John Simpson of the BBC noted recently that “there are years when the world goes through some fundamental, convulsive change.” Seven weeks in, he suggested, 2025 is on track to be one of them: “a time when the basic assumptions about the way our world works are fed into the shredder.”
I am 82 years old and I have never seen anything as disgusting as the actions of Trump and his henchmen these past 6 weeks. Yesterday’s berating of President Zelenskyy was horrible, a complete failure of diplomacy, an embarrassment to this country. And to think I thought Nixon was bad…
I think even Ronald Reagan would be horrified and ballistic over an American President think of himself as BFF to Putin and that that was a good thing 🤮
I thought it was very telling that Zelenskyy went on Fox and invoked Reagan's name directly. He knows. And he's talking to the American people. If he can believe in us, we can believe in him...
I grew up thinking the name Cheney was that of the devil, but I am now in deep deep respect and admiration for those Republicans who do stand up to the craziness. Yay Liz Cheney!
Putin wants to invade Ukraine and steal its valuable resources. Trump promised to end that war without saying how he would do it. Now we know how. He and Vance told Zelensky that they would "save" his country from Putin by having the United States invade Ukraine and steal its valuable recourses instead. Trump is making the US the scorn of the civilized world.
True. But it has been a long, long road for Mr. Bolton. Anyone remember Bolton's role In the "Brooks Brothers" DC intervention in the Florida National Election Gore-Bush count?
I recall Bolton was the poster Boy with beedy eyes & mustache looking up against light at a election ballot to inspect the infamous "hanging chad".
Or should I refer to the episode as the Bush-Gore-Stop-Counting Election? Reminder to Attorneys, SCOTUS ruled we cannot cite their Bush-Gore Opinion for anything much less "Black Letter" law.
Her father was anathema to me and the wing nut across the street looks and sounds like him. However, I am glad that Liz is speaking out as did Pence recently.
Remember that in the next election. Not all conservatives have horns and tails (and not all liberals have common sense.)
I'm still trying to figure out why most Republicans are going along with Trump's agenda. Are they really afraid (what liberals want to think) or are they truly fed up and find Trump a useful tool (what liberals can't fathom)?
That broad brush which liberals use to paint conservatives is part of the reason we just lost the election. I'm talking about voters that supported Republican candidates in the last several elections. Greed is not close to one of the adjectives of use.
Je: Have you bothered actually talking to any of them? Look at what the Dems agenda has done to America in the last 4 years:
UKRAINE: got us into a never-ending war because Biden gave Zelenski enough to keep fighting but not enough to win.
BORDER: deliberately let millions upon millions of people , most of whom cannot speak English and will need OUR social assistance dollars for the foreseeable future. loose in our country.
CRIME: allowed AGs across the country to NOT criminalize theft or violence and have also let many violent illegals loose; refuse to prosecute theft under $100 dollars, leading to invasions of shoplifters and locked-up merchandise.
RIOTS: Refused to lock up/prosecute BLM rioters who actually killed cops in summer 2020, while calling a few trespassers on Jan 6 "insurrectionists" when not one of them had a gun, and the 5 people who died that day were all non-violent Trump supporters.
LAWBREAKING: Siccing the DOJ and crooked lawyers/judges on any opposition politician who threatened to unseat Biden, ie Trump and RFKJr.
ELECTION: removed elected President without Dem voter input, then inserted Kamala Harris as candidate without Dem voter input, while blaming Trump for "threatening democracy".
REAL Republicans like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Steve Schmidt, and the people at The Bulwark have been QUITE vocal in their opposition for years. I've seen strong denunciations by all three in the wake of this most recent disaster. I don't have time to watch long-winded, time-filling videos from Schmidt and the Bulwark folks, but they're all doing the right thing.
I've been watching the podcasts you mention, Jim Brown, the Lincoln Project for several years. I find their commentary more illuminating than staunch Dems in most cases, although I also watch Brian Tyler Cohen and the Meidas Bros. The interesting thing is that they're more or less of one voice: they're for trimming waste, fraud, and abuse from gov't spending, and they say frequently that Elump is only cutting programs that hurt the bottom to renew tax cuts for the top, that how they're doing it is illegal and unconstitutional, and that they are crass, crazy, greedy kleptocrats shoving money into their personal pockets. There are no different sides to the aisle when it comes to supporting the constitution or loving democracy. We're either for American ideals or against it. Elump is emphatically and shamefully against.
So true! The American people need to flood the regime with emails written in all caps reminding them that this is OUR MONEY and should not be redistributed to the wealthy. And the Repubs are going to fired for poor performance. Instead of the snarky subject line: “Fork in the Road,” our emails’ subject line should read: “Pitchforks in the Street.”
Stephanie, on alt national park service there was a post that said EPA workers are being treated like criminals with visits from the F.B.I. because they have been doing their jobs. Not only is the country is the country becoming a s...thole country in terms of foreign affairs, etc, but it will be literally a s...thole place to live...unless you are rich.
Dear Michele - I just read about the FBI coming down on the EPA as if it were a criminal organization. It is an alarming turn of events much like what happened to Zelensky in the Oval Office. This nation is devolving into a police state much like the Soviet Union was with the FBI becoming the American version of the KGB. I don't feel safe any longer. Who's next?
If one truly sought to trim waste, whether resulting from fraud, negligence, or slap dash purchasing protocols, why wouldn't one look first at the defense department spending? It is the largest item in the budget, and they have a long record of being unable to account for their assets or to pass an audit. This omission by the Muskrats is a clear signal that the waste cutting is just a smokescreen for their adoption of the 2025 agenda and their proposed tax cuts, which will transfer trillions from the middle and less well off classes to Uber wealthy billionaires and corporations.
I agree 100%, Fred Krasner. It's obvious to even the most casual observer that they have no interest in coming up with a better budget. They're looking in the couch cushions for enough change to cover the renewal of T1 tax cuts. And the irony is that they'd get there a bunch faster if they did look at military spending. But that would cut into Elon's take, which would never do.
Of course, the cost-cutting is just a smoke screen for the real reason Musk is firing staff in departments that oversee his businesses and the departments that Trump has a personal distaste for. What I find ironic is that Musk stood up at the first cabinet meeting talking about how much money is devoted to servicing the debt and yet Trump wants Congress to remove the debt ceiling limit. What a bunch of nitwits.
Oh, really? I've been following Steve Schmidt on Substack and like his writing and opinions. I was not aware that he's a Republican; he sure doesn't sound like one! So, I agree about Liz Cheney and now Steve Schmidt. I found the Bulwark to be incoherent, so I dropped my subscription to that.
He was McCain’s campaign manager and the person most responsible for choosing Sarah Palin as the VP candidate. He was also a principal supporter of the Dean Phillips candidacy against Biden in the 2024 primary.
To me, Schmidt seems to write in a sort of ersatz West Wing tone while practicing the usual Republican hackish politics.
I’ve always had the impression that he’s in it for himself. I was considering McCain as a candidate when they stuck Palin in there. I had great respect for the McCain family when I lived in Arizona. He would have been my first Republican vote.
Steve is not a Republican . He became a Democrat when Trump was elected. He did work for McCain but has stated repeatedly in his posts that he did not have anything to do with picking Palin..
Schmidt is one of the best friends the Resustance has.
Schmidt is a disillusioned Republican, and worked for John McCain’s campaign of late. Knows how it works within the public, was part of the initial Lincoln Project group.
Yesterday, I noted to a friend who was asking the same thing that there has seemingly always been this unspoken "code" amongst ex-Presidents that once they are out of office they refrain from any and all interference in succeeding administrations. The glaring exception to this, of course, is the current interloper in the White House, who has never avoided any opportunity to open his big yap. However, it would seem to me that the situation right now demands "all hands on deck" in defending our democracy, so any such "codes", or "gentlemen's agreements", should be put by the wayside.
I agree. I understand the traditional 'code' but, as you say, what's happening today is not traditional and is definitely endangering our country. My only hope is that the formers are silently gathering and preparing their own "Project 2025" to destroy this regime.
James Carville, from Louisiana, says we should roll over and play dead and let the Regime dig itself a ditch. But how to recover and how long to shovel all that dirt back in?
To paraphrase Ellen Glasgow, “The only difference between a ditch and a grave are the dimensions.”
Carville is older than the dirt removed from a ditch. He was once a brilliant strategist, but his strategies worked in a world that is very different from the one we live in now.
If Donald's handlers are allowed to wreak havoc at the pace they are currently keeping, humanity will not survive long enough to repair the damage.
The "Python" is wrong on his one. Pythons just keep squeezing. The Nation is stressed out.
You can almost feel the widespread anxiety. Anxiety breeds misperceptions then mis-reporting then more confusion. All that leads to PANIC as the nation witnessed yesterday at the Dallas TX, National Cheerleaders gathering. A "loud noise " turned into a "loud pop" which morphed into "pop, pop, pop" which triggered a police & ambulance overreaction from a "fight"
Do not Play Dead.
Like Rachel Maddow taught me ... go to a valid LOCAL news source. The Dallas Morning News:
"What we know about incident at the NCA cheer competition at Kay Bailey Hutchinson"
Byran, you can actually feel the anxiety and read about it. On Nextdoor yesterday, some poor soul worried about Medicare and a mess physically was calling for people to join her in a protest at the state capitol downtown..Salem, Oregon. Often I see wingnuts there.
Whenever I see someone mention, "Where are the past Dem Presidents?" I wonder how devastating this moment is to them. They were all civil servants who dedicated their lives to strengthening our country. And we elect a mobster conman who told us who he was for a decade as he built enough power to destroy our country. Why is it on them to fix our disastrous mess if we chose it? I understand their silence as a reasonable reaction to OUR absolute rejection of all their work, vision, and morality.
It is not on them to fix this mess. But it would be nice to know they are in favor of fixing it. Evil is allowed to flourish when good people stay silent.
Doing what? Howling into the void like the rest of us?
The Continuing Resolution (CR) to extend federal spending and avert a government shutdown ends March 14, 2025.
I suspect (hope!) Dems are waiting for the upcoming budget shit show in order to get more of the public on board. In this country, most people don't react until it affects them personally.
There are some - Jamie Raskin, AOC, Bernie Sanders, etc. - who are speaking out. The formers could join them if for nothing else to show they are against what trump is doing. After all, it is we the people who have to vote them out or protest them out or revolt them out. It would be good to know who all supports us.
Yes! Bernie is always the one I want for a leader. He was treated shamefully by the Democratic party which did all it could to stop him from becoming our president. A populist president, truly looking out for the people and the planet. Another ginormous error that we will never stop paying for.
Bernie was treated shamefully by the Dems? You do realize he is not a Democrat? And when he was losing, he tried to force a rule change—in the middle of the primaries—to benefit his candidacy? The party he disdains treated him shamelessly? And he then sat out the Clinton campaign acting angry and disaffected?
Bernie, who has never passed a significant piece of legislation he sponsored is to me a perfect example of why activists should not be elected to office.
Yes, I do realize that he is an Independent. I don't care about party affiliation--I focus on humanity, character, and heart. He is the only one I've seen in the sea of selfishness and ambition that is our 2 party system in decades. Carter was the last.
Tom, personally, I have never liked Bernie, but do like some of his ideas. I would have voted for him had he been the candidate. And had HRC won, we would not be in the mess. It was a dire enough situation in 2016 especially with the Supreme Court that people should have held their noses.
Hillary was more qualified. Period. However, in retrospect I believe Bernie may have been able to overcome the suddenly emboldened misogynistic crowd rejecting Hillary. She did win the popular vote.
You are exactly right, Gigi! This entire Trump mess lays at the feet of the Republican Party. GOP now stands for something like Gone Out Partying. Yes, there are a few vocal Republicans, but most (all?) of those in “power” are silent, publicly and, apparently, privately.
It’s going to take some time, but the Trump Demolition Squad (TDS, right?) will do enough damage to make taking action obvious and imperative.
In the meantime, We, the Shut Him Up Totally (SH!T) Brigade need to protect each other and those most vulnerable and do what we can to survive. This cleanup is not in the hands of the press or the late night comedians. We need to encourage (NOOE DEMAND) our Senators, Representatives, Governors - of all stripes - to get to work NOW!
Liz Cheny has spoken, not her father. As for the others, history will remember their silence. They are waiting to see if we revolt, so REVOLT (and call your congressperson)
In the 60s, we revolted. We were out in the street. We were sitting in. We were dragged away by the police. Why is everybody at home hoping someone else will do what we the people have to do?
because those of us who did all of that in the 60's are now in our 80's and doing as much as we can.....where are the younger people in the crowds that we were part of?
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), in a text to Axios, said Friday was "a bad day for America's foreign policy."
"Ukraine wants independence, free markets and rule of law. It wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our Western values. We should be clear that we stand for freedom," he said.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), in a post on X, called the meeting "a disaster — especially for Ukraine," adding, "Sadly, the only winner of today is Vladimir Putin.
When either or both grow the balls to stand up in Congress, and publicly state their opposition to the Nazis, I'll believe them. Until then, they're nothing but publicity hounds, and false patriots.
If they had any guts they would quit the Republican caucus, call themselves the Independent Caucus and vote with the Dems in a coalition, dump Mike Johnson and vote to impeach Trump and Vance. I guess I can dream.
We have had 2 rallies at his local office. He was a no-show both times, or at least stayed in hiding. I've sent daily emails to him, with no response to this point. I've called almost daily, and am greeted by a semi-conscious maybe-human. The man is a spineless eunuch. Ms. Kaptor is in the Toledo area, so out of my district. And there was a large Ukrainian support rally in Parma yesterday that did get some local TV coverage, and I believe Ms. Kaptor attended. I could not - this time. As to Joyce, he talks a good game, but if he ever HAD to state a position, he would piss in his pants on the spot.
I was just wondering around to my husband yesterday about how all the Ukrainian Americans feel about this. My best friend was Ukrainian growing up and her mom was like a second mom to me. It was a massive community of some of the greatest people I had the opportunity to learn from.
I don’t understand how Republicans are still getting elected to office in Ohio.
Reagan set this up. He laid waste to the middle class, promoted hatred, homophobia and racism, and advanced the disastrous trickle-down theory. He and his policies were a precursor to every single thing the Republican Party is today. No wonder the Republican Party deifies him.
But let's not forget that the slide toward Trump began with Reagan (if not earlier, with Nixon's southern strategy and the now-famous Lewis Powell memo of 1971). The corporate tax cuts. The gutting of unions. The Clinton administration surely helped by repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, which had done a lot to keep corporate money in check. Then Bush II, along with being arguably the least competent president till Trump relieved him of the title, appointed John Roberts as chief justice of the Supreme Court and Samuel Alito as associate justice, which led to the godawful Citizens United decision (2010) even before we got the three McConnell-Trump appointees.
Susanna, and I can’t forget Clinton’s 1996 “welfare reform,” which converted a federal entitlement for poor families into a block grant for states. Red states chose to divert a lot of their block grants to surveillance of patents, and onerous requirements (like parenting classes, drug testing,etc) rather than the cash payments that paid rent. The whole country essentially froze benefits for the next quarter century. And that is when, for the first time, we experienced family homelessness. Once rents exceeded the entire cash benefit, homelessness increased in my county by 32% PER YEAR. THIS is what the GOP would love to see again.
Glass Steagall had absolutely nothing to do with keeping corporate money in check. It was passed in 1933 as a companion piece to establishing the FDIC.
It separated investment banking and commercial banking. It was written to protect depositor money by enduring that banks with depositor money could not engage in the inherently riskier activities of investment banking.
Its repeal was accompanied by substantially strengthened rules by the FDIC, the Fed, and the Comptroller of the Currency to limit the commingling of depositor money and investment banking activities.
But feel free to keep trying. Last time I read one of your comments, you blamed its repeal (and Clinton)—wrongly—for the real estate crisis.
So I guess the multiple marriages of investment banking and commercial banking had nothing to do with the wild speculation in derivatives (etc.) that led to the economic crash of the late Bush II administration? Asking for several friends . . .
As I have replied to you before, there was nothing in Glass Steagall that would have prevented banks from bundling shitty sub-prime mortgages and selling them as securities. Nor prevented investment brokers and investment bankers from buying them. Nor prevented insurance companies that went far beyond their capital adequacy from insuring them. Nor for corrupt rating agencies from assigning spuriously good investment grades as a way to curry favor with investment bankers.
This is a complicated subject and someone who doesn’t understand would not bother me. Except you sort of pretend you do, and get a snotty attitude when you’re challenged.
Thanks for your explanation. I go for the simple idea that there will always be people who are looking for holes, ways to make money, regardless of it being at the expense of others. There are not enough laws, and will never be, to cover the cleverness cum corruption/ill will of people who are so disposed. We have great example of that in the White House.
Thank you for this response. For those of us still learning our history...Clinton became President when I was in college. He was my first Presidential vote! While I was thrilled about that, I admit I didn't pay as much attention to some of his policies in real time.
Thanks! Gotta say, I'm exasperated with all the people who think this all started with Trump. Trump is the endgame -- but I don't think Reagan and his crew, or even Bush II and *his* crew, had any idea we'd end up where we are now. (I'm still having trouble believing it myself.)
It grew... with enough ignorance and disinformation. Trump stepped in and took this partisanship to the extreme. We got complacent and "triangulated" went along to get along. They were increasingly for absolute rule. And so we are here. This is a really tough situation.
Apache, I have been looking for a good nickname for JD....Mini-Me fits well. He and his family tried to go skiing in Vermont and they were met by protesters. One sign said Go ski in Russia.
Of course, that was a time when the US still believed in "we hold these truths to be self-evident...."; when we still had respect for order, good to the poor, trying not showing pride or prejudice. Today, our great leader fans the flames of hatred and espouses extremist aims.
I was never fond of Reagan's "evil empire" rhetoric, to put it mildly, but Trump has dragged a mentally drugged Maga/Republican horde a full 180. Dismay but mostly disgust has flooded my news channels, my FB timeline is abundant with pro-Velenski/Ukraine support, and some gross-indeed anti-Trump satires. Pax Americana is disappearing down a white racist, anti-diversity, grift riven snake hole. (no disrespect for real snakes mind you)
"Pax Americana is disappearing down a white racist,..."
This is our karma. Our refusal to address our internal demons beginning with the genocide of Native Americans when the white man's boats hit our shores, followed by the slave boats, followed by the economic enslavement of millions of Americans, followed by the disinformation plague promulgated by tech oligarchs has all served to wash over us in a destruction of our Democracy.
I still work with people who are 100% ignorant of what is happening. Now. Now I understand Nazi Germany and how the people ignored what was happening.
Agreed on your gist, sadly now into a downward spiral. The only thing i can say is that if you read across the board on European imperial and colonial expansions, slaving, indigenous conquest and near genocide, have been more the rule than the exception. You can toss in much of the rest of world and find similar inequities. "used to be" conquest was just the name of the game.
The focus, sadly, is on America right now as we slide into authoritarianism. I have always thought other Countries were more mature. They have fought hard for their Democracies. We have become lazy and arrogant about our Democratic rights and privileges.
We are a teenaged nation. And we know most teenagers go insane for a few years. Hopefully they survive to grow up.
Our citizens have never had to fight off an invasion on our soil. And now selfishness rules. Empathy is no longer trending.
Now we have been compromised from within. Putin is here. In every living room in America. On every device. He has been clever with his costumes. Lately, he has donned a phony hairdo, gained a lot of weight and looks a bit jaundiced.
Considering US had 1/4 world's economic power and a military bigger than the next 4 or so combined, is a scientific and technological leader, its political culture remains mired in pre-scientific religious dogma and racist culture. This is WHITE america in reactionary mode to society which has been moving toward a culturally and racially diverse condition. This is the first time I've felt a real chill about what the US is capable of.
America has been castrated by Putin. We are no longer capable of much either in the world arena or at home.
At age 75 I have always been full of optimism about America. Now I am just not so sure anymore. The 3 branches of government have been compromised. The fourth estate has been muzzled. The Democratic Party is wheezing. The only thing remaining is for him to invoke the Insurrection Act.
Yes. Hiding our heads under the blankets has not worked so far. Pelosi, Biden, Schumer, Harris and the other Democratic Party elite are experts at doing that. So sad to witness these people seemingly in hiding.
Because they considered Biden to be helpless to control high prices or the border. As he refused to listen to the 75% who said he was too old to run (that’s a consistent poll result over 3 years). Because by the last year of his presidency, he never had spontaneous sustained press conference—all his appearances were staged, with prepared remarks.
The very same reasons lots of white voters switched sides.
In my opinion there were a couple million voters who voted for Trump less to favor him, but as a way to fire Biden, his administration, and his VP.
We have 2 special elections in Florida on April 1st for the House. We ALL need to work to get EVERY registered Dem to the polls for this. If we get both, we gum up the works for L'il Mikey, and the rest of the Nazis.
Never say never Tom. It's ok to be pessimistic but even if we can't get a 2/3 majority, we might have some of the Republicans if the situation is too dire and they grow a spine. Although I'm not betting on it, it might happen. In the meantime we have to figure what else might work. The main problem is if we are going to have a midterm election at all. Without an election, nothing else matters.
You are describing the exact outcome of his second impeachment. The failure to convict only emboldened him and further divided the country. Never say never is a great attitude for firing up a high school football team, I guess. But “never” happens all the time. I would rather spend my time on things with any chance of success.
At this point Tom I don't think anybody, much less me, is spending any time plotting an impeachment. It's out of reach. And yes, some people are posting about it, but they are only ventilating. Relax.
True. But if we have a solid majority in the House, we can block a lot of BS. We can hold hearings. We can investigate. We can expose. And we could have a House that reasserts its Constitutional responsibility to control the power of the purse.
And while it is true that it would require 290 House members to expel some traitors, let's not underestimate the blowback of the red state people who are being betrayed. I predict Republican rebellion - especially as $Trump makes multiple mistakes every day. I recommend that we all have enough liquid assets to get through the next Great Recession. The insane tariffs will hike inflation, the Fed might raise rates, the markets will be angry.
Regaining the House combined with a simple majority in the Senate could lead to some serious opposition on many subjects. The pendulum will swing back our way. But it will be ugly as it cuts through.
If I keep saying stuff like what I'm about to say I might get in trouble, but I think we still have Freedom of Speech. If the Dems had a Majority in the House their would be a Dem second in line to the Presidency.
I think Reagan used the power of media to conceptually estrange us from the concept of "government of the people, by the people, for the people"; and sold the idea that America would be way better off when ruled by the rich. We are now seeing the logical result of that path taken. That said, I think Trump's subservience to his Russian patron, and the rough Mafioso manner of Team Trump would have deeply offended him.
It still galls me that Reagan’s name is invoked as the hallmark of the common good. His administration was the snowball running down the mountain that became an avalanche: Citizens United (corporations are people), firing 11,359 air traffic controllers . . . Remember when he said, “ The 9 most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” Remind people in the red states who are recipients of the most federal dollars. Mitch McConnell rules over one of those states. They’re always first in line after a disaster. And Reaganomics? “trickle down economy?” What we’re seeing today in this country is the embodiment of all of that. And remember, he was an actor—a showman.
I agree, Jan. I was one of those air traffic controllers. It sickens me when I hear his name in regards to something good for America. I will never consider calling Washington National Airport by any other name. Trickle down economics is more appropriate to associate with his name.
Or John Wayne airport. Seems to me Reaganomics harks back to feudalism; the preponderance of wealth in very few hands and stratified, authoritarian rule.
Foreshadowing Trump- a conman. Both conmen so far as I could see, but Trump is even a deeper sociopath. They both despised a republican (small "r") form of government and preached the glories of plutocracy. They both use(d) big lies. They both rule(d) with stagecraft over statecraft, both maliciously, but Trump out-Orwell's Orwell; “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and of your ears.", and now the last flicker of reason of your brain.
Reagan was pretty out of it in the White House, and even the press noticed, yet (mostly) smiled. I always suspected that "The Gipper", while genuinely right wing, he was more the mouthpiece for the plutocratic coup than the author; but I have not researched enough to prove it.
I agree - it was Reagan who called government "the problem" and not "the solution" a position that they have tried to hammer home for decades and decades, characterizing those who receive governmental services (even Social Security and Medicare, which we pay into) as parasites, and the rich as the "makers" - when mostly what the rich make is more money.
The rich aren’t makers as much as they are takers. Petroleum industries get government subsidies; Musk’s wealth is based on government contracts and subsidies advantageous to his companies; obscenely wealthy people and corporations that pay little to no taxes. But make no mistake. What Elon is trying to do to this country is to break it to line his pockets. How can millions of people be thrown out of work without the country going into an economic meltdown?!
I's sure it's just lore, but "Alexander the Great" supposedly wept because he found no more worlds to conquer. History seems to illustrate the notion of unaccountable power corrupting absolutely. Or do only the corrupt even seek power that is absolute? At some point many of those with more cash than some nations become obsessive enough to want it ALL.
I distinctly remember coming back to America after growing up overseas just as Reagan was voted in. I thought it bizarre how much invective was thrown at Air Traffic Controllers and US Postal Service especially the postal carriers. In short, government workers with powerful Unions who had daily contact with Americans--doing jobs that definitely made paying our taxes seem worth it because what they did was indispensable to the country running properly.
They sure didn't seem to be lazy to me, but were continually reviled, portrayed as the enemy. There was so much pressure on these poor people who were just trying to do their damn job--which wasn't easy even without Americans yelling at them. "Going postal" became a phrase back then, when people went mad with anger.
Thinking about it now, I realize the entire Republican plan for decades has been to make our own government "the other" to steadily wear away trust in our Democracy. That "welfare queen" bit was particularly vile, attacking poor black women in urban areas (and yes, it was definitely aimed at black women). That's where the racial component came in, hard.
Reagan barely kept the John Bircher types under control back then. He wasn't as greedy as Trump. For him, there was a limit. But I still think this should all be traced back to Reagan and his deep cynicism and that false cowboy image. The country started changing back then.
I don't give Reagan any credit for holding back. He started it, he owns it. He was fine with it so long as it voted Republicans in. Pretty much how McConnell behaved.
I recall when a local TV station was running a feature with the evening news called "It's Your Money" and it was always about government waste, or perceived waste, like research into things that seemed weird without knowing the context. Never a word of praise or examination of the vast web of services we take for granted because they are part of (our) life. There have been a lot of such outlets for excoriating government, virtually always one sided. I recall Bush the Elder on national TV claiming it was "outrageous" that tax money went to measuring the methane output of livestock. I saw that lampooned in the newspaper as well. Never mind that methane is a potent "greenhouse gas", and yes. animal agriculture releases a LOT of it.
Yet, if we fancy, as we are (or were) taught in school, a " government of the people, by the people, for the people"; if such a government sucks, who is blame? And if it's not "the people", why not?
I agree. Reagan used that faux folksy persona to begin a radical assault on our system of government. People don't talk about Iran-contra, and other actions by Reagan.
RR: "I think you all know that I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help."
My family has believed this sentiment for my entire 63 years. Now when things go south with all the firings, they won't blame Trump or Musk, they'll still blame "the Government".
"The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves---in their separate, and individual capacities.
In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere."
Lincoln was definitely not a Reagan Republican. The "legitimate object", right?
Probably little all by itself, but democracy is inherently a form of communication, and cannot exist without it, with those who speak in our name and between one another. I think that's an essential part of the role of democratic citizen that Blinken talked about. If we are really to be a government of, by, and for the people, there is no other choice than to be well informed about our options, to think ahead with the help of others, and to set a focused agenda for the political agents we chose to advance our will. And that requires that sort of interchange I believe happens here. Some of it is just lets off steam, but much exchange is educational and conversational.
Tyranny thrives on division and confusion. Progress requires clarity; "keep your eyes on the prize". It would not be wise to neglect general vigilance, but yet it's important to seek to maintain fruitful, foundational foci. What democracy isn't is choice restricted to someone else's proprietary menu, flipping between "channels" of top-down, pre-packaged content.
Grass roots innovation was easier when communities communicated in taverns, or the town square. We are now awash in information, both accurate and deceptive; and some have megaphones much louder than the voices a small collection of assembled citizens. In that respect, "money doesn't talk it swears"; very loudly. That said, Lincoln claimed that,
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.”
Just because Lincoln said it doesn't prove it, but I think there are historical illustrations, and of "nuclei" of concerted efforts that gained
Reagan was the first president ever to declare that the government is the enemy. He also was the first to declare that teachers are “ the new welfare queens” thus indicting servants of the people or federal employees as “takers”. Then he fired the air controllers en mass and for life which, frankly, is why there’s always a shortage as it is not regarded as a secure job. i used to know how many open positions there are for teachers….thousands. So few are going into teaching now that Schools of Education have shut down across the country. Chris Christie who is now making a living talking about the psychology of Trump, expanded on Reagan’s negative opinion of teachers by saying that all public workers are the new welfare queens. You understand the racism inherent in this “ kill two birds with one stone” comment as the original welfare queens in the minds of Republicans are Black unwed mothers. So for forty plus years the Republican ideology which seems to have always, since the Twentieth Century devolved around a Calvinistic belief in money proving who are the chosen people and who aren’t also rested on the notion that the common man, woman and child, the aren’ts are little more than freed slaves and deserve their contempt which they lavishly dish out to this day. That was very obvious to me in the tongue lashings of Trump, Vance, and the presumptive right of the reporter to “dress the dishonored guest down” with comments about Zelensky’s non suit. Who does that guy think he is, by the way? The whip in hand overseer?
It's Karma, a Republican president, laid the groundwork for an oligarchy of a morbidly rich, ruling class. Regan, W and the orange blight all increased the deficits while cutting taxes on the wealthy. Now we are discovering what it is like to live under an oligarchy of the morbidly rich and morally bankrupt. It is cruel, frightening and chaotic.
The site for direct donations to the government of Ukraine is at https://u24.gov.ua/ You can designate where you want your donation to be used, such as direct military aid, medical, education, etc.
U24 projects I have donated to in the past year have been removing land mines from farmland, and defensive systems to deal with incoming drone attacks.
Safe Passage for Ukraine (helping people evacuate and wounded foreign fighters to return home; can donate airline miles not just cash): https://sp4ukraine.org
Note: DO NOT donate to K9 Global, UWARF (aka. Ukraine War Animals Relief Fund) or MARS (Mobile Animal Rescue Service later Medical Aid and Rescue Service) ; there are reports that they are falsely claiming the work of others as their own.
=> Also 'Protect A Volunteer' has some allegations that it's a scam. <=
You may want to consider supporting YouTube and similar channels directly (Patreon, if they're selling stuff, etc) as there seem to be some efforts to get their channels 'demonetized'.
If you know any Ukrainians (displaced or otherwise), give them the following info:
Register of Damage for Ukraine (European Union site so russia can be charged / fined for the damage they caused and victims compensated; this in part will help justify giving seized russian money to Ukraine): https://rd4u.coe.int/en/documents(also in Ukrainian: https://rd4u.coe.int/uk/documents )
Beware of lighters, power banks, flashlights, or other devices in de-occupied areas because they could be rigged with explosives. There have also been stories of booby trapped teddy bears and even animals left in booby trapped closets.
If you or someone you know is in a situation where unknown persons demand money for the "liberation" of a relative from captivity, immediately contact the United Center for the Search and Release of Prisoners: +38 067 650-83-32, +38 098 087-36-01
I trust Timothy Snyder on this….and at this point, fear is not an option.
“If you are thinking today about how to help Ukrainians, here are some possibilities: Come Back Alive (Ukrainian NGO that supports soldiers on the battlefield and veterans), United 24 (the Ukrainian state platform for donations, with many excellent projects), RAZOM (an American NGO, tax-deductible for US citizens, which cooperates with Ukrainian NGOS to support civilians), and Documenting Ukraine (a project that helps to give Ukrainians a voice, also tax-deductible for Americans)”
You are correct, so apparently, the Republicans legislators who refuse to stand up to this and do their bloody job and stop this are far from decent! If you have a Republican legislator, please contact them every single day and remind them it is you who helped them get their job and it is you who will move them out of their job!
Don't think it's going to calm you down but you are not alone Carol, there are millions like you. I'm one of them and you are another one. Calm down and carry on. 🫠
Well, at least all the cards are on the table now, in plain sight. tRump and his band of dumb thugs have proven beyond all doubt they are wannabe dictators and fascists. If anyone in the world is still unsure about this fact, then someone should check their pulse.
I make calls. But please don't try to call representatives outside your district and state. They won't listen and it makes it harder for their constituents to get through. Send postcards instead!
You can leave a message. I had no problem doing that after hours. My representatives are Democrats. We need to change the minds of these Republicans! Tell them they will be voted out.
Impeachment may be in order Marlo, but it’s not going to happen until Democrats regain control of Congress. That’s the immediate task before us. Let’s do it!
If Liz Cheney can speak out, where are former Dem leaders? Why the silence from Obama, Clintons, et al? Where is Schumer? If foreign leaders are shocked, so are ordinary Americans!!
The Dems are laying low. Which is a gigantic mistake. Considering that Musk and Vance are working overtime to take control of the federal government.
Their "philosopher guide" Yarvin reads history, like Putin. And he twists history to justify his anarchic dreams, like Putin. (See the Substack Dark Mirror. Don't subscribe but read Yarvin's mush and realize that VP Vance is a fanboy.)
The Dems are leaving a void that Musk and Vance are filling. They are not objecting/shutting down Musk's requirement that 2.2 million federal employees report directly to HIM! The Press and the Dems don't seem to have a problem with this. Astounding.
This is a class war coup. The ruling class in the Democrats are going to have far more in common with the ruling class in the Republicans than not. Being in a class of extreme wealth often creates cultural decay and moral cowardice even amongst the best individuals.
Trump has always longed to belong to the inner circle -- any inner circle. He didn't get that while being a real estate "mogul" (ahem) in Manhattan, as the elite of Manhattan thought he was a crude buffoon, so he's trying to get it now -- to the peril of all of us.
He'll be always a tragic, crude buffoon no matter what. His running mate is the real and present danger by being smarter and articulated and being a puppet controlled by Peter Thiel.
Trump is trying to make Crude Buffooning somehow "cool", but he is tanking US world wide esteem and leverage . Putin declares his approval, but only for his own handiwork. Putin is evil, but he is not a fool. He surely knows what Trump and his coterie really are. A US country run by crude buffoons is suiting his predatory purposes.
No wonder Putin's intelligence apparatus and psychological war experts been working non stop to make sure he would be president since before 2016. Thanks for your comment J L.
Hence the shift away from the working class and labor by the Democratic party of the last many years. And, well, here we are. A day late and a dollar short. The one thing i know for sure is that they are few and we are many.
The problem with this line of thought is that it’s at its base, untrue. The difference being MAGAs promises to the working and middle classes which were never fulfilled, vs. Dems having worked to improve those classes and at the same time become more inclusive. The working and middle classes took these programs for granted. Now it’s FAFO.
So then, it is working class apathy and complacency and not Democratic priority in policy that left them looking for a message, any message which the other party capitalized on?
Gregg, as the expression goes, "It's complicated."
Democrats are trying to do a post mortem on the '24 election while the christo-fascist goons and the techno-fascist rapists are storming through U.S. Government at top speed, slashing and burning as they go. The situation is so dire, it's almost pointless to discuss what anyone did yesterday, much less, last year.
To say that Dems abandoned the working class is just not accurate. Yes, Dems have courted financial support from deep-pocketed donors, but they have never deserted their constituents, unlike GOP legislators. The financial factor in the U.S. electoral process has been exaggerated by Citizens United. (A pox on SCOTUS!) Nowadays, nobody can play to win without vast sums of money and a 4-year campaign.
But to focus on economics is to overlook all the other factors that are hindering Democrats. I don't claim to know all of them, but I recognize a few.
The U.S. electorate has a short collective memory. We can't even remember the state of affairs 5 years ago, let alone, 150 years ago, when robber barons ruled from their marble mansions and workers had NO rights, NO benefits and NO agency in determining their futures. Moreover, Americans have never lived under a dictatorship, and have no idea what it's like. Donald TOLD us he would be a dictator, couched in nonsense about sharks and wet batteries. Nobody took him seriously.
Racism, misogyny and homophobia are not just the province of Republicans. A lot more Democrats harbor these prejudices than we can bring ourselves to admit.
Media and messaging have been a huge failure for Democrats, but this alone didn't lose the battle.
No doubt, there are more factors than I'm mentioning. But to focus on one is to miss the big picture
Point taken, sir. I did say " the shift away" and not abandon. Nevertheless, I shall stand corrected. It is indeed complicated. There is a class system within the Democratic party and I am trying to make sense of it as we hurtle headlong backwards toward feudalism, I guess.
Well, it seems Trump has most of the 1% behind him. That has been a gigantic thumb on the scale since at least Reagan (never absent, but far more assertive since, and successful in government capture). And yeah, I get a lot of Email from Democrats that's just high pressure sales pitch, not real adult to adult communication.
"But the main culprit, the cancer on the body politic, is money: Money, money, money. When I ran 6 years ago, in 1998, I raised $8.5 million. That $8.5 million is $30,000 a week, every week, for 6 years. If you miss Christmas week, you miss New Years week, you are $100,000 in the hole and don't you think we don't know it and we start to work harder at raising money.
As a result, the Senate doesn't work on Mondays and Fridays. We have longer holidays. The policy committee is adjourned and we go over to the campaign building because you can't call for money in the office. So we go over to the building and call for money and obviously we only can give attention to that. We don't have time for each other. We don't have time for constituents, except for the givers. Somebody ought to tell the truth about that. Unless and until we excise this cancer, the Congress and Government is going to languish alone because it has to be done."
I apologize for the ugly link but please watch it. Here’s my take—Jeffries has set up responders Raskin and Neguese. They are smart guys like himself, and also lawyers. I understand Dems are trying to keep it together but Responders need to be people who can get our attention first— AOC/Jasmine Crockett/Bernie Sanders/David Hogg style. Remember the joke about getting a donkey’s attention by hitting him on the head first. Respectfully Mr Jeffries and Mr Schumer—add some FIREBRANDS!!
Once you get to the link you provided (that starts with "Thanks Joan"), you can select to see it on YouTube then do like I did and access it through the much shorter named link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo-l901DoiU
Gigi, Thanks, I appreciate you communicating your take, and I'll be more careful with links in the future. Yes, FIREBRANDS!! As mild-mannered people face their reluctance to flame in public, more may be in the making each day as we blow on embers.
Agreed but Yarvin's substack is entitled Gray Mirror. Vance acknowledges that Yarvin is a major influence on him. Here's a quote from his latest post. That this guy is influencing the VP of the US is chilling. One sentence, and you know you are in cuckoo land.
"I’m worried that the resemblance between President Trump’s Gaza plan and mine will contribute to the weird delusion that I am secretly running the world. No, actually, (a) I have not talked to anyone important about Gaza; and (b) the idea is obvious, anyway.
I realize that it seems improbable that we would both have the same crackpot idea. No. It is extremely probable, because the President and I inhabit the same reality. We are both looking up and noticing that the sky is blue. Most people live in crackpot world, where the sky is green and our present Middle East policy is sane. Reality has started to seep into this crackpot world, and the mixture is… remarkable."
I am pretty sure it’s a strategy. Keep the focus on Trump and Vance while they are getting trashed from piller to post. i read they are not going to interrupt his Inaugural Address either. i’ll read about it. i shun him. i think that may be what the Dems are doing, too. He hates to be ignored.
I agree Tina. One or two Dems made it into the news. They have to get a group together in front of the cameras and clutch their pearls and be shocked! Shocked! at this horrific event. Stop looking for money and make some noise.
Harsh but true words Laurie. Jeffries also the same problem. I get that they need to keep it together but the first responders Jeffries is talking about are also explainers. Headline getters are needed. Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, AOC, Crockett, get a crowd in front of the mics. Schumer and Jeffries can stand there too. Do you agree?
The Dem replacement for the retiree is pretty good. She will be giving the response to the State of the Union address. I hope our former Secretary of Transportation will run for Peters' seat.
I called Johnson, Peter’s & Jeffries today. Russia needs to be defeated without concessions. Putin ILLEGALLY invaded a sovereign country after Russia had signed an agreement never to do so (Budapest Memorandum). Ukraine should be allowed to join NATO for future protection as Russia cannot be trusted (nor can we apparently). No other country is asking to be repaid. We made our bed by not stopping Russia (Crimea, Georgia, Trump’s delay of the weapons resulting in his first impeachment), now we have to lie in it.
They should have gone out to say goodbye to Zelenskyy and then immediately called a press conference. Their voices need to be heard -- in unison - objecting to this dismantling of America.
Did the Democrats leaders even TRY to give Zelensky an opportunity to counter the misinformation spread by Trump and Vance in that meeting? A press conference? A one-on-one interview?
Of Note: 28-Feb-2025: On the Bill Maher Show, Chrystia Freeland of Canada appeared... Chrystia is very accomplished, having among other things, Canadian Finance Minister, served as Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, been a financial journalist, and importantly, helped negotiate the current, CUSMA, trade deal between Canada, the United States, and Mexico... She knows DJT, and DJT knows her... Chrystia, like Zelenskyy is small in statue, but giant in presence... Chrystal's Mother is Ukrainian, and Chrystia studied in Ukraine, and
is fluent in Ukrainian... While she studied in the Ukraine, Chrysytia was followed by the KGB since they considered Chrystia to be a Ukrainian Activist... By the time her activism
within Ukraine came to an end, Freeland had become the subject of a high-level case study from the KGB on how much damage a single determined individual could inflict on the
Soviet Union; a 2021 Globe and Mail article quoted the report by a former officer of the KGB, which had described Freeland as "a remarkable individual", "erudite, sociable,
persistent, and inventive in achieving her goals"... Chrystia is an excellent Communicator, with excellent People Skills, and very Intelligent... She is considered to be the likely next Prime Minister of Canada... On the Bill Maher Show, Chrystia declared that she will defend Canadian Interests... Canada will have a Good Leader... Slava Ukraine!!!
Apache, Canada needs a leader who can BEAT PIERRE POILLIEVRE—the spawn of Donald Trump! His rhetoric mimics that of any tyrant, not just Trump. Canadians must vote for the person who can beat Poilievre and protect Canada’s sovereignty and national security. Keep your eyes wide open, please!
I watched that interview. She's completely new to me, no surprise since I'm in NorCal, but she seemed very sharp and quite solid. Maher can be a hard case, making it difficult for folks to get a word in edgewise, but she had no trouble dominating the interview. And I think he liked her.
I would rate Ms Freeland's chances of beating out Mark Carney for leader of the Liberal Party (and thus Prime Minister till the next election) as maybe 1 in 5 at best.
And the Liberal Party's chances of winning the next election, not very long from now, certainly by the autumn of this year, maybe sooner, are maybe 1 in 4 (and if Trudeau had stayed on, 1 in 20.)
I agree that Freeland is impressive, and has Trump's number. He has said he does not like her, which is already a point in her favour.
While I think Chrystia Freeland would make a great PM, she is not a shoo-in. Her biggest competitor is Mark Carney, former head of the Bank of Canada and later of the Bank of England.
Thanks Jude... We can hope... Chrystia has interesting Opinions on the Global Oligarchs... Wikipedia has interesting Details... Canada needs a Strong Leader to defend it from Predatory DJT...
I know. I thought Nixon was bad. And Reagan. And Bush. And Mitch McConnell and so very many others. And yes, this is beyond scary and mean. And for all of us beyond what we could have imagined.
All those politicians that "we thought were bad" WERE bad...they paved the way for our current cowardly, insecure, fascist man-baby prez and his little heinie-licking fascist side-kick vp. I have never been more disgusted than I was upon viewing that crass, barbaric ambush of a man who has more integrity and courage in his little finger than both drump and vance have EVER had. And, I'm disgusted with the Dems as well--I have gotten almost more begging texts in the past few weeks than I did during the run-up to the election.
Hey, elected Dems: instead of begging for more and yet more money, howsabout DOING SOMETHING--ANYTHING! and THEN asking for money?
Yeah--in the same place TL as you are. All I get are "we want you to be our ATM" messages from the Dems. And many are likely not even legit, but Russian and Chinese bots, as that was demonstrated to be the case last year during the campaign. I identify all of them as "junk" and I refuse to give them a penny. One thing: if you communicate with your member of Congress directly (if they are a Dem), as I do with Mr. Cleaver, my Congressman, they will communicate information. The problem is that the usual press outlets are so terrified of the Felon, they don't report on stuff that is happening. And the Dems in Congress are really crappy about reporting their activities to their constituents as a rule. We have to keep up the pressure regardless.
I think they may not care as long as they are seeing that the "libs" are feeling pain. Up to a point, that is. When they lose their SNAP benefits and their Medicaid...there might be an awakening. Maybe.
As I have stated before, based on close personal observation, MAGA maniacs have a unique prism through which they view their fortunes. When things are going well for them, they credit Republicans. When GOP mismanagement makes things difficult, they blame "the government."
This is an extension of the evangelical point of view: "I believe, therefore I am always right; I am never wrong."
I have been thinking about how just plain sadistic they seem. It makes me wonder if they tortured animals when they were under 16 (and how many still feel the urge to torture not only animals but people like some of our worst enemies).
Trump & Vance should be BOTH be IMPEACHED for TREASON (aiding and abetting the enemy - Russia). They are both Russian assets, it’s obvious.
Contact your representatives:
(202) 225-3121
First, Trump had been in contact with Putin, negotiating Ukraine, BEFORE and WITHOUT Zelensky, our ally. Very insulting and not how you negotiate peace.
Second, Trump called Zelensky, the respected, President of a DEMOCRACY with 75% of the votes, a “dictator!” Saying he wasn’t having free elections! He also said Ukraine can’t join NATO. Sounds like Putin’s demands. Another insult.
Third, Trump (I won’t call him president because of the illegally purged black votes & hacked tabulators Harris is the true president!) announced Ukraine “started the war.” Either Trump has severe dementia or he is stupid; both a possibility. It was Russia who invaded Ukraine, REPEATEDLY. THEY are the AGGRESSORS!
Fourth, just arriving at the White House from a ravaged war torn country, dignified President Zelensky is immediately criticized by Trump for what he was wearing! Musk, the richest man in the world, wears t-shirts & baseball caps & emphasizes his disrespect by bringing his 3 year old son to the oval office who then proceeds to pick the buggars out of his nose, putting them on the Lincoln desk.
With Trump’s prior insulting comments (lies) made about him, insulting him by not meeting with Zelensky FIRST, but meeting with the war criminal dictator & aggressor Putin, that’s enough to make anyone upset. Trump & Vance had NO excuse.
Fourth, THINK of what Zelensky went through to just to get to the White House from a ravaged country of 3 years. No airports. Helicopters, long train rides, etc. It probably took an entire day. He didn’t even get lunch after struggling to get there from a war zone. (He probably arrived hungry thinking they would provide lunch after he came that great distance. Is that any way to treat a guest?).
Fifth, we SIGNED a commitment in 1994 - the “Budapest Memorandum” y along with the UK, Northern Ireland and Russia! Why isn’t anyone talking about this??
In 1994 Ukraine ONLY agreed to hand over their HUGE STASH of nuclear weapons to Russia 'in exchange for a guarantee never to be threatened or invaded.' And to be protected if such an invasion occurred.
***If Ukrainian had KEPT those nuclear warheads, and they should have, Russia would never have dared to invade, EVER!•••
Ukraine was the ONLY country that honored this agreement.
Obviously, Russia, the invader, did NOT keep the commitment, but the United States MUST.
Perhaps Trump, being the non reader, poor student he was, doesn’t know about this commitment. But no wonder Zelensky doesn’t trust Russia to keep another agreement! Who should? Like Trump, Putin LIES and CHEATS and has repeatedly shown HIS WORD IS NOT GOOD!
Russia broke the agreement so they have NO bargaining power. This is what should happen:
1. Russia should return ALL of Ukraine’s land.
2. Russia should return ALL of the stockpile of nuclear warheads Ukraine gave Russia since they broke the agreement or better replace with new.
3. Russia should pay to rebuild Ukraine.
4. No other country is asking to be reimbursed. The United States did NOT give Ukraine $350 billion. That is another Trump LIE. We gave them ILD war equipment & we bough new to replace them.
5. The United States should not get anything from Ukraine - NO MINERALS. The United States did nothing when Russia took Crimea & Georgia. If they had, this total devastation & loss of lives would not have occurred. The United States, UK , N. Ireland did not come to Ukraine’s rescue when Russia invaded. All four countries broke the agreement.
6. Since neither the U.S., UK, N.Ireland nor Russia held to the agreement, Ukraine SHOULD be allowed to join NATO. They earned it. That will assure no future invasions of their county.
By agreeing to these terms along with staying out of our elections, Putin is getting off lightly because Putin is now a war criminal and should really be sentenced to death. He did irreparable harm to babies, raping women, kidnapping children, bombing hospitals, etc. Not to mention the devastation of people’s homes, the infrastructure, loss of lives, the emotional and physical trauma, etc.
DON’T GIVE IN! The ball is in your court. Russia is sweating.
Sincerely,
A very SHOCKED, ASHAMED and HORRIFIED American citizen. I apologize, respect and support you. We all agree, we would prefer it if you were our President!
“This Memorandum will become applicable upon signature. Signed in four copies having an equal validity in the Ukrainian, English, and Russian languages.”
I'm sorry, but until the Dems are a majority in the House...trying to impeach the orange arsehole is not only useless, but a waste of time and effort which could be directed at other, perhaps more productive, issues. As long as Trump and his MAGAs have their tentacles in every branch and crevice of government--what's left of it--and own the entire legislative branch, trying to impeach Trump simply will not fly.
Impeachment was tried TWICE already and even though we held the House at that point, drump still slithered out of it thanks to McConnell.
Well, don't you remember how disgusted the Repubbies were--even McConnell--after January 6? By the time the impeachment charges were argued, even McConnell had reconsidered and Trump was able to slither away. yes, many Republicans are appalled...but I doubt their dismay and disgust would last beyond considerations of Trump's vindictiveness. The Republicans are invertebrates and even if they are currently primed for an impeachment trial...I don't think it would last long enough to follow through.
Totally agree. There needs to be a ground swell grass roots movement to impeach. 100 million or more of us should be calling our representatives and senators as you suggest and demand it.
They may be invertebrates, but 100 million plus of us are not. The definition of treason is betraying one's country. It they are not guilty of treason, then we are all not living in the same country.
• Why is he letting others demolish our agencies that are “watchdogs” so he or others can’t be held accountable for corruption?
• Why is he removing ALREADY drastically cut IRS personnel at TAX season (dumb) - people that brought in $$$$$$$$ BILLIONS from tax fraud. I guess Trump doesn’t want the IRS snooping in his taxes…
• Why doesn’t he have the wealthy & corporations pay their fair share in taxes instead of giving them $4.5 trillion cuts and then scramble to cut needed areas from the poor and perhaps suddenly unemployed?
• Why isn’t Trump FOLLOWING the LAW in doing the cuts? It is ILLEGAL for him to fire Inspector Generals, cut/dismantle agencies Congress created and approved funding for. There is a LAWFUL PROCESS! That is the heart of democracy!
Trump is IGNORING that process. He is IGNORING COURT ORDERS to unfreeze the freeze in spending the allocated funds already approved by Congress. How is THAT “smart.” That is a DICTATORSHIP!
Sigh. Don't they realize trump has never ever "hid his light under a bushel"? That he is simply incapable of such subtlety. He wears his brags and "accomplishments" on his sleeve.
I'll admit it isn't always easy to see where he is being himself and where he is acting on orders and/or talking points from Moscow...but if you look carefully to see where Trump sees immediate advantage for himself--or a chance to avenge a grievance--you can usually figure out where he's going to go. He cannot for the life of him plan for his own long-range benefit--he's too impulsive. But he certainly can follow the orders of someone who does have the ability plan long range. Unfortunately.
Yes and the Repubbies are already hard at work trying to get voter suppression laws enacted (SAVE Act, anybody!??) and otherwise diddling with the people in charge of the processes. I don't think it is going to be enough to simply turn out the vote this time--it's going to require Dem strength of character to demand count challenges and recounts--just as the Repubbies have done for the last several elections. We also need to resist the Republican rush to declare winners when the votes have been only half counted. We must be ready to demand investigations and then there will be tussles to pry losers out of their offices if they insist that they won. Trump has set some very ugly precedents for his followers. I say be prepared for battle, comes election season 2026.
You're RIGHT, Nixon was Disgusting! Reagan was Disgusting, Bush and Shrub were Disgusting! But Americans kept voting for them. Again and again. The ReThuglikins, have screwed us for a generation or two already. It seems that this is the first time since Raygun that anybody aside from Progressives even noticed. I'm sorry, but I just can't get my knickers into a knot because the Right is acting Very Wrongly AGAIN! YOU KNEW THEY WERE SNAKES ALREADY!!! RISE UP AMERICA!
I’m also 82—turning 83 on March 4—and have come to the painful realization that we do not truly live in a democracy. If we did, we wouldn’t be on the brink of a fascist takeover. How can any American comprehend a president fawning over a murderous dictator while turning his back on our historic allies? If that isn’t surreal, I don’t know what is.
And I though the scumbag president was bad, till a saw the Manchurian Candidate execute a preplanned aggression against an ally leader fighting for democracy and also for us. What the scumbag president did was a reaction, what the Manchurian did was executing a plan. I'm not defending trump, I just describing the event as it happened. Vance is a present dange to our republic.
but look at the line of succession - after Vance, Speaker Christian Nationalist and room-temperature-IQ Johnson, and after Johnson, Secretary of State Rubio. Wow! Talk about an anti-assassination agenda! (And Musk will keep running the country into the ground whoever is president.)
Events of Great Change In Mathematics, are Called Catastrophes... I hope that 2025 is not like 1914... 1914 usured in the Catastrophes of the 20th Century...
I'm 77 and I agree. John Simpson's comment definetly describes my fears, my dissolutionment, my bewilderment at what Donald Trump and his supporters have done to the country I love: "A time when the basic assumptions about the way our world works are fed into the shredder." The Republican Congress members have helped Trump feed our values into the shredder, and that is so disdainful and unbelievable. I hold them responsible for allowing Trump and Musk to rip my country apart, piece by piece.
Professor Snyder’s analysis is always a welcome and informative reflection even though the subject matter is already deeply disturbing. I am as grateful for his work throughout this extended debacle as I am of Professor Richardson’s. They both have won my deep respect, appreciation and gratitude.
Thanks for the referral to professor Snyder. Another prominent professor from Yale, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote an article in Time last week that explains the Russian dilemma. Here’s a link: https://time.com/7261449/putin-donald-trump-russia-ceo-essay/
You ask THE question. Why did the spectacle in the Oval Office really happen?
I don't think was so much about Putin himself and it is more about a global order of authoritarianism for which Putin is the authoritarian's model authoritarian, the one all others want to grow up to be for the future they envision. The people who are running this from behind Musk and Vance and T rump -- Yarvin, Thiel, Andreessen, etc. & with The Heritage Foundation doing the plan's heavy lifting -- don't want democracy anywhere on this planet. It gets in the way of their plans and needs to be quickly eradicated. The plans that they've been working on for decades are for all kinds of global dictator-led nation and network states, the US being one of them, where they, as the only rightful monarchs who worship at the altar of capitalism, decide everything and we, the peasants they detest, provide them with the cheap and desperate feudalistic labor they want and need, and should we resist or complain they simply toss us out into some wasteland or worse. Putin fits right in. But key to their success is that they act fast before the giant that is the American people truly awakens and we align with our former allies to fight for our very lives. As we witnessed in the Oval Office, I think it's pretty clear they will stop at NOTHING, keeping in mind we are disposable to them, to make this dystopian world a reality NOW because they know they will never get this chance again. In case you haven't seen this yet, here's their insane but very real endgame vision already underway -> https://skywriter.blue/pages/did:plc:we7sidyj3b5or2r7trtpfzt7/post/3lizd3knupc23
I wonder if that wasn't also an intimidation tactic to pressure Zelensky, like Putin was in the room too as part of the ambush, plus a signal domestically in the US and Russia in case there was any remaining doubt which side T et al had long ago decided we were going to be on. V & T held nothing back in trying to execute the plan they were all in on but I don't think it ended up working out the way any of them thought it would which makes me fear what will come next. T will have to make it up to Putin for having not closed the deal as planned and that surely won't mean anything good for us.
Very good point. Putin's representatives were in the room. Which includes Vance and Trump. For Zelensky this must have been like walking into a room in Hell.
Spot on. Check out Yarvin's Substack Dark Mirror. Don't subscribe! But do read his deceptive blather. He describes (intention mixed with lies and twisted history) what Musk and Vance and Thiel and Andreesen want to do: take control of the US government. The "right of conquest" in this era is immense assets, gathered by the AI techies who think they are smarter than everyone else. And therefore deserve to run the government. Without opposition.
Musk's actions, including his control of Trump and the Cabinet and the GOP side of Congress, are clear indicators of what's coming next! And fast!
I understand why you'd characterize them as "AI techies", but for what it's worth: Musk, Vance, Thiel, and Andreesen have one thing in common when it comes to tech: they are pirates. They do not create, they seize and exploit. They perceive life as zero sum. And they are very damaged people recapitulating their various traumas.
The "real" AI techies are mostly mathematicians on a quest for truth and the meaning of intelligence. Or are pure technologists driven by challenge and what they perceive to be scientific achievement. Some have runaway unacknowledged death anxiety and are trying to make God. But most are just driven by the same human nature that led us to make wheels and harness fire. Importantly, though, they make things and solve problems. I don't mean to defend them, but they are a different breed from the pirates. For them, the science is the thing. For the pirates, the science is incidental. They would use magic if it were a more expedient cultural symbol. (Their ilk did, historically.)
I don't know if this distinction is important in the grand scheme of things, but in case you find it interesting.
Yeah, I've got his "A Conversation on Monarchy" on my desktop to reference it every time I can share his sick vision and plans. Jenny Cohn over on Bsky and others update their research on them and an ever-widening gang of co-conspirators daily. And I don't know if you think this too but I've got this itch in my brain that tells me the GOP side of Congress was filled in on all of this and told if they get in the way too much, a little performative "pushback" is fine, but if they really do resist, they won't end up on the privileged side of their dystopian universe but will be relegated to where they expect all of us to end up and that's a big reason why they are so despicably docile and compliant... well, except for those who really are into the kind of cruelty they're pursuing just for its own sake.
yes, the number of Republican members of both houses of Congress who get death threats against them and their families if they appear about to do the decent or moral thing is appalling.
The right has a near-monopoly on public policy by violence. The left by and large - very large - does not do that. It will criticize but it does not threaten, publicly or privately.
This should be pointed out much more often. It is NOT legitimate.
Yarvin preaches the smart rich parasites should emulate Putin in the US and take control. The hosts/serfs only live to serve them. Otherwise we are all disposable.
The parasites are not hiding. Blonde Politics is also a good follow.
I think the GOP senators are smart enough to realize they chose to make a soul pact with the Devil. And most of the House reps. There are some in the House who are so stupid they think they've just sold out for money. They are all sellouts.
Let's remember that one in five Americans are illiterate. Musk and the rest of his parasite gang depend on that base to believe whatever con they are selling. Musk claims the purpose of DOGE is to cut out the bloat and fat from the government. The actual purpose is to control all three branches. He's almost there.
Oh, yeah, that video, also cued up to share far and wide, blew my mind when I first came across it. "He's almost there" is so frighteningly true and makes me worry a lot about what is going to come out of the joint session of congress T will be addressing on Tuesday. NOTHING good can come out of that! And I also can't get out of my mind a few of the details in Yarvin's works that haven't yet happened but that I have no reason to believe aren't in the works. Two pieces from "A Conversation..." that are stuck in my brain are 1) a national lockdown (aka martial law?) and 2) centralizing and arming the police. The pieces are nearly in place for both to happen. Lately, I've begun to think we are gonna need outside help to overcome all this but we have to get organized ourselves first. Making this stuff we've been talking about known to everyone is crucial because they're hoping we stay focused on the front/henchmen T & M. We need to do that too but so much more. I've begun sharing this information with Dems in Congress who are actually doing things, asking them to start investigating it and talking about it and even with the CA AG who has jurisdiction over them for a state charge of treason since what is going on at the federal level is also an attack on the state constitution, etc. I figure gotta try.
And, Kara Swisher has done a lot to expose this odd corner of the industry and some of these monsters in it. Musk, Vance, Thiel, Andreesen: they are, or have become, monsters regardless had they landed in tech, finance, politics, wherever.
Thank you. I think their next step, in cahoots with their fellow fanatical BRICS oligarch autocrats (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), will be to announce that the US dollar will no longer be the reserve currency for these nation states. Harbinging in a ruthless Profiteer’s Age of yet more inhumane global ecological, social and cultural destruction.
I've been wondering about the timing of that. I know that is in the works but how soon can that realistically happen? There's some mechanisms in place but there's a lot of dollars in play in the current system for it to happen fast, though these idiots could lose control of how it happens anyway. But assuming it will be the yuan that at least somewhat replaces it, with China in ascendance as the dominant capitalist power, I wonder if they will be keen to play the let's demolish the entire world economy game by having that shift happen abruptly. Regardless of how and when, I totally agree that there are extraordinarily destructive forces at work and more to come and we all are gonna need a very big, very bold plan for when everything falls apart. So far we're protesting at Tesla dealerships and other places pretty well. But we should probably ramp things up PDQ to meet the challenges of a not impossible global financial collapse.
I totally agree. Thanks so much for being so engaged with the chaotic insanity being indulged in by our Western ruling class amd sharing your insights. Holdfast All 🐈⬛
The big hurdle for Yarvin/Trump to print Trump money is that the US Dollar is a meme in the brains of 7 billion humans around the world. Like Coca-Cola, you can't erase the meme in all these brains. The internationally accepted currency is the US $100 bill.
Trump (Musk) could gain control of the Federal Reserve by firing the Fed governors. Trump has spoken repeatedly about how the President should have the power to create money. Musk could sew chaos. Create a financial emergency. Anarchy in the world stock and bond markets.
Few people understand how money works. It's like fish swimming in the ocean. Bottom line: humans will work for money they can use to buy food, shelter and security (a safe place to sleep). If the grocery store or landlord doesn't accept Trump Money or crypto for payment, then people won't devote their work energy for it. Try paying employees with Bitcoin!
Rebel, I think there's a whole lot of truth in your comment. I submit, however, that the christo-fascists have been at this game decades longer than the techno-facsists.
The christo-fascists want two things:
1. They want the U.S. to be a Protestant Evangelical Theocracy, ruled by the Western equivalent of Sharia Law.
2. They want to accelerate the entire geo-political world toward Armageddon, which ushers in The Millennium, the thousand years' reign of peace under the reign of King Jesus who will return from heaven to take his place on the global throne.
They have been seeking the right puppet to make this happen. They thought Ronald Reagan was going to fill the role, but he was a demented disappointment. Next, they thought George Bush 2.0 was going to hand over the reigns, but 9/11 and Katrina derailed his trajectory. Donald is their last, best hope. His ego and incompetence during his first term almost ruined things, so they got the Project 2025 gang together to design a roadmap that could be followed by an idiot. But they have to work fast, before the majority of Americans can put a halt to the plan.
The christo-fascists have known they are a small minority, so they've welcomed assistance from anyone who seeks roughly the same objectives, including conservative Catholics, whom they do not acknowledge as "real Christians." They also tolerate the techno-fascists insofar as they're a useful demolition crew.
I am convinced that a day of reckoning is coming when there will be a showdown between the christo-fascists and techno-fascists. Currently, they are running on parallel courses, but the two groups seek world orders on diametrically opposed foundations.
The question is, are there enough U.S. democracy-lovers to overwhelm both of these two groups?
Not just parallel courses now (or likely before); they have joined up. "Those of us who study the Theo Bros have long suspected a financial connection between them & the Tech Bros, but were unable to find it. Forbes just did. The connection is thru Marc Andreessen (who advises DOGE & is involved w/ Network States) & New Founding (led by Nate Fischer & Josh Abbottoy)." - Jenny Cohn
Your final question is the one we face and I think it is going to take more than US democracy-lovers. I think we need an international coalition. If we can get our own coalition together, I know a whole bunch of nation states that just broke up with their former partner who might be willing to help us out.
I'd heard the "tech bros" nickname before, but not "theo bros." I like it, except these monikers make the two groups sound "cute" rather than the ominous threats that they are.
Agree but fascistic, neo-Ayn Rand fan boy, tech/capitalist-worshipping, logic-denying, Hitler-embracing, democracy hating, monarchy-obsessed coup co-conspirators instead of Tech Bros is just a bit too long to use in most posts. But yeah, we definitely need way more accurate monikers for these cretins.
I'm afraid the US will quickly decline in moral and ethical and human rights and personal freedom leadership in the world. We only represent 5% of the world's population. Our historical love of liberty and the rule of law and popular culture put America on top. Now we are sinking. Free Europe is rising. Indian and Chinese culture are rising. Even though their leaders are autocrats. The soul freedom of Roger Williams and John Milton, the equality of human individuals, the respect for unoppressed speech and assembly are faltering. We are about to experience the "right to conquer" by Bad King Elon and his Dark Lords.
This is a good analysis! I'm afraid the christo-fascists are out gunned by the tech parasites. Musk manipulated the "White Jesus" cohort in the last election. Using AI and behavioral propaganda he and his Yarvin-led pals are gaining control over the minds of a large minority of Americans.
Are there enough US democracy lovers to fight back? 185 million of 265 million American adults did not vote for Donald. 70% to 30%.
I didn't make a prediction about who will win because I think it's an absolute toss-up. The techno-fascists may outgun the christo's in terms of technology, but it remains to be seen how far they can distort religious dogma and still hold them.
Not sure where your election statistics come from, but here's how I look at it:
The number of votes for Harris vs. Trump differed by a rounding error. Of the total, non-Dem and non-GOP votes were negligible. An estimated 88 million eligible voters didn't vote. I postulate that half of them didn't want to vote for Trump and the other half didn't want to vote for Harris. It is my opinion that an overwhelming majority of eligible voters didn't vote because they knew in advance that their votes would not count, thanks to gerrymandering and the Electoral College. In the end, the election was a draw. But the Electoral College handed the election to Trump.
To my mind, the U.S. is evenly divided politically. It will take some third, powerful force to move the needle in one direction or the other.
I so absolutely agree with you! For a time I got stuck on the belief that no one would ever want democracy to fail. The “Can you believe they did this!?!?” phase. Now I understand that they really do want to end democracy! Accepting that helps the waking up process!
Exactly! i read the introduction and thought the same thing. Never heard of Yarvin but I think somebody better do an ancestry.com tree on him. Thanks for-posting,Victoria.
The Hill had an article on Wednesday suedeggesting on some plausible evidence that Trump was recruited by the KGB in 1987, and given the cover name Krasnov. I discussed that in my Substack, The Old Curmudgeon, yesterday: https://jonmargolis.substack.com/p/many-people-are-saying . Take a look. One of my readers suggested that our “chief executive” is now President Krasnov. Works for me. [Edit: It now appears that "Krasnov" has been scrubbed from a number of articles, including the one I linked to. But it appears in an article on The Guardian from 2021. I'm going to have to post on this later.]
It very much left that impression. Notably neither Trump or Vance showed any interest in letting Zalinsky say his piece, even to refute it. They just feigned serial offense to the few words he managed (and his dress; it has been observed that Musk's Oval Office business attire is casual). It was all bogus as hell (and Fox calls Trump's performance Nobel Prize material). War is Peace in MAGA land.
Absolutely! And if there was any doubt, him ending by saying this "will be great television" sealed the deal. Trump is an asshole for sure, but Vance (who I had little regard for anyhow) came off like a butt kissing sycophant. He didn't look tough, he looked like he was watching for Trump's reaction in his side vision with his "me, too, boss!" comments. It made HIM look even weaker.
Totally right Deborah but, not to justify the scumbag president, it was a Manchurian Candidate scheme. Trump looked surprised at the beginning and was late to react and when he did, it was like a spoiled toddler in a gang of two. Special shame on Marco Rubio, sinking into the couch.
Exactly Deborah. The fact that a member of the Russian government described the meeting ahead of time and that a TASS representative was "inadvertently" in the press pool in the room on Friday and more than enough indication that this was a set-up. Never mind that it was all over the Russian media within moments after the ambush took place. Just appalling stuff.
It was Trump and Vance who walked away from the Oval Office fiasco looking weak and stupid, for all the world to see. Zelenskyy walked away with his pride and dignity intact, his courage and personal integrity on full display, for the world to see.
There was one bona fide national leader in the Oval Office on 2/28. His name is Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Too bad the Dems couldnt even arrange their own meeting with Zelensky after or at least a press conference of their own. Weak leaders!!! I am tired of them!
In all fairness to Dems. First, Zelensky knows all Dems support him. Second, Trump can cut him off militarily and jeopardize the war. Third, the more Zelensky cozies up to Dems, the more likely Ukraine gets cut off. Note Trump whined because Zelensky visited Pennsylvania during the campaign. Forth, other than a pat on the back, WTF can Dems do?
No excuse. Even if it were strategic to not meet with Zelensky, the Dem leadership needs to meet the moment. Timothy Snyder’s idea of a People’s Cabinet based on the shadow cabinet in the UK, would have had some kind of parallel event.
Just keep knocking the Democrats and see who votes for them. They have no power in the Congress until we get to the government shutdown and they have no access to the media which is why it would be good to give them money. For God’s and all our sakes stop doing MAGA talking points. Support Democrats or shut up.
Q: how would you rate sen. chuck schumer’s messaging and pushback in his media appearances? Who in the dems do you see is delivering a good opposition to rump in the media?
These are honest self criticisms, not maga talking points at all.
I don’t agree with dems ‘have no access to the media.’
Fyi, i am listening to the dedicated podcasters at Crooked media and pod save america. And john stewart on the daily show (comedy central). If you haven’t seen / heard, do check out, and you’d best not accuse them of making maga talking points!
[sorry, i think i came off harsh here, Janis Heim. What did you see above that you thought were maga talking points?]
Meet the moment for sure. Meet Zelensky, nah. Some younger Dem will emerge from the silence, forged in this furnace fueled by red sewage, and we will have our next President...or Russian language will be required in our schools.
Exactly this. It’s been floated recently the dems need to reorganize around the format of the UK parliamentary “shadow cabinet.” Not with actual authority, but to be ready to pounce on every misstep with alternative narative. Someone assigned to follow every move of rumps cabinet, ambassadors, the UN. That dem leadership failed to coordinate some time with Zelensky is a major blunder.
I keep seeing this idea put forward, but who is responsible for making it happen? Should we be filling Ken Martin’s inbox? Or keep hammering the idea to our own MOCs. Endless repetition of the idea in substack comments does not seem to be producing any results. Let’s figure out a viable plan.
The logical leadership would come from the dem party. They seem to not have a clue, unable to steal cycles in the media, so maybe,
1) find local dem organizations at local and state level. Ask: i’d like to get a message to your boss in the party hierarchy: enact a shadow cabinet.
2) And work our way up from the bottom.
3) Top down, directly write all dem members of house and senate. Both federal and statehouse. Especially ones with effective messaging.
4) tell head committee of dem party to get head out of *ss and start yelling. I know there are vice-chairs also just elected to party. Where is david hogg, i have not heard a peep in media.
5) every repub sen and house office should be picketed 24/7
6) dems need to be running a “war room” where every policy in play, every act of destruction by doge, is noted tracked, publicised, protested. Every media appearance by a repub archived, and play these tapes so the public can’t avoid seeing them roll over, duck into the subway, ‘no comment’, and hide from their town halls.
7) silence is compliance. Do not comply in advance of the tyrant.
8) read timothy snyder on substack and in print, “on tyrany”
One emotional adult. One example of professionalism. Trump is the president of the United States, for crying out loud, yet he's nothing but a crude bully.
We have been reminded in the past, but we as a culture missed the seriousness of the symptoms. Many still do. A major security flaw in our code is "Crude Celebrity + $$$$$ = admirable power". That's an error that could kill us all.
it is beyond belief that it turns out to be true that Trump is a Russian plant. He not only is selling Ukraine down the river but his own country as well. He and Vance both have to be forced out. We have to keep protesting their miserable presence as long as necessary. We are all in danger of losing our rights with these traitors in charge! .
Trump has been shaped, encouraged, and funded by Putin since he went to build his tower in Moscow. Putin literally promised Trump the world, and Trump couldn't refuse. Putin knew he had an asset immediately.
Well, The Criminal was an easy mark for the Russians. They knew he loved flattery and that’s how they reeled him in. They gave him all the women he wanted and when he bankrupted his businesses over 100 times, who do you think picked up the tab? See, The Criminal owes Putin a lot and his performance publicly berating Zelinskyy was a big thank you to his lord and savior.
Dodson had planned to play nine holes with Trump and Eric, along with pro golfer Greg Norman and Trump’s bodyguard, and when he got there, Dodson asked where Trump was getting money. “He just sort of tossed off that he had access to $100 million,” said Dodson, whose curiosity was piqued:
“So when I got in the cart with Eric,” Dodson says, “as we were setting off, I said, ‘Eric, who’s funding? I know no banks—because of the recession, the Great Recession—have touched a golf course. You know, no one’s funding any kind of golf construction. It’s dead in the water the last four or five years.’ And this is what he said. He said, ‘Well, we don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia.’ I said, ‘Really?’ And he said, ‘Oh, yeah. We’ve got some guys that really, really love golf, and they’re really invested in our programs. We just go there all the time.’ Now that was three years ago, so it was pretty interesting.”
Just noticed that you referred to Vanity Fair. Apologies. I also found an extended article in Forbes describing the heavily leveraged golf course development tfg engaged in right up till his first run for president.
Putin was appointed President by Boris Yeltsin on Dec.31,1999. i have yet to read Trump was recruited by Putin. Just that he was tapped by the KGB of that time. So if anybody has a source connecting Trump to Putin in 1987, i would like to hear it, please. Not everybody believes this is true, by the way. I saw a video of a professor from the British War College who says flatly he doesn’t think it’s true. i wish i could think the same. i really held the idea in abeyance for years having read Unger’s book when first published. But when Trump sided with Russia, ( bringing Netanyahu with him), against Ukraine, and for Russia; sided with every dictator in the world, in combination with what he’s letting Musk do here, the utter destruction of the organization of the country, it’s the only explanation that makes sense to me. He would willingly throw Ukraine to the wolves, for what? Why? And he threatens NATO and the European Union? Again, why? For what? Actually, his whole premise that he’s going to make America great again is insane. It’s the rantings of someone with an extreme persecution complex and it’s nuts because he’s had every advantage possible in this world. it’s not based in reality. It’s the persona of the spoiled brat he still is. Except he’s bullying his way around a real world and he’s endangering real people as much as Russia or the radical Islamists are. i have no confidence he knows what he’s doing. No confidence that any of them are acting in behalf of the country and not themselves.
Unfortunately, I can't provide links to my sources because as a New York expat, I read the stories long ago in printed material that existed before the internet. I didn't keep any of them because I never dreamed that they'd be so relevant. Donald was a prominent New Yorker long before anyone heard of him nationally.
From what I read, Donald was known to the Kremlin early on, but not specifically to Putin. As I suggest in my other post, Donald's name probably appeared in a list of potential assets that the former KGB compiled from sources such as Bratva. As he rose to prominence in U.S. public notice, his name probably rose on the list of exploitable targets and a file about him was created.
U.S. spy agencies maintain the same kinds of databases.
I first learned about Trump reading a Bill Bryson, an ecologist author, where he references Trump as part of the White Mafia in NYC, 1993 publication date.
Whatever the KGB may have done or not done in relation to Trump, it is clear that Trump has personal interests in backing Russia, or for that matter, even communist autocrats, so long as they are autocrats, and he'd lap up praise from the devil himself were it available.
Oldandintheway, based on my own reading, Donald's grooming as a Russian asset began long before his hopes to build a project in Moscow. Bratva, the Russian mob has operated in NYC for decades, controlling all kinds of businesses that are involved in real estate development. Donald worked with these businesses for the entirety of his career as head of The Trump Organization.
Unlike most organized crime syndicates, Bratva has direct links to the Kremlin. Donald's strengths and weaknesses would have come to the attention of then-president Boris Yeltsin, and the "Trump file" would have been passed on to former KGB operative Putin when he assumed the office of president. By chance, it was Putin who had the expertise and opportunity to exploit Donald's weaknesses.
That seems the most likely scenario. I knew he was involved with the Russian Mafia because they lived in Boynton Beach , a stone’s throw from the Boardwalk and his casino, plus they shared the same attorney, whose nephew came to the White House, first term, but left pretty quickly, too, as Trump got into more and more trouble there. He is enrobed with the shrine of the presidency but I spent years teaching prisoners. i know a criminal mind and behavior patterns and he is a thug. i have no doubt about that. Thanks for your post.
I agree that the media loves sound bites and Trump is a master at providing them. As it MTG. So, I called the office of one of my favorite Democrats, Jared Moskowitz who likes to stir up a bit of good trouble. I made the suggestion that after thinking about MTG walking around in full red Trump regalia, or the giant white balloon, I suggested that Jared remind people of what made Frances Perkins go to FDR to institute social safety nets, the grandmothers digging in trashcans for food. I suggested he go to a session of Congress (perhaps the State of the Union address?) dressed in dirty, tattered clothing, and carrying a small galvanized trashcan filled with a dump of food--offer to share with the worst MAGA offenders. After all the cuts to Medicaid and worse to come, our seniors will be back in the 1930s.
Agreed that the Dems don’t get equal time, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t speak up at some time. This foul treatment of the president of a country we have promised to protect cannot be ignored by Dems and I’m confident it won’t be. Unfortunately, while Trump wrecks our country with questionable legality to do so, it’s not illegal for him to totally embarrass the country with his verbal insults and bully boy self. . Further, because we are not at war, it isn’t even illegal for him to cuddle up to Putin. it’s infuriating and sickening but it’s not illegal.
Our alliances are crumbling to official fits of hubris. We needed "The Allies" to prevail in WWII. We needed Lafayette. We are all riding on the same piece of rock. This is a slow moving train wreck. Slow, until it isn't.
Why can’t they figure out how to get a crowd of reporters together and get their faces on the front page or the evening news ? Why do we have to see Donnie’s 🎃🤡💩face all the time? I saw an article that they are making a rapid response team. How long will that take? I want to see a big group, not just 1 lone voice.
Maybe not wanting to turn the spotlight on themselves as long as everybody continues to be outraged. When it starts to die down, bring it back up. We have a tendency to jump from one issue to the next.
I disagree Ann. EVERYONE keeps asking “where are the Democrat leaders?!?” This is another example of them being MIA. A meeting wouldnt be putting the spotlight ON THEM, it would further amplify how the current administration doesnt represent the entire nation, less than half of it! Dont be an apologist for lame democrat un-leaders
I wanted Zelensky to say 'you want us to surrender like you did to the Taliban. We will never surrender, we will fight them forever. We are not surrender monkeys like you. We do not forcefully conscript soldiers like Russians Mr. Vance, though occasionally we have cowardly draft dodgers like your Trump.
Well put. I do believe that is what was going through his head as he attempted to engage T**** in sane conversation, but by that time, the rant had started and the orange one could not stop. He is showing signs of dementia. The 25th Amendment should be brought to bear, but that possibility is nil, due to the abject spinelessness of the Republicans, and the neutered Democrats.
Dementia is hard to prove and would need to be brought by the Repubs. He was caught red handed extorting Zelensky and the Dems couldn’t get a guilty verdict from the Repubs, so no chance today.
It’s true that Mike Johnson is next in line, but he’s a cowering
hamster, not a Russian agent, as far as we know. When the dust is settled, America MUST create a “Recall Law” giving citizens the ability to recall a president. There are a number of options for how this could work. One option might enable 26 governors to call for a recall election. In any case, it’s clear that impeachment is not effective when half of the members of Congress are quaking cowards.
Johnson is a dyed-in-the-wool Project 2025 Heritage stooge, as is JD Vance. We would be trading in for a smarter, younger, more dangerous president because both actually understand what the project is. Be careful for what you wish for. Johnson is no cowering hamster--he is the dream candidate of far-right evangelical Christian nationalists. He would give us the Handmaid's Tale for real in a heartbeat.
Your appraisal of Johnson is correct, but Vance's Catholic religious beliefs are fairly recent and not aligned with evangelical objectives. Vance is useful to the Project 2025 gang, but he is first and foremost a techno-fascist protege of Yarvin-Thiel school of cannibalism.
Sorry, but you and everyone else who uses the "i-word" need to disabuse yourself of that fantasy. We've already learned twice that the votes to convict in the Senate - a TWO-THIRDS majority - will never be there.
Not necessarily. If this period is a time of possibility for the Enemy, it's also a time of possibility for us. Consider that we're looking at a flu season next year without a vaccine. You know the states that will be hardest hit (because they're morons who won't take the protective action necessary) are going to be Red States. When those people see the devastation of their communities, and it's the fault of RFK Jr and the Trumpkins, a lot of change may happen. Plus all the other fuck-overs that Krasnov will inflict on them.
TC you know I'm a huge fan of yours and agree with you all the time, but this comment.....ah, not so sure. The meat truck morgues of COVID didn't impact them at all. I think they could ignore them. Perhaps we needed the clear door grocery store refrigerated cases to get that across? Line up in the parking lot to say goodbye to grandma from your car?
The lone silver lining in this recent news about the flu vax is that it most certainly will be the red state voters dying in more significant numbers., that I 100% agree with you. (My evil twin cackles at the thought of their voter numbers decreasing, I'm ashamed to admit.)
I have given up on much of the population being impacted by them seeing the "devastation" as THEY HAVE NO COMMAND OF LOGIC!! Pardon the scream. Why else would they continue to vote in representatives that keep their states in poverty, poor education levels, lack of industry, failing infrastructure, horrible maternal and newborn outcomes, etc etc? They sure must love them some blue-state-tax-handouts is all I can think! I guess it is one way of owning the libs!
It’s important to call out “high crimes and misdemeanors” as they are committed, whether or not there are enough votes to convict, in my opinion. If it’s close, a president might resign, as happened with Nixon.
The Supreme Court didn’t rule that a president could not be impeached while in office, just not prosecuted in a court.
My understanding is that Nixon resigned when he learned that there were enough Republicans who thought he was guilty to convict him. That said (that was a different "Republican" party) I quite agree it is important to mark and record corruption and injustice even without a ready means to stop it. "Resistance is futile" is a guaranteed losing strategy.
I did not mean to imply that you did, but was just thinking that it can be important to protest what obviously cannot be immediately affected. I would include the two impeachment charges filed against Trump. Obviously any further action on impeaching Trump is not an option for the present. I think it is important to to make a lasting record of a crime, as the Jan 6th Committee managed to publicly do, even though Trump maintains the perpetrators were heroes. That was Trump's will, not that of the preponderance of the public, and I think it matters.
Nice thought but impeachment can’t happen until he’s nailed. But that’s already happened twice and his party and 77 million voters keep protecting him. Even when shit happens before their eyes, they rise to his defense. How anybody could blame Zelensky for this obvious set up is beyond me but they do which is why the police consider eye witness accounts to not be strong evidence.
Janet, Mike Johnson and JDVance are frightening in their righteousness. Trump is ignorant and vain, but with an uncanny ability to sniff out peoples weaknesses. They are just evil. 😈
That’s why we must have a big blue wave next year! Not much time to make sure elections are free and fair. Start with North Carolina. Where is the new DNC leadership? 💙💙🤮💩🤡🎃🤮💙💙
but see who comes next if they are forced out. One has to go a long way down the line of succession to get anyone who can be counted on to have a good idea.
I’ve never been so embarrassed to call myself an American. I pray that the countries coming out in support of Ukraine understand that Trump does NOT represent all of us.
Sorry but Trump’s allegiance to Russia is a stain on every American. As long as 300 million citizens allow Trump to continue as our leader, We Are the Bad Guys!
Burke, you are right in a sense, but it's not as cut-and-dried as you suggest.
I was brought up to believe that all Russians are evil, and I accepted that as fact. But when I got older, I realized that it is inaccurate and unfair to paint an entire population as villains, based on what their government does. When I've had conversations with Russians, I gained the impression that average Russians are not unlike average Americans. They have hopes and dreams, and do not want to be ostracized by the rest of the world. They do not agree with what their government does, but for their own safety, they do not speak out.
300 million citizens are not "allowing" Trump to continue. In the grand scheme of things, his snatching of power was sudden and largely unexpected. The average American is poorly informed and not aware of the dangers posed to all of us.
To some degree, yes, we will be viewed as the "Bad Guys." But enlightened people will recognize that we are not all bad. Even we have no certain understanding of how we got here. We just have a lot of theories and disconnected observations.
This whole thing with Trump and Vance was a setup that failed spectacularly. Trump, being completely unable to focus and frequently falling asleep needed Vance in there to goad him and feed him the lies that make Trump lose it. Trump was red-faced, out of control and repeated the same incoherent sentences. Vance acted like he was a god that could berate a world leader. MTG’s reporter suckabee called Zelensky disrespectful for not wearing a suit while Musk looks like and absolute slob and Patel said clearly as FBI director he won’t be wearing a suit and he’ll continue to live in Las Vegas where I’m sure it’s easier to launder money and pull scams.
Thank you, Heather, for this terse, powerful statement describing a pivotal moment in this frenetic spiral of events. It is a stark, unadorned portrayal of utter self-degradation by a delusional bully ~ and the instant international push-back by more thoughtful leaders.
The interview with Blinken made me cry thinking about the contrast between the "diplomacy" we saw on Friday and what Blinken and Biden did and why. I do not cry easily. but I am of Ukrainian heritage. Friday gutted me. The thought of what could have been has undone me.
Perhaps some of those supportive countries, together, can offer Ukraine a more fair and more equitable deal to develop their minerals. I am not being sarcastic here; I mean it seriously.
Unless Putin or Trump comes in to steal them, that would be a logical outcome. Trump's irresponsible theater is going to hit the US pocketbook hard I am afraid. CEO's who think their ship is coming in will likely see it sinking. Should a serious pandemic arise with us out to lunch, it will be even worse. To say nothing of the growing threats of climate.
Come planting season, we can hope that that stupid move will finally be understood by the MAGA minions. That is, if Faux News carries even one story on it.
The unprofessional demeanor of Trump & Vance is beyond rude and uncivilized. If you compare the diplomatic empathy of the Feb 19th 2025 speech that economist Dr Jeffrey Sachs did with the EU...
Jeffrey Sachs always wants PEACE, not war. And he communicates with kindness.
What a difference diplomacy makes. Michael von der Schulenburg, invited Sachs to speak regarding the need for Europe to assert it’s own foreign policy, to shape its own geopolitical strategy, so to remain relevant on the global stage.
What I find confusing is--the Ukraine reportedly is rich in lithium which is needed for EV batteries! How could Musk "let" Trump do this, have a deal fall through. ("Art of the Deal" sure fell flat on this one!) Musk owns Tesla, and Trump is trying to get rid of all EV initiatives! I realize Trump is in the pocket of big oil, but Musk is okay with this?!? This has really confused me. I know Musk is raking in billions in US gov contracts, but still!
This is why I am not sure it was a “planned” ambush that many commentators think it was. Or, at least not planned by anyone but Vance. And I am not even sure he planned it.
I think they "planned" to tag team Zelenskyy, they thought they could bully him into doing what Putin wants done. They didn't "plan" on him to defending himself and the Ukrainian people. I think Musk and Trump are intent on destroying all of the safety nets we have in place rendering us vulnerable and malleable, easier to manage for their own purposes, slaves in other words...
I love this idea. Talk about sending a message! I'm inclined to even go have hundreds of pre-addressed postcards printed up and hand them out on the street for people to fill in their own message and mail in.
I live in MAGA Warren County OH (just down the road from JD's old neighborhood) so I ordered a set of post cards with photos of Ohio on the front. We should do this on the 15th of every month not just in March. We could send them for the next four years and never run out of reasons to condemn this disgraceful buffoon. I'll be sending one to Number One Observatory Circle as well.
It's not my idea. I'm just sharing an idea that someone shared with me. Despite all of the angst in our world, it made me smile, so I do hope that it takes off.
Heather's good list of democracies still allied with each other -- and with Ukraine -- gives us pause.
None of us can say this list gives us hope, because we can see not only how malign, vicious, and vulgar are the orange felon and his top accomplices, but also can see how many MAGA Republicans thrill to and support the malignity, viciousness, and vulgarity.
Worse, we must admit the extent of doubts we have that our courts, our law, might stand as last bastion against the mass toxicity.
What has happened to America? The world is asking itself this question. And we cannot answer it, so stunned we must be at the extents of the grossness, stupidity, departures from reality, spurning of any community with respect for law, with respect for community itself as if it contained varieties of people.
America no longer has this. Only the tyranny of a mad fantasist and his accomplices in abstraction.
And all of our institutions and guard rails have failed. Turns out they mostly operated on the “honor system.” If we ever get a chance for a “ do over” we need to put some teeth into them…automatic triggers, etc.
The Constitution worked for well over 200 years. Now we've a Clarence court so corrupt and perjured it has spurned not only the rights of women and families to make their own private decisions, but has also declared the orange criminal and wannabe dictator as above the law, and junked the entire Constitution itself, beginning with Article 14, Section Three which expressed exactly how to disqualify that thug.
But you're more correct when you note "all of our institutions and guard rails have failed."
It does seem to me that righting the ship of SC is the first step. An enforceable code of ethics is step number one. I don’t know who enforces it. Maybe a panel of retired federal judges, chosen by a senate committee?
There are legislative remedies, many of which we had in place and were gulled into abandoning. Even then, we cannot maintain a civilized society without a preponderant honor system. We cannot have a democratic process without the decency and discipline to bargain in good faith. Rules can help us focus, and correct some measure of straying, but we "the people" must maintain with one another the civilized traits of character the "Republican Party" has now forsaken.
It seems that party really can’t recover. Something else will have to rise to take its place. Many moderate Republicans became Democrats in the last 9 years, but many of those also moved more to the left too.
The once "party of Lincoln" is horribly tarnished. Unless it becomes "the Party" like in "1984" it may indeed need to fade before something more civilized can replace it. We need a dialectical society.
In a future column, could you talk about why we can’t get a known traitor out of the highest office in the country? And, in what seems like it should be even easier, why in the world can’t we get rid of Elon Musk and his teenage thugs, when he wasn’t even elected? I’m so surprised and demoralized at the lack of action on the part of the Democrats.
Understandably. Today I was reading David Whyte, a poet who increasingly intrigues me. Trump is not the whole of America and it is imperative that he not be. Mr. Whyte offered another, more uplifting point of view to me:
I am 82 years old and I have never seen anything as disgusting as the actions of Trump and his henchmen these past 6 weeks. Yesterday’s berating of President Zelenskyy was horrible, a complete failure of diplomacy, an embarrassment to this country. And to think I thought Nixon was bad…
I think even Ronald Reagan would be horrified and ballistic over an American President think of himself as BFF to Putin and that that was a good thing 🤮
I thought it was very telling that Zelenskyy went on Fox and invoked Reagan's name directly. He knows. And he's talking to the American people. If he can believe in us, we can believe in him...
Ronald Reagan would have been beyond Horrified by DJT, and Mini-Me JD...
I would like to hear some notable repubs be horrified—Bush,Pence, Romney, Cheney…hellooo?
Liz Cheney has gone on record as opposing what Trump has been doing.
I grew up thinking the name Cheney was that of the devil, but I am now in deep deep respect and admiration for those Republicans who do stand up to the craziness. Yay Liz Cheney!
Putin wants to invade Ukraine and steal its valuable resources. Trump promised to end that war without saying how he would do it. Now we know how. He and Vance told Zelensky that they would "save" his country from Putin by having the United States invade Ukraine and steal its valuable recourses instead. Trump is making the US the scorn of the civilized world.
Ahhh, the Art of the Deal David! ...the substance of a true shyster and grifter laid bare!
The Art of the Heel
Bravo!
Never thought "back then" i'd ever be cheering on the neocons Cheyneys including Liz.
Unless I have missed it, no neocon has spoken against Trump. There will be a place in history for them in the chapter titled, "Enablers."
I’m not exactly sure who qualifies as a neocon, but John Bolton has spoken out.
True. But it has been a long, long road for Mr. Bolton. Anyone remember Bolton's role In the "Brooks Brothers" DC intervention in the Florida National Election Gore-Bush count?
I recall Bolton was the poster Boy with beedy eyes & mustache looking up against light at a election ballot to inspect the infamous "hanging chad".
Or should I refer to the episode as the Bush-Gore-Stop-Counting Election? Reminder to Attorneys, SCOTUS ruled we cannot cite their Bush-Gore Opinion for anything much less "Black Letter" law.
Her father was anathema to me and the wing nut across the street looks and sounds like him. However, I am glad that Liz is speaking out as did Pence recently.
me too, ive been impressed by Pence of late, whatever the rest of it.
"The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
Absolutely!!
Mao said this about allying with Chang Kai-shek against the Japanese invaders.
its a famous stratagem, played through history, often more like a multi-centred venn diagram.
Back then, not long ago, I thought that nobody would be worse than them....I was so wrong....😫
Remember that in the next election. Not all conservatives have horns and tails (and not all liberals have common sense.)
I'm still trying to figure out why most Republicans are going along with Trump's agenda. Are they really afraid (what liberals want to think) or are they truly fed up and find Trump a useful tool (what liberals can't fathom)?
G.R.E.E.D.
Exactly 💯 %
That broad brush which liberals use to paint conservatives is part of the reason we just lost the election. I'm talking about voters that supported Republican candidates in the last several elections. Greed is not close to one of the adjectives of use.
Maybe stupidity?
Je: Have you bothered actually talking to any of them? Look at what the Dems agenda has done to America in the last 4 years:
UKRAINE: got us into a never-ending war because Biden gave Zelenski enough to keep fighting but not enough to win.
BORDER: deliberately let millions upon millions of people , most of whom cannot speak English and will need OUR social assistance dollars for the foreseeable future. loose in our country.
CRIME: allowed AGs across the country to NOT criminalize theft or violence and have also let many violent illegals loose; refuse to prosecute theft under $100 dollars, leading to invasions of shoplifters and locked-up merchandise.
RIOTS: Refused to lock up/prosecute BLM rioters who actually killed cops in summer 2020, while calling a few trespassers on Jan 6 "insurrectionists" when not one of them had a gun, and the 5 people who died that day were all non-violent Trump supporters.
LAWBREAKING: Siccing the DOJ and crooked lawyers/judges on any opposition politician who threatened to unseat Biden, ie Trump and RFKJr.
ELECTION: removed elected President without Dem voter input, then inserted Kamala Harris as candidate without Dem voter input, while blaming Trump for "threatening democracy".
Continued: There were only two choices in 2024. Why do you THINK we voted for Trump?
tell us, please. Why DID you vote for DJT.
But none of the rest of the Republican members of Congress.
Anything lately? I’m afraid she was threatened after Donnie’s last outburst. M
REAL Republicans like Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger, Steve Schmidt, and the people at The Bulwark have been QUITE vocal in their opposition for years. I've seen strong denunciations by all three in the wake of this most recent disaster. I don't have time to watch long-winded, time-filling videos from Schmidt and the Bulwark folks, but they're all doing the right thing.
I've been watching the podcasts you mention, Jim Brown, the Lincoln Project for several years. I find their commentary more illuminating than staunch Dems in most cases, although I also watch Brian Tyler Cohen and the Meidas Bros. The interesting thing is that they're more or less of one voice: they're for trimming waste, fraud, and abuse from gov't spending, and they say frequently that Elump is only cutting programs that hurt the bottom to renew tax cuts for the top, that how they're doing it is illegal and unconstitutional, and that they are crass, crazy, greedy kleptocrats shoving money into their personal pockets. There are no different sides to the aisle when it comes to supporting the constitution or loving democracy. We're either for American ideals or against it. Elump is emphatically and shamefully against.
So true! The American people need to flood the regime with emails written in all caps reminding them that this is OUR MONEY and should not be redistributed to the wealthy. And the Repubs are going to fired for poor performance. Instead of the snarky subject line: “Fork in the Road,” our emails’ subject line should read: “Pitchforks in the Street.”
Stephanie, on alt national park service there was a post that said EPA workers are being treated like criminals with visits from the F.B.I. because they have been doing their jobs. Not only is the country is the country becoming a s...thole country in terms of foreign affairs, etc, but it will be literally a s...thole place to live...unless you are rich.
Dear Michele - I just read about the FBI coming down on the EPA as if it were a criminal organization. It is an alarming turn of events much like what happened to Zelensky in the Oval Office. This nation is devolving into a police state much like the Soviet Union was with the FBI becoming the American version of the KGB. I don't feel safe any longer. Who's next?
L. we the people is next.
My husband just told me that little johnson thinks that Zelens'ky should resign. And muskrat think we should leave NATO and the UN. WTH.
Michele,let's get rich then. Problem solved 😄
Oh yeah.
If one truly sought to trim waste, whether resulting from fraud, negligence, or slap dash purchasing protocols, why wouldn't one look first at the defense department spending? It is the largest item in the budget, and they have a long record of being unable to account for their assets or to pass an audit. This omission by the Muskrats is a clear signal that the waste cutting is just a smokescreen for their adoption of the 2025 agenda and their proposed tax cuts, which will transfer trillions from the middle and less well off classes to Uber wealthy billionaires and corporations.
I agree 100%, Fred Krasner. It's obvious to even the most casual observer that they have no interest in coming up with a better budget. They're looking in the couch cushions for enough change to cover the renewal of T1 tax cuts. And the irony is that they'd get there a bunch faster if they did look at military spending. But that would cut into Elon's take, which would never do.
Of course, the cost-cutting is just a smoke screen for the real reason Musk is firing staff in departments that oversee his businesses and the departments that Trump has a personal distaste for. What I find ironic is that Musk stood up at the first cabinet meeting talking about how much money is devoted to servicing the debt and yet Trump wants Congress to remove the debt ceiling limit. What a bunch of nitwits.
They offer only sound not device ideas for actions! Sound will not change or cure.
Jim, interesting to hear your comments about the long videos. Me too. Schmidt has strong points but they to take forever to get to them
Sometimes it seems as if they're being paid by the minute.
Oh, really? I've been following Steve Schmidt on Substack and like his writing and opinions. I was not aware that he's a Republican; he sure doesn't sound like one! So, I agree about Liz Cheney and now Steve Schmidt. I found the Bulwark to be incoherent, so I dropped my subscription to that.
He was McCain’s campaign manager and the person most responsible for choosing Sarah Palin as the VP candidate. He was also a principal supporter of the Dean Phillips candidacy against Biden in the 2024 primary.
To me, Schmidt seems to write in a sort of ersatz West Wing tone while practicing the usual Republican hackish politics.
I’ve always had the impression that he’s in it for himself. I was considering McCain as a candidate when they stuck Palin in there. I had great respect for the McCain family when I lived in Arizona. He would have been my first Republican vote.
Steve is not a Republican . He became a Democrat when Trump was elected. He did work for McCain but has stated repeatedly in his posts that he did not have anything to do with picking Palin..
Schmidt is one of the best friends the Resustance has.
The choice of Palin caused my mother, a diehard Republican up to that point, to start voting for Democrats. She says she’s never going back.
Hmm, I didn't know those things about Schmidt. Thanks for mentioning it.
Steve Schmidt gave us Sarah Palin.
No.he did not. Go back to some of his posts and he talks at length about that
He was a founder of The Lincoln Project. He managed John McCain’s campaign.
Schmidt broke ranks in favor of Dean Phillips against Biden. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/steve-schmidt-advising-dean-phillips-1234864257/
btw, I just turned 84, so I'm no spring chicken, either, Kelly Brest van Kempen.
Schmidt used to be a Republican. Not anymore.
Schmidt is a disillusioned Republican, and worked for John McCain’s campaign of late. Knows how it works within the public, was part of the initial Lincoln Project group.
YES! Where are the Clintons, Bush, Biden, Harris, Obama????
Yesterday, I noted to a friend who was asking the same thing that there has seemingly always been this unspoken "code" amongst ex-Presidents that once they are out of office they refrain from any and all interference in succeeding administrations. The glaring exception to this, of course, is the current interloper in the White House, who has never avoided any opportunity to open his big yap. However, it would seem to me that the situation right now demands "all hands on deck" in defending our democracy, so any such "codes", or "gentlemen's agreements", should be put by the wayside.
I agree. I understand the traditional 'code' but, as you say, what's happening today is not traditional and is definitely endangering our country. My only hope is that the formers are silently gathering and preparing their own "Project 2025" to destroy this regime.
James Carville, from Louisiana, says we should roll over and play dead and let the Regime dig itself a ditch. But how to recover and how long to shovel all that dirt back in?
To paraphrase Ellen Glasgow, “The only difference between a ditch and a grave are the dimensions.”
Carville is older than the dirt removed from a ditch. He was once a brilliant strategist, but his strategies worked in a world that is very different from the one we live in now.
If Donald's handlers are allowed to wreak havoc at the pace they are currently keeping, humanity will not survive long enough to repair the damage.
I agree. Carville's idea may be workable, but we can't wait any longer. We've waited 9 years too long all ready.
The "Python" is wrong on his one. Pythons just keep squeezing. The Nation is stressed out.
You can almost feel the widespread anxiety. Anxiety breeds misperceptions then mis-reporting then more confusion. All that leads to PANIC as the nation witnessed yesterday at the Dallas TX, National Cheerleaders gathering. A "loud noise " turned into a "loud pop" which morphed into "pop, pop, pop" which triggered a police & ambulance overreaction from a "fight"
Do not Play Dead.
Like Rachel Maddow taught me ... go to a valid LOCAL news source. The Dallas Morning News:
"What we know about incident at the NCA cheer competition at Kay Bailey Hutchinson"
Byran, you can actually feel the anxiety and read about it. On Nextdoor yesterday, some poor soul worried about Medicare and a mess physically was calling for people to join her in a protest at the state capitol downtown..Salem, Oregon. Often I see wingnuts there.
James Carville can eat dirt. I can't even listen to him. And the hubris....
Carville is wealthy. A lot of people can’t afford to just roll over.
This is a all hands on deck moment. I am disappointed beyond belief that the former Presidents and VP Harris, and Sec. Clinton are MIA.
Whenever I see someone mention, "Where are the past Dem Presidents?" I wonder how devastating this moment is to them. They were all civil servants who dedicated their lives to strengthening our country. And we elect a mobster conman who told us who he was for a decade as he built enough power to destroy our country. Why is it on them to fix our disastrous mess if we chose it? I understand their silence as a reasonable reaction to OUR absolute rejection of all their work, vision, and morality.
It is not on them to fix this mess. But it would be nice to know they are in favor of fixing it. Evil is allowed to flourish when good people stay silent.
I believe Obama has spoken out. Frankly, short of some special ops, I am not sure exactly what can be done.
They are the least of my worries. Every one of them are multi-millionaires. We elected?! No "we" did not.
Doing what? Howling into the void like the rest of us?
The Continuing Resolution (CR) to extend federal spending and avert a government shutdown ends March 14, 2025.
I suspect (hope!) Dems are waiting for the upcoming budget shit show in order to get more of the public on board. In this country, most people don't react until it affects them personally.
There are some - Jamie Raskin, AOC, Bernie Sanders, etc. - who are speaking out. The formers could join them if for nothing else to show they are against what trump is doing. After all, it is we the people who have to vote them out or protest them out or revolt them out. It would be good to know who all supports us.
Yes! Bernie is always the one I want for a leader. He was treated shamefully by the Democratic party which did all it could to stop him from becoming our president. A populist president, truly looking out for the people and the planet. Another ginormous error that we will never stop paying for.
Bernie was treated shamefully by the Dems? You do realize he is not a Democrat? And when he was losing, he tried to force a rule change—in the middle of the primaries—to benefit his candidacy? The party he disdains treated him shamelessly? And he then sat out the Clinton campaign acting angry and disaffected?
Bernie, who has never passed a significant piece of legislation he sponsored is to me a perfect example of why activists should not be elected to office.
Yes, I do realize that he is an Independent. I don't care about party affiliation--I focus on humanity, character, and heart. He is the only one I've seen in the sea of selfishness and ambition that is our 2 party system in decades. Carter was the last.
Tom, personally, I have never liked Bernie, but do like some of his ideas. I would have voted for him had he been the candidate. And had HRC won, we would not be in the mess. It was a dire enough situation in 2016 especially with the Supreme Court that people should have held their noses.
Hillary was more qualified. Period. However, in retrospect I believe Bernie may have been able to overcome the suddenly emboldened misogynistic crowd rejecting Hillary. She did win the popular vote.
becky, some of them are being affected personally including some of those who voted for death star.
Indeed! Where are they??? We need them to speak.
You are exactly right, Gigi! This entire Trump mess lays at the feet of the Republican Party. GOP now stands for something like Gone Out Partying. Yes, there are a few vocal Republicans, but most (all?) of those in “power” are silent, publicly and, apparently, privately.
It’s going to take some time, but the Trump Demolition Squad (TDS, right?) will do enough damage to make taking action obvious and imperative.
In the meantime, We, the Shut Him Up Totally (SH!T) Brigade need to protect each other and those most vulnerable and do what we can to survive. This cleanup is not in the hands of the press or the late night comedians. We need to encourage (NOOE DEMAND) our Senators, Representatives, Governors - of all stripes - to get to work NOW!
There're no more Republicans Gigi.
Either they are exiled in their houses or they arr msga. No other options for them.
They are Nazis. All of them.
Absolutely Daniel.
That is gaslighting.
Study a little history. This is a mirror to 1930’s Germany.
There are some true Republicans out there, somewhere.
Not anymore. Anywhere.
Liz Cheny has spoken, not her father. As for the others, history will remember their silence. They are waiting to see if we revolt, so REVOLT (and call your congressperson)
He did speak out, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro8rkZ4HQZQ
In the 60s, we revolted. We were out in the street. We were sitting in. We were dragged away by the police. Why is everybody at home hoping someone else will do what we the people have to do?
because those of us who did all of that in the 60's are now in our 80's and doing as much as we can.....where are the younger people in the crowds that we were part of?
All in hiding
Window of opportunity to pressure Congressional Republicans.......
Picket. Sit in. Call. Write.
From Axios.
Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), in a text to Axios, said Friday was "a bad day for America's foreign policy."
"Ukraine wants independence, free markets and rule of law. It wants to be part of the West. Russia hates us and our Western values. We should be clear that we stand for freedom," he said.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), in a post on X, called the meeting "a disaster — especially for Ukraine," adding, "Sadly, the only winner of today is Vladimir Putin.
When either or both grow the balls to stand up in Congress, and publicly state their opposition to the Nazis, I'll believe them. Until then, they're nothing but publicity hounds, and false patriots.
If they had any guts they would quit the Republican caucus, call themselves the Independent Caucus and vote with the Dems in a coalition, dump Mike Johnson and vote to impeach Trump and Vance. I guess I can dream.
You live near one of the Republican House members who says he wants to work with Dems.
David Joyce: (202) 225-5731 D.C. —— (440) 352-3939 District Office
2065 Rayburn House Office Building -- Washington, DC 20515
District Office: 8500 Station Street, Suite 390 — Mentor, OH 44060
You also live near Marcy Katur's district and she is orgainizing resistance in the House -- is a Dem chair of a biparisan House Committee.
Parma has more Ukrainian Amdericans per square inch than any city in America. To parqaphrase,. it started in Parma and went all the way....
We have had 2 rallies at his local office. He was a no-show both times, or at least stayed in hiding. I've sent daily emails to him, with no response to this point. I've called almost daily, and am greeted by a semi-conscious maybe-human. The man is a spineless eunuch. Ms. Kaptor is in the Toledo area, so out of my district. And there was a large Ukrainian support rally in Parma yesterday that did get some local TV coverage, and I believe Ms. Kaptor attended. I could not - this time. As to Joyce, he talks a good game, but if he ever HAD to state a position, he would piss in his pants on the spot.
I was just wondering around to my husband yesterday about how all the Ukrainian Americans feel about this. My best friend was Ukrainian growing up and her mom was like a second mom to me. It was a massive community of some of the greatest people I had the opportunity to learn from.
I don’t understand how Republicans are still getting elected to office in Ohio.
All four actions are good but calling seems to be the most effective and SO easy: (202) 224-3121
Adam Kinzinger is very outspoken in his opposition to the president and his administration. You can find him here on Substack!
I already subscribe and recommend him highly.
Cheney has expressed a certain horror.
Adam Kinzinger has been speaking out. He has a substack post you should check out.
Reagan set this up. He laid waste to the middle class, promoted hatred, homophobia and racism, and advanced the disastrous trickle-down theory. He and his policies were a precursor to every single thing the Republican Party is today. No wonder the Republican Party deifies him.
I felt the same way Barbara . . .but I am 78. To the MAGA's Regan is ancient history . . .if they have any sense of history at all . . .
Sadly O agree with you.
But let's not forget that the slide toward Trump began with Reagan (if not earlier, with Nixon's southern strategy and the now-famous Lewis Powell memo of 1971). The corporate tax cuts. The gutting of unions. The Clinton administration surely helped by repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, which had done a lot to keep corporate money in check. Then Bush II, along with being arguably the least competent president till Trump relieved him of the title, appointed John Roberts as chief justice of the Supreme Court and Samuel Alito as associate justice, which led to the godawful Citizens United decision (2010) even before we got the three McConnell-Trump appointees.
Susanna, and I can’t forget Clinton’s 1996 “welfare reform,” which converted a federal entitlement for poor families into a block grant for states. Red states chose to divert a lot of their block grants to surveillance of patents, and onerous requirements (like parenting classes, drug testing,etc) rather than the cash payments that paid rent. The whole country essentially froze benefits for the next quarter century. And that is when, for the first time, we experienced family homelessness. Once rents exceeded the entire cash benefit, homelessness increased in my county by 32% PER YEAR. THIS is what the GOP would love to see again.
Absolutely! I wish more people were making that connection.
Glass Steagall had absolutely nothing to do with keeping corporate money in check. It was passed in 1933 as a companion piece to establishing the FDIC.
It separated investment banking and commercial banking. It was written to protect depositor money by enduring that banks with depositor money could not engage in the inherently riskier activities of investment banking.
Its repeal was accompanied by substantially strengthened rules by the FDIC, the Fed, and the Comptroller of the Currency to limit the commingling of depositor money and investment banking activities.
But feel free to keep trying. Last time I read one of your comments, you blamed its repeal (and Clinton)—wrongly—for the real estate crisis.
So I guess the multiple marriages of investment banking and commercial banking had nothing to do with the wild speculation in derivatives (etc.) that led to the economic crash of the late Bush II administration? Asking for several friends . . .
As I have replied to you before, there was nothing in Glass Steagall that would have prevented banks from bundling shitty sub-prime mortgages and selling them as securities. Nor prevented investment brokers and investment bankers from buying them. Nor prevented insurance companies that went far beyond their capital adequacy from insuring them. Nor for corrupt rating agencies from assigning spuriously good investment grades as a way to curry favor with investment bankers.
This is a complicated subject and someone who doesn’t understand would not bother me. Except you sort of pretend you do, and get a snotty attitude when you’re challenged.
Feel free to tell your several friends.
Thanks for your explanation. I go for the simple idea that there will always be people who are looking for holes, ways to make money, regardless of it being at the expense of others. There are not enough laws, and will never be, to cover the cleverness cum corruption/ill will of people who are so disposed. We have great example of that in the White House.
Thank you for this response. For those of us still learning our history...Clinton became President when I was in college. He was my first Presidential vote! While I was thrilled about that, I admit I didn't pay as much attention to some of his policies in real time.
Just an aside.........do we still have the FDIC? Is our money safe?
Yes. For now.
Absolutely Susan. Why do people think the Republican Party calls him St. Ronny?
Thanks! Gotta say, I'm exasperated with all the people who think this all started with Trump. Trump is the endgame -- but I don't think Reagan and his crew, or even Bush II and *his* crew, had any idea we'd end up where we are now. (I'm still having trouble believing it myself.)
It grew... with enough ignorance and disinformation. Trump stepped in and took this partisanship to the extreme. We got complacent and "triangulated" went along to get along. They were increasingly for absolute rule. And so we are here. This is a really tough situation.
HA! HA! Raygun started this whole DAMN thing!
Reagan did what Nancy said
You mean - Just say No?
Apache, I have been looking for a good nickname for JD....Mini-Me fits well. He and his family tried to go skiing in Vermont and they were met by protesters. One sign said Go ski in Russia.
Of course, that was a time when the US still believed in "we hold these truths to be self-evident...."; when we still had respect for order, good to the poor, trying not showing pride or prejudice. Today, our great leader fans the flames of hatred and espouses extremist aims.
When was that? My best guess is the 1970s, as the passing of Jimmy Carter has reminded us.
I was never fond of Reagan's "evil empire" rhetoric, to put it mildly, but Trump has dragged a mentally drugged Maga/Republican horde a full 180. Dismay but mostly disgust has flooded my news channels, my FB timeline is abundant with pro-Velenski/Ukraine support, and some gross-indeed anti-Trump satires. Pax Americana is disappearing down a white racist, anti-diversity, grift riven snake hole. (no disrespect for real snakes mind you)
"Pax Americana is disappearing down a white racist,..."
This is our karma. Our refusal to address our internal demons beginning with the genocide of Native Americans when the white man's boats hit our shores, followed by the slave boats, followed by the economic enslavement of millions of Americans, followed by the disinformation plague promulgated by tech oligarchs has all served to wash over us in a destruction of our Democracy.
I still work with people who are 100% ignorant of what is happening. Now. Now I understand Nazi Germany and how the people ignored what was happening.
It's all of a piece - white supremacy, a shining city on a hill - it's all narcissism. That's why we elected him again.
Agreed on your gist, sadly now into a downward spiral. The only thing i can say is that if you read across the board on European imperial and colonial expansions, slaving, indigenous conquest and near genocide, have been more the rule than the exception. You can toss in much of the rest of world and find similar inequities. "used to be" conquest was just the name of the game.
The focus, sadly, is on America right now as we slide into authoritarianism. I have always thought other Countries were more mature. They have fought hard for their Democracies. We have become lazy and arrogant about our Democratic rights and privileges.
We are a teenaged nation. And we know most teenagers go insane for a few years. Hopefully they survive to grow up.
Our citizens have never had to fight off an invasion on our soil. And now selfishness rules. Empathy is no longer trending.
Now we have been compromised from within. Putin is here. In every living room in America. On every device. He has been clever with his costumes. Lately, he has donned a phony hairdo, gained a lot of weight and looks a bit jaundiced.
Considering US had 1/4 world's economic power and a military bigger than the next 4 or so combined, is a scientific and technological leader, its political culture remains mired in pre-scientific religious dogma and racist culture. This is WHITE america in reactionary mode to society which has been moving toward a culturally and racially diverse condition. This is the first time I've felt a real chill about what the US is capable of.
America has been castrated by Putin. We are no longer capable of much either in the world arena or at home.
At age 75 I have always been full of optimism about America. Now I am just not so sure anymore. The 3 branches of government have been compromised. The fourth estate has been muzzled. The Democratic Party is wheezing. The only thing remaining is for him to invoke the Insurrection Act.
"The fourth estate has been muzzled." Alas.
SSHHHHH!!!!
Yes. Hiding our heads under the blankets has not worked so far. Pelosi, Biden, Schumer, Harris and the other Democratic Party elite are experts at doing that. So sad to witness these people seemingly in hiding.
White America? Then why did so many Hispanics and Black men vote for trump?
Because they considered Biden to be helpless to control high prices or the border. As he refused to listen to the 75% who said he was too old to run (that’s a consistent poll result over 3 years). Because by the last year of his presidency, he never had spontaneous sustained press conference—all his appearances were staged, with prepared remarks.
The very same reasons lots of white voters switched sides.
In my opinion there were a couple million voters who voted for Trump less to favor him, but as a way to fire Biden, his administration, and his VP.
Well said. We have our arrogance, our hubris, and our provincialism (narrow minds). Thus the "Ugly American" meme.
I don't know which of those is the worst, but this disinformation plague is a doozy! And it hits the "left behind areas" with a wallop.
Well said Barbara! Sadly, I couldn’t agree with you more.
Yes, why I am contributing to the Ukraine House DC Foundation.
We must believe in him otherwise what's the alternative, believe in Putin?
No, I believe in the rule of law and the US Constitution. He regularly thumbs his nose at both. I'd like to see him impeached!
For that Nanny Ann, we need majority in Congress. We'll have a chance if, and that's a huge if, we have a midterm election in 2026.🤞
We have 2 special elections in Florida on April 1st for the House. We ALL need to work to get EVERY registered Dem to the polls for this. If we get both, we gum up the works for L'il Mikey, and the rest of the Nazis.
The Democratic Party should be here in full force. Maybe they are waiting for a miracle?
We have to pull together and our 👌 best.
No, you need a 2/3 majority in the Senate to convict. Never going to happen.
Never say never Tom. It's ok to be pessimistic but even if we can't get a 2/3 majority, we might have some of the Republicans if the situation is too dire and they grow a spine. Although I'm not betting on it, it might happen. In the meantime we have to figure what else might work. The main problem is if we are going to have a midterm election at all. Without an election, nothing else matters.
You are describing the exact outcome of his second impeachment. The failure to convict only emboldened him and further divided the country. Never say never is a great attitude for firing up a high school football team, I guess. But “never” happens all the time. I would rather spend my time on things with any chance of success.
At this point Tom I don't think anybody, much less me, is spending any time plotting an impeachment. It's out of reach. And yes, some people are posting about it, but they are only ventilating. Relax.
True. But if we have a solid majority in the House, we can block a lot of BS. We can hold hearings. We can investigate. We can expose. And we could have a House that reasserts its Constitutional responsibility to control the power of the purse.
And while it is true that it would require 290 House members to expel some traitors, let's not underestimate the blowback of the red state people who are being betrayed. I predict Republican rebellion - especially as $Trump makes multiple mistakes every day. I recommend that we all have enough liquid assets to get through the next Great Recession. The insane tariffs will hike inflation, the Fed might raise rates, the markets will be angry.
Regaining the House combined with a simple majority in the Senate could lead to some serious opposition on many subjects. The pendulum will swing back our way. But it will be ugly as it cuts through.
If I keep saying stuff like what I'm about to say I might get in trouble, but I think we still have Freedom of Speech. If the Dems had a Majority in the House their would be a Dem second in line to the Presidency.
Nanny, call (202) 224-3121 and tell your congressperson you want Trump impeached! Everyong on this thread agrees . . .so what?
Not chump
Definitely not champ.
What a powerful point you make
The Gilded Age Never Endedhttps://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2025/03/03/the-gilded-age-never-ended
A good read from Adam Gopnik to accompany this important interview.
I think Reagan used the power of media to conceptually estrange us from the concept of "government of the people, by the people, for the people"; and sold the idea that America would be way better off when ruled by the rich. We are now seeing the logical result of that path taken. That said, I think Trump's subservience to his Russian patron, and the rough Mafioso manner of Team Trump would have deeply offended him.
It still galls me that Reagan’s name is invoked as the hallmark of the common good. His administration was the snowball running down the mountain that became an avalanche: Citizens United (corporations are people), firing 11,359 air traffic controllers . . . Remember when he said, “ The 9 most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” Remind people in the red states who are recipients of the most federal dollars. Mitch McConnell rules over one of those states. They’re always first in line after a disaster. And Reaganomics? “trickle down economy?” What we’re seeing today in this country is the embodiment of all of that. And remember, he was an actor—a showman.
I agree, Jan. I was one of those air traffic controllers. It sickens me when I hear his name in regards to something good for America. I will never consider calling Washington National Airport by any other name. Trickle down economics is more appropriate to associate with his name.
I always spell that as "tinkle down".
Or John Wayne airport. Seems to me Reaganomics harks back to feudalism; the preponderance of wealth in very few hands and stratified, authoritarian rule.
Foreshadowing Trump- a conman. Both conmen so far as I could see, but Trump is even a deeper sociopath. They both despised a republican (small "r") form of government and preached the glories of plutocracy. They both use(d) big lies. They both rule(d) with stagecraft over statecraft, both maliciously, but Trump out-Orwell's Orwell; “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and of your ears.", and now the last flicker of reason of your brain.
Reagan was pretty out of it in the White House, and even the press noticed, yet (mostly) smiled. I always suspected that "The Gipper", while genuinely right wing, he was more the mouthpiece for the plutocratic coup than the author; but I have not researched enough to prove it.
I agree - it was Reagan who called government "the problem" and not "the solution" a position that they have tried to hammer home for decades and decades, characterizing those who receive governmental services (even Social Security and Medicare, which we pay into) as parasites, and the rich as the "makers" - when mostly what the rich make is more money.
The rich aren’t makers as much as they are takers. Petroleum industries get government subsidies; Musk’s wealth is based on government contracts and subsidies advantageous to his companies; obscenely wealthy people and corporations that pay little to no taxes. But make no mistake. What Elon is trying to do to this country is to break it to line his pockets. How can millions of people be thrown out of work without the country going into an economic meltdown?!
I's sure it's just lore, but "Alexander the Great" supposedly wept because he found no more worlds to conquer. History seems to illustrate the notion of unaccountable power corrupting absolutely. Or do only the corrupt even seek power that is absolute? At some point many of those with more cash than some nations become obsessive enough to want it ALL.
He wouldn't have been offended if he could have profited from it.
Reagan was the Republicans' first useful idiot. He just had some (superficial) manners.
I distinctly remember coming back to America after growing up overseas just as Reagan was voted in. I thought it bizarre how much invective was thrown at Air Traffic Controllers and US Postal Service especially the postal carriers. In short, government workers with powerful Unions who had daily contact with Americans--doing jobs that definitely made paying our taxes seem worth it because what they did was indispensable to the country running properly.
They sure didn't seem to be lazy to me, but were continually reviled, portrayed as the enemy. There was so much pressure on these poor people who were just trying to do their damn job--which wasn't easy even without Americans yelling at them. "Going postal" became a phrase back then, when people went mad with anger.
Thinking about it now, I realize the entire Republican plan for decades has been to make our own government "the other" to steadily wear away trust in our Democracy. That "welfare queen" bit was particularly vile, attacking poor black women in urban areas (and yes, it was definitely aimed at black women). That's where the racial component came in, hard.
Reagan barely kept the John Bircher types under control back then. He wasn't as greedy as Trump. For him, there was a limit. But I still think this should all be traced back to Reagan and his deep cynicism and that false cowboy image. The country started changing back then.
I don't give Reagan any credit for holding back. He started it, he owns it. He was fine with it so long as it voted Republicans in. Pretty much how McConnell behaved.
I recall when a local TV station was running a feature with the evening news called "It's Your Money" and it was always about government waste, or perceived waste, like research into things that seemed weird without knowing the context. Never a word of praise or examination of the vast web of services we take for granted because they are part of (our) life. There have been a lot of such outlets for excoriating government, virtually always one sided. I recall Bush the Elder on national TV claiming it was "outrageous" that tax money went to measuring the methane output of livestock. I saw that lampooned in the newspaper as well. Never mind that methane is a potent "greenhouse gas", and yes. animal agriculture releases a LOT of it.
Yet, if we fancy, as we are (or were) taught in school, a " government of the people, by the people, for the people"; if such a government sucks, who is blame? And if it's not "the people", why not?
I agree. Reagan used that faux folksy persona to begin a radical assault on our system of government. People don't talk about Iran-contra, and other actions by Reagan.
Contras were right wing terrorists.
RR: "I think you all know that I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help."
My family has believed this sentiment for my entire 63 years. Now when things go south with all the firings, they won't blame Trump or Musk, they'll still blame "the Government".
"The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves---in their separate, and individual capacities.
In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere."
Lincoln was definitely not a Reagan Republican. The "legitimate object", right?
I recall that Nancy Reagan wanted the WH to return to "glamor" in fact, I think she made a statement by wearing fur coats?
And what could be more glamorous than Nancy Reagan in a fur coat?
Reagan is a bit like a piece of See’s chocolates, nuts and chews, sweet on the outside,
nuts on the inside. Trump is not even sweet on the outside.
What you see is what you get. Indigestion. Time to regurgitate him and musk out of our system.
Rancid nuts for Reagan I'm afraid. It's stomach churning to even image what the the equivalent of Trump would be.
Does it offend you JL? Then call (202) 224-3121 and say so. This thread is an echo chamber. It feels good but accomplishes NOTHING.
Probably little all by itself, but democracy is inherently a form of communication, and cannot exist without it, with those who speak in our name and between one another. I think that's an essential part of the role of democratic citizen that Blinken talked about. If we are really to be a government of, by, and for the people, there is no other choice than to be well informed about our options, to think ahead with the help of others, and to set a focused agenda for the political agents we chose to advance our will. And that requires that sort of interchange I believe happens here. Some of it is just lets off steam, but much exchange is educational and conversational.
Tyranny thrives on division and confusion. Progress requires clarity; "keep your eyes on the prize". It would not be wise to neglect general vigilance, but yet it's important to seek to maintain fruitful, foundational foci. What democracy isn't is choice restricted to someone else's proprietary menu, flipping between "channels" of top-down, pre-packaged content.
Grass roots innovation was easier when communities communicated in taverns, or the town square. We are now awash in information, both accurate and deceptive; and some have megaphones much louder than the voices a small collection of assembled citizens. In that respect, "money doesn't talk it swears"; very loudly. That said, Lincoln claimed that,
“In this age, in this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail; against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes, or pronounces judicial decisions.”
Just because Lincoln said it doesn't prove it, but I think there are historical illustrations, and of "nuclei" of concerted efforts that gained
momentum over time.
Reagan was the first president ever to declare that the government is the enemy. He also was the first to declare that teachers are “ the new welfare queens” thus indicting servants of the people or federal employees as “takers”. Then he fired the air controllers en mass and for life which, frankly, is why there’s always a shortage as it is not regarded as a secure job. i used to know how many open positions there are for teachers….thousands. So few are going into teaching now that Schools of Education have shut down across the country. Chris Christie who is now making a living talking about the psychology of Trump, expanded on Reagan’s negative opinion of teachers by saying that all public workers are the new welfare queens. You understand the racism inherent in this “ kill two birds with one stone” comment as the original welfare queens in the minds of Republicans are Black unwed mothers. So for forty plus years the Republican ideology which seems to have always, since the Twentieth Century devolved around a Calvinistic belief in money proving who are the chosen people and who aren’t also rested on the notion that the common man, woman and child, the aren’ts are little more than freed slaves and deserve their contempt which they lavishly dish out to this day. That was very obvious to me in the tongue lashings of Trump, Vance, and the presumptive right of the reporter to “dress the dishonored guest down” with comments about Zelensky’s non suit. Who does that guy think he is, by the way? The whip in hand overseer?
It's Karma, a Republican president, laid the groundwork for an oligarchy of a morbidly rich, ruling class. Regan, W and the orange blight all increased the deficits while cutting taxes on the wealthy. Now we are discovering what it is like to live under an oligarchy of the morbidly rich and morally bankrupt. It is cruel, frightening and chaotic.
We must contribute money arms and soldiers to Ukraine.
The scumbag president and even much worse vice Manchurian Candidate would do nothing that is decent or good for this country. Period
Nor the Pro-Apartheid Bureau.
How do we do that Bill Katz?
The site for direct donations to the government of Ukraine is at https://u24.gov.ua/ You can designate where you want your donation to be used, such as direct military aid, medical, education, etc.
Thank you!
Just donated. Thanks for the information.
Rush your donations today, while it’s still legal.
Be careful about this. There might be laws on the books for giving military aid to another country.
U24 projects I have donated to in the past year have been removing land mines from farmland, and defensive systems to deal with incoming drone attacks.
There's still plenty of opportunity to help from afar. Here's a partial list of aid organizations compiled by "Oneiros", a FARK contributor (more sources are available at https://www.fark.com/comments/13580668/Day-1102-of-WW3-Zelensky-heads-to-London-to-meet-with-sane-world-leaders-ahead-of-European-summit-as-British-PM-Starmer-retains-unwavering-support-for-Ukraine-This-is-your-Saturday-Ukraine-war-discussion)
United24, the central Ukrainian website for donations for defense, de-mining, medical aid, and rebuilding: https://u24.gov.ua
Spirit of America ("non-lethal" aid like showers and medical gear): https://spiritofamerica.org/project/help-ukraine-meet-the-moment
Eesti saun Ukrainasse (Estonia): https://saunas4ukraine.org
Dignitas Foundation (aid to soldiers and veterans): https://dignitas.fund (now a 501(c)3)
Save Life in Ukraine: https://savelife.in.ua/en/ (formerly Come Back Alive)
Prytula Foundation (includes lists of needed supplies): https://prytulafoundation.org/en
Stavnitser Foundation (support for female troops) : https://stavnitserfoundation.com/en
Arm Women Now (uniforms and support for female troops): https://armwomennow.com/en/
Ukrainian Women Veteran Movement: https://www.uwvm.org.ua/?lang=en or https://ukrainianwomenveteranmovement-en.carrd.co (Specifically for custom uniforms for females): https://send.monobank.ua/jar/7pATiWsKa7
The Vest Project (protective gear): https://thevestproject.com
Frontline Care, supplies for troops: https://eng.frontline-care.com
Support for partisans: https://www.ipay.ua/en/bills/centr-nacional-nogo-soprotivleniya-pozhertvovat-online
Protection of the Future: https://www.maibutnie.org/en
Unite with Ukraine: https://www.unitewithukraine.com
Army SOS (tech for troops): https://armysos.com.ua
Stop the War (Sweden): https://stopthewar.se/en/
A rehab/recovery center for soldiers: https://helpnow.in.ua/amp/
https://donorbox.org/2nd-battalion-legion-medical-team(they need car repairs & night vision)
For Americans who want a 501(c)3:
Ukraine Defense Support:
https://ukrainedefensesupport.org
Ukraine Defense Fund: https://ukrainedefensefund.org
Liberty Ukraine: https://www.libertyukraine.org
Hoplon International: https://www.hoplonintl.org
Humanitarian aid:
PTSD treatment: https://healtraumas.org
Job training for women truck/bus drivers (Sweden): https://reskillingukraine.professionalcenter.se/en
Common Man for Ukraine (USA, NH): https://commonmanforukraine.org/
Children of Heroes (war orphans and similar): https://childrenheroes.org/en/
Gen.Ukrainian (helping traumatized children): https://genukrainian.com.ua/en
Training combat medics & such: https://thirdwavevolunteers.com
World Central Kitchen: (organizing locals to cook mass meals) https://wck.org
Fumi Café, Kharkiv: https://www.patreon.com/FumiCafe
Jeeps for Peace (British right hand drive vehicles to confuse snipers): https://jeepsforpeace.org.uk (UK, but says US should contact them for a 501c3)
Helping Ukraine Grassroots Support (Canada): https://hugsukraine.org
We Work for Ukraine (food): https://mhp.com.ua/en/glorytoUkraine
Rebekah M (medic in Ukraine): https://linktr.ee/rebekahmaciorowski
Logistics, journalist & refugee support, etc: https://www.weathermanfoundation.org/ukraine-mission
Kiwi Aid & Refugee Evacuation (NZ): https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/kiwi-kare-ukraine-kiwi-aid-and-refugee-evacuation ; specifically for stoves: https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/providing-vital-winter-warmth-to-ukraine
Smart Medical Aid (UK): https://smartmedicalaid.org
Sunflower Project (logistics; had put up with Medic Zero): https://www.bluestarsunflower.org/donate/
Baby boxes (Scotland): https://www.justgiving.com/campaign/scotbabyboxappeal
Patron Fund (for injured de-miners): https://send.monobank.ua/jar/2owjL6dFRP
Ukrainian Congress Committee of America: https://ucca.org
Logistics for frontline supplies, I think? (US): https://zeroline.org
Rebuild Ukraine (US/Minn): https://rebuild-ua.org
Safe Passage for Ukraine (helping people evacuate and wounded foreign fighters to return home; can donate airline miles not just cash): https://sp4ukraine.org
Red Cross (Ukraine chapter): https://redcross.org.ua/en/
US/Texas shipping container clinics: https://www.buildtamu.com
US/Idaho: https://toukrainewithlove.org
The $1k Project (grants to families): https://www.1kproject.org
Generators for Ukraine (UK): https://www.generatorsforukraine.co.uk
Medical focused groups:
Evacuating wounded civilians & military: https://frontlinemedics.org
Medical services: https://www.globaloutreachdoctors.org
Medical supplies & humanitarian aid: https://unitedhelpukraine.org
Medical supplies (CA/Ontario): https://www.herosocietycanada.ca
Medical supplies, equipment, prosthetics (US): https://www.rsukraine.org
Solar power for hospitals: https://repowerua.org
Training volunteer paramedics: https://www.hospitallers.life/needs-hospitallers
SMART Medical Aid: https://smartmedicalaid.org
Helping hospitals: https://www.usukrainianactivists.org
Trauma support for first responders (US/CO): https://www.projectvictorynonprofit.org
Medical support for soldiers and their families: https://dobrobut.foundation/en/home_en/
Prosthetics groups (some serve more than just Ukraine)
CA/Victoria: https://www.victoriahandproject.com/ukraine
US/Colorado: https://limbsforliberty.com
US/Pittsburg: https://brothersbrother.org/pittsburgh-unites-for-ukraine/
US/Oklahoma: https://www.limbsforlife.org
Latvia: https://www.designedtolivelatvia.com
US/NYC (collects hand-me-down limbs): https://pentaprosthetics.org
US/California: https://www.prosthetika.org
US/Minnesota: https://protezfoundation.com
US/California: https://right2walk.org
UK: https://limbcare.org
Ukraine: https://ffr.org.ua/en/
Ukraine (but a US 501c3): https://superhumans.com/en/
Germany?: https://www.life-bridge-ukraine.com/
Buy a backpack (Poland): https://f-df.pl/2023/02/16/f-df-pl-kidsforkids/
Magnolia, searching for missing children: https://magnolia.org.ua/en/content/donate
Future for Ukraine: https://ffu.foundation/en
Disasters Emergency Committee (UK): https://donation.dec.org.uk/ukraine-humanitarian-appeal
Doctors Without Borders: https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/get-involved/ways-to-give
Direct Relief: https://www.directrelief.org/emergency/ukraine-crisis/
Kids with cancer: https://tabletochki.org/en/
Books for kids: https://www.bettertimestories.com
Ukraine Children's Action Project: https://www.eifoundation.org/partners/ukraine-childrens-action-project/
Voices of Children: https://voices.org.ua/en/
Thank you for all the possibilities!
Janet and Garrett,
Thank you !!! I pray our gifts will be received and used for caring for those who need support the most.
Wow! Thanks!
I chatted with the author of the list and he recommended this updated Part 2:
Kyiv Botanical Gardens who are using firewood to heat their greenhouses (buy tickets to donate): https://tickets.nbg.kiev.ua/cart/cart?id_date=6766&language=en
Local news (that got affected by trump's USAID bullshiat): https://www.gofundme.com/f/save-ukrainian-media
Razom for Ukraine: https://www.razomforukraine.org
Klitschko Foundation: https://www.klitschkofoundation.org/en/
Save Our Allies: https://saveourallies.org
Myria Aid: https://www.mriyaaid.ca
Ukraine Trust Chain: https://www.ukrainetrustchain.org/donate
Clothing for wounded soldiers: http://www.phy.com.ua
Supplies to Ukrainians who stayed: https://beaheroua.org/en/
A Kyiv bakery employing disabled folks and distributing to people in need: https://goodbread.com.ua/en-us
Ukrainian Emergency Art Fund: https://ueaf.moca.org.ua
Canadian-Ukraine Foundation: https://www.cufoundation.ca
US-Ukraine Foundation: https://usukraine.org
Animal welfare groups operating in Ukraine (or Poland for displaced people with pets): https://www.eaza.net/emergency-fund/ ; https://uanimals.org/en/ ; https://happypaw.ua/en/ ; https://www.ifaw.org/news/emergency-aid-ukraine ; https://www.facebook.com/shelterFriendDnepr ; https://www.karg.kiev.ua/ ; https://animal-id.net/en/donate ; https://breakingthechainsinternational.org ; https://sites.google.com/view/vetcrew ; https://k9rescue.international/donate ; https://hachikofoundation.org ; https://transformastreetdog.org
Note: DO NOT donate to K9 Global, UWARF (aka. Ukraine War Animals Relief Fund) or MARS (Mobile Animal Rescue Service later Medical Aid and Rescue Service) ; there are reports that they are falsely claiming the work of others as their own.
=> Also 'Protect A Volunteer' has some allegations that it's a scam. <=
https://neohemmingway.com/ ; https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/KarlNkittiesInUkr
Rebuilding-specific groups:
Homes: https://www.moveukraine.org
Fixing windows (UK): https://www.insulate-ukraine.org
Salvaged windows: https://fundacjabrda.org/en/projekty/okno/o-projekcie/
Repair Together: https://taplink.cc/repairtogether
Sports gyms for kids: https://www.flyhigh.fund
Farmers / rural: https://www.wrru.org
De-mining: https://halotrust.org and https://landmineremoval.org
De-mining and prosthetics: https://courageukraine.org
Humans: https://zelenskafoundation.org/en
Students: https://ukraineachievementfund.org
You may want to consider supporting YouTube and similar channels directly (Patreon, if they're selling stuff, etc) as there seem to be some efforts to get their channels 'demonetized'.
A charity helping musicians and organizing music fundraisers: https://musiciansdefendukraine.com/en
Supplies for folks doing 3D printing for Ukrainian troops: https://send.monobank.ua/jar/9XsDb1Bi1K
If you can read Ukrainian, more are listed at https://m.fark.com/comments/12688596/157897438
If you know any Ukrainians (displaced or otherwise), give them the following info:
Register of Damage for Ukraine (European Union site so russia can be charged / fined for the damage they caused and victims compensated; this in part will help justify giving seized russian money to Ukraine): https://rd4u.coe.int/en/documents(also in Ukrainian: https://rd4u.coe.int/uk/documents )
To report crimes against children and other tips: https://childrenofwar.gov.ua/en/information/.(Also in Ukrainian: https://childrenofwar.gov.ua/information/ )
Mental health support links and advice (for returning veterans, other people interacting with veterans, etc): https://www.howareu.com/
A list of groups giving assistance: https://auc.org.ua/en/node/33272
Assistance for displaced Ukranians:
Lviv and Chernivtsi, Ukraine: https://marsh-zhinok.com.ua
Lviv, Ukraine: https://femwork.org/en/
Halifax, Canada: https://www.halifax-ukrainian-store.ca/recipents
Niagara, Canada: https://amdforhope.com/
New York, NY, US: https://www.ukrainianhabitatfund.org
Iowa students: https://www.givecampus.com/campaigns/38778/donations/new(donation link; not sure where to apply; must copy & paste as they break the link checker)
Android app for refugees: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gmail.theitgirlsinfo.refee
A warning about the snow: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=sT6dAheaZxk
Resources for people in occupied areas: https://sprotyv.mod.gov.ua (in Ukrainian, click 'EN' in top right for English)
For people with destroyed homes, see https://espl.com.ua.
And to temporarily replace windows: https://www.insulate-ukraine.org
Advice for travelers (in Ukrainian) to avoid sex traffickers: https://www.helpforukrainians.info/ukrainian/ .
To report unexplored ordinance, send quantity, condition, location, etc, with a photo to https://t.me/evorog_bot .
Female warriors if they need uniforms (including maternity uniforms): https://stavnitserfoundation.com/en ; https://www.instagram.com/by.vtrnk/and https://armwomennow.com/en/
Free therapy for people affected by the war: https://www.therapyroute.com/free-therapy-for-ukraine . For kids: https://genukrainian.com.ua
Support for veterans: https://veteranhub.com.ua
Medical doctors (free medical manuals in Ukrainian): https://www.msdmanuals.com/uk/professional/resourcespages/medical-content-in-ukrainian
Free Norwegian army cold weather ops manuals (in English): https://www.forsvaret.no/en/organisation/centre-of-excellence-cold-weather-operations/handbook-and-lectures
Former US Marines' recommendations on defensive tactics: https://2ndbn5thmar.com/orders-ukraine/
If you have photos or video that you want saved as documentation of the war: https://dattalion.com
If you witnessed, suffered from, or otherwise know about a war crime: https://truth-hounds.org/en/homepage/#
Beware of lighters, power banks, flashlights, or other devices in de-occupied areas because they could be rigged with explosives. There have also been stories of booby trapped teddy bears and even animals left in booby trapped closets.
A warning about mines that might be kid appropriate: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-iyE6Zu2tPk
And a longer warning / explanation about mines specifically intended for grades 1-4: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=GKCXi72qmss
Some advice on dealing with overwhelming news coverage of wars: https://news.yahoo.com/violent-disturbing-war-images-mideast-175253331.htmland a video on dealing with nightmares: https://m.youtube.com/watch/1WtZKo-0fFo
Advice for soldiers (and maybe families of returned soldiers?) if someone has an acute stress reaction: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xlc8tg_lkeA
If you or someone you know is in a situation where unknown persons demand money for the "liberation" of a relative from captivity, immediately contact the United Center for the Search and Release of Prisoners: +38 067 650-83-32, +38 098 087-36-01
Those feeling anxious or depressed should consider professional help, but I also found the book 'Lost Connections' helped me years ago: https://fourminutebooks.com/lost-connections-summary/
Px6S. For those digging through the russian news feeds: https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/2022/11/23/how-to-maintain-mental-hygiene-as-an-open-source-researcher/ and https://news.yahoo.com/violent-disturbing-war-images-mideast-175253331.html
I trust Timothy Snyder on this….and at this point, fear is not an option.
“If you are thinking today about how to help Ukrainians, here are some possibilities: Come Back Alive (Ukrainian NGO that supports soldiers on the battlefield and veterans), United 24 (the Ukrainian state platform for donations, with many excellent projects), RAZOM (an American NGO, tax-deductible for US citizens, which cooperates with Ukrainian NGOS to support civilians), and Documenting Ukraine (a project that helps to give Ukrainians a voice, also tax-deductible for Americans)”
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/five-failures-in-the-oval-office?
You choose how your donation will be used. I chose medical aid.
There have already been American Volunteers in Ukraine...
Can I wait annd think about it?
On Dr. Snyder’s list is Razom:
https://www.razomforukraine.org/
Many of us who subscribe to his Substack have sent donations there.
I have read a bit and it looks genuine.
Contribute directly to Ukraine: u24.gov.ua
https://u24.gov.ua/armored-ambulances?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=np_u24_brand_usa&utm_id=22044269954&utm_content=174814121720&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAoJC-BhCSARIsAPhdfSgvqPFSyDIiWVuttD48Zx5XKP-wPtQsq43ogQwVlfj2XL6Zs08KWfAaAp_5EALw_wcB
I think every decent American should be horrified.
The decent ones are
I for one am!
You are correct, so apparently, the Republicans legislators who refuse to stand up to this and do their bloody job and stop this are far from decent! If you have a Republican legislator, please contact them every single day and remind them it is you who helped them get their job and it is you who will move them out of their job!
I'm all for it Mary 🫠
I am ashamed, broken hearted, mortified and pissed!
Don't think it's going to calm you down but you are not alone Carol, there are millions like you. I'm one of them and you are another one. Calm down and carry on. 🫠
January 6th & February 28th, two day of shamed insult to everything we stand for.
Don't forget add November 5th and January 20th to the dates of infamy. December 7th 1941 it's getting a lot of competition.
My mother, born 100 years ago this month, would say “beware the Ides of March!”
Beware of parties bearing creeps.
Good point, Lynn Geri!
Well, at least all the cards are on the table now, in plain sight. tRump and his band of dumb thugs have proven beyond all doubt they are wannabe dictators and fascists. If anyone in the world is still unsure about this fact, then someone should check their pulse.
Impeachment proceedings are in order for TREASON. Contact the Representatives (doesn’t have to just be your own - leave a message): (202) 225-3121
I make calls. But please don't try to call representatives outside your district and state. They won't listen and it makes it harder for their constituents to get through. Send postcards instead!
You can leave a message. I had no problem doing that after hours. My representatives are Democrats. We need to change the minds of these Republicans! Tell them they will be voted out.
Makes sense.
Only in time of war for treason, altho I agree he’s a rat traitor and Vance is a rat pup traitor.
Impeachment may be in order Marlo, but it’s not going to happen until Democrats regain control of Congress. That’s the immediate task before us. Let’s do it!
Or run an encephalogram Kazz, although we know the results already
Where was the Dem leadership having a strategic press conference after?!? No where!!
If Liz Cheney can speak out, where are former Dem leaders? Why the silence from Obama, Clintons, et al? Where is Schumer? If foreign leaders are shocked, so are ordinary Americans!!
Replace Schumer, he’s a useless tool
Keep demanding that loud and clear from your Senators and Representatives.
The Dems are laying low. Which is a gigantic mistake. Considering that Musk and Vance are working overtime to take control of the federal government.
Their "philosopher guide" Yarvin reads history, like Putin. And he twists history to justify his anarchic dreams, like Putin. (See the Substack Dark Mirror. Don't subscribe but read Yarvin's mush and realize that VP Vance is a fanboy.)
The Dems are leaving a void that Musk and Vance are filling. They are not objecting/shutting down Musk's requirement that 2.2 million federal employees report directly to HIM! The Press and the Dems don't seem to have a problem with this. Astounding.
This is a class war coup. The ruling class in the Democrats are going to have far more in common with the ruling class in the Republicans than not. Being in a class of extreme wealth often creates cultural decay and moral cowardice even amongst the best individuals.
Trump has always longed to belong to the inner circle -- any inner circle. He didn't get that while being a real estate "mogul" (ahem) in Manhattan, as the elite of Manhattan thought he was a crude buffoon, so he's trying to get it now -- to the peril of all of us.
He'll be always a tragic, crude buffoon no matter what. His running mate is the real and present danger by being smarter and articulated and being a puppet controlled by Peter Thiel.
Trump is trying to make Crude Buffooning somehow "cool", but he is tanking US world wide esteem and leverage . Putin declares his approval, but only for his own handiwork. Putin is evil, but he is not a fool. He surely knows what Trump and his coterie really are. A US country run by crude buffoons is suiting his predatory purposes.
No wonder Putin's intelligence apparatus and psychological war experts been working non stop to make sure he would be president since before 2016. Thanks for your comment J L.
Hence the shift away from the working class and labor by the Democratic party of the last many years. And, well, here we are. A day late and a dollar short. The one thing i know for sure is that they are few and we are many.
The problem with this line of thought is that it’s at its base, untrue. The difference being MAGAs promises to the working and middle classes which were never fulfilled, vs. Dems having worked to improve those classes and at the same time become more inclusive. The working and middle classes took these programs for granted. Now it’s FAFO.
So then, it is working class apathy and complacency and not Democratic priority in policy that left them looking for a message, any message which the other party capitalized on?
Gregg, as the expression goes, "It's complicated."
Democrats are trying to do a post mortem on the '24 election while the christo-fascist goons and the techno-fascist rapists are storming through U.S. Government at top speed, slashing and burning as they go. The situation is so dire, it's almost pointless to discuss what anyone did yesterday, much less, last year.
To say that Dems abandoned the working class is just not accurate. Yes, Dems have courted financial support from deep-pocketed donors, but they have never deserted their constituents, unlike GOP legislators. The financial factor in the U.S. electoral process has been exaggerated by Citizens United. (A pox on SCOTUS!) Nowadays, nobody can play to win without vast sums of money and a 4-year campaign.
But to focus on economics is to overlook all the other factors that are hindering Democrats. I don't claim to know all of them, but I recognize a few.
The U.S. electorate has a short collective memory. We can't even remember the state of affairs 5 years ago, let alone, 150 years ago, when robber barons ruled from their marble mansions and workers had NO rights, NO benefits and NO agency in determining their futures. Moreover, Americans have never lived under a dictatorship, and have no idea what it's like. Donald TOLD us he would be a dictator, couched in nonsense about sharks and wet batteries. Nobody took him seriously.
Racism, misogyny and homophobia are not just the province of Republicans. A lot more Democrats harbor these prejudices than we can bring ourselves to admit.
Media and messaging have been a huge failure for Democrats, but this alone didn't lose the battle.
No doubt, there are more factors than I'm mentioning. But to focus on one is to miss the big picture
Point taken, sir. I did say " the shift away" and not abandon. Nevertheless, I shall stand corrected. It is indeed complicated. There is a class system within the Democratic party and I am trying to make sense of it as we hurtle headlong backwards toward feudalism, I guess.
What is that saying, Absolute power corrupts something something.....
Power corrupts absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The Dems are not exactly laying low. They have their hands out looking to use our fear to raise money. It’s disgusting!
JFC I'm getting more donation texts than before the election! Don't they see where all that $$$ got them?
Well, it seems Trump has most of the 1% behind him. That has been a gigantic thumb on the scale since at least Reagan (never absent, but far more assertive since, and successful in government capture). And yeah, I get a lot of Email from Democrats that's just high pressure sales pitch, not real adult to adult communication.
"But the main culprit, the cancer on the body politic, is money: Money, money, money. When I ran 6 years ago, in 1998, I raised $8.5 million. That $8.5 million is $30,000 a week, every week, for 6 years. If you miss Christmas week, you miss New Years week, you are $100,000 in the hole and don't you think we don't know it and we start to work harder at raising money.
As a result, the Senate doesn't work on Mondays and Fridays. We have longer holidays. The policy committee is adjourned and we go over to the campaign building because you can't call for money in the office. So we go over to the building and call for money and obviously we only can give attention to that. We don't have time for each other. We don't have time for constituents, except for the givers. Somebody ought to tell the truth about that. Unless and until we excise this cancer, the Congress and Government is going to languish alone because it has to be done."
- Fritz Hollings
I mean, for real.
Yes and it’s very annoying! I continue to respond not Until you get something done
Much as I wish Dems would/could do something major ASAP, I can see that avoiding escalation into civil war or WW III may be effective for now while they work in the courts and while grassroots organizations meet locally and people take to the streets. Watching Rachel Maddow in dialogue with Hakeem Jeffries yesterday helped me chill and take a breath. https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/02/24/rachel_maddow_it_feels_like_were_in_the_middle_of_a_ketamine-fueled_middle-of-the-night_autocratic_power_grab.html
Thanks Joan. I tried to read your real clear politics link and found the advertising completely overwhelming and then went to YouTube where I found a Feb 25 interview— the same interview that rcp had just cut off the beginning. https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=rachel%20maddow%20and%20hakeem%20jeffries%20interview&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:2cc07243,vid:Eo-l901DoiU,st:0
I apologize for the ugly link but please watch it. Here’s my take—Jeffries has set up responders Raskin and Neguese. They are smart guys like himself, and also lawyers. I understand Dems are trying to keep it together but Responders need to be people who can get our attention first— AOC/Jasmine Crockett/Bernie Sanders/David Hogg style. Remember the joke about getting a donkey’s attention by hitting him on the head first. Respectfully Mr Jeffries and Mr Schumer—add some FIREBRANDS!!
https://jeffries.house.gov/contact/email-me/
Call Jeffries’ office to record a message— (202) 225-5936
Call Schumer’s office to record a message: (202) 224-6542
Office contact. https://schumer.senate.gov
Gigi, THX for kicking my butt. I made those calls and more (I couldn't leave a msg on Shumer's phone, but I wrote).
Once you get to the link you provided (that starts with "Thanks Joan"), you can select to see it on YouTube then do like I did and access it through the much shorter named link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo-l901DoiU
Thank you. I hope lots of people use your advice to watch it.
Thanks Jim, that's a good and direct link.
Gigi, Thanks, I appreciate you communicating your take, and I'll be more careful with links in the future. Yes, FIREBRANDS!! As mild-mannered people face their reluctance to flame in public, more may be in the making each day as we blow on embers.
Don't forget the R's have to pass a budget by 3/14. There's gonna be a lot more ammunition coming.
Agreed but Yarvin's substack is entitled Gray Mirror. Vance acknowledges that Yarvin is a major influence on him. Here's a quote from his latest post. That this guy is influencing the VP of the US is chilling. One sentence, and you know you are in cuckoo land.
"I’m worried that the resemblance between President Trump’s Gaza plan and mine will contribute to the weird delusion that I am secretly running the world. No, actually, (a) I have not talked to anyone important about Gaza; and (b) the idea is obvious, anyway.
I realize that it seems improbable that we would both have the same crackpot idea. No. It is extremely probable, because the President and I inhabit the same reality. We are both looking up and noticing that the sky is blue. Most people live in crackpot world, where the sky is green and our present Middle East policy is sane. Reality has started to seep into this crackpot world, and the mixture is… remarkable."
They both live in a world where you treat people like they're objects. These objects are either in your way, or they give you cash.
The Grateful Dead sing in Scarlet Begonias, “the sky was yellow, and the Sun was blue!”
I think we need to take the frigging pulses of the our elected Dems--they seem to be dead!
“23 Dem AGs think they’ve cracked the code to fighting Trump”
They are playing it “close to their chest”. Good read on what Dem AG’s are doing…
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/27/democrats-taking-trump-musk-winning-00206310
Exactly
Not true! There’s plenty of push back that citizens choose not to hear. What is it you expect them to do?
I am pretty sure it’s a strategy. Keep the focus on Trump and Vance while they are getting trashed from piller to post. i read they are not going to interrupt his Inaugural Address either. i’ll read about it. i shun him. i think that may be what the Dems are doing, too. He hates to be ignored.
The Dems are laying low. Which is a gigantic mistake. Considering that Musk and Vance are working overtime to take control of the federal government.
And dominate "the narrative".
I agree Tina. One or two Dems made it into the news. They have to get a group together in front of the cameras and clutch their pearls and be shocked! Shocked! at this horrific event. Stop looking for money and make some noise.
The MMS ignores the democrats, they aren’t ‘sexy’ like the party of crazy mf’ers
But please not Schumer -- he's hopeless in front of a mic and a camera. Watching paint dry is more compelling.
Harsh but true words Laurie. Jeffries also the same problem. I get that they need to keep it together but the first responders Jeffries is talking about are also explainers. Headline getters are needed. Sanders, Warren, Buttigieg, AOC, Crockett, get a crowd in front of the mics. Schumer and Jeffries can stand there too. Do you agree?
Maddow Jeffries interview:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo-l901DoiU
Schumer needs to be replaced
The Dems have left the building.
One of mine (MI) just retired. Another (Peters) announced he plans to retire. My AG Nessels is trying:
https://youtu.be/SIxQISairjA?si=9ZLv7rgRtZLftrS3
The Dem replacement for the retiree is pretty good. She will be giving the response to the State of the Union address. I hope our former Secretary of Transportation will run for Peters' seat.
I hope,Republicans with a little bit of conscience left would do the same.
I called Johnson, Peter’s & Jeffries today. Russia needs to be defeated without concessions. Putin ILLEGALLY invaded a sovereign country after Russia had signed an agreement never to do so (Budapest Memorandum). Ukraine should be allowed to join NATO for future protection as Russia cannot be trusted (nor can we apparently). No other country is asking to be repaid. We made our bed by not stopping Russia (Crimea, Georgia, Trump’s delay of the weapons resulting in his first impeachment), now we have to lie in it.
They should have gone out to say goodbye to Zelenskyy and then immediately called a press conference. Their voices need to be heard -- in unison - objecting to this dismantling of America.
Did the Democrats leaders even TRY to give Zelensky an opportunity to counter the misinformation spread by Trump and Vance in that meeting? A press conference? A one-on-one interview?
Yeah! WTF???
Of Note: 28-Feb-2025: On the Bill Maher Show, Chrystia Freeland of Canada appeared... Chrystia is very accomplished, having among other things, Canadian Finance Minister, served as Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, been a financial journalist, and importantly, helped negotiate the current, CUSMA, trade deal between Canada, the United States, and Mexico... She knows DJT, and DJT knows her... Chrystia, like Zelenskyy is small in statue, but giant in presence... Chrystal's Mother is Ukrainian, and Chrystia studied in Ukraine, and
is fluent in Ukrainian... While she studied in the Ukraine, Chrysytia was followed by the KGB since they considered Chrystia to be a Ukrainian Activist... By the time her activism
within Ukraine came to an end, Freeland had become the subject of a high-level case study from the KGB on how much damage a single determined individual could inflict on the
Soviet Union; a 2021 Globe and Mail article quoted the report by a former officer of the KGB, which had described Freeland as "a remarkable individual", "erudite, sociable,
persistent, and inventive in achieving her goals"... Chrystia is an excellent Communicator, with excellent People Skills, and very Intelligent... She is considered to be the likely next Prime Minister of Canada... On the Bill Maher Show, Chrystia declared that she will defend Canadian Interests... Canada will have a Good Leader... Slava Ukraine!!!
Apache, Canada needs a leader who can BEAT PIERRE POILLIEVRE—the spawn of Donald Trump! His rhetoric mimics that of any tyrant, not just Trump. Canadians must vote for the person who can beat Poilievre and protect Canada’s sovereignty and national security. Keep your eyes wide open, please!
What is happening is the US is definitely opening eyes in Canada, it seems, and Poilievre is losing ground.
Freeland also speaks seven languages.
I watched that interview. She's completely new to me, no surprise since I'm in NorCal, but she seemed very sharp and quite solid. Maher can be a hard case, making it difficult for folks to get a word in edgewise, but she had no trouble dominating the interview. And I think he liked her.
I would rate Ms Freeland's chances of beating out Mark Carney for leader of the Liberal Party (and thus Prime Minister till the next election) as maybe 1 in 5 at best.
And the Liberal Party's chances of winning the next election, not very long from now, certainly by the autumn of this year, maybe sooner, are maybe 1 in 4 (and if Trudeau had stayed on, 1 in 20.)
I agree that Freeland is impressive, and has Trump's number. He has said he does not like her, which is already a point in her favour.
While I think Chrystia Freeland would make a great PM, she is not a shoo-in. Her biggest competitor is Mark Carney, former head of the Bank of Canada and later of the Bank of England.
Thanks Jude... We can hope... Chrystia has interesting Opinions on the Global Oligarchs... Wikipedia has interesting Details... Canada needs a Strong Leader to defend it from Predatory DJT...
…and Pierre Poilievre!
Good and inspirational story Apache !!!!
Thanks Ricardo... Whoever Wins In Canada... Be Strong, and Resist DJT...
Would I be wrong to suggest that her U.S. counterpart might be Pete Buttigieg?
I know. I thought Nixon was bad. And Reagan. And Bush. And Mitch McConnell and so very many others. And yes, this is beyond scary and mean. And for all of us beyond what we could have imagined.
All those politicians that "we thought were bad" WERE bad...they paved the way for our current cowardly, insecure, fascist man-baby prez and his little heinie-licking fascist side-kick vp. I have never been more disgusted than I was upon viewing that crass, barbaric ambush of a man who has more integrity and courage in his little finger than both drump and vance have EVER had. And, I'm disgusted with the Dems as well--I have gotten almost more begging texts in the past few weeks than I did during the run-up to the election.
Hey, elected Dems: instead of begging for more and yet more money, howsabout DOING SOMETHING--ANYTHING! and THEN asking for money?
Yeah--in the same place TL as you are. All I get are "we want you to be our ATM" messages from the Dems. And many are likely not even legit, but Russian and Chinese bots, as that was demonstrated to be the case last year during the campaign. I identify all of them as "junk" and I refuse to give them a penny. One thing: if you communicate with your member of Congress directly (if they are a Dem), as I do with Mr. Cleaver, my Congressman, they will communicate information. The problem is that the usual press outlets are so terrified of the Felon, they don't report on stuff that is happening. And the Dems in Congress are really crappy about reporting their activities to their constituents as a rule. We have to keep up the pressure regardless.
Not all of us... unfortunately.
No, not all of us. 🐈⬛
I am not shocked or stunned or anything like that. This is exactly what we were all warned he’d do. I’m disgusted beyond belief, but not surprised.
I'm only 81 and agree with you 100 %
Better than being a 100 and agreeing 81%.
I'm with Frank.
Fount of All Evil Nixon, despite how bad he really was, still believed in the system. Unlike Krasnov and his stooge, Justa Dimbulb Vance.
Since he's Krasnov's assistant I'd bet anything JD's code-name is "Cyka".
SADISM as State Policy: atavism and nativism.
Don't forget masochism on the part of the maga supporters. They will feel the pain as everybody else. Wil they enjoy the pain or they feel remorse?
I think they may not care as long as they are seeing that the "libs" are feeling pain. Up to a point, that is. When they lose their SNAP benefits and their Medicaid...there might be an awakening. Maybe.
As I have stated before, based on close personal observation, MAGA maniacs have a unique prism through which they view their fortunes. When things are going well for them, they credit Republicans. When GOP mismanagement makes things difficult, they blame "the government."
This is an extension of the evangelical point of view: "I believe, therefore I am always right; I am never wrong."
This line comes from an article I read recently. https://www.thebulwark.com/p/the-cruelty-isnt-the-point-its-the
I have been thinking about how just plain sadistic they seem. It makes me wonder if they tortured animals when they were under 16 (and how many still feel the urge to torture not only animals but people like some of our worst enemies).
Fine, scarey insight, Jim. 💡 Thank you. 🤝
I’m also 82 and hit the streets with ~1,000 other protesters in Tucson yesterday.Its time to call them out and join others who are appalled.
Good for you! We were in a dust bowl here in Sierra Vista. And I see that the Tucson paper covered the protest.
Trump & Vance should be BOTH be IMPEACHED for TREASON (aiding and abetting the enemy - Russia). They are both Russian assets, it’s obvious.
Contact your representatives:
(202) 225-3121
First, Trump had been in contact with Putin, negotiating Ukraine, BEFORE and WITHOUT Zelensky, our ally. Very insulting and not how you negotiate peace.
Second, Trump called Zelensky, the respected, President of a DEMOCRACY with 75% of the votes, a “dictator!” Saying he wasn’t having free elections! He also said Ukraine can’t join NATO. Sounds like Putin’s demands. Another insult.
Third, Trump (I won’t call him president because of the illegally purged black votes & hacked tabulators Harris is the true president!) announced Ukraine “started the war.” Either Trump has severe dementia or he is stupid; both a possibility. It was Russia who invaded Ukraine, REPEATEDLY. THEY are the AGGRESSORS!
Fourth, just arriving at the White House from a ravaged war torn country, dignified President Zelensky is immediately criticized by Trump for what he was wearing! Musk, the richest man in the world, wears t-shirts & baseball caps & emphasizes his disrespect by bringing his 3 year old son to the oval office who then proceeds to pick the buggars out of his nose, putting them on the Lincoln desk.
With Trump’s prior insulting comments (lies) made about him, insulting him by not meeting with Zelensky FIRST, but meeting with the war criminal dictator & aggressor Putin, that’s enough to make anyone upset. Trump & Vance had NO excuse.
Fourth, THINK of what Zelensky went through to just to get to the White House from a ravaged country of 3 years. No airports. Helicopters, long train rides, etc. It probably took an entire day. He didn’t even get lunch after struggling to get there from a war zone. (He probably arrived hungry thinking they would provide lunch after he came that great distance. Is that any way to treat a guest?).
Fifth, we SIGNED a commitment in 1994 - the “Budapest Memorandum” y along with the UK, Northern Ireland and Russia! Why isn’t anyone talking about this??
In 1994 Ukraine ONLY agreed to hand over their HUGE STASH of nuclear weapons to Russia 'in exchange for a guarantee never to be threatened or invaded.' And to be protected if such an invasion occurred.
***If Ukrainian had KEPT those nuclear warheads, and they should have, Russia would never have dared to invade, EVER!•••
Ukraine was the ONLY country that honored this agreement.
Obviously, Russia, the invader, did NOT keep the commitment, but the United States MUST.
Perhaps Trump, being the non reader, poor student he was, doesn’t know about this commitment. But no wonder Zelensky doesn’t trust Russia to keep another agreement! Who should? Like Trump, Putin LIES and CHEATS and has repeatedly shown HIS WORD IS NOT GOOD!
Russia broke the agreement so they have NO bargaining power. This is what should happen:
1. Russia should return ALL of Ukraine’s land.
2. Russia should return ALL of the stockpile of nuclear warheads Ukraine gave Russia since they broke the agreement or better replace with new.
3. Russia should pay to rebuild Ukraine.
4. No other country is asking to be reimbursed. The United States did NOT give Ukraine $350 billion. That is another Trump LIE. We gave them ILD war equipment & we bough new to replace them.
5. The United States should not get anything from Ukraine - NO MINERALS. The United States did nothing when Russia took Crimea & Georgia. If they had, this total devastation & loss of lives would not have occurred. The United States, UK , N. Ireland did not come to Ukraine’s rescue when Russia invaded. All four countries broke the agreement.
6. Since neither the U.S., UK, N.Ireland nor Russia held to the agreement, Ukraine SHOULD be allowed to join NATO. They earned it. That will assure no future invasions of their county.
By agreeing to these terms along with staying out of our elections, Putin is getting off lightly because Putin is now a war criminal and should really be sentenced to death. He did irreparable harm to babies, raping women, kidnapping children, bombing hospitals, etc. Not to mention the devastation of people’s homes, the infrastructure, loss of lives, the emotional and physical trauma, etc.
DON’T GIVE IN! The ball is in your court. Russia is sweating.
Sincerely,
A very SHOCKED, ASHAMED and HORRIFIED American citizen. I apologize, respect and support you. We all agree, we would prefer it if you were our President!
“This Memorandum will become applicable upon signature. Signed in four copies having an equal validity in the Ukrainian, English, and Russian languages.”
https://en.m.wikisource.org/wiki/Ukraine._Memorandum_on_Security_Assurances
A Harvard Professor of law, Timothy Snyder made some astute comments. You might like to interview him as he is an expert on Ukraine.
On the PBS Hour:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11QBNJj_8gM
Professor Timothy Snyder on his Substack video (provided links for donating to Ukrainian organizations):
https://snyder.substack.com/p/five-failures-in-the-oval-office
I'm sorry, but until the Dems are a majority in the House...trying to impeach the orange arsehole is not only useless, but a waste of time and effort which could be directed at other, perhaps more productive, issues. As long as Trump and his MAGAs have their tentacles in every branch and crevice of government--what's left of it--and own the entire legislative branch, trying to impeach Trump simply will not fly.
Impeachment was tried TWICE already and even though we held the House at that point, drump still slithered out of it thanks to McConnell.
I disagree! NOW is the time. Many Republicans are disgusted with Trump after Friday’s shameful display of treason.
But they are afraid of the orange blob because they will attack their families. The republicans won’t band together and do the right thing😡
Well, don't you remember how disgusted the Repubbies were--even McConnell--after January 6? By the time the impeachment charges were argued, even McConnell had reconsidered and Trump was able to slither away. yes, many Republicans are appalled...but I doubt their dismay and disgust would last beyond considerations of Trump's vindictiveness. The Republicans are invertebrates and even if they are currently primed for an impeachment trial...I don't think it would last long enough to follow through.
Totally agree. There needs to be a ground swell grass roots movement to impeach. 100 million or more of us should be calling our representatives and senators as you suggest and demand it.
They may be invertebrates, but 100 million plus of us are not. The definition of treason is betraying one's country. It they are not guilty of treason, then we are all not living in the same country.
I think it only takes 13 million to change course.
They will all fall in line again before you can turn around twice.
Marlo, the ones in my world think that either ffpotus and ccf were "strong" or that ffpotus is way, way smarter than he is portraying. SMH.
Then:
• Why is he letting others demolish our agencies that are “watchdogs” so he or others can’t be held accountable for corruption?
• Why is he removing ALREADY drastically cut IRS personnel at TAX season (dumb) - people that brought in $$$$$$$$ BILLIONS from tax fraud. I guess Trump doesn’t want the IRS snooping in his taxes…
• Why doesn’t he have the wealthy & corporations pay their fair share in taxes instead of giving them $4.5 trillion cuts and then scramble to cut needed areas from the poor and perhaps suddenly unemployed?
• Why isn’t Trump FOLLOWING the LAW in doing the cuts? It is ILLEGAL for him to fire Inspector Generals, cut/dismantle agencies Congress created and approved funding for. There is a LAWFUL PROCESS! That is the heart of democracy!
Trump is IGNORING that process. He is IGNORING COURT ORDERS to unfreeze the freeze in spending the allocated funds already approved by Congress. How is THAT “smart.” That is a DICTATORSHIP!
Sigh. Don't they realize trump has never ever "hid his light under a bushel"? That he is simply incapable of such subtlety. He wears his brags and "accomplishments" on his sleeve.
I'll admit it isn't always easy to see where he is being himself and where he is acting on orders and/or talking points from Moscow...but if you look carefully to see where Trump sees immediate advantage for himself--or a chance to avenge a grievance--you can usually figure out where he's going to go. He cannot for the life of him plan for his own long-range benefit--he's too impulsive. But he certainly can follow the orders of someone who does have the ability plan long range. Unfortunately.
And the election is next year. 2026. Blue wave or else 💙🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸💙it’s going to be harder than ever to have a free and fair election.
Yes and the Repubbies are already hard at work trying to get voter suppression laws enacted (SAVE Act, anybody!??) and otherwise diddling with the people in charge of the processes. I don't think it is going to be enough to simply turn out the vote this time--it's going to require Dem strength of character to demand count challenges and recounts--just as the Repubbies have done for the last several elections. We also need to resist the Republican rush to declare winners when the votes have been only half counted. We must be ready to demand investigations and then there will be tussles to pry losers out of their offices if they insist that they won. Trump has set some very ugly precedents for his followers. I say be prepared for battle, comes election season 2026.
You're RIGHT, Nixon was Disgusting! Reagan was Disgusting, Bush and Shrub were Disgusting! But Americans kept voting for them. Again and again. The ReThuglikins, have screwed us for a generation or two already. It seems that this is the first time since Raygun that anybody aside from Progressives even noticed. I'm sorry, but I just can't get my knickers into a knot because the Right is acting Very Wrongly AGAIN! YOU KNEW THEY WERE SNAKES ALREADY!!! RISE UP AMERICA!
I’m also 82—turning 83 on March 4—and have come to the painful realization that we do not truly live in a democracy. If we did, we wouldn’t be on the brink of a fascist takeover. How can any American comprehend a president fawning over a murderous dictator while turning his back on our historic allies? If that isn’t surreal, I don’t know what is.
And I though the scumbag president was bad, till a saw the Manchurian Candidate execute a preplanned aggression against an ally leader fighting for democracy and also for us. What the scumbag president did was a reaction, what the Manchurian did was executing a plan. I'm not defending trump, I just describing the event as it happened. Vance is a present dange to our republic.
They both need to be impeached.
but look at the line of succession - after Vance, Speaker Christian Nationalist and room-temperature-IQ Johnson, and after Johnson, Secretary of State Rubio. Wow! Talk about an anti-assassination agenda! (And Musk will keep running the country into the ground whoever is president.)
Events of Great Change In Mathematics, are Called Catastrophes... I hope that 2025 is not like 1914... 1914 usured in the Catastrophes of the 20th Century...
I'm 77 and I agree. John Simpson's comment definetly describes my fears, my dissolutionment, my bewilderment at what Donald Trump and his supporters have done to the country I love: "A time when the basic assumptions about the way our world works are fed into the shredder." The Republican Congress members have helped Trump feed our values into the shredder, and that is so disdainful and unbelievable. I hold them responsible for allowing Trump and Musk to rip my country apart, piece by piece.
I can’t escape the impression that this was a rehearsed ambush by Trump & Vance.
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/the-war-trump-chooses?r=71u79&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Please read Timothy Snyder's column today, which brings up this scenario. It's a long piece but worth the time.
Professor Snyder’s analysis is always a welcome and informative reflection even though the subject matter is already deeply disturbing. I am as grateful for his work throughout this extended debacle as I am of Professor Richardson’s. They both have won my deep respect, appreciation and gratitude.
Thank you, Laura. Thanks to you, I just read it. What an eye opener.
Yes. Links to reliable donation and for whom.Excellent. Anyone have insider references?
Thanks for the referral to professor Snyder. Another prominent professor from Yale, Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, wrote an article in Time last week that explains the Russian dilemma. Here’s a link: https://time.com/7261449/putin-donald-trump-russia-ceo-essay/
That was a great article by Time, TY.
Thanks for the link.
Read! Really good writing and perfect analysis. Thanks, Laura!
Their fear of offending Putin was obvious. Why are Trump and Vance so afraid of the little gangster in Moscow?
You ask THE question. Why did the spectacle in the Oval Office really happen?
I don't think was so much about Putin himself and it is more about a global order of authoritarianism for which Putin is the authoritarian's model authoritarian, the one all others want to grow up to be for the future they envision. The people who are running this from behind Musk and Vance and T rump -- Yarvin, Thiel, Andreessen, etc. & with The Heritage Foundation doing the plan's heavy lifting -- don't want democracy anywhere on this planet. It gets in the way of their plans and needs to be quickly eradicated. The plans that they've been working on for decades are for all kinds of global dictator-led nation and network states, the US being one of them, where they, as the only rightful monarchs who worship at the altar of capitalism, decide everything and we, the peasants they detest, provide them with the cheap and desperate feudalistic labor they want and need, and should we resist or complain they simply toss us out into some wasteland or worse. Putin fits right in. But key to their success is that they act fast before the giant that is the American people truly awakens and we align with our former allies to fight for our very lives. As we witnessed in the Oval Office, I think it's pretty clear they will stop at NOTHING, keeping in mind we are disposable to them, to make this dystopian world a reality NOW because they know they will never get this chance again. In case you haven't seen this yet, here's their insane but very real endgame vision already underway -> https://skywriter.blue/pages/did:plc:we7sidyj3b5or2r7trtpfzt7/post/3lizd3knupc23
And here is the fuller plan of what we see happening now: https://tinyurl.com/5y6erh5w
Don’t forget that the Russian media was in the room. To make sure Trump followed his instructions?
I wonder if that wasn't also an intimidation tactic to pressure Zelensky, like Putin was in the room too as part of the ambush, plus a signal domestically in the US and Russia in case there was any remaining doubt which side T et al had long ago decided we were going to be on. V & T held nothing back in trying to execute the plan they were all in on but I don't think it ended up working out the way any of them thought it would which makes me fear what will come next. T will have to make it up to Putin for having not closed the deal as planned and that surely won't mean anything good for us.
Very good point. Putin's representatives were in the room. Which includes Vance and Trump. For Zelensky this must have been like walking into a room in Hell.
Spot on. Check out Yarvin's Substack Dark Mirror. Don't subscribe! But do read his deceptive blather. He describes (intention mixed with lies and twisted history) what Musk and Vance and Thiel and Andreesen want to do: take control of the US government. The "right of conquest" in this era is immense assets, gathered by the AI techies who think they are smarter than everyone else. And therefore deserve to run the government. Without opposition.
Musk's actions, including his control of Trump and the Cabinet and the GOP side of Congress, are clear indicators of what's coming next! And fast!
I understand why you'd characterize them as "AI techies", but for what it's worth: Musk, Vance, Thiel, and Andreesen have one thing in common when it comes to tech: they are pirates. They do not create, they seize and exploit. They perceive life as zero sum. And they are very damaged people recapitulating their various traumas.
The "real" AI techies are mostly mathematicians on a quest for truth and the meaning of intelligence. Or are pure technologists driven by challenge and what they perceive to be scientific achievement. Some have runaway unacknowledged death anxiety and are trying to make God. But most are just driven by the same human nature that led us to make wheels and harness fire. Importantly, though, they make things and solve problems. I don't mean to defend them, but they are a different breed from the pirates. For them, the science is the thing. For the pirates, the science is incidental. They would use magic if it were a more expedient cultural symbol. (Their ilk did, historically.)
I don't know if this distinction is important in the grand scheme of things, but in case you find it interesting.
I am reminded that every Baron Vladimir Harkonnen has his Mentat.
Yeah, I've got his "A Conversation on Monarchy" on my desktop to reference it every time I can share his sick vision and plans. Jenny Cohn over on Bsky and others update their research on them and an ever-widening gang of co-conspirators daily. And I don't know if you think this too but I've got this itch in my brain that tells me the GOP side of Congress was filled in on all of this and told if they get in the way too much, a little performative "pushback" is fine, but if they really do resist, they won't end up on the privileged side of their dystopian universe but will be relegated to where they expect all of us to end up and that's a big reason why they are so despicably docile and compliant... well, except for those who really are into the kind of cruelty they're pursuing just for its own sake.
yes, the number of Republican members of both houses of Congress who get death threats against them and their families if they appear about to do the decent or moral thing is appalling.
The right has a near-monopoly on public policy by violence. The left by and large - very large - does not do that. It will criticize but it does not threaten, publicly or privately.
This should be pointed out much more often. It is NOT legitimate.
I will check out Jenny Cohn. Thanks!
Yarvin preaches the smart rich parasites should emulate Putin in the US and take control. The hosts/serfs only live to serve them. Otherwise we are all disposable.
The parasites are not hiding. Blonde Politics is also a good follow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RpPTRcz1no&t=525s
I think the GOP senators are smart enough to realize they chose to make a soul pact with the Devil. And most of the House reps. There are some in the House who are so stupid they think they've just sold out for money. They are all sellouts.
Let's remember that one in five Americans are illiterate. Musk and the rest of his parasite gang depend on that base to believe whatever con they are selling. Musk claims the purpose of DOGE is to cut out the bloat and fat from the government. The actual purpose is to control all three branches. He's almost there.
Oh, yeah, that video, also cued up to share far and wide, blew my mind when I first came across it. "He's almost there" is so frighteningly true and makes me worry a lot about what is going to come out of the joint session of congress T will be addressing on Tuesday. NOTHING good can come out of that! And I also can't get out of my mind a few of the details in Yarvin's works that haven't yet happened but that I have no reason to believe aren't in the works. Two pieces from "A Conversation..." that are stuck in my brain are 1) a national lockdown (aka martial law?) and 2) centralizing and arming the police. The pieces are nearly in place for both to happen. Lately, I've begun to think we are gonna need outside help to overcome all this but we have to get organized ourselves first. Making this stuff we've been talking about known to everyone is crucial because they're hoping we stay focused on the front/henchmen T & M. We need to do that too but so much more. I've begun sharing this information with Dems in Congress who are actually doing things, asking them to start investigating it and talking about it and even with the CA AG who has jurisdiction over them for a state charge of treason since what is going on at the federal level is also an attack on the state constitution, etc. I figure gotta try.
And, Kara Swisher has done a lot to expose this odd corner of the industry and some of these monsters in it. Musk, Vance, Thiel, Andreesen: they are, or have become, monsters regardless had they landed in tech, finance, politics, wherever.
Thank you. I think their next step, in cahoots with their fellow fanatical BRICS oligarch autocrats (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), will be to announce that the US dollar will no longer be the reserve currency for these nation states. Harbinging in a ruthless Profiteer’s Age of yet more inhumane global ecological, social and cultural destruction.
I've been wondering about the timing of that. I know that is in the works but how soon can that realistically happen? There's some mechanisms in place but there's a lot of dollars in play in the current system for it to happen fast, though these idiots could lose control of how it happens anyway. But assuming it will be the yuan that at least somewhat replaces it, with China in ascendance as the dominant capitalist power, I wonder if they will be keen to play the let's demolish the entire world economy game by having that shift happen abruptly. Regardless of how and when, I totally agree that there are extraordinarily destructive forces at work and more to come and we all are gonna need a very big, very bold plan for when everything falls apart. So far we're protesting at Tesla dealerships and other places pretty well. But we should probably ramp things up PDQ to meet the challenges of a not impossible global financial collapse.
I totally agree. Thanks so much for being so engaged with the chaotic insanity being indulged in by our Western ruling class amd sharing your insights. Holdfast All 🐈⬛
The big hurdle for Yarvin/Trump to print Trump money is that the US Dollar is a meme in the brains of 7 billion humans around the world. Like Coca-Cola, you can't erase the meme in all these brains. The internationally accepted currency is the US $100 bill.
Trump (Musk) could gain control of the Federal Reserve by firing the Fed governors. Trump has spoken repeatedly about how the President should have the power to create money. Musk could sew chaos. Create a financial emergency. Anarchy in the world stock and bond markets.
Few people understand how money works. It's like fish swimming in the ocean. Bottom line: humans will work for money they can use to buy food, shelter and security (a safe place to sleep). If the grocery store or landlord doesn't accept Trump Money or crypto for payment, then people won't devote their work energy for it. Try paying employees with Bitcoin!
I worry about all the cryptocurrency.
Crypto is a scam. A very big scam.
Rebel, I think there's a whole lot of truth in your comment. I submit, however, that the christo-fascists have been at this game decades longer than the techno-facsists.
The christo-fascists want two things:
1. They want the U.S. to be a Protestant Evangelical Theocracy, ruled by the Western equivalent of Sharia Law.
2. They want to accelerate the entire geo-political world toward Armageddon, which ushers in The Millennium, the thousand years' reign of peace under the reign of King Jesus who will return from heaven to take his place on the global throne.
They have been seeking the right puppet to make this happen. They thought Ronald Reagan was going to fill the role, but he was a demented disappointment. Next, they thought George Bush 2.0 was going to hand over the reigns, but 9/11 and Katrina derailed his trajectory. Donald is their last, best hope. His ego and incompetence during his first term almost ruined things, so they got the Project 2025 gang together to design a roadmap that could be followed by an idiot. But they have to work fast, before the majority of Americans can put a halt to the plan.
The christo-fascists have known they are a small minority, so they've welcomed assistance from anyone who seeks roughly the same objectives, including conservative Catholics, whom they do not acknowledge as "real Christians." They also tolerate the techno-fascists insofar as they're a useful demolition crew.
I am convinced that a day of reckoning is coming when there will be a showdown between the christo-fascists and techno-fascists. Currently, they are running on parallel courses, but the two groups seek world orders on diametrically opposed foundations.
The question is, are there enough U.S. democracy-lovers to overwhelm both of these two groups?
Not just parallel courses now (or likely before); they have joined up. "Those of us who study the Theo Bros have long suspected a financial connection between them & the Tech Bros, but were unable to find it. Forbes just did. The connection is thru Marc Andreessen (who advises DOGE & is involved w/ Network States) & New Founding (led by Nate Fischer & Josh Abbottoy)." - Jenny Cohn
https://bsky.app/profile/jennycohn.bsky.social/post/3leiqi2h64222
Your final question is the one we face and I think it is going to take more than US democracy-lovers. I think we need an international coalition. If we can get our own coalition together, I know a whole bunch of nation states that just broke up with their former partner who might be willing to help us out.
I'd heard the "tech bros" nickname before, but not "theo bros." I like it, except these monikers make the two groups sound "cute" rather than the ominous threats that they are.
Agree but fascistic, neo-Ayn Rand fan boy, tech/capitalist-worshipping, logic-denying, Hitler-embracing, democracy hating, monarchy-obsessed coup co-conspirators instead of Tech Bros is just a bit too long to use in most posts. But yeah, we definitely need way more accurate monikers for these cretins.
I'm afraid the US will quickly decline in moral and ethical and human rights and personal freedom leadership in the world. We only represent 5% of the world's population. Our historical love of liberty and the rule of law and popular culture put America on top. Now we are sinking. Free Europe is rising. Indian and Chinese culture are rising. Even though their leaders are autocrats. The soul freedom of Roger Williams and John Milton, the equality of human individuals, the respect for unoppressed speech and assembly are faltering. We are about to experience the "right to conquer" by Bad King Elon and his Dark Lords.
And now we're in territory I think about all the time but don't bring up except in vague asides about the what will we do after...
This is a good analysis! I'm afraid the christo-fascists are out gunned by the tech parasites. Musk manipulated the "White Jesus" cohort in the last election. Using AI and behavioral propaganda he and his Yarvin-led pals are gaining control over the minds of a large minority of Americans.
Are there enough US democracy lovers to fight back? 185 million of 265 million American adults did not vote for Donald. 70% to 30%.
I didn't make a prediction about who will win because I think it's an absolute toss-up. The techno-fascists may outgun the christo's in terms of technology, but it remains to be seen how far they can distort religious dogma and still hold them.
Not sure where your election statistics come from, but here's how I look at it:
The number of votes for Harris vs. Trump differed by a rounding error. Of the total, non-Dem and non-GOP votes were negligible. An estimated 88 million eligible voters didn't vote. I postulate that half of them didn't want to vote for Trump and the other half didn't want to vote for Harris. It is my opinion that an overwhelming majority of eligible voters didn't vote because they knew in advance that their votes would not count, thanks to gerrymandering and the Electoral College. In the end, the election was a draw. But the Electoral College handed the election to Trump.
To my mind, the U.S. is evenly divided politically. It will take some third, powerful force to move the needle in one direction or the other.
Total population of the US: 340.1 million
Total adult population of the US: 258.3 million
2024 Voters for Trump: 77.3 million (3 million more than 2020)
2024 Voters for Harris: 75.0 million (6.2 million less than Biden in 2020)
2024 Did not vote: 106 million
Total that did not vote for Trump: 181 million (70% of total adults)
(Sorry I rounded my numbers above.)
I so absolutely agree with you! For a time I got stuck on the belief that no one would ever want democracy to fail. The “Can you believe they did this!?!?” phase. Now I understand that they really do want to end democracy! Accepting that helps the waking up process!
What President Biden had been screaming from the roof tops for a very long time, drowning out his economic accomplishments!!!
They are Russian operatives
Exactly! i read the introduction and thought the same thing. Never heard of Yarvin but I think somebody better do an ancestry.com tree on him. Thanks for-posting,Victoria.
The Hill had an article on Wednesday suedeggesting on some plausible evidence that Trump was recruited by the KGB in 1987, and given the cover name Krasnov. I discussed that in my Substack, The Old Curmudgeon, yesterday: https://jonmargolis.substack.com/p/many-people-are-saying . Take a look. One of my readers suggested that our “chief executive” is now President Krasnov. Works for me. [Edit: It now appears that "Krasnov" has been scrubbed from a number of articles, including the one I linked to. But it appears in an article on The Guardian from 2021. I'm going to have to post on this later.]
It very much left that impression. Notably neither Trump or Vance showed any interest in letting Zalinsky say his piece, even to refute it. They just feigned serial offense to the few words he managed (and his dress; it has been observed that Musk's Oval Office business attire is casual). It was all bogus as hell (and Fox calls Trump's performance Nobel Prize material). War is Peace in MAGA land.
Yes appeared so
Absolutely. And if there were any doubts, Graham gave it away when he admonished Zelenskyy for taking the bait.
Ah…I hadn’t caught that.
Absolutely! And if there was any doubt, him ending by saying this "will be great television" sealed the deal. Trump is an asshole for sure, but Vance (who I had little regard for anyhow) came off like a butt kissing sycophant. He didn't look tough, he looked like he was watching for Trump's reaction in his side vision with his "me, too, boss!" comments. It made HIM look even weaker.
Absolutely!
Totally right Deborah but, not to justify the scumbag president, it was a Manchurian Candidate scheme. Trump looked surprised at the beginning and was late to react and when he did, it was like a spoiled toddler in a gang of two. Special shame on Marco Rubio, sinking into the couch.
Rubio…laughable!!!
Jeff Tiedrich composed a colorful commentary on Rubio's role in the performance.
https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/donald-trump-shits-the-bed-on-ukraine
Yes, Laura. Trump himself mentioned it will be good television. Disgraceful.
Exactly Deborah. The fact that a member of the Russian government described the meeting ahead of time and that a TASS representative was "inadvertently" in the press pool in the room on Friday and more than enough indication that this was a set-up. Never mind that it was all over the Russian media within moments after the ambush took place. Just appalling stuff.
Apparently you have good judgment, Deborah Garcia.
Zelenskyy was sucker punched by Trump and Vance.
Agreed and the "jounalist" who berated him over is attire is the boyfriend of Marjorie Taylor Greene! Yes a planned attack!
Oh, you know it was! And FOTUS wouldn't have been able to carry this off alone - he needed his henchman JDV to support him.
Deborah Garcia - "I can’t escape the impression that this was a rehearsed ambush by Trump & Vance."
"𝑀𝑎𝑛𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑏𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑡𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝐷𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑑 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑍𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑘𝑦𝑦 𝑡𝑜𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑟𝑒 𝑎 𝐷𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑐𝑟𝑎𝑡 𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑅𝑒𝑝𝑢𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑛, 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑚𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠𝑒𝑙𝑓, 𝑂ℎ 𝑚𝑦 𝐺𝑜𝑑, 𝐷𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙𝑑 𝑇𝑟𝑢𝑚𝑝 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑒𝑑 𝑢𝑝.
𝐻𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟, 𝑎𝑠 𝑎 𝑙𝑖𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑛𝑔 𝑝𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑠, 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑔𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑜𝑝ℎ𝑦, 𝑙𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑡𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑤𝑖𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑒𝑑."
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1A2LQ6n5TY/
Delusional
DEFINITELY!!
It was Trump and Vance who walked away from the Oval Office fiasco looking weak and stupid, for all the world to see. Zelenskyy walked away with his pride and dignity intact, his courage and personal integrity on full display, for the world to see.
There was one bona fide national leader in the Oval Office on 2/28. His name is Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Too bad the Dems couldnt even arrange their own meeting with Zelensky after or at least a press conference of their own. Weak leaders!!! I am tired of them!
Very good point! I hadn’t thought of that. Such a meeting would have compounded and amplified the craven cowardice of the Trump Administration.
In all fairness to Dems. First, Zelensky knows all Dems support him. Second, Trump can cut him off militarily and jeopardize the war. Third, the more Zelensky cozies up to Dems, the more likely Ukraine gets cut off. Note Trump whined because Zelensky visited Pennsylvania during the campaign. Forth, other than a pat on the back, WTF can Dems do?
No excuse. Even if it were strategic to not meet with Zelensky, the Dem leadership needs to meet the moment. Timothy Snyder’s idea of a People’s Cabinet based on the shadow cabinet in the UK, would have had some kind of parallel event.
Just keep knocking the Democrats and see who votes for them. They have no power in the Congress until we get to the government shutdown and they have no access to the media which is why it would be good to give them money. For God’s and all our sakes stop doing MAGA talking points. Support Democrats or shut up.
Q: how would you rate sen. chuck schumer’s messaging and pushback in his media appearances? Who in the dems do you see is delivering a good opposition to rump in the media?
These are honest self criticisms, not maga talking points at all.
I don’t agree with dems ‘have no access to the media.’
Fyi, i am listening to the dedicated podcasters at Crooked media and pod save america. And john stewart on the daily show (comedy central). If you haven’t seen / heard, do check out, and you’d best not accuse them of making maga talking points!
[sorry, i think i came off harsh here, Janis Heim. What did you see above that you thought were maga talking points?]
The MAGA talking point is that Democrats are incompetent and ineffectual. Keep bashing Schumer and we are stuck with Republicans forever.
Meet the moment for sure. Meet Zelensky, nah. Some younger Dem will emerge from the silence, forged in this furnace fueled by red sewage, and we will have our next President...or Russian language will be required in our schools.
Exactly this. It’s been floated recently the dems need to reorganize around the format of the UK parliamentary “shadow cabinet.” Not with actual authority, but to be ready to pounce on every misstep with alternative narative. Someone assigned to follow every move of rumps cabinet, ambassadors, the UN. That dem leadership failed to coordinate some time with Zelensky is a major blunder.
I keep seeing this idea put forward, but who is responsible for making it happen? Should we be filling Ken Martin’s inbox? Or keep hammering the idea to our own MOCs. Endless repetition of the idea in substack comments does not seem to be producing any results. Let’s figure out a viable plan.
The logical leadership would come from the dem party. They seem to not have a clue, unable to steal cycles in the media, so maybe,
1) find local dem organizations at local and state level. Ask: i’d like to get a message to your boss in the party hierarchy: enact a shadow cabinet.
2) And work our way up from the bottom.
3) Top down, directly write all dem members of house and senate. Both federal and statehouse. Especially ones with effective messaging.
4) tell head committee of dem party to get head out of *ss and start yelling. I know there are vice-chairs also just elected to party. Where is david hogg, i have not heard a peep in media.
5) every repub sen and house office should be picketed 24/7
6) dems need to be running a “war room” where every policy in play, every act of destruction by doge, is noted tracked, publicised, protested. Every media appearance by a repub archived, and play these tapes so the public can’t avoid seeing them roll over, duck into the subway, ‘no comment’, and hide from their town halls.
7) silence is compliance. Do not comply in advance of the tyrant.
8) read timothy snyder on substack and in print, “on tyrany”
One emotional adult. One example of professionalism. Trump is the president of the United States, for crying out loud, yet he's nothing but a crude bully.
We have been reminded in the past, but we as a culture missed the seriousness of the symptoms. Many still do. A major security flaw in our code is "Crude Celebrity + $$$$$ = admirable power". That's an error that could kill us all.
it is beyond belief that it turns out to be true that Trump is a Russian plant. He not only is selling Ukraine down the river but his own country as well. He and Vance both have to be forced out. We have to keep protesting their miserable presence as long as necessary. We are all in danger of losing our rights with these traitors in charge! .
Trump has been shaped, encouraged, and funded by Putin since he went to build his tower in Moscow. Putin literally promised Trump the world, and Trump couldn't refuse. Putin knew he had an asset immediately.
Well, The Criminal was an easy mark for the Russians. They knew he loved flattery and that’s how they reeled him in. They gave him all the women he wanted and when he bankrupted his businesses over 100 times, who do you think picked up the tab? See, The Criminal owes Putin a lot and his performance publicly berating Zelinskyy was a big thank you to his lord and savior.
From Vanity Fair:
Dodson had planned to play nine holes with Trump and Eric, along with pro golfer Greg Norman and Trump’s bodyguard, and when he got there, Dodson asked where Trump was getting money. “He just sort of tossed off that he had access to $100 million,” said Dodson, whose curiosity was piqued:
“So when I got in the cart with Eric,” Dodson says, “as we were setting off, I said, ‘Eric, who’s funding? I know no banks—because of the recession, the Great Recession—have touched a golf course. You know, no one’s funding any kind of golf construction. It’s dead in the water the last four or five years.’ And this is what he said. He said, ‘Well, we don’t rely on American banks. We have all the funding we need out of Russia.’ I said, ‘Really?’ And he said, ‘Oh, yeah. We’ve got some guys that really, really love golf, and they’re really invested in our programs. We just go there all the time.’ Now that was three years ago, so it was pretty interesting.”
I remember that story but unfortunately, not the source. That tipped the scales permanently for me. Do you recall the source?
Just noticed that you referred to Vanity Fair. Apologies. I also found an extended article in Forbes describing the heavily leveraged golf course development tfg engaged in right up till his first run for president.
I did not list the URL because they don't let me read past the paywall (I do subscribe or donate to the sources I use the most). I think this is it https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/05/eric-trump-russia-investment-golf-course
Note Trumps concern about Putin’s feelings! And Putin is bombing children everyday. WTF!
“We see a lot of money pouring in from Russia,” - Donnie Jr.
Not surprising at all. They are no doubt providing Junior with all of the “blow” his nose and throat can handle.
Would not be surprising.
Putin was appointed President by Boris Yeltsin on Dec.31,1999. i have yet to read Trump was recruited by Putin. Just that he was tapped by the KGB of that time. So if anybody has a source connecting Trump to Putin in 1987, i would like to hear it, please. Not everybody believes this is true, by the way. I saw a video of a professor from the British War College who says flatly he doesn’t think it’s true. i wish i could think the same. i really held the idea in abeyance for years having read Unger’s book when first published. But when Trump sided with Russia, ( bringing Netanyahu with him), against Ukraine, and for Russia; sided with every dictator in the world, in combination with what he’s letting Musk do here, the utter destruction of the organization of the country, it’s the only explanation that makes sense to me. He would willingly throw Ukraine to the wolves, for what? Why? And he threatens NATO and the European Union? Again, why? For what? Actually, his whole premise that he’s going to make America great again is insane. It’s the rantings of someone with an extreme persecution complex and it’s nuts because he’s had every advantage possible in this world. it’s not based in reality. It’s the persona of the spoiled brat he still is. Except he’s bullying his way around a real world and he’s endangering real people as much as Russia or the radical Islamists are. i have no confidence he knows what he’s doing. No confidence that any of them are acting in behalf of the country and not themselves.
Unfortunately, I can't provide links to my sources because as a New York expat, I read the stories long ago in printed material that existed before the internet. I didn't keep any of them because I never dreamed that they'd be so relevant. Donald was a prominent New Yorker long before anyone heard of him nationally.
From what I read, Donald was known to the Kremlin early on, but not specifically to Putin. As I suggest in my other post, Donald's name probably appeared in a list of potential assets that the former KGB compiled from sources such as Bratva. As he rose to prominence in U.S. public notice, his name probably rose on the list of exploitable targets and a file about him was created.
U.S. spy agencies maintain the same kinds of databases.
I first learned about Trump reading a Bill Bryson, an ecologist author, where he references Trump as part of the White Mafia in NYC, 1993 publication date.
Whatever the KGB may have done or not done in relation to Trump, it is clear that Trump has personal interests in backing Russia, or for that matter, even communist autocrats, so long as they are autocrats, and he'd lap up praise from the devil himself were it available.
Oldandintheway, based on my own reading, Donald's grooming as a Russian asset began long before his hopes to build a project in Moscow. Bratva, the Russian mob has operated in NYC for decades, controlling all kinds of businesses that are involved in real estate development. Donald worked with these businesses for the entirety of his career as head of The Trump Organization.
Unlike most organized crime syndicates, Bratva has direct links to the Kremlin. Donald's strengths and weaknesses would have come to the attention of then-president Boris Yeltsin, and the "Trump file" would have been passed on to former KGB operative Putin when he assumed the office of president. By chance, it was Putin who had the expertise and opportunity to exploit Donald's weaknesses.
That seems the most likely scenario. I knew he was involved with the Russian Mafia because they lived in Boynton Beach , a stone’s throw from the Boardwalk and his casino, plus they shared the same attorney, whose nephew came to the White House, first term, but left pretty quickly, too, as Trump got into more and more trouble there. He is enrobed with the shrine of the presidency but I spent years teaching prisoners. i know a criminal mind and behavior patterns and he is a thug. i have no doubt about that. Thanks for your post.
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910/
And where was the Dem leadership ?!? How about a strategic press briefing bashing the WH right after the clown show?!
Tina, the media isn’t interested in what the democrats have to say. This is the Trump Show.
All force and bluster. No reality or rebuttal need apply.
I agree that the media loves sound bites and Trump is a master at providing them. As it MTG. So, I called the office of one of my favorite Democrats, Jared Moskowitz who likes to stir up a bit of good trouble. I made the suggestion that after thinking about MTG walking around in full red Trump regalia, or the giant white balloon, I suggested that Jared remind people of what made Frances Perkins go to FDR to institute social safety nets, the grandmothers digging in trashcans for food. I suggested he go to a session of Congress (perhaps the State of the Union address?) dressed in dirty, tattered clothing, and carrying a small galvanized trashcan filled with a dump of food--offer to share with the worst MAGA offenders. After all the cuts to Medicaid and worse to come, our seniors will be back in the 1930s.
It would certainly garner a LOT of media! ;-D
Agreed that the Dems don’t get equal time, but that doesn’t mean they shouldn’t speak up at some time. This foul treatment of the president of a country we have promised to protect cannot be ignored by Dems and I’m confident it won’t be. Unfortunately, while Trump wrecks our country with questionable legality to do so, it’s not illegal for him to totally embarrass the country with his verbal insults and bully boy self. . Further, because we are not at war, it isn’t even illegal for him to cuddle up to Putin. it’s infuriating and sickening but it’s not illegal.
Our alliances are crumbling to official fits of hubris. We needed "The Allies" to prevail in WWII. We needed Lafayette. We are all riding on the same piece of rock. This is a slow moving train wreck. Slow, until it isn't.
Maybe they did have such a gathering and the media didn’t show?🙏🏼. It’s not too late to get the “good press” involved.
OMG people. Plenty of them are using Instagram, Bluesky, stop making excuses for these people who are supposed to be leaders.
Why can’t they figure out how to get a crowd of reporters together and get their faces on the front page or the evening news ? Why do we have to see Donnie’s 🎃🤡💩face all the time? I saw an article that they are making a rapid response team. How long will that take? I want to see a big group, not just 1 lone voice.
A group of them expressing outrage is "boring" to this media addicted culture. They need a visual. I suggested one in a comment above.
Maybe not wanting to turn the spotlight on themselves as long as everybody continues to be outraged. When it starts to die down, bring it back up. We have a tendency to jump from one issue to the next.
I disagree Ann. EVERYONE keeps asking “where are the Democrat leaders?!?” This is another example of them being MIA. A meeting wouldnt be putting the spotlight ON THEM, it would further amplify how the current administration doesnt represent the entire nation, less than half of it! Dont be an apologist for lame democrat un-leaders
Which is the point of the continuing Friday massacres.
Yes, the party in power is digging a ditch. Yes the opposition cannot stop it in the halls of congress, but, should not shut up about it.
Silence is acquiescence.
Dems are wasting a golden messaging opportunity day after day after day.
I wanted Zelensky to say 'you want us to surrender like you did to the Taliban. We will never surrender, we will fight them forever. We are not surrender monkeys like you. We do not forcefully conscript soldiers like Russians Mr. Vance, though occasionally we have cowardly draft dodgers like your Trump.
Well put. I do believe that is what was going through his head as he attempted to engage T**** in sane conversation, but by that time, the rant had started and the orange one could not stop. He is showing signs of dementia. The 25th Amendment should be brought to bear, but that possibility is nil, due to the abject spinelessness of the Republicans, and the neutered Democrats.
Once that rant started, Trump just talked right over him. He was doing that same think he did in the debate.
dementia and the 25th Amendment … his cabinet has to invoke disability under the 25th amendment. Not gonna happen.
Yeah! Zelensky has a quick mind he had to have been thinking about that and biting his tongue!
Dementia is hard to prove and would need to be brought by the Repubs. He was caught red handed extorting Zelensky and the Dems couldn’t get a guilty verdict from the Repubs, so no chance today.
I agree, but the next in line is Mike Johnson.
It’s true that Mike Johnson is next in line, but he’s a cowering
hamster, not a Russian agent, as far as we know. When the dust is settled, America MUST create a “Recall Law” giving citizens the ability to recall a president. There are a number of options for how this could work. One option might enable 26 governors to call for a recall election. In any case, it’s clear that impeachment is not effective when half of the members of Congress are quaking cowards.
Johnson is a dyed-in-the-wool Project 2025 Heritage stooge, as is JD Vance. We would be trading in for a smarter, younger, more dangerous president because both actually understand what the project is. Be careful for what you wish for. Johnson is no cowering hamster--he is the dream candidate of far-right evangelical Christian nationalists. He would give us the Handmaid's Tale for real in a heartbeat.
Your appraisal of Johnson is correct, but Vance's Catholic religious beliefs are fairly recent and not aligned with evangelical objectives. Vance is useful to the Project 2025 gang, but he is first and foremost a techno-fascist protege of Yarvin-Thiel school of cannibalism.
With Trump and Vance impeached, I'd bet he strongly reconsider working WITH a united Congress, or he also would be kicked to the curb!
Sorry, but you and everyone else who uses the "i-word" need to disabuse yourself of that fantasy. We've already learned twice that the votes to convict in the Senate - a TWO-THIRDS majority - will never be there.
Not necessarily. If this period is a time of possibility for the Enemy, it's also a time of possibility for us. Consider that we're looking at a flu season next year without a vaccine. You know the states that will be hardest hit (because they're morons who won't take the protective action necessary) are going to be Red States. When those people see the devastation of their communities, and it's the fault of RFK Jr and the Trumpkins, a lot of change may happen. Plus all the other fuck-overs that Krasnov will inflict on them.
TC you know I'm a huge fan of yours and agree with you all the time, but this comment.....ah, not so sure. The meat truck morgues of COVID didn't impact them at all. I think they could ignore them. Perhaps we needed the clear door grocery store refrigerated cases to get that across? Line up in the parking lot to say goodbye to grandma from your car?
The lone silver lining in this recent news about the flu vax is that it most certainly will be the red state voters dying in more significant numbers., that I 100% agree with you. (My evil twin cackles at the thought of their voter numbers decreasing, I'm ashamed to admit.)
I have given up on much of the population being impacted by them seeing the "devastation" as THEY HAVE NO COMMAND OF LOGIC!! Pardon the scream. Why else would they continue to vote in representatives that keep their states in poverty, poor education levels, lack of industry, failing infrastructure, horrible maternal and newborn outcomes, etc etc? They sure must love them some blue-state-tax-handouts is all I can think! I guess it is one way of owning the libs!
It’s important to call out “high crimes and misdemeanors” as they are committed, whether or not there are enough votes to convict, in my opinion. If it’s close, a president might resign, as happened with Nixon.
The Supreme Court didn’t rule that a president could not be impeached while in office, just not prosecuted in a court.
My understanding is that Nixon resigned when he learned that there were enough Republicans who thought he was guilty to convict him. That said (that was a different "Republican" party) I quite agree it is important to mark and record corruption and injustice even without a ready means to stop it. "Resistance is futile" is a guaranteed losing strategy.
I did NOT write that resistance is futile. I wrote ONLY that the i-word is of little value now. We MUST resist in other ways.
I did not mean to imply that you did, but was just thinking that it can be important to protest what obviously cannot be immediately affected. I would include the two impeachment charges filed against Trump. Obviously any further action on impeaching Trump is not an option for the present. I think it is important to to make a lasting record of a crime, as the Jan 6th Committee managed to publicly do, even though Trump maintains the perpetrators were heroes. That was Trump's will, not that of the preponderance of the public, and I think it matters.
Nice thought but impeachment can’t happen until he’s nailed. But that’s already happened twice and his party and 77 million voters keep protecting him. Even when shit happens before their eyes, they rise to his defense. How anybody could blame Zelensky for this obvious set up is beyond me but they do which is why the police consider eye witness accounts to not be strong evidence.
Janet, Mike Johnson and JDVance are frightening in their righteousness. Trump is ignorant and vain, but with an uncanny ability to sniff out peoples weaknesses. They are just evil. 😈
That’s why we must have a big blue wave next year! Not much time to make sure elections are free and fair. Start with North Carolina. Where is the new DNC leadership? 💙💙🤮💩🤡🎃🤮💙💙
He is not, as far as I know, a Russian asset.
No, just an extreme evangelical faux-Christian who believes he was called to lead!
Go read the article. His correct name is Krasnov, the name given him by his Russian handlers back in 1987.
I think Ann F. meant Johnson. Johnson may not be a Russian asset. (Trump is Krasnov.)
Yes, I meant Speaker Johnson, as mealy mouthed and obsequious as he is, isn’t working for Putin as far as I know.
He is certainly acting like one. A CNN moderator got fired during Trump I for saying just this. That firing was a mistake.
Clueless Russian dupe?
but see who comes next if they are forced out. One has to go a long way down the line of succession to get anyone who can be counted on to have a good idea.
A plant for sure, from Home Depot
I’ve never been so embarrassed to call myself an American. I pray that the countries coming out in support of Ukraine understand that Trump does NOT represent all of us.
Sorry but Trump’s allegiance to Russia is a stain on every American. As long as 300 million citizens allow Trump to continue as our leader, We Are the Bad Guys!
Burke, you are right in a sense, but it's not as cut-and-dried as you suggest.
I was brought up to believe that all Russians are evil, and I accepted that as fact. But when I got older, I realized that it is inaccurate and unfair to paint an entire population as villains, based on what their government does. When I've had conversations with Russians, I gained the impression that average Russians are not unlike average Americans. They have hopes and dreams, and do not want to be ostracized by the rest of the world. They do not agree with what their government does, but for their own safety, they do not speak out.
300 million citizens are not "allowing" Trump to continue. In the grand scheme of things, his snatching of power was sudden and largely unexpected. The average American is poorly informed and not aware of the dangers posed to all of us.
To some degree, yes, we will be viewed as the "Bad Guys." But enlightened people will recognize that we are not all bad. Even we have no certain understanding of how we got here. We just have a lot of theories and disconnected observations.
Or the better angels of our nature at all.
This whole thing with Trump and Vance was a setup that failed spectacularly. Trump, being completely unable to focus and frequently falling asleep needed Vance in there to goad him and feed him the lies that make Trump lose it. Trump was red-faced, out of control and repeated the same incoherent sentences. Vance acted like he was a god that could berate a world leader. MTG’s reporter suckabee called Zelensky disrespectful for not wearing a suit while Musk looks like and absolute slob and Patel said clearly as FBI director he won’t be wearing a suit and he’ll continue to live in Las Vegas where I’m sure it’s easier to launder money and pull scams.
I wonder, where was the bully Musk, absent…hmmm
Thank you, Heather, for this terse, powerful statement describing a pivotal moment in this frenetic spiral of events. It is a stark, unadorned portrayal of utter self-degradation by a delusional bully ~ and the instant international push-back by more thoughtful leaders.
The interview with Blinken made me cry thinking about the contrast between the "diplomacy" we saw on Friday and what Blinken and Biden did and why. I do not cry easily. but I am of Ukrainian heritage. Friday gutted me. The thought of what could have been has undone me.
I go all the way back to thinking about what could have been with Hilary Clinton.
Perhaps some of those supportive countries, together, can offer Ukraine a more fair and more equitable deal to develop their minerals. I am not being sarcastic here; I mean it seriously.
I think there is help coming from other Eastern European countries, just a rumor I heard but I'll take a little hope where ever it comes from.
Unless Putin or Trump comes in to steal them, that would be a logical outcome. Trump's irresponsible theater is going to hit the US pocketbook hard I am afraid. CEO's who think their ship is coming in will likely see it sinking. Should a serious pandemic arise with us out to lunch, it will be even worse. To say nothing of the growing threats of climate.
And they have rescinded the rule by which the EPA had legal power to regulate climate changing gases under the Clean Air Act.
Ongoing sociopathic recklessness:
"Billions of gallons of irrigation water were wasted under Trump’s orders in what now appears to be a political stunt"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/11/california-water-trump
Come planting season, we can hope that that stupid move will finally be understood by the MAGA minions. That is, if Faux News carries even one story on it.
No, come August, when they need the water, they'll be blaming Governor Newsom.
he just declared the area a disaster so Newsom is on it, hopefully it won't get undermined by Trump and his squad of bullies.
Nailed it, Juanita!
The unprofessional demeanor of Trump & Vance is beyond rude and uncivilized. If you compare the diplomatic empathy of the Feb 19th 2025 speech that economist Dr Jeffrey Sachs did with the EU...
https://youtu.be/P7ThOU4xKaU?si=fkZg4Cto6NtVRvqk TimeStamp (28:00)
Jeffrey Sachs always wants PEACE, not war. And he communicates with kindness.
What a difference diplomacy makes. Michael von der Schulenburg, invited Sachs to speak regarding the need for Europe to assert it’s own foreign policy, to shape its own geopolitical strategy, so to remain relevant on the global stage.
What I find confusing is--the Ukraine reportedly is rich in lithium which is needed for EV batteries! How could Musk "let" Trump do this, have a deal fall through. ("Art of the Deal" sure fell flat on this one!) Musk owns Tesla, and Trump is trying to get rid of all EV initiatives! I realize Trump is in the pocket of big oil, but Musk is okay with this?!? This has really confused me. I know Musk is raking in billions in US gov contracts, but still!
Anyone have any theories, I'd love to hear them.
It seems that much of the minerals that could be of use would not be available for about 10 years as mines in these areas do not exist.
This is why I am not sure it was a “planned” ambush that many commentators think it was. Or, at least not planned by anyone but Vance. And I am not even sure he planned it.
Having Russian media present (with the WH claiming to not know how they got in!!) makes me highly suspicious.
I think they "planned" to tag team Zelenskyy, they thought they could bully him into doing what Putin wants done. They didn't "plan" on him to defending himself and the Ukrainian people. I think Musk and Trump are intent on destroying all of the safety nets we have in place rendering us vulnerable and malleable, easier to manage for their own purposes, slaves in other words...
That sounds very possible.
Every day I think that I could not despise Trump and his minions any more than I already do. On some days, including yesterday, I am proven wrong.
Me too!
There is no bottom.
It’s up to us, We The People, to make our voices heard:
1. Call your electeds to support democracy, not Trump-Putin oligarchs.
https://chopwoodcarrywaterdailyactions.substack.com/
2. Find your local peeps for group actions and community, such as through Indivisible:
https://indivisible.org/
3. Donate to Ukrainian organizations recommended by Prof. Timothy Snyder in the Substack post yesterday (2/28/25) of his most excellent video:
https://open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p/five-failures-in-the-oval-office?selection=d9f827e0-02a9-4cb1-b8a8-a82a47d64f7d&r=6pp8t&utm_medium=ios
🇺🇦🇺🇸
Thank you for that link. Very good analysis of that debacle in the oval office
Ek, the best way to donate to Ukraine is through United24, which is the Ukrainian-controlled system that allows you to choose where you want your dollars to go. https://u24.gov.ua They also send you newsletters that tell you want is happening. I also think Jose Andres's World Central Kitchen, which operates globally, is a good option: https://wck.org/?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAApcxQJvYCU_ouKn5DiuNXKq3TtAwN&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIlIrt78DriwMVzwitBh1AXxAyEAAYASAAEgJplvD_BwE
Today, one of my friends sent me this funny, appealing idea, and I'm
sending it on to you. Please share with you friends and families:
From Notorious Nasty Women and We the People Under Siege
on Facebook:
On March 15th, many people will mail Donald Trump a postcard that
publicly expresses our opposition to him. And we, in vast numbers, from
all corners of the world, will overwhelm the man with his unpopularity and
failure. We will show the media and the politicians what standing with him
— and against us — means. And most importantly, we will bury the White
House post office in pink slips, all informing Donnie that he’s fired.
Each of us — every protester from every march, each congress
calling citizen, every boycotter, volunteer, donor, and petition signer —
if each of us writes even a single postcard and we put them all in the
mail on the same day, March 15th, well: you do the math.
No alternative fact or Russian translation will explain away our
record-breaking, officially-verifiable, warehouse-filling flood of fury.
Hank Aaron currently holds the record for fan mail, having received
900,000 pieces in a year. We’re setting a new record: over a million
pieces in a day, with not a single nice thing to say.
So sharpen your wit, unsheathe your writing implements, and see if
your sincerest ill-wishes can pierce Donald’s famously thin skin.
Prepare for March 15th, 2025, a day hereafter to be known as
#TheIdesOfTrump
Write one postcard. Write a dozen! Take a picture and post it on
social media tagged with #TheIdesOfTrump ! Spread the word! Everyone on
Earth should let Donnie know how he’s doing. They can’t build a wall high
enough to stop the mail.
Then, on March 15th, mail your messages to:
President (for now) Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Even more than yesterday's boycott, this appeals to me. I hope that you
agree.
I love this idea. Talk about sending a message! I'm inclined to even go have hundreds of pre-addressed postcards printed up and hand them out on the street for people to fill in their own message and mail in.
Edit: Found this online: http://www.obairlann.net/reaper/blosxom.cgi/2017/02/09
Do it!
Thank you. Perfect!
And the postcards should all be pink...
Maybe they should all read "YOU'RE FIRED!" in 64pt bold font?
I think it should be written as if you were a second grader saying “ My mom thinks you’re full of shit!”.
Oh, I can think of so many variations on that theme... "My mom thinks.... " Perfect!
I live in MAGA Warren County OH (just down the road from JD's old neighborhood) so I ordered a set of post cards with photos of Ohio on the front. We should do this on the 15th of every month not just in March. We could send them for the next four years and never run out of reasons to condemn this disgraceful buffoon. I'll be sending one to Number One Observatory Circle as well.
Betsy, get this out through the organizations like Indivisible, etc…a nation wide effort. Great idea.
Great idea! We should include the Republican leadership in the House and Senate.
Brilliant Betsy! I just shared your comment on my FB page. And I am taking a screenshot so I have it easily to hand.
It's not my idea. I'm just sharing an idea that someone shared with me. Despite all of the angst in our world, it made me smile, so I do hope that it takes off.
There was a “song” back in the 60s called They’re Coming To Take Me Away. I hope “they” take him away, somehow.
There are no men in little white coats. We don’t have a Lubyanka prison.
Guantanamo.
Heather's good list of democracies still allied with each other -- and with Ukraine -- gives us pause.
None of us can say this list gives us hope, because we can see not only how malign, vicious, and vulgar are the orange felon and his top accomplices, but also can see how many MAGA Republicans thrill to and support the malignity, viciousness, and vulgarity.
Worse, we must admit the extent of doubts we have that our courts, our law, might stand as last bastion against the mass toxicity.
What has happened to America? The world is asking itself this question. And we cannot answer it, so stunned we must be at the extents of the grossness, stupidity, departures from reality, spurning of any community with respect for law, with respect for community itself as if it contained varieties of people.
America no longer has this. Only the tyranny of a mad fantasist and his accomplices in abstraction.
And they in service to Putin.
And all of our institutions and guard rails have failed. Turns out they mostly operated on the “honor system.” If we ever get a chance for a “ do over” we need to put some teeth into them…automatic triggers, etc.
I don't know, Kimberley.
The Constitution worked for well over 200 years. Now we've a Clarence court so corrupt and perjured it has spurned not only the rights of women and families to make their own private decisions, but has also declared the orange criminal and wannabe dictator as above the law, and junked the entire Constitution itself, beginning with Article 14, Section Three which expressed exactly how to disqualify that thug.
But you're more correct when you note "all of our institutions and guard rails have failed."
It does seem to me that righting the ship of SC is the first step. An enforceable code of ethics is step number one. I don’t know who enforces it. Maybe a panel of retired federal judges, chosen by a senate committee?
There are legislative remedies, many of which we had in place and were gulled into abandoning. Even then, we cannot maintain a civilized society without a preponderant honor system. We cannot have a democratic process without the decency and discipline to bargain in good faith. Rules can help us focus, and correct some measure of straying, but we "the people" must maintain with one another the civilized traits of character the "Republican Party" has now forsaken.
It seems that party really can’t recover. Something else will have to rise to take its place. Many moderate Republicans became Democrats in the last 9 years, but many of those also moved more to the left too.
The once "party of Lincoln" is horribly tarnished. Unless it becomes "the Party" like in "1984" it may indeed need to fade before something more civilized can replace it. We need a dialectical society.
". . . must maintain with one another." Yes, J L -- center schools to our humanities.
Wouldn't hurt if media figures and public officials could cite some novels, memoirs, biographies, histories, films, and songs, too.
It is sickening.
In a future column, could you talk about why we can’t get a known traitor out of the highest office in the country? And, in what seems like it should be even easier, why in the world can’t we get rid of Elon Musk and his teenage thugs, when he wasn’t even elected? I’m so surprised and demoralized at the lack of action on the part of the Democrats.
Lack of action on the part of the Marshals. Seems our justice system has many layers but they forgot enforcement.
Cannot stop crying. So shameful.
Understandably. Today I was reading David Whyte, a poet who increasingly intrigues me. Trump is not the whole of America and it is imperative that he not be. Mr. Whyte offered another, more uplifting point of view to me:
https://wordsfortheyear.com/2015/07/04/arrivals-by-david-whyte/
Thank you for this.
Oh that it were this now. 😞 But oh should we keep hope that we can be this again.
There was always an ugly and an admirable side to our society. The ugly is making a concerted play to take it all. I hope we are up to the challenge.