As a European, of course I worry about what effect trump's regime is going to have on the rest of the world.
But my overwhelming emotion is deep sorrow. I still can't believe, let alone understand, how Americans have allowed this to happen - how a country with such great capacity for love and goodness can have voluntarily chosen to go dow…
As a European, of course I worry about what effect trump's regime is going to have on the rest of the world.
But my overwhelming emotion is deep sorrow. I still can't believe, let alone understand, how Americans have allowed this to happen - how a country with such great capacity for love and goodness can have voluntarily chosen to go down such a dark and stupid path. This is America on Oxycontin. It has taken what it sees as an "easy" solution to pain - and is now entrapped in the coils of addiction to hatred.
Your words resonate deeply with us who share your sorrow and fear. It is heartbreaking to see the very institutions meant to safeguard freedom and equality threatened by the forces of hatred, fear, and self-interest.
America is indeed at a dangerous crossroads, and we see the weight of this moment not only for ourselves but for the entire world. Trump’s regime is not merely a domestic crisis; it is a global one. His agenda affects alliances, threatens international stability, and undermines the shared values that bind us as allies. And yet, there are still those here who believe in the American spirit—a spirit capable of reflection and redemption, of overcoming even its darkest chapters.
We know that many of our European friends, like you, watch with hope and worry, and we are grateful for that support. Your concern strengthens our resolve to resist this path and reclaim the ideals that, while tarnished, are not beyond recovery. We remain committed to that fight, knowing that the consequences of inaction extend far beyond our own borders.
Thank you for standing with us in this difficult time. Your empathy, as much as your sorrow, reminds us that we do not face this struggle alone.
Those of us north of the US northern border are also concerned...heck.... feeling stomach sick and depressed. My daughter-in-law has stopped reading the news for her mental health. I still plow through because I believe being informed is forewarned. The Canadian government has been preparing for an influx of people fleeing the U.S. - extra resources at border crossings - personnel, vehicles, busses. When I got to the "busses" part of the news I had to stop. Every day, every newscast, more reasons to expect journalists, government employees, members of the military to be added to the list in my head of those who will seek amnesty because they and their families are no longer safe in America. Sixty years ago it was young men who objected to the war in Vietnam. They were welcomed and sheltered. Most f them eventually returned. In the past couple of years Canada has welcomed families from Syria, Afghanistan,Ukraine and Gaza. Now it will be Americans seeking protection from their own government. I try to take it one day at a time. More than that is overwhelming.
Thank you for enlightening us to what is going on at the Canadian border. Thank you for providing sanctuary for those young men who were following their conscience to not invade a foreign country’s civil war and to kill its citizens. I look back at my fellow young men many of whom showed courage by sacrificing their citizenship and risking that will ever seeing their loved ones again. I did not have to make that choice thanks to a draft lottery which made a farce of “duty “ to country. I wonder how many now looking for sanctuary voted for “ leadership “ whose main appeal is to close our border and to expel “ the vermin “ within.
Might be time for a reread of "Collapse, How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" by Jared Diamond. Humanity has been down this road repeatedly before. Unfortunately, not with a looming climate crisis and nuclear weapons. Seems a pivotal time in history.
Propaganda tapped in to our undercurrent of disdain for women, blacks and “others.” The tea party monsters brought them out from under their rocks, and pumped them up. They need to be deflated, permanently, if the promise of America has a chance. Now the hot air is ascending.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but throwing a bunch of soapboxes in the path of a tank operated by a madman is not going to slow it down or change its course. The only thing that will stop a tank is another tank, and we don't own one.
Exactly. And, let's see how the DOD "generals" like taking orders from some gotttdammmned Major. You have no idea how "majors" are despised by higher ranking officers and enlisted personnel when they get out of line. This boy better bring his lunch.
Like pressuring elected officials—even your R ones—who want to remain in office after tfg goes, scrutinizing everything they do, like allowing tfg to break the law; writing and calling a lot. There were times in tfg’s 1st admin he backed down.
I’m not saying it will be easy, but I ask myself what leverage do I, especially collectively with others have and how can I use it? Remember the line guy who stood in front of a tank in Tianamen Square? Either that or I roll over and say “whatever you wish, sir.” Not my style.
Fox News and other right wing propaganda succeeded in brainwashing half the population. Everyone I know who supports Trump watch Fox. They believe the Biden’s economy is terrible, immigrants are all criminals, their children or grandchildren will change their sex, climate change is a hoax, or at least overblown. My husband and I were just in Sequoia Nat’l Park and the wild fires from the past few years destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of virgin forests. It’s heartbreaking to see. Who cares that the popular vote was close, the electoral college was not and Trump won both. Trump swept the Senate and soon the House. Who ever leads the Senate will follow Trump’s orders. There are no guardrails and our country will be fundamentally different, with a few uber wealthy winners and the rest of us, and NATO and other democratic countries around the world, will be the losers. As Musk wrote on X, we’re entering a “New World Order”.
No argument here, the inmates have taken over the asylum. You know them well. As do I in Texas. I’m too old to see the end of this, but I have grand girls that will suffer along with other young women. You are right, Fox as led other media down the Fox hole. He needs to die, but he has another son who is a chip off the evil block. Wonder how that court case in Nevada played out. Would love for evil to lose for a change…
He will leave office, probably before his term is out. His health is declining, and his mental health is declining faster. Even if he survives to and through another sham "election," he is not long for this world.
Suspend sentencing with the proviso that he perform four years of community service, like wearing the orange vest and picking up litter on our nation's highways.
Transition of power has not taken place formally. You can believe, those who are using Trump to gain power and position have considered the many ways their hard earned positions may be taken away. They have prepared.
We have been beyond "blind".
How we could have allowed a thug and his minions to take over our country is shameful.
There is no comparison to the person, to the greatness and goodness and wisdom of Kamala Harris to these thugs.
We have made ourselves "losers" in every way. We have allowed this to happen year by year. We the people have no one else to blame.
How will the law and order part of even the GOP not welcome such a sentence? Even one of a year at Rikers might give us time to recover some remaining dignity for our country. He is a felon. AND the years prior conviction for the documents issue for others is really a slam dunk. He took them, he lied about what he had, he refused to return them. They were classified.
I totally agree. Live in the Deep South and know many MAGA who are so misinformed that I am usually speechless. The campaign of disinformation from MAGA and Christian nationalist and foreign countries and turned many good people into fearful people I no longer understand. I actually think out only hope is for djt policies to be so abhorrent, hurt the economy so bad that these people wake up. When their daughters and granddaughters die from pregnancy complications, they can’t get birth control, lettuce is 12dollars a head…the list goes on. Already I know of fractured families where the grands voted for the stupid one and the lesbian granddaughters for Harris. The grands feel totally betrayed by the grandparents. Horrible family fractures.
One of mine is, now. I hung in there with him -- not wanting him to be without any "sane" family connections -- after everyone else withdrew. However, it is, sadly, time for me to withdraw now, too. (I've been patient for 49 years, always hoping against hope that he would change. Instead, the views that he espoused which were once "fringe" have now become the law of the land. So it's now time for me to take my leave...)
Cults require more energy than I have right now. I look askance at my neighbors. Trusting is hard when values that we all accepted have been turned upside down. Save yourself first. Heard that somewhere…
But in your para above that you well wonder "how a country with such great capacity for love and goodness can have voluntarily chosen to go down such a dark and stupid path."
The answer’s very simple, and has to do with how the very rich have grown wealth fantastically, dumping on working people to do that.
Elites in Washington, D.C., and in the legislatures, with their tens of thousands of lobbyists sucking to the corporations, have fixed the tax codes only to grow their wealth gap, and further to dump on the working poor.
Worse, and by equal design, U.S. schools long ago rid themselves of all novels, memoirs, or histories that bear on any of this. All instead keep relentlessly testing only such abstracted groupings and neutered diction that no one can use any humanities, no one can even begin to see any “others” as individuals, in any contexts.
Just the clown show we now have, albeit, as you also conclude, "So, so sad."
We all seem to know how we got here. But no one seems to know how to get out.... Long years of suffering and even perhaps gone the dream of America. Throughout history most strong Democracies lasted 200 years. Guess what?
I keep arguing, July, for essaying programs to see "others" as individuals.
Outside of groups, all the stereotyping systems that rule.
Most educators aren't interested. K-12 personnel have given the schools over to the billionaire standardized testers, and remain fine with their captivity to that.
In "higher" ed, all seem fine with everyone's mutual isolation in group identity silos, where no one has access to any humanities which could allow apt human and natural connections.
I feel the same. Also European here with strong ties to the US. I am still reeling from the whole thing, campaign and election. I never thought that I would witness such filth and utter stupidity gain so much popularity. The indecency of that atrocious 🤡 show was real. So sad and worrisome that a slight majority of US voters fell for it. I resonate strongly with your words 'entrapped in the coils of addiction to hatred'. Hatred fueled into uncontrollable flames by the algorithms of social media that thrives on engagement. Apparently enragement is the best way to keep a lot of people engaged. Sad indeed.
When early reporting showed both Florida’s reproductive freedom measure going down to defeat but getting 57% of the vote and Trump winning by close to that margin it meant that about 15% of Florida voters thought they could have both Trump and choice, which are mutually exclusive.
That is the mentality of the wealthy and powerful in America. They keep selling out the country as a whole to increase their hegemony on wealth and power, and allowing a fascist to run on lies, distortion and anti-Constitutional prerogatives was a price they were willing to pay, but even they are taking a risk.
Harris made strategic mistakes and certainly did the bidding of powerful special interests as she climbed the political ladder (I loathe how political district attorney offices are and that that they are considered a launching pad).
That said, you can’t seriously believe she is responsible for wealth inequality being at its pinnacle, media being controlled by corporations or individual billionaires, the stacking of the supreme court, the implementation of Citizen’s United, nor a roll call to long to list. All of which have distorted perception from reality.
The strategic mistake falls on Biden who could have given us a decent primary period if there was weakness in the possibility of Harris. Pride and all that of Biden and strict monetary adherence to total support for Israel also. I don't know how anyone can't see the parallels of land grabbing of both Putin and Netanyhu as equally abhorrent and vicious.
Blame Biden for delaying Trump’s 2nd term by 4 years because no other 2020 Democratic primary candidate was beating Trump. The blame targeting one individual betrays myopic thinking.
You are spot on that Netanyahu’s land grab has been hypocritically ignored by a Democratic Administration but when has it not by the US government? I don’t think that’s getting better under Trump and Huckabee, the latter who pangs for The Rapture. Sorry, I admire Chris Van Hollen but he’s not going to be the Democratic nominee in 2028.
Paul, here you have touched on a factor that I've been railing upon for years, which has sometimes gotten me falsely labelled, but I'll review:
The U.S. is not and never has been a "Christian nation," as evangelicals falsely claim. However, Christians have maintained an undue influence on domestic and foreign policy.
Of primary importance is U.S. policy regarding Israel, which has been dictated by evangelicals who believe the declarations in Hebrew scriptures (aka Old Testament) that nations who bestow favor on Israel will be favored by God. (Pay no attention to the fact that this promise was repeated by ancient Jewish writers who stood to benefit from this policy.) Consequently, the U.S. has carried Israel in its side pocket like a lucky rabbit's foot and looked the other way when Israel's leaders have stolen neighboring land and committed atrocities, all in the interest of maintaining God's favor.
I was fortunate to grow up in a small city with a prominent Jewish population. Our public schools were some of the best in the nation. There was strong support for civil rights and civil liberties. I credit that multiculturalism for the person I am today and maintain relationships with many of my old friends.
A lifelong friend, who is Jewish, joined me rather late in life for a trip to Selma to honor those who defended civil rights on Bloody Sunday. We rode bikes from Selma to Montgomery in commemoration.
The Jewish vote has been a linchpin of both progressive and Democratic politics. It was again in 2024. Their contributions to academia, business and entertainment have been tremendous.
Israel itself has increasingly become more militarized and openly anti-democratic. Politicians and interest groups have politicized our relationship with Israel to the point that any criticism is called anti-Semitism. An authoritarian leader has entrenched himself in power and has formed coalitions with far-right segments of the population to retain power. When small segments of a population realize they have undue influence they make demands instead of compromise.
The opposition to the rise of the far-right has historically been strong. Alas, legitimate security concerns are leading to a tacit acceptance of a movement to take land and neither create equal rights nor a two-state solution.
Relationships at home and abroad are being strained; hopefully, we can overcome the forces working to drive us apart.
I hope Europeans are watching and preparing to confront it's own rise in fascism. I hope this is a global lesson and that forces in your country are mobilizing to preempt movements that already exist.
Russia now has an avenue to continue its warpath into NATO countries.
We (those of us that are not insane and stupid) are on the same page as you. I can't think clearly right now or even hope to figure out what to DO now. I have so much respect for people like HCR and Joyce Vance, who have been able to organize their thoughts to help us navigate this absolute nightmare. I hope by next week my brain will start working again and I live in WA, where we just elected Democrats across the board to run our state. Today I don't think that's going to matter at all once this all gets going. I, too, am living in deep sorrow.
Trump ism is the OxyContin for those who choose fantasy & a "quick fix" over the discipline & the long term commitment for our imperfect democracy. Love your analogy & will use it. May the US kick the habit & go to rehab!
Well done, dear Lady. Our public schools began failing US after WWII; the Koch brothers went after our public universities; trickle down economics (Reagan) killed our middle class, so now we are a failing kleptocracy being finished off by a failing kleptocrat (Putin/ Trump assisted by another racist (Musk). At 90 I have watched it all. Today thinking of how to protect my Democratic state.
I'll tell you what happened – we did not have a political campaign, we had a disinformation campaign. For at least a decade or more right wing media has fed a diet of alarmist lies to enough people that they believe Trump is a viable president. It's shocking and very distressing.
Ma'am, trust me, one does not have to be a European to feel the grief you do. Now the spectacle is not only a nightmare, but also a "Who's Who" freak show. About the latter, I would chuckle, quietly and darkly, were another people facing this ordeal. It comes down to what my father said to his friend and business rival in Sydney in 1967; in effect, that he loved life in Australia because "Australia has everything America does without the burden of arrogance."
I've just been reading "The Red Haired Girl from the Bog," and the United States embraced the same economic principles that, in Britain, caused the great Irish Famine. Yes, there was the potato blight, but the question is, how did the Irish become dependent on potatoes in the first place? The answer is a form of capitalism, imposed on them by the British. We're living under that same benighted economic system, calling it both "good" and "necessary" (it most certainly is neither) and as it winds to its inevitable conclusion of wealthy minorities lording over the starving poor, we see a lot of unrest in the American public. Like an alcoholic who thinks a morning shot of vodka is a "pep-up" for the day, the US thinks a paycheck from those who grow rich by skimming from that paycheck is a viable economic system. It is not, and is moving quickly toward its apex of dysfunction. The closer it gets, the more strictly (and irrationally) it must be enforced.
(As a side-note, I think the current passion for massive wealth-building is an attempt by the rich to climb to the highest point on the sinking Titanic of the US economy, which accelerates the underlying problem. Biden never had the mandate to address this. Instead, he put inflatable rafts under the sinking end, which didn't address the problem at all.)
The second is US religion. The dominant religion in the US is Evangelicalism, which is organized in autonomous "cells" of between 10 and 500 people. The Evangelical Movement was an early 1900's rebranding of the Fundamentalist movement of the 1800's (which came from the Second Great Awakening in the early 1800's). As a form of Protestantism, it expects adherents to "read the Bible," but very few people have any idea how to read translations of ancient texts, especially involving nomadic pastoral tribes from 5000 years ago. What this means in practice is that the heads of these communities ("ministers") as well as itinerant "evangelists" can make up any damned thing they please and claim it is "The Word of God," making it binding upon the communities, with threat of community expulsion in the present, and the fires of Hell in the hereafter. All of the anti-women garbage flowing from the mouths of Republicans comes straight out of mindlessly (or malignantly) literal readings of the Bible, filtered through American misogyny.
Not all Americans agree with what happened, you know. Most of us who read and support Heather's Letters are shocked and sincerely voted for Kamala Harris.
As a European, of course I worry about what effect trump's regime is going to have on the rest of the world.
But my overwhelming emotion is deep sorrow. I still can't believe, let alone understand, how Americans have allowed this to happen - how a country with such great capacity for love and goodness can have voluntarily chosen to go down such a dark and stupid path. This is America on Oxycontin. It has taken what it sees as an "easy" solution to pain - and is now entrapped in the coils of addiction to hatred.
So, so sad. . .
Your words resonate deeply with us who share your sorrow and fear. It is heartbreaking to see the very institutions meant to safeguard freedom and equality threatened by the forces of hatred, fear, and self-interest.
America is indeed at a dangerous crossroads, and we see the weight of this moment not only for ourselves but for the entire world. Trump’s regime is not merely a domestic crisis; it is a global one. His agenda affects alliances, threatens international stability, and undermines the shared values that bind us as allies. And yet, there are still those here who believe in the American spirit—a spirit capable of reflection and redemption, of overcoming even its darkest chapters.
We know that many of our European friends, like you, watch with hope and worry, and we are grateful for that support. Your concern strengthens our resolve to resist this path and reclaim the ideals that, while tarnished, are not beyond recovery. We remain committed to that fight, knowing that the consequences of inaction extend far beyond our own borders.
Thank you for standing with us in this difficult time. Your empathy, as much as your sorrow, reminds us that we do not face this struggle alone.
Those of us north of the US northern border are also concerned...heck.... feeling stomach sick and depressed. My daughter-in-law has stopped reading the news for her mental health. I still plow through because I believe being informed is forewarned. The Canadian government has been preparing for an influx of people fleeing the U.S. - extra resources at border crossings - personnel, vehicles, busses. When I got to the "busses" part of the news I had to stop. Every day, every newscast, more reasons to expect journalists, government employees, members of the military to be added to the list in my head of those who will seek amnesty because they and their families are no longer safe in America. Sixty years ago it was young men who objected to the war in Vietnam. They were welcomed and sheltered. Most f them eventually returned. In the past couple of years Canada has welcomed families from Syria, Afghanistan,Ukraine and Gaza. Now it will be Americans seeking protection from their own government. I try to take it one day at a time. More than that is overwhelming.
Thank you for enlightening us to what is going on at the Canadian border. Thank you for providing sanctuary for those young men who were following their conscience to not invade a foreign country’s civil war and to kill its citizens. I look back at my fellow young men many of whom showed courage by sacrificing their citizenship and risking that will ever seeing their loved ones again. I did not have to make that choice thanks to a draft lottery which made a farce of “duty “ to country. I wonder how many now looking for sanctuary voted for “ leadership “ whose main appeal is to close our border and to expel “ the vermin “ within.
My husband and I vacationed in Banff last summer. It is breathtakingly beautiful and Canada is a wonderful country. Please save room for us..
I am retired and tried to obtain permanent residence in Vancouver but no go. I hope that changes as things get tougher.
Might be time for a reread of "Collapse, How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed" by Jared Diamond. Humanity has been down this road repeatedly before. Unfortunately, not with a looming climate crisis and nuclear weapons. Seems a pivotal time in history.
We have crossed the road.
Agree. We are not at a crossroad. That is in the rear view about a mile or two away and we’re going 100mph.
Propaganda tapped in to our undercurrent of disdain for women, blacks and “others.” The tea party monsters brought them out from under their rocks, and pumped them up. They need to be deflated, permanently, if the promise of America has a chance. Now the hot air is ascending.
We had that choice and the MAGAs chose
It’s important to remember THIS WAS NOT A LANDSLIDE. There are almost as many of us who did NOT choose Trump and will put obstacles in front of him.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but throwing a bunch of soapboxes in the path of a tank operated by a madman is not going to slow it down or change its course. The only thing that will stop a tank is another tank, and we don't own one.
Sounds like you've given up.
Exactly. And, let's see how the DOD "generals" like taking orders from some gotttdammmned Major. You have no idea how "majors" are despised by higher ranking officers and enlisted personnel when they get out of line. This boy better bring his lunch.
We have no power now. NONE.
How, exactly?
Like what?
Like pressuring elected officials—even your R ones—who want to remain in office after tfg goes, scrutinizing everything they do, like allowing tfg to break the law; writing and calling a lot. There were times in tfg’s 1st admin he backed down.
I’m not saying it will be easy, but I ask myself what leverage do I, especially collectively with others have and how can I use it? Remember the line guy who stood in front of a tank in Tianamen Square? Either that or I roll over and say “whatever you wish, sir.” Not my style.
The MAGAts had plenty of help from bullies, nazis, and lgb’s (lying, greedy bastards)
Fox News and other right wing propaganda succeeded in brainwashing half the population. Everyone I know who supports Trump watch Fox. They believe the Biden’s economy is terrible, immigrants are all criminals, their children or grandchildren will change their sex, climate change is a hoax, or at least overblown. My husband and I were just in Sequoia Nat’l Park and the wild fires from the past few years destroyed hundreds of thousands of acres of virgin forests. It’s heartbreaking to see. Who cares that the popular vote was close, the electoral college was not and Trump won both. Trump swept the Senate and soon the House. Who ever leads the Senate will follow Trump’s orders. There are no guardrails and our country will be fundamentally different, with a few uber wealthy winners and the rest of us, and NATO and other democratic countries around the world, will be the losers. As Musk wrote on X, we’re entering a “New World Order”.
Please don’t cede the House until the last vote is counted. Please send what you can to sustain the counts in PA and CA!
No argument here, the inmates have taken over the asylum. You know them well. As do I in Texas. I’m too old to see the end of this, but I have grand girls that will suffer along with other young women. You are right, Fox as led other media down the Fox hole. He needs to die, but he has another son who is a chip off the evil block. Wonder how that court case in Nevada played out. Would love for evil to lose for a change…
Trump didn't win — disinformation did. People didn’t vote for what they are about to get.
We can stop Trump. We need to pressure Judge Merchan to sentence him now. It needs to be a 5 year sentence without parole.
We can use the military (just as Trump plans to do) if there is a problem. It’s are only chance to stop our Hitler.
Merchan, Hon. Juan
Court Attorney: James Bergamo, Esq.
Courtroom: Part 59
Location: 100 Centre Street, Room 1602
Telephone: 646-386-4059
Fax: 212-295-4932
https://www.rawstory.com/raw-investigates/trump-disinfo/
Merchan is in an impossible position.
If he sentences trump to jail - trump won't go, and there will be civil unrest.
If he DOESN'T send trump to jail - 50% of the population will be screaming "Why not?!!" - and there will be civil unrest.
Merchan could be this country's Gavrilo Princip.
Lady
Sentence Trump, then suspend sentencing until he’s out of office
You truly think that he will EVER leave office again? Ha!
He will leave office, probably before his term is out. His health is declining, and his mental health is declining faster. Even if he survives to and through another sham "election," he is not long for this world.
Pitchfork motivation.
Suspend sentencing with the proviso that he perform four years of community service, like wearing the orange vest and picking up litter on our nation's highways.
Lady Emsworth -- I'm afraid that "jail" for Trump because of his status-position-whatever, would be confinement to Mar A Lago.
Marlo,
Transition of power has not taken place formally. You can believe, those who are using Trump to gain power and position have considered the many ways their hard earned positions may be taken away. They have prepared.
We have been beyond "blind".
How we could have allowed a thug and his minions to take over our country is shameful.
There is no comparison to the person, to the greatness and goodness and wisdom of Kamala Harris to these thugs.
We have made ourselves "losers" in every way. We have allowed this to happen year by year. We the people have no one else to blame.
We are the lobsters in tepid, then boiling water. And have been since 1980: I watched it happen, Bill Moyers tried to warn us.
How will the law and order part of even the GOP not welcome such a sentence? Even one of a year at Rikers might give us time to recover some remaining dignity for our country. He is a felon. AND the years prior conviction for the documents issue for others is really a slam dunk. He took them, he lied about what he had, he refused to return them. They were classified.
There is no longer a law and order part of “GOP”
Dead, dead, dead, it was a zombie to begin with.
Dream
I totally agree. Live in the Deep South and know many MAGA who are so misinformed that I am usually speechless. The campaign of disinformation from MAGA and Christian nationalist and foreign countries and turned many good people into fearful people I no longer understand. I actually think out only hope is for djt policies to be so abhorrent, hurt the economy so bad that these people wake up. When their daughters and granddaughters die from pregnancy complications, they can’t get birth control, lettuce is 12dollars a head…the list goes on. Already I know of fractured families where the grands voted for the stupid one and the lesbian granddaughters for Harris. The grands feel totally betrayed by the grandparents. Horrible family fractures.
Likely to worsen. My bros are lost to me.
One of mine is, now. I hung in there with him -- not wanting him to be without any "sane" family connections -- after everyone else withdrew. However, it is, sadly, time for me to withdraw now, too. (I've been patient for 49 years, always hoping against hope that he would change. Instead, the views that he espoused which were once "fringe" have now become the law of the land. So it's now time for me to take my leave...)
Cults require more energy than I have right now. I look askance at my neighbors. Trusting is hard when values that we all accepted have been turned upside down. Save yourself first. Heard that somewhere…
Good luck with the military. Things are DEFINITELY not looking good there.
Dreams gone by
Thank you Marlo. You and Heather are the slither of sun that may break through our Cape Cod sky today. I would not want to be judge Merchan.
But it’s a clarion call to continue to strengthen our democratic system vs a dangerous dumb would be tyrant.
Yes, Lady Emsworth, "so sad," as you say.
But in your para above that you well wonder "how a country with such great capacity for love and goodness can have voluntarily chosen to go down such a dark and stupid path."
The answer’s very simple, and has to do with how the very rich have grown wealth fantastically, dumping on working people to do that.
Elites in Washington, D.C., and in the legislatures, with their tens of thousands of lobbyists sucking to the corporations, have fixed the tax codes only to grow their wealth gap, and further to dump on the working poor.
Worse, and by equal design, U.S. schools long ago rid themselves of all novels, memoirs, or histories that bear on any of this. All instead keep relentlessly testing only such abstracted groupings and neutered diction that no one can use any humanities, no one can even begin to see any “others” as individuals, in any contexts.
Just the clown show we now have, albeit, as you also conclude, "So, so sad."
We all seem to know how we got here. But no one seems to know how to get out.... Long years of suffering and even perhaps gone the dream of America. Throughout history most strong Democracies lasted 200 years. Guess what?
I keep arguing, July, for essaying programs to see "others" as individuals.
Outside of groups, all the stereotyping systems that rule.
Most educators aren't interested. K-12 personnel have given the schools over to the billionaire standardized testers, and remain fine with their captivity to that.
In "higher" ed, all seem fine with everyone's mutual isolation in group identity silos, where no one has access to any humanities which could allow apt human and natural connections.
Phil, I wrote much the same. We are again “on the same page.” It’s a sad understanding. Covid was the perfect finisher to OxyContin.
https://youtu.be/Nyvxt1svxso?si=DyraDbt0J6bcjhVq
I feel the same. Also European here with strong ties to the US. I am still reeling from the whole thing, campaign and election. I never thought that I would witness such filth and utter stupidity gain so much popularity. The indecency of that atrocious 🤡 show was real. So sad and worrisome that a slight majority of US voters fell for it. I resonate strongly with your words 'entrapped in the coils of addiction to hatred'. Hatred fueled into uncontrollable flames by the algorithms of social media that thrives on engagement. Apparently enragement is the best way to keep a lot of people engaged. Sad indeed.
L l, It's greed over country of course.
That is dark, LL
Dark times.
And entertainment, wrestling style. How low can we go. Sickening
When early reporting showed both Florida’s reproductive freedom measure going down to defeat but getting 57% of the vote and Trump winning by close to that margin it meant that about 15% of Florida voters thought they could have both Trump and choice, which are mutually exclusive.
That is the mentality of the wealthy and powerful in America. They keep selling out the country as a whole to increase their hegemony on wealth and power, and allowing a fascist to run on lies, distortion and anti-Constitutional prerogatives was a price they were willing to pay, but even they are taking a risk.
Democracy and Trump are mutually exclusive.
Yes, they pumped billions into this victory, but it's also possible the Harris campaign lost the election on its own...
Harris made strategic mistakes and certainly did the bidding of powerful special interests as she climbed the political ladder (I loathe how political district attorney offices are and that that they are considered a launching pad).
That said, you can’t seriously believe she is responsible for wealth inequality being at its pinnacle, media being controlled by corporations or individual billionaires, the stacking of the supreme court, the implementation of Citizen’s United, nor a roll call to long to list. All of which have distorted perception from reality.
The strategic mistake falls on Biden who could have given us a decent primary period if there was weakness in the possibility of Harris. Pride and all that of Biden and strict monetary adherence to total support for Israel also. I don't know how anyone can't see the parallels of land grabbing of both Putin and Netanyhu as equally abhorrent and vicious.
Blame Biden for delaying Trump’s 2nd term by 4 years because no other 2020 Democratic primary candidate was beating Trump. The blame targeting one individual betrays myopic thinking.
You are spot on that Netanyahu’s land grab has been hypocritically ignored by a Democratic Administration but when has it not by the US government? I don’t think that’s getting better under Trump and Huckabee, the latter who pangs for The Rapture. Sorry, I admire Chris Van Hollen but he’s not going to be the Democratic nominee in 2028.
Paul, here you have touched on a factor that I've been railing upon for years, which has sometimes gotten me falsely labelled, but I'll review:
The U.S. is not and never has been a "Christian nation," as evangelicals falsely claim. However, Christians have maintained an undue influence on domestic and foreign policy.
Of primary importance is U.S. policy regarding Israel, which has been dictated by evangelicals who believe the declarations in Hebrew scriptures (aka Old Testament) that nations who bestow favor on Israel will be favored by God. (Pay no attention to the fact that this promise was repeated by ancient Jewish writers who stood to benefit from this policy.) Consequently, the U.S. has carried Israel in its side pocket like a lucky rabbit's foot and looked the other way when Israel's leaders have stolen neighboring land and committed atrocities, all in the interest of maintaining God's favor.
I was fortunate to grow up in a small city with a prominent Jewish population. Our public schools were some of the best in the nation. There was strong support for civil rights and civil liberties. I credit that multiculturalism for the person I am today and maintain relationships with many of my old friends.
A lifelong friend, who is Jewish, joined me rather late in life for a trip to Selma to honor those who defended civil rights on Bloody Sunday. We rode bikes from Selma to Montgomery in commemoration.
The Jewish vote has been a linchpin of both progressive and Democratic politics. It was again in 2024. Their contributions to academia, business and entertainment have been tremendous.
Israel itself has increasingly become more militarized and openly anti-democratic. Politicians and interest groups have politicized our relationship with Israel to the point that any criticism is called anti-Semitism. An authoritarian leader has entrenched himself in power and has formed coalitions with far-right segments of the population to retain power. When small segments of a population realize they have undue influence they make demands instead of compromise.
The opposition to the rise of the far-right has historically been strong. Alas, legitimate security concerns are leading to a tacit acceptance of a movement to take land and neither create equal rights nor a two-state solution.
Relationships at home and abroad are being strained; hopefully, we can overcome the forces working to drive us apart.
I don't think that Biden stepping down earlier would have helped. Who would have stepped up as a better option?
I hope Europeans are watching and preparing to confront it's own rise in fascism. I hope this is a global lesson and that forces in your country are mobilizing to preempt movements that already exist.
Russia now has an avenue to continue its warpath into NATO countries.
We (those of us that are not insane and stupid) are on the same page as you. I can't think clearly right now or even hope to figure out what to DO now. I have so much respect for people like HCR and Joyce Vance, who have been able to organize their thoughts to help us navigate this absolute nightmare. I hope by next week my brain will start working again and I live in WA, where we just elected Democrats across the board to run our state. Today I don't think that's going to matter at all once this all gets going. I, too, am living in deep sorrow.
Everyone is susceptible to a con man. America has been conned...with the help of a great many other malintentioned countries.
Trump ism is the OxyContin for those who choose fantasy & a "quick fix" over the discipline & the long term commitment for our imperfect democracy. Love your analogy & will use it. May the US kick the habit & go to rehab!
I too sorrow over this, and I am an American. None of this is a.surprise, though.
Well done, dear Lady. Our public schools began failing US after WWII; the Koch brothers went after our public universities; trickle down economics (Reagan) killed our middle class, so now we are a failing kleptocracy being finished off by a failing kleptocrat (Putin/ Trump assisted by another racist (Musk). At 90 I have watched it all. Today thinking of how to protect my Democratic state.
I'll tell you what happened – we did not have a political campaign, we had a disinformation campaign. For at least a decade or more right wing media has fed a diet of alarmist lies to enough people that they believe Trump is a viable president. It's shocking and very distressing.
Ma'am, trust me, one does not have to be a European to feel the grief you do. Now the spectacle is not only a nightmare, but also a "Who's Who" freak show. About the latter, I would chuckle, quietly and darkly, were another people facing this ordeal. It comes down to what my father said to his friend and business rival in Sydney in 1967; in effect, that he loved life in Australia because "Australia has everything America does without the burden of arrogance."
I'l make two slightly uncommon observations.
I've just been reading "The Red Haired Girl from the Bog," and the United States embraced the same economic principles that, in Britain, caused the great Irish Famine. Yes, there was the potato blight, but the question is, how did the Irish become dependent on potatoes in the first place? The answer is a form of capitalism, imposed on them by the British. We're living under that same benighted economic system, calling it both "good" and "necessary" (it most certainly is neither) and as it winds to its inevitable conclusion of wealthy minorities lording over the starving poor, we see a lot of unrest in the American public. Like an alcoholic who thinks a morning shot of vodka is a "pep-up" for the day, the US thinks a paycheck from those who grow rich by skimming from that paycheck is a viable economic system. It is not, and is moving quickly toward its apex of dysfunction. The closer it gets, the more strictly (and irrationally) it must be enforced.
(As a side-note, I think the current passion for massive wealth-building is an attempt by the rich to climb to the highest point on the sinking Titanic of the US economy, which accelerates the underlying problem. Biden never had the mandate to address this. Instead, he put inflatable rafts under the sinking end, which didn't address the problem at all.)
The second is US religion. The dominant religion in the US is Evangelicalism, which is organized in autonomous "cells" of between 10 and 500 people. The Evangelical Movement was an early 1900's rebranding of the Fundamentalist movement of the 1800's (which came from the Second Great Awakening in the early 1800's). As a form of Protestantism, it expects adherents to "read the Bible," but very few people have any idea how to read translations of ancient texts, especially involving nomadic pastoral tribes from 5000 years ago. What this means in practice is that the heads of these communities ("ministers") as well as itinerant "evangelists" can make up any damned thing they please and claim it is "The Word of God," making it binding upon the communities, with threat of community expulsion in the present, and the fires of Hell in the hereafter. All of the anti-women garbage flowing from the mouths of Republicans comes straight out of mindlessly (or malignantly) literal readings of the Bible, filtered through American misogyny.
Not all Americans agree with what happened, you know. Most of us who read and support Heather's Letters are shocked and sincerely voted for Kamala Harris.
Indeed - It seems that nearly half of voters voted for Kamala. But that just makes it even MORE sad. The lunatics are running the asylum.