran and various minor actors--still wishes the US harm or to diminish its influence.
But Trump has alienated our former allies, who have stood by the US for seventy years or more. (If you think Saudi Arabia or some of the other Gulf states actually stand with the US, you are sadly deluded.)
And it appears that Trump, like Netanyahu, seeks a state of "permawar" to try to keep the US populace diverted from their rapidly declining quality of life.
The US is truly isolated internationally and terribly weakened.
But now, 23 years after the attacks, new evidence has emerged to suggest more strongly than ever that at least two Saudi officials deliberately assisted the first Qaida hijackers when they arrived in the United States in January 2000. (Tim Golden- ProPublica- Sept. 11, 2024)
And the Bush family carefully ushered home members of the Bin Laden family - who they were close to. I don't know who aided who. But 9/11 didn't need to happen. The warnings were ignored. Why? Hubris? Carelessness? The Intel was available.
And I know this is super cynical. But the Cheneys of the US upper echelon of oligarchs saw it as a perfect justification to funnel $Trillions of tax dollars into the hands of the Military Industrial Complex.
And we are still doing it. Our ultra rich are bleeding us - leeches sucking us dry. The kings and nobles of "feudal" times would be impressed. In fact, perhaps we should call the US the New Feudalism.
Papa Bush was part of the Carlyle group which ‘washed’ Saudi funds through investments. That group has been co-opted by Jared, son in law and chief bagman for trump!
23 years? 25 years this coming September! What’s a Saudi official? Consider The Saudi inseminator who was the first king of the country produced 50 offspring through his 4:wives and concubine!!! Today there are more than 1000 little princes of some sort descended from him! All those mouths to feed get the Saudi funds, the underclass gets humus! The underclass yielded 17 of the high jackers who were indoctrinated in the Wahabi madrassas which were funded by what some would call Saudi officials!!!
Trump's utter recklessness and ignorance has caused massive damage for us and the Iranian people. The extent of the damage was expressed in the headline of a Bloomberg opinion piece July 7: "Ali Khamenei Was a Monster. The US Made Him a Martyr." Iran appears now to be more united than ever. Millions of people turned out to show support for their deceased supreme leader who had been eviscerating and bankrupting their country and repressing and executing them for so long. They've forgotten all that now in the anger, hatred, and resentment for America that Trump has fired up. So thanks, Donald, you've done it again. Taken the world a few more steps backward.
Trump had no reason or right to kill Iran's leaders. Why hasn't there been more outcry about that from within our country and around the world? Whether Iran's leaders and Venezuela's president were "good or bad" wasn't up to Trump to decide.
And killing the people in boats in the Caribbean without capturing them, accusing them of a crime, and having a trial is against everything we believe in. Add to that what ICE is doing, and we, the people, must protest and demand Trump be removed from office.
Lawrence O’Donnell weighed in on Graham Platner today – first time.
He’d found the Maine oysterman to have claimed recently that he was as far as possible as it was to be from those of money and power.
And then Lawrence O’Donnell reported on sleuthing he’d next done. He’d found Graham Platner’s parents to have been wealthy, and most well established in the East Coast hierarchies of things.
I think most of us who’d eagerly bought into the working-class oysterman story have been part of a large movement ground-swelling in America. As Heather explained also today, on the “Politics Girl” podcast, we’re reenacting the quantum changes common people ushered in during the 1850s, the 1890s, and the late 1920s and early ‘30s.
It's now all much, much more than so many of us being tired of criminal Donald’s obvious corruptions – and his actual obliviousness to common, everyday Americans. Turning point is coming, Heather feels, against all who’ve merged over the predilection for dictators, billionaires, and those Don the Con is still protecting who raped the 1200 girls and young women.
But the fantastically profitable algorithms of social media contribute to the wild reactive swings that promote a kind of hunger for the imagery of heroism in extreme forms. Platner is a showman. That Mallory McMorrow had to drop out and some genuine lunatics won primaries is this pingponging that will not get us sorted. It’s all about celebrity. The big claims. The big insults. It’s as if the increasing noise of a Trump has deafened us to quieter and more genuinely powerful voices.
Media has conditioned us to conflate stagecraft with statecraft. and value entertaining candidates over those who are better prepared to lead and conduct the "adult" tasks of governance. Yet the long term planning and day to day deluge of details that lead to an open, secure, and prosperous society cannot be neglected without erosion of our way of life. If we want a republic we share in the choices and responsibilities which guide our path. We can use the help of fiduciaries, but we can't farm it all out and call it a democracy.
Full disclosure Doctor, I am a Mallory McMorrow supporter & donor. I do not think MM "dropped out". Instead she purposefully left voters with only 2 choices in order to favor the final result she can support.
I am not sure I have ever seen that "high functioning" political move before. Certainly a profile in political courage. McMorrow will be voted into her spot in the years ahead.
Rebecca Solnit on Platner, patriarchy, classism, racism, and perpetually excusing white men:
"For at least a decade we have been told that this and that and the other thing must be tolerated in pursuit of the elusive vote of the working class or the white working class which often means the white male working class which becomes in turn a way that "working class" is too often used by middle-class pundits and politicians to justify centering the needs, desires, and prejudices of white men while insisting that this is a very progressive position to take. In other words, "working class" becomes a Trojan horse for white men."
"But if the Democratic Party is committed to democracy, it has to be committed to equality regardless of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and committed to universal human rights. Also white men already have a party devoted exclusively to their needs and fantasies."
I subscribe to Solnit and she's worth it, for her observations and commentary. I hope she stays safe, because she is one of the most rational writers of our time and unafraid to speak out against this current corrupt and inept regime.
In the work that I did, one of my areas of instruction was in preparing cops how to survive the "worst of the worst" events and behaviors that we saw on a daily basis. One of the instructor development classes that I took, and later designed and implemented instruction and training on was based on Dave Grossman's books "On Killing" and "On Combat" and the psychology behind human reactions to violence. His premise was that interpersonal human violence was the key trigger for post traumatic stress disorder regardless of the situation in which it occurred. I delivered the same material in several different contexts ranging from being confronted with a deadly force situation where the scenario is a justified use of lethal force as well as talking with a victim of violent crime.
At the end of the training session (usually in a police use of force context) we'd have a discussion about how to recognize and mitigate the psychological experience of being faced with having to kill someone to save your self and someone else. These engendered some really good and open discussions. We'd usually take a break and when we would return to class I would always ask the question of how many people had actually been in a conflict where deadly force was justifiable, and what their experiences were. There was always at least one or two people, and it created some very good conversations. I would then ask what they think would be easier; killing someone or being forcibly raped or sodomized. 100% chose justifiable force over being sexually assaulted.
I would then ask them to remember that the next time they had to interview a sexual assault victim.
Great learning too. In my town of Hartford, 2 Black men were recently killed by cops. I am more familiar with one a man who was walking slow on the street with only a knife in his hand. Soon another cop cracked to the scene and immediately pulled out his gun and emptied it killing the man. He was fired and now is facing manslaughter which will probably be dismissed but in this case maybe not. I began questioning to write how the police schools chose candidates. Do they often favor people who have been army vets or indeed, in war zones? I personally think anyone having been in a war should never be considered for police training. You thought, please.
There is an enormous realignment going on in America's two-party system right now, happening right before our eyes. Graham Platner's sin isn't money, it's what happens when a political party fails to exercise due diligence over those anointed who pass through its gates. The rush to throw weight behind this newcomer -- backed by "east coast" money (whatever that even means) or west coast money, or anybody's money -- is the party's own failure to cultivate high quality candidates attractive to both young disaffected voters, those in the middle, as well as anybody interested in seeing to it candidates possess minimum standards of accountability, especially in the Senate, one of the world's most important deliberative bodies. All it took to make the skeletons fall out of the closet on that one was a single phone call, one article in Politico, and poof. Somebody didn't bother doing their homework.
The Republican Party has become totally MAGAfied -- a true lost cause of cultism now being wrecked at sea, soon to become flotsam and jetsam washing up on a lost shore somewhere. Yet the Democratic Party is locked in a strange, nonsensical argument that wants a war between "progressives" and "old guard" to take place before it claims victory. The truth is -- as Heather reiterated just a few hours before posting this -- you need both. Successful newcomers like Ocasio-Cortez in the House have listened to, and worked with, that 'old guard.' She does her homework, she doesn't pretend she's too good not to. The same is true with Mamdani, with others blending common-sense politics with common-sense knowhow about how things actually get done in a complex legislative, divided environment. The same was actually true about 'old Joe Biden,' who used skills honed over decades in order to get critical infrastructure investment passed in bipartisan fashion -- something that hasn't happened in America since the 1950s.
Before we can have normal politics, normal people -- both skilled and newcomer -- must first win critical races. And normal people must have money, from both coasts and the heartland, in order to do it. The idea that serious modern political battles today can be won without it is absurd, particularly when the other side is rolling in wads of it.
"And then Lawrence O’Donnell reported on sleuthing he’d next done. He’d found Graham Platner’s parents to have been wealthy, and most well established in the East Coast hierarchies of things." What he "sleuthed" is public knowledge. Platner went to Hotchkiss. His father was a lawyer. Not wealthy (though "wealthy" to the IRS is $187,500) but comfortable. And his oysters are for his mom's upscale restaurant.
Does that fat Orange POS think ‘Europe’ is a country, the way he seems to think Africa is a country? And that line about, ‘not having Europe any more’ sounds somewhat akin to to his usual blather of, ‘if you don’t do XXX, you won’t have a country any more.’
Well, I gotta say, I’m sick of living in his vision of Our Country. I want my damn country back; one that’s refreshingly free of the likes of him.
Trump ramblings take America into the dark world of psychosis. I appreciate reading direct quotes from Trump. It is here we see tangential and delusion thinking. He is no longer able to hear factual information and can be easily manipulated with deception and constant adulation.
Our only hope is to elect a Congress that will disempower this dangerous administration.
Alliances are built with weapons, but sustained by trust. Military strength can deter an enemy, yet once trust between allies begins to erode, no arsenal is large enough to restore it. History repeatedly shows that confidence is far easier to lose than to rebuild.
In this age of asymmetrical warfare, we have seen from the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gulf that superior arms are not any longer sufficient to deter or defeat an enemy.
UPDATE via the 7/7/26 The Wall Street Journal, WSJ Authored by Benoit Marenne:
"Iran War Has Oil-rich Alaska in Pain Over $9 [per gallon] Gas". Local pump in DELLINGHAM. ALASKA $9.10. Some good news, local pumps are not able reach $10/gal.
trump "Hit more than 80 targets. So the IRAN war back on with the predictable economic fall out. Global crude cost is up ⬆️. KMI stock which manages Oil sources & needed liquid gas products is up over 2.5% ⬆️
Updated and reposted: ICYMI: 7/6/26 An ex-girlfriend of Graham Platner decided to change the story she told the NYT in their hit piece on Platner and now accuses him of sexually assaulting her in an article in Politico and also now in a CNN interview “Woman alleges Graham Platner raped her in 2021 while they were dating, which he denies | CNN”. https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/06/us/graham-platner-racicot-allegation-maine-invs
While Wajhat Ali of the Left Hook was interviewing Jess Craven of Chop Wood Carry Water today 7/6/26 “Michigan Could Decide the Democratic Party's Future | Jess Craven - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT9amVoLtn8 they noticed in real time what was happening with Platner. Since the cut off date for candidate change in the Maine election is July 13th, this is a major development. Maine’s U.S. Senate race is considered crucial to winning control of the Senate and then being able to among other things prevent Trump from putting replacement SCOTUS judges like Aileen Cannon on the Court. Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Ro Khanna, Hasan Piker, the Maine Democratic Party and others have withdrawn their endorsements of Platner and asked him to drop out. Jess Craven has posted Platner’s email address (“Let’s reach out to Graham Platner’s campaign at info@grahamforsenate.com and tell him to drop out, no conditions.”) so people can voice their opinions to him about his dropping out. Many have proposed Troy Jackson, a former Maine State Senator, who narrowly missed winning nomination as the Democratic Party candidate for governor and filed to replace Platner on 7/7/26. A recent poll reportedly had him running a few points ahead of Susan Collins. Other possible candidates include Shanna Bellows, Maine Secretary of State; Nirav Shah, former director of Maine’s CDC; Jordan Wood, who lost primary for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. If Platner drops out, Democrats have until 7/27/26 to choose a replacement. Options considered include a convention or a state wide caucus.
Michelle Goldberg of the NYT has written an article that is very critical of Platner: Michelle Goldberg of the NYT has written an article about Platner as a cautionary tale: (“Lessons From the Graham Platner Disaster”)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/opinion/graham-platner-rape-accusation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.v1A.wl5f.zrCJ6n_qSWkK&smid=em-share See what you think. I don’t completely agree with everything in the article (Michelle Goldberg spends too much time engaged in a blame game) although I think Platner needs to drop out of the race. He was very poorly vetted. I watched a lot of videos of him - not just political speeches but full interviews of him by people who put him on the spot with hard ball questioning - and I felt a different vibe - that he appeared to be authentic, and believe in what he was saying. I absolutely respect the feelings of the woman. From the story she told I think she could have had a good chance of resolving the situation if she had used a different strategy than acquiescence. He was not a stranger for her. She apparently had a dating/sexual relationship with him for about 2 years. If he was in her house without her permission, she could have told him he had to leave immediately or she would call the police. Then do it if he didn’t leave. If he forced himself on her, she could again have warned him she would call the police and if he persisted, then called them. By her account she was completely sober and in full control of her faculties, whereas he was intoxicated and not in control of his. Graham Platner is not a serial rapist. They usually rape strangers. And not a Harvey Weinstein or a Bill Cosby or “date rapist” who drug or intoxicate their victims (not themselves) to incapacitate them while remaining sober themselves. He was diagnosed with a widely recognized mental health condition: military veteran post-combat PTSD. Because of this he had a problem with alcohol abuse and dysphoria related to that mental illness. He sought and has had five years of mental health treatment since the incident with this woman and still gets periodic check ups. His wife says she has no problems with his behavior. If you are unfamiliar with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, see: The NIH National Library of Medicine has a web page that describes the symptoms and behaviors of PDSD in military veterans. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11200391/
“While both men and women experience PTSD, male veterans are statistically more likely to externalize their trauma through irritability, aggressive behaviors, risk-taking, and substance misuse to numb their pain. Core symptoms generally fall into these four primary categories:
1. Intrusion & Re-experiencing
Flashbacks: Feeling or acting as if the traumatic event is happening all over again.
Nightmares: Distressing, recurring dreams about the trauma that severely disrupt sleep.
Intrusive Thoughts: Unwanted, distressing memories that repeatedly enter the mind.
2. Avoidance
Trigger Avoidance: Actively dodging specific people, places, objects, or activities that bring back memories of the trauma.
Emotional Disconnect: Intentionally avoiding conversations, thoughts, or feelings related to the event.
3. Negative Alterations in Mood & Cognition
Social Isolation: Withdrawing from family and friends, or feeling completely detached from loved ones.
Numbing: A reduced ability to feel positive emotions (e.g., happiness or love) and a general loss of interest in hobbies.
Distorted Beliefs: Persistent, exaggerated negative beliefs about oneself or the world (e.g., "I am bad" or "No one can be trusted").
4. Hyperarousal & Reactivity
(This category often looks visibly different in male veterans)
Anger and Irritability: Uncharacteristic outbursts of anger, aggression, or verbal arguments.
Hypervigilance: Being constantly "on edge," overly watchful of one's surroundings, or experiencing a heightened startle response (e.g., jumping at loud noises).
Reckless Behavior: Engaging in self-destructive or high-risk activities.
Substance Misuse: Turning to drugs or alcohol to self-medicate or dull emotional pain.”
I’m not arguing that the behavior described by the women who have voiced complaints about Platner’s behavior with them should be ignored, held in question, forgiven or rationalized away. I’m pointing out that a person who did four tours of duty in war zones, some of which involved them in brutal up close combat and killing, can understandably have returned to civil society suffering from post-combat PTSD. And that veterans suffering from the above enumerated symptoms are not going to make ideal boyfriends. But that this mental illness is treatable and can be recovered from.
One of the hardest lessons for a civilized society is to hold two truths at once: people can be deeply wounded by their past, and they can still be responsible for what they do in the present.
As a physician I’m sorry but I can’t agree with what you are implying. I believe that people with illness including many but so far not all forms of mental illness can be treated and overcome their illness. PTSD is illness that can in most instances be successfully treated. Mr. Platner recognized he had an illness that he could not control, sought and received treatment which was successful with on going monitoring. These constructive choices do not absolve him of responsibility for his behavior but should be respected.
How do you know he isn’t a serial grapist? Have you read his Reddit posts about sexual assault in the military? Those posts foreshadowed this scandal. The red flags were there about who he is. Not all veterans who come home with PTSD grape. This is a signal about what he as a person is capable of, not his ptsd. He had it in him. If he was capable of it in the past, he is in the future, despite being treated for his ptsd.
I’d also ask you to reflect on why you felt it necessary to say “as a physician” in this context. It actually concerns me that, as a physician, you would see his ptsd as an excuse.
THIS, what you said about Fred's remark "as a physician" - others of us who are also healthcare professionals don't use our training/degrees/education to attempt to justify our opinions in the comments section. smh
Also his victim blaming commentary is inexcusable and reflects poorly on his professional judgment "as a physician."
------------------
"I’d also ask you to reflect on why you felt it necessary to say “as a physician” in this context. It actually concerns me that, as a physician, you would see his ptsd as an excuse."
He is a liar. He misrepresented his background, lied about his tattoo. That is not PTDS. That is a garden variety desire for power. He is not trustworthy.
(2) Many people with certain mental illnesses do assault other people. A classic case of this would be paranoid schizophrenia. Many members of the public have little understanding of the sacrifices and traumas that our military service members endure. Some end up in body bags or severely injured and many mentally traumatized by the stress of frontline combat. Before PTSD it was called shell shock. They patriotically volunteer to put themselves in harms way to protect us and our country. This is why it is so unacceptable for leaders to send them into wars of vanity or choice. Have you ever experienced combat in a war zone?
I’m almost curious as to what you believe I’m implying, but I don’t think my point is that subtle.
Your discussion of Platner’s military career in regard to sexual assault allegations is utterly specious, and tantamount to apologia for his behavior.
The question of whether I’ve served is ridiculous as, again, Platner’s service has nothing, to do with the allegations, and the observation that paranoid schizophrenics harm people is likewise specious as not all of them, even when psychotic, do.
Your wrapping the allegations up in the cover of his service is insulting and particularly disrespectful of those with PTSD.
You know who also suffer PTSD? Survivors of sexual assault. That’s a lot more relevant to any discussion of the allegations against Platner, and still, not all of them go on to assault others. Neither their history, nor Platner’s, gives them a pass.
It’s important to note that persons with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence, rather than perpetrators. As a licensed mental health professional myself, I cringe when I see posters “diagnosing” the mental illness of persons they have never met, based on news reports. We can all have our opinions about fitness to serve, but please, people, leave the diagnosing to the professionals working with those individuals. I’ll also leave the assessment of criminality to the lawyers and judges.
Yes he descended then faced the media that kept demanding to know what happened in a Moscow presidential suite. At end he looks out and says, “You should know better that I am a germaphobe. And I thought why not state to him that urine is a disinfectant. “The Golden Shower Capper” became my first of many stories in my book.
I don't think it's helpful to hypothesize about what 'she could have done differently' - we weren't there, we have no idea if certain words or threats to call the police would have changed the outcome, we don't have a sense of what the atmosphere in that house was like that night. While perhaps unintentional, this comment shifts part of the blame to a woman who was raped, and I cannot agree with that. There was a time that rape victims were blamed for what they wore, or said, or where they walked, which was never the issue or a credible excuse for the rapist. PTSD is horrible - but it is not an excuse for felonious behavior.
Have you heard of “Mindset”by Carol Dweck? It proposes that successful people have a “growth mindset” in which their minds are set for learning and growth rather than giving up and scapegoating. Jenny Racicot was 35 years old when the alleged assault occurred. Old enough to have thought through rational ways she could avoid rape rather than just acquiescing as she said she did in her interview.She had had a sexual relationship with Platner for two years and was aware that he could be intoxicated and that it changed his behavior. It is possible that carrying out the basic, rational suggestions I made could have helped her avoid being sexually assaulted. This is not blaming her. My opinion is that rape avoidance techniques should be taught in K-12 along with the sexual education classes. They should also teach contraceptive techniques, healthy parenting, and marriage techniques.
Yes - rape avoidance techniques are a good idea but only if coupled with teaching boys not to rape - and having actual meaningful consequences for doing so. Currently with Epstein disaster, I still see people blaming the girls and not the predatory men.
And even if it was only *one* rape, no man gets a pass for only one. We don’t know what trauma may have occurred in the woman’s past. A woman of any age is generally no match for a man like Platner. The fact that she dated him for two years is irrelevant.
And even if we could agree to overlook everything you say, Fred, he doesn’t belong in the Senate. One rapist in Government is enough.
If you want boys to behave differently then you have to raise them in families that give them those values (like empathy) rather than waiting until they are in early adulthood and expecting them to behave the way you wish. I had a good mother who had me help her care for my infant brother and gave me a “boy doll” as a 4 yo when I was jealous of my sister’s dolls. As an adult I raised 3 boys who are highly educated, empathic, happy, not alcohol or drug abusers or (heaven forbid) rapists and have never been divorced. You seem to be overly concerned with attributing blame rather than finding solutions.
Not at all -- and I completely agree about how young boys should be raised. I have an adult son myself and raised him to respect women and boundaries. I just get concerned when the emphasis seems to be overly placed on the women's actions when the women are the victims of rape and not the cause.
Why can’t we just teach boys about consent?! I started teaching my kids about consent as toddlers. And what about bringing down the patriarchy so all these men don’t think they have the “right” to do this to women? Women spend their lives avoiding grape. We are taught to never walk alone, don’t dress like that, don’t drink a drink without watching it be poured. Never put your cup down. Test out how fast you can run in shoes before buying them. We learn/study patterns: stay away from that group of people. Stay away from the “rape stairs” at your college. Should probably be on birth control just because you are a fertile young woman, even if you aren’t sexually active. Need to give your 9yo gardasil just in case (I’m very pro vax, don’t get me wrong.. kids absolutely need gardasil). I teach my kids to never be alone in a room with an adult… alone with their friends? Sure. But friends parents? Nope. Don’t wear earbuds/headphones while out running. Watch that car driving slowly behind you. Stay to areas well lit. Tell your friend to expect a check in text from you at a certain time while on a date. Then, despite taking all these measures, women are blamed and told “they didn’t do enough to stop it”, even by male physicians. Women already know how to avoid it. Do men realize we are always taking precautions?
Thanks, Fred Cox for your explanation of PTSD, especially as exhibited by those who have served their country in “war”.
Perhaps Platner will come to see his life experience thus far as an opportunity for contributing to the greater good through his advocacy for treatment of the rampant mental stress experienced by many. We need a course correction with the most authentic leaders among us now. Platner knows himself. Platner has choices.
Thank you for shedding a light on the horrific symptoms of PTSD! I grew up with a father who was a WWII veteran and survived the Battle of the Bulge. He was diagnosed with “shell shock” & spent a month in the hospital after the battle. Once home, he didn’t receive any treatment. As a child I remember his excessive drinking, angry outbursts and harsh behavior toward us!
As a Mainer, I supported Mr Platner & agree he should withdraw and be held accountable for his actions. I also have empathy for him and his victims. I hope he continues to get help and continues on his path of recovery. May his wife and he find some peace and take refuge in the beautiful part of Maine in which they live. May the rest of us withhold judging him harshly and find compassion for both his victims and him. It took many years before I forgave my father.
I so wish NATO would get rid of Rutte. His toadying to Trump undermines the growing strength and independence of the other NATO nations and U.S. on every way not only unseemly and inappropriate but nauseating. How dare he slap Trump on the back for this aggression against Iran??? Does he speak for Europe???
“Trump appears to want the sort of world called for by Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, in which great powers carve up the globe into spheres of influence.”
I think you’re giving him way too much credit in thinking he’s pursuing a world view.
He wants to be Putin. To be MbS, and, to a lesser extent be Xi and Erdogan.
He wants to use the nation’s wealth as his personal pocket book and to act with impunity.
He doesn’t see that these dictators recognize the desperation of a wannabe.
He is so deluded by megalomania that he actually believes they respect him.
Seems to me that chump’s mad war with Iran is making Vlad’s buddy stronger. Chump’s strategy may be that his war is a way to help Iran and Vlad. Maybe he should declare war on Ukraine and make them stronger. You have to wonder about his “logic.” Shades of Bananas or am I bananas..
“If Americans thought defending the liberal world order was too expensive,” Kagan wrote, “wait until they start paying for what comes next.”
Everone needs to ensure that Trump's name IS associated with what comes next in pertpetuity. Its the one thing his name must be one. He owns it, as do those that put him there.
Thank you, Professor Richardson. djt is one problem. At this point our bigger problem is the willfully impotent Congressional maga caucus and whatever the hell is going on with the maga caucus of SCOTUS. The one thing we do know is that American security, common sense and the honor of our former justice system are not part of any maga-related institution.
It is absurd to say that NATO would be worthless without the United States ? Who is there aside from the United States to challenge NATO now ? Without the Unitrd States it will be all the more valuable and its members motivated to participate in it. And free from restraints imposed by Washington. Abd in addition to being absurd, it is grossly in error Who says this ? Robert Kagan ?
Right now NATO is a rabbit. Stronger in the back legs than the pitiful front, as we are seeing. And other countries are assuming leadership of it, as Tr7mp has absndoned that role and breached the treaty by threatening other NATO members, as he has just done again. It is called anticipatiry breach, signalk8ng the US can not be trusted to perform its contractual duties under the treaty. What Congress does is irrelevant short of impeachment.
I think it is time for a NATO member state to give both Putin and Trump what they want, and initiate a proceeding to expel the United States from NATO. Put the matter on the table. Trump is threatening it. Not to do so is weakness.
Any member could. Who feels up to it ? I rather think the Carney government should. Absent the US, Canada would assume a leadership role. Or Denmark. Or Turkiye. Or......Germany. That might cause some people in Washington to wake up. It woukd surely ruin all of JD Vance's plans to take over when Trump finally is admitted in to the hospital for the last time.
What is remarkable about Trump's statements in Ankara is the extent to which they reveal that he is a moron. He is now thinking out loud as he speaks to audiences. His comments revealed the level on which he thinks. And that is it.
Things happen. What is most concerning is the extent to which the Anericsn people are disposed to listen to this moron and to go along with him. That should be cause for alarm.
And still the Republican Party does nothing. (Yawn) Situation normal. Speaker Mike Johnson shuts down the House as if there is no business of any importance to take care of, as our house is burning down all around us. Is Mitch McConnell even alive?
It’s not about Trump any more, and hasn’t been for some time.
The most dangerous thing about authoritarianism is that it doesn’t stop at a nation’s borders.
Trump is dismantling the alliances, institutions, and rules that have restrained powerful nations for generations and replacing them with a world where power determines who gets to take what they want.
That isn’t America First. It’s the abandonment of everything America spent generations building.
And once the rules are gone, none of us gets to decide who breaks them next.
The man who spent years treating NATO like a protection racket now appears shocked that they didn’t rush to put on matching bomber jackets for his war with Iran. It’s the foreign policy equivalent of keying someone’s car, insulting their mother, refusing to split the bill, then wondering why they won’t help you move house. The real horror (besides the word salad) is that underneath all those mangled nouns is the GOP’s actual geopolitical strategy. A strategy running on nothing more than grievance, vanity and the emotional regulation skills of a wet cat. God help us.
And the word salad is astounding.
The first two paragraphs of this post are mostly incoherent, and all of that comes from Trump**’s babbling. It is frightening to read the gibberish that spews from the mouth of the man who holds in his hands the well-being of this country.
I keep thinking that this fool is working out far far better for billionaires than they ever could have imagined, or planned. The Koch brothers (or Koch brother) must be laughing at the anarchy that's been created by this less than human epitome of ineptness. The more wealth, the more power they can and are amassing. Good luck in November. Way to go Graham F#*khead Platner.
Platner is just who he is. The blame belongs with the Democratic operatives who didn't fully vet him and tell him point blank, "You're toxic. You can't run."
In the meantime, Republicans continue to confirm toxic people into positions of power.
The Democrats didn't vet him because they never wanted him and were extremely pissed off when he won. Heck instead of vetting him they spent their money on campaign ads against him.
The MDP (Maine Democratic Party) could not be happier with the recent turn of events. You should have seen the FB video they put out last night. *eyeroll They have made it plain that not only will they dump him but they will dump his platform.
Never let it be said that democrats can't snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Absolutely Dale, The "democrat" as viewed by the R'ss-holes is right down there with the creepy-crawler things like roaches. Simply a blight on this once great nation. The "democrat"..., a non-entity that needs to be dispatched (build more detention facilities for.., the democrat and any one who looks like a democrat, speaks like a democrat. You and me for example. And let's include people who claim to be socialists. They're in the same sandbox with the democrat. And look what just happened, the hidden money machine that digs dirt Pingree/Collins/Schumer/The DNC (huh??),and they've found a way to scarify Graham Platner at just the right moment. I wonder if Schumer ever had a strange piece of ass after a few drinks. Have you? I'm lucky no ex-girlfriend of mine ever decided to make "the rape call" on me. Match.dot.whatzup is full of women who really just want to get laid..., just like guys. Where'd this girl Rappi-court come from? And switching over to tattoos.., how about Segg-Breth, our secy of WAR??? POS. I haven't read the lurid details the dirt diggers have farmed-up on Platner, but aren't we so quick to believe what is given to us. Forget about Stormy's boobs and our pedo=pres. Let's throw Platner under the democrat garbage truck. Meanwhile Trump is going to "hit em again hard".., turn that land into a radioactive dust pile. I guess non of you have flown a helicopter gunship or a slick to clear a Vietnamese village of VC (?). Kill everything.., they're communists you know? And then have your door gunner get his guts blown out, while your co-pilot gets it in the chest and folds up, because the Cav didn't have enough political pull to get ballistic chest armor? Huh? That's what "hit em hard" means. People die - For what? Because we have B52's and they don't? So sick.
Randall Livingston,
We need to remove this "President" from the sacred office he holds for the safety of all our citizens , young and old...for our future as a Democracy. His lack of character and self-serving nature is separating us from long term allies.
But we must also include disciplining those "leaders" who have made it possible, because of Trump's position to "line", not only Trump's pockets, but their own.
No amount of money can build up a person's character. Often it tempts people ...even the best, most thoughtful people to use "opportunities" for selfish gain.
The evidence is clear. We have never had a more corrupt administration.
What he holds in his hands, or at arms-length, is the nuclear suitcase. Iran has now learned that only a nuclear bomb keeps you safe in this moment. And we have learned that it's fairly easy for one person to disrupt the world order and take down the economy.
Ginny, Trump was celebrating “Talk Like an Idiot Day”.
Doesn't that happen every day?
Well, you do have a point
Some days are more perfect than others, methinks.
It just kills me that many thousands of smart, well meaning, well educated people all over the country and the planet continue to spend time and energy responding to this stuff as though it were response worthy. There ought to be a way of working on moving forward, with our backs turned to the source of the noise. Just give him the silent treatment. Pretend he's not there.
Clearly this is a cry of frustration, not a thought-out strategy, but I do think that it represents a missing kernel in the general approach we should take to the administration. Don't give them any more energy than they deserve.
How can any American ‘pretend that he’s not there’? He’s the President of the United States, a man directly impacting not only all Americans, but also tens of mliions around the world.
I understand your frustration, but ignoring him is not an option. On the contrary. Pointing out his madness is essential to our survival as a Republic.
Since it's impossible to report every stupid thing the moron in chief says, I think the point that Heather is making with the extended direct quote, is that the substance of this - the fact that the slow-rolling destruction of NATO is a very bad thing for the world - is worthy of our attention.
Completely agree. The gutting of NATO is about the worst international thing that could happen in this age. At the same time, the nature and incoherence of the reasons Trump keeps giving for initiating and abetting that gutting are equally important within the US.
The only thing that can put the necessary nails in the coffin of TRumpism is the realization on the part of those who support him that he is hurting that fully as much as they like to think he is hurting ‘the Dems” or the ‘the progressives’ or ‘the libs’.
I don’t think for a moment that Trump’s hard core supporters read Heather. But the more she reminds us, the more likely it is that ‘the word’ will reach those it most needs to reach through us.
I hope it's obvious that I didn't mean to suggest that the broader effects of Trump's cumulative blurts do not require emergency remedial attention. The point I was trying to make, such as it is, is that attempting to listen to and make sense of each of the many Trumpian "events" that happen each day is a fool's errand. It's nothing but a time suck. It's like jousting with Jell-O. It seems to me that a better approach is to pay attention only to the more durable among the policy changes that eventually happen as a consequence.
I didn’t think you did, but clarity is crucial here. Saying to ‘pretend he’s not there’ is not the same as the meaning of your later post.
ACTING against his and his handlers madness is essential to our survival - literally!
What I like is that our isolation is dispelled nationwide. That we communicate together makes us realize we have a massive presence in like minded cohort. Thank you all for turning on the lights. Let us continue to build resistance to the ugly jackass. Apologies to my many long eared mountain canary friendships. Even to the one who always kicked me twice.
I think the professor has pointed out that the world has moved on.
He has to be monitored closely so a future government can undo the damage.
Exactly! I agree! Unfortunately I forget to Deal with the shit show he’s creating/ created, forget it’s most important to counter it, to do whatever is necessary, but in the process ignore him. Not ignore what he does but ignore the person. He Loves Being the Center of Attention!! And in his twisted f’d up brain Even negative attention is better than no attention!! Let’s look for solutions, look for what we can do to stop the maga madness.
Oh Tony! I like your plan.
Move on as if they didn't matter.
Perfect strategy, thank you!
When I read HCR's verbatim quote of Donald's gripe-du-jour, I thought, "That's just how Mom sounded." I was thinking of the way my mother, in mid-stage dementia, was unable to finish a sentence, how she spoke in sentence fragments that were related to the topic at hand, but then would dart off to a different subject as her mind ricocheted from one matter to another, unable to focus for more than a few seconds.
Before dementia, Mom had been a brilliant, multi-lingual public school teacher. Even after she retired at age 83, she volunteered to teach ESL classes to families from around the world who had a family member studying at the U.S. Army War College.
Donald didn't start from such elevated baseline. He was born with a learning disability that was never addressed, other than having it papered over with large amounts of cash. As with everything Donald has done, his so-called "college education" is suspect. He has always been incoherent, but people didn't notice because conversational speech is never grammatically pristine. He employed a ghost-writer to produce his one book because he is functionally illiterate.
Starting from that baseline, I estimate that Donald is in early-stage dementia. He still has a long way to go before he loses his ability to speak entirely. But even now, he belongs in a memory-care facility, not the White House.
Perhaps goes without saying, but your mom was never given access to country's nuclear launch codes. I'm sure your family would never have allowed it...
True. But the codes would still have been safer in her arthritic hands than in the tiny hands of Orange Foolius.
The way it's punctuated it makes it seem vaguely coherent on first reading. Looking at it again, he jumps from grievance to grievance, doesn't finish a train of thought, and is practically babbling.
Trump went on to claim his beef with NATO began over Greenland, which he wants “because Greenland doesn’t help Denmark…but it’s an important part [He's looking for a word, can't think of it, says "part.'] for the United States. And it’s surrounded by China [He can't think of "Chinese," says "China."] ships and Russian ships. And that’s not going to happen. The ships is... It’s not going to happen. [He doesn't say what isn't going to happen. Something to do with the ships? Denmark won't give up Greenland? We know they won't but he's still obsessed with it.]
"It was Greenland that—in my [opinion?], and it continues to be ["my opinion"? He leaves that out]—that should be controlled by the United States, not by Denmark. And when they wouldn’t go along with it... [He doesn't complete this thought and jumps to the grievance about NATO members not spending enough on their defense.]
And with all the money we spend to help them [He's forgotten about Denmark and Greenland and jumped to Europe.] with Russia... And we don’t have to spend any money, we could remove all of our soldiers out of Europe, because as you probably noticed, Europe’s a very different place than it was 20 years ago. A lot different. Much different. It’s a much different... [It seems to be the immigration that he's thinking of now, not the money.] And they better be careful with immigration and energy. If they’re not careful with those two things, you’re not going to have a Europe anymore. Okay. Thank you very much everybody.”
He can't put two consecutive sentences together to complete a thought. This is someone who, in my nonprofessional opinion as someone who's taken several cognitive tests, couldn't pass the simplest cognitive test.
Yes, he’s all over the place but always full of endless complaints.
And yet there are millions of our citizens who view him as a genius and great orator. . . Heaven save us!!
Jerry Minkoff,
The teachers, I was blessed to have during my education from 1st grade through college taught me well. History became my favorite subject. I am always learning and being reminded of our nation's beginnings as well as our relationships with other countries who are our friends and those who live under autocratic rule.
For the most part, we have had great if imperfect leaders as well as persons in Congress, as well as men and women, leading offices within our government that oversee the care of our nation in nearly infinite ways.
In all times but especially theses time, I give my thanks for their hard work and pray for their safety and the safety of their families.
He is senile...his dementia advances.
Repugnantkin senators need to be made to read it word for word and explain what it means. 🤬
Tossed, like his mind.
Ginny, and so is the utter ignorance of the fools who are accompanying Trump on this trip into insanity!
Agree. Pure gobbledygook.
Kamala Harris was the Martha Stewart of word salad makers.
Please give us a side-by-side example of Trump's and Harris' 'word salads' so we can understand your clever comparison.
If this is your idea of a clever retort, you should apply for a position as one of Grandpa Hitler's speech writers. . You make as much sense as whoever is advising him.
Meaning what? Or did I somehow miss the fact that it’s not Harris sounding like an incoherent idiot here. It’s Trump.
Just because you refuse to listen and understand her does not make her incoherent. Trump is the King of incoherence. Read the first couple of paragraphs again. They are nonsensical and empty. Intentionally.
I'm really glad you included that last word, Judy....
You're so juvenile.
Tough crowd. Four hours, no likes.
ETA: Make that five hours.
ETA: Six hours.
He didn't consult allies. He didn't even warn them about the surprise attacks, either last September or in February. The Italian defence minister Guido Crosetto was left stranded in Dubai with his family when flights were suspended following the joint American and Israeli attack on Iran in February.
Their economies have been hard hit by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and the global economy was put at risk of recession because of this reckless action by the US and Israel. Moreover, it has handed Iran a far more potent deterrent than a nuclear weapon namely the ability to hold the whole world to ransom and it's all because of Trump and Netanyahu.
His peevish complaints are both infantile and wholly unjustified and the world is losing patience with your man-baby president.
He is neither a man nor a baby but a barely functioning psychopath surrounded by toadies. We lurch from one disaster of his making to another. Now Greenland again ?
Some are todies. Others are puppeteers. There are opportunists and bullies, too. They all have to go. Preferably to jail.
And just to keep the Epstein files out of the news. Btw, I think the courts will free the president of Venezuela.
So are we, believe me. We are hostage to him too, for now.
A man? A creature, to date unclaimed by any specie!
Maybe change the word "patience" to "tolerance".
If only they would lose patience. For the life of me I can't understand why they still let him stand front and center and give him a mic to speak, as if he'll say anything worth hearing. He's repugnant. Maybe the US's membership in NATO should be suspended for the duration of his presidency.
Let us hope not. Other than the possibility that they are just content to watch the US destroy itself under the Heritage Foundation's plan, we have to be prepared to be attacked because we have offended every country in the world, and there has never been a time when we ARE so completely unprepared. The moron conveniently overlooks the fact that the only time NATO had to stand up was with the US after 9/11. We just might need them again.
Yes, you have a point, Slater. I still wish NATO would find a way to send him a message. "You are a creep. No one believes a word you say. No one respects you."
They have shown him that he is not welcome e. there are photos/videos of him at the G7. They were taking a group picture, and when the photo session was over, the crowd broke up and started talking to each other....except for Trump. He was left standing alone, not knowing where he was or what he was supposed to be doing. Not one of the leaders in G7 spoke to him. It was priceless.
The same at NATO. They just let him ramble and rave and ignore him .
It would be nice to hear a world leader actually say out loud what they all think.....that he is a nasty, demented old man, and that the US is nuts for allowing him to remain in the Presidency for one more day.
"this reckless action by the US and Israel" is exactly what Clinton, Bush, Obama and Biden said they would do. The only difference is that Trump did what they said they would do.
How does something nonpartisan become bad because you don't like the particular partisan who does what t he others say?
🤣 None of them said that. Orange pumpkin head made it up.
Whether you agree with the Iran war or not, consulting allies makes no sense when surprise is a factor. This isn't the 1940s when ambassadors at best used telegrams.
You literally haven't the FAINTEST idea what you are talking about. Clearly, diplomacy is not your area of expertise. Talk about pointless, ridiculous, irrelevant straw men.
You need to get your head out of Trump's ass. It actually doesn't smell like peaches and cream.
You know, I actually think you may give him too much credit. "Because Greenland doesn't protect Denmark..." is inane, nonsensical, deranged, demented, bibble-babbling blather. To say it doesn't make sense implies it was trying to in the first place. It's just syllables of slop strung together by a carnival-barker out of steam, out of hornswoggling, muttering weird half-forgotten incantation-syllables.
Beneath all those mangled nouns is nothing at all....save that whinybitchy, invisible concertina being pumped back and forth to stupefy people and make them pretend the syllables actually add up to something coherent.
Great commentary! The funny thing about it is that if trump tried to read it he wouldn't understand a word of it. I mean words like incantation, stupify, coherent may as well be written in the Cyrillic alphabet for all the understanding he might have of their meaning.
Perhaps needs an exorcist.
Trump is an idiot savant grifter/liar. Skilled at grifting and lying, but not much else. Sadly, too many people believe his lies and too many Republican politicians enable his grifting.
Like your carnival barker speaking in tongues?
Please leave the feline population out of it. Now let me reverse my promise to not bring up the 2nd loser in American history; yes, Joe Biden, who loathed the United States of America to a 2nd rate conman mafia mentality. Yes, the selfishness of Joe Biden is astounding to me. He just had to be the president during the 250th birthday but losing during a debate as he slipped into a purple haze. I will never, ever, ever, ever forgive this man, Joe Biden, for all the destruction resulting for his loss of the presidency. Go anbead and criticize me I don’t care. I will not remain silent criticizing Joe Biden. Block me if you wish, America is lost . All we can do is try and rid the rot curtain the White House. But as a guiding light for other nations, it’s over, rover. I will do whatever I can with my writing and songs. I will economically boycott those who support the authoritarianism. For int, I need to not support private equity that is destroying the nation. Today I’m changing my ophthalmologist that is not owned by private equity. Hard to find but they are out there.
More word salad...
That’s not word salad. It’s precise and to the point.
Also unintelligent
Extremely intelligent as I placed blame where it belongs.
Bill, let's split the difference; your passionate commentary does need a little bit of editing. Please review it again.
I’m sure Trump believes that as well…
I forgive you because you make no sense. Have a good day.
It was the American VOTERS who gave us Trump2. Those who would never vote for any woman, no matter how qualified. Those who stayed home because they were upset that Biden was NOT the candidate. Those who were just too damn lazy to exercise their duty to the country and vote. Those who bought into the myth of Trump as a “ business man” and believe the insane fallacy that government should be a “business”. Those who are motivated by resentment that their lack of education, lack of intelligence and their lack of work ethic should hamper their “right” to riches and an easy life.
It was not only Biden. It was the Democratic Party Establishment who stood around as usual and watched as certain disaster loomed.
In short…….It is way past time for women to take over running this country.
Men have screwed it up ever since the founding.
I'm not 100% sure that women, (being one myself), are the ultimate answer~ remembering Thatcher and listening/watching Noem, MTG and some others, I don't have a high regard for gender being much of a real answer to this insanity. . .
I am, of course thinking of women who are NOT in thrall to the stupid men who have held power throughout our history. The long held fallacy that women are incapable of being reasonable, logical or smart is because their hormones govern them. Have any men EVER admitted that THEIR hormones govern THEM 24/7/365 and get them in trouble on a very regular basis.
Ask Graham Platner, Matt Gates, Eric Swallwell, Kavanaugh, etc, etc, etc.
Thanks for your response Linda!
I definitely agree ~ on the whole women are NOT incapable of being rational, intelligent, and logical! There’s just a whole bunch of women who are “in thrall” as you say and that worries me. You’re absolutely correct about men who refuse to acknowledge the impact their hormones have on their behavior - we women certainly have experienced those impacts! There are wonderful intelligent, logical and reasonable women, many of whom hold positions of great influence, but we all continue to hear the negative messages in our culture and those messages weaken us as a group. I strongly support women who exemplify those traits - think Warren, Baldwin, Sotomayor, Kagan & Brown Jackson and many others! Please keep speaking out - your voice is important for us all to hear!
I think you’re suffering from a severe case of BDS. You should seek some help for that. if you want to be as pissed off at someone to the same degree you are at Biden for where we are now, train your howitzers on brain-dead marble-mouthed Mitchie McConnell. He let the demented criminal slip right through his fingers and then had the gall to tell us that his buddies on the Extreme Court would take care of him. Criminal justice system, my ass. And sure enough they did, squashing Jack Smith’s January 6th case and declaring that essentially nothing the criminal did in office would be prosecutable. You can rail about Uncle Joe all you want, but you’re pissing up the wrong tree. By the time Joe dithered too long in getting out of the race, the damage had already been done, thanks to Mitchie and John Roberts.
I have to agree with you JohnC
Promises should be kept.
We are all mortals - we have strengths and failings. We are capable of doing amazing good and also messing up. Biden had the best cabinet in my life time. The tragedy of the Afghanistan exit haunts him, as does his hubris. He should have recognized he was a one term president. He failed the people, as have every president in my memory bank - including the beloved Obama (who drew a line in the sand and did not back up his statement with action). Criticize Biden's hubris? Sure and I will agree. However Bill, your condemnation is not measured and because I think you went way over the top, you lost me.
Well said, Mr. Hinds
I can’t help it. Every time I thing of the damage is doing I think of how he got there.
Bill, for all the good Joe did in trying to turn things around, I agree that he should have allowed better candidates to run against Don. It was definitely a mistake.
And I recognize it as well.
Biden was a better president than trump🐖💩pedophile by a billion times. You are full of shit
I’m full of it before going poop after eating a hardy meal.
Someone thinks he is the smartest guy in the room.
Just another entitled white male afraid to put their mother in the White House. Get over it baby!!!!
At least you left your bodily functions and book out of this silly rant.
Poop.
They are buying up all the businesses and private homes. It’s disgusting.
In reality the American People were given a choice between an obviously narcissistic racist sociopath and a poorly introduced normie democrat (thanks to Biden and DNC) . The People chose the sociopath. The People weren’t forced by Biden.
You describe Trump but attribute it to Biden. Trump is a mafia leader without being a member of the mafia. Nonsencial bot.
How can this maniac be allowed to go so much damage??????
Republicans who vote for him and Repubs in Congress and the Supreme Court who believe in the power of the President.
GOP's motto should be Greed Over People!
A wet cat has more emotional control that trump does. And at least the cat has a real, genuine reason to be upset.
I can not get away from thinking that, were Trump better proportioned in intimate areas of his now indistinguishable anatomy, this scheiße show would not be on display. 🤫
https://www.kaine.senate.gov/in-the-news/congress-approves-bill-barring-presidents-from-unilaterally-exiting-nato
Interestingly, Congress passed a bill in 2023, sponsored by Senators Kaine (D-Virginia) and Rubio (resident snow-lizard), requiring a two-thirds Senate vote or a new law authorizing the withdrawal from N.A.T.O. by the United States of America. President Biden, who had *respect *for, *and humility about, power, signed the law into effect.⚖️
https://www.nato.int/en/about-us/official-texts-and-resources/official-texts/1949/04/04/the-north-atlantic-treaty
In any case, the *underlying N.A.T.O. treaty requires a one-year withdrawal notification. See Article-13 of the treaty, though, as Dr Richardson observes, U.S. refusal to co-operate would undermine the alliance immediately. 😳
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/nedmcdonnell3rd_happy-we-are-from-tehran-activity-7433727101477859328-FSmP
Lastly, Article-6 makes the treaty's scope and purpose quite clear; President BlunderBoy had zero-business in expecting N.A.T.O.'s support for the sneak attack against Iran, conducted during diplomatic talks.🖕
Edit pre-S.: DEAR PRESIDENT BLUNDER-BLUFF, read this . . . .The North Atlantic Treaty; Washington D.C. - 4 April 1949:
"Article 6
"For the purpose of Article 5, an armed attack on one or more of the Parties is deemed to include an armed attack:
"on the territory of any of the Parties in Europe or North America, on the Algerian Departments of France, on the territory of Turkey or on the Islands under the jurisdiction of any of the Parties in the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer;
"on the forces, vessels, or aircraft of any of the Parties, when in or over these territories or any other area in Europe in which occupation forces of any of the Parties were stationed on the date when the Treaty entered into force or the Mediterranean Sea or the North Atlantic area north of the Tropic of Cancer."
"Article 13
"After the Treaty has been in force for twenty years, any Party may cease to be a Party one year after its notice of denunciation has been given to the Government of the United States of America, which will inform the Governments of the other Parties of the deposit of each notice of denunciation."
====================================
"The United States was at peace with that Nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in the American Island of Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to our Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. And while this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or of armed attack." --President F.D. Roosevelt, 08dec41.
You could try to explain all of that to DJT all day long. He does not understand it, or believe it applies to HIM.
Insulting to wet cats.
"It’s the foreign policy equivalent of keying someone’s car, insulting their mother, refusing to split the bill, then wondering why they won’t help you move house."
Interesting choice of metaphor. Perhaps something you've done in your undisclosed past?
Are you related to Rick Sender?
Thank you for this. I wish I had written it. I certainly agree.
And, the war goes on! It is not a red card anymore. And, Trump will have Greenland. Not the act of an ally. So, he does not understand war, he does not understand soccer and he does not understand being an ally.
Or being human
Especially not on being Human.
Here is Erin Brockovich talking with Rick Wilson about AI Data Centers and what she is doing to fight them. This is Trump's America. AI Data Centers are inhumane. AI is not human. https://youtu.be/MRI_oSa41z8?si=cPmkUT1ioUyk_Eij
Thank you.
Linda, what do you think about this new cooling system idea Nvidia is claiming?
https://www.inc.com/nikita-apte/nvidia-says-its-figured-out-how-to-solve-this-big-problem-with-data-centers/91364693
In the talk on the link I posted above they say Data Centers will probably be replaced with something else in the next 4 years. I saw that as the time frame Europe needs to stave them off, and I don't know what the US will do to get rid of them.
A German company that I saw presenting the idea of data chips that are room temperature, who was on a webinar that I attended last fall has a better idea environmentally than Nvidia.
https://youtu.be/tH18ODPLUrY?si=PESeybs2gtySw5EZ
I am actually working on a campaign to get off big US data gathering tech. We are starting with using alternatives ourselves. Nvidia is presenting solutions too late for the problems they are causing.
It does not deal with the land use and noise pollution and the mental health problems related to the noise pollution. That deafening noise 24/7 means that these should not be built. It is crazy.
I have thought that somebody would recognize that they make good targets for drones. Oops, there goes your stuff in the cloud..
Trump's NATO speech was another embarrassment to the entire country. For Republicans to allow Trump to continue debasing everything we stand and do absolutely nothing is beyond absurd.
Ukraine has become a superpower with an array of drones that killed or maimed over 28,000 Russians and their mercenaries in June alone, according to Zelenskyy's speech to NATO yesterday. Zelenskky said they have video evidence of everyone of the drone kills.
Ukraine has plunged most of Crimea into darkness and gas is only available to emergency personnel and delivery vehicles. Putin has ordered the evacuation of over 200,000 Russian civilians from Ukraine and the military bases and ports in Crimea have all been rendered useless. Over 35 power substations in Crimea have been destroyed so much of Crimea will be dark for weeks or even months. Ukraine has now hit every major refinery in Russia causing shortages of gas, diesel, jet fuel and other petroleum products.
Putin continues to bomb apartment buildings, hospitals, schools and transportation hubs throughout Ukraine, which are all war crimes. And the Trump administration refuses to provide Patriot missiles to protect the Ukrainians against the votes of Congress. Putin and Trump talk several times a week now. Don't be surprised if Putin pulls a Bibi and convinces Trump to bomb Ukrainian targets.
So much for Trump ending the War in Ukraine in 24 hours after becoming President.
It’s absurd and horrific that humankind has not evolved further than committing atrocities against one another to settle disputes. Sure, Zelenskyy has been given no other choice but it’s hard to rejoice in that awful list of destruction. Changing our outer circumstances ie power grab upon power grab has never changed anything. We need to change our collective thinking if we are to survive as a species on this planet. I mean really.
I’m sure the planet will do far better without us.
I know! You’d expect an intelligent species like ours to evolve into something magnificent. Yet here we are.
I was kicked out of a Methodist church open mic when I dared to explain the God made a terrible mistake allowing Man up the evolutionary trail. That the Lord of the Universe had designated the Bonobos and given them the tickets but when man saw this he grabbed the tickets from the Bonobos and ran like hell. The church didn’t want me back. And I thought the Catholics were the worst. And I should know because I was baptized one and went to catholic school. Fortunately I escaped molestation by the priests but Mrs. Henigan my 4th grade teacher put me under her desk for talking in class. And so I had a unique perspective of her fat thighs opening and closing while she taught class. Catholic School Daze. How I miss them.
The planet will survive; humans will not.
"our collective thinking," Kazz? "Communism!" "Socialism!" Just a heads-up for when the pedants come "marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah...."
I think we’ve given all the “isms” a good go Susan, I think the reboot will need to be spiritual.
As the spiritual has always been a part of my work, I agree, and add that such a reboot has always been there, beckoning.
Putin and Trump spoke at length before the NATO debacle. Isn't it obvious - crystal clear - that Trump is following Putin's directives?
The conventional "wisdom" is that Trump admires Putin. That is probably true. But it masks the probable fact that Trump was compromised by the KGB during all those visits to Moscow. When you work in a Moscow hotel that hosts foreign visitors you ARE KGB and some of you are watching the cameras in the rooms.
Americans think the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union. All that changed was who got the money. Putin is laser focused on the destruction of the Western democracies. He is a highly trained soldier of espionage. He and Trump have two things in common. Plunder of the national treasure and revenge.
One day we may find out it was 'Agent Krasnov' all along. Or the infamous pee-pee tapes. Or the massive DeutscheBank loans. Or the shady Florida real estate deals. Or the 2016 election. Or some new thing nobody's yet discovered but which awaits the next generation of true investigative journalism. Or some combination of all of the above. But one way or another, we have a true Manchurian Cantaloupe in the White House, and a particularly stupid one at that.
None dare call him Krasnov.
I do it all the time.
Bill, as usual, conventional wisdom is a little off the mark. Donald "admires" Putin in the same way Republican politicians "admire" Donald. They have no choice. They owe their lives to their respective owners.
Exactly. I began writing my book, Donald’s Vanity Tantrums after watching the infamous confrontation with the media in 2016 in Trump Towers when reporters continually asked him about allegations of a golden shower in a Moscow hotel. At the end, Trump spoke, “You people should be ashamed of yourselves you know I am a germaphob.” And I wondered why no one responded that urine was an astringent not a germ. So began my writing journey.
Thanks for reminding us that the sub human creature abandoned supporting Ukraine!
It's not just Trump. It's also JD and Kegsbreath. Kegsbreath has impounded Congressionally approved funding for Ukraine and the cowardly Republicans and the MSM say nothing. They are all traitors to the US and our allies.
Looking past Trump's inanities with regard to Ukraine, even its recent astonishing successes in incapacitating Russia's war economy (I have seen videoclips of gas lines at least 3-4 miles long in Chita -- about 100 miles from the Mongolian border -- at least 2,500-3,000 miles from Ukraine) is the specter of Moscow's eventual rearmament against NATO.
Sources quoted in The Guardian claim Poland has been warned that Russia is planning some kind of major assault as early as 2027. Within the last week, Russia closed border crossings between itself and Finland, as well as Estonia. Less known, perhaps, is that border crossing are being closed to Kazakhstan, Armenia -- places of refuge for young men fleeing forced induction into the Russian Army which has suffered at least half a million deaths at Putin's hands the past four years. A new national conscription is coming -- Putin is that desperate to maintain his course of failure and pointless bloodshed.
Just today, Michael Kofman, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment's Center for Russian and Eurasian studies and the previous director for Russia Studies at the Center for Naval Analyses, writes of "The Next Russian Threat" emerging a few years after the current debacle in Ukraine.
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/russia/next-russia-threat-michael-kofman?s=ESPZZ006L1
Yes. I have been following what is going on in Ukraine with several sources both daily and weekly, including the Kiev Independent, Medusa in English, Martin Belderson (weekly reports) Iran War Dispatches with Tim Mak, Olga Lautmann, Martin Hoffmann's Missile Matters, and a few others dedicated to mostly Ukraine coverage.
It seems that both Putin and Trump like to pretend that they are not actually making war on another sovereign country. Instead it is something less than a war. Disinformation is a big part of both their shticks.
Robert Pape says Trump is in an escalation trap and cannot get out of it in Iran. Israel is happy because they resumed bombing Lebanon too. This is not ending well for the assailants, because like the US in the World Cup, they don't have enough people on their sides.
Heard the DT-Zelenskyy presser. Thank you for the details of the Ukrainian drone war. Has the NYT published the stats you give? If not, please send. We just might get protective missiles to Ukraine.
Ukraine needs to visit Red Square to deliver their message.
He wants vassals, not allies.
So it seems.
I don’t think DT will have Greenland. NATO will protect it.
Virginia, let's hope that not only does NATO protect Greenland, but that Trump has consequences for all of his warmongering like with Venezuela and Iran. I think with Iran he is having natural consequences like he got us into a forever war, and if he does the ground troops on Kharg Island he is hopefully going to FAFO! I feel sorry for the troops under his and Hegseth's command.
Linda, he does understand, and he rejects.
It is unclear to me what Trump understands. It is clearer what he does not understand. He does not understand the red card in Soccer, and does not understand the game. In fact, he does not understand sportsmanship or playing fairly. He clearly does not. He also does not understand having allies or being one. Yikes! He is our president but he does not represent us. He is too busy representing himself.
He does understand representing himself, you are right, therefore understanding soccer, for example, is irrelevant to him. I base my opinion on years of watching his decision-making in NYC, and a couple of encounters with him. Here are two things I know that he doesn't understand--the heroism of someone who sacrifices for others, and get this, he does not understand himself.
I agree on all accounts, Susan.
Peace, Linda.
Yep, we’re back to the Greenland thing again. He needs a quick win to distract from Iran.
He cannot just jump from Iran to Greenland. Now he has too much invested in Iran, and as Prof. Robert Pape says, he is stuck there in the Escalation Trap.
Indeed, things aren’t looking good there.
As Trump started bombing again, but supposedly signed the MOU to gain time and grace to get enough oil out of the SOH so that he could refill the strategic reserves and have enough fuel for war ships and war planes and tanks to start attacking again.
He won’t do that before the midterms.
No surprises here. Even with our media lying, skewing, omitting and embroidering, we all know because we have an honest source. As repubs have planned, there is a cacophony of blather harking back to the Tower of Babel. Our pubescent bully is on stage performing as a legitimate spokesmodel but his forked tongue is like Pinocchio’s nose. He is now the face of America. The world shudders. America wrings its hands, seemingly powerless. It took Pearl Harbor to overcome the lethargy of the greatest generation, as history notes. If America does not clean house, the world is right to shudder. But it’s more than lethargy, Ametica has traitors within as well as partners in crime. The lines are blurred. Who will clarify, edify and kick arse.
Trump is, by far, the most dangerous and detestable human on planet Earth. His enablers are all traitors to America. This cabal of spoiled, self serving fascists need imprisonment. ASAP. Save the World.
In the "the most dangerous and detestable” competition, I would enter two death stars: Stephen Miller and Russell Vought. Probably more of the Heritage Foundation crew who authored Project 2025 would be in the running as well.
He is surrounded by some of the most detestable Americans on the planet. I would say there are other equally detestable people in other countries. My feelings about Putin are in that category.
Greg Olear has a post About the co-conspirators. He nails them as he did Epsteins buddies
Merrill, I agree with you only in the sense that a gun is dangerous. But a gun has no intelligence. Neither does Donald. Without a human to aim the gun and pull the trigger, the gun is no danger at all.
The humans aiming the Trump gun at all of us, in order of malice, are Russell Vought, Stephen Miller, John Roberts, Sam Alito, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Amy Barrett, Mike Johnson, John Thune and the Republican Party.
Does Iran have the power to take the united states down?
They do not have to bother. Donald Trump and his collection of thieves are doing it themselves. We are going to find that we have a bankrupt country that is devoid of the talent in government to fix the damage, and a military that has been hollowed out to the least honest, least capable leadership.
Gloria, if a hijacker who does not know how to drive wrests the steering wheel from a bus driver, then drives the bus off the road and over a cliff, killing all the passengers, do we say the cliff killed the passengers?
Not alone of course, but Iran has allies too and they like their partners. Our allies understandably hate what chump is doing to us and them. Who knows where these tiddily winks will fall.
I watch Malcolm Nance's daily briefing on Iran when I can. He is former US Naval Intel and was in the region for a long time. He does it with Jacob Kaarsbo (former Danish Intel), Wajeeh Lion (Middle East Political analyst).
https://substack.com/@malcolmnance/note/p-205679578?r=f0qfn&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
''Donald Trump Discovers NATO Is Not His Personal Group Chat''
Donald Trump arrived at the NATO summit in Ankara deeply wounded to discover that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization is not, in fact, his personal customer service department for international mayhem.
Trump complained that NATO had failed to back his war on Iran, which he found terribly unfair because America has spent “trillions” protecting Europe, Canada, and “et cetera.” In Trump geography, “et cetera” may include Greenland, Venezuela, the moon, and any country he saw on television during breakfast.
The problem, as usual, is that Trump appears to think alliances work like Mar-a-Lago security. He points, everyone salutes, and someone else pays the invoice. But NATO is a defensive alliance, not a rewards program for regime change. Article 5 says members come to your aid if you are attacked. It does not say, “Please join every war started by a man who thinks diplomacy means shouting near flags.”
Then came Greenland, because every Trump foreign policy speech eventually becomes a Zillow listing. He wants Greenland not because Denmark has mistreated it, but because it exists, has strategic value, and has not yet been gold-plated. He warned of Chinese ships and Russian ships, then explained that “the ships is not going to happen,” a sentence future historians may classify as imperial gibberish with maritime garnish.
The larger issue is simple. Trump does not seem to want allies. He wants tenants. He does not want a rules-based international order. He wants a landlord-based order, where powerful countries roam the planet saying, “Nice sovereignty you’ve got there. Shame if something happened to it.”
NATO was built to deter aggression and defend democracy. Trump seems determined to find out whether the free world can survive being managed by a man who treats global security like a failed casino contract.
"Then came Greenland, because every Trump foreign policy speech eventually becomes a Zillow listing...imperial gibberish with maritime garnish."
You actually made me snort out loud. Thanks for starting my day with a laugh. Perfect metaphor. There ain't no there there....
Agreed, and glad that I had already swallowed the coffee when I read that.
Y
VeryWS.
I don't know how you do this, Michael. Your wordsmithing is spot on. That last line says it all, although the quote of "the ships is not going to happen" is also priceless.
Thanks for the humorous twists.
It's the GOP, not just Trump.
As long as we focus on ONE individual, we won't see the STRUCTURAL threat to US democracy coming from one of its two major parties.
Harris warned us: the GOP wants fascism, and this has been DECADES in the making.
Instead, all we talk about is Trump.
I agree—which is why I write about the Republican Party and the larger movement behind Trump all the time. I wrote an entire piece about exactly that: The Republican Party of Russia.
https://wehavefriendseverywhere.substack.com/p/the-republican-party-of-russia
Well said.
The most dangerous thing about this authoritarianism is that it’s so incompetent, on so many levels and in so many ways.
Your last line is one I will be using to write my rethugs in Congress as Grassley has said that he does provide oversight - NOT.
And where is the opposition Party? They are as fooled by the Trump Family as the national press corp is. No one likes to be fooled but for gosh sakes, Democrat.com and DNC and all the other Dem groups. Put up the truth mirror for Donald to see. He lives in a bubble of his own reality. We expect his paid loyalists to kowtow to him. But why is the Democratic Party not telling the truth about the Trump Family? Step back and look past the intended chaos and intentional distractions. If every Dem leader just told the truth, maybe a few Independents would vote to remove the crime family from our White House. The Trump Family is stealing from us. All the rest is distraction and deception to keep the con game going.
King Con has never, ever held onto a friendship with anyone. He has sycophants or useful tools or various female toys. In his "businesses", his "management" style was always to divide his employees and make them fight one another. Hence, every "business" ended in bankruptcy. He simply cannot understand why friendships and alliances are useful. So of course he wants to get rid of NATO. It's too complex for his very limited mind. And all of us are suffering under his mental deficiencies.
"President Donald J. Trump told reporters he was “very disappointed with NATO” because it had not backed its war on Iran."
At first, I thought, "Gee, this should read: 'President Donald J. Trump told reporters he was “very disappointed with NATO because it had not backed HIS war on Iran.'"
The I realized who that 'HE' was and decided, "No, 'its' makes sense in this case, since Trump extinguished his soul long ago, joining the illustrous ranks of Stalin, et al.
Yes! And thank you. Trump has no idea of anything but “gathering”money. His “thinking” is that of a 6-year old at his birthday party. His “cabinet” can best be described as mafia. Can ALL OF US please wake up and notice?
Europe may rescue US, but we must recognize the rescue and help in achieving it. Vote democratic in every election through November third.
America First is a dangerous ideology. It's isolationism. Charle Linderburg advocated isolationism until we were attacked at Pearl Harbor.
Well said.
It’s the “Might Makes Right” mentality of Stephen Miller. He’s behind the scenes pulling the strings making his mentality manifest through trump. He’s effectively using trump as a stooge for his agenda. Trump is an ignoramus and too stupid to pull this off on his own.
“….. replacing them with a world where power determines who gets to take what they want.”
Mr. Trump is acting without approval of voters. How an elected president can do such things? Can a president say anything to get electend and then do whatever he wants?
Everything he says about NATO sounds like Putin is making his mouth move. And thd part about Greenland is palpably insane.
As for Iran, continued hostilities belie the whole " war is over" narrative. As long as they can use this to distract from the attempt to throw the midterms and other skullduggery, there will be no peace.
It’s been obvious from the outset that Trump is a Russian asset. Putin has something on Trump, and whatever it is—embarrassing sex tapes, financial dealings, or illegal activity—Americans are paying a terrible price, and so is Ukraine.
Ukraine's new new drone has super accurate & distance capabilities. Dead on strikes on Putin's money sources are billowing black smoke.
Strange things will soon happen. Perhaps Putin will be removed since he is unable to sue for peace. He is in a no win situation.
Try Red Square to excite Russia’s people.
The Trump family acknowledged money "pouring in from Russia" in the past. While it is likely that Putin has dirt on a dirty guy, I would also guess that Trump has been subsided.
Subsidied?
Subsidized?
Ah oui, you are zee man!
The polls suggest that 'subsided' is just about right.
(Laughter).
All's well that ends well.
LOL
Trump spent 90 minutes talking to Putin before he even went to the NATO meeting in Ankara.
Pam, bingo. Putin reminding him once again of their ‘private agreement’ based on blackmail.
Honestly, I doubt that Putin has anything on Trump. Rather, Trump is so mentally impaired that he is completely unable to correctly assess his (and our) relationships with anyone, including our allies. Frankly, he is dangerous.
Bonnie, there is enough published, corroborated material to indicate that Donald is compromised. It is a known fact that the Trump Organization has done business with Bratva-controlled firms in the NYC metro for decades, long before Donald took the reins. Bratva has always had a direct connection to the Kremlin. It is reasonable to assume that the Kremlin opened a file on the Trump family even before Donald took control of the business.
It is well-known that Donald accumulated so much debt and was so lax in payment that U.S. banks refused to loan him any more money, at which time wealthy Putin-associates stepped in and extended loans to cover Donald's outstanding debts. Don, Jr. boasted about it publicly.
We do not have a detailed accounting of what kompromat the Kremlin may have on Donald and his family, but there is enough available evidence to suggest that Donald's relationship with Vladimir is more than admiration.
Donald has always been mentally impaired, but he has always been able to keep track of his debts, so as to avoid paying them. However, Vladimir is a less tolerant creditor, known to serve up polonium cocktails or defenestrate persons who cross him. Donald knows this, too.
The fear of “punishment” that Trump spreads on disloyal folks may be a bit of Russian that he understands could happed to him.
I have my doubts, too, although there's plenty there, there. The way MAGA is enthralled by Trump, Trump is enthralled by Putin and other authoritarians.
And since Katie Phang’s lawsuit threatens to expose more info from the Epstein files, they clearly need a big distraction, and in the Trump world, war is the answer. Their panties are in a knot.
Not to mention Ashley St. Clair. Amanda Ungaro.
The war with Iran, no friend of the US, is all about diverting attention from the Epstein files and what they reveal about his sordid character. Our attention span is limited, if you notice, Epstein has been put on the back burner for now. 🤬
Ah, Putey the poppet master !!
Poppet, not a misspelling.
Every nation that wished the US harm or to diminish US international influence when Trump came to power--Russia, China, Iran and various minor actors--still wishes the US harm or to diminish its influence.
But Trump has alienated our former allies, who have stood by the US for seventy years or more. (If you think Saudi Arabia or some of the other Gulf states actually stand with the US, you are sadly deluded.)
And it appears that Trump, like Netanyahu, seeks a state of "permawar" to try to keep the US populace diverted from their rapidly declining quality of life.
The US is truly isolated internationally and terribly weakened.
Permawar is exactly what it is. Headline grabber, diversion, Putin’s Ukraine war with our Brer Rabbit paw pronts. Can we escape this clever trap
But now, 23 years after the attacks, new evidence has emerged to suggest more strongly than ever that at least two Saudi officials deliberately assisted the first Qaida hijackers when they arrived in the United States in January 2000. (Tim Golden- ProPublica- Sept. 11, 2024)
And the Bush family carefully ushered home members of the Bin Laden family - who they were close to. I don't know who aided who. But 9/11 didn't need to happen. The warnings were ignored. Why? Hubris? Carelessness? The Intel was available.
And I know this is super cynical. But the Cheneys of the US upper echelon of oligarchs saw it as a perfect justification to funnel $Trillions of tax dollars into the hands of the Military Industrial Complex.
And we are still doing it. Our ultra rich are bleeding us - leeches sucking us dry. The kings and nobles of "feudal" times would be impressed. In fact, perhaps we should call the US the New Feudalism.
Papa Bush was part of the Carlyle group which ‘washed’ Saudi funds through investments. That group has been co-opted by Jared, son in law and chief bagman for trump!
Carlyle is led by Rubenstein, the man who paid to repair the Washington monument and a major philanthropist.
23 years? 25 years this coming September! What’s a Saudi official? Consider The Saudi inseminator who was the first king of the country produced 50 offspring through his 4:wives and concubine!!! Today there are more than 1000 little princes of some sort descended from him! All those mouths to feed get the Saudi funds, the underclass gets humus! The underclass yielded 17 of the high jackers who were indoctrinated in the Wahabi madrassas which were funded by what some would call Saudi officials!!!
And therefore?
Yes.
Which of them gave him that second-hand redecorated plane (made in America)?
Qatar. Don't mistake a transaction for support.
Certainly becoming isolated. Where is the basis for trust?
And Trump campaigned on "no more wars". America first. "I will lower prices."
Will the betrayal and deliberate distraction from grift, graft, pardons for sale and the Epstein Files ever be enough to remove these monsters?
Trump's utter recklessness and ignorance has caused massive damage for us and the Iranian people. The extent of the damage was expressed in the headline of a Bloomberg opinion piece July 7: "Ali Khamenei Was a Monster. The US Made Him a Martyr." Iran appears now to be more united than ever. Millions of people turned out to show support for their deceased supreme leader who had been eviscerating and bankrupting their country and repressing and executing them for so long. They've forgotten all that now in the anger, hatred, and resentment for America that Trump has fired up. So thanks, Donald, you've done it again. Taken the world a few more steps backward.
Just look at Ali Khamenei’s funeral Donald. Now THAT’S what you call a crowd!
Trump had no reason or right to kill Iran's leaders. Why hasn't there been more outcry about that from within our country and around the world? Whether Iran's leaders and Venezuela's president were "good or bad" wasn't up to Trump to decide.
And killing the people in boats in the Caribbean without capturing them, accusing them of a crime, and having a trial is against everything we believe in. Add to that what ICE is doing, and we, the people, must protest and demand Trump be removed from office.
And if that doesn't happen, he won't be.
Bingo!
Borowitz has reported that Trump claims that an even greater number of individuals have told him that they look forward to attending Trump’s funeral!
Millions will attend (and celebrate).
Everything Trump touches dies. No exceptions...
Lawrence O’Donnell weighed in on Graham Platner today – first time.
He’d found the Maine oysterman to have claimed recently that he was as far as possible as it was to be from those of money and power.
And then Lawrence O’Donnell reported on sleuthing he’d next done. He’d found Graham Platner’s parents to have been wealthy, and most well established in the East Coast hierarchies of things.
I think most of us who’d eagerly bought into the working-class oysterman story have been part of a large movement ground-swelling in America. As Heather explained also today, on the “Politics Girl” podcast, we’re reenacting the quantum changes common people ushered in during the 1850s, the 1890s, and the late 1920s and early ‘30s.
It's now all much, much more than so many of us being tired of criminal Donald’s obvious corruptions – and his actual obliviousness to common, everyday Americans. Turning point is coming, Heather feels, against all who’ve merged over the predilection for dictators, billionaires, and those Don the Con is still protecting who raped the 1200 girls and young women.
But the fantastically profitable algorithms of social media contribute to the wild reactive swings that promote a kind of hunger for the imagery of heroism in extreme forms. Platner is a showman. That Mallory McMorrow had to drop out and some genuine lunatics won primaries is this pingponging that will not get us sorted. It’s all about celebrity. The big claims. The big insults. It’s as if the increasing noise of a Trump has deafened us to quieter and more genuinely powerful voices.
Media has conditioned us to conflate stagecraft with statecraft. and value entertaining candidates over those who are better prepared to lead and conduct the "adult" tasks of governance. Yet the long term planning and day to day deluge of details that lead to an open, secure, and prosperous society cannot be neglected without erosion of our way of life. If we want a republic we share in the choices and responsibilities which guide our path. We can use the help of fiduciaries, but we can't farm it all out and call it a democracy.
Chump knows that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Who squeaks more than America’s Podus.
Full disclosure Doctor, I am a Mallory McMorrow supporter & donor. I do not think MM "dropped out". Instead she purposefully left voters with only 2 choices in order to favor the final result she can support.
I am not sure I have ever seen that "high functioning" political move before. Certainly a profile in political courage. McMorrow will be voted into her spot in the years ahead.
I’ve been a fan of hers for a long time and really seen her as a profile in courage and clarity. I was shocked.
Will MM jump back in the race now Bryan?
I do not know but, IMO unlikely.
Well observed, Amy Cohen.
Rebecca Solnit on Platner, patriarchy, classism, racism, and perpetually excusing white men:
"For at least a decade we have been told that this and that and the other thing must be tolerated in pursuit of the elusive vote of the working class or the white working class which often means the white male working class which becomes in turn a way that "working class" is too often used by middle-class pundits and politicians to justify centering the needs, desires, and prejudices of white men while insisting that this is a very progressive position to take. In other words, "working class" becomes a Trojan horse for white men."
"But if the Democratic Party is committed to democracy, it has to be committed to equality regardless of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and committed to universal human rights. Also white men already have a party devoted exclusively to their needs and fantasies."
https://www.meditationsinanemergency.com/pod-save-patriarchy-or-whatever-that-sorry-platner-spectacle-was/
I subscribe to Solnit and she's worth it, for her observations and commentary. I hope she stays safe, because she is one of the most rational writers of our time and unafraid to speak out against this current corrupt and inept regime.
Thanks for the link, Ellie.
In the work that I did, one of my areas of instruction was in preparing cops how to survive the "worst of the worst" events and behaviors that we saw on a daily basis. One of the instructor development classes that I took, and later designed and implemented instruction and training on was based on Dave Grossman's books "On Killing" and "On Combat" and the psychology behind human reactions to violence. His premise was that interpersonal human violence was the key trigger for post traumatic stress disorder regardless of the situation in which it occurred. I delivered the same material in several different contexts ranging from being confronted with a deadly force situation where the scenario is a justified use of lethal force as well as talking with a victim of violent crime.
At the end of the training session (usually in a police use of force context) we'd have a discussion about how to recognize and mitigate the psychological experience of being faced with having to kill someone to save your self and someone else. These engendered some really good and open discussions. We'd usually take a break and when we would return to class I would always ask the question of how many people had actually been in a conflict where deadly force was justifiable, and what their experiences were. There was always at least one or two people, and it created some very good conversations. I would then ask what they think would be easier; killing someone or being forcibly raped or sodomized. 100% chose justifiable force over being sexually assaulted.
I would then ask them to remember that the next time they had to interview a sexual assault victim.
PTSD isn't a free pass for bad conduct.
Great learning too. In my town of Hartford, 2 Black men were recently killed by cops. I am more familiar with one a man who was walking slow on the street with only a knife in his hand. Soon another cop cracked to the scene and immediately pulled out his gun and emptied it killing the man. He was fired and now is facing manslaughter which will probably be dismissed but in this case maybe not. I began questioning to write how the police schools chose candidates. Do they often favor people who have been army vets or indeed, in war zones? I personally think anyone having been in a war should never be considered for police training. You thought, please.
thank you for the link.
You missed the larger point almost entirely.
There is an enormous realignment going on in America's two-party system right now, happening right before our eyes. Graham Platner's sin isn't money, it's what happens when a political party fails to exercise due diligence over those anointed who pass through its gates. The rush to throw weight behind this newcomer -- backed by "east coast" money (whatever that even means) or west coast money, or anybody's money -- is the party's own failure to cultivate high quality candidates attractive to both young disaffected voters, those in the middle, as well as anybody interested in seeing to it candidates possess minimum standards of accountability, especially in the Senate, one of the world's most important deliberative bodies. All it took to make the skeletons fall out of the closet on that one was a single phone call, one article in Politico, and poof. Somebody didn't bother doing their homework.
The Republican Party has become totally MAGAfied -- a true lost cause of cultism now being wrecked at sea, soon to become flotsam and jetsam washing up on a lost shore somewhere. Yet the Democratic Party is locked in a strange, nonsensical argument that wants a war between "progressives" and "old guard" to take place before it claims victory. The truth is -- as Heather reiterated just a few hours before posting this -- you need both. Successful newcomers like Ocasio-Cortez in the House have listened to, and worked with, that 'old guard.' She does her homework, she doesn't pretend she's too good not to. The same is true with Mamdani, with others blending common-sense politics with common-sense knowhow about how things actually get done in a complex legislative, divided environment. The same was actually true about 'old Joe Biden,' who used skills honed over decades in order to get critical infrastructure investment passed in bipartisan fashion -- something that hasn't happened in America since the 1950s.
Before we can have normal politics, normal people -- both skilled and newcomer -- must first win critical races. And normal people must have money, from both coasts and the heartland, in order to do it. The idea that serious modern political battles today can be won without it is absurd, particularly when the other side is rolling in wads of it.
Politics Chat, surely? Or has Leigh McGowan joined up?
"And then Lawrence O’Donnell reported on sleuthing he’d next done. He’d found Graham Platner’s parents to have been wealthy, and most well established in the East Coast hierarchies of things." What he "sleuthed" is public knowledge. Platner went to Hotchkiss. His father was a lawyer. Not wealthy (though "wealthy" to the IRS is $187,500) but comfortable. And his oysters are for his mom's upscale restaurant.
Richardson knew all this and loves him. Whatever.
Does that fat Orange POS think ‘Europe’ is a country, the way he seems to think Africa is a country? And that line about, ‘not having Europe any more’ sounds somewhat akin to to his usual blather of, ‘if you don’t do XXX, you won’t have a country any more.’
Well, I gotta say, I’m sick of living in his vision of Our Country. I want my damn country back; one that’s refreshingly free of the likes of him.
Surely someone at NATO is murderously angry at the whole white house delegation…wouldn’t ya think?
Trump ramblings take America into the dark world of psychosis. I appreciate reading direct quotes from Trump. It is here we see tangential and delusion thinking. He is no longer able to hear factual information and can be easily manipulated with deception and constant adulation.
Our only hope is to elect a Congress that will disempower this dangerous administration.
Oh, so do I! Those verbatim quotes are illuminating.
And a large percentage of Americans are suffering from folie a deux… believing his delusions.
Alliances are built with weapons, but sustained by trust. Military strength can deter an enemy, yet once trust between allies begins to erode, no arsenal is large enough to restore it. History repeatedly shows that confidence is far easier to lose than to rebuild.
In this age of asymmetrical warfare, we have seen from the conflicts in Ukraine and the Gulf that superior arms are not any longer sufficient to deter or defeat an enemy.
Agreed — asymmetry rewards the side that knows why it fights; motivation turned out to be the one weapon that cannot be imported.
UPDATE via the 7/7/26 The Wall Street Journal, WSJ Authored by Benoit Marenne:
"Iran War Has Oil-rich Alaska in Pain Over $9 [per gallon] Gas". Local pump in DELLINGHAM. ALASKA $9.10. Some good news, local pumps are not able reach $10/gal.
************************************************************************
trump "Hit more than 80 targets. So the IRAN war back on with the predictable economic fall out. Global crude cost is up ⬆️. KMI stock which manages Oil sources & needed liquid gas products is up over 2.5% ⬆️
Seen this movie: 2 Thumbs down.👎👎
Updated and reposted: ICYMI: 7/6/26 An ex-girlfriend of Graham Platner decided to change the story she told the NYT in their hit piece on Platner and now accuses him of sexually assaulting her in an article in Politico and also now in a CNN interview “Woman alleges Graham Platner raped her in 2021 while they were dating, which he denies | CNN”. https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/06/us/graham-platner-racicot-allegation-maine-invs
While Wajhat Ali of the Left Hook was interviewing Jess Craven of Chop Wood Carry Water today 7/6/26 “Michigan Could Decide the Democratic Party's Future | Jess Craven - YouTube”. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pT9amVoLtn8 they noticed in real time what was happening with Platner. Since the cut off date for candidate change in the Maine election is July 13th, this is a major development. Maine’s U.S. Senate race is considered crucial to winning control of the Senate and then being able to among other things prevent Trump from putting replacement SCOTUS judges like Aileen Cannon on the Court. Senator Bernie Sanders, Representative Ro Khanna, Hasan Piker, the Maine Democratic Party and others have withdrawn their endorsements of Platner and asked him to drop out. Jess Craven has posted Platner’s email address (“Let’s reach out to Graham Platner’s campaign at info@grahamforsenate.com and tell him to drop out, no conditions.”) so people can voice their opinions to him about his dropping out. Many have proposed Troy Jackson, a former Maine State Senator, who narrowly missed winning nomination as the Democratic Party candidate for governor and filed to replace Platner on 7/7/26. A recent poll reportedly had him running a few points ahead of Susan Collins. Other possible candidates include Shanna Bellows, Maine Secretary of State; Nirav Shah, former director of Maine’s CDC; Jordan Wood, who lost primary for Maine’s 2nd Congressional District. If Platner drops out, Democrats have until 7/27/26 to choose a replacement. Options considered include a convention or a state wide caucus.
Michelle Goldberg of the NYT has written an article that is very critical of Platner: Michelle Goldberg of the NYT has written an article about Platner as a cautionary tale: (“Lessons From the Graham Platner Disaster”)
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/opinion/graham-platner-rape-accusation.html?unlocked_article_code=1.v1A.wl5f.zrCJ6n_qSWkK&smid=em-share See what you think. I don’t completely agree with everything in the article (Michelle Goldberg spends too much time engaged in a blame game) although I think Platner needs to drop out of the race. He was very poorly vetted. I watched a lot of videos of him - not just political speeches but full interviews of him by people who put him on the spot with hard ball questioning - and I felt a different vibe - that he appeared to be authentic, and believe in what he was saying. I absolutely respect the feelings of the woman. From the story she told I think she could have had a good chance of resolving the situation if she had used a different strategy than acquiescence. He was not a stranger for her. She apparently had a dating/sexual relationship with him for about 2 years. If he was in her house without her permission, she could have told him he had to leave immediately or she would call the police. Then do it if he didn’t leave. If he forced himself on her, she could again have warned him she would call the police and if he persisted, then called them. By her account she was completely sober and in full control of her faculties, whereas he was intoxicated and not in control of his. Graham Platner is not a serial rapist. They usually rape strangers. And not a Harvey Weinstein or a Bill Cosby or “date rapist” who drug or intoxicate their victims (not themselves) to incapacitate them while remaining sober themselves. He was diagnosed with a widely recognized mental health condition: military veteran post-combat PTSD. Because of this he had a problem with alcohol abuse and dysphoria related to that mental illness. He sought and has had five years of mental health treatment since the incident with this woman and still gets periodic check ups. His wife says she has no problems with his behavior. If you are unfamiliar with Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome, see: The NIH National Library of Medicine has a web page that describes the symptoms and behaviors of PDSD in military veterans. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11200391/
“While both men and women experience PTSD, male veterans are statistically more likely to externalize their trauma through irritability, aggressive behaviors, risk-taking, and substance misuse to numb their pain. Core symptoms generally fall into these four primary categories:
1. Intrusion & Re-experiencing
Flashbacks: Feeling or acting as if the traumatic event is happening all over again.
Nightmares: Distressing, recurring dreams about the trauma that severely disrupt sleep.
Intrusive Thoughts: Unwanted, distressing memories that repeatedly enter the mind.
2. Avoidance
Trigger Avoidance: Actively dodging specific people, places, objects, or activities that bring back memories of the trauma.
Emotional Disconnect: Intentionally avoiding conversations, thoughts, or feelings related to the event.
3. Negative Alterations in Mood & Cognition
Social Isolation: Withdrawing from family and friends, or feeling completely detached from loved ones.
Numbing: A reduced ability to feel positive emotions (e.g., happiness or love) and a general loss of interest in hobbies.
Distorted Beliefs: Persistent, exaggerated negative beliefs about oneself or the world (e.g., "I am bad" or "No one can be trusted").
4. Hyperarousal & Reactivity
(This category often looks visibly different in male veterans)
Anger and Irritability: Uncharacteristic outbursts of anger, aggression, or verbal arguments.
Hypervigilance: Being constantly "on edge," overly watchful of one's surroundings, or experiencing a heightened startle response (e.g., jumping at loud noises).
Reckless Behavior: Engaging in self-destructive or high-risk activities.
Substance Misuse: Turning to drugs or alcohol to self-medicate or dull emotional pain.”
I’m not arguing that the behavior described by the women who have voiced complaints about Platner’s behavior with them should be ignored, held in question, forgiven or rationalized away. I’m pointing out that a person who did four tours of duty in war zones, some of which involved them in brutal up close combat and killing, can understandably have returned to civil society suffering from post-combat PTSD. And that veterans suffering from the above enumerated symptoms are not going to make ideal boyfriends. But that this mental illness is treatable and can be recovered from.
One of the hardest lessons for a civilized society is to hold two truths at once: people can be deeply wounded by their past, and they can still be responsible for what they do in the present.
Funny thing. Lots of people with PTSD and other mental health issues don’t assault anyone— Regardless of what they’ve been through.
And so he’s not a serial rapist. Whoopee. Is that really where the bar is now?
As a physician I’m sorry but I can’t agree with what you are implying. I believe that people with illness including many but so far not all forms of mental illness can be treated and overcome their illness. PTSD is illness that can in most instances be successfully treated. Mr. Platner recognized he had an illness that he could not control, sought and received treatment which was successful with on going monitoring. These constructive choices do not absolve him of responsibility for his behavior but should be respected.
How do you know he isn’t a serial grapist? Have you read his Reddit posts about sexual assault in the military? Those posts foreshadowed this scandal. The red flags were there about who he is. Not all veterans who come home with PTSD grape. This is a signal about what he as a person is capable of, not his ptsd. He had it in him. If he was capable of it in the past, he is in the future, despite being treated for his ptsd.
I’d also ask you to reflect on why you felt it necessary to say “as a physician” in this context. It actually concerns me that, as a physician, you would see his ptsd as an excuse.
THIS, what you said about Fred's remark "as a physician" - others of us who are also healthcare professionals don't use our training/degrees/education to attempt to justify our opinions in the comments section. smh
Also his victim blaming commentary is inexcusable and reflects poorly on his professional judgment "as a physician."
------------------
"I’d also ask you to reflect on why you felt it necessary to say “as a physician” in this context. It actually concerns me that, as a physician, you would see his ptsd as an excuse."
And even so - IF PTSD can be cured, is this the best the state of Maine could find? Seriously?
He is a liar. He misrepresented his background, lied about his tattoo. That is not PTDS. That is a garden variety desire for power. He is not trustworthy.
(2) Many people with certain mental illnesses do assault other people. A classic case of this would be paranoid schizophrenia. Many members of the public have little understanding of the sacrifices and traumas that our military service members endure. Some end up in body bags or severely injured and many mentally traumatized by the stress of frontline combat. Before PTSD it was called shell shock. They patriotically volunteer to put themselves in harms way to protect us and our country. This is why it is so unacceptable for leaders to send them into wars of vanity or choice. Have you ever experienced combat in a war zone?
I’m almost curious as to what you believe I’m implying, but I don’t think my point is that subtle.
Your discussion of Platner’s military career in regard to sexual assault allegations is utterly specious, and tantamount to apologia for his behavior.
The question of whether I’ve served is ridiculous as, again, Platner’s service has nothing, to do with the allegations, and the observation that paranoid schizophrenics harm people is likewise specious as not all of them, even when psychotic, do.
Your wrapping the allegations up in the cover of his service is insulting and particularly disrespectful of those with PTSD.
You know who also suffer PTSD? Survivors of sexual assault. That’s a lot more relevant to any discussion of the allegations against Platner, and still, not all of them go on to assault others. Neither their history, nor Platner’s, gives them a pass.
It’s important to note that persons with mental illness are more likely to be victims of violence, rather than perpetrators. As a licensed mental health professional myself, I cringe when I see posters “diagnosing” the mental illness of persons they have never met, based on news reports. We can all have our opinions about fitness to serve, but please, people, leave the diagnosing to the professionals working with those individuals. I’ll also leave the assessment of criminality to the lawyers and judges.
Despicable the party chose him for the ticket. I could not believe women especially supported him. The Nazi tattoo did it for me.
Yeah, yeah, I know some people can change. I did not buy it anymore than I could buy the guy descending the gold plated escalator.
Yes he descended then faced the media that kept demanding to know what happened in a Moscow presidential suite. At end he looks out and says, “You should know better that I am a germaphobe. And I thought why not state to him that urine is a disinfectant. “The Golden Shower Capper” became my first of many stories in my book.
I don't think it's helpful to hypothesize about what 'she could have done differently' - we weren't there, we have no idea if certain words or threats to call the police would have changed the outcome, we don't have a sense of what the atmosphere in that house was like that night. While perhaps unintentional, this comment shifts part of the blame to a woman who was raped, and I cannot agree with that. There was a time that rape victims were blamed for what they wore, or said, or where they walked, which was never the issue or a credible excuse for the rapist. PTSD is horrible - but it is not an excuse for felonious behavior.
Have you heard of “Mindset”by Carol Dweck? It proposes that successful people have a “growth mindset” in which their minds are set for learning and growth rather than giving up and scapegoating. Jenny Racicot was 35 years old when the alleged assault occurred. Old enough to have thought through rational ways she could avoid rape rather than just acquiescing as she said she did in her interview.She had had a sexual relationship with Platner for two years and was aware that he could be intoxicated and that it changed his behavior. It is possible that carrying out the basic, rational suggestions I made could have helped her avoid being sexually assaulted. This is not blaming her. My opinion is that rape avoidance techniques should be taught in K-12 along with the sexual education classes. They should also teach contraceptive techniques, healthy parenting, and marriage techniques.
Yes - rape avoidance techniques are a good idea but only if coupled with teaching boys not to rape - and having actual meaningful consequences for doing so. Currently with Epstein disaster, I still see people blaming the girls and not the predatory men.
And even if it was only *one* rape, no man gets a pass for only one. We don’t know what trauma may have occurred in the woman’s past. A woman of any age is generally no match for a man like Platner. The fact that she dated him for two years is irrelevant.
And even if we could agree to overlook everything you say, Fred, he doesn’t belong in the Senate. One rapist in Government is enough.
If you want boys to behave differently then you have to raise them in families that give them those values (like empathy) rather than waiting until they are in early adulthood and expecting them to behave the way you wish. I had a good mother who had me help her care for my infant brother and gave me a “boy doll” as a 4 yo when I was jealous of my sister’s dolls. As an adult I raised 3 boys who are highly educated, empathic, happy, not alcohol or drug abusers or (heaven forbid) rapists and have never been divorced. You seem to be overly concerned with attributing blame rather than finding solutions.
Not at all -- and I completely agree about how young boys should be raised. I have an adult son myself and raised him to respect women and boundaries. I just get concerned when the emphasis seems to be overly placed on the women's actions when the women are the victims of rape and not the cause.
Why can’t we just teach boys about consent?! I started teaching my kids about consent as toddlers. And what about bringing down the patriarchy so all these men don’t think they have the “right” to do this to women? Women spend their lives avoiding grape. We are taught to never walk alone, don’t dress like that, don’t drink a drink without watching it be poured. Never put your cup down. Test out how fast you can run in shoes before buying them. We learn/study patterns: stay away from that group of people. Stay away from the “rape stairs” at your college. Should probably be on birth control just because you are a fertile young woman, even if you aren’t sexually active. Need to give your 9yo gardasil just in case (I’m very pro vax, don’t get me wrong.. kids absolutely need gardasil). I teach my kids to never be alone in a room with an adult… alone with their friends? Sure. But friends parents? Nope. Don’t wear earbuds/headphones while out running. Watch that car driving slowly behind you. Stay to areas well lit. Tell your friend to expect a check in text from you at a certain time while on a date. Then, despite taking all these measures, women are blamed and told “they didn’t do enough to stop it”, even by male physicians. Women already know how to avoid it. Do men realize we are always taking precautions?
And this is all but one part of why he should drop out.
Thanks, Fred Cox for your explanation of PTSD, especially as exhibited by those who have served their country in “war”.
Perhaps Platner will come to see his life experience thus far as an opportunity for contributing to the greater good through his advocacy for treatment of the rampant mental stress experienced by many. We need a course correction with the most authentic leaders among us now. Platner knows himself. Platner has choices.
Alcoholic blackouts need to be highlighted also.
Thank you for shedding a light on the horrific symptoms of PTSD! I grew up with a father who was a WWII veteran and survived the Battle of the Bulge. He was diagnosed with “shell shock” & spent a month in the hospital after the battle. Once home, he didn’t receive any treatment. As a child I remember his excessive drinking, angry outbursts and harsh behavior toward us!
As a Mainer, I supported Mr Platner & agree he should withdraw and be held accountable for his actions. I also have empathy for him and his victims. I hope he continues to get help and continues on his path of recovery. May his wife and he find some peace and take refuge in the beautiful part of Maine in which they live. May the rest of us withhold judging him harshly and find compassion for both his victims and him. It took many years before I forgave my father.
I so wish NATO would get rid of Rutte. His toadying to Trump undermines the growing strength and independence of the other NATO nations and U.S. on every way not only unseemly and inappropriate but nauseating. How dare he slap Trump on the back for this aggression against Iran??? Does he speak for Europe???
Rutte is only following the flattery model essayed so unsuccessfully by the former British Prime Minister. It's uncomfortable to watch.
It absolutely is.
But it buys time and appears to keep Trump somewhat controlled.
“Trump appears to want the sort of world called for by Russia’s president Vladimir Putin, in which great powers carve up the globe into spheres of influence.”
I think you’re giving him way too much credit in thinking he’s pursuing a world view.
He wants to be Putin. To be MbS, and, to a lesser extent be Xi and Erdogan.
He wants to use the nation’s wealth as his personal pocket book and to act with impunity.
He doesn’t see that these dictators recognize the desperation of a wannabe.
He is so deluded by megalomania that he actually believes they respect him.
And that’s all he wants.
Wonder if Vlad has caught on yet. The puppet wants to be the puppeteer. Will the blackmail be enough..
Vlad was trained in recruiting spies and informants for the KGB. I’m sure he understands Trump much better than Trump does.
Vlad currently has his own big problems, what with Ukraine’s continued beating.
Seems to me that chump’s mad war with Iran is making Vlad’s buddy stronger. Chump’s strategy may be that his war is a way to help Iran and Vlad. Maybe he should declare war on Ukraine and make them stronger. You have to wonder about his “logic.” Shades of Bananas or am I bananas..
“If Americans thought defending the liberal world order was too expensive,” Kagan wrote, “wait until they start paying for what comes next.”
Everone needs to ensure that Trump's name IS associated with what comes next in pertpetuity. Its the one thing his name must be one. He owns it, as do those that put him there.
Thank you, Professor Richardson. djt is one problem. At this point our bigger problem is the willfully impotent Congressional maga caucus and whatever the hell is going on with the maga caucus of SCOTUS. The one thing we do know is that American security, common sense and the honor of our former justice system are not part of any maga-related institution.
It is absurd to say that NATO would be worthless without the United States ? Who is there aside from the United States to challenge NATO now ? Without the Unitrd States it will be all the more valuable and its members motivated to participate in it. And free from restraints imposed by Washington. Abd in addition to being absurd, it is grossly in error Who says this ? Robert Kagan ?
Right now NATO is a rabbit. Stronger in the back legs than the pitiful front, as we are seeing. And other countries are assuming leadership of it, as Tr7mp has absndoned that role and breached the treaty by threatening other NATO members, as he has just done again. It is called anticipatiry breach, signalk8ng the US can not be trusted to perform its contractual duties under the treaty. What Congress does is irrelevant short of impeachment.
I think it is time for a NATO member state to give both Putin and Trump what they want, and initiate a proceeding to expel the United States from NATO. Put the matter on the table. Trump is threatening it. Not to do so is weakness.
Any member could. Who feels up to it ? I rather think the Carney government should. Absent the US, Canada would assume a leadership role. Or Denmark. Or Turkiye. Or......Germany. That might cause some people in Washington to wake up. It woukd surely ruin all of JD Vance's plans to take over when Trump finally is admitted in to the hospital for the last time.
What is remarkable about Trump's statements in Ankara is the extent to which they reveal that he is a moron. He is now thinking out loud as he speaks to audiences. His comments revealed the level on which he thinks. And that is it.
Things happen. What is most concerning is the extent to which the Anericsn people are disposed to listen to this moron and to go along with him. That should be cause for alarm.
And still the Republican Party does nothing. (Yawn) Situation normal. Speaker Mike Johnson shuts down the House as if there is no business of any importance to take care of, as our house is burning down all around us. Is Mitch McConnell even alive?
It’s not about Trump any more, and hasn’t been for some time.