Perhaps in response to the growing outcry over last weekend’s rendition of Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under a legal justification a federal judge has found questionable, President Donald Trump last night told reporters that he didn’t sign the proclamation that set that legal process in motion.
"Full throated apology" is particularly unseemly coming from a man to a woman. We are so battered with his bad behavior that we don't notice the little things anymore. I hope Mills will continue with fortitude and stare him down.
I am sorry no one taught you how to apply foundation correctly; I am sorry your ego is so enormous; I am sorry for your cruelty and claims of victimhood; I am sorry for all the damage you are doing to this country; I am sorry for all the women you have assaulted or denigrated; I am sorry you were ever born.
LOL. Yeah, but it’s probably been so long since she’s seen that “thing” she’s forgotten what it looks like or has banished the vile image from her memory.
Maybe add - I’m sorry, but you want all decisions to be made at the State Level, right, sir? I mean - “Let the States decide, right, sir?” That’s why we don’t need a Federal Department of Education, right, sir? Just checkin’, sir.
trump is such a full-time hypocrite. Not one single redeeming quality not one. Let him be the symbol for all that is wrong in this country and what we need to do to correct it -ASAP!!
HCR: " ... events raises questions about who is in charge of White House policy"... On 3/21 I believe Catherine Rampell answered the questions:
"DOGE is making government almost comically inefficient." More like a bad Tragicomedy.
Rampell continued: "They're like a kid in a nuclear power plant running around hitting buttons." Actually there are at least 5 kids 19-25 & 1 gleeful destroyer, a white male, Afrikaner Gang Leader.
If Biden would have made the claim about that decision that he didn’t do it every media outlet in the country would have been screaming for his removal. Yet, this is not the first time we’ve seen clearly that Trump is an empty face and fascists are running the government.
Trump used his whole disclosure of Biden using the signing pen to make the country aware it existed so he could claim he didn’t sign things. He will throw everyone else under the bus.
I urge those here to subscribe to Andra Watkins "For Such a Time As This" and watch her interview with a Microsoft IT Security Manager ASAP. The story is "Protect Yourself From The DOGE Cyberattack." Things are more dangerous than you probably suspect. It's about an hour long and you'll want to take notes.
Harvey, I read what you wrote and then stopped to think - is there not just one redeeming quality? I'm still searching my brain. Trump may be the most unique person in the history of the world - not even one.
Consider The Scout Law: “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.”
Of those 12 virtues, Trump exemplifies none. Since he’s a noted germophobe, I thought, well maybe “clean,” but the interpretive statement for that element says: “Keep your body and mind fit. Help keep your home and community clean.”
I have read about what causes one to be a MAGAt. They are either stupid, ignorant or racist, or all three. "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" published in the Feb. 2018 edition of Critical Sociology. "Stony the Road," by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "A Fever in the Heartland," by Timothy Egan, about the rise of the KKK in Midwest in the 1920's. "How the South Won the Civil War," by Heather Cox Richardson.
There is a fourth reason. Some of them have become so enmeshed in conspiracy-theory-driven unreality that they honestly believe that it's the Democrats who have been doing all the things Trump is doing. They believe there is a Deep State, a sinister plot, you name it. My own brother is convinced that Trump has been 'persecuted'. My MAGA family members aren't stupid and they aren't racist enough to vote on that basis. What they are is completely deluded by fantasy-level conspiracy stories. It's terrible.
Yes. Something like "Please, honorable and mighty sir, forgive my ignorance and my foolish womanly stupidity in questioning your incomparable knowledge of all American law and history, greater than any University historian or High Court Judge. I abase myself at you wonderfully shaped feet, and beg for your gracious forgiveness, unworthy of it as I am."
That might do it.
Astonishing though it might seem, if she DID say that as a sarcastic rejoinder - he'd probably nod and accept it as his due.
Personally, I think she should give him the same reply that the Zaphorozhian Cossacks gave to Sultan Mehmed IV. Mehmed, who had a touch of the Donnie's about him as well, wrote to them:
"As the Sultan; son of Muhammad; brother of the Sun and Moon; grandson and viceroy of God; ruler of the kingdoms of Macedonia,
Babylon, Jerusalem, Upper and Lower Egypt; emperor of emperors; sovereign of sovereigns; extraordinary knight, never defeated; steadfast
guardian of the tomb of Jesus Christ; trustee chosen by God himself; the hope and comfort of Muslims; confounder and great defender of
Christians—I command you, the Zaporozhian Cossacks, to submit to me voluntarily and without any resistance, and to desist from troubling
me with your attacks."
The Zaporozhian Cossacks (who, incidentally were Ukrainian) thought about that for a minute and then replied:
"Thou art a turkish imp, the damned devil's brother and friend, and a secretary to Lucifer himself. What the devil kind of knight art thou that cannot slay a hedgehog with your naked ass? The devil shits, and your army eats. Thou son of a bitch wilt not ever make subjects of Christian sons; we have no fear of your army, by land and by sea we will battle with thee, fuck thy mother.
Thou art the Babylonian scullion, Macedonian wheelwright, brewer of Jerusalem, goat-fucker of Alexandria, swineherd of Greater and Lesser Egypt, Armenian pig, Podolian villain, catamite of Tartary, hangman of Kamyanets, and fool of all the world and underworld, a fool before our God, a grandson of the Serpent, and the crick in our dick. Pig's snout, mare's arse, slaughterhouse cur, unchristened brow, screw thine own mother! So the Zaporozhians declare, you lowlife. Thou wilt not even be herding Christian pigs. Now we shall conclude, for we don't know the date
and don't have a calendar; the moon's in the sky, the year in the book, the day's the same over here as it is over there; for this kiss our ass!
Koshovyi Otaman Ivan Sirko, with the whole Zaporozhian Host."
I particularly like the thought that trump "cannot slay a hedgehog with his naked ass" - though from some of the stories that came out of court, perhaps he could. . .
Also, what a pity Putin didn't read this before he started messing with present day Zaporozhians. . .
You all may be having fun with your sarcasm, but he is our president who has totally rejected the rule of law. We must protest, call, write to our senators to stand up and save our country.
You're entirely correct, but I do think our senses of humor are vital to keeping us sane. And I much prefer entertaining sarcasm to the vicious attacks from the MAGAts.
Thank you again HCR for bringing forth my neighboring state of Maine hero’s words who stand opposed to the tactics of Republican Fascism. Too bad my 2 democratic NH senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire—as well as Angus King, a Maine independent didn’t feel as strongly when they voted along with the ‘other 7’ by joining Schumer’s fire sale of the CR budget approval.
Senator Smith was correct when she said “It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques—techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.”
If my NH senators would only remember our state moto, Live Free or Die…
Easy to blame "the Senators" Monroe, but I really didn't hear a heckuva a lot of noise from the 48% of us that voted. How did us voters behave as CONSTITUENTS of this Congress-person or that Senator? I think, we were all over the map, blaming the "media" for lack of attention. This country had 'issues' which demanded constituents of coalesce and demand attention - we didn't. The MAGAtts did.. didn't they.. Jan 6th! Voting is one thing, being an active "constituent" is power. We we just a fart in the duststorm, Monroe, and we lost.
Not my president! I made that known yesterday when my husband and I protested at the NCAA wrestling championships here in Philadelphia where trump and senator mccormick were in attendance. We brought our 11 and 13-yr-old grandchildren to show them what people have the power to do.
Saturday evening, 34,000 attended AOC/ Sanders speech in Denver. Thousands are attending empty-chair town halls, because elected senators and representatives are hiding from their constituents. They don 't answer their phoned, and they thank you for writing to them, and they assure you they will address this "important issue". It seems to me people want action something now not death by a thousand cuts over the next 6 months. In my opinion, schumer's, "Mother knows best" (credit Disney's <Tangled>) action is getting the reception it should be getting.
CONSTITUENTS taking akshunnn! Gonna need a lot more. But, this has to take focus or it's just going to be another Tea-Party fart in the windstorm. Only a few years back, Bernie got steam-rolled because things got myopic. And 'the TrumpBus' was on the roll, collecting "constituents" by handing out hats, t-shirts, and BS du jour. AOC has got to be the ball carrier. Bernie needs to be behind the curtain helping to keep things on track, and energizing "constituents", helping them focus, getting them to show up.
Yes, correct. Humans must have an emotional outlet @ the expense of the dirtbag we all despise. April 5th sould be a wonderous day of protest across The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
George! No one disagrees with you! But we need to reach the voters who are learning the truth, and are in pain as they are in the thick of the impacts on their families, and the folks who, for whatever irrational reasons, didn’t vote or even register..a full third of American adults who were eligible didn’t vote! These are the missing masses and many of them don’t see the current Democratic voices reaching them and their needs…Tim and Pete, and the voice that may be the loudest may be from the Maine-stream.
Yes. Seems like our Governor rang the puppets bell, "bigly". Hows about us CONSTITUENTS not letting her down. And, in this case, the whole nation becomes her "constituents". Better order up some Moxie for this one.
Yo.. Lady E, "two things"..? Lemme see: #1 Vote. #2 Be a active constituent... or, should that be first?. Writing letters, emails, calling Reps & Sens.., aint gonna do it. We gotta get off our derry-air and make some noise. Give "the media" something they can't brush off. The MAFGAtts did it.., Jan 6th, no? What'da we got? Nuthin!
Well the modern-day denizens of the medieval Kingdom of Rus' (yep: Ukraine was the ORIGINAL; the Muscovites are poor imitations) did actually say exactly that to Putin although in fewer words: when confronted on the Black Sea by a Russian destroyer and told to surrender, a Ukrainian warship responded "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."
This. Is. Awesome. I want to read what you're reading!! Where did you find this? It reminds me of just how lame we are at insults in this day and age; this is better than Shakespeare ("son & heir to a mongrel bitch" springs to mind), and I thought Shakespeare was good! Thank you!
I looked up Al Franken because the actor that played in The Residence, a series currently playing on Netflix, looked and sounded like him. Lo and behold, it was. The article went on to say that he may consider entering politics again.
Lady, you just made my am and I am grinning. Thank you for your post. I did like the hedgehog part too. I love hedgehogs and have a collection of them...not live ones. I also belong to a couple pages of people who do hedgehog rescue. As for the rest of their letter, it seems that insults that people hurl at each other have long been in use. PoorRichard says thanks the gods for historians and I second that.
Well Lady E, knowing a little about Senator Mills.., err ahh make that our Maine, Governor Mills, any coaching or thoughts will be cordially received. Having dealt with actual professionals., she's no rookie. However, tangling with this bombast idiot and his lunatic fringe(s), not to mention his unfettered access to any and all the carnivores of legal connivery money is providing him, is just part of the game. This Governor, has class.., "See you in court".., dude. You Go, Gov Mills! I'm gonna get some more popcorn.., and some Moxie to drink with it.
We are no longer a constitutional republic with a president who personalizes everything and demands others bow down. There are those who are fooled by his actions and think we are making a better, more efficient America. Those people lack perception, knowledge, and insight. They frighten me more than Trump.
Phil, they are in a cult. Also he appeals to those who harbor the same prejudices that he does and he has given them carte blanche to speak those prejudices and act on them. Some who voted him can be persuaded as more and more of them discover that they are going to suffer like the rest of us. Many years ago I had my government students write an essay about life without government. A few males thought it would be great to run wild, but most of them figured out what they would be missing. They did mention things like clean water.
I read an article where they interviewed Trump supporters that are retiring soon and every one of them said they are not concerned about him killing the values in their retirement funds because he made them grow the last time he was in office and they’re sure he’ll do it again. I wonder how many months of decline will convince them he will send us in a severe recession? What will be their tipping point?
We have financial advisors pouring out of the woodwork to hold dinners, brunches, events and such to discuss the economy with us. Last time this happened was the last time Trump was messing with the economy and we were losing jobs.
Agree Stephanie.., Vile. So below the office or this great Nation.., so beneath it. However, it's perfectly in line with the tripe we are getting from 1601 PornHub Close. I would only hope that that relatively innocent little 27 yr old waif Karo-line, won't choose to denigrate her self-esteemed ego by repeating it for the entertainment of the shidhouse press cadre. I rest.
Trump's enablers have to keep explaining what trump means because very often trump doesn't KNOW what he's saying - what comes out is just Freudian. . .
I am sorry for the young people losing their summers jobs to help pay for college. I’m sorry for the fires that will go unchecked. I am sorry for the children who will die from preventable diseases. I and sorry for the increased pollution, the dirty air and water. I am sorry that an anti-vaccine advocate is now teaching us about herd immunity, I am very sorry for all the neo-fascist people you (Donny John) have enabled to foment hate and fear with glee!
I'm really sorry his POS Nazi oldman didn't use a condom, then flush Donny dip-shit down the toilet....then nobody would have to ever hear of that criminal parasite orange bloated gas bag buffoon.
I think his reaction will actually fortify her, if need be, which I doubt. An intelligent and educated adult won't back away from a rude, badly-behaved child.
Unless you're a self-centered Republican politician that fully supports Project 2025 and the US withdrawal from NATO Anne.
Susan Collins has said on several occasions that her role model is Margaret Chase Smith.
Susan - you are no Margaret Chase Smith. You are a sniveling coward just like the rest of your wanna be fascist colleagues in Washington and state houses all across America.
I could not agree more. Susan Collins is an embarrassment to Maine. Shame on her. She had a chance to be a hero more than once. When is she up for election?
Sen. Collins is up for reelection in 2026. Here's an interesting fact : When Collins first ran for the Senate in 1996, she told Maine voters that, if elected, she would only serve 2 terms. She is now in her 5th term, & she undoubtedly hopes that we have all forgotten what she told us in 1996!
Speaking of clinging to the perks, there's Texas Rep. Kay Granger, one of the GOP contingent that flew to Moscow to kiss Putin's ring, who was unable to physically occupy the House seat she held because she became a resident at a $4,000/month assisted living facility where she was being treated for dementia, after being discovered wandering around her neighborhood, unable to find her way home.
For sure MadRussian. I was on the same flight to DC as Collins and Snowe in the early 2000's. It was maybe a 30 minute wait until we boarded. I kept watching them both and they never spoke to each other or even looked at each other. I sure wish Collins had quit instead of Olympia.
Yeah. Susan is just a "bit" two-faced. She lost every bit of her moderate stance when Olympia Snowe retired. Susie is a follower and when Senator Snowe left she was kind of at loose ends. Then she discovered Mitch McConnell and Leonard Leo. Turtleface McConnell directed her actions on the floor of the Senate and Leonard Leo helped her raise money.
Nowadays, we Mainers seldom see her and I'm sure she hasn't held a "town hall" in ages. She does show up when Bath Ironworks gets a new contract with the Navy or when a ship launches or some other high profile event where she can show off some accomplishment. But otherwise she is no longer a Mainer as far as I'm concerned.
Apparently it's been years since Susan Collins has held a townhall meeting, and lately been refusing despite many cries for her to do so. So i believe they went ahead and held one "without her"
Correct. My senior Senator, Susan Collins has not held a Town Hall in any city or town in Maine since 2019! Sen. Collins has missed her opportunity for a " Margaret Chase Smith Moment" numerous times in her career.
“I see that all of your questions seem to have a bias built into them,” Collins said while touring the Eastern Maine Community College’s Public Safety Training Center in Bangor. "
there are a smorgasbord of reasons why she keeps getting re-elected. I do think this will be her last term, however. I hope and pray the Maine Dems are armored against the possible surprise celebrity endorsement and (it must be said) superlative re-election campaign ads. I'd like to see Troy Jackson run against her but I think he's probably going to try for Governor
She has CONSTITUENTS who find her as the better choice of those we have been presented with. She has "name" recognition, and of course Roe V Wade..., bingo.
Susan Collins has neither the brains nor the backbone to emulate Margaret Chase Smith. In fact, I think she ought to be nominated for Andy Bororwitz's next Quisling of the Week Award.
I've written Susan many times. I've called her office as well. She meets with small groups of Mainers like Leonard Leo and the late fascist Linda Bean granddaughter of LL Bean. She got in trouble with the FEC for making excess contributions to Trump's campaign. She also meets with business groups especially in her adopted home town of Bangor. Susan replied to my emails a few times, and then she stopped because of my not so friendly rhetoric. No matter, I still write her even if she never sees the emails. BTW, she is up for reelection in 2026.
Thanks for the posts re: Susan Collins. I came here to comment on her total sellout of We The People all the way back to Rump's 1st term, voting lock-step with Repugs. We used to think of her and Lisa Murkowski as being possible women of integrity. I will call her office. (202) 224-2523
I hope you are right, but women missed a chance to save us in November. A majority of the votes of white women went to the felon. White men were worse, of course, but white women could have elected Harris if even, say, 53% of white women voters had been inclined to do so. Unfortunately, they weren’t. Women don’t by any means get the bulk of the blame for this catastrophe, but white women for sure missed their opportunity to save us.
Yup. That’s why Nancy Pelosi was so vilified by trumpublicans and the orange man himself. The GOP has become the ANTI party. The living embodiment of diminishing returns.
He is trying to distract from the things like the way he and Musk are tanking the economy for all Americans, which Europe cannot get over, but are preparing to take advantage of, and of him committing heinous crimes against immigrants. My understanding is that Venezuelans in the country on asylum visas are now in death camp prison in El Salvador.
That might just backfire. Too many negative displays tend to lose their street cred. P.S. Incidentally, remember all those videos of President Biden tripping or stumbling? I've only seen one (once) of Trump tripping on the staircase to Air Force 1 - holding hands with the 4-year-old Musk - I wonder why? The numerous and expensive Trump progeny must be feeling a change in temperature.
Meanwhile, little Musk and Trump hold hands while America burns.
Speaking of progeny - where are Trump's dim witted birth-right kids? Trump needs to put some teeth into his immigration policy and deport Melania and all his kids other than Tiffany.
What are we spending on security for Musk and his umpteen kids and ex-baby makers? And also Trump and his kids and grandkids.
Trump pulled the security from President Biden's sisters, so let's pull security from Trump's family.
Have you also noticed that he no longer holds rallies? I wonder why??? Could it be because he is deathly afraid that no one will show up &/or that there will be hecklers in the crowd? Or perhaps he's afraid of another attempt on his life? While that is a concern I note that it is not stopping others from standing up for what is right & then they go about their daily business when they know that they have targets on their back but they don't have Secret Service protection & still they prevail.
So much for being the 'big, tough guy' that bullies everyone around him.
He's afraid of a number of things right now. I expect he's seen the crowd sizes of Bernie and AOC's protests. 34K in Denver and 20K in Tucson! I watched yesterday and found it inspiring.
That first "attempt on his life" was as real as the folding-chair beatings at a TV wrestling match. Donald's cult are World Wrestling Entertainment fans. Hence, his choice of Linda McMahon as "education secretary."
It's unfortunate that an actual human being lost his life in that staged event.
I read he is not traveling much and took it as he’s so mentally and physically compromised the people running the country need to keep him under their thumbs. Has he conducted a meeting where he hasn’t throughly embarrassed himself and his sidekick J.D. helped cover for him with trumped up outrage?
The story is he was invited to the U.K. for a “secret” surprise from King Charles. Will he go and show us how uncouth he is yet again?
It is all about social media Trump controls social media. Look who is on the stage with him that is inauguration Mark Zuckerberg. Please take time to read the book Careless People about Facebook.
We had a friend that went to work for Facebook around 2016. When he told us what they do with our information I immediately deleted every post, picture and friend and then my account. I won’t even click a link to a Facebook page and many places use it as their business landing page now.
Not unseemly; simply bull-shit. As to Senator Chase Smith's bravery, I am reminded of William Jennings Bryan: "The humblest citizen of all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error."
AS WELL AS
"Never be afraid to stand with the minority when the minority is right, for the minority which is right will one day be the majority."
I hope she will continue to stand against Trump and hold the line. The track record of people falling in line is staggering. We are doomed if the folks in her state do not stand with her. He will get his way, which will warn others that they don't stand a chance.
Linda, we are a hearty folk up here in Maine- Orange Head won’t rattle us into submission. As a Maine women, we know how to take on these bullies. Governor Mills can handle his rhetoric! One exception is Collins- she has failed this State and many of us are not afraid to tell her. We will march, we will call our reps, we will write letters and we will campaign for Governor Mills if she decides to run for the Senate in 2026!
Caroline and Linda…isn’t there sweet irony/potential ‘ammunition’ in the current national attention gained by Newport’s Cooper being a number one NBA pick and the Maine Black Bears’ hockey rising again to take the East title. The high school and college sports environment in Maine is obviously dynamic….a great counterpunch
Senator King has been a fave of mine ever since he came to the sense. He has the BIG MIND and institutional respect to take pleasure in his seat and to teach the rest of us along the way about the Senate and American history. He is a worthy successor to Senator Snowe through Senator Chase Smith.
Ned, I too respect King but I still haven’t seen his explanation of why he voted not only to allow the bill to proceed but to pass it in its very destructive merits. I may just not have looked hard enough but it is a decision I question while acknowledging that there were reasons to follow the Schumer logic. My heart tells me that AOC is right:
“There are members of Congress who have won Trump-held districts in some of the most difficult territory in the United States who walked the plank and took innumerable risks in order to defend the American people,” she said.” Just to see Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing to Elon Musk, I think, is a huge slap in the face.”
Imagine thousands of people standing all around the security perimeter of the off-white house and laughing their heads for a few minutes and then telling the press, "We are so impressed with Trump and we wanted to show it. No one can make people laugh quite like he can."
I fear though, that in a Smith’s day, words to that effect could be spoken without a team of oiled up, steroid-addicted jar-heads carting you out of the chamber by the ankles.
Bonnie, I hope she does too and that she does show using some of the force of Smith”s words. But it also puts her in a very difficult position as leader of the State reliant on federal funds. The Courts might be able to eventually try to intervene should Trump cut all funding but that is not a reliable back stop. The state is purple and I am sure she will find both support and derision/threats should she refuse his obscene request for a personal blow job.
SO this is the excuse that Columbia U and other universities are using to remove DEI and other programs the administration (Project 25) is unhappy with. Governors, including Newsom, and universities need to stand together against the bullying of this regime. Together they are stronger. Academic freedom demands that we identify bullies and stand unified against them. Individual freedom demands a united front against bullies. Trump has used the withholding of taxpayer money to bully. Resist!
So, Kathy, I agree that this fiscal pressure justification must give way to a principled defense of democracy against such tyranny AT ALL COSTS. I was trying to brace myself for equivocation by Governor Mills as she faces pressure from the legislature and public educational institutions to protect their federal monies. She will not be running for Gov again so it’s not about that election prospect.
She has absolutely nothing to apologize for. The egomaniac-in-chief needs to hear constant unwarranted apologies and messages of gratitude. Yuck. And since Trump admitted he didn't sign the 1798 Act, why would it be legal?
A good forger could copy 45-47’s signature. Is someone signing executive orders without his knowledge? Not good that he can’t remember signing that order sending people out of the country. And people said Biden didn’t know what was happening.
I suspect Donald doesn't use an Autopen. He seems to enjoy scribbling that zigzag with a Sharpie on important-looking documents. With Musk and Vought running the country, Donald doesn't have much else to do, besides rage-posting on his failing social media platform.
I suspect this is why they put out the whole Biden auto pen story on his pardons last week. This way they can use it as an excuse and protect the DonOLD.
So I wasn’t the only one who noticed the sickness in that part. Mills should respond: “Even if I wished to do so, I cannot give you a full-throated apology, o Orange Emperor. The kind of apology you demand would not go much further than just the lips.”
there is certainly one woman from Maine who will not follow 'in a tradition of women from Maine who stood up for the principles of American democracy against bullies who would destroy it.' senator Susan Collins.
I would be delighted to be rid of his enablers. Unfortunately, there are 77 million of them. Still today! Probably more. Endemic throughout the population.
I have said this before but I will repeat here: we can drive the Felon absolutely nuts (well more nuts) by starting each sentence directed to him with "Well bless your li'l heart, honey": the ultimate southern put-down.
Thank you, Heather, for giving us the latest horror story as well as the historical references. Margaret Chase Smith is a towering figure for us to emulate.
Elizabeth Warren, who persists, Kamala Harris, who called him a liar to his face, Hillary Clinton, who won a debate with the bully who followed her around the stage. and every woman who left their state for medical care. What does it cost taxpayers every weekend for this crybaby bully putz (who cheated on his third pregnant wife and a long term mistress with a porn star he paid off) to play golf? This is not the WWE, you demented putz !
Thank you for re-posting it here in the comments! I see now that W was not the first to use “Democrat” as an adjective instead of Democratic. It’s interesting, too, to read MCS’s condemnation of Democrats, but she does so to prove by example the importance of the civil discourse in the practice of democracy.
And don't forget Angus King who has won elections in Maine as an Independent, something very few have pulled off anywhere in the US.
And speaking of 'sticking it to the man'. Yesterday, I was talking with a resident of Calais, ME. She said that the stores in Calais, ME are mostly empty as the Canadians are only crossing the border into the US when necessary. Mardens, Renys, Walgreens and even Walmart are feeling the economic consequences of Trump's ridiculous tariffs.
Canadian's are canceling US vacation plans and Europeans are being told to not come to the US. Thousands of businesses will suffer in several US states. It seems Americans don't have the fortitude to shop local or not at all, but the rest of the world seems to be on board.
It’s not that people lack fortitude to shop local. Every single grocery store in my area is a chain store. All of them except one make political contributions. There are local restaurants. Local businesses are nail and hair salons, boutiques, landscape businesses, etc. In some counties, the only grocery is Walmart. In 1960, the small town (1000 people) that my husband grew up in had a thriving business district. Everything was local. Now nearly all those store fronts are empty. The businesses still open are an insurance agency, a plumber’s business, and the post office. Those businesses won’t sustain everyday, ordinary life.
The chain stores drove out many independents years ago. Same with news outlets. Local news may be making a comeback. I wonder if some of the people wrongly fired by the musk rats will open local stores.
Friends of ours were traveling in Europe recently. They said people from other countries were mostly sympathetic about what is going on here, once they realized our friends were not MAGA supporters. But the Canadians they met were just flat-out disgusted with, and angry at, Americans. They are proud of their country and threatened by Trump and they are blaming American voters for being so out of touch with reality and for not standing up to the bully in the White House.
Dave, I'm in Corsica right now and before in Lyon and Marseille. We are having the same experience as your friends regarding the French people in general and we noticed, while watching French news on TV, good part of the time, the conversation is related to defense budget and the urgent need to replace the American military might. They feel abandoned and betrayed but I feel, they are ready with most of the other European countries to confront the new reality and stand up to the challenge. Thanks for your comment 👍
I understand that the Europeans need to build up their military, given that Trump will probably pull out of NATO completely, at some point. But the ripple effects could be substantial, depending on how the build up is financed. Great Britain is cutting foreign aid to do it. Will others?
Don't know the answer to your question Dave but it would make sense to me since, I guess, they'll try to minimize the substantial impact to the population. What i can assure you is that the "Pax Americana" that ruled the world for 80 years it's over and the scumbag president doesn't have any idea what the replacement would be.
They don't have other alternative Kathy. Some of those countries have been under Russian control as Poland and the Baltic states and they are determined to prevent that for happening again. Sad state of affairs. Eventually Russia would confront a much weaker front without the US. And that's tempting for a big ego like Putin
Please do not paint the Canadians in a bad light. We have many friends who vacation and camp in US parks. They are kind caring people who are just as confused as many Americans about where this is headed. They’ve canceled trips here out of fear and uncertainty. Those red hats some campers wore while camping were a signal to stay away from talking politics.
Hi Cathy, I’m not trying to paint Canadians in a bad light. I’m sorry if it came across that way. I think their confusion and anger are completely justified. When our dysfunction crosses the border because the lunatic in the White House talks about annexing a free, independent nation, there’s every reason to be upset.
I agree...My partner and I have been vacationing in Canada for many years--mostly in the Province of Prince Edward Island. We have made reservations again this year and I'm hoping that the animus is directed at the government rather than the ordinary citizens. I feel like I need to put a sign on my car that states that we DID NOT VOTE FOR THAT PIECE OF ORANGE GARBAGE.
Where I live we have many Canadians with dual citizenship -- more than live in some Canadian provinces. They pay US taxes and Florida real estate taxes and own businesses that employ roughly 54,000 Americans.
We are a majority Dem county, with three (3) MAGAT House reprentatives. All are Cuban Americans. All have recently discovered that most of their constiuents, and even themselves are considered DEI by Musk. Their majajority donors come from CANF, the Cuban American National Foundation. 2 of the 3 had been Dems. One, born in Cuba, was a Dem mayor until 2020. They spent their lives fighting Castroism and the Cuban government -- aligned with Putin. All have protested Trump immigration policy.
We need to pressure them. Write. Call. Picket. Sit in.
I think Trump's downfall will be that many Congressional Republicans did not sign up to be members of the axis of evil.
Perhaps you are right, but I’m concerned that there are even MORE conservative, MAGA-loving folks out there who will take over those seats. Backed by Musk’s money and right-wing media, they can topple the incumbents. Remember when FOX was considered the most right-wing news outlet? Then came Newsmax and AON and the openly Fascist podcasts.
You can thank at&t for AON, their executives in texas kept it alive thinking that we needed another conservative outlet. I used them for over 20 years for my cellphone service, when I read about that I switched. I still have their fiber feeding my house which I would love to switch as well. Fuck at&t.
Gary, I appreciate the sentiment of your comment, except the "Americans lacking fortitude" part.
The overwhelming majority of Americans don't have the option of avoiding chain and big-box stores, not because of lacking fortitude, but for lacking choice and/or income.
As JennSH has pointed out, many small towns across the U.S. have no local choices for household basics. It's either Walmart or nothing. The old downtown storefronts are boarded up and vacant.
In communities where there are local businesses, these smaller merchants are unable to match the lower prices found at Walmart or Kroger. People who are just trying to survive, living paycheck to paycheck, can't afford to make buying choices based on principle.
When we are offering criticism, it's important to make the distinction between those who know better and do the wrong thing anyway, and those who have no choices in life.
I watched Walmart devastate the local businesses in Rolla, MO when my wife was attending UMR. During her years at UMR several businesses either closed down or were on the verge including K-Mart.
Walmart purposefully eliminated their competition and forced their suppliers into offering them better pricing than other stores.
Here in ME Walmart is the only store for 30 or 40 miles in many places, so I understand that people don't have a choice a lot of the time.
But I still refuse to support the oligarchy. My wife wanted a specific grocery item just today and I went to three grocery stores and none of them had it. Online it should Walmart and Amazon have it, but I refuse to patronize either one.
We grow much of our own produce and have several fruit trees. I understand that many people down have room for even a small garden.
But, there are millions of people that shop at the big box stores regardless of the prices. And buy things they don't need.
Walmart destroyed Othello, WA. NO competition. All bankrupt years ago. They built one in Spencer, WV- on the ground of the fromer State Mental Hospital. Same thing- small business' closed.
I applaud this action. But unless this is a consistent item in the news it might not help that much. What Trump wants to happen is for us to get mad at Canada. He wants to divide the Canadians and the Americans so we will get mad and he can attack Canada.
Not only is Angus King an Independent Senator, but he was our SECOND Independent Governor. Our first Independent Governor was James Longley--an rightward leaning Independent, while Angus King was/is more leftwards leaning.
We are a State full of independent cusses and 'cussettes'.
Smith’s “Declaration of Conscience” speech is an example of a lasting legacy in the written word. I think I’ll offer my grandchildren a reward ($$) if they will google and read her speech given June 1, 1950 to the U.S. Senate, and then discuss it with me for 10 minutes. Smith’s legacy belongs to all of us and we must pass it on.
The confusion over who signed the executive order seems to be part of a pattern that suggests that Trump is less engaged in driving both the actions of the administration and its communications than during his previous term. It is not just the time spent in Florida and on the golf course. It is the stream of EOs and statements that were likely prepared by operatives associated with Project 2025 and for which Trump is little more than the mouthpiece. (Though it appears that Musk is driven by motivations that are not exclusive to the objectives of Project 2025.)
The style and vocabulary of many of the messages issued on Trumps' social media platform are strikingly uncharacteristic--apart from the signature all-caps statements appended to them, probably with the intention of making them seem "authentic." This is an administration that has delegated its planning, its strategy, and its communications to a set of players who, apart from Musk, Miller and the cabinet members, are largely out of the public eye.
Shall we say that there is such a thing as a "PINO"--a "President in Name Only"?
I think you are correct. Agent Orange golfs and sends texts, but Vought and Miller run the Presidential suite and Musk runs around distracting attention from the real dirty work going in within the West Wing. Vance and his puppet master, Thiel, might be more involved behind the scenes than we think. He was with Agent Orange and Zelensky at that press conference for a reason, probably to keep his boss from going off on an uncontrolled tangent. Notice also that Agent Orange always blames others for things he is doing himself, like signing stuff with an autopen.
Three other possible explanations for the “who signed” explanation: 1) another of millions of lies from Trump; 2) dementia; 3) Musk playing with the Autopen.
Who knows, it might just be a reflexive response from decades of avoiding blame or accepting responsibility. Of he might genuinely have no recollection of signing.
Yes, Anne Marie, the true Trump would even throw his mother under the bus to keep him from blame. That’s why he MUST be brought out and severely punished in public — by those who would be thrown under the bus.
I am willing to bet every cent I own that Donald has not read any of the EOs he has signed. For starters, he would stumble on the verbiage because he's learning-disabled and barely literate. The spate he signed during his first two weeks had been written by Russell Vought's gang months earlier.
Donald doesn't use an Autopen because, for all intents and purposes, he IS an Autopen. Aides write the orders and slide them in front of him to sign for photo opps. Unless it's a bank check, he has no idea what he's signed.
As for Musk, he's remaking government to put more money in his pocket and eliminate investigations into his malpractices. The other demolitions are meant as camouflage to distract the press and the public from what he's really up to. He has no real interest in Project 2025, except when it serves his personal interest.
Honestly, did anyone think that it would be anything but PINO? Just title, attention and power without any of the messy bits like responsibility, thinking, accountability, duh work.
Trump travels on Marine One as he goes his Bedminster golf course on the Taxpayers’ dime. This trip alone will cost us $2.9 million, which could have been used by USAID to provide 11 million HIV antiretroviral therapy doses to people in need.
Trump is doing his two usual things, throwing Rubio under the bus for his own misdeed, and trying to intimidate the governor as a warning to others not to stand up to him. If nothing else, he is predictable.
There’s a way to fight abuse - in Trump’s case, abuse of power and position, and abuse by demanding submission where none is due. One is calling out such hypocrisy and cowardice, which you, Professor HCR, have done. Two is using the law and courts to do what they are there to do, which is push the determination of facts into broad daylight and render judgment in clear and unmistakable terms. No “full throated apology” is necessary, nor should it even be considered yet alone rendered. To do so further enables this white privileged man to continue his pathological domination of women and especially women in power.
This is a big power-play for Trump. If he can squash a state for not agreeing with him he will. I’m sure the negative social media against her and her family
has started. I imagine she has beefed up security for her family. Michelle Obama said in her book that when Trump started repeating the birth lie about Biden Her children were threatened. She was threatened.
That’s a really good point you do see a little in the news that certain officials have been threatened by Trump. I think it was in the last Trump trial with stormy in which the judge and the judge’s families addresses were posted by Musk. And in Michelle Obama’s book she said the birther lie about Obama caused her children to be threatened, caused her to be threatened, caused President Obama to be threatened. It was a lie, and Trump kept telling the lie, he knew he was putting lives in danger. He kept telling the lie. This has been going on a long time. And then we had January 6 allfueled by election fraud lie lies. It is a total disregard of accountability.
Yes, the people threatening trump's "enemies" are doing as trump knows they will. His DOJ will do nothing to find and prosecute the very people who help keep right-wing Congress people in line.
If his political allies are threatened similarly, the DOJ will not rest until they are brought to justice.
Rubio is the scapegoat….although he has no one to blame but himself.
There are hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in South Florida.
“The three members also have a powerful ally in Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also a South Florida Cuban American. Rubio, all three said, is firmly on the same page as them when it comes to protecting Venezuelans on TPS.
Kathy, Rubio it's a traitor to the whole Cuban community in Miami or at least those that really come longing for freedom and liberty, unlike those saying so and voted for the scumbag president's authoritarian policies. He's also a traitor to the Venezuelan, Haitians and the rest of those in need of real political refugees. He is another coward willing to accept responsibility for the biggest coward of them all.
I think what trump is doing it's much worse than what was done in Cuba, generally speaking. They almost never lived in a democracy and it was a switch from one dictator to another. Abuses and killing of political opponents was common on both Batista and Castro. What trump is doing to this country was unimaginable few months ago. He is destroying 250 years of democracy, the rule of law, the 80 years of "Pax Americana" and the American century. Democracy, with all its defects, served well this country and the world.
Now it's being dismantled in the name of a tax cut, religion supremacy over science. Too long to cover here Gregg.
In any case, most Cuban families I know voted maga after saying they come to the US for freedom and liberty. Go figure 🤔 . Thanks for your question 👍
It is counterintuitive, but they explain it as “JFK sold this out at the Bay of Pigs” so Democrats can’t be trusted. 66 years later, they’re still talking about it.
100, the invasion was planned by the CIA and approved by the Eisenhower administration. It contemplated an uprising of the Cuban people as soon as the invasion started and and immediate recognition of a Cuban government in exile. JFK assumed the presidency end of January, invasion was launched begging of April. Smart Kennedy decided to wait to see what happens and guess what? The Cuban population didn't care, keep eating pastelitos and drinking coffee and that was the end of it. Were the American mothers ready to send their sons to die for the coffee drinkers while watching the fight on TV without lifting a finger? There you have the answer.
I know! AND Kennedys spent more time trying to figure out how to kill/remove Castro than anyone else that followed. But STILL all ya hear in Miami 'Bay of Pigs' blah blah. It's crazy.
Here’s to Governor Mills! If we were talking baseball cards, trade value for one Governor Mills card would be 10,000 Trump cards. He doesn’t even understand the issues, certainly not the values, and like always with bullying, he is afraid of her. So he never forgets that she taught him a lesson in the art of the public space, so he doubles down on the bullying. There is no bottom, only shame!
None of this fascist implementation could happen if the party wasn't 100% committed to it.
They spent the last four years planning and engineering the rapid dismantling of our government, they are successfully undermining our system, so the ultra-rich (Oligarchs) can privatize our institutions and steal what is left of the wealth of the bottom 90%.
We must stop them and tax the rich to pay off the national debt and fund Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and first-class education for everyone. We must end their ability to buy elections and then regulate businesses and corporations to prevent them from taking advantage of or harming the public.
We’d better win some elections! Your “musts” are fine, but won’t happen without serious work recruiting candidates, identifying clear leaders, and a unified opposition that is focused on winning without all the baggage of something for everyone. Campaign in all fifty states, donate $, be relentless. We are really good at talking to ourselves on SubStack…cathartic, but insular, as most of America aren’t here. Bernie, AOC, Tim Walz, Chris Murphy, Jamie Raskin, Pete Buttigieg, and others need to keep the barnstorming going, and they need to be funded. A relentless, co-ordinated effort in all areas.
The most excellent description of trump I have ever heard! Thank you Ralph T. for summing it up for all of us in just a few paragraphs. You literally could not have done a better job describing the illiterate con man bully president. I will keep going back to your description and analysis of our current administration in reading it over and over because I definitely could not have said it better. Ralph, you rule!
You are 100% correct, sir! Thank you for this post! And his base is just as lazy as he is! My idiot mother and my vile stepfather voted for him in 2016, based solely on watching him on "The Apprentice." 🤦♀️ I was dumbfounded when they told me "he surrounds himself with the best people" BS. The truth was, and I know this from growing up in that dysfunctional household, they are racist to their core. If they could find an easy (the lazy way) way out of situations, they took it. Blame everyone else for their self-inflicted misery, just like ALL MAGA voters.
I read that he was so bad at his part on The Apprentice they had to cut it down to about 5 minutes an episode where he said “you’re fired”. I’ve never seen the show. They had to make a fake office for him for the show because his own was so shabby and run down. Makes you wonder if his New York penthouse is as glamorous gaudy as the photo shoots show or if it’s all staged.
Bravo Senator Smith, across the decades. The acronym is indelible: Four Horsemen of Calumny, F I B S.
On his way to golf. Heather's scorn today is palpable. The whole story is so childish! "It wasn't me, miss, honest. I think it was him, yes, it must have been him."
I wonder if it’s possible for those of us who oppose these totalitarian techniques to file a class action lawsuit against Trump and his administration?
Can't speak to or for the ACLU in regards to a case like this - taxation without representation - but I am reassured to read about & track the cases the ACLU is party to:
Thank you for this. In a time of increasing regression of the rights of women and girls, it is inspiring and encouraging to focus on women and in general Americans who are recognizing that daily, we are witnessing the destruction of our country. When and where can I sign up to stand next to my fellow citizens to say, while we are not perfect, it is still our country and we have an obligation to protect it and improve it. Is it going to be after we all lose what we have taken for granted (our National Parks, our post offices, our schools, our fundamental rights as laid out in the Bill of Rights, etc.). I just know, that Heather, what you have been doing since 2019 has been a gift and has been my touchstone in these perilous times. Thank you for all you do.
Good for Mills and good for Smith. What about the rest of you lily livered senators and representatives? Mike Johnson, don’t you think you should do some praying on how unchristlike you are?? You, too, Senator Thune. You really want to be complicit in the privatization of America?
Talk about unAmerican Activities in Congress. It is rife with it!
Interestingly I read that this is the longest the Senate has been in session without a break. Is Thune keeping them in session to stop Trump from doing all those recess appointments he wants?
What recess appointments?? They are confirming EVERYONE! Gaetz was the only one who went down in flames and he was too toxic for even the Repubs. I guess that’s what is takes, a porn child molester.
I know but I read yesterday there are about 250 appointments left. The social security head that threatened to shut it down is only acting. If they went on recess everyone would magically be appointed no matter how disgusting they are.
The White House communications director Steven Cheung said Trump personally signed the deportation proclamation, and his signature appears on the document in the Federal Register of official government documents.
SO: this does not "raise questions about who is in charge of White House policy."
In my view, an appropriate response to this would be:
"The evidence is clear that Trump is lying about this because of the negative response to what constituted extrajudicial renditions. Based upon his refusal to ever take responsibility for anything he would rather avoid, Trump will deflect this to others, and perhaps, if necessary, go so far as to fire Steven Cheung and speculate that his signature was forged. I expect he will never admit that it is his signature on the order, although it is there for anyone to see."
We all need to be brave. We need to speak up. I no longer fear hurting someone’s feelings as there is a difference between political opinion and human rights.
"Full throated apology" is particularly unseemly coming from a man to a woman. We are so battered with his bad behavior that we don't notice the little things anymore. I hope Mills will continue with fortitude and stare him down.
Suggestion:
I am sorry you were elected
I am sorry you are a total POS
I am sorry Merrick Garland delayed and you are not in jail
I am sorry for our country
I am sorry for your embarrassing behavior to Zelensky
I am sorry you are such a Putin stooge
I am sorry you are so petty and small in both deeds and physically
I am sorry...it is endless...shall I continue?
I am sorry no one taught you how to apply foundation correctly; I am sorry your ego is so enormous; I am sorry for your cruelty and claims of victimhood; I am sorry for all the damage you are doing to this country; I am sorry for all the women you have assaulted or denigrated; I am sorry you were ever born.
Add… “I’m sorry you have to compensate so hard for that tiny little, (according to Stormy) misshapen penis.”
Dave A-you should have signed that "Melania"
LOL. Yeah, but it’s probably been so long since she’s seen that “thing” she’s forgotten what it looks like or has banished the vile image from her memory.
I'm sorry so many people beat me to the "I apologize for not being a sycophant" punch.
Perfect!👌🏻
Straying a bit far into enemy territory. Penis jokes? Really?
When Little Marco and Trump decided to bring up “size” at the so-called “debate” this became fair game, IMO.
Apply foundation? Oh, lauriemcf, that's his "tan". He's a bronze god doncha know.
Honestly, how do people near him look at that mess and not break out laughing? He is such a joke.
It makes me wonder if his “makeup artist” is working for our side.
Ahhhh. I never thought of that. You might be on to something. Make him look like the jackass that he is.
He doesn’t need makeup for that!
How would he look without all the makeup and hairspray?
😂
Got to figure female world leaders like Angela Merkel and First Ladies got an extra 'kick' out of seeing the makeup slathered on indiscriminately!
Just like Rosemary’s baby but in real time!
Yeah ya know, when he has a clear demarcation line by ear it looks so ....pathetic? So amateur? So High schoolish? So....?
Sorry no one taught you how to apply foundation correctly. That is a hoot
The only thing I would add is “…and that foundation and bronzer aren’t the same thing.”
Excellent. A little man still trying to prove himself to his dad.
💝💝💙
Maybe add - I’m sorry, but you want all decisions to be made at the State Level, right, sir? I mean - “Let the States decide, right, sir?” That’s why we don’t need a Federal Department of Education, right, sir? Just checkin’, sir.
trump is such a full-time hypocrite. Not one single redeeming quality not one. Let him be the symbol for all that is wrong in this country and what we need to do to correct it -ASAP!!
HCR: " ... events raises questions about who is in charge of White House policy"... On 3/21 I believe Catherine Rampell answered the questions:
"DOGE is making government almost comically inefficient." More like a bad Tragicomedy.
Rampell continued: "They're like a kid in a nuclear power plant running around hitting buttons." Actually there are at least 5 kids 19-25 & 1 gleeful destroyer, a white male, Afrikaner Gang Leader.
If Biden would have made the claim about that decision that he didn’t do it every media outlet in the country would have been screaming for his removal. Yet, this is not the first time we’ve seen clearly that Trump is an empty face and fascists are running the government.
Trump used his whole disclosure of Biden using the signing pen to make the country aware it existed so he could claim he didn’t sign things. He will throw everyone else under the bus.
I urge those here to subscribe to Andra Watkins "For Such a Time As This" and watch her interview with a Microsoft IT Security Manager ASAP. The story is "Protect Yourself From The DOGE Cyberattack." Things are more dangerous than you probably suspect. It's about an hour long and you'll want to take notes.
Thank you Gregg Binder. I use Malwarebytes for Android for real time digital protection which includes "... a next Gen VPN for privacy".
I keep thinking about Ferris Bueller‘s day off
Harvey, I read what you wrote and then stopped to think - is there not just one redeeming quality? I'm still searching my brain. Trump may be the most unique person in the history of the world - not even one.
Consider The Scout Law: “A Scout is trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent.”
Of those 12 virtues, Trump exemplifies none. Since he’s a noted germophobe, I thought, well maybe “clean,” but the interpretive statement for that element says: “Keep your body and mind fit. Help keep your home and community clean.”
So nope, not that one either.
The felon in chief is no Scout. That’s for sure. Unfortunately, his base considers that to be a plus.
Maybe not unique, but every Republican (politician, voter, couch potato, of whatever) is a net negative for humanity.
Thee should be a poster that says “Tread on Me” over Trumps picture.
They only approve of State's Rights when they accord with the MAGAs desires.
I have read about what causes one to be a MAGAt. They are either stupid, ignorant or racist, or all three. "The Anger Games: Who Voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 Election, and Why?" published in the Feb. 2018 edition of Critical Sociology. "Stony the Road," by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. "A Fever in the Heartland," by Timothy Egan, about the rise of the KKK in Midwest in the 1920's. "How the South Won the Civil War," by Heather Cox Richardson.
There is a fourth reason. Some of them have become so enmeshed in conspiracy-theory-driven unreality that they honestly believe that it's the Democrats who have been doing all the things Trump is doing. They believe there is a Deep State, a sinister plot, you name it. My own brother is convinced that Trump has been 'persecuted'. My MAGA family members aren't stupid and they aren't racist enough to vote on that basis. What they are is completely deluded by fantasy-level conspiracy stories. It's terrible.
Governor Mills needs to leave off the "sir" part. He already gets enough toadying from all the people surrounding him on knee pads
No, she was right to use “sir” because she used it in a way to intimidate him.
Exactly, Marlene - if she uses “Sir” that’s an honorific, right? Trump can’t say that she was being disrespectful.
On the other hand, we all know that sometimes “Sir” means Sucha Ignorant RatFink (or similar).
I was thinking that too! Well, we all know about him & hypocrisy.
How to lose the sense of The United States of America
Good point. Isn’t Mill’s trying to keep it at state level
Lol. Print it and send it to her.
Not sure Himself will deem this "full throated" enough...
Yes. Something like "Please, honorable and mighty sir, forgive my ignorance and my foolish womanly stupidity in questioning your incomparable knowledge of all American law and history, greater than any University historian or High Court Judge. I abase myself at you wonderfully shaped feet, and beg for your gracious forgiveness, unworthy of it as I am."
That might do it.
Astonishing though it might seem, if she DID say that as a sarcastic rejoinder - he'd probably nod and accept it as his due.
Personally, I think she should give him the same reply that the Zaphorozhian Cossacks gave to Sultan Mehmed IV. Mehmed, who had a touch of the Donnie's about him as well, wrote to them:
"As the Sultan; son of Muhammad; brother of the Sun and Moon; grandson and viceroy of God; ruler of the kingdoms of Macedonia,
Babylon, Jerusalem, Upper and Lower Egypt; emperor of emperors; sovereign of sovereigns; extraordinary knight, never defeated; steadfast
guardian of the tomb of Jesus Christ; trustee chosen by God himself; the hope and comfort of Muslims; confounder and great defender of
Christians—I command you, the Zaporozhian Cossacks, to submit to me voluntarily and without any resistance, and to desist from troubling
me with your attacks."
The Zaporozhian Cossacks (who, incidentally were Ukrainian) thought about that for a minute and then replied:
"Thou art a turkish imp, the damned devil's brother and friend, and a secretary to Lucifer himself. What the devil kind of knight art thou that cannot slay a hedgehog with your naked ass? The devil shits, and your army eats. Thou son of a bitch wilt not ever make subjects of Christian sons; we have no fear of your army, by land and by sea we will battle with thee, fuck thy mother.
Thou art the Babylonian scullion, Macedonian wheelwright, brewer of Jerusalem, goat-fucker of Alexandria, swineherd of Greater and Lesser Egypt, Armenian pig, Podolian villain, catamite of Tartary, hangman of Kamyanets, and fool of all the world and underworld, a fool before our God, a grandson of the Serpent, and the crick in our dick. Pig's snout, mare's arse, slaughterhouse cur, unchristened brow, screw thine own mother! So the Zaporozhians declare, you lowlife. Thou wilt not even be herding Christian pigs. Now we shall conclude, for we don't know the date
and don't have a calendar; the moon's in the sky, the year in the book, the day's the same over here as it is over there; for this kiss our ass!
Koshovyi Otaman Ivan Sirko, with the whole Zaporozhian Host."
I particularly like the thought that trump "cannot slay a hedgehog with his naked ass" - though from some of the stories that came out of court, perhaps he could. . .
Also, what a pity Putin didn't read this before he started messing with present day Zaporozhians. . .
This is the most fun I've had reading a comment in a long time.Wonderful stuff. Thank the gods for historians!
...and women!!!!
Yes!!! Exactly. Could not have said it better.
I also think that "The devil shits - and your army eats" could be applied to Musk, Bannon, Flynn etc.
At what point will we note that the Steve’s, Stephen and the other toad, really are evil incarnate!
Scum of the earth is a kindness when speaking of them.
Rock on sister!
let them eat!!
You all may be having fun with your sarcasm, but he is our president who has totally rejected the rule of law. We must protest, call, write to our senators to stand up and save our country.
You're entirely correct, but I do think our senses of humor are vital to keeping us sane. And I much prefer entertaining sarcasm to the vicious attacks from the MAGAts.
Agreed. Otherwise we would be reduced to sitting in a corner, weeping. (How I was yesterday, pretty much.) Also, there is 4/5 coming right up!
"write to our senators to stand up"
It is very hard for the senators to stand up when they don't have spines.
Thank you again HCR for bringing forth my neighboring state of Maine hero’s words who stand opposed to the tactics of Republican Fascism. Too bad my 2 democratic NH senators Maggie Hassan and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire—as well as Angus King, a Maine independent didn’t feel as strongly when they voted along with the ‘other 7’ by joining Schumer’s fire sale of the CR budget approval.
Senator Smith was correct when she said “It is high time that we all stopped being tools and victims of totalitarian techniques—techniques that, if continued here unchecked, will surely end what we have come to cherish as the American way of life.”
If my NH senators would only remember our state moto, Live Free or Die…
Easy to blame "the Senators" Monroe, but I really didn't hear a heckuva a lot of noise from the 48% of us that voted. How did us voters behave as CONSTITUENTS of this Congress-person or that Senator? I think, we were all over the map, blaming the "media" for lack of attention. This country had 'issues' which demanded constituents of coalesce and demand attention - we didn't. The MAGAtts did.. didn't they.. Jan 6th! Voting is one thing, being an active "constituent" is power. We we just a fart in the duststorm, Monroe, and we lost.
Not my president! I made that known yesterday when my husband and I protested at the NCAA wrestling championships here in Philadelphia where trump and senator mccormick were in attendance. We brought our 11 and 13-yr-old grandchildren to show them what people have the power to do.
Bravo!!!
Saturday evening, 34,000 attended AOC/ Sanders speech in Denver. Thousands are attending empty-chair town halls, because elected senators and representatives are hiding from their constituents. They don 't answer their phoned, and they thank you for writing to them, and they assure you they will address this "important issue". It seems to me people want action something now not death by a thousand cuts over the next 6 months. In my opinion, schumer's, "Mother knows best" (credit Disney's <Tangled>) action is getting the reception it should be getting.
CONSTITUENTS taking akshunnn! Gonna need a lot more. But, this has to take focus or it's just going to be another Tea-Party fart in the windstorm. Only a few years back, Bernie got steam-rolled because things got myopic. And 'the TrumpBus' was on the roll, collecting "constituents" by handing out hats, t-shirts, and BS du jour. AOC has got to be the ball carrier. Bernie needs to be behind the curtain helping to keep things on track, and energizing "constituents", helping them focus, getting them to show up.
Yes, correct. Humans must have an emotional outlet @ the expense of the dirtbag we all despise. April 5th sould be a wonderous day of protest across The UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
George! No one disagrees with you! But we need to reach the voters who are learning the truth, and are in pain as they are in the thick of the impacts on their families, and the folks who, for whatever irrational reasons, didn’t vote or even register..a full third of American adults who were eligible didn’t vote! These are the missing masses and many of them don’t see the current Democratic voices reaching them and their needs…Tim and Pete, and the voice that may be the loudest may be from the Maine-stream.
Yes. Seems like our Governor rang the puppets bell, "bigly". Hows about us CONSTITUENTS not letting her down. And, in this case, the whole nation becomes her "constituents". Better order up some Moxie for this one.
Absolutely - but there's no law (yet) against doing two things at once. . .
Yo.. Lady E, "two things"..? Lemme see: #1 Vote. #2 Be a active constituent... or, should that be first?. Writing letters, emails, calling Reps & Sens.., aint gonna do it. We gotta get off our derry-air and make some noise. Give "the media" something they can't brush off. The MAFGAtts did it.., Jan 6th, no? What'da we got? Nuthin!
Lovely! Reminiscent of Python’s “I fart in your general direction!”
Say it in an atrocious French accent!
Well the modern-day denizens of the medieval Kingdom of Rus' (yep: Ukraine was the ORIGINAL; the Muscovites are poor imitations) did actually say exactly that to Putin although in fewer words: when confronted on the Black Sea by a Russian destroyer and told to surrender, a Ukrainian warship responded "Russian warship, go fuck yourself."
This. Is. Awesome. I want to read what you're reading!! Where did you find this? It reminds me of just how lame we are at insults in this day and age; this is better than Shakespeare ("son & heir to a mongrel bitch" springs to mind), and I thought Shakespeare was good! Thank you!
We need Al Franken back!
Oh yes! "BRING BACK AL!"
It's too bad that the despicable Republicans railroaded him out, based on a totally POSED photo that they reframed as an example of sexual assault.
I looked up Al Franken because the actor that played in The Residence, a series currently playing on Netflix, looked and sounded like him. Lo and behold, it was. The article went on to say that he may consider entering politics again.
Lady, you just made my am and I am grinning. Thank you for your post. I did like the hedgehog part too. I love hedgehogs and have a collection of them...not live ones. I also belong to a couple pages of people who do hedgehog rescue. As for the rest of their letter, it seems that insults that people hurl at each other have long been in use. PoorRichard says thanks the gods for historians and I second that.
Mrs. Tiggywinkle!
Thanks, Lady Emsworth, for highlighting what will be my next research-for-fun topic!
Well Lady E, knowing a little about Senator Mills.., err ahh make that our Maine, Governor Mills, any coaching or thoughts will be cordially received. Having dealt with actual professionals., she's no rookie. However, tangling with this bombast idiot and his lunatic fringe(s), not to mention his unfettered access to any and all the carnivores of legal connivery money is providing him, is just part of the game. This Governor, has class.., "See you in court".., dude. You Go, Gov Mills! I'm gonna get some more popcorn.., and some Moxie to drink with it.
I so like that dry "See you in court. . ."
Took trump aback - as it's usually HIS line!
Thank you so very much!!
And YOU and WE are “out here”…. Thank YOU!
And I just noted???!!!! And am a bit weirded out… that the ‘ending’ of Armenian's last names often end in “ian’
You know Yossarian in "Catch 22" was also one of those pesky Armenians?
As are some of my dearest friends…. Thank YOU Lady Emsworth (my maiden name is Ellsworth (-: )
Rather let’s ignore him and each write a full throated thank you to Mills. Then share those here!
I’m on it!
Awesome idea !
We are no longer a constitutional republic with a president who personalizes everything and demands others bow down. There are those who are fooled by his actions and think we are making a better, more efficient America. Those people lack perception, knowledge, and insight. They frighten me more than Trump.
Phil, they are in a cult. Also he appeals to those who harbor the same prejudices that he does and he has given them carte blanche to speak those prejudices and act on them. Some who voted him can be persuaded as more and more of them discover that they are going to suffer like the rest of us. Many years ago I had my government students write an essay about life without government. A few males thought it would be great to run wild, but most of them figured out what they would be missing. They did mention things like clean water.
I read an article where they interviewed Trump supporters that are retiring soon and every one of them said they are not concerned about him killing the values in their retirement funds because he made them grow the last time he was in office and they’re sure he’ll do it again. I wonder how many months of decline will convince them he will send us in a severe recession? What will be their tipping point?
We have financial advisors pouring out of the woodwork to hold dinners, brunches, events and such to discuss the economy with us. Last time this happened was the last time Trump was messing with the economy and we were losing jobs.
So true!
Remember that awesome painting of two women cutting the rapist's throat wide open...that would work for me.
Artemisia Gentileschi.'s famous canvas,.for one.
...or two.
https://i.natgeofe.com/n/79112fe8-e35c-4786-a7b1-67b618a27308/judith-beheading-holofernes-painting_2x3.jpg?w=374&h=561
Wow. Deadly payback.
And don't forget the awesome painting of ONE woman driving a tent stake through an enemy's head. Boy, the Bible has some strong women in it.
Jael and Sisera, by the same artist as Judith slaying Holofernes.
Judith Slaying Holofernes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Slaying_Holofernes_(Artemisia_Gentileschi,_Naples)
I’m sorry, but what exactly is meant by “full throated” …asking for a friend
Yes - that is just gross
Agree Stephanie.., Vile. So below the office or this great Nation.., so beneath it. However, it's perfectly in line with the tripe we are getting from 1601 PornHub Close. I would only hope that that relatively innocent little 27 yr old waif Karo-line, won't choose to denigrate her self-esteemed ego by repeating it for the entertainment of the shidhouse press cadre. I rest.
Mad, nicely put. I have a friend who has made Karo-line (I will pass this on to her) her special subject to revile.
One of his lackeys words because that’s too much for DonOld.
Is she called "Linda" by any chance?
Trump's enablers have to keep explaining what trump means because very often trump doesn't KNOW what he's saying - what comes out is just Freudian. . .
S’Ok, He can’t actually read.
'Small' Physically?... Have you been talking to Stormy Daniels?...
Ha!
Replace "I am sorry" with "I am horrified" that....
I am sorry for the young people losing their summers jobs to help pay for college. I’m sorry for the fires that will go unchecked. I am sorry for the children who will die from preventable diseases. I and sorry for the increased pollution, the dirty air and water. I am sorry that an anti-vaccine advocate is now teaching us about herd immunity, I am very sorry for all the neo-fascist people you (Donny John) have enabled to foment hate and fear with glee!
Sorry for being so blunt, but why do I continue to be re-amazed at what a human sack of sh*t he is....
What a great reply to Mr. Scumbag.
Are you listening you dumb arss orange idiot?
Oh please do continue. It is sooo delightful
Priceless!!! Yes we are ALL sorry that he is all of this and more.
I'm really sorry his POS Nazi oldman didn't use a condom, then flush Donny dip-shit down the toilet....then nobody would have to ever hear of that criminal parasite orange bloated gas bag buffoon.
I am sorry that tour parents didn’t believe in birth control.
Great
Best stop to catch your breath because this ode to the nothin burger could go on for a long, long time 👍
I think his reaction will actually fortify her, if need be, which I doubt. An intelligent and educated adult won't back away from a rude, badly-behaved child.
Unless you're a self-centered Republican politician that fully supports Project 2025 and the US withdrawal from NATO Anne.
Susan Collins has said on several occasions that her role model is Margaret Chase Smith.
Susan - you are no Margaret Chase Smith. You are a sniveling coward just like the rest of your wanna be fascist colleagues in Washington and state houses all across America.
I could not agree more. Susan Collins is an embarrassment to Maine. Shame on her. She had a chance to be a hero more than once. When is she up for election?
Sen. Collins is up for reelection in 2026. Here's an interesting fact : When Collins first ran for the Senate in 1996, she told Maine voters that, if elected, she would only serve 2 terms. She is now in her 5th term, & she undoubtedly hopes that we have all forgotten what she told us in 1996!
They all succumb to the perks. Look at pitiable Sue Serino of NY- she will do anything, except work for her constituents, to keep the perks.
Speaking of clinging to the perks, there's Texas Rep. Kay Granger, one of the GOP contingent that flew to Moscow to kiss Putin's ring, who was unable to physically occupy the House seat she held because she became a resident at a $4,000/month assisted living facility where she was being treated for dementia, after being discovered wandering around her neighborhood, unable to find her way home.
I miss Senator Olympia Snowe. She represented Maine in a fine way.
I agree!
For sure MadRussian. I was on the same flight to DC as Collins and Snowe in the early 2000's. It was maybe a 30 minute wait until we boarded. I kept watching them both and they never spoke to each other or even looked at each other. I sure wish Collins had quit instead of Olympia.
Yeah. Susan is just a "bit" two-faced. She lost every bit of her moderate stance when Olympia Snowe retired. Susie is a follower and when Senator Snowe left she was kind of at loose ends. Then she discovered Mitch McConnell and Leonard Leo. Turtleface McConnell directed her actions on the floor of the Senate and Leonard Leo helped her raise money.
Nowadays, we Mainers seldom see her and I'm sure she hasn't held a "town hall" in ages. She does show up when Bath Ironworks gets a new contract with the Navy or when a ship launches or some other high profile event where she can show off some accomplishment. But otherwise she is no longer a Mainer as far as I'm concerned.
She has some weird money behind her. I can’t remember anything about it but I read it awhile back.
You mean Russian money? That’s what is backing her.
Apparently it's been years since Susan Collins has held a townhall meeting, and lately been refusing despite many cries for her to do so. So i believe they went ahead and held one "without her"
Correct. My senior Senator, Susan Collins has not held a Town Hall in any city or town in Maine since 2019! Sen. Collins has missed her opportunity for a " Margaret Chase Smith Moment" numerous times in her career.
Perhaps you could send her the quote in HCR’s newsletter from Senator Margaret Chase Smith — just to remind her of what she should be doing?
https://mainebeacon.com/collins-snaps-at-reporter-on-trump-policy-turmoil-as-public-pressure-on-her-increases/
“I see that all of your questions seem to have a bias built into them,” Collins said while touring the Eastern Maine Community College’s Public Safety Training Center in Bangor. "
Well - YEAH!
Duh. . .
What does Bill Cohen say?
Susan Collins uses her “concern” about an issue as a means to get attention. She has never had any intention of straying from the party line.
We Democrats in Maine have a saying about Sen Collins: "Susan Collins only votes against her party when it costs her NOTHING."
Why is she reelected? She has done this repeatedly, promised to vote with the Dems but she never does, no matter how obvious the issue is.
there are a smorgasbord of reasons why she keeps getting re-elected. I do think this will be her last term, however. I hope and pray the Maine Dems are armored against the possible surprise celebrity endorsement and (it must be said) superlative re-election campaign ads. I'd like to see Troy Jackson run against her but I think he's probably going to try for Governor
She has CONSTITUENTS who find her as the better choice of those we have been presented with. She has "name" recognition, and of course Roe V Wade..., bingo.
Very good!
exactly!
Maine can claim Heather Cox Richardson,as well as your amazing Governor- that should put perspective on Sweet Sue - gum on the State’s shoe
Susan Collins has neither the brains nor the backbone to emulate Margaret Chase Smith. In fact, I think she ought to be nominated for Andy Bororwitz's next Quisling of the Week Award.
Did you write Collins? Unless we are willing to speak directly to these people change will not occur.
I've written Susan many times. I've called her office as well. She meets with small groups of Mainers like Leonard Leo and the late fascist Linda Bean granddaughter of LL Bean. She got in trouble with the FEC for making excess contributions to Trump's campaign. She also meets with business groups especially in her adopted home town of Bangor. Susan replied to my emails a few times, and then she stopped because of my not so friendly rhetoric. No matter, I still write her even if she never sees the emails. BTW, she is up for reelection in 2026.
Thank you. Just thank you. Many times I am posting a comment for the collective comments section.
I don’t live in Maine, but if I did, I’d use 5calls.org and call Collins’ DC and/or Maine offices daily, and state my messages to her staffers.
Many, many times!
Thanks for the posts re: Susan Collins. I came here to comment on her total sellout of We The People all the way back to Rump's 1st term, voting lock-step with Repugs. We used to think of her and Lisa Murkowski as being possible women of integrity. I will call her office. (202) 224-2523
I hope so. It must have really ticked him off that a WOMAN stood up to him… I hope there will be many more.
There are many women standing up to him. Women will save us!
I hope you are right, but women missed a chance to save us in November. A majority of the votes of white women went to the felon. White men were worse, of course, but white women could have elected Harris if even, say, 53% of white women voters had been inclined to do so. Unfortunately, they weren’t. Women don’t by any means get the bulk of the blame for this catastrophe, but white women for sure missed their opportunity to save us.
Yup. That’s why Nancy Pelosi was so vilified by trumpublicans and the orange man himself. The GOP has become the ANTI party. The living embodiment of diminishing returns.
"The GOP has become the ANTI party"
Yep, led by the Anti-Christ himself.
Musk and Trump will launch a negative campaign and try to crush her. That is why he chose this very public display
He is trying to distract from the things like the way he and Musk are tanking the economy for all Americans, which Europe cannot get over, but are preparing to take advantage of, and of him committing heinous crimes against immigrants. My understanding is that Venezuelans in the country on asylum visas are now in death camp prison in El Salvador.
It makes sense, that they have visas. Otherwise, they sure rounded up 300 “gang members “ awfully quick.
That might just backfire. Too many negative displays tend to lose their street cred. P.S. Incidentally, remember all those videos of President Biden tripping or stumbling? I've only seen one (once) of Trump tripping on the staircase to Air Force 1 - holding hands with the 4-year-old Musk - I wonder why? The numerous and expensive Trump progeny must be feeling a change in temperature.
Meanwhile, little Musk and Trump hold hands while America burns.
Speaking of progeny - where are Trump's dim witted birth-right kids? Trump needs to put some teeth into his immigration policy and deport Melania and all his kids other than Tiffany.
What are we spending on security for Musk and his umpteen kids and ex-baby makers? And also Trump and his kids and grandkids.
Trump pulled the security from President Biden's sisters, so let's pull security from Trump's family.
Have you also noticed that he no longer holds rallies? I wonder why??? Could it be because he is deathly afraid that no one will show up &/or that there will be hecklers in the crowd? Or perhaps he's afraid of another attempt on his life? While that is a concern I note that it is not stopping others from standing up for what is right & then they go about their daily business when they know that they have targets on their back but they don't have Secret Service protection & still they prevail.
So much for being the 'big, tough guy' that bullies everyone around him.
He's afraid of a number of things right now. I expect he's seen the crowd sizes of Bernie and AOC's protests. 34K in Denver and 20K in Tucson! I watched yesterday and found it inspiring.
And another 12K up the road in our little town of Greeley!
I hope and pray that he is, indeed, afraid--terrified, even--of many things. I'm hoping his cortisol levels are going through the roof.
That first "attempt on his life" was as real as the folding-chair beatings at a TV wrestling match. Donald's cult are World Wrestling Entertainment fans. Hence, his choice of Linda McMahon as "education secretary."
It's unfortunate that an actual human being lost his life in that staged event.
I am curious about the event being staged. I tend to think it was. Do you have a link to some information on it ?
I read he is not traveling much and took it as he’s so mentally and physically compromised the people running the country need to keep him under their thumbs. Has he conducted a meeting where he hasn’t throughly embarrassed himself and his sidekick J.D. helped cover for him with trumped up outrage?
The story is he was invited to the U.K. for a “secret” surprise from King Charles. Will he go and show us how uncouth he is yet again?
It is all about social media Trump controls social media. Look who is on the stage with him that is inauguration Mark Zuckerberg. Please take time to read the book Careless People about Facebook.
We had a friend that went to work for Facebook around 2016. When he told us what they do with our information I immediately deleted every post, picture and friend and then my account. I won’t even click a link to a Facebook page and many places use it as their business landing page now.
Neither will an intelligent, uneducated adult.
Not unseemly; simply bull-shit. As to Senator Chase Smith's bravery, I am reminded of William Jennings Bryan: "The humblest citizen of all the land, when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of error."
AS WELL AS
"Never be afraid to stand with the minority when the minority is right, for the minority which is right will one day be the majority."
I hope she will continue to stand against Trump and hold the line. The track record of people falling in line is staggering. We are doomed if the folks in her state do not stand with her. He will get his way, which will warn others that they don't stand a chance.
Linda, we are a hearty folk up here in Maine- Orange Head won’t rattle us into submission. As a Maine women, we know how to take on these bullies. Governor Mills can handle his rhetoric! One exception is Collins- she has failed this State and many of us are not afraid to tell her. We will march, we will call our reps, we will write letters and we will campaign for Governor Mills if she decides to run for the Senate in 2026!
Caroline and Linda…isn’t there sweet irony/potential ‘ammunition’ in the current national attention gained by Newport’s Cooper being a number one NBA pick and the Maine Black Bears’ hockey rising again to take the East title. The high school and college sports environment in Maine is obviously dynamic….a great counterpunch
Senator King has been a fave of mine ever since he came to the sense. He has the BIG MIND and institutional respect to take pleasure in his seat and to teach the rest of us along the way about the Senate and American history. He is a worthy successor to Senator Snowe through Senator Chase Smith.
Ned, I too respect King but I still haven’t seen his explanation of why he voted not only to allow the bill to proceed but to pass it in its very destructive merits. I may just not have looked hard enough but it is a decision I question while acknowledging that there were reasons to follow the Schumer logic. My heart tells me that AOC is right:
“There are members of Congress who have won Trump-held districts in some of the most difficult territory in the United States who walked the plank and took innumerable risks in order to defend the American people,” she said.” Just to see Senate Democrats even consider acquiescing to Elon Musk, I think, is a huge slap in the face.”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/23/chuck-schumer-democrats-funding-bill?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
We all should stare him down Bonnie.
He doesn't deserve less.
We should give Trump the Monty Python treatment, too. https://youtu.be/FgAoGf84-3A 🥳
Imagine thousands of people standing all around the security perimeter of the off-white house and laughing their heads for a few minutes and then telling the press, "We are so impressed with Trump and we wanted to show it. No one can make people laugh quite like he can."
Call it intellexual slap-stick.
OMG.. That's hilarious. Yes ! I thought I'd seen all the old Monty Python bits, but that's one I missed.
It is completely obvious what he means. What a slime he is.
Off with his head too!
I fear though, that in a Smith’s day, words to that effect could be spoken without a team of oiled up, steroid-addicted jar-heads carting you out of the chamber by the ankles.
Bonnie, I hope she does too and that she does show using some of the force of Smith”s words. But it also puts her in a very difficult position as leader of the State reliant on federal funds. The Courts might be able to eventually try to intervene should Trump cut all funding but that is not a reliable back stop. The state is purple and I am sure she will find both support and derision/threats should she refuse his obscene request for a personal blow job.
SO this is the excuse that Columbia U and other universities are using to remove DEI and other programs the administration (Project 25) is unhappy with. Governors, including Newsom, and universities need to stand together against the bullying of this regime. Together they are stronger. Academic freedom demands that we identify bullies and stand unified against them. Individual freedom demands a united front against bullies. Trump has used the withholding of taxpayer money to bully. Resist!
So, Kathy, I agree that this fiscal pressure justification must give way to a principled defense of democracy against such tyranny AT ALL COSTS. I was trying to brace myself for equivocation by Governor Mills as she faces pressure from the legislature and public educational institutions to protect their federal monies. She will not be running for Gov again so it’s not about that election prospect.
*Especially 'that' man to any woman. What a filthy pig !
She has absolutely nothing to apologize for. The egomaniac-in-chief needs to hear constant unwarranted apologies and messages of gratitude. Yuck. And since Trump admitted he didn't sign the 1798 Act, why would it be legal?
A good forger could copy 45-47’s signature. Is someone signing executive orders without his knowledge? Not good that he can’t remember signing that order sending people out of the country. And people said Biden didn’t know what was happening.
It was the Autopen; therefore, the EOs are invalid!
I suspect Donald doesn't use an Autopen. He seems to enjoy scribbling that zigzag with a Sharpie on important-looking documents. With Musk and Vought running the country, Donald doesn't have much else to do, besides rage-posting on his failing social media platform.
I suspect this is why they put out the whole Biden auto pen story on his pardons last week. This way they can use it as an excuse and protect the DonOLD.
So I wasn’t the only one who noticed the sickness in that part. Mills should respond: “Even if I wished to do so, I cannot give you a full-throated apology, o Orange Emperor. The kind of apology you demand would not go much further than just the lips.”
Asshole.
there is certainly one woman from Maine who will not follow 'in a tradition of women from Maine who stood up for the principles of American democracy against bullies who would destroy it.' senator Susan Collins.
Oh, I noticed, and was immediately disgusted.
I had the same thought about the full-throated crap
I noticed!
It's a disgusting saying and that is how Trump operates. I'll be glad when we're rid of him and his enablers.
I would be delighted to be rid of his enablers. Unfortunately, there are 77 million of them. Still today! Probably more. Endemic throughout the population.
I have said this before but I will repeat here: we can drive the Felon absolutely nuts (well more nuts) by starting each sentence directed to him with "Well bless your li'l heart, honey": the ultimate southern put-down.
Thank you, Heather, for giving us the latest horror story as well as the historical references. Margaret Chase Smith is a towering figure for us to emulate.
Maybe AOC is her reincarnation?
Ricardo—AOC and Jasmine Crockett!
Elizabeth Warren, who persists, Kamala Harris, who called him a liar to his face, Hillary Clinton, who won a debate with the bully who followed her around the stage. and every woman who left their state for medical care. What does it cost taxpayers every weekend for this crybaby bully putz (who cheated on his third pregnant wife and a long term mistress with a porn star he paid off) to play golf? This is not the WWE, you demented putz !
And many more Mary 👍😁
Read the Margaret Chase Smith's speech to the Senate here. Thanks Heather for including in your references.
https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/resources/pdf/SmithDeclaration.pdf
Thank you for re-posting it here in the comments! I see now that W was not the first to use “Democrat” as an adjective instead of Democratic. It’s interesting, too, to read MCS’s condemnation of Democrats, but she does so to prove by example the importance of the civil discourse in the practice of democracy.
Thank you Mardi ~
We are learning that Main women are courageous to stand against tyranny.
Senator Margaret Chase Smith, Governor Janet Mills and Historian Heather Cox Richardson...we're so fortunate to have had, and to have these Mainers!!!
And don't forget Angus King who has won elections in Maine as an Independent, something very few have pulled off anywhere in the US.
And speaking of 'sticking it to the man'. Yesterday, I was talking with a resident of Calais, ME. She said that the stores in Calais, ME are mostly empty as the Canadians are only crossing the border into the US when necessary. Mardens, Renys, Walgreens and even Walmart are feeling the economic consequences of Trump's ridiculous tariffs.
Canadian's are canceling US vacation plans and Europeans are being told to not come to the US. Thousands of businesses will suffer in several US states. It seems Americans don't have the fortitude to shop local or not at all, but the rest of the world seems to be on board.
It’s not that people lack fortitude to shop local. Every single grocery store in my area is a chain store. All of them except one make political contributions. There are local restaurants. Local businesses are nail and hair salons, boutiques, landscape businesses, etc. In some counties, the only grocery is Walmart. In 1960, the small town (1000 people) that my husband grew up in had a thriving business district. Everything was local. Now nearly all those store fronts are empty. The businesses still open are an insurance agency, a plumber’s business, and the post office. Those businesses won’t sustain everyday, ordinary life.
The chain stores drove out many independents years ago. Same with news outlets. Local news may be making a comeback. I wonder if some of the people wrongly fired by the musk rats will open local stores.
And Amazon is driving out what stores remain
Friends of ours were traveling in Europe recently. They said people from other countries were mostly sympathetic about what is going on here, once they realized our friends were not MAGA supporters. But the Canadians they met were just flat-out disgusted with, and angry at, Americans. They are proud of their country and threatened by Trump and they are blaming American voters for being so out of touch with reality and for not standing up to the bully in the White House.
Dave, I'm in Corsica right now and before in Lyon and Marseille. We are having the same experience as your friends regarding the French people in general and we noticed, while watching French news on TV, good part of the time, the conversation is related to defense budget and the urgent need to replace the American military might. They feel abandoned and betrayed but I feel, they are ready with most of the other European countries to confront the new reality and stand up to the challenge. Thanks for your comment 👍
I understand that the Europeans need to build up their military, given that Trump will probably pull out of NATO completely, at some point. But the ripple effects could be substantial, depending on how the build up is financed. Great Britain is cutting foreign aid to do it. Will others?
Don't know the answer to your question Dave but it would make sense to me since, I guess, they'll try to minimize the substantial impact to the population. What i can assure you is that the "Pax Americana" that ruled the world for 80 years it's over and the scumbag president doesn't have any idea what the replacement would be.
I hope so.
They don't have other alternative Kathy. Some of those countries have been under Russian control as Poland and the Baltic states and they are determined to prevent that for happening again. Sad state of affairs. Eventually Russia would confront a much weaker front without the US. And that's tempting for a big ego like Putin
Thanks for your reply 👍
Please do not paint the Canadians in a bad light. We have many friends who vacation and camp in US parks. They are kind caring people who are just as confused as many Americans about where this is headed. They’ve canceled trips here out of fear and uncertainty. Those red hats some campers wore while camping were a signal to stay away from talking politics.
Hi Cathy, I’m not trying to paint Canadians in a bad light. I’m sorry if it came across that way. I think their confusion and anger are completely justified. When our dysfunction crosses the border because the lunatic in the White House talks about annexing a free, independent nation, there’s every reason to be upset.
I agree...My partner and I have been vacationing in Canada for many years--mostly in the Province of Prince Edward Island. We have made reservations again this year and I'm hoping that the animus is directed at the government rather than the ordinary citizens. I feel like I need to put a sign on my car that states that we DID NOT VOTE FOR THAT PIECE OF ORANGE GARBAGE.
Where I live we have many Canadians with dual citizenship -- more than live in some Canadian provinces. They pay US taxes and Florida real estate taxes and own businesses that employ roughly 54,000 Americans.
We are a majority Dem county, with three (3) MAGAT House reprentatives. All are Cuban Americans. All have recently discovered that most of their constiuents, and even themselves are considered DEI by Musk. Their majajority donors come from CANF, the Cuban American National Foundation. 2 of the 3 had been Dems. One, born in Cuba, was a Dem mayor until 2020. They spent their lives fighting Castroism and the Cuban government -- aligned with Putin. All have protested Trump immigration policy.
We need to pressure them. Write. Call. Picket. Sit in.
I think Trump's downfall will be that many Congressional Republicans did not sign up to be members of the axis of evil.
https://jerryweiss.substack.com/
Perhaps you are right, but I’m concerned that there are even MORE conservative, MAGA-loving folks out there who will take over those seats. Backed by Musk’s money and right-wing media, they can topple the incumbents. Remember when FOX was considered the most right-wing news outlet? Then came Newsmax and AON and the openly Fascist podcasts.
You can thank at&t for AON, their executives in texas kept it alive thinking that we needed another conservative outlet. I used them for over 20 years for my cellphone service, when I read about that I switched. I still have their fiber feeding my house which I would love to switch as well. Fuck at&t.
Negativity is not an option.
Gary, I appreciate the sentiment of your comment, except the "Americans lacking fortitude" part.
The overwhelming majority of Americans don't have the option of avoiding chain and big-box stores, not because of lacking fortitude, but for lacking choice and/or income.
As JennSH has pointed out, many small towns across the U.S. have no local choices for household basics. It's either Walmart or nothing. The old downtown storefronts are boarded up and vacant.
In communities where there are local businesses, these smaller merchants are unable to match the lower prices found at Walmart or Kroger. People who are just trying to survive, living paycheck to paycheck, can't afford to make buying choices based on principle.
When we are offering criticism, it's important to make the distinction between those who know better and do the wrong thing anyway, and those who have no choices in life.
I watched Walmart devastate the local businesses in Rolla, MO when my wife was attending UMR. During her years at UMR several businesses either closed down or were on the verge including K-Mart.
Walmart purposefully eliminated their competition and forced their suppliers into offering them better pricing than other stores.
Here in ME Walmart is the only store for 30 or 40 miles in many places, so I understand that people don't have a choice a lot of the time.
But I still refuse to support the oligarchy. My wife wanted a specific grocery item just today and I went to three grocery stores and none of them had it. Online it should Walmart and Amazon have it, but I refuse to patronize either one.
We grow much of our own produce and have several fruit trees. I understand that many people down have room for even a small garden.
But, there are millions of people that shop at the big box stores regardless of the prices. And buy things they don't need.
Walmart destroyed Othello, WA. NO competition. All bankrupt years ago. They built one in Spencer, WV- on the ground of the fromer State Mental Hospital. Same thing- small business' closed.
I applaud this action. But unless this is a consistent item in the news it might not help that much. What Trump wants to happen is for us to get mad at Canada. He wants to divide the Canadians and the Americans so we will get mad and he can attack Canada.
Ironically, he had support from the Canadian community in Florida. No more.
Not only is Angus King an Independent Senator, but he was our SECOND Independent Governor. Our first Independent Governor was James Longley--an rightward leaning Independent, while Angus King was/is more leftwards leaning.
We are a State full of independent cusses and 'cussettes'.
Smith’s “Declaration of Conscience” speech is an example of a lasting legacy in the written word. I think I’ll offer my grandchildren a reward ($$) if they will google and read her speech given June 1, 1950 to the U.S. Senate, and then discuss it with me for 10 minutes. Smith’s legacy belongs to all of us and we must pass it on.
Take pieces of it and post it to social media. That is your best chance of getting them to read anything.
Offered them $$$ to read and give 3 written takeaways in words I would recognize as their own, as quid pro quo🤪…should be interesting…
And Bishop Budde
Budde
Made the correction of her name; thanks.
Let's learn from them and pay it forward with our willingness to speak up. Each one of incrementally as we are able, we're needed.
And AOC, Jasmine Crocket, Liz Cheney, Tammy Duckworth, Elissa Slotkin, Gretchen Whitmer, Amy Klobuchar, etc., etc.
Jan, yes, you are absolutely blessed, and so are we.
The confusion over who signed the executive order seems to be part of a pattern that suggests that Trump is less engaged in driving both the actions of the administration and its communications than during his previous term. It is not just the time spent in Florida and on the golf course. It is the stream of EOs and statements that were likely prepared by operatives associated with Project 2025 and for which Trump is little more than the mouthpiece. (Though it appears that Musk is driven by motivations that are not exclusive to the objectives of Project 2025.)
The style and vocabulary of many of the messages issued on Trumps' social media platform are strikingly uncharacteristic--apart from the signature all-caps statements appended to them, probably with the intention of making them seem "authentic." This is an administration that has delegated its planning, its strategy, and its communications to a set of players who, apart from Musk, Miller and the cabinet members, are largely out of the public eye.
Shall we say that there is such a thing as a "PINO"--a "President in Name Only"?
I think you are correct. Agent Orange golfs and sends texts, but Vought and Miller run the Presidential suite and Musk runs around distracting attention from the real dirty work going in within the West Wing. Vance and his puppet master, Thiel, might be more involved behind the scenes than we think. He was with Agent Orange and Zelensky at that press conference for a reason, probably to keep his boss from going off on an uncontrolled tangent. Notice also that Agent Orange always blames others for things he is doing himself, like signing stuff with an autopen.
Three other possible explanations for the “who signed” explanation: 1) another of millions of lies from Trump; 2) dementia; 3) Musk playing with the Autopen.
Going by the job description I would say that's a slam dunk.
John, is he throwing Marco Rubio under the bus to avoid being held responsible by the courts?
Who knows, it might just be a reflexive response from decades of avoiding blame or accepting responsibility. Of he might genuinely have no recollection of signing.
Yes, Anne Marie, the true Trump would even throw his mother under the bus to keep him from blame. That’s why he MUST be brought out and severely punished in public — by those who would be thrown under the bus.
I am willing to bet every cent I own that Donald has not read any of the EOs he has signed. For starters, he would stumble on the verbiage because he's learning-disabled and barely literate. The spate he signed during his first two weeks had been written by Russell Vought's gang months earlier.
Donald doesn't use an Autopen because, for all intents and purposes, he IS an Autopen. Aides write the orders and slide them in front of him to sign for photo opps. Unless it's a bank check, he has no idea what he's signed.
As for Musk, he's remaking government to put more money in his pocket and eliminate investigations into his malpractices. The other demolitions are meant as camouflage to distract the press and the public from what he's really up to. He has no real interest in Project 2025, except when it serves his personal interest.
“ he is an autopen “ you’re killing me here
Or maybe a sign of his decline.
Honestly, did anyone think that it would be anything but PINO? Just title, attention and power without any of the messy bits like responsibility, thinking, accountability, duh work.
Yes. “Full-throated” is not in Trump’s vocabulary.
Trump travels on Marine One as he goes his Bedminster golf course on the Taxpayers’ dime. This trip alone will cost us $2.9 million, which could have been used by USAID to provide 11 million HIV antiretroviral therapy doses to people in need.
Trump Golf Track:
61 Days in Office
16 Days Spent Golfing
26.23% of Presidency
Trump is doing his two usual things, throwing Rubio under the bus for his own misdeed, and trying to intimidate the governor as a warning to others not to stand up to him. If nothing else, he is predictable.
As predictable as being a coward and a bully.
There’s a way to fight abuse - in Trump’s case, abuse of power and position, and abuse by demanding submission where none is due. One is calling out such hypocrisy and cowardice, which you, Professor HCR, have done. Two is using the law and courts to do what they are there to do, which is push the determination of facts into broad daylight and render judgment in clear and unmistakable terms. No “full throated apology” is necessary, nor should it even be considered yet alone rendered. To do so further enables this white privileged man to continue his pathological domination of women and especially women in power.
The scumbag president's it's a coward always deflecting responsibility and blaming others. Our security and safety are in his hands? OMG!!!
Maybe the autopen signed the EO ...
lol
Even if it were it would make a difference since that is an authorized legal signature.
Hacked by Elon.
Marli, how does an auto pen work?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autopen might describe it best
This is a big power-play for Trump. If he can squash a state for not agreeing with him he will. I’m sure the negative social media against her and her family
has started. I imagine she has beefed up security for her family. Michelle Obama said in her book that when Trump started repeating the birth lie about Biden Her children were threatened. She was threatened.
Why, if people are being threatened, is this not squashed? Why are not the people who are doing the threatening found and punished?
That’s a really good point you do see a little in the news that certain officials have been threatened by Trump. I think it was in the last Trump trial with stormy in which the judge and the judge’s families addresses were posted by Musk. And in Michelle Obama’s book she said the birther lie about Obama caused her children to be threatened, caused her to be threatened, caused President Obama to be threatened. It was a lie, and Trump kept telling the lie, he knew he was putting lives in danger. He kept telling the lie. This has been going on a long time. And then we had January 6 allfueled by election fraud lie lies. It is a total disregard of accountability.
Because it’s Trump who has the DOJ, FBI and GOP behind him
Yes, the people threatening trump's "enemies" are doing as trump knows they will. His DOJ will do nothing to find and prosecute the very people who help keep right-wing Congress people in line.
If his political allies are threatened similarly, the DOJ will not rest until they are brought to justice.
Ahhh but the good part...there is something worthy of running from! That is progress.
Rubio is the scapegoat….although he has no one to blame but himself.
There are hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans in South Florida.
“The three members also have a powerful ally in Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also a South Florida Cuban American. Rubio, all three said, is firmly on the same page as them when it comes to protecting Venezuelans on TPS.
The State Department declined to comment.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/03/13/florida-republicans-trump-venezuelan-immigrants-00002983
Kathy, Rubio it's a traitor to the whole Cuban community in Miami or at least those that really come longing for freedom and liberty, unlike those saying so and voted for the scumbag president's authoritarian policies. He's also a traitor to the Venezuelan, Haitians and the rest of those in need of real political refugees. He is another coward willing to accept responsibility for the biggest coward of them all.
You'd think the Cuban immigrant families would recognize these tactics and fight Trump. What he's doing isn't all that different from what Castro did.
I think what trump is doing it's much worse than what was done in Cuba, generally speaking. They almost never lived in a democracy and it was a switch from one dictator to another. Abuses and killing of political opponents was common on both Batista and Castro. What trump is doing to this country was unimaginable few months ago. He is destroying 250 years of democracy, the rule of law, the 80 years of "Pax Americana" and the American century. Democracy, with all its defects, served well this country and the world.
Now it's being dismantled in the name of a tax cut, religion supremacy over science. Too long to cover here Gregg.
In any case, most Cuban families I know voted maga after saying they come to the US for freedom and liberty. Go figure 🤔 . Thanks for your question 👍
It is counterintuitive, but they explain it as “JFK sold this out at the Bay of Pigs” so Democrats can’t be trusted. 66 years later, they’re still talking about it.
100, the invasion was planned by the CIA and approved by the Eisenhower administration. It contemplated an uprising of the Cuban people as soon as the invasion started and and immediate recognition of a Cuban government in exile. JFK assumed the presidency end of January, invasion was launched begging of April. Smart Kennedy decided to wait to see what happens and guess what? The Cuban population didn't care, keep eating pastelitos and drinking coffee and that was the end of it. Were the American mothers ready to send their sons to die for the coffee drinkers while watching the fight on TV without lifting a finger? There you have the answer.
I know! AND Kennedys spent more time trying to figure out how to kill/remove Castro than anyone else that followed. But STILL all ya hear in Miami 'Bay of Pigs' blah blah. It's crazy.
And it is amazing how well it’s working for him to blame others and deflect. Not much on the media directly attacks him for this.
Here’s to Governor Mills! If we were talking baseball cards, trade value for one Governor Mills card would be 10,000 Trump cards. He doesn’t even understand the issues, certainly not the values, and like always with bullying, he is afraid of her. So he never forgets that she taught him a lesson in the art of the public space, so he doubles down on the bullying. There is no bottom, only shame!
None of this fascist implementation could happen if the party wasn't 100% committed to it.
They spent the last four years planning and engineering the rapid dismantling of our government, they are successfully undermining our system, so the ultra-rich (Oligarchs) can privatize our institutions and steal what is left of the wealth of the bottom 90%.
We must stop them and tax the rich to pay off the national debt and fund Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and first-class education for everyone. We must end their ability to buy elections and then regulate businesses and corporations to prevent them from taking advantage of or harming the public.
March to preserve our democracy!
We’d better win some elections! Your “musts” are fine, but won’t happen without serious work recruiting candidates, identifying clear leaders, and a unified opposition that is focused on winning without all the baggage of something for everyone. Campaign in all fifty states, donate $, be relentless. We are really good at talking to ourselves on SubStack…cathartic, but insular, as most of America aren’t here. Bernie, AOC, Tim Walz, Chris Murphy, Jamie Raskin, Pete Buttigieg, and others need to keep the barnstorming going, and they need to be funded. A relentless, co-ordinated effort in all areas.
The most excellent description of trump I have ever heard! Thank you Ralph T. for summing it up for all of us in just a few paragraphs. You literally could not have done a better job describing the illiterate con man bully president. I will keep going back to your description and analysis of our current administration in reading it over and over because I definitely could not have said it better. Ralph, you rule!
You are 100% correct, sir! Thank you for this post! And his base is just as lazy as he is! My idiot mother and my vile stepfather voted for him in 2016, based solely on watching him on "The Apprentice." 🤦♀️ I was dumbfounded when they told me "he surrounds himself with the best people" BS. The truth was, and I know this from growing up in that dysfunctional household, they are racist to their core. If they could find an easy (the lazy way) way out of situations, they took it. Blame everyone else for their self-inflicted misery, just like ALL MAGA voters.
I read that he was so bad at his part on The Apprentice they had to cut it down to about 5 minutes an episode where he said “you’re fired”. I’ve never seen the show. They had to make a fake office for him for the show because his own was so shabby and run down. Makes you wonder if his New York penthouse is as glamorous gaudy as the photo shoots show or if it’s all staged.
Exactly.
Bravo Senator Smith, across the decades. The acronym is indelible: Four Horsemen of Calumny, F I B S.
On his way to golf. Heather's scorn today is palpable. The whole story is so childish! "It wasn't me, miss, honest. I think it was him, yes, it must have been him."
The dog eat my homework 😩
Alas, I have seen it happen, but yes, a Trump's sad sack of excuses are pretty preposterous.
I wonder if it’s possible for those of us who oppose these totalitarian techniques to file a class action lawsuit against Trump and his administration?
I have wondered that and wondered if the ACLU would take it up on the grounds of taxation without representation, and many other counts.
Can't speak to or for the ACLU in regards to a case like this - taxation without representation - but I am reassured to read about & track the cases the ACLU is party to:
https://www.aclu.org/court-cases
Since you do ML, would you mind updating us all from time to time ? Brief only if that's easier for you - anything is helpful. Thank you ~
Thank you for this. In a time of increasing regression of the rights of women and girls, it is inspiring and encouraging to focus on women and in general Americans who are recognizing that daily, we are witnessing the destruction of our country. When and where can I sign up to stand next to my fellow citizens to say, while we are not perfect, it is still our country and we have an obligation to protect it and improve it. Is it going to be after we all lose what we have taken for granted (our National Parks, our post offices, our schools, our fundamental rights as laid out in the Bill of Rights, etc.). I just know, that Heather, what you have been doing since 2019 has been a gift and has been my touchstone in these perilous times. Thank you for all you do.
Good for Mills and good for Smith. What about the rest of you lily livered senators and representatives? Mike Johnson, don’t you think you should do some praying on how unchristlike you are?? You, too, Senator Thune. You really want to be complicit in the privatization of America?
Talk about unAmerican Activities in Congress. It is rife with it!
Senator Thune is one of the seven who went to Russia on July 4 2018! He is not going to pray for his heart to be clean and pure! He’s a Russian asset
And those Republicans who really know better but are still voting against our democracy. Looking at you Senator Lisa Murkowski.
Interestingly I read that this is the longest the Senate has been in session without a break. Is Thune keeping them in session to stop Trump from doing all those recess appointments he wants?
What recess appointments?? They are confirming EVERYONE! Gaetz was the only one who went down in flames and he was too toxic for even the Repubs. I guess that’s what is takes, a porn child molester.
I know but I read yesterday there are about 250 appointments left. The social security head that threatened to shut it down is only acting. If they went on recess everyone would magically be appointed no matter how disgusting they are.
The White House communications director Steven Cheung said Trump personally signed the deportation proclamation, and his signature appears on the document in the Federal Register of official government documents.
SO: this does not "raise questions about who is in charge of White House policy."
In my view, an appropriate response to this would be:
"The evidence is clear that Trump is lying about this because of the negative response to what constituted extrajudicial renditions. Based upon his refusal to ever take responsibility for anything he would rather avoid, Trump will deflect this to others, and perhaps, if necessary, go so far as to fire Steven Cheung and speculate that his signature was forged. I expect he will never admit that it is his signature on the order, although it is there for anyone to see."
Of course he’s lying. In this case, he doesn’t want to acknowledge an inconvenient truth so he can deflect the blame.
Trump is totally incapable of speaking the truth.
His lips were moving….he’s lying.
We all need to be brave. We need to speak up. I no longer fear hurting someone’s feelings as there is a difference between political opinion and human rights.
Yes Lisa, this is so true!
And I won my bingo card! Trump throwing Rubio under the bus in less than 3 months! Bingo!
If there is anyone ya like to see tossed under a bus...Lil Marco is near the top of the list.
Shoved into the couch cushions - yes!