In a speech Saturday in Claremont, New Hampshire, and then in his Veterans Day greeting yesterday on social media, former president Trump echoed German Nazis.
Donald Trump has now made it clear that he is a fascist and he takes his playbook directly from fascists of the past. Comparing him to Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler is no longer far-fetched. It is time to call out this aspiring fascist for what and who he is.
Donald Trump has consistently called out immigrants as a dangerous and malevolent enemy. He has also voiced concern that having so many immigrants will overwhelm the white people of this country. It is almost exactly the same reasoning Hitler utilized to turn the German people against the Jews. The comparison between Donald Trump, and fascists of the past is becoming quite chilling. And now he is relying on the heritage foundation to write his playbook for making America an authoritarian and fascist regime with their 2025 plan. Donald Trump has also vowed to use the justice department to exact retribution against anyone who opposes him. With this latest threat, he is attempting to suppress any criticism of him or his plans.
He conveniently forgets that he is the grandson and son of immigrants, and that two of his three wives were also, um, immigrants. And oh, those anchor babies.
He doesn't have the same view of white European immigrants as he does of immigrants of colour. Let's be honest. He is not anti-immigrant. He's perfectly at ease with his wife and in-laws immigrating from Slovenia. He rejects immigrants of colour. It's immigration from Latin America, the Middle East, South and East Asia, and Africa that he fights against. He's just as racist against Americans whose parents and grandparents were already born in the USA but who are not white.
Annis, I am in total agreement with you, but was moved to laughter at the juxtaposition. Leisure suits are such an old joke, but BURGUNDY leisure suit and the thought of DT’s hair in conjunction with the basic truths was just too irresistible. Please forgive.
And without their money he would be a used car salesman wearing a blue leisure suit, gold chains and selling cars without the titles. All the while trying to bang everyone's wife and girlfriends.
Definitely burgundy - shiny polyester with large lapels and flared pants. I used to be a "garmento". They would sell like hot cakes for a few years. And don't forget the print nylon shirt - collar nicely placed over those lapels.
But to complete the look, he'll need to let his hair down. Yikes!
Nah. Lock him up in the 'vermin camps'. Clad in nothing but his underpants. A diaper? OK. But they'll still elect him if given the chance. Those Adolf Addicts just can't get enough, so, give 'em their Addie in his underpants!
Actually, great-grandson. I went to high school with Steve Miller’s mother and her brothers. I’ve lost touch with her, but his uncles and I are in touch. They are seriously not fans of his.
His maternal grandparents, Ruth and Izzy, were the loveliest people. It’s a mercy they’re not here to see what he’s become.
It was only eight paragraphs into today’s letter before the name, Miller, came up. I expect that he is the chief influence and true “author” of that terrifying, disgusting campaign speech. He glommed on to Trump early on t
He really doesn't seem to understand that at a different time, in a different place, HE would have been considered the "vermin" he's so eager to be rid of. Even his former rabbi is ashamed of what he's become.
Somebody needs to stuff him back into the locker he escaped from when they were tired of his antics in high school.
And this ancient UNC-CH (oldest public university in the country, hit by the Koch brothers and North Carolina Republicans because it was “liberal”) would like to remind everyone that Stephen Miller went to tobacco-funded, Johnny-come-lately Duke.
I grew up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. My grandfather, Abraham Stoller, was the baker who supplied Glosser Bros. with rye bread and pumpernickel for many years. He was friends with Sam Glosser. The whole family knew the Glosser's. He would be appalled by Stephen Miller.
So when will Melania be sent to a deportation camp and the worthless eater kid of hers? Might as well send her parents to the camp while you're at it. Their contribution to our economy was babysitting Barron. And now they are likely collecting social security illegally since they probably didn't actually work the 10 quarters to qualify.
And then Jr., Eric, and Ivanka should also be deported under TFFGs policies. Of course, they would need to spend time in the concentration camps, er, deportation camps while they waited months to be deported.
Just a little bit of hypocrisy shown by the lard-ass TFFG dontcha think?
I must have missed the metamorphosis from TFG to TFFG. Is the extra F denoting a particularly apt swear word, or something else (like Fat, Foolish, Feebleminded, Failed, Fake, Farcical, Fatuous, Feckless, and so on, take your pick)?
Great laugh, and maybe it’ll catch on . I can’t remember who initiated TFFG but I was likely the second to have the hilarious reaction...and it STUCK LIKE GLUE!
I wish I thought it was funny. Not much makes me happy, thinking about that ... person. Rex Tillerson had it right when he said, "He's a f**ing moron."
I first saw it used here in the comment section of HCR's newsletter. I think someone else questioned the extra F and the reply was 'F**king'. I don't read the comments in many places so I not sure if TFFG is in vogue elsewhere.
That puts a whole “new face” on Donald Jr and Eric testifying. Obviously they need to be put in camps until we can deport them and in a different camp from their father and step mother.
Marc, I can’t imagine a more astute reply than the one Rachel Maddow presented this evening. Starting with the question, “What is the institution that decides we never can espouse things” like your foregoing observations “and also be part of said institution, also represent them,” Maddow asserts, “there is only 1. It’s Trump’s political party. And when he is running to be the Republican nominee for President of the United States, he is contending to lead that party, while promising that he will build camps to hold millions of people in this country, and he will use the military against American civilians here at home, and his political opponents are vermin who will be crushed and exterminated.”
Maddow continues, “This is Trump testing the political party he says he is going to lead. Testing to see what they will tolerate as an institution. Which means every single member of that party will now have to answer whether this is who they are, whether this is what they stand for, whether this is the cause of their party.”
Maddow concludes, “A country under threat stands up for itself when the institutions that make up the civic and political life of that country stand up and say what they are for and what they can no longer stand.” She finishes by reinforcing “there is only 1 institution in this country that is implicated by what Trump is doing and he is testing them and that is the point where we are right now. Trump has forced it there.”
Gloria, Before answering your question I would note that I viewed Maddow’s statement as providing Democrats with a script for inextricably linking their Republican counterparts, were they to remain silent, with every element of Trump’s terrifying 2025 plan. I repeatedly will press them to frame Republicans accordingly. As for your question, while I don’t have a precise answer, I am quite certain that camps built to hold millions will be used for purposes other than those thus far enumerated.
operated from officials provided by Republican dominated states, mind you, the ones which have made gerrymandering a science. Regardless of tit for tat by Democratic states, the Dems must move to change electoral laws IF they can get sufficient political power.
Frank, Thank you for extending my remarks. As for Dems reforming electoral rules, discounting Manchin and Sinema, we must hold our 49 Senate seats, flip one Senate Republican seat, hold the White House, and retake the House. All doable.
Hitler tested poison gas in vans to get rid of the disabled. Who knows what Republicans might think up given that already we know what a Republican member of Congress said about Americans in “senior living” at the beginning of the Covid epidemic.
Texas Lt. Gov Dan Patrick openly stated the elderly should be consigned to die as Covid progressed, and he announced this standing next to a high risk patient (Abbot).
May I offer condolences these many years later? Even as a child I saw newsreels and photos of the horrors of WWII and more recently read Timothy Snyder’s books about atrocities in the East. Every act of violence hurts all of us whether or not we know it. “Ask not for whom the bell tolls,/ It tolls for thee.” John Donne
It was very chilling hear Rachel’s words tonight. We are in a very dire situation, one that is very worrisome. This raving lunatic along with the Jew who is a people hater, Stephen Miller, belong in isolated cells.
Marlene, As I wrote to Gloria, who is part of this thread, in my view, Maddow gave Democrats a structure for amplifying the complicity of every Republican who fails to differentiate him or herself from parts of Trump’s 2025 Plan that intentionally were leaked.
This is from Jen Psaki's interview with Jonathan Karl regarding TFFG-
"He lacks any shred of human decency, humility or caring," a former White House official told Karl. "He is morally bankrupt, breathtakingly dishonest, lethally incompetent and stunningly ignorant of virutually anything related to governing, history, geography, human events or world affairs. He is a traitor and a malignancy in the nation, and represents a clear and present danger to our democracy and the rule of law."
Karl explained that the person was in the West Wing and worked alongside Trump for more than a year at a "high level." The key title is "official," indicating it wasn't a staffer or aide.
Jen Psaki and Nicole Wallace are very much on board with their criticisms of TFFG.
I would prefer that both TUMP and Miller be six feet underground in a cemetery. I am totally fed up with TFG and his numerous threats. TFG is one of the first of those asshats that should be deported.
he needs to be reduced to political irrelevance by an unassailable majority of American voters... of whom, about a half often don't bother to vote... i think deportation in prison rhetoric is overkill, and a little too close rhetorically to some of the actual fascist possibilities if Trump takes the White House...
Of course he needs to be voted away from any political office anywhere in the US, and his mouth shut by imprisonment following lawful conviction of his many crimes. But his followers need to be re-educated into not fearing their neighbors, including the new people moving into the neighborhood. The latter is the much harder endeavor, and I'm afraid it will take an exceptional amount of work over generations. As with fighting, correcting and reversing climate change to the extent humanly possible, I see this effort at changing the hearts and minds of our neighbors who think as TFFG does (well, in his case, "think" may be inapt, but whatever he does inside his skull, if anything) as the most important challenge in the modern world. It's vital, if you'll pardon the pun.
I am reading “Prequel” and heartily recommend it. Having been 7 years old in 1941 and in a very patriotic neighborhood, I remember nothing of the marching Nazis in America. But I keep thinking of the lean, Depression survivors who were drafted into WWII. Today many Americans have their health wrecked by Big Ag and Big Pharma.
Republicans will only have to answer for Trump’s language and behavior if the media push them to. If no one is asking the question, or if, when asked, they deflect and the interviewer doesn’t keep pushing, they will continue to have it both ways. I think Maddow is correct, but only if the media do their jobs. Case in point: the NYT headline cited by Heather.
Whenever DJ Treason speaks, it is self-reflective. Everything in this anti-American speech reeks of him and the end of democracy. RM points out the traitor's use of the word "fascists" so that it can't be applied to him. "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." St Peter, Acts 2:40
I COULD COMMIT MURDER ON FITH AVENUE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT AND GET AWAY WITH IT. TRUMP 2015. Nothing new her folks, just the Orange One telling you what he will do in 2025. And get away with it. Keep on moving folks, it's just the Boss making promises he will keep. You'll be OK. You is White and Red MAGA. You have nothing to worry about. There are million ahead of you who WILL be taken care of. Just keep shouting YES! And we'll know you are the good ones, safe from deportation and eligible to help carry out the Orange One's Mandate from the People. What are you looking at your queer? Get back in line and shut up. And get a haircut and learn how to man-up or be the woman God made you. And you, Boy. Put that sign down. You ain't one of us. Get over there with rest of the vermin and don't you dare talk back or talk to me without funny LA Guage that ain't American. Move along folks, nothing here to watch. The Boss is finally telling like it is. Nothing to worry about. Wait. What are you all looking at me for? I'm one of you. I served in Iraq. I'm almost White as you and you. What's wrong with you people? I gone to sixtee rallies and gave my Social Security payments to the cause. What? I'm Catholic, not Christian? Hey. Take your hand off me. Don't push me. Wait, don't chase my boy. Leave my dad alone. Why are you turning againgst me? BECAUSE YOU ARE VERMIN, A WANNABE MAGA, and Impure. YOU ARE SCUMB.
The full quote. Thank you. Twas my point. This bent toward smashing norms and vilifying those of us who are speaking out is frightening. And, those who are learning to hate us don't realize that they will not be special or protected from future persecution from those who will need to purge and purify the brand.
Not all immigrants. His mother immigrated from Scotland, his first wife from Czechoslovakia via Austria, his third wife from Slovenia. I saw a poster at a rally that put it succinctly: "if it weren't for immigrants, Trump wouldn't have any family."
Biden should use the insurrection act to protect us while this is going on, and especially on election night: Because Fascists don't need a majority to take over!
Trump’s 2025 Plan MUST be disconcerting to a couple of Republican Presidential contenders who are the children of immigrants from India. I expect Vivek and Nikki will be speaking up any day now. Just holding my breath….GASPING…..
Trump has been racist/fascist right from the start of his presidency and even before.He said the things he wanted to do and attempted some them. I always got the impression that the msm was "amused" at some of his"antics' when they were NEVER antics at all. I am seeing now that some of the media are "getting it" with him and his horrific vision for ending our democracy and imposing an authoritarian state with him as dictator. The Revenge Tour that he has in mind would put a lot of us into encampments and all of the other dystopian nightmares that he has in mind for us.This needs to be screamed from the rooftops and often.
We seem to forget that he's crazy....and, getting crazier by the day. Senility and loss of his estate and loss of Ivanka are making him really unhinged.
The benefit of this is that business owners who would normally vote Republican will flee to the Democrats in fear of loosing their inexpensive hard working reliable work force. Whites will not do that work, even if they are poor.
I have always found it incredible that he is so anti immigration when he is only 1st or 2nd generation American himself. And his wives are immigrants. But given his father’s fascist leanings, not that surprising I guess.
Wrong. He is calling "ILLEGAL" immigrants. Get the facts right.
You are delusional. He is talking about millions of people pouring over the border.
Nice try calling Trump a fascist. He was president for 4 years. There was no dictatorship.
There was no criminalization of political opponents.
As for using the justice department for political retribution, what do you call the last 3 years? The Democrats have criminalized political opposition. They went after parents
who attended school board meetings, they were caught monitoring churches, the FBI was caught spying over 200,000 Americans, they censored speech, used the IRS and FBI to go over political opposition.
As for Authoritarian rule, all you have to do is look at the COVID lock down. What states
were the most draconian in suppress rights and imposing authoritarian rules? The most democratic states. They locked down their citizens, censored speech, fired anyone who refused to take the vaccine. It was a dress rehearsal for a police state.
characterized by or holding false beliefs or judgments about external reality that are held despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, typically as a symptom of a mental condition.
"hospitalization for schizophrenia and delusional paranoia"
I was already comparing TFG to Hitler and Mussolini when he was Dictator in chief back the year 2018 after a reporter interviewed him then, the reporter had told TFG that there was a growing number of Americans that didn't like him, TFG replied, '' that's ok, they will like me sooner or later, or else. I decided then he had strong dictator ambitions after i heard that, and his statement angered me, and ignited my extreme dislike for him. I already despised him before he made that statement.
Was that when he demanded loyalty oaths from reporters? Just as Hitler and Goebbels did. Read your history carefully, because Hitler had men around him that were drunk on the "cool-aid" of the time.
Yes, i believe that was when he demanded loyalty oaths from reporters. I have watched many documentaries about Hitler and i remember that about him too. I also saw TFG get angry at a reporter and told the reporter, '' You don't talk to me like that,'' pointing his finger in the reporter's face. Interview over.
Yes, he also suspended several reporters from White House news conferences because they asked him tough questions! Of course, none were from Fox News! No politician/elected official would demand loyalty oaths unless they were authoritarian and self-serving!
I honestly didn't know about TFG suspending those reporters from the White House news conferences. However, i am not surprised at him doing that. TFG is an overbearing, unreasonable, Authoritarian, bully that thinks absolutely no one should question him, even though he is consistently lying and making false statements. He thinks anyone and everyone should bow down to him, not ever question his authority. He has called our veterans of war, Suckers and losers,'' and just yesterday he called legal immigrants, democrats, or, ''Radical Left Lunatics'' vermin. If this raging monster is elected, he wants total control of the Federal Government and install his own loyalists in all positions in our government. Project 2025 is the 925 page manifesto that he wants to employ. All of this is extremely disturbing to me and many others on the democratic side. If i could get my daughter and grandson to go along with me, i would seriously consider leaving the United States, preferably for New Brunswick, or Nova Scotia in Canada. It would be a rather costly action, but i have the resources to do that. I have to admit, i am scared and very upset that an insane and out of control maniac could be a Dictator right here in the United States. This is NOT supposed to be happening here, not ever. Someone, somewhere, needs to put this vicious animal Donald TUMP in a cage and throw away the key.
I am sorry for the rant, Mr. Wilkins, i am just terrified for the future of the United States.
I remember the reaction when the press reported not the first part of HRC’s speech, but the second part in which she used “deplorables” which the press latched onto as if it were the central word in the speech. That may be the result of our badly declining education system.
Virginia, that is why I am so ill-at-ease with the term "authoritarian".
I'm sure many people will think it means "having authority", but the main problem is that it is just too damned long... and sounds like an elitist word...
No slogan.
How would it have come out in To Kill A Mockingbird?
I was shocked and repulsed by him when he mocked a disabled reporter, again something right out of Hitler's playbook, as the disabled were targeted to be eliminated. I asked a Republican neighbor here in RED Florida how she could possibly vote for someone who would do such a thing, and her answer was, "Sometimes the ends justify the means." I wonder how many Republicans who thought that way and voted for him (in spite of all the evidence that this was not a man worthy of any respect) are now regretting what they unleashed on America!
Right Ally! Some of you may not want to read this. I knew some people once (they are dead and gone now), who were Einsatzkommando, Waffen SS , SA and Gestapo during WWII. If anyone thinks our MAGA neighbors won't vote for Trump then they are wrong, and very ordinary people (Polizei Battalion 101) will kill for him, even if they are told that they don't have to (see book by Christopher Browning). Then after the mess is cleaned up, (like the Reich in 1945) they will mostly become ordinary folks again, kind, loving, parent teachers and won't admit, maybe even remember a thing. It goes way beyond cognitive dissonance. I knew one "lovely" woman who (among other attrocities) typed out the list for the extermination of 300 Jewish children at Kulmhof Kill camp near Lodz in Poland at the age of 19 (1943). She grew up in and knew only Nazi Germany and could not think otherwise. She saw Jews and Roma as Vermin, no longer people, humans. After the war she was a lovely lady...not even an ounce of guilt. How long has MAGA been active?
This makes me ill! Both of my parents were victims of the Holocaust. They lost so many relatives, including my grandparents on my mother’s side. They were gassed. If it hadn’t been for Simon Wiesenthal and his Nazi hunters, these people hidden among us, Jews, gypsies, gays, and the disabled would have never gotten justice.
At least that explains why some people are MAGAts. I spent a couple of days recently with a child hood friend. He voted for TFFG twice. He doesn't care for Trump but can't bring himself to NOT vote for a Republican. When Trump put an 'R' behind his name, he automatically secured 20-25% of the vote. They have no clue what Trump says or does and they don't care. They will vote "R" regardless of who is on the ticket. It's very scary, but the same is true on the "D" side. We can only hope the numbers match up and don't skew MAGAt.
My hope, Ally House, is that there have to be some who regret, even though they aren't likely to admit it. But it at least may keep them from voting for Trump again.
Peter Thiel regrets supporting TFFG. I think his biggest loss of support is among the 6 feet under group. For a while those turning 18 were very likely to vote Democrat, but that may have turned around a bit.
Back in the day he seemed more of a loudmouthed anushole and I was irritated by people who seemed to use the words "Hitler" and "fascist" too casually. But Trump and what the Republican party has become has abandoned responsible conduct and decency, and are (ironically) a clear and present danger to the Republic. And certainly now those comparisons have become evidence-based.
There were early signs, but from the moment when the man's political language dragged the nation into the sewers -- the "new normal" -- the evidence was quite clear.
The "Central Park Five" case showed too much about this man.
In 2016 I was censored by the NYT for a very factual comment.
How so?
The algorithm found the word Hitler.
Here's what i wrote:
In 1943 my British naval officer father had to spend 5 months in Newcastle, England while his ship's engines were repaired.
In the hotel where we stayed he met and had long conversations with a retired journalist called Wilcox who had covered BOTH the Russian revolution AND Hitler's coming to power in 1933 as foreign correspondent for a newspaper called the News Chronicle.
Wilcox explained the phenomenal success of Hitler by his use of language.
Hitherto, political speeches in Germany had been formal and boring, modeled on... funeral oration...
Hitler screamed barrackroom and beer hall language...
It caught on like wildfire.
*
We all know the consequences. Or do we?
We need far far more retelling of the rise and fall of the dictatorships.
The most ignorant among the MAGA mob will love the rise and rise of Mussolini, the strutting, the Voice, the vast crowds' hysterical adulation...
They'll take to Hitler's ravings of conquest, his violent denunciation of Jews, Slavs, gypsies, all the colored peoples, his telling Germans "You are the Master Race"!
Then, the axeman, the guillotine, the concentration camps... Kristallnacht... Blitzkrieg...
They may still be excited by that.
But... the destruction of Poland, the defeat of France, the assault on Britain... the Blitz... destruction by the Luftwaffe by RAF fighter pilots...
Pearl Harbor, the Japanese sweep across Asia, the invasion of the Soviet Union... the 900 day siege of Leningrad, Stalingrad... the turning of the tide... the death camps, Auschwitz, Sobibor, Majdanek and all the others... the Warsaw ghetto, later, the destruction of Warsaw, when the Polish resistance fought to the death in the sewers and tunnels under the city... meanwhile, landings in Italy, in southern France, above all D-Day and the Normandy invasion.
Downfall. All Germany's major cities destroyed, the Red Army encircling and crushing Berlin... Mussolini's corpse hanging upside down from a meat hook in Milan... Hitler's suicide...
The A bombs destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrenders.
Who knows how many died? 60 000 000? Countless...
Must we risk all this again for the lunacy of Putin and Trump, the inhuman ambitions of men like Xi and Modi... to name only a few of the worst?
The world will not be safe so long as Trump and henchmen walk free. Their freedom is the most direct threat to that of all Americans... and far more than that.
Right there with you Peter. I’ve been calling him a fascist Hitler 2.0 for 8 long years now, the better part of a decade. I saw the writing on the wall the day he vilified Mexican people as rapists and bad people. When he refused to denounce the far right whites supremacists in Charleston, everyone should have known then. I’ve been called ridiculous, hyperbolic, and foolish for using the word fascist or comparing him to Hitler but I’ve never backed down. If we don’t defeat this bastard, it won’t just be camps for “illegal” immigrants as horrific as that alone is; it will be camps for anyone who isn’t pledged allegiance to him and his MAGA atrocity. In other words, you and me, our friends and families, and everyone we know and love.
If a sane group of "Republicans" don't emerge soon and denounce this horrific speech and this incredibly despicable plan (Project 2025, the camps, etc.) I fear for peace IN America.
It's been commented here that Trump and Company are like frightened cornered tigers - dangerous beyond words. Innocents may suffer in the conflict. Time to cage the beasts.
Well said, Bill. PFKAC (people formerly known as conservative) have GOT to cut the ties with the Nazi/Fascist bent of today's RepubliKan* party and disavow that philosophy.
*RepubliKan, where if I were able to indicate "to the 3rd power" with my laptop, the K's would be Klown Kar Kawkus or Ku Klux Klan. Besides, they've moved so far beyond the fantasy of Q Anon that the use of RepubliQan is outdated. Besides, a "k" is easier for me to type than a "q".
Remember Bill, that it took about ten years of fomentation for Hitler and his horde to come too power and another 6 years for the wheels to fall off completely. I believe the sane group of Republicans is in denial or hiding, and we can't rely on them. Just before I was born (at a MASH in Central Europe) my Dad (an SOE experienced Captain in the Allied Army) was made responsible for part of the de-Nazification of Northern German Sector (Oldenburg). I have direct oral history and discussions with ex Nazi's (No, we never took the Oath...BS) about their experiences and their hopes. Some were really, really really bad actors during WWII, and then not guilty, lambs, they made us. I fear for peace in America too, oh my beautiful America.
"A shrewd victor will, if possible, always present his demands to the vanquished in installments. And then, with a nation that has lost its character -and this is the case of every one which voluntarily submits - he can be sure that it will not regard one more of these individual oppressions as an adequate reason for taking up arms again." -Hitler, "Mein Kampf"
Recall that slavery was one considered so normative the eight presidents held slaves while in office (12 altogether). The function of effective social movements is commonly to draw attention to the elephant in the room.
Not only did the media turn a blind eye, some supposedly liberal outlets actively suppressed any comparison of his actions to those of Hitler or Mussolini…..and they still are. Currently, they are also 'protecting' the fascist utterances of DeSantis, the wannabe Mussolini if ever there was one. These days, I'm having a hard time discerning whether Trump's rants are 'tests of limits' or sheer out of control ravings of a mortally wounded narcissist….not to diminish the danger of either, given his following.
Oh heck, then feed those hand wringers the stories of home grown fascist movements right here in the US of A. Look no further than Timothy Egan's compelling "A Fever in the Heartland" or Rachel Maddow's incredible podcast series "Ultra". These kinds of stories, as well as these Letters, successfully expose these pearl clutchers for what they are.
Dismiss all you like. Getting people to pay attention to anything going on in the world outside their own kitchens is hard enough without the press actively suppressing concerns of those who actually see what's going on. At least hand wringers and pearl clutchers have some awareness of the world, which is better than living in a coma.
On the way to an early dr’s appointment Joe Scarborough was lambasting the Times headline. I read this same opinion repeatedly yesterday. Is it possible that public opinion can bring MSM back from their horse race/ all sides reporting?
As Orwell knew well, language is powerful. Republicans have been pulling politcal debate into increasingly (literally) uncivilized territory for many years. I recall, for example, a Republican lawmaker shouting out "you lie" to Obama's state of the union address. As ALWAYS, always, they can dish it out, but they sure can't take it: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/activist-faces-jail-time-laughing-during-sessions-hearing-n754326
Nothing more reprehensible than laughter in tyrants' eyes. Why, the first thing Putin did on coming to power was to have a satirical muppet show lampooning public figures taken off the air...
It seems difficult to satirize America's Apprentice Antichrist. Plainly, millions of Americans have no sense of the ridiculous or the grotesque.
I gave up commercial TV a long time ago, and never saw "The Apprentice". By reputation the climax of the show would be Trump yelling "You're fired", as close as the wannabee tyrant could get, at that point, to "Off with their heads".
... I am lost on this page - near impossible to find anything - cutting in and out - as though I am being prevented from commenting or conversing ... it's been more than 4 hours now ... need to direct time and energies into a more coherent focus ... wishing all the best to you - and all ... peace and love through it all ... see you in the fifth dimension!!
I lost you, Kathleen, without trace. A pity, for you are onto something fundamental.
I can see that there can be a serious problem when these comments threads descend into babel and we are, in effect, burying what we wish to share... golden needles in a haystack.
Did you receive anything re. Survival International?
My feeling is that we and people like that need to get together and change our perspective. This is about more than the survival of threatened tribes in the depths of rain forests. Their survival and that of mankind are intimately linked -- and THAT is what needs to be understood.
A huge challenge to those who believe or desperately want to believe thelselves "better" than other members of the human race.
Know-nothings destroying those who really do know something. Something different. Something precious to them... and potentially, to all mankind.
Like the native Americans who saved the Cartier expedition from certain death in the continental winter.
Like the African slaves who showed European settlers how to farm under the subtropical conditions of the Deep South...
Thank you Peter - my page keeps cutting in and out - bouncing back and forth - losing the thread ... I did not receive anything about Survival International - just looked it up ...:
Earth dwellers in less developed areas seem to be generally defenseless against the imposition of societal trends - after all, we need our air conditioners and such - Steven Donziger's ongoing challenges paint a grim picture ... people on Turtle Island have some legal grounds to defend their rights with the "Supremacy Clause" in the Constitution - as hard as it is to overcome the prejudice that they are "uncivilized savage sub-humans" of no count who need to be 'brought around'... some go ahead and sell mineral rights and access to drill for oil, rewarded by monies to buy fancy cars and clothes - join the All American popularity parade - a lot of people are organizing and speaking up - in and out of court - they are not going away - I only can hope enough people in mainstream society take them seriously and stand up for their rights to cultural self determination and religious freedom to honor traditions and raise their own children ... it is an ongoing battle - Indigenous women and children go missing or murdered ... many people in so-called "white society" seems to be threatened by anybody's freedom other than their own ... it boggles the already boggled mind!
I can't wrestle with these pages much - enjoy your comments and appreciate your suggestions when I can find them ... Robert B. Hubbell writes a sensible Substsck page - might be more accessible ... I have ongoing security issues either way ... will let you know if an avenue of communication opens up ... in the meantime, here are a couple of links for your listening pleasure:
Shakuhachi Japanese Bamboo Flute Meditation & Relaxation Music
“When two irreducible elements are locked in a struggle, the only solution is force," Mussolini said on Jan. 3, 1925, as he declared the start of dictatorship in Italy. America may never become a one-party state on the classic Fascist model, but Trump and his GOP enablers carry forth this Fascist mentality. We must take their speech seriously as declarations of intent to wreck American democracy and engage in persecution on a large scale as part of that process.”
You're right. The error many in the US and beyond made was to look at Hitler and Mussolini in 1938-1940, when their totalitarian states were fully in place. We forget that this didn't happen overnight. In the case of the NSDAP, it received less than 40% of the vote, and its vote share had gone down to 32% when Hitler became chancellor in January 1933. It took another 3 years to achieve Gleichschaltung - the Nazification of all institutions, public, private and community-based - which is what delivered a totalitarian system. Before 1933, they had gradually gained the leadership of many regional and city administrations, and on that, they built their power. They eviscerated the Weimar Republic from within. Not because the Weimar Republic was weak, as has been argued, but because the Nazis played to win at all costs, and used all and any means at their disposal - legal means, cheating, financial pressure, targeted division and isolation of enemies, political and social violence. They deliberately made the country ungovernable, then said they were the only ones who could provide order. In that, they were greatly assisted by Stalin's USSR - another totalitarian state - which financed and "supported" (i.e. told them what to do) the German communists, who refused to work with any other party, including the democratic socialists, against the Nazis.
“I used to rig card games for a living. I’d watch people sit down and lose everything Again and again. But they didn’t lose because they “played by the rules“ and we didn’t. They lost because it wasn’t a game. It just looked like one. Democrats think it’s a game.” From Derek Delgado on Twitter years ago. Still true.
Yes it is. I read the Death of Democracy, getting the book at the Holocaust Museum in D.C. back in 2016. What is happening here has so much correlation that it is scary. Dems continue to try to play the rules not using them to the fullest extent. Like "due process" and it current interpretation of graduated punishment. That is NOT due process as a legal scholar once advised me in the handling of discipline at school. What it is in the most simple terms: notification of the charges, hearing, then judgement. The wealthy have co-opted that idea to mean this start at the lowest punishment, then go up the ladder. The liberals have bought into the game. Can anyone imagine where this country would be today it 45 had been arrested on J7? All of his "political" prisoners would be on the run and not be so unconcerned and boastful.
Exactly. Gingrich did a masterful job over and above what Reagan did in convincing voters of how "corrupt" democrats were while he and his cronies were doing the same things, even worse. Democrats did little to combat them. As Nicole Wallace once said "Democrats are more afraid of republicans than republicans are of democrats." She should know as she worked for republicans. Matthew Dowd also said that democrats fight these battles with one had behind their back - the upper hand. Both statements so true.
Republicans don't seem to be afraid of Republicans even though they are their worst enemy. It's like the Ukraine War. The Russian saboteurs are doing some major damage inside Russia. Many war machine factories have been heavily damage or completely destroyed. High ranking officials have been assassinated by the saboteurs and the Kremlin. But yet, we read about the battles in Ukraine to the exclusion of many of the events terrorizing Russia from the inside.
HCR, the hypocritical neo-fascist Vampire Liberal, comes out firmly in favor of low-wage exploitation of underprivileged, poorly-educated immigrants who don't have a voice.
HCR warns us that Trump's imagined immigrant-expulsion policy would "strip the nation of millions of workers" and "shatter the economy, sparking sky-high prices, especially of food."
That's right, if we can't get away with exploiting wage-slave immigrants, then comfortable Vampire Liberals like HCR will have to pay more at the store.
At least Trump himself has made his plans clear before the election. In doing so, he's helped support the future of democracy. The polls showing Trump's strength are highly suspect. That said, because of many now-familiar factors Biden isn't a strong candidate despite his awe-inspiring accomplishments. Otherwise the election result would be a foregone conclusion.
But with Republicans trying to manipulate the election with no-chance-in-hell thirty-party candidates, voter suppression, and shenanigans yet to materialize, from now until Election Day will be filled with building anxiety. In the end, my bet is on a free America.
Also, let’s put this in context of the position tfg has put himself in. All he knows is the con. Now he’s under dire legal jeopardy from many directions. His NY business is toast. He’s doubling down to act as if he’s the meanest, baddest, most powerful autocrat the world has ever seen. He’s cornered, and he’s terrified.
He’s gathered around himself power-mad sycophant lieutenants and staff who are all flawed and for whom serving under him is their last chance to grab the golden ring. If he loses, they’re has-beens. So they’re going all in too.
And you’ve got the cynical plutocrat opportunists wanting obscene riches and foreign tyrants and their oligarchs trying to bring America to its knees or as an ally for their predation. Together they’ve assembled a propaganda machine that truly is dangerous, but even Fox is being challenged and loses in the courts.
Then you have his followers. You’ve got true believers who worship their anti-Christ wannabe as a savior. Many of them are conned by power-mad pastors whose view of God has nothing to do with the core teachings of Jesus. So they preach old Testament vengeance. And you’ve got those who feel all is chaos unless they’ve got an authoritarian on the golden toilet who ruthlessly imposes solutions to all problems, solvable and insolvable. Father-complex anyone?
This is what we’re up against. They’re trying to wear us down. We need to get out the vote and beat them again and again until enough of their pols (Lindsay Graham and other sellouts) realize they’ll lose with MAGA messaging.
I will keep saying this: Voting is important, but I don't think it will be enough. Fascists don't wait to win a majority! So, VOTE, but also be ready to fight the next coup.
Votes are inherently very serious business, but I also like to think that my vote for Democrats is a virtual pie (or worse) in the face of Trump, et al.
I agree, although I think of evil as a collective madness and individuals as role players. Whatever forces were/are behind Hitler and other tyrants worldly and occult, may be acting here, and they can empower individuals but aren’t ultimate. All isn’t lost. We’re undergoing upheaval and transformation.
Evil isn’t ultimate in the sense that the deepest, shared aliveness interconnects all of us beyond ego. When you tap into that — you can’t fully grasp it, because it’s larger than an individual consciousness, you experience a love beyond any prior experience. There’s also abundant psi research that demonstrates we’re all interconnected (see The Conscious Universe by Dean Radin, and I’m sure others).
You can’t embody all of the deadly sins unless you’re objectifying others and egotistically projecting a self-image that identifies with power, not love. Briefly, I’ve had non-dual breakthroughs in meditation and a NDE. It’s too much to lay out in this blog.
What can you do? “Be the person your dog thinks you are.” ;-)
This is very scarry stuff and I’ve been having nightmares. The idea that he’s going to “take out” [i.e., kill] his enemies has already started with death threats against Jack Smith and his family. Not to mention trying to kill Nancy but battering her 80+ husband with a hammer. Are people closing their eyes and ears or too stupid to understand this lunatic is deadly serious? His words to the military this past weekend are so hypocritical – recall he called dead soldiers losers and suckers when Gen. John Kelly was COS – Recall his son Robert was killed instantly from a land mine in Afghanistan 13 years ago – age 29. So many have given their lives to protect us but this this vile snake oil maggot is spreading Nazi hate and many are believing him.
I like to assume that the Republicans in Congress are all cowards for not calling out TFFG and his Fascist followers. But, I wonder how many of them have received threats when they have spoken out? Any idea?
Question: if we were in trouble as a nation....which we are....do you think DT would offer himself as a sacrifice to save us?The answer we know to be true regarding DT's concern is "NO...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" BUT I AM WILLING TO SACRIFICE YOU...ALL YOU ARE...EVERY FREEDOM YOU DEEM AS PRECIOUS...EVEN YOUR VERY LIVES....THE LIVES OF YOUR CHILDREN....THE AIR WE BREATHE...CLEAN WATER...FORGET THE POOR OR THOSE WITH PHYSCAL NEEDS OR THOSE WHO ARE NOT "WHITE" (unless you are a person of color who is totally devoted to MY (DT'S) concerns or needs.....) FORGET OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM (our children will be brainwashed....the truth will be according to DT operatives....history and possibly science will be rewritten....)DT WILL SHOUT OUT, "FREEDOM" IS FOR ME ALONE!!! I WILL RECREATE A NEW IDEA OF "FREEDOM".
That is who he is...we know it....we have seen it in his life. He should not be allowed to run as a candidate for "dog catcher"...much less President of the United States of America.
The only one who is happy about all of these political struggles for power/control (as well as the fighting in Israel/Gaza) is Putin. As we are drawn more and more within this tangled web, in which no one wins and innocents are being slaughtered...Putin is seizing his opportunity to weaken us....to divide us. DT is a small pawn under Putin's influence. We need to wake up and guard our freedoms while we have them!!!!
Trump is also sending a clarion call to the very large numbers of Americans who have now bought into the narrative that "white people are under attack", "affirmative action is robbing white children of a future", "white people need to "take back" America".
These Americans, who have somehow convinced themselves they are victims while sitting in front of a TV set all day eating potato chips and getting fat, not doing any work at all, will VOTE for Trump.
Presumably, Trump voters want an even EASIER life than they already have by sitting on ass all day long watching TV.
Where I came from, there are a lot of Trump supporters that work construction jobs, laborers, mostly blue collar...they are white people who live in the burbs of cities with a large ghetto, who look at the world as “us and them”. They are parents of policemen and firefighters who hear of the horror of mental illness and drug addiction.
It’s a dangerous consciousness but they don’t see it that way.
No doubt, among the large number of Trump supporters who are not working and have time to go to the Capitol and riot and commit treason, there must be some that are. Just statistically speaking they cannot ALL be sitting on arse all day. Just most of them.
As for consuming Nazi propaganda funded by Russia for American consumption, yep, they actively "work" to do that.
Many of the supporters who went to the Capitol were employed. And many who continue to support him today can be found working in the Capitol (House and Senate), in state and local governments, in real estate offices and hedge funds, in schools and colleges, in the media, on farms and in retail, in religious organizations, and across the spectrum of paid employment. It is a serious mistake to dismiss "most of them" as sitting on their arses all day.
Agreed. Mike may be thinking about retirees. And let's not forget that many of our police and military are fascists as well. We can only hope that their top leadership are true patriots who will honor and respect the Constitution.
I'm trying to be realistic based on the circumstances. Brimming with optimism I'm not. I can imagine scenarios that the fascists are planning that would disrupt polling and sink Biden and democracy. Or the U.S. is dragged into a war in the Middle East, or the economy takes a serious hit.
But we should also keep in mind realistic scenarios that would help our cause — Trump goes to jail, his increasing paranoia and disjointed slurred ramblings force him to quit, and so on.
So, you and millions of others think “Biden isn’t a strong candidate despite his awe-inspiring accomplishments,” but you do think Republicans are trying to manipulate the election? Coincidence? I think not.
I’m sure you’ve picked up on the egregious disconnect between Biden’s accomplishments (which I suspect in a general sense of helping Americans and the world, even exceed those of Obama, who I also really respect) and the nonstop MSM messaging of “he’s old, not viable, yada yada…” I suspect that this disinformation stream is once again nefarious in origin, of which we only experienced a sampling in 2016 - that was just an experiment, to see how gullible Americans are. Like Goebbel’s Big Lie, repeat anything often (“he’s old”) and soon enough, everyone buys into it and can’t think of anything else. Yeah, he’s old, and yeah, he’s kicking ass. What we need in a POTUS is someone to kick some serious ass, not someone who just happens to be young. Mike Johnson is young…. Now if they’re young AND strong, I’m totally down for that. Get on with it, Progressives, I’ll wait…..
HCR, the hypocritical neo-fascist Vampire Liberal, comes out firmly in favor of low-wage exploitation of underprivileged, poorly-educated immigrants who don't have a voice.
HCR warns us that Trump's imagined immigrant-expulsion policy would "strip the nation of millions of workers" and "shatter the economy, sparking sky-high prices, especially of food."
That's right, if we can't get away with exploiting wage-slave immigrants, then comfortable Vampire Liberals like HCR will have to pay more at the store.
Marc, In my view, calling out Trump must entail challenging MSM’s application of normative rhetorical coverage of an obviously asymmetrical upcoming general election. While I don’t have a ready answer, there must be an alternative to our remaining essentially anxious spectators because we’re not in the proverbial rooms where election season coverage decisions are made.
J L, The term that leaped off the screen was “strategic.” Because I believe we’re all acutely aware of the dire consequences of the current coverage, I’m banking on a better mind than mine to advise where we might go from here.
28th April 1945: The bodies of Benito Mussolini and Clara Petacci, his mistress, hang from the roof of a gasoline station after they had been shot by anti-Fascist forces while attempting to escape to Switzerland. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
Bruce, In my view, Biden has to enlist a charismatic squad to go to where the trouble is in this country, the trouble that Donald Trump is stoking, and show they can work on legitimate issues and grievances.
Donald Trump has now made it clear that he is a fascist and he takes his playbook directly from fascists of the past. Comparing him to Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler is no longer far-fetched. It is time to call out this aspiring fascist for what and who he is.
Donald Trump has consistently called out immigrants as a dangerous and malevolent enemy. He has also voiced concern that having so many immigrants will overwhelm the white people of this country. It is almost exactly the same reasoning Hitler utilized to turn the German people against the Jews. The comparison between Donald Trump, and fascists of the past is becoming quite chilling. And now he is relying on the heritage foundation to write his playbook for making America an authoritarian and fascist regime with their 2025 plan. Donald Trump has also vowed to use the justice department to exact retribution against anyone who opposes him. With this latest threat, he is attempting to suppress any criticism of him or his plans.
He conveniently forgets that he is the grandson and son of immigrants, and that two of his three wives were also, um, immigrants. And oh, those anchor babies.
He doesn't have the same view of white European immigrants as he does of immigrants of colour. Let's be honest. He is not anti-immigrant. He's perfectly at ease with his wife and in-laws immigrating from Slovenia. He rejects immigrants of colour. It's immigration from Latin America, the Middle East, South and East Asia, and Africa that he fights against. He's just as racist against Americans whose parents and grandparents were already born in the USA but who are not white.
How could you inject the real and terrible truth into the burgundy polyester suit-hair discussion?
Have I gone off-topic? Of course, it's a lot more important to criticize his clothes and hair.
Annis, I am in total agreement with you, but was moved to laughter at the juxtaposition. Leisure suits are such an old joke, but BURGUNDY leisure suit and the thought of DT’s hair in conjunction with the basic truths was just too irresistible. Please forgive.
Reality check here.
Love that, Virginia. There had to be something to laugh at here...and spill coffee.
Thank you, Sue Selman. Burgundy polyester and hair was too priceless to throw naked truth at.
And without their money he would be a used car salesman wearing a blue leisure suit, gold chains and selling cars without the titles. All the while trying to bang everyone's wife and girlfriends.
Or in prison.
Definitely burgundy - shiny polyester with large lapels and flared pants. I used to be a "garmento". They would sell like hot cakes for a few years. And don't forget the print nylon shirt - collar nicely placed over those lapels.
But to complete the look, he'll need to let his hair down. Yikes!
He would do a comb over to compliment his motel tan.
Nah. Lock him up in the 'vermin camps'. Clad in nothing but his underpants. A diaper? OK. But they'll still elect him if given the chance. Those Adolf Addicts just can't get enough, so, give 'em their Addie in his underpants!
Apart from the indigenous population, we are a "nation of immigrants" or the progeny thereof.
Agreed
While on my walk yesterday, I was depressed to see something new: a Trump flag hanging that states "TAKE AMERICA BACK"
My thought: from who?!?!
The sign means take America back into the Dark Ages Miselle.
You never ask questions when God's on your side.
Or enslaved persons.
Even the indigenous population's ancestors were from somewhere else. Humans have always been nomads.
And Stephen Miller is the grandson of immigrants. https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/08/13/stephen-miller-is-an-immigration-hypocrite-i-know-because-im-his-uncle-219351/
Actually, great-grandson. I went to high school with Steve Miller’s mother and her brothers. I’ve lost touch with her, but his uncles and I are in touch. They are seriously not fans of his.
His maternal grandparents, Ruth and Izzy, were the loveliest people. It’s a mercy they’re not here to see what he’s become.
How appalled some of our ancestors would be.
It was only eight paragraphs into today’s letter before the name, Miller, came up. I expect that he is the chief influence and true “author” of that terrifying, disgusting campaign speech. He glommed on to Trump early on t
I think ol'Stevie is trying for Roy Cohn's crown. by all accounts, he appears to be succeeding.
to get his hatred out there (more likely self-hatred) and his influence has now reached the heights.
He really doesn't seem to understand that at a different time, in a different place, HE would have been considered the "vermin" he's so eager to be rid of. Even his former rabbi is ashamed of what he's become.
Somebody needs to stuff him back into the locker he escaped from when they were tired of his antics in high school.
And this ancient UNC-CH (oldest public university in the country, hit by the Koch brothers and North Carolina Republicans because it was “liberal”) would like to remind everyone that Stephen Miller went to tobacco-funded, Johnny-come-lately Duke.
Thank you ☺️ Heather Elowe--what a fascinating article--I wish everyone would read this! 🗽
Miller is a shanda to Jews everywhere! Grateful my parents, Holocaust victims aren’t alive.
I grew up in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. My grandfather, Abraham Stoller, was the baker who supplied Glosser Bros. with rye bread and pumpernickel for many years. He was friends with Sam Glosser. The whole family knew the Glosser's. He would be appalled by Stephen Miller.
Double standards are a standard with right-wing nationalists and fascists…
So when will Melania be sent to a deportation camp and the worthless eater kid of hers? Might as well send her parents to the camp while you're at it. Their contribution to our economy was babysitting Barron. And now they are likely collecting social security illegally since they probably didn't actually work the 10 quarters to qualify.
And then Jr., Eric, and Ivanka should also be deported under TFFGs policies. Of course, they would need to spend time in the concentration camps, er, deportation camps while they waited months to be deported.
Just a little bit of hypocrisy shown by the lard-ass TFFG dontcha think?
I must have missed the metamorphosis from TFG to TFFG. Is the extra F denoting a particularly apt swear word, or something else (like Fat, Foolish, Feebleminded, Failed, Fake, Farcical, Fatuous, Feckless, and so on, take your pick)?
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣...so now it’s TFFFFFFFFFFG?
Great laugh, and maybe it’ll catch on . I can’t remember who initiated TFFG but I was likely the second to have the hilarious reaction...and it STUCK LIKE GLUE!
Thanks mlbrowne☺️
I wish I thought it was funny. Not much makes me happy, thinking about that ... person. Rex Tillerson had it right when he said, "He's a f**ing moron."
I first saw it used here in the comment section of HCR's newsletter. I think someone else questioned the extra F and the reply was 'F**king'. I don't read the comments in many places so I not sure if TFFG is in vogue elsewhere.
I've seen it elsewhere, and have used it myself. That Failed Former Guy (although Feckless works well).
He didn’t forget; he doesn’t care. He’s sociopath
That puts a whole “new face” on Donald Jr and Eric testifying. Obviously they need to be put in camps until we can deport them and in a different camp from their father and step mother.
And different from where their children will go, of course.
Yeah, but, but, but...TRump's immigrant forebears are YT therefore they are "okay" (in his tiny twisted mind, at least)
Marc, I can’t imagine a more astute reply than the one Rachel Maddow presented this evening. Starting with the question, “What is the institution that decides we never can espouse things” like your foregoing observations “and also be part of said institution, also represent them,” Maddow asserts, “there is only 1. It’s Trump’s political party. And when he is running to be the Republican nominee for President of the United States, he is contending to lead that party, while promising that he will build camps to hold millions of people in this country, and he will use the military against American civilians here at home, and his political opponents are vermin who will be crushed and exterminated.”
Maddow continues, “This is Trump testing the political party he says he is going to lead. Testing to see what they will tolerate as an institution. Which means every single member of that party will now have to answer whether this is who they are, whether this is what they stand for, whether this is the cause of their party.”
Maddow concludes, “A country under threat stands up for itself when the institutions that make up the civic and political life of that country stand up and say what they are for and what they can no longer stand.” She finishes by reinforcing “there is only 1 institution in this country that is implicated by what Trump is doing and he is testing them and that is the point where we are right now. Trump has forced it there.”
“What now?” She asks.
Chilling. And what would Trump's administration decide to do with the "nonproductive" such as the disabled and elderly?
Gloria, Before answering your question I would note that I viewed Maddow’s statement as providing Democrats with a script for inextricably linking their Republican counterparts, were they to remain silent, with every element of Trump’s terrifying 2025 plan. I repeatedly will press them to frame Republicans accordingly. As for your question, while I don’t have a precise answer, I am quite certain that camps built to hold millions will be used for purposes other than those thus far enumerated.
operated from officials provided by Republican dominated states, mind you, the ones which have made gerrymandering a science. Regardless of tit for tat by Democratic states, the Dems must move to change electoral laws IF they can get sufficient political power.
Frank, Thank you for extending my remarks. As for Dems reforming electoral rules, discounting Manchin and Sinema, we must hold our 49 Senate seats, flip one Senate Republican seat, hold the White House, and retake the House. All doable.
Hitler tested poison gas in vans to get rid of the disabled. Who knows what Republicans might think up given that already we know what a Republican member of Congress said about Americans in “senior living” at the beginning of the Covid epidemic.
Texas Lt. Gov Dan Patrick openly stated the elderly should be consigned to die as Covid progressed, and he announced this standing next to a high risk patient (Abbot).
Not just the disabled. My grandparents were gassed in a van with 9 others at the camp known as Chelmno.
May I offer condolences these many years later? Even as a child I saw newsreels and photos of the horrors of WWII and more recently read Timothy Snyder’s books about atrocities in the East. Every act of violence hurts all of us whether or not we know it. “Ask not for whom the bell tolls,/ It tolls for thee.” John Donne
Is there a lampshade shortage?
You are one sick SOB.
Not funny. You're intellectually too far removed from the horror of that period.
STOP
Are you making a joke?
Sick joke, but one we should not ignore
Ick. Your wit is as dry as a tanned skin.
It was very chilling hear Rachel’s words tonight. We are in a very dire situation, one that is very worrisome. This raving lunatic along with the Jew who is a people hater, Stephen Miller, belong in isolated cells.
Marlene, As I wrote to Gloria, who is part of this thread, in my view, Maddow gave Democrats a structure for amplifying the complicity of every Republican who fails to differentiate him or herself from parts of Trump’s 2025 Plan that intentionally were leaked.
Yeah, the R’s are a nasty bunch
This is from Jen Psaki's interview with Jonathan Karl regarding TFFG-
"He lacks any shred of human decency, humility or caring," a former White House official told Karl. "He is morally bankrupt, breathtakingly dishonest, lethally incompetent and stunningly ignorant of virutually anything related to governing, history, geography, human events or world affairs. He is a traitor and a malignancy in the nation, and represents a clear and present danger to our democracy and the rule of law."
Karl explained that the person was in the West Wing and worked alongside Trump for more than a year at a "high level." The key title is "official," indicating it wasn't a staffer or aide.
Jen Psaki and Nicole Wallace are very much on board with their criticisms of TFFG.
The Psaki-Karl interview is really worthwhile.
Two very well informed and caring individuals display concern about this lurching evil threat to our nation. I wish I had room for the Karl book too.
The only way we can neutralize and defeat these neo-Nazi’s is with understanding the system and tools of Government.
might be better to drop "the Jew" descriptor here, Marlene.
Perhaps she was describing the astounding irony of a Jewish person speaking and acting like a Nazi.
Perhaps.....
Frank, I agree that Marlene needs to correct her statement and apologize for using the word Jew as it descriptor.
I would prefer that both TUMP and Miller be six feet underground in a cemetery. I am totally fed up with TFG and his numerous threats. TFG is one of the first of those asshats that should be deported.
he needs to be reduced to political irrelevance by an unassailable majority of American voters... of whom, about a half often don't bother to vote... i think deportation in prison rhetoric is overkill, and a little too close rhetorically to some of the actual fascist possibilities if Trump takes the White House...
Of course he needs to be voted away from any political office anywhere in the US, and his mouth shut by imprisonment following lawful conviction of his many crimes. But his followers need to be re-educated into not fearing their neighbors, including the new people moving into the neighborhood. The latter is the much harder endeavor, and I'm afraid it will take an exceptional amount of work over generations. As with fighting, correcting and reversing climate change to the extent humanly possible, I see this effort at changing the hearts and minds of our neighbors who think as TFFG does (well, in his case, "think" may be inapt, but whatever he does inside his skull, if anything) as the most important challenge in the modern world. It's vital, if you'll pardon the pun.
What other country would want him?
True. I wouldn't wish this on even our worst enemies.
I am reading “Prequel” and heartily recommend it. Having been 7 years old in 1941 and in a very patriotic neighborhood, I remember nothing of the marching Nazis in America. But I keep thinking of the lean, Depression survivors who were drafted into WWII. Today many Americans have their health wrecked by Big Ag and Big Pharma.
Republicans will only have to answer for Trump’s language and behavior if the media push them to. If no one is asking the question, or if, when asked, they deflect and the interviewer doesn’t keep pushing, they will continue to have it both ways. I think Maddow is correct, but only if the media do their jobs. Case in point: the NYT headline cited by Heather.
These headlines should be called out, as such. I know it is not the journalists who write them but they cannot be normalized.
Whenever DJ Treason speaks, it is self-reflective. Everything in this anti-American speech reeks of him and the end of democracy. RM points out the traitor's use of the word "fascists" so that it can't be applied to him. "Save yourselves from this crooked generation." St Peter, Acts 2:40
I COULD COMMIT MURDER ON FITH AVENUE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT AND GET AWAY WITH IT. TRUMP 2015. Nothing new her folks, just the Orange One telling you what he will do in 2025. And get away with it. Keep on moving folks, it's just the Boss making promises he will keep. You'll be OK. You is White and Red MAGA. You have nothing to worry about. There are million ahead of you who WILL be taken care of. Just keep shouting YES! And we'll know you are the good ones, safe from deportation and eligible to help carry out the Orange One's Mandate from the People. What are you looking at your queer? Get back in line and shut up. And get a haircut and learn how to man-up or be the woman God made you. And you, Boy. Put that sign down. You ain't one of us. Get over there with rest of the vermin and don't you dare talk back or talk to me without funny LA Guage that ain't American. Move along folks, nothing here to watch. The Boss is finally telling like it is. Nothing to worry about. Wait. What are you all looking at me for? I'm one of you. I served in Iraq. I'm almost White as you and you. What's wrong with you people? I gone to sixtee rallies and gave my Social Security payments to the cause. What? I'm Catholic, not Christian? Hey. Take your hand off me. Don't push me. Wait, don't chase my boy. Leave my dad alone. Why are you turning againgst me? BECAUSE YOU ARE VERMIN, A WANNABE MAGA, and Impure. YOU ARE SCUMB.
First they came for the Jews ....
Echos of Pastor Martin Niemoller
First they came for the Communists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Communist
Then they came for the Socialists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Socialist
Then they came for the trade unionists
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a trade unionist
Then they came for the Jews
And I did not speak out
Because I was not a Jew
Then they came for me
And there was no one left
To speak out for me
The full quote. Thank you. Twas my point. This bent toward smashing norms and vilifying those of us who are speaking out is frightening. And, those who are learning to hate us don't realize that they will not be special or protected from future persecution from those who will need to purge and purify the brand.
😭😭😭😡
Not all immigrants. His mother immigrated from Scotland, his first wife from Czechoslovakia via Austria, his third wife from Slovenia. I saw a poster at a rally that put it succinctly: "if it weren't for immigrants, Trump wouldn't have any family."
Biden should use the insurrection act to protect us while this is going on, and especially on election night: Because Fascists don't need a majority to take over!
“Fascists don’t need a majority to take over.” Thank you. We are learning that, I hope…
Excellent point. The nazis were the minority, the Italian fascist were too.
As our neighbors in Canada did in 1970 to fight Quebec radicals in the October Rising.
Trump’s 2025 Plan MUST be disconcerting to a couple of Republican Presidential contenders who are the children of immigrants from India. I expect Vivek and Nikki will be speaking up any day now. Just holding my breath….GASPING…..
You'll turn blue before either of them says anything about the RWNJs' anti-immigration and immigrant stance.
Yeah, Lynn…I’m already a Deep Purple….
Trump has been racist/fascist right from the start of his presidency and even before.He said the things he wanted to do and attempted some them. I always got the impression that the msm was "amused" at some of his"antics' when they were NEVER antics at all. I am seeing now that some of the media are "getting it" with him and his horrific vision for ending our democracy and imposing an authoritarian state with him as dictator. The Revenge Tour that he has in mind would put a lot of us into encampments and all of the other dystopian nightmares that he has in mind for us.This needs to be screamed from the rooftops and often.
We seem to forget that he's crazy....and, getting crazier by the day. Senility and loss of his estate and loss of Ivanka are making him really unhinged.
The benefit of this is that business owners who would normally vote Republican will flee to the Democrats in fear of loosing their inexpensive hard working reliable work force. Whites will not do that work, even if they are poor.
I have always found it incredible that he is so anti immigration when he is only 1st or 2nd generation American himself. And his wives are immigrants. But given his father’s fascist leanings, not that surprising I guess.
Wrong. He is calling "ILLEGAL" immigrants. Get the facts right.
You are delusional. He is talking about millions of people pouring over the border.
Nice try calling Trump a fascist. He was president for 4 years. There was no dictatorship.
There was no criminalization of political opponents.
As for using the justice department for political retribution, what do you call the last 3 years? The Democrats have criminalized political opposition. They went after parents
who attended school board meetings, they were caught monitoring churches, the FBI was caught spying over 200,000 Americans, they censored speech, used the IRS and FBI to go over political opposition.
As for Authoritarian rule, all you have to do is look at the COVID lock down. What states
were the most draconian in suppress rights and imposing authoritarian rules? The most democratic states. They locked down their citizens, censored speech, fired anyone who refused to take the vaccine. It was a dress rehearsal for a police state.
You are delusional.
Don’t feed the troll.
de·lu·sion·al
/dəˈlo͞oZH(ə)nəl/
adjective
characterized by or holding false beliefs or judgments about external reality that are held despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary, typically as a symptom of a mental condition.
"hospitalization for schizophrenia and delusional paranoia"
Comparing Trump to Mussolini and Hitler NEVER WAS far-fetched.
It is refusal to see the obvious that was far-fetched.
I was already comparing TFG to Hitler and Mussolini when he was Dictator in chief back the year 2018 after a reporter interviewed him then, the reporter had told TFG that there was a growing number of Americans that didn't like him, TFG replied, '' that's ok, they will like me sooner or later, or else. I decided then he had strong dictator ambitions after i heard that, and his statement angered me, and ignited my extreme dislike for him. I already despised him before he made that statement.
Was that when he demanded loyalty oaths from reporters? Just as Hitler and Goebbels did. Read your history carefully, because Hitler had men around him that were drunk on the "cool-aid" of the time.
Yes, i believe that was when he demanded loyalty oaths from reporters. I have watched many documentaries about Hitler and i remember that about him too. I also saw TFG get angry at a reporter and told the reporter, '' You don't talk to me like that,'' pointing his finger in the reporter's face. Interview over.
Yes, he also suspended several reporters from White House news conferences because they asked him tough questions! Of course, none were from Fox News! No politician/elected official would demand loyalty oaths unless they were authoritarian and self-serving!
I honestly didn't know about TFG suspending those reporters from the White House news conferences. However, i am not surprised at him doing that. TFG is an overbearing, unreasonable, Authoritarian, bully that thinks absolutely no one should question him, even though he is consistently lying and making false statements. He thinks anyone and everyone should bow down to him, not ever question his authority. He has called our veterans of war, Suckers and losers,'' and just yesterday he called legal immigrants, democrats, or, ''Radical Left Lunatics'' vermin. If this raging monster is elected, he wants total control of the Federal Government and install his own loyalists in all positions in our government. Project 2025 is the 925 page manifesto that he wants to employ. All of this is extremely disturbing to me and many others on the democratic side. If i could get my daughter and grandson to go along with me, i would seriously consider leaving the United States, preferably for New Brunswick, or Nova Scotia in Canada. It would be a rather costly action, but i have the resources to do that. I have to admit, i am scared and very upset that an insane and out of control maniac could be a Dictator right here in the United States. This is NOT supposed to be happening here, not ever. Someone, somewhere, needs to put this vicious animal Donald TUMP in a cage and throw away the key.
I am sorry for the rant, Mr. Wilkins, i am just terrified for the future of the United States.
I remember the reaction when the press reported not the first part of HRC’s speech, but the second part in which she used “deplorables” which the press latched onto as if it were the central word in the speech. That may be the result of our badly declining education system.
The media is very complicit in any success the MAGA crowd has had! Ratings are more important to them than the welfare of America!
Virginia, that is why I am so ill-at-ease with the term "authoritarian".
I'm sure many people will think it means "having authority", but the main problem is that it is just too damned long... and sounds like an elitist word...
No slogan.
How would it have come out in To Kill A Mockingbird?
I was shocked and repulsed by him when he mocked a disabled reporter, again something right out of Hitler's playbook, as the disabled were targeted to be eliminated. I asked a Republican neighbor here in RED Florida how she could possibly vote for someone who would do such a thing, and her answer was, "Sometimes the ends justify the means." I wonder how many Republicans who thought that way and voted for him (in spite of all the evidence that this was not a man worthy of any respect) are now regretting what they unleashed on America!
I don't think they regret it at all. For some, there is cognitive dissonance, for others, they really do believe what he is spewing.
Right Ally! Some of you may not want to read this. I knew some people once (they are dead and gone now), who were Einsatzkommando, Waffen SS , SA and Gestapo during WWII. If anyone thinks our MAGA neighbors won't vote for Trump then they are wrong, and very ordinary people (Polizei Battalion 101) will kill for him, even if they are told that they don't have to (see book by Christopher Browning). Then after the mess is cleaned up, (like the Reich in 1945) they will mostly become ordinary folks again, kind, loving, parent teachers and won't admit, maybe even remember a thing. It goes way beyond cognitive dissonance. I knew one "lovely" woman who (among other attrocities) typed out the list for the extermination of 300 Jewish children at Kulmhof Kill camp near Lodz in Poland at the age of 19 (1943). She grew up in and knew only Nazi Germany and could not think otherwise. She saw Jews and Roma as Vermin, no longer people, humans. After the war she was a lovely lady...not even an ounce of guilt. How long has MAGA been active?
This makes me ill! Both of my parents were victims of the Holocaust. They lost so many relatives, including my grandparents on my mother’s side. They were gassed. If it hadn’t been for Simon Wiesenthal and his Nazi hunters, these people hidden among us, Jews, gypsies, gays, and the disabled would have never gotten justice.
At least that explains why some people are MAGAts. I spent a couple of days recently with a child hood friend. He voted for TFFG twice. He doesn't care for Trump but can't bring himself to NOT vote for a Republican. When Trump put an 'R' behind his name, he automatically secured 20-25% of the vote. They have no clue what Trump says or does and they don't care. They will vote "R" regardless of who is on the ticket. It's very scary, but the same is true on the "D" side. We can only hope the numbers match up and don't skew MAGAt.
My hope, Ally House, is that there have to be some who regret, even though they aren't likely to admit it. But it at least may keep them from voting for Trump again.
Peter Thiel regrets supporting TFFG. I think his biggest loss of support is among the 6 feet under group. For a while those turning 18 were very likely to vote Democrat, but that may have turned around a bit.
see below Carol
Per Brian Seltzer on MAGA voters: "Whoever the Democrats hate, that's who I like".
Whoa...can't imagine your neighbor even admitting to that.
It was at that point when I realized there was something very broken among a large portion of our population.
Sad but true, DLJohnson.
I've just posted a mainline comment written within days of the 2016 election on DT's dictatorial intentions...
One cog in Trump’s wheel (MAGA) is Stephen Miller. Some refer to him as Trump’s “Angel of Darkness!”
Back in the day he seemed more of a loudmouthed anushole and I was irritated by people who seemed to use the words "Hitler" and "fascist" too casually. But Trump and what the Republican party has become has abandoned responsible conduct and decency, and are (ironically) a clear and present danger to the Republic. And certainly now those comparisons have become evidence-based.
There were early signs, but from the moment when the man's political language dragged the nation into the sewers -- the "new normal" -- the evidence was quite clear.
The media turned a blind eye to this.
The world is still paying.
The "Central Park Five" case showed too much about this man.
In 2016 I was censored by the NYT for a very factual comment.
How so?
The algorithm found the word Hitler.
Here's what i wrote:
In 1943 my British naval officer father had to spend 5 months in Newcastle, England while his ship's engines were repaired.
In the hotel where we stayed he met and had long conversations with a retired journalist called Wilcox who had covered BOTH the Russian revolution AND Hitler's coming to power in 1933 as foreign correspondent for a newspaper called the News Chronicle.
Wilcox explained the phenomenal success of Hitler by his use of language.
Hitherto, political speeches in Germany had been formal and boring, modeled on... funeral oration...
Hitler screamed barrackroom and beer hall language...
It caught on like wildfire.
*
We all know the consequences. Or do we?
We need far far more retelling of the rise and fall of the dictatorships.
The most ignorant among the MAGA mob will love the rise and rise of Mussolini, the strutting, the Voice, the vast crowds' hysterical adulation...
They'll take to Hitler's ravings of conquest, his violent denunciation of Jews, Slavs, gypsies, all the colored peoples, his telling Germans "You are the Master Race"!
Then, the axeman, the guillotine, the concentration camps... Kristallnacht... Blitzkrieg...
They may still be excited by that.
But... the destruction of Poland, the defeat of France, the assault on Britain... the Blitz... destruction by the Luftwaffe by RAF fighter pilots...
Pearl Harbor, the Japanese sweep across Asia, the invasion of the Soviet Union... the 900 day siege of Leningrad, Stalingrad... the turning of the tide... the death camps, Auschwitz, Sobibor, Majdanek and all the others... the Warsaw ghetto, later, the destruction of Warsaw, when the Polish resistance fought to the death in the sewers and tunnels under the city... meanwhile, landings in Italy, in southern France, above all D-Day and the Normandy invasion.
Downfall. All Germany's major cities destroyed, the Red Army encircling and crushing Berlin... Mussolini's corpse hanging upside down from a meat hook in Milan... Hitler's suicide...
The A bombs destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrenders.
Who knows how many died? 60 000 000? Countless...
Must we risk all this again for the lunacy of Putin and Trump, the inhuman ambitions of men like Xi and Modi... to name only a few of the worst?
The world will not be safe so long as Trump and henchmen walk free. Their freedom is the most direct threat to that of all Americans... and far more than that.
Time to wake up and act before it is too late.
Right there with you Peter. I’ve been calling him a fascist Hitler 2.0 for 8 long years now, the better part of a decade. I saw the writing on the wall the day he vilified Mexican people as rapists and bad people. When he refused to denounce the far right whites supremacists in Charleston, everyone should have known then. I’ve been called ridiculous, hyperbolic, and foolish for using the word fascist or comparing him to Hitler but I’ve never backed down. If we don’t defeat this bastard, it won’t just be camps for “illegal” immigrants as horrific as that alone is; it will be camps for anyone who isn’t pledged allegiance to him and his MAGA atrocity. In other words, you and me, our friends and families, and everyone we know and love.
Charlottesville (VA); Charleston is SC.
If a sane group of "Republicans" don't emerge soon and denounce this horrific speech and this incredibly despicable plan (Project 2025, the camps, etc.) I fear for peace IN America.
It's been commented here that Trump and Company are like frightened cornered tigers - dangerous beyond words. Innocents may suffer in the conflict. Time to cage the beasts.
Well said, Bill. PFKAC (people formerly known as conservative) have GOT to cut the ties with the Nazi/Fascist bent of today's RepubliKan* party and disavow that philosophy.
*RepubliKan, where if I were able to indicate "to the 3rd power" with my laptop, the K's would be Klown Kar Kawkus or Ku Klux Klan. Besides, they've moved so far beyond the fantasy of Q Anon that the use of RepubliQan is outdated. Besides, a "k" is easier for me to type than a "q".
Remember Bill, that it took about ten years of fomentation for Hitler and his horde to come too power and another 6 years for the wheels to fall off completely. I believe the sane group of Republicans is in denial or hiding, and we can't rely on them. Just before I was born (at a MASH in Central Europe) my Dad (an SOE experienced Captain in the Allied Army) was made responsible for part of the de-Nazification of Northern German Sector (Oldenburg). I have direct oral history and discussions with ex Nazi's (No, we never took the Oath...BS) about their experiences and their hopes. Some were really, really really bad actors during WWII, and then not guilty, lambs, they made us. I fear for peace in America too, oh my beautiful America.
Very well put, Bill Alstrom.
Think a most of them are too comfortable where they are and truly fear trump's very well armed base.
"A shrewd victor will, if possible, always present his demands to the vanquished in installments. And then, with a nation that has lost its character -and this is the case of every one which voluntarily submits - he can be sure that it will not regard one more of these individual oppressions as an adequate reason for taking up arms again." -Hitler, "Mein Kampf"
Recall that slavery was one considered so normative the eight presidents held slaves while in office (12 altogether). The function of effective social movements is commonly to draw attention to the elephant in the room.
Not only did the media turn a blind eye, some supposedly liberal outlets actively suppressed any comparison of his actions to those of Hitler or Mussolini…..and they still are. Currently, they are also 'protecting' the fascist utterances of DeSantis, the wannabe Mussolini if ever there was one. These days, I'm having a hard time discerning whether Trump's rants are 'tests of limits' or sheer out of control ravings of a mortally wounded narcissist….not to diminish the danger of either, given his following.
Oh heck, then feed those hand wringers the stories of home grown fascist movements right here in the US of A. Look no further than Timothy Egan's compelling "A Fever in the Heartland" or Rachel Maddow's incredible podcast series "Ultra". These kinds of stories, as well as these Letters, successfully expose these pearl clutchers for what they are.
Dismiss all you like. Getting people to pay attention to anything going on in the world outside their own kitchens is hard enough without the press actively suppressing concerns of those who actually see what's going on. At least hand wringers and pearl clutchers have some awareness of the world, which is better than living in a coma.
MSM grifted off the grifter. Saw it all. MSM is sick.
THAT, S B Lewis, is a point that needs making again and again.
But isn't the media's sickness a major symptom of society's disease?
Another major symptom, upstream of MSM, the fast buck as the measure of all things.
On the way to an early dr’s appointment Joe Scarborough was lambasting the Times headline. I read this same opinion repeatedly yesterday. Is it possible that public opinion can bring MSM back from their horse race/ all sides reporting?
Words that should live in infamy:
"The only corporate social responsibility a company has is to maximize its profits."
- Milton Friedman
After sniffing out the stink with Nixon, it seemed MSM mostly ate out of Reagan's hand.
FASCIST SPEAK TRANSLATOR
https://infogram.com/fascist-speech-translator-1h0n25ye77w9z6p
Thanks, Kathleen, people should read this. But all the worst things the say about others tell us about themselves and their intentions...
Too true.
As Orwell knew well, language is powerful. Republicans have been pulling politcal debate into increasingly (literally) uncivilized territory for many years. I recall, for example, a Republican lawmaker shouting out "you lie" to Obama's state of the union address. As ALWAYS, always, they can dish it out, but they sure can't take it: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/activist-faces-jail-time-laughing-during-sessions-hearing-n754326
Nothing more reprehensible than laughter in tyrants' eyes. Why, the first thing Putin did on coming to power was to have a satirical muppet show lampooning public figures taken off the air...
It seems difficult to satirize America's Apprentice Antichrist. Plainly, millions of Americans have no sense of the ridiculous or the grotesque.
I gave up commercial TV a long time ago, and never saw "The Apprentice". By reputation the climax of the show would be Trump yelling "You're fired", as close as the wannabee tyrant could get, at that point, to "Off with their heads".
FASCIST SPEAK TRANSLATOR
https://infogram.com/fascist-speech-translator-1h0n25ye77w9z6p
... I am lost on this page - near impossible to find anything - cutting in and out - as though I am being prevented from commenting or conversing ... it's been more than 4 hours now ... need to direct time and energies into a more coherent focus ... wishing all the best to you - and all ... peace and love through it all ... see you in the fifth dimension!!
I lost you, Kathleen, without trace. A pity, for you are onto something fundamental.
I can see that there can be a serious problem when these comments threads descend into babel and we are, in effect, burying what we wish to share... golden needles in a haystack.
Did you receive anything re. Survival International?
My feeling is that we and people like that need to get together and change our perspective. This is about more than the survival of threatened tribes in the depths of rain forests. Their survival and that of mankind are intimately linked -- and THAT is what needs to be understood.
A huge challenge to those who believe or desperately want to believe thelselves "better" than other members of the human race.
Know-nothings destroying those who really do know something. Something different. Something precious to them... and potentially, to all mankind.
Like the native Americans who saved the Cartier expedition from certain death in the continental winter.
Like the African slaves who showed European settlers how to farm under the subtropical conditions of the Deep South...
Thank you Peter - my page keeps cutting in and out - bouncing back and forth - losing the thread ... I did not receive anything about Survival International - just looked it up ...:
Survival International
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survival_International
*****
https://www.survivalinternational.org
*****
https://www.survivalinternational.org/tribes
*****
Earth dwellers in less developed areas seem to be generally defenseless against the imposition of societal trends - after all, we need our air conditioners and such - Steven Donziger's ongoing challenges paint a grim picture ... people on Turtle Island have some legal grounds to defend their rights with the "Supremacy Clause" in the Constitution - as hard as it is to overcome the prejudice that they are "uncivilized savage sub-humans" of no count who need to be 'brought around'... some go ahead and sell mineral rights and access to drill for oil, rewarded by monies to buy fancy cars and clothes - join the All American popularity parade - a lot of people are organizing and speaking up - in and out of court - they are not going away - I only can hope enough people in mainstream society take them seriously and stand up for their rights to cultural self determination and religious freedom to honor traditions and raise their own children ... it is an ongoing battle - Indigenous women and children go missing or murdered ... many people in so-called "white society" seems to be threatened by anybody's freedom other than their own ... it boggles the already boggled mind!
I can't wrestle with these pages much - enjoy your comments and appreciate your suggestions when I can find them ... Robert B. Hubbell writes a sensible Substsck page - might be more accessible ... I have ongoing security issues either way ... will let you know if an avenue of communication opens up ... in the meantime, here are a couple of links for your listening pleasure:
Shakuhachi Japanese Bamboo Flute Meditation & Relaxation Music
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gtevwfKTjP8
*****
Zen Stillness | 90 mins | Calm Shakuhachi Music for Yoga, Meditation, Relaxation and Peace | 尺八
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Xm2YkKiXM4s
*****
Peace in one breath ... one breath at a time ... be well ..., ka
“When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.” Maya Angelou
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, historian of autocracy.⬇️
“When two irreducible elements are locked in a struggle, the only solution is force," Mussolini said on Jan. 3, 1925, as he declared the start of dictatorship in Italy. America may never become a one-party state on the classic Fascist model, but Trump and his GOP enablers carry forth this Fascist mentality. We must take their speech seriously as declarations of intent to wreck American democracy and engage in persecution on a large scale as part of that process.”
https://open.substack.com/pub/lucid/p/trump-really-doesnt-want-you-to-call?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
You're right. The error many in the US and beyond made was to look at Hitler and Mussolini in 1938-1940, when their totalitarian states were fully in place. We forget that this didn't happen overnight. In the case of the NSDAP, it received less than 40% of the vote, and its vote share had gone down to 32% when Hitler became chancellor in January 1933. It took another 3 years to achieve Gleichschaltung - the Nazification of all institutions, public, private and community-based - which is what delivered a totalitarian system. Before 1933, they had gradually gained the leadership of many regional and city administrations, and on that, they built their power. They eviscerated the Weimar Republic from within. Not because the Weimar Republic was weak, as has been argued, but because the Nazis played to win at all costs, and used all and any means at their disposal - legal means, cheating, financial pressure, targeted division and isolation of enemies, political and social violence. They deliberately made the country ungovernable, then said they were the only ones who could provide order. In that, they were greatly assisted by Stalin's USSR - another totalitarian state - which financed and "supported" (i.e. told them what to do) the German communists, who refused to work with any other party, including the democratic socialists, against the Nazis.
Yes, one side continues to plays by the rules while the other takes advantage of that to take over.
“I used to rig card games for a living. I’d watch people sit down and lose everything Again and again. But they didn’t lose because they “played by the rules“ and we didn’t. They lost because it wasn’t a game. It just looked like one. Democrats think it’s a game.” From Derek Delgado on Twitter years ago. Still true.
Yes it is. I read the Death of Democracy, getting the book at the Holocaust Museum in D.C. back in 2016. What is happening here has so much correlation that it is scary. Dems continue to try to play the rules not using them to the fullest extent. Like "due process" and it current interpretation of graduated punishment. That is NOT due process as a legal scholar once advised me in the handling of discipline at school. What it is in the most simple terms: notification of the charges, hearing, then judgement. The wealthy have co-opted that idea to mean this start at the lowest punishment, then go up the ladder. The liberals have bought into the game. Can anyone imagine where this country would be today it 45 had been arrested on J7? All of his "political" prisoners would be on the run and not be so unconcerned and boastful.
and delay, delay, delay. Not to mention the non-stop threats
And yet many believe both Democrats and Republicans to be equally 'dirty', and then they don't vote.
Exactly. Gingrich did a masterful job over and above what Reagan did in convincing voters of how "corrupt" democrats were while he and his cronies were doing the same things, even worse. Democrats did little to combat them. As Nicole Wallace once said "Democrats are more afraid of republicans than republicans are of democrats." She should know as she worked for republicans. Matthew Dowd also said that democrats fight these battles with one had behind their back - the upper hand. Both statements so true.
Republicans don't seem to be afraid of Republicans even though they are their worst enemy. It's like the Ukraine War. The Russian saboteurs are doing some major damage inside Russia. Many war machine factories have been heavily damage or completely destroyed. High ranking officials have been assassinated by the saboteurs and the Kremlin. But yet, we read about the battles in Ukraine to the exclusion of many of the events terrorizing Russia from the inside.
And the Us had our own Nazis to deal with. The Nazi convention in Madison Square Garden in 1939, for starters
Is that the one that Fred Trump attended?
No idea, I do have a copy of an article that addresses his attendance at a KKK rally. If memory serves; I may look for it.
House speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
Anne Applebaum was calling this out back in 2016
Exactly, was clear from the first utterance
Speaking of refusal to see the obvious:
HCR, the hypocritical neo-fascist Vampire Liberal, comes out firmly in favor of low-wage exploitation of underprivileged, poorly-educated immigrants who don't have a voice.
HCR warns us that Trump's imagined immigrant-expulsion policy would "strip the nation of millions of workers" and "shatter the economy, sparking sky-high prices, especially of food."
That's right, if we can't get away with exploiting wage-slave immigrants, then comfortable Vampire Liberals like HCR will have to pay more at the store.
At least Trump himself has made his plans clear before the election. In doing so, he's helped support the future of democracy. The polls showing Trump's strength are highly suspect. That said, because of many now-familiar factors Biden isn't a strong candidate despite his awe-inspiring accomplishments. Otherwise the election result would be a foregone conclusion.
But with Republicans trying to manipulate the election with no-chance-in-hell thirty-party candidates, voter suppression, and shenanigans yet to materialize, from now until Election Day will be filled with building anxiety. In the end, my bet is on a free America.
Also, let’s put this in context of the position tfg has put himself in. All he knows is the con. Now he’s under dire legal jeopardy from many directions. His NY business is toast. He’s doubling down to act as if he’s the meanest, baddest, most powerful autocrat the world has ever seen. He’s cornered, and he’s terrified.
He’s gathered around himself power-mad sycophant lieutenants and staff who are all flawed and for whom serving under him is their last chance to grab the golden ring. If he loses, they’re has-beens. So they’re going all in too.
And you’ve got the cynical plutocrat opportunists wanting obscene riches and foreign tyrants and their oligarchs trying to bring America to its knees or as an ally for their predation. Together they’ve assembled a propaganda machine that truly is dangerous, but even Fox is being challenged and loses in the courts.
Then you have his followers. You’ve got true believers who worship their anti-Christ wannabe as a savior. Many of them are conned by power-mad pastors whose view of God has nothing to do with the core teachings of Jesus. So they preach old Testament vengeance. And you’ve got those who feel all is chaos unless they’ve got an authoritarian on the golden toilet who ruthlessly imposes solutions to all problems, solvable and insolvable. Father-complex anyone?
This is what we’re up against. They’re trying to wear us down. We need to get out the vote and beat them again and again until enough of their pols (Lindsay Graham and other sellouts) realize they’ll lose with MAGA messaging.
I will keep saying this: Voting is important, but I don't think it will be enough. Fascists don't wait to win a majority! So, VOTE, but also be ready to fight the next coup.
Some states have been gaming the system, it will not be a normal election.
Votes are inherently very serious business, but I also like to think that my vote for Democrats is a virtual pie (or worse) in the face of Trump, et al.
Gary, i have been comparing Trump to the Anti Christ for a while. Here's why I think so:
Anti Christ-
*a person or force seen as opposing Christ or the Christian Church.
*a person or thing regarded as supremely evil.
*a great antagonist expected to fill the world with wickedness.
* will be the leader of a one-world governmental system.
* will possess charisma, intelligence ( this disqualifies him, though), and determination.
* a man of lawlessness.
Other than his not being Jewish, Trump possess these "qualities,"
I agree, although I think of evil as a collective madness and individuals as role players. Whatever forces were/are behind Hitler and other tyrants worldly and occult, may be acting here, and they can empower individuals but aren’t ultimate. All isn’t lost. We’re undergoing upheaval and transformation.
Evil isn’t ultimate in the sense that the deepest, shared aliveness interconnects all of us beyond ego. When you tap into that — you can’t fully grasp it, because it’s larger than an individual consciousness, you experience a love beyond any prior experience. There’s also abundant psi research that demonstrates we’re all interconnected (see The Conscious Universe by Dean Radin, and I’m sure others).
You can’t embody all of the deadly sins unless you’re objectifying others and egotistically projecting a self-image that identifies with power, not love. Briefly, I’ve had non-dual breakthroughs in meditation and a NDE. It’s too much to lay out in this blog.
What can you do? “Be the person your dog thinks you are.” ;-)
Thanks for the reply. As I said, it's a bit complicated for me to understand.
The Anti-Christ will supposedly be Jewish, but I'm delving into a topic that is very complicated, so I'll shut up.
No need to be completely literal. Whatever seer is quoted in the Bible said that very long ago.
Left the church, but nonetheless, the comparison has crossed my mind many times.
This is very scarry stuff and I’ve been having nightmares. The idea that he’s going to “take out” [i.e., kill] his enemies has already started with death threats against Jack Smith and his family. Not to mention trying to kill Nancy but battering her 80+ husband with a hammer. Are people closing their eyes and ears or too stupid to understand this lunatic is deadly serious? His words to the military this past weekend are so hypocritical – recall he called dead soldiers losers and suckers when Gen. John Kelly was COS – Recall his son Robert was killed instantly from a land mine in Afghanistan 13 years ago – age 29. So many have given their lives to protect us but this this vile snake oil maggot is spreading Nazi hate and many are believing him.
Linda-
I like to assume that the Republicans in Congress are all cowards for not calling out TFFG and his Fascist followers. But, I wonder how many of them have received threats when they have spoken out? Any idea?
Linda Force,
Trump tells us who he is everytime he speaks.
Question: if we were in trouble as a nation....which we are....do you think DT would offer himself as a sacrifice to save us?The answer we know to be true regarding DT's concern is "NO...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" BUT I AM WILLING TO SACRIFICE YOU...ALL YOU ARE...EVERY FREEDOM YOU DEEM AS PRECIOUS...EVEN YOUR VERY LIVES....THE LIVES OF YOUR CHILDREN....THE AIR WE BREATHE...CLEAN WATER...FORGET THE POOR OR THOSE WITH PHYSCAL NEEDS OR THOSE WHO ARE NOT "WHITE" (unless you are a person of color who is totally devoted to MY (DT'S) concerns or needs.....) FORGET OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM (our children will be brainwashed....the truth will be according to DT operatives....history and possibly science will be rewritten....)DT WILL SHOUT OUT, "FREEDOM" IS FOR ME ALONE!!! I WILL RECREATE A NEW IDEA OF "FREEDOM".
That is who he is...we know it....we have seen it in his life. He should not be allowed to run as a candidate for "dog catcher"...much less President of the United States of America.
The only one who is happy about all of these political struggles for power/control (as well as the fighting in Israel/Gaza) is Putin. As we are drawn more and more within this tangled web, in which no one wins and innocents are being slaughtered...Putin is seizing his opportunity to weaken us....to divide us. DT is a small pawn under Putin's influence. We need to wake up and guard our freedoms while we have them!!!!
Well said Linda.
Mine too, but the danger is real and the stakes are high.
Michael,
"he's helped support the future of democracy"
Trump is also sending a clarion call to the very large numbers of Americans who have now bought into the narrative that "white people are under attack", "affirmative action is robbing white children of a future", "white people need to "take back" America".
These Americans, who have somehow convinced themselves they are victims while sitting in front of a TV set all day eating potato chips and getting fat, not doing any work at all, will VOTE for Trump.
Presumably, Trump voters want an even EASIER life than they already have by sitting on ass all day long watching TV.
Where I came from, there are a lot of Trump supporters that work construction jobs, laborers, mostly blue collar...they are white people who live in the burbs of cities with a large ghetto, who look at the world as “us and them”. They are parents of policemen and firefighters who hear of the horror of mental illness and drug addiction.
It’s a dangerous consciousness but they don’t see it that way.
I know a number of extremely hard-working Trump supporters whose "news" sources are Newsmax, Breitbart, QAnon, and Fox.
No doubt, among the large number of Trump supporters who are not working and have time to go to the Capitol and riot and commit treason, there must be some that are. Just statistically speaking they cannot ALL be sitting on arse all day. Just most of them.
As for consuming Nazi propaganda funded by Russia for American consumption, yep, they actively "work" to do that.
Many of the supporters who went to the Capitol were employed. And many who continue to support him today can be found working in the Capitol (House and Senate), in state and local governments, in real estate offices and hedge funds, in schools and colleges, in the media, on farms and in retail, in religious organizations, and across the spectrum of paid employment. It is a serious mistake to dismiss "most of them" as sitting on their arses all day.
Agreed. Mike may be thinking about retirees. And let's not forget that many of our police and military are fascists as well. We can only hope that their top leadership are true patriots who will honor and respect the Constitution.
Too many other people only watch CNN and MSNBC.. works both ways
Neither one has worked to promulgate lies--like who really won the last election.
Agreed but CNN/MSBNC also thrive on sensationalism
All are not lazy or stupid. True believers in bull Schitt.
Hope you are right, but the manipulation is world-class
I wish I were as optimistic as you are.
I'm trying to be realistic based on the circumstances. Brimming with optimism I'm not. I can imagine scenarios that the fascists are planning that would disrupt polling and sink Biden and democracy. Or the U.S. is dragged into a war in the Middle East, or the economy takes a serious hit.
But we should also keep in mind realistic scenarios that would help our cause — Trump goes to jail, his increasing paranoia and disjointed slurred ramblings force him to quit, and so on.
So, you and millions of others think “Biden isn’t a strong candidate despite his awe-inspiring accomplishments,” but you do think Republicans are trying to manipulate the election? Coincidence? I think not.
Sorry, I don’t understand your point. The things I mention aren’t mutually exclusive.
I’m sure you’ve picked up on the egregious disconnect between Biden’s accomplishments (which I suspect in a general sense of helping Americans and the world, even exceed those of Obama, who I also really respect) and the nonstop MSM messaging of “he’s old, not viable, yada yada…” I suspect that this disinformation stream is once again nefarious in origin, of which we only experienced a sampling in 2016 - that was just an experiment, to see how gullible Americans are. Like Goebbel’s Big Lie, repeat anything often (“he’s old”) and soon enough, everyone buys into it and can’t think of anything else. Yeah, he’s old, and yeah, he’s kicking ass. What we need in a POTUS is someone to kick some serious ass, not someone who just happens to be young. Mike Johnson is young…. Now if they’re young AND strong, I’m totally down for that. Get on with it, Progressives, I’ll wait…..
HCR, the hypocritical neo-fascist Vampire Liberal, comes out firmly in favor of low-wage exploitation of underprivileged, poorly-educated immigrants who don't have a voice.
HCR warns us that Trump's imagined immigrant-expulsion policy would "strip the nation of millions of workers" and "shatter the economy, sparking sky-high prices, especially of food."
That's right, if we can't get away with exploiting wage-slave immigrants, then comfortable Vampire Liberals like HCR will have to pay more at the store.
Marc, In my view, calling out Trump must entail challenging MSM’s application of normative rhetorical coverage of an obviously asymmetrical upcoming general election. While I don’t have a ready answer, there must be an alternative to our remaining essentially anxious spectators because we’re not in the proverbial rooms where election season coverage decisions are made.
Somehow we need to make more noise, but be strategic about it.
J L, The term that leaped off the screen was “strategic.” Because I believe we’re all acutely aware of the dire consequences of the current coverage, I’m banking on a better mind than mine to advise where we might go from here.
Me too, but even better still when enough of us pull in the same direction.
Use photos. Pictures speak louder than words. Publish the deaths of despots like Ceausescu and Mussolini:
https://www.google.com/collections/s/list/GZy4WxFtOxNuOde01ankYcxSjUnOfg/KZT4QSNixD0
Ceausescu's execution
Photo
Mussolini Executed
28th April 1945: The bodies of Benito Mussolini and Clara Petacci, his mistress, hang from the roof of a gasoline station after they had been shot by anti-Fascist forces while attempting to escape to Switzerland. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)
https://www.google.com/collections/s/list/GZy4WxFtOxNuOde01ankYcxSjUnOfg/KZT4QSNixD0
Biden has to be ready to invoke the Insurrection act, and I don't mean theoretically.
Bruce, In my view, Biden has to enlist a charismatic squad to go to where the trouble is in this country, the trouble that Donald Trump is stoking, and show they can work on legitimate issues and grievances.