Thank you for rationally telling the story of tonight’s absolutely disgusting rally. I had to stop listening to the speeches but wanted to see the words. I appreciate the Calmness this brings to my brain, even while absolutely terrified. Please know how much we appreciate you. And thanks to Buddy too for loaning you to us.
Thanks for sharing, Lin. At first, I thought it might be grainy footage from the Trump rally. Then I realized it wasn't, however, there really isn't much difference in the end, is there?
Yeah, not much difference in the rallies. But hopefully 'in the end' we will prevail.
As Robert Hubbell wrote this morning:
"Let’s all say it together: The race is within the margin of error—and the margin of effort! It feels like we are caught in a time warp in which the election season will drag on forever. But we can see the end in sight—and we have reasons to be hopeful. Kamala Harris has stayed on message (for which she has been criticized by the media), while Trump uses each rally to insult or demean a new bloc of voters in the US. On Sunday, those two arcs intersected—to Kamala Harris’s advantage."
If it wasn’t for Heather’s Letter, and her intelligent responders, I’d feel isolated in an ocean of anxiety. Taking action in any way possible has helped me find a way to sleep without serial nightmares echoing Nazis storm troopers and much more in WW11.
Yes we are indeed ‘woke’ those of us who know history, and might have friends whose parents were survivors of the camps and on and on.
Thank G at least the NYTimes is outing him. Better late than never!
Sorry to admit it but history was not my favorite subject. HCR has enlightened me as do many of her followers. This is why I read many of the comments. More education.
I requested tickets for the facist rally just so I could not go and leave two seats empty. My intention was to go and protest outside but my bronchitis prevented me. However, I wouldn’t miss Steve Bannon’s release tomorrow from Danbury Federal prison in a million years. Come join us. I’ll be ringing my bell. 7AM to be sure.
Contempt of court sentences aren't very long. Typically 3 to 6 months. Bannon got 4 months. As noted above or below he was pardoned for his federal crimes just before Trump left office in 2020 so no trial for those things is possible. Presidential pardons are pretty much "golden" parachutes. Still hoping New York will put him in prison for a long time. President can't pardon you for a state crime.
Maybe this is the October 2024 Not-So-Surprising-Surprise... DJT completely Melting Down as he is Staring RUIN IN THE FACE IF HE LOSES THE ELECTION... DJT could also be prepping his INSANITY DEFENSE... Imagine what the History Books will say in 50+ Years...
Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat has been predicting that all Trump can do is escalate. It gets him the press he wants and inflames his followers. Will it inflame swing voters? I don't understand being undecided because I am in general a very decisive person. If I don't know enough about something I read, read, read, watch, watch, watch, ask, ask, ask, discuss, discuss, discuss.
Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a very smart Person... I find the Key in this Missive was that DJT, who is a World-Class Cheater & a Mediocre Person, hasn't tried finding New Voters, instead like everything he does, DJT always tries to Cheat His Way To Success.... Political Power, Business, his Wives, and Golf... DJT even had someone take his SATs for him.... DJT is a Paragon of Corruption...
Here is Ben-Ghiat talking with Journalist Kara Swisher last Friday. They reaffirm my concern since JD Vance was announced that he is the one to worry about, as he vies to take over power and then be a proxy president for Peter Thiel, a brilliant, twisted, Bad Boy Billionaire Tech Bro.
Listen to what they are saying as they discuss Bezos, Musk, JD Vance and Peter Thiel. It is scary stuff.
If DJT does not need to find new voters, because enough Americans think like he does, then America is not the country I thought it was, because that would be too many awful or uninformed people making up our country. I would like to believe that is not the case.
I don't think that (perhaps due to our obsession with commercialism) most of us are trained to think in whole systems. Irrational ideologies are built to fend off any discordant information. They isolate in a endless loops of circular arguments. The punish doubt, sometimes violently. I thing that the spin can be broken, at least for some, but it isn't easy. Germany largely recovered from such a state, but it took defeat of their aggression.
Massive defeat, and remember the Allies' campaign of deNazification ultimately failed, there were just too many German nazi members around, so they were co-opted, mostly to rebuild a saner Germany, and the few Nazi comeback hopefuls failed in their efforts. As you know many wanted Germany more or less left flattened, and thanks to a godless Communists in this case the USSR with its takeover of eastern Europe, Germany did super well, now a heartland nation for the EU.
The “awful” people are real, and all around. They think they will rule. The America I thought it was has more enemies within than chump thinks he has. Always accuse of what you do.
I fear your fears are well founded. There's enough of them, and whoever, to take the tolls to "dead heat" though I'm hopeful that's partly a red poll flood distorting things, just the same, this election is won at the margins, in the latest case, how many Puerto Ricans in terms of vote changing, actually turning out. Yes, "turnout" is a critical margin. 66% a record turned out in 2020. I have no idea what the poll models are using, but it things like "garbaging" Puerto Rico, and more esp women's reproductive rights, turn the dial, that may well be decisive. MSG may well have just turned that dial up a notch, hopefully more.
Thanks, Linda, for the link to Ben-Ghiat-Swisher conversation. They laid out the Thiel uber-game plan brilliantly. It has grieved me that Rene Girard's revelatory theories about human mimetic desire and scapegoating have been used by Thiel as weapons in his arsenal for his insane vainglory of conquering the world with his male brilliance.
Linda, I think the comment meant to say that Trump knows he is in a minority. He is focused on creating havoc and legal finagling to steal the presidency.
Well believe it after we get election results. This is truly a time to fasten your seatbelt and ride to a Harris-Walz win. Whew! Truly unbelievable. Given that he is not doing or saying anything to get new voters, he and his sycophants surely are planning to repeat 2020 chaos.
Hello Linda.... I agree, DJT will be replaced if he wins thru the Electoral College, or other Nefarious Means... JD is much Smarter, and more Dangerous... He has no 'Center'... Changed his Name three times... Hmm?... I tend to agree that JD will just be a Puppet for the 'Dark Siths'.... DJT's Minions? You do not know U.S. History like the First-Nations do...
I agree. I have a German mom, and had a Black dad who was part Native American, so when I was an undergrad I studied these histories because they interested me but would have anyway because they are interesting, when I was an undergrad. I am always learning. One of the guys in my Democrats Abroad book club group is from a reservation in Oklahoma, now he works in tech and does biodynamic farming in Germany.
America is Americans and there are plenty of Courageous ones, like the people who are standing up to Trump in the Republican party and endorsing Harris. She is the bravest of all, standing up to a bully with all his bully boys, and his bully Party.
Let us hope in his escalation he peels off likely voters. But then, there are those who secretly agree with him and that will show at the ballot box too.
Let us say, respond to it. We should be thinking ahead though. We could be having DT, but according to many, it will be JDV. He or his Bad Boy Tech Billionaire Bro overlords will try to place him in as their proxy in the Presidency. I see a battle between the 3 factions, but they may align. That is Heritage Foundation who has been advising conservative presidents since Reagan, The America First Foundation who is advising Trump in this election under the rug so to speak, with the same agenda as in Project 2025, but not made public, and then there is the JD Vance faction, even though JD V is presenting like a Christian Nationalist, but he is a shapeshifter and we don't know which shape he will take in the end, but it presumes to be bad for all of us. A less known or unknown bad. So, we need to be thinking about Trump, Project 2025, America First Policy Institute https://americafirstpolicy.com/, and JD V and the Billionaire Tech Bros who want to run our country too and think their monetary success entitles them to as superior people. So, I am not sure, but it will certainly influence the rest of the world too.
Thiel has a political and economic partnership via Epstein’s UK friend, the Labour Party peer, Peter Mandelson. They have successfully teamed up to privatise the data system of England’s National Health system via Palantir.
The Heritage Foundation folk also fund many at 55 Tufton Street, a London based research unit which informed and aided UK politicians to successfully expidite an extreme severance with the postwar Peace Project EU via Brexit. The Boys involved seem to be moving toward a full corporate takeover of democratic governance in the UK and US. It could be argued that they have already succeeded in delivering this global oligarch’s dream in the Murdoch controlled UK. See: https://europeanpowell.substack.com/p/zone-fever-means-the-uk-is-no-longer
Monnina, thanks for sharing the link. It is frightening stuff, that reminds me of times in history that were really bad. I do see Putin as a key player because his war on Ukraine triggered off a lot of things in Europe that has disrupted the status quo.
I am not saying Trump would do this. I am saying JD Vance will remove Trump using Article 25, which I read had been planned since Peter Thiel bought his place as VP. Listen to a discussion of Thiel by Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Journalist Kara Swisher as they discuss Bezos's capitulation to fascism first. https://youtu.be/yBSAveg-fzg?si=cbkcvJuof89JKQZD
Yet Trump operatives Stephen Miller and Jill Stein (who are Jewish) are working to elect Trump and institute a ChristoFascist state - proponents of which promote Jews and other others being allowed residency but not civil rights.
Go figure. Serving Trump is never a safe berth.
"During the Nazis' ascent to power, some Jewish organizations, such as the Association of German National Jews and The German Vanguard supported nazism *until being outlawed in late 1935.*"
"Stephen Miller’s claim that “America is for Americans and Americans only” directly echoed the statement of Adolf Hitler that "Germany is for Germans and Germans only.” "
Stein splitting off American leftish voters from the Democratic party to elect Trump, is using the same tactic Stalin did to elect Hitler by splitting off German Communists from the German center left.
Again, it won't be better under JD Vance, but I think we should be prepared for him to take over as president, using Article 25, which I have heard he was going to use, as planned by Peter Thiel since he was first announced.
MAGA’s don’t read the NYTimes or any other source and only watch or listen to vitriol on Fox or other right wing podcasts, X, or whatever. Never-the-less, the NYTimes, the WaPo and other former “trusted” sources have normalized trump’s behavior for way too long. Anything they write now (after voting has started) is way too little, way too late. The damage done to those former reliable resources could be the final nail in the coffin for their business model and incentive for the reputable journalists to carve out new ventures.
Newspapers have come and gone for hundreds of years but the more recent decades of steady decline is more of an industry demise. For a few years In my “former” life, I successfully managed the pension investment account of a well known newspaper and heard a lot of the difficulties the industry was facing. Survivorship in a digital world was an open challenge and that was before competition from podcasts and independent sources was on the radar.
Not so ironic, the industry consolidation has made a valuable market for very old newspapers! Ironically, the investment management business where I spent my career also no longer exists! Algorithms rule and AI and crypto currency are other relatively new players changing that landscape.
I have a story to tell. I was raised by two victims of the Holocaust in rural NC in the 50’s & 60’s. The town was made up of mostly Southern Baptists and the races were black and white. In 1964, we integrated schools for the first time in history. It was decreed by LBJ that the South comply with those orders. In my English class, all of the students were required to read “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “A Tale of Two Cities”. We were also to see enrichment films at our town’s theater that went along with the books we were reading.
For years, my mother turned the tv off if she knew the Anne Frank movie was playing on a channel. She never wanted my sister and I to know the horrors of Nazi Germany. When it came time for the film to be shown at the theater, I lied to her and said it was another movie. I went with friends and then I saw what my mom and dad had tried to shield us from. After the show, my friends wanted to go out to our hangout but I asked them to drive me home. I walked into my house and collapsed in my mother’s arms, sobbing. She too, cried. We were up until 2am talking. I am tearful just remembering the pain she and my dad felt having to leave their country, their family and friends.
When the Wall came down, that’s when my mother found out how her parents died…gassed in 1942 at the camp called Chelmno.
How hard that must have been for your mother! Do you think she was relieved to know, or would not knowing have been better? My daughter's father is Jewish, and I took her to Ann Frank's house just over a decade ago. We also visited the Museum of the Dutch Resistance (or that's what I recall of the name). I thought it was important for her to know that some people did push back.
I went to the Holocaust Museum in DC with two of my first cousins as I had never been there. I think we were there for 4 hours. When we got to the area where they have the camps area and where candles are lit, that’s where I lost it. My poor mama…
Not everyone is like that. Some just don’t engage with politics or are too busy working three jobs to pay attention to it. Or don’t think and inquire until the last few days.
That being too busy is the reason so many of my friends in the US do not pay attention, and several have had their therapists tell them to not pay attention to the news since it is so depressing. That is what he fascists are counting on.
Professor Ben Ghiat’s prediction that Trump’s only tool is escalation. Last night’s rally showed us what escalated rhetoric sounds like. Should he. E re-elected, the escalation won’t be just talk! Let’s hope Trump’s hateful rally escalated him to defeat!
In Ben-Ghiat's book Strongmen, there is always an end to a fascist, be it being overthrown, the people uprising, or death, or defeat. Perhaps it could be a McDonald's burger and fries. It would be poetic justice.
A recent article in The New Yorker posited that the people who actually came to the capital on January 6th were activated by racism. Would not racist rhetoric then be the most effective way to repeat the attempted coup?
It was decided at least amongst the White Power Movement, that as they chose to enter the government instead of always trying to blow it up, see Oklahoma City Bombing, that immigration would be the code word for race going forward. We see how it has spread so widely that even those who are being referred to by the term are anti immigrants, and thus anti themselves. So, this racism in code "immigrants" is being repeated.
I think we must face the fact that a significant proportion of our U.S. population would quite happily, given permission by Trump and chance, deport or eliminate or execute or imprison every citizen and legal or illegal resident belonging to minority groups including, Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, Jews, Muslims ….. of course these folks screaming for mass deportations, executions, etc., are the same people claiming they are prolife, anti-abortion.
Shirley Jackson’s famous short story The Lottery suggests that people enjoy killing, especially in the name of preserving a way of life they have been convinced is necessary to maintaining their supposed tradition, even if that tradition is completely false.
Linda, that's because you are a sentient being. capable of deductive reasoning.
"George Washington ... flanked by Swastikas"? No one can "sane'splain" that MSG Nazi Rally. You need the a forensic psychiatrist to decode his wistful desire to tan " ... my beautiful, white, white body."
That's his closing argument: " ... my beautiful, white, white body".
I think he still wants to believe he can get away with anything. His money and his ability to lie no matter what let him pretty much do that all his life, though he seems now to pushing his luck.
Well, if you will see my link above in the chat to Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Kara Swisher, you might think that JD Vance is the one to watch and worry about as a more unknown fascist with his authoritarian billionaire backers.
This was not a rally to gain more votes. It was a way to keep his base angry enough to rebel when he loses. The "secret" he shares with Mike Johnson is the warning shot.
Harris will win. Trump will claim the election was stolen. Johnson and team will assist.
Bill, I hope we are both wrong, that this MSG rally is not a harbinger of evils to come. But the T**** signs are still up at a couple houses even here. We'll have a lot of work to do getting them back to normalcy.
I assume there are plans for that. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
I imagine that Trump is being treated like an enemy agent in some circles, and no leakage of these plans is a good thing. Our media is not to be trusted with our national security. Look at Bezos and Musk. So, assume that it is not going to be gotcha, on their parts, but on the part of our government.
Unhinged is a bit different from uncontrollable (though said before needs said again).
It’s Vance ‘they’re after ‘, the divisive techniques set the tone , successful again. Echos of Bernie from however long ago ….”oligarchs , we are a nation of oligarchs” …and at their mercy , whether it’s corporate America hiking prices, insurance companies/Big Pharma they led the slow demise , we missed the slight of hand …far too late likely ..as the subtle ‘slight’ success swallowed us up …the rest of the story…?
Harris is (as Emily so very well wrote) , the first woman President -best qualified -having served in all three houses of our Government and a woman of color to take us forward into our future …bring on the BLUE TSUNAMI 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙, UNITE …let’s clean up (NOT back up) and clear out the MAGA Mob, and shine sisters SHINE! 🇺🇸🫶💙💙
Apache. I wonder if we will have history books in 50+ years, mostly because we will have probably destroyed the livability of the planet by then. I see continuing chaos created by climate change as people scramble and struggle to survive. Once again, even though I am visited by problems caused by age, I am glad to be in my early 80s.
Thank you for rationally telling the story of tonight’s absolutely disgusting rally. I had to stop listening to the speeches but wanted to see the words. I appreciate the Calmness this brings to my brain, even while absolutely terrified. Please know how much we appreciate you. And thanks to Buddy too for loaning you to us.
Nice reminder to thank Buddy who I believe is a major supporter of our Letters from An American!
And a reminder of why - with HCR and Buddy - we are all working so hard to elect Harris.
Lincoln Project rally ad: Quotes.
https://youtu.be/fMjhl9jxrug?si=u-RztWDHuk5YAtdj
What a chilling ad. Thank you, Lincoln Project, and thank you, Lincoln, for sharing this.
My postcards to swing states are ready—and I’m headed to the Post Office this morning!
Thanks for sharing, Lin. At first, I thought it might be grainy footage from the Trump rally. Then I realized it wasn't, however, there really isn't much difference in the end, is there?
Ha.
Yeah, not much difference in the rallies. But hopefully 'in the end' we will prevail.
As Robert Hubbell wrote this morning:
"Let’s all say it together: The race is within the margin of error—and the margin of effort! It feels like we are caught in a time warp in which the election season will drag on forever. But we can see the end in sight—and we have reasons to be hopeful. Kamala Harris has stayed on message (for which she has been criticized by the media), while Trump uses each rally to insult or demean a new bloc of voters in the US. On Sunday, those two arcs intersected—to Kamala Harris’s advantage."
No difference. He did read and learn his playbook🤬
Wow lin, sounds way too familiar. Totally left me in disgust!
Totally agree Jeanne, and company.
If it wasn’t for Heather’s Letter, and her intelligent responders, I’d feel isolated in an ocean of anxiety. Taking action in any way possible has helped me find a way to sleep without serial nightmares echoing Nazis storm troopers and much more in WW11.
Yes we are indeed ‘woke’ those of us who know history, and might have friends whose parents were survivors of the camps and on and on.
Thank G at least the NYTimes is outing him. Better late than never!
Samani. I feel the same way.
Sorry to admit it but history was not my favorite subject. HCR has enlightened me as do many of her followers. This is why I read many of the comments. More education.
Yes Samani, I too take some small comfort from the readers of HCR's letters. Thank you (almost) all.
They sure know how to hit where it hurts. Learn Dems.
Lin. Thank you.
Good ad... terrifying but effective
This is a must see! Thank you for sharing!
WOW!!! GO, LP!!!
I requested tickets for the facist rally just so I could not go and leave two seats empty. My intention was to go and protest outside but my bronchitis prevented me. However, I wouldn’t miss Steve Bannon’s release tomorrow from Danbury Federal prison in a million years. Come join us. I’ll be ringing my bell. 7AM to be sure.
Bannon is already getting out of prison?!
Contempt of court sentences aren't very long. Typically 3 to 6 months. Bannon got 4 months. As noted above or below he was pardoned for his federal crimes just before Trump left office in 2020 so no trial for those things is possible. Presidential pardons are pretty much "golden" parachutes. Still hoping New York will put him in prison for a long time. President can't pardon you for a state crime.
Trump gave him a pardon on some charges. Short sentence on contempt. But - still state charges for fraud.
"Bannon border-wall fraud trial to begin in December after contempt term ends
Trump ally, in prison for defying congressional subpoena, accused of conning donors who gave money for border wall"
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/23/bannon-border-fraud-trial
Yes, only a 3 or 4 months sentence.
And I will have my Hiel Hitler sign.
Activism at its best!
Maybe this is the October 2024 Not-So-Surprising-Surprise... DJT completely Melting Down as he is Staring RUIN IN THE FACE IF HE LOSES THE ELECTION... DJT could also be prepping his INSANITY DEFENSE... Imagine what the History Books will say in 50+ Years...
Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat has been predicting that all Trump can do is escalate. It gets him the press he wants and inflames his followers. Will it inflame swing voters? I don't understand being undecided because I am in general a very decisive person. If I don't know enough about something I read, read, read, watch, watch, watch, ask, ask, ask, discuss, discuss, discuss.
Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat is a very smart Person... I find the Key in this Missive was that DJT, who is a World-Class Cheater & a Mediocre Person, hasn't tried finding New Voters, instead like everything he does, DJT always tries to Cheat His Way To Success.... Political Power, Business, his Wives, and Golf... DJT even had someone take his SATs for him.... DJT is a Paragon of Corruption...
Here is Ben-Ghiat talking with Journalist Kara Swisher last Friday. They reaffirm my concern since JD Vance was announced that he is the one to worry about, as he vies to take over power and then be a proxy president for Peter Thiel, a brilliant, twisted, Bad Boy Billionaire Tech Bro.
https://youtu.be/yBSAveg-fzg?si=Z3D8zeDaU3Wohgx3
Listen to what they are saying as they discuss Bezos, Musk, JD Vance and Peter Thiel. It is scary stuff.
If DJT does not need to find new voters, because enough Americans think like he does, then America is not the country I thought it was, because that would be too many awful or uninformed people making up our country. I would like to believe that is not the case.
I don't think that (perhaps due to our obsession with commercialism) most of us are trained to think in whole systems. Irrational ideologies are built to fend off any discordant information. They isolate in a endless loops of circular arguments. The punish doubt, sometimes violently. I thing that the spin can be broken, at least for some, but it isn't easy. Germany largely recovered from such a state, but it took defeat of their aggression.
Who is there to defeat the US, except its own citizens?
Massive defeat, and remember the Allies' campaign of deNazification ultimately failed, there were just too many German nazi members around, so they were co-opted, mostly to rebuild a saner Germany, and the few Nazi comeback hopefuls failed in their efforts. As you know many wanted Germany more or less left flattened, and thanks to a godless Communists in this case the USSR with its takeover of eastern Europe, Germany did super well, now a heartland nation for the EU.
The “awful” people are real, and all around. They think they will rule. The America I thought it was has more enemies within than chump thinks he has. Always accuse of what you do.
Thank you so much for posting this. I hadn't seen it. Two brilliant women.
Yes they are!
Same. Lately I listen to Kara Swisher and who she talks to a lot.
I fear your fears are well founded. There's enough of them, and whoever, to take the tolls to "dead heat" though I'm hopeful that's partly a red poll flood distorting things, just the same, this election is won at the margins, in the latest case, how many Puerto Ricans in terms of vote changing, actually turning out. Yes, "turnout" is a critical margin. 66% a record turned out in 2020. I have no idea what the poll models are using, but it things like "garbaging" Puerto Rico, and more esp women's reproductive rights, turn the dial, that may well be decisive. MSG may well have just turned that dial up a notch, hopefully more.
Reading HCR today I wondered how many defamed people are even aware of this last rally and the comedian's comments.
Thanks, Linda, for the link to Ben-Ghiat-Swisher conversation. They laid out the Thiel uber-game plan brilliantly. It has grieved me that Rene Girard's revelatory theories about human mimetic desire and scapegoating have been used by Thiel as weapons in his arsenal for his insane vainglory of conquering the world with his male brilliance.
Linda, I think the comment meant to say that Trump knows he is in a minority. He is focused on creating havoc and legal finagling to steal the presidency.
Well believe it after we get election results. This is truly a time to fasten your seatbelt and ride to a Harris-Walz win. Whew! Truly unbelievable. Given that he is not doing or saying anything to get new voters, he and his sycophants surely are planning to repeat 2020 chaos.
You better believe it.
What we are witnessing is collective suicide.
Hello Linda.... I agree, DJT will be replaced if he wins thru the Electoral College, or other Nefarious Means... JD is much Smarter, and more Dangerous... He has no 'Center'... Changed his Name three times... Hmm?... I tend to agree that JD will just be a Puppet for the 'Dark Siths'.... DJT's Minions? You do not know U.S. History like the First-Nations do...
I agree. I have a German mom, and had a Black dad who was part Native American, so when I was an undergrad I studied these histories because they interested me but would have anyway because they are interesting, when I was an undergrad. I am always learning. One of the guys in my Democrats Abroad book club group is from a reservation in Oklahoma, now he works in tech and does biodynamic farming in Germany.
Very interesting discussion. I learned a lot.
Undecided is cowardly at this point. Choosing between a monster and a competent woman. Oh, I see the problem.
Make America Courageous Again.
America is Americans and there are plenty of Courageous ones, like the people who are standing up to Trump in the Republican party and endorsing Harris. She is the bravest of all, standing up to a bully with all his bully boys, and his bully Party.
Where’s my hat.
'All he can do is escalate.' Perfect summary of the situation and what HCR has been telling us about the MAGA desperation.
Let us hope in his escalation he peels off likely voters. But then, there are those who secretly agree with him and that will show at the ballot box too.
And I assume you THINK, THINK, THINK!!! Let’s all THINK about what SURPRISE tfffg is planning and be prepared to stop it. 🎃💩🤡
Let us say, respond to it. We should be thinking ahead though. We could be having DT, but according to many, it will be JDV. He or his Bad Boy Tech Billionaire Bro overlords will try to place him in as their proxy in the Presidency. I see a battle between the 3 factions, but they may align. That is Heritage Foundation who has been advising conservative presidents since Reagan, The America First Foundation who is advising Trump in this election under the rug so to speak, with the same agenda as in Project 2025, but not made public, and then there is the JD Vance faction, even though JD V is presenting like a Christian Nationalist, but he is a shapeshifter and we don't know which shape he will take in the end, but it presumes to be bad for all of us. A less known or unknown bad. So, we need to be thinking about Trump, Project 2025, America First Policy Institute https://americafirstpolicy.com/, and JD V and the Billionaire Tech Bros who want to run our country too and think their monetary success entitles them to as superior people. So, I am not sure, but it will certainly influence the rest of the world too.
Thiel has a political and economic partnership via Epstein’s UK friend, the Labour Party peer, Peter Mandelson. They have successfully teamed up to privatise the data system of England’s National Health system via Palantir.
The Heritage Foundation folk also fund many at 55 Tufton Street, a London based research unit which informed and aided UK politicians to successfully expidite an extreme severance with the postwar Peace Project EU via Brexit. The Boys involved seem to be moving toward a full corporate takeover of democratic governance in the UK and US. It could be argued that they have already succeeded in delivering this global oligarch’s dream in the Murdoch controlled UK. See: https://europeanpowell.substack.com/p/zone-fever-means-the-uk-is-no-longer
Monnina, thanks for sharing the link. It is frightening stuff, that reminds me of times in history that were really bad. I do see Putin as a key player because his war on Ukraine triggered off a lot of things in Europe that has disrupted the status quo.
I thought Rupert was kicked out of the UK?
Linda, I can well imagine Trump posing for the cameras at the resolute desk, proudly signing legislation arranged by J. D. Vance (or Miller, etc.).
I am not saying Trump would do this. I am saying JD Vance will remove Trump using Article 25, which I read had been planned since Peter Thiel bought his place as VP. Listen to a discussion of Thiel by Prof. Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Journalist Kara Swisher as they discuss Bezos's capitulation to fascism first. https://youtu.be/yBSAveg-fzg?si=cbkcvJuof89JKQZD
Forewarned is forearmed.
"Forewarned is forearmed."
You would think.
Yet Trump operatives Stephen Miller and Jill Stein (who are Jewish) are working to elect Trump and institute a ChristoFascist state - proponents of which promote Jews and other others being allowed residency but not civil rights.
Go figure. Serving Trump is never a safe berth.
"During the Nazis' ascent to power, some Jewish organizations, such as the Association of German National Jews and The German Vanguard supported nazism *until being outlawed in late 1935.*"
"Stephen Miller’s claim that “America is for Americans and Americans only” directly echoed the statement of Adolf Hitler that "Germany is for Germans and Germans only.” "
Stein splitting off American leftish voters from the Democratic party to elect Trump, is using the same tactic Stalin did to elect Hitler by splitting off German Communists from the German center left.
Does anybody really believe Stein is anything but a Putin pup
Again, it won't be better under JD Vance, but I think we should be prepared for him to take over as president, using Article 25, which I have heard he was going to use, as planned by Peter Thiel since he was first announced.
MAGA’s don’t read the NYTimes or any other source and only watch or listen to vitriol on Fox or other right wing podcasts, X, or whatever. Never-the-less, the NYTimes, the WaPo and other former “trusted” sources have normalized trump’s behavior for way too long. Anything they write now (after voting has started) is way too little, way too late. The damage done to those former reliable resources could be the final nail in the coffin for their business model and incentive for the reputable journalists to carve out new ventures.
Newspapers have come and gone for hundreds of years but the more recent decades of steady decline is more of an industry demise. For a few years In my “former” life, I successfully managed the pension investment account of a well known newspaper and heard a lot of the difficulties the industry was facing. Survivorship in a digital world was an open challenge and that was before competition from podcasts and independent sources was on the radar.
Not so ironic, the industry consolidation has made a valuable market for very old newspapers! Ironically, the investment management business where I spent my career also no longer exists! Algorithms rule and AI and crypto currency are other relatively new players changing that landscape.
I have a story to tell. I was raised by two victims of the Holocaust in rural NC in the 50’s & 60’s. The town was made up of mostly Southern Baptists and the races were black and white. In 1964, we integrated schools for the first time in history. It was decreed by LBJ that the South comply with those orders. In my English class, all of the students were required to read “The Diary of Anne Frank” and “A Tale of Two Cities”. We were also to see enrichment films at our town’s theater that went along with the books we were reading.
For years, my mother turned the tv off if she knew the Anne Frank movie was playing on a channel. She never wanted my sister and I to know the horrors of Nazi Germany. When it came time for the film to be shown at the theater, I lied to her and said it was another movie. I went with friends and then I saw what my mom and dad had tried to shield us from. After the show, my friends wanted to go out to our hangout but I asked them to drive me home. I walked into my house and collapsed in my mother’s arms, sobbing. She too, cried. We were up until 2am talking. I am tearful just remembering the pain she and my dad felt having to leave their country, their family and friends.
When the Wall came down, that’s when my mother found out how her parents died…gassed in 1942 at the camp called Chelmno.
Marlene I am so sorry.
It hurt me to press the heart/like "button" because your story hurt my heart.
How hard that must have been for your mother! Do you think she was relieved to know, or would not knowing have been better? My daughter's father is Jewish, and I took her to Ann Frank's house just over a decade ago. We also visited the Museum of the Dutch Resistance (or that's what I recall of the name). I thought it was important for her to know that some people did push back.
I went to the Holocaust Museum in DC with two of my first cousins as I had never been there. I think we were there for 4 hours. When we got to the area where they have the camps area and where candles are lit, that’s where I lost it. My poor mama…
Marlene, your parent's story is gut-wrenching. I am so very sorry☮️💟
Not everyone is like that. Some just don’t engage with politics or are too busy working three jobs to pay attention to it. Or don’t think and inquire until the last few days.
That being too busy is the reason so many of my friends in the US do not pay attention, and several have had their therapists tell them to not pay attention to the news since it is so depressing. That is what he fascists are counting on.
I know many who choose to just tune out all politics. But self-government is DIY by definition.
"Just because you do not take an interest in politics, doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you," -- Pericles
That's proactive. Top-down media tends to make us passive.
Professor Ben Ghiat’s prediction that Trump’s only tool is escalation. Last night’s rally showed us what escalated rhetoric sounds like. Should he. E re-elected, the escalation won’t be just talk! Let’s hope Trump’s hateful rally escalated him to defeat!
In Ben-Ghiat's book Strongmen, there is always an end to a fascist, be it being overthrown, the people uprising, or death, or defeat. Perhaps it could be a McDonald's burger and fries. It would be poetic justice.
Nothing like poetic justice!
A recent article in The New Yorker posited that the people who actually came to the capital on January 6th were activated by racism. Would not racist rhetoric then be the most effective way to repeat the attempted coup?
It was decided at least amongst the White Power Movement, that as they chose to enter the government instead of always trying to blow it up, see Oklahoma City Bombing, that immigration would be the code word for race going forward. We see how it has spread so widely that even those who are being referred to by the term are anti immigrants, and thus anti themselves. So, this racism in code "immigrants" is being repeated.
I think we must face the fact that a significant proportion of our U.S. population would quite happily, given permission by Trump and chance, deport or eliminate or execute or imprison every citizen and legal or illegal resident belonging to minority groups including, Hispanics, Blacks, Asians, Jews, Muslims ….. of course these folks screaming for mass deportations, executions, etc., are the same people claiming they are prolife, anti-abortion.
Shirley Jackson’s famous short story The Lottery suggests that people enjoy killing, especially in the name of preserving a way of life they have been convinced is necessary to maintaining their supposed tradition, even if that tradition is completely false.
Re: "read watch ask discuss" but you are not a Trump followers. They don't do any of those things.
Linda, that's because you are a sentient being. capable of deductive reasoning.
"George Washington ... flanked by Swastikas"? No one can "sane'splain" that MSG Nazi Rally. You need the a forensic psychiatrist to decode his wistful desire to tan " ... my beautiful, white, white body."
That's his closing argument: " ... my beautiful, white, white body".
Must be educated… critical thinking in action!
I think he still wants to believe he can get away with anything. His money and his ability to lie no matter what let him pretty much do that all his life, though he seems now to pushing his luck.
Well, if you will see my link above in the chat to Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Kara Swisher, you might think that JD Vance is the one to watch and worry about as a more unknown fascist with his authoritarian billionaire backers.
Here is the link again.
https://youtu.be/yBSAveg-fzg?si=Z3D8zeDaU3Wohgx3
They see JD V as being more dangerous than Trump. So, some insights we should be paying attention to.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Kara Swisher are correct to be concerned about Vance.
But there would be no Vance without Trump.
Absolutely!
This was not a rally to gain more votes. It was a way to keep his base angry enough to rebel when he loses. The "secret" he shares with Mike Johnson is the warning shot.
Harris will win. Trump will claim the election was stolen. Johnson and team will assist.
It is going to be a bloody mess.
Bill, I hope we are both wrong, that this MSG rally is not a harbinger of evils to come. But the T**** signs are still up at a couple houses even here. We'll have a lot of work to do getting them back to normalcy.
That "bloody mess" is what worries me. Are we going to have a repeat of January 6th?
I assume there are plans for that. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
I imagine that Trump is being treated like an enemy agent in some circles, and no leakage of these plans is a good thing. Our media is not to be trusted with our national security. Look at Bezos and Musk. So, assume that it is not going to be gotcha, on their parts, but on the part of our government.
This is certainly my hope.
He HAS gotten away with everything.
Unhinged is a bit different from uncontrollable (though said before needs said again).
It’s Vance ‘they’re after ‘, the divisive techniques set the tone , successful again. Echos of Bernie from however long ago ….”oligarchs , we are a nation of oligarchs” …and at their mercy , whether it’s corporate America hiking prices, insurance companies/Big Pharma they led the slow demise , we missed the slight of hand …far too late likely ..as the subtle ‘slight’ success swallowed us up …the rest of the story…?
Harris is (as Emily so very well wrote) , the first woman President -best qualified -having served in all three houses of our Government and a woman of color to take us forward into our future …bring on the BLUE TSUNAMI 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙, UNITE …let’s clean up (NOT back up) and clear out the MAGA Mob, and shine sisters SHINE! 🇺🇸🫶💙💙
It has always worked for him in the past, goes his tiny, racist brain…It worked in 2016, it assures him.
It did not work in 2020. We have gotten over the covid scare, and now it is the Fascism scare, which was always there.
Apache. I wonder if we will have history books in 50+ years, mostly because we will have probably destroyed the livability of the planet by then. I see continuing chaos created by climate change as people scramble and struggle to survive. Once again, even though I am visited by problems caused by age, I am glad to be in my early 80s.