As seemed evident even at the time, the ambush of Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office on Friday was a setup to provide justification for cutting off congressionally approved aid to Ukraine as it tries to fight off Russia’s invasion.
The "leader of the free world" has just tuned its back and walked off the field. This is what it looks like when Kamala Harris said "Democracy is on the ticket". It turns out not to be solely US Democracy. The rest of the "free world" is now being hung out.
The only winners are Putin and his ilk. This will not make anything in the west great, let alone the US. A date of historic proportions.
Exactly. Putin is laughing his balls off, and Musk, too: he is draining the US tax payers of every last dollar they got. The billionaire end game is upon us.
A few of the oligarchs are starting to weigh in on the MTV (Musk/Trump/Vance) regime's haphazard hacking up of the government and destruction of the economy. Buffett and Cuban are trusted names as they have each made people wealthy with their investments as well as their philanthropy. Why anyone would trust Musk, the Waltons or Bezos is beyond me. They truly are the hacks of the 1890's. Obviously, none of them have read HCR's book "Wounded Knee."
I don't know either. If Musk would _really_ be a genius, he would see that a government is important for infrastructure, power grids, medical care, fire fighters, etc - all of those things that just cost money, so no rich guy would ever invest it. But all of those things are instrumental in keeping Musk's factories running. He doesn't see that, and neither does he see that he profited off all of these things while amassing his fortunes; no, he thinks he created these fortunes all by himself... Musk is not a genius. He is just successful because he is ruthless.
He wants to be the controlling interest in all of those areas via the private sector, which he aims to rule... by the short and curlies springs to mind here... very bond villain, but ever so slightly amateurish, it'll do I suppose, it provides some tragicomedy in the short term.
Congressional Republicans can save us (and themselves).
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stop all activity against Russia, including offensive digital actions.
… Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) seemed surprise to learn about Hegseth’s new cyber security directive on Fox: "I don't know why he's doing that, the Russians are attacking us every single day. I don’t think you signal to the Russians that we are going to unilaterally withdraw from this space. I really don’t understand where that’s coming from. This is a mistake.”
"On Face the Nation ...., Representative Mike Turner (R-OH), a strong supporter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Ukraine, contradicted that information. “Considering what I know, what Russia is currently doing against the United States, that would I’m certain not be an accurate statement of the current status of the United States operations,” he said. Well respected on both sides of the aisle, Turner was in line to be the chair of the House Intelligence Committee in this Congress until House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) removed him from that slot and from the intelligence committee altogether.
"AND YET, .... THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS MADE CLEAR THAT IT NO LONGER SEES RUSSIA AS A CYBERSECURITY THREAT."
… Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) “I’m not interested in calling on the resignation of other world leaders. Frankly, I think that would spiral Ukraine into chaos right now, trying to find who is the negotiator.”
… Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) also disagrees: “Diplomacy and statesmanship seem to have been checked at the door of the Oval Office today. Ukraine is an ally in pursuit of free markets, free speech, and free people—Western values that align with our own. A win for Putin, on the other hand, does not. I am hopeful that our countries can get back to the table and advance the prospects of a just and lasting peace.”
… Sen. Lisa Murkowski also disagreed with Trump: “This week started with admin officials refusing to acknowledge that Russia started the war in Ukraine. It ends with a tense, shocking conversation in the Oval Office and whispers from the WH that they may try to end all US support for Ukraine. I know foreign policy is not for the faint of heart, but right now, I am sick to my stomach as the admin appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and US values around the world.”
Trump doesn't care; he doesn't give a rat's ass. It must be pretty clear that he's just following Putin's orders, and no amount of 'concern' will ever make him nor his cultists turn around.
I have been calling Republicans identified as being moderate in many states. When asked where I live I tell them and say, I may not be a constituent of yours but I am an American. For the most part the calls are positive. We know our Dems are working hard, we need to encourage Republicans to do the right thing.
Daniel, what I see from his supporters is that they are all in. These people have been freaking brainwashed (and I am beginning to question whether they have brains at all at this point.)
Musk and Trump seem most to vandalize just because they can and get away with it. This is going to bite just about everyone else; including, I suspect, some of the billionaires who are lately thinking they just died and went to heaven.
Well then all these R’s need to go back to the senate room or congress and take action within the Dems. Oh yes and push a bit against the Supreme Court with impeachment. The time was yesterday but here we are today, so the time is now. The American people will be behind all of them.
Speaking of cartoon characters, people were complaining about Zelensky not wearing a suit. Who would ever go into the oval office without a suit. There is Musk with his t-shirt and baseball hat. I guess that doesn't count.
"He wants to be the controlling interest in all of those areas via the private sector ..."
This is the real goal here. Republicans want every government function to be privatized. They seem to be well on their way to accomplishing that. It feels like we are heading back to the times of lords and serfs.
yes...agreed. But History is full of the FALL of greedy men ...they FALL sooner than later...retrograde in their mental development makes for very very DANGEROUS leaders. Lives can be lost = the ultimate value which they do not understand
Shauna, they do fall, but as you point out, often with much chaos and death. In the past, some lasted a long time and one of the main things they practiced was brutality. Personally I keep hoping that some of these security people will channel the Praetorian Guard.
Have you heard the expression “ drunk on power “? Ah when we are drunk we are invincible. There should be more drunk driving and the world would be so much better. ( Sarcasm). Even my autocorrect filled in the blank.
Muck and Trump are prime examples of it. A negligent or even (on this case) sadistic sense of impunity.
A republic is a social contract. Demagogues sell lawlessness and subjugation. There is always a ready audience for that; the antithesis of a real republican.
Gjay15, drunk driving is a great analogy for what we have been doing. We are drunk on our own invincibility. (It couldn’t happen here!)
I am beginning to feel we are as vulnerable as people in other countries were/are under their dictators. But our takeover is not complete, and opposition is showing up more and more.
Thank you for your response. The term American Exceptionalism always made me cringe. I do hope that we continue to push back on these thugs and their “ policies “. If there is some “ exceptionalism “ in our country it is due to our commitment to democracy for all and our investment in immigration.
It would be interesting if we could learn how much of his beliefs come from his libertarianism, and how much may be from his apparent autism spectrum? And then there's his ego, of course. Guys like him always think it was their personal genius that put them at the top of the pile.
Thank you for cutting through the label nonsense. I would apply the same to “ libertarian “ label. Many of us have adopted the libertarian or socialist label until we have to face the real world and grow up. Sort of like the “ open marriage “ delusion of the 1970’s.
Both Trump and Musk got a head start on wealth by family money. A lot of apparent business "genius" has as much or more to more to do with available capital than anything else. Robert Reich argued that the Art of the Deal Man would have been richer had he put his inheritance into an index fund.
From the Guardian URL above:
"Musk’s father, Errol, was also in the mining business among other interests. He once boasted that his stake in Zambian emerald mines made him “so much money we couldn’t even close our safe”. Musk’s mother, Maye, has said the family owned two homes, a plane, a yacht and a handful of luxury cars."
Right on, J L: that is exactly the thing. These rich boys think they 'made it all themselves', whereas they simply had one big advantage: rich parents.
Weighing in is one thing, active opposition is another and that's what we need. Buffett and Cuban are in a position to buy just as many legislators as Musk and, given their much better taste in people, are likely to improve the situation just by getting involved. One also wonders where the billionaires like Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg, who were so interested in being President a few years ago, have disappeared to. This situation is presented as being completely one-sided, with only Musk and Krasnov having any power but that will only be true as long as the Democrats and their wealthy supporters enable it. We also need a better Senatorial mouthpiece than Chuck Schumer; maybe Chris Murphy?
Murphy would be a good one .... as many have suggested the nation needs a shadow government with weekly press conferences. These people should not be afraid to NAME the culprits.
I can’t even imagine Obama or any of our recent presidents doing any of this. Trump is in a class all of his own and is following the Project 2025 playbook to a tee. We can’t even invoke the 25th amendment if he is deemed incapable of holding office because cabinet members would have to agree and they would never go against him, and then we’d have Vance anyway, who could be worse. I know demonstrations are growing. I know anger is growing and realization is hitting his supporters. But this is just going from bad to worse.
besides general incompetence and awfulness, probably the main reason for choosing the Cabinet was to ensure that they would never allow the invocation of the 25th amendment, even if Vance were inclined to try.
And the line of succession is not reassuring: Vance, Johnson, Rubio. Bad to worse...
Gina's point was that were Obama doing this, the republicans would be apoplectic and would succeed in removing Obama. The democrats don't know how to respond in a similar way
This is trump’s sick retribution on America. Will the tech bro philosophy or the P25 philosophy win out? This president and his entire corrupt cabinet need to go. Or shall we just sit here, do nothing and be witness to the destruction of our nation at the hands of a few?
Write, call, protest and boycott! Boycott and hit them where it hurts! They failed to ascertain, there is more of us than them. Now that they’ve shown their true colors, there’s no doubt which billionaires are in the pocket. I will forever change my shopping habits to not support any of them. I’m hoping we still have a semblance of a military that can step in here. The destruction is insane and it’s right in front of our faces.
Make sure you try to disconnect from AWS - Amazon Web Services which is more profitable than Amazon Prime is to Bezos. That would be your Internet provider; Netflix; Canva
I've recently started looking first to eBay for things I would normally purchase on Amazon. Research into eBay's donation history showed zero for Trump and significant donations to Kamala Harris as well as Hakeem Jeffries in the last election cycle. I also recently joined Costco both to support their refusal to dismantle their DEI policy and for the low low price of their gas. As a one person household, I never would have paid for a Costco membership in the past, but I'm doing more thoughtful, creative thinking about my spending now.
Yes, both are great. Have been shopping at Costco for over 20 years as they offer a great variety of everything. Also, eBay has been my go-to. I hope they see an uptick in purchases.
Dutch Mike, for those that can Often they are the only game going in rural areas and lots of people are also living hand to mouth. I say those who can, should. Then I see people who should know better and can using Amazon because it saves them a little money.
Martin O'Malley, the departing head of Social Security, has warned that chaos, possibly the delay or nondelivery of checks will indeed ensue. His MAGA audience is being misused while he (Trump) arouses exaggerated hopes that his stable genius can fix everything. (Don't forget that Hitler's audience were professionals and his enemies were also beguiled.)
I was relieved to see my SS check in my account in February.; hoping March's is. How has it come to this? that a very nearly 80 year old has to hold her breath, hoping the government keeps its promise?
From Jessica Craven’s Substack, a script for calling your Senators and Representatives demanding that they protect Social Security. Let’s do it TODAY!
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I am deeply alarmed about DOGE’s plans to cut roughly 7,000 workers from Social Security. It’s horrifying. I also heard that the entire Office of Transformation has already been dissolved, as well as the entire Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity. And so much more. These attacks on Social Security are outrageous. If I or someone I love loses my Social Security or has services interrupted because of these staffing cuts I will be furious. Stop Musk now. Get him out of our government. He’s destroying it. Thanks.
[If GOP add:] Killing programs we’ve paid into is going to lose the Congressmember his/her seat, and make Republicans lose the House next year. I will work hard to ensure it.
[If Democrat add:] Also, Democrats can’t support any funding agreement that doesn’t stop the illegal firing of federal workers and rein in DOGE. Seriously. We have leverage. Use it. This is life or death for millions. Thanks.
Thanks, Gina. I called my NY GOP representative Mike Lawler. The automatic message was that he was on the other line and to leave a message! I adapted your script and included the idea that "Musk is HARMING Americans and that is an American and unconscionable. The role of the US government is not to harm its own citizens, but to HELP them and the country.'"
"Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is talking about changing the way the U.S. calculates economic growth." Lutnick's approach reminds me of something I read about how the Nazis suspended releasing their budget to the public when their credit dried up and Germany couldn't get foreign banks to lend them money. Retreating from transparency may be Musk's next step in bankrupting the American economy through his thoughtless cuts. I wonder where all this mismanagement and chaos will lead. If history holds probably a war which America will be ill-suited to fight.
In addition to calling our representatives, and protesting publicly, what do you think about the idea of threatening a class action suit against Musk & DOGE by everyone who was impulsively and recklessly terminated from their job, especially those who lose their Social Security checks? It is it in the realm of possibility that Social Security recipients could join together in a class action suit against Musk?
I think Drumpf considers himself to be his hero, Hitler & can that he personally can “rule the world “,just like Hitler”😱😱😱😱😱…what a complete MORON drumpf is!!!!!!
I suppose it’s my bad fortune that my entry into the social security system coincides with the beginning of the new “administration”. Because I was worried about the election, I applied early, in April 24, fully expecting a financial hit. I haven’t heard a peep since then and not been able to reach a human. 36 years of contributions down the drain? That’s illegal, but what does that even mean anymore.
I suppose it’s my bad fortune that my entry into the social security system coincides with the beginning of the new “administration”. Because I was worried about the election, I applied early, in April 24, fully expecting a financial hit. I haven’t heard a peep since then and not been able to reach a human. 36 years of contributions down the drain? That’s illegal, but what does that even mean anymore.
His (TRUMPS) slumping approval rating failed to dive as I expected it would …really tells a story. I read the other side’s version ,keeping a finger on the pulse …full blown delusion ..the cult is still intact.
Patricia Davis: Trump's approval rating reflects a fact nobody here seems to genuinely understand: Trump was elected to do exactly what he is doing. He said it all through the campaign. This does not surprise anyone who lives in reality. For once, we have a President who is fulfilling his campaign promises, and his supporters like it. Why is that so surprising to you? Maybe you could do some reading outside your comfort zone to understand how the victims of Biden's appalling policies think about life in our country. I would be curious to know what on "the other side" you read. "Cult"? With every single demographic voting for him?
Trump's comeback and success are making history. Of course he will make mistakes, but he is far smarter than you think and, while you may find it unbelievable, Trump loves this country and its people, and they are loving him back. Aren't you the least bit curious why you and the Democrats are out of step for once?
Somewhere there needs to be a running calculation of how much of our tax dollars are going to pay for his every weekend trips to Maralago or his other properties and the amount he is benefiting personally from charges for secret service stays at his properties
Gigi and Deborah, Thanks for sharing the golf tracker and great suggestion to track our tax dollars for his and his secret service time for golf! How about addressing all that by the DOGE?
I still want to know why Elon Musk registered two new corporations with the Texas secretary of state last fall: United States of America Inc. and Group America LLC. Judging by all his actions since then, he didn't create these corporations on a lark. Unlike his orange monkey, Musk has a plan. I can't guess what it is, but I suspect it will turn Elon into a multi-trillionaire and millions of Americans will be dramatically poorer ... or dead. Great bio-fuel for Curtis Yarvin's new power plant.
It’s my understanding that when the Soviet Union fell, Russia was privatized which is what we are looking at here. Now. The place is here. The time is now.
Russia is a highly centralised authoritarian state masquerading as a free market democracy. That's even more so the case now with so many of its industries committed to serving a war economy.
😱😳😫🧐😢😭🤬🤯+ I miss our opportunity to have had a woman President in Kamala Harris, because Drumpf had the super privileged, wealthy people buy him a presidency 😢😭😤🤬😬😵💫🤮!
What to do , what to do…welcome to ‘LITTLE RUSSIA’…Waiting won’t be long for SS to drop, Medicaid go, cryptocurrency replace the dollar, and Civil War 2.0 …the show must go on, right. Nightmare 2025.
It will be starting within 30-90 days. My husband and I will lose money that helps to sustain us and we are not the only ones who rely on SS and Medicare/Medicaid/MediCal!!
We will have to depend on 1) farmers markets 2) have a contact number for people to call to get help 3) establish homes that can open up for refuge, 4) people will have to go to bare bones budgets , things like quit smoking/pop is out/booze/eating out/nails/hair done …few have seen a real depression . Will have to be creative for sure.
All Democrats in the House and Senate MUST boycott Trump's State of the Union address.
All Democrats should show up for the SOTU address wearing blue and yellow armbands. Four minutes after Liar, Fraud, Con, Grifter, Fascist, Racist, Putin’s Puppet, Traitor Trump begins what we all know will be nothing but a MAGAt pep-rally, all Democrats should stand up and, together, walk out of the Capitol chamber.
In addition, on March 2, 2025, Heather Cox Richardson posted on her Substack a running, damning history of Trump vis a vis Russia. That POST is an ABSOLUTE MUST READ - for all Dems in the House and Senate.
Senator Elissa Slotkin, who's going to give the Dems response to Liar Trump's SOTU address MUST read Heather's entire post. We need everyone in America to understand that Trump is a traitor..... and that Traitor Trump must be removed from office.
Everyone, please call today the elected officials who represent you in the Senate and House and demand that they show all due disrespect to Trump, America’s Disgrace.
The only people who can stop this are the GOP. And they are choosing not to. In terms of messaging, I think progressive should focus on the costs and burdens for ordinary Americans with the deliberate creation of disfunction in Social Security, higher prices, rising inflation, rising unemployment and lost medical coverage.
Let’s start discussing pushing back. DEMs should file law suits against Trump stopping aids for Ukraine. Yesterday Raychell reported citizens have started running for offices. They are tired of no action DEMs asking money.
Exactly Putin’s plan. Because of Russia’s geography, and history, it will never be able to compete with the west. So, to make Russia more relevant, the EurAsian worldview is to bring Western countries down to Russia’s level. Wrecking democratic institutions like education, business regulation, failing rule of law, growing corruption, tariff induced chaos, lying in politics, demagoguery instead of leadership, state controlled media, etc etc.
Bring the US down to Russia’s level is how Russia wins.
Putin’s “ilk” includes Trump. There is no longer a need to respect the office of the presidency since we no longer have a president. Trump is a dictator; it is a coup.
Thank you from Paris. It appears from here that America is burning out of control, and that leaders are behaving worse than animals. The pain of others seems to thrill and motivate them to inflict even more pain.
And so, we do as Zelenskyy did. "In the fell clutch of circumstance/I have not winced, nor cried aloud." He's as straight now as when he refused Trump's anti-Biden game, during that perfect phone call.
He also refused an offer by the US to be "evacuated" at the beginning of the Russian invasion. Could you imagine anyone in this corrupt government doing so in a similar situation?
... And the Republicans will no doubt shamefully applaud every statement made by Trump this evening. Are these people typically and systematically irrational?
People will die, and that's the point. When they said "there will be some hardship" what they meant is "people you love will die, and we don't care." They think people are poor by choice. They think people get sick by choice. They think if you're sick or disabled, you deserve your fate. They absolutely refuse to believe that they have any requirement to participate in the community. Everything is transactional to them. Everything is about them getting all the opportunity and wealth and withholding same from everyone else while simultaneously blaming everyone else for their predicaments. If you can't eat its because you aren't working hard enough, not because the rich guy is charging too much for bread. It is absolutely a horrible and abusive mindset. It's always been here, it's just out in the open now, like it was before FDR. I hate it.
Remember, Kerry, there are virtually no American schools where students read of generosity.
That is, novels, memoirs, biographies, and histories had to disappear from schools everywhere, to make room for the packaging death trips also known as standardized testing.
The Powell memo of 1971 intended all this -- to kill any education with anything personal about it -- to turn the U.S. over to the interests of commerce, banking, short-term profit, and commodification.
The ancillary program called for killing as many government programs as possible, and as many regulations as possible. Dark money should grow as Citizens United would eventually (2010) let dark money rule, and as the Clarence court would then its favorite criminal beyond the Constitution, beyond all law.
Was it a coincidence that Putin would inject his techies into dividing what was left of the American people? A coincidence that U.S. schools, turned over to the testers, would make not only an ignorant mass of tens of millions, but (with the aid of social media moguls and their algorithms) would also shape masses of sheer hatreds to go with the ed for packaging only?
About 15 years ago, a group of us met with a local philanthropist who was then in his early 80's. During the course of our conversation he lamented that many of the local philanthropists had passed away recently or that they were in elderly. He worried there would be no one to replace their generosity in our community.
Fortunately, he was mistaken about our county. Many generous people have stepped up. It seems that Musk's attitude about Mackenzie Scott and others who help out others may not be the prevailing attitude among wealthy Americans.
Many of you have written grants. Is there money available out there for projects and research?
There needs to be an appeal to generous benefactors to fund a security detail for scared Republicans and their families so they would join with Dems to resist Trump without the threat of death.
Any other private citizen who believes they're important enough to be in danger must take the necessary precautions on their own dime. Legislators get paid enough to hire their own security. Congress is not a charity.
Except what you assert in your second sentence isn't a valid statement about the Powell memorandum. It was a far more political pitch for business -- free enterprise -- to fully politicize itself against what Powell thought of as the liberal and leftist attack on "indivisible freedom." What you wrote here mobilized me to actually go back and (for probably the third time) read its 34 pages. I, too, have long understood what a significant document shaping America's political trajectory up ro and including the capture of SCOTUS, the rising billionaire influence on everything, etc. etc. A quick read was enough to establish that you second sentence is inaccurate on its face. Fair's fair.
Correct you are as to that memo "on its face," that is, on its 1971 issuance.
But remember, too, Hendrik, how much Powell and all associated with him hated all the professors and teachers and all their late 1960s activism -- for which movies, books, and songs were key.
So immediately, as they implemented the Powell memo, their first thoughts were to putting those educators in their place, silencing them into cowed and neutered specialization limitations. Thus the Heritage Foundation came into being. Thus the Hoover Institution got repurpose and upped funding. Thus came the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) -- all in the next year-and-a-half.
They spent the rest of the 1970s with one main goal -- to cripple educators. To shame them into retreat, to defund them, reduce tenure, all of which with millions of dollars they did. They not only killed humanities at all levels in the U.S. curriculum, but replaced it with the black priorities of testing.
Then, with Reagan's rise in 1980, they could proceed to phase two -- the amazing profits from offshoring the millions of jobs which had formed the backbone of the American working class and middle class.
Kerry, I can't think of any animal that behaves as badly as the Tr-ance bullies. Even predator-animals only kill for survival, and don't make a public spectacle of it.
This is a quote from Thomas Jefferson, describing the European monarchies of the time in a letter to Edward Carrington. He was writing from Paris in 1787, shortly before the French Revolution.
“Under pretense of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves & sheep. I do not exaggerate. This is a true picture of Europe. Cherish therefore the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you & I, & Congress, & Assemblies, judges & governors shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions; and experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor.”
My husband and I are retired,in our 60’s. Our life savings is dwindling with the crashing stock market. Not a huge amount but both our jobs were considered “essential”. I guess, unless one is quite wealthy, our lives no longer matter at all.
I had a conservative neighbor ask me why I was voting for Harris, (I had a sign in my yard). I answered that I’m gettin close to retirement age, and I didn’t want to lose my Social Security to billionaires who are literally stealing it in the form of tax cuts. I have made that claim for decades, because it was always Republicans who said SS became too big to fund, as they let the rich avoid taxes. There were never illegals stealing US SS, or trans people taking over schools in America. I told her that Trump is a con man, and while I saw her agree, she still voted for him. She is older than me and depends on SS financially. Well guess what…
Problem is Jane, you'll be in the same boat with her. Sorry. That happens when a scumbag president claims a false "mandate" and ignore the other half if the population.
Don’t I know it. To be fair, this person voted her conscience, but I don’t think she would ever admit she was deceived. I think she would hold onto the idea that Ds are amoral, and that they are the downfall of America.
I think she would sooner vote for a reformed R party than a D ever.
Most likely Jane, I think you are right. By paying attention to elections numbers over time, there's always about 30 % of voters that, doesn't matter how bad the situation is and who is obviously the responsible for that situation, they consistently keep voting to preserve the mistake even if it's painful to them. It's a fact of life, don't loose your sleep over your neighbor inability to see reality and make sense of it. Thanks for your reply 👍
My wife put it this way to me the other day. She asked me, why I still supported Nebraska football since they have been a top 25 team in football for years. Why didn't I switched my allegiance to my alma mater who actually has been competitive. I realized that I would never consider abandoning the Huskers, regardless of how bad the program becomes. Scott Frost was supposed to lead the program back to greatness and he turned out to be a terrible head coach. And yet, many people still think he did a great job even though he never had a winning season.
Republicans think that Trump is a Republican. They see him as an honorable person that truly wants to help make their lives better. They believe his bullshit and many of them think that he has NEVER told a lie. (I have actually met a couple of these).
This is why our only choice is to build our team with young people before they become "hardened" Republicans. This isn't easy but without the next generation(s) we can't win.
That would make them a “turncoat” to others in their party. Wow. Perhaps they were never taught, “when we know better, we do better.” I thought as humans we grow up and evolve…
Your example is supremely apt. I have friends who are die-hard, loyal fans of sports teams with abysmal records, and not a snowball's chance in hell of ever becoming a winning team. But these fans still root for their teams until they're hoarse.
For MAGA, it's all about "team spirit."
I blame our corporate media. With glitzy graphics, "color commentators," and "locker room interviews," the media have turned our political process into nothing more than a professional sporting bowl game. Voters focus on their "team loyalty" because the media emphasize the competition rather than the consequences.
My friends from HS had a conversation on FB about the Ukraine situation and obviously this person was a Trumper. I posted a fact stated by Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney which were the details around the Budapest Memorandum that was signed in 1994 with the Soviet Union, Ukraine, Great Britian, and the US for Ukraine to give up their nuclear weapons for Ukraine's sovereignty and if broken we and NATO would come to their defense. Putin broke the agreement in 2014 and has continued to this day, so we were obligated by the agreement to come to Ukraine's aid.
So, now Trump just tossed our obligation to the side and cozied up to Putin. The conversation when to hell after that and the person took the post down and my comments had the most thumbs up in the chat, because it was the truth.
I've had several conversations like this with people I know and every time I walk away and just shake my head wondering what it will take to make them see the light.
I'm beginning to think death will be the turning point and I don't mean personally by me or anyone else but from the actions of the ship of fools running the show and in a fashion that is unknown to me, but I fear it is coming.
The inmates are running the insane asylum and the sane (me and you) are grasping at the gate trying to get out of the way.
Hannah Arendt concluded that Eichmann, and, by extension, others, were 'just doing their jobs'….We are seeing GOP hearts and minds not engaged. They're just letting evil happen … towing a line tossed their way with no concern for what's on the end, even if it's corpses. 'Banality of Evil' resurrected, this time here and now.
When the "love of money" becomes monomaniacal, it seems to evoke a very creepy cruelty the enjoys causing those less fortunate to suffer more. That seems self evident in Trump and Musk, and a number of similar billionaires of the day.
Indeed, I don't believe in the religious, ghostly sort of soul, and yet I have a sense of something like it, kept alive (or not) in human sentience. The image of selling one's soul for power appears to reflect certain realities.
And the rural communities will be the hardest hit. Within a year, Republicans will be forced to pay farmers for their losses. If you were a farmer, would you be thinking about leaving your fields fallow this year rather than lose money? I'm not a farmer, but most of them remember the $28 billion bailout in 2018 when Trump did this before.
Worse yet is a repeat of what happened in the 30's when the government didn't bail them out and banks foreclosed and then like the crash of 2008 with housing, big investors will buy up the farms at pennies on the dollar and Big Ag wins again. This is not the way to lower food prices by the way.
Any appeal to elected representatives based on caring for others is useless. The elected officials DON’T CARE. They are only interested in the money. The MAGAts only want to look like they support the dear leader. Stress the financial consequences in your contacts with elected representatives in the House and Senate. Remember hundreds of thousands of people died UNNECESSARILY during Covid because 45 and the MAGAts didn’t care that people were dying.
JD, it's ok for the moronic maga horde till they start feeling the pain. The more stupid of them would still have no a clue but many are going to start wondering and may look for a different source of information other than Fox.
Ricardo, I don't think it's going to turn out that way. The brainwashing has been going on for more than a decade. There's no reliable attribution for the expression, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result," but it's true. Sometime in the future, psychologists will look back on this era and classify MAGA as a form of insanity. The cult will feel the pain, but they'll keep watching Fox and they'll blame anyone but their idol.
Ricardo, I disagree. I do not think that any of them will either see or admit that anything that happens with this administration is illegal or wrong. In the heady days of 2016, I was sure that the cognitive dissonance would eventually lead them to see how gawdawful ffpotus was to our country. On the contrary, they seem to have bought in with orders of magnitude (double down was far, far too small a descriptor to use) and are now preaching for the fall of US Democracy (and yes, I was mansplained about how we are a republic, not a democracy) as being the one, true way.
TSLA’s high before the election was 264.86 on 9/30/24. Its post election all-time high was on 12/18/24 at 483.99. It’s post election low was on Friday at 273.60, down -43.6% from the all-time high and up an anemic 3.3% for the last 5 months. Seems like Musk’s playing with bedazzled chainsaws has not been kind to his shareholders at TSLA.
Today Forbes real-time billianaires ranking had the top 4 (Musck, Zuck, Bezos, and Ellison) down - $4.7B, -$4.5B, -$6.6B, and -$4.7B respectively, for a total of -$20.5B. Individually they lost between -1.3% and -2.91% of their net worth just today.
How long do you think the billionaire oligarchs will have patience with Trump’s policies at this rate? They bent the knee and kissed the ring when Trump won, thinking he would put in policies that favored them. But their wealth comes from the stock market, which runs on the strength of the economy, and if the economy tanks, so does their wealth.
And, unfortunately, so does the wealth of ordinary people.
The oligarchs may also be having second thoughts as Susan Collins was told to start work, with Trump’s blessing, on a new Continuing Resolution in the Senate to kick the budget can down the road until September 30, 2025. That is the day before the start of FY 2026. So there will be no big tax breaks for the bros or anyone else for FY2025. On April 30, the punt will trigger a FY2025 budget cut of 1% below Biden’s FY2024 one. So Biden’s budget priorities will stay in force unless SCOTUS allows Trump to unconstitutionally use impoundment and redirect funds. I believe that this was the Trump failure that he was trying to slip under the radar with Friday’s Oval Office drama. He got a twofer—cover for this and a shout-out to his best bud Putin.
I did some research and found the independent audit report and financial statement for FY2023 and FY2024 for USAID provided by the appropriate Inspector General. The auditors' report had 8 recommendations and had two areas of deficiency to be addressed--mostly around logging leave.
The total expenditures for USAID in 2024 were $23.4B (Note that the numbers in the financial statement are in thousands.) Compare that to $20.5B for what the four biggest broligarchs lost just yesterday when the market fell.
This is quite a lesson for Americans to understand about wealth inequality in America.
It also begs the question of why these morbidly rich sycophants have no charity in their souls. The sum for ALL of USAD expenditures in 2024 is approximately what they lost in one day in the stock market, a couple of percent of their total wealth. It is ABSOLUTELY MEANINGLESS to them and life and death to millions.
Georgia, it's not only because of the stupidity of playing with a chainsaw, it's all the rest. People are waking up, reacting and taking action. Let's keep the trend going.
"But their wealth comes from the stock market, which runs on the strength of the economy, and if the economy tanks, so does their wealth." Exactly. You would think that the billionaire/millionaire class would do everything in their power to make sure this doesn't happen... so where are they?
Yes. Hollow out the agency, create fractures, prove government is ineffective, no matter how efficient they made it. When value of a system (purpose, benefit, ontime payment, user confidence) declines faster than the increased efficiency (indirect costs decline, cuts in personnel, increase workload, decrease ease of access) is the (mine) real definition of fraud and abuse. A corallary, need is a personal (societal?) constant, it will be met and needs follow resources (e.g., as welfare rolls shrank, health and disability rolls grew).
That is correct. It became clear when the Republican congressman spoke of people in nursing homes dying of Covid:”They were only going to die anyway.” At 90, managing at the moment on my own, I feel the weight of that remark. (90, Chicago) Laughter, as Bennet Cerf knew, is the best medicine. Aristophanes is still funny.
I suppose it’s my bad fortune that my entry into the social security system coincides with the beginning of the new “administration”. Because I was worried about the election, I applied early, in April 24, fully expecting a financial hit. I haven’t heard a peep since then and not been able to reach a human. 36 years of contributions down the drain? That’s illegal, but what does that even mean anymore. I don’t believe there will be midterm elections next year, either.
It is all very depressing, Heather. Trump and Co. are determined to ruin our lives by these deep cuts in our systems. They simply do not care about any of us. They only care about their greed so robber barons is exactly a good name for them.
They must be stopped. Never mind how. Lawfully or lawlessly - at the moment there's no difference. It's clear to everyone now that it's critically urgent.
The cognitive dissonance among Republicans is deafening. Yesterday, I overheard a lady defending Trump and his actions when she heard that several members of our town were planning a protest. She was taken aback at how disrespectful that was to "her" President Trump. I briefly consider engaging with her, but there are no words that would change her mind about Trump.
Not yet among the most stubborn, but I believe up to half of them that voted for him will reconsider, (as will a good portion of those that didn't vote at all).
The mystery to me is how many that didn't vote thought there was no way he could win vs how many didn't believe it mattered much about who won.
Manny didn’t vote and you’re right they believed it doesn’t matter, but now they need to have their eyes opened somehow someway perhaps realizing our cyber systems must be turned over to someone who can protect us, which is not DOGE and their allies in Russia
Cybersecurity (CISA) to stop investigating and reporting on Russian threats. FBI and CISA to stop monitoring election disinformation AND attacks on voting systems.
And now, new ways to calculate the state of the economy.
I’m usually caught off guard when a maggot defends what’s going on with the pillaging of the wealth, which only further supports their Evil Empire and I wish I could simply always refer to the “Trojan horse is inside the walls,” but I usually resort politely and stumble for words while standing in line and don’t want to embarrass those around me simply trying to buy whatever it is they’re trying to buy and get home to their nests.
They are not robber barons who take over the loot and sit back and suck off the growing money. These guys are muggers who slash and destroy the victims and steal whatever is in front of them.
I think there is an element—maybe his whole motivation—with Musk of simply showing us that he can. he can do whatever he wants: look how powerful I am; no one can stop me. And there is the villainous aspect, twirling his mustache and laughing maniacally. Why should he worry about Americans in the country that allowed him to get rich? He doesn’t care even a little about his own children—why would he care about ours?
Regarding the big meeting tonight, I think former Labor Secretary Robert Reich had some good advice for our leaders:
Robert Reich Substack March 4, 2025
“My simple advice to congressional Democrats: Wake the hell up!
Tonight, Trump will address both chambers of Congress. He has taken over the brains and intestines of Republican lawmakers, who will applaud his stream of lies.
Democrats will do — what? Sit on their hands? Applaud a few insipid things?
Ideally, Democrats should boycott the whole event. Even sitting in the well of the House as if this were just another president addressing just another Congress legitimizes Trump’s coup.
Democrats should not signal to a nationally televised audience that what we’re living through is normal.
If Democratic lawmakers feel they must be there, then make good and loud trouble. Disrupt Trump’s speech. Arrive in Revolutionary War costumes and hold signs proclaiming America is not a monarchy. Wave American flags and copies of the Constitution.
Every time he utters the word “tariff,” hold up a sign that says “It’s a tax.”
When Trump lies — about Ukraine, about DOGE, about immigration, about the tariffs he’s just put into effect, about his plan for robbing working people to give another huge tax cut to the rich — boo loudly. Hold up a “lie meter” for the cameras.
Then walk out en masse.
Show America there’s still life in the democratic opposition, even as America slides toward dictatorship.”
I learned Churchill designed and popularized the baggy "Siren" suits as something you could throw on over anything when you heard the air raid sirens and headed for the shelters.
Sometimes they were thrown on over formal wear to keep them cleaner in the shelters and on the way to and from them. Wearing them during visits with the other leaders was to draw attention to what they had to be ready to do at any moment in a war zone.
Where are the calls from people with standing in society for Trump to be charged with treason? This is going to be the question. I ask every day from now on. Trump is an enemy of the state and is facilitating its destruction through his own acts and by weakening our ability to fight the actions of our enemies specifically Russia. So I say again, where are the calls to charge Trump with treason? 
Mark Burnett and NBC's "success" with The Apprentice fake reality tv show was a harbinger of intentional calamity that was put in motion in 1971 through Lewis Powell's vision and advice to America's ruling elite. Their ideological and biological descendants, the "people with standing in society" have reaped as much wealth as possible and appear to be pausing while calamity runs it's course. From my perspective, roughly 40% of Americans are living inside a mass hallucination engineered by the most evil, cynical, & ruthless people. Nobody is coming to help us. It's up to us to listen to each other as is possible during this engineered maelstrom & tsunami of sludge. This forum helps us have a chance of collectively saving ourselves and eventually producing something better and sustainable. https://johnrich.substack.com/p/all-hands-on-deck-05a?r=41pd0
Mark Burnett saved Trump‘s ass and at the same time created the monster that would leverage what the Murdochs helped create in America… A willingness to believe that hate and fear are the answer to our problems
Calling for a treason prosecution or an impeachment is a waste of time. He controls the prosecutors and the jury. The only thing that can work at this point is take to the streets en masse.
Thank you. I appreciate your comment and link. But I personally do not believe impeachment is the right course of action. I believe he needs to be tried for treason and put in prison. Impeachment will not put him in prison. And I am open to it as a first step. Thanks again.
You write of the need for tRump to be charged with treason, then what mechanism would you use to do so? Who in our current political landscape would you have arrest and try him for treason?
The value of impeachment is that one can pursue it under the violation of the oath of office without having to get into the technicalities of whether you can charge treason without a formal state of war being declared, despite what Muskrat & Putin are doing with their use of cyber tactics being the equivalent of war in the 21st century and Muskrat’s coup via control of the central computer systems of our government.
Steve, the constitution very narrowly defines treason as either waging war upon the United States, or providing aid and comfort to the enemy.
Russia had been, for my entire life, the enemy. Based upon what I have read regarding ffpotus having been turned by the Soviets since the late 80'w/early 90's (code name Karsnov) and the actions that I saw on display in the Oval Office last week, I do not believe that the current office holder believes Russia is the enemy; ergo, no treason.
DO our congress critters even know THEIR jobs? To be a coequal branch of government? Or are they really just installed stooges and we have already lost our democracy?
I happened on the video of that outburst. A sublimely unintelligent rant from one of the meanest congress critters to ever exist. She can even outdo Lindsey Graham when she wants.
Or, she knows that she is a federal employee but incorrectly assumes that all federal workers are just like her: con artists, self-promoters, lacking in skills, and childish.
I sent an email to Senator Angus King a few weeks ago and I received his reply yesterday. It is lengthy, but I'll try to post it all here.
Dear Gary,
I completely agree—the actions of President Trump and Elon Musk are illegal and unconstitutional and pose a grave threat to our national security, our democracy, and the rights of the American people. As I write this to you, our Constitution is under the most direct and consequential assault in our nation’s history—an assault not on a particular provision of that document but on the essential structure of the document itself.
Many of us across the country have spent the last few weeks shocked and angry and without a place for these emotions to go. It’s difficult to grasp the reality of this situation with all the events that have been swirling around us over the last several weeks since they’re coming from so many directions and so many different actors. When my colleagues and I began our careers in the Senate, we pledged an oath to the Constitution with the following words: “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
We took this oath to support and defend the Constitution, and as it says, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I’ve always thought it was interesting that the framers conceded that there might be domestic enemies to the Constitution. It’s a reminder that our oath was not to the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party—and it was certainly not to Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Our oath was to defend the Constitution and the very fragile institutions of our perfectly imperfect government. Twice now, I’ve spoken on the floor on these important topics and expressed my deep misgivings about the path we seem to be on. You can watch my remarks here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-C913fyfnU and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2ptQFOi9Pg.
In addition to my recent floor speeches, I detailed in three recent letters to the White House that the Executive Branch cannot operate without regard to rules, regulations, or congressional oversight. You can read the text of those letters on my website, www.king.senate.gov. At the bottom of this letter, I’ve also included links to three of those letters for you. The actions of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) risk the exposure of classified and other sensitive information that simultaneously jeopardizes national security and violates Americans’ privacy. As a result, we deserve to know how the White House and DOGE operate.
Currently, little to no information has been provided to the public or Congress on how DOGE staff and representatives are being vetted, which systems, records, and information are being shared, and what steps the administration is taking to safeguard them from misuse or disclosure. Put simply, this is unacceptable. DOGE cannot make decisions, shut down programs, withhold taxpayer dollars, or lay off federal employees, all while ignoring the law. In addition to the existential threat to our democracy, these actions are having real, harsh, demonstrable damage. There’s nothing theoretical about cutting off funding to a rural health clinic, letting American-grown food rot in warehouses abroad without USAID staff to disperse it, refusing to release grants for small farmers or regional EMS services, cutting off resources to scientists working on lifesaving projects, or withholding funds for Head Start centers to pay childcare workers.
Given the scope of what President Trump has allowed and potentially encouraged Elon Musk and DOGE to do, I am disappointed in of my colleagues who are refusing to say that enough is enough. In the Declaration of Conscience, the late Senator Margaret Chase Smith said:
“I think that it is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some real soul searching and to weigh our consciences as to the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America and the manner in which we are using or abusing our individual powers and privileges. I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution.”
It's that oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, that solemn oath we all took, that, to me, is the red line. We’re experiencing in real-time the shredding of the constitutional structure itself, something we have taken an oath to prevent. We, as Congress, have a responsibility and duty to stand up and speak out against this assault. How we respond to this assault will define our life’s work, our place in history, and the future of our country. At a prior time of crisis, Abraham Lincoln defined the stakes for each of us:
“Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress, and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.”
This is a crossroads for our country and a pivotal moment in our nation’s history. Our government has withstood challenges to the separation of powers from the Executive Branch dating as far back as President Jackson’s administration in the 1830s, and even a Civil War. We cannot allow President Trump and an unelected billionaire to erode the basic fabric of our country. Together, Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike, we have the power to right the balance, to reclaim the authority we thought was inherent, and in the process of doing so, save our country.
Thank you again for contacting me about this, and please do not hesitate to reach out in the future if I may be of service. This is just the beginning of what I know will be an ongoing dialogue in the weeks, months, and years to come. You can be sure I will continue to do all in my power to stop this dangerous assault on our Constitution and our country; please keep in touch about the impacts of all of this in your communities.
what I get from my senator, the one from Wisconsin with the R, is crickets. Nothing. phone calls got an invitation to a virtual 'town hall' after it started. your senator has gumption at least.
Read somewhere that some Republicans who intended to vote against some Trumpisms were frightened off by fears of violence against themselves and their families.
They seem to be enjoying this. Vainglorious pride before a fall. And a fall is surely coming, the question being who among us will survive the wreckage?
And they are ruining the lives of their own children. When I see this [risibly 'so-called'] administration continue to bash environmentalists, public health professionals, and sustainable, renewable energy, I picture their own grandchildren having much worse lives than we have. Don't they care? Don't they love their own children enough to secure a good life for them? Do they really think they will be safe if they buy an island somewhere and build a ridiculous billion dollar 'safe refuge'? Have they never read The Mask of the Red Death? No one is safe from the ubiquitous collapse brought on by these smash and grab social policies.
What can one say to that "excuse"? Would YOU let your country go down the tubes on the vague chance (and remember, you and your family have government protection) on the vague chance that someone might take a pop at you? Good thing America isn't having to fight the way Ukraine does. "Oooo! I might have to hide in a bunker! How shocking!"
Repeating my call to Dem leadership to offer paid security details to protect scared Republicans and their families if they cross the aisle to vote to save our country and stand up to Trump. Remove the threat of death from their toolbox.
Exactly. Surely people have watched enough TV crime shows where the criminal extracts cooperation from his sobbing captive, only to shoot the captive dead after the criminal gets what he wants.
Repeating daily: we need to provide security details to Republicans willing to cross the aisle to vote with Democrats to protect our country. Take away the threat of death from Trump and Musk and remove this mobster tactic and get back in the game.
Many are exactly as you describe. Examples like "Coach" Tuberville, "ted" Cruz, MTG, and Lauren Boebert jump right out at us, but they're just the flamboyant ones. There are plenty more who are passive and stupid who enjoy the perks while rubber stamping whatever comes across their desks. Between voter suppression and gerrymandering the Repubs packed the seats in advance.
Not content with killing a half million US citizens with his mismanagement of Covid , Trump’s going worldwide with his slash and burn of agencies like USAID.
With all these unconstitutional actions, depriving Congress of their authority, the Trump administration throws out culture issues like trans rights. The Senate just failed to pass a federal law to ban trans females from women’s sports thanks to the filibuster. Republicans can lay blame on Democrats to distract from the constitutional crisis they are fomenting.
Heather, your missives are getting longer because so much trash is being thrown at the American people. Is there a good guy ending somewhere or will we not be able to recognize the America we have built through civil rights, more inclusive voting, and being humanitarians.
I wonder how Trump will massage the fall in the stock market and other indices of decline tonight. At some level it has to sting given how he has touted every rise during his previous stint…will he disassemble?
Check the last sentence of Heather’s post tonight, “might help to explain why Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is talking about changing the way the U.S. calculates economic growth.”
If you don’t like the numbers change the way you get the numbers. Seems to be the one cardinal rule everyone over there is following. Right Elon?
Yes, but when he starts to go off script he will not be able to do a nuanced massage. Also, in my lucid dream scheme here, he could get rattled IF the Dems surprise us all and start to walk out in protest. I know the Republicans will be on their feet applauding if not kneeling and genuflecting.
I read that Democrats were planning to highlight the personal stories of some of the people unjustly fired by Musk. That is the sort of thing that I can can gain traction, IF done well.
If Trump asked the Republicans to fall to their knees in front of him, they would. Of course, given their ages, some might have a little trouble getting up.
And another member of my generation who will rot in hell. Your mention of him is a trigger for me: another day of nausea. As a native Michigander, I was disgusted by his performance as OMB director under Reagan. Yeah, I remember.
I’m not expecting/dreaming of shame JL. My imagining is premised on his fear of failure in the economic sphere and his peevish playground-bully temper.
That's true, and that's alright, because the lie will not bring the stock market back up. The money people know their money. Tariffs will not be good for the economy. That's a simple fact. Restricting immigration, government inefficiency because of firings, maybe ransomware attacks - all of these things point to the stock market going down.
Long enough to bail him out of his financial crises of multiple bankruptcies years ago; rubles saved the “Celebrity Apprentice” . The 🍑 felon is just a pathetic grifter from the tenements of NYCity who married a blond, of course, from
Communist Chechoslovakia with an influential father. He’s been Krasnov for forty years.
On the topic of tonight's Joint Congressional clash with Wreck, I understand that Senator, ELISSA SLOTKIN is going to give the Democratic response or should I call it the "democratic response".
What's your take on the Senator's likely messages to the Nation?
For other readers, Senator Elissa Slotkin is a former, CIA Officer. Slotkin won her Senate seat in a state that Trump also won. My understating is that Senator Slotkin is an advocate of the reality that a "strong middle class" is a national security issue.
Thanks for the great question, Bryan, about our phenomenal Senator Elissa Slotkin. I haven't even thought about (or read about) what her focus will be in her, yes, "democratic" Democrat response to TrumPutin's hogwash. We local Democrats up north just know it will be fantastic.
The Intentional Collapse: How the Trump Administration is Crashing the Economy and Hollowing Out America
The destruction happening right now is not accidental. It is not incompetence. It is not mere “mismanagement.” It is deliberate. The Trump administration, led by his billionaire allies and corporate enablers, is gutting the government, tanking the economy, and dismantling social safety nets—not just to consolidate power, but to permanently break the ability of the American people to resist.
This is not about efficiency. This is about control.
By slashing USAID funding and blocking aid to Ukraine, the administration is letting people starve and die on a global scale while weakening U.S. influence abroad. The gutting of Social Security and government agencies, under the guise of “workforce optimization,” is about forcing mass suffering onto ordinary Americans, accelerating housing foreclosures, and stripping the last remaining protections for workers, seniors, and the sick. The plan is clear: hollow out the government, crash the economy, and then use the crisis to funnel wealth into the hands of the ultra-rich—just like they did in 2008, only worse.
Trumpism isn’t just corruption. It’s economic terrorism.
This is a War Against the People
Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is nothing more than a death squad for public services. It is dismantling Social Security, closing field offices, and forcing out government workers so that when the next crisis hits—whether it’s a wildfire, a hurricane, or a financial collapse—there will be no one left to help. Then, when people are desperate, the billionaires will swoop in, buy up foreclosed homes, privatize public services, and rake in profits while Americans are left to suffer, struggle, and die.
Meanwhile, Trump’s tariffs are designed not to protect American workers, but to ignite global trade wars that will make food, medicine, and basic necessities even more expensive. Canada, Mexico, and China are already planning retaliatory tariffs, which will hit farmers and working-class Americans the hardest. And let’s not forget the government’s shady cryptocurrency scheme—a blatant pump-and-dump scam designed to enrich insiders while destabilizing financial markets.
This is worse than the robber barons. This is the weaponization of economic collapse to ensure permanent rule by the rich.
Where the Hell is the Opposition?
The Democratic Party’s response? Toothless press releases. Weak condemnations. Calls for "bipartisan cooperation" with an administration that is openly dismantling democracy and the economy before our eyes.
Where is the leadership that is supposed to fight for us?
Where are the mass mobilizations in the streets?
Where is the plan to stop this before it’s too late?
We don’t have time for cautious optimism or procedural resistance. The time for polite dissent is over. The only way to stop a government that has turned against its people is mass, organized, unrelenting resistance.
The Call to Action: The Revolution for Life Begins Now
Flood the streets. Protest, strike, disrupt. If they can shut down the government, we can shut down their profits.
Demand real opposition. Call, write, and confront Democratic leaders. If they refuse to fight back, they are complicit.
Refuse to be silenced. Use every platform—online and offline—to expose what’s happening and rally others to the cause.
Organize locally. Mutual aid, worker solidarity, rent strikes—everything that builds power outside of their collapsing system.
This is no longer just about resisting Trump. This is about stopping a full-scale assault on life itself.
The Rallying Cry: “RISE UP OR DIE TRYING”
Put it on signs. Spray-paint it on walls. Shout it in the streets. This is the fight of our lives, and we cannot afford to lose.
The time is now. The Revolution for Life has begun.
Christ has been ditched from christanity with this crowd of hypocrites. I ditched Christanity when I figured out that the Bible was the way the good, bad, and ugly justified whatever. It is the perfect manual for the good I learned growing up, the shysters who held tent revivals, the greedy bastards, the carnival barkers and the really cruel psychopaths. All have had their turn and the vipers rule now with a better version than the Nazis used.
Yes, and if I were not 'done' with what they illustrate as christianity, I am thoroughly done now. I'm also quite ready to head off to war, regardless the outcome.
The "leader of the free world" has just tuned its back and walked off the field. This is what it looks like when Kamala Harris said "Democracy is on the ticket". It turns out not to be solely US Democracy. The rest of the "free world" is now being hung out.
The only winners are Putin and his ilk. This will not make anything in the west great, let alone the US. A date of historic proportions.
Exactly. Putin is laughing his balls off, and Musk, too: he is draining the US tax payers of every last dollar they got. The billionaire end game is upon us.
A few of the oligarchs are starting to weigh in on the MTV (Musk/Trump/Vance) regime's haphazard hacking up of the government and destruction of the economy. Buffett and Cuban are trusted names as they have each made people wealthy with their investments as well as their philanthropy. Why anyone would trust Musk, the Waltons or Bezos is beyond me. They truly are the hacks of the 1890's. Obviously, none of them have read HCR's book "Wounded Knee."
I don't know either. If Musk would _really_ be a genius, he would see that a government is important for infrastructure, power grids, medical care, fire fighters, etc - all of those things that just cost money, so no rich guy would ever invest it. But all of those things are instrumental in keeping Musk's factories running. He doesn't see that, and neither does he see that he profited off all of these things while amassing his fortunes; no, he thinks he created these fortunes all by himself... Musk is not a genius. He is just successful because he is ruthless.
He wants to be the controlling interest in all of those areas via the private sector, which he aims to rule... by the short and curlies springs to mind here... very bond villain, but ever so slightly amateurish, it'll do I suppose, it provides some tragicomedy in the short term.
Congressional Republicans can save us (and themselves).
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered U.S. Cyber Command to stop all activity against Russia, including offensive digital actions.
… Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL) seemed surprise to learn about Hegseth’s new cyber security directive on Fox: "I don't know why he's doing that, the Russians are attacking us every single day. I don’t think you signal to the Russians that we are going to unilaterally withdraw from this space. I really don’t understand where that’s coming from. This is a mistake.”
"On Face the Nation ...., Representative Mike Turner (R-OH), a strong supporter of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Ukraine, contradicted that information. “Considering what I know, what Russia is currently doing against the United States, that would I’m certain not be an accurate statement of the current status of the United States operations,” he said. Well respected on both sides of the aisle, Turner was in line to be the chair of the House Intelligence Committee in this Congress until House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) removed him from that slot and from the intelligence committee altogether.
"AND YET, .... THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION HAS MADE CLEAR THAT IT NO LONGER SEES RUSSIA AS A CYBERSECURITY THREAT."
… Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) “I’m not interested in calling on the resignation of other world leaders. Frankly, I think that would spiral Ukraine into chaos right now, trying to find who is the negotiator.”
… Sen. John Curtis (R-UT) also disagrees: “Diplomacy and statesmanship seem to have been checked at the door of the Oval Office today. Ukraine is an ally in pursuit of free markets, free speech, and free people—Western values that align with our own. A win for Putin, on the other hand, does not. I am hopeful that our countries can get back to the table and advance the prospects of a just and lasting peace.”
… Sen. Lisa Murkowski also disagreed with Trump: “This week started with admin officials refusing to acknowledge that Russia started the war in Ukraine. It ends with a tense, shocking conversation in the Oval Office and whispers from the WH that they may try to end all US support for Ukraine. I know foreign policy is not for the faint of heart, but right now, I am sick to my stomach as the admin appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin, a threat to democracy and US values around the world.”
Lots more like this.
Impeach the bastards. https://jerryweiss.substack.com/p/to-stop-the-coup-impeach-the-traitor
All talk no action.. More sound bites.. Sort of like Susan Collins 'I'm concernewd".
They continue to approve all his appointments..
Trump doesn't care; he doesn't give a rat's ass. It must be pretty clear that he's just following Putin's orders, and no amount of 'concern' will ever make him nor his cultists turn around.
I have been calling Republicans identified as being moderate in many states. When asked where I live I tell them and say, I may not be a constituent of yours but I am an American. For the most part the calls are positive. We know our Dems are working hard, we need to encourage Republicans to do the right thing.
No they won't. They are too terrified to step out of line. Saying is one thing. Doing is another.
Daniel, what I see from his supporters is that they are all in. These people have been freaking brainwashed (and I am beginning to question whether they have brains at all at this point.)
Musk and Trump seem most to vandalize just because they can and get away with it. This is going to bite just about everyone else; including, I suspect, some of the billionaires who are lately thinking they just died and went to heaven.
Well then all these R’s need to go back to the senate room or congress and take action within the Dems. Oh yes and push a bit against the Supreme Court with impeachment. The time was yesterday but here we are today, so the time is now. The American people will be behind all of them.
Yeah, Musk has become the cartoon villain who pretty much every cartoon since the 80's has warned us for.
Speaking of cartoon characters, people were complaining about Zelensky not wearing a suit. Who would ever go into the oval office without a suit. There is Musk with his t-shirt and baseball hat. I guess that doesn't count.
"where o where has my Underdog gone?" Simon Bar Sinister and Riff Raff team up. we know who's who in this casting
"He wants to be the controlling interest in all of those areas via the private sector ..."
This is the real goal here. Republicans want every government function to be privatized. They seem to be well on their way to accomplishing that. It feels like we are heading back to the times of lords and serfs.
"It feels like we are heading back to the times of lords and serfs."
"Reaganomics", pure and simple.
yes...agreed. But History is full of the FALL of greedy men ...they FALL sooner than later...retrograde in their mental development makes for very very DANGEROUS leaders. Lives can be lost = the ultimate value which they do not understand
Millions of lives will be lost.
Shauna, they do fall, but as you point out, often with much chaos and death. In the past, some lasted a long time and one of the main things they practiced was brutality. Personally I keep hoping that some of these security people will channel the Praetorian Guard.
Have you heard the expression “ drunk on power “? Ah when we are drunk we are invincible. There should be more drunk driving and the world would be so much better. ( Sarcasm). Even my autocorrect filled in the blank.
Muck and Trump are prime examples of it. A negligent or even (on this case) sadistic sense of impunity.
A republic is a social contract. Demagogues sell lawlessness and subjugation. There is always a ready audience for that; the antithesis of a real republican.
Gjay15, drunk driving is a great analogy for what we have been doing. We are drunk on our own invincibility. (It couldn’t happen here!)
I am beginning to feel we are as vulnerable as people in other countries were/are under their dictators. But our takeover is not complete, and opposition is showing up more and more.
Thank you for your response. The term American Exceptionalism always made me cringe. I do hope that we continue to push back on these thugs and their “ policies “. If there is some “ exceptionalism “ in our country it is due to our commitment to democracy for all and our investment in immigration.
It would be interesting if we could learn how much of his beliefs come from his libertarianism, and how much may be from his apparent autism spectrum? And then there's his ego, of course. Guys like him always think it was their personal genius that put them at the top of the pile.
I don't believe his autism trope. It's just an excuse for being an antisocial, narcissistic asshole, and it's an insult to genuinely autistic people.
Dutch Mike, you left of "manipulative" teamed with antisocial and narcissistic.
Thank you for cutting through the label nonsense. I would apply the same to “ libertarian “ label. Many of us have adopted the libertarian or socialist label until we have to face the real world and grow up. Sort of like the “ open marriage “ delusion of the 1970’s.
"Musk is not a genius. He is just successful because he is ruthless."
Exactly!
and that statement depends IMO on a dubious definition of "success"
Your description of Musk is still too kind.
Musk is also a proponent of “Let them eat cake.” We know how that ended.
Risking my karma here, but I wouldn't mind such an end coming to Musk - and quickly now, please.
Musk appears to be a product of Apartheid and right wing culture.
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/202https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/26/elon-musk-peter-thiel-apartheid-south-africa5/jan/26/elon-musk-peter-thiel-apartheid-south-africa
Both Trump and Musk got a head start on wealth by family money. A lot of apparent business "genius" has as much or more to more to do with available capital than anything else. Robert Reich argued that the Art of the Deal Man would have been richer had he put his inheritance into an index fund.
From the Guardian URL above:
"Musk’s father, Errol, was also in the mining business among other interests. He once boasted that his stake in Zambian emerald mines made him “so much money we couldn’t even close our safe”. Musk’s mother, Maye, has said the family owned two homes, a plane, a yacht and a handful of luxury cars."
Right on, J L: that is exactly the thing. These rich boys think they 'made it all themselves', whereas they simply had one big advantage: rich parents.
Amen
Gary Loft, did you coin “MTV regime?” Borrowing!
I’m particularly fond of how he put Musk first since he’s the one running the country.
Weighing in is one thing, active opposition is another and that's what we need. Buffett and Cuban are in a position to buy just as many legislators as Musk and, given their much better taste in people, are likely to improve the situation just by getting involved. One also wonders where the billionaires like Tom Steyer and Michael Bloomberg, who were so interested in being President a few years ago, have disappeared to. This situation is presented as being completely one-sided, with only Musk and Krasnov having any power but that will only be true as long as the Democrats and their wealthy supporters enable it. We also need a better Senatorial mouthpiece than Chuck Schumer; maybe Chris Murphy?
Murphy would be a good one .... as many have suggested the nation needs a shadow government with weekly press conferences. These people should not be afraid to NAME the culprits.
Agreed, and Pete Buttigieg should be there with him along with AOC, Tim Walz, and Jasmine Crockett. It's a rainbow of talent currently being wasted.
So seriously what can we do to stop this? We need to do something.
I can’t even imagine Obama or any of our recent presidents doing any of this. Trump is in a class all of his own and is following the Project 2025 playbook to a tee. We can’t even invoke the 25th amendment if he is deemed incapable of holding office because cabinet members would have to agree and they would never go against him, and then we’d have Vance anyway, who could be worse. I know demonstrations are growing. I know anger is growing and realization is hitting his supporters. But this is just going from bad to worse.
besides general incompetence and awfulness, probably the main reason for choosing the Cabinet was to ensure that they would never allow the invocation of the 25th amendment, even if Vance were inclined to try.
And the line of succession is not reassuring: Vance, Johnson, Rubio. Bad to worse...
Gina's point was that were Obama doing this, the republicans would be apoplectic and would succeed in removing Obama. The democrats don't know how to respond in a similar way
It can only with a complete coup. The evil genius has removed all the guard rails.
I shudder to think
This is trump’s sick retribution on America. Will the tech bro philosophy or the P25 philosophy win out? This president and his entire corrupt cabinet need to go. Or shall we just sit here, do nothing and be witness to the destruction of our nation at the hands of a few?
Write, call, protest and boycott! Boycott and hit them where it hurts! They failed to ascertain, there is more of us than them. Now that they’ve shown their true colors, there’s no doubt which billionaires are in the pocket. I will forever change my shopping habits to not support any of them. I’m hoping we still have a semblance of a military that can step in here. The destruction is insane and it’s right in front of our faces.
Tech bros and their $$$$$$$ want to
rule the world.
https://youtu.be/dFVgGamrWLg?si=Mt1VPbceEwtKuFF6
Above link - Tech Bro Supervillains Confess World Take Over Plan
M(usk)T(rump)V(ance) × Project 2025 = 👹☠️👹☠️👹☠️👹☠️
I need to buy product that I formerly purchased through Amazon but now I will go directly to the company. I’m sure they will be happy. No more Amazon.
Make sure you try to disconnect from AWS - Amazon Web Services which is more profitable than Amazon Prime is to Bezos. That would be your Internet provider; Netflix; Canva
airbnb, Pinterest, Adobe many more.
I need Airbnb when on the road but I’ll also seek motels. Ya back to motels
I've recently started looking first to eBay for things I would normally purchase on Amazon. Research into eBay's donation history showed zero for Trump and significant donations to Kamala Harris as well as Hakeem Jeffries in the last election cycle. I also recently joined Costco both to support their refusal to dismantle their DEI policy and for the low low price of their gas. As a one person household, I never would have paid for a Costco membership in the past, but I'm doing more thoughtful, creative thinking about my spending now.
Yes, both are great. Have been shopping at Costco for over 20 years as they offer a great variety of everything. Also, eBay has been my go-to. I hope they see an uptick in purchases.
I have problems with DEI. We all need to be treated equally or we will never win an election.
Good on you! Amazon should be boycotted in every possible way.
Dutch Mike, for those that can Often they are the only game going in rural areas and lots of people are also living hand to mouth. I say those who can, should. Then I see people who should know better and can using Amazon because it saves them a little money.
Buy Canadian products......support us as we stand against Trump from coast to coast!!!! This is a global war against Trumptyranny and Orange Hitler.
We use Amazon more as a "suggestion" service than anything else.
Martin O'Malley, the departing head of Social Security, has warned that chaos, possibly the delay or nondelivery of checks will indeed ensue. His MAGA audience is being misused while he (Trump) arouses exaggerated hopes that his stable genius can fix everything. (Don't forget that Hitler's audience were professionals and his enemies were also beguiled.)
I was relieved to see my SS check in my account in February.; hoping March's is. How has it come to this? that a very nearly 80 year old has to hold her breath, hoping the government keeps its promise?
New troubles are routine as new viruses. We need to find a way to solve them together as a community. We cannot sit and lament.
From Jessica Craven’s Substack, a script for calling your Senators and Representatives demanding that they protect Social Security. Let’s do it TODAY!
Hi, I'm a constituent calling from [zip]. My name is _______.
I am deeply alarmed about DOGE’s plans to cut roughly 7,000 workers from Social Security. It’s horrifying. I also heard that the entire Office of Transformation has already been dissolved, as well as the entire Office of Civil Rights and Equal Opportunity. And so much more. These attacks on Social Security are outrageous. If I or someone I love loses my Social Security or has services interrupted because of these staffing cuts I will be furious. Stop Musk now. Get him out of our government. He’s destroying it. Thanks.
[If GOP add:] Killing programs we’ve paid into is going to lose the Congressmember his/her seat, and make Republicans lose the House next year. I will work hard to ensure it.
[If Democrat add:] Also, Democrats can’t support any funding agreement that doesn’t stop the illegal firing of federal workers and rein in DOGE. Seriously. We have leverage. Use it. This is life or death for millions. Thanks.
Thanks, Gina. I called my NY GOP representative Mike Lawler. The automatic message was that he was on the other line and to leave a message! I adapted your script and included the idea that "Musk is HARMING Americans and that is an American and unconscionable. The role of the US government is not to harm its own citizens, but to HELP them and the country.'"
"Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is talking about changing the way the U.S. calculates economic growth." Lutnick's approach reminds me of something I read about how the Nazis suspended releasing their budget to the public when their credit dried up and Germany couldn't get foreign banks to lend them money. Retreating from transparency may be Musk's next step in bankrupting the American economy through his thoughtless cuts. I wonder where all this mismanagement and chaos will lead. If history holds probably a war which America will be ill-suited to fight.
In addition to calling our representatives, and protesting publicly, what do you think about the idea of threatening a class action suit against Musk & DOGE by everyone who was impulsively and recklessly terminated from their job, especially those who lose their Social Security checks? It is it in the realm of possibility that Social Security recipients could join together in a class action suit against Musk?
I think Drumpf considers himself to be his hero, Hitler & can that he personally can “rule the world “,just like Hitler”😱😱😱😱😱…what a complete MORON drumpf is!!!!!!
I suppose it’s my bad fortune that my entry into the social security system coincides with the beginning of the new “administration”. Because I was worried about the election, I applied early, in April 24, fully expecting a financial hit. I haven’t heard a peep since then and not been able to reach a human. 36 years of contributions down the drain? That’s illegal, but what does that even mean anymore.
I suppose it’s my bad fortune that my entry into the social security system coincides with the beginning of the new “administration”. Because I was worried about the election, I applied early, in April 24, fully expecting a financial hit. I haven’t heard a peep since then and not been able to reach a human. 36 years of contributions down the drain? That’s illegal, but what does that even mean anymore.
3/4/25 Stock Market at the Close
*********************************
DOW down 🔻700 points (669.58)
Banks down 🔻more than 3%
New LOWS🔻beat new highs for 8th straight trading day
TESLA is slumping🔻again down 🔻4.43% at close.
Analysis: This not a "one-off" as companies must plan & adjust inventory & production.
BIG NEWS: Germany now budgeting "Billions" into military expenditures.
******************************************
Bloomberg OPEN: "Tariff Anxiety Spreads"
DOW Futures 🔻 Down - negative 133.00 a few minutes ago
Lumber Down🔻
Coffee Down 🔻
TESLA stock Down 🔻3.69 % a few minutes ago
Stupidity Up 🔺... since noon 1/20/25
Here it comes, baby! 1929 all over again! See you in the bread lines.
Dan, go for the Lines🚶🏼♀️🚶👨🏿🦽 that use bread flour -- more protein.
Whole wheat flour pizza works.
"THE ROBBER BARONS STRIKE BACK"
Coming to a neighborhood near you.
Let's hope for a Return of the Jedi who will defeat Darth Musk...
The leader of the free world is alive and well and fighting for his country in Ukraine. Donald Trump, however,….
His (TRUMPS) slumping approval rating failed to dive as I expected it would …really tells a story. I read the other side’s version ,keeping a finger on the pulse …full blown delusion ..the cult is still intact.
Intact, and doubling down. I am horrified at what I am seeing my former work cohort extolling.
Patricia Davis: Trump's approval rating reflects a fact nobody here seems to genuinely understand: Trump was elected to do exactly what he is doing. He said it all through the campaign. This does not surprise anyone who lives in reality. For once, we have a President who is fulfilling his campaign promises, and his supporters like it. Why is that so surprising to you? Maybe you could do some reading outside your comfort zone to understand how the victims of Biden's appalling policies think about life in our country. I would be curious to know what on "the other side" you read. "Cult"? With every single demographic voting for him?
Trump's comeback and success are making history. Of course he will make mistakes, but he is far smarter than you think and, while you may find it unbelievable, Trump loves this country and its people, and they are loving him back. Aren't you the least bit curious why you and the Democrats are out of step for once?
Quite the contrary. As it bites the hands that elected him…remember their names folks
You are so correct, Ken Cissna
Agreed.
But it will create more "great" wealth for Trumpelon and their buddies and that is the whole point of the United States of America at this point.
Short term gratification -- in the long term greed will ultimately convict them.
Impeach the bastards. https://jerryweiss.substack.com/p/to-stop-the-coup-impeach-the-traitor
Greenbacks do not make nutritious salads.
It's what the American voters deserve.
Unfortunately those that voted with their brsin an heart are paying the consequences too.
Exactly. It's not "drain the swamp", but "bleed them dry".
"Them " is us Duch.
Yup.
Dutch, we are so brief in our conversations....😜
Musk would be proud of our "efficiency"
Hm, I don't know if "you won't be laid off by Musk" is a compliment or not... ;)
Strangely, the money-saving approach has not affected djp (pronounced Donald John Putz ).
https://youtu.be/f4LgQoWgPmE
Who played his 12th game of golf Sunday.
Follow on HTTPS://Trumpgolftrack.com
Somewhere there needs to be a running calculation of how much of our tax dollars are going to pay for his every weekend trips to Maralago or his other properties and the amount he is benefiting personally from charges for secret service stays at his properties
Gigi and Deborah, Thanks for sharing the golf tracker and great suggestion to track our tax dollars for his and his secret service time for golf! How about addressing all that by the DOGE?
That youtube clip is something else! HOW many vehicles are in that motorcade? It goes on and on and on and on........
I still want to know why Elon Musk registered two new corporations with the Texas secretary of state last fall: United States of America Inc. and Group America LLC. Judging by all his actions since then, he didn't create these corporations on a lark. Unlike his orange monkey, Musk has a plan. I can't guess what it is, but I suspect it will turn Elon into a multi-trillionaire and millions of Americans will be dramatically poorer ... or dead. Great bio-fuel for Curtis Yarvin's new power plant.
very well stated
It’s my understanding that when the Soviet Union fell, Russia was privatized which is what we are looking at here. Now. The place is here. The time is now.
Russia is a highly centralised authoritarian state masquerading as a free market democracy. That's even more so the case now with so many of its industries committed to serving a war economy.
😱😳😫🧐😢😭🤬🤯+ I miss our opportunity to have had a woman President in Kamala Harris, because Drumpf had the super privileged, wealthy people buy him a presidency 😢😭😤🤬😬😵💫🤮!
Yup. But don’t forget, our Democratic Republic is spiritual, inspired by the spirit of the land. It is not for sale. It is priceless.
Correct. Sold for Pennys on the Ruble
Today, the leader of the free world is Volodimir Zelenskyy.
There was a massive pro-Ukraine/ Anti-Trump protest in the streets of Toronto Canada last night.
America should be grateful to Ukraine for standing up to Putin, resisting his advance on Europe, and diminishing their military capacity.
“Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what your country is doing TO you”
AMEN!
What to do , what to do…welcome to ‘LITTLE RUSSIA’…Waiting won’t be long for SS to drop, Medicaid go, cryptocurrency replace the dollar, and Civil War 2.0 …the show must go on, right. Nightmare 2025.
I didn’t vote for him.
It will be starting within 30-90 days. My husband and I will lose money that helps to sustain us and we are not the only ones who rely on SS and Medicare/Medicaid/MediCal!!
So sorry. We prepared, it’ll work for awhile we hope. Thank you for your considerable contribution. Best of luck.
Going underground will take sometime it’ll have to be local everyone is being watched.
That’s nice. We are semi-prepared but what about the recently unemployed or the unhoused, the children? How do they prepare?
We will have to depend on 1) farmers markets 2) have a contact number for people to call to get help 3) establish homes that can open up for refuge, 4) people will have to go to bare bones budgets , things like quit smoking/pop is out/booze/eating out/nails/hair done …few have seen a real depression . Will have to be creative for sure.
get reading to drink alot of Russian vodka to dull the pain...there is going to be alot of pain ........who voted for THIS= no one !!!!!!!!!! no ONE
All Democrats in the House and Senate MUST boycott Trump's State of the Union address.
All Democrats should show up for the SOTU address wearing blue and yellow armbands. Four minutes after Liar, Fraud, Con, Grifter, Fascist, Racist, Putin’s Puppet, Traitor Trump begins what we all know will be nothing but a MAGAt pep-rally, all Democrats should stand up and, together, walk out of the Capitol chamber.
In addition, on March 2, 2025, Heather Cox Richardson posted on her Substack a running, damning history of Trump vis a vis Russia. That POST is an ABSOLUTE MUST READ - for all Dems in the House and Senate.
Senator Elissa Slotkin, who's going to give the Dems response to Liar Trump's SOTU address MUST read Heather's entire post. We need everyone in America to understand that Trump is a traitor..... and that Traitor Trump must be removed from office.
https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com
Everyone, please call today the elected officials who represent you in the Senate and House and demand that they show all due disrespect to Trump, America’s Disgrace.
The only people who can stop this are the GOP. And they are choosing not to. In terms of messaging, I think progressive should focus on the costs and burdens for ordinary Americans with the deliberate creation of disfunction in Social Security, higher prices, rising inflation, rising unemployment and lost medical coverage.
Let’s start discussing pushing back. DEMs should file law suits against Trump stopping aids for Ukraine. Yesterday Raychell reported citizens have started running for offices. They are tired of no action DEMs asking money.
Exactly Putin’s plan. Because of Russia’s geography, and history, it will never be able to compete with the west. So, to make Russia more relevant, the EurAsian worldview is to bring Western countries down to Russia’s level. Wrecking democratic institutions like education, business regulation, failing rule of law, growing corruption, tariff induced chaos, lying in politics, demagoguery instead of leadership, state controlled media, etc etc.
Bring the US down to Russia’s level is how Russia wins.
The leader of the free world has abdicated. The new leader of the free world is Volodymyr Zelenskyy
Putin’s “ilk” includes Trump. There is no longer a need to respect the office of the presidency since we no longer have a president. Trump is a dictator; it is a coup.
Too slowly, Americans may come to understand the stakes, but that hope is not a strategy. Nothing guarantees a good outcome.
To FIGHT, donate to ElectionTruthAlliance.org
They are investigating the election and have uncover algorithmic manipulation. They need to hire attorneys.
https://youtu.be/xyFj3pU7WI0
Thank you from Paris. It appears from here that America is burning out of control, and that leaders are behaving worse than animals. The pain of others seems to thrill and motivate them to inflict even more pain.
Exactly, the cruelty is the point
And so, we do as Zelenskyy did. "In the fell clutch of circumstance/I have not winced, nor cried aloud." He's as straight now as when he refused Trump's anti-Biden game, during that perfect phone call.
He also refused an offer by the US to be "evacuated" at the beginning of the Russian invasion. Could you imagine anyone in this corrupt government doing so in a similar situation?
"I don't need a ride, I need ammunition."
Excellent memory James.
And he would say the same thing three years later. That's courageous to say the least. Thanks for your reply 👍
That is the statement of a true warrior.
And Trump will never forgive him for it.
... And the Republicans will no doubt shamefully applaud every statement made by Trump this evening. Are these people typically and systematically irrational?
No, they are simply "pee-in-their-pants" cowards. Not a spine in the bunch.
They're still getting $178,500 per year plus tons more in payments for serving on committees, etc. Irrational? Heck, no.
MTG had a clip the other day saying that "federal workers don't have real jobs because they don't produce any revenue."
GOOD GOD IS THAT WOMAN THAT STUPID?
I called her office and said that SHE is a federal worker as are ALL her aides in ALL her offices, and they ALL suck the federal teat!
And also that she has not produced anything of value for her constituents.
They’re all multi millionaires… they don’t need social security..
Cruelty is the point mostly because it brings them money that they don't need and a place at the table.
People will die, and that's the point. When they said "there will be some hardship" what they meant is "people you love will die, and we don't care." They think people are poor by choice. They think people get sick by choice. They think if you're sick or disabled, you deserve your fate. They absolutely refuse to believe that they have any requirement to participate in the community. Everything is transactional to them. Everything is about them getting all the opportunity and wealth and withholding same from everyone else while simultaneously blaming everyone else for their predicaments. If you can't eat its because you aren't working hard enough, not because the rich guy is charging too much for bread. It is absolutely a horrible and abusive mindset. It's always been here, it's just out in the open now, like it was before FDR. I hate it.
It’s eugenics. The way Trump and Musk see it: Only the fit will survive and pass on their superior genes to the next generation.
The world needs to stamp out the kind of genes that Trump,Musk and their ilk are passing on
Remember, Kerry, there are virtually no American schools where students read of generosity.
That is, novels, memoirs, biographies, and histories had to disappear from schools everywhere, to make room for the packaging death trips also known as standardized testing.
The Powell memo of 1971 intended all this -- to kill any education with anything personal about it -- to turn the U.S. over to the interests of commerce, banking, short-term profit, and commodification.
The ancillary program called for killing as many government programs as possible, and as many regulations as possible. Dark money should grow as Citizens United would eventually (2010) let dark money rule, and as the Clarence court would then its favorite criminal beyond the Constitution, beyond all law.
Was it a coincidence that Putin would inject his techies into dividing what was left of the American people? A coincidence that U.S. schools, turned over to the testers, would make not only an ignorant mass of tens of millions, but (with the aid of social media moguls and their algorithms) would also shape masses of sheer hatreds to go with the ed for packaging only?
About 15 years ago, a group of us met with a local philanthropist who was then in his early 80's. During the course of our conversation he lamented that many of the local philanthropists had passed away recently or that they were in elderly. He worried there would be no one to replace their generosity in our community.
Fortunately, he was mistaken about our county. Many generous people have stepped up. It seems that Musk's attitude about Mackenzie Scott and others who help out others may not be the prevailing attitude among wealthy Americans.
Many of you have written grants. Is there money available out there for projects and research?
There needs to be an appeal to generous benefactors to fund a security detail for scared Republicans and their families so they would join with Dems to resist Trump without the threat of death.
Any other private citizen who believes they're important enough to be in danger must take the necessary precautions on their own dime. Legislators get paid enough to hire their own security. Congress is not a charity.
I just Googled the salaries of Congress members. $174,000 per year.
Eric Swalwell had to spend more than one million on his family’s security in the two and a half years since he worked on Trump’s second impeachment.
Maybe a GoFundMe to make it possible for Republicans to vote for the benefit of their constituents?
Phil Balla, You must be a teacher- we’ve watched with horror the purposeful dumbing down on America.
Except what you assert in your second sentence isn't a valid statement about the Powell memorandum. It was a far more political pitch for business -- free enterprise -- to fully politicize itself against what Powell thought of as the liberal and leftist attack on "indivisible freedom." What you wrote here mobilized me to actually go back and (for probably the third time) read its 34 pages. I, too, have long understood what a significant document shaping America's political trajectory up ro and including the capture of SCOTUS, the rising billionaire influence on everything, etc. etc. A quick read was enough to establish that you second sentence is inaccurate on its face. Fair's fair.
Correct you are as to that memo "on its face," that is, on its 1971 issuance.
But remember, too, Hendrik, how much Powell and all associated with him hated all the professors and teachers and all their late 1960s activism -- for which movies, books, and songs were key.
So immediately, as they implemented the Powell memo, their first thoughts were to putting those educators in their place, silencing them into cowed and neutered specialization limitations. Thus the Heritage Foundation came into being. Thus the Hoover Institution got repurpose and upped funding. Thus came the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) -- all in the next year-and-a-half.
They spent the rest of the 1970s with one main goal -- to cripple educators. To shame them into retreat, to defund them, reduce tenure, all of which with millions of dollars they did. They not only killed humanities at all levels in the U.S. curriculum, but replaced it with the black priorities of testing.
Then, with Reagan's rise in 1980, they could proceed to phase two -- the amazing profits from offshoring the millions of jobs which had formed the backbone of the American working class and middle class.
Thank you for connecting the dots of the Genesis of these 3 in response to the Powell document. It clarifies greatly.
And the Republican loyalists are crying, "Thank you sirs, may I have another."
like a person in an abusive relationship
Be careful with the "may I have another " . They are bottomless.
That's what it feels like from inside America too.
Kerry, it seems that you can't hide from the bad news even in Paris 😁
And yes, our leaders are behaving like a pack of hungry sharks .
Kerry, I can't think of any animal that behaves as badly as the Tr-ance bullies. Even predator-animals only kill for survival, and don't make a public spectacle of it.
Trump revels in cruelty, particularly if he can watch it first hand and with the victim in front of him.
This is a quote from Thomas Jefferson, describing the European monarchies of the time in a letter to Edward Carrington. He was writing from Paris in 1787, shortly before the French Revolution.
“Under pretense of governing they have divided their nations into two classes, wolves & sheep. I do not exaggerate. This is a true picture of Europe. Cherish therefore the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you & I, & Congress, & Assemblies, judges & governors shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions; and experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor.”
https://tjrs.monticello.org/letter/1290
The wolves have been let loose here in America.
I truly wonder if they even know the feeling of being cruel. It seems they are so beyond any feelings at all………this is what’s terrifying to me.
is greed a feeling?
Concerning Ukraine, I don't think anyone is surprised.
Trump has been a Russian asset since the 1990's.
Ukraine will fight on. It is existential for them.
Krasnov. Reported to be name given him by his handler.
I wondered where that came from. Thank you for clearing that up, and now I don't have to type or say his foul name anymore.
He cheated. Support Election Truth Alliance. They are taking it to the courts. FIGHT! DONATE!
https://youtu.be/xyFj3pU7WI0
Of course he cheated Marlo, he even said it. But who will believe you now? They will call you an election denier
My husband and I are retired,in our 60’s. Our life savings is dwindling with the crashing stock market. Not a huge amount but both our jobs were considered “essential”. I guess, unless one is quite wealthy, our lives no longer matter at all.
I had a conservative neighbor ask me why I was voting for Harris, (I had a sign in my yard). I answered that I’m gettin close to retirement age, and I didn’t want to lose my Social Security to billionaires who are literally stealing it in the form of tax cuts. I have made that claim for decades, because it was always Republicans who said SS became too big to fund, as they let the rich avoid taxes. There were never illegals stealing US SS, or trans people taking over schools in America. I told her that Trump is a con man, and while I saw her agree, she still voted for him. She is older than me and depends on SS financially. Well guess what…
I still have heard of very very few dump voters who have come out to say they made a mistake.
The mighty potent Kool Aid the pied piper passed along to his haters must be like crack cocaine - one sip and you're hooked till death
Whatever it's going to be, she deserves.
Problem is Jane, you'll be in the same boat with her. Sorry. That happens when a scumbag president claims a false "mandate" and ignore the other half if the population.
Don’t I know it. To be fair, this person voted her conscience, but I don’t think she would ever admit she was deceived. I think she would hold onto the idea that Ds are amoral, and that they are the downfall of America.
I think she would sooner vote for a reformed R party than a D ever.
Most likely Jane, I think you are right. By paying attention to elections numbers over time, there's always about 30 % of voters that, doesn't matter how bad the situation is and who is obviously the responsible for that situation, they consistently keep voting to preserve the mistake even if it's painful to them. It's a fact of life, don't loose your sleep over your neighbor inability to see reality and make sense of it. Thanks for your reply 👍
That’s the plan, man. Has been obvious for decades, yet moronic MAGAts said, ok with me.
Try as I might, I still don’t understand how anyone with a brain and a beating heart can support him.
My wife put it this way to me the other day. She asked me, why I still supported Nebraska football since they have been a top 25 team in football for years. Why didn't I switched my allegiance to my alma mater who actually has been competitive. I realized that I would never consider abandoning the Huskers, regardless of how bad the program becomes. Scott Frost was supposed to lead the program back to greatness and he turned out to be a terrible head coach. And yet, many people still think he did a great job even though he never had a winning season.
Republicans think that Trump is a Republican. They see him as an honorable person that truly wants to help make their lives better. They believe his bullshit and many of them think that he has NEVER told a lie. (I have actually met a couple of these).
This is why our only choice is to build our team with young people before they become "hardened" Republicans. This isn't easy but without the next generation(s) we can't win.
No one wins without learning together and increasing reciprocity (with nature and with each other).
That would make them a “turncoat” to others in their party. Wow. Perhaps they were never taught, “when we know better, we do better.” I thought as humans we grow up and evolve…
Your example is supremely apt. I have friends who are die-hard, loyal fans of sports teams with abysmal records, and not a snowball's chance in hell of ever becoming a winning team. But these fans still root for their teams until they're hoarse.
For MAGA, it's all about "team spirit."
I blame our corporate media. With glitzy graphics, "color commentators," and "locker room interviews," the media have turned our political process into nothing more than a professional sporting bowl game. Voters focus on their "team loyalty" because the media emphasize the competition rather than the consequences.
Basically, it's become their brand.
Until? It bites them hard in the ass, and it's about to chew them to pieces.
Yes, its become their identity.
My friends from HS had a conversation on FB about the Ukraine situation and obviously this person was a Trumper. I posted a fact stated by Adam Kinzinger and Liz Cheney which were the details around the Budapest Memorandum that was signed in 1994 with the Soviet Union, Ukraine, Great Britian, and the US for Ukraine to give up their nuclear weapons for Ukraine's sovereignty and if broken we and NATO would come to their defense. Putin broke the agreement in 2014 and has continued to this day, so we were obligated by the agreement to come to Ukraine's aid.
So, now Trump just tossed our obligation to the side and cozied up to Putin. The conversation when to hell after that and the person took the post down and my comments had the most thumbs up in the chat, because it was the truth.
I've had several conversations like this with people I know and every time I walk away and just shake my head wondering what it will take to make them see the light.
I'm beginning to think death will be the turning point and I don't mean personally by me or anyone else but from the actions of the ship of fools running the show and in a fashion that is unknown to me, but I fear it is coming.
The inmates are running the insane asylum and the sane (me and you) are grasping at the gate trying to get out of the way.
Hannah Arendt concluded that Eichmann, and, by extension, others, were 'just doing their jobs'….We are seeing GOP hearts and minds not engaged. They're just letting evil happen … towing a line tossed their way with no concern for what's on the end, even if it's corpses. 'Banality of Evil' resurrected, this time here and now.
Lisa, I don't think anybody with a brain and a beating heart is supporting him. Rest assured
When the "love of money" becomes monomaniacal, it seems to evoke a very creepy cruelty the enjoys causing those less fortunate to suffer more. That seems self evident in Trump and Musk, and a number of similar billionaires of the day.
Not in a religious way but rather in a basic human way, these people have no soul.
Indeed, I don't believe in the religious, ghostly sort of soul, and yet I have a sense of something like it, kept alive (or not) in human sentience. The image of selling one's soul for power appears to reflect certain realities.
I think it’s more about our adversarial win/lose culture. People on the “red” team sticking with that baked in identity at least for now.
And because most of them watch Fox News or other right wing media, they never hear criticisms of Trump or his policies.
And the rural communities will be the hardest hit. Within a year, Republicans will be forced to pay farmers for their losses. If you were a farmer, would you be thinking about leaving your fields fallow this year rather than lose money? I'm not a farmer, but most of them remember the $28 billion bailout in 2018 when Trump did this before.
Worse yet is a repeat of what happened in the 30's when the government didn't bail them out and banks foreclosed and then like the crash of 2008 with housing, big investors will buy up the farms at pennies on the dollar and Big Ag wins again. This is not the way to lower food prices by the way.
Gary, they remember and they know but most of them voted for the scumbag president and maga policies nevertheless.
Any appeal to elected representatives based on caring for others is useless. The elected officials DON’T CARE. They are only interested in the money. The MAGAts only want to look like they support the dear leader. Stress the financial consequences in your contacts with elected representatives in the House and Senate. Remember hundreds of thousands of people died UNNECESSARILY during Covid because 45 and the MAGAts didn’t care that people were dying.
JD, it's ok for the moronic maga horde till they start feeling the pain. The more stupid of them would still have no a clue but many are going to start wondering and may look for a different source of information other than Fox.
Ricardo, I don't think it's going to turn out that way. The brainwashing has been going on for more than a decade. There's no reliable attribution for the expression, "insanity is doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result," but it's true. Sometime in the future, psychologists will look back on this era and classify MAGA as a form of insanity. The cult will feel the pain, but they'll keep watching Fox and they'll blame anyone but their idol.
Ricardo, I disagree. I do not think that any of them will either see or admit that anything that happens with this administration is illegal or wrong. In the heady days of 2016, I was sure that the cognitive dissonance would eventually lead them to see how gawdawful ffpotus was to our country. On the contrary, they seem to have bought in with orders of magnitude (double down was far, far too small a descriptor to use) and are now preaching for the fall of US Democracy (and yes, I was mansplained about how we are a republic, not a democracy) as being the one, true way.
TSLA’s high before the election was 264.86 on 9/30/24. Its post election all-time high was on 12/18/24 at 483.99. It’s post election low was on Friday at 273.60, down -43.6% from the all-time high and up an anemic 3.3% for the last 5 months. Seems like Musk’s playing with bedazzled chainsaws has not been kind to his shareholders at TSLA.
Today Forbes real-time billianaires ranking had the top 4 (Musck, Zuck, Bezos, and Ellison) down - $4.7B, -$4.5B, -$6.6B, and -$4.7B respectively, for a total of -$20.5B. Individually they lost between -1.3% and -2.91% of their net worth just today.
How long do you think the billionaire oligarchs will have patience with Trump’s policies at this rate? They bent the knee and kissed the ring when Trump won, thinking he would put in policies that favored them. But their wealth comes from the stock market, which runs on the strength of the economy, and if the economy tanks, so does their wealth.
And, unfortunately, so does the wealth of ordinary people.
The oligarchs may also be having second thoughts as Susan Collins was told to start work, with Trump’s blessing, on a new Continuing Resolution in the Senate to kick the budget can down the road until September 30, 2025. That is the day before the start of FY 2026. So there will be no big tax breaks for the bros or anyone else for FY2025. On April 30, the punt will trigger a FY2025 budget cut of 1% below Biden’s FY2024 one. So Biden’s budget priorities will stay in force unless SCOTUS allows Trump to unconstitutionally use impoundment and redirect funds. I believe that this was the Trump failure that he was trying to slip under the radar with Friday’s Oval Office drama. He got a twofer—cover for this and a shout-out to his best bud Putin.
Promises made, promises not kept…,
https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#23d366783d78
https://www.politico.com/live-updates/2025/02/27/congress/lawmakers-start-work-on-yearlong-funding-patch-00206463
https://oig.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/2024-11/0-000-25-001-C.pdf
I did some research and found the independent audit report and financial statement for FY2023 and FY2024 for USAID provided by the appropriate Inspector General. The auditors' report had 8 recommendations and had two areas of deficiency to be addressed--mostly around logging leave.
The total expenditures for USAID in 2024 were $23.4B (Note that the numbers in the financial statement are in thousands.) Compare that to $20.5B for what the four biggest broligarchs lost just yesterday when the market fell.
This is quite a lesson for Americans to understand about wealth inequality in America.
It also begs the question of why these morbidly rich sycophants have no charity in their souls. The sum for ALL of USAD expenditures in 2024 is approximately what they lost in one day in the stock market, a couple of percent of their total wealth. It is ABSOLUTELY MEANINGLESS to them and life and death to millions.
SHAME!
Georgia, it's not only because of the stupidity of playing with a chainsaw, it's all the rest. People are waking up, reacting and taking action. Let's keep the trend going.
"But their wealth comes from the stock market, which runs on the strength of the economy, and if the economy tanks, so does their wealth." Exactly. You would think that the billionaire/millionaire class would do everything in their power to make sure this doesn't happen... so where are they?
They have enough squirreled away offshore that they will never have to worry. They will just buy up our foreclosed homes for Penny’s on the dollar
This is interesting…..
That's the plan. But you know better. Make a big angry noise. I'm sure you'll find others to join the chorus. At this point, what is there to lose?
Yes. Hollow out the agency, create fractures, prove government is ineffective, no matter how efficient they made it. When value of a system (purpose, benefit, ontime payment, user confidence) declines faster than the increased efficiency (indirect costs decline, cuts in personnel, increase workload, decrease ease of access) is the (mine) real definition of fraud and abuse. A corallary, need is a personal (societal?) constant, it will be met and needs follow resources (e.g., as welfare rolls shrank, health and disability rolls grew).
I’m so sorry. I hope you hear soon. You have earned this. You worked hard for this. You are owed this.
That is correct. It became clear when the Republican congressman spoke of people in nursing homes dying of Covid:”They were only going to die anyway.” At 90, managing at the moment on my own, I feel the weight of that remark. (90, Chicago) Laughter, as Bennet Cerf knew, is the best medicine. Aristophanes is still funny.
I suppose it’s my bad fortune that my entry into the social security system coincides with the beginning of the new “administration”. Because I was worried about the election, I applied early, in April 24, fully expecting a financial hit. I haven’t heard a peep since then and not been able to reach a human. 36 years of contributions down the drain? That’s illegal, but what does that even mean anymore. I don’t believe there will be midterm elections next year, either.
Himala, I share your fear. Unless we have a counter coup…
It is all very depressing, Heather. Trump and Co. are determined to ruin our lives by these deep cuts in our systems. They simply do not care about any of us. They only care about their greed so robber barons is exactly a good name for them.
They must be stopped. Never mind how. Lawfully or lawlessly - at the moment there's no difference. It's clear to everyone now that it's critically urgent.
The cognitive dissonance among Republicans is deafening. Yesterday, I overheard a lady defending Trump and his actions when she heard that several members of our town were planning a protest. She was taken aback at how disrespectful that was to "her" President Trump. I briefly consider engaging with her, but there are no words that would change her mind about Trump.
(Sigh) Pearls before swine, Gary. No point in wasting your energy on her/them.
Not yet among the most stubborn, but I believe up to half of them that voted for him will reconsider, (as will a good portion of those that didn't vote at all).
The mystery to me is how many that didn't vote thought there was no way he could win vs how many didn't believe it mattered much about who won.
Manny didn’t vote and you’re right they believed it doesn’t matter, but now they need to have their eyes opened somehow someway perhaps realizing our cyber systems must be turned over to someone who can protect us, which is not DOGE and their allies in Russia
Cybersecurity (CISA) to stop investigating and reporting on Russian threats. FBI and CISA to stop monitoring election disinformation AND attacks on voting systems.
And now, new ways to calculate the state of the economy.
I’m usually caught off guard when a maggot defends what’s going on with the pillaging of the wealth, which only further supports their Evil Empire and I wish I could simply always refer to the “Trojan horse is inside the walls,” but I usually resort politely and stumble for words while standing in line and don’t want to embarrass those around me simply trying to buy whatever it is they’re trying to buy and get home to their nests.
I agree. The depth of this is staggering. And it's just Beginning.♾️
I agree, but how? Democrats are supine and Republicans think they’re helpless.
They are not robber barons who take over the loot and sit back and suck off the growing money. These guys are muggers who slash and destroy the victims and steal whatever is in front of them.
Both?
Yes
I think there is an element—maybe his whole motivation—with Musk of simply showing us that he can. he can do whatever he wants: look how powerful I am; no one can stop me. And there is the villainous aspect, twirling his mustache and laughing maniacally. Why should he worry about Americans in the country that allowed him to get rich? He doesn’t care even a little about his own children—why would he care about ours?
He really is like a cartoon villain, one of those guys who goes up against Batman and loses. ;)
Regarding the big meeting tonight, I think former Labor Secretary Robert Reich had some good advice for our leaders:
Robert Reich Substack March 4, 2025
“My simple advice to congressional Democrats: Wake the hell up!
Tonight, Trump will address both chambers of Congress. He has taken over the brains and intestines of Republican lawmakers, who will applaud his stream of lies.
Democrats will do — what? Sit on their hands? Applaud a few insipid things?
Ideally, Democrats should boycott the whole event. Even sitting in the well of the House as if this were just another president addressing just another Congress legitimizes Trump’s coup.
Democrats should not signal to a nationally televised audience that what we’re living through is normal.
If Democratic lawmakers feel they must be there, then make good and loud trouble. Disrupt Trump’s speech. Arrive in Revolutionary War costumes and hold signs proclaiming America is not a monarchy. Wave American flags and copies of the Constitution.
Every time he utters the word “tariff,” hold up a sign that says “It’s a tax.”
When Trump lies — about Ukraine, about DOGE, about immigration, about the tariffs he’s just put into effect, about his plan for robbing working people to give another huge tax cut to the rich — boo loudly. Hold up a “lie meter” for the cameras.
Then walk out en masse.
Show America there’s still life in the democratic opposition, even as America slides toward dictatorship.”
We need to show the world the power of democracy!
Compare and contrast?
"I will wear a suit after the war is over"
And.
"Putin went through a lot with me"
“Putin went through a lot with me”…Trump doesn’t even care about the “close relationship” undertones that statement has…
I learned Churchill designed and popularized the baggy "Siren" suits as something you could throw on over anything when you heard the air raid sirens and headed for the shelters.
Sometimes they were thrown on over formal wear to keep them cleaner in the shelters and on the way to and from them. Wearing them during visits with the other leaders was to draw attention to what they had to be ready to do at any moment in a war zone.
I very much like Zelenzkyy's response at https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1d4r9yvqzpo
"I will wear costume after this war will finish," Zelensky replied. (The word "suit" can be translated into Ukrainian as "kostyum".)
I'm tempted to encourage all supporters of Ukraine to dress like him, where can I buy such patriotic, freedom supporting clothes?
(I'd never want to dress like the Jan 6th "tourists.")
Where are the calls from people with standing in society for Trump to be charged with treason? This is going to be the question. I ask every day from now on. Trump is an enemy of the state and is facilitating its destruction through his own acts and by weakening our ability to fight the actions of our enemies specifically Russia. So I say again, where are the calls to charge Trump with treason? 
His whole group... traitor and treason. Firing squad or public hanging?
Mark Burnett and NBC's "success" with The Apprentice fake reality tv show was a harbinger of intentional calamity that was put in motion in 1971 through Lewis Powell's vision and advice to America's ruling elite. Their ideological and biological descendants, the "people with standing in society" have reaped as much wealth as possible and appear to be pausing while calamity runs it's course. From my perspective, roughly 40% of Americans are living inside a mass hallucination engineered by the most evil, cynical, & ruthless people. Nobody is coming to help us. It's up to us to listen to each other as is possible during this engineered maelstrom & tsunami of sludge. This forum helps us have a chance of collectively saving ourselves and eventually producing something better and sustainable. https://johnrich.substack.com/p/all-hands-on-deck-05a?r=41pd0
Mark Burnett saved Trump‘s ass and at the same time created the monster that would leverage what the Murdochs helped create in America… A willingness to believe that hate and fear are the answer to our problems
Calling for a treason prosecution or an impeachment is a waste of time. He controls the prosecutors and the jury. The only thing that can work at this point is take to the streets en masse.
Steve, please see Jerry Weiss’ calls for impeachment and how we can get it done! https://jerryweiss.substack.com/p/to-stop-the-coup-impeach-the-traitor
Thank you. I appreciate your comment and link. But I personally do not believe impeachment is the right course of action. I believe he needs to be tried for treason and put in prison. Impeachment will not put him in prison. And I am open to it as a first step. Thanks again.
Steve, Jerry Weiss is not alone in seeing impeachment as the most direct way, see also john Rich:
https://johnrich.substack.com/p/all-hands-on-deck-05a?r=41pd0
You write of the need for tRump to be charged with treason, then what mechanism would you use to do so? Who in our current political landscape would you have arrest and try him for treason?
The value of impeachment is that one can pursue it under the violation of the oath of office without having to get into the technicalities of whether you can charge treason without a formal state of war being declared, despite what Muskrat & Putin are doing with their use of cyber tactics being the equivalent of war in the 21st century and Muskrat’s coup via control of the central computer systems of our government.
Steve, the constitution very narrowly defines treason as either waging war upon the United States, or providing aid and comfort to the enemy.
Russia had been, for my entire life, the enemy. Based upon what I have read regarding ffpotus having been turned by the Soviets since the late 80'w/early 90's (code name Karsnov) and the actions that I saw on display in the Oval Office last week, I do not believe that the current office holder believes Russia is the enemy; ergo, no treason.
Thank you for expressing your opinion. I hope you’ll respect the fact that I don’t share your opinion. Have a great day.
DO our congress critters even know THEIR jobs? To be a coequal branch of government? Or are they really just installed stooges and we have already lost our democracy?
Marjorie Taylor Green said the other day "federal employees don't work". She doesn't realize she is a federal employee.
I think that's just a rare moment of transparency on MJT(?)'s part. She's fully qualified to make that remark.
I happened on the video of that outburst. A sublimely unintelligent rant from one of the meanest congress critters to ever exist. She can even outdo Lindsey Graham when she wants.
Was she wandering around the halls of congress holding a white balloon when she said it?
Or, she knows that she is a federal employee but incorrectly assumes that all federal workers are just like her: con artists, self-promoters, lacking in skills, and childish.
I called her office and left that message to her.
I sent an email to Senator Angus King a few weeks ago and I received his reply yesterday. It is lengthy, but I'll try to post it all here.
Dear Gary,
I completely agree—the actions of President Trump and Elon Musk are illegal and unconstitutional and pose a grave threat to our national security, our democracy, and the rights of the American people. As I write this to you, our Constitution is under the most direct and consequential assault in our nation’s history—an assault not on a particular provision of that document but on the essential structure of the document itself.
Many of us across the country have spent the last few weeks shocked and angry and without a place for these emotions to go. It’s difficult to grasp the reality of this situation with all the events that have been swirling around us over the last several weeks since they’re coming from so many directions and so many different actors. When my colleagues and I began our careers in the Senate, we pledged an oath to the Constitution with the following words: “I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.”
We took this oath to support and defend the Constitution, and as it says, against all enemies, foreign and domestic. I’ve always thought it was interesting that the framers conceded that there might be domestic enemies to the Constitution. It’s a reminder that our oath was not to the Republican Party nor the Democratic Party—and it was certainly not to Joe Biden or Donald Trump. Our oath was to defend the Constitution and the very fragile institutions of our perfectly imperfect government. Twice now, I’ve spoken on the floor on these important topics and expressed my deep misgivings about the path we seem to be on. You can watch my remarks here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-C913fyfnU and here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2ptQFOi9Pg.
In addition to my recent floor speeches, I detailed in three recent letters to the White House that the Executive Branch cannot operate without regard to rules, regulations, or congressional oversight. You can read the text of those letters on my website, www.king.senate.gov. At the bottom of this letter, I’ve also included links to three of those letters for you. The actions of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) risk the exposure of classified and other sensitive information that simultaneously jeopardizes national security and violates Americans’ privacy. As a result, we deserve to know how the White House and DOGE operate.
Currently, little to no information has been provided to the public or Congress on how DOGE staff and representatives are being vetted, which systems, records, and information are being shared, and what steps the administration is taking to safeguard them from misuse or disclosure. Put simply, this is unacceptable. DOGE cannot make decisions, shut down programs, withhold taxpayer dollars, or lay off federal employees, all while ignoring the law. In addition to the existential threat to our democracy, these actions are having real, harsh, demonstrable damage. There’s nothing theoretical about cutting off funding to a rural health clinic, letting American-grown food rot in warehouses abroad without USAID staff to disperse it, refusing to release grants for small farmers or regional EMS services, cutting off resources to scientists working on lifesaving projects, or withholding funds for Head Start centers to pay childcare workers.
Given the scope of what President Trump has allowed and potentially encouraged Elon Musk and DOGE to do, I am disappointed in of my colleagues who are refusing to say that enough is enough. In the Declaration of Conscience, the late Senator Margaret Chase Smith said:
“I think that it is high time for the United States Senate and its members to do some real soul searching and to weigh our consciences as to the manner in which we are performing our duty to the people of America and the manner in which we are using or abusing our individual powers and privileges. I think that it is high time that we remembered that we have sworn to uphold and defend the Constitution.”
It's that oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, that solemn oath we all took, that, to me, is the red line. We’re experiencing in real-time the shredding of the constitutional structure itself, something we have taken an oath to prevent. We, as Congress, have a responsibility and duty to stand up and speak out against this assault. How we respond to this assault will define our life’s work, our place in history, and the future of our country. At a prior time of crisis, Abraham Lincoln defined the stakes for each of us:
“Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We, of this Congress, and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.”
This is a crossroads for our country and a pivotal moment in our nation’s history. Our government has withstood challenges to the separation of powers from the Executive Branch dating as far back as President Jackson’s administration in the 1830s, and even a Civil War. We cannot allow President Trump and an unelected billionaire to erode the basic fabric of our country. Together, Republicans, Democrats, and independents alike, we have the power to right the balance, to reclaim the authority we thought was inherent, and in the process of doing so, save our country.
Thank you again for contacting me about this, and please do not hesitate to reach out in the future if I may be of service. This is just the beginning of what I know will be an ongoing dialogue in the weeks, months, and years to come. You can be sure I will continue to do all in my power to stop this dangerous assault on our Constitution and our country; please keep in touch about the impacts of all of this in your communities.
You can find the link to the letter we wrote about the illegal dismantling of USAID here: https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/brazen-and-illegal_king-colleagues-raise-alarm-over-trump-administrations-attempt-to-dismantle-critical-national-security-agency; the link to the letter my colleagues on the Intelligence Committee sent about DOGE accessing to classified and sensitive materials: https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/king-intel-colleagues-sound-alarm-about-doge-risk-to-national-security-and-american-privacy-in-letter-to-white-house; and the link to the letter we sent to the VA about the privacy rights of veterans and their medical records: https://www.veterans.senate.gov/services/files/DCDDC6DB-C86B-4ECE-9F54-56A104255404.
Best Regards,
ANGUS S. KING, JR.
United States Senator
He makes up for the other Senator from Maine, the execrable Susan Collins. Thank you for posting his letter.
what I get from my senator, the one from Wisconsin with the R, is crickets. Nothing. phone calls got an invitation to a virtual 'town hall' after it started. your senator has gumption at least.
thank you for sharing. Always respected this senator
Thank you, Gary for including Senator King’s letter.
you might share this with him:
https://rickey125.substack.com/p/its-the-data-stupid
Also a great article in the NYT that backs up my essay:
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/us/politics/musk-doge-timeline-takeaways.html?algo=editorial_importance_fy_email_news&block=4&campaign_id=142&emc=edit_fory_20250228&fellback=false&imp_id=526114065842151&instance_id=148765&nl=for-you&nlid=116228816&pool=fye-top-news-ls&rank=3®i_id=116228816&req_id=7573339985133003&segment_id=192227&surface=for-you-email-news&user_id=7da60caa6b4a53a31c16c5b000f32c35&variant=0_edimp_fye_news_dedupe
Read somewhere that some Republicans who intended to vote against some Trumpisms were frightened off by fears of violence against themselves and their families.
They seem to be enjoying this. Vainglorious pride before a fall. And a fall is surely coming, the question being who among us will survive the wreckage?
They can be afraid of Trump but they should know they should start being concerned...violence might come from those whose lives they are ruining
And they are ruining the lives of their own children. When I see this [risibly 'so-called'] administration continue to bash environmentalists, public health professionals, and sustainable, renewable energy, I picture their own grandchildren having much worse lives than we have. Don't they care? Don't they love their own children enough to secure a good life for them? Do they really think they will be safe if they buy an island somewhere and build a ridiculous billion dollar 'safe refuge'? Have they never read The Mask of the Red Death? No one is safe from the ubiquitous collapse brought on by these smash and grab social policies.
Hopefully, at this point, yes.
Cowards need to go home, they have no business being in control of anything. Especially picking up a pay check
What can one say to that "excuse"? Would YOU let your country go down the tubes on the vague chance (and remember, you and your family have government protection) on the vague chance that someone might take a pop at you? Good thing America isn't having to fight the way Ukraine does. "Oooo! I might have to hide in a bunker! How shocking!"
Repeating my call to Dem leadership to offer paid security details to protect scared Republicans and their families if they cross the aisle to vote to save our country and stand up to Trump. Remove the threat of death from their toolbox.
But now that so much of the structure of government is in Trump/Musk hands, the security detail might not happen, or might be sent to intimidate!
What they don’t realize is the violence is going to happen anyway, so better to put up a fight to save the country.
Exactly. Surely people have watched enough TV crime shows where the criminal extracts cooperation from his sobbing captive, only to shoot the captive dead after the criminal gets what he wants.
Repeating daily: we need to provide security details to Republicans willing to cross the aisle to vote with Democrats to protect our country. Take away the threat of death from Trump and Musk and remove this mobster tactic and get back in the game.
I have heard that over and over and I think about all our military. The chance of bodily harm comes with the territory.
From an outsider's perspective, it kind of looks like it's on life support.
Life support is still better than "last gasp".
Their plutocratic patrons sent out notices that competent people need not apply, and conscience would bring immediate dismissal.
Many are exactly as you describe. Examples like "Coach" Tuberville, "ted" Cruz, MTG, and Lauren Boebert jump right out at us, but they're just the flamboyant ones. There are plenty more who are passive and stupid who enjoy the perks while rubber stamping whatever comes across their desks. Between voter suppression and gerrymandering the Repubs packed the seats in advance.
Your last line describes Repugnants in Congress perfectly.
Chump rules, all they care about. Their chief hater will stick it to libs better than anyone.
We must continually remind our elected officials/ employees of their job description
The latter. Got to get it back.
Not content with killing a half million US citizens with his mismanagement of Covid , Trump’s going worldwide with his slash and burn of agencies like USAID.
It's insane.
Time for him to drink the cool-aid
With all these unconstitutional actions, depriving Congress of their authority, the Trump administration throws out culture issues like trans rights. The Senate just failed to pass a federal law to ban trans females from women’s sports thanks to the filibuster. Republicans can lay blame on Democrats to distract from the constitutional crisis they are fomenting.
Heather, your missives are getting longer because so much trash is being thrown at the American people. Is there a good guy ending somewhere or will we not be able to recognize the America we have built through civil rights, more inclusive voting, and being humanitarians.
The latter, isn’t it obvious
CFG has not deprived anything; MAGA congress sitters 'yielded' it and abrogates their duty they claimed to want.
My heart goes out to the people of Georgia, North and South Carolina as they face wildfires with inadequate verging on non-existent aid.
'Burn, Baby, Burn' starts to take on a whole new meaning.
Aybe it will take that for them to reconsider their MAGA alliance.
I wonder how Trump will massage the fall in the stock market and other indices of decline tonight. At some level it has to sting given how he has touted every rise during his previous stint…will he disassemble?
Check the last sentence of Heather’s post tonight, “might help to explain why Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick is talking about changing the way the U.S. calculates economic growth.”
If you don’t like the numbers change the way you get the numbers. Seems to be the one cardinal rule everyone over there is following. Right Elon?
Yes, but when he starts to go off script he will not be able to do a nuanced massage. Also, in my lucid dream scheme here, he could get rattled IF the Dems surprise us all and start to walk out in protest. I know the Republicans will be on their feet applauding if not kneeling and genuflecting.
I think perhaps Democrats are getting smarter by drawing attention to the victims of this shootshow.
Why? Please provide examples of why you think that.
I read that Democrats were planning to highlight the personal stories of some of the people unjustly fired by Musk. That is the sort of thing that I can can gain traction, IF done well.
If Trump asked the Republicans to fall to their knees in front of him, they would. Of course, given their ages, some might have a little trouble getting up.
remember David Stockman changing the math? Another algorithm will make it 'better'
And another member of my generation who will rot in hell. Your mention of him is a trigger for me: another day of nausea. As a native Michigander, I was disgusted by his performance as OMB director under Reagan. Yeah, I remember.
Just like the old USSR.
Trump has not one iota of shame. That's his superpower. Fools mistake his insensitivity for internal strength, but it's nothing of the sort.
I’m not expecting/dreaming of shame JL. My imagining is premised on his fear of failure in the economic sphere and his peevish playground-bully temper.
He'll just blame it on Biden. And the GOP will applaud. I cannot watch tonight.
It will be Biden's fault of course.
He will lie. That’s it.
That's true, and that's alright, because the lie will not bring the stock market back up. The money people know their money. Tariffs will not be good for the economy. That's a simple fact. Restricting immigration, government inefficiency because of firings, maybe ransomware attacks - all of these things point to the stock market going down.
He'll toss in the usual chum he uses to stir the waters with the MAGA minions.
He will blame Biden and Obama.
And maybe Zelensky, for good measure.
And if he can work in a shot at Hillary, he'll go with that, too.
Anyone out there ever see the musical "SeeSaw"? There's a song in it -"Nobody does it like me" and the lyrics just about sums trump up:
"If there's a wrong way to do it
A wrong way to play it
Nobody does it like me
If there's a wrong way to do it
A right way to screw it up
Nobody does it like me
I've got a big loud mouth
I'm always talking much too free
If you go for tact and manners
Better stay away from me
If there's a wrong way to keep it cool
A right way to be a fool
Nobody does it like me"
You wonder just how long Putin has been acquainted with Agent Krasnov.
Long enough to bail him out of his financial crises of multiple bankruptcies years ago; rubles saved the “Celebrity Apprentice” . The 🍑 felon is just a pathetic grifter from the tenements of NYCity who married a blond, of course, from
Communist Chechoslovakia with an influential father. He’s been Krasnov for forty years.
1980's at least, when he saved his financial ass-ets.
MaryPat:
On the topic of tonight's Joint Congressional clash with Wreck, I understand that Senator, ELISSA SLOTKIN is going to give the Democratic response or should I call it the "democratic response".
What's your take on the Senator's likely messages to the Nation?
For other readers, Senator Elissa Slotkin is a former, CIA Officer. Slotkin won her Senate seat in a state that Trump also won. My understating is that Senator Slotkin is an advocate of the reality that a "strong middle class" is a national security issue.
Comment(s)? Danka.
Thanks for the great question, Bryan, about our phenomenal Senator Elissa Slotkin. I haven't even thought about (or read about) what her focus will be in her, yes, "democratic" Democrat response to TrumPutin's hogwash. We local Democrats up north just know it will be fantastic.
Decades
Since the time Agent Krasnov met Ivana in the 1970’s.
The Intentional Collapse: How the Trump Administration is Crashing the Economy and Hollowing Out America
The destruction happening right now is not accidental. It is not incompetence. It is not mere “mismanagement.” It is deliberate. The Trump administration, led by his billionaire allies and corporate enablers, is gutting the government, tanking the economy, and dismantling social safety nets—not just to consolidate power, but to permanently break the ability of the American people to resist.
This is not about efficiency. This is about control.
By slashing USAID funding and blocking aid to Ukraine, the administration is letting people starve and die on a global scale while weakening U.S. influence abroad. The gutting of Social Security and government agencies, under the guise of “workforce optimization,” is about forcing mass suffering onto ordinary Americans, accelerating housing foreclosures, and stripping the last remaining protections for workers, seniors, and the sick. The plan is clear: hollow out the government, crash the economy, and then use the crisis to funnel wealth into the hands of the ultra-rich—just like they did in 2008, only worse.
Trumpism isn’t just corruption. It’s economic terrorism.
This is a War Against the People
Trump’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) is nothing more than a death squad for public services. It is dismantling Social Security, closing field offices, and forcing out government workers so that when the next crisis hits—whether it’s a wildfire, a hurricane, or a financial collapse—there will be no one left to help. Then, when people are desperate, the billionaires will swoop in, buy up foreclosed homes, privatize public services, and rake in profits while Americans are left to suffer, struggle, and die.
Meanwhile, Trump’s tariffs are designed not to protect American workers, but to ignite global trade wars that will make food, medicine, and basic necessities even more expensive. Canada, Mexico, and China are already planning retaliatory tariffs, which will hit farmers and working-class Americans the hardest. And let’s not forget the government’s shady cryptocurrency scheme—a blatant pump-and-dump scam designed to enrich insiders while destabilizing financial markets.
This is worse than the robber barons. This is the weaponization of economic collapse to ensure permanent rule by the rich.
Where the Hell is the Opposition?
The Democratic Party’s response? Toothless press releases. Weak condemnations. Calls for "bipartisan cooperation" with an administration that is openly dismantling democracy and the economy before our eyes.
Where is the leadership that is supposed to fight for us?
Where are the mass mobilizations in the streets?
Where is the plan to stop this before it’s too late?
We don’t have time for cautious optimism or procedural resistance. The time for polite dissent is over. The only way to stop a government that has turned against its people is mass, organized, unrelenting resistance.
The Call to Action: The Revolution for Life Begins Now
Flood the streets. Protest, strike, disrupt. If they can shut down the government, we can shut down their profits.
Demand real opposition. Call, write, and confront Democratic leaders. If they refuse to fight back, they are complicit.
Refuse to be silenced. Use every platform—online and offline—to expose what’s happening and rally others to the cause.
Organize locally. Mutual aid, worker solidarity, rent strikes—everything that builds power outside of their collapsing system.
This is no longer just about resisting Trump. This is about stopping a full-scale assault on life itself.
The Rallying Cry: “RISE UP OR DIE TRYING”
Put it on signs. Spray-paint it on walls. Shout it in the streets. This is the fight of our lives, and we cannot afford to lose.
The time is now. The Revolution for Life has begun.
We're a Christian Nation, godamnit! We're pro life(for straight white 'Mer'can babies)! The rest can pound sand. We're going to hell in a handbasket.
Christ has been ditched from christanity with this crowd of hypocrites. I ditched Christanity when I figured out that the Bible was the way the good, bad, and ugly justified whatever. It is the perfect manual for the good I learned growing up, the shysters who held tent revivals, the greedy bastards, the carnival barkers and the really cruel psychopaths. All have had their turn and the vipers rule now with a better version than the Nazis used.
Yes, and if I were not 'done' with what they illustrate as christianity, I am thoroughly done now. I'm also quite ready to head off to war, regardless the outcome.
I fear for my grandsons.
I hear you. I fear for my daughters and I somewhat feel responsible for leaving them this mess.
The Power Worshipers - Kathleen Stewart
Bing the War Home - Belew
And Kathleen Stewar's latest book (released 2/19/25) Money, Lies and God is worth reading too.
If I believed in the Devil, I would imagine both him and Putin pouring champagne in each others glass.
Maybe we are waking up. The big yawn and stretch before REAL ANGER. Bring him out of his
hole, parade him down the mall to face the people.
They are trying to build God's kingdom on Earth because they know they can never get into Heaven or they don't believe in Heaven or Hell!