Former president Trump’s closing economic argument for the American people is that putting a high tariff wall around the country will bring in so much foreign money that it will fund domestic programs and bring down the deficit, enabling massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations.
Thanks Heather, the nausea of the possibility of Trump winning is intolerable. I cannot imagine the Democrats making a more profound and vital effort as they are doing now. What happens in the next two weeks will say more about our country than anything that has proceeded us.
The nation’s founders had such faith in the American people's judgment in choosing a President that they wrote into the US Constitution only a few qualifications for candidacy.
This lack of anticipating a Trump may have led us to the Constitution's weakest attribute.
It should not be harder to adopt a puppy than to qualify for the Nation's highest office.
The Republican economic plan, beginning in full force with Reagan, i.e., supply-side economics, has wiped out the Middle Class, dumped an unconscionable federal debt of $36+ trillion on succeeding generations, impoverishing them, and elevated a few to stratospheric wealth (806 billionaires) who have the accumulated wealth of 163,000,000 Americans. The U.S. is now an oligarchy, where the wealthy control the economy and a political party. The vision of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and the architect of the New Deal, that government should be for the benefit of all the people, will be shattered if the MAGA forces prevail on Nov. 5.
Yes Richard, and I’d like to add corporations are not people. I’m so grateful for highly intelligent reader- responders of HCR’s like you and others. Initially this morning I panicked about not seeing her post 10/22. I’m happily addicted to her and her followers to kick start my day. 🤗
There is no question but that Chief Justice John Roberts is firmly in the grasp of the ultra wealthy (i.e., oligarchs.) The holding in Citizens United was a license to steal elections with the funding of unchecked propaganda by the large corporations and the wealthy. And then the latest holding that the President is virtually immune from prosecution while in office. So, the troika (Trump, McConnell, Roberts) are hell bent on destroying representative government in the U.S.
Harvey, they have no idea of what he will do to them because they only see a reflection of their worst selves in him.....carte blanche to be racist, homophobic, misogynist, etc. They do not understand real patriotism, Christianity, or even decency. We can't move if he wins, but we are old and so do not have our lives ahead of us as so many younger people do. WE watched the NBC interview with Harris, btw, and she refused to take the bait and was clear and articulate.
Wouldn't it be interesting to rank Presidents by their scores on citizenship tests? I'd expect Trump to fail the tests immigrants need to pass, even if he had a list of all the correct answers. I believe even Andrew Jackson could pass the test, even though I believe he (a hero to Trump), would be the 2nd most likely to fail to respect the constitution behind Trump.
It's truly breathtaking. If the fascist wins (he won't) It will be a little late when these bozos wake up one morning to no more social security checks....
Not all CEOs are in it only to line their pockets. Some are actually critical thinkers and care about the success of their markets. They know that if the republican plan goes in effect as you describe it, the populace won't have any money to buy their products and stimulate the economy....
And the MAGA people is expecting that the portion of those 806 billionaires that are the oligarchs would do anything to benefit them?......Good luck with that......
Nor, I suspect, did they imagine that news organizations would lie out loud. Not so long ago, we were troubled about partizan "spin." And now that has become so extreme that a false reality is being fed to Americans who no longer share a common reality or know right from wrong. This madness is purposeful and is tearing this nation apart. It's not the only cause of our problems as a nation, but if we don't get a handle on the so called news media, I fear for our country, even if Harris and democracy win in next month's election.
I agree with that assessment, Harvey. I have a high school buddy who is a Trump supporter. He cannot deal with even the slightest criticism or questioning of Trump. I have concluded that it is because he identifies completely with Trump, meaning that criticism of Trump is a personal criticism of him, too. There is absolutely no objectivity involved. His is the perfect example of close-mindedness, a brick wall.
It comes down to defining what American or anti American is. It is fluid and changes with the times and purpose. I am referring to the Red Scare(s), Nativism, the Black List and more than can be listed.
David, I imagine most everyone on this site would consider it both a blessing and a curse that our Founders made it so difficult for successor generations to edit them.
The Framers of our Constitution couldn't have imagined how large this country would grow. It still astounds me that The Constitution was written before railroad trains, telegraphs and rifles were invented. The Electoral College is obsolete and must be eliminated. It disenfranchises most voters because they don't live in the "swing states." Eight years ago Hillary Clinton WON the popular vote by almost three million votes. In any other Democrat country, she would have been our first woman president. Who knows the misery that we may have avoided if she was in charge instead of the orange blight during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carol, My apologies for my delayed reply. I write to clarify that our failure to date to abolish the Electoral College is but one example of what I perceive as a “curse.” Nonetheless, in my view, we ought not discount the blessings of making it difficult for successor generations to upend the structures of government that were established such that the powers of each would be balanced in a way that would protect the country from the excesses of any one branch.
I wonder if in this two weeks before the election surgeons working overtime would be able to implant an "intelligence chip" on the brain of about half the voters population of this country. Unfortunately I don't see any other solution 😕
What is so baffling to me is that many of the Trump supporters I know are not dumb or unkind. They are members of my family, friends, people in my neighborhood, people I interact with on a regular basis and who I love. That is what has rattled me and had me so confused. They, I believe, must feel so fearful about what they see as changes that will hurt our communities and our country. I believe Trump speaks more for them (even if they aren’t necessarily fans of him) than the liberals who they feel in some way make them feel less about themselves - less important, less modern, less (to your comment) less intelligent…and I suspect they’ve felt this before in their lives and the idea of someone like Trump who supposedly “drains the swamp” and goes against the grain and acts all “tough” helps them feel seen and valued somehow. These are the same people who probably wouldn’t like a Trump type person in their everyday life I suspect because I swear they’re decent people. Oh it’s maddening to try to understand!!
Yes it is maddening. And when I hear them say 'he doesn't mean it', I want to slap them.
I do not love these people. I do not want to engage these people because they don't know the difference between truth and lies. I used to feel sorry for them. Then I realized they have the same opportunity to learn as I do.
I enjoy having a good discussion with conservative people, not these maga people.
Marj, agreed. Fortunately, I have no MAGAs in my personal life, only see them around. I am sure some of my relatives in the midwest support death star, but I have no idea if they actually vote. They are busy raising a horde of my great greats, going to the ER, and advertising puppies for sale recently. Yesterday when I was at the doctor's, there was a woman with a MAGA hat. I found myself glaring at her and silently sending her bad vibes. Now and then I see one on Facebook, who I usually have to block because they cannot refrain from name calling and nastiness, just like death star.
Knowing "the difference between truth and lies." My lovely wife recently observed that there are two Americas, with the polarity being a function of where one gets their news. While I don't think it is quite that simple, it sure explains a lot.
My friend is back in Trump Fever country tending to her critically ill brother right now. She just answers calmly, "My politics is love," and won't discuss it further - not even to point out where the love is coming from in this campaign, which would lead to more fruitless discussion. Her brother is at a tipping point. That's what matters. She remains calm.
Marj, fear and hatred are the most powerful motivators. The maggots believe that the negative information on tRump is just liberal propaganda. They believe that we are lied to about all the horride things about tRump.
The people you describe also have a different system of education than those of us that follow Substack and other sources. It's not apples and oranges, it's apples and bowling balls.
Further, many cannot for the life of them understand how WE don't feel as impassioned over their point of view as they do.
The voting public has not become divided - they left us.
I hadn't thought of it that way before David - they left us. They left us for Faux news and the power of a cult that made their neighbors their enemies. I see it every day in my very red county in Florida, the land of project 25. I was a poll watcher yesterday, second day of early voting. It was non-stop for my 5 hour shift, a continuous 15 minute wait. Many wore hats and shirts for 45, both women and men but mostly men. Proud veterans displaying both their service and support for someone who is the extreme opposition of what the country stands for. These folks cannot possibly be reading or listening beyond their inner circle of hate.
Oh dear! I live in a very red Florida county also, and I admire you for being a poll watcher, Rose A! Since I have lived here, I have always voted by mail, so I have never been to the polls in Florida. But it was my understanding that it is against the law to wear pins or clothes with political messaging. Perhaps that was a state law where I used to live, but I thought it was Federal.
FACT: “Voters may wear campaign buttons, shirts, hats, or any other campaign items when they enter the polling place to vote. Voters may not otherwise campaign there.” (From the Polling Place Procedures Manual incorporated within Rule 1S-2.034, Florida Administrative Code)
So, merely going to the polls wearing campaign paraphernalia is OK, but, by statute (s. 102.031(4), Florida Statutes), one cannot solicit voters within 150 feet of the entrance to any polling place.
I am an election official in my suburban Milwaukee town, and such displays of maga loyalty are not as common as I fear, and those wearing it might be asked to remove it when entering our polling place. Thankfully,
But David you also just described me - I, too, cannot for the life of me understand how they are not as impassioned as I am. They seem to feel a desperation to vote to “save America” and so do we. Make it make sense, right?
I would disagree. If you’re saying that Trump followers are less or differently educated, then I think you have succinctly re-stated on of the very reasons Trump followers loathe Dems and Dem elected officials.
Racism and white supremacy are very strong. Hate of the different. Doesn't matter how educated or smart your are, these appeals still get a lot of people.
Thanks, Tom. My comment was in reference to the specific subset pointed out by Mandy Y above.
Many supporters, (not ALL) may be differently educated (right-wing only vs mainstream) and it's that group I refer to.
MANDY Y: "many of the Trump supporters I know are not dumb or unkind. They are members of my family, friends, people in my neighborhood, people I interact with on a regular basis and who I love."
What I find maddening is the CINO--Christians in Name Only. It is extremely disheartening to me. Weekly mass for 63 years of my life ended with COVID restrictions. When they were lifted, I tried to go back but the lax attitude regarding masks hygiene in my Catholic church--combined with some very CINO viewpoints--drove me away.
It's sad for me, because I did take comfort in mass in ways it's difficult to explain. Now, someone on the forum (whose name I can't recall) introduced me to Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation, which I think any denomination can appreciate and it fills a gap for me. Often his reflections would be appropriate for even non-believers, as he puts a great emphasis on nature.
Me, too. Read him after Heather, that is. I have no doubt that a number of Christians that I know (CINOs) would be offended by him. Just this past week, I believe, he warned against false prophets, and it was quite clear who fit that description.
Miselle, I am sorry that you lost that bedrock of faith due to what I can only call "politics" (with respect to "belief" about the efficacy of masks); I am happy you've found a substitute for that in the Daily Meditation. I am a non-theist, and yet love listening to a couple of Sunday morning programs on our local classical station (KWAX, which streams via the internet): The Organ Loft, and With Heart and Voice.
Ally, I do not attend church although I used to go Mass years ago the days I was on campus at the UO. I found it to be very warm and serene. We met in the Methodist chapel across the street from campus. I do have a view about the universal energy and that is what I keep in mind especially when I garden. I once had an ex-colleague who is liberal and calls herself a devout Methodist tell me sneeringly that I am not spiritual. I just said that she didn't know me very well as those who do can attest.
I hear you Mandy. I love my family, and they are basically kind and smart people. But they are also racist. We are largely from the south. And racism persists in the south like no other place in the US. It is part of the ethos here, magnified by the distrust and anger from the black community that this disenfranchisement still exists. Even when you find people who are kind to the black population, or any person of color, it seems at times akin to being kind to dogs or children. It is a racist trying not to be racist. And to me, a person who is racist has two strikes against them already. It is a deep seeded flaw in character. It takes a real effort to rise above something that pervades society like that. They are also conservative, and in my sister's case very religious (I like to say hyper-religious). These are the ingredients for Trumpism. Or Nazism for that matter. I am certain there were plenty of kind smart people in Germany in the 1930's.
Don't be fooled. The only difference in how racism is expressed in the country is between openly and quietly, but both ways have the same effect. I'm from Connecticut, a supposedly enlightened New England state, where racism is just as evident, but just not as openly expressed. Connecticut, one of the richest states in the country, boasts having 3 of the five poorest cities in the country - Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven. And guess who are the majority of populations in those cities, and guess who are the majority in the "ring towns" around those cities?
Jay, Right on. Racism has been studied extensively. The activation of fear in the brain happens before people are even conscious of it. it is an inherited genetic reality. I think I read it is stronger and more prevalent in some colors or non colors than others, but still common to all humans. What you decide to do with that response happens in another part of the brain. It takes just a little bit more effort to understand and make a good decision as to what you desire and to many people default to laziness and accommodation to peer pressure. The way I see the whole perceived left/right dilemma is that it is not a dilemma at all . Again , that is the way we are born and raised. L/R and all the spots in between is what we are and how we evolved. It should create a nice balance and has most of the time. Now however various forces have introduced much additional fear into the mix and has affected any balance. Hence the fear propagation by the republican party.
Yup - they appeal to our baser instincts. Instincts that worked well in the "red in tooth and claw" days before civilizations were invented. Not so well when cooperation and teamwork and specialization became so important.
I have this same thing here in Oklahoma. Trump supporters feel left behind or not acknowledged. Plus, the left's acceptance of reasonable immigration (economically a good thing! Ask Japan or China), our acceptance of alternate gender identities, etc. as an attack on their very way of life. They have come to fear Kamala's democracy as a continued erosion of their place in America, e.g. “replacement”. They hear her and Walz' articulate explanation as just so much "leftist " propaganda. I largely blame Fox Entertainment for this. Murdoch and his imitators trade good governance for ratings.
I agree that not all Trump supporters are bad people. Unfortunately, they seem to share the same deep insecurities that drive Trump to imitate and act out what he believes is confident behavior, when in reality, his insecurities are glaringly obvious to anyone who is self-aware.
Yes. We can be too dismissive of decent people, and that's part of the problem. But it is maddening to see folks who know and despise BS accept the lies.
I no longer think they can be decent people if, after all their lies and disparagements, they can still vote for Trump and any MAGA. They are willing to stay ignorant, and willing to take my freedom away.
How "decent" is it to cheer on trump's plan to deport 12-20 MILLION people, after warehousing them in internment camps? How decent is it to vote to ban contraception and abortion? To cheer on a Supreme Court who makes trump the one person in America completely above the law? To cheer on his railings against "the enemy within"?They are completely willing to take away your freedom to live a good life, even at the cost of their own freedom, because the cuelty IS their point. I get it that their families love them, but people who act in this way are not good or decent people.
Barbara, I agree. I have had some long arguments with angry atheists about good people of faith. However, those who support death star have ceased to be anything decent or Christian.
Are they all swallowing the image of The Apprentice as a successful businessman, and paying no attention to the reality of the tfg? Thanks to that show, so many people don't see the reality.
You forgot “less paid attention to” as one of the reasons people follow Trump in spite of his flaws. In many ways, Dem politicians have ignored the working class or at least delivered that strong perception. There is a class of people in this country who just don’t disfavor Democratic leaders, they recoil from them.
Some people value party over country. And some are operating on the Sunk Cost Fallacy, that once you've invested in a particular position the fear of losing all that investment if they change course keeps them from changing. Some operate with a great deal of denial. Some can't imagine that another Trump presidency would get as bad as predicted. Some identify with his toxic masculinity and can't recognize it as such because all the men in their environment are like him. Some are men who feel inadequate, and some are women who want to support their men, so they won't "vote" against them. Some have swallowed all the lies about the "commie" liberals, and some are xenophobic, misogynist, racist and homophobic. Some are people without insight and some think in black and white, where the grey areas either scare them or they can't see them. Some are just plain afraid of the changes the country is going through and fear their way of life (whatever that is) is threatened by "those" people and the changes. Many of them operate from an external locus of control, where they hold other people events etc. totally responsible for their own unhappiness and/or failures.
Agree, I feel some of Trump followers have backed themselves into a corner and are too hard-headed to admit that Trump is unfit, dangerous, and totally a malignant narcissist. Some Trump followers are life-long Republican but refuse to hear to the truth and adhere to denial. Scary as heck!
You phrased this quite well. I have the same divide in my own family. It is tearing me apart that, the sister I am or was closest to, is a true MAGA believer. She would not tolerate his behavior in anyone else.
I absolutely hate the division and discord that the orange blight has caused this country. For this he deserves a place in the lowest circle of hell.
Perhaps I can help you understand. What people don’t like about the liberals is NOT how they make them “feel.” It’s the actions they take. Going against parents, minorities who don’t agree with them, American citizens in border states- this tells the story of a party who is wants to control people. The American government doesn’t exist to control or do things for people. It exists to eliminate obstacles that get in the way of individual liberty. People see that in Trump. He sees his job the way the Presidency was intended. Kamala Harris sees it as an opportunity to do things for people because it makes her and the liberals “feel” good that they’ve done something. She is losing black Americans now in droves because they see that no matter what the government “does” for them their lives aren’t getting better. Republicans/conservatives aren’t about “feelings”. They are about individual Liberty and work. It’s pretty simple really.
I hear you unfortunately. And I strongly disagree with those views. But then I am progressive in every way, for to me very good reasons. Many people are not. That however is not the point. What we cannot understand is how can these feelings be so strong as to put one's support behind a mad man. A felonious fascist racist unhinged mad man, who proves it day after day. Trump competes as the singularly worst presidential candidate in our country's history. Are progressive policies that bad that they would risk the very democracy they were born into?
I was raised in an Eisenhower Republican family, and what tfg represents is NOT that republican policy. The federal government does not exist to remove obstacles, but to provide for the common good. Nor to control people but to provide for the common person. I object to your characterization of Harris as selfishly doing things that feel good to her, but assume you are a troll.
Do you know anything about Florida? DeSantis has made it into a laboratory of Trump ideas and it is far less free than the so called liberal states. I live in Connecticut and the government works for me. In Florida DeSantis wants to control what people can read and believe.
I think you are wrong. The basis of their way of thinking is racism and white supremacy. They feel threatened when others not like them do well.
Florida doesn't eliminate obstacles, they create many more, book bans, controlling women, suppressing voters, suppressing free speech.
Might you not consider “obstacles that get in the way of individual liberty” as synonymous with often racist and sexist systems that keep people from, for example, voting or getting loans or having safe and fair working environments or fair trials or different mobility access to buildings. These can be considered obstacles which the government, both Republican and Democrat led, has tried to address over the years for the common good.
H. L. Mencken may have noted that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people, but not even he could have anticipated this.
In the times our founders lived very few people would have been considered educated however they must have assumed people would have some semblance of morality and common sense - both of which are lacking in the magats of today
To them educated public didn't necessarily mean formal education. Here is more of what they were thinking about an informed public.
Thomas Jefferson maintained that an educated populace was essential for the preservation of liberty. In a letter to James Madison dated December 20, 1787, Jefferson expressed his hope that "the education of the common people will be attended to." He believed that the key to preserving liberty rested on the "good sense" of a well-informed citizenry.
Jefferson proposed practical measures to make education accessible to everyone, regardless of social standing. One notable effort was the "Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge," introduced in Virginia. This bill sought to ensure that education was accessible to everyone. Jefferson recognized that knowledge needed to be tied to morality and religion to be truly effective in promoting self-government. His perspective was about forming character and virtue, not merely acquiring facts.
Jefferson's vision for public education was about fostering informed citizens capable of self-governance. He saw this as a bulwark against tyranny and essential for the republic's longevity.
"W" was widely thought to be the least-intelligent U.S. president ... until Donald showed up. Like Donald, he was a slacker in his youth and squandered the advantages bestowed on him. I believe he is well aware of his presidential impotence, and seeks to avoid the limelight that would remind us of his weakness and invite comparisons with Donald. Rather, he hides out on the ranch, making amateurish paintings, hoping to die in relative anonymity.
Dale, I’ve always believed GWB was groomed throughout his life to be President. He was always cuddled, protected and financed by the oligarchs. Once elected, they collected their rewards from his policies.
I haven't read anything that suggested he was groomed throughout his life. He was a politically connected family's aimless "rich boy" who really wasn't interested in learning anything, thus could be easily manipulated. That, along with his agreeable physical appearance made him an ideal candidate to be molded by Republican operatives. So yes, he was groomed, but that began after his mediocre performance in the family oil business. "If you can't excel at anything else, be a politician." He was the cardboard cutout that stood in front of a cadre of handlers.
Heather, have you considered adding a layer of 'media' history that runs parallel to your week on substack? It seems like between the twisted news bias & just plain negligence - how the main street press is shaping our culture, and how it may make us lose our democracy.
YouTubes below are Rebecca Solnit regarding our inadequate Press and Yuval Noah Harari new book about how the AI tool's algorithms are dividing our country and the Tech industry's AI tool's decision making...American history needs education for our voters, so they don't shrink with fear about our fast changing world... thoughts? Is FEAR causing some of the voters to elect the Republican's Project 2025, so they can pretend they are living back in the 1940's?
+Rebecca Solnit on Media Confidential - Sane Washing Trump’s gibberish
Solnit argues for the inseparability of language and freedom: “Calling things by their true names cuts through the lies that excuse, buffer, muddle, disguise.”
Thanks for this. I have also found Audrey Mir’s writings on how social media is revolutionizing both our ways of processing information and our shared communication structures the most helpful since McCluhan.
Yikes- It might help you if I had written his name correctly. It is Andrey Mir. He has an account here on substack with some great articles also listing his publications to date. 🐈⬛
Thank you, Kathaleen B Parker for the good article Suggestions. Both Rebecca Solnit and Yuval Noah Harari are articulate observers of our current moment.
Here is a layer you might want to add on your own if you have not. I subscribe to Matt Stoller's Antimonopoly Substack Big. it is not media history of the past, but media history being made today. Today Stoller is discussing the Google case.
I agree! I am also worried about what Kim Jung Un and Putin are planning for the US along with their allies in China and Iran. As I see N. Korea putting troops in Ukraine fighting for Russia, I had a thought that they would also be putting troops here as they trick Trump into betraying our nation militarily and with intelligence.
Well, there is a long list, but as for military action, I see these two acting right now. That was my thought. I did not think about Rupert Murdoch in that way.
My broker who is a Republican that abhors Trump, had us move 3 years of cash flow to cash and leave the rest invested in the market. This was back in April, 2024 and I rest easier knowing that we have enough cash to carry us through for quite some time. By "cash" I mean CDs and treasuries that can be easily liquidated if needed. And we still receive 4-5% return which is above the current rate of inflation.
I learned years ago, never to give advice on investments, but for us, this seemed like the prudent thing to do. If you have a trusted financial advisor give them a call and make sure you are comfortable with your plan. If not, find one that cares about you and your situation.
Excellent advice. And because this "Lefty Liberal Progressive Democratic Socialist" is also a "Fiscal Conservative" we have always retained enough cash (liquid assets) to carry us for three or four years, at least.
There was a Morningstar Retirement "Expert" who would reiterate her "Three Bucket" philosophy of investing. One of those buckets was money for the next three years. Because sadly, people bail out of what should be long term investments just when they shouldn't. They buy high and sell low.
Here's my financial advice. Learn enough to trust yourself. "Advisors" are all too often sales people whose primary goal is making money for themselves. It's human nature. That being said, if one does trust a financial planner, asking these questions is essential. At the end of the day (like in 2008) the only person who will really be to blame for our portfolio collapse is ourselves.
And get a financial planner who has a fiduciary responsibility, i.e., they have to look out for your interest instead of theirs. We've got that type, and have had good advice over the past dozen years or more.
I just talked with my financial adviser at Raymond James. He thinks that it is an excellent idea to have access to instant cash. My portfolio is set up that way. I am in a fortunate position.
Bill, I freely admit I was a saver but not an investor. I dutifully put 10% of my paychecks into a retirement count but since I was getting what looked like decent growth, I never rebalanced my funds. When I finally found a good financial advisor, she looked at my retirement accounts, asked a few questions and told me if I had rebalanced I would have twice as much money in that account. I’ve now followed all of her advice for some years and it’s clear she was right. I now never advise people to be their own financial advisor!
Marge, I am pleased that you had a good experience with a trusted advisor. There are many. And there are many who are too focused on pushing their proprietary products that have very high expenses.
Again, whatever works for the individual is fine. But we lost 40% of our retirement funds in 2008 with the help of an "advisor". I fired him, took our assets to Vanguard, invested in index funds and never looked back. I guess you could call me a "Bogle Head".
Well, that was a big crash and I lost big. But the following recovery was enough for my retirement savings. I live a pretty cheap life and am fortunate enough to get by with a pension and social security. Even my advisor agrees that I won’t spend all my savings unless I buy a few racehorses! Ha!
I could combine Bill’s and Gary’s advice and put 3 years away in CD’s/ treasuries for awhile, but only if I can except my SS payments from the ‘3 years’ total!
"What happens in the next two weeks will say more about our country than anything that has proceeded us." Christopher - I thiink that ship has already sailed. As far as what this country has become, what is the difference between a 52/48 Harris win along with a slim electoral win, and a 50/50 Harris win and an electoral college loss? In each case we have revealed ourselves as a country with a commanding portion of our electorate being gullible, dumb-downed, willfully ignorant, and disgruntled enough to be OK with a fascist at the helm who will blow it all up. That has sailed. Our allies know it. They can no longer rely on us - every four years since 2016 our country plays Russian Roulette with freedom and democracy, which has a major effect on the world not just the US. I don't know how to fix this. I am afraid this is just who we are. But then I also wonder if some kind of reins were put on dis-information, while somehow still protecting free speech, would American people actually show that they are indeed a special society worthy of praise worldwide.... I just don't know.
Trump claims our allies abroad are laughing at us. He sees no irony in himself making that claim. Or in Elon Musk jumping around and funding a lottery with $1 million a day prizes to a lucky registered voter who signed his petition.
Well said Christopher 👏. The Republican blame game has so exposed the main game of TRG. And may I point out those Generals TFG so admires *were jailed, committed suicide, or were ( and are continuing) to ahem…fall out windows, off balconies /boats/bunker fatalities/‘disappeared’😉…but what does he know …correct NOTHING…May I quote him please? (because) “they’re all f*cking losers”.
On a more loving note (because) that’s our message/our main game -the truth - we have admitted the work needing done ,spent your tax dollars investigating their false claims the election was rigged/the economy is tops/no cats or dogs were eaten/the lies are pure propaganda and believing it proves ( sorry, I hate the word but so appropo ) “they’re all f*cking losers”.
I’m voting 💙 hopefully the 💙Tsunami will say it far better.
If not, I won’t have to say ‘I told ya so’…it will be the ‘in your face for a very long time folly’ .
Despite all that Trump has said and done—actions and comments that in the past would have easily disqualified anyone from being nominated, let alone running for president. Without any apologey, anyone who supports this deplorable and unfit individual is a direct reflection of them. If you are opposed to what the Dems offer, consider voting for Harris as a rejection of what tRump stands for or vote for a third party candidate. Do not count yourself as a supporter of an American Fascist. Do not forgot the history of Hitler.
Christopher, while I don't disagree I DO think you mean "What happens in the next two weeks will say more about our country than anything that has prEceeded us" while acknowledging that our country IS a prOcess.
These tariff costs and Medicare savings are seriously sobering numbers, if accurate. 😯 On the $3.9T trump-tariff-tax: that is something like a REGRESSIVE tax of $31,000 per American household (presumably over five or ten years). 😱 On the Medicare prescription savings: that is something line $700 saved for each of the one and one-half million beneficiaries. 😇
JennSH, While I share your dismay, I would add, even though we have Kelly on tape, the messaging likely will not reach enough of the voters we need to persuade. Hence we need Kelly, along with Milley, Mattis, and McMaster, on a primetime news show relating whatever they can short of revealing classified information to indisputably demonstrate Trump’s unfitness for the presidency.
Perhaps we all should have acted sooner, one way or another. Modern Republicans have been on a trajectory to a fascist dictatorship even since Reagan. I would not expect Reagan to be happy about the rash, sleazy persona of Trump, but Trump is the result of decades of lies, "dirty tricks", defaming government by and for the people, and elevation of wealth and the wealthiest to anti-democratic purchase on political power.
All the while, the Democratic Party seemed to stay largely on the back foot, playing a defensive game. Biden (and Harris), despite whatever errors they might be justly accused of, seem the first in some time to not to play along to get along with those who continue to push us toward a precipice. Time is nearly up for steering toward the exit ramp on this highway to hell. Better late than never.
The trajectory started earlier, with Nixon. But then we had enough Republicans who helped bring him to justice. I remember the uniforms proposed for the Capitol Police back then - that looked a lot like SS uniforms. As I've written before, the last Republican president worthy of the Oval office was Dwight David Eisenhower. The downward arc of the road to hell continues: can you name any Republican today who could possibly restore the GOP to a normal status. There is none.
The more sensible Republicans have left the party, and all that is left are Donald Trump and his groupies. The party doesn’t have any focus without Trump as he has made it into his own cult of personality.
They don't speak out because although they don't like what is happening to the GOP, they also don't like "us", i.e. the left wing critics. It's one of the things I have criticized here that this nonsensical position against the mainstream media is counterproductive. The only way to get the "noble opposition" to support is is to convince them that ***we**** are willing to meet them halfway, i.e. an old idea called compromise. But if t you read most of the comments on this blog you recognize that most here have no interest in compromise particularly with Republicans (and I do NOT mean MAGA types, I mean real classic Republicans).
And I think it could mean the end of democracy and while we can certainly blame the Trumpers, we need to recognize our own complicity in this because we refused to compromise.
I totally agree. FDR died when I was too little to remember him, but I remember Ike well. My mother couldn't stand him, but taken in hindsight, he was outstanding. Compare him to all Repugnants who followed.
I have to agree with you. Democracy is suffering from death by a thousands cuts. With the Brown decision, I think the seed was planted to let the courts make freedom decisions and not worry so much about legislation. Then came Roe and no legislative action by the liberals to codify the rights of Roe. Meanwhile, the seeds of the Lewis Powell Memo began to take root as the conservatives started attacking the judges accusing them of legislating from the bench and thus began the first of many accusations that were their confession of what they planned to do. Look at how they have been so surgical at dismantling the administrative state in the last 40 plus years. The pieces are in place to make the 1980 libertarian platform come to life nationally.
J L, Aside from acknowledging your astute analysis, I would add that you’re right about the window rapidly closing on averting the indescribable forms of agony and anguish that would be unleashed were Trump, absent any guardrails, to ascend to the presidency.
You mean like the elder statesmen of the Senate who seem asleep at the wheel? God, I'm so tired of their plodding mentality. If only Schumer had the guts and loyalty to country of Biden and Pelosi, he'd have stepped down years ago and taken deadly Durbin with him.
Curious as to what actions you think Schumer could have taken that he didn't. He has been dealt a super tough hand with the barest majority. Two of whom were Democrats in name only.
The ones asleep at the wheel are McConnell, Grassley and Graham who will be in the history books as enabling the fascist wannabe dictator for life they originally condemned. THEY made the Supreme Court what it is today.
Totally agree that most people remaining to vote 🗳️ do not read the NYT. They include busy, intelligent young people, often with work loads, children, seniors to care for, and pets, too! We need to reach STAT to save our country’s life. The military brass must speak out truthfully on a major media tour. NOW!
And while we are at it, county commissioners across the country should speak loud and clear about the disaster massive tariffs will wreak on the social safety net and work force development! Counties rely on sales taxes for such, and sales taxes get crushed by tariffs like Trump is proposing. Bridges won’t get fixed either, like the ones that washed out in NC and Tennessee. I’m a former 3 term county commissioner and 2 term city council member and vice mayor. Public safety? Also crushed by his tariffs. Crushed. Fire and police are 70% of most city budgets. Where does that money come from under his plan?
Paula, I appreciate you amplifying that generals who served in the Trump Administration must boldly and visibly expose the decadence they witnessed. As for your closing question, according to Trump, tariffs on foreign imports, which he falsely claims are paid by the foreign exporter, will fund all of our domestic needs. Seeing tariffs are a cornerstone of Trump’s economic policy, we must do a better job of repeatedly explaining that a tariff is a tax paid by domestic importers that are passed to consumers. Stated differently, Trump is not revealing where the money will come from.
I applaud General Kelly. We just needed him earlier, and now must ask him to amplify his message down the ranks, along with Patriot General Milley. Wish General Mattis would speak up.
As to massive tariffs, they are effectively a piggyback sales tax. They crush needed basic sales taxes by reducing consumption. I’m a huge fan of buying American. And Biden Harris have remade our manufacturing landscape, with more work to come. A massive tariff however will absolutely throw us into recession, as the vast majority of experts have stated. It’s hard to convey this picture adequately. We have to give, worry less, and work for a massive blue outcome.
Paula, Circling back, if we’re to deal a crushing blow to MAGA, I imagine we need better explainers, like yourself, to expose the deceptions perpetuated by Trump’s tariff policy, in turn revealing the true consequences in plain language everyday people can comprehend.
But explain to them how? Where? Everyone here (well almost) seems to hate the mainstream media which is precisely where most of the people you want to reach get their news. And the unwillingness to compromise has put us in a desperate situation where we need the mainstream media but they aren't likely to help as we've been dissing them at every turn. I said this months ago, this plan was going to backfire on us and it certainly looks like it is doing precisely that. And now with just 2 weeks left it may be WAY too late. Sigh...
Trump doesn’t understand many things, and he is remarkably ignorant. He doesn’t understand that consumers ultimately pay tariffs, and his plans to use tariffs instead of income taxes to support the country will founder upon the economic reality that average Americans can’t afford to pay more for imported goods, and that we manufacture relatively few goods domestically. The baleful consequences of Milton Friedman’s monetarism and belief that corporations should look out only for the good of the shareholders has turned many towns, urban and rural areas into shadows of themselves. Rural people have been propagandized into voting against their economic interests, and Trump does not intend to do anything that would actually help them. Instead, he will continue to feed their resentments.
And the fact that the Republican Party has taken Trump in as its representative is mind boggling. I can’t help but see the whole party as complicit in this disaster that we’re living. If the Republicans that Walz said (in his recent Smartless podcast interview) are honorable and decent do exist then where have they been this whole time? This makes me more mad than Trump supporters themselves - the people who see through him but still turn a blind eye and support him anyway.
The Freidman Doctrine needs to be abolished and thrown out and purged from our collective mind. The best way to start is to throw away our econ 101 books and start anew. It is fraudulent.
Biggest message we can convey is that the US is being attacked by Russia and gang as Putin is trying to change the world order. They call him the “American Gorbachev” as they use Trump to disintegrate the US while they laugh at their useful idiot.
We must get this message out and rally Americans to band together against all of those who are trying to take us down.
Good on you! It is a tough job being a county commissioner. My dad was one for 2 terms. The phone never quit ringing at night. Thankfully people were polite and didnt call after 10. most nights.
Thankfully, Oregon has no sales tax, but we do rely heavily on property taxes. Our current BOCC has put forth a mid-cycle redistricting measure to firmly entrench a conservative majority by consolidating two sections of the county that tend to vote liberal and creating a new boundary to ensure that more rural (and thereby conservative) representation is given.
Still can say "not suckers or losers" on comments in social media. According to Facebook, there are 4 million veterans and active duty members on Facebook, as well as 12.5 million family members and 242 million friends with veterans or active duty members.
Vote vets has already flipped many 2016 and 2020 Trump voters. Saturate to beat them.
I'm seeing a lot of "Veterans for Harris/Walz" signs in the areas where I drive about town. I am also seeing far, far less political signs than usual, which I attribute to the fear that a whole lot of folks have with the "other side". I was only able to talk my wife into putting up a yard sign (the first one in our neighborhood, although our across the street neighbors have had a "Black Lives Matter" sign up for years) by getting one with a cat on a table knocking an elephant with an orange toupee off the table.
Barbara The NYT Editorial Board published the comments of dozens of former Trump government members who spelled out Trump’s ‘unfitness.’ The Atlantic and others have catalogued Bone Spur Donald’s despicable treatment of the military: ‘suckers’ and ‘losers,’ folks like John McCain who get captured (and tortured) are not ‘heroes’ to him; dislikes having injured soldiers in military parades….
The evidence of Trump’s ‘unfitness’ has been spread like mulch on a garden. Why don’t MAGATS choose to accept/believe it?
With the military, which historically has been more Republican, Trump’s record is dreadful, as stated by distinguished military leaders.
Keith, Thank you for writing. To start, I would note my target audience in not MAGAts, but rather right-leaning Independents and “soft” Republicans, whose votes we need. Second, despite omnipresent evidence of Trump’s unfitness for folks like ourselves who are engaged, to drive the point home for everyday voters, we need jaw-dropping repeated primetime exposure from the generals who served in the Trump administration if we’re to deliver the crushing blow to MAGA this moment demands.
Trump’s people are in such an informational bubble…. How can anyone reach them? Do they even watch prime time news shows? The trumpet media wouldn’t allow them any air time, would they? Ideas?
Marge, I have no illusions of reaching diehard Trump supporters. Nonetheless, repeated primetime exposure to truths from the generals who served in the Trump Administration could profoundly affect the perspectives of right-leaning Independents and “soft Republicans, whose votes we need.
Barbara, While I am pleased Kelly’s remarks are receiving a good deal of attention and likely will tip the scales, if the polls that for some time have been trending as a virtual tie are any indication, we need, in my view, a far more amplified five alarm warning. Moreover, we ought bear in mind that nothing short of a crushing defeat will dampen MAGA’s game plan for pursuing both legal and illegal means for seizing power.
JennSH from NC, I believe Wreck has been in NC for 7 stressed out days days in a row. Do you know what's going on with voters in the Research Triangle & surrounding suburbs?
I am aware that NC Congressional District, NC 1, has not voted for a Republican since 1883.
I am still very concerned about the damage & loss of life in NC & eastern Tennessee after the historic deluge? Stay safe All.
Provisions have been made for people to vote in the disaster area counties. 76 of the 83 early voting locations, I think, are up and running. If you go on YouTube, you can see the extent of the devastation. Check out videos by Mark Honeycutt. It will be YEARS before those areas can be restored. Some never will be.
Truly a 100 year flood, magnified by multiple factors, not the least of which are dis/mis information and predatory speculators offering to buy properties.
Hooray that he has now! All that are left to convince are the few undecided who’ve not been able to work it out since mid-August when the choice was as clear as a bell.
In the story, it only took a truthful little boy to shout "The Emperor is Naked" to shatter the stupefying pretense. In real life, we need any and all truth-tellers we can find, to see them grow in number as more awaken Let their voices combine into a roar. May the very ground be shaken.
If Trump, the wannabe Emperor, took off all his clothes and shambled on stage naked, many of his supporters would take off theirs—it's that bad. Their drive to identify with him, to let him define them, to support him, is just incomprehensible to rational people who care about democracy.
I have referenced The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen so many times in the last few weeks - wonderful book and so relevant right now. There are so many former administration officials who could play the crucial role of the little boy.
I don’t get “undecided” voters. If nothing else can decide for them…then consider CHARACTER. It matters. One candidate has it; the other does not. How tough is that, folks?
Hate to sound negative but maybe the reason they stayed away so long is that WE kept bashing them rather than trying to find common ground and encourage them to work with us.
This group here has been so sure of being 100% right that they were happy to call all of those people names and criticize them rather then recognizing that they needed a safe place to land if we were going to get their support. I'm honestly amazed we have gotten a much support as we have from them given how little we have supported them. It took guts for people like Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney to walk away from their party and we weren't exactly welcoming. The so called Democratic Big tent had some pretty significant barred doors mostly created by ourselves feeling we didn't need any help because we were "right". The current left wing of our party looks more and more like Trumpers and the religious right wing. Which is truly sad.
Have you read anything in the last few days? Liz Cheney has been campaigning with VP Harris. Harris has been campaigning in really red regions appealing to the better angels in Republicans.
I am not sure where your point is coming from. You are beating a dead horse about compromise. But I am waiting for a couple of examples of how Democrats could have used compromise to stop this freight train fraught with reproductive slavery for women and betrayal of democracy from rolling right over us.
Give us some good "compromise strategies" to employ that would create a safe place for women to live and prosper. Examples, please, of how we can negotiate with the people who hate "others" - the demonizers of immigrants.
Harris and Walz are asking to lead all Americans. Trump and Vance want to go after their political opponents using the military. Is that something to "compromise" about?
You are a broken record. I wonder how your weather is in Moscow. And quit saying “our” party. Your posts do not ring true to my ears. The only truly sad thing is the space and air you waste amongst the readers.
I expect nothing of value when I see his posts. Such superiority in bashing, criticism and condescension, when this comment section has heretofore been a place of respectful dialogue, even when we don’t agree. His defense of his sudden appearance here rings quite hollow.
He is a pedantic, pompous, condescending, walking superiority complex. Nothing to see here. Saying we are a group that is sure of being 100% right, is the pot calling the kettle black.
Oh boy, here we go again ya can’t take any criticism at all. Just like with me when I point out that if Biden had done his job and surmised that the support numbers would t hold after doing very little for almost three years at the border, then we wouldn’t be in this nail biter of a situation.
Yes , it took people of character, like Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney to turn their back on a political party in which they had served faithfully for years. They have lost long time friends. They have also experienced threats we do not even know about.
JennSH, shame on economists not going on Fox and Friends to explain that Trump’s tariffs will raise the prices on everything—including cars made in America with foreign parts. Tariffs on goods that could be made in the US and are subsidized by foreign countries makes sense because it shifts sales to US producers. Tariffs on goods that can’t currently be made in the US (not enough factories) just immediately hike prices with no immediate good effect.
He is military - they are trained that way - the military should be separate from politics. The fact he did speak out is a canary in the coal mine moment. It is a shame Romney and Bush remain on the sidelines. The real problem is that his comments and Milley's...and the huge list of Trump hires who refuse to support him are not being headlined repeatedly by the press and media. They are failing us.
I fully agree, Jenn! While I do not reside in Gen. Kelly’s head, I am amazed that it has taken him soooo loooong to notice that Trump says things that are “deeply troubling or something that involved [me -Kelly] and was wildly inaccurate.”
Can anyone explain Gen. Kelly’s delayed reaction to Trump’s obvious violations of the Constitution, his OBVIOUS love of our nation’s enemies (past and present), and his disparagement of America’s armed forces.
Too little and possibly too late, John.
I’m not ready to categorize Gen. Kelly’s reticence with other Reticent Republican RottenEggs (like Mitt Romney and Mike Pence), but this statement DOES NOT put him in the Courageous Cluster of Commendable Conservatives like Liz and Dick Cheney and Adam Kingzinger, etc.
I agree Jenn, I never forgave him for the disrespect and misogynistic, racist doubling down attack on Rep. Frederika Wilson. He's all hat, and way too late. Reminds me of "First they Came", his bridge too far didn't come soon enough.
There is that. What it have changed minds though? I think not.
I watch the retired school teacher neighbor walk proudly around the neighborhood with her maga hat on everyday. I have to physically turn the other way when I see her coming. It seems like stupid personified to me. She taught our children for crying out loud!
If You Study History, This Is How Empires Fall.... They usually Collapse from within... Leadership Fails, Civic Alienation, Laziness, and an Addiction to Bread & Circuses...
Venezuela is still extremely prosperous for the Chosen Few. This is the political model that Trump, Musk, Thiel and others are openly campaigning for. It would seem half the US population yearn to be ruled over rather than governed with.
This truth, especially the intense suffering wrought by tyrants, brings to mind both the biblical Peter and Medusa. The link being Petrus or Stone. The comprehension of human original sin as the original foundation of Christian theologies and the rejected and raped becoming the initiators of all creativity: the fountainhead of the Muses sourced by Pegasus from the beheading of the ill used misunderstood stone faced Medusa.
True Bill. Argentina was also another. Both had governments that leaned left and were deposed by Americcan business interests concerned that they were going to take their companies away. Naomi Klein lists that history in The Shock Doctrine. If a democratically elected government leaned toward the Soviets, you could count on American businesses to direct the US leadership to take action and topple them. Not with diplomacy either.
Ever notice how the MSM always presents DJT in Staged Statesman-Like Poses with his Hair & Makeup just SO? Several People have said that he Reeks in Person...
They did the same with Reagan. Politics has always been plagued with "alternative facts", but commercialized media has helped plutocrats construct a complete, alternate, make-believe universe; and nearly half the nation has ODed on the stuff, and are pretty serious condition.
This is to be expected from the Age of Fantasy SuperHero Movies, and VideoGames... Ever notice how many Young People 'Zombie-Shuffle' thru Life with their Faces Stuck in their Little-Screen Zombie Devices... Bear In Mind 'X' is owned by Elon Musk who seems to going over the Edge with DJT...
The choice is pretty clear to us, but it is not clear to those who have no understanding of history, no understanding of economics, and who fail to see the implications, as Kelly said of Trump, of a dictator who has no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law. Those of us who believe in democracy find this lack of understanding to be threatening to us as individuals and to the U.S. as a nation. But those who do not understand find comfort and protection in the repeated proclamations of strength, empty though they may be.
You would think, and yet these follies have rhymed at times around the world. Perhaps we are not paying enough attention to some of the stuff that really matters.
Medicare saved families 1 billion in meds and health care costs? Thats 1 billion into the economy in other spending or saving or paying off debt, etc etc. Bidenomics, cuz it works!
Trump Taxes You, Harris Invests in You. Choose Progress!
Trump wants to drag America back to the 1890s, taxing the middle class and cutting breaks for the ultra-wealthy, all while slapping a tax hike on Americans disguised as tariffs. Harris, on the other hand, is fighting for families and small businesses, pushing for real solutions that keep money in your pocket and protect our future. The choice couldn’t be clearer: backward with Trump, or forward with Harris and a thriving middle class. Let’s keep America moving in the right direction.
Peter, I am quite certain, given Trump’s repeated assertions he is calling for tariffs not sales taxes, that at least half the country doesn’t understand how tariffs operate. Regrettably, I have yet to hear anyone unequivocally demolish Trump’s insistence that a tax on exports is paid by the foreign exporter. This would entail repeatedly amplifying that the tax is paid by the domestic importer and passed to consumers.
Pharmaceuticals will become unaffordable as the majority of them are made in China and I don't expect our insurance companies will be able to cover the costs either.
I do feel that much of the country is in for a lot of "wait, what!?" moments if Trump is elected. Of course, this is just a very nice way of saying what will happen to most of us, surprised at what happens or not.
Steve, I don’t imagine anyone on this site has any illusions about the indescribable forms of agony and anguish that would be unleashed were Trump, absent any guardrails, to be re-elected. That said, with less than 2 weeks to Election Day, I’ve mostly trained myself to focus exclusively on the tasks at-hand, which, for me, entail phone banking and canvassing in the nearest battleground states.
I have a hard time believing that people are as dumb as they pretend to be. I instead believe that people are willfully ignorant. I live in a swing state, and sometimes I'm just so astonished with how dumb people are. They think prices on gas, food and interest rates will just go down because of Trump being President. I genuinely don't get it. They also claim gas is still $5 and so expensive, but gas right now is averaging around $3 where I live for the past year. These people don't live in reality. I think they like the crap that Trump sells because it makes them feel good and they are not having a good faith conversation. They want to vote for Trump because of social issues and are just lying about their real intentions, 50% of them want mass deportations and camps. These aren't serious people. They trust him more than anyone else in America, I don't know how we work through that.
A tax hike on Americans disguised as tariffs is the perfect description. Despite his claims that tariffs would raise revenue from overseas exporters, Trump knows who would actually pay the tariffs, namely US businesses and consumers. He recently let the mask slip when he announced that there would be exemptions to tariffs at an economic forum. Linking the article below.
Having watched Trump for this long, we all know that Trump is going to use the tariff regime as a cudgel against industries and businesses that don't bend to his will. Those that flatter him will be exempt and those that don't, and their customers, will bear the cost.
In contrast to Harris who has plans outlined to build up small businesses, Trump's signature plan is designed to crush them. Small business owners and their loyal customers better wake up to this fact and vote accordingly or they will bear the brunt of the outcome.
I am concerned that under a Trump presidency if a person gets behind on a federally backed mortgage ( Fannie Mae/ Freddie Mac/ Rural housing loans ECT) that Trump would confiscate their homes. Including veterans.
I’m pleased and grateful that so many Republicans and former officials in the Trump administration are speaking out. My fear is that it is too little, too late given the existential threat to Democracy that we face. My continuing gratitude is extended to HCR for straightforwardly addressing the issues of the day, six days each week. The tireless effort she exhibits is a beacon of hope for any of us, and especially for me.
Superb, Heather today recounting helpers of Kamala and Tim momentum.
Eminem, Liz Cheney, Obama (the guy), General John Kelly, Telemundo -- more, more, more.
But the challenge still remains severe -- billionaires ready to buy re-entry for the orange felon and his would-be-co-criminals just as Heather also recounts industrialists did in the 1890s.
Even among ostensibly loyal readers of Heather, some (thanks, incredibly bad education) remain out to lunch on other challenges to our first-responder, lowest-ranked defenders of decency: our teachers.
But other readers of Heather readily come to correct truths -- such as yesterday when Gail Adams Fla/Va., Ally House (Oregon), and Carole Berkoff all responded to one commenter who sees no problems with standardized testing. He'd written in sure that the standardized testing he'd had as a pre-Powell memo youth typified today's post-Powell memo standardized testing.
Gail, Ally, and Carole all noted the facts: no, current standardized testing rules monstrously different. Teachers across the U.S. are crushed by its tyranny. Must “teach to the test” at the exclusion of any humanities good souls could want. While teachers themselves must pay hundreds of dollars of out of pocket for basic classroom supplies, the standardized testing billionaires only profit more enormously from it.
Good for allies of the truth -- Eminem, Obama (the guy Obama), Liz Cheney, and more, plus Gail, Ally, Carole and more here paying attention, adding key facts and personal observations.
On NPR Today... New Yorker's Susan Glasser was Interviewed by Terry Gross regarding the Billionaire Dark Siths that are backing DJT... Those 14 are expecting $$$ Multiples on their Investments... DJT, who is a 'BlackHole' for Ethics will reward them for Financing his Campaign since DJTs Small-Donors have Shriveled-Up....
It's actually great news, Apache, how the orange felon's small donors "have shriveled up."
Q is, how many? How many will just not bother to turn up at the polls, having finally to face how vulgar the fat, orange criminal is, how relentlessly a rapist and abuser of women he is (as his Clarence court pushes that same abuse nation-wide). How his frauds have no limits. His willingness to insult, lie, and recklessly label -- no bottom floor.
And now, for how many a final coffin-sealer: this insistence of his on seeing more than half of America as "vermin," as enemies or threats within, as less-than-human dregs to be done with as the Waffen SS did to millions 80 years ago?
There was another Segment on NPR discussing that DJT is a Psychopathic Vengeful Narcissist ... Andrew McCabe discussed how DJT made his Life Hellish... It took Years to Recover... DJT will treat the DoJ as his Private Law Firm again... May Lightning Strike...
Agreed! Standardized testing has stifled education so much. As the spouse of an educator I can tell you that whatever good it does is more than offset by the loss of creativity and critical thinking skills being used to stimulate children to be better equipped to deal with the onslaught of dis/misinformation.
We were just discussing this last night. Both my partner and I benefitted from being gifted an early education which was open weave and encouraged questioning everything. We also experienced the mass cruel cookie cutter version that seems to have now become the norm. It was the nurturing of our imaginations and the emotional freedom it afforded us as well as the refusal to accept anything at face value that has kept us alive. Without these skills to negotiate life, especially the brutalities of wilfully ignorant authorities, we know that neither of us would still be alive. We are all of us presently trying to survive an era of tragic stupidity.
It does very little for the kids at all. It's not for their benefit, but to justify school budgets in the face of those who want to cut them. And school districts make it a life-or-death situation for the teachers. It's not as if the idea was to help failing schools.
I have a 14yo grandson who was asked to join the gifted programs during his last year of Middle School. He excels in math, science and, get this, diplomacy.
His parents, my daughter snd SIL, are both whip smart MBA’s in the healthcare field (VP’s at hospitals).
THEIR TIME INVESTMENT in my grandson is phenomenal…off the charts.
My point in all this praise is that a signifiant investment in children is REQUIRED…..I’m not sure a good share of parents are willing to make the investments or even recognize the need.
Dang…..I feel SO fortunate I got to raise my daughters before smart phones and social media.
My sister mentioned something similar when we were on our annual "sisters trip" (odd numbered years we day trip, even numbered years we go on a 3-7 day trip somewhere else). Her son is 35, and living with us for a year while his partner finishes up their dissertation in Indiana and they (the two of them) relocate to wherever they (the partner, whose pronouns are they/them) end up. My sister was thrilled that she got to raise him before the time of social media.
I do like that you write “Former president.” I’ve always bristled at the honorific “President” for those no longer in the office. Judges, too, when they’re no longer on the bench. And for this guy? It’s an abomination of the title and the office.
I try to avoid using his name, I also prefer to use "fpotus" (Secret Service speak for him is FPOTUS: Former President of the United States). I use it in lower case to remove any iota of potentially perceived respect. As someone commented the other day, the first letter could be a vulgarity/profanity that also begins with that letter. My reply was that I would neither confirm nor deny that potential substitution.
I hope it is increasingly clear to the dwindling number of swing voters that economic management and immigration are NOT Trump's strong suits. Huge tariffs and mass deportations will revive inflation just as the Biden-Harris administration has gotten it under control. I'm also hoping that FEMA's impressive record in NC will persuade some voters not to believe the horrible disinformation that Trump is spreading there. https://open.substack.com/pub/jimbuie/p/political-violence-is-so-far-worst?r=7j6hq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I love your writing Heather, historians are the best. But I'm taking a break until at least November 6th, until we know if America remains a democracy or a crazy-house fascist non-rule-of-law state. Hope to see you all again then.
I think that is the sane thing to do Dennis, but I can't walk away from HCR's daily recitations.
Rarely, is there a mention of what electing Trump and Republicans will mean for the make-up of SCOTUS. If Thomas, Alito and Roberts step down, then 3 younger Fascists and/or religious zealots will likely replace them.
Yeah, I’ve been shutting down as well. I’ve got recurring contributions for a number of candidates and that’s my main focus. I'll vote in NYS, a blue state but our country is polarized and it’s hard to understand the possibility that millions will vote for trump.
I really appreciate this "just the facts" contrast between the Harris and Trump economic plans... as well as the "Red Alert" report on former Trump Chief of Staff, John Kelly, finally going public about how Trump relates to the US Military's Generals and in other ways sees the US Military through his incredibly narcissistic view of the world.
I have shared this on my Facebook page, in the hope that my Oklahoma friends will read it and have their eyes opened by how this information is presented. I live in a small town where people actually avoid speaking about politics... as a way to "keep the peace". I'm taking a risk in sharing a political article, but I like how Heather presented this information without any personal bias. I shared it using a similar "Here's information you should know" approach. I hope it works!
Good on you, Steve. I decided to take a "I just learned this about tariffs" approach, and then describe how tariffs work, ending with a "who knew?" This way I'm not preaching, but sharing something that maybe others don't otherwise know. This approach can work for many other issues as well, I believe.
Thanks for the good luck wishes. It’s early morning now, and so far no one has commented or liked my post. Facebook is weird. Sometimes people don’t see things right away. We’ll see what happens…
There has been a lot under the radar about polls being funded by MAGAt PACs thereby artificially skewing the polls toward the psychopath in preparation for claiming unfair election results. Many in the know about polls say not to give them credence.
Simon Rosenberg says it's over 70 polls now, dropped into the nat'l averages and into the swing state numbers. Even polls that attempt to be fair use methodologies that to me, as a retired CPA and data analyst, seem to compound errors upon errors. The Bullfinch Group recently opened up their polling methods and provided insight into industry practices - it made me realize the polls really ARE not credible. Interesting read!
I have been aware, solely through observation, that polling seems to be broken, failing to predict any major contest for at least the past 8 years, not to mention failing to accurately call any special election or ballot measure I am aware of in 2023 or 2024.
I attributed it to poor methodology (though I am no judge of what 'good methodology' is), and the tendency to try to influence public opinion through polling rather than simply report it.
I appreciate anyone who can bring some expertise to this issue and somehow translate what is happening to those of us not so well versed in the nuances of data analysis. Thanks.
This is just total nonsense. The polls picked Biden to win in 2020. They picked him to win by a larger margin than he won by. That s precisely why the current polls are scary because if they have underreported Trump's support, we are in for a bad Nov 6.
Consider the difficulties today. Hardly no one answers their cellular phones anymore and those that do may be predisposed to favor a particular candidate. If a survey is sent out asking all to respond again, a select few who might be predisposed to voting a certain way. A good pollster can take those fallacies and make adjustments. But no one can play God. Given that all dirty tricks are employed such as false readings (polls), AI, outright lies such as has been offered by trump and Vance, and mix this into that witches brew of the Biden Administration being asleep at the wheel on border issues (oh yes he was for 3 stinking years), we have on hell of a struggle to stop this madness. And before you beat me upon my criticism, Biden could have used the Insurrection Act to send troops to the border.it was that chaotic for 3 years. So please don’t tell me he couldn’t do anything. He didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of Trump. Now we are in the battle of our lives because of his refusal to respond.
Steve, I would suggest following Simon Rosenberg who SF Haine referenced above.If you’re not familiar, he accurately predicted the faux red wave of ‘22.
Reagan strapped Americans with the delusional economic visions of Milton Friedman, which were fabricated from whole clorh and supported by no evidence whatever. Reagan also gave Friedman’s trickle-down acolytes license to oppress the populations of other countries, especially in Latin America with the same economic catastrophes. Republicans still today have not even a basic understanding of how to make economies work. They only understand how to bleed the masses to enrich the top 1%. George Wallace taught them how to use the racist inclinations of white Americans to put Republicans in positions of power to bleed dry the racists who elected them, along with the rest of the 99%. White Americans who vote R (by a 20-point majority) fully deserve the bleeding they bring upon themselves, but the rest of America doesn’t. The rest of America has just barely enough votes to keep the bastards out of power, but doing so will require every non-MAGAt to cast their vote and to require the administration and legislature they elect to ruthlessly suppress the inclinations of the Republicans who sneak through the net. Anything less is a recipe for disaster.
Hey… hey.. don’t you go doing first what I intend to do at the grave of Donald Trump. I’m first, buddy. The Washington Post once permanently banned me for suggesting I would crap on the steps of the Capital if Trump was laid in state there. No sheet.
I'm a member of the permanently banned from WAPO as well. I chose to ban them back. I miss Jennifer Rubin and Catherine Rampell the most but their continued support of CFDT made it impossible for me to continue reading.
I must say I got a bit graphic on how I would stand on the steps then pull down my pants in front of national and international news feeds. But all kidding aside, his time is short. I intend to carry out my vow even if I have to toss it from a distance since I would bet others have the same thing in mind.
Are you going to pee as well? Hum… No I had better not ask where or I’ll be called a perv. You realize how this topic awakens me from perfect sleep in the middle of the night.
Why can't General Kelly just say it like it is?! He is still so wimpy in his assessment of the dangers of a potential T presidency. Too little, too late.
I would not characterize Marine Corps General Kelly as "wimpy". I imagine he has been walking a fine line between his dignity and what he would like to say. And General Kelly's fraught relationship with the former President has been public knowledge for some time.
Kelly is a Republican. This whole group has been bashing Republicans all along. Why in the WORLD do you think he would want to stand with US? I think it is astonishing and brave for him to have done what he has done and the comments here calling him wimpy just prove why he would be hesitant to take a harsher stance.
I don't think this warning will help in this election (probably too late) but if we actually have any more elections we all should consider how important working TOGETHER is in politics. Trying to find compromise is the only way things move forward rather than backwards.
Every former Republican in the Trump administration should come together for a major press conference in New York or anywhere but all together. And perhaps if Taylor Swift could announce one more time her support of Kamala Harris that would be extremely helpful.
What disturbs me so much is the complete ignorance and self-righteousness of the Trump cult. I have only to look at the Facebook page of my sister-in-law to see how they perceive everything: in their view, Trump will PREVENT socialism, and they were oh so proud and amused by his little MacDonald's visit. In their "reality", everything is completely reversed! They are so unbelievably brainwashed, and yet THEY will likely end up on the receiving end of policies he will enact if he manages to get elected. If God forbid he does win or successfully steals the election (thanks to his more than willing supreme court justices) they will find out, much too late, exactly how much he cares about them! America: what a shit-show! And yet I continue to hope that SOMETHING will change with this election: it's got to!
Americans have a peculiar use of the word “socialism” which goes back to the end of the Civil War. It has little to do with the economic use of the term and more to do with resentful Southern whites using the term to refer to anything that might benefit people who were formerly enslaved. The Southern whites didn’t think formerly enslaved people deserved anything, and unfortunately sometimes, freed men, women and children didn’t get the help they needed. One example is during smallpox and yellow fever epidemics in the early 1870s, in which thousands died, many of them freed persons who received no outside help.
Unfortunately, these attitudes still survive today and demagogues like Trump freely make use of them.
Jill, I have a nephew who thinks the MacDonalds visit was real, even though I posted a picture of the letter the franchise owner posted to the front door. It’s nuts.
Thanks Heather, the nausea of the possibility of Trump winning is intolerable. I cannot imagine the Democrats making a more profound and vital effort as they are doing now. What happens in the next two weeks will say more about our country than anything that has proceeded us.
The nation’s founders had such faith in the American people's judgment in choosing a President that they wrote into the US Constitution only a few qualifications for candidacy.
This lack of anticipating a Trump may have led us to the Constitution's weakest attribute.
It should not be harder to adopt a puppy than to qualify for the Nation's highest office.
The Founders never imagined that a whole group of people like the current conservative leadership would be so anti American
The Republican economic plan, beginning in full force with Reagan, i.e., supply-side economics, has wiped out the Middle Class, dumped an unconscionable federal debt of $36+ trillion on succeeding generations, impoverishing them, and elevated a few to stratospheric wealth (806 billionaires) who have the accumulated wealth of 163,000,000 Americans. The U.S. is now an oligarchy, where the wealthy control the economy and a political party. The vision of Frances Perkins, FDR's Secretary of Labor and the architect of the New Deal, that government should be for the benefit of all the people, will be shattered if the MAGA forces prevail on Nov. 5.
Yes Richard, and I’d like to add corporations are not people. I’m so grateful for highly intelligent reader- responders of HCR’s like you and others. Initially this morning I panicked about not seeing her post 10/22. I’m happily addicted to her and her followers to kick start my day. 🤗
There is no question but that Chief Justice John Roberts is firmly in the grasp of the ultra wealthy (i.e., oligarchs.) The holding in Citizens United was a license to steal elections with the funding of unchecked propaganda by the large corporations and the wealthy. And then the latest holding that the President is virtually immune from prosecution while in office. So, the troika (Trump, McConnell, Roberts) are hell bent on destroying representative government in the U.S.
Agree!!
I agree. I look forward to receiving her posts.
I depend on them and daily doses of The Borowitz Report to get me going. With those two, I am ready to face the day!
You might also enjoy Jeff Tiedrich's substack. https://www.jefftiedrich.com/p/we-could-all-use-a-good-news-tuesday?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1162742&post_id=150513744&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=ci5oc&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email
Same here! Dr Richardson and I start our day with our daily cup of ☕️
And all those millions of Americans could't give one sh*t about what is best for themselves and the common good in their support of a fascist.
Harvey, they have no idea of what he will do to them because they only see a reflection of their worst selves in him.....carte blanche to be racist, homophobic, misogynist, etc. They do not understand real patriotism, Christianity, or even decency. We can't move if he wins, but we are old and so do not have our lives ahead of us as so many younger people do. WE watched the NBC interview with Harris, btw, and she refused to take the bait and was clear and articulate.
Wouldn't it be interesting to rank Presidents by their scores on citizenship tests? I'd expect Trump to fail the tests immigrants need to pass, even if he had a list of all the correct answers. I believe even Andrew Jackson could pass the test, even though I believe he (a hero to Trump), would be the 2nd most likely to fail to respect the constitution behind Trump.
Let's chill with the "they." Othering is proving ineffective. Thank you.
It's truly breathtaking. If the fascist wins (he won't) It will be a little late when these bozos wake up one morning to no more social security checks....
Not all CEOs are in it only to line their pockets. Some are actually critical thinkers and care about the success of their markets. They know that if the republican plan goes in effect as you describe it, the populace won't have any money to buy their products and stimulate the economy....
And the MAGA people is expecting that the portion of those 806 billionaires that are the oligarchs would do anything to benefit them?......Good luck with that......
Nor, I suspect, did they imagine that news organizations would lie out loud. Not so long ago, we were troubled about partizan "spin." And now that has become so extreme that a false reality is being fed to Americans who no longer share a common reality or know right from wrong. This madness is purposeful and is tearing this nation apart. It's not the only cause of our problems as a nation, but if we don't get a handle on the so called news media, I fear for our country, even if Harris and democracy win in next month's election.
Richard, They are pro-fascism not jus anti American.
I agree with that assessment, Harvey. I have a high school buddy who is a Trump supporter. He cannot deal with even the slightest criticism or questioning of Trump. I have concluded that it is because he identifies completely with Trump, meaning that criticism of Trump is a personal criticism of him, too. There is absolutely no objectivity involved. His is the perfect example of close-mindedness, a brick wall.
It comes down to defining what American or anti American is. It is fluid and changes with the times and purpose. I am referring to the Red Scare(s), Nativism, the Black List and more than can be listed.
David, I imagine most everyone on this site would consider it both a blessing and a curse that our Founders made it so difficult for successor generations to edit them.
The Framers of our Constitution couldn't have imagined how large this country would grow. It still astounds me that The Constitution was written before railroad trains, telegraphs and rifles were invented. The Electoral College is obsolete and must be eliminated. It disenfranchises most voters because they don't live in the "swing states." Eight years ago Hillary Clinton WON the popular vote by almost three million votes. In any other Democrat country, she would have been our first woman president. Who knows the misery that we may have avoided if she was in charge instead of the orange blight during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Carol, My apologies for my delayed reply. I write to clarify that our failure to date to abolish the Electoral College is but one example of what I perceive as a “curse.” Nonetheless, in my view, we ought not discount the blessings of making it difficult for successor generations to upend the structures of government that were established such that the powers of each would be balanced in a way that would protect the country from the excesses of any one branch.
I wonder if in this two weeks before the election surgeons working overtime would be able to implant an "intelligence chip" on the brain of about half the voters population of this country. Unfortunately I don't see any other solution 😕
What is so baffling to me is that many of the Trump supporters I know are not dumb or unkind. They are members of my family, friends, people in my neighborhood, people I interact with on a regular basis and who I love. That is what has rattled me and had me so confused. They, I believe, must feel so fearful about what they see as changes that will hurt our communities and our country. I believe Trump speaks more for them (even if they aren’t necessarily fans of him) than the liberals who they feel in some way make them feel less about themselves - less important, less modern, less (to your comment) less intelligent…and I suspect they’ve felt this before in their lives and the idea of someone like Trump who supposedly “drains the swamp” and goes against the grain and acts all “tough” helps them feel seen and valued somehow. These are the same people who probably wouldn’t like a Trump type person in their everyday life I suspect because I swear they’re decent people. Oh it’s maddening to try to understand!!
Yes it is maddening. And when I hear them say 'he doesn't mean it', I want to slap them.
I do not love these people. I do not want to engage these people because they don't know the difference between truth and lies. I used to feel sorry for them. Then I realized they have the same opportunity to learn as I do.
I enjoy having a good discussion with conservative people, not these maga people.
Marj, agreed. Fortunately, I have no MAGAs in my personal life, only see them around. I am sure some of my relatives in the midwest support death star, but I have no idea if they actually vote. They are busy raising a horde of my great greats, going to the ER, and advertising puppies for sale recently. Yesterday when I was at the doctor's, there was a woman with a MAGA hat. I found myself glaring at her and silently sending her bad vibes. Now and then I see one on Facebook, who I usually have to block because they cannot refrain from name calling and nastiness, just like death star.
Wish we were neighbors. We have so much in common. Lol
Knowing "the difference between truth and lies." My lovely wife recently observed that there are two Americas, with the polarity being a function of where one gets their news. While I don't think it is quite that simple, it sure explains a lot.
My friend is back in Trump Fever country tending to her critically ill brother right now. She just answers calmly, "My politics is love," and won't discuss it further - not even to point out where the love is coming from in this campaign, which would lead to more fruitless discussion. Her brother is at a tipping point. That's what matters. She remains calm.
Marj, fear and hatred are the most powerful motivators. The maggots believe that the negative information on tRump is just liberal propaganda. They believe that we are lied to about all the horride things about tRump.
The people you describe also have a different system of education than those of us that follow Substack and other sources. It's not apples and oranges, it's apples and bowling balls.
Further, many cannot for the life of them understand how WE don't feel as impassioned over their point of view as they do.
The voting public has not become divided - they left us.
I hadn't thought of it that way before David - they left us. They left us for Faux news and the power of a cult that made their neighbors their enemies. I see it every day in my very red county in Florida, the land of project 25. I was a poll watcher yesterday, second day of early voting. It was non-stop for my 5 hour shift, a continuous 15 minute wait. Many wore hats and shirts for 45, both women and men but mostly men. Proud veterans displaying both their service and support for someone who is the extreme opposition of what the country stands for. These folks cannot possibly be reading or listening beyond their inner circle of hate.
Oh dear! I live in a very red Florida county also, and I admire you for being a poll watcher, Rose A! Since I have lived here, I have always voted by mail, so I have never been to the polls in Florida. But it was my understanding that it is against the law to wear pins or clothes with political messaging. Perhaps that was a state law where I used to live, but I thought it was Federal.
FACT: “Voters may wear campaign buttons, shirts, hats, or any other campaign items when they enter the polling place to vote. Voters may not otherwise campaign there.” (From the Polling Place Procedures Manual incorporated within Rule 1S-2.034, Florida Administrative Code)
So, merely going to the polls wearing campaign paraphernalia is OK, but, by statute (s. 102.031(4), Florida Statutes), one cannot solicit voters within 150 feet of the entrance to any polling place.
I am an election official in my suburban Milwaukee town, and such displays of maga loyalty are not as common as I fear, and those wearing it might be asked to remove it when entering our polling place. Thankfully,
Rose, So discouraging
Many states prohibit campaigning 50 - 200 feet away from a voting place. I'm guessing FloriDuh isn't one of them!
Is it not against election law to wear or carry or display any electioneering materials? It certainly is here.
But David you also just described me - I, too, cannot for the life of me understand how they are not as impassioned as I am. They seem to feel a desperation to vote to “save America” and so do we. Make it make sense, right?
Exactly! And what to make of both sides claiming the other is "trying to destroy our country"?
Who actually sets out to destroy their homeland??
I would disagree. If you’re saying that Trump followers are less or differently educated, then I think you have succinctly re-stated on of the very reasons Trump followers loathe Dems and Dem elected officials.
Racism and white supremacy are very strong. Hate of the different. Doesn't matter how educated or smart your are, these appeals still get a lot of people.
Thanks, Tom. My comment was in reference to the specific subset pointed out by Mandy Y above.
Many supporters, (not ALL) may be differently educated (right-wing only vs mainstream) and it's that group I refer to.
MANDY Y: "many of the Trump supporters I know are not dumb or unkind. They are members of my family, friends, people in my neighborhood, people I interact with on a regular basis and who I love."
I've been trying to understand for the last 10 years....and I agreed with you...it's maddening!!
Richardo, maddening and frightening.
What I find maddening is the CINO--Christians in Name Only. It is extremely disheartening to me. Weekly mass for 63 years of my life ended with COVID restrictions. When they were lifted, I tried to go back but the lax attitude regarding masks hygiene in my Catholic church--combined with some very CINO viewpoints--drove me away.
It's sad for me, because I did take comfort in mass in ways it's difficult to explain. Now, someone on the forum (whose name I can't recall) introduced me to Richard Rohr's Daily Meditation, which I think any denomination can appreciate and it fills a gap for me. Often his reflections would be appropriate for even non-believers, as he puts a great emphasis on nature.
Richard Rohr has been my Spiritual guide for many years. That Franciscan spirituality is all encompassing.
I read him every morning after Heather. It’s the balance😊
Me, too. Read him after Heather, that is. I have no doubt that a number of Christians that I know (CINOs) would be offended by him. Just this past week, I believe, he warned against false prophets, and it was quite clear who fit that description.
Miselle, I am sorry that you lost that bedrock of faith due to what I can only call "politics" (with respect to "belief" about the efficacy of masks); I am happy you've found a substitute for that in the Daily Meditation. I am a non-theist, and yet love listening to a couple of Sunday morning programs on our local classical station (KWAX, which streams via the internet): The Organ Loft, and With Heart and Voice.
Ally, I do not attend church although I used to go Mass years ago the days I was on campus at the UO. I found it to be very warm and serene. We met in the Methodist chapel across the street from campus. I do have a view about the universal energy and that is what I keep in mind especially when I garden. I once had an ex-colleague who is liberal and calls herself a devout Methodist tell me sneeringly that I am not spiritual. I just said that she didn't know me very well as those who do can attest.
Thanks for this recommendation!
I hear you Mandy. I love my family, and they are basically kind and smart people. But they are also racist. We are largely from the south. And racism persists in the south like no other place in the US. It is part of the ethos here, magnified by the distrust and anger from the black community that this disenfranchisement still exists. Even when you find people who are kind to the black population, or any person of color, it seems at times akin to being kind to dogs or children. It is a racist trying not to be racist. And to me, a person who is racist has two strikes against them already. It is a deep seeded flaw in character. It takes a real effort to rise above something that pervades society like that. They are also conservative, and in my sister's case very religious (I like to say hyper-religious). These are the ingredients for Trumpism. Or Nazism for that matter. I am certain there were plenty of kind smart people in Germany in the 1930's.
Don't be fooled. The only difference in how racism is expressed in the country is between openly and quietly, but both ways have the same effect. I'm from Connecticut, a supposedly enlightened New England state, where racism is just as evident, but just not as openly expressed. Connecticut, one of the richest states in the country, boasts having 3 of the five poorest cities in the country - Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven. And guess who are the majority of populations in those cities, and guess who are the majority in the "ring towns" around those cities?
Jay, Right on. Racism has been studied extensively. The activation of fear in the brain happens before people are even conscious of it. it is an inherited genetic reality. I think I read it is stronger and more prevalent in some colors or non colors than others, but still common to all humans. What you decide to do with that response happens in another part of the brain. It takes just a little bit more effort to understand and make a good decision as to what you desire and to many people default to laziness and accommodation to peer pressure. The way I see the whole perceived left/right dilemma is that it is not a dilemma at all . Again , that is the way we are born and raised. L/R and all the spots in between is what we are and how we evolved. It should create a nice balance and has most of the time. Now however various forces have introduced much additional fear into the mix and has affected any balance. Hence the fear propagation by the republican party.
Yup - they appeal to our baser instincts. Instincts that worked well in the "red in tooth and claw" days before civilizations were invented. Not so well when cooperation and teamwork and specialization became so important.
I have this same thing here in Oklahoma. Trump supporters feel left behind or not acknowledged. Plus, the left's acceptance of reasonable immigration (economically a good thing! Ask Japan or China), our acceptance of alternate gender identities, etc. as an attack on their very way of life. They have come to fear Kamala's democracy as a continued erosion of their place in America, e.g. “replacement”. They hear her and Walz' articulate explanation as just so much "leftist " propaganda. I largely blame Fox Entertainment for this. Murdoch and his imitators trade good governance for ratings.
RC Morrison
Bixby, OK
I agree that not all Trump supporters are bad people. Unfortunately, they seem to share the same deep insecurities that drive Trump to imitate and act out what he believes is confident behavior, when in reality, his insecurities are glaringly obvious to anyone who is self-aware.
Harvey, I would say that those Trump supporters who are not "bad people," are certainly oblivious.
Yes. We can be too dismissive of decent people, and that's part of the problem. But it is maddening to see folks who know and despise BS accept the lies.
I no longer think they can be decent people if, after all their lies and disparagements, they can still vote for Trump and any MAGA. They are willing to stay ignorant, and willing to take my freedom away.
How "decent" is it to cheer on trump's plan to deport 12-20 MILLION people, after warehousing them in internment camps? How decent is it to vote to ban contraception and abortion? To cheer on a Supreme Court who makes trump the one person in America completely above the law? To cheer on his railings against "the enemy within"?They are completely willing to take away your freedom to live a good life, even at the cost of their own freedom, because the cuelty IS their point. I get it that their families love them, but people who act in this way are not good or decent people.
Barbara, I agree. I have had some long arguments with angry atheists about good people of faith. However, those who support death star have ceased to be anything decent or Christian.
I get that (see my latest post: https://yadontknow.blogspot.com/2024/10/matter-of-fact.html). But I know folks who will help a neighbor and be kind and still vote for Trump. My strategy is to ask them why. It makes me sad.
Are they all swallowing the image of The Apprentice as a successful businessman, and paying no attention to the reality of the tfg? Thanks to that show, so many people don't see the reality.
You forgot “less paid attention to” as one of the reasons people follow Trump in spite of his flaws. In many ways, Dem politicians have ignored the working class or at least delivered that strong perception. There is a class of people in this country who just don’t disfavor Democratic leaders, they recoil from them.
Some people value party over country. And some are operating on the Sunk Cost Fallacy, that once you've invested in a particular position the fear of losing all that investment if they change course keeps them from changing. Some operate with a great deal of denial. Some can't imagine that another Trump presidency would get as bad as predicted. Some identify with his toxic masculinity and can't recognize it as such because all the men in their environment are like him. Some are men who feel inadequate, and some are women who want to support their men, so they won't "vote" against them. Some have swallowed all the lies about the "commie" liberals, and some are xenophobic, misogynist, racist and homophobic. Some are people without insight and some think in black and white, where the grey areas either scare them or they can't see them. Some are just plain afraid of the changes the country is going through and fear their way of life (whatever that is) is threatened by "those" people and the changes. Many of them operate from an external locus of control, where they hold other people events etc. totally responsible for their own unhappiness and/or failures.
Agree, I feel some of Trump followers have backed themselves into a corner and are too hard-headed to admit that Trump is unfit, dangerous, and totally a malignant narcissist. Some Trump followers are life-long Republican but refuse to hear to the truth and adhere to denial. Scary as heck!
You phrased this quite well. I have the same divide in my own family. It is tearing me apart that, the sister I am or was closest to, is a true MAGA believer. She would not tolerate his behavior in anyone else.
I absolutely hate the division and discord that the orange blight has caused this country. For this he deserves a place in the lowest circle of hell.
Perhaps I can help you understand. What people don’t like about the liberals is NOT how they make them “feel.” It’s the actions they take. Going against parents, minorities who don’t agree with them, American citizens in border states- this tells the story of a party who is wants to control people. The American government doesn’t exist to control or do things for people. It exists to eliminate obstacles that get in the way of individual liberty. People see that in Trump. He sees his job the way the Presidency was intended. Kamala Harris sees it as an opportunity to do things for people because it makes her and the liberals “feel” good that they’ve done something. She is losing black Americans now in droves because they see that no matter what the government “does” for them their lives aren’t getting better. Republicans/conservatives aren’t about “feelings”. They are about individual Liberty and work. It’s pretty simple really.
I hear you unfortunately. And I strongly disagree with those views. But then I am progressive in every way, for to me very good reasons. Many people are not. That however is not the point. What we cannot understand is how can these feelings be so strong as to put one's support behind a mad man. A felonious fascist racist unhinged mad man, who proves it day after day. Trump competes as the singularly worst presidential candidate in our country's history. Are progressive policies that bad that they would risk the very democracy they were born into?
I was raised in an Eisenhower Republican family, and what tfg represents is NOT that republican policy. The federal government does not exist to remove obstacles, but to provide for the common good. Nor to control people but to provide for the common person. I object to your characterization of Harris as selfishly doing things that feel good to her, but assume you are a troll.
Do you know anything about Florida? DeSantis has made it into a laboratory of Trump ideas and it is far less free than the so called liberal states. I live in Connecticut and the government works for me. In Florida DeSantis wants to control what people can read and believe.
I think you are wrong. The basis of their way of thinking is racism and white supremacy. They feel threatened when others not like them do well.
Florida doesn't eliminate obstacles, they create many more, book bans, controlling women, suppressing voters, suppressing free speech.
Might you not consider “obstacles that get in the way of individual liberty” as synonymous with often racist and sexist systems that keep people from, for example, voting or getting loans or having safe and fair working environments or fair trials or different mobility access to buildings. These can be considered obstacles which the government, both Republican and Democrat led, has tried to address over the years for the common good.
H. L. Mencken may have noted that no one ever went broke underestimating the intelligence of the American people, but not even he could have anticipated this.
Replacing the chip please from the Covid vaccine perhaps… ?
The nation's founders assume we'd have an educated public but that idea is long gone
In the times our founders lived very few people would have been considered educated however they must have assumed people would have some semblance of morality and common sense - both of which are lacking in the magats of today
To them educated public didn't necessarily mean formal education. Here is more of what they were thinking about an informed public.
Thomas Jefferson maintained that an educated populace was essential for the preservation of liberty. In a letter to James Madison dated December 20, 1787, Jefferson expressed his hope that "the education of the common people will be attended to." He believed that the key to preserving liberty rested on the "good sense" of a well-informed citizenry.
Jefferson proposed practical measures to make education accessible to everyone, regardless of social standing. One notable effort was the "Bill for the More General Diffusion of Knowledge," introduced in Virginia. This bill sought to ensure that education was accessible to everyone. Jefferson recognized that knowledge needed to be tied to morality and religion to be truly effective in promoting self-government. His perspective was about forming character and virtue, not merely acquiring facts.
Jefferson's vision for public education was about fostering informed citizens capable of self-governance. He saw this as a bulwark against tyranny and essential for the republic's longevity.
"What happens in the next two weeks will say more about our country than anything that has preceded us."
Quote of the century.
"This is our moment. This is our election. Let’s put our names in the historical record just like the people we’ve read about our whole lives.”
Heather Cox Richardson
God Bless America. S/he knows America needs it.
Uncle Sam needs us. https://www.mobilize.us/
I agree. I would also like to know why former President Bush hasn’t commented on Trump? Or has he and I just missed it.
"W" was widely thought to be the least-intelligent U.S. president ... until Donald showed up. Like Donald, he was a slacker in his youth and squandered the advantages bestowed on him. I believe he is well aware of his presidential impotence, and seeks to avoid the limelight that would remind us of his weakness and invite comparisons with Donald. Rather, he hides out on the ranch, making amateurish paintings, hoping to die in relative anonymity.
Dale, I’ve always believed GWB was groomed throughout his life to be President. He was always cuddled, protected and financed by the oligarchs. Once elected, they collected their rewards from his policies.
I haven't read anything that suggested he was groomed throughout his life. He was a politically connected family's aimless "rich boy" who really wasn't interested in learning anything, thus could be easily manipulated. That, along with his agreeable physical appearance made him an ideal candidate to be molded by Republican operatives. So yes, he was groomed, but that began after his mediocre performance in the family oil business. "If you can't excel at anything else, be a politician." He was the cardboard cutout that stood in front of a cadre of handlers.
I wonder if like Baker, it has something to do with the fact that they’re Texas boys?
Yep, with oil wells still in the family.
And Jennifer, too stupid.
You know, I thought his intelligent wife might persuade him. Maybe I misjudged her too.
I believe Bush spoke out against Trump a while back but he didn't endorse Biden or Harris.
No he hasn’t
Michael, I believe Christopher meant "anything that has prEceeded us" while acknowledging that we are, in fact a country of prOcess.
It is already enough to boggle one’s mind. Who would vote for this deplorable pig.
Heather, have you considered adding a layer of 'media' history that runs parallel to your week on substack? It seems like between the twisted news bias & just plain negligence - how the main street press is shaping our culture, and how it may make us lose our democracy.
YouTubes below are Rebecca Solnit regarding our inadequate Press and Yuval Noah Harari new book about how the AI tool's algorithms are dividing our country and the Tech industry's AI tool's decision making...American history needs education for our voters, so they don't shrink with fear about our fast changing world... thoughts? Is FEAR causing some of the voters to elect the Republican's Project 2025, so they can pretend they are living back in the 1940's?
+Rebecca Solnit on Media Confidential - Sane Washing Trump’s gibberish
https://youtu.be/H0ORWJ2RfkU?si=7vUhjXS58JMTgNIW
Solnit argues for the inseparability of language and freedom: “Calling things by their true names cuts through the lies that excuse, buffer, muddle, disguise.”
+Yuval Noah Harari, author of "Nexus"
https://youtu.be/8ZmpWM7ertg?si=q_3tZ2cq_P5Q1Tvz
Yuval Noah Harari looks at how humans have spread information through history and how AI might change that.
Thanks for this. I have also found Audrey Mir’s writings on how social media is revolutionizing both our ways of processing information and our shared communication structures the most helpful since McCluhan.
I tried finding Audrey Mir, but not sure which one....there are more than one. Could you please post a link? Thanks!
Yikes- It might help you if I had written his name correctly. It is Andrey Mir. He has an account here on substack with some great articles also listing his publications to date. 🐈⬛
Thanks, just had cataract surgery and my vision is still off.
Hope all continues to heal 👁
Thank you, Kathaleen B Parker for the good article Suggestions. Both Rebecca Solnit and Yuval Noah Harari are articulate observers of our current moment.
The Rebecca Solnit interview is brilliant....well worth nearly a half an hour of your time.
Here is a layer you might want to add on your own if you have not. I subscribe to Matt Stoller's Antimonopoly Substack Big. it is not media history of the past, but media history being made today. Today Stoller is discussing the Google case.
https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/google-the-rule-of-law-is-just-adorable
👏
I agree! I am also worried about what Kim Jung Un and Putin are planning for the US along with their allies in China and Iran. As I see N. Korea putting troops in Ukraine fighting for Russia, I had a thought that they would also be putting troops here as they trick Trump into betraying our nation militarily and with intelligence.
Chump will roll over and hand us over, no shots fired. Saw that in Helsinki
Dont ever forget Murdoch- his boots are as deep in this as Putin and Jung Un.
Well, there is a long list, but as for military action, I see these two acting right now. That was my thought. I did not think about Rupert Murdoch in that way.
I'm horribly afraid the stock market would crash if he wins...that would probably wipe out my retirement savings...
My broker who is a Republican that abhors Trump, had us move 3 years of cash flow to cash and leave the rest invested in the market. This was back in April, 2024 and I rest easier knowing that we have enough cash to carry us through for quite some time. By "cash" I mean CDs and treasuries that can be easily liquidated if needed. And we still receive 4-5% return which is above the current rate of inflation.
I learned years ago, never to give advice on investments, but for us, this seemed like the prudent thing to do. If you have a trusted financial advisor give them a call and make sure you are comfortable with your plan. If not, find one that cares about you and your situation.
My advisor recommended the same for us a year ago. 5% is a really decent return for secure cash investments
I will ponder that! Probably better than just withdrawing a bunch of it to my savings account!
Gary,
Excellent advice. And because this "Lefty Liberal Progressive Democratic Socialist" is also a "Fiscal Conservative" we have always retained enough cash (liquid assets) to carry us for three or four years, at least.
There was a Morningstar Retirement "Expert" who would reiterate her "Three Bucket" philosophy of investing. One of those buckets was money for the next three years. Because sadly, people bail out of what should be long term investments just when they shouldn't. They buy high and sell low.
Here's my financial advice. Learn enough to trust yourself. "Advisors" are all too often sales people whose primary goal is making money for themselves. It's human nature. That being said, if one does trust a financial planner, asking these questions is essential. At the end of the day (like in 2008) the only person who will really be to blame for our portfolio collapse is ourselves.
And get a financial planner who has a fiduciary responsibility, i.e., they have to look out for your interest instead of theirs. We've got that type, and have had good advice over the past dozen years or more.
I just talked with my financial adviser at Raymond James. He thinks that it is an excellent idea to have access to instant cash. My portfolio is set up that way. I am in a fortunate position.
YES, very important! I’ve used such in the past….can’t afford to consult them now, though…
Bill, I freely admit I was a saver but not an investor. I dutifully put 10% of my paychecks into a retirement count but since I was getting what looked like decent growth, I never rebalanced my funds. When I finally found a good financial advisor, she looked at my retirement accounts, asked a few questions and told me if I had rebalanced I would have twice as much money in that account. I’ve now followed all of her advice for some years and it’s clear she was right. I now never advise people to be their own financial advisor!
Marge, I am pleased that you had a good experience with a trusted advisor. There are many. And there are many who are too focused on pushing their proprietary products that have very high expenses.
Again, whatever works for the individual is fine. But we lost 40% of our retirement funds in 2008 with the help of an "advisor". I fired him, took our assets to Vanguard, invested in index funds and never looked back. I guess you could call me a "Bogle Head".
Well, that was a big crash and I lost big. But the following recovery was enough for my retirement savings. I live a pretty cheap life and am fortunate enough to get by with a pension and social security. Even my advisor agrees that I won’t spend all my savings unless I buy a few racehorses! Ha!
I could combine Bill’s and Gary’s advice and put 3 years away in CD’s/ treasuries for awhile, but only if I can except my SS payments from the ‘3 years’ total!
Good advice. I'll make that call. Thanks 😀
"What happens in the next two weeks will say more about our country than anything that has proceeded us." Christopher - I thiink that ship has already sailed. As far as what this country has become, what is the difference between a 52/48 Harris win along with a slim electoral win, and a 50/50 Harris win and an electoral college loss? In each case we have revealed ourselves as a country with a commanding portion of our electorate being gullible, dumb-downed, willfully ignorant, and disgruntled enough to be OK with a fascist at the helm who will blow it all up. That has sailed. Our allies know it. They can no longer rely on us - every four years since 2016 our country plays Russian Roulette with freedom and democracy, which has a major effect on the world not just the US. I don't know how to fix this. I am afraid this is just who we are. But then I also wonder if some kind of reins were put on dis-information, while somehow still protecting free speech, would American people actually show that they are indeed a special society worthy of praise worldwide.... I just don't know.
Trump claims our allies abroad are laughing at us. He sees no irony in himself making that claim. Or in Elon Musk jumping around and funding a lottery with $1 million a day prizes to a lucky registered voter who signed his petition.
Well said Christopher 👏. The Republican blame game has so exposed the main game of TRG. And may I point out those Generals TFG so admires *were jailed, committed suicide, or were ( and are continuing) to ahem…fall out windows, off balconies /boats/bunker fatalities/‘disappeared’😉…but what does he know …correct NOTHING…May I quote him please? (because) “they’re all f*cking losers”.
On a more loving note (because) that’s our message/our main game -the truth - we have admitted the work needing done ,spent your tax dollars investigating their false claims the election was rigged/the economy is tops/no cats or dogs were eaten/the lies are pure propaganda and believing it proves ( sorry, I hate the word but so appropo ) “they’re all f*cking losers”.
I’m voting 💙 hopefully the 💙Tsunami will say it far better.
If not, I won’t have to say ‘I told ya so’…it will be the ‘in your face for a very long time folly’ .
💙VOTE BLUE.STOP THE COUP💙
Despite all that Trump has said and done—actions and comments that in the past would have easily disqualified anyone from being nominated, let alone running for president. Without any apologey, anyone who supports this deplorable and unfit individual is a direct reflection of them. If you are opposed to what the Dems offer, consider voting for Harris as a rejection of what tRump stands for or vote for a third party candidate. Do not count yourself as a supporter of an American Fascist. Do not forgot the history of Hitler.
A third-party vote in an election this close could end up being a vote for trump.
Third party candidate is a vote for trumpf
Christopher, while I don't disagree I DO think you mean "What happens in the next two weeks will say more about our country than anything that has prEceeded us" while acknowledging that our country IS a prOcess.
Still time to join us and help Kamala to victory. Go to Kamala Harris.com and click on the Voumteer tab.
These tariff costs and Medicare savings are seriously sobering numbers, if accurate. 😯 On the $3.9T trump-tariff-tax: that is something like a REGRESSIVE tax of $31,000 per American household (presumably over five or ten years). 😱 On the Medicare prescription savings: that is something line $700 saved for each of the one and one-half million beneficiaries. 😇
Shame on John Kelly for not speaking up about Trump sooner.
JennSH, While I share your dismay, I would add, even though we have Kelly on tape, the messaging likely will not reach enough of the voters we need to persuade. Hence we need Kelly, along with Milley, Mattis, and McMaster, on a primetime news show relating whatever they can short of revealing classified information to indisputably demonstrate Trump’s unfitness for the presidency.
Perhaps we all should have acted sooner, one way or another. Modern Republicans have been on a trajectory to a fascist dictatorship even since Reagan. I would not expect Reagan to be happy about the rash, sleazy persona of Trump, but Trump is the result of decades of lies, "dirty tricks", defaming government by and for the people, and elevation of wealth and the wealthiest to anti-democratic purchase on political power.
All the while, the Democratic Party seemed to stay largely on the back foot, playing a defensive game. Biden (and Harris), despite whatever errors they might be justly accused of, seem the first in some time to not to play along to get along with those who continue to push us toward a precipice. Time is nearly up for steering toward the exit ramp on this highway to hell. Better late than never.
The trajectory started earlier, with Nixon. But then we had enough Republicans who helped bring him to justice. I remember the uniforms proposed for the Capitol Police back then - that looked a lot like SS uniforms. As I've written before, the last Republican president worthy of the Oval office was Dwight David Eisenhower. The downward arc of the road to hell continues: can you name any Republican today who could possibly restore the GOP to a normal status. There is none.
The more sensible Republicans have left the party, and all that is left are Donald Trump and his groupies. The party doesn’t have any focus without Trump as he has made it into his own cult of personality.
I so wish that more of those who have left would speak out.
They don't speak out because although they don't like what is happening to the GOP, they also don't like "us", i.e. the left wing critics. It's one of the things I have criticized here that this nonsensical position against the mainstream media is counterproductive. The only way to get the "noble opposition" to support is is to convince them that ***we**** are willing to meet them halfway, i.e. an old idea called compromise. But if t you read most of the comments on this blog you recognize that most here have no interest in compromise particularly with Republicans (and I do NOT mean MAGA types, I mean real classic Republicans).
And I think it could mean the end of democracy and while we can certainly blame the Trumpers, we need to recognize our own complicity in this because we refused to compromise.
Truly tragic and sad.
I totally agree. FDR died when I was too little to remember him, but I remember Ike well. My mother couldn't stand him, but taken in hindsight, he was outstanding. Compare him to all Repugnants who followed.
I agree with you about Ike. George HW Bush could have been a candidate for a decent Republican then he got swept up in Reagan’s path.
I have to agree with you. Democracy is suffering from death by a thousands cuts. With the Brown decision, I think the seed was planted to let the courts make freedom decisions and not worry so much about legislation. Then came Roe and no legislative action by the liberals to codify the rights of Roe. Meanwhile, the seeds of the Lewis Powell Memo began to take root as the conservatives started attacking the judges accusing them of legislating from the bench and thus began the first of many accusations that were their confession of what they planned to do. Look at how they have been so surgical at dismantling the administrative state in the last 40 plus years. The pieces are in place to make the 1980 libertarian platform come to life nationally.
J L, Aside from acknowledging your astute analysis, I would add that you’re right about the window rapidly closing on averting the indescribable forms of agony and anguish that would be unleashed were Trump, absent any guardrails, to ascend to the presidency.
Harris and Walz have been 'stepping on the gas'. Hope it's enough.
You mean like the elder statesmen of the Senate who seem asleep at the wheel? God, I'm so tired of their plodding mentality. If only Schumer had the guts and loyalty to country of Biden and Pelosi, he'd have stepped down years ago and taken deadly Durbin with him.
Curious as to what actions you think Schumer could have taken that he didn't. He has been dealt a super tough hand with the barest majority. Two of whom were Democrats in name only.
The ones asleep at the wheel are McConnell, Grassley and Graham who will be in the history books as enabling the fascist wannabe dictator for life they originally condemned. THEY made the Supreme Court what it is today.
That's just ridiculous. Schumer is 11 years younger than Pelosi and 8 years younger than Biden. Why should HE step down?
How would he have taken Durbin?
“Better late than never “? But better never late
Totally agree that most people remaining to vote 🗳️ do not read the NYT. They include busy, intelligent young people, often with work loads, children, seniors to care for, and pets, too! We need to reach STAT to save our country’s life. The military brass must speak out truthfully on a major media tour. NOW!
And while we are at it, county commissioners across the country should speak loud and clear about the disaster massive tariffs will wreak on the social safety net and work force development! Counties rely on sales taxes for such, and sales taxes get crushed by tariffs like Trump is proposing. Bridges won’t get fixed either, like the ones that washed out in NC and Tennessee. I’m a former 3 term county commissioner and 2 term city council member and vice mayor. Public safety? Also crushed by his tariffs. Crushed. Fire and police are 70% of most city budgets. Where does that money come from under his plan?
Paula, I appreciate you amplifying that generals who served in the Trump Administration must boldly and visibly expose the decadence they witnessed. As for your closing question, according to Trump, tariffs on foreign imports, which he falsely claims are paid by the foreign exporter, will fund all of our domestic needs. Seeing tariffs are a cornerstone of Trump’s economic policy, we must do a better job of repeatedly explaining that a tariff is a tax paid by domestic importers that are passed to consumers. Stated differently, Trump is not revealing where the money will come from.
I applaud General Kelly. We just needed him earlier, and now must ask him to amplify his message down the ranks, along with Patriot General Milley. Wish General Mattis would speak up.
As to massive tariffs, they are effectively a piggyback sales tax. They crush needed basic sales taxes by reducing consumption. I’m a huge fan of buying American. And Biden Harris have remade our manufacturing landscape, with more work to come. A massive tariff however will absolutely throw us into recession, as the vast majority of experts have stated. It’s hard to convey this picture adequately. We have to give, worry less, and work for a massive blue outcome.
Paula, Circling back, if we’re to deal a crushing blow to MAGA, I imagine we need better explainers, like yourself, to expose the deceptions perpetuated by Trump’s tariff policy, in turn revealing the true consequences in plain language everyday people can comprehend.
But explain to them how? Where? Everyone here (well almost) seems to hate the mainstream media which is precisely where most of the people you want to reach get their news. And the unwillingness to compromise has put us in a desperate situation where we need the mainstream media but they aren't likely to help as we've been dissing them at every turn. I said this months ago, this plan was going to backfire on us and it certainly looks like it is doing precisely that. And now with just 2 weeks left it may be WAY too late. Sigh...
Trump doesn’t understand many things, and he is remarkably ignorant. He doesn’t understand that consumers ultimately pay tariffs, and his plans to use tariffs instead of income taxes to support the country will founder upon the economic reality that average Americans can’t afford to pay more for imported goods, and that we manufacture relatively few goods domestically. The baleful consequences of Milton Friedman’s monetarism and belief that corporations should look out only for the good of the shareholders has turned many towns, urban and rural areas into shadows of themselves. Rural people have been propagandized into voting against their economic interests, and Trump does not intend to do anything that would actually help them. Instead, he will continue to feed their resentments.
I don't think he really cares who pays the tariffs - I think he just cares that his supporters believe him and that this is a good rally line.
And the fact that the Republican Party has taken Trump in as its representative is mind boggling. I can’t help but see the whole party as complicit in this disaster that we’re living. If the Republicans that Walz said (in his recent Smartless podcast interview) are honorable and decent do exist then where have they been this whole time? This makes me more mad than Trump supporters themselves - the people who see through him but still turn a blind eye and support him anyway.
The Freidman Doctrine needs to be abolished and thrown out and purged from our collective mind. The best way to start is to throw away our econ 101 books and start anew. It is fraudulent.
Biggest message we can convey is that the US is being attacked by Russia and gang as Putin is trying to change the world order. They call him the “American Gorbachev” as they use Trump to disintegrate the US while they laugh at their useful idiot.
We must get this message out and rally Americans to band together against all of those who are trying to take us down.
Good on you! It is a tough job being a county commissioner. My dad was one for 2 terms. The phone never quit ringing at night. Thankfully people were polite and didnt call after 10. most nights.
Thankfully, Oregon has no sales tax, but we do rely heavily on property taxes. Our current BOCC has put forth a mid-cycle redistricting measure to firmly entrench a conservative majority by consolidating two sections of the county that tend to vote liberal and creating a new boundary to ensure that more rural (and thereby conservative) representation is given.
😩
Still can say "not suckers or losers" on comments in social media. According to Facebook, there are 4 million veterans and active duty members on Facebook, as well as 12.5 million family members and 242 million friends with veterans or active duty members.
Vote vets has already flipped many 2016 and 2020 Trump voters. Saturate to beat them.
I'm seeing a lot of "Veterans for Harris/Walz" signs in the areas where I drive about town. I am also seeing far, far less political signs than usual, which I attribute to the fear that a whole lot of folks have with the "other side". I was only able to talk my wife into putting up a yard sign (the first one in our neighborhood, although our across the street neighbors have had a "Black Lives Matter" sign up for years) by getting one with a cat on a table knocking an elephant with an orange toupee off the table.
That new cat sign is hilarious!
Daniel, I appreciate you affirming my donations to VoteVets were funds well-spent.
I don't understand how anyone in the military past or present could support Trump?!
On prime time FOX News.
Barbara The NYT Editorial Board published the comments of dozens of former Trump government members who spelled out Trump’s ‘unfitness.’ The Atlantic and others have catalogued Bone Spur Donald’s despicable treatment of the military: ‘suckers’ and ‘losers,’ folks like John McCain who get captured (and tortured) are not ‘heroes’ to him; dislikes having injured soldiers in military parades….
The evidence of Trump’s ‘unfitness’ has been spread like mulch on a garden. Why don’t MAGATS choose to accept/believe it?
With the military, which historically has been more Republican, Trump’s record is dreadful, as stated by distinguished military leaders.
A PUZZLEMENT!
Keith, Thank you for writing. To start, I would note my target audience in not MAGAts, but rather right-leaning Independents and “soft” Republicans, whose votes we need. Second, despite omnipresent evidence of Trump’s unfitness for folks like ourselves who are engaged, to drive the point home for everyday voters, we need jaw-dropping repeated primetime exposure from the generals who served in the Trump administration if we’re to deliver the crushing blow to MAGA this moment demands.
Trump’s people are in such an informational bubble…. How can anyone reach them? Do they even watch prime time news shows? The trumpet media wouldn’t allow them any air time, would they? Ideas?
Marge, I have no illusions of reaching diehard Trump supporters. Nonetheless, repeated primetime exposure to truths from the generals who served in the Trump Administration could profoundly affect the perspectives of right-leaning Independents and “soft Republicans, whose votes we need.
I believe that Gen'l Kelly coming out w/ his remarks may well change some of the previous & current members to reconsider who they vote for.
Barbara, While I am pleased Kelly’s remarks are receiving a good deal of attention and likely will tip the scales, if the polls that for some time have been trending as a virtual tie are any indication, we need, in my view, a far more amplified five alarm warning. Moreover, we ought bear in mind that nothing short of a crushing defeat will dampen MAGA’s game plan for pursuing both legal and illegal means for seizing power.
JennSH from NC, I believe Wreck has been in NC for 7 stressed out days days in a row. Do you know what's going on with voters in the Research Triangle & surrounding suburbs?
I am aware that NC Congressional District, NC 1, has not voted for a Republican since 1883.
I am still very concerned about the damage & loss of life in NC & eastern Tennessee after the historic deluge? Stay safe All.
Provisions have been made for people to vote in the disaster area counties. 76 of the 83 early voting locations, I think, are up and running. If you go on YouTube, you can see the extent of the devastation. Check out videos by Mark Honeycutt. It will be YEARS before those areas can be restored. Some never will be.
Truly a 100 year flood, magnified by multiple factors, not the least of which are dis/mis information and predatory speculators offering to buy properties.
Exactly.
"... and had no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law.” says Kelly.
No Understanding.
For a Trump supporter being a dictator is just fine, Trump says it's fine... for a day or so.
" It's just Trump being Trump"
Dictator... no problem. Fascist?
Kamala is a fascist and a socialist, and a communist. Trump says she is.
Golfer's penis? haa, ha giggle giggle.... Tariffs? Trump says they will win the world. Russia? the last pure white race that kicks ass.
We are entertained.... and we have no understanding.
Trump "loves the uneducated" Now we know why.
Besides, he's pro-life and born again and, not a Democrat. 🥲
Fred, he is PLINO--pro-life in name only. He is anti-life in any way life is defined. But I get what you're saying.
...and we KNOW he's not religious. Reporting has recently indicated that he does NOT attend church.
Some are entertained...some have no understanding.... I still have to believe that those that do understand and are not entertained hold the majority.
Hooray that he has now! All that are left to convince are the few undecided who’ve not been able to work it out since mid-August when the choice was as clear as a bell.
In the story, it only took a truthful little boy to shout "The Emperor is Naked" to shatter the stupefying pretense. In real life, we need any and all truth-tellers we can find, to see them grow in number as more awaken Let their voices combine into a roar. May the very ground be shaken.
If Trump, the wannabe Emperor, took off all his clothes and shambled on stage naked, many of his supporters would take off theirs—it's that bad. Their drive to identify with him, to let him define them, to support him, is just incomprehensible to rational people who care about democracy.
Just like the idiots who decided to wear adult diapers outside their clothes because Trump does.
And the little ear bandages.
Yes, those also! It reminds me of the way they mocked John Kerry over his Purple Heart.
I have referenced The Emperor's New Clothes by Hans Christian Andersen so many times in the last few weeks - wonderful book and so relevant right now. There are so many former administration officials who could play the crucial role of the little boy.
True...I do the of The Emperor with no clothes whenever I see Trump.
I don’t get “undecided” voters. If nothing else can decide for them…then consider CHARACTER. It matters. One candidate has it; the other does not. How tough is that, folks?
I agree -- it's hard to praise such people with inside knowledge when they have been quiet for so long. Also talking to you Mitt Romney.
Hate to sound negative but maybe the reason they stayed away so long is that WE kept bashing them rather than trying to find common ground and encourage them to work with us.
This group here has been so sure of being 100% right that they were happy to call all of those people names and criticize them rather then recognizing that they needed a safe place to land if we were going to get their support. I'm honestly amazed we have gotten a much support as we have from them given how little we have supported them. It took guts for people like Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney to walk away from their party and we weren't exactly welcoming. The so called Democratic Big tent had some pretty significant barred doors mostly created by ourselves feeling we didn't need any help because we were "right". The current left wing of our party looks more and more like Trumpers and the religious right wing. Which is truly sad.
Jon,
Have you read anything in the last few days? Liz Cheney has been campaigning with VP Harris. Harris has been campaigning in really red regions appealing to the better angels in Republicans.
I am not sure where your point is coming from. You are beating a dead horse about compromise. But I am waiting for a couple of examples of how Democrats could have used compromise to stop this freight train fraught with reproductive slavery for women and betrayal of democracy from rolling right over us.
Give us some good "compromise strategies" to employ that would create a safe place for women to live and prosper. Examples, please, of how we can negotiate with the people who hate "others" - the demonizers of immigrants.
Harris and Walz are asking to lead all Americans. Trump and Vance want to go after their political opponents using the military. Is that something to "compromise" about?
Thank you, Bill Alstrom. You so often express my thoughts exactly. I appreciate your wise comments.
You are a broken record. I wonder how your weather is in Moscow. And quit saying “our” party. Your posts do not ring true to my ears. The only truly sad thing is the space and air you waste amongst the readers.
🗽
I expect nothing of value when I see his posts. Such superiority in bashing, criticism and condescension, when this comment section has heretofore been a place of respectful dialogue, even when we don’t agree. His defense of his sudden appearance here rings quite hollow.
He is a pedantic, pompous, condescending, walking superiority complex. Nothing to see here. Saying we are a group that is sure of being 100% right, is the pot calling the kettle black.
Oh boy, here we go again ya can’t take any criticism at all. Just like with me when I point out that if Biden had done his job and surmised that the support numbers would t hold after doing very little for almost three years at the border, then we wouldn’t be in this nail biter of a situation.
Jon Rosen,
Yes , it took people of character, like Liz Cheney and Mitt Romney to turn their back on a political party in which they had served faithfully for years. They have lost long time friends. They have also experienced threats we do not even know about.
Character counts.
JennSH, shame on economists not going on Fox and Friends to explain that Trump’s tariffs will raise the prices on everything—including cars made in America with foreign parts. Tariffs on goods that could be made in the US and are subsidized by foreign countries makes sense because it shifts sales to US producers. Tariffs on goods that can’t currently be made in the US (not enough factories) just immediately hike prices with no immediate good effect.
He is military - they are trained that way - the military should be separate from politics. The fact he did speak out is a canary in the coal mine moment. It is a shame Romney and Bush remain on the sidelines. The real problem is that his comments and Milley's...and the huge list of Trump hires who refuse to support him are not being headlined repeatedly by the press and media. They are failing us.
I fully agree, Jenn! While I do not reside in Gen. Kelly’s head, I am amazed that it has taken him soooo loooong to notice that Trump says things that are “deeply troubling or something that involved [me -Kelly] and was wildly inaccurate.”
Can anyone explain Gen. Kelly’s delayed reaction to Trump’s obvious violations of the Constitution, his OBVIOUS love of our nation’s enemies (past and present), and his disparagement of America’s armed forces.
Too little and possibly too late, John.
I’m not ready to categorize Gen. Kelly’s reticence with other Reticent Republican RottenEggs (like Mitt Romney and Mike Pence), but this statement DOES NOT put him in the Courageous Cluster of Commendable Conservatives like Liz and Dick Cheney and Adam Kingzinger, etc.
Just Sayin’
EXACTLY!! If he knew what a traitor the bastard was, what was he waiting for...two weeks until the election?
I agree Jenn, I never forgave him for the disrespect and misogynistic, racist doubling down attack on Rep. Frederika Wilson. He's all hat, and way too late. Reminds me of "First they Came", his bridge too far didn't come soon enough.
There is that. What it have changed minds though? I think not.
I watch the retired school teacher neighbor walk proudly around the neighborhood with her maga hat on everyday. I have to physically turn the other way when I see her coming. It seems like stupid personified to me. She taught our children for crying out loud!
Unfortunately that comment applies to too many people. Sad.
The choice is pretty clear.
What remains incomprehensible is that it is even a contest.
If You Study History, This Is How Empires Fall.... They usually Collapse from within... Leadership Fails, Civic Alienation, Laziness, and an Addiction to Bread & Circuses...
Venezuela was the most prosperous nation in South America until the depots took over not unlike what will happen if Trump is elected.
Venezuela is still extremely prosperous for the Chosen Few. This is the political model that Trump, Musk, Thiel and others are openly campaigning for. It would seem half the US population yearn to be ruled over rather than governed with.
Tyrants sell domination, if only of your own family, or of outcasts chosen as the scapegoats for inevitable misery.
This truth, especially the intense suffering wrought by tyrants, brings to mind both the biblical Peter and Medusa. The link being Petrus or Stone. The comprehension of human original sin as the original foundation of Christian theologies and the rejected and raped becoming the initiators of all creativity: the fountainhead of the Muses sourced by Pegasus from the beheading of the ill used misunderstood stone faced Medusa.
Use the Stone to heal the Stone ? 🐈⬛💙
True Bill. Argentina was also another. Both had governments that leaned left and were deposed by Americcan business interests concerned that they were going to take their companies away. Naomi Klein lists that history in The Shock Doctrine. If a democratically elected government leaned toward the Soviets, you could count on American businesses to direct the US leadership to take action and topple them. Not with diplomacy either.
The Shock Doctrine is an eye opening book.
Mostly circuses. Stagecraft over statecraft.
Ever notice how the MSM always presents DJT in Staged Statesman-Like Poses with his Hair & Makeup just SO? Several People have said that he Reeks in Person...
They did the same with Reagan. Politics has always been plagued with "alternative facts", but commercialized media has helped plutocrats construct a complete, alternate, make-believe universe; and nearly half the nation has ODed on the stuff, and are pretty serious condition.
This is to be expected from the Age of Fantasy SuperHero Movies, and VideoGames... Ever notice how many Young People 'Zombie-Shuffle' thru Life with their Faces Stuck in their Little-Screen Zombie Devices... Bear In Mind 'X' is owned by Elon Musk who seems to going over the Edge with DJT...
The choice is pretty clear to us, but it is not clear to those who have no understanding of history, no understanding of economics, and who fail to see the implications, as Kelly said of Trump, of a dictator who has no understanding of the Constitution or the concept of rule of law. Those of us who believe in democracy find this lack of understanding to be threatening to us as individuals and to the U.S. as a nation. But those who do not understand find comfort and protection in the repeated proclamations of strength, empty though they may be.
DJT Worships Putin... Putin, and his Oligarchs have been called Gangsters...
You would think, and yet these follies have rhymed at times around the world. Perhaps we are not paying enough attention to some of the stuff that really matters.
Medicare saved families 1 billion in meds and health care costs? Thats 1 billion into the economy in other spending or saving or paying off debt, etc etc. Bidenomics, cuz it works!
‼️‼️‼️ THIS ‼️‼️‼️
Trump Taxes You, Harris Invests in You. Choose Progress!
Trump wants to drag America back to the 1890s, taxing the middle class and cutting breaks for the ultra-wealthy, all while slapping a tax hike on Americans disguised as tariffs. Harris, on the other hand, is fighting for families and small businesses, pushing for real solutions that keep money in your pocket and protect our future. The choice couldn’t be clearer: backward with Trump, or forward with Harris and a thriving middle class. Let’s keep America moving in the right direction.
Peter, I am quite certain, given Trump’s repeated assertions he is calling for tariffs not sales taxes, that at least half the country doesn’t understand how tariffs operate. Regrettably, I have yet to hear anyone unequivocally demolish Trump’s insistence that a tax on exports is paid by the foreign exporter. This would entail repeatedly amplifying that the tax is paid by the domestic importer and passed to consumers.
Tariffs—prices on everything at Walmart will increase. No foreign country will be shopping at Walmart.
Pharmaceuticals will become unaffordable as the majority of them are made in China and I don't expect our insurance companies will be able to cover the costs either.
I do feel that much of the country is in for a lot of "wait, what!?" moments if Trump is elected. Of course, this is just a very nice way of saying what will happen to most of us, surprised at what happens or not.
Steve, I don’t imagine anyone on this site has any illusions about the indescribable forms of agony and anguish that would be unleashed were Trump, absent any guardrails, to be re-elected. That said, with less than 2 weeks to Election Day, I’ve mostly trained myself to focus exclusively on the tasks at-hand, which, for me, entail phone banking and canvassing in the nearest battleground states.
I have a hard time believing that people are as dumb as they pretend to be. I instead believe that people are willfully ignorant. I live in a swing state, and sometimes I'm just so astonished with how dumb people are. They think prices on gas, food and interest rates will just go down because of Trump being President. I genuinely don't get it. They also claim gas is still $5 and so expensive, but gas right now is averaging around $3 where I live for the past year. These people don't live in reality. I think they like the crap that Trump sells because it makes them feel good and they are not having a good faith conversation. They want to vote for Trump because of social issues and are just lying about their real intentions, 50% of them want mass deportations and camps. These aren't serious people. They trust him more than anyone else in America, I don't know how we work through that.
Especially from his supporters
A tax hike on Americans disguised as tariffs is the perfect description. Despite his claims that tariffs would raise revenue from overseas exporters, Trump knows who would actually pay the tariffs, namely US businesses and consumers. He recently let the mask slip when he announced that there would be exemptions to tariffs at an economic forum. Linking the article below.
Having watched Trump for this long, we all know that Trump is going to use the tariff regime as a cudgel against industries and businesses that don't bend to his will. Those that flatter him will be exempt and those that don't, and their customers, will bear the cost.
In contrast to Harris who has plans outlined to build up small businesses, Trump's signature plan is designed to crush them. Small business owners and their loyal customers better wake up to this fact and vote accordingly or they will bear the brunt of the outcome.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/how-some-big-businesses-could-escape-fallout-from-trumps-blanket-tariffs-080011229.html
The not-so-invisible hand is reaching for your wallet.
I am concerned that under a Trump presidency if a person gets behind on a federally backed mortgage ( Fannie Mae/ Freddie Mac/ Rural housing loans ECT) that Trump would confiscate their homes. Including veterans.
I’m pleased and grateful that so many Republicans and former officials in the Trump administration are speaking out. My fear is that it is too little, too late given the existential threat to Democracy that we face. My continuing gratitude is extended to HCR for straightforwardly addressing the issues of the day, six days each week. The tireless effort she exhibits is a beacon of hope for any of us, and especially for me.
If we are to be saved, we must save ourselves, because our failing institutions will not do it.
Well said, that!
Superb, Heather today recounting helpers of Kamala and Tim momentum.
Eminem, Liz Cheney, Obama (the guy), General John Kelly, Telemundo -- more, more, more.
But the challenge still remains severe -- billionaires ready to buy re-entry for the orange felon and his would-be-co-criminals just as Heather also recounts industrialists did in the 1890s.
Even among ostensibly loyal readers of Heather, some (thanks, incredibly bad education) remain out to lunch on other challenges to our first-responder, lowest-ranked defenders of decency: our teachers.
But other readers of Heather readily come to correct truths -- such as yesterday when Gail Adams Fla/Va., Ally House (Oregon), and Carole Berkoff all responded to one commenter who sees no problems with standardized testing. He'd written in sure that the standardized testing he'd had as a pre-Powell memo youth typified today's post-Powell memo standardized testing.
Gail, Ally, and Carole all noted the facts: no, current standardized testing rules monstrously different. Teachers across the U.S. are crushed by its tyranny. Must “teach to the test” at the exclusion of any humanities good souls could want. While teachers themselves must pay hundreds of dollars of out of pocket for basic classroom supplies, the standardized testing billionaires only profit more enormously from it.
Good for allies of the truth -- Eminem, Obama (the guy Obama), Liz Cheney, and more, plus Gail, Ally, Carole and more here paying attention, adding key facts and personal observations.
On NPR Today... New Yorker's Susan Glasser was Interviewed by Terry Gross regarding the Billionaire Dark Siths that are backing DJT... Those 14 are expecting $$$ Multiples on their Investments... DJT, who is a 'BlackHole' for Ethics will reward them for Financing his Campaign since DJTs Small-Donors have Shriveled-Up....
It's actually great news, Apache, how the orange felon's small donors "have shriveled up."
Q is, how many? How many will just not bother to turn up at the polls, having finally to face how vulgar the fat, orange criminal is, how relentlessly a rapist and abuser of women he is (as his Clarence court pushes that same abuse nation-wide). How his frauds have no limits. His willingness to insult, lie, and recklessly label -- no bottom floor.
And now, for how many a final coffin-sealer: this insistence of his on seeing more than half of America as "vermin," as enemies or threats within, as less-than-human dregs to be done with as the Waffen SS did to millions 80 years ago?
There was another Segment on NPR discussing that DJT is a Psychopathic Vengeful Narcissist ... Andrew McCabe discussed how DJT made his Life Hellish... It took Years to Recover... DJT will treat the DoJ as his Private Law Firm again... May Lightning Strike...
Agreed! Standardized testing has stifled education so much. As the spouse of an educator I can tell you that whatever good it does is more than offset by the loss of creativity and critical thinking skills being used to stimulate children to be better equipped to deal with the onslaught of dis/misinformation.
We were just discussing this last night. Both my partner and I benefitted from being gifted an early education which was open weave and encouraged questioning everything. We also experienced the mass cruel cookie cutter version that seems to have now become the norm. It was the nurturing of our imaginations and the emotional freedom it afforded us as well as the refusal to accept anything at face value that has kept us alive. Without these skills to negotiate life, especially the brutalities of wilfully ignorant authorities, we know that neither of us would still be alive. We are all of us presently trying to survive an era of tragic stupidity.
It does very little for the kids at all. It's not for their benefit, but to justify school budgets in the face of those who want to cut them. And school districts make it a life-or-death situation for the teachers. It's not as if the idea was to help failing schools.
I have a 14yo grandson who was asked to join the gifted programs during his last year of Middle School. He excels in math, science and, get this, diplomacy.
His parents, my daughter snd SIL, are both whip smart MBA’s in the healthcare field (VP’s at hospitals).
THEIR TIME INVESTMENT in my grandson is phenomenal…off the charts.
My point in all this praise is that a signifiant investment in children is REQUIRED…..I’m not sure a good share of parents are willing to make the investments or even recognize the need.
Dang…..I feel SO fortunate I got to raise my daughters before smart phones and social media.
💗💗💗 to my wonderful girls.
My sister mentioned something similar when we were on our annual "sisters trip" (odd numbered years we day trip, even numbered years we go on a 3-7 day trip somewhere else). Her son is 35, and living with us for a year while his partner finishes up their dissertation in Indiana and they (the two of them) relocate to wherever they (the partner, whose pronouns are they/them) end up. My sister was thrilled that she got to raise him before the time of social media.
Bravo !
<curtsies>
I don't know a lot about very much, but I do think that I have some worthwhile information to share from time to time.
<bows>
And we’re grateful for it!
Sometimes you specify your experience, Ally, giving us good basis for what you know.
I do like that you write “Former president.” I’ve always bristled at the honorific “President” for those no longer in the office. Judges, too, when they’re no longer on the bench. And for this guy? It’s an abomination of the title and the office.
Ditto; That creature was greasy orange smear on the office. And that's to state it as politely as I can.
EEEEWWW
a BIG AMEN! You’re not alone in this
I try to avoid using his name, I also prefer to use "fpotus" (Secret Service speak for him is FPOTUS: Former President of the United States). I use it in lower case to remove any iota of potentially perceived respect. As someone commented the other day, the first letter could be a vulgarity/profanity that also begins with that letter. My reply was that I would neither confirm nor deny that potential substitution.
I hope it is increasingly clear to the dwindling number of swing voters that economic management and immigration are NOT Trump's strong suits. Huge tariffs and mass deportations will revive inflation just as the Biden-Harris administration has gotten it under control. I'm also hoping that FEMA's impressive record in NC will persuade some voters not to believe the horrible disinformation that Trump is spreading there. https://open.substack.com/pub/jimbuie/p/political-violence-is-so-far-worst?r=7j6hq&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
I love your writing Heather, historians are the best. But I'm taking a break until at least November 6th, until we know if America remains a democracy or a crazy-house fascist non-rule-of-law state. Hope to see you all again then.
I have a friend doing the same thing, he calls it brain cleansing. The focus daily on this outhouse becomes stressfully depressing. Have a good rest!
I understand how you feel. The news can be overwhelming and depressing.
Historians are the best but they don’t entertain like Fox. Thank you Jesus.
I think that is the sane thing to do Dennis, but I can't walk away from HCR's daily recitations.
Rarely, is there a mention of what electing Trump and Republicans will mean for the make-up of SCOTUS. If Thomas, Alito and Roberts step down, then 3 younger Fascists and/or religious zealots will likely replace them.
This is deeply disturbing to me.
Yeah, I’ve been shutting down as well. I’ve got recurring contributions for a number of candidates and that’s my main focus. I'll vote in NYS, a blue state but our country is polarized and it’s hard to understand the possibility that millions will vote for trump.
That's tempting, Dennis....
I really appreciate this "just the facts" contrast between the Harris and Trump economic plans... as well as the "Red Alert" report on former Trump Chief of Staff, John Kelly, finally going public about how Trump relates to the US Military's Generals and in other ways sees the US Military through his incredibly narcissistic view of the world.
I have shared this on my Facebook page, in the hope that my Oklahoma friends will read it and have their eyes opened by how this information is presented. I live in a small town where people actually avoid speaking about politics... as a way to "keep the peace". I'm taking a risk in sharing a political article, but I like how Heather presented this information without any personal bias. I shared it using a similar "Here's information you should know" approach. I hope it works!
Good on you, Steve. I decided to take a "I just learned this about tariffs" approach, and then describe how tariffs work, ending with a "who knew?" This way I'm not preaching, but sharing something that maybe others don't otherwise know. This approach can work for many other issues as well, I believe.
I might try that, Lynell. Thanks for the tip.
Here's another one. "Wait. What? I heard tariffs mean... What are you hearing they mean?"
Your “who knew?” approach is brilliant! Thanks for suggesting it!
I hope so too. Thanks, Steve.
Thanks for the good luck wishes. It’s early morning now, and so far no one has commented or liked my post. Facebook is weird. Sometimes people don’t see things right away. We’ll see what happens…
Have you seen this? https://steady.substack.com/p/advice-for-staying-sane
Yes, I have. I subscribe to Dan Rather's Substack too! Thanks for the suggestion!
There has been a lot under the radar about polls being funded by MAGAt PACs thereby artificially skewing the polls toward the psychopath in preparation for claiming unfair election results. Many in the know about polls say not to give them credence.
Simon Rosenberg says it's over 70 polls now, dropped into the nat'l averages and into the swing state numbers. Even polls that attempt to be fair use methodologies that to me, as a retired CPA and data analyst, seem to compound errors upon errors. The Bullfinch Group recently opened up their polling methods and provided insight into industry practices - it made me realize the polls really ARE not credible. Interesting read!
https://www.thebullfinchgroup.com/post/your-election-guide-for-the-midrust-battlegrounds
Thanks for sharing that link SF.
I have been aware, solely through observation, that polling seems to be broken, failing to predict any major contest for at least the past 8 years, not to mention failing to accurately call any special election or ballot measure I am aware of in 2023 or 2024.
I attributed it to poor methodology (though I am no judge of what 'good methodology' is), and the tendency to try to influence public opinion through polling rather than simply report it.
I appreciate anyone who can bring some expertise to this issue and somehow translate what is happening to those of us not so well versed in the nuances of data analysis. Thanks.
This is just total nonsense. The polls picked Biden to win in 2020. They picked him to win by a larger margin than he won by. That s precisely why the current polls are scary because if they have underreported Trump's support, we are in for a bad Nov 6.
Consider the difficulties today. Hardly no one answers their cellular phones anymore and those that do may be predisposed to favor a particular candidate. If a survey is sent out asking all to respond again, a select few who might be predisposed to voting a certain way. A good pollster can take those fallacies and make adjustments. But no one can play God. Given that all dirty tricks are employed such as false readings (polls), AI, outright lies such as has been offered by trump and Vance, and mix this into that witches brew of the Biden Administration being asleep at the wheel on border issues (oh yes he was for 3 stinking years), we have on hell of a struggle to stop this madness. And before you beat me upon my criticism, Biden could have used the Insurrection Act to send troops to the border.it was that chaotic for 3 years. So please don’t tell me he couldn’t do anything. He didn’t want to follow in the footsteps of Trump. Now we are in the battle of our lives because of his refusal to respond.
Steve, I would suggest following Simon Rosenberg who SF Haine referenced above.If you’re not familiar, he accurately predicted the faux red wave of ‘22.
https://www.hopiumchronicles.com/p/harris-leads-by-3-and-4-in-new-polls?r=fqsxl&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
By them, do you mean polls or rumors?
Reagan strapped Americans with the delusional economic visions of Milton Friedman, which were fabricated from whole clorh and supported by no evidence whatever. Reagan also gave Friedman’s trickle-down acolytes license to oppress the populations of other countries, especially in Latin America with the same economic catastrophes. Republicans still today have not even a basic understanding of how to make economies work. They only understand how to bleed the masses to enrich the top 1%. George Wallace taught them how to use the racist inclinations of white Americans to put Republicans in positions of power to bleed dry the racists who elected them, along with the rest of the 99%. White Americans who vote R (by a 20-point majority) fully deserve the bleeding they bring upon themselves, but the rest of America doesn’t. The rest of America has just barely enough votes to keep the bastards out of power, but doing so will require every non-MAGAt to cast their vote and to require the administration and legislature they elect to ruthlessly suppress the inclinations of the Republicans who sneak through the net. Anything less is a recipe for disaster.
Milton Friedman's work has damaged so many millions of people that the Nobel Prize committee should revoke his award.
I’d like to find out where the SOB is buried so I can go piss on his grave.
Hey… hey.. don’t you go doing first what I intend to do at the grave of Donald Trump. I’m first, buddy. The Washington Post once permanently banned me for suggesting I would crap on the steps of the Capital if Trump was laid in state there. No sheet.
I'm a member of the permanently banned from WAPO as well. I chose to ban them back. I miss Jennifer Rubin and Catherine Rampell the most but their continued support of CFDT made it impossible for me to continue reading.
I must say I got a bit graphic on how I would stand on the steps then pull down my pants in front of national and international news feeds. But all kidding aside, his time is short. I intend to carry out my vow even if I have to toss it from a distance since I would bet others have the same thing in mind.
Rex, could you find out where Mises and Hayek are buried as well?
Are you going to pee as well? Hum… No I had better not ask where or I’ll be called a perv. You realize how this topic awakens me from perfect sleep in the middle of the night.
Now THAT just made my morning! thank you!
He was cremated and ashes scattered all over San Francisco Bay area so you can piss anywhere in San Francisco. Oops this is meant for Rex.
Why can't General Kelly just say it like it is?! He is still so wimpy in his assessment of the dangers of a potential T presidency. Too little, too late.
I would not characterize Marine Corps General Kelly as "wimpy". I imagine he has been walking a fine line between his dignity and what he would like to say. And General Kelly's fraught relationship with the former President has been public knowledge for some time.
The tradition of flag officers being apolitical after retirement, while reasonable in normal times, might be broken at this juncture with little harm.
Kelly is a Republican. This whole group has been bashing Republicans all along. Why in the WORLD do you think he would want to stand with US? I think it is astonishing and brave for him to have done what he has done and the comments here calling him wimpy just prove why he would be hesitant to take a harsher stance.
I don't think this warning will help in this election (probably too late) but if we actually have any more elections we all should consider how important working TOGETHER is in politics. Trying to find compromise is the only way things move forward rather than backwards.
Every former Republican in the Trump administration should come together for a major press conference in New York or anywhere but all together. And perhaps if Taylor Swift could announce one more time her support of Kamala Harris that would be extremely helpful.
Great as always... People get off the pollercoaster and get to work!
What disturbs me so much is the complete ignorance and self-righteousness of the Trump cult. I have only to look at the Facebook page of my sister-in-law to see how they perceive everything: in their view, Trump will PREVENT socialism, and they were oh so proud and amused by his little MacDonald's visit. In their "reality", everything is completely reversed! They are so unbelievably brainwashed, and yet THEY will likely end up on the receiving end of policies he will enact if he manages to get elected. If God forbid he does win or successfully steals the election (thanks to his more than willing supreme court justices) they will find out, much too late, exactly how much he cares about them! America: what a shit-show! And yet I continue to hope that SOMETHING will change with this election: it's got to!
I wish they'd stop referring to that photo op as a "shift".
Do they actually know what Socialism is? America has always been a Capitalist country, and likely always will be, regardless which party is in power.
Americans have a peculiar use of the word “socialism” which goes back to the end of the Civil War. It has little to do with the economic use of the term and more to do with resentful Southern whites using the term to refer to anything that might benefit people who were formerly enslaved. The Southern whites didn’t think formerly enslaved people deserved anything, and unfortunately sometimes, freed men, women and children didn’t get the help they needed. One example is during smallpox and yellow fever epidemics in the early 1870s, in which thousands died, many of them freed persons who received no outside help.
Unfortunately, these attitudes still survive today and demagogues like Trump freely make use of them.
Exactly so, Kathy.
Remember Eugene Debs!!!! Convict No. 9653!!
No. They call her a "socialist fascist communist". Three lies in one.
Jill, I have a nephew who thinks the MacDonalds visit was real, even though I posted a picture of the letter the franchise owner posted to the front door. It’s nuts.