“In the end, between President Andrew Johnson’s pardons and Congress’s granting of amnesty to Confederates, no one was convicted for their participation in the attempt to destroy the country…. The ideology of the Confederacy never became odious, and it has lived on.”
Thanks to HCR to bringing this all back to what I have come to believe is THE key tragedy and failure of the Civil War. MAGAs are the ideological heirs of the slave powers and the poorer Southern whites they duped. The US government’s abysmal decision not merely to pardon the slaveowners but to allow them right back into office to rule the Southern states set up the Civil War we’re presently fighting —against the same vicious agenda of oppression.
Absolutely yes to this--we won the war but lost the peace. We gave the Confederacy a pass to "heal" the nation, we gave Nixon a pass to "heal" the nation. But those failures to sanction healed nothing, it made the infections worse. "Let's be nice to them" told criminals we're not serious about stopping them, and they took us at their word.
Trump, if convicted, must be sent to prison, without apology or pity. Without that, why would the next Trump we elect NOT act the same way?
I believe that corruption is abuse of entrusted power, and since Nixon we have seen it grow. The more lies and "dirty tricks" (some of them gravely damaging behaviors) self-serving politicians and politically connected individuals have perpetrated, the more extreme these actions have become. It is clear that Trump, his indicted co-conspirators, and the selfie-snapping cosplaytriots of January 6th were so blatant in their illegal and unethical behavior because they fully expected to evade accountability. Some of them, and others like them, had been doing so for far too long. One of the primary purposes of law is to establish and publicize certain boundaries that should never be crossed.
Time to do some rewriting of the rules. The “crying fire in a crowded theater” law needs expanding. Republicans who weaponized the DOJ with Trump/Barr and who spent 40 years trying to prevent HRC from giving US the intelligent compassionate laws she worked on, and who gave US a SCOTUS that would be laughable were it not tragic for the nation, are pouring out propaganda trying to bring US to autocracy.
JD Vance’s and Tuberville’s “holds” need to be reversed and the rule changed. It’s not any more useful than the destruction of January 6th.
Thank you to all the “likes.” I have been watching Republicans since Eisenhower. They have become increasingly unhinged, supporting ever more undemocratic leaders and believing their lies (supported by “monied interests) until now they are not the opposition to but the enemy of democracy. The pandemic (not mentioning DT the Capstone) and the tax cuts exacerbated the problem already posed by the Roberts court’s Citizens United.
As a song by Tears for Fears says, Republican leaders and their pundits play "the politics of greed". They are not the only players, but as a group, they appear to consider personal profits as primary.
This could have all been stopped if the Senate had voted to impeach tfg! The one thing they should have done to earn their pay! I will never forgive them as long as I live! Those that are elected waste more time by not doing what that should. If they truly did what they are elected for....what a wonderful country we would have today in 2023!
It's tricky. The original "falsely shouting fire" example reflected actual tragedies and is a strong example, but SCOTUS decided that the same standard should be applied to those openly opposing the draft, which was the issue in which the famous example was offered. In 1969 opinion was restricted to "advocacy of the use of force or of law violation ... where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action." Something equivalent to encouraging an immanent insurrection.
Whether as a matter of law of decency I think it is vital to functional governance to consider significant lies to the public from people in critically important governmental positions should be considered a deal breaker by the preponderance of the public. Lies support tragic wars, racism and excess deaths due to disease when told by authorities. As with falsely shouting fire in a theater, some lies can kill.
I borrowed it, but it seems to really nail the phenomenon, except that they are allowed to carry real guns. We at least should back away from calling them "militias" as the body of the Constitution speaks of them. "Armed Gangs" (such as Bundy's) may be the most accurate way to describe them, as they present no societal necessity. Indeed, "militias" were considered needed to repel precisely the sort of action that occurred at the Capitol on Jan. 6th.
Good way of putting it, J L, that corruption is abuse of entrusted power. It applies to politicians, business leader, pastors, Little League coaches, everyone who is given power over other people.
Trump is what happens when you tell a child "no, that's wrong, don't do that again," he gives you the finger while throwing a tantrum, and you give him ice cream instead of correction. We're in a cultural stage of that now, and all the worse for it.
I think that politics is the process that decides whose will prevails, and that can be coercive or cooperative. Right wingers like to cherry pick the violent side of nature as proof of "let them hate us so long as they fear us" being the inevitable way of the world, but note that living things also cooperate, often inter-species and even at the unicellular level. Humans would be a pretty pathetic species without cooperation. My dog (like all dogs, a subspecies of wolf) can run rings around me and has much sharper tooth and claw. Indeed, the word "fascist" implies cooperation, but to bully, not to liberate.
Deciding what "we" will do starts with the wail of an infant, and is often a conundrum in families, highly considerate ones or not. And a conundrum in organizations, voluntary and those with "good" and "bad" bosses. Republicans of the day want to rule the roost, even dictate what people do in their bedrooms. That's despotism. Democracy is DIY, but that means accepting a share of responsibility as well as choice, 'cause you can't be in charge if you just want to watch the game. We need to learn to negotiate, while honoring liberty and justice for all. That means optimum openness but you don't get to cut the baby in half.
And many of these “patriots “ lie in wait for their redemption and their pardons from the next “ president Trump” which is “ surely coming “. And our tax dollars fund this assault and insult?
Trump should absolutely go to prison, not house arrest at one of his properties, which could endanger the surrounding communities. I think Guantanamo might be a good place to stash tRump. No news coverage, the same limited ability to communicate as any other prisoner.
I totally agree Jenn and thank you for bringing up no news coverage. I was absolutely appalled that the NYT covered the solemn legal event yesterday like a celebrity tour. Tfg stopping at a restaurant to shake some hands is free publicity for a politician not news. It never covers President Biden’s many trips like that. Vice President Harris isn’t covered at all. TFG has been anointed front runner when he should be called compulsive liar with a long criminal past. Enough!
NPR had a program yesterday ‘Is Kamala Harris a liability for Biden’s re-election?’ I didn’t listen. But seriously THAT’S what they want to talk about?!
It’s getting harder by the day to support NPR. I have done so for years, but “equal time” is no longer equal. It was supposed to present two possibilities. Now it’s mostly what aboutism versus facts.
There needs to be more press on Harris. She's done a lot of internal work in Central and South America to help eradicate immigration from it's source! Sad that no one ever hears about that, right?
The liberals I know who listen to NPR really believe NPR speaks "truth" because it's "non partisan" and many liberals value their ability to "stay above the fray and see all sides" more than a willingness to face ugly truth. That's why I believe NPR is just as harmful as Fox in its way because I believe it has an agenda. I never heard any positive coverage of Hillary Clinton in 2015/2016 on NPR. But they couldn't do enough stories about how beloved Bernie Sanders was. That's when I quit listening to NPR forever.
I actually learned a lot on what she IS doing, to my relief. I confess I had a bad impression of her during the campaign, and I was unhappy she'd been chosen for VP. And of late I've been hoping to be proven wrong, and the NPR program was the beginning of that.
Think of all the citizens in prison for doing the Other Guy's dirty work. He's put our country in danger and politics be d*mned, he shouldn't get away with it.
Trump is already getting preferential treatment. No booking photo. No DNA swab. Did not have to surrender his Passport. Any of us would have been subjected to that.
No tropical islands! Only a heavily guarded, isolated, dank, rat infested supermax is good enough for the monster who has endangered all of us by throwing our most precious security intelligence around like it’s trash. He’s proven his malevolence and need to exact revenge on all of us and he has more power and ability to harm us than almost anyone else. Carrying our secrets everywhere with him certainly reflected his pathological need to for power and control. Interestingly, thanks to our failing fourth estate, today is the first I’ve heard of this:
“The Washington Post reported last August that Trump had a habit of carrying top-secret information that could severely damage our national security, leaving it in hotel rooms in hostile nations.”
That might finally do away with the ambiguity that surrounds the prosecution of a president. I believe we must not soften the consequences of what he has done and continues to profit from.
Let alone CNN's VIP coverage of him on that town hall...how idiotic--that CEO deserved the boot! I would prefer he was sent to Rikers...but I don't understand how having round-the-clock secret service protection would look like (imagine how lucky the person assigned to the job would feel)....
Great comment! except for the tRump. The derriere is an oft attractive secondary sex characteristic that originally evolved as one of a handful of adaptations that enabled H. sapiens to run, which our hunter-gatherer ancestors did for hours to wear out prey animals so that we could eat. No other primate has a derriere, and no other primate runs. Harvard's Daniel Lieberman has written about this.
A 5th Avenue redux infects our history...PS: turns out we all lost that treasonous war...
5th Avenue redux...listening to G-rand O-ld P-[otty] apologists yesterday one could almost believe someone was getting away with "murder" yet again, right there on 5th Avenue...
Trump should absolutely go to prison, not house arrest at one of his properties, which could endanger the surrounding communities. I think Guantanamo might be a good place to stash tRump. No news coverage, the same limited ability to communicate as any other prisoner.
Please let’s work together to not elect another Trump ever again. No more “nicey nicey.” Living through the past seven years of having every value I hold dear trampled on and jeered at has left me no wish to placate MAGA at all. This is a vicious, venal movement that celebrates and promotes the worst in us.
I believe that our failure to hold George W Bush and Dick Cheney accountable for the lies they told to instigate war in Iraq has led directly to Trump and Trumpism. Remember Pelosi’s declaration that she didn’t want to impeach them because it would distract Congress and divide the nation? This kind of strategy does NOT foster harmony and only serves to give license to successors to further engage in lawlessness.
Good points all, Barbara. As with Pelosi rejecting impeachment for "harmony," Democrats are as guilty of this behavior as Republicans.
Obama decided to not prosecute the banking and bond-rating executives who caused the Second Great Depression with their mortgage-backed-securities swindle. Why? "We look to the future, not the past."
Wells Fargo has committed so many provable frauds against its own customers that it should be dissolved as a criminal enterprise and its executives prosecuted . . . but all we do is fine them and say "don't do it again or else!"
Protestors who turned violent were neither arrested nor prosecuted for rioting, looting, arson, and other crimes they committed during the Summer of Floyd protests. The governments of Seattle and Portland, to name two, encouraged this destruction by ordering law enforcement to stand down and, in what should never happen in America, approving the physical takeover of several square blocks of Seattle by these same rioters and looters, who then declared that cops and city officials were forbidden to enter their "sovereign" neighborhood. Republicans didn't do that, Democrats did.
Democratic governors, mayors, and state's attorneys no longer prosecute shoplifters. That choice has become a criminal art form in San Francisco, where roving gangs enter stores, take what they want, and walk away to hit the next store, knowing they won't be arrested. Store employees who even protest these brazen crimes, let alone fight back, are fired instead of applauded. The result? Walmart and Walgreens are closing stores right and left in these areas, leaving those who don't steal or loot the poorer.
Presidents Dem and GOP gave the torturers and torture attorneys of the CIA a free pass for their horrendous abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison and secret CIA black sites. A few low-level Army prison guards were convicted; torturer In Chief Gina Haspel was not only not prosecuted, she was promoted to director of the CIA. The two attorneys who wrote the "torture memo" that gave Bush legal cover to open the gates of hell on prisoners sailed into cushy private-sector jobs.
People ask, "Why can't we reduce crime?" This is why. Criminals, whether violent, political, or institutional, aren't stupid. They judge risk and behave accordingly. If we never provide serious and consistent consequences because, "Let bygones be bygones," they commence to steal, abuse, riot, and crime . . . because there's no downside to being caught.
A serious people would stop acting this way. Maybe we're finally taking baby steps to being serious again. The J6 convictions and Trump indictment and prosecution are a start.
Always felt Cheney was running the show and GWB was his puppet. Dick owned a huge hunk of Halliburton stock, the company that supplied the war machine. The Iraq war was a cash cow. There was never any financial benefit to ending it.
Yes. Both Bushes and maybe even Clinton are responsible, not just for Iraq. So much we pushed under the rug. SO much MSM treated as just and necessary when it was terrorism. Sometimes local newspapers have the ability to carry new and editorials that MSM does not, and can call out presidential wrong doing, and other US domineering and aggressive policy.
Historians Heather Cox Richardson and Timothy Snyder have been most reflective concerning the attacks on our country’s democracy.
Gun deaths, book banning, the reduction of voting access and abortion rights, the REPUBLICAN PARTY!…at the bottom of it all, Trump had a fundraiser at his home in Bedminster, NJ, after being arraigned in Miami today on criminal charges brought by the DOJ.
This hurts.
HCR and Timothy Snyder both understand what we are going through. The following quotes reflect Timothy Snyder’s perspective.
“Life is political, not because the world cares about how you feel, but because the world reacts to what you do. The minor choices we make are a kind of vote, making it more or less likely that free and fair elections will be held in the future. In the politics of the everyday, our words and gestures, or their absence, count very much.”
— Timothy Snyder
“Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.”
— Timothy Snyder
“It is your ability to discern facts that makes you an individual, and our collective trust in common knowledge that makes us a society. The individual who investigates is also the citizen who builds. The leader who dislikes the investigators is a potential tyrant.”
— Timothy Snyder
“Authoritarianism arrives not because people say that they want it, but because they lose the ability to distinguish between facts and desires.”
— Timothy Snyder
“Post-truth is pre-fascism.”
— Timothy Snyder
“Modern tyranny is terror management. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that authoritarians exploit such events in order to consolidate power. The sudden disaster that requires the end of checks and balances, the dissolution of opposition parties, the suspension of freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Do not fall for it.”
— Timothy Snyder
“For us, the lesson is that our natural fear and grief must not enable the destruction of our institutions. Courage does not mean not fearing, or not grieving. It does mean recognizing and resisting terror management right away, from the moment of the attack, precisely when it seems most difficult to do so.”
— Timothy Snyder
***
Timothy Snyder is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. He speaks five and reads ten European languages. His eight chief books are Nationalism, Marxism, and Modern Central Europe: A Biography of Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz (1998); The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999 (2003); Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist’s Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine (2005); The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke (2008); Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010), Thinking the Twentieth Century (with Tony Judt, 2012); Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning (2015); On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017); and The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America (2018). He has also co-edited three further books: The Wall Around the West: State Borders and Immigration Controls in Europe and North America (2001); Stalin and Europe: Terror, War, Domination (2013); and The Balkans as Europe (2018). His essays are collected in Ukrainian History, Russian Politics, European Futures (2014), and The Politics of Life and Death (2015). (timothysnyder.org) For a more complete bio, see the link below.
On Fern’s recommendation I became a subscriber to Tim Snyder and the depth and breadth of his analysis of events in the context of history are as breathtaking as Heather.
Both these Historians have a Hegelian grasp of the importance of logically and factually fitting the various bits of information into comprehensible wholes.
But today I am totally humbled by the magnitude of Heathers analysis of the peril we are arriving. Study and ponder todays essay itself an incredible assay of the dangers to the Republic we face.
Art, adding Timothy Snyder to our mix today was not to put him in competition with HCR but to expand our understanding of propaganda and the control of people's sense of identity through both lenses -- the country's historical roots on one hand and fascistic methods of population control on the other.
It was Rachel and Prof Richardson who (seemingly echoing one another) turned me on to Snyder and his "On Tyranny". I've been following him for a while - he scares me to death, but opens my eyes.
We are great fans of Snyder and have several of his books and I read what he has to say on his substack. He understands through his study of the Holocaust and eastern Europe what can happen. Thanks for mentioning him, Fran.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is another watchful and analytical player on the field fighting against authoritarianism and fascism. Her substack: Lucid. Like HCR and Snyder, she speaks truth and pulls back layers exposing current events.
Fern Mc Bride, for as long as I have been a subscriber and reader of Heather’s Letters I have appreciated your own comments afterward. Thank you for being such an instructive contributor in this community. These quotations of Tim Snyder are splendid. I didn’t know of him. Now, thanks to your inclusions here, I can.
I too recommend following Timothy Snyder on Substack. I discovered him by reading his book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. It’s a little book with a lot of wisdom.
sdo in Jax, thank you. I remember a friend crying with joy when he learned that his writing touched readers for its substance and caring. That's why we communicate here and, so, your appreciation means a great deal to me.
On Tyranny is a small book with huge content. It will fit in your back pocket. We all should be carrying it around to share. Thanks Fern for spreading the word about Timothy Snyder’s important writing!
Wow, Mr Synder, just Wow. And to all the authors: getting a mere comment into understandable composition is an effort for me, let alone a ‘Letter’, or a book🤦♀️ !
It’s teaching ...unravel a complex idea, lay out a plan , help us discern right from wrong or truth facts...Y’all amaze me!
Fern, bless you for the Snyder report. I own and have read “Bloodlands” and “Black Earth.” Now looking forward to the book on the Polish artist trying to liberate Ukraine.
It was those two Snyder books and Tony Judt’s on liberal democracy that helped give me a place to look at Trump as his Russia connections increased.
My comment on the Steele Dossier got more liked from Substack readers than I hoped for. The Brits would not have brought it to the FBI had they not found it too credible to ignore. And even if we are hearing that Trump has endangered the “best intelligence service in the world,” that distinction may well be going back to Britain who held it for a couple of centuries (or more) if we cannot get our house in order.
Thank you Fern. I always appreciate your comments! Also I appreciate you highlighting Timothy Snyder. I read his On Tyranny book and have recommended it to many (going so far sometimes to read parts aloud).
I have been reading and following Timothy Snyder for some time--well before Trump--and have been impressed by his work. This kind of clear,cogent, and just plain intelligent thinking is crucial right now. Between Richardson and Snyder , I have been able to both gain a deeper and broader understanding of current events and how we got to where we are.
Jeanne, so happy that you’ve joined ‘‘Thinking about…. ‘ It has widened and deepened my perspective. Timothy Snyder’s wisdom is greatly appreciated, and he’s funny, sometimes. The humor is mostly evident on the videos, which you will see.
Thanks for the post on Timothy Snyder. Important to read him on Ukraine (and how to help Ukraine with donations) PLUS his comments on USA politics. On Tyranny is essential reading. Support local bookstores!!📚
I've just copied that para. ready to paste - you've already done it. (There goes the truth about the "noble South".) This whole Letter is like a laser.
It would be interesting to see a study of just how Christianity is woven into the fabric of what followed in the South and how it spread to the Midwest. It always has amazed me that Black Americans adopted the "White Man's" religion to the extent that they have. The symbol used by the Ku Klux Klan has been the cross. How do Christians see this and rationalize it? At present, it is Christian Evangelicals from whom TFG draws his strongest support. Understanding this is beyond my pay grade. I need help.
Richard, for what it's worth, check out Timothy Egan's latest: "A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who STopped Them". Ironically, I thought, was their war against Catholics as much as against Black folks. So they were obviously pretty selective in their views of Christianity, but then, so are the evangelicals you referenced.
I will get a copy of Egan's book, Sandra. Another really excellent history is Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s "Stoney The Road" about Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow. I think that we may say without too much fear of contradiction that there is a war inside our brains, feelings (the irrational) against the analytical (the rational.) It occurs to me that when we talk about "discipline" in higher eduction, it is the task of the rational, objective struggling to overcome the irrational, subjective feelings. Why, for example, are some men misogynists?
Here's one possible reason for the high rate of misogyny- For men to develop their privileged masculine identity in cultures that insist on men being very different from women, (which they actually aren't) they have to continually reaffirm their masculinity and deny anything in themselves that appears "feminine". This leaves heterosexual men in particular, in a difficult place, since they have to both condemn the feminine while also desiring women.
J Noel. I believe true “masculinity” includes the ability to recognize the desirable traits of “femininity” and embrace them as qualities worthy of personal adoption. Masculinity requires confidence in self
What is more confident than a male defined by all the goodness around him and in him, fearing not the challenges of Alpha males insecure in their wolf pack ranking?
I recommend Pamela Cooper-White's recent book "The Psychology of Christian Nationalism." She is a seminary professor who teaches pastoral care. The book dives into the insecurities of those who latch onto using Christianity as a cudgel. She also has a green light/ yellow light/ red light assessment of who it is worth talking with about their perversion of church and state and who can't be moved.
Interesting, and thank you for this reference. I just purchased Timothy Egan's "A Fever in the Heartland." There is a serious study conducted by two Univ. of Kansas professors, David Smith and Allen Hanley, published in Feb. 2018 entitled "The Anger Games, Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election and Why?" You can google it. Racism, misogyny and xenophobia are the Big Three reasons. No surprise there.
Carl Sagan said it: "The most complicated thing in the known universe is the human brain." Emotion trumps reason. Love can overlook virtually any fault. Pure reason is almost impossible to attain. Critical thinking skills are difficult to obtain and apply. But, to strive to be a critical thinker is a noble task. That having been said, however, the subjective enters the picture and part of the reason I am on this page is because I buy in to Frances Perkins' theory of government 100%: "The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to provide all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life." "All" perhaps should be capitalized.
Stony the Road is fantastic. Robert P. Jones's Substack specifically analyzes Evangelical Christianity's tendency toward fascism. https://robertpjones.substack.com
Richard, perhaps Black Slaves, upon hearing of the salvation offered by Christ, took that message to heart and were inspired by the Holy Spirit, not by “the white man” at all
In the beginnings of Christianity, it was not a white man’s religion, it was a Mankind of followers embracing a teaching.
"In the beginning" it was a Hebrew's religion. Jesus was a rabbi teaching the Jewish holy books at the time. Nothing in the New Testament was written by anyone who ever met Jesus or read anything written by Jesus. From a trial lawyer's point of view, the New Testament is entirely hearsay, written decades after Jesus was hanged by the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:30) and in a different language. Still, this is no more far-fetched than Gabriel, over a 24-year period, dictating to an illiterate desert dweller who later regurgitated it all to scribes, forming the Qur'an. We humans can believe anything if we have the want.
My Pastor once told me, do not look for logic in the Bible, you won’t find it. But rather look to “Faith”
In An Indigenous People’s History of America, the author highly stressed the cultural importance of oral history of events, passed down through the elders as being “the story”
As lawyers require proofs in court, logic rules. Faith is not Logic and religions not courts. My point was that Black Slaves clung to the message of The Good News; not as The White Man’s direction, but rather as inadvertently being exposed to Christ’s message of Salvation through Faith by Grace. There is apower in Faith that defies all Human Understanding. Where’s the Logic in Creation?
Christian missionaries were also responsible for the deaths of countless indigenous Americans, openly preaching that they weren't humans and therefore could be killed, even babies.
Religion tends to flourish in impoverished places, like the south and reservations where God was the only hope in a life of hunger, illness and premature death.
Maybe millions. Consider Columbus and those he killed. Consider the Spaniards and the decimation of indigenous peoples in Mexico and the US (Mexico was a huge part of the US before it was added). Millions across the world have been killed in the name of religion.
Actually, I was referring to post-Civil War America, but you're right, and we could throw in the Crusades as well. We should also note that religion is always mixed up in politics, especially Christianity, which was the engine fueling popular opinion that was strongly supportive of imperialism. The Church of England and the British Empire are a good example.
I’ve wondered about that for a long time. There is a huge discrepancy between the Sermon on the Mount and the Evangelical Church of America. The German theologian, Detrict (sp) Bonehauffer(sp), who lost his life in a concentration camp, said he thought the Black Church was the only really Christian church in America.
Anne-Louise, yes. It is so clearly what it is. The task of unraveling that myth is monumental. So much good material out there that the people who NEED to hear/read/see it will never touch. Material that De Fascist DeSaster is deliberately, systematically creating laws to ban.
And the now thoroughly corrupted "Republican" party, reporting a thoroughly fabricated sense of reality; such as "WANNABE DICTATOR SPEAKS AT THE WHITE HOUSE AFTER HAVING HIS POLITICAL RIVAL ARRESTED" turning any truth, pretty much across the board, on it's head.
somehow the Democrat coalition against the Trump/GOP nexus needs to translate into a meaningful shift in political power. I see the latest Gallop poll indicates a significant increase in socially conservative attitudes in the past 2 years, esp the past year. I'm not sure this bodes well for Democrats.
I watch "Beau of the Fifth Column" on YouTube, and based on the comments he gets which he reports about and answers, he has viewers on the opposing side.
And in a raw and contemptible power-play maneuver, the once "Party of Lincoln" pandered to cast-off Confederate sympathizers, and reinvigorated anti-democratic sentiments of the Civil War.
"The US government’s abysmal decision not merely to pardon the slaveowners but to allow them right back into office to rule the Southern states set up the Civil War we’re presently fighting —against the same vicious agenda of oppression."
Exactly. It is infuriating that seditionists have been reelected or elected to Congress instead of being arrested, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned.
Alexandra As a kid I used to sing ‘Pardon me boys, is the the Chattanooga choo choo.’ In my innocence, pardon was a polite word.
As an adult, I find ‘pardon’ more convoluted. Accidental president Andrew Johnson showered pardons on countless Southerners to sabotage what millions had fought for and Lincoln had died for.
President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for his Tricky Dick. As a member of the Nixon White House Enemies List, initially I was aghast. On reflection, I have come to support Ford’s initiative to heal the nation, though this heel still has no sole.
Reagan’s and Bush’s Irangate pardons were, in my opinion, a clear violation of the spirit of the Constitution. That Perpetrator Donald is bloviating about pardoning those incarcerated for the January 6th insurrection is an unpardonable application of the pardon privilege.
Keith, thanks for that memory - I sang Chattanooga in all-women jazz ensembles in college. Always a crowd-pleaser! I think/hope that tfg's pardon bloviating (a word invented for him) is starting to backfire, though.
I completely agree with your comment. I’m hoping that we learn from THIS go round with abused democracy and upended liberties and start using common sense when dealing with the congressional folk who support and have supported insurrection all along, misdeeds, mayhem - the whole shebang - get those folk fired for failing to uphold their own oaths to defend our Constitution.
We need serious house cleaning or we’re just setting ourselves up for continued b.s. from extreme right leaning folk who can’t think outside of their own polluted ideologies. They are wasting the tax payer dime.
PJ, 100%. The conduct of some congresspeople and senators has been outright treasonous. I'm afraid voting them out is our only option for purging them - it won't come from inside the House.
I am uncertain as to the first part of your last sentence, but wholeheartedly, agree, grievous error was made when slaveowners were allowed back into office to rule southern states.
You are so right. If only Mr. Lincoln could have guessed that by installing Johnson as his VP, he would open the possibility of reversing much of what he accomplished. He took Johnson in in order to have a border state allied with the Union. I always ask if he could have succeeded without Johnson and my answer is yes. But no one goes through life without making huge golly woopers. I don't care to express mine but there are several. And Trump is just the continuation of what has gone wrong with this nation. Let us grieve but let us rejoice for future possibilities.
In HRC's book "How the South Won the Civil War" she explained that developing the resources of the Western States required access to capital and suppression of human rights, and the Cowboy persona of the GOP. W. F. Buckley's "Man and God at Yale" drove home the fact that power trumps reason while attacking FDR's new deal. And the last 42 years we've been living through Reagan's trickle-down economy, which says we don't need taxes from the wealthy when we can borrow the money to fund the government.
Neither the DEM or the GOP are right. The fact of life, from microbes to humans, is the ability to foresee the future, and act on that forecast, called foresight. The winner in this game of life are those that do it better then the next guy. Practice with your monthly bank statement. Internalize the use of reason, compliance, identity and any other tools to reduce that prediction error. Then once you can predict you can try to control. At least to some extent. Use your best judgment and resources to advance humanity.
"The ideology of the Confederacy never became odious, and it has lived on.”
I'm thoroughly confused by the "absolute" tone of this sentence.
Where I grew up, that ideology was considered odious, dangerous and deadly.
I can understand if the statement above refers to the power classes of the South generally and some other places, but surely my small town in New England was not the only place to see it--that story spun to justify the war, thievery and murder, continuing to today-- as we did, no?
Debby, I grew up in California and certainly in my parents' circles Confederate ideas were considered odious, but I read HCR's sentence to mean "universally odious." Given the lightning speed at which she puts these incredibly detailed and footnoted posts together, there are bound to be a few places that we could quibble with a word or phrase!
How important is it to Americans today to try to avoid the potential for internal conflict that might result from the conviction and sentencing of the former president? How important is that potential to those who must run for office? We answered these questions incorrectly after the Civil War and Watergate. Yet we survived. Sort of, anyway. The 'documents' case is a 'slam dunk' but his other misdeeds, not among its charges, are worse. As we insist that justice must prevail, we must be aware of the consequences that might follow. That is when democracy will be on the line and challenged by the political equivalent of 'comfort food' which while tasty may not be particularly nourishing.
Not prosecuting and punishing Confederate leaders and Nixon helps explain the rampant lawlessness of GOP leaders today. That said, the prison sentences given to hundreds of J6 insurrectionists appear to be a deterrent. Same will hold true for Trump.
We just can’t continue to let bad deeds go “basically unpunished” and justify it by saying it is being done for the good or well-being of the country. People - no matter who - must be held to account for their misgivings - their bad deeds and intentions! A slap on the wrist sets poor examples and offers no warnings for others who may do worst in the future.
Trump has done or instigated a number of bad deeds most of his life - while others are paying the time for him - and them - doing the crime (Cohen, Weisselberg and ...). The Rules Must Apply to each and every American and certainly for this one - a former POTUS - who has brought out or helped to bring to the forefront the worst in a frightening percentage of our fellow American citizens!
That is the truest reveal! THAT is the lesson given us and WHY we must point out the principle , the folly , because if NOT...those that still are/were complicit will just improve the plot ( those further blurred boundaries) and DO.IT.AGAIN.
We are undergoing a nasty crime wave here in Oakland by juveniles who believe that they are above the law. If they see a guy like Trump getting away with murder they will figure it’s all okay. Rule by aging adolescents doesn’t do anybody any good and it sends exactly the wrong message to the young and vulnerable.
And, let's not forget what the Northern industrialists got for the compromise that put Hayes in the White House and pulled troops out of the former Confederate states - suppression of labor. All those armories all over the nation, Federal troops shooting strikers was also part of the price we all paid for returning the Confederate aristocracy to power.
And all we need now is a conviction. Yep, that's it. Oh, and an absolute thrashing of Republicans at the polls. And voters to wake up to their true interests, yeah, that too. And maybe this paddle ball ...
Educate and Motivate ... all Democrats and Independents - especially those registered to vote but who tend not to participate in the electoral process(es)!!!
And it has been reported that the justice department has 1000 more J6 actors to begin prosecuting. After one spends time as a guest of the Federal Government, one usually doesn't want to repeat the experience thus less "patriots" primed for violence showing up at his self-declared rallies. And TFG seems to have forgotten his pledge to pay their legal fees.
Trump may not have looked at Jack Smith, but he told his droolers tonight that Smith was "obviously scared to death of me." It must have come to him from the psychic declassification power he has.
Of course, it must have been the other way round: tfg being scared to death of Jack Smith. It's almost funny how the blond monster can twist and turn the facts and truth at will, still running around free, buying a few blind followers 'food', giving 'speeches' (i.e. adding lies to previous lies), insulting and threatening people like Mr. Smith and his family, while hundreds of his minions are already behind bars. WHEN will he finally join them?
Restoring credibility has a long list ahead. Doing it to establish The Truth means Cannon recuses herself/The Supreme Court follows Ethical Behaviors/politicians pass and follow laws for ALL those WE The People/News people , salesmen, drug companies, Drs, Lawyers, CEOs, Corporations..............
“WANNABE DICTATOR SPEAKS AT THE WHITE HOUSE AFTER HAVING HIS POLITICAL RIVAL ARRESTED.” -- That news agencies can publish or televise such blatantly inflammatory and baseless statements without legal consequences remains a serious issue. Free speech is one thing when there are facts to support what is said. Without the supporting evidence, statements like these are libel and should be prosecuted as such.
How I wish, Rupert would be behind bars. However, when he bought the WSJ, he bought journalistic bona fides. He’s just an uglier Goebbels with a lot of clones these days
That's right, Nancy. Though it only applied to broadcast media, it was abolished by the FCC under the Regan administration. It never applied to print or cable media. Web-based media wasn't even a thing at that time.
Sometimes the Universe gives you a huge gift and you feel on the right path.
Yesterday I was walking by the bar in the former Trump Hotel in DC and read the CNN chyron HCR quoted above.
"DONALD TRUMP UNDER ARREST...."
I just had to sit down, order a beer and toast the moment, in that place. People farther back in the beautiful sun drenched lobby-atrium applauded and cheered. There was a huge American flag hanging just above our heads.
4-5 days ago I had no intention or need to be there. A friend who produces shows called and asked if I could work a lunch gig there yesterday. It was a small event, but he needed camera help. I was available and agreed to do it...not knowing where it was in DC or who would be there.
It turned out to be in Trumps former Old Post Office Hotel with folks like former US Senator Barbara Mikulski & Congresswoman & Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Republican Ambassador and former Congresswoman Connie Morella who I had done some work with years ago . (She can quote Shakespeare accurately...along with a lot of other worthy people)
I was honored to be there and loved the extreme irony of it all. For more on that, check out my page.
Wow, thanks, Mike, for sharing this. I have memories of the Old Post Office on PA Avenue when it was a post office, well before 45 took it over. It was a grand place to take one's mail to be posted!
It's an incredible building. I love the atrium/lobby. The only down side is gold & mirrors in too many places and huge chandeliers. A little bit would be fine but DJT went wild.
Derek, yes it really is. His big ballroom has more mirrors, gold plating and huge chandeliers than any other ballroom I've ever worked in...but then I've never worked in Bagdad, Moscow or Pyongyang....
check out the photos on my page...the next time there's a significant Trump moment go there. Most of the staff I talked with said the clients have gotten much nicer to deal with. However the bar tender could read my glee...and he didn't want to engage.
"Federal officials permitting politics to trump the rule of law in our past have brought us to this moment." And then starting with our well-intentioned-and-exploited-ever-since resolution to the Civil War: EXACTLY. No one executed in 1865 (we took part in Nuremburg and were more than happy to execute Nazis--so long as they weren't our own racist-fascists. Similarly, we now LOVE to make holocaust museums and monuments about the horrors of OTHER nations/places. Slavery museum? Not so much) or even imprisoned. A few years later, we had Reconstruction flailing, Jubal Early rewriting history, and half our country, once again, zombiiing a renewed course to where we are today. It's a simplification, but at its core--this Christian-nationalist-fascist-phony conservative values freakazoid coalition--along with still TONS of less-fervant, more ordinary folks who haven't figured out that someone who claims to be "conservative" and wants to overthrow the government, commit espionage, commit wanton violence AND reneg the Constitution itself might just be more dangerous than a "liberal" who's trying to, basically, do ordinary government kinds of things--the number of people who still ascribe to this...but hey, at least they're staying home. Seriously though, the number of fairly UNzealous Americans who STILL obtusely cling to this (the "I know Trump is a terrible guy and did all those things, but it's still better than Biden" crowd. WHAT?) is stunning.
However, other initiatives for building slavery museums have failed, e.g., United States National Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg, VA, and a National Museum of Slavery in Richmond, VA. Obviously, it's an uphill battle.
That Faux Noise all-caps "Wannabe Dictator" chyron got me chuckling in my PJs. Truly, every accusation is a confession. Apparently, President Brandon is both a senile puppet *and* a dictatorial mafia-esque mastermind. Such range; he contains multitudes! Meanwhile, TFG remains MAGA's Magnificent Mastermind, even though still hasn't figured out after almost 80 years that a shower is not the most hospitable environment for paperwork.
Concocted drama? Of course! Yet, like most drama, how revealing it is about the audience who chooses to view it. The folks who eagerly invite this saga of paranoia and projection into their homes on the daily... how sadly stunted their view must be, to find any validation or sense of truth in these malicious fictions. Their worldview is so authoritarian that they seem unable to countenance that a political leader might *not* be a ruthless dictator-in-waiting, so anti-intellectual that the idea of a civil servant acting impartially reeks of impossibility, so tribal they seem unable to see anyone of differing beliefs as worthy citizens. For, or against. Rule, or be destroyed. US inside the castle, THEM outside the moat. Over the side with the boiling oil!
Constantly biblical, colorfully unhinged, and utterly exhausting.
I don't wish ill on any of these misguided folks, I really don't. It's just that every time their fears come true, I sleep a little easier.
There is a Facebook meme of the boxes stacked in the bathroom, with the caption reading "Archivists, knowing a bathroom is not a place to store paper, are aghast!
Sick and tired of hearing about there being “one law for everyone”. No mugshot, digital fingerprints, no bail, no restrictions on travel and no restrictions regarding firearms. This is not the same treatment given thousands of people daily by a system that is designed to humiliate and frighten ordinary citizens who are supposedly “innocent until proven guilty”. Don’t tell me there are not different laws for the rich and powerful.
Question... if a convicted felon (free or otherwise) cannot vote in many states in the US, how can a president be allowed to fulfill his duties from jail?
Because being a felon is not listed as disqualifying in the Constitution, since the Founders were silly enough to think that no person so dishonorable would run for the office and that none of the intelligent, independent citizens of the new republic would ever vote for such a dispicable individual.
Wow, did they get that wrong 😳 It's unfathomable to me that over 30% of this country still back the despicable ex-president. It is time that our justice system proves " no one is above the law"
The Founders knew that a tyrant could have his opponents arrested and convicted, there by disqualifying them for public office.
Putin does it. The guy in Belarus does it.
John Lewis was arrested for the Freedom Rides and and spent 37 days in Parchman Prison. MLK Junior was convicted of breaking parole and threatened with six months hard labor. Eugene Debs was serving time for unionizing.
Think of Florida. Any teacher or librarian who challenges DeSantis's book bans will be - if convicted - ineligible for state office.
Now, if Jack Smith brings January 6th charges, I believe that's disqualifies Trump in the Constitution.
But in a country where states have been allowed in the past to criminalize political expression we should not allow a conviction to be a bar to office.
It needcs it, but not now - the Article V Convention people who are inching closer to getting the necessary number of states to call a convention are all far right wingers. Let's remember that the original convention was called to consider changes to the Articles of Confederation, not to write a new constitution. We don't want to have that happen nowadays!
Right, and there’s the issue of his security clearance too. Why would anyone grant him clearance after this? He’s kind of burned his bridges with that, I’d think. But then, I’m not in charge.
Correction: you are in charge through your VOTE. You decide who will be in charge. Do not rest. Continue to get those graduating High School Seniors registered to vote, engage friends, family, co-workers, neighbors in rational civil conversations about what the Democratic Party is doing for the people of this country. Participate in local politics by staying aware of how your elected leaders are governing and holding them accountable with your votes. Sign up to work on elections. Tell your cable company you want to cancel Fox News, Newsmax, OANN, and (dare I say it) CNN and get your price reduced. November 12, 2024 will be here before you know it. We have work to do. Get cracking.
Yes I agree and the first thing he would do if he became POTUS again would be to pardon himself.The Constitution must be overhauled to deal with this situation. It is unfathomable that it is currently legal that this man could become our leader again.
I'm suddenly thinking how with that amazing mind, he may have already re-elected himself and declared himself king. We all saw he wildly envious admiration of the royalty digs and adulation when he traveled--especially Saudi travel. All those great ideas in that amazing mind planning his return to power. He'll teach we Americans how a kind should be treated.
How to convince DT’s supporters that he will ruin their lives as he destroys democracy. That if they want “normalcy” they need to vote in Democrats and get Citizens United (corporate power which pours money into destroying the middle class) overturned.
I sense a real similarity here to the 2008 uber-bank bailout that has turned a high-but-reasonable national debt into an oh-my-god-what-will-we-do national debt. It's the same argument: "Those silly, rich fools who (crashed the economy, defrauded millions, attempted a coup, etc.) have been humiliated enough on social media. A few of them actually got fired! (gasp!) Actually taking them to court to find out exactly what they did and to punish them is just too, too, traumatic for...well...somebody!" Crooked politicians aren't the only ones accustomed to a free pass.
A former president heading to criminal court is big news--hence the filming. The motorcade is part of the Secret Service protection presidents receive for life. They aren't normal citizens in any meaningful sense.
The media needs a spectacle for clicks & views: it’s a horse race. I think they’d only cut away from the motorcade if there was yet another school/supermarket/synagogue/church shooting or another train derailment.
It is years past due for yes, even Presidents, to be accountable before the laws of this land. Mr. Trump will finally be prosecuted in a court of law and will learn “consequences” of his actions as he should have done as a child who was coddled by a crook for a father and has exhibited nothing short of outrageous, careless, sadistic and narcissistic behavior for a long lifetime of offenses. May the judge be worthy of the challenge or recuse herself as she likely should given her previous deference to Trump in these crimes.
From the reconstruction debacle (covers a lot of territory), people going to church and then having picnics while watching lynchings during Jim Crow era (which some are attempting to resurrect), the coup of 1933; Roosevelt was knee-deep in depression to deal with those perps. I don’t think I need to detail further since more recent ones are common knowledge. Google knows. Sorry, I don’t write a substack, so don’t do notes.
Historians rarely call a spade a spade. With Fascist Trump, NOW, this may be changing. American must stare down racism, fascism, prejudice and what-aboutism NOW.
Read all about it! It started with a most spirited and capable but uneducated WOMAN. She was terrific before her time, hated and denigrated by Fascist Criminal Tricky Dick running for congress. She was loved and elected. Her instincts were ahead of het time.
Fascism started before Sens. Jos. McCarthy, and Richard M. Nixon, and was not truly resisted by IKE. Gen. Eisenhower’s fear of GOP fascism, Rep. Jos. McCarthy and guys like Trump cratered resolve in the post war GOP. That’s lasted.
Weak decent heavy drinker President Jerry Ford blinked. Snotty antisemitic Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush blocked Gov. Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller because he was divorced and liberal.
This insidious aspect of our present must be outed NOW with Trump as a catalyst ..
Historians rarely call a spade a spade. With Fascist Trump, NOW, this may be changing. Americans must stare down racism, fascism, prejudice and what-aboutism RIGHT NOW.
Read all about it! It started with a most spirited and capable but uneducated wonderful WOMAN. She was terrific before her time, hated and denigrated by Fascist Criminal Tricky Dick running for congress. She was loved and elected. Her instincts were ahead of her time. Lost to Tricky Dick. Moved to NYC, her birthday place.
Fascism like slavery started long before Sens. Jos. McCarthy, and Richard M. Nixon, and was not truly or deeply resisted by IKE. Gen. Eisenhower’s fear of GOP fascism, Rep. Jos. McCarthy and guys like Trump cratered Republican resolve in the post war GOP. Abraham Lincoln was forgotten!
That’s lasted.
Weak, decent, heavy drinker President Jerry Ford blinked. Snotty antisemitic Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush blocked Gov. Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller - because he was divorced and a true Republican liberal.
This insidious aspect of our past and present must be outed NOW with Trump as a catalyst ..
Thanks for reminding us of this righteously fierce, outspoken and heroic woman of my childhood. I treasure all of these wonderful women who paved the path for today's (ongoing) struggle.
Things are falling apart for Trump and his GOP competitors know it. However, given the desire to win over Trump’s 25% base, a successful GOP competitor (say, DeSantis), would likely pardon Trump assuming a criminal conviction follows after the 2024 election. Such an outcome would assure Trump political tactics for another decade-plus instead of a likely reform and moderation of the GOP from within. All the more reason for Never-Trump & former Trump Republicans & independent voters to vote Democratic.
“In the end, between President Andrew Johnson’s pardons and Congress’s granting of amnesty to Confederates, no one was convicted for their participation in the attempt to destroy the country…. The ideology of the Confederacy never became odious, and it has lived on.”
Thanks to HCR to bringing this all back to what I have come to believe is THE key tragedy and failure of the Civil War. MAGAs are the ideological heirs of the slave powers and the poorer Southern whites they duped. The US government’s abysmal decision not merely to pardon the slaveowners but to allow them right back into office to rule the Southern states set up the Civil War we’re presently fighting —against the same vicious agenda of oppression.
Absolutely yes to this--we won the war but lost the peace. We gave the Confederacy a pass to "heal" the nation, we gave Nixon a pass to "heal" the nation. But those failures to sanction healed nothing, it made the infections worse. "Let's be nice to them" told criminals we're not serious about stopping them, and they took us at their word.
Trump, if convicted, must be sent to prison, without apology or pity. Without that, why would the next Trump we elect NOT act the same way?
I believe that corruption is abuse of entrusted power, and since Nixon we have seen it grow. The more lies and "dirty tricks" (some of them gravely damaging behaviors) self-serving politicians and politically connected individuals have perpetrated, the more extreme these actions have become. It is clear that Trump, his indicted co-conspirators, and the selfie-snapping cosplaytriots of January 6th were so blatant in their illegal and unethical behavior because they fully expected to evade accountability. Some of them, and others like them, had been doing so for far too long. One of the primary purposes of law is to establish and publicize certain boundaries that should never be crossed.
Time to do some rewriting of the rules. The “crying fire in a crowded theater” law needs expanding. Republicans who weaponized the DOJ with Trump/Barr and who spent 40 years trying to prevent HRC from giving US the intelligent compassionate laws she worked on, and who gave US a SCOTUS that would be laughable were it not tragic for the nation, are pouring out propaganda trying to bring US to autocracy.
JD Vance’s and Tuberville’s “holds” need to be reversed and the rule changed. It’s not any more useful than the destruction of January 6th.
Thank you to all the “likes.” I have been watching Republicans since Eisenhower. They have become increasingly unhinged, supporting ever more undemocratic leaders and believing their lies (supported by “monied interests) until now they are not the opposition to but the enemy of democracy. The pandemic (not mentioning DT the Capstone) and the tax cuts exacerbated the problem already posed by the Roberts court’s Citizens United.
Citizens United made corruption the official business of the US government.
Yes. This and a few other SCOTUS rulings made it legal to bribe politicians, and that's been a disaster.
By the will and the whim of a very biased Court. Neutrality and objectivity became the victims of a throw-away judicial process.
100% agree - Our Constitution is corrupted to the core.
As a song by Tears for Fears says, Republican leaders and their pundits play "the politics of greed". They are not the only players, but as a group, they appear to consider personal profits as primary.
THE PARTY !!! of MAMMONITES ! & Gross POWERGRAB !
The enemy of the founding principles of the Republican Party as well. The label is an anachronism; the "Plutocratic Party" is more apt.
This could have all been stopped if the Senate had voted to impeach tfg! The one thing they should have done to earn their pay! I will never forgive them as long as I live! Those that are elected waste more time by not doing what that should. If they truly did what they are elected for....what a wonderful country we would have today in 2023!
Given climate change, I think the crime is older than Trump: SCOTUS 2000.
It's tricky. The original "falsely shouting fire" example reflected actual tragedies and is a strong example, but SCOTUS decided that the same standard should be applied to those openly opposing the draft, which was the issue in which the famous example was offered. In 1969 opinion was restricted to "advocacy of the use of force or of law violation ... where such advocacy is directed to inciting or producing imminent lawless action and is likely to incite or produce such action." Something equivalent to encouraging an immanent insurrection.
Whether as a matter of law of decency I think it is vital to functional governance to consider significant lies to the public from people in critically important governmental positions should be considered a deal breaker by the preponderance of the public. Lies support tragic wars, racism and excess deaths due to disease when told by authorities. As with falsely shouting fire in a theater, some lies can kill.
Liars and treasonous tigers and unbearable bears oh my! Cowards all...
An outpouring of despicable rhetoric flowing from the mouths of G-rand O-ld P-[otty] apologists yesterday.
Cosplaytriots! Good one!
I borrowed it, but it seems to really nail the phenomenon, except that they are allowed to carry real guns. We at least should back away from calling them "militias" as the body of the Constitution speaks of them. "Armed Gangs" (such as Bundy's) may be the most accurate way to describe them, as they present no societal necessity. Indeed, "militias" were considered needed to repel precisely the sort of action that occurred at the Capitol on Jan. 6th.
Good way of putting it, J L, that corruption is abuse of entrusted power. It applies to politicians, business leader, pastors, Little League coaches, everyone who is given power over other people.
Trump is what happens when you tell a child "no, that's wrong, don't do that again," he gives you the finger while throwing a tantrum, and you give him ice cream instead of correction. We're in a cultural stage of that now, and all the worse for it.
I think that politics is the process that decides whose will prevails, and that can be coercive or cooperative. Right wingers like to cherry pick the violent side of nature as proof of "let them hate us so long as they fear us" being the inevitable way of the world, but note that living things also cooperate, often inter-species and even at the unicellular level. Humans would be a pretty pathetic species without cooperation. My dog (like all dogs, a subspecies of wolf) can run rings around me and has much sharper tooth and claw. Indeed, the word "fascist" implies cooperation, but to bully, not to liberate.
Deciding what "we" will do starts with the wail of an infant, and is often a conundrum in families, highly considerate ones or not. And a conundrum in organizations, voluntary and those with "good" and "bad" bosses. Republicans of the day want to rule the roost, even dictate what people do in their bedrooms. That's despotism. Democracy is DIY, but that means accepting a share of responsibility as well as choice, 'cause you can't be in charge if you just want to watch the game. We need to learn to negotiate, while honoring liberty and justice for all. That means optimum openness but you don't get to cut the baby in half.
Very well stated, JL
And many of these “patriots “ lie in wait for their redemption and their pardons from the next “ president Trump” which is “ surely coming “. And our tax dollars fund this assault and insult?
Trump should absolutely go to prison, not house arrest at one of his properties, which could endanger the surrounding communities. I think Guantanamo might be a good place to stash tRump. No news coverage, the same limited ability to communicate as any other prisoner.
I totally agree Jenn and thank you for bringing up no news coverage. I was absolutely appalled that the NYT covered the solemn legal event yesterday like a celebrity tour. Tfg stopping at a restaurant to shake some hands is free publicity for a politician not news. It never covers President Biden’s many trips like that. Vice President Harris isn’t covered at all. TFG has been anointed front runner when he should be called compulsive liar with a long criminal past. Enough!
Yes! My right wing family thinks VP Harris isn't doing anything. That's why.
NPR had a program yesterday ‘Is Kamala Harris a liability for Biden’s re-election?’ I didn’t listen. But seriously THAT’S what they want to talk about?!
Yikes! As we’ve learned in the last seven years, if a lie is repeated often enough, it becomes the truth in some peoples minds.
It’s getting harder by the day to support NPR. I have done so for years, but “equal time” is no longer equal. It was supposed to present two possibilities. Now it’s mostly what aboutism versus facts.
There needs to be more press on Harris. She's done a lot of internal work in Central and South America to help eradicate immigration from it's source! Sad that no one ever hears about that, right?
The liberals I know who listen to NPR really believe NPR speaks "truth" because it's "non partisan" and many liberals value their ability to "stay above the fray and see all sides" more than a willingness to face ugly truth. That's why I believe NPR is just as harmful as Fox in its way because I believe it has an agenda. I never heard any positive coverage of Hillary Clinton in 2015/2016 on NPR. But they couldn't do enough stories about how beloved Bernie Sanders was. That's when I quit listening to NPR forever.
I actually learned a lot on what she IS doing, to my relief. I confess I had a bad impression of her during the campaign, and I was unhappy she'd been chosen for VP. And of late I've been hoping to be proven wrong, and the NPR program was the beginning of that.
That's disgusting!
I have been an NPR member for 5 decades, even living in Mexico since 2010. Re-considering.....
it was an excellent overview of KH.. both before the election when she was running and after as #2.......
I heard that program on NPR also and was sickened by it.
I feel so sorry for you....
I think it is time to officially boycott the NYT!
The creepy VPs get the PR; Spiro Agnew, Dick Cheney.
Think of all the citizens in prison for doing the Other Guy's dirty work. He's put our country in danger and politics be d*mned, he shouldn't get away with it.
Kaczynski's cell is available.
I'd even pay to clean the cell for Agent Orange. We are thoughtful that way.
Trump is already getting preferential treatment. No booking photo. No DNA swab. Did not have to surrender his Passport. Any of us would have been subjected to that.
I fear that the only sentence that could be practically imposed is exile, like Napoleon. A small Samoa island would do.
No place warm, maybe an island off the coast of Alaska, where staying warm takes effort.
This suggestion has resonance for me. Cold, not gold, and certainly no real estate for golf links.
His bulk would keep him warm until the burgers ran out.
Maybe one that would eventually be submerged?
No tropical islands! Only a heavily guarded, isolated, dank, rat infested supermax is good enough for the monster who has endangered all of us by throwing our most precious security intelligence around like it’s trash. He’s proven his malevolence and need to exact revenge on all of us and he has more power and ability to harm us than almost anyone else. Carrying our secrets everywhere with him certainly reflected his pathological need to for power and control. Interestingly, thanks to our failing fourth estate, today is the first I’ve heard of this:
“The Washington Post reported last August that Trump had a habit of carrying top-secret information that could severely damage our national security, leaving it in hotel rooms in hostile nations.”
https://hartmannreport.com/p/how-much-damage-has-the-trump-putin-dfb?utm_source=%2Finbox&utm_medium=reader2
I regularly read the Hartmann Report- Thom's usually spot on in his assessments.
That might finally do away with the ambiguity that surrounds the prosecution of a president. I believe we must not soften the consequences of what he has done and continues to profit from.
Let alone CNN's VIP coverage of him on that town hall...how idiotic--that CEO deserved the boot! I would prefer he was sent to Rikers...but I don't understand how having round-the-clock secret service protection would look like (imagine how lucky the person assigned to the job would feel)....
Great comment! except for the tRump. The derriere is an oft attractive secondary sex characteristic that originally evolved as one of a handful of adaptations that enabled H. sapiens to run, which our hunter-gatherer ancestors did for hours to wear out prey animals so that we could eat. No other primate has a derriere, and no other primate runs. Harvard's Daniel Lieberman has written about this.
"I like big butts and I cannot lie..."
YESSS !!
And there is at least one "Trump-like" candidate already waiting his turn to destroy our democracy.
A 5th Avenue redux infects our history...PS: turns out we all lost that treasonous war...
5th Avenue redux...listening to G-rand O-ld P-[otty] apologists yesterday one could almost believe someone was getting away with "murder" yet again, right there on 5th Avenue...
Trump should absolutely go to prison, not house arrest at one of his properties, which could endanger the surrounding communities. I think Guantanamo might be a good place to stash tRump. No news coverage, the same limited ability to communicate as any other prisoner.
I hope they took his passport.
Heard that he didn't have to surrender it.
Please let’s work together to not elect another Trump ever again. No more “nicey nicey.” Living through the past seven years of having every value I hold dear trampled on and jeered at has left me no wish to placate MAGA at all. This is a vicious, venal movement that celebrates and promotes the worst in us.
I believe that our failure to hold George W Bush and Dick Cheney accountable for the lies they told to instigate war in Iraq has led directly to Trump and Trumpism. Remember Pelosi’s declaration that she didn’t want to impeach them because it would distract Congress and divide the nation? This kind of strategy does NOT foster harmony and only serves to give license to successors to further engage in lawlessness.
Good points all, Barbara. As with Pelosi rejecting impeachment for "harmony," Democrats are as guilty of this behavior as Republicans.
Obama decided to not prosecute the banking and bond-rating executives who caused the Second Great Depression with their mortgage-backed-securities swindle. Why? "We look to the future, not the past."
Wells Fargo has committed so many provable frauds against its own customers that it should be dissolved as a criminal enterprise and its executives prosecuted . . . but all we do is fine them and say "don't do it again or else!"
Protestors who turned violent were neither arrested nor prosecuted for rioting, looting, arson, and other crimes they committed during the Summer of Floyd protests. The governments of Seattle and Portland, to name two, encouraged this destruction by ordering law enforcement to stand down and, in what should never happen in America, approving the physical takeover of several square blocks of Seattle by these same rioters and looters, who then declared that cops and city officials were forbidden to enter their "sovereign" neighborhood. Republicans didn't do that, Democrats did.
Democratic governors, mayors, and state's attorneys no longer prosecute shoplifters. That choice has become a criminal art form in San Francisco, where roving gangs enter stores, take what they want, and walk away to hit the next store, knowing they won't be arrested. Store employees who even protest these brazen crimes, let alone fight back, are fired instead of applauded. The result? Walmart and Walgreens are closing stores right and left in these areas, leaving those who don't steal or loot the poorer.
Presidents Dem and GOP gave the torturers and torture attorneys of the CIA a free pass for their horrendous abuse of prisoners at Abu Ghraib Prison and secret CIA black sites. A few low-level Army prison guards were convicted; torturer In Chief Gina Haspel was not only not prosecuted, she was promoted to director of the CIA. The two attorneys who wrote the "torture memo" that gave Bush legal cover to open the gates of hell on prisoners sailed into cushy private-sector jobs.
People ask, "Why can't we reduce crime?" This is why. Criminals, whether violent, political, or institutional, aren't stupid. They judge risk and behave accordingly. If we never provide serious and consistent consequences because, "Let bygones be bygones," they commence to steal, abuse, riot, and crime . . . because there's no downside to being caught.
A serious people would stop acting this way. Maybe we're finally taking baby steps to being serious again. The J6 convictions and Trump indictment and prosecution are a start.
Always felt Cheney was running the show and GWB was his puppet. Dick owned a huge hunk of Halliburton stock, the company that supplied the war machine. The Iraq war was a cash cow. There was never any financial benefit to ending it.
Yes. Both Bushes and maybe even Clinton are responsible, not just for Iraq. So much we pushed under the rug. SO much MSM treated as just and necessary when it was terrorism. Sometimes local newspapers have the ability to carry new and editorials that MSM does not, and can call out presidential wrong doing, and other US domineering and aggressive policy.
I was still a teen when Ford pardoned Nixon and even I KNEW it would come back and bite us in the ass.
IF this trial is conducted PROPERLY, the Rule of Law will STILL be the law of the land.
Thanks for all the likes, everyone, very much appreciate you took the time.
Exactly, why wouldn’t they?
Historians Heather Cox Richardson and Timothy Snyder have been most reflective concerning the attacks on our country’s democracy.
Gun deaths, book banning, the reduction of voting access and abortion rights, the REPUBLICAN PARTY!…at the bottom of it all, Trump had a fundraiser at his home in Bedminster, NJ, after being arraigned in Miami today on criminal charges brought by the DOJ.
This hurts.
HCR and Timothy Snyder both understand what we are going through. The following quotes reflect Timothy Snyder’s perspective.
“Life is political, not because the world cares about how you feel, but because the world reacts to what you do. The minor choices we make are a kind of vote, making it more or less likely that free and fair elections will be held in the future. In the politics of the everyday, our words and gestures, or their absence, count very much.”
— Timothy Snyder
“Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power, because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle. The biggest wallet pays for the most blinding lights.”
— Timothy Snyder
“It is your ability to discern facts that makes you an individual, and our collective trust in common knowledge that makes us a society. The individual who investigates is also the citizen who builds. The leader who dislikes the investigators is a potential tyrant.”
— Timothy Snyder
“Authoritarianism arrives not because people say that they want it, but because they lose the ability to distinguish between facts and desires.”
— Timothy Snyder
“Post-truth is pre-fascism.”
— Timothy Snyder
“Modern tyranny is terror management. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that authoritarians exploit such events in order to consolidate power. The sudden disaster that requires the end of checks and balances, the dissolution of opposition parties, the suspension of freedom of expression, the right to a fair trial, and so on, is the oldest trick in the Hitlerian book. Do not fall for it.”
— Timothy Snyder
“For us, the lesson is that our natural fear and grief must not enable the destruction of our institutions. Courage does not mean not fearing, or not grieving. It does mean recognizing and resisting terror management right away, from the moment of the attack, precisely when it seems most difficult to do so.”
— Timothy Snyder
***
Timothy Snyder is the Richard C. Levin Professor of History at Yale University and a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. He speaks five and reads ten European languages. His eight chief books are Nationalism, Marxism, and Modern Central Europe: A Biography of Kazimierz Kelles-Krauz (1998); The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999 (2003); Sketches from a Secret War: A Polish Artist’s Mission to Liberate Soviet Ukraine (2005); The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke (2008); Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010), Thinking the Twentieth Century (with Tony Judt, 2012); Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning (2015); On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century (2017); and The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America (2018). He has also co-edited three further books: The Wall Around the West: State Borders and Immigration Controls in Europe and North America (2001); Stalin and Europe: Terror, War, Domination (2013); and The Balkans as Europe (2018). His essays are collected in Ukrainian History, Russian Politics, European Futures (2014), and The Politics of Life and Death (2015). (timothysnyder.org) For a more complete bio, see the link below.
https://timothysnyder.org/bio
In addition to T. Snyder's books, which were listed at the end of my comment, the link to his substack: Thinking about.... is below.
https://snyder.substack.com/
On Fern’s recommendation I became a subscriber to Tim Snyder and the depth and breadth of his analysis of events in the context of history are as breathtaking as Heather.
Both these Historians have a Hegelian grasp of the importance of logically and factually fitting the various bits of information into comprehensible wholes.
But today I am totally humbled by the magnitude of Heathers analysis of the peril we are arriving. Study and ponder todays essay itself an incredible assay of the dangers to the Republic we face.
Art, adding Timothy Snyder to our mix today was not to put him in competition with HCR but to expand our understanding of propaganda and the control of people's sense of identity through both lenses -- the country's historical roots on one hand and fascistic methods of population control on the other.
When I say “both,” I bequeath equality but enjoy from each their own rich contributions that are not prioritized but praised.
HEAR!! HEAR!! for all of this string. Fern, as always an inciteful post instigating and expanding our collective sources.
It was Rachel and Prof Richardson who (seemingly echoing one another) turned me on to Snyder and his "On Tyranny". I've been following him for a while - he scares me to death, but opens my eyes.
He has one chapter in his book on the Holocaust that absolutely raised the hair on my head.
LORD Willing Im GONNA Read it ! Thanks ! Michele !
Thank you, Fern
We are great fans of Snyder and have several of his books and I read what he has to say on his substack. He understands through his study of the Holocaust and eastern Europe what can happen. Thanks for mentioning him, Fran.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat is another watchful and analytical player on the field fighting against authoritarianism and fascism. Her substack: Lucid. Like HCR and Snyder, she speaks truth and pulls back layers exposing current events.
He’s wonderful.
I subscribed immediately.
Thank you, Fern.
Thank you, I’ve subscribed and already read his latest article!
Fern Mc Bride, for as long as I have been a subscriber and reader of Heather’s Letters I have appreciated your own comments afterward. Thank you for being such an instructive contributor in this community. These quotations of Tim Snyder are splendid. I didn’t know of him. Now, thanks to your inclusions here, I can.
I too recommend following Timothy Snyder on Substack. I discovered him by reading his book On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. It’s a little book with a lot of wisdom.
sdo in Jax, thank you. I remember a friend crying with joy when he learned that his writing touched readers for its substance and caring. That's why we communicate here and, so, your appreciation means a great deal to me.
On Tyranny is a small book with huge content. It will fit in your back pocket. We all should be carrying it around to share. Thanks Fern for spreading the word about Timothy Snyder’s important writing!
you can find his lectures on Ukraine history on youtube, etc, a remarkable intellectual and activist
Wow, Mr Synder, just Wow. And to all the authors: getting a mere comment into understandable composition is an effort for me, let alone a ‘Letter’, or a book🤦♀️ !
It’s teaching ...unravel a complex idea, lay out a plan , help us discern right from wrong or truth facts...Y’all amaze me!
Fern, bless you for the Snyder report. I own and have read “Bloodlands” and “Black Earth.” Now looking forward to the book on the Polish artist trying to liberate Ukraine.
It was those two Snyder books and Tony Judt’s on liberal democracy that helped give me a place to look at Trump as his Russia connections increased.
My comment on the Steele Dossier got more liked from Substack readers than I hoped for. The Brits would not have brought it to the FBI had they not found it too credible to ignore. And even if we are hearing that Trump has endangered the “best intelligence service in the world,” that distinction may well be going back to Britain who held it for a couple of centuries (or more) if we cannot get our house in order.
Thank you Fern. I always appreciate your comments! Also I appreciate you highlighting Timothy Snyder. I read his On Tyranny book and have recommended it to many (going so far sometimes to read parts aloud).
Thank you, Mary Ellen. I smiled at the idea of reading parts of Timothy Snyder's writing out loud. Salud.
I agree about On Tyranny, it is fabulous--it was one of the first books I recall being suggested by Sandy Lewis on the LFAA "Bookclub"
Two of my favorite professors/historians/authors. Thank you for calling attention to him.
Those samples are eloquent. Thank you.
Thank you, J L.
Thank you for the Snyder quotes. Strikes to root cause issues of our national divide, the ability and desire of citizens to seek truth
I have been reading and following Timothy Snyder for some time--well before Trump--and have been impressed by his work. This kind of clear,cogent, and just plain intelligent thinking is crucial right now. Between Richardson and Snyder , I have been able to both gain a deeper and broader understanding of current events and how we got to where we are.
Thanks Fern. I've been meaning to go to Tim Snyder's substack and I just did and joined.
Jeanne, so happy that you’ve joined ‘‘Thinking about…. ‘ It has widened and deepened my perspective. Timothy Snyder’s wisdom is greatly appreciated, and he’s funny, sometimes. The humor is mostly evident on the videos, which you will see.
Thanks for the post on Timothy Snyder. Important to read him on Ukraine (and how to help Ukraine with donations) PLUS his comments on USA politics. On Tyranny is essential reading. Support local bookstores!!📚
Thank you!
HEAR!! HEAR!!
I've just copied that para. ready to paste - you've already done it. (There goes the truth about the "noble South".) This whole Letter is like a laser.
It would be interesting to see a study of just how Christianity is woven into the fabric of what followed in the South and how it spread to the Midwest. It always has amazed me that Black Americans adopted the "White Man's" religion to the extent that they have. The symbol used by the Ku Klux Klan has been the cross. How do Christians see this and rationalize it? At present, it is Christian Evangelicals from whom TFG draws his strongest support. Understanding this is beyond my pay grade. I need help.
They are "Christian" in name only. Nothing about their beliefs or actions reflects the Christ I know from the Bible.
Richard, for what it's worth, check out Timothy Egan's latest: "A Fever in the Heartland: The Ku Klux Klan's Plot to Take Over America, and the Woman Who STopped Them". Ironically, I thought, was their war against Catholics as much as against Black folks. So they were obviously pretty selective in their views of Christianity, but then, so are the evangelicals you referenced.
I will get a copy of Egan's book, Sandra. Another really excellent history is Henry Louis Gates, Jr.'s "Stoney The Road" about Reconstruction and the rise of Jim Crow. I think that we may say without too much fear of contradiction that there is a war inside our brains, feelings (the irrational) against the analytical (the rational.) It occurs to me that when we talk about "discipline" in higher eduction, it is the task of the rational, objective struggling to overcome the irrational, subjective feelings. Why, for example, are some men misogynists?
Here's one possible reason for the high rate of misogyny- For men to develop their privileged masculine identity in cultures that insist on men being very different from women, (which they actually aren't) they have to continually reaffirm their masculinity and deny anything in themselves that appears "feminine". This leaves heterosexual men in particular, in a difficult place, since they have to both condemn the feminine while also desiring women.
J Noel. I believe true “masculinity” includes the ability to recognize the desirable traits of “femininity” and embrace them as qualities worthy of personal adoption. Masculinity requires confidence in self
What is more confident than a male defined by all the goodness around him and in him, fearing not the challenges of Alpha males insecure in their wolf pack ranking?
interesting thought.
I recommend Pamela Cooper-White's recent book "The Psychology of Christian Nationalism." She is a seminary professor who teaches pastoral care. The book dives into the insecurities of those who latch onto using Christianity as a cudgel. She also has a green light/ yellow light/ red light assessment of who it is worth talking with about their perversion of church and state and who can't be moved.
Interesting, and thank you for this reference. I just purchased Timothy Egan's "A Fever in the Heartland." There is a serious study conducted by two Univ. of Kansas professors, David Smith and Allen Hanley, published in Feb. 2018 entitled "The Anger Games, Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election and Why?" You can google it. Racism, misogyny and xenophobia are the Big Three reasons. No surprise there.
Thanks for the tip on Gates' book. I like his work.
Ah, yes, the war in our brains! I think where we get in trouble is when our brains get emotionally highjacked and reason goes out the window.
Carl Sagan said it: "The most complicated thing in the known universe is the human brain." Emotion trumps reason. Love can overlook virtually any fault. Pure reason is almost impossible to attain. Critical thinking skills are difficult to obtain and apply. But, to strive to be a critical thinker is a noble task. That having been said, however, the subjective enters the picture and part of the reason I am on this page is because I buy in to Frances Perkins' theory of government 100%: "The people are what matter to government, and a government should aim to provide all the people under its jurisdiction the best possible life." "All" perhaps should be capitalized.
Stony the Road is fantastic. Robert P. Jones's Substack specifically analyzes Evangelical Christianity's tendency toward fascism. https://robertpjones.substack.com
Will look for this.
Just finished it, fantastic picture of a predecessor to maga.
Richard, perhaps Black Slaves, upon hearing of the salvation offered by Christ, took that message to heart and were inspired by the Holy Spirit, not by “the white man” at all
In the beginnings of Christianity, it was not a white man’s religion, it was a Mankind of followers embracing a teaching.
"In the beginning" it was a Hebrew's religion. Jesus was a rabbi teaching the Jewish holy books at the time. Nothing in the New Testament was written by anyone who ever met Jesus or read anything written by Jesus. From a trial lawyer's point of view, the New Testament is entirely hearsay, written decades after Jesus was hanged by the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:30) and in a different language. Still, this is no more far-fetched than Gabriel, over a 24-year period, dictating to an illiterate desert dweller who later regurgitated it all to scribes, forming the Qur'an. We humans can believe anything if we have the want.
My Pastor once told me, do not look for logic in the Bible, you won’t find it. But rather look to “Faith”
In An Indigenous People’s History of America, the author highly stressed the cultural importance of oral history of events, passed down through the elders as being “the story”
As lawyers require proofs in court, logic rules. Faith is not Logic and religions not courts. My point was that Black Slaves clung to the message of The Good News; not as The White Man’s direction, but rather as inadvertently being exposed to Christ’s message of Salvation through Faith by Grace. There is apower in Faith that defies all Human Understanding. Where’s the Logic in Creation?
Faith is the firm belief in the truth of something based on hope and conjecture. Those who rely on faith to confirm a belief are not relying on facts.
Your claim that nothing in the NT was written by anyone who knew Jesus is false. John, Peter and James all knew Jesus. James was his. brother
Christian missionaries were also responsible for the deaths of countless indigenous Americans, openly preaching that they weren't humans and therefore could be killed, even babies.
Religion tends to flourish in impoverished places, like the south and reservations where God was the only hope in a life of hunger, illness and premature death.
Maybe millions. Consider Columbus and those he killed. Consider the Spaniards and the decimation of indigenous peoples in Mexico and the US (Mexico was a huge part of the US before it was added). Millions across the world have been killed in the name of religion.
Actually, I was referring to post-Civil War America, but you're right, and we could throw in the Crusades as well. We should also note that religion is always mixed up in politics, especially Christianity, which was the engine fueling popular opinion that was strongly supportive of imperialism. The Church of England and the British Empire are a good example.
I’ve wondered about that for a long time. There is a huge discrepancy between the Sermon on the Mount and the Evangelical Church of America. The German theologian, Detrict (sp) Bonehauffer(sp), who lost his life in a concentration camp, said he thought the Black Church was the only really Christian church in America.
Google Christian Nationalism or Andrew Whitehead. Andrew Whitehead's book has lots of interesting analysis . Robert Jones, PRRi
PRRi ~ Public Religion Research Institute
Anne-Louise, yes. It is so clearly what it is. The task of unraveling that myth is monumental. So much good material out there that the people who NEED to hear/read/see it will never touch. Material that De Fascist DeSaster is deliberately, systematically creating laws to ban.
And the now thoroughly corrupted "Republican" party, reporting a thoroughly fabricated sense of reality; such as "WANNABE DICTATOR SPEAKS AT THE WHITE HOUSE AFTER HAVING HIS POLITICAL RIVAL ARRESTED" turning any truth, pretty much across the board, on it's head.
Well, unravel it she has, in one page of easy reading.
sadly only for those persuadable.
Frank, that's exactly what I meant. The question is how to unravel it for everyone else? Never for the hardcore, of course.
Leigh McGowan?
https://twitter.com/IAmPoliticsGirl/status/1667335426179301381?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
somehow the Democrat coalition against the Trump/GOP nexus needs to translate into a meaningful shift in political power. I see the latest Gallop poll indicates a significant increase in socially conservative attitudes in the past 2 years, esp the past year. I'm not sure this bodes well for Democrats.
I watch "Beau of the Fifth Column" on YouTube, and based on the comments he gets which he reports about and answers, he has viewers on the opposing side.
Alexandra Sokoloff: So tragically true that the Civil War never ended.
And in a raw and contemptible power-play maneuver, the once "Party of Lincoln" pandered to cast-off Confederate sympathizers, and reinvigorated anti-democratic sentiments of the Civil War.
Yes--so true. A possible harbinger of the USA disregarding the Nazi pasts of scientists needed for the development of the atom bomb?
"The US government’s abysmal decision not merely to pardon the slaveowners but to allow them right back into office to rule the Southern states set up the Civil War we’re presently fighting —against the same vicious agenda of oppression."
Exactly. It is infuriating that seditionists have been reelected or elected to Congress instead of being arrested, prosecuted, convicted and imprisoned.
Alexandra As a kid I used to sing ‘Pardon me boys, is the the Chattanooga choo choo.’ In my innocence, pardon was a polite word.
As an adult, I find ‘pardon’ more convoluted. Accidental president Andrew Johnson showered pardons on countless Southerners to sabotage what millions had fought for and Lincoln had died for.
President Ford pardoned Richard Nixon for his Tricky Dick. As a member of the Nixon White House Enemies List, initially I was aghast. On reflection, I have come to support Ford’s initiative to heal the nation, though this heel still has no sole.
Reagan’s and Bush’s Irangate pardons were, in my opinion, a clear violation of the spirit of the Constitution. That Perpetrator Donald is bloviating about pardoning those incarcerated for the January 6th insurrection is an unpardonable application of the pardon privilege.
Keith, thanks for that memory - I sang Chattanooga in all-women jazz ensembles in college. Always a crowd-pleaser! I think/hope that tfg's pardon bloviating (a word invented for him) is starting to backfire, though.
“High Time”. Yes it is high time that the rule of law trumps Trump and his odious minions.
Barnburner of an ending. Very succinct sentiment of this sort often found in Professor Richardson’s last paragraph of many of her Letters.
Salud to the forum today.
🗽
Exactly. I’m barely into my perusal today, and there is so much good stuff.
I recommend everyone read her book, How the South Won the Civil War.
https://www.google.com/books/edition/How_the_South_Won_the_Civil_War/EY_UDwAAQBAJ?hl=en
I completely agree with your comment. I’m hoping that we learn from THIS go round with abused democracy and upended liberties and start using common sense when dealing with the congressional folk who support and have supported insurrection all along, misdeeds, mayhem - the whole shebang - get those folk fired for failing to uphold their own oaths to defend our Constitution.
We need serious house cleaning or we’re just setting ourselves up for continued b.s. from extreme right leaning folk who can’t think outside of their own polluted ideologies. They are wasting the tax payer dime.
PJ, 100%. The conduct of some congresspeople and senators has been outright treasonous. I'm afraid voting them out is our only option for purging them - it won't come from inside the House.
I am uncertain as to the first part of your last sentence, but wholeheartedly, agree, grievous error was made when slaveowners were allowed back into office to rule southern states.
You are so right. If only Mr. Lincoln could have guessed that by installing Johnson as his VP, he would open the possibility of reversing much of what he accomplished. He took Johnson in in order to have a border state allied with the Union. I always ask if he could have succeeded without Johnson and my answer is yes. But no one goes through life without making huge golly woopers. I don't care to express mine but there are several. And Trump is just the continuation of what has gone wrong with this nation. Let us grieve but let us rejoice for future possibilities.
I wrote a song a few months back titled, "Secret Documents." Please enjoy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Og9SDu24V4
Love!
In HRC's book "How the South Won the Civil War" she explained that developing the resources of the Western States required access to capital and suppression of human rights, and the Cowboy persona of the GOP. W. F. Buckley's "Man and God at Yale" drove home the fact that power trumps reason while attacking FDR's new deal. And the last 42 years we've been living through Reagan's trickle-down economy, which says we don't need taxes from the wealthy when we can borrow the money to fund the government.
Neither the DEM or the GOP are right. The fact of life, from microbes to humans, is the ability to foresee the future, and act on that forecast, called foresight. The winner in this game of life are those that do it better then the next guy. Practice with your monthly bank statement. Internalize the use of reason, compliance, identity and any other tools to reduce that prediction error. Then once you can predict you can try to control. At least to some extent. Use your best judgment and resources to advance humanity.
"The ideology of the Confederacy never became odious, and it has lived on.”
I'm thoroughly confused by the "absolute" tone of this sentence.
Where I grew up, that ideology was considered odious, dangerous and deadly.
I can understand if the statement above refers to the power classes of the South generally and some other places, but surely my small town in New England was not the only place to see it--that story spun to justify the war, thievery and murder, continuing to today-- as we did, no?
Debby, I grew up in California and certainly in my parents' circles Confederate ideas were considered odious, but I read HCR's sentence to mean "universally odious." Given the lightning speed at which she puts these incredibly detailed and footnoted posts together, there are bound to be a few places that we could quibble with a word or phrase!
Now I'm confused again. I think she said they were NOT found odious?
Not found universally odious-- is different how?
I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, and I appreciate your responding, but I could use some enlightenment.
(literally, I am losing my mind, so I appreciate any help understanding.)
That and pardoning Nixon.
How important is it to Americans today to try to avoid the potential for internal conflict that might result from the conviction and sentencing of the former president? How important is that potential to those who must run for office? We answered these questions incorrectly after the Civil War and Watergate. Yet we survived. Sort of, anyway. The 'documents' case is a 'slam dunk' but his other misdeeds, not among its charges, are worse. As we insist that justice must prevail, we must be aware of the consequences that might follow. That is when democracy will be on the line and challenged by the political equivalent of 'comfort food' which while tasty may not be particularly nourishing.
Not prosecuting and punishing Confederate leaders and Nixon helps explain the rampant lawlessness of GOP leaders today. That said, the prison sentences given to hundreds of J6 insurrectionists appear to be a deterrent. Same will hold true for Trump.
We just can’t continue to let bad deeds go “basically unpunished” and justify it by saying it is being done for the good or well-being of the country. People - no matter who - must be held to account for their misgivings - their bad deeds and intentions! A slap on the wrist sets poor examples and offers no warnings for others who may do worst in the future.
Trump has done or instigated a number of bad deeds most of his life - while others are paying the time for him - and them - doing the crime (Cohen, Weisselberg and ...). The Rules Must Apply to each and every American and certainly for this one - a former POTUS - who has brought out or helped to bring to the forefront the worst in a frightening percentage of our fellow American citizens!
That is the truest reveal! THAT is the lesson given us and WHY we must point out the principle , the folly , because if NOT...those that still are/were complicit will just improve the plot ( those further blurred boundaries) and DO.IT.AGAIN.
We are undergoing a nasty crime wave here in Oakland by juveniles who believe that they are above the law. If they see a guy like Trump getting away with murder they will figure it’s all okay. Rule by aging adolescents doesn’t do anybody any good and it sends exactly the wrong message to the young and vulnerable.
And, let's not forget what the Northern industrialists got for the compromise that put Hayes in the White House and pulled troops out of the former Confederate states - suppression of labor. All those armories all over the nation, Federal troops shooting strikers was also part of the price we all paid for returning the Confederate aristocracy to power.
Eric, absolutely. The Compromise of 1877 is to blame for SO much death and gross injustice.
And all we need now is a conviction. Yep, that's it. Oh, and an absolute thrashing of Republicans at the polls. And voters to wake up to their true interests, yeah, that too. And maybe this paddle ball ...
💙VOTE THE BLUE TSUNAMI💙
Educate and Motivate ... all Democrats and Independents - especially those registered to vote but who tend not to participate in the electoral process(es)!!!
Yes! …but I’d add (in BOLD LETTERS after.. ‘and Independents’… 💥NEEDED🙏💥
Thanks , Jim❤️
And it has been reported that the justice department has 1000 more J6 actors to begin prosecuting. After one spends time as a guest of the Federal Government, one usually doesn't want to repeat the experience thus less "patriots" primed for violence showing up at his self-declared rallies. And TFG seems to have forgotten his pledge to pay their legal fees.
TFG has been stiffing folks with the bill from the get go. Liars can’t be trusted.
I hope so. This bunch has degraded all of us.
Trump may not have looked at Jack Smith, but he told his droolers tonight that Smith was "obviously scared to death of me." It must have come to him from the psychic declassification power he has.
Of course, it must have been the other way round: tfg being scared to death of Jack Smith. It's almost funny how the blond monster can twist and turn the facts and truth at will, still running around free, buying a few blind followers 'food', giving 'speeches' (i.e. adding lies to previous lies), insulting and threatening people like Mr. Smith and his family, while hundreds of his minions are already behind bars. WHEN will he finally join them?
Waiting with bated breath
Restoring credibility has a long list ahead. Doing it to establish The Truth means Cannon recuses herself/The Supreme Court follows Ethical Behaviors/politicians pass and follow laws for ALL those WE The People/News people , salesmen, drug companies, Drs, Lawyers, CEOs, Corporations..............
Projection at its finest.
TC, Trump was attempting to “Jedi Mind Tricking” Smith
“I am not the Traitor you are seeking, let me pass”
Obiwan says “You have no power over me, time to eat dirt, with ketchup of course”
(Laughter) Yes, he could feel those waves of fear without even having to appear to look at him.
Jack Smith was probably disgusting by T, but not scared. I don’t think Mr.Smith scares easily.
He's been quoted saying "If I was the kind of person who could be cowed, I would look for another line of work."
Projection, pure and simple.
🤣
“WANNABE DICTATOR SPEAKS AT THE WHITE HOUSE AFTER HAVING HIS POLITICAL RIVAL ARRESTED.” -- That news agencies can publish or televise such blatantly inflammatory and baseless statements without legal consequences remains a serious issue. Free speech is one thing when there are facts to support what is said. Without the supporting evidence, statements like these are libel and should be prosecuted as such.
How I wish, Rupert would be behind bars. However, when he bought the WSJ, he bought journalistic bona fides. He’s just an uglier Goebbels with a lot of clones these days
Titillating pandering to the amoral unwashed who walk amongst us.
I think the regulations regarding this issue were changed back in Regans days. I’ll try to do some research
I’m referring to the fairness doctrine which required media to be, ....you guessed it......Fair
That's right, Nancy. Though it only applied to broadcast media, it was abolished by the FCC under the Regan administration. It never applied to print or cable media. Web-based media wasn't even a thing at that time.
Amen!
High time indeed. Cheers to that Professor.
Sometimes the Universe gives you a huge gift and you feel on the right path.
Yesterday I was walking by the bar in the former Trump Hotel in DC and read the CNN chyron HCR quoted above.
"DONALD TRUMP UNDER ARREST...."
I just had to sit down, order a beer and toast the moment, in that place. People farther back in the beautiful sun drenched lobby-atrium applauded and cheered. There was a huge American flag hanging just above our heads.
4-5 days ago I had no intention or need to be there. A friend who produces shows called and asked if I could work a lunch gig there yesterday. It was a small event, but he needed camera help. I was available and agreed to do it...not knowing where it was in DC or who would be there.
It turned out to be in Trumps former Old Post Office Hotel with folks like former US Senator Barbara Mikulski & Congresswoman & Former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Republican Ambassador and former Congresswoman Connie Morella who I had done some work with years ago . (She can quote Shakespeare accurately...along with a lot of other worthy people)
I was honored to be there and loved the extreme irony of it all. For more on that, check out my page.
CHEERS and Peace to all
Wow, thanks, Mike, for sharing this. I have memories of the Old Post Office on PA Avenue when it was a post office, well before 45 took it over. It was a grand place to take one's mail to be posted!
It's an incredible building. I love the atrium/lobby. The only down side is gold & mirrors in too many places and huge chandeliers. A little bit would be fine but DJT went wild.
Dictator Chic.
Derek, yes it really is. His big ballroom has more mirrors, gold plating and huge chandeliers than any other ballroom I've ever worked in...but then I've never worked in Bagdad, Moscow or Pyongyang....
Thankfully, I missed all that elegance while being gaudy!
I love this scene you describe, Mike - thank you for this! Since I'm in the DC area, I must go raise a glass there myself now
check out the photos on my page...the next time there's a significant Trump moment go there. Most of the staff I talked with said the clients have gotten much nicer to deal with. However the bar tender could read my glee...and he didn't want to engage.
"Federal officials permitting politics to trump the rule of law in our past have brought us to this moment." And then starting with our well-intentioned-and-exploited-ever-since resolution to the Civil War: EXACTLY. No one executed in 1865 (we took part in Nuremburg and were more than happy to execute Nazis--so long as they weren't our own racist-fascists. Similarly, we now LOVE to make holocaust museums and monuments about the horrors of OTHER nations/places. Slavery museum? Not so much) or even imprisoned. A few years later, we had Reconstruction flailing, Jubal Early rewriting history, and half our country, once again, zombiiing a renewed course to where we are today. It's a simplification, but at its core--this Christian-nationalist-fascist-phony conservative values freakazoid coalition--along with still TONS of less-fervant, more ordinary folks who haven't figured out that someone who claims to be "conservative" and wants to overthrow the government, commit espionage, commit wanton violence AND reneg the Constitution itself might just be more dangerous than a "liberal" who's trying to, basically, do ordinary government kinds of things--the number of people who still ascribe to this...but hey, at least they're staying home. Seriously though, the number of fairly UNzealous Americans who STILL obtusely cling to this (the "I know Trump is a terrible guy and did all those things, but it's still better than Biden" crowd. WHAT?) is stunning.
You’ve hit the nail on the head here. “Freakazoid coalition” is spot on.
Stunning is the word
Well said, Robert. Thank you👍👏
There are some museums that either include or feature slavery in the US, like The Legacy Museum in Montgomery AL.
https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/museum
There's the Whitney Plantation in Wallace, LA.
https://www.whitneyplantation.org/
However, other initiatives for building slavery museums have failed, e.g., United States National Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg, VA, and a National Museum of Slavery in Richmond, VA. Obviously, it's an uphill battle.
Thanks. The Museum of African American History at the Smithsonian also has a substantial amount space/material about slavery, and not just in the US.
That Faux Noise all-caps "Wannabe Dictator" chyron got me chuckling in my PJs. Truly, every accusation is a confession. Apparently, President Brandon is both a senile puppet *and* a dictatorial mafia-esque mastermind. Such range; he contains multitudes! Meanwhile, TFG remains MAGA's Magnificent Mastermind, even though still hasn't figured out after almost 80 years that a shower is not the most hospitable environment for paperwork.
Concocted drama? Of course! Yet, like most drama, how revealing it is about the audience who chooses to view it. The folks who eagerly invite this saga of paranoia and projection into their homes on the daily... how sadly stunted their view must be, to find any validation or sense of truth in these malicious fictions. Their worldview is so authoritarian that they seem unable to countenance that a political leader might *not* be a ruthless dictator-in-waiting, so anti-intellectual that the idea of a civil servant acting impartially reeks of impossibility, so tribal they seem unable to see anyone of differing beliefs as worthy citizens. For, or against. Rule, or be destroyed. US inside the castle, THEM outside the moat. Over the side with the boiling oil!
Constantly biblical, colorfully unhinged, and utterly exhausting.
I don't wish ill on any of these misguided folks, I really don't. It's just that every time their fears come true, I sleep a little easier.
There is a Facebook meme of the boxes stacked in the bathroom, with the caption reading "Archivists, knowing a bathroom is not a place to store paper, are aghast!
Sick and tired of hearing about there being “one law for everyone”. No mugshot, digital fingerprints, no bail, no restrictions on travel and no restrictions regarding firearms. This is not the same treatment given thousands of people daily by a system that is designed to humiliate and frighten ordinary citizens who are supposedly “innocent until proven guilty”. Don’t tell me there are not different laws for the rich and powerful.
Question... if a convicted felon (free or otherwise) cannot vote in many states in the US, how can a president be allowed to fulfill his duties from jail?
Because being a felon is not listed as disqualifying in the Constitution, since the Founders were silly enough to think that no person so dishonorable would run for the office and that none of the intelligent, independent citizens of the new republic would ever vote for such a dispicable individual.
(/snark)
Wow, did they get that wrong 😳 It's unfathomable to me that over 30% of this country still back the despicable ex-president. It is time that our justice system proves " no one is above the law"
30% is a minority. Vote.
Yes, vote...and there's this little thing called the Electoral College. What to do?
In some states , the30% is the majority. In MT JOn Tester is the only dem & the R are hell bent on unseating him.
Ohio with Sherrod Brown, as well.
The Founders knew that a tyrant could have his opponents arrested and convicted, there by disqualifying them for public office.
Putin does it. The guy in Belarus does it.
John Lewis was arrested for the Freedom Rides and and spent 37 days in Parchman Prison. MLK Junior was convicted of breaking parole and threatened with six months hard labor. Eugene Debs was serving time for unionizing.
Think of Florida. Any teacher or librarian who challenges DeSantis's book bans will be - if convicted - ineligible for state office.
Now, if Jack Smith brings January 6th charges, I believe that's disqualifies Trump in the Constitution.
But in a country where states have been allowed in the past to criminalize political expression we should not allow a conviction to be a bar to office.
The Constitution again. Um, isn't it time it was overhauled?
The Koch’s have this on their agenda, with their own agenda. Be careful what you wish for
It needcs it, but not now - the Article V Convention people who are inching closer to getting the necessary number of states to call a convention are all far right wingers. Let's remember that the original convention was called to consider changes to the Articles of Confederation, not to write a new constitution. We don't want to have that happen nowadays!
Anne, there's the door.
Right, and there’s the issue of his security clearance too. Why would anyone grant him clearance after this? He’s kind of burned his bridges with that, I’d think. But then, I’m not in charge.
Correction: you are in charge through your VOTE. You decide who will be in charge. Do not rest. Continue to get those graduating High School Seniors registered to vote, engage friends, family, co-workers, neighbors in rational civil conversations about what the Democratic Party is doing for the people of this country. Participate in local politics by staying aware of how your elected leaders are governing and holding them accountable with your votes. Sign up to work on elections. Tell your cable company you want to cancel Fox News, Newsmax, OANN, and (dare I say it) CNN and get your price reduced. November 12, 2024 will be here before you know it. We have work to do. Get cracking.
We cannot out-organize voter suppression, but try we must
All the effort in trying is a lot of powerful thought. Think and ACT positively. Defeatism is powerful too....don't let it take over.
Absolutely - voting is key.
Sorry the election will be November 5, 2025. My bad.
Sally ...
Yes I agree and the first thing he would do if he became POTUS again would be to pardon himself.The Constitution must be overhauled to deal with this situation. It is unfathomable that it is currently legal that this man could become our leader again.
Manbaby has already pardoned himself with his brilliant 🤬 mind— many,many times.
I'm suddenly thinking how with that amazing mind, he may have already re-elected himself and declared himself king. We all saw he wildly envious admiration of the royalty digs and adulation when he traveled--especially Saudi travel. All those great ideas in that amazing mind planning his return to power. He'll teach we Americans how a kind should be treated.
How to convince DT’s supporters that he will ruin their lives as he destroys democracy. That if they want “normalcy” they need to vote in Democrats and get Citizens United (corporate power which pours money into destroying the middle class) overturned.
As president, he would be the “grantor” would he not
I don't think it's the president who grants security clearance, but I don't know for sure who does it.
How can a charged espionage person get security clearance?
I sense a real similarity here to the 2008 uber-bank bailout that has turned a high-but-reasonable national debt into an oh-my-god-what-will-we-do national debt. It's the same argument: "Those silly, rich fools who (crashed the economy, defrauded millions, attempted a coup, etc.) have been humiliated enough on social media. A few of them actually got fired! (gasp!) Actually taking them to court to find out exactly what they did and to punish them is just too, too, traumatic for...well...somebody!" Crooked politicians aren't the only ones accustomed to a free pass.
Heather, so well said (as usual) and digging down to the foundation. Thank you!!
Wowza !!
I remember when you started these Letters From an American to document when Trump withheld military money from Zelensky in Ukraine.
Trump has certainly kept you busy!
It is ‘high time’ he is held accountable for his crimes!
On a separate note, Why the filming of & the large motorcade to & from court when he (TFG) is now a "citizen"?
A former president heading to criminal court is big news--hence the filming. The motorcade is part of the Secret Service protection presidents receive for life. They aren't normal citizens in any meaningful sense.
And TFG is far from normal in any sense.
Same reason they filmed OJ in the white bronco.
The media needs a spectacle for clicks & views: it’s a horse race. I think they’d only cut away from the motorcade if there was yet another school/supermarket/synagogue/church shooting or another train derailment.
It is years past due for yes, even Presidents, to be accountable before the laws of this land. Mr. Trump will finally be prosecuted in a court of law and will learn “consequences” of his actions as he should have done as a child who was coddled by a crook for a father and has exhibited nothing short of outrageous, careless, sadistic and narcissistic behavior for a long lifetime of offenses. May the judge be worthy of the challenge or recuse herself as she likely should given her previous deference to Trump in these crimes.
We will suffer the consequences of not having appropriate consequences for almost two centuries
You seem to want to say more. I don’t want to assume I understand what you mean. Would you elaborate?
From the reconstruction debacle (covers a lot of territory), people going to church and then having picnics while watching lynchings during Jim Crow era (which some are attempting to resurrect), the coup of 1933; Roosevelt was knee-deep in depression to deal with those perps. I don’t think I need to detail further since more recent ones are common knowledge. Google knows. Sorry, I don’t write a substack, so don’t do notes.
Thank you!
Historians rarely call a spade a spade. With Fascist Trump, NOW, this may be changing. American must stare down racism, fascism, prejudice and what-aboutism NOW.
Read all about it! It started with a most spirited and capable but uneducated WOMAN. She was terrific before her time, hated and denigrated by Fascist Criminal Tricky Dick running for congress. She was loved and elected. Her instincts were ahead of het time.
Fascism started before Sens. Jos. McCarthy, and Richard M. Nixon, and was not truly resisted by IKE. Gen. Eisenhower’s fear of GOP fascism, Rep. Jos. McCarthy and guys like Trump cratered resolve in the post war GOP. That’s lasted.
Weak decent heavy drinker President Jerry Ford blinked. Snotty antisemitic Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush blocked Gov. Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller because he was divorced and liberal.
This insidious aspect of our present must be outed NOW with Trump as a catalyst ..
https://wams.nyhistory.org/growth-and-turmoil/cold-war-beginnings/helen-gahagan-douglas/
Historians rarely call a spade a spade. With Fascist Trump, NOW, this may be changing. Americans must stare down racism, fascism, prejudice and what-aboutism RIGHT NOW.
Read all about it! It started with a most spirited and capable but uneducated wonderful WOMAN. She was terrific before her time, hated and denigrated by Fascist Criminal Tricky Dick running for congress. She was loved and elected. Her instincts were ahead of her time. Lost to Tricky Dick. Moved to NYC, her birthday place.
Fascism like slavery started long before Sens. Jos. McCarthy, and Richard M. Nixon, and was not truly or deeply resisted by IKE. Gen. Eisenhower’s fear of GOP fascism, Rep. Jos. McCarthy and guys like Trump cratered Republican resolve in the post war GOP. Abraham Lincoln was forgotten!
That’s lasted.
Weak, decent, heavy drinker President Jerry Ford blinked. Snotty antisemitic Connecticut Senator Prescott Bush blocked Gov. Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller - because he was divorced and a true Republican liberal.
This insidious aspect of our past and present must be outed NOW with Trump as a catalyst ..
https://wams.nyhistory.org/growth-and-turmoil/cold-war-beginnings/helen-gahagan-douglas/
Thanks for reminding us of this righteously fierce, outspoken and heroic woman of my childhood. I treasure all of these wonderful women who paved the path for today's (ongoing) struggle.
Nixon was scum. HGD was gold at a discount. Trashed by a fascist thug.
Thank you for bringing attention to this courageous congresswoman, ahead of her time. Fascinating and timely!
Welcome.
Things are falling apart for Trump and his GOP competitors know it. However, given the desire to win over Trump’s 25% base, a successful GOP competitor (say, DeSantis), would likely pardon Trump assuming a criminal conviction follows after the 2024 election. Such an outcome would assure Trump political tactics for another decade-plus instead of a likely reform and moderation of the GOP from within. All the more reason for Never-Trump & former Trump Republicans & independent voters to vote Democratic.
Vote democratic, surely you jest. Limbaugh would never stop spinning in his grave.
That visual makes my heart happy.