I am profoundly appreciative of your work Professor Richardson – thank you.
It’s all coming into view this week isn’t it – the fascist playbook? Polls so close that no matter whether Harris wins by a small or large margin the GOP will cry foul ; local election boards that are corrupted ; a whole range of legal teams the GOP has lined up to challenge the election’s legality ; a stacked Supreme Court ; threats of violence against election officials ; the odious Elon Musk putting his thumb heavily on the scale ; the collusion with Putin and the compromising of our national security as Trump and Musk connive with a murderous dictator ; the desire of that same dictator for revenge, which is nothing less than the destruction of the US.
What will the US do without access to health care for women ? What will it do once the Right imposes its perverse view of history and education on our schools and universities, when the Florida model of repression goes national ? What will families do with no social security ? What misery will be visited on them when tarifs cause untold stress on already tight household budgets ? What environmental damage will come from a know-nothing attitude towards climate change, and the gutting if not outright elimination of NOAA and the early warning system for hurricanes ?
What will happen if they succeed in building their camps, and deport millions ? How will they try to hide the likely humanitarian catastrophe that will ensue ? What will happen to basic rights when police departments are further militarized and given a green light to arbitrarily treat citizens as they please ? What will happen as a lawless president pardons January 6th rioters ? Will he also pardon militia members who intimidate or even shoot peaceful protesters ? How long will people endure armed repression coupled with economic misery, before they themselves organize against it ?
What will the economy look like as the US exits NATO and leaves Europe to Putin ? What will happen to the US as the EU, an entity that helps sustain a robust US economy, is plunged into war as Putin gobbles up the Ukraine, the Baltics, and makes a play for Poland ? What will the nuclear powers of France and Britain do as remaining fellow NATO members are invaded ?
But the most important questions I have are more philosophical and humanistic : How can so many well-educated people be so cruel and reckless as to entrust these monsters – a Trump, a Musk, and at this late date, a Putin – with their futures ? How can the historic memory of Boomers be so short and insouciant as to forget the lessons of the 1930s and 1940s ? How can people be filled with such blind hate that they will die on the hill of a Trump, rather than on the hill that will expand rights, economic opportunity, and keep the planet livable ?
If you think this is hyperventilating, that is merely because I have taught about this sort of thing my entire life. Authoritarians will lie about everything – their racism, their sexism are based on lies, their patriotism and their piety utterly false. But the cruelty they tell you they intend to inflict ? That is almost always the only truth they tell.
Steve, you stated the case for voting for democracy very well. Even if democracy wins this election, the autocrats will still be there. We can only hope that after democracy wins, enough people will understand how important democracy is. Hatred will always be around but we must learn how to make people understand differences.
I found a website for [ H. RES. 1386 ] that puts our name on a petition to Mike Johnson to stand against the dangerous agenda regarding the policies of Project 2025.
I forgot about H.RES.1386 from some August notes within an older Jessica's CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER Substack - and I put my name on the petition - if you want, here's the link:
Johnson is a fascist. Fascists don’t give a damn about petitions nor any other form of advice from the people about what’s best for the country. The only hope is to outvote them, make it stick, make laws that curtail their operations (especially voter suppression and violations of civil rights), and vigorously enforce those laws. We can remove these fascists from power, but it will take a lot of persistent effort for a long time.
Johnson isn't a mere fascist, he's a Christofascist. I won't add my name to any petition for two reasons:
- It's a waste of time. Members of Congress only listen to their constituents and even then not always. It was beyond disheartening to see 85 boxes of petitions addressed to Speaker Paul Ryan with hundreds of thousands of signatures be rejected by his office; imagine the effort, the paper, the shipping costs to get those petitions to DC only to have them summarily dismissed.
- If Trump is elected and Project 2025 is implemented, I don't want to give them a reason to send me to the hooscow. Yes, that's extreme but we can't fool ourselves into believing that all will be normal, that maximum caution isn't required.
Christofascist, very apt phrase to describe Johnson, and hardly just him. Extremist Evangelicals are the driving centre of those praying endlessly for the Lord to end "secular tyranny", agents of Satan, in the USA. They have been dreaming of this for years now. The downfall of RvW has simply spurred them on, and an appetite for more to come is much of their minds.
I am a Catholic Christian, and don’t find anything remotely Christian about them. They simply want to misuse Jesus’s name as an excuse for a power grab.
Yes, and he smirks all the time. He was just here in Oregon to campaign for the local R in House District 5 who has an excellent opponent. Then he went across the Columbia to fundraise and campaign for angry Joe Kent, who is fascist to the core, and trying to unseat the incumbent D female who is an auto mechanic and hardly far left.
This is long. It is the editorial in today's edition of the Orland Sentinel. Christofascism is alive, well and flourishing in America.
ORLANDO SENTINEL EDITORIAL
How would Jesus vote?
Today, the weight of the pending election is on the minds of many across Central Florida— including those who are sitting in church pews or temples, listening to faith leaders exhorting them (subtly or not so much) to cast their ballots one way or another.
In a perfect — or even functional — society, that sermonizing would prompt an examination of how candidates’ conduct and viewpoints align with the core tenets of each voter’s faith. But for a growing number of Americans, this guidance will offer comfort and support that it’s OK to vote for people whose morals might appear questionable to the unenlightened. That it’s a bad idea to question leaders who exploit their voter-given power to marginalize and scapegoat groups of people as general threats to their own existence, and to paint those who disagree as villainous liars.
That it’s acceptable to ignore some of the great principles espoused by the world’s religious traditions: To comfort the afflicted, to welcome the stranger, to seek justice, to revere the truth. This is Christian nationalism at work — in Florida, and across the nation. And there is very little that is Christlike about it. Rather, this is the cancer our forefathers sought to prevent when they created the fundamental firewalls between government and religion — the walls that many of today’s leaders are seeking to tear down.
Know them by their works
Not many politicians openly proclaim themselves to be Christian nationalists, but they aren’t hard to spot. Gov. Ron DeSantis is a prime example. He often explains his actions (particularly those that misappropriate funding, incorporate dishonesty or gather power to himself that outstrips the boundaries of his role) by lashing out at some group that has “forced” him into extraordinary action. Consider his recent veto of the state’s entire cultural arts 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 1/5 grant program — a move that saved taxpayers a relatively paltry $32 million, but one that has devastated community arts programs including small theaters, visual-arts spaces and music programs. These programs brought joy to many and did no harm; some of them will not survive the loss of funding they depended on.
Magnifying his cruelty, DeSantis and like-minded people have repeatedly lied about asylum seekers, branding them as “illegals” who want to sell fentanyl to high-schoolers, rape housewives and steal jobs from deserving Americans. The only presidential debate this year featured the same callous dishonesty, when former president Donald Trump slandered Haitian immigrants as pet abducting dog-eaters. The president and his debate-prep team almost certainly knew they were repeating social-media rumors that had already been proven false. In each of these cases, what side do you think Jesus would have taken? Or Solomon, Mohammed, Buddha? If you need a reference, check out Leviticus 19:34: The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
The truly sad thing is that, even as we write this, we can think of so many other examples where DeSantis, Trump or legislative candidates demonized vulnerable people, usually as a distraction to draw voters’ attention away from their own failures to fix property insurance, repair crumbling infrastructure and help Florida’s increasingly desperate working class. Here’s just one more: The infamous 2023 hearing of the state House Education Committee, where Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, listened to transgender adults and youth plead for protection against invasion into their intimate lives, then responded: “The Lord rebuke you, Satan, and all of your demons and all of 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 2/5 your imps will come and parade before us. That’s right — I called you demons and imps.”
Barnaby is on the ballot Nov. 5, facing Rosemarie Latham, a nurse-practitioner who wants to expand health care to low-income workers. May his cruel pride go before a fall. Praying to false gods In a recent edition of the NPR talk show 1A, a panel of experts explored the psychology of Christian nationalism and why so many Americans are seduced into believing that these actions are godly, or even acceptable in a polite society — and how they can revere a creature like Trump, the serial adulterer with a miles-long record of cheating his business partners, exploiting public resources and spewing lies about political rivals.
And that was before he became president. Since then, fact-checking organizations have documented thousands of outright lies — while Trump cozied up to some of the world’s cruelest and most oppressive regimes and stood by while a mob broke into the U.S. Capitol in pursuit of his attempt to steal the 2020 election. None of it seems to matter to the subset of voters who see Trump as their golden idol — capable of no wrong. Others vote for him because they don’t care about the lies, and believe he’ll be better for their bottom line. Even rational Republicans, who are repulsed by his arrogance and greed, fear to speak up against him. How can this be? As described by the panelists, it’s definitely not by accident. In fact, the current Christian nationalist movement appears to be the end game of a “deeply networked organizational infrastructure” that’s been working for years to dismantle critical checks and balances — including the much vaunted separation of church and state, but also reaching to mechanisms intended to keep power distributed and thus, resistant to abuse.
In Florida, DeSantis has emasculated the state Legislature and systematically undermined the independence of the court system. Not to sound too conspiratorial, but it’s all part of the plan. Powerful, ultra-conservative ministers are definitely playing their role, lacing their sermons with partisan themes and using political stunts as fundraising props. Groups like the pro-book-banning Moms for Liberty clutch cloaks of virtue while they work to destabilize Americans’ perception of what is true and acceptable in society. A close look at the books they’ve targeted include many that had no whiff of sexual or sinful content. Instead, these stories worked to build empathy and understanding of people who were from other cultures, or related the historic struggle for human equality and dignity. 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 3/5 Removing those books, and rejecting other efforts to foster empathy, makes it easier to vilify groups of people who have few defenses. They are the perfect targets — and having enemies is essential in the Christian Nationalist playbook. “One aspect of movement that’s become much more salient in the last decade or so is the idea of spiritual warfare. This idea that God and Satan are really active and directly involved in American political campaigns, and God has chosen to anoint one candidate.
So within this mindset, it’s important to understand they see Trump not so much as a politician. They don’t look at his personal history, but they see him as an anointed one sent from on high,” Katherine Stewart, who recently wrote a book about the movement, told 1A. To question Trump is to question God. That’s the message. It’s so wrong, but so powerful. What voice will you follow? So how do Christians and other people who are sincere in the core tenets of their faith fight back against this co-opting of religion? Many local churches are already doing this work. There are pastors in this community who speak compellingly of Christ’s imperatives toward kindness, respect and humility. Their congregations work to lift up marginalized people, heal the sick, care for those in need. They pray for justice, and for truth. They should do more, remembering that Jesus himself was not content just to preach and hope. He was a fiery voice challenging the power structure — a dangerous voice, in the end, but one that has echoed through millennia.
We’ll close with something the Rev. Jim Wallis, director of the Center on Faith and Justice at Georgetown University, who has been rebuking the ultraconservative high-jacking of faith for decades: “Jesus said, you’ll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Now as I dig into that text in times like this, it tells me that the opposite of truth isn’t just lies, it’s captivity. It’s captivity. And a whole lot of people have become captive to these lies.” As they consider their choices in this election, we urge readers of faith to look past the political alliances that have been forged between the powerful elite of this nation and the Philistines who offer to cloak greed and division in Godly vestments. Look to the core works of your faith: The Torah. The Koran. The Bible. And pray. This nation has never needed it more. 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 4/5
Years ago, someone in an online discussion group used the term, "christofascist." I was impressed by how perfectly it described members of my family and people I grew up with, so I began using it from then on.
Unlike mainline Protestantism, which focuses on loving God and neighbor, Evangelicalism is animated by fear. Evangelicals awaken every morning, overcome with a thousand different fears: fear of Satan, fear of committing a sin, fear of an angry God, fear of being condemned to hell, fear of criticism by fellow believers, fear of people who do not believe as they do, worship as they do, love as they do and live as they do. In humans, uncontrolled fear is transformed into hate. This makes evangelicals the ideal targets for fascism.
The smarter fascists who direct Trump have used him to attract and dominate evangelicals, bringing them to heel in service to the fascist drive for power and control.
Evangelicals, fearing secularism, eschew public education. Thus, they are unable to think critically, or sort fact from fiction. In fact, they have abetted the campaign to discredit and defund public education in favor of "Christian" and charter schools.
Sinclair Lewis did NOT write "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." But whoever first wrote this aphorism was right.
No, he didn't, but he wrote plenty of things that suggest he would have been OK with it. For instance, from IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE (which I want to reread, but not till after the election): "But he saw too that in America the struggle was befogged by the fact that the worst fascists were they who disowned the word ‘fascism’ and preached enslavement to capitalism under the style of constitutional and traditional Native American liberty."
Yeah! You're right. Glad it's happening in your country, not mine! But at least you're prepared to be the canary in the coal-mine for the rest of the English-speaking world. And Rupert; he's now your problem.
Johnson is also a hypocrite hiding his lust for power and control behind his "religious righteousness," MisTBlu. Let's just hope there are enough women who don't want anyone to boss us around to get rid of these theocratic punks.
ChristoFascist! Handmaids, whose male preachers are screeching about abortion. Fear, hate, the other…and at the core is sexism and hate for women! This has been the core power struggle for a long time! Well before Rome…and their weird version of Jesus, who was clearly married with children..
I completely agree. I stopped adding my name to any political request or poll. Those that do are putting a bullseye on themselves. Win, lose or draw this election is a losing proposition for all involved.
Wow! I knew that Trump and his cronies-in-crime were up to no good, but as I was reading Heather's letter today, it became crystal clear. Everything she quoted went right to the cold heart of Donald Trump.
Two statements stood out to me as describ8ng MAGA. Women are only useful for "children, kitchen, and the church." MAGA's sentiments exactly.
The bull's eye truth of Trump's whole movement is this quote- "Getting men to hate rather than to think."
Pam, I opened the US Army link Heather provided, and this part jumped out at me when reading page 1: "They make their own rules and change them when they choose. If you don't like it, it's "T.S." ".
I think it's pretty easy to deduce what "T.S." stands for! 😁
If trump becomes president, every day that passes, Vance will be a day closer to be president himself due death or greater incapacitated of the former....
Yes, Pam, that stood out to me as well. I think, hope, as a nation, we are past this thinking and rhetoric. Most of us anyway.
I appreciate you not using the word "fascist" even though clearly this is a part of that definition. I tire of our use of this word (frequently) as it mirrors the simplistic and degrading tone of DT and I hope we are better than that. Still I realize we must give voice to the truth. Truth to power.
Everything Heather said is correct. I am just as concerned why the people will blindly follow that is clearly designed to harm them. Yet perhaps they’ve already been harmed.
Sometime in 1993 or 1994, Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement. On that day, I paused and wondered how great this would affect American workers; workers in manufacturing who had little formal education. A few years later in my travels as an art dealer driving across the country, I drove to Seattle and stopped in Richmond, Indiana to stay at an Airbnb. The Victorian house was as ornate as the Mark Twain house in my hometown of Hartford, CT. I paid about $50 for the night to stay in the mini mansion . I asked the owner at breakfast if he minded telling me what the value of the house was. He reported around $125,000. I gasped. He then told me how that rust belt area had become filled with deserted plants and had shut down to set up off-shore. Workers no longer had those solid middle income factory jobs. A few decades later, his wife ran for president and in her run, called those MAGA supporters of Trump “The Deplorables,” mostly white, uneducated, now lower income the same group that lost their solid middle incomes under Bill Clinton. That group formed the bases of Trump’s base.
When Joe Biden refused to stem the tide of hundreds of thousands rushing the border, it became a political issue. It’s no wonder that this group is so hardened against a political party that ruined them and will not listen to reason. They have been thoroughly abandoned and insulted by the party that once supported them and their once good paying jobs.
This is the explanation to my fellow hard-headed dense democrats that just don’t understand why a large segment of the population will support a facist-like movement that does not have their interests at heart. It’s a bit confounding isn’t it — both sides, one side being the wronged and the other side being unable to grasp what the hell has happened. Go ahead ladies and gentlemen, have at me. I tell the truth.
I think the immigration problem is overplayed, legal and otherwise, they commit fewer crimes than average Americans, play a vital role in esp the agricultural sector, doing jobs most Americans refuse to do. Studies show they provide a net economic gain, pay taxes, and so on. So Americans scream they're stealing jobs when in fact USA is in virtual full employment. Murdering criminal millions, give us a break! The immigration system does need fixing, simply staunching the inflow of mainly economic migrants with walls et al won't solve the problem. USA needs to figure out better how to meet its own employment needs when its native population cannot adequately step up to the plate. Their is a solid reason why mainly economic migration from Mexican and Latino countries has been a "thorn" for more than a couple generations now. Trump and Maga have made perceived grievances a major touchstone of their campaign. Sadly, it's paid off dividends, in spades. Sounds to me it's more about racism, than economics.
It is. Tom Schiller and Paul Waldman recently published a book titled “The Roots of White Rural Rage.” People in rural areas listen to different media outlets that city people, and they have been red a constant stream of culture war propaganda that has encouraged them to vote against their economic interests. Rural areas are badly hit when farms consolidate into mega farms, factories close, young people leave for cities, and they vote for the very people who cause these problems. The propagandists have no interest in solving these problems, but want to exploit them on their behalf.
Which is why Blue Tennessee (www.bluetennessee.org) among others is addressing rural needs. Jess Piper did a great interview this week with Tom Vilsack, discussing rural issues and how they can be addressed.
I grew up on a farm, working in the fields. My parents aspired to more for me than manual labor in the fields, which simply does not pay enough to eat and live indoors at the same time. In eastern NC, where I live, there are a large number of factory farms and meat processing plants. Those jobs are dirty and physically demanding. The locals, who already lived in the area, didn’t want to work at meat processing plants. Is that what you would want for your child? Immigrants came to fill those jobs. They didn’t take jobs from locals. Deport those immigrants, and who will do those difficult jobs?
Right on Frank. Of course it's about racism and the hate and divisiveness that accompanies it.
But the economy will suffer as a consequence of closing the borders. And is it even possible to deport even 10,000 migrants? Who is going to accept them and if we just dump them in Venezuela, Haiti and Central America for starters these countries will all turn them away. If they do accept them, they will be harshly dealt with in all of the usual ways a dictatorship deals with them.
I have worked with literally hundreds of immigrants as a computer consultant, plus we have hired several dozen more to work at our home. We would still be waiting for a roof in Florida if not for immigrants and the quality of work is as good or better than native born Americans. Y2K opened the door for Indian programmers (and other nationalities) with the H2B programs. It was an ugly transition in the 1990's because of the communication barrier.
Anyway, if you deport brown people you lose a large portion of our productive workforce in almost EVERY occupation. My primary care doctor is an immigrant from Columbia. She actually saved my life plus she is fluent in several languages. It is actually selfish of me, to use her when there are relatively few doctors that serve the Hispanic community.
We all know they can't deport immigrants, legal or illegal, and we likely can't even put them in camps. So is the alternative the Fascist solution to just kill them?
Thanks for all that info, Gary! I suspect you mean 10 million, and Trump has been gaslighting 20-30 million. The logistics and the reaction of foreign governments will make a mockery of these threats.
Gary Loft: Under TFG, he'll allow the military to do just that-that way no expense for food, water, etc. Whether the military will blindly follow orders, even if unlawful, is unknowable.Think of the psychic trauma that will be inflicted on those soldiers.
Agreed, Frank. As usual, Mr. Katz simply repeats what trompy and the rest of the MAGAs want everybody to be talking about instead of issues that are greater threats to us all. Immigration is certainly important, but it's far less so than the loss of basic rights, freedoms, safety, etc. And if it were more important, then the Republicans would have taken up and voted to approve the bipartisan-drafted bill that Biden said he's signed, am I right?
Biden was absent for almost 3 years on topic. And as usual, Mr. Katz repeats the unblemished truths about our politics which is that we are a fractured society and perfectly timed to get worked by the hidden puppeteers that are also pulling your strings, too.
Please tell me in very simple words how President Biden was absent for three years Bill. Are you saying this country, that has completely recovered from the pandemic economic slump the entire world experienced, has at the same time, stood still? All the leading economic indicators would have to challenge your words here. People are always going to bitch and main about gas and food prices-like when haven’t they? As for NAFTA, the idea began in the Reagan administration, at first as an agreement between Canada and the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement?wprov=sfti1#Negotiation,_signing,_ratification,_and_revision_(1988%E2%80%9394)
It ended up on Pres. Clinton’s desk after Mexico, Central and South America were added by Bush, Sr.
All the off shoring to so many other countries didn’t happen because of NAFTA.
I have concluded that Mr. Katz is a one-trick pony (or perhaps, Trojan horse) who comes here to repeat ad nauseam the same Republican talking points in order to derail thoughtful conversations. I engaged with him once and have resolved never to do it again, no matter how much he needs rebuttal.
Agree, Monsieur, most definitely I agree on not contacting you again. As to one-trick phony? You must have eaten your morning wheaties with McDonald’s tainted onions.
Ooof, could you be more pretentious than to use Monsieur when you probably don't even know French, and beside the point, can you offer anything of substance for rebuttal beyond snide ad hominem deflections?
It's the fear mongering that Trump does. Saying "illegal alliens" will come into your kitchen and slit your throat! Everyone knows this is not true but say it enough and people believe them. Do you think the people who support MAGA see or hear info like what you stated on your comment? Absolutely not. My husband is a Trump supporter Fox watcher. The drumbeat on Fox is fear. They do portray Democrats as communists as well as equal to the devil. People who watch this don't see any other source of "news" as I'm sure you know. I've got my husband watching a Spectrum News channel for bipartisan info but it doesn't change his mind. He was a housepainter and lost his job to those who would accept pay @ half what he received and they happened to be immigrants. People like him have a grudge and Trump feeds it. So sorry for venting but I'm so terrified of fascism.
To be slightly objective here, the immigrant "problem" is quite real. There are in fact at least several million possibly almost ten million undocumented immigrants in the US today. Under the current law, almost every one of those people are subject to arrest and deportation. This is absolutely without regard to ANY logical or rational justification for enforcing the law. Enforcing the law is always theoretically the right thing to do unless you believe the law is unconstitutional. And in general our immigration laws are not unconstitutional, just unenforced.
So trump, if elected will be completely within his rights and in fact may be legally correct to massively enforce the immigration laws. Will he be "right" in the moral sense? Maybe not. Will he be right in the political sense? That remains to be seen. But he will almost certainly be right in the legal sense. And that is technically all the justification he needs to carry out his draconian plan. It is difficult to see any court which would halt his ability to do that (and if they did, I would expect the Supreme Court as it currently exists to reverse quite quickly.
This is why i believe that the best course of action is to repeal all immigration laws and essentially open the borders to anyone with the exception of demonstrable criminals. This would make it much more difficult to attempt mass deportations. By removing the legal basis for such deportations, it would at least become an unlawful act to arbitrarily deport people based on status.
Jon, the undocumented you speak of have jobs and families, with citizen children (assuming they were born here.) Many, if not most, pay taxes and have SS/FICA withheld without access to benefits. Deportation (which you don't advocate, thankfully) would be extremely expensive to the taxpayers and the economy, but opening the borders isn't a solution either. I believe that those presently here (unless they were/are criminals of one sort of another) should be on a path to recognition as citizens. We need a sane, fair and manageable immigration solution without saying "Come one, Come all."
Sorry I don't believe you can really have it " both ways". This just another repeat of the various forgiveness strategies that have been repeated over and over. Don't keep immigrants out because we really DO want them and need them (they obviously take jobs that most Americana don't want) let them sneak in and get settled and then a few years later when there is a political "need" to get even, throw some of them out but let the large majority have amnesty, give them some path to legitimacy, then say "we're closing the borders down now", rinse and repeat. It's getting pretty tiring. In some ways it gives credence to Trump's philosophy, build a huge wall and throw them all out and keep them out. At least he is consistent if terribly wrong IMHO.
You really can't have it both ways. You either have to deport those who are her e illegally or you have to acknowledge that our policies don't work and do trying to keep them out. The rinse and repeat concept of looking the other way for a while, then granting some kind of amnesty for those who were able to get through the obstacles and take up illegal residence is wrong and unfair. I have seen this done several times in my lifetime and I am sick of it. Either do what Trump says and deport every one who is here illegally or cancel the laws and permit unrestricted immigration. I see no other fair and decent alternatives. You know which one I think is right.
The economic reality in my state is that many of the agricultural jobs, on which much of our economy is based, no longer pay enough or appeal to white workers. Nor do the nonunion construction jobs. My neighbor is having his roof replaced down to the trusses and the entire crew is comprised of Spanish speaking workers even though our minimum wage is $15 an hour and there is a construction boom to accommodate all the growth we are experiencing. Without migrant workers, our economy would collapse and your supply of fresh fruit would cost far more than you would want to pay. The town where I grew up was called the fruit bowl of the nation and it got that way because every year migrant workers came to harvest its bounty. It’s now a major producer of wine grapes. So enjoy what our state and its workers provide and stfu with your nonsense.
I won't believe my country is serious about enforcing immigration laws until I see some serious enforcement that aims at preventing them from getting employment. And there's a thermometer or barometer to check that. If you can still find a place in your city where men can stand around openly on the corners in certain areas waiting to be picked up to work, you know that the immigration law is not being enforced. We need to figure out how to keep them from finding employment. Then they will not take ridiculously huge loans in order to get here on the chance they will be able to pay off the loan with the wonderfully high salaries we have. I'm being cynical sorry. Because they mainly live in conditions many of us would find subpar, because they are sending most of their money home hoping to build up in big enough nest egg to be able to go back and eventually retire there, since they won't be able to retire decently in this country on their earnings.
I disagree with the commonly heard statement that the jobs they are filling are jobs Americans don't want. What has happened is it has become impossible for a contractor in certain fields, starting with landscaping and I'm sure going into plenty of other fields, to make any money without hiring illegals because if they don't they will be underbid by those who do. I saw this change personally in the 1990s and 2000s when I was a licensed landscape contractor myself.
And I enjoyed having the Latins on my crews. They were usually willing workers (especially the newly-arrived ones) and fast learners.
Yep this is why I favor an open border policy. Get rid of the immigration laws and you get rid of these problems. The very fact that millions of undocumented immigrants can actually get into the country and take up illegal residence without causing a huge serious problem suggests to me that open borders will work much better than deportation. Look at the European union. They opened all they're borders to any one in the union and now their economies are mostly much more vibrant than ours. We need workers and immigrants do a lot of work that most Americans aren't interested in doing.
The town I grew up in turned 400 last year. In that time its economy has gone from extractive ship mast production and fishing, to hard scrabble farming and wool production, to weaving, tanning, shoe and brick manufacturing, and finally making plastic auto parts. All of these went away, with the ensuing pain that always follows economic transitions. The transitions didn't make themselves, however, they required a lot of effort by gritty, determined, fairly well educated people. It now has a very diverse economy that includes being the headquarters of a large insurance company.
NAFTA and globalization facilitated a race to the bottom where almighty capital won, is still winning, despite nearly losing it all in 2008 - when we literally printed money to save overextended (greedy) financial institutions. My town survived globalization because it stopped being a one or two industry town decades ago. The rust belt seems to be diversifying as well, through a lot of hard work and creativity. I just hope they can avoid the 'one industry town' trap that makes us vulnerable to greedy capitalists in the first place.
Supply side economics laid the groundwork for globalization, which hollowed out American manufacturing, which laid the groundwork for the Tea Party, the opioid epidemic (which is dwarfed by the epidemic of alcohol - but we don't talk about that), and a fascist bid to take over our country. Vote Harris/Walz in November.
If you listen to podcasts, Unf*cking the Republic had a really interesting take on the financial crisis: the crazy surge in oil prices driven by financial institutions. Worth a listen.
I am not laughing at you; there is a lot of truth in what you say. Those same rust belt areas were then flooded with opioids and in a way that is what Trump is still doing with his fake promises. I think Harris is recognizing this and trying valiantly to break through that mindset and level the playing field, as it were. Another 4 years of Trump would be a nightmare for this country and the world-just like Hitler was. Last night, I re-watched Gary Oldman as Churchill in His Darkest Hour and there was a line there that struck a chord with me-he that never changes his mind, never changes anything. I am heartened by the number of Republicans who are publicly endorsing Harris and hope we can get to a 54% Dem win so there is no doubt who has won this election-and then the work begins.
Republicans lying again. Biden has largely continued Trump’s migrant policies, but doesn’t separate families. Trump got the Republicans to withdraw their support from an immigration bill so he could use it as a political stalking horse, and they lie about immigrant caravans the way Elise Stefanik did the other day on X. The Republicans have replaced their oaths of office to uphold the constitution and laws of the United States with a private oath of loyalty to an incompetent wannabe dictator.
Speaking of Stefanik - I guess it wouldnt be surprising to hear the views of people who live in and around her district! Another politician who only "serves" herself & tffg and makes it very obvious!
Right?? The politicization of this issue began LONG, L O N G before Joe Biden took office. And it seems that there WAS a bi-partisan bill proposed during Joe’s administration that was denied even being brought up for a vote because Mr Trump rejected the appearance of any kind of win for Democrats before the 2024 election. Hmmm. This issue is largely manufactured as a political argument for campaigning just as abortion WAS and look what ham-handedly handling that looks like! I was never a fan of NAFTA but I believe Joe Biden has done more to right that grievous wrong than anyone since so the argument that Democrats won’t hear what the struggling middle class has to say is faulty also. They’re listening and working to make it better but MAGA is turning their noses up to all of it over an opportunity to make us pay for their losses.
In my reply to Mr Katz, I referred to Wikipedia about the original intent of NAFTA and discovered that NAFTA was the brainchild of the Reagan administration. It’s a fascinating reminder that people could perhaps benefiting by reading.
From CoPilot: Yes, Ronald Reagan first proposed the idea of a North American free trade agreement during his 1980 presidential campaign1
. However, it was during the administration of George H. W. Bush that negotiations began, and the agreement was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 19931
. So, while Reagan planted the seed, it took a few administrations to bring NAFTA to life.
It's an interesting comment isn't it? Sprinkled with a little skewed history. Always as if the person woke up in 1990 and thought everything was brand new.
Candace, Mr. Katz propagates this MAGA assertion frequently (despite my belief he's not MAGA.)
I can only surmise that trompy's statement in 2015 after descending the escalator must have made a favorable impression on him, because that's what he often talks about.
This is an important reminder of where we got where we are, but you seem to have left out the role of Reagan, the supply-siders, and decades of Republican dominance. Why are they forgiven? Why does all the blame fall on Bill and Hillary in your telling?
The problem, to my mind, is always the desire for corporate power. And that lies in the apologies of economics, which isn't a science, as much as they try to make it one.
The laws are written around the rights of property owners, not stakeholders. Shareholders, not stakeholders. Shareholders have nothing in the game but money, and can fleewith it on any whim.
Stakeholders are the customers, employees, residents. Those who bought the products, supply the parts, live with the factory.
Shareholders should be the last in line, not the first.
Well I certainly disagree with this. Shareholders are the life blood of a capitalist economy I don't love it but it's true. Without their money the companies would cease to exist. I agree stakeholders are important too and have been ignored for too long but putting shareholders last would be tragic to the economy. Better would be to include both at the same level of importance. That would be a better capitalist solution, acknowledging the importance of stakeholders without relegating the people whose money makes it possible to last place. (And this from a communist like myself LOL).
Consider that the prolific Bill Katz seems to be a white man, so he prefers to focus on very recent U.S. history. He might benefit from going back to the time of the War Department memo, March 1945, and acknowledging that fascism's first cousin was already entrenched in the U.S. South under the name of Jim Crow, and its influence affected the national government and the country at large. It greatly influenced the New Deal before WW2 and the GI Bill after it.
exactly! IMO it started with the sham trickle-down economics theory from Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney. Prior to that we had vibrant cities, lots of union jobs, healthy middle class. But the oligarchs needed more money and then of course they then needed even more and along came NAFTA. Forty + years of a bs economic theory and the chickens have come home to roost. And the oligarchs keep gaslighting the public to believe it's the immigrants' fault ,those on welfare and maje you turn a blind eye to those who ate actually gouging us...corporations. The oligarchs are running the show in America and globally
You only mentioned the migration “crisis” because there is no real crisis. If there were, the bipartisan border bill would have been signed instead of squashed under trump’s demand because it was an issue he could run on. He inflates numbers and exaggerates small issues that could be dealt with under normal circumstances but because the House is tied into MAGA knots and the Senate pretty close to the same, very little can happen. Don’t even get me going on the Supreme Court; and I use the descriptor of “supreme” very loosely.
In a simplified fashion, I drew a line between the downside of NAFTA (American workers losing income) and her “deplorables.” We would have been better without them in my opinion, of course.
@ Bill Katz, in Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” speech, she didn’t call Trump supporters who were in despair because they had lost their good jobs “deplorables.” In fact, she said “those are people we have to understand and empathize with.” She specifically defined “the basket of deplorables” as half of Trump’s supporters who were “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_of_deplorables
But the "basket of deplorables" was such a wonderful gift/phrase for the Repubs! Three words out of an entire paragraph/statement! Just like the clips that faux and its "followers" pick up on today. I think that there should be better comebacks from the Dems. They do lack a bit of that kind of reaction.
Thanks Ellen for the link - HERE IS THE ACTUAL SPEECH!
At an LGBT campaign fundraising event in New York City on September 9, Clinton gave a speech and said the following:[11]
I know there are only 60 days left to make our case – and don't get complacent; don't see the latest outrageous, offensive, inappropriate comment and think, "Well, he's done this time". We are living in a volatile political environment.
You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. (Laughter/applause) Right? (Laughter/applause) They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America.
But the "other" basket – the other basket – and I know because I look at this crowd I see friends from all over America here: I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas and – as well as, you know, New York and California – but that "other" basket of people are people who feel the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures; and they're just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says, but – he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.
And just in case you might think I’m a troll Russian plant, I spent 3 struggling years writing about the evils of Donald Trump. My credentials are clean.
I agree, Bill. When I was working as a lobbyist in Michigan, I sat stunned as our Democratic governor Granholm announced in a meeting that our auto workers would be sent back to college to learn how to be computer technicians. With that, she denigrated a whole, hard working class of Michiganders. Over the next decade, Trump had ready recruits.
So what’s the problem with learning new information if that will enable a person to make a better living? Were such folks just being hard-headed or stupid? Many of us have done the very same things on our own. Good lord! What an ignorant excuse for being short-sighted or lazy.
You must then be trolling in support of the Navalnyites. Bravo ! We will win because we must. 1776 was a very tough year, too as were 1777, 78…. Until the Treaty of Paris. We must always boldly look at what we have wrought and be willing to say: “How little I truly know” and correct course with honesty and humility. We can all do this when we don’t care who is right. The who part doesn’t matter to me, does it matter to any of you? I don’t think it ever mattered to BEN franklin, either.
No person is perfect, no President is perfect. Some of Bill Clintons' presidential decisions were wrong. I have always believed that Hillary is the smarter half of that couple.
But, that aside, nothing Bill Clinton did was as harmful to our middle class as what Ronald Regan did during his presidency. You ever rant about that?
Bill...I would argue that Hillary Clinton's mistake was giving Donald and his team something to twist. Here is what she said, what she called out. I fully agreed with her and then some.
1) It was twisted into she is calling all of you (maga) deplorable and they believed it.
2) those who are deplorable didn't like being called out.
So anytime this came up in conversation I was having I would say #1? or #2?, which are you? I usually got blank stares.
Immigration...been a problem for a very long time. And it will get worse because the climate is a changing!
Although just the other day I talked with a coworker who is from Ecuador. She came here legally. Took her 5 years. She is not happy with people who enter and stay illegally. I get that, but she wasn't too sympathetic to those running for their lives. She told me that she was running for her life. Her father was a politician who was murdered. To her there is no excuse.
I agree 100% - very well said. Clinton’s NAFTA signing was the beginning of a whole-hearted embrace by the Democratic Party of a capitalist system that prioritizes wealth concentration by a few rather than the well-being of many - especially rural white communities. While I don’t think Trump’s policies will help them one bit (will in fact hurt them) he speaks in language that acknowledges the real economic struggle they feel.
Both parties (IMO) engage in a “don’t look up” strategy to prevent people from noticing that we live under an economic system that has created an unprecedented concentration of wealth at the top … a system of unregulated capitalism that leaves most of us now vulnerable to the impact of venture funds buying up our health care systems, our housing, food sources, vets, (the list goes on and on). Funds that are required to worship at the alter of fiduciary duty (financial return) rather than the well-being of us all. The fact that Kamala couldn’t answer Anderson Cooper’s question about how she was going to address the high price of milk (her answer talked about regulating price gauging during times of crisis - nothing about during regular times) is a perfect example of why this race is so close! It was such a prime opportunity for her to speak to these broader economic issues at play.
Kate, I suppose if I were running for President, I wouldn’t expound on why it’s not possible for me to succeed in solving that (or many other legitimate issues because….rich people, Capitalism, corruption amongst SCOTUS and GOP, etc. I would think, rightly, that voters wouldn’t want to hear about all the things I can’t do when my opponent says he can fix everything.
You’re right - it’s not an easy answer. But I think her ability to speak to people about this type of issue is critical to her succeeding - and she doesn’t seem to be able to do it (I’m not sure why - she could craft an answer that makes people feel “heard”). My guess is that guy asking the question about milk prices sat down unconvinced she would do anything about it. That makes it a lost opportunity.
And the 3 strikes your out program which incarcerated more African American males. And the “ending welfare as we have known it” program. Well that program wasn’t that ill conceived since it forced my lazy sister of social welfare and to go get a job.
"Refused to stem the tide" of immigrants. As someone who reads Heathers work, you cannot be so uninformed as to think this tide of immigrants is new. Or that we can interfere with their travel in other countries. Or that there isn't a good reason they are fleeing the fascism and economic destruction in their own countries.
Otherwise your comments re NADTA are well placed. I'd propose the idea that it was the turnover of our national interest to corporations to benefit their shareholders and CEOs, who pillage their companies with stock bonuses that were actually illegal until Reagan. Governing for the benefit of the wealthy has never turned out well. And here we are again.
It all comes down to money, and the greed of those who, like Musk and dumpty and all the rest, already have more than enough but hunger for yet more.
While he is not a troll, I think he sometimes writes to rile people up to get responses and gin up subscribers for his own substack. He certainly spends a LOT of time putting many, many comments on the forum. I often reply to folks on this forum, many who write their own substacks, and when I replied to him, I was surprised to get a message asking me to subscribe to his!
I skip past all of his diatribes now, in fact, the only reason I stopped her was as I scrolled I noticed your first sentence and went back to see who you were replying to.
Well I’m glad you didn’t sign up. How’s dat. Those of us who write, are always promoting themselves. Stop being silly. If your not a writer, you wouldn’t understand and I guess you’re not.
Y’all seem to have blanked out the time period 2021 through 2023. The nightly news broadcasts. The News Hour and so on and it’s as if this period where Biden was not interested satisfying the public’s need to see him act and y’all have the blinders on because think you are correct and everyone else is wrong. So if Trump wins, I welcome you to the New Snazzy Nazi States of America. Enjoy. If you link arms on the dance floor and in unison, kick you legs up as high as they will go, and do what you are told, you will be alright otherwise, you will be sent to detainment camps to be re-educated.
So, Bill, any President is able to make sweeping changes ALL BY HIMSELF?
Really? Going against the Repubs & sadly some of his own party and just DOING it.
There are many issues that I disagree with Biden on, some issues I disagreed with Obama on - but a president isnt KING! It requires cooperation from far too many different individuals and groups. You know this!
And, yeah - tffg will correct that if he gets in. And will "king" himself and his vp. Do we all have to march in locked step behind Biden or Harris? NOPE - but thats what the dumpster will demand.
So, you know what? Democrats need to stick together - somehow they always have factions that pull them apart - why is it that Repubs dont? We are seeing the locked steps in that party right now.
You do know that NAFTA was written and negotiated by GHW Bush, following an initiative by Ronald Reagan, right? Clinton brought it across the finish line…yet he is given full credit for its impact on America. And the other drivers of rust belt decline, including globalization, the buyout boom and financialization of deregulated capital markets, and the collapse of the union movement…all predated his signature on that line. The anecdote you tell draws wrong conclusions from the faulty recollection of history…the narrative that Republicans are the better stewards of America’s economic prosperity and that Democratic spending leads to a decline in “freedom” is one the GOP had used effectively since Reagan showed up.
Oh my God no. I understand and understood that Reagan was a complete disaster. I don’t have all the historic answers. I don’t come from academia. I’m not a historian nor social scientist. But I do try to think for myself outside the boundaries of partisanship. And I do adjust my beliefs when necessary. A side note, in 2015, Senator Sherrod Brown was showing signs of running for president. In my humble opinion he would have made a great president. And he would have won.
I couldn't agreed more with you regarding the devastating effects of Clinton's policies, but since in the democracy there's always room for correction and change of course as Biden- Harris had done to revert the situation you described. The only thing left is to apologize and push forward.
On “The Dragon’s Den” TV show investors consistently told inventors that they would support their manufactured product ideas only if they were made in China. Cheap labor meant high profit margins. “Dollar” stores sprung up everywhere. Happy days. Everyone likes a deal, me too, but we just can’t admit that we all sat back as the rugs under our feet were yanked away.
There's no argument that will ever convince the people who were harmed by NAFTA that they should support a Democrat, because Clinton was in office when it was signed? Do they know that the idea was largely Republican originated and supported by Reagan and Bush Sr,? Do they understand that if Republicans get their way, Unions will be eliminated, and labor protections and safety regulations will be a thing of the past? What do you think Democrats need to do to win them over, given that their major grievance against Democrats is a Republican policy?
Louise, if I could answer the questions you pose I think I would package them and sell them. As I’ve said before, people vote emotional they rarely vote using reason. They will vote themselves right into the hands of their executioners. This struggle on the right mostly, is only about money and power. Money through power. Nothing else is important. But it’s important for democrats to try and guess which programs should be pulled back because they don’t sell. For instance, Reparations will never sell. They are even losing support of Black men who woulda thought. We need to stop the foolishness of allowing bio men or trans women whatever, into girls showers. No nonono. Give them their own shower stall if needed but keep them out of the girls room. And don’t misunderstand maiming facor or rights for all but particularly women’s rights.
"In place of something which distinguishes itself from other things, imagine something which distinguishes itself-and yet, in distinguishing itself it does not distinguish itself from the others."
I would love to see this pamphlet reprinted and widely available. The polarization is palpable and likely to assume greater strength regardless of the election's victor.
I’m still on that wagon Ruth..still believing we can learn how to be happier with ‘enough’, we’ve certainly had enough of war, hatred, my way or the highway people.
You ask the Q, Steve, "How can so many well-educated people be so cruel and reckless . . . ?"
Answer: by the Powell memo plan issued August 23, 1971, and its phalange of far-right foundations such as The Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institute, ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council, and eventually many more, all filthy-rich-mega-funded, up to and including The Federalist Society.
Yeah, Phil, they’ve been working on this for a long long time. Still think Will Rogers had the right idea to give the money to poor because it will end up in the hands of the rich soon enough…..given to the rich, mostly they don’t share the wealth & no “trickle down” happens. Fascinating to study, but crap to actually live through. Sigh.
There are nations in which a few families are mega rich, while most live in squalor. Reagan's promised utopia (literally no-place) has never existed, and their was never a reasonable argument it ever would. Big Lies and Republican enabled plutocratic takeover of the "free press" have brought us to our current dilemma
As an example, it was the poverty in El Salvador, with 16 families owning most of the wealth, that caused the people to support revolution in the late 1970s. Reagan could not look beneath the Communist-Capitalist dichotomy to see what the root causes were. The late Jeane Kirkpatrick shamefully attacked the memories of the three sisters and one lay worker who were murdered by Salvadoran soldiers we ourselves had trained. St. Óscar Romero was murdered as he said Mass by Roberto D’Aubuisson for the “crime” of thinking the Salvadoran people deserved lives of dignity.
I would add Phil that Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a one page essay when imprisoned by the Nazis in 1943 that I did not mention called On Human Stupidity, which explains how intelligent people can believe the most foolish things. You should be able to find it online - it is worth a read.
The other concerning fears I have is for the elimination of basic public goods like the NEH, NEA, and NPR, not to mention the Department of Education and possibly EPA. The looming horror I didn't mention, beyond obvious nuclear destruction, is if Putin attacks Poland then Europe - particularly Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, will be in for a massive refugee crisis.
Any one or all of the things mentioned in my comment above, plus the ones here, would be catastrophic in and of itself.
thank you for sharing this! As a side note: in the city of Muenster, Germany there is a district where my aunt lived where there is Bonhoeffer Strasse and other streets named after those that tried to defend democracy during WWII.
Thx for referencing Dietrich Bonhoeffer-one of my personal heroes and a Lutheran saint of blessed memory. I’m an ELCA pastor-ordained almost 40 years ago. I’m proud of the statement our Conference of Bishops put out recently condemning the normalization of lies and disinformation. (I wish it had come out sooner, but grateful nonetheless). Silence is complicity-and democracy dies not only in darkness, but also in silence. Our task is to boldly speak out against the hatred that has become regularized and continue to pursue democracy, kindness, compassion, decency, and integrity that create a better community for all. Again, thanks, Steve. Bonhoeffer was and is a gift to the world. (And folks, the new movie is a bastardization of his legacy-his family has written a letter condemning it as a political tool for the extremist right.)
I wish the USCCB would condemn Trump. They try to paper over their internal differences, but the reality is that too many of them want us to vote to agree with a candidate over pelvic politics, and some have become Trump groupies. I can’t in good conscience ignore Trump’s general unsuitability to be president. He will end 235 years of Constitutional government, which admittedly wasn’t always present for marginalized people.
There is a street in Muenster Germany named Bonhoeffer Strasse, in a district with other streets names after resistors in WWII . A city my aunt lived and where I once worked
Definately elimination of the EPA as well. My dad, an environmental engineer for Dow Chemical, represented the Chemical Manufacturing Association when EPA was formed, and worked with Anne Gorsuch and Rita Lavelle to implement the Superfund law, a law which neither Anne or Rita supported.. He thought that little Neil was very nice, though.
I worry about that as well. Eric Metaxas is a Trump groupie and Christian Nationalist writer who published a very flawed and panned Bonhoeffer biography. I think he should read the essay and ponder it, but I doubt he will. Metaxas’s Bonhoeffer biography was panned by Bonhoeffer scholars because they understood that he hadn’t read a lot of Bonhoeffer’s work, and had not read it in detail. The book is rather less about the historical Bonhoeffer than it is about Metaxas’s views. He labors under the misconception the Democratic Party is totalitarian, when it’s his own Republican Party that has ceased to believe in government of, for and by the people. He and his buddy Sean Feucht get mad at the use of the term Christian Nationalism, but it accurately describes their views.
Phil, you did not mention the august institution that (literally) crowned all these efforts: the US Supreme Court, the guardian of the Constitution and the rule of law.
I was deeply shocked by my own assertion that the Justices' recent decision protecting the rights and privileges of the President by granting immunity for official acts in effect restated the central Nazi tenet, Führerprinzip, according to which the leader can do no wrong, being above the Law.
While one can see some counter-arguments, I'd feel safer if someone could persuade me conclusively that my statement is mistaken.
* * *
As for today's Letter from an American, how can it be distributed to all members of the armed forces? Perhaps via an official organ? In any case, readers should send it to all military personnel they know.
This letter does indeed merit a far broader circulation.
* * *
I am familiar with Pastor Bonhoeffer's essay which I read with great interest as I have long held my own views on the same subject.
I agree wholeheartedly with Sonia Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion in U.S. v. Trump. Any decision that places a president above the law is blatantly ignoring the Constitutional limits the founders intended for the presidency. They never intended for presidents to be above the law, but here we are. The names of the justices who supported this shameless power grab deserve to live in infamy.
Phil- Roberts has been on this executive power- theocratic side for decades. The only difference is that now he has a majority and no longer needs to be incremental about it. Read American Crusade by Seidel. It’s the Roberts Court unleashed.
Once again Peter I agree with you that this letter in particular needs to be spread deep and far especially to military personnel.
I still cannot believe the signs I see around here: Vets for T…..
I’ve been reading S Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here on kindle. I also have Bonhoeffer in my k library, which because of your post, I’ll return to and read on today.
You and others are educating me in the best and most profound way at this critical time. Thank you.
From the project2025[dot]org website: “Advisory Board - A broad coalition of over 100 conservative organizations has come together to form the project pillars.”
Actually, now over 110 groups with successful track records, including the ones you mentioned. The vast right-wing conspiracy isn’t hiding.
But for decades -- even as they hired 1,000s of lobbyists swamping Washington, D.C. -- no one knew how organized these post-Powell memo far-right foundations were.
Wendell Berry, Diane Ravitch, Kurt Andersen, and several others who wrote seminal books on the damages being done -- not any of them for a long, long time knew how these damages were all orchestrated by that Powell memo, how all those far-right foundations were all along working in concert.
I just completed a whirlwind "discussion" on CoPilot (Microsoft's AI) re the Powell Memo. The memo leads directly to Project 2025. Thanks for pointing to the memo.
These various funded institutions are not official government foundations, and all have come up with various ways to empower billionaires and corporations at the expense of everyone else.
Always, always these American privateers -- or, better, call them pirates -- playing the alternative government, answerable only to big money and often undermining, even sabotaging the work of the Federal Government...
Thank you for putting it so plainly. One more question. For those of us who have children and grandchildren - what do we tell them that we did to fight this nightmare existence?
Another department that Project 2025 will eliminate is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, known as NOAA - as in NOAA Weather! Yes - the agency that tracks hurricanes & tornadoes & sends out the weather bulletins to TV & radio stations. That department will be privatized!
My husband & I were sailors for well over 20 years. And before we ever left our house in Maine to drive down to our mooring in Southwest Harbor, we always listened to NOAA radio on our Weather One Radio, to hear the forecast of the winds, tides & other crucial information that NOAA provides to fishermen, lobstermen & pleasure- boaters like us that might literally save our lives.
Now some private company will monetize the weather report.
KMD, my Dad was a meteorologist; trained as a MetTech in WWII, he had a 30+ year career in the Weather Bureau, then NOAA. He was one of the first on the west coast trained in the use of Doppler radar for forecasting.
Its already happened. All of the alternate weather services are platformed off the original NOAA service. I think it was done thru questionable legal means and appropriations in court.
Ed Bernays, Walter Lippman fine-tuned the techniques of "persuasion", examined later by Ed Herman & Chomsky in "Manufacturing Consent" and "Necessary Illusions", broadcast on the Canadian CBC Massey Lecture series, 1988.
This is a powerful description of the many deleterious things that realistically might happen IF Trump/MAGA Republicans get into power after the November election. The first step of problem solving is to identify the problem. Then we figure out ways to solve it, or better yet, prevent it. Such is the task we’ve been facing for years now, and most urgently, have another 9 days ahead.
Even with the best outcome of Democrats in control of the Presidency and Congress, MAGA and their moneyed supporters will not disappear. We will need to fill in the cracks, bolster the norms routinely exploited by Trump and his minions. The longer term answer of mitigating this fascist movement is to educate the people—starting with children—about civics, history, responsibility, empathy, egalitarianism, and constructive life-affirming constructive problem solving. Education happens both in schools and in families’ homes.
With the worst outcome of MAGA control, we refresh our understanding of Timothy Snyder’s short book, On Tyranny, starting with “Do not obey in advance,” and do resistance, individually and organized. (Independent book sellers—no more Amazon.)
In any case, as Heather periodically says in her Facebook chats, we have the numbers and the power of the majority. MAGA and Trump are loud bullies who revel in attention and fear mongering. The Harris-Walz campaign has been terrific at calling them out, shrinking them. Our challenge is to continue to mobilize our numbers and build our strength. We have the momentum.
I hate to tell you his, Ellie, but Amazon is the only place that treats authors fairly. They always sell everything they buy, no returns (which are financed from the author's royalties), and they always pay the publisher on time - none of that gets done by the so-called independent bookstores, which are usually under-capitalized and many of them finance their purchases with "return credit." And they don't always pay on time. And their selection is hardly ever "everything." And "no more Amazon" won't hurt Amazon. But you'll get to feel righteous over having less. I wish I was wrong but I'm not.
Tom Part of me is revolted by Bezos and Amazon and the impact of local bookstores. I have fond memories of hours in Foyles in London and Kramer in D. C. Discovering Abe Books (now owned by Amazon) permitted me to obtain rare books in Australia and elsewhere.
The raw truth is that when I wish to buy a book (or search for a book), I go to Amazon. The book arrives within several days and, with Prime, I don’t pay shipping.
Also, though I do it less now than in past years, I have reviewed many dozens of books on Amazon.
My wife laments that she doesn’t buy books from a fine local bookstore. So do I. But the availability of so many books on Amazon, the reviews of these books, and swift delivery render me an Amazon devotee.
You've described it. If people want to hate a "piggy booksore" that really is piggy, hate Barnes & Noble, which does every one of the things I listed above - they over-order and then finance their new purchases with "return credit," they hardly ever pay on time. It wasn't Amazon that killed the good bookstores, it was B&N that bought out and killed Borders and Crown and all the others.
This is accurate. Having created a successful booksellers global market, aren’t Amazon trying to recalibrate their corporate e market model by opening local bricks and mortar bookshops ? I believe starting in Seattle.
TC, all of us who have to deal with publishers these days are stuck with Amazon, as is anyone who wants to see better television than the muck produced here in the USA, because services like BritBox and Acorn work with Amazon (which has long been an international company, so simply not using it here in the US does nothing). Indeed, I consider the publishers themselves to be the ones who are abusing authors, as in academic and academic-adjacent publishing we get a pittance in royalties on books that are priced at obscene levels no academic can actually afford--and libraries are no longer willing to pay. And why? Because those publishers find they can make a whole lot more money breaking books up and selling them chapter by chapter as e-book "packets" to readers and students. This is also why the market for not-quite-illegal online libraries (like Z-brary) exist. Moreover, unlike the Walton family and all those old brick and mortar mega bookstores like B&N, Amazon (which also owns Whole Foods) pays their employees very well and provides them with excellent benefits. Granted: this tactic is designed to discourage them from joining unions, but I have people in my life whose ability to survive is dependent on Amazon and so I keep on using them. When I was living in a very rural area and the nearest decent bookstore (a Borders) was 100 miles away, I, along with everyone else at the university where I was teaching, were utterly dependent on Amazon. So yes, it sucks that we have to deal with a hypocritical arse like Bezos, but he is getting the heat because he owns a newspaper. What about all the companies that are bending the knee to CFDT who are out of the spotlight but still essential to our survival?
My main point was, after sounding the alarm, take the next step of problem solving. “No more Amazon” is one idea among many, and all of these ideas are subject to ongoing adjustments according to what is and is not working.
Siva Vaidhyanathan (via Rebecca Skolnit via Robert Hubbell reader Kathleen Berry) pointed out that Bezos’s profits come from 7,500 government offices and agencies tied to Amazon Web Services—so that’s where we follow the money more effectively:
Knowing that you are a successful author, I appreciate your insights, and I believe you.
I am an unpublished writer. I have written three manuscripts since the start of COVID. One was professionally edited by an editor who was recommended to me by a midlist author of over 25 novels.(Another published author who I met and have exchanged emails offered an introduction to her editor as well.)
The editor gave me insightful criticisms, some flattering praise, and ultimately said he gages my work worthy of publishing, but I am stymied at the task of securing the absolutely required agent. I never knew HOW many genres of literature exists and how agents often represent only one type of work. (For example, just in "romance" there is "sweet" romance (Amish type, no sex) YA (which might have a bit of sex) LGBTQ+ (which has every subgenre that exists in that community) Regency romance (royalty) and interspecies (Twilight series). I'm sure you know this, Tom, I include that for any others who might read this comment.
I have toyed with going via Amazon--but everywhere I research, I hear the sad truth that the average self published author sells about 200 books. Depressing thought, when the editing cost me $6000 (I had come into a tiny bit of money to fund this, and truly, it was worth every penny). Also, to have a quality, custom designed cover--how many of us judge a book by it's cover?-- and wordsmithing for Amazon would cost another $5000. (Totally true of the two self published authors I know.) Maybe I will consider Amazon. Amazon is also daunting, but I respect your opinions. In the years I've been reading LFAA, your posts are occasionally salty, but IMHO are never wrong.
Actually, Amazon does that better than many but their booklist is so huge they can be hard to find--and they use the same systems as Google and FB when it comes to the logarithms for promoting books to readers. Independent bookstores are good for niche audiences: here in KC there are a number of them that sponsor author readings, focus on BIPOC authors, or LGBTQ+ authors. Supporting them by attending readings and purchasing from them is a good strategy, but in reality the authors don't make any more from books that are sold at full price than they do when Amazon (or B&N) sells at a discount. The retail price means nothing to authors. The publisher's price to bookstores is what counts for royalties. The one thing that does promote books and gets notice is advance pre-sales and pre-orders. And most independent bookstores don't engage in that kind of thing. If you order in advance from the publisher directly or through a vendor like Amazon or one of the independent booksellers that takes pre-orders you are genuinely supporting the authors. Really, the book industry on all levels is pretty much a boondoggle with authors as the victims. I should know: I have published a lot in academic presses that sell commercially and the system totally sucks, no matter the benevolence of a series editor or acquisitions editor.
I have Tim Snyder’s book, and must reread it. The owners of the LA Times and the Washington Post ignored Snyder’s first rule, do not consent in advance.
Good questions, all. Read Philip Roth's little gem, The Plot Against America, a novel that imagines Lindbergh beat Roosevelt in 1940 and made a deal with Hitler. It illustrates how we are one election away from fascism, which we are now. Even if Kamala Harris wins, she and her administration face a daunting task re-educating all of the far right's "patriots."
Trump followers have experienced democracy is not working for improving their lives, because of wealth inequality. Tax cut in the name of stimulating economy is the disguised beginning of the fascism in America. It began with the Reagan administration, I understand.
There is a long history of the work to kill the goose that insisted on laying golden eggs. It’s very clear now that the few big bois want all those eggs for themselves at the expense of the poor goose.
As I said, there are groups in the US who do not care about democracy at all. The Christian Nationalists are ruled by fascists so quite comfortable with fascism in their churches and their lives. They do not care about the Constitution, but the "word of God" as they understand it. In order to get to heaven they feel Trump will enforce the dictates they want to see in place which they believe will get the Lord to take them to heaven. See Andra Watkins,
Then there are the White Power Militias. They also don't care about democracy and want to replace our constitution with their own, after getting rid of non-White, non-Christian, and LGBTQ+ people from the US and then the planet. They want to have a global White Power Nation state that erases the rest of us from this earth. That includes women who are not subservient to them. They see Trump as their ticket to that goal. Hear what Prof. Kathleen Belew, expert on Modern White Power movements says about it in this Fresh Air Interview or read the transcript. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/605661710
Even better is reading her book, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Once you read it, you can see how what she is discussing of the newer plans of the movement is coming alive under Trump. That is the move to enter politics and take over the government from within, still intending to destroy the constitution, but to tone down their racist rhetoric to do so, and to decry immigrants instead of Blacks, and Brown skinned Americans, with the intention of getting rid of the latter but calling them immigrants because anyone who is not White is considered an illegal immigrant.
And, we have the super wealthy, who also don't care about the constitution and are fascists as long as they are the ones in power with their wealth. They see Trump as a means to paying little to no taxes on their accumulating wealth, and allowing their businesses to exploit the rest of us with no interference from the government. There is overlap between all of the groups, and SCOTUS has 6 justices who are members of the first group, and perhaps the last as well.
We have to believe that our country would not be as successful as it is, without there being more people who will support Democracy and Freedom. Fascism is not good for business, not good for economies, not good for creativity, not good for people. We have to believe that once having had a taste of Trump, more people will recognize that he will not be good for them. We have before in 2020. We can do it again.
As their religious leaders are interpreting it to them.
See this latest ProPublica article about Christian Nationalists. It discusses the evolution of CNs and the evolution of the New Apostolic Reformation, tying it into their support of Donald Trump as the leaders tell them to.
As one previously hypnotized by religious zealots, I know the process. Fortunately, it was not around every corner then. There were some sane options. Now, as you document, the organized “Elmer Gantry’s” are family and friends.
Lord, so am I. Cults are anything but fun. It is fear, wrapped in envy, wrapped in hate for anything “other.” Didn’t take me long to decide that anything other was better…
So what do we do? I got to hear Harris and Michelle Obama speak here in Michigan yesterday and a part of me wished to never have to leave the auditorium. How can so many be mislead by Trump and his minions? You outline so well everything I fear. I have volunteered and donated to the Harris campaign and am hoping and although I am not particularly religious, praying that Kamala is elected.
Well said. I'm concern we will never get our freedoms back. Unfortunately, as an old baby boomer, I feel like I'm talking to deaf and blind people. They say stupid things like he doesn't mean that. I'm frustrated that they ignore everything Trump, Vance, Musk are saying and doing. They just blindly follow.....right off a cliff. Will people ever trust each other enough to overthrow fascism? Cuba couldn't. God bless America.
Dear Steve: Unfortunately, although you write clearly and I do not enjoy correcting you on this, YOU HAVE SWALLOWED THE COOL-AID of the Oligarchs and the Autocracy. Yes, I read what you said, and I urge you not to give in to their manufactured and propagandized feeling and sense of INEVITABILITY. As many before Tim Snyder have said: In our existence, there is no such thing as inevitable as long as we each maintain our Autonomy and seek new ways to move through and forward. This is what we must all do together now, even if the worst happens on November 5th. This is not a one shot fight, and yes the election is of critical importance, and yes we may still be surprised by the US vote. This will be long term fight and we need to be prepared for it mentally.
For what it is worth I do not think this inevitable. I think it very possible, but not inevitable. I also hold out that we could be in for a pleasant surprise and Harris over-performs and wins substantially. The US will still be in for a rough time, because the GOP will not peacefully respect the results and again much of the country will still not see a Harris presidency as legitimate, no matter how many international observers attest that it is - as was the case for the last election.
But as for the long term, I for one am aware that we are possibly entrusting someone with the temperament and character of a Caligula with the nuclear codes. There may be no "long term". I can never forgive the American electorate for even flirting with this. And on that score, I am on the same page as any sentient, responsible parent on this planet.
Yes. Who knew that so many educated people would be without vision of what catastrophic actions can be expected from a mentally impaired cruel felon and his waiting in the wings VP? A horror show
Sadly, there are many Americans who think the Dems' accusation of fascism are exaggerated, just another partisan ploy. Oddly, one of the networks gave voice to a 40 something male who is voting for the first time, and it's for Trump. I also watched an NBC Charts episode last night where educated business types are voting Trump although they know his economy policies, namely cross the board tariffs and massive immigrant deportations, would be ruinous for the American economy, why it was ruminated, because they don't believe Trump would actually carry through. A LOT of Americans may think Washington is infected with "deep state" radical socialists as Trump rages on about, let alone the sheer to the roof invective he's hurtling at the "stolen election", by this date, quadrupling down on his Big Lie. And, face it, many Americans are indeed virtual Christian nationalists - "God and nation" esp white. And not just men.
Bonhoeffer was right, “under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or rather, they allow this to happen to them.” Propaganda works in the intellectually astute as well as the intellectually vapid. I feel a tinge of misogyny as well, in many who would be incensed at such a statement.
The power of your comment made me cry…literally cry. You have expressed all the fears I have been living with all these many months. I do not have faith in the common sense of the people to work for the common good of all people. When I look at all the younger people at the felon’s rallies who have fallen prey to his hateful rhetoric, I cry all over again. Hate is the legacy that the convicted felon leaves behind.
Thank you for your succinct summary of the core issues which must always be kept in mind as we walk through the next 2 weeks, 2 months, and decades hence. Here’s one grateful shoutout to the teachers who choose to light the way towards clarity in alarming times.
I just sent this to my nephew via his dad, my brother. My nephew has never served his country as his father and grandfather did. His life has been laid out for him with privilege at every turn. He proudly posts on Facebook his allegiance to Trump even as Trump’s closest appointees tell us what they know first-hand.
The freedoms and opportunities my nephew’s father and grandfather protected are still evolving within our democracy as that very democracy stands on the precipice.
Our country is not perfect. History has much to teach us as we continue to form that more perfect Union where we truly recognize our shared future with our brothers and sisters around the world.
Thank you and Heather and all the others here today for history’s clear warning faced by our GREAT USA in 2024. Let’s share this post far and wide!!
A good movie for your nephew to see is “Occupied City” by the director Steve McQueen or “Mississippi Burning” but it sounds like your nephew is locked in.
Some guys are more open to listening to a coach. Here is San Antonio Spurs Coach Greg Popovich on video and a sportswriter’s short article on what Coach Popovich observed about Trump:
Yes, just now reading Joy Reid’s Medgar and Merlie. I am 77 years old and I had no idea how bad it was in Mississippi; I mean I saw a lot of civil rights things in the news when I was in high school but still, the lived lives of Black people in the south… To live with so much fear and misery. It saddens me to my core. 🥲
Brilliant, riveting essay, Ma'am. President Harris will win by five to seven percentage points in the popular vote and earn well over three hundred votes in the Electoral College. Please help me, a contrite conservative, to vote President Harris into the White House and to vote candidate Trump into jail. Please join me in thanking President Biden and thanking G-D for President Biden.
Ned, drove my ballot down to the county elections office last week—BallotTrax has notified me it was received and counted (I’d signed up for it several elections ago) and the county will send me election outcomes as they are available and then a final, official, count result. Felt great to vote for Harris/Walz & my Dem down ballot House/Senate reps (of whom I heartily approve). I have a large sign I made for the 2020 election on 1/4” plywood, about 3’x4’ that says “Democracy or Autocracy Our Choice Vote”. This year I hacked a 2020 Biden/Harris sign (I had a separate Harris/Walz sign up) & cut off Harris’s name & used contact paper to write “Thank Y❤️U Prez” at the top of the Biden name on the sign—then wrapped it in clear packing tape to be water-resistant—and screwed it in at a jaunty angle on my big homemade sign. So far I have had several passersby thank me for acknowledging Biden…sure felt like the right thing to do, so I did!
WOW...I couldn't agree more with Stevens' analysis. Start counting votes with the Biden coalition in 2020. 81 million votes. Kamala has rightly and brilliantly held this coalition together. Just try to estimate how many votes she will add from young, first time voters, women and patriotic x-GOP voters. Aka, The Harris coalition. Then figure out how many voters Trump/Vance might pickup or lose. There aren't enough MAGA, zombie haters out there to defeat Harris/Walz. Not even close. Hilary won by 3 million votes, Biden by 7 million, Harris is likely to win by +10 million.
Sorry Ned, you need to put down the kool aid and start drinking clear water. If Harris wins the electoral college it will be by 2-10 votes at BEST. Any thing more than that will be a stunner. I am still predicting, based on the polls and other salient evidence that she will lose by 10-20 electoral votes. She will still get a majority of popular vote, but probably only 2-3% at best, slightly better than H Clinton, but much less than Biden. Misogyny coupled with racism is very likely to win the day at the finish line.
Big problem with the polls — the respondents are not representative of the demographics actually showing up to vote, and especially not at the voting center I work at in Texas, where they’re definitely not capturing the undeniably large youth vote and female vote.
“other salient evidence”?
Such as? The number of Democratic candidate yard signs / bumper stickers / T-shirts / caps / etc far outweigh those for Republican candidates. The number of people stopping me to tell me how they love my democratic candidate T-shirt, cap, car stickers grows exponentially as we get closer to Election Day. The credibility and volume of endorsements Harris has received compared to Trump plus the credibility and volume of criticism directed at Trump from to who know him best, speaks for itself.
In supposedly “deep red Texas” the support and enthusiasm for Kamala Harris and Colin Allred is palpable! No kool aid drinking here, just eyes wide open and l like what I’m seeing.
No, not drinking Kool Aid here. I am betting that M.A.G.A.s are over-represented in early voting, polls, and call-in shows that are non-partisan. They are more engaged and waging a defensively driven preemptive attack to create the impression of momentum. Of course, I may be way off; I often am. In any case, I remain optimistic because . . . I have to.
I predict we (Dems) will recapture the House by 4-5 seats a very thin margin again (which illustrates how closely divided this country is). I predict we will lose the Senate by 2 seats (52-48 GOP). And I believe the White House is a coin flip which slightly favors Trump. Sigh...
Already above my pay-grade on the White House. So, I am up-in-the-air on that one. My hope is that, if candidate Trump gets voted into jail, more reasonable -- perhaps courageous -- Republicans will come to the fore to start righting the heavily listing ship of state.
Put humanities back in school, at their center. Include essay writing to see, respect, and draw on others as individuals. And throw out the standardized testers.
Phil, J.L., and Barbara: agreed. By hard, I mean that it takes a lot of effort, like two generations *to right the constitutional culture listing under the weight of violence.
For me the "hard" part is dealing with the self-satisfied among our intellectuals. They've gone to school and learned never to use any humanities (abstractions, catch-words, slogans, cliché all easily substitute). But because they see movies, hear music, and read novels, they assume they are equipped -- they assume they can use, apply them. When in fact most never do. They let their humanities remain sequestered on, in their passive side. Most never even attempt to make connections via our humanities.
So they cannot even begin to imagine the massive damages done to schools where the ruling, abstracting categorical and linear logic of standardized testing totally crowds out, snuffs out, excludes the humane of possible humanities.
How do we begin with this much needed revolution in our education structures ? I so agree with your take on the dire social consequences of our present Gradgrind children’s bootcamps. We would need a new army of, presently seen as rogue, educators to create the new structures and teach the teachers. Perhaps you could help draw up a Grand Plan ? 🐈⬛
The U.S. has the Fulbright program, and the Peace Corps, Monnina.
Both could begin to train cadres of instructors to teach (at various levels) how to see "others" as individuals.
First in a local classroom, where all write intro essays, then discuss them, then re-write to acknowledge others in the room and good ideas and key, analogous experiences they have had.
Essays then go in exchange swap to neighboring group of same-level students (different nationality, different race, different religious sect). Everyone reads intro essays of the neighbors, and writes back celebrating how different individuals among them handles things.
Phil, while my sentiment aligns 111% with yours. I disagree on your contention about novels. I have found that most non-fiction conveys facts and data while good fiction often engenders wisdom within the reader. Of course, I missed your point: good fiction gets the suicide squeeze by the 'metrics mania' like other humanities.
Baron Montesquieu basically said that for democracies to avoid sliding into anarchy and then authoritarianism, the citizens must live and breathe the democratic spirit every day. That does NOT mean a republic of virtue -- hello, reign or terror like that of Pol Pot -- but a republic of everyday men and women seeking a common destiny and blundering along a wide path, forward and more or less together.
And very VERY difficult to achieve if the society is essentially split down the middle with both sides completely distrusting the other and no common ground for dialogue. Which is why I am so dejected that we are basically doomed. Even if Trump loses, we still face at least two years with a GOP led Senate (barring a highly unlikely change of course) and possibly 10 to 20 more years with a Supreme Court which will still have an agenda to help support Trump goals wherever possible.
Harris will have her work cut out for her and Walz will be of little help in that regard if the Senate is majority GOP. And by 2028 we very well may have a REAL revolt to an authoritarian GOP to throw Harris out.
And of course if Trump wins this election pray for the Flying Spaghetti Monster to save us. Because we obviously will have no way to save ourselves.
I hear you, Jon. I am older and physically fit. Live alone; never married. If there is to be fighting in the streets, I am ready. This summer I read a book written in 1964 and 1965 by Allen Drury -- or as my cousin said when plagued with 'Advise and Consent' for summer-bummer reading: Allen Dreary -- basically hypothesizing what a victory by Senator Goldwater would have looked like, at least in foreign policy.
The most valuable take-away for me from that hernial tome was the revelation that these chip-on-the-shoulder right-wingnuts have been around for a much longer time than I had realized. De-industrialization upped the game in the 1980s. Though flawed, crass, and boorish, candidate Trump is baptizing himself in that deep ground-water of rancour coming to the surface.
I read the entire Advise and consent series when I was in my 20s (back in the 70s).. What fascinated me was watching how Drury went from a slightly left of center Democratic supporter in the original book to an almost reactionary right winger ala Trump by the time he wrote Capable of Honor and the two final books (Come Nineveh Come Tyre and Promise of Joy).
He was very affected by the rise of power of the Soviet Union and deeply disliked and mistrusted communism. That can be seen if you read the entire Ad/Con series which is a total of six books as well as his later related books like Anna Hastings.
As a young and fanciful communist myself it was difficult to understand why he made the progression from ALMOST being a leftist to being almost pro Joe McCarthy. I am still not sure I totally understand it and if course he is gone now. But that series of books is definitely insightful into how people in the 50s/60s/early 70s were thinking then. A great series for any person who is seriously interested in the political evolution of the United States.
The sad part is that some people, like the Trump supporter who thought we needed dictatorship simply want to be relieved of the burden of thinking and to have someone else make decisions on their behalf. They have only themselves to blame when the inevitable disaster hits.
That comes from a high level of suffering across the Midwest, South, and plains states where many people likely feel they have been left behind and ignored. That is the danger of candidate Trump for me: he preaches a politics of vengeance . . . but, ¿against whom? We are seeing scape-goating in a real way in real time.
You're exactly right. That's been my biggest lesson of all through all of this Trump madness. Democracies must be protected and cherished...By everyone.
All of which begs the question what do we do if that fails us? When half the people in the country no longer even care enough to act sensibly? What then? Civil War? That worked (sort of) when the weaponry at the disposal of the people were almost the same as what was at the disposal of the armed forces. That of course is no longer true.
Secession? Highly unlikely. We have historical precedent that secession should never be permitted.
I apologize for making this so down spirited but I believe we are only a week or so away from having to actually start really looking at these issues and figuring out what to do.
Jon — someone has to say it. I keep thinking about how the Right has been organizing and working toward this moment for decades, while the Left has cherry-picked issues to be upset about and focus on. Will the results of this election finally help us get off our duffs and organize?
The big risk is "too little too late". I seriously fear that Trump will be successful in his authoritarian takeover and it may be generations before the "ship of state" can be unsunk.
Good luck with that. Nothing at all suggests this is true other than being a "true believer". I sure hope you are right but I am pretty sure you are wrong.
But if half plus one of the people want a radically different country, then what? Government by the people so requires the people and I believe we are going to face some bitter truths the day after election day.
This is so appropriate, Dear Professor. Somewhere I might stil have a copy of that War Department pamphlet. From many decades ago.
If any of you have not read Robert Reich's post of Oct. 25 in the afernoon about meeting Henry Wallace as a child, I will paste en excerpt he included from the Aug. 9, 1944 New York times written by Wallace:
"A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions, or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.…
The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.…
It has been claimed at times that our modern age of technology facilitates dictatorship. What we must understand is that the industries, processes, and inventions created by modern science can be used either to subjugate or liberate. The choice is up to us.…
The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. They use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism.… They claim to be superpatriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interests.…
Still another danger is represented by those who, paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion.…
Monopolists who fear competition and who distrust democracy because it stands for equal opportunity would like to secure their position against small and energetic enterprise. In an effort to eliminate the possibility of any rival growing up, some monopolists would sacrifice democracy itself….
Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection."
There were those who saw things clearly back then. The progressives of us spent too many years basking in the laurels of our victories of the 60s and early70s, while RUST NEVER SLEEPS, if you know what I mean. Time to commit to keeping our machine cleaned and well lubed.
I have some interesting ones due to my parents having kept such things (and having lived to 98 and a currently alive 100), but not this one. I do have a lovely 1938 War Production Board "Books are weapons in the war of ideas" one. The collection is pretty random!
Thanks, missed that one. Ride My Llama has got to be a good one. I love llamas. I’d like to spit on some critters too. They know how to express displeasure…
This series of pamphlets was written by my father. I haven’t looked at them in a long time. Thank you so much. He would be rolling in his grave to see what is happening now.
Wow, what a fortuitous connection. I’m sure Heather would appreciate hearing this, but she won’t find your comment here. You could email her, DM her on Facebook, or maybe message her on X Twitter.
I'm just dropping here that your copy is worth more than might first suggest. The link in the notes up above goes to the Internet Archive site, and is functional...today. But the Archive has been hacked and recently was offline for awhile, and could be again. So physical copies are increasingly critical records.
For those who have not gone to the Archive site, it allows for download of a pdf version so you can have a digital copy on your computer to read offline.
Note: I have no association with the Archive except I send them a few dollars to support their work when I can.
And calling him an ordinary little man was a sin that could not be tolerated (from LFAA 10-21-24). Calling chump a clown is something he will not forget.
Could not be more appropriate , we have two choices in the next ten days. This should be read and pronounced on all multi media until voting day. Thank you Heather
And shared by us widely. This information on the fascism our fathers, uncles, and grandfathers fought against is what softens the persuadable Independents and reasonable Republicans.
My father,(sadly now deceased) like so many others, fought in France and Germany in WWII. Often wakened by nightmares of what he experienced, he spoke little of what he saw. What he did discuss with all of us was THIS…exactly what Heather shared tonight. The dangers of fascism. He knew this awareness was important for his children. Many spirited political conversations were held around our dining room table, especially when extended family came to visit.
I miss his insight and wish he was here today to tell us all the truth of what he and his band of brothers fought against.
It harkens a movie from the 1940s, The Best Years of our Lives. The scene in the diner when a flag-pin-wearing man questions the brave WWII veterans about their sacrifices (was it worth it?). A fight ensues, with the veteran pulling the flag pin off of the lapel of the fascist-loving creep.
This is sad because it is NOT the media that has led us here. It is the people on the right who don't mind giving up on democracy coupled with the people on the left (us) who wore blinders and refused to look dispassionately at where we were heading and demand that our leaders do what was needed to avoid it early enough to make a difference. We can all applaud for Harris but I do not believe it was the BEST option we might have had if Biden hadn't been so fool hardy and appropriately stepped aside a year ago. That is of course water under the bridge but it doesn't change the reality.
Joe Scarborough frequently.entertained Trump for hours in 2015 on the phone. JOE even said "golly, there's something about him that reminds me of Jack Kennedy."
So, the.media gave.birth to this beast, and nurtured it like a little baby. So, you're wrong.
No you're wrong. Trump was famous long before Joe Scarborough even knew who he was. And even before The Apprentice. But none of that is the point. The media isn't "in charge". The media reflects what the people want and seek. If you haven't learned that then you are as ignorant as the masses. It is the people who get what they want and deserve.
“I know you are and but what am I.” to quote Pee-Wee Herman. These debates are pointless anyway, it’s over-and-done. For the record, though, the fact that Trump was “famous, long-before” was my point. Celebrity-addicted culture got what “they deserve.”
Trouble is, I don't believe many Americans care about fascist leaders like Trump and his GOP cronies. They will willingly vote for a leader who would take away our democracy as he pretends to defend it against the "enemy within." They willingly embrace all his lies about our terrible economy, evil immigrants, and "taking our country back" I believe Trump will lose this election. but that won't change the fact that three are a lot of ignorant, stupid people in this country who don't give a damn about protecting our country from would-be tyrants like Trump. I hope they will lose badly this time.
Having talked to many friends and family who side with the MAGA crowd, I believe it comes down to that age-old conundrum: security or freedom.
There is enough fear in this country to capitalize off of; if you exploit the underlying fears of a population through disinformation, misinformation, propaganda, etc. then of course they will pick security over freedom, which they have been lead to believe is "under attack". They will even be willing to COMPROMISE their current freedom in order to protect a "larger" or "more important" freedom.
As the Jedi say, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the Dark Side.
We are fighting fear - this fear is misplaced, undoubtedly, but it has also gone unaddressed long enough that it has festered and become anger, fermented into hate. And now we have to convince people who did not even KNOW they were afraid that they are compromising freedom and democracy for a false security.
After speaking with all my MAGA family and friends, all I can really say is that many of them would really benefit from some rigorous therapy. There's a lot of repressed emotion, trauma, and abuse that many of them of offloading without knowing it.
I demur, TJB, when you say "this fear . . . has also gone unaddressed long enough . . .."
Not quite. I can list for you a whole raft of novels, films, memoirs, and songs which very aptly addressed the fear residing in tens of millions of our working-class neighbors who got their jobs offshored, and who never understood what hit them.
These fears of theirs by very, very fine artists were very, very well addressed.
Greater problem, TJB, has been how the Powell memo far-right foundations -- before they did the decades'-long offshoring -- first killed humanities in schools. So Americans were learning never to see, never to imagine seeing, the great resources that were in fact there.
And with standardized testing having taken over, the conceits of abstracting all life (by categories, by the units and chronologies of linear logic) hammered final nails in the humanities coffin, the humane possibilities in us we lost.
As you say, an illusion of security. An illusion of innate supremacy. In actuality security and real freedom are inseparable. By solidarity and an empowering, lawful society we maximize freedom for a society, for real freedom is not uncountable predation, but universal rights, which means rights that must not be violated by others. freedom is both freedom to and freedom from, AKA security borne of solidarity and just rule of law. The "Four Freedoms" among others. The right to walk down the street and be relatively confident of making it home in safety.
" — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men (sic), deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,"
Interesting. Deploying your analysis of what a free lawful society entails any form of fascism could equally be called a Mobster’s Charter. Social justice being seen to be done from the highest to the lowest, the performance of the right rule of law in our daily lives, is the living foundation stone of democracy.
Organized crime is organized to intimidate and, of course to live like kings on the backs of others. I displays all the earmarks of a despotic government except for possessing "official" powers; and those it manipulates by bending the law and those who craft and enforce it. It is a parasite that feeds on government incompetence and corruptibility, a power, if not THE power behind the throne, reminiscent of our US oligarchy. Trump was reportedly cozy with organized crime from early on https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910/
It seems to me that power over people can be roughly divided into love, decency and persuasion, as well as money, status and violence. The latter is not always evil, money is a medium of exchange, official status in the form of entrusted responsibilities is necessary, and I think (as a last resort) even measured violence is is a fit response to a clear and present attack; but in a corrupted society the last three become extreme, interchangeable and hostile to our "better angels". Human on human predation is our constant and most devastating, even species-wide existential enemy.
Agreed. Marcel Mauss’ The Gift (on the social good of material exchange) and some work the name of which I have forgotten on Love and Law in the Middle Ages, wherein love was deemed the most important moral truth informing social justice, were important in forming my present views.
Our technological cleverness keeps exceeding our wisdom, and is itself a threat. We a running out of time to understand our own very complicated individual and social human nature. We animals are the only sentient beings in the universe, so far as we know, and owing to the speed-limit of light, may ever encounter. Our lives and logical/sensual awareness is a gift beyond measure, yet we still allow our primitive ego's to royally frick it up. Honesty about ourselves, and to ourselves, might still save us, while lies and delusion are killers.
Thousands of years ago a marker was installed at the Temple at Delphi:
Inscribed on a column in the pronaos (forecourt) of the temple were an enigmatic
TJB, you write what I see in my MAGAt cohort of retired cop friends. They are absolutely convinced that Christianity is under attack and is being shunted aside for “inclusion”. They think marriage is “under attack because gay people can marry. They believe that Mexican immigrants are stealing jobs from “honest white people.” They are convinced that transgender people are ruining children. They are fearful and angry; a bad combination.
The appalling statements by Stephen Miller, Steven Cheung,, Karoline Leavitt and the rest of the campaign toadies are horrifying & full of hate. They are truly frightening.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson. It occurs to me that Trump and his MAGA Republicans have ticked every box. They have passed the Fascist exam. My question is, WHO ARE WE? Collectively, we are creating the future to come for all those we love, who will exist after us. We are truly on the edge here, truth or lies, liberty and justice for all or corruption, peaceful coexistence or violence, civility and respect or mockery and hatred, accepted caste system and social hierarchy based on ethnicity and wealth or level field of opportunities based on skill and work ethic. Patriotism has become a word twisted into a tool that any speaker can use for intended purpose. Personally, I more often find it repugnant as used by the elected Republicans actively or passively moving us from democracy into fascism because their ideas on governance have proven unhelpful and therefore unpopular with the American people overall. In a fascist system they won’t need approval of citizen voters. They will only need to be obedient to succeed personally. So, all these words to say….this is not a normal election in which policies that will most benefit the country are on the debate table. We know who Donald Trump is. We know what the once respectable, responsible Republican Party has become as MAGA extremist have prevailed and truth speakers have been expelled. We are clear and concerned about what the Republican Party represents currently. They are liars, cowards, not protective of the American people and our children. This is the moment we show one another ‘who we are’. Are we decent? Are we honest? Are we good people? Do we believe in science, in those speaking to us from certified expertise or does any old con artist with an axe to grind have just as much influence? The world is watching. History is holding its breath, historians waiting to write the truth or lies that will be told to coming generations. WHO ARE WE? I suppose the results of this election will answer.
Thank you for this slice of history. I’m seeing in my mind’s eye a picture of a man who hugs the flag while, according to the man closest to him in the White House, is a fascist and the most flawed person that he’s ever met.
It was happening here before December 7, 1941. The brains of humans are susceptible to this trap based on millions of years of evolution. Only since 1776 did we become so self aware to think it can be overcome.
I am profoundly appreciative of your work Professor Richardson – thank you.
It’s all coming into view this week isn’t it – the fascist playbook? Polls so close that no matter whether Harris wins by a small or large margin the GOP will cry foul ; local election boards that are corrupted ; a whole range of legal teams the GOP has lined up to challenge the election’s legality ; a stacked Supreme Court ; threats of violence against election officials ; the odious Elon Musk putting his thumb heavily on the scale ; the collusion with Putin and the compromising of our national security as Trump and Musk connive with a murderous dictator ; the desire of that same dictator for revenge, which is nothing less than the destruction of the US.
What will the US do without access to health care for women ? What will it do once the Right imposes its perverse view of history and education on our schools and universities, when the Florida model of repression goes national ? What will families do with no social security ? What misery will be visited on them when tarifs cause untold stress on already tight household budgets ? What environmental damage will come from a know-nothing attitude towards climate change, and the gutting if not outright elimination of NOAA and the early warning system for hurricanes ?
What will happen if they succeed in building their camps, and deport millions ? How will they try to hide the likely humanitarian catastrophe that will ensue ? What will happen to basic rights when police departments are further militarized and given a green light to arbitrarily treat citizens as they please ? What will happen as a lawless president pardons January 6th rioters ? Will he also pardon militia members who intimidate or even shoot peaceful protesters ? How long will people endure armed repression coupled with economic misery, before they themselves organize against it ?
What will the economy look like as the US exits NATO and leaves Europe to Putin ? What will happen to the US as the EU, an entity that helps sustain a robust US economy, is plunged into war as Putin gobbles up the Ukraine, the Baltics, and makes a play for Poland ? What will the nuclear powers of France and Britain do as remaining fellow NATO members are invaded ?
But the most important questions I have are more philosophical and humanistic : How can so many well-educated people be so cruel and reckless as to entrust these monsters – a Trump, a Musk, and at this late date, a Putin – with their futures ? How can the historic memory of Boomers be so short and insouciant as to forget the lessons of the 1930s and 1940s ? How can people be filled with such blind hate that they will die on the hill of a Trump, rather than on the hill that will expand rights, economic opportunity, and keep the planet livable ?
If you think this is hyperventilating, that is merely because I have taught about this sort of thing my entire life. Authoritarians will lie about everything – their racism, their sexism are based on lies, their patriotism and their piety utterly false. But the cruelty they tell you they intend to inflict ? That is almost always the only truth they tell.
Steve, you stated the case for voting for democracy very well. Even if democracy wins this election, the autocrats will still be there. We can only hope that after democracy wins, enough people will understand how important democracy is. Hatred will always be around but we must learn how to make people understand differences.
I found a website for [ H. RES. 1386 ] that puts our name on a petition to Mike Johnson to stand against the dangerous agenda regarding the policies of Project 2025.
I forgot about H.RES.1386 from some August notes within an older Jessica's CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER Substack - and I put my name on the petition - if you want, here's the link:
https://www.mikejohnson2025.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Here is where I vetted H.RES.1386:
Congress.gov
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-resolution/1386/text
Johnson is a fascist. Fascists don’t give a damn about petitions nor any other form of advice from the people about what’s best for the country. The only hope is to outvote them, make it stick, make laws that curtail their operations (especially voter suppression and violations of civil rights), and vigorously enforce those laws. We can remove these fascists from power, but it will take a lot of persistent effort for a long time.
Johnson isn't a mere fascist, he's a Christofascist. I won't add my name to any petition for two reasons:
- It's a waste of time. Members of Congress only listen to their constituents and even then not always. It was beyond disheartening to see 85 boxes of petitions addressed to Speaker Paul Ryan with hundreds of thousands of signatures be rejected by his office; imagine the effort, the paper, the shipping costs to get those petitions to DC only to have them summarily dismissed.
- If Trump is elected and Project 2025 is implemented, I don't want to give them a reason to send me to the hooscow. Yes, that's extreme but we can't fool ourselves into believing that all will be normal, that maximum caution isn't required.
Christofascist, very apt phrase to describe Johnson, and hardly just him. Extremist Evangelicals are the driving centre of those praying endlessly for the Lord to end "secular tyranny", agents of Satan, in the USA. They have been dreaming of this for years now. The downfall of RvW has simply spurred them on, and an appetite for more to come is much of their minds.
I am a Catholic Christian, and don’t find anything remotely Christian about them. They simply want to misuse Jesus’s name as an excuse for a power grab.
Yes, and he smirks all the time. He was just here in Oregon to campaign for the local R in House District 5 who has an excellent opponent. Then he went across the Columbia to fundraise and campaign for angry Joe Kent, who is fascist to the core, and trying to unseat the incumbent D female who is an auto mechanic and hardly far left.
This is long. It is the editorial in today's edition of the Orland Sentinel. Christofascism is alive, well and flourishing in America.
ORLANDO SENTINEL EDITORIAL
How would Jesus vote?
Today, the weight of the pending election is on the minds of many across Central Florida— including those who are sitting in church pews or temples, listening to faith leaders exhorting them (subtly or not so much) to cast their ballots one way or another.
In a perfect — or even functional — society, that sermonizing would prompt an examination of how candidates’ conduct and viewpoints align with the core tenets of each voter’s faith. But for a growing number of Americans, this guidance will offer comfort and support that it’s OK to vote for people whose morals might appear questionable to the unenlightened. That it’s a bad idea to question leaders who exploit their voter-given power to marginalize and scapegoat groups of people as general threats to their own existence, and to paint those who disagree as villainous liars.
That it’s acceptable to ignore some of the great principles espoused by the world’s religious traditions: To comfort the afflicted, to welcome the stranger, to seek justice, to revere the truth. This is Christian nationalism at work — in Florida, and across the nation. And there is very little that is Christlike about it. Rather, this is the cancer our forefathers sought to prevent when they created the fundamental firewalls between government and religion — the walls that many of today’s leaders are seeking to tear down.
Know them by their works
Not many politicians openly proclaim themselves to be Christian nationalists, but they aren’t hard to spot. Gov. Ron DeSantis is a prime example. He often explains his actions (particularly those that misappropriate funding, incorporate dishonesty or gather power to himself that outstrips the boundaries of his role) by lashing out at some group that has “forced” him into extraordinary action. Consider his recent veto of the state’s entire cultural arts 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 1/5 grant program — a move that saved taxpayers a relatively paltry $32 million, but one that has devastated community arts programs including small theaters, visual-arts spaces and music programs. These programs brought joy to many and did no harm; some of them will not survive the loss of funding they depended on.
Magnifying his cruelty, DeSantis and like-minded people have repeatedly lied about asylum seekers, branding them as “illegals” who want to sell fentanyl to high-schoolers, rape housewives and steal jobs from deserving Americans. The only presidential debate this year featured the same callous dishonesty, when former president Donald Trump slandered Haitian immigrants as pet abducting dog-eaters. The president and his debate-prep team almost certainly knew they were repeating social-media rumors that had already been proven false. In each of these cases, what side do you think Jesus would have taken? Or Solomon, Mohammed, Buddha? If you need a reference, check out Leviticus 19:34: The alien who resides with you shall be to you as the citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God.
The truly sad thing is that, even as we write this, we can think of so many other examples where DeSantis, Trump or legislative candidates demonized vulnerable people, usually as a distraction to draw voters’ attention away from their own failures to fix property insurance, repair crumbling infrastructure and help Florida’s increasingly desperate working class. Here’s just one more: The infamous 2023 hearing of the state House Education Committee, where Rep. Webster Barnaby, R-Deltona, listened to transgender adults and youth plead for protection against invasion into their intimate lives, then responded: “The Lord rebuke you, Satan, and all of your demons and all of 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 2/5 your imps will come and parade before us. That’s right — I called you demons and imps.”
Barnaby is on the ballot Nov. 5, facing Rosemarie Latham, a nurse-practitioner who wants to expand health care to low-income workers. May his cruel pride go before a fall. Praying to false gods In a recent edition of the NPR talk show 1A, a panel of experts explored the psychology of Christian nationalism and why so many Americans are seduced into believing that these actions are godly, or even acceptable in a polite society — and how they can revere a creature like Trump, the serial adulterer with a miles-long record of cheating his business partners, exploiting public resources and spewing lies about political rivals.
And that was before he became president. Since then, fact-checking organizations have documented thousands of outright lies — while Trump cozied up to some of the world’s cruelest and most oppressive regimes and stood by while a mob broke into the U.S. Capitol in pursuit of his attempt to steal the 2020 election. None of it seems to matter to the subset of voters who see Trump as their golden idol — capable of no wrong. Others vote for him because they don’t care about the lies, and believe he’ll be better for their bottom line. Even rational Republicans, who are repulsed by his arrogance and greed, fear to speak up against him. How can this be? As described by the panelists, it’s definitely not by accident. In fact, the current Christian nationalist movement appears to be the end game of a “deeply networked organizational infrastructure” that’s been working for years to dismantle critical checks and balances — including the much vaunted separation of church and state, but also reaching to mechanisms intended to keep power distributed and thus, resistant to abuse.
In Florida, DeSantis has emasculated the state Legislature and systematically undermined the independence of the court system. Not to sound too conspiratorial, but it’s all part of the plan. Powerful, ultra-conservative ministers are definitely playing their role, lacing their sermons with partisan themes and using political stunts as fundraising props. Groups like the pro-book-banning Moms for Liberty clutch cloaks of virtue while they work to destabilize Americans’ perception of what is true and acceptable in society. A close look at the books they’ve targeted include many that had no whiff of sexual or sinful content. Instead, these stories worked to build empathy and understanding of people who were from other cultures, or related the historic struggle for human equality and dignity. 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 3/5 Removing those books, and rejecting other efforts to foster empathy, makes it easier to vilify groups of people who have few defenses. They are the perfect targets — and having enemies is essential in the Christian Nationalist playbook. “One aspect of movement that’s become much more salient in the last decade or so is the idea of spiritual warfare. This idea that God and Satan are really active and directly involved in American political campaigns, and God has chosen to anoint one candidate.
So within this mindset, it’s important to understand they see Trump not so much as a politician. They don’t look at his personal history, but they see him as an anointed one sent from on high,” Katherine Stewart, who recently wrote a book about the movement, told 1A. To question Trump is to question God. That’s the message. It’s so wrong, but so powerful. What voice will you follow? So how do Christians and other people who are sincere in the core tenets of their faith fight back against this co-opting of religion? Many local churches are already doing this work. There are pastors in this community who speak compellingly of Christ’s imperatives toward kindness, respect and humility. Their congregations work to lift up marginalized people, heal the sick, care for those in need. They pray for justice, and for truth. They should do more, remembering that Jesus himself was not content just to preach and hope. He was a fiery voice challenging the power structure — a dangerous voice, in the end, but one that has echoed through millennia.
We’ll close with something the Rev. Jim Wallis, director of the Center on Faith and Justice at Georgetown University, who has been rebuking the ultraconservative high-jacking of faith for decades: “Jesus said, you’ll know the truth, and the truth will make you free. Now as I dig into that text in times like this, it tells me that the opposite of truth isn’t just lies, it’s captivity. It’s captivity. And a whole lot of people have become captive to these lies.” As they consider their choices in this election, we urge readers of faith to look past the political alliances that have been forged between the powerful elite of this nation and the Philistines who offer to cloak greed and division in Godly vestments. Look to the core works of your faith: The Torah. The Koran. The Bible. And pray. This nation has never needed it more. 10/27/24, 1:01 PM Orlando Sentinel https://digitaledition.orlandosentinel.com/html5/desktop/production/default.aspx?pubid=7f2e94da-42a6-42b3-91be-f4782530a2d0&edid=1046e43e-d6… 4/5
They tend to listen even more to the lobbyists who give them checks, thanks to Citizens United.
Citizens United will go down in history as this century's Dred Scott.
Years ago, someone in an online discussion group used the term, "christofascist." I was impressed by how perfectly it described members of my family and people I grew up with, so I began using it from then on.
Unlike mainline Protestantism, which focuses on loving God and neighbor, Evangelicalism is animated by fear. Evangelicals awaken every morning, overcome with a thousand different fears: fear of Satan, fear of committing a sin, fear of an angry God, fear of being condemned to hell, fear of criticism by fellow believers, fear of people who do not believe as they do, worship as they do, love as they do and live as they do. In humans, uncontrolled fear is transformed into hate. This makes evangelicals the ideal targets for fascism.
The smarter fascists who direct Trump have used him to attract and dominate evangelicals, bringing them to heel in service to the fascist drive for power and control.
Evangelicals, fearing secularism, eschew public education. Thus, they are unable to think critically, or sort fact from fiction. In fact, they have abetted the campaign to discredit and defund public education in favor of "Christian" and charter schools.
Sinclair Lewis did NOT write "When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross." But whoever first wrote this aphorism was right.
No, he didn't, but he wrote plenty of things that suggest he would have been OK with it. For instance, from IT CAN'T HAPPEN HERE (which I want to reread, but not till after the election): "But he saw too that in America the struggle was befogged by the fact that the worst fascists were they who disowned the word ‘fascism’ and preached enslavement to capitalism under the style of constitutional and traditional Native American liberty."
Yeah! You're right. Glad it's happening in your country, not mine! But at least you're prepared to be the canary in the coal-mine for the rest of the English-speaking world. And Rupert; he's now your problem.
If, heaven forbid, Trump gets back in and they don’t come after me, I’ll be embarrassed and angry.
I am still upset I was not on Nixon's list. Hum...same party but on steroids.
Johnson is also a hypocrite hiding his lust for power and control behind his "religious righteousness," MisTBlu. Let's just hope there are enough women who don't want anyone to boss us around to get rid of these theocratic punks.
ChristoFascist! Handmaids, whose male preachers are screeching about abortion. Fear, hate, the other…and at the core is sexism and hate for women! This has been the core power struggle for a long time! Well before Rome…and their weird version of Jesus, who was clearly married with children..
I completely agree. I stopped adding my name to any political request or poll. Those that do are putting a bullseye on themselves. Win, lose or draw this election is a losing proposition for all involved.
No. That's what "they" want--to make you afraid to stand up for what you believe. There are things to fear that are worse than death.
Agreed, MisTBlu. Just use your name to VOTE BLUE.
So, you put yourself on record as a coward, than?
I prefer to control where and how my personally identifiable information is used. At my age and in my circumstances it's the prudent thing to do.
Wow! I knew that Trump and his cronies-in-crime were up to no good, but as I was reading Heather's letter today, it became crystal clear. Everything she quoted went right to the cold heart of Donald Trump.
Two statements stood out to me as describ8ng MAGA. Women are only useful for "children, kitchen, and the church." MAGA's sentiments exactly.
The bull's eye truth of Trump's whole movement is this quote- "Getting men to hate rather than to think."
Pam, I opened the US Army link Heather provided, and this part jumped out at me when reading page 1: "They make their own rules and change them when they choose. If you don't like it, it's "T.S." ".
I think it's pretty easy to deduce what "T.S." stands for! 😁
Yes. Trump Stinks.☺️
… imagine this individual as POTUS: JD “keep em barefoot and pregnant” Vance!?!?!
If trump becomes president, every day that passes, Vance will be a day closer to be president himself due death or greater incapacitated of the former....
Please read today's Jennifer Rubin's opinion piece about Vance. https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/10/28/trump-vance-election/?fbclid=IwY2xjawGMp49leHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHR-JU8SqXve5dEiB_OYf6P-_wIRSLgFYG20DdXThTtFmmoiEk-LibYMlKw_aem_8Rg42i9XDsdbgsKTsZyhbQ
Yes, Pam, that stood out to me as well. I think, hope, as a nation, we are past this thinking and rhetoric. Most of us anyway.
I appreciate you not using the word "fascist" even though clearly this is a part of that definition. I tire of our use of this word (frequently) as it mirrors the simplistic and degrading tone of DT and I hope we are better than that. Still I realize we must give voice to the truth. Truth to power.
He's even more dangerous than a fascist, he's a religious zealot. And a misogynist.
He shares an app with his son to hold each other "accountable" for their porn habits.
How disgusting this man is.
I do not think he is a religious zealot - he is not religious. He knows how to manipulate and make relgious zealots support what he wants.
When has he ever gone to church? Really?!
Blue to stop a coup means you, LOTS of yous -VOTING BLUE💙 - and hold your representatives to guard the coop against further coups. Enough is enough.
Agreed, Rex.
Thank you, Kathleen, for this information. I hadn’t known about this petition. I’ve just signed it. I’m going to post the site on Facebook.
Sorry to break the news—on-line petitions are worthless.
Write your congressional rep—use a relative’s address if necessary to write to a Republican one. Or call their local and Washington offices.
Signed. Thank you for sharing.
Many thanks
Wow! Thank you Kathleen B Parker!
Signed. Thank you for doing the research and providing the link
Don’t be naive that stuff has no importance unless you can plunk down 5 million on his next campaign.
They're anarchists. This is click-bait fascism.
Everything Heather said is correct. I am just as concerned why the people will blindly follow that is clearly designed to harm them. Yet perhaps they’ve already been harmed.
Sometime in 1993 or 1994, Bill Clinton signed into law the North American Free Trade Agreement. On that day, I paused and wondered how great this would affect American workers; workers in manufacturing who had little formal education. A few years later in my travels as an art dealer driving across the country, I drove to Seattle and stopped in Richmond, Indiana to stay at an Airbnb. The Victorian house was as ornate as the Mark Twain house in my hometown of Hartford, CT. I paid about $50 for the night to stay in the mini mansion . I asked the owner at breakfast if he minded telling me what the value of the house was. He reported around $125,000. I gasped. He then told me how that rust belt area had become filled with deserted plants and had shut down to set up off-shore. Workers no longer had those solid middle income factory jobs. A few decades later, his wife ran for president and in her run, called those MAGA supporters of Trump “The Deplorables,” mostly white, uneducated, now lower income the same group that lost their solid middle incomes under Bill Clinton. That group formed the bases of Trump’s base.
When Joe Biden refused to stem the tide of hundreds of thousands rushing the border, it became a political issue. It’s no wonder that this group is so hardened against a political party that ruined them and will not listen to reason. They have been thoroughly abandoned and insulted by the party that once supported them and their once good paying jobs.
This is the explanation to my fellow hard-headed dense democrats that just don’t understand why a large segment of the population will support a facist-like movement that does not have their interests at heart. It’s a bit confounding isn’t it — both sides, one side being the wronged and the other side being unable to grasp what the hell has happened. Go ahead ladies and gentlemen, have at me. I tell the truth.
I think the immigration problem is overplayed, legal and otherwise, they commit fewer crimes than average Americans, play a vital role in esp the agricultural sector, doing jobs most Americans refuse to do. Studies show they provide a net economic gain, pay taxes, and so on. So Americans scream they're stealing jobs when in fact USA is in virtual full employment. Murdering criminal millions, give us a break! The immigration system does need fixing, simply staunching the inflow of mainly economic migrants with walls et al won't solve the problem. USA needs to figure out better how to meet its own employment needs when its native population cannot adequately step up to the plate. Their is a solid reason why mainly economic migration from Mexican and Latino countries has been a "thorn" for more than a couple generations now. Trump and Maga have made perceived grievances a major touchstone of their campaign. Sadly, it's paid off dividends, in spades. Sounds to me it's more about racism, than economics.
It is. Tom Schiller and Paul Waldman recently published a book titled “The Roots of White Rural Rage.” People in rural areas listen to different media outlets that city people, and they have been red a constant stream of culture war propaganda that has encouraged them to vote against their economic interests. Rural areas are badly hit when farms consolidate into mega farms, factories close, young people leave for cities, and they vote for the very people who cause these problems. The propagandists have no interest in solving these problems, but want to exploit them on their behalf.
Which is why Blue Tennessee (www.bluetennessee.org) among others is addressing rural needs. Jess Piper did a great interview this week with Tom Vilsack, discussing rural issues and how they can be addressed.
So true Kathy. Paul Waldman was or is with the WAPO. I wonder how he reacted to Bezos pulling of the Harris endorsement?
"Dirt Road Revival"
Worth a read.
https://yadontknow.blogspot.com/2024/09/rural-democracy.html
I grew up on a farm, working in the fields. My parents aspired to more for me than manual labor in the fields, which simply does not pay enough to eat and live indoors at the same time. In eastern NC, where I live, there are a large number of factory farms and meat processing plants. Those jobs are dirty and physically demanding. The locals, who already lived in the area, didn’t want to work at meat processing plants. Is that what you would want for your child? Immigrants came to fill those jobs. They didn’t take jobs from locals. Deport those immigrants, and who will do those difficult jobs?
Right on Frank. Of course it's about racism and the hate and divisiveness that accompanies it.
But the economy will suffer as a consequence of closing the borders. And is it even possible to deport even 10,000 migrants? Who is going to accept them and if we just dump them in Venezuela, Haiti and Central America for starters these countries will all turn them away. If they do accept them, they will be harshly dealt with in all of the usual ways a dictatorship deals with them.
I have worked with literally hundreds of immigrants as a computer consultant, plus we have hired several dozen more to work at our home. We would still be waiting for a roof in Florida if not for immigrants and the quality of work is as good or better than native born Americans. Y2K opened the door for Indian programmers (and other nationalities) with the H2B programs. It was an ugly transition in the 1990's because of the communication barrier.
Anyway, if you deport brown people you lose a large portion of our productive workforce in almost EVERY occupation. My primary care doctor is an immigrant from Columbia. She actually saved my life plus she is fluent in several languages. It is actually selfish of me, to use her when there are relatively few doctors that serve the Hispanic community.
We all know they can't deport immigrants, legal or illegal, and we likely can't even put them in camps. So is the alternative the Fascist solution to just kill them?
Thanks for all that info, Gary! I suspect you mean 10 million, and Trump has been gaslighting 20-30 million. The logistics and the reaction of foreign governments will make a mockery of these threats.
Trump has suggested nuking Mexico.
Gary Loft: Under TFG, he'll allow the military to do just that-that way no expense for food, water, etc. Whether the military will blindly follow orders, even if unlawful, is unknowable.Think of the psychic trauma that will be inflicted on those soldiers.
Agreed, Frank. As usual, Mr. Katz simply repeats what trompy and the rest of the MAGAs want everybody to be talking about instead of issues that are greater threats to us all. Immigration is certainly important, but it's far less so than the loss of basic rights, freedoms, safety, etc. And if it were more important, then the Republicans would have taken up and voted to approve the bipartisan-drafted bill that Biden said he's signed, am I right?
Biden was absent for almost 3 years on topic. And as usual, Mr. Katz repeats the unblemished truths about our politics which is that we are a fractured society and perfectly timed to get worked by the hidden puppeteers that are also pulling your strings, too.
Please tell me in very simple words how President Biden was absent for three years Bill. Are you saying this country, that has completely recovered from the pandemic economic slump the entire world experienced, has at the same time, stood still? All the leading economic indicators would have to challenge your words here. People are always going to bitch and main about gas and food prices-like when haven’t they? As for NAFTA, the idea began in the Reagan administration, at first as an agreement between Canada and the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Free_Trade_Agreement?wprov=sfti1#Negotiation,_signing,_ratification,_and_revision_(1988%E2%80%9394)
It ended up on Pres. Clinton’s desk after Mexico, Central and South America were added by Bush, Sr.
All the off shoring to so many other countries didn’t happen because of NAFTA.
I have concluded that Mr. Katz is a one-trick pony (or perhaps, Trojan horse) who comes here to repeat ad nauseam the same Republican talking points in order to derail thoughtful conversations. I engaged with him once and have resolved never to do it again, no matter how much he needs rebuttal.
Agree, Monsieur, most definitely I agree on not contacting you again. As to one-trick phony? You must have eaten your morning wheaties with McDonald’s tainted onions.
Ooof, could you be more pretentious than to use Monsieur when you probably don't even know French, and beside the point, can you offer anything of substance for rebuttal beyond snide ad hominem deflections?
It's the fear mongering that Trump does. Saying "illegal alliens" will come into your kitchen and slit your throat! Everyone knows this is not true but say it enough and people believe them. Do you think the people who support MAGA see or hear info like what you stated on your comment? Absolutely not. My husband is a Trump supporter Fox watcher. The drumbeat on Fox is fear. They do portray Democrats as communists as well as equal to the devil. People who watch this don't see any other source of "news" as I'm sure you know. I've got my husband watching a Spectrum News channel for bipartisan info but it doesn't change his mind. He was a housepainter and lost his job to those who would accept pay @ half what he received and they happened to be immigrants. People like him have a grudge and Trump feeds it. So sorry for venting but I'm so terrified of fascism.
To be slightly objective here, the immigrant "problem" is quite real. There are in fact at least several million possibly almost ten million undocumented immigrants in the US today. Under the current law, almost every one of those people are subject to arrest and deportation. This is absolutely without regard to ANY logical or rational justification for enforcing the law. Enforcing the law is always theoretically the right thing to do unless you believe the law is unconstitutional. And in general our immigration laws are not unconstitutional, just unenforced.
So trump, if elected will be completely within his rights and in fact may be legally correct to massively enforce the immigration laws. Will he be "right" in the moral sense? Maybe not. Will he be right in the political sense? That remains to be seen. But he will almost certainly be right in the legal sense. And that is technically all the justification he needs to carry out his draconian plan. It is difficult to see any court which would halt his ability to do that (and if they did, I would expect the Supreme Court as it currently exists to reverse quite quickly.
This is why i believe that the best course of action is to repeal all immigration laws and essentially open the borders to anyone with the exception of demonstrable criminals. This would make it much more difficult to attempt mass deportations. By removing the legal basis for such deportations, it would at least become an unlawful act to arbitrarily deport people based on status.
Jon, the undocumented you speak of have jobs and families, with citizen children (assuming they were born here.) Many, if not most, pay taxes and have SS/FICA withheld without access to benefits. Deportation (which you don't advocate, thankfully) would be extremely expensive to the taxpayers and the economy, but opening the borders isn't a solution either. I believe that those presently here (unless they were/are criminals of one sort of another) should be on a path to recognition as citizens. We need a sane, fair and manageable immigration solution without saying "Come one, Come all."
Agreed. This might also help your points, Doug. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/citizenship-undocumented-immigrants-boost-u-s-economic-growth/
Sorry I don't believe you can really have it " both ways". This just another repeat of the various forgiveness strategies that have been repeated over and over. Don't keep immigrants out because we really DO want them and need them (they obviously take jobs that most Americana don't want) let them sneak in and get settled and then a few years later when there is a political "need" to get even, throw some of them out but let the large majority have amnesty, give them some path to legitimacy, then say "we're closing the borders down now", rinse and repeat. It's getting pretty tiring. In some ways it gives credence to Trump's philosophy, build a huge wall and throw them all out and keep them out. At least he is consistent if terribly wrong IMHO.
You really can't have it both ways. You either have to deport those who are her e illegally or you have to acknowledge that our policies don't work and do trying to keep them out. The rinse and repeat concept of looking the other way for a while, then granting some kind of amnesty for those who were able to get through the obstacles and take up illegal residence is wrong and unfair. I have seen this done several times in my lifetime and I am sick of it. Either do what Trump says and deport every one who is here illegally or cancel the laws and permit unrestricted immigration. I see no other fair and decent alternatives. You know which one I think is right.
Now you too have gone over the deep end.
Katz
The economic reality in my state is that many of the agricultural jobs, on which much of our economy is based, no longer pay enough or appeal to white workers. Nor do the nonunion construction jobs. My neighbor is having his roof replaced down to the trusses and the entire crew is comprised of Spanish speaking workers even though our minimum wage is $15 an hour and there is a construction boom to accommodate all the growth we are experiencing. Without migrant workers, our economy would collapse and your supply of fresh fruit would cost far more than you would want to pay. The town where I grew up was called the fruit bowl of the nation and it got that way because every year migrant workers came to harvest its bounty. It’s now a major producer of wine grapes. So enjoy what our state and its workers provide and stfu with your nonsense.
I won't believe my country is serious about enforcing immigration laws until I see some serious enforcement that aims at preventing them from getting employment. And there's a thermometer or barometer to check that. If you can still find a place in your city where men can stand around openly on the corners in certain areas waiting to be picked up to work, you know that the immigration law is not being enforced. We need to figure out how to keep them from finding employment. Then they will not take ridiculously huge loans in order to get here on the chance they will be able to pay off the loan with the wonderfully high salaries we have. I'm being cynical sorry. Because they mainly live in conditions many of us would find subpar, because they are sending most of their money home hoping to build up in big enough nest egg to be able to go back and eventually retire there, since they won't be able to retire decently in this country on their earnings.
I disagree with the commonly heard statement that the jobs they are filling are jobs Americans don't want. What has happened is it has become impossible for a contractor in certain fields, starting with landscaping and I'm sure going into plenty of other fields, to make any money without hiring illegals because if they don't they will be underbid by those who do. I saw this change personally in the 1990s and 2000s when I was a licensed landscape contractor myself.
And I enjoyed having the Latins on my crews. They were usually willing workers (especially the newly-arrived ones) and fast learners.
Every federal immigration law has been racist. Starting in 1875 with a law designed to prevent Chinese wives from joining their husbands in the US.
Yep this is why I favor an open border policy. Get rid of the immigration laws and you get rid of these problems. The very fact that millions of undocumented immigrants can actually get into the country and take up illegal residence without causing a huge serious problem suggests to me that open borders will work much better than deportation. Look at the European union. They opened all they're borders to any one in the union and now their economies are mostly much more vibrant than ours. We need workers and immigrants do a lot of work that most Americans aren't interested in doing.
The town I grew up in turned 400 last year. In that time its economy has gone from extractive ship mast production and fishing, to hard scrabble farming and wool production, to weaving, tanning, shoe and brick manufacturing, and finally making plastic auto parts. All of these went away, with the ensuing pain that always follows economic transitions. The transitions didn't make themselves, however, they required a lot of effort by gritty, determined, fairly well educated people. It now has a very diverse economy that includes being the headquarters of a large insurance company.
NAFTA and globalization facilitated a race to the bottom where almighty capital won, is still winning, despite nearly losing it all in 2008 - when we literally printed money to save overextended (greedy) financial institutions. My town survived globalization because it stopped being a one or two industry town decades ago. The rust belt seems to be diversifying as well, through a lot of hard work and creativity. I just hope they can avoid the 'one industry town' trap that makes us vulnerable to greedy capitalists in the first place.
Supply side economics laid the groundwork for globalization, which hollowed out American manufacturing, which laid the groundwork for the Tea Party, the opioid epidemic (which is dwarfed by the epidemic of alcohol - but we don't talk about that), and a fascist bid to take over our country. Vote Harris/Walz in November.
If you listen to podcasts, Unf*cking the Republic had a really interesting take on the financial crisis: the crazy surge in oil prices driven by financial institutions. Worth a listen.
I am not laughing at you; there is a lot of truth in what you say. Those same rust belt areas were then flooded with opioids and in a way that is what Trump is still doing with his fake promises. I think Harris is recognizing this and trying valiantly to break through that mindset and level the playing field, as it were. Another 4 years of Trump would be a nightmare for this country and the world-just like Hitler was. Last night, I re-watched Gary Oldman as Churchill in His Darkest Hour and there was a line there that struck a chord with me-he that never changes his mind, never changes anything. I am heartened by the number of Republicans who are publicly endorsing Harris and hope we can get to a 54% Dem win so there is no doubt who has won this election-and then the work begins.
“ When Joe Biden refused to stem the tide of hundreds of thousands rushing the border, ”???
Republicans lying again. Biden has largely continued Trump’s migrant policies, but doesn’t separate families. Trump got the Republicans to withdraw their support from an immigration bill so he could use it as a political stalking horse, and they lie about immigrant caravans the way Elise Stefanik did the other day on X. The Republicans have replaced their oaths of office to uphold the constitution and laws of the United States with a private oath of loyalty to an incompetent wannabe dictator.
Speaking of Stefanik - I guess it wouldnt be surprising to hear the views of people who live in and around her district! Another politician who only "serves" herself & tffg and makes it very obvious!
Right?? The politicization of this issue began LONG, L O N G before Joe Biden took office. And it seems that there WAS a bi-partisan bill proposed during Joe’s administration that was denied even being brought up for a vote because Mr Trump rejected the appearance of any kind of win for Democrats before the 2024 election. Hmmm. This issue is largely manufactured as a political argument for campaigning just as abortion WAS and look what ham-handedly handling that looks like! I was never a fan of NAFTA but I believe Joe Biden has done more to right that grievous wrong than anyone since so the argument that Democrats won’t hear what the struggling middle class has to say is faulty also. They’re listening and working to make it better but MAGA is turning their noses up to all of it over an opportunity to make us pay for their losses.
In my reply to Mr Katz, I referred to Wikipedia about the original intent of NAFTA and discovered that NAFTA was the brainchild of the Reagan administration. It’s a fascinating reminder that people could perhaps benefiting by reading.
From CoPilot: Yes, Ronald Reagan first proposed the idea of a North American free trade agreement during his 1980 presidential campaign1
. However, it was during the administration of George H. W. Bush that negotiations began, and the agreement was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 19931
. So, while Reagan planted the seed, it took a few administrations to bring NAFTA to life.
It's an interesting comment isn't it? Sprinkled with a little skewed history. Always as if the person woke up in 1990 and thought everything was brand new.
Candace, Mr. Katz propagates this MAGA assertion frequently (despite my belief he's not MAGA.)
I can only surmise that trompy's statement in 2015 after descending the escalator must have made a favorable impression on him, because that's what he often talks about.
I think much of his purpose in life--or at least his purpose in commenting here--is attempting to build up his substack subscribers.
I have sizable things I do in my day jobs and real life I don’t depend on these scribbles to define who I am or what I do. Pa-lease.
I agree--he's also always flogging his "book."
Me too that was a bullshit line for sure, the rest of what he said made a lot of sense.
Seriously! He left in place most of trump’s border policy.
That seems to be Bill's fallback position.
This is an important reminder of where we got where we are, but you seem to have left out the role of Reagan, the supply-siders, and decades of Republican dominance. Why are they forgiven? Why does all the blame fall on Bill and Hillary in your telling?
The problem, to my mind, is always the desire for corporate power. And that lies in the apologies of economics, which isn't a science, as much as they try to make it one.
The laws are written around the rights of property owners, not stakeholders. Shareholders, not stakeholders. Shareholders have nothing in the game but money, and can fleewith it on any whim.
Stakeholders are the customers, employees, residents. Those who bought the products, supply the parts, live with the factory.
Shareholders should be the last in line, not the first.
Well I certainly disagree with this. Shareholders are the life blood of a capitalist economy I don't love it but it's true. Without their money the companies would cease to exist. I agree stakeholders are important too and have been ignored for too long but putting shareholders last would be tragic to the economy. Better would be to include both at the same level of importance. That would be a better capitalist solution, acknowledging the importance of stakeholders without relegating the people whose money makes it possible to last place. (And this from a communist like myself LOL).
Consider that the prolific Bill Katz seems to be a white man, so he prefers to focus on very recent U.S. history. He might benefit from going back to the time of the War Department memo, March 1945, and acknowledging that fascism's first cousin was already entrenched in the U.S. South under the name of Jim Crow, and its influence affected the national government and the country at large. It greatly influenced the New Deal before WW2 and the GI Bill after it.
exactly! IMO it started with the sham trickle-down economics theory from Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney. Prior to that we had vibrant cities, lots of union jobs, healthy middle class. But the oligarchs needed more money and then of course they then needed even more and along came NAFTA. Forty + years of a bs economic theory and the chickens have come home to roost. And the oligarchs keep gaslighting the public to believe it's the immigrants' fault ,those on welfare and maje you turn a blind eye to those who ate actually gouging us...corporations. The oligarchs are running the show in America and globally
No argument here. I only mention the migration crises since it sells poorly in any nation in any era.
You only mentioned the migration “crisis” because there is no real crisis. If there were, the bipartisan border bill would have been signed instead of squashed under trump’s demand because it was an issue he could run on. He inflates numbers and exaggerates small issues that could be dealt with under normal circumstances but because the House is tied into MAGA knots and the Senate pretty close to the same, very little can happen. Don’t even get me going on the Supreme Court; and I use the descriptor of “supreme” very loosely.
In a simplified fashion, I drew a line between the downside of NAFTA (American workers losing income) and her “deplorables.” We would have been better without them in my opinion, of course.
Ellen: 💯💯💯🎯🎯🎯
@ Bill Katz, in Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” speech, she didn’t call Trump supporters who were in despair because they had lost their good jobs “deplorables.” In fact, she said “those are people we have to understand and empathize with.” She specifically defined “the basket of deplorables” as half of Trump’s supporters who were “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basket_of_deplorables
But the "basket of deplorables" was such a wonderful gift/phrase for the Repubs! Three words out of an entire paragraph/statement! Just like the clips that faux and its "followers" pick up on today. I think that there should be better comebacks from the Dems. They do lack a bit of that kind of reaction.
Thanks Ellen for the link - HERE IS THE ACTUAL SPEECH!
At an LGBT campaign fundraising event in New York City on September 9, Clinton gave a speech and said the following:[11]
I know there are only 60 days left to make our case – and don't get complacent; don't see the latest outrageous, offensive, inappropriate comment and think, "Well, he's done this time". We are living in a volatile political environment.
You know, to just be grossly generalistic, you could put half of Trump's supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables. (Laughter/applause) Right? (Laughter/applause) They're racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic – you name it. And unfortunately, there are people like that. And he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people – now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets their offensive hateful mean-spirited rhetoric. Now, some of those folks – they are irredeemable, but thankfully, they are not America.
But the "other" basket – the other basket – and I know because I look at this crowd I see friends from all over America here: I see friends from Florida and Georgia and South Carolina and Texas and – as well as, you know, New York and California – but that "other" basket of people are people who feel the government has let them down, the economy has let them down, nobody cares about them, nobody worries about what happens to their lives and their futures; and they're just desperate for change. It doesn't really even matter where it comes from. They don't buy everything he says, but – he seems to hold out some hope that their lives will be different. They won't wake up and see their jobs disappear, lose a kid to heroin, feel like they're in a dead-end. Those are people we have to understand and empathize with as well.
— Hillary Clinton, CBS News[12]
And just in case you might think I’m a troll Russian plant, I spent 3 struggling years writing about the evils of Donald Trump. My credentials are clean.
I agree, Bill. When I was working as a lobbyist in Michigan, I sat stunned as our Democratic governor Granholm announced in a meeting that our auto workers would be sent back to college to learn how to be computer technicians. With that, she denigrated a whole, hard working class of Michiganders. Over the next decade, Trump had ready recruits.
So what’s the problem with learning new information if that will enable a person to make a better living? Were such folks just being hard-headed or stupid? Many of us have done the very same things on our own. Good lord! What an ignorant excuse for being short-sighted or lazy.
You must then be trolling in support of the Navalnyites. Bravo ! We will win because we must. 1776 was a very tough year, too as were 1777, 78…. Until the Treaty of Paris. We must always boldly look at what we have wrought and be willing to say: “How little I truly know” and correct course with honesty and humility. We can all do this when we don’t care who is right. The who part doesn’t matter to me, does it matter to any of you? I don’t think it ever mattered to BEN franklin, either.
No person is perfect, no President is perfect. Some of Bill Clintons' presidential decisions were wrong. I have always believed that Hillary is the smarter half of that couple.
But, that aside, nothing Bill Clinton did was as harmful to our middle class as what Ronald Regan did during his presidency. You ever rant about that?
Rachel: Exactly! It goes back to St Ronald & that POS Gingrich
Bill...I would argue that Hillary Clinton's mistake was giving Donald and his team something to twist. Here is what she said, what she called out. I fully agreed with her and then some.
1) It was twisted into she is calling all of you (maga) deplorable and they believed it.
2) those who are deplorable didn't like being called out.
https://time.com/4486502/hillary-clinton-basket-of-deplorables-transcript/
So anytime this came up in conversation I was having I would say #1? or #2?, which are you? I usually got blank stares.
Immigration...been a problem for a very long time. And it will get worse because the climate is a changing!
Although just the other day I talked with a coworker who is from Ecuador. She came here legally. Took her 5 years. She is not happy with people who enter and stay illegally. I get that, but she wasn't too sympathetic to those running for their lives. She told me that she was running for her life. Her father was a politician who was murdered. To her there is no excuse.
I agree 100% - very well said. Clinton’s NAFTA signing was the beginning of a whole-hearted embrace by the Democratic Party of a capitalist system that prioritizes wealth concentration by a few rather than the well-being of many - especially rural white communities. While I don’t think Trump’s policies will help them one bit (will in fact hurt them) he speaks in language that acknowledges the real economic struggle they feel.
Both parties (IMO) engage in a “don’t look up” strategy to prevent people from noticing that we live under an economic system that has created an unprecedented concentration of wealth at the top … a system of unregulated capitalism that leaves most of us now vulnerable to the impact of venture funds buying up our health care systems, our housing, food sources, vets, (the list goes on and on). Funds that are required to worship at the alter of fiduciary duty (financial return) rather than the well-being of us all. The fact that Kamala couldn’t answer Anderson Cooper’s question about how she was going to address the high price of milk (her answer talked about regulating price gauging during times of crisis - nothing about during regular times) is a perfect example of why this race is so close! It was such a prime opportunity for her to speak to these broader economic issues at play.
Kate, I suppose if I were running for President, I wouldn’t expound on why it’s not possible for me to succeed in solving that (or many other legitimate issues because….rich people, Capitalism, corruption amongst SCOTUS and GOP, etc. I would think, rightly, that voters wouldn’t want to hear about all the things I can’t do when my opponent says he can fix everything.
You’re right - it’s not an easy answer. But I think her ability to speak to people about this type of issue is critical to her succeeding - and she doesn’t seem to be able to do it (I’m not sure why - she could craft an answer that makes people feel “heard”). My guess is that guy asking the question about milk prices sat down unconvinced she would do anything about it. That makes it a lost opportunity.
it wasn't all NAFTA
IMO blame all starts with Reagan, Thatcher and Mulroney...bs trickle-down economics theory
And the 3 strikes your out program which incarcerated more African American males. And the “ending welfare as we have known it” program. Well that program wasn’t that ill conceived since it forced my lazy sister of social welfare and to go get a job.
"Refused to stem the tide" of immigrants. As someone who reads Heathers work, you cannot be so uninformed as to think this tide of immigrants is new. Or that we can interfere with their travel in other countries. Or that there isn't a good reason they are fleeing the fascism and economic destruction in their own countries.
Otherwise your comments re NADTA are well placed. I'd propose the idea that it was the turnover of our national interest to corporations to benefit their shareholders and CEOs, who pillage their companies with stock bonuses that were actually illegal until Reagan. Governing for the benefit of the wealthy has never turned out well. And here we are again.
It all comes down to money, and the greed of those who, like Musk and dumpty and all the rest, already have more than enough but hunger for yet more.
While he is not a troll, I think he sometimes writes to rile people up to get responses and gin up subscribers for his own substack. He certainly spends a LOT of time putting many, many comments on the forum. I often reply to folks on this forum, many who write their own substacks, and when I replied to him, I was surprised to get a message asking me to subscribe to his!
I skip past all of his diatribes now, in fact, the only reason I stopped her was as I scrolled I noticed your first sentence and went back to see who you were replying to.
Well I’m glad you didn’t sign up. How’s dat. Those of us who write, are always promoting themselves. Stop being silly. If your not a writer, you wouldn’t understand and I guess you’re not.
Actually, Bill, I did--and then I unsubscribed as I found it to be pretty much the same stuff you post daily in the comments.
Y’all seem to have blanked out the time period 2021 through 2023. The nightly news broadcasts. The News Hour and so on and it’s as if this period where Biden was not interested satisfying the public’s need to see him act and y’all have the blinders on because think you are correct and everyone else is wrong. So if Trump wins, I welcome you to the New Snazzy Nazi States of America. Enjoy. If you link arms on the dance floor and in unison, kick you legs up as high as they will go, and do what you are told, you will be alright otherwise, you will be sent to detainment camps to be re-educated.
So, Bill, any President is able to make sweeping changes ALL BY HIMSELF?
Really? Going against the Repubs & sadly some of his own party and just DOING it.
There are many issues that I disagree with Biden on, some issues I disagreed with Obama on - but a president isnt KING! It requires cooperation from far too many different individuals and groups. You know this!
And, yeah - tffg will correct that if he gets in. And will "king" himself and his vp. Do we all have to march in locked step behind Biden or Harris? NOPE - but thats what the dumpster will demand.
So, you know what? Democrats need to stick together - somehow they always have factions that pull them apart - why is it that Repubs dont? We are seeing the locked steps in that party right now.
Try an executive order if the drama needs to be lessened of the Insurrection Act and if only to show the people he meant business.
You do know that NAFTA was written and negotiated by GHW Bush, following an initiative by Ronald Reagan, right? Clinton brought it across the finish line…yet he is given full credit for its impact on America. And the other drivers of rust belt decline, including globalization, the buyout boom and financialization of deregulated capital markets, and the collapse of the union movement…all predated his signature on that line. The anecdote you tell draws wrong conclusions from the faulty recollection of history…the narrative that Republicans are the better stewards of America’s economic prosperity and that Democratic spending leads to a decline in “freedom” is one the GOP had used effectively since Reagan showed up.
Oh my God no. I understand and understood that Reagan was a complete disaster. I don’t have all the historic answers. I don’t come from academia. I’m not a historian nor social scientist. But I do try to think for myself outside the boundaries of partisanship. And I do adjust my beliefs when necessary. A side note, in 2015, Senator Sherrod Brown was showing signs of running for president. In my humble opinion he would have made a great president. And he would have won.
Part of the truth…
I couldn't agreed more with you regarding the devastating effects of Clinton's policies, but since in the democracy there's always room for correction and change of course as Biden- Harris had done to revert the situation you described. The only thing left is to apologize and push forward.
On “The Dragon’s Den” TV show investors consistently told inventors that they would support their manufactured product ideas only if they were made in China. Cheap labor meant high profit margins. “Dollar” stores sprung up everywhere. Happy days. Everyone likes a deal, me too, but we just can’t admit that we all sat back as the rugs under our feet were yanked away.
There's no argument that will ever convince the people who were harmed by NAFTA that they should support a Democrat, because Clinton was in office when it was signed? Do they know that the idea was largely Republican originated and supported by Reagan and Bush Sr,? Do they understand that if Republicans get their way, Unions will be eliminated, and labor protections and safety regulations will be a thing of the past? What do you think Democrats need to do to win them over, given that their major grievance against Democrats is a Republican policy?
Louise, if I could answer the questions you pose I think I would package them and sell them. As I’ve said before, people vote emotional they rarely vote using reason. They will vote themselves right into the hands of their executioners. This struggle on the right mostly, is only about money and power. Money through power. Nothing else is important. But it’s important for democrats to try and guess which programs should be pulled back because they don’t sell. For instance, Reparations will never sell. They are even losing support of Black men who woulda thought. We need to stop the foolishness of allowing bio men or trans women whatever, into girls showers. No nonono. Give them their own shower stall if needed but keep them out of the girls room. And don’t misunderstand maiming facor or rights for all but particularly women’s rights.
Who would've thought that 2016 would mark the beginning of the end of US democracy if Putin had his way?
Been grinding my teeth ever since that day tfg was elected seeing daily that survival of democracy was on a knifes edge
Ruth, understanding differences? Only when people become less insecure. It is easy to see differences; the challenge is to see similarities.
"In place of something which distinguishes itself from other things, imagine something which distinguishes itself-and yet, in distinguishing itself it does not distinguish itself from the others."
-Gilles Deleuze
I would love to see this pamphlet reprinted and widely available. The polarization is palpable and likely to assume greater strength regardless of the election's victor.
I’m still on that wagon Ruth..still believing we can learn how to be happier with ‘enough’, we’ve certainly had enough of war, hatred, my way or the highway people.
You ask the Q, Steve, "How can so many well-educated people be so cruel and reckless . . . ?"
Answer: by the Powell memo plan issued August 23, 1971, and its phalange of far-right foundations such as The Heritage Foundation, the Hoover Institute, ALEC (the American Legislative Exchange Council, and eventually many more, all filthy-rich-mega-funded, up to and including The Federalist Society.
Yeah, Phil, they’ve been working on this for a long long time. Still think Will Rogers had the right idea to give the money to poor because it will end up in the hands of the rich soon enough…..given to the rich, mostly they don’t share the wealth & no “trickle down” happens. Fascinating to study, but crap to actually live through. Sigh.
There are nations in which a few families are mega rich, while most live in squalor. Reagan's promised utopia (literally no-place) has never existed, and their was never a reasonable argument it ever would. Big Lies and Republican enabled plutocratic takeover of the "free press" have brought us to our current dilemma
As an example, it was the poverty in El Salvador, with 16 families owning most of the wealth, that caused the people to support revolution in the late 1970s. Reagan could not look beneath the Communist-Capitalist dichotomy to see what the root causes were. The late Jeane Kirkpatrick shamefully attacked the memories of the three sisters and one lay worker who were murdered by Salvadoran soldiers we ourselves had trained. St. Óscar Romero was murdered as he said Mass by Roberto D’Aubuisson for the “crime” of thinking the Salvadoran people deserved lives of dignity.
I would add Phil that Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote a one page essay when imprisoned by the Nazis in 1943 that I did not mention called On Human Stupidity, which explains how intelligent people can believe the most foolish things. You should be able to find it online - it is worth a read.
The other concerning fears I have is for the elimination of basic public goods like the NEH, NEA, and NPR, not to mention the Department of Education and possibly EPA. The looming horror I didn't mention, beyond obvious nuclear destruction, is if Putin attacks Poland then Europe - particularly Germany, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia, will be in for a massive refugee crisis.
Any one or all of the things mentioned in my comment above, plus the ones here, would be catastrophic in and of itself.
Found this link for starters; other links in the article on Bonhoeffer.
Many thanks! I had not known of this essay.
Link:
https://sproutsschools.com/bonhoeffers-theory-of-stupidity/
thank you for sharing this! As a side note: in the city of Muenster, Germany there is a district where my aunt lived where there is Bonhoeffer Strasse and other streets named after those that tried to defend democracy during WWII.
Thx for referencing Dietrich Bonhoeffer-one of my personal heroes and a Lutheran saint of blessed memory. I’m an ELCA pastor-ordained almost 40 years ago. I’m proud of the statement our Conference of Bishops put out recently condemning the normalization of lies and disinformation. (I wish it had come out sooner, but grateful nonetheless). Silence is complicity-and democracy dies not only in darkness, but also in silence. Our task is to boldly speak out against the hatred that has become regularized and continue to pursue democracy, kindness, compassion, decency, and integrity that create a better community for all. Again, thanks, Steve. Bonhoeffer was and is a gift to the world. (And folks, the new movie is a bastardization of his legacy-his family has written a letter condemning it as a political tool for the extremist right.)
I wish the USCCB would condemn Trump. They try to paper over their internal differences, but the reality is that too many of them want us to vote to agree with a candidate over pelvic politics, and some have become Trump groupies. I can’t in good conscience ignore Trump’s general unsuitability to be president. He will end 235 years of Constitutional government, which admittedly wasn’t always present for marginalized people.
There is a street in Muenster Germany named Bonhoeffer Strasse, in a district with other streets names after resistors in WWII . A city my aunt lived and where I once worked
Definately elimination of the EPA as well. My dad, an environmental engineer for Dow Chemical, represented the Chemical Manufacturing Association when EPA was formed, and worked with Anne Gorsuch and Rita Lavelle to implement the Superfund law, a law which neither Anne or Rita supported.. He thought that little Neil was very nice, though.
My early am laugh, Anne certainly trained her son in her own image
I worry about that as well. Eric Metaxas is a Trump groupie and Christian Nationalist writer who published a very flawed and panned Bonhoeffer biography. I think he should read the essay and ponder it, but I doubt he will. Metaxas’s Bonhoeffer biography was panned by Bonhoeffer scholars because they understood that he hadn’t read a lot of Bonhoeffer’s work, and had not read it in detail. The book is rather less about the historical Bonhoeffer than it is about Metaxas’s views. He labors under the misconception the Democratic Party is totalitarian, when it’s his own Republican Party that has ceased to believe in government of, for and by the people. He and his buddy Sean Feucht get mad at the use of the term Christian Nationalism, but it accurately describes their views.
Absolute honor, Steve, that my name appear in sentence with that of Dietrich Bonhoeffer also.
Will look up the essay of his you kindly mention.
Phil, you did not mention the august institution that (literally) crowned all these efforts: the US Supreme Court, the guardian of the Constitution and the rule of law.
I was deeply shocked by my own assertion that the Justices' recent decision protecting the rights and privileges of the President by granting immunity for official acts in effect restated the central Nazi tenet, Führerprinzip, according to which the leader can do no wrong, being above the Law.
While one can see some counter-arguments, I'd feel safer if someone could persuade me conclusively that my statement is mistaken.
* * *
As for today's Letter from an American, how can it be distributed to all members of the armed forces? Perhaps via an official organ? In any case, readers should send it to all military personnel they know.
This letter does indeed merit a far broader circulation.
* * *
I am familiar with Pastor Bonhoeffer's essay which I read with great interest as I have long held my own views on the same subject.
I agree wholeheartedly with Sonia Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion in U.S. v. Trump. Any decision that places a president above the law is blatantly ignoring the Constitutional limits the founders intended for the presidency. They never intended for presidents to be above the law, but here we are. The names of the justices who supported this shameless power grab deserve to live in infamy.
Yes... but to have imposed Führerprinzip, Hitler's basic outlook that the leader is above the law and always right...
Consequently, all criticism, all resistance to his actions is criminal.
Here, you have, readymade, the makings of a Nazi dictatorship.
Peter, I totally agree with your comment that this letter be more widely circulated, especially to the military. Great idea!
Ah, indeed, Peter -- though I've now long been calling it only the Clarence court.
Yes, they push fascism, this court of the deeply corrupt, the massively perjured.
Phil- Roberts has been on this executive power- theocratic side for decades. The only difference is that now he has a majority and no longer needs to be incremental about it. Read American Crusade by Seidel. It’s the Roberts Court unleashed.
Once again Peter I agree with you that this letter in particular needs to be spread deep and far especially to military personnel.
I still cannot believe the signs I see around here: Vets for T…..
I’ve been reading S Lewis’ It Can’t Happen Here on kindle. I also have Bonhoeffer in my k library, which because of your post, I’ll return to and read on today.
You and others are educating me in the best and most profound way at this critical time. Thank you.
More like thank YOU.
From the project2025[dot]org website: “Advisory Board - A broad coalition of over 100 conservative organizations has come together to form the project pillars.”
Actually, now over 110 groups with successful track records, including the ones you mentioned. The vast right-wing conspiracy isn’t hiding.
Yes, Jonathan, not hiding now.
But for decades -- even as they hired 1,000s of lobbyists swamping Washington, D.C. -- no one knew how organized these post-Powell memo far-right foundations were.
Wendell Berry, Diane Ravitch, Kurt Andersen, and several others who wrote seminal books on the damages being done -- not any of them for a long, long time knew how these damages were all orchestrated by that Powell memo, how all those far-right foundations were all along working in concert.
https://billmoyers.com/content/the-powell-memo-a-call-to-arms-for-corporations/
An excellent resource on the emergence of corporate political power.
I just completed a whirlwind "discussion" on CoPilot (Microsoft's AI) re the Powell Memo. The memo leads directly to Project 2025. Thanks for pointing to the memo.
These various funded institutions are not official government foundations, and all have come up with various ways to empower billionaires and corporations at the expense of everyone else.
Always, always these American privateers -- or, better, call them pirates -- playing the alternative government, answerable only to big money and often undermining, even sabotaging the work of the Federal Government...
Thank you for putting it so plainly. One more question. For those of us who have children and grandchildren - what do we tell them that we did to fight this nightmare existence?
What do YOU tell yours? That's the salient question each of us must ask ourselves.
Propaganda works…it works really well on the disaffected and ignorant.
This is why Project 2025, if implemented,plans to shut down the Dept. of Education.
Another department that Project 2025 will eliminate is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, known as NOAA - as in NOAA Weather! Yes - the agency that tracks hurricanes & tornadoes & sends out the weather bulletins to TV & radio stations. That department will be privatized!
My husband & I were sailors for well over 20 years. And before we ever left our house in Maine to drive down to our mooring in Southwest Harbor, we always listened to NOAA radio on our Weather One Radio, to hear the forecast of the winds, tides & other crucial information that NOAA provides to fishermen, lobstermen & pleasure- boaters like us that might literally save our lives.
Now some private company will monetize the weather report.
KMD, my Dad was a meteorologist; trained as a MetTech in WWII, he had a 30+ year career in the Weather Bureau, then NOAA. He was one of the first on the west coast trained in the use of Doppler radar for forecasting.
And minimize any possible connection of weather to climate change. Weather with a political bias.
Its already happened. All of the alternate weather services are platformed off the original NOAA service. I think it was done thru questionable legal means and appropriations in court.
Almost daily, a stink on the wind...
Yes they are. AccuWeather is one.
Ronald Reagan tried to do away with the Dept. of Education!
A ridiculously stupid idea. Education is so crucial to the health and growth of our country!!!
Ed Bernays, Walter Lippman fine-tuned the techniques of "persuasion", examined later by Ed Herman & Chomsky in "Manufacturing Consent" and "Necessary Illusions", broadcast on the Canadian CBC Massey Lecture series, 1988.
This is a powerful description of the many deleterious things that realistically might happen IF Trump/MAGA Republicans get into power after the November election. The first step of problem solving is to identify the problem. Then we figure out ways to solve it, or better yet, prevent it. Such is the task we’ve been facing for years now, and most urgently, have another 9 days ahead.
Even with the best outcome of Democrats in control of the Presidency and Congress, MAGA and their moneyed supporters will not disappear. We will need to fill in the cracks, bolster the norms routinely exploited by Trump and his minions. The longer term answer of mitigating this fascist movement is to educate the people—starting with children—about civics, history, responsibility, empathy, egalitarianism, and constructive life-affirming constructive problem solving. Education happens both in schools and in families’ homes.
With the worst outcome of MAGA control, we refresh our understanding of Timothy Snyder’s short book, On Tyranny, starting with “Do not obey in advance,” and do resistance, individually and organized. (Independent book sellers—no more Amazon.)
In any case, as Heather periodically says in her Facebook chats, we have the numbers and the power of the majority. MAGA and Trump are loud bullies who revel in attention and fear mongering. The Harris-Walz campaign has been terrific at calling them out, shrinking them. Our challenge is to continue to mobilize our numbers and build our strength. We have the momentum.
I hate to tell you his, Ellie, but Amazon is the only place that treats authors fairly. They always sell everything they buy, no returns (which are financed from the author's royalties), and they always pay the publisher on time - none of that gets done by the so-called independent bookstores, which are usually under-capitalized and many of them finance their purchases with "return credit." And they don't always pay on time. And their selection is hardly ever "everything." And "no more Amazon" won't hurt Amazon. But you'll get to feel righteous over having less. I wish I was wrong but I'm not.
Tom Part of me is revolted by Bezos and Amazon and the impact of local bookstores. I have fond memories of hours in Foyles in London and Kramer in D. C. Discovering Abe Books (now owned by Amazon) permitted me to obtain rare books in Australia and elsewhere.
The raw truth is that when I wish to buy a book (or search for a book), I go to Amazon. The book arrives within several days and, with Prime, I don’t pay shipping.
Also, though I do it less now than in past years, I have reviewed many dozens of books on Amazon.
My wife laments that she doesn’t buy books from a fine local bookstore. So do I. But the availability of so many books on Amazon, the reviews of these books, and swift delivery render me an Amazon devotee.
You've described it. If people want to hate a "piggy booksore" that really is piggy, hate Barnes & Noble, which does every one of the things I listed above - they over-order and then finance their new purchases with "return credit," they hardly ever pay on time. It wasn't Amazon that killed the good bookstores, it was B&N that bought out and killed Borders and Crown and all the others.
If only Bezos wasn’t afflicted with that greed/power bug.
This is accurate. Having created a successful booksellers global market, aren’t Amazon trying to recalibrate their corporate e market model by opening local bricks and mortar bookshops ? I believe starting in Seattle.
They're not successful, since they only stock "Amazon top sellers" - which isn't as big a market as they thought. The one in Santa Monica closed.
Oh honey you pay shipping. You pay it on the front end, like I do, to be a Prime member. I like Amazon. Bezos... not so much.
TC, all of us who have to deal with publishers these days are stuck with Amazon, as is anyone who wants to see better television than the muck produced here in the USA, because services like BritBox and Acorn work with Amazon (which has long been an international company, so simply not using it here in the US does nothing). Indeed, I consider the publishers themselves to be the ones who are abusing authors, as in academic and academic-adjacent publishing we get a pittance in royalties on books that are priced at obscene levels no academic can actually afford--and libraries are no longer willing to pay. And why? Because those publishers find they can make a whole lot more money breaking books up and selling them chapter by chapter as e-book "packets" to readers and students. This is also why the market for not-quite-illegal online libraries (like Z-brary) exist. Moreover, unlike the Walton family and all those old brick and mortar mega bookstores like B&N, Amazon (which also owns Whole Foods) pays their employees very well and provides them with excellent benefits. Granted: this tactic is designed to discourage them from joining unions, but I have people in my life whose ability to survive is dependent on Amazon and so I keep on using them. When I was living in a very rural area and the nearest decent bookstore (a Borders) was 100 miles away, I, along with everyone else at the university where I was teaching, were utterly dependent on Amazon. So yes, it sucks that we have to deal with a hypocritical arse like Bezos, but he is getting the heat because he owns a newspaper. What about all the companies that are bending the knee to CFDT who are out of the spotlight but still essential to our survival?
Exactly right on all Linda. Thanks for reminding me again why I opted not to pursue a career in Acadamania.
You are correct, TC.
My main point was, after sounding the alarm, take the next step of problem solving. “No more Amazon” is one idea among many, and all of these ideas are subject to ongoing adjustments according to what is and is not working.
Siva Vaidhyanathan (via Rebecca Skolnit via Robert Hubbell reader Kathleen Berry) pointed out that Bezos’s profits come from 7,500 government offices and agencies tied to Amazon Web Services—so that’s where we follow the money more effectively:
https://open.substack.com/pub/roberthubbell/p/sunday-morning-comments-video-wjay?utm_source=direct&r=6pp8t&utm_campaign=comment-list-share-cta&utm_medium=web&comments=true&commentId=74278435
💸
Knowing that you are a successful author, I appreciate your insights, and I believe you.
I am an unpublished writer. I have written three manuscripts since the start of COVID. One was professionally edited by an editor who was recommended to me by a midlist author of over 25 novels.(Another published author who I met and have exchanged emails offered an introduction to her editor as well.)
The editor gave me insightful criticisms, some flattering praise, and ultimately said he gages my work worthy of publishing, but I am stymied at the task of securing the absolutely required agent. I never knew HOW many genres of literature exists and how agents often represent only one type of work. (For example, just in "romance" there is "sweet" romance (Amish type, no sex) YA (which might have a bit of sex) LGBTQ+ (which has every subgenre that exists in that community) Regency romance (royalty) and interspecies (Twilight series). I'm sure you know this, Tom, I include that for any others who might read this comment.
I have toyed with going via Amazon--but everywhere I research, I hear the sad truth that the average self published author sells about 200 books. Depressing thought, when the editing cost me $6000 (I had come into a tiny bit of money to fund this, and truly, it was worth every penny). Also, to have a quality, custom designed cover--how many of us judge a book by it's cover?-- and wordsmithing for Amazon would cost another $5000. (Totally true of the two self published authors I know.) Maybe I will consider Amazon. Amazon is also daunting, but I respect your opinions. In the years I've been reading LFAA, your posts are occasionally salty, but IMHO are never wrong.
What genre do you write in? If you've been judged "publishable" perhaps I can help you get that agent, but I have to know your genre. DM me.
But isn’t it true that independent bookstores support the publishing industry’s willingness to publish less “commercially viable” content and authors?
Actually, Amazon does that better than many but their booklist is so huge they can be hard to find--and they use the same systems as Google and FB when it comes to the logarithms for promoting books to readers. Independent bookstores are good for niche audiences: here in KC there are a number of them that sponsor author readings, focus on BIPOC authors, or LGBTQ+ authors. Supporting them by attending readings and purchasing from them is a good strategy, but in reality the authors don't make any more from books that are sold at full price than they do when Amazon (or B&N) sells at a discount. The retail price means nothing to authors. The publisher's price to bookstores is what counts for royalties. The one thing that does promote books and gets notice is advance pre-sales and pre-orders. And most independent bookstores don't engage in that kind of thing. If you order in advance from the publisher directly or through a vendor like Amazon or one of the independent booksellers that takes pre-orders you are genuinely supporting the authors. Really, the book industry on all levels is pretty much a boondoggle with authors as the victims. I should know: I have published a lot in academic presses that sell commercially and the system totally sucks, no matter the benevolence of a series editor or acquisitions editor.
So true again.
I have Tim Snyder’s book, and must reread it. The owners of the LA Times and the Washington Post ignored Snyder’s first rule, do not consent in advance.
Good questions, all. Read Philip Roth's little gem, The Plot Against America, a novel that imagines Lindbergh beat Roosevelt in 1940 and made a deal with Hitler. It illustrates how we are one election away from fascism, which we are now. Even if Kamala Harris wins, she and her administration face a daunting task re-educating all of the far right's "patriots."
And without Ike.
Trump followers have experienced democracy is not working for improving their lives, because of wealth inequality. Tax cut in the name of stimulating economy is the disguised beginning of the fascism in America. It began with the Reagan administration, I understand.
And with the Powell Memo in 1971.
There is a long history of the work to kill the goose that insisted on laying golden eggs. It’s very clear now that the few big bois want all those eggs for themselves at the expense of the poor goose.
As I said, there are groups in the US who do not care about democracy at all. The Christian Nationalists are ruled by fascists so quite comfortable with fascism in their churches and their lives. They do not care about the Constitution, but the "word of God" as they understand it. In order to get to heaven they feel Trump will enforce the dictates they want to see in place which they believe will get the Lord to take them to heaven. See Andra Watkins,
https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/what-is-a-christian-nationalist
https://project2025istheocracy.substack.com/p/what-is-the-new-apostolic-reformation
Then there are the White Power Militias. They also don't care about democracy and want to replace our constitution with their own, after getting rid of non-White, non-Christian, and LGBTQ+ people from the US and then the planet. They want to have a global White Power Nation state that erases the rest of us from this earth. That includes women who are not subservient to them. They see Trump as their ticket to that goal. Hear what Prof. Kathleen Belew, expert on Modern White Power movements says about it in this Fresh Air Interview or read the transcript. https://www.npr.org/transcripts/605661710
Even better is reading her book, Bring the War Home: The White Power Movement and Paramilitary America. Once you read it, you can see how what she is discussing of the newer plans of the movement is coming alive under Trump. That is the move to enter politics and take over the government from within, still intending to destroy the constitution, but to tone down their racist rhetoric to do so, and to decry immigrants instead of Blacks, and Brown skinned Americans, with the intention of getting rid of the latter but calling them immigrants because anyone who is not White is considered an illegal immigrant.
And, we have the super wealthy, who also don't care about the constitution and are fascists as long as they are the ones in power with their wealth. They see Trump as a means to paying little to no taxes on their accumulating wealth, and allowing their businesses to exploit the rest of us with no interference from the government. There is overlap between all of the groups, and SCOTUS has 6 justices who are members of the first group, and perhaps the last as well.
We have to believe that our country would not be as successful as it is, without there being more people who will support Democracy and Freedom. Fascism is not good for business, not good for economies, not good for creativity, not good for people. We have to believe that once having had a taste of Trump, more people will recognize that he will not be good for them. We have before in 2020. We can do it again.
It’s not the “word of God” as they understand it, but as they have rewritten it
As their religious leaders are interpreting it to them.
See this latest ProPublica article about Christian Nationalists. It discusses the evolution of CNs and the evolution of the New Apostolic Reformation, tying it into their support of Donald Trump as the leaders tell them to.
https://projects.propublica.org/christian-nationalism-origins/?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations&utm_content=feature
As one previously hypnotized by religious zealots, I know the process. Fortunately, it was not around every corner then. There were some sane options. Now, as you document, the organized “Elmer Gantry’s” are family and friends.
JD I am glad you are no longer hypnotized.
Lord, so am I. Cults are anything but fun. It is fear, wrapped in envy, wrapped in hate for anything “other.” Didn’t take me long to decide that anything other was better…
Exactly.
So what do we do? I got to hear Harris and Michelle Obama speak here in Michigan yesterday and a part of me wished to never have to leave the auditorium. How can so many be mislead by Trump and his minions? You outline so well everything I fear. I have volunteered and donated to the Harris campaign and am hoping and although I am not particularly religious, praying that Kamala is elected.
Well said. I'm concern we will never get our freedoms back. Unfortunately, as an old baby boomer, I feel like I'm talking to deaf and blind people. They say stupid things like he doesn't mean that. I'm frustrated that they ignore everything Trump, Vance, Musk are saying and doing. They just blindly follow.....right off a cliff. Will people ever trust each other enough to overthrow fascism? Cuba couldn't. God bless America.
That is what Kamala faces every day, and all of us, sadly. You described it exactly.
Dear Steve: Unfortunately, although you write clearly and I do not enjoy correcting you on this, YOU HAVE SWALLOWED THE COOL-AID of the Oligarchs and the Autocracy. Yes, I read what you said, and I urge you not to give in to their manufactured and propagandized feeling and sense of INEVITABILITY. As many before Tim Snyder have said: In our existence, there is no such thing as inevitable as long as we each maintain our Autonomy and seek new ways to move through and forward. This is what we must all do together now, even if the worst happens on November 5th. This is not a one shot fight, and yes the election is of critical importance, and yes we may still be surprised by the US vote. This will be long term fight and we need to be prepared for it mentally.
For what it is worth I do not think this inevitable. I think it very possible, but not inevitable. I also hold out that we could be in for a pleasant surprise and Harris over-performs and wins substantially. The US will still be in for a rough time, because the GOP will not peacefully respect the results and again much of the country will still not see a Harris presidency as legitimate, no matter how many international observers attest that it is - as was the case for the last election.
But as for the long term, I for one am aware that we are possibly entrusting someone with the temperament and character of a Caligula with the nuclear codes. There may be no "long term". I can never forgive the American electorate for even flirting with this. And on that score, I am on the same page as any sentient, responsible parent on this planet.
Thanks for you clarification, Steve...it means a lot...as the Post switches to anticipated Obedience.
Spot on...
“The people run democratic governments, but fascist governments run the people.”
And Brecht suggested to the Communist East German government... that they should dissolve the people and elect another... Cfr. Die Lösung
Yes. Who knew that so many educated people would be without vision of what catastrophic actions can be expected from a mentally impaired cruel felon and his waiting in the wings VP? A horror show
Sadly, there are many Americans who think the Dems' accusation of fascism are exaggerated, just another partisan ploy. Oddly, one of the networks gave voice to a 40 something male who is voting for the first time, and it's for Trump. I also watched an NBC Charts episode last night where educated business types are voting Trump although they know his economy policies, namely cross the board tariffs and massive immigrant deportations, would be ruinous for the American economy, why it was ruminated, because they don't believe Trump would actually carry through. A LOT of Americans may think Washington is infected with "deep state" radical socialists as Trump rages on about, let alone the sheer to the roof invective he's hurtling at the "stolen election", by this date, quadrupling down on his Big Lie. And, face it, many Americans are indeed virtual Christian nationalists - "God and nation" esp white. And not just men.
Bonhoeffer was right, “under certain circumstances, people are made stupid or rather, they allow this to happen to them.” Propaganda works in the intellectually astute as well as the intellectually vapid. I feel a tinge of misogyny as well, in many who would be incensed at such a statement.
Saw and heard from a distance, the CN women about a week ago in DC.
Passionate, scary philosophy and group.
The power of your comment made me cry…literally cry. You have expressed all the fears I have been living with all these many months. I do not have faith in the common sense of the people to work for the common good of all people. When I look at all the younger people at the felon’s rallies who have fallen prey to his hateful rhetoric, I cry all over again. Hate is the legacy that the convicted felon leaves behind.
Thank you for your succinct summary of the core issues which must always be kept in mind as we walk through the next 2 weeks, 2 months, and decades hence. Here’s one grateful shoutout to the teachers who choose to light the way towards clarity in alarming times.
“We may have all come on different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now.”
- Rev Dr Martin Luther King, Jr
Thanks for reminding us of our history and the importance of the work we have yet to accomplish.
Eric Holder’s riff on Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous quote about justice:
"the arc...only bends toward justice because people pull it towards justice."
Most immediately, we each can be sharing widely Heather’s letter about fascism.
Yes, Ellie,
I just sent this to my nephew via his dad, my brother. My nephew has never served his country as his father and grandfather did. His life has been laid out for him with privilege at every turn. He proudly posts on Facebook his allegiance to Trump even as Trump’s closest appointees tell us what they know first-hand.
The freedoms and opportunities my nephew’s father and grandfather protected are still evolving within our democracy as that very democracy stands on the precipice.
Our country is not perfect. History has much to teach us as we continue to form that more perfect Union where we truly recognize our shared future with our brothers and sisters around the world.
Thank you and Heather and all the others here today for history’s clear warning faced by our GREAT USA in 2024. Let’s share this post far and wide!!
A good movie for your nephew to see is “Occupied City” by the director Steve McQueen or “Mississippi Burning” but it sounds like your nephew is locked in.
Mississippi Burning is great!!!
Some guys are more open to listening to a coach. Here is San Antonio Spurs Coach Greg Popovich on video and a sportswriter’s short article on what Coach Popovich observed about Trump:
https://pin.it/7AQ4z2Ki9
https://www.expressnews.com/sports/spurs/article/popovich-blasts-trump-setting-bad-example-19865604.php
Yes. Thanks, Ellie. Sharing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hw-Hu9J2NiE
If there is an after-life and the Right Reverend Dr King still exists somewhere in it, may he and other saints of our lifetime come to our aid now.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1LWVY0wwG4
From your keyboard to G*d’s screen
Thank you for the affirmation and a clever one at that, Susan.
Yes, just now reading Joy Reid’s Medgar and Merlie. I am 77 years old and I had no idea how bad it was in Mississippi; I mean I saw a lot of civil rights things in the news when I was in high school but still, the lived lives of Black people in the south… To live with so much fear and misery. It saddens me to my core. 🥲
Marina Inspiring quote. Hope the boat isn’t the Titanic.
🙏🏽
Brilliant, riveting essay, Ma'am. President Harris will win by five to seven percentage points in the popular vote and earn well over three hundred votes in the Electoral College. Please help me, a contrite conservative, to vote President Harris into the White House and to vote candidate Trump into jail. Please join me in thanking President Biden and thanking G-D for President Biden.
Ned, drove my ballot down to the county elections office last week—BallotTrax has notified me it was received and counted (I’d signed up for it several elections ago) and the county will send me election outcomes as they are available and then a final, official, count result. Felt great to vote for Harris/Walz & my Dem down ballot House/Senate reps (of whom I heartily approve). I have a large sign I made for the 2020 election on 1/4” plywood, about 3’x4’ that says “Democracy or Autocracy Our Choice Vote”. This year I hacked a 2020 Biden/Harris sign (I had a separate Harris/Walz sign up) & cut off Harris’s name & used contact paper to write “Thank Y❤️U Prez” at the top of the Biden name on the sign—then wrapped it in clear packing tape to be water-resistant—and screwed it in at a jaunty angle on my big homemade sign. So far I have had several passersby thank me for acknowledging Biden…sure felt like the right thing to do, so I did!
WOWERFUL content there, Barbara. Thank you for showing me the way, Ma'am.
An interesting article out of 'Daily Kos'. Mr Stevens is a Republican strategist for more moderate candidates, now R.I.N.O.es.
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/10/26/2279881/-Stuart-Stevens-is-Extremely-Bullish-on-Kamala-Harris-s-Chances
WOW...I couldn't agree more with Stevens' analysis. Start counting votes with the Biden coalition in 2020. 81 million votes. Kamala has rightly and brilliantly held this coalition together. Just try to estimate how many votes she will add from young, first time voters, women and patriotic x-GOP voters. Aka, The Harris coalition. Then figure out how many voters Trump/Vance might pickup or lose. There aren't enough MAGA, zombie haters out there to defeat Harris/Walz. Not even close. Hilary won by 3 million votes, Biden by 7 million, Harris is likely to win by +10 million.
I wish I could post the meme, "Don't Call it a Comeback" with a zombie gimping along.
Thank you for this Ned.
You are welcome, MaryPat.
💙🙏💙
Sorry Ned, you need to put down the kool aid and start drinking clear water. If Harris wins the electoral college it will be by 2-10 votes at BEST. Any thing more than that will be a stunner. I am still predicting, based on the polls and other salient evidence that she will lose by 10-20 electoral votes. She will still get a majority of popular vote, but probably only 2-3% at best, slightly better than H Clinton, but much less than Biden. Misogyny coupled with racism is very likely to win the day at the finish line.
“polls and other salient evidence”
Big problem with the polls — the respondents are not representative of the demographics actually showing up to vote, and especially not at the voting center I work at in Texas, where they’re definitely not capturing the undeniably large youth vote and female vote.
“other salient evidence”?
Such as? The number of Democratic candidate yard signs / bumper stickers / T-shirts / caps / etc far outweigh those for Republican candidates. The number of people stopping me to tell me how they love my democratic candidate T-shirt, cap, car stickers grows exponentially as we get closer to Election Day. The credibility and volume of endorsements Harris has received compared to Trump plus the credibility and volume of criticism directed at Trump from to who know him best, speaks for itself.
In supposedly “deep red Texas” the support and enthusiasm for Kamala Harris and Colin Allred is palpable! No kool aid drinking here, just eyes wide open and l like what I’m seeing.
Let us hope and, if appropriate to each one of us only, pray that you are right on that one, S.A.T.
And of course it goes without saying that I hope sincerely that I am 100% wrong.
No, not drinking Kool Aid here. I am betting that M.A.G.A.s are over-represented in early voting, polls, and call-in shows that are non-partisan. They are more engaged and waging a defensively driven preemptive attack to create the impression of momentum. Of course, I may be way off; I often am. In any case, I remain optimistic because . . . I have to.
What is your prediction on house and senate?
I predict we (Dems) will recapture the House by 4-5 seats a very thin margin again (which illustrates how closely divided this country is). I predict we will lose the Senate by 2 seats (52-48 GOP). And I believe the White House is a coin flip which slightly favors Trump. Sigh...
Already above my pay-grade on the White House. So, I am up-in-the-air on that one. My hope is that, if candidate Trump gets voted into jail, more reasonable -- perhaps courageous -- Republicans will come to the fore to start righting the heavily listing ship of state.
I told you to stop drinking the kool aid Ned! LOL!
Extraordinary. It could have been written about exactly what we are seeing all around us today.
The formula for fascism is simple; solving it is hard.
EDIT: please read the replies below. They outshine this comment.
No, Ned -- it's easy.
Put humanities back in school, at their center. Include essay writing to see, respect, and draw on others as individuals. And throw out the standardized testers.
Talk about and question what really matters. To individual lives, to a free society.
Phil, J.L., and Barbara: agreed. By hard, I mean that it takes a lot of effort, like two generations *to right the constitutional culture listing under the weight of violence.
"a lot of effort," indeed, Ned.
For me the "hard" part is dealing with the self-satisfied among our intellectuals. They've gone to school and learned never to use any humanities (abstractions, catch-words, slogans, cliché all easily substitute). But because they see movies, hear music, and read novels, they assume they are equipped -- they assume they can use, apply them. When in fact most never do. They let their humanities remain sequestered on, in their passive side. Most never even attempt to make connections via our humanities.
So they cannot even begin to imagine the massive damages done to schools where the ruling, abstracting categorical and linear logic of standardized testing totally crowds out, snuffs out, excludes the humane of possible humanities.
How do we begin with this much needed revolution in our education structures ? I so agree with your take on the dire social consequences of our present Gradgrind children’s bootcamps. We would need a new army of, presently seen as rogue, educators to create the new structures and teach the teachers. Perhaps you could help draw up a Grand Plan ? 🐈⬛
The U.S. has the Fulbright program, and the Peace Corps, Monnina.
Both could begin to train cadres of instructors to teach (at various levels) how to see "others" as individuals.
First in a local classroom, where all write intro essays, then discuss them, then re-write to acknowledge others in the room and good ideas and key, analogous experiences they have had.
Essays then go in exchange swap to neighboring group of same-level students (different nationality, different race, different religious sect). Everyone reads intro essays of the neighbors, and writes back celebrating how different individuals among them handles things.
Phil, while my sentiment aligns 111% with yours. I disagree on your contention about novels. I have found that most non-fiction conveys facts and data while good fiction often engenders wisdom within the reader. Of course, I missed your point: good fiction gets the suicide squeeze by the 'metrics mania' like other humanities.
👍 right on!
By Nov 5
Defining it is famously hard. This Army pamphlet does a great job.
But past a certain point, it becomes pretty obvious, and yes, the Army managed a good outline.
As does the OSS psychological profile of Hitler in 1943.
Democracy is not a principle that we vote for every 4 years. It is a principle we must live and defend every day.
Baron Montesquieu basically said that for democracies to avoid sliding into anarchy and then authoritarianism, the citizens must live and breathe the democratic spirit every day. That does NOT mean a republic of virtue -- hello, reign or terror like that of Pol Pot -- but a republic of everyday men and women seeking a common destiny and blundering along a wide path, forward and more or less together.
In (preponderantly) good faith.
Yeah. That is the pre-condition AND the big 'if', J.D.
And very VERY difficult to achieve if the society is essentially split down the middle with both sides completely distrusting the other and no common ground for dialogue. Which is why I am so dejected that we are basically doomed. Even if Trump loses, we still face at least two years with a GOP led Senate (barring a highly unlikely change of course) and possibly 10 to 20 more years with a Supreme Court which will still have an agenda to help support Trump goals wherever possible.
Harris will have her work cut out for her and Walz will be of little help in that regard if the Senate is majority GOP. And by 2028 we very well may have a REAL revolt to an authoritarian GOP to throw Harris out.
And of course if Trump wins this election pray for the Flying Spaghetti Monster to save us. Because we obviously will have no way to save ourselves.
I hear you, Jon. I am older and physically fit. Live alone; never married. If there is to be fighting in the streets, I am ready. This summer I read a book written in 1964 and 1965 by Allen Drury -- or as my cousin said when plagued with 'Advise and Consent' for summer-bummer reading: Allen Dreary -- basically hypothesizing what a victory by Senator Goldwater would have looked like, at least in foreign policy.
https://www.amazon.com/Capable-Honor-Advise-Consent-3/dp/161475182X
The most valuable take-away for me from that hernial tome was the revelation that these chip-on-the-shoulder right-wingnuts have been around for a much longer time than I had realized. De-industrialization upped the game in the 1980s. Though flawed, crass, and boorish, candidate Trump is baptizing himself in that deep ground-water of rancour coming to the surface.
I read the entire Advise and consent series when I was in my 20s (back in the 70s).. What fascinated me was watching how Drury went from a slightly left of center Democratic supporter in the original book to an almost reactionary right winger ala Trump by the time he wrote Capable of Honor and the two final books (Come Nineveh Come Tyre and Promise of Joy).
He was very affected by the rise of power of the Soviet Union and deeply disliked and mistrusted communism. That can be seen if you read the entire Ad/Con series which is a total of six books as well as his later related books like Anna Hastings.
As a young and fanciful communist myself it was difficult to understand why he made the progression from ALMOST being a leftist to being almost pro Joe McCarthy. I am still not sure I totally understand it and if course he is gone now. But that series of books is definitely insightful into how people in the 50s/60s/early 70s were thinking then. A great series for any person who is seriously interested in the political evolution of the United States.
The sad part is that some people, like the Trump supporter who thought we needed dictatorship simply want to be relieved of the burden of thinking and to have someone else make decisions on their behalf. They have only themselves to blame when the inevitable disaster hits.
That comes from a high level of suffering across the Midwest, South, and plains states where many people likely feel they have been left behind and ignored. That is the danger of candidate Trump for me: he preaches a politics of vengeance . . . but, ¿against whom? We are seeing scape-goating in a real way in real time.
But the Reagan’s, wear such attractive clothing. And spout such subtle lies. As was quoted, wrapped in a flag and carrying a Bible.
You're exactly right. That's been my biggest lesson of all through all of this Trump madness. Democracies must be protected and cherished...By everyone.
All of which begs the question what do we do if that fails us? When half the people in the country no longer even care enough to act sensibly? What then? Civil War? That worked (sort of) when the weaponry at the disposal of the people were almost the same as what was at the disposal of the armed forces. That of course is no longer true.
Secession? Highly unlikely. We have historical precedent that secession should never be permitted.
I apologize for making this so down spirited but I believe we are only a week or so away from having to actually start really looking at these issues and figuring out what to do.
Jon — someone has to say it. I keep thinking about how the Right has been organizing and working toward this moment for decades, while the Left has cherry-picked issues to be upset about and focus on. Will the results of this election finally help us get off our duffs and organize?
The big risk is "too little too late". I seriously fear that Trump will be successful in his authoritarian takeover and it may be generations before the "ship of state" can be unsunk.
We're going to win...
Good luck with that. Nothing at all suggests this is true other than being a "true believer". I sure hope you are right but I am pretty sure you are wrong.
Precisely. A society governed by and for the people. If we don't do it, who will?
But if half plus one of the people want a radically different country, then what? Government by the people so requires the people and I believe we are going to face some bitter truths the day after election day.
well said, thank you...
"Democracy is not a spectator sport"
This is so appropriate, Dear Professor. Somewhere I might stil have a copy of that War Department pamphlet. From many decades ago.
If any of you have not read Robert Reich's post of Oct. 25 in the afernoon about meeting Henry Wallace as a child, I will paste en excerpt he included from the Aug. 9, 1944 New York times written by Wallace:
"A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions, or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.…
The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power.…
It has been claimed at times that our modern age of technology facilitates dictatorship. What we must understand is that the industries, processes, and inventions created by modern science can be used either to subjugate or liberate. The choice is up to us.…
The American fascists are most easily recognized by their deliberate perversion of truth and fact. Their newspapers and propaganda carefully cultivate every fissure of disunity, every crack in the common front against fascism. They use every opportunity to impugn democracy. They use isolationism as a slogan to conceal their own selfish imperialism.… They claim to be superpatriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution. They demand free enterprise but are the spokesmen for monopoly and vested interests.…
Still another danger is represented by those who, paying lip service to democracy and the common welfare, in their insatiable greed for money and the power which money gives, do not hesitate surreptitiously to evade the laws designed to safeguard the public from monopolistic extortion.…
Monopolists who fear competition and who distrust democracy because it stands for equal opportunity would like to secure their position against small and energetic enterprise. In an effort to eliminate the possibility of any rival growing up, some monopolists would sacrifice democracy itself….
Their final objective toward which all their deceit is directed is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection."
There were those who saw things clearly back then. The progressives of us spent too many years basking in the laurels of our victories of the 60s and early70s, while RUST NEVER SLEEPS, if you know what I mean. Time to commit to keeping our machine cleaned and well lubed.
Wow, spot on.
Curious, how might you have the pamphlet?
I have some interesting ones due to my parents having kept such things (and having lived to 98 and a currently alive 100), but not this one. I do have a lovely 1938 War Production Board "Books are weapons in the war of ideas" one. The collection is pretty random!
Rust never sleeps, profound
Neil Young liked it too. Here’s the album, Rust Never Sleeps. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSzQ5tXtxOEYqkSwew-J2hbwIwuhh1dY9
Thanks, missed that one. Ride My Llama has got to be a good one. I love llamas. I’d like to spit on some critters too. They know how to express displeasure…
🤣
This series of pamphlets was written by my father. I haven’t looked at them in a long time. Thank you so much. He would be rolling in his grave to see what is happening now.
Wow, what a fortuitous connection. I’m sure Heather would appreciate hearing this, but she won’t find your comment here. You could email her, DM her on Facebook, or maybe message her on X Twitter.
Good idea. Thank you so much for the suggestion!
Thank you and your father.
He was an able truth teller and his powerful written words carry that truth across time.
Thank you for your kind words!
I'm just dropping here that your copy is worth more than might first suggest. The link in the notes up above goes to the Internet Archive site, and is functional...today. But the Archive has been hacked and recently was offline for awhile, and could be again. So physical copies are increasingly critical records.
For those who have not gone to the Archive site, it allows for download of a pdf version so you can have a digital copy on your computer to read offline.
Note: I have no association with the Archive except I send them a few dollars to support their work when I can.
Molly, what's your father's name?
Wow, Molly. Now I’m curious to read his other writings. What a way with words.
“[w]e once laughed Hitler off as a harmless little clown with a funny mustache.”
Or an ineffectual side show act with an orangish skin and a funny combover.
And calling him an ordinary little man was a sin that could not be tolerated (from LFAA 10-21-24). Calling chump a clown is something he will not forget.
Could not be more appropriate , we have two choices in the next ten days. This should be read and pronounced on all multi media until voting day. Thank you Heather
And shared by us widely. This information on the fascism our fathers, uncles, and grandfathers fought against is what softens the persuadable Independents and reasonable Republicans.
My father,(sadly now deceased) like so many others, fought in France and Germany in WWII. Often wakened by nightmares of what he experienced, he spoke little of what he saw. What he did discuss with all of us was THIS…exactly what Heather shared tonight. The dangers of fascism. He knew this awareness was important for his children. Many spirited political conversations were held around our dining room table, especially when extended family came to visit.
I miss his insight and wish he was here today to tell us all the truth of what he and his band of brothers fought against.
It harkens a movie from the 1940s, The Best Years of our Lives. The scene in the diner when a flag-pin-wearing man questions the brave WWII veterans about their sacrifices (was it worth it?). A fight ensues, with the veteran pulling the flag pin off of the lapel of the fascist-loving creep.
https://youtu.be/D4EjRzzRQLI
Thanks for this letter, Heather! We can NEVER FORGET…We can’t go back…We won’t go back! 💙
Thanks, Kari. I’m in tears. And sharing.
And shared by us widely, and even after this election. We’ve learned painfully how little we can rely on the media.
This is sad because it is NOT the media that has led us here. It is the people on the right who don't mind giving up on democracy coupled with the people on the left (us) who wore blinders and refused to look dispassionately at where we were heading and demand that our leaders do what was needed to avoid it early enough to make a difference. We can all applaud for Harris but I do not believe it was the BEST option we might have had if Biden hadn't been so fool hardy and appropriately stepped aside a year ago. That is of course water under the bridge but it doesn't change the reality.
Joe Scarborough frequently.entertained Trump for hours in 2015 on the phone. JOE even said "golly, there's something about him that reminds me of Jack Kennedy."
So, the.media gave.birth to this beast, and nurtured it like a little baby. So, you're wrong.
No you're wrong. Trump was famous long before Joe Scarborough even knew who he was. And even before The Apprentice. But none of that is the point. The media isn't "in charge". The media reflects what the people want and seek. If you haven't learned that then you are as ignorant as the masses. It is the people who get what they want and deserve.
“I know you are and but what am I.” to quote Pee-Wee Herman. These debates are pointless anyway, it’s over-and-done. For the record, though, the fact that Trump was “famous, long-before” was my point. Celebrity-addicted culture got what “they deserve.”
You hit the bull's eye, Christopher, Pretty damnably stark, ¿is it not?
No, we have no choice. 2 fraudulent parties.
Trouble is, I don't believe many Americans care about fascist leaders like Trump and his GOP cronies. They will willingly vote for a leader who would take away our democracy as he pretends to defend it against the "enemy within." They willingly embrace all his lies about our terrible economy, evil immigrants, and "taking our country back" I believe Trump will lose this election. but that won't change the fact that three are a lot of ignorant, stupid people in this country who don't give a damn about protecting our country from would-be tyrants like Trump. I hope they will lose badly this time.
Having talked to many friends and family who side with the MAGA crowd, I believe it comes down to that age-old conundrum: security or freedom.
There is enough fear in this country to capitalize off of; if you exploit the underlying fears of a population through disinformation, misinformation, propaganda, etc. then of course they will pick security over freedom, which they have been lead to believe is "under attack". They will even be willing to COMPROMISE their current freedom in order to protect a "larger" or "more important" freedom.
As the Jedi say, fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, and hate leads to the Dark Side.
We are fighting fear - this fear is misplaced, undoubtedly, but it has also gone unaddressed long enough that it has festered and become anger, fermented into hate. And now we have to convince people who did not even KNOW they were afraid that they are compromising freedom and democracy for a false security.
After speaking with all my MAGA family and friends, all I can really say is that many of them would really benefit from some rigorous therapy. There's a lot of repressed emotion, trauma, and abuse that many of them of offloading without knowing it.
I demur, TJB, when you say "this fear . . . has also gone unaddressed long enough . . .."
Not quite. I can list for you a whole raft of novels, films, memoirs, and songs which very aptly addressed the fear residing in tens of millions of our working-class neighbors who got their jobs offshored, and who never understood what hit them.
These fears of theirs by very, very fine artists were very, very well addressed.
Greater problem, TJB, has been how the Powell memo far-right foundations -- before they did the decades'-long offshoring -- first killed humanities in schools. So Americans were learning never to see, never to imagine seeing, the great resources that were in fact there.
And with standardized testing having taken over, the conceits of abstracting all life (by categories, by the units and chronologies of linear logic) hammered final nails in the humanities coffin, the humane possibilities in us we lost.
As you say, an illusion of security. An illusion of innate supremacy. In actuality security and real freedom are inseparable. By solidarity and an empowering, lawful society we maximize freedom for a society, for real freedom is not uncountable predation, but universal rights, which means rights that must not be violated by others. freedom is both freedom to and freedom from, AKA security borne of solidarity and just rule of law. The "Four Freedoms" among others. The right to walk down the street and be relatively confident of making it home in safety.
" — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men (sic), deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,"
Interesting. Deploying your analysis of what a free lawful society entails any form of fascism could equally be called a Mobster’s Charter. Social justice being seen to be done from the highest to the lowest, the performance of the right rule of law in our daily lives, is the living foundation stone of democracy.
Organized crime is organized to intimidate and, of course to live like kings on the backs of others. I displays all the earmarks of a despotic government except for possessing "official" powers; and those it manipulates by bending the law and those who craft and enforce it. It is a parasite that feeds on government incompetence and corruptibility, a power, if not THE power behind the throne, reminiscent of our US oligarchy. Trump was reportedly cozy with organized crime from early on https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/donald-trump-2016-mob-organized-crime-213910/
It seems to me that power over people can be roughly divided into love, decency and persuasion, as well as money, status and violence. The latter is not always evil, money is a medium of exchange, official status in the form of entrusted responsibilities is necessary, and I think (as a last resort) even measured violence is is a fit response to a clear and present attack; but in a corrupted society the last three become extreme, interchangeable and hostile to our "better angels". Human on human predation is our constant and most devastating, even species-wide existential enemy.
Agreed. Marcel Mauss’ The Gift (on the social good of material exchange) and some work the name of which I have forgotten on Love and Law in the Middle Ages, wherein love was deemed the most important moral truth informing social justice, were important in forming my present views.
Yes. A lot of therapy needed. And kindness.
Our technological cleverness keeps exceeding our wisdom, and is itself a threat. We a running out of time to understand our own very complicated individual and social human nature. We animals are the only sentient beings in the universe, so far as we know, and owing to the speed-limit of light, may ever encounter. Our lives and logical/sensual awareness is a gift beyond measure, yet we still allow our primitive ego's to royally frick it up. Honesty about ourselves, and to ourselves, might still save us, while lies and delusion are killers.
Thousands of years ago a marker was installed at the Temple at Delphi:
Inscribed on a column in the pronaos (forecourt) of the temple were an enigmatic
"E" and three maxims:[46][47]
Know thyself
Nothing to excess
Surety brings ruin, or "make a pledge and mischief is nigh" (ἐγγύα πάρα δ'ἄτα)[48] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pythia
Of course, the fact it was said does not make it true, but it seems to me they were on to something. All three seem to warn of hubris.
As for kindness, It has somehow always seemed to me that this was the overriding recommendation of Jesus, and just plain makes good sense.
TJB, you write what I see in my MAGAt cohort of retired cop friends. They are absolutely convinced that Christianity is under attack and is being shunted aside for “inclusion”. They think marriage is “under attack because gay people can marry. They believe that Mexican immigrants are stealing jobs from “honest white people.” They are convinced that transgender people are ruining children. They are fearful and angry; a bad combination.
Problem is: talk therapy only works on those who still believe in the tue definition of words.
The appalling statements by Stephen Miller, Steven Cheung,, Karoline Leavitt and the rest of the campaign toadies are horrifying & full of hate. They are truly frightening.
As Brian Massui called it 2 decadesn ago: ;the reactionaries have mastered "the politics of EVERYDAY fear."
Thank you very much. This is spot on.
Thank you, Dr. Richardson. It occurs to me that Trump and his MAGA Republicans have ticked every box. They have passed the Fascist exam. My question is, WHO ARE WE? Collectively, we are creating the future to come for all those we love, who will exist after us. We are truly on the edge here, truth or lies, liberty and justice for all or corruption, peaceful coexistence or violence, civility and respect or mockery and hatred, accepted caste system and social hierarchy based on ethnicity and wealth or level field of opportunities based on skill and work ethic. Patriotism has become a word twisted into a tool that any speaker can use for intended purpose. Personally, I more often find it repugnant as used by the elected Republicans actively or passively moving us from democracy into fascism because their ideas on governance have proven unhelpful and therefore unpopular with the American people overall. In a fascist system they won’t need approval of citizen voters. They will only need to be obedient to succeed personally. So, all these words to say….this is not a normal election in which policies that will most benefit the country are on the debate table. We know who Donald Trump is. We know what the once respectable, responsible Republican Party has become as MAGA extremist have prevailed and truth speakers have been expelled. We are clear and concerned about what the Republican Party represents currently. They are liars, cowards, not protective of the American people and our children. This is the moment we show one another ‘who we are’. Are we decent? Are we honest? Are we good people? Do we believe in science, in those speaking to us from certified expertise or does any old con artist with an axe to grind have just as much influence? The world is watching. History is holding its breath, historians waiting to write the truth or lies that will be told to coming generations. WHO ARE WE? I suppose the results of this election will answer.
thank you we do have a choice in our vote...who are we? will those who are convinced for T. be able to change?
I strongly doubt it.
Never.
Thank you for this slice of history. I’m seeing in my mind’s eye a picture of a man who hugs the flag while, according to the man closest to him in the White House, is a fascist and the most flawed person that he’s ever met.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/10/22/us/politics/john-kelly-trump-fitness-character.html
https://thehill.com/homenews/news/521507-john-kelly-called-trump-the-most-flawed-person-hes-ever-met-report/amp/
Thank you Dr. Richardson. Wow, great post.
Reading this, I was saying to myself Check, Check, Check.
It's so blatant now. Right there in the open. And it's frightening.
Trump may like Hitler, but Dr Seuss knew better. You might enjoy a look at a bunch of Seuss' anti-fascist cartoons from WWII https://forgottenfiles.substack.com/p/seusss-satirical-war-on-fascism
Wow, I had no idea that Dr. Seuss produced this anti-fascist material. It packs a punch! Thank you.
Thank you for sharing here! Seuss’s work was tireless! Thank you, too, for talking about his racism and ability to move away from it.
We never thought it could happen here. And yet, it has.
It was happening here before December 7, 1941. The brains of humans are susceptible to this trap based on millions of years of evolution. Only since 1776 did we become so self aware to think it can be overcome.
It requires stubborn determination.
The Founders sadly set up a system where the oligarchs would be in charge by having an Electoral College.