Cas Mudde, a political scientist who specializes in extremism and democracy, observed yesterday on Bluesky that “the fight against the far right is secondary to the fight to strengthen liberal democracy.” That’s a smart observation.
It mystifies me that the Movement Conservatives and tech's Masters of the Universe want to destroy the very fundamentals of America that allowed them to create and increase their wealth: the rule of law, public schools, building codes, public health measures like vaccinations and other medical advances, safe air and water, and so much more -even traffic lights, newspapers, and our roads and highways. I'm disgusted by their arrogance and sense of righteous entitlement and superiority.
Who do they think will buy their products, staff their businesses, trust their contracts, and allow them to create and increase their wealth? After Trump and his allies empty the US treasury, bankrupt adversaries with phony lawsuits and investigations, appropriate profitable businesses, and destroy non-profits, there won't be much of a country left. Who will be their doctors, architects, pilots, and bankers?
We've seen this movie before, and it doesn't end well, even for the grifters and oligarchs. Unless we stop this soon, it certainly won't end well for most Americans, including MAGA folks.
There is no way to "stop this soon." They have two years to wreak havoc. The only reliable checks on Trump (that he values) are the money people and financial markets. Maybe a few court cases will restrain him. And maybe occasionally the Republican senate will show some spine. We can only hope that Dems come roaring back in the midterms. Post-election despair and euphoria will at some point yield to reality. https://jimbuie.substack.com/p/why-did-democratic-senate-candidates
Jim, Because states are our last guardrail, I believe local communities everywhere must work to develop action plans for using local constituent power to help in the nationwide effort to beat back MAGA.
Robin, Agreed. Still, in my view, we cannot, nor should we, expect them to carry the weight of resisting at every turn freedoms and rights that are in peril unless we, too, are engaged in the struggle.
We need to beat the drum of democracy's advantages over creeping autocracy since pointing out the dangers of #47 and his ilk means nothing to his supporters.
I would think people should start moving out of Florida, Idaho and Indiana as well as the deep south and especially Texas. Because none of those states will come along peacefully. They will fight tooth and nail to keep their death grip on democracy.
Laurie, yes and some of those waters leak over into Oregon. I have an ex-student who lives in northern Idaho. He and his partner (male I think) seem to be trying to get off the grid. I also have a good friend from library school who lives in Moscow. She and her husband do their best to counter the nonsense.
I am so sorry for you. I hope that you are older and don't have to worry about getting pregnant. I've been hearing stories about women being airlifted to other states to get medical treatment. I also have heard that there is a mass evacuation of medical doctors who specialize in difficult pregnancies.
Barbara Jo Krieger, I agree with you. It will only be from the bottom up that this can be urged to veer off the horrible trajectory we are on. Yet also we have to concurrently address the lack-of-megaphone problem. All the damaging changes have been able to occur because of successful mis/dis information campaigns/focus groups/news sites/social media. That behemoth needs to be addressed. Heather does her best here with us. If she had the muskrats reach - and unlimited wealth-, we would not be in this situation. How do we change that?
It is a shame that our ability to get a message out depends on how deep our pockets are, or a private citizen's interest in that message. We have lost our way as a country. The Reagan Years did so much damage.
@MLRGRMI, Currently, our party is leaderless. We need a leader, contrary to Biden, who can take full advantage of the bully pulpit, both to prosecute the opposition and to connect our story to people’s felt needs.
In Oregon the Ds have a super majority in both House and Senate in the legislature. I don't know how that will play out. Certain incoming Rs death star types are threatening to arrest local officials and they will certainly punish any D areas by withholding funds or not funding.
The states will try to protect individuals within their borders, but the real last guardrail is the military. Will Trump finally have the generals who, like Hitler’s, will do his bidding, at least for awhile? Will some of them eventually try to kill him? Will it matter in two years? If Trump declares an emergency on his first day back in office—armed with the new immunity bestowed upon him by the Supreme Court—“life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” could be damaged beyond repair.
Dave, Given military bases abound in every state, I share your concern. Nonetheless, I’m banking on MAGA bullies backing down when confronted with formidable resistance we know is on the right side of history.
@B. J. K. & others on this thread…Criminals and vandals—every one—may succeed for a time using their warped views and philosophies to subjugate others to their selfish will. But, it is good to keep front of mind that even the most powerful evildoers make mistakes…Al Capone (and so many others like him) died in a maximum security prison, tripped up by his own hubris and the mistake of willfully cheating on his taxes. The USSR, organized out of the regressive worldviews of Marx & Lenin, rotted and ultimately dissolved into the wasteland created out of its own worst ideas and biases meant to control human individuality and innate intelligence. Hitler’s own personal, drug-addled insanities caused him to overreach in service of his own delusions of personal power and domination to slink meekly out of this life into the infinitely hotter climes of vacation land for damned tyrants and other miscreants.
If free thinking devotees of individual liberties struggle to maintain firm footing in this world, even today’s MAGAts will come to heel before their worst machinations eventuate. It won’t be easy or immediate, but even Trump’s legions of doom will fall prey to the power of pluralism.
Barbara, Oregon has an Air National Guard base in Portland, Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls (Hosting a Fighter Wing) , and an Army Recruiting Station in Portland. There are 14 Coast Guard Stations along the coast from Brookings to Astoria, plus one in Portland.
Ally, to me the problem is that so many of military and ex-miliitary agree with the orange puss bucket as well as LE. It is true that eventually some of Hitler's generals plotted to kill him. All the vets that I know are absolutely against death star and take their oaths seriously. Then there is the D of Defense nominee whose own mother apparently doesn't like him.
I don’t know if that is true. Can you provide a link with data?
California has the most military people of any state.
“California
Has the most active duty military personnel in the country, with nearly 160,000 troops. 75,000 of these are from the Navy and 54,000 are from the Marines.” AI overview.
Barbara, I live in a ruby red state: our governor is roaring back with vouchers again this session, after defeat last term; our gerrymandered state is 2/3. Republican; one US senator is a national joke and was just reelected, the other campaigned on “Trump supports me,” and hoped desperately to be in his cabinet; and our rep is Gaetz’s bff. We aren’t giving up (BlueTennessee.org) but the climb is stupendous.
@MLMinET, I very much appreciate you writing and imagine the two Justins are associated with BlueTennessee.org I mention this, because, as you clearly know, the way forward starts with identifying and connecting with worthy groups prepared to resist at every turn freedoms and rights that are in peril.
Hahhaaaa.. Putting "States" back in charge of (you name it) will be the un-doing of this. Were numbnuts to make the "government" the decider, then we'd have a real problem. 350 million of us in 50 states aren't going to put up with this nonsense. Watch.
@MadRussian12A, In the absence of meaningful checks at the federal level against the excesses of executive power, using our local constituent power to help in the nationwide effort to resist at every turn freedoms and rights that are in peril, in my view, is our sole recourse. If you’ve developed an action plan for an alternative approach, I’d love to hear it.
Well stated Barbara Jo. We "constituents" are certainly where the real power resides. We've got a real problem , in our hands. No "alternative approach" needed, waking up is needed. We've been humming along.
Time, Dementia, will be the Ultimate Check on DJT... Looking at the Videos of DJT the past couple of weeks at Mar-a-Lago, DJT's Dementia is Progressing... If the Money-People check DJT, then the Rest-Of-Us could become Collateral-Casualties... If DJT does indeed become Mad, then DJT could cancel the '26, and '28 Elections...
You write “Time, Dementia, will be the Ultimate Check on DJT.”
True but beside the point. Trump is a symptom of the problem, not the cause. The cause are his sheep like followers who have been duped into thinking he and his policies benefit them and not the most wealthy among us and their corporate interests.
DJT is also the Evil Avatar... The Test Of Time will be if his Cult Persists when DJT eventually leaves the Stage, or the Cult Dissipates, or the Cult Morphs into something Different... Reading Up On Kash Patel... Not Good....
Bingo. I have been wondering all along that when the evil figurehead leaves the throne will his followers in congress be freed up like the flying monkeys in Wizard of OZ?
Yes Barbara, I see 'them' bouncing all over the place....un til a leader emerges... i.e. one who provides the statuesque character-image-mouth, they can 'identify with' (like numbskull), and are ready and willing to do anything to be seen next to. That, is what DJT provides. Kamala/Waltz ? not-so-much (urrrp!)
Ed, It’s not going to be easy, but, if there’s a silver lining, it could come from MAGA showing exactly who they are. I would add some consider MAGA a dying movement taking its last gasp.
@ L duffy, Admittedly, it doesn’t feel that way, but I believe society is progressing whether they like it or not. And when they claim to have a mandate and shove the red map in our faces, they knowingly are conflating land and population, let alone disregarding that non-voters were the largest bloc.
MAGA has already shown who they are. The problem is that a 40-point to 60-point majority of white Americans, especially white men and white evangelicals, like like like what MAGA are. And the central plank they like most is the protection of systemic white advantages in under the law, in the workplace, and at the ballot box. They do not like what Abraham Lincoln worked for and what Democrats work for now, which is fair treatment by government of black Americans and other marginalized groups. And they will do everything they can to make sure Democrats cannot make progress towards fairness. Decent Americans have been fighting them since 1980 and made spotty progress from time to time, but decent Americans never got on firm ground. How could they with the white majority, backed by big money Wall Streeters, united against them?
True Trump is the symptom while duped sheep are the cause. And removing all guardrails regarding blatant lies and propaganda is a major cause that allows such duping. We must put some guardrails on propaganda back in place to have any hope of maintaining a democracy that depends on citizens having some semblance of shared truth.
The necessary guardrails I see are primarily economic, e.g., the overturning of the Citizens United decision. Corporate control of the media, news and otherwise, is also a huge problem, but how to deal with that without running afoul of the 1st Amendment?
Welp.. exigent action (so needed) "afoul the 1st Amendment", TAKE IT! Let it be appealed, litigated, in the press and court. Settle the matter, legally! Later. The border fiasco could've been handled that way. So can Citizens United. This is why we have a President. But, alas we seem to be bestowed with a rich-mans puppet. Currently. And, for the next four years.
Absolutely! The FCC in it's infinite wisdom destroyed those guardrails in 1985. Fox and Sinclair have made billions off of that and more importantly, we now have a population of uninformed idiots who vote against their own best interests. 2% control 98% of the wealth. What could possibly go wrong?
its not just followers who have been duped, this is spearheaded by a focussed group of arch conservatives who want to roll back social support in government, and of course, business types, who want to maximize profits. And yes, there are quite a few crazies enlisted in the effort.
The stuff going on behind all this would shock people. It all smacks of the hidden and super mysterious institutions mentioned in the novel Angels and Demons. Those mysterious cabals of world order fabulously wealthy individuals who move the pieces around. In our case Putin has been working for decades to destroy the United States. He stumbled upon just the right useful idiot in trump.
Ed, you are correct. We offered up a defeatable alternative and guess what? We were defeated. There was a time Billy Bubba Clinton just had to get BJs from a big-lipped intern leaving little for Al Gore.
I had more to say but the software is preventing me from elaborating. Therefore, I will send a hard copy letter to Substack in San Fran and announce that I will cease paying for any of my chosen writers. It will be up to Heather and Joyce and other big-names to influence Substack to withdraw this since I am now restricted. The concept of sharing our opinions is quaint but unnecessary. In the future, I will be restricted to reading only and this is sufficient for me. “They” always spoil things.
It seems fair to me. We all have the opportunity to create our own Substack world. Is it reasonable to then turn around and use Dr. Richardson's comments board to create in essence a whole Substack of your own? You are riding on her work.
He is the cause. He started all of this 9 years ago. The followers are the result of his influence. His followers could never have pulled off the coup he has executed.
I think we may agree more than I think you think we do. Look at this sentence I wrote again. “The cause are his sheep like followers who have been duped into thinking he and his policies benefit them and not the most wealthy among us and their corporate interests.”
He didn’t create the sheep that blindly follow him to their own economic, social and national security detriment, he’s exploiting them to his own benefit.
He got into the race originally nine years ago primarily to revive his sagging “brand”. He has been riding the wind ever since, leaving a trail of devastation.
He has already declared many many times that if he won the presidency this time people would "not have to vote again" because he would "fix it" that they "wouldnt have to." And, once he has dismantled all the government departments, (which he is showing us he is actually really planning to do by giving us the names of the airhead puppets he will be heading them up with so that they will cease to function, and once he has secured the "go-ahead" to be able to unleash the military, (and perhaps the soon-to-be-freed "January 6th Hostages" with their sharp flagpoles) on ordinary American citizens for whatever reason he'd like (which he has been publicly working on doing)I'm thinking we will be more able to suspend our disbelief of the fact that our country has just been taken over. Its happening right now. Plain as day.
For me, the problem is so big and i am so small and inept when faced with this that im just numb and filled with dread. He has told us what he will do and he is doing it.
I just bought a copy of Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. It's a short read, and I plan to make it my handbook. The first lesson is Do Not Obey in Advance. Trump has not even taken office, and I see no reason to capitulate, even emotionally, before he does.
There are many Levels of Resistance in the 'System'.... The 'System' has Accrued for over 200 Years... DJT will eventually Pass... Depending on what DJT actually tries to DO, the Pain could be Great... But this Land, and its People will Persist... For the Indigenous, We Will Remain... The Indigenous can be Independent if We Wish To... We have Resisted for over 500 years...
Your article should be required reading in every school. History and Civics should be taught together and give context to what the future will look like. Your article eloquently encapsulates this premise. Thank you.
Yes \Vince S, Indivisible has countless local grassroots groups that We The People MUST be active in, imo. And to also alert/call to discussion & action our city councils, school boards, and ask all houses of worship to step up to practice true social justice.
And as states allow a president to seize. California' Governor Newsom has already said his state is unlikely to cooperate with mass deportations of those who are not criminals. Other states will follow. How will mass deportations be done? Police or military going door to door demanding citizenship papers? That's a hornets nest. Aggressive raids of businesses? Obama administration deported more people than Trump did in first term.
The sob-in-question may have such plans; his 'raving', which I detest and fear, must be ultimately checked legally, or physically. I have become ancient and feeble, incapable of any effort. I and my fellow/sister citizens must rely on the good sense and offices of the younger, newer and more free Americans, our spiritual descendants. Please!
“A president has no power to cancel elections.” Also, “No man is above the law.” Clinging to these traditional rules for comfort ignores reality. Russia has elections. Trump has immunity and pardon power for any who abet his willingness to ignore any law to stay in power. The oligarchs controlling the media (legacy and new) are well versed in the Orban and Putin model to continue brainwashing and crushing dissent. And don’t kid yourself, those Oligarchs will have no problem steering our dark cartoon president. Not to mention true believers with AK47’s who never heard of John Locke and are watching football this weekend.
I hope that You are Right... DJT could Declare a National Emergency, and Invoke the Insurrections Act... DJT could also Federalize the State National Guards under the Military Commissions Act enacted during the GWB Administration... Let's Hope That None Of This Happens....
People serving in the military are required by law to obey lawful orders. But if memory serves, we were also required NOT to obey unlawful orders. Recall Lt. Calley at My Lai in Vietnam. The folks schooled in these matters could make an effort to ensure that everyone serving in the military understands the difference between lawful and unlawful orders.
Yes and of course what seems to be constantly overlooked is that orders to enforce deporting undocumented immigrants are quite legal and any military personnel refusing to obey such orders would be subject to court martial.
depends on what's "inside" the military, when it comes to that. The National Guard still gunned down demonstrators at Kent University back in the 60s wasn't it?
He wouldn't have to cancel elections. A few months before the midterms he could foment and instigate violence and disruptions in the streets.(He could rile up a bunch of people and pay the rest to make mischief.) Then declare a state of emergency. Then it would be one short sweet step to postponing the election to safeguard voters. Then extending the postponement. Any public outcry against him would be proof of the need for reestablish safety before having the election.
I sincerely believe that SCOTUS would not allow that. They have not bowed to his every whim and the 'official duties ' of the presidency can be further defined to prevent him.
I believe it was Heather that stated in one of her amazing political chats, that we are not flower pots. We will know what to do, when and where. We will.
I don’t that sort of madness is the point. He becomes even more unpredictable as the dementia increases. He knows he’s losing it, hence the willingness to name appointees faster than fast. He is now more at the mercy of Musk’s manipulations.
Dementia is quite evident but many people have done a lot of harm while suffering from dementia. As they say, even a clown with a flamethrower can do a lot of harm.
It's going to be tough to roar back in 2 years. trump is inheriting a strong and growing economy for which he well take full credit and the media will help him. I don't think even trump's incompetence can destroy that in 2 years. We can't depend on any spine from the republicans and the courts are getting worse, not better. We are in for a tough time. Eventually, they will fail, but it will take time.
And most of us will be collateral damage in the meantime. If this continues, we'll become another banana republic with nuclear weapons like Russia. The Chinese Century will become a reality.
Lol sorry not trying to be cynical but I am cynical. If you are talking about election crimes THIS year I don't think there are many certainly none that could likely be pegged to Trump. As for 2020, those cases have been dismissed or are moot. I wouldn't count on anything happening like that. Not at least for two years and more likely four if ever.
DOJ issued an order Sept. 4 . At a minimum circumstatial evidence that Russia, it's agents and willful idiots to disrupt the election. On Sept. 4, documented by DOJ. State crimes abound.
What are these facts, where is the jurisdiction, what state is equipped to move an investigation then an action forward in anything less than a snail’s pace? We are living in a Shakespearean tragedy in modern times when the law remains “an ass”.
Those that elected Trump constituted a coalition of different interest groups. At the base, there are the extremists, the Truth Social crowd, who are perhaps the equivalent of the Brown Shirts in the 1920-1930 era in Germany and (arguably, to a degree) our own Weather Underground in the late 1960s. In Germany, the Brown Shirts became a powerful force with the ascension of Hitler, while in the U.S. the Weather Underground lost support after the bombing at the U of Wisconsin killed a researcher. It’s up us to prevent the Truth Socialists from taking power. Consider joining one of the groups opposed to Trumpian extremism, such as Democracy2025, the Union of Concerned Scientists, among many others listed on Democracy2025’s website.
Yes. The Dems need to pick 10-15 Congressional Districts that they can flip and get grass roots campaigning going in the communities. As soon as the tariffs raise prices, the rounding up of families hurts all the communities and businesses that need them to work, that the Trump-buddy-billionaires get a big tax break but wages don’t go up, more women die in ERs, trans people get beaten up, the stock market tanks, and the DOJ tells people to shut up and go home, then the real culprits have to be clarified and voted out. A new Congress can marginalize Trump and smash the MAGA movement.
Dear Laurie, please read the book by Anne Applebaum "Autocracy". She answers your question in detail. One point is that modern Oligarchs don't make their money from consumers any more. Their continued wealth growth is, in fact, as Prof. Applebaum aptly illustrates with simple math, not longer dependent upon others buying their stuff. One could just as well take their wealth, which in the USA is about 1/2 the total, out of the economy and it wouldn't make a difference to the rest of us, because it isn't "in the economy" any more. Their money is elsewhere...gone...no trickle down. Held for personal greed.
Elon Musk doesn't care if you buy his cars, take a ride into space, bore a tunnel, or complain about his excess. All he cares about is growing his horde of wealth, along with the other Oligarchs, and for that they need more power...which the Mango Mussolini and Pee Pee le Put are going to give him, because he represents the new generation of Greed.
I love Anne Applebaum. Also Timothy Snyder and Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Some of my questions are rhetorical, and I suppose the oligarchs will make sure they themselves have excellent doctors, attorneys, ship captains, and pilots.
Power tends to corrupt. There is no shortage of examples. That why the founders tried to divide powers and establish checks and balances. It's been up to us to maintain and improve that system.
The irony is that many of the Russian oligarchs come to the US, or at least park their money here. So where will American oligarchs go? Such a shame they might have to actually live on their yachts. Or move in at Mar-a-Lago with the boss.
The Russian Oligarchs have been 'Floating' the Trump Organization for over 20-Years per Don Jr. .... The Oligarchs are 'Citizens-Of-The-World, they have bought Properties around the World such as in New Zealand, Canada, and the UK... These Countries have passed Laws to protect the Housing Markets so that their Citizens can live there...
Idaho used to be an exceptionally nice place with kind people. Seems like lots of disaffected mean spirited transplants from (CA?) have changed the landscape. Heart breaker.
Those of us who saw this coming ( sort of) moved back to the woods to be self reliant …it was much more encompassing than most imagined and most , dissolutioned, returned to seek other paths, many sought far more education -becoming yuppies some incorporating the best of both worlds and doing much for the natural world as innovation and financial ability permitted.
What perplexed me most as time passed was what was hidden upon knowledge of its harm , gall due to greed versus making better progress for the whole , gifts of selfless caring as enough had been attained and thus ‘progress’ became a dirty word.
Every faction has many subsets . A few have enough. A few are greedy. A few are evil. A few are sick. A few are poor. A few…you get the picture…
Education seems to benefit most. Perhaps it’s the most needed focus? Control is the draw sought by most and those boundaries need to be clear , strong, upheld to keep greed from becoming our undoing.
History clearly tells we’re not there yet, progress has been made, yes …but far too many still suffer needlessly.
I know we shouldn’t throw out principle, just define the baby from the bath water better.
I was producing corporate videos in the 80's when companies started moving factories offshore, or moving to the state that gave them the biggest tax break and I said "don't they understand what they are doing ?" They are killing off the middle class Americans who buy their products...now here we are with these guys...
Frank, I've boycotted WalMart for many years. They killed mom and pop merchants in towns across the US with their Chinese imports. They pay their people poorly, union bust and are one of the wealthiest families in the US. I won't go there...or use Amazon.
All the supermarket chains killed mom and pops, it was a matter of scale, then Walmart did in some of those chains by scaling up even more. Walmart et al all imported from Asia, part of a long term and deliberate government strategy on all sides of the political fence, Chicago school of economics maybe? You might also ask why the Feds haven't bothered to increase the minimum wage of $7.25 or so in a generation. I do use Walmart mostly for certain items, but generally not. Afraid i use Amazon quite a bit! Costco on your avoid list? I use it too. Plus the other major Canadian chains (being where i live). I do agree, a broad union movement in retail is greatly needed. Thing is, there is a lot of resistance to unions, not just from billionaire owners. It would take some doing to make progress here, but i'd be all for it. I wouldnt hope for a lot under Trump! Now that too is interesting, since he's proposed a 10% tariff increase. Does that include textiles, which were wiped out in North America under globalization a couple generations ago. The trade off has been employment displacement for lower prices, but America manages to have more or less full employment. Anything much below 4% unemployment will only spur wage inflation which in turn will spill into prices. Messy, isn't it!
Kellog School of Business Administration (Chicago) The Wharton Business School, and others, Frank. I think the outsourcers et al underestimated the mobility of the US workforce and the comeback of nuts&bolts manufacturing in our highly political Supply Chain world. However, the USA is firmly in the Knowledge economy now, whereas Europe with its immobile workforce agreements lags way behind. The US's economy is on Steroids while Germany faces a melt-down. Who was right? I guess we'll see when the "debt-bomb" finally hits. Germany may look really smart then, but I doubt it.
Interesting, Bruce, you're more in the know than I. But i got "Chicago" right without getting into the weeds. An AI search pulled up this for me. There are about one billion knowledge workers globally. Knowledge workers are people who use their knowledge and expertise to create value and make decisions. They work in a variety of fields, including: marketing, customer experience, engineering, design, and education.
The knowledge economy is a large part of the global economy, and the number of knowledge workers has been growing steadily:
Canada
In 1971, 14% of Canada's workforce was in high-knowledge occupations, and by 2001, that number had almost doubled to 25%.
United States
The number of patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office has been growing, from 71,114 in 1981 to 374,006 in 2021.
The knowledge economy places a high value on intangible assets like software, brand recognition, and patented designs. Countries are ranked based on their "enabling factors" for the knowledge economy, which include:
It is messy. I've never joined a Costco or other big box warehouse. About the only box store I support is Lowes because they have some things I can't find in my local hardware stores. I try to stay out of Home Depot because they support Trump. The textile story is a whole other issue we were involved with at Jos. A. Bank & Under Armour here in MD.
What would you propose? I'm all ears. We failed to enlarge the Supreme Court when we should have and allowed Trump to put the arch conservatives in the court so it is now 6-3 right wing. That will last at least another generation or two.
And here we are. Who will harvest our food, who will mop the floors of our favorite restaurants, mow our lawns, move goods in our warehouses, build houses?? Prepare for the great collapse.
And who will open new businesses, invent and expand our global connections, enrich American culture, and raise up a generation of loyal American innovators and good neighbors?
Short-term greed. Plain and simple. The greedy scum figure they got theirs, so screw everyone else. By rigging the tax system, their wealth becomes multi-generational, so their offspring also will be insulated from the hell-scape their greed creates.
GeorgeC.. thank you my friend. You have just called out some real c--ksuckers. And they fit right in with that house of swingers..RIP Jeffry Epstein, hohoho. Santa is coming..., who's wearing that suit?
I'm concerned that the resistance won't respond quickly enough and MAGA will have infiltrated b4 Dems can unite to resist. LIke the Jan 18 Peoples March crowd size bigger than his Inauguration crowd (personally I already have a call in to the best charter bus company in our county for Jan 18) and putting in as much strengthening of democracy guard rails between Dec. 1 and Jan 20, like more judges approved, and whatever other things Schumer, Pelosi, Jeffries, Biden, Harris, etc can put together, "for the people."
I share your mystification, and I have often said how ironic it is that Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Rupert Murdoch and other such immigrants came to this country because it offered them a functioning economic system that allowed them to accumulate great wealth, and now they want to tear that system down. Go figure. I guess they were happier under an apartheid government.
Sometimes, ya gotta dick around til something is really broke before fixing it. We're not quite there yet. The 51 Senators don't have anything to really bite into.
Liberal democracy isn’t just a shield against extremism—it’s the spark that fuels fairness and opportunity. To protect it, we need to empower government to level the playing field, not tear it down. Let’s not trade our ideals for illusions
Yes Linda. One Nation... indivisible..? Nope, under God, providing you're driving a Caddy or Tesla, or own an airport in Texas with a couple Falcon jets that'll get you to 38,000 feet where a conversation with God can be had...(providing you're that tax exempt preacher). Kneel &pray.
Missing the French contribution (Lafayette, Diderot), the principles of the Enlightenment, but the strength of what is now despised as “socialism” is definitely lacking in the “pull up by your bootstraps” mentality (a version of “dog eat dog” as it turns out). It’s the greed and ignorance that drive US apart and may destroy us if we cannot put the Trumpomuskovites in their place. This is a shout out to Hakim Jeffries, Jamie Raskin, Jasmine Crockett, AOC, and any senators ready for battle, to keep us afloat for two years so we can begin restoration of the American experiment.
Let’s find a legal solution for refusing to inaugurate Trump!!! I’m not a Constitutional Scholar, but there MUST be something the best legal minds in America can find!! We can’t just sit back and watch America handed wholesale to Putin.
Then a illegal coup. The nation is gone don’t you understand. the best thing that could happen is that we finally split up. I’ll take my chances with the New England States of America.
Dwight Eisenhower was my Republican grandfather’s idea of a great Republican. He used to tout both his and FDR’s accomplishments, including the interstate highway system and Social Security. Eisenhower couldn’t win office as a Republican today.
Bear in Mind that Dwight Eisenhower was a Career Military Officer during a Time when the Military was APolitical... He could have become a Democrat as Well... I believe that DW acted in what he thought was in the Best-Interest-Of-The-Country... DJT only acts in his bEST iNTEREST...
He cried while visiting the cemetery at the 20th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. He was asked by both Dems and Rep to run on their ticket. He was convinced to run so as to 'keep the domestic spirit of unity' the war had created.
My first vote ever was for his continuing into a second term
in 1956, and having watched his masterful leadership in the European theater of war, especially the amazing planning of the D-Day invasion, and his first term, it was a no-brainer.
While it may be so that republicans have turned the word liberal into an epithet, it appears that they are redefining conservative as an epithet through the nomination of incompetent conspiracy theorists hiding behind Christianity to major management positions in government. These “conservatives “ are making a joke of the US and all of us.
Where some see "conservatives," I see cultists. We need to keep emphasizing that the GOP doesn't exist any more. There are basically no Republicans left, only rich, mostly white, obscenely rich, cult members, folks who are too cowed and cowardly to stand up to the emperor who obviously has no clothes.
Sorry Betsy, I understand those guys, just think of how repulsive would be to stand in front of a trump with no clothes....I would not if I'm called a coward if I can avoid that situation...
Modern political "Conservatives" are anything but conservative. They are totally reckless. "Liberal" comes from the same root as "liberty". It is perfectly possible to be liberal and conservative at the same time; in fact to the degree those qualities are harmoniously integrated I expect that we are best equipped for making wise decisions.
Yea and ….the citizens voted for it. We have to figure out how to protect liberal democracy when the educated mind takes a back seat to the champions of the 15 second sound bites of misinformation.
My two cents? I posted this this other day and will keep doing so.
Don’t be gaslit.
Here is what we know about the incoming president:
The Hollywood access tape caught him live boasting about sexually abusing and assaulting women. The E. Jean Carrol verdict found him guilty of abuse and the judge called it rape. He was found guilty of paying off a porn star to interfere with the 2016 election. He invited Russia to interfere in the same election. That same year he verbally abused and physically mocked a handicapped journalist, while he incited to violence against the press and hecklers at his rallies as well. He joked about “second amendment people” taking care of Hilary Clinton. He has cheated vendors who provided services to him in his building and casino projects. He indulged in both-siderism at a Nazi rally in Charlottesville where a protestor was killed when a car ploughed into a crowd of counter-protestors. He sided with Putin over our own intelligence services. He malignantly threw paper towels deriding hurricane victims in Puerto Rico. He withheld funds from states that didn’t support him during natural disasters. He shoved aside physically the leader of Montenegro for a photo-op at a G-20 summit. He created an atmosphere such that mass shooters at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and El Paso credit him with their inspiration for the murders they committed. He presided over a pandemic in which his son-in-law advised him to do nothing since it would hit states worse that didn’t vote for him. He pursued a cruel policy of family separation at the border while wasting billions on a useless wall project on the border as well. He furthered wealth inequality by a huge transfer of wealth from the lower and middle class to the uber-wealthy. He took a meeting with the dictator of North Korea, one of the most brutal regimes on Earth. He presided over the illegal assassination of an Iranian general and exited a nuclear deal with Iran that helped prevent further nuclear proliferation. He negotiated the deal with the Taliban that resulted in a catastrophe for both the US and Afghanistan. He misrepresented the direction of a hurricane and hurricane preparation for the people of the Gulf. He pulled out of the Paris climate deal, our best chance to avoid the worst results of climate change. He has encouraged the destruction of Gaza encouraging the Israelis to “finish the job”. He strong-armed a US ally, Ukraine, to get dope on his political opponents or face withdrawal of US support against a dangerous US adversary. He incited violence against the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, resulting in the attempted murder of her husband in their own home with a hammer. He illegally and violently dispersed legal protestors in Washington DC. He profited illegally from his office, corruptly strong-arming various branches of the government and foreign governments to use his properties for which his company received the earnings. He refused to allow any officials save a US interpreter be present at meetings with himself and Putin and refused to allow the interpreter to divulge the nature of his discussions. He repeatedly lied about the results of the 2020 election. He sought to overturn that election by inciting a mob to storm the Capitol, during which he did nothing to stop it. He wanted to but was prevented from leading said mob. He incited the mob to attempt to lynch Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi. He has thrown a match on the militia movement in this country which has sought to disrupt legislative sessions in a number of states, intimidate peaceful protestors, and kidnap the governor of Michigan. He refused to hand over classified documents he took from the White House upon leaving – after which dozens of human assets were liquidated in China alone. He repeatedly lied about stripping women of their right to access to health care. During this past campaign he rambled about Hannibal Lector, obsessed about crowd size, fellated a microphone, used foul language repeatedly, and held a Nazi style rally reminiscent of the 1930s in Madison Square Garden. He has refused to release health records and tax returns. He lied so many times about so many things one does not know where to start. He faced 91 felony counts in 4 districts and was able to escape them only by virtue of his wealth and position. He has faced the opposition of the military, legal, and scientific community. He has repeatedly threatened the media. He has promised to be dictator. He has called our soldiers and veterans and war dead and POWs suckers and losers. He wants to install a series of concentration camps for mass deportation. He has put in place a Supreme Court that has resulted in the imposition of an ideology that has seen women bleed out in parking lots to their deaths. As I write, he is choosing a cabinet full of corrupt degenerates that would be the envy of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Is there more? Absolutely - remember with whom and what we are dealing. Bannon put it out there for all to see and Hannah Arendt told us decades ago how it works: Flood the zone with s••t and gaslight until your opposition is exhausted, indifferent, numb, or questioning their own sanity. All of this is by way of encouraging you. Do not be gaslit. You are not crazy. He is this bad, this depraved, this unqualified. And the people who voted for him have a choice. Either they are profoundly stupid, profoundly cruel, or morally bankrupt. That or a combination of all three, and none are good.
So yes, your neighbors are that bad. But they are right when they say it is a historic win, just not in the way they – now little more than part of a mob of braying jackals whose chief is a thuggish simian - would like to think.
And remember what support of him is about: stripping and gutting a much-needed social safety net. Not feeding hungry children. Breaking our alliances. An economic revanchism that could cripple our economy. Hatred of people of color, Jews, and women. The further degradation of an already degraded climate and planetary environment. Coddling dictators. Strangling democracy. Imposing religion. Limiting the rights of others. They want to strip everyone of everything – this is the hill they – this administration, its supporters, the guy next door with the MAGA hat because he can’t wear a white hood - wish to die on, and the fact that a depraved, mentally ill, morally degenerate, intellectually bereft old man is leading the way means nothing to them. They have no honor, zero compassion, and people with a sense of history like Heather Cox Richardson are objects of derision to them.
We on the other hand? We want to ensure the rights of everyone. We want a robust economy and free market but one that is regulated to stop vulture capitalism from degrading further our planet or taking advantage of people. We want access to health care and education for all. We want living wages and protection of workers’ rights. We want more equitable wealth distribution because letting megalomaniacs accrue billions is dangerous for democracy and the planet. In short, we want to ensure that the blessings of economic prosperity, democracy, and human dignity are shared by everyone, not to make them happy, but to give them the choice and freedom to pursue it. We respect the work of everyone from the waitress to the researcher, from the teacher to the construction worker, from the doctor and lawyer to the mothers whose labor is unpaid and unappreciated.
They do not. The other side is simply selfish, mean, petty, and stupid. They run on fear, not hope, selfishness not generosity, ignorance not wisdom, cruelty not compassion, exclusion not inclusion, violence not peace.
So go ahead. Skip the damn holidays. I am. My soul and mental well-being mean more to me than family or a damn dinner or cheesy decorations. I won’t live with these monsters. Because as Paul asked nearly two thousand years ago, “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?”
Please keep posting this. To your list I can add one minor but personal thing: tfffg caused a massive traffic jam and interrupted hurricane recovery work last month when he flew to Asheville in order to lie about Biden and FEMA just a few blocks from my home in Swannanoa (where FEMA workers and others, many of them immigrants, were doing the incredibly difficult work of helping us recover and rebuild while working with enormous grace and efficiency).
👍 all of this you list Steve….lest folks forget (there is SO much!!!). I have long wished, after seeing his rudeness at the G20, that someone, anyone, in the group would have, um, inadvertently placed their foot where TFFFG would have tripped while shoving his way through. A nice pratfall on camera would have been golden!
It would become a priceless, long-lived meme…..his behavior was quintessential TFFFG…..just like when he walked ahead of Queen Elizabeth on that trip to England. Sigh, sad to have to be embarrassed (once again) by our incoming POTUS…gonna be a long 4 years.
Steve, this is TOOOOO LONG! You need to come up with a snappy slogan that is a shortcut for all that. Trump coined MAGA - which is a shortcut for “we hate everyone who isn’t like us and we want our leaders to stick it to the elites who keep telling us we’re not good enough”. Until the Dems can coin a short phrase that says “we believe everyone should have equal opportunity to succeed and we want to protect the weakest among us and provide for all a secure and safe future for their health wealth and happiness “, we will continue to lose. The world has changed. No one is reading your treatise. We gotta sell our world view in 8 words or less.
Sadly, this seems to come across as strength to some--e.g., white evangelicals, of whom 80% voted for him, along with 60% of white 'mainliners' and white Roman Catholics. I'm applying the work of Prof Kristin Du Mez and PRRI surveys
Since you mention Bluesky; I created an account, but find I am unable to read any post comments. Is there a way to do so? I often learn as much from comments as I do the posts, and hope this is not a feature, and that I am just doing something wrong.
Yay...thank you. I was tapping the comment graphic, and tapping the post itself worked. Appreciate your taking the time to help a social media illiterate!
Hank Green, a content creator I have been following for years on YouTube through his work on "Sci-Show" and earlier on "Crash Course" has a rough but interesting video on Twitter vs Threads vs Blue Sky. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4ghgVq9z4M&t=759 Spoiler; Blue Sky wins. He also does a lot of schilling for his e-store at the end. I skipped that part.
Pathetically true: "an impoverished majority" will suffer more "under the rule of a powerful few."
Heather's conclusion here is new, given the election earlier this month, but her opening recitation of American history is well known to us who've read much of her.
But it's the conclusion which frightens.
Not just that a convicted criminal now puts his criminality atop all -- with a cabinet seasoned, too, with many sex and misogyny perverts. Worse, he's allied to the international oligarchs who all use racism and nationalism as a cover for criminality for the rich around which they unite.
Worse still, the schools offer no hope. Humanities gone for decades. Now, too, even the top universities show almost nobody reading any whole books anymore.
Jared Henderson and Shelly Swearingen each separately has several online videos discussing this -- both noting how the abandonment of reading whole books, of seeing larger context, disappeared thanks to the emphasis by standardized testing on analyzing snippets. This just adds to the abstracting and categorical conceits. So anywhere we look, humanities are gone, the personal sinks away, and only ways of thinking, values, and morals exist which serve the packaging and aggrandizing of the international criminal classes.
Too, the epidemic of lonely young men, who don't even try anymore to make any substantive human connections. So many not dating. Having no friends. Just on their online apps.
So many kinds of impoverishment follow from what the schools all abandoned.
My next satire short will by “A Modest Proposal to Close All Schools” and save money. Basically, social media is the great poison infecting society. Don’t kid yourself. Personally, I rarely open these things. I have a Facebook account but I don’t friend anyone, lol.
Saying that the fight is to preserve democracy is extremely weak. It didn't work in this past election and it won't work now. People will not be moved to action. People don't even bother to vote. So this is really poor messaging. I would put it just slightly about "defund the police".
Instead say fighting to preserve our country. Delete "democracy" and use "country". Our country is something tangible and visceral. "Democracy" carries no weight in a country where people don't even bother to vote.
And I sure don't care if it's technically correct. It's still a proven ineffective message.
You’re right. People don’t understand “ democracy “ and they don’t understand the words “ authoritarianism” or “ fascism “ either. So “ saving the country” might help. I don’t even know if people care that it’s Putin/Russia who’ve worked to weaken America— happening as we speak.
Critical thinking skills, education, trust in experts/expertise… all have been weakened.
But doesn’t climate change come for EVERYONE?? Even the billionaire class??
Well, billionaires can afford a whole lot of air conditioning, as well as living anywhere they want. We can't and shouldn't look to billionaires to give a damn.
And to try to amplify your point, with which I agree, we aspire toward true democracy, but we remain a Republic, as Mr. Franklin described it: "A Republic, if we can keep it." I would love to be able to vote on public policy as an ordinary citizen.
I don't care about preserving our "country." The arbitrary boundaries on this small world that we find ourselves inhabiting mean nothing in the context of the billions of other worlds throughout the observable universe. Build a wall at the Rio Grande? GMAB.
Sorry my reaction to notions of other "worlds" is mostly laughter. We can't even fly to a Jupiter moon that MIGHT be habitable (but certainly not inhabited) in less than 20 or so years. The closest other star system with planets is FIVE LIGHT YEARS away, that is about 40,000 regular years traveling at our current highest speed. And to reach any other potentially habitable planet would take millions of years. Space is just too big and too empty for the most part. For the foreseeable future (certainly another few centuries) or life is here on earth with maybe a few small experimental outposts on the moon and Mars. We are all we have.
From an epistemological viewpoint, we ponder when we can say we "know" something. A common definition is that knowledge is "justifiable true belief". It doesn't count as knowledge if our conjecture turns out to be true, based on a guess, or an estimation of probability. We need to be able to justify our belief. Currently we do not know what is out there (Agent Mulder notwithstanding). Until we know otherwise, we should assume be that our world is the only place in the whole universe where life exists. So let's not wreck it.
Trump has already hijacked the concept of “saving the country.” It was a central theme of both his campaigns. Democrats are clueless on messaging. By focusing on “culture war” issues, Dems have handed Trump and his Republican minions exactly what they needed to characterize Dems as out-of-touch elitists. The Dems then spend precious time defending against this caricature, rather than focusing on core issues, like jobs.
Dems *didn't* focus on culture war issues! The conservative messaging was what did. I'm SO very tired of the cultists controlling the narrative, but then everyone blaming the Dems for it!!
That is entirely my point. The Democrats are horrible at messaging. They have no coherent response to the Trumpublican narrative that Dems are more interested in trans rights than working class needs. I’m not saying that’s entirely true—though I do think Dems started abandoning the working and middle classes when Clinton was president. The video of Harris being interviewed saying prisoners should be entitled to trans care was GOLD for the Republicans. Voters worried about prices and taxes are not going to take kindly to a party PERCEIVED as caring more about the prisoner’s rights (and using tax dollars to meet their needs) than about the worker’s needs.
What are you talking about? What culture war? Harris was all about jobs. Abortion is health care, not a culture war. Stop blaming her campaign because it was excellent. It was just never going to be enough, period, same as Hillary. The meaning of elite is now synonymous with woke, instead of having anything to do with money because THEY have all the money. You can blame the media, but the Harris campaign did their best.
She did a good job with the limited time she had, but her campaign made some crucial mistakes, including ceding the “Bro” podcasts to Trump. She (or her handlers) ran a pretty traditional campaign. It reminds me of the book, “The Last Hurrah” where the incumbent candidate fails to understand the power of the new medium, television. I respectfully disagree with you on abortion. While I wholeheartedly support a woman’s right to control her own body, many Americans—certainly enough to win an election in a divided country— believe it is murder, really the ultimate “culture war” issue.
When a willfully ignorant demographic buys into propaganda about abortion because they don’t know or care what they’re talking about — and I ran into that voter when I canvassed in PA — that does not equal culture war. It’s the very same issue we have on the larger scale — ignorant people buying what the other side is selling. Yes, mistakes — we can poke holes all day long — and here’s the take home: it didn’t matter. She was never going to be enough. Our media let us down.
There is a TED talk by Peter Pomerantsev titled "How to Fight (and Win) the Battle against Propaganda". By the logic of this talk, what the Democrats failed to do was create enough strong emotion against the MAGA movement, and then follow up with truth-based information of their own. I disagree with the methods described, but the basic formula is sound. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgHHRVH0NFo
I don't think we are there yet. The MAGA folks are still like Germany in the early 30s. Until we are actually seeing major problems in MAGA this won't work
Would you rather see people not vote that have no interest in learning what the candidates stand for, or vote when they vote straight Republican (or Democrat)?
My friend Gail and I had come to this very conclusion this afternoon while discussing what should be our next move. Righteous indignation hands far right extremism schadenfreude. Ha, we own the libs! Not that it’s the salient point. What proves definitively what are the right choices? The things that work, that fix the things that are broken. If your car won’t start and the mechanic wants to fix it by changing the headlights you simply can’t be persuaded to go along with it. If MAGA is trying to tell you the problem with our country is liberalism and wokeness, ask yourself this simple question, if not woke then what? Asleep? We need to get off our high horse and start supporting our democratic ideals instead of denouncing what we know doesn’t work.
we need somehow to convince that MAGAts that favorable policies towards unions put more money in workers' pockets; that higher taxes on the wealthy, and lower taxes on those who are not wealthy put more money in working peoples' pockets... that lower drug prices relieve pharma of imperceptible amounts of wealth, but leave more money in working peoples' pockets, etc.
As to why lack of money makes life so hard, read this:
It is an amazing article. That's why I called up Harvard Magazine a decade after I'd first read it, asking if someone could find it for me, which some nice woman did, and I wish I'd written her name down so that I could tell her that people are still appreciating that article. I put the link at the top of my "to do" list so that I'd always have easy access to it. EDIT I just emailed Cara Feinberg to tell her people are still appreciating it.
Like maybe put the ERA into the constitution for starters. That document still doesn't include the word 'women.' Our school systems and most religions are authoritarian and we are still among the few countries that have never had a woman president. And now we know how easy it is to take away women's rights to contraception and abortion. Can you imagine the outcry if the supreme court decided men could not get vasectomies or ED medicine?
Please consider signing this petition to grant green cards to DACA recipients so that Trump cannot deport them. They were brought to the US so young that they've never known any country but ours. Thank you.
've worked with dozens of people that have green cards. Some of them never had an issue re-upping until Trump became President. And I'm talking about people that have been here for 20+ years and never had an issue before.
Not only has Trump totally fucked up the USPS, which may never recover, but he has done great harm to the INS and other agencies as well, with the morons he put in charge last time.
When I was in London a few years ago, there was a billionaire that wasn't allowed to work in the US until his green card was renewed. He was a former British paratrooper and a white male. Fortunately, he only had to work out of London for a few weeks but imagine if he had been Hispanic, black or Indian.
I have a co-worker, who is Indian, that had to relocate to Canada leaving his wife behind in the US while they get things cleared up. Does anyone think the INS will run better with a Trump stooge in charge?
This is an excellent lesson that ties everything together over the sweep of history. It's too bad this letter and its essential truths aren't taught in schools.
"Heather Cox Richardson is an American historian. She is a professor of history at Boston College, where she teaches courses on the American Civil War, the Reconstruction Era, the American West, and the Plains Indians. She previously taught history at MIT and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Richardson has authored seven books on history and politics."
I have to believe her classes are quite popular and that other professors around the US teach from her books. Anyone here ever take any of her classes?
The tragedy is that these ideas, fundamental to the emergence of the United States as a world leader and model, must be understood by citizens. It is no accident that the elimination of the Department of Education is a prime objective of the next administration. When public schools are starved for resources and the education of the children of the wealthy and privileged is instead underwritten by government, the essential element of an informed citizenry is eroded. The irony, of course, is that the very people who helped elect a corrupt fraud will be among the most seriously damaged by their own folly. Victims of the person they elected, disabled by the removal of an educational system that might have remediated their understanding of the core values of the nation, they will be left with no capacity for understanding their own plight.
Marilyn, these were my thoughts exactly when I read HCR's letter this morning. When the Felon-in-Chief declared he "loves the poorly educated" he wasn't kidding. And they revel in their ignorance, which is what really scares me.
And sewer rats too….. A swamp is an ecosystem, while a sewer is effluent, waste & is often toxic. IMHO TFFFG has swapped the swamp and populated a sycophant-laden sewer to rule over instead.
We seem to revisit this misery on a period basis--in my family, we called them witch hunts and this country has elected someone who wants to devote our resources to conduct the latest, perhaps most comprehensive version of this obstruction of justice, waste of public funds, and wholesale lying to, cheating of, and stealing from the American people. They do not propose to love us, they are determined to subjugate us. Our determination to maintain the rule of law, the three equal branches of government, and constant monitoring of our fiscal condition so that NO public funds are used for a private purpose appear to be the appropriate response. These folks care about themselves. They want revenge, they want power, and they want wealth. ALL of these things specifically point to their private purpose. Don't let them get away with it.
Heather - great article tonight, now you’re talking current strategies from historical perspectives.
We have to overhaul the press and media - we have a problem that needs immediate intervention of our bias press. Clear that SWAMP, get better lawyers to fight for Democrats, or in 2026 the same poison will corrupt our country from the wealthy elites who brainwash the weak Republicans. REMEMBER- Climate pollution cannot stand by while we watch the clock day by day.
It mystifies me that the Movement Conservatives and tech's Masters of the Universe want to destroy the very fundamentals of America that allowed them to create and increase their wealth: the rule of law, public schools, building codes, public health measures like vaccinations and other medical advances, safe air and water, and so much more -even traffic lights, newspapers, and our roads and highways. I'm disgusted by their arrogance and sense of righteous entitlement and superiority.
Who do they think will buy their products, staff their businesses, trust their contracts, and allow them to create and increase their wealth? After Trump and his allies empty the US treasury, bankrupt adversaries with phony lawsuits and investigations, appropriate profitable businesses, and destroy non-profits, there won't be much of a country left. Who will be their doctors, architects, pilots, and bankers?
We've seen this movie before, and it doesn't end well, even for the grifters and oligarchs. Unless we stop this soon, it certainly won't end well for most Americans, including MAGA folks.
There is no way to "stop this soon." They have two years to wreak havoc. The only reliable checks on Trump (that he values) are the money people and financial markets. Maybe a few court cases will restrain him. And maybe occasionally the Republican senate will show some spine. We can only hope that Dems come roaring back in the midterms. Post-election despair and euphoria will at some point yield to reality. https://jimbuie.substack.com/p/why-did-democratic-senate-candidates
Jim, Because states are our last guardrail, I believe local communities everywhere must work to develop action plans for using local constituent power to help in the nationwide effort to beat back MAGA.
All the Democratic governors are already doing this, most especially the 17 states where Dems have all the control of their legislatures as well.
Robin, Agreed. Still, in my view, we cannot, nor should we, expect them to carry the weight of resisting at every turn freedoms and rights that are in peril unless we, too, are engaged in the struggle.
We need to beat the drum of democracy's advantages over creeping autocracy since pointing out the dangers of #47 and his ilk means nothing to his supporters.
True, but I am here in Idaho. Beyond hopeless. There is no finger in the dam.
I would think people should start moving out of Florida, Idaho and Indiana as well as the deep south and especially Texas. Because none of those states will come along peacefully. They will fight tooth and nail to keep their death grip on democracy.
I live in Florida ……
We are doomed
Laurie, yes and some of those waters leak over into Oregon. I have an ex-student who lives in northern Idaho. He and his partner (male I think) seem to be trying to get off the grid. I also have a good friend from library school who lives in Moscow. She and her husband do their best to counter the nonsense.
I am so sorry for you. I hope that you are older and don't have to worry about getting pregnant. I've been hearing stories about women being airlifted to other states to get medical treatment. I also have heard that there is a mass evacuation of medical doctors who specialize in difficult pregnancies.
I love rural states like Idaho, Montana, the Dakotas. But there are issues.
https://yadontknow.blogspot.com/2024/09/rural-democracy.html
Barbara Jo Krieger, I agree with you. It will only be from the bottom up that this can be urged to veer off the horrible trajectory we are on. Yet also we have to concurrently address the lack-of-megaphone problem. All the damaging changes have been able to occur because of successful mis/dis information campaigns/focus groups/news sites/social media. That behemoth needs to be addressed. Heather does her best here with us. If she had the muskrats reach - and unlimited wealth-, we would not be in this situation. How do we change that?
It is a shame that our ability to get a message out depends on how deep our pockets are, or a private citizen's interest in that message. We have lost our way as a country. The Reagan Years did so much damage.
@MLRGRMI, Currently, our party is leaderless. We need a leader, contrary to Biden, who can take full advantage of the bully pulpit, both to prosecute the opposition and to connect our story to people’s felt needs.
In Oregon the Ds have a super majority in both House and Senate in the legislature. I don't know how that will play out. Certain incoming Rs death star types are threatening to arrest local officials and they will certainly punish any D areas by withholding funds or not funding.
The states will try to protect individuals within their borders, but the real last guardrail is the military. Will Trump finally have the generals who, like Hitler’s, will do his bidding, at least for awhile? Will some of them eventually try to kill him? Will it matter in two years? If Trump declares an emergency on his first day back in office—armed with the new immunity bestowed upon him by the Supreme Court—“life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” could be damaged beyond repair.
Dave, Given military bases abound in every state, I share your concern. Nonetheless, I’m banking on MAGA bullies backing down when confronted with formidable resistance we know is on the right side of history.
@B. J. K. & others on this thread…Criminals and vandals—every one—may succeed for a time using their warped views and philosophies to subjugate others to their selfish will. But, it is good to keep front of mind that even the most powerful evildoers make mistakes…Al Capone (and so many others like him) died in a maximum security prison, tripped up by his own hubris and the mistake of willfully cheating on his taxes. The USSR, organized out of the regressive worldviews of Marx & Lenin, rotted and ultimately dissolved into the wasteland created out of its own worst ideas and biases meant to control human individuality and innate intelligence. Hitler’s own personal, drug-addled insanities caused him to overreach in service of his own delusions of personal power and domination to slink meekly out of this life into the infinitely hotter climes of vacation land for damned tyrants and other miscreants.
If free thinking devotees of individual liberties struggle to maintain firm footing in this world, even today’s MAGAts will come to heel before their worst machinations eventuate. It won’t be easy or immediate, but even Trump’s legions of doom will fall prey to the power of pluralism.
You're right Doc, it'll take some time, but it will come around. Give em enough rope!
Barbara, Oregon has an Air National Guard base in Portland, Kingsley Field in Klamath Falls (Hosting a Fighter Wing) , and an Army Recruiting Station in Portland. There are 14 Coast Guard Stations along the coast from Brookings to Astoria, plus one in Portland.
Ally, to me the problem is that so many of military and ex-miliitary agree with the orange puss bucket as well as LE. It is true that eventually some of Hitler's generals plotted to kill him. All the vets that I know are absolutely against death star and take their oaths seriously. Then there is the D of Defense nominee whose own mother apparently doesn't like him.
Barbara you are much too optimistic on my opinion. I hope you are right but I sincerely doubt it.
Jon, As in most struggles, the odds are not in our favor. But that didn’t stop those who came before us, and it will not stop us either.
The problem is most military bases are in Red states, a deal LBJ
made to get them to support the Civil Rights Act.
I don’t know if that is true. Can you provide a link with data?
California has the most military people of any state.
“California
Has the most active duty military personnel in the country, with nearly 160,000 troops. 75,000 of these are from the Navy and 54,000 are from the Marines.” AI overview.
Dave, excellent comment.
Having served, IMHO purges are coming.
In my state, DeSantis already set up his own army, and co-opted the Florida National Guard.
No Dave. WE are the "last guardrail", don't you ever forget that.
Barbara, I live in a ruby red state: our governor is roaring back with vouchers again this session, after defeat last term; our gerrymandered state is 2/3. Republican; one US senator is a national joke and was just reelected, the other campaigned on “Trump supports me,” and hoped desperately to be in his cabinet; and our rep is Gaetz’s bff. We aren’t giving up (BlueTennessee.org) but the climb is stupendous.
I feel for you. Tennessee is infected with a type of Christian rationality that beggers understanding.
@MLMinET, I very much appreciate you writing and imagine the two Justins are associated with BlueTennessee.org I mention this, because, as you clearly know, the way forward starts with identifying and connecting with worthy groups prepared to resist at every turn freedoms and rights that are in peril.
Hahhaaaa.. Putting "States" back in charge of (you name it) will be the un-doing of this. Were numbnuts to make the "government" the decider, then we'd have a real problem. 350 million of us in 50 states aren't going to put up with this nonsense. Watch.
@MadRussian12A, In the absence of meaningful checks at the federal level against the excesses of executive power, using our local constituent power to help in the nationwide effort to resist at every turn freedoms and rights that are in peril, in my view, is our sole recourse. If you’ve developed an action plan for an alternative approach, I’d love to hear it.
Well stated Barbara Jo. We "constituents" are certainly where the real power resides. We've got a real problem , in our hands. No "alternative approach" needed, waking up is needed. We've been humming along.
Time, Dementia, will be the Ultimate Check on DJT... Looking at the Videos of DJT the past couple of weeks at Mar-a-Lago, DJT's Dementia is Progressing... If the Money-People check DJT, then the Rest-Of-Us could become Collateral-Casualties... If DJT does indeed become Mad, then DJT could cancel the '26, and '28 Elections...
You write “Time, Dementia, will be the Ultimate Check on DJT.”
True but beside the point. Trump is a symptom of the problem, not the cause. The cause are his sheep like followers who have been duped into thinking he and his policies benefit them and not the most wealthy among us and their corporate interests.
DJT is also the Evil Avatar... The Test Of Time will be if his Cult Persists when DJT eventually leaves the Stage, or the Cult Dissipates, or the Cult Morphs into something Different... Reading Up On Kash Patel... Not Good....
Kash Patel -- the analogy to Marvel Comic Villains continues. I mean WTAF?
I might be overly optimistic but Patel seems to be the least confirmable in a list of very questionable confirmations.
Bingo. I have been wondering all along that when the evil figurehead leaves the throne will his followers in congress be freed up like the flying monkeys in Wizard of OZ?
Yes Barbara, I see 'them' bouncing all over the place....un til a leader emerges... i.e. one who provides the statuesque character-image-mouth, they can 'identify with' (like numbskull), and are ready and willing to do anything to be seen next to. That, is what DJT provides. Kamala/Waltz ? not-so-much (urrrp!)
Brownie Points
Ed, It’s not going to be easy, but, if there’s a silver lining, it could come from MAGA showing exactly who they are. I would add some consider MAGA a dying movement taking its last gasp.
Certainly not so in SW FL.
@ L duffy, Admittedly, it doesn’t feel that way, but I believe society is progressing whether they like it or not. And when they claim to have a mandate and shove the red map in our faces, they knowingly are conflating land and population, let alone disregarding that non-voters were the largest bloc.
MAGA has already shown who they are. The problem is that a 40-point to 60-point majority of white Americans, especially white men and white evangelicals, like like like what MAGA are. And the central plank they like most is the protection of systemic white advantages in under the law, in the workplace, and at the ballot box. They do not like what Abraham Lincoln worked for and what Democrats work for now, which is fair treatment by government of black Americans and other marginalized groups. And they will do everything they can to make sure Democrats cannot make progress towards fairness. Decent Americans have been fighting them since 1980 and made spotty progress from time to time, but decent Americans never got on firm ground. How could they with the white majority, backed by big money Wall Streeters, united against them?
Not in central Florida either.
Anyone who thinks MAGA is a "dying movement" is a real fool on the hill.
I agree. It was AFTER Trump won that more of his signs appeared in my neighborhood.
you want to hope so....
True Trump is the symptom while duped sheep are the cause. And removing all guardrails regarding blatant lies and propaganda is a major cause that allows such duping. We must put some guardrails on propaganda back in place to have any hope of maintaining a democracy that depends on citizens having some semblance of shared truth.
The necessary guardrails I see are primarily economic, e.g., the overturning of the Citizens United decision. Corporate control of the media, news and otherwise, is also a huge problem, but how to deal with that without running afoul of the 1st Amendment?
Welp.. exigent action (so needed) "afoul the 1st Amendment", TAKE IT! Let it be appealed, litigated, in the press and court. Settle the matter, legally! Later. The border fiasco could've been handled that way. So can Citizens United. This is why we have a President. But, alas we seem to be bestowed with a rich-mans puppet. Currently. And, for the next four years.
Absolutely! The FCC in it's infinite wisdom destroyed those guardrails in 1985. Fox and Sinclair have made billions off of that and more importantly, we now have a population of uninformed idiots who vote against their own best interests. 2% control 98% of the wealth. What could possibly go wrong?
its not just followers who have been duped, this is spearheaded by a focussed group of arch conservatives who want to roll back social support in government, and of course, business types, who want to maximize profits. And yes, there are quite a few crazies enlisted in the effort.
The stuff going on behind all this would shock people. It all smacks of the hidden and super mysterious institutions mentioned in the novel Angels and Demons. Those mysterious cabals of world order fabulously wealthy individuals who move the pieces around. In our case Putin has been working for decades to destroy the United States. He stumbled upon just the right useful idiot in trump.
Ed, you are correct. We offered up a defeatable alternative and guess what? We were defeated. There was a time Billy Bubba Clinton just had to get BJs from a big-lipped intern leaving little for Al Gore.
I had more to say but the software is preventing me from elaborating. Therefore, I will send a hard copy letter to Substack in San Fran and announce that I will cease paying for any of my chosen writers. It will be up to Heather and Joyce and other big-names to influence Substack to withdraw this since I am now restricted. The concept of sharing our opinions is quaint but unnecessary. In the future, I will be restricted to reading only and this is sufficient for me. “They” always spoil things.
What has happened? I may disagree with you, but you haven't crossed any boundaries as I see them, unlike some others who have been here.
Bill. It is affecting everyone.
It seems fair to me. We all have the opportunity to create our own Substack world. Is it reasonable to then turn around and use Dr. Richardson's comments board to create in essence a whole Substack of your own? You are riding on her work.
get a litany of complains about you, Bill?
Bill, lighten up on Monica. The citizenry of this country let Al Gore down, and this is where we have ended up.
He is the cause. He started all of this 9 years ago. The followers are the result of his influence. His followers could never have pulled off the coup he has executed.
I think we may agree more than I think you think we do. Look at this sentence I wrote again. “The cause are his sheep like followers who have been duped into thinking he and his policies benefit them and not the most wealthy among us and their corporate interests.”
He didn’t create the sheep that blindly follow him to their own economic, social and national security detriment, he’s exploiting them to his own benefit.
He got into the race originally nine years ago primarily to revive his sagging “brand”. He has been riding the wind ever since, leaving a trail of devastation.
He has already declared many many times that if he won the presidency this time people would "not have to vote again" because he would "fix it" that they "wouldnt have to." And, once he has dismantled all the government departments, (which he is showing us he is actually really planning to do by giving us the names of the airhead puppets he will be heading them up with so that they will cease to function, and once he has secured the "go-ahead" to be able to unleash the military, (and perhaps the soon-to-be-freed "January 6th Hostages" with their sharp flagpoles) on ordinary American citizens for whatever reason he'd like (which he has been publicly working on doing)I'm thinking we will be more able to suspend our disbelief of the fact that our country has just been taken over. Its happening right now. Plain as day.
For me, the problem is so big and i am so small and inept when faced with this that im just numb and filled with dread. He has told us what he will do and he is doing it.
I just bought a copy of Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. It's a short read, and I plan to make it my handbook. The first lesson is Do Not Obey in Advance. Trump has not even taken office, and I see no reason to capitulate, even emotionally, before he does.
I just bought one too. Thanks for the tip!
There are many Levels of Resistance in the 'System'.... The 'System' has Accrued for over 200 Years... DJT will eventually Pass... Depending on what DJT actually tries to DO, the Pain could be Great... But this Land, and its People will Persist... For the Indigenous, We Will Remain... The Indigenous can be Independent if We Wish To... We have Resisted for over 500 years...
Depends on if the planet gets too inhospitable first.
The Indigenous have very Dark Prophesies...
Your article should be required reading in every school. History and Civics should be taught together and give context to what the future will look like. Your article eloquently encapsulates this premise. Thank you.
A president has no power to cancel elections. Such a declaration would simply reveal him to be a raving lunatic.
A president has as much power as the congress and their financial backers allow him to seize.
Many people will insist on maintaining the rule of law.
It remains to be seen whether or not they/we will succeed.
Ed:
Very true.
That's why I recommend becoming part of a local activist group allied with INDIVISIBLE.
\Vince S
Yes \Vince S, Indivisible has countless local grassroots groups that We The People MUST be active in, imo. And to also alert/call to discussion & action our city councils, school boards, and ask all houses of worship to step up to practice true social justice.
And as states allow a president to seize. California' Governor Newsom has already said his state is unlikely to cooperate with mass deportations of those who are not criminals. Other states will follow. How will mass deportations be done? Police or military going door to door demanding citizenship papers? That's a hornets nest. Aggressive raids of businesses? Obama administration deported more people than Trump did in first term.
Sadly, he's already shown himself to be a raving lunatic and that got him reelected.
The sob-in-question may have such plans; his 'raving', which I detest and fear, must be ultimately checked legally, or physically. I have become ancient and feeble, incapable of any effort. I and my fellow/sister citizens must rely on the good sense and offices of the younger, newer and more free Americans, our spiritual descendants. Please!
“A president has no power to cancel elections.” Also, “No man is above the law.” Clinging to these traditional rules for comfort ignores reality. Russia has elections. Trump has immunity and pardon power for any who abet his willingness to ignore any law to stay in power. The oligarchs controlling the media (legacy and new) are well versed in the Orban and Putin model to continue brainwashing and crushing dissent. And don’t kid yourself, those Oligarchs will have no problem steering our dark cartoon president. Not to mention true believers with AK47’s who never heard of John Locke and are watching football this weekend.
I hope that You are Right... DJT could Declare a National Emergency, and Invoke the Insurrections Act... DJT could also Federalize the State National Guards under the Military Commissions Act enacted during the GWB Administration... Let's Hope That None Of This Happens....
People serving in the military are required by law to obey lawful orders. But if memory serves, we were also required NOT to obey unlawful orders. Recall Lt. Calley at My Lai in Vietnam. The folks schooled in these matters could make an effort to ensure that everyone serving in the military understands the difference between lawful and unlawful orders.
Yes and of course what seems to be constantly overlooked is that orders to enforce deporting undocumented immigrants are quite legal and any military personnel refusing to obey such orders would be subject to court martial.
depends on what's "inside" the military, when it comes to that. The National Guard still gunned down demonstrators at Kent University back in the 60s wasn't it?
He wouldn't have to cancel elections. A few months before the midterms he could foment and instigate violence and disruptions in the streets.(He could rile up a bunch of people and pay the rest to make mischief.) Then declare a state of emergency. Then it would be one short sweet step to postponing the election to safeguard voters. Then extending the postponement. Any public outcry against him would be proof of the need for reestablish safety before having the election.
I sincerely believe that SCOTUS would not allow that. They have not bowed to his every whim and the 'official duties ' of the presidency can be further defined to prevent him.
I trust SCOTUS to act in a reasonable matter just about as far as I can throw a cheesecake underwater.
ROFLMAO! I never tried that Ally. I expect it wouldn't go far. And I totally agree with you, SCOTUS will back him on most things. 6-3 at least.
I believe it was Heather that stated in one of her amazing political chats, that we are not flower pots. We will know what to do, when and where. We will.
Are you ready to take up a fire arm in defense of your own freedoms? That's where it may end, sigh.
I don’t that sort of madness is the point. He becomes even more unpredictable as the dementia increases. He knows he’s losing it, hence the willingness to name appointees faster than fast. He is now more at the mercy of Musk’s manipulations.
Way too many people keep talking about "dementia". I do not know but I wouldn't count on it.
Dementia is quite evident but many people have done a lot of harm while suffering from dementia. As they say, even a clown with a flamethrower can do a lot of harm.
I'm expecting that or sham elections.
overreach there, Apache.
It's going to be tough to roar back in 2 years. trump is inheriting a strong and growing economy for which he well take full credit and the media will help him. I don't think even trump's incompetence can destroy that in 2 years. We can't depend on any spine from the republicans and the courts are getting worse, not better. We are in for a tough time. Eventually, they will fail, but it will take time.
And most of us will be collateral damage in the meantime. If this continues, we'll become another banana republic with nuclear weapons like Russia. The Chinese Century will become a reality.
1st priority should be election crimes. We need action NOW!
Lol sorry not trying to be cynical but I am cynical. If you are talking about election crimes THIS year I don't think there are many certainly none that could likely be pegged to Trump. As for 2020, those cases have been dismissed or are moot. I wouldn't count on anything happening like that. Not at least for two years and more likely four if ever.
DOJ issued an order Sept. 4 . At a minimum circumstatial evidence that Russia, it's agents and willful idiots to disrupt the election. On Sept. 4, documented by DOJ. State crimes abound.
I feel certain that crimes were committed but who are you going to get to prosecute them?
Biden is still president. State laws violated. State AGs and DAs.
IMHO in some states based on expert analysis, there is probable cause to do a hand count. Depends on language of state law.
Our immediate concern should be that Putin tilted the election. National security violation We should be discussing the war powers Act.
Plus. Disinformation. Some voters here in Baghdad By the Sea were sent to the wrong location. Was this replicated elsewhere?
Different methods of analysis.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VrFb-rLVF10
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfs2kC0xOmU
We've discussed Spoonamore previously.
What are these facts, where is the jurisdiction, what state is equipped to move an investigation then an action forward in anything less than a snail’s pace? We are living in a Shakespearean tragedy in modern times when the law remains “an ass”.
1. That Russians inrterfered is a FACT.
2. Each state has election interference laws. In Pa, statewide hand count. Can be done ASAP.
3. As unitary executive, based on recent SCOTUS rulings, Biden can order them.
Those that elected Trump constituted a coalition of different interest groups. At the base, there are the extremists, the Truth Social crowd, who are perhaps the equivalent of the Brown Shirts in the 1920-1930 era in Germany and (arguably, to a degree) our own Weather Underground in the late 1960s. In Germany, the Brown Shirts became a powerful force with the ascension of Hitler, while in the U.S. the Weather Underground lost support after the bombing at the U of Wisconsin killed a researcher. It’s up us to prevent the Truth Socialists from taking power. Consider joining one of the groups opposed to Trumpian extremism, such as Democracy2025, the Union of Concerned Scientists, among many others listed on Democracy2025’s website.
Yes. The Dems need to pick 10-15 Congressional Districts that they can flip and get grass roots campaigning going in the communities. As soon as the tariffs raise prices, the rounding up of families hurts all the communities and businesses that need them to work, that the Trump-buddy-billionaires get a big tax break but wages don’t go up, more women die in ERs, trans people get beaten up, the stock market tanks, and the DOJ tells people to shut up and go home, then the real culprits have to be clarified and voted out. A new Congress can marginalize Trump and smash the MAGA movement.
Dear Laurie, please read the book by Anne Applebaum "Autocracy". She answers your question in detail. One point is that modern Oligarchs don't make their money from consumers any more. Their continued wealth growth is, in fact, as Prof. Applebaum aptly illustrates with simple math, not longer dependent upon others buying their stuff. One could just as well take their wealth, which in the USA is about 1/2 the total, out of the economy and it wouldn't make a difference to the rest of us, because it isn't "in the economy" any more. Their money is elsewhere...gone...no trickle down. Held for personal greed.
Elon Musk doesn't care if you buy his cars, take a ride into space, bore a tunnel, or complain about his excess. All he cares about is growing his horde of wealth, along with the other Oligarchs, and for that they need more power...which the Mango Mussolini and Pee Pee le Put are going to give him, because he represents the new generation of Greed.
I love Anne Applebaum. Also Timothy Snyder and Ruth Ben-Ghiat. Some of my questions are rhetorical, and I suppose the oligarchs will make sure they themselves have excellent doctors, attorneys, ship captains, and pilots.
Thank you for recommendation and info. Have book on hold at local bookstore.
Read read read and pass the good ones on, Laurie. Especially to the younger ones.
Power tends to corrupt. There is no shortage of examples. That why the founders tried to divide powers and establish checks and balances. It's been up to us to maintain and improve that system.
The rich don’t hang around after the system implodes, they hit the road note all the Russian oligarchs not living in Russia.
The irony is that many of the Russian oligarchs come to the US, or at least park their money here. So where will American oligarchs go? Such a shame they might have to actually live on their yachts. Or move in at Mar-a-Lago with the boss.
The Russian Oligarchs have been 'Floating' the Trump Organization for over 20-Years per Don Jr. .... The Oligarchs are 'Citizens-Of-The-World, they have bought Properties around the World such as in New Zealand, Canada, and the UK... These Countries have passed Laws to protect the Housing Markets so that their Citizens can live there...
A number of them have bought their own Caribbean islands from which they sell their mega yachts from which they can live lavishly.
Idaho used to be an exceptionally nice place with kind people. Seems like lots of disaffected mean spirited transplants from (CA?) have changed the landscape. Heart breaker.
Lots have estates in places like New Zealand, Laurie ...
They also keep Britain running by parking their money in Britain’s commercial banks.
Those of us who saw this coming ( sort of) moved back to the woods to be self reliant …it was much more encompassing than most imagined and most , dissolutioned, returned to seek other paths, many sought far more education -becoming yuppies some incorporating the best of both worlds and doing much for the natural world as innovation and financial ability permitted.
What perplexed me most as time passed was what was hidden upon knowledge of its harm , gall due to greed versus making better progress for the whole , gifts of selfless caring as enough had been attained and thus ‘progress’ became a dirty word.
Every faction has many subsets . A few have enough. A few are greedy. A few are evil. A few are sick. A few are poor. A few…you get the picture…
Education seems to benefit most. Perhaps it’s the most needed focus? Control is the draw sought by most and those boundaries need to be clear , strong, upheld to keep greed from becoming our undoing.
History clearly tells we’re not there yet, progress has been made, yes …but far too many still suffer needlessly.
I know we shouldn’t throw out principle, just define the baby from the bath water better.
Where are they living? I believe in “democracies” with the rule of law that protects their money
Exactly right, Laurie. It's madness.
I was producing corporate videos in the 80's when companies started moving factories offshore, or moving to the state that gave them the biggest tax break and I said "don't they understand what they are doing ?" They are killing off the middle class Americans who buy their products...now here we are with these guys...
wealthier than ever, regardless of what's happened to the middle class. Walmart is hugely profitable.
Frank, I've boycotted WalMart for many years. They killed mom and pop merchants in towns across the US with their Chinese imports. They pay their people poorly, union bust and are one of the wealthiest families in the US. I won't go there...or use Amazon.
All the supermarket chains killed mom and pops, it was a matter of scale, then Walmart did in some of those chains by scaling up even more. Walmart et al all imported from Asia, part of a long term and deliberate government strategy on all sides of the political fence, Chicago school of economics maybe? You might also ask why the Feds haven't bothered to increase the minimum wage of $7.25 or so in a generation. I do use Walmart mostly for certain items, but generally not. Afraid i use Amazon quite a bit! Costco on your avoid list? I use it too. Plus the other major Canadian chains (being where i live). I do agree, a broad union movement in retail is greatly needed. Thing is, there is a lot of resistance to unions, not just from billionaire owners. It would take some doing to make progress here, but i'd be all for it. I wouldnt hope for a lot under Trump! Now that too is interesting, since he's proposed a 10% tariff increase. Does that include textiles, which were wiped out in North America under globalization a couple generations ago. The trade off has been employment displacement for lower prices, but America manages to have more or less full employment. Anything much below 4% unemployment will only spur wage inflation which in turn will spill into prices. Messy, isn't it!
Kellog School of Business Administration (Chicago) The Wharton Business School, and others, Frank. I think the outsourcers et al underestimated the mobility of the US workforce and the comeback of nuts&bolts manufacturing in our highly political Supply Chain world. However, the USA is firmly in the Knowledge economy now, whereas Europe with its immobile workforce agreements lags way behind. The US's economy is on Steroids while Germany faces a melt-down. Who was right? I guess we'll see when the "debt-bomb" finally hits. Germany may look really smart then, but I doubt it.
Interesting, Bruce, you're more in the know than I. But i got "Chicago" right without getting into the weeds. An AI search pulled up this for me. There are about one billion knowledge workers globally. Knowledge workers are people who use their knowledge and expertise to create value and make decisions. They work in a variety of fields, including: marketing, customer experience, engineering, design, and education.
The knowledge economy is a large part of the global economy, and the number of knowledge workers has been growing steadily:
Canada
In 1971, 14% of Canada's workforce was in high-knowledge occupations, and by 2001, that number had almost doubled to 25%.
United States
The number of patents granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office has been growing, from 71,114 in 1981 to 374,006 in 2021.
The knowledge economy places a high value on intangible assets like software, brand recognition, and patented designs. Countries are ranked based on their "enabling factors" for the knowledge economy, which include:
Education levels
It is messy. I've never joined a Costco or other big box warehouse. About the only box store I support is Lowes because they have some things I can't find in my local hardware stores. I try to stay out of Home Depot because they support Trump. The textile story is a whole other issue we were involved with at Jos. A. Bank & Under Armour here in MD.
Exactly!
It won’t end well, especially for a lot of MAGA folks who live paycheck to paycheck. Think how a severe recession would hit them.
Or a loss of their ACA healthcare.
We need to do something about the corrupt Supreme Court who have created this situation and enabled this administration. Follow the money…
What would you propose? I'm all ears. We failed to enlarge the Supreme Court when we should have and allowed Trump to put the arch conservatives in the court so it is now 6-3 right wing. That will last at least another generation or two.
Think Ruth Bader Ginsberg. She could have retired during Obama but she rebuffed him at that White House meeting. Thought she would live forever.
How do we stop this soon?
And here we are. Who will harvest our food, who will mop the floors of our favorite restaurants, mow our lawns, move goods in our warehouses, build houses?? Prepare for the great collapse.
And who will open new businesses, invent and expand our global connections, enrich American culture, and raise up a generation of loyal American innovators and good neighbors?
Short-term greed. Plain and simple. The greedy scum figure they got theirs, so screw everyone else. By rigging the tax system, their wealth becomes multi-generational, so their offspring also will be insulated from the hell-scape their greed creates.
GeorgeC.. thank you my friend. You have just called out some real c--ksuckers. And they fit right in with that house of swingers..RIP Jeffry Epstein, hohoho. Santa is coming..., who's wearing that suit?
I'm concerned that the resistance won't respond quickly enough and MAGA will have infiltrated b4 Dems can unite to resist. LIke the Jan 18 Peoples March crowd size bigger than his Inauguration crowd (personally I already have a call in to the best charter bus company in our county for Jan 18) and putting in as much strengthening of democracy guard rails between Dec. 1 and Jan 20, like more judges approved, and whatever other things Schumer, Pelosi, Jeffries, Biden, Harris, etc can put together, "for the people."
Cut their noses off to spite their faces. How long will it take for them to figure it out?
I share your mystification, and I have often said how ironic it is that Elon Musk, Peter Thiel, Rupert Murdoch and other such immigrants came to this country because it offered them a functioning economic system that allowed them to accumulate great wealth, and now they want to tear that system down. Go figure. I guess they were happier under an apartheid government.
HOW?????
Sometimes, ya gotta dick around til something is really broke before fixing it. We're not quite there yet. The 51 Senators don't have anything to really bite into.
Liberal democracy isn’t just a shield against extremism—it’s the spark that fuels fairness and opportunity. To protect it, we need to empower government to level the playing field, not tear it down. Let’s not trade our ideals for illusions
Millions have through beLIEving.
Yes Linda. One Nation... indivisible..? Nope, under God, providing you're driving a Caddy or Tesla, or own an airport in Texas with a couple Falcon jets that'll get you to 38,000 feet where a conversation with God can be had...(providing you're that tax exempt preacher). Kneel &pray.
Are you drinking wishful thinking koolaid again? Sorry I love optimists but I'm not one.
Missing the French contribution (Lafayette, Diderot), the principles of the Enlightenment, but the strength of what is now despised as “socialism” is definitely lacking in the “pull up by your bootstraps” mentality (a version of “dog eat dog” as it turns out). It’s the greed and ignorance that drive US apart and may destroy us if we cannot put the Trumpomuskovites in their place. This is a shout out to Hakim Jeffries, Jamie Raskin, Jasmine Crockett, AOC, and any senators ready for battle, to keep us afloat for two years so we can begin restoration of the American experiment.
Let’s find a legal solution for refusing to inaugurate Trump!!! I’m not a Constitutional Scholar, but there MUST be something the best legal minds in America can find!! We can’t just sit back and watch America handed wholesale to Putin.
Good luck with that. No legal option at all. He won an election with no proof of any illegality.
No a legal one. A military coup by the remaining good generals. Because they will soon be dismissed.
And they will be executed if they participate in an illegal coup. Crazy nuts IMHO.
Then a illegal coup. The nation is gone don’t you understand. the best thing that could happen is that we finally split up. I’ll take my chances with the New England States of America.
Unfortunately the lies don’t count as illegal. Trump seems incapable of any recognizable truth.
Nancy! I like that idea! Take action now.. run afoul the Constitution...sue me.
It’s IMPOSSIBLE to pull yourself up by your bootstraps, which are on the back of the boot.
Funny thing is that "Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" used to mean something impossible.
IF we have elections in 2 years, and even so, what will that be like under Technocracy?
We have provided the pulpits. Leaders need to emerge. The silence is deafening.
Dwight Eisenhower was my Republican grandfather’s idea of a great Republican. He used to tout both his and FDR’s accomplishments, including the interstate highway system and Social Security. Eisenhower couldn’t win office as a Republican today.
Bear in Mind that Dwight Eisenhower was a Career Military Officer during a Time when the Military was APolitical... He could have become a Democrat as Well... I believe that DW acted in what he thought was in the Best-Interest-Of-The-Country... DJT only acts in his bEST iNTEREST...
Eisenhower saw what fascism did to Germany. That was a big motivation.
Opposite as day and night
Affirmative. I doubt General Eisenhower ever mocked a dead veteran.
He cried while visiting the cemetery at the 20th anniversary of the D-Day invasion. He was asked by both Dems and Rep to run on their ticket. He was convinced to run so as to 'keep the domestic spirit of unity' the war had created.
I hate to think how many Americans don't even know his name or his role in WW2.
My first vote ever was for his continuing into a second term
in 1956, and having watched his masterful leadership in the European theater of war, especially the amazing planning of the D-Day invasion, and his first term, it was a no-brainer.
Mary, Eisenhower couldn't win office for the reason you expressed but also because Musk would finance a crazy primary opponent.
He would have been primaried by JD Vance, a real veteran & Christian …. 🤦🏻♀️🤬
While it may be so that republicans have turned the word liberal into an epithet, it appears that they are redefining conservative as an epithet through the nomination of incompetent conspiracy theorists hiding behind Christianity to major management positions in government. These “conservatives “ are making a joke of the US and all of us.
Where some see "conservatives," I see cultists. We need to keep emphasizing that the GOP doesn't exist any more. There are basically no Republicans left, only rich, mostly white, obscenely rich, cult members, folks who are too cowed and cowardly to stand up to the emperor who obviously has no clothes.
How many Russian oligarch stand up to Putin? They just moved to Miami Beach and London.
The ones that stand up to Putin usually take a very quick trip out of a window in a tall building.
And the non-oligarchs are tortured in prison.
Trump and the current hijackers of democracy are not "conservative."
List off the "conservative" legislation that Congress has passed since McConnell became Senate majority leader in 2011.
Some would argue Fascism is conservative by definition, but aside from that...
Ty. I’m so sick of the phraseology. They are not “conservative”. Those of us who advocate for the natural world are much more that
The only thing conservatism does is protect the status quo.
Sorry Betsy, I understand those guys, just think of how repulsive would be to stand in front of a trump with no clothes....I would not if I'm called a coward if I can avoid that situation...
Thank you for that unexpected giggle. : )
Modern political "Conservatives" are anything but conservative. They are totally reckless. "Liberal" comes from the same root as "liberty". It is perfectly possible to be liberal and conservative at the same time; in fact to the degree those qualities are harmoniously integrated I expect that we are best equipped for making wise decisions.
J L, you just described me, my family and most of my friends and neighbors. 😊 thanks.
Yea and ….the citizens voted for it. We have to figure out how to protect liberal democracy when the educated mind takes a back seat to the champions of the 15 second sound bites of misinformation.
Thanks for this bit of history Heather . . . .
My two cents? I posted this this other day and will keep doing so.
Don’t be gaslit.
Here is what we know about the incoming president:
The Hollywood access tape caught him live boasting about sexually abusing and assaulting women. The E. Jean Carrol verdict found him guilty of abuse and the judge called it rape. He was found guilty of paying off a porn star to interfere with the 2016 election. He invited Russia to interfere in the same election. That same year he verbally abused and physically mocked a handicapped journalist, while he incited to violence against the press and hecklers at his rallies as well. He joked about “second amendment people” taking care of Hilary Clinton. He has cheated vendors who provided services to him in his building and casino projects. He indulged in both-siderism at a Nazi rally in Charlottesville where a protestor was killed when a car ploughed into a crowd of counter-protestors. He sided with Putin over our own intelligence services. He malignantly threw paper towels deriding hurricane victims in Puerto Rico. He withheld funds from states that didn’t support him during natural disasters. He shoved aside physically the leader of Montenegro for a photo-op at a G-20 summit. He created an atmosphere such that mass shooters at a synagogue in Pittsburgh and El Paso credit him with their inspiration for the murders they committed. He presided over a pandemic in which his son-in-law advised him to do nothing since it would hit states worse that didn’t vote for him. He pursued a cruel policy of family separation at the border while wasting billions on a useless wall project on the border as well. He furthered wealth inequality by a huge transfer of wealth from the lower and middle class to the uber-wealthy. He took a meeting with the dictator of North Korea, one of the most brutal regimes on Earth. He presided over the illegal assassination of an Iranian general and exited a nuclear deal with Iran that helped prevent further nuclear proliferation. He negotiated the deal with the Taliban that resulted in a catastrophe for both the US and Afghanistan. He misrepresented the direction of a hurricane and hurricane preparation for the people of the Gulf. He pulled out of the Paris climate deal, our best chance to avoid the worst results of climate change. He has encouraged the destruction of Gaza encouraging the Israelis to “finish the job”. He strong-armed a US ally, Ukraine, to get dope on his political opponents or face withdrawal of US support against a dangerous US adversary. He incited violence against the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, resulting in the attempted murder of her husband in their own home with a hammer. He illegally and violently dispersed legal protestors in Washington DC. He profited illegally from his office, corruptly strong-arming various branches of the government and foreign governments to use his properties for which his company received the earnings. He refused to allow any officials save a US interpreter be present at meetings with himself and Putin and refused to allow the interpreter to divulge the nature of his discussions. He repeatedly lied about the results of the 2020 election. He sought to overturn that election by inciting a mob to storm the Capitol, during which he did nothing to stop it. He wanted to but was prevented from leading said mob. He incited the mob to attempt to lynch Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi. He has thrown a match on the militia movement in this country which has sought to disrupt legislative sessions in a number of states, intimidate peaceful protestors, and kidnap the governor of Michigan. He refused to hand over classified documents he took from the White House upon leaving – after which dozens of human assets were liquidated in China alone. He repeatedly lied about stripping women of their right to access to health care. During this past campaign he rambled about Hannibal Lector, obsessed about crowd size, fellated a microphone, used foul language repeatedly, and held a Nazi style rally reminiscent of the 1930s in Madison Square Garden. He has refused to release health records and tax returns. He lied so many times about so many things one does not know where to start. He faced 91 felony counts in 4 districts and was able to escape them only by virtue of his wealth and position. He has faced the opposition of the military, legal, and scientific community. He has repeatedly threatened the media. He has promised to be dictator. He has called our soldiers and veterans and war dead and POWs suckers and losers. He wants to install a series of concentration camps for mass deportation. He has put in place a Supreme Court that has resulted in the imposition of an ideology that has seen women bleed out in parking lots to their deaths. As I write, he is choosing a cabinet full of corrupt degenerates that would be the envy of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Is there more? Absolutely - remember with whom and what we are dealing. Bannon put it out there for all to see and Hannah Arendt told us decades ago how it works: Flood the zone with s••t and gaslight until your opposition is exhausted, indifferent, numb, or questioning their own sanity. All of this is by way of encouraging you. Do not be gaslit. You are not crazy. He is this bad, this depraved, this unqualified. And the people who voted for him have a choice. Either they are profoundly stupid, profoundly cruel, or morally bankrupt. That or a combination of all three, and none are good.
So yes, your neighbors are that bad. But they are right when they say it is a historic win, just not in the way they – now little more than part of a mob of braying jackals whose chief is a thuggish simian - would like to think.
And remember what support of him is about: stripping and gutting a much-needed social safety net. Not feeding hungry children. Breaking our alliances. An economic revanchism that could cripple our economy. Hatred of people of color, Jews, and women. The further degradation of an already degraded climate and planetary environment. Coddling dictators. Strangling democracy. Imposing religion. Limiting the rights of others. They want to strip everyone of everything – this is the hill they – this administration, its supporters, the guy next door with the MAGA hat because he can’t wear a white hood - wish to die on, and the fact that a depraved, mentally ill, morally degenerate, intellectually bereft old man is leading the way means nothing to them. They have no honor, zero compassion, and people with a sense of history like Heather Cox Richardson are objects of derision to them.
We on the other hand? We want to ensure the rights of everyone. We want a robust economy and free market but one that is regulated to stop vulture capitalism from degrading further our planet or taking advantage of people. We want access to health care and education for all. We want living wages and protection of workers’ rights. We want more equitable wealth distribution because letting megalomaniacs accrue billions is dangerous for democracy and the planet. In short, we want to ensure that the blessings of economic prosperity, democracy, and human dignity are shared by everyone, not to make them happy, but to give them the choice and freedom to pursue it. We respect the work of everyone from the waitress to the researcher, from the teacher to the construction worker, from the doctor and lawyer to the mothers whose labor is unpaid and unappreciated.
They do not. The other side is simply selfish, mean, petty, and stupid. They run on fear, not hope, selfishness not generosity, ignorance not wisdom, cruelty not compassion, exclusion not inclusion, violence not peace.
So go ahead. Skip the damn holidays. I am. My soul and mental well-being mean more to me than family or a damn dinner or cheesy decorations. I won’t live with these monsters. Because as Paul asked nearly two thousand years ago, “What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness?”
Please keep posting this. To your list I can add one minor but personal thing: tfffg caused a massive traffic jam and interrupted hurricane recovery work last month when he flew to Asheville in order to lie about Biden and FEMA just a few blocks from my home in Swannanoa (where FEMA workers and others, many of them immigrants, were doing the incredibly difficult work of helping us recover and rebuild while working with enormous grace and efficiency).
👍 all of this you list Steve….lest folks forget (there is SO much!!!). I have long wished, after seeing his rudeness at the G20, that someone, anyone, in the group would have, um, inadvertently placed their foot where TFFFG would have tripped while shoving his way through. A nice pratfall on camera would have been golden!
A Fooken Opportunity LOST!
It would become a priceless, long-lived meme…..his behavior was quintessential TFFFG…..just like when he walked ahead of Queen Elizabeth on that trip to England. Sigh, sad to have to be embarrassed (once again) by our incoming POTUS…gonna be a long 4 years.
Somebody!!! Please 'Photo-Shop' that. Please.
Great summary
Steve, this is TOOOOO LONG! You need to come up with a snappy slogan that is a shortcut for all that. Trump coined MAGA - which is a shortcut for “we hate everyone who isn’t like us and we want our leaders to stick it to the elites who keep telling us we’re not good enough”. Until the Dems can coin a short phrase that says “we believe everyone should have equal opportunity to succeed and we want to protect the weakest among us and provide for all a secure and safe future for their health wealth and happiness “, we will continue to lose. The world has changed. No one is reading your treatise. We gotta sell our world view in 8 words or less.
Yes long for MAGA people but good for me. Thanks Steve.
Sadly, this seems to come across as strength to some--e.g., white evangelicals, of whom 80% voted for him, along with 60% of white 'mainliners' and white Roman Catholics. I'm applying the work of Prof Kristin Du Mez and PRRI surveys
I am on Bluesky now a powerful Platform 🦋 with a robust moderation Team that is being quadrupled.
Sunday: I'm at: nuttinbutbluesky.bksy.social : --- ) 🦋
It's been good to see HCR people on BlueSky instead of x for the past week or two.
Good idea to mutually follow on Bluesky; I will confirm tomorrow, Sunday 🦋
Fact Check: True. Coffee🍵 is working.
nuttinbutblue.sky.bsky.social
I'm Ally540
Cool 🦋 Officer
Today is Sunday......how much longer Bryan? 😊
😏
Very refreshing app!!
I like Bluesky…a lot! I am on Threads also but I like the fact that a woman started Bluesky and it’s growing by the minute.
Yes, Jay Graber, is 33 year old woman & principal architect of her open protocol digital operation.
I had to go a LeMonde interview of Jay Graber to get a verbatim quote:
Jay: 🦋 " ... a better social ecosystem".
With JAY?
This looks like a good write-up about Jay and BlueSky:
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c8dm0ljg4y6o
Here's an article about not deleting your twitter account:
https://lifehacker.com/dont-delete-your-twitter-account-do-this-instead-1849779710
Since you mention Bluesky; I created an account, but find I am unable to read any post comments. Is there a way to do so? I often learn as much from comments as I do the posts, and hope this is not a feature, and that I am just doing something wrong.
Maybe you are tapping the comment graphic? Tap the post instead to see the comments on the post.
Yay...thank you. I was tapping the comment graphic, and tapping the post itself worked. Appreciate your taking the time to help a social media illiterate!
Hank Green, a content creator I have been following for years on YouTube through his work on "Sci-Show" and earlier on "Crash Course" has a rough but interesting video on Twitter vs Threads vs Blue Sky. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4ghgVq9z4M&t=759 Spoiler; Blue Sky wins. He also does a lot of schilling for his e-store at the end. I skipped that part.
Explain pls...🤔
Are you asking Bryan or me to explain?
Pathetically true: "an impoverished majority" will suffer more "under the rule of a powerful few."
Heather's conclusion here is new, given the election earlier this month, but her opening recitation of American history is well known to us who've read much of her.
But it's the conclusion which frightens.
Not just that a convicted criminal now puts his criminality atop all -- with a cabinet seasoned, too, with many sex and misogyny perverts. Worse, he's allied to the international oligarchs who all use racism and nationalism as a cover for criminality for the rich around which they unite.
Worse still, the schools offer no hope. Humanities gone for decades. Now, too, even the top universities show almost nobody reading any whole books anymore.
Jared Henderson and Shelly Swearingen each separately has several online videos discussing this -- both noting how the abandonment of reading whole books, of seeing larger context, disappeared thanks to the emphasis by standardized testing on analyzing snippets. This just adds to the abstracting and categorical conceits. So anywhere we look, humanities are gone, the personal sinks away, and only ways of thinking, values, and morals exist which serve the packaging and aggrandizing of the international criminal classes.
Too, the epidemic of lonely young men, who don't even try anymore to make any substantive human connections. So many not dating. Having no friends. Just on their online apps.
So many kinds of impoverishment follow from what the schools all abandoned.
The Republicans have been making war on public education at all levels for decades. As a teacher, I hated standardized testing.
My next satire short will by “A Modest Proposal to Close All Schools” and save money. Basically, social media is the great poison infecting society. Don’t kid yourself. Personally, I rarely open these things. I have a Facebook account but I don’t friend anyone, lol.
I think these folks are well meaning but...
Saying that the fight is to preserve democracy is extremely weak. It didn't work in this past election and it won't work now. People will not be moved to action. People don't even bother to vote. So this is really poor messaging. I would put it just slightly about "defund the police".
Instead say fighting to preserve our country. Delete "democracy" and use "country". Our country is something tangible and visceral. "Democracy" carries no weight in a country where people don't even bother to vote.
And I sure don't care if it's technically correct. It's still a proven ineffective message.
You’re right. People don’t understand “ democracy “ and they don’t understand the words “ authoritarianism” or “ fascism “ either. So “ saving the country” might help. I don’t even know if people care that it’s Putin/Russia who’ve worked to weaken America— happening as we speak.
Critical thinking skills, education, trust in experts/expertise… all have been weakened.
But doesn’t climate change come for EVERYONE?? Even the billionaire class??
Well, billionaires can afford a whole lot of air conditioning, as well as living anywhere they want. We can't and shouldn't look to billionaires to give a damn.
And to try to amplify your point, with which I agree, we aspire toward true democracy, but we remain a Republic, as Mr. Franklin described it: "A Republic, if we can keep it." I would love to be able to vote on public policy as an ordinary citizen.
Our country. Our nation. Our society.
I don't care about preserving our "country." The arbitrary boundaries on this small world that we find ourselves inhabiting mean nothing in the context of the billions of other worlds throughout the observable universe. Build a wall at the Rio Grande? GMAB.
Sorry my reaction to notions of other "worlds" is mostly laughter. We can't even fly to a Jupiter moon that MIGHT be habitable (but certainly not inhabited) in less than 20 or so years. The closest other star system with planets is FIVE LIGHT YEARS away, that is about 40,000 regular years traveling at our current highest speed. And to reach any other potentially habitable planet would take millions of years. Space is just too big and too empty for the most part. For the foreseeable future (certainly another few centuries) or life is here on earth with maybe a few small experimental outposts on the moon and Mars. We are all we have.
We need to deal with that.
From an epistemological viewpoint, we ponder when we can say we "know" something. A common definition is that knowledge is "justifiable true belief". It doesn't count as knowledge if our conjecture turns out to be true, based on a guess, or an estimation of probability. We need to be able to justify our belief. Currently we do not know what is out there (Agent Mulder notwithstanding). Until we know otherwise, we should assume be that our world is the only place in the whole universe where life exists. So let's not wreck it.
Trump has already hijacked the concept of “saving the country.” It was a central theme of both his campaigns. Democrats are clueless on messaging. By focusing on “culture war” issues, Dems have handed Trump and his Republican minions exactly what they needed to characterize Dems as out-of-touch elitists. The Dems then spend precious time defending against this caricature, rather than focusing on core issues, like jobs.
Dems *didn't* focus on culture war issues! The conservative messaging was what did. I'm SO very tired of the cultists controlling the narrative, but then everyone blaming the Dems for it!!
That is entirely my point. The Democrats are horrible at messaging. They have no coherent response to the Trumpublican narrative that Dems are more interested in trans rights than working class needs. I’m not saying that’s entirely true—though I do think Dems started abandoning the working and middle classes when Clinton was president. The video of Harris being interviewed saying prisoners should be entitled to trans care was GOLD for the Republicans. Voters worried about prices and taxes are not going to take kindly to a party PERCEIVED as caring more about the prisoner’s rights (and using tax dollars to meet their needs) than about the worker’s needs.
What are you talking about? What culture war? Harris was all about jobs. Abortion is health care, not a culture war. Stop blaming her campaign because it was excellent. It was just never going to be enough, period, same as Hillary. The meaning of elite is now synonymous with woke, instead of having anything to do with money because THEY have all the money. You can blame the media, but the Harris campaign did their best.
She did a good job with the limited time she had, but her campaign made some crucial mistakes, including ceding the “Bro” podcasts to Trump. She (or her handlers) ran a pretty traditional campaign. It reminds me of the book, “The Last Hurrah” where the incumbent candidate fails to understand the power of the new medium, television. I respectfully disagree with you on abortion. While I wholeheartedly support a woman’s right to control her own body, many Americans—certainly enough to win an election in a divided country— believe it is murder, really the ultimate “culture war” issue.
When a willfully ignorant demographic buys into propaganda about abortion because they don’t know or care what they’re talking about — and I ran into that voter when I canvassed in PA — that does not equal culture war. It’s the very same issue we have on the larger scale — ignorant people buying what the other side is selling. Yes, mistakes — we can poke holes all day long — and here’s the take home: it didn’t matter. She was never going to be enough. Our media let us down.
There is a TED talk by Peter Pomerantsev titled "How to Fight (and Win) the Battle against Propaganda". By the logic of this talk, what the Democrats failed to do was create enough strong emotion against the MAGA movement, and then follow up with truth-based information of their own. I disagree with the methods described, but the basic formula is sound. Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgHHRVH0NFo
I don't think we are there yet. The MAGA folks are still like Germany in the early 30s. Until we are actually seeing major problems in MAGA this won't work
Would you rather see people not vote that have no interest in learning what the candidates stand for, or vote when they vote straight Republican (or Democrat)?
My friend Gail and I had come to this very conclusion this afternoon while discussing what should be our next move. Righteous indignation hands far right extremism schadenfreude. Ha, we own the libs! Not that it’s the salient point. What proves definitively what are the right choices? The things that work, that fix the things that are broken. If your car won’t start and the mechanic wants to fix it by changing the headlights you simply can’t be persuaded to go along with it. If MAGA is trying to tell you the problem with our country is liberalism and wokeness, ask yourself this simple question, if not woke then what? Asleep? We need to get off our high horse and start supporting our democratic ideals instead of denouncing what we know doesn’t work.
we need somehow to convince that MAGAts that favorable policies towards unions put more money in workers' pockets; that higher taxes on the wealthy, and lower taxes on those who are not wealthy put more money in working peoples' pockets... that lower drug prices relieve pharma of imperceptible amounts of wealth, but leave more money in working peoples' pockets, etc.
As to why lack of money makes life so hard, read this:
https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2015/04/the-science-of-scarcity
WOW David Holzman - your link to that article is fantastic -
“The Science of Scarcity - A behavioral economist’s fresh perspectives on poverty”
by Cara Feinberg MAY-JUNE 2015
(Substack is making is hard to write this comment and copy your link here)
https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2015/04/the-science-of-scarcity
It is an amazing article. That's why I called up Harvard Magazine a decade after I'd first read it, asking if someone could find it for me, which some nice woman did, and I wish I'd written her name down so that I could tell her that people are still appreciating that article. I put the link at the top of my "to do" list so that I'd always have easy access to it. EDIT I just emailed Cara Feinberg to tell her people are still appreciating it.
Thank you so much for that link, JaKsaa. This was such valuable information!
Like maybe put the ERA into the constitution for starters. That document still doesn't include the word 'women.' Our school systems and most religions are authoritarian and we are still among the few countries that have never had a woman president. And now we know how easy it is to take away women's rights to contraception and abortion. Can you imagine the outcry if the supreme court decided men could not get vasectomies or ED medicine?
RIGHT ON Karyl 👍
I also had a good chat with a friend Gail!
Please consider signing this petition to grant green cards to DACA recipients so that Trump cannot deport them. They were brought to the US so young that they've never known any country but ours. Thank you.
https://www.change.org/p/urge-the-government-to-grant-green-cards-to-daca-recipients
've worked with dozens of people that have green cards. Some of them never had an issue re-upping until Trump became President. And I'm talking about people that have been here for 20+ years and never had an issue before.
Not only has Trump totally fucked up the USPS, which may never recover, but he has done great harm to the INS and other agencies as well, with the morons he put in charge last time.
When I was in London a few years ago, there was a billionaire that wasn't allowed to work in the US until his green card was renewed. He was a former British paratrooper and a white male. Fortunately, he only had to work out of London for a few weeks but imagine if he had been Hispanic, black or Indian.
I have a co-worker, who is Indian, that had to relocate to Canada leaving his wife behind in the US while they get things cleared up. Does anyone think the INS will run better with a Trump stooge in charge?
Oh, hotplace no.
Dude you gave us an article and a petition tonight - thanks!
You're welcome! Thank you for signing!
Thank you David…keep amplifying this message!
You're welcome Pat!
Done!
Thanks for this!
You're most welcome!
This is an excellent lesson that ties everything together over the sweep of history. It's too bad this letter and its essential truths aren't taught in schools.
I love this letter.
I love to read about those lovely lofty ideals which we aspire to and by which we wish to live.
"Heather Cox Richardson is an American historian. She is a professor of history at Boston College, where she teaches courses on the American Civil War, the Reconstruction Era, the American West, and the Plains Indians. She previously taught history at MIT and the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Richardson has authored seven books on history and politics."
I have to believe her classes are quite popular and that other professors around the US teach from her books. Anyone here ever take any of her classes?
The tragedy is that these ideas, fundamental to the emergence of the United States as a world leader and model, must be understood by citizens. It is no accident that the elimination of the Department of Education is a prime objective of the next administration. When public schools are starved for resources and the education of the children of the wealthy and privileged is instead underwritten by government, the essential element of an informed citizenry is eroded. The irony, of course, is that the very people who helped elect a corrupt fraud will be among the most seriously damaged by their own folly. Victims of the person they elected, disabled by the removal of an educational system that might have remediated their understanding of the core values of the nation, they will be left with no capacity for understanding their own plight.
Marilyn, these were my thoughts exactly when I read HCR's letter this morning. When the Felon-in-Chief declared he "loves the poorly educated" he wasn't kidding. And they revel in their ignorance, which is what really scares me.
He's one of them, and they know it.
The “great swamp drainer of 2016” is now restocking the swamp with corrupted alligators!!!
And sewer rats too….. A swamp is an ecosystem, while a sewer is effluent, waste & is often toxic. IMHO TFFFG has swapped the swamp and populated a sycophant-laden sewer to rule over instead.
It’s a cesspool! A swamp is a necessary ecological environment! Just saying!
Hungry Beast
Fifty years it has been hidden
growing slowly this menace
then suddenly it plowed
into us like a tank
brought us to our knees.
This beast who stalks
is on our back, biting
the nerves in our spine.
I want to name this beast
for you, but I don’t know it.
I can feel its teeth puncture,
smell it acrid stench, hear crushing,
taste the blood of all I love
filling the streets… while flights
of fancy dance in memory
of what we were.
This thing upon us needs mercy.
Without mercy this beast grows hungrier.
Mercy, the vitamin D of emotions,
is a substance a body cannot make,
without a mind receiving light.
Make sure as dark clouds hover
you turn on every light possible.
What is upon us needs mercy.
Reminds us of "Love your enemies".
We seem to revisit this misery on a period basis--in my family, we called them witch hunts and this country has elected someone who wants to devote our resources to conduct the latest, perhaps most comprehensive version of this obstruction of justice, waste of public funds, and wholesale lying to, cheating of, and stealing from the American people. They do not propose to love us, they are determined to subjugate us. Our determination to maintain the rule of law, the three equal branches of government, and constant monitoring of our fiscal condition so that NO public funds are used for a private purpose appear to be the appropriate response. These folks care about themselves. They want revenge, they want power, and they want wealth. ALL of these things specifically point to their private purpose. Don't let them get away with it.
Heather - great article tonight, now you’re talking current strategies from historical perspectives.
We have to overhaul the press and media - we have a problem that needs immediate intervention of our bias press. Clear that SWAMP, get better lawyers to fight for Democrats, or in 2026 the same poison will corrupt our country from the wealthy elites who brainwash the weak Republicans. REMEMBER- Climate pollution cannot stand by while we watch the clock day by day.