Vice President Vance, Acting Secretary Blanche, Secretary Hegseth, Secretary Rubio, Speaker Mike Johnson, Senator John Thune, Senator Alex Padilla, Senator Adam Schiff, Senator Cruz, Senator Graham, Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Congressman Jared Huffman, Congressman Kiley; CC: Donald J Trump.
Dear - - - -
As far back as November 2024, mental health professionals offered that Donald Trump is in cognitive decline. Recently, those professionals renewed that concern with one, renowned Dr. John Gartner, saying, “The Donald Trump you see today is the best you will ever see him. It will only get worse from here.” (The same was once said about my late father.)
We’ve all seen it. The President’s cognitive circumstance is evident in his inability to maintain attention to matters of state, the anger and bitterness of his rhetoric toward those who question him, the puerile (and certainly unpresidential) late night memes posted to social media and the general incoherence with which he speaks publicly.
It is also becoming quite evident that any fealty to Donald Trump – or to his circle of moneyed confidants – is shortsighted and self-defeating. The more our democratic norms teeter, the less these oligarchs will need from you until they will need nothing. And nothing you will be.
Recalling when Jesus cast the merchants and money changers from the temple, Donald Trump must be relieved from office. The process for both Cabinet Members and Members of Congress is explicitly outlined in the Constitution.
Required is your courage. And that courage is required now because “it will only get worse from here.”
Sadly, the lack of courage among Republican “leaders” has been the issue all along. Even when Trump engineered a violent takeover of our government, these “noble stalwarts” folded like dirty bedsheets. The only hope now is for Democrats to sweep the midterms. Moreover, we’d better be ready. I’m betting Trump will use the “skirmish” in Iran as a a fake “emergency” to declare cancellation of the midterms. We cannot allow this to happen. No matter what.
The only way he could do that would be to convince Governors and state legislators to do that. While that might work for some states, it certainly wouldn’t for enough states to make it real, and as Marc Elias noted in an interview the other day with John Harwood of Zeteo, he doesn’t think even this Supreme Court would go along with it.
Prediction is dangerous, but this ghastly administration's pattern has long been 'throw it against the wall, see if it sticks.' His scalawags and shitweasels will try a dozen easier things first. Only a few votes here and there are needed to make the counting a Sisyphean effort. Only a bit of sudden, last-minute confusion, long lines in only certain voting places, mysteriously moving precincts, a bit of intimidation, new post office rules, inconsistencies between somebody's birth and married name in Fulton County, Georgia, etc. This is the strategy.
Or so they think. 'Too big to rig' is the real antidote for that, but only if it actually happens. As Martin Luther once said centuries ago -- pray as if everything depended on God, but work as though everything depended on you.
As Martin Luther King once said (more recently), keep your hand on the plow and your eyes on the prize (or words to that effect). But every now and then, take a glance in the rearview mirror. For example, on Monday's Deadline White House, Ian Bassin, Executive Director, Project Democracy, said the following (lightly paraphrased):
"The good news is we are going to succeed at this. They cannot gerrymander their way out of a 40-seat shellacking, and he’s less popular today than he was when that happened in 2018. So, they’re going to try to rig the rules. But our Founders, in their infinite wisdom, made it so the president doesn’t control the rules of elections, and for the president to try to rig the midterm elections, he is going to need accomplices up and down our federal system, at the state level, at the local level, in the congress and the courts, and in order to get those accomplices, he needs to show that he’s politically powerful, and the fact of the matter is … he is not. We have reached the point in the story where the Trumpist political project is in its death spiral, and I have talked to non-hardcore Republican leaders. They know it. They know the Trumpist political project is over, and that means he is not going to be able to do what he needs to do to complete his authoritarian consolidation, and if we do our part, we are not just going to save our democracy, but we’re going to have an opportunity to really reform it and rebuild it, to be fit for purpose for the 21st century."
It's over, indeed. It's always been a rickety Rube Goldberg contraption held together with nothing but lies, intimidation and scotch tape. The scotch tape unravels, the lies have stopped working, and the intimidation is now much more likely to blow up in their own faces. Pete Buttigieg keeps saying -- Republicans are already envisioning the 'day after,' so should we.
"Today Trump told reporters the Iran proposal was a “piece of garbage” and warned that the ceasefire is on “massive life support where the doctor walks in and says ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living.’” "
Trump is always projecting his actions. If only Trump has been told he has a 1% chance of living in the next week or so?
Imagine JD as President and the Republicans in Congress kissing up to him. Kinda makes you throw up in your mouth a little, doesn't it?
Here is something that could be unravelled. Think about what it would mean for the government to pay back $159 billion in illegal tariffs it collected. Heather writes, "the money will not go to consumers. It will go to the 'trade community'". The tariffs were paid to the US government by major American corporations. They passed those cost on to wholesalers and industries who passed it on to consumers.
If the government repays those corporations for the tariffs, that $159 will come out of the taxes that consumers pay the government. This means that those importing corporations will be refunded for the tariffs twice, once by the wholesalers and industries and once by the government. And consumers will pay for them twice, once in higher costs for commodities and once in their federal taxes!
The right way to handle this would be for the government to put the $159 into programs that consumers (the general public) need: education, health care, infrastructure, housing, sustainable energy, etc. In that way the importing corporations would be repaid once for the tariffs and the consumers would be repaid (once) for the tariffs.
Much like the presidential problem the Democrats faced prior to the last election, Trump has mentally aged out.
The major difference is that Joe, for the most part had worked with dignity as a public servant for America all his life, whereas Trump has filandered everyone for personal gain his since birth.
The Democrats prevailed a bit late to put Joe aside, and Trump happened for the second time. Today the entire Republican party is as delusional and weak as DonOld, and are already suffering irretrievable credibility loss.
As each man reaches the end of their personal runway, as all mortals do, monuments to Joe will be built, and monuments to trump will be gleefully destroyed.
With one exception, I agree with everything in your comment. The exception: my opinions about Joe's actions and cognitive abilities leading up to the 2024 election are much more positive than most. Maybe my logic is flawed, and I'm resisting the temptation to state it, but I think I have a reasonable understanding of the alternative logic and I still think mine is better.
Paul, in 2024, our Baby Donnie got a lot of help from faked "assassination attempts" and the pre-DOGErs under Musk who are likely to have interfered with the tallying machines in just the swing states, of course, giving Trump the win, but just barely in each of those states and only in certain elections: president, senate, some congressional spots, and Sec. of state or AG. Semocrats were too worried about being seen as whiners like Trumpians, so did not challenge any of the elections whose results were just slightly above what would have required an automatic recount, and in every single election. Hmmmm! Musk has the ability with his AI and satelite access with the proper algorithms. He only needed small devices on the wire or outlet for the tallying machines and tah-dah! victory!
Then, of course, racism and misogyny are present in the Democratic party too, not as big as with MAGA, but definitely there, and a factor in Democrats not getting out to vote at the same level as in 2020.
The situations with Biden and Trump are in no way the same except that they are men, white, and older. Trump's handlers knew he was failing mentally at least since 2019 when I, not a medical person noticed it. In my case, my mother and grandmother had both lived with dementia and the symptoms were there for Trump, and that was before I knew he had dementia in his family. We the People were lied to and not properly informed, and here we are!
President Biden had lost a lot of his cognitive nimbleness, particularly because his ability to be fluent in spite of his speech impediment imposed a very large cognitive load. There was nothing wrong with his judgment about affairs of state, and he surrounded himself with smart, compassionate, principled advisors who could fully compensate for what he'd lost. Throughout our lives, we must compensate when our own capacities are lost, temporarily or permanently. Biden was smart about it. However he'd lost a certain strategic sense that could guide him in when to call it quits, as we all learned in the rearview mirror.
Biden had become fragile and susceptible to physical limitations that impinged on his ability to "act presidential." Our problem is a system which values the trappings of dominating strength over the capacity to do a good job. He became an untenable candidate but never lost the ability to be a good president.
Trump, on the other hand, has never had the capacity - the empathy, broad perspective, ability to call on the lessons of history, thoughtfulness, systematic thinking, and moral compass - to be presidential. That he is now also suffering mental decline is just the icing on a very awful smelling, toxic cake.
James, yes, then or at the same time, we need to address the problem of the oligarchs and their money power. It is going to take a huge effort since we have permitted them to control so much of our lives all for their own benefit, not ours. Knowing that might get some, even MAGAs on board with that work!
Ruth ... there are cells in a caterpillar's body that some entomologist called "imaginal" cells.
Imaginal cells play a role in the transformation of the caterpillar to the butterfly. The caterpillar gorges throughout its life until it reaches a tipping point and goes into its cocoon to protect itself from a world that is revolting against its greed. Shut off from the world, it begins to decay. In the chaos of decay, the imaginal cells, that were latent but there all along, begin to come alive. As they do so, they are being attacked by the old way of doing things. The imaginal cells communicate with and find each other by emitting a common frequency (I'm humming Springsteen's "Streets of Minneapolis"). Eventually, the old way of doing things gives up and the butterfly emerges.
Does knowing that is a true story make you more confident in your optimism?
Yes Ruth. That's one reason I am a repeated donor of AMY ACTON for Governor of Ohio who is up against a billionaire. "AA" asked for another $5 this A.M in a close battle. So I sent $25.
I do hope you're right, but I worry that Trump has set up a government that has his lack of morality, his cruel indifference to the fates of Americans and America, his cunning, but not his stupidity. However, I'm not American and I don't know enough about the workings of what to outsiders seems to be a bizarre electoral system, to gainsay your analysis. I just hope you're right!
I'm very confident. The problem isn't bizarre electoral systems or otherwise technical. The problem is a lack of public sentiment, and the world is watching as that problem's solution emerges.
Todd Blanche was on TV promoting ICE supervising elections - saying "who could possibly object to that - it's common sense" - his whole message was that without ICE non-citizens would swarm the polls -- once again the administration has a "solution" to a "problem" of their own invention.
His asinine and senseless question begs a need for anyone to ask: "what could possibly go wrong?" 🤦😂 This is proof positive that "common sense" to these folks originates from a different planet.
Well, me, for one. I object strongly and passionately to employing people whose job it is to intimidate and terrorize, to say nothing of injure and kill, people. So, Todd, there's your answer. And I suspect I'm not alone.
The lying claim that "illegals", i.e., undocumented residents of the USA, are voting in elections is made for the sole purpose of diverting attention from (and thus thwart efforts to combat) the actual fraud that surrounds our elections - election fraud. Musk, fake electors, too-easily tampered-with voting machines, closing or moving certain polling locations, gerrymandering to disenfranchise - these are all real. "Voter fraud" is not.
Time and effort and money wasted in trying to protect voters from ICE or other such organizations at the polls, to undo the machinations of the republiconfederates to disenfranchise non-white voters, seriously interferes with efforts to prevent actual election fraud - there's only so much of any of these three any person or group has, especially now that primary voting is happening. Dems (and Indies voting Dem for now) have to turn out in massive numbers both at the primaries and in the general, and vote for every single seat, fed, state and local. And Dems MUST challenge (I know., more money, time and effort) every suspected incident of election fraud; it isn't just the voters turning out in huge numbers, but the vote counters and reporting that have to be free from all kinds of corruption.
People need to get off their knees and stop relying on an imaginary deity to 'render us from evil', especially since they put evil in charge to begin with.
It is up to all of us to get the rest of us registered and to the polls to vote, know matter the obstacles in front that will only get worse. It is the last legal option for us to stop the carnage and get us on a road that doesn't take us off a cliff.
It's come to This, thanks for the Luther quote. I had forgotten that one, but used to have it written on my Divinity School notebook. We the People, those of us who can get around really well need to get informed about candidates at all levels, precinct voting places, the local voting rules, etc., then organize neighbors who can get people to the correct voting place on election day if they find themselves at the wrong one, can help make sure birth certificates are properly updated, serve as poll workers or poll monitors, can be active on social media to inform their networks and others of the latest information. Trumplandia is deliberately composed of folks who are not the brightest bulbs in the string or any string. They may have degrees, but it is not clear how they got them. It is clear though, that they use them in the service of an old man with dementia whom they knew years ago was in the throes of dementia. That makes them all betrayers of the American people and our constitution, and their degrees prove they knew what they were doing, so should be held accountable for it.
Really love the "shitweasels" description. I hope I can borrow it.
I agree with everything you say. I live in a totally Blue state and know our governor will never succumb to Trump's intimidation. But all the Southern Red states are already disenfranchising Democrats. What should they do?
Stop paying taxes, since they are not represented in their State House?
The one thing that I hope happens, is that "normal" Republicans see what's going on and vote Democrat in certain states. I think it's happening in some small ways in recent elections that Democrats have won where Trump had won in 2024. Of course, I'm convinced the 2024 election was brought to you by Elon Musk.
Marcia, yeah, if this Supreme Court were to go along with it, they will have declared themselves rogue and irrelevant. I don't think even Roberts wants to go that far!
Don’t forget that during the midterms of trump’s first term 40 seats were redirected to democrats. Also I thought Orbán would be president forever but he lost. So have some hope….
As happy as I'm about Hungary's results it showed the regime what would happen to them and now they are taking action to deeply manipulate the midterm elections. No a single decent voter should stay home for the event.
I have an on-line friend from the tuba community who posted yesterday (and I paraphrase) "Why should I vote? I don't know any of these names." I cannot write a reply that isn't utterly scathing and mean. Waste your vote in an election where you might get stuck with a Republican governor because you're too lazy to research people and issues.
All humans have an expiration date. Just like milk. There's a sour taste developing for this Looney Tunes president. Just gas prices and the ripple effect of energy prices alone would be enough to destroy a president's political capital. Even if they don't say it out loud, you can be sure millions of people who held their nose and voted red are feeling betrayed.
When one is president for over a year, everything that goes wrong is your fault. EVERYTHING. It a rule of political life. Just ask Obama or Joe.
The last two years of the Trump Train will be off the rails. Lame ducks are always lame ducks. Quack, quack. That is if he lives that long.
Every person in the role of POTUS experiences accelerated aging. This is just another example. Covered up with hair dye and makeup liberally applied.
We haven't seen him marching around on a golf course recently wearing a short sleeved shirt, have we?
The only question is what will completely collapse first - the body or the mind? His all night posting on SM suggests the latter. But the former is fragile as well.
Maybe, but possibly more likely is all kinds of dirty tricks before, during, and after the election to interfere, confuse, delay, deny, etc. Let’s all volunteer to register voters and make sure everyone knows where to vote without an issue. Also, the more poll watchers the better.
The way to be ready, Dr Iris, is for states (particularly blue states) to write a trigger law: if you touch the elections, we direct federal taxes into escrow. We need to do this before the election takes place. If we wait for after the elections, then we will be relying on the courts and they are too slow to react. State legislators don’t get nearly as many phone calls/emails compared to DC… they’ll notice if people reach out to them. Start talking to your state governments.
Would not "freshly pressed" bedsheets fold more easily than dirty linen? My imagery is of the RepubliKKKan leaders is being wadded up like dirty, stained linen.
Thr Republicans are fine wirh Teump. They have wanted to destroy a functioning federal government for decades, leaving their corporate donors free to wreak havoc and make money
I agree. However, this statement- “noble stalwarts” folded like dirty bedsheets- The dirty sheets would never be folded- perhaps crumpled—- wadded—-stink—-maybe even thrown in the trash—-but never folded!!! LOL
I'm done with Donnie and all his sycophants. I want the obliteration of the Republican Party. They don't deserve the income and perks that my taxes pay for.
What I don't understand is why there are some people who still support this insane, totally unhinged moron.
Mainly because his ‘yes men’ are blowing smoke up his orange kazoo, instead of telling him what is really going on. We all can see it in the videos, while he snoozes - while they all smile & pretend he’s not asleep. I guess we might thank those people, since they are driving him to post his ridiculous claims about manliness & popularity ?
Indeed I once called for the military with the once good generals ( who now have been fired) to prevent Trump from entering government. That was once the better option to what we have now and yet there remain some folks that still reject this notion.
My God, the destruction is so complete with everything he touches. How can we recover? I don’t know. I just don’t know.
"Around Washington, D.C., signs are appearing that show Trump in a hard hat near construction scaffolding and read: 'Thank you, PRESIDENT TRUMP...'”
Not exactly. Some of those signs at Logan Circle -- an ethnically diverse, racially integrated, welcoming *gayborhood* not far from the White House -- now bear telltale distinctions of having been 'embellished' by local artists.
“Trump’s gone off the deep end,” is putting it a tad mildly I think Sheri. My question is: where is the poisoned chalice? Or the CIA sniper bullet? Or the unfortunate trip from the top of the stairs? Surely the Useful Idiot has out-served his purpose?
He has not served his purpose until a successor has been named. That successor has to have the correct mix of ruthlessness, amorality, fealty to the 1 percent, the blind loyalty of MAGA, >and< at least minimal popular support. We're not yet ready as a country to give up on elections (even if only as theater) at minimum, and the putsch cannot engineer victory at all levels of government in even a slim majority of states.
To my eyes, no one in the Republican hierarchy meets those qualifications. They need Trump until they can find a replacement - is he exits the scene too soon, the succession power games will discredit them in time to reveal the men behind the curtain while the voters can still do something about it.
This could happen even if Trump stays around till the election. There is simply no one ready to exert power over the powerful the way he has been able to do, and the rest of the party knows it.
Mobiguy, I hate to mention it, but my spies tell me that Don, Jr. has recently started to attract significant interest in Republican circles.
Remember that as late as 2015, there was a strong "Never Trump" contingent in the Republican party. In a matter of weeks, they changed their tune and went all in on him. Junior's younger and better looking (acknowledging the low bar).
Trump may be exhibiting more concerning outbursts, but this is really nothing new. He has been a small, vindictive, intellectually deficient poseur his entire life.
He appeals to other vindictive, morally deficient and intellectually sub par individuals. And we are seeing that those people are nearly 50% of our population.
That farmers who are being driven into bankruptcy by the policies of Trump and the Republicans, but continuing to vote for Republicans, has to be the perfect example of voting for your own economic demise. And these “ anti-socialism” geniuses expect taxpayers to bail them out once again!
Dave, I am in agreement with your post however, I think it is very generous to think that Donald is losing something that he actually had. Despite his obvious decline, this is a man who never had the chops to be president. Not the knowledge, intellect, demeanor, or even instincts. As Heather notes; he had people around him in his first term that set up guardrails. He has relied on what some people call "yes men" but, his cabinet is stocked with drunks, whack jobs and freeloaders. We are all paying a heavy price for this horror show. Consumers of gasoline have coughed up roughly 17 billion dollars extra per month so far. And, that is just the tip of the iceberg. So, yes he is losing his mud but, there wasn't much there to begin with.
A reminder that his first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, one of those first term child-minders, privately called him a "fucking moron" after Trump announced during a Cabinet meeting that he wanted a 1,000% increase in America's nuclear arsenal. Trump had General Kelly fire Tillerson not long after news of that surfaced.
J, I am noticing on this and other substacks, as well as plentifully on YouTube, folks reassessing their political knowledgeable selves, and ones who weren't are becoming wiser, to a place where I wouldn't be surprised that they'll be recruits and crossovers, from Republicans even; the Independents are already swinging this way. When Repubs realize that their party doesn't really mean anything anymore, we could start welcoming their thoughts and needed participation, with the obvious evidence that the Republican-led Congress has hardly done a damn thing, and many of them will be and are being personally hurt - about the only way you can get to some of them. I have proposed, not in a specious manner at all, that we find ways to outlaw selfishness in policy making and law even more than democracy has proposed already. Not a lawyer here so looking for ideas, where a substantial billionaire tax is already under discussion everywhere.
Also quite obviously we need lots of new fresh younger faces in every part of this democratic endeavor; I personally support LeadersWeDeserve.com
The is great, Dave. THANK YOU for sharing. If one million of us HCR subscribers here use this script to phone and write these men (note re: yesterday - all men) and our own reps today - THAT would be some serious needle moving. So much more effective than doom posting.
Thank you, Alexandra. I write to those 'in charge' regularly and share my letters here ( and in other venues) with the hope that others will improve on my thoughts, write 'em down, stick a stamp on 'em and mail 'em off.
Yes. And, I am a member of Indivisible Abroad. I lead a group in a city in Northern Germany. Indivisible Abroad and Indivisible are some of the organizations supporting Free Speech for People's campaign to impeach Trump and his cabinet. Would you please read my piece explaining it and help us get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
At last, America has the phone Trumpism deserves: shiny, overpromised, underdelivered, and wrapped in enough patriotic glitter to distract from the missing product.
Trump Mobile was introduced as a technological revolution for people who think “made in America” means outsourcing the hard parts and waving a tiny flag over the invoice. The pitch was classic MAGA commerce: gold branding, big promises, vague details, and a $100 deposit for the privilege of believing harder.
Then came the fine print, that sacred scripture of modern grift. The phone that was supposedly “built in America” became “designed with American values in mind,” which is corporate language for “please stop asking where the parts came from.” Apparently, American values now include delayed shipping, slippery wording, and customer expectations being placed on indefinite hold.
The whole thing is not really a phone plan. It is a governing philosophy with a charging cable. Promise everything. Deliver symbolism. Blame someone else. Keep the deposit.
And, naturally, there is a regulatory shadow, because no Trump-branded venture is complete until it starts looking like a conflict of interest wearing sunglasses indoors. When a presidential family business depends on companies that also need federal approval, the ringtone is not democracy. It is “quid pro quo, but make it wireless.”
Trump Mobile may never connect a call, but it has already connected the dots: in Trump’s America, the product is always delayed, the branding is always gold, and the customer service is always democracy being placed on hold.
As I said elsewhere, the people who were stupid enough to put down $100 for a Trump phone were probably also enrollees in Trump University. You gotta learn, people!
Please read my comment today. I have a ‘safe perspective’ that you do not enjoy, and so, I salute the Americans who recognize the peril your country is in and have the courage to SPEAK OUT against it…because you genuinely love the USA and want its integrity and promise RETURNED.
Dave, I am a member of Indivisible Abroad. I lead a group in a city in Northern Germany. Indivisible Abroad and Indivisible are some of the organizations supporting Free Speech for People's campaign to impeach Trump and his cabinet. Would you please read my piece explaining it and help us get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
Linda Weide, how does your petition to impeach Trump hold on to signatures if we share this with other grassroots activists to collect petition signatures?
some very reputable psychologists were saying the same thing in 2017 - comparing his fluency with, say, that on TV in the 1980s. He used to be able to form complete sentences, and finish the same sentence he started. Not to mention his violent fantasies and his skipping about... Very scary since nobody with power to do anything about it dares to do it.
Dave Delgado quote: "It will only get worse from here". Got that right.
Putting aside for now the "Reflecting Pool " will no longer reflect anything, the Cuban government has declared it is preparing for a potential U.S. attack, with the President Miguel Díaz-Canel stating that while they do not want conflict, they are ready to defend against military intervention.
Dave, good letter. I hope it gets the attention of the Trumplandia crew that has the attention of a small child. They have never had to have more because they are privileged and were able to steal what they didn't earn.
Anyone who has lived even for a short time with someone living with dementia knows and has known for at least 7 or 8 years that Donald Trump was failing mentally and more recently physically, but needed to use him long enough to destroy our government for the benefit of the already far far too rich. We let those rich fools buy our Supreme Court (through the Federalist Society), our congress (through the purchased Supreme Court's outrageous Citizens United decision), and state legislatures (a bit easier because the white folks they targeted are often low information voters who consume FauxFox and nuts like Rush Limbaugh). It is going to have to be the rest of us who finally say together "ENOUGH!" Together we are going to have to decide what must be done, then do it, keeping peaceful action at the center.
There isn't an ounce of courage in any of those people. They are incapable and unwilling to do their jobs. Incompetent cowards and even worse people. Don't even waste your time. Ground swell support for competent, smart, compassionate progressives who, at this point, need to stop bickering amongst themselves to get the job done!
For instance ...Heard a little bit from Texas democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa on Jen Psaki's MSNNow segment. Refreshing and a generational change. That Obama endorses her and James Talarico is all I need to know that the people of Texas have an opportunity to put normal, compassionate, bright young people into the governor's office and U.S. senate. Maybe we won't have to take a saw to the state to separate it from the union!! We'll save that for a bunch of southern states.🤣
"Former President Barack Obama appeared alongside U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico and gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa on Tuesday in Austin as part of an attempt to boost a new crop of Democratic candidates ahead of this year's midterms."
Big Time Corruption. It's been building for more than half a century. Remember when Nixon was an embarrassment to the GOP. Joe McCarthy? That was just the warm-up. Follow the money.
Right. Where are the class actions? Not even one yet. I’ll bet that in a week, at least 10 such suits will be filed.
Probably, they are too embarrassed to admit they have been duped so most will just let it go. I still expect a few class actions, but the embarrassment and fear that the old decrepit orange sloth might take some action against them will probably keep most people out of court, and the grifters will keep almost all of the money. Class actions usually get settled on terms where the participants receive minimal consideration while the lawyers walk away with a third or more of the proceeds.
If you Google "Trump products on Amazon" you will get hundreds of Trump products mostly made in some 3rd world country and almost all of them are idols to Trump.
I wouldn't be surprised if someone sells this stuff in the white nationalist churches and the so-called ministers push this junk from the pulpit.
I no longer google anything on Amazon. I am not supporting the midlife crisis that Bezos is having or the plastic b!/ch who has signed on for the ride.
This is one of those stories that shows how stupid MAGAts are. I love that they lost $100. I wonder how many of them also lost SNAP, Medicaid, or their farm too. Do you think any of them have figured it out yet?
All of the above, Dutch. I'm watching my former work cohort dance the "what about when Obama/Biden did it?" thinking that there is any comparison whatsoever.
There is no end to the twisted justifications that MAGATs can come up with to excuse the times they get royally screwed by Trump. These are really stupid people.
Yes, no surprise re corruption and grifting. What I don't understand is why UN not front and center regarding Iranian control of Strait of Hormuz??? If international law prevents obstruction of ship traffic in strait, obviously law not being enforced. And who responsible for enforcing it? If one-fifth of world oil passing through, how can one country be allowed to interfere? UN should be the venue for all concerned and/or involved in current conflict to come together, discuss, and end it once and for all.The blocking of Strait of Hormuz affecting many, not only U.S. and Iran. Diplomacy, not armed conflict, required big time!
I believe they aren’t involving themselves yet due to Trump. He has ruined our relationships and ultimately maybe they are holding out involvement until absolutely necessary?
There is a direct correlation between U.S. debt growth and corporate profits. Since Reagan, the GOP has been the party of "borrow and spend". As Trump borrowed money from "suckers" to build and bankrupt casinos, Trump, the President, has twice inherited growing economies and has delivered huge tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations. For corporate profits, this is a virtuous circle. Lower taxes on profits simultaneously increase the debt, which further inflates profits. (See John Hussman, PhD.) This GOP's abuse of the public purse begs for steeply graduated income taxes on corporations.
Thank you so much for your work, HCR. You are a treasure, I am grateful. I wonder if you might consider diving into what the administration is doing about public lands? Your voice brings so many issues to light for so many Americans, and I fear the damage to public lands is one that most don't see. Just a thought. Thank you again for your work and your voice in this critical time, and for blazing the trail for independent media. Goody bless you, girl!
Thank you for bringing up the issue of public lands, Roxanne. HCR is indeed a national treasure and these articles she writes are so informative, clarifying, meaningful, enlightening, even depressing and worrisome at times. But lost in the maelstrom of the Trump radioactivity and steamroller 'governance', the firehose of toxicity and effluent discharge of tirades, tariff threats and tough talk, wars, cruelty, off the charts corruption...
Lost in all this chaos, we haven't had time to notice some of the really awful things happening to Our federal lands...
Quietly, almost in the dead of night, in April 2026, the U.S. Forest Service itself has undergone a major reorganization, another dismantling of a federal agency without any input from Congress or the public. It includes moving the headquarters entirely from Washington D.C. to Salt Lake City, closing all nine regional offices, replacing them with 15 state-based offices, and shuttering USFS research stations. Approximately 57 of 77 research stations and experimental forests are being closed, with research efforts consolidated in Fort Collins. The changes are expected to affect up to 5,000 employees, with concerns that many experienced staff may resign rather than relocate, similar to the 2019 Bureau of Land Management relocation. This will be beneficial to lumber lobbyists, and horrible for forest science and the forests themselves.
Also just this May 2026, the Trump administration has finalized plans to open the 1.56-million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas drilling, reversing a Biden-era suspension.
And in early May 2026, the Trump administration revoked grazing permits for bison on federal lands in Montana, effectively moving to evict hundreds of animals from their habitat. The decision primarily targets American Prairie, a conservation nonprofit that has managed a herd of approximately 950 bison on public lands for over 20 years. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) revoked permits for seven allotments in Phillips County, Montana, covering roughly 63,500 acres. The administration plans to replace the bison with cattle, siding with local ranchers and Republican leaders who argue the land should be used for livestock production.
That's just what I've noticed and have been infuriated even further by this regime's continual attacks and disastrous upending of Our Nation...
Yes, me too, Ally. I've been watching in horror at the devastation and mismanagement of our National Forests since the Reagan years. I'm still traumatized and distraught by all those clearcuts and such disregard for the environment as the accelerated industrial logging that I saw and witnessed in Humboldt, & throughout northern California and the Pacific Northwest. This desecration of Our forests and federal lands must not be allowed to happen again...
Roxanne, thank you again and again for your calls. Today in Palm Beach, Florida, Epstein survivors are speaking at a hearing that is being held only by Democrats. Earth is also trying to survive the Epstein-like devastation by current rapacious Republicans.
HCR might start by detailing how Teddy Roosevelt became the "Conservation President." He shepherded several hundred million acres into public lands on behalf of the American people, whom he chose to serve instead of himself.
Yeah but i heard a guy at the gas pump today say “ this truck used to hold $75 worth of gas but now it holds $150! Don’t know how he does it, but im sure votin’ for him a fourth time!!!”
Trump is a criminal that is trashing the country. He is trashing the constitution, the economy, and the people.
He should have been arrested and held accountable on the day of January 6, 2021!
As it is, Justice must be brought to bear. Better late than ever. We the people must be the bottom line, to ensure a person like Trump can never again do what’s been done in the last 10 years.
Let’s hope for better days, where truth and justice, freedom and democracy, peace and prosperity prevail, with healthcare, housing, good food and education for all!
May the future of the USA and the world be grounded in human rights and respect for and harmony with all life! For future generations!
He can’t be arrested in the US, but he could be indicted for war crimes in The Hague, in which case all ICC signatories (that is, all civilized nations) would be required to arrest him if they found him within their boundaries. That would severely constrain his travel options.
What we must have is our own Nuremberg, complete with firing squads and gallows at the end -- which will happen only with V-E-Day-type Liberation from without.
From your lips, Robert, to the ears of the Power of the Universe (including any parallel ones)….agree, make it so! [I want to see him, his family/friends/toadies stripped of any ill-gotten gain that would then be placed in the US Treasury.]
It isn't like to help struggling families much, but it has been claimed that it will cost half a billion smackers a day. Half a billion here, half a billion three... all tallied on the People's tab.
Resource below to easily contact all of Congress - Be LOUD. Trump is an embarrassment and dangerous for our country 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Declaring that "We have the right to rip you off" does not make it legally binding, especially when the conditions are inserted years AFTER the purchase was made. Every one of them who sues Trump will win.
And wouldn’t it be great if a bunch of them do sue, a class action? I hope there is an enterprising personal injury lawyer out there who is scouting for a few good class representatives.
Just like they filed against the crooked Trump University…maybe they’d win too! Tho’ the Trump Univ suits involved plaintiffs who lost much much more than $100. Maybe trump is good at this lawsuit stuff, just like he is at filing for bankruptcy.
As long as the suit was against his kids, I don’t see how it would get there. There’s no federal question or constitutional issue. Just a bread and butter civil fraud matter to be decided under state law. Well, I guess if the plaintiffs were from many states, that would maybe give the federal courts jurisdiction, unless they bring it under the law of the state where the phones were sold…… I will defer to knowledge of a personal injury lawyer if there is one on this community.
If Trump succeeds in getting permission to use T-Mobile’s network, I will cancel my account with them and move my phone and phone number to some other provider. I predict I am not the only one who would do that. Does anyone know how we let T-Mobile know that will happen?
Barbara, I don't know if you have ever heard of Christopher Elliott but he is the CEO of a company that reveals all of the companies here and their CEOs names and addresses. I looked up T-Mobile for you on his site. It's quite informative. https://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/t-mobile/
What truly baffles me is that the maga crowd "bought the phone" based upon the hype, lies, and promises of glory/retribution...ended up with two tin cans and a piece of string, which seems only useful to attract lighting strikes, and yet they still support the con man. And they blame someone other than the con man (Biden, et.al.)for the burn marks on their ears. The old adage that "you can't fix stupid" seems proven.
My thoughts exactly as well, Laura. Kinda gives me the creeps thinking of these folks hunched over their phones making Gollum-like sounds while creating them….***shiver***
Horhai, I read an interesting piece about him a while back…he appears to have some qualities as a “supervisor”, co-worker, facilitator than gains him praise, appreciation & support w/in the Admin. Weird, I know (I was surprised!), but I guess even racist assholes can have some decent qualities, even if their whole overall “persona” is anathema to me—who knew? 🤷🏻♀️[wish I’d saved the piece & can’t recall who published it, or I’d link it]
He has a quite large official staff. Beyond that each of his closest advisors have staffs. I speculate that he gets a daily menu to pull from when he’s so inclined. Y’know, “gripes of the day”.
The worse it gets, the better it gets. Good bye Republican Senate, goodbye Republican House, impeachment will get us started in 2027, the Supreme Court better make room for more of those high back chairs, and a whole lot of people with the word "Trump" on their resumes gonna be unemployed, awaiting trial.
And don't forget to vote the Nazis out of your State and local gov's, too!! At least here in The Most Corrupt State of Ohio, they are every bit as guilty, and culpable!
Somewhat off topic. A Chinese American was charged by DoJ for acting as a foreign agent for China. She pled guilty and is facing 10 years in prison for posting articles directly by China. Meanwhile, the orange felon takes instructions from Putin and Netanyahu and is still a free man.
JD and the rest are feeding him b.s. for dinner so the orange addle-brained sick man will tweet all night to distract his minions from the destruction of our Constitution that they are doing.. I can't believe anyone with even a middle school education would still follow that poor demented embarrassment.
He asks for bullshit for dinner, nobody has to force him.
Not for the first, nor the last time to be said, we are all indebted to Heather for being one of the few historian-journalists who actually quote his deranged posts. Most of our media don't dare. It lends the appearance that the man actually has "policies" and "positions" rather than bizarre, psychiatric perversions. They smear lipstick all over the pig, and the GOP claims it can actually sings Puccini while playing five-dimensional chess....
We are here, in part, because too many who know better keep refusing to speak truth.
Compare that to the kind of events hosted by the Obama‘s at The White House and you understand that Trump is not only an immature man-baby but also lives in a world where preferred entertainment is the least sophisticated kind imaginable
Another to add to the list of Democratic leadership failure: Asked about if he would vote to approve future arms sales to Israel, Senator Cory Booker replies: "We have a long-standing commitment to Israel having a qualitative military edge. I will continue to support that."
Source: Cory Booker Israel Quote
We continue to support Netanyahu’s genocidal destruction and Israel continues to give its citizens universal healthcare, effectively on our dime.
More proof, the Democratic Party is hopelessly wedded to the past. For America to move forward, we need a cultural transformation that throws out the leadership of both political parties.
Booker must tread carefully to avoid offending his AIPAC donors. We have and continue to send billions in aid every year to support "the only democracy in the Middle East". It's time to reassess a lot of things.
Sent this day to:
Vice President Vance, Acting Secretary Blanche, Secretary Hegseth, Secretary Rubio, Speaker Mike Johnson, Senator John Thune, Senator Alex Padilla, Senator Adam Schiff, Senator Cruz, Senator Graham, Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Congressman Jared Huffman, Congressman Kiley; CC: Donald J Trump.
Dear - - - -
As far back as November 2024, mental health professionals offered that Donald Trump is in cognitive decline. Recently, those professionals renewed that concern with one, renowned Dr. John Gartner, saying, “The Donald Trump you see today is the best you will ever see him. It will only get worse from here.” (The same was once said about my late father.)
We’ve all seen it. The President’s cognitive circumstance is evident in his inability to maintain attention to matters of state, the anger and bitterness of his rhetoric toward those who question him, the puerile (and certainly unpresidential) late night memes posted to social media and the general incoherence with which he speaks publicly.
It is also becoming quite evident that any fealty to Donald Trump – or to his circle of moneyed confidants – is shortsighted and self-defeating. The more our democratic norms teeter, the less these oligarchs will need from you until they will need nothing. And nothing you will be.
Recalling when Jesus cast the merchants and money changers from the temple, Donald Trump must be relieved from office. The process for both Cabinet Members and Members of Congress is explicitly outlined in the Constitution.
Required is your courage. And that courage is required now because “it will only get worse from here.”
Regards,
Sadly, the lack of courage among Republican “leaders” has been the issue all along. Even when Trump engineered a violent takeover of our government, these “noble stalwarts” folded like dirty bedsheets. The only hope now is for Democrats to sweep the midterms. Moreover, we’d better be ready. I’m betting Trump will use the “skirmish” in Iran as a a fake “emergency” to declare cancellation of the midterms. We cannot allow this to happen. No matter what.
The only way he could do that would be to convince Governors and state legislators to do that. While that might work for some states, it certainly wouldn’t for enough states to make it real, and as Marc Elias noted in an interview the other day with John Harwood of Zeteo, he doesn’t think even this Supreme Court would go along with it.
Prediction is dangerous, but this ghastly administration's pattern has long been 'throw it against the wall, see if it sticks.' His scalawags and shitweasels will try a dozen easier things first. Only a few votes here and there are needed to make the counting a Sisyphean effort. Only a bit of sudden, last-minute confusion, long lines in only certain voting places, mysteriously moving precincts, a bit of intimidation, new post office rules, inconsistencies between somebody's birth and married name in Fulton County, Georgia, etc. This is the strategy.
Or so they think. 'Too big to rig' is the real antidote for that, but only if it actually happens. As Martin Luther once said centuries ago -- pray as if everything depended on God, but work as though everything depended on you.
As Martin Luther King once said (more recently), keep your hand on the plow and your eyes on the prize (or words to that effect). But every now and then, take a glance in the rearview mirror. For example, on Monday's Deadline White House, Ian Bassin, Executive Director, Project Democracy, said the following (lightly paraphrased):
"The good news is we are going to succeed at this. They cannot gerrymander their way out of a 40-seat shellacking, and he’s less popular today than he was when that happened in 2018. So, they’re going to try to rig the rules. But our Founders, in their infinite wisdom, made it so the president doesn’t control the rules of elections, and for the president to try to rig the midterm elections, he is going to need accomplices up and down our federal system, at the state level, at the local level, in the congress and the courts, and in order to get those accomplices, he needs to show that he’s politically powerful, and the fact of the matter is … he is not. We have reached the point in the story where the Trumpist political project is in its death spiral, and I have talked to non-hardcore Republican leaders. They know it. They know the Trumpist political project is over, and that means he is not going to be able to do what he needs to do to complete his authoritarian consolidation, and if we do our part, we are not just going to save our democracy, but we’re going to have an opportunity to really reform it and rebuild it, to be fit for purpose for the 21st century."
It's over, indeed. It's always been a rickety Rube Goldberg contraption held together with nothing but lies, intimidation and scotch tape. The scotch tape unravels, the lies have stopped working, and the intimidation is now much more likely to blow up in their own faces. Pete Buttigieg keeps saying -- Republicans are already envisioning the 'day after,' so should we.
"Today Trump told reporters the Iran proposal was a “piece of garbage” and warned that the ceasefire is on “massive life support where the doctor walks in and says ‘Sir, your loved one has approximately a 1% chance of living.’” "
Trump is always projecting his actions. If only Trump has been told he has a 1% chance of living in the next week or so?
Imagine JD as President and the Republicans in Congress kissing up to him. Kinda makes you throw up in your mouth a little, doesn't it?
Can't wait to see Pete and Company back in the driver's seat.
Here is something that could be unravelled. Think about what it would mean for the government to pay back $159 billion in illegal tariffs it collected. Heather writes, "the money will not go to consumers. It will go to the 'trade community'". The tariffs were paid to the US government by major American corporations. They passed those cost on to wholesalers and industries who passed it on to consumers.
If the government repays those corporations for the tariffs, that $159 will come out of the taxes that consumers pay the government. This means that those importing corporations will be refunded for the tariffs twice, once by the wholesalers and industries and once by the government. And consumers will pay for them twice, once in higher costs for commodities and once in their federal taxes!
The right way to handle this would be for the government to put the $159 into programs that consumers (the general public) need: education, health care, infrastructure, housing, sustainable energy, etc. In that way the importing corporations would be repaid once for the tariffs and the consumers would be repaid (once) for the tariffs.
Much like the presidential problem the Democrats faced prior to the last election, Trump has mentally aged out.
The major difference is that Joe, for the most part had worked with dignity as a public servant for America all his life, whereas Trump has filandered everyone for personal gain his since birth.
The Democrats prevailed a bit late to put Joe aside, and Trump happened for the second time. Today the entire Republican party is as delusional and weak as DonOld, and are already suffering irretrievable credibility loss.
As each man reaches the end of their personal runway, as all mortals do, monuments to Joe will be built, and monuments to trump will be gleefully destroyed.
Both men know it.
With one exception, I agree with everything in your comment. The exception: my opinions about Joe's actions and cognitive abilities leading up to the 2024 election are much more positive than most. Maybe my logic is flawed, and I'm resisting the temptation to state it, but I think I have a reasonable understanding of the alternative logic and I still think mine is better.
Paul, in 2024, our Baby Donnie got a lot of help from faked "assassination attempts" and the pre-DOGErs under Musk who are likely to have interfered with the tallying machines in just the swing states, of course, giving Trump the win, but just barely in each of those states and only in certain elections: president, senate, some congressional spots, and Sec. of state or AG. Semocrats were too worried about being seen as whiners like Trumpians, so did not challenge any of the elections whose results were just slightly above what would have required an automatic recount, and in every single election. Hmmmm! Musk has the ability with his AI and satelite access with the proper algorithms. He only needed small devices on the wire or outlet for the tallying machines and tah-dah! victory!
Then, of course, racism and misogyny are present in the Democratic party too, not as big as with MAGA, but definitely there, and a factor in Democrats not getting out to vote at the same level as in 2020.
The situations with Biden and Trump are in no way the same except that they are men, white, and older. Trump's handlers knew he was failing mentally at least since 2019 when I, not a medical person noticed it. In my case, my mother and grandmother had both lived with dementia and the symptoms were there for Trump, and that was before I knew he had dementia in his family. We the People were lied to and not properly informed, and here we are!
President Biden had lost a lot of his cognitive nimbleness, particularly because his ability to be fluent in spite of his speech impediment imposed a very large cognitive load. There was nothing wrong with his judgment about affairs of state, and he surrounded himself with smart, compassionate, principled advisors who could fully compensate for what he'd lost. Throughout our lives, we must compensate when our own capacities are lost, temporarily or permanently. Biden was smart about it. However he'd lost a certain strategic sense that could guide him in when to call it quits, as we all learned in the rearview mirror.
Biden had become fragile and susceptible to physical limitations that impinged on his ability to "act presidential." Our problem is a system which values the trappings of dominating strength over the capacity to do a good job. He became an untenable candidate but never lost the ability to be a good president.
Trump, on the other hand, has never had the capacity - the empathy, broad perspective, ability to call on the lessons of history, thoughtfulness, systematic thinking, and moral compass - to be presidential. That he is now also suffering mental decline is just the icing on a very awful smelling, toxic cake.
Thank you for your uplifting thoughts Paul.
James, yes, then or at the same time, we need to address the problem of the oligarchs and their money power. It is going to take a huge effort since we have permitted them to control so much of our lives all for their own benefit, not ours. Knowing that might get some, even MAGAs on board with that work!
Ruth ... there are cells in a caterpillar's body that some entomologist called "imaginal" cells.
Imaginal cells play a role in the transformation of the caterpillar to the butterfly. The caterpillar gorges throughout its life until it reaches a tipping point and goes into its cocoon to protect itself from a world that is revolting against its greed. Shut off from the world, it begins to decay. In the chaos of decay, the imaginal cells, that were latent but there all along, begin to come alive. As they do so, they are being attacked by the old way of doing things. The imaginal cells communicate with and find each other by emitting a common frequency (I'm humming Springsteen's "Streets of Minneapolis"). Eventually, the old way of doing things gives up and the butterfly emerges.
Does knowing that is a true story make you more confident in your optimism?
Yes Ruth. That's one reason I am a repeated donor of AMY ACTON for Governor of Ohio who is up against a billionaire. "AA" asked for another $5 this A.M in a close battle. So I sent $25.
Always helpful to remember that if it's free, you aren't the customer, you're the product.
I do hope you're right, but I worry that Trump has set up a government that has his lack of morality, his cruel indifference to the fates of Americans and America, his cunning, but not his stupidity. However, I'm not American and I don't know enough about the workings of what to outsiders seems to be a bizarre electoral system, to gainsay your analysis. I just hope you're right!
I'm very confident. The problem isn't bizarre electoral systems or otherwise technical. The problem is a lack of public sentiment, and the world is watching as that problem's solution emerges.
He's got his accomplices in every Confederate State, and a number of Northern states as well.
No matter where you vote, double check your voter registration every month leading up to the election.
Todd Blanche was on TV promoting ICE supervising elections - saying "who could possibly object to that - it's common sense" - his whole message was that without ICE non-citizens would swarm the polls -- once again the administration has a "solution" to a "problem" of their own invention.
His asinine and senseless question begs a need for anyone to ask: "what could possibly go wrong?" 🤦😂 This is proof positive that "common sense" to these folks originates from a different planet.
Well, me, for one. I object strongly and passionately to employing people whose job it is to intimidate and terrorize, to say nothing of injure and kill, people. So, Todd, there's your answer. And I suspect I'm not alone.
The lying claim that "illegals", i.e., undocumented residents of the USA, are voting in elections is made for the sole purpose of diverting attention from (and thus thwart efforts to combat) the actual fraud that surrounds our elections - election fraud. Musk, fake electors, too-easily tampered-with voting machines, closing or moving certain polling locations, gerrymandering to disenfranchise - these are all real. "Voter fraud" is not.
Time and effort and money wasted in trying to protect voters from ICE or other such organizations at the polls, to undo the machinations of the republiconfederates to disenfranchise non-white voters, seriously interferes with efforts to prevent actual election fraud - there's only so much of any of these three any person or group has, especially now that primary voting is happening. Dems (and Indies voting Dem for now) have to turn out in massive numbers both at the primaries and in the general, and vote for every single seat, fed, state and local. And Dems MUST challenge (I know., more money, time and effort) every suspected incident of election fraud; it isn't just the voters turning out in huge numbers, but the vote counters and reporting that have to be free from all kinds of corruption.
And 86 47 RIGHT NOW.
People need to get off their knees and stop relying on an imaginary deity to 'render us from evil', especially since they put evil in charge to begin with.
It is up to all of us to get the rest of us registered and to the polls to vote, know matter the obstacles in front that will only get worse. It is the last legal option for us to stop the carnage and get us on a road that doesn't take us off a cliff.
“ scalawags and shitweasels”
Well played ICTT!
Agreed!!
It's come to This, thanks for the Luther quote. I had forgotten that one, but used to have it written on my Divinity School notebook. We the People, those of us who can get around really well need to get informed about candidates at all levels, precinct voting places, the local voting rules, etc., then organize neighbors who can get people to the correct voting place on election day if they find themselves at the wrong one, can help make sure birth certificates are properly updated, serve as poll workers or poll monitors, can be active on social media to inform their networks and others of the latest information. Trumplandia is deliberately composed of folks who are not the brightest bulbs in the string or any string. They may have degrees, but it is not clear how they got them. It is clear though, that they use them in the service of an old man with dementia whom they knew years ago was in the throes of dementia. That makes them all betrayers of the American people and our constitution, and their degrees prove they knew what they were doing, so should be held accountable for it.
They betray all of our, and their, children
"" ... this ghastly administration's pattern has long been 'throw it against the wall, see if it sticks. ...'" is a perfect encapsulation; thanks.
Really love the "shitweasels" description. I hope I can borrow it.
I agree with everything you say. I live in a totally Blue state and know our governor will never succumb to Trump's intimidation. But all the Southern Red states are already disenfranchising Democrats. What should they do?
Stop paying taxes, since they are not represented in their State House?
The one thing that I hope happens, is that "normal" Republicans see what's going on and vote Democrat in certain states. I think it's happening in some small ways in recent elections that Democrats have won where Trump had won in 2024. Of course, I'm convinced the 2024 election was brought to you by Elon Musk.
Thankfully Marc “the god of free and fair elections” Elias is on our side.
If anyone can do this - it is Marc Elias, Mike. I hope we are all supporting Democracy Docket! https://www.democracydocket.com
You'll be surprised Marcia, have a plan B please. They'll do anything and everything no matter what to stay in power.
I'm not going to bet money that there is a line that this $COTUS majority would not cross. They are lapdogs of Project 2025.
I can think of two Supreme Court judges that would love to back him up
Marcia, yeah, if this Supreme Court were to go along with it, they will have declared themselves rogue and irrelevant. I don't think even Roberts wants to go that far!
Don’t forget that during the midterms of trump’s first term 40 seats were redirected to democrats. Also I thought Orbán would be president forever but he lost. So have some hope….
As happy as I'm about Hungary's results it showed the regime what would happen to them and now they are taking action to deeply manipulate the midterm elections. No a single decent voter should stay home for the event.
I have an on-line friend from the tuba community who posted yesterday (and I paraphrase) "Why should I vote? I don't know any of these names." I cannot write a reply that isn't utterly scathing and mean. Waste your vote in an election where you might get stuck with a Republican governor because you're too lazy to research people and issues.
Dude...
Sheriff, your friend needs to vote early by mail along with your suggestion on who to vote for to get favorable results for all Tuba People.
That’s what I told him.
The fact that your on-line friend plays the tuba tells you everything you need to know about him ....Just kidding Ally 🫠
😝
Absolutely! Hope, determination and caution.
Good perspective, Sophia.
All humans have an expiration date. Just like milk. There's a sour taste developing for this Looney Tunes president. Just gas prices and the ripple effect of energy prices alone would be enough to destroy a president's political capital. Even if they don't say it out loud, you can be sure millions of people who held their nose and voted red are feeling betrayed.
When one is president for over a year, everything that goes wrong is your fault. EVERYTHING. It a rule of political life. Just ask Obama or Joe.
The last two years of the Trump Train will be off the rails. Lame ducks are always lame ducks. Quack, quack. That is if he lives that long.
Every person in the role of POTUS experiences accelerated aging. This is just another example. Covered up with hair dye and makeup liberally applied.
We haven't seen him marching around on a golf course recently wearing a short sleeved shirt, have we?
The only question is what will completely collapse first - the body or the mind? His all night posting on SM suggests the latter. But the former is fragile as well.
Nothing and nobody lasts forever.
Except for Jimmy Carter Bill.
Maybe, but possibly more likely is all kinds of dirty tricks before, during, and after the election to interfere, confuse, delay, deny, etc. Let’s all volunteer to register voters and make sure everyone knows where to vote without an issue. Also, the more poll watchers the better.
Yes Terry, I signed up to work the polls and am now looking for ways to get out the vote.
Thank You for your service, Marj!!
I'm a Precinct Organizer. Our best hope is making and keeping our local and state governments accountable to the people they serve.
The lack of courage is the quintessential character trait that made trump chose them. They won't tell him "No!"
The ones he chose in his first term sometimes did - so he had to get rid of them. He doesn't LIKE being told no. . .
The way to be ready, Dr Iris, is for states (particularly blue states) to write a trigger law: if you touch the elections, we direct federal taxes into escrow. We need to do this before the election takes place. If we wait for after the elections, then we will be relying on the courts and they are too slow to react. State legislators don’t get nearly as many phone calls/emails compared to DC… they’ll notice if people reach out to them. Start talking to your state governments.
https://cmarmitage.substack.com/p/if-you-steal-our-elections-you-dont?r=56wm8i&utm_medium=ios
(Just one of many specific and actionable ideas that Christopher Artimage has)
WARNING: Linguistic tangent!
Would not "freshly pressed" bedsheets fold more easily than dirty linen? My imagery is of the RepubliKKKan leaders is being wadded up like dirty, stained linen.
Another reason you're one of my people. If I indulged in every linguistic tangent that presents itself, I would never get on with my life.
Exactly so!!
Thr Republicans are fine wirh Teump. They have wanted to destroy a functioning federal government for decades, leaving their corporate donors free to wreak havoc and make money
There's that.
I agree. However, this statement- “noble stalwarts” folded like dirty bedsheets- The dirty sheets would never be folded- perhaps crumpled—- wadded—-stink—-maybe even thrown in the trash—-but never folded!!! LOL
Democrats haven't been much more courageous. Only a handful of them have spoken up with moral clarity and appropriate outrage.
I suggest we plan our own insurrection now.
I'm done with Donnie and all his sycophants. I want the obliteration of the Republican Party. They don't deserve the income and perks that my taxes pay for.
What I don't understand is why there are some people who still support this insane, totally unhinged moron.
Trump has absolutely gone off the deep end.
Mainly because his ‘yes men’ are blowing smoke up his orange kazoo, instead of telling him what is really going on. We all can see it in the videos, while he snoozes - while they all smile & pretend he’s not asleep. I guess we might thank those people, since they are driving him to post his ridiculous claims about manliness & popularity ?
Indeed I once called for the military with the once good generals ( who now have been fired) to prevent Trump from entering government. That was once the better option to what we have now and yet there remain some folks that still reject this notion.
My God, the destruction is so complete with everything he touches. How can we recover? I don’t know. I just don’t know.
Everything Trump touches dies. This has held true throughout his life.
We have to do whatever it takes to prove this wrong.
"Around Washington, D.C., signs are appearing that show Trump in a hard hat near construction scaffolding and read: 'Thank you, PRESIDENT TRUMP...'”
Not exactly. Some of those signs at Logan Circle -- an ethnically diverse, racially integrated, welcoming *gayborhood* not far from the White House -- now bear telltale distinctions of having been 'embellished' by local artists.
https://sylvestercat.substack.com/p/no-turn-on-red
"Senator Beauregard Pittypat (R-SC)"??? That gave me my morning chuckle indeed!
Colleague of Se, Leghorn Cleghorn (I say boy) Kennedy (R, LA)???
Isn't he precious?!!!
OK, that is a good one!
Loved this..
“Trump’s gone off the deep end,” is putting it a tad mildly I think Sheri. My question is: where is the poisoned chalice? Or the CIA sniper bullet? Or the unfortunate trip from the top of the stairs? Surely the Useful Idiot has out-served his purpose?
One thing we can be certain of: as long as Perfesser Longtie continues to avoid standing near high windows he retains some situational self-awareness.
He has not served his purpose until a successor has been named. That successor has to have the correct mix of ruthlessness, amorality, fealty to the 1 percent, the blind loyalty of MAGA, >and< at least minimal popular support. We're not yet ready as a country to give up on elections (even if only as theater) at minimum, and the putsch cannot engineer victory at all levels of government in even a slim majority of states.
To my eyes, no one in the Republican hierarchy meets those qualifications. They need Trump until they can find a replacement - is he exits the scene too soon, the succession power games will discredit them in time to reveal the men behind the curtain while the voters can still do something about it.
This could happen even if Trump stays around till the election. There is simply no one ready to exert power over the powerful the way he has been able to do, and the rest of the party knows it.
Mobiguy, I hate to mention it, but my spies tell me that Don, Jr. has recently started to attract significant interest in Republican circles.
Remember that as late as 2015, there was a strong "Never Trump" contingent in the Republican party. In a matter of weeks, they changed their tune and went all in on him. Junior's younger and better looking (acknowledging the low bar).
Horrors!
My thoughts exactly, MaryPat. But ignoring the signals doesn't silence them.
Without consequence and deep end means death destruction a nd economic torture affecting millions
Trump may be exhibiting more concerning outbursts, but this is really nothing new. He has been a small, vindictive, intellectually deficient poseur his entire life.
He appeals to other vindictive, morally deficient and intellectually sub par individuals. And we are seeing that those people are nearly 50% of our population.
That farmers who are being driven into bankruptcy by the policies of Trump and the Republicans, but continuing to vote for Republicans, has to be the perfect example of voting for your own economic demise. And these “ anti-socialism” geniuses expect taxpayers to bail them out once again!
Dave, I am in agreement with your post however, I think it is very generous to think that Donald is losing something that he actually had. Despite his obvious decline, this is a man who never had the chops to be president. Not the knowledge, intellect, demeanor, or even instincts. As Heather notes; he had people around him in his first term that set up guardrails. He has relied on what some people call "yes men" but, his cabinet is stocked with drunks, whack jobs and freeloaders. We are all paying a heavy price for this horror show. Consumers of gasoline have coughed up roughly 17 billion dollars extra per month so far. And, that is just the tip of the iceberg. So, yes he is losing his mud but, there wasn't much there to begin with.
A reminder that his first Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, one of those first term child-minders, privately called him a "fucking moron" after Trump announced during a Cabinet meeting that he wanted a 1,000% increase in America's nuclear arsenal. Trump had General Kelly fire Tillerson not long after news of that surfaced.
This never gets old, because it continues to be true. This might be Mr. Tillerson's sole accomplishment during his brief tenure.
J, I am noticing on this and other substacks, as well as plentifully on YouTube, folks reassessing their political knowledgeable selves, and ones who weren't are becoming wiser, to a place where I wouldn't be surprised that they'll be recruits and crossovers, from Republicans even; the Independents are already swinging this way. When Repubs realize that their party doesn't really mean anything anymore, we could start welcoming their thoughts and needed participation, with the obvious evidence that the Republican-led Congress has hardly done a damn thing, and many of them will be and are being personally hurt - about the only way you can get to some of them. I have proposed, not in a specious manner at all, that we find ways to outlaw selfishness in policy making and law even more than democracy has proposed already. Not a lawyer here so looking for ideas, where a substantial billionaire tax is already under discussion everywhere.
Also quite obviously we need lots of new fresh younger faces in every part of this democratic endeavor; I personally support LeadersWeDeserve.com
💯💯💯💯
The is great, Dave. THANK YOU for sharing. If one million of us HCR subscribers here use this script to phone and write these men (note re: yesterday - all men) and our own reps today - THAT would be some serious needle moving. So much more effective than doom posting.
Thank you, Alexandra. I write to those 'in charge' regularly and share my letters here ( and in other venues) with the hope that others will improve on my thoughts, write 'em down, stick a stamp on 'em and mail 'em off.
I've done that here, too, but haven't seen yours! So much to wade through, I've followed you now so I can get them directly. Again, many thanks.
Maybe post your thoughts again regularly?
Yes. And, I am a member of Indivisible Abroad. I lead a group in a city in Northern Germany. Indivisible Abroad and Indivisible are some of the organizations supporting Free Speech for People's campaign to impeach Trump and his cabinet. Would you please read my piece explaining it and help us get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
Yup.
''Trump Mobile: The Grift Has Unlimited Minutes''
At last, America has the phone Trumpism deserves: shiny, overpromised, underdelivered, and wrapped in enough patriotic glitter to distract from the missing product.
Trump Mobile was introduced as a technological revolution for people who think “made in America” means outsourcing the hard parts and waving a tiny flag over the invoice. The pitch was classic MAGA commerce: gold branding, big promises, vague details, and a $100 deposit for the privilege of believing harder.
Then came the fine print, that sacred scripture of modern grift. The phone that was supposedly “built in America” became “designed with American values in mind,” which is corporate language for “please stop asking where the parts came from.” Apparently, American values now include delayed shipping, slippery wording, and customer expectations being placed on indefinite hold.
The whole thing is not really a phone plan. It is a governing philosophy with a charging cable. Promise everything. Deliver symbolism. Blame someone else. Keep the deposit.
And, naturally, there is a regulatory shadow, because no Trump-branded venture is complete until it starts looking like a conflict of interest wearing sunglasses indoors. When a presidential family business depends on companies that also need federal approval, the ringtone is not democracy. It is “quid pro quo, but make it wireless.”
Trump Mobile may never connect a call, but it has already connected the dots: in Trump’s America, the product is always delayed, the branding is always gold, and the customer service is always democracy being placed on hold.
As I said elsewhere, the people who were stupid enough to put down $100 for a Trump phone were probably also enrollees in Trump University. You gotta learn, people!
Please read my comment today. I have a ‘safe perspective’ that you do not enjoy, and so, I salute the Americans who recognize the peril your country is in and have the courage to SPEAK OUT against it…because you genuinely love the USA and want its integrity and promise RETURNED.
🇨🇦🤝🇺🇸
Dave, I am a member of Indivisible Abroad. I lead a group in a city in Northern Germany. Indivisible Abroad and Indivisible are some of the organizations supporting Free Speech for People's campaign to impeach Trump and his cabinet. Would you please read my piece explaining it and help us get 2 million signatures by signing the petition in it? https://lindaweide.substack.com/p/indivisible-abroad-supports-the-impeach?r=f0qfn
Linda Weide, how does your petition to impeach Trump hold on to signatures if we share this with other grassroots activists to collect petition signatures?
Great question. I will ask and get back to you.
some very reputable psychologists were saying the same thing in 2017 - comparing his fluency with, say, that on TV in the 1980s. He used to be able to form complete sentences, and finish the same sentence he started. Not to mention his violent fantasies and his skipping about... Very scary since nobody with power to do anything about it dares to do it.
Dave Delgado quote: "It will only get worse from here". Got that right.
Putting aside for now the "Reflecting Pool " will no longer reflect anything, the Cuban government has declared it is preparing for a potential U.S. attack, with the President Miguel Díaz-Canel stating that while they do not want conflict, they are ready to defend against military intervention.
Sources: Axios & "CBS5".
Dave, good letter. I hope it gets the attention of the Trumplandia crew that has the attention of a small child. They have never had to have more because they are privileged and were able to steal what they didn't earn.
Anyone who has lived even for a short time with someone living with dementia knows and has known for at least 7 or 8 years that Donald Trump was failing mentally and more recently physically, but needed to use him long enough to destroy our government for the benefit of the already far far too rich. We let those rich fools buy our Supreme Court (through the Federalist Society), our congress (through the purchased Supreme Court's outrageous Citizens United decision), and state legislatures (a bit easier because the white folks they targeted are often low information voters who consume FauxFox and nuts like Rush Limbaugh). It is going to have to be the rest of us who finally say together "ENOUGH!" Together we are going to have to decide what must be done, then do it, keeping peaceful action at the center.
Thank you, HCR. How can we write to members of SCOTUS? I feel like there’s no way to directly address them. 😡
Connect with an attorney(s) who is drafting a "Friend of the Court" (amicus) brief in a subject matter related case.
Regardless, run anything you plan to seriously execute by NEAL KATYAL who has argued more than 50 cases at SCOTUS.
Neal's 51st argument was the best appellate advocacy I have ever witnessed.
Thank you for sharing this! I appreciate it.
And I am happy to write to them all. Would or will it do any good? Will a staffer even read the letter? Hahaha
I know this is more than a serious matter. In his first term I wrote to all 100 senators. And do you know how many responses I got back? NONE.
Per CNN Live minutes ago the April inflation rate is 3.8% and we're headed for 4% by early Summer.
You peon, expecting a response! Hahahaha. Senators don’t even acknowledge their own voters.
The only thing we know for sure Penny, is if we do not write and call we will definitely not change a thing.
There isn't an ounce of courage in any of those people. They are incapable and unwilling to do their jobs. Incompetent cowards and even worse people. Don't even waste your time. Ground swell support for competent, smart, compassionate progressives who, at this point, need to stop bickering amongst themselves to get the job done!
For instance ...Heard a little bit from Texas democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa on Jen Psaki's MSNNow segment. Refreshing and a generational change. That Obama endorses her and James Talarico is all I need to know that the people of Texas have an opportunity to put normal, compassionate, bright young people into the governor's office and U.S. senate. Maybe we won't have to take a saw to the state to separate it from the union!! We'll save that for a bunch of southern states.🤣
"Former President Barack Obama appeared alongside U.S. Senate candidate James Talarico and gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa on Tuesday in Austin as part of an attempt to boost a new crop of Democratic candidates ahead of this year's midterms."
Don't hold your breath. If the even pay you the courtesy of a reply, it will be a fawning defence of trump's wonderfullness.
Unfortunately, the repubs have no courage or spine. Nothing but sycophants.
commenting on this to raise it up in the comments. Thanks for this observative highlight, Dave.
Why anyone is surprised that the grifting and corruption are only expanding is beyond me
Melania was selling trashy $245 necklaces for Mother's Day.
This family is really beyond description.
The more they get away with, the worse they get.
... and why do they get away with all of it?
Big Time Corruption. It's been building for more than half a century. Remember when Nixon was an embarrassment to the GOP. Joe McCarthy? That was just the warm-up. Follow the money.
Right. Where are the class actions? Not even one yet. I’ll bet that in a week, at least 10 such suits will be filed.
Probably, they are too embarrassed to admit they have been duped so most will just let it go. I still expect a few class actions, but the embarrassment and fear that the old decrepit orange sloth might take some action against them will probably keep most people out of court, and the grifters will keep almost all of the money. Class actions usually get settled on terms where the participants receive minimal consideration while the lawyers walk away with a third or more of the proceeds.
Yes, the Trump family is beyond redemption, and so are every last one of the 77 million louts who voted for Trump.
How many did she sell????? And to whom? Maybe Jeff Bezos bought the entire load...
Apparently Jeff Bezos and his trophy wife are selling their new yacht because they catch so much heckling every where they take it.
I wonder if they'll sell it on Amazon....
Quite possible Betsy but unfortunately, for Bezos spending that money on garbage, it's like for us tipping for a coffee, nothing.
The entire Trump klan is white trash Miselle.
If you Google "Trump products on Amazon" you will get hundreds of Trump products mostly made in some 3rd world country and almost all of them are idols to Trump.
I wouldn't be surprised if someone sells this stuff in the white nationalist churches and the so-called ministers push this junk from the pulpit.
I no longer google anything on Amazon. I am not supporting the midlife crisis that Bezos is having or the plastic b!/ch who has signed on for the ride.
But probably not delivering them. Fraud runs in family.
Like the golden phones JBR?
Exactly. Like 3 card monte players
Glad I missed that. Why is this even a thing? Maybe she could find something useful to help with?
that wasnt a good image.
We are no longer willing to permit a pedophile, rapist, and traitor to coat our hands with his crimes: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/cole-tomas-allen-manifesto-whcd
I’m wondering how ‘surprised’ the MAGAts are who paid $100 up front for their Orange Emperor Phone and got nothing.
Also wondering what excuse they’ll come up with to “talk it straight” again for themselves…
This is one of those stories that shows how stupid MAGAts are. I love that they lost $100. I wonder how many of them also lost SNAP, Medicaid, or their farm too. Do you think any of them have figured it out yet?
It is gobsmacking how stupid and blinkered people are when they refuse to be educated, to be critical thinker, to question authority.
Of course they have figured it out! It's all Biden's fault. Or Obama's. Or Hillary's!
All of the above, Dutch. I'm watching my former work cohort dance the "what about when Obama/Biden did it?" thinking that there is any comparison whatsoever.
They certainly won’t blame Trump.
I don't know what definition applies better to dem Duch, totally stupid or masochist. Or both maybe?
Both. Absolutely both. It has to be both.
They'll tell purchasers they were idiots.
There is no end to the twisted justifications that MAGATs can come up with to excuse the times they get royally screwed by Trump. These are really stupid people.
Yes, no surprise re corruption and grifting. What I don't understand is why UN not front and center regarding Iranian control of Strait of Hormuz??? If international law prevents obstruction of ship traffic in strait, obviously law not being enforced. And who responsible for enforcing it? If one-fifth of world oil passing through, how can one country be allowed to interfere? UN should be the venue for all concerned and/or involved in current conflict to come together, discuss, and end it once and for all.The blocking of Strait of Hormuz affecting many, not only U.S. and Iran. Diplomacy, not armed conflict, required big time!
I believe they aren’t involving themselves yet due to Trump. He has ruined our relationships and ultimately maybe they are holding out involvement until absolutely necessary?
There is a direct correlation between U.S. debt growth and corporate profits. Since Reagan, the GOP has been the party of "borrow and spend". As Trump borrowed money from "suckers" to build and bankrupt casinos, Trump, the President, has twice inherited growing economies and has delivered huge tax cuts to the wealthy and corporations. For corporate profits, this is a virtuous circle. Lower taxes on profits simultaneously increase the debt, which further inflates profits. (See John Hussman, PhD.) This GOP's abuse of the public purse begs for steeply graduated income taxes on corporations.
Me too Linda.
And lord only knows what he/they will continue to come up with
Thank you so much for your work, HCR. You are a treasure, I am grateful. I wonder if you might consider diving into what the administration is doing about public lands? Your voice brings so many issues to light for so many Americans, and I fear the damage to public lands is one that most don't see. Just a thought. Thank you again for your work and your voice in this critical time, and for blazing the trail for independent media. Goody bless you, girl!
Thank you for bringing up the issue of public lands, Roxanne. HCR is indeed a national treasure and these articles she writes are so informative, clarifying, meaningful, enlightening, even depressing and worrisome at times. But lost in the maelstrom of the Trump radioactivity and steamroller 'governance', the firehose of toxicity and effluent discharge of tirades, tariff threats and tough talk, wars, cruelty, off the charts corruption...
Lost in all this chaos, we haven't had time to notice some of the really awful things happening to Our federal lands...
Quietly, almost in the dead of night, in April 2026, the U.S. Forest Service itself has undergone a major reorganization, another dismantling of a federal agency without any input from Congress or the public. It includes moving the headquarters entirely from Washington D.C. to Salt Lake City, closing all nine regional offices, replacing them with 15 state-based offices, and shuttering USFS research stations. Approximately 57 of 77 research stations and experimental forests are being closed, with research efforts consolidated in Fort Collins. The changes are expected to affect up to 5,000 employees, with concerns that many experienced staff may resign rather than relocate, similar to the 2019 Bureau of Land Management relocation. This will be beneficial to lumber lobbyists, and horrible for forest science and the forests themselves.
Also just this May 2026, the Trump administration has finalized plans to open the 1.56-million-acre coastal plain of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) to oil and gas drilling, reversing a Biden-era suspension.
And in early May 2026, the Trump administration revoked grazing permits for bison on federal lands in Montana, effectively moving to evict hundreds of animals from their habitat. The decision primarily targets American Prairie, a conservation nonprofit that has managed a herd of approximately 950 bison on public lands for over 20 years. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) revoked permits for seven allotments in Phillips County, Montana, covering roughly 63,500 acres. The administration plans to replace the bison with cattle, siding with local ranchers and Republican leaders who argue the land should be used for livestock production.
That's just what I've noticed and have been infuriated even further by this regime's continual attacks and disastrous upending of Our Nation...
The American Prairie has sued. Hopefully, they can continue to grow and allow Bison to graze on their land.
Living in Oregon, I am watching with horror what is being done to our National Forests. Clear cuts and monoculture are coming.
Yes, me too, Ally. I've been watching in horror at the devastation and mismanagement of our National Forests since the Reagan years. I'm still traumatized and distraught by all those clearcuts and such disregard for the environment as the accelerated industrial logging that I saw and witnessed in Humboldt, & throughout northern California and the Pacific Northwest. This desecration of Our forests and federal lands must not be allowed to happen again...
Thank you for your details here, horhai. Of which, apart from you, I'd known nothing.
Seconded. Heather is a national treasure. I wrote a song for her, inspired by her wisdom and bravery: https://democracydefender2025.substack.com/p/heather-cox-richardson-song-letters
Amen.
Roxanne, thank you again and again for your calls. Today in Palm Beach, Florida, Epstein survivors are speaking at a hearing that is being held only by Democrats. Earth is also trying to survive the Epstein-like devastation by current rapacious Republicans.
HCR might start by detailing how Teddy Roosevelt became the "Conservation President." He shepherded several hundred million acres into public lands on behalf of the American people, whom he chose to serve instead of himself.
Yeah but i heard a guy at the gas pump today say “ this truck used to hold $75 worth of gas but now it holds $150! Don’t know how he does it, but im sure votin’ for him a fourth time!!!”
I'd like to think this is a joke, but given the MAGAt mind, you can't be sure.
🤣
that is a hoot!
bruv. maybe its not the politics but the educational institutes that are broken.
Great illustration of the intellectual prowess of a Trumper.
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Trump is a criminal that is trashing the country. He is trashing the constitution, the economy, and the people.
He should have been arrested and held accountable on the day of January 6, 2021!
As it is, Justice must be brought to bear. Better late than ever. We the people must be the bottom line, to ensure a person like Trump can never again do what’s been done in the last 10 years.
Let’s hope for better days, where truth and justice, freedom and democracy, peace and prosperity prevail, with healthcare, housing, good food and education for all!
May the future of the USA and the world be grounded in human rights and respect for and harmony with all life! For future generations!
Let’s make it so!
He can’t be arrested in the US, but he could be indicted for war crimes in The Hague, in which case all ICC signatories (that is, all civilized nations) would be required to arrest him if they found him within their boundaries. That would severely constrain his travel options.
What we must have is our own Nuremberg, complete with firing squads and gallows at the end -- which will happen only with V-E-Day-type Liberation from without.
And a passport with hus image qont help....😄
From your lips, Robert, to the ears of the Power of the Universe (including any parallel ones)….agree, make it so! [I want to see him, his family/friends/toadies stripped of any ill-gotten gain that would then be placed in the US Treasury.]
Agree!
I see you're a newish subscriber. WELCOME!!👋🏼
THANK YOU for helping grow this community! Our numbers alone are scaring the RIGHT.
Gas tax is .18c. Whoop-de-fuckin-doo.
That’s right, it will be meaningless in a day or so. And people said they voted for him because of the cost of eggs 🤷♂️
Trump's telephonic tantrums are but colonic relief, scarcely more than Donnie the Destroyer's daily dung of tongue compared to the criminal Regime's thus far 100-percent-successful war against women, millions of whom are so poisoned by patriarchy with Aryan Chrstian male-supremacist self-hatred, they are suicidally rushing to submit: https://jessica.substack.com/p/new-govt-website-will-help-collect?publication_id=11153&post_id=197231390&isFreemail=false&r=cb67r&triedRedirect=true As always, in Moron Nation, the Moronic Majority rules.
Believed or not Dick, I personally know a few of them. They are very quiet lately though. 🫣
I wish... mine are doubling down on whatever garbage they are consuming from their "information" sources.
It isn't like to help struggling families much, but it has been claimed that it will cost half a billion smackers a day. Half a billion here, half a billion three... all tallied on the People's tab.
Will that be cash, check or card then... ??
Our social security checks?? :|
⬆️👏🏼👏🏼
Resource below to easily contact all of Congress - Be LOUD. Trump is an embarrassment and dangerous for our country 💔🤍💙
Use/share this spreadsheet (bit.ly/Goodtrouble) to contact members of Congress, the Cabinet and news organizations. Call. Write. Email. Protest. Unrelentingly.
Reach out (beyond your own) to as many in the Senate and House as you can. All of this is bigger than “I only represent my constituents” issues.
Comments/reactions help keep this bumped ✊
Thank you, Megan. If the resistance has a backbone, you are the spinal cord.
Declaring that "We have the right to rip you off" does not make it legally binding, especially when the conditions are inserted years AFTER the purchase was made. Every one of them who sues Trump will win.
And wouldn’t it be great if a bunch of them do sue, a class action? I hope there is an enterprising personal injury lawyer out there who is scouting for a few good class representatives.
If $COTUS didn't invalidate it.
As the Robbers' Court is already invalidating elections, thereby perpetuating Plutocracy and its ChristoNazi lynch mobs. https://apnews.com/article/alabama-redistricting-supreme-court-congress-ba371351585b79c2965f9efb0332f33d?user_email=e72e7137fe6cf09f434b4234223ed439a7bda75191bf5fbb046317f8fa97fb36
Just like they filed against the crooked Trump University…maybe they’d win too! Tho’ the Trump Univ suits involved plaintiffs who lost much much more than $100. Maybe trump is good at this lawsuit stuff, just like he is at filing for bankruptcy.
As a contract case, they would be limited to $100 plus interest. But as a fraud case, there would be no such limitation on the damages for bad faith.
If it wasn't for bad faith, Trump wouldn't have no faith at all.
Doom, despair, and agony on us.
May The Force be with us.
As long as the suit was against his kids, I don’t see how it would get there. There’s no federal question or constitutional issue. Just a bread and butter civil fraud matter to be decided under state law. Well, I guess if the plaintiffs were from many states, that would maybe give the federal courts jurisdiction, unless they bring it under the law of the state where the phones were sold…… I will defer to knowledge of a personal injury lawyer if there is one on this community.
Fraud perpetrated by family. He was part of marketing.
If Trump succeeds in getting permission to use T-Mobile’s network, I will cancel my account with them and move my phone and phone number to some other provider. I predict I am not the only one who would do that. Does anyone know how we let T-Mobile know that will happen?
Barbara, I don't know if you have ever heard of Christopher Elliott but he is the CEO of a company that reveals all of the companies here and their CEOs names and addresses. I looked up T-Mobile for you on his site. It's quite informative. https://www.elliott.org/company-contacts/t-mobile/
I will check that out.
Thanks.
There's also Cut Off the Spigot, which offers recommendations for alternate carriers that aren't Trump-aligned.
Here is an article from Cut Off The Spigot (which I had never heard of) about cell phone plans:
https://cutoffthespigot.substack.com/p/cellphone-carrier-alternatives-so
What truly baffles me is that the maga crowd "bought the phone" based upon the hype, lies, and promises of glory/retribution...ended up with two tin cans and a piece of string, which seems only useful to attract lighting strikes, and yet they still support the con man. And they blame someone other than the con man (Biden, et.al.)for the burn marks on their ears. The old adage that "you can't fix stupid" seems proven.
Yup. I was a wee bit cruder in thinking they’d say “let me bend over and take another serving sir”.
"Thank you Sir, may I have another?"
He must have a band of nutcases doing all those AI memes and posts...he's not clever enough to do them himself...
My thoughts exactly as well, Laura. Kinda gives me the creeps thinking of these folks hunched over their phones making Gollum-like sounds while creating them….***shiver***
That sounds like an accurate description of Stephen Miller.
Horhai, I read an interesting piece about him a while back…he appears to have some qualities as a “supervisor”, co-worker, facilitator than gains him praise, appreciation & support w/in the Admin. Weird, I know (I was surprised!), but I guess even racist assholes can have some decent qualities, even if their whole overall “persona” is anathema to me—who knew? 🤷🏻♀️[wish I’d saved the piece & can’t recall who published it, or I’d link it]
Yes, I’ve been wondering about that too, Laura.
He has a quite large official staff. Beyond that each of his closest advisors have staffs. I speculate that he gets a daily menu to pull from when he’s so inclined. Y’know, “gripes of the day”.
Yes, he surely has assistance with all his AI swill and rant posts, and an entire regime that is made up of nutcases...
Not nearly.
The worse it gets, the better it gets. Good bye Republican Senate, goodbye Republican House, impeachment will get us started in 2027, the Supreme Court better make room for more of those high back chairs, and a whole lot of people with the word "Trump" on their resumes gonna be unemployed, awaiting trial.
From your mouth to God‘s ears
And don't forget to vote the Nazis out of your State and local gov's, too!! At least here in The Most Corrupt State of Ohio, they are every bit as guilty, and culpable!
Somewhat off topic. A Chinese American was charged by DoJ for acting as a foreign agent for China. She pled guilty and is facing 10 years in prison for posting articles directly by China. Meanwhile, the orange felon takes instructions from Putin and Netanyahu and is still a free man.
JD and the rest are feeding him b.s. for dinner so the orange addle-brained sick man will tweet all night to distract his minions from the destruction of our Constitution that they are doing.. I can't believe anyone with even a middle school education would still follow that poor demented embarrassment.
He asks for bullshit for dinner, nobody has to force him.
Not for the first, nor the last time to be said, we are all indebted to Heather for being one of the few historian-journalists who actually quote his deranged posts. Most of our media don't dare. It lends the appearance that the man actually has "policies" and "positions" rather than bizarre, psychiatric perversions. They smear lipstick all over the pig, and the GOP claims it can actually sings Puccini while playing five-dimensional chess....
We are here, in part, because too many who know better keep refusing to speak truth.
Caught in the mental-malware whirlpool of the cult.
“the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) mixed martial arts event he plans to host in front of the White House on his 80th birthday”
What a total redneck trailer trash performance.
Compare that to the kind of events hosted by the Obama‘s at The White House and you understand that Trump is not only an immature man-baby but also lives in a world where preferred entertainment is the least sophisticated kind imaginable
Another to add to the list of Democratic leadership failure: Asked about if he would vote to approve future arms sales to Israel, Senator Cory Booker replies: "We have a long-standing commitment to Israel having a qualitative military edge. I will continue to support that."
Source: Cory Booker Israel Quote
We continue to support Netanyahu’s genocidal destruction and Israel continues to give its citizens universal healthcare, effectively on our dime.
More proof, the Democratic Party is hopelessly wedded to the past. For America to move forward, we need a cultural transformation that throws out the leadership of both political parties.
FYI and FWIW from the dreaded ChatGPT about Bookers contributions:
https://chatgpt.com/s/t_6a032a65344c81919954557ae06afd60
OH!
Very disappointed in Booker but not surprised. Why? Because he accepts a good chunk of AIPAC money, unfortunately.
Booker must tread carefully to avoid offending his AIPAC donors. We have and continue to send billions in aid every year to support "the only democracy in the Middle East". It's time to reassess a lot of things.