Reading tonight’s letter I was struck by how clearly Washington is currently following the playbook of history. I was also struck by how much historical detail I have forgotten about our history.
I echo S B Lewis comment on the inestimable value Professor Richardson provides to those of us fortunate enough to have access to her written thoughts.
I was an early paid subscriber years ago . . . I read one of her Letters and said to my husband "you have to read what this BC history professor has to say, it's free but I'm paying the $50!" We were hooked from the beginning and start our days with HCR. Who knew the direction this would take?! Certainly not Heather who admits she didn't know what a newsletter was when she began!!
Her Letters saved my sanity (although that is now gone after all the years of trump!!) I have been in awe that 1) it was (and continues to be) offered for free - smart move on the part of then startup company Substack.com, 2) she does this every.single.day!!, 3) she writes books, 4) is (not sure if still) a full time professor, 5) travels the country - I've seen her in person twice, 6) does bi-weekly podcasts - even from street corners if necessary, 7) interviewed a real president, and others, 8) she has a brilliantly logical mind and a way of writing and speaking that educates while simultaneously calming the soul; a rare phenomenon, and last but not least 9+) had time to leave muffins on Buddy's truck and get married (without one other celebrity in sight!!)
Without a doubt, clarity of thought and expression are HCR's calling cards. As I began reading today's report I thought to myself (a confirmed atheist,) "If there is any truth to the Jesus Christ story, these Republican politicians are going to burn in hell. Matthew 25: 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ I can't think of any more deserving.
Right, and if people read it free and learn facts and history from it then I’m all for more informed and educated people. I can afford to pay it and I get so much out of it it’s worth every penny. I want her to continue educating the public.
Gary, “small way” earns HCR better that a million a year. Personally. Comment pays $1 ,000,000 and entertains. Teaching at BU will not pay much more or even match 10% of her Substack take. And the Substack founders do even better, putting our best newspapers to shame and even trending out of business. Substack is an amusing game.
Gary, it is a way for us to say "thank you," while also being the source of funds for HCR to pay her researchers. It would be physically impossible for her to do this all on her own. Great teamwork.
Gary, I'd wager that you are correct - doing work that one knows can benefit millions upon millions of persons, even helping to preserve our democratic republic, must be very rich psychic food.
I pay to support HCR’s tireless efforts to support democracy, and the cost is a pittance of the worth. However, I’ve always been so impressed by the fact that this large volume of work is always free. So few do this. To me, this is real dedication and patriotism.
Marilyn, we are of a like mind on this reality. As a bit of an amateur historian, I’m humbled by how much added history the good professor provides to me daily.
Plus I learn so much from so many of the commentators that have lived through more history than me and have different educational and career backgrounds.
Guardian columnist George Monbiot along with Peter Hutchinson try to explain why we have these economics in their book. Invisible Secret: The Secret History of Neoliberalism. An interesting read that I recommend. My book club is reading it.
Dead on S.B. Lewis. Heather is a national treasure, a low key but extraordinarily persistent voice of reproach in times which have long since rocketed past the point of lunacy. Reading her daily should be the mark of people of conscience.
This piece however left me with a feeling of cold comfort. It requires an extraordinary leap of faith to think that the result of the events of the 19th pushing American patience over the edge of grumbling tolerance and into a ballot box revolution, is a salutary and likely model for Americans to use in the 2026 midterms.
There are any number of reasons why history won’t repeat itself now. Democrats are astonishingly anemic at a national level. Organizing a two car funeral would bring about yet another spasm of puerile debate, leaving the cars to not get off the mark or to crash once they did.
The fact is that, week by week, Trump is wearing down the body public. In an era where telling the truth appears to be the habit of only saps, there will be a compelling and collective smothering of even the smallest resistance -witness Trump’s reflexive promise to primary Thom Tillis who had the temerity to vote against it.
The rot is terminal in America now. American two party government is mortally wounded. People are atomized and easy to pick off. Fear strangles opposition. The speed with AI moves is going to engender so much real change among so many people that the tragedy of a Mafia-esque government will be pushed off the back burner.
The two eras are not comparable in the least beyond a superficially similar gilded age problem shared by some.
Heather’s optimism is astonishing in the best sense of the word. I would crawl to Maine to lay flowers at her door, should she be proven right and I was able to successfully navigate across the Can-Am border without being arrested.
My feeling, though is that nothing short of a general strike is going to dent the triumphal march of 2025. It may become a bit more serpentine because of truth tellers of consequence like HCR, but the times are too wretched morally to stop its progress.
S B Lewis -- "Vote" is of course a good suggestion! But there is LOTS of time between now and voting day (nearly 5 months for some local , more for National elections, Nov. 2026) for more and more damage to be inflicted.
It appears that that is the case for now. There is insufficient rage in the country to muster any really serious opposition. The Democrats are in utter disarray, the Republicans are either triumphant or, mindful of their guilt and cowardice, living today and maybe persuading themselves they’ll live to fight another day. And Trump is a past master at winning the news cycle, eerily skilled at knowing which buttons to push, and when and how to push them. I am so tied of hearing this or that “evidence” that he has dementia. If only we were so lucky.
A big yes of course to dragging one’s dispirited body to the polls in 2026. Gains in Congress could be significant. Maybe not earthshaking. But enough to put sand in the gears.
Even that is probably a moot hope. Hands up if you think the elections will be free and fair. I harbor a deep reservoir of doubt about that. It’s not as if we don’t have insight into Trump’s attitude to any matter that could put even the tiniest of shackles on his exercise of power.
And, barring death or extreme incapacitation, I hold virtually no confidence that Trump will bypass any opportunity he can muster to be a three term President. How could he survive without the massive attention his slightest comment garners as President. Full-blown narcissism is not like a cold you get and then recover from. Being President / King daily nourishes his desire to be respected. He can never date this because fundamentally he doesn’t respect himself. “The appetite grows upon that which it feeds on”.
One of the significant features of the Gilded age was the formation of a labor movement. Not only industrial but agricultural labor. The parallels and throughline are remarkable here, given the renewed popularity of labor unions and their true usefulness to society and people in general. When you call for a general strike, be sure to have the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters and Longshoremen on board as these are direct descendants of that guilded age Progressivism. Without them a general strike is doomed to failure and will be ignored by the current fascist regime.
Yes. The consequences of the 1890 election brought great benefits to ordinary Americans. The difference now is that the ordinary Ameicans who will be hurt by Republican governance will, if they are among the roughly 60% of white voters who voted for Trump, continue to vote R because they are willing to pay any price for a government that will preserve the systemic legal, economic, and political advantages that white Americans hold over the rest of the population. I hope for a blue wave in 2026, of course, but hope is not strategy. History may rhyme, but white voters in 1890 were not the least bit concerned about losing even a smidgen of their advantages to people with darker skin. Now, they are, and that concern has delivered every Republican victory in presidential elections that their Southern Strategy, initiated in 1968 and continued in every election since then, has produced.
Two days ago, I had a low moment and posted a long comment--no, let's be truthful--a RANT, and in it I said we needed a weekend of BOYCOTT. Nobody buys ANYTHING, ANYWHERE. I suspected I'd get "don't hurt the small businesses" so I said to buy the day before or after for those businesses. I said we needed to have VISUALS posted all over media, just like the NO KINGS protests, but instead of HUGE crowds, we'd see empty parking lots. Deserted malls. Teens sharing photos of their fast-food coworkers idly scrolling their phones. I only had one person agree with me.
Boycotts absolutely send a message. 69% of us Canadians are not travelling to the US and the Governors are trying to get us back! Ain't gonna happen until that shitstain is out of office along with his fascist sycophants. So yeah, boycotts work. The more people's wallets are affected that's when things change. Go for it!!
My wife and I agree completely. When this administration started a war on equal opportunity we and others decided to stop shopping at those stores be they online or not. It has been very easy to do and said stores report loses. Since profits are their idols, let us bury their profits!
No, your absolutely correct. The only thing that would have an impact on them financially is to buy no merchandise. Money and greed is the only thing that they understand.
Do not despair, please. I agree with your plan here, other Americans need to understand they are not alone, you included.
I only have one issue with HRC's Letters from an American and for HCR it is a good problem to have. She receives so many comments I do not have time to read them all. Great for her though.
Because I caught your comment here I will go and look until I find what you have to say. Your effort is not in vain.
Far too many individuals in this country for what ever reason fail to get it. I'm just hoping they start to GET IT'! Other wise the country is headed for open revolt, IMO. We need to exhaust nonviolence efforts first.
All the while the fearless taco digs his hole deeper!
We, in the bay area of San Francisco, did just that a few months ago for a day or so. We spent no money on things, but bought from small businesses the day before. We are still trying not to buy from Amazon which definitely shows up on Bezos profit margin, although the spectacle he displayed in Venice as he married his, whatever you want to call her, girlfriend, showed that it would take a huge effort to affect him.
One major problem that we aren't addressing enough of is getting someone like Pete Buttigieg to go again on Fox News and spell out what their listeners will be losing if this horrific bill is passed.
I'm betting not enough people saw your comment, because your strategy is quite sound. And publicizing it as widely as No Kings was publicized it essential.
We have a favorite small restaurant which we go to fairly frequently. Nice people there. I was afraid COVID would destroy them. They have absolutely no space whatsoever to put people outside--it's on a very, very busy corner. We made sure to order take out and we purchased gift cards during COVID, and they're still around.
We could still boycott but not hurt our small businesses.
I agree. I've been to three at the Colorado State Capital in Denver, April 5th, 19th and June 14th. My husband joined in on June 14th.
July 17th is on a work day. We're retired so that doesn't matter. But we will be traveling.
It helps to do what we can, when we can with whatever we have to work with. It can be phone calls, letters, postcards or emails too. Doing something is always better than worrying, complaining and screaming at the television or computer screen!
I continue to be amazed at the amount of precious time Democrats are spending criticizing our Democratic leaders in Congress! What should they be doing that they’re not doing? What would you be doing if you were in their place?
The Republicans have the majority in the House, the Senate and the White House. Trump has replaced cabinet members and agency heads with sycophants. He is much better organized this time around, and has, as we have seen, taken so many actions to wreck the democracy that it’s overwhelming. Without the power of the majority, our representatives can only speak out against what’s happening and encourage their constituents to do the same.
President Obama, when asked about how we can win this battle for democracy, said that it will take the people rising up in massive numbers in peaceful protest (recall the 3.5% number) to affect change. Remember that Trump has been in office for a little more than 5 months.
I live in the very red state of Oklahoma, and the Resistance continues to grow. Bernie was here recently and spoke to a crowd of 5500(the official number). Elizabeth Warren and JD Pritzker were here this past weekend for a dinner sponsored by the Democratic Party. They had to move the event to a larger venue because of the demand for tickets. I see Senate Democrats holding forth to speak out regarding the corrupt actions of the Republican Party and its leader. I see them question Trump appointees respectfully, yet assertively in hearings. Recently, I saw that Jamie Raskin and Adam Schiff are working with a panel of Democratic state attorneys general to shine a spotlight on and push back against sworn constitutional abuses by the Trump administration via lawsuits initiated at the state level.
In conclusion, in response to an unprecedented, organized attempt to overthrow our democracy, I’m seeing increasing unity among “the people” to fight back; I’m seeing Democratic leaders combining efforts at the federal and state levels to fight; and I’m seeing people in my own red state joining together to get informed so they can better fight against this authoritarian attack on their freedoms.
I strongly believe that our words and actions should be focused only on that. After we’ve saved our democracy we can work on fixing what ails the Democratic Party.
I am trying to think of an intelligent rejoinder to disprove your solid pessimism about the future. Alas, I'm unable to come up with something today....
My God. Those who voted for MAGA did so out of blinding ignorance. Anyone else but no, the true Antichrist had to arise in my time; in our time. Three plus more years of damage to go. We must protest until they lose. The Census contacted me to request data if me and I told them I will not cooperate with any roge government agency.
Well, the presidency, the cabinet and congress have ensured that we will have a system that guarantees mediocrity and disappointment. The very rich consider themselves obligated by birth to accumulate not quality, or values toward the good of the country, but cash. The US has created market conditions always favorable to them. They will have more than enough treasures and possessions needed for the journey into the hereafter. And all the MAGA types who have voted for this have been and will continue to be the greatest number of imbeciles who have, at best, a very superficial interest in government and ideas. Somewhere there needs to be a safety valve to prevent a calamitous society from imploding.
Just look at the Bozo & Sanchez wedding - if you have $50 million to spend on a wedding - you have too much money! Obviously, not paying your workers enough. I believe they even had a Great Gatsby themed party - that tells you all you need to know. Obscene.
Stephanie, yes totally obscene and the people of Venice were obviously not happy in many cases unless they were those receiving some of the largesse. This is one of the reasons why I hate Amazon and try to avoid it and we no longer subscribe to the Washington Post.
The hundreds of vendors who were paid part of that $50 million probably aren't complaining. And the people who bought the shares that Bezos may have liquidated to finance the wedding probably aren't complaining either. The uber-rich hurt the rest of us most when they use their giant cash flows to lock up assets--Congressional seats, stocks, bonds, real estate, corporations, etc.--and sequester it (and the dividends) forever from the rest of us. Polanyi wrote: "The poor spend what they earn and the rich earn what they spend." But spending on weddings? That's wealth distribution.
Stephanie, I wonder if Sanchez has any body parts remaining that are natural. That horribly squeezed- in waist it NOT normal. Her makeup was put on with a trowel- wonder what her pillow cases look like in the morning? Yes, obscene act of snobbery by them, not like they have any touch with reality. Surprised Venicians didn't sink their boat!
This right here: "The very rich consider themselves obligated by birth to accumulate not quality, or values toward the good of the country, but cash." Thank you, Stephanie.
Is it an obligation? Or entitlement? From what I can tell, they don't feel obligated to do anything. They also seem to believe they are entitled to anything and everything they want.
The thing is that some of the richest weren't born to it, like Bezos, Zucker-whatever-his-name, Gates and others. Gates is using his billions to help people. The others are still bent on enriching themselves, and screwing everyone else. I wonder what their ancestors think of their greedy, obscenely wealthy descendants.
Stephanie Banks, thanks for your post. This rings true: “And all the MAGA types who have voted for this have been and will continue to be the greatest number of imbeciles who have, at best, a very superficial interest in government and ideas.” Since 2015, when I talk with MAGAs the only excuse for supporting Trump I ever hear is they want, “someone who will shake things up” in government. “Superficial” is a good way to describe that idea.
Now that they’ve rewarded Trump with another term in office I see no buyer’s remorse and no evidence that they’re starting to think Make America Great Again will ruin our country instead of making it great. Others in this morning’s discussion have said very well how good it is to have HCR providing the facts and a straightforward historical approach to understanding what is actually going on. If only MAGA would read her “Letters!”
I envy Americans who lived through The Gilded Age in one way: they had newspapers that, “…sprang up and speakers crisscrossed the plains reminding voters that the government was supposed to treat all interests equally.” Our MSM is too faint-hearted and too devoted to Both-Sides-ism to do such a thing. Tragic.
On her Politics Chats, I seem to recall her saying she gets plenty of hate mail (she didn't mention death theats, so I hope that isn't a problem) so obviously some MAGA must read her.
Not hardly. We are six months in to this fascist nightmare and our democracy is fundamentally dead. The ONLY way out of this is WE THE PEOPLE freaking DEMANDING IT. En masse. No voting booth is going to change a thing right now. And right NOW is what matters. We don’t have 3 1/2 years to dilly dally.
Well said, Stephanie. The MAGAts who do not fit into that obligation of accumulating more money fall into the obligation of insuring that white, male, Christian, cisgendered, heteronormative is the dominant force in our culture.
If only the MAGAs paid attention to how the BBB was amended to favor Alaskan residents in order to buy Murkowski's vote. This blares out what they're blatantly trying to hide--the danger of people losing their healthcare in all other states. Although it worked and she's understandably looking out for her constituents, she's selling out the rest of Americans. But the parliamentarian is not having it....
“Somewhere there needs to be a safety valve to prevent a calamitous society from imploding.” I wouldn’t count on it. Just 4 days ago, I saw a “reel” on either Facebook or YouTube that showed 3 police officers arresting a seemingly South of the border individual. Two of the arresting officers were beating on this guy as he was on the ground in prone position getting handcuffed. Out of nowhere, the video shows a man discharging 5or 6 shots hitting all three officers. It’s not clear how badly they were injured; the point being: there may be more increased anger over the conduct of this administration than any of us may know.
So after blathering on about how the cuts to Medicaid will destroy huge swathes of Missourians, the second-most hypocritical wankpuffin in the Senate (L'il Joshy Hawley)--Collins being without a doubt the most hypocritical of all--lined up and voted for debate on the bill which includes even MORE cuts to Medicaid. He thinks he can run for re-election on his "principled" response to the budget bill, unlike Eric Sch[m]itt (the m is silent), who has been sending emails to everyone telling all of us why he is pushing his head even farther up the Dear Leader's diaper-clad arsehole and how that is going to be such a wonderful thing for the people of Missouri. The thing is--and this is a problem on both sides of the aisle--those who are currently incumbents in Congress are more worried about keeping their jobs than they are about actually representing their constituents and abiding by their oaths of office. I sincerely wish that Ammurrikans would wake the f*ck up and dump their asses in 2026. But I know they won't because they are lazy ignoramuses who, when push comes to shove, consider well-informed and rational voting to be too much of a chore. In Missouri in 2024, around 65% of the voters voted in favor of abortion rights and a higher minimum wage with paid sick leave. But they ALSO reelected the same slate of fascist Rethuglicans to the state legislature who had repeatedly voted AGAINST BOTH THOSE THINGS. And what did the f*ckers do as soon as they were sworn in for the umpteenth time? They killed both Voter Approved measures. We had bodily autonomy in Missouri for about 2 months. Minimum wage hike and paid sick leave? Not yet because they're trying to get the courts to kill it. It takes a special kind of stupid to "believe" in progressive and centrist principles and then to vote for the exact opposite just because they can't countenance voting for someone with a D after their name. I also want to give a shoutout to the people of Venice, who have made the Bezos wedding--the modern equivalent to the Vanderbilt ball--a total media disaster.
Linda, you are certainly on a roll this am. Wankpuffin, I love it. i may have to add it to my list of names to call Rs. And silent m...perfect. I was reading the comments on a post put out by Senator Wyden and it is clear that the dumbos responding think they are going to get a huge tax decrease. I can only think that most of them have not yet felt the pressure on their wallets. I keep reading about people in ag who cannot find workers, so I am waiting for that to hit the grocery aisle. I was at a gathering on Friday night and I was talking to a person about hits that wineries in Oregon are taking. She seemed to think ag workers are paid very well per hour and she would be willing to work in the fields for that and had no idea about tariffs. Two people, including her, announced that they did not read. And she asked me if anyone had ever told me that I looked like Rosie O'Donnell. My reply showed that I did not consider that a compliment although she intended it as such. We were at a reading done by my garden assistant and her new book stands against everything that greed and power represent. And yes, a shoutout to the people of Venice.
I made phone calls for Collins’s opponent in the last election as part of my organization which is not even in Maine. She is really the worst because she knows better. She said Kavanaugh lied to her about Roe v Wade to get her vote, but then she did nothing about it. Why did she and Murkowski not vote with Tillis and Paul?
Et and Michele: I cannot take responsibility for the term, although I am trying to elevate it. It was invented by a dear friend who is, like me, an academic who has to deal with a certain kind of holier-than-thou, self-important, but stunningly mediocre (usually male) academic who makes everyone else's lives miserable.
Thanks Miselle! I admit I rarely have an opportunity to dig deep into the comments on HCR's substack because, well, time issues and I admit that the prevalence of faux handwringing "what can we do?!?" stuff annoys me. If people have been reading this substack for any length of time they should know exactly what needs doing. I also admit that my blood pressure can't handle the daily news firehose emission so I monitor my exposure. But sometimes, the comments and HCR's letter just pull it out of me . . .
I cannot say this enough, republicans rigged 2000, allowed rigging in 2016, got their asses handed to them in 2020 then built a better rigged system in 2024. The pieces are in place for them to not lose again. It is why they are willing to pass very unpopular legislation - AGAIN!
And also, Trump doesn’t care if he wins again. He’s now doing the damage to the American economy and general stability that Putin charged him with…Job well done!!! Treasonous…No shame….Makes me feel sick!!!
Gigi, I think people like nightcrawlers as fish bait and I just like worms in general for the work they do in soil and the compost heap. And yeah, I do pick them up on the street to try to save them after a rain. Rs are certainly creatures of the night and I think of them as bloodsucking vampires.
Michele, back about 100 years ago when I was in a Chicago HS, our school had a courtyard surrounded on all four sides, only accessible from a door in a hallway. My biology teacher offered extra points for any kid who would bring in a carton of earthworms. (He told us to put them in a clean milk carton). He'd release them into the courtyard.
I feel the same about earthworms and have huge respect for all they do. I was trying to think of something spineless and am happy to substitute “SPINELESS VAMPIRES” for the repubs. I watched YouTube today and Elizabeth Warren on Brian Taylor Cohen’s show and Senator Schumer and Rep Landsman on Mark Elias’ Democracy Docket. They were outstanding! Landsman said if the corporate tax rate was raised to 28% instead of 21% they would not have to cut out healthcare for millions. Voter suppression and gerrymandering need to be changed locally for upcoming elections. Warren says call and write your legislators. You can even leave recorded messages today.
On the state level too. There are plenty of red state governors and legislatures that enact laws that harm their own supporters, whether it be refusing to extend Medicaid, cutting state food support and education and job training funding programs, or instituting restrictions that affect only particular population groups, like minorities and LGBTQ+. State level votes are equally important.
I was also contacted by the Census. I declined to give any of my data on the grounds that their data systems now lacked integrity and so could not guarantee my privacy. I also thanked the workers there for the excellent work they had done in the past and hoped they could resume that quality of work in the future.
The thing that flummoxes me the most is the shock that food and dairy farmers are experiencing because Trump is keeping his promises re immigration. Some have speculated that the farmers voted for him as they believed his claim that undocumented workers are taking "black jobs" and thus are additionally shocked that there have been no Black applicants for those jobs. I might celebrate this victory except that it means we will all be paying higher prices for food.
Sadly, we're already paying higher prices because chains have taken the tariff story as a means to increase prices. And then Albertson's has chosen to close stores in rural areas to increase its profits! So sad this country will be celebrating 250 years of making history a sad circle in pursuit of the elusive dollar.
I recently rewatched Hamilton. Despite all the creative license with some of the historical facts, it touched me so much that it turned into a three-hankie weepie. How is it that 249 years after the glory of that Declaration we have as president a man whose knowledge base about this country is so shallow and flawed?
Gary, as much as it disturbs me for even suggesting this, we need a recession and/or other hammer -- economic or otherwise -- to fall on the American People. Perhaps then our collective eyes will be opened to the utter incompetence, arrogance and negligence which characterizes the Red Party, as well as the grift and drift away from democracy it has steered us. Clearly nothing will change before 2026; let's hope we have the will and vision to vote them out. I'm not so sure we do, no matter the national calamity. "I used to be an optimist but things never turned out as I anticipated."
Yup. My favorite clip yesterday was a beautifully curated young Black woman telling farmers that she couldn't believe they didn't have a Plan B for when all their undocumented workers fled or were deported. That she couldn't believe they'd risk their family farms on the assumption that they could get black folk to do their back-breaking work -- again. In another post was a screenshot from a recruiting agency in Louisiana for blueberry pickers: $11 per hour, 9-10 hours per day, 7 days per week, for three months.
Oh, I expect prices to go much higher as there will be no one to harvest and pack the produce or process meat. Crops are already going unharvested and rotting in the fields.
Many, many people are going to be unpleasantly surprised soon. I'm not a believer, but I do think the regime is using the Evangelical's "antiChrist" beliefs as a blueprint.
Florida is the testing ground for all the cruel and harmful programs 2025, this administration and the complicit GOP want to enact. Where is the national outrage at what is happening both environmentally and on the human level with the creation of these death (because people are dying in them) camps? Where is the media in reporting that corruption and cruelty? Calling daily our R representative and senators (Fl is heavy gerrymandered). Please call yours no matter what letter follows their name. It takes only a second. Make sure the horrible bill is defeated. It's up to us.
Three more years of damage? It's going to take decades to recover from this. Economic, climate, world standing, education, bigotry/misogyny and so much more. And it’s not just the Mango Menace; he's just the manifestation of the regressive party.
I am hoping against reality that this horrible bill will be defeated. Smart of the democrats to insist that all 900 + pages be read aloud. And the republicans that are standing against it? Stand fast!!!
Yep, it breaks my heart that two (maybe three) of four bros drank the kool aid. None are stupid but go with the stupid flow. Well, I guess that is stupid…
Here's hoping it won't be that long, and we the people can choke off those who hope to quash our rights and doom us to penury. Rise, up. Every month another opportunity to demonstrate our disdain, every week another opportunity to call our Congress Reps and Senators, to send out postcards, to make some calls, to knock on some doors, and every day to thank god for HCR!
Your comment reminded me of Michael Tomasky's superb piece in The New Republic shortly after the election. I've included a link and think it is well worth your time.
Great read. It inspired me to write an entry in my own blog today. I remember Marshall McKuhen’s phrase The Medium is the Message and I never stopped to think what the hell it meant. But I was only 14 years of age.
S B Lewis, thanks! The quality of the Comment section in HCR's newsletters almost never fails to impress me. I've never read, much less memorized, a Shakespeare sonnet. I'm sure it's a transgression to do so, but I asked Chat GPT to tell me the meaning of the poem 🫢. I felt I was rewarded though I probably shouldn't have 😀.
It’s about love. Shakespeare spoke of love in that sonnet, his love. My 10th grade English teacher, Eunice Helmkamp, asked us to choose a sonnet to recite at U-High, 10th grade at UCLS, U Chicago… I chose. Memorized. Shakespearian sonnets help now. We need all the help we can get. Love Is Not Enough, but it’s a good place to start. See Bettelheim. His breakaway book about The Orthogenic School where I grew from 10-16, learned to read there at 11.
Excellent history lesson. Eventually the will of the people prevails. Tyrants always pay for their crimes. 70% of American adults did not vote for Liar Thief Dishonorable Donald.
Here's a list of deposed tyrants that Donald should learn from. Oppressing and stealing from the people you are sworn to serve is dumb.
S B, I would just make it thank god for Heather Cox Richardson. It looks to me like the regime, the Congress and the Supreme Court are working to suspend as much of the Constitution as possible. Who needs a Constitution when we have Donald Trump. Oh wait, Donald Trump is exactly why need to honor and enforce the Constitution!
And, what more apt song for Heather guiding us through the maze than the Beach Boys "God Only Knows" a tune that resonates constantly through my head!!
I think it took Hitler 3 months to get rid of the German Constitution. It's taking this regime a bit longer, but nearly every day the US Constitution comes closer to becoming a useless piece of paper. On the other hand, if you pay attention to HRC and her wealth of knowledge, you might find it is more than yesterday's news.
I thank God for Professor HcR but not the Constitution. I say that because the Constitution only exists if We the Peple believe in it, respect it and agree upon it.
How long have we the people allowed this complete and utter ORIGINALIST bull shit to happen and be masked as thoughtful legal interpretation? It never held up. EVER. It was arise to rule Willy nilly depending on what friend of the court was paying enough.
If they had been tru to their word which has proven to be absolute and original shit they would have a court of one, actually none now that I think of it…forgot Roberts was Catholic. So pretty ironic people who would never been allowed to serve on the court are the ones interpreting what slave owners in the late 1700s would think about ghost guns. Or people who shit in buckets outside might think about the EPA in 2025 and how that related to leukemia levels in children drinking from conatinamted runoff water.
Here’s a softball for the originalists….please circle the square wher the founding fathers literally fought a war to have NO KINGS, formered a representative democracy and stated that ALL men are created equal actually meant to have 2024 SCOTUS, the original originalists ganstahs (the OOG6) say they really meant that their Guy is above all law?
Or was all this originalist just complete nonsense to make shit up to fit an outcome that already been decided by the people they really represent?
They have acted more as co counsel for Trumo than the highest corrupt. Even taking or denying cases, delaying dockets, washy washy outcomes in order to wait until after elections.
Knowing how you got someplace is great but it does nothing to figure out how to move forward. Congress is gone, the courts are gone.
Israel dropped charges against Netanyahu bevause trumo threatened them with no protection. trump got the same favor here last year. And we still think we’ll have elections in 2026?
We cannot keep thanking Professor and critisizing Trump, Repbulicans and ICE and do nothing more. Thank however first that our land is saved from becoming their private golf courses and club houses. Now if we cannot save Medicaid for now, can do that in 2026.
>>>Tonight, fifty-one senators voted to advance the bill with forty-nine opposing it. Republicans Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky voted with the Democrats to stop the bill from moving forward. Tillis has been clear that he could not support the bill’s cuts to Medicaid. Immediately, Trump said he would back a primary challenger to Tillis, saying he would be “looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina.”<<<
Another perfect example of how and why the rest of the Republican members of Congress have had their spines turn to jelly. They place political careers, and the perks of those careers, ahead of the good of the country. They quake in their Italian suits at the thought of being primaried out. Cowards all!
Susan Collins with her lily-livered "Just because I voted Yes now doesn't necessarily mean I'll vote Yes on the final bill." Sure, Susie - we'll be working on getting rid of you next November, regardless.
I'm sure MANY of us will have the opportunity to write postcards and letters, or to phonebank from our other states to help this happen.
Postage goes up on JULY 13th, folks!
PLAN AHEAD. Head to your postoffice soon or go online to order. Before one campaign a year or so back, I went to the postoffice and they were SOLD OUT of all postcard stamps.
Has Susie Sycophant written a “strongly worded letter” yet? Does she still hold to her unbelievably naive assessment the Trump will “grow into the job” of the Presidency? Does she have a clue, at all?
As a lifelong Mainer(75 years) Susie is not someone who puts Mainers or the people of the US best interests first. She has honed her smarmy platitudes over the years and they are her cover for going along with the GOP, without any risk.
We will never forget (especially the women of this country) her repeated betrayals. She smiles in your face but she is a backstabber. She will vote for this bill.
I'm a North Carolinian- Tillis has been skating on thin ice for a long time.. He knows people are not as dumb as his party thinks they are... Voting No is his only option right now... He's going to be primaried and it will be like a carnival side show.. The NC republican party has Gerymandered almost all of the legislative districts but they can not Gerrymander a statewide contest.. Watch the fireworks unfold...
Tillis has already burned his bridge and knows he has nothing to lose. Ask a North Carolinian who they most despise on the planet and his name comes up #2 on the list only behind tRumpty Dumpty. Tillis is a serpent trying to appear like he has a conscience as he slithers from the Garden.
This Seattle boy hadn't heard of him until a couple of years ago, but apart from everything I've caught from the PoliticsNC 'stack out of newfound curiosity, his absolute goddamn betrayal of Hegseth's ex-wife is one of those bells that cannot be unrung.
He promised her that if she testified against him that he could not get enough votes to be confirmed. Then she testified. Then Tillis voted to confirm him.
From what I can see from far away the politics of NC are complicated, to say the least. I think your Republican Party politicians are to the right of the electorate, including some Republican voters. If Tillis loses the Primary to a far-right MAGA
will the Dem candidate have a good chance in the General?
We’ll never know. Tillis just announced he’s going to retire. I’m certain this was not a spur of the moment decision. I should have labeled him a tapeworm. Even a feckless serpent has a spine.
I agree Michael. Plus, there is already a shortage of Doctors & Nurses…with the Republicans treating medical care for Americans so callously- how many young people want to invest years and years of education to fight off over-crowded emergency rooms? Like what Megan Rothery says with her spreadsheet:
Also work on electing Democrats. It’s not in my comfort zone but join an organization and knock on doors. For those that are receptive, ask them to call their friends and relatives to support good Democratic candidates. This is how Susan Crawford won in WI, despite the 90 million Musk put in the that state Supreme Ct race.
I was pleasantly surprised when I tried knocking on doors. It wasn’t as hard as I expected and got to be fun when I actually got to engage with someone. Also they don’t send you to registered Rep. houses, just Dems or independents.
And collect half a million in student loan debt. And given that some Americans are absolutely rabid about the idea of student loan forgiveness, they receive no help in paying it off- even for practicing in an underserved area.
The only one who dared to show a spine --- a teensy one at best, yet see Mango the Hutt's sputtering outrage. Picture him quivering in mock fury like a preening bowl of rancid jello. How DARE anyone oppose the Great Me, the Wonderful, Perfect in Every Way Bill To Do Whatever the Hell I Feel Like? It might as well have been named that. In the past, bills' names could be almost comical: The Full Employment Bill to Stop Biden's Nonsense, e.g. But this one doesn't even claim to do anything. It's literally a big piece of pig slop.
In the Times last night (not the Washington Compost), you at least got a sense of the tiny deals transpiring on the floor in the night at the last minute --- the tiny little deals -- to satisfy the pettiest instincts of Repulsicans who know this is a piece of slop. Lisa Murkowski taking 3 hours to vote "yes" only after she'd secured some pissy little crap for Alaska, of course. Ron Johnson finally voting "yes" after God knows what they promised him. Josh Hawley proudly announcing (after supposedly opposing Medicaid cuts for weeks) that he now supports it, because....?
Don't buy the magic hair tonic. Like Tillis, ALL OF THEM know what a pile of financial sleight-of-hand, ideological cruelty and incoherent chickenshit this bill is. They wouldn't be passing crap in the middle of the night by means of "reconciliation" in order to avoid a filibuster if it were something else. Instead, they treated it like normal give-and-take horse-trading. They fiddled and diddled while Cheetoh Nero burned the Republic down.
I only hope Democrats are smart enough to come up with some basic, gut-level, highly visual metaphors to 'splain it all to disinformed voters from now until next November.
This cannot be stated enough: the republicans are acting like a party that does not fear electoral consequence. Following the 2020 election, they begin to put in place, with the guidance of the fascist group ALEC, legislation to reduce the opposition that would vote them out. Through the purging of voters, making it more difficult to vote with their restrictive ID laws, and removal of ease of voting methods (mail in, drop boxes) this time they are planning on winning in 2026 regardless of how the people view their policies. Republicans in Congress are now just like the Duma in Russia. What the leader wants, the leader gets. With SCOTUS dismantling the administrative agencies, giving the executive immunity for "official acts", and now allowing blatant constitutional violating EOs, the stage is set for the first American dictatorship.
Thank goodness for HCR and her event by event documentation. Thank goodness for Marc Elias and Democracy Docket. Thank goodness for the fine people on Substack that have provided the historical record when our media lets us down.
Why we don’t buy billboards on every mile of interstate with graphs of income inequality? I volunteer at Feeding America. Our large service area has seen an 88% rise in need since June 1. Contrast that with a $45,000,000 vanity parade.
Admittedly, billboards are a blight on the landscape, but they are the most inescapable, cost-effective way to reach maximum audience.
By contrast, TV ads are the least cost-effective way to reach people. They are "vapor ads," here for 30 seconds, then gone. The only way to make them effective is to blanket every channel in every market, which costs a fortune and pisses off the viewers.
Why the campaigns can't figure this out is beyond me.
You make an excellent point. I assume there are also many people like me who record all TV programming I plan to watch. I do this because I hate watching TV advertising. By recording, I can skip the ads. I see no TV advertising. I have not seen a single political ad nor any other. What a gigantic waste of money, as you say.
Add to that, a growing number of people are streaming their TV entertainment, another way to block advertising. I may not be typical, but I haven't watched any over-the-air programming in at least a year. I still see ads on some "free" streaming services, but not with the saturation of local TV channels.
When you factor together OTA, cable, satellite and streaming, the TV market is so fragmented, it would take a gazillion-dollar media buy to ensure that you're reaching your audience. What a waste of money!
MLRGRMI, I’d love to see a breakdown per income level, on the amount of the % tax cut, especially for those with an income less than $53,600. Does anyone know a source for this?
An article I read online a while ago stated it would COST me $700!
Who knows? Trump has threatened North Carolina senator Thomas Tillis with a primary challenge, but can he issue those kind of threats without Musk's money in the midterm elections next year?
As with any prostitute, Donald has a price for his affection. Elon has the money to pay it.
However, Elon has already gotten everything he wanted with his previous investment. He gutted all the agencies that were investigating his companies for various violations and awarded himself contracts worth geometrically more money than he invested. There's little financial motivation for him to come back. Not to mention that he got his fragile feefees hurt by all the public hate. He doesn't want a second dose of that.
JDinTX (below) has got it right. For a relatively few billionaires there will be no downsides, but for everyone else it will bring the prospect of austerity a step closer.
At the moment, it probably doesn't seem likely to many Americans who only see a president striving to re-establish America's economic dominance for the benefit of Americans, even at the expense of everyone else. But your country faces looming crises like the effects of climate change that are already with you and will only get worse, and some that are on the horizon for which you are being left unprepared. The recent memory of Trump's disastrous response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic which led to the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of Americans was a warning of worse to come.
A character in Hemmingway's 'The Sun Also Rises' is asked 'how did you become bankrupt?'. His reply is 'gradually, then suddenly'. This second Trump term will usher in further calamities and they will come thick and fast.
What I don’t understand is how people actually believe that thump cares about them or if he will still support them if they disagree. Tom Tillis is a good example. He was the thump’s darling at one time but now that he disagrees with the petulant child, he is threatened by him. We have seen this time and time again. Why don’t they learn. If he gets angry with them, they might be on the right track.
Welcome to life with an individual who suffers from a Borderline Personality Disorder. They strike out like a rattle snake at anyone who threatens, however subtly, to reject them. Tramp is a classic BPD.
Greeley, you are too kind. Donald is a walking textbook of every known psychosis and personality disorder.
I don't like to use the word, "evil," because it carries theological implications, so I would describe him as a sociopath.
He loves no one. All of his relationships are transactional, and always distorted in a way that he gets more than he gives.
History will compare him to Herod, Caligula, Nero, Attila, Genghis Kahn, Henry VIII, Ivan the Terrible, Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler, Idi Amin and Saddam Hussein.
Trump’s sycophants don’t seem to realize you can agree with him—or do whatever it is he wants—73 times, but when you finally say no, you’re out. It’s all or nothing.
This bill is extremely disturbing. Our government is supposed to protect and serve--not harm--us. All of Trump's, the GOP's and MAGA's actions harm America and Americans. 😡
Mostly correct. Ultimately, many folks when they vote revenge vote and the muck rackets know how to reach the voter at just the right time. Trump isn’t just a poor choice. He is the worst and most destructive of any. He adopted behavior from the mafia of New York. I despair that he had to live in my time.
Bill, I live in an area that has a very large Muslim population. Daily, I pass businesses with large FREE PALESTINE flashing on their electronic billboards, or HUGE signs on their property. I wonder how many voted for Trump because they were upset with Biden.
Perhaps “the Great People of North Carolina “ will be thankful their senator showed some spine and voted for the interests of those great people! Wish more republican senators would show some collective spine and voted for the for the best interests of their constituents!
Even more reason to pinpoint them for electoral removal in 2026 and those senators not up for reelection in 2026 quake in their boots for 2028.. because they will be taken down. Likewise in the House. And failing health for the regime's foulest members. May their hate consume their health and their families.
Mitch McConnell was against it but apparently couldn't hold his old spine together to actually vote his "conscience".
Now that you're up off the floor from laughing at that one, it still would have passed with JD Prance, but old Moscow Mitch had to provide the image of unity.
What a disgusting bunch of feeble old men. Fill the senate with women. It can't be worse.
Oh and demolish the Roberts Court, which is certainly not supreme. Replace him, alito and Thomas , hey, with women too, and add 4 more.
Can you imagine not being willing to protect members of your family? That’s exactly what the repugnantkins in the senate are doing, you might say “well they have the wealth to find the medical care they need” which may be true up to a point, but past that point when the hospital systems fail and a 3 hr drive to find the nearest open one, is still a 3 hr drive to someone who is sick. Like the insipid orange turd this is insane. When the repugnantkins finally pull their heads out of their asses it’s going to be too late, all of the prosperity you see all around you is built on a finely woven structure that benefits most if not in practice all of us, they are taking a wrecking ball to it, and are trying to recreate a feudal system where some families have all of the wealth, and everyone else works for them, histories graveyards are full of examples of how well that has turned out. 🤬🤬🤬
Elissa Slotkin gave a speech today that’s going around Instagram with themes sounded by Mary Elizabeth Lease. Please let the rest of the Dem party learn from Ms. Lease and Ms. Slotkin! And stop panicking over Zohran Mamdani winning the Dem primary in NYC. We need to get behind all of their messages about extreme economic inequality being antithetical to a functioning small-d democracy!
Senator Murphy has been saying for months that the Democratic Party needs to be a BIG TENT. And the center pole should be Economic Justice. The travesty proceeding in Congress gives us the ULTIMATE political tool to expose, hammer and defeat the MAGA Nazis in future elections.
Many Trump voters thought that he would only deport immigrants who were criminals. Not their coworkers and friends who have been part of their community for decades.
Many Trump voters actually believed that there was "waste fraud and abuse" at the VA and in Medicaid. Turns out the WFA is at the top of the food chain. The current bill that slashes so much from so many of us and gives so much to a few at the top will be a horror show for Republicans. Too bad the elections are so far away. Of course, that gives us more time and evidence to demonstrate how fucking cruel Republicans are.
Bill Alstrom, I’m so glad you highlighted the great substack of Jess Piper! Her clarion call from the heart of deep Missouri is a must read for me. Project 2025 is deeply implemented already in Missouri. She warns of the cruelty her State already suffers because of this. She also, helps me get a pragmatic view of the challenges of resistance work in such a gop-stranglehold State.
and this: This cannot be stated enough: the republicans are acting like a party that does not fear electoral consequence. Following the 2020 election, they begin to put in place, with the guidance of the fascist group ALEC, legislation to reduce the opposition that would vote them out. Through the purging of voters, making it more difficult to vote with their restrictive ID laws, and removal of ease of voting methods (mail in, drop boxes) this time they are planning on winning in 2026 regardless of how the people view their policies. Republicans in Congress are now just like the Duma in Russia. What the leader wants, the leader gets. With SCOTUS dismantling the administrative agencies, giving the executive immunity for "official acts", and now allowing blatant constitutional violating EOs, the stage is set for the first American dictatorship.
Thank goodness for HCR and her event by event documentation. Thank goodness for Marc Elias and Democracy Docket. Thank goodness for the fine people on Substack that have provided the historical record when our media lets us down.
Why are the criminal in the White House and the floozies around him always so angry?
Like Hegseth – a monumental fount of hysteria, histrionics, volcanic contortions, ever-spewing cankers?
Partly it has to do with how mediocrities always need formulae – as if there’s but one set of ways to live. Everyone must fit police state or theocratic state. What’s the name of the place in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” or the town in “The Stepford Wives” (OK, it’s Stepford), those in Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” or “The Thanatos Syndrome”?
See, America has long brooked near-rule by the angry such as the gaudy orange felon, perpetual drunk Hegseth, Russell Vought with his 900-something page project, Stephen Miller with his wet dream for prisons, and all their Fox choruses.
Now add to that the decades American schools have been fit to the chief conceit of testing, which is that for A)-B)-C)-D) there’s always but one correct answer. And mere takers-of-tests never get to ask any questions.
Compare all that with the millions of Americans who turned out for No Kings Day – and the plenty of signs mixing humor, satire, and wider humanity along with real determination in the face of ogres, zombies, living dead.
Phil, No Kings Day turned out much better than I thought it would be. So many happy, smiling, laughing people. It was joyous. A group of friends did street theater, spent long hours making props and working on the story-telling. It was great, drew a big crowd. Very American. Despite all the bad news we hear so often, the heart of American democracy beats loud and clear.
Since Mamdani won the NYC mayoral primary over 4,000 young Democrats have signed up to run for political office. And more are signing up every day. If only 1% of these candidates is a charismatic populist then we will be on our way back to making the Democrat Party great.
The oligarchs are truly afraid of the Democratic new comers and rightfully so. So go ahead and pass the BBB because you'll be handing the keys to several states over to the Dems that have been blue for a long time.
This cannot be stated enough: the republicans are acting like a party that does not fear electoral consequence. Following the 2020 election, they begin to put in place, with the guidance of the fascist group ALEC, legislation to reduce the opposition that would vote them out. Through the purging of voters, making it more difficult to vote with their restrictive ID laws, and removal of ease of voting methods (mail in, drop boxes) this time they are planning on winning in 2026 regardless of how the people view their policies. Republicans in Congress are now just like the Duma in Russia. What the leader wants, the leader gets. With SCOTUS dismantling the administrative agencies, giving the executive immunity for "official acts", and now allowing blatant constitutional violating EOs, the stage is set for the first American dictatorship.
Thank goodness for HCR and her event by event documentation. Thank goodness for Marc Elias and Democracy Docket. Thank goodness for the fine people on Substack that have provided the historical record when our media lets us down.
I agree they do not fear electoral consequences but the reasons for that lack of fear are far more insidious than the things you mention, which are being done in plain view. It is what is being done quietly and furtively that is the most insidious and frightening. Try this 4 -part (so far) series for more information.
Then we need to do what is happening in Hungry right now - everyone in the streets all day every day until the felon rapist and his minions get the message!
Toxic angry male politics. It didn't start with Limbaugh but it certainly picked up steam with him and made him filthy rich. Anger is the only allowable emotion for these men and it is always women and immigrants and POC that they are angry with. When you are told you are, as a white man, a master of the universe, but reach middle age especially and you are not rich and barely the master of your own life, you look for someone to blame. Limbaugh, Murdoch, Trump, etc have all been all too happy to point their fingers and focus their hate and anger. They have all used it to amass power and wealth and the angry saps just keep getting angrier because at this point, they cannot even admit who is really screwing them as it would destroy their entire egos.
Hello Dana, I hear you. What I have to admit is the roll that women play in this “Same Play, Different Actors” drama. Some men love patriarchy. And so do some women. I’m trying to shake my mind away from seeing this classic power-mongering struggle through such a gendered lens, if only to not heap “All Men” in that terrible category. Stripped of gender, its always just about power. Power shape-shifts the rules to stay in power. I always force myself to watch how the goalpost is moved to rationalize excluding an “interloper”. I do believe having more women in positions of power is good. But the person in power is only as good or bad as their character. I loved that Jen Psaki was Press Secretary, but I cringe listening to Karoline Leavitt. Bravo Rachel Maddow. OMG, Laura Ingraham. Whenever I want to gripe about toxic male politics, I have my State’s Betsy DeVos flash in my mind. And I feel frustrated I cannot solve that problem. I feel I’m up against the whole Abrahamic-religion-power-system. The brainwashing it has done on women ( and men ) has been carefully curated and masterful.
It's 'not all men' but I do not think it's appropriate to do the false equivalency of 'women are sexist too'. Men got and maintain power throught physical brute force all throughout the world, throughout all history. It is still happening today with women being physically abused and killed by men literally every day. The patriarchy was built on it and around it. It is not fair or accurate or helpful to say 'but women help and can be just as sexist!' It kind of reminds me of people who as soon as slavery and the slave trade is mentioned just have to point out 'Africans helped with the slave trade!' and 'black people owned slaves!' and 'black people can be just as racist as whites!'. Individual men are and can be victimized by the patriarchy (that they created!) but they are also its primary guardians and proponents and the chief victimizers.
LBJ understood this when he stated, "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
Newt Gingrich ushered in right-wing hate politics in the 1990s as the speaker of the House. The right-wingers have practiced and perfected hate politics ever since.
The Dems managed to strive for fundamental political diplomacy with the right-wingers for years before they decided to respond directly to the right-wing hate machine. Dems never got close to behaving as depraved as the majority of GOP misanthropes. Now the media acts as if this hate has been practiced by both sides the whole time.
How the media likes to push false equivalency and ignore the history that is there for anybody see.
You haven’t even mentioned the men my 17 year old grandson encounters during his late night forays into the grosser side of cyberspace. We don’t talk about them because we don’t know who the H they are.
It must be so terrifying to raise kids today. The rise of the 'manosphere' and incel ideology was a big part of Trump's win this last time. They leaned heavy on anti-woman rhetoric and were able to win large portions of younger men this way.
I hope it’s not too late for him to change perspectives. College will be good for him if he gives up the crazy notion that he’ll soon be rich like the influencers he evidently follows.
To be mad can mean being angry, but also bonkers. I don't think that's coincidental. When we are very frightened, rageful, or greedy, among other self-serving passions, we are commonly not of sound mind. In such a state may say or do things we come to regret. We may wind up doing something "stupid" and/or tragic. Othello comes to mind. Tyrants stir up fear, hate, greed and hubris because those thus afflicted can often be persuaded to do highly irrational things, even heinous; things that suit the predatory bent of tyrants, at great costs to others; even to most of their ardent and obedient admirers It's there in plain sight.
Gary, Yes, many are just blind. Those that are ignorant and those who claim to be independent are the persuadables.
However, I am still shocked daily at how many Americans are vile in their hearts. But because I am always going to be a glass half full kind of a guy, I believe that the haters, the truly disgusting bigots, the ones who applaud the cruelty...are less than a third of us.
The more damage done by this administration and his team of revengers, the more votes pile up for the return of decency.
Absolutely. these guys at the top revel in the violence. Seeing the people in the tent on J6 watching the horror unfold and them just laughing and smiling. The cruelty is the point.
I guess I keep repeating this because it seems we aren't acknowledging it: The United States was founded by white landed gentry of European birth. The government and society they formed was made for them.
A wise man once told a story about a farmer who went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
Those hallowed "Founding Fathers" so beloved by white conservatives created a certain kind of seedbed. It should not be surprising that after 250 years, our government still favors the white and wealthy. It should not be surprising that our nation has cultivated a population that distrusts, fears or hates people of color. It should not be surprising that our society is STILL motivated by greed.
The best we can hope to do is contain and control racism and greed.
I don't know, Bill. A year ago I'd have agreed with you regarding the ones who "claim to be independent". Now? What I am seeing from the people I thought were rational human beings does not lead me to believe they are in any way persuadable. I had one of them (with whom, gods help me, I was engaging with on Facebook) tell me that "you people" (I am guessing he means those of us who do not like the shutdown of rights for everyone not white, Christian, male, cisgendered, and heteronormative) "...don't even know what a woman is."
They are eye deep in the propaganda and I don't see them ever giving up what tickles their collective amygdalae.
Ally, "you people" is one of my most hated phrases. If someone uses that with me, I immediately shut down. I've NEVER seen it used in a good way, I've always seen it used negatively.
I've often thought performative fury was one of the main keys to his success in places where people just do not tune into the details of reality. My, but he waves his hands back-and-forth pumping that invisible concertina a lot. Him must be vewy mad! Him understand tings we don't. Him clearly paying attention. Him a messenger of God....
The truth has always been that him actually has the attention span of an ADHD gnat. Him don't know shit from shinola. Him never has. The preening rage, the gyrations, the performative snarling, the sputtering righteousness, the grotesque humping of an American flag to show his wuv of country. Like Pete Kegsbreath bouncing up and down on his heels to demonstrate his....righteous indignation. How DARE you all ask these questions?
All for show. Every bit of it -- show-and-tell. Every scrap spoon-fed to Fox's dumbstruck dummies, going ooooh and aaaah, soon Amerika Macht Wieder Grõss....
Love your "vewy mad" here, "It's Come to This." Recalls a certain cartoon rabbit.
When you say "he waves his hands back-and-forth pumping that invisible concertina" I think of the late night comic for whom it invokes His Fatness double jacking off.
MTG is loudly screaming that Mamdami is going to take away women’s rights, make them wear burkas and bring sharia law. All while she’s working to obliterate every non-white non-Christian and take away our bodily autonomy.
Abandoned and abused children live with a constantly activated fight/flight (freeze/fawn) response. The best example is to be seen in Alice Miller's 1983 "For Your Own Good", a psychohistorical biography of Adolf Hitler, who is known to have been beaten daily from age 3yo. How'd that turn out? Howling against the wind, as in so many of the "justified angry" comments here, is a symptom of having had such a childhood and NOT the solution to our national nightmare. Just look at how many of our comments are angry. America has become a nation of abandoned and abused children.
I'm working on an article I intend to publish next week if I remain properly caffeinated. It's called "Nation of Fear" and addresses the fact that regardless of political ideology, the U.S. system is failing most people while working nicely for the less than 1%, the wealthiest Americans.
Excerpt from "Nation of Fear" ...
Any meaningful democracy requires a well-educated, well-informed, and engaged society. In the history of humanity, we were frightened by phenomena such as lightning, thunder, eclipses, and comets. We thought the Earth was flat (granted, some still do). Left-handed people must be witches or warlocks. Many were terrified when we learned that the Earth was not the center of an expanding universe; however, it orbited the sun, just like Uranus.
How many believe that the representative democracy in the United States is healthy, strong, and working well as we evolve toward a “more perfect Union”?
How many believe that the healthcare system in the United States provides high-quality and affordable care for all?
How many people believe that voting is now completely free of barriers—and therefore agree with Chief Justice Roberts and the conservative majority that their 2013 decision to gut a key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was justified?
How many believe that the rule of law should be applied equally to all people, including a privileged few?
Are we all cool with the proliferation of guns, assault rifles, high-capacity magazines, and gun violence?
Are we fine with a handful of people controlling most of the wealth in the United States, enjoying gigantic tax loopholes, stockpiling trillions of wealth offshore, and acquiring and consolidating media companies to constrain the news and information we see (except, apparently news about Jeff Bezos’ wedding and/or the Kardashians) -and all this while 60% of us could not cover an unexpected $1,000 expense?
We’re all good with State-sponsored kidnappings and human trafficking of students, moms, dads, sons, daughters, and others who mistakenly believe we still care about all of the first ten Amendments encompassing the Bill of Rights.
We’re good with dictating what women can and can’t do with their bodies?
We are “a-ok” with politicizing textbooks and the education system so the next generation learns that coal is so clean and tasty you can sprinkle it on your breakfast cereal, the Civil War was a fought over “States’ Rights”, and slaves were willing apprentices being taught important job and life skills?
Except for those who are still trying to recover from fires, floods, hurricanes, and other extreme (and worsening climate catastrophes), we’re okay on global warming?
Enough of us have such a tremendous reserve of drinking water, it’s fine to dump chemicals, waste, and pollution into streams, rivers, and lakes, because environmental protection kills jobs?
I’ve belabored the point here. These are just a handful of societal imperatives, the tip of a rapidly melting ice shelf.
These imperatives are not new. They are all, however, worsening. Since our system is a representative democracy, and that means we elect leaders who represent our societal values, goals, and objectives, why are these critical issues not being addressed? Why are they worsening?
While there are a multitude of reasons, one, in particular, addresses why the country is currently led by a corrupt, incompetent, criminal-elect who is surrounded by a Congressional majority all too happy to kill healthcare access for millions of people while driving even more wealth to the already wealthy.
It is a four-letter word that begins with “F”.
The word is FEAR.
Healthcare and Fear
The U.S. healthcare system is the most expensive in the world, yet it consistently ranks among the worst when comparing costs, patient outcomes, and access to care with other systems in Canada, Netherlands, Israel, Ireland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, and more. In fact, of the top twenty major systems (which all offer universal healthcare, the United States (which does not offer universal care) is in last place. For all of you exceptionalists out there who love to shout “USA! USA! USA!” at political rallies, the United States is number one in healthcare system costs, and number one in the approximately 650,000 personal bankruptcies the system causes on an annual basis.
Healthcare is a major personal expense in the United States. On average, a person spends close to 12% of their paycheck on healthcare, and this percentage is rising. Thank goodness it’s not a tax though!!! Because anytime we call something a tax, we’re against it!
Politicians know the healthcare system has failed “We the People”. In early 2016, Donald Trump promised to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) with a terrific, phenomenal plan that would provide universal care. During his 2024 campaign, Trump said he had the “concepts of a plan” to repeal and replace the ACA. In the meantime, Trump, along with the GOP majority in Congress, are working around the clock to eliminate access to care for millions of families to pay for an extension of tax cuts for the wealthy.
The reality is that the healthcare system in the United States works beautifully if you are wealthy and a major donor to political candidates. First of all, if you are wealthy, you are less inclined to care about the costs of healthcare. You certainly don’t care about rising costs for the average American. You don’t care about the 650,000 people and families per year who are financially devastated. And if you are part of the system, such as an executive in “Big Pharma”, or are a partner in a private equity company, you are stockpiling even more wealth based on the rising costs and poor patient outcomes. So there is not much “political will” to represent voters.
There is, however, plenty of money to instill FEAR into the hearts and minds of voters about radical changes to the system. It will lead to higher taxes! The government will ration care! Wait times for an appointment will be measured in years! I won’t get to choose my doctor!!! (This was a big one around the ACA). OMG!!! This is socialism!!!
These (and more) all factor into our fears of electing and supporting leadership who understand the current system is failing 90% of the country and must be reimagined to expand access, shift to a preventative system, and drive cost-effective innovation in the delivery of care. Until we have the courage to do so, some people will be carrying their protest signs “Government out of Our Healthcare”, satisfied with Wall Street Analysts and private equity investors, insurance executives, and Big Pharma making healthcare decisions for your family (instead of public health experts and physicians).
Economics and Fear
Recent studies have shown that 60% of Americans lack the savings to afford an unexpected $1,000 expense. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and has not changed in 16 years. Adjusted for inflation, $7.25 per hour in 2009 has a value of $4.91 per hour in 2025. So stop complaining and pull yourselves up by your bootstraps!
Any political talk of increasing the minimum wage is met with cries of socialism and Marxism. And a living wage? Forget it communist.
Human's do not have the advantage of Apollo's Eye. We never have the all encompassing perspective. We rarely know all we need to make the decisions we must. For some that is exhilarating - think the testing of hypotheses in science. For others it is petrifying - think the strictures of religious creed.
The Founders built the Scientific Method into constitutional government - coming to consensus through reasoned debate of empirical evidence in judicial decisions, legislative process, and transfer of power - always amendable. And by separating church and state they sought to keep not only absolute creed but irrational habits of mind out of government - the Politics of Faith threw that out the window.
And FEAR breeds contempt. And so it goes, down hill from there. The question is where from there? It's late in the game. I don't beiieve there will be an election in 2026. And if there is
it will be overwhelmed by arguments that it is unfair, compromised, law suits will be filed and go on forever and in the end nothing will change. The new fiscal year will begin on July 1,2025. People will begin to truly feel all the cuts. I pray that those that still support the Tyrant will have their eyes opened but I am not optimistic. So where from here, scares me.
Thanks Lou. While I've long been for incremental and progressive changes, the corrupting influence of massive amounts of dark money since the "Citizens United" decision has led to such a rapid erosion of democracy and system guardrails, I now believe the best chance of survival of the American experiment will be the courage and patience necessary for a comprehensive and bold reform of the entire system. The article I'm working on and hope to publish next week will outline some of the steps necessary. And like you I do not trust that we will get a conventional opportunity to put the system back on the rails toward justice, equality, and democracy -it will take a significant and prolonged non-violent economic disruption.
George, here I go again (as I've posted this several times today). I think we need a nationwide weekend of boycott of all, ALL, shopping. Like the visuals of packed streets on NO KINGS, we need to see shopping mall parking lots devoid of cars, and the malls themselves empty. Fast-food joints with NOBODY in them. The workers may have to show up, but let them post photos of nobody in their place of employment.
If you are concerned about small business, before or after the weekend, purchase extra. We need the visuals to send a message.
Thank you Miselle. I think that is definitely worth exploring. Certainly continuing to ramp up the "No Kings" protests and coordinated boycott efforts are important. One of the issues I intend to raise is our societal fear of a prolonged general strike by all except emergency/first responders.
From my perspective, which is shared by others who have far more experience, the root cause is the extreme concentration of wealth. Just as many of us have migrated away from the former Twitter -knowing that every interaction with that platform brings Elon Musk more wealth and power, the value of our work effort is shifted to executives, private equity, and institutional investors while we continue to work harder for the flatlined pay and fewer benefits.
If we want to reform the system in a comprehensive manner we will need to bring those who have poured money into a corrupt dystopian system to rapidly understand they have pushed 95% of the population beyond the edge.
And I continue to look for effective non-violent strategies and tactics using economics (boycotts and a prolonged general strike) to improve the quality, dignity, and opportunity for all. There is already too much suffering and violence and a significant part is a result of our own foreign policy failures throughout my lifetime.
Not to mention our domestic policies, funded through the likes of the NRA. I am 100% on board re: prolonged general strike. Sometimes, a little pain is required for healing to be more long-lasting.
You have a way of bringing us into a very visual understanding with your use of words. I am horrible at it and gave up writing because I couldn’t get to that point.
Thank you Sharon. I try to deconstruct complex issues and make them accessible to as many as possible by simplifying and sprinkling in the occasional humor and snark. I usually integrate images into my writing to frame concepts visually as well.
I know I'm not a warlock. I keep waving my wand at the White House, muttering "Feces Revelio" over and over again, yet Trump still won't metamorphose into a cow patty while the cameras roll. I tried "Evanesco" as well, yet there he stands with one shoulder jutting to the right, like a furious hunchback, instead of disppearing into Azkaban. I'm more than distressed about it.
Maybe we have to cast some Pagan spells. I may have doomed myself to hell, but when one of my kids desperately needed a certain outcome, I confess to asking my Pagan nephew to do so. He told me to light a green candle surrounded by a ring of salt, and to light it and say something. I can't recall--it was something like "smote it be".
I'm not sure if Yankee Candle stocks the balsam ones in June, but if there is a run on them and it makes news, we'll know why. Lotta readers on the forum here!! ;-D
George, you hit it out of the park again. I look forward to the final edition. But this comment can stand on its own as a call to justice.
It takes a lot to turn around a battleship or an ocean liner. But I think the pain to be caused by this crash and callous class war will get her moving. People will die for lack of care - even more than they are now. As the bodies pile up, the direction of the country will change. It's our job to amplify the reasons why and tell who is responsible.
We need a more focused campaign of economic justice. And for the life of me, I don't understand why the DNC isn't running ads comparing the obscenity of Jeff Bezos' wedding with the problems of Walmart and Amazon workers who are on "food stamps" because their pay sucks.
Your reference to the minimum wage should make every politician cower in shame.
This is how Mike Johnson and John Thune should be treated.
This cannot be stated enough: the republicans are acting like a party that does not fear electoral consequence. Following the 2020 election, they begin to put in place, with the guidance of the fascist group ALEC, legislation to reduce the opposition that would vote them out. Through the purging of voters, making it more difficult to vote with their restrictive ID laws, and removal of ease of voting methods (mail in, drop boxes) this time they are planning on winning in 2026 regardless of how the people view their policies. Republicans in Congress are now just like the Duma in Russia. What the leader wants, the leader gets. With SCOTUS dismantling the administrative agencies, giving the executive immunity for "official acts", and now allowing blatant constitutional violating EOs, the stage is set for the first American dictatorship.
Thank goodness for HCR and her event by event documentation. Thank goodness for Marc Elias and Democracy Docket. Thank goodness for the fine people on Substack that have provided the historical record when our media lets us down.
Thank you Rickey. The GOP has become a criminal enterprise. Some were J6 co-conspirators (including the wife of ‘Justice’ Thomas). Some worked to subvert the 2020 election. And more have continued to act as accessories after the fact.
In the event we are able to overcome the current crisis, a real AG and DOJ must remove everyone who has participated in this long-running assault on justice and democracy. The Constitution provides the mechanism to do so.
You are so correct George. In Texas, where I spent the majority of my life and all of my professional career as an educator, the criminality runs wild with Ken Paxton, Ted Cruz and the entire republican membership of the TX leg.
Thank you. While I continue to strive for shorter articles (so they are more accessible to many), this is another that, when finished, will be lengthy. I'm in the process of writing about how fear has halted and/or reversed several societal imperatives, and the last part of the article will be a call to action.
TRUMP AND THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS ARE FAR MORE DESTRUCTIVE TO THE UNITED STATES THAN WERE THE MCKINLEY TARIFFS
Heather, as a 91-year old former Foreign Service Officer and history professor (from age 58-80), I conclude that what Trumpists in Congress and elsewhere are doing is far more damaging to the United States that the McKinley tariffs.
Back in McKinley’s era, there was no income tax, Social Security, federal health care programs, and a host of federal support programs including SNAP and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Today Trump and his minions are dismantling many of the protective federal institutions that were created under the New Deal and the Great Society, as well as Obamacare.
The over 900 page Senate draft budget that was cobbled together during a frenetic last minute
Effort to get 50 Republicans senate votes is a giant step backward for the great majority of Americans. Between the Senate and House drafts, there is an unconscionable set of tax giveaways for the wealthy and corporations that is estimated to increase our national debt by over $4 trillion over the coming decade.
The intention to partially offset this by applying an ax to core social support expenditures for the less wealthy makes the McKinley tariffs look like a minor body blow to the American people.
Moreover, these rejections of New Deal and Great Society priorities are being re-enforced by the blizzard of executive orders that are removing many of the protective federal institutional checks that have traditionally served to counter executive illegal overreaches.
I see all of this as integral to Trump’s ‘America First’ crusade that, unless severely checked, will result in ‘America Worst.’
Trump’s domestic destructiveness is matched by his unbridled ‘kingly’ assaults abroad. His tariff blitzkrieg, based on personal whim and ‘kingly’ ego, has greatly damaged America’s relationships in a complex international economy and obliged traditional allies to seek alternatives to American ‘hegemony.’
Trump’s continuing bromance with Putin and Netanyahu has brought no amelioration in Ukraine or Gaza, while he has launched an air war against Iran. His arrogance in dealing with President Xi has worked out badly. The recent NATO meeting reflects how the great majority of NATO countries is seeking to accommodate an egotistical, angry ‘king’ who seeks to dictate rather than be positively engaged with traditional allies.
I am fearful of the United States that my five grandchildren might inherit.
In the McKinley era, there was a Teddy Roosevelt who forcefully set America back on a far more positive course. Presently, I have difficulty imagining, in the near term, such a dramatic turnaround.
Thank you for this reminder, professor. I am afraid that many Americans do not know or understand their own history and constitution, which is why we are in this mess…
There are so many forms of communication in these days and Trump and/or his family members are using every form in many locations and especially where large groups gather.
I had no idea that money and fake news could so easily possess so many.
Worldwide, there are many watching how easy he is to use for their purposes.
Keith, thank you for the bare truth. Like you, I fear for our grandchildren. The best thing we can do for them short of various illegal possibilities is to work on every election through November, 2026. Currently I am writing postcards to Florida, hoping David Jolly will win the governor’s race. The next governor’s race will be in Virginia. As it is my native state I will write as many cards as I can collect and afford postage for. (Apologies for dangling preposition.) As for the New York mayor, I would recommend Tony Judt’s book on Social Democracy to balance one’s view of social democracy and be ready for it.
Thank you again for the clarity with which you hit the political nails on the head!
I'm struck again and again with the casual, immature, 'fun' cruelty of this administration. They named the deportation effort "return to sender" (an Elvis song). When a court ruling went their way, a cabinet member posted "fire up the deportation engines!" Trump posted mocking words to the 1960s song "Barbara Anne." And now we have pictures of allegators wearing ICE hats and the words "coming soon." Clearly they don't care one jot that they are talking about human lives and human beings; families and children; families being torn apart.
No doubt some of the undocumented would not be eligible to stay under a well run, legitimate asylum system and would have to leave; no doubt that a very tiny number have committed serious crimes - even those are human beings, not hate-worthy objects to be mocked and toyed with... the cruelty this country finds funny and entertaining at this point is nauseating.
You've truly hit on something deep. Performative cruelty. Like cage-fighting, WWF nonsense. He brings it out of them. He tells them to fly their freakiest of freak flags. They love him for it.
Anne-Marie, as I commented elsewhere, Donald is a sociopath. What I didn't write there, I'll write here:
Donald is cultivating a cohort of sociopaths by rewarding cruelty and punishing empathy. He is intellectually deficient, but he, like a Pavlovian dog, grasps the concept of punishment and reward.
“The famous farmers’ orator Mary Elizabeth Lease told audiences that “Wall Street owns the country…. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street.” She told farmers to “raise less corn and more hell.”
I think our biggest mistake is believing the next elections will be fair and free. In no other part of our history do we have nefarious algorithms confusing and sowing division, shaping minds, as well technology and money that can corrupt elections, and wreak havoc on our society.
When Trump said vote for me and you won’t have to vote again, he wasn’t lying for the first time in his life. And when Musk said, “without me, Trump never would have had the votes,” tells us everything we need to know. With MAGA, the ends justify the means, because to them, controlling this country is a zero sum game: and destroying the libs and turning this country into an authoritarian theocracy is their goal.
Perhaps Musk was admitting his crime in broad daylight. After all, every accusation is a confession with these people, and it’s not like they haven’t tried to steal our elections in the past. We had Trump on tape (find me 11,700 votes), fake electors sent to Washington and several incidents in which republican computer specialists illegally gaining access to voting machines (WHY?).
These aren’t isolated incidents. And given the fact that MAGA controls social media and most of the MSM (either complicit or spineless), it’s not like we have any guardrails left to save democracy.
Additionally, we have SCOTUS essentially using the judiciary to make Trump a king (Unitary Executive), and helping to destroy democracy; a slow painful death, by a thousand judicial and legislative (red states) cuts!
And as far as the democrats are concerned? They’re missing in action! IMHO..:)
I was with you up til the ‘Democrats’ part. To lay any of this on the Democrats is just a version of ‘bothsideism’. Are they perfect? Of course not - but this mess is squarely on the Republicans with their long trail of lies, bait and switch tactics, gerrymandering, racist maneuvering, fear and hate-mongering, and cruelty. They have swindled their way into holding the power in all three branches and we are paying a horrific price.
I think the dems are much less destructive than the retrumplians but let's face it so we can change it. The dems have been focusing on cultivating corporate and oligarchy money instead of focusing on the working people. The dems don't have a unifying message, and they are poor communicators. They establishment dems thwarted Bernie when he had a message that actually resonated with the working people and he had some ideas. Playing politics led directly to the election of the felon rapist. Biden said he would be a one term president then decided he wanted another term - I actually think he was doing a good job but...well we all saw that debacle, leading again to the reelection of the felon rapist. And recently the BS that David Hog went through and now wanting to thwart out Mamdani...same shit different decade and a huge f'n mistake. If the dems don't get it together and actually start working for the working people they will never win again imho.
I think some of Bernie’s supporters went too far in their criticism of establishment Dems and turned off too many voters. I didn’t realize it in real time and only saw it later when viewing their actions.
I’m not laying it on democrats, but they aren’t doing their job. At least the leadership isn’t. And if I’m wrong then why does the DNC have a lower opinion rating than Trump?
Don’t put words in my mouth. Other than that, I agree with you…:)
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.” - Lincoln
I wish that were true. The conservatives have stacked the deck on so many levels. As Goebbels stated - Democracy provides the very tools to destroy it.
Say free speech without responsibility, gun ownership without responsibility...and the list goes on. We claim freedom, but then forget that a free society has to have an air of responsibility to others and one's self that does not prevent others from enjoying the same level of freedom.
The founders understood this and it was very much part of the history lessons we were taught in middle school. But somewhere along the way a bastardized version of libertarianism took hold, that basically espouses rights without responsibilities. Social Darwinism, law of the jungle prevail in this mindset. “Justice for all” becomes the “justice” you can procure for yourself. Then once you’ve got yours, you preach that the playing field is perfectly level and anyone can do what you just did. All the while the laws you skewed in your favor regarding economic opportunity, healthcare and environmental justice continue to keep those who are down, down. Upward mobility becomes increasingly impossible. In short it’s “freedom for me, not for thee!”
Exactly. A "free society" is not an environment of no rules; it is an environment of unalienable rights, the right TO choose, and the right to be protected FROM abridgements of those rights; by a government or ANYONE else. We have a right not to be raped or murdered. A right to not have our home or person looted. A right to breath healthful air. It gets complicated, and right not to have our lives micromanaged is one of the big ones, but there is a sweet zone between rules and spontaneity that maximizes liberty.
A,nd some of those "rules" are imposed by Nature rather than government, as we are apt to discover as we FAFO with overly altering our physical environment. Responsibility ENABLES freedom; which a number of adults told our cohort as I was growing up, but I don't recall them making a point about the causality.
On the other hand Lincoln, who had a particular gift for clarity said "Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises.". No? We used to talk about Lincoln and his philosophies as a prelude to his birthday, a holiday that was since eliminated.
Of the people, by the people, for the people, E Puribus Unum. Real democracy is of necessity a public conversation, and a collaborative process; we enjoy our "unalienable" rights by recognizing them and protecting them for one another, a common commitment to protect a robust array of
responsible behaviors. "Decency" that opposes injustice for any, even those justly sanctioned for crimes. Even for those who hear a different drummer, yet do no substantive harm. To what degree do those essential prerequisites for a decent life in a decent world get mention and attention in our obsessively commercially-oriented society? Someone I heard on the radio long ago suggested that there has been a disturbing shift from calling the great mass of our society "consumers", rather than "workers". We are both, but the former sounds much more passive with reference to what gets done. Consumers choose from someone else's menu. Workers produce.
The fact that Musk legally donated $270 million is probably enough to have pushed trump's victory.
If Musk helped illegally rig the election, let's hope that evidence exists that can be used in a court of law to prove and convict everyone involved. Without evidence, we would look like the idiots who bought the big lie of 2020. The Roberts Court is responsible for giving the Oligarchy the ability to purchase our government and politicians with the Citizens United decision that allows unlimited, unregulated political donations.
The linage of corruption continues. If Trump completely loses his remaining few marbles, it has been suggested Eric take his place. This is crazy wild "stuff" going on in this once great nation.
It is well past time for a grand exit of the criminals who have taken over the Republican Party.
Everyday that passes is too many. The roots are only growing deeper. The "nut jobs" are out front. Cowards have replaced heroes.
Exactly what I said in my later comment. I endorse everything you’re telling us. How many of us will rebel in some way and how many will say simply, “Oh, that’s right. I don’t have to figure out how I’m going to get to the polls today.”
Use/share this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to those in your own state, as well as those in others. Use your voice and make some “good trouble” ❤️🩹🤍💙
Join indivisible, Move On or Swing Blue Alliance or a local Democratic group. Join a campaign to elect a Democrat or progressive representative. Write letters to the editors of your local paper. Share personal stories how this administration is hurting your bottom line. Get young people involved, it’s their future. Join a rally on July 17th. Be a part of the ICE watch in your neighborhood.
Unfortunately I have no rep right now because he passed away in May. We just held a “firehouse primary” yesterday to nominate his likely successor but the GOP Governor hasn’t scheduled the special election until 9/27, no doubt to keep our safe blue district voiceless for as long as possible. So all I have right now is my direct voice - my writing, my networking, and my protesting.
And a reminder folks, postage is going up on July 13th. Buy now.
And if you are an oldster like me who is trying to purge their house of stuff, not needing more tchotchkes, ask your family/friends to gift you postage stamps!
This Big Ugly Bill is a big distraction from what Peter Thiel’s Palantir is doing to our government’s systems. It is literally sucking up everyone’s private data as well as probably sneaking into the Pentagon’s most secret weaponry files. Tyrannical wealthy folks wish to treat us as subservients.
Anybody watch Russell Vought being questioned? He is an empty shell of a human. So much damage has been and is continuing to be done.
Let’s say Dems win big in 2026. What or who is going to stop Thiel, Musk, DOGE, Vought?
tRump is also the distraction. he is exactly what Grover Norquist wanted when he said they did not need and ideologue as POTUS, just one who would sign whatever the republican dominated congress sent over.
I thought about what Dems might do if there is an election in 2026 & if they win. If by some stroke of luck they can elect an overwhelming majority all kinds of impeachment investigations might be able to be conducted. Investigate the Executive Branch, you know, POTUS, Vice POTUS, the cabinet, Thomas & Alito at the very least at the Supreme Court. But that will be seen as another form of overthrow. This is a knotty problem & I don't think we have enough intelligent people to solve it as quickly as necessary.
“Immediately, Trump said he would back a primary challenger to Tillis…”
As Trump’s political bank account continues to shrink, a Trump-endorsed primary challenge might very well boost Tillis’s re-election.
Republicans should keep in mind that people tossed off the medical insurance rolls can still vote, and likely are more motivated to do so than otherwise.
Thank you Professor for a summary of the basic structure of the Trump Budget & for itemizing budget items that were killed by the parliamentarian or were PRESERVED.
Two (2) R Senators voted against the Budget including 6/29 announced LAME DUCK, North Carolina, Senator THOM TILLIS.
I have been tracking the political machinations on Budget bill,the Big Beautiful Billionaire giveaway starting on Friday 6/27/25 & will continue posting in July 2025. :---)
Buckle Up. Flak Jackets on! What to call this;? It is not aa LIVE blog. I will call this on-going post a LIVE Comment.
*****************
Today, Monday, 6/30/25: Few misunderstand the actual "cost" of this Trojan horse.
Sunday, 6/29, CNN Breaking at 2:30 AM after midnight, the FYB passed a procedural vote 51 to 49. The Senate "debate" starts Monday, 6/30.
************************************************
Saturday, 6/28 -- 7 PM Eastern Update: The Senate is in a somewhat rare Saturday Session which may go into early hours of Sunday. Even IF the BBB passes tonight, the budget must go back to the House where it previously passed by 1 vote. I'm going to name the budget the Fxxx You Budget. FYI, hereinafter "FYB" Anyway, FYB. No!
***************
Saturday, 6/28 per MSNBC's Vaughn Hillyard reported Trump's Senate operatives are attempting to push along Wreck's Big Bad Budget (BBB) by a "Motion to Proceed". Senator Thom Tillis is still a "No". We will see. Senator Rand Paul did go on a tump golf trip today in New Jersey where they poured Jack Daniel's at the 19th Hole.
If Wreck clears these hurdles, there will be about 20 more hours of "debate" on the Senate floor subject to Budget amendments & perhaps more trips to the 19th Hole or the Senate "Closet".
Bryan I am delighted that you have emerged from legal retirement to join the fight to preserve ‘our’ United States for our grandchildren. You and your brethren are an essential counterweight to our Department of Injustice and a court that has gone from supreme to extreme. As a non lawyer I conclude that originalism sucks.
And the SCrOTUS overstepped into illegality. To overturn - ages of precedent regarding Federal District courts defending democracy is a gross overstep. We Must raise hell and insist our district Federal Courts are correct to continue defending the constitution !
D4N, the capital "R" in your acronym is appropriate, since we know that it stands for "Republican" (in spite of what our junior high brains think it stands for.)
Dr. Richardson: Your appearance with Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark this weekend was wonderful; I've listened to it twice. And now this column arrives in my inbox. More than enough incentive to keep my old bones moving; the neighbors better hope it's raining today forcing my mile walk through the neighborhood indoors to the treadmill. (I due watch my language if there are children present.) Your students are lucky to have you in action in the classroom; we're lucky to see you on a screen and read your words! Never Give Up ... Never Give In ... Pay Attention and VOTE!!!!! (I need a t-shirt with that printed on it ... help ...)
The hefty increase in the Department of Homeland Security (and the truly sick “Coming Soon” post) reflect this Administration’s continued reliance on the Nazi model of efficiency. Frustrated over the relatively inefficient murder of Jews, and others, using the SS Einsatzgruppen, or mobile killing squads, Hitler’s government turned to the gas chambers. It’s not as if the Einsatzgruppen mass-killings by firing squad weren’t effective. It has been estimated that two million of the six million slaughtered died by the bullet, but the Nazis wanted more. Stephen Miller has expressed HIS frustration over the Administration’s inability to arrest, incarcerate, deport, and disappear 3,000 people a day, even though we are already seeing people swept up and disappeared without due process. Ballooning the DHS budget will significantly ramp up ICE roundups and deportations and, just like the Nazis, the Trumpublicans will expand the sweeps beyond the “illegals” and “dissidents” and will start rounding up ANYONE who dares criticize “fearless leader” Daddy Donald. It’s all about the numbers, and the hate. This is not hyperbole. This is where we are. This is WHO (at least half of us) are.
Thank God and the Constitution of The United States of America for Boston College Professor of History, Heather Cox Richardson …
Reading tonight’s letter I was struck by how clearly Washington is currently following the playbook of history. I was also struck by how much historical detail I have forgotten about our history.
I echo S B Lewis comment on the inestimable value Professor Richardson provides to those of us fortunate enough to have access to her written thoughts.
Thank you Professor from the bottom of my heart!
I was an early paid subscriber years ago . . . I read one of her Letters and said to my husband "you have to read what this BC history professor has to say, it's free but I'm paying the $50!" We were hooked from the beginning and start our days with HCR. Who knew the direction this would take?! Certainly not Heather who admits she didn't know what a newsletter was when she began!!
Her Letters saved my sanity (although that is now gone after all the years of trump!!) I have been in awe that 1) it was (and continues to be) offered for free - smart move on the part of then startup company Substack.com, 2) she does this every.single.day!!, 3) she writes books, 4) is (not sure if still) a full time professor, 5) travels the country - I've seen her in person twice, 6) does bi-weekly podcasts - even from street corners if necessary, 7) interviewed a real president, and others, 8) she has a brilliantly logical mind and a way of writing and speaking that educates while simultaneously calming the soul; a rare phenomenon, and last but not least 9+) had time to leave muffins on Buddy's truck and get married (without one other celebrity in sight!!)
Same here, Janet W. Every day from the very first letter.
Without a doubt, clarity of thought and expression are HCR's calling cards. As I began reading today's report I thought to myself (a confirmed atheist,) "If there is any truth to the Jesus Christ story, these Republican politicians are going to burn in hell. Matthew 25: 41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. 42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, 43 I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’ I can't think of any more deserving.
Very apt!
HCR is free. Dialogue is her cash cow.
I know she is available free but I am beyond happy to pay the annual subscription fee. It’s a very small way to say “thank you”.
Since supposedly only paid suscribers can comment, I would point out that Sandy (S B Lewis) has also paid.
Indeed. I have. Twice. Thinking of a memoir. Need help. Spread the word.
So, is that a fact or hearsay?
It’s true. You can tell paying subscribers from free ones by looking at the avatar to the left of the commenter name.
Paying subscribers have a small rosette at the lower right of their avatar.
You’ll notice that every single person commenting has the rosette.
On sites that permit free commenters, you can see the difference.
And she deserves every penny!
$1 million plus a year
On Substack. Beats Boston College. Sells her books.
Likewise. I have recieved much more that the cost of an annual subscription fee from reading HCR’s letters.
Reading is free. Commenting costs. That’s Substack.
Of course. The best things in life are free…
Right, and if people read it free and learn facts and history from it then I’m all for more informed and educated people. I can afford to pay it and I get so much out of it it’s worth every penny. I want her to continue educating the public.
Gary, “small way” earns HCR better that a million a year. Personally. Comment pays $1 ,000,000 and entertains. Teaching at BU will not pay much more or even match 10% of her Substack take. And the Substack founders do even better, putting our best newspapers to shame and even trending out of business. Substack is an amusing game.
Gary, it is a way for us to say "thank you," while also being the source of funds for HCR to pay her researchers. It would be physically impossible for her to do this all on her own. Great teamwork.
Absolutely! I’d bet her team is honored to work for her!
Gary, I'd wager that you are correct - doing work that one knows can benefit millions upon millions of persons, even helping to preserve our democratic republic, must be very rich psychic food.
Team? No. No team.
Amen!
I pay to support HCR’s tireless efforts to support democracy, and the cost is a pittance of the worth. However, I’ve always been so impressed by the fact that this large volume of work is always free. So few do this. To me, this is real dedication and patriotism.
Marilyn, we are of a like mind on this reality. As a bit of an amateur historian, I’m humbled by how much added history the good professor provides to me daily.
Plus I learn so much from so many of the commentators that have lived through more history than me and have different educational and career backgrounds.
Guardian columnist George Monbiot along with Peter Hutchinson try to explain why we have these economics in their book. Invisible Secret: The Secret History of Neoliberalism. An interesting read that I recommend. My book club is reading it.
Thanks for the reco. I looked it up and it is available at my local library. It is on hold waiting for me to pick up.
Monbiot is dead right.
S B Lewis -- No, George Monbiot is not dead. Google him.
Every time you comment, I learn. Thanks.
Thanks Celeste, that is what I love about this community is the exchange of ideas.✌🏽
Dead on S.B. Lewis. Heather is a national treasure, a low key but extraordinarily persistent voice of reproach in times which have long since rocketed past the point of lunacy. Reading her daily should be the mark of people of conscience.
This piece however left me with a feeling of cold comfort. It requires an extraordinary leap of faith to think that the result of the events of the 19th pushing American patience over the edge of grumbling tolerance and into a ballot box revolution, is a salutary and likely model for Americans to use in the 2026 midterms.
There are any number of reasons why history won’t repeat itself now. Democrats are astonishingly anemic at a national level. Organizing a two car funeral would bring about yet another spasm of puerile debate, leaving the cars to not get off the mark or to crash once they did.
The fact is that, week by week, Trump is wearing down the body public. In an era where telling the truth appears to be the habit of only saps, there will be a compelling and collective smothering of even the smallest resistance -witness Trump’s reflexive promise to primary Thom Tillis who had the temerity to vote against it.
The rot is terminal in America now. American two party government is mortally wounded. People are atomized and easy to pick off. Fear strangles opposition. The speed with AI moves is going to engender so much real change among so many people that the tragedy of a Mafia-esque government will be pushed off the back burner.
The two eras are not comparable in the least beyond a superficially similar gilded age problem shared by some.
Heather’s optimism is astonishing in the best sense of the word. I would crawl to Maine to lay flowers at her door, should she be proven right and I was able to successfully navigate across the Can-Am border without being arrested.
My feeling, though is that nothing short of a general strike is going to dent the triumphal march of 2025. It may become a bit more serpentine because of truth tellers of consequence like HCR, but the times are too wretched morally to stop its progress.
Eric, all we can do is take each day as it comes and keep pushing back against the tide as best we can.
Vote.
S B Lewis -- "Vote" is of course a good suggestion! But there is LOTS of time between now and voting day (nearly 5 months for some local , more for National elections, Nov. 2026) for more and more damage to be inflicted.
It appears that that is the case for now. There is insufficient rage in the country to muster any really serious opposition. The Democrats are in utter disarray, the Republicans are either triumphant or, mindful of their guilt and cowardice, living today and maybe persuading themselves they’ll live to fight another day. And Trump is a past master at winning the news cycle, eerily skilled at knowing which buttons to push, and when and how to push them. I am so tied of hearing this or that “evidence” that he has dementia. If only we were so lucky.
A big yes of course to dragging one’s dispirited body to the polls in 2026. Gains in Congress could be significant. Maybe not earthshaking. But enough to put sand in the gears.
Even that is probably a moot hope. Hands up if you think the elections will be free and fair. I harbor a deep reservoir of doubt about that. It’s not as if we don’t have insight into Trump’s attitude to any matter that could put even the tiniest of shackles on his exercise of power.
And, barring death or extreme incapacitation, I hold virtually no confidence that Trump will bypass any opportunity he can muster to be a three term President. How could he survive without the massive attention his slightest comment garners as President. Full-blown narcissism is not like a cold you get and then recover from. Being President / King daily nourishes his desire to be respected. He can never date this because fundamentally he doesn’t respect himself. “The appetite grows upon that which it feeds on”.
One of the significant features of the Gilded age was the formation of a labor movement. Not only industrial but agricultural labor. The parallels and throughline are remarkable here, given the renewed popularity of labor unions and their true usefulness to society and people in general. When you call for a general strike, be sure to have the AFL-CIO, the Teamsters and Longshoremen on board as these are direct descendants of that guilded age Progressivism. Without them a general strike is doomed to failure and will be ignored by the current fascist regime.
Yes. The consequences of the 1890 election brought great benefits to ordinary Americans. The difference now is that the ordinary Ameicans who will be hurt by Republican governance will, if they are among the roughly 60% of white voters who voted for Trump, continue to vote R because they are willing to pay any price for a government that will preserve the systemic legal, economic, and political advantages that white Americans hold over the rest of the population. I hope for a blue wave in 2026, of course, but hope is not strategy. History may rhyme, but white voters in 1890 were not the least bit concerned about losing even a smidgen of their advantages to people with darker skin. Now, they are, and that concern has delivered every Republican victory in presidential elections that their Southern Strategy, initiated in 1968 and continued in every election since then, has produced.
Two days ago, I had a low moment and posted a long comment--no, let's be truthful--a RANT, and in it I said we needed a weekend of BOYCOTT. Nobody buys ANYTHING, ANYWHERE. I suspected I'd get "don't hurt the small businesses" so I said to buy the day before or after for those businesses. I said we needed to have VISUALS posted all over media, just like the NO KINGS protests, but instead of HUGE crowds, we'd see empty parking lots. Deserted malls. Teens sharing photos of their fast-food coworkers idly scrolling their phones. I only had one person agree with me.
Boycotts absolutely send a message. 69% of us Canadians are not travelling to the US and the Governors are trying to get us back! Ain't gonna happen until that shitstain is out of office along with his fascist sycophants. So yeah, boycotts work. The more people's wallets are affected that's when things change. Go for it!!
Thanks for your support.
My wife and I agree completely. When this administration started a war on equal opportunity we and others decided to stop shopping at those stores be they online or not. It has been very easy to do and said stores report loses. Since profits are their idols, let us bury their profits!
No, your absolutely correct. The only thing that would have an impact on them financially is to buy no merchandise. Money and greed is the only thing that they understand.
Do not despair, please. I agree with your plan here, other Americans need to understand they are not alone, you included.
I only have one issue with HRC's Letters from an American and for HCR it is a good problem to have. She receives so many comments I do not have time to read them all. Great for her though.
Because I caught your comment here I will go and look until I find what you have to say. Your effort is not in vain.
Far too many individuals in this country for what ever reason fail to get it. I'm just hoping they start to GET IT'! Other wise the country is headed for open revolt, IMO. We need to exhaust nonviolence efforts first.
All the while the fearless taco digs his hole deeper!
We, in the bay area of San Francisco, did just that a few months ago for a day or so. We spent no money on things, but bought from small businesses the day before. We are still trying not to buy from Amazon which definitely shows up on Bezos profit margin, although the spectacle he displayed in Venice as he married his, whatever you want to call her, girlfriend, showed that it would take a huge effort to affect him.
One major problem that we aren't addressing enough of is getting someone like Pete Buttigieg to go again on Fox News and spell out what their listeners will be losing if this horrific bill is passed.
I absolutely think Pete would make a FANTASTIC POTUS. I wonder if America is ready for a gay POTUS. They apparently aren't ready for a female one.
Secretary of State is what I would like to see for Pete.
He would be outstanding at that as well!
Well… we are all looking for solutions. Brainstorming ideas contributes to further thinking outside the box. And could lead to something productive.
I'm betting not enough people saw your comment, because your strategy is quite sound. And publicizing it as widely as No Kings was publicized it essential.
We have a favorite small restaurant which we go to fairly frequently. Nice people there. I was afraid COVID would destroy them. They have absolutely no space whatsoever to put people outside--it's on a very, very busy corner. We made sure to order take out and we purchased gift cards during COVID, and they're still around.
We could still boycott but not hurt our small businesses.
It helps a lot to get out to the protests.
I agree. I've been to three at the Colorado State Capital in Denver, April 5th, 19th and June 14th. My husband joined in on June 14th.
July 17th is on a work day. We're retired so that doesn't matter. But we will be traveling.
It helps to do what we can, when we can with whatever we have to work with. It can be phone calls, letters, postcards or emails too. Doing something is always better than worrying, complaining and screaming at the television or computer screen!
I’m more optimistic. There’s a huge groundswell of opposition. I think the Rs will lose a lot in 2026.
I continue to be amazed at the amount of precious time Democrats are spending criticizing our Democratic leaders in Congress! What should they be doing that they’re not doing? What would you be doing if you were in their place?
The Republicans have the majority in the House, the Senate and the White House. Trump has replaced cabinet members and agency heads with sycophants. He is much better organized this time around, and has, as we have seen, taken so many actions to wreck the democracy that it’s overwhelming. Without the power of the majority, our representatives can only speak out against what’s happening and encourage their constituents to do the same.
President Obama, when asked about how we can win this battle for democracy, said that it will take the people rising up in massive numbers in peaceful protest (recall the 3.5% number) to affect change. Remember that Trump has been in office for a little more than 5 months.
I live in the very red state of Oklahoma, and the Resistance continues to grow. Bernie was here recently and spoke to a crowd of 5500(the official number). Elizabeth Warren and JD Pritzker were here this past weekend for a dinner sponsored by the Democratic Party. They had to move the event to a larger venue because of the demand for tickets. I see Senate Democrats holding forth to speak out regarding the corrupt actions of the Republican Party and its leader. I see them question Trump appointees respectfully, yet assertively in hearings. Recently, I saw that Jamie Raskin and Adam Schiff are working with a panel of Democratic state attorneys general to shine a spotlight on and push back against sworn constitutional abuses by the Trump administration via lawsuits initiated at the state level.
In conclusion, in response to an unprecedented, organized attempt to overthrow our democracy, I’m seeing increasing unity among “the people” to fight back; I’m seeing Democratic leaders combining efforts at the federal and state levels to fight; and I’m seeing people in my own red state joining together to get informed so they can better fight against this authoritarian attack on their freedoms.
I strongly believe that our words and actions should be focused only on that. After we’ve saved our democracy we can work on fixing what ails the Democratic Party.
DO not fall into despair, please.
I am trying to think of an intelligent rejoinder to disprove your solid pessimism about the future. Alas, I'm unable to come up with something today....
Ditto SB !
My God. Those who voted for MAGA did so out of blinding ignorance. Anyone else but no, the true Antichrist had to arise in my time; in our time. Three plus more years of damage to go. We must protest until they lose. The Census contacted me to request data if me and I told them I will not cooperate with any roge government agency.
Hello Bill... For 25-Years, I've said that only those that are Stupid, Naive, or Greedy, Vote Republican on the National Level...
Well, the presidency, the cabinet and congress have ensured that we will have a system that guarantees mediocrity and disappointment. The very rich consider themselves obligated by birth to accumulate not quality, or values toward the good of the country, but cash. The US has created market conditions always favorable to them. They will have more than enough treasures and possessions needed for the journey into the hereafter. And all the MAGA types who have voted for this have been and will continue to be the greatest number of imbeciles who have, at best, a very superficial interest in government and ideas. Somewhere there needs to be a safety valve to prevent a calamitous society from imploding.
Just look at the Bozo & Sanchez wedding - if you have $50 million to spend on a wedding - you have too much money! Obviously, not paying your workers enough. I believe they even had a Great Gatsby themed party - that tells you all you need to know. Obscene.
Stephanie, yes totally obscene and the people of Venice were obviously not happy in many cases unless they were those receiving some of the largesse. This is one of the reasons why I hate Amazon and try to avoid it and we no longer subscribe to the Washington Post.
The hundreds of vendors who were paid part of that $50 million probably aren't complaining. And the people who bought the shares that Bezos may have liquidated to finance the wedding probably aren't complaining either. The uber-rich hurt the rest of us most when they use their giant cash flows to lock up assets--Congressional seats, stocks, bonds, real estate, corporations, etc.--and sequester it (and the dividends) forever from the rest of us. Polanyi wrote: "The poor spend what they earn and the rich earn what they spend." But spending on weddings? That's wealth distribution.
Stephanie, I wonder if Sanchez has any body parts remaining that are natural. That horribly squeezed- in waist it NOT normal. Her makeup was put on with a trowel- wonder what her pillow cases look like in the morning? Yes, obscene act of snobbery by them, not like they have any touch with reality. Surprised Venicians didn't sink their boat!
This right here: "The very rich consider themselves obligated by birth to accumulate not quality, or values toward the good of the country, but cash." Thank you, Stephanie.
Is it an obligation? Or entitlement? From what I can tell, they don't feel obligated to do anything. They also seem to believe they are entitled to anything and everything they want.
The thing is that some of the richest weren't born to it, like Bezos, Zucker-whatever-his-name, Gates and others. Gates is using his billions to help people. The others are still bent on enriching themselves, and screwing everyone else. I wonder what their ancestors think of their greedy, obscenely wealthy descendants.
Morning, Lynell! Agreed!
I'm afraid the 'safety valve' will be when we implode. Only then will everyone see that WE have to turn this around. It's not going to be pretty.
That's been my thought.
Stephanie Banks, thanks for your post. This rings true: “And all the MAGA types who have voted for this have been and will continue to be the greatest number of imbeciles who have, at best, a very superficial interest in government and ideas.” Since 2015, when I talk with MAGAs the only excuse for supporting Trump I ever hear is they want, “someone who will shake things up” in government. “Superficial” is a good way to describe that idea.
Now that they’ve rewarded Trump with another term in office I see no buyer’s remorse and no evidence that they’re starting to think Make America Great Again will ruin our country instead of making it great. Others in this morning’s discussion have said very well how good it is to have HCR providing the facts and a straightforward historical approach to understanding what is actually going on. If only MAGA would read her “Letters!”
I envy Americans who lived through The Gilded Age in one way: they had newspapers that, “…sprang up and speakers crisscrossed the plains reminding voters that the government was supposed to treat all interests equally.” Our MSM is too faint-hearted and too devoted to Both-Sides-ism to do such a thing. Tragic.
On her Politics Chats, I seem to recall her saying she gets plenty of hate mail (she didn't mention death theats, so I hope that isn't a problem) so obviously some MAGA must read her.
Hello Alan.... Do You Think That The MAGAs Could Comprehend HCR, Or Change Their Minds?...
The safety valve is elections.
Do you really think Trump&Co will allow elections??
Not hardly. We are six months in to this fascist nightmare and our democracy is fundamentally dead. The ONLY way out of this is WE THE PEOPLE freaking DEMANDING IT. En masse. No voting booth is going to change a thing right now. And right NOW is what matters. We don’t have 3 1/2 years to dilly dally.
WE will see what happens in NYC.
Well said, Stephanie. The MAGAts who do not fit into that obligation of accumulating more money fall into the obligation of insuring that white, male, Christian, cisgendered, heteronormative is the dominant force in our culture.
If only the MAGAs paid attention to how the BBB was amended to favor Alaskan residents in order to buy Murkowski's vote. This blares out what they're blatantly trying to hide--the danger of people losing their healthcare in all other states. Although it worked and she's understandably looking out for her constituents, she's selling out the rest of Americans. But the parliamentarian is not having it....
Have you read today’s NY Times headlines? Buyers’ remorse on the part of MAGA?
They tried and did buy Montana's vote through the selling of public lands. Selling out works. Hope the parliamentarian hangs on.
“Somewhere there needs to be a safety valve to prevent a calamitous society from imploding.” I wouldn’t count on it. Just 4 days ago, I saw a “reel” on either Facebook or YouTube that showed 3 police officers arresting a seemingly South of the border individual. Two of the arresting officers were beating on this guy as he was on the ground in prone position getting handcuffed. Out of nowhere, the video shows a man discharging 5or 6 shots hitting all three officers. It’s not clear how badly they were injured; the point being: there may be more increased anger over the conduct of this administration than any of us may know.
So after blathering on about how the cuts to Medicaid will destroy huge swathes of Missourians, the second-most hypocritical wankpuffin in the Senate (L'il Joshy Hawley)--Collins being without a doubt the most hypocritical of all--lined up and voted for debate on the bill which includes even MORE cuts to Medicaid. He thinks he can run for re-election on his "principled" response to the budget bill, unlike Eric Sch[m]itt (the m is silent), who has been sending emails to everyone telling all of us why he is pushing his head even farther up the Dear Leader's diaper-clad arsehole and how that is going to be such a wonderful thing for the people of Missouri. The thing is--and this is a problem on both sides of the aisle--those who are currently incumbents in Congress are more worried about keeping their jobs than they are about actually representing their constituents and abiding by their oaths of office. I sincerely wish that Ammurrikans would wake the f*ck up and dump their asses in 2026. But I know they won't because they are lazy ignoramuses who, when push comes to shove, consider well-informed and rational voting to be too much of a chore. In Missouri in 2024, around 65% of the voters voted in favor of abortion rights and a higher minimum wage with paid sick leave. But they ALSO reelected the same slate of fascist Rethuglicans to the state legislature who had repeatedly voted AGAINST BOTH THOSE THINGS. And what did the f*ckers do as soon as they were sworn in for the umpteenth time? They killed both Voter Approved measures. We had bodily autonomy in Missouri for about 2 months. Minimum wage hike and paid sick leave? Not yet because they're trying to get the courts to kill it. It takes a special kind of stupid to "believe" in progressive and centrist principles and then to vote for the exact opposite just because they can't countenance voting for someone with a D after their name. I also want to give a shoutout to the people of Venice, who have made the Bezos wedding--the modern equivalent to the Vanderbilt ball--a total media disaster.
Linda, you are certainly on a roll this am. Wankpuffin, I love it. i may have to add it to my list of names to call Rs. And silent m...perfect. I was reading the comments on a post put out by Senator Wyden and it is clear that the dumbos responding think they are going to get a huge tax decrease. I can only think that most of them have not yet felt the pressure on their wallets. I keep reading about people in ag who cannot find workers, so I am waiting for that to hit the grocery aisle. I was at a gathering on Friday night and I was talking to a person about hits that wineries in Oregon are taking. She seemed to think ag workers are paid very well per hour and she would be willing to work in the fields for that and had no idea about tariffs. Two people, including her, announced that they did not read. And she asked me if anyone had ever told me that I looked like Rosie O'Donnell. My reply showed that I did not consider that a compliment although she intended it as such. We were at a reading done by my garden assistant and her new book stands against everything that greed and power represent. And yes, a shoutout to the people of Venice.
I made phone calls for Collins’s opponent in the last election as part of my organization which is not even in Maine. She is really the worst because she knows better. She said Kavanaugh lied to her about Roe v Wade to get her vote, but then she did nothing about it. Why did she and Murkowski not vote with Tillis and Paul?
Et and Michele: I cannot take responsibility for the term, although I am trying to elevate it. It was invented by a dear friend who is, like me, an academic who has to deal with a certain kind of holier-than-thou, self-important, but stunningly mediocre (usually male) academic who makes everyone else's lives miserable.
Wankpuffin! HAAAA!!! Oh, the images dancing around my mind! Thank you, Linda!
Please don't bring up Coward Hawley in my presence.
Sorry RB: I do so only to ridicule him
So well written. Thank you! And I like wankpuffin, too, and the note that republicans have their heads up Dear Leader's diaper-class areshole.
Bravo, Linda! I often search out your comments and I don't generally see you on a rant---LOL, I had MY rant two days ago!
THANK YOU for verbalizing what many of us feel. e going to trial using headline
Thanks Miselle! I admit I rarely have an opportunity to dig deep into the comments on HCR's substack because, well, time issues and I admit that the prevalence of faux handwringing "what can we do?!?" stuff annoys me. If people have been reading this substack for any length of time they should know exactly what needs doing. I also admit that my blood pressure can't handle the daily news firehose emission so I monitor my exposure. But sometimes, the comments and HCR's letter just pull it out of me . . .
And often it's all 3 Apache.
The oligarchs win -- again.
Us democrats do some mighty dumb things as well. Like losing last year
I cannot say this enough, republicans rigged 2000, allowed rigging in 2016, got their asses handed to them in 2020 then built a better rigged system in 2024. The pieces are in place for them to not lose again. It is why they are willing to pass very unpopular legislation - AGAIN!
And also, Trump doesn’t care if he wins again. He’s now doing the damage to the American economy and general stability that Putin charged him with…Job well done!!! Treasonous…No shame….Makes me feel sick!!!
Retire the name “Republican” and call these spineless worms NIGHTCRAWLERS.
Gigi, I think people like nightcrawlers as fish bait and I just like worms in general for the work they do in soil and the compost heap. And yeah, I do pick them up on the street to try to save them after a rain. Rs are certainly creatures of the night and I think of them as bloodsucking vampires.
Michele, back about 100 years ago when I was in a Chicago HS, our school had a courtyard surrounded on all four sides, only accessible from a door in a hallway. My biology teacher offered extra points for any kid who would bring in a carton of earthworms. (He told us to put them in a clean milk carton). He'd release them into the courtyard.
I pick up and save earthworms, too.
~~~~~
I feel the same about earthworms and have huge respect for all they do. I was trying to think of something spineless and am happy to substitute “SPINELESS VAMPIRES” for the repubs. I watched YouTube today and Elizabeth Warren on Brian Taylor Cohen’s show and Senator Schumer and Rep Landsman on Mark Elias’ Democracy Docket. They were outstanding! Landsman said if the corporate tax rate was raised to 28% instead of 21% they would not have to cut out healthcare for millions. Voter suppression and gerrymandering need to be changed locally for upcoming elections. Warren says call and write your legislators. You can even leave recorded messages today.
More like 40 years
On the state level too. There are plenty of red state governors and legislatures that enact laws that harm their own supporters, whether it be refusing to extend Medicaid, cutting state food support and education and job training funding programs, or instituting restrictions that affect only particular population groups, like minorities and LGBTQ+. State level votes are equally important.
I was also contacted by the Census. I declined to give any of my data on the grounds that their data systems now lacked integrity and so could not guarantee my privacy. I also thanked the workers there for the excellent work they had done in the past and hoped they could resume that quality of work in the future.
The thing that flummoxes me the most is the shock that food and dairy farmers are experiencing because Trump is keeping his promises re immigration. Some have speculated that the farmers voted for him as they believed his claim that undocumented workers are taking "black jobs" and thus are additionally shocked that there have been no Black applicants for those jobs. I might celebrate this victory except that it means we will all be paying higher prices for food.
Sadly, we're already paying higher prices because chains have taken the tariff story as a means to increase prices. And then Albertson's has chosen to close stores in rural areas to increase its profits! So sad this country will be celebrating 250 years of making history a sad circle in pursuit of the elusive dollar.
I’m finding less and less to celebrate as July 4 comes around…
I recently rewatched Hamilton. Despite all the creative license with some of the historical facts, it touched me so much that it turned into a three-hankie weepie. How is it that 249 years after the glory of that Declaration we have as president a man whose knowledge base about this country is so shallow and flawed?
Yesterday, they announced the GDP for Q1 2025 had contracted by .5% And the pundit said, he "hoped" that we aren't In a recession.
Talk about wishful thinking.
Gary, as much as it disturbs me for even suggesting this, we need a recession and/or other hammer -- economic or otherwise -- to fall on the American People. Perhaps then our collective eyes will be opened to the utter incompetence, arrogance and negligence which characterizes the Red Party, as well as the grift and drift away from democracy it has steered us. Clearly nothing will change before 2026; let's hope we have the will and vision to vote them out. I'm not so sure we do, no matter the national calamity. "I used to be an optimist but things never turned out as I anticipated."
I’d be an optimist if I thought it would do any good.
Not to get all fact nanny on this but technically a recession is a decline in two successive quarters. We may be heading there but I would hope we'd be cautious about using the 'r' word. https://www.bea.gov/news/2025/gross-domestic-product-1st-quarter-2025-advance-estimate
Do you really think that the GOP is worried about Black jobs???
Well, George, I think many of them would be happy to see Black folk toiling in the fields and tending our properties again.
Yup. My favorite clip yesterday was a beautifully curated young Black woman telling farmers that she couldn't believe they didn't have a Plan B for when all their undocumented workers fled or were deported. That she couldn't believe they'd risk their family farms on the assumption that they could get black folk to do their back-breaking work -- again. In another post was a screenshot from a recruiting agency in Louisiana for blueberry pickers: $11 per hour, 9-10 hours per day, 7 days per week, for three months.
Of course not but it was one of Trump's talking points for months. It's what made Michelle Obama's line at the DNC so punchy.
Oh, I expect prices to go much higher as there will be no one to harvest and pack the produce or process meat. Crops are already going unharvested and rotting in the fields.
Many, many people are going to be unpleasantly surprised soon. I'm not a believer, but I do think the regime is using the Evangelical's "antiChrist" beliefs as a blueprint.
Florida is the testing ground for all the cruel and harmful programs 2025, this administration and the complicit GOP want to enact. Where is the national outrage at what is happening both environmentally and on the human level with the creation of these death (because people are dying in them) camps? Where is the media in reporting that corruption and cruelty? Calling daily our R representative and senators (Fl is heavy gerrymandered). Please call yours no matter what letter follows their name. It takes only a second. Make sure the horrible bill is defeated. It's up to us.
I’d say Ohio
don't forget Texas.
I keep trying to forget Texas
Three more years of damage? It's going to take decades to recover from this. Economic, climate, world standing, education, bigotry/misogyny and so much more. And it’s not just the Mango Menace; he's just the manifestation of the regressive party.
I am hoping against reality that this horrible bill will be defeated. Smart of the democrats to insist that all 900 + pages be read aloud. And the republicans that are standing against it? Stand fast!!!
Suggest you add "fear" to "blinding ignorance."
Or hatred to pride in ignorance.
And hatred, as I was reminded recently by my bro
😢
Yep, it breaks my heart that two (maybe three) of four bros drank the kool aid. None are stupid but go with the stupid flow. Well, I guess that is stupid…
not ignorance, plain and simple spite.
Both, I think. And perhaps hatred rather than spite.
Here's hoping it won't be that long, and we the people can choke off those who hope to quash our rights and doom us to penury. Rise, up. Every month another opportunity to demonstrate our disdain, every week another opportunity to call our Congress Reps and Senators, to send out postcards, to make some calls, to knock on some doors, and every day to thank god for HCR!
Postage is going up in about two weeks, so plan ahead, folks!
Time to grow less corn and raise more hell.
I'm curious about why the contacted you when it isn't a census year.
And thanks for the idea!
Hi, Bill -
Your comment reminded me of Michael Tomasky's superb piece in The New Republic shortly after the election. I've included a link and think it is well worth your time.
https://newrepublic.com/post/188197/trump-media-information-landscape-fox
Great read. It inspired me to write an entry in my own blog today. I remember Marshall McKuhen’s phrase The Medium is the Message and I never stopped to think what the hell it meant. But I was only 14 years of age.
Great read! Thx.
Will Bunch of the Philadelphia Inquirer wrote another powerful piece right after the election.
https://share.inquirer.com/DylpbS
Thanks. Checking it out now.
When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes, I all alone …. try Shakespeare
I all alone beweep my outcast state, and look upon myself and curse my fate…
S B Lewis, thanks! The quality of the Comment section in HCR's newsletters almost never fails to impress me. I've never read, much less memorized, a Shakespeare sonnet. I'm sure it's a transgression to do so, but I asked Chat GPT to tell me the meaning of the poem 🫢. I felt I was rewarded though I probably shouldn't have 😀.
It’s about love. Shakespeare spoke of love in that sonnet, his love. My 10th grade English teacher, Eunice Helmkamp, asked us to choose a sonnet to recite at U-High, 10th grade at UCLS, U Chicago… I chose. Memorized. Shakespearian sonnets help now. We need all the help we can get. Love Is Not Enough, but it’s a good place to start. See Bettelheim. His breakaway book about The Orthogenic School where I grew from 10-16, learned to read there at 11.
Hello Sandy. Hope all is well
Just Dandy, Sandy
Excellent history lesson. Eventually the will of the people prevails. Tyrants always pay for their crimes. 70% of American adults did not vote for Liar Thief Dishonorable Donald.
Here's a list of deposed tyrants that Donald should learn from. Oppressing and stealing from the people you are sworn to serve is dumb.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_deposed_politicians
S B, I would just make it thank god for Heather Cox Richardson. It looks to me like the regime, the Congress and the Supreme Court are working to suspend as much of the Constitution as possible. Who needs a Constitution when we have Donald Trump. Oh wait, Donald Trump is exactly why need to honor and enforce the Constitution!
And, what more apt song for Heather guiding us through the maze than the Beach Boys "God Only Knows" a tune that resonates constantly through my head!!
Janet, I assume you also read Dan Rather's "Reason to Smile."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqLTe8h0-jo
I think it took Hitler 3 months to get rid of the German Constitution. It's taking this regime a bit longer, but nearly every day the US Constitution comes closer to becoming a useless piece of paper. On the other hand, if you pay attention to HRC and her wealth of knowledge, you might find it is more than yesterday's news.
Thank you, Sandy. I completely agree.
I hear you Sandy 🤬🤬🤬
I thank God for Professor HcR but not the Constitution. I say that because the Constitution only exists if We the Peple believe in it, respect it and agree upon it.
How long have we the people allowed this complete and utter ORIGINALIST bull shit to happen and be masked as thoughtful legal interpretation? It never held up. EVER. It was arise to rule Willy nilly depending on what friend of the court was paying enough.
If they had been tru to their word which has proven to be absolute and original shit they would have a court of one, actually none now that I think of it…forgot Roberts was Catholic. So pretty ironic people who would never been allowed to serve on the court are the ones interpreting what slave owners in the late 1700s would think about ghost guns. Or people who shit in buckets outside might think about the EPA in 2025 and how that related to leukemia levels in children drinking from conatinamted runoff water.
Here’s a softball for the originalists….please circle the square wher the founding fathers literally fought a war to have NO KINGS, formered a representative democracy and stated that ALL men are created equal actually meant to have 2024 SCOTUS, the original originalists ganstahs (the OOG6) say they really meant that their Guy is above all law?
Or was all this originalist just complete nonsense to make shit up to fit an outcome that already been decided by the people they really represent?
They have acted more as co counsel for Trumo than the highest corrupt. Even taking or denying cases, delaying dockets, washy washy outcomes in order to wait until after elections.
Knowing how you got someplace is great but it does nothing to figure out how to move forward. Congress is gone, the courts are gone.
Israel dropped charges against Netanyahu bevause trumo threatened them with no protection. trump got the same favor here last year. And we still think we’ll have elections in 2026?
We cannot keep thanking Professor and critisizing Trump, Repbulicans and ICE and do nothing more. Thank however first that our land is saved from becoming their private golf courses and club houses. Now if we cannot save Medicaid for now, can do that in 2026.
>>>Tonight, fifty-one senators voted to advance the bill with forty-nine opposing it. Republicans Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Rand Paul of Kentucky voted with the Democrats to stop the bill from moving forward. Tillis has been clear that he could not support the bill’s cuts to Medicaid. Immediately, Trump said he would back a primary challenger to Tillis, saying he would be “looking for someone who will properly represent the Great People of North Carolina.”<<<
Another perfect example of how and why the rest of the Republican members of Congress have had their spines turn to jelly. They place political careers, and the perks of those careers, ahead of the good of the country. They quake in their Italian suits at the thought of being primaried out. Cowards all!
Susan Collins with her lily-livered "Just because I voted Yes now doesn't necessarily mean I'll vote Yes on the final bill." Sure, Susie - we'll be working on getting rid of you next November, regardless.
Hopefully the voters in Maine will finally put Susan Collins out to pasture regardless of whether this Big Bad Billl passes.
Yes, she did not vote to impeach him after Jan6 because she said she “thought he learned his lesson.”. Naiveté? Or just an excuse.
Did you see the video of her famous quote about Trump learning his lesson? Snark.
And we also haven't forgotten her "believing" Brett Kegger Kavanaugh and "settled case law".
I don’t believe that she’s that stupid
Call it what it is - the Billshit!
voters should be hounding her relentlessly
While my dear Mainer's are at it, perhaps they could set fire to the luxury spider hole that L. Leo's burrowed up in, in Maine.
Yes, this is long overdue.
Collin’s consistently does the wrong thing in the end, she always has.
But before doing the wrong thing, she is always so concerned. Poor thing....
Well, the good news is that once she is voted out of office, she will have so many fewer “concerns.”
Maine voters, make it happen!!!
I'm sure MANY of us will have the opportunity to write postcards and letters, or to phonebank from our other states to help this happen.
Postage goes up on JULY 13th, folks!
PLAN AHEAD. Head to your postoffice soon or go online to order. Before one campaign a year or so back, I went to the postoffice and they were SOLD OUT of all postcard stamps.
Working on it!
😃
Haha.. you’re right.
Has Susie Sycophant written a “strongly worded letter” yet? Does she still hold to her unbelievably naive assessment the Trump will “grow into the job” of the Presidency? Does she have a clue, at all?
“ Susie Sycophant” that rolls of the tongue so well
Alliteration can be fun! :D
As a lifelong Mainer(75 years) Susie is not someone who puts Mainers or the people of the US best interests first. She has honed her smarmy platitudes over the years and they are her cover for going along with the GOP, without any risk.
“ smarmy “ bingo!
I'm pretty sure strongly worded letters are the province of Susie's neighbor to the south, Granny Schumer.
Sounds like she is placing her vote out to bid
Right, $$$$ talks to those Republicans.
Her bull schitt stinks (reeks) as it always has.
We will never forget (especially the women of this country) her repeated betrayals. She smiles in your face but she is a backstabber. She will vote for this bill.
“ smiles in your face” , “ backstabber “. The O’ Jays put it into song and perspective.
What's she going to do? Wag a concerned finger at it?
She a total fake and a scum bag...
How old is she? Isn’t it time for her to step aside?
Way past time. We need age limits for all elected officials.
I'm a North Carolinian- Tillis has been skating on thin ice for a long time.. He knows people are not as dumb as his party thinks they are... Voting No is his only option right now... He's going to be primaried and it will be like a carnival side show.. The NC republican party has Gerymandered almost all of the legislative districts but they can not Gerrymander a statewide contest.. Watch the fireworks unfold...
Rise Carolina, throw the bums out
Tillis has already burned his bridge and knows he has nothing to lose. Ask a North Carolinian who they most despise on the planet and his name comes up #2 on the list only behind tRumpty Dumpty. Tillis is a serpent trying to appear like he has a conscience as he slithers from the Garden.
This Seattle boy hadn't heard of him until a couple of years ago, but apart from everything I've caught from the PoliticsNC 'stack out of newfound curiosity, his absolute goddamn betrayal of Hegseth's ex-wife is one of those bells that cannot be unrung.
What?
He promised her that if she testified against him that he could not get enough votes to be confirmed. Then she testified. Then Tillis voted to confirm him.
Hey - he shouldn’t worry about being primaried - in this great economy, I am sure he will find an even more fantastic, better paying job! 😝
From what I can see from far away the politics of NC are complicated, to say the least. I think your Republican Party politicians are to the right of the electorate, including some Republican voters. If Tillis loses the Primary to a far-right MAGA
will the Dem candidate have a good chance in the General?
Yes, as a native North Carolinian, I believe the Democratic candidate will!!! 🤞
We’ll never know. Tillis just announced he’s going to retire. I’m certain this was not a spur of the moment decision. I should have labeled him a tapeworm. Even a feckless serpent has a spine.
I agree Michael. Plus, there is already a shortage of Doctors & Nurses…with the Republicans treating medical care for Americans so callously- how many young people want to invest years and years of education to fight off over-crowded emergency rooms? Like what Megan Rothery says with her spreadsheet:
Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Also work on electing Democrats. It’s not in my comfort zone but join an organization and knock on doors. For those that are receptive, ask them to call their friends and relatives to support good Democratic candidates. This is how Susan Crawford won in WI, despite the 90 million Musk put in the that state Supreme Ct race.
I admire that Zohran Mamdani got some democratic passion turned on with voters, and won NYC's Democratic mayoral primary.
I was pleasantly surprised when I tried knocking on doors. It wasn’t as hard as I expected and got to be fun when I actually got to engage with someone. Also they don’t send you to registered Rep. houses, just Dems or independents.
And collect half a million in student loan debt. And given that some Americans are absolutely rabid about the idea of student loan forgiveness, they receive no help in paying it off- even for practicing in an underserved area.
That there is student debt is a crime of nature, a sickness of America, inferior values. What ever kind of "ism" we are - it's stinking rotten.
The only one who dared to show a spine --- a teensy one at best, yet see Mango the Hutt's sputtering outrage. Picture him quivering in mock fury like a preening bowl of rancid jello. How DARE anyone oppose the Great Me, the Wonderful, Perfect in Every Way Bill To Do Whatever the Hell I Feel Like? It might as well have been named that. In the past, bills' names could be almost comical: The Full Employment Bill to Stop Biden's Nonsense, e.g. But this one doesn't even claim to do anything. It's literally a big piece of pig slop.
In the Times last night (not the Washington Compost), you at least got a sense of the tiny deals transpiring on the floor in the night at the last minute --- the tiny little deals -- to satisfy the pettiest instincts of Repulsicans who know this is a piece of slop. Lisa Murkowski taking 3 hours to vote "yes" only after she'd secured some pissy little crap for Alaska, of course. Ron Johnson finally voting "yes" after God knows what they promised him. Josh Hawley proudly announcing (after supposedly opposing Medicaid cuts for weeks) that he now supports it, because....?
Don't buy the magic hair tonic. Like Tillis, ALL OF THEM know what a pile of financial sleight-of-hand, ideological cruelty and incoherent chickenshit this bill is. They wouldn't be passing crap in the middle of the night by means of "reconciliation" in order to avoid a filibuster if it were something else. Instead, they treated it like normal give-and-take horse-trading. They fiddled and diddled while Cheetoh Nero burned the Republic down.
I only hope Democrats are smart enough to come up with some basic, gut-level, highly visual metaphors to 'splain it all to disinformed voters from now until next November.
This cannot be stated enough: the republicans are acting like a party that does not fear electoral consequence. Following the 2020 election, they begin to put in place, with the guidance of the fascist group ALEC, legislation to reduce the opposition that would vote them out. Through the purging of voters, making it more difficult to vote with their restrictive ID laws, and removal of ease of voting methods (mail in, drop boxes) this time they are planning on winning in 2026 regardless of how the people view their policies. Republicans in Congress are now just like the Duma in Russia. What the leader wants, the leader gets. With SCOTUS dismantling the administrative agencies, giving the executive immunity for "official acts", and now allowing blatant constitutional violating EOs, the stage is set for the first American dictatorship.
Thank goodness for HCR and her event by event documentation. Thank goodness for Marc Elias and Democracy Docket. Thank goodness for the fine people on Substack that have provided the historical record when our media lets us down.
Rickey, I wish I could "like" this a hundred times. Your description is exactly right.
Why we don’t buy billboards on every mile of interstate with graphs of income inequality? I volunteer at Feeding America. Our large service area has seen an 88% rise in need since June 1. Contrast that with a $45,000,000 vanity parade.
Indivisible is requesting donations to do just that—Indivisible.org. At least billboards reach people regardless of which cable channels they watch.
Admittedly, billboards are a blight on the landscape, but they are the most inescapable, cost-effective way to reach maximum audience.
By contrast, TV ads are the least cost-effective way to reach people. They are "vapor ads," here for 30 seconds, then gone. The only way to make them effective is to blanket every channel in every market, which costs a fortune and pisses off the viewers.
Why the campaigns can't figure this out is beyond me.
You make an excellent point. I assume there are also many people like me who record all TV programming I plan to watch. I do this because I hate watching TV advertising. By recording, I can skip the ads. I see no TV advertising. I have not seen a single political ad nor any other. What a gigantic waste of money, as you say.
Add to that, a growing number of people are streaming their TV entertainment, another way to block advertising. I may not be typical, but I haven't watched any over-the-air programming in at least a year. I still see ads on some "free" streaming services, but not with the saturation of local TV channels.
When you factor together OTA, cable, satellite and streaming, the TV market is so fragmented, it would take a gazillion-dollar media buy to ensure that you're reaching your audience. What a waste of money!
MLRGRMI, I’d love to see a breakdown per income level, on the amount of the % tax cut, especially for those with an income less than $53,600. Does anyone know a source for this?
An article I read online a while ago stated it would COST me $700!
We need Katie Porter and her white board.
Of course, it's possible that some of them are just looking forward to a tax cut.
And perhaps bonus's along with hefty campaign contributions ?
Who knows? Trump has threatened North Carolina senator Thomas Tillis with a primary challenge, but can he issue those kind of threats without Musk's money in the midterm elections next year?
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/06/28/congress/donald-trump-threatens-thom-tillis-00431472
I picture a portly, becrowned Donald singing "You'll be back" to his estranged boyfriend, Elon.
https://youtu.be/i5JAjAR_AjY?feature=shared
You could well be right. Musk seemed to want this but Trump's still pissed at him.
As with any prostitute, Donald has a price for his affection. Elon has the money to pay it.
However, Elon has already gotten everything he wanted with his previous investment. He gutted all the agencies that were investigating his companies for various violations and awarded himself contracts worth geometrically more money than he invested. There's little financial motivation for him to come back. Not to mention that he got his fragile feefees hurt by all the public hate. He doesn't want a second dose of that.
A tax cut that will likely end up costing most of us waaaaaay more than it saves.
JDinTX (below) has got it right. For a relatively few billionaires there will be no downsides, but for everyone else it will bring the prospect of austerity a step closer.
At the moment, it probably doesn't seem likely to many Americans who only see a president striving to re-establish America's economic dominance for the benefit of Americans, even at the expense of everyone else. But your country faces looming crises like the effects of climate change that are already with you and will only get worse, and some that are on the horizon for which you are being left unprepared. The recent memory of Trump's disastrous response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic which led to the unnecessary deaths of tens of thousands of Americans was a warning of worse to come.
A character in Hemmingway's 'The Sun Also Rises' is asked 'how did you become bankrupt?'. His reply is 'gradually, then suddenly'. This second Trump term will usher in further calamities and they will come thick and fast.
Tax cut ??? Only if you don’t need one
What I don’t understand is how people actually believe that thump cares about them or if he will still support them if they disagree. Tom Tillis is a good example. He was the thump’s darling at one time but now that he disagrees with the petulant child, he is threatened by him. We have seen this time and time again. Why don’t they learn. If he gets angry with them, they might be on the right track.
Welcome to life with an individual who suffers from a Borderline Personality Disorder. They strike out like a rattle snake at anyone who threatens, however subtly, to reject them. Tramp is a classic BPD.
Greeley, you are too kind. Donald is a walking textbook of every known psychosis and personality disorder.
I don't like to use the word, "evil," because it carries theological implications, so I would describe him as a sociopath.
He loves no one. All of his relationships are transactional, and always distorted in a way that he gets more than he gives.
History will compare him to Herod, Caligula, Nero, Attila, Genghis Kahn, Henry VIII, Ivan the Terrible, Mussolini, Stalin, Hitler, Idi Amin and Saddam Hussein.
Clearly, trump is a stupid senile malignant narcissist.
Nah, Greeley, much more likely is simply prodigious narcissistic personality disorder reared in culture of greed.
Trump’s sycophants don’t seem to realize you can agree with him—or do whatever it is he wants—73 times, but when you finally say no, you’re out. It’s all or nothing.
This bill is extremely disturbing. Our government is supposed to protect and serve--not harm--us. All of Trump's, the GOP's and MAGA's actions harm America and Americans. 😡
Mostly correct. Ultimately, many folks when they vote revenge vote and the muck rackets know how to reach the voter at just the right time. Trump isn’t just a poor choice. He is the worst and most destructive of any. He adopted behavior from the mafia of New York. I despair that he had to live in my time.
Bill, I live in an area that has a very large Muslim population. Daily, I pass businesses with large FREE PALESTINE flashing on their electronic billboards, or HUGE signs on their property. I wonder how many voted for Trump because they were upset with Biden.
They have not turned to jelly; they always were jelly. It is the only reason they were put up for election.
I think you actually have to have a spine for it to turn into jelly. The GOP are a bunch of invertebrates.
When he steps in, former Governor Roy Cooper will wipe the floor with Thom T. And NC will have someone who represents our state well again!
Perhaps “the Great People of North Carolina “ will be thankful their senator showed some spine and voted for the interests of those great people! Wish more republican senators would show some collective spine and voted for the for the best interests of their constituents!
Even more reason to pinpoint them for electoral removal in 2026 and those senators not up for reelection in 2026 quake in their boots for 2028.. because they will be taken down. Likewise in the House. And failing health for the regime's foulest members. May their hate consume their health and their families.
Mitch McConnell was against it but apparently couldn't hold his old spine together to actually vote his "conscience".
Now that you're up off the floor from laughing at that one, it still would have passed with JD Prance, but old Moscow Mitch had to provide the image of unity.
What a disgusting bunch of feeble old men. Fill the senate with women. It can't be worse.
Oh and demolish the Roberts Court, which is certainly not supreme. Replace him, alito and Thomas , hey, with women too, and add 4 more.
Can you imagine not being willing to protect members of your family? That’s exactly what the repugnantkins in the senate are doing, you might say “well they have the wealth to find the medical care they need” which may be true up to a point, but past that point when the hospital systems fail and a 3 hr drive to find the nearest open one, is still a 3 hr drive to someone who is sick. Like the insipid orange turd this is insane. When the repugnantkins finally pull their heads out of their asses it’s going to be too late, all of the prosperity you see all around you is built on a finely woven structure that benefits most if not in practice all of us, they are taking a wrecking ball to it, and are trying to recreate a feudal system where some families have all of the wealth, and everyone else works for them, histories graveyards are full of examples of how well that has turned out. 🤬🤬🤬
Bunch of Reptilian Brained Men!
Lisa Murkowski won as an Independent write-in candidate. Whats her excuse? No one can successfully primary Collins. The pressure should be on them.
Elissa Slotkin gave a speech today that’s going around Instagram with themes sounded by Mary Elizabeth Lease. Please let the rest of the Dem party learn from Ms. Lease and Ms. Slotkin! And stop panicking over Zohran Mamdani winning the Dem primary in NYC. We need to get behind all of their messages about extreme economic inequality being antithetical to a functioning small-d democracy!
Zohran Mamdani is right for NYC.
Elissa Slotkin is right for Michigan.
Maine's Jared Golden wouldn't get elected in Maryland.
Maryland's Jaimie Raskin wouldn't get elected in Maine.
Democratic 'leadership' needs to figure out when to open the tent and when to close ranks.
Leftish voters need to figure out that by sitting on their hands or splitting the vote they elect Republicans.
Thank you, lin*
Senator Murphy has been saying for months that the Democratic Party needs to be a BIG TENT. And the center pole should be Economic Justice. The travesty proceeding in Congress gives us the ULTIMATE political tool to expose, hammer and defeat the MAGA Nazis in future elections.
Many Trump voters thought that he would only deport immigrants who were criminals. Not their coworkers and friends who have been part of their community for decades.
Many Trump voters actually believed that there was "waste fraud and abuse" at the VA and in Medicaid. Turns out the WFA is at the top of the food chain. The current bill that slashes so much from so many of us and gives so much to a few at the top will be a horror show for Republicans. Too bad the elections are so far away. Of course, that gives us more time and evidence to demonstrate how fucking cruel Republicans are.
I refer folks to Jess Piper. https://substack.com/home/post/p-167046641
"And why are we even considering Medicaid cuts? To give tax cuts to the wealthy."
Say it over and over and over. It is class warfare by the rich - on the rest of us.
Bill Alstrom, I’m so glad you highlighted the great substack of Jess Piper! Her clarion call from the heart of deep Missouri is a must read for me. Project 2025 is deeply implemented already in Missouri. She warns of the cruelty her State already suffers because of this. She also, helps me get a pragmatic view of the challenges of resistance work in such a gop-stranglehold State.
You could substitute TN for MO in her piece and every word would still be true.
She is the director of Blue Missouri, a sister to Blue Tennessee (www.bluetennessee.org).
and this: This cannot be stated enough: the republicans are acting like a party that does not fear electoral consequence. Following the 2020 election, they begin to put in place, with the guidance of the fascist group ALEC, legislation to reduce the opposition that would vote them out. Through the purging of voters, making it more difficult to vote with their restrictive ID laws, and removal of ease of voting methods (mail in, drop boxes) this time they are planning on winning in 2026 regardless of how the people view their policies. Republicans in Congress are now just like the Duma in Russia. What the leader wants, the leader gets. With SCOTUS dismantling the administrative agencies, giving the executive immunity for "official acts", and now allowing blatant constitutional violating EOs, the stage is set for the first American dictatorship.
Thank goodness for HCR and her event by event documentation. Thank goodness for Marc Elias and Democracy Docket. Thank goodness for the fine people on Substack that have provided the historical record when our media lets us down.
Yes!
Murphy on political strategy.
Not political scolds such as Slotkin and Golden excoriating fellow Democrats.
I love Jess's writing. She also has a band kid who plays euphonium (a baby tuba).
Exactly; He's an American citizen who's at least professing real bona fides.
Why are the criminal in the White House and the floozies around him always so angry?
Like Hegseth – a monumental fount of hysteria, histrionics, volcanic contortions, ever-spewing cankers?
Partly it has to do with how mediocrities always need formulae – as if there’s but one set of ways to live. Everyone must fit police state or theocratic state. What’s the name of the place in “The Handmaid’s Tale,” or the town in “The Stepford Wives” (OK, it’s Stepford), those in Hawthorne’s “The Scarlet Letter,” “Invasion of the Body Snatchers,” or “The Thanatos Syndrome”?
See, America has long brooked near-rule by the angry such as the gaudy orange felon, perpetual drunk Hegseth, Russell Vought with his 900-something page project, Stephen Miller with his wet dream for prisons, and all their Fox choruses.
Now add to that the decades American schools have been fit to the chief conceit of testing, which is that for A)-B)-C)-D) there’s always but one correct answer. And mere takers-of-tests never get to ask any questions.
Compare all that with the millions of Americans who turned out for No Kings Day – and the plenty of signs mixing humor, satire, and wider humanity along with real determination in the face of ogres, zombies, living dead.
Phil, No Kings Day turned out much better than I thought it would be. So many happy, smiling, laughing people. It was joyous. A group of friends did street theater, spent long hours making props and working on the story-telling. It was great, drew a big crowd. Very American. Despite all the bad news we hear so often, the heart of American democracy beats loud and clear.
Since Mamdani won the NYC mayoral primary over 4,000 young Democrats have signed up to run for political office. And more are signing up every day. If only 1% of these candidates is a charismatic populist then we will be on our way back to making the Democrat Party great.
The oligarchs are truly afraid of the Democratic new comers and rightfully so. So go ahead and pass the BBB because you'll be handing the keys to several states over to the Dems that have been blue for a long time.
They have two years to shut down the mid terms. State by state. They’ve already set it in motion.
This cannot be stated enough: the republicans are acting like a party that does not fear electoral consequence. Following the 2020 election, they begin to put in place, with the guidance of the fascist group ALEC, legislation to reduce the opposition that would vote them out. Through the purging of voters, making it more difficult to vote with their restrictive ID laws, and removal of ease of voting methods (mail in, drop boxes) this time they are planning on winning in 2026 regardless of how the people view their policies. Republicans in Congress are now just like the Duma in Russia. What the leader wants, the leader gets. With SCOTUS dismantling the administrative agencies, giving the executive immunity for "official acts", and now allowing blatant constitutional violating EOs, the stage is set for the first American dictatorship.
Thank goodness for HCR and her event by event documentation. Thank goodness for Marc Elias and Democracy Docket. Thank goodness for the fine people on Substack that have provided the historical record when our media lets us down.
I agree they do not fear electoral consequences but the reasons for that lack of fear are far more insidious than the things you mention, which are being done in plain view. It is what is being done quietly and furtively that is the most insidious and frightening. Try this 4 -part (so far) series for more information.
https://substack.com/@thiswillhold
Read Robert Hubbell.
Then we need to do what is happening in Hungry right now - everyone in the streets all day every day until the felon rapist and his minions get the message!
We meed to keep the callous foot of massive money from treading on it.
Toxic angry male politics. It didn't start with Limbaugh but it certainly picked up steam with him and made him filthy rich. Anger is the only allowable emotion for these men and it is always women and immigrants and POC that they are angry with. When you are told you are, as a white man, a master of the universe, but reach middle age especially and you are not rich and barely the master of your own life, you look for someone to blame. Limbaugh, Murdoch, Trump, etc have all been all too happy to point their fingers and focus their hate and anger. They have all used it to amass power and wealth and the angry saps just keep getting angrier because at this point, they cannot even admit who is really screwing them as it would destroy their entire egos.
Hello Dana, I hear you. What I have to admit is the roll that women play in this “Same Play, Different Actors” drama. Some men love patriarchy. And so do some women. I’m trying to shake my mind away from seeing this classic power-mongering struggle through such a gendered lens, if only to not heap “All Men” in that terrible category. Stripped of gender, its always just about power. Power shape-shifts the rules to stay in power. I always force myself to watch how the goalpost is moved to rationalize excluding an “interloper”. I do believe having more women in positions of power is good. But the person in power is only as good or bad as their character. I loved that Jen Psaki was Press Secretary, but I cringe listening to Karoline Leavitt. Bravo Rachel Maddow. OMG, Laura Ingraham. Whenever I want to gripe about toxic male politics, I have my State’s Betsy DeVos flash in my mind. And I feel frustrated I cannot solve that problem. I feel I’m up against the whole Abrahamic-religion-power-system. The brainwashing it has done on women ( and men ) has been carefully curated and masterful.
MLRGRMI, curated over the centuries. It is always about power, and the language used is what ties it into gender: a loss of power "emasculates" men.
It's 'not all men' but I do not think it's appropriate to do the false equivalency of 'women are sexist too'. Men got and maintain power throught physical brute force all throughout the world, throughout all history. It is still happening today with women being physically abused and killed by men literally every day. The patriarchy was built on it and around it. It is not fair or accurate or helpful to say 'but women help and can be just as sexist!' It kind of reminds me of people who as soon as slavery and the slave trade is mentioned just have to point out 'Africans helped with the slave trade!' and 'black people owned slaves!' and 'black people can be just as racist as whites!'. Individual men are and can be victimized by the patriarchy (that they created!) but they are also its primary guardians and proponents and the chief victimizers.
This. Anger is their drug of choice.
When asked why he was demonizing Jews, Hitler replied, "to have someone to blame."
LBJ understood this when he stated, "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."
Newt Gingrich ushered in right-wing hate politics in the 1990s as the speaker of the House. The right-wingers have practiced and perfected hate politics ever since.
The Dems managed to strive for fundamental political diplomacy with the right-wingers for years before they decided to respond directly to the right-wing hate machine. Dems never got close to behaving as depraved as the majority of GOP misanthropes. Now the media acts as if this hate has been practiced by both sides the whole time.
How the media likes to push false equivalency and ignore the history that is there for anybody see.
You haven’t even mentioned the men my 17 year old grandson encounters during his late night forays into the grosser side of cyberspace. We don’t talk about them because we don’t know who the H they are.
It must be so terrifying to raise kids today. The rise of the 'manosphere' and incel ideology was a big part of Trump's win this last time. They leaned heavy on anti-woman rhetoric and were able to win large portions of younger men this way.
I hope it’s not too late for him to change perspectives. College will be good for him if he gives up the crazy notion that he’ll soon be rich like the influencers he evidently follows.
To be mad can mean being angry, but also bonkers. I don't think that's coincidental. When we are very frightened, rageful, or greedy, among other self-serving passions, we are commonly not of sound mind. In such a state may say or do things we come to regret. We may wind up doing something "stupid" and/or tragic. Othello comes to mind. Tyrants stir up fear, hate, greed and hubris because those thus afflicted can often be persuaded to do highly irrational things, even heinous; things that suit the predatory bent of tyrants, at great costs to others; even to most of their ardent and obedient admirers It's there in plain sight.
Trump is mad in both ways, but the always Trumpers are truly blind.
Gary, Yes, many are just blind. Those that are ignorant and those who claim to be independent are the persuadables.
However, I am still shocked daily at how many Americans are vile in their hearts. But because I am always going to be a glass half full kind of a guy, I believe that the haters, the truly disgusting bigots, the ones who applaud the cruelty...are less than a third of us.
The more damage done by this administration and his team of revengers, the more votes pile up for the return of decency.
Absolutely. these guys at the top revel in the violence. Seeing the people in the tent on J6 watching the horror unfold and them just laughing and smiling. The cruelty is the point.
I guess I keep repeating this because it seems we aren't acknowledging it: The United States was founded by white landed gentry of European birth. The government and society they formed was made for them.
A wise man once told a story about a farmer who went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.
Those hallowed "Founding Fathers" so beloved by white conservatives created a certain kind of seedbed. It should not be surprising that after 250 years, our government still favors the white and wealthy. It should not be surprising that our nation has cultivated a population that distrusts, fears or hates people of color. It should not be surprising that our society is STILL motivated by greed.
The best we can hope to do is contain and control racism and greed.
Dale, the best we can hope for -- better schools. Much better.
Testing gone. Teachers firmly in control, individually and on-site collectively.
Agreed. I see better education as a means to the end – containment of racism and greed – not the end.
Educated people embrace empathy, gratitude and generosity. Ignorant and mis-schooled people think only of "me, my four and no more."
I don't know, Bill. A year ago I'd have agreed with you regarding the ones who "claim to be independent". Now? What I am seeing from the people I thought were rational human beings does not lead me to believe they are in any way persuadable. I had one of them (with whom, gods help me, I was engaging with on Facebook) tell me that "you people" (I am guessing he means those of us who do not like the shutdown of rights for everyone not white, Christian, male, cisgendered, and heteronormative) "...don't even know what a woman is."
They are eye deep in the propaganda and I don't see them ever giving up what tickles their collective amygdalae.
Ally, "you people" is one of my most hated phrases. If someone uses that with me, I immediately shut down. I've NEVER seen it used in a good way, I've always seen it used negatively.
Yes, Miselle. That term only reaffirms group think. Denies humanity.
No surprise it was Mike Gilbert…
He’s gone off the deep end.
I hope so. We need to bring decency back.
I've often thought performative fury was one of the main keys to his success in places where people just do not tune into the details of reality. My, but he waves his hands back-and-forth pumping that invisible concertina a lot. Him must be vewy mad! Him understand tings we don't. Him clearly paying attention. Him a messenger of God....
The truth has always been that him actually has the attention span of an ADHD gnat. Him don't know shit from shinola. Him never has. The preening rage, the gyrations, the performative snarling, the sputtering righteousness, the grotesque humping of an American flag to show his wuv of country. Like Pete Kegsbreath bouncing up and down on his heels to demonstrate his....righteous indignation. How DARE you all ask these questions?
All for show. Every bit of it -- show-and-tell. Every scrap spoon-fed to Fox's dumbstruck dummies, going ooooh and aaaah, soon Amerika Macht Wieder Grõss....
Enough to make a serious person projectile barf.
“Shit from shinola” my mother was the only person I ever knew to use that phrase. Thanks for bringing up a lovely memory of her.
Love your "vewy mad" here, "It's Come to This." Recalls a certain cartoon rabbit.
When you say "he waves his hands back-and-forth pumping that invisible concertina" I think of the late night comic for whom it invokes His Fatness double jacking off.
Floozies. Yes.
Handmaid's Tale is Gilead, I believe.
MTG is loudly screaming that Mamdami is going to take away women’s rights, make them wear burkas and bring sharia law. All while she’s working to obliterate every non-white non-Christian and take away our bodily autonomy.
Abandoned and abused children live with a constantly activated fight/flight (freeze/fawn) response. The best example is to be seen in Alice Miller's 1983 "For Your Own Good", a psychohistorical biography of Adolf Hitler, who is known to have been beaten daily from age 3yo. How'd that turn out? Howling against the wind, as in so many of the "justified angry" comments here, is a symptom of having had such a childhood and NOT the solution to our national nightmare. Just look at how many of our comments are angry. America has become a nation of abandoned and abused children.
Greeley, where you see anger, I see fear and/or indignation. Not the same as anger.
Are you suggesting that Heather's commenters were beaten as children? Or are still children? If so, you're off base and out of line.
Would you have us lay down and allow the destroyers walk all over us? Should we pray for them to stop their abuse of us and say it’s up to God now?
Hate and anger sells to their base. They want to see everyone as unhappy and miserable as they are.
Thank you Professor Richardson.
I'm working on an article I intend to publish next week if I remain properly caffeinated. It's called "Nation of Fear" and addresses the fact that regardless of political ideology, the U.S. system is failing most people while working nicely for the less than 1%, the wealthiest Americans.
Excerpt from "Nation of Fear" ...
Any meaningful democracy requires a well-educated, well-informed, and engaged society. In the history of humanity, we were frightened by phenomena such as lightning, thunder, eclipses, and comets. We thought the Earth was flat (granted, some still do). Left-handed people must be witches or warlocks. Many were terrified when we learned that the Earth was not the center of an expanding universe; however, it orbited the sun, just like Uranus.
How many believe that the representative democracy in the United States is healthy, strong, and working well as we evolve toward a “more perfect Union”?
How many believe that the healthcare system in the United States provides high-quality and affordable care for all?
How many people believe that voting is now completely free of barriers—and therefore agree with Chief Justice Roberts and the conservative majority that their 2013 decision to gut a key part of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was justified?
How many believe that the rule of law should be applied equally to all people, including a privileged few?
Are we all cool with the proliferation of guns, assault rifles, high-capacity magazines, and gun violence?
Are we fine with a handful of people controlling most of the wealth in the United States, enjoying gigantic tax loopholes, stockpiling trillions of wealth offshore, and acquiring and consolidating media companies to constrain the news and information we see (except, apparently news about Jeff Bezos’ wedding and/or the Kardashians) -and all this while 60% of us could not cover an unexpected $1,000 expense?
We’re all good with State-sponsored kidnappings and human trafficking of students, moms, dads, sons, daughters, and others who mistakenly believe we still care about all of the first ten Amendments encompassing the Bill of Rights.
We’re good with dictating what women can and can’t do with their bodies?
We are “a-ok” with politicizing textbooks and the education system so the next generation learns that coal is so clean and tasty you can sprinkle it on your breakfast cereal, the Civil War was a fought over “States’ Rights”, and slaves were willing apprentices being taught important job and life skills?
Except for those who are still trying to recover from fires, floods, hurricanes, and other extreme (and worsening climate catastrophes), we’re okay on global warming?
Enough of us have such a tremendous reserve of drinking water, it’s fine to dump chemicals, waste, and pollution into streams, rivers, and lakes, because environmental protection kills jobs?
I’ve belabored the point here. These are just a handful of societal imperatives, the tip of a rapidly melting ice shelf.
These imperatives are not new. They are all, however, worsening. Since our system is a representative democracy, and that means we elect leaders who represent our societal values, goals, and objectives, why are these critical issues not being addressed? Why are they worsening?
While there are a multitude of reasons, one, in particular, addresses why the country is currently led by a corrupt, incompetent, criminal-elect who is surrounded by a Congressional majority all too happy to kill healthcare access for millions of people while driving even more wealth to the already wealthy.
It is a four-letter word that begins with “F”.
The word is FEAR.
Healthcare and Fear
The U.S. healthcare system is the most expensive in the world, yet it consistently ranks among the worst when comparing costs, patient outcomes, and access to care with other systems in Canada, Netherlands, Israel, Ireland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Australia, and more. In fact, of the top twenty major systems (which all offer universal healthcare, the United States (which does not offer universal care) is in last place. For all of you exceptionalists out there who love to shout “USA! USA! USA!” at political rallies, the United States is number one in healthcare system costs, and number one in the approximately 650,000 personal bankruptcies the system causes on an annual basis.
https://www.kff.org/health-policy-101-international-comparison-of-health-systems/?utm_source=chatgpt.com&entry=table-of-contents-introduction
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/18/american-health-system-ranks-last
Healthcare is a major personal expense in the United States. On average, a person spends close to 12% of their paycheck on healthcare, and this percentage is rising. Thank goodness it’s not a tax though!!! Because anytime we call something a tax, we’re against it!
Politicians know the healthcare system has failed “We the People”. In early 2016, Donald Trump promised to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA, or “Obamacare”) with a terrific, phenomenal plan that would provide universal care. During his 2024 campaign, Trump said he had the “concepts of a plan” to repeal and replace the ACA. In the meantime, Trump, along with the GOP majority in Congress, are working around the clock to eliminate access to care for millions of families to pay for an extension of tax cuts for the wealthy.
The reality is that the healthcare system in the United States works beautifully if you are wealthy and a major donor to political candidates. First of all, if you are wealthy, you are less inclined to care about the costs of healthcare. You certainly don’t care about rising costs for the average American. You don’t care about the 650,000 people and families per year who are financially devastated. And if you are part of the system, such as an executive in “Big Pharma”, or are a partner in a private equity company, you are stockpiling even more wealth based on the rising costs and poor patient outcomes. So there is not much “political will” to represent voters.
There is, however, plenty of money to instill FEAR into the hearts and minds of voters about radical changes to the system. It will lead to higher taxes! The government will ration care! Wait times for an appointment will be measured in years! I won’t get to choose my doctor!!! (This was a big one around the ACA). OMG!!! This is socialism!!!
These (and more) all factor into our fears of electing and supporting leadership who understand the current system is failing 90% of the country and must be reimagined to expand access, shift to a preventative system, and drive cost-effective innovation in the delivery of care. Until we have the courage to do so, some people will be carrying their protest signs “Government out of Our Healthcare”, satisfied with Wall Street Analysts and private equity investors, insurance executives, and Big Pharma making healthcare decisions for your family (instead of public health experts and physicians).
Economics and Fear
Recent studies have shown that 60% of Americans lack the savings to afford an unexpected $1,000 expense. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 per hour and has not changed in 16 years. Adjusted for inflation, $7.25 per hour in 2009 has a value of $4.91 per hour in 2025. So stop complaining and pull yourselves up by your bootstraps!
Any political talk of increasing the minimum wage is met with cries of socialism and Marxism. And a living wage? Forget it communist.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/saving-money-emergency-expenses-2025
Human's do not have the advantage of Apollo's Eye. We never have the all encompassing perspective. We rarely know all we need to make the decisions we must. For some that is exhilarating - think the testing of hypotheses in science. For others it is petrifying - think the strictures of religious creed.
The Founders built the Scientific Method into constitutional government - coming to consensus through reasoned debate of empirical evidence in judicial decisions, legislative process, and transfer of power - always amendable. And by separating church and state they sought to keep not only absolute creed but irrational habits of mind out of government - the Politics of Faith threw that out the window.
"...the Politics of Faith..." Freaking bingo, lin•!
Christian nationalism has overtaken common sense.
Thank you -excellent insights.
And FEAR breeds contempt. And so it goes, down hill from there. The question is where from there? It's late in the game. I don't beiieve there will be an election in 2026. And if there is
it will be overwhelmed by arguments that it is unfair, compromised, law suits will be filed and go on forever and in the end nothing will change. The new fiscal year will begin on July 1,2025. People will begin to truly feel all the cuts. I pray that those that still support the Tyrant will have their eyes opened but I am not optimistic. So where from here, scares me.
Thanks Lou. While I've long been for incremental and progressive changes, the corrupting influence of massive amounts of dark money since the "Citizens United" decision has led to such a rapid erosion of democracy and system guardrails, I now believe the best chance of survival of the American experiment will be the courage and patience necessary for a comprehensive and bold reform of the entire system. The article I'm working on and hope to publish next week will outline some of the steps necessary. And like you I do not trust that we will get a conventional opportunity to put the system back on the rails toward justice, equality, and democracy -it will take a significant and prolonged non-violent economic disruption.
I couldn’t agree more about the Rs’ reliance on constant fear. That appears to be Trump’s MO—fear and anger and blame.
George, here I go again (as I've posted this several times today). I think we need a nationwide weekend of boycott of all, ALL, shopping. Like the visuals of packed streets on NO KINGS, we need to see shopping mall parking lots devoid of cars, and the malls themselves empty. Fast-food joints with NOBODY in them. The workers may have to show up, but let them post photos of nobody in their place of employment.
If you are concerned about small business, before or after the weekend, purchase extra. We need the visuals to send a message.
Thank you Miselle. I think that is definitely worth exploring. Certainly continuing to ramp up the "No Kings" protests and coordinated boycott efforts are important. One of the issues I intend to raise is our societal fear of a prolonged general strike by all except emergency/first responders.
From my perspective, which is shared by others who have far more experience, the root cause is the extreme concentration of wealth. Just as many of us have migrated away from the former Twitter -knowing that every interaction with that platform brings Elon Musk more wealth and power, the value of our work effort is shifted to executives, private equity, and institutional investors while we continue to work harder for the flatlined pay and fewer benefits.
If we want to reform the system in a comprehensive manner we will need to bring those who have poured money into a corrupt dystopian system to rapidly understand they have pushed 95% of the population beyond the edge.
I’m not so sure about the ‘non-violent’ part
Thanks Daniel. I do worry about that.
And I continue to look for effective non-violent strategies and tactics using economics (boycotts and a prolonged general strike) to improve the quality, dignity, and opportunity for all. There is already too much suffering and violence and a significant part is a result of our own foreign policy failures throughout my lifetime.
Not to mention our domestic policies, funded through the likes of the NRA. I am 100% on board re: prolonged general strike. Sometimes, a little pain is required for healing to be more long-lasting.
Nice litany of facts, George -- with nice wit sprinkled throughout the pathos and tragedy.
Thanks Phil. People have mentioned I'm often full of wit. At least, that's what I think they say.
Selective hearing. 😉
I enjoy your writing.
Selective or auto-correct? 🤪. Thank you Ally!
You have a way of bringing us into a very visual understanding with your use of words. I am horrible at it and gave up writing because I couldn’t get to that point.
Thank you Sharon. I try to deconstruct complex issues and make them accessible to as many as possible by simplifying and sprinkling in the occasional humor and snark. I usually integrate images into my writing to frame concepts visually as well.
I know I'm not a warlock. I keep waving my wand at the White House, muttering "Feces Revelio" over and over again, yet Trump still won't metamorphose into a cow patty while the cameras roll. I tried "Evanesco" as well, yet there he stands with one shoulder jutting to the right, like a furious hunchback, instead of disppearing into Azkaban. I'm more than distressed about it.
You didn’t order the wand from Temu, did you? 🤓🧙🏼♂️🎩🐰
🤣🤣🤣
Love it!
Maybe we have to cast some Pagan spells. I may have doomed myself to hell, but when one of my kids desperately needed a certain outcome, I confess to asking my Pagan nephew to do so. He told me to light a green candle surrounded by a ring of salt, and to light it and say something. I can't recall--it was something like "smote it be".
I'm not sure if Yankee Candle stocks the balsam ones in June, but if there is a run on them and it makes news, we'll know why. Lotta readers on the forum here!! ;-D
are you sure it wasn't just a green margarita glass with a salted rim?
ah...........HA HAHAHAHAH AHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!
"It's"--I literally just burst out laughing! I needed that! Thanks!
I love your first spell!!
George, you hit it out of the park again. I look forward to the final edition. But this comment can stand on its own as a call to justice.
It takes a lot to turn around a battleship or an ocean liner. But I think the pain to be caused by this crash and callous class war will get her moving. People will die for lack of care - even more than they are now. As the bodies pile up, the direction of the country will change. It's our job to amplify the reasons why and tell who is responsible.
We need a more focused campaign of economic justice. And for the life of me, I don't understand why the DNC isn't running ads comparing the obscenity of Jeff Bezos' wedding with the problems of Walmart and Amazon workers who are on "food stamps" because their pay sucks.
Your reference to the minimum wage should make every politician cower in shame.
This is how Mike Johnson and John Thune should be treated.
https://youtu.be/1GiPcP30cFc
shame only works if you have any sense of decency. These folks have no compassion in their hearts. They make Barry Goldwater look moderate.
Seems like Kamala kind of said that when she talked about an opportunity economy.
Thank you Bill. Thune, Johnson, and wannabe King Joffrey.
George, well said! I will look forward to your “Nation of Fear” article.
Thank you Gary!
This cannot be stated enough: the republicans are acting like a party that does not fear electoral consequence. Following the 2020 election, they begin to put in place, with the guidance of the fascist group ALEC, legislation to reduce the opposition that would vote them out. Through the purging of voters, making it more difficult to vote with their restrictive ID laws, and removal of ease of voting methods (mail in, drop boxes) this time they are planning on winning in 2026 regardless of how the people view their policies. Republicans in Congress are now just like the Duma in Russia. What the leader wants, the leader gets. With SCOTUS dismantling the administrative agencies, giving the executive immunity for "official acts", and now allowing blatant constitutional violating EOs, the stage is set for the first American dictatorship.
Thank goodness for HCR and her event by event documentation. Thank goodness for Marc Elias and Democracy Docket. Thank goodness for the fine people on Substack that have provided the historical record when our media lets us down.
Thank you Rickey. The GOP has become a criminal enterprise. Some were J6 co-conspirators (including the wife of ‘Justice’ Thomas). Some worked to subvert the 2020 election. And more have continued to act as accessories after the fact.
In the event we are able to overcome the current crisis, a real AG and DOJ must remove everyone who has participated in this long-running assault on justice and democracy. The Constitution provides the mechanism to do so.
You are so correct George. In Texas, where I spent the majority of my life and all of my professional career as an educator, the criminality runs wild with Ken Paxton, Ted Cruz and the entire republican membership of the TX leg.
Excellent article George, but so heart-breaking.
Thank you. While I continue to strive for shorter articles (so they are more accessible to many), this is another that, when finished, will be lengthy. I'm in the process of writing about how fear has halted and/or reversed several societal imperatives, and the last part of the article will be a call to action.
I look forward to reading the completed article,as well as the call to action!
TRUMP AND THE REPUBLICAN CONGRESS ARE FAR MORE DESTRUCTIVE TO THE UNITED STATES THAN WERE THE MCKINLEY TARIFFS
Heather, as a 91-year old former Foreign Service Officer and history professor (from age 58-80), I conclude that what Trumpists in Congress and elsewhere are doing is far more damaging to the United States that the McKinley tariffs.
Back in McKinley’s era, there was no income tax, Social Security, federal health care programs, and a host of federal support programs including SNAP and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Today Trump and his minions are dismantling many of the protective federal institutions that were created under the New Deal and the Great Society, as well as Obamacare.
The over 900 page Senate draft budget that was cobbled together during a frenetic last minute
Effort to get 50 Republicans senate votes is a giant step backward for the great majority of Americans. Between the Senate and House drafts, there is an unconscionable set of tax giveaways for the wealthy and corporations that is estimated to increase our national debt by over $4 trillion over the coming decade.
The intention to partially offset this by applying an ax to core social support expenditures for the less wealthy makes the McKinley tariffs look like a minor body blow to the American people.
Moreover, these rejections of New Deal and Great Society priorities are being re-enforced by the blizzard of executive orders that are removing many of the protective federal institutional checks that have traditionally served to counter executive illegal overreaches.
I see all of this as integral to Trump’s ‘America First’ crusade that, unless severely checked, will result in ‘America Worst.’
Trump’s domestic destructiveness is matched by his unbridled ‘kingly’ assaults abroad. His tariff blitzkrieg, based on personal whim and ‘kingly’ ego, has greatly damaged America’s relationships in a complex international economy and obliged traditional allies to seek alternatives to American ‘hegemony.’
Trump’s continuing bromance with Putin and Netanyahu has brought no amelioration in Ukraine or Gaza, while he has launched an air war against Iran. His arrogance in dealing with President Xi has worked out badly. The recent NATO meeting reflects how the great majority of NATO countries is seeking to accommodate an egotistical, angry ‘king’ who seeks to dictate rather than be positively engaged with traditional allies.
I am fearful of the United States that my five grandchildren might inherit.
In the McKinley era, there was a Teddy Roosevelt who forcefully set America back on a far more positive course. Presently, I have difficulty imagining, in the near term, such a dramatic turnaround.
Thank you for your years of public service and teaching. 91 - wow. Thanks for sharing your wisdom.
Thank you for this reminder, professor. I am afraid that many Americans do not know or understand their own history and constitution, which is why we are in this mess…
Keith, I always appreciate your thoughts. Thank you.
Keith, I love "America Worst". It is what they want, and only in their bizzaro world does it sound like "America First".
Keith Wheelock,
There are so many forms of communication in these days and Trump and/or his family members are using every form in many locations and especially where large groups gather.
I had no idea that money and fake news could so easily possess so many.
Worldwide, there are many watching how easy he is to use for their purposes.
He and his family are completely lawless.
Keith, thank you for the bare truth. Like you, I fear for our grandchildren. The best thing we can do for them short of various illegal possibilities is to work on every election through November, 2026. Currently I am writing postcards to Florida, hoping David Jolly will win the governor’s race. The next governor’s race will be in Virginia. As it is my native state I will write as many cards as I can collect and afford postage for. (Apologies for dangling preposition.) As for the New York mayor, I would recommend Tony Judt’s book on Social Democracy to balance one’s view of social democracy and be ready for it.
Thank you again for the clarity with which you hit the political nails on the head!
Be well.
I'm struck again and again with the casual, immature, 'fun' cruelty of this administration. They named the deportation effort "return to sender" (an Elvis song). When a court ruling went their way, a cabinet member posted "fire up the deportation engines!" Trump posted mocking words to the 1960s song "Barbara Anne." And now we have pictures of allegators wearing ICE hats and the words "coming soon." Clearly they don't care one jot that they are talking about human lives and human beings; families and children; families being torn apart.
No doubt some of the undocumented would not be eligible to stay under a well run, legitimate asylum system and would have to leave; no doubt that a very tiny number have committed serious crimes - even those are human beings, not hate-worthy objects to be mocked and toyed with... the cruelty this country finds funny and entertaining at this point is nauseating.
You've truly hit on something deep. Performative cruelty. Like cage-fighting, WWF nonsense. He brings it out of them. He tells them to fly their freakiest of freak flags. They love him for it.
So very well put. Thank you.
Anne-Marie, as I commented elsewhere, Donald is a sociopath. What I didn't write there, I'll write here:
Donald is cultivating a cohort of sociopaths by rewarding cruelty and punishing empathy. He is intellectually deficient, but he, like a Pavlovian dog, grasps the concept of punishment and reward.
“The famous farmers’ orator Mary Elizabeth Lease told audiences that “Wall Street owns the country…. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street.” She told farmers to “raise less corn and more hell.”
I think our biggest mistake is believing the next elections will be fair and free. In no other part of our history do we have nefarious algorithms confusing and sowing division, shaping minds, as well technology and money that can corrupt elections, and wreak havoc on our society.
When Trump said vote for me and you won’t have to vote again, he wasn’t lying for the first time in his life. And when Musk said, “without me, Trump never would have had the votes,” tells us everything we need to know. With MAGA, the ends justify the means, because to them, controlling this country is a zero sum game: and destroying the libs and turning this country into an authoritarian theocracy is their goal.
Perhaps Musk was admitting his crime in broad daylight. After all, every accusation is a confession with these people, and it’s not like they haven’t tried to steal our elections in the past. We had Trump on tape (find me 11,700 votes), fake electors sent to Washington and several incidents in which republican computer specialists illegally gaining access to voting machines (WHY?).
These aren’t isolated incidents. And given the fact that MAGA controls social media and most of the MSM (either complicit or spineless), it’s not like we have any guardrails left to save democracy.
Additionally, we have SCOTUS essentially using the judiciary to make Trump a king (Unitary Executive), and helping to destroy democracy; a slow painful death, by a thousand judicial and legislative (red states) cuts!
And as far as the democrats are concerned? They’re missing in action! IMHO..:)
I was with you up til the ‘Democrats’ part. To lay any of this on the Democrats is just a version of ‘bothsideism’. Are they perfect? Of course not - but this mess is squarely on the Republicans with their long trail of lies, bait and switch tactics, gerrymandering, racist maneuvering, fear and hate-mongering, and cruelty. They have swindled their way into holding the power in all three branches and we are paying a horrific price.
I think the dems are much less destructive than the retrumplians but let's face it so we can change it. The dems have been focusing on cultivating corporate and oligarchy money instead of focusing on the working people. The dems don't have a unifying message, and they are poor communicators. They establishment dems thwarted Bernie when he had a message that actually resonated with the working people and he had some ideas. Playing politics led directly to the election of the felon rapist. Biden said he would be a one term president then decided he wanted another term - I actually think he was doing a good job but...well we all saw that debacle, leading again to the reelection of the felon rapist. And recently the BS that David Hog went through and now wanting to thwart out Mamdani...same shit different decade and a huge f'n mistake. If the dems don't get it together and actually start working for the working people they will never win again imho.
I was disappointed when the Democrats started to move away from being the party of the working class during the Clinton administration.
I think some of Bernie’s supporters went too far in their criticism of establishment Dems and turned off too many voters. I didn’t realize it in real time and only saw it later when viewing their actions.
There are no innocent bystanders in our democracy. We’re all in the same boat.
I’m not laying it on democrats, but they aren’t doing their job. At least the leadership isn’t. And if I’m wrong then why does the DNC have a lower opinion rating than Trump?
Don’t put words in my mouth. Other than that, I agree with you…:)
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.” - Lincoln
I wish that were true. The conservatives have stacked the deck on so many levels. As Goebbels stated - Democracy provides the very tools to destroy it.
Say free speech without responsibility, gun ownership without responsibility...and the list goes on. We claim freedom, but then forget that a free society has to have an air of responsibility to others and one's self that does not prevent others from enjoying the same level of freedom.
The founders understood this and it was very much part of the history lessons we were taught in middle school. But somewhere along the way a bastardized version of libertarianism took hold, that basically espouses rights without responsibilities. Social Darwinism, law of the jungle prevail in this mindset. “Justice for all” becomes the “justice” you can procure for yourself. Then once you’ve got yours, you preach that the playing field is perfectly level and anyone can do what you just did. All the while the laws you skewed in your favor regarding economic opportunity, healthcare and environmental justice continue to keep those who are down, down. Upward mobility becomes increasingly impossible. In short it’s “freedom for me, not for thee!”
Exactly. A "free society" is not an environment of no rules; it is an environment of unalienable rights, the right TO choose, and the right to be protected FROM abridgements of those rights; by a government or ANYONE else. We have a right not to be raped or murdered. A right to not have our home or person looted. A right to breath healthful air. It gets complicated, and right not to have our lives micromanaged is one of the big ones, but there is a sweet zone between rules and spontaneity that maximizes liberty.
A,nd some of those "rules" are imposed by Nature rather than government, as we are apt to discover as we FAFO with overly altering our physical environment. Responsibility ENABLES freedom; which a number of adults told our cohort as I was growing up, but I don't recall them making a point about the causality.
On the other hand Lincoln, who had a particular gift for clarity said "Accustomed to trample on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises.". No? We used to talk about Lincoln and his philosophies as a prelude to his birthday, a holiday that was since eliminated.
Of the people, by the people, for the people, E Puribus Unum. Real democracy is of necessity a public conversation, and a collaborative process; we enjoy our "unalienable" rights by recognizing them and protecting them for one another, a common commitment to protect a robust array of
responsible behaviors. "Decency" that opposes injustice for any, even those justly sanctioned for crimes. Even for those who hear a different drummer, yet do no substantive harm. To what degree do those essential prerequisites for a decent life in a decent world get mention and attention in our obsessively commercially-oriented society? Someone I heard on the radio long ago suggested that there has been a disturbing shift from calling the great mass of our society "consumers", rather than "workers". We are both, but the former sounds much more passive with reference to what gets done. Consumers choose from someone else's menu. Workers produce.
Exactly.
JL Graham,
A perfect quote from Lincoln for these times. You have once again proven your brilliance.
Signs demanding recount and audit; Thorough non-partisan investigation.
Agreed!
The fact that Musk legally donated $270 million is probably enough to have pushed trump's victory.
If Musk helped illegally rig the election, let's hope that evidence exists that can be used in a court of law to prove and convict everyone involved. Without evidence, we would look like the idiots who bought the big lie of 2020. The Roberts Court is responsible for giving the Oligarchy the ability to purchase our government and politicians with the Citizens United decision that allows unlimited, unregulated political donations.
"The fact that Musk legally donated $270 million is probably enough to have pushed trump's victory."
And how antidemocratic that? Many, many Americans can't buy enough food, let alone an election. ,
Robert Jaffe,
The linage of corruption continues. If Trump completely loses his remaining few marbles, it has been suggested Eric take his place. This is crazy wild "stuff" going on in this once great nation.
It is well past time for a grand exit of the criminals who have taken over the Republican Party.
Everyday that passes is too many. The roots are only growing deeper. The "nut jobs" are out front. Cowards have replaced heroes.
Exactly what I said in my later comment. I endorse everything you’re telling us. How many of us will rebel in some way and how many will say simply, “Oh, that’s right. I don’t have to figure out how I’m going to get to the polls today.”
Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Use/share this spreadsheet as a resource to call/email/write members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Reach out to those in your own state, as well as those in others. Use your voice and make some “good trouble” ❤️🩹🤍💙
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13lYafj0P-6owAJcH-5_xcpcRvMUZI7rkBPW-Ma9e7hw/edit?usp=drivesdk
Join indivisible, Move On or Swing Blue Alliance or a local Democratic group. Join a campaign to elect a Democrat or progressive representative. Write letters to the editors of your local paper. Share personal stories how this administration is hurting your bottom line. Get young people involved, it’s their future. Join a rally on July 17th. Be a part of the ICE watch in your neighborhood.
Collectively we have power.
Yup! All that too!
Unfortunately I have no rep right now because he passed away in May. We just held a “firehouse primary” yesterday to nominate his likely successor but the GOP Governor hasn’t scheduled the special election until 9/27, no doubt to keep our safe blue district voiceless for as long as possible. So all I have right now is my direct voice - my writing, my networking, and my protesting.
You could try reaching out to others since you don’t actually have a rep. You could phrase it in a way that it’s important to have your voice heard.
But thank you for what you are doing!
Thank you Megan!
And a reminder folks, postage is going up on July 13th. Buy now.
And if you are an oldster like me who is trying to purge their house of stuff, not needing more tchotchkes, ask your family/friends to gift you postage stamps!
Thank you! I’ll put that info/date on my spreadsheet
This Big Ugly Bill is a big distraction from what Peter Thiel’s Palantir is doing to our government’s systems. It is literally sucking up everyone’s private data as well as probably sneaking into the Pentagon’s most secret weaponry files. Tyrannical wealthy folks wish to treat us as subservients.
Anybody watch Russell Vought being questioned? He is an empty shell of a human. So much damage has been and is continuing to be done.
Let’s say Dems win big in 2026. What or who is going to stop Thiel, Musk, DOGE, Vought?
tRump is also the distraction. he is exactly what Grover Norquist wanted when he said they did not need and ideologue as POTUS, just one who would sign whatever the republican dominated congress sent over.
I thought about what Dems might do if there is an election in 2026 & if they win. If by some stroke of luck they can elect an overwhelming majority all kinds of impeachment investigations might be able to be conducted. Investigate the Executive Branch, you know, POTUS, Vice POTUS, the cabinet, Thomas & Alito at the very least at the Supreme Court. But that will be seen as another form of overthrow. This is a knotty problem & I don't think we have enough intelligent people to solve it as quickly as necessary.
There will be at least some oversight.
“Immediately, Trump said he would back a primary challenger to Tillis…”
As Trump’s political bank account continues to shrink, a Trump-endorsed primary challenge might very well boost Tillis’s re-election.
Republicans should keep in mind that people tossed off the medical insurance rolls can still vote, and likely are more motivated to do so than otherwise.
Mrs. Alva Vanderbilt was reincarnated this week in Venice. What Bezos spent on that wedding is probably zeroed out with his most recent tax break…
Thank you Professor for a summary of the basic structure of the Trump Budget & for itemizing budget items that were killed by the parliamentarian or were PRESERVED.
Two (2) R Senators voted against the Budget including 6/29 announced LAME DUCK, North Carolina, Senator THOM TILLIS.
I have been tracking the political machinations on Budget bill,the Big Beautiful Billionaire giveaway starting on Friday 6/27/25 & will continue posting in July 2025. :---)
Buckle Up. Flak Jackets on! What to call this;? It is not aa LIVE blog. I will call this on-going post a LIVE Comment.
*****************
Today, Monday, 6/30/25: Few misunderstand the actual "cost" of this Trojan horse.
Sunday, 6/29, CNN Breaking at 2:30 AM after midnight, the FYB passed a procedural vote 51 to 49. The Senate "debate" starts Monday, 6/30.
************************************************
Saturday, 6/28 -- 7 PM Eastern Update: The Senate is in a somewhat rare Saturday Session which may go into early hours of Sunday. Even IF the BBB passes tonight, the budget must go back to the House where it previously passed by 1 vote. I'm going to name the budget the Fxxx You Budget. FYI, hereinafter "FYB" Anyway, FYB. No!
***************
Saturday, 6/28 per MSNBC's Vaughn Hillyard reported Trump's Senate operatives are attempting to push along Wreck's Big Bad Budget (BBB) by a "Motion to Proceed". Senator Thom Tillis is still a "No". We will see. Senator Rand Paul did go on a tump golf trip today in New Jersey where they poured Jack Daniel's at the 19th Hole.
If Wreck clears these hurdles, there will be about 20 more hours of "debate" on the Senate floor subject to Budget amendments & perhaps more trips to the 19th Hole or the Senate "Closet".
Bryan I am delighted that you have emerged from legal retirement to join the fight to preserve ‘our’ United States for our grandchildren. You and your brethren are an essential counterweight to our Department of Injustice and a court that has gone from supreme to extreme. As a non lawyer I conclude that originalism sucks.
It's all hands👍 on deck Keith that's all sisters & brothers.
And the SCrOTUS overstepped into illegality. To overturn - ages of precedent regarding Federal District courts defending democracy is a gross overstep. We Must raise hell and insist our district Federal Courts are correct to continue defending the constitution !
D4N, the capital "R" in your acronym is appropriate, since we know that it stands for "Republican" (in spite of what our junior high brains think it stands for.)
🤣 The mischievous adolescent portion of my brain has always loved the double entendre.
😁
Dr. Richardson: Your appearance with Sarah Longwell of The Bulwark this weekend was wonderful; I've listened to it twice. And now this column arrives in my inbox. More than enough incentive to keep my old bones moving; the neighbors better hope it's raining today forcing my mile walk through the neighborhood indoors to the treadmill. (I due watch my language if there are children present.) Your students are lucky to have you in action in the classroom; we're lucky to see you on a screen and read your words! Never Give Up ... Never Give In ... Pay Attention and VOTE!!!!! (I need a t-shirt with that printed on it ... help ...)
The hefty increase in the Department of Homeland Security (and the truly sick “Coming Soon” post) reflect this Administration’s continued reliance on the Nazi model of efficiency. Frustrated over the relatively inefficient murder of Jews, and others, using the SS Einsatzgruppen, or mobile killing squads, Hitler’s government turned to the gas chambers. It’s not as if the Einsatzgruppen mass-killings by firing squad weren’t effective. It has been estimated that two million of the six million slaughtered died by the bullet, but the Nazis wanted more. Stephen Miller has expressed HIS frustration over the Administration’s inability to arrest, incarcerate, deport, and disappear 3,000 people a day, even though we are already seeing people swept up and disappeared without due process. Ballooning the DHS budget will significantly ramp up ICE roundups and deportations and, just like the Nazis, the Trumpublicans will expand the sweeps beyond the “illegals” and “dissidents” and will start rounding up ANYONE who dares criticize “fearless leader” Daddy Donald. It’s all about the numbers, and the hate. This is not hyperbole. This is where we are. This is WHO (at least half of us) are.