Trump having dinner with Ye, the antisemitic artist (I don’t know who and what else he hates) and white supremacist, admirer of Russian president Vladimir Putin, Nick Fuentes, just before Thanksgiving is a historical marker. But for me, and for so many others, it was no big deal. Trump has been feasting on fascism for how long?
They met in 1973, Donald Trump and Roy Cohn, the American lawyer and prosecutor who first gained attention as Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel.
‘Cohn had become the premier practitioner of hardball deal-making in New York, having mastered the arcane rules of the city’s Favor Bank (the local cabal of interconnected influence peddlers) and its magical ability to provide inside fixes for its machers and rogues.’
“You knew when you were in Cohn’s presence you were in the presence of pure evil,” said lawyer Victor A. Kovner, who had known him for years. Cohn’s power derived largely from his ability to scare potential adversaries with hollow threats and spurious lawsuits. And the fee he demanded for his services? Ironclad loyalty.(VanityFair)
Between his father, Fred Trump, and Roy Cohn, Donald J. Trump was well schooled.
Nick Fuentes is nothing compared to Trump’s favorites: North Korea’s Chairman Kim, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Erdogan of Turkey, Rodrigo Duterte, Philippines and Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Egypt.
We’re referring to the former president of the US, who is still worshiped by many millions of Americans. Do they care who Trump dines with unless it is President Joseph R. Biden?
Yes, Fern, there’s that history and yet… not shocking that so much of TFG’s, his family’s and cohort’s connections were corrupt and this “news” was available for us to research and read. (excluding repubs? Or that didn’t matter?)
The repub voters didn’t care. Then and now: win anyway they can. At any cost. And they are completely focused on taking down and destroying President Biden at any cost to him and the USA.
Irenie, They have to destroy the country to save it. I don't refer to our moral compasses, consciences, or democratic principles when examining their behavior. They've got a different drummer. We will turn around the ones we can and shut down those who threaten our survival.
Irenie, let's not starve Democracy's strong advocates. It is time for activities that nourish us and time to learn, teach and discover with the people we love and like a lot. Our spirits need to relax. Remember how Pete Seeger encouraged us to sing? Withal, it is time to connect with one another in playful and caring ways.
Some of them still don’t care. I was making calls for Sen. Warnock yesterday and got a guy who told me he and his wife are Republicans and T___p supporters. He hung up (hanged up?) before I could tell him there’s still time for redemption. By the way, if you’re not helping the Warnock campaign, there are many ways to do so. The one thing not needed is money: as of a couple of days ago the campaign had more than $20 million.
This dinner is foreshadowing of Trump's down and dirty strategy for 2024.
Appealing again to bottom-feeder voters. Get a celebrity on board (Kanye this time instead of Walker.) Get someone who hates democracy (Fuentes instead of Stewart Rhodes.) So predictable.
When it was revealed that Cohn had been a Trump "coach" it should have been the end of Trumps political ambitions. It would have been - in a nation that really thought Joe McCarthy was evil. But millions lapped up McCarthy's hate like high priced ice cream.
And their progeny are out there now - 10s of millions of them. Haters of equality. Haters of tolerance. Haters of "others".
But there are more of us than them. Shame them. Shun them. Shunt them into political oblivion. We will prevail. 2024 will be a powerful bright blue statement of democracy.
I will never understand people who admire Hitler and Mussolini, two of history’s biggest losers. Think about it: Hitler took Europe’s biggest economy and turned it into a smoking ruin, with millions of its people dead, and millions more enslaved. Mussolini turned Italy into a laughingstock and a tragedy. Putin is joining them in the losers’ brigade. What’s to like?
I imagine part of the problem is people's lack of knowledge about history. How many actually know much about what happened in both world wars (one was to end all wars)? “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Santayana
But they kept “The Master Race” myth alive. And they proved that even smoldering destruction, humiliation, and starvation cannot kill the perennial need in some to feel superior over others.
The conflict that people wrestle with internally - am I good enough? gets externalized so that they never have to acknowledge that it's all about their own feelings of inadequacy. Instead they make others the "bad" guy who they can blame for all their own failures. Unfortunately the euphoria they feel at being the victor is short lived, so once again they have to find another person or group to target. A story older than time and practically biblical. If we refuse to "know thyself" we are doomed to repeat this.
Some of this had to do with how children in Germany were raised during that time. The Dr. Spock of that time was a man who advocated for "spare the rod and spoil the child". His idea was to beat the willfulness out of the child, until he/she became submissive and obedient. When a leader arrives promising the same kind of treatment of the "bad ones" it appeals to large swaths of the population. Couple that with the vengeance woven through the Armistice agreement after WWI, the country was defeated, not only in war but in spirit. Violence breeds violence.
Sounds like you had a tough journey, and perhaps made use of it, by raising your children differently. The saying is "spare the rod and spoil the child" suggesting that if you don't hit your children they will somehow spoil, whatever that means. Lots of people have been raised that way, and continue to be raised that way, unfortunately. It takes work and courage to challenge those ideas passed down to us. Good for you.
Perhaps the key point in who sits at the table of the deranged is the age of the guests, who will target the other young, unformed and disenfranchised. Gen Z and the next up are a prime target for these incorporated anti-human types. They're all working for the big mouth Ponzi $cheme in the $ky.
A great comparison! Well put, JennSH. May I add that the Sounds of Silence tells it all. The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls. And men's room walls. And Fox.
Why on earth does a 24-year old get any political traction whatsoever? For any Congressional or Presidential delegates or aspirants to knuckle to someone whose brain hasn’t even fully developed is nuts.
I believe, Deborah, that 45 is “knuckling” to much bigger and darker forces than a puny nazibaby like Fuentes. Look at the $500,000 in bitcoin that was transferred to Fuentes and his goons in December 2020, one month before the attempted overthrow of our duly elected government. A French man was the source (his name is not known publicly) of the “donation” to Fuentes’ group and now the “donor” is dead by his own hand. So, ANYBODY shouldn’t have that kind of sway. A Mussolini lover to boot (pun intended...).
Thank you Elizabeth. Yes, in this case 'follow the bitcoins.' Per the IRS, the America First Foundation (AFF) is a 501(c)4 tax organization. As such AFF must file a Form 8976. Per the Southern Poverty Law Center, (SPLC) Michelle Malkin sits on the Board of the AFF 501(c)4 and is the "mentor to Fuentes & some of his [Fuentes'] followers who refer to [Malkin] as 'Mommy" Mommy and her "social organization" are not "nice people". AFF seeks to make unlimited contributions to seditionist candidates.
Perhaps I don't pay enough attention to the white nationalist crowd, but are Filipinos considered "white" now? I looked up Ms. Malkin and, besides her nutso political views, she seems to be a lovely young woman of Phillipine ancestry. Is there a narrative about her ethnicity/race that I'm too lazy to hunt for? What a strange world: I guess next, Fuentes, Mallin, and Clarence Thomas will stage a rally for "white rights!
Yes, Dirk, they already staged that rally. It’s called the January 6, 2021 seditious insurrection. That was the rally for “white rights”: you hit the nail on the head! I
She is another far right pundit. They are not (presently) demanding pure 'Whiteness' of their base, but that will soon change. Right now, they are just using whomever will talk their message.
Malkin is proof there is indeed a second career for over-the-hill Olongapo boom-boom girls. ("former naval persons" of a certain age will get the reference)
I had not heard anything about this bitcoin transfer! Wow. Fuentes is an out and out Fascist. They are the boldest they've ever been, even more that during the 1930s .
Linda, you may want to listen to Rachel Maddow's podcast Ultra [<https://www.rachelmaddow.com/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra/>] to how these fascist movements evolved through the 1940's antiwar movement largely funded by Christian-right Rev. Father Coughlin, who had the largest radio audience in America at the time and his funding by Hitler and the Nazi propaganda machine
I am infuriated at the lack of investigation into the role many congress people played in the attempted coup. Up to and including Ginny Thomas and her compromised husband.
Fascists for years have been putting guns in the hands of starving gangs of 10 years old and up boys, pointing a gun to their head, feeding them, paying them and forcing them to commit horrendous crimes against humanity. It is a sick practice that often is instigated to protect the industry of the colonizer, whether it be drugs, diamonds, mining interests, oil and gas, and pretty soon, water.
while I detest Fuentes, your remark about someone that young deserving political traction, is ageist. Maxwell Frost, a 25 y.o. Democrat, just won the election for Florida’s 10th Congressional District. By your comment he does not deserve any traction. Maxwell was also one of the young people who organized the March for our Lives against gun violence when he was 21.
Methinks you were a bit hasty in slamming an age group.
Cynthia At 89 I have a distinct view of ‘ageism.’ At 25 I had the answers, but didn’t know the questions. Now I know the questions but have few if any answers. Also, the finest wine after 64 years is almost always spoiled. Perhaps, at 90, I’ll acquire greater wisdom, though I consider that doubtful.
It is impossible to compare ages as technology, science, and the arts have moved us forward faster. Someone 25 today has a completely different skill and experience set than someone 25 decades ago. My 8 year old grandson is learning to code. What they watch, hear, see, experience is much different from children who grew up on Sesame Street.
Well said. Every generation discovers solutions before they understand the problem. The wise within that generation spend time and energy clarifying the questions and working at connecting the two. It will be the passion among those who have yet to become wise that stear the quest and make the difference until the next generation takes up the effort. The underlying questions about how to (or how they can) create a just democracy will likely be different but in the longer view of history quite similar. A just society and the governance of a democracy is not an outcome, an end result, but a process, a way to build or create within, some maner of living with each other in such ways as we, the members and organization, improve in connection to the diversity of those living in its presence. That is why when we were young, we discover the answers and thusly began the work, the process, and the commitment to bettering rather than fixing or fitting it to some old model or some prior result.
Molly A year from now I may know the answer—or is it the question? Have I passed my prime, am awaiting my prime, or never had a prime? How will I know?
So appreciative of your learned perspective as we wander through the weeds to attempt to understand this chapter in history. Without this Substack community, without Heather connecting the historical dots to today's events, we'd all be lost souls.
Cynthia, I agree age should never be a factor. Chuck Grassley was as terrible at 35 as he is now at 89, just reelected to the Senate. Maxwell Frost was duly elected by We The People. He is deserving of every support necessary to help him develop and grow into a powerful leader for good. I am sorry the comment seemed to be slamming his age group. Thank you for pointing it out.
I didn't see "ageism"; what stood out for me was that both young men are 24 and already strong enough to be a force, one for good and one for evil. It's the under-twenties who will shape what happens next.
I think your labels for them, as I recall them from my own experience, was too generous. Where I came from, I remember them as simply stupid and real assholes to boot.
Sorry, they were the faction of the New Left that wiped out the rest, and the rest of the Trotskyites, Maoists, True Marxists, True Communists, Yippies and the rest of the other splinter groups all had their heads up their asses too. I speak from experience.
Tom I recall that the Communists were ‘despicable’ before WW II. Then, as Churchill phrased it, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,’ Uncle Joe became our ‘almost democratic’ ally. My British cousin, with us during the London blitz, and Dick Pearson, who later became an officer at the National Geographic, loudly sang patriotic Soviet songs that would have prompted federal investigation a scant few years later.
As for ‘socialism.’ For some a dirty word, then the Great Society including Medicare and much more, and now increasingly a Republican dirty word with Medicare and Social Security in the cross hairs.
I haven’t a clue whether it’s good or bad to be ‘woke.’ My 21 year old grandson tells me that woke is passé without my ever experiencing it.
Maxwell is so impressive, heard him interviewed on PBS Newshour, I think it was. And he started working on gun safety when he was 16 and became involved as a result of the Sandy Hook massacre.
I had the same thought about Maxwell Alejandro Frost, as well as David Hogg and Greta Thunberg. Also MI senator who went viral with her speech denouncing hate, Mallory McMarrow, said if we want to get young people voting, we need to have young candidates. Of course all of this doesn't make Mr. Fuentes any less of a white supremacist......
No it doesn’t make Mr. Fuentes less of a white supremacist. Sadly, though he is not unique. There are more than a few who believe like him and have through the ages. What I wonder about is what is it that perpetuates such beliefs in people through the ages? Is there some evolutionary purpose?
Seriously, this pattern keeps repeating . . . in the present instance, we’re seeing a repeat of behavior and politics we saw in the thirties for example. What is it that keeps human civilization from learning this lesson once and for all?
Cynthia, you’re right; I was too hasty in my comment. One’s prefrontal cortex takes about 25 years to form fully, but there are plenty of principled and hardworking people younger than that. Calling myself out, I’d say I was making a quick judgement of Fuentes based on his age and views, though age certainly doesn’t determine political stance.
If we take age out of the equation, I’d say that plenty of other points in this dispatch deserve incredulity: the Trump-Ye mutual admiration society, Trump’s failure to repudiate what Fuentes stands for and articulates, and Kevin McCarthy’s apparent willingness to accept the positions of Fuentes, Marjorie Green, and their ilk. The more extreme the Republican Party becomes, the more accepting of hate fringe its leaders and would-be leaders are, the more naked their will to power appears — even when the foundations of their beliefs contradict (in both Ye’s and Fuentes’s case) the value of their own existence.
These things remind me of my reactions during the last Presidential Administration, a time in which Trump and the Republicans blew through so many norms and rewrote national policy on what seemed a daily basis. That McCarthy (certainly not known for his adherence to principles of decency, but still) would bow now to the far left, as exemplified by Fuentes and Marjorie Green — well, I understand it as part of his bid for the Speakership, but I think he’s digging a deep hole for himself, his party, and the national interest. The nuttiness of the Ye-Trump-Fuentes constellation sure looks obvious to me; the fact that TFG and his pals still get any attention, much less fawning attention and supplication, feels both pathetic and dangerous.
I suppose it would depend on the 24-year old. Trump's 66-year-old emotional development was halted somewhere in the single digits, while teen Greta Thunberg has showed a fair degree of precocious maturity. I am only a year younger than Trump, but have the sense that our national political cast of characters might benefit from a bit more youth.
I do believe that every age has fortes and foibles, and that while much can be gained from long engaged experience, that assumes one was actively learning to begin with, and not grown complacent over time. We need a robust array of diverse, good-faith perspectives from all ages, which is not to say predators of any age are welcome.
Agree. He's 24, didn't finish college, and is half Mexican "Fuentes" meaning he is anti-himself, besides antisemitic, similar weirdness of Ye. I don't get it.
What makes a person a nazi? Is there some sort of genetic defect? Or environmental factor? It seems people like Fuentes have a thirst for power, and they have learned that inciting hatred of others by blaming all one's difficulties in life on those "others" is very attractive to many. It's so much easier than trying to make life better for everyone. 😪
Corporate is cultivating new whips among the disenfranchised Gen Z and after, because they saw younger people step up in the midterms. They also see this group being serious about the changing climate and the availability of water, which is being privatized in plain sight with little opposition. Resources are the goal, and Risk is their game.
Let's start right now to fully understand that the real creature vying to be the prince of darkness in 2024 as leader of the GOP is Ron De Santis. The mainstream press has to lay out for the public everything about him , his wife, his close aides and financial backers to show they are not fit to lead the country. De Santis is Trump with brains. There is nothing about him that is praiseworthy. Nor has anyone in the press told me how a creature like Fuentes sprung into the prominence he has. Who spawned him, who shaped him how did a bad seed like this get to where he commands any following. Until they come back with that info they are not doing their job. Going forward no nice words about DeSantis. Trump will take care of his own self-destruction. Sadly there appear to be no electable Republicans who have any idea of how to make this country one in which we can have pride . Right now the only party working toward that end is the democratic party.
Professor Richardson has framed the issues raised by this Trump dinner with scum like Fuentes and Ye better than anyone in the mainstream press.
You speak my heart. Thank you. Desantis is a fascist and he will destroy democracy in our country if given the chance. Educational experts have determined that his policies here in Florida ensure a next generation of ignorant racists to add to his base. Again, thank you for your eloquence is recognizing that Desantis is trump 2.0-smarter and intentionally cruel.
I agree with every negative comment here about DeSantis. But while he may be smarter than TFG (which is not a high bar), he's lacking one important asset. Several political talking heads have made the point that DeSantis does not have TFG's ability to entertain, charm and sway a crowd with his personality. I'm not saying DeSantis is not a threat. But lacking TFG's evil "pied piper personality" is a major failing that will not help DeSantis gather followers outside of Florida among the majority of people in the country who are not familiar with him.
Yes, you do have a point, CC. Also, the country (except FL & TX) seems to be rejecting the MAGAts in general. Saw a poll on Breaking Points last week that showed people disapprove of MAGAt more than they disapprove of cheeto.
Tx and Fl subjected to the worse voter “integrity,” I mean suppression. And yet, according to the Dallas Morning News, the Dems are scratching their heads wondering what they did wrong. WTF Dems, you were screwed from the git go. Don’t you remember leaving the state to protest. I’m sure other Repub cretins are looking at Tx and Fl and thinking, let’s do that. It worked like a charm and nobody seems to care….
Today, i believe even more that you're onto something here, CC. DeSantis and many other 'smart' Rs (who potentially wanna run in '24) are staying silent on this stuff. So far, no one really challenges cheeto... and that still leaves him the R leader. They're afraid to cross him because he still dominates the base? Of course, he hasn't been indicted yet... and who knows if he ever will be. Or if he is... will that cause them to all rally for him??
I don't think we can count on the mainstream press to do what you are proposing; they didn't for tfg and I can't think of any reason why they would re DeSantis. Murdoch has apparently turned against tfg but certainly not against DeSantis.
Kristol is someone I used to seriously disagree with and dislike, but when push came to shove, it turned out he could find his moral compass still in his backpack and take it out and start following it. He walks the walk as well as talks the talk. And if you think that's not important then you have so much yet to learn about politics that I doubt you could do it in all the years you have left.
Many of us have come to realize in recent years, the vast majority of Republicans support authoritarianism over democracy. At this point, anything other than full-throated denunciation of the majority of Republican politicians is inadequate.
At the time of the 2000 election misery, I heard R voters, not politicians, say that anyone who was confused by a butterfly ballot shouldn’t be able to vote, period.
Well, Barbara, let’s count: Liz Cheney (no vote of course), Adam Kinzinger (also no vote), Lisa Murkowski (reelected), Charlie Baker, Gov of Massachusetts. Looking up who might be on this list, there was no one....
Sorry I can’t put Cheney on the list she agreed with him 99% percent of the time it took Jan 6th for her to say enough is enough. If she had spoken up before I would say yes.
I read recently that Cheney is using her leadership role on the Jan6 committee to focus the final report solely on Trump, earning ire from other committee members, who want other elected officials implicated in the insurrection to pay for their crimes as well. They say she has turned the work of the committee into her own presidential candidacy launching pad. Country over party? Or Cheney over Trump?
But you agree with her on the most critical issue. We should thank Trump for coming along and kicking us awake, to learn that the question is NOT "are you a Republican or a Democrat?" but rather: "do you believe in this democratic constitutional republic and are you willing to fight to keep it?"
While Trump seems on the point of self immolation at this point, I'm interested in what we can do about DeSantis, who is much the same, somewhat smarter, as corrupt and possibly a small amount less venal. By all means, let the far righters eat their own young. But they are a distraction in one way from the work we need to do to ensure they are not elected anywhere. Many of the critical federal slots that they won were only won by a few percent. What if we could stop DeSantis (likeliest nominee given the sludgepot at this time) and get out 6% more blue voters in the next two years (oh, and support the lawsuits fighting gerrymandering and voter suppression)? Watching Trump go down the vortex is gratifying, but remember, them eating each other without positive action sticks us with them next go round!
Desantis MUST be sidelined-he is a clear and present threat to our democracy. One must only look at the destruction he has wrought here in Florida to know that if he achieves the Oval, fascism will be full-on in the USA.
Isn't that the point of the new Republicans? I certainly hope there is a very strong initiative working behind the scenes right f*cking now to stop DeSantis in his tracks. If he makes it to the ticket, fascism will absolutely be full-on.
If you are a woman (or a man who supports women) and aren’t upset enough about Fuentes’ antisemitism, be aware that he’s also against women being allowed to vote. The fact that TFG likes someone who spouts this garbage tells us all we need to know about how far he will go to obtain, and keep, power.
What a trio! A stable genius bankruptcy-savvy businessman turned tfg, a rapper who has not a grain of political experience but wants to be the next president or his sidekick, and a completely misguided fascist-admiring neo-Nazi/fascist ... and not even five decent Republicans who can stand up and say/do something?
Well, as far as the meeting went with Fuentes, who flattered and ego pumped Donald Trump, we’ll be hearing and seeing more of this guy in the near future. He will make Bannon look like an altar boy.
The fascist movement in the United States is closer than it has ever been to completely taking over our government.
MAGA Republicans, including Donald Trump and nearly every member of Congress are attempting to eliminate democracy in the United States and replace it with an autocratic dictatorship. While doing this, they are protesting loudly, that they are the protectors of our democracy, which is in itself a huge lie. if allowed to continue they will take over our country, eliminate democracy as our form of government, and turn America into a tool for the few ultra rich and they will control the country for the foreseeable future.
Americans Who expect them to do wonderful things for the people are going to be sadly disappointed as the only wonderful things that they are going to do will be for themselves and their rich co-conspirators.
With MAGA Republicans now in control of the House of representatives, many good pieces of legislation will be stymied or altogether eliminated and along with it the operation of the January 6 committee. It will cease to exist!
Those Republicans who take control of the House of Representatives will lie and cheat and use everything at their disposal to undo all of the good work that the Biden administration has done in the last two years.
The American people have the opportunity to mitigate the power of the House of Representatives by giving Democrats in the Senate and absolute majority. They must do this by making sure that Reverend Warnock in Georgia is successful in his reelection bid. This will give Democrats in the Senate and absolute majority of 52 votes.
You can help accomplish this by donating anything that you may have available to the Warnock reelection campaign. We must be sure that Herschel Walker never sees the inside of the Senate chamber.
The other thing that Americans can do is to be sure that what we read and believe is the truth and not a contrived bunch of lies put together to distract us from the real issues. There are many ultra right wing, fascist websites out there that are putting out misinformation that must not be believed! It is nothing but a pack of lies.
If you have any money to spare it should be donated to the Warnock reelection fund to protect the United States from a fascist takeover. There will be more to come on this later.
Leonard, Fantastic comment. I think Warnock will win. His so-called opponent is so clearly an idiot, it’s hard to see how the voters can be fooled. Of course, Kemp is doing everything to defeat democracy in Georgia, and other states, where he is helping to install laws that stop people from voting. What a circus!
Voters could see Walker was an idiot during the last election. Many who voted for him were not fooled at all. Besides the former president's cult followers who blindly voted for Walker because they take their orders from an evil dolt, many Republicans voted for Walker clearly knowing he is spectacularly unqualified just to make sure Republicans get another person in the Senate. That is the level of immorality, recklessness and lack of concern for the country that Republicans have sunk to in their quest for power. No surprise at this point.
I think Walker’s chances tanked when so many of trumps endorsed candidates were defeated in the midterms. my guess is that Walker’s support from Trump will evaporate as Trump comes to realize that Walker will tack yet another loss onto his dwindling track record of successes.
It’s one thing for Republicans to keep silent, it’s another thing for not to call this out for what is is loudly everywhere and repeat it over and over and over…not your normal Saturday night Heather so thank you!
Wow, I guess we’ve got our work cut out for us. This is outrageous and we must announce it from the roof tops to kick all these people out of office for their cowardice and complicity. Thx for the heads up!
Trump doesn't seem to be mindful of the old adage that says a man is known by the company he keeps. When he realized he should have distanced himself from Ye and Fuentes, it was too late, so of course he had to shift into victim mode. Trump is a jerk, and he has been a jerk for decades. But because he's rich, he's been taken seriously. I've always said that Trump is basically your garden variety jerk, the guy sitting at the end of the bar scarfing peanuts and talking out loud about whatever obnoxious crap pops up in his tiny mind, while everyone mostly ignores him.
The article is a bit long and tangled, but basically hypothesizes that Trump associated with mobsters and turned those associations to his advantage several times when he was under investigation himself. He did this by turning into a confidential informant to further the investigations into those others, resulting in successful trial outcomes against them while the investigations targeting him quietly faded away. While this remains an unproven hypothesis (and likely unprovable unless Trump himeself were to reveal his role), we have at least three recent examples of Trump trying to use investigations against others to his advantage: the allegations against Hillary Clinton, his attempt through his request to Zelinsky for Ukraine to investigate Biden, and the intense Republican interest that he ignited to investigae Hunter Biden. While these in no way prove the hypothesis, they extend a pattern of behavior that is consistent with the hypothesis.
Trump hired the children of crime bosses in his administration. I found the article clear and very readable. Olear did his research. 45’s disgusting father was a mob supporter. More than a “pattern of behavior”. We know in NYC the crimes he has committed against the tax system and the ripoff of the public from his first day “on the job”. Just because no one has successfully prosecuted 45, doesn’t mean he didn’t commit the crimes and will continue to do so…..
It's old news. The BBC did a feature on Trump long ago that you might still be able to find on You Tube. That video covered his past ties to organized crime including Felix Sater. I don't think it's a big deal that Trump hired Kellyanne Conway or McGann.
Trump has always been a criminal. It's how he was raised, without ethics or scruples. What does this have to do with the present situation? We have known for decades just what he is.
Couldn’t help but remind me of this “Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community. Then they were quickly silenced, but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It’s the invasion of the idiots.” Said by Italian writer, Umberto Eco. Couldn’t agree more…
What’s old is new again, or that’s how the saying goes but according to Rachael Maddow’s new podcast, ULTRA, what tfg is doing is a rerun of what was done in the ‘30s by Americans who were trying to turn us into Hitler supporters to keep us out of the war. Tfg’s ‘America First’ is old s**t from back then. He’s not even original with his perfidy. So-called strongmen rarely are. Inside they are weak, insecure, little men who only know how to use other peoples’ insecurities to make them feel “big”. What will inevitably rein these bawbags in is the rule of law. With Nazi Germany, it was Nuremberg. With Nixon it was a Republican Party that hadn’t completely lost its soul and with tfg, it’s looking more and more like it will be thanks to a woman by the name of Fani Willis the Atlanta D.A, another woman Leticia James, NY Attorney General, and last but not at all least Mr. Jack Smith, brought to us by U.S.A.G. Merrick Garland. May Lady Justice finally hold her beleaguered head high once again.
Dear Dr. Richardson, these are details I had not read. What I had read was that Ye invited Trump to lunch after Trump had already announced that he was running again, which everyone sees as a desperate move to avoid prison, and keep his name alive. Anyway, Ye supposedly told Trump he was running for president and asked Trump to be his vice president. I believe he was quoted as complaining that he lost 2 billion dollars in a day! I think we all know how that happened. In any case, I can see why Trump's people would think the luncheon was a mess any way you slice it. It defies belief that these men (who behave like little boys in that they do not seem to have the ego development to think of anyone else's point of view) get anyone's vote, much less attention. However, since I am more than sick of Trump and Kanye aka Ye, along with Elon Musk, and so I did not save the article. Here is a version.
I have been trying to put all of these misogynist cretins out of my mind, dreading the thought of Trump returning to Twitter, and Elon Musk tweeting out his support for the Junior Fascist From Florida (JFFF). I am a big believer of marginalizing/ignoring people who behave like they all do. Luckily for me the majority of Americans are marginalizing them too. Unfortunately, many still follow them as the Handmaidens Marjory Taylor Green (R-GA), Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Mary Miller (R-IL) the last from my state, are just some who are keep those fires burning, although I think they have all gone off to support the JFFF. Let us face it, if you are going to be shallow, go for the JFFF over the COFP (Crazy Old Former President). I will not be going for either, and I imagine with Biden's improved approval rating post the midterms, like they always are after that is over, I am hoping that fewer Americans will see a fascist dictator as more desirable than someone who has complexly managed this country in a very capable way.
Apparently Mary Miller belongs to a part of the State of IL that would like to have the Southern part of Illinois where she lives as a young Nazi, secede from the Northern part which is the most populated part since it has Chicago and suburbs where I live. My husband and daughter were appalled at the idea. I am not so sure. They are the breadbasket and we are the commerce center. I think there are only one or 2 counties in the southern 2/3 of the state that are solidly Democratic. However, if the state were to split, I would call the Southern part Ill and the northern part Nois (pronounced Noy) as opposed to Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois. That would mean she would end up in the State of Ill and her birthplace in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park with a liberal reputation and diversity, would be Nois. Nois would lose the top state university, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but Chicago and Suburbs still offer a lot of good choices. https://www.chicagomag.com/news/october-2020/illinois-secession/
Well, Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed because 10 righteous could not be found. Looks like Republicans have the same problem.
Trump having dinner with Ye, the antisemitic artist (I don’t know who and what else he hates) and white supremacist, admirer of Russian president Vladimir Putin, Nick Fuentes, just before Thanksgiving is a historical marker. But for me, and for so many others, it was no big deal. Trump has been feasting on fascism for how long?
They met in 1973, Donald Trump and Roy Cohn, the American lawyer and prosecutor who first gained attention as Senator Joseph McCarthy's chief counsel.
‘Cohn had become the premier practitioner of hardball deal-making in New York, having mastered the arcane rules of the city’s Favor Bank (the local cabal of interconnected influence peddlers) and its magical ability to provide inside fixes for its machers and rogues.’
“You knew when you were in Cohn’s presence you were in the presence of pure evil,” said lawyer Victor A. Kovner, who had known him for years. Cohn’s power derived largely from his ability to scare potential adversaries with hollow threats and spurious lawsuits. And the fee he demanded for his services? Ironclad loyalty.(VanityFair)
Between his father, Fred Trump, and Roy Cohn, Donald J. Trump was well schooled.
Nick Fuentes is nothing compared to Trump’s favorites: North Korea’s Chairman Kim, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, President Erdogan of Turkey, Rodrigo Duterte, Philippines and Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Egypt.
We’re referring to the former president of the US, who is still worshiped by many millions of Americans. Do they care who Trump dines with unless it is President Joseph R. Biden?
Yes, Fern, there’s that history and yet… not shocking that so much of TFG’s, his family’s and cohort’s connections were corrupt and this “news” was available for us to research and read. (excluding repubs? Or that didn’t matter?)
The repub voters didn’t care. Then and now: win anyway they can. At any cost. And they are completely focused on taking down and destroying President Biden at any cost to him and the USA.
Irenie, They have to destroy the country to save it. I don't refer to our moral compasses, consciences, or democratic principles when examining their behavior. They've got a different drummer. We will turn around the ones we can and shut down those who threaten our survival.
Fern, I hope time is on the side of Truth and Justice.
Irenie, let's not starve Democracy's strong advocates. It is time for activities that nourish us and time to learn, teach and discover with the people we love and like a lot. Our spirits need to relax. Remember how Pete Seeger encouraged us to sing? Withal, it is time to connect with one another in playful and caring ways.
I'm afraid that relaxation can't be number one on our list. People are awake for the 1st time since 2016. We need to fill in the blanks about
the dangers of his adding to his sociopathic pals. A small group of them
can take our country back to the mental/emotional skids we were on
over the last several years. We know the stale ones; this is the fresh team.
Can we live long enough? I hope we don't end up like Ukraine. My heart breaks for the pleople that live there!
Time may be, but big money sure isn't.
Some of them still don’t care. I was making calls for Sen. Warnock yesterday and got a guy who told me he and his wife are Republicans and T___p supporters. He hung up (hanged up?) before I could tell him there’s still time for redemption. By the way, if you’re not helping the Warnock campaign, there are many ways to do so. The one thing not needed is money: as of a couple of days ago the campaign had more than $20 million.
This dinner is foreshadowing of Trump's down and dirty strategy for 2024.
Appealing again to bottom-feeder voters. Get a celebrity on board (Kanye this time instead of Walker.) Get someone who hates democracy (Fuentes instead of Stewart Rhodes.) So predictable.
When it was revealed that Cohn had been a Trump "coach" it should have been the end of Trumps political ambitions. It would have been - in a nation that really thought Joe McCarthy was evil. But millions lapped up McCarthy's hate like high priced ice cream.
And their progeny are out there now - 10s of millions of them. Haters of equality. Haters of tolerance. Haters of "others".
But there are more of us than them. Shame them. Shun them. Shunt them into political oblivion. We will prevail. 2024 will be a powerful bright blue statement of democracy.
I will never understand people who admire Hitler and Mussolini, two of history’s biggest losers. Think about it: Hitler took Europe’s biggest economy and turned it into a smoking ruin, with millions of its people dead, and millions more enslaved. Mussolini turned Italy into a laughingstock and a tragedy. Putin is joining them in the losers’ brigade. What’s to like?
I imagine part of the problem is people's lack of knowledge about history. How many actually know much about what happened in both world wars (one was to end all wars)? “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Santayana
But they kept “The Master Race” myth alive. And they proved that even smoldering destruction, humiliation, and starvation cannot kill the perennial need in some to feel superior over others.
The conflict that people wrestle with internally - am I good enough? gets externalized so that they never have to acknowledge that it's all about their own feelings of inadequacy. Instead they make others the "bad" guy who they can blame for all their own failures. Unfortunately the euphoria they feel at being the victor is short lived, so once again they have to find another person or group to target. A story older than time and practically biblical. If we refuse to "know thyself" we are doomed to repeat this.
So true! Forget the fascist horrible anti-human ideology. If you can. And just look at the ruination they created. They failed!!!
Some of this had to do with how children in Germany were raised during that time. The Dr. Spock of that time was a man who advocated for "spare the rod and spoil the child". His idea was to beat the willfulness out of the child, until he/she became submissive and obedient. When a leader arrives promising the same kind of treatment of the "bad ones" it appeals to large swaths of the population. Couple that with the vengeance woven through the Armistice agreement after WWI, the country was defeated, not only in war but in spirit. Violence breeds violence.
Sounds like you had a tough journey, and perhaps made use of it, by raising your children differently. The saying is "spare the rod and spoil the child" suggesting that if you don't hit your children they will somehow spoil, whatever that means. Lots of people have been raised that way, and continue to be raised that way, unfortunately. It takes work and courage to challenge those ideas passed down to us. Good for you.
Perhaps the key point in who sits at the table of the deranged is the age of the guests, who will target the other young, unformed and disenfranchised. Gen Z and the next up are a prime target for these incorporated anti-human types. They're all working for the big mouth Ponzi $cheme in the $ky.
Thank you, Fern!
From your keyboard to G*d’s scrreen
They were never really “righteous” in the best sense....
I love righteous Biblical references.
Hahaha, gives me a laugh with this current crop of “christians.”
Nevoustrumpezpas "I love righteous Biblical references."
100 Bible Verses about Righteousness
https://www.openbible.info/topics/righteousness
A great comparison! Well put, JennSH. May I add that the Sounds of Silence tells it all. The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls. And men's room walls. And Fox.
Jenn, those bible stories are more like todays news than I would ever have believed!!!
Why on earth does a 24-year old get any political traction whatsoever? For any Congressional or Presidential delegates or aspirants to knuckle to someone whose brain hasn’t even fully developed is nuts.
I believe, Deborah, that 45 is “knuckling” to much bigger and darker forces than a puny nazibaby like Fuentes. Look at the $500,000 in bitcoin that was transferred to Fuentes and his goons in December 2020, one month before the attempted overthrow of our duly elected government. A French man was the source (his name is not known publicly) of the “donation” to Fuentes’ group and now the “donor” is dead by his own hand. So, ANYBODY shouldn’t have that kind of sway. A Mussolini lover to boot (pun intended...).
Thank you Elizabeth. Yes, in this case 'follow the bitcoins.' Per the IRS, the America First Foundation (AFF) is a 501(c)4 tax organization. As such AFF must file a Form 8976. Per the Southern Poverty Law Center, (SPLC) Michelle Malkin sits on the Board of the AFF 501(c)4 and is the "mentor to Fuentes & some of his [Fuentes'] followers who refer to [Malkin] as 'Mommy" Mommy and her "social organization" are not "nice people". AFF seeks to make unlimited contributions to seditionist candidates.
Perhaps I don't pay enough attention to the white nationalist crowd, but are Filipinos considered "white" now? I looked up Ms. Malkin and, besides her nutso political views, she seems to be a lovely young woman of Phillipine ancestry. Is there a narrative about her ethnicity/race that I'm too lazy to hunt for? What a strange world: I guess next, Fuentes, Mallin, and Clarence Thomas will stage a rally for "white rights!
Yes, Dirk, they already staged that rally. It’s called the January 6, 2021 seditious insurrection. That was the rally for “white rights”: you hit the nail on the head! I
She is another far right pundit. They are not (presently) demanding pure 'Whiteness' of their base, but that will soon change. Right now, they are just using whomever will talk their message.
Malkin is proof there is indeed a second career for over-the-hill Olongapo boom-boom girls. ("former naval persons" of a certain age will get the reference)
https://www.preda.org/main/work/campaigns/navyback.htm
And Malkin was involved??
❗️❗️❗️
Wow!
How was Malkin involved? Is there proof? I hope so!
Would this be a new twist on Blackface?
I was thinking the same thing.
Don’t forget Ye, apparently.
Lordy, I wish I could have seen the look on Trump's face when Ye asked him to be Ye's running mate. Oh-ho, that must have been as sight!
wow...I didn't know about this bitcoin involvement, and I try to be very informed ! I'd like to learn more.
Absolutely horrifying. Yes, we must follow those damn bitcoins….thank you Bryan.
I had not heard anything about this bitcoin transfer! Wow. Fuentes is an out and out Fascist. They are the boldest they've ever been, even more that during the 1930s .
They haven't had any rallies in Madison Square Gardens yet.
yet
Madison Square Gardens has moved to the Internet?
maybe it moved to the Capitol Jan 6th?
the planning has
Yet being the operative word, TC. OMG.
Attempted like.
1939 would be hard to beat
not these days with those rabid thumpers and trumpers... i can easily envision it. can't you, Jeri?
Linda, you may want to listen to Rachel Maddow's podcast Ultra [<https://www.rachelmaddow.com/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra/>] to how these fascist movements evolved through the 1940's antiwar movement largely funded by Christian-right Rev. Father Coughlin, who had the largest radio audience in America at the time and his funding by Hitler and the Nazi propaganda machine
...spoiler alert:
it spread to members of Congress as well!
I am infuriated at the lack of investigation into the role many congress people played in the attempted coup. Up to and including Ginny Thomas and her compromised husband.
Fascists for years have been putting guns in the hands of starving gangs of 10 years old and up boys, pointing a gun to their head, feeding them, paying them and forcing them to commit horrendous crimes against humanity. It is a sick practice that often is instigated to protect the industry of the colonizer, whether it be drugs, diamonds, mining interests, oil and gas, and pretty soon, water.
Not sure 'fascist' is the right term for those political gangs; the term is usually used for governments.
while I detest Fuentes, your remark about someone that young deserving political traction, is ageist. Maxwell Frost, a 25 y.o. Democrat, just won the election for Florida’s 10th Congressional District. By your comment he does not deserve any traction. Maxwell was also one of the young people who organized the March for our Lives against gun violence when he was 21.
Methinks you were a bit hasty in slamming an age group.
Cynthia At 89 I have a distinct view of ‘ageism.’ At 25 I had the answers, but didn’t know the questions. Now I know the questions but have few if any answers. Also, the finest wine after 64 years is almost always spoiled. Perhaps, at 90, I’ll acquire greater wisdom, though I consider that doubtful.
It is impossible to compare ages as technology, science, and the arts have moved us forward faster. Someone 25 today has a completely different skill and experience set than someone 25 decades ago. My 8 year old grandson is learning to code. What they watch, hear, see, experience is much different from children who grew up on Sesame Street.
Well said. Every generation discovers solutions before they understand the problem. The wise within that generation spend time and energy clarifying the questions and working at connecting the two. It will be the passion among those who have yet to become wise that stear the quest and make the difference until the next generation takes up the effort. The underlying questions about how to (or how they can) create a just democracy will likely be different but in the longer view of history quite similar. A just society and the governance of a democracy is not an outcome, an end result, but a process, a way to build or create within, some maner of living with each other in such ways as we, the members and organization, improve in connection to the diversity of those living in its presence. That is why when we were young, we discover the answers and thusly began the work, the process, and the commitment to bettering rather than fixing or fitting it to some old model or some prior result.
Well said, Fred. Thank you!
i love this, Fred!!! so well described!! thank you for sharing your perspective!
Just live it
At 90 we forget the questions we bragged that we knew.
Molly A year from now I may know the answer—or is it the question? Have I passed my prime, am awaiting my prime, or never had a prime? How will I know?
Keith
You are sharper than most who are half your age!
So appreciative of your learned perspective as we wander through the weeds to attempt to understand this chapter in history. Without this Substack community, without Heather connecting the historical dots to today's events, we'd all be lost souls.
By then you won’t care. Just have fun and smile.
Love this, Keith!
Cynthia, I agree age should never be a factor. Chuck Grassley was as terrible at 35 as he is now at 89, just reelected to the Senate. Maxwell Frost was duly elected by We The People. He is deserving of every support necessary to help him develop and grow into a powerful leader for good. I am sorry the comment seemed to be slamming his age group. Thank you for pointing it out.
I didn't see "ageism"; what stood out for me was that both young men are 24 and already strong enough to be a force, one for good and one for evil. It's the under-twenties who will shape what happens next.
The statement wasn’t qualified. It merely said that one so young wasn’t deserving of attention. It did not say one or the other.
Fuentes reminds me of all the 24 year old morons I knew 50 years ago, the difference being he's a Nazi and they were Bourgeois Bolsheviks.
I think your labels for them, as I recall them from my own experience, was too generous. Where I came from, I remember them as simply stupid and real assholes to boot.
Those are very accurate descriptive terms. I still don't forgive any of the still-unrepentant Weatherman crew.
They were a tiny fraction of the New Left, ignored by the rest though loved by the media. Don't be distracted.
Sorry, they were the faction of the New Left that wiped out the rest, and the rest of the Trotskyites, Maoists, True Marxists, True Communists, Yippies and the rest of the other splinter groups all had their heads up their asses too. I speak from experience.
Tom I recall that the Communists were ‘despicable’ before WW II. Then, as Churchill phrased it, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,’ Uncle Joe became our ‘almost democratic’ ally. My British cousin, with us during the London blitz, and Dick Pearson, who later became an officer at the National Geographic, loudly sang patriotic Soviet songs that would have prompted federal investigation a scant few years later.
As for ‘socialism.’ For some a dirty word, then the Great Society including Medicare and much more, and now increasingly a Republican dirty word with Medicare and Social Security in the cross hairs.
I haven’t a clue whether it’s good or bad to be ‘woke.’ My 21 year old grandson tells me that woke is passé without my ever experiencing it.
Maxwell is so impressive, heard him interviewed on PBS Newshour, I think it was. And he started working on gun safety when he was 16 and became involved as a result of the Sandy Hook massacre.
I had the same thought about Maxwell Alejandro Frost, as well as David Hogg and Greta Thunberg. Also MI senator who went viral with her speech denouncing hate, Mallory McMarrow, said if we want to get young people voting, we need to have young candidates. Of course all of this doesn't make Mr. Fuentes any less of a white supremacist......
No it doesn’t make Mr. Fuentes less of a white supremacist. Sadly, though he is not unique. There are more than a few who believe like him and have through the ages. What I wonder about is what is it that perpetuates such beliefs in people through the ages? Is there some evolutionary purpose?
Seriously, this pattern keeps repeating . . . in the present instance, we’re seeing a repeat of behavior and politics we saw in the thirties for example. What is it that keeps human civilization from learning this lesson once and for all?
Thanks, Chaplain, for that reminder including also Mallory McMarrow. terrific speech. I want to listen to it again plus print it.
Cynthia, you’re right; I was too hasty in my comment. One’s prefrontal cortex takes about 25 years to form fully, but there are plenty of principled and hardworking people younger than that. Calling myself out, I’d say I was making a quick judgement of Fuentes based on his age and views, though age certainly doesn’t determine political stance.
If we take age out of the equation, I’d say that plenty of other points in this dispatch deserve incredulity: the Trump-Ye mutual admiration society, Trump’s failure to repudiate what Fuentes stands for and articulates, and Kevin McCarthy’s apparent willingness to accept the positions of Fuentes, Marjorie Green, and their ilk. The more extreme the Republican Party becomes, the more accepting of hate fringe its leaders and would-be leaders are, the more naked their will to power appears — even when the foundations of their beliefs contradict (in both Ye’s and Fuentes’s case) the value of their own existence.
These things remind me of my reactions during the last Presidential Administration, a time in which Trump and the Republicans blew through so many norms and rewrote national policy on what seemed a daily basis. That McCarthy (certainly not known for his adherence to principles of decency, but still) would bow now to the far left, as exemplified by Fuentes and Marjorie Green — well, I understand it as part of his bid for the Speakership, but I think he’s digging a deep hole for himself, his party, and the national interest. The nuttiness of the Ye-Trump-Fuentes constellation sure looks obvious to me; the fact that TFG and his pals still get any attention, much less fawning attention and supplication, feels both pathetic and dangerous.
Thanks for pushing this conversation further.
Woops — I meant far right!
I suppose it would depend on the 24-year old. Trump's 66-year-old emotional development was halted somewhere in the single digits, while teen Greta Thunberg has showed a fair degree of precocious maturity. I am only a year younger than Trump, but have the sense that our national political cast of characters might benefit from a bit more youth.
I do believe that every age has fortes and foibles, and that while much can be gained from long engaged experience, that assumes one was actively learning to begin with, and not grown complacent over time. We need a robust array of diverse, good-faith perspectives from all ages, which is not to say predators of any age are welcome.
YES!!
Agree. He's 24, didn't finish college, and is half Mexican "Fuentes" meaning he is anti-himself, besides antisemitic, similar weirdness of Ye. I don't get it.
Vicious fools like Fuentes make up a small fraction of young activists.
More typical are:
Greta Thunberg
David Hogg
Malala Yousafzai
Thandiwe Abdullah
Jazz Jennings
The millions of young people who turned around the 2022 midterms
And lots more....
Young people are working hard to save our country and our planet, which we have handed to them in a state of serious disrepair.
Absolutely!
And he was what, 19, when he committed to moving GOP further to the right? But tfg thinks he "gets" him. Like calls to like. Good material there!
Mental age of about toddler
You can certainly tell a lot about a person by whom he hangs out with. Wake up America...geeze.
Exactly, but if you spew enough hate, it attracts the vermin like carrion
He’ll be the same at 44. It’s more than an age thing, but I hear you.
What makes a person a nazi? Is there some sort of genetic defect? Or environmental factor? It seems people like Fuentes have a thirst for power, and they have learned that inciting hatred of others by blaming all one's difficulties in life on those "others" is very attractive to many. It's so much easier than trying to make life better for everyone. 😪
Corporate is cultivating new whips among the disenfranchised Gen Z and after, because they saw younger people step up in the midterms. They also see this group being serious about the changing climate and the availability of water, which is being privatized in plain sight with little opposition. Resources are the goal, and Risk is their game.
Let's start right now to fully understand that the real creature vying to be the prince of darkness in 2024 as leader of the GOP is Ron De Santis. The mainstream press has to lay out for the public everything about him , his wife, his close aides and financial backers to show they are not fit to lead the country. De Santis is Trump with brains. There is nothing about him that is praiseworthy. Nor has anyone in the press told me how a creature like Fuentes sprung into the prominence he has. Who spawned him, who shaped him how did a bad seed like this get to where he commands any following. Until they come back with that info they are not doing their job. Going forward no nice words about DeSantis. Trump will take care of his own self-destruction. Sadly there appear to be no electable Republicans who have any idea of how to make this country one in which we can have pride . Right now the only party working toward that end is the democratic party.
Professor Richardson has framed the issues raised by this Trump dinner with scum like Fuentes and Ye better than anyone in the mainstream press.
You speak my heart. Thank you. Desantis is a fascist and he will destroy democracy in our country if given the chance. Educational experts have determined that his policies here in Florida ensure a next generation of ignorant racists to add to his base. Again, thank you for your eloquence is recognizing that Desantis is trump 2.0-smarter and intentionally cruel.
I agree with every negative comment here about DeSantis. But while he may be smarter than TFG (which is not a high bar), he's lacking one important asset. Several political talking heads have made the point that DeSantis does not have TFG's ability to entertain, charm and sway a crowd with his personality. I'm not saying DeSantis is not a threat. But lacking TFG's evil "pied piper personality" is a major failing that will not help DeSantis gather followers outside of Florida among the majority of people in the country who are not familiar with him.
Yes, you do have a point, CC. Also, the country (except FL & TX) seems to be rejecting the MAGAts in general. Saw a poll on Breaking Points last week that showed people disapprove of MAGAt more than they disapprove of cheeto.
Tx and Fl subjected to the worse voter “integrity,” I mean suppression. And yet, according to the Dallas Morning News, the Dems are scratching their heads wondering what they did wrong. WTF Dems, you were screwed from the git go. Don’t you remember leaving the state to protest. I’m sure other Repub cretins are looking at Tx and Fl and thinking, let’s do that. It worked like a charm and nobody seems to care….
Today, i believe even more that you're onto something here, CC. DeSantis and many other 'smart' Rs (who potentially wanna run in '24) are staying silent on this stuff. So far, no one really challenges cheeto... and that still leaves him the R leader. They're afraid to cross him because he still dominates the base? Of course, he hasn't been indicted yet... and who knows if he ever will be. Or if he is... will that cause them to all rally for him??
Desantis is trump 2.0-smarter and intentionally cruel. <-- We all recognize who he is.
I don't think we can count on the mainstream press to do what you are proposing; they didn't for tfg and I can't think of any reason why they would re DeSantis. Murdoch has apparently turned against tfg but certainly not against DeSantis.
Aren’t there 5 decent Republicans period?
Assume this is a rhetorical question. Rs prove again and again that they are spineless and the party of
death
No. And I certainly wouldn’t count Kristol among them.
Kristol is someone I used to seriously disagree with and dislike, but when push came to shove, it turned out he could find his moral compass still in his backpack and take it out and start following it. He walks the walk as well as talks the talk. And if you think that's not important then you have so much yet to learn about politics that I doubt you could do it in all the years you have left.
Push does not always come to shove.
Many of us have come to realize in recent years, the vast majority of Republicans support authoritarianism over democracy. At this point, anything other than full-throated denunciation of the majority of Republican politicians is inadequate.
agree with you, cindy. ... and not sure that any denunciation from US matters. certainly won't change their minds... if their base supports them.
At the time of the 2000 election misery, I heard R voters, not politicians, say that anyone who was confused by a butterfly ballot shouldn’t be able to vote, period.
Well, Barbara, let’s count: Liz Cheney (no vote of course), Adam Kinzinger (also no vote), Lisa Murkowski (reelected), Charlie Baker, Gov of Massachusetts. Looking up who might be on this list, there was no one....
Sorry I can’t put Cheney on the list she agreed with him 99% percent of the time it took Jan 6th for her to say enough is enough. If she had spoken up before I would say yes.
She disagreed when it was important. You fail to understand politics.
I read recently that Cheney is using her leadership role on the Jan6 committee to focus the final report solely on Trump, earning ire from other committee members, who want other elected officials implicated in the insurrection to pay for their crimes as well. They say she has turned the work of the committee into her own presidential candidacy launching pad. Country over party? Or Cheney over Trump?
I read that too. There is dissent among the committee.
I wonder if we'll end up with two reports.
I hope so!
You are right. I just couldn’t think of anyone else….I was never a fan of hers and couldn’t stomach her father….omg.
I appreciate that she spoke up and took a leadership role in Jan 6 hearings. But I don’t agree with her on most or all critical issues.
But you agree with her on the most critical issue. We should thank Trump for coming along and kicking us awake, to learn that the question is NOT "are you a Republican or a Democrat?" but rather: "do you believe in this democratic constitutional republic and are you willing to fight to keep it?"
Agree. Her goal is getting rid of Trump. Her passion is the U.S. government, it's sanctity as defined by her father and mother. She is a hawk.
Although I'm not a fan, Phil Scott (VT governor) is a decent Repub.
Cheney & Kinszinger...
Probably not.
I can name two!
Thanks for the follow up.
While Trump seems on the point of self immolation at this point, I'm interested in what we can do about DeSantis, who is much the same, somewhat smarter, as corrupt and possibly a small amount less venal. By all means, let the far righters eat their own young. But they are a distraction in one way from the work we need to do to ensure they are not elected anywhere. Many of the critical federal slots that they won were only won by a few percent. What if we could stop DeSantis (likeliest nominee given the sludgepot at this time) and get out 6% more blue voters in the next two years (oh, and support the lawsuits fighting gerrymandering and voter suppression)? Watching Trump go down the vortex is gratifying, but remember, them eating each other without positive action sticks us with them next go round!
Desantis MUST be sidelined-he is a clear and present threat to our democracy. One must only look at the destruction he has wrought here in Florida to know that if he achieves the Oval, fascism will be full-on in the USA.
Isn't that the point of the new Republicans? I certainly hope there is a very strong initiative working behind the scenes right f*cking now to stop DeSantis in his tracks. If he makes it to the ticket, fascism will absolutely be full-on.
People with his level of arrogance and hubris usually destroy themselves. I expect Ron DeSantis to be our next right wing version of Gary Hart.
De Santis is a smarter version of Trump… Trump2
Disagree. He is not a version of Trump. Actually, quite different.
He is his own version of fascism.
🗽
But he wants chump’s MAGAt voters
And it’s more insidious.
If you are a woman (or a man who supports women) and aren’t upset enough about Fuentes’ antisemitism, be aware that he’s also against women being allowed to vote. The fact that TFG likes someone who spouts this garbage tells us all we need to know about how far he will go to obtain, and keep, power.
https://www.starobserver.com.au/news/men-having-sex-with-women-is-gay-claims-straight-right-wing-podcaster-nick-fuentes/212955
A real life “Handmaids Tale”; very frightening.
Seems like he gave the reason for his hatred and vileness--no one will f*ck him.
At least as an incel , Fuentes will not procreate.
"decent Republicans" is an oxymoron.
Love this.
Even Kanye isn’t dumb enough to ask Trump for advice. Trump, Kanye, and Fuentes are the dregs of the earth. The GOP is spineless and despicable.
What a trio! A stable genius bankruptcy-savvy businessman turned tfg, a rapper who has not a grain of political experience but wants to be the next president or his sidekick, and a completely misguided fascist-admiring neo-Nazi/fascist ... and not even five decent Republicans who can stand up and say/do something?
The fascist insane asylum occupants escaped and are trying to the megaphones. Turn them all off. .
Please add Desantis to your list-please!
He's probably realised that tfg is deeply troubled.
birds of a feather, flock together.
What a trinity Trump, Ye and Fuentes. They are the side show. The main event of evil is DeSantis.
Well, as far as the meeting went with Fuentes, who flattered and ego pumped Donald Trump, we’ll be hearing and seeing more of this guy in the near future. He will make Bannon look like an altar boy.
But he doesn’t have Bannon’s deep pockets. Unless it is Bannon who is funding him and putting him into these points of access?
Well, well...had not thought of that, or funded by the deep wells of ultra-conservative dark money whose depths know no bottom, of ethics or wealth
Leonard Katz
The fascist movement in the United States is closer than it has ever been to completely taking over our government.
MAGA Republicans, including Donald Trump and nearly every member of Congress are attempting to eliminate democracy in the United States and replace it with an autocratic dictatorship. While doing this, they are protesting loudly, that they are the protectors of our democracy, which is in itself a huge lie. if allowed to continue they will take over our country, eliminate democracy as our form of government, and turn America into a tool for the few ultra rich and they will control the country for the foreseeable future.
Americans Who expect them to do wonderful things for the people are going to be sadly disappointed as the only wonderful things that they are going to do will be for themselves and their rich co-conspirators.
With MAGA Republicans now in control of the House of representatives, many good pieces of legislation will be stymied or altogether eliminated and along with it the operation of the January 6 committee. It will cease to exist!
Those Republicans who take control of the House of Representatives will lie and cheat and use everything at their disposal to undo all of the good work that the Biden administration has done in the last two years.
The American people have the opportunity to mitigate the power of the House of Representatives by giving Democrats in the Senate and absolute majority. They must do this by making sure that Reverend Warnock in Georgia is successful in his reelection bid. This will give Democrats in the Senate and absolute majority of 52 votes.
You can help accomplish this by donating anything that you may have available to the Warnock reelection campaign. We must be sure that Herschel Walker never sees the inside of the Senate chamber.
The other thing that Americans can do is to be sure that what we read and believe is the truth and not a contrived bunch of lies put together to distract us from the real issues. There are many ultra right wing, fascist websites out there that are putting out misinformation that must not be believed! It is nothing but a pack of lies.
If you have any money to spare it should be donated to the Warnock reelection fund to protect the United States from a fascist takeover. There will be more to come on this later.
Leonard, Fantastic comment. I think Warnock will win. His so-called opponent is so clearly an idiot, it’s hard to see how the voters can be fooled. Of course, Kemp is doing everything to defeat democracy in Georgia, and other states, where he is helping to install laws that stop people from voting. What a circus!
The Republicans knew Herschel is an idiot and they did not care. Sometimes idiots can be handy. Ask Putin about Trump.
Voters could see Walker was an idiot during the last election. Many who voted for him were not fooled at all. Besides the former president's cult followers who blindly voted for Walker because they take their orders from an evil dolt, many Republicans voted for Walker clearly knowing he is spectacularly unqualified just to make sure Republicans get another person in the Senate. That is the level of immorality, recklessness and lack of concern for the country that Republicans have sunk to in their quest for power. No surprise at this point.
You got it right, c c. 100%
I think Walker’s chances tanked when so many of trumps endorsed candidates were defeated in the midterms. my guess is that Walker’s support from Trump will evaporate as Trump comes to realize that Walker will tack yet another loss onto his dwindling track record of successes.
Chump will hug his loser til the last.
Well, Elisabeth, as we have seen, all too frequently, idiots can win.
Too ofter, I’m afraid.
Following the lead of Fl and Tx, be very afraid
Session?
Down to my last dime after this last begging campaign but I will make one more. I’m sure that will do it…. Last begging email said so…
It’s one thing for Republicans to keep silent, it’s another thing for not to call this out for what is is loudly everywhere and repeat it over and over and over…not your normal Saturday night Heather so thank you!
them not calling it out... is a pretty loud message... ya know?
Wow, I guess we’ve got our work cut out for us. This is outrageous and we must announce it from the roof tops to kick all these people out of office for their cowardice and complicity. Thx for the heads up!
No surprise but much disgust: long may they rot.
Trump doesn't seem to be mindful of the old adage that says a man is known by the company he keeps. When he realized he should have distanced himself from Ye and Fuentes, it was too late, so of course he had to shift into victim mode. Trump is a jerk, and he has been a jerk for decades. But because he's rich, he's been taken seriously. I've always said that Trump is basically your garden variety jerk, the guy sitting at the end of the bar scarfing peanuts and talking out loud about whatever obnoxious crap pops up in his tiny mind, while everyone mostly ignores him.
Marycat, First, I LOVE your name. Second: please read this about Trump. Greg Olear is a fantastic journalist. Let me know what you think. https://open.substack.com/pub/gregolear/p/tinker-tailor-mobster-trump?r=4tv99&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
The article is a bit long and tangled, but basically hypothesizes that Trump associated with mobsters and turned those associations to his advantage several times when he was under investigation himself. He did this by turning into a confidential informant to further the investigations into those others, resulting in successful trial outcomes against them while the investigations targeting him quietly faded away. While this remains an unproven hypothesis (and likely unprovable unless Trump himeself were to reveal his role), we have at least three recent examples of Trump trying to use investigations against others to his advantage: the allegations against Hillary Clinton, his attempt through his request to Zelinsky for Ukraine to investigate Biden, and the intense Republican interest that he ignited to investigae Hunter Biden. While these in no way prove the hypothesis, they extend a pattern of behavior that is consistent with the hypothesis.
Trump hired the children of crime bosses in his administration. I found the article clear and very readable. Olear did his research. 45’s disgusting father was a mob supporter. More than a “pattern of behavior”. We know in NYC the crimes he has committed against the tax system and the ripoff of the public from his first day “on the job”. Just because no one has successfully prosecuted 45, doesn’t mean he didn’t commit the crimes and will continue to do so…..
It's old news. The BBC did a feature on Trump long ago that you might still be able to find on You Tube. That video covered his past ties to organized crime including Felix Sater. I don't think it's a big deal that Trump hired Kellyanne Conway or McGann.
Trump has always been a criminal. It's how he was raised, without ethics or scruples. What does this have to do with the present situation? We have known for decades just what he is.
Love this, nailed it.
Couldn’t help but remind me of this “Social media gives legions of idiots the right to speak when they once only spoke at a bar after a glass of wine, without harming the community. Then they were quickly silenced, but now they have the same right to speak as a Nobel Prize winner. It’s the invasion of the idiots.” Said by Italian writer, Umberto Eco. Couldn’t agree more…
👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
What’s old is new again, or that’s how the saying goes but according to Rachael Maddow’s new podcast, ULTRA, what tfg is doing is a rerun of what was done in the ‘30s by Americans who were trying to turn us into Hitler supporters to keep us out of the war. Tfg’s ‘America First’ is old s**t from back then. He’s not even original with his perfidy. So-called strongmen rarely are. Inside they are weak, insecure, little men who only know how to use other peoples’ insecurities to make them feel “big”. What will inevitably rein these bawbags in is the rule of law. With Nazi Germany, it was Nuremberg. With Nixon it was a Republican Party that hadn’t completely lost its soul and with tfg, it’s looking more and more like it will be thanks to a woman by the name of Fani Willis the Atlanta D.A, another woman Leticia James, NY Attorney General, and last but not at all least Mr. Jack Smith, brought to us by U.S.A.G. Merrick Garland. May Lady Justice finally hold her beleaguered head high once again.
Dear Dr. Richardson, these are details I had not read. What I had read was that Ye invited Trump to lunch after Trump had already announced that he was running again, which everyone sees as a desperate move to avoid prison, and keep his name alive. Anyway, Ye supposedly told Trump he was running for president and asked Trump to be his vice president. I believe he was quoted as complaining that he lost 2 billion dollars in a day! I think we all know how that happened. In any case, I can see why Trump's people would think the luncheon was a mess any way you slice it. It defies belief that these men (who behave like little boys in that they do not seem to have the ego development to think of anyone else's point of view) get anyone's vote, much less attention. However, since I am more than sick of Trump and Kanye aka Ye, along with Elon Musk, and so I did not save the article. Here is a version.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3749908-kanye-west-says-he-asked-trump-to-be-his-2024-running-mate/
I have been trying to put all of these misogynist cretins out of my mind, dreading the thought of Trump returning to Twitter, and Elon Musk tweeting out his support for the Junior Fascist From Florida (JFFF). I am a big believer of marginalizing/ignoring people who behave like they all do. Luckily for me the majority of Americans are marginalizing them too. Unfortunately, many still follow them as the Handmaidens Marjory Taylor Green (R-GA), Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Mary Miller (R-IL) the last from my state, are just some who are keep those fires burning, although I think they have all gone off to support the JFFF. Let us face it, if you are going to be shallow, go for the JFFF over the COFP (Crazy Old Former President). I will not be going for either, and I imagine with Biden's improved approval rating post the midterms, like they always are after that is over, I am hoping that fewer Americans will see a fascist dictator as more desirable than someone who has complexly managed this country in a very capable way.
I appreciate everything about your comment, Linda.
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Apparently Mary Miller belongs to a part of the State of IL that would like to have the Southern part of Illinois where she lives as a young Nazi, secede from the Northern part which is the most populated part since it has Chicago and suburbs where I live. My husband and daughter were appalled at the idea. I am not so sure. They are the breadbasket and we are the commerce center. I think there are only one or 2 counties in the southern 2/3 of the state that are solidly Democratic. However, if the state were to split, I would call the Southern part Ill and the northern part Nois (pronounced Noy) as opposed to Southern Illinois and Northern Illinois. That would mean she would end up in the State of Ill and her birthplace in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park with a liberal reputation and diversity, would be Nois. Nois would lose the top state university, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign but Chicago and Suburbs still offer a lot of good choices. https://www.chicagomag.com/news/october-2020/illinois-secession/