All spot on but you have been entirely too cautious in how you have characterized his demeanor, his behavior and his state of mind in the interview with Kristen Welker .
This was full on narcissistic collapse. It was florid mental illness on display. The only real information in the whole painful session was the degree to which he is decompensating.
If he resigns, it will end well for me. (If he doesn't, he needs to be impeached immediately. He is immoral, deranged, the list of negative traits is endless.)
Classic malignant narcissist. He will not resign. He will fight fight fight his narcissistic collapse and take down everyone he can (including We the People) on his way out. And that will actually make him happy for a bit. He must be forcibly removed from office ASAP or the world will bleed even more.
Lincoln said, “Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.” Kamala Harris said, “When we fight, we win.” Neither said, “We’ll win every battle.” Neither provided a guaranteed “we shall win on” date. And neither stated an explicit definition of the “public sentiment” concept.
This newsletter includes the statement, “Trump illustrated that he was accusing his opponents of what he, himself, is doing, a classic authoritarian technique to muddy the waters so people stop trying to figure out what is real and cease to believe anything.”
I’m saying the statement is the truth and nothing but the truth to imply that it’s missing the middle part.
In the movie’s iconic climax, The Wizard of Oz's omnipotence is shattered when Toto runs over and pulls back a curtain, exposing a frail, ordinary man desperately operating levers, wheels, and a smoke machine to project his larger-than-life illusion. The whole truth is that Trump’s own words are playing Toto’s role by revealing the disparity between “public” and “Trump” sentiment.
Public sentiment is “we the people, all for one and one for all.” Trump sentiment is “you the people, all for one and that one is me.”
Yes, Trump’s psychological projection is a classic authoritarian technique. Yes, it muddies the waters in service of the authoritarian project. But the “whole truth” reveals what “public sentiment” means by a juxtaposition of the incongruous, which is to say that public sentiment is as opposite and incompatible with Trump sentiment as possible.
The need Trump and his enablers have for hiding behind a metaphorical “curtain” might be the most obvious difference. When Trump’s words are pulling down his own curtain, even he can see his only choice is to stand up and walk off the set.
The people of Minneapolis have no need for a curtain. Neither does Bruce Springstein, or Jon Ossoff, etc.
Public sentiment is when we the people don’t have and don’t want a curtain because we neither need nor want to hide our intent to serve “We the People” like three musketeers (all for one and one for all). And that’s why Kamala Harris knew what she was talking about.
Just remember that when Dorothy said “you’re a very bad man,” the kindly Wizard accurately replied, “oh no, I’m a very *good* man, I’m just a very bad wizard.”
With Dump, he’s a pathetic sack of evil shit as a man, on top of being a spectacular fuck-up as a wizard.
“Classic Authoritarian” yes. And if you pull his statements out of context, he is telling the absolute truth: “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid.” In this he tells his truth that a person would be stupid to not be crooked. Grift billions, grift nickels. Every moment holds an angle, however petty that angle might be. The thinnest angle? “i am the greatest! Give me your money. Give me your children.”
And he said “[a] country can never be great with a dishonest press.” Can’t argue with that!
Russ, I still can't understand people's attraction to Trump. I first heard him talking, I am thinking interviewed, back in the late 1970s and could hear in his voice the insincerity when he would say what he planned to do for the city of New York. To me, it seemed he was not "for the city of New York" as much as for himself. I didn't know anything about him at the time, but his voice stayed in my head as someone not to trust. I keep hearing he had some kind of charm, but as a visually-impaired person at the time, I didn't catch his expression or the visual cues I understand that drew people to him. I still don't get it. I hear his blather and don't understand why our Congress, even Republicans, pretend he is not only just fine but should be able to do whatever he wants to this nation because he is their boy. That is a sickness in our "body politic.
“[a] country can never be great with a dishonest press.” All press is dishonest until Trump approves them: FOX news, N.Y. Post, Newsmax, Washington Times... etc. all myopically distorted in their coverage of Trump & Co. Those he believes are dishonest: NPR, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, and not to mention many of the independents such as +972, The Intercept, Counterpunch, and so many more. It doesn't take much to know honest news when one reads or hears it. I've even long stopped watching the three majors as, although still relatively honest, they don't give the full picture on occasion, in addition, to buckling under regarding threats of a lawsuit. I get most of my news from NPR or the independents mentioned above.
He told Welker that even though he had won the last election by a landlside, 94% of press stories were against him. Perhaps it is because 94% of the time he is lying.
Except he'd never want to wear a KKK hood, ICE balaclava, or even a KN-95 mask.
My favorite protest sign is a modified version of his booking photo with him wearing a balaclava and a crown, suggesting he, too, should wear a mask when violating the Constitution.
The question is how difficult is it and how quickly can hot air be converted into cold air or do we wish to avoid having to clean up the mess and let it — the hot air balloon and its cargo of despicable imbeciles — drift way far away never to be seen nor heard from again?
That was the image of him that I drew on the day of his first inauguration, and have been hoping for ever since. The big balloon of him floating away, his shadow getting smaller and smaller until even that disappears, leaving people standing in the sunlight, free, relieved and able to function as people, use their wits, exerting their power to do good and create benefit for others.
His use of "your country" and "your elections" when speaking to Welker does expose his fundamental Me-vs-everyone-else mindset. But another, more specific interpretation could be his antipathy for Welker herself - a brown woman who symbolizes the liberal democratic dei world that he detests.
That’s an interesting interpretation. Now that you mention it, I consider this to be an important issue.
Assume Trump’s mindset excludes by default and includes by exception. Specifically, it includes his me-vs-everyone-else mindset by exception. It excludes Welker, but not because she’s female, or because of the color of her skin, or because of her political views. Instead, it excludes the rest of the world by default, and she’s part of the rest of the world. He needs no reason for antipathy. He just needs to know how to derive a post hoc rationalization and how to change the subject through distraction. Fortunately for the POTUS who likes to poop his pants in public (and leave the mess for everyone else to clean up), every enabled 5-year-old is a world-class expert at those skills.
Trump's social media feed will be full of stuff like this which he re-posts and I think he actually believes this kind of rubbish about elections. There was nothing confected about his fury at what Welker was suggesting.
My reply to Jane Ketcham applies. I wrote: That’s an interesting interpretation ... I consider this to be an important issue.
Assume Trump’s mindset excludes by default and includes by exception. Specifically, it includes his me-vs-everyone-else mindset by exception. It excludes Welker, but not because she’s female, or because of the color of her skin, or because of her political views (or because of anything he believes in given that he doesn't believe in anything). Instead, it excludes the rest of the world by default, and she’s part of the rest of the world. He needs no reason for antipathy. He just needs to know how to derive a post hoc rationalization and how to change the subject through distraction. Fortunately for the POTUS who likes to poop his pants in public (and leave the mess for everyone else to clean up), every enabled 5-year-old is a world-class expert at those skills.
At this point, the nation must collapse and burn down and like the Phoenix of old burn only then to be reborn. A sort of cleansing. The cell screen monsters of which most of us have become seduced, has dumbed down the ability to make intelligent decisions for ourselves. Just driving down my street yesterday I noticed a large pick up truck smashed to hell by a distracted driver no doubt. This is emblematic of society at large. We are the new slaves to a liberating mechanism called the cell phone which humanity carries the world over while crossing the road oblivious to any oncoming traffic as traffic drivers also become engrossed in a cell while driving. And we will, and we have, elected the Antichrist of the ages to pillage and destroy everything in his path and now has the backing of a rather aggrieved party of nincompoops who will act accordingly to rape and pillage until it burns to the ground. There is no other out.
And now for the bad news. Well shortly.
Joe Biden for president 2028. 🤪🤪🤪😜😜😜😊😊😊👹👹👹 (Please subscribe to my blog at your peril, lol.)
Not to worry; the Trumpster has done the one thing that will unquestionably rouse Moron Nation to send him to the Dumpster: he's pissed off the athletic supporters by his MAGAstapo-accompanied invasion of Madison Square Garden, which does to the six-figure cost of Knicks vs. Spurs tickets exactly what he refuses to do to our skyrocketing inflation. (Though mark my word: he'll use the ducatic depression to name himself "god's champion inflation fighter," and on that basis campaign for a third term.)
I've been thinking of that lately ever since I heard that he would attend the game. I would love to see both teams on the floor with a chosen player, given a microphone, when tRump walks in. The chosen player would lead the crowd in a simple and well-meant chant: "Get the f*&k out of our stadium; you're not welcome!! Imagine the optics of such a display. Both teams and 10,000 fans essentially yelling at this orange menace. I would pay to see that even on TV.
He missed his son's wedding because of what he claimed was the call of duty and the burden of high office and yet the trouble in the Gulf is kicking off again big time yet he's off to watch sport and he's not going to miss his birthday UFC fight for anything short of a nuclear attack.
Just read Fahrenheit 451 for the first time and whelp..the comparisons. The anti-intellectualism, live streams and influencers, no front porches/lack of neighborly interactions, pervasive depression, the Hound (this is coming with Flock Drones.. pay attention to the multiplying Flock cameras in your town) and spoiler alert the Phoenix.
Trump seems to be getting on with the burning down bit but I suspect that he will leave it to others to do the rising from the ashes that he leaves behind him.
I can imagine a scene where the toddler takes a one way ticket to Russia, with a promise never to return, instead of jail. He would just say it is his choice bc we don't appreciate all his hard work.
Forcibly removed? How would you propose to do that?
Impeachment? That takes 67% of the Senate to remove him. Not likely.
25th amendment? That takes 67% of both the House AND the Senate. Even less likely.
Assassination? Surely you jest.
Our system doesn't have a good way to remove someone politically from office once they are elected. It was planned that way, and for the most part (without crazy, insane people like Trump getting elected), it works.
Not to mention also, his minions. I never could understand that term used against any one being anti tRump, and knowing that it was a perfect reflection of those supporting tRump.
If he goes down you know many others will need a life raft. So desperately committed to his gambit are they that they will do anything to keep him in office. Expect that they will prop him up in his Oval Office chair long after he is dead with Karoline Leavitt taking notes.
I do not understand why any honest news service such as Scott Pelley describes CBS as having been, continues to pollute the air waves by covering his cabinet meetings and staged public events, or by seeking to interview him. Why interview a madman ? Why did this Welker woman bother with this ? To sell more soap for her network ? He is obviously a completely untrustworthy source of information. And given that, the worst thing to do is to give him air time.
Rather, I think we should be paying more attention to what his underlings and courtiers are doing. They are the ones now running this show. In particular more attention should be paid to what Pete Hegseth did in France over the weekend, lining up with Trump's them versus us message by comparing the European migration problem of recent years with the Invasion of Normandy, thus placing himself and his master squarely in the Neo-Nazi camp.
And what dies JD Vance think about that. Where is he now ?
Tyler, I think showing the deteriorating out-of-control man is a public service. It’s the only way at least some of the undecideds can see reality. The stations that sane-wash-edit him down to a semi-human are all that many people see or hear. Bully for the ones that show the malignancy and narcissism! It’s kind of delicious: he feels praised by being on tv but is really being exposed as the emperor with no prefrontal cortex.
Reporting on him from a distance is easy. There is enough to commit him in his own "Truth Social" posts. For all those with ears to hear and eyes to see, his nature and condition are in display. But to satisfy his desire for attention by seeking to interview him or attend his staged press conferences and ask to be recognized for a question is of no value to any audience other than his cult followers. It only serves to feed his ego mania.
What is Trump gave a press conference and nobody came ? Or spoke other than him ? News is entertainment. Its addictive. With each new outrageous claim to our attention, he gets ahead by feeding habit. And we, his audience, and our news service providers, are his principal enablers.
Exactly. His admin and esp potus, they all crave air time. Don't give it to them. Even better, next time he gives a bs answer and starts name calling, stand up, turn your backs to him, and walk away.
Well Tyler, I can think of 2 possible reasons his underlings and couriers aren’t speaking. The first reason is #47 probably won’t let them and the second is that while they do support him it is primarily out of fear, fear that they will lose their jobs of perceived power. If they are actually on the record showing their undying support they lose the excuse of having undeniable culpability.
Propping up a dead POTUS#47 to ‘continue’ is the plot of the movie “Waking Ned Devine” when ‘the town’ pretended Ned was still alive to cash in his winning lottery ticket. The ‘stakes’ are way bigger if 🍔🍔🍔 finally get Trump, so, they (GOP) could try it! 🤪
I saw a film yesterday called, "White with Fear" and in it twere several video clips of Stephen Miller from high school onward -- the dynamic of the crazed Trump/Miller duo is inextricably bound; I'm not qualified to provide the medical terms. And prophetic Wajahat Ali (Left Hook Substack) was in there making sense of it all around the time of 9/11. Racism is being cultivated, hatred entwined with fear -- if Trump resigned now, it would accelerate something but the torment we're all living through now is providing time for people with lawful, moral, values that want creature and planetary thriving needs this time to build. Link: https://www.pbs.org/show/white-with-fear/
He's not going to resign. Watch the tape of the interview. Resignation requires rational thought. The tape reveals a person so self-indulged, so uncompromising, that quitting becomes untenable. This makes him even more dangerous. Watch the tape! It exposes many of his personality disorders: arrested development, pathological lying, delusional perception, more. Trump's a mess; he can't allow himself to resign.
The entire GOP has become neofascist. That means: they sincerely, genuinely believe that fascism is better than democracy and that they are called to turn the US into a neofascist state.
If he resigns we still have Vance, Miller, Voight, Todd Blanche and their handlers: Thiel, Musk, The Heritage Foundation/Project 25 & 26, The Federalist Society, the corrupt 6 on the Supreme Court, the billionaires investing in the end of Democracy/rule of law. We still have the corrupt MAGA party ( formerly Republican), the freed and armed J6ers, the 20% who voted for all this and the millions who didn’t vote.
But the only way for the departure of trumpy is if he takes all of his regime with him. No matter how it happens if old fat going bald trumpy doesn't live long enough to have to face the consequences of his crimes even if dead it'll be terrible. But to go and leave us with the likes of jd couch-lover or any "war" department/or any of the trumpy administration would equally be bad. Impeach? Oh, yes. 25th Admendment? Sure. But only if they all go at the same moment.
Bravo, Heather, for once again turning the daily muck and slime of the Trump administration into something readable. With the Dems and the courts seemingly unable to hold the line, keeping up with events feels less like following politics and more like bashing one’s head repeatedly with a plank of wood. What I find most draining is the constant assault on values I naïvely assumed had already won the argument decades ago.
I hear you Daniel! As we’ve now learned, this takedown has been decades in the making, but the mind boggles at how tightly it’s been sewn up. Still, you don’t have to look very far to see non-mandatory voting, the electoral college, the non-expansion of the Supreme Court and bought elections as the Four Horseman of The Apocalypse.
Now on that, along with so many other things over the years, we agree on Daniel. I would have 'never' in a million years - ever dreamed or imagined there were so many actually 'stupid' fellow Americans; Even considering the odds and statistical factors accountable. Honestly my fellow traveler that includes many that would fall into categories including academics. Consider that even right now, in this most perilous of times / moments, we have journalists, legal minds, history knowledgeable - even credendentialed - all making / repeating mistakes that were already made throughout history, shivering in fear awaiting someone - anyone to arrive and save them. Oh... some are 'reporting' , cataloging - all the while charging tolls (subscriptions too_) for their alarming reporting; Fabulous capitalists that they are - why wouldn't they ? Thought leaders that they consider themselves, they must be entitled compensation. Yet, is their audience big enough to actually make the difference that it should, especially considering their 'leadership model' ? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the merchants, propertied, old money and otherwise more privileged of their day do this very thing ? Concoct yards and yards of flowery words about liberty and freedom and encourage the "rabble" to take arms for them - in some cases 'with' them. Did not this illuminated minority, conclude among themselves that they had to do something (perhaps even lie to the rabble ?), stating in words recorded - paraphrased of course, "We stick together, lest we hang separately." There are no shortages of disconnects and contradictions don't you think ?
I sometimes believe that humor is one of the only things that has kept me alive these past 9 years or so. It has certainly helped and feels better than 'eff its.
Kazz, follow Sheldon Whitehouse if you want some positive news how they are trying, and in some cases, holding the line. The name is coming off the Kennedy centre is one win. I hope the next win is tanking the IRS granting of immunity to him and his family.
Fascinating that Trump is using the pre-emptive strike rationale to attack Iran, invoked by Vice President Cheney et al. in 2002-03 *against Iraq, of "even a one per cent chance" to wage war.😱
Don't sell Trump short. He has made plenty of deals all on his own. Never forget-- Trump is an oligarch. HIs cabinet are mostly oligarchs and just as dangerously -- sycophants. The owners and CEOs of CBS, Paramount, NY Times, WAPO are also oligarchs.
NO MORE BILLIONAIRES. Just look at how well Trump's mentor Putin (obviously an oligarch) is doing in his war, er, special military operation is Ukraine.
1/3 of the groceries sold in the US by price are sold at Walmart. The richest family in the world are Sam Walton heirs. Some of them have donated trinkets to various charities, but most of them do nothing that adds value to the economy except for holding their stock and wealth. Trickle down economics is what the Republicans have called it since Reagan.
It never works. As Krugman pointed out last week, the very richest oligarch own over 24% of the value of the American stock market. The reason the stock market is such a good investment right now is they are manipulating the market artificially propping it up.
Nobody needs or should have more than $100 million. Or pick another number. $500 million? When does it become obscene?
When fellow citizens are hungry or malnourished, homeless, lack medical care, kids under educated - hoarding capital that could solve those problems (easily) is immoral. And should be criminalized.
And yet, I read that Grimes County, Texas is giving Elon Musk a 35-year, 100-percent tax abatement for a massive development project. WHY??? Screw the taxpayers. 😡
Musk made his fortune mostly in alternative energy, yet Trump is attempting to kill the entire industry, which is the chief competiton for Big Oil.
Reportedly Musk is using "dark energy" which is actually natural gas power plants operated off the grid SpaceX, Tesla, and Intel have formed a joint venture to build a massive $55 billion semiconductor factory called "Terafab" in Grimes County, (outside Houston), which could be the prototype for his other operations.
The primary goal of these new chip architectures is extreme energy efficiency. By producing highly optimized custom hardware locally in Texas, Musk aims to drastically cut down the electricity required per AI calculation compared to off-the-shelf components.
SpaceX recently disclosed in financial filings that it is spending over $2.8 billion on natural gas turbines over the next three years.
Beyond the massive Terafab semiconductor project in Grimes County, Musk operates three active, physical computing hubs across Texas.
Nationally, Musk has concentrated his heavy computing clusters into distinct, heavy-industry properties:Memphis, Tennessee (Colossus 1 & 2): Located at 3231 Riverport Road (Colossus 1) and 5400 Tulane Road (Colossus 2), this is Musk's flagship AI supercluster. Occupying a massive 1-million-square-foot former manufacturing facility, this site functions as the main training engine for xAI's Grok models.Southaven, Mississippi (MACROHARDRR): Located at 2400 Stateline Road West, this massive $20 billion facility sits just across the Tennessee state line. It is built explicitly as the third pillar of Musk's "Greater Memphis" computing footprint to bypass power caps on the Tennessee side.Sparks, Nevada (Gigafactory 1): Tesla operates internal high-performance computing clusters directly inside its Nevada battery plant. These are separate from vehicle training and focus on localized robotics automation, factory physics, and supply logistics.San Jose, California: Tesla operates an older, foundational Dojo Supercomputer cluster out of its dedicated engineering hub in Silicon Valley.Sacramento, California: Tesla moved massive hardware clusters into an NTT Global Data Centers facility in Sacramento. This computing space was heavily taken over by Tesla after Musk exited X Corp's (Twitter's) historical data hub in the same city to cut costs.Atlanta, Georgia: X Corp (Twitter) and xAI maintain active infrastructure deployments through regional colocation facilities in Atlanta to manage localized web traffic and regional AI operations.If you are tracking how these sites get their energy, would you like details on how the Southaven MACROHARDRR site scales its power compared to Austin, or the cooling technology required to run these clusters?The GuardianElon Musk’s xAI datacenter generating extra electricity illegally, ...
Musk believes he does not need to follow the rules and regulations of mere mortals like us... including environmental regulations. I don't have the time to get into all the details, but I'm sure you can look it up.
He wants SpaceX to be valued at close to 2 trillion dollars yet it lost $5bn last year and $4bn in the first three months of this year. NASA also awarded Bezos's Blue Origin, ahead of SpaceX, the contract for the first uncrewed mssion to the moon as part of the plan to set up a moonbase.
It's the same reason why multimillionaire owners of ball clubs push their way into a city government and demand a new stadium. It's all about the money... that is, all about the money in their pockets.
Many of the big dollar philanthropists lie Mackenzie Scott and Melinda Gates agree with you. One of the problems with become uber wealthy is you can't give it away fast enough. Just ask Mackenzie who has given away billions and yet keeps getting richer. If she just invested in T-Bills she would have to give away almost 1 billion every year just to break even.
I'd be glad to help them with distribution ideas. I'd probably start with school systems and regional hospitals (public or truly non profit). Women's health clinics, senior home care. Give me a shot at it :)
This will end when the oligarchs decide that Trump is so erratic that he is no longer capable of implementing their Project 2025 plans. It looks like he is at that point, and a disappointing showing for his Freedom 250 rally and his 80th birthday party UFC fight card will push him over the edge.
Would anyone question a heart attack or stroke during a major tantrum? I am sure Putin wouldn't.
We all know that JD Vance will assume the presidency. He was chosen for his loyalty to Thiel and the other oligarchs, and he will complete the implementation of the Project 2025 plans. No election required.
Step One: End the war with Iran, using Putin as the intermediary, and get the Strait of Hormuz open to bring oil prices down. Reward Putin with removal of sanctions. Demonstrate a willingness to back the promise to keep America out of foreign wars.
Step Two: Withdraw from NATO and veto aid to Ukraine. Demonstrate America First creds. More good news for Putin.
Step Three: Open the Epstein Files and flush out the pedos. Assume the mantle of a "good God-fearing Christian family man" and implement the White Christian Nationalist agenda.
Step Four: Install his own team of efficient, effective oligarch loyalists, clones of Miller and Vought, to implement the rest of the agenda, ousting Trump's incompetent, corrupt cronies. Clean House so that there is no one left for the Democrats to impeach. What will Democrats campaign on if Trump is gone? Vance and the oligarchs would bet on prgoresive/centrist fracturing and purity tests.
Step Five: Use the ballooning national debt under Trump to avoid implementing government reform/restitution.
Step Six: Blame the state of the economy on Trump's poor decision-making because of his failing health and bad advice. Use the phrase "I warned him about..." a lot.
Step Seven: Go all in on pursuing election interference investigations. Find "evidence" to justify instituting voting integrity (suppression) measures. This is last because he needs to build up his creds as a rational leader responding to the will of the people first.
In my opinion, this is the best play the oligarchs have . If Trump is still around in 2028, the risk is too large that Democrats could win control the presidency and Congress. This way they minimize that risk, and give Vance a window to look like a rational actor while putting the voter suppression moves in place. Yes, he is a sleaze and lacks charisma, but he will be backed by a shit ton of money and a highly motivated cadre of oligarchs who have a lot personally on the line. Moreover, they know Vance will be loyal to them.
The question is, "Will the loyalty and effectiveness of a tightly stage-managed Vance to the oligarchs outweigh the loyalty of the MAGA base to an ineffective and erratic Trump?"
I hate that I just "liked" your comment. What I mean is that I think it is spot on and quite likely. My only "but" is this:
47 had a type of charisma that led people to support him regardless what he did. He had that "Je ne sais quois" that made people love him, trust him, adore him. Vance? Meh.
Just "looking on the bright side of life" here. Without 47's secret power, the fear and intimidation factor fades away. And there will be more Massies in Congress who will spoil the Oligarchal Party.
That being said, I think you see reality better than most of us on these boards. So I have a follow-up question: Much of what has happened to the US via Trump has been Putin influenced. What do you think Vance's orientation is re: allowing a Russian oligarch to pull strings in this country? Is the oligarch club borderless? Or is there an ounce of real patriotism in Vance's bloodstream?
Vance has no sense of patriotism. He has clearly gone all in on the spheres-of-influence worldview, with Putin as the power in Europe, the US ruling the Western Hemisphere, and China controlling all of Asia. That was evident in his remarks at every European conference he has attended, in his support for Orban, and in his verbatim quotes from the National Security Strategy document. He will have Putin and Xi’s full support.
Trump’s “je ne sais quoi” is well understood, not a mystery. He tapped into grievance. Vance has enough of a backstory to generate a customized version. He will be all in on anti-immigrant rhetoric, the return to paternalistic family structures, and anti-LGBTQ+ culture wars. Scott Bessent will be sacrificed. The marginalization of Blacks in America will continue with a vengeance with the full support of SCOTUS.
Vance may be perceived as meh now, but in 12 months, I can easily see a synthetic AI Vance created by his AI bros that would be crafted to win over the MAGA base and independents. We will be in the land of Oz, not with a ruler who is a voice behind a curtain, but with one behind an avatar on a screen, nearly impossible to distinguish, not a cartoon character like the ones Trump posts. The proof of the “domestic terrorism threats” will also be simulated. The obviously fake Trump posts are to get the base to think they can tell what is real from what is fake. In 12 months, it will be far harder at the current rate of AI capability growth. I think that is being badly underestimated as an influencing factor by the pundits, especially the Democratic ones.
The only challenge I see to Vance getting the 2028 nomination, if he becomes the incumbent sooner, is Rubio. But Vance has the inside track with the oligarchs, so I think that has a low probability.
Georgia-Thanks for your important insights. You remind us that while we bash Trump, there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes.
When he says “they” don’t want me to say it’s a war, it behooves us to pay more attention to who “they” are and everything “they” are doing to undermine democracy. Trump is just the shiny object that signs documents and keeps everyone focused on his absurd hate speech and behavior.
Our history shows us that America has always had oligarchs steering the government. T. Thomas Fortune (1856-1928), a formerly enslaved African American who became a journalist and newspaper owner, declared that America has always had “Kings-King Cotton, King Corporation, King Monopoly and all the other Kings of modern growth”.
Even in his day he noted how “usurping” land, engaging in “military despotism” and gaining “presumptuous wealth accumulated by robbery, hypocrisy and insidious assassination” lead us to tyranny.
As you’ve revealed, we all need to think more about “they” because Trump is doing the bidding not just for himself, but for so many more greedy people who are pillaging our tax dollars, dismissing morality, dividing us and dismantling a government that is supposed to be based on “we the people” and not “we the wealthy”.
I remember Trump saying this is their “last chance” to impose their agenda. It’s up to us to make sure that “they” don’t succeed.
I agree 100%. For foreign policy “they” is Putin and Bibi and Xi. For domestic policy it is Miller and Vought representing the Heritage Foundation, and the tech bros and titans of industry who are buying their influence with “donations.” It certainly isn’t Congress.
Trump is transparent about being influenced by Putin, Bibi, and the oligarchs whispering in his ear. He has always been openly soliciting bribes in exchange for policy decisions. But then he gets aggrieved when the influence is called out, and he has his rage tantrums, claiming he is in control. He just looks pathetic now that he is being ignored, whether it’s his birthday party invitations or his pleas to Bibi to stop the bombing. For him to still be useful to his puppeteers, he has to be able to maintain the illusion of strength, but as his health fails, he can’t keep up the pretense. So I think he will be out of office before 2028.
I don’t think the bros will be worried about Vance needing to wait until after the midterms so he can get re-elected. Vance was bought when Thiel bankrolled his Senate race, so he will do as he is told. I think there is a fair likelihood that if he plays his part well enough, SCOTUS will be influenced to declare that term limits on the presidency are unconstitutional using a strict originalist interpretation.
Rubio is neck-and-neck with Vance in Republican circles following Vance's failed missions to Islamabad and Budapest (while he was there, Rubio joined Trump at a UFC fight in Miami and by most accounts Rubio spends most of his time at the White House rather than the State Department).
I read that Trump recently touted a Vance/Rubio ticket which he claimed would be unbeatable at the next general election. He obviously has doubts about the credentials of either man to appease the MAGA hordes (which dwindle by the day). Some analysts suspect that Trump is just calculating the best way of maintaining his vice-like grip on the Republican party after he has left office in his usual transactional way. In any event, I don't see either as a natural successor to Trump.
I don’t think Trump is the decision-maker. He is the frontman who is rapidly devolving. His loss of control is becoming a major liability. Rubio may have a shot at being Trump’s successor if Vance screws up, but Vance already has the deep bro connections,and he owes them a big debt, so he is more likely to stay in line. He has the inside track.
Trump is pissing on Vance because he enjoys the chaos, and it lets him indulge his fantasy of being in control, but at some level, he is fearful that his days are numbered. Hence the numerous remarks about whether he will get into heaven…
Bill, I think Georgia's analysis is spot-on. I would add that the oligarchs are creating an environment where "the will of the people" is irrelevant. Thus, it doesn't matter whether Vance has any public appeal. He is a useful tool to those with the real power.
I suspect, however, that the oligarchs will prop up Donald until after January 20, 2027, which marks the halfway point of his final term. That allows Vance to complete Donald's term and still run for two more terms, according to the Constitution. Ten years is plenty of time to completely destroy the Constitution and move on to the new theocratic oligarchy.
Maybe a better way to put it, rather than real patriotism, is there a lack of magnetic attraction to (and fear of) all things Putin in Vance, unlike trump.
Wasn't it clear almost from the outset that Trump would not be able to successfully deliver on the ambitious plans of the Heritage Foundation? He doesn't know what's in those plans and he doesn't care. Right now, he seems to be focusing on a limited number of things: his legacy, through his various vanity projects in lieu of any actual policy achievements; his own and his family's enrichment using the office of the presidency; and his vicious retribution campaign against all who oppose him or who successfully indcited him for his many crimes. Everything else is just a bother for him and Project 2025 doesn't even get a look-in.
You are right about what Trump is focusing on, But behind the scenes, much of the Project 2025 wish list has already been implemented. I recall someone tallied up what had been accomplished at the one year mark of 47’s tenure and it was something over 50%.
Found it!
The Center for Progressive Reform’s “Project 2025 Executive Action Tracker” finds that the administration has initiated or completed about 53 percent of the domestic administrative actions it tracks (283 of 532 recommendations) as of February 2026.
Debbie, I had said to my husband and daughter during Trump's 2016 election bid that he and Melania were a deep cover Russian spy couple, but at first I said that she was a deep cover Russian spy tasked with getting close to an American businessman that could conceivably end up in the White House, where he would then be manipulated to make chaos of the US. Sometimes I would say he was the deep cover spy, and sometimes I would say they were as a couple. My husband and daughter would tell me I read too many spy books. Importantly I read a book on the East German secret police and their reign, and learned a lot about how they thought and how things were done. I also read some other spy books, because it interests me. So, I was saying this tongue is cheek, but here we go. Trump sounds like a Russian agent aka diplomat. This aspect of him endangers the US more than anything.
Prior to his running for president I had not paid much attention to Trump other than to see at most 5 minutes of his horrid reality show, The Apprentice. It was enough to tell me that no one should want to work for him or put up with him. Yet, here we are, in the midst of a second Trump presidency. The chaos that everyone is experiencing is characteristic of being around him and everything he does, and yet some seem to have forgotten how horrid the chaos was during Covid. Now we are in a never ending series of wars which is chaotic and awful too. Everything lowers our quality of life.
I have read your comments and observations for years - with deep respect. I think your suspicions are founded in obvious facts.
The war on Iran benefits Putin by raising oil prices - Russia's only serious income stream.
47 recently lifted sanctions on Russian oil. A life line to an enemy.
47 greeted Putin in Alaska with a red carpet. He demeaned Zelenskyy in the White House.
47's companies have been bailed out by Russian real estate investments more than once (explained by his sons).
Have you followed Elizabeth Graham? From Democracy to Democrazy?
Republican Senate investigation finds Russia definitely interfered with the 2016 election. 47 met with Putin in Helsinki and sided with Putin - saying he believed him over his own intelligence agencies. Putin had a shit eating grin. There is no record, no notes of their private meetings that day.
What more does a thinking person need - to see that 47 is either being blackmailed or is a willing tool of Putin?
When 47 says to Kristen Welker "YOUR country..." instead of ours, doesn't that sound like a projection from a compromised president?
And now you have me thinking about Melania. And why she would stay with such a horrid husband. I always thought it was the money. Maybe it's the money and a mission.Think about it. A penniless "model"/escort" gets to live in luxury and be eye candy as well as "eyes" for the enemy.
Perhaps one of the best TV series I have ever seen was "The Americans". I firmly believe that the "Cold War" on America never ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Linda, I think your analysis is very close to accurate. However, I would change one word in reference to Donald. Rather than a spy, he is an asset. Based on his niece's writings and ongoing commentary, Donald doesn't have the mental wattage to be an actual spy. He is more a useful tool than an operative. The Kremlin would have identified him through his business dealings with Bratva-controlled firms in the NYC area.
Melania is a different story. She's not learning disabled, and is in fact, shrewd. Her meeting Donald seems more than coincidental. They were introduced by Paolo Zampolli, who is a friend of Jeffrey Epstein, who was a friend of both Donald and Vladimir. That's a lot less than 6 degrees of separation.
Nancy Pelosi was right when she stood over Donald and said, "With you, all roads lead to Putin."
In the same vein, I have wondered if Ivana was a spy. She was from Czechoslovakia which shared a border with the former Soviet Union, so it would have been convenient for KGB to recruit her. Donald may have thrown the Kremlin a curve ball when he chucked the aging Ivana in favor of Marla Maples. The Russians then regained control when they sent in Melania.
Linda, my curiosity was heightened in this regard because of the wide or large numbers of individuals involved in “trumpelthinskin’s” [Source:trumpelthinskin.com] first campaign, who had made trips to Russia and/or who had some connections with Putin, (or someone close to him) Orban or to both of them!.
Per ABC News June 7, 2026, 10:02 PM not the dying CBS legacy, the "Public Integrity Lawsuit " ... says it seeks to stop 'deeply corrupt' UFC event at White House. The filing asks a federal judge to declare the June 14 event unlawful."
The Pleadings put at issue:
* “The President is giving [Dana] White and his company what none have enjoyed before: unfettered access to the White House and Lincoln Memorial to stage a private, for-profit sports event, with all the promotional and branding opportunities that accompany such access” .
* Calling the event “deeply corrupt,” the lawsuit alleged that the Trump administration improperly used a temporary rule for “America 250” to bypass the permitting requirements normally required to host events on National Park Service land. They argue that because the event is being organized by a private entity, not the federal government, and is not explicitly “for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of American Independence,” the fight does not qualify for that temporary rule.
A TRO is in the works to stop the Trump's "irreparable harm".
One of my pet peeves for as long as I can remember is to see/read something like this: TRO…with the assumption that [many, most, all] people (readers) would know that it represents or refers to a “temporary restraining order”—a big assumption on my part?
"TROs are quite common in Federal Court these days because a certain individual & his co-conspirators need to be restrained.
Or just ask or Google SKYE PERRYMAN. She is very god at TRO's. Or Democracy Docket attorneys. TRO's are popular with Federal Judges despite the rigorous evidentiary requirements.
TRUE, I wish we had "TJT". That's Temporary Jail Time (TJT) until conviction. Or make that DJT TJT. Orange Jump suits could be provided to match hair color.
Many times I have heard Republican women swoon over Donald Trump's physical appearance. And now he is just a fat, wrinkled, balding, demented old man who still thinks he can grab women wherever he wants and they will allow it.
I have never been able to understand how anyone would find Donald physically attractive, even when he was younger and more trim. Every time I see that video clip of him making lewd remarks to Epstein at the party, I am dumbfounded by his penciled-in eyebrows. How could anyone look at that clown-face and rat's-nest hair, and think, "What a stud!"
My anger at the Republicon party grows every day. My frustration with the Democratic party grows every day. My distain for those who support Trump has never been higher. We're all victims of this abuse. I protest every chance I get, I call my congressional representatives weekly, and I'm tired.
I agree. I will be voting for an unknown for congress in the primary because the current democratic congresswoman (Sarah Elfreth) has accepted $5 million from AIPAC. Unacceptable!
At last, the White House has discovered its highest constitutional purpose: a birthday cage fight with a business plan.
For generations, Americans foolishly imagined the Executive Mansion as a place for diplomacy, public service, and the occasional awkward turkey pardon. Now, thanks to visionary leadership, it can finally become what history always lacked: a luxury backdrop for men in shorts punching one another while corporate logos shimmer beside the Lincoln Memorial.
The ceremonial weigh-ins are reportedly planned for the memorial itself, because nothing honors the man who preserved the Union quite like two fighters flexing, snarling, and discussing hydration cuts beneath his marble gaze. Then come the Oval Office walkouts, allowing contestants to emerge from the seat of executive power as if entering a casino arena sponsored by an energy drink. The lawsuit says fighters are expected to use the Lincoln Memorial, Oval Office, and a structure near the Executive Residence as part of the event.
Critics call the arrangement corrupt. Such negativity. This is a public-private partnership at its most muscular. The government supplies the monuments, security, history, prestige, and taxpayer-funded infrastructure. The private company supplies the profits. Everyone contributes according to ability and receives according to proximity to the president.
Trump reportedly owns between $15,000 and $50,000 in stock in UFC parent company TKO Holding Group, but surely that is merely patriotic diversification. George Washington owned farmland. Thomas Jefferson owned books. Donald Trump owns a financial interest in the company turning the White House lawn into Fight Night.
Perhaps Congress can improve the program. Cabinet disputes could be settled in the octagon. Budget negotiations could become pay-per-view. The Secretary of Defense could enter through the East Wing while “America First” blasts from government speakers.
The republic may be battered, bleeding, and staggering against the fence, but at least the branding opportunities are tremendous. After all, democracy was always missing one thing: a VIP section.
Thomas Jefferson owned slaves and Pete Hegseth owns glistening, muscular privates (pun intended). Trump owns everyone who falls for his grifts, and Putin owns Trump.
Mr. Trump and the Republicans have hurt everyone they have touched, except elite rich white men. They have enriched Trump, his family, themselves (the Republicans), and the already filthy rich elite white men.
Here is just one example of their destruction of the world:
I can never forget Trump and his evil crew swore to help free Iranians opposed to their oppressive government. They have left them a destroyed economy and war. They have left us with a destroyed economy and war.
It was the same with Venezuela. He happily accepted the gift of Maria Corina Machado's Nobel Peace Prize and then promptly left her in the dark while he does business with the same crooked Maduro regime. People will never learn that Trump is an unreliable ally.
Is malignant narcissism contagious? Don't panic -- I know it isn't. At the same time, it's impossible to ignore the extent to which Trump has reflected and encouraged a sort of narcissism in the American character: the "we are the greatest" bravado coupled with isolationism. Remember the shock of 9/11, when many of us realized that the U.S. wasn't as isolated as we thought? At the moment, Trump's tariffs fiasco is reminding many that the American economy isn't isolated from the rest of the world either, "entire of itself," as John Donne wrote. Trump isn't capable of learning from experience, and here's hoping that most of the rest of us are.
Actually, it is contagious. Dr. Bandy Lee and a group of forensic psychologists have done a study and published a report that shows extreme authoritarianism is contagious, and addictive... one of the symptoms is narcissism. The stronger the peer pressure, the more addictive it becomes, which is how you get the extreme opinions and violence of the KKK, the drug cartels, the Proud Boys, etc.
If your membership in your social circle, your business circle, your club or family depends on you playing along, there is very little that will dissuade you.
This is useful info -- and it makes sense. Most of us humans tend to go along with the herd. At first we may tell ourselves that we're "going along to get along" but after a while it often becomes who we are. The Milgram experiments of the early 1960s, about obedience to authority, shocked people at the time, but they didn't shock me as a young person studying them a few years later, and they don't shock me now.
Not unlike an active alcoholic! Which recalls a phrase sometimes heard in recovery circles: "terminally unique." A pretty good synonym for "narcissist."
I'm not sure he will show knowing what is coming. He's been forced to leave other sporting events when the boos won't stop. And this is NYC and the Knicks. I'm sure it will end well for Trump. /S
Mamdani was asked if he would attend Game 3 with Trump by TMZ. He coyly said he wouldn't.
I don’t think he cares about getting booed. Why? Because it means he is still the center of attention and that’s what he really wants. Attention is his oxygen. Don’t give it to him and he suffocates. Best thing for fans to do is get up, take their bathroom break, visit the concession stands, etc. Nothing to see at all court side.
Chris, Donald and P.T. Barnum share a common occupation. They are/were both money-grubbing promoters.
When Barnum was advised by an author that she was publishing a negative story about him, he replied, "Say anything you like about me, but spell my name right — P. T. B-a-r-n-u-m, P. T. Barnum."
Yep, that is going to be a tough, tough crowd! I've seen that crowd boo non-stop some of the best teams or nicest players. So I think they will jeer "3-Card Monty Donny" out of the stadium, in his hometown.
I don't think that's gonna happen, Julius. Not enough time elapsed between Trump's statement and the game. If he's smart (I know, I know) he'll decide not to go,
First of all, all true fans of Dr. Naismith's game outside the five boroughs are certainly rooting for the Spurs. The Knicks are a most unlikeable organization, owned by the slimy miscreant Dolan, supported by all NYC based hedge fund reprobates, putting forward the obnoxious and formerly talented Spike Lee for tomfoolery display, and now of course, supported by Despicable Don himself who seeks to envelop their sudden burst to glory for his own gargantuan ego.
I do like most of the Knick players, including but not limited to the cagey and crafty Jalen Brunson, the jack-knifing Josh Hart, the quicksilver smiling and shooting Mikael Bridges, and their coach, the former Laker HC Mike Brown as well.
Yet, they seem to inspire the worst of the stereotypical negatives of NYC, and the Spurs are both a better all around team, and also have in Victor Wembanyama, a combo Bill Russell and fluid young Lew Alcindor in a 7' 4" Gallic body, while most contrapuntally tossing in a bit of a fearless shooting guard's wanderlust, ala World B Free or that of a young Steph Curry.
How can anyone root against such a team, particularly when the worst person in the World is deliberately clogging up the environs around mid-Broadway even more than they might otherwise be, by his obnoxious presence?!?
As a true fan of Dr. Naismith's game from an area 180 miles north of NYC, I, too shall be rooting for the Spurs. Not out of bleed green loyalty but because I can't hate the Knicks' players, coach or the way they play the game. And I found KAT both articulate and generous in his post-Game 2 interview. Still, go Spurs!
I went to college at the University of Maryland Colleger Park and there were several NYC residents of my dorm. They spent a LOT of time complaining about how much better everything was in NYC. I often wondered why they ever left their beloved city.
I went to UMCP as well and I am one of the NY fans who went there. Truthfully, I found the Washington football fans to be way more obnoxious. The fans of the NY teams that I associated with were not as you described.
Are you kidding ? The Knicks have been lousy for eons ! You are mistaking joyfulness for obnoxious behavior. Finally they are winning and we are loving it !
Wow! You don't even mention KAT. Nor do you mention the fact that the Spurs are in their infancy and the Knicks are teeming with experience. That's why they won two in SA. Your knowledge of b-ball is questionable (not to mention film!)
Au contraire, my hoops knowledge is not questionable. Not mentioning KAT is not tantamount to ignoring him, and he has certainly played up to his potential, something I fo not expect him to do throughout the Series. And yes, the slip of the Spurs' inexperience is showing.
Still, the Knicks' are playing over their head thus far, and I expect and hope that like a boxer stunned early, the Spurs will regroup and show their mettle tonight
I can't tell you how pissed off NYers are. We don't take well to being shut out of our own celebrations. And, more than any other state, we have always hated him.
Fascinating that Trump is using the pre-emptive strike rationale to attack Iran, invoked by Vice President Cheney et al. in 2002-03 *against Iraq, of "even a one per cent chance" to wage war.😱
I imagine a sleeping d[R]ump in the front row. Terrible for the country. Sardonically amusing of the narcissist. BOOOOOOOO! A distraction from the NBA Championship!
He is miserable because, from the outside, we can say that he has everything anybody could ever want, but my surmise is that he's never wanted anything specific. He just always wants MORE. More of what? Not more of any thing--yes, more power, more money, more adulation, but because he always wants MORE, he never has enough, and he can never be satisfied. If he weren't so dangerous, we could dismiss him as being both despicable and pitiable. I don't have a suggestion for a solution, but I hope that someone will come up with a safe and humane way to reduce the danger to us all.
And, sadly, very doubtful he will seek Recovery. He is too insane to realize he is sick. But the really insane part is Congress, Senate, Justice, Military are insane too for not putting a stop to his insanity. That is the greatest insanity of all.
Indeed. Trump is a member of the group that has acquired tremendous amounts of money, more than they or there families will ever need, yet they all strive fore more, more, and more. They are hooked on acquisition, and probably the potential power that comes with it. It seems that their hoarding of riches comes at a cost to the rest of us.
A very big cost according to HCR. I forget how many Trillion the public's pockets have been picked for the last 40-50 years. The middle class has been shrinking. People keep voting for it though.
Betsy, Donald doesn't know what he wants, but his niece does and so do I. Donald wants love. He grew up in a home – in a family – where there was no love. His parents were incapable of loving anyone. His mother was profoundly self-absorbed and his father substituted money for love. He actually paid his children salaries, as if they were employees.
All his life, Donald has tried to fill that gaping hole in his psyche with money, power, sex, adulation, and none of it satisfied. His marriages fell apart because they were based on money, privilege, and possibly espionage, not on love.
Betsy-It’s not just him that wants more. There’s a line of “takers” who are just as greedy stealing tax dollars through lucrative contracts, loopholes and “deals” without accountability.
Missy Pissy Pants walked out of his big interview today. Him wuz mad. Lady reporter didn’t smile. Didn’t bat eyelashes. Didn’t heave with desire at invisible pumping concertina. Mean lady. She crooked lady. NBC bad people. Him not like questions. Mean, nasty, nasty people asking nasty, ugly questions. Elections crooked. Him go back to White House, console himself with burnt steak smothered in ketchup. And hamberder. waaaaah….! 😪🤧😭
Trump has many go to phrases which freeze the brains of his MAGAts. This use of phrases is a tool that autocrats have used for centuries - "fake news", "witch hunt", "people say they've never seen anything like it", "I won the 2020 election", "totally exonerated" etc. Once they hear these phrases, they don't consider any counter argument. They are all lies, but that's not the point. They point is absolute loyalty and adoration for the great leader.
So save your long winded arguments when your talking to MAGAts because Trump has them hypnotized.
Actually, "total silence" would be even better - trump doesn't care what attention he gets, as long as he gets attention. All he would hear in his head is people "cheering" him. And he'd boast about it later. Even if the y threw rocks, he'd say they were throwing flowers.
Lady Emsworth-He will also like the fact that he’s being a “disrupter”. Now everyone’s plans have to pivot to accommodate him as he tries to take the spotlight from the players and spectators.
Trump has only two personal assets. Zero conscience thus zero shame, and plenty of money, thus celebrity and clout. Somehow it's enough to make him a despot.
I was shocked when Trump called Welker "crooked" or "stupid." I shouldn't have been shocked because he had previously verbally abused women reporters. Remember calling a reporter, "piggy"?
We stopped watching Meet the Press shortly after Welker took over -- I found her questions too soft and was bothered by her lack of follow up -- but in this interview she brought both of those and I have renewed respect for her.
Yes Lauriemcf. She did well. A change in 'reporter tactics' is needed to fake that juggernaut-mutant out. Suck him in GENTLY (yeah.., right by his nuts). Anticipate that he will employ his inimitable response(s). He's such a dickhead. Let him think he prevailed. It'll take some wicked-deviance on the reporters manner, but it can be done. The viewers 66% aren't dumb. The 33% are. The MAGAtts will have trouble accepting that their CIC has been 'buzzed', hahahahaaa.
Gloria, I wish the 'reporter" would fake this mutha f----ker out (and of course lose their job). Scott Pelley wouldn't get on his knees to enable his minders to put on the show. So Scott walked out the door on his own two feet. We however, are told he was "Fired" to make the "network" look good in Der Leeders eyes. That's how I see it.
Donold wants to be like those powerful strongman leaders that he envies, maybe he even thinks of himself as a king. But he's just a faux king maniac and has always been a royal asshole...
Here's the MTP clip with Kristen Welker bravely interviewing, holding to account and asking difficult questions of the irate, combative, abusive, lying, demented deflector Donold:
Fascinating that Trump is using the pre-emptive strike rationale to attack Iran, invoked by Vice President Cheney et al. in 2002-03 *against Iraq, of "even a one per cent chance" to wage war.😱
He has no cards..but the destruction will continue..how an absolute nobody can cause all this is dumbfounding.. what is it i’m missing here? How can anyone so small minded corrupt so many smart people? Can all these institutions be that weak? That afraid?
He's an absolute nobody backed and manipulated by a very powerful coalition of religious zealots, Confederate descendants, and billionaires. And they've been planning this coup in great detail since the sixties.
If you take a hard look at the class structure in the southern states you find that those who toil in inhuman labor, the ones who’s backs are made of bone and who’s bodies are whip cords you begin to feel their pride as your own pride when you toil together. These are the same men being used again to do the dying. Somehow the bourgeoisie arises again riding the proletariat to ruin. Didn’t work in France. Didn’t work in Russia. Didn’t work here in America. But let’s do it again because we can.
You may have forgotten the Blue dogs, the white supremacists who have festered since the corporate colonies were founded. I had always thought this particular turn back the social and regulatory clock crowd really coalesced in the early 1930’s. But I’m beginning to think you’re right. Sure, the old guard is standing in there but this has something new, something old, something borrowed, something stole.
The defeat of Nixon was a major setback for the retrograde “olde guard”. Then, mysteriously we saw his rise along with ever more brazen corporate plundering across the nation. Finally, Nixon’s removal from office was the ultimate spur to deep reorganization on the ultra-right. That reversal was never to happen again. Their rising power manifested itself in the election of a B-grade Hollywood actor to the Presidency.
Sure, there’s the long history I mentioned, but now there was something new. A determined rejection of bipartisanship and a thrust for one party rule and only one party independent of any electorate.
He may have corrupted smart minded people but he’s preyed on the stupid who believe all his bullshit and put him in office - twice. They have no BS meter whatsoever and continue to think he’s the greatest. They’re as demented as he is. Sorry to be so judgemental but it’s the truth. Along with the racism card ! ! !
He preys on the weak, maybe as much as the stupid. Remember that before either 2.0 or even 1.0, he got Republicans to sign on and join up. They ALL knew who he was, but they all fell in line — from cringing, wormy little Lindsey to that pathetic bearded Pillsbury Doughboy from Texas, Cancun Cruz — right on down. Long before Kentucky Fried Voldemort refused to convict Trump 1.0…
Every time this wretched, greedy, prevaricating, pathetic sack of self-pitying shit shows his true colors, remember — he couldn’t have gotten there without the GOP’s original blessing. Bernie bros used to whine back in 2016 about Hillary’s “superdelegates” as though their very existence was some kind of moral outrage. But both parties have LONG had inner guardrails to stop the freaks, drunks, the unqualified, and the riff-raff from being nominated for President — until the Republicans — not the Democrats — destroyed their own guardrails that fateful year.
And look at what rough orange beast slouched into Bethlehem in 2016, waiting to be born…
He is destructive on his own but look at who props him up: billionaires who want to eliminate all restraints as they rape the environment, anti-democratic, often Christian, zealots, and people who just want someone to do their thinking for them. Many of them are smart, but smart without any ethical sense at all.
Power tends to corrupt. Who had the money and the power in the Confederacy? Who had the most to gain and the means by which to pursue it by slave-state secession?
Yup. That may be the biggest irony of war in general. How many who died owned slaves themselves? How many were impoverished by competing with forced labor?
I believe he encourages ppl to be the worst version of themselves-which is far easier than to strive to improve or be better. Whatever is base, or ugly, or hate-filled, or perverted-he calls on the worst of humanity to follow his lead and assert itself.
It was a virtual summons to all the soft, white, creepy-crawly grub-like things to come oozing out the rotted wood within our society. Who else actually wants this WWF-fake gladiator spectacle on the White House grounds this June 14?
As dementia disables Donald's filters one by one, I am convinced beyond any doubt that he is a closet case. The evidence is mounting.
Closeted homosexuals often marry women to hide their homosexuality. Philandering and serial marriages are a giveaway.
Virtually all of the most vocal homophobes are concealing a secret of their own.
Jeffrey Epstein was many things, including a sex addict. In images showing both Donald and Epstein, body language indicates that they were closer than just buddies.
Straight men don't check out other men's endowments in the locker room (Arnold Palmer). And if they do, they don't retain a mental image of it for years.
During several recent speeches, Donald has fawned over the physiques of other men. Straight men don't do that.
As you suggest, closeted men can indulge their fantasies by watching sweaty, scantily clad, muscular men engaging in pugilism.
Dale Rowett, oooo Intersting. Those closets are rage cages, yes? I’m almost always ‘suspicious’ of people who dislike(a delicate word for: avoid-despise-fear, rage against ) anyone who’s outwardly openly gay.
Notmenotmenotme…oh no never ever me.
One of my stunningly beautiful truly straight women friends said she dated 100 men. Lots of ‘gay men’ wanted her on their arm as an accessory. She finally married, had two children only to discover 18
plus years later her husband was really gay. By that time she’d already separated from him.
Another close friend, whom all the boys clustered around as we were growing up married a man whose older brother was gay. He made a point of clearly despising him. My friend had 4 children with him. His brother died of aids. He became deeply depressed as
life went on. It appeared he had had ‘an affair’ w another man…. and so it goes..There is still an enormous gap in our understanding that sexuality is often fluid. Apparently the indigenous people knew this long ago, and honored it. But most of us here, know this as we know how dangerous denial is.
He’s a god. At a minimum a Demi-god. At the very least a hero. His champions will humor the lower classes and take their minds off the fact that they are getting ripped. Bring in the Gladiators. All hail the Golden Hiney.👍 👎.
This is Trump's language of holding cards, doing deals and blowing people up: not a language of policies, serious diplomacy or care for human life. It's the language of market place haggling, smoke-filled back room gambling and cage fighting. How low can we sink?
It’s all his con. And he’s been at it his whole life. He’s never paid any price whatsoever, even as he destroys the United States with the consent of Republicans.
If they knew more about Lincoln they'd bump him off the list pronto. Trump already thinks he's surpassing Lincoln, but has never quite said so directly.
Off-topic, but in a way it's not: Australia is mourning a hero today. Here's his story, and much of it is now in the past tense where his life's work and achievements are concerned.
Professor Richard Scolyer, the world-renowned Australian pathologist who successfully pioneered experimental combination immunotherapy for an aggressive glioblastoma, died in June 2026 at age 59. His groundbreaking treatment has directly inspired international clinical trials, including the U.S.-based GIANT study.While Professor Scolyer was an Australian researcher, his medical legacy intersects directly with the U.S. Biden Administration's health agenda through the Cancer Moonshot. The initiative, relaunched by the administration to accelerate global cancer cures—and deeply tied to the Biden family's personal experience with glioblastoma—serves as the macro umbrella driving these international clinical trial efforts.Here is how Scolyer's work and the U.S. administration's goals connect:The U.S.-Australia Cancer Moonshot Initiative: Launched by the U.S. Mission to Australia, this bilateral cooperative agreement was established to share research, data, and treatment breakthroughs. Scolyer's pioneering trial formed a major pillar of this collaboration.The GIANT Clinical Trial: Building directly on Scolyer’s experimental combination immunotherapy and personalized vaccines, the U.S.-based Phase 2 Trial of Glioblastoma Immunotherapy Advancement with Nivolumab and Relatlimab (GIANT) was launched to scientifically test these treatments across a larger cohort.Global Collaboration: Because the Biden administration's Cancer Moonshot explicitly aims to break down silos between international researchers, the U.S. and Australian academic consortiums are heavily sharing real-time biomarker and correlative data to revolutionize glioblastoma care.
Thank you for that post. My sister died in 1999 at 53 from brain cancer. She was totally blind and disabled the last year of her life. It’s encouraging to know what progress has been made since then.
Narcissists do this touching. Sometimes it’s a poke or a lot of times it’s a claw holding your arm. Everyone talked about Biden’s touching. But trump’s touching is to reassure himself that his prey is still there. And he will get it(whoever) the next time. It’s a disgusting energy to have thrust into your private space!
There's also the awkward Trump handshake(psych out) that he always uses when meeting leaders of other nations.
Donold's signature handshake involves a forceful "tug and yank" motion, where he abruptly pulls the other person forward into his personal space. It's an aggressive tactic designed to assert dominance as he jerks the other person off-balance, turning a standard greeting into a public power play.
Quite often the shake is usually concluded with a reassuring tap or "hand hug" on the shoulder or arm, solidifying his control over the physical interaction.
He's such a vile creep, I would hate to even think of having to shake his hand and being in such close contact with that sick psycho.
I haven't seen one in years, but I think I would use a hand buzzer on Trump if it was me. He needs to be jolted...or maybe a really good kick in the festering cankles.
Biden touched out of affection. Real people, especially genuine leaders, hug and touch and embrace all the time. It’s the scumbags who try to weaponize touch, not the good guys.
I think in this case the touching wasn't some weird power play or sexual, but was because he needed to steady himself while trying to stand up and walk away. Both his body and mind are failing.
Maybe everyone should stop interviewing this asshole. We know who he is and what he's done and continues to do to the country. Don't give him any air. Focus on all his enablers. They all need to go, including the deranged 6 on the SCOTUS.
The more interviews the better. Let those low information voters see who is president in all his glory. He was so real and angry in that interview, I don’t think anyone would come away thinking we have a good leader. He looked so pathetic and disgusting during his rant about the giving away money to insurgents from Jan 6! He looked so foolish and distraught about these poor victims who attacked police, I thought he might grab Welker.
This man has truly lost it. He is so dangerous in the way he thinks and acts. I can only believe things will get worse the longer he remains in office.
He thrives on the attention even when it's negative. His followers do too. We've been watching his decline for the last 10 years. It is exactly what his manipulators want, as when we are paying attention to him they are ripping the country to shreds.
He's a sick, sick shell of a man. Totally humanly empty inside, just an automaton for power, for self-enrichment, and the entitlement of the most cynical moneyed for rape, murder, theft, lying, and self aggrandizement on every front.
We face a daunting challenge going forward. As Maryanne Wolf wrote near the end of her 2018 “Reader, Come Home,” “We will fail as a society if we do not educate our children and reeducate all of our citizenry to the responsibility of each person to process information vigilantly, critically, and wisely across media.”
A few lines later she added, “The great, insufficiently discussed danger to a democracy stems not from the expression of different views, but from the failure to ensure that all citizens are educated to use their full intellectual powers in forming those views.”
Testing, we all know, reduces intelligence to the few forms of rationality whose easy grouping and linear causality conceits in turn appeal to our AI and techie billionaires because they are so sophomorically machine gradable. So let's forget about that status quo.
Admit how sick criminal Donald has always been -- and how much in need America is of much, much higher standards would we have a democracy for all.
The only intelligent thing I ever recall hearing Reagan say was "Trust, but verify'. That didn't apply to him of course. His generic claims that tax cuts more than pay for themselves has never been adequately taken to account.
I suspect that Mr. Hoover at some level was aware he was telling a lie to himself, or perhaps just the public because it is sooo appealing to have the support of the very rich and hard to bear their opposition. Hundreds of millions in contributions from Mr. Musk when many people can't spare even a dime? Invitations to the most lavish soirees? The price of an insubstantial soul for money and power? Hard to say "no".
So yeah, a lie, but one that many are quick to cover for.
Phil-Education has always been a threat to tyranny. During slavery it was illegal to teach Black people to read and write. Public education grew only after the Civil War.
Education is especially key in this era of tech and AI. It needs to be the kind of education that engages mind, body and spirit. Critical thinking, exposure to diverse ways of learning, and debates about building a humane society must be priorities. We must all value the teaching profession more than we do today.
I’ve appreciated the drum you beat concerning standardized tests that limit critical thinking. The MAGAs know how important education is to perfecting our democracy which is why they are undermining and dismantling support for public education. I appreciate the drum you beat concerning standardized tests that don’t measure the fullness of students’ knowledge and skills. Democracy depends on educated citizens.
From the DSM-V: Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a Cluster B personality disorder defined in the DSM-5 Diagnosis requires the presence of at least five of the following nine criteria:
-Grandiose sense of self-importance (exaggerating achievements and talents).
-Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
-Belief that one is “special” and unique and can only be understood by high-status people.
-Requires excessive admiration from others.
-Sense of entitlement (unreasonable expectations of favorable treatment).
-Interpersonally exploitative behavior (taking advantage of others).
-Lack of empathy (unwilling to recognize others' feelings and needs).
-Often envious of others or believes others are envious of them.
-Arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.
OR Antisocial Personality Disorder (psychopathology)
The central feature is a pattern of disregard for others' rights since age 15, indicated by three (or more) of the following seven traits:
-Failure to conform to social norms: Repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest.
-Deceitfulness: Repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure.
-Impulsivity: Failure to plan ahead.
-Irritability and aggressiveness: Repeated physical fights or assaults.
-Reckless disregard: Disregard for the safety of self or others.
-Consistent irresponsibility: Repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations.
-Lack of remorse: Indifference to or rationalization of having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.
He can also have both or one with features of the other.
I think the idiot displays almost all of the characteristics of both narcissistic personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. He belongs in a straight jacket in a mental institution!
The walk-out happened immediately after Welker cited the 70% of farmers who say they can't afford fertilizer. He answered "the farmers are doing very well" and then pulled his mic. The sequence matters... it wasn't the election questions that ended it.
Whatever the provocation, a representative who walks out before the examination concludes has placed his own discomfort above his obligation to those he governs. The governed can only consent meaningfully to being led by someone they can question, and that obligation does not dissolve when the questions feel hostile or unfair. Those are precisely the moments when it most clearly applies. The temperament the office requires is the steadiness to hear a difficult question, stay present, and answer as honestly as the evidence allows.
Responsibilities for the welfare of others requires putting aside childish behavior. To do otherwise is irresponsible. The heavier the responsibility, the more that is so. Period.
The Trump supporters I have encountered are often "well educated" and some seem pretty bright, yet recite the Trump talking points chapter and verse. I suspect that at least some that is attributable to whether one's foundational beliefs are largely anchored in empirical confirmation or parental assertion, enforced by emotional and/or physical violence. I know this is not as a clear and clean as my brief statement of it, but there is a tradition of signing ultimate authority to a special person or persons vs what can be determined by logic and investigation; Galileo VS the Pope, versus (clever as he was as a systematic thinker) Aristotle. The Renaissance and the Enlightenment were periods of innovation and explanation, and the latter directly influenced the US founding philosophies. The quarrel between the authority of some human (or superhuman) authority is ancient.
" It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings." -Lincoln
There is subtle (or not subtle) violence wrapped into assertions that exile, if not bully, kill, or torture, those who question the authority of whomever is supposed to be "king". Ask Stephen Colbert. It's a circular logical trap which prohibits and punishes attempts at examination and verification of its propositions. Trump embodies it, but so do politicized forms of religion. I would assert that any useful attempt at religion is humble enough and earnest enough to withstand cross examination; but the punitive sort is often the way religion is pre-packaged, especially the vainglorious, bullying sorts, the preach the supremacy of their subscribers. That approach is antithetical to the core of the Constitution.
Your comment should be published on the FRONT PAGE of every US Newspaper!
Time to educate the obviously apathetic American public about WHAT THEY DESERVE IN A POTUS * WHAT THEY SHOULD NOT PUT UP WITH * WHAT THEY HAVE TO DEMAND OF A PRESIDENT = WHO TO NOMINATE FOR THE RUNNING.
According to the Constitution (which should be legislated automatically by Congressional responsibility) no CONVICTED FELON is eligible to stand for office. What happened to “THAT”? The postponement of Trump’s CONVICTIONS was OSTENSIVELY to negate influencing the vote…GIVE ME A BREAK! SHOULDN’T IT HAVE DEMONSTRATED HIS EVIL CHARACTER.????
Anyway…KUDOS to YOU! >>> ALL THAT NEEDS TO BE SAID!
I think Trump is way more addicted to being the center of attention, to dominating everyone else. Most people who are like that in youth are rejected as jerks. The very rich can get away with it.
Minority rule always requires lying, cheating, and stealing.
12 million Biden voters sat out 2024.
Overall, 89 million eligible to voters did not vote.
In the US in 2024, 64% of eligible voters voted. In Hungary in 2026, 79%.
Let's create a BLUNAMI to overcome voter suppression. This toolkit I made has actions any of us can take to help Get Out The Vote so November's election results are TOO BIG TO RIG:
Everyone keeps saying its going to get worse. I don't have enough energy to generate any more anger. I'm already on near explosion mode. I find Trump pathetic. The no longer supreme court and worthless congress are the two bodies that have most betrayed our country. They protect a mentally ill criminal in the most powerful position in the world, all for self serving reasons. They don't want their personal grifts to end. Oddly, the rich are never satisfied. They always want more, and just like Trump, they are never satisfied.
I don't know why we name the institutions (Supreme Court and Congress) instead of the men in power in those institutions (Republicans). We play into the hands of an authoritarian who is trying to convince us Democratic processes and agencies are hopelessly broken when we blame our government entities. That naturally leads us to think we need big Daddy Trump to fix it for us.
The root cause of all this is Republicans letting Trump romp through and stomp all over our Constitution. Yes, we need to tighten things up, but if the Republicans had shown as a body just a tiny bit of patriotic concern for our Democracy, instead of allowing Trump to sign endless EOs and doing nothing in the face of his clear overreach of Executive power, we would not be in this trouble.
Never forget, it is Republicans who enabled this and who CONTINUE to enable it daily. Republicans. And I am now willing to bet, watching their cowardly behavior, a whole bunch of them were compromised by Epstein and are doing it because they are being blackmailed.
‘BLACKMAIL’…why didn’t “I” think of that! 🤪…oh yeah…because I am Canadian 🇨🇦 but, still smarting over DJT’s insulting “51st State comments”…🤬🤬🤬
However, if YOU had a ‘non-confidence’ procedural vote available in your Congress - and could get Trump there to ‘face the music’ (he could practise for the Ballroom 😂) then you could be rid of him
Bing!> the NON-CONFIDENCE MOTION IS BROUGHT BY THE OPPOSING PARTY/Bang! With the motion LOST an election is forced, IMMEDIATELY!/Boom! With no warning or time to CHEAT like the criminal he is >>> the blossoming Dictator is SHOWN THE DOOR, AND💥his sicko cabinet along with him!
Agreed! It has always puzzled me that ‘wealth’ LITERALLY TRUMPS the safeguards of the American Constitution. What part of “a POTUS shall not have committed a felonious act” is ambiguous in Constitutional Law wording?
If SCOTUS is the stumbling block, then impeach the Justices that Trump managed to shove in (playing the long game since 2017). At least 2 of them committed perjury themselves at their comfirmation hearings, so, they should RECOGNIZE LIES WHEN THEY HEAR THEM!!
SCOTUS is obviously ‘sucking pocket lint’ which means they cannot impartially rule or even close!
Trump DEMANDS blind loyalty and has misinterpreted SCOTUS’S RULING RE ‘EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE’ TO MEAN HE CAN ‘DO WHATEVER THE HELL HE WANTS - WITH IMPUNITY.’
This is NOT what the framers of the Constitution intended, and the ‘ESCAPE CLAUSE’ exists: >>> “NO FELONS”.
What is WRONG with the present Congress? Can’t they READ??
I can see the solution from my northern perch, and know that ‘at some legal level’ the SCOTUS Justices are bending so far backwards for Donald Trump they have hit their heads on the floor and are dilerious…just like Supreme Leader himself! 🤬
If Americans are not smelling the STENCH of FASCISM by now, they are in deep DENIAL…the stage of ‘grief’ that suits a country willing to believe ‘Executive Privilege’ means ‘carte blanche’. It does NOT, and Trump SAYING it does just > LIE # 125,421 (this year!)
POTUS #47 is not only acting ‘illegally’, but amorally…which requires no ruling by a Supreme Court majority. THE ‘GREAT CHRISTIAN’ who exults in killing foreign human beings clinging to life in the ocean, is just as giddily murderous in his thoughts re e.g. his imagined enemies, and long-hated rivals.
And here is the most pressing fact of all:
Donald Trump MAY have access to ‘NUCLEAR CODES’ that during a late night WHIM, he could launch against someone he characteristically HATES… and not necessarily overseas…😱
Iran, like Viet Nam, will never surrender…why should they! They would then STILL be under authoritarian rule…just by a ‘foreign’ leader of ‘another colour’.🍊
LIFT YOURSELVES UP OUT OF THE MIRE CREATED BY A MADMAN WHO FOR SOME ‘STRANGE’ REASON IS STILL COMMITTING CRIMES…DAILY…UNCHALLENGED BY ANY LAW… AND 🖕🖕🖕CONGRESS…and 🔥 the Constitution 🔥…and MARCHES 🫤…while one crazy man destroys the country.
I agree, but as an independent (on the liberal side) I see both parties as complicit in one way or another, (corporate donations anyone?) with most of the blame going to the Grotesque Old Pedo-party. Getting rid of the two party system would be a good thing.
Trump is a lying loser and he will justly get roundly booed by the Madison Square Garden crowd. Jalen Brunson and the Knicks have been magical and inspiring this season. Trump is an ongoing national catastrophe. He continues to spout his infantile nonsense about the 2020 election when there was absolutely NO EVIDENCE ever presented of rigging. He’s spectacularly broken nearly every one of his campaign promises and is heading for a midterm thrashing that will finally put some congressional oversight on this nightmare “presidency”.
Not only was there zero evidence of elections rigging by Democrats in 2020. Trump and his lawyers and other election deniers lost 60 court cases! We need to persuade Ken Burns to make a documentary about January 6th so that future Americans will see what happened that day. We cannot let Maga rewrite history.
All spot on but you have been entirely too cautious in how you have characterized his demeanor, his behavior and his state of mind in the interview with Kristen Welker .
This was full on narcissistic collapse. It was florid mental illness on display. The only real information in the whole painful session was the degree to which he is decompensating.
This will not end well for anyone.
If he resigns, it will end well for me. (If he doesn't, he needs to be impeached immediately. He is immoral, deranged, the list of negative traits is endless.)
Classic malignant narcissist. He will not resign. He will fight fight fight his narcissistic collapse and take down everyone he can (including We the People) on his way out. And that will actually make him happy for a bit. He must be forcibly removed from office ASAP or the world will bleed even more.
Lincoln said, “Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed.” Kamala Harris said, “When we fight, we win.” Neither said, “We’ll win every battle.” Neither provided a guaranteed “we shall win on” date. And neither stated an explicit definition of the “public sentiment” concept.
This newsletter includes the statement, “Trump illustrated that he was accusing his opponents of what he, himself, is doing, a classic authoritarian technique to muddy the waters so people stop trying to figure out what is real and cease to believe anything.”
I’m saying the statement is the truth and nothing but the truth to imply that it’s missing the middle part.
In the movie’s iconic climax, The Wizard of Oz's omnipotence is shattered when Toto runs over and pulls back a curtain, exposing a frail, ordinary man desperately operating levers, wheels, and a smoke machine to project his larger-than-life illusion. The whole truth is that Trump’s own words are playing Toto’s role by revealing the disparity between “public” and “Trump” sentiment.
Public sentiment is “we the people, all for one and one for all.” Trump sentiment is “you the people, all for one and that one is me.”
Yes, Trump’s psychological projection is a classic authoritarian technique. Yes, it muddies the waters in service of the authoritarian project. But the “whole truth” reveals what “public sentiment” means by a juxtaposition of the incongruous, which is to say that public sentiment is as opposite and incompatible with Trump sentiment as possible.
The need Trump and his enablers have for hiding behind a metaphorical “curtain” might be the most obvious difference. When Trump’s words are pulling down his own curtain, even he can see his only choice is to stand up and walk off the set.
The people of Minneapolis have no need for a curtain. Neither does Bruce Springstein, or Jon Ossoff, etc.
Public sentiment is when we the people don’t have and don’t want a curtain because we neither need nor want to hide our intent to serve “We the People” like three musketeers (all for one and one for all). And that’s why Kamala Harris knew what she was talking about.
Just remember that when Dorothy said “you’re a very bad man,” the kindly Wizard accurately replied, “oh no, I’m a very *good* man, I’m just a very bad wizard.”
With Dump, he’s a pathetic sack of evil shit as a man, on top of being a spectacular fuck-up as a wizard.
Now that's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God on a stack of Bibles that I'm actually touching.
🤭🤣🤣
Or selling on his website.
“Classic Authoritarian” yes. And if you pull his statements out of context, he is telling the absolute truth: “You’re either crooked or you’re stupid.” In this he tells his truth that a person would be stupid to not be crooked. Grift billions, grift nickels. Every moment holds an angle, however petty that angle might be. The thinnest angle? “i am the greatest! Give me your money. Give me your children.”
And he said “[a] country can never be great with a dishonest press.” Can’t argue with that!
Russ, I still can't understand people's attraction to Trump. I first heard him talking, I am thinking interviewed, back in the late 1970s and could hear in his voice the insincerity when he would say what he planned to do for the city of New York. To me, it seemed he was not "for the city of New York" as much as for himself. I didn't know anything about him at the time, but his voice stayed in my head as someone not to trust. I keep hearing he had some kind of charm, but as a visually-impaired person at the time, I didn't catch his expression or the visual cues I understand that drew people to him. I still don't get it. I hear his blather and don't understand why our Congress, even Republicans, pretend he is not only just fine but should be able to do whatever he wants to this nation because he is their boy. That is a sickness in our "body politic.
“[a] country can never be great with a dishonest press.” All press is dishonest until Trump approves them: FOX news, N.Y. Post, Newsmax, Washington Times... etc. all myopically distorted in their coverage of Trump & Co. Those he believes are dishonest: NPR, NBC, ABC, MSNBC, and not to mention many of the independents such as +972, The Intercept, Counterpunch, and so many more. It doesn't take much to know honest news when one reads or hears it. I've even long stopped watching the three majors as, although still relatively honest, they don't give the full picture on occasion, in addition, to buckling under regarding threats of a lawsuit. I get most of my news from NPR or the independents mentioned above.
Remember when he interrupted Clinton in their debate when she said something about how he wasn't paying much tax and he muttered, "I'm smart"?
He told Welker that even though he had won the last election by a landlside, 94% of press stories were against him. Perhaps it is because 94% of the time he is lying.
https://edition.cnn.com/politics/fact-check-trump-false-claims-debunked
He very much wants as much dishonest press as he can help create.
I love that description of Trump - perfect!!
I think he would make a Grand Wizard in the tradition of Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Russell, are you sure he isn't one already!!
Except he'd never want to wear a KKK hood, ICE balaclava, or even a KN-95 mask.
My favorite protest sign is a modified version of his booking photo with him wearing a balaclava and a crown, suggesting he, too, should wear a mask when violating the Constitution.
Whewwww.., and You know it!
I think that UFC thing at the White House has more of a Hunger Games vibe to it. It certainly felt that way in Minneapolis last winter.
I do wish tRump would float off in his hot air balloon. He can supply the hot air.
How much hot air do you figure he has? I can think of a lot people he can take with him, and good riddance.
The question is how difficult is it and how quickly can hot air be converted into cold air or do we wish to avoid having to clean up the mess and let it — the hot air balloon and its cargo of despicable imbeciles — drift way far away never to be seen nor heard from again?
That was the image of him that I drew on the day of his first inauguration, and have been hoping for ever since. The big balloon of him floating away, his shadow getting smaller and smaller until even that disappears, leaving people standing in the sunlight, free, relieved and able to function as people, use their wits, exerting their power to do good and create benefit for others.
From both ends.
Yes, he sees himself as looking down on "We the People", not as part of it.
His use of "your country" and "your elections" when speaking to Welker does expose his fundamental Me-vs-everyone-else mindset. But another, more specific interpretation could be his antipathy for Welker herself - a brown woman who symbolizes the liberal democratic dei world that he detests.
That’s an interesting interpretation. Now that you mention it, I consider this to be an important issue.
Assume Trump’s mindset excludes by default and includes by exception. Specifically, it includes his me-vs-everyone-else mindset by exception. It excludes Welker, but not because she’s female, or because of the color of her skin, or because of her political views. Instead, it excludes the rest of the world by default, and she’s part of the rest of the world. He needs no reason for antipathy. He just needs to know how to derive a post hoc rationalization and how to change the subject through distraction. Fortunately for the POTUS who likes to poop his pants in public (and leave the mess for everyone else to clean up), every enabled 5-year-old is a world-class expert at those skills.
Like Toto and Wizard of Oz example.
Trump's social media feed will be full of stuff like this which he re-posts and I think he actually believes this kind of rubbish about elections. There was nothing confected about his fury at what Welker was suggesting.
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!obCT!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Ff6fdc24c-e428-4f4f-8cee-e31bbcab3102_1182x1324.png?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!yxv8!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fb2c2a0c8-2680-4d18-86da-6ed8bf603e40_1370x1468.png?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
My reply to Jane Ketcham applies. I wrote: That’s an interesting interpretation ... I consider this to be an important issue.
Assume Trump’s mindset excludes by default and includes by exception. Specifically, it includes his me-vs-everyone-else mindset by exception. It excludes Welker, but not because she’s female, or because of the color of her skin, or because of her political views (or because of anything he believes in given that he doesn't believe in anything). Instead, it excludes the rest of the world by default, and she’s part of the rest of the world. He needs no reason for antipathy. He just needs to know how to derive a post hoc rationalization and how to change the subject through distraction. Fortunately for the POTUS who likes to poop his pants in public (and leave the mess for everyone else to clean up), every enabled 5-year-old is a world-class expert at those skills.
I fear his departure results in a smarter (play the game) clone of evil doing. It is the movement that is destroying the U.S., not just this felon.
Husband of Ruth writing:
His degenerate narcissism means he can never be happy.
Hello husband of Ruth.
Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown.
At this point, the nation must collapse and burn down and like the Phoenix of old burn only then to be reborn. A sort of cleansing. The cell screen monsters of which most of us have become seduced, has dumbed down the ability to make intelligent decisions for ourselves. Just driving down my street yesterday I noticed a large pick up truck smashed to hell by a distracted driver no doubt. This is emblematic of society at large. We are the new slaves to a liberating mechanism called the cell phone which humanity carries the world over while crossing the road oblivious to any oncoming traffic as traffic drivers also become engrossed in a cell while driving. And we will, and we have, elected the Antichrist of the ages to pillage and destroy everything in his path and now has the backing of a rather aggrieved party of nincompoops who will act accordingly to rape and pillage until it burns to the ground. There is no other out.
And now for the bad news. Well shortly.
Joe Biden for president 2028. 🤪🤪🤪😜😜😜😊😊😊👹👹👹 (Please subscribe to my blog at your peril, lol.)
Not to worry; the Trumpster has done the one thing that will unquestionably rouse Moron Nation to send him to the Dumpster: he's pissed off the athletic supporters by his MAGAstapo-accompanied invasion of Madison Square Garden, which does to the six-figure cost of Knicks vs. Spurs tickets exactly what he refuses to do to our skyrocketing inflation. (Though mark my word: he'll use the ducatic depression to name himself "god's champion inflation fighter," and on that basis campaign for a third term.)
New Yorkers are so pissed. I trust they will make that clear.
Real New Yorkers have wanted to Dumpster the Trumpster ever since he did to the Bonwit-Teller Building what he is now doing to the White House.
I've been thinking of that lately ever since I heard that he would attend the game. I would love to see both teams on the floor with a chosen player, given a microphone, when tRump walks in. The chosen player would lead the crowd in a simple and well-meant chant: "Get the f*&k out of our stadium; you're not welcome!! Imagine the optics of such a display. Both teams and 10,000 fans essentially yelling at this orange menace. I would pay to see that even on TV.
Count on it. With the price of tickets and to have to be inconvienced by his presence they will let him know in no uncertain terms.
I may need to take a metro north in to protest tomorrow l
Oops tonight no can do
He missed his son's wedding because of what he claimed was the call of duty and the burden of high office and yet the trouble in the Gulf is kicking off again big time yet he's off to watch sport and he's not going to miss his birthday UFC fight for anything short of a nuclear attack.
Here here.
Do you really believe he will live that long?
Just read Fahrenheit 451 for the first time and whelp..the comparisons. The anti-intellectualism, live streams and influencers, no front porches/lack of neighborly interactions, pervasive depression, the Hound (this is coming with Flock Drones.. pay attention to the multiplying Flock cameras in your town) and spoiler alert the Phoenix.
Trump seems to be getting on with the burning down bit but I suspect that he will leave it to others to do the rising from the ashes that he leaves behind him.
He will not resign
I can imagine a scene where the toddler takes a one way ticket to Russia, with a promise never to return, instead of jail. He would just say it is his choice bc we don't appreciate all his hard work.
Vlad would have some Polonium tea ready for him. No more Big Macs snd cokes
JD, I suspect Vlad would get him ready for a golden shower first, and then... The final insult.
He really thinks keeping track of slights and bullying is hard work. Just what parents teach their children…
Actually as the professor has pointed out it is 'You the People'.
Don’t forget religion! An acquaintance still believes the God sent Trump to lead us!
Forcibly removed? How would you propose to do that?
Impeachment? That takes 67% of the Senate to remove him. Not likely.
25th amendment? That takes 67% of both the House AND the Senate. Even less likely.
Assassination? Surely you jest.
Our system doesn't have a good way to remove someone politically from office once they are elected. It was planned that way, and for the most part (without crazy, insane people like Trump getting elected), it works.
I’m certain you’re right.
If anyone has Trump Derangement Syndrome, it’s tRump.
Not to mention also, his minions. I never could understand that term used against any one being anti tRump, and knowing that it was a perfect reflection of those supporting tRump.
good one!
Both of your statements are correct, but whether or not either is likely is a whole other matter.
If he goes down you know many others will need a life raft. So desperately committed to his gambit are they that they will do anything to keep him in office. Expect that they will prop him up in his Oval Office chair long after he is dead with Karoline Leavitt taking notes.
I do not understand why any honest news service such as Scott Pelley describes CBS as having been, continues to pollute the air waves by covering his cabinet meetings and staged public events, or by seeking to interview him. Why interview a madman ? Why did this Welker woman bother with this ? To sell more soap for her network ? He is obviously a completely untrustworthy source of information. And given that, the worst thing to do is to give him air time.
Rather, I think we should be paying more attention to what his underlings and courtiers are doing. They are the ones now running this show. In particular more attention should be paid to what Pete Hegseth did in France over the weekend, lining up with Trump's them versus us message by comparing the European migration problem of recent years with the Invasion of Normandy, thus placing himself and his master squarely in the Neo-Nazi camp.
And what dies JD Vance think about that. Where is he now ?
Tyler, I think showing the deteriorating out-of-control man is a public service. It’s the only way at least some of the undecideds can see reality. The stations that sane-wash-edit him down to a semi-human are all that many people see or hear. Bully for the ones that show the malignancy and narcissism! It’s kind of delicious: he feels praised by being on tv but is really being exposed as the emperor with no prefrontal cortex.
Reporting on him from a distance is easy. There is enough to commit him in his own "Truth Social" posts. For all those with ears to hear and eyes to see, his nature and condition are in display. But to satisfy his desire for attention by seeking to interview him or attend his staged press conferences and ask to be recognized for a question is of no value to any audience other than his cult followers. It only serves to feed his ego mania.
What is Trump gave a press conference and nobody came ? Or spoke other than him ? News is entertainment. Its addictive. With each new outrageous claim to our attention, he gets ahead by feeding habit. And we, his audience, and our news service providers, are his principal enablers.
Exactly. His admin and esp potus, they all crave air time. Don't give it to them. Even better, next time he gives a bs answer and starts name calling, stand up, turn your backs to him, and walk away.
Well Tyler, I can think of 2 possible reasons his underlings and couriers aren’t speaking. The first reason is #47 probably won’t let them and the second is that while they do support him it is primarily out of fear, fear that they will lose their jobs of perceived power. If they are actually on the record showing their undying support they lose the excuse of having undeniable culpability.
Propping up a dead POTUS#47 to ‘continue’ is the plot of the movie “Waking Ned Devine” when ‘the town’ pretended Ned was still alive to cash in his winning lottery ticket. The ‘stakes’ are way bigger if 🍔🍔🍔 finally get Trump, so, they (GOP) could try it! 🤪
I saw a film yesterday called, "White with Fear" and in it twere several video clips of Stephen Miller from high school onward -- the dynamic of the crazed Trump/Miller duo is inextricably bound; I'm not qualified to provide the medical terms. And prophetic Wajahat Ali (Left Hook Substack) was in there making sense of it all around the time of 9/11. Racism is being cultivated, hatred entwined with fear -- if Trump resigned now, it would accelerate something but the torment we're all living through now is providing time for people with lawful, moral, values that want creature and planetary thriving needs this time to build. Link: https://www.pbs.org/show/white-with-fear/
He's not going to resign. Watch the tape of the interview. Resignation requires rational thought. The tape reveals a person so self-indulged, so uncompromising, that quitting becomes untenable. This makes him even more dangerous. Watch the tape! It exposes many of his personality disorders: arrested development, pathological lying, delusional perception, more. Trump's a mess; he can't allow himself to resign.
He needs to be jailed, not impeached, as the miserable felon he is!
It won't. Vance will take over.
The entire GOP has become neofascist. That means: they sincerely, genuinely believe that fascism is better than democracy and that they are called to turn the US into a neofascist state.
When oh when will people ever wake up... ?
He doesn't resign. He has to die. Then we the people will PARTY!
Just like the good ol' Green Day song.
Haha you're dead and I'm so happy. In loving memory of your dead life. When your ship is going down, I'll go out and paint the town.
Ha ha your dead, haha you're dead haha you're dead.
.....I wait with baited breath.
If he resigns we still have Vance, Miller, Voight, Todd Blanche and their handlers: Thiel, Musk, The Heritage Foundation/Project 25 & 26, The Federalist Society, the corrupt 6 on the Supreme Court, the billionaires investing in the end of Democracy/rule of law. We still have the corrupt MAGA party ( formerly Republican), the freed and armed J6ers, the 20% who voted for all this and the millions who didn’t vote.
MJ, he will not resign. I would like to see a natural solution, preferably in public, so we know it has happened.
Impeachment is a waste of time. As long as the Senate still has 34 or more GOP Senators, there will be no conviction and thus nothing will change.
But the only way for the departure of trumpy is if he takes all of his regime with him. No matter how it happens if old fat going bald trumpy doesn't live long enough to have to face the consequences of his crimes even if dead it'll be terrible. But to go and leave us with the likes of jd couch-lover or any "war" department/or any of the trumpy administration would equally be bad. Impeach? Oh, yes. 25th Admendment? Sure. But only if they all go at the same moment.
Just for you or for all of us?
MJ. I find it useful whenever anybody posits a desired action to ask the question: "And then what?" Chess, not checkers.
But, I like that you specified two of the worst ones.
Bravo, Heather, for once again turning the daily muck and slime of the Trump administration into something readable. With the Dems and the courts seemingly unable to hold the line, keeping up with events feels less like following politics and more like bashing one’s head repeatedly with a plank of wood. What I find most draining is the constant assault on values I naïvely assumed had already won the argument decades ago.
You and me both, Kazz!
I've never felt such rage at the stupidity of my fellow Americans and the need to self-flagellate in stark unison every before!!!
I hear you Daniel! As we’ve now learned, this takedown has been decades in the making, but the mind boggles at how tightly it’s been sewn up. Still, you don’t have to look very far to see non-mandatory voting, the electoral college, the non-expansion of the Supreme Court and bought elections as the Four Horseman of The Apocalypse.
Now on that, along with so many other things over the years, we agree on Daniel. I would have 'never' in a million years - ever dreamed or imagined there were so many actually 'stupid' fellow Americans; Even considering the odds and statistical factors accountable. Honestly my fellow traveler that includes many that would fall into categories including academics. Consider that even right now, in this most perilous of times / moments, we have journalists, legal minds, history knowledgeable - even credendentialed - all making / repeating mistakes that were already made throughout history, shivering in fear awaiting someone - anyone to arrive and save them. Oh... some are 'reporting' , cataloging - all the while charging tolls (subscriptions too_) for their alarming reporting; Fabulous capitalists that they are - why wouldn't they ? Thought leaders that they consider themselves, they must be entitled compensation. Yet, is their audience big enough to actually make the difference that it should, especially considering their 'leadership model' ? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the merchants, propertied, old money and otherwise more privileged of their day do this very thing ? Concoct yards and yards of flowery words about liberty and freedom and encourage the "rabble" to take arms for them - in some cases 'with' them. Did not this illuminated minority, conclude among themselves that they had to do something (perhaps even lie to the rabble ?), stating in words recorded - paraphrased of course, "We stick together, lest we hang separately." There are no shortages of disconnects and contradictions don't you think ?
Paragraphs are your friend, D4N.
🤣 OMG ICTT. Hilarious.
Laughter is the best medicine. (Readers Digest about a million times.)
I sometimes believe that humor is one of the only things that has kept me alive these past 9 years or so. It has certainly helped and feels better than 'eff its.
Thanks, ICTT. I started, and I really wanted to finish, but I just couldn't, so I bailed.
Have at it Dale; I laugh at myself frequently.
Do you really think so ICTT ; Or are we laughing at (with) each other ? *It was very late; I'll drift back and reread.
Kazz, follow Sheldon Whitehouse if you want some positive news how they are trying, and in some cases, holding the line. The name is coming off the Kennedy centre is one win. I hope the next win is tanking the IRS granting of immunity to him and his family.
It had until showed up with Project 2025. I’m not sure who I hate more, Trump or Miller. Evil , abhorrent men.
Judy, you can hate them equally, as I do. You can also hate the document, but while you're at it, hate the author: Russell Vought.
There's a list of 'them' that you refer to Dale. Why leave out Bork ? He's not your cousin or something is he ?
Fascinating that Trump is using the pre-emptive strike rationale to attack Iran, invoked by Vice President Cheney et al. in 2002-03 *against Iraq, of "even a one per cent chance" to wage war.😱
Maybe Humpty Trumpty will have a great fall and no amount of nazis will be able to put him back together again.
"Humpty Trumpty"!!
I love it! I may have to use this sans attribution, Noreen!
Scrambled Trump.
My husband said last week that Trump looks like a Weeble.
My God! He's right! Perfect!
But they don't fall down.
“Humpty Trumpty” absolutely love this ..
I thought it was "Scumpty Trumpty. . ."
"But, all the Kings' horses [asses] cannot put ...".
Noreen, if you are a US citizen or have US residency, would you please read my piece explaining the Free Speech for People campaign to impeach Trump AND his cabinet and help them get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
If you can't find the link to the petition in the above piece, here it is. Just scroll down and you will find it. https://www.impeachtrumpagain.org/
Done
Done, and with a donation.
Mr. Trump is unfortunately used by profit seeking enablers who are taking advantage of his mental problem.
Don't sell Trump short. He has made plenty of deals all on his own. Never forget-- Trump is an oligarch. HIs cabinet are mostly oligarchs and just as dangerously -- sycophants. The owners and CEOs of CBS, Paramount, NY Times, WAPO are also oligarchs.
NO MORE BILLIONAIRES. Just look at how well Trump's mentor Putin (obviously an oligarch) is doing in his war, er, special military operation is Ukraine.
1/3 of the groceries sold in the US by price are sold at Walmart. The richest family in the world are Sam Walton heirs. Some of them have donated trinkets to various charities, but most of them do nothing that adds value to the economy except for holding their stock and wealth. Trickle down economics is what the Republicans have called it since Reagan.
It never works. As Krugman pointed out last week, the very richest oligarch own over 24% of the value of the American stock market. The reason the stock market is such a good investment right now is they are manipulating the market artificially propping it up.
Nobody needs or should have more than $100 million. Or pick another number. $500 million? When does it become obscene?
When fellow citizens are hungry or malnourished, homeless, lack medical care, kids under educated - hoarding capital that could solve those problems (easily) is immoral. And should be criminalized.
And yet, I read that Grimes County, Texas is giving Elon Musk a 35-year, 100-percent tax abatement for a massive development project. WHY??? Screw the taxpayers. 😡
Musk made his fortune mostly in alternative energy, yet Trump is attempting to kill the entire industry, which is the chief competiton for Big Oil.
Reportedly Musk is using "dark energy" which is actually natural gas power plants operated off the grid SpaceX, Tesla, and Intel have formed a joint venture to build a massive $55 billion semiconductor factory called "Terafab" in Grimes County, (outside Houston), which could be the prototype for his other operations.
The primary goal of these new chip architectures is extreme energy efficiency. By producing highly optimized custom hardware locally in Texas, Musk aims to drastically cut down the electricity required per AI calculation compared to off-the-shelf components.
SpaceX recently disclosed in financial filings that it is spending over $2.8 billion on natural gas turbines over the next three years.
Beyond the massive Terafab semiconductor project in Grimes County, Musk operates three active, physical computing hubs across Texas.
Nationally, Musk has concentrated his heavy computing clusters into distinct, heavy-industry properties:Memphis, Tennessee (Colossus 1 & 2): Located at 3231 Riverport Road (Colossus 1) and 5400 Tulane Road (Colossus 2), this is Musk's flagship AI supercluster. Occupying a massive 1-million-square-foot former manufacturing facility, this site functions as the main training engine for xAI's Grok models.Southaven, Mississippi (MACROHARDRR): Located at 2400 Stateline Road West, this massive $20 billion facility sits just across the Tennessee state line. It is built explicitly as the third pillar of Musk's "Greater Memphis" computing footprint to bypass power caps on the Tennessee side.Sparks, Nevada (Gigafactory 1): Tesla operates internal high-performance computing clusters directly inside its Nevada battery plant. These are separate from vehicle training and focus on localized robotics automation, factory physics, and supply logistics.San Jose, California: Tesla operates an older, foundational Dojo Supercomputer cluster out of its dedicated engineering hub in Silicon Valley.Sacramento, California: Tesla moved massive hardware clusters into an NTT Global Data Centers facility in Sacramento. This computing space was heavily taken over by Tesla after Musk exited X Corp's (Twitter's) historical data hub in the same city to cut costs.Atlanta, Georgia: X Corp (Twitter) and xAI maintain active infrastructure deployments through regional colocation facilities in Atlanta to manage localized web traffic and regional AI operations.If you are tracking how these sites get their energy, would you like details on how the Southaven MACROHARDRR site scales its power compared to Austin, or the cooling technology required to run these clusters?The GuardianElon Musk’s xAI datacenter generating extra electricity illegally, ...
Musk believes he does not need to follow the rules and regulations of mere mortals like us... including environmental regulations. I don't have the time to get into all the details, but I'm sure you can look it up.
He wants SpaceX to be valued at close to 2 trillion dollars yet it lost $5bn last year and $4bn in the first three months of this year. NASA also awarded Bezos's Blue Origin, ahead of SpaceX, the contract for the first uncrewed mssion to the moon as part of the plan to set up a moonbase.
It's the same reason why multimillionaire owners of ball clubs push their way into a city government and demand a new stadium. It's all about the money... that is, all about the money in their pockets.
Many of the big dollar philanthropists lie Mackenzie Scott and Melinda Gates agree with you. One of the problems with become uber wealthy is you can't give it away fast enough. Just ask Mackenzie who has given away billions and yet keeps getting richer. If she just invested in T-Bills she would have to give away almost 1 billion every year just to break even.
I'd be glad to help them with distribution ideas. I'd probably start with school systems and regional hospitals (public or truly non profit). Women's health clinics, senior home care. Give me a shot at it :)
Unless you believe that “those poor and sick people” should die off and be gone from society.
This will end when the oligarchs decide that Trump is so erratic that he is no longer capable of implementing their Project 2025 plans. It looks like he is at that point, and a disappointing showing for his Freedom 250 rally and his 80th birthday party UFC fight card will push him over the edge.
Would anyone question a heart attack or stroke during a major tantrum? I am sure Putin wouldn't.
We all know that JD Vance will assume the presidency. He was chosen for his loyalty to Thiel and the other oligarchs, and he will complete the implementation of the Project 2025 plans. No election required.
Step One: End the war with Iran, using Putin as the intermediary, and get the Strait of Hormuz open to bring oil prices down. Reward Putin with removal of sanctions. Demonstrate a willingness to back the promise to keep America out of foreign wars.
Step Two: Withdraw from NATO and veto aid to Ukraine. Demonstrate America First creds. More good news for Putin.
Step Three: Open the Epstein Files and flush out the pedos. Assume the mantle of a "good God-fearing Christian family man" and implement the White Christian Nationalist agenda.
Step Four: Install his own team of efficient, effective oligarch loyalists, clones of Miller and Vought, to implement the rest of the agenda, ousting Trump's incompetent, corrupt cronies. Clean House so that there is no one left for the Democrats to impeach. What will Democrats campaign on if Trump is gone? Vance and the oligarchs would bet on prgoresive/centrist fracturing and purity tests.
Step Five: Use the ballooning national debt under Trump to avoid implementing government reform/restitution.
Step Six: Blame the state of the economy on Trump's poor decision-making because of his failing health and bad advice. Use the phrase "I warned him about..." a lot.
Step Seven: Go all in on pursuing election interference investigations. Find "evidence" to justify instituting voting integrity (suppression) measures. This is last because he needs to build up his creds as a rational leader responding to the will of the people first.
In my opinion, this is the best play the oligarchs have . If Trump is still around in 2028, the risk is too large that Democrats could win control the presidency and Congress. This way they minimize that risk, and give Vance a window to look like a rational actor while putting the voter suppression moves in place. Yes, he is a sleaze and lacks charisma, but he will be backed by a shit ton of money and a highly motivated cadre of oligarchs who have a lot personally on the line. Moreover, they know Vance will be loyal to them.
The question is, "Will the loyalty and effectiveness of a tightly stage-managed Vance to the oligarchs outweigh the loyalty of the MAGA base to an ineffective and erratic Trump?"
Georgia,
I hate that I just "liked" your comment. What I mean is that I think it is spot on and quite likely. My only "but" is this:
47 had a type of charisma that led people to support him regardless what he did. He had that "Je ne sais quois" that made people love him, trust him, adore him. Vance? Meh.
Just "looking on the bright side of life" here. Without 47's secret power, the fear and intimidation factor fades away. And there will be more Massies in Congress who will spoil the Oligarchal Party.
That being said, I think you see reality better than most of us on these boards. So I have a follow-up question: Much of what has happened to the US via Trump has been Putin influenced. What do you think Vance's orientation is re: allowing a Russian oligarch to pull strings in this country? Is the oligarch club borderless? Or is there an ounce of real patriotism in Vance's bloodstream?
Vance has no sense of patriotism. He has clearly gone all in on the spheres-of-influence worldview, with Putin as the power in Europe, the US ruling the Western Hemisphere, and China controlling all of Asia. That was evident in his remarks at every European conference he has attended, in his support for Orban, and in his verbatim quotes from the National Security Strategy document. He will have Putin and Xi’s full support.
Trump’s “je ne sais quoi” is well understood, not a mystery. He tapped into grievance. Vance has enough of a backstory to generate a customized version. He will be all in on anti-immigrant rhetoric, the return to paternalistic family structures, and anti-LGBTQ+ culture wars. Scott Bessent will be sacrificed. The marginalization of Blacks in America will continue with a vengeance with the full support of SCOTUS.
Vance may be perceived as meh now, but in 12 months, I can easily see a synthetic AI Vance created by his AI bros that would be crafted to win over the MAGA base and independents. We will be in the land of Oz, not with a ruler who is a voice behind a curtain, but with one behind an avatar on a screen, nearly impossible to distinguish, not a cartoon character like the ones Trump posts. The proof of the “domestic terrorism threats” will also be simulated. The obviously fake Trump posts are to get the base to think they can tell what is real from what is fake. In 12 months, it will be far harder at the current rate of AI capability growth. I think that is being badly underestimated as an influencing factor by the pundits, especially the Democratic ones.
The only challenge I see to Vance getting the 2028 nomination, if he becomes the incumbent sooner, is Rubio. But Vance has the inside track with the oligarchs, so I think that has a low probability.
Georgia-Thanks for your important insights. You remind us that while we bash Trump, there’s a lot more going on behind the scenes.
When he says “they” don’t want me to say it’s a war, it behooves us to pay more attention to who “they” are and everything “they” are doing to undermine democracy. Trump is just the shiny object that signs documents and keeps everyone focused on his absurd hate speech and behavior.
Our history shows us that America has always had oligarchs steering the government. T. Thomas Fortune (1856-1928), a formerly enslaved African American who became a journalist and newspaper owner, declared that America has always had “Kings-King Cotton, King Corporation, King Monopoly and all the other Kings of modern growth”.
Even in his day he noted how “usurping” land, engaging in “military despotism” and gaining “presumptuous wealth accumulated by robbery, hypocrisy and insidious assassination” lead us to tyranny.
As you’ve revealed, we all need to think more about “they” because Trump is doing the bidding not just for himself, but for so many more greedy people who are pillaging our tax dollars, dismissing morality, dividing us and dismantling a government that is supposed to be based on “we the people” and not “we the wealthy”.
I remember Trump saying this is their “last chance” to impose their agenda. It’s up to us to make sure that “they” don’t succeed.
I agree 100%. For foreign policy “they” is Putin and Bibi and Xi. For domestic policy it is Miller and Vought representing the Heritage Foundation, and the tech bros and titans of industry who are buying their influence with “donations.” It certainly isn’t Congress.
Trump is transparent about being influenced by Putin, Bibi, and the oligarchs whispering in his ear. He has always been openly soliciting bribes in exchange for policy decisions. But then he gets aggrieved when the influence is called out, and he has his rage tantrums, claiming he is in control. He just looks pathetic now that he is being ignored, whether it’s his birthday party invitations or his pleas to Bibi to stop the bombing. For him to still be useful to his puppeteers, he has to be able to maintain the illusion of strength, but as his health fails, he can’t keep up the pretense. So I think he will be out of office before 2028.
I don’t think the bros will be worried about Vance needing to wait until after the midterms so he can get re-elected. Vance was bought when Thiel bankrolled his Senate race, so he will do as he is told. I think there is a fair likelihood that if he plays his part well enough, SCOTUS will be influenced to declare that term limits on the presidency are unconstitutional using a strict originalist interpretation.
Rubio is neck-and-neck with Vance in Republican circles following Vance's failed missions to Islamabad and Budapest (while he was there, Rubio joined Trump at a UFC fight in Miami and by most accounts Rubio spends most of his time at the White House rather than the State Department).
I read that Trump recently touted a Vance/Rubio ticket which he claimed would be unbeatable at the next general election. He obviously has doubts about the credentials of either man to appease the MAGA hordes (which dwindle by the day). Some analysts suspect that Trump is just calculating the best way of maintaining his vice-like grip on the Republican party after he has left office in his usual transactional way. In any event, I don't see either as a natural successor to Trump.
I don’t think Trump is the decision-maker. He is the frontman who is rapidly devolving. His loss of control is becoming a major liability. Rubio may have a shot at being Trump’s successor if Vance screws up, but Vance already has the deep bro connections,and he owes them a big debt, so he is more likely to stay in line. He has the inside track.
Trump is pissing on Vance because he enjoys the chaos, and it lets him indulge his fantasy of being in control, but at some level, he is fearful that his days are numbered. Hence the numerous remarks about whether he will get into heaven…
Bill, I think Georgia's analysis is spot-on. I would add that the oligarchs are creating an environment where "the will of the people" is irrelevant. Thus, it doesn't matter whether Vance has any public appeal. He is a useful tool to those with the real power.
I suspect, however, that the oligarchs will prop up Donald until after January 20, 2027, which marks the halfway point of his final term. That allows Vance to complete Donald's term and still run for two more terms, according to the Constitution. Ten years is plenty of time to completely destroy the Constitution and move on to the new theocratic oligarchy.
Maybe a better way to put it, rather than real patriotism, is there a lack of magnetic attraction to (and fear of) all things Putin in Vance, unlike trump.
Wasn't it clear almost from the outset that Trump would not be able to successfully deliver on the ambitious plans of the Heritage Foundation? He doesn't know what's in those plans and he doesn't care. Right now, he seems to be focusing on a limited number of things: his legacy, through his various vanity projects in lieu of any actual policy achievements; his own and his family's enrichment using the office of the presidency; and his vicious retribution campaign against all who oppose him or who successfully indcited him for his many crimes. Everything else is just a bother for him and Project 2025 doesn't even get a look-in.
You are right about what Trump is focusing on, But behind the scenes, much of the Project 2025 wish list has already been implemented. I recall someone tallied up what had been accomplished at the one year mark of 47’s tenure and it was something over 50%.
Found it!
The Center for Progressive Reform’s “Project 2025 Executive Action Tracker” finds that the administration has initiated or completed about 53 percent of the domestic administrative actions it tracks (283 of 532 recommendations) as of February 2026.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-much-of-project-2025-has-trump-enacted
Georgia, do you know why Thiel moved to Argentina?
Debbie, I had said to my husband and daughter during Trump's 2016 election bid that he and Melania were a deep cover Russian spy couple, but at first I said that she was a deep cover Russian spy tasked with getting close to an American businessman that could conceivably end up in the White House, where he would then be manipulated to make chaos of the US. Sometimes I would say he was the deep cover spy, and sometimes I would say they were as a couple. My husband and daughter would tell me I read too many spy books. Importantly I read a book on the East German secret police and their reign, and learned a lot about how they thought and how things were done. I also read some other spy books, because it interests me. So, I was saying this tongue is cheek, but here we go. Trump sounds like a Russian agent aka diplomat. This aspect of him endangers the US more than anything.
Prior to his running for president I had not paid much attention to Trump other than to see at most 5 minutes of his horrid reality show, The Apprentice. It was enough to tell me that no one should want to work for him or put up with him. Yet, here we are, in the midst of a second Trump presidency. The chaos that everyone is experiencing is characteristic of being around him and everything he does, and yet some seem to have forgotten how horrid the chaos was during Covid. Now we are in a never ending series of wars which is chaotic and awful too. Everything lowers our quality of life.
Linda,
I have read your comments and observations for years - with deep respect. I think your suspicions are founded in obvious facts.
The war on Iran benefits Putin by raising oil prices - Russia's only serious income stream.
47 recently lifted sanctions on Russian oil. A life line to an enemy.
47 greeted Putin in Alaska with a red carpet. He demeaned Zelenskyy in the White House.
47's companies have been bailed out by Russian real estate investments more than once (explained by his sons).
Have you followed Elizabeth Graham? From Democracy to Democrazy?
Republican Senate investigation finds Russia definitely interfered with the 2016 election. 47 met with Putin in Helsinki and sided with Putin - saying he believed him over his own intelligence agencies. Putin had a shit eating grin. There is no record, no notes of their private meetings that day.
What more does a thinking person need - to see that 47 is either being blackmailed or is a willing tool of Putin?
When 47 says to Kristen Welker "YOUR country..." instead of ours, doesn't that sound like a projection from a compromised president?
And now you have me thinking about Melania. And why she would stay with such a horrid husband. I always thought it was the money. Maybe it's the money and a mission.Think about it. A penniless "model"/escort" gets to live in luxury and be eye candy as well as "eyes" for the enemy.
Perhaps one of the best TV series I have ever seen was "The Americans". I firmly believe that the "Cold War" on America never ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Linda, I think your analysis is very close to accurate. However, I would change one word in reference to Donald. Rather than a spy, he is an asset. Based on his niece's writings and ongoing commentary, Donald doesn't have the mental wattage to be an actual spy. He is more a useful tool than an operative. The Kremlin would have identified him through his business dealings with Bratva-controlled firms in the NYC area.
Melania is a different story. She's not learning disabled, and is in fact, shrewd. Her meeting Donald seems more than coincidental. They were introduced by Paolo Zampolli, who is a friend of Jeffrey Epstein, who was a friend of both Donald and Vladimir. That's a lot less than 6 degrees of separation.
Nancy Pelosi was right when she stood over Donald and said, "With you, all roads lead to Putin."
In the same vein, I have wondered if Ivana was a spy. She was from Czechoslovakia which shared a border with the former Soviet Union, so it would have been convenient for KGB to recruit her. Donald may have thrown the Kremlin a curve ball when he chucked the aging Ivana in favor of Marla Maples. The Russians then regained control when they sent in Melania.
Linda, my curiosity was heightened in this regard because of the wide or large numbers of individuals involved in “trumpelthinskin’s” [Source:trumpelthinskin.com] first campaign, who had made trips to Russia and/or who had some connections with Putin, (or someone close to him) Orban or to both of them!.
Per ABC News June 7, 2026, 10:02 PM not the dying CBS legacy, the "Public Integrity Lawsuit " ... says it seeks to stop 'deeply corrupt' UFC event at White House. The filing asks a federal judge to declare the June 14 event unlawful."
The Pleadings put at issue:
* “The President is giving [Dana] White and his company what none have enjoyed before: unfettered access to the White House and Lincoln Memorial to stage a private, for-profit sports event, with all the promotional and branding opportunities that accompany such access” .
* Calling the event “deeply corrupt,” the lawsuit alleged that the Trump administration improperly used a temporary rule for “America 250” to bypass the permitting requirements normally required to host events on National Park Service land. They argue that because the event is being organized by a private entity, not the federal government, and is not explicitly “for the celebration of the 250th anniversary of American Independence,” the fight does not qualify for that temporary rule.
A TRO is in the works to stop the Trump's "irreparable harm".
One of my pet peeves for as long as I can remember is to see/read something like this: TRO…with the assumption that [many, most, all] people (readers) would know that it represents or refers to a “temporary restraining order”—a big assumption on my part?
"TROs are quite common in Federal Court these days because a certain individual & his co-conspirators need to be restrained.
Or just ask or Google SKYE PERRYMAN. She is very god at TRO's. Or Democracy Docket attorneys. TRO's are popular with Federal Judges despite the rigorous evidentiary requirements.
TRUE, I wish we had "TJT". That's Temporary Jail Time (TJT) until conviction. Or make that DJT TJT. Orange Jump suits could be provided to match hair color.
We know what TRO stands for -- we've had lots of training during Trump I and II. Unfortunately.
The fury in his face was really something.
And as I watched the interview with Welker I commented to my husband "Trump looks terrible..."
when he got so furious I felt we were seeing the real man - and it is not a pretty picture.
Did anyone catch the fact that he dropped his mic and then STEPPED on it on his way out?!
BONE SPURS…Y’All
Many times I have heard Republican women swoon over Donald Trump's physical appearance. And now he is just a fat, wrinkled, balding, demented old man who still thinks he can grab women wherever he wants and they will allow it.
Is this still happening?
I have never been able to understand how anyone would find Donald physically attractive, even when he was younger and more trim. Every time I see that video clip of him making lewd remarks to Epstein at the party, I am dumbfounded by his penciled-in eyebrows. How could anyone look at that clown-face and rat's-nest hair, and think, "What a stud!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLcfpU2cubo
🤮
They share his dysmorphia.
You could have turned off the sound and watched his face and still come to the conclusion that his brain is melting.
My anger at the Republicon party grows every day. My frustration with the Democratic party grows every day. My distain for those who support Trump has never been higher. We're all victims of this abuse. I protest every chance I get, I call my congressional representatives weekly, and I'm tired.
It's because both parties rely on Oligarch Funding, which means they are beholden to their money and hence, ideas.
I agree. I will be voting for an unknown for congress in the primary because the current democratic congresswoman (Sarah Elfreth) has accepted $5 million from AIPAC. Unacceptable!
The People’s House Presents: Democracy SmackDown
At last, the White House has discovered its highest constitutional purpose: a birthday cage fight with a business plan.
For generations, Americans foolishly imagined the Executive Mansion as a place for diplomacy, public service, and the occasional awkward turkey pardon. Now, thanks to visionary leadership, it can finally become what history always lacked: a luxury backdrop for men in shorts punching one another while corporate logos shimmer beside the Lincoln Memorial.
The ceremonial weigh-ins are reportedly planned for the memorial itself, because nothing honors the man who preserved the Union quite like two fighters flexing, snarling, and discussing hydration cuts beneath his marble gaze. Then come the Oval Office walkouts, allowing contestants to emerge from the seat of executive power as if entering a casino arena sponsored by an energy drink. The lawsuit says fighters are expected to use the Lincoln Memorial, Oval Office, and a structure near the Executive Residence as part of the event.
Critics call the arrangement corrupt. Such negativity. This is a public-private partnership at its most muscular. The government supplies the monuments, security, history, prestige, and taxpayer-funded infrastructure. The private company supplies the profits. Everyone contributes according to ability and receives according to proximity to the president.
Trump reportedly owns between $15,000 and $50,000 in stock in UFC parent company TKO Holding Group, but surely that is merely patriotic diversification. George Washington owned farmland. Thomas Jefferson owned books. Donald Trump owns a financial interest in the company turning the White House lawn into Fight Night.
Perhaps Congress can improve the program. Cabinet disputes could be settled in the octagon. Budget negotiations could become pay-per-view. The Secretary of Defense could enter through the East Wing while “America First” blasts from government speakers.
The republic may be battered, bleeding, and staggering against the fence, but at least the branding opportunities are tremendous. After all, democracy was always missing one thing: a VIP section.
Thomas Jefferson owned slaves and Pete Hegseth owns glistening, muscular privates (pun intended). Trump owns everyone who falls for his grifts, and Putin owns Trump.
appreciate your tongue-in-cheek!
Mr. Trump and the Republicans have hurt everyone they have touched, except elite rich white men. They have enriched Trump, his family, themselves (the Republicans), and the already filthy rich elite white men.
Here is just one example of their destruction of the world:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/07/world/middleeast/iranians-despair-war-economy-inflation.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20260608&instance_id=176837&nl=today%27s-headlines®i_id=32882287&segment_id=221122&user_id=bdfcc370575e260f3ab7a0500f00b667
I can never forget Trump and his evil crew swore to help free Iranians opposed to their oppressive government. They have left them a destroyed economy and war. They have left us with a destroyed economy and war.
It was the same with Venezuela. He happily accepted the gift of Maria Corina Machado's Nobel Peace Prize and then promptly left her in the dark while he does business with the same crooked Maduro regime. People will never learn that Trump is an unreliable ally.
I am working on trying to be positive here. I am hoping people learn slowly that Trump is unreliable on all levels really, but they learn.
And, so.....Trump and Brendan Carr will do all the can to facilitate the de-fanging of CNN so that it can follow in the sorry foot-steps of CBS
Is malignant narcissism contagious? Don't panic -- I know it isn't. At the same time, it's impossible to ignore the extent to which Trump has reflected and encouraged a sort of narcissism in the American character: the "we are the greatest" bravado coupled with isolationism. Remember the shock of 9/11, when many of us realized that the U.S. wasn't as isolated as we thought? At the moment, Trump's tariffs fiasco is reminding many that the American economy isn't isolated from the rest of the world either, "entire of itself," as John Donne wrote. Trump isn't capable of learning from experience, and here's hoping that most of the rest of us are.
Actually, it is contagious. Dr. Bandy Lee and a group of forensic psychologists have done a study and published a report that shows extreme authoritarianism is contagious, and addictive... one of the symptoms is narcissism. The stronger the peer pressure, the more addictive it becomes, which is how you get the extreme opinions and violence of the KKK, the drug cartels, the Proud Boys, etc.
If your membership in your social circle, your business circle, your club or family depends on you playing along, there is very little that will dissuade you.
This is useful info -- and it makes sense. Most of us humans tend to go along with the herd. At first we may tell ourselves that we're "going along to get along" but after a while it often becomes who we are. The Milgram experiments of the early 1960s, about obedience to authority, shocked people at the time, but they didn't shock me as a young person studying them a few years later, and they don't shock me now.
It may not be contagious but it is hard to live with!
Not unlike an active alcoholic! Which recalls a phrase sometimes heard in recovery circles: "terminally unique." A pretty good synonym for "narcissist."
For all to see
May his Knicks appearance elicit all the boos that a pissed-off New York audience will be delighted to provide.
Oh yes, he will be booed to the rafters. But he will spoil the game just by being there.
I'm not sure he will show knowing what is coming. He's been forced to leave other sporting events when the boos won't stop. And this is NYC and the Knicks. I'm sure it will end well for Trump. /S
Mamdani was asked if he would attend Game 3 with Trump by TMZ. He coyly said he wouldn't.
https://www.tmz.com/2026/05/28/mamdani-wont-sit-with-trump-at-nba-finals/
Go Knicks fans! We're with you!
Don’t forget the price of those tickets. Think the average Trump hating Joe is sitting in those seats?
I’m guessing it’ll be filled mostly with his rich, corrupted cronies.
I don’t think he cares about getting booed. Why? Because it means he is still the center of attention and that’s what he really wants. Attention is his oxygen. Don’t give it to him and he suffocates. Best thing for fans to do is get up, take their bathroom break, visit the concession stands, etc. Nothing to see at all court side.
Chris, Donald and P.T. Barnum share a common occupation. They are/were both money-grubbing promoters.
When Barnum was advised by an author that she was publishing a negative story about him, he replied, "Say anything you like about me, but spell my name right — P. T. B-a-r-n-u-m, P. T. Barnum."
Seriously? I've heard them boo their own team when things go south!
Yep, that is going to be a tough, tough crowd! I've seen that crowd boo non-stop some of the best teams or nicest players. So I think they will jeer "3-Card Monty Donny" out of the stadium, in his hometown.
I suspect his handlers will try to vet the audience as much as possible and, most likely, get MAGA sycophants to be a majority of the crowd.
They'd better bring a lot of cash!
Trump already stole a few billion from us. He can use that money to bring his MAGATs and block normal humans.
I was going to point that out. Also, the NBA is certainly willing to cut a deal with the president of the United States and his handlers.
I don't think that's gonna happen, Julius. Not enough time elapsed between Trump's statement and the game. If he's smart (I know, I know) he'll decide not to go,
This is Madison Square Garden. This is the Knicks. This is the championship.
Ha!
First of all, all true fans of Dr. Naismith's game outside the five boroughs are certainly rooting for the Spurs. The Knicks are a most unlikeable organization, owned by the slimy miscreant Dolan, supported by all NYC based hedge fund reprobates, putting forward the obnoxious and formerly talented Spike Lee for tomfoolery display, and now of course, supported by Despicable Don himself who seeks to envelop their sudden burst to glory for his own gargantuan ego.
I do like most of the Knick players, including but not limited to the cagey and crafty Jalen Brunson, the jack-knifing Josh Hart, the quicksilver smiling and shooting Mikael Bridges, and their coach, the former Laker HC Mike Brown as well.
Yet, they seem to inspire the worst of the stereotypical negatives of NYC, and the Spurs are both a better all around team, and also have in Victor Wembanyama, a combo Bill Russell and fluid young Lew Alcindor in a 7' 4" Gallic body, while most contrapuntally tossing in a bit of a fearless shooting guard's wanderlust, ala World B Free or that of a young Steph Curry.
How can anyone root against such a team, particularly when the worst person in the World is deliberately clogging up the environs around mid-Broadway even more than they might otherwise be, by his obnoxious presence?!?
Go Spurs!
As a true fan of Dr. Naismith's game from an area 180 miles north of NYC, I, too shall be rooting for the Spurs. Not out of bleed green loyalty but because I can't hate the Knicks' players, coach or the way they play the game. And I found KAT both articulate and generous in his post-Game 2 interview. Still, go Spurs!
GO NEW YORK, GO NEW YORK, GO!!!
New York sports fans are entitled and obnoxious.
Are you a New Yorker because I am and I disagree.
I went to college at the University of Maryland Colleger Park and there were several NYC residents of my dorm. They spent a LOT of time complaining about how much better everything was in NYC. I often wondered why they ever left their beloved city.
I went to UMCP as well and I am one of the NY fans who went there. Truthfully, I found the Washington football fans to be way more obnoxious. The fans of the NY teams that I associated with were not as you described.
Are you kidding ? The Knicks have been lousy for eons ! You are mistaking joyfulness for obnoxious behavior. Finally they are winning and we are loving it !
Wow! You don't even mention KAT. Nor do you mention the fact that the Spurs are in their infancy and the Knicks are teeming with experience. That's why they won two in SA. Your knowledge of b-ball is questionable (not to mention film!)
Au contraire, my hoops knowledge is not questionable. Not mentioning KAT is not tantamount to ignoring him, and he has certainly played up to his potential, something I fo not expect him to do throughout the Series. And yes, the slip of the Spurs' inexperience is showing.
Still, the Knicks' are playing over their head thus far, and I expect and hope that like a boxer stunned early, the Spurs will regroup and show their mettle tonight
You're dreaming! The Knicks playoff run is historic. 13 straight. "Over their heads?" Laughable! I don't even like the Knicks but get real!
What was that about getting "real", Brian?!?
One game? LOL! Ya, I was right about your hoops knowledge. Frankly, I hope it goes seven.
I can't tell you how pissed off NYers are. We don't take well to being shut out of our own celebrations. And, more than any other state, we have always hated him.
Fascinating that Trump is using the pre-emptive strike rationale to attack Iran, invoked by Vice President Cheney et al. in 2002-03 *against Iraq, of "even a one per cent chance" to wage war.😱
Ha! I should have scrolled down the comments before offering my own, which duplicate yours.
May he be booed so loudly, that the game cannot go on without his removal; could be a sign of his future removal from office.
I imagine a sleeping d[R]ump in the front row. Terrible for the country. Sardonically amusing of the narcissist. BOOOOOOOO! A distraction from the NBA Championship!
And as it turned out, he indeed should have brought a blanket and a teddy bear…
What America saw on Meet The Press today, June 7th, was the REAL trump!!
EVERYONE SHOULD WATCH IT!!!
trump WAS the angry, hateful, spiteful, frightened, disaster of his own making, TRUE WEAKLING that we ALL know trump REALLY IS!!
Just think..trump HAS EVERYTHING he has EVER wanted and is STILL MISERABLE!!
trump WILL take down the GOP with him... he's ALREADY on the way!
8647ASAP!!
He is miserable because, from the outside, we can say that he has everything anybody could ever want, but my surmise is that he's never wanted anything specific. He just always wants MORE. More of what? Not more of any thing--yes, more power, more money, more adulation, but because he always wants MORE, he never has enough, and he can never be satisfied. If he weren't so dangerous, we could dismiss him as being both despicable and pitiable. I don't have a suggestion for a solution, but I hope that someone will come up with a safe and humane way to reduce the danger to us all.
The personality of a raging alcoholic. One is too many, and a million isn’t enough. And it’s all your fault…
And, sadly, very doubtful he will seek Recovery. He is too insane to realize he is sick. But the really insane part is Congress, Senate, Justice, Military are insane too for not putting a stop to his insanity. That is the greatest insanity of all.
Yes, I. have said many times he is a dry drunk, meaning he does not drink and has all the isms of an alcoholic.
The "billionaire's disease".
Indeed. Trump is a member of the group that has acquired tremendous amounts of money, more than they or there families will ever need, yet they all strive fore more, more, and more. They are hooked on acquisition, and probably the potential power that comes with it. It seems that their hoarding of riches comes at a cost to the rest of us.
A very big cost according to HCR. I forget how many Trillion the public's pockets have been picked for the last 40-50 years. The middle class has been shrinking. People keep voting for it though.
Trump is a hollow shell of a human being. There's nothing but an ego searching for praise
Betsy, Donald doesn't know what he wants, but his niece does and so do I. Donald wants love. He grew up in a home – in a family – where there was no love. His parents were incapable of loving anyone. His mother was profoundly self-absorbed and his father substituted money for love. He actually paid his children salaries, as if they were employees.
All his life, Donald has tried to fill that gaping hole in his psyche with money, power, sex, adulation, and none of it satisfied. His marriages fell apart because they were based on money, privilege, and possibly espionage, not on love.
Dale-And then there’s the psyche of all of his supporters and enablers. They have some afflictions too.
Betsy-It’s not just him that wants more. There’s a line of “takers” who are just as greedy stealing tax dollars through lucrative contracts, loopholes and “deals” without accountability.
Missy Pissy Pants walked out of his big interview today. Him wuz mad. Lady reporter didn’t smile. Didn’t bat eyelashes. Didn’t heave with desire at invisible pumping concertina. Mean lady. She crooked lady. NBC bad people. Him not like questions. Mean, nasty, nasty people asking nasty, ugly questions. Elections crooked. Him go back to White House, console himself with burnt steak smothered in ketchup. And hamberder. waaaaah….! 😪🤧😭
Trump has many go to phrases which freeze the brains of his MAGAts. This use of phrases is a tool that autocrats have used for centuries - "fake news", "witch hunt", "people say they've never seen anything like it", "I won the 2020 election", "totally exonerated" etc. Once they hear these phrases, they don't consider any counter argument. They are all lies, but that's not the point. They point is absolute loyalty and adoration for the great leader.
So save your long winded arguments when your talking to MAGAts because Trump has them hypnotized.
Even total silence at the moment of his “appearance,” would be totally fine. And no one would be compromised.
Actually, "total silence" would be even better - trump doesn't care what attention he gets, as long as he gets attention. All he would hear in his head is people "cheering" him. And he'd boast about it later. Even if the y threw rocks, he'd say they were throwing flowers.
The flowers gave me my first laugh of the day. Thank you dear Lady Emsworth!
Lady Emsworth-He will also like the fact that he’s being a “disrupter”. Now everyone’s plans have to pivot to accommodate him as he tries to take the spotlight from the players and spectators.
Trump has only two personal assets. Zero conscience thus zero shame, and plenty of money, thus celebrity and clout. Somehow it's enough to make him a despot.
I was shocked when Trump called Welker "crooked" or "stupid." I shouldn't have been shocked because he had previously verbally abused women reporters. Remember calling a reporter, "piggy"?
We stopped watching Meet the Press shortly after Welker took over -- I found her questions too soft and was bothered by her lack of follow up -- but in this interview she brought both of those and I have renewed respect for her.
I share your thoughts about her previous behavior and the contrast of Sunday's interview.
Yes Lauriemcf. She did well. A change in 'reporter tactics' is needed to fake that juggernaut-mutant out. Suck him in GENTLY (yeah.., right by his nuts). Anticipate that he will employ his inimitable response(s). He's such a dickhead. Let him think he prevailed. It'll take some wicked-deviance on the reporters manner, but it can be done. The viewers 66% aren't dumb. The 33% are. The MAGAtts will have trouble accepting that their CIC has been 'buzzed', hahahahaaa.
No, you shouldn’t have been, indeed. 😜
Gloria, I wish the 'reporter" would fake this mutha f----ker out (and of course lose their job). Scott Pelley wouldn't get on his knees to enable his minders to put on the show. So Scott walked out the door on his own two feet. We however, are told he was "Fired" to make the "network" look good in Der Leeders eyes. That's how I see it.
Pot, kettle, black.
Donold wants to be like those powerful strongman leaders that he envies, maybe he even thinks of himself as a king. But he's just a faux king maniac and has always been a royal asshole...
Here's the MTP clip with Kristen Welker bravely interviewing, holding to account and asking difficult questions of the irate, combative, abusive, lying, demented deflector Donold:
https://substack.com/@aaronrupar/note/c-272138505?r=i06a&utm_source=notes-share-action&utm_medium=web
Fascinating that Trump is using the pre-emptive strike rationale to attack Iran, invoked by Vice President Cheney et al. in 2002-03 *against Iraq, of "even a one per cent chance" to wage war.😱
He wants to be the richest man in the cemetery and have the largest monument.
He has no cards..but the destruction will continue..how an absolute nobody can cause all this is dumbfounding.. what is it i’m missing here? How can anyone so small minded corrupt so many smart people? Can all these institutions be that weak? That afraid?
He's an absolute nobody backed and manipulated by a very powerful coalition of religious zealots, Confederate descendants, and billionaires. And they've been planning this coup in great detail since the sixties.
Arguably longer, but the plot really thickened with the election of Reagan.
Yeah, longer like since the Civil War?
I've been telling my husband for months that Trump and his Maga supporters are the revenge of the Confederacy!
Back to the caves I imagine. MLNBaSA (Make Life Nasty, Brutish, and Short Again!!!)
Alexandra-Wealthy people have been plotting since the beginning of this nation. They’ve set up and maintained our system to benefit them the most.
At this point in time we’re seeing more clearly the impact that they’re plotting and planning has had on our whole world.
the religious zealots are a big part of this!
If you take a hard look at the class structure in the southern states you find that those who toil in inhuman labor, the ones who’s backs are made of bone and who’s bodies are whip cords you begin to feel their pride as your own pride when you toil together. These are the same men being used again to do the dying. Somehow the bourgeoisie arises again riding the proletariat to ruin. Didn’t work in France. Didn’t work in Russia. Didn’t work here in America. But let’s do it again because we can.
You may have forgotten the Blue dogs, the white supremacists who have festered since the corporate colonies were founded. I had always thought this particular turn back the social and regulatory clock crowd really coalesced in the early 1930’s. But I’m beginning to think you’re right. Sure, the old guard is standing in there but this has something new, something old, something borrowed, something stole.
The defeat of Nixon was a major setback for the retrograde “olde guard”. Then, mysteriously we saw his rise along with ever more brazen corporate plundering across the nation. Finally, Nixon’s removal from office was the ultimate spur to deep reorganization on the ultra-right. That reversal was never to happen again. Their rising power manifested itself in the election of a B-grade Hollywood actor to the Presidency.
Sure, there’s the long history I mentioned, but now there was something new. A determined rejection of bipartisanship and a thrust for one party rule and only one party independent of any electorate.
He may have corrupted smart minded people but he’s preyed on the stupid who believe all his bullshit and put him in office - twice. They have no BS meter whatsoever and continue to think he’s the greatest. They’re as demented as he is. Sorry to be so judgemental but it’s the truth. Along with the racism card ! ! !
He preys on the weak, maybe as much as the stupid. Remember that before either 2.0 or even 1.0, he got Republicans to sign on and join up. They ALL knew who he was, but they all fell in line — from cringing, wormy little Lindsey to that pathetic bearded Pillsbury Doughboy from Texas, Cancun Cruz — right on down. Long before Kentucky Fried Voldemort refused to convict Trump 1.0…
Every time this wretched, greedy, prevaricating, pathetic sack of self-pitying shit shows his true colors, remember — he couldn’t have gotten there without the GOP’s original blessing. Bernie bros used to whine back in 2016 about Hillary’s “superdelegates” as though their very existence was some kind of moral outrage. But both parties have LONG had inner guardrails to stop the freaks, drunks, the unqualified, and the riff-raff from being nominated for President — until the Republicans — not the Democrats — destroyed their own guardrails that fateful year.
And look at what rough orange beast slouched into Bethlehem in 2016, waiting to be born…
And now "I think we are in rats' alley, where the deadmen lost their bones."
Not necessarily stupid, be surely unwise.
The racism card is his ace. It works well with a sizable majority.
He is destructive on his own but look at who props him up: billionaires who want to eliminate all restraints as they rape the environment, anti-democratic, often Christian, zealots, and people who just want someone to do their thinking for them. Many of them are smart, but smart without any ethical sense at all.
Power tends to corrupt. Who had the money and the power in the Confederacy? Who had the most to gain and the means by which to pursue it by slave-state secession?
The irony of the confederacy lay in convincing southern men they needed to do the dying part.
Yup. That may be the biggest irony of war in general. How many who died owned slaves themselves? How many were impoverished by competing with forced labor?
I believe he encourages ppl to be the worst version of themselves-which is far easier than to strive to improve or be better. Whatever is base, or ugly, or hate-filled, or perverted-he calls on the worst of humanity to follow his lead and assert itself.
It was a virtual summons to all the soft, white, creepy-crawly grub-like things to come oozing out the rotted wood within our society. Who else actually wants this WWF-fake gladiator spectacle on the White House grounds this June 14?
I think Freud would have a lot to say about Trump wanting partially naked men fighting in celebration of Trump's birthday.
As dementia disables Donald's filters one by one, I am convinced beyond any doubt that he is a closet case. The evidence is mounting.
Closeted homosexuals often marry women to hide their homosexuality. Philandering and serial marriages are a giveaway.
Virtually all of the most vocal homophobes are concealing a secret of their own.
Jeffrey Epstein was many things, including a sex addict. In images showing both Donald and Epstein, body language indicates that they were closer than just buddies.
Straight men don't check out other men's endowments in the locker room (Arnold Palmer). And if they do, they don't retain a mental image of it for years.
During several recent speeches, Donald has fawned over the physiques of other men. Straight men don't do that.
As you suggest, closeted men can indulge their fantasies by watching sweaty, scantily clad, muscular men engaging in pugilism.
Dale Rowett, oooo Intersting. Those closets are rage cages, yes? I’m almost always ‘suspicious’ of people who dislike(a delicate word for: avoid-despise-fear, rage against ) anyone who’s outwardly openly gay.
Notmenotmenotme…oh no never ever me.
One of my stunningly beautiful truly straight women friends said she dated 100 men. Lots of ‘gay men’ wanted her on their arm as an accessory. She finally married, had two children only to discover 18
plus years later her husband was really gay. By that time she’d already separated from him.
Another close friend, whom all the boys clustered around as we were growing up married a man whose older brother was gay. He made a point of clearly despising him. My friend had 4 children with him. His brother died of aids. He became deeply depressed as
life went on. It appeared he had had ‘an affair’ w another man…. and so it goes..There is still an enormous gap in our understanding that sexuality is often fluid. Apparently the indigenous people knew this long ago, and honored it. But most of us here, know this as we know how dangerous denial is.
And I’m sad to say that I believe it will take generations to undo or repair the damage wrought by this heinous man and his Nazi enablers.
a time-worn con, I believe.
Give Trump enough latitude and he will be feeding people to lions on the White House lawn.
He’s a god. At a minimum a Demi-god. At the very least a hero. His champions will humor the lower classes and take their minds off the fact that they are getting ripped. Bring in the Gladiators. All hail the Golden Hiney.👍 👎.
Now that's a nightmare. Alas, a reoccurring one.
Republicans are that afraid and weak, yes.
This is Trump's language of holding cards, doing deals and blowing people up: not a language of policies, serious diplomacy or care for human life. It's the language of market place haggling, smoke-filled back room gambling and cage fighting. How low can we sink?
It’s all his con. And he’s been at it his whole life. He’s never paid any price whatsoever, even as he destroys the United States with the consent of Republicans.
Trump ran away from Kirsten Welker. She stood up to him and the frightened old man ran away.
She would not let him make all the rules. No fair.
Did you notice too, when he tried to get out of the chair he wobbled and grabbed onto Welker, then made it look like he was patting her.
Every day, in every way, Trump is becoming more obviously insane. Yet millions of Americans think he is the best president since Lincoln.
One third of our electorate has done lost its collective mind.
It isn’t one-third now, even if it ever was. He is not liked — at all. The loony base is shrinking fast — think a sun about to go nova.
Ka-boom — and a bigly one at that — is coming.
If they knew more about Lincoln they'd bump him off the list pronto. Trump already thinks he's surpassing Lincoln, but has never quite said so directly.
Off-topic, but in a way it's not: Australia is mourning a hero today. Here's his story, and much of it is now in the past tense where his life's work and achievements are concerned.
Professor Richard Scolyer, the world-renowned Australian pathologist who successfully pioneered experimental combination immunotherapy for an aggressive glioblastoma, died in June 2026 at age 59. His groundbreaking treatment has directly inspired international clinical trials, including the U.S.-based GIANT study.While Professor Scolyer was an Australian researcher, his medical legacy intersects directly with the U.S. Biden Administration's health agenda through the Cancer Moonshot. The initiative, relaunched by the administration to accelerate global cancer cures—and deeply tied to the Biden family's personal experience with glioblastoma—serves as the macro umbrella driving these international clinical trial efforts.Here is how Scolyer's work and the U.S. administration's goals connect:The U.S.-Australia Cancer Moonshot Initiative: Launched by the U.S. Mission to Australia, this bilateral cooperative agreement was established to share research, data, and treatment breakthroughs. Scolyer's pioneering trial formed a major pillar of this collaboration.The GIANT Clinical Trial: Building directly on Scolyer’s experimental combination immunotherapy and personalized vaccines, the U.S.-based Phase 2 Trial of Glioblastoma Immunotherapy Advancement with Nivolumab and Relatlimab (GIANT) was launched to scientifically test these treatments across a larger cohort.Global Collaboration: Because the Biden administration's Cancer Moonshot explicitly aims to break down silos between international researchers, the U.S. and Australian academic consortiums are heavily sharing real-time biomarker and correlative data to revolutionize glioblastoma care.
I expect the head of NBC to demand Trump apologize to Welker. I expect Congress to remove this clear and present danger from office.
Thank you for that post. My sister died in 1999 at 53 from brain cancer. She was totally blind and disabled the last year of her life. It’s encouraging to know what progress has been made since then.
He walked out in his puerile huff, called her darling, and patted her on the shoulder. I only wish she had responded, "Don't touch me!"
Narcissists do this touching. Sometimes it’s a poke or a lot of times it’s a claw holding your arm. Everyone talked about Biden’s touching. But trump’s touching is to reassure himself that his prey is still there. And he will get it(whoever) the next time. It’s a disgusting energy to have thrust into your private space!
There's also the awkward Trump handshake(psych out) that he always uses when meeting leaders of other nations.
Donold's signature handshake involves a forceful "tug and yank" motion, where he abruptly pulls the other person forward into his personal space. It's an aggressive tactic designed to assert dominance as he jerks the other person off-balance, turning a standard greeting into a public power play.
Quite often the shake is usually concluded with a reassuring tap or "hand hug" on the shoulder or arm, solidifying his control over the physical interaction.
He's such a vile creep, I would hate to even think of having to shake his hand and being in such close contact with that sick psycho.
The last time he tried it with the President of France, Macron wouldn’t allow it. ‘Got your number, asshole. Ain’t gonna happen with me.’
I haven't seen one in years, but I think I would use a hand buzzer on Trump if it was me. He needs to be jolted...or maybe a really good kick in the festering cankles.
that was so good
Imagine the horror and accompanying ‘frozen in place’ of his sexual conquests ie “Epstein Island” VICTIMS!
🤮
Biden touched out of affection. Real people, especially genuine leaders, hug and touch and embrace all the time. It’s the scumbags who try to weaponize touch, not the good guys.
I think in this case the touching wasn't some weird power play or sexual, but was because he needed to steady himself while trying to stand up and walk away. Both his body and mind are failing.
“Don’t touch me…scumbag.”
Maybe everyone should stop interviewing this asshole. We know who he is and what he's done and continues to do to the country. Don't give him any air. Focus on all his enablers. They all need to go, including the deranged 6 on the SCOTUS.
The more interviews the better. Let those low information voters see who is president in all his glory. He was so real and angry in that interview, I don’t think anyone would come away thinking we have a good leader. He looked so pathetic and disgusting during his rant about the giving away money to insurgents from Jan 6! He looked so foolish and distraught about these poor victims who attacked police, I thought he might grab Welker.
This man has truly lost it. He is so dangerous in the way he thinks and acts. I can only believe things will get worse the longer he remains in office.
Physically snarling during that interview. So telling.
He thrives on the attention even when it's negative. His followers do too. We've been watching his decline for the last 10 years. It is exactly what his manipulators want, as when we are paying attention to him they are ripping the country to shreds.
At every level Heather's got him today.
He's a sick, sick shell of a man. Totally humanly empty inside, just an automaton for power, for self-enrichment, and the entitlement of the most cynical moneyed for rape, murder, theft, lying, and self aggrandizement on every front.
We face a daunting challenge going forward. As Maryanne Wolf wrote near the end of her 2018 “Reader, Come Home,” “We will fail as a society if we do not educate our children and reeducate all of our citizenry to the responsibility of each person to process information vigilantly, critically, and wisely across media.”
A few lines later she added, “The great, insufficiently discussed danger to a democracy stems not from the expression of different views, but from the failure to ensure that all citizens are educated to use their full intellectual powers in forming those views.”
Testing, we all know, reduces intelligence to the few forms of rationality whose easy grouping and linear causality conceits in turn appeal to our AI and techie billionaires because they are so sophomorically machine gradable. So let's forget about that status quo.
Admit how sick criminal Donald has always been -- and how much in need America is of much, much higher standards would we have a democracy for all.
The only intelligent thing I ever recall hearing Reagan say was "Trust, but verify'. That didn't apply to him of course. His generic claims that tax cuts more than pay for themselves has never been adequately taken to account.
Will Roger’s knew in 1932 that trickle down was crap. “Mr. Hoover didn’t know that money trickled up.” 🙄
I suspect that Mr. Hoover at some level was aware he was telling a lie to himself, or perhaps just the public because it is sooo appealing to have the support of the very rich and hard to bear their opposition. Hundreds of millions in contributions from Mr. Musk when many people can't spare even a dime? Invitations to the most lavish soirees? The price of an insubstantial soul for money and power? Hard to say "no".
So yeah, a lie, but one that many are quick to cover for.
Hoover likely knew but 100% sure that repubs hsve known for many decades. Likely since Hoover
Yeah, ppl knew but but the ppl who benefitted kept up the lie.
Propaganda works
And divide and rule. We the People keep falling for the same cons.
"Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people."
– John Adams, Novanglus Essays, No. 3.
Phil-Education has always been a threat to tyranny. During slavery it was illegal to teach Black people to read and write. Public education grew only after the Civil War.
Education is especially key in this era of tech and AI. It needs to be the kind of education that engages mind, body and spirit. Critical thinking, exposure to diverse ways of learning, and debates about building a humane society must be priorities. We must all value the teaching profession more than we do today.
I’ve appreciated the drum you beat concerning standardized tests that limit critical thinking. The MAGAs know how important education is to perfecting our democracy which is why they are undermining and dismantling support for public education. I appreciate the drum you beat concerning standardized tests that don’t measure the fullness of students’ knowledge and skills. Democracy depends on educated citizens.
Question everything, especially authority. Choose wisely.
By early Nov
From the DSM-V: Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a Cluster B personality disorder defined in the DSM-5 Diagnosis requires the presence of at least five of the following nine criteria:
-Grandiose sense of self-importance (exaggerating achievements and talents).
-Preoccupation with fantasies of unlimited success, power, brilliance, beauty, or ideal love.
-Belief that one is “special” and unique and can only be understood by high-status people.
-Requires excessive admiration from others.
-Sense of entitlement (unreasonable expectations of favorable treatment).
-Interpersonally exploitative behavior (taking advantage of others).
-Lack of empathy (unwilling to recognize others' feelings and needs).
-Often envious of others or believes others are envious of them.
-Arrogant, haughty behaviors or attitudes.
OR Antisocial Personality Disorder (psychopathology)
The central feature is a pattern of disregard for others' rights since age 15, indicated by three (or more) of the following seven traits:
-Failure to conform to social norms: Repeatedly performing acts that are grounds for arrest.
-Deceitfulness: Repeated lying, use of aliases, or conning others for personal profit or pleasure.
-Impulsivity: Failure to plan ahead.
-Irritability and aggressiveness: Repeated physical fights or assaults.
-Reckless disregard: Disregard for the safety of self or others.
-Consistent irresponsibility: Repeated failure to sustain consistent work behavior or honor financial obligations.
-Lack of remorse: Indifference to or rationalization of having hurt, mistreated, or stolen from another.
He can also have both or one with features of the other.
I think the idiot displays almost all of the characteristics of both narcissistic personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder. He belongs in a straight jacket in a mental institution!
The one place he for sure does not belong is in a position of social power and public trust.
Diagnosis on target
Both
He actually DOES have a 'landslide' qualification here.
The walk-out happened immediately after Welker cited the 70% of farmers who say they can't afford fertilizer. He answered "the farmers are doing very well" and then pulled his mic. The sequence matters... it wasn't the election questions that ended it.
Whatever the provocation, a representative who walks out before the examination concludes has placed his own discomfort above his obligation to those he governs. The governed can only consent meaningfully to being led by someone they can question, and that obligation does not dissolve when the questions feel hostile or unfair. Those are precisely the moments when it most clearly applies. The temperament the office requires is the steadiness to hear a difficult question, stay present, and answer as honestly as the evidence allows.
Excellent point.
Responsibilities for the welfare of others requires putting aside childish behavior. To do otherwise is irresponsible. The heavier the responsibility, the more that is so. Period.
Chump stuck in the terrible two’s. Magats stuck left of the idiot IQ
The Trump supporters I have encountered are often "well educated" and some seem pretty bright, yet recite the Trump talking points chapter and verse. I suspect that at least some that is attributable to whether one's foundational beliefs are largely anchored in empirical confirmation or parental assertion, enforced by emotional and/or physical violence. I know this is not as a clear and clean as my brief statement of it, but there is a tradition of signing ultimate authority to a special person or persons vs what can be determined by logic and investigation; Galileo VS the Pope, versus (clever as he was as a systematic thinker) Aristotle. The Renaissance and the Enlightenment were periods of innovation and explanation, and the latter directly influenced the US founding philosophies. The quarrel between the authority of some human (or superhuman) authority is ancient.
" It is the eternal struggle between these two principles -- right and wrong -- throughout the world. They are the two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings." -Lincoln
There is subtle (or not subtle) violence wrapped into assertions that exile, if not bully, kill, or torture, those who question the authority of whomever is supposed to be "king". Ask Stephen Colbert. It's a circular logical trap which prohibits and punishes attempts at examination and verification of its propositions. Trump embodies it, but so do politicized forms of religion. I would assert that any useful attempt at religion is humble enough and earnest enough to withstand cross examination; but the punitive sort is often the way religion is pre-packaged, especially the vainglorious, bullying sorts, the preach the supremacy of their subscribers. That approach is antithetical to the core of the Constitution.
My ex-best friend was the smartest person I knew, she used SC to justify voting crazy.
Tell the magats
Your comment should be published on the FRONT PAGE of every US Newspaper!
Time to educate the obviously apathetic American public about WHAT THEY DESERVE IN A POTUS * WHAT THEY SHOULD NOT PUT UP WITH * WHAT THEY HAVE TO DEMAND OF A PRESIDENT = WHO TO NOMINATE FOR THE RUNNING.
According to the Constitution (which should be legislated automatically by Congressional responsibility) no CONVICTED FELON is eligible to stand for office. What happened to “THAT”? The postponement of Trump’s CONVICTIONS was OSTENSIVELY to negate influencing the vote…GIVE ME A BREAK! SHOULDN’T IT HAVE DEMONSTRATED HIS EVIL CHARACTER.????
Anyway…KUDOS to YOU! >>> ALL THAT NEEDS TO BE SAID!
Thanks.
Above comment the reply to “Civik US’s comment re WHAT THE **** a President SHOULD BE!
Also!!! Trump’s disrespect for the person he agreed to the interview with is indicative of his opinion of US ALL!
I am sure her silence was “SHOCK”.
Actually, trump STARTED getting agitated when it started raining and he couldn't hear as well and he couldn't concentrate on anything else.
trump has no patience. You see that in all drug addicts. And trump IS addicted to Adderall amphetamine.
That addiction keeps him SLEEPING all day long and RAGING all night long.
The REAL trump showed up today...
And his team set it ALL up!
The team has bets on the poly/kelshi markets. It's all monetized.
I think Trump is way more addicted to being the center of attention, to dominating everyone else. Most people who are like that in youth are rejected as jerks. The very rich can get away with it.
Minority rule always requires lying, cheating, and stealing.
12 million Biden voters sat out 2024.
Overall, 89 million eligible to voters did not vote.
In the US in 2024, 64% of eligible voters voted. In Hungary in 2026, 79%.
Let's create a BLUNAMI to overcome voter suppression. This toolkit I made has actions any of us can take to help Get Out The Vote so November's election results are TOO BIG TO RIG:
https://sensational-fenglisu-96222c.netlify.app/
If you like it, share widely.
We are going to win!
Enough people pulling together always wins. Hard thing to bring about of course, but there is a lot on the line.
Great resource. I've been writing postcards for the last 3 years with Fieldteam6. Even introverts can find a way to participate in saving our country.
Super, and well said!
Everyone keeps saying its going to get worse. I don't have enough energy to generate any more anger. I'm already on near explosion mode. I find Trump pathetic. The no longer supreme court and worthless congress are the two bodies that have most betrayed our country. They protect a mentally ill criminal in the most powerful position in the world, all for self serving reasons. They don't want their personal grifts to end. Oddly, the rich are never satisfied. They always want more, and just like Trump, they are never satisfied.
I don't know why we name the institutions (Supreme Court and Congress) instead of the men in power in those institutions (Republicans). We play into the hands of an authoritarian who is trying to convince us Democratic processes and agencies are hopelessly broken when we blame our government entities. That naturally leads us to think we need big Daddy Trump to fix it for us.
The root cause of all this is Republicans letting Trump romp through and stomp all over our Constitution. Yes, we need to tighten things up, but if the Republicans had shown as a body just a tiny bit of patriotic concern for our Democracy, instead of allowing Trump to sign endless EOs and doing nothing in the face of his clear overreach of Executive power, we would not be in this trouble.
Never forget, it is Republicans who enabled this and who CONTINUE to enable it daily. Republicans. And I am now willing to bet, watching their cowardly behavior, a whole bunch of them were compromised by Epstein and are doing it because they are being blackmailed.
‘BLACKMAIL’…why didn’t “I” think of that! 🤪…oh yeah…because I am Canadian 🇨🇦 but, still smarting over DJT’s insulting “51st State comments”…🤬🤬🤬
However, if YOU had a ‘non-confidence’ procedural vote available in your Congress - and could get Trump there to ‘face the music’ (he could practise for the Ballroom 😂) then you could be rid of him
Bing!> the NON-CONFIDENCE MOTION IS BROUGHT BY THE OPPOSING PARTY/Bang! With the motion LOST an election is forced, IMMEDIATELY!/Boom! With no warning or time to CHEAT like the criminal he is >>> the blossoming Dictator is SHOWN THE DOOR, AND💥his sicko cabinet along with him!
SOUNDS GOOD, DOESN’T IT?
***EASY PEASY ORANGE SQUEASY***
Wish we did have it. If Trump proved one thing, our impeachment process is very broken. He should have been impeached and removed after J6.
Agreed! It has always puzzled me that ‘wealth’ LITERALLY TRUMPS the safeguards of the American Constitution. What part of “a POTUS shall not have committed a felonious act” is ambiguous in Constitutional Law wording?
If SCOTUS is the stumbling block, then impeach the Justices that Trump managed to shove in (playing the long game since 2017). At least 2 of them committed perjury themselves at their comfirmation hearings, so, they should RECOGNIZE LIES WHEN THEY HEAR THEM!!
SCOTUS is obviously ‘sucking pocket lint’ which means they cannot impartially rule or even close!
Trump DEMANDS blind loyalty and has misinterpreted SCOTUS’S RULING RE ‘EXECUTIVE PRIVILEGE’ TO MEAN HE CAN ‘DO WHATEVER THE HELL HE WANTS - WITH IMPUNITY.’
This is NOT what the framers of the Constitution intended, and the ‘ESCAPE CLAUSE’ exists: >>> “NO FELONS”.
What is WRONG with the present Congress? Can’t they READ??
I can see the solution from my northern perch, and know that ‘at some legal level’ the SCOTUS Justices are bending so far backwards for Donald Trump they have hit their heads on the floor and are dilerious…just like Supreme Leader himself! 🤬
If Americans are not smelling the STENCH of FASCISM by now, they are in deep DENIAL…the stage of ‘grief’ that suits a country willing to believe ‘Executive Privilege’ means ‘carte blanche’. It does NOT, and Trump SAYING it does just > LIE # 125,421 (this year!)
POTUS #47 is not only acting ‘illegally’, but amorally…which requires no ruling by a Supreme Court majority. THE ‘GREAT CHRISTIAN’ who exults in killing foreign human beings clinging to life in the ocean, is just as giddily murderous in his thoughts re e.g. his imagined enemies, and long-hated rivals.
And here is the most pressing fact of all:
Donald Trump MAY have access to ‘NUCLEAR CODES’ that during a late night WHIM, he could launch against someone he characteristically HATES… and not necessarily overseas…😱
Iran, like Viet Nam, will never surrender…why should they! They would then STILL be under authoritarian rule…just by a ‘foreign’ leader of ‘another colour’.🍊
LIFT YOURSELVES UP OUT OF THE MIRE CREATED BY A MADMAN WHO FOR SOME ‘STRANGE’ REASON IS STILL COMMITTING CRIMES…DAILY…UNCHALLENGED BY ANY LAW… AND 🖕🖕🖕CONGRESS…and 🔥 the Constitution 🔥…and MARCHES 🫤…while one crazy man destroys the country.
I CAN’T LOOK! 🫣
I agree, but as an independent (on the liberal side) I see both parties as complicit in one way or another, (corporate donations anyone?) with most of the blame going to the Grotesque Old Pedo-party. Getting rid of the two party system would be a good thing.
Trump is a lying loser and he will justly get roundly booed by the Madison Square Garden crowd. Jalen Brunson and the Knicks have been magical and inspiring this season. Trump is an ongoing national catastrophe. He continues to spout his infantile nonsense about the 2020 election when there was absolutely NO EVIDENCE ever presented of rigging. He’s spectacularly broken nearly every one of his campaign promises and is heading for a midterm thrashing that will finally put some congressional oversight on this nightmare “presidency”.
Not only was there zero evidence of elections rigging by Democrats in 2020. Trump and his lawyers and other election deniers lost 60 court cases! We need to persuade Ken Burns to make a documentary about January 6th so that future Americans will see what happened that day. We cannot let Maga rewrite history.
If the elections are fair. And right now already, that is a very big if unfortunately 🇺🇲😪🙏
He doesn’t care if he is ruining anyone’s moment.