Am I the only one scratching his head, wondering how it is that the Heritage Foundation's 2025 project, whose objective seems to be the end of our government as we know it, isn't being regarded as more of a danger to our democracy? I get it that Republicans, being a minority, have to find ever new ways to prevail in a system that vouches for political actors who win a majority of votes over their opponents.
I would think the FBI would have an organization as subversive of the Constitution as one under observation.
Of course, I am also still waiting to hear of an investigation into all the Secret Service text messages that went walkabout on 1/6.
Sherman, you are not alone in your head scratching. I believe the Hertage Foundation operates like the Federalist Society in the background, laying groundwork and staying in the shadow of the Orange Menace who sucks up all the attention of not only MSM but all media. The Heritage Foundation is plenty savvy about publicity and how to shape their own narrative. It requires the kind of journalism that too few follow. It's rather terrifying.
He may be ditched with a “replacement” already selected. They have all the “lawyers of a certain stripe” on their side, as we see on MSM daily. And chump will be lucky to maintain the appearance of sanity until the election. After that, he will no longer be the useful fool…. Besides that, tfg may be crazy but he’s not stupid. Yes, it pains me to say that.
The “Useful Idiot” will have served his purpose! The conspiracy to undermine and overthrow democracy will have come to fruition! Isn’t that the most terrible of all consequences!!!
Jeri, I think I am in your age cohort and I have to say I have only thought that I maybe matter, but still feel like a second class person in many ways.
I'm sure that the Heritage Fdtn will have a lot to say about who accompanies Trump on the ballot as his VP. Just in case suggestions that Trump has developed clear signs of dementia are accurate and he must be removed from office under the 25th Amendment. If we don't defeat him at the polls, there will be just the right (for the purpose) individuals in his cabinet and in both houses of Congress to make removal a slam/dunk.
We may have to rethink the intelligence comment, given that his dementia is progressing. He is losing the ability to finish a sentence - and even a word. His off-script comments are word salad, stream of consciousness, and represent tangential thinking. I find it hard to think of him as “smart” given his brain damage. I’m guessing Bannon and Miller are controlling the strategy and the prompters.
During his presidency, Woodrow Wilson suffered a severe stroke, and was no longer capable of doing his job. His wife, Edith Wilson, hid that problem and managed his presidency. Should Trump regain the White House, his presidency will be managed in a similar manner.
I think the threats and vitriol are just automatic with him. When my husband was in memory care, a woman harassed several patients there with harangues that sounded like they were tried and true over a long period. Mean people get old too.
But… smart? Maybe at one time (although evidence says otherwise), but you have to have a functioning prefrontal cortex to be smart. I lost a friend and a relative to Alzheimer’s in the last six months. Both were very smart until the disease took that away from them. It’s a very cruel thing.
Trump has nothing to do with anything. He is just an actor like Reagan brainwashing people. He knows nothing about government, never did. Or did Reagan.
Trump is a megalomaniac. He knows little about anything and reads even less. Reagan was no saint but he actually had executive experience from being governor of California where about 10% of our country lives. He was light years better than Trump in experience and decency. IMHO.
I was living in Berkeley when Reagan was elected. As he took free college away from disadvantaged brilliant students. I was furious. What he didn't realize was that they get high paying jobs and pay higher taxes for other students who need helps. I never voted for him.
You haven't read Fantasy Land, also Evil Geniuses by Kurt Anderson. Although all the "blame" cannot be visited upon Reagon for the attempts, since the War Between the States, to unravel the Democratic Republic. It's a machine, succinctly illustrated in the aformentioned as well as Heather's new book, Democracy Awakening--naturally and logically written.
Yes, I agree. However, our new speaker of the house would make a fine VP. Perhaps, he is the replacement once trump is gone. God help us. What will it take for the people in this country to wake up.
Brenda The Heritage Foundation is not seeking to ‘control’ Trump. Rather, it and others are providing a possible Trump administration the tools with which to topple our constitutional government of checks and balances.
Remember, when Hitler first stepped into the Reichstag, he said that ‘he would leave only when they carried him out.’
TFFG is bought and paid-for by the 1% and their proxies. Roberts, Thomas and Alito are also bought and paid-for and are fine with the US becoming a Kleptocracy. And then there are a handful of puppet masters like Leonard Leo, Kevin Roberts, Harlan Crowe, Rupert Murdoch, the Kochs and several others.
Everything TFFG does is transactional. All these guys have to do is come up with a quid-pro-quo and TFFG is all in. And TFFG is as easy as they come when it comes to being bought. Who is funding his shoe grift? Because we all know it ain't TFFG.
Sheldon Adelson, George Birnbaum, Harlan Crow (a Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Wayne Huizenga (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Leonard Leo, Bernie Little (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk, Paul “Tony” Novelly (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Dennis Prager, Steve Schwartzman, Paul Singer, David Sokol (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Peter Thiel, Anthony Welters (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer) Jeffrey Yass, Jeff Zuckerberg and families DeVos, Koch, Kushner, Mercer, Sackler, Uihlein.
If your company, school, municipal organization or what have you purchases items (trash bags, mops, tables, buckets, office furniture, etc) from Uline, you are providing financial support for the destruction of this Constitutional Democracy. Better to support similar companies like Global Industrial.
Derek, thank you tor calling out the Uihlein family business - Uline. I’m an artist who belongs to several online groups where part of the regular discussion is where to purchase items we need in our businesses. Packaging is a big one. Most artists I know avoid Uline like the plague!!!! I will post this alternative again today as a reminder. Thanks again.
Yes! I used to buy all my packing materials from uline. I pay more now for less and another non democrat may own these other companies too. It just feels dirty buying from uihllein.
Derek, the Uihleins bought the House seat for Wisconsin's shame: Derek Van Orden, a toxic, worthless drunk whose photo appears on the WH grounds on Jan 6. Please, everyone, help us get rid of him.
These are the monopolies ‘running the shows’. What or how to avoid enhancing their status seems near ,if not, impossible to the majority of …consumers.
Fortunately for us, Sheldon Adelson & David Koch are dead. But unfortunately, the others you name are still around to use their billions to wreck havoc on our democracy.
As well as to others who show how the U.S.'s billionaire classes have coordinated their schemes (the name of Sheldon Whitehouse's book of 2022) through many secretive far right foundations.
This coordination began, of course, with the 1971 Powell memo, which birthed the Heritage Foundation, ALEC, and the newly-steroided Hoover Institution. Their first decade aimed at killing humanities in U.S. higher ed and K-12. This resultant anesthetizing of U.S. elites allowed then the offshoring of the millions of U.S. working class jobs, then 2010's Citizens United, and today's Clarence court.
The first person who began documenting these damages was Wendell Berry ("The Unsettling of America," 1977). But even he, decades on, had no idea this was a coordinated hit job by ruling U.S. predators, rapists, and an internationally connected criminal class.
Add corporations of which a large percentage provide the goods we purchase. Lowes, Home Depot, Tesla,Amazon many more are not pushing for better living for their supporters.
That's a pretty scary list Phil. Are the ones that subsidized Alito on the list above. And Justice Robert's wife is making a killing off of right wing criminals.
"Trump granted clemency to medicare fraudsters before vowing to cut entitlement program abuse."
The total fraud the 5 people he commented was $1.6 billion. And we know that Senator Rick Scott bought his Senate seat with money he stole from Medicare/Medicaid as well as Matt Gaetz's daddy.
Most evil quid pro quo, Gary, is the silence they bought.
In the first decade of the Powell memo (the 1970s), the new Heritage Foundation, ALEC, and a viciously-enlarged Hoover Institution coordinated to kill humanities from American K-12 through higher ed.
This being done, we've since had generations of elites all without humane reference to our finest novelists, memoirists, film makers, and musicians still in touch with an America going sour by design.
Stupidly, our elites have everyone cowed into groups now, with corporate HR, nationwide standardized testers, social media algorithms, and universities all enforcing taboos protecting the group packaging, abstracting, and avoidance, murderous hatred of "others" in other programmed groups.
Then, Gary, there's the network of support connections emboldening Putin, the Saudi royals, Netanyahu, the Ayatollahs, Hamas, Orban, Modi, Erdogan, Sisi, Kim, Xi, and the U.S. white terrorists and theocrats protected by the Clarence court.
😲 that Phil is as accurate a synapse as I ‘ve seen. Well defined and Eluded to but now name specific ,written . Is plan B going into effect if TFG wins and …got your passport?
Project 2025 is a rehash of the libertarian views of billionaires like Charles Koch. Koch thinks government should protect HIS property and look after national defense. His view is basically, "What's mine is mine. What's yours is mine also." People like Koch are funding the Heritage Foundation to broadcast right wing propaganda as scholarship. The Heritage Foundation, et. al. is looking for a superior moral justification for selfishness. Such people have been gaslighting the ordinary people for forever to steal from them. These are wicked people who are happy to steal food from hungry children , offshore jobs to the cheapest labor market, and stomp women and the poor into the dirt. The only families they care about are their own.
Let’s be clear: the philosophy of the Heritage Foundation has already been adopted by the US Supreme Court. Their decisions favor rich, white, straight, men. Also, always profit over people, especially for the gun lobby.
That's the other way around, I'm afraid. The Heritage Foundation is the "Daddy Warbucks" for the majority of the Court. Philosophy has little to do with the grift, they agree to the philosophy because it gives them power and money. No moral compass.
Yes. It's all about the money, making the rich, richer and more powerful, pushing out those who are merely rich in favor of the few brilliant billionaires who deserve to run the world.
Ahh, but, that’s the beauty of the grift. It makes the mark feel special while emptying his pockets. It’s the former president’s super power. And now he’s managing to institutionalize it.
All the while, most Americans are sleepwalking through it all! If this transpires according to the 2025 Plan, no one should ever say, “Why didn’t anyone warn us?” There are enough red flags for us to see right now, if we’d only open our eyes and ears! 🤯
What is to keep the “ blood bath” from happening no matter who wins the election? Have you seen what is happening in Haiti? With our lack of gun control, have we not ensured that the magats will take over the World as we know it? I know the Biden administration is up to it’s neck in current World issues and unrest, but the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 plan calls for a counter offensive, planned and organized now while the country still has some sense of sanity running the government. If we wait until after the election to put together a counter offensive, even a Democratic landslide will be met with an insurrection, the likes of which has never been seen in these United States.
And, as goes the United States, so goes the World.
Not just sleepwalking. I fear that many in the younger generations (I’m 60) are justifiably upset over our support of Israel. However, they are claiming they will not vote at all in November because a vote for Biden will mean they are complicit in the suffering of the Palestinian people. And of course a vote for Trump is a nonstarter, so they won’t vote at all. I fear if there isn’t a ceasefire before November that all will be lost.
Well, the Heritage Foundation no doubt stumbled upon this guy. He was the perfect gangster to do the dirty work for them. He is self-centered and only cares about himself and was spoiled by his parents. Possibly by his crooked father. Apparently he had a good teacher. So we have working against us Fox News, Sean Hannity, Viktor Orban, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin. All they need to control TFG is money.
Especially since DJT is already controlled (and owned financially ) by Putin and China. George Bush was almost the perfect patsy for a brainleess president. DJT is as he has no policies of his own and isn't smart enough to do anything on his own. The government will be owned and directed by his handlers not him. Look at how almost none of what he said got done.
Because they have no more respect for the failed insurrectionist than we do. To them he is just a tool and his cognitive decline is probably considered a benefit, because it will make him easier to control.
Inside the minds of the intellect-few of that organization, they view #45 as a tool, a dull one, a moron, etc etc. But, they need his stage presence, his cameo's, his 757 style, his good looking daughter, his sons (for whatever). They have money, #45 DOESN'T.
100%! Nobody can control a malignant narcissist sociopath. Is it hubris in their thirst for power. There’s a lot of big money behind Heritage. But why isn’t a registered foreign lobby now to? How much $ has come from Russian and Saudi oligarchs?
they do not intend to so so. Like Grover Norquist stated in the early part of this century, "we just need a president that will sign whatever the republicans send over and nominate whoever we suggest." DJT is just the guy. They could not fully control Reagan, HW Bush, GW Bush, those men still had some loyalty to the Constitution and America.
Have you seen the recent RBG award, traditionally given to women who have made a difference, now given to Musk and Rupert Murdoch? What a slap in the face. Her descendants want her name removed from the award. Not surprising, when you look at the award's major donors: the Federalist Society.
Thank goodness the “thumbs in your eye “ Awards were canceled.
But we ignore this warning shot at our peril. I think it is absolutely indicative of continuing denigration and wanting to roll back all progress that has extended rights and participation to anyone other than white wealthy males.
I assume they are also funneling money to the Trump campaign. The meeting of Orbán with the two elements that are prepared to dismantle our democracy fully, namely Treacherous-treasonous-traitor-Trump, and the developers of Project 2025, is quite scary indeed.
Yes.I am with you on the terrifying part.The msm would behoove itself to talk loudly about all of this.People not paying attention I’m pretty sure are in the dark about rights being smashed to smithereens and might need to be informed.Just a thought…
It's a great thought! MSM, however, is focused on attracting eyeballs to translate that into income and profit. Cursory reporting of the scandalous pronouncements du jour from the likes of TFG accomplishes just that. Additionally, too few of our fellow citizens care to know all the details of the growing threat to our freedom. I believe it is becoming more urgent for those of us who are concerned to act by writing letters to editors, postcards to voters, if able door knocking. We can be the supplement to those news outlets that DO report necessary information.
Carmen, it is absolutely terrifying. When I posted the letter this am to Facebook, I thought maybe people should have something strong in their coffee. As usual, I urged people to vote D. The MSM is hopeless and there are places to find out what's going on including this letter and I read Timothy Snyder yesterday. I was reminded of the Nazi regime when I read about spies everywhere. I even know who among our immediate neighbors would probably be the guy. I would also add that those people who voted uncommitted or won't meet with Biden's people are very foolish if they think they won't be targets. I understand why, but....
It looks to me that trump is the most electable person they have - by far. That's why they need him out front - even as they may soon need to hold him up with marionette strings.
I have been saying since his poll numbers were rising before the 2016 election that his popularity was surreal. And after all we and his supporters have witnessed, he still is! It is crazy. As hard as I've tried, I just can't understand it.
I don't believe in the devil, but if there was ever better evidence of a person selling his soul to the devil for power, it's donald's popularity and ability to avoid accountability. However, I never thought we'd ever get as close as we are to him being convicted. So, I continue to retain my finger biting and cautious optimism.
well said. as the decades since my first official ballot-casting ('96) have slipped by, I have not exactly imagined that I ever have my finger on the pulse of the entire USA, but i was stunned the first time I saw a glossy photo of a young woman at a 2016 Drumpf rally - starry-eyed, wowed, so excited that this putrescent griftmonkey was in her field of view. beyond the assumption that plenty of kids pick up their parents' bad habits whether or not they ever 'rebel' ... to me it's still an absolute head-scratcher that whatever passes for their political imagination couldn't find a better nest.
The Heritage Foundation and the Manafort-Bannon-Stone-(and lately)Kellyanne consortium are ALWAYS cited by me as the people behind the curtain manipulating the levers of power. Trump has never been anything more than a tool. (And he is a total tool, in every sense of it.)
I would so like to see more coverage of Heritage in the press, but I fear it would be more like advertising than analysis.
We have the Heritage Foundation to thank for McConnell’s packing of our courts with Heritage-vetted jurists, for instance.
This posting by HCR is SO important. In it, we see the seeds the autocrats will plant about “living free,” and I shudder at how easily they will be able to sell some people on those false promises. That ‘s how Fascists do it.
Yes, but I have been battling these same people and their predecessors since 1963, when I was 19 years old. Some ups, mostly downs, but if we lose this one, it sppears to me to be all over but the shouting.
All of this is scarier than any thought of what hell might be😬. If your not scared and ready to take action your not doing your homework if what democracy means.
Yes, I agree. Heather is doing an marvelous job in keeping us informed. But we have a responsibility as well to alert the people of this country as well. Or suffer the consequences.
My sense is that the US government historically has investigated mostly left-wing organizations and people and only rarely goes after groups like the Heritage Foundation and its advocates.
It is creepy the extent to which domestic extreme right wing organizations are given a free pass to engage in antidemocratic and sometimes illegal activities, such a US companies that did business with Hitler, or the exploits of the Bundy Gang.
JL, this isn’t the first time in our history that autocracy/theocracy is raising its head…it’s just mostly before our current—even for oldsters like me—memories. It seems there has always been such a thread woven into our country’s narrative that leans that way….it’s just ascendant once again. Many folks are sleep-walking (or glued to their smart phones) to pay much attention to it & push back…apathy may do us in if we don’t rouse our citizens to action to oppose it.
My most positive thought was that at least this is becoming apparent in March rather than August when everyone is bent on their vacation. Speeches in Rome, Georgia, and Vandalia, Ohio, have demonstrated that Trump is intoxicated with his own mystique, finally saying that there will be bloodbath if he LOSES. No mention about if he wins
So we're gonna have a "bloodbath" if numbnutz "doesn't win"..? That right? Who's gonna direct that show, I wonder. Baron, Bannon, Gaetz, Jordan, 'Mitch', the SOTH, Abbott, Flynn.., Navarro.., Lara.., GMAFB! Who? As long as #45 continues to let his rhinoceros-mouth overload his hummingbird-ass he's not going to win and there's not going to be another assault on the Capitol. This country has had it with that nonsense. However, leading up to election-day is where I see we need to pay attention to detail.
Good point! Is Trump more sociopathic than Orbán? He is certainly no less, with less evident impulse control. It's kind of like our societal alarm system just overloaded with "GOP" mendacity. I hear a number of people people I encounter say they avoid seeing the "News" these days as it's "too depressing", but that's inimical to self governance.
"I get to bully you because God says so" goes way back. Our Constitution is supposed to be an antidote for that.
"two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings. "
JL, in recent years it has come to my attention that the US military has amongst its ranks those who would push a Christian theocracy idea (or at least push their vision of Christianity)—I have followed the work of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (and also those orgs that just support the separation of church/state in general). That those who have sworn an oath to the Constitution would compromise this separation is scary to me. Makes me wonder how many in positions of power/authority that advocate for this are spread across this country.
Yes, the darling of the auto industry, the self-made man Henry Ford, was a big fan of Hitlerand gave the Nazis $50 Million during WW2. Now awarding honors to people like Musk and Murdoch is going down a dark road indeed.
It crtainly didn't feel like it at the time. All of a sudden, my GI Bill checks were delayed due to "problems" in the system. Then when we thought of buying a house, the paperwork from the VA to support a GI Bill loan got "lost" and t hen "delayed" with the result the seller moved on.
Then in 1978 I got a letter from the DOJ Officie of Professional Responsibility telling me a review of the COINTELPRO files had found I had a file (the program was being taken apart after it was discontinued 5 years earlier). I applied to get a copy. Most of it was redacted but surprisingly two parts weren't - the fact that the FBI office in San Antonio had fed my family and my wife's family lies about what we were doing at the Oleo Strut, masquerading as "concerned citizens" in Killeen; and that my GI Bill account was to receive "special consideration." (I love bureaucratese - "special consideration." Not quite up there with "final solution," but heading that direction)
I am right there with you. I am amazed that Project 2025 is not front and center. I get it, it is a long document to read. The MSM should be talking about the document and what it would mean to average Americans in great detail. Breaking it down into clear language that demonstrates what the document is really saying. Over and Over and Over. They should be scaring the heck out of everyone because it is terrifying! To those who dismiss it with a shrug and an "it won't happen here", be afraid, be very afraid, because yes it can!
I have tried and tried to get friends and family to take this seriously….like dead serious. Mostly I get a “meh” response….WTF!!!! I do have to admit it is hard to know WHAT to do to counter this *shaking fists at the sky* isn’t a solution, but it seems overwhelming given the money/power behind this effort.
Barbara, in a political news world zone flooded with Steve Bannon, a significant number of the American public doesn’t have time or inclination to keep up with events, its exhausting; so when family or friends are engaged by those of us who are following events, their response quite often is “meh”
The choice of candidates is binary. Find one issue that resonates and sway them with that. Project 2025 is overwhelming to discuss. Women’s health is straight forward, Dictator for a Day is easy to grasp, Democracy vs Authoritarianism examples abound
Democracy isn’t always understood. Students of mine thought democracy and capitalism were the same thing.
Timothy Snyder’s examples of how strongman rule were eye-opening. Say you open a small business and it becomes very successful. Which means someone with more power than you have will decide it should belong to them. You need an operation? Are you on the list of people approved to get operations? And of course, being afraid to say what you really think to anyone because anyone could be an informant.
School for students seems like authoritarian rule, something they have almost no power to change. But it isn’t harsh, usually. Unlike strongman rule. We need examples and simulations that can be imagined and believed.
My students, with immigrant parents, were used to the idea of bribes. We teachers received lavish gifts 2 or 3 times a year to make sure their kids got good grades. The non-immigrant parents didn’t do this. Cultural difference.
I like Robert Hubbell’s substack writing a lot too. He often links grassroots organizations that give us a way to fight back. If we all do something, “worry less and do more” it has to help.
Bet most don't get past the four goals, as HCR listed them here. Most have fond memories of Apple pie, church, and mom.
"four principles that it says the country must embrace. In their vision, the U.S. must “[r]estore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children”; “[d]ismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people”; “[d]efend our nation’s sovereignty, borders, and bounty against global threats”; and “[s]ecure our God-given individual rights to live freely—what our Constitution calls ‘the Blessings of Liberty.’”
Hmmm…must be me then….apple pie—yes, two slices please! Church—no, not for me. Mom—troubled soul, lovely, smart & kind, but lost. Sounds like I have/had a different vision. Family IS important, only it wears many faces & should be nurtured in all its forms. Dismantle the administrative state…guess we can all be flying around in falling apart planes & dubious food/drugs/products?. Well, yes, we should be able to live freely…all of us, not just the (self) chosen ones. I’m reminded of dialog in the movie The Princess Bride where Inigo says “I do not think it means what you think it means”….guess it’s all in ones’ perspective!
Inigo and you are right. To wit, who reads the second paragraph or anything much between the headline (of dubious accuracy), perhaps the sidebars, and the last paragraph?
Maybe we should be encouraging one-issue voters who hyper-focus on the second amendment to do some research on gun ownership in Russia, since Trump is trying to turn us into Russia.
People in Russia have the right to own guns on paper, but not so much in practice. And assault weapons are absolutely banned in terms of civilian ownership. I would welcome a ban on civilian ownership of assault rifles myself, but most on the right would not.
I don’t know who first used the expression “sleepwalking our way into autocracy,” but I think it’s what we’re doing.
Heritage has been writing formal plans for conservative administrations since Reagan, but this one is far larger, uglier, and organized. This is, as Heather writes, a coordinated takedown of U.S. democratic norms in order to create a dark spiral of Christian nationalism. And Trump's people have been far more tied to these Heritage plans than previous Republican administrations. You can see my writing on the environmental consequences of Project 2025 here: https://jasonanthony.substack.com/p/over-the-cliff
Jeri, for the first time EVER I have considered something abhorrent to me. I’m rounding on my 75th year and today, noticed an advert insert in my local Sunday paper for a nearby sporting goods store. It had adverts for all kinds of guns, pistols, rifles, etc. & I felt a visceral aversion….then I thought is this something that I should know about and have experience of? Even that thought scared the sh*t outta me. I have a friend, an environmentalist engineer, activist, former Coast Guard (he told me he takes his oath to the US Constitution VERY seriously) who told me before and after (a report on the experience) of taking an arms course—a very intricate one over many days. He said most participants were far-right of him (he’s quite progressive) politically, but like a Boy Scout, he wants to be prepared. That I am even having these thoughts is appalling to me.
Every gun sold is a potential suicide weapon. Literally and figuratively, IMO. Why can't we stop mass shootings in schools and the public arena? Because people have the fantasy that they can protect themselves.
After all, suicides constitute over half of all homicides by guns, and as many more suicides are by other means. Mostly male. Don't see that grabbing the headlines.
We all feel the same angst. I am about to achieve 77 years. I learned how to use a weapon in the army. I could kill somebody. But who?
I will not have one in our home. First, if they come at me, what am I going to do? Fire away and HOPE I hit the right person? What if they are holding my wife or a grandchild? What if they miss me and hit a family member? What if a grandchild somehow gets his hands on the thing? Should I get a pistol or an AR-15? Nope, nope, nope. No guns, no gun battles in my abode.
We have a very large army and other military forces. The militias we hear about are no competition for such numbers and expertise. We should let the professionals handle the weaponry.
Please cheer up, Barbara. We are on a path to a Blue Tsunami in November. The forces of darkness will be defeated.
progwoman and Frank Loomer and Mary Hardt are correct.
When heading into battle, charging the enemy and vanquishing them...confidence is required. We all (me included) spend a lot of time griping about the GQP, Project 2025 and the obscenity called "45". But along with the weapons of facts and fury, we can be motivated by an optimism that if "we try...try and try we'll succeed at last". Jimmy Cliff
Thanks, Bill, for the pep talk. I’m very gun adverse. Only time there ever was one in a home I lived in was during my 1st marriage (we married quite young). My hubby had a rifle, one he’d owned as a youngster as he & his dad hunted together, often by horse-pack trips into the wild. I can only recall it being used, for a specific purpose, just once. I didn’t think TFFG was going to win the first time…well, he didn’t, not really, but was elected via our Electoral College system that does not honor our citizen’s choice. Hopefully the National Popular Vote Compact will have more states sign up for it—a way to sidestep the fraught process of amending the Constitution (STLL waiting for the ERA to make it to home plate!).
I will turn 70 on my next birthday, and i never envisioned what we are seeing these days,. I actually thought it COULDN'T happen here in the United States. I have to admit, i am very concerned about the, ''Project Fascist 2025'' manifesto.
I wish the USA would do like Australia did after a mass shooting in the 1990’s—it was so common sense & did not “idealize” the manly-man image of a man and his gun! I much prefer the meme “a boy and his dog” (goes for “wimmin” too!).
Mid-90’s was the start of our national gun nightmare if I remember correctly. Rupert had already started the love affair with guns by then. The America before Rupert/Fox could have done that…
Seems like the FBI has a lot to answer for regarding the part they played (by virtue of the glaring sin of omission) in the circus of a hearing for Brett Kavanaugh. Imagine 4,500 tips came in on Kavanaugh and barely a word or serious pursuit! Forwarding the “relevant” tips to the Trump WH smacked
of a sweet deal for Tfg and Kavanaugh! Senator Whitehouse is doing a remarkable job keeping that steamy mess out in daylight. We must demand answers to whether SCOTUS is not alone in a far right capture. Rocky waters. we owe at least that debt to the brave
I think it may be closer to being a front for white, male dominated nationalists. Take a look, too, at the predominance of males running American Heritage. No problem finding motivated billionaires and well to do. Likewise for the "good guys".
R Dooley is on point that we all need to at least read this NY Times summary of Project 2025. What hits home is the breadth and depth of its many chapter authors who waded into the weeds for how to turn our government inside out in service of the radical right wing “conservative” Christo-fascist agenda.
They have a “LinkedIn” roster of willing and able Heritage-vetted-for-loyalty appointees ready to hit the ground running. Pesky laws get in the way? Such laws will be declared wrong and inapplicable.
The FBI investigates crime, whereas the Heritage Foundation has been operating to exploit democratic norms and find ways to influence hearts and minds for the purpose of building wealth and power of this faction at the top--short of criminal activity or without being stopped--with the expertise of Federalist Society lawyers.
We know enough, particularly with how scary power is at the state legislature level, as Heather elaborates in tonight's Letter. The States Project is already established as an antidote to the 2025 Project by researching which state legislatures have Dem-Rep margins that can be flipped or need to be preserved as Democratic, and focusing fundraising for the campaigns of those candidates.
Turn worry into action by making a donation to a Giving Circle of The States Project--this is where even our small donation dollars make a big impact. Tending to Democracy is a Giving Circle inspired by HCR:
After the military defeat of Nazi Germany, trials were held at Nuremberg, where Hitler had once descended from the clouds to address rallied crowds in 1934. As scripted/memorialized in the film Triumph of the Will, by master propagandist Leni Riefenstahl Actually such, increasingly large, rallies had been held since the 1920s to relatively little media fanfare. After the 1935 passage of the Nuremberg Race Laws, belated and little alarm bells coming from Europe, were characterized in the US press as 'much ado about Mr. Hitler handling a little race problem.' Well, they would be. (Hitler having been influenced by the ideology and practicalities of systemic American racism.) After the military defeat of Germany, the dismantlement of the Nazi regime famously included trials held at Nuremberg, to hold the Nazi leaders accountable. A lesser known of these was the 'Judges Trial' where jurists were charged with 'having emptied German law of justice, while preserving judicial procedures to institute injustice.' This is exactly the modus operandi of The Federalist Society, which gradually accreted the current Supreme Court and federal bench, with little fanfare until it was too late. Ossifying the living law of the Constitution into an originalist and textualist imaginary. One pretending the 'intent' of the Founders can be divined, the other that dictionaries fix meaning for all time, rather than tracing its trajectory over physical space. Ouija board games where invisible forces always point to decisions in favor of corporate and clerical interests. And in favor of actively dismantling civil rights protections for we the people, most scurrilously dismantling the founding principles of equality before the law and equal representation. The invisible forces of anonymous big money interests - cloaked in secrecy by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. Now Federalist Society court capture operative and Opus Dei acolyte Leonard Leo is busy funneling dark money through a myriad of shape shifting shell companies to innumerable antidemocratic causes. This time through The Teneo Network. As Leo said 'it worked so well for the courts, that I thought, why not a Federalist Society for everything else that is messed up in American society.' That 'everything else' would be all the hard won progress we've made towards truth telling about our national story and respect for our diversity. Leo et al first corrupted justice, now they're skewing mercy.
As it is necessary to talk about leaders like Orban, it is necessary to talk about functionaries like Leonard Leo (which HCR never does.) The last 'Nuremberg' trial was held in Israel, where Holocaust implementer Adolph Eichmann appeared before a special tribunal of the Jerusalem District Court. Hannah Arendt (who had given profound thought to the rise of authoritarianism) published her observations of the trial as 'Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on The Banality of Evil.' Concluding "That such remoteness from reality and such thoughtlessness can wreak more havoc than all the evil instincts taken together which, perhaps, are inherent in man—that was, in fact, the lesson one could learn in Jerusalem." And, she notes, Eichmann was most marked by 'an extraordinary diligence in looking out for his personal advancement ... that predisposed him to become one of the greatest criminals of that period.'
It was not by accident that Trump descended from his penthouse in the clouds on a golden escalator. Riefenstahl was one of Roger Ailes' idols. It is not by accident that Mitch McConnell obstructed the Senate impeachment trial and diverted accountability to a Supreme Court that he'd already so compromised that it was incapable of justice.
Did you ever wonder why we can have local weather reports and forecasts for laypeople, but not government and political news and forecasts for laypeople that reach us ‘where we live’?
No, I’m not scratching my head anymore.
Mainstream Media has been doing a fine job of misdirecting people for decades. This is by design.
It’s by also design that the school system did not teach students just how critical it is to our lives and livelihoods to understand how government and politics works and to be a part of democracy. (I had 3 weeks of government studies.)
I can’t imagine that if we had been made to understand just how much power we had, we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in now. We would have had regular people representing us in government and not so many from affluent areas. Corporations wouldn’t hold this much power over us. Our jobs wouldn’t have been sent to other countries. Trickle-down economics (originally Reaganomics) would not have been put in place.
You're never really going to have "regular people" running the government. Politicians need to be very smart and talented at communication in order to be successful at governance. Better education, though, would (hopefully) bring voters to elect candidates who will really represent their best economic interests instead of the ones who play on fears of the majority while working for oligarchs.
We can and should have people raised in all walks of life represent us. Yes, definitely education is involved and this must be addressed. There should be a taxpayer funded national schools designed for this purpose.
It would be a good thing if our reps came from a variety of backgrounds but they are almost all (at the national level) going to be people who have climbed through the political ranks and not average folks who decided to run for Congress.
What really gave away the game was Occupy Wallstreet. For the first time corporate America realized they would be screwed if the 99% actually got organized in opposition. In league with the NYPD, they used Scorpion devices to locate and neutralize Occupy protesters. It was like catching fish in a barrel.
That is why our data privacy is not being sincerely addressed and our best Social Media tools are.
Data is too useful for people who want to control us. If Louis & Marie Antoinette had access to our tech & data, they’d have survived and drained peons dry.
Both Erdogan and Orbán are dictators. Orbán expressly calls for a “Christian” government in Hungary (he himself is a:Calvinist married to a Catholic wife) and his antisemitism is out front and center. Many young and educated Hungarians are voting with their feet and leaving Hungary for freer countries.
No need for head-scratching. A substantial number of Americans think just this way. They want their laws and their answers to any problem simple, clear, enforceable, and exclusionary. They want the kind of government that will leave their money, their schools, their churches, their families, and their definitions of what a 'real' American is alone. They want to be able to freely indulge whatever prejudices they choose, and most of all they want a giant contradiction in terms - a government that is both minimal when it comes to the wants and need of those who see things differently than they do, and maximal when it comes to legalizing and enforcing what they want and think they need.
Yes they do, James. Far, far too many of them WANT , but you left off an important component: they want the establishment of a Christian religion forced on every person, and imbedded in our national policy.
Thought I had covered that in my final sentance, but perhaps not clearly enough. Should have added guns to the list as well. In a rush to get out on my morning perabulation with the dog.
This is possible because of a compromise made during the creation of the Constitution insuring minorities (small states) had protections in representation giving them 2 senators and a 1st Amendment right to free speech. They were counting on people's good nature not to do exactly what's being done today in the Heritage Foundation.
Boy, do I understand. I took an oath (for 35 years in local law enforcement) to defend the Constitution, and that oath does not rescind in my retirement. I think I'll order that book; it sounds like it might be helpful, albit scary.
The stated mission of the Heritage Foundation, which is a tax-exempt organization pursuant to section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, is "to formulate and promote public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense." According to Kevin Roberts their mission has morphed into advancing "trumpism." To the extent that advancing "trumpism" extends to supporting the candidacy of one Donald J Trump, the Heritage Foundation risks losing its tax exempt status because 501(c)(3)s are absolutely prohibited from campaigning for or against candidates for public office. The organization should be investigated for possible violations of this restriction. Having said that, their mission has become nothing less than working for the destruction of American democracy, an objective that lies far outside the Internal Revenue Code definition of charitable purpose required of 501(c)(3) organizations. The mission of the Heritage Foundation, in my view, is evil and destructive, not charitable in any form, and the organization should be put out of business.
Sherman Hesselgrave - "I get it that Republicans, being a minority,"
This from 2022: "Are conservatives or Republicans a minority in the US?"
Republicans? Yes.
Conservatives? That’s tougher.
Republicans currently make up between 25% - 30% of the population according to Gallup. Democrats make up 40–45%.
So Republicans are a clear minority.
However, when you add independents who lean Republican the number shoots up to 43%. This mean that around 15% of Americans who are conservative will not commit to the Republican Party. Independents who lean towards the Democrats are 49%. That means that relatively few independents are Democrats.
The last 8% are Green, Libertarian, Communist etc. or else have no idea.
So Conservatives, by many definitions, could well be a majority, or at least a plurality (liberals have more in common with Reaganites than they do with communists, socialists, or fascists no matter what Tucker Carlson tells you). If you add Libertarians as conservatives then that demographic pushes 50%.
One of the huge mistakes Democrats make is assuming that not being Republican = progressive. It does not.
HCR writes- "There they have banned abortion without exceptions and defined a fertilized human egg as a person; discriminated against LGBTQ+ people and immigrants, banned books, attacked public education, and gutted business regulation, including child labor laws."
Last month, the results of a study showed, that in the Maganazi states that have virtually banned abortion, 64000 rapes resulted in pregnancies. These states have virtually stopped prosecuting rape so they can raise their birth rates. What they fail to understand, is that unwanted babies are the criminals of tomorrow. Why did the violent crime rate drop so substantially In the early 1990's? According to the authors of Freakanomics, it was because abortion was legalized. Fewer unwanted children = fewer criminals.
Good thing I had a three hour nap this afternoon….really really really needed it. Tho it is hard to sleep when one’s mind is on pin ‘n needles of worry!
So many find it easy just to turn their heads and look the other way! The few who do worry find overcoming the complacency of others is a difficult task!
Anthony, overcoming the complacency of others is one thing. Trying to inform the people who are lusting for the return of fpotus is something else all together.
I agree, Barb. At the moment, my only recourse is VOTE BLUE! The GOP has been hijacked and we must prevail against these scary billionaires. We must weaponize our VOTE! I shudder to recall Gore's loss to Bush which means we are fragile even if we win. :(
I started reading Timothy Synder's On Tyranny today. If you haven't read it, do. I reminded me of the frog in the pot where the water is turned up so slowly that the frog doesn't realize until too late that it is being cooked.
I'm interested in other people's opinions about whether Trump is really a strongman. He likes to portray himself that way. He is certainly mean and vindictive. But he seems to me to be an aspiring strongman, just bluster and narcissistic ambition, but without any noticeable strength. He strikes me as being a puppet rather than a strongman. Yes, we need to defeat him, and all of the other extremists running in November, but the question of how to neutralize the men and the ideas behind the puppet is, perhaps, the central problem. A picture of the Wizard of Oz has just displaced the frog in the boiling water in my head. The Wizard was not inherently dangerous. It is the puppet masters who are.
Yes, I first read it a few years ago. I went out and bought a copy. It sits on the night stand. Every day when I get up, I read a chapter. When I get to the end of the book, I start over then next morning. It reminds me of what I need to do, what my most important task of the day is, to save democracy by what ever minuscule contribution I can make. Consistently. Every. Single. Day.
I bought ten copies of On Tyranny, read one and then placed them around in the little free library kiosks in my area. Whenever I check they are gone…either being read or, I hope not, thrown away.
I have read On Tyranny multiple times. I have gifted family and friends with this book. Gave a copy to each of my daughters; it’s a clarion call to all of us.
Your 'reading' of puppet is most on mark Bets; he is the current useful "tool" - The actual, very real, and most dangerous "strongmen" are far in the background *employing the pulling of the levers; They are the 'coalition' I speak of occasionally, but won't bleat on about and have not, staying patient as I can stand, till our good doctor reveals her facts in evidence, and I can only nod here in agreement. *denotes edit in, with apologies. I'm undergoing treatments for the "big C" thing, and it's just beating me to a pulp; So, there's my sign to stop reading and commenting for now - to rest I must go. (egads: that last little bit sounded sort of uh... like 'Yoda' gibberish.. lol)
You answered your own question. He isn’t strong but he is a ‘strongman’ in that he is wiling to say and do anything to be in power. He is the wizard in that he has a charisma that his moronic base has zombies themselves for and which the puppet masters (Bannon, Stone, etc) are exploiting. Plain and simple
I’m beginning to think the “puppet masters” are the guys behind the Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society. They have a willing stooge in Trump - he doesn’t even know that he’s being manipulated. (He’s too stupid.) Isn’t that last Koch brother involved in the Heritage Fndn.? He “claimed” his group wouldn’t be involved in Trump’s election, but I think he’s b-sing us. It would be ever so helpful if T would just get that ginormous infarct take him out.
And yes, there are I believe huge corporations that are slavering for deregulation and tax cuts. Perhaps it will end up that corporations will become governments.
I was thinking today that Trump has created a highly theatrical personality for himself, most of it taken from his dark side. Has anyone seen any of Trump’s appearances on late night talk shows 15 or 20 years ago? He was an entirely different human, relaxed, jovial and almost likeable.
Trump always has been a malignant narcissist and sociopath and people in New York knew he was a scam artist. I have never lived in New York, but knew of his scammy reputation. Back in the early 1990s, I read a book that detailed Trump’s dubious deals by the late Wayne Barrett and the late Jack Newfield, both of whom had written and investigated Trump for the Village Voice. David Cay Johnston is probably the best living Investigative reporter with detailed knowledge of Trump’s scams and dirty deals.
It has occurred to me that as long as Congress avoids sending more arms to Ukraine leaving Biden no choice but to send our surplus to their effort, we are depleting our own protection against the “blood bath” Trump is promising. Is this part of ‘their’ plan as well? And is the border wall going to be a wall employed to keep us in, rather than to keep immigrants out? Will Abbot’s and Desantis’ national guards be trained to keep us in line? They already seem ready to take on the national troops!
Have you ever thought the puppet masters consist of the members of old European royalty, the Catholic church and their military? They only marry among themselves. They don't advertise except among themselves, and they only allow the very rich to marry into their private circle. The current king of Europe lives in Brussels, doesn't want to be king, infact he thinks the monarchy should be abolished. He has one legitimate heir. When he dies, there will be a scramble for his title. These people want all the power. They try to convince the rest of the peasants they. are superior. They half believe it themselves, and they a CT as if life owes them a living. So they find a way to live for free off the rest of us. They encourage overpopulation so they can have wars which knock out a lot of competition for their descendents. Think about it.
Uh, no. Pope Francis supports the rights of the poor and does not endorse Trump at all. There is no EU king. The EU nations take turns having their elected officials serve as president.
Ok. Here is a starting point for you to explore further. But you need to know that the Vatican is part of the European royalty and always was. It's not official: it can be thought of as a shadow government.
Yes, Francis is a nice guy, so nice he refused to live in the Vatican and will retire probably this year and we will have a new, not so nice, Pope.
You need to dig deep.
Michael, Prince of Saxe-Weimar Eisenach - Google Search
The King of Belgium lives in Brussels; Belgium is the country in which he lives. Belgium has a "Constitutional Monarchy" form of government. He is in power from January to June this year. I am sure that living in the EU you have far more experience with the ins and outs of how the EU operates; in my perusal of Google, what worries me more is that Hungary will be the "king" of the EU from July 2024-January 2025.
Ally, I can not print here what I'd like to say about the idea of monarchy. I did google it about ten years ago, and have since forgotten the details, mostly on purpose, so at times I muff my lines. I could go on, but it might wear out your patience. The basic idea is that monarchy is not elected, but bases its rule on genes, not intellectual development. It's a private club, and I do mean club, as a weapon. A European friend says they are a nest of scorpions and to stay away from them.
A malicious fool in a position of exceptional power is dangerous, but yes, behind Trump are those made billionaires by modern Republican politics, who aim to rule the world, or as much if it as the can manage. The seem to have been the bane of our species since pre-history, and they never quit. Tyrants have a lot more in common than differences whatever their cover story, one that commonly claims that God is on their side. Objectively, it's highly malignant narcissism with access to power. And power, they say, tends to corrupt, not to mention appeal to the corrupt. Divide (the public) and rule is an old formula for despotism. Divide the power, the way of democracy.
I have read that the frog in the pot story is not accurate, which I would expect, but in any case we all know what it means, and it too true to be good. Hitler had his own version:
"A shrewd victor will, if possible, always present his demands to the vanquished in installments."
Betsy When I was 11 I had the pleasure of spending half an hour with the Wizard of Oz (Frank Morgan). He was a delightful man of sterling character—as was the Wizard. In sharp contrast, Bone Spur Donald has a despicable character and is only focused on ‘me, me, me,’ while the Wizard made a personal sacrifice in granting the wishes of the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the cowardly Lion.
Yes Timothy Snyder's 'On Tyranny' really is a great book. I read it soon after it was published in 2017, so early on in the Trump presidency. Although it was absolutely frightening to read it at that time it was somewhat empowering and very helpful for me to read Snyder's prescient words and warning signs of how authoritarianism can overtake democracy.
Now we're at an even scarier crossroads. Trump was absolutely exhausting(still is), inept, and astoundingly unprofessional and those 4 years were even worse than I thought they could be, it must not happen again
Since you ask if Trump is really a strongman. I would say he's more of a maniac, possibly with syphilitic dementia, more than some kind of mob boss. Maybe his narcissism, bluster, violent rhetoric and bloviating is enough for his supporters to think he is really strong, the illusion is enough for them, under the spell of an obvious hack. But a hack with authoritarian visions, tyrannical beliefs and powermad, and backed by many loyalists and the Heritage Foundation
Absolutely agree, Betsy. After reading about Kevin Roberts and Project 2025, I'm convinced that they see Trump as their useful idiot for getting and maintaining power.
Quid pro quo. TFFG is so easily bought. Once he's elected they can control him with a few $$$$s like the Saudi's control Kushner. A few million dollars means nothing to these people when they control trillions.
It is pretty clear that Trump stumbled into the Presidency, and I suspect that beneath all his desperate bluster for re-election he's now seriously rueing the day he did. Sort of like Jefferson's note that slavery was like having a wolf by the ears - 'we can neither hold him nor safely let him go". The notoriety he gained in the Oval Office, his narcissism, and his total lack of understanding of the role of president is what got him into his current legal morass, and now he can't escape it unless, so he hopes, he gets re-elected.
But in answer to your question, no I don't think he's really a strongman; he just likes to talk like one. As a long time New Yorker (now retired and moved away) I watched his antics with a combination of disdain and wonder that so many were so fascinated by him. But if he really had the makings of a strongman, he would have gone for political power long before he did. He is cunning, and he does have capacity for 'reading the right wing room', but I think he'd have prepared for his first term far better than he did in terms of staffing and planning if he'd really had thoughts of taking that role instead of imagining that the presidency would just get him more of the same fawning attention he so needs.
Make it your holiday giving. : ) Or pre-holiday... And if you can, buy it from your local bookstore. If you don't have a local bookstore, order it from Powell's, in Portland. OR.
Looking back at Republican presidents, I believe useful fools is the rule. Reagan, both Bushes, Trump are low intelligence, manageable front men for oligarch backed party operatives. They have studied the psychology of human thought and have crafted words to influence a distinct portion of the population and their front men have used those words effectively to make unthinking automatons out of those people. Listen to interviews of Trump supporters and you hear exactly what I mean.
They have grasped the power of the electoral college and know that it is the only way they can overrule the vote of the majority of Americans and gain power. It has worked for them twice in recent history. And as of this moment we are powerless to stop the attempted power grab, unless we can capture the electoral college votes to overcome them. They have been busy changing state voting regulations to give them an advantage. We have a difficult battle before us.
I too consider Tim Snyder an extremely important voice in warning the public about the planned change in government policies and practices by the MAGA folks. His substack is like HCR’s is required reading for me.
Between TImothy Snyder’s essay this morning and yours this evening, I think I need to get some rest! We have a battle royale ahead. Project 2025 is exactly what Prof Snyder outlined. We cannot afford to ignore these people. They do not believe in freedom in any way.
There is nothing to do but to vote and educate. Otherwise, as Trump recently noted, there will never be another free election in the US. (“
Believe them when they say who they are.”)
Shirt sleeves are rolled up and eye shades on! We have been warned.
Vote, educate, register new voters, be election workers, and support state legislature candidates where it matters most. The States Project has a proven track record and is raising critically important early money for campaigns in flippable states. Tending to Democracy is a Giving Circle inspired by HCR:
I work elections as my concept of community service. (Just a clerk). It's a long day so I only have the energy to do so close to home, where Republican voters outnumber Democratic ticket voters 4 to 1 here in gerrymandered Georgia. (My county was a particular focus of gerrymandering after it
flipped democratic in 2020. ) I am proud that the election training and all of my coworkers appear to to be strongly motivated by democratic norms. (We still have a Democratically run County for now.) But given the disparity of Republican voters still voting in fools like Trump and Herschel Walker and the like, I sometimes feel like I'm helping the enemy.
Thank you for your election work, Barbara. It’s so important for us to maintain the integrity of the election process—which we take for granted, and like so many other norms, ought not to.
Reality is that, if Biden wins in 2024, we're going to need to continue this fight forever. The moneyed interests behind Trump will just find another figurehead with whom to sell fascism.
MAGA loyalists and adherents to Project 25 and similar calls for authoritarian rule seem to believe they'll be exempt from the harshest tenets and will in fact benefit from them. History and current events prove them wrong. Many other people aren't paying attention at all. It's up to us to defeat these anti-democratic, authoritarian-loving people and their dangerous plans.
As said elsewhere (Jeff Tiedrich's excellent posts) - it’s the “Leopards eating faces party”. Everything is great as long as the faces being eaten belong to one of the “other” groups. Declaring “others” is key to their agenda . .
Sadly, the GQP has degenerated so far into fanaticism that ANY vote for a Repub is a pretty clear sign of either willful ignorance, overt disdain for democracy, or potentially insanity . . .
A friend recently went on a Caribbean cruise. She met many Americans. One stated that she felt she could manage to get through the possibility of four more years of Trump in power. Everything would be okay after that for of course he wouldn’t be eligible to run again. Things would get back to normal. She has a lot of reading to catch up on!
She needs to put a few brain cells to use, in fact, awaken ALL her senses, instincts, and take a look around. And not on a cruise. An artificial environment if there ever was one. On an Alaskan cruise in 2009, the tea Partiers were out in force. It was an omen for me.
I took an Alaska cruise with my Aunt and her wife (my Aunt and I had just finished cancer treatments, and said "we better do this now".) We had a great cruise, and my Aunt lasted 10 more years. That cruise was a chartered Holland America cruise run by a lesbian travel company (Olivia). We were in the throes of Shrub's administration at that time, and to my knowledge, there was a no "politics spoken here" mentality amongst us all.
My cruise was Holland America also. Loved it, not one of those floating cities. A couple of people near us put up signs on their doors extolling the virtues of Palin and were mighty proud of her Alaska connection. I did not share their enthusiasm.
This is the point that needs to be made more clearly and loudly. Those GOP voters who are not part of the elite will be discarded and suffer consequences with the rest of us. They need to see and hear what life is like for those who live in countries like Hungary, S Korea, and Russia.
Since Heather wrote this, Trump has publicly called for a "bloodbath" if he doesn't win.
Yes, the Heritage Foundation, the 2025 Project, dictators Orban and Putin, and the Clarence court's Chief Justice John Roberts all inveigle for mass killing of Americans' rights, a cleansing out of America's main institutions for democracy.
The Clarence court could have ruled in favor of the Constitution to which they all took oaths -- could have ruled that their boy, the orange stochastic terrorist, obviously broke that Constitution's Article 14, section three. That court should have quickly ordered him struck from all the nation's ballots.
Now, if those quisling U.S. elites had even the most residual respect for democracy, our institutions, they'd remand Trump immediately to be held in prison pending trial on the charges already against him, whose pre-trial release he has (again!) violated with his calls for "bloodbath."
One way it works is that, next to MAGA's white trash energy, too many Dems, independents buy into the bullying lies as to Biden being asleep. Won't bother to vote in Nov.
Worse than that, Jeri, Dems and independents see their candidates seemingly wonk, out of touch with any of the arts that show the predicaments of American women, working class families, students.
I think in private good Dems read novels, see films, and listen to music well in touch with the plights of fellow Americans. But they're silent as to humanities. They don’t try to apply them to the many public programs for which good, decent souls in fact are running. What blinds, silences so many now as the bullying, the lying, the consort with dictators and U.S. dark money worsens?
Answer: all now kowtow to U.S. HR departments and universities which only fetishize group isolations. Group identities rule. No one outside any group may touch on anything of any inside a some category. This includes blacks, Muslims, girls and their sexuality, gays or trans and their health needs – the full list of taboos in Diane Ravitch’s “The Language Police.”
We could free ourselves of these blinding, silencing strangleholds if more would cite our arts which so well show individuals and their human (and natural) contexts.
My own list has films like “The Florida Project” and “Winter’s Bone”; novels like Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead,” Walter Mosley’s “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned,” and many by Richard Russo and Stephen King; memoirs like Mary Karr’s “The Liars’ Club” and Erin Gruwell’s “The Freedom Writers Diary,” and any number of hip hop Ari Melber will cite.
Please, Jeri, fellow commenters to Heather’s “Letters from an American” – please let me know works I’m missing – arts our leaders might well reference in public, and so more humanly stir those who need it by November 5.
Still so confused by what you mean by “humanities”. In my lexicon it means the works of people from every discipline who helped formulate our understanding of what is means to exist.
Yesterday I received solicitations from Laura Trump on behalf of the RNC and the Heritage Foundation. Of course I typed "stop" immediately. I hadn't heard from the RNC in a couple of years at least and the Heritage Foundation even longer.
As a warning, to those out there that are getting bombarded with telemarketing calls, beware the PACS including the police and firefighters PACS and the breast cancer PAC. I asked a few times to be put on the DNC list and they kept calling multiple times a day.
But then I asked if they would guarantee that none of my money would go to Republican candidates. The caller immediately said he would put me on the DNC list and I haven't heard from the firefighters PAC since.
So many of these PACs are just fronts for Republican candidates. I don't believe in the concept of PACs having been forced to give to the life insurance company PAC years ago by my boss. I refused and he ultimately donated in my name.
Now there's a concept, albeit admittedly unethical: donate to the Dems in the name of anyone you know who is planning either to abstain or vote for tfg.
Project 2025 needs this kind of reporting daily from here til the election. All media should work to make plain what the wingnuts behind the project have already made plain: The majority of Americans will live in a country which does not represent their interests or their values. And there will not be another fair and free election afterward to fix the million things they break.
I'll add one more important topic to the excellent summary Heather provides here: The environmental consequences will be stark, from climate to the Endangered Species Act and much, much more. You can read my writing on it (https://jasonanthony.substack.com/p/over-the-cliff) or dive into the massive Project 2025 document itself (https://www.project2025.org/policy/). Chapters 13 and 16 are particularly important to understanding what kind of gutting of environmental regulation will be done.
Those Chapters are important but note at the beginning of many organizations who back the Project. Many have filed under 501 3(c) which is where they claim religious status. Because of this, they pay little or no taxes. Please everyone, pay close attention to the name LEONARD LEO. He is the mastermind behind Project 2025 and its terrifying manifesto suggestions. This little man is as much of a nightmare as Trump. They have spent years and probably decades putting this together. That is why it is essential to vote blue all the way down! We cannot and will not be bullied by these white supremacists. Educate yourselves first and then others what is in store for us all (concentration camps, no government which will equal no rules of law, authoritarian regimes, lynchings, no abortions, death to women and girls, no vaccines, increased oil and fossil fuel production which will affect our planet, our food, our water, etc. etc.
My thought is that as responsible citizens, we should never vote (or not vote) to "send a message". Vote to save a life worth living, for ourselves. our communities, and our posterity. We can't afford to lose any more ground on that goal. Time to stop the tail from wagging the dog.
Yes, it's a huge coalition and together they're tied to Leo's takeover of the courts and abortion restrictions, etc., ad nauseam. Whatever area of rational regulation, governance, or policy motivates a progressive or simply middle-of-the-road voter is at risk here. Everyone needs to understand the scale of the threat. Thanks for the note.
No, thank you!! Also, if you or anyone else is on X (Shitter…sorry), give a follow to @mudpuppy_16. This person ( and I know there are others like the fabulous Greg Olear) have dug very deeply into all of the influences and shell companies Leo has set up. There was a graph recently shared by this person that ties Leo to oligarchs in Russia as well as to the Russian Orthodox Church.
Yes I agree, that's what I've been thinking too. There's still a chance for us to course correct and have a sustainable future for ourselves and the biosphere. But it will be all over if the fascist coup takes over.
I've seen too many soul crushing clearcuts and destruction in the old growth forests of northern California and the Pacific Northwest to let that kind of environmental degradation go on again without doing something to stop such greed, wasteand short sightedness.
Project 2025 will turn Earth into a hellscape like those devastating clearcuts and megafires I've seen too many times.
The hour is late and there is no time to waste with our predicament about how to maintain a liveable planet, with actual wilderness and plastic free oceans and wildlife that should always exist on this planet even if humans should cease to exist.
The MSM needs to pay more attention some of the realities of the Orbán government the "GOP" now celebrates . They are unlikely to be pleased with their lot if it comes here.
There has always been an element of carnival side show to commercial "News", but also a crucial resource for an informed electorate. The "entertainment" side went bananas with Reagan, who the "press" cold scarcely help adoring, even though some deep and accurate journalism remains, even in the MSM, but much less of the edge of stories concurrent with the Vietnam War and Watergate. TV "Debates" feel more like gameshows, with instant analysis of landed "zingers". Hard to imagine a debate with the depth of Lincoln/Douglas in the modern world.
For me, the "smoking gun" of a loss of professionalism in major media was Les Moonves' remark the Trump's candidacy might "not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS,”. Moonves later had to step down a the CEO of CBS, not for rotten patriotism, but for charges of sexual abuse.
Walter was my hero, Dan was too. Rupert tried to tar Dan and had some success with CBS being complicit. Glad Moonves got canned. He was skanky in my book, and destroyed the old CBS News team. Dan reported that a journalism teacher said that if one person reports that it is raining, and another says that it is not, then the reporter gets up and checks to see who is reporting the facts. Not just report what each said. Which is what they do today, for the most part. Walter went to check things out, and told the tales. The most trusted man in America. How far we have fallen…
Commercial news has always had an element of carnival side show to it, but It went bananas with Reagan. There is still journalism taking place, even in the MSM, but it's largely lost the edge it had investigating the Vietnam War and Watergate.
Imagine the Republican Party working with the authoritarian leader of a European country to, among other things, empower the government to restore the family.
It’s as if up may soon become down - but scarier. Wake up, America!
Thank you for highlighting a deeply disturbing set of actions that should be getting massive and regular coverage in the mass media, but instead are going nearly unnoticed.
Your final sentence to me is the key to democracy: . . The consent of the governed. .
I was preoccupied by tRump’s “ bloodbath” remarks and now this is even more frightening. To see our government give such a tepid and slow response to these threats is hard to believe. What are they waiting for?
Deepak, I have had Stop The Coup as a link on my Homepage since I discovered them & signed up for emails. Doing what I can from my remote rural area!!!
When Trump was first elected, I started telling people to read “They Thought They Were Free,” the post-WWII study of how the Germans let fascism take over their country. I’ve been recommending that book again lately, because we MUST teach people the critical lesson of how Hitler took over his nation! Here’s more about the book…
The threat is real, we cannot hide from it. We must tell our compatriots and children that our nation will founder unless those who hide stop hiding and stand up for truth.
Yes, assuming the "bloodbath" isn't too disruptive. The Heritage Foundation has been producing similar (if far less dire) plans for conservative presidents since Reagan. But Reagan acted on much less of those plans in his 8 years than Trump did in his 4.
Hitler was a propagandist (not unlike Steve Bannon) prior to 1933, not a dedicated leader. After he was appointed Chancelor in 1933, it was just a matter of a few years before he transformed the entire German government into a fascist dictatorship. If Hitler hadn't been militarily incompetent, he would have won the war by 1943.
Another point is that Hitler couldn't win the war by 1943. He entered Russia in '42 against the howl of protests by Germany's industrialists, who thought they had an understanding with him to not open the second front until 1945. Before 1945, Germany just wouldn't have the industrial power to overcome the US "machine" feeding the Russians and the British. They felt themselves betrayed by him.
My suggestion that Hitler could have won the war by 1943 assumes he would have had the sense not to invade Russia. He had Poland and France. He could have had England early on. But, as I said, Hitler was militarily incompetent. His generals tried to assassinate him on several occasions.
Fascist leaders surround themselves with yes men who won’t disagree with their leader and tell him when he is wrong. Hitler was also a real iron head and would not listen, “ he alone” could do it, or so he thought.
I beg to differ James, although I understand your point. Hitler was already incarcerated for his activism after the Munich "Ratskeller Putsch" in 1924, after which he wrote the Nazi Bible, "Main Kampf" in jail. He took control of the NSDAP in the early 1925 followed by some ruthless wet work involving his competitors, leading several failed political candidacies. Then he lead the takeover of the "Reichskanzlei" after the 1933 election...after he had lost every other election. Hitler was also supported and surrounded by sycophants and loyal enablers, not unlike today's Miller, Meadows, Gaetz and others. As was Hitler, Trump is far more in the front lines than Bannon. Of course any comparison the two situations is fraught with problems of context and prior histories.
True, the analogies are not perfect. My point relies on the fact that Hitler resisted a leadership role in 1925 (preferring to be a Bannon type of thug). His actions after 1933 speak for themselves. I doubt that Bannon has the guts to risk his fortune by actually fighting on the front lines and will leave that to other suckers like Trump & Co. Hitler had nothing to lose.
With all due respect to General Eisenhower, and assuming the present political war does not resort to snipers on rooftops, what we need is the next FDR. I have to believe he or she will appear. When it happens, the rhetoric will cut the fascists down at the knees. Bloody but beautiful.
I wish I knew. It will take an irresistible personality, a tongue as sharp as a razor, and a smile as big as a house, as he or she cuts them to shreds. It's the kind of thing that will seem self-evident and inevitable once it happens.
When you're backed by Billions of dollars they will do what they can without a Republican Fascist President. Keep in mind, unless Alito and Thomas both die, they still own SCOTUS for quite some time.
This reminds me of the movie "Being There," in which conservatives saw installing Gardiner (played by Peter Sellars) as a pawn with which to install the same conservative programs discussed in today's "Letters from an American. " So, Trump would be a patsy for these operatives to do their worst. BTW, Trump was a pawn of others in his earlier presidency, such as Stephen Miller (who continues to seemingly control the current Trump verbiage).
It reminds me more of Seven Days in May. Instead of generals it is the GOP being led by dark money and planning by the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. Mr. Snyder has been warning us and continued to do so. We must fight for our democracy.
Am I the only one scratching his head, wondering how it is that the Heritage Foundation's 2025 project, whose objective seems to be the end of our government as we know it, isn't being regarded as more of a danger to our democracy? I get it that Republicans, being a minority, have to find ever new ways to prevail in a system that vouches for political actors who win a majority of votes over their opponents.
I would think the FBI would have an organization as subversive of the Constitution as one under observation.
Of course, I am also still waiting to hear of an investigation into all the Secret Service text messages that went walkabout on 1/6.
Sherman, you are not alone in your head scratching. I believe the Hertage Foundation operates like the Federalist Society in the background, laying groundwork and staying in the shadow of the Orange Menace who sucks up all the attention of not only MSM but all media. The Heritage Foundation is plenty savvy about publicity and how to shape their own narrative. It requires the kind of journalism that too few follow. It's rather terrifying.
I don’t understand why the Heritage foundation thinks it will be able to control Donald Trump.
He may be ditched with a “replacement” already selected. They have all the “lawyers of a certain stripe” on their side, as we see on MSM daily. And chump will be lucky to maintain the appearance of sanity until the election. After that, he will no longer be the useful fool…. Besides that, tfg may be crazy but he’s not stupid. Yes, it pains me to say that.
The “Useful Idiot” will have served his purpose! The conspiracy to undermine and overthrow democracy will have come to fruition! Isn’t that the most terrible of all consequences!!!
It is indeed, as a female, I have gotten used to feeling like I matter, so have many “others” at my UU church…
Jeri, I think I am in your age cohort and I have to say I have only thought that I maybe matter, but still feel like a second class person in many ways.
I'm sure that the Heritage Fdtn will have a lot to say about who accompanies Trump on the ballot as his VP. Just in case suggestions that Trump has developed clear signs of dementia are accurate and he must be removed from office under the 25th Amendment. If we don't defeat him at the polls, there will be just the right (for the purpose) individuals in his cabinet and in both houses of Congress to make removal a slam/dunk.
We may have to rethink the intelligence comment, given that his dementia is progressing. He is losing the ability to finish a sentence - and even a word. His off-script comments are word salad, stream of consciousness, and represent tangential thinking. I find it hard to think of him as “smart” given his brain damage. I’m guessing Bannon and Miller are controlling the strategy and the prompters.
Bannon and Miller two loathsome bottom feeders!
Didn't Bannon steal money which was to be used for the wall?
Repulsive scumbags !
During his presidency, Woodrow Wilson suffered a severe stroke, and was no longer capable of doing his job. His wife, Edith Wilson, hid that problem and managed his presidency. Should Trump regain the White House, his presidency will be managed in a similar manner.
But the Heritage Society.
OMG -- so Melania would be the shadow president? Well, she might be an improvement! (LOL)
I think the threats and vitriol are just automatic with him. When my husband was in memory care, a woman harassed several patients there with harangues that sounded like they were tried and true over a long period. Mean people get old too.
But… smart? Maybe at one time (although evidence says otherwise), but you have to have a functioning prefrontal cortex to be smart. I lost a friend and a relative to Alzheimer’s in the last six months. Both were very smart until the disease took that away from them. It’s a very cruel thing.
Crazy but cunning. Like his exemplars, Putin et al., the ultimate in streetwise.
Mob style
Cartoon Maxine's (John Wagner) thought for yesterday:
" St Patrick drove the snakes out of Ireland. Apparently, they moved to Washington , D.C."
I wish I had grown up to be Maxine. 🤗
Maybe a bit more like Gutter style, too
I agree and think they would get rid of him.
They have slimy lawyers too
Trump has nothing to do with anything. He is just an actor like Reagan brainwashing people. He knows nothing about government, never did. Or did Reagan.
Trump is a megalomaniac. He knows little about anything and reads even less. Reagan was no saint but he actually had executive experience from being governor of California where about 10% of our country lives. He was light years better than Trump in experience and decency. IMHO.
I was living in Berkeley when Reagan was elected. As he took free college away from disadvantaged brilliant students. I was furious. What he didn't realize was that they get high paying jobs and pay higher taxes for other students who need helps. I never voted for him.
Reagan, maybe experience, but not decency. I never voted for him either and loathed him. I have to agree the death star beats him in that department.
You haven't read Fantasy Land, also Evil Geniuses by Kurt Anderson. Although all the "blame" cannot be visited upon Reagon for the attempts, since the War Between the States, to unravel the Democratic Republic. It's a machine, succinctly illustrated in the aformentioned as well as Heather's new book, Democracy Awakening--naturally and logically written.
You're right.
No Eva, he is very clear about what he wants and what he will do.
Yes, I agree. However, our new speaker of the house would make a fine VP. Perhaps, he is the replacement once trump is gone. God help us. What will it take for the people in this country to wake up.
Brenda The Heritage Foundation is not seeking to ‘control’ Trump. Rather, it and others are providing a possible Trump administration the tools with which to topple our constitutional government of checks and balances.
Remember, when Hitler first stepped into the Reichstag, he said that ‘he would leave only when they carried him out.’
TFFG is bought and paid-for by the 1% and their proxies. Roberts, Thomas and Alito are also bought and paid-for and are fine with the US becoming a Kleptocracy. And then there are a handful of puppet masters like Leonard Leo, Kevin Roberts, Harlan Crowe, Rupert Murdoch, the Kochs and several others.
Everything TFFG does is transactional. All these guys have to do is come up with a quid-pro-quo and TFFG is all in. And TFFG is as easy as they come when it comes to being bought. Who is funding his shoe grift? Because we all know it ain't TFFG.
Beware the Ides of March--indeed!
Not "a handful," Gary.
Consider:
Sheldon Adelson, George Birnbaum, Harlan Crow (a Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Wayne Huizenga (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Leonard Leo, Bernie Little (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Rupert Murdoch, Elon Musk, Paul “Tony” Novelly (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Dennis Prager, Steve Schwartzman, Paul Singer, David Sokol (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer), Peter Thiel, Anthony Welters (another Clarence Thomas subsidizer) Jeffrey Yass, Jeff Zuckerberg and families DeVos, Koch, Kushner, Mercer, Sackler, Uihlein.
A note about that last name, Uihlein.
If your company, school, municipal organization or what have you purchases items (trash bags, mops, tables, buckets, office furniture, etc) from Uline, you are providing financial support for the destruction of this Constitutional Democracy. Better to support similar companies like Global Industrial.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_and_Elizabeth_Uihlein
Derek, thank you tor calling out the Uihlein family business - Uline. I’m an artist who belongs to several online groups where part of the regular discussion is where to purchase items we need in our businesses. Packaging is a big one. Most artists I know avoid Uline like the plague!!!! I will post this alternative again today as a reminder. Thanks again.
Help get out the vote and vote blue!!
Yes! I used to buy all my packing materials from uline. I pay more now for less and another non democrat may own these other companies too. It just feels dirty buying from uihllein.
Derek, the Uihleins bought the House seat for Wisconsin's shame: Derek Van Orden, a toxic, worthless drunk whose photo appears on the WH grounds on Jan 6. Please, everyone, help us get rid of him.
These are the monopolies ‘running the shows’. What or how to avoid enhancing their status seems near ,if not, impossible to the majority of …consumers.
UGH! Thanks for the enlightenment!
Fortunately for us, Sheldon Adelson & David Koch are dead. But unfortunately, the others you name are still around to use their billions to wreck havoc on our democracy.
Citizen's United - The g(r)if that keeps on giving -- To Republicans.
The cemeteries are littered with the corpses of 'irreplaceable' people.
and what did David K's will say?
Damn Good list of fascists. Looks like a list right out of Jane Mayer's book Dark Money.
Am much indebted to her, Rickey.
As well as to others who show how the U.S.'s billionaire classes have coordinated their schemes (the name of Sheldon Whitehouse's book of 2022) through many secretive far right foundations.
This coordination began, of course, with the 1971 Powell memo, which birthed the Heritage Foundation, ALEC, and the newly-steroided Hoover Institution. Their first decade aimed at killing humanities in U.S. higher ed and K-12. This resultant anesthetizing of U.S. elites allowed then the offshoring of the millions of U.S. working class jobs, then 2010's Citizens United, and today's Clarence court.
The first person who began documenting these damages was Wendell Berry ("The Unsettling of America," 1977). But even he, decades on, had no idea this was a coordinated hit job by ruling U.S. predators, rapists, and an internationally connected criminal class.
Add corporations of which a large percentage provide the goods we purchase. Lowes, Home Depot, Tesla,Amazon many more are not pushing for better living for their supporters.
That's a pretty scary list Phil. Are the ones that subsidized Alito on the list above. And Justice Robert's wife is making a killing off of right wing criminals.
"Trump granted clemency to medicare fraudsters before vowing to cut entitlement program abuse."
The total fraud the 5 people he commented was $1.6 billion. And we know that Senator Rick Scott bought his Senate seat with money he stole from Medicare/Medicaid as well as Matt Gaetz's daddy.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-granted-clemency-to-medicare-fraudsters-before-vowing-to-cut-entitlement-program-abuse/ar-BB1k0udQ
What is the quid pro quo for these fraudster's pardons?
Most evil quid pro quo, Gary, is the silence they bought.
In the first decade of the Powell memo (the 1970s), the new Heritage Foundation, ALEC, and a viciously-enlarged Hoover Institution coordinated to kill humanities from American K-12 through higher ed.
This being done, we've since had generations of elites all without humane reference to our finest novelists, memoirists, film makers, and musicians still in touch with an America going sour by design.
Stupidly, our elites have everyone cowed into groups now, with corporate HR, nationwide standardized testers, social media algorithms, and universities all enforcing taboos protecting the group packaging, abstracting, and avoidance, murderous hatred of "others" in other programmed groups.
Then, Gary, there's the network of support connections emboldening Putin, the Saudi royals, Netanyahu, the Ayatollahs, Hamas, Orban, Modi, Erdogan, Sisi, Kim, Xi, and the U.S. white terrorists and theocrats protected by the Clarence court.
😲 that Phil is as accurate a synapse as I ‘ve seen. Well defined and Eluded to but now name specific ,written . Is plan B going into effect if TFG wins and …got your passport?
This shakes me to the core.
Roger Stone. Mark Meadows. Stephen Miller are active .
Project 2025 is a rehash of the libertarian views of billionaires like Charles Koch. Koch thinks government should protect HIS property and look after national defense. His view is basically, "What's mine is mine. What's yours is mine also." People like Koch are funding the Heritage Foundation to broadcast right wing propaganda as scholarship. The Heritage Foundation, et. al. is looking for a superior moral justification for selfishness. Such people have been gaslighting the ordinary people for forever to steal from them. These are wicked people who are happy to steal food from hungry children , offshore jobs to the cheapest labor market, and stomp women and the poor into the dirt. The only families they care about are their own.
So well-put, Jenn.
Let’s be clear: the philosophy of the Heritage Foundation has already been adopted by the US Supreme Court. Their decisions favor rich, white, straight, men. Also, always profit over people, especially for the gun lobby.
That's the other way around, I'm afraid. The Heritage Foundation is the "Daddy Warbucks" for the majority of the Court. Philosophy has little to do with the grift, they agree to the philosophy because it gives them power and money. No moral compass.
Yes. It's all about the money, making the rich, richer and more powerful, pushing out those who are merely rich in favor of the few brilliant billionaires who deserve to run the world.
Ahh, but, that’s the beauty of the grift. It makes the mark feel special while emptying his pockets. It’s the former president’s super power. And now he’s managing to institutionalize it.
Brenda, I don’t think they really care….there are others more competent standing in the wings to assume “leadership”.
All the while, most Americans are sleepwalking through it all! If this transpires according to the 2025 Plan, no one should ever say, “Why didn’t anyone warn us?” There are enough red flags for us to see right now, if we’d only open our eyes and ears! 🤯
Maximum, well-presented publicity for the 2025 Project could explode that project in their faces.
Hoist of their own petard.
What is to keep the “ blood bath” from happening no matter who wins the election? Have you seen what is happening in Haiti? With our lack of gun control, have we not ensured that the magats will take over the World as we know it? I know the Biden administration is up to it’s neck in current World issues and unrest, but the Heritage Foundation’s 2025 plan calls for a counter offensive, planned and organized now while the country still has some sense of sanity running the government. If we wait until after the election to put together a counter offensive, even a Democratic landslide will be met with an insurrection, the likes of which has never been seen in these United States.
And, as goes the United States, so goes the World.
Do you think his cult followers would believe this if it was posted on bill boards and tik tok etc?
And VOTE
I will vote accordingly to stop this hideous power grab.
Not just sleepwalking. I fear that many in the younger generations (I’m 60) are justifiably upset over our support of Israel. However, they are claiming they will not vote at all in November because a vote for Biden will mean they are complicit in the suffering of the Palestinian people. And of course a vote for Trump is a nonstarter, so they won’t vote at all. I fear if there isn’t a ceasefire before November that all will be lost.
Well, the Heritage Foundation no doubt stumbled upon this guy. He was the perfect gangster to do the dirty work for them. He is self-centered and only cares about himself and was spoiled by his parents. Possibly by his crooked father. Apparently he had a good teacher. So we have working against us Fox News, Sean Hannity, Viktor Orban, Benjamin Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin. All they need to control TFG is money.
Especially since DJT is already controlled (and owned financially ) by Putin and China. George Bush was almost the perfect patsy for a brainleess president. DJT is as he has no policies of his own and isn't smart enough to do anything on his own. The government will be owned and directed by his handlers not him. Look at how almost none of what he said got done.
Because they have no more respect for the failed insurrectionist than we do. To them he is just a tool and his cognitive decline is probably considered a benefit, because it will make him easier to control.
Inside the minds of the intellect-few of that organization, they view #45 as a tool, a dull one, a moron, etc etc. But, they need his stage presence, his cameo's, his 757 style, his good looking daughter, his sons (for whatever). They have money, #45 DOESN'T.
100%! Nobody can control a malignant narcissist sociopath. Is it hubris in their thirst for power. There’s a lot of big money behind Heritage. But why isn’t a registered foreign lobby now to? How much $ has come from Russian and Saudi oligarchs?
They own him.
Brenda, All they have to do is flatter him, and failing that, threaten him and his family.
they do not intend to so so. Like Grover Norquist stated in the early part of this century, "we just need a president that will sign whatever the republicans send over and nominate whoever we suggest." DJT is just the guy. They could not fully control Reagan, HW Bush, GW Bush, those men still had some loyalty to the Constitution and America.
Because it has so far. You kiss his ring, and he does anything you want him to do… They don't revere him…he is their sock puppet.
Have you seen the recent RBG award, traditionally given to women who have made a difference, now given to Musk and Rupert Murdoch? What a slap in the face. Her descendants want her name removed from the award. Not surprising, when you look at the award's major donors: the Federalist Society.
I read the statements from RBG’s family - spot on! They must remove her name from the award. Her name is being hijacked and must stop.
I saw this. Disgusting. This is another attempt to normalize their fascism.
That. Is. Disgusting.
WHAT! I had no idea. I have to read more about this.
https://www.wpr.org/news/rbgs-family-condemns-the-selection-of-recipients-of-an-award-named-in-her-honor
Unbelievable this move to white male dominance in this country.
Yes. Ruth Ginsberg family threatened to removed her name from the award. Long story short, the awards were canceled.
Thank goodness the “thumbs in your eye “ Awards were canceled.
But we ignore this warning shot at our peril. I think it is absolutely indicative of continuing denigration and wanting to roll back all progress that has extended rights and participation to anyone other than white wealthy males.
I assume they are also funneling money to the Trump campaign. The meeting of Orbán with the two elements that are prepared to dismantle our democracy fully, namely Treacherous-treasonous-traitor-Trump, and the developers of Project 2025, is quite scary indeed.
Yes.I am with you on the terrifying part.The msm would behoove itself to talk loudly about all of this.People not paying attention I’m pretty sure are in the dark about rights being smashed to smithereens and might need to be informed.Just a thought…
It's a great thought! MSM, however, is focused on attracting eyeballs to translate that into income and profit. Cursory reporting of the scandalous pronouncements du jour from the likes of TFG accomplishes just that. Additionally, too few of our fellow citizens care to know all the details of the growing threat to our freedom. I believe it is becoming more urgent for those of us who are concerned to act by writing letters to editors, postcards to voters, if able door knocking. We can be the supplement to those news outlets that DO report necessary information.
Carmen, it is absolutely terrifying. When I posted the letter this am to Facebook, I thought maybe people should have something strong in their coffee. As usual, I urged people to vote D. The MSM is hopeless and there are places to find out what's going on including this letter and I read Timothy Snyder yesterday. I was reminded of the Nazi regime when I read about spies everywhere. I even know who among our immediate neighbors would probably be the guy. I would also add that those people who voted uncommitted or won't meet with Biden's people are very foolish if they think they won't be targets. I understand why, but....
It looks to me that trump is the most electable person they have - by far. That's why they need him out front - even as they may soon need to hold him up with marionette strings.
I have been saying since his poll numbers were rising before the 2016 election that his popularity was surreal. And after all we and his supporters have witnessed, he still is! It is crazy. As hard as I've tried, I just can't understand it.
I don't believe in the devil, but if there was ever better evidence of a person selling his soul to the devil for power, it's donald's popularity and ability to avoid accountability. However, I never thought we'd ever get as close as we are to him being convicted. So, I continue to retain my finger biting and cautious optimism.
well said. as the decades since my first official ballot-casting ('96) have slipped by, I have not exactly imagined that I ever have my finger on the pulse of the entire USA, but i was stunned the first time I saw a glossy photo of a young woman at a 2016 Drumpf rally - starry-eyed, wowed, so excited that this putrescent griftmonkey was in her field of view. beyond the assumption that plenty of kids pick up their parents' bad habits whether or not they ever 'rebel' ... to me it's still an absolute head-scratcher that whatever passes for their political imagination couldn't find a better nest.
The Heritage Foundation and the Manafort-Bannon-Stone-(and lately)Kellyanne consortium are ALWAYS cited by me as the people behind the curtain manipulating the levers of power. Trump has never been anything more than a tool. (And he is a total tool, in every sense of it.)
I would so like to see more coverage of Heritage in the press, but I fear it would be more like advertising than analysis.
We have the Heritage Foundation to thank for McConnell’s packing of our courts with Heritage-vetted jurists, for instance.
This posting by HCR is SO important. In it, we see the seeds the autocrats will plant about “living free,” and I shudder at how easily they will be able to sell some people on those false promises. That ‘s how Fascists do it.
We got our work cut out for us.
The Heritage 2025 plan is, for upwards of 74 million Americans, a plus. It’s their dream outcome.
Horrifying, isn't it?
Yes, but I have been battling these same people and their predecessors since 1963, when I was 19 years old. Some ups, mostly downs, but if we lose this one, it sppears to me to be all over but the shouting.
All of this is scarier than any thought of what hell might be😬. If your not scared and ready to take action your not doing your homework if what democracy means.
Agree. And the lackeys in the "Supreme" Court from their prescribed "academic" pipeline.
Yes, I agree. Heather is doing an marvelous job in keeping us informed. But we have a responsibility as well to alert the people of this country as well. Or suffer the consequences.
Amen
My sense is that the US government historically has investigated mostly left-wing organizations and people and only rarely goes after groups like the Heritage Foundation and its advocates.
It is creepy the extent to which domestic extreme right wing organizations are given a free pass to engage in antidemocratic and sometimes illegal activities, such a US companies that did business with Hitler, or the exploits of the Bundy Gang.
The implicit threats are, and have been, scary. Now they are explicit and in your face.
JL, this isn’t the first time in our history that autocracy/theocracy is raising its head…it’s just mostly before our current—even for oldsters like me—memories. It seems there has always been such a thread woven into our country’s narrative that leans that way….it’s just ascendant once again. Many folks are sleep-walking (or glued to their smart phones) to pay much attention to it & push back…apathy may do us in if we don’t rouse our citizens to action to oppose it.
My most positive thought was that at least this is becoming apparent in March rather than August when everyone is bent on their vacation. Speeches in Rome, Georgia, and Vandalia, Ohio, have demonstrated that Trump is intoxicated with his own mystique, finally saying that there will be bloodbath if he LOSES. No mention about if he wins
So we're gonna have a "bloodbath" if numbnutz "doesn't win"..? That right? Who's gonna direct that show, I wonder. Baron, Bannon, Gaetz, Jordan, 'Mitch', the SOTH, Abbott, Flynn.., Navarro.., Lara.., GMAFB! Who? As long as #45 continues to let his rhinoceros-mouth overload his hummingbird-ass he's not going to win and there's not going to be another assault on the Capitol. This country has had it with that nonsense. However, leading up to election-day is where I see we need to pay attention to detail.
And become a tsunami of no-nonsense votes.
Good point! Is Trump more sociopathic than Orbán? He is certainly no less, with less evident impulse control. It's kind of like our societal alarm system just overloaded with "GOP" mendacity. I hear a number of people people I encounter say they avoid seeing the "News" these days as it's "too depressing", but that's inimical to self governance.
The Redhats are coming!
I tell folks we MUST pay attention…OK not to wallow in the “news”, but NOT to look away & to stay informed via vetted & honest news sites.
"I get to bully you because God says so" goes way back. Our Constitution is supposed to be an antidote for that.
"two principles that have stood face to face from the beginning of time, and will ever continue to struggle. The one is the common right of humanity and the other the divine right of kings. "
- Lincoln
JL, in recent years it has come to my attention that the US military has amongst its ranks those who would push a Christian theocracy idea (or at least push their vision of Christianity)—I have followed the work of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (and also those orgs that just support the separation of church/state in general). That those who have sworn an oath to the Constitution would compromise this separation is scary to me. Makes me wonder how many in positions of power/authority that advocate for this are spread across this country.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_Religious_Freedom_Foundation
Yes, the darling of the auto industry, the self-made man Henry Ford, was a big fan of Hitlerand gave the Nazis $50 Million during WW2. Now awarding honors to people like Musk and Murdoch is going down a dark road indeed.
Exactly right. Lots of investigation of the CPUSA, no investigation of the KKK.
And remember Nixon's enemies list.
Remember it? I was on it.
TC, that’s quite an honor!!!
Hats off to you!
TC, that’s a badge of honor!
That is a badge of honor, sir.
It crtainly didn't feel like it at the time. All of a sudden, my GI Bill checks were delayed due to "problems" in the system. Then when we thought of buying a house, the paperwork from the VA to support a GI Bill loan got "lost" and t hen "delayed" with the result the seller moved on.
Then in 1978 I got a letter from the DOJ Officie of Professional Responsibility telling me a review of the COINTELPRO files had found I had a file (the program was being taken apart after it was discontinued 5 years earlier). I applied to get a copy. Most of it was redacted but surprisingly two parts weren't - the fact that the FBI office in San Antonio had fed my family and my wife's family lies about what we were doing at the Oleo Strut, masquerading as "concerned citizens" in Killeen; and that my GI Bill account was to receive "special consideration." (I love bureaucratese - "special consideration." Not quite up there with "final solution," but heading that direction)
What they said ⬆️, Tom. ✊🏻
only Superman was willing to take that job on! sad.
I am right there with you. I am amazed that Project 2025 is not front and center. I get it, it is a long document to read. The MSM should be talking about the document and what it would mean to average Americans in great detail. Breaking it down into clear language that demonstrates what the document is really saying. Over and Over and Over. They should be scaring the heck out of everyone because it is terrifying! To those who dismiss it with a shrug and an "it won't happen here", be afraid, be very afraid, because yes it can!
I have tried and tried to get friends and family to take this seriously….like dead serious. Mostly I get a “meh” response….WTF!!!! I do have to admit it is hard to know WHAT to do to counter this *shaking fists at the sky* isn’t a solution, but it seems overwhelming given the money/power behind this effort.
Barbara, in a political news world zone flooded with Steve Bannon, a significant number of the American public doesn’t have time or inclination to keep up with events, its exhausting; so when family or friends are engaged by those of us who are following events, their response quite often is “meh”
The choice of candidates is binary. Find one issue that resonates and sway them with that. Project 2025 is overwhelming to discuss. Women’s health is straight forward, Dictator for a Day is easy to grasp, Democracy vs Authoritarianism examples abound
“Cliff Notes for Democracy”. Keep it simple
Democracy isn’t always understood. Students of mine thought democracy and capitalism were the same thing.
Timothy Snyder’s examples of how strongman rule were eye-opening. Say you open a small business and it becomes very successful. Which means someone with more power than you have will decide it should belong to them. You need an operation? Are you on the list of people approved to get operations? And of course, being afraid to say what you really think to anyone because anyone could be an informant.
Carol, conversely, students have almost no concept of authoritarian rule. Tim Synder’s examples seem too much like hyperbole; unimaginable to be valid
Reality hits hard, especially when its irreversible
practically everything is reversible - just not quickly, and not for the folks who get crushed in the back-and-forth.
School for students seems like authoritarian rule, something they have almost no power to change. But it isn’t harsh, usually. Unlike strongman rule. We need examples and simulations that can be imagined and believed.
My students, with immigrant parents, were used to the idea of bribes. We teachers received lavish gifts 2 or 3 times a year to make sure their kids got good grades. The non-immigrant parents didn’t do this. Cultural difference.
I like Robert Hubbell’s substack writing a lot too. He often links grassroots organizations that give us a way to fight back. If we all do something, “worry less and do more” it has to help.
Here is something to do Tuesday at noon to help get out the vote.
https://www.bigtentusa.org/event/kunis/
See you there!
Bet most don't get past the four goals, as HCR listed them here. Most have fond memories of Apple pie, church, and mom.
"four principles that it says the country must embrace. In their vision, the U.S. must “[r]estore the family as the centerpiece of American life and protect our children”; “[d]ismantle the administrative state and return self-governance to the American people”; “[d]efend our nation’s sovereignty, borders, and bounty against global threats”; and “[s]ecure our God-given individual rights to live freely—what our Constitution calls ‘the Blessings of Liberty.’”
Hmmm…must be me then….apple pie—yes, two slices please! Church—no, not for me. Mom—troubled soul, lovely, smart & kind, but lost. Sounds like I have/had a different vision. Family IS important, only it wears many faces & should be nurtured in all its forms. Dismantle the administrative state…guess we can all be flying around in falling apart planes & dubious food/drugs/products?. Well, yes, we should be able to live freely…all of us, not just the (self) chosen ones. I’m reminded of dialog in the movie The Princess Bride where Inigo says “I do not think it means what you think it means”….guess it’s all in ones’ perspective!
Inigo and you are right. To wit, who reads the second paragraph or anything much between the headline (of dubious accuracy), perhaps the sidebars, and the last paragraph?
It IS happening
The MSM is looking at profit margins, not information that might save American Democracy! There are a few exceptions, but not many!
Not to mention how short-sighted this is. Do they think they'll have free rein if he wins? I think not.
What we’ll have is government run media! No more “Free Press!”
Maybe we should be encouraging one-issue voters who hyper-focus on the second amendment to do some research on gun ownership in Russia, since Trump is trying to turn us into Russia.
People in Russia have the right to own guns on paper, but not so much in practice. And assault weapons are absolutely banned in terms of civilian ownership. I would welcome a ban on civilian ownership of assault rifles myself, but most on the right would not.
I don’t know who first used the expression “sleepwalking our way into autocracy,” but I think it’s what we’re doing.
Good idea.
Heritage has been writing formal plans for conservative administrations since Reagan, but this one is far larger, uglier, and organized. This is, as Heather writes, a coordinated takedown of U.S. democratic norms in order to create a dark spiral of Christian nationalism. And Trump's people have been far more tied to these Heritage plans than previous Republican administrations. You can see my writing on the environmental consequences of Project 2025 here: https://jasonanthony.substack.com/p/over-the-cliff
The Powell Memo (Reagan era) on steroids methinks!
The Powell memo dates from the Nixon years, but yes, the same ideas are there, only worse.
Stand corrected….Reagan enhanced & ran with it….been “building” behind the scenes ever since.
Yes, Kathy, specifically, August 23, 1971.
Jason...Thanks for mentioning this. If people go to the heritage's website, they can search for the past plans.
Domestic fascism!
And terrorism, not guerilla-style, but Nazi-regimentation, coming to one and all.
Jeri, for the first time EVER I have considered something abhorrent to me. I’m rounding on my 75th year and today, noticed an advert insert in my local Sunday paper for a nearby sporting goods store. It had adverts for all kinds of guns, pistols, rifles, etc. & I felt a visceral aversion….then I thought is this something that I should know about and have experience of? Even that thought scared the sh*t outta me. I have a friend, an environmentalist engineer, activist, former Coast Guard (he told me he takes his oath to the US Constitution VERY seriously) who told me before and after (a report on the experience) of taking an arms course—a very intricate one over many days. He said most participants were far-right of him (he’s quite progressive) politically, but like a Boy Scout, he wants to be prepared. That I am even having these thoughts is appalling to me.
Every gun sold is a potential suicide weapon. Literally and figuratively, IMO. Why can't we stop mass shootings in schools and the public arena? Because people have the fantasy that they can protect themselves.
Progwoman, the myth of a “good guy with a gun” didn’t work with 800 police at the Superbowl parade.
After all, suicides constitute over half of all homicides by guns, and as many more suicides are by other means. Mostly male. Don't see that grabbing the headlines.
My grand nephew, yet his dad…. So sad
We all feel the same angst. I am about to achieve 77 years. I learned how to use a weapon in the army. I could kill somebody. But who?
I will not have one in our home. First, if they come at me, what am I going to do? Fire away and HOPE I hit the right person? What if they are holding my wife or a grandchild? What if they miss me and hit a family member? What if a grandchild somehow gets his hands on the thing? Should I get a pistol or an AR-15? Nope, nope, nope. No guns, no gun battles in my abode.
We have a very large army and other military forces. The militias we hear about are no competition for such numbers and expertise. We should let the professionals handle the weaponry.
Please cheer up, Barbara. We are on a path to a Blue Tsunami in November. The forces of darkness will be defeated.
progwoman and Frank Loomer and Mary Hardt are correct.
As a veteran of the Army I agree with you. I haven’t touched a weapon since I turned in my M16 when I was discharged.
Don’t be overly confident.
When heading into battle, charging the enemy and vanquishing them...confidence is required. We all (me included) spend a lot of time griping about the GQP, Project 2025 and the obscenity called "45". But along with the weapons of facts and fury, we can be motivated by an optimism that if "we try...try and try we'll succeed at last". Jimmy Cliff
Happy Monday, Jeri
https://youtu.be/7Znh0OM9jiA?list=RD7Znh0OM9jiA
Thanks, Bill, for the pep talk. I’m very gun adverse. Only time there ever was one in a home I lived in was during my 1st marriage (we married quite young). My hubby had a rifle, one he’d owned as a youngster as he & his dad hunted together, often by horse-pack trips into the wild. I can only recall it being used, for a specific purpose, just once. I didn’t think TFFG was going to win the first time…well, he didn’t, not really, but was elected via our Electoral College system that does not honor our citizen’s choice. Hopefully the National Popular Vote Compact will have more states sign up for it—a way to sidestep the fraught process of amending the Constitution (STLL waiting for the ERA to make it to home plate!).
Current events force us to think like that!
My next birthday I’ll turn 80. Never have envisioned what we’re seeing these days!
I will turn 70 on my next birthday, and i never envisioned what we are seeing these days,. I actually thought it COULDN'T happen here in the United States. I have to admit, i am very concerned about the, ''Project Fascist 2025'' manifesto.
Survival instinct is strong. Sold or gave away ours when my husband got ill. Figured that I would be a danger to myself
I wish the USA would do like Australia did after a mass shooting in the 1990’s—it was so common sense & did not “idealize” the manly-man image of a man and his gun! I much prefer the meme “a boy and his dog” (goes for “wimmin” too!).
Mid-90’s was the start of our national gun nightmare if I remember correctly. Rupert had already started the love affair with guns by then. The America before Rupert/Fox could have done that…
Seems like the FBI has a lot to answer for regarding the part they played (by virtue of the glaring sin of omission) in the circus of a hearing for Brett Kavanaugh. Imagine 4,500 tips came in on Kavanaugh and barely a word or serious pursuit! Forwarding the “relevant” tips to the Trump WH smacked
of a sweet deal for Tfg and Kavanaugh! Senator Whitehouse is doing a remarkable job keeping that steamy mess out in daylight. We must demand answers to whether SCOTUS is not alone in a far right capture. Rocky waters. we owe at least that debt to the brave
ahttps://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/sep/14/brett-kavanaugh-fbi-investigation-documents
“Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise”
It is an 887-page plan to remake our government. A daunting read, but this summary of its key points goes a long way toward helping one understand it.
This is a free link to the story: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/29/opinion/project-2025-trump-administration.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZU0.bmjC.bUPbdEvvxLwl&smid=url-share
The report details an effort to destroy our government for the benefit of big business and the wealthy few.
I think it may be closer to being a front for white, male dominated nationalists. Take a look, too, at the predominance of males running American Heritage. No problem finding motivated billionaires and well to do. Likewise for the "good guys".
R Dooley is on point that we all need to at least read this NY Times summary of Project 2025. What hits home is the breadth and depth of its many chapter authors who waded into the weeds for how to turn our government inside out in service of the radical right wing “conservative” Christo-fascist agenda.
They have a “LinkedIn” roster of willing and able Heritage-vetted-for-loyalty appointees ready to hit the ground running. Pesky laws get in the way? Such laws will be declared wrong and inapplicable.
Paying attention starts with us.
Thanks, Ellie - hope all is well.
The FBI investigates crime, whereas the Heritage Foundation has been operating to exploit democratic norms and find ways to influence hearts and minds for the purpose of building wealth and power of this faction at the top--short of criminal activity or without being stopped--with the expertise of Federalist Society lawyers.
We know enough, particularly with how scary power is at the state legislature level, as Heather elaborates in tonight's Letter. The States Project is already established as an antidote to the 2025 Project by researching which state legislatures have Dem-Rep margins that can be flipped or need to be preserved as Democratic, and focusing fundraising for the campaigns of those candidates.
Turn worry into action by making a donation to a Giving Circle of The States Project--this is where even our small donation dollars make a big impact. Tending to Democracy is a Giving Circle inspired by HCR:
https://www.grapevine.org/giving-circle/1XQhnyD/-
https://statesproject.org/about-us/
Thank you Ellie & will do donate.
Thank you, Bryan!
After the military defeat of Nazi Germany, trials were held at Nuremberg, where Hitler had once descended from the clouds to address rallied crowds in 1934. As scripted/memorialized in the film Triumph of the Will, by master propagandist Leni Riefenstahl Actually such, increasingly large, rallies had been held since the 1920s to relatively little media fanfare. After the 1935 passage of the Nuremberg Race Laws, belated and little alarm bells coming from Europe, were characterized in the US press as 'much ado about Mr. Hitler handling a little race problem.' Well, they would be. (Hitler having been influenced by the ideology and practicalities of systemic American racism.) After the military defeat of Germany, the dismantlement of the Nazi regime famously included trials held at Nuremberg, to hold the Nazi leaders accountable. A lesser known of these was the 'Judges Trial' where jurists were charged with 'having emptied German law of justice, while preserving judicial procedures to institute injustice.' This is exactly the modus operandi of The Federalist Society, which gradually accreted the current Supreme Court and federal bench, with little fanfare until it was too late. Ossifying the living law of the Constitution into an originalist and textualist imaginary. One pretending the 'intent' of the Founders can be divined, the other that dictionaries fix meaning for all time, rather than tracing its trajectory over physical space. Ouija board games where invisible forces always point to decisions in favor of corporate and clerical interests. And in favor of actively dismantling civil rights protections for we the people, most scurrilously dismantling the founding principles of equality before the law and equal representation. The invisible forces of anonymous big money interests - cloaked in secrecy by the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision. Now Federalist Society court capture operative and Opus Dei acolyte Leonard Leo is busy funneling dark money through a myriad of shape shifting shell companies to innumerable antidemocratic causes. This time through The Teneo Network. As Leo said 'it worked so well for the courts, that I thought, why not a Federalist Society for everything else that is messed up in American society.' That 'everything else' would be all the hard won progress we've made towards truth telling about our national story and respect for our diversity. Leo et al first corrupted justice, now they're skewing mercy.
As it is necessary to talk about leaders like Orban, it is necessary to talk about functionaries like Leonard Leo (which HCR never does.) The last 'Nuremberg' trial was held in Israel, where Holocaust implementer Adolph Eichmann appeared before a special tribunal of the Jerusalem District Court. Hannah Arendt (who had given profound thought to the rise of authoritarianism) published her observations of the trial as 'Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on The Banality of Evil.' Concluding "That such remoteness from reality and such thoughtlessness can wreak more havoc than all the evil instincts taken together which, perhaps, are inherent in man—that was, in fact, the lesson one could learn in Jerusalem." And, she notes, Eichmann was most marked by 'an extraordinary diligence in looking out for his personal advancement ... that predisposed him to become one of the greatest criminals of that period.'
It was not by accident that Trump descended from his penthouse in the clouds on a golden escalator. Riefenstahl was one of Roger Ailes' idols. It is not by accident that Mitch McConnell obstructed the Senate impeachment trial and diverted accountability to a Supreme Court that he'd already so compromised that it was incapable of justice.
Did you ever wonder why we can have local weather reports and forecasts for laypeople, but not government and political news and forecasts for laypeople that reach us ‘where we live’?
No, I’m not scratching my head anymore.
Mainstream Media has been doing a fine job of misdirecting people for decades. This is by design.
It’s by also design that the school system did not teach students just how critical it is to our lives and livelihoods to understand how government and politics works and to be a part of democracy. (I had 3 weeks of government studies.)
I can’t imagine that if we had been made to understand just how much power we had, we wouldn’t be in the position we’re in now. We would have had regular people representing us in government and not so many from affluent areas. Corporations wouldn’t hold this much power over us. Our jobs wouldn’t have been sent to other countries. Trickle-down economics (originally Reaganomics) would not have been put in place.
Think about it.
You're never really going to have "regular people" running the government. Politicians need to be very smart and talented at communication in order to be successful at governance. Better education, though, would (hopefully) bring voters to elect candidates who will really represent their best economic interests instead of the ones who play on fears of the majority while working for oligarchs.
We can and should have people raised in all walks of life represent us. Yes, definitely education is involved and this must be addressed. There should be a taxpayer funded national schools designed for this purpose.
It would be a good thing if our reps came from a variety of backgrounds but they are almost all (at the national level) going to be people who have climbed through the political ranks and not average folks who decided to run for Congress.
What really gave away the game was Occupy Wallstreet. For the first time corporate America realized they would be screwed if the 99% actually got organized in opposition. In league with the NYPD, they used Scorpion devices to locate and neutralize Occupy protesters. It was like catching fish in a barrel.
Divide and conquer.
That is why our data privacy is not being sincerely addressed and our best Social Media tools are.
Data is too useful for people who want to control us. If Louis & Marie Antoinette had access to our tech & data, they’d have survived and drained peons dry.
Orban is the leader of Turkey, right?
Reminds me of the headline on Fox - "Trump Sanctions Three Mexican Countries".
It's education, that's the root problem.
You’re thinking of Erdogan. Orban is the one turning Hungary into a fascist state.
Both Erdogan and Orbán are dictators. Orbán expressly calls for a “Christian” government in Hungary (he himself is a:Calvinist married to a Catholic wife) and his antisemitism is out front and center. Many young and educated Hungarians are voting with their feet and leaving Hungary for freer countries.
Christopher was making a joke, Sherman, on another idiocy from the fat orange guy.
Indeed yes, (Phil and Sherman)
Although it is hardly funny that the (ex) leader of the free world displays such ignorance. Beyond a joke.
And it really is ignorance, it wasn't a slip of the tongue.
He knows that.
Orban is the leader of Hungary.
Tell that to your ex President
No need for head-scratching. A substantial number of Americans think just this way. They want their laws and their answers to any problem simple, clear, enforceable, and exclusionary. They want the kind of government that will leave their money, their schools, their churches, their families, and their definitions of what a 'real' American is alone. They want to be able to freely indulge whatever prejudices they choose, and most of all they want a giant contradiction in terms - a government that is both minimal when it comes to the wants and need of those who see things differently than they do, and maximal when it comes to legalizing and enforcing what they want and think they need.
Yes they do, James. Far, far too many of them WANT , but you left off an important component: they want the establishment of a Christian religion forced on every person, and imbedded in our national policy.
Thought I had covered that in my final sentance, but perhaps not clearly enough. Should have added guns to the list as well. In a rush to get out on my morning perabulation with the dog.
This is possible because of a compromise made during the creation of the Constitution insuring minorities (small states) had protections in representation giving them 2 senators and a 1st Amendment right to free speech. They were counting on people's good nature not to do exactly what's being done today in the Heritage Foundation.
Project 2025 scares the hell out of me.
I didn't invest four and a half years of my life in the Marine Corps to have American citizens rights attacked.
This threat from within is real and dystopian. It makes George Orwell's 1984 look like a comic book.
My copy of Barbara McQuade's book "Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America" arrives tomorrow.
Boy, do I understand. I took an oath (for 35 years in local law enforcement) to defend the Constitution, and that oath does not rescind in my retirement. I think I'll order that book; it sounds like it might be helpful, albit scary.
The stated mission of the Heritage Foundation, which is a tax-exempt organization pursuant to section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, is "to formulate and promote public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense." According to Kevin Roberts their mission has morphed into advancing "trumpism." To the extent that advancing "trumpism" extends to supporting the candidacy of one Donald J Trump, the Heritage Foundation risks losing its tax exempt status because 501(c)(3)s are absolutely prohibited from campaigning for or against candidates for public office. The organization should be investigated for possible violations of this restriction. Having said that, their mission has become nothing less than working for the destruction of American democracy, an objective that lies far outside the Internal Revenue Code definition of charitable purpose required of 501(c)(3) organizations. The mission of the Heritage Foundation, in my view, is evil and destructive, not charitable in any form, and the organization should be put out of business.
Sherman Hesselgrave - "I get it that Republicans, being a minority,"
This from 2022: "Are conservatives or Republicans a minority in the US?"
Republicans? Yes.
Conservatives? That’s tougher.
Republicans currently make up between 25% - 30% of the population according to Gallup. Democrats make up 40–45%.
So Republicans are a clear minority.
However, when you add independents who lean Republican the number shoots up to 43%. This mean that around 15% of Americans who are conservative will not commit to the Republican Party. Independents who lean towards the Democrats are 49%. That means that relatively few independents are Democrats.
The last 8% are Green, Libertarian, Communist etc. or else have no idea.
So Conservatives, by many definitions, could well be a majority, or at least a plurality (liberals have more in common with Reaganites than they do with communists, socialists, or fascists no matter what Tucker Carlson tells you). If you add Libertarians as conservatives then that demographic pushes 50%.
One of the huge mistakes Democrats make is assuming that not being Republican = progressive. It does not.
https://www.quora.com/Are-conservatives-or-Republicans-a-minority-in-the-US
Damn this is scary
HCR writes- "There they have banned abortion without exceptions and defined a fertilized human egg as a person; discriminated against LGBTQ+ people and immigrants, banned books, attacked public education, and gutted business regulation, including child labor laws."
Last month, the results of a study showed, that in the Maganazi states that have virtually banned abortion, 64000 rapes resulted in pregnancies. These states have virtually stopped prosecuting rape so they can raise their birth rates. What they fail to understand, is that unwanted babies are the criminals of tomorrow. Why did the violent crime rate drop so substantially In the early 1990's? According to the authors of Freakanomics, it was because abortion was legalized. Fewer unwanted children = fewer criminals.
No words. I am never up this late. I am spent.
Never a good beach read. How can any of us sleep. The sleepy majority needs to rouse…
Good thing I had a three hour nap this afternoon….really really really needed it. Tho it is hard to sleep when one’s mind is on pin ‘n needles of worry!
So many find it easy just to turn their heads and look the other way! The few who do worry find overcoming the complacency of others is a difficult task!
I can’t avoid seeing it, and my dad and one brother can’t either. None of my family can stand Trump, and they all see him for the charlatan he is.
Kathy, I am fortunate that my extended family sibs-to-cousins all see the emperor never has had any clothes, no matter how much he struts around.
How lucky, or wise, you are
Anthony, overcoming the complacency of others is one thing. Trying to inform the people who are lusting for the return of fpotus is something else all together.
Gnashing of teeth by many
Grab those zzz’s whenever you can.
I agree, Barb. At the moment, my only recourse is VOTE BLUE! The GOP has been hijacked and we must prevail against these scary billionaires. We must weaponize our VOTE! I shudder to recall Gore's loss to Bush which means we are fragile even if we win. :(
I’m worried they have already figured out how to manipulate the vote…
Yes, Barb, damn right; this is very, very scary.
This needs to be read and understood by more Americans than just the readers of Letters from an American.
I started reading Timothy Synder's On Tyranny today. If you haven't read it, do. I reminded me of the frog in the pot where the water is turned up so slowly that the frog doesn't realize until too late that it is being cooked.
I'm interested in other people's opinions about whether Trump is really a strongman. He likes to portray himself that way. He is certainly mean and vindictive. But he seems to me to be an aspiring strongman, just bluster and narcissistic ambition, but without any noticeable strength. He strikes me as being a puppet rather than a strongman. Yes, we need to defeat him, and all of the other extremists running in November, but the question of how to neutralize the men and the ideas behind the puppet is, perhaps, the central problem. A picture of the Wizard of Oz has just displaced the frog in the boiling water in my head. The Wizard was not inherently dangerous. It is the puppet masters who are.
Yes, I first read it a few years ago. I went out and bought a copy. It sits on the night stand. Every day when I get up, I read a chapter. When I get to the end of the book, I start over then next morning. It reminds me of what I need to do, what my most important task of the day is, to save democracy by what ever minuscule contribution I can make. Consistently. Every. Single. Day.
I bought ten copies of On Tyranny, read one and then placed them around in the little free library kiosks in my area. Whenever I check they are gone…either being read or, I hope not, thrown away.
Great idea. I read On Tyranny a few weeks ago.
I have read On Tyranny multiple times. I have gifted family and friends with this book. Gave a copy to each of my daughters; it’s a clarion call to all of us.
Your 'reading' of puppet is most on mark Bets; he is the current useful "tool" - The actual, very real, and most dangerous "strongmen" are far in the background *employing the pulling of the levers; They are the 'coalition' I speak of occasionally, but won't bleat on about and have not, staying patient as I can stand, till our good doctor reveals her facts in evidence, and I can only nod here in agreement. *denotes edit in, with apologies. I'm undergoing treatments for the "big C" thing, and it's just beating me to a pulp; So, there's my sign to stop reading and commenting for now - to rest I must go. (egads: that last little bit sounded sort of uh... like 'Yoda' gibberish.. lol)
Wishing you good health. I'm a 10+year cancer survivor. Hoping you'll join the club.
Dan, sending you love & light & healing on your intense journey….know we here are supporting you by sending good vibes via the universe! 🫶🏻
I had a vision of TFFG as a puppet (a la Charley McCarthy) & wondering *who* all has their hand up his butt to make his mouth flap the crap he spews.
Lol.
🤣
Nodding with you
Been there, done that. Take care of yourself.
Thinking of you, D4N, and wishing you rest. We are all rooting for the day you join us in the NED club.
You answered your own question. He isn’t strong but he is a ‘strongman’ in that he is wiling to say and do anything to be in power. He is the wizard in that he has a charisma that his moronic base has zombies themselves for and which the puppet masters (Bannon, Stone, etc) are exploiting. Plain and simple
I’m beginning to think the “puppet masters” are the guys behind the Heritage Foundation and Federalist Society. They have a willing stooge in Trump - he doesn’t even know that he’s being manipulated. (He’s too stupid.) Isn’t that last Koch brother involved in the Heritage Fndn.? He “claimed” his group wouldn’t be involved in Trump’s election, but I think he’s b-sing us. It would be ever so helpful if T would just get that ginormous infarct take him out.
And yes, there are I believe huge corporations that are slavering for deregulation and tax cuts. Perhaps it will end up that corporations will become governments.
I was thinking today that Trump has created a highly theatrical personality for himself, most of it taken from his dark side. Has anyone seen any of Trump’s appearances on late night talk shows 15 or 20 years ago? He was an entirely different human, relaxed, jovial and almost likeable.
Annie, operative words “almost likeable”…….close, but no cigar!
Trump always has been a malignant narcissist and sociopath and people in New York knew he was a scam artist. I have never lived in New York, but knew of his scammy reputation. Back in the early 1990s, I read a book that detailed Trump’s dubious deals by the late Wayne Barrett and the late Jack Newfield, both of whom had written and investigated Trump for the Village Voice. David Cay Johnston is probably the best living Investigative reporter with detailed knowledge of Trump’s scams and dirty deals.
It has occurred to me that as long as Congress avoids sending more arms to Ukraine leaving Biden no choice but to send our surplus to their effort, we are depleting our own protection against the “blood bath” Trump is promising. Is this part of ‘their’ plan as well? And is the border wall going to be a wall employed to keep us in, rather than to keep immigrants out? Will Abbot’s and Desantis’ national guards be trained to keep us in line? They already seem ready to take on the national troops!
Have you ever thought the puppet masters consist of the members of old European royalty, the Catholic church and their military? They only marry among themselves. They don't advertise except among themselves, and they only allow the very rich to marry into their private circle. The current king of Europe lives in Brussels, doesn't want to be king, infact he thinks the monarchy should be abolished. He has one legitimate heir. When he dies, there will be a scramble for his title. These people want all the power. They try to convince the rest of the peasants they. are superior. They half believe it themselves, and they a CT as if life owes them a living. So they find a way to live for free off the rest of us. They encourage overpopulation so they can have wars which knock out a lot of competition for their descendents. Think about it.
Uh, no. Pope Francis supports the rights of the poor and does not endorse Trump at all. There is no EU king. The EU nations take turns having their elected officials serve as president.
Ok. Here is a starting point for you to explore further. But you need to know that the Vatican is part of the European royalty and always was. It's not official: it can be thought of as a shadow government.
Yes, Francis is a nice guy, so nice he refused to live in the Vatican and will retire probably this year and we will have a new, not so nice, Pope.
You need to dig deep.
Michael, Prince of Saxe-Weimar Eisenach - Google Search
https://www.google.com/search?client=ms-android-xiaomi-rvo3&sca_esv=6f88916183dd8d69&sxsrf=ACQVn0_YRnJ6xWxR_bAjmZv0QKLVDB2h3Q:1710833742211&q=Michael,+Prince+of+Saxe-Weimar+Eisenach&spell=1&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwirnOWr6P-EAxWecaQEHYj2A20QBSgAegQICBAC&biw=393&bih=732&dpr=2.75
The King of Belgium lives in Brussels; Belgium is the country in which he lives. Belgium has a "Constitutional Monarchy" form of government. He is in power from January to June this year. I am sure that living in the EU you have far more experience with the ins and outs of how the EU operates; in my perusal of Google, what worries me more is that Hungary will be the "king" of the EU from July 2024-January 2025.
Ally, I can not print here what I'd like to say about the idea of monarchy. I did google it about ten years ago, and have since forgotten the details, mostly on purpose, so at times I muff my lines. I could go on, but it might wear out your patience. The basic idea is that monarchy is not elected, but bases its rule on genes, not intellectual development. It's a private club, and I do mean club, as a weapon. A European friend says they are a nest of scorpions and to stay away from them.
Thank you. All l know is what the googles told me. Monarchy is something that needs to be expunged and relegated to the history books.
Umm, “let” not get …
Plain and simple, but Lordy, that charisma thing makes me barf. Carnival barker on steroids
A malicious fool in a position of exceptional power is dangerous, but yes, behind Trump are those made billionaires by modern Republican politics, who aim to rule the world, or as much if it as the can manage. The seem to have been the bane of our species since pre-history, and they never quit. Tyrants have a lot more in common than differences whatever their cover story, one that commonly claims that God is on their side. Objectively, it's highly malignant narcissism with access to power. And power, they say, tends to corrupt, not to mention appeal to the corrupt. Divide (the public) and rule is an old formula for despotism. Divide the power, the way of democracy.
I have read that the frog in the pot story is not accurate, which I would expect, but in any case we all know what it means, and it too true to be good. Hitler had his own version:
"A shrewd victor will, if possible, always present his demands to the vanquished in installments."
Sounds like a lobster meal to me
Betsy When I was 11 I had the pleasure of spending half an hour with the Wizard of Oz (Frank Morgan). He was a delightful man of sterling character—as was the Wizard. In sharp contrast, Bone Spur Donald has a despicable character and is only focused on ‘me, me, me,’ while the Wizard made a personal sacrifice in granting the wishes of the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the cowardly Lion.
Yes Timothy Snyder's 'On Tyranny' really is a great book. I read it soon after it was published in 2017, so early on in the Trump presidency. Although it was absolutely frightening to read it at that time it was somewhat empowering and very helpful for me to read Snyder's prescient words and warning signs of how authoritarianism can overtake democracy.
Now we're at an even scarier crossroads. Trump was absolutely exhausting(still is), inept, and astoundingly unprofessional and those 4 years were even worse than I thought they could be, it must not happen again
Since you ask if Trump is really a strongman. I would say he's more of a maniac, possibly with syphilitic dementia, more than some kind of mob boss. Maybe his narcissism, bluster, violent rhetoric and bloviating is enough for his supporters to think he is really strong, the illusion is enough for them, under the spell of an obvious hack. But a hack with authoritarian visions, tyrannical beliefs and powermad, and backed by many loyalists and the Heritage Foundation
.
My analogy for more years than I can recall. We should be feeling the heat by now. The tipping point is upon us…
Absolutely agree, Betsy. After reading about Kevin Roberts and Project 2025, I'm convinced that they see Trump as their useful idiot for getting and maintaining power.
Quid pro quo. TFFG is so easily bought. Once he's elected they can control him with a few $$$$s like the Saudi's control Kushner. A few million dollars means nothing to these people when they control trillions.
This. @betsy smith, I agree wholeheartedly that the puppet concept is key (and overlooked).
Be prepared!
It is pretty clear that Trump stumbled into the Presidency, and I suspect that beneath all his desperate bluster for re-election he's now seriously rueing the day he did. Sort of like Jefferson's note that slavery was like having a wolf by the ears - 'we can neither hold him nor safely let him go". The notoriety he gained in the Oval Office, his narcissism, and his total lack of understanding of the role of president is what got him into his current legal morass, and now he can't escape it unless, so he hopes, he gets re-elected.
But in answer to your question, no I don't think he's really a strongman; he just likes to talk like one. As a long time New Yorker (now retired and moved away) I watched his antics with a combination of disdain and wonder that so many were so fascinated by him. But if he really had the makings of a strongman, he would have gone for political power long before he did. He is cunning, and he does have capacity for 'reading the right wing room', but I think he'd have prepared for his first term far better than he did in terms of staffing and planning if he'd really had thoughts of taking that role instead of imagining that the presidency would just get him more of the same fawning attention he so needs.
I liken it to the public's fascination with Bonnie and Clyde. They were cold blooded killers and yet they had their devoted followers.
I just ordered the book. $6.30 on Amazon.
Make it your holiday giving. : ) Or pre-holiday... And if you can, buy it from your local bookstore. If you don't have a local bookstore, order it from Powell's, in Portland. OR.
Looking back at Republican presidents, I believe useful fools is the rule. Reagan, both Bushes, Trump are low intelligence, manageable front men for oligarch backed party operatives. They have studied the psychology of human thought and have crafted words to influence a distinct portion of the population and their front men have used those words effectively to make unthinking automatons out of those people. Listen to interviews of Trump supporters and you hear exactly what I mean.
They have grasped the power of the electoral college and know that it is the only way they can overrule the vote of the majority of Americans and gain power. It has worked for them twice in recent history. And as of this moment we are powerless to stop the attempted power grab, unless we can capture the electoral college votes to overcome them. They have been busy changing state voting regulations to give them an advantage. We have a difficult battle before us.
It is an interesting "red strand" running through the rope that the oligarchs want to use to strangle democracy. Apt assessment.
I had our book club read it. It’s not a large book, but it is profound and makes you think.
I too consider Tim Snyder an extremely important voice in warning the public about the planned change in government policies and practices by the MAGA folks. His substack is like HCR’s is required reading for me.
It's on my book shelf. Time to reread it.
Between TImothy Snyder’s essay this morning and yours this evening, I think I need to get some rest! We have a battle royale ahead. Project 2025 is exactly what Prof Snyder outlined. We cannot afford to ignore these people. They do not believe in freedom in any way.
There is nothing to do but to vote and educate. Otherwise, as Trump recently noted, there will never be another free election in the US. (“
Believe them when they say who they are.”)
Shirt sleeves are rolled up and eye shades on! We have been warned.
War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.
George Orwell, 1984
Vote, educate, register new voters, be election workers, and support state legislature candidates where it matters most. The States Project has a proven track record and is raising critically important early money for campaigns in flippable states. Tending to Democracy is a Giving Circle inspired by HCR:
https://www.grapevine.org/giving-circle/1XQhnyD/-
https://statesproject.org/about-us/
I work elections as my concept of community service. (Just a clerk). It's a long day so I only have the energy to do so close to home, where Republican voters outnumber Democratic ticket voters 4 to 1 here in gerrymandered Georgia. (My county was a particular focus of gerrymandering after it
flipped democratic in 2020. ) I am proud that the election training and all of my coworkers appear to to be strongly motivated by democratic norms. (We still have a Democratically run County for now.) But given the disparity of Republican voters still voting in fools like Trump and Herschel Walker and the like, I sometimes feel like I'm helping the enemy.
Thank you for your election work, Barbara. It’s so important for us to maintain the integrity of the election process—which we take for granted, and like so many other norms, ought not to.
Thanks for the links, Ellie.
Reality is that, if Biden wins in 2024, we're going to need to continue this fight forever. The moneyed interests behind Trump will just find another figurehead with whom to sell fascism.
the fight to not let abusive vampires take over is, indeed, neverending.
MAGA loyalists and adherents to Project 25 and similar calls for authoritarian rule seem to believe they'll be exempt from the harshest tenets and will in fact benefit from them. History and current events prove them wrong. Many other people aren't paying attention at all. It's up to us to defeat these anti-democratic, authoritarian-loving people and their dangerous plans.
We can't defeat them if they control what constitutes a voter, a ballot, and an election.
They know well that we can’t. Check out Texas…
As said elsewhere (Jeff Tiedrich's excellent posts) - it’s the “Leopards eating faces party”. Everything is great as long as the faces being eaten belong to one of the “other” groups. Declaring “others” is key to their agenda . .
We have all been “others” on different days. Shout out to George Sanders.
Eventually the leopard will eat their faces also.
It reminds me of the 2020 election year joke--A woman voting Republican is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.
Well-said.
Sadly, the GQP has degenerated so far into fanaticism that ANY vote for a Repub is a pretty clear sign of either willful ignorance, overt disdain for democracy, or potentially insanity . . .
Many people aren’t paying attention at all…. The oppressors rejoice
A friend recently went on a Caribbean cruise. She met many Americans. One stated that she felt she could manage to get through the possibility of four more years of Trump in power. Everything would be okay after that for of course he wouldn’t be eligible to run again. Things would get back to normal. She has a lot of reading to catch up on!
If Trump gets back into power, all bets are off.
The ship of "back to normal" has sailed. We are busy bailing out the water coming in through the hull and hoping that the repair crew is "on it".
She needs to put a few brain cells to use, in fact, awaken ALL her senses, instincts, and take a look around. And not on a cruise. An artificial environment if there ever was one. On an Alaskan cruise in 2009, the tea Partiers were out in force. It was an omen for me.
I took an Alaska cruise with my Aunt and her wife (my Aunt and I had just finished cancer treatments, and said "we better do this now".) We had a great cruise, and my Aunt lasted 10 more years. That cruise was a chartered Holland America cruise run by a lesbian travel company (Olivia). We were in the throes of Shrub's administration at that time, and to my knowledge, there was a no "politics spoken here" mentality amongst us all.
My cruise was Holland America also. Loved it, not one of those floating cities. A couple of people near us put up signs on their doors extolling the virtues of Palin and were mighty proud of her Alaska connection. I did not share their enthusiasm.
Wow. Just, wow.
This is the point that needs to be made more clearly and loudly. Those GOP voters who are not part of the elite will be discarded and suffer consequences with the rest of us. They need to see and hear what life is like for those who live in countries like Hungary, S Korea, and Russia.
Since Heather wrote this, Trump has publicly called for a "bloodbath" if he doesn't win.
Yes, the Heritage Foundation, the 2025 Project, dictators Orban and Putin, and the Clarence court's Chief Justice John Roberts all inveigle for mass killing of Americans' rights, a cleansing out of America's main institutions for democracy.
The Clarence court could have ruled in favor of the Constitution to which they all took oaths -- could have ruled that their boy, the orange stochastic terrorist, obviously broke that Constitution's Article 14, section three. That court should have quickly ordered him struck from all the nation's ballots.
Now, if those quisling U.S. elites had even the most residual respect for democracy, our institutions, they'd remand Trump immediately to be held in prison pending trial on the charges already against him, whose pre-trial release he has (again!) violated with his calls for "bloodbath."
Bullying has always worked for him. He’s teaching his MAGAts that it can work for them too. Just note the threats to judges, etc.
Jeri, yes, as to their bullying. It works.
One way it works is that, next to MAGA's white trash energy, too many Dems, independents buy into the bullying lies as to Biden being asleep. Won't bother to vote in Nov.
Worse than that, Jeri, Dems and independents see their candidates seemingly wonk, out of touch with any of the arts that show the predicaments of American women, working class families, students.
I think in private good Dems read novels, see films, and listen to music well in touch with the plights of fellow Americans. But they're silent as to humanities. They don’t try to apply them to the many public programs for which good, decent souls in fact are running. What blinds, silences so many now as the bullying, the lying, the consort with dictators and U.S. dark money worsens?
Answer: all now kowtow to U.S. HR departments and universities which only fetishize group isolations. Group identities rule. No one outside any group may touch on anything of any inside a some category. This includes blacks, Muslims, girls and their sexuality, gays or trans and their health needs – the full list of taboos in Diane Ravitch’s “The Language Police.”
We could free ourselves of these blinding, silencing strangleholds if more would cite our arts which so well show individuals and their human (and natural) contexts.
My own list has films like “The Florida Project” and “Winter’s Bone”; novels like Barbara Kingsolver’s “Demon Copperhead,” Walter Mosley’s “Always Outnumbered, Always Outgunned,” and many by Richard Russo and Stephen King; memoirs like Mary Karr’s “The Liars’ Club” and Erin Gruwell’s “The Freedom Writers Diary,” and any number of hip hop Ari Melber will cite.
Please, Jeri, fellow commenters to Heather’s “Letters from an American” – please let me know works I’m missing – arts our leaders might well reference in public, and so more humanly stir those who need it by November 5.
Love your suggestions, but time is of the essence
Still so confused by what you mean by “humanities”. In my lexicon it means the works of people from every discipline who helped formulate our understanding of what is means to exist.
Believe them when they tell you who they are! The Heritage Foundation is truly despicable.
Yesterday I received solicitations from Laura Trump on behalf of the RNC and the Heritage Foundation. Of course I typed "stop" immediately. I hadn't heard from the RNC in a couple of years at least and the Heritage Foundation even longer.
As a warning, to those out there that are getting bombarded with telemarketing calls, beware the PACS including the police and firefighters PACS and the breast cancer PAC. I asked a few times to be put on the DNC list and they kept calling multiple times a day.
But then I asked if they would guarantee that none of my money would go to Republican candidates. The caller immediately said he would put me on the DNC list and I haven't heard from the firefighters PAC since.
So many of these PACs are just fronts for Republican candidates. I don't believe in the concept of PACs having been forced to give to the life insurance company PAC years ago by my boss. I refused and he ultimately donated in my name.
Now there's a concept, albeit admittedly unethical: donate to the Dems in the name of anyone you know who is planning either to abstain or vote for tfg.
LOL, I like it.
I just got another call. This time from the disabled children PAC. These grifters are deplorable.
Project 2025 needs this kind of reporting daily from here til the election. All media should work to make plain what the wingnuts behind the project have already made plain: The majority of Americans will live in a country which does not represent their interests or their values. And there will not be another fair and free election afterward to fix the million things they break.
I'll add one more important topic to the excellent summary Heather provides here: The environmental consequences will be stark, from climate to the Endangered Species Act and much, much more. You can read my writing on it (https://jasonanthony.substack.com/p/over-the-cliff) or dive into the massive Project 2025 document itself (https://www.project2025.org/policy/). Chapters 13 and 16 are particularly important to understanding what kind of gutting of environmental regulation will be done.
Those Chapters are important but note at the beginning of many organizations who back the Project. Many have filed under 501 3(c) which is where they claim religious status. Because of this, they pay little or no taxes. Please everyone, pay close attention to the name LEONARD LEO. He is the mastermind behind Project 2025 and its terrifying manifesto suggestions. This little man is as much of a nightmare as Trump. They have spent years and probably decades putting this together. That is why it is essential to vote blue all the way down! We cannot and will not be bullied by these white supremacists. Educate yourselves first and then others what is in store for us all (concentration camps, no government which will equal no rules of law, authoritarian regimes, lynchings, no abortions, death to women and girls, no vaccines, increased oil and fossil fuel production which will affect our planet, our food, our water, etc. etc.
My thought is that as responsible citizens, we should never vote (or not vote) to "send a message". Vote to save a life worth living, for ourselves. our communities, and our posterity. We can't afford to lose any more ground on that goal. Time to stop the tail from wagging the dog.
Yes, it's a huge coalition and together they're tied to Leo's takeover of the courts and abortion restrictions, etc., ad nauseam. Whatever area of rational regulation, governance, or policy motivates a progressive or simply middle-of-the-road voter is at risk here. Everyone needs to understand the scale of the threat. Thanks for the note.
No, thank you!! Also, if you or anyone else is on X (Shitter…sorry), give a follow to @mudpuppy_16. This person ( and I know there are others like the fabulous Greg Olear) have dug very deeply into all of the influences and shell companies Leo has set up. There was a graph recently shared by this person that ties Leo to oligarchs in Russia as well as to the Russian Orthodox Church.
*Meant to add the end parenthesis🙄*
Yes I agree, that's what I've been thinking too. There's still a chance for us to course correct and have a sustainable future for ourselves and the biosphere. But it will be all over if the fascist coup takes over.
I've seen too many soul crushing clearcuts and destruction in the old growth forests of northern California and the Pacific Northwest to let that kind of environmental degradation go on again without doing something to stop such greed, wasteand short sightedness.
Project 2025 will turn Earth into a hellscape like those devastating clearcuts and megafires I've seen too many times.
The hour is late and there is no time to waste with our predicament about how to maintain a liveable planet, with actual wilderness and plastic free oceans and wildlife that should always exist on this planet even if humans should cease to exist.
The MSM needs to pay more attention some of the realities of the Orbán government the "GOP" now celebrates . They are unlikely to be pleased with their lot if it comes here.
They can’t “see” because they are following the smell of money that Fox is raking in.
There has always been an element of carnival side show to commercial "News", but also a crucial resource for an informed electorate. The "entertainment" side went bananas with Reagan, who the "press" cold scarcely help adoring, even though some deep and accurate journalism remains, even in the MSM, but much less of the edge of stories concurrent with the Vietnam War and Watergate. TV "Debates" feel more like gameshows, with instant analysis of landed "zingers". Hard to imagine a debate with the depth of Lincoln/Douglas in the modern world.
For me, the "smoking gun" of a loss of professionalism in major media was Les Moonves' remark the Trump's candidacy might "not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS,”. Moonves later had to step down a the CEO of CBS, not for rotten patriotism, but for charges of sexual abuse.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/leslie-moonves-donald-trump-may-871464/
Les Moonves, CBS to pay $30 million in settlement with NY AG over sexual misconduct allegations | CNN Business
Walter was my hero, Dan was too. Rupert tried to tar Dan and had some success with CBS being complicit. Glad Moonves got canned. He was skanky in my book, and destroyed the old CBS News team. Dan reported that a journalism teacher said that if one person reports that it is raining, and another says that it is not, then the reporter gets up and checks to see who is reporting the facts. Not just report what each said. Which is what they do today, for the most part. Walter went to check things out, and told the tales. The most trusted man in America. How far we have fallen…
MSM is no longer the Fourth Estate. It is a bought and paid for Chartered Boat fishing for persuadables with clickbait.
Commercial news has always had an element of carnival side show to it, but It went bananas with Reagan. There is still journalism taking place, even in the MSM, but it's largely lost the edge it had investigating the Vietnam War and Watergate.
Imagine the Republican Party working with the authoritarian leader of a European country to, among other things, empower the government to restore the family.
It’s as if up may soon become down - but scarier. Wake up, America!
World already spinning
I agree with you Michael!!People really need to wake up!!!!!
Thank you for highlighting a deeply disturbing set of actions that should be getting massive and regular coverage in the mass media, but instead are going nearly unnoticed.
Your final sentence to me is the key to democracy: . . The consent of the governed. .
George, there is starting to be some organized push back…here is one site that is taking this issue on: https://www.stopthecoup2025.org/about
I'll just add, the free and informed consent of the governed, but I know the drill.
I was preoccupied by tRump’s “ bloodbath” remarks and now this is even more frightening. To see our government give such a tepid and slow response to these threats is hard to believe. What are they waiting for?
Snail-paced Justice, when we need JUSTICE (unencumbered by pricy lawyers)
Exactly! “Don’t stand in the doorway. Don’t block the hall, for the times they are a changin’!”
What Does A Trump Dictatorship Mean For You? Check PROJECT 2025 with this visual guide.
https://thedemlabs.org/2023/12/10/trump-dictatorship-explained-project-2025/
Learn more about the scheme at "Stop The Coup"
https://www.stopthecoup2025.org/
and subscribe to Andra Watkins Substack "How Project 2025 Will Ruin Your Life"
https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/
Deepak, I have had Stop The Coup as a link on my Homepage since I discovered them & signed up for emails. Doing what I can from my remote rural area!!!
Really good, Deepak…thanks!
Thanks.
When Trump was first elected, I started telling people to read “They Thought They Were Free,” the post-WWII study of how the Germans let fascism take over their country. I’ve been recommending that book again lately, because we MUST teach people the critical lesson of how Hitler took over his nation! Here’s more about the book…
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Thought_They_Were_Free
Excellent
Thanks for the information Steve!!!It’s all very very scary!!
You’re welcome. Yes, it is!
The threat is real, we cannot hide from it. We must tell our compatriots and children that our nation will founder unless those who hide stop hiding and stand up for truth.
What happens to Project25 if Trump loses? Does it become Project29?
Yes, assuming the "bloodbath" isn't too disruptive. The Heritage Foundation has been producing similar (if far less dire) plans for conservative presidents since Reagan. But Reagan acted on much less of those plans in his 8 years than Trump did in his 4.
Demands in installments, as JL said
It took Hitler 10 Plus years to take control of Germany.
Hitler was a propagandist (not unlike Steve Bannon) prior to 1933, not a dedicated leader. After he was appointed Chancelor in 1933, it was just a matter of a few years before he transformed the entire German government into a fascist dictatorship. If Hitler hadn't been militarily incompetent, he would have won the war by 1943.
Another point is that Hitler couldn't win the war by 1943. He entered Russia in '42 against the howl of protests by Germany's industrialists, who thought they had an understanding with him to not open the second front until 1945. Before 1945, Germany just wouldn't have the industrial power to overcome the US "machine" feeding the Russians and the British. They felt themselves betrayed by him.
My suggestion that Hitler could have won the war by 1943 assumes he would have had the sense not to invade Russia. He had Poland and France. He could have had England early on. But, as I said, Hitler was militarily incompetent. His generals tried to assassinate him on several occasions.
Fascist leaders surround themselves with yes men who won’t disagree with their leader and tell him when he is wrong. Hitler was also a real iron head and would not listen, “ he alone” could do it, or so he thought.
I beg to differ James, although I understand your point. Hitler was already incarcerated for his activism after the Munich "Ratskeller Putsch" in 1924, after which he wrote the Nazi Bible, "Main Kampf" in jail. He took control of the NSDAP in the early 1925 followed by some ruthless wet work involving his competitors, leading several failed political candidacies. Then he lead the takeover of the "Reichskanzlei" after the 1933 election...after he had lost every other election. Hitler was also supported and surrounded by sycophants and loyal enablers, not unlike today's Miller, Meadows, Gaetz and others. As was Hitler, Trump is far more in the front lines than Bannon. Of course any comparison the two situations is fraught with problems of context and prior histories.
True, the analogies are not perfect. My point relies on the fact that Hitler resisted a leadership role in 1925 (preferring to be a Bannon type of thug). His actions after 1933 speak for themselves. I doubt that Bannon has the guts to risk his fortune by actually fighting on the front lines and will leave that to other suckers like Trump & Co. Hitler had nothing to lose.
No Ike on the horizon
With all due respect to General Eisenhower, and assuming the present political war does not resort to snipers on rooftops, what we need is the next FDR. I have to believe he or she will appear. When it happens, the rhetoric will cut the fascists down at the knees. Bloody but beautiful.
I'd like to believe...James. Whom did you have in mind?
I wish I knew. It will take an irresistible personality, a tongue as sharp as a razor, and a smile as big as a house, as he or she cuts them to shreds. It's the kind of thing that will seem self-evident and inevitable once it happens.
It took Ike to subdue the German machine. He took videos
When you're backed by Billions of dollars they will do what they can without a Republican Fascist President. Keep in mind, unless Alito and Thomas both die, they still own SCOTUS for quite some time.
Thanks for good chuckle. I will use this. We've got to get some perspective, here. These people are a joke!
An unfunny one. Not even a hint of satire or irony.
their big lies and "i know you are but what am i" rhetoric are something like intentional-but-dysfunctional irony.
They need some more schooling, or maybe just a dab of integrity
yes
This reminds me of the movie "Being There," in which conservatives saw installing Gardiner (played by Peter Sellars) as a pawn with which to install the same conservative programs discussed in today's "Letters from an American. " So, Trump would be a patsy for these operatives to do their worst. BTW, Trump was a pawn of others in his earlier presidency, such as Stephen Miller (who continues to seemingly control the current Trump verbiage).
It reminds me more of Seven Days in May. Instead of generals it is the GOP being led by dark money and planning by the Heritage Foundation and the Federalist Society. Mr. Snyder has been warning us and continued to do so. We must fight for our democracy.
William I recently saw a photo of Stephen Miller that reminded me of Heinrich Himmler, Hitler’s henchman.
Yes, even his visage gives me the creepy shivers….like his soulless essence is an aura fouling the air.
Yep, never thought that Chauncey would resurrect. Of course, he was much more benign than chump.